Yes, news of my demise has been greatly exaggerated, I'm sure. At any rate, I'm still alive. I've been having great ideas (more than I can use in this story) but haven't had a chance to do anything more than jot them down on the papers I keep all over the house for just such an emergency! I hope I can find all the papers!!

Just to let you all know - although I've been sticking pretty much to the manga version of the storyline, I've decided to throw in a little piece of the anime. Just a tiny bit. I hope you recognise it when it comes by. Also, I've fiddled with Nephrite's eye colour. The anime has them blue, but there were just too many blue eyes! ;)

Many Thanks to:

Mieco - your spelling made me cringe, but I appreciate the enthusiasm.

Venus Smurf - once again your review has made my day. Thank you for sticking with me!

cyndaquil-babe - your hope is now being realised! LOL!

Prince of Crossovers - you haven't actually officially reviewed yet, but you made space for me in your newest update of Sailor Moon: Interrupted Ambitions and I appreciated your comment! That's the best kind of review. Thanks.

Moon Pie - your newest Sailor Moon Story has inspired me to "pick up my pen" and give this chapter another chance! I'd almost given up on it! There's nohting worse than quitting! Thanks for saving me from a Death worse than Fate!

Disclaimer: If I haven't already announced that I own it, then somebody else does!

Chapter 10

Moonlight Knights

(A/N: The following looks like it takes forever but it's all happening at pretty much the same time. Just so you know.)

The princess of Venus smiled warmly at the man in front of her. He thought he had his face carefully masked to hide his whirling thoughts, but Venus caught the small glimpse of uncertainty in his eyes. She reached out a slim hand towards Kunzite, who took it politely in his own smooth, cool hand. The soft warmth of her skin felt good to him. Welcoming. Her fingers tightened in his as she took a step closer to him.

"Welcome back. It's good to have you home again," she spoke softly.

'Home,' he thought. The word brought a surge of ... was that really homesickness? He closed his eyes again for a moment. He opened his eyes again when he felt her other hand place itself on top of the hand she already held. His fingers were no longer cool. As he realised this, he felt the ache in his heart ease. He looked back into her eyes and allowed a small smile to touch his lips, his own pale blue eyes softening. he reached out his free hand and pulled her into a light embrace.

"Thank you," he whispered into her hair. "Thank you."

The princess of Mercury blushed softly, but did not drop her gaze away from the emerald green eyes of the man before her. A soft breeze blew a strand of hair across his face and she reached up to brush it back in to place ... only to realise that he had reached up to do the same with hers. They both laughed softly.

"This is the longest that I've ever seen your hair," he said, brushing the strand back. "I like it. It's very lovely on you."

"Thank you."

"Princess." Zoisite learned forward, looking deeply into Mercury's eyes. "Princess, I no I've lost the right to ask ... but ... have you kept your promise to me? Do you remember?"

Startlement showed on Mercury's face. Her brow furrowed in thought and a small frown marred her lips. Zoisite marvelled that even now she looked adorable to him. Then Mercury gasped, her ocean blue eyes widening at the rediscovered memory and her hands flew to her mouth.

"You! It's your fault!"

It was Zoisite's turn to look surprised. He stood up straight and brushed a honey blonde strand of hair back behind his ear. "What's my fault?"

Mercury took one hand away from her mouth and pointed at him. "You're the reason I couldn't read any Love Letter sent to me!"

The two stared at each other, wide-eyed for a moment. then Zoisite's body relaxed and a relieved little smile lifted. He chuckled. "So you did keep it."

"Yes. Deep down I remembered. As soon as I realised I was holding a Love Letter, I broke out into the most horrible hives." She dropped her arm to her side and gave a little shudder at the itchy memory.

Two arms came up around her and a cheek rested on the top of her head. "You silly goose," a voice chuckled above her head. "Well, don't worry about it anymore. I'll take care of any more Love Letters."

Mercury put her arms around Zoisite's waist and smiled.

Jadeite watched the flickering emotions pass over the face of the princess of Mars as she struggled to hold back the flaring emotions within her. He admitted to himself that he'd probably be the same way, but being turned into stone tends to change one's perspective. He understood part of her difficulty though. She was the one who ...

"I'm sorry."

The strangled whisper startled him out of his thoughts. Mars was no longer trying to meet his eye. Her arms were held stiffly at her sides, her hands clenched tightly into fists. A single tear trailed down a soft cheek.

"Sorry?" he asked. "Sorry for what?" Then he realised. Sighing, he reached out and pulled her to him, wrapping her in his strong arms, kissing her with a fiery abandon. Her body stiffened in resistance and surprise, then relaxed, and then melted against him. He found himself supporting her weight. He ended the kiss, but only pulled back enough so that they were nose to nose. Looking into her amethyst eyes with his grey-blue ones, he spoke softly but firmly.

"You did not kill me, Mars. You freed me. I may have lost my body, but I finally found myself."

Tears flowed from Mars' eyes as she threw her arms around Jadeite's neck and let herself be held for the first time in a very long while.

