Blue Kunzite

'You speak in lies, and I will never serve a false cause.'

Khalid ran the back of his sleeve across his forehead to dry the sweat of his brow. He knew, despite the evidence around him, that this was not real. This was not a dig. This sun was not real, nor was the dirt beneath his feet. The site was entirely false, as were the artifacts within it. The team around him, too, were false, though he felt fondly towards three of them - one who diligently detailed the vases they had recovered, carefully gathering them up and snapping at the second when they casually sauntered over despite the orange flags posted for caution, the third somewhere off investigating where they believed a water source would have been. He knew their names, their histories, their personalities, and yet he knew they, too, were falsehoods, naught but approximations of people he actually knew. It was not as though this place made its flaws obvious, but rather that one thought continued to circulate in the forefront of his thoughts, reappearing just when his mind started to concentrate on his work.

He had always wanted to be an archaeologist and solve the mysteries of the ancient past, but - just there, just in that second thought, there was something he had to unpack that continued to escape him. The mysteries of the ancient past meant something different to him - else, it had, until recently, and the inability to remember why only reinforced that stubborn refusal to believe anything he saw here. This was false. These people were not whom they claimed to be. He had no real attachment here. And yet, he would not leave. There was no place to go - the desert stretched out all around them and there was no means of communication with the outside world. He had to figure this out a different way, and, until that happened, he would play along.

An excited cry resounded, catching everyone's attention. He stood warily, watching as that third familiar person came running back to rejoin them, pausing to catch his breath with his hands on his knees, occasionally motioning in the direction he had come. The first put down his vase and strode over, demanding he spit it out, and when he did the others looked excited: a temple. He had found a temple in the cliff face. They gathered supplies - ropes, harness, cameras, paper and pencils, archiving materials, hard hats - and followed him out. Along the way they were saying how he - Khalid - should go first, that he was the most experienced, that he had done this before. Khalid nodded, accepting this new ploy as false memories inserted themselves in his mind, even as that statement replayed behind them: 'You speak in lies, and I will never serve a false cause.'

Still he stepped into the harness, checked the lines, wore his hat, packed his bag. Still he repelled down the side of the temple, looking for any way out of this landscape, this world made for some false purpose he did not fully understand but believed in nonetheless. As he propelled down the side of the cliff the temple took shape beneath his feet; he stopped pushing off against the wall, instead sliding down the rope as not to disturb the ancient carving of the outer architecture. It was Babylonian - and then suddenly it wasn't. It was Chinese? Indian? Mesopotamian. Assyrian. Sumerian, the influences changing over and over again as though making up its mind. By the time his feet touched the ground it was like something altogether new, and he felt annoyed - if this were false and created to impress or engage him, it was shoddy to make this decision only when he came across it.

Something blue shone from the darkness of the temple.

His eyes keeping tight to the region where he had seen the shine, he disconnected his harness, reached into his bag, and pulled out a flashlight to help him. Without recording anything, without writing anything down, he stepped carefully up the ancient stone staircase and into the temple, ignoring the concerned calls from far above in all but noticing that more ropes were falling and the voices were coming closer. Fully passed the temple's threshold, he looked around for debris of any sort and quickly moved to cover the entrance before the others could catch up. Whatever this was, he knew it wasn't real and this, whatever this was, could be his only chance to escape it, whatever it was. As he hauled a crumbling statue across the entrance his heart hammered hard in his chest and he looked to the nondescript watch on his left wrist. 'To time his pulse,' something told him, but it wasn't real. This excited anxiety hinted with trepidation was not for his health, but something else entirely. Something was calling him, urging him forward, and it, alone, felt real in this place. Without hesitating, ignoring the calls beyond his makeshift door, he twitched the dials to move the hands to twelve noon -

And the sounds dropped away.

Surrounded in silence in the darkened ancient temple, Khalid breathed a cautious breath and waited. When the world shook around him he braced, knowing that something of this was real but he was not in any true danger as a gentle light started to shine in the middle of the temple's main room, the spark glowing brighter until most of the interior was lit, and only then did the giant appear. Nearly as tall as the ceiling, wearing armor reminiscent of the cultures of ancient Asia, a Warrior in black and blue stood before him, holding a trident in one hand and a clear blue gem in the other, a scroll tied to his waist. Those details caught his memory, and he bowed.

