Part X

They all rush into the next room to see what's going on.

What they see horrifies and amazes them.

The room is totally destroyed. Not one piece of furniture or decoration is still in its original state, even the floor, ceiling and walls have gashes in them.

The source of the gashes is facing off against Neph. From the back of each wrist protrudes a sharp bone claw, easily as long as her forearms.

"HLM?" Zoi whispers.

Beryl appears behind the group, arms crossed over her chest. She grins evilly.

"Your dear little moron was teetering amazingly close to insanity," she sneers.

Jae whirls on her as HLM makes a dive at a rather scratched up, if not rather confused, Neph claws first. He leaps out of the way just in time to avoid a slash that digs its way into the wall instead of him.

"What did you do to her?" Jae snarls at Beryl.

"Same thing I did to you!" She turns her attention away from him and to HLM. "Moron! Attack these four! They are your enemies, they killed your mother!"

When HLM looks their way, they all shudder to see fury added to the blood lust.

She dives at Jae, who happens to be closest.

Flashback:

The day after HLM arrives at the Moon Kingdom, Diana and Jae walk into the training room, puzzled at the smashing sounds coming from within.

They're amazed to see HLM in there, practicing an art neither of them has seen anything like. They also see through her body language that she seems to be angry for some reason.

"M-chan?" Diana asks.

HLM looks at the two of them, as if surprised to see them there.

"Uh...yes?" she asks after composing herself.

"What's wrong?" Diana asks.

"Oh...I'm...homesick, I guess the word would be," she says after a little hesitation.

"There's something else," Jae observes softly after a few moments.

HLM sighs and nods, shoulders slumping.

"Would you like to talk about it? I hope it's nothing any of us have done."

"It's nothing you did. I'm just angry with myself."

"Oh?"

She nods, sighing softly. "I shouldn't be feeling the way I do about my guardian and guide."

"You seemed to like him pretty well before," Jae comments.

"That's just it," HLM sighs, "I like him too much."

Jae smiles. "There's nothing wrong with that," he tells her, slipping an arm lovingly around Diana.

"Really?"

"Really."

HLM smiles widely.

"And remember," Diana chimes in, a sparkle in her eyes," we're your friends, and if you ever need help in any way, just call."

"That's the memory for her, Diana! The one for Nephrite is the same one that worked on Kunzite and Zoisite," the sword tells her.

In a flash, Diana is in front of the enraged HLM and solid.

As she reaches up and presses her fingers to HLM's third eye, she feels a claw pierce her side.

The Moron's eyes roll up in the back of her head and she passes out with a moan, tearing the claw, agonizingly out of Diana's body.

Diana shudders as she feels warm blood flowing down her side and is about to go into spirit form when Neph tackles her.

She screams in pain upon impact with the hard floor.

"What did you do to her?!" Neph screams into her face.

"This," she answers very softly, returning memory to him at last.

When he goes into a seizure on her, she feels like begging someone to get him off of her.

She can't however because of the extreme agony she's in. With every jerk of Neph's body, lightening bolts of burning pain lances through her mistreated body.

While Zoi attends to the twitching HLM, Kunz gently rolls Neph off of her, leaving Jae to gently gather her into his arms and press a hand to her bleeding side.

Diana gasps in pain and leans into Jae's arms.

"Love...let Zoi heal you! I'm not going to loose you again!" Jae whispers.

She forces herself to catch her breath like she taught herself to do years ago.

"No...she needs all her power to defeat Beryl and Metallia..."

"You need your strength, too! We don't need you dying on us! I just wouldn't be able to go on without you!"

"Not gonna die...and there's no way in hell I'm gonna leave you alone again."

HLM comes back to consciousness as Diana leans up to give Jae a quick kiss before taking her spirit form.

HLM groans and sits up, looking at her bloodied claws in bewilderment.

After staring at the built in weapons for a few seconds, she realizes that most of the blood is green while only some of it is red.

"Neph...oh gods...oh gods...is he still alive?! What have I done?" she asks, spotting Neph and hurrying to him.

She pulls him into her arms as he slowly starts to come around.

"Oh beloved...beloved..." she murmurs, holding him close.

"Wha...?" he mumbles as his arms slide around his past and future lover.

"I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to hurt you," she whimpers, cradling him in her arms.

"I'm alright, beloved," he leans up and kisses her passionately to prove it.

After a few moments of watching HLM and Neph kissing, Kunz clears his throat.

They both ignore the sound.

"Ok guys, break it up," Diana's ghostly voice says, "this war is far from over."

An evil laugh sounds and the voice that follows gives everyone in the room chills. "You have no idea how right you are, my ghostly friend."

Part IX
Part XI
Beginnings and Endings Index