1177/10 D-Point: Don't Forget

10 D-Point: Don't Forget
Date of Scene:	08 March 2016
Location:	D-Point
Synopsis:	Some of the Senshi and Shitennou find each other in the middle of all the horror and fiercely create a moment of hope to keep going on.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Makoto Kino, Usagi Tsukino, Zoisite, Nephrite
Tinyplot:	D-Point

---

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The magical blizzard that set off the chaotic world of multiple dimensions, with false entrances to the Dark Kingdom everywhere and aboveground wrongness splitting people off into pockets and spitting them out, quite effectively separated most of the group in the first place -- and once it started, the confusion just continued.

Tuxedo Kamen has several advantages no one else currently trying to make their way into the heart of the Dark Kingdom does. The first of these is that the rock that forms the tunnels responds to him, settles itself when he's around, becomes more real and more static. This is still true, even though it was observed by Zoisite when Endymion was still corrupted by dark energy.

The second of these is that he shares a link, a bond, with Sailor Moon-- they'll always find each other, always.

The third of these is his Shitennou, minds finally freed from the lies, who have walked these horrible halls before and know their tricks, their traps-- and though he hasn't seen any but the ghost he carries with him, he can feel them too, can locate them, can follow the links he has with them, can get their attention. Can call for their help.

Teleporting here, of all places, is a dangerous thing for someone who's using innate, uncorrupted power to do so. The Dark Kingdom itself is a dimension not quite part of Earth any longer, and the non-space that keeps it separate is filled with millions of screaming ghosts, hungry like the ones in the Dusk Zone-- possibly it's even surrounded by that realm, itself. Not worth experimenting to find out. At least not after the first attempt.

So the Shitennou look for their Prince, the Prince looks for them and his Princess, and the Princess and the Senshi of Courage look for the Prince and really actually anyone else.

It'll be the girls who get to the murky crossroads first, lit by phosphorescent half-organic half-stone walls. It will probably be the Shitennou next, because Tuxedo Kamen is walking a little slow due to texting.

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Man, this place is so creepy." Sailor Jupiter frowns at the intersection of tunnels that they've reached, peering off as far as she can see down the other branches. At least they're out of the freezing-cold wind; small blessings.

Whatever route Makoto took on her way back to the others was not without danger; she's a little bit scuffed up, with smudges across the knuckles of her gloves and a tear in the collar of her fuku where something got in a lucky shot. But she's here, as staunch and sturdy as ever, standing between Sailor Moon and whatever might come out of the phosphor-cast shadows farther down the tunnel as she looks toward her teammate with brows lifting questioningly. "Which way?" she asks, relying on Usagi's inner sense for Mamoru to point their direction from here.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"This way! It feels more cuddly down here!" She grabs the taller girl by the hand and starts running.

Sailor Moon isn't, of course, talking about the physical feel of the place. It actually feels like a bunch of icky gross sad dark cooties trying to choke her with every step.

She's talking about Mamoru, and Jupiter should know.

It's probably an interesting twist. For once, Moon is dragging Jupiter by the hand, eager to reunite with more people. And hopefully this time, she won't get separated when she blinks for too long.

Finally, reaching an intersection, she pauses to lean against her knees and heavily pants. She waves a hand down his general direction.

"You know what, screw it, he can meet us the rest of the way. Stupid boys and their texting or whatever he's doing, the jerk. Ohhhh, I have a stitch in my side."

Zoisite has posed:
Zoisite is not precisely at ease in these halls. Never still, always looking over one shoulder or the other; when the ambient light is enough that another source won't be an all-too-literal dead giveaway, he's constantly summoning small fires, toying with them, putting them away only to call up another one a few seconds later. He doesn't stay so close to Nephrite as to get in his older comrade's way during the inevitable ambushes -- but as the corruption of the place grows worse, as they work their way slowly toward its center, he pushes that envelope a little more at a time.

He's certainly not afraid of the youma they've encountered; there are piles of dust that are still smoldering. He might be worried about being separated /again/.

