This is my first attempt at fanfiction. I'm doing this with what I feel is a fairly decent working knowledge of Sailor Moon, but I do not know everything, certainly. First of all, I have only seen about two-thirds of the North American Episodes. Of the Japanese episodes, I've seen #s 44-46 [the "Death" episodes], R #s 1-4, the R movie, S #s 1-4 and the first 8 Stars episodes. An important thing to note here is that I don't speak a word of Japanese, and most of these were not subtitled. Therefore, a lot of the dialogue in these episodes is hearsay on my part, what with the language barrier and the fact that my girlfriend won't let me read the synopsis for episodes I haven't seen yet. Also, not having seen her in action except in Stars [for which I have no scripts or even synopses], I have taken certain liberties with Pluto's powers and persona.

This story is written with the assumption that the reader has seen or read scripts/synopses for the following episodes: "A Friend in Wolf's Clothing," "Jupiter Comes Thundering In," and "Trouble Comes Thundering Down" [episodes #24, #25 and #64 of the Japanese series, respectively]. There are important scenes in this story which are found in those episodes. This storyline is based in the North American Sailor Moon universe [Zoisite is a woman, the Negaverse is the Negaverse, not the Dark Kingdom, etc.], except that Rei's and Zoisite's names are spelled according to the Japanese episodes.

I would like to thank Nikki "Jetwolf" Purvis for extensive advice, research, fact-checking and posting this whole thing up for me; DIC for bringing Sailor Moon to North America [without which I might never have seen it]; Mark "Professor Chronos" Sprague for help in translation; and the following for their pre-views of the story: Mark Sprague, Belial, Jessica Krewe, Kawaii Tenshi, Novareinna, and UPN Mulder.

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and all characters contained within this work are the copyright of Naoko Takeuchi, Toei Animation, Kodansya and probably lots of other big people I'm forgetting. I am using them without permission, but suing me because of it would be futile as I have nothing. Feel free to distribute this work around (for no profit, of course; I'm not making any...), as long the included text is unmodified. If you publish or repost it somewhere, please let me know.

Comments, criticism, flames, etc. welcomed (and, in fact, requested) at Ultrace@aol.com.

Rini was cold, wet and scared.

"Please, Luna Ball... Can I go home to my mommy now?" she asked, hopefully.

"No, not yet."

Rini moaned. "But I wanna use this key now to go back to her."

"Rini, you must be very, very cautious using the Time Travel Key. You know that."

"But why?" Rini protested. "I wanna go home!"

"Too dangerous. I know you're awfully young, but you've got to be brave, little one. To save your Mom's life, we have to find that silver crystal. I'm sorry, Rini, but you can't leave there till you find it. You're a good girl, Rini. Don't worry, everything will be okay."

"No. No!" Rini yelled, but the Luna Ball was silent now.

The storm around her worsened. More bolts of lightning arced through the air. She ran, terrified, but there was nowhere safe for her to run.

She clutched the small gold key in her hand.

"Take me back!" she yelled.

Threads of light shot out from the key. Things nearby began to float. A pulse of light flared for a fraction of a second, and disappeared.

The key did not take her back.

Something had gone wrong.

* * * * * * * *

Molly felt wonderful and terrible at the same time.

She was being carried in Neflyte's arms, away from the three youma who had kidnapped her as bait for Neflyte. He'd shown up and saved her--he really did care for her, her dreams had come true.

But to get to Molly, he'd had to fight all three of them. When she saw the cut on his left arm, she had become worried. It was bleeding.

She took a look at it after he put her down.

"I'm okay," Neflyte told her.

"No Neflyte, you got that cut because of me," she said. "Those evil creatures might come back. Come on, this way."

She led him by his other arm into a wooded section of the park. He followed without protest.

"Now, take off your jacket," she said as he sat down against a tree.

She could see as he was taking it off that the jacket was too dirty to use any part of it as a bandage.

Molly looked down at her shirt. She bit into it, ripping off a couple of strips that she used to begin wrapping Neflyte's arm. When she'd finished, he flexed it. "Thanks, Molly," Neflyte said.

Molly sat down next to him and looked out into the trees. She told him about the great chocolate parfaits they served at the cafe downtown that would be much better if he had one of them with her. To her surprise, he had agreed.

They stared at each other for a few moments. Anxious to break the silence, Molly asked if there were any holidays in the evil society he came from.

Neflyte looked at her for a few seconds, then chuckled. He began to laugh.

"Neflyte, you're actually laughing..."

