A/N: Posting this a little early. I'm going to be away on business next week so I might have difficulty pumping out the next chapter by Monday. I'll try super hard though because I do have two 5 hour train rides, so it's doable. Just wanted to give a heads up!

Thanks again for all the reviews! Have a great week :)

Diamond heard everything. All the details relating to the blue haired girl's confession that she knew how to break the blasted curse. It worried him that they were already so close to unlocking Serenity's memories. He quite enjoyed taunting this new version and making her doubt herself. Seeing her downfall over the past few days only ignited his fire to want her by his side. He would be able to nurse her back her emotions and make her feel wanted. It would be so much easier to brainwash her if she was destroyed but in order to do that he needed to stop Mercury's plan.

"Rubeus," he shouted. "I need your services now," he ordered from his throne as he clutched his beloved glass of red wine.

Rubeus entered from a side corridor and bowed before his Prince. "Yes my liege," he said with respect and lifted his eyes to Diamond's. "Are we ready for the next attack?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Yes, the blasted blue hair Senshi has discovered too many of our secrets. I've been watching her through the crystal. She's uncovered our energy source and how to break the memory block on the royals," he stated in agitation.

As he spoke, he realized that while he was quite aggravated that this Ami character uncovered their secrets, he was far more concerned about the blasted Prince appearing next to Serenity in bed. He had only seen what the shy blue haired girl saw, but it was enough to know they were bedded together, and it sent his blood boiling. The Prince was once again stealing what was his prize to be won.

Distracted by his own thought, he didn't realize that Rubeus had responded to him.

"Diamond," Rubeus attempted again. "I can take care of her. The sisters have been prepared on the plan going forward and I can send Berthier to take care of our little water goddess."

"Perfect Rubeus," Diamond stated as he took a sip of wine. "Make sure the attack is coordinated in the next half an hour. They're meeting at 10 am and I don't want that blue haired bitch to say anything about the curse. It's the only thing that's working for us…"

Rubeus nodded. "Very well. If you'll excuse me I'll set up the attack," he said bowing once more and leaving the room. Rubeus knew very well that it was also an opportunity to send a targeted attack on Sailor Moon to hopefully weaken her or better yet: to kill her. He snickered to himself as he exited the room and left the obsessive Prince to his thoughts.

"Well, I told them to be here for 10 am but clearly they think they have better things to do…" Rei stated to the group before her. She had taken the liberty to call the Kings herself because she knew Mamoru would forget with his current attention divided on Usagi. It was now 10:20 am and both were unaccounted for even though they were on Temple grounds.

No one in the group had the guts to get the two lovebirds, except for Zoisite, of course, who would have loved nothing more than to embarrass his Prince.

Ami looked at the fire goddess and blushed. "I'm sure they'll be here soon… it's news about them," she said softly. "Maybe Usagi had another dream and that's why they're late," she continued as she turned her head towards the temple and saw the couple walking hand in hand. "And there they are," she said smiling.

Rei's features relaxed as she saw the couple walking towards them. While she was disgruntled they would willingly be late to an important meeting, every time Usagi was unaccounted for she worried. There was always a fear that the enemy might apprehend her, and in her current weakened state, she would easily fall to their evil clutches.

Rei and Mina had discussed at length that Usagi's mental status was fragile. They knew they would need to speak with Usagi in order to ensure that she took better care of herself. They couldn't afford her to be weak and to put the Princess in such harm. Every day, a piece of Usagi seemed to die and it worried her that even Mamoru couldn't fix her. What happened if Usagi ended up crumbling and they never unleashed the Silver Crystal? Would the world be lost? What would happen? She shuddered at the very real thought that this might happen but pushed it out of her mind. Usagi was stronger than that. And today she looked to be in higher spirits than usual. Hopefully, the news of the block would keep her spirits up and allow her to relax more. She settled she would watch her closely during today's exchange and then confront her with Mina after the meeting.

Mamoru approached the 8 sets of eyes upon them cautiously. He knew they were late and he knew his Kings, at the very least, would suspect that it was sexually induced. He ran a hand through his hair as he came to a stop in front of Kunzite.

"Sorry, we're late… we just had trouble waking up. It was a long night," he stated truthfully, omitting their little morning encounter.

"Very well," Kunzite stated. He was annoyed with the Prince, but he wouldn't let it show in front of the Senshi. He would, however, have a stern conversation with him regarding proper etiquette. Turning a cold gaze from the Prince to Ami, he shifted his attention. "We're all here. Let's hear about breaking this block."

"How about you keep that thought to yourself, little Miss Mercury," a voice boomed from the clouds. The once sunny and cloudless sky dimmed greatly as dark clouds littered the sky blocking out the natural sunshine. A deep freeze washed over the temple as cold air was blasted from all sides. Rubeus was the first to make an appearance with his red hair a stark contrast to the graying sky.

