A/N Sorry it took me so long to update this! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
After moving Rei to a couch, Lucy went behind the bar to get a cold cloth for her forehead while Natsu and Happy stayed close to their new friend, keeping an eye on her. As soon as Rei felt the dampness of the cloth on her skin, she began to stir slightly.
"Jade…?" she murmured, opening her eyes halfway.
"No, it's Lucy. Are you okay?" Rei opened her eyes more and sat up, looking around the room at everyone.
"What happened? I remember talking to Jade, then…everything went black." Lucy looked at Natsu and bit her lip, trying to decide whether or not to remind her of what had happened. He gave her a slight nod, turned to Rei, and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Those friends of yours…they were captured. You were so overwhelmed from seeing it happen that you passed out."
"Captured…where are they? Are they alive? Did you see anything?"
"We didn't see anything. After you passed out, everything in the lacrima disappeared.
"We have to find them. It's my fault they were taken…if anything happens to them, I don't know what I'll do."
"Don't blame yourself" Lucy said softly. "I'm sure wherever they are, they're alright, for now. We'll figure out how to get them back."
Rei nodded slightly, looking over her shoulder at the lacrima, which was still on the floor. "Can you bring me that? I want to see if I can find them." Lucy nodded and walked over to pick it up, bringing it back to her. Before Rei could do anything, her communicator began to beep. She looked down at it and opened it, hoping it was Jadeite somehow, but knowing it most likely wasn't.
"Rei, can you hear me? It's Ami."
"I can hear you. What's going on?"
"I wanted to tell you I figured out where Jadeite and Zoicite are." When Rei heard this, she breathed a sigh of relief, holding onto hope that the two of them were still alive.
"I'm so relieved…are they okay?"
"They're fine, at least for now. We wanted to go after them, but they insisted on us saving you first. Since we know your communicator works, I wanted to try to figure out your location. Can you transform?" Ami instantly went silent after asking that, and Rei chuckled slightly, knowing why.
"It's okay. The people I'm with know who I am. I told them." After gaining back enough strength to stand, Rei pulled out her pen and transformed, praying Ami would be able to track her.
"It worked! We're coming to get you back, okay?" Rei bit her lip slightly, relieved to be going home, but sad to be leaving her new friends so soon.
"Okay. I'll see you all soon." Rei closed the communicator and sat back on the couch, looking at the floor while she waited for her friends to arrive and take her home.
"You don't want to leave…" Lucy said softly, watching Rei's body language.
"No, I do. I just have a feeling that I shouldn't yet. I feel like something is going to happen, and you guys are going to need my help." Before anyone could ask what she meant, two men walked into the guild hall and approached the bar to talk to Mira. Rei eyed them suspiciously, raising her guard higher when she heard one of them ask about Lucy. Rei tried to signal to Mira and ask her not to tell them, but wasn't fast enough. The two men approached Lucy and before anyone could react, Rei was on her feet in front of Lucy.
"Don't touch her" she commanded. Everyone suddenly became alert to the situation and watched, ready to intervene if necessary. Rei stared at the men, her eyes and fists ablaze with fire.
"Get out of the way. Lucy has something we need, and we won't leave until we get it."
"If you want her, you'll have to get through me" Rei challenged, hurling a string of attacks toward them. As soon as the two men hit the floor, they scrambled to their feet, staring at her in awe.
"I've never seen magic like that before…maybe the boss would be interested in her, too…"
"You think so? Why don't we bring them both back, then?" Rei glared at the two of them and prepared to attack again, but was knocked to the ground by one of the men. She struggled to get free, surprised that she was having so much trouble. Just when she felt like giving up, Rei heard a familiar voice in her head.
Get up, fireball. Don't let them beat you. She looked around the room, and could feel her heart skip a beat. "Jade…"
"Having trouble, fireball?" the man pinning her down teased. Rei glared up at him, mustering all of her strength and kicking him off her, and it was his turn to be immobilized.
"Only one person is allowed to call me that" she hissed. She turned her attention back to Lucy, who was now being guarded by Natsu and Gray. She threw an attack at the man who was after her, slightly taken aback when her flames were surrounded by lightning. Realizing they were outnumbered, the two men left, vowing to come back again some other time. The others shared Rei's confusion and looked up, seeing four unfamiliar figures standing in the doorway. Rei turned toward the door, smiling when she saw Mako and her other friends standing there. "You made it…" Mako, Usagi, Minako and Ami walked into the guild hall and rushed over to Rei, enveloping her in a group hug.
"We were so worried about you!" Usagi sniffled, hugging her tighter.
"I'm fine" Rei said softly, loosening Usagi's grip on her a little. "It's Jadeite and Zoicite I'm worried about…"
"Why would you worry about them? They're our enemies!" Mako asked defensively.
"No, they're not. Both of them remembered who they really are, and were with Ami recently." Rei looked to her friend for help, and Ami nodded.
"She's right. The two of them came to me and asked if I could help them figure out where Rei was. Nephrite and Kunzite showed up at my apartment and captured them for betraying the dark kingdom."
"No way…" Makoto murmured. Rei picked up the lacrima and used it to find Jadeite and Zoicite, and showed them.
"We have to save them…who knows what might happen if we don't?" Minako said with a sigh, heartbroken that Kunzite was capable of being so cruel, even to his own comrades.
"Can we come with you?" Lucy asked. "I'd like to repay Rei for helping to save my life."
"We won't be able to take all of you, but two of you can come" Ami said with a smile. Lucy instantly volunteered, followed closely by Natsu.
"Be careful, you two" Erza commanded.
"We will" Lucy said with a smile, then turned to Rei. "Ready to get your fiancé back?" Rei blushed slightly and nodded, and the seven of them were off.
When they arrived inside the Dark Kingdom, Rei could instantly sense Jadeite's energy and took off running in the direction it was coming from. Lucy tried to stop her, but was unable to, and sighed in defeat.
"She'll be alright. Just let her be" Minako said with a smile.
Nephrite and Kunzite were standing by Jadeite and Zoicite's cells, watching them to see if the two of them would wake up. With a sigh, Nephrite turned to his leader and looked at him. "Are you sure we did the right thing?" he asked. Kunzite nodded, smiling a bit.
"We had no other choice…after I realized they were right, I had to come up with a plan to get them back here, so it would be easier for us to be found. I won't let anyone hurt them, I promise." The two men jumped slightly at the sound of footsteps coming toward them, and after unlocking the cells, they quickly ducked out of sight to avoid being seen. Soon after they disappeared, Rei approached the cells, collapsing just outside the one holding Jadeite. After catching her breath, she stood and wrapped her hands around the bars on the door to steady herself, surprised when the door swung open.
"This has to be a trap…there's no way it would be this easy." Rei quickly put her fears aside and opened the door just enough to get inside, and rushed to Jadeite, who was chained to the wall and unconscious. She carefully leaned over and kissed his forehead, causing him to stir. He opened his eyes partway and smiled weakly at her.
"Mars…"