"After all that time trying to fool Rin, I never thought I'd be happy to act like a stuffed animal again," Helios stated flatly as they descended further into the depths of the Juuban Municipal Primary School's stairwell.

Mamoru, dressed in his Endymion form, snickered, cape pressed firmly around his nose and mouth in an attempt to minimize his intake of the dark crystal's miasma, which permeated the air in such great quantities that he could barely see the landing of the stairwell ahead of him. He felt the energy being pulled out of him, sucked as though from leeches as the purple mist clung to his clothing; he was constantly pulling in the Earth's energy through his Golden Crystal just to move forward; without it, he was sure he would be passed out back on the third floor landing; even now it was slow going as he slogged through the thick mist as though it were a swamp. He didn't know how Helios was still conscious, but the unisus had turned down his offer to let him stay up on the fourth floor so maybe there was something about the magic of his assumed form that let his mind stay active even when his little winged-horse body draped across his shoulder like a ragdoll. "It suits you, you know," he teased, trying to keep things light rather than focusing on what a creature seeped in this mess would be like after hours of marinating it in.

"Haha, haha," Helios sarcastically replied, "Keep your eyes peeled, Chuckles. We're probably heading to the basement or some deep dark closet and I'd rather not get blindsided before we get there."

"Sure thing, Advisor," he stated, turning to descend the last set of stairs, wondering whether his Cardinal King mask would've been able to see through this mess. "So," he continued lightly, "We save the world from one set of "aliens" and immediately get attacked by another; did this happen a lot in the Golden Age, or am I just lucky?"

"Just lucky, I guess," Helios replied as Mamoru left the stairwell and moved to the main hall of the campus, looking left then right. "Left, I think?" Helios offered, and he turned down that path. "In the annals of history, the birth of a child holding the Golden Crystal always heralded a new age of expansion - it was during your predecessor's lifetime that Earth came under one flag - but never, to my knowledge, have we faced any threat from outside the planet itself. Yes, there were a few attacks from dark forces handled by those with the power to fight them, but the scale of an attack such as this simply did not happen."

"Think the Moon Kingdom had anything to do with that?" he asked, unsheathing his sword as the mist grew colder around him.

"Hmm… perhaps? Usagi-chan mentioned something about the Moon Kingdom having once protected the Earth; that could be what she meant?"

He considered his next statement and mustered the energy to speak, but a desk flew out of the deep purple mist ahead of him. He barely got his forearms arms crossed to block it before it hit him square-on, the force of impact sending him sliding backwards across the linoleum floor. He pressed his toes against his boots to skid to a stop, pushing the desk away from him with one arm and stabilizing Helios with the other, using the momentum of the push to brace himself against one side of the hallway to get out of the direct path of whatever creature was guarding the crystal. He hastily pulled his cape to his mouth to take one deep breath through the fabric before dropping it to draw his sword in one hand and a rose in the other, and carefully crept closer to his invisible enemy.

"Good recovery," Helios commented, his voice hushed despite being nonvocal, "I'll warn you when I can about - Incoming!"

Mamoru flattened to the wall as a kid's chair hurled down the length of the hall, the legs barely missing him. Once it passed, he kept moving.

The floor shook, the reverberations echoing as whatever apparently enormous creature ahead walked into a classroom to rearm itself and return. The process repeated itself - at least assuring Mamoru that the creature was not of Astaphios or Elaios's or any of the others' level - until Mamoru could just barely make it out in the mist ahead. He ducked into a classroom to minimize the chance that the great, hulking golem could see him, and carefully helped Helios onto the cubby shelves just inside the door before placing his back to the opening and peering out to see the creature hurl another desk and lumber back into the classroom across the hall. The Crystal could be in that classroom or somewhere behind it; chances were it was closely guarding the source, so sneaking around it probably wasn't a good idea -

The creature sniffed the air, and a pair of red pinprick eyes shone at him from the mist.

