A/N: ACK! I'm so sorry it took me this long to update any of my own personal fics! You see, my 'neechan Waywren Truesong and I have created a new account, Arashinobara Jikkankakyoku. Yeah, yeah, I know. Bless you and all that. /grins/ Anyway, I've been more than a little preoccupied with those fics. The link to the AJ account is on my profile in the 'homepage' link.

Now, thanks to everyone who reviewed, and for your patience. Special mention to KittenRebecca and Dream Catcher 3, who figured out that the quotes were from lines of William Shakespeare's plays. Speaking of which, Dream Catcher, when are you going to update your fics? I'm a huge fan of each and every one of them, after all, especially Matchmaker Lane and Online Confessions of a Teenager.

Soul of Fire, Heart of Ice

Chapter Three

'What's Done is Done'

The youma disintegrated into greyish dust instantly. The scallop shells faded, streams of energy trailing back into the humans that had been trapped in them.

She whirled around to thank the masked man, but he had vanished. Sighing, she walked back towards Harry, who had immediately vaulted back over the stone wall and was tending to Ginny. Suddenly, a thornless rose thudded into the pathway at her feet, startling her. A tiny note was attached to it with a silk ribbon – his white bowtie.

A good throw.

Know that I will always be there for you, in any shape and form, Sailor Moon.

Also, it is running that is cowardly. Retreating is not.

- Tuxedo Kamen.

Letting her transformation fall away in a whirl of ribbons and light, she stared at the note.

Her head dropping forward, she groaned. "Great. I have a stalker."

Harry, who was looking strangely subdued as he lifted Ginny in his arms, snorted, summoning the note to him. Reading it quickly as it bobbed in front of his eyes, courtesy of a shaky wandless levitation charm, he couldn't resist cracking a wide smile. "Not only that, but you had to get one versed in semantics. He's got a point about running and retreating; think you can handle an educated guy?"

Usagi glowered at Harry. "Urusai, Harry-baka." Her expression softened noticeably as she stepped closer to him and the unconscious redhead. "What happened to her?"

Sobering quickly, Harry fixed her with a grim stare. "I'll tell you later. For now, you should get home."

Usagi looked at her watch and wailed softly. "Shimatta! It's five to five! I'm going to be so late…."

Harry shook his head. "I can get you there on time," he muttered. "That is, if you don't mind me using Legilimency on you?"

"That's like mind-reading, right?" she asked, a little apprehensive. She remembered him using it to predict her moves a few 'lessons' back.

Harry shrugged, reabsorbing the staff into his body. As it was made using his own magic, it only caused him a tiny bit of discomfort as it passed into him. "In a manner of speaking, but for now, just focus on your house, okay? I'm going to Apparate us there. It's probably going to feel a little uncomfortable, but it's the fastest way." People were beginning to stir now.

Usagi nodded, complying as emerald eyes searched her sky blue ones. A moment later, he nodded in satisfaction, juggling Ginny a little. "Got it. Luna, get over here, now both of you hold onto me – that's right – and…"

Usagi gasped as the air was squeezed out of her lungs, steel bands compressing her into a tiny, quivering mass. Black, grey and white lights flashed by before everything righted itself and she could breathe again.

"Why did you have to use Leggy-man-see?" she asked breathlessly. Despite the journey's being more than a little uncomfortable, she decided it was pretty interesting once you got used to it.

"It's Legilimency, and I had to get a fix on the location or I would've splinched us."

"Splingwha?"

"Splinched. I would have gotten us stuck, as in left a few body parts behind."

Usagi had a sudden vision of her hairstyle, arm and toes lying abandoned on the path. She shuddered. "Yeah…that could be a bad thing."

Harry wasn't listening. He was looking at Ginny with an increasingly horrified expression on his face. "Damn! Look, Usa-chan, go in. Is it okay if Luna stays with you? I'd feel a lot better if the two of you were together."

Usagi nodded. "Yes, but where are you going?"

"No worries. I'll meet you both at that arcade place tomorrow after school's over, okay? Now go do your homework, take a good rest, eat to keep up your energy. I need to go now!"

With an abrupt crack like a gunshot, both he and Ginny were gone.

