After running and walking so far already that day, Naru didn't know how she was going to make it all the way to the Palace. She would almost have been glad to see Mumeishi's henchmen pull up in a sleek black car to give them a ride. Her shaking legs and laboring heart and lungs would have welcomed the rest. Mumeishi's iron grip on her hand and her own pride were all that kept her on her feet and moving; that and the fact that she knew somehow that if she stumbled and fell, the fight between Mumeishi and Nephrite would resume. Nephrite had been hard-pressed against Mumeishi's sword of black lightning; she didn't want him to have to face it again. Every once in a while she glanced back to see that Nephrite was keeping the exact same distance behind them. She didn't know if it was thirty paces, but apparently Mumeishi had decided it was satisfactory.

The closer they got to the Palace the worse the rioting got. The mob from the Institute had been greatly increased by people whose purifications had come undone. "How did you do it?" she asked. "Destroy the Institute and undo the purifications?" She tried to sound eager and admiring rather than horrified.

"It was very simple, really. Although you failed, treacherously but predictably, to provide me with any information on the subject--"

"Your people frightened me. I wasn't expecting them to treat me so roughly. I thought they were going to hurt me." Her plan was only going to work if she could keep Mumeishi's trust.

"I apologize. I ordered them to only do what was necessary. As for your question, after you left, my research revealed to me that a sudden unavoidable confrontation with extremely negative energy or emotion creates an attraction with the negative emotions and memories which are sealed away within the subject's mind. The outer stimulus and the inner memories and emotions are irresistably drawn together, not allowing anything to stand in their way."

"That explains why the people that's happening to seem to be in so much pain. Something is actually breaking inside their minds."

"Yes. As I am sure you realize by now, I am able to engage or make contact with the inner workings of people's minds. Which was why I knew better than to completely trust you, although I wished to. You are more veiled to me than many others are. I'm not entirely sure I trust you now, as a matter of fact. But, as I was saying, since there were so many unpurified people confined in the Institute, there was a great deal of negative energy available for me to draw on. Which, I assure you, I did with the consent of those whose energy I used."

"Of course," Naru said.

"I was also able to make use of...other sources of negative energy, and thus was able to leave my human sources with plenty of anger and hatred to fuel my revolution even after I took what I needed. I compressed all of this dark, negative energy, then released it. It disintegrated the walls of the Institute without harming those within. Most of the staff became de-purified, and a number of them, under the influence of the negative energy and the feelings of the former inmates, have joined my cause."

"What happened with Dr. Tajima?"

"He made his living by delving into the sorrows and angers and guilt that people carry within themselves. The release of dark energy was like ambrosia to him, the perfect food for his spirit. He absorbed a great deal of it, and it...changed him. His skills make him very useful to me."

"It's amazing how perfectly everything worked out."

"You may be amazed, my dear Naru-chan, but I'm not. It has all gone exactly according to my plan.

"What will happen now?"

"If the King and Queen will step aside, then they can be spared. But if not, well, my followers and I will do whatever must be done to reclaim Crystal Tokyo for its people."

As they came closer to the Palace, what was happening looked more like a free-for-all crime spree than any kind of organized protest. Shattered windows, broken and scattered objects, and burning trash cans filled the streets. Down one street, Naru even saw a burning car. A couple of blue-uniformed peace officers, the only ones she had seen since the trouble began, were trying to keep people away from the burning car while spraying it with white foam. Most of the onlookers were shouting excitedly for the car to explode.

Finally they reached the Palace. A quick glance back revealed that Nephrite was still the same distance behind them. Even though he wasn't next to her, Naru felt safer with him nearby, and she hoped that Nephrite understood her true intentions--to get Mumeishi alone into the Palace, where he could be subdued. The crime and rioting hadn't spilled onto the Palace grounds. Out of the corner of her eye, Naru could just see a shimmering, translucent barrier around the grounds, anchored at wide intervals by the Senshi. She and Mumeishi walked up to Sailor Jupiter.

"Jupiter-sama." Naru bowed politely. "Mumeishi-sama wishes to have an audience with King Endymion-sama and Neo-Queen Serenity-sama, to present his and his followers' demands to them. As the Queen's longtime friend, I am acting as an emissary."

Jupiter looked at her. Naru tried to keep a neutral expression on her face to disguise her true intentions from Mumeishi while hoping that Jupiter wouldn't think that she had turned against the King and Queen. After a long, hard stare, Jupiter transfered her questioning look to a point somewhere behind Naru's shoulder. Nephrite, Naru thought. It would depend on whether Nephrite indicated she should be allowed into the Palace. She longed to look back, but didn't dare.

Nephrite must have signalled that it would be all right. "You'll order your followers to stop their criminal behavior," Jupiter told Mumeishi. "When it stops, you and your companion will be escorted into the Palace."

"I will order them to stop for one hour," Mumeishi countered. "If I do not emerge safely from the Palace within that time, with the King and Queen's concession to our demands, the actions will resume."

"You aren't in any position to bargain," Jupiter said.

"With all due respect, Jupiter-san, neither are you."

