Chess Tower was clear across the city. Their lunging feet ate the distance quickly and rooftops disappeared beneath them, but still Cardinal and West King pushed themselves to move faster. Mamoru's lungs ached as he breathed harder, pushing his jumps to be farther, to move faster; they hadn't heard from North since the first contact; he was sure Kaito could hold his attacker back. He was sure. He had to be sure, but deep down fear tore at him, forced him to think about the fire they had lost Yuu in, forced him to consider losing Kaito, too.
Kaito.
He had been so stupid – of course it was a targeted attack, how could they have thought differently?! Naïve – he wasn't thinking clearly. Last time, with the Moon Kingdom, there were days between large attacks – months at some point, but this wasn't the Moon Kingdom. This would make the fifth in 4 days – first the kid, then Yuu, then last night, the ice cream parlour, and now Kaito. They were getting no quarter, no time to figure anything out. With Yuu they had been surprised, but he should've known better than to present an opportunity like this.
"There!" West cried, directing him to the tall tower with the novelty battlements meant to resemble a Rook. Kicking off against the corner of a building, they launched themselves towards it, Khalid's sword materializing in time to crack the glass before they hit it straight on. The sound would give them away immediately, despite the darkness of the room, but they'd give Kaito any chance he had at a distraction –
"Don't pay them any attention," Kaito called, his voice demanding attention, "You're here to recruit me, remember? Of course, if I'm not worth even that much to you, you can leave with your offer right now."
Mamoru got to his feet and looked around, trying to find him – the room was massive and open, but with stylistic columns and tables strewn throughout; ice coated several surfaces; Khalid tapped him and pointed with his sword, then started creeping around to be out of sight. Mamoru followed the direction, spotted Minami in a relatively ice-free zone, and followed suit, taking an alternative route forward. He hadn't seen Kaito yet, but he'd find him – find him? He dropped to the floor, putting both hands flat on the marble surface, and took a steadying breath, concentrated, and shot out a short burst of power, searching out the familiar glow of blue Zoisite. There. He adjusted his path.
"'Was only worried they'd distract you from this once in a lifetime opportunity," Minami replied smoothly.
"Hardly," Kaito replied. "Tell me more about your organization – the Archons, was it?"
Leave it to Kaito to research the motives of an enemy when his life was on the line. He crept closer, keeping an eye on Minami even as he tried to spot Kaito ahead of him; West would be going to eliminate the threat, he was to secure North or provide a distraction – whatever was necessary.
Minami chuckled, glancing around as though trying to pinpoint their locations, "That's right."
"And just what would I be doing in your organization?"
"Saving your world," Minami replied with confidence, no note of duplicity in his tone.
"I wasn't aware it's in trouble," Kaito quipped. "Until you all came along."
"Oh, it is," Minami replied, then turned and shot a jet of ice near where he and Kobai had entered; the stream froze midair and fell with a clatter to the floor. He pouted. "Your future is clear – if we didn't arrive to help, you and your entire world would be doomed to what it would bring. We are only here to help usher in the new age."
"Doomed? Howso?" Kaito replied with a note of concern; Mamoru heard it, trying to imagine what had prompted – the vision. The great fire, the burning buildings, was that vision of the future?
"Tyranny. Destruction. Uncertainty. If you join us, you can save your people from this fate – we can rewrite the future together, North King; join us, and you will be instrumental in this plan to save your world and will be rewarded for it. Everything you could ever dream will be yours."
"Just what would I have to do?" Kaito asked; Mamoru could see him now. Creeping forward, with his back to a pillar, he motioned to him; Kaito, through his blue mask, shot him a look – stay put. He wasn't done yet. Mamoru didn't like it – he especially didn't like the look of Kaito's situation; his wrist was frozen to the pillar he had hidden behind to call them, which explained why they hadn't been able to reestablish a connection. With him frozen in place like that, they couldn't easily escape if they needed to get away quickly. Maybe he could cut through it with his sword?
