A/N: Many thanks to Vchanny, Valkyrie Celes, and hateme101 for the lovely reviews!

Written for the Senshi/Shitennou Reverse Mini Bang 2017. Huge thanks to all the mods who set this up. Huge thanks to my betas, CharlieChaplin2, Galaxylily, and Thalia! Huge, huge thanks to mochibuni, for her beautiful artwork which was the inspiration to this fic.

Chapter 4

Makoto's eyes snapped open, and she stared unseeingly ahead.

Fear, sadness, anger, and guilt concocted up an interesting feeling inside her, until she remembered that she wasn't Jupiter anymore.

She was Makoto Kino. Her Princess was very much alive, and so was her Princess's love. Despite Silver Millennium being destroyed, there was a new one just around the corner.

Almost numbly, she sat up in her bed, her motions reminiscent of zombies. A small part of her hollered for it to be just a dream, but there was a feeling, deep down, that it wasn't. She knew that it was memories about her past life.

"Well … at least that answers my question of where had my confidence gone," she muttered into the darkness.

She wondered how many people could've gotten out of that without having their confidence sorely bruised. It was quite a pity it carried on to this lifetime though.

A soft breeze blew in from the window she'd left open before she'd gone to bed, and that was when she realized that her face was wet and that she had been crying in her sleep. With a sigh, she trudged out of bed and went into the bathroom.

Looking into the mirror, she groaned. Her eyes were the size of walnuts.

"Ugh …" she murmured, turning on the faucet and splashing cold water on her face.

She wasn't even certain her past life was something that was worth crying about anymore. Yet … apparently there was still a part of her that felt like it should.

She turned off the faucet and closed her eyes, running the memories she'd gotten back from her dreams through her mind again.

She could still feel the contrasting emotions from the two different scenes that had been presented to her in her dreams as if the events had just happened yesterday.

"Jupiter."

Her head snapped upwards and she looked around, only to find that she was still alone in the bathroom. She sighed and clutched her head with one hand. Did emotions carry from one lifetime to another? If one looked at Usagi and Mamoru, they would probably say yes, but … she wasn't so certain. Sure, she thought Nephrite looked rather handsome, but could she fall in love with him this lifetime?

Which doesn't really matter, since the man is dead anyway.

However, there was something inside Makoto that couldn't let things go. Was it because the Silver Millennium Jupiter couldn't rest in peace? But why? Was it because there wasn't an actual closure or resolution to what had happened? After all, she'd never found out if Nephrite had been the one who'd killed Prometheus. Had she fallen in love with a person who had killed her brother? Had he been doing things willingly? Or had he been brainwashed? If he had been swayed by Metallia, when had it happened? Had it happened before they'd first arrived on Earth or after they'd left the ball? Everything was just so confusing to Makoto.

It could've been worse … like falling in love with Zoisite …

She recalled what she had thought about before drifting into the dreams and couldn't hold back a snort.

"Sorry, Ami-chan," she whispered into the empty bathroom.

Turning around, she leaned against the sink and wondered if Mamoru remembered the Shitennou as his guards. If the ones they had met at the battlefield—and Makoto was quite certain that the other Senshi had been pitted against the Shitennou they had fallen in love with during that final battle—were indeed brainwashed, she could only imagine how hurt Mamoru would be, to lose them yet again this lifetime.

Perhaps she should pay Mamoru a visit? Or should she talk to Ami first? She had no idea anymore with her mind still reeling from what she had witnessed.

She sighed again and dropped her hand to one side. For a moment, she wondered what it would feel like to have a normal life. She couldn't quite remember how she'd lived her life before meeting Usagi, despite it being only a couple of years ago. Would she be happier as a normal girl?

She knew that the answer was a definite "no".

Because the demons, nightmares, and heartaches were worth it when her Princess was there, beside her and happy.

Thinking about Usagi made a smile blossom on her face, and she determinedly brushed away her sadness. The past belonged in the past. Even if she did remember what had happened now, it shouldn't affect her that much.

Though she could do well to regain some of that haughty confidence she'd had during the Silver Millennium. Since she was going to become one of the Imperial Guards of Neo-queen Serenity and King Endymion and High Queen of Jupiter, she might as well play her part well.

Now that was an idea that would make Rei proud of her.

