Unforgivable

Tonight, Queen Beryl has sent her favorite servant-slash-enforced-boyfriend to Tokyo to acquire another human who carries a reborn soul from the Golden Kingdom - some of those souls are destined to become powerful youma, some courtiers - and especially unlucky souls become a more permanant part of the Dark Kingdom's decor.

This particular soul is one of the latter - a weak soul with limited memories or strength to speak of. In fact, the only reason Endymion's chase has lasted so long is that the person in question has developed an acute desire to run away, and Endymion isn't actually in a hurry to do his job. This has resulted in the fearful man tearing through the doors of the Game Center Crown with Dark Endymion in close pursuit.

The delay has also resulted in Beryl watching the goings-on personally from her throne, via the crystal ball. Not that it's particularly difficult or uncommon for her to spend time watching Endymion.

The rando-- excuse me, innocent civilian, a salaryman in his mid-thirties somewhere-- who runs into the arcade, gasping and panicking, thinks he's safe. A crowded space, right? A crowded place he can get lost in. He should be fine in here!

But then, right in front of god and everyone, Dark Endymion immediately comes through the doors after him, eyes bright red and armor obvious and cape flaring out behind him. He shifts, and suddenly he's right next to the guy and he's grabbed him by the tie, lifting him up to eye-level.

People are already either running away or making hurried and dignified excuses to leave quickly.

"Li-san," the Dark Prince's voice comes, gentle and with a hideously perverse form of affection, "do not flee your Prince. I've come to take you home."

And then, of course, there's Usagi. Halfway into a sip of her milkshake, she jumps when the man races in the Crown, and freezes in her spot when Endymion enters.

Those eyes....ug.

She creeps out, trying to remain unseen, because she's seen both these eyes and the preferable rusty, not at all glowy.

Of course, she has her milkshake. Because, well, Usagi.

A few minutes later, Sailor Moon appears!

"Hold it right there!" Um. Crap. She's Justice Speeching at her boyfriend, who currently is in no way her boyfriend. What does one even say? Or Speech? "Though your beauty is transcended and none other holds a candle, your heart is currently muddled with ugliness! As your most loyal Art Critic, I, Sailor Moon, cannot let this injustice slide! In the name of the moon, I will punish you!"

Crap...Other people, get here quick! She's not quite sure she can do that!

Also, yes, she's sipping her milkshake when the speech ends.

It's a darn good milkshake.

    Is Rei Hino caught in the confusion of the fleeing crowd? Who knows? It's a busy arcade, she comes here often, and the black-haired miko could easily blend in with everyone else.

    Sailor Mars, on the other hand, is very clearly here, mere moments after Endymion shows up, busting through the front door just at the tail end of Sailor Moon's flirting justice speech, just in time to sweatdrop at it.

    Pointing an assertive finger at Endymion, Mars shouts, "Put that man down. Don't you see he has enough stress in his life without your pushy recruitment methods? In the name of Mars, I'll chastise you!"

    Mars then twitches. She's trying not to be mean but she just has to say something. "Moon-chan this is no time for a milkshake!"

Daisuke Hansuke had intended to come to the Game Crown to aquire one: (1) massive cold-based stomach ache to think things over. Instead, a worried man pushes past him and he blinks. Huh. Okay. He's willing to let that pass- maybe he's in a hurry to make a date on time (But why would someone that old have a date here!?) or maybe he's late for a bussiness meeting with the propiter and wants to look more unprofessional.

Oh, and then Dark Endymion appears, goes to grab the man and says some things.

He nope-slides back out the door and turns to the alleyway.

He transforms in an alleyway and teleports his way back into the Game Crown instead of walking his way into the door. He appears in a safe spot of 'on top of an arcade cabinet.' He frowns, dissaprovingly. He looks around and then sort of taps his staff loudly against the bottom of the Arcade cabinet as an attention grabbing manuever.

"That man. Belongs to himself." he snaps.

He says nothing else. Anything else would be kind of silly-- 'snap out of it, Chiba?' he figures that has abousltely zero chance of working. Still. He feels kind of ill facing this down.

He raises his staff and points it down at Dark Endymion. This is kinda like a mosquito facing down a flyswatter, but well. He has to do /something/. He actually doesn't attack, there's others suddenly arriving-- Moon, Mars, that can actually do something to him.

