Sailor Moon: Fellowship of the Moon
Chapter 4: Lust: Fight Off Temptation
Hollow Bastion

The Dark Lord Ansem was sitting on his throne, drumming his fingers on the throne's hand rest. In front of him, looking nervous, were the two Homunculus, or human Nobodies, he had sent out to destroy the Knights and gather Hearts for the Heartless, Lust and Gluttony. Gluttony was sweating beads and drooling at the same time, while Lust looked calm on the outside, but on the inside she was scared stiff. He had heard that they had failed both times and had summoned them to a private meeting.

The silence within the dark was finally broken as Ansem spoke out, "I'm not very ecstatic about the constancy of failure that you two have wrought." Gluttony and Lust lowered their heads in shame, but Lust spoke out, "It's not our fault, if you'd lend us the Nobodies…" Ansem got up and questioned, "Are you saying that the Heartless aren't capable just as the Nobodies are?" Lust bit her tongue in shame; she knew better than to insult Ansem's 'artwork' like that, whether it be Heartless or Nobody. He then turned to face them in an annoyed tone, "I suppose you're saying that you're not as capable as any human, hmm?" Lust shook her head, "Of course not sir, it's not just the Sailor Scouts, but the Knight, Phoenix Blade…" Ansem shouted back, "DON'T say that name! YOU KNOW WHAT IT DOES TO ME!" The two shivered in fear from the Dark Lord's reaction.

He snarled at anyone mentioning that name in his presence; it was because of that one knight fighting against him and winning, he and his armadas were banished back into the Negaverse. But now, things were going to be different, now that he had found a way to conquer not only this Galaxy, but all the others as well. All he needed now were all the Hearts he could muster, and one specific heart he needed but could not find. He turned to his two generals, now fully calmed down, "You're dismissed. Just keep on the mission; gather enough hearts of darkness, and destroy the Fellowship of the Moon." The two bowed and left the throne room, leaving Ansem in the dark with his thoughts. But before they left, he had one thing to say, "Remember, Failure is not an option."

Lust nearly punched a hole in the wall as to how angry she was, "Damn, if it weren't for those stupid Sailor Scouts, we'd have smashed that knight in his tracks!" Then suddenly, someone was laughing in the darkness at Lust and Gluttony, "I'm guessing that you two had no luck on the second try?" Lust shouted, "Shut up, Envy! I don't see you trying any better!" Out of the shadows of the hallways stepped out a boy no older than sixteen but looked quite ripped for his age; with long green hair and golden eyes. He was wearing sole-less shoes exposing his toes, black combat pants, a black tank top, and battle ready fingerless gloves. This was Envy, the third of the Homunculus Nobodies.

He snickered as he amazingly shape shifted into Sailor Moon and even sounded like her, "I'm Sailor Moon. I'm a meatball headed bubble head and I was able to beat two of the Deadly Seven Generals." Gluttony laughed as he clapped in applause, "That's good, Envy. Do another." Envy changed back and said, "Sorry, one morph per customer. Besides I figured you guys would need a little help for the next job." Lust just getting annoyed by this small fry and asked wryly, "What are you babbling on about?"

Envy brought up his finger upward and said, "There's an old human saying: 'The Hero is all but invincible, but the person behind the Hero can be destroyed'." Gluttony asked while drooling, "Is that something you can eat?" Lust understood what he meant; Phoenix Blade was invincible, but the person under the armor was just a mortal, and they can be made to suffer beyond all belief. She snickered, "in other words, we find out who wears the armor, he'll be an easy target." Then her smile faded as she remembered something, "oh, I just remembered, we nor the Heartless cant even go near the guy without feeling a little faint from his power of Light." That was the downside to it; the Phoenix's Spirit resided in the knight, and until they could find a way to touch him without burning up due to its sheer power, they couldn't forcibly remove the helmet.

Envy nodded his head but said, "There is another way; find the one who seems to have a connection to him and use that person to do the work for you." Lust nodded at that as she touched herself that make most men blush and hot all over, but didn't seem to affect Envy or Gluttony, "And then I can persuade them with a little temptation. Tricking people into lustful and selfish desires is one of my specialties." She then stopped and seriously looked at Envy, "But we're going to need some bait to lure him out first." Envy pointed in a shooting finger pose, "I'm your Nobody." With that, the three walked into the darkness and prepared for their evil plan.

Hikawa Shrine

Serena, Rini, and everyone else were present at the foot of the temple shrine that Rei worked and lived in with her Grandpa. Everyone was in casual wear due to the fact that there was no school. Luna and Artemis had called the meeting, saying they had found out something important to what has been going on lately. Everyone was gathered, but the two weren't saying anything; so Serena asked, "Well we're all here, Luna. What did you want to tell us?" Luna nodded in a negative, "Well we're not all present and accounted for yet, Serena." Serena asked, "What do you mean? We're all here, aren't we?"

"Well, all of you, but not the four of us." Everyone turned to the left to see who they thought they would never see again. They saw four girls standing there with smiles on their faces as they walked up to them. One of them was a girl that seemed to be around Darien's height, with aqua green eyes and short blonde haired. She was dressed as a boy but it could clearly be stated that she was a girl around seventeen. Her name was Amara Tenoh, also known as Sailor Uranus, the Sailor Scout of the Earth and Wind.

