The Servant of the Moon Kingdom Reborn
Note: This is a pretty large chapter, but it's full of action. I really liked writing this chapter and the one following it. I think this story might finally start to live up to the romance pairing I advertised.
The sun began to sink when Rei and Abinar reached the warehouse. The setting sun turned the sky a bright, rosy pink, but inside the warehouse, the light came through the windows dimmed and colored the place a bloody crimson color. 'I still feel uncomfortable in here,' Rei thought as she waited by the cracked door while Abinar sat farther inside the dilapidated building.
Just then, the scout communicator buzzed, and Rei answered it. Ami's face flickered onto the screen. "I'm with Usagi and Minako. We're on the street you told us about. Where are you?"
"Do you see the warehouse? I'm inside. We can transform in here." Rei clicked the communicator off and turned back to Abinar. "Well, they're coming. You sure it's here?"
"Yes. You can feel it, can't you?" Abinar replied. Rei felt the hairs on her back tingle, and she nodded stiffly. 'I can feel it alright. It's like when I was here before. I thought it was Abinar at the time. Who knew I discovered the portal to the Negaverse.'
"Rei," Abinar said urgently, "will you keep your promise? Please don't let them harm me."
"Why do you keep asking me that? Of course I'll keep you from harm," Rei whispered between clenched teeth.
"Your loyalty lies with them, I know that, but please do not turn on me," Abinar begged again. Rei sighed and nodded. 'Why is he so worried? I don't understand,' Rei thought, but she stopped thinking about Abinar's pleas when the three senshi raced across the street. Rei stuck her head out and waved them over, and when they sprinted to the door, Rei stepped outside and closed it.
"I thought we were going to transform inside?" Usagi asked as she tried to breeze past Rei, but the fire senshi grabbed the shorter Usagi by the shoulders and stopped her.
"I have to tell you something," Rei steeled herself to tell them the truth. "I had help finding this place. Um . . . unconventional help. His name is Abinar. He's agreed to get us in, but the deal is we don't harm him."
"Okay," Usagi said and shrugged. The pig-tailed school girl ducked under Rei's arm and pushed open the door. Before Rei could stop her or say anything, Usagi let out a squeak.
"What kind of help?" Minako asked warily as Ami, too, headed in after Usagi. Rei stared at Minako, who planted both hands on her waist.
"I may have forgot to mention he's a youma," Rei said tersely, "but that doesn't negate – "
"Rei, what were you thinking!" Usagi squawked as she sprinted back outside and flung herself on Rei. "We can't trust a youma!"
Minako brushed past Rei, who tried to unlock Usagi from around her body, and went inside to face the youma. Ami stood at the door, studying the creature warily, but Minako walked right up to it. "Can you get Makato back?" Minako demanded in a steely voice. "If you're going to betray us, have no doubt I will end you."
'Wow, she sounds very tough,' Rei thought as she finally pried herself away from Usagi and walked inside. Usagi hesitantly followed but remained planted behind Ami for safety. "If I do anything you think is traitorous, you can kill me, then," Abinar told Minako, "and as for your friend . . . I cannot guarantee anything. I told you I'd get you in."
"Good enough for me," Minako said as she turned around to look at the other three. "Let's transform and go. Venus Power Make-Up!"
"Mars Power Make-Up!" Rei said, and immediately, she felt her veins warm up until it felt like fire flowed through them. After the intense beginning, she felt herself return to a more normal state, except she could feel the blood pounding in her veins. 'I am Mars,' she thought. 'I am ready to fight.'
Turning around, she realized Mercury and Sailor Moon had also transformed, if a bit reluctantly. "Please don't tell me I'm the only one who has bad feelings about this?" Sailor Moon asked in a voice only slightly less whiny than Usagi would use.
"No, you're not the only one," Mercury whispered, "but we're running out of options. Let's go."
Mars turned to Abinar, who got up and lopped over to the shadowed end of the warehouse on all fours. When the other three hesitated, Mars pulled herself up to her full height and followed with long, purposeful strides. She heard the other senshi begin to follow, but as she passed into the darkness of the warehouse, where the crates and boxes cast long, eerie shadows, Mars realized she felt no fear.
'I'm ready,' she thought. 'I'm ready to face the Negaverse. Am I the only one?' However, she didn't have much time to ponder the state of her fellow senshi because Abinar began to move several of the crates aside. Immediately, a rush of dark energy seemed to fill the warehouse, and Mars could even taste it on her tongue. 'Ugh! It feels like I swallowed a piece of iron!'
"Here we are," Abinar said as he moved the last crate and placed both hands on the wall. Then, the dark metal seemed to tear, and sparks of dark energy shot out. Mars held up her hands to shield her face, but the sparks stopped once Abinar widened the hole. A gust of chill air came through, and goose bumps rose all over Mars's body.
"Me first," Mars told Abinar. "Come after me since we're not going to close the hole."
"It should stay open," Abinar replied as Mars walked up to the edge of the chilly portal. 'This is it,' she thought as she sucked in a breath and jumped into the hole. At first, it felt like someone passed a bolt of lightning through her, but then, instead of frying, Mars found herself tumbling into snow.
Quickly pulling herself to her feet, Mars looked around at the sub-zero landscape of ice and snow. 'Where is this?' Mars wondered as she pulled her arms around herself. 'Thankfully, I'm the senshi of fire, or else this would be much worse. No normal person could survive this place,' Mars realized just as the large, crimson form of Abinar tumbled through after her.
"This is where you escaped from?" she asked him. The ape youma pushed himself up on all fours and nodded as the wind whipped his rusty colored fur in all directions.
"See why I left?" he asked. Mars nodded as she looked around for something, anything, that would tell her where Beryl, her generals, and her youma would be, but everything looked the same bleak white and gray. Just then, Mercury, Venus, and Sailor Moon fell through the hole.
Mercury got to her feet first and joined Mars and Abinar while they stared out at the landscape. "Antarctica. We're on the south pole," the senshi said as her mouth fell open. "This is where the Negaverse has been hiding?"
"Where else would they have chosen?" Mars muttered. "It's a perfect location for them to hide, when you think about it."
When Venus and Sailor Moon, both of their teeth chattering, joined the other three, Abinar pointed to their left. "We go that way. There's a cave. That should take us where we want to go."
"Do they know we're here?" Ami asked.
Abinar did his best to imitate a shrug. "I have no clue. When they do, I'm sure we'll know. Let's hurry, though."
'Surprise might still be on our side,' Mars thought as she followed Abinar as he lopped across the frozen plain. Snow whipped into her face, but Mars ignored it. However, because of the storm, only when they were feet away from the cave entrance could they see it. Once they got inside and out of the blizzard, Mars suddenly realized another problem.
"We have no light," Ami said first as they both stood inside the cave entrance and looked down into the darkness.
"It will be lit farther down," Abinar replied, but then he added, "but you're right. There's no light in the tunnels."
"I'll fix this," Mars said. She pressed her hands together, and when she opened them, a flame flickered between them and drenched the bleak surroundings with a red, crimson glow. Without another word, the four senshi and the youma headed deeper into the Negaverse. The cave slopped drastically downward at first, and Mars found herself having to dig her heels in and take very controlled steps to keep herself from stumbling forward by accident. Abinar took the lead, though, but there was no need since the tunnel had no forks or tricky turns while it continued downward in darkness.
When the tunnel leveled off, they came to their first split, which was a simple two way fork. "Which one?" Abinar asked.
"Where do they go?" Mercury asked.
"Well, I would say the right one," Abinar replied, but then he added, "they keep most prisoners to the right, but I believe the left leads to Beryl's throne. I've never been down there, so I would not know."
"If that's the main part of the Negaverse, we should go that way," Venus stated. "It's pointless to go a safer route if Makato isn't there."
"We don't know she's not there," Mercury pointed out the counter argument. "Maybe they want us to come after them. We're not ready to charge Beryl's throne room. We'll get caught before we do. We stay together and go to the right."
"No way! I'm going to get Jupiter," Venus huffed as she walked over to the left tunnel. "If we can't agree, we should split up."
"That strategy won't make us vulnerable and easier to catch," Mars quipped sarcastically. "We should stay together. We don't want to make it easier for them to pick us off."
"I agree with Venus," Sailor Moon spoke up. "I'll go with her. You three can head the other way."
"We'll keep the communicators on," Mercury said as she flipped hers on. "If there are any problems, any at all, we come back to help each other, okay?"
Everyone nodded, but Mars felt a squirming in her stomach. 'I don't like this idea at all,' she thought even as she turned and followed Abinar down the other tunnel. 'Usagi just wants to get Tuxedo Kamen back, and Venus is just being a moron!' Now, she could only hear the clicking of Mercury's footsteps behind here. As they continued walking, the floor smoothed out, and Mars realized they were walking over ice.
Because she could keep it in no more, Mars asked, "Mercury, why did you let them get away with that? We should have stayed together."
"Maybe they were right, and Sailor Moon is our leader. She wanted to split up, so I didn't think it was my place to disagree, and Venus was going to be very insistent," Mercury explained herself.
Mars snorted. "Sailor Moon! When she starts acting like our leader, instead of either Venus or I, I'll start treating her like our leader."
"You shouldn't be so hard on her," Mercury said in a guilty tone of voice. "She tries her best. She wasn't meant for this."
"Yes she was," Mars snapped. "If I don't hold her accountable, who will? Venus just takes second in command with no problem, and you and Jupiter just do whatever Venus tells you."
At the mention of Jupiter's name, Mars felt her insides twinge with guilt, but she didn't show it to Mercury or Abinar. "You took this easier than the rest of us, that's all I'm saying," Mercury clarified.
"What?" Mars asked, and she almost stopped, but then she focused and kept walking.
"What she means," Abinar muttered, "is your character, your true soul, is Mars. You are the senshi of war. It's in your character to fight."
"What do you know about my character?" Mars snapped at Abinar.
"Ask me later, and I'll give you a real answer," Abinar said because, just then, Mars realized another pale light began to overwhelm her flame. Soon, an icy blue light lit up the chamber ahead of them, and Mars extinguished her hand held flame as the tunnel opened up into a massive chamber.
"It looks like . . . well, what I thought an inside of a volcano might look like," Mars said as she stared up at the doomed roof high above them. However, instead of lava, the entire room seemed made of shimmering, pale blue ice crystals. The room held a strange, phantasmal blue glow, and as Mars looked around at the walls, she realized that's where the light came from. Walking over to one of the icy walls, Mars realized the crystals looked different because they weren't the same, normal ice present outside.
Mercury screamed first. Mars jumped away from the wall and ran over to her fellow senshi, who stood in the middle of the room, staring dumbly at the walls. "What?" Mars asked as she looked for an enemy, but Mercury just pointed.
"Oh," Mars whispered as she saw it, too. 'People . . . youma. All of them are frozen in the ice,' Mars realized as a shiver crawled down her spine. She looked down at Abinar, who didn't react at all. "You knew this was here?" she asked.
"Yes," Abinar replied. "You might look for your senshi Jupiter here, too, but I doubt she's here."
"This is horrible," Mercury whispered.
"Beryl apparently gets very angry, very often," Abinar muttered as he headed over to the other side of the vast, rough room. "The exit is here. It leads to more tunnels, maybe more of the same."
"I hoped you'd be stupid enough to show up here," a cold voice whispered, and Abinar jumped away from the entrance because it wasn't empty. "I'm surprised you found your way in, though."
"Kunzite!" Mercury gasped as she retreated over with Mars and Abinar. The three turned to face Kunzite, who strolled through the door, swinging his sword, which was as white and cold as the ice all around them.
