Author's Note: Here it is. The final chapter. What happens to everyone in the end? Read on. I'm not going to bother with the 'I don't own...' crap this time. You've already heard it enough.

Chapter XXVII: The Final Sacrifice.

Barely a moment later, Mark was out of the door, out into the unknown. Many of the guests followed, only to dash back into the church in complete shock.
"What are you all waiting for?!" shouted Serena to the rest of her friends. "We've gotta go NOW! We've gotta help Mark before he's killed out there!" The others nodded. All except Amy, who was holding on to her new husband as tightly as she could. Greg was following suit.
"Right!" called Mina and Lita, following the outer Senshi out of the church as fast as their dresses allowed. Serena turned around to face Amy, determination in her own face attempting to remove the fear from Amy's.

"Are you in Amy? I'd understand if you decided not to come along, but we need you as much as we need everyone else." Gazing up through the shattered mess that once were the stained glass windows, Amy took a deep breath before turning back to Greg.
"I don't want to leave you Greg. Not here, not now, not ever."
"Amy. You've gotta help your friends out there." Greg released Amy from his grasp. "As much as I hate to see you risk your life out there, you've gotta serve your duty."
"Thanks Greg." Kissing him for as long as she possibly could, Amy released Greg from her own grip. A tap on the back from Serena caused Amy to break the kiss promptly.
"Amy, do us proud. I'll be watching over you." In any other circumstance Serena would have been in tears at the love this couple shared. However, there was an attack happeneing just outside, an attack which had to be stopped as soon as possible. With one final longing glance, Amy turned and followed Serena and Darien out of the Church.

"MARS STARLIGHT TRANSFORMATION!!!"

Mark ran through the pathways of the vast park at an almost Olympic pace, his body turning as pale as the moon as piece by piece, scarlet body armour formed on his limbs and torso. The boots, the shins, the thighs and lower waist, Mark slowly taking the form of a Knight from days of old. Yet the armour did not affect his pace, almost as if the metallic structure was weightless. He had pulled an ace from his sleeve, he had called upon his ultimate form. Now he truely was the Mars Knight.

It was a good half mile until the Mars Knight reached the battlefield, yet determination only increased his speed. His determination to seize the final opportunity to recover Raye. The final opportunity to make her realise what she had really been doing for the past two months. Maintaining his pace, he reached into hip pocket and grabbed his DataPad.
"Anna! Come in!" A small picture of his friend appeared in the top right corner of his now metallic crimson glasses.
"We read you Mars. We're on our way to the scene."
"How far are you away?"
"Judging by the smoke, about a mile." He was starting to tire and run short of breath, but he knew he had to reach the scene as fast as he could. Yet he knew he couldn't teleport to the scene - he could not allow himself to become too far ahead of the Sailor Scouts in the likely case he struggled against the evil leaders.
"Okay. Have you all gone top gear?"

"Roger. What should we look out for?" The Mars Knight tapped the screen a few times. The snow had started to fall in greater amounts while the winds had also picked up. He wiped away the snow that had become stuck to his glasses. With one more tap, an envelope flew past his view.
"Just sent the stats to Mercury. There are two guys who I know will definately be there. They're the two profiles I just sent. As far as I remember though there were four on the battlefield in my vision, so we're gonna be left guessing about tactics for those two until the Sailor Scouts arrive."
"So what about Raye? Have you got any tactic to stop her?" There was a long and silent pause, a pause only interfered with by the Mars Knight's pantings.
"I'd rather not think about it. I'll play it as it goes along."
"Right. See you there. Moon out." The Mars Knight's glasses cleared. He was now a few hundred metres from the battlefield, yet it felt like his lungs were going to burst.
"Damn! Overpaced myself!" he screamed as he looked behind him. The Outer Senshi were several hundred metres behind him. He wasn't too far ahead, but he knew he had to stall the fighting by a few minutes at least.

Several excruciating moments later the Mars Knight was there. The snow was almost like a blizzard as he hacked his way through a small wooded area, slowly striding out of the other side.
"Halt right there!" he shouted. Stood before him were two familiar faces, Queen Beryl, the queen who the Sailor Scouts so nearly thwarted back at the cinema incident. Beside her was scum. Malachite. Yet still, to the left there were two faces he did not recognise. One truely tiny being, draped in a hood which shadowed out his face, floating on a royal blue satin cushion with a crystal ball perched between his hands. If it wasn't for the blanked-out face, the Mars Knight could have been mistaken for believing the being was Yoda. Finally to the far left stood a man of a similar stature to Malachite, the long white hair, the strong build, his white, thorn-patterend uniform seemingly the only major difference between himself and Malachite.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in." chuckled Malachite mockingly. "And where, might I ask, are your Sailor Scout friends?" Clanking his armour with an aggressive thud, the Mark Knight gritted his teeth.
"On their way from a wedding you just happened to interupt. They'll be here in a matter of seconds." He took another step forward. "Now if your little playmates don't mind, us two have a little score to settle man-to-man."
"Malachite." interrupted Beryl. "What is the meaning of this?" Her face seemed to tighten up more so than before.
"Your Majesty, it is a trivial matter." he slowly but menacingly turned his head towards the Mars Knight. "A matter I will resolve this instant."
"Trivial my arse!" exclaimed the Mars Knight. "Face it Malachite. You brainwashed her. How can you call your love 'true love' if she's just your puppet?"
"Malachite! I demand an explanation now!" shouted Beryl down the ear of her General.
"As you wish. Let's just see what she makes of all this." Malachite peered behind Beryl's back and stepped aside. In his place emerged Sailor Mars. "A fine example of beauty wouldn't you say?"

