High above the city of Tokyo, three figures stood poised on a building's spire, watching the busy streets while the people crawled by like ants.
A pair of black eyes, as deep and bottomless as the grave, turned to look at the other two women.
"Is this the place?"
The voice was light and buoyant - spoken by the younger woman, whose pale blue hair hung down her back in rippling waves from a single clasp that tied it back from her face. On her forehead was an odd marking - three crescent moons that crossed each other, facing out, and formed a single shape. The moons were all a silvery white on her skin, above her shimmering silver-green eyes.
"I can sense them - they must be here."
The tallest of the three, with dark grey hair that was pulled into two tails like ears sticking up from her head, and hanging straight down her back, answered the younger woman. Her eyes, the glinting gold of a wolf's, flashed in anticipation as she scented the wind. On her forehead was the same symbol, but in a blood red color on her brow.
"Shall we go?"
The oldest woman, the one with black hair that seemed almost to capture light and which was gathered in three different clasps, but also quite long and whirling around her head like shiny black feathers, merely nodded to the other two.
"Send the Hounds."
Ami stared at her hand in shock, and then at Zoe's face in dismay.
"Oh-oh-oh - I'm so sorry..." she murmured.
His eyes were hurt for just a moment, but the boyish spirit seemed to rebound directly and he smiled.
"I'm sorry for startling you, my love - I should have known - it's just that I haven't seen you in so long."
He trailed off, distracted by her lips again.
"What are you talking about, Zoe?" she asked, sharply, as he started to lean in again.
His eyes flicked up to meet hers.
"I'm talking about you, my dear. It can't be that you don't recogn-"
He stopped, his face suddenly pale.
"Gaia."
Ami flinched at the utter astonishment in as he whispered the oath.
"You don't... know... me, Mercury? You don't...know who I am?"
"You are Zoisite, Mamoru's guardian, and also Zoe Johnson - a student here - who just k -...just ki-..."
She nearly sank down to the floor right there at the memory of the cause of her slap.
His sudden grip on her hands snapped her out of her swoon.
"I'm your betrothed, Ami," he declared, his eyes desperate and determined.
"My - my what!"
"Mercury, Ami - I don't care what your name is - now - then - it doesn't matter - you are and always have been and always will be my -"
Her communicator cut through his sentiments with a loud beep.
Ami was both so stunned by the enormity of what he was saying to her (with such a bold face) and also by the shock of hearing her communicator ring (which hadn't, except for those occasional times when Minako used it for a non-emergancy cell-phone, gone off in almost three years) that she stared at him dumbly and he had to lift the communicator from her bag and place it into her numb hands.
"Ami!"
It was Mina.
"I-I'm here."
She gratefully looked down at the picture of Mina, already transformed into Venus - at least she no longer had to look at Zoe.
"There's big trouble by the arcade - Usagi and Mamoru are safe, but we need you here now!"
"Are all the girls there already?"
Ami was frantically searching the halls for somewhere to change.
"No, it's just me and Kunzite."
That stopped her in her tracks. Mina was working with Kunzite?
"I suppose stranger things have happened, " she mumbled - then caught sight of Zoe, still waiting for her. She blushed.
"I'll be there in a moment," she promised.
"Bring Zoisite, if he's there."
"How did you know that!"
She blushed even harder.
"Kunzite thought he might be, I dunno why."
Ami snapped the communicator shut and drew a deep breath. When she opened her eyes, Zoe was right beside her.
"Too close!" she squeaked.
He immediately took a step back, trying to hide his hurt behind a placating expression. It never did well, he reflected, to anger his Water Sprite too much - she might be slow to anger, but when she did blow it was always his loss.
"You," she pointed briskly at his collar bone, "Come with me. There's an attack. And - behave yourself. We'll sort the rest of this - this - we'll talk later."
Zoe couldn't help himself grinning just a little bit, though he tried his best to look repentant and contrite. So she didn't remember him? Determination was his middle name, no worries.