"Kobai Khalid, child with the soul of Kunzite, know you who I am?"

His arm still across his chest, bent in respect, he replied, "Koumokuten, the Lord Who Sees All, Punisher of Evil, Seeker of Enlightenment, the Heavenly King of the West."

A pleased sound escaped the giant, "You have seen me for who I am, just as you saw through the dream for what it was: a distraction from your true life. But did you not find this scenario desirable? Was this not the dream of your future?"

He remained bowed as he answered the question as succinctly as possible, "It was false and it was empty; my dream is neither, though I cannot at this moment recall it in its entirety. May I ask that you enlighten me as to the nature of this distraction and why it was made?"

"A war is raging and you are an important piece on the field; as you would not swap sides willingly, your enemy has captured your body and attempted to capture your mind to sway you to join them. Stand tall, Kobai Khalid, for they were not successful." Khalid straightened, and as he did he caught the gem that the giant - Koumokuten - tossed him; as he caught it everything came back into focus: his life, his friends, his Prince and their charge. The battle against the Archons, the energy points. He blinked past the disorientation of the sudden onslaught of information, then nodded towards the true Lord of the West and made to toss the gem back towards him, only for the giant to hold up his hand to stop the action. "For your dedication to the truth, I would grant you my Blessing and make you a true King of the West. With this boon you will be better equipped to defend that which you wish to defend, but in accepting my gifts there is no going back."

"I would not wish to," Khalid replied, "I am honored by your consideration, but rest assured that I, Kobai Khalid of Tokyo and Kunzite of Elysion, would have it no other way: I will fight to protect my Prince and the people of this world for however long as I am capable of doing so; I have other dreams and desires, true, but I am sure in protecting him, those dreams will still be able to come true and be all the brighter and more fulfilling with them by my side. I humbly accept your blessing."

Koumokuten nodded and pointed his trident towards him, releasing a burst of light that surrounded him entirely, solidifying into armor that mirrored the Lord of the West but for the sleeves and cloth accents having a white border around the blue material. In his empty hand the trident appeared, and on his waist materialized the scroll and brush. "Then take it, and become the Punisher of Evil and Seeker of Enlightenment in my place. Use my accouterments in pursuit of peace, and may my sacred stone see through any illusions evil may use to attempt to slow you."

The armor was strong and reassuring, the gem in his hand filling him with reassurance. He bowed again in thanks, and the items disappeared and armor faded away, revealing a his Kings uniform, only… only this time it was black. His pant legs were tucked into black knee-high boots, similar to… everyone else's. He swallowed and straightened; even if his uniform's color remained different, even if the new half-cape of his shoulder stood out compared to theirs, having that one additional similarity made him feel that much closer to being part of the group rather than the last member added to it. He had stayed separate to keep Endymion safe and then had further kept himself separate by keeping secret Mamoru's true identity and making the hard choices for what he believed would be best, his role obvious by the difference in appearance but now… He cleared his throat. It'd be black, but at least it was closer.

"This uniform is all your own," Koumokuten announced quietly, retracting his trident, "Kobai Khalid with soul of Blue Kunzite," he paused, glancing down - blue? His Kunzite was pink - or… had been? The stone was now deepest blue veined in white, the lines snaking through the oval shame like cracks across a shell. It was new and different and it made him feel a little uncomfortable - change always did - but he accepted it. It was time to leave the past - not forget it, but let it rest - and continue on towards a future they would forge together. "Take your place as the first true King of the West. Use well my blessings, and may you ever see through that what attempts to deceive you."

He bowed his head and the Lord of the West disappeared, his temple alongside him.