"Raye!" Mark was shocked. Not because she was on the battlefield, he was more shocked by how close he was standing to her and how close she was to Malachite. "Are you alright Raye?"
"So you're actually calling me Raye now. Isn't that a complete turnaround." It was all too obvious. Raye was still completely under the control of Malachite. However, in the corner of his eye he noticed that Beryl was fuming. It was time to pit General against Queen. Slowly the Mars knight turned his face away from Malachite and Sailor Mars and glanced towards Beryl.

"A bit of a bombshell, eh, Beryl? Your general steals my girlfriend, brainwashes her against her own will and gets her to do the dirty work for you all. That I can understand being the evil low-life you all are." He turned sharply back towards Malachite. "But now it seems that your General is not as evil as you think."
"Can it Mars." Grumbled Malachite.
"Oh no no no." A broad smirk grew on the Mars Knight's face. "Beryl, it seems like your general is in love with your prisoner. Now what kind of Dark Kingdom general would show love and affection for anyone, let alone a prisoner?" All eyes were on Malachite as Beryl's sharp tongue prepared to slice Malachite's personality into tiny shreds. Yet to the side the Mars Knight noticed that the defenses of the small man and the other general. Slowly and carefully he moved his ahnds behind his back, ready to call a surprise attack.
"I SAID SHUT IT!" Screamed Malachite, finally snapping. Flailing out his arms he blasted an array of thick purple orbs at the Mars Knight, some only narrowly missing him as he ducked and dived.

"Hey! Watch where you're firing those things! You could cause some serious damage to someone like that!" jeered the Mars Knight, increasing Malachite's rage. Beryl was having no more of it.
"Malachite! Stand down now! You have brought too much shame upon the name of the Dark Kingdom!"
"Your Majesty I -"
"You listen to me now! Who are you to say you love a Sailor Scout?! You are a traitor and a disgrace! You are still of use though, unlike her!" shouted Beryl in her blind rage, pointing a finger at a hapless Sailor Mars. Again the Mars Knight charged up, ready to take advantage of the in-fighting.
"What?!" exclaimed Sailor Mars. "After all I've done for you! I am not worthless!"
"You are now!" With one swift movement, a huge ball of green energy shot from Beryl's hands and blew Sailor Mars to the ground. She had been knocked out cold, enraging both the Mars Knight and Malachite.

"Now come on! That was uncalled for your Majesty!" Malachite rushed over to the lifeless body of Sailor Mars along with the Mars Knight, both men holding one of her hands each.
"I've warned you before about following orders! This is your final chance!" Beryl slowly smirked. "If you want to prove your worth, kill her right here right now! If you don't, I will. simple as that." Malachite trembled as the Mars Knight looked into his eyes. Malachite's expression was one of fear, while the Mars Knight's face pleaded with Malachite to ignore the order. Her death would mean total heartbreak for both men, no matter how much they dispised each other. However, the Mars Knight was also concerned that the Sailor Scouts were taking such a long time to arrive.

"No! I will not!" shouted Malachite, standing up to defend Sailor Mars' body.
"And if you want to kill him, you'll have to get through me as well!" Malachite seemed very puzzled yet aggrevated by the Mars Knight's threat to Beryl.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"Look! I love her, you love her, we're in this together! We're both fighting for the same cause."
"Get out of the way! She's mine! This is my battle!" Malachite barged the Mars Knight out of the way and onto the ground. Enough was enough for Beryl.
"You've made your choice! I hope you rot in hell for betraying me!" Her screams drowned out all things audiable, more than able to pierce all but the strongest eardrums. Her hair rose and rose, the brewing tempest casting the bitter snowflakes into a rage as tempermental as her own. The sky darkened to a crude oily black, the clouds scarring the heavens.

Malachite was bracing himself, but it was apparant to the Mars Knight that he didn't stand a chance just by the way Beryl was building up. This was gonna be catastrophic, and Malachite was going to bear the full brunt of it. Not only that, but Raye was also lying helpless on the ground behind him. He had no time to pull both of them out of the line of fire.
"GIVE ME YOUR BEST SHOT!!!" Malachite was overconfident, the adrenaline defeating his senses of doubt and judgement. Nothing could stop him, or so he thought.
"Fine! GOODBYE!" As Beryl's thundering voice resonated throughout the enclosement, a blinding green beam of energy emerged from her hands, a beam of energy intent for Malachite's heart. Malachite did nothing except reach his hands out ready to brace the impact. A wall of fire interrupted.