The other girl was a seventeen beauty with aqua marine green hair that flowed down and stopped at her mid back; she also had aqua green eyes as well. She was dressed in an eloquent but plain dress, and had strapped on her a violin case. She was smaller than Amara, but was around Lita's height. Her name was Michelle Kaioh, Amara's cousin, and also known as Sailor Neptune, the Sailor Scout of the Ocean.

The third girl seemed to be a little older, around nineteen years old, had dark green hair that went down her back and was tied in a bun on her head as well. She also had the friendliest red eyes you'd ever seen. She was dressed in a business grey, purple, and red suit, with the skirt stopping at her knees. Around her neck was a silver key with a red jewel embedded in it. She was Trista Meioh, but she was also known as the Sailor Scout of the Underworld and Time, Sailor Pluto.

The last girl was around thirteen years old, skin slightly pale, short raven black hair that stopped at her shoulders and had purple highlights, and beautiful purple eyes. She was dressed in a black button up, long sleeved shirt, with a purple scarf wrapped around her neck and pinned on with a Mongolia flower broche, a black skirt that reached her knees, black stockings, and black lace less slip on shoes. She was Hotaru Tomoh, but to everyone else, she was known as the Sailor Scout of Silence, Sailor Saturn.

They were the Outer Sailor Scouts, protectors of the outer solar system. They had been out of action lately; Amara and Michelle had left in search of any remains of the servants of the dark being, Pharaoh 90, after it was defeated. Trista was sent back to the future after she had stopped time, a rule that should not have been broken. Hotaru was once possessed by the being, Mistress 9, but when defeated had no memory of anything of the Heart Snatchers. Rini saw her dear friend for the first time in a long time, and just ran up to her and gave her the biggest hug of each other's lives, "Hotaru, I missed you!" Hotaru only smiled as she hugged her dear friend in return, "I missed you too, Rini. It took me a while, but thanks to Trista and the others, I got my memories back."

All the other girls got up, while Darien just sat down and smiled, and ran to the others with equal smiles on their faces. Amara, not used to being amongst friends, was a little embarrassed, which Michelle just chuckled under her breath at her cousin's reaction. Trista smiled, "it's good to see you all again, too." Rei then asked, "But what are you all doing here?" Michelle explained, "It seems that our work isn't over; after we left Tokyo, we went to Okinawa about a disturbance. A year later, Trista came back, completely forgiven of the one crime of freezing time, and told us of an ancient Darkness returning."

Luna stepped up, "Yes, it was a few days ago after the attack at the gym that Pluto had told me of the disturbance at Okinawa. It had to do with creatures that could move into the shadows and were attempting to steal the hearts of humans, turning them into one of them." Then Rei got the idea, "So you figured that with all the Scouts together…" Amara finished, "...We can face this new enemy together as a team." Serena nodded to that and led everyone to sit down.

Once everyone was comfortable, Luna explained, "Artemis and I didn't know anything a while ago because we didn't have all the facts, but we finally got all the facts out now that we had a visual yesterday." She was referring to the gym attack. Artemis then told them, "This started all back during the Silver Millennium; in fact, it's what started the invasion of the Negaverse. There was once a scientist, who worked under the services of Earth, named Ansem the Wise. He was working on research to try and find out the workings of the Heart and Body. Unfortunately his research proved dangerous as he learned that Darkness lay inside the heart; whether the individual was good or evil. The Kingdoms of Earth as well as the Moon and other planets had to halt him from going any further, because it was later learned that exposing true Darkness from the heart could be completely unpredictable and very dangerous."

Luna then continued, "He left the Kingdom then after that, swearing revenge against us for being so ignorant. He continued his experiments on the Dark Moon; the kingdom to where he discovered that the Darkness in people's hearts had a mind of its own. He could create life with it, and with that knowledge in mind, he had the means to create an army the universe the likes of which no one had ever seen. It was there on that he had created the creatures known as the Heartless."

Then Darien was the one to ask, "The Heartless?" Trista nodded, "Yes, those who lack hearts." She took off her key pendant and held it out; then a light appeared, showing a small hologram for everyone to see. There, a Shadow standing was shown, as Trista explained, "They are either people who lost their hearts to the dominant side of darkness, or are incarnations of Darkness themselves. They appear only in groups, and can multiply rapidly. They're born of those who've lost their hearts, and thrive on hearts seized from others. The hearts taken by the Heartless become Heartless themselves." Rei thought out loud, "If that's true, then this Ansem could create a countless army of those creatures."

Luna and Artemis nodded as Artemis explained on, "Yeah, but he still needed to control them seeing that they ran basically on instinct alone. So in secret he forged a master dark crystal for himself, created from his cruelty, malice, and will to dominate all life." Everyone stared in awe at this story as Luna continued, "With the Heartless at his command, he was able to besiege his sister, the now deceased Queen Beryl, to rise up with him and take over the kingdoms. Beryle took the Moon Kingdom, while he and the Heartless would take over the Earth." Artemis turned to Darien, "Fortunately while you went to warn the Moon Kingdom, you ordered the Fellowship of the Moon to take the last remaining kingdoms of Earth and fight Ansem's forces head on."

