The information Ami got from Eternity Main listed the locations of the Earthside gates of the remaining cardinal palaces-- and given the fact that by now the Dark Kingdom knows there are things the Senshi want, and the fact that Zoisite showed up at his and was able to manipulate it, bringing friends this time seemed like it would be a good idea.
Fortunately for everyone involved, the boy that this place answers to is on their side-- but that doesn't mean another General couldn't show up to try and prevent them from taking home the prize.
So: it's a group that shows up to the place on the map. While Zoisite's palace had been shunted out of this dimension deep beneath Paris, connected to the extensive mine labyrinth and catacombs there, Jadeite's is right in Tokyo.
There's an abandoned and legally condemned building on the spot, and the records for the property itself stretch back a very, very long time. It's currently an asset belonging to a family with a missing heir and no other living members, held in trust by a non-profit organization with no accessible contacts.
The property is large, but -- for some reason -- has not been noticed or fought for by developers. It's quiet, tucked in a triangle between a park, a major thoroughfare, and an office complex; it's ringed by ancient trees and a low stone wall.
The house itself is unlocked, but there's no evidence of vandalism, only decay; the drive to its side is a long gravel thing, and by the looks of it, no car's driven on it in anything resembling recent memory. The inside of the house is dusty and warm, despite the winter and broken windows and the lack of electricity or running water. All of the rooms are empty, all of the doors open, and sunlight comes through the windows and cracks in the wall, illuminating the motes of dust stirred up by the passage of the guests.
The basement door is through the kitchen, and it's a wide and very, very dark stairwell; the stairs go on and on and on, a good half hour's descent.
The door at the bottom is wooden and wreathed in roots, and sunshine blazes through the boards and around the edges and at the bottom of it. There's a beautifully fresh scent.
Sailor Moon wonders, really, why Jadeite's palace is easier to find and access than Zoisite's was.
Then she remembers: Oh yeah, Zoisite, troll of the year.
Fortunately her phone didn't break when she hurled it yesterday. Otherwise she'd be short a lot of cute cat pics. (Hey, gotta bury the incriminating magical girl messages somehow, right?)
But of course, that's a different topic altogether.
Right now, she is eyeballing that very,very dark stair case and strategically hiding behind Jupiter.
"I don't suppose someone brought a flashlight...?"
There are two things she's learned from horror moves.
1) Don't watch horror movies if you want sleep in the next month
2) Don't go down very, very dark stairwells.
2a) Especially not ones leading to what may or may not be a basement.
Minako Aino/Sailor V throws a bunch of little crescent beams down into the darkness. "For today, I'll be your flashlight!" she announces.
It's not a very good long-term plan.
Platinum Royale steps forward, brandishing his scepter. It suddenly glows with a soft, golden light - it's not oppressively bright to look at, and yet, somehow, it lights a good patch in front of them. "I think this is better than... that." he says as a crescent beam goes by a little too close.
For the time being he's close to Sailor Moon, too - if this was all the other way around, he figures he'd want Mamoru to be close in order to cover for Amu, after all. "This all isn't creepy or anything." comes a voice from within Platinum Royale - Kiseki's.
Sailor Jupiter walks up-front, one arm spread slightly out from her side to maximize Sailor Moon's ability to hide behind her. When Platinum Royale steps forward with the scepter to help light their way, she turns a lopsided smile sidelong towards him. "Thanks," she says. "That's probably less dangerous for anything important that might be up ahead of us, too."
Down, down, down. "Geez, how deep does this even go?" she wonders, moments before the sunlight that glows around the edges of that door begins to come into sight through the darkness below.
Asclepius is here. He raises his staff and a light shines to life in the mouth of the snake along the staff. It bathes everywhere in a purple light. This probably doesn't help the creepy factor. It does let things be seen.
When Tadase lights his much better light, he lowers his staff and the light fades out.
"I don't think there's anyone else here right now." he says. He turns around. It is super creepy in here- but it just feels creepy in that lonely sense. It's kind of sad to him really.
There's not even any graffiti or anything. Just...
Decay.
Sailor Mars goes straight to the kitchen and opens the basement door, looking down into the darkness below. She reaches up behind Usagi and flicks the back of her head. "Moon-chan, don't be a scaredey-cat!"
Mars snickers at the crescent beam, and then holds out her hand palm up. She produces a small flame, adding its light's to that of Tadase's scepter. "This should help a bit, I think."
Rei holds the door open as the others enter, following after the others, holding the flame in her hands.
The door at the bottom of the stairs, which Mars holds open-- everyone can see the carvings around it, with all the light provided. But when Rei's hand settles on it to push, it feels like a living thing to her psychic senses, to her spiritual senses. Much like in Paris, there's magic there, and it feels like Mamoru's. It feels like the Earth's energy, golden and regenerative, full of life.
Beyond the door is stillness and peace, summertime and cool shade, the sun dappling the mossy ground and the crumbling steps ahead of them. Thankfully, there aren't nearly as many as there are leading to the Hikawa Jinja, but this place is as sacred, as blessed. An arch sits at the top, and komainu sit to either side of it, watching the group with a fair amount of amusement and, at least for one of them, vague disapproval.
One of them shifts, stretching like a cat, shaking moss and lichen off herself. "Well then," she says as her crankier counterpart belatedly starts stretching, then turns around and sits down with his back to them. "You took your time. Where are the rest of you?"
"Well *he's* here, he came in the other side," drifts the cranky one's voice, rudely disinterested.
Sailor Moon squawks at Mars from the safety of Jupiter's awesomeness! (The tall girl gets it!)
"Mars! It's scary movie 101! Don't go down a dark stair case!"
She giggles a bit at Venus' beams, feels much better with Tadase's light, and Rei's fire gives her the courage to go down the stairs. Behind Jupiter, that is!
When she steps past the doors, her muscles relax with the warmth of winter. "Ohhhh..."
She looks around, and the scenery is enough to take her mind off the bajillionty steps!
She gasps when they're spoken to. "Kitty!" Well, sort of!
Then she blinks a bunch. For one thing, Luna is trying very hard to make herself almost nonexistant on her shoulder. For another, they were expected?
"Um, sorry...we would have been here sooner and--" She tilts her head. "One of us is recovering from a bit of...she's not here due to unavoidable circumstances."