That was a voice ahead. He tilts his head up to Nephrite in silent query, the glitter of his eyes cleaner for a moment than the light from the part-living walls. That might be the clearest sign of all: that he's looking to Nephrite for direction. On his own. And not complaining about it.

Nephrite has posed:
Nephrite kicks a rock as he walks, sending it cracking against the wall of the tunnel before spinning away. Would that he could send the whole darned place flying with a single swift, satisfying kick like that. He hated this place when he was evil, built an entire sub-dimension just to have a place to go that wasn't here. Now he is not evil, and the skin-crawling distaste for it has been cranked up to 11. His teeth are on edge. He hasn't punched nearly enough things yet to feel satisfied.

Zoisite's little fires don't bother him. The clean, pure light is a welcome distraction from the oily not-light that paints everything a sickly color. Would that he could see the stars down here. Or do anything helpful besides kicking rocks.

He is just about to kick another, in fact, when Zoisite gives him that look--and he hears it too. There is a crossroad of some sort ahead. Well, it's not like a youma to give itself away vocally before the attack, but there are certainly any number of dangers that sound could pose. Nephrite pauses, a hand on Zoisite's shoulder, and his shadow slides away from him. It takes its default form, a brunette in a red dress, and slinks noiselessly down the hall to investigate.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
    Mamoru TXT Jadeite: yo im still ok & so are the others but like idk all this shit is changing and dont teleport ok? ill find u

    Mamoru TXT Jadeite: yell for help in my head if theres monsters

Mamoru TXT Jadeite: or like, text, w/e

And then he hears voices up ahead, too, and moreover, they belong to people that match the feelings he's been tracking. He says to the thin air beside him, in a voice that's trying to sound deadpan but is slightly too shaky to pull it off, "Good things can still happen, see?"

And then he comes up to the mouth of the tunnel he's in, seeing Moon with Jupiter up ahead, and some of the tension immediately bleeds from his shoulders. His gloves are gone, but the weird oily light will in fact show the blood on his white waistcoat and shirt-- smears of it, spatters of it; the patterns don't match for it being his own. It's dry, too.

He's tired and doesn't want to say the things he has to say, so he waits for the impacts instead.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Jupiter probably should have expected that Sailor Moon would run ahead, but she didn't, and she's momentarily wide-eyed and scrambling to keep up when Usagi starts towing her along. Fortunately she's got long legs. "Hey!" she protests, "don't just--"

She doesn't finish the sentence. There doesn't seem to be a point. When they've stopped again she takes a quick look around them before leaning to give Usagi an encouraging pat on the back. "It's not a bad idea to take a rest," Mako agrees.

She stays on her feet, though, keeping an eye out on what's going on around them.

It's Mamoru she sees first, dismay sweeping over her face as she takes in the sight of the state he's in. Immediately Jupiter is looking past him, searching for anyone with him - that there's nobody makes the dismay deepen to a chill of alarm.

Sweeping another wary look around, she catches sight of the indistinct, unfamiliar shape of Nephrite's shadow. In the next instant Sailor Jupiter is fully on guard, sparks flaring across her fingers as she turns toward that female figure. "Who's there?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
She has to take a moment after seeing Mamoru. So she gulps, and she pauses long enough for Jupiter's attention to be drawn elsewhere.

There's a moment of hesitation in Sailor Moon as she debates what to do.

In the end, is it any surprise she dashes again to launch herself at Mamoru? After all, he feels like he really needs a hug, and she's all too happy to oblige.

He's not held captive by limbs for long, however. She slides down, and her fingers flutter over his shirt before she gulps.

She takes his hand, and she doesn't think she can be blamed for how tight she holds on, before tugging. "Come on."

She can still see Jupiter, so fortunately she hasn't blinked too long yet.

Zoisite has posed:
The touch on Zoisite's shoulder is enough of a signal; he halts, one hand curled and lifted nearly to his mouth, the other -- on the side away from Nephrite -- held out and apart, at an angle so that if he did call fire, his body would shade Nephrite's eyes from the first bright flare. It's not usual that he's the last to know what's going on. It's not a situation he likes. But none of this is.