Rini, who was sitting next to Hotaru, then asked, "That's what Phoenix Blade said when Ami and I first met him. Who are they and what do they have to do with this 'Ansem' guy or the Heartless?" Mina nodded and asked, "Yeah, I mean are they friends or enemies, trying to look like friends just to fool us?" Luna shook her head and explained, "No they're our allies, because Queen Serenity appointed them as well as the Earth Kingdoms, to be the protectors of peace and freedom of the Silver Millennium itself. You see the knights are sort of what you would call today, a SWAT team of some sorts. You see, while it's the Inner Scouts duty to guard the Moon Kingdom on the inside, as well as it's the duty of the Outer Scouts to protect the outer region of the Moon Kingdom, they're duty was to protect the Milky Way galaxy itself. Their powers are drawn by the spirits and power of the constellations that they have been given. For instance, Phoenix Blade's powers are drawn by the constellation Phoenix, which at one time was a creature that wondered the galaxies, and said that its power rivaled that of the Silver Crystal."

Amara and Michelle took a look of concern; their duty was to protect anything that might overpower the future Crystal Tokyo. But they were put to ease as Luna went on, "However, their powers may have been greater than those of the Moon Kingdoms they swore under their own lives that they would remain loyal to the kingdom and that nothing would threaten it." Amara then asked, "So what happened to them? Did they win?" Artemis nodded, "They defeated Ansem and the Heartless, and banished them to the Negaverse, with no way back seeing that the Master Dark Crystal acted as a means to keep them there. But not without a price; the battle had taken a heavy toll on them." but as he spoke on, it was in a depressed tone, "They were fatally wounded and on the brink of death, but for some unknown means they were reincarnated. The evidence today seems to point it out."

Darien seemed to understand now, "I get it now; seeing that this Ansem and the Heartless are returning to Earth, the Fellowship are coming back to meet them to end this battle." Serena nodded, but then a puzzled look came on her face, "But wait! How come it's only Phoenix Blade fighting?" Luna informed, "Remember when you first became Sailor Moon? It was only you until we met the others." Lita then answered, "The other Knights are probably still out there somewhere." Trista then spoke out, "the Heartless that were in Okinawa weren't stealing any hearts at all; they were more of looking for something. I think they're also in search for the knights as well."

Everyone was still talking while Ami was deep in thought, 'So he was around during the Silver Millennium, but what was the connection between me and him in my dreams?'

The Other Day

At Jubaan High, Class 3-A were in the hallway trying to see if the test results had been posted for the Math Exams. Everyone was anxious to see who got the high score; Serena, Ami, Mina, and Lita were all there to see them. Just then, Ami saw Aaron walk away from the results, so she caught up to him and grabbed his arm. "Aaron!", Ami said as she caught him by surprise. He turned to see Ami and smiled, "Oh, hi Ami. What have you been up to?" "Oh, nothing much, so aren't you going to see the Math Exam results?"

Aaron had completely forgotten that and said, "Oh yeah, I guess it slipped my mind." They both walked over to the results only to see Serena with a down in the dumps face. Aaron saw her like that and asked, "I take it you didn't do as well, huh Serena?" She nodded in a depressed manner, but then lit up as she turned to Ami, "But I know that Ami did super on hers; she's got like an IQ of 300." Ami blushed with embarrassment, but Aaron was amazed and asked her, "you're that smart? I mean, I thought you were smart for checking out all those books, but I didn't imagine…I mean, that's amazing."

Ami blushed at his comment, and Lita spoke out in a surprised tone to the other girls, "uh, guys. I think you should look at this." Everyone, including other students, walked up to take a look at the scores. Mina, who was squeezing past Aaron and Serena, "What? What is it, Lita?" "Take a look at who's next up to Ami's score." They all looked at the scoring and saw, right next to Ami's score, was none other than Aaron's. The girls turned to look at Aaron, who just shrugged and blushed from embarrassment, "um, I just test well, I guess. I just study very hard everyday and hope for the best."

All the girls, except Ami, rushed up to him with their eyes sparkling in amazement, as Mina spoke out first, "Wow! Handsome, polite, and intelligent; the perfect combination for a boyfriend!" Lita also gave out a compliment, "Yeah, I bet at your school in America you were the talk of the campus." Aaron blushed as he shrugged, "I wasn't that much to talk about; I just test well." Serena jumped in, "C'mon don't be shy, you and Ami practically have the best score. You probably have the same IQ as she does." All the other students rushed up to him, leaving Ami in surprise at his score. She felt a little competition for her, but in truth, she felt happy knowing that there was someone out there as smart as her.

Aaron tried to squeeze through everyone, without anyone noticing and bumped into Ami. A girl saw this and screamed, "There he goes! Get him!" Aaron then ran like a madman, but instinctively grabbed Ami to go with him, in order for her not to get run over by the girls who were shrieking his name out. Ami blushed as Aaron held on to her hand tight but so gentle, and she just ran along with him with the screaming students behind them, leaving Serena and the others still looking at the results. Lita then pointed out as she looked at the scores, "Hey, look at this." Serena and Mina looked at the score board, "Aaron scored higher than Jin Fujita." Mina asked, "Jin Fujita? The stone faced kid that doesn't talk to anyone else; the second brainiac in this school too; the rich kid at Kendo Practice, Jin Fujita?" Lita nodded, "Yep that's the one." Serena looked back, completely oblivious of the conversation, 'I wonder where Aaron and Ami are gonna hide from the school mob?'

