Okay, this part is dedicated to Jinci, because what she wanted to happen finally happens in this part – Zoisite reverts to his, yes his real self! Sugoi!

by Celeste Goodchild

g to your honourg

"A stroke of luck or gift from God? The hand of fate or devil’s claws? From below or the saints above? You come to me now."

The air underwent a tremendous change as the spell really took hold, and as he glanced around, Kunzite noticed how the forms of the five changed greatly. It was remarkable how even though everything else changed around them, their other features blurry and indistinct, their eyes remained the same.

Malicious, verdant emerald, conniving yet vulnerable…

Dark, dusky sapphire, filled with mocking yet uncertainty…

Languid, shadowed amethyst, shaded by lies and animosity…

Uneasy, starlit azure, teeming with worry, and paradoxical apathy…

He wondered what he would see in his own, strangely silver-coloured eyes.

g g g

The Kingdom hadn’t changed, they could see that easily enough. Though it was dark and empty, it still was abounded with negative energy.

The five had all reverted back to their old physical forms – completely and utterly. Kunzite was stunned to see that Zoisite was truly Zoisite again.

The little sakura lifted his eyes from the ground to glare at the silver king for a moment, before stepping away from Kunzite to take a seat in one of the stone chairs about the room. After a moment of tense silence, everyone followed suit.

"You know, I don’t see why everyone had to come here, Kunzite-sama," broke in the languidly sensuous voice of the only woman in the group.

Kunzite sighed heavily, Morganite’s violet eyes watching him with a mixture of anger and sadness. "Is this really necessary, Lord Kunzite?" she asked, her lilting voice stilted with sarcasm as she spoke his title. "It is none of their concern."

"I beg to differ," he said quietly, looking at Zoisite with his argent eyes. He stared stonily back at him, and he sighed internally. "Zoisite…"

"Yes, my Lord?" he asked, his voice also choking on the title. Nephrite rolled his eyes, almost the same shade as Kunzite’s. Jadeite simply stared at his hands, wishing he could be anywhere but here.

"The truth, Morganite. I think we’re all entitled to it, especially from you."

She snorted at Kunzite’s words, and tossed her head defiantly. "My secrets are my own, my so-called Lord. I told you all that you ever needed to know."

"You told me that Alexandrite was dead!" he shouted, and Morganite’s eyes narrowed.

"Temper, temper, Lord Kunzite. I see Zoisite has been a bad influence on you…you were never this emotional. I used to wonder if you had any emotion at all."

Calm once more, Kunzite continued to glare at his former wife. "What about you? You killed without remorse."

"So did you," she replied evenly. "And you didn’t even shed a single tear for Alex when I told you he was dead!"

"Because I had always been taught emotions were a weakness!"

"To you, they always will be, hmm?"

"How could you do that to me? You told me Alex, our child, whom I adored, was dead!"

"Adored?! Fat chance, Kunzite!" shouted Morganite back at him, eyes blazing violet fire. "What about when you told me to-"

"It was a mistake! I admit I was wrong! But why did you tell me he had died? What kind of sick joke is that?"

"Excuse me, Lord Kunzite," interrupted Zoisite frigidly, his eyes dark as he turned a sinister gaze on his teacher. "Why did you never tell me you had had a son in the first place?"

The sparring duo turned to look at the youngest of Beryl’s former kings in astonishment. He was behaving in an extraordinary fashion, for the murderous, vindictive little monster he was, underneath his innocent demeanour. In all reality, he was beginning to behave eerily like Kunzite. It was just not normal for Zoisite to take an argument seated, without at least one attempt on someone’s life.

He raised a coppery-golden eyebrow quizzically. "Well?"

Kunzite was momentarily dumbstruck. "What?"

A cruel glint leapt into Zoisite’s eyes, and Nephrite winced. He recognised the signs, even if the others did not. Occasionally, Zoisite was actually capable of withholding his temper, and appearing completely in command of his emotions.

Those glowing embers in his eyes signified that all Hell was about to break loose.

Then it did. Zoisite leapt to his feet, and stood before Kunzite, breathing heavily. As the eldest king was still seated, Zoisite’s diminutive height was not a matter to worry about. He managed quite successfully to loom over Kunzite, but it was more his emotional form than his physical presence that invoked fear in all those around him.