Luna looked worriedly after him. "He's usually silent when he does that. I hope Ginevra-san gets better."

Usagi nodded sombrely. "Come on in, then. You're going to have to play the part of a sweet-natured stray, okay?"

Luna snorted. "And I suppose you're going to regal them with tales of how you rescued me from getting band-aids stuck to my forehead – by a few bratty kids who thought I was a witch's cat – in some alley?"

"As a matter of fact…"

"USAGI!"

"PLUTO!" Harry waded through the knee-high mists that concealed the black, infertile ground. He tried desperately to quell the rising wave of panic. "PLUTO!"

A tall woman with knee-length dark green hair materialised out of the mists. She wore a sailor fuku much like Sailor Moon's, but her predominant colours were that of dark red and black, and her dark green hair came down a little past her knees. "You called, Harry?" she asked, leaning idly on her staff, a tall key-shaped structure with a large round-cut garnet as its only ornament. Then her red eyes fell on Ginny's convulsing form. "Oh dear."

"'Oh dear' is right," Harry snarled, trying to restrain the slender redhead as she spasmed, a flailing arm catching him sharply on his jaw. "Any bright ideas? And why in Merlin's name did you allow her to follow me to this dimension?"

Pluto was silent, but a wave of her staff lifted Ginny out of his arms before they reappeared back at the Time Gate. "You did the right thing by bringing her to me, Harry. Since we are outside the river of time, her condition will not deteriorate."

Harry wrung his hands helplessly, feeling completely useless. "I've got to track Endymion down, Plu – Setsuna," he corrected himself at the look she shot him. "Something severed her connection to fire, and she'll die if I don't get him to…ah, hell," he swore. "I'll never find him."

Pluto merely arched a brow. "You know I cannot divulge his identity, but I will tell you that to protect is in his name and nature, and that his destiny and person is closely tied to Sailor Moon."

Harry nodded sharply, his eyes strangely bright. "How long do I have?"

"As long as it takes. She will not die while she remains here."

The smile he shot her was bright and relieved. "Thank you, Setsuna."

"Selene be with you, Harry Potter," she replied.

A hazy silver mist enveloped him and he disappeared.

Kunzite massaged his temples as he spoke, eyes closed and lips white. "The risk of sounding completely idiotic and cliché notwithstanding, what the Hell do you have to say for yourself?" he snarled, his trademark glacial manner discarded as he fixed Jadeite with an enraged stare.

"So much for not disgracing the Shitennou brotherhood!" Zoicite snapped. His green eyes burned furiously in contrast to the cold expression he wore. "One of your creations was defeated by a teen hooker in a miniskirt with a so-called lethal tiara and a brain-dead moron in a tuxedo that threw flowers? Obviously, you are losing your touch!"

Nephrite's expression was blank. He was furious, of course, especially after Jadeite's brash declaration only a day earlier, but he decided that it had gone too far. "Kunzite, Zoicite," he said, speech clipped as he tried to control his temper. "We should never underestimate the enemy. You both know as well as I do that Jadeite's youma are hardly pushovers. None of us expected for there to be any kind of resistance, and while our Sun brother should have stayed to eliminate the threat before reporting to our Queen, I think he has been punished enough. Queen Beryl was hardly ecstatic at his failure, and we should be trying to think of a plan to get rid of this Sailor Moon and her companions before our honour is further sullied."

Jadeite, who had been sullenly silent through the reaming his brothers had given him, lifted his head. His face bore the fading reminders of his failure and was still drawn with pain from Beryl's punishing torture. "Our Queen has allowed me another chance at this – I must not fail," he muttered, lips white. His tone firmed. "I will not fail," he snarled, before another twinge had his eyes snapping close again.

Kunzite nodded curtly, his eyes softening towards his youngest brother. "Jadeite, rest awhile before your next attempt. Your brothers and I shall create the next youma under your name, and we will watch over the battle."

Jadeite straightened up, embarrassment and anger coursing through him. "Kunzite –"

Zoicite gave his brother a hard look before his features softened a little. "Rest, Jadeite."

Nephrite remained silent, but smiled encouragingly at the Sun Shitennou.