When he opened his eyes he was beneath a shallow dome of crystalline material similar to that of the dark crystals that had been implanted at various locations back in Tokyo. He frowned, looking around further for any sign of an enemy guarding him, reaching within to attempt to gauge how much energy had been drained already, and gauging to see if he was otherwise restrained: nothing else was there, he felt refreshed, but mostly thanked Koumokuten for that, and, foolishly, they hadn't restrained him in any other way after putting him in this coffin-like chamber. He considered his options. His sword wouldn't get enough of a range here, nor would his new trident; a scroll or a gem wouldn't be any good, so he'd just have to break out manually. He kicked up harshly, kneeing the crystal above him as hard as he could, but while the casing trembled it did not break. He shifted his thinking, imagining the black armor he had been granted and the metal was there, flowing over him and encasing him in black steel. One kick now and the crystal cracked and spread; one more and it broke completely. He pushed what remained away from his head and sat up, taking in everything he could not see before: the room was dark steel but there were runes etched into the floor that encircled the pod he had been put to sleep within. These runes did not pulse or glow, but he assumed that was because he was now awake and the crystal dome shattered; the etchings wove out and around, up walls and through past the ceiling above him. Up, then, was where he needed to go.

He pulled himself up over the side of the casing and landed on the floor, the armor gone to favor stealth as he strode towards the only door of the room, only for it to start to open. He danced quickly to the side, away from line of sight, and his scimitar materialized in one hand as he crept closer, ready to subdue whatever jailer had come to check on him -

"So what do we do if he's still stuck in a dream?" Nephr- East asked, and he relaxed his grip to release his blade, a little bit of pride washing over him for the other having broken free.

"He won't be," South replied confidently as the three of them stepped into the room and let the automatic door slide shut behind them. They were all wearing new uniforms, each identical to each other and to him but for the accent colors. The uniformity and solidarity it spoke of, solidarity he was now fully included in, made him feel stronger for it; while he was not so obviously their leader anymore, visually he was one of them and that, to him, was much more important. South, his green Jadeite pin now red, adjusted his mask as though to see farther into the darkness surrounding the collapsed crystal around the bed he had vacated. "See? He's already escaped the dream pod. He's always five steps ahead of us, I'd be surprised if he were still in here."

Khalid smirked at the comment and, rather than reveal himself, continued to make his way around through the shadows. North crossed his arms at the entrance, his blue Zoisite pin now darker blue with veins of black lacing through, "You'd better hope he's close - we don't have -" he suddenly paused, then glanced sharply in his direction. Khalid met his gaze and Kaito relaxed, rolling his head along with his eyes and swapped his weight from a ready stance to being all on one leg. "Enjoying the new uniform?" he commented dryly.

He had planned to surprise them and make it a lesson about looking even where you'd least expect an enemy to be, but apparently that lesson wasn't needed. East and South followed North's look and he had no other choice than to graciously give up. "You've improved," he commented, liking to know how Kaito had known he had been there, though he had an inkling, considering Koumokuten's involvement. He approached them.

"Black is a flattering color on everyone," North replied, flipping the meaning of his words, "but I do think it suits me especially well, thank you."

South groaned, mirroring his internal reaction, and East rolled his eyes and pulled him in to slap him on the back in a very Nero way as he commented, "You were visited by one of them, too, eh? Ready to try out our new abilities and get out of here?"

He hummed a nonverbal affirmative, "How long have I been here? Do we know where we are and how to get back?"

The others filled him on what they knew - they were in the enemy stronghold, there was at least one Archon left that they had to take out before they escaped, less this happen on another world or they return sometime in the future, and that they didn't know how long it had been, but each reported that what started to clue them in was that something had tried to contact them that they were not allowed to respond to; Kaito reported that he thought it was Mamoru. He lead them from the room he had been kept in, an eye on the glyphs on the wall, looking for a way up as he quietly spoke. He filled them in with as much detail as he could, starting with that he had been taken late Friday morning after they had taken out another crystal point, briefly describing to South and North about the points, Kaito's brows furrowing with thought as he spoke. He told them about the additional attacks by the shapeshifters that had called themselves the Doom and Bloom Girls, and how Usagi-chan had transformed into a senshi in her own right to protect them the night before. He told them all that they had learned about Rin - which was relatively nothing beyond that he knew about them the entire time, and knew about Helios and his ability to talk and fly and was ready to reveal everything until he found out that the three of them were gone. He ended with how Mamoru's Pyrite Pendant had broken the previous night and he was now fighting in his Endymion garb, using the last to focus them.

