Okay, I’m back due to popular demand (in my delusional dreams, that is, <giggle>), with some more insanity designed to drive YOU, the unfortunate reader, completely insane…so, you can be just like me!

Scared yet? Ha! Just wait until the day I decide to create my own characters (yes, I am capable of it – just ask Janerin), and then con some sappy publisher into getting MY NOVEL to the shelves, heeheehee….run for the hills!

You have been warned…have fun, kids!

Oh, one more thing – this particular chapter is dedicated to those who wrote to me asking for more. No, they’re not insane. To my knowledge, they’re perfectly normal, lovely people. Yeah, I’m saying it because they were nice to me, <giggle> But I love ‘em anyway…

Enough babble! On with the madness!

by Celeste Goodchild

The stone sat easily on her palm, glinting in the sunlight, like the tears on her cheeks. Made into prisms by refraction, the spilt light created rainbows of pain from her tears, as she stared sightlessly at the crystal.

It was nothing new to her…or more accurately, them. They didn’t have any dislike for each other, it was just…their relationship tended to get a little strained at times. Admittedly, two minds in one body wasn’t an ideal living arrangement, but it was the way things had ended up. The changeling Morganite had temporarily reverted to – Éowyn – had offered to combine life forces with the dying Zoisite, to make up for the wrongs committed. Unfortunately for everyone, Éowyn herself had already been a split personality. Puck’s meddling had not erased Morganite from the whole that was Éowyn, the former child of Oberon. And while Éowyn had known and understood the consequences of the melding of two souls, Morganite neither understood or agreed to any of the terms Éowyn had bound them both to. Now Éowyn was gone, taken home to Avalon by the ever helpful Weird Sisters, Luna, Selene and Phoebe. (No relation to Phenakite or Selenity-hime or our cat advisor whatsoever.)

Left in her wake was a two person mind – Zoisite and Morganite. Two people who had loved the same man, who had once upon a darker time been teacher and student. Now they were one – and neither was particularly happy about the situation. Morganite was the Dark Kingdom ruler through and through. Her former self, Éowyn, who had been destroyed by Beryl one thousand years beforehand, had no hold over her any more. She was dead, and all that had been left of her, the silver and gold necklace of eternity, had been returned to her parents. And Leucite was gone. Home, he had said. To his duties, as teacher of a half human, half immortal child. He had wanted to take Éowyn’s necklace to Avalon, with Zoisite and Morganite in their one body. He assured them this could heal Morganite’s spirit, make it strong enough to take back her powers and become Éowyn once more. However, he had omitted to mention he had been eternally banished from Avalon by an irate Oberon. He was the only Avalonian who would help them, and he couldn’t even take them to the island paradise to help them.

Thus they were one. Forever.

"Are you all right?" asked a soft voice, a hand falling gently on the girl’s shoulder. The green eyes looked up, startled, and Ami could see that Zoisite was in control. It wasn’t unusual, for Zoisite was the default spirit, she generally remained at the forefront. As far as the others could see, Morganite didn’t seem to mind this in the slightest. Actually, any one had yet to see the pair get involved in a serious argument, and though he had never said anything out loud, Ami could tell that this bugged Kunzite. Quite severely.

She figured it was probably because the pair, by their very natures, were fiery, dominant and argumentative. Yet around each other they were subdued, passive.

Zoisite smiled, a smile that had changed dramatically in the past few months. Though she was no longer Zoya Troubetzkoy in any body’s mind, except a strangers, she still wore the glasses and refused to wear her hair any different from the two plaits she wore over each shoulder. She used the name she had once been called, though she often refused to acknowledge that there ever had been a Dark Kingdom. There was no easy laughter behind that smile now. Just pain.

She twisted around in her wheelchair, and Ami stepped around the front, sitting on the park bench that Zoisite’s wheelchair rested beside, and looked at the crystal. "What is that?" she asked softly. Zoisite smiled, and her facial features tightened a little bit. It was the characteristic gesture that meant the control had been relinquished. Morganite, naturally, used Zoisite’s vocal chords to speak, but it still didn’t sound like Zoisite. Morganite’s tones were more clipped, almost English-like, with a dangerously silky edge.