Nephrite has posed:
The brunette in red starts forward. "Jupiter! I..." she pauses at Jupiter's combative stance, staring at her blankly for a moment before a peal of laughter escapes her lips. But the high alto laugh quickly turns to a deep baritone, as the woman turns to shadow and then vanishes.

Down the hall, Nephrite is grinning as he squeezes Zoisite's shoulder reassuringly. "Found them," he says, and leads the way to step into his shadow's place. "Sorry for scaring you. I knew you'd make it okay," he tells Jupiter, a soft smile playing at his lips.

He catches sight of Tuxedo Kamen--and the blood. His brow crinkles and his eyes darken but he doesn't want to ask. "Let's not do that again," he says instead.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
His phone's already in his pocket, and the hug that Usagi slams into him with is welcomed and returned, tight and desperate. He curls around her a little bit. There really aren't any words, but he doesn't need them, not for this.

She takes his hand and pulls, and he walks along behind her and tries to sound businesslike, but his voice cracks and he has to start over. "No, wait fo--"

"Wait for them."

But there they are, as Nephrite's shadow flickers and vanishes and the tall brown-haired boy leads Zoisite into the tunnel intersection. He looks at them, and he doesn't smile, he can't even fake it right now. But his other hand reaches out toward them. "Haven't been trying to," he says in a low voice. "Jadeite's somewhere, not awfully far but there are no clear paths to him at the moment. Don't know where the other girls are. Don't know where anyone else is."

He looks at Makoto, and that's when his chin crumples. "I have to tell Ami and I don't want to. God damned Agera. He saved my life. Right before Homu-chan and Madoka-chan bought us the time to get away from those lunatics outside. And I-- I just found--"

His voice cracks again, and he shuts his eyes and rallies. "Sky Jack and I got separated again," he says in a slightly calmer voice. "But we just found Prism Keeper Yellow and a girl who hasn't got a name anymore. I'm sorry. I know you don't-- want to-- but however many of us make it have to remember."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Jupiter startles visibly at the shadow-woman's reaction to her, a bit wild-eyed - but startlement soon gives way to an almost giddy rush of relief. As soon as Nephrite and Zoisite come into view she starts to rush toward them, checked only by Mamoru's words of caution reminding her to look back and make sure that Sailor Moon is with him and that they're both still well within line of sight.

"Neat trick," she tells Nephrite as he comes toward her, a breath of almost-laughter escaping her. "I am so glad to see you--"

She's beginning to reach, to reassure herself with touch... but then Mamoru begins to explain, and Makoto's face falls, her heart breaking a little as she looks toward him. Without even thinking she catches hold of Nephrite's arm as though to pull him along with her, probably needlessly, moving toward Mamoru and Usagi until she can wrap her arms around both of them and hug close.

"We will," she promises softly. "We'll remember. I'm so sorry, niisan." Oh, Mamoru. Oh, Ami. Oh, oh all those brave, brave heroes.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Her breath catches, hard in her throat as Mamoru speaks. Agera? Yellow? Nameless Girl? Others, she's sure.

"No, I need to know. I--" She needs to have names for the faces that will haunt her dreams if she's luckier than they were.

Mercury says this was her plan. Mercury blames herself for everything that's gone wrong. Usagi knows where the blame truly lies, and she'll hate herself for it when they're back in their beds and the others aren't.

She clings tight to Mamoru and Jupiter, and even the two best huggers in the world isn't enough.

"I won't forget them."

Zoisite has posed:
"-- of course you would," Zoisite answers with a brief roll of his eyes. Just enough to confirm that it's still actually him. He moves his hand to clasp at Nephrite's briefly, and follows, keeping an eye out behind them; because with that grin on Nephrite's face, Zoisite prefers to take precautions in case of momentary distraction. And ... maybe not make a point of it out loud. This time.

The moment he sees Tuxedo Kamen, even he's glad he refrained.