He dove away from the door to draw fire away from Helios, careful of his blade as he rolled across the hallway and came to his knees just as he threw his rose at the massive beast, continuously drawing energy from the Earth through his Crystal as he did so. The rose actually shattered the wooden desk as it flew at him, creating shrapnel that, thankfully, neither hit him nor passed through the door Helios was hiding behind; he hadn't expected such a reaction, and such surprise meant he was off guard when the creature that bent beneath the ceiling of the school shuffle-rushed towards him, bellowing with a roar so deep it made his chest shudder. A massive fist struck him and sent him flying, hitting the ceiling before falling to the floor and bouncing. He couldn't help the cry of surprise the latter enticed from him, but with the Earth's energy flowing freely into him he was healed and up before it could make it's mad dash towards him.

Sword at the ready, he rolled and slashed at it's great hairy thigh, putting all the effort he could into his efforts in an attempt to slow its motion, but even as it cried out in pain it batted him out of the way and he was skidding on his cape back beyond Helios's hiding spot.

"Graceful," Helios quipped sarcastically, earning him a reproachful look as Mamoru scrambled out of the way when the hulking thing hobbled back towards him at full speed. It passed him, and he was suddenly reminded of the way Kaito had so effortlessly jumped onto the back of another enormous creature and strangled it with his ice whip during the first fight they ever faced together. He looked around, but he had no such rope to utilize. He jumped back as it whirled around with both arms wide, knocking through drywall as it carved out it's own personal bubble, and roared again.

Behind it, gleaming in the half-light, was the dark crystal.

Mamoru passed his sword to his left as he summoned and threw another rose with his right, the stem and thorns grazing the creature's cheek. It flinched and he rushed forward, taking advantage of the momentary weakness as Khalid often had of Diana's Phases and thrust his sword towards the exposed chest. Just as it bit he was slapped away, hitting the wall hard enough to crack the drywall behind him; he drew in more energy, healing himself as he dropped to the floor on both feet, kicked off from the wall before him, and took a second stab.

This time the creature screamed in pain, maw opening wide as it turned to stone and crumbled to dust, the sudden release sending him staggering. He drew his cape over his mouth to breathe and mustered more strength to slog the rest of the way through to the crystal, then stabbed it with the sword. His blade barely made an indent, but the crystal did crack and the humming energy suddenly silenced, the mist already starting to settle out, making it easier to see and marginally easier to move around.

"Not terrible," Helios mocked lightly as Mamoru reclaimed him and draped him over his shoulder guard again, rolling his eyes, "but it got the job done."

"Yeah, yeah," Mamoru replied, slugging through the hallway. He found the stairwell and started the upward climb; again it was difficult, but as he went up in stories and the mist lessened, it somehow felt harder and harder to move. When they exited through the door they had left propped there was barely any mist at all - he should have been fine, yet he panted, doubling over with his hands braced on his knees to catch his breath. Helios, who had become livelier around the second floor, had hopped off before the fourth floor and hovered now beside him, garnet eyes looking at him critically. "I know, I know," Mamoru panted, waving him off, "I'm out of shape, ha ha."

"Mamoru," the unisus replied, his tone anything but playful, "You need to detransform, now. That fight took more energy than anticipated -"

"What?" Mamoru exasperatedly interrupted, turning his head to fix his guardian with an incredulous look, "I've got more energy than I know what to do with," he paused to breathe, "I don't even feel tired right now - this is probably from breathing that stuff in or something - "

"Mamoru!" Helios's tone was sharp - the first time he had sounded so sharp in what felt like weeks, "Release the transformation! Earth may yet have energy but your body cannot handle channeling it anymore!" he continued muttering even as he grew in size before him, "This is exactly what I was afraid of - You feel fine because your Endymion form is the best conduit for the Golden Crystal to pull Earth's energy but in it you've lost any gauge on how your physical body is fairing." The full size of a horse, Helios raised his wings high glanced over his shoulder at him, barely missing him with the pointed golden horn, adding in annoyance, "Get on and hold on tight before you release it in case you pass out!"

If he hadn't sounded so cross, Mamoru may have fought the point, but considering that and that the only other time Helios had offered him a ride had been just after he had awakened to his past life, the gravity of the offer outweighed any assurances on his part that he felt fine. He somewhat awkwardly hopped up onto Helios's back, past life memories assisting in the general process, and as soon as he was on he followed the somewhat overbearing instructions to lean over and link his fingers around Helios's neck before detransforming, and finally released the transformation…

And felt absolutely horrible.