"Tanzanite," she said, tossing a plait over her shoulder. "I bought it at Naru’s mother’s-"

"YOU bought it?" asked a jokingly annoyed voice, Zoisite breaking into Morganite’s words. Morganite snatched back control, and Ami stifled a giggle. It was funny to watch a girl look annoyed at herself.

"I chose it, Zoisite. So what if YOU paid for it. It’s not like we’re going to have a problem sharing it or anything."

"So? You took credit for my paying for it."

"And what about you? Pretending to be me just to annoy Nephrite…that was cruel."

"What can I say, old habits die hard."

There was a laugh, that Ami couldn’t distinguish. It could have even been both of them, she wouldn’t be able to know. Zoisite, back in complete control, smiled at Ami. "I guess my gaoler sent you, ne? Time to go get ready?"

"Leucite left the co-ordinates for Nephrite to trace, and Jadeite managed to get the connection up and running. The Frigid River Conservatory awaits."

"Leucite…" Her brow furrowed as Morganite mused over the name. "I would like to speak to him. As himself, I mean. Puck."

"Fat chance," snorted Zoisite in reply, swinging the chair into a position so that she could move towards Mamoru’s waiting car. "He’s got his work cut out for him in his own dimension. Kunzite was lucky to get that line drawn by him."

"I just…want to know. I don’t remember anything about being Éowyn…in this lifetime, or the last. It would just make everything so much easier…"

Zoisite shrugged, and nodded to Ami. "To infinity and beyond, ne?"

The gang had gathered at the apartment shared by Kunzite, Mamoru and the "two in one bargain duo", as Jadeite jokingly called them. The group was large, consisting of Chiba Mamoru, Tsukino Usagi, Mizuno Ami, Hino Rei, Kino Makoto, Aino Minako, Kunzite, Zoisite, Morganite, Nephrite and Jadeite. Minako naturally had her arm slung around Jadeite’s waist, he with his arm around her slender shoulders. They were harder to separate than Mamoru and Usagi.

They were all excited, and Usagi was practically jumping up and down in excitement. "This will be so cool, Zoisite, Morganite. Can I really come and see you guys whenever?"

"Of course, Usagi-chan," smiled Zoisite, and she glanced up to see Kunzite standing at her back. She hadn’t seen him since arriving with Ami. "Hi."

"Hi," he replied, and leant down to give her a long, passionate kiss, while the others hooted and laughed. "Nice one, Karl buddy," said Mamoru, winking at Zoisite. "But if you don’t want her…"

"NANII?!" screeched Usagi, and the laughing Mamoru threw up his arms in defence. "Creep!"

"You need to keep a tighter leash on him," said Morganite indifferently, moving uncomfortably in the chair. Kunzite, the doctor amongst them, instantly knelt at her side and took her hands. "Are you in pain?"

"I’m always in pain," Morganite replied bitterly, before Zoisite swiftly took over. "It’s okay, koibito. I am fine…just a little tired."

"Did Kunzite keep you up again last night? Some doctor!" snickered Makoto, and Minako laughed.

"Mako-chan, get your mind out of the gutter."

"Speaking of minds that are in the gutter – where is Nepheline this morning? I haven’t seen her since last night," mused Morganite. "You guys?"

"I don’t know," replied Jadeite, looking a little lost. He should know, Nepheline, or Lena Quinn, as she was known to the normal population of Tokyo, was after all, his flatmate. "She went away at about midnight – she said she’d be back for the trip."

"We can’t wait for her," replied Kunzite firmly. "If we want to give these two a fair chance at the conservatory, we have to go now. We can’t wait around for bubble brain."

"Watch your mouth, Kunzite," snapped Morganite. He sighed.

"So it is true, about you two. Oh well…if I could change sexual preferences, I guess you could too."

"Enough," sighed Nephrite, and the others could see he was worried about missing his usual Sunday lunch with Osaka Naru. "This isn’t going to help us find Nepheline, is it?"

"I agree," replied Mamoru, giving Zoisite a wicked grin. "Let’s go – I can’t wait to get this THING out of my apartment!"

"And leave you and Kunzite alone, ne?" snickered Makoto, and found herself on the receiving end of a pillow Usagi snatched from the couch. "Usa-chan! I was kidding! Stop it – you guys, a little help?"