"Get her out of here now! I'll stop Beryl as long as I can!" The Mars Knight was increadibly tense as he continued to force his hands onto the ground to fuel the wall.
"I want payback on Beryl dammit! She turned her back on me!" The Mars Knight tilted his head up towards Malachite, his pain and determination painted on his face.
"You can come back for Beryl! Just put her somewhere safe! The others will be here in a moment, so make yourself scarse until I can explain the situation!" Malachite stood still. "JUST TAKE HER AWAY NOW YOU IDIOT! CAN'T I BE ANY MORE CLEARER THAN THAT?!" Nodding his head abruptly Malachite turned around and picked up Sailor Mars before running away into the woodlands.

"Hold it right now!" called a masculine voice to the Mars Knight's left. A voice belonging to Sailor Uranus.
"About bloody time." whispered the Mars Knight to himself.
"So the Sailor Senshi have finally arrived." said Diamond mockingly. "Not very punctual are we? Your friend here was a good five minutes quicker."
"We're here now, and the inners will be here all too soon as well." said Sailor Neptune.
"Well it would be a shame if they missed THIS!" The ground beneath the outer senshi exploded as they lept for their dear lives. Malachite and Sailor Mars were now out of sight, allowing the Mars Knight to lower his wall. Seeing the outer senshi leaping from an explosion he noticed that Wiseman and Diamond weren't particularly active. Seizing the advantage he took a chance.

"PHOENIX BOMB!!!" he cried as a bird of flames formed above him. Within a split second it dived straight into the unwitting pair, the intensity of the attack ripping a hole straight through Diamond's abdomen. Wiseman had also been severely hit, but as his General fell to his knees for the final time he raced back over to Beryl's side, enraged at the sneak attack.
"Why you -!"
"You snooze you lose Wiseman. If you had just been a little more active you would have seen -"
"DEATH REBORN REVOLUTION!!!"
"WORLD SHAKING!!!"
"DEEP SUBMERGE!!!"
"DEAD SCREAM!!!"

The four outers had interrupted the Mars Knight mid-sentance, with very good reason. With both enemies concentrating soley on the Mars Knight, the outers had a chance to cast their own surprise attacks. While orbs of catastrophe followed for the leaders as once again they were propelled back onto the floor.
"You see what I mean?" With an almighty thud, Berly slammed her hand to the ground and pulled herself back onto her feet. Her face pure crimson, she spread out her hands and placed her arms in front of her.
"Enough of your backchat! DIE!!!" With yet another scream she leat out a beam of purple energy, the beam thicker than before. the Mars Knight lept as quickly as he could to the side, but he was too late. He fell to the ground, the loss of energy from his left leg paralysing it. The coldness surged up to his lower waist; He realised he could no longer fight for the moment, hoping that the moment was a short one.
"Are you alright Mars?" called Sailor Saturn, rushing over to his side.
"Yeah. I can't feel my leg though." Quickly he turned over, facing towards the woodland. "Cover me. I'm getting out of here to recover. There's no way I can stand up, the energy's completely gone from my leg, and I need to rest before too many cells die away."
"Gotcha." As quickly as he could, the Mars Knight used his arms to drag his body across the plain towards the woodland, the same woodland in which Malachite had hidden Sailor Mars.

Every moment was a struggle, using his arms and his only remaining leg to push himself along the bleak frozen field towards the shelter of the woodland, his armour rattling against stoned and twigs concealed beneath the blanket. Approaching the edge of the clearing he looked back; he was safe. The outers had distracted Beryl and Wiseman for long enough, and Diamond was certainly dead. As the terrain became more rugged he slid along the smoothest path he could find. Barely fifteen metres into the woodland though, and something caught his eye; the aurora of a white fuku, a bright crimson, short skirt attached.
"Right..." Increasing his pace, the Mars Knight bulldozed his way towards the figure slumped against the tree.
"What are you doing here?!" Another figure was slumped beside her, a figure precariously yet carefully holding the unconcious Sailor Mars' hand. Malachite.
"Recovering."
"That's no excuse! You should be out there fighting that heartless cow Beryl!" Raising his glasses from his head, the Mars Knight outstared Malachite, his humorously pained eyes slicing right through the former general.
"Don't you think that's kinda hard at the moment, seeing as I'm suffering from the worst case of dead leg I've ever known?"
"Let me guess. Energy drainer beam?" Dryly the Mars Knight nodded.
"Got it in one." Wincing, the Mars Knight turned his attention to the removal of his gauntlets and leg armour, followed by the repeated rubbing of his leg. "Gotta get the blood circulating through this thing, or at least transfer some kinetic energy."