"Give me your transformative energy. All of it. With its natural connection to this world it will accelerate our progress; we just need to channel it the right way to the right place. Here," He couldn't see what Minami was doing anymore; all he could do was follow Kaito's eyes. "Focus entirely on this target, and ensure your planet is saved."
"Where will you channel it?"
"I'll tell you when you are one of us. Your energy, the target, now. This offer expires, Kaito; don't let it pass you by."
Kaito glanced at Mamoru, green eyes stark against the blue mask – a signal. "One more question," Kaito called, and his whip materialized in his free hand. "Where's South King?!"
As the whip cracked Mamoru sprang forward, his Rose Sword in hand, and tore across the space between them. To his left, West King fought Minami, his sword hitting fast-forming ice as the "Archon" danced away. Mamoru reached North and, North stepping as far as he could from the pillar, he brought his sword down, severing the ice that held North in place. Kaito shook his wrist once, then turned and pushed Mamoru away. Taken aback, he was unable to regain his balance, hitting the floor hard just in time to see a waterspout form around Kaito and freeze into ice.
"NO!" Mamoru screamed, scrabbling back to his feet to rush at the block of ice; striking it did little – the ice wasn't breaking.
"Poor choice," Minami cooed. "Now, West King, what do you sa-"
His words cut off in a terrible gurgling sound that brought retribution rather than revulsion. In a moment West was with him, his scimitar flashing in the light from the street below, but when finally they broke open the ice… Kaito was not in it. He couldn't feel the ice through his gloves as he leaned against it, staring into the empty block, looking for a sign, a piece of fabric, even his power gem, but after a few seconds he couldn't see the ice anymore; its mass moved out from beneath him as it sublimated into fog. All around them, the ice left by Minami faded.
"Can you sense him?" Khalid asked as sirens resounded from the street below, the flashing of police lights bouncing around the marble interior surrounding them.
He dropped to the ground again, placing his hands firmly, and shot out another burst of energy, stronger this time. It was easier to do now than when he had been untransformed the night before, but as he searched, following wave after wave in concentric circles outward, the familiar headache creeped back in. He easily found and identified Kunzite and Nephrite, a bronze-ish glow that must have been Rin near the gold of Helios, and, farther out but moving in, the almost overwhelming cold glow of Usagi's silver crystal… but there was no sign of the soft green of Jadeite, or the cool blue of Zoisite. He shook his head, both as indication of his findings and to clear his mind for another go, but Khalid took him by the arm and hauled him up. "We need to get out of here before they make it up to this floor."
…
When they opened the door to his apartment, Mamoru felt dead inside, but he put on his best face despite wanting nothing more than to fall apart. Following Khalid in, he took off his shoes and answered greeting calls from Nero and Rin, both of whom were sitting on his new couch with bowls of ice cream, Nero looking decidedly less casual about it than Rin, but it was apparent he was trying. "Kaito coming? We got him his mint chocolate chip," Nero called, his voice wavering slightly with hope. His chest squeezed tightly, his heart pulling heavily. The ice cream container sat open on his new kitchen table, waiting.
Khalid bluffed easily. "He'll catch up with us later; we'll just save it for him," he replied, putting the cardboard container easily in the freezer. Nero put his spoon into his bowl, and his bowl onto the small table beside the couch, not looking at either of them. Rin turned his attention back to the screen, finding nothing amiss, and took another large mouthful of ice cream. "Ice cream, this close to bedtime?" Khalid commented, "That's not going to keep you up all night, will it Rin? Because we won't do this again if it does."
"Nope."
Rin. If Rin hadn't been there then Nero could've gone with them. His stone knuckles could've easily broken through the ice – they could've gotten Kaito out before he disappeared. He could have still been here – snarky, prudish, catty Kaito could be sitting at the table right now, racking his brain over the clues he had cleaned from Minami. Instead he was gone, just like Yuu. His first real friend, confidant, co-conspirator, gone. His eyes burning, he turned and slipped his shoes back on.
"Mamoru?" Khalid asked.