On the roof, Aaron was leaning on a bar with Ami next to him; both were panting for lack of breath due to all the running. They had finally lost them and had come up here, seeing that most people wouldn't think of looking on the roof. Ami then took a deep sigh and had returned to normal breathing; she then looked at Aaron. She noticed that in the sunlight, he seemed more handsome, just like Mina had said. She blushed at what she was thinking and shook her head, 'What am I thinking about; Aaron is a good friend. I can't think about him like this.' She was snapped out of her thoughts as Aaron spoke, "Sorry if I dragged you along form the run of the school fans." She nodded and waved her hand, "oh no, it's all right. I actually enjoyed the exercise." Aaron just had to laugh at that, and Ami soon followed with it.

Aaron finally stopped laughing and turned to face Ami, but smiled, "I'm kind of sorry, for taking your reputation as the high school's smartest student." Ami shrugged and replied, "It's all right, Aaron. I never got any awards from being the smartest student, just scholarships." Aaron joked, "I thought those were rewards?" She chuckled at that joke; she smiled at him for a while. Her friends could always put a smile on her face, and it seemed that Aaron could do it as well. She then kind of blushed at what she was about to say next, "To tell you the truth, I feel happy knowing that there's someone out there as smart as me." She then blushed as she said, "And I'm very happy knowing that it was you."

Aaron was taken back by that; he never heard a girl say that to him. Deep within him, it was strange, but he felt that a new emotion had been born into him. Ceros peered out of the bag, unnoticed by Ami, and looked up at Aaron. He thought, 'I guess it's true what they saw…"Life is short, but true love is Eternal".' He sighed as he went back into the bag, 'I guess I have to tell him about the relationship about he had with Princess Mercury sometime, but I'm not gonna spoil the moment.' Ami then remembered something and sat down on the side. Aaron looked a little puzzled as she pulled out a blue hand held computer that seemed to look familiar.

He kneeled down next to her and looked at what she was working on. It was a blueprint diagram of the Phoenix Blade; he wondered what she was doing with this, and wondered why she had something of his alter ego. So instead of wandering about it, he just asked, "What are you working on there, Ami?" She turned to look at him and then back at her work, "Well, have you ever heard of Phoenix Blade?" Aaron sighed, knowing he knew him because he is him, so he lied, "Yeah, most of the students talk about him; they say he's pretty cool, like Cloud from Final Fantasy 7 or something." "I've been doing some research and I think I may have compiled a list.", she replied. "A list of what?" "A list of suspects that I believe that when I've gathered enough data, will help me pinpoint the exact identity of Phoenix Blade."

Aaron paled at what she just said; if she found out about who he was. Well he didn't want to think about what would happen. So he asked her, "Why would you want to find out about his secret identity?" She shrugged, "I guess I just want to find out, that's all; he's so mysterious, I just want to know more about him." She kept in secret that the reason she wanted to know was so that she could help him in case of an injury like before. It was selfish of him to keep himself hidden from the Sailor Scouts; she had been worried sick since he up and disappeared on them. She was through with waiting for him to tell her, so she would find out all on her own.

Aaron then said, "Well, I don't been to pry, but if he doesn't want to tell anybody who he really is then it must be for a good reason." She turned to face him and asked, "Well like what?" "Well, if I was him, I would need to keep my identity secret to protect those who I knew. If my enemies knew who I was, they could attack my friends and loved ones; it would be the perfect chance for them to get to him. Trying to find out who the guy is under the helmet could be dangerous for him and others. Not to mention it's kind of selfish." That struck Ami hard; she looked at him, hurt and angry at what he said. She got up, closed her computer, and left. Not before she turned around and said, "Well, it's selfish for him to make others worry if he gets hurt!" And with that, she left him, confused and feeling guilty about what he had just said.

Class 3-A

Ami was still typing at her computer, mad and miffed at what Aaron had said. Serena and the others were keeping their distance from her, just to let her cool down. Aaron was sitting across her, leaning his head on his right hand; he had wished he didn't speak his mind like that, but it was dangerous if anyone knew who he was. Lita asked Aaron earlier what Ami was so angry about, but he didn't have a clue; he did say that she needed time to cool off and she agreed. Aaron was broken out of his thoughts as Mayura leaned on his desk and nearly came eye to eye to him.

Aaron was surprised to see her as she asked, "So I hear that you and Mizuno got into a fight. She's not good for you, you know." Aaron looked confused and asked, "What are you talking about?" She shrugged and then suggested, "Hey, how about you give me a ride home on your bike?" Aaron took a look of surprise, but composed himself, "Sorry, but my bike gets pretty jealous when I let girls ride." "Really?" "Yeah, sometimes it scratches and stuff." Ami, who was sharpening a pencil with a retractable blade at the time, had to suppress a giggle from that. Mayura caught that and decided to make her remember what happened last time. She used her heel to kick Ami's desk a little, causing her to cut her left index finger.

She whelped in pain as she held on to it, looking for a piece of cloth for her to wrap around it. Mayura apologized untruthfully, "oh I'm sorry, my foot must have slipped." Lita saw what happened and was about to go over there and punch her lights out until she saw that Aaron saw Ami was bleeding and got up from his desk and walked over to her. "Here, let me see that..", he simply said as he took her hand. Then by everyone's surprise, he lightly sucked on it to try and stop the bleeding. Ami was so taken back by this; never in her life had anyone done something like that, in this way. All the girls, including Serena and the gang, all blushed at this as he just finished kissing the wound, and took out a piece of cloth and dressed the cut.