"That’s pathetic, Mako-chan!" said Rei, laughing at the tall brunette, who now lay on the floor giggling as Usagi whacked her with the pillow. "You’re getting beaten up by an odango atama!"

"Oh, you’ll pay for that, you pyromaniac!" shrieked Usagi, going for the jugular. Jadeite’s hand on her arm changed her mind, however.

"Let’s leave the murder for later, ne?" he asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

Mamoru laughed. "Yeah. Anyway, Usako, I can assure you, Kunzite is hardly my type (Authors note; despite what CERTAIN OTHERS think…). Zoi, on the other hand…"

"Watch your mouth, Mamoru," snarled Kunzite in mock anger. "Or I may have to shut it – permanently!"

"Males," sighed Zoisite, rolling her eyes skyward. "So stubbornly aggressive…"

"Look who’s talking – when you were one, you never stopped trying to kill people!" accused Ami, a twinkle in her eyes. "And you tried to kill my Ryo-kun…"

"Don’t remind me," she sighed. "And I wasn’t trying to kill him, I was transforming him into a shadow warrior, to get that damned rainbow crystal."

"And where is Nepheline?" snapped Nephrite. "I mean it, you guys."

"Oh, starlight boy is all pissed off – let’s not annoy ‘Sanjouin Masato…’ the wonder business boy of Tokyo," snickered Zoisite.

"What’s wrong with the name? Just because I’m such a great business man…"

"With the help of an extensive business team…"

"Stuff it, you little weasel!"

"These two are way worse than Usagi-chan and Rei-chan!" laughed Mamoru, earning him glares from the pair.

"Yeah, well at least my mother isn’t on the cover of Crack Whore magazine!"

"NANII?!" shouted Nephrite, and Zoisite burst into peals of high pitched laughter. It took Kunzite’s large hand over her mouth to get her to shut up.

"Mere children."

"I must agree with you, sister."

"Only young, and so unenlightened."

"Oh, great, who invited the chicks?" cried Jadeite, and got a punch on the arm from Minako for his troubles. "Hey, I didn’t mean it! Sheesh, you females are SO over-sensitive!"

"What are you doing here?" asked Kunzite with a sigh. He recognised the Weird Sisters easily. "If you’ve come to yell at me for visiting Owen Burnett…don’t waste you time. I’m not listening."

"Didn’t you ask a question?"

"We shall answer it."

"That is why we are here."

"Do they always speak in threes? Geez, the novelty of that must wear off pretty quick," sighed Mamoru. He had only met the three briefly last time. The others shrugged – they knew them no better than he did.

"Did you or did you not ask a question?" asked the raven haired sister, Selene, and the others patiently waited for the other two to add their two cents worth. They waited a few minutes before Kunzite addressed them again. In the meantime, the three stood silently in front of the door, dressed in their usual blue and white robes.

"What are you talking about? What question did we ask?"

"About your so called ‘innocent’ immortal."

"Innocent…oh, you mean Nepheline Syenite. Wait," said Nephrite in surprise. "You know where my sister is?"

"Of course we do."

"There is little we do not know."

"We see much from our vantage point."

Jadeite rolled his sapphire eyes. "Quit the triplet act, would you? Mamoru was right, for once. The novelty wears off – quickly."

"Ah, such spirit coming from the one trapped in a crystal."

"After being defeated by three teenage girls." The three burst into laughter.

"Hey, shut up!"

Minako agreed. "How do you think you are, coming in here like this and insulting us? You have no right."

"Do not lecture us on our rights, little Senshi."

"We have jurisdiction where our lord and master guides us."

"And we had every right to do what we did."

A cold chill wrapped around the heart of Nephrite, and the others fell silent.

Zoisite took off her glasses, and began to polish them slowly. "What did you do to Nepheline?"

"She hid much from you, young one."

"She was a princess of deception."

"So much so that she out-tricked the master trickster."

"Who would that be, girls?" asked Kunzite softly, but he knew.

"Our disobedient wretch."

"Oberon’s ‘wayward’ child."

"His servant, Puck."

"A simple ‘Puck’ would have sufficed," muttered Mamoru, and the three exchanged humorous glances.

