Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply, again..=)

Chapter Fourteen B

Zoicite coughed and raced along the outer wall of the Earthen Castle. He shielded his face from the billowing black smoke and prayed that a stray arrow from the battle raging on below wouldn't find its mark. And then he was there.

The tower raged before him and the heat, it was almost unbearable, almost. The door almost fell to ashes in his hand but he ducked in, against the fires, and staggered up the short flight of crumbling stairs. Zoicite burst through the burning door, his arm raised to his mouth to save his ragged breath, and fell towards the stake that held the limp golden princess.

Fumbling fingers found his dagger and quickly cut through the ropes that bound her. He didn't check to see she if was breathing, he was trying too hard to keep himself alive. She fell, unresisting, as the last rope was cut away, into his arms. Zoicite gathered Mina to his chest and ran for their lives.

Death almost swooped down to claim them both five steps from the door. A flaming timber collapsed and hit him squarely in the shoulder. Zoicite screamed as heat seared through to the bone and fell forward, his momentum carrying them both out of the pyre and onto the warm stone of the wall. He lay gasped; trying to draw fresh air into clogged lungs before wracking coughs took him. When he managed to sit up Mina was looking at him, her eyes pale, almost silver. She was burned, how bad he couldn't tell because of the smoke, and her breathing was labored.

"Rei?" she panted through cracked lips, in a near whisper.

"Jadeite," he answered as he took one pale hand and checked an erratic pulse.

"Ami...?" Zoicite averted his gaze and Mina, alarm on her face, dragged herself to a trembling sitting position.

"Kunzite?" she managed.

"Fighting Beryl and Sol." Mina nodded slowly and coughed as well.

"Go!" Zoicite paused for a fraction of a second.

"But..." Mina laboriously stood and swayed, like a willow in the midst of a raging storm.

"Go!" Zoicite nodded fiercely and sprang away, darting like a well-aimed weapon to the heart of one of the other towers, where the greatest mystery of his life, the greatest puzzle, was burning to death.

Mina, with one unsteady step after another, made her way towards her own heart, the center of the palace, where a man she had come to admire and respect fought for his life against a snake and the monster who had ruled the known Universe with a blood stained grip.

Jadeite panted as he held the Princess of Fire in his arms on one of the stairwells of the Earth Castle. Her face was pale under the soot and her clothes were mostly burned away, leaving ragged charred remains behind.

"Come on Rei, come on baby, breathe!" He cradled her, frantic hands tracing her face with singed fingers that trembled violently. Her eyes, those infinite pools of liquid amethyst, remained closed, long lashes still. Full lips were parted but offered, nor asked for, no breath, no life. Panic clutched his heart with a heaviness that made him fight for breath and he held the princess closer to him, chest constricted with unshed tears.

He could not, would not cry for her, even as he held her lifeless body, for tears would be acknowledgment of her loss, would bea tangible sign of his grief. "You will not leave me!" Jadeite growled as one hand ran through ebony hair so black it held blue highlights.

""Fate took away Endymion, insanity almost took Nephrite. My own cousin and family scorns me for what the creature I have served for five years and the things I have done on his orders... But you... Damn it princess, Rei! You saw me as a man, a flawed mortal. You never expected perfection from me Rei; you always told me you'd mold me into the perfect man... in my visions, in my dreams. You can't leave me... I won't allow it!"

His embrace on her slender form tightened and Jadeite's jaw clenched. And then, a miracle. Rei, Princess of Mars, took one spluttering breath and her chest; her chest rose and fell unevenly, but moved, as she came back to the living. Jadeite, face shining with wonder, moved to release her but the princess amazed him by clinging to his shirt, her burned face buried against his broad chest. She did not sob but she could sense her tears, and her relief.

"You came," was all she said, in a breathless dark whisper into his ear that thrilled him more than he could have thought possible.

"I dreamed you..." was his only, soft, gentle reply. Rei laughed and clung tighter to him.

Zoicite held Ami, Princess of Mercury, but he did not wait for her to breathe for herself, he gave her life as he unhesitatingly covered his mouth with hers and forced warm breathe into her, his hands pausing to push above her heart. He did not speak as he worked but there was an air of absolute grimness, edged with a panic that he refused to articulate.

She was beautiful, even covered in ash and burns, even as her azure hair lay spread lazily about her head, a seared halo that was more black than blue. As he pumped her heart, minutes later, an eternity that took his brief hope and shattered it, his hands brushed a warm chain. Zoicite swallowed and paused, unseeing, as he pulled out the necklace that held the symbol of Mercury. The pendant shone dully in the torchlight of the Earthen Castle and he dropped it, as if burned.

