It's late, and Kyouko is going home from work at the conbenie. She doesn't work there as often as she did when she had no powers, but still pretty often- most evenings during the after-work rush at least. The old lady who runs the place seems grateful even for that, after her abrupt disappearance last time, but Kyouko has to split her time with hunting Witches again. Not to mention all the other crazy shit in her life.
She's walking along the sidwalk towards her apartment. She's in her usual getup, except she has a red-and-white striped scarf wrapped around her face and trailing behind her, and black tights on under her jean-shorts. Her hands are shoved in the pockets of her hoodie. She's tromping along, seemingly lost in thought and not paying particular attention to her surroundings.
"Kunzite is my brother," comes a voice from above and next to Kyouko, as its owner manifests on a windowsill she's passing. If she stops, he'll talk from there. If she keeps moving, Endymion'll slide off and follow on foot, hands in his pockets.
He's in black and grey winter clothes, stylish and understated, not at all stand-out. He looks perfectly normal -- he's even wearing his glasses -- except for the rusty grey-red eyes, and the lack of anything even remotely readable behind them. Even that's not so much of a change to your average person on the street, but he's been fairly readable to Kyouko for a long while.
"Why did you call him nii-chan in one breath and then threaten the hell out of both of us in the next? Which, by the way, don't do that. He's one of the only people on my side. I'll kill you if you hurt him."
Kyouko is genuinely startled. This is rare, but honestly, she hadn't been expecting the guy she had been planning a rescue for for weeks to suddenly materialize, looking well-groomed, and whine at her about affection-poaching. She nearly stumbles in her cold-weather trudge, turning to regard Endymion with slightly widened red eyes that narrow a moment later.
Still, her chat with Kunzite had given her a bit of perspective on the whole issue, and while a week or so ago her reaction might have been to henshin on the spot and try to spear him into submission for cleansing, she's no longer sure that is the correct course of action.. at least, pre-Walpurgisnacht.
So instead, she reaches up to pull her scarf down to free her mouth, which she then uses to say, "You, kill me? Your brainwashing must be deeper than I thought if you think you could kill me." She pauses a moment, then adds, "Threatening is how I show affection." Her eyes dart over his dapper form. "You look good." Except for the eyes. But she tactfully doesn't mention those.
"...I always look good," Endymion says with a cheerful shrug, "But thanks." He finally does slide off the windowsill, then, dropping soundlessly to the salty sidewalk without taking his hands from his pockets. "And I could kill you, but in this case it's hyperbole. He practically volunteers to get hurt, standing in front of me. We'll modify it for clarity--"
Here his hands come out, and he frames the statement with kinetic emphasis. "I'll seriously injure you if you seriously injure him, but I'll only kill you if you a) take him away from me," and yes Endymion seriously says 'a' and holds one palm out, and then mirrors it with 'b', "or b) stand in the way of the Dark Kingdom post-Wilwheatonsnot."
Hands, back in pockets. "To be fair, though, the latter only actually takes effect if you literally stand in the way. The important part here is, don't threaten Kunzite. The other important part is, why did you call him your brother? And why did he keep covering for you?"
Kyouko is sort of vaugely wondering in the back of her mind if she should call somebody. I mean, he's standing right here, right? Shouldn't she.. do something? But what? She's not sure, and so she settles for a slight, fangy sneer. "I ain't takin' nobody from nothin', but standin' in the way of the Dark Kingdom is somethin' I take personal pleasure in. After Walpurgisnacht." She has no trouble with the name. Must be a hidden Puella power.
She hesitates in the face of his latter line of questioning though. Seriously? Is she chopped liver? Gone for a month or two and everybody forgets about her to the point they don't even tell the new guy? So much for her satisfying imagined scenes of Beryl raging about the great, amazing, awesome General they lost. Goddamn, why does the fact that the Dark Kingdom doesn't miss her seem to make her feel /bad/?
"Because he was my brother, for a little while at least, okay? And he covered for me because he's an idiot who doesn't know when he should back off and stop risking his own butt for somebody else." She snaps, and then turns away, folding her arms. "What's it to you, anyway? S'not like I can come kidnap him in the night."
"You were close enough to him to know his blind spots. His weaknesses."
Endymion's voice is quiet and soft, now. Kyouko's turned away with her arms crossed, and the corrupted Prince doesn't move closer-- but his presence is thick in the air, heavy. It hums in the concrete beneath their feet, it crawls up buildings and streetlights and traffic signs. "You could use them against him. You could take advantage of the fact that he still tries to protect you, even if he denies it. I can't fix him if he gets hurt. That's why it's a concern."
But then the power drops; dismissed and banished, dispersed. "But you won't. Because you care too. I think we'll be all right, you and I."
Now it's Endymion who sounds tired. "Sakura-san, right? Are you going to fight Walpurgisnacht? Can I trust you won't backstab us there?" Apparently it's just more fun to say it wrong.
Kyouko isn't intimidated as Endymion's power floods the surrounding area, hanging heavy and dangerous in the air. She doesn't know how to be intimidated- or maybe she just pretends. Either could be true. She just stays facing the other way, arms crossed and a scowl on her face. When he finishes, her gaze drops to the sidewalk.