Every part of him burned - not just ached, but actively burned from within, like he had been working out constantly for days or struck by lightning or something in between. Every panting breath felt like his lungs were on fire, every part of him felt heavy, and as Helios jumped up from the school's rooftop the sudden acceleration put him out of his misery and he passed out.

…

He woke up just as Helios landed on his apartment building, his body, thankfully, feeling like lead as opposed to running with fire in place of blood. Helios shrunk beneath him to help him dismount, and just as he tiredly pulled his leg back over to one side, Usagi called his name. She was worried; he wished he had the energy to reassure her that he was fine, but tried for a smile for her anyway. She ducked under one arm and held his wrist in one hand and wrapped her other arm around his back, and with Helios on the other side they got to the stairs, managed to get down to his floor and into his apartment. He unceremoniously fell onto the couch and thanked Usagi for the water and food she had thoughtfully prepared, and passed out again.

…

When next he woke it was in a cold sweat. He jerked up, reaching for - ? Something…? But immediately Usako was there, taking his hand in hers, expression worried. He shook his head, whatever dream he had been dreaming gone now, though with the occurances of the past few hours, let alone days, he was fairly sure what it had been about. He opened his mouth to speak but she quickly answered his question without having to be asked -

"No further attacks," she assured, "from the Doom and Bloom Girls or the Archons, and it's only been two hours. Rin hasn't talked to me yet, but… it's good that you're awake."

He nodded in thanks and she stepped back, letting him swing his legs over the edge of the couch to sit up properly. The TV was muted but on his coffee table was Usako's transformation brooch. Helios came in, coasting to land on the armrest beside Mamoru and gave him another critical look. "We need to figure out another way to let you transform - taking on your Endymion form for anything less than dire is irresponsible -" Mamoru gave him his attention, silently reminding him that they did not have the luxury for such things. Helios quieted. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Thanks for keeping an eye on me."

"I wish I could do more," Helios replied, looking down for a moment before brushing back up and winging towards the coffee table to stand beside Usagi's transformation brooch. "I've heard this already, but honestly I could listen a hundred times more. Luna came through for us, in this at least."

Mamoru looked from him to Usagi, who nodded. "The pearl just started softly glowing, and when I touched it - well, here." She turned off the television and quickly closed the blinds against the late afternoon light, then crouched across from him on the other side of the coffee table and gently wiped her thumb across the pearlescent back of the pink heart brooch, and it lit up, Luna appearing in holographic form.

"The Archives have returned a hit on your recent searches that cannot wait. Recent energy readings have shown that this event is quickly on its way, and with our outer system outposts retired it may well be up to Endymion's Heavenly Kings to right this before it's too late." Outer system outposts? The notion caught his attention but was buried beneath the onslaught of anxiety that Luna's bleak tone brought. "The Archons and Demiurge are bad news; there were rumors of their presence in other systems in the time of the Silver Millennium, but they would never dare approach us back then. The Archons are a cult following for Demiurge, a great and powerful being that exists by draining dry the life energy of a planet hosting abundant life and lifeforms, like Earth."

The holographic cat shifted as though shuffling paperwork and continued, her voice a little stronger after the break. "Archons scout the planet, judging it to be the most ready when it has an active Sailor Guardian, and perform the necessary tasks to summon Demiurge. These tasks include finding places of power - present or future - and corrupting key energy points to resonate in such a way that they would attract Demiurge, which, as consequence, has the effect of draining life energy from the creatures surrounding it. Search for and protect these points at all cost! By moonset tomorrow Artemis promises he can find these locations for you - do not let them corrupt any of the points with their negative crystals! In addition, be wary of them - Archons have been known to recruit members of the targeted planet to join them, using their planet-reliant energy to further feed the beacon for Demiurge, often promising them to change the future from something dark and desperate to something idyllic. It is said that there is a dream prophet among them that aids in that process immensely, oftentimes baiting targets with their dreams or greatest nightmares. Be careful, Endymion, as your Shitennou may well be targeted. The Senshi should be safe - they have no intimate connections to Earth or its power source and would be ignored as their own homeworlds lack life." He appreciated the warning, despite it's late timing, and was reassured, at least, that their earlier suppositions about the senshi were correct. "In addition, they will not attempt to corrupt you, Prince, as the bearer of Earth's Golden Crystal is needed by Demiurge."