Molly couldn't resist, and soon she was laughing hysterically as well. "Hey, it's funny," she said, "I'm laughing and crying too!"

It was only a second later that Molly heard something off to the side of them. She turned to look and saw that the youma had caught up with them.

"Neflyte! Look out!" she yelled, pushing him aside right before the thorns extending from one of the youma's arms thrust through her shoulder.

"Molly!"

* * * * * * * *

Neflyte managed to overcome his surprise at the attack quickly enough to realize that if he had any hope of saving Molly's life, he had to be fast. The shock seemed to have knocked Molly out.

The youma retracted her arm, leaving a gaping hole in Molly's shoulder. "Too bad, girl. That stupid move is going to cost you your life, and we're still going to get Neflyte!"

"You're going to die!" Neflyte yelled, not bothering to hold back his anger. He lunged at her, the sword that he had used earlier reappearing in his hand. Again, she was too slow to move, but this time, he didn't stop short.

He cut her head off.

Even before her body fell to the ground and turned to dust, he was after the others. The one in green and white tried to disorient him with her vertigo powers, but he was already heading right at her. He was dazed, but felt the blade of the sword shoot through her stomach, accompanied by an ear-piercing screech.

The third of them had fired a volley of small bombs at him. They hit before he had a chance to draw the sword out of the second. It hurt, but he wasn't about to be stopped. The smoke from the bombs was obscuring his vision, but he had an idea of where she was.

Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars came into the wooded area unnoticed.

Neflyte charged, using his body as a weapon instead of the sword. It worked, knocking the youma several feet back and giving him just the room he needed to swing down on her.

The entire fight took less than thirty seconds.

"Molly!" Neflyte yelled again, running over to her. He didn't have nearly enough energy to heal a wound like the one in her shoulder. He noticed Sailor Moon and the others. "Sailor Moon... Help me!"

"Molly!" Serena screamed when she saw the unconscious body. The Sailor Scouts ran over to where Molly lay.

"This is serious!" Amy said. "She'll bleed to death unless we get her to a hospital right away!"

"A hospital. Of course!" Neflyte said. He did have enough energy--barely--to teleport with Molly... Before anyone could react, he disappeared with her body.

"No, wait!" Serena yelled, even though she knew it was too late. "Tell me where you're going... There are a dozen hospitals in the city!"

"Maybe we can get to a phone and call the hospitals--see which one he takes her to," Rei said.

"It's all we can do," Amy agreed.

* * * * * * * *

Neflyte awoke with a start. He couldn't remember falling asleep, only teleporting right to the hospital and yelling for someone to help Molly. The staff convinced him to remain in the waiting room and got some vital information from him. After that, he must have sat down and passed out.

Having fought the three youma twice, he had been in no shape to take Molly anywhere, but he didn't have a choice. At least he was feeling better now.

He grabbed a passing nurse. "Excuse me, I brought someone here earlier. Her name is Molly Baker..."

She noticed his concern. "I'll see how she's doing."

It took a minute for a doctor to approach him. "Mr... Stanton?"

"Yes."

"The girl you brought in earlier, Molly... She was in surgery for the past three hours. Her wound was large, but fortunately it wasn't in a vital location. She lost a lot of blood, though, and she's in a unconscious state. It will probably be a few days before she regains consciousness. We're keeping her in ICU for the time being. "

"I need to see her."

"I'm afraid not... Not yet, at least. You've done all you can for her. You don't look too good yourself. I'll get one of the nurses to check you in and we can see to that arm and the rest of you."

"That won't be necessary. I'm alright."

"As you wish." The doctor walked off. Neflyte studied him as he walked away.

`I have to see her', Neflyte thought. He left the waiting area and found a hospital directory in one of the halls. With his restored energy, he teleported into the Intensive Care.

Serena, Rei and Amy had been standing down the hall, but they didn't recognize him.

* * * * * * * *

"It's all my fault," Serena said for the tenth time. She was crying--she had been ever since she arrived and heard about Molly.

"If only I could've convinced her about Neflyte..."

"You did what you could," Rei said, trying to be comforting, "but Molly is in love with him. She wouldn't have listened."

Serena's continual wailing was getting on her nerves, but she couldn't help but sympathize.

"I should've made her listen! If I ever see Neflyte again..."

"We don't know what happened," Amy said. "Neflyte seemed as concerned as any of us."

"How can you say that? This all happened because of him!"

"Serena, we can't do Molly any good here right now," Luna said, "perhaps we should all go home and get some rest. We can come back tomorrow, and I'm sure we'll be contacted if Molly's condition changes."