Platinum Royale looks around, his dark pink eyes taking in every inch of this place like one might admire a painting. "Well, if this isn't the place, it's certainly a place." he says, as the light means he no longer has to provide his own. He stays near Usagi still though, resisting his urge to go look around. Then the creature stirs.
And Usagi screeches out 'kitty' and Tadase doesn't know if he should be embarassed for her or for Mamoru. Instead, though, he just decides to treat her like Yaya. "No petting the shrine guards." he admonishes.
Tadase nods to Sailor Moon. "We did come here as fast as was feasible." he says.
Some time after the creatures at the arch start moving, Jadeite makes an appearance, stepping up into view from, as promised, 'the other side'.
He doesn't look like he fits in this place at all. He seems sleep-rumpled and too-soft even for the general softness of the moss-covered area, one hand lifting to smear over the side of his face and up into his hair. It's a state of disarray likely none of them have seen from the orderly-minded General, excepting maybe Usagi. He's barefoot, wearing a pair of dark, soft sweatpants and what legitimately seems to be a crop top shirt, a black one that has a triangle on it with a cosmos pattern and the English text 'Bastille'. "Ngh."
He ends up standing between the creatures as if he isn't really aware they're there, peering at the Senshi. He murmurs like he thinks he's speaking to hismelf. "Oh. This is a *mess*."
First, his clothing changes, what's probably PJs in one instant and suddenly his uniform, the *new* one with the cape, in the next. Then Jadeite closes his eyes, eyebrows furrowing as he seems to concentrate. Slowly, starting where he seems to be standing, the world seems to right itself, crumbling stones in the footpath becoming whole and reorienting to their proper pattern, moss and lichen fading away, overgrown plants shrinking back to a neat trim. The orderliness radiates outwards from Jadeite, gently but inexorably correcting the landscape.
Minako Aino/Sailor V doesn't think much of weird talking creatures anymore. She just shrugs it right off and starts chatting like it's a normal part of her week now (it is).
"The rest of us? A short vacation or somethin'. Either way, there are way more than enough of us here to do what we need to," she comments, looking around with vague disapproval at the place.
Untrusting. On guard. "Since you were expecting us, do us a solid and help us get what we want?" she says, just giving Jadeite a brief glance and assuming this is a normal, non-suspicious Shittenou thing to be doing in places like this one.
Asclepius follows along and--- huh.
This place makes him scratch the back of his head a bit as he grips his staff with his other hand as he looks over to one of the creatures. "Our apologies. We've arrived as soon as we could." he says as politely cheerfully as he can- his usual tone of voice at least.
He looks up at Jadeite. When he sees.. Zoisite. Kunzite. Something seems very wrong. It makes his skin crawl. Right now, looking at Jadeite though-- things feel. Very /right/ for a change. Like he can fit this perfectly into some impression in the back of his head-- and not feeling like he's forcing to make something fit like the others. The look, the uniform- it /fits/.
It makes him smile, even! "It's nice to see you." is all he says politely.
He looks back to Sailor V and Sailor Moon. "Right. It's best if we move quickly, I think. There's still a potential danger. Isn't there?" he asks.
"Ah--!" It's a tiny sound that escapes Sailor Jupiter as she steps through the door and gets a look at what lies on the other side, a soft, sharply-exhaled breath of surprise and admiration. The place may be a mess, but even so, it feels peaceful and glowing with life.
Jadeite's arrival has her blinking a little in surprise, as much at his rumpled appearance as anything. As she raises her hand, opening her mouth to greet him, though - he changes, and then the landscape begins to change, and Jupiter closes her mouth again and watches with a certain sense of wonder as the ruins of this place are renewed.
At Asceplius's words, she shakes it off enough to look over at him. "Maybe," she answers. "There was a test, the last time." Her gaze slides toward the pair of komainu, brows lifting in unspoken curiosity, waiting to hear what they have to say.
Mars watches the komainu as they come to life. "The rest of us?" She assumes Mercury, and possibly some of the Shitennou? Her response is a near-repeat of Moon's. "They... couldn't make it today." She knows that Mercury is home sick, thanks to Kunzite, so that leaves her out of it.
She sticks her tongue out at Usagi, saying, "We're Sailor Senshi! Monsters should be looking out for us, not the other way around!"
She dismisses her fire, and looks over at Jadeite, waving cheerfully, and giggling at his general state of disarray. When he seems to radiate orderliness, Rei touches her lips. Huh. He can do that here? Well it almost makes sense... in a way.
She nods to Jupiter, saying, "Yeah... there was. I wonder if this time it'll be the same?"
"My Lord Jadeite," the female shrine guardian says with way more respect than one might imagine gets flung at sleep-fuzzy teenagers in pajamas; she does a funny lion-dog bow, then eyes her co-guard across the way and jumps across the gap in front of Jadeite to tackle the other komainu off his perch and bite him. "Behave properly!" she yells.
"Ugh. You just want to let everyone in all the time. Why should I?" the male grumps, not even objecting to being pinned. He halfheartedly bites back, then stares up at Jadeite, and at the cleaning-itself-up-ness of the palace. "...oh."
After a second's scuffling, the girl lion-dog is rumbling and butting her head against Jadeite's leg, and the boy descends the stairs to start sniffing at the heroes. "We are here to help you get what you're looking for, yes. But how badly do you want it, how much do you care?"
Then the girl says in a voice made slightly ridiculous by purr-warble, "Who would you step on to get it? If someone had to come to harm for you to get it, would you let it be and find some other thing or some other way? Or would you go after it anyway? Would you kill for it?"
The boy sits on his haunches and starts grooming his paw, enormously fluffy tail sweeping the now-clean stone path. "You will find your test inside, people of the White Moon, my Lord Jadeite. There is no way to cheat. You may take your time. We will warn you if there is an intrusion."
Sailor Moon has a death glare for Tadase. Its the same that has had other people cower. But then again, she's been easily made cranky lately.
And then her focuse shifts again to Jadeite, and he changes clothes and the grounds become prettier and she gasps!
She seriously considers the girl kitty's words before she responds. "Who? Hmmm. Myself." It's an easy answer!
And ug, she forgot about tests! She holds her want in a tight grip, narrowing her eyes slightly.
