"Owwwwwwwwwwwwww!"

He was swiftly rapped upon the head, and Jadeite shut his mouth, biting down so hard on his tongue that it began to bleed. Kunzite, caring for his battered friend, had poured a bottle of rubbing alcohol over the man's cut and bleeding chest. As the blond lay writhing. Kunzite wrapped up the teen's chest, arms and legs with a great deal of difficulty, the end result being that Jadeite looked not unlike a mummy.

"Stop squirming, will you?"

"It hurts!"

The white haired man swiftly snapped two fingers down onto the bridge of Jadeite's nose, earning a swift yelp from the younger man. "Shut up. The neighbors will complain if you keep this up."

"Hey," Jadeite snapped, and Kunzite's eyes narrowed. "Thanks. For, you know, saving my life."

The general showed hardly any emotion at all. "You don't have to thank me."

"Well, I'm going to."

"I needed you as bait so I could get the jump on him."

Jadeite was a myriad of confusion and irritation. "Gee…thanks, I guess."

There was a sharp knocking at the door and both men's heads turned toward it, looking like deer in a particularly troubling headlight.

"Told you you'd bother the neighbors."

"I'll get it," the blond said quickly, jumping up and putting pressure on his bad leg and he immediately collapsed behind the coffee table. Rolling his eyes, Kunzite removed himself from the sofa and lazily pulled the door open, his body going ridged, though, when he looked at the man who stood there.

Mouth gaping for a moment, he managed to ask, "Can I help you?"

Merely smiling smugly, the man moved Kunzite aside with little effort and with long, confident strides crossed the room, his strong hand helping Jadeite to his feet. When neither man moved nor spoke, the stranger softly said, "Hello, boys."

That was enough for Jadeite. He threw himself at the man, wrapping his arms about him and clinging to him tightly, hanging on more for support than to restrain the man. "I got him! I did it, we have the Dark Crystal! We have to tell our leader!"

"I am your leader, you dolt."

Craning his neck up, the teen's blue eyes locked with the red of the crystal holder, and he immediately let go, falling to the floor in the process. The man before them was, in fact, Serafim, the holder of the Dark Crystal, but the eyes were different. Though the same red as before, where they were once soft and gentle, they were now piercing and harsh, the exact eyes of the shadow that commanded them.

"Holy shit," Kunzite said breathlessly, letting the door hang open as he stepped toward the tall, proud man. "My lord, is that you?"

The hijacked body of Serafim grinned. "It is."

"If you can take over bodies, why didn't you do that before!" Jadeite cried from his place on the floor, throwing his hands up in the air.

Serafim scowled. "I would have if I were able. I am too weak to latch onto a person's soul; I need something to anchor me to a body. I can't just take over anyone. Not yet, at least." A light went off in Kunzite's mind.

"The Dark Crystal. That's why you can possess him. Is this how it will work with your body when we find it?"

"Exactly," Serafim said, snapping his fingers. "The crystal will seal my soul back in my body, just as I've done here."

"So, uh," Jadeite started, "is the boy dead now?"

"No," he said softly, scowling and crossing his arms. "I cannot destroy his soul, though I have tried. We will have to share this body, for the time being. But I don't have much time to be in control of him, so quickly, let's discuss what happened and what we do next."

"Fantastic," Jadeite said firmly. "The demon came back."

"And?"

"I killed him," Kunzite said proudly, and Serafim laughed.

"Don't kid yourself, he's not dead. It's going to take way more to kill such a creature." He paused. "What else?"

"He called himself Geryon," Jadeite said softly, and the red eyes lit up at the mention of the name. "He serves Alkaios, that guy we saw at the temple. It's pretty obvious he's the head idiot in all this. He was there when we attacked the Moon Kingdom too, we remember him."

"He called himself the Tenth," Kunzite added, voice tense with concern. "I stabbed him through the throat and he's not dead and he's only the tenth of such beasts? There's at least nine more, how are we supposed to take them?"

"Have you ever heard of Serenity VIII?" Serafim asked quietly and the generals looked at each other, unsure of where he was going. "It's not unusual if you have not. Her legacy has been warped and twisted into mere legend. Most of those who live outside the light do not even know her by the same name anymore."