"I've got to pick something up from Usagi," he explained, "I'll be fine; call me if anything happens." He shut the door behind him, ascended to the roof, and transformed again. She had been moving when he has searched for Kaito; he used his powers again, his head throbbing now, and found her shine getting closer to his building; he went out to meet it, approximating it to a bus traveling about four blocks away. He landed in an alley, detransformed, and boarded it. She jumped when he sat beside her, asking him a handful of questions that were meant to be meaningful to him but bland to anyone eavesdropping; he couldn't answer any of them, the burning behind his eyes traveling to his throat; he just took her hand and sat silently. She laced her fingers with his and sat with him, leaning her head on his shoulder, inviting him to do the same. They rode out the route, just holding hands and sitting quietly, her cool presence a balm.
At one of the stops she squeezed his hand, signaling him to get up; he did so, letting her lead them off the bus to the park she liked to visit. It was completely empty at this hour. She made for the swings, but he sat in the grass, his back against a tree; she walked over and offered her hand. "Swinging helps you think," she commented quietly.
"I don't want to think right now," he replied, halfway smiling for her, but his smile broke too easily.
She knelt next to him, carefully trying to catch his gaze. He almost didn't want to make eye contact – he was upset, and while she made him feel better, he didn't want her to feel worse. She made it nearly impossible; he was unable to resist her intensity, though the worry in her expression only compounded the weight on him. "Kaito?" she asked softly, and while he didn't say anything out loud, his expression must have been enough. She wrapped her arms around him, drawing him in, "Mamochan," she said softly, the pain in her voice nearly unbearable. She hugged him tightly – he hesitated, but only until the shoulder of his shirt grew warm – she was crying? "I'm so sorry," her voice broke, and he followed suit. Holding her tightly, he finally gave in.
He had failed him.
He had failed them both.
They had constantly put their own lives on the line for him and he couldn't protect them. Even at the last, Kaito had thrown him out of the way, despite them all knowing that he wasn't the target, and now he was gone. Not dead – they couldn't be dead – he would know they were dead, he knew it. ... he had to believe it. They were captured, he just had to get them back and protect Nero and Khalid in the process. Without Kaito. Without Yuu. Without any idea where they were – with barely any information about why they were taken, who took them, and what their kidnappers wanted. That on top of trying to figure out Mamorin's role in all this and puzzle out the visions and fight off the kid's enemies; there were at least three of the shape changing women and now there were only three of them; if they were in league with the Archons how easy would it be to suddenly turn mid-fight, while they were trying to keep the kid safe, and capture Nero or Khalid? Was that the kid's purpose? To keep them off guard until it was too late?
What had Kaito thought about all of this? What would his next step have been?
… Were the two of them together, Kaito and Yuu?
After a while, Usako pulled back, wiping her eyes on the back of her sleeve, he did the same, wishing he had his handkerchief to offer her. She took a deep breath and rocked back to sit on her knees. "I brought the belt," she explained, unbuckling the familiar accessory from around her waist and offering it to him. "I... Once I heard the transmission, I tried to use it to transform but it didn't work," she explained hesitantly.
He took the belt, laying it across one of his legs as he took her hands, "It's okay –"
"But you guys need help," she interrupted insistently, "You guys are under attack, Rin is under attack, Tokyo is under attack - I heard about the ice cream store on the news earlier. You guys can't be everywhere – "
"We'll just have to try to be," he interjected, softly but firmly. She couldn't transform. They didn't want to chance using the crystal or reawakening the senshi, even if such a thing could be done. She looked like she was going to object, but he couldn't see any way around her predicament so instead he redirected the conversation by picking her belt up again. "We're hoping this can help – Kaito came up with the idea." He shifted his position, getting up to get out of the tree's shadow and glancing skyward for the moon; finding a spot that looked like it could be lit by moonlight, he put the belt down, kneeling next to it. Usagi joined him, sitting across from him curiously. After a moment of nothing happening, he glanced over to her, "Could you try contacting Luna?"
She nodded, wiped the moonstone with her thumb as though to clear away dust, and called softly, "Luna?"
