It appears my story has caused a certain uproar. Let's see how this one goes.

Once again, thank you very much for following the story so far!

Beasts that Shout Love, Part 3: Coda for the Clairvoyant

Umino's Dreamscape

"Potmos? Can you hear us?"

"Who said that?"

"We did. We are the Moirai. Or as most people know us, we are the Fates. We used to weave the threads of destiny for everything and everyone in the Universe."

"Umm... May I help you?"

"Of course you may, dear Potmos."

"My name is Gurio Umino, not Potmos. Why do you call me that?"

"Oh, pardon our curtness, cutie pie. It's just that Potmos was your name in your past life during the Silver Millennium. We are still used to the names that were used in those days."

"Silver... Millennium?"

"Indeed. An age where humankind flourished, but also floundered under constant struggle among their own self-appointed superiors, not unlike our current age. Where unspeakable beasts and magic convived together."

"Listen, I'm not sure what's going on here. You call me Potmos, you talk of past lives and of this Silver Millenium that never appeared in any History book I've ever read... It's a bit too much for my mind! All I know is that I could die at any moment and I'm blind! Uh, pardon for being so rude, it's just..."

"No, it's alright, darling. Let's cut to the chase. Open your eyes."

"But... I just told you I'm blind, didn't I?"

"Trust us on this one. Just open your eyes. Try it now."

"Gah! I... I'm seeing... A lot of things at the same time. It's a mess, pure visual noise! Ugh, I'm feeling sick..."

"That's because you are seeing everything at once. You can see things that happened, things that are happening, and possible things that may happen. You used to study clairvoyance in the Silver Millenium, and the temporary loss of your sight triggered this dormant ability. It will take some time to be used to it, but for now, let's focus on seeing straight ahead of you once more."

"And... How am I supposed to do that?"

"Try to concentrate on where you are. As a living being, you occupy a place in the Universe at a given time. Concentrate on your physical body."

"Whoa... My life is flashing right by my eyes like they say it happens in the movies! ...Uhh, yeah... I'm blind now."

"No, silly goose! You're just bandaged! Take them off and you'll see just fine. Now if you excuse us, we must speak with another person that needs our help. Next time you sleep, we talk further, okay? See you!"

(xx)

Umino took off the bandages over his eyes, and despite a few moments of blurriness, he was able to see the present place and the present time where he was, physically. Naru was there, sitting beside him. She visited him every day, and even spent that whole night by his side when the doctors told her he would no longer be at life risk if he survived the night. Her jaw dropped when she saw Umino's eyes in a perfectly normal state.

"Naru? Is that you?" Umino asked.

"Yes... It is me!" Naru said as her eyes began watering and she gave her boyfriend a much held-back hug. "Oh my God, Umino, I can't believe it... You survived, and you can see! It's a miracle!"

"It... It is, isn't it," Umino said as he smiled and returned the embrace of his beloved. "Wait, I can see just fine without my glasses! I needed those to correct my sight, but..."

"You look beautiful without your glasses, you know that?" Naru stated as she blushed.

(xx)

From the small window of Umino's room, Nephrite checked in while keeping a furtive position, but his eyes fixated on the girl beside him. She gave the young boy lying on the bed a hug and a kiss on his lips and smiled warmly. The scene made the Heavenly King feel a mixture of warmness and sadness. "Naru..." He murmured. "So, you have moved on... I think I should be glad, in a way."

"Well, what do we have here," Zoisite jokingly said as he stepped beside him. "Shouldn't you be searching for Jupiter's whereabouts, and those she loves and cares about as well? As far as I know, little Naru here is not a Sailor Guardian."

Nephrite sighed bitterly. "Don't be a speck of dirt in my cut."

"Just a jape, old friend," the blonde Heavenly King said with a wave of his hand.

"Just do what you came to do and say no more. But I will warn you of this. If I hear Naru or her lover are hurt in any way whatsoever, I will personally send you back to the Hades, the mission be damned."

