[Scene: an all-night diner in Hen Tie, Washington. Minako, Mamoru, and Zoi are sipping soft drinks. A plate of fries is in the middle of the table, largely untouched.]

Zoi: Thank you helping me back there.

Minako: [into her straw] I didn't do it for you.

Zoi: [catty] Clearly. However, you did help save my life, so I thought I should thank you anyway.

Minako: [eyeroll] Whatever.

Mamoru: Minako cares more than she pretends to.

Minako: [sneers at Mamoru] Seriously? You need to learn to mind your own business. [sneers at Zoi] And as for you? Don't get the wrong idea. We're not cool. We're not even room temperature. But I am far less cool with that thing that attacked us all back in the clearing, and since it's just about stuck a big giant KICK ME note on your back, that makes us allies. Barely. For the time being. [narrows her eyes] But let's get one thing clear right off the bat, I may put my life on the line to save your worthless Shitennou ass, but will NOT risk any of my girls!

Zoi: I wouldn't want you to.

Minako: Good. [stabs at her ice with her straw] Because this might be the last time I agree with you about anything.

Zoi: [shrugs] From the looks of things, your Senshi couldn't do much against this guy anyhow. So you'd just be in the way. Again.

Mamoru: Ok! Let's end this sort of talk right now!

[Minako and Zoi stare daggers at him.]

Mamoru: I mean it… Zoi, stop antagonizing Minako… Minako, Zoi is not your enemy… He might be a Shitennou now, but he wasn't one during the fall of the Silver Millennium. He doesn't serve Metalia.

Minako: No. He serves Kunzite. Which is the same thing…No, it's worse, because he didn't have to sell his soul to be like this.

Mamoru: Like what? A Shitennou?

Zoi: Evil. She's upset because I'm evil. [sips his drink]

Mamoru: You're not evil.

Zoi: You're wrong… [inspects his ponytail] You asked why those monsters came after me? Why it went after the Shitennou and nobody else? I couldn't tell you at the time, because I didn't know who was after us. Now I do… That floating thing in the clearing? That's The Death Phantom, a Minor God of Chaos, and he's coming after me because of what we did to the Blackmoon clan.

[Minako and Mamoru both gape at Zoi at the mention of The Death Phantom]

Zoi: There used to be a tenth planet, called Nemesis, but it was destroyed thousands of years ago. The Death Phantom brought his worshipers to Earth, at the invitation of The Greater Goddess Metallia, but she only invited them so she could enslave his people. They were granted their freedom and sanctuary in the Kingdom of the Moon, but were quickly regarded as pariahs and sex offenders-

Minako: Yes, yes! We already know all this! What does any of this have to do with you and the Blackmoon clan?

Zoi: You…know…how? [comprehension dawns] Oh, right, you have your memories from the days of the Moon Kingdom…[flings his ponytail back over his shoulder]…The Blackmoon family were the purebred descendants of the Children of Nemesis.

Minako: [snickers] Oh man. That explains a lot.

Zoi: You might not know this, but the Children of Nemesis were instrumental in the downfall of the Moon kingdom. They betrayed the White Queen and allowed Metalia to breach their defenses after Endymion turned traitor-er, no offense, Mamoru…

[Mamoru shoots him a look]

Zoi: In exchange for their help, Metalia forged a magical truce between the Black Moon Clan and the Shitennou. They couldn't harm Kunzite directly, but they could hurt me, his boyfriend. They kidnapped me, and gloated about how they were going to torture and kill me. Which inspired Kunzite to find a loophole so he could end the truce and kill off the Blackmoons, once and for all.

Minako: [wide eyed] The fire at the Blackmoon estate-

Zoi: Was merely a cover. Everyone in that house was already dead. Including me…Every member of the Blackmoon family was annihilated by the Shitennou. Which is why Skeletor's Ghost is after us now… The only reason I'm sitting here right now is because Kunzite made it crystal clear he wasn't going to be any good for anything anymore with me dead… So don't make me chose between you and Kunzite. Because I will chose him. Every time.

Mamoru: That still doesn't make you evil.

Zoi: No. It's the murders I committed before I became a Shitennou that makes me evil.

[Mamoru give him a startled look while Minako sits there hunched down with an 'I knew it' grimace on her face.]

Zoi: [To Mamoru] Remember when you asked me what happened at Black Moon Cove, and I told you about how a gang of Blackmoons showed up at my house to kidnap me for making trouble for Demande Blackmoon?

Mamoru: [nervous] Yes?

Zoi: It was all true…. Only I left a lot of stuff out…[twirls a lock of his hair] …They didn't come to my house to kidnap me. They came there to murder me… Justice Blackmoon was angry at my dad, so he used his mind control powers on my father to force him to shoot me in the head with his service revolver…But it didn't work. My dad's goodness, and his love for me, were too strong to allow him to pull the trigger…So they tried to kill me themselves and make him watch. But I outwitted them…

[Zoi smiles at the memory]

Zoi: I pretended to cooperate… tricked them into thinking I actually wanted to die…just long enough to get my father's gun away from them so I could start killing Blackmoons…

Mamoru: That's not murder. That's self-defense.

Zoi: Yes. I suppose it could be considered self defense… At first… But once they started running, and begging for their lives…?

[Mamoru and Minako stare at him with their mouth hanging open a little]

Zoi: I liked killing them. It was fun for me… They hurt my dad. They tried to make him kill me. And the worst part? He would have never have known about the mind control. He would have thought there was some part of himself that wanted me dead that he just couldn't control…For that they had to die.

[Zoi curls a lock of hair around his finger]

Zoi: Maybe there was a way to defuse the situation without bloodshed, but I didn't care. Revenge was the most important thing in the world to me at that moment. More important than justice. More important than saving my dad. More important than saving own life so I could be with Kunzite again. All I wanted in that moment was to go straight to hell, and drag as many Blackmoons down with me as I possibly could…

[Zoi release the curl]

Zoi: So you see? I'm not a good guy. Not like you. Or my dad… Or even Kunzite. He never wanted this for me. He didn't turn me evil any more than he turned me gay. I was always like this… In fact, I feel a little uncomfortable sitting at the same table as people who are as virtuous as the two of you are.

Minako: [grabs her purse red faced with fury] You know what? This is gross. You are gross… I'm leaving, and if you want a ride, Mamoru, you'd better leave too. [Walking away] Thanks for picking up the check, Zoi. See you at school.

[Mamoru looks after her, then at Zoi]

Zoi: Don't worry. I WILL pick up the check.

[Mamoru goes after Minako]

[Zoi pays, still smiling, and then teleports home. ]

[His smile vanishes abruptly as he sees the walls of his room are covered in red. The word TOMORROW appears in big red letters. As well as the names of his friends. His family. Everyone he cares about, or who might remotely care about him.]

[Mamoru and Minako's names are there. So are the rest of the C'est La Vie gang. As well as Usagi, Umino and Naru. And also his parents. Charles Midori. Giancarlo and Renee Cappelli.]

[And most ominous of all, the two last names have a pair of arrows pointing to Unborn-Girl Cappelli.]

[Zoi has always wanted a little sister. He knows his mother is expecting. She's six months along. She asked the ultrasound techs not to reveal the gender, since she wants to be a surprise, but Zoi has been not so secretly campaigning for a little sister, so he can spoil her and take her to Disneyland in a princess dress.]

[But now, because of him…]

[Zoi sits on the bed. Shaking like a leaf as the ugly realization of his situation hits him all at once.]