"The pendant broke?" Yuu asked incredulously as Khalid stopped to examine where more sigils moved upward rather than continue around, adding with no small amount of worry, "They can break?"

"Pyrite isn't his real power gem," Kaito quickly interjected, "It wasn't a true power source for him to begin with - more a decoy or a copy that Helios put together when he first woke up; his stone is the Golden Crystal, but - "

"Then fighting as Endymion makes things easier, right?" East stated, attempting to rally them, "He had changed into his old armor when he was fighting Diana and using the Golden Crystal to its fullest, right? Fighting like that now should make everything a piece of cake - "

"Including using so much energy he kills himself," Khalid added, a hard end to that train of thought. He held out his hand, imagining the spear of Koumokuten resting there, but it took a few seconds to make it actually materialize. "That uniform acts as a superconductor rather than a conduit; it didn't used to, but since being reincarnated that is what it has become." The spear materialized, and he jammed it up towards the ceiling; it broke through, but as it came in contact with the metallic surface of the ceiling of the corridor, tendrils of metal shot out of it, serving to reinforce the roof rather than take it down. He frowned at it, yanked it out, and had to think up something new. "If he's not careful he could use so much energy that the Crystal shatters and takes him out with it. Usagi-chan can help him, but -"

A spear jammed into the ceiling where his trident had been and ice spread out, cracking the metal and making it brittle, "But we all know he'd rather put his own life on the line than risk hers, so the faster we get back the better." North yanked the spear out, looking at him with determination.

"That and Usagi-chan's new to all this," Yuu added, "She didn't do a lot of actual fighting as Jewel Tiara and as Serenity she didn't train in warfare at all, right? Even with the Silver Crystal behind her she'd be learning how to walk when we should be flying."

West stepped forward pointedly, summoned a trident of his own, aimed, and three columns of rock shout out of the pointed tips and broke completely through the brittle ceiling, leaving a large hole behind. "Then let's go," he said pointedly, twirling the instrument so the tips were on the ground and stepping up onto one of the rectangular prongs, reaching out for the others to join him. Khalid took the other bent prong, holding the staff tightly with one hand, and North slid his foot into place beside his, holding carefully and looking up. South stepped into place beside East and East warned them to brace before he used his new ability again to send them up through the hole he had just made. They stepped off and quickly moved away from the brittle flooring as the three stone columns broke from East's trident, and they continued at an easy to keep jog following the glyphs until North held out an arm for them to stop, summoning his spear again as the only warning that danger was ahead.

West called his scimitar rather than the new trident and strode forward quietly towards the direction North indicated and quickly engaged with a group of golems who looked like they were only half-formed. In a flurry of activity, the others joined him and the creations were decimated and destroyed by abilities that were both new and old for Khalid. The room looked contained, but that the golems had been coming from one direction had West second guessing; he reached for his belt and found there a small pocket; opening it, he withdrew the small blue gem Koumokuten had gifted him and put it to his eye, seeing easily that the wall on the right was fake. Pocketing the gem he led them towards it and easily stepped through, much to the brow raising of North and South.

As they continued to move they quickly ran through new abilities granted them through the Blessings of the true Heavenly Kings which, based on the words of the Four Lords themselves, they now were. Some were not as straightforward as others - South's "Growth" for example, or East's new instrument - but the ranged melee weapons were at least straightforward. He explained the gem that allowed him to see, North revealed that he had been gifted Hearing, which explained how he had known where he had been hiding and had known about those golems before they had run into them. As he paused to use the gem - on North's suggestion - to look around in an attempt to find where the last Archon was hiding, he heard East in the background -

"Yuu, do you smell anything?"

"What? No, dude, you're gross - "

"I'm serious! West's sight, North's hearing, Mamoru's touch, right? One of us could be smell and the other taste and we've got all the senses covered; it's obvious I have better taste so that leaves you with - "

"Better taste? You enjoy vending machine meals -"

"Exactly my point, so do you smell anything?"