"As you wish, Winka," Zoisite stated as Nephrite walked away. The mention of that word made Nephrite seethe in rage even further.

"...Try not to hurt anybody else, for that matter."

Before going to the closest restroom to teleport back to Dis Pater's headquarters, Nephrite pondered once more about what he had just seen. I must carry on my mission. That is the only reason I was given flesh once more. This better work out. For their sake...

(~~)

Guten Tag!

How have you been since our last conversation, mein liebe? I hope you haven't lost your sharp wit since then.

During the off-time, I took a lovely visit to Berlin with some of my classmates. It was a fairly easy train trip from Frankfurt, if a bit long. Four hours to go, four more to come home. But it was well worth it. I'm sending you a few pictures I took in select places, such as the Brandenburg Gate, and even on the outline of the old wall that once divided the city.

One more semester, and we'll finally graduate. It's been a tiring semester, and I gotta admit I've been feeling incredibly exhausted with ease lately, with a few regular stomachaches to boot. I don't think it's anything serious, but I will check it up with a doctor come next month.

Anyway, as you know, I fully intend to pursue a career in educational methods and data analysis, so I can become a professor, statistician and researcher in the long run. And if possible, I wish to do it there in Tokyo, by your side.

Send my best regards to your mother and to the rest of the Sailor Guardians.

Tschüss, mein liebe!

P.S. Did you know that you have to pay a fee to visit Karl Marx's grave? It's supposed to be a preventive measure against possible vandals and desecrators, but I still can't help but find the irony amusing.

(~~)

Ami read the last letter she had received of Ryo, dated from December of the year before. She smiled candidly at the mentions and plans he had of meeting her and igniting the old flame that they had together for a while. Atop her desk, there was a sheet and a pen, ready for her to write a letter to him. But before she could sit and begin writing, the phone rang, and she immediately answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Ami?" It was her mother, Dr. Saeko.

"Mama? Is something the matter?"

"Ami, I don't know how to break this to you, so if you can, take a seat."

The Guardian obeyed and sat on the living room couch. "What's the matter, mama?"

"Remember Ryo, the boy you exchanged letters with?"

"Yes..."

"He's here at the hospital, in the ICU."

There was a short silence which made Ami anxious. "Mama... What's wrong with him?"

After a sigh, Dr. Saeko answered: "...He is in the latest stages of cancer. I'm afraid he won't last long."

The comment made Ami's blood run cold for the first time in ages. Her lips trembled as her brain failed to form words to answer her mother about the news she just told her.

"Ami? Are you alright? Are you still there?"

"Mama... Yes, I am here. Oh..." Her voice broke just as she further built a proper answer.

"As I said, he's hospitalized here at the University Hospital..." After some silent pondering, Dr. Saeko asked: "Do you have time to visit him now?"

"Yes," Ami immediately answered.

(xx)

When Ami arrived, a tall man in a black suede trenchcoat that sat in the lobby quickly got up to address her. He had a full hirsute beard and had deep circles around his eyes.

"Good morning, Miss Mizuno. Your mother told me about your visit. My name is Sosuke Urawa. I believe you know my son, Ryo."

"Oh, hello there, Mr. Urawa. She just told me about Ryo. I'm deeply sorry..."

Sosuke simply nodded. "Haven't you received any letters from him lately?"

"Oh... No, I haven't. The last one dated from December of last year, the one he wrote me before Christmas."

His expression closed into a bitter frown. "Well, something must have happened with the other letters then... Because it was around January of this year he discovered he had colon cancer, and the first thing he did was to warn us both through letters. I received mine just fine, and did everything in my power to pay for his treatment, even though his illness evolved rapidly. Meanwhile, he never received anything from you since then. He thought you no longer wanted to communicate with him."

"That's not the case at all, Mr. Urawa. Every time I received a letter from your son, I made it a personal mission to reply as soon as possible. Those made my days happier, you see..." She blushed a bit upon saying this. "How could I want to stop writing to him? In fact, I was just about to write him a letter when my mother broke the news about Ryo's health condition."