"Maybe you're right, Luna," Serena said. She didn't sleep well that night.

* * * * * * * *

Neflyte knelt down beside Molly's still body. She was pale, but apart from that, she looked the same... Pretty.

"I'm sorry I let this happen to you," he said.

"You may not be able to hear me, but I have some things I need to tell you anyway. You know that I've lied to you since we first met, but there was one thing I told you that turned out to be true.

"It took me until tonight to understand, but you really did teach me what love is, Molly. All my life I've fought for the Negaverse, never knowing how much it could hurt to lose someone that mattered. I never had anyone that meant anything to me. Now I do, but I could lose you, and all for this little crystal."

He held up the star crystal. It glowed faintly when he brought it near her. He suddenly wished that he'd never laid eyes on it.

"All for this star crystal that I was using to find the silver crystal..." he said to himself and paused.

...the silver moon crystal that was...

It all made sense now: why the star crystal reacted to Molly and nothing else. It didn't matter, though.

"I'm going to get the one who's responsible for this. I love you, Molly."

He bent over to touch his lips to hers, but there was an air tube in her mouth so he kissed her on the forehead gently instead. Then he left the hospital.

* * * * * * * *

The next day, Serena, Amy and Rei all met at the hospital.

"Molly's doing much better," one of the doctors told them. "She began steadily improving last night. If this continues, we can expect her to awaken within the next couple of days. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some other patients to attend to."

"Thanks!" Serena said, immensely uplifted.

"Looks like she'll be okay after all," Amy told her.

"Serena," someone said from behind. The three of them turned around. It was Neflyte standing there in a fresh uniform.

"Neflyte!" she yelled, taking a step toward him. "You've got some nerve, showing up here..."

"You're right," he said.

"Wh-huh?" she asked, completely taken off guard.

"If it hadn't been for my own greed, this wouldn't have happened to Molly. I used her when all she wanted was my love. That was wrong, and I don't expect anyone to forgive me. I've been nothing but trouble for her. You were right about me. She should have listened to you."

Serena was speechless.

"But I didn't come here to discuss the past. Here." He handed her two labelled envelopes.

"What's this?" she asked.

"I won't fight for the Negaverse any longer," Neflyte told her. "I want to help protect Molly and people like her. But first, I have a score to settle. A woman named Zoisite was responsible for what happened to Molly, and I intend to make her pay. If I don't make it back, give this envelope to Molly, and the other... To Sailor Moon."

Serena smiled a little. Neflyte didn't know that Rei and Amy were Sailor Scouts. He was keeping her identity a secret after all.

"Serena?" a woman asked, walking up to them.

"Hi, Mrs. Baker," Serena said.

"I'm glad to see you," Mrs. Baker said, "Molly will be happy to know you were here for her."

Mrs. Baker looked like she had been at the hospital through night and into the next day.

"She's getting better!" Serena said with a smile. Mrs. Baker smiled back.

Neflyte had been just staring the entire time. "Mrs... Baker? You're Molly's mother?"

"Yes. Are you one of Molly's friends?" Mrs. Baker asked. The stranger seemed a little old to be a friend of Molly's, she thought.

"Yes, I am. You have a wonderful daughter, Mrs. Baker. You should be proud of her..." He started to walk away.

Serena couldn't believe it. It sounded like Neflyte was about to cry.

"Is he alright?" Mrs. Baker asked, watching him leave.

Rei smiled. "I think so. Now."

* * * * * * * *

Serena ran to catch up with Neflyte.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I just wanted you to know I was wrong about you. I didn't think you could change, but you did. I've never been so happy to be wrong, and I'm wrong a lot..."

Neflyte almost smiled. "Take care of Molly while I'm gone."

"I will. Er, good luck."

"Thanks."

Serena watched him walk out of the hospital and disappear.

* * * * * * * *

Zoisite was in the cavernous underground she called home, deciding what to do, when Neflyte appeared. Though she knew it was only a matter of time before he arrived, she didn't expect it to be so soon.

She wouldn't let him know that, of course. "Well, well. It's about time you showed up. I thought I might have to send someone out to get you." She laughed.

"You failed, Zoisite," he said. "You failed to get the star crystal or to eliminate me."

"I'm about to correct both of those mistakes."

He held up the star crystal. "It's this you wanted, wasn't it?"

He squeezed the star crystal between his finger and thumb. It shattered, just like Zoisite's expression.

"All that effort over a useless crystal."

"What are you talking about?" Zoisite demanded.

"You don't know, do you...? There is no silver crystal. Beryl has had us searching for something that doesn't exist."

