Nephrite awoke from dreams of darkness, pain, and sorrow, culminating in a dizzying freefall. He found himself staring up at the high, arched ceiling of his mansion, then realized he was lying naked on his back on the cold floor. What the hell happened?

He remembered the park, and the thorns, and Naru sobbing over him, begging him not to go. No, another set of memories--Naru warm and soft in his arms on a hard bed in a small apartment. But he was much younger then... Curious, feeling strangely detached, he moved his left hand to his right shoulder and felt the scars there, five of them on his shoulder and upper chest.

"What am I doing here?" a too-familiar voice demanded.

Startled, Nephrite turned his attention to his surroundings. He wasn't the only former Dark Kingdom Lord lying naked on the floor of his mansion. In fact, all four of them were there. They sat up all at once and stared at each other.

"What are any of us doing here?" Kunzite finally asked, echoing Zoisite's question.

"I haven't the slightest idea," Jadeite said. "One minute I'm in that crystal, the next I'm somewhere dark with nothing to do but ponder the error of my ways, and now I'm here."

The other three looked at Nephrite. "Don't ask me," he said. Memories finally sorted themselves into place. He swore, jumped to his feet, and ran upstairs to the big-screen TV in his den. He picked up the remote and turned it on, switching through the channels until he reached one with a scrolling information bar that gave the day's date.

Three years since he had been here last. At least, since he had been here last from Naru's point of view. Five years since he had headed the Dark Kingdom's operations on Earth. Five years since his death. He walked down the hall to his loft bedroom and started pulling clothes out of the dresser and wardrobe. Boxer shorts, shirts, pants, socks, shoes... He carried them to the railing overlooking the main floor and threw three sets of clothing down to the other men. "Get dressed," he called down. "We've got a visit to make."

"What do you mean, a visit?" Kunzite asked, while Zoisite held up a pair of pants and said, "These won't fit."

"What kind of a mage are you if you can't adjust a simple pair of trousers?" Jadeite asked, making the necessary magical alterations to his own clothing, while Nephrite answered Kunzite's question. "We're going to go call on the Senshi."

"Are you out of your mind?" the silver-haired Lord demanded. "They'll kill us on sight."

"Can you think of anyone else who might be able to tell us why we're suddenly alive again? Don't worry, they won't kill me, and I'll vouch for the three of you."

"What do you mean, they won't kill you?" Jadeite asked.

"Long story," Nephrite said, buttoning his shirt.

"Nephrite fell for that little red-headed friend of Sailor Moon's," Zoisite explained. "He died protecting her. So sad and romantic." Zoisite sounded less than touched.

"Died protecting her from your youma, you mean," Nephrite said. "You want to work out your grudge against me man-to-man, Zoisite, that's fine with me. But I object to dying in an ambush baited with a little girl who hadn't done you or anyone else any harm."

Dressed now, he walked back down the hallway to his den. The satellite TV worked, even after his five-year absence. His business must still be in operation. The office-youma must have survived the fall of the Dark Kingdom. Being youma, they would keep following his orders until he told them to stop, which he couldn't very well do while he was dead. At least, they seemed to be keeping the bills paid. The house was clean, but that was probably due as much to the Guards he had set on it as to the continued attentions of his cleaning-youma. He picked up his cell phone, curious to see if it still worked.

It did. He called information, requested the number he wanted, then dialed and waited for an answer.

"Hello?" a man's voice said.

"Is this the Tsukino residence?"

"Yes, this is Tsukino Kenji."

"May I speak to Usagi, please? Tell her it's Miyake Akeno."

"Akeno? Yes, I remember you. You dated Usagi's friend Naru a few years ago, didn't you?"

"Yes. I'm back in Tokyo. I just got into town a few minutes ago."

"Ah. Then you must not know that Usagi got married recently. To Chiba Mamoru. Would you like their number?"

"If you would be so kind." Nephrite found a pencil and piece of paper on the coffee table, right where he had left them five years ago, when he left the house for the last time. He wrote the number down, thanked Mr. Tsukino, hung up, and dialed the Chibas' number.

"Hello?" said the familiar voice of a young woman.

"Sailor Moon?" Nephrite said. He held the phone away from his ear as she shrieked.

"Nephrite?" Usagi finally demanded. "What are you--Are you back again?"

"Yes. All four of us. We need to meet with the Senshi right away."

"All four of you? What are you guys doing back here?"

"That's what we want to find out."

"I see. At the Hikawa Shrine, in half an hour?"

"That'll work. Half an hour, then."

Nephrite hung up, found the keys to the Ferrari on the coffee table next to his wallet where he had left them five years ago, and ran downstairs. "Come on," he said to the other Lords. He hoped the car would start. He felt too weak to teleport yet.

