Sailor Moon - Rise of the Exalted Knights

by Lisseas

Chapter Fourteen - Back from the Brink

Posted: 30/05/2017

"We finally…lost them."

"Maybe." Sailor Jupiter watched Mercury double over, gasping for breath. It was hard not to do the same. Her left side ached, a painful reminder of what Hunters were capable of, but they had to stay on guard. The street behind them seemed clear enough, but the Order's masked assassins had fooled them before. "We'll see."

"Could be they just gave up?" Uranus suggested unconvincingly.

Mars shook her head quickly. "No, they'll be back. Hunters don't give up. You can trust me on that."

Jupiter loved a good fight, but even she wasn't thrilled by the notion. They chased us halfway across Tokyo, and Mars is bleeding just as bad as I am. Regular humans or not, these Hunters are tough.

"I guess we should consider ourselves lucky they didn't herd us right into one of those big Paladins," Uranus muttered, with a look of utter disgust. "Damn it, I hate having to run like this!"

Mercury finally straightened up, somewhat recovered. "What other choice was there? We barely got out as it is."

A gentle breeze sprang up, setting their tattered skirts aflutter. Jupiter stiffened at a distant crash – a falling window, perhaps? - but nothing leapt out to follow it. In fact, the street felt almost peaceful...if you could look past the scattered debris.

Venus' voice broke her illusion of tranquillity. "I still can't get through." She looked up from her open communicator, concern in her eyes. "Sailor Moon, Chibi Moon…even Pluto. Nothing."

Saturn was the first to react, driving her Glaive into the asphalt. "We have to go back."

Jupiter raised a quizzical eyebrow, surprised by the younger girl's out-of-character assertiveness. She rarely speaks up first, or even at all.

"I mean, when you think about it…" A more familiar hesitance followed, Saturn's shy nature showing through. "Sailor Moon has no idea what happened at the store. If our alert did get through, she's not going to sit back and wait. She'll lead Chibi Moon and Pluto right back there-"

"And straight into a Hunter ambush," Mars finished, her face going pale. "You're right, we have to-"

"No." Mercury produced her medical kit and set it down. "We aren't going anywhere until I treat some of these wounds."

"There's no time!" The miko grimaced as she folded her arms across her chest, inadvertently putting too much pressure on a ragged, bleeding cut. "Usagi needs our help. They all do! They're-"

"They're likely in better shape than we are right now," Venus said soothingly. "Ami's right, Rei. You'll be no help to anyone if you bleed out mid-battle." She softened further, bringing her arms up to hug her own elbows. "Let her take a look, okay? We can spare a few minutes to heal up."

"It won't take long," Mercury added, as she began rifling through the kit. "Not with Saturn's help."

Mars turned her gaze on the younger girl and, after receiving a curt nod, sighed reluctantly. "Fine."

"Do you think Usagi found Chibiusa?" Rei settled down gingerly beside Jupiter, her bleeding ribs now cleaned and bandaged. Up close like this, free of Senshi transformation magic, she just looked…tired.

We all do, she brunette thought sombrely. Still…a fresh uniform couldn't hurt. Thankfully, they come with a magical reset. She followed suit, stiffening as her civilian clothes reappeared. Their magic also dulled a little of the pain they felt; helped keep them going in a fight. I underestimated just how much it's been helping me.

"Nobody knows her better," Mercury said, crouching beside them. "If anyone can find her, it's Usagi. Or Setsuna. Luckily, they're both on the case." She lifted Makoto's blouse carefully and cringed, immediately reaching for some gauze. "Are you even trying to dodge anymore, Mako?"

"Gee, Ami, I guess not."

Rei carried on as if not having heard them. "She was really upset. I know we can't keep holding back, not forever, and I know something had to be said, but…" Her head dipped as she sighed; it just made her look even more exhausted. "I wish there was another way. A better way."

"We all do. It…ow!" Makoto glared daggers at Mercury as she prodded her again, rather indelicately. Her friend met it with a steely gaze of her own. "It can't be helped, though. Chibiusa means well, but she's naïve. She'll come around in time."

"I hope so." The blue-haired Senshi produced a needle and thread from her medical kit and frowned. "Now, I'm all out of the skin-numbing gel, so this will hurt."