The belt lit up, the ports that had once held the soul gems of the sailor senshi shining with their respective colors, other, smaller gems glowing in the fabric like stars in the night sky; finally the moonstone itself lit up entirely and a beam of light shot forth in a cone until it settled into the form of a black cat with a crescent spot on its forehead. "Princess," the cat greeted warmly, "What can I do for you?"
"Not for me this time," she replied, looking over to him.
Luna reoriented herself and bobbed her head, "Prince," she addressed cooly, and waited.
"Luna, is there any chance the Moon Kingdom's computers could run a continuous scan over the city to hone in on abnormal energy bursts or signatures and relay a warning down to us when they occur?"
The cat considered, pausing before she replied. "It is possible, but without the proper relays we are limited to scans only while there is a direct line of sight between the Castle and your city." Her tail flicked, "With time we could correct for the surveillance gap by hacking into existing satellites, but at the moment that is all the support we can offer."
He nodded, relieved to hear the nonchalance in her voice at the thought of hacking satellites to increase visibility. Kaito had theorized that the Moon Kingdom's technology was still ahead of theirs; he would've preened at being right. He pushed his thoughts back on track, taking the information and moving forward with it. Twelve hours was better than none. "Please do so; would there be any way that you could relay that information directly into our communication devices?" he asked, holding up his wrist to show her the watch; Usagi did the same.
Luna seemed to examine them, "Let me scan them; Elysion technology and Lunar technology are difficult to merge, but it could be possible…" she stood back as though to give them room, and he followed Usagi's lead with sticking his wrist into the hologram. Luna continued to speak, but her voice changed. "I may be able to hack the system from here, but Sailor Mercury would be able to do so much faster –" she cut herself off, bowing her head; he looked across to Usagi, who looked uncomfortable. He took her hand, understanding her reluctance and agreeing with her. Things may look dicey, but awakening the senshi… it was a risk. The Silver Crystal was Usagi's now, and she had cleansed the senshi's power gems with it, but if something went wrong and they had to fight against them again… it'd be too cruel, especially now that they were back to living their lives normally. "But once we get the scans up and running, I'll make it our first priority." The lights blinked, and they moved their joined hands out of Luna's holographic space. "Until then, I'll contact you through the Moonstone," Luna addressed, sounding as though she would sign off shortly.
"Luna," he quickly interjected to catch her attention before she could leave, "once the scans are set up and you've looked into linking to our communicators, could you also scan any files you have for information on a group calling themselves 'The Archons'?" he felt like this was a lot to ask, but right now they were their best resource. He'd send Helios to Beryl to do the same, but the more information they had access to, the better. It was a long shot, considering both of their resource bases had stopped updating thousands of years ago, but if anything came back, anything that could help him find Kaito and Yuu…
"We'll run a search of our archives," Luna nodded.
Archives. There were so many questions they had – "Additionally, did Princess Serenity have any cousins?"
Usagi shot him a confused look, the look nearly perfectly mirrored in the holographic cat. "No," she replied confidently, though with a questioning curiosity in her tone, "The Royal Family consisted only of Queen Serenity and Princess Serenity."
"Rin?" Usagi asked quietly. He nodded, almost disappointed in the information. If it had been their past lives it could at least explain where the kid came from and that connection he insisted existed between himself and Usagi. At least that possibility could be crossed off the list now.
"If that is all," Luna invited, "I will start processing these requests."
"Thank you, Luna," he replied, and the cat bowed its head.
"Bye, Luna," Usagi added with a smile.
"I'll keep in touch, Usagi-chan," Luna replied, and disappeared, the lights on the belt fading.
Lights fading… "This won't tax their power systems too badly, will it?" he asked quietly; while important, he would feel guilty if the tasks he assigned to her wore out the Moon Kingdom Computer's power supply, leading to Usagi losing Luna - but she shook her head, relieving the growing knot in his stomach over it.
"I think the computer is fine now," she replied, glancing up at the gibbous moon overhead, "Once the Silver Crystal was freed, it restored the whole system. I think so long as it is safe, they will be, too." She smiled at the sky, no doubt thinking of the holographic computer programs that kept the memory and personalities of her friends alive.
"Good," he said, squeezing her hand gently.