With that thought in mind, she shuffled back into her room, dropped into bed, and allowed sleep to overcome her.

~-0-~

She woke up to the sound of someone ringing the doorbell. Groggily, she reached out and brought the alarm clock over to her face. Cracking open one eyelid, she groaned when she realized that it was already ten o'clock. Damn those annoying past life memories.

Pushing herself out of bed, she slouched out of her room, still in her pajamas and a blanket around her shoulders. With a tired yawn, she opened the front door, not bothering to check who it was first. Even with her half-asleep, she was pretty certain she could zap any intruder into the Ice Age after the one that would proceed the New Silver Millennium.

"You seem to have had a rough night."

Rei's voice surprised her, since she hadn't been on Makoto's list of guesses in regards to who was at the door. Makoto stared at her before noticing that Ami standing next to the raven-haired woman.

Makoto sighed. "So you knew."

Rei raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest, apparently waiting for her to elaborate.

Instead, it was Ami who spoke up, "Rei-chan called me last night. She'd known that we would go …" She trailed off, casting a look at Rei.

"Prodding around in things that should've been left untouched," Rei finished for Ami. "Certain things should be left unexplored."

"Yeah, could've used that advice had it come a bit earlier," Makoto murmured.

Rei huffed as she walked past Makoto and sat down on one of the couches, letting Makoto marvel at how someone could still look so elegant and graceful while they were being so haughty. Ami, on the other hand, was the epitome of being gentle and delicate as she, too, took a seat.

Two kinds of women that she would never be.

Makoto mentally groaned. Was she really going to let a dead man's words affect her that much? It completely went against her vow to become more confident.

"So? Are you going to tell me what happened?" Rei asked, breaking Makoto's train of thought.

Casting a look at Ami, Makoto conveyed with her eyes that she was fine either way. After Ami gave her a nod, Makoto sighed and sat down as well. For the next two hours, the two of them filled Rei in with details of what they had gone through for the past couple of days. When they were finally finished, Makoto realized that the time was past noontime, and so she went to the kitchen to prepare lunch for the three of them. No past life tragedies were worth empty stomachs.

Thankfully, his criticism before she'd died hadn't affected her cooking skills. Or maybe it had for the better. Who could really tell at this point?

"So Minako never talked to you about this?" she heard Ami asking Rei.

"Of course not," Rei said, and Makoto could almost imagine her resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "If there's anyone who can't get it into her own head that we'd gotten over our past lives, it's her."

Ami didn't answer Rei, and Makoto could guess why she didn't do so. The truth of the matter was that neither her nor Makoto could be certain that they'd gotten over their past lives, and to be honest, Makoto wasn't sure if Rei really believed what she herself said either.

"So after that? What happened?" Rei asked after thanking Makoto for the lunch she'd handed her.

Makoto sat down and prodded her food with chopsticks, suddenly uncertain of how to tell the two of them without sounding like she was some crazy old fool who believed in dream worlds.

"This might sound stupid … but I had dreams last night," Makoto said carefully.

Rei's eyebrow shot upwards once more. "I look into the fire to read signs. We're magical girls who transform by holding up pens, or in Usagi's case, holding up a brooch, and shouting a codeword. Usagi and Mamoru, to name a few, had plenty of dreams that turned out to be significant as well. You can't get any more mystical and non-sciencey than what I had just mentioned."

In spite of herself, Makoto smiled, and she realized how silly she had been. Even though Rei had one of the sharpest tongues out of their group, she would always put her friends' well-being above everything else. And seriously, Rei and Michiru knew how to read these premonitions and dreams better than anyone, so it would be dumb to not ask her about it. Therefore, Makoto decidedly told Rei about what she had dreamed.

When she was finished, she peered at Rei, trying to figure out the expression that was now on the latter's face.

"I was afraid that was going to happen when Ami told me what the two of you had done," Rei finally said.

"So it's real? The dreams are real?" Makoto asked, even though she pretty much already knew the answer.

Rei lowered her eyes and nodded. "Usagi didn't know much about our … our relationships with the Shitennou."

She paused shortly, and Makoto wondered if it were because she didn't know how to say her next words or because of something else.