And then she whirls to face him, her scowl, if anything, fiercer than before. "Of course I care! I care about you too, you big idiot. Even if you make it damned hard sometimes." She sighs then, dropping her arms and looking off to the side. "Yeah. I'll be there. Not for him, or for you, but because I don't actually want anybody to die."
"As for backstabbing.. I dunno. Seems like the Dark Kingdom has a monopoly on that from where I'm standing. But you can relax.. if I stab you it'll be from the front. Pinky swear."
"Yeah because threats from you mean affection," Endymion says, rolling his eyes and reaching into his coat, like he's going to pull out a rose or something. But instead, he pulls out one of Homura's birthday beers. It's still cold. He tosses it Kyouko's way. "I basically stole half a case from the meeting. I don't think you got one. If it's any consolation, I wouldn't stab you in the back, either-- not so long as I have a choice. It's dirty pool."
Kyouko catches the beer. She glances at it for a moment, then cracks it open one-handed with her index finger. It's probably poisoned, because it's from the Dark Kingdom. Or maybe because it's from Homura. But she doesn't care because YOLO and anyway, Puella heal fast. She takes a swig. Maybe not poisoned after all.
"You ain't gonna get far like that." She advises her brainwash-kohai. "You stab anywhere you get the chance to stab. 'least if you wanna survive. Take it from me. I know a thing or two about surviving."
She lowers the beer and eyes him. "What are you doing here? Ain't the Queen got you on a short leash? Am I really important enough to come out in public just to question my affection for a former friend?" Does she sound slightly hopeful?
And the black-haired Dark Prince takes out another beer and pops it open, taking a swig as Kyouko schools him. His eyebrows are up. "Don't tell me to stab you in the back. You're not the boss of me."
There's a moment after Kyouko eyes him that Endymion just watches her, red eyes unexpressive, unreadable. "I'm not on a leash. Why should I be? She knows for a fact I'll always come back to Her and do anything She wants." He sips his beer again, then looks down at it, and clearly mentally goes 'screw it' and finishes the thing in one go.
He crushes the can in his hand and overhands it into a bin. "You're important, Kyouko Sakura. You're important enough Kunzite tries to distract Her every time She starts asking about you. I just didn't know it was you. I'd bring you back and get a pat on the head, but I've got artifacts to steal, energy to drain, Senshi to kill, and Guilder to frame for it."
"I'll tell you to stab me anywhere I want, jerk." Kyouko replies, taking another drink from the beer can, not seeming to care that she's underage and standing on the sidewalk in the middle of Tokyo.
"Yeah yeah.." She mutters as Endymion parrots his willingness to do anything the Queen wants. "I know how it is. Thing is, I also know how it isn't." She takes a step closer, her own eyes eerily close in shade to his, although in her case it's her natural shade. They meet his own. "I know cuz we got a lot in common, Prince. The Artist formerly known as Mamoru Chiba. We always did."
She raises her beer in a half-salute, then drains it as well. When he says she's important, and that Kunzite distracts the Queen from asking about her, she actually feels.. slightly warm and fuzzy inside. This makes her slightly irritable. "Yeah, fine. When you're ready to take me in, just come and get me, huh? I've been meaning to get back there and give the Queen a piece of my mind."
'I also know how it isn't.' ... Mamoru Chiba.
A lot in common-- and a lot that's not, sometimes.
Like the fact that for a split second, the boy's dull red eyes widen slightly, and he tries, tries so hard to think of something else, anything else--
And she says she'll give the Queen a piece of her mind, and what's left standing in the way snaps like a brittle twig, and his eyes glow a bright, inhuman red, and his face looks like nothing kind or giving or pleasant or compassionate has ever been on it, it's so cold. The smile that twists up one corner of his mouth isn't one that belongs on his face.
All signs point to Mamoru Chiba-- and even Endymion-- having left the building. Like, left it in the dust.
The voice he speaks with isn't really his, either; it's both too mocking and too alien. "I may just. Then you can help me kill Sailor Moon, Apatite. I'll make sure you don't fail this time."
Kyouko blinks. This is not a reaction she had anticipated. Nobody warned her about this. This is not like what had happened with her. Her breath catches in her chest, and for a moment she's frozen, unsure of what to do. Like a deer caught in the headlights.
And then he calls her Apatite, and says he'll make her help kill Sailor Moon. And, rather than fear, she fills with anger. Her lip curls back from her little fangs and she all but snarls at him. "Call me that again and I'll let you test that killing me theory right here and now. I'm /not/ Apatite." That denial is a little too heated, a little too quick.
"I'm not, and I won't ever be again." Her red eyes blaze as she glares at him. "Thing is, if you thought Apatite was dangerous, you ain't even prepared for Kyouko Sakura. So you just keep that in mind."
The thing wearing Endymion's face laughs, and there's a crackling red line across his stylish winter clothes that transforms them into his armor as he lifts lazily off the ground. "Do you think I care what you call yourself, little one? Do you think you matter enough for a name to mean anything? If you won't fight for me, all you are is more energy."
