The crowds of panicked people in the streets made driving impossible, so Nephrite made his way back to the hotel on foot. He hoped Naru had stayed there, and hadn't been caught out in the streets when all hell had broken loose. He passed dozens of people in the throes of mindsplitting headaches as their purifications came undone, and others who were sobbing at the return of memories and emotions that they couldn't bear.

The chaos was growing. Crowds surged through the streets, shouting in anger, crying, leaving broken glass, trash, and destroyed trees and plants in their wake. Other people, more frightened than angry, lingered around the fringes of the mob.

At the hotel, most of the windows and doors were shattered. Nephrite went into the lobby, wondering if the elevator was still working. The lobby was filled with people sitting on the chairs and on the floor, many of them were bleeding from cuts, looking lost and dazed. A number of them were crying. Naru wasn't there. Nephrite started for the stairwell. "Sir! Lord Nephrite!" A desk clerk hurried up to him. "If you're looking for your guest, sir, she left the hotel after the explosion, going that way." He pointed to the right.

She was out there, on the streets, headed towards the source of the trouble. The Institute. And Mumeishi. "Thank you," Nephrite said as he ran back out of the hotel.

Fear for Naru's safety drove him on, but the crowds and chaos in the street hampered his progress. He was slowed even more by people stopping him when they saw his Palace uniform to ask what was happening. "Some criminals destroyed the Institute for Wellness and Joy in a breakout attempt," he explained repeatedly. "Everything will be under control soon." He had no idea if that was true, but it was the only thing he could do right now to try to limit the spread of the chaos.

Finally, he broke free of the congested streets around the hotel and found himself on a broader, more open avenue. He ran in the direction of the Institute, wondering how far ahead of him Naru was. She probably had quite a long head start on him, but she had been severely weakened by her injuries and her confinement in the Institute. Surely he would catch up with her before long.

He came upon a larger mass of people moving in the general direction of the Palace. Smashing noises, the sounds of vandalism, and wordless, angry shouting arose from the mob. If Naru was caught in that...

He moved to the right, keeping to the far edge of the street to stay out of the mob's way as it passed. They veered to his left, onto a street that would take them closer to the Palace. It was impossible to distinguish any one individual in the crowd, but surely Naru's red hair would stand out. As it passed, Nephrite was relieved to see no sign of her.

Once the tail end of the mob had headed around the corner, he continued running towards the Institute. He passed smashed windows and doors, goods that had been pulled from store windows and tossed into the street where they lay broken and trampled, trees with branches broken off, overturned trash bins, battered cars. The amount of destruction stunned him. This crowd had nothing to gain from it; they didn't even keep the items they took from the stores. It was an outburst of sheer, unadulterated, unthinking rage and hatred. Were the rioters acting on criminal impulses they already possessed? Or had Mumeishi created and encouraged this urge to destroy? No matter how justified their grievances against the purification law might be, Nephrite couldn't support this kind of behavior or the person behind it. Although he had as much reason as anyone to hate the purification law, Nephrite decided, he would defend Crystal Tokyo, and his King and Queen, against this destruction and the madman who had incited it, as soon as he found Naru and made sure she was safe.

* * * * * * * *

Naru's lungs burned and her heart felt like it would pound out of her chest. A few days of rest and decent food hadn't started to make up for her serious injuries from the accident and the months of inactivity in the Institute. She had no business running and walking so fast, so far, for so long. If she wasn't careful, she was going to collapse.

She had passed one shouting, rioting group of escapees from the Institute. Their violence startled her; she had never sensed that level of anger and hostility among the residents at the Institute. Some of them could have come from the protective custody unit, but she also recognized a few from the independent living unit; men and women who, though they had never seemed very friendly, also had not seemed to be this violent.

The group passed her. Mumeishi was not among them. But left behind in its wake was a lone figure, huddled on the ground--an old man, it looked like. Naru ran over to him to see if he was hurt.

It was the old man from the van the day she had refused the purification. He looked up, his face streaked with tears and blood, his nose running. He looked so lost and scared that Naru's heart broke. She knelt beside him. "Are you ok?"

"I want to go home, but it's broken." His voice shook with frightened sobs. He gave no sign that he recognized her. "They broke it. I can't go back. I can't eat fish there any more."

Naru helped him to his feet and over to a nearby bench. "You stay here, Grandpa. Someone will come to help you find a new home, and fish to eat." He nodded obediently, and Naru left him sitting on the bench like a child expecting his mother to come at any moment. She made a mental note to tell someone at the Palace about him, to make sure he was taken to safety. I won't forgive you for hurting that old man, she thought at Mumeishi as she headed towards the Institute again.