Tears filled his eyes, tears he hadn't even known were there, and his strength failed him. Zoicite sobbed as lay on top of Ami, sobbed as his heart broke. The greatest mystery of his life, love, was gone, and it was all his fault. He had failed; he had failed her...

One pale hand, trembling, hesitatingly reached up and touched his. Zoicite started and sat up, breath coming quickly as Ami took one shuddering breath of her own. Sapphire eyes fluttered open slowly and she smiled, a heart breaking beautiful smile that darkened her eyes to a vivid cerulean.

"Ami..." was all he managed. The smile widened slight and that fragile hand guided his to her cheek where he cupped it gently, wondering.

"So," was her barely spoken reply, "you finally figured out what the greatest mystery in the universe is." Zoicite smiled as he gathered her, so carefully he was afraid that she would break, in his arms.

"Yes," he murmured through renewed tears. "Love... I love you Ami." She did not reply verbally but the smile never left her lips and she rested her head trustingly against his chest before allowing her eyes to close again in sleep. He kissed her brow and knew, knew with a fierce sureness that death couldn't challenge, that his place in this universe was beside this woman, was beside this wonder. And, as the Earthen Empire and the Rebel Army fought for control of a broken galaxy that was, surprisingly, enough, enough and more than he had ever dreamed of.

Nephrite held a nearly catatonic Lita and prayed, desperately, to the stars, to who ever would listen, for help. He had seen the magic, amethyst and sapphire, shoot towards her and enter, had seen her scream and stagger back as her eyes flashed like terrible demented rainbows. It was frustrating; frustrating because they were losing and needed Lita, needed her strength. It was frustrating because Nephrite could sense the power she held, the power she had yet to use. Frustrating because he couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong and he didn't know how to help. He had faced armies, death, and damnation and yet this feeling of helplessness was far more frightening than anything that had ever happened to him. He held her the best he could, as the pools of blood grew around them, held her and begged the stars to help her, begged until he was near tears himself.

Ken touched Rose's shoulder and the woman nodded. The guard of Jupiter linked one ghostly hand with the noblewoman and the princess who stood with him. "Its time," Ken said softly. "They need us." No more was said as they glided from the rampart where they had been watching the unfolding of this terrible day, glided down through the chaos and confusion of pitched battle. Glided through carnage and death to stand beside Nephrite and Lita.

Nephrite looked up, cobalt eyes wide, as they appeared.

"Rose..." Nephrite whispered her name with such longing that Ken, embarrassed, looked momentarily away, but the General soon broke eye contact with his dead wife and looked at the living woman in his arms.

"Help us," he pleaded, "Help her... I don't know how..." It cost the General much to do that, to ask, to beg, but he did. Ken bit back a surge of surprised bitterness as he walked forward to touch the cheek of the woman he had loved past death. Lita looked, unseeing, at him and Ken's heart spasmed. He looked at Rose and Serena. The two women glided forward and Ken stepped back. He could not help, not in this.

Serena placed insubstantial hands on Lita's brow and Rose stood squarely next to the man who was once her husband. The Princess of the Moon let her intent gaze flicker to Nephrite and Rose.

"When I'm done, call her." She spoke no more, Ken was grateful that she had spoken that much. The strain of existing here, without Endymion, was a burden that Ken doubted that would have been willing to bear in her place. He would bless her into eternity for her sense of duty. Ken had not always supported the part of Lita that made her a warrior, a senshi, seeing the strength it brought Serena made him wish he had appreciated Lita's fierceness more.

Serena closed her pale azure eyes in concentration, her brow wrinkling slightly, as she let her mind slide into Lita's. He knew what she was trying to do... to defeat the Earthen Army Lita needed every ounce of power the princesses had given her, but with the magic came the planet's spirits. It was possible for a princess to control one planet's spirit, but for her to control four? She would go insane without Serena's interference because Serena was the Moon Princess, and as far as the planets were concerned, the future leader of the New Millennium.

Princesses could only control one planet; Queens could control all of them. It was part of the pledge the senshi made to defend the Moon and to serve the rulers of the Silver Millennium loyally. But the Silver Millennium was over and the planets, the unruly planets must obey a new leader now, at times like this, when the strength of them all must be combined, when no one was left but one to lead.Princess of Pluto, Guardian of the Time Stream, appeared suddenly, from the depths of battle, and went to stand next to Ken. She leaned heavily on her staff and her burgundy eyes held sadness.

"Her road will not be easy," Setsuna murmured to him. Ken spared the older woman a glance, no more than that.

"And will you ease her journey?" he asked, careful to keep the anger from his voice. Setsuna flashed him a startled look and smiled grimly.