With a careless gesture, the glowing-eyed Prince starts pulling energy from Kyouko, a thin stream of it, excruciatingly slowly and teasingly-- as if to illustrate his point. He's also pulling his sword from the sheath at his side and alighting again, stepping closer. The beer had been nice. Why couldn't they stick with the beer?
It's uncanny. This is in no way Mamoru. But-- it makes the corners of his eyes crinkle even if the smile is all wrong, it makes his voice gentle even if it's alien and grates like a rusty razor on the sensibilities of people who know it as it should be. And he smiles, and he speaks, even as he pulls the sword back and carefully telegraphs the fact that if Kyouko doesn't move, he is going to stab her through. "I'll kill every last one of you and take it all."
Kyouko doesn't want to fight Mamoru, even brainwashed Mamoru. But, similar to the way he is currently, there's a beast inside her- unlike with him, it's always been in her. It's her anger, her long-cultivated self-defense mechanisms that make her lash out, and that have ruined so many of her relationships in the past. She hates it, but at the same time, it's a part of her.
And that beast has a hold of her now as surely as the one gripping Endymion. To call her Apatite, to insinuiate that she has no use other than as a tool or as resources- these are things that cut deeply because she fears they are true. And so her defense machanisms kick in, and she lashes out.
Even as Endymion's armor appears, a flash of red engulfs Kyouko as she henshins into her Puella form, her spear snapping into existence already in her hand. He begins to pull energy from her, and she can feel it- feel the Soul Gem at the base of her neck flickering with darkness. Snarling, she ducks to the side, getting out of the way of his sword and hopefully breaking the energy drain-
And then suddenly is on his other side, though she couldn't possibly have gotten there that fast, aiming a swift thrust of the spear at his side. "You think my ain't got meaning? It means something to me!"
Sip sip sip. Sigh. While tasty, this machiatto with more froo-froo than actual coffee just doesn't hold a candle to milkshakes.
Which she's not drinking. Ever again
THANKS, BERYL.
She wonders if drowning that...person in a vat of milkshake would be poetic.
No, Usagi, darn it. No thinking that stuff right now. You're on your way to deliver a special Paris Coat to Kyouko. Happy! Joy! Glee! Ignore the fact that this broad smile is hurting your cheeks in the cold! You can do it! You can--hide.
She's turned a corner, and while she finds Kyouko, she's also found Endymion. And even from where she could she could see the glow of the eyes.
And now she's safe behind a building, out of sight.
She doesn't call out her transformation, but deep with the alley, there's a faint glow of ribbons and Sailor Moon lands on the roof, setting a bag from Paris at her feet as she crouches low to watch.
What do I do? What do I do? Oh goodness, Luna, why aren't you back from Ami-chan's so you can tell me what to do?
As easily as Kyouko broke from the energy drain and ducked the sword, Endymion flinch-teleports away as he feels the tip of the spear clang against the metal plate there. He's instantly behind where he thinks she is-- in other words, where she was just stabbing at him from-- and slashing at her right shoulder. Apparently he's trying to disarm (ha ha) first; apparently this thing likes to play with its food.
"Sure, okay," the monster says with a bright flash of his red-glowing eyes, obviously unimpressed with her compelling argument. He kicks out at her knees. "You look like one of Beryl's, anyway, did you know that? Your heart is a stone, easily corrupted, easily swayed. What a precious toy you must have been to her, ready-made. But gifts and found-things mean less than things earned, don't they?"
The sword simply passes through Kyouko as Endymion slashes at her, and a moment later that 'copy' of the redhead fuzzes away into nothing. At the same time, she comes at him again- from two directions at once, both left and right. He'll likely have put together by now that at least one of these attacks is a feint. But which?
Right-Kyouko sneers again at his words , her red eyes (of a similar hue to his own, but not glowing) flashing with anger. "You think I don't know that? You think I don't know how weak I can be?" Left-Kyouko spits just after, "But weak or not, I'm my own person! I won't let anyone question that again!
There's something in the air, driving her on.. perhaps its the Dark Energy washing through Endymion. It calls to her body, like a drug she's only recently gotten clean from, and she can feel that pull making her angrier despite the knowledge that the smart move would just be to turn and get out of there.
Right-Kyouko snaps her spear into a chain-joined snake, whirling it at Endymion's head, at the same time that Left-Kyouko goes low, whipping the butt of her spear towards his ankles to try and trip him up.
Sailor Moon nearly gasps, managing to catch it before it escapes. Kyou-kun? She really feels like that? And the Not!Endymion, whoever it is that pulls the strings, he's just so...
I don't think that about you, Kyou-kun!!
She wants to shout this. She doesn't, of course. Something tells her 'not yet.'
Still, her hand grips the handle of a wand.
The last time she used this on him, he died.
It doesn't matter that it wasn't him, it still hurts to remember.
But she knows, even if history repeats itself, Mamoru would rather die than having killed a friend, regardless of whether he was in control or not.
