Heh...

 

Not mine.  Don't sue.

 

Warnings and Labels: Dark.  But trust me, I've got a plan.  ...and all the other warnings you've seen before.  ^_^;;;;;

 

"..." Dialogue

/.../ Thoughts

//...// Flashbacks

*...* Emphasis

|...| Smartass Inner Voices (tm)

<...> Eerie Disembodied Voices (tm)

 

@)~~}~~~~~

 

Soul's Winter

Part Five: ...Worse News

 

"Mom?  Can I talk to you for a minute?" Ami asked her mother quietly.

 

"What is it, dear?" The woman looked at her daughter, concerned.  "Is something wrong?"

 

"Mom..." At the last minute, Ami changed her mind.  "There's something I'm going to have to go take care of--as a Scout." She looked at her mother levelly.  "It's going to be kind of dangerous, but it's something that must be done.  I guess I just wanted to let you know... and to tell you that I love you."

 

Dr. Mizuno suddenly looked old as lines of worry tightened around her mouth.  "Are you... will you be coming home when it's over?"

 

"I hope so.  But I can't promise that." Ami's smile was bitter.  "I'll do my best, though."

 

Dr. Mizuno hugged her daughter tightly.  "When did you grow up so much?" she demanded.

 

"I don't know, Mom." Ami hugged back.

 

"Be careful, Ami.  You know I love you, right?"

 

"I know, Mom."

 

~*~

 

"Minako?  Are you all right?" Mrs. Aino hovered anxiously at her daughter's elbow. 

 

"I'm fine, Mom, really I am," Minako assured her, smoothing away the faint frown that pondering Naru's threat had caused her to wear.

 

"Are you sure?  You seem like you've had a lot on your mind lately.  Is there anything you want to talk about?"

 

"It's nothing, really.  I've just been thinking a lot, that's all." Minako forced a cheerful smile onto her face.

 

"Well... if you're sure..." Mrs. Aino said slowly.

 

Minako surprised her by hugging her quickly.  "Love you, Mom."

 

"I love you too, dear."

 

~*~

 

"Um... Grandpa?" Rei said.

 

"Yes, Rei?" he asked.

 

"We--the Scouts--have some business to take care of," Rei told him.  "So I'm going to have to be gone for a little while."

 

"All right.  If duty calls, there's nothing to do but answer, right?" His eyes twinkled.  "I'm proud of you, Rei."

 

"Huh?"

 

"Even if you aren't exactly doing what I expected you would, I'm very proud of you.  I know you'll do a good job, whatever it is you have to do," he told her.

 

Rei's eyes misted over more than she would have cared to admit.  "Thanks, Grandpa."

 

~*~

 

Usagi sat quietly, just enjoying being with her family (for the last time? she wondered, against her will).  Her father looked over his paper at her, then blinked as if he'd just realized something.  "Usagi, you're growing up."

 

Usagi smiled.  "Uh... yeah?"

 

He shrugged.  "I just realized that you're turning into quite a lady."

 

"It's kind of weird, if you ask me," Shingo added.

 

"No, dear, don't be mean," Mrs. Tsukino said gently.

 

Usagi laughed quietly and just went on enjoying the time with her family.

 

~*~

 

"You know, I'm not really sure this is such a good idea," Makoto murmured.

 

"I don't think we have very many choices at this point," Nephrite shrugged.

 

"You know... this is going to be dangerous.  If--"

 

"Don't say it," he interrupted, placing a finger over her lips.  "Don't say it."

 

Makoto nodded, understanding.  "Love you."

 

"Love you too."

 

They lapsed into silence for a while, until Makoto mumbled, "If she lays *one* slimy finger on you, I'll rip her arms off and stuff them up her nose."

 

"It's so nice to know that you care."

 

~*~

 

Zoisite grinned at his prince.  "Once more into the breach, right?" he asked wryly.

 

"Maybe one of these days things will settle down again," Mamoru replied.

 

"Heh.  That'll be the day." Zoisite twirled a lock of hair, idly.  "Well, whatever it is you want to say, spit it out already."