"My goodness..." Sosuke looked away in slight embarrassment. "Well, pardon my rudeness, but... Ever since his convalescence, he's been getting worse and worse. And the fact you two haven't spoken to each other may have made him wither to this point... I'm not pinning the blame on you or anything, mind you. It's just that... You are very important to him."

These words had Ami on the verge of breaking into tears that she strongly fought against. "And so he is to me, Mr. Urawa. May I... See him?"

"Of course. Come with me." She then followed Ryo's father to the ICU room where Ryo rested.

Ryo Urawa had lost his hair and looked fragile and brittle as he laid on his bed, tied to all sorts of medical machinery to keep him minimally comfortable in his last moments. It's been a week since he returned from Germany once he started developing more severe symptoms, like bleeding and constant lethargy. The chemotherapy sessions did not hit the desired effect to stop the spread of the cancerous cells, and as such, there was nary he could do but to expect these cells to remit themselves. Which was not likely to happen at that point. As such, he wanted to return to his family and loved ones, if only so he could be near them when his inevitable deceasing happened.

Neither Sosuke nor Ami spoke anything. The blue-haired girl covered her mouth and let her tears flow once she saw her sweetheart's condition. Her heart was not ready to see him part like that.

None of them noticed a certain man with a honey-blond ponytail peering on the window of Ryo's ICU room. "This cannot wait any further. Let's see how this one goes."

(xx)

Ryo's Dreamscape

The orange lights of dusk hit the windows of a train that Ryo boarded alone. As a boy, Ryo had no other choice but to accompany his father around the country as he changed posts, never making any meaningful rapport with anybody for more than a month a time. Trains were like a second home to him, and there once was a time he believed his life was a one-track course like a train always ran on, and as such, it was natural trains were also the main motif inside his mind.

This time, the carriage was about to reach the end of the line. In the last station, he was to disembark and enter the Hades.

Why am I still here? Why do I need to suffer anymore? Why do I need to make my father suffer... He cried all the tears he had already, and is only waiting for the relief of my passing, so he can go ahead with his own life...

He remembered the sacrifices both had to make ends meet. Even if life was relatively comfortable, it wasn't easy having an itinerant lifestyle, having no place to call home. But one thing he could always count on was his father arriving home, reading him whole chapters of books to entertain him until bedtime. These showed him life was not supposed to be a bad experience, and the world was not a dark and lonely place.

"In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit."

"Call me Ishmael."

"I am a cat, and as of yet I have no name."

I'm so sorry, father... You already lost mother when she left us, and now you are about to lose me. We will no longer walk around together, go to Red Diamonds matches, give me the kind of advice only a father could give... And I won't be able to give you a grandson, whom I would name after you, just like you named me after your own father.

He blinked and saw himself as a boy once more, crying with a crowd around him as he watched the Red Diamonds lose an important match at their home stadium. He knew the result already, 3 to 1 against Yokohama Flügels, but it did not make it any easier to bear. It was a grey, rainy day, and his father by his side, also with a sad façade, handed him a pill.

"Here, Ryo. Take this Aspirin."

"Ugh... It's bitter," little Ryo complained as he bit it and gulped it down.

"Of course it is. Such is the taste of defeat. It will leave a bad aftertaste in your mouth, but it will soothe the pain."

Indeed, the pain subsided. As he blinked once more, he saw himself back on the train. This time, none other than Ami Mizuno entered the wagon and sat beside him. The only other person that showed him another perspective of life.

Ami... My beloved Ami. I can't believe it I am going to die without seeing you once more... And show you how I improved. Will all my effort be for naught now?

She was the one to turn his life around, to see that nothing was set in stone as the predictions he always had seemed to imply.

"Our future is ours to make. If you don't want to become a monster, only you can decide it."

"If you go like that, somebody else will suffer a lot..."

He saw himself holding hands and kissing her on their one and only date. He saw himself writing and receiving letters where they told each other how they were doing. She always left clear how important he was to her, and how eager she was to see him once more.