And then there's a tremendous, giagantic feeling of pressure - like there's a cold, vile hand wrapping around the hearts of those present, like the very presence of whatever's coming means doom.

The feeling is there for a moment before a black gateway opens in reality, and Queen Beryl steps out of it, heels clacking on the floor underneath her dress, skin pale in the flourescent light, weilding a bone-white staff with a red jewel on the tip.

She grabs the man out of Endymion's grip and throws him backwards through the portal like he might as well be a rag doll, before it closes. Then she puts a hand on Endymion's shoulder, eyes narrowing as she looks at the Senshi and Daisuke.

"Can't I even send my lover on a short little errand without needing to also call pest control?" she asks, before leaning down and whispering something in Endymion's ear.

An arch look of unutterable hauteur takes hold of the face of the Dark Prince, and he actually legitimately sneers at Sailors Moon and Mars, at Asclepius. The guy whose tie he's gripping is kicking his legs and trying to get purchase on the floor, his hands up and clinging to his tie, trying to prevent it from choking him; his face is red and starting to purple. Endymion doesn't even look at him, doesn't falter under his weight, borne in one beautiful scholar's hand.

And then that feeling, and even before the black portal opens behind him, he's smiling. It's a malicious smile, dark and corrupt, promising kicked cats and wings pulled off butterflies.

The moment Beryl grabs the man and throws him through the portal, the red glow leaves his eyes and he looks in moderate alarm at the heroes, eyes that dull rusty red Usagi's come to associate with an at least somewhat more human Dark Endymion-- but Beryl's hand lands on his shoulder, and immediately his eyes turn to her and his expression fades for a second. It rallies into something businesslike and penitent, and he bows his head.

"My Queen," the black-haired boy says, tone somewhat sheepish. "I didn't realize he was coming into a place that our enemies watch--"

And then she leans down and in and whispers in his ear, and he blushes brightly, shifting his weight a little uncomfortably before closing his eyes and saying apologetically, "I'm sorry, my Queen."

Sailor Moon huffs and sets the milkshake down on a table. "Ug. Fine, Mars. See? Now it will get all melty and--"

Whatever she's about to say next is cut off by the look on Endymion's face. So cold. So...not him.

The moment Beryl appears.

The horrified gasp escapes her before she can stop it at the word 'lover.'

And that whisper...

Something so intimate should not be so public.

And then the victim is gone, and she curses at herself for being so...distracted.

"Hey!" She can't help but try to break up this...thing. "I-If you're going to have a...a..." She cannot bring herself to say 'lover's quarrel.' It just sits so wrong on her tongue. Both in regards to Beryl, and to those eyes. "Dispute within the company, try not to make it so public."

It's perhaps a tiny bit obvious she is not going to be handling this well.

    The sudden pressure grabs Mars's full attention, and the sinking in her gut heralds the Queen's arrival. The senshi of fire is so sick in her stomach right now. When Beryl speaks, Mars's teeth clench together as the poor victim is tossed inside the dark portal. With Beryl standing in the way, the miko can't do a thing to help him.

    Raising a trembling fist at Beryl, Mars shouts, "Creeping on that poor boy. In public! What's wrong with you?!"

    The answer to Rei's question is a very long list. The impatient reader will be glad that it was a rhetorical one.

    Whatever those whispered words, Mars doesn't have to hear them to know that she doesn't like them. Already she is thinking of strategies, tactics, and battle plans, but with the current forces being arrayed there doesn't look to be much she can do. This is a hopeless battle, one that they should run away from.

    Yet Mars's feet stand firm. Not everything in this world comes down to strategy.

    "You really have no reservations about kidnapping a man in broad daylight, do you?" Mars throws her accusations more at Beryl than at the brainwashed Endymion. However scary his eyes are, the senshi knows that they are not his eyes. "I cannot let that go unanswered. For this and other crimes, I'll purge you from this world!"

    Mars's armss are spread wide, palms turned inward, fingers curled. Flame ignites, dancing around her fingertips. It rages, hungers, even as Mars brings her hands together, thumb touching thumb, palms forward.

    "FIRE SOUL!"

    A wave of fire washes over the arcade. Magical fire, that doesn't devour or destroy the carpet, or machines. Most non-magical items aren't even harmed by it. Dark powers aren't so lucky, and both Endymion and Beryl should feel the unbearably angry heat coming from Mars's attack.