Names. All the names are just names to Zoisite. And everything about this place is trying to tell him that they never need to be anything more than that, that all he needs to do is change his mind back again and he'll never need to worry about any of this.

He hangs back just enough to be sure Jupiter has Nephrite free and clear; then moves in after, his back to the group, and gets a hand on Mamoru's arm. Only one. Because one of them needs to be watching, even now.

Nephrite has posed:
Nephrite puts a hand on Mamoru's shoulder. He doesn't know them. Any of them. But their loss is important. "I'm sorry. What they gave--we'll make sure it means something. We won't waste this."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Usagi has his hand, and then Makoto is hugging them both-- and then Zoisite's hand on his arm, and Nephrite's hand on his shoulder, and Kunzite silently lending that support he'll never stop--

Mushed into the hug, there's a mumbled set of syllables that could be 'I know', or could be 'thank you', or could be '**** this'. All of them are appropriate. None of them is really attached to a specific thought.

Mamoru takes the support offered, all of it; he shares it with Usagi; he shares it with Makoto and his brothers. It builds into strength again, just that long moment, and he breathes. And in the middle of this awful place, with Usagi at the heart of them, that strength is reassurance and determination.

Pushing back against the darkness, there is--

There is hope. A reminder. The feeling of what should be, not the shouldn't be that surrounds them.

Finally, Mamoru pulls in a breath and lets it out in a shaky laugh, shoving images from his head and compartmentalizing grief and helplessness, making room for that flickering hope and pushing it to grow. "Miracles. We'll remember, but let's not forget miracles either. We're on a roll, right? We have to get there. I know-- I know so many of them are, are hoping for payback. Want to give that-- want to punch her face in. Want to destroy all of this and save the world. But you're right-- we won't waste this. Any of this. We'll make sure they get their payback, make sure we help them protect this world we all love."

Quieter, one arm around Usagi and enveloped in Mako's hug; head leaned against Nephrite's hand, his own other hand, bloodied and dried, coming up to close over Zoisite's on his arm. "All of you are miracles. It's our business. All we have to do is keep believing while we fight. Don't forget, and don't let me."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Right," Sailor Jupiter agrees, after taking in a long and steadying breath of her own. She's in no hurry to let go of Mamoru and Usagi, not as long as they seem like they might still want the support, but she lifts her head to look at both of them, at Nephrite, at Zoisite. Though sorrow and regret still shadow her eyes, her expression is set with determination and conviction.

"It hurts," she says, "but we're still in this together. All of us. We won't be beaten."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Right. Breathe it in, hide it away. Breathe it in, accept borrowed strength. Breathe it in, cling onto that ever present kernel of hope.

Y'know how on tv, you see race car drivers and they're all by themselves in the car, being all amazing.. but they have a whole crew who keeps the car running, and makes it all go. That. That's me.

protect this world we all love

"We have something she doesn't have, anyway." A sniffle. A wiping of her eyes. "We have the Naru-chans of the world on our side. What good is a race car driver without her pit crew?"

Wait. That makes no sense.

Zoisite has posed:
Miracles? "Well, we knew that," says Mamoru's pet narcissist, with an indignant little hmph following after. But even facing away, even watching the darkness for signs of some monster or magic being sent against them ... his eyes slide for a moment sidelong toward Nephrite and Jupiter. Maybe he's thinking of the ones past them, toward Usagi and Mamoru at the core of the group. Maybe not.

And the Naru-chans of the world ... "Ugh. I had to crawl out of the inside of an iceberg for that girl, thank you. Let's not waste that, either."

It's not mockery, not really; it's much like Nephrite's kicking rocks. Helping push back against the dark with something familiar, trying to help the ones who hurt most get moving again. Even if the form that getting moving takes might involve someone punching him. It's not like it'd be the first time for anyone here.

Nephrite has posed:
All this undirected sadness and hurt is too much for Nephrite. He wraps his arms around Mamoru, Makoto, and Usagi and pulls all three into a crushing hug. Zoisite is spared only by virtue of standing apart from them, but Nephrite puts a hand on his arm just so he doesn't feel left out.