"No need to be sharing how to break the darn little thing. There's no point," he laughed in a pitch hysterical manner. "Even if you unblock it, these two Royal misfits," he said pointing an accusatory finger to Usagi and Mamoru, "Wouldn't last a day… I'd make sure of that. Now just to make this a little more interesting let me introduce you to one of the Ayakashi sisters: Berthier. I think you'll all enjoy your time with her," he said with a wide grin as the frozen sister appeared beside Rubeus. Her white hair was tied into a long braid at the back of her head and a small braid passed across her forehead, accenting her icy cold blue eyes. Her red lips were a sharp contrast to her porcelain skin which seemed to glisten in the darkness that surrounded them all. The coolness of her skin was amplified by the baby blue suit that she wore which barely covered her breast. She lifted her blue gloved hand, resting it against her cheek as she surveyed her prey.

"Who to kill first?" she said impishly as she descended towards the ground. Her thigh-high blue boots hitting the ground with a resounding click as she approached the large group before her.

Mamoru instinctively put his arm in front of Usagi as the ice queen approached them slowly while the others transformed quickly. Under normal circumstances, they would have hidden their identities but they were already exposed. There was no time to play along with a case of mistaken identities. This was a planned attack which was meant to throw them off of their game. What the enemy didn't seem to understand was that they were severely outnumbered, or maybe that was the point.

"Why are you here?" Mamoru cursed as the white-haired female approached him.

"Oh Prince," Berthier shot Mamoru a look. "Don't worry about your little Princess. I'm not going to touch her today. We have bigger plans for her," she said with a wink. "Our plans today have a specific purpose," she purred as she stalked them while keeping her distance.

Mamoru narrowed his eyes unable to believe her statement and glanced over as Mercury took out her computer to monitor the energy levels fluctuating excessively high. Mercury knew they were controlling the weather patterns, but she also felt there was a greater danger than just Rubeus floating in the sky and this Berthier character. Doing a quick scan, she discovered they were effectively surrounded by youmas, but she couldn't determine where they were.

Zoisite walked up to her and looked over her shoulder noting all the little dots which represented the enemy. "Where are they?" he asked looking around but was only met with the Senshi, the Kings, the Prince and Usagi along with Rubeus and Berthier.

Mercury shook her head looking at the screen as she saw something approaching them. The red dot on the screen was coming dangerously closer to her and the others. It was Zoisite who reacted first.

"They're UNDER US!" Zoisite screamed as he pulled Mercury harshly towards him. He was just in time to see an ice youma break through the ground where Mercury had been standing moments before, and chaos ensued.

Dozens of youmas broke through the ground knocking Senshi and guards down. Their high pitched wails were heard as they all tried to regain their bearings.

Mamoru, in particular, struggled to stand on his own two feet. He had been violently thrown to the ground headfirst and suffered a large gash to his forehead. As he righted himself he realized that he was separated from Usagi as three of the youmas encircled him. He willed his transformation to occur to ensure that he would be able to control his powers and heal from his wound faster. He shouted to Usagi to transform, but his screams were cut short as the youma began to attack him. He fought them one by one in a fist fight trying to keep them from biting into his flesh and ripping through his clothes.

Usagi watched as Mamoru was attacked and transformed quickly. She'd be damned if she was going to stand by and watch everyone attacked. She used her tiara to kill two of the youma but was soon trapped in a death grip by one of the ice villains who grabbed her from behind. She felt the ice claws digging into her, drawing blood and panicked. She tried to break free from the youma, but the iron clad hold it had on her was too much. No matter how much she moved or tried to get the grip off of her, it only seemed to strengthen it and amplify her already wounded abdomen.

After a few moments of struggle, when she thought all was lost, she felt an extreme amount of heat flash against her. She let out a startled cry as fire licked at her hair and arms. Perplexed she stepped away from the puddle that used to be the youma.

Mars ran up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you ok Moon?" she asked with concerned.

While she was a little dazed from the force of the attack she nodded. "All good here," she said looking out into the battlefield. She could see that all of the Senshi and Kings were engaged in battle with different youmas. She scanned the crowd quickly for Mamoru but couldn't see him. Panic started to rise in her stomach at the realization that he was nowhere to be seen.

"Mars," she asked apprehensively.

"He's over there with Kunzite," Mars replied instinctively replying knowing what preoccupied their leader's mind.

"Thanks," she said with a smile and then returned to focus on what was happening. "Is it just me or does this attack seem bizarre?" she asked unsure of what she meant. It was normal for the Black Moon to attack these days, but today's attacked seemed rather staged. They were not targeting any civilians, there was no collection of energy and no mass destruction. If this was a planned attack on all of them: who was the target and why now?

As if reading her thoughts Mars looked over at Moon. "Don't worry Sailor Moon, I'll stay by your side and protect you. Tuxedo Mask is already protected by one of his Kings. Everything should be ok," she said reassuringly.

Moon nodded, but there was still something that bothered her about what was occurring. She grabbed her tiara as a youma approached and threw it with force, breaking the one glistening youma into a million shards of ice. Mars, on her side, continued to fight off the youmas as they continued to multiply. Mars was so distracted by fighting them that she did not see Rubeus approaching Sailor Moon from behind.

As Sailor Moon fought off the youmas, she never heard the approaching footsteps. Before she could brace herself a powerful ball of red energy engulfed her from behind causing a blood-curdling scream which sent her trembling body to the ground. She tried to breathe as the searing pain continued to eat away at her.