I shouldn't die just like that. So many things to do, so many sights to see...

Three middle-aged women then entered the wagon. All wore long, tattered light-blue dresses and looked similar in body composition and facial structures, differing in skin tones and hair colors.

"I am Clotho, the Starter," spoke the one with dark skin and pitch-black hair.

"I am Lachesis, the Measurer," spoke the one with olive skin and platinum blonde hair.

"I am Atropos, the Cutter," spoke the one with pale skin and red hair.

"The Fates..." Ryo recognized.

"You used to study clairvoyance in the Silver Millenium, and you greatly excelled at it, which gained our favor," Clotho said.

"As you foresaw, this is your last day," Lachesis added. "Though not exactly in the way you expected."

"From the Hades, we are here to accompany you," Atropos finished. "But not before you undergo one last mission."

"I see. Can I ask you something? If you are the weavers of people's destinies, why do you cut some so short? Like mine, for example? Aren't we all made to follow our own steps and build our own destinies?"

"We no longer weave people's destinies," Clotho stated. "We agreed to leave humankind to its own devices long ago. We simply observe its possible outcomes now."

"The visions you see are all of either possible or certain outcomes, depending on how things are built," Lachesis then added.

"As such, some things are beyond your own grasp," Atropos finished. "You did not see this illness coming, just as you won't see coming what awaits you after you leave this plane of Existence. Still, sometimes, sacrifices must take place for a greater good to happen. For a person, or for the entire World. This much we can tell you, otherwise we will alter greatly what is to come."

"So, are you ready?" The Fates asked together.

"Yes. Ever since I discovered my cancer, I prepared my mind for this moment. But if you say it won't happen in the way I expect it to be... Can I at least... See my father and the woman I love once more?"

The Fates looked at one another in silence, then answered in unison. "Yes."

The train then stopped on its tracks before reaching the final station. Silently, the Fates left, and Ryo followed them.

"You are the master of your own life," the Fates spoke in unison. "Use your last moments wisely."

(xx)

As his dying thoughts subsided and he finally woke up, Ryo saw only one man sitting beside him. "So, there you are, Urawa... My God, you're in a sorry state."

"You can say that again..." Ryo bitterly stated as he looked away.

"But don't worry. I brought you the relief you need."

"What do you mean? Who are you exactly?"

In normal circumstances, Ryo would be able to tell who was this person and what they intended to do in the short term. But something about Fengari did not permit him to see the Young Lord's next steps. He handed Ryo a golden coin and two jewels, one green, and one red. The green one emitted a shine that covered the young man briefly.

He caught a glimpse of his past life. He was the Great Youma Bunboo, except he was kept in some kind of cage with others of his ilk. Ami was there, wearing a regal dress, with a look of sadness as he tended him. But there was something else... He wasn't always Bunboo. He was a regular man, who ended up as a monster somehow. And then, he saw another man who looked exactly like him standing by his side, offering him a helping hand.

Ryo immediately sat up on his bed and, feeling incredible discomfort with the tubes up his nose and injections through his arms, he took them all off. He was able to fully breathe on his own, and the constant feeling of sickness and nausea was gone. No more numbing pain throughout his body that the morphine could barely relieve, either. It was... as if he was completely healed of the cancer that rot and killed him from the inside.

"So, how do you feel?" Fengari asked.

"Well, I'm physically better, and I'm definitely grateful to you for that. But still... I somehow feel an impending sense of doom."

"I believe you are aware of what comes next. Are you afraid?" Fengari asked.

The conversation was interrupted by a cry from a staffer: "Help! HELP!"

"Listen, I'd love to stay here and help you out, but my mission requires me elsewhere. Don't hesitate to do what you need to do. Be seeing you!" Fengari then quickly left.