Just...waiting for that voice to tell her 'now.'
As both Kyoukos attack, the possessed Endymion -- who cannot see through illusions, who cannot sense emotion or life -- vanishes without a signature again. It's overhead he reappears, and it's with a pile-driver of crackling dark energy force that he attacks, slamming it down on both of them. "Really? Are you really?" he calls down in a singsong.
Then he's pile-driving himself, coming down on Kyouko like an armor-booted missile. Whether he manages to hit her or has to tussle for it, he's laughing as he tries to steal the glowing red gem at the base of Kyouko's neck. He's laughing as he taunts her. "I can see your heart flicker, little one. The more you resist, the more it will hurt everyone else. You can save yourself, and you can save him, if you just give in willingly. He won't have to awaken with your blood down his front and your heart in his hands, and you'll be more than just energy! You'll be a soldier again!"
Both Kyoukos stumble as Endymion just vanishes- then re-appears overhead, a looming force of Dark Energy that smashes down into her, driving her to one knee and banishing her clone (it was Left Kyouko, btw). Gritting her teeth, she only just manages to hurl herself to the side as he descends, boot cracking the pavement where she had been a moment before.
Rolling up to one knee again, she has to force herself back to her feet under the miasma of dark energy blanketing the area. Her face is twisted in rage now, as he comes for her again. "I'm no soldier! I'm no tool!" He come for her soul gem, and she backpeddals, thwacking at his arm with her spear as he grasps at her. "I won't be a slave to anyone!"
But as the dark energy crackles around her, and as her anger intensifies, someone with a keen eye might notice the white hemlines at the borders of her outfit beginning to expand slightly, sending out crack-like protrusions of white into the blood-red of her clothing.. more every moment, as her anger starts to overtake her reason.
"Is it slavery when you're not even home?" laughs the Endymion-thing, sheathing his sword and just shoving dark energy at Kyouko, more and more, advancing on her and knocking her spear away with his forearm. Inside spear range, right? That's where he gets himself. He's not even trying to hurt her anymore. This is apparently more fun. "If you wake up sometimes and you're comfortable and people who love you are holding you safe? Is it? I don't think it is. I think it's kindness. A boon. A reward for a job well done, compensation for your use. I like you because you're so easy, Kyouko Sakura. You're so simple, Apatite. But you're not even worth that, are you? And you don't want to save him that much, really."
And then he lunges, grabbing for that gem again; his eyes blaze malicious red light and his smile is over-wide and gleaming, sharp like a shark's. If he manages to scratch it away from her, to swipe it right off her? Then his other hand reaches to grab the blanching collar of her costume, and he'll fling the gem up and away.
Kyouko is clearly panicking- not something she's prone to do, but the fact that she really doesn't want to hurt Mamoru, combined with the way his words are digging at her, combined with the dark energy battering at her defenses, trying to get in, calling to her so seductively.. she feels herself losing control of the situation, and it frightens her.
"But at that point.." She gasps, feebly now trying to knock him away, but her attacks uncoordinated, more flails than practiced counters, "It's not me anymore. And I won't let that /bitch/ Apatite.. have everything while Kyouko.. gets nothing."
But then he lunges for her gem, and her eyes widen as his fingers close around it. Like someone tearing your soul out. "Kyouko always gets nothing." She manages to gasp, before he tears it off of her chest and throws it away into the air.
Instantly, her body goes limp, like a puppet whose strings have been cut. At the same time, her henshin breaks, reverting her to her normal street clothes as she crumples, hanging limply from Endymion's grasp on the collar of what is now her blue hoodie. Her eyes are half open, glassy and staring.
Behind the safety of the HVAC, bright blue eye glint with a fury new on the pretty face. Thos words...how dare that thing use his voice to make those words.
She's out of hiding, mentally prepared to say screw everything and just go for it, but she sees him throwing something and Kyouko goes limp. And poor Kyou-kun, she'll get so many hugs from Usagi when this is all said and done... If she's, you know, alive. (Pleasepleasepleaseplease)
Instead of divebombing for the Wolf in Pretty Nerd Boy Skin, she lunges for the gem, catching it before it hits the ground. (Are you safe? Do I got you?)
"Get your own damn body..."
Now, Sailor Moon! It's fitting that it's his voice she hears.
The wand is there, and she's not even thinking now.
"MOON HEALING ESCALATION!"
Pure energy, cleansing and painful, sweep toward both Endymion and Kyouko. Before it hits, her desire to save, to protect, to rescue two people precious to her overrides any anger she's feeling.
The energy hits Dark Endymion just as Kyouko's weight is falling to tug at his arm, and he has a half-second to stare at those glassy, empty, dead eyes in nauseated horror before agony hits him like a freight train and he siezes up, back arching, dropping Kyouko's limp and lifeless body to the pavement.
He doesn't scream, and after maybe a second and a half, he manages to get his cape up between himself and the moonlight's determined healing and teleport--
--and it's his voice, hoarse and desperate, yelling from the rooftop across from them, "I'M GETTING HOMURA I'M SORRY i'm sorry..."
Dendy TXT: i think i killed kyouko pls help
Dendy TXT: <cross street>
Dendy TXT: moon here
Dendy TXT: im out
Kyouko flops bonelessly to the pavement in a heap, her lifeless eyes staring up at the sky without blinking. Her chest does not appear to be rising and falling.
Sailor Moon does, of course, scream, because she was right there to see the change, and he's gone, and Kyouko's falling and he's gone.
She rushes to Kyouko's side, gem still protected in her fist, and she's picking up the girl when she hears his apologetic cry.
She looks up at him, frantic and thoroughly annoyed and raw. "THEN GET BACK HERE AND HELP YOU JERK I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!"
Whether he does come back or not, her attention is back on Kyouko. "Come on, come on. I don't know what I'm doing. Wake up and tell me how to help you, you jerk!"
And of course she's crying, because everyone around her hurts and there's not a damn thing she can do about it.
As soon as Usagi rushes to Kyouko's side and picks her up, Kyouko's body jerks like she had received an electric shock. Her eyes suddenly clear, and she cough as her lungs start working again. "W-what.. what happened?" She asks blearily, blinking at Usagi as the girl supports her, crying and stuff. She looks thoroughly confused, but even so, she reches up to try and pat Usagi on the head. "H-hey.. don't cry.. I'm fine." Weak and confused, but, apparently, not dead.
"I CAN'T I MIGHT KILL YOU!" oblivious-Endymion yells down, missing the coughing-- but then there's movement he sees, and he shuts up and withdraws to text hurriedly-- updates to BOTH Homura and Mami, who he'd texted right after; he's biting back everything, suppressing everything again. And then he gets an answer -- Homura can see that -- so he just leaves. He's gone. And he hates everything again. And he also shotgunned a beer right before apparently killing Kyouko, so he's also leaving really fast because one of the things he's suppressing is his stomach.
TXT to Dendy: dammit i'm literally fighting for my life rn
TXT to Dendy: i'll be there in a bit
Dendy TXT: ill ask mami
TXT to Dendy: good idea. is kyouko's soul gem okay?
Dendy TXT: idk where it is
TXT to Dendy: is the red gem on her chest cracked or damaged?
TXT to Dendy: assuming she's still in henshin
Dendy TXT: /i dont know/
TXT to Dendy: aaaaugh
Dendy TXT: moon is with her
Dendy TXT: i woke up holding her and shes not in henshin and shes dead
Homura is on the scene a short while later, just in time to see Sailor Moon walk up to Kyouko and pick her up while holding her red soul gem.
Dendy TXT: ok ok i think moon fixed her shes moving now
TXT to Dendy: Yeah I can see that.
Homura's face is stone cold one instant and then very angry the next. She runs up to Kyouko and grabs her collar. "Dammit Kyouko don't you freaking do things like that. That red gem is literally your soul! Don't tell me you lost it!"
Homura's rage comes to an end as she sees Usagi start to cry. She releases Kyouko and steps back. "It's... it's not as bad as it looks. She just needs to stay in range of her soul gem or that happens. That's all. Seriously she can just walk it off at this point. Assuming she didn't crack it again."
...
"Did she?"
Mami was already out the door in a bit of a hurried panic (but an elegant hurried panic) when she actually got the notification of /where/ this had all gone down.
She runs up to Kyouko and - upon seeing that she's talking and therefore not dead - leans down to her. "What the hell happened, Kyouko-san?!" Yep, no last names right now. There might be tears - nope, totally tears in Mami's eyes. Just because one accepts the possibility never makes it any easier. Her hands are balled up at her sides. She is not listening to the things Homura is saying, because Mami, as Homura knows, has a much softer heart than she shows.
"NEXT TIME I SEE YOU, I'M GONNA SLAP YOU SO HARD IT WILL MAKE YOUR ANCESTORS DIZZY!"
Of course, the jerk startles Moon, which makes her cry more. Then her eyes open, which yep, more tears. And then she says she's okay, and Sailor Moon's pretty much a blubbering mess. And of course, Kyouko's all but wrapped up in an Octosagi Hug. "You jerk, you jerk, you jerk, you're not fine, I heard things, and you said things, and then you weren't breathing and--"
The rest is pretty much incoherent Moon Crying Babbles.
And then she's looking up at Homura. "I don't know! It was just tossed and I caught it!" She opens her hand to show it.
And of course, Mami's tears just makes her cry even more.
Kyouko is hugged by Usagi, and she's blinking rapidly, still not sure exactly what happened, although as her wits return she's starting to remember at least some of what went down in the last few minutes. "H-hey, c'mon hon, I'm not.. I mean I'm.. leggo, okay?" She tries to disentange herself from Usagi, but gently. She's not the type to say it, but the other girl's concern does mean a lot to her- she's just not prepared for it, after coming to so suddenly (which ironically is the sort of time such concern is usually warrented).
And then Homura is there, grabbing her collar and hoisting her and yelling at her about soul gems. Anger flashes in Kyouko's face. She doesn't even know why Homura is /here/, and the dark-haired puella is the last person she wants to see her in a moment of weakness, treating her like a child.
