I’m off to my therapist! The rest of you so-called NORMAL people have a nice day, won’t you?

Insults? Comments? Idle or meaningful threats? I invite you to contact me at luna_dreamscape@hotmail.com

PS Don’t sue me…I didn’t invent most of this! Please, I’m too poor as it is!

______________________________________________________________________________________

Phenakite has taken her dream one step too far – and she has underestimated the power of time. Zoisite is awake, highly pissed off and itching for battle. Nephrite and the Senshi, however, have their own problems…

______________________________________________________________________________________

"Venus!" cried out Luna, terrified by the young girl’s corpse like, grey pallor, her lips bloodless and blue, eyes wide and staring.

Mercury, the eternal doctor, leapt onto the bier, checking her breathing, then her pulse. She looked relieved and perplexed at the same time.

"She’s breathing, and her pulse is regular, if not a little slow…but she seems to be some kind of weird trance. It’s like…there was something inside her."

Mars instantly whipped out one of her all-purpose ward papers, and held it in such a way that it was obvious she was going to use it.

"No wait!" cried Mercury, tapping away furiously. "It’s not in her now – but whatever it was, it sure took a lot out of her."

To the horror of the group, Venus suddenly sat bolt upright, and shot a beam of crescent gold light at the wall beside Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars. They shrieked and ducked, covering their heads from the fall out, while Venus looked at her hand with admiration. "My," she said in a deep, husky drawl, "This baby sure packs a wallop." She smiled in a way that chilled Luna’s heart, before suddenly fainting dead away.

"What the fuck do you call that then, Mercury?" asked Mars shakingly. "Temporary insanity? What did we do to her to deserve that, huh? Face it – she’s possessed by some Dark Kingdom flunky!"

"More than a mere flunky," said a snide voice from the corridor, and they turned in shock to see a very immaterial Zoisite leaning on the doorframe, an eyebrow raised at the lot of them.

"Sorry about that," he said off handedly, looking at Venus as though she were no more than a blade of grass in a field of roses. "I was running on battery back up – needed a boost, and that beam really did it for me."

"What – YOU were in Venus?!" cried out Sailor Moon in outrage.

"What, you have a problem with that?" asked Zoisite, that weird, twisted smile still tainting what would have otherwise been very pretty features. That always had been the thing about Zoisite, though – he looked so angelic, it was sometimes very hard to match the man to what he had done to them in the past.

Sailor Moon winced, fully expecting to hear one of Zoisite’s trademark, annoying high pitched giggles, but instead, his expression melted away, and he looked out the door. "Ah, shit. He’s going to the goddamn mausoleum again…that idiot! He can’t do anything there…"

Mercury stared, baffled, at Zoisite. He appeared very much a ghost…he was immaterial, you could see right through him, and occasionally, his form would corrupt, becoming a hazy mass before restoring itself.

"How are you…you can’t be, you’re…dead!" gasped the Senshi. Zoisite smiled sarcastically to hear it.

"Oh, don’t sweat it, Mercury – I died, and I still am dead, just…caught between realities, so to speak. Our dear, sweet Phenakite has just screwed up the laws of causality, and now…" He rolled his eyes, and pulled out a small mirror. He frowned, then looked up at the Senshi. "Damn, no reflection! Hey, do you guys think that my hair looks all right?"

Flabbergasted, the three original Senshi could only stare, mouths around their ankles, at the vainest of the four Kings. It took Venus’s uproarious laughter from behind them for them to snap out of it.

"A few months of death is hell on the hair, huh Zoi-chan?" snickered Venus, in such a friendly way that it made Mars’s eyes narrow with suspicion.

"What, having a King in your body brings you two closer together?" she asked cruelly, the ward still in her hands. It only made Venus laugh harder, though, while Zoisite began to giggle. Then really laugh – and much to everyone’s relief, the laughter didn’t manage to make the Richter scale. The pitch of it had been well known to send tremors through the earth.

"You think that is going to anything?" guffawed Venus, and Artemis winced. She seemed to be getting ever closer to the ‘loss of control’ state.

"I’m already dead," Zoisite choked out between bouts of laughter. "I’m beyond all that fire crap, Mars…try it and see!"

