Kyouko and Homura had argued. This is like, the least surprising thing ever, and probably would have been forseen by literally anyone they had told about the plan.
The crux of the argument had been 'where do we take this captured alien stalker.' Finally, Kyouko had just thrown her hands up, grabbed said alien (who is currently unconscious and tied up with ropes because the Puella are unaware he can teleport), slung him over her shoulder (she's stronger than she looks), and walked out, leaving Homu looking annoyed.
The flaw, of course, is that Kyouko still doesn't know where she's taking him. Luckily, there's a pier nearby, and those are full of empty warehouses with shady, unclear purpose. It's a simple matter for her to break a window and get into one of these, so she does. Then she sends out a mass text.
TXT: hey mamo we caught your stalker
And a GPS coordinate.
The good news is, though Makoto had been over for the usual reasons, nothing was actually on the stove or in the oven yet. Cooking would have been interrupted anyway, but Makoto won't have to fret about the fate or waste of the poor ingredients. There's a terse consultation, a brief resort to technology to sort out the coordinates, and then three people are on their way --
When the shadows in the warehouse swell and thicken, and energy flickers lightninglike within them, though, there are only two people there.
Kunzite, in uniform, lets his hand fall from Sailor Jupiter's shoulder and steps aside, giving her a little more space. "He'll be here shortly," he says to Kyouko, even before he focuses on Fiore. And on the ropes. There's the tiniest tug at the corner of his mouth, despite himself.
It's just as well as far as Sailor Jupiter's concerned, their coming ahead of Mamoru like this. It gives them a chance to scope the situation out a little before the prince arrives. She shifts just a little as Kunzite steps away from her, folding her arms across her chest the better to look stern and imposing.
That lasts about until she gets a look at Kyouko, and then the tall girl's mouth falls open in a D: of dismay at the state the puella magi is in. "You all right?"
It feels like a ludicrously understated way to ask, but on the other hand Kunzite doesn't seem to consider Kyouko's condition an emergency and, well, the redhead is currently on her feet rather than bleeding out on the floor. But still.
It is true that Kyouko technically has a hole stabbed through her entire body, courtesy of Fiore's sword. But the thing about Puella Magi is that, unless you stab them in their (admittedly ludicrously exposed) weakspot, they tend to not really care that much, at least those of them experienced enough to be familiar with their healing abilities. The wound isn't bleeding anymore, at least, though the ragged hole in her outfit is still obvious.
Kyouko, for her part, blinks at Sailor Jupiter. "Huh? Oh.." Her hand drops to the wound as if she had forgotten. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Dude just got me with his sword, is all." She smirks. "As if that'd do shit."
Then her eyes track to Kunzite. "Nii-chan." When he says Mamoru will 'be here shortly', she nods her head, turning to idly prod at the bound Fiore with her toe. "Homura and I figured we could help out with the whole stalker situation. Frankly this asshole was a little bit of a pushover, I dun see what's so scary about 'em.."
"Teleportation, largescale area attacks, nonspecified possible backup, and something that's doing long-term damage to the planet in general. We keep encountering him in areas susceptible to collateral damage." Translation: in streets full of people. "Good job taking him down." Kunzite steps closer, settling down on one knee to put a hand on Fiore's upper arm. Unless, of course, Fiore's upper arm is being bled from at the moment, in which case he'll find something less damaging; it's the contact he's looking to keep. Not skin-to-skin. Just something to make it a little harder for him to vanish suddenly.
Of course, it's also always possible that Fiore isn't actually unconscious, and not all of his abilities are going to be stayed by those ropes. Kunzite keeps a sharp eye on the alien boy.
Homura was, in no uncertain terms, ever ever EVER going to bring a villain to her new house. It didn't matter that she had a garage big enough to hold him. Last time she made that mistake she woke up to one of Riventon's experimental Witches knocking on his door. That did not make her happy.
That did leave her with no good suggestions as to where to stick Fiore, but the resulting argument went to 'I literally do not care anymore just shut up' levels and she grumpily gave Kyouko the silent treatment as she stormed off with their prey.
After a heavy sigh, Homura realized that letting Kyouko have the prisoner alone was a bad idea and set off to track her down. She jumps up to a nearby window, findings Kyouko in a warehouse, with Fiore nearby, along with... Kunzite and Sailor Jupiter?