Streets converged and then forked off in other directions. Another angry group was moving towards the Palace, turning onto a cross street. She saw a familiar figure with the group, someone she had never expected to be happy to see. "Dr. Tajima!" she shouted, running towards him. Maybe he could help stop what was happening. "Dr. Tajima! Wait a second!"

As she ran towards him, calling him, he turned, dropping back behind the group. "Dr. Tajima, maybe you can help," Naru gasped as she came up to him. Then she looked at him. His eyes shone solid black.

Naru's heart seemed to stop. "No." She took a step back from him; he moved towards her.

"Come join us. You know you agree with Mumeishi-sama." He reached out a hand to grab her.

Naru turned and ran. Behind her, she could hear the monster that Dr. Tajima had become following closely. Ahead of her was the rubble of the Institute. A single figure stood on the lawn. She ran towards him. Dr. Tajima's hand swiped at her shoulder as she reached the grass, and she stumbled forward. The person on the lawn caught her to keep her from falling.

"Tajima," Mumeishi said. "Leave her alone. Go back to your cadre." His voice held a note of unquestionable command. A shiver ran up Naru's back; she recognized the sensation of the magical power he was using to enhance his authority.

"Yes, Mumeishi-sama." The psychiatrist-youma turned around and hurried back to catch up with his group.

Mumeishi helped Naru stand up straight, still keeping his arms around her. "I apologize for that. The more intelligent ones have difficulty sticking to their orders, and have a tendency to take matters into their own hands."

"You have to stop this, Mumeishi! People are getting hurt! That old man from the van--"

"Yes, it's unfortunate. But we will bring down this sham of a paradise, with its Queen who never did anything to deserve her position and its unfair, intrusive laws. We'll replace it with one in which everyone is allowed to do whatever they wish, whatever they must, and the strongest will rise to the top, instead of being pushed down to the bottom by means of so-called purification."

Naru looked into his eyes. They were completely black, like Dr. Tajima's, but instead of being merely black they seemed empty, as though they were a portal to a place beyond. It seemed she could see the vastness of deep space within them. Cold fear rose up in her. He looked human, acted human, spoke like a human--but now she knew there was something deeply un-human about him. She had guessed that he had powers like Usagi or Nephrite had, but now she wondered how far these powers extended, and whether Nephrite or the other Guardians or the Senshi, or even all of them together with Serenity and Endymion, would be a match for him.

"I will make this city into a paradise for the strong, and as I am strongest of all, I will rule at the top. And you, Naru-san, if you wish, you will rule at my side."

"I can't--!"

"You can't what? Displace your friend the Queen? See her cast down to the same level where she sent you? See her humiliated and betrayed as she humiliated and betrayed you?"

Naru tried to look away from him as he spoke, but the endless, eternal vastness within his eyes held her.

"She could have spoken up to save you, but she remained silent, to protect herself. You told yourself it was because it would have been dangerous for her to reveal her true identity at that time, she had to keep it a secret in order to win an unwinnable battle and protect the Earth, but the truth is she was a coward. She knew at the time that the fight was unwinnable and she had nothing to lose by revealing her identity as Sailor Moon, but she was afraid of being mocked. Laughed at. Called 'crazy.' The same things you suffered, she was unwilling to endure for your sake."

Against her will, a picture formed in Naru's mind, a vivid memory of that day when, with badly-styled hair and the ridiculous pink velour track suit with the word CHICK emblazoned in silver across the backside, she had stood before the gloriously beautiful, golden-haired, white-gowned Neo-Queen Serenity. The humiliation of that day was even sharper now than it had been the first time. "How do you--?"

"And when she offered you the terrible choice between giving up the memories and emotions that were all you had of the people you loved, and being confined forever in that prison so cruelly known as the Institute for Wellness and Joy, she proved that your friendship, your faithfulness and loyalty and love, meant nothing to her. If she really was your friend, she would have trusted in your love and loyalty."

Oh, Usagi, he's right--you should have trusted me. How could you not?

"You can be in her place, and put her in the place you were," Mumeishi said in a low voice. The depths behind his eyes held Naru captive. Almost as though in a movie, she saw herself standing in front of the Crystal Palace. Her long, luxuriant hair was adorned with jewels, her gown was crimson silk trimmed with pearls and gold. She stood majestic and beautiful with Mumeishi next to her, tall and lean, his foxlike face handsome and regal, while in front of her, wearing a baggy track suit, her golden hair shorn, Usagi cowered and wept.