She thrusts her arm up, breaking Homura's hold and taking a step back, a scowl on her face. "You don't have to tell me that, I know what it is! He grabbed it and threw it, I couldn't stop him, it's not like I freakin' lost it in the bath!"
And then Mami is there too, and that doesn't make Kyouko feel any better because she's still mad about that whole gun thing, but the look of concern on her face (and the tears) do something to soothe Kyouko's defensive anger, and after a moment she looks away and down. "I'm fine, alright? All of you, just calm the hell down." Why is /she/ the one saying that, she's the one who was just basically dead!
Homura looks at the red Soul Gem, plucking it from Usagi's hand and examining it carefully. "You caught it before it hit the ground? It shouldn't have any damage from the impact, then. It should be fine if it wasn't cracked beforehand."
She looks between Mami and Moon. She is clearly, very clearly, a lot less worried than either of them, though it might go unnoticed since their attention is clearly focused elsewhere.
Homura decides not to get into the details now that Mami is here. She just lets Kyouko push her back, then steps forward again as she presses the soul gem into Kyouko's hand. She successfully resists the urge to punch the girl.
Homura turns away from the three of them, saying, "She really is fine. Nothing's wrong with her. Good job catching the Soul Gem, Sailor Moon. You did just save her life."
She doesn't bring it up, but she really does think that fussing about exterior hardware is a waste of time.
Sailor Moon stands now, trying to stop crying. It's a visible effort, fists clenched at her sides and face determined and maybe turning a bit purple until she remembers to breathe. Then it's little bull snorts.
Then, when she feels an appropriate amount of time has passed (thirty seconds? a couple minutes?) Homura's back is turned now, in either case.
And, since she's been banned from hugging Kyouko and the whole personal boundaries thing, Homura is her next target.
CLING!!!
Mami coughs a bit, seeing Kyouko's fine - and turns so she can /completly discreetly/ wipe the tears from her eyes. She sighs. "What are you even doing fighting him?" she asks. She's still a little perplexed about all of this, and Logical Fighter Mami is waging a somewhat losing war against Still Emotional Mami.
And then Mami is blinking a bit, looking between Homura, Kyouko, and the Soul Gem. There's a look of confusion on her face.
Homura hands the gem back to her, presses it into her palm, and the way Kyouko's hand closes around it proves she knows exactly how precious it really is. A moment later, it flashes back to being a silver ring on her finger, its default and most protected form. She continues to glare at Homura. "What are you even doing here, anyway? I wouldn't have thought you would care what happens to me."
But she sees Usagi cling to Homura, still fighting tears, and her scowl falters slightly, a look of discomforted distress briefly flashing across her face. "Sailor Moon.. thank you. I mean, what Homura says is true. You probably saved my life. I.. dunno how I can make that up to you." She turns her eyes away, down to the pavement.
Then Mami is questioning her. Kyouko misses the look at the Soul Gem, too busy feeling another flare of indignation. "What am I supposed to do, let him walk all over me when he shows up and starts giving me crap?" Of course, she had no idea just how powerful the thing which called itself Endymion really was- had she known, she likely wouldn't have made that mistake.
Grumpy Homura is in the middle of walking away when suddenly she's held from behind. She stops. She doesn't see who it is, but there's only one person here who would have the forwardness to just hug her out of the blue, and it's someone who she doesn't mind being held by.
She stands still. She isn't going to break away from Usagi when she clearly needs to hug something. She can't really turn around and return the hug either. Moon probably does get a face full of Homura's silky soft hair, though.
She doesn't respond to Mami because she doesn't see the face and she doesn't know the answer anyways. Kyouko on the other hand does get a response, in a much more even tone since Homura's currently being hugged.
"Endy-kun texted me in a panic thinking that he had killed you. I came here to investigate. That's all." She doesn't say whether or not she cares, and she doesn't come up with a better excuse to be here than the one she already gave.
She takes a deep breath, and though her nose is tickled by the soft hair, she doesn't really mind because it's soft and smells so pretty.
Still, though Homura doesn't pull away, she's doing that 'I Am Cool And Mysterious' thing some people do, and it's kind of hard to have the effect when one has a clinging bunny. So, brief, tight squeeze. "Thank you for coming."
And then Homura is free. FREE!
And then Kyouko's saying silly things about repayment. So it's suddenly her turn again for another hug. "Why would you repay me for saving someone precious to me? Accidentally!" Hair stroke. Face pet. "Silly Kyou-kun."
She doesn't know about the whole soul gem thing, either. If she did, she'd probably start crying again.
Mami looks at Kyouko. "I got the same message. I thought you had gotten your dumb fool self killed." Mami says. Using insults to cover up her worry - it's somewhat out of character, but this whole escapade is putting her awayu from her character.
"You really get yourself into too much trouble without me."
Kyouko glares at Homura's back as she explains her presence. "'Endy-kun' huh? I didn't realize you were on such good terms with the enemy." She says accusingly, glad nobody here knows about her secret chat with Kunzite recently (although to be fair that was confrontational, even if it was non-violent).