The brunette drew in a hissed breath as the needle pierced her skin. "You could try to sound at least a little apologetic."

"Mm-hmm." Utterly noncommittal, Mercury continued her ministrations. "I hope you're right about Chibiusa. I hate seeing her like this, and we'll have to keep a close eye on her condition. Mental health is always important, but even more so in a high-stress environment like this."

Makoto frowned as Rei stiffened suddenly. "Something wrong?"

"Oh, uh…no. No, it's nothing."

She glanced at Venus, the brunette decided. I'm sure of it. "Rei…?"

"It's just…" Her friend was clearly uncomfortable, but resigned to answering all the same. "Look, it's probably nothing, and Usagi wouldn't want me to blab, but I just think…" She let out a long, drawn out sigh. "Just…keep an eye on Minako."

"Why?" Makoto asked irritably. "What's she done now?"

Rei definitely seemed conflicted. "Usagi caught her in the middle of a conversation with…herself."

Mercury raised an eyebrow. "She's sure?"

"She was adamant it was nothing to worry about, that she has complete faith in Minako and all that, but I just…" The miko offered a helpless shrug. "I guess it's only fair that you know too. We're placing our lives in each other's' hands everyday now. We can't afford to keep secrets."

"Well…" The doctor-in-training cut off the excess thread and patted Makoto's leg. The brunette took a quick look at her handiwork, impressed by the nice, tidy rows of stitches holding the cut closed. "It's not entirely unheard of. Was this…conversation a once-off, or have there been others?"

"Once-off, at least as far as I know," Rei answered tentatively.

Mercury remained silent a moment, mulling things over. "I suppose, if I put myself in her shoes, I can understand why Minako may have felt uncomfortable speaking with us about her feelings. And it isn't all that uncommon to talk to yourself, especially when stressed like-"

"Just stop, Ami!" Makoto wasn't really angry, just…tired. Hurt. Maybe even a little disappointed. "It's the same thing every time! Minako says or does something crazy and you just shrug it off like it's nothing! When are you all going to start holding her accountable?"

Rei actually had the gall to roll her eyes. "Come on, Mako."

"No, I won't come on! I'm sick and tired of this…double standard! I'm always walking on eggshells, so worried about sparing her feelings to avoid some sort of meltdown. The fact is, Rei, if she isn't stable we need to take that seriously, not just laugh it off as 'crazy old Minako' like always!" She deflated at once, abruptly tired and just a little bitter. "What else is new, though? God, if you'd given me just an ounce of the same attention when Wrath died…"

Mercury's disapproval was clear immediately. "Wrath?"

She had nothing on Rei, though. "Really? You're really going there?!"

"Thanks for making my point for me," Makoto muttered, folding her arms across her chest. "She can talk to herself all she wants, and Ami's ready to explain it away as some innocent misunderstanding. I bring up my feelings for Garrett just one time and I'm nuts!"

"Because it is nuts!" the miko sputtered, eyes wide in disbelief. "Garrett wasn't real, Mako! His real name was Wrath, and he tried to kill us. All of us. Repeatedly!"

She stared at Venus ruefully, almost revelling in her newfound bitterness. "Minako's gotten away with nuts for years. When is it my turn? Where's my free pass?" An irritable snort punctuated her point. "Oh, right. I'm the strong one. I'm supposed to just dust myself off and get on with life, right?"

At least Mercury looked a little guilty. "Mako…"

"I really did have feelings for him, you know," she confessed quietly. "Maybe I still do, in some way. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense, but what's that old saying? The heart wants what it wants?" As she spoke, she caught Venus watching. The blonde turned away immediately, but it was obvious she had heard everything…and Makoto honestly didn't care anymore. "How's that for nuts?"

Rei responded with a snort of her own, a reaction that wasn't all that surprising…in hindsight. "Oh, I get it. You want sympathy, Mako, is that it?" She turned around and pointed right at Venus. "Do you want to know why we just roll our eyes at Minako's crazy antics? Because she is crazy!"

"Hey!" the blonde protested. "That's not-"

"Not in a 'needs-to-be-committed' way," the miko continued, "But she is nuts! After all these years, we actually expect it. We wait for it, Mako. We laugh at it! Hell, we even tease her about it."

"Don't you see?" Mercury asked gently. "You don't get a 'free pass' because we don't expect the same behaviour from you. We expect you to be strong. Well-adjusted. Stable."