 

"Cant' get much past you, can I?"

 

Zoisite snorted.  "Of course not.  This is what I get paid to do, you know.  What is it?"

 

"You aren't... going to do anything stupid, are you?" Mamoru hesitated.

 

"You mean like trying to get myself killed?"

 

"Well, yeah.  No offense."

 

"Being dead is not all that appealing, Mamoru.  Besides, do you have *any* idea of how badly Kunzite would bitch me out for deserting my post?" Zoisite quirked an eyebrow at Mamoru.  "I can see that you don't.  Well, trust me, it wouldn't be something to look forward to, so you're going to have to put up with me for a while yet."

 

"Good.  I don't want to lose another one of you again," Mamoru said quietly.

 

~*~

 

They trickled into the fire shrine one by one after a day spent with families and loved ones, eight pale, set faces unable to look for long in one direction.  They shifted restlessly, saying little to one another, and waiting. 

 

"We're all here," Usagi murmured, when Minako had finally slipped into the room.

 

"Are you sure we shouldn't go along?" Luna asked.

 

"We're sure," Usagi said, with false cheer.  "You two feel free to get into the catnip a little bit early, just to celebrate, okay?" It fell flat.  "Well.  Let's do it." She and the four Scouts transformed. 

 

Zoisite and Nephrite followed their example, calling themselves back to the days when they had worn armor into battle.  Mamoru debated silently for a moment before transforming into Tuxedo Mask. He looked to the two guardians.  "Nephrite, take us there."

 

"At once." Nephrite carefully arranged the transportation, working hard to keep them from arriving as abruptly as they had the day before.

 

They arrived in the same near-darkness that Mercury, Jupiter, and Nephrite recalled from the day before, to the sounds of pleased laughter.  "It seems, my Queen, that we are invaded."

 

The level of light spiked sharply, revealing the gloomy throne room of Metallia and Naru, with Naru lounging comfortably on her throne, laughing at them.  "I see you chose not to surrender easily," she murmured, "unless for some reason you've decided that Usagi deserves an honor guard to make sure she gets the job done right.  That wouldn't surprise me, really."

 

"That was pretty harsh," Zoisite commented, shaking off some of the disorientation.  "I don't think even *I* would have said something like that."

 

"No one asked you," Naru snapped.  "Give me the crystal, Usagi." 

 

"Naru..." Sailor Moon took a hesitant step forward, followed closely by Jupiter and Mars.  "Naru, I don't know what Metallia has told you, but it doesn't have to be like this...  You don't have to serve her--"

 

"Give me a break, Usagi, Metallia-sama didn't 'tell' me anything.  I chose to serve Her Majesty," Naru said coldly.  "She's been a much better friend to me than you ever have been."

 

"Naru, how can you say that?!" Mars demanded.  "She's been worried sick about you ever

since--ever since--"

 

"Ever since she found out that I've known she's been lying to me for so long?" Naru filled in sweetly, as Mars fumbled for the tactful way to describe the messy situation.

 

"Naru, I never wanted to lie to you!" Sailor Moon protested.  "I was just trying to protect you--"

 

"And a very fine job you did of it, too," Naru snapped.  "This is pointless.  Give me the crystal."

 

"I can't let you have it, Naru," Sailor Moon said helplessly.

 

"Then I will take it," Naru smiled, almost pleasantly.

 

"We won't let you do that," Venus promised.

 

Naru laughed.  "What, are you going to fight me, even after I've promised that you won't be the only ones to suffer?  You're really heartless after all, aren't you?"

 

"We're not heartless," Jupiter retorted.  "We're going to fight you *and* protect our loved ones!"

 

Naru laughed.  "That should be very interesting to watch," she purred gleefully.  She lifted her left hand, flicking it in a faint forward motion.

 

"Get rea--" Venus started to hiss, but she stopped short.  "Oh no... no, this isn't possible."

 

"Jadeite?" Mercury whispered, as Zoisite's choked cry of "Kunzite!" echoed through the room.

 

Naru smiled pleasantly as her servants stepped out of their stations in the shadows behind her throne.  "You have your orders, gentlemen."