When she drops from the window she starts talking. "Yeeeah. Collateral. Um..." She pauses for a moment. Then she just shrugs. "You know what? Never mind. Did you just say that he could teleport?"
Suddenly she's a little worried. This warehouse isn't exactly teleport-proof, and nor are those ropes.
There's a light clunk on the roof, metal on metal, and then silence for a second, and then Endymion comes in the door. He's in the process of putting his smartphone away. GPS not texting thanks. He stops right in the doorway, dismayed, and looks around the warehouse for something, anything, that indicates this might be in any way safe.
Of course it's not,
"You guys, he can teleport and he can explode cutty flower petals and oh my god this isn't a grain warehouse or anything right??" the prince asks, thoroughly alarmed now. "Untie him or he'll panic when he wakes up! I mean more than normal-- I mean--"
Since his race is not one that sleeps, Fiore has known unconsciousness twice in his life. Once as he entered the Earth's atmosphere, his fragile magic unable to protect him from the burning friction and the caustic air. And once...
Well. Now.
A creature who sleeps is used to seeing the world bleed back into view from the veil of blackness -- Fiore is not. He's not a creature of cycles, not like the humans of Earth. He is a being of inertia. Stopping may as well be death, it is that unfamiliar to him. And as blobs of color and vague sensations surround him once again, he reacts as one who has just faced death might react. He reacts as Mamoru so astutely predicted he would.
He panics.
At Kunzite's touch, Fiore *jerks*, lashing out to protect himself in the most primitive way. He's not fully aware yet -- again, being a creature of linear mind, he cannot recover from his unconsciousness with any great speed. But he's mobile, his eyes are frantic, and if the tugging at his binding is any indication, he's just figured out that he's been captured.
"Don't touch me!" he hisses, scrambling from the figure with white hair as best he can, which is to say, not very well. "Don't *touch* me!"
With his heaving chest, his wild hair, and his crouched and feral posture, Fiore couldn't look more like a cornered animal if he tried.
Sailor Jupiter's brows lift slightly at Endymion's appearance; Homura's arrival shortly after gets a brief little nod from the Senshi of Thunder, before her attention goes back to Fiore. Just in time for him to come around.
She was on guard, and when the alien boy jerks away from Kunzite's touch she half begins to move toward them, only to catch herself before she can get as far as actually taking a step. Her brows draw together as she watches his panic, forehead creasing. She knows, very personally, how dangerous Fiore is - but still, this feels wrong.
A very brief, faintly helpless glance toward Endymion, and then Jupiter's eyes are on Fiore again and she is standing by just in case her strength is needed.
"Yeah yeah, we got all that," Kyouko says unconcernedly as Kunzite lists off the various ways in which Fiore is dangerous, just as Homura drops in from outside the warehouse. Then, at nearly the exact same moment as Homura, she echoes, "Wait, teleport?" She shares a glance with the dark-haired Puella, which, for some unfathomable reason, seems to be blaming the other girl for not knowing this.
Then Mamoru shows up, acting all panicked, and before Kyouko can even properly greet him he's walking over acting all concerned for the stalker. "We ain't gonna untie him," she snaps, "We just went through all the trouble of tyin' him in the first place. And ain't he the guy tryin' to get you? Why do you wanna be nice to him for?"
Of course, then Fiore jerks away and backpedals away from Kunzite, looking all cornered and panicked.. but he doesn't actually do anything. Kyouko all but sneers at him. "I mean, look, dude is rightly scared shitless, as he should be. He threatened Usa-chan, Mamo. Deserves the worst we can do to him, IMO" (she says 'i m o') "but you said not ta kill 'em so here he is."
Most people have the option of lifting their hands into the air to show themselves unarmed, to display a lack of intent to harm. Fiore has already seen Kunzite work magic. That option is right off the table. Kunzite lays his hand on the floor between himself and Fiore instead, a deliberate gesture. "I haven't done you harm yet," he says to the alien boy. "I won't, unless you try to hurt us." His head turns a little in Kyouko's direction, though his eyes stay on Fiore; he amends, "-- further." Previous stabbings, apparently, don't count. Right now. While Fiore's tied up.