"And that's fair?" Makoto retorted quietly.

Rei answered with a shrug. "No, it's not…but that's the way it is." She crossed her arms, appearing to consider her next words carefully. "Feel sorry for yourself all you want, but don't you dare try and tell us we don't care. We all tried to check up on you after what happened with Wrath, and you shut us out."

A sliver of guilt made it through Makoto's wall of self-pity. She remembered a moment at the shrine, before it was destroyed. Before the Revenant Knight had even arrived. Just her, Ami, Rei, and Minako, talking like the old days. Before things were so weird, so…strained. Before all this misery and infighting.

"All things considered," the miko continued, "It was probably Minako who tried hardest of all to get through to you, in case you've forgotten."

More memories followed. Minako asking how she was doing. For just a moment, Makoto had let her in…and it had helped. The blonde went on to make a surprisingly relatable speech about the illogical nature of love…and demonstrated understanding about how much time she'd spent with Corey. She wasn't jealous. Not at first. It was only after I gave her a reason to be that she got all mental about it, and it's not like she would have enjoyed that…right?

"Well?"

As Makoto returned to reality, she found Rei waiting with a raised eyebrow. A flash of shame hit her hard as she remembered the good times with Minako…and some of the terrible things she'd said in anger.

"Mako?"

"You're right," she admitted, hanging her head. "I guess, in a way, I wanted someone else to see that I wasn't okay. Someone other than-"

Rei finished her thought with a note of sympathy. "Corey?"

Makoto nodded meekly. "And even that went wrong. He was the only one of you who understood I was hurting, because he was hurting too. But, somehow, my wires got crossed…and that hurt turned into vulnerability, and I guess I mistook his kindness for…well, you all seemed to notice." The shame welled up again and she avoided her friends' gaze, her cheeks burning. "Everyone did but me."

"You weren't exactly subtle about it," Mercury noted quietly.

"I know I let myself get too close, but I backed off as soon as Minako…well, as soon as she was kind enough to let me know."

Rei grimaced. "Yeah, that's one way of putting it."

"I think that's the moment our friendship started falling apart. She said she forgave me, but it never really felt like it. Even now, days before Chaos turned up, she was kicking down my door in another jealous rant. I just…" Makoto shot another look Venus' way and found the other girl staring intently at her feet. "What else could I do but say I was sorry? How many times do I have to say it? Haven't I paid for that one, stupid mistake by now?"

"Have you ever asked her that?"

No, she answered silently, staring again at her former friend. Because while we still see one another, and we speak…we don't actually talk anymore. We haven't for more than six months…and I'm no longer so sure who deserves the blame for that.

Mercury patted her forearm. "Mako?"

The brunette produced her wand and held it aloft. "Jupiter Crystal Power, Make Up!" With a flash of light, Sailor Jupiter sat in her place. She pushed to her feet, stretching and twisting experimentally to test Mercury's stitches. Satisfied all was well, she turned and gestured down the street. "Come on. We said we'd take a fifteen-minute break, and it's easily been twenty. It's time to find Usagi."

Rei's disappointment was clear. "This isn't exactly a productive end to our conversation."

"But it is the end," she said firmly. "For now, at least." A final glance Venus' way revealed no trace of vulnerability; the blonde was back behind her own mask of professionalism now. "Come on. Let's go."

"Anything?" Sailor Moon dabbed at her brow with a sweaty, bloodstained glove as she waited for an answer from Pluto. They'd been trapped beneath the department store for perhaps fifteen minutes, and the heat was nearly unbearable. It wouldn't be long before the fire consumed what little oxygen remained; they had to escape, and soon!

"Nothing." The Guardian of Time paused in her work, the Garnet Rod lodged in the wall of rubble like a makeshift lever. "It's too heavy to move by hand, and the heat only makes things more difficult."

"Can't you just magic us out of here?" Chibi Moon asked, pacing back and forth beside her. "I know! You could use one of those little magic doorways you love so much!"

"My link to the Space-Time Door was severed during Chaos' assault," Pluto answered, with a grunt, "And reaching it is no small feat. Especially in our current predicament."

"But-"

"The current timeline is being rewritten as we speak, Small Lady. As such, it is extremely unstable. If I interfere, even indirectly, I risk causing further…changes."