She picked herself up to her knees, breathing heavily, as the remnants of the dark energy sizzled against her skin. She suppressed the urge to sob uncontrollably at the pain traversing her injured body. Now was not the time to be weak, she kept telling herself as she attempted to stand up. Before she could, she was violently kicked to the ground as Rubeus loomed over her. His crimson eyes flashing at the sight before him, he dug his boot into her chest forcing her body into the ground.

Sailor Moon let out a strangled cry for help which fell on deaf ears as everyone fought. She tried to grab her tiara from her forehead, but Rubeus was already upon her, straddling her fallen body and pinning her arms to the ground.

"Well, well, well, my dear princess. Seems like the rumors are true. You are slowly losing your powers the longer your memories evade you. Good for us but oh so bad for you," he threatened.

She tried to struggle out of his iron clad grip, but he was too strong. "Get off of me," she choked as she tried to use all of her energy to get the soldier off of her.

"Oh no missy," he said as he grabbed both of her wrists with one hand and pinned them above her head. "I've been waiting over a Millennia to kill you. Diamond might want you alive but we need you dead in order to claim this planet as our own," he said conjuring forth a curved blade made out of the Dark Crystal. Its handle was lined with small red jewels which sparkled in the superficial darkness that had fallen them.

"And anyways Princess. Believe me, you'll be better off dead than enduring this torture," he breathed into her ear. "…death is much more swift. Less painful no?" he asked as he pushed down into her chest.

Usagi let the tears she had been fighting fall from her eyes at the pressure he placed on her injuries. 'How does he know about the pain?' she asked herself as she gulped for air.

"We know everything," he whispered into her ear. "I can't wait until the little prissy Princess comes out and plays. She'll be more fun than you my dear."

She knew he was taunting her and trying to get her to crumble but she couldn't help it. Once again someone was talking to her, only because she was the Princess. Rubeus didn't want her dead because of her but rather because of Serenity. It was ALWAYS about Serenity and never about Usagi. Even as she fought for her life, it wasn't for her own, but another's, and in that moment she had enough. For days, she had been wallowing in self-pity, and while her friends thought she was now worthless to them unless she was Serenity, she wouldn't let the enemy make her feel the same way.

"You're a coward," she hissed glaring into his crimson eyes. "You think that by threatening me that I'm scared of you? Well, I'm not. You don't even have the guts to face me as a man. You had to knock me down a few pegs to get me pinned to the ground, play on my weaknesses, and now you want to slice my throat?" she continued eyeing the blade that was now strategically placed against her throat.

"Really impressive Rubeus," she mocked. "Takes a pathetic little man to do that," she taunted.

Her snarky comment was met with the back of his hand connecting with her face. Little did he know that's exactly what she wanted. She had seen the rage flash across his eyes as she spoke to him and she only prayed that he would loosen his grip as a result. She took the opportunity to wriggle her wrists free and right hooked him in the face. It momentarily stunned him and she took the opportunity to crawl out from under him. She struggled to her knees and tried to stand up, however, she felt a hand yank her hair forcing her to fall back. A yelp escaped her lips as Rubeus grabbed her hair to bring her back towards him.

"Guess all this hair IS useful after all," he mocked as he used the hair as rope.

Anger coursed through Sailor Moon as he belittled her. She faced her opponent head on, letting out a growl as she tackled him to the ground. Blade or no blade, she was enraged and needed to take out her frustrations. Everything from the past few weeks was starting to flash before her; the hurt, the sorrow, the despair and most importantly her worthlessness. This was her opportunity to show them all that she was capable of handling herself. If she became injured or worse, died, so be it. In her mind, she had nothing to lose. Life was a torture for her anyways.

"Just leave me alone already," she screamed at him, as she successfully landed punches on the surprised man. Never, had he thought that she would physically lash out, but here she was, in an all-out war to gouge out his eyes.

At the screams of his beloved, Tuxedo Mask lifted his head. He saw the blonde spitfire throw herself head first at Rubeus trying to land any punch that she possibly could. He couldn't prevent the smile from spreading across his face as pride swelled within him at the sight of her landing punch after punch.

Kunzite watched his Prince distractedly search for Sailor Moon and grabbed his shoulders to regain his attention. "Tuxedo Mask, pay attention to your own battle. You're no good to her or anyone if you're dead," he lashed out. "Get your head back in the game and focus for the love of the gods," he said pushing him out of the way as another youma jumped at them. Kunzite used his sword to break through the ice devils and watched both halves fall to the ground.

Tuxedo Mask picked himself up from the ground and glared at Kunzite. Why did he always have to interrupt? He looked back at Sailor Moon just in time to see his blonde spitfire receive a large blow to the head by Rubeus. Her small frame wobbled as she fell forward onto Rubeus trying to regain her bearings. "Someone needs to help her," he cried out as he stood and tried to shove Kunzite aside. "I order you to help her," he screamed as he ducked another youma attack.

Kunzite whirled around him and slashed the youma. "Under the circumstances Mamoru, I refuse your orders. YOU are my top priority, not the Princess. I will not allow you to be killed for your inