Mars laid on her bed in her room inside the moon castle and stared at the ceiling, unable to take her mind off the man she had met earlier that week. After Princess Serenity had snuck off to earth to meet the prince again, Mars had been sent to retrieve her, and nearly been imprisoned by the palace guards for trespassing. Jadeite, one of the Prince's generals, had come to her rescue and she had been able to find the princess and bring her home before more trouble was caused. Mars closed her eyes and pictured his tousled blonde hair, sparkling eyes and his boyish grin, and she sighed to herself.
"I never got to thank him for saving me…" she murmured, drifting off to sleep.
"Better late than never, I always say." Mars sat up and her heart stopped momentarily as she looked toward her window, finding Jadeite sitting on the balcony. She got up and hurried outside to meet him, nearly in a panic.
"What are you doing here? If anyone catches you, you'll be…" Jadeite silenced the panicked fire senshi by gently pressing his lips to hers, pulling away after a brief moment. "…in trouble…" Mars finished her sentence, unable to tear her eyes from him.
"I won't stay long. I just wanted to see you again" he said softly, grinning slightly. Mars returned his smile and reached out to brush his cheek with the back of her hand.
"I'm glad you're here…I never got to thank you for saving me the other day" Mars said softly, starting to move her hand from his face. He quickly placed his hand over hers and chuckled softly, brushing a strand of raven hair behind her ear.
"I had to. You're too pretty for jail." Mars could hear muffled voices coming toward her room and she quickly turned to Jadeite, looking at him and biting her lip.
"So are you…you need to go before you're caught." Jadeite nodded and leaned forward to kiss her one last time before he climbed down to the ground and transported himself back to earth. After making sure he got away safely, Mars went back inside and laid on her bed, falling asleep with her fingers pressed to her lips.
Rei sat up and looked around her, nearly blinded by the sunlight streaming in through the window. After her eyes adjusted, she sat up further, remembering where she was. Lucy came around the corner, startling her slightly.
"Hey, you're awake! Did you sleep alright?" Lucy looked at Rei, worried by the sadness in her eyes. "Is something wrong?" Rei shook her head slightly, embarrassed that Lucy had seen her like that.
"I slept alright. I kept dreaming of the past, and the moments Jadeite and I shared before I lost him…" Lucy nodded, trying to think of any piece of advice she could offer to help her friend.
"I may not be an expert with this stuff at all, but I don't think you should give in yet. No, forget that. You shouldn't stop fighing for him until you get him back."
"You're right" Rei agreed, smiling slightly.
"We've seen a few of our friends go down the wrong path. If we had given up on them, everything would be a lot more different now. I'm sure somewhere deep inside, the man you love is still there."
"Thank you, Lucy. Could we go back to the guild in a bit? I'd like to check on my friends with that lacrima again. Speaking of that, can you speak through them?"
"Yeah, we can, actually! Do you want to try it?"
"Yeah, I'd like to speak with my friend Ami if I can. She's the brains of our group, and she might have a way to find me, hopefully."
"That's a great idea! Just let me know when you're ready, and we can head over."
"I'm actually ready whenever you are" She paused for a moment, looking down at her slightly disheveled clothes. "Although, I might need to borrow some clothes from you" she chuckled. Lucy nodded and walked to her bedroom with Rei, opening her closet and taking a step back. After looking through everything, Rei decided on a simple red dress. Lucy left the room and after Rei changed, she met her at the door and the two of them headed to the guild.
When they arrived, Rei was surprised to find things were a little more chaotic than the last time she had been there. Lucy chuckled and put a hand on her shoulder, shaking her head.
"Don't worry…it gets like this sometimes." Luckily, the chaos stopped once everyone noticed they were there. The two girls were instantly greeted by Natsu, who had been in a heated battle against Gajeel just moments before.
"Hey! Glad you guys are here! How was your first night here, Rei?" Before Rei could answer, Natsu was knocked to the floor, and a large, muscular man approached them, grinning down at him.
"You gonna run from our fight, salamander? Don't tell me you're scared." Before things could escalate further, Levy was between the two of them.
"Don't kill each other in front of our guest" she sighed, and he instantly backed down. Rei watched him carefully, observing how easily Levy was able to tame him, and assumed this must be Gajeel. Gajeel looked at Rei, and his demeanor changed instantly.
"Sorry, I hope I didn't scare you. We were just playing around" he said sheepishly, picking Natsu up from the floor and standing him upright.
"Who said anything about playing? Let's take this outside, iron face!" The two of them walked outside to finish what they started, and a collective sigh could be heard throughout the guild.
"They'll never learn" Levy chuckled, smiling at Rei. "That's Gajeel. He's the one I told you about" she said the last part quietly, not wanting anyone to hear besides her. Rei nodded, smiling slightly, saying nothing.
"Do you know where the communication lacrima is? Rei wanted to try something" Lucy explained. Before Levy could say anything, Mirajane walked over to them, holding it.
"Here you go" she said cheerfully, placing it in Rei's hands. "What are you going to do?"
"I want to see if I can contact my friend Ami. If anyone could figure out where I am, and how to get me home, it would be her." Rei held the lacrima and focused her thoughts on Ami, soon seeing her appear inside the ball. She could see Ami was hard at work on something, and almost felt bad for interrupting her, if she was even able to. She took a deep breath and spoke into the lacrima, silently praying it would work.
"Ami, can you hear me?" To her surprise, Ami looked up from the scattered papers on her desk, confused.
"Rei? where are you?"
"I'm not really sure how to explain it…I'm…" She stopped talking when she heard movement inside Ami's apartment, and her heart nearly stopped when she saw Jadeite walk into the bedroom, looking around.
"I can hear her…" he said softly. Rei stared at his face, too stunned to say anything.
"I need you to do something for me, Rei. I might be able to track you if you transform. Can you try that?"
"I…yeah, I can. I might lose you while I do, though."
"That's alright. Just do it whenever you're ready, okay?" Rei bit her lip and set the lacrima down, watching the images of her friend and her lover fade. She pulled out her transformation pen and transformed, immediately reaching for the orb as soon as she was finished.
"I did it, Ami. Did you see anything?"
"It appears you're in another dimension entirely. I'm not sure how we're going to find you." Rei could feel her heart break at her friend's words, and she could see that Jadeite felt the same way she did.
"I'm sorry…" he murmured, looking around the room as if he was looking for her.
"I know. I'll find my way back, I promise" Rei replied, trying to remain calm. She could hear a loud crash coming from the living room, and heard what sounded like a struggle. "What's going on? Is everything okay?" She watched helplessly as Ami and Jadeite ran out to the living room, where they found Zoicite unconscious, and Nephrite and Kunzite standing over him. Rei immediately knew what was going on, and began to panic.
"What is it?" Lucy asked.
"You've got to get out of there, Jade!" Rei cried, watching as the two corrupted generals overtook him, vanishing from the apartment before Ami could stop them.
"I'm sorry, Rei…it happened so fast…" Ami said, just as stunned by what had happened as she was. The lacrima slipped from Rei's hands and fell to the floor, and her name being called was the last thing she heard before everything went dark.