"I'm not doing it."

"South, he could be on to something," North commented quietly.

"Look, I'll taste the wall -" West commented, the words bumbled as he was obviously talking with his mouth open. Idiots. The circular path they were on looked to be real -

"Don't go licking the inside of an enemy base!" North admonished and someone - West - was hit on the back of the head.

"It just tastes like metal anyway," East replied sorely.

"Like burning metal," South stated with finality, "Like a barbecue mixed with, I don't know, gasoline or car repair shops. I don't know."

That was peculiar? He kept walking, keeping the gem ready to be used, and sniffed the air himself; South's description was just about right, but he added, "Like welding metal," the smell bringing back memories spent with his cousins years ago. The thing was, nothing here looked new enough to have been worked on, and South hadn't melted any metal yet, so where was the smell coming from? He paused at a new corridor and used the gem again, but this time the wall at the end of the hallway disappeared as the blue crystal moved into his line of sight. Beyond this false wall was a circular room with a large window into…

Khalid swallowed, pocketed the gem, and called his scimitar. This wasn't good. He spoke quietly, telling the other three what was ahead in a calm, controlled voice. "There was one true being surrounded by golems, but we have to be careful," he looked pointedly to East, "Don't hit the walls or windows with any attacks."

East, called out without a word, sighed but nodded. "Are they rigged to blow or something?"

"You could say that," West replied, leading them forward. "Don't let it be a distraction, but we're not on Earth right now."

"We're -" South started to repeat, stopping short behind him, "I'm sorry, what?"

North groaned, making connections. "The UFO chatter."

"Well that's something off my bucket list," East lightheartedly commented, reaching back to pull South forward, "Fighting in space. Not exactly Galactica but I'll take it. … and leave the trident out of this part, I get you."

Without much else, they stormed the room, controlled magic erupting all around him as he and his comrades cut through the golem guardians for the Archon that had attempted to keep them sleeping, that had drained their energy and attempted to use their dreams to convert them. West had his scimitar in one hand, his new trident in the other, and cut down enemies left and right as he strode with single-minded focus towards the black-clad enemy in the center that waved its arms to create glowing arcane runes all around itself, chanting all the while. It stopped only seconds before East jabbed at it with his scimitar, and his blade slid aside harmlessly.

"You are loyal and that is important," the enemy cooed at them placatingly, its voice loud and rising, reminding him of… something. "But your loyalty is ill-placed! It is not too late - you can still be forgiven and allowed to thrive with me! Put down your weapons and accept Demiurge as your God - it is already too late for your world anyway: the final crystal has been placed, the leylines activated, and already Adonaios chants the final rites to summon the Great Architect to us! Your own energy is woven into the lines - he will accept you as his children."

Even as he spoke, Khalid struck again and again against the barrier, eyes twitching to the great orb of Earth that lay beyond the window, though it was hard to make anything out. They were in a geosynchronous orbit above somewhere on the night side of Earth - Tokyo was his guess - but the lights were all blotted out by some huge storm. Mamoru was down there, probably trying to stave it off by himself - he pushed harder, even as the Archon's pleas became more personal and the sounds of battle around him faded as his brothers took down the last of the guardian golems.

"Moegi, would you not like to have your dream become a reality?! Surely now with your friends in on it, you will be fulfilled in that profession - I or one of my associates could again serve as your subordinate, as Yamono - you were impressive, that much was true! I continually had to change aspects of the deal to keep your interest up for as long as I did. And Hanada! Surely after all this is over you would secure your position as Star Journalist without complication! I had to create an entirely new entity to throw at you to distract you - the murderer, Abe, all of it was to make you happy, and weren't you? Did you not enjoy the dream I created?"

"Yamono?!" South repeated even as North replied, "Abe!"