"Here. Let me help you with that." Malachite reached over and placed both hands on the Mars Knight's bare leg. Yet something didn't feel right. His hands were unusually hot, the heat slowly surging through his foot, circulating before spreading further to his lower calf.
"What are you doing?!" He was startled by the sudden warmth invading his leg.
"An energy boost. Just call it payback for helping me get Raye away earlier."
"You really have changed. I though you would have killed me, not saved me." Malachite smirked with a slight aura of arrogance.
"Under any other circumstance you would be dead by now. I've only spared you because I know you could be vital to beating Beryl, Wiseman and Diamond."
"Well, there's no real need to think about Diamond anyway." Malachite turned towards the Mars Knight in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"He's dead. We caught him off guard and seized the opportunity." Silence ensued, bar the trash talk of the battle whistling metres away. Eyes widening, Malachite paled.
"Dead?" He wasn't sure whether to celebrate or grieve. True he was now on the side of the enemy, but it was Diamond that had helped Malachite to keep his love for Raye a secret from the high command. Diamond had been a very good friend, yet he had just said it himself. He wanted Diamond beaten alongside Beryl and Wiseman. In the end it didn't even matter.

"It's all true." Frozen for the moment, Malachite looked out towards the battlefield. The Mars Knight noticed this and realised that he may be grieving. "Are you all right?"
Shaking his head briskly, Malachite instantly livened up and addressed the Mars Knight. A quick change of subject was in order.
"Yes, I'm alright. Are you feeling any better?"
"Yep, still a bit weak, but I'm getting there. Hows Sailor Mars?" Both men sighed with the upmost affection, their attention concentrated on the sleeping beauty that slumped against the bare tree.
"Still unconcious. She's got a steady pulse and her temperature's allright. I'm just concerned that she may get very cold if we can't find anything to cover her up with." With his affection diluting his other senses, the Mars Knight slowly and delicately placed Sailor Mars' right hand in his own, the left hand already occupied by Malachite.
"She looks like a true sleeping beauty here. It's just a shame that there's so much going on just a few metres away." He slowly caressed the back of her hand with his thumb, both Malachite and the battle seemingly a long way away.

"Indeed." Malachite turned towards the Mars Knight anxiously. "You know this will create a major problem if Beryl and Wiseman do lose, don't you?"
"Yes. Who Raye will choose once this is all over." Nodding solemnly, Malachite turned his attention back to Sailor Mars.
"No doubt it will be you because of your downright disgraceful brainwashing tactic." scoured the Mars Knight.
"No. Not necessarily."
"What do you mean?"
"Once the main leaders of the Dark Kingdom fall, the rest of it crumbles by itself. Effectively, that means the beliefs she had under the Dark Kingdom will fade away."
"So in effect, the spell will be broken?" Once again Malachite gave a sorrowed nod.
"It's true. It'll all depend now on whether her feelings for me were true or just another part of the illusion." Grabbing onto a tree branch above, the Mars Knight climbed back to his feet.
"Let's just cross that bridge we get to it. The inner Sailor Scouts should be here by now. We'll take her to the edge of the clearing so we can keep an eye on her." Slowly he bent down, placing his right arm around her back and placing her right arm over his shoulders. Holding her legs, Malachite lifted with the Mars Knight and slowly navigated the path out of the woodland.

The inners by this time had arrived and were fully engaged in battle. As Sailor Mercury delt another harsh Shine Aqua Illusion in unison with Sailor Jupiter's Sparkling Wide Pressure, Sailor Saturn and Sailor Venus were dragging themselves back onto their feet after what seemed to be a previous attack by the two lone leaders.
"Sailor Moon!" The two men were instantly welcomed with a hostile reception as they returned from the woodland with the limp, lifeless body of Sailor Mars.
"Mars! Is she alright?" immediately she noticed the second pair of hands cradling Sailor Mars. "What's he doing with you?!"
"He's on our side. Beryl's double-crossed him." Pointing at a tree on the edge of the clearing with his eyes, he and Malachite laid Sailor Mars to rest against the tree.
"This is a trick, isn't it?"

"I'll explain. Beryl wants Sailor Mars dead since she has no use for the Dark Kingdom after this battle. When Beryl knocked her out and ordered me to kill her I just grabbed her and ran for the woods to hide." He seemed compassionate enough, seemingly panicky as he glanced at Beyl and Wiseman, anticipating any attacks.
"And why should I believe you?"
"Because I saw it myself." called the Mars Knight from by Sailor Mars' side. "He protected her because he cares for her. That's why Beryl's in such a rage now." An uneasy look spread across Sailor Moon's face. True she had accepted defected enemies in the past, but this was the same guy that started the Sailor Mars crisis in the first place.
"Okay, just keep Sailor Mars safe until she comes around." The Mars Knight nodded with relief.
"You take care of her for the moment." said Malachite. "I've got some unfinished business to do."