"How COULD you do that to me?!" he screamed, his voice cracking on the last words. "I trusted you, I fucking well LOVED you, and you screwed me over! Again! How many fucking times can you do this to me, Lord Kunzite? You broke my heart when you refused me after Beryl’s punishment, then everything changed! Our relationship was never the same again!"

Kunzite eyed him warily, not looking away from the circled orbs that were Zoisite’s pained green eyes. "What do you mean?" he asked quietly, in his husky, sultry voice. Though he now sounded very, very tired.

"When we were so-called QUEERS, my dear, darling sensei!" he screamed, all his resentment boiling over. "When I was female, you were so affectionate, so unafraid to show that you loved me! You never left me alone! You held me in your arms at every opportunity! You TOLD me you loved me! Everyday, every goddamn day! Then, when I was a MAN, you would barely touch me in public, let alone KISS me! I would caress you, hold you in my arms, and you would treat me like a pet! I was always the one who had to instigate any affectionate displays amongst us! But what really hurt, dear heart, was the way you never told me you loved me. Never said it after the night I was changed. You told me as I fell asleep so easily, not knowing it would be the last time I heard it fall from your lips!" He drew in a ragged breath, and hurled the next words at the king in a jagged scream. "YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU LOVED ME AGAIN!"

The accused raised a hand to his head, like he was getting one of his now-common migraines, finally looking away from his former lover’s accusing glare. "Zoisite, please…"

"And you know what else?" he spat, nowhere near finished. He would not be finished until he had made him hurt as much as he now did. "You LET Queen Beryl kill me!"

His head snapped up, eyes agonised. "No."

"YES!" screamed Zoisite, his eyes overflowing with tears. "YOU LET HER! Admit it! You let her kill me!"

"No," he said again, the word spoken with a greater agony than he had ever known. "Zoisite, I never would have let her kill you. I loved you! I love you now!"

"A bit late, isn’t it?!" he shouted, eyes still streaming salty tears. "I died, and yeah, Kunzite, you were really sad, weren’t you?"

"Of course I was," he protested, looking directly into his verdant eyes. "Zoisite, for pity’s sake…"

Zoisite leapt back half a step as Kunzite reached out a long fingered hand, and gave him a crooked smile. "Oh, sure, I BELIEVE you, Lord Kunzaito-sama…if you had really cared for me, you would have killed Endymion, and Beryl, and that stupid little bitch Sailor Moon. But NOOOOOOOOOOOOO, you just merrily went about your day."

He lowered his head, unable to take anymore. "No, I did not, Zoisite."

He was not finished. "The, when we were both dead, we had a choice. I chose to be with you, but guess what. Lightening Kunzite strikes again, and we end up not in each other’s bed, but as fucking student and teacher! And when I tried to love you again, you pushed me away! THAT is why I turned to Mamoru! Because I needed to be loved! That is ALL I ever needed!" He looked at Kunzite, and slowly retreated to his chair. "And you couldn’t even give me that, Lord Kunzite."

Jadeite shot a sideways glance at Nephrite, who was fidgeting nervously in his own chair beside Zoisite. The last thing he had wanted to witness was an all-out argument between Zoisite and Kunzite. When those two got started, the energy released was always painful, and all too tangible. He couldn’t understand why, but they seemed to be constantly hurting each other, albeit unintentionally. It seemed that the more they loved each other, the more they hurt one another.

Nephrite seemed to hold much the same opinion, though Jadeite also knew for a fact that Nephrite did not wish to partake in this little regression that Kunzite had insisted upon.

Zoisite was now seated, and had buried his face in his arms on the side of his chair. Though his visage was hidden, the muffled sobs were quite clearly heard by the other four members of the former Dark Kingdom.

Jadeite snorted – he couldn’t resist it. "Nice work, Lord Kunzite. I doubt I could have done a better job myself."

Viciously, Kunzite glared at the third king, and Nephrite sighed internally. He had figured this would happen, this regression into their former selves. Kunzite would once again become the frigid elder, Morganite the controlled bitch, Jadeite the sadistic, quiet little creep, Zoisite the impulsive, vindictive little murderer, and himself…

He sighed even more heavily at the though of himself. He would be the same old obnoxious, megalomaniacal jerk with the great hair.