"Yes ma'm!"
Nolan was across the street from the coffee shop - so close to Makoto that he could see her green eyes glinting behind the glass windows of the shop.
"Almost there, patience - don't scare her - control - self-control -"
He flew across the street, shoving a few people out of his way, and was at the counter before he had time to take another deep breath.
Makoto turned around slowly and when she saw him her eyes lit up.
"Hi, there! Rei's friend, Nathan, right?"
"Nolan."
He barely got the word out. There she was. There she was alive, and beautiful and happy to see him. Her thick hair waved down over her shoulders, her eyes sparkled like emeralds (gods it was so cliche, but so true!), her roses and cream complexion begging to be smoothed by his hand - her rose-bud lips -
'He's staring at me' - she noted - 'I must look so gross!'
She blushed and Nolan was a lost man.
"I love you." He whispered.
Makoto gaped at him, then shook her head.
"I think that - I don't think I understood what you just -"
'Charon's bones! You idiot!' he cursed himself.
"I meant to say - that is - "
She cocked her head to one side, her eyes becoming suddenly hazy.
"You know," she murmured, "You look so awefully familiar... I mean - I know that I know you - but more like I've known you - for..."
She'd been going to say 'for my whole life', but realized how absurd it sounded and caught herself with a little embarassed laugh.
"What am I saying? Did you want something?"
'You'. He thought, but wisely held his tongue. No more mistakes. He glanced around at the assortment of baked delicacies in the glass window without any real interest.
"What's good?"
"Everything of course, I made it all!"
"Then how about one of everything..."
Makoto stared at him.
"One of...everything?" she repeated, "Can you really eat that much?"
"I'll save some for later...perhaps, if you aren't busy you might want to - ah - to - "
"Hold on a minute."
She ducked under the counter and Nolan cursed himself again. Had he been so tongue-tied and utterly moronic the first time he'd courted her? His eyes glazed as he recalled the details.
Of course he had - he'd made a huge ass of himself then...no reason to change now. Being in love with a goddess did that to a man.
She straightened and immediately the look on her face warned him that there would be no flirting that day.
"Trouble," she whispered, keeping an eye on the customer behind him, "We need to go to the arcade, pronto."
He nodded, deciding to ask her for more details once they were outside. Makoto threw off her apron, shouted to her boss that she was taking a break early and bolted out the door with Nolan right behind her.
He only hoped he'd be able to finish asking her out...someday.
Jade already knew, before he reached the temple steps, what he would find. An angry, hurried Rei Hino. He just hadn't expected to find her already Sailor Mars.
"Where's the fire?"
Rei halted dead in her tracks in time to give him a luxurious roll of the eyes.
"Stuff it, blond - we're needed at the arcade. Change."
"Yes, milady."
"What did you call me?"
Her eyes narrowed dangerously. Ironically, his heart skipped a beat.
"You heard me."
His reply was deceptively quiet - his eyes slid to hers with a knowing glint. Rei blanched but only slightly.
"Let's go. Less talk, more - "
"You know, don't you?"
He wasn't any closer to her, but she suddenly felt as if she was suffocating. How could he read her mind? He couldn't - that's how.
"I don't know what you're talking about!"
He shrugged and changed into a fully armored Shitennou without another word.
They ran for the arcade in silence - Rei taking care to stay two steps away from him.
"Just stay under the table, for the love of E-"
A large growl interrupted Mina's, or Sailor Venus', order to Usagi (who was still Usagi) and who was currently stuffed under a table with Mamoru - who looked annoyed at having been relegated to the role of useless person who must be protected.
"Now, now," chuckled their enemy, "Don't figet so. Come out from under there."
"Get lost!"
Venus' Love Me Chain whipped out around her head and wrapped around the furry (yes, furry) leg of the human shaped being in front of her, who had just thrown Kunzite through the glass window of Motoki's arcade and ice-cream shop.
"Not the glass!" came a wail from behind the bar.
"Poor Motoki," Usagi murmured, sympathetically.
"He'll get over it."
Her current protector had had enough of standing by and watching Kunzite get tossed around like a frisbee. He disobeyed the request of his head King and transformed into his alter ego on the spot. Usagi soon followed him, ignoring Mina's protests.
"Oooooh, sparkly!" the dog/human/monster exclaimed. She opened her large mouth and let her sharp teeth show as she ducked Venus' crescent beam, having already thrown off the chain.
"Nothing's working!" Venus panted, "She's too fast and too strong."
"Look out!"
They all ducked under the table as another was launched at them. Kunzite staggered up from where he'd fallen in the street - his cape had protected him from the majority of the broken glass, but he still had quite a few cuts that looked much worse than they were.
When Venus caught sight of him, she growled. A sudden and burning anger started to build in her chest.
"Rolling Heart -!"
The Hound caught her with another table before she could dodge and would have sent her the way of Kunzite had that Shitennou not leaped after her and eased her fall.
Rolling together in a heap of tangled legs and arms, they finally came to a crashing halt on the street once more. The beep of a car alerted Venus to her impending doom, but before she could move, Kunzite wrapped his arms tighter around her and rolled both of them to the close by curb, narrowly avoiding being flattened by tires.
Venus caught her breath and gazed down at him, being on top of their heap; some of her hair fell in his face, but he didn't seem to notice.
"Are you alright?" he managed, his eyes searching her face worriedly for any injury.
"Yeah," she smiled. Suddenly, on impulse, she leaned down and kissed him on the cheek.
"Thanks." She offered the word in explanation, since he seemed to be staring at her in incredulity.
'Whoo, Venus, girl - you gotta slow down!' she thought to herself - but he had saved her life. Which sort of disproved any last vestige of argument against him...
A scream alerted them to their duty.
They pushed up together and darted back toward the store - but Rei, Jade, Ami and Zoe (or rather, their counterparts) - beat them to it.
"Mars Flame Sniper!"
"Mercury Aqua Illusion!"
Zoisite and Jadeite didn't seem to need to shout anything, as two weapons - a sword and a halberd - appeared in their hands. They assumed fighting positions and waited for the attacks to clear before moving to attack the enemy.
The Hound bayed, an eerie sound coming from a human-like mouth, and retreated a bit under the onslaught. But she soon seemed to rally and lifted the Sailor V game over her head.
"NOT SAILOR V!" Moon and Venus shrieked in unified horror.
"Look out!" Zoisite leaped to the side, throwing his halberd to one side and grabbing Mercury around the waist to haul her to the ground and out of the way of the flying game.
Mars and Jadeite merely side stepped it as it thunked into the wall.
"What's with the theatrics?" Jadeite asked the younger man.
Zoisite, with a very bewildered Mercury in his arms, gave his older friend a scornful look, before turning back to his princess and saying:
"I saved you, sweetie, how about a reward?"
Mercury blushed fire engine red before standing up and quickly jumping away from him with an indignant squeak.
The Hound took advantage of the couple's momentary distraction to extend - literally - her claws - which grew out like razor-ed splinters and were only blocked by Jadeite's timely sword work.
Mars noted, idly, that Jadeite's sword was different from Kunzite's - where the older King had a very European looking sword, much like Mamoru's when he was Endymion, Jadeite's sword was shaped more like a katana.
When Jadeite's was done with the flashiest of his sword work, which was so fast that it blurred - the Hound was crying in earnest - her nails lopped off on one hand.
"Maybe you should focus on fighting, instead of flirting," the second youngest king suggested to the youngest.
"Yeah, yeah."
Zoisite straightened up, and called his halberd to his hand (it flew as if drawn by a magnet) and whirled it once over his head.
Mars readied another arrow on her fire bow, notching an arrow at the Hound's heart. At the same time Venus released her crescent beam. The Hound found itself trapped between two attacks - it opened its mouth and gave a long howl that was cut short by the combined attacks.