Jadeite bowed his head. "So be it."

Luna woke suddenly from a dream full of silver light, garbled screaming and fear, her little heart beating rapidly. Still shivering convulsively from the aftermath of the vivid visions, something compelled her to look over at her charge, who was tossing and turning fitfully. Luna padded over to the girl, nuzzling her affectionately, when she caught sight of a bright, yet indistinct, silver light that shone from beneath golden bangs. As Usagi shifted with a quiet moan, Luna froze, denial and shock ricocheting within her.

A glowing crescent moon glared almost mockingly out at the stupefied cat, and her keen ears pricked up at a whimper.

"Endymion-koishii…" Usagi's voice was tormented, breathless. "Stay – don't leave me, onegai…"

A strange calm settled around the guardian cat as her mind whirled with this new revelation. "Serenity-hime," Luna murmured, her red eyes distant. What was she to do now? Obviously, Usagi was the Princess she had been tasked to find. If she'd had any doubts upon seeing the crescent moon insignia, they vanished as she remembered only the Royal Family's glowed silver, and the name Usagi had whispered in quiet agony. And yet…

"Doushite…?" Usagi mewled faintly, beginning to breathe a little more harshly. "Come back to me, koishii…" she subsided again, and Luna's heart broke at the pain in the girl's tone even as her mind continued to work, piecing everything together.

The Ginzuishou had not yet made an appearance, so obviously, it was not her time to truly emerge. None of her court were awakened yet, and Endymion…he had obviously been reincarnated into this time, too.

The cat admitted, somewhat grudgingly, that Endymion would protect Serenity with his life and sword. He had killed for her, and died for her. If only they could find him! Serenity would be safe, then, but had he even awakened yet? Also, that Tuxedo Kamen character! He existed in the Silver Millennium, that much she knew – he had an aura to him that implied his soul was an old one. What were his intentions? Were they, as he claimed, simply to protect Sailor Moon? Or did he have an ulterior motive?

"So many questions," Luna murmured, nuzzling her charge reassuringly. The crescent moon's glow had faded with the nightmare, and Usagi slumbered contentedly. "So few answers." It seemed that this revelation had triggered something in her, and knowledge filled in the blanks that one thousand years in stasis had wrought upon her memory.

Luna came to a conclusion, and had she human shoulders, she would have squared them resolutely. "Let's see if I still have an alternate form," she muttered, and jumped off the bed. Watching her princess sleep on, she felt loathe to leave her. For a moment, indecision filled her once more. "Just do it here," she sighed to herself, and began to change.

The crescent moon on her brow glowed intensely as limbs lengthened, fur disappeared and grew longer, her tail was sucked back into her spine with an almost audible shloop and after another few moments, a trembling young woman stood where the black feline had previously been.

Luna raised a shaking hand to feel her face. Human. She looked at the hand itself. Human. She looked down to see that she was clothed in her trademark sundress, a yellow and black creation that left her slender calves and arms bare. Human, all human.

Tears coursed down her face and Luna wiped them roughly away. She had not anticipated that reversion to her true form would bring out such an onslaught of emotions within her. She had always been just a slight bit more detached from them in feline form.

Sitting carefully down on the bed, Luna inhaled deeply. Her senses were a little duller, and she missed her feline ears, eyes and nose, but as she drew trembling fingers gently through her Princess's hair, she felt an ache in her chest that told her it was all worth it.

In human form, she could fight to defend her princess. She would locate and awaken the other senshi so that this tense charade would be over and her Princess would be safe once more. When Sailor Moon fought, Luna would be there watching her back.

"My life for the Princess's," she swore. The benevolent moon bore silent witness to her oath. A cat once more, Luna curled up in the curve of her Princess's arms and closed her eyes.

Sweat beaded his brow as he trudged wearily onwards, breathing harsh and laboured. Harry raised glazed emerald eyes dazedly up before his head slumped and he trudged onwards again.

He was walking through the second plane; the plane of subconscious and Dream. Somewhere, his body was still sitting in meditation in an alley full of refuse and darkness between a cheerfully lit arcade and a small antique store. His subconscious, however, was tired from fighting off nightmares and demons from the past, as well as haggard with depression over some particularly sad memories.