Homura ignores Kyouko's glares, not even aware of what she's being blamed for right now. "Considering how he was when we knocked him out, I think it's a little late for him to not panic when he wakes up." In her mind there is no way in which he will not be angry.
She reaches into her shield, and pulling a rocket launcher out of some unseen space behind it.. "At least this time there won't be as much of a concern with collateral damage." Homura inspects the launcher to make sure it works, and then she looks up at the warehouse around her.
Something is oddly familiar about this place.
Homura scowls. Her scowl is pointed at Kyouko. "You took him here? Of all places?"
Fiore awakens, flailing (flopping?) around making demands. Homura shoots a glare at him. "You aren't in any position to make demands."
"Here where?" Kyouko snaps back at Homura, sounding annoyed, "And what the hell are you gonna do with that? We're all standing right here, don't you dare shoot a rocket at him."
Puella squabbles are unlike normal squabbles.
"Honestly, what even do I--" the prince starts muttering, lifting up his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose-- and then Fiore wakes up and, yes, panics. He exchanges a look with Jupiter, shaking his head slightly, then glances at Kyouko-- and his eyes widen. She's taunting happy fun ball? Of course she is. "I know he did! I know he did. And he's killing my planet. But it's not his fault-- do you think we should have killed Apatite?" he manages to ask without snapping.
But then he's walking towards Fiore, expression decidedly unhappy. "Hey. Fiore. Fiore. What Kunzite said is true: nobody here is going to hurt you again unless you hurt one of us again."
Endymion crouches down in front of Fiore, tentatively reaching out a hand. "Will you let me touch you? I can heal you, make you stop hurting. I can tell you everything, and when you know everything, we can untie you. And we can find a way to work things out."
Voices, there are voices everywhere, matching the splotches of white and grey and crimson that mar his still blurry vision. It's the survival instincts that kick in before anything else -- one might call it his reptile brain, if his species even had a reptile somewhere in its ancestry -- and instincts do not account for bargains and truces when one is bound, nearly blind, and surrounded by voices that he knows, he *knows* are responsible for doing this to him.
There's a voice in the back of his mind too, but his own panic overpowers her, much to her dismay.
"Where am I?" Fiore demands, curling in on himself so that his knees are under him, ready to spring should he need to. "What did you do to me? Why can't I *see*?"
Them all being formless blobs, at the moment, the nuance of Kunzite's gesture is a bit lost on him. He all but snarls, backing away further until his back slams against something hard -- a wall, perhaps, or a pallet of boxes.
"I don't believe you," he says. "If you didn't want to hurt me, you wouldn't have *tied me* --"
Wait. He knows that voice. He would know it anywhere, even in the depths of feral panic.
"M-Mamoru?" Fiore calls out, and suddenly he is not hiding his fear with anger anymore, his voice sounding very much like it did on that day over a decade ago, when he had woken up blind and terrified in an unfamiliar world. "Mamoru, help me -- help me, please."
The alien boy relaxes somewhat as he feels the presence of his friend approach, steadfast and unmistakable, though still obscured by his imperfect vision. He might have seen the hand, were it not for that. As it stands, he looks up at the transformed Mamoru, his eyes unfocused and his face visibly worried with confusion.
"Of course you can touch me, Mamoru-kun. Please, just get me away from here," he says, and how *innocent* he sounds, how like a scared child. "Something -- something happened. I can't remember, but something happened, and I don't remember how I got here."
Somehow, Kunzite does not say anything resembling 'the hell you're getting near the guy who's trying to get you to go on an interstellar vacation with him' or 'Homura, put the rocket launcher away.' Probably because he knows that both of these would have an equal chance of success, namely zero. He does not, in fact, say anything at all; he only reaches to make sure that he has, at least, contact with Endymion, in case Fiore tries to use this as a kidnapping opportunity. Not skin-to-skin contact. Nothing to distract him.
His eyes flicker briefly toward Homura, though. Because what she just said to Kyouko sounds distinctly like 'there's a possibility of another complicating factor crashing through the ceiling any time now.
Homura rolls her eyes as Kyouko complains about her rocket launcher. "I've been handling explosives for over a decade. I know what I'm doing. You're the one who decided to take our target to a WPS-owned warehouse." She isn't doing anything with it at the moment. She's not even aiming it at anything, but it's a nice security blanket.