"Don't kill her!" Sailor Moon screamed.
Instantly the Senshi backed off. The Shitennou kept a wary eye on the weakened Hound, where she crouched on the floor.
"We don't want to hurt you," Moon began, creeping a little closer to the Hound, while Mask shadowed her.
"Why are you attacking us? Who sent you to do this?"
The Hound gave a little chuckle and pushed herself up - both her hands were bleeding. That close, they saw that her eyes were deep red.
"My mistress serves one who is higher even than you, Moon Princess."
The Senshi gave a concerted gasp, Venus moving to stand in front of Moon, and pulling her back behind her.
"How do you know us?" she demanded - all vestiges of the chipper Love Goddess were gone.
"My mistress gave me her scent and told me to seek her out. It led me here - to you."
The Hound pointed her long arm toward Sailor Moon.
Mars hissed, angrily, and her bow appeared, an arrow ready.
"Wait."
Sailor Moon gently moved Venus aside so that she could see the Hound.
"What does your mistress want with me?"
The Hound looked at her for a long time before answering:
"She wants to claim you for her own. Once more."
Sailor Moon felt her hands tremble, but she urged her voice to remain level. Mamoru's touch on her arm helped.
"Who is your mistress?"
"I serve the third general - Lupia - The Wolf."
"She is the one who - who - " Usagi couldn't finish the sentence.
"No," the Hound laughed, "the Wolf serves the one who claims you - she serves the -"
Suddenly the Hound's mouth hung open and she went slack. Her dark red eyes faded to black and she fell forward, to the floor, and didn't move. A small pool of blood began to form under her.
"What the -"
Venus started forward, but Mamoru grabbed her arm and jerked her back from the body - just in time to avoid a searing light that caused the body to burst into flames.
Usagi didn't notice - she was too entranced by the odd glowing, golden glare in the shadows of the back of the shop.
"Who's there?" she heard herself shout.
She held up her crystal like a torch and caused it to glow - ripping back shadows to reveal - nothing.
Nothing but a hollow laugh and a rush of grey.
"No!"
Venus turned to protect Usagi, but she couldn't move as fast as the grey blur with talons glinting in the light of the crystal.
"Jupiter Oak Evolution!"
Usagi felt her teeth vibrate with the numbing shock of numerous volts of electricity so close to her. She thought she smelled burning feathers and realized the end of her hair was crispy.
"Sailor Moon - minna - are you alright!" Jupiter's voice bellowed across the room.
"Uh-huh." Usagi's voice came out in a squeak.
"Sorry."
"Don't apologize - where the hell did it go?"
Mamoru drew his cane like a sword, wrapping one arm around Usagi and glaring around the room for the monster that had so recently attacked her.
"Didn't I fry it?"
Jupiter looked at her hands, puzzled. Suddenly a claw came from no where, raking across her arm - and would have laid open her throat if Nephrite had not grabbed her and the claw - getting his own throat perilously close to being slashed as well. As it was he had a long cut from his shoulder to just under his jaw.
"Jupiter!"
"Neph!"
Mercury reached them first as they stood in one another's embrace. She impatiently parted them to see their wounds.
Jupiter turned a pale face to Nephrite and murmured a shakey 'thank you'.
"Always," he replied. She almost thought she understood this enigmatic remark and the tender look that followed it - or at least, that she wanted to understand it...
"Gather together, minna!" Venus commanded.
"Weapons out, Shitennou!" Kunzite barked.
Together the Senshi and Shitennou formed a tight circle around Usagi and Mamoru - the Shitennou, despite the Senshi's protestations - remained outermost -weapons drawn.
Mercury typed furiously on her computer, blazing through the information on her screen.
"It's like nothing I've seen before," she murmured, "It's aura is similar to...to..."
Mars turned to look at her.
"To ours," she finished for Mercury.
"What!"
"You want to run that by me again?"