Immediately he took off, flanking the fairly isolated pair. The Mars Knight followed Malachite's request, dashing over towards Sailor Mars and erected another firewall, a semi-circle of fire enclosing the pair from the battle.
"Just the two of us now..." The Mars Knight spoke solemnly, Sailor Mars' serenity captivated his soul yet. She was unconscious, yet she looked somewhere between peaceful and painful. Slowly he walked towards her and knelt down. "Look what they've done to you. You look all troubled..." He reached out and placed her hand in his, her warmth lifting away some of the Mars Knight's troubles. Yet it was a one-way converstion. He wasn't sure if she knew he was even there, nor did he know what her reaction would be when she finally would come around. Would she still be under Malachite's spell even after the final battle was over or would she realise what she had actually done and return to the him?

The anxiety caused small tears to form in his eyes. Tears of sadness, tears of hope, tears of frustration.
"You don't know how much I've missed you. You don't know how hard these couple of months have been for your friends and me..." As he winced and inhailed a very deep breath in an attaemt to control his emotions, a single teardrop escaped, rolling down his pale cheek down to his chin. Like a single drop of rain from a cloud above, the tear plummeted from his face, landing on the pure white gloved hand in his own.
"Ah look at me now." he groaned. " I'm starting to get too emotional again..." His lips quivering, his hands shaking, he struggled to find his words, lest three. "I love you."

Bar the ruckus from the other side of the wall, not a word was spoken. Second by second all the Mars Knight could do was gaze at her seemingly sealed eyes, praying for her to at least do some sort of action.
"mmmmm..." groaned Sailor Mars, a groan that was barely audiable, yet it was a groan that the Mars Knight picked up on.
"Raye! Can you hear me?" He moved closer to her face, listening out for anything she might have been trying to say. "Please! Just do anything if you can hear me!" The reaction was instantaneous, a small squeeze of his hand by Sailor Mars. This was the news he needed so badly, Sailor Mars was alive and quite possibly out of the spell. He couldn't be certain about the latter, but his tears of sadness had transformed to tears of joy as he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her gently.

On the outside, however, the battle was almost evenly matched despite Beryl and Wiseman being severely outnumbered. The other Knights had still not arrived, several of the senshi had taken a beating and Malachite was picking himself up after being violently blasted to the ground.
"Is that all you've got Beryl?!"
"Of course not! I'm just getting started!" Wave after wave of beams emerged, most hitting Malachite directly in the chest. His blood curdling scream chilled the other Senshi, pausing to see what was happening to Malachite after lauching a group attack on Wiseman.
"VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!!!" cried Sailor Venus, launching a golden chain of hearts to stop the attack on Malachite. It worked.
"Right! Payback!" He screamed, forcing himself onto his feet and launching his own violet beam at Beryl. Seeing this she countered with a beam of her own, but it was too late, she did not have the strength to counter and was hit on the arm.

"Dammit!" Malachite seemed surprised that his beam had failed to hit her full-on, instead only wounding her arm. He cursed his luck, but was determined to try again. But that did not matter.
"OUTER SOLESTIAL STRIKE!!!" An enormous ball of purple and turquoise energy flashed past the Sailor Senshi, striking Beryl in the chest, sending her crashing to the floor. A second silver and black ball smashed Wiseman into a nearby tree. Confusion reigned as the Sailor Senshi scanned for the source of the attack. The culprits emerged from the trees behind.

Eight people, all draped in armour identical to the Mars Knight's, bar the colours. Arranged in an arrow formation, at the front stood a young woman with long blonde, platted hair dressed in golden armour glistening despite the black sky above. Behind, cascading out from the woman at the front, stood the other seven, the only gap being on the left directly her, presumably where the Mars Knight would have stood.
"Sailor Moon. It is an honour to meet you." said the woman at the front in less-than-perfect Japanese. Sailor Moon walked towards the woman cautiously.
"The pleasure's all mine. You must be the Knights from England." replied Sailor Moon, anxiously glancing to the side, awaiting Beryl and Wiseman's next strike.
"He's over there!" called the Knight in the ocean blue armour, pointing towards the column of fire
"Wait." said Sailor Moon. "You can't ask him to come out of there. He's protecting Sailor Mars. As long as that wall's up they're safe."
"Ok." Swiftly the Moonlight Knight turned around to address the other Knights. "Okay, let's hit them as hard as we can as quickly as they can. We all know that the enemy can have any number of nasty tricks up their sleeves, so the sooner they're down the better." All Knights nodded in unison. "Also, someone keep watch for Mars and Sailor Mars. When he does lower that wall, prepare for Galactical Knight Strike. Now let's get out there!"

