[Scene: Early Monday morning. Kunzite's bedroom. Kunzite is lying in bed staring out the picture windows at the panorama of the Seattle Skyline. Zoi is angry at his father, so he's stayed over for most of the weekend. Kunzite's grateful. Zoi should be angry at his father more often. And not merely for the obvious physical reasons. Kunzite just likes having Zoi around–Talking to him. Napping on his couch between homework assignments. Declining to go out to an expensive restaurant because he would rather they stay in and fix dinner together. Even hearing him move about in another room is oddly gratifying.]

[This is the way it should be all the time. Zoisite should come live with him. Why did he have to be born so recently?]

Zoi: [alarmed] Kunzite?

Kunzite: [turning quickly] What?

[Zoi doesn't respond for several seconds. Then he giggles]

Zoi: …Kunzite…

[Kunzite lies on his side and smirks. Zoi's babyface looks even more innocent in his sleep, but he is having one of his dreams again. Kunzite decides to see how much fun he can have without waking him up.]

[He leans over and kisses Zoi softly, their lips barely touching. Then he kisses his Adam's apple, looking up again to see Zoi's reaction.]

[Zoi's cheeks are slightly flushed but he shows no sign of waking.]

[Kunzite kisses his lips again, then his cheek, and then his ear. He takes Zoi's hand, and whispers softly.]

Kunzite: I love you. I love everything about you. You are perfect in every way.

[Still Zoi does not wake. Kunzite studies Zoi's face as he unbuttons the top of Zoi's pajamas and kisses his breastbone. Zoi appears frustrated, having nothing to embrace in his dreams but empty air. So Kunzite turns Zoi gently and presses against him, lightly kissing the top of his head.]

[A few seconds later Zoi's green eyes open and looks in puzzlement at Kunzite's grinning face.]

Kunzite: Good morning, my love.

[Zoi smiles and rests his face against Kunzite's chest]

Zoi: I was having the most amazing dream.

[Meanwhile, fifty miles away, someone else is having a dream that isn't nearly as nice.]

[Minako is standing on a battlefield in a beautiful yellow ball gown being buffeted by a bitter wind. She wields a glowing sword, and the landscape around her is littered with the dead and dying.]

[Across from her stands Kunzite, wearing battle armor and a crazed look in his eyes. At his back, is an army of thousands of men, also dressed in battle armor. It stretches into the horizon.]

Kunzite: I'm so glad you kept our rendezvous. I hope you don't mind that I brought few friends.

[The army behind him breaks into cruel laughter]

Minako: [screaming] Why are doing this? The people of the moon are not your enemies!

Kunzite: Oh, but they are. Your queen has decided to abuse the power of the Silver Crystal to seal away the Greater Chaos Goddess Metalia. I am afraid I can't allow that.

Minako: Listen to me, Kunzite! This isn't you! The Kunzite I know is a kind and gentle man! She has taken hold of your mind! Fight this, I beg of you!

[Kunzite's grin widens and the men at his back laugh louder]

Kunzite: The Kunzite you knew was a farce. A temporary ruse to fool a gullible little girl who feeds on flattery the way a starving man feeds on leaves and grass. Ask anyone who truly knows me. I have never been anything but what you see before you now.

Minako: No! I don't believe you! Metalia has brainwashed you! She is controlling you like a puppet! She is pure evil!

Kunzite: Metalia is my mother. She is everything to me. And you, silly girl? You are nothing. I doubt I will remember you, once this drudgework is finally over.

[His men grin and nod and sickening shock comes over Minako as she realizes he is telling the truth. He never loved her. All those kisses, all those earthlit strolls through the gardens, all those whispered promises, all those foot chases through the castle hallways, until he caught her and pulled her laughing into his arms… It all led up to this moment.]

[How lucky she had felt back then, how she bragged to her confidents. They had warned her to be cautious, to guard her heart, but she refused to listen. What did they know? She had found her soulmate. What she had with Kunzite was a higher love, the type mere mortals couldn't expect to understand without experiencing it themselves.]

[Or so she thought…]

[To use her like that, simply as a means of murdering a benevolent and pacifistic people, Kunzite had to be more evil than Metalia.]

Kunzite: Thank you for giving me all of the secret information I'd need to know to bypass your security, but I'm afraid I must bid you your final goodbye.

[Minako lets out an anguished scream and charges at Kunzite with her sword. She can't bring back her people, she can't defeat Kunzite's army. The best she can hope for is kill him so that could never hurt another soul. At the moment it is enough.]

[Before she can get close, Kunzite calmly raises one hand. Minako screams as the flesh dissolves from her bones.]

[Minako sits up with a gasp.]

[She is back in her own room, her own life, but the dream felt so real.]

Minako's Mother: MINNNNAAAA! Get up! You're going to be late for school!

[She's still shaken. She looks at her closet, but can't bring herself to get dressed. She looks down at her smiley-face-and-saltwater-taffy-themed pajama bottoms and the football jersey she is wearing and decides they are good enough. She slips on dress flats. Screw it. She just got out of the hospital. People will understand. She can't look perfect all the time.]

[She goes to her vanity table. Going to school in her pajamas is one thing, but she can't see herself forgoing her makeup. Her designer dresses may be her armor, but her makeup routine is her sword and shield. She can't face the world without painting a pretty face on. The world can be a cruel place when you don't make an effort to look good for other people.]

[But as she looks in the mirror she is shocked at how radiant she looks. Her hair is perfect, even though she can feel the sleep tangled mats and clumps with her hand. Her coloring and contours are faultless and her skin is glowing like an angel's. As she stares at her reflection, she can swear it smiles and winks at her. It is still her, but it is like she is looking through a window at herself in another reality.]

[Only slightly more disturbing-she can see a white cat perched on her bed with a crescent moon on its forehead. When she turns and looks at the bed it is not there. Minako has never owned a cat.]

[Minako turns away from the mirror and brushes her hair and puts on her makeup by rote, not missing a stroke.]

[When she looks in the mirror, her reflection is normal again.]

[At the last second she reconsiders and changes into a long gray jersey dress.]

[No sense in letting the entire school know she has lost her mind.]