 

"Yes, Lady," Jadeite and Kunzite said emotionlessly, pacing slowly down the broad, shallow steps that led up to the throne.

 

"Damn it..." Mars looked down the line of her friends, seeing the expressions of shock on their faces.  Mercury seemed fully prepared to bolt forward and throw her arms around Jadeite, and Zoisite had already taken a few steps toward Kunzite.  Venus was staring at the latter, shaking her head with terrible yearning written across her face.  Sailor Moon seemed torn by some great inner turmoil.  Nephrite looked shocked to see his two dead companions walking towards the group so purposefully.  Tuxedo Mask and Jupiter seemed to be the only ones who still had their wits about them.  /Now what do we do?!/

 

|Protect your princess, dummy!|

 

"Guard the princess," Mars shouted, brushing past Nephrite and Mercury in order to place herself in front of Sailor Moon.  "Guys!  Snap out of it!  They can't be Jadeite and Kunzite!  They're dead, and this is some kind of trick!"

 

Naru chortled at that.  "You'd like to think so, wouldn't you, Rei?  But can you really be sure of that?  Do you really want to take the chance that these two aren't the real Jadeite and Kunzite?"

 

Eyeing the slow, deliberate approach of the two warriors, Tuxedo Mask shook his head grimly.  "That's a risk we'll have to take.  Zoisite!"

 

"But what if it *is*?" Zoisite whispered, his voice anguished.  "Endymion, what if it *is*?" He took another faltering half-step forward.

 

Jupiter shuddered, seeing the hollow expressions in the eyes of the two.  "These *aren't* the same Jadeite and Kunzite," she said with conviction.  "They're not."

 

Approximately ten feet from the line of Scouts and guardians, Jadeite and Kunzite slowed, lifting their hands as they stopped.

 

"Duck!" Jupiter pushed Sailor Moon down as all-too-familiar arcs of scarlet fire and slate-blue bolts of energy crackled forward with deadly accuracy.  Mars yelped and dodged out of the way just in time.

 

"Would you like to know where I found them, by the way?" Naru offered, conversationally, as if there wasn't a battle being joined as she spoke.

 

"Actually, Naru, we're just a little busy right now," Mars retorted, scrambling to regain her balance and eyeing both enemies narrowly.

 

Naru ignored her.  "Destiny is so funny, don't you think?  I found these two living such normal lives, completely ignorant of their true potential, either in service to their weakling prince--"

 

"Hey, lay off Cape-boy, he's *my* target," Zoisite objected.

 

"--or in service to the glory of Metallia." Naru smiled.  "It was amazingly simple to wake their past memories.  Isn't that lovely?"

 

Nephrite muttered several choice curses.  "Then they *are* Jadeite and Kunzite?"

 

"Wait a minute, is it even logical to use warriors who have already been defeated against the people who originally defeated them?" Jupiter demanded.

 

Naru laughed.  "Why don't you tell me?  You're the ones who can't attack your former friends."

 

With the same detached expressions as before, Jadeite and Kunzite attacked again.

 

Nephrite stepped between Jadeite and Sailor Moon, intercepting Jadeite's blast of fire.  "Naru, is this really the way you want to get what you desire?  By turning friend against friend?"

 

Beside him, Jupiter gritted her teeth as she warded off Kunzite's strike.  "A little help here... anyone?"

 

"Sorry," Mars replied, preparing to attack Jadeite.

 

"NO!" Mercury shook off her paralysis, springing between Mars' attack and Jadeite, spreading her arms to block the flames.  She staggered under the force of the attack, but held firm.  "I won't let this happen!"

 

"Mercury!" Sailor Moon shrieked, "Get out of the way!"

 

Mercury shook her head, tears beginning to leak down her cheeks.  "I won't lose him again, Princess.  Forgive me, but I won't stand by and let him die again!"

 

"Have you lost your mind?!" Mars shouted.  "Mercury, that isn't *your* Jadeite!"