"Don't act surprised. Even though I would love to torment your friends, too, there's a greeting party waiting for them. My job is much more fun. I get to kill the three of you," Kunzite hissed as he raised his weapon.
"Really?" Mars growled as she spread her feet and took a fighting stance. "I think you'll find that difficult once all I've left of you are ashes. Fire Soul!"
The hot blast dispelled the chill air all around them, but Kunzite dodged it and came at them from the side. He threw a purple disk of dark energy at them, and it cut Mercury on the shoulder, but both senshi dodged the attack from his sword. However, Kunzite separated them, and as Mars readied another attack, he turned to Mercury.
"Sabao Spray!" Mercury shouted, and the room filled with chilly mist. Mars, making sure Abinar still stood beside her, leveled her hands, ready to fire at Kunzite.
Then, through the fog, she heard Mercury scream. "No! Fire Soul!"
As the fire burned away the fog, Mars could see again, but she realized all her attack did was sear a large hole in one of the walls. Sprawled out on the floor lay Mercury, and Mars ran over to her. 'She's still breathing, but he knocked her out with a powerful attack,' Mars realized as she checked her friend's vital signs. Then, she heard a deep growl from Abinar, and turned in time to see the youma intercept Kunzite's charge at her.
The youma knocked the general to the floor, but Kunzite blasted the creature off him. The dark energy flung Abinar across the room, but the youma recovered quickly and faced the general. "Hmmm, a stray beast. What a pity. I think I can fix that, though," Kunzite muttered as he pulled out the black crystal.
"No way!" Mars shouted as she launched herself at the general. She slammed into him and knocked the crystal from his hands. Kunzite let out a feral yell and struck at her with his sword, but Mars rolled away from him before he could attack her. "Fire Soul!" Mars screamed again, and this time, the attack partially hit the recovering general as it also seared open part of the floor.
Kunzite stood up and quickly put out the parts of him which caught fire. "You little wench," he hissed as he wiped soot from his face. Then, he bent his sword into a shimmering, bright purple band of dark energy. "Let's see you dodge this."
He flung the weapon at Mars, and she jumped out of the way, but the attack ricocheted back and cut her across the back of her shins. She screamed as she tried to dodge the second bounce, which cut her back. Finally, the weapon returned to Kunzite, who turned it back into a sword.
'Oh god, I can't withstand another one of those blows,' Mars thought as she struggled to stay on her feet. 'He's really strong. I can't keep fighting him like this or else I'll lose, and then he'll kill all of us, no problem. I have to stay alive to help Mercury.'
Mars raised her hands to attack, but Kunzite simply laughed. "You don't have enough energy for another attack. Come now, Sailor Mars, it's over," the general said as he sneered at her. 'He's right. Damn it, if I had a little more time, I could at least get a chance to burn that smirk off his face!'
Kunzite bent his sword into the glowing purple energy boomerang again, but what he didn't see, that Mars could, was the column of blue fire heading for his back. The flames erupted suddenly from the wall, and Mars dodged the attack, which blasted over Kunzite, through where she had stood in front of him, and into the ice wall across the room to form a pillar of flame the length of the room.
'What is that?' Mars wondered as she gaped at the raw display of power. 'Did . . . did Abinar do that?' Mars wondered as she searched for the youma. However, Mars spied the youma ambling to his feet over by Sailor Mercury, and nowhere near where the attack happened. "Abinar, what was that?" Mars asked the youma. However, the creature looked up at Mars with blood shot eyes and growled.
"Abinar, what's wrong with you?"
Even as Mars asked the question, the youma let out a feral yowl and charged her. Mars shouted, "Abinar! Come to your senses!"
The youma jumped at her, but Mars slid away from the monster. 'What's happened to him?' Mars thought in a panic. 'Did the dark crystal work?' Before Mars could think about it, the youma recovered and turned back around, but this time, he ran at the unconscious Mercury.
"No!" Mars shouted, but she realized what she had to do. "Fire Soul!"