But then Usagi is hugging /her/, and stroking her hair and petting her face. Kyouko stiffens slightly, but she doesn't have the will to push Sailor Moon off again, and after a moment she returns at least the hug part of the affection.. managing a bit of a laugh. "Precious? C'mon, hon, we've only known each other for a few weeks, really.." But she sounds happy, despite herself.
Though that changes again as Mami speaks, and Kyouko is glaring daggers at the yellow-haired Puella over Usagi's shoulder. "Oh, is that so? Dunno, from where I'm standing it looks like I've done alright for the past /several years/." Stressing the fact that her partnership with Mami is by now ancient history, at least in her books. "Look Mami, it's cool that you'd come here to save my life, I ain't complainin', but save me the patronizing mother act, I ain't in the mood." Although she's still hugging Usagi.
"Oh don't get me wrong. I'm totally going to kill his boss one day." Homura turns around, after being released by Moon, before turning to face Kyouko. "... but I can't consider that man my enemy no matter what state he's in. Maybe that means I'm getting soft, but I really don't care."
Homura reaches around Moon to give her a brief hug before releasing her as Moon goes to hug Kyouko. Homura stands back, unwilling to show too much softness in front of the other two Puella Magi. "I don't know, Kyouko-san. This is maybe the third time I've seen you nearly bite it." Nevermind that Homura was directly responsible for one of those times and indirectly responsible for another.
She snorts a bit. "What's your point? I still have something for you from Paris, so neener."
Sailor Moon blinks. This is turning...heated. "Soooooo...Should I...go? Or hide on the roof again until I'm possibly needed?"
Despite this, she's snuggling, but she starts to loosen her limbs, juuuuuust in case.
Mami sighs. "You know what? If you don't want my help, maybe I should stop giving it to you." Her sadness is quickly welling to anger. "I dropped everything I was doing because I thought you were in trouble. But you're acting like that was a mistake." That's not explicitly, or actually, what Kyouko said - but that might be what Mami heard - in her tone as much as in her words.
"I should stop living in the past, is that what you want, Kyouko?!" she nearly shouts at her, even with Moon in the way. "You're not doing fine, none of us are doing fine, Walpurgisnacht is coming and I can't even have a meeting to talk about it without something going wrong!" Mami is in full losing-it mode, the emotional toll of 'kyouko's dead!' and then 'thanks but I'm okay go away mami' having set off who knows how many kilotons of stockpiled emotions.
Kyouko smirks at Homura. "Yeah, and I'm still here, ain't I? Seems like you can't get rid of me no matter how hard you try." Is she implying that Homura had something to do with /this/ attack? That's a bit of a stretch, but maybe Kyouko is just trying to get under her skin- not that she really needs to try.
Luckily she's distracted by Moon telling her she has a present! She looks genuinely surprised. "What? You did? You didn't have to do that." She actually smiles though.. then pauses as Moon asks if she should go hide.
This is when Mami explodes at her. Kyouko sighs, releasing Usagi. "That might be smart." She tells the girl before rounding on Mami, her scowl returning instantly. "I ain't sayin' it's a mistake, Mami, I'm sayin' it's a bit aggravating when you show up out of nowhere and start telling me how to live my life. God, if I ever seriously thought you were about to die I'd help you too, but I wouldn't stand there afterwards and rub your face in what a mess your life is." Which is clearly what Kyouko thinks Mami was doing to her.
And then Walpurgisnacht is mentioned, and Kyouko pause. She turns to glance over her shoulder at Homura. "Listen, Homura. I don't know what your game is and I don't approve of your being so chummy with the Dark Kingdom, but I'll still be there when the time comes, alright? I wanted to tell you that. I may not like you or the way you do things, but I ain't gonna let the city get destroyed either."
"If these two wanted to fight, I'd just leave. I had my fill of combat today when Riventon dropped a Witch on my doorstep." Homura punctuates her statement with a hairflip. "Just don't shoot up the street. People live around here. Also try not to get yourselves killed when Walpurgisnacht is literally a week away. It's kindof important."
Her tone is equal parts terse and cold. "There are only a handful of Puella Magi who have been able to stand up to Walpurgisnacht in past timelines, and the majority of them are standing right here. So for the sake of the entire city, please try not to get yourselves killed."
Mami starts to get angry, and Homura winces. Oh geeze. This is getting bad. Homura's eyes go towards Mami's Soul Gem... not that it probably helps. She tends to go nutty well before she starts Witching.
"It wasn't a mistake, Tomoe-san. Kyouko's just an ingrate. Thank you for coming, since I wasn't sure if I could." Homura really doesn't need a full Mami freakout right now.
Then she glares daggers at Kyouko. "If only getting rid of you was the hard part, Kyouko-san." Her glare softens quickly, as Walpurgisnacht is mentioned. She looks away. "Good. Because despite what I said in the meeting, I actually do need you there. Both of you." She states that as if she's the only one who cares about Walpurgisnacht. On a logical level she knows that's not true, but after fighting alone against that creature so many times it's how she feels.