"I do not belong in this world." Ken snorted.

"You belonged in it when Serenity ruled." Setsuna, head high, refused to be further provoked but colored slightly.

"Perhaps," she acceded, "But that was in the past."

"And Lita is the future." He would have said more but Serena chose that moment to open her eyes and step back from Lita. Her full pink lips were set in a thin line and she shrugged, hard, as Ken walked forward and put an arm of friendship around her slim shoulders. She was not crying but there were tears in her eyes.

"I did what I could. The rest is up to you." She spoke to Rose and Nephrite, the bewildered man who still held the woman Ken had once loved with all his soul. He looked away.

Rose touched Nephrite's shoulder and he turned to face her, licking his lips.

"What do we do?" he asked softly. Rose sighed once and swallowed. Ken refrained from going to her. This was going to be hard; hard enough to watch for him, he didn't want to know what Rose was feeling.

Rose looked her husband in the eye before replying gently.

"Call her." Nephrite frowned and raised a hand as if to caress Rose's face but she stepped back, pain in her face.

"I don't understand," Nephrite repeated intensely. Rose didn't answer directly but shook her head, unnoticed tears running down her face. Serena buried her head in Ken's chest and he felt her trembling beneath his hands. She knew what lost love felt like, and now she was watching someone break it. But Rose had to. Rose had to set things right...

"Rose..." Nephrite repeated in a small voice. She looked at him, looked at him with eyes full of determination and spoke, her voice rough but unwavering. She spoke to Lita.

"Lita, you are my sister, my friend, my best friend. You gave me the world, my first taste of happiness, and now it's your turn. I... I loved Nephrite with all my being and he loved me too. But his heart is so big Lita... Big enough for memories of me, and a burning flame for you.

He loves you Lita, or he will, one day. He's the man we used to dream about when we were younger, your night in shining armor. Love him back. Live Lita, with my blessing. Hold him, trust him, love him with all you have. The stars wrote about what you two will share, they decreed it.

Don't forget the past Lita, never forget me, or Ken, cherish it. Don't be ruled by past regrets though; don't use us as an excuse to deny the future. I love you sister, friend, and I love him as well but I don't belong here anymore. I don't belong here anymore and you two belong together." Rose laughed, a pain filled sound, and doggedly continued.

"Be free Princess, be all that you were meant to be." Rose looked at Nephrite and he bowed his head.

"I can't." Rose stepped back, joined Ken and Serena, but did not reply. Ken slipped one hand past Serena and held Rose's. Nephrite stood there, holding an unconscious princess in his arms as the battle raged on in the distant background.

"I can't," he repeated but he sounded a little less sure this time. Nephrite looked at Ken and Ken met the gaze squarely, chin jutted out stubbornly as his own heart broke.

"You must."

Nephrite sobbed softly, sobbed and nodded slightly. The General knelt on the muddy, red streaked ground, and gently pushed back the strands of hair that had fallen into Lita's closed eyes as he cradled her closer. His hand trembled once and became steady and when he spoke, when he spoke and the three of them along with the silent Setsuna had to strain to hear the words, the words spoken just for Lita alone.

"I love you Lita, Princess of Jupiter. I love you because I was born to love you. Because you are my one true love. And, you might not want to be and I'm sure you'll fight it every step of the way but your heart beats with mine and no one else's... Lita, come back, to me." Lita's eyes snapped open and they shone with a vortex of green and gold and cerulean and violet. Nephrite looked up. Rose, Ken and Serena were gone. The Princess of Pluto looked at him gravely and bowed slightly. Lita gripped his shirt.

"Help me up," she whispered. He stood and, arms wrapped securely around her waist, helped Lita to stand as well. As she raised her arms to call newly controlled raw power he stopped her.

"Lita..." Lita looked back at him and for one beautiful second her eyes flashed emerald. She leaned back, into his embrace, and kissed him roughly. Nephrite stared at her numbly as she broke away.

"Later, and I promise, there will be a later." She raised her arms again, face fierce, and called the magic of four planets to defend the dream of freedom. Nephrite looked up, looked up at the vaulted sky which hid the stars, and smiled. All was not right with the universe, not yet, but it was possible now. Sunlight struck the rose earrings Lita refused to take off and for once, for once the sight warmed him.

Author's Notes: Only one more chapter left, whoppee! And then, a funny fic. A funny, no brainer, easy to write, non angsty fic... Thank you, thank you, bless you!! Not that this hasn't been fun but sometimes I just don't feel gloomy enough to write this...then sometimes I do. ;) I shouldn't keep you guys in suspense too long. Email me and tell me whatcha thought so far before I post 15!

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