The deathglare is Super Effective. Because now she looks a lot more like Amu. He actively shirks away for a moment, ruffles and all. And then he looks at Jadeite, and untenses. Was that a henshin? No. No. It was, but it was also something different, something more. The area around them changes, and he becomes a little bit more at ease.
He does NOT like some of the questions the creatures ask, and his eyes narrow a bit, but he doesn't /say/ much of anything.
Sailor Jupiter's eyes follow the guardians, a shadow of uncertainty and worry coming over her face as she listens to what they ask. That shadow doesn't leave her expression as she hears Sailor Moon's response and looks over toward the the twintailed blonde senshi.
"...I don't think that's quite what they're asking," she says, not very loudly. "But I guess we'll find out more inside."
Eventually, the palace is restored to its proper order, and Jadeite opens his eyes again. By now, he seems more focused and awake than he did when he arrived. Even his hair has rearranged to seem more *in its place*. Asclepius' greeting gets a smile and a small inclination of his head.
The *lion-dog*, at least the female currently butting her head against his hip, is rewarded with a hand placed gently on her skull, between her ears. Jadeite gives a few moments' affection and scritches before he speaks, voice low and melodious. It seems to flow outwards, *everywhere*, like water. "Be as kind to them as you can. It is important that they succeed."
Granted, he isn't expecting his word to have much influence on the testing itself, but he can make an effort, at least. He seems to be waiting for the group to pass inside before he follows.
Minako Aino/Sailor V sings out, "Suicide pact! More tests! Urrg!" before marching onward.
"I hope all of these places aren't filled with weird dog things and weirder questions," she says, mostly in complaint. She marches onward, exhausted, leading the way.
"But at least it's bright and daylike here, unlike the stairs. Much nicer when you're able to see everything. JADEITE! Why do you guard your important stuff with tests anyway?"
Rei looks at the two lion-dogs and frowns. This is all sounding awfully familiar to something that she just did recently. Of course, then she was a miko and not a senshi. "Who would we step on?" What an odd way to phrase things. "We do need it. The world needs us to have it. This isn't an optional thing."
The test is inside? There's no way to cheat? Fine by her. She storms inside. She wants to see this test and what it's about! No point in wasting time. She's a busy woman! She has a world to save!
Asclepius follows along, smiling just a bit as he follows along. Indeed, this is a nice feeling place.
He eyes Sailor Venus. "Where's the fun in just taking something?" he says almost sarcastically. "I'm usre we're ready for this test."
Then Mars storms inside and he follows behind that particular firestorm.
"Of course we'll be kind, my lord," the female lion-dog says to Jadeite, mildly scandalized. She pushes her head into his hand one more time, then daintily picks her way in after the crew, but before the Knight. "Kind of annoyed," supplies the male, giving Usagi a thoroughly unimpressed look. He headbutts her hip. "You can't sacrifice yourself, your Highness, because then no one could use the Ginzuishou and the world would end. Don't be dumb."
The top of the steps opens into a bright, clean, neat courtyard. There's a little mini-shrine off to one side with a cat curled up in it, dozing contentedly; birds nest sleepily and small forest creatures skitter around, picking up seeds and nuts and stuffing them in their faces before scampering off. The wind lazily rustles the trees, and the place is warm and clean and serene.
At the other end of the courtyard is a simple entrance with pleasing symmetry; the building beyond it looks rather like a monastery, built to last, with an ancient feel to it-- large, white with natural wood and painted-red trim, beautiful and peaceful. It feels like a dream.
Just inside the entrance, a very pretty brown-and-white rabbit sits, holding a ruby red quarter of a circle.
It eats it.
It hops inside, into the shade.
A multitude of brown-and-white bunnies proceed to start poking their heads out from wherever a bunny can hide, filling the open windows, lining up in the wood-and-paper sliding doors, peering out from underneath the raised wooden patio, peeking from under the eaves.
They all stare at the gathered heroes, noses twitching and ears flicking, and then some of them start to roll around and play with each other, doing cute bunny things.
"I'm pretty sure it's not his fault," Sailor Jupiter observes as she moves along in Mars's wake. "Didn't the Queen say that she was the one who hid the things? It'd be bad if just anyone could walk in and get it."
She takes a small amount of reassurance from that thought. Surely the Queen wouldn't set them a test they couldn't pass... right?
Jupiter holds onto this hopeful thought as they come to the top of the steps and cross the tranquility of the courtyard, right up until the red quarter-circle disappears into the rabbit's mouth and the multitude of bunnies begin popping up all over the place. Then she just stops, stupefied, staring.
"Really?"
Minako Aino/Sailor V points and tries to draw attention to the chompy bunny. "Hey. Hey. Don't let the rabbit get away!" she says, a little panicky.
"Keep an eye on that rabbit over there? That one. The one eating the thingy! Don't lose it, don't lose it! Or this will get... unpleasant," she warns.
The cranky lion-dog gets a Death Glare of his own. Why do people assume she means other things than what she said?
She grumbles as she follows Mars before coming to a dead stop.
No please bunny don't ea--
Sailor Moon turns toward the others with a horrified expression on her face. "But...what?"
She turns to Jadeite, as though he himself is responsible. "They want us to...but they're bunnies!!"
Is this because of what she said?!
"I cried for a week when Papa ran over that lizard! And the lizard wasn't a bunny!"
"Because you would be more angry if it'd just been given away a thousand years ago." Jadeite says reasonably, falling into step behind the entire circus procession, lion-dogs included. He seems very subdued in this place, peaceful and unhurried. Unfortunately that also seems to mean he's unhurried about giving them potential help with the puzzle.
Asclepius listens to the cats and then enters the courtyard with everyone else. He looks around and walks along, this place. It feels very pleasent. Very nice. Very serene. He looks ahead to the monestary and then inside is a bunny. And it has the piece. Ohhhh nonono.
Gulp, it eats it. Then it runs. Then there's a LOT of other bunnies.
Which is the right bunny!? Nrg.
He looks over to Sailor Moon and places a finger to his lips as he shushes. "Don't worry. Remember. I'm a veternarian!" he insists. "I'm not allowing harm to come to any of these creatures."
Well. One in training.
"Let's think." he says.
Then he strokes his chin in thought. Tap tap tap. If I was a bunny... who wanted to hide...
