Part XIII

"Oh gods Jae! I have to warn the Queen," Diana says in a rush, leaping to her feet only to be pulled back down by Jae.

Before she knows it, she's being held firmly in his arms. She leans up and kisses him fiercely.

He pulls back and meets her tear filled eyes with his own.

"I love you," he whispers.  "Now go warn the palace."

"I love you, too," she says, before running off.

Two hours later, HLM freezes in her tracks.

"M-chan?"

"N...Neph...my worlds are under attack," HLM says softly.  With a flash of darkness, her gown of silk is transforms into full battle armor.

"You can sense that...?"

HLM nods and kisses him once gently before stepping away.

"I know you're not free from the bitch queen.  I love you, Nephrite. Even if you can't truly return that love,"  she says in a quiet voice. "I...just wanted to let you know that if I never see you again."

She bites her lip, gazing gently at him one more time before disappearing in a swirl of pitch darkness.

Nephrite looks after where HLM last was.

"But you're wrong, M-chan, I do love you.  Even if I can't in the Dark Kingdom."

Diana fights a huge youma that just seemed to appear out of nowhere and attack her.

"You friggin' monsters don't make things easy do you?! Eeeek!"

She shrieks in surprise as the monster blows up in her face.

"Oh yuck, monster guts," she mutters as she runs headlong into Jae's chest.

"Diana? Is that how you think of me now? Monster guts?" Jae asks, a grin twitching one corner of his lips despite himself, as he steadies Diana.

"Jae?!" she jumps in surprise.

She starts to hug him, but realizes what she's covered with.

"Oh love," she whispers, "I don't want to fight you."

"Neither do I," he responds, tenderly wiping some entrails off of her face, "I just had to see you one last time."

Diana nods sadly, reaching up to wipe an errant tear from Jae's face.

"I'm so sorry this had to happen," she whispers.

"So am I," he whispers back, hugging her, "so am.."

The pitter-patter of not so little feet is heard as guards run down the hall towards the room the two of them are in.

"Go, Diana, I will try to see you again soon...off of the battle ground," he whispers.

She nods, tearing herself from his arms. "I love you," she whispers before running towards a group of youma in another room.

Diana chokes back tears as she helps drive the demons from the palace.

Four months later, HLM appears before Serenity and Endymion who are in conversation with Diana.

"M-chan!" Diana cries, catching the falling warrior as she collapses.

"Gone," she whispers as the Queen of the Moon and Prince of Earth join the two on the ground. "My beautiful home...my people...gone."

She sobs once before passing out in Diana's arms.

After HLM is resting in her quarters, Diana rejoins the Queen, Prince and now Princess and Senshi, minus Mercury, in the war room.

"Were you able to speak with her? How is she doing?" Endymion asks with concern.

"Hai, we did speak briefly, and she's doing well, considering she just went through four months of nonstop combat, witnessed her entire race's extermination and also the total destruction of her worlds," Diana sighs sadly.

Mercury steps in, "Yes, she is resting now."

Serenity looks down at her slim hands with great sadness.

"Diana, retire to your quarters for the night, you're radiating exhaustion," Serenity says in her soft voice.

"But my Queen..."

"Go," Endymion says, resting a hand on Diana's armored shoulder, "you've done far more than your share these past months. You need
sleep, and some time to yourself to get over Ja...err...your lover."

Diana swallows painfully, cringing and bowing her head.

After her last encounter with Jae, she's buried herself in work to avoid longing for him.

Endymion sweeps her into a friendly hug.

"Anyway, we've got enough people to take care of things at the moment."

Diana can only nod again.

There's silence in the room before Diana clears her throat.

"Thank you," she says softly, hugging Endymion back and then taking a step away from him.

"Goodnight, all."

She walks to her rooms in stone-like silence, closing the door behind her when she enters her dim bedroom. The only light illuminating the room is from the light of the earth and stars shining through the window.

Diana leans back against the door, closing her eyes.

When she opens them again, they're drawn to a picture of herself and Jae sitting in a frame on her desk.

She goes over to it, lighting the candelabra sitting there.

She looks at the image of her and Jae, dancing happily in the earthlight, oblivious to everything but each other.

She picks up the picture and kisses the image of Jae.

"Oh gods...what am I to do without you, Jae?"

She hugs the picture to her chest and falls to her knees, sobbing hopelessly.

Part XII
Part XIV
Beginnings and Endings Index