Ryo felt uncomfortable getting out of bed, considering he was only wearing some adult diapers and a patient gown. Still, he couldn't help but peek from his room as staffers and a few patients ran away across the corridor. He then saw what seemed to be the reason behind this scuffle: Tiny dark-furred creatures running amok, creeping even across the walls and ceiling structures and releasing a screech that sounded like a wicked cackle. One such creature caught wind of Ryo and leaped towards him with harmful intentions.

But instinctively, he attempted to punch it as it came swinging towards him. When he opened his eyes, he saw his right arm increase in size with a huge scissor-like claw protruding from his wrist and piercing through the imp's tiny body. The critter then burst into pure blood, staining his hand and sullying the room's floor, bed, and machinery.

"My... Youma form!?" Ryo concluded. "Is this why this man came here?"

He felt he had to do something with his reacquired powers. The patients, staff and visitors of the University Hospital were still running around.

Is this what the Fates meant by using my last moments wisely?

(xx)

"I am Lucius Artorius Aeneas, Leader of the 13th Trentian Legion, and Heavenly King of the North," a man in spoke aloud in the front lobby. "But you may call me Zoisite. Short and to the point."

Everyone within ear range thought it was a jest from a dapper-dressed lunatic, but after a finger snap, a horde of imps appeared to his side. Dr. Saeko Mizuno, who was in the lobby to pick up some documents, immediately went to the sound system behind the counter and picked up the microphone. "Evacuate the premises, immediately! Take the patients to the parking lot area and-"

"No one is going anywhere, honeydew," Zoisite threatened. With another snap of his fingers, all the imps moved around and ran around the corridors, seeking blood.

"Just what the hell do you want!?" Dr. Saeko cried out.

"I am here to kill the one named Ryo Urawa. I demand to go to where he is being kept. It's either that, or these imps will tear apart each and every single one of the patients in here. Either way, I will get what I want, and it's up to you to decide how much blood will be spilled today."

Then, some female guards arrived and pointed their guns at Zoisite. "Freeze!"

"You're not going anywhere," Dr. Saeko once more stated.

"Oh yes, I will, my dearies. Zoi!" A single wave of his hand was enough to pin Dr. Saeko and the law enforcers to the wall, and make them drop their weapons in the process.

Ryo saw the scene and felt a chill on his spine. He heard everything Zoisite had spoken. He's back... and he wants to kill me! Why!?

(xx)

On the other side of the building, Ami and Sosuke had run to safety when the first imps appeared to torment them. But the girl knew she had to do something, so he asked Ryo's father to hide along with the runaway patients and staffers, so she could return and fight as a Sailor Guardian.

"Mama!" Ami muttered under her breath as she recognized her mother being pinned to the wall. She quickly entered the bathroom stall adjacent to the lobby and called forth for her powers. "Mercury Planet Power, Make Up!"

Finally, Sailor Mercury appeared to face off against Zoisite and his minions. A quick check on her scouting visor localized the imps all across the building, and she was able to using her freezing powers. She eventually reached the front lobby, where she managed. While the policewomen were able to crawl to safety, Ami's mother remained mostly immobile behind the counter.

"I... I can't feel my legs..." the doctor moaned.

This unnerved the Guardian of Waters, but she had to keep on going. Silently, to not give away her presence, she managed to grab her.

"Please, stay here and rest," the heroine told Dr. Saeko as she laid her down in an unoccupied hospital bed. "I will deal with this..."

As she left the room, Sailor Mercury checked her visor once more, and saw the number of creatures had greatly diminished while she tended to her mother. Must be the other Guardians. I hope so.

But as soon as she left the room, she faced her lover-turned-enemy. "Anahita... I never thought you would be here."

"Why..." Mercury stated as she clenched her fist. "Why are you back? Why are you doing this?"

He made up an excuse: "We are destined to be together, my dear. Have you not realized it yet?"

"No! I refuse to be with a monster like you!" The Guardian exclaimed. She did not notice how much these words actually hurt Zoisite.

In the meantime, Ryo kept using his newly-acquired domain over his Great Youma form to trample and tear through the imp hordes across the hospital's facilities. "I have to help them all. I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away..."