"I think we should put a restraining harness on Zoisite," spoke up Jadeite, and Nephrite felt a deep sadness settle over him. Jadeite had been like this during the Dark Kingdom years, the closeness of Zoisite and Jadeite as brothers had only come when they had become Zoya and Jonathan. Before then, they had been as good a friends as he and Zoisite.

"What the hell for?!" he snapped in reply, his tear streaked face snapping up. "You pompous, self-righteous little JERK!"

"Ice crystals, dear brother," he replied evenly. "When you lose it, you tend to take at least five other people down with you."

"No trust in me, hmm?" spat out Zoisite, his cheeks splotched red from his tears. But his eyes were bright with a raging fire, fed by his recurring personality. "There’s nothing new."

"No one in their right mind would trust you, Zoisite. You have no self-control whatsoever," said Jadeite mildly. "Someone should get you a strait jacket for Christmas."

"Plus a double lobotomy and ten rolls of rubber wallpaper," added Morganite with trademark snideiness. Kunzite and Nephrite sighed simultaneously, and Zoisite gave both of the elder Kings murderous glares, his eyes dark with the power of the Dark Kingdom.

Inwardly, Nephrite cursed. What was Kunzite hoping to achieve here, anyway? He knew what kind of effect this place would have on them, even if it was abandoned. Their old selves were too easily tapped here, the darkness of soul too easily achieved.

"Zoisite, would you please shut up?" asked Jadeite imperiously. "Your whining is so childish for a king of your status. Kunzite-sama, why can’t you keep your pet on a leash?"

"I AM NOT HIS PET!" screamed Zoisite, his voice high pitched with horror. Morganite winced, and put her hands over her ears.

"Lower the decibels, honey. I don’t need this shit right now," put in Morganite.

"HONEY?!" shouted the enraged King. "I AM NOT YOUR GODDAMN HONEY!"

Kunzite rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Jadeite, Morganite, would you please stop goading Zoisite? Besides, I would have thought that was more Nephrite’s style."

"I don’t need you to stand up for me," snarled Zoisite, turning on the eldest king. "Keep the fuck out of my life!"

"Could we keep the language at a ‘G’ level please?" interrupted Nephrite. "I can’t see us achieving anything at this rate."

"So he decides to speak, finally," snapped Zoisite, curling his legs underneath him in the chair. He regarded him with contempt from his perch. "So, good old Lord Nephrite-sama has decided to descend from yon high to mingle with the commoners."

To his distaste, he felt an old anger rise in his own heart. "Shut your face, Zoisite. I have a right to be imperious around scum-sucking canaille like you. You would have gotten nowhere in the Dark Kingdom unless you rode Kunzite’s coattails the way you did!"

"Ooh, watch out," taunted Zoisite. "Astral starlight boy’s all pissed off. You never know, he might drop a space station on me. And I did NOT ride Kunzite’s coattails, you bastard!"

"My parents WERE married," replied Nephrite with contempt. "As for yours, dear little Zoi, I’m not so sure…"

His pale face pinked. "What the Hell?"

Kunzite slowly stood, and Nephrite ducked his head, suddenly highly ashamed of his actions. Getting into a petty argument with Zoisite was something he had hoped he could avoid. He was startled to see how tired and lacking in energy the eldest king appeared to be.

"Enough," he said simply, ignoring Jadeite’s snort of laughter. "Contrary to the opinion of some nameless parties, we did not come here to bring up all our old grievances."

"Yeah, because some other "nameless parties" can’t face up to what they did," mimicked Zoisite in a manner similar to Kunzite’s calm demeanour.

Nephrite noted Kunzite’s wince, like Zoisite had just poked him with one of his nasty ice crystals, and he sighed once more. Anyone with half a hemisphere could see that those two were supposed to be together, and his stars had confirmed it more than once. Everybody in ANY dimension or reality had a so-called "other half," and it was painfully obvious that though he had successfully driven a wedge between them, Zoisite still loved Kunzite with every inch of his broken heart.