"Oh, the guardian of the Senshi, almost killed by his own guardians. What doth thou speakest of? Thou art a fool."

Kunzite sighed. "Do we have to start in on the Shakespeare, ladies?"

"The king doth keep his revels here tonight…"

"Take heed the queen come not within his sight…"

"For Oberon is passing fell and wrath…"

Nephrite looked annoyed, and worried. "Who is this Oberon exactly? You all seem to serve him somehow…and you all are his children? Why should he be annoyed with Nepheline?"

"Oberon is our lord and master."

"He is the ruler of Avalon."

"He has power over us, indeed all of his children. Even the Puck."

"That doesn’t answer the Nepheline part of the question," snapped Kunzite when they once again fell silent.

"We attended on her."

"Poor little wretch that she is."

"Forced to leave by jealousy."

Usagi looked around. "Uh, would anyone mind if I go over to the arcade to play Sailor V?"

"NANII?!" cried Rei, turning on her. "Odango atama! This is serious!"

"All right, all right - can I go to the movie instead, then?"

"She was one of us."

"A child of the king."

"Born of Avalon."

"That’s impossible!" cried Nephrite, colour staining his cheeks. "She was of the Silver Millennium!"

"A mere play."

"She chose a good role to immerse herself in."

"I must say, Circe and the Puck made quite the disobedient pair."

"Circe?"

"Sorceress of the sun – no wonder she wanted to play in the Moon Kingdom, with the one so in touch with the stars," the three chorused together, and smirked.

"How did she end up in the Silver Millennium?" asked Kunzite, clasping Zoisite’s trembling hand. "Nepheline, as Melpomene, was always a part of the court of Jupiter. How did she escape Avalon before the divorcing of your parents? When you were actually allowed to leave Avalon?"

"She was more rebellious than even Puck."

"She slipped the leash, so to speak."

"As the Princess of Jupiter, Odysseus, was born, she moved her spirit into another new born child."

"She stole the body of an infant?" asked Rei, shocked. "That’s…despicable! What happened to the spirit that should have been inside the child?"

"She would have destroyed it."

"No traces of her crime."

"Except for the fact that Oberon misses little."

Usagi dipped her hand into the bottle of jellybeans on the living room table. "Does anyone mind if I eat these? They’re yummy!"

"I do!" remarked Kunzite, turning on the blonde. "Those are MINE."

"Hey, get a grip, bleach head," snickered Nephrite. "They’re only jellybeans."

"If she stole your secret supply of chocolate par-"

The Sisters exchanged uneasy glances. "What are we hoping to accomplish here?"

"He sent us only to tell them, Luna."

"Common courtesy, as is fitting for someone of his status."

"If he wanted to be courteous, he could have told us himself," objected Makoto.

"Kunzite, put Usagi down," said Zoya in a tired voice, then angled her chair towards the sisters, and moved closer, scrutinising them through her glasses.

"Yes, child?" asked the white blonde imperiously. "What do you believe you are doing, approaching me so closely? I would suggest you move yourself. I worry for your safety."

"Worry about yourself, harridan," muttered Zoisite. "Where is Nepheline?"

"Circe," corrected the raven haired beauty who stood on the far right. "She is…safe."

The three immersed themselves in a three-way glance – no easy task – and began to chuckle again.

"Is she with Oberon?"

The blonde, Phoebe, choked on her giggle. "What do you imply, little guardian?"

"What penance does his wife prescribe for incest?"

"Nanii?" asked Usagi, looking up from the jellybeans as Kunzite gave up on his quarry.

Mamoru sighed, and looked at Ami. "Why don’t you tell her? You’re the human encyclopaedia."

"Aren’t you being a little presumptuous, little guardian?" objected the bleach head sister, Luna.

"You’re hardly in a position to knock our father."

"Tarnish his reputation, so to speak."

"He tarnished his own armour a long time ago, ladies. I am presuming things, but from what I have heard of Oberon, I would find his jealousy over his daughters loss an easy assumption to make."

"Did she get the script a page ahead of us? That’s hardly fair."

"Shut up, Rei-chan."