She opens her mouth to protest at Endymion's offer to heal the enemy, but after a moment she shuts it. She thinks she knows where he's going with it at least. Still, she's not particularly happy about the idea that if a fight happens, Fiore will be on fresh legs and one of the two Puella have already taken a wound. Sure it's not lethal but the body still needs to mechanically work.
Fiore can't see? That's good. He seems to be responding well to Mamoru's approach, too. Homura feels no need to answer any of his questions, nor does she feel particularly sorry no matter how much he blames her. Still, if Homura had never heard about this guy from the others, she would think that he was just another friend of Mamoru's, calling for help.
"Careful, Mamo-kun."
Kyouko actually bares her fangs at Mamoru in a half-snarl, a feral sound to match coming from the back of her throat for a moment, an expression of annoyance with his wishy-washyness (as she sees it). The expression falters at his mentioning of Apatite, but her expression turns stubborn, and she says, "If you needed to, yeah I think you should have." This is, of course, a non-answer but she's not about to back down and admit she was wrong that easily.
"We needed to do somethin' right? I'm sorry that it ain't his fault," She sounds skeptical about this, but moves past it, "But you can't just let him do whatever the fuck he wants, his fault or not. Dude threatened you, he threatened Usagi, he freakin' stabbed me in the gut," She gestures to the actual still gaping wound, now beginning to slowly close up but still visible. "And that's just today! I love you like a brother, Mamoru, but if you ain't gonna watch out for yourself we gotta do it for you, man."
She shuts up as Mamoru approaches Fiore, and the still tied-up alien whimpers and acts generally panicked and beggy. She all but rolls her eyes, turning half-away and muttering to herself, "Gonna pull this shit after all this, knows Mamoru can't help but soothe the injured puppy, for christ's sake."
Her eyes shift to Homura as the other Puella complains about the choice of warehouse, and she actually smirks. "Really? Didn't even know, but that actually makes me happy. Might break a few windows on the way out just to tell Miss White I was here."
Here, at last, Sailor Jupiter speaks up, eyes flicking briefly toward Kyouko as she moves to keep a clear line of sight on Fiore. "There's a lot of room in between 'let him do whatever he wants' and 'let's take him out back and kill him,'" she notes, voice mild. "Thanks to you guys, we've got a chance now to figure out a way. I'm sure that's what Mamoru-niisan is trying to do."
She still looks uncomfortable, but she doesn't make any move to interfere. She just watches, ready to move if she needs to.
"You guys, it's okay, he wouldn't knowingly hurt me-- it's just what he doesn't know that's the problem," Endymion says, voice calm and resonant, as solid as the ground beneath their feet. The prince does, after all, what he wants-- and, naturally, never has a problem with Kunzite imposing expected contingencies. He moves from a crouch to resting on one knee, cape of night-black silk pooling around him, falling behind the epaulets instead of over his shoulders. He reaches out a bare hand to touch the side of Fiore's face, expression gentle but firm.
The first Fiore will feel is a sensation quite unlike his own self-healing, very much unlike the almost viscous drugged haze of the Xenian's poisonous mendings: a golden warmth that brings with it the feelings and images gained from lying in a sunny meadow full of flowers in late June, of the reverent stillness of a forest glade when a hush falls on the afternoon, of cool water babbling in a brook on a muggy night, of the solemnity and grandeur of a clearing in a magnificent primeval wood, of the unyielding and comforting solidity of the ancient mountains and the eternal mutability of the expansive oceans.
It is healing; everything the black-haired boy is doing is with the intent to heal body and mind-- Homura's quite right.
Washing across the images and the calm beauty and the steady lack of pain is a brilliant clarity. All of this -- this power, these images of this lovely planet, this soul -- is Mamoru. The bright golden light of his friend's heart is a light and a magic that's born from this planet and the dreams of its people. The images: they're real, they're places that exist here on Earth, and they're all connected to Mamoru's soul. With that comes the knowledge that Mamoru truly believes that concessions can be made, that the Earth will agree to let Fiore stay if he asks it-- but only if Fiore stops hurting it.