The senshi of fire watches as the bunny, innocent and fluffy as it is, holds and then devours the red quarter-circle. "No! Don't!" shouts Mars, too late. When the bunny hops inside, she follows closely after, seeing bunnies and bunnies and more bunnies pop out of everywhere.
She rubs her forehead. "You know... there was something special and different about the rose we had to find last time. I wonder what would be different about this bunny?"
She turns to the others, and snap points at Jadeite. "His powerset is illusions, by the way. Zoisite's powerset mattered last time, so we should be aware that this might be a trick."
Too bad Mercury isn't here to scan. Well, Mars isn't completely helpless here. She closes her eyes, trying to focus. If this is an illusion, or even if it isn't, could she still feel that red bit they need?
None of the bunnies seem fake, at least not any more than usual... but she feels a concentration of fiery power, probably exactly what she's looking for, and she opens her eyes. She walks towards it, towards that feeling, wiht purpose. What she'll do with the bunny, she doesn't know yet, but there has to be a better answer than the obvious.
Minako Aino/Sailor V pulls up her gloves. As high up her elbows as she can. They stretch nicely when she tugs.
Her attitude and actions are just like a doctor about to go to surgery.
"Don't worry, Moon. I got this. If it's a trick, it'll just waste our time. And my drycleaning bill. Also, you might wanna close your eyes," she comments.
"And a vet?" she asks in reply to Asclepius. "That's great! Convenient! You can use your fuzzy-finger magic to fix 'em up after they get.... you know. Opened."
"I think you're missing the point, Sailor V." Platinum Royale said. "With the way they were talking outside... and the kind of person your friend is when he's not all doped up on negativity... do you think there might be more to this than the obvious path?" he asks, an eyebrow sneaking upwards.
"If it's a test, you can't discount the idea of trick answers."
"--knock it off," says Sailor Jupiter, with a sharp look towards Venus. "This is what they were asking about before. Who we're willing to trample over to get what we want, and whether we're willing to kill. It's a test; do you really think a bunny massacre is the right answer?"
She plants her hands stubbornly on her hips, eyeing the frolicking fluffle of rabbits. "There's got to be a better way." Her gaze comes to rest on Sailor Mars, and Jupiter stills, watching the red senshi closely. She looks like she might be onto something.
"I may sculpt illusion, the same way I sculpt ice or clay," Jadeite notes, his voice quiet and placid, like a great, still lake. "But that is mostly a tool. I'm not the Knight of Duplicitousness and Bloodshed." He blinks slowly, watching the rabbits without seeming to feel any haste about them. "Patience and harmony. Endurance and order. Those are the things I champion. I dare say there's not much patience or order in going around killing rabbits indescriminately."
"Hmmm. Well, rabbits are delicious," the male shrine guardian says contemplatively, stopping at the entrance to the courtyard, then yawning really toothily and widely at Sailor Moon's deathglare.
The female shrine guardian yelps in outrage, then NODS EMPHATICALLY to Jupiter and Tadase and Jadeite, then tackles her partner off the steps, and they both disappear over the edge. There's a spirited battle that audibly rages somewhere at the bottom of the staircase.
The bunnies continue to frolic, a bunch of them hopping over to tumble over and hop on the feet of the dispersing heroes, getting cute all over everyone but Minako.
Except one exceptionally brave (or exceptionally stupid) baby bunny decides that Minako belongs to it, and hops around and around and around her in circles.
The power that Rei follows, though--? Inside, further and further in. Past most of the bunnies-- but one breaks away and bolts through another door, and that feeling follows it. The sense of power gets more familiar the closer she gets. There's a mostly closed door on the other side of that room that the bunny runs through, shoving it a little further open to get in, but there's a distinct and unmistakeable flickering glow on the other side of the rice paper.
"Of course we aren't going to murder the bunny." Mars states, firmly. "Swallowing something like that can't be good for it, though."
The fire senshi follows the creature further in, past the other bunnies, through the door. Mars pushes the door open, determined to get to the source of that fire.
"It's in here... somewhere!" she calls out, in case anyone can still hear her.
Minako Aino/Sailor V gets a little annoyed and sighs. "Urrg, they're just bunnies. Illusionary bunnies at that," she says, scooping up a baby bunny. It's too small, so she's probably going to hug it, not disembowel it.
"Either way. I ate bunny a few days ago. I think. In a restaurant. But we should hurry. These places can be dangerous. If you don't want me to have a fluffle-kerfluffle, go make the boss bunny throw up!"
Asclepius looses his concentration because, ugh adorable bunnies. All the adorable bunnies and reaches down and scoops one up. Yup. This is a bunny. It's adorable and cute and he's going to pet it. "Come on now little guy.. who has the piece!?" he asks to it.
He tickles it's tummy. "Who has the piece!?" and then he watches one bolt when Mars does her thing. He puts down the bunny and pats it along as he follows along with undoubtedly along with the rest of the group now.
He follows along.
"I'm hurrying!" he says.
Is she had a phone in her hand, she'd have thrown it at that stupid face of a kitty lion dog cranky critter.
Still, her shoulders slump in relief at the assurances there won't be any bunny killings.
And then she just stares.
And blushes.
Hard.
"V-Venus!!!"
She hurries after Mars, determined to help her look.
For some reason, all of the bunnies and strangeness have made Tadase even more on guard than if there had just been some giant firebreathing machine demon or something inside here. Why? Because Tadase has been around enough to know that sometimes tests have extra credit. And if he's wrong? Well, only the loss of a little stress.
"I'll keep watch so you guys can all work on the Fluffy Bunny Project." Platinum Royale says before he looks around. "Well. You girls. Girls and a guy." The little king gets flustered for a moment. "I...I'm watching out for everyone there." The ensuing comments do not help him unfluster at all, and he just facefaults and keeps scanning the room.
"Illusionary bunnies or not," Sailor Jupiter says firmly, "We're not killing anything that's not trying to kill us first. Anyway, Mars is onto something--"
With this she starts off after Sailor Mars, picking her way through the tumble of bunnies with long strides as she tries to catch up.
When Mars opens the door, it's to a dim and cavernous room that looks like it's half-set into the side of a mountain. The geography of this place is, indeed, dreamlike. There's a fire pit set into the floor with a low stone rim around it, and the bunny's sitting at the edge of the fire.