The eight dispersed immediately, some joining the Sailor Senshi, some attempting to get around the back of the enemies, while the Mercury Knight rushed over to the raging firewall.
"Mark, are you in there?" called a voice in english. The Mars Knight instantly recognised the voice.
"Ben! About bloody time you lot got here!"
"Anna sent me here to check on you. You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm okay. I can't let you in though, Sailor Mars is about to come around, so I need to protect her."
"Look, just don't take too long about it. We're gonna try and finish this with a GKS before they trick us."
"Wow. We're actually gonna do a GKS?" His arm stil around Raye, he leant closer to the firewall and the Mercury Knight.
"You heard me. As soon as you're ready we're doing a GKS. We're hoping to time it alongside a Planet attack so they can be finished off by without the Silver Imperium Crystal. If we do have to use it..." The Mars Knight interrupted.
"I know. Either Sailor Moon dies because of the crystal's heat or her hands are scarred for life. Plus Tokyo is destroyed should it all go wrong." He paused. "I'll be out as soon as I can. It all depends on when Sailor Mars is in a situation to fend for herself."
"OK, I understand. I'm staying here to warn you though."

Again the Mars Knight was interrupted, but this time not by speech. Sailor Mars was beginning to turn her head, slowly but surely.
"Come on Raye... Just open your eyes... For everyone's sake..." He spoke softly and encouragingly. For the past few moment Raye had been lingering somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness, and the Mars Knight was determined to bring her to life. Slowly her lips began to move, opening by a matter of millimetres before once again closing.
"Come on, you can do it. For Serena, for me..." pausing, he smiled with an aura of victory. "For Amy. This is her wedding day after all." It was working. Her eyelids were now trembling, her determination trickling onto her face. This could be the moment the Mars Knight had been waiting for.
"You can do it! Just open your eyes!" It was as ifher eyelids were glued shut, yet she did not give up. Squeezing the Mars Knight's bare hand with all her might, she began to shake violently.
"Raye! No!" he shouted as he began to panic. He grabbed her wrist, her pulse was racing. To the Mars Knight it looked like she was about to go into shock.
"Don't do this to me!" he shouted, laying her flat on the ground, her quaking serioulsy alarming him. He moved closer to check her breathing, placing his face within centimetres of her own, ready to fear the worst.
"MARK!" The Mars Knight jolted his head back in surprise as Sailor Mars' eyes shot open, screaming his name with an almighty gasp for air. Instantaneously the shaking stopped, Sailor Mars gasping for as much air as her lungs could take.

"I don't believe it! You're alive!" Once again tears formed under the metallic glasses, his normally easily controlled emotions bursting out once again. "You did it!"
"Mark!" Her voice quivered with uncertainty, the uncertainty of where she was and what she had just been through, yet a feeling of ecstacy was surging through her veins. She seemed pleased to see the Marss Knight once again. To him, the spell was broken. As he leant over her, she rasied her arms, wrapping one around his cold chest armour and the other behind his head, she dragged him in towards her before finally pushing his tender lips against her own.
"Mark, I hate to interrupt your moment of passion, but I think we'd better strike now! Beryl's about to call on a new power!" Instantly Mark broke the kiss. Caressing her cheek he quickly lifted his head away from hers.
"Dammit!" he said, looking out towards the battle scene before turning back to Sailor Mars. "I'll be right back. We're all in the middle of the final battle and we're about to try and win it." As he made his way onto his feet, Sailor Mars pushed her hand against the ground to try and drag herself up. It was futile; she didn't have enough energy.
"I've... gotta... help..."
"Look, stay where you are. You're safe behind this firewall. You're not well enough to fight." With one final kiss, the Mars Knight lowered the firewall, stepped out of the enclosement and raised the wall once more before following the Marcury Knight to the battlefield.

"Are you sure this will work without Sailor Mars?" On the battlefield the Moonlight Knight enquired with Sailor Moon over the effect of the planet attack.
"It won't be as powerful, but if your attack is strong enough it may be enough to win it. Although-"
"Arrgh!!!" Interrupted once more, the two Senshi alongside the other fifteen turned to face Beryl. "You may outnumber us, you may be more powerful than myself and Wiseman, but you will be no match for Empress Metallia!" She jolted her head back, ready to scream an adrenaline-fuelled cry. "Tomoe! Release Metallia and make us one!!!"

Int. Laboratory 1, Negaverse Command Centre - 25th December 2002, 3:26 pm.

Alarms throughout the complex roared away at Beryl's scream, the lab now lit by a series of flashing green lights. At the control panel stood Professor Tomoe, ready to press the button to release Metallia, the large green button directly in the centre of the rows and rows of smaller buttons.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen!" His voice echoed in the empty lab, no-one could hear him lest himself. "In the red corner we have one poor pathetic excuse for an evil Empress, Metallia!" Mockingly he pointed at the giant glass tank before him. "And in the blue corner, a genius, back-stabbing, double-crossing scientist extrodinaire who is about to claim victory for himself, Professor Tomoe!" he shouted. However, instead of pressing the button in front of him he opted for a red button in the bottom corner, a red button with a label above reading 'Complete Energy Drain.'