Disgusted, Mars put the paper note away. "I wouldn’t waste my time."

"So, where’s Cape-boy?" asked Zoisite, looking at Venus, who was just beginning to calm down. Without warning, the pair burst into laughter again.

"What is it with you two?" cried Sailor Moon, suddenly very frightened. It was just not normal to run into a dead enemy who was hyucking it up with one of your best friends. "And Mamo-chan…I wouldn’t let you near him in a million years!"

"But I’m dead, Sailor Moon," sniggered Zoisite. "The most I could do to him is appear at his window and say BOO."

"Ohhhh, scary," giggled Venus. "Whooooooo, the ghost of crazy old Zoi-chan is back…and he’s gonna go BOO and scare Mamoru out of his wits!"

"You’d better believe it, princess," laughed Zoisite, and the others stood, amazed by this weird rapport between Venus and the King.

"Hey," said Venus, looking at the girls like she was reading their minds. "It’s amazing what a little old mind mesh can do for you, huh?"

"Only twenty-nine ninety five for one, plus an additional $4.75 for postage and packaging," added Zoisite, casting a sidelong glance at Venus. "And we’ll even throw in, completely free, a valuable clue."

"Like what?" asked Sailor Moon, as they stood, regarding the fourth King with trained suspicion. He looked deadly serious all of a sudden.

"You have to get to the mausoleum before Nephrite does – he thinks he can fix things, especially with her help, but you need to be there, Sailor Moon. You and the ginzuishou."

"Whose help? And why are you giving us help, Zoisite?"

He smiled crookedly. "I might call you on it later – hey, everything has a price, Sailor Moon. Hell, I know – I loved true, and look where I am now."

Venus looked at the King oddly, and then at the others for a second. Her mind was made up. "Zoisite, your energy…it’s fading. Enter me again."

"Are you NUTS?!" screamed Mars. "I am not hanging around with you if he’s in there!"

"I appreciate your faith in me," Zoisite said dryly, suddenly sounding remarkably like Kunzite. Then he shrugged. "I can’t Venus – I have to go back to the glass. Phenakite has released tremendous amounts of energy, and some spirits have managed to escape the pull of the power. But I have to go back – Kunzaito-sama is in her grasp – and I can’t let him alone."

The Senshi watched as Zoisite faded clean away, without the cherry blossoms. He simply faded like a photo negative, the room feeling oddly empty. Venus looked around. "Uh, guys – what happened to Jupiter?"

______________________________________________________________________________________

"I don’t like this," muttered Nephrite, running his hands over the cool glass of a tremendous mirror. Jupiter regarded it with suspicion through Nephrite’s eyes. "Where are we?"

"My old quarters," he replied shortly. "This is my mirror – Titania’s mirror, actually. I found it amongst some old guy’s relics, when I was looking for knick-knacks to add to Masato Sanjouin’s collection. It is more powerful than you might think. And with your power to help me, I think I can release him. Kunzite could have done it himself, but…he’s being…" He grimaced. "She’s raising him. The wrong way."

"I don’t understand what’s going on here," objected Jupiter in his mind, though for some reason, she trusted the Dark King. He seemed to be…an old friend, a former comrade. She didn’t know what the smeg was happening to her, but she knew that she didn’t understand it. It seemed that once she had stepped into the Dark Kingdom, the lines between good and evil had blurred, faded. The place was haunted.

"Indeed," snorted Nephrite, and Jupiter was shocked to discover that he had been able to read her thoughts. Quite easily, too, if his speed of the reply was any indication.

"Leave my thoughts alone, buddy, or I’ll deck you one!"

He snickered, though it sounded oddly friendly. "If you want to hit yourself, go ahead."

"I’d do it if I knew it was going to hurt you as much as it hurt me."

Sighing, Nephrite repeated the incantation with which Jupiter was becoming quite familiar. "Of all the Senshi…"

______________________________________________________________________________________

Venus looked at the huge door with awe, while the others stood back, not bothering to hide their fear. The place would have struck fear into the hearts of any, and it was the aura of death which had kept so many of the youma and assorted creatures from Beryl’s genetic meanderings away from the mausoleum.