When the four Lords stepped into the carport and saw the sleek red car, an awed hush fell over them. "Nice wheels," Jadeite finally said admiringly. Kunzite and Zoisite just stared.

"Gentlemen, the fine Italian sports car," Nephrite said, opening the driver's-side door. "When sex is not a possibility, this is the next best thing."

"I'm not sure I'd put them in that order," Jadeite said.

Nephrite thought again briefly of that night he had spent with Naru, so long ago in his time, not so long ago in hers. How could he have been so stupid as to leave her with a note on the pillow? She probably wouldn't want to see him again, after that. First things first, he reminded himself. He and the other Lords had to find out what was going on and why they were alive again. "Jadeite, Zoisite, you two are smaller, so you go in the jump seats in the back." Nephrite held his seatback forward, and Jadeite squeezed into the back with a great deal of swearing and grumbling. Kunzite followed Nephrite's example, so Zoisite could climb in.

"This is ridiculous," Zoisite complained, his knees folded up to his chin. "I hope I get enough energy to teleport soon."

"Maybe the Senshi will donate some," Kunzite said.

Nephrite got in and turned the key in the ignition, and was gratified to hear the powerful, finely-tuned engine roar into life. He put the car in reverse and tore down to the end of the driveway. "We can't go into this assuming that we and the Senshi are still enemies," he said, shifting into forward and spinning the car onto the road that led down through the hills. "You should all have your memories back now. At least, I do. We were all on the same side, a thousand years ago, before the four of us committed treason and joined Beryl. We were all sworn to the defense of the Solar System and the Silver Millennium."

"We remember," Jadeite said, "But do they? And will they really be able to accept us as allies rather than enemies?"

"A lot changed after the Dark Kingdom was defeated," Nephrite replied. Though the memories of everything he had learned during his brief stay here were a thousand years old, they were clear in his mind. "The Senshi and Tuxedo Mask remember their previous identities, and ours. They've also fought a lot more battles. They're more dangerous now, but wiser."

"How do you know all this?" Zoisite asked.

Nephrite was silent a moment, negotiating the hilly curves of the road into the city. "I was here for about a month, three years ago," he finally said.

"What?" Zoisite demanded as Kunzite asked, "Do you mean you've already come back once?"

"No. It was long time ago. When I was eighteen, Setsuna of Pluto, the Guardian of Time, sent me forward in time to deliver a message to Princess Serenity. Sailor Moon."

"I remember one day, Princess Setsuna came looking for you," Jadeite said. "After that you changed a lot. Kept to yourself, lost interest in women, buried yourself in your studies, and no one knew why." Kunzite and Zoisite nodded, also remembering.

"The Senshi knew who I was," Nephrite continued, "but they realized that as I was then I hadn't yet joined the Dark Kingdom, and accepted me as a friend."

There was a silence while the other Lords thought about this. "What was the message?" Kunzite finally asked. "It could have something to do with why we're back now."

"And why did it take you a whole month to deliver it?" Jadeite added.

"I have no idea. Setsuna's instructions were for me to wait for her to give me the message, and when she finally did, it was sealed."

After another silence, Zoisite asked, "Did you see her? The redhead?"

"Naru. Yes." Nephrite slowed down a bit, adjusting to the city traffic. "She was still mourning me, even though two years had passed since I died. We spent a lot of time together." The traffic was getting trickier; he pretended to pay attention to his driving. "She stayed with me the night before I had to go back," he said quietly.

"Are you going to try to find her now?" Jadeite asked.

"I don't know if she'll want to see me. I left her with a note on the bed. I didn't even say a proper goodbye."

"Gallant," Jadeite said.

"I know." Nephrite concentrated on finding the Hikawa Shrine. A cold rain had started; he stared out through the raindrops and the swishing of the windshield wipers at the headlights and taillights of the other cars. As he swung the Ferrari into the small parking lot behind the shrine and slammed on the brakes, he said. "The first matter of business is to figure out what we're doing here." Later he would decided if he had the courage to face Naru and the possibility that she wouldn't want him back.

At the door to Rei's private quarters, as Nephrite was about to knock, Zoisite put a hand on his shoulder. Nephrite looked at him.

"I'm... sorry." The shorter man looked down. "I remember what I did to you, and why I did it, and it was wrong. I'm sorry."

After a moment, Nephrite said, "I suppose it doesn't matter any more, now that we're all back."

Zoisite nodded. The breach delicately mended for the moment, Nephrite turned back to the door and knocked.