"Let's get it on!" As he manically laughed away he pressed the button. The energy being leeched from Metallia was immense, huge balls of dark energy escaping from a tube above.
"What the..." Something wasn't right. The water was bubbling at an increadible rate. Metalia was as good as dead, but the energy in her was too great to completely remove at once.
"Oh no..." Cautiously he stepped back, but it was too late. In an spectacular explosion the tank shattered, many pieces embedding themselves in many parts of Tomoe, severing many of his major Arteries.
"TOMOE! WHERE IS METALLIA?!" The sound was beginning to fade, but with one last motion Tomoe reached up for a communicator and dropped it besidehis mouth. His blood loss was spectacular, and as his body began to run dry, he uttered one final sentance.

"Congratulations, you've been screwed..."

"NO!!!" Beryl was at her wits end. Her only chance of victory was now gone. Metallia was dead, Tomoe and Malachite had betrayed her, her plans falling apart.
"If you want to kill me, I will go down with the mother of all fights and I shall go down a martyr!!!" By now the Sailor Senshi and the Knights were all in position, Malachite stood between the two packs.
"This is the end Beryl! GOODBYE AND GOOD RIDDANCE!" Malachite ran forward, firing a beam from each hand at Wiseman and Beryl. One direct hit by Beryl's frustration and Wiseman's incompetance, and the pair were stunned and ready to meet their makers. "NOW! DO IT!"
"SAILOR SENSHI PLANET ATTACK!!!"
"GALACTICAL KNIGHT STRIKE!!!" The sky changed once more. The black faded away, to be replaced by a psychadelic-coloured flashing sky. From the air cyclones formed, cyclones of energy from which the Senshi powered up. As each of the Senshi became more and more powerful they began to glow with their respective colour, until their light was almost blinding.
"NOW!!!" cried Sailor Moon and the Moonlight Knight simaltaneously. The earth below them violently trembled as each glow channeled away to their respective leader. It took a matter of seconds, but to all parties involved it seemed like a complete lifetime. For Beryl and Wiseman this was the end, but there was one last chance for redemption - the firewall surrounding Sailor Mars had faded away.

"Goodbye Beryl." Sailor Moon spoke softly, but her voice echoed, haunting the evil pair. Two multicoloured, blindingly bright spheres had formed above each set of Senshi, two spheres that raced off towards the duo. But something wasn't right. Beryl had her hand out to her side, the side of Sailor Mars.
"RAYE!!!" ducking under the enormous spheres, Malachite tried to outrun the energy beam now firing from Beryl's hand, but it was no use. He could not get her out of the way in time. There was only one option left. Placing all the energy he had left in his legs, Malachite stretched out his arms and dived in the path of the beam, hoping his sacrifice would save the one he loved.

Time was up. A superbly pure white column rose where Beryl and Wiseman were standing, the Senshi running away just to escape the heat. The roaring of the magic was ear-shattering, the windows of nearby buildings obliterated with the pure force of the sound. Yet in seconds it was all over. Silence. It was like a nuclear bomb had just exploded, only without the immense loss of human life. Solemnly and slowly all senshi returned to the scene.
"That's it. They're gone." Said Sailor Jupiter.
"Two vast piles of ashes in the middle of the clearing." replied the Saturn Knight. "I'd say so too."
Bursting through the crowd as quick as he could, the Mars Knight returned, only to find no firewall.
"WHERE IS SHE?!" Fearing the worst, he frantically scanned the surrounding. A red fuku could be seen behind a tree. Runing until his lungs would burst, he raced back towards Sailor Mars, propped against a tree branch and on her own two feet.

"Heh... Now that was something..."
"Goddamn!" A mouth as wide as the Thames river, the Mars Knight swept Sailor Mars off her feet and carried her out of the woods, his laughter of pure bliss uncontrollable.
"Good to see you too Mark." As they both emerged from the woods, the Mars Knight's bliss disappeared in an instant.
"Oh no... Don't tell me..." Placing Sailor Mars back on her feet, he slowly paced towards the body on the floor. "Malachite..." A hole through his chest, directly where his heart was, there was no way he could be alive. Slowly the Mars Knight knelt down, moving Malachite's arms so the hands were on top of the breastbone, and closed Malachite's eyes for the final time. This was saddening to see. He was bitter enemies with Malachite up until twenty minutes previous, yet in the end had something in common with him, the love of Raye and the will to fight for love and justice.

"Thank you Malachite." Standing up, the Mars Knight saluted the body before turning and walking away arm in arm with Raye, away to reflect upon the events of the day, and away to celebrate the marriage of Amy and Greg.