It was intricately carved, covered in star charts of the seven known universes, earth too small to be seen. Venus traced a finger over a galaxy, and to the shock of the others, a hand appeared over hers, white and pale, transparent. As they watched, they saw Zoisite’s tired form waver into existence.

"I forgot I’d have to let you in," he whispered in a tired voice, a thin smile touching his lips. "What can I say, death alters your priorities. Here, this way."

He guided Venus’s hand lethargically, across a pattern of stars and planets. At the conclusion of whatever he was doing, the doors creaked open inwards, revealing absolute darkness.

"That’s all I can do," he said softly, and doubled over in pain. "Venus…" he gasped, eyes wide. "I told you…"

"Zoisite!" she cried as he vanished again, as she tried to touch him, falling through him. She was left sprawled on the ground, where Zoisite had once stood.

"Care to explain?" asked Mars coldly. "Since when do you try to help Dark Kingdom sleaze like him?"

She looked confused, and somewhat melancholy. "I…think it was a promise, or maybe just…I have to do it. As a favour to…" Her voice faded. "Look, whatever the reason, the guy’s right. We have to awaken the dreamer. It’s the only way we’ll get any truth out of them. Nephrite – he’s not as dead as Zoisite and Kunzite, because of his deliverance, he has power beyond theirs, but he can’t awaken him. So we have to – he knows the truth. And if any of us are to survive our pasts, we have to find the truth. And in my experience, the truth is always where you forget to look."

"I think you broke the lake – but I won’t tell," said Mars suddenly, and the others looked at her in astonished confusion. She shrugged. "What can I say – I think this place in contagious."

______________________________________________________________________________________

Naturally, Sailor Moon was afraid of the dark.

Mars whined about having to keep her flame burning for so long, but Venus hushed her – and was backed by both the cats. They were more instinctive than the Senshi, and the dark hallway, though large and empty, was enough to give them the uneasy feeling that there was a lot of power waiting to be released.

"I wouldn’t worry about it," said Venus, almost conversationally, like it wasn’t anything extraordinary. "He told me that Phenakite’s power wouldn’t reach here, because no one was dead. And she’s little more than a necromancer."

"A whatsit?" asked Sailor Moon, and Mercury sighed. This meant ANOTHER long explanation. Sometimes she wished she could just force Usagi to memorise the dictionary. Given her study habits, it would probably have to be at gun point.

As Mercury explained the concept of the living undead to Sailor Moon, who was beginning to look a little green, Venus stumbled across the gateway to the actual necropolis – and several gravestones.

"Welcome to the Mausoleum," she muttered to herself, surveying the heavy wrought-iron gates. It was just as Zoisite had said it would be.

"I thought you said this place wasn’t full of dead people," whined Sailor Moon, Venus shook her head.

"You’ve seen members of the Dark Kingdom die – they vanished, entered the Realm of Angelikarma. This is just a memorial, like a place to mourn the dead. There are bodies here – frozen in eternal sleep, though."

She indicated a large crystal by the half-opened gate, and Mars leant the flame in for a closer look. She fell silent upon seeing the youma, encased like a bug in amber, inside the crystal.

"Standard punishment," said Venus in an odd voice, before stepping into the compound. "You guys coming?"

"How do you know all this?" asked Luna, but Artemis understood.

"Zoisite told her – he was meshed with her, for what purpose, none of us truly know. But really…Venus, why did you do it? Surely…"

She shrugged. "It never hurts to help."

Mars snorted, but didn’t make a more verbal comment. She was one of the most instinctive Senshi, and she could feel pain, suffering and so much sadness in the musty, feted air of the graveyard. Passing countless youma as she followed Venus’s lead made her feel slightly nauseous, but she kept her food down by sheer force of will.

She wished Mamo-chan was here. Though, given all circumstances, Sailor Moon would be hanging onto Tuxedo Kamen-sama.

"I won’t pretend that I know why I did it," said Venus in a small voice, sounding…almost apathetic. "But I did it, okay? So, we’ve had problems with them in the past. Maybe I’m being blasé about this whole situation, but who are we to judge? We never understood them, and talking to Zoisite like I did, just…expanded my horizons, I guess."