Unfortunately, Zoisite was too proud to ever admit this to anyone, himself included. From the looks of things, Kunzite was not going to attempt to bring Zoisite back to him, either. Contrary to popular belief, Kunzite was a highly emotional being. He just kept them to himself most of, if not all of, the time. Though from what Zoisite had just screamed, it seemed he had been very different towards the female Zoisite, in terms of emotional displays.

He could see quite easily that Zoisite had really hurt his teacher with his remarks about Kunzite’s role in Zoisite’s premature death. He himself had been dead at the time, but had seen everything from the realm of Angelikarma. Any moronic youma knew what Kunzite had actually done for Zoisite, in standing up for him in front of Beryl, but Zoisite, in his hurt, threw Kunzite’s failure to protect him in his face.

Jadeite looked at Zoisite, who had begun quietly weeping again. He rolled his deep sapphire blue eyes. "I thought I told you to shut up, Zoisite. Crying is WEAK."

"And so are you!" he screeched in immediate retaliation, as Kunzite looked away. He was now physically unable to look upon Zoisite without a deep pain in his heart. "None of you would ever survive what I’ve been through! It would kill a lesser person!"

"What, screwing Mamoru?" asked Morganite mildly, a growing malicious smile blossoming on her face. "Yeah, well, I could understand how THAT could kill a person."

Zoisite’s face grew in anger. "Yeah, like you’ve never done it, Morganite."

"What? Screwed Mamoru?" asked Morganite. "Nah, never been that way inclined, Zoi-chan, honey. That was always more your style than mine. You screwed your way to the top. I worked."

His eyes widened as he sucked in a deep breath. "WHAT?!" he screamed. "You bitch! I want you to DIE!"

Lunging forward, he conjured a particularly sharp ice crystal, aiming directly for Morganite’s prone heart. She simply smiled oddly, and looked into Zoisite’s eyes directly. To the surprise of their captivated audience, Zoisite dropped the crystal. It shattered on the cold ground, and he stepped quickly away, and buried himself in his chair.

Morganite watched this with a victorious glimmer in her eyes, and turned to the others. "What? Never seen a woman king disarm a murderous psychopath without so much as lifting a finger?"

"We should charge an entry fee and open up our meetings to the general public," muttered Nephrite. "We’d make a mint."

Kunzite looked at the others warily, and Nephrite noticed with sympathy the way his gaze lingered over Zoisite. Once again, however, neither of the Kings would ever attempt to reach out to one another, even if it killed the both of them.

Without thinking, Nephrite stood and moved towards the sobbing man, and pulled him upwards and into his arms. Zoisite immediately stiffened, and tried to disattach himself from Nephrite’s tight embrace. "What the FUCK are you doing?" protested Zoisite, and Nephrite winced. It was like holding a struggling wildcat, but as Nephrite was physically stronger than Zoisite, there wasn’t a heck of a lot of chance of him breaking free.

"You were crying. I thought most people wanted to be comforted when they were upset."

"Not by you!" he screeched, still trying in vain to put more than a few centimetres between himself and his despised enemy. "I hate you! Let me go!"

"You don’t hate me."

"I DO I DO I DO!" he wailed, and began to chant it repetitively as the others all covered their ears. His screaming was fast approaching the end of the decibel scale.

"What’s wrong with you?" asked Kunzite finally, unable to take anymore. He stood swiftly, and moved towards the pair with the easy grace he had always possessed. "As your superior officer, Nephrite, I command that you release Zoisite this instant!"

He immediately turned on his former lover. "I don’t need you," he spat venomously. "I told you to keep away from me, you traitorous bastard!"

"Why does everyone have such a fascination with the marital state of one’s parents?" asked Morganite mildly, conjuring a mirror so that she might examine the state of her hair.

Jadeite agreed, and looked at Nephrite questionally. "Neffy, did you bring any wine with you? Or leave any in your old chambers?"

Nephrite ignored Jadeite, still clutching the screaming, sobbing, pissed off, heartbroken king to his broad chest. He knew if he let him go, both he and Kunzite would face an instant castration. "Zoisite, would you please stop it?"