He bashfully said, "I know it's not any good like a band aid, but it should do for now." Ami just kept staring and blushing at what Aaron did. She then thought to herself, 'I don't know why, but suddenly he seems so different, yet I feel like I know him from so far away, like Phoenix Blade.'

After School

Serena and the gang had met up with Rei, who was dressed in a gray and red uniform, and were walking towards her temple for a little study session. Unknown to any of them, they were being watched by a dark presence. Lita and Mina had told Rei about what had happened during class; Ami cutting herself by accident, well Lita believed it was that Mayura girl that did it, and how Aaron took care of the cut. Rei was blushing madly at hearing it, "He sounds so dreamy; it's like he came out of a romance novel." Mina sighed while holding her face while she too blushed, "I know, I wish it had been my finger he kissed." Lita just sighed but then looked at Ami who was looking at her bandaged finger.

Lita had to smile at her friend's situation; Ami, in all her life, never had a friend that seemed almost like a boyfriend, yet Aaron seemed to be pulling it off. She smiled as she said, "You liked that didn't you?" Ami got out of her thoughts and asked, "What do you mean?" "I mean when Aaron licked and kissed your finger like that; the whole class has been talking about it afterwards." Ami blushed madly as Lita reminded her about that and completely denied it, "Aaron was just trying to help; there was nothing romantic about it!" Lita waved her hands in defense against the yelling, "Okay, okay. Whatever you say, but I think you enjoyed it."

Just then, Rei stopped dead in her tracks as she looked around. Mina saw this and asked, "What's the matter, Rei?" She closed her eyes for a moment and sensed the area. Somewhere in it was brewing a very dark force at work there. "I feel a dark presence somewhere here." Serena got out her heart broach, "the Heartless?" Rei shook her head, "No, it feels the same as the Heartless, but there's something different about it." Serena suggested, "Better transform to be sure; get ready girls."

All the girls got out their pink transformation pens with their own crystals. Serena shouted, "MOON COSMIC DREAM ACTION!" The girls all shouted each, "MERCURY CRYSTAL POWER, MARS CRYSTAL POWER, JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER, VENUS CRYSTAL POWER!" They all transformed and became Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts, and they were ready for action. Sailor Moon asked Mars, "Do you know where it is?" She shook her head, "No, but I'm gonna look around to be sure." She then walked off into the forest to find it, but Sailor Moon was about to protest but she was already gone. Suddenly they heard someone running towards them and the scouts were at the ready. They were about to attack until they saw it was Mini-Moon and another Sailor Scout. She had the same design as the others, but hers was purple. She had the same sailor-type outfit, only it was colored purple, but she had lace up high heel boots that reached to her knees, a dark purple bow on her chest and back. She also had earrings shaped like the planet Saturn. She was Sailor Saturn, Hotaru's alter ego, and Sailor Scout of the Planet Saturn and Silence.

Sailor Moon asked, "What are you guys doing here? And where are Amara, Michelle, and Trista?" Saturn answered, "Well we were on our way to the study group, but Amara and the others had to go somewhere. They wouldn't say so we went by ourselves. And then we heard you guys transforming so we did the same." Mini-Moon shook her head in a positive, "So what's going on?" Before anyone could answer, Sailor Mars came out of the forest still looking around. Sailor Moon asked, "Did you find it, Mars?" Mars shook her head, "No, there's something here. I just can't see it."

Sailor Moon turned around to face the others, but unknown to her or the others, Sailor Mars sneered at Sailor Moon. She pulled out a dangerous looking pocketknife, and was coming closer at Sailor Moon to stab her. Just then someone tackled her and rolled on the ground and got back up, trying to get the knife out of her hand. Everyone looked around and saw the weirdest thing ever; Sailor Mars was fighting against Sailor Mars. Sailor Moon asked in confusion, "There are two of them? I didn't know Rei had a twin." The others just looked dumbfounded at Serena's theory as Mini-Moon whispered, "What a Meatball brain." Then suddenly, the Sailor Mars that tackled the one with the knife put her hands together with the index finger on each hand pointing out together; a small fireball was forming. She shouted, "MARS FIREBALL IGNITE!" The ball launched at the other Mars, burning her as she screamed; she staggered back holding her face in agony.

The Sailor Mars looked at Sailor Moon and shouted, "No! There's only one of me, Meatball Brain!" The Sailor Scouts said in unison, "Yep, that's Mars alright." Suddenly the Mars imitation got up, it was completely burned from head to toe, and smirked, "well, I thought I could take out the Meatball headed Moon Princess with a little confusion, but I guess that was a 'no go'." Sailor Moon stepped up and demanded, "Just who are you?" The fake Mars shapshifted into the Homunculus, Envy, "The name's Envy, ladies. The last opponent you'll ever face." He lunged forward and took out Mars with a Lightning Elbow strike. She was sent flying to the back of a tree and was knocked unconscious. Jupiter saw her best friend get knocked out by this creep and got even angrier as he laughed, "That's not funny!" She charged at him, with fists flying in Judo style. But every move didn't hit its mark; Envy smirked as he dodged one final punch and launched a mighty blow to the gut. Jupiter was knocked out as she slumped to the ground.