Moon could read between the lines. She's worried about damaging things further...though it's hard to imagine how things could get worse right now!

"We'll just have to get out of here ourselves." Pluto gestured to her Rod impatiently. "Now, perhaps you might try actually helping me instead of asking pointless questions?"

Chibi Moon remained reluctant. "What if we fired an attack into it?"

Moon decided to field that one; even Setsuna's patience wasn't infinite. "It's too great a risk, Chibi Moon. We might bring the rest of the ceiling down on top of us."

"Well, we can't just stand around doing nothing. What about that door over there?"

Pluto glanced down the narrow corridor and shook her head. "Nothing but a backup generator and a dead-end."

"But that ceiling hasn't collapsed, right? What if we broke through the wall inside and..."

They continued arguing back and forth, leaving Moon alone to try her communicator again. Nothing but static, she thought miserably, same as…wait! There was something there, for just a second, that could have been a voice…but it was gone again almost immediately. "Quiet, both of you!" She made several adjustments to the signal, but was finally forced to give up in frustration. "I was sure I heard a voice!"

"Maybe it's Venus and the others?" Chibi Moon suggested, her optimism shining through. "The Boss Hunter said they got away. They could be-" She was silenced by an ominous rumble from above. The cracked ceiling began to shift, dust falling around them as the collapse Moon had feared began.

"Get back!" Pluto snagged the girl's arm and pulled hard, yanking her to safety.

A cloud of smoke and dust billowed along the corridor, blinding them. Coughing wildly, Moon waved a hand before her face in a vain effort to clear the air. "Chibiusa? Pluto?!" As her vision finally cleared, she was relieved to see them alive and well, huddled against the wall several feet away.

"We're alright," Pluto assured her sombrely. "However, I fear our situation has only worsened."

She was right. While the ceiling overhead remained largely intact, the other end of the corridor had collapsed entirely. The single door Chibi Moon had hoped to use was now obscured behind another pile of rubble.

"Great," Moon wheezed, squeezing out another cough. "We're even more trapped than before, and the smoke's really pouring in." Somewhat out of desperation, she peered up at their new obstacle, a radical idea forming in her mind. "Hmm. Could we climb up?"

"I doubt it." Pluto joined her investigation, staring into the inferno above. "I don't see many gaps large enough for you or I. Chibi Moon may fit, but the debris is far too hot to touch...not to mention the issue of the blaze itself."

"I could try," the teen offered. "We could make wraps for my hands and knees. Our skirts aren't any use right now anyway, and-"

"No, Pluto's right." Moon backed away carefully, literally coated in sweat. "It's way too hot up there. You can feel it from here." Wiping her brow a second time, she took a more frantic look around their surroundings. "Let's start over. There has to be something we can use to-"

"Hello?"

She froze, her ears immediately straining to listen. It was distant, but undeniably another voice.

"Is there anybody here?" A male voice, in fact, and relatively deep. Japanese, but with a heavy American accent. "Minako? Usagi? Anybody?!"

She leapt as high as she could, calling out as she reached the zenith. "Corey?! We're-" She hissed as she landed, pain lancing through her burnt side. Chibi Moon was quick to catch her, concern on her face. "We're…down here!"

"Usagi?!" His voice seemed a little closer. "Where are you?!"

"The back office! Under it, I mean!" Moon very nearly slapped her own forehead in frustration. "The Hunters! They collapsed the store on top of us. We're trapped!"

"Who's us?" he asked, with a noticeable air of hopefulness.

Moon's elation at his presence faded as she was reminded of their missing friends. "Chibiusa and Setsuna! We're not sure where the others are!"

A short pause. Then… "Alright." Sure enough, Corey's voice seemed closer still. "We have a problem. I can't reach you. The entire area's buried under what used to be the next floor up." Another pause. "What can you see? Where are you, exactly?"

"Uh…" Her mind began to work, struggling to remember their hideout's original layout. "A tunnel, or corridor…whatever. Underneath the little office we were sleeping in. The stairs must have been near the back wall, maybe…fifteen feet behind us?" A quick look to Pluto for confirmation was met with a nod. "I think you're to our right, but it's hard to tell from down here!"

"The corridor is approximately six feet wide, and nine high!" the Guardian of Time added. "What are you planning?"