    Usagi's milkshake may melt a bit. Most non-magical items are safe, not all.

    "I'll never forgive you, Queen Beryl!"

Asclepius is sort of sickened by the pressure of an arriving Queen Beryl- something he's felt once before- and maybe hoped never to have to feel again. But here it is, is of all places and he has to actually get his bearings again- and by the time he does, Beryl's already throwing the man throw a portal a he's too slow to do anything about- weird teleporty powers or not.

"Queen Beryl- this unforgivable!" he calls out. Though, Sailor Mar's already spouted this sentiment- he bears it needs repeating.

Though Beryl's probably used to these hero speeches by now.

Oh then things get really creepy there and he feels slimy just watching this go down like he might actually slip if he takes a step forward. That's how slimy.

Metaphorically speaking of course.

He teleports somewhere behind Moon and Mars.

This is the safest spot to be right now- since attacking just might kind of annoy either of the two Dark Kingdomites in the room.

Their reactions are fast, Sailor Moon's words stuttering out on top of Asclepius', and half swallowed by the call and the roar of Fire Soul. Endymion's eyes are snapping to Usagi's voice, and there's something behind those rusty eyes that she recognises very, very, very well. It's only there for a fraction of a second before his eyes flare bright again and he moves--

--directly between the eight or nine feet of blood-red-haired Dark Queen and the holy, purifying flame.

His arms fly up, gripping red and black fabrid, and his cape makes it up before the lengthy blast of supernatural flamethrower hits... but it's up to shield Queen Beryl, not himself. Endymion takes Fire Soul directly to the chest, head back as if to scream, but biting it back and not making a sound.

Certainly it's fire and it burns, it chars his uniform, it hurts him with its heat-- but it attacks the darkness which suffuses his being, and that makes it so much worse. On the other hand, at least Sailor Moon knows that her Mamoru's tanked third degree burn attacks and suffered a full energy drain afterwards and lived, so this shouldn't give the jacked-up-on-dark-power Dark Endymion too much trouble, but...

...he stepped in front of it. He just tanked for Queen Beryl.

He's gasping a little for breath, eyes closed.

Queen Beryl nods at Endymion's apologetics. This is an appropriate way for him to behave in her view, after all. And that little bit of acceptance will likely serve to reinforce that view.

Then suddenly there's a gout of fire headed towards her. Beryl is unconcerned. She knows what will happen - and it does, as Endymion interposes himself between her and the attack. She looms out from behind him, hand back on his shoulder, glaring at Sailor Mars. "Fool."

But even then, it's actually Sailor Moon's actions that draw a response from her. But it's a different response than finding her in the graveyard drew from her. It's a slow eyebrow raise.

"Oh, does it bother you, the way we talk, Sailor Moon?" she says the Senshi's name with an aura of infinite and unending disgust, like one might talk about a natural disaster or war crime. Her hands slide along Endymion's shoulder to his neck, dancing a little, and she's begining to pull him close to her, another hand coming up to cup his cheek. And she gives Sailor Moon a side-eyed glare. "Does this BOTHER you too, little girls? I'm not creeping on him. Endymion is MINE. He has always been mine. He will always be mine. And..." her eyes turn to glare at Sailor Mars again "...if you try to hurt me, he will protect me. Because he loves me."

And that's when she presses her lips against his.

Sailor Moon knows that look, knows those eyes, despite their color. Her heart leaps into her throat and then--

She cries out as the fire strikes against Endymion, eyes widening with fear.

And it's over, and his eyes are closed, and her heart is still in her throat but for different reasons altogether now. It doesn't matter that she knows he can take it. It doesn't matter, because she knows that had to have hurt.

And then...Beryl does that.

Her fists clench to the side, and suddenly she's shaking as she studies her boots.

"Love?" Her voice is low and tremulous, but when she looks up, her tears are from sadness, they're from anger. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

It's a short burst, and unintentional, but the glass rattles in the windows.

She probably doesn't even noticed. "He was never yours. Even now." Fury lances up her arms, and something pokes it's nose out, sniffs the air, but senses that emotion Sailor Moon has yet to decipher, so it goes back to hibernate.