It blinks at Rei, and then it blinks at the people who start coming in behind her, and it sneezes cutely.
Then the bunny jumps up and does a non-euclidean backflip (kind of like the ones Luna does when she has a new item for someone), turns into the quarter-circle piece-- and the glittering red thing falls straight into the fire.
There's a laugh from the shadows above, and it's not a very nice one. "You like fire," comes a voice that should be welcome, but the people who have heard it will know what it means. "You get it, I'll start killing them."
Dark Endymion lands between the fire and the door, smiling, and oh god the smile is so wrong. The eyes are so wrong, glowing red, malicious, pure and unutterable evil. He moves all wrong, the wrong kind of grace, the wrong kind of practiced smoothness. And he lifts a hand--
There's that *voice*, and Jadeite stiffens, the peaceful, amicable expression on his face being wiped clean. It's replaced by horror and something that might be more like fear, and then Jadeite just raises one hand, his image fluttering--
--and then it isn't Jadeite standing there at all, with that muted-horror on his face. It's Sailor Mercury.
"Liking it doesn't mean I think it's a fashion accessory," Zoisite complains as he fades into view in those shadows. Complains quietly, lest the thing behind Endymion's eyes think he's talking to it. He brightens an instant later, and summons fire into one hand. "Oh, wait. I do." And the bright arc of his own fire turns dead black as he flings it down toward the pit - not aimed at Rei, this time, but at the burning flames. Trying to contaminate them with dark energy. Make them safer for him ... and a great deal less safe for the Senshi.
Before, she'd been scared already. Or emotionally raw.
Well, okay, to be fair, she is emotionally raw. But that just leans toward the pissed off area rather than not.
"MOON TIARA ACTION!"
Hurtled straight for Endymion.
And then, because it's worked well before in the past.
"MOON HEALING ESCALATION!"
Fortunately for Zoisite's annoying allergy to being cleansed, her beam is aimed at the pit, as well.
She does blink, though.
When did Mercur---
Ohhhh, right. Jadeite's 'dead.'
It's becoming a nasty habit, having the ground seem to fall out from under them just when it seemed like things were going right. One moment Sailor Jupiter's catching up to Mars just in time to see the rabbit transform into the object of their search--
--the next, everything is wrong again.
Her body reacts with no input from conscious thought. The moment she sees Dark Endymion appear between them and the fire, Sailor Jupiter lunges into motion, charging at him with fists that suddenly blaze with electricity.
This is sure to go well.
Minako Aino/Sailor V makes the same face and voice as Mars. "M-Mars!" she replies, excitedly and cutely. It's a good impression.
But then she's grumbling under her breath about how everybody is all 'no don't hurt the bunny' when she has a workable plan, but the first thing Mars does is go pyromaniac and scare it into a fire.
"Urrrg. See? This is why we shoulda' gone with my bunny-pinata idea," she says, dancing towards the fire (both the natural fire and the Zoisite fire).
"Jupes, cover me. And... Mercury, get your excessively feminine hips and smoochy lips over here and jump in a fire with me!"
Rei watches the bunny closely. So this is the bunny she's been following? She steps closer to it, reaching out to... She doesn't even know what. She doesn't have an idea of what to do other than 'not murder it'.
... but when the bunny flips and becomes the very item they've been seeking, Mars pauses, and then frowns as it falls into the fire! She frowns at that. What to do? What to do?
Her first temptation is to reach into the fire and grab it, damn the pain and whatever happens, but that seems like the wrong answer. Putting out the fire is an option, if Jadeite uses his ice. If there was something else she could reach in there to get it with... tongs, even. Hm.
Then Endymion appears, and Mars glares at him. "Don't get in our way!" she snaps. Her patience is really being tested here. Zoisite is here, too? "Oh no you don't! FIRE SOUL!"
There's no hesitation this time, as she launches fire directly at Zoisite. If she can just distract him long enough for whatever Venus is planning with 'Mercury'...
Asclepius looks to Mercury(!?) and Jupiter and Minako apparently get ready to go rescue the piece. He looks back towards Mars and Moon and decides he's going to go join them. He points up his staff at Endymion.
"Lord Endymion." he says.
"I can't let you kill anyone. You'll just feel bad later when you have the sense punched back into you." he says.
He otherwise, stands back. Yeah, he's support. He has to watch out for himself too. Luckily, he's quick with the teleporting.
Tadase's with Asclepius, here. "I don't know what's gotten into you, but I know we're gonna get it out of you. Until then, I'll protect what you can't. Until you're smiling for the right reasons again!" he says, and stands near Sailor Moon.
There's plenty of offensive fire and lightning and... Sailor V... to go around. He raises his scepter. If Endymion's about to do what he thinks, he can cover Sailor Moon.
"Don't give into whatever's behind your eyes, sempai." he says. But he doesn't say it in a pleading manner - perhaps he's learned too long ago with Ikuto that doesn't always work. The boy's voice is more of an inevitable threat. That there are consequences to actions.
'Mercury' has frighteningly *zero* trouble running in those heeled boots of hers. She gives a quiet 'hnh!' of acknowledgement to Venus and immediately runs off after her, closing the distance between them and drawing up close to the place where the piece of the gem has fallen into the fire.
It takes approximately three seconds of analysis before she seems to come to a conclusion about what needs to be done. Without so much as an apology, she reaches out to grab Mina's arm and pulls her a step closer, a step further away from Mars. The voice that lifts is absolutely the right one, calling out confidently, "MERCURY ICE FORTRESS!"
She pulls both of her arms in close to her body, jumps, and snaps all limbs back out at the same time. There's a sudden blast of chill, centered on her, and in seconds, walls of ice slam up on all sides, encasing Venus, Mecury and the fire containing their prize in a closed box with fogged windows. The temperature inside begins to drop quicky and dramatically.
As his hand starts to come down, there is a lot of objection all at once--
Dark Endymion catches the tiara in his hand, and it hisses as it hits; his hand is bleeding, but he's still smiling. "You would call your Prince 'Lord', chirurgeon?" he asks Daisuke pleasantly, whipping the tiara in front of him to catch Jupiter's punch. He staggers with the impact, but doesn't fall back into the fire-- the lightning crawls up his arm, singes his sleeve; the tiara rings with the force of the punch, and still ringing, he whips it at Asclepius. "If I cared, I would kill you for it. Instead, I'll just kill you."