"Odango atama, how DARE you! I will-"

Kunzite looked at Mamoru and nodded. Swiftly, they grabbed the pair, and dragged them kicking and screaming to opposite sides of the room. Ami sighed. "Who brought the Prozac?"

"Or the valium," groaned Jadeite, covering his ears against the wailing of Usagi, and the shouted profanities of Rei. "I cannot believe you defeated us…"

The three Sisters looked at one another and sighed. "I fear we are wasting our time with these mortals."

"I would agree with you."

"I must concur."

Without warning, the girls exploded into a plume of flame, and vanished into thin air. Jaws dropped around the room – but only Zoisite remained calm. "No harpies, party on, guys," she said, still sounding lethargic. It seemed to the others she was always tired.

"Oh, great," snapped Nephrite, glaring at the two arguing Senshi. "You’ve scared them away – how are we going to find Nepheline – I mean Circe – now? You stupid little-"

"Get a grip, star light boy," Zoisite said quietly. "I fear there is nothing we can do. Where ever Nepheline is now, we have no jurisdiction. I doubt we can go to her, and she certainly cannot come to us."

"Why not? After all, Kunzite went and saw Owen Burnett, didn’t he? Why can’t we go and see this…Circe?" asked Rei logically. Kunzite shook his light head.

"No…Puck is Owen now, as he should be, after his banishment from the island paradise of Avalon. He is in New York, in his own dimension. He is not hard to find. Avalon, however, is a magical realm. It is accessed only through Oberon’s own magic, and we cannot get there through our own abilities."

"You still have all your abilities, don’t you guys?" asked Minako, looking at Jadeite specifically.

"We never lost them, even when we gained this mortality. We just can’t use them as much as before, because of the energy it would drain us of. We no longer rely on the energy of others, we generate our own. It means that the powers expended would dip into our life forces, and if we overdid it, it could quite possibly kill us." Zoisite ran her fingers through her hair, and shifted in pain.

"So, we’re giving up? Just like that?" Rei sounded pissed off.

"Yeah, well, at least my grandfather doesn’t READ Crack Whore magazine," muttered Zoisite, and Kunzite placed a warning hand on her shoulder. "Enough, Zoisite."

Usagi popped out of the kitchen – no one had even noticed she had left. She held out a bag of potato chips, as she munched away. "Chip, anyone?"

"Sure!" cried Jadeite, and snatched the entire bag, and Usagi began wailing.

"Those are MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"I told you that about my jellybeans, and did that stop you?" muttered Kunzite. "Look, guys. I think I have an idea of what we could do."

"Do tell, O Great One," said Nephrite sarcastically, pulling a bow. Kunzite rolled his eyes.

"I was the leader of us four, then and then, and still now. Just respect that, would you?"

"I meant no offence, my Lord."

Kunzite sighed, and continued, after putting a hand over Zoisite’s mouth, who had been about to yell at Nephrite. "I have some ideas about how we could get to Avalon, seek an audience with Oberon, so to speak."

"Not me," spoke up Zoisite. "I’m going to the conservatory."

He looked at her, then nodded. "Fine, Zoisite. You and Morganite can go to the conservatory. After we drop you there, we’ll go to New York, some of us. And I’ll get Nephrite to go back to his old chambers in the Dark Kingdom, and retrieve that mirror."

"What mirror?"

"Titania’s mirror – I think Puck left it behind. If he did, it would be very helpful. Don’t you remember that spell you copied from the Grimorum Arcanorum?"

"The what?"

"It’s a book, Usagi. A magic book."

"Don’t bother telling her about books – she doesn’t know what they are."

"Rei-chan, please – it was your arguing that caused the sisters to leave. Just shut up, for once?" Kunzite massaged his temples, like he was getting a headache. "Nephrite, could you get that mirror? And the spell from the Grimorum?"

"Yes," he sighed. "But if I miss my lunch with Naru-chan…"

He rolled his eyes, and the others looked at one another.

Zoisite quirked a strange, secret little smile. "To infinity and beyond?"

________________________________________________________________________

I shall tell the truth – the title of this chapter (and all the following) plus the lyrics with them are all Garbage songs, from their self-titled first album, and then Version 2.0. I didn’t write them…sheesh, I’d be flattered if anyone thought I had!