Harry felt the tug again, and followed it blindly, heart sinking as he did so. He could walk for an eternity and not find Endymion – he didn't even know what the man looked like, for Salazar's sake!

Tousled black hair like raven's wing, the mists around him whispered in response to his train of thought. They sounded strangely wistful. Sapphire eyes like a clear midnight sky… and beauty, oh, the beauty of a thousand sunsets, of an eagle in flight, of a sword's cold glitter. With skin of bronze and the bearing of a God is my Endymion.

"Who are you?" Harry shouted. This was the land of subconscious – perhaps someone who knew Endymion in both the past and present could point him in the right direction. "How do you know?"

That was when She appeared, with hair of moonlit silver, eyes of solemn cerulean and a grace whispering royalty. Harry took a step back, emerald gaze disbelieving. "Usa-chan?"

She smiled softly, sadly. "Iie, Raiden-ouji. Some call me a memory, some call me a ghost; most call me Serenity-hime of the Silver Millennium."

"My name is Harry," he told her flatly, insides writhing uncomfortably as he turned the name over in his mind. "Harry Potter. I am not a prince, but I'm looking for one. I don't suppose you'd know where he is, would you?"

Serenity smiled in spite of herself. "That I do," she murmured.

When no more information was forthcoming, Harry made an impatient noise. "Well?"

The Princess's responding look was reproachful. "Raiden-sama, much as I love you as my brother, you forget yourself."

Harry was rapidly beginning to lose his temper. "Look, lady Serenity or whomever you are. I need to find Endymion so I can get him to re-establish the link between Ginny and his Earth. She's dying, Princess, and if you want to play your stupid games then you can, but come out and say it instead of beating about the bush. I don't have time to waste on people who are misers with information that can save a life! The life of my wife!"

Serenity blinked, but that was all the surprise she showed. "So you did marry her in this lifetime."

Harry sighed, anger ebbing away as worry and sadness replaced it. "Please, Princess, a hint."

She nodded sombrely. "It is in his name and his nature to protect." Her eyes were kind. "Look for the Earth Protector, and the Protector of Selene's child. Look to the roses, for they carry a message."

Harry's eyes widened in sudden comprehension and he opened his mouth to reply before he doubled over in surprised pain. His ribs throbbed from the kick he had been delivered, and Serenity's face grew alarmed. "Awake, Raiden-sama! Someone is attacking your body!"

Harry wheezed as another kick landed on his chest. "My name – ugh – is Harry!"

"Raiden, awaken!" Serenity cried, her composure disintegrating as she watched an angry cut appear on Harry's cheek before a rip appeared in his trenchcoat and golden blood sprang forth. "Raiden-sama!"

"I would if I could, believe me," Harry shouted back hoarsely before his eyes rolled up into his head and he vanished.

The Princess ran towards where he had laid, a splotch of golden blood evaporating in a shower of sparks. She stopped then, allowing herself a small smile before she faded away once more.

In the dark alley, two would-be muggers stared with confusion at their victim's golden blood.

It was then that Harry's eyes snapped open and the sclera were gold, swallowing both irises and pupils. A wordless snarl escaped his throat, and a silent nova of pure light exploded outwards from his battered body, incinerating his attackers.

Seconds later, pedestrians blinked and wondered exactly what they'd forgotten, and Harry's eyes drifted close again.

"Ser – Usagi-chan!" Luna bawled into the sleeping girl's ear. "Wake up, or you'll be late for school!" Seeing that the girl didn't so much as stir, the cat closed her eyes, prayed that she wouldn't be tried for treason or assault on her Royal Highness's body when the Princess finally regained her memories, and bit down hard on aforementioned Princess's earlobe.

"ITAI!" Usagi shot out of bed with a shriek. "Kuso, what did you do that for, Luna-san!" she wailed.

"Mind your language, Usagi!" Luna told her primly, her worry fading a little as amusement set in. "You overslept: your alarm went off nearly forty minutes ago; your mother came in twice and it's nearly ten past eight already!"