The path Ryo left was of blood and disorder. Fortunately, only the strange creatures were killed in his quasi-heroic onslaught. He eventually reached the corridor where Sailor Mercury and Zoisite squabbled with one another.

"Zoisite!" Ryo shouted from afar. The attentions were turned to the young man covered in blood.

"Ryo..." Sailor Mercury couldn't believe it when she saw the one she loved standing there, as if he was not afflicted by a deadly sickness that impeded him of everything.

"Ami... So I did get to see you, after all." He stood there, dauntless and confident he could be, with a shy smile of relief on his face. He then turned to Zoisite. "It's me you want, right? Leave Mercury and the others alone and fight me, then."

The Heavenly King acquiesced and snapped his fingers once more. "This can't be a fight if I can kill you in one swing. Prepare to die now, child."

"I will face my fear," He muttered as his right hand mutated into that of his Great Youma form once more. The Sailor Guardian was awed to no end to see this, realizing it was him who was vanquishing the imps that Zoisite had brought. But one thing were tiny creatures, and another was a man with literal eons of experience in combat.

"Ryo, no! He's going to kill you!" Sailor Mercury cried out as she prepared herself to attack Zoisite from behind.

But without saying anything else, he turned his face to her and pinned to the wall in a similar. "This is an affair between men. Please do not interfere."

One final imp then embedded itself into Zoisite's right hand, forming a sharp blade. Ryo swoop against him with his Youma claw, which the King easily avoided.

"Forgive me for this, young man," Zoisite muttered under his breath as he pierced through Ryo's chest.

"RYOOOOO!" Two screams were heard, from Sailor Mercury and his father Sosuke, who managed to reach the place where the fated blow took place.

As the pain numbed his feelings, and as blood started to splash and squirt from his wound and his mouth, he once more saw himself among a crowd in a stadium. This time, it was a happy vision. He and his father were hugging each other with shared happiness.

On that day, the Red Diamonds won an important match against Nagoya Grampus to advance to the semi-finals of the Emperor's Cup. The crowd was cheering and hollering incessantly. His father was also waving his fists with a proud smile on his face. He then turned to Ryo and gave him a licorice candy.

"Yummy!" little Ryo answered with a smile as he tasted the candy.

"It's great, isn't it? The taste of victory is sweet like this licorice candy. Remember that, and seek for its taste in everything you do."

At that moment, the blood that accumulated in Ryo's mouth tasted like licorice. It was enough to draw a smile on his beaten face.

And as he agonized, he saw Ami once more, in what he thought was a vision of the future. She was powerful as can be, freezing everything within her range as the ultimate Sailor Guardian. And then he saw her wearing a doctor's gown, helping out people with a smile on her face, her mission on Earth now parallel with her own personal dreams. His blood tasted even better, and Ami was the most beautiful sight he could possibly see. So this is what the Fates wanted me to understand. This is how my death should go for the greater good. Yet, if my death means this world gets to live, and you get to go ahead, it will be worth it. I now know it.

As Zoisite removed the demonic blade from his chest, Ryo felt his body become cold, and his feelings give away to nothingness. His breathing stopped by the second. Fade to black.

He recovered his human form, only for him to plummet to the floor bereft of life. His father was too shocked to speak and act, and he too fell on the floor with a panic attack that was so uncharacteristic for a high-ranked Special Defense Forces member.

Sailor Mercury walked towards him, pleading to him as she picked up his body. "No... Ryo, please... Please don't leave me..."

"You only ever loved one man, my fair lady... And it was me! And will remain so forevermore! Ah ha ha ha ha!" Zoisite laughed in his own characteristic way as he teleported himself back to Dis Pater's chambers.

The Guardian's tears fell on Ryo's inert body, which did nothing to give him any life. Soon after, a team of paramedics, free from the shock of Zoisite's attack, arrived to take Ryo's corpse to the morgue. Sailor Mercury stood behind, sitting on her knees. His blood stained her Sailor Guardian uniform.