Jupiter glanced at Nephrite again, then nodded to him. "All right. One hour. If there is one instance of criminal behavior or aggression against any citizen of Crystal Tokyo or their property, the truce is off."

"They will obey me," Mumeishi said. He closed his eyes in intense concentration for a moment. The air around him seemed to waver, then fell still again. At the same time, the sounds of shouting and crashing stopped. After the hours of rioting, the city seemed eerily silent. "One hour," he said.

Jupiter also closed her eyes, appearing to communicate silently with the other Senshi. "Come," she said. She started walking to the Palace, Mumeishi and Naru following. Nephrite brought up the rear, still maintaining, as far as Naru could tell, the same precise distance from them he had kept all the way from the Institute. As the group climbed the broad steps to the Palace doors, three other Senshi joined them. In the distance, a couple of other Senshi still stood at the edge of the Palace grounds. She didn't recognize them, but she knew the three who had joined them--Mars, Mercury, and Venus. The ones who had been with Sailor Moon from the beginning.

The King and Queen were waiting in the grand reception hall just beyond the Palace's entry foyer, as though they had been alerted that someone was coming. Jupiter stopped in front of the royal couple. The other three Senshi went to stand beside the Queen, while Nephrite joined the other three Guardians next to the King. Naru remained with Mumeishi.

"Naru-chan," Serenity said. "I know my decisions and my actions hurt you. I am truly sorry, but I cannot believe you would turn against me like this."

"Your Majesties," Mumeishi said, a slight mocking note in his voice, "you see now the consequences of your unjust law and your attempts to try to control your people by ravaging their minds. The ones you locked away, and the ones who regained their minds' freedom, support and obey only me. Admit your mistake, step down, and allow me to take over the rule of this city. You will never have the peace you desire unless you bow to the will of my followers--the people of this city."

"Your will, you mean," the Queen said. "You accuse us of trying to control our people, but here you have truly taken control of the minds of these vulnerable and unhappy people. And now you are trying to blackmail us into turning this city over to you. Allow you to take control over Crystal Tokyo, you are saying, or you will loose your thugs and criminals to run rampant in the city."

"Tell us this," the King added, "can the people of this city expect any better from you? Or will you exploit them for your own enrichment and pleasure? We've discovered your history; shadow leader of one of the richest and most dangerous crime organizations in the country, orchestrating terror and misery for thousands of people and living on the vast proceeds all while carefully avoiding getting your own hands dirty. How are we supposed to believe things will be any different when you are the leader of an entire city?"

"My cause is just," Mumeishi answered. "Naru agrees with me. When you step down and hand over the city to me, she will rule at my side. Perhaps her influence will moderate my rule to be more to your liking."

"Is this true?" Serenity asked Naru. "Do you truly wish to displace me and rule at Mumeishi's side?"

Everyone looked at Naru. It was up to her, now. If she gave herself away before the Senshi and Guardians could subdue Mumeishi, he would order his followers to start the rioting again. On the other hand, she didn't want to be arrested and imprisoned as a traitor. She swallowed, trying to force the right words to come to mind. Over with the Guardians, Nephrite was gazing steadily at her. He believed in her, she realized. She stood straighter, and looked at Serenity. "You should have trusted me, Usagi-chan. Didn't you know you could trust me? Have I ever let you down?"

The Queen flinched back as though she had been slapped. She stood absolutely still for a moment, then she walked slowly to stand in front of Naru. Her face veiled some intense emotion. For a second, Naru wondered if Serenity was going to slap her. Then Serenity put her hands on Naru's shoulders and pulled her close into an embrace. "I'm so sorry, Naru-chan, my dear friend."

"Wait--!" Mumeishi shouted in confusion. Immediately, the Senshi and Guardians rushed him. Jupiter threw herself towards him, dodging a sudden blade of black light that appeared from his hands. While Mumeishi was occupied with Jupiter, Nephrite rushed him from behind and tackled him to the floor. Black waves of light began to waver around the two men.

"Stop him! Naru cried. "He's going to tell them to start the riots again!"

A piece of paper with markings on it appeared in Sailor Mars's hand. She chanted out a string of syllables, then cried, "Begone, evil spirit!" as she flung the paper at Mumeishi. It attached itself to his face, over his mouth. He shouted unintelligibly as he tried to tear the paper off of his face. Nephrite rolled him onto his stomach and pulled his arms behind him. Jupiter produced a length of silvery rope and bound Mumeishi's hands. "Those ropes will keep him from being able to do any magic," she explained.

The other Senshi and Guardians had clustered around Serenity, Endymion, and Naru to protect them. Serenity was still embracing Naru. "I saw terrible things, Naru-chan," she said. "Terrible things that would happen in the future. I thought I could prevent them. I wanted to protect this city, and my daughter. This seemed like it was the only way..."

It wasn't entirely Serenity, any more, but not quite Usagi. Naru carefully returned the embrace. "I kept telling myself you must have had a good reason to do what you did. But it still hurt that you wouldn't trust me."

"I couldn't single out any one person as an exception to the law. Do you understand that? But maybe I should have been more willing to wait and see what people were going to do, instead of assuming that anyone might become dangerous."