"WHY SHOULD I?" he screamed, and swiped out with a hand at Kunzite, who immediately stepped back rather smartly. "Let me go! Just because I am below you in rank does not mean you can treat me this way!"

"But you am not below me in rank," he said softly, and it worked. Zoisite stopped struggling, and angled round so he could stare incredulously at Nephrite with his verdant eyes.

"Excuse me?"

He sounded so disbelieving, so confused, that Nephrite couldn’t resist a merry laugh. "Oh, Zoya, you are a funny one."

"My name is Zoisite," he replied, though Nephrite noted with relief that he sounded unsure of this. "Why call me Zoya? And what do you mean, I am not below you in rank?"

"You aren’t, Zoya. You aren’t Zoisite anymore, just as I am not Nephrite inside, and it goes for all of us. We gave all this up when we defeated Queen Metallia…or, more likely, when Phoebe defeated Metallia."

"What are you saying?"

"We aren’t Dark Kingdom Kings anymore. We simply have a past as them, that’s all. We can’t let old jealousies, hatreds and grudges ruin what we made for ourselves back in our new reality."

Kunzite agreed softly, and Zoisite’s eyes softened slightly as he regarded the silver-haired king. "This is not what we came for. Contrary to what Lord Nephrite believes, I knew what would happen if we came here, I just didn’t expect it to get so out of hand, that’s all."

Nephrite released Zoisite, and prayed to whomever what listening that he wouldn’t pull one of his infamous mood swings. Luckily for everyone, he seemed to have regained his slender grip on self-control.

Morganite looked annoyed. "If we’re done here, can we please go now?"

"We came so you would tell us the truth, Morganite!" said Kunzite empathetically, his eyes straying to Zoisite, who now sat primly in his chair, rearranging his disarrayed hair.

She rolled her eyes, and conjured up her small sceptre, the black handled blue orb she could channel a startling amount of energy through. Kunzite gave it a warning look, and she laughed without humour. "Oh, relax, would you? It just helps me think."

"What is there to think about?" asked Jadeite, beginning to sound bored. "Why am I here, anyway?"

"You’re our token target, dear brother," spoke up Zoisite sweetly, seemingly over his psychotic earlier outburst. "Someone’s bound to get mad, and we’ll need something to take our anger out on."

"You really don’t need to be here," snapped Morganite. "Besides," she said, turning to Zoisite, "You’re going to get mad no matter what happens – it’s in your nature!"

"Screw you, Morganite," muttered Zoisite darkly, and Kunzite had to resist the temptation to move over there and bring Zoisite to his chest, hold him in his embrace. It was more a desire to keep Zoisite from lashing out at anyone in his vicinity than a romantic gesture.

She smiled oddly, and waved her sceptre at her in a no-no manner. "Not more of that, dear little seito, that’s all over, wouldn’t you agree?"

"There’s a question," called Jadeite. "If Morganite’s gotta have time to correlate the facts in her own head about Alexandrite, why doesn’t Zoisite give us story-hour?"

He glared at his brother. "What do you mean?"

"Well, there’s obviously something between you and Morganite, and then there’s your hatred for Nephrite…where did it all come from? You always seemed to like Morganite well enough beforehand…when Beryl zapped you into playing for the other team."

He looked at him evenly for a moment, then looked to both Morganite and Nephrite. Morganite smiled darkly, and Nephrite looked pained. Then he glanced at his former lover, who seemed to say through his eyes it’s your choice, koibito.

Zoisite smiled sadly at the innuendoes in his teacher’s platinum eyes, and sighed heavily. "All right, if everyone wants it, I’ll give you my life story, and tell you why I have such a problem with Nephrite…and what passed between Morganite and I back in the Dark Kingdom."

"What a stroke of luck!" muttered Morganite, and Jadeite rolled his eyes.

"Enough, Morganite," replied Kunzite coldly, and then he too, looked to Zoisite.

He looked less than ecstatic at the thought of story-hour, and seemed to be having second thoughts. "Do I really have to do this?"

Morganite looked up from filing her nails. "Depends on how badly you want to be on my Christmas card list, Zoi-chan, dear."

He sighed, giving Morganite a strangely wistful look, then he took a deep breath, and began.