"Out of the four of us, I know that Minako remembers the most, followed by me," Rei continued to say. "I don't know when she remembered though because she hides it too well. For all I know, she could've been pretending to not remember the Shitennou while we were fighting them. I myself, though, remembered bits and pieces afterwards, while we were fighting the Death Busters, but by then, the Dark Kingdom had already been destroyed, and since it didn't seem like any of you remembered it, I didn't say anything." A wry smile appeared on Rei's face. "I mean, who would want to remember a baby-eating Nephrite?"

Makoto's mouth dropped open. "He does not eat babies."

Ami covered her mouth to silence a giggle.

"You say he doesn't, but I'm not very convinced, given that you were very much in love with him," Rei said, closing her eyes and turning her nose up.

With those words, the atmosphere suddenly turned somber once more. Rei opened her eyes and glanced at Makoto when she noticed the unnatural silence.

"Do you still have feelings for him?" she asked quietly as care replaced conceit.

"He's dead, so what difference would it make?" Makoto asked.

Something flashed through Rei's eyes, and she said, "Stop trying to avoid the question."

Makoto's shoulders slumped down as she ran her finger across the rim of her plate absentmindedly. "I don't know," she answered truthfully. "I don't know him. At least, not in this lifetime. Besides, there are so many things that weren't resolved in that lifetime."

"They were brainwashed back then, like Mamoru-san was this lifetime," Rei said evenly.

Makoto shook her head, more confused than ever. "I don't know, Rei-chan. But … he said that my brother … I … My brother was killed so many years ago before he came to the moon, and he claimed to be the one who'd done it. What if he was never brainwashed? What if he had been evil all that time?"

"We don't know if what he'd said was true or not," Rei said. "If he was brainwashed, his main agenda would've been to kill all of us, so he could've just said that to play psychological games with you."

Makoto fell silent as she thought over what Rei said. Then, she suddenly laughed weakly. "I would've thought that out of all of us, you would've hated them the most."

Rei raised an eyebrow. "You do remember that Jii-san was one of the Seven Great Youma in his previous life, don't you? What kind of hypocrite would I be if I condemned Nephrite? Especially when he showed a more human side than all of the other three combined?"

Makoto sighed, reminded of the fact that Nephrite did show feelings towards Naru. Granted, she did have Umino now, but …

Oh, what was she thinking about anyway? He was dead. Why was she even fussing over previous lives when it didn't really matter anymore? Even if he did have feelings towards Naru, it should be understandable. After all, she couldn't expect him to love her after thousands of years, could she?

Nonetheless, the fact that he was capable of showing kindness towards Naru while coldly killing her on the moon didn't sit well with her. She knew it was stupid, especially when she didn't even know him this lifetime, but it still bothered her, causing her stomach to churn whenever her mind got close to that subject.

She forced herself to push that thought to take a backseat and asked Rei instead, "Do you still love him?"

Rei looked at her from the corner of her eyes. "No. In fact, I never did love him."

Makoto stared at her in surprise until Ami laughed softly.

"I think she meant Jadeite, Rei-chan, not Nephrite," Ami said, the laughter not quite leaving her voice.

Makoto grabbed a pillow and threw it at Rei. "I hate you!"

Rei caught the pillow, an arrogant look on her face. "Not my fault you'd made your question so ambiguous. And no, why would I still love a misogynistic pig who'd tried to run over Usagi, Ami-chan, and me with airplanes?"

Ami's eyes took on an amused twinkle as she said, "Didn't you already say that they were brainwashed? He wasn't really being himself at that time."

A pink tinge appeared on Rei's cheekbones and a savage look appeared in her eyes. "Don't make me talk about Zoisite and you, Ami-chan."

Makoto laughed, feeling the best she had for the past two days, as she watched Ami's face turn completely red, but then she stopped when she noticed that the girl didn't say anything to retort Rei.

Before she could ask, however, Ami changed the subject, asking Rei about what else she remembered about their past lives. It turned out that most of what Rei knew was simply logical deductions from what she'd gleaned from the fire, and therefore, she knew even less than what Ami and Makoto did.

After finishing their meals, the conversation slowed.

"I need to go back to the temple," Rei said, looking at her watch. "An important businessman and his grandmother—"

Her voice took on a sarcastic tinge of voice at the word "important".