The attack hit the youma directly on the back, and it dropped and howled as the flames consumed it. After a moment, the monster curled up silently, and only its burnt carcass remained. Mars felt her body shaking, but she looked away from the dead youma when she heard Kunzite shriek, "You! You!"
Mars spun around, and when she saw the man standing at the edge of the hole in the ice wall, her jaw dropped open. Mars echoed Kunzite's shocked tone as she gasped, "Jadeite?"
However, the blonde man, his skin deathly pale and his lips still blue, didn't seem to hear Mars as he took several steps towards Kunzite, who looked as if his eyes might pop out of his skull. "Last time we met," the blonde drawled as puffs of steam formed when he spoke, "it was the opposite situation, was it not, Anaximander?"
The blonde opened his hand and showed Kunzite his black crystal. Before Mars could comprehend anything, Jadeite flung the shard at Kunzite, who flicked away before it could strike him. "Damn him!" the blonde cursed as he went to retrieve the shard.
"Stop!" Mars shouted as she raised her hands and pointed them at the general. Midway to the shard, the man stopped moving and turned slowly to face Mars. Even as Mars pointed at him, ready to attack, the general raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
"I just stopped him from killing you," the general said evenly. "Are you going to kill me, then, Sailor Mars?"
"That-that was you? With the fire?" Mars asked warily. "How do I know you didn't want to kill both of us? That was headed for me, too!"
The man frowned slightly. "I didn't honestly have much of a choice where to aim that attack. Look, if what he said is true, the other two are in trouble. Mercury's also really injured, and you don't look so good yourself."
"I'm just fine," Mars snarled, and as the man turned back to get the crystal, Mars shouted, "Don't! I will do it!"
The general turned around again and sighed as he gestured to the shard. "Look, I won't use it, but we need to keep it from them."
"There is no we here," Mars snapped.
The man bit his lower lip and then began to spew out a slew of quick sentences. "We don't have much time. I know you're low on trust, but please, please just keep in mind I kept that man from killing you. I promise I'll explain everything when this is over. Besides you made a promise, and I would like you to honor it now, please, Sailor Mars, if you want to get out of here, don't kill me."
Mars blinked, and then, hesitantly, she asked, "Abinar?"
"Yes," the man said with a sigh. "Yes. Exactly. We have to go."
"How?" Mars asked.
"Later. Please, let me tell you later," Abinar said as he leaned down and picked up the black shard and stowed it in his jacket. Then, looking back up at Mars, he said, "I'm running on adrenaline and the burst of energy from the magic, but I can't really feel much of my body, and I don't think that's a good sign at all."
"Right," Mars whispered as she finally lowered her hands and went over to Sailor Mercury. "She's still alive, but she's a lot colder now and still unconscious. One of us has to carry her because I don't think she's waking up."
"If you're up to it, you should," Abinar muttered as he knelt down and examined the senshi. "She's light, and I think I might have another attack of some sort left."
Mars sighed. 'He's right. I'm spent,' the senshi realized, and she pulled Mercury over her shoulders. Fortunately, Mercury weighted the least of all the senshi, so Mars found no problem in carrying the unconscious girl over her shoulders, even if her knees did shake a bit at first. Then, glancing at her strange ally, Mars began to walk to the exit.
It occurred to Venus to use Sailor Moon's crystal to light their way, so the soft, silvery beam shown before them as their tunnel descended into the earth. However, unlike the path the others took, the tunnel's floor did not turn to ice. Instead, the floor became smooth, polished black stone, and the tunnel gradually began to get taller and wider until it ended at a room with several doors leading out of it. Sailor Moon put away her crystal because a pulsing, purple light hung from the ceiling.
"This place is creepy," Sailor Moon muttered. "Are you sure we shouldn't have stayed together?"
"If they have Jupiter, she's down here, with Beryl. She's not sitting off in some useless cavern," Venus said as she looked around the room. 'I wonder which one we should take,' Venus thought as she stared at the five tunnels ahead of them. 'Ugh! The dungeons. That's the obvious answer, but which one leads there?'