They were quiet; he didn't know how to say to her what he wanted to say – that he was both glad to have her by his side during this and regretted having to pull her into another mess – but before he could choose his words she took in a breath and, her hand still in his, picked up her belt, preparing herself to stand. "I should get back home," she said, and he stood to help her stand, feeling foolish and selfish for not thinking about her or her family or their rules – how many times now had she disappeared on them? And with the cram school yesterday, the ice cream shop today, the chess tower that was undoubtedly all over the news now – they were probably worried sick.
"I wasn't thinking," he self-chastised, "I'm sorry; I'll walk you home."
She nodded, taking a moment to buckle the belt around her waist again and they left; it wasn't too far from her neighbourhood, a ten minute walk, maybe, but they hadn't left the park before her footsteps behind him slowed. "I wish it wasn't like this," she said quietly.
He stopped and turned back to find her looking out across the park, standing just out of a circle of artificial light, small and wistful and voicing exactly what he wanted to say. He wished it wasn't like this. He wished his friends were still with him. He wished the kid hadn't had any problems and he was back where the belonged. He wished Venus's attack had been the last one to hit Tokyo. He wished the dream they shared Saturday morning of normal lives with normal schedules and normal problems had come true. He wished they could spend more time together. He wished he could confess everything he had ever felt about her – he wished he could put everything else aside and be with her. He wished they could go on a date – a real one. He wished they could stay up late and talk about anything that came to mind while watching the stars inch across the sky. He wished he could stop the world and just enjoy being in love with her.
But while he wished it wasn't like this, it was anyway, and the only way to get through it was to keep moving forward. He offered her his hand in unspoken understanding and, when she took it, laced his fingers with hers. One day it wouldn't be like this. One day, everything would be back to how it should have been - the type of future that Saturday morning had tempted them with, with everyone reunited and everything as it should be. It had to be. He'd make sure it happened. He squeezed her hand.
She squeezed back.
Together, they kept going.
…
The apartment was quiet when he made it back, but he wasn't the only one awake. The television illuminated both Nero and Khalid, the former looking queasy, the latter stoic as the light changed and flashed across them. Both looked up when he entered; Khalid put a finger to his lips, nodding his head backwards to indicate that the kid was sleeping in his room. Mamoru took off his shoes, slid into slippers, and crossed the kitchen to join them.
Subtitles flashed across the silent screen as commentators pointed and made wide gestures towards Chess Tower as tickertape scrawled across the bottom of the screen:
Masked Vigilantes Wanted for Questioning; Reward Offered for Information on the whereabouts of Missing Persons Hanada Kaito and Minami Koi.
His stomach flipped, his hand inadvertently clutching the back of his new couch as he continued to scan the subtitles and the newsreel for the words to come up again, feeling in a lurch until he saw it again, clearly. They were wanted for questioning.
"There must have been cameras," Khalid stated, his voice calm and quiet. "I should have foreseen that - "
"It's not your fault," Mamoru replied quickly, reading as the reporters spoke of the break-in on a higher floor, recalling the earlier public challenge made to Hanada, and noting that both challenger and target were now missing.
"At least it's just questioning," Nero replied, shrugging his bare shoulders at Mamoru's glance, brown eyes catching his. "If the tape showed everything, I doubt it'd just be "questioning" they'd want you for."
"There is no more tape."
Mamoru straightened in surprise as Helios popped into being before them, hovering before the couch and shaking his mane, golden horn flashing in the light. "I just destroyed both copies; whatever further study they wanted to do with them will have to be done by memory, nothing admissible anywhere."The unisus glided over to the new table, landing neatly and folding his wings; guessing what he needed before he had a chance to ask for it, Mamoru got him a cup of water. Helios bowed his head in thanks and started to drink, asking as he did, "Rin is sleeping. What happened in Chess Tower - was it the same as the high school?"
Khalid joined them in the kitchen, Nero not far behind; his darker-skinned friend crossed his arms and leaned up against the refrigerator as he replied, "More or less. Ice this time, instead of fire - they're mirroring our elements, whomever they are. Kaito kept it talking until the end."