The generals simply stared at the man, Jadeite seating himself on the couch and Kunzite standing behind it, listening intently. ""She was the one," he continued without a response from the men, "who first established the Moon Kingdom as it is today. Hundreds and thousands of years ago she joined the planets of this system under the rule of the Silver Crystal. A few did not join; Pluto, Mercury, the Sun, Nemesis all remained independent." He frowned, his entire body tensing up, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. "Those from the planets in the kingdom that opposed the rule of Serenity, regardless of the reason, were considered traitors and were arrested and exiled. Every single one of them, exiled to the planet of Nemesis."

"And they can do that?" Jadeite cried incredulously, and Kunzite glared at him.

"Of course they can, but what idiots. Sending rebels to their enemies? It's a recipe for disaster."

"You're both correct." Serafim said quietly, red eyes soft but bright with life. "They could not do that, and the natives of Nemesis were enraged. It started a whole new phase of the war and a new mentality toward the line of Serenity and her Moon Kingdom. Previous to this, Nemesis and the Moon had a close and powerful alliance bred from a close and common history."

"She made an enemy out of an entire nation of demons?" Kunzite questioned. "Why?"

"It's…complicated. The line of Serenity is one wholly dedicated to peace." He shook his head. "Not this one. Serenity VIII was a conqueror. She began a crusade of light against dark, saying there could be no peace so long as dark powers existed. And as claims like this so typically end, Serenity made an enemy out of those who were touched by the Dark Crystal and the natives of Nemesis who revered it." He shrugged. "The Nemians refused to submit to one they considered their equal."

"And those from other planets were fine with the conquest of their land?" Jadeite growled, and the red eyed man laughed.

"Some less than others, yes, but there was some resistance from most, predominantly from planets that sat farther away from the Moon and experienced less benefit from the light of the Silver Crystal."

"And the might of several planets together couldn't fight them off?"

Serafim shook his head, eyes both sad and angry. "It was a sudden attack that targeted the strongest of the lot, the Jovians, and they didn't stand a chance. Serenity utilized the Silver Crystal to utterly obliterate those who stood against her. The only ones who succeeded in resisting were those who held crystals of their own."

Kunzite crossed his arms and scowled, foot tapping swiftly against the hard mahogany floor. "This was nothing short of a hostile conquest."

"That it was, but her biggest mistake was exiling her rebels to Nemesis." The man slowly ran his fingers over the glass face of the coffee table, closing his eyes and reveling in the sensations of the cool, smooth glass, this sort of input having been lost to him for years. "The Nemians hardly accepted the exiles, but they did not kill them. They instead allowed them sovereign reign of themselves, and they formed into a group that called themselves the Black Moon Clan, and these people from every walk of life, cast out from the light of the Silver Crystal, were corrupted and tainted by the power of the Dark Crystal. They became wholly dedicated to destroying the Moon Kingdom that exiled them."

"And this is good for us?" Jadeite asked, and Serafim nodded.

"Yes. Those of Nemesis, both the natives and the exiles, are warriors unmatched in caliber by any other. Any force like this that battles against the Moon Kingdom is good news for us." He paused and looked out the window to the dark street below, the sky a deep, dark blue and the street lights giving the lifeless city an eerie glow. "Serenity VIII was a fierce warrior. Save for four, she managed to conquer the entire solar system and reign supreme over it. She was well on her way to immortality when Trinity II of Mercury struck her down."

"And the planets regained their sovereignty?" Kunzite asked, leaning over the dark leather couch, his hand defensively on the blond general's shoulder.

"She had been in power for thousands and thousands of years. They had become dependent on the rule by the Silver Crystal and-" He stopped suddenly, clutching his chest and eyes wide as the breath caught in his throat. The generals leapt up swiftly, Jadeite staggering on wounded legs, and took hold of him, laying the struggling man down upon the couch. Shaking, he grabbed Kunzite's hand and hissed, "I don't have much time left. Serenity VIII has been long dead, but her legacy lives on with Alkaios and the Council of Twelve that currently rule the Moon Kingdom."

"That's it," Jadeite said softly, laying his hand on his bandaged arm. "Geryon is one of twelve."

Serafim gasped, shuddering in pain as his eyes became dull. "The Moon Kingdom must be destroyed if this world is to be free. Kill them. Finish your Kingdom's work."

"When will we see you again?" Jadeite asked, becoming panicked as their leader began to fade.

"I don't know," he grimaced, hand clutching the seat tightly, the leather straining and wrinkling where he grasped and pulling it taut over the surface of the cushion. "Watch after him, alright? Keep him safe."

"We will do what we can."

He gave one final nod to his generals before his body went limp as the shadow lost his hold over the body he possessed.