Sailor Moon walked forward and quipped, "Eennie-meenie-minnie-mo?"
Venus went to speak, but a cold, female laugh came from the tunnel Sailor Moon just pointed to. The senshi squeaked and ran back over to Venus, and both girls stood back to back and faced the dark, but not empty, tunnels ahead of them.
"Come out, coward!"Venus shouted, and from the tunnel, still laughing, emerged Binah. The smug general tossed her long, brunette braid over her shoulder.
"Boo," the general whispered before bursting into another bout of giggles. "Well, well. The two of you. All by your lonesome selves."
"Mercury!" Sailor Moon shouted into her communicator. "Mercury! Come in!"
'Why isn't she responding? What if something already happened to them?' Venus wondered as the general paced slowly in front of them. Venus met the general's malicious gaze, which reminded Venus nothing more than a wolf eyeing its prey before it decided to attack.
"Taking your time?" Venus snapped. "How about you tell us which way to Sailor Jupiter?"
This sent the general into peals of laughter again. When she finished, and stopped walking at the entrance of the tunnel she emerged from, Binah said, in a silky voice that couldn't disguise her malicious intent, "You see, that's very funny you ask that. You see, Sailor Jupiter is here! Right now! And she brought some of her friends with her!"
From the other four tunnels emerged four figures. Venus gasped at the two tall men, who appeared to be completely made from metal. But what struck her the most was the coppery haired woman, attired in a shining, golden breast plate, and then, Sailor Jupiter herself. "Jupiter!" Venus shrieked, but the senshi did not turn to her.
"It is Sailor Jupiter!" Sailor Moon gasped as she looked at their changed friend. The senshi now wore a thick, golden metal band around her neck, which matched the shining, golden chest plate. Instead of the soft skirt fabric, Jupiter now wore a green, metal skirt trimmed in gold. She wore knee high metal leg guards that matched the skirt's design and covered a pair of knee high, brown leather boots. On her lower arms, she wore greaves that were also made of green metal, but these had elaborate gold designs covering them.
As the two senshi gawked at their changed friend, the woman with the coppery hair snapped, "As you can see, the family of Jupiter fights together again!"
"No! It's you! Alketo!" Sailor Moon gushed. 'What? She knows who they are?' Venus realized, but she kept her eyes on Jupiter, even as her stomach began to sink down into her feet. 'Oh no . . . Jupiter. Jupiter . . . what did they do to her?'
Venus focused back on the woman, Alketo, when she said, in a voice that sounded as kind as the icy rocks all around them, "Oh, lovely princess, nice to see you again. I will repay you the kindness you showed us!"
Alketo drew a large, golden axe, and then, swung it at Sailor Moon. The senshi dodged the blow, and Venus took the moment to turn her attack on the coppery haired attacker. "Crescent Beam!"
The blast shot Alketo across the room that was barely larger than the average living room in a house. The coppery haired blonde hit the wall with a resounding crack, and Venus gasped as she saw the stone crumble under her blow. 'What is she? She's not human,' Venus wondered as she turned her attack on the general, Binah.
The general thrust her green, crystal spear at Venus, who dodged under the sharp blade and kicked the woman in the stomach. As she did so, she saw the two bronze men approach her. Venus gathered her energy and shouted "Crescent Beam!"
The attack bounced off the two metal attackers and rebounded to fling Venus into the stone wall. Unlike Alketo, the wall did not crack on Venus's impact. Instead, Venus felt like her head smashed into a thousand pieces.
Her vision still starry, Venus heard Sailor Moon shout, "In the name of justice, I will punish you! You took my friend from me, now I will get her back! Moon Healing Escalation!"
The attack lit up the small, dark cave like a flare gun. The blast, aimed for Sailor Jupiter, was intercepted by the two metal soldiers. Both men shrieked, and it sounded like sheets of metal scraping across each other, and Venus felt as if the metal were scraping across her teeth.