"This being is like us - "
"Are you trying to tell me that these - these -"
"Werewolves."
"Thank you, Jupiter -" Venus continued, "These werewolves are Senshi!"
"No," Mars explained, impatiently, "They're god marked."
"What the hell!"
"You're the avatar of Venus, you tell me!"
"Either you or Mercury better explain it in three seconds -"
"Mars is correct," Mercury explained with a deal more patience, "Both these creatures are not like youma, nor are they human, they are..."
She had no idea what term applied to this new species, since it wasn't a Senshi.
"God marked," Mars repeated.
At that moment, the god marked being spoke. Her voice, like a low growl mixed with the howl of wolves, sent shivers up more than one spine.
"Give me the pale Moon child and I will not harm you, bright children."
"Like you didn't harm your dog?" Venus scoffed.
The golden eyes mocked her from the shadows, but there was sincerity when Lupia spoke:
"I regret the necessity of dispatching my dog, she was useful."
"Who are you and what do you want with us?" Mamoru demanded, the ring of authority ripe in his voice.
"I merely want to return to my mistress what is rightfully hers."
"Who is your mistress?"
"I dare not say her name. You may call her the Phantom Queen, as some of your kind have done in the past."
"In the past?" Zoisite murmured, his eyes sharp on those of the Wolf.
"I don't know any Phantom Queen."
Mamoru spat the name like a curse. Lupia answered with a growl.
"She knows you, Earth Child. All of you - children of the gods; even the earth spirits, chosen of Gaia. But the Moon Child - she is more than she seems."
"What do you mean?"
Usagi's voice came out in a whisper.
"Come with me, and I will show you."
Usagi took a step back into Mamoru's arms.
"She will never go with you!" Venus announced.
"Then, she will watch all of you die."
The reply was a simple statement of fact, without malice. It was Mars' turn to growl. She broke a bit away from the group, to Jadeite and Venus' extreme displeasure.
"You cannot force her to come with you - and you don't have the power to kill us," Mars retorted, her dark eyes filled with secret fire;
"You are just a messenger."
There was a glint of light in the shadows, and Venus realized that the Wolf must have smiled.
"True."
"Then do what you came for," Mars spat, her head held regally high, "And leave."
Jadeite reached out, unable to stop himself, and tugged gently on Mar's ribbons to get her to move closer to the circle. Surprisingly, she relented.
"Hear!" the Wolf howled, her voice vibrating to their toes, "My mistress, the Phantom Queen, declares her intention to have that which was lost back at her side - the Moon Child will come to her and join her where she belongs. All who oppose this are doomed."
"And to the children who serve the Earth Child, whose Mother slumbers still, not to be awakened," the Wolf's voice seemed to curl around the Shitennou like a fog;
"My Queen knows why you have come, and the longing of your hearts - and she knows you have violated the laws of Fate...your lives are now forfiet, and she who allowed it to happen will be punished. Oh, yes - Chronos' child will not go unpunished..."
"The Queen says to you: 'I guard your deaths.'"
The words hung in the air and in the Shitennou's hearts - a nameless pain lodged itself there and refused to budge.
"Leave."
Mars' voice was low and soft, as was the laughter of the Wolf - but both grew.
"I go to seek and collect the Child of Ruin."
"Leave!"
"But I will come back for you, Moon Child. And if I do not, my sisters will -"
"LEAVE!" Mars screamed - the insane laughter taunting her temper into an inflammatory fury - she incinerated the water fountain where the Wolf had been standing only moments before.
As the smoke cleared, they peered into it.
"She's gone." Mercury said, closing her computer slowly. She touched her earring and her visor disappeared.
They all looked at each other, trying to ignore the paleness of their faces.
"What do we do about this?" Mamoru asked, after a moment.
Usagi took his hand and squeezed it. She caught Mina's eye and smiled.
"We fight, of course."
He forced himself to smile back at her, and soon it was a natural smile.
"Where's Motoki?" Someone asked.
"I think he fainted."