Venus continued to lead the silent group through the graveyard, while Ami continually played her fingers over the keys of her computer. For what reason, no one really knew, but they didn’t bug her.

It was the temple-like construction at the top of the hill that stopped all but Venus dead in their tracks.

Effortlessly, she moved to the wire gates, upon which was a brass plaque sat. The words engraved into the tarnished brass were in a language no one understood – least of all, Zoisite, who appeared beside Venus again, albeit temporarily.

"The Temple of the Ancients," he echoed in a dying whisper, giving Venus a strangely sweet smile. "We lie within these walls…no one knows why. We were just…put here. Those words were unknown to all, even that psycho, Metallia. But…maybe you could translate the old language. Tell me one day…what you find."

"You lie in there?" squeaked Sailor Moon, paling. "But I thought you said to Venus…that there’s no bodies around here…"

"The empty bodies stand as known, of the sights you have been shown, of the hurt you call your own…" murmured Zoisite warily to himself, like the words shouldn’t be spoken aloud. Then he shook his head. "Our memorials lie in there – as insignificant as we were."

Venus watched him fade away, then sighed, placing both hands onto the brass plaque. Mercury was the first to speak up. "What’s with the comings and goings? Why doesn’t he stay and help us?"

Venus closed her eyes, concentration rippling across her brow. "I don’t understand the reference…but it’s the hold of Angelikarma. It calls him back, and he hasn’t the life force to disobey."

To everyone’s astonishment, the word and symbols on the plaque began to rearrange themselves, forming:

The trust on life and love

Nexus between time and space

Apathy and absolution

Lie within the sarcophagi

Of Breccia’s wayward children

"What the fuck does that mean?" asked Mars, ignoring the disgusted look Luna gave her. Luna didn’t appreciate profanity – though given half the chance, she did it anyway. Just not as often as everyone else.

"I’m…I’m not sure," stuttered Venus, seemingly startled at what she had apparently done. "Zoisite has never said anything about anything like this…"

"Why don’t we just finish whatever we’re here for?" asked Artemis, and from his tone of voice, Venus guessed correctly he knew what Zoisite had asked her to do for him. "We have to find Jupiter."

______________________________________________________________________________________

The five sarcophagi sat in a rough approximation of a star, an altar at the centre. It was obvious which of the tombs belonged to the four kings, though the fifth was a mystery.

The temple was large, the coffins in the centre of the building, the main hall, surrounded by immense columns, an eerie stillness in the air. The sarcophagi were raised concrete slabs, elaborately decorated with carvings, with statues of the "occupant" being the main feature. Nephrite looked…peaceful, yet somehow worried in his bronze form, the coffin decorated with patterns of universes on his sarcophagi. Mercury confirmed what Venus had said – the coffin was empty.

To his right, was the unknown. The figure of a woman stood erect, at violent attention, her face sharply etched with lines of cruelty. She had an evil sense of grand beauty about her, and her hair was cut in a sleek, sharp bob, adding even more sharpness to her features.

Beside her, was Kunzite. He looked as aloof as ever, a long sword held easily in one hand. None of the group realised its significance.

Extraordinary was the only word they could think of to describe Zoisite’s sarcophagi. The figure looked as vain as he was naturally, a sly smile touching the familiar, bronze features. It was the scattered roses across the bier and the statue, some dead, some ever-blooming. The number of them must have been in the thousands – every bloom was, or once was, pink, and the note accompanying the roses, though unreadable, was obviously written by a distraught Kunzite.

"What does it say, Venus?" asked Mercury, and with a sigh, Venus translated it, using the fading knowledge obtained from Zoisite. The bond between them was dying with the growing of Phenakite’s power.

"I can’t use what I can’t abuse – and I couldn’t stop, even when it came to you. I brought you one of your garden’s roses…and made more of the same. I loved you, koibito…loved you more than you will ever know. I am so sorry…you needed me and I failed you."

She stopped, tears stinging her eyelids. "There’s more – but I can’t read anymore! It’s too personal – and it hurts too much…I can feel his pain somehow…it’s like he’s still here, reading it for me."

Jadeite.

His sarcophagi was NOT empty.