He throws, from the burnt and bleeding hand, a spray of dark energy spikes at the rest of the crowd; he finally notices his cape has caught fire and whips it off irritably with the other hand, stepping forward just as Jadecury zips up the whole thing in an icebox. The burning cloak gets flung toward Tadase and Moon.
There is one thing that Zoisite is in the air, and that is fast. Mercury's attack draws a high-pitched shriek from him, and he darts down, dropping hard, trying to duck under the fire in the air, down toward the fire in the pit --
-- and slamming damned near face-first into a plane of ice that wasn't there three seconds ago.
He's dazed for an instant, then scrabbling against the slick stuff to push himself up enough to see clearly. "You. You! How dare you --" As he's mustering enough indignation to push it up to weapons-grade, he manages to get a look at who precisely is in that fortress.
Zoisite stops talking for an instant, and hesitates. Then glances back toward Dark Endymion.
Then flickers out of existence on the ice-slab and into existence inside the confines of the box, bracing hard with one hand summoning a whirl of pink razor-edged petals between himself and the girls, one arm up to guard his face.
That he's more afraid of Dark Endymion than of the fire wasn't a surprise. That he's more afraid of Dark Endymion than of Venus might be.
She does give a slight wince at the hissing and the blood. The bastard. Why couldn't he have took it to the chest like a good minion of evil?
She shrieks! And slams into Tadase to push him out of the way.
The tiara...doesn't exactly do as Endymion planned. After all, it's hers. Mid flail, it slaps into her palm.
"Hey, Dumbass. Don't go throwing things that aren't yours."
Seeing him just pisses her off. Because it's not him, but it's his hand that red eyed beasty just hurt.
Out of the corner of her eye, she notices Zoisite's reaction.
Huh.
Hurtling charge, because at the moment, Endymion's not surrounded by painful papercut flower petals.
And she has her tiara tight in a fist, and by golly, if anyone's gonna beat that body to a pulp it's gonna be her!
Asclepius points. "I think that's more decorum than you deserve at the moment. You're not my prince right now. You're something else." he insists. He does however, watch as Dark Endymion just lets the thing burn him. That must... that must hurt. Why is he /hurting/ himself.
Oh right, crazy insane brainwashing.
He teleports as the tiara--- gets diverted to Sailor Moon's hand.
He reappears someone further to the left, on a ledge on the mountainside in the weird area.
He raises his staff-- and grimaces. Ugh.
He fires off a quick burst of purple energy-- his usual weak blast. Maybe he'll tickle Dark Endymion a little enough to be just distracting enough!
"Ohhhhhhhhhhh yah! Good job, Mercury! Your slender, quick legs are only matched by your equally quick (and slender) witty thinking! The ol' Mercury Bubble Bastion strategy!" Sailor V says, clapping.
"This will go so much better than my 'stop drop and roll through the fire with Mercury' strategy," she adds, quieter and relieved.
In fetching the game piece, she's even more relieved to discover there's no bunny corpse. "Da daaa da daaa taaa da daaaa! Success!"
Then she immediately embraces herself (and the little baby bunny friend she's stuffed into her shirt) and starts shivering and complaining. Too cold. All the Shittenou keep putting her in bubbles. Even though it's freezing, it's also stuffy. "AND! There's barely enough room in here for two."
Then there's suddenly three inside.
Sailor V also guards her face and eyes with one hand, then fills the air with the razor-sharp crack of her golden metal chain, flashing to and fro around her and Zoisite in a mad, desperate attempt to outslash his body to ribbons before her own body fails.
The real loser in the bubble might be Jadeite.
Mars watches as Jadecury and Venus vanish into the ice fortress, with Zoisite following them. Tch. Well, she's just going to have to let those two deal with him, because Endymion is out here, and apparently in full Metallia mode. She rushes towards him, without even considering whether or not this is a fight they can actually win, and her fists are covered in flames as she aims a couple of punches into his stomach.
"This is gonna hurt you more than it hurts me!"
The tiara comes back, and Tadase's ready for it - it's not the energy blast he was expecting, but... "HOLY~" and Sailor Moon pushes Platinum Royale out of the way. "...crap!" he says as he hits the floor. And he is very glad that is not an actual attack callout.
He's up on his feet pretty quickly, though. And it seems like Endymion and Sailor Moon are about to get some close and personal alone time. But there's still Zoisite.
"ROYAL SEAL!" he shouts as he unleahses a blast of golden tendrils that tear through the air, perhaps even through that flower hurricane, and the bubble, and the SHEER CHAOS of this fight, to bind one or both arms.
Yeah, evil doesn't deserve fair fights.
"Just get the--" Jadecucry says, with Ami's voice, sounding a little flustered. There's a moment of hope and triumph that flickers through his chest when Venus actually gets the piece in hand, but then there's his *brother* and those *petals*, and before he even really gets turned to face the problem, Venus is also whipping the hell out of him and *ow*, there's so much *ow*.
A dozen little cuts open up on 'Mercury' as she withstands the assault, over her legs, her arms, her face. Her teeth grit, and something flashes through her eyes which is a paler, colder imitation of their usual color. This is *stupid*, and trying to fight with *two* whirlwind weapons in one tiny box is not great for anyone, least of which 'Sailor Mercury'. Teeth grit, and both hands lift, making grasping motions. The ice palace buckles and flows, then, rearranging itself into a convex shield that's meant to protect Venus and Mercury from Zoisite's petals and instead reflect them back at the stupid youngest general's stupid face.
The fact that this frees up Zoisite's back for Platinum Royale's Seal *and* gives it a nice mirrored surface to bounce off of right back into Zoisite is just a bonus.
Her fist strikes the tiara with an impact that rings like a bell and Sailor Jupiter grimaces as the shock of it sings up her arm, lips curling back from her teeth. Then dark energy is flooding out of Endymion and she's right up in it, far too close to try to avoid; there's nothing for it but to draw her arms in crossed in front of herself and brace as best she can, breath hissing out through her teeth as the cold awful pain of it burns over her.
She rallies as Sailor Moon comes rushing in from one side, Mars striking with flame from the other - Jupiter goes in high, pivoting in place to plant her feet and channel the strength of her swing from all the way down in her hips, surging up her spine into her shoulders and the electrified fist that she drives at Endymion's face.