* * * * * * * *

Eventually, Naru stopped crying and realized how hungry she was. If she was hungry, Akeno must be terribly hungry too. The child whimpered and trembled in her arms. This must all be so confusing for him, Naru thought. Not getting his ice cream, not being able to go home, not being able to get his Bear. She thought her heart would break, thinking of what her child must be going through. She could have stood it if it were only she who was hungry, cold, tired, and scared, but it was too much to bear that Akeno was also suffering.

Two hundred yen wouldn't buy an ice cream cone, but it might buy a small cup of noodle soup, if she could find a vendor. "Come on, Akeno-kun, come on, Sweet Pea. Let's go find you some supper." She set the little boy on his feet and stood up. With his hand firmly in hers, they set off to find a noodle vendor.

Luck was with them; they found someone selling small bowls of soup for two hundred yen. Akeno wolfed down the hot liquid and the noodles. Naru was starving, but she wouldn't eat while her son was still hungry. If he slowed down or showed signs of being full, then she would eat what was left. But he didn't. He emptied the cup and said, "Mama, more noodles."

"I'm sorry, Akeno-kun, I can't buy you any more."

"Mama, I hungry." He started to cry again.

"I know you're hungry, Sweet Pea. But I can't buy any more noodles. Here, let's go find a place to sit and you can tell me what you did at Mrs. Miyamoto's house today."

There was a small park nearby, just a narrow triangle at the intersection of three streets. Naru led Akeno to a bench in the park, talking to him and trying to distract him from his hunger and the chilly evening and the fact that they weren't at home in their apartment. Where are we going to sleep? she wondered.

They sat on the bench while Naru asked Akeno questions about his day and pointed out the lights of cars and trucks and motorcycles going by on the street. It occurred to her that she wasn't talking just for the child's sake, but for her own, to keep from thinking. As soon as she stopped talking and started thinking about their situation, she might fall apart again. She couldn't afford to do that. She had to stay in control. Still, though, it was getting harder to keep her hysteria from rising up again.

"Mama, wanna go home now. Let's go home. Want my Bear."

"No, Akeno, I'm sorry. We can't go home. We have to stay right here." He struggled to climb down, while she held onto him. "No, Akeno, you must stay with Mama."

"Wanna go home! I cold!"

"I'm cold too! But we can't go home. I wish you would understand that!" She shook him once. His lower lip trembled, then he started crying, as he had cried when he was a baby and something startled him. Naru started crying too. "Oh, Akeno-kun, oh my baby, I'm so sorry, Mama's so sorry..." She gathered him close and held him. "Akeno, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry I couldn't do better for you..."

The cold rain that had been threatening finally started. It was a heavy rain, and their clothes were soon soaked. They couldn't stay outside in the rain, but they had nowhere else to go. Unless...

It was painful to think of calling someone for help. She had been so determined to make it on her own. She should have been able to do it, and it was humiliating to have failed so badly. But her pride was only harming her child. For his sake, she was going to have to call someone and ask for help. Not her mother--Midori had made it perfectly clear that she wanted nothing to do with her errant daughter and illegitimate grandchild. Naru knew that she could never call her mother. But perhaps Usagi could help. Naru had no idea what she would say, or what help Usagi could give her, but right now she just couldn't go on trying to do this alone any longer.

Naru carried the sobbing Akeno across the street to a pay phone, then stopped short. She had spent her last yen on the soup. "Damn it," she said, her tears mingling with the rain running down her cheeks. "DAMN it." If she was going to make a phone call, she was going to have to beg the money for it.

For some reason, that seemed worse than anything else that had happened. She was reduced to begging change from strangers on the street. Naru forced herself to stop crying and think of a story that would let her hold on to at least a little dignity. Finally, with Akeno still perched on her hip and clinging to her shoulder, she crossed another street to a bus stop where a group of salarymen from the nearby industrial park stood huddled under black umbrellas.

Naru approached the one nearest to the crosswalk. "Please, excuse me, sir," she said, "I'm locked out of my apartment and I don't have enough money to make a phone call. If you could spare just enough for me to make a phone call I'd be very grateful."

The man glanced at her then looked away. She approached three more until one finally dug into his pocket and came out with the necessary change. "Thank you," Naru said, wishing she could sink into the ground beneath the weight of her shame. The man mumbled something in response.

Naru squared her shoulders and hoisted Akeno higher on her hip, then crossed the street again to the phone booth. She set Akeno down so she could dig through her purse for the piece of paper she hoped was still there, after three years, the paper with Usagi's cell phone number on it, that she had written down for Naru the day Naru told her about her pregnancy. For a moment she was afraid she had lost the number, or that it had been taken when her purse was stolen.

There, in the bottom of one of the inner zippered pockets, was the folded slip of paper with Usagi's number on it. Now, if only the number was still good after three years. Naru inserted the money into the phone, and, holding her breath, dialed the number.