Jupiter stood quietly and waited patiently. Nephrite had opened his eyes along with the others, but he had yet to look up. She knew he knew that she was standing there before him, but decided to give him a moment more. She took the opportunity to look him over. His rich, brown, wavy hair blew softly around his shoulders and she resisted the temptation to run her fingers through it. Broad shoulders, strong jaw. Everything a woman could want.

She couldn't wait anymore. She reached up and caressed his cheek, then, placing her finger tips under his chin, tilted his head up until his eyes met hers. 'Dark caramel eyes,' she mused. 'A girl could drown in such eyes.' She caressed his cheek again. Such soft skin for a man. He still hadn't said anything. Hadn't even moved. Feeling self conscious, she began to pull her hand away when she felt his hand cover hers. He pressed her hand back against his cheek as he reached up and caressed hers in return. She leaned her cheek into the caress, her leaf green eyes never leaving his.

"Never," he said quietly, in a deep voice that made her spine tingle with pleasure. "Never again will I fail you and yours again. I won't put you through that pain ever again. I swear it on my own life. On my soul."

"And I shall do my best to help make sure you will never be placed in a position where you will have to, Nephrite." She smiled up at him with twinkling eyes. "If a prince can protect a bunny with a pocket watch, then I think I can protect you too."

Nephrite tucked her head under his chin as he chuckled.

Serenity smiled as she watched her friends and guardians. They had pushed aside all doubts and opened their hearts completely, She had never been more grateful for the trust that ran between them all. She felt an arm go around her shoulders. Turning her smile to her prince, she placed her hand in his.

"Thank you," he smiled.

"For what?"

"For managing to convince them. I don't know what I would do without you."

"You will never have to find out, my love. I will always be there for you."

Endymion leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I guess we should wrap this up so that we can get home."

Serenity nodded and looked back to the four couples. She cleared her throat delicately, yet managed to gain their attention. "I am very happy for all of you." She smiled welcomingly at the Generals. "Thank you for being willing to come to our aid."

The Generals stepped forward and went to one knee, hands over their hearts, before the Princess and the Prince.

Prince Endymion stepped up to stand beside Serenity. "Know this, my friends, you are no longer quite the men you were before." He smiled. "Since you had such dazzling distractions before you, I'll refrain from being hurt that you hadn't noticed."

The generals looked at each other in confusion. Then looked at themselves in startlement. Where their uniforms had once been grey, they were now white. Their capes and trim were made of their signature colours. They looked back to their Prince.

"As I no longer have armies for you to lead for me, there is little logic of continuing to call you 'Generals'. You are now Golden Knights of the Silver Millennium. You have each been given powers by Neo-Queen Serenity. I hope you will use them well."

The newly dubbed Knights bowed their heads to their Prince. Kunzite spoke for them all. "We will, my Prince Endymion. We will. This second chance to make things right won't be wasted."

Serenity nodded. "We have no doubts that our trust has been misplaced, Knights. Further explanations will have to wait, however. Allow me to formally introduce you to the others." She gestured towards the Outers who waited patiently.

"From the Heavenly Star, Princess Uranus, Senshi of planet Uranus; From the deep Sea Star, Princess Neptune, Senshi of planet Neptune; From the Time Space Star, Princess Pluto, Senshi of planet Pluto and the Guardian of Time; and last, but not least, is Princess Saturn, Senshi of the Silent Star, Saturn."

Each of the Princesses gave a nod as they were introduced. Endymion then introduced Helios and the shrine maidens, the Menards. "We'll leave you here to recover until we can find a place for you above."

"My Prince."

"Nephrite?"

"My Prince, we could use my old place from ... my last ... visit. It's big enough for the four of us, and in the country ... if it still stands."

Endymion nodded. "We'll look into it for you. But we must go now before we are missed. Rest and we'll be back for you soon." He and Serenity transformed back into Tuxedo Mask and Eternal Sailor Moon, the others following their lead and transforming into their battle fukus. Gathering, they turned and faced the Knights, Elios and the Menards. Then they disappeared in a soft flash of golden light. Elios asked them to follow him into the shrine and he would show them to their room. They would, unfortunately, be sharing a space, but the room was large and he felt that being together would be beneficial. They had already been through much.

Nephrite was the last to leave the courtyard. A worry had nagged at him as the others were leaving but he hadn't realised what it was until they had already gone.

He wondered what had become of the girl and if he'd be able to keep his promise to her after all. As he turned to follow the others, a whispered name escaped his lips.

"Molly."

Well, I hope you are all still with me, mina-san! I'm very, very sorry that this took so long to get out, but I was worried I was getting out of character. Having been praised for capturing it so well in previous chapters, I was reluctant to put this chapter out. After reading Moon Pie's newest chapter, I was once again moved to work on it. But I couldn't bring myself to re-write it after all. I still think it's good. What was bothering, I think, was that we have no real example of what the generals were like before they fell to the wrong side of the war. I also felt that being in princess form would allow the others to reach beyond their human-like pride and deal with the situation with wisdom, love and royal grace - just as Princess Serenity is different from her other forms.

I hope I haven't lost anybody! There are so few of you to begin with! Thanks for sticking with me! As usual, criticism is accepted, but moronic comments will feel the wrath of ripe tomatoes!! ;)