It's a pretty epic dogpile all around; Metalidymion may be rethinking some life choices. Zoisite probably is. It's sheer chaos, though, and that is one thing the creature inhabiting Endymion thrives on. That's a really freaking angry girl with a tiara fists on one side of him, a really freaking angry girl with fists /on fire/ on the other side of him, a really freaking angry girl with /electric fists/ in front of him, and some dude shooting purple stuff at him from the back.
As the attacks converge on him, he glances back at Zoisite, looks faintly annoyed, and then-- just--
...soaks it...
Oh to be sure, they do exactly what they're supposed to do. Moon can feel one of his ribs crack. He'd rock from the punch, but there's an equal and opposite force setting him on fire from the other side, so he doesn't, but that's definitely him being on fire. There's a crunch as Jupiter gets his nose (again) and an immediate black eye, and he's taking the shots to the back, one after the other--
--and he starts laughing, louder and louder, and his motion is swift and sure and powerful and it's when they're all just in range, just drawing back from their blows, just offbalance enough. Dark Endymion grabs Moon and swings her into Jupiter and Mars before letting go, following it up with a two-handed blast of dark energy, stalking towards them. If he's moving a little strangely, a little less smoothly, it's because he's still being shot at and he's taken a fair amount of damage. It's not actually cramping his style, though.
"Throw whatever you want at me, children. Tear pieces off until there's nothing but bone, and the bones will still kill you in the end. Do you have it yet, Zoisite?"
Ooooo, she really hopes that's not a permanent rib energy.
And then the cocky bastard is laughing, and she's being flung about like a rag doll and--
She snaps.
Not in an angry way. But perhaps a bit crazed.
It's definitely there in her voice when she laughs right back at him. "You're assuming there will be bone left! I will grind those bones to dust if I have to!"
Mars is knocked aside as Endymion swings Moon around, and knocked onto her butt as that dark blast crashes into her. Ouch. That really hurt, but the passion of Mars's fires hasn't gone out yet! She rolls forward, back onto her feet.
"We wouldn't have to tear you apart if you'd just leave!" shouts Mars. She really does not want to have this fight, but there isn't much choice. Moon seems to be getting into it at least, but Mars can't help but be a little worried.
Mars flings another fireball at Endymion's head. She'd feel bad about this, but the dummy she's currently fighting has willingly facetanked worse, and with a lot less protection.
Zoisite's petals make a potential shield against, say, an ice blast or a Crescent Beam. They don't ... do so well against a metal chain that can shove them individually out of the way. And Zoisite, who sacrificed his own defenses when he darted in after the piece? Zoisite's not doing so well either.
His blood is a mottled thing, human-red and shimmering black, immiscible. The expression on his face when he keeps himself from screaming is one terribly familiar to Jadeite, from a dozen times that Zoisite's tongue or his temper landed him in trouble with a certain Dark Queen, and they both knew whatever she was doing to him would be redoubled if he committed the cardinal sin of interrupting her.
And then Venus' assault is momentarily interrupted. Fire glares at Zoisite's hands at once, flooding bright against 'Mercury's' ice shield. "Trying!" His voice is too high-pitched, even for him, but it's still words, at least. "Venus --"
That's when the seal hits, unexpected and undodged, catching at his arms, binding them. And Zoisite's frustration spills over into a wordless shriek; and his blood ignites, bright fire and dark intertwining, burning at Tadase's tendrils, burning at the pit, burning at everything he can reach.
It's probably good for Venus and Mercury that there are at least a couple of seconds when that isn't much.
There's only a split second to react when Sailor Moon comes swinging at her like a human club, and Sailor Jupiter makes a decision, curling her body around the impact to catch and cushion Moon as much as she can. It means she can't keep her feet; the two of them go rolling together in a tumble of senshi, Jupiter coming to rest over her teammate with her hands braced against the ground to give the smaller girl space to breathe.
As Endymion advances she stays as she is, covering her friend against the blast. "Sailor Moon!" Jupiter's voice is sharp and urgent, green eyes wide in her white, shaken face. She's scared, and Sailor Moon is the one who's scaring her. "Snap out of it!"
Purple Stuff. Maybe that's the stuff Dai is using from the Sunny D commericals. Maybe. Probably not. But it has to be something.
He steps back behind a rock and presses his back to it, holding his staff close to himself. He's not having the desired effect he hoped- he's just sitting and--- soaking up damage.
Like some sort of pain sponge.
Ugh.
He'll stay here- and peek out every so often now- getting ready to teleport in and get someone out of danger. This is a little more hairier than he thought it would be and maybe Endymion might hurt someone tonight.
Jadeite is the Knight of Patience and Endurance. He's the Knight of gritting his teeth and bearing terrible things, of letting himself get cut up in the name of protecting something greater. He's the Knight of *pushing through* and not complaining about it. He should be able to endure this for, well, practically forever, even in the guise of Sailor Mercury.
The problem is, he's also the Knight of *Harmony* and *Order*. He likes things in their places, neatly colalated and organized. No, he *needs* them in their places, he is *made* of Order in the same way that the really Mercury is made of intellect, or that Moon is made of a tender heart. What is here, violating what might be the most *him* of all places, is not Order. This is Chaos. This is the antithesis of everything that is Jadeite. This cannot stand. Then Zoisite starts to set everything on *anti-fire* and it *really* can't stand.
It *looks* like Sailor Mecury throwing a tantrum. She stomps with one foot, hands slamming in a downward motion that comes perilously close to crushing Zoisite under the wall of ice. What it *really* is, is Jadeite pulling deep on his reserves, on his connection with this place, trying to push Zoisite and Endymion *right out*, like he's throwing them out of the game and telling them to go home without their ball. The ground trembles, and his borrowed voice *bellows*, "ENOUGH!!"
Minako Aino/Sailor V makes a snarky comment about Jadeite's lionheaded guardians. "'We'll make sure nobody interferes.' Pshffttt, some guardians," she complains, dragging herself up and onto the bit of icey shielding.
From her new vantage, she can throw some Crescent Beams to help with Jadeite taking up his new profession as bouncer.
"Good job, Mercury! It's good to hear your melodious, sonorous voice! Let 'em have it!"