They proceeded past the gate to the chamber inside the sarcophagi, which lead down the stairs beneath the coffin. Inside, he lay, not in the original sleep crystal he had been imprisoned in, but a simple crystal coffin that sparkled dimly in the glimmer of light.

"Crystallised…" whispered Venus in horror. "So this is the guy who tried to run you down with an aeroplane…"

Sailor Moon pulled a face, looking at the others. "Please, someone tell me we’re not about to do what I think we’re about to do."

"Oh, GODDAMN!" cried a familiar voice, and everyone turned in shock to face a much more material Nephrite – he was ALIVE…

"Nephrite, don’t get involved…leave Jupiter NOW," snapped a weary voice, and the ghostly Zoisite wavered back into existence. "It’s almost over, anyway. She’s having trouble keeping the rest of us in the crystal – she’s going to fail. It’s too late. Maybe he COULD have stopped her, but not now…the bloody youma have gone walkabout…she’s screwed up big time. And time is fucked when we are fucked – and she sure fucked us up."

"Which one?" asked Nephrite, and the Senshi practically fell over as a group when Nephrite stepped out of Jupiter, leaving her alone. "Beryl, Metallia, or our dear, sweet princess?"

Zoisite sighed – and the others wondered at this change. The pair no longer seemed to be at each other’s throats. They seemed to be…almost friends.

They looked at the pair oddly – and Venus spoke up first.

"Where is Kunzite – and who the hell is THAT?!" She was pointing up the stairs, to the strange sarcophagi. Zoisite gagged, and Nephrite shook his head. "She’s not important now – besides, at this rate, you’re gonna run into her sooner than you think."

"Kunzaito-sama…" whispered Zoisite, eyes dead. "She has him in her eternal balance. She will release him – soon, I figure. But we’re coming...our life forces have been pillaged from the land of the dead, and thus our trapped spirits, once held captive within the justice of Angelikarma, will return. We’re almost back now…the tearing of inter-dimensional time fabric means we could leave our facets, and try to stop the downward spiral – but it’s too late."

The hopelessness in his voice touched all the Senshi deeply – but most of all, Venus. "I still don’t understand…and why did you want me to awaken Jadeite?"

Nephrite gave Zoisite a look, and the young king sighed. "You couldn’t have done it, you know that, Nephrite. It would have killed you."

"And since when do you care?" asked Sailor Moon, blue eyes wide and confused. "Last time I saw Nephrite, he was dying because of you…"

Zoisite continued to watch Nephrite, and he did the same to him. Then Zoisite broke off their silent conversation and sighed. "There is much injustice in the realm of Angelikarma – at least, in our opinion. Angelikarma is a dimension above and beyond this one, ruled by the force of an immortal known as Breccia…"

"Breccia!" cried Venus in understanding. "That name was written on the plaque!"

Nephrite continued Zoisite’s words, apparently not worried by Venus’s words, though it sent Zoisite into deep thought. "There are facets, levels to the world of the dead…and by justice, Zoisite and I were forced to stay together. For eternity. As for the others…well, generally the youma are in the same place, but Kunzite…this is Phenakite’s problem. He’s stuck with her…and if there’s one person other than Zoisite that she doesn’t want awakened, it would be her."

"You mean that woman out there?"

"Oberon’s wayward daughter," sighed Nephrite, a curious emotion flickering into his eyes. He turned to Zoisite. "Let us go, supper is done, and we shall come too late."

"We are already too late."

He nodded sadly. "Time has lost its hold on us – and so has Angelikarma. She’s awakening."

"To be expected."

"And Kunzite’s ex…"

"I knew it would happen."

"Can you face him again? After…after all, you did say…"

"I’ll face ten thousand Queen Beryls and a million Metallias to see him again."

Sailor Mars turned to Sailor Jupiter. "Do you get the feeling that they know something we don’t?"

"And Jadeite?"

"I’ll let Kunzite deal with him. I can’t…not now. He’s still my…but I can’t…"

"Zoisite, you always were a coward."

"You could be right."

Sailor Moon looked flabbergasted. This was NOT the Zoisite she remembered. The real Zoisite would have killed Nephrite for such a comment, but…

"You’ve changed, you know that?" said Venus, looking at the pair, and then briefly at the trapped King.