"If he loved you, you wouldn't need to use that thing to control him. If you loved him, seeing him do that would tear you apart." Her eyes grow defiant, and she's this close to realizing what that ball in the pit of her stomach is. "And he will never look at you the way he looked at me!"

    Violet eyes gleam as Endymion tanks the fire for the evil queen. So that's how it is. Sailor Mars half-expected this outcome. It just makes an already hard battle that much harder.

    "Endymion, that isn't the woman you should be protecting!" That isn't the woman who should be kissing him, either! It makes her sick. The lies that Beryl tells herself aren't helping at all. "I'll bring you back to your senses even if I have to beat them into you!"

    Mars is a bit more accepting of the idea that she'll have to go through Endymion than Moon probably is. If they keep to the same pattern, of Endymion tanking for Beryl while Beryl refuses to dodge, then it gives Mars an option she can use. One that Beryl either hasn't considered or just isn't worried about.

    It would be good to find out which. Mars can't actually win here, but that doesn't have to stop her from testing the waters.

    "You're deluding yourself, Queen. Do you really love him back, or are you okay with watching him taking hits like... this!"

    In an instant, Mars is in motion. She isn't charging at Endymion. She's charging at Beryl. She expects to be intercepted by Endymion, since he's already in the way. When and if he does, he'll recieve a flurry of firey punches ending with a high kick into his side. She intends to put her money where her mouth is by putting her fist where Endymion's mouth is.

    She's also trying to lead him away, force him to focus on her and create an opening for Mars's allies to attack Beryl, and if he does break from her to protect Beryl, she'll attack Beryl with another firebolt from a different angle.

    She isn't trying to aim at Endymion. She's aiming at Beryl and expecting Endymion to take the hit for her. It's probably her best option for wearing him down.

Asclepius sort of eye twitches at all this, because that's all he can do. He sort of raises his staff and it comes thwipping down to point at Beryl and Endyimon. "'Queen' Beryl..." you can almost hear the quotations slime out around that word. Almost.

"I have a distinct feeling you don't actually know the meaning of that word, 'love', or if you did, you've forgotten it and something more sinister has taken it's place in your vocabulary!" he snaps.

He decides to help Mars- firing off a quick burst of purplish energy. It is not particularly strong.

But it's something.

Mars is bearing down on her, and all of the three of them are saying things which have effect perhaps explicitly because they ring true somewhere deep down where Beryl has hidden things.

Mars is rushing towards her - and Beryl has feelings for Endymion that don't extend to her other subordinates, including a willingness to expend some of her own energy to protect him. There's a hand on his shoulder and she steps in front of him - steps forward into Mars' oncoming barrage, leveling the staff forward. She steps forward as a black wall of negative energy erupts from it, covering her and Endymion as she pushes forward, her face contorting as she responds.

"I have done so many things for him." she adds. "I have ended empires for him. I have destroyed worlds, all for him. And here you three stand in front of me..." she says, continuing to walk forward with that black ward pressing attacks away. Pressing anyone who doesn't want to taste that vile energy back. "... and I don't even need both HANDS to push you around!" she adds, demonstrating this by taking one hand off the staff and using it to pick up a milkshake - usagi's milkshake, of course.

"And he will look at me however I will tell him to. He will do whatever I want. There's nothing I want from this boy I cannot get, nothing he will not do."

Endymion is next to her again, and she leans against him - leans on him like a lover does, despite her massive height advantage, presses against him. And she's looking at Moon, glaring at her as her tounge reaches down to tease the top of the straw before she takes it into her mouth and slurps up the last of Usagi's milkshake. "His obedience - That's my reward for what I've done for him, sacrificed for him. He should love me. And he does, now."

Endymion is kissed; Endymion does not resist. He's recovering relatively quickly from Fire Soul; he's caught his breath by the time Beryl's cupped the side of his face, come around a little to tilt it up so she can bend down and kiss him. He stays where she puts him, he doesn't tense, he doesn't flinch, he doesn't-- anything.

They're busy telling her this isn't love; their words echo the look that had been on Zoisite's face before he'd fled from Endymion over just such a claim.

He's busy faintly, vaguely wishing somewhere in the back of his head that he could lose time on purpose without actually doing vile things. He's being kissed--

--he's figuring out the cube root of every combination of the numbers 3, 5, 7, and 9.