Nero's hands tightened on the chair back, wavy brown hair obscuring his face as he stared down at the table.
"Like with Yuu, it was trying to recruit him, and after him he had tried to start on me."
"What did Kaito get out of him?" Helios asked.
Khalid looked at him to answer. Mamoru cleared his throat, thinking back, realizing that Khalid may have been too far to hear the entire conversation. "They call themselves the Archons," he replied, keeping emotion from his tone as he replayed Kaito's final - Kaito's conversation with the enemy. "He wanted Kaito's energy - the power from his gem; he was going to collect it in something, but I couldn't see what it was. Something in his hand."
"Did he say what they wanted the energy for?" Helios asked, mental tone thoughtful, garnet eyes staring up at him.
Mamoru frowned, "Saving the world."
"Bullshit," Nero declared in a quiet growl, turning away from the table.
"From what?" Helios prompted.
"He said it was doomed," Mamoru replied, brows tightening as he remembered, "That it would fall unless they saved it, and having energy - your energy," he said, looking to Nero and Khalid, "would usher salvation along faster. He offered him rewards."
"Like we'd accept them," Nero replied dourly. "We just saved the world - if there was anything it needed to be saved from we'd know. They're out of their minds if they think we'd join them - they've destroyed buildings, hurt people, kidnapped our friends - " he cracked his knuckles, quietly fuming. "First sight I get I'm pounding their faces in so hard they'll only be able to see the past."
"It's clear we're being hunted," Khalid stated, eyes shifting from Nero to Mamoru, "No one goes anywhere alone. If its energy they're after, would the Princess and senshi be targets?" he asked, turning his attention back to Helios.
As Helios gathered his mental breath for a response, Mamoru interrupted. "No," he stated confidently, "He mentioned about a connection to this world. Their power bases are elsewhere."
Khalid nodded, then moved forward. "We need a way to figure out where they're hitting - we can't afford to be the last to know again," he stated, "If they're stealing energy we have to stop them before they gather enough to succeed in whatever they're trying. Helios - "
"I'll keep my senses as open as I can but I can't make any promises," Helios replied, sounding upset with himself, "I only had such a good handle on when the Phases were striking because they originated from Elysion so their energy signatures were easy to pick up on, as was the free-standing energy they collected. If these Archons are collecting energy, they are not doing so the same way."
"Let's pull Beryl from Elysion," Khalid stated calculatingly, "She may know another way."
Helios fluffed his wing feathers irritably at the insinuation, but nodded his head nonetheless.
"The Lunar computers will be scanning, too," Mamoru stated, drawing their attention, "Only in twelve-hour increments for now, but so long as the moon is somewhere in our sky they'll be watching for abnormal energy signatures or attacks in progress and will contact Usagi if anything happens. In addition," he continued, "They'll be scanning their archives for mention of the Archons."
"We should do the same," Khalid replied, looking again to Helios, "References to the creatures we're running into might be hard to pinpoint, but a title goes a long way. Split resources - while the moon is in the sky you and Beryl can search Elysion's libraries for mention of them, then return here when the moon sets."
Helios nodded and stretched his wings. "We've got a few hours then." He jumped and caught himself, hovering above the table. "I'll be back before Rin wakes so he doesn't suspect anything." Without waiting for an answer, he disappeared.
Mamoru watched the empty spot for a moment until Khalid spoke again. "I'll sleep on the floor in the bedroom - if the child says anything in his sleep I'll hear it." He pushed himself off of the fridge, the appliance barely moving. "Get some rest," he stated as he glided across the floor and disappeared into the living room, the bedroom door clicking shut behind him.
"Rock paper scissors for the couch?" Nero asked after a few quiet moments; Mamoru gave him an appreciative half-smile for the attempt.
When he woke, hours later, it was to a familiar presence as dawn slid through the blinds covering his windows. Grogginess slowly drained as he blinked away sleep, sitting up from his makeshift bed on the floor to find Helios, the unisus's garnet eyes flashing uneasily.
"Beryl's missing."