The cape is gone, but Dark Endymion's gone WELL into OP jerkass territory at this point; he teleports a step to the left out of the way of Mars' fireball, blood from his nose running to his teeth and brightening his horrible smile; he lifts a hand even as Zoisite starts screaming and setting everything on fire--
...and then Mercury is shrieking, and the creature inhabiting Endymion feels the magic of the place abruptly twist, and feels something shift in what's left of the shell of a prince's soul, buried and horrified and grieving as it's been-- shift into vindictive glee.
His face turns into a deep scowl, then into actual legit ragecrazy for a split second before he vanishes, written out of this corner of a different reality.
Fire is not a good shield against Crescent Beams. Even Zoisite's darkfire is not a good shield against Crescent Beams. The wall of ice helps a little, but not that much. For those seconds that it takes him to burn and writhe his way through Platinum Royale's Seal, Zoisite's life is increasingly even more deeply unpleasant --
And then 'Mercury' does THAT. And this time, when Zoisite vanishes, it's not his idea.
It's entirely possible that Jadeite just saved his enemy-brother's life.
Given what Beryl told her remaining Generals she'd do the next time any of them failed her ... it's a lot more than possible that Zoisite wishes he hadn't.
It's Jupiter that cuts off the laugh. Sailor Moon looks at the girl and just sort of...wilts.
Which is okay, because Jadecury gets mad and Endymion and Zoisite are just gone.
She blinks.
"Neat trick."
And maybe if she shifts Jupiter's attention away from her crazy, crazy leader, she can pretend it never happened!
She darts toward the fire and looks at it for a moment. "What do you think will happen when we get all the pieces? Will it form like...a pie? Or transform into something else?"
Platinum Royale drops the scepter to his side. "Well, whatever it becomes, if they want it, they can't have it." he says, laying out his opinions on it pretty plainly. "Anytime somebody like that wants something, it is not the secret ingredient in the world's best cookies. It's always powerful and they intend to use it for some nefarious purposes." he adds.
"Also... don't lose yourself, Moon-chan." he says, having dealt with that as part of his own problems lately. "If he's going to come back, he needs the strength that comes from your love, not your anger."
Endymion and Zoisite are gone. Mars slowly realizes just how out of breath she is, and just how tired she is. Her eyes go towards Sailor Moon. She remembers what their princess said during the fight. "Moon-chan..."
Maybe now isn't the best time. Maybe she didn't mean it. Mars walks over to the firepit, next to Jadecury and Venus and Moon. "No idea what'll happen. Are we taking bets?"
Minako Aino/Sailor V clucks her tongue a few times. "Hey, guys. She's not losing herself. She's just asking about pie. I'm sure that means she's all fine."
Asclepius teleports back into the main area everyone is and then brushes his robe down. "Sorry about that. I'm pretty much completely useless in a straight up fight." he says. "It was better to hide a moment and make sure no one, you know, died." he insists.
He looks around and then over to the others. "Yeah. If they want it. It's bad news." he says.
With his enemies--his brothers--gone, Jadeite drops the illusion. The image of Mercury fades away to reveal the Knight beneath. The damage doesn't leave--apparently *that* was all too real. His shoulders sag, eyes dull and unhappy. He doesn't seem to have anything to add to the conversation.
Only when the danger is gone and something resembling peace has re-established itself does Sailor Jupiter push herself up off the ground to let Sailor Moon up. Slowly she picks herself back up onto her feet as well, but her eyes don't leave Usagi.
Distracting her enough to pretend it didn't happen is definitely not happening. But all Jupiter says is, "Are you hurt?"
At least until V says her piece, and then something in Jupiter's eyes goes hard. "Stop it," she says, quiet and far too even. "What just happened is really serious."
Minako Aino has equally hard eyes. "Yeah. That's sort of my point and what I'm trying to say. Calm down."
"Maybe it will turn into a shape. Like those Tantric shape puzzles."
She glances at Jupiter. She considers lying, of course, but well, that would be going back on a promise she made not a week ago. So instead, she shrugs.
And despite the argument between Venus and Jupiter, she's oddly...grateful for the blonde Senshi's words. Even if they're not true.
And she is very steadfastly avoiding looking at the Teenager Formerly Known as a General.
She wonders if he'd like some cake.
Store bought. She likes him enough not to subject him to her homemade monstrosities.
She does, however, blink at Tadase. No glower this time. Just...a blink.
Then suddenly, she claps her hands! "Speaking of pie! That sounds delicious. Anyone else want pie?"
"I am calm," Makoto answers Minako, still in that quiet, even tone. "But I'm not going to just pretend things are fine when they're not. There's too much stuff nobody's talking about already, and it's not gonna go away just 'cause we ignore it."
She looks over towards Sailor Moon and her eyes become a little softer, though no less serious. Faintly hurt, in a way that she cannot hide. "If you need me for anything," she says, "I'll be outside."
And then she turns and starts away, long strides eating up the ground.
"Never mind, I don't want pie."
She runs after Jupiter. When they're out of ear shot of everyone else, she raises on her tiptoes to whisper in the taller girl's ear.
Then she pulls back, shrugs, and just...hops away.
Jadeite just stands there, for a long time, watching the internal Senshi drama that he doesn't really understand, but recognizes as something that would happen between himself and his brothers constantly. He closes his eyes, lifts one gloved hand to push it through his hair, and says maybe the most teenaged thing he's ever said, in the earshot of any or all assembled, "...I want to go back to bed."
Asclepius looks towards Jadeite and softly sighs and closes his eyes. There's nothing he can say here that can make things better- no purple glow can fix this right now.
"Lord Jadeite. Go rest." he says. Sounding like 'Doctor's orders'. Also. Lord Jadeite. It's meant to be a confidence booster!
It may not work.
He begins leaving with everyone else.
Mars rises from the side of the firepit. She doesn't want to have this fight again. She sees it coming and really doesn't want to have it again. She rubs her face.
Jadeite says he wants to go back to bed. Mars says, "Yeah, same. Let's just go. We got what we came here for. Thanks, everyone."
She doesn't say it, but she's feeling very discouraged right now. If Moon gives up on Endymion, then what hope is there for the rest of the Shitennou? What happened to saving all of them?
She doesn't ask. She doesn't want to. She just walks away from this place, back the way she came.