Sosuke Urawa was also helped by other medic staffers since he was in total shock, and he could only damn the heavens for the apparent jape they played upon his one and only son. "Why... Why did you do this to us..."

Sailor Mercury got up with difficulty. She was mortified to no end, with an empty look on her face and a jangly walk that denoted she had no more will or fight left on her. As she lumbered outside, her mind started flashing scenes with her mother and with Ryo. One was gone, the other was severely hurt, all by the hand of a man she may or may not have called her love in times past.

Her eyelids became weary, and after finally detransforming, away from the sight of everybody else, she felt the heaviness of the situation weigh on her head, and she fainted.

Setsuna managed to reach for her right after Ami fell unconscious on the floor. She was on her way to begin her shift that day when she saw the Guardian collapsed on the floor. "I arrived too late," she lamented as she picked her up and brought her back to the hospital. Young Lord... Is this part of your plan? Why...

From afar, Phantom Ace observed the aftermath of the battle, deeply hurt over not being able to do anything. He then drew forth the card he had drawn for his daily prediction. "Three of Spades. The first Royal Consort is gone... For the time being, that is. Three more to go."

(xx)

"So, what do you have to report, dear Aniruddha?" asked Dis Pater to Kunzite.

"I found Venus cavorting with a man, and not just any man. He has some magical abilities of his own, so it will be tougher to kill him. But what truly caught my attention was the fact he was Adonis in the past life. This man-"

"Wait a second," Dis Pater interrupted. "Adonis, you say..."

"Something the matter, master?"

"If this is the same Adonis I am thinking of, then I require you to bring me this man alive, the next time you see him."

For some reason, despite the strong distaste he had been harboring of Minako's current affair, the idea of simply bringing him alive did not please him either, for he had other plans for him. Still, he did not risk questioning his current superior. "As you wish, Dis Pater."

Zoisite then entered the room and saluted to Dis Pater's effigy.

"How did you go with your old flame, dear Aeneas?"

"You will be pleased to know I killed her current lover and caused quite a share of destruction. Poor Princess Anahita, I would pity her if she had seen the error of her own ways."

"Excellent," he responded in a joyful tone. "I commend you greatly!"

"If you excuse me now, Dis Pater, we will take our leave."

"Very well then. At ease, men."

Both then left the room. Only then did Zoisite shed off the bluster he seemed to have since reaping Ryo's life in front of their mutual love. It was clear Zoisite did not like it one bit having done this. He looked at his hands with shame and felt tears flowing down his cheeks.

"I killed him. Mercury's current lover was dying, then healed to live long enough for me to slay him with my own hands. His father was there... And I saw Mercury's face of pain when tending to his dead body..." Zoisite broke into tears once more. "I'm a monster, aren't I?" He bawled as he buried his face in his palms.

Kunzite quickly embraced his beloved, feeling his eyes moist as well. "Easy now. This is all part of the plan, after all. This will all be worth it in the end," he reassured the blonde Heavenly King. "If we want to save the Universe... We have to go along with this. They will all hate us for this... But this is how it should go, after what we have done."

Okay, the parts where Ryo's father gives him an Aspirin and later a candy after soccer matches are based on the chronicle of an Argentinian author, whose name escapes my memory, who had a similar experience with his father when the team they supported lost or won. All credits go to him.

litakino1987: Una vez más te agradezco el aporte y las charlas que tenemos a lo largo de los días, y que los personajes y diálogos estén de tu agrado. Todo eso cuenta y me deja la semana más feliz!

Upset reader: I'm sorry if the pairings are not of your taste. I'd also love to know what else makes my story "crappy" to you, so I can work on the issues in the long run. If it's simply related to shipping issues, though, do not bother yourself. I'm all for constructive feedback, but I'm not up for empty insults to my work. Also, this may not have been your intention, but to me, you came off as incredibly homophobic in your review.

Next chapter: Nephrite seeks the man Jupiter loves. But who could it be?

Best regards from The Hospitaller Knight.