Sailor Moon and Mini-Moon shouted in unison, "Jupiter!" Envy chuckled as he turned his attention towards Sailor Moon, Mini-Moon, Venus, Mercury, and Saturn. He chuckled as he said, "I've already finished off the two hot heads of the group…" he balled up his fists as they morphed steel claws out of his knuckles, "…now it's time to take out the Wussy Scouts." The Scouts backed away a little, and he charged straight at them, screaming at them in a war cry.

Suddenly, a red rose came shooting out of nowhere and was stuck to the ground right in front of Envy as he halted himself. And then, a cane was right up to his neck as he stopped. He then tried to take a look at who it was; it was none other than Tuxedo Mask. "How pathetic that you attack women, much less lash out a hand at them.", he said to him disgusted at his behavior. Sailor Moon and the other scouts were glad to see him, but Envy just kept on grinning. Tuxedo then asked in annoyance, "Just what's so funny?" Envy answered, "Question: Did you really think I'd come here all by my lonesome?"

Just then, a long tongue with a dark heart symbol on the tip of it, came shooting out of the bushes and wrapped around Sailor Mini-Moon and Saturn's feet. They both shouted in disgust and were pulled to the ground. Envy shouted, "Come on out, Gluttony. Ya just caught yerself a couple o' mackerels." Gluttony came out of the bushes and from the look on his face, he was plenty hungry, "MMmmm, I love little sugar girl cookies." Mini-Moon whelped as she saw he was serious, "Oh no, I don't want to be a mackerel special." Tuxedo Mask was about to help them, but Envy prevented that by getting in front of him. "Out of my way, villain." Envy smirked as he got into a fighting stance, "Sorry, but we're waiting for someone to show up."

Saturn held on to her friend and they prepared for the worse as they were about to get gulped in. just as they were close enough, a golden and orange boot slammed onto Gluttony's tongue, making him whimper in pain and then scream out in pain. With the pain, he let the two go of his tongue and ran around in a circle, hugging his tongue and whining. "That guy shouldn't be eating any sweets; he needs to go on an Aktin's diet.", a familiar voice said. Mini-Moon and Saturn looked up to see a knight in gold and orange armor, with his scarf cape blowing in the wind. Saturn was a little bit embarrassed and flustered when she saw him, but Mini-Moon was glad he had come, "Phoenix Blade!"

He looked down at them and winked, "It's good to see you again too, Mini-Moon." Suddenly, Envy charged straight at him with a few high kicks that pushed him back a little. He smirked as he said to the knight, "So ya finally showed up, and here I thought you only had the hots for that brainiac scout, Mercury." Phoenix got his claws out as they glowed, "PHOENIX FLAME TALONS!" He then launched his flaming talon fireballs at him, causing him to back up. Unfortunately for him, he backed up into a crackling wall of dark lightning. He screamed in agony as he fell to his knees; he turned around and saw that Sailor Saturn girl with a dangerous looking Scythe like weapon, with the blade shaped like a 'G'. Saturn brought down her Silence Glaive as she stopped her attack, the Silence Wall.

All the Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask came up to the two as Gluttony had stopped running around and stood next to Envy as he got up. Sailor Moon brought out her KailiedeMoon Sword Wand, "Alright Heartless, prepare to get Moon dusted." Envy and Gluttony looked at each other in confusion and then just laughed it up. Sailor Venus asked, "Just what's so funny?" Envy stopped laughing and just said, "We're not Heartless…" he then shot his hands into the ground. Suddenly Heartless Shadows came out of the shadows and surrounded them. "…we're their generals."

The Scouts, Tuxedo Mask, as well as Phoenix Blade were about to do battle, until Envy shouted, "Heartless, bind Phoenix Blade!" the Heartless ignored the Scouts and Tuxedo and just went after Phoenix Blade. He tried to fight them all but every time he punched one or kicked them, they would dissolve into a black ooze that stuck to him. Sailor Mercury watched in horror as they were covering his entire being, "Phoenix Blade! No!" the Heartless had completely covered him; he struggled to break free, but his movements became sluggish until his form finally froze into place.

Envy and Gluttony saw this as their chance to escape; they opened a black flame portal as they ran for it. The Scouts and Tuxedo were about to go after them as Envy shouted, "We leave the rest to you, Lust!" and with that, they went into the gateway and it closed up; Tuxedo Mask muttered, "Cowards." The Sailor Scouts looked at Phoenix Blade; Sailor Moon asked, "Mercury, do you have any idea of what's going on?" she didn't get an answer, so she turned to her friend and was in shock. Sailor Mercury just stood there, but her eyes looked like they had no life in them; it was as if she was in some sort of trance.

Venus tried to shake her out of it, "Mercury? Come on, wake up! Mercury!" but it was no use; Mercury was beyond anyone's voice.

Ami was lying on a cold, dark ground as she slowly awoke and sat up. She looked around and saw it resembled the Silver Moon Palace; the one to where the last party was before the Negaverse invaded. She noticed that it was dark and lifeless; it didn't lay in ruins so it kind of looked like a haunted house. She got back up on her feet and realized she wasn't wearing her Sailor Scout uniform nor her school uniform. She was wearing a 18th Century Victorian dress; the sleeves ended at her elbows, the dress was colored blue and light blue, and it was shoulderless considering it exposed her shoulders and showed a little of her cleavage. She was also wearing a pearl necklace with a sapphire gem in the front, and a pearl hair pin on the left side of her head, as well as sapphire pearl earrings.

