The only way he could describe death was that it was like being in a timeless and bodiless floating sleep. If this is death, that is.

He did not so much think, but more dreamt. Or, was it remembering? They came to him faintly; brief flashes of what had been his life. Slowly it was being pieced together, these moments he relived sometimes over and over. It went like continually, this unchanging sleep of memories. Then, something changed...

"Nephrite-sama!" he thought heard a familiar sweet voice call out his name. Where am I? he wondered.

He could not tell how much time had passed but he was now quite sure he was very much alive. He felt the air pass his chest as he took a deep breath of the cool night air. He brought his hands to touch his face as if skeptical it was really happening. He opened his eyes for the first time in what he knew must have been a while, hoping to see the angelic creature that the voice belonged to. Still, his vision was coming slowly, and all he could see was a blur of colours. Bit by bit, a figure came into view in the midst standing in the tall grass of what he recognized to be his garden. Tracing his hands across his body as if to belive it was truly there, he could tell he was wearing the same bloodied shirt and trousers he had died in, though against his chest his wounds were gone. It was taking him a while to refamiliarize himself with his senses.

When the image before him was finally clear in view, his finely chiselled face twisted to a frown. I must be dead after all. All he saw was the tall stature of Jadeite, and no one else. Looking to one side, he saw the expanse of a vast forest that backed his garden and the small still pond before it. On the other side in the near distance was the mansion itself, windows dark and empty. There was not a sign of her.

"Nephrite, so you really are here at last! But why do you look so confused?" he heard Jadeite call out to him. He had made no effort to hide his disorientation and his face betrayed it all.

"Where are we? Surely this isn't hell." He sincerely hoped it wasn't.

Jadeite snickered. "Hah, close. We're on Earth. Strange you wouldn't recognize your own hideout."

Nephrite gawped at him incredulously. "Truly, you can't be serious. But how? We're both supposed to be dead." He glanced around at his surroundings and it did indeed seem very real. But it can't be, he told himself. By the expression on the blond Shitennou's face, Nephrite could tell he was enjoying knowing what he did not.

"No, I never died. The Negaverse is over, Nephrite, and when Beryl was defeated the spell of Eternal Sleep was broken."

"And the others? Kunzite? Zoisite?" asked Nephrite interrupting, "Are they all revived as well?"

"No, Nephrite, you're not listening. As far as I know, I am the very last one left."

"But then, how did I come to be here?" he asked again.

"Ahh, with the help of this," Jadeite smiled slyly, holding up the sparkling amber music box.

"Impossible," Nephrite whispered, taking it in his own hands and examining it. He remembered well how it worked now. He pulled out his own gemstone from the chain around his neck and saw that they were one and the same. Something was not right.

While he was examining it, he did not notice that Jadeite had stepped a few steps back to get something hidden behind the tall grass and was now returning carrying something else. He soon saw it was someone else.

"Perhaps it might seem more possible if I told you I also had the help of this," said Jadeite, as he carefully watched for Nephrite's reaction.

Nephrite looked up and saw that cradled loosely in Jadeite's arms was a girl with wavy reddish hair covering her face. He did not need to see her face to know who it was, but reached out to brush the hair away anyways, letting his hand linger on her cheek. Her face was wet with tears and she looked almost the same as he remembered, save for her hair was a little longer. He stared at her face now rather sadly, at the sweet girl who had made him do things he never thought he would do. So he had heard her after all.

Yet as his eyes travelled across her visage, he noticed he had overlooked a somewhat obvious fault in her condition. She was unconscious. Jadeite most likely noticed this, and spoke to answer his question.

"I'm here because I need to speak with you," said Jadeite, eyeing him superstitiously and feeling rather uncomfortable, "I needed to – silence the girl for a moment so that we could speak undisturbed."

This news caused Nephrite befall overtaken by fury and in a split second he had his hand at Jadeite's throat and Naru slung over his other shoulder.

"How dare you!" he shouted, "What did you do to her?"

"I- just – drained out – enough – energy to – give us – an –hou-hour—I-sw-sw-sw-swear," the younger Shitennou choked out, struggling to breathe. Evidently, he had not been prepared for such a reaction.

Nephrite tightened his grip on his throat before he forcefully flung him to the ground. Moving Naru from his shoulder to hold her against his chest, he then started towards the house. Jadeite got up, coughing a little and rubbing his throat to stagger after them.

"You know, I know she'll be alright. I've done it before." Jadeite explained when they had reached the study. Nephrite was setting her down on the same chaise where she had been under similar circumstances only weeks before. "When gathering energy for Beryl, at the jewellery store," he added to be clear.

Nephrite could not stay angry at him. He knew what Jadeite said was true. He ran his fingers through his long dark hair and sighed as could remember only too clearly doing the same thing and even more than once. He yielded.

"Very well, Jadeite. And what is it you want?" he demanded. He cast one last look at Naru before he walked back onto the terrace.

For once, Jadeite seemed attentive as he followed him outside. "Firstly, I was hoping that now that you've been – well, departed – whether you remember anything about our lives before we joined Beryl. It's been tearing at me, all this not knowing who I am." Again he looked sombre and lost as he gazed up at the stars.

Hearing this, Nephrite took out the gemstone encrusted music box again and looked closely at the delicate gold engravings. In his mind he remembered a sad little song, the stars used to seem to chime for him.

He nodded to Jadeite. Death had made him remember it all too well.

"You were right. It's best Naru isn't here to hear this."