 

Meanwhile, Jadeite was preparing another round of his fire attack, but Kunzite had paused, a faintly thoughtful expression on his face as he looked at his opponents.  Finally, his gaze came to rest on Zoisite.  He blinked, shaking his head slightly as if to clear it.  "...Zoisite?" he murmured.

 

Zoisite froze.  "Kunzite?" he asked, his voice tiny.

 

"Zoisite--" Kunzite crossed the space between himself and the younger man, almost at a run, wrapping his arms around Zoisite's smaller frame and clutching him tightly to his chest.

 

Tuxedo Mask gave up on getting Zoisite to focus on the battle as the blond practically melted against Kunzite's chest as the larger man buried his face in Zoisite's hair.  Instead, he turned his attention to Metallia, and the stairs along the wall leading up to the niche that housed the pulsing red glow.  Harrumphing at the display of raw emotion a few feet away, but wholly unable to conceal his relief, Tuxedo Mask turned away from the tableau.

 

~*~

 

Venus bit her lower lip, turning away from the sight of the reunited lovers to attend to her princess, as duty demanded.  Duty had always been enough to satisfy her... and always would be.  She didn't have any choice about that.

 

~*~

 

"I've missed you, I've missed you, I've missed you," Zoisite chanted breathlessly, deliriously content with the world.

 

"I've missed you, too... Zoisite..." Kunzite smiled against the top of the shorter man's head.

 

~*~

 

"Mercury, he's the enemy now!" Jupiter shouted, wincing as Nephrite fended off Jadeite's third attack.  "We don't have a choice!"

 

"Yes we do," Venus interrupted.  "Look at Kunzite and Zoisite."

 

"Huh?" Jupiter turned just in time to see Kunzite taking careful aim at Sailor Moon's unguarded back from behind Zoisite's back.

 

"No!" Jupiter shrieked, but the warning came vital seconds too late.

 

Sailor Moon cried out sharply as Kunzite's attack slammed into her, knocking her to her knees.

 

~*~

 

On her throne, Naru laughed at the clever antics of her warriors.  "This is working out even better than we had expected, Your Majesty."

 

Metallia agreed. 

 

~*~

 

"Sailor Moon!" He felt the blind rage that always filled him whenever his beloved was hurt welling up from deep inside, and Prince Endymion clamored to be released in order to defend his princess.  Tuxedo Mask gladly allowed his other, older, self to assert control.

 

Prince Endymion surged up the stairs, determined to deal with the source of the threat to Princess Serenity.

 

~*~

 

Zoisite realized his mistake as he felt Kunzite maneuvering slightly, his muscles tensing, but he fought against Kunzite's grip ineffectually.  "Let me go, you son of a bitch!"

 

|This will never work.  You know he's stronger.|

 

Zoisite closed his eyes briefly.  /It has to be done./ He struck, burying an ice crystal in Kunzite's shoulder, using the distraction to break away.  "When I say no, I mean *no*, you jerk," he murmured fastidiously.  He looked over to Venus, who stood between Sailor Moon and him, a stricken look on her face.  "Is she okay?"

 

"She'll be fine... no thanks to me," she said bitterly.

 

"We all make mistakes, Venus." Zoisite turned a pained smile on the blonde.  "Help me fix this one?"

 

"...okay." Venus stepped forward to stand with Zoisite.

 

~*~

 

Jupiter helped Sailor Moon up.  "You going to make it?"

 

Sailor Moon nodded.  "Gotta catch my breath--" She wince as Jadeite attacked again.

 

~*~

 

"Mercury!" Mars shook with anger and fear.  "Mercury--you can't do this!  You have a duty to Princess Serenity!" /I need something--I need something--What do I say, how do I get through to her?/

 

|You could always bring up the past.|

 

/The past--/ Mars shook her head violently.  /I don't have *time* not to remember!  If I don't do something, the people I care most about will die!/

 

It was like a door opening in her mind as she forced herself to remember, lost for long moments in the memories of another time--memories of the day when five princesses had answered the call of the Moon, taking sacred oaths to serve and protect her with their very lives.

 

Mars remembered.