"Not changed," said Nephrite softly. "Just…"

"Regressed," added Zoisite, an enigmatic look in his emerald eyes. "It is time."

"I wonder…the others…Leucite and…"

"Innocents," replied Zoisite, a sly smile on his face. He cast a hand through his hair – and the others were startled to realise that he wasn’t immaterial…he was real, alive…

Nephrite had lost the ethereal, angel-like glow, becoming the King once more, though the dark uniform was at odds with his light-hearted eyes. "Healing," he said quietly. "Laying old ghosts to rest."

Tears were dripping down Zoisite’s pale cheeks. "He’s…"

"Here."

The others turned in shock to face Kunzite, and he watched them emotionlessly, before his platinum eyes flickered to his lost student, pupil, lover.

They watched each other in silence, Zoisite weeping but standing tall, Kunzite with wide, wounded eyes.

"I’m so sorry," they whispered in perfect unison, and with a strangled cry, almost a sob, Zoisite flung himself across the room and into his arms.

Nephrite looked melancholy. "Where’s Morgan? And Phenakite, for that matter."

"Morgan is…near. As for the beloved royals…Phenakite knows she fucked up big time, and the die is cast and the bitch is back."

"Only one?"

"Two as one."

"Oh shit."

"Shit is right."

"They DO know something we don’t!" hissed Mars to Jupiter. The green Senshi shrugged, but she looked as worried as Mars felt. Luna’s eyes darkened with understanding as she listened to the two elder kings speak, Zoisite apparently comatose at his reunion with his lost love. Jadeite snorted.

"Oh FUCK!" cried Sailor Moon, darting behind Venus and Jupiter. "It’s that psycho…"

Jadeite regarded the empty crystal coffin thoughtfully – and everyone but Kunzite looked like they had no idea how he had gotten out without breaking it. "Nice job, Beryl. I must have made quite the centrepiece for your dining table." He turned to the three kings, a smile on his face. "Hey, Zoi-chan! I’ve missed you – it’s odd not having someone to tell me how stupid I am, how half-baked my ideas are. Death…it did you a lot of good, obviously. I hated having to watch, and never participate…but Beryl, she sure knew how to throw an execution, ne?"

Zoisite released his grip on Kunzite to throw his arms around the blonde king, and Jadeite laughed. Sailor Moon was flabbergasted – not only was Jadeite acting like he was glad to see everyone, he was a complete twinkle-toed happy boy – not the slightest bit like he used to be.

"Can I have Zoisite back now?" asked Kunzite, a strange smile on his face. "It’s good to see you, Jade. We missed your…amusing pranks."

"I bet you did," sniggered Jadeite, pushing Zoisite back into Kunzite’s open arms. "And I bet Nephrite missed my alcohol experiments, ne?"

"Konoyaro," laughed Nephrite. "Why did you go and get yourself frozen? I had to drink earth wine then…and it tasted foul!"

"Excuse me?" asked Sailor Moon. "Since when are you guys friends?"

"Since always," said Jadeite, and snorted as he looked at Zoisite and Nephrite. "Well, not all of us…but death really alters your perspective."

"I doubt it did much for Morgan." Nephrite looked at Kunzite for confirmation, and the silver-haired king sighed restlessly, arms tightening around Zoisite. "Or those two demented rulers."

"Morgan…she’s gotten…"

"TETCHY!" shrieked Jadeite, falling into hysterics at some unknown joke. Kunzite winced, and Zoisite moved restlessly against his chest.

"You say that to her, Jadeite, and I guarantee she’ll shoot you. Her temper is even worse than your brother’s," muttered Kunzite. Jadeite shut up.

"Where is she, anyway? If this is a little reunion…" Nephrite looked uneasy.

Kunzite looked worse. "I’m not entirely sure. She wandered…"

As one, the four Kings stilled, and looked towards the altar.

"She calls – and we dare not disobey," whispered Zoisite, and he choked back a sob. "We must go."

To the shock of the Senshi, the four vanished. Before them stood a lone figure, eyes dark, as dark as the crystal she held in one hand.

"Time for you to leave," hissed Phenakite, a malicious glint in her eyes. "Time for you to go home."

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