"Shit…" His curse was muffled, hard to hear above the roar of the flames, but it didn't exactly inspire confidence.

"Corey?" Moon called, anxious. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" He sounded calm enough, she supposed. "Move to the middle of the room, wherever you're trapped. Stand as straight as you can, and stay still!"

She frowned, but did as he'd asked. "Okay, but-"

"Chibiusa, Setsuna? Clear out. Make some room around Usagi!"

Moon was definitely concerned now. More so than she had been, anyway. Swallowing anxiously, she wet her dry lips and cleared her throat. "Okay, they're clear. What now? Why did you-" She shrieked in surprise as he suddenly appeared in front of her, armour gleaming beneath the flames.

His gauntlet-clad fingers wrapped gently around her arm. "Hold on tight!"

The ponytailed Senshi was torn away, the narrow, smoke-filled corridor shrinking into nothingness in an instant. Her stomach lurched, abruptly uncertain which way was up, before another flash of light revealed a quiet, late-afternoon Tokyo street. Their hideout burned perhaps a block away, pouring thick, black smoke into the sky. Moon fell to her knees as a secondary wave of nausea hit, a typical response to one of Justice's 'blinks'. A fit of harsh, choking coughs followed as her lungs tried to expel whatever smoke they'd inhaled, eventually breaking down into a series of undignified dry heaves.

I guess I should be doubly grateful I declined Mama's offer of lunch, she thought idly, wiping a glove across her mouth. It stank of smoke and sweat, however, and she nearly starting retching again. Her struggles continued as Justice reappeared, first with Chibi Moon, then finally Pluto.

"My thanks," the typically reserved Guardian murmured, with a dainty cough of her own.

"Ditto." Moon was able to muster a faint smile between coughs. "You really saved our bacon." Much to her chagrin, her stomach rumbled loudly at the mere mention of the word. Come on, Usagi. Really?

Infinitely less restrained, Chibi Moon flung her arms around his waist. "You're back!" Mere moments passed before she broke the hug, however, staring up at him suspiciously. "You are back, right?"

The Knight's helmet dipped slightly, something Moon had come to recognise as a nod. "I am."

Pluto studied him curiously, eyes narrowing. "Something has changed, hasn't it?"

His pauldrons rose in a similar, low-key fashion; a shrug. "Something. It's not important right now." He jerked a thumb towards the store and cleared his throat. "What the hell happened here? You said something about Hunters?"

"Yeah." Moon straightened up with another wince. She pressed two fingers to her side and groaned; she was bleeding again. "Not just the regular type, either. They were led by a sort of…um…"

"Super Hunter!" Chibi Moon blurted out, shrugging helplessly at Pluto's look of disbelief.

Justice stared back at her, impassive behind his helmet. "Super Hunter?"

"He calls himself the Black Death," Pluto noted, eyeing Moon's wound with concern, "And he's quite fanatical in his devotion to Chaos."

"She means he's nuts!" Chibi Moon added, with a scowl. "He kept raving on and on about salvation, and the 'evil of the Sailor Senshi'." She performed the obligatory finger quotations, likely for the Guardian Knight's sake. "Like some kind of deranged preacher!"

The Guardian of Time sighed wearily. "It would seem our troubles have only just begun. Another sect of Hunters within their ranks. One that worships Chaos as a god…or perhaps a goddess, as seems appropriate now."

"So, it's still using Rinjirou's friend as a vessel." Justice's fist clenched slowly. "That poor woman."

It was a terrible fate; Moon couldn't argue with him there. "There's more, Corey. They actually want to destroy the Earth, so a new world can rise in its place."

"Damn," he muttered, shaking his head. "I'm gone for a week and the whole world goes to hell…" A moment passed as he studied the distant skyline, a hand resting cautiously on the hilt of his sword. It was eerily quiet once again. "Well, that can't be helped right now. Let's get you off the street; that wound needs treatment."

"I'm fine," she protested, too focused on her friends to cave so easily. "We still need to find-"

"I can find them." He sounded sterner than she remembered hearing in a long time. "That's a nasty burn, Usagi. I know from experience how rough they can be, so trust me when I say you need to rest and heal up."

Pluto turned to stand beside him, matching his stern tone perfectly. "I concur. Chibi Moon and I will aid in the search."