The clarity is just that: good things, yes, but also bad. What Fiore does whenever he calls upon his 'guardians', what Mamoru felt when he opened his connection wide, that becomes clear as well. Everything screaming. Mamoru's own pain. The love for him and fear for him of his friends; their reactions to Fiore when he's tried to take Mamoru away-- his own reactions when Fiore injured Usagi, threatened her. All of it unfolds steadily in the pitiless mercy of truth.
"Do you see?" he murmurs. "Everything you're doing is hurting me. That's why they want to stop you. But we can help you, we can make it so you can stay, and you can be here with me, and you can have even more friends."
The blurs and swimming colors solidify some as Mamoru comes even nearer now, enough that he can see the familiar, comforting face before he raises his hand to his face and touches him --
A small gasp catches in the back of Fiore's throat, his entire body relaxing into that beloved touch, but not because the touch alone is beloved. No, there is something more going on behind his gray-blue eyes, which are usually so shallow, clouded over with a haze that's difficult to define. For once, there's a spark of life, and of depth. Of understanding, even as his face shifts into a look of horror as the screams of the Earth finally reach his ears.
"Mamoru-kun," he says, tears beading up at the corners of his eyes, whether of awe or shame it's hard to say. "I didn't know...is *this* --" He swallows the lump that's tensed up in his throat. "Is this really your home?"
A tendril of rosy smoke unfurls in his mind, the scent of spice and cloying perfume wafting up from the unopened bud pinned to his chest.
*/Of course it's not,/* the Xenian purrs. */Have you forgotten, my pet? Mamoru's only home is with you./*
(In return for his images of healing and grandeur and unconditional acceptance, in return for his generosity and forgiveness, Endymion will receive the ashen taste of dead soil, the horror of a soul as it is violated by something writhing, alien, and the frozen image of a ruined planet, seconds before it collapses into dust. And, behind it all, the sultry ghost of a laugh.)
"How forward of you," Fiore says, "to touch me like this, here, in front of all these people. I know somewhere much more...private." Fiore's eyes flash red, his form shifting in the unnatural way some here have already seen -- it is the only warning they will get.
"Mamo-chan."
With inhuman strength, he snaps the ropes that bind him, and his hand shoots up to grab Prince Endymion's wrist.
Kyouko's eyes shift to Jupiter at her comment, and her return is quiet and actually sounds a little sad. "Less than you think."
She watches Mamoru reach out and touch Fiore, standing a few feet away still half-turned, but with one eye on the unfolding situation. She's apparently un-armed, her spear not materialized, her arms crossed over her chest.
It actually seems like it might work, for a second there- Mamoru touches Fiore, and that whole glowy-healy thing starts going down. Kyouko doesn't quite relax, but she perhaps feels a smidgen hopeful. After all, despite all her pessimism, she doesn't really want to kill anybody- if the peaceful route will work, she's all for it. Problem is, she's not at all sure it will work, and better safe than sorry right? But maybe this time-
Nope. Nope, once again Kyouko's pessimism is proved correct. Fiore snaps his bonds like tearing through tissue paper, and Kyouko curses, spinning in place, her spear flashing into existence in her outstretched hand. "I'll point out he didn't teleport!" She snaps at Kunzite, as if this somehow makes up for the fact that the rope was still woefully inadequate.
"Hey shrub," She directs at Fiore. "If you don't wanna end up like your vines did earlier" (splattered all over the inside of this room) "then you'd better take your damn dirty mitts offa him."
Yet. He didn't teleport yet.
Kunzite already has one hand on Endymion. but the way those ropes shredded, one hand is not going to be enough. He wraps his other arm around the younger boy's torso, knowing almost by reflex where the armor permits it, where he won't interfere with the prince's own movement. To the extent he can move, in that grip. Other people can deal with threat or attack; his goal is simpler. Anchor the boy here, if he can. Lend weight to any attempt to pull free, if he can, if Endymion makes one.
And if not -- make damned sure that wherever Fiore means to take him, it's not going to be alone.
From Homura, there are no explosions, no shouts, not even an indignant 'I told you so'. All anyone can hear is the soft 'click-click' of her shield turning, before time suddenly stops.
Homura walks among the muted colors, the frozen reactions of those around her, and walks up to Fiore, past him, and to Mamoru. She looks up at the prince, shakes her head solemnly, and takes him by the hand, pulling him into her time-frozen space, probably dragging Kunzite along with him.