 

"Mercury!  We swore an oath, promised that we would sacrifice everything for Her Highness!" Mars bawled.  "We swore, by the Moon and the Crystal and by our own souls and honor that would give everything in our power to give to preserve her safety!  Are you going to break your oath?!"

 

Mercury flinched as Mars threw the words at her.  She lowered her face, unable to face Mars' enraged glare.  "Everything... we swore to give... everything."

 

Behind her, Jadeite attacked again.

 

~*~

 

At the same time, Prince Endymion levered his strongest blow against Metallia, hacking away at the organically thrumming mass.

 

Metallia screamed a psychic cry of protest and outraged pain, the subsonic howl driving everyone in the room to their knees, friend and foe alike.

 

~*~

 

"Trust him to be the flashy one," Zoisite sniffed, helping Venus to her feet in the wake of the blast.  "Then again, what do you expect from the guy who throws roses and spouts five-cent philosophy?"

 

~*~

 

 

Naru scrambled out of her throne, slipping across the damp stones of the steps in her urgency to heed her mistress' call.  "Your Majesty?"

 

 

~*~

 

Jadeite clambered to his feet, looking vaguely disoriented.  His expression quickly smoothed itself as it fastened on Nephrite, who was still down, and he pounced upon the opportunity to attack.

 

"No!" Mercury placed herself in front of Nephrite, doing nothing to deflect the force of Jadeite's strike beyond allowing her own body to absorb the damage.

 

"Mercury!" Sailor Moon screamed.

 

"I am sorry, Your Highness.  I will not fail my duties again," Mercury said softly, preparing her attack against Jadeite.

 

~*~

 

"Together?" Zoisite asked Venus, weary to his very soul.

 

"Since it has to be this way."

 

Kunzite stared at the two of them blankly, shaking his head.  "This isn't how it's supposed to be, is it?" he asked slowly.

 

"Oh, no, that's not going to work twice," Zoisite growled, lashing out with another ice crystal.  "...uh, Venus, babe, that was your cue."

 

"I don't want to do this," she choked.  "I don't want to--"

 

~*~

 

Naru scrabbled her way to the top step just as Endymion struck Metallia again, and the demon queen howled her pain.

 

~*~

 

"Sailor Moon?" Jupiter helped her princess sit up, concerned by the blonde's too-pale face. 

 

"I'm all right, I'm all right--Mercury?!" Sailor Moon pushed herself to her feet.

 

~*~

 

/I need to stand up.  I have to finish this./ Mercury levered herself to a standing position, only to find herself staring directly into Jadeite's disconcertingly rational eyes.

 

He opened his mouth, forming hesitant syllables.  "A...mi?"

 

"It's been done, Blondie," Mars snarled, launching her own attack past Mercury's shoulder.

 

Jadeite, bewildered and staring at Mercury in his bemusement, stumbled under the assault without defending himself.  He made a soft sound of surprise as his legs gave out beneath him and he crumpled to his knees.

 

Mercury whimpered, and jerked as if she wanted to step forward but had stopped herself.

 

Jadeite blinked.  "I don't seem to be so good at keeping promises, do I?" he wheezed.  "Sorry... Ami..."

 

Mercury's paper-thin control broke, and she shrieked, throwing herself forward.  "Don't leave don't leave don't leave don't leave!"

 

Nephrite, watching, breathed, "Jadeite?  Oh my God... it *is* him." He turned suddenly to Mars, whose face was still filled with suspicion.  "It is him!  Sailor Moon, can you help him?"

 

"I'm coming!" the Moon princess called, shouldering Mars aside to see if there might be something she could do for Jadeite.

 

"Um... guys?" Jupiter asked, sounding sick.  "I think we might have bigger problems..."

 

~*~

 

"God damn," Zoisite swore, as the dust settled from Endymion's second strike.  "I had forgotten how bitchy Metallia gets."

 

"You'd be bad-tempered too if you had to live in a rock," a dazed voice muttered.

 

"I suppose you have a po--Kunzite?!" Zoisite sat bolt-upright.

 

"Ugnnnn." The pale-haired man was on his feet, if barely, looking thoroughly disoriented.