She deduced that this was what she wore during her past life as the Princess of Mercury. She never realized this, but then asked herself, "Where am I?" "So it's you then, is it?", came a voice that nearly sent a shiver down Ami's back. She turned around and saw near one of the windows, was a woman of her early twenties. Her figure was perfect, her skin was snow white, and her hair was raven black and flowing down her back, while one of her bangs nearly covered her left eye while the other was swept behind her right ear. She wore a dress that didn't cover her shoulders and exposed a little of her cleavage. It went down until it reached her ankles; she also wore black gloves that went up to her shoulders and black high heel boots. But the most extinguishing feature about her was a tattoo of a heart with a barbwire 'X' on it; . Ami asked in fright, "Who are you?" The figure took a few steps forward and stopped, "My name is Lust, dear. And you're the one who seems to hold a special place inside Phoenix Blade's heart."

Ami was confused at what she said but listened on as she continued, "And it seems that in your heart you subconsciously hold a place for him inside your heart as well." "What are you talking about?", Ami asked. Lust snapped her fingers, and out of the floor came Phoenix Blade, unconscious and held up by a cross, made up of Heartless Shadows that stabbed their claws in him to hold him in place. Ami gasped in horror as she ran up to him, "Phoenix Blade!" She nearly reached him but Lust got in front of her. "See? In your heart you hold him dearly." She went up to him and draped her left arm around his head while her right hand rubbed his chest. The very scene made Ami angry for some reason as Lust said, "isnt he just a dreamboat; he's so dashing and heroic. You now if I wasn't such a bad girl and at least younger, I'd fall for him at the spot."

Ami was getting even more annoyed at her and just shouted, "What are you planning to do with him?" she then let go of him and took a few steps towards Ami, "I don't intend to do anything to him…" she then smiled, "..because he's yours." Ami looked a little puzzled, "He's mine?" Lust shook her head and walked right behind Ami, placing her hands on her shoulders and nearly whispered in her ear. "of course, silly. Since we're in your heart, everything in here, aside from me, is all yours. And that includes Phoenix Blade, even his identity. You can just walk right up and take off his helmet, and finally answer the riddle that's plagued your very mind: who is Phoenix Blade?"

It was true, it did plague her mind ever since the first time he saved her. She wanted to know who he was and now she might have her chance. She walked up to him while he was still on the cross, and reached for his helmet. Lust grinned, 'And now we'll have Phoenix Blade in the palm of our hands.' Ami was so close now; she would finally know who Phoenix Blade is as she was about to take the helmet off.

"Well, I don't been to pry, but if he doesn't want to tell anybody who he really is then it must be for a good reason."

"Well, if I were him, I would need to keep my identity secret to protect those who I knew.

"If my enemies knew who he was, they could attack my friends and loved ones; it would be the perfect chance for them to get to him."

"Trying to find out who the guy is under the helmet could be dangerous for him and others. Not to mention it's kind of selfish."

She suddenly stopped as the words that Aaron spoke to her today suddenly came to her. She realized that this Lust might just be like those two, Envy and Gluttony. She also realized that this was unfair to Phoenix Blade as well; it should be his decision if he wanted to show her who he was. It was this reason that he didn't tell her, to try and protect those he cared for. She took her hands away from his helmet and backed away a little. Lust saw this and got behind her, "Okay, what's wrong? Come on, take his helmet off; I'm sure he wouldn't mind. I bet he's really handsome under there." She got in front of her and smiled again, "once the helmet's off and you know who he is, he'll have no choice but to be yours."

Ami looked at her and shouted, "No!" Lust realized that this Princess Mercury was going to be a hard one to take the bait in, so she decided to level up the charm. She pouted, "Why not? You don't want Phoenix Blade?" She walked up to him and swung her arms around his neck, "Listen, this is no ordinary knight you've got here. His power rivals that with the Imperium Silver Crystal. With that much power, you can make the whole world yours." Ami stood there defiantly not even making an effort to listen to her. Lust walked up to Ami and brought her up to Phoenix Blade, placing her hands on his helmet. She then said with a grin, "If you know who he is and threaten him a little, you'll be able to make him do whatever you want."

And to Lust's surprise, Ami brought her hands away and shouted, "No! I would never do that to him!" Unknown to the two, Phoenix was slowly regaining consciousness; he saw a woman dressed in black to a girl in a blue dress. He noticed that she had blue hair, and blue eyes; the same as the girl in his dreams. As his vision was getting better he saw her face now and was surprised as one name entered his mind, 'Ami?' All he could do now was listen to what she was saying, "It's true I want to know who he is; ever since I met him I've always wondered why he appeared in my dreams. I then wanted to know who he is and now that I do, I realized that I want him to tell me when he's ready. It won't be the same if I do find out like this; it wouldn't be fair to him."

Lust sneered at this; she was hoping that this girl would have been a little weak willed but it was turning out to be tougher than she thought. She scoffed at what Ami had said, "Then you're an even bigger fool than you look. Waiting for him to tell you, you'll probably be an old hag by the time he tells you who he really is. But here and now you don't have to." She walked up close to Ami, "It'd be so much fun to just take a quick peek. Don't you think?" Ami was really starting to hate her so she blew up in her face, causing Lust to back away, "I make my own decisions and I won't listen to you! Now get out of here! RIGHT NOW!"