"—made a reservation for special services and Jii-san needs me to be there."

Ami murmured something about school and followed Rei to the kitchen to place the plates in the sink, knowing that Makoto preferred to wash the dishes herself. They then bade Makoto good-bye and it slightly worried Makoto when she saw that Ami's movements were more frantic than usual.

It's really not sitting well with her that she'd fallen in love with Zoisite.

Therefore, she silently vowed to request for the others to not talk about it in front of Ami.

After Ami and Rei left, she cleaned up the dishes and went into her room to change out of her pajamas. Checking on the time, she nodded to herself, remembering that Usagi had mentioned that she and Mamoru would be at the latter's apartment at this time.

In both lifetimes, Makoto had never been known as a patient woman. Since she had set her heart on getting things about her past life over and done with, she might as well do it right then and there. If there was anyone left on Earth who probably knew how Prometheus died, it had to be Mamoru.

If Nephrite was indeed innocent, then she could focus on remembering the happy times they'd had with one another. If he was the one who'd killed Prometheus, then she could safely hate his memory without feeling guilty.

Grabbing her keys, she left her apartment with a set goal in mind.

~-0-~

The moment Makoto stepped into the apartment, she had a feeling that something was off. Tingles crawled up and down her back and she could barely brush away the urge to run. It made her feel antsy and on the edge.

"Oh, so you had a few dreams and now you think you're a fortune-teller with a sixth sense. Get real, Kino Makoto," she muttered to herself.

Stepping into the elevator, the feeling only continued to increase until she could hardly breathe.

Perhaps this was a bad idea. Perhaps Nephrite did kill Prometheus. Or could it be even worse? Could Prometheus had been swayed to follow Beryl and therefore had gotten killed by Nephrite? Not that she needed someone to hate, but what should she do then? Should she still remember the loving brother who'd thought of her no matter where he'd go? Or should she bemoan the fact that two people she'd loved in her past life had been brainwashed by evil beings? And to be very honest, she couldn't even be sure that the agitation she felt meant that something was wrong.

With a ding, the elevator door opened. Checking that she was indeed on the right floor, she stepped out into the hallway but didn't immediately walk towards Mamoru's apartment, choosing to take a couple of deep breaths first.

However, the feeling didn't go away. In fact, her heart seemed to be insistent on pounding painfully against her ribcage. And now her feet decided that they didn't want to walk forward.

She stood there for so long that the elevator behind her opened again, forcing her to move.

"Mako-chan …"

She whipped her head around, only to find Ami standing inside the elevator.

"Ami-chan …"

The two of them stared at one another for a while until Ami stepped out of the elevator, allowing it to close behind her. She stopped next to Makoto and glanced at Mamoru's door before looking back at Makoto.

"I … do you have this strange feeling?" Ami asked, a frown on her delicate features.

"Tell me about it," Makoto said with a nervous laugh. "I wanted to ask Mamoru-san a few questions, but I don't know now. Perhaps … I should wait or something. I don't even know."

Ami nodded slowly and peered at Mamoru's door again.

Makoto threw her hands up into the air. "This can't get any worse than it already is, can it?"

Ami gazed at her silently, as if she knew that Makoto didn't really need an answer from her. Being a Sailor Senshi usually meant that things always had the potential of getting worse regardless of how shitty a situation you were already in.

With a sigh, Makoto forced herself to move forward, and she felt rather than heard Ami following behind her.

As they got closer to the door, they could hear voices from within, signifying that there was someone, if not Mamoru or Usagi, at home.

If it was robbers, well, they were in for a big surprise.

Her hand hovered over the doorbell for just a split second before she resolutely pressed down on it. She could hear the ringing from the inside, and moments later, the door opened, revealing the bright cerulean eyes and the brilliant smile of her Princess.

Surprisingly, Usagi seemed to freeze on the spot when she saw Ami and Makoto, but she quickly recomposed herself.

"Mako-chan, Ami-chan! Er … why are you here?" she asked.

"We need to ask Mamoru-san something," Makoto said straightforwardly.

"Oh … um … just a second," Usagi said, almost nervously.

She turned around and ran into the apartment, calling "Mamo-chan" along the way. Makoto and Ami shared a look with one another, finding their Princess's reaction rather strange. With a shrug, Makoto pushed open the door and entered Mamoru's apartment with Ami in tow and promptly stopped in her tracks.