"After we get you somewhere safe," the girl concluded, folding her arms across her chest. "This is a fight you can't win, Sailor Moon. Give it up."

She considered pushing back, stubbornly clinging to the notion they needed her…but in the end, she relented. I hate to admit it, but I could really use an ice pack right about now. With a heavy sigh, she motioned forward and nodded. "Looks like I'll be visiting Mama again sooner than I expected." With just a moment's hesitation, she fell in behind the Guardian Knight. His presence was more of a comfort than she'd realised, and she couldn't stop a faint smile spreading across her lips. "Lead on, Justice. Things haven't been the same without you."

Sailor Venus was having a bad day, to say the least. We all are, I suppose, she corrected herself, with a sad little sigh. They were looping around, returning to the department store from the opposite direction. Hopefully, that would be enough to throw off any lingering Hunters. There was no sense in risking another confrontation so soon after the last. At least everything seems quiet. I've had my fill of masked jerks for the day!

In truth, she wasn't even all that upset with the assassins. Yes, they'd tried to kill her friends and fellow Senshi, but that was just Tokyo these days. An occupational hazard, if you would. No, she was far more bothered by the conversation she'd overheard between Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter. Admittedly, she was a little hurt by the 'crazy' comments…though not as much as she might have been in the past. She wasn't even that fussed that they knew about her little 'self-help' conversation. I know it wasn't a real breakdown, and that's what matters.

No, the crux of the matter was…well, the matter of being right. Specifically, her being right. I was so sure they were wrong, that Makoto was wrong...but now? I just don't know anymore. I haven't exactly had a lot of time for self-reflection, or even much inclination to consider Mako's feelings, but after hearing that? Maybe I'm-

"So…" Mars' long, drawn-out interjection was annoying enough on its own. "How much of that did you hear?"

There was no need to ask what that referred to. "Enough."

"And? Thoughts?"

By this point, Venus had been almost conditioned to tense up at anything Jupiter said. More than a week of constant, bitter arguing would do that to a person. And yet, she admitted curiously, I'm feeling guilty more than anything.

Mars raised an eyebrow. "Nothing to say?"

She almost responded with an irritated sigh, but that was hardly helpful. I'm so tired of being angry, she decided, and I'm beginning to see that I may not be as innocent in all this as I'd like to think. Brushing a stray lock of hair from her eyes – immediately dismayed by its grimy texture – she gave a brief, uncertain shrug. "It's the second time she's brought it up since all this started…and yeah, I can see where she's coming from. Though I wouldn't agree I'm crazy."

The miko rolled her eyes. "You may not be a raving lunatic, but even you can't deny you're at least a little nutty."

"I prefer excitable. Maybe over-enthusiastic?"

"Nope. Nutty."

"Fine," Venus muttered, bringing her arms up again in a loose self-hug. "Looking back on things now, I was so focused on all the drama around Corey and London that I didn't really consider how Makoto might see things…or why."

"None of us did." Mars glanced ahead; Jupiter walked beside Uranus, leading the way. "She did such a good job of pretending she was fine that we were all fooled. And, look, to be fair, you can be a little…er…"

"Jealous?" She nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, I guess I can be." Hesitating a moment, she made another confession. "I honestly believed I'd forgiven her, you know…but every time I so much as pictured her and Corey together I just explode!" Her eyes widened in an abrupt realisation. "Oh, no. I'm the bad guy here, aren't I?!"

"I'm not sure I'd go that far. Mako gave as good as she got, at least most of the time." Mars pressed her lips together, seemingly considering something. "Maybe it helps you see things from her perspective, though?"

"Maybe."

"I was mad about your little 'change of heart' too, at first," her friend confessed. "I even took it more than a little personally…but that didn't last. It all seems so petty, even pointless now. Especially after what that monster did to the…"

Venus felt another pang of guilt, albeit for different reasons this time. After what Chaos did to Rei's home. Without much thought at all, she gave the miko a gentle, one-armed hug. "I'm sorry. I got so caught up in this nonsense that I didn't even stop to consider how you must be feeling." She flashed a faint smile, the first genuine one she'd managed in some time. "Is there anything I can do? To help, I mean?"