And with that, the dark and gloomy room became bright and full of life again. And then Phoenix Blade started to wake up fully as he brought out his golden flame wings to release him, causing the two girls to look behind them and watch as his wings opened up. The light caused the Heartless to dissolve, and caused Lust to shriek with fear and pain as she dissolved into black mist. Ami however didn't feel pain; the light and flames felt warm; it touched her heart as the whole room filled with light.

The Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo saw that the Heartless cocoon that encased Phoenix Blade cracked with light as it exploded, causing the Heartless to get thrown back. Phoenix Blade stood there, shaking off the tiredness of his entrapment, and at the same time, Mercury regained consciousness. Sailor Moon grabbed her friend as she nearly fainted, "Mercury, are you alright? You were zoning out on us again." She shook her head to get rid of the dizzy spills, and smiled at Sailor Moon, "Yeah, I'm okay." She then looked to see if Phoenix Blade was alright and she saw him running towards them and stopped next to Sailor Moon. They all turned to see what he was looking at and saw the Heartless reforming themselves and charged straight towards them.

Phoenix Blade pulled out his Buster Sword and said to Sailor Moon, "Sailor Moon, let's finish this off with your KaliedaMoon Scope. Think you're up for it?" She pulled out the weapon at name and said confidently, "You bet!" The Heartless kept charging at them, even though Phoenix Blade started to spin his sword and Sailor Moon's Scope began to charge as she knelt and they both said at the same time, "MOON GORGEOUS MEDITATION!" "PHOENIX INFERNO!" They shot their attacks forward straight at the Heartless and when they made contact; the Shadows were obliterated in one well placed stroke.

Later on

Phoenix Blade had flown the coop, but not without leaving Mercury a note. She looked at it before anyone else had a chance to look at it. It said:

Meet me at the Hikawa Shrine tonight at midnight. It's something I believe you deserve to know.

-Phoenix Blade

Jupiter, who had regained consciousness, was looking over her shoulder and snickered. Mercury heard that and tried to hide the letter, but Jupiter put a hand on her shoulder and whispered, "Don't worry, I wont tell anyone about this…" she smiled at Mercury, who then smiled back and bowed her head in 'thank you'. Jupiter went to join the others, while Mercury took out her hand held computer. She turned it on and opened the Phoenix Blade file, the pressed DELETE. She felt silly for trying to do this; she needed to trust him more, not by who he was under the armor, but by his actions. She decided that maybe she would let him tell her who he was.

Hikawa Shrine

Midnight

Sailor Mercury was waiting at the front of the temple where no one was looking. She looked around, hoping Serena or Rei weren't anywhere near by; the last thing she needed was Serena or the others making a scene about this. She wondered what Phoenix Blade needed to talk to her about, or why he wanted to do this at midnight here.

Suddenly, there was a huge gust of wind that made her shiver as it blew by. "Are you cold?", said a familiar voice. She turned around and near the edge of the steps was him; Phoenix Blade and his little guardian, Ceros as he was called. She looked at him and realized he was just as stunning as he was as she saw him in the sunlight. She blushed at what she was thing and quickly shook it off, and noticed he walked towards her. He suddenly stopped right in front of her and they were almost close enough to be face to face.

She nervously asked, "So, uh, what did you want to tell me?" He bowed his head as he spoke, "first is that I'm sorry that I made you and the others worry if I was alright or not." He then stood upright and spoke again, "The second, is something that I've been keeping from you." She looked puzzled at what he meant by that, but saw that he brought his hands up to his helmet. Ceros thought to himself, 'I guess the secret had to come out eventually. I just didn't think it be now.' She saw him slowly taking off his helmet; she knew now what he was going to do. She brought up her hands as she touched his hands to halt him.

She shook her head in a negative response, "No, you don't have to do that." He protested, "But you said…" she brought up her right hand and placed her index finger on the spot to where his mouth was. She whispered to him, "You don't have to tell me now. I know you said you'd tell me when you were ready…." She looked up to him in his eyes with a smile, "...but I want you to tell me when I'm ready to know, okay?" Phoenix was a little taken back; he didn't expect her to be as understanding or as patient. However, he felt relieved knowing this, but was a little surprised at to what she did next. She hugged him very tightly; he thought that maybe it was… "I'm sorry, but it's a little cold out here." He sweatdropped as she said that; he figured there was a reason why she hugged him.

He wrapped his arms around her and said, "Maybe this might help, Sailor Mercury." He let his golden flame wings out and wrap around her. She felt warm near him even before he opened his wings. She thought to herself, 'I don't know why but this feels right.' She spoke out as she felt so relaxed in his arms, "thank you, but you can call me Mercury; all my friends do." Phoenix Blade, or Aaron, smiled under his helmet as he whispered, "alright then, Mercury."

Ceros watched as they held each other, Phoenix Blade keeping Mercury warm. He had to smile as he saw this; it reminded him of when Princess Ami and Aarogon had realized they were in love with each other. He thought as he saw them together, 'I guess it's happening all over for them, even though they're too shy or dense to admit it.' He just flew up to the shrine's roof and watched them hold each other, as the moon's light shined on them, giving them light within the darkness of night.

Next Chapter: Friendship put to the Test: Frey makes the Scene