"Yep! It's so cute and pretty, and thought of you right away!"
Then she sighs. And pinches the bridge of her nose. "Actually, I'm gonna bounce. I still need to figure if that skate party is worth several bruises on my butt. Kyou-kun, text me when you're free? Homu-chan, if you need help with Willydoodle stuff, let me know? Mami-chan--" She teeters a moment. "Nice almost meeting you again okay bye guys!"
Bounce, bounce, bag grab, bounce!
Mami's actually not sure what to do. Kyouko's been harder for her - perhaps because Kyouko is the only one of her pupils that isn't dead yet - usually they go off on their own and get killed. But Kyouko was also her longest-term pupil.
In a lot of ways, Mami is like a mother who can't let go once the daughter has left the nest. "Your life wasn't always a mess." she says under her breath, resentfully. Not that the things that happened are particularly Kyouko's fault.
Walpurgisnacht, and Homura's comments about Kyouko just being an ingrate, get her off the crazy train - for the moment. "Right. There's a world ending witch coming. Kyouko, can you please... PLEAASE... endeavor to not get yourself killed before we've saved Tokyo? Then after that I'll let you do whatever." She doesn't even say 'as long as you stop bringing random people to my house.'
God, like /one time/ Mami. Kyouko sighs a little bit, shaking her head. "Yeah.. alright. Well, I'll be there. Not like you can hide from a monster like that anyway." She says to Homura. Usagi starts to leave, and Kyouko gives her a small smile. "Yeah, okay. Maybe tomorrow after I get off work? I'll text you."
Then she turns to Mami, and the look she gives is hard to read. One part defiance, one part regret. "Don't worry about me, Mami. As I've tried to tell you, I can take care of myself." Recent events that have them all standing here notwithstanding.
She shakes her hand and stuffs her hands in her pockets. "Listen, this is fantastic and all but I gotta run. One way or the other, I'll see you guys next week." And then she's turning to just trudge off down the sidewalk towards her apartment.
"I'll see you around, Moon-chan. Thanks for being here." Homura spares her a brief smile before the other two Puella grab her attention again. Mami is hard to connect with, because Homura hasn't seen her as a senpai in over a decade, and Kyouko is just too aggressive for Homura to really open up to.
When Kyouko leaves, Homura doesn't even say goodbye. Nothing in this conversation is really going to dampen the hostility she feels, only delay it for a bit longer.
After the redhair is gone, Homura turns to Mami. "Actually, Tomoe-san, that meeting... may have gone better than expected. I've been in contact with the Shitennou. They intend to play a defensive role in the fight. I've seen what they can do in combat, and I think they're well suited to that. They've asked that we," a very intentionally placed 'we', "not shoot them in the back while they're tanking for us. If you could pass that along to the rest of Virtue, I'd appreciate it."
Mami sighs as Kyouko leaves. All of this is so hard to deal with. Maybe too hard... but she still has a job to do, so she pushes her hat forward a little bit and turns to Homura. Business, she can deal with. Business, she understands.
"I'll try to talk with them. V is still really hesitant, you know. Shoot first ask questions of the corpses hesistant. I'm not sure what her problem is. But I think everyone else will be fine."
Homura shrugs. "According to Kunzite, she's scared. She's a soldier, or at least she's trying to be, but I don't think her definition of soldier really lines up with mine. Whatever her damage is, I doubt I have much room to talk. It's not as if I don't know what it's like to suffer, or worry about losing a loved one."
She shakes her head, looking down at the ground. "I would still probably handle it differently than she does. Even if she doesn't feel like she has room for error, I think her reactions are a bit extreme."
Her eyes on the street, she does add, "... but I didn't give her any warning. Strategically, I don't regret that move. It was a calculated risk and I got the payoff I wanted... but on the other hand I do have to have to admit that I was very unfair to a lot of people, her included."
Mami looks in the direction Kyouko went for a moment. "Yeah, sometimes we all have to make sacrifices in order to get the ending we want." she says. It's relevant to what's in her head and to the conversation with Homura at the same time.
"Well, I'm certainly not going to be inviting her to any parties at my house anytime soon." she adds, stamping her foot a bit. Back to a more normal Mami. "Attacking guests is really rude." Then she makes a little bow. "Thank you for hosting it, Homura. I appreciate that you were willing to open your home to so many people. Walpurgisnacht is something we do really need to work with everyone to handle, and that would've been hard without getting them all together. So thank you very much."
"We do." Homura agrees. It's something she knows first hand. "I guess we all made that choice when we made our Wish, didn't we? Well all knew that it was a sacrifice."
Looking up, she turns towards Mami. "Thank you too, Mami. I would not have felt comfortable hosting that without you there, and you did help get the word out." Homura returns the bow, saying, "Regardless of our differences, I do think it's improtant to cooperate when we can, especially for things like this. I am glad I'll be able to side with you."
She pauses again. Without any more business to discuss, the situation is getting... awkward for her. "Speaking of... I should probably head back."