"Hey, Mamo-kun. Whatever he's planning, let's not allow it to happen." She looks at the frozen image of Fiore, frowning. "I know he's your friend, but he isn't right in the head right now. He attacked Kyouko almost on sight, and didn't even allow us a chance to talk. I thought things would be different if you were here, but obviously..."
She starts trying to drag Mamoru away. Not sure where, just... someplace not where Fiore can grab him. When they're both safe she'll let time resume for the two of them again.
"Oh no you don't."
Sailor Jupiter is an optimist, yes, and she truly did hope that Mamoru would get through to his wayward friend - but all the same, she was poised to move if she needed to. That moment comes before the flash of red in the alien's eyes, as soon as Fiore's tone shifts, as soon as the words I know somewhere leave his mouth. As the ropes snap, Jupiter is already in motion.
A wind whips the still air within the warehouse into a rush of petals as the Senshi of Courage launches herself at Fiore, fist-first.
It's a damned good thing that Kunzite grabbed Endymion and Homura stopped time--
Even as Jupiter's literally frozen in midair to their perspectives, and Kyouko's basically planning on joining Jupiter in making some mulch for the Senshi of Courage's garden, the prince is in shock. Homura's talking, he can hear her talking, but he'll either definitely take dragging or Kunzite's help practically carrying. He's too-pale and looks sick, worse than when he'd last confronted Fiore in these clothes, and he's pulled his hand back to his chest, fisted up in front of his heart.
Once they've moved a little ways, he slowly starts rallying-- at least enough to move his own feet, to reach up and shakily push his hair away from his forehead, broken out in a cold sweat. "I-- I know. I think... it did go better... nobody's dead..."
His breathing's quick and shallow; he's swallowing too often.
"The thing in his head. It-- what it's done to other planets-- and it's not, it's not dark energy, it's not the same, I don't even know if Usa can heal him-- can get rid of it-- but you saw him, you saw him," the boy interrupts himself, voice wavering. "It's not him that's like that! He's so alone and it's got him--"
Of course, from everyone else's perspectives, Homura vanished, and then Kunzite and Endymion did. You know. As one does.
As one does. As Mamoru does so *frustratingly* often. For the second time today, Fiore feels his fist close around empty air, and for the second time today, he has a split second to realize he's about to get hit --
-- before he is hit, and the force of the blow knocks him cleanly through several boxes and metal racks, slamming him somewhere between the far wall and the stretch of concrete a few feet in front of it. It's hard to tell exactly where: the dust cloud is rather thick, and he is rather slight when crumpled on the ground.
There's peace for a few moments, in the midst of debris falling back to Earth and boxes tumbling open, split open from impact with the ground. One might almost hope that Fiore had teleported away, as Kunzite and Homura feared he might from the instant they saw him here; but no, that would be too easy, and when in a soldier's life can they expect peace to last?
From the dust cloud shoot ropy tendrils of green, diseased vines that slice the air almost faster than the human eye can see. And at their center, his hands outstretched like a twisted conductor, stands Fiore. The deadly plants pierce through the warehouse walls with a great crash, the light of the evening sun polluted with yet more brown and dusty haze as it pours in through the cracks.
"Why?!"
He throws his arm to one side, and his thorny creations obey, raking along the building, tearing brick from brick as though the warehouse were built from cards.
"Why?!"
Somehow, his screams -- forceful enough to crack his voice -- carry over the cacophony of the collapsing warehouse, and even as the plants continue their destructive work, a tornado of flower petals envelopes the alien at the epicenter, pink petals intermingling with dust and dirt and plaster.
"Why does he always *RUN*?!"
The wind explodes outward, knocking over anything yet standing in the ruins of his fury, and once more, Fiore is nowhere to be seen.
A familiar pink flower, magenta, six petals of glossy magenta, stands in his place, a testament to the destruction wrought -- and a warning of things to come.
Dragging Kunzite along with Mamoru is more or less a requirement. This is also one of those instances when Kunzite's tendency to nonreact is an outright blessing: as Homura takes them into her power, as he goes from stasis to conscious -- well. His eyes widen; his jaw drops a little ... but he neither resists her nor wastes her nulltime with questions. She's a Puella. Questions can happen sometime when her magic is not invoked, and that is clearly not now. Instead, he uses his hold on Endymion to take most of the prince's weight on himself, and follows Homura's lead.