She continued, bright blue eyes intent in the holographic image, "When their ceremony is complete, Demiurge will be summoned to this world from the void of chaos that was the last that it had drained. Upon arrival it will immediately begin feeding on Earth's energy until this planet, too, is a lifeless husk. The process can take months or years, during which Demiurge will use some of the energy it eats to reshape that world, restructuring societies and cultures to worship itself and placing its Archons in positions of great power and authority, repaying them for their service in finding a suitable world and calling it there."

The information sat heavily, a great deal of answers suddenly there, laid out before him plainly; information they could have used a week ago. Information that would have saved his friends; information it would have been impossible to key into until that exact point. As the pieces finally settled, he reflected, one off point standing out starkly.

Luna continued, "There is a limit to the data we can send in this method and our time runs short. We will find the energy points that you must protect - stay sharp, be careful. And Princess -" Luna choked up, head down as she continued in a rush, "I'm sorry we could not stop this, that we are useless in this fight. You were given a second chance and now - with Demiurge -" she shook her head, "Were Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto still alive, were their talismans still active, we would have a reset that we could use to ensure Earth's fate was not to be consumed by some evil parasite but all that is lost to us now! The outer senshi were not reborn and Saturn remains locked away without their items. It us unfair - it is a lot to put on your shoulders - but the fate of the Earth depends on your success against them! Be strong, Usagi-chan!"

Her voice seemed to echo in the silence. Mamoru sat with his hands folded together, elbows leaning on his knees as he looked to the map Khalid and Usagi had made of the energy points the Archons were trying to corrupt, the sources that Luna warned needed to be protected. So far they had broken the crystals at all of the points - … unless there were a few in uninhabited places that had yet to make themselves known, or were planted before Helios could recognize them for what they were. Two concentric circles could mean any of a thousand positions… He gently spun the map to look at it from another angle, digesting the rest of the information Luna had divulged as he tried to put the more active regions of his head to better use, still chewing on the other question.

"They're aliens then," Usako stated, breaking the silence.

He nodded, "I felt them earlier; when they took Khalid I felt his Kunzite crystal's glow go straight up; they're holding them in some sort of spaceship above Earth's atmosphere. Kaito had read sightings of U.F.O.'s earlier this week but we had dismissed them."

"If they're in space…" Usagi trailed off, her voice upset.

Gently he reached over and squeezed her hand, "We can't get to them, but they'll find a way back to us, I'm sure of it."

She nodded, taking a deep breath and letting it out. "What do you think, then, is at the center of the circles?"

"Demiurge's Bullseye," Helios replied without hesitation. "If they are charging energy points around the circles to draw him in, he will either be aimed directly at that place -" he paused, reading, "'Infinity Park', else will appear there, should this summoning be magical in nature."

"Our first priority would be to make sure they don't take the remaining points, but with a circle that seems impossible to predict where next they would strike. We just need to be ready, then," he said, stating the obvious in an attempt to get things moving. As if on queue, Helios's head jerked in a specific way.

There was another attack.

With all of the Shitennou in place for them it only made sense that they would press their advantage. He stood, Endymion armor falling over him effortlessly, and Usagi stood with him. He stepped over the coffee table and drew her into an embrace, feeling her against him, the blonde buns of her hair pressing against his cheek as he just breathed a silent moment with her. He wasn't going to let them have Earth. Not when they had found each other again. "I'll be back," he promised, and leaned down -

"Then don't kiss me goodbye, okay?" she said, her voice quiet. He paused, swallowed, and nodded guiltily. "Keep me updated about the location," she said, holding onto his cape again, keeping close as she spoke into his chest, forehead pressed against the filigree of his collar. "I'll contact you if I hear anything, alright?"

He nodded, agreeing. "Alright."

She stepped back, smiling bravely, "Then go get 'em! I'll watch Rin and be waiting for you when you come back."

He nodded, then turned and left the living room, strode through the kitchen, and opened the door, pausing once to look back at her. She stood, her hand raised in a wave, that same smile on her face. Helios flew out beside him and he closed the door. He would protect her.