"Well, that was certainly tough one."
Late evening over Tokyo. The sky was as pich black as the preceding battle, only this time punctuated by a vast array of glistening stars. Inside the vast marquee the joyful friends and families of the new happy couple partied away. All apart from Raye and Mark, relaxing on a blanket outside, a bottle of champagne and two glasses 'borrowed' from the procedings indoors. Both wearing thickly insulated jackets to protect themselves from the bitter cold, there was only one topic of conversation to be spoken about.
"I wouldn't know. I spent the majority of the time unconscious and sprawled out." Raye laughed at her own plight.
"Ah you didn't miss much. Beryl and Wiseman didn't really last that long according to the guys." Raye looked at him in disbelief. "Tomoe stitched them up big time. He killed Metallia."
"I don't believe it..."
"It's true. It just begs the question now as to where Tomoe is." Mark took a smalll sip from his champagne flute.
"He's probably gone into hiding waiting to strike another day." Hoding onto Mark more tightly, she became uneasy. "By the way, why did you salute Malachite in the end? I though he was the enemy."

"He was for a while. He had kidnapped you, brainwashed you and used you as a pawn in the Dark Kingdom's plans, but he loved you though, or so he claimed. Beryl wanted to execute you during that battle. She gave Malachite the order and her refused. Not only that, but he defected to our side" Again Mark paused for thought. "When we launched the GKS and the Planet attack, it turns out my firewall had faded and you were exposed. Beryl tried to have one last potshot at you, but he lept in front of the beam. He died for you and he died in the name of the Moon. That's definately worth the respect of everyone who fought. I most definately won't forget him, despite what he originally did." Raye was silent. She was stunned. An enemy had not only shown love for her, but had also died for her. She wasn't sure what to say, but for fear of becoming too emotional and destroying her typical hard-nosed image, she immediately changed topic.

"Well, talk about a shock. Did you see Serena's face earlier?" Mark giggled as Raye returned a smile to her face.
"Bah, I knew it was coming all along. He told me about it last month."
"Yeah right." Raye playfully tapped Mark on the cheek. "Hey! No need to do that!" he chortled. "Anyway, it's good to know there's gonna be another wedding soon. Serena and Darien make the perfect couple." An angry glare emerged in Raye's eyes, only to instantly crumble into more laughter.
"Aren't you forgetting someone Mark?"
"Woah, waaaay too early for us yet. I think one wedding per year's enough."
"Come on Mark!" Pleaded Raye. "I wanna love you! Marry you! Have your kids! Put my evil plan to take over the world into action with you by my side!" Laughter filled the air, becomming almost uncontrollable for the pair.
"Look, I'll see if I can fit a date into my very busy diary sometime during 2004, okay?"
"Ah suit yourself." Mark, realising his glass was empty, reached for the champagne bottle and filled up his glass.

"Hey, top mine up too!"
"No no no, you're drunk enough already. I can't have you drinking any more of this stuff, it's bad for you." said Mark, waving the thick green bottle around in a drunkardly fashion, his speech slightly slurred.
"Fine. I'll just have to do this then!" Squeals of laughter echoed through the vast urban plain as Raye grabbed the bottle from Mark and placed it on the ground. Mark was now lying flat on his back, Raye kneeling over him at the side.
"Look at that!" said Mark, pointing to the sky, an action which prompted Raye to sharply turn her head upwards. To the sky a streak of light from a lone shooting star trailed across from east to west before finally burning out.
"Hope you made a wish Mark."
"Oh believe me, I sure did." That very moment Raye brought herself to the ground beside him, one arm across his chest, her head beside his, turning slowly to meet his lips.

All in all, this had been the most turbulant three months of his life. He had expected life in Japan to be somewhat different from life at home, but never in his wildest dreams did he expect to find the woman of his destiny so quickly, nor did he expect to become embroyled in a major battle for the protection of Earth and the heart of his love, yet it goes to prove that anything is at all possible. In his mind he knows he's here to stay, and is ready to face whatever challenge the future may hold.

Yet the most important thing to come from this experience is something everyone can appreciate. The powers of friendship, love, care, joy, happiness, all the things that seem insignificant yet can lighten even the most downhearted and depressed of people. As strange as it sometimes seems, it's all the small things in life that matter the most.

The End.

Well, that's it. That's the end of it all. So now for all my personal messages to those who have helped me write this story.

Firstly to Naoko Takeuchi. Without her there would be no Sailor Moon to begin with. There would be no magnificent anime series, no mangas, no music, and most importantly, no Sailor Moon fanfictions!

Secondly to Princess Ren, Fanfiction Fanatic, Pyro*Chic, Lost-Lil-Gurl and Rose of Osiris for avidly reading this and providing all the wonderful feedback.

And finally, to you, yes you who is reading this sentance. Thank you for reading such a long-winded fanfiction and I seriously hoped you enjoyed every single moment of this :).

Well, that's all for now. I will now take a break before possibly returning in 2004 with a new fic. Until then, see you around! It's 2:30am and I need sleep! :P