Miracles. Like being handed a new life after living for so long in a place like this. Like being an offered a second chance with someone who makes the sky light up. Like planets aligning. Like rose petals in chocolate. Yes, he believes in miracles now. The evidence is just too overwhelming.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
While Endymion's Earth-blue eyes might be too-bright behind his mask when he meets Sailor Jupiter's, it's not just from endless sorrow-- the empath is getting all this reflected and refreshed and rejuvenated hope back from them all, and it's a feedback loop. Their losses have been heavy, will be heavier still, but

we won't be beaten.

"All of us. We're carrying them with us through to the end," he agrees, voice getting fierce, bright.

Nephrite's crushing them into a hug even as Usagi brings up the best non-sequitur in the world and Zoisite follows it up with narcissism and grump, and finally, Mamoru laughs, and it's bright, too, echoing in dark halls. He lets go the hand clasping Zoisite's to his arm, but it's only to grab hold of the littlest Shitennou's jacket and pull him in with the rest of them insistently.

"Get over here, you insufferable flower-cat, Kunzite is watching our backs, you can stop for a second," he says, tone catching with affection and the kind of hitched breathlessness that comes from emotional rollercoasters and the highs in the middle of the darkest realizations. Cherished instants; they, too, will be carried through to the end.

Then he has to wonder for a second if his breath isn't hitching because Nephrite kind of hugs like a grizzly.

Makoto Kino has posed:
It's good. That's all that Makoto can really think right now, as Nephrite's arms close tight around her and Mamoru and Usagi all, turning them into one big knot of warmth and support and hope. Outside this circle there is loss, there is evil, there is bitter freezing cold, but--

"We're here," Jupiter says, a breathless little murmur. She leans her head into Nephrite's shoulder and shifts herself just a little to make sure that although Usagi's feet might possibly no longer be making contact with the ground, the smaller girl isn't at risk of being squashed at the center of all this love.

Jupiter manages to curl her fingers into Zoisite's sleeve when Mamoru pulls him in to join them, tugs a little in silent agreement: yes, you too. For a just little while, she closes her eyes and soaks it all in. Even the simple fact that they're here together feels like a miracle, however small, and where there is one, there can be more.

"We're here."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Oh goodness, this is a lot of hugs. She squeaks but doesn't resist the additions or the shifts. She welcomes it all.

She's warm and happy (well, in this moment, which is important here) surrounded by members of both sides of her family.

Sailor Moon giggles and wiggles further into the hugging arms. "Miracles. Hope. Friends." Her heart warms, and she opens her eyes and catches Zoisite's brilliant green ones. "And this time, we have you guys."

There's no blame for past allegiances. There's just the joy of being more whole than they had been the last time they faced Beryl.

Zoisite has posed:
Tuxedo Kamen has his jacket and Nephrite has his arm, and Zoisite's yelp of "Flowercat?" may be protesting, but he's dragged all the same. Not that he's actually resisting that part. He leans his head all the way over and shoves the side of it against Nephrite's hand in a way that puts the evidence on Mamoru's side, too.

Miracles he's skeptical about. But putting it a different way, putting the past behind them, burning it, starting again ... that he can understand. And that's what's in Moon's brighter eyes when she looks at him, in the words she's speaking. He closes his own eyes for a moment, not quite able to look back; but he's wrapping his own arms around the group anyway even as he does that, vastly less impressive an addition thaN Nephrite's. And --

"Jupiter? ... you were right."

Admission made without context. And now he can look back at Moon, and wink.

Nephrite has posed:
Nephrite releases them all from the bone-crushing hug--or rather, loosens his grasp enough that they are free to breathe again. "We probably shouldn't stay here long, but--this is important. To remember what we've got here. The five of us here probably shouldn't even be possible, but here we are. So whatever happens, let's remember that, alright?"

His red-brown eyes are lit up, drawing on all of their strength as much as they are. "So--time to take a wrecking ball to this ugly place, right? Let's get it done."