…

Minutes later he called in to report the target - Juuban Supermarket, and heard Usagi reply "Got it," before he closed the communication channel and jumped down to land on the exposed 3D lettering of the building, quietly kicked in a window, and entered with a birds eye view of the situation, just as Helios preferred. The store was a mess, produce all over the place. People lay strewn in aisles, else helping each other to the exit; the miasma was just starting to crawl over the floor from… the frozen food section. He jumped down, landing carefully atop the rows of food and jumped towards that section staying as careful and as quiet as he could so as to catch the golem off guard. A riotous clamour made him pause as a full shopping cart flew through the air and clamoured into a display.

The distraction was a good one. Helios's "Watch out!" came a split second too late, and he was struck so hard he fell off of his perch and into the aisle below him as the human-looking golem grinned and fell back to the ground on the other side. Well, great. He picked himself up off of the pile of broken spaghetti noodles only for them to deteriorate beneath him into some sort of ill-smelling sludge; pushing up, he summoned a rose only to have an avocado land near him and start hissing like a lit bomb. He ran up and kicked it away, the pineapple exploding just as it cleared the aisle. Fantastic.

The being launched itself over the aisle and threw a small white fruit at him and he threw his rose, cutting the projectile neatly in half and deactivating whatever it had been, but the golem kept coming, a naked blade in its hand. He had yet to unsheathe his sword. He jumped back, and immediately the creature fell in the other direction, something hard having struck it and bounced away. A pearlescent disk?

"Hold it right there!" a strong voice called from behind him, and he took the distraction to draw his sword before glancing back to see - Usagi?! Transformed, she stood on an elevated manager's office, Rin ducked behind her. "The supermarket is the people's breadbasket of health! You've angered the fresh highland vegetables and melt-in-your-mouth shabu-shabu beef!" She posed, "I'm the Pretty Guardian that fights for Love and Justice, Princess Sailor Moon! In the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!"

The golem puzzled over her and he pressed the advantage, moving to cut her down even as the golem raised its own blade to block him. They fought, Sailor Moon's distraction having been just enough to throw the enemy's concentration; he managed to kick it back, knocking it off balance, and the moment he separated from it Sailor Moon cried out, "Moon Princess Halation!" and the creature was bathed in sparkling moonlight before disintegrating before him. He looked over his shoulder up at her and she winked at him from her perch. Backup was nice, and so long as she kept out of the direct fighting it'd be… okay. Maybe. In any case, he had to destroy that crystal. He waved at her to show she didn't have to come down and quickly made it to frozen foods, where he found the dark mass of crystal and threw a rose into it, causing a crack along its surface and the low hum of energy to cease. Job complete, he jumped atop the refrigerator isle and started making his way back over to Usagi to speak with her, Helios coasting beside him, when suddenly -

"Not so fast now~" a sing-song voice called, and a purple-haired effeminate man appeared directly in front of him. Mamoru put on the breaks, only to have to jump backwards to the top of the shelving behind him to keep from falling, something his pale opponent seemed to be pleased with. He dared not look to Usagi and Rin, keeping his eyes tight on this new threat so it wouldn't know they were there. "You did such a good job defeating my little toy, but I'd like to enjoy this," the Archon continued, crossing his arms over his thin white shirt, "It's not every planet that I get to come out and play with the locals. The name's Horaios, second in command of the Archons "active" division." He floated backwards, crossing his legs midair as he made a tsking sound, "And you, my little planetary guardian, have made someone very upset with you! Astaphiaos and Iaos had been with us for an extremely long time and Adonaios is most displeased that they are gone - they always came up with such good ideas for the reformation phase, you see. True," he said, placing a finger dramatically on his cheek as he made a show of thinking, "We do have four new recruits to take their place, but Adonaios is not as favorable towards change as I am. Oh well~"

The man - Horaios - disappeared, suddenly appearing in the space above him, floating upside down, "I hope you aren't as disappointed by change as he is - one more point and your planet is about to see a big one. See you soon~"

Horaios disappeared and immediately Helios followed suit; Mamoru hesitated, just to be sure the being was truly gone, before racing over to join Sailor Moon, Helios and Rin on their makeshift elevated platform. He grabbed onto the edge when he jumped and pulled himself up, crawling a step to be with them as Usagi quickly unfolded the map, uncapped a pen, and made a thick dot over the Supermarket. They scoured diagram, "Maybe here?" Sailor Moon indicated, pointing to a general area, "It's emptiest."