She lets his face down to step in front of him, to shield him from Mars' latest attack, and he stands there, dazed, not really home. It's different from 'someone else is home'. A lot different. It implies thinking of England.

As Beryl comes back over to him and leans in, pressed up against him and slurping Usagi's milkshake, Endymion's looking straight ahead. He's not tense, he's not protesting or shying away, he's not struggling in the slightest.

For a moment, she bites back the bile that's been threatening to rise since the kiss, the intensity only doubled with the straw thing.

And then he gets that look in his face. And the expression she sees makes her wish his eyes were red again.

"I've never had to rape him." Call it like it is.

And then her tiara is off. Instead of throwing it, it's tight in her fist.

And she's rushing forward, disregarding the effects the dark energy has on her. She'll lick her wounds later, goodness knows she has plenty of those.

"Moon Tiara BRASS KNUCKLE PUNCH!"

She is, of course, aiming for Beryl. But she knows the hit won't land.

That's why she's coming from the side.

Because, even if it's just for the moment, she will punch him through a fucking wall if it means he can be away from that woman for two seconds.

    Mars's fists hit against that dark barrier, over and over, fury increasing against the immovable object, wanting to reach through, wanting to break it. The ending kick sends a ripple through the black wall, but it doesn't shatter. It's only then that Mars stops, eyes filled with rising apprehension. She's now realizing just how little her rage means. One red high-heel steps away, followed by its twin, as she backpedals away from the dark prince.

    "You don't love him! You just want to possess him! Don't try to pass off your creepy milkshake drinking as affection!"

    Mars may be yelling at Beryl, but her eyes are focused on Endymion. The blank stare, the stare of one enduring, of one checked out, of one who clearly has no choice in the matter. Her shoulders fall, along with the corners of her lips. He doesn't love her at all. There isn't even a pretense or fantasy of love there. How could...?

    Enraged, she turns to Beryl, speaking her mind loud and clear. "How could you?!" One can almost hear the sympathetic heartbreak in her face. To see this done to anyone... is inexcusable!

    To Mars, Beryl was already in a hole, too deep to come out again, and now that hole is at least ten times deeper. She was already beyond forgiveness. Is there even a word for this new low?

    In a low voice, almost a mutter, Mars says, "You're not even human, are you? Ending empires... destroying worlds... the Endymion I remember... would never love a woman like you."

    And speaking of the kind of woman that Endymion would love, Sailor Moon goes in for a punch. Mars predicts interference from Endymion, so her plan... is to interfere with Endymion. "Go for it, Sailor Moon!"

    What Endymion does for Beryl out of being forced, Mars does for Moon out of love. Immediately and without hesitation, Mars is throwing herself at Endymion, arms crossed in front of her, trying to rush him and distract him long enough that he can't defend the Queen.

And as predicted, someone else is driving Endymion, his eyes flaring bright red again as he moves to step between Beryl and Moon, and Moon's Brass Knuckle Tiara is headed right for the boy. His face is pulled into a cold, mocking smile; someone else is home. Someone who enjoys the chaos and suffering being caused here, someone who loves the darkness and death and the bubbling hatred.

And that someone, wearing Mamoru's body, is crashed into like a ton of bricks.

Sailor Mars and Dark Endymion go flying into a table, bringing down another couple of them on their way toward the wall; the clatter is deafening as chairs and tables and dishes and glasses tumble and smash or clang together or break.

A second passes before Endymion's hand is around Mars' neck and he's laughing, and he begins to drain her energy.

It's that moment, though, where Endymion steps in front of Sailor Moon's attack. It brings to mind, like a twisted funhouse mirror, another moment where a boy stood in front of a girl, where he took an attack meant for her in a war. Like this, but not like this.

Sailor Mars takes him out of the way, and Sailor Moon is there - and Beryl hears what Moon and Mars both say - but she FEELS that MOMENT as much as any words - and so Sailor Moon's punch amazingly connects.

Beryl makes a hiss of pain, and yet she rolls with the punch, turning around, and blasting Sailor Moon with that staff at close range.

But those memories - the memories of that moment, of what she did, of the boy who stood in the way of his love - they seethe at her, and the mighty queen is DECIDEDLY off her game right now.

She's moving over to grab Endymion, to grab him before something happens to him today like happened that day so long ago - but still she retorts. "I don't WANT to possess him. I DO possess him. That's the reality you need to understand."