"Kami-sama!" Usagi wailed, tumbling out of bed and landing on her rear with an ungraceful thud. "I've never overslept before – what's happening to ME-ee-EE-ee-EE?"

Luna sweatdropped sheepishly as Usagi darted in and out of the shower, pulled on a fresh skirt and blouse and did up her ribbon, finally fixing her new brooch on the knot, all within the space of under ten minutes. Grabbing her hair ribbons, she glanced at her reflection in the mirrors and seemed to sway with indecision for a moment, but a single glance at the clock had her shrieking further and her ankle-length hair was left unbound after a few hasty brushes. "I am going to be so LATE!"

Luna could only watch helplessly as her oblivious Princess dashed from the house, hair a banner of gold streaming behind her slender figure, ribbons fluttering to the ground as Tsukino Ikuko, Usagi's mother, ran out to the porch after her daughter, waving her lunchbox at her. "Usagi-chan!" she cried after the distant figure. The indigo-haired woman sighed in resignation as Usagi's mane of sun-gold hair vanished behind a street corner. "You forgot your bento," she finished softly.

Meowing and rubbing herself up against Ikuko's bare legs comfortingly, Luna made a swift grab for the lunchbox and took off running down the street, following the scent of moonlight and wildflowers. Ikuko stared at her now-empty hand, and then the black cat running away, bunny-embossed pink lunchbox held firmly in her jaws. "That is one strange neko," Ikuko muttered quietly before retreating hastily into the house before anything else happened.

Meanwhile, Usagi's flight was something to behold. Something increased her speed and strength, enabling her to run swiftly, gracefully. Pedestrians turned to watch the young teen's passage among them, eyes awed as they beheld an angel, golden hair rippling in the slipstream of her mad dash.

Forced to pause at a traffic intersection, Usagi shifted impatiently from foot to foot as the lights stubbornly refused to change. The blonde was surprised, to say the least, when a sleek black motorcycle drew up and a black and chrome helmet was tossed to her. "Get on," Chiba Mamoru told her, glancing at his watch. "I can get you there in a couple of minutes."

She looked at him haughtily, drawing herself up to her full height of five feet two inches. "I don't need your –"

"Pity? Help? Generous gestures? I'm trying to be nice here, Odango, and the warning bell would be ringing at this time. I've got a study block first period, so I don't need to be there until ten." He offered her a gloved hand.

Usagi bit her lip and coiled her hair hastily before putting the helmet on over it. With her luck, her hair would get stuck in his back wheel or something. "I owe you one, then," she muttered as she accepted the hand up before wrapping her arms reluctantly about his waist. "I didn't know you could drive," she grumbled into his back as she felt the motorcycle hum into motion.

Mamoru shrugged; Usagi could feel the muscles flex and she blushed faintly. "Despite sounding completely stupid and out-of-a-movie, there are a lot of things you don't know about me, and I know I don't know too much about you either, Odango. Besides, I only just got this sweetheart yesterday."

"Will you quit calling me that, you baka?" Usagi demanded, her blush fading abruptly. "It's a cool-looking bike, though," she admitted grudgingly.

"I chose it; what did you expect?" she could practically hear his smirk, and scowled.

"Well, if the hideous jacket I am currently leaning on is any indication, I expected far worse," her tone was deliberately biting.

"Gah…I'll have you and the rest of the world know that I like this 'hideous' jacket, and it is not hideous."

"It's cheap, it's a horrible cut and bulky, hiding your nice figure like that, and the colour doesn't suit your complexion."

He actually snickered. "So I have a 'complexion'? I'm touched, Odango. And what's this about my figure? You make me sound like a girl."

Usagi's head shot up and her mouth opened and closed before she let her forehead fall back against his back, tightening her grip around his stomach to the point where he worried he'd suffer asphyxiation. "Urusai, Mamoru-baka," she snarled. "Kami, you are such an arrogant jerk!"

"Arigatou, Tsukino-san," he grinned broadly. He didn't realise just how amusing the petite blonde could be. Their usual encounters consisted mainly of their colliding, her 'accidentally' throwing a potentially maiming device at Mamoru followed by a scathing comment from him or Mamoru greeting her with a twitty remark when she walked into the arcade followed by a snippy one from her, and more bickering before she, resigned, finally turned on the waterworks with wild abandon.