"The inner circle has five points but the outer circle has only four now; if it had a fifth it would be in that area," Helios seconded. "But where?"

Anxiety strained all their voices; Mamoru furrowed his brow, wondering if they should just skip finding the last point and make it to Infinity Park before Demiurge appeared, but what would their plan be then? Fighting it? With the very energy it was attempting to take? Stopping the summoning may be the only way to -

"Hikawa Shrine," Rin shakily stated. "It's Hikawa Shrine." He shuffled over, got down on his knees and pointed to the Shrine's location, right around where they assumed the missing energy point would be. "It's a five pointed star, not two circles," Rin explained, not meeting their gaze. "The last Crystal Star Point is there."

"Rin, are you sure?" Mamoru asked, demanding truth as he stared at that point on the map. It was where those buses had gone missing - where he had met Yuu. Usagi handed him the pen and he made the points connect as a star, each mark hitting precisely where it should have been to make the geometric arrangement.

"Yes," Rin replied, and Mamoru stood, leaving the map where it was. He lifted Rin up and the kid wrapped his hands around his neck, tucking his head neatly in beside his collar as though it were instinctive, his legs, supported by Mamoru's arm, doing their best to lock around Mamoru's back; nodding to Sailor Moon, he followed her and Helios back out into the city, using their standard rooftop transportation route for as long as they could, though it seemed as though Usagi's transformation did not aide in making long jumps as his cape had. He took her hand for those, propelling them both over the larger gaps to keep up their speed. As they left the larger buildings they soon landed among the trees of the Hikawa Shrine; he protected Rin's head as they fell, tucking and rolling so he wouldn't be hurt, and then hoisted him up into a tree to hide as he and Princess Sailor Moon inched closer, eyes and ears open for Horaios's appearance.

Just how did Rin know this was the place, though? How did he know that it was a star? And the name - Crystal Star Points - it was as though he were well acquainted with them. Was he with the Archons or wasn't he?! He wanted nothing more than to question him, to figure out his motives, his background; he had his suspicions, suspicions that bloomed as Luna explained the Demiurge and Archon methods, but there were still big pieces missing. If Rin was, as he suspected, the survivor of a planet already destroyed by Demiurge, how did he know so much about Usagi? Had he been one of those people of power the Archons had corrupted over to their side on that last world - the world he had seen Rin running through, the one he had seen destroyed when he had first held Rin's hand? Was Rin an Archon, one that had escaped when they reached Earth, supposedly after learning of these Crystal Star Points? Were the Doom and Bloom Girls golems made by Horaios or Adoniaos that were trying to get him back before Rin could tell them of their plans? But what bothered him was that if that were true, if the pieces of Rin's piece of the puzzle fit like that, why was he so attracted to Usagi? She had no energetic connection to the Earth - she would have no part in the Archon's plans. Why, then, did Rin care? He wanted answers, but what he needed was to stop Horaios -

There he was.

Note from the Author~

Hey guys! XD First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for their reviews and comments and likes! They've really pushed me to continue going, as I love hearing from everyone ^-^ I'd like to especially thank Lehane, who left such a beautiful review ;u; reading it got me to keep writing chapter 10 and propelled me into 11 and I mean now we're HURTLING TOWARDS THE END so there's really no stopping it now, lol XD o_o i mean so long as life doesn't, like, punch me in the face or anything.

Oh! I also wanted to thank everyone for hanging in there with me with this group of enemies! I know people were expecting the Black Moon Clan and I've done my best to parallel some of their stuff for the Archons and Demiurge, I just... also put in some Pharaoh 90 and Infinity Arc, too ;D with just a dash of Dead Moon Circus and a splash of R movie with the Lunar Archive having information on them like they had on the Kisenian/Xenian Flower Just... not time travelling enemies ...yet.

ANYWAY THANKS FOR READING