"I can see in her eyes that she thinks she loved him, but she'd never do what I did for him. Or maybe she would, but she doesn't have the strength." Beryl says - she doesn't know Sailor Moon is Princess Serenity, but she knows Tuxedo Mask protected Sailor Moon, and she's not dumb.

"Maybe once he cared for her too - but I've changed that, can't you see it? But I guess that's why they say finder's keepers, loser's weepers, isn't it." she hisses. It's a juvinile insult, one pulled from her time before she became Beryl again. But she's hurt, she's shocked, and she's ANGRY. But she also needs to defend her prize - risky to let him get involved like this now - and if he can extricate himself from Sailor Mars, she's going to take him back with her. Where he belongs. With her.

Sailor Moon is...actually surprised the blow lands. But she's panting too hard to enjoy her victory. "He'll never look at you like that and mean it. Never surprise you with that small smile, just for you." And then, it seems the cat's somewhat out of the bag. "You may have destroyed kingdoms. I would have given up a dynasty for him, and then you killed him."

She sneers at Beryl, and she finally identifies that feeling. Hate. For the first time, she feels hate festering in her stomach. "I never wanted to posses him. And who he was before you took him? Means even more to me now. If I had seen a shred of happiness from him when you paraded him around like some sort of prized animal, do you honestly think I'd stand in his way?"

And then, still panting, she leans over and whispers in Beryl's ear.

    Mars's tackle works far better than expected, pushing Endymion away from Moon, away from her Princess, and through several tables. Mars ends up on top of Endymion, knees propping her up, arms pushing against his chest. Raven hair falls around her head and frames Endymion's face, making the red glow of his eyes just that much more eerie.

    That actually worked. Huh.

    Endymion's hands are around her neck, and Mars feels herself weakening. On instinct she grabs his arm, trying in futility to pull it away. When her arms don't do the job, her knee moves sharply upwards, going right into his side.

    Yes she could've gone somewhere else, but she isn't that heartless. The poor boy suffers enough as it is.

    The energy leaves her body, and her grip around his arm loosens. Her sleepy eyes are half-opened as darkness surrounds her. Violet eyes look into glowing red. She hates those eyes. So before the last of her energy leaves her, a strong slap goes across his face.

    "Stop it..." Another slap. "Stop it!"

    She's fading fast, and it wouldn't take Beryl, or anyone really, much effort to push her out of the way. She'd just fall to the side like a ragdoll, lying there and hoping that someone would be able to help her.

The knee in his side makes him jerk, hand loosening, and the slap actually stops him from draining Rei's energy. Instead, Dark Endymion stares back at those violet eyes, and the glow in his flickers for an instant before it goes out and he drops her to one side, making a tiny choked sound in the back of his throat.

There's a lot of whispering going on in this scene. This is another instance.

As Endymion turns over to his side and hauls himself up, his face passes by next to the Soldier of Passion and War's ear briefly, and his dark hair and the angle are enough to obscure the fact that his lips move, brief and quick, in passing.

But then he's getting up the rest of the way, unsteadily, greyish-red eyes dull and blank.

Queen Beryl wraps Endymion up - literally, her arms grabbing around him as he gets away from the Sailor Senshi of Fire, and her hands clutch at his back in almost an air of desperation, that someone might try to take her away from him. And then with what Moon says, Beryl snarls back a last bit of barb - some spoken, the rest whispered.

"You will never get him back, little girl. He belongs to me now." Her fingernails might well be digging into his back with how tightly she presses him against herself. "And I will take everything else from you, too - everything I don't already have. Family, friends, worlds." The words she says seem to spark understanding in the Dark Queen. And then there's her own barbs-laced whisper back before she pulls the two of them through a portal that tears its way into reality, leaving the way she came.

Is it the threat that does it? Is it how Beryl pulls them both away? Or is it that last bit of whispering hissed against Sailor Moon's ear?

Either way, she's screaming, screaming, screaming at where the two had just vanished from.

The Crown may be closed tomorrow to repair their windows. She wants to pull her own hair out.

And then, bad friend that she is, she remembers Mars.

She's crying, yes, but she's still just so angry. She kneels beside the Senshi of War. "You better be okay, or I'll bring you back to life just so I can beat you up for dying on me, you JERK!"