 

"Are you *you*, or are you someone else?" Venus demanded, making her way to her feet.

 

Kunzite blinked.  "I think I'm me... I'm not sure of who else I would be... and I don't think I'm making sense."

 

"None of this is making sense," Zoisite groaned, finally managing to stand.  "Venus, I think we should kill him, just for safety's sake."

 

Kunzite objected.  "I think you should kill *that* instead," he suggested, pointing.

 

~*~

 

Naru screamed as Endymion's sword came sweeping down the second time.  She dashed forward, laying her hands flat against Metallia's globular body.

 

Naru screamed again as Metallia's essence fled from the nearly destroyed vessel into Naru's willingly offered body.  The scream swiftly turned to gales of laughter tinged with maleficent joy as Metallia reveled in her new host body, and the last shreds of Naru's soul fled from the darkness.

 

Prince Endymion, by far the closest to this new manifestation, took a few steps back, greatly unnerved.

 

~*~

 

Nephrite stared up at the figure that had been Naru, and sighed.  "This is *not* going to be fun," he announced.

 

"You... have a gift... for understatement," Jadeite wheezed.

 

Metallia turned and looked down at the huddled group below her.  "Give me the Crystal," she commanded.

 

"No way in hell, Metallia!" Mars yelled, pushing forward and hurling an attack at Metallia.

 

Metallia laughed and brushed the attack out of the air.  "You'll have to do much better than that, I'm afraid." She pointed at Sailor Moon and black lightning snapped down.

 

"I don't think so." Jupiter deflected the attack, stumbling beneath the damage, but ultimately keeping her feet under her.

 

At the same time, Endymion attacked, thinking to catch Metallia off-guard.  He rushed forward, and she flicked him aside, slamming the prince into the wall.

 

"Endymion!" Sailor Moon cried.  /I'm not strong enough... but she is.../ Sailor Moon allowed Serenity to flow over her consciousness, taking charge.

 

"Little girl, your mother could not defeat me with that bauble," Metallia boasted.  "What makes you believe your fate will be any different from hers?"

 

Princess Serenity lifted her chin.  "I have what my mother did not--good friends who will stand by my side, no matter what.  Together we shall see your evil destroyed, forever!"

 

Kunzite, not entirely sure of what was going on, or who, exactly, he even was, but he knew an opportunity when he saw one.  "NOW!" he barked, commanding troops he knew supported him, even if he didn't know why or who they were.  He flung an energy bolt at Metallia.  As he had fully expected, two other attacks joined his as Zoisite and Nephrite reacted to the old, familiar tone of command.

 

Kunzite immediately wobbled on his feet, his energy utterly depleted.  "I think it's supposed to be your turn now," he commented to the blonde who was staring at him so hopefully.

 

"Now!" Venus shouted, gesturing sharply to the Sailor Scouts. 

 

They attacked as one, fire and ice, lightning and golden bolts of energy hammering at Metallia.

 

"Now, Serenity!" Endymion shouted to his beloved, as the combined attacks buffeted Metallia.  He attempted to strike the demon queen's new body for a second time.

 

The princess lifted the crystal in her hands.  /Mother... show me the way.../ Silver light flashed argent, slipping from between her fingers and flowing outwards.  /Naru... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry.../

 

Metallia screamed, the cry keening higher and higher until it was no more than a rapidly fading reedy whine as incandescent light exploded outward from the Crystal.

 

/Naru.../

 

/Usagi?/

 

/Naru... forgive me.../

 

/It's all right, Usagi.  I was wrong.  I didn't understand./

 

/I didn't want it to end this way, Naru./

 

/It's not your fault.  I chose to make this mistake.  Be well, Usagi, and be happy... and tell Nephrite to take good care of Makoto./

 

/I will.  Goodbye, Naru./

 

/Goodbye, Usagi./

 

The light slipped away, gone as quickly as it had come.  Princess Serenity lowered her hands, and changed back into Usagi.  "Let's go home," she suggested, wiping ineffectually at the tears flowing down her cheeks.

 

~tbc~

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