Chapter Thirty
LadyPrin
Disclaimer Applies.
"Zoi, I love it!!!" Ami exclaimed as she held up the still wrapped book that Zoisite had just given her.
"You haven't even unwrapped it yet!" Zoi laughed.
"Well, I calculate that it's a book, therefore I know I'll love it!" Ami explained as she flung her arms around his neck and hugged him tight.
"I knew you would!" Zoi cheered as Ami finally started to unwrap the book.
They were by the Crystal Lake that encircled the whole Moon Kingdom.
The water was peaceful and calm as Zoisite lay there with Ami lying in front of him.
As Ami started reading the book, pointing out which parts she liked, which calculations were wrong or right, Zoisite reached inside his cape and quietly withdrew something.
That something glinted dangerously in the light of the Earth that reflected off the Lake, but Ami was so entranced in her book, she never noticed it.
Not until Zoisite had plunged the dagger straight into her back.
The book slipped from her hands and fell into the water with a soft splash.
"Zoi—" Was all Ami could say before she slumped forward, dead.
She lay there half in the water, half out, with one arm gently floating upon the water's glimmering surface.
Her blood streamed into the water, making thin veins of red in the blue and white.
Zoisite looked up at the Earth that hung in the sky half in darkness, and his eyes glistened black.
"I love it!!! It's so pretty and delicate looking!!!" Lita exclaimed as she fondled the wispy branches of the baby Weeping Willow.
"How about we plant it now?" Nephrite asked. "Over there in that corner of your garden?"
"That's the perfect place for it!!!" Lita cried happily as she carried the plant in its pot over to the corner.
Nephrite helped her dig a big enough whole. Then Lita put the plant in it, and started covering its roots with dirt.
While she worked she asked Nephrite questions about how to take care of a Weeping Willow.
Nephrite answered in a normal excited voice like she's always heard from him, but her back was to him so she never saw him take out his dagger.
She never saw it coming.
She fell to the ground beside the newly planted Weeping Willow, its branches softly brushing her face.
Her blood mixed with the dirt that covered the trees roots, turning the dirt to a muddy reddish brown color.
Nephrite looked up at the Earth, and his eyes were black as coal.
"Ready? Set? Go!" Rei cried.
Rei and Jedite both stared at their hands making fire form flowers.
Rei won the match when hers was completed first.
"You may have won, but I can do you one better!" Jedite said challengingly.
He stared at the single rose of fire in his palm, and then plucked it from his hand.
The stem of fire came to a point like as if it had been snipped by sheers. The petals fully opened out. The two big leaves were slightly curled under.
"An everlasting Fire Rose." Jedite proclaimed as he presented it to Rei.
Rei's bouquet of fire flowers disappeared as she gently took the Fire Rose by its stem.
"It's beautiful!" She said softly.
"It'll last forever, and it won't set anything a flame, so you can put it in a vase. Also, other people cannot touch it, only you, for it was meant for only you." Jedite explained with his hands behind his back.
Rei was so happy she ran to him and threw her arms around his neck, and hugged him tightly.
Her eyes were closed the entire time, so she never saw the dagger come swinging down. She only felt it pierce her back, straight to her heart.
Her eyes flew open, and in her final moments, she looked at Jedite and spoke a single word.
"Why?"
The last thing she saw was Jedite's eyes go dark, and then she fell to the hard stone floor of her Fire Room.
The Everlasting Fire Rose fell out of her hand and rolled gently across the floor, but it didn't go out.
The Great Fire in the pit in the center of the room did go out, for it's caretaker, protector, reader, and soul was extinguished.
"Kunzite, they're beautiful!!! Even more beautiful than the last set you gave me!" Mina cried happily as she opened the little wooden box.
Kunzite smiled happily at her.
"Would you like me to put your clip on?" He asked.
"Sure!" Mina exclaimed happily.
She turned around on the bench to where her hair was facing Kunzite.
They were sitting on the benches inside the gazebo in the middle of the maze.
Mina sat on one side of Kunzite, so Kunzite placed the box open on the other side of him, and started brushing her hair softly with the brush.
Mina sat there with her eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of Kunzite's gentle fingers roaming through her hair.
When Kunzite closed the flower clasp, Mina opened her eyes.
She turned around to hug Kunzite.
Kunzite had been aiming for her back, but she had moved around too fast and so his dagger struck her in the chest, but not directly in her heart.
She slumped against him, staring up at him with wide blue eyes, in her final moments trying to figure out what was wrong.
Kunzite's eyes went black and he looked up toward the ceiling of the gazebo.
All four generals heard Queen Beryl's voice.
'Perfect. You have done well. Now, finish what you started. Release yourselves.'
All four generals raised their daggers high, and plunged them down toward their own hearts.
Three of the generals struck their targets and were dead instantly.
But just as Kunzite's dagger came close to his chest, Mina's hand came up and struck it.
She didn't have enough strength to knock it from his hand, so it still pierced his chest, but not his heart directly.
He did not die instantly.
Mina struggled to breath as she watched a mass of shadow pull itself out of Kunzite's eyes and mouth.
It flew up in the air and disappeared.
Though Mina didn't know it, the same happened to the three other generals as well.
Kunzite slumped back onto the bench with a cry of pain.
"What the—!" He cried as he saw the dagger in his chest, the blood on his hands.
He went to sit up, but noticed Mina lying on his chest just beside the dagger.
"Mina! What happened?" Kunzite cried as he held her up.
Mina looked at him now, not with anger in her eyes, only with deep sorrow, and love.
"I still, love you." She whispered with her last soft breath.
Then her eyes went dull, and she was gone.
Kunzite let his tears flow freely.
"What have I done?" He asked him self repeatedly as he held Mina close to him and rocked her gently.
He tried contacting the other generals, but realized they were dead when he felt an empty void on the other side of his mind links.
He tried to contact Endymion, but something was blocking him.
"If this hasn't happened to Endymion and Serena yet, I'm going to warn them!" Kunzite cried.
He pushed with his mind against the barrier with all his mental strength left to him, as his body weakened more.
'Endymion!!!' Kunzite cried as he finally felt Endymion's presence on the other side of the mind link.
'Kunzite, what hap—Ah! What's wrong? You're in pain, why?' Endymion asked as he stopped dancing with Serena, though he still held her hand.
Serena waited patiently, wondering what was wrong.
'Endymion, we--, I've--.' Kunzite tried to say.
Then he felt the barrier trying to push him out, so he tried harder to speak.
'They're dead, Endymion! They're all dead! We killed them! She made us kill them!'
Endymion's brow furrowed as he tried to understand what Kunzite was saying.
'The scouts are dead! Beryl made us kill them! Then she made us kill ourselves, only Mina stopped me from killing myself completely before she died!' Kunzite managed to explain fully.
"NO!" Endymion shouted with his voice, not just his mind.
Then he lost all contact with Kunzite.
Since Kunzite could no longer feel Endymion, he quit trying to speak to him.
He had said all he had needed to say anyway.
"We're not going to make it out of this battle alive." Kunzite admitted to Mina's motionless form. "Even if there is a chance of it, I don't want to make it out alive. Not if I don't have you beside me."
He quickly pulled the dagger from his chest, and plunged it in again.
This time he did not miss.
Back at the Time Gate, Beryl grinned.
"Go." She commanded, and the invasion began.