    Mars is trembling at Moon's touch. Weak. Her body is warm, alive, but she is shaking all over. Endymion's drain took a lot out of her, and she barely has the strength to keep her eyes open, let alone move.

    She laughs at Sailor Moon's words. It's a weak laugh, a series of shallow barks instead of her usual continuous string of mirth. After a deep ragged breath, she says, "I'm alive... I'll be fine... I'm just... tired..."

    She rolls onto her back, head turned to the side, eyes looking up at Moon. She studies her for a moment, looking her over. "Are they gone?"

Her shoulders slump in relief, but that knot between her shoulder blades, the one that's been there since a rooftop and gloved hands around her throat, tightens painfully.

"Um, yeah. She took him and...and..."

With Mars' okay that she's all right and certain whispers in her head, Sailor Moon makes a dash for the restroom.

    Mars watches as Moon runs off to the bathroom. While waiting for Moon to come back, Mars lies there and rests. She reaches up to grab part of a nearbly toppled table, using it to pull herself up. She manages to sit up, leaning against it, while waiting for her strength to return.

    After a moment she just starts laughing. Probably at her own folly.

AT SOME POINT- things go hilarously way too hairy for Asclepius and decided that he'd be better if he was actually alive and not dead by the time this was over- which is why he teleported away until things had calmed down or things got particularly dire to a safer corner of the store- probably just peeking up from the stairway to the Fruits Parlor Crown. Which is a good thing because he thought of a REALLY good idea to potentially jar Endymion out of...whatever... with he only words he ever saw that caused a severe reaction in Mamoru Chiba.

'It's a Matching Set!'.

Which would had been followed by the glorious color purple.

That didn't happen because being alive to help afterwards is better. So when they leave.... he reappears. Sailor Moon dashes to the bathroom. She's okay.

He looks at Sailor Mar. She is /not/ okay.

He walks over to Sailor Mars and leans down to help her up. "Sit down." he offers, pulling a chair over. "You're hurt."

He readies his staff to do the healing thing.

Finally, finally, she's able to come out of the bathroom.

Asclepius is before Mars, about to heal her or already is.

So. She's managed to not only make things worse for Endymion (whispers tangle in her head) but Mars is here, and it's not like she did anything to help with that.

Catching Mars' eye, she takes a step back. Her boot crunches on glass.

She wants the old glass, cracks and all.

She shakes her head at Mars, briefly, horrified, enraged, and just about everything in between.

So she does what anyone would do.

Okay, she does what no one else but stupid Usagi would do.

She runs.

    Mars looks up at Asclepius from the table she's leaning against. Being helped up is rough, since her legs don't really want to stand right now. She sits down in the chair, saying, "I don't think I have much of a choice, here."

    Well, at least she can form a complete sentence now. Her strength is returning after being drained, and the healing will help.

    There's a brief moment of eye contact while Sailor Moon, full of emotion that she doesn't know what to do with, shakes her head. Mars doesn't have a response. After Moon bolts off, Mars sticks her tongue out, before whispering, "Bye, Moon-chan."

Asclepius looks to Mars and sighs he raises his staff and lets his healing magic get to work. It should make Mars feel better momentarily. Maybe enough to follow after Moon- or at the very least, get back home. He can't really heal anyone fully here. He sighs.

"Yeah, just relax a moment. This will just take a moment...."

Then he pauses.

"So it's really that bad with him..." he mutters.

"Is she going to be okay? I'm a little worried, but I'm afraid this isn't really my domain to help in- and normally I'd offer milkshakes but I feel as if that won't help matters this time."

"Considering." he takes a deep breath.

He withdraws his staff. "I'm done. Are you able to walk? Otherwise. I can do my best to get you somplace." he offers.

    Mars holds out her hand, curling and uncurling her fingers to check to make sure her hand still works. It was, after all, an energy drain that did her in, and while she's not in any fighting condition it's nothing that she can't sleep off.

    Mars stands up from her chair, her vigor restored. "Thanks, Asclepius... and yeah, it's that bad." The senshi of fire stands silently, searching for words to say and finding none. Eventually she settles on, "I should go after her," and immediately bolts out of the door.

    She could yell at Moon for leaving her like that, but she probably wont. Instead, she's more likely to just... be there for her. Maybe help her kill a youma or two.