The ride was exhilarating despite their sniping, and she scrambled off the bike when they reached the school gates, almost throwing the spare helmet at him. "Arigatou, Mamoru-baka!" she called over her shoulder.

Mamoru watched her enter the building, clenching his left hand into a fist as the floaty feeling he'd been riding on when he saw her faded away slightly, the humorous grin on his lips dying. He didn't know why he had offered her a ride in the first place, but the way his torso still tingled from her touch gave him a clue to an answer he did not want to admit to anyone, especially himself. Forcing himself to relax, he put the helmet Usagi had used back into its compartment before mounting the bike again and driving away. Motoki's arcade was open, he knew, and he would find a willing ear and caffeine fix there.

A redheaded teen entered the alley, cheerfully depositing a dark green garbage bag in an aluminium can before something groaned and she spun around warily. As green eyes landed on a dirty, golden-smeared face and a limp body, Furuhata Unazuki screamed.
Motoki looked concernedly at Mamoru, who was nursing his customary cup of coffee and gazing into it with a dark expression on his face. "You blacked out, you say?"

"Hai, and I woke up in my apartment and it's freaking me out because I don't know how I got there! I was in the library checking out a psychology reading requirement when it happened, then everything just went hazy and there was this pain…."

"You should go see a doctor about what happened, Mamoru. I'm sure they'll be able to help you."

"No, you don't understand. I stopped by the library earlier today to ask the librarian if she'd seen me do anything the previous day, she looked at me like I was a moron – or just a piece of dung she'd scraped off her shoe – and said that I had stumbled, dropped the book as if it weren't a 'valuable instrument imparting knowledge to all who desired' and ran out of there like there was no tomorrow."

Motoki bit his lip, trying not to laugh. "Nani? I thought nothing could ever make you mistreat a book, especially a nonfiction reading."

Mamoru scowled darkly and was about to retort when the faint jingle of bells indicated another visitor. Motoki, more to escape his younger best friend's thunderous frown than anything else, looked up with a smile that froze in place as he spotted his sister's panicked face. "'Zuki-chan, what's the matter?"

"There's a man – he's hurt – in the alley back there!" she yelled hysterically. "He's got this huge cut on the side of his face and I'm sure there's more to it than that because his coat's all wet and I think it's blood but it's not red it's gold!"

Mamoru, Motoki, and a few other patrons made a beeline for the exit. "Call an ambulance, somebody!" the arcade owner shouted.

"Done," a pale-faced woman responded, tucking her cell phone back into her purse.

"Domo arigatou, Otani-san," Motoki called over his shoulder.

They slowed to a jog as they neared the mouth of the alley, and then to a walk as they entered it. A shouted plea from Motoki's sister had him doubling back reluctantly. Mamoru, on the other hand, pushed through the other men who had responded to Unazuki's hysterical claim, and knelt down next to the limp form lying squarely in the middle of the alley.

Utilising all the knowledge he'd learned in first aid as well as the apprenticeship of sorts he had taken over the summer, Mamoru took the man's pulse while the other hand lifted an eyelid carefully to check, once he had confirmed the man was alive, whether or not he was suffering a concussion. Telling the others to look for an identification of some kind, Mamoru swept a finger across some of the golden liquid oozing steadily out of the shallow slash on the man's cheek, inspecting it carefully.

Suddenly the wrist he was holding tensed, the hand clenching into a fist. Mamoru found himself staring into darkened emerald eyes, the pupils so dilated that the green was but a thin rim of green around them. Bloody lips laughed, a horrible choking sound, before a staff materialised in the man's hand and pointed at the men standing behind Mamoru. "Thanks," he coughed, "but no thanks."

Mamoru blinked. "Nani –?" Quite frankly, this lunatic was beginning to freak him out. Maybe if he moved away slowly…

"You don't want to know." The man's breathing was harsh and laboured, but the next word he spoke caused a strange flash followed by something that tingled unpleasantly across Mamoru's skin. "Obliviate."

A/N: Review? Please? Pretty, pretty please with a senshi on top?