Alketo, taking the distraction of the horrible noise to her advantage, slammed into Sailor Moon, and as Venus struggled to get to her feet, Binah came over and placed the spear against Venus's throat. "We have you right where we want you. Now Sailor Moon can give us her crystal and – "
Binah gave a surprised shout as a blast of blue fire shot down the tunnel. The attack seemed to fill the entire room with intense heat and energy before dissipating down several of the tunnels. 'What was that? Did Mars do that?' Venus wondered as she pushed herself to her feet again.
"Sailor Moon! Venus!" Mars shouted as she rushed into the tunnel. "Jupiter!"
"Mars, they did something to her!" Venus said as she ran over to Sailor Moon, who escaped Alketo during the fire attack. Only when Venus turned back to Sailor Mars did she notice the two other people with her. Mercury was hardly visible, draped over the senshi's shoulders, but the pale, blue lipped blonde man beside her didn't look familiar to Venus.
"Damn it! That stupid Kunzite can't even kill two scouts! And I thought we got rid of you a long time ago!" Binah growled as she turned to Mars and her mystery friend. Mars raised her hands up, as if to attack, and thinking the better of the situation, Binah went over, grabbed Jupiter, and disappeared.
"No!" Venus shouted, but as she went to give chase, Alketo threw her aside.
"We're not done," the woman sneered as she raised her axe. Then, another blast of blue fire smashed into Alketo, and the attack made the Jupiter warrior back away from Venus. Mars turned her attack on the two already drained metal men, who already withstood Sailor Moon's attack.
"Fire Soul!"
"Crescent Beam!"
Even though Venus could tell how weak Mars's attack was, it did its job and forced the men to retreat. To her credit, Venus caught the stunned Alketo off guard and slammed her into another wall. Even though the woman did not go unconscious, the loss of her brothers was enough to send her running.
"Thank the gods," Mars whispered. "We need to get out of here. Mercury is really hurt, and I'm on my last legs."
"Mars, who is – "
"Jadeite!" Sailor Moon squeaked. "Mars! What – "
"He's Abinar, and I have no idea, so let's get out of here! We're way in over our heads!" Mars shouted in a hoarse voice. Venus reached up and took Mercury off Mars's shoulders, and the two girls carried the unconscious senshi between them.
Abinar led the way, and soon, they found themselves crossing the barren plain of snow again. Immediately, Venus felt her legs and arms become numb. 'It's so much worse now that we've been in battle. I don't have any extra energy to protect me from this place. We need to get back. Mercury looks really bad.'
Abinar found the open portal, and Venus and Mars, taking the unconscious Sailor Mercury with them, entered first. They tumbled out the other side, and Venus stood up, but Mars and Mercury didn't. "Come on! They need to come through!" Venus announced as she shook Mars, who moaned and crawled away from the entrance. Venus grabbed Mercury by the shoulders and pulled her away before Sailor Moon came tumbling through.
"I don't understand!" Sailor Moon exclaimed as she staggered away from the portal. "Abinar . . . Jadeite . . . what happened?"
"I told you," Mars growled, "I don't know that much. I just know what happened, okay? He said he would explain later."
Then, Abinar staggered through the portal. After he entered, he immediately turned around and closed the door. "Jad – Abinar! How did you – "
Sailor Moon's question was cut short when Abinar swayed and fell flat on the ground with a thud. Venus gasped as she dropped Mercury and went over to the unconscious man. "He's freezing!" Venus said as she felt his pulse. "Mars, we need to get you three help."
"My place," Mars whispered as she tried to drag herself to her feet. "We should stay in our scout forms. We'll heal faster with the aid of our powers. Sailor Moon, take Mercury because she's small. Venus, help me carry Abinar."
"Mars, you can barely stand!" Venus exclaimed.
"It doesn't matter. We need to get out of here," Mars hissed. "This was my stupid idea, so I'm going to help clean it up."