She could be queen, she could be beautiful and adored, she could hold the power of life and happiness over a vast city. "Think of it," Mumeishi whispered, "you and I, ruling this city in a way that makes us happy..."

Beautiful, powerful, adored, happy...

It was all wrong. Without Nephrite by her side, with her best friend in tears before her... "No," she said, and pulled her gaze away from Mumeishi. It was almost physically painful to wrench her eyes away from him, and to pull her mind free of the illusions and desires he was feeding into it. "What will make me happy is being with Nephrite, and being friends with Usagi again. I don't want my happiness to come from other people being hurt or miserable."

"You are turning down the opportunity to rule this city any way you see fit?"

"Any way I see fit, as long as you allow it." Her mind seemed clearer, now that she had chosen against him. "I'm not stupid; between the two of us, I know who's more powerful. I'm not going to sit back and accept whatever you do just because it benefits me."

She tried to back away from Mumeishi, but his grip on her arms tightened painfully. She struggled to pull away, but he jerked her closer, trapping her against him, and pressed his mouth against hers in a hard, controlling kiss.

"Naru-chan!"

Naru's legs gave out in relief at the voice behind her. Then panic flooded her mind--what would Nephrite think, coming upon her in Mumeishi's arms, being kissed by him? Mumeishi held her harder, forcing the kiss more insistently upon her until she couldn't breathe. Footsteps pounded up behind them; before Mumeishi could move aside, Nephrite barrelled hard into them, knocking them down. He pulled Naru loose from Mumeishi's prisoning embrace and rolled aside with her. "Nephrite, I didn't--" she gasped.

"I know," he said. He stood up and took a defensive stance as Mumeishi also got to his feet.

"Who are you?" Mumeishi demanded. Then a comprehending smile dawned on his lean face. "I see. You allowed the Senshi to beat you many times, and then you were given a final defeat by your own side. How dare a poor excuse for a fighter like you challenge me!" He flung his arms open, hands spread wide. Black lightning shot out from his palms.

"Starlight shield!" A shimmering wall, barely visible in the afternoon sun, appeared in front of Nephrite. The black lightning met the shield in a flash of sparks. Nephrite crossed his arms across his chest and flung them wide. "Starlight attack!"

Brilliant balls of light flew through the air. Mumeishi dove aside; Nephrite's attack hit the dirt with tremendous force, sending huge clods of earth and grass and sidewalk concrete flying around Mumeishi. Mumeishi raised one hand and pointed. A blade of black light like a sword shot out from his forefinger. He swung his hand; Nephrite ducked, but Mumeishi's blade cut through several strands of his hair.

The blade of black light swung back the other way. Nephrite ducked again, then spun out of the way of a downward slash. As he moved backwards, away from Mumeishi, Mumeishi's blade lengthened. Nephrite was barely keeping a hair's-breadth away from it. Naru pressed herself flat against the grassy ground, wishing she could do something to help Nephrite. Again she was the helpless one, the one who had to be protected, and she hated it. Another slash of the blade tore through the shoulder and arm of Nephrite's jacket. Blood--red blood--began to quickly seep from the wound. "Mumeishi, stop!" Naru cried out. "Stop, I'll go with you to the Palace to face Serenity!"

The black blade disappeared. Both men turned to look at her. She sat up and looked at Nephrite, but didn't say anything, didn't mouth the words. She barely even dared think them: Trust me. She hoped he would just know. She turned to Mumeishi. "We'll go to the Palace together. You and me, we'll stand in front of Serenity and Endymion together, and tell them our demands. She'll listen to me, she'll think I'm still her friend in spite of everything. You were right, we can't allow things to go on as they have been. If you go with me, you won't have to fight your way into the Palace."

She glanced at Nephrite; his face was unreadable. Mumeishi studied her, then his face slowly broke into a feral grin. "You and me, Naru-chan. Our fates linked together." He looked at Nephrite. "I suppose you'll insist on following us. You'll stay at least thirty paces back, or I might have to put my alliance with the girl to a permanent end. If you get my meaning."

Nephrite nodded.

"Come, Naru-chan." Mumeishi extended a hand down to Naru. She forced herself to take it without hesitation, to let him raise her to her feet. "It's time to go tell the King and Queen how we feel." Still gripping her hand, he began walking back towards the Palace.