"If she can't get rid of it," he says to Mamoru, matter-of-fact, "then we find a way to cut him off from it." There's a list of possibilities to try already. Homura's time-tricks, Nephrite's wards -- Endymion's conviction. Which almost made it, just for a moment, already.
There are even a few moments when they can almost talk, behind the wall that Homura uses for cover, when time is flowing again. There's a clatter, but there's quiet after --
And then half a dozen vines punch through that wall.
Kunzite knows Fiore's fits of temper. Kunzite dealt with a corrupted and unstable Zoisite for an indefinite, but long, period of time. His hands lift from Endymion, and one of his dark shields flickers into existence around the three of them; a further gesture, and another blossoms on the far side of the wall, where Kyouko had been -- he can't see her, but she'd been standing still, and he doesn't need to worry about getting it wrong; even if his shadows formed their barrier through her, he knows from deeply painful experience that they'd neither harm nor hamper her --
But he can't see Jupiter. And she was moving. He doesn't know where she is. He can't protect her from flying brick, spintering wood, falling metal --
Granted, worrying about protecting Jupiter is a little like offering the sun a candle.
Homura looks back as her two 'passengers' come along with her. She sees Kunzite's surprise and says, "Oh, that's right. You never saw me do this before, did you? At least not from this end." She doesn't say much about it beyond that. In her mind there isn't much to say.
There. Now Homura, Mamoru, and Kunzite are safely behind a wall. Now they have time to talk, and strategize, and maybe figure out a way to handle this situation before it gets out of co-- WTF?!
Vines burst through the wall. Homura lifts up her carried rocket launcher to look into the holes those vines left behind, but she doesn't even get a clear shot from all of the debris and chaos happening inside. "You've got to be kidding me." Her tone is completely flat.
She sees Kunzite trying to shield those inside, but from her end there's not much she can do. If she went in now, she could accidentally touch one of those vines, and if that happened she'd only ensure they'd hit their mark, with Kyouko and Jupiter having no way of dodging them on their own. Instead all she can do is wait outside.
"Jupiter-san, are you alright?!"
She doesn't show any concern for Kyouko.
In the wake of Fiore's departure, the cacophony of destruction peters out into the smaller creaks, scrapings, and rattles of settling debris. The air is hazy with dust, lending an almost dreamlike quality to the scene. A few scant moments ago, they were inside a building; now, it's a scrapheap.
Homura's call is answered by a sudden upheaval from amidst the wreckage, some of the piled-up bits of warehouse buckling upwards and clattering out of the way of a less than pristine white glove. The rest of Sailor Jupiter emerges an instant later - bruised, scraped and disheveled, covered in dust and grime, and looking supremely annoyed.
"Oh my god," she declares, the words half broken by coughing up the lungful of dust she just inhaled. It only aggravates her further. "Mamoru-niisan," Jupiter announces hoarsely when she can speak again, "I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to kick your friend's ass."
She's fine.
In the middle of the collapse of the warehouse, vines everywhere-- creeping everywhere and jamming themselves through walls to wreak absolute destruction-- his friends yelling, Fiore exhorting the heavens, everything falling down, Kunzite throwing up shields--
Endymion's frozen, one hand grasping Kunzite's sleeve to the point of wrinkling it, the other on Homura's, and everything's breaking
his beautiful planet, covered in alien foliage and
nothing but wreckage
and as the dust settles and Homura's calling out to Jupiter and Kyouko's rustling over there and Jupiter's calling back and crankying at him, Mamoru's gaze fixes on the calling card Fiore left behind, and his response is both unreasoned and carried out with thunderously furious precision. His hand moves, and then his whole body moves with the swing, and blinding red lightning leaves an afterimage in the air.
There's no Xenian blossom growing from the wreckage of the warehouse any longer.
Just a single long-stemmed red rose, quivering from the impact and embedded in foreign leaf, foreign petal, and concrete.
He's completely still for a moment, and then he straightens up without looking at anyone. "Come to my place and I'll take care of your injuries," he says, white-faced. "That's something I know I can fix."