The torrent of foul beasts seemed to have no end.

Swiping a hand across her forehead, Jupiter brushed away the sweat which dotted her forehead and trickled down her face. She grimly retightened her grip on her sword hilt, which was slippery now with gore. Fear hung thick in the air.

It had been horrible. Without warning the attack had come, shattering the crystalline dome over the central ballroom. Screams and blood had followed as the noble crowd in the ballroom panicked, seeking someplace, anyplace that was safe.

There was none.

The Dark Kingdom's youma were there by the thousands, horrifying in their twisted features and in their bloodthirsty nature. They slaughtered brutally and without remorse all those who crossed their paths.

She'd had no choice, nor had any of the other planetary princesses. The High Senshi were the only ones who might stand against the brutes. Without hesitation, she'd grabbed her henshin wand, shouting her transformation to the sky. She had only two objectives: protect Princess Serenity and destroy as many of the monstrous creatures as she could before she died.

Skewering another youma, she gagged at the rank stench as its poisonous green blood poured forth. In the heat of battle she'd gotten separated from the other senshi. She saw no sign of them anywhere, but prayed they were well. Their faces, with one other, were foremost in her mind. "Be safe," she whispered, coughing as another cloud of noxious smoke and cinders choked her.

Screaming her lightning attack, her thoughts flitted to the other. Nephrite. Her love. Her lover. Her husband. They had been wed in secret the night before he had been called away to fight Beryl's evil forces. She hadn't seen him since. Indeed, it had been weeks since she had heard from him at all. She'd been fighting the secret terror in her heart all that time, unable to tell another soul.

Surging forward through the smoke, Jupiter carved up youma right and left, soaking the ground with gore. "Beryl, you traitorous bitch," she snarled. "If he dies, I swear I will kill you without mercy and dance on your grave!"

As if her thoughts of him had conjured him up, Jupiter was stunned to see a familiar face through the dark clouds and ash. Blood stained his sword and shield and his face was set in a grim mask, but he was unmistakably alive and well, and the most beautiful sight she could have hoped to see.

"Nephrite!" she cried out, pressing her hand to her breast. Beneath her fuku's bow she could feel the precious wedding ring he'd given her, hanging from a chain just over her pounding heart.

He viciously sliced through a beast that was in his way, battling his way toward her side. There, without warning, in the middle of the battlefield overflowing with gore, he grabbed her and bent her backward, kissing her with lusty, head-spinning passion.

She never saw coming the blow which hurled her into the dark night.

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It was so cold and dark. Her power was light, yet she had none, and if she didn't find the light she would die. Selene defend her, she didn't want to die alone in the darkness! She would fight!

When she finally forced her eyes open, banishing the darkness, Lita blinked, staring about her. She was someplace she'd never been before, alone in a dimly lit, sparsely furnished, windowless chamber of cold grey stone. Horrified, she tried to remember what had happened. The effort made a lance of pain shoot through her skull, but she persisted. She recalled only fragmentary bits and pieces. Fighting…blood… a battle…the senshi…Nephrite…

"By Zeus," she muttered, raising a hand to her throbbing head. She could feel a goose-egg there and fingered it gingerly as she surveyed her surroundings.

She lay on an enormous four-poster bed that appeared to be carved of heavy oak, hung about with hunter green curtains. Beneath her were rich bedclothes of the same dark hue. To her shock she realized she no longer wore her sailor fuku, but was clad in a heavy gown. Her henshin wand was nowhere to be found, Lita realized as she groped for it. She struggled to sit up and it all came back to her in a sickening rush. She had to find her princess and figure out what was going on. Someone had to protect Serenity!

Stumbling from the bed, she stared disbelieving at her reflection in the long mirror that hung from the chamber wall. Never in a millennium would she have chosen the slinky ebony silk. It clung to her every curve, the narrow skirt slit almost to her hip on one side, revealing a nearly indecent length of creamy thigh which had her blushing. It dipped low in front over her breasts revealing nearly all of her cleavage, though a thin wisp of black veiling connected the heart-shaped bodice to a tight silk band around her throat which was studded with emeralds. The long flowing sleeves were of the same filmy stuff and cuffed tightly at the wrists. Instead of carved pink roses, faceted teardrops of emerald and onyx dangled from her earlobes.

Even her hair scarcely seemed to be her own. Her sorrel curls had been pulled up into an intricate coiffure and banded with a diadem of obsidian roses and gold leaves. As she reached up to touch it, another gleam of gold made her realize, to her shock, that her wedding ring, which she had hidden so close to her heart, now boldly encircled the fourth finger of her left hand.

"What in the wor…"

Lita broke off, her hand going to her throat as the farthest door opened. She let out a relieved sigh a second later as she saw the face of her husband, flying to his side.

"Nephrite," she blurted out, seeking answers in his velvet brown eyes, "what's going on? I'm so confused. The Moon Kingdom was attacked so suddenly. Please tell me, where is Serenity-sama? We've got to do something!"

He pressed a hand to her lips, silencing the flood of words. "Ssssh… Don't worry, love. It's alright. Princess Serenity has been taken care of. And Endymion as well."

The tone of his voice sent chills up Lita's spine. For the first time she realized he was not wearing his white uniform of a protector of Elysian, but one of steely grey with cabochon epaulets and trim the color of black current wine. The uniform of the Dark Kingdom elite…

Her mouth dropped open in horror. "Dear Goddess Selene, Nephrite! What have you done?!" She bit her lip, nearly drawing blood.

"Never mention that accursed name again!" he roared suddenly, as a quick, savage cuff sent her sprawling to the floor.

Lita stared at him wide-eyed and numb. Her hand pressed against her red, stinging cheekbone, the gold band there winking tauntingly. In spite of the pain, she could scarcely believe it had happened. He had NEVER struck her before. Indeed, the man she'd married would have sooner cut off his own hand than raise it to her in anger.

The sudden fear in her liquid green eyes seemed momentarily to touch something in him. Nephrite knelt down, gently drawing her stiff, unyielding body into an embrace. "I am sorry, Lita, my darling, but to speak that name is tantamount to treason and the penalty would be execution."

His grip on her tightened to a point that was nearly painful. One of his hands tangled in her hair and he pressed his mouth against hers fiercely, demanding a response. Against her lips he murmured, "I can't lose you, pet. You're mine and mine alone. You have to understand that. Even Beryl knew I had to have you beside me. She arranged it so, and this is how it must be. Will always be." He drew back, staring deeply into her eyes. She could see the love there in his gaze, but also obsession and a hint of…madness, perhaps, and she felt her soul turn to ice.

"Don't worry, Lita Love" he said in a voice that was anything but soothing. "Metallia's power will make everything clear to you."

The Jovian princess' strangled scream died in her throat as a stygian mist seemed to enshroud her, filling her mouth and lungs and ears, her every pore, with its swirling, choking bleakness. She clawed, fighting against the icy onslaught, but finally her world went black and she knew no more.

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"Rise now and serve me well."

"My honor to serve and obey, my queen," she murmured ritualistically.

The woman lifted her lips from Beryl's ring, rose from where she knelt before the throne, and bowed once before withdrawing.

From the shadowy depths of the throne room Nephrite smiled an unholy smile.

"Come, wife," he whispered, taking Lita's hand in his and brushing his lips against the back of her hand as she curled eagerly into his embrace. "Together we now have worlds to conquer, my love."