"I am Yaldabaoth, Priest of Dreams and Demiurge, and I only wish to make the transition for you as peaceful and wonderful as possible. Midori - Midori the difficulties I had in creating a perfect dreamscape for you only lead me to find the most ideal situation. Give me more time, and Demiurge could craft such happiness for you that you would want for nothing. Kobai, as well - here are the comrades you were missing, at last you are together! And together, if you make the right choice, the four of you will remain. Submit to Demiurge and you will never be parted again, I promise you! Live like Kings of this world and every world hereafter!"

As he spoke, the others gathered around him, one at each cardinal direction point, East with his back to the window. "We are already Kings of this world," Khalid stated evenly, and, as one, they activated the armor of the Four Lords. Garbed in battle armor ancient in style but brimming with new energy that crackled around them, they stared at the cowering form hiding in its energy barrier and raised their polearms, pointing towards Yaldabaoth's form. "And we will not allow you to threaten ours or any other planet."

And with that, they stabbed forward as one. The barrier crackled, fought them, but they persevered, pouring more and more of their energy into breaking the barrier and, finally, it broke and Yaldabaoth met his end. He screamed, loud and long and violently, and then abruptly stopped and erupted into purple black dust. Breathing heavily, West stepped back, released the armor and his weapons and moved to look at all the instruments on the wall, North joining him as they searched for a way to control the UFO.

"Tokyo -!" South started, East moving to his side, "It's covered by dark clouds - I can't see anything."

"He had said that it was over, that whomever was chanting or something - " East said, looking back at North and West, "What do we do?!"

"Get back there," West stated, not thinking too hard about the impossibility of that task. "He needs us, we'll get to him."

"How? By crashing it?" East asked, hurrying over to check out other controls, "Look, if this is anything like Star Trek TNG, this is a cruiser - not meant to be taken through atmospheres or actually land anywhere; we'd burn up along with it and whatever's left over will just crash somewhere. We've either gotta find a lander vehicle or a teleporter or something."

He had no idea what kind of reference he was making, but North was considering what he said and slowly nodded in agreement, and that's all of a validity check he needed. "Then we'll find one of those -"

And suddenly his heart panged in his chest, like something deep within him resonated with an outside force that called his attention back towards one single point on Earth. Hand instinctively moving to his heart, he could scarcely breathe for the gravity of what this meant as a familiar voice whispered across his mind: 'If you're there, I could really use your help right now.' Hand still to his heart, he looked up to see the other three in similar poses with similar expressions: Mamoru. He sounded tired, his exhausted tone akin to a prayer, the severity of the situation not lost on any of them.

"We have to go!" North blurted and started towards the exit without a second thought or any other thought spared. They'd figure out where to go on the way - they had to start moving -

"Wait!" South called, and Khalid caught North's wrist before he could leave the room, South's tone enough to give him credit in Khalid's mind: whatever he was about to say, he believed in it. "He's calling for us - " he stated, moving towards them and pulling East by his left wrist as he passed him. Standing across from North, pitting East across from him, South dropped Nero's wrist and grabbed both his hands and East's. "We have to answer."

He didn't even know if he could send a message back - they just had to try to get there as soon as they could, but Yuu stubbornly closed his eyes, set his jaw, and took a deep breath - and started to glow. Khalid looked to both North and East, ready to say what he saw just in case it was a West thing, but both looked at Yuu just as incredulously as he had, and North grabbed East's hand and adjusted his grip on Khalid's. Not knowing exactly what to do or how to execute it, Khalid just tried to copy what Yuu had done: he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, set his jaw, and thought of Mamoru.

"What do we say?" East asked.

Without a beat, North answered: "We're coming."

He concentrated on the source of the energy blast that had resonated with them, imagining Mamoru on the other side, somewhere beneath that dark storm, recalling again and again how that felt, and hoped that their message - short and succinct - would reach him. They'd get there soon. They weren't going to leave him to face that alone. "Think only of him and the location source of that call," South stated instead, his voice calm and confident, and a fire seemed to spread from his hands, West's own powers snapping back against it, the ice of North crashing in from the other end, and still he did as South directed, concentrating on Mamoru and the Golden Crystal's glow. Quietly, his voice barely heard over the crackle of energy in the air around them, South commanded "Teleport."

And they were gone.