Even Zoisite's confidence couldn't mask her surprise. "What?"

"Centuries ago, when Metallia and Beryl originally dominated the Earth, their seven greatest warriors were imprisoned in the silver crystal, and somehow, it shattered into fragments that were sent to Earth.

"The star crystal was made to find the silver crystal, which doesn't exist as a whole, only as those fragments. I must have somehow guided it to Molly without realizing it. Perhaps I loved her then and didn't know it."

"You're pathetic, Neflyte. Falling for a human like that."

"I thought you might understand, since you have Malachite, but I guess not."

The sword appeared in his hand. "Enough talking. This is for Molly!"

He leaped.

Zoisite held out her arm. "Zoy!"

A wave of force knocked him back.

"Did you think I'd stand there and let you cut me apart like those stupid women?" she asked, with a laugh. Her own sword appeared in her hand. It was thinner than his, and slightly curved. "Goodbye, Neflyte."

* * * * * * * *

"What do you think it means?" Serena asked.

She'd felt compelled to open the letter Neflyte gave her almost immediately after she returned to the others. It only had two sentences written: "Find an entrance to the Negaverse's base at the D-Point of the North Pole. Be prepared."

"Looks like he wants to make sure he helps us, even if he doesn't come back," Rei said.

"It could be a trick," Luna told them. "After all, he is from the Negaverse. Some things never change."

"No way, Luna," Serena said. "He's totally different now. If you'd seen him, you'd know. He's been won over by the power of love..."

Before she could get carried away, Rei interrupted. "I didn't sense anything wrong about him... But what did he mean by 'Be prepared'? Be prepared for what?"

"It could mean that we shouldn't go after them until we're sure we're ready. There are probably people much more powerful than Jedite or Neflyte inside of the Negaverse base," Amy said.

"I don't think we're ready..." Serena said.

"Of course not! We still have to find the Moon Princess!" Luna reminded her.

* * * * * * * *

Neflyte staggered back against the wall of the cavern, clutching at his ribs. The fight was not going well.

"A pity, Neflyte, you're too weak. If you'd regained more of your strength first, you might have had a chance."

Despite a slash across her arm and another in her shoulder, Zoisite had come out on the better end, managing to reopen the wound on Neflyte's arm and get a short stab at his stomach. She was faster--and with his current wounds, stronger--than he was.

`Looks like I won't be having a chocolate parfait after all' he thought. His mind raced to come up with a way out of the situation.

"Now, I'll just have to get rid of you," she continued. "You see, we don't tolerate traitors."

"A simple question, before you finish me off... What would you do if Beryl asked you to kill Malachite?"

"What?"

He grasped his sword with both hands and swung it wide. Zoisite raised her own sword in defense, which was exactly what he wanted. He was aiming right for it, and knocked it out of her hand. She stumbled backwards.

"Damn!"

"You were always... Too easily distracted," he said, raising his sword for the kill.

"No!" came Malachite's voice from behind him.

Neflyte saw the crescent-shaped blade heading for him, as his head turned. To avoid it, he dropped to the floor--not a difficult task in his current condition. The blade embedded itself in Zoisite's chest.

It was the best opportunity Neflyte had to get out. If Zoisite lived, he could return another time. He teleported--barely--back to the safest place he could think of.

"Zoisite!" Malachite cried, going to her. He carefully pulled out the blade and tossed it aside, but its damage had been done.

"I wouldn't kill you... Even if it cost me my own life," she said.

"Zoisite... I'm so sorry..." There wasn't anything else he could think of.

"Hold me," she said. Malachite cradled her in his arms. "And promise me you won't forget me... Please..."

"Never."

Zoisite closed her eyes and dissipated into energy, leaving behind only a few handfuls of flower petals.

Malachite was silent in his mourning.

* * * * * * * *

It was two days before Molly woke up. Neflyte and Mrs. Baker were there for both of them, as was Serena.

Neflyte had recovered completely from all of his recent battles within the two days. He no longer appeared in his uniform and was instead wearing clothes that belonged to Maxfield Stanton.

Although Serena and Mrs. Baker were both anxious to visit and talk to Molly, Neflyte eventually got a few minutes alone with her.

"I'm sorry about everything that's happened," he told her. "If you don't want me to be around anymore..."

"Don't be silly, I'm just happy you're here. I remember your voice, telling me you were going somewhere. I thought you might not come back..."

"Going?" he asked. "I'm not going anywhere, now."

"I'm glad."

They both smiled at each other.

---

(July, 1996)