Kunzite was assisting Nephrite and Jupiter in taking Mumeishi, who was still screaming incoherently from under the spell paper, into custody. "Might I suggest, your Majesty," Kunzite said, "that we save any further reconciliation and discussion for another time. We need to secure the prisoner and see if the riots have begun again."

Kunzite and Jupiter escorted the subdued prisoner away. The other Senshi and Guardians left the Palace, followed by the King and Queen. Naru followed them at Nephrite's side, curious to see what would happen. Outside, the two Senshi whom Naru hadn't recognized had managed to keep the perimeter of the Palace grounds secure so far, but more crowds were pressing up against it. Naru couldn't see how the two Senshi could hold out for much longer. The Guardians and Senshi ranged themselves along one of the lower steps that led up to the palace, and the King and Queen remained at the top, in front of the Palace entrance. The shouting from the crowd grew louder. Rocks, glass bottles, and metal cans bounced off of the nearly invisible barrier being maintained by the two Senshi; a few that were thrown especially high sailed over the top to land inside of the barrier. The King raised a hand to try to silence the crowd, but the Queen touched his arm, stopping him. She stepped forward and raised her scepter over her head.

Now the crowd fell silent, almost as though put under a spell by the sight of their glorious young queen. As she spoke, her voice carried the distance over the wide lawn between her and the crowd and to the back reaches of the gathered mass of people as though magically enhanced. "My people, the leader of this uprising, Mumeishi, has been taken into custody. By his own admission, he was only using you and your feelings of anger, hurt and resentment to elevate himself into power, to rule over Crystal Tokyo in the place of Endymion and me. Look around at what you've been doing, at the pointless destruction. Is this how you want to bring about a better life for yourselves?"

The crowd shifted restlessly, and a murmuring arose. A few people began to slink away from the mob; others started to shout and throw things again.

The Queen raised her scepter again. "Listen to me! I've heard your grievances about the purification law." The noise level from the crowd dropped again, and they stood listening. "I have seen disastrous things to come in the future of Crystal Tokyo, and the law was an attempt to protect our city from those terrible things. To protect you from the disasters I foresaw. And to protect my future daughter, who will have to live through them. But now I realize that the method I chose is ineffective and unjust. It seems that what will happen will happen, one way or another. In the meantime, to make Crystal Tokyo as safe as possible, I feel that it is still necessary to require certain people, who have proven their evil intent, to be subject to the purification laws. Those who are innocent at this time will still be offered the chance to be healed of their griefs and negative memories and emotions, but there will be no punishment if they choose not to accept the purification. I will begin with my dear childhoood friend."

Serenity turned to Naru. Naru froze at suddenly finding herself the center of attention. Serenity laid a slender hand against Naru's cheek. "Naru-chan, I only want you to be happy. Do you still wish to keep the painful memories, and your grief?"

Naru thought of the agony of the night Nephrite had died and the days following, and the hidden sorrow of all the years after that. Her guilt over being unable to give her heart fully to Umino, and her genuine grief at his death. The loss of her mother and her baby, and her overwhelming guilt that they had died, targeted by the monsters, because of her. She looked down the steps to where Nephrite stood, and thought of the days and nights they had shared since they found each other again. Without the memories of the terrible times she had gone through, this reunion with him, the love they shared, wouldn't be as sweet. What was the point of happiness in a life that was nothing but happiness? "Thank you for the offer of healing, my Queen, but I prefer to take the bad along with the good. It's all part of me and part of my life." She couldn't make herself speak loudly, but as when the Queen had spoken, her voice seemed to be magically amplified.

Serenity gave her a sad smile. "You are certain?"

"Yes. I'm sure."

Serenity embraced her again. Naru returned the embrace lightly. Then the Queen stepped back. "As you wish. Should you ever change your mind, all you need do is come to me and ask. Go and be happy now."

Serenity turned away from Naru and faced the crowd again. "As you see, those who are judged innocent, who refuse purification, may go free. Neptune, Uranus, you may lower the barrier."

The barrier around the Palace grounds, visible just on the edge of Naru's vision, disappeared. For a moment the mob beyond was absolutely still. Then confusion broke out. Some of the rioters turned and pushed their way to the back of the crowd. Others rushed towards the Palace. The Senshi and Guardians raised their arms. A translucent net lowered itself onto all those who had been gathered, including the ones who were trying to leave. Some people dropped to their knees, begging for mercy; some stood patiently, waiting to see what their fate would be; others fought against the net and against each other. "Hold them," Endymion ordered the Guardians and Senshi. "Keep them secure, in smaller groups. Bring them to us one at a time to be judged."

The Senshi and Guardians moved to follow the King's orders, dividing the net into smaller sections, so that no more than a dozen people were confined together, and then leading the smaller groups, still confined by the magical nets, to the security building next to the Palace. Naru remembered the small cell she had stayed in--had it only been a few days ago? There must be more, and larger, cells somewhere in that building. Despite her hopes and best efforts, Serenity must have realized there would still be a need for a prison in her paradise.