As someone who'd spent years forcing such smiles, she saw right through Mars' attempt…but, to her credit, the miko kept at it anyway. "Just fix things with Mako, okay? Usagi was right. We can't afford to be divided anymore. Stopping Chaos is going to take all of us working together…and you two can't do that right now. Not like this."

"I dunno, Rei, that…that's a big ask." Even with her newfound remorse to help things along, she was uncertain she could just put it all behind her so easily. Even if I was overly jealous…and if I'm honest, I was…Makoto said some pretty hurtful things. Things she clearly meant. How am I supposed to forget that, especially when I was just standing up for love and justice? For what was right! Right…?

With everything else now out in the open, she decided to take a moment to really think things over. Was I really being sincere…or was that just a way to rationalise choosing Corey? I was terrified I'd lose him. Was I actually just looking for his approval? Am I really that insecure?

Their recent time apart had given her plenty of time to reflect on the state of their relationship, and she knew the answer immediately. I guess I am. I still think I did the right thing, for the right reasons, but it was also the convenient thing. Maybe I got there a little quicker than I might have on my own? That led to a rather depressing conclusion in its own right. Maybe I'm just as insecure and clingy as Corval was back in the Silver Millennium? Ouch.

Immediately, she imagined another voice. Not a real one, of course. She knew it was her own mind, but it was conjured up from memory. Measured delivery, a somewhat regal bearing…at least by way of comparison to her own speech. You already know what I'd have to say about that. The real question is what you intend to do with this realisation.

Thanks, she retorted sourly. You sure are annoying for a figment of my imagination.

I'm here whenever you need me, her smug, alternate self replied. Now, pay attention. Rei's starting to look concerned.

Sure enough, the miko was staring at her quizzically. "Hey. Still with me?"

Venus stirred, her cheeks already starting to burn. "Yeah. I, uh…listen, I'll give it some thought. Okay?"

"That's all I ask." Mars slipped an arm around her shoulders, returning her hug from earlier. "We'll get there. It may take time, and it may be difficult, but-"

"Help!"

Venus' eyes snapped forward, immediately searching for the source of the familiar cry. "Usagi?"

"Everyone, help!"

Squinting against the setting sun, she saw…something? Twin ponytails, feathery wings; a silhouette slowly faded into view, revealing the familiar features of her best friend. Relief began spreading throughout her chest as something finally went right…even as the look of sheer, unbridled fear on Moon's face threatened to end it all.

"You're alright!" Jupiter was much closer, perhaps fifty feet away at most. Her voice hinted at relief as well, a strangely foreign sound from the tall brunette. "What's wrong? Where are Chibi Moon and Pluto?"

"The Hunters!" Moon cried, gesturing frantically as she backpedalled. "They ambushed us! Pluto's hurt, and they have Chibiusa!"

Uranus stiffened immediately. "Where?"

"This way!" She darted off before Venus or Mars could get any closer. Her fear was plain to see, and all too familiar after the whole London debacle.

We have to catch her, Venus decided, before she gets herself into trouble again! Breaking into a run herself, she followed Uranus and Jupiter after their friend, waving the others on behind her. "Come on! Usagi needs us!"

It seemed there were more Hunters left in their day than she'd hoped. Jerks!

AN: Well, I just crept in under my one-month deadline, but I'll take it as a win regardless. I really hoped to have this up a week ago, but I've been really sick and when I was conscious my brain wasn't exactly in a great state for writing - high fevers suck!

More of a transitional chapter this time around. I revised my outline and realised I needed to do some setting up. So, while it appears that nothing of great import happened, I assure you this leads into a couple of pretty big plot-points. Namely, a possible resolution (or at least thawing) of Makoto and Minako's troubles; Usagi, Chibiusa and Setsuna are out of immediate danger (they were, at least!); and finally, Justice is back in Tokyo. I know some of you may grumble about ANOTHER cliffhanger, but I assure you this is much better than my original ending. I wound up chopping off about a thousand words to leave us with a slightly less rage-inducing dilemma for our heroines. Consequently, I already have about fifteen-hundred words written for Chapter Fifteen, plus a decent chunk of the rest outlined. I'm hoping that will make for a quicker turnaround next time!

Thanks as always for your kind reviews and words of encouragement. I hope to return to my previous levels of productivity now that this illness is behind me. Fingers crossed, anyway!

Lisseas