The blond-haired man sitting on the sofa choked on his tea when his eyes landed on Makoto and Ami. It was hard for Makoto to not notice that a few strands of his hair looked like they'd been singed.

"Shit," he managed to wheeze as he grabbed tissues to wipe away the tea that had sprayed onto the table.

"For Gaea's sake, don't tell me that a few years inside a block of ice had rendered you incapable of drinking a simple cup of tea, Jadeite."

The voice laced with sarcasm got louder and louder as the owner stepped out from one of the rooms and entered the living room, oblivious to the two Senshi.

Jadeite, who was still coughing, stole another glance at the two women standing at the doorway. The newcomer, upon noticing this, immediately turned his head around, and his bottle-green eyes immediately zeroed in on Ami.

"Mercury …" Zoisite whispered.

With a strangled squeak, Ami took a step back, and before anyone could react, she turned around and ran out of the apartment, slamming the door shut behind her. Zoisite instantly ran after her, but seconds later, Makoto numbly registered him storming back into the living room.

"NEPHRITE, GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!" Zoisite hollered.

Upon hearing his name, Makoto felt the blood drain from her face. Contradicting feelings clashed inside her when she heard a string of creative curses being said by a familiar voice.

"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM, ZOISITE?" Nephrite bellowed. "I WAS THIS CLOSE TO—"

What he was close to, nobody knew, since the words stopped the moment he stomped into the living room and his eyes met with Makoto's.

"Mercury iced the doorknob. She iced the doorknob! Unfreeze it!" Zoisite whined, but Nephrite wasn't listening to him.

His eyes remained on Makoto. After what seemed like an eternity, he took a step forward, only for Makoto to take one backwards, leaving the same amount of space between them. A pained look passed through his eyes when he saw the reluctance in her eyes.

"Nephrite!" Zoisite continued to whine.

"You know, you can just transform and jump out the window. It'll actually be easier than taking the elevator," Jadeite suggested.

Zoisite's expression brightened, but before he could do so, Mamoru said, "It's broad daylight. I prefer not to be investigated for having strange men jump out my window."

That was when Makoto noticed that Mamoru had entered the living room with Usagi next to him. She tore her eyes away from Nephrite as her mind did its best to comprehend what was going on.

"Endyyyyy!" Zoisite complained.

"Would you stop whining?" Jadeite asked, a look of disgust on his face. "If you haven't noticed, Jupiter is here, and it's kind of embarrassing."

Mamoru's eyes slid over to Makoto, and an apologetic expression appeared on his face. However, it was another voice that spoke up

"I'm sorry that this is the condition under which you had to meet the four of us again, Sailor Jupiter."

Stiffly, Makoto turned her head until her eyes met with those of Kunzite's. His silver-grey eyes were kinder, she noticed, much kinder than they had been while he was under the control of Metallia.

"While I know that apologies cannot make up for all we had done, I hope that the immature actions presented to you by the three of them today would not prevent you from granting us a chance to prove ourselves worthy of your trust once more," Kunzite continued to say.

"You're alive. All four of you. Again," she said, not really concentrating on the long dialogue Kunzite had just said.

"Yes, we are," Kunzite said, slightly amused and a tiny bit wary.

"How?" she choked out.

At this, Kunzite cast an uncertain look towards Mamoru and Usagi.

"We revived them, Mako-chan," Usagi spoke up.

Makoto's eyes snapped over to her. "You … revived them?"

Usagi nodded. Tentatively, she walked over to Makoto and took her by the hand. "Perhaps we should talk about this alone first."

Though she was looking at Makoto, Mamoru and the Shitennou understood what she wanted. A small part of Makoto's mind registered how Usagi was gradually developing into the all-powerful, beautiful queen they'd had a glimpse of when they'd traveled into the future, and she couldn't help but wonder with a bit of nostalgia how much of that crybaby teenage girl would stay the same.

Nephrite looked like he wanted to ignore the request, but with one look from Kunzite, he relented. As they walked towards the entrance, Makoto could feel Nephrite's eyes on her, but she managed to keep her eyes on Usagi instead until she heard the door slam shut behind her.

~-0-~