Part II

After introducing themselves to each other, they head over to the others where they make intros all over again.

Suddenly, all the blood drains from HLM's face as she realizes something.

"Mom..." she whispers.

"I'm sorry?" Kunz asks.

"Mom!" she screams, spinning and taking off in the opposite direction, joining the chaos on the street. "Oh gods! Mom! Mom! Please be ok!"

They all blink before taking off on foot after her through the crowd.

As they sprint after her, they realize just how hard it is to keep track of a lone woman among masses of people.

Within the hour, they see her vaulting over the ruins of a collapsed apartment building.

They rush to help her uncover the mangled body of a woman who embodied great beauty in life, but whose beauty is hidden under blood and dust in death.

HLM gathers her mother's lifeless body in her arms, touching the still slightly warm face with bruised and bleeding fingers before hugging the body close and sobbing into bloody raven hair.

No one moves for a few moments, unable to speak or even breathe. The only sounds filling the suddenly heavy air are the sobs of a woman who calls herself Moron and the sounds of a city beginning to look over the damage done by a sudden disaster.

Jae instinctively slides an arm around Diana. Even as she unconsciously leans into him, she smells the smoke from numerous fires, the settling dust of fallen buildings and the smell of blood, death that can never be forgotten.

Soon, Zoisite and Kunzite remember to breathe.

Zoisite gently pries HLM from the corpse of her beloved mother as Kunzite removes his white cape and drapes it over the diseased woman.

As Kunzite, Diana, and Jae explain the situation to rescue workers, Zoi lets HLM cry on her uniform shoulder.

"It'll all turn out for the best, HLM," she says softly, stroking her rescuer's soft black hair comfortingly.

As they take Marico's body away, HLM takes a shuddering breath and stands up strait, face disturbingly cold and distant.

"It won't be for a long time," she says softly, pain somehow creeping its way into the monotone voice. "I'm all alone now."

"You have us."

She doesn't answer Zoi, instead turning to the other three who approach.

"Problem number one," Kunzite says in a weary tone, "where are we going to stay?"

"Problem number two," Diana continues, just as wearily, "how are we going to get there?"

"I have a place in New York," HLM speaks up, everyone looking to the grieving young woman, "the building where M..." she nearly chokes, "we lived and took as good care of it as we could." She pauses, "But we're on the other side of the world, dunno how we'd get there."

"We could teleport," Jae speaks up.

"You sure you're up to it, though?" Diana asks softly with concern in her eyes.

"If we pool our energies, we can pull  it off," he answers, Kunz and Zoi nodding. Diana bites her lip, unshielding her sword and unsheathing it.

"Uh...what're you gonna do with that?" Jae asks nervously.

"Channeling energy for you," she answers softly, starting to glow ethereally.

From the tip of the sword emits four glowing beams of light. Each beam goes to one person, and in turn is absorbed by the person, except for the beam going to HLM. That beam somehow is bounced off of her as soon as it makes contact with her.

"Don't worry about it, Diana," she says in a monotone, "just give that portion to the others."

Diana nods, face glistening with sweat and light as she temporarily fills the ex-generals' emptied energy reservoirs.

Jae catches her and sheaths her sword for her as her knees turn to jelly.

"Woah. Ok, I...really don't feel too good now...didn't know that would happen...but that should act as a quick energy boost. Kinda like a sugar rush, if you will," Diana explains, shaking her head and trying to regain her composure.

"Thank you, but what bout you? Are you going to be ok?" Kunzite asks.

"I'll be fine after a night's worth of sleep," she answers with a small smile.

HLM nods. "Let's get to New York so you can all get some sleep." Her voice is soft, frighteningly monotone.

Zoi nods and takes Kunz's hand in one of her own and Jae's in the other.

They form a circle around the two young women and initiate the teleport.

They rematerialize in darkness and pouring rain on a street in New York City. HLM curses softly and sprints through the cold rain to a nearby three-story building, keys appearing out of nowhere in her hand.

"C'mon!" she shouts. "It's dry in here!"

The rest rush into the building.

The lobby is dusty, as if no one has been in there for at least a year.

"Sorry for the mess," HLM says softly as she leads them up to her apartment, "no one's been in here since we've been in Japan."

"It's ok, HLM," Diana tells her.

HLM nods and opens the door to her apartment, nearly sobbing when she sees the decorations her mom used to put more flavor to the apartment.

"Here it is," she almost whispers.

"It's nice," Jae comments.

HLM drags a futon out of her mother's room even though she feels her heart is being torn from her chest.

"Kunzite and Zoisite can take the couch if they want. It folds out. Either Jae or Diana can take the futon and the other can take my bed," she forces herself to say without bursting into tears.

Jae goes up to her and places his hands on her shoulders.

"What about you?" he asks softly.

"I'm not sleeping tonight," she answers emotionlessly, "I don't think I'll be able to sleep ever again."

"You need your rest," he tells her.

She simply shakes her head, refusing to look at him.

He sighs softly and drains just enough of her energy to  put her to sleep.

As she collapses, he gently catches her and picks her up.

"Jae..." Zoi objects softly.

"Zoi, no...this is the only way to get her to rest, she was exhausted."

He then carries her to her bedroom and tucks her in gently.

When he comes back, he looks at Diana and blushes slightly.

"Uh...you can take the futon, I'll take the floor," he tells her.

Diana shakes her head. "No one's sleeping on the floor, we can both take the futon."

"Are you sure?" Jae almost squeaks.

She nods. "Hai, trust me," she smiles sadly, "I've been in bed with much worse." She shudders, and continues, "We can both just stay on different sides of the bed."

"Well...ok," he agrees, lying back under the covers.

Diana takes off her sword and curls up on the other side as Kunz and Zoi curl up on the folded up couch.

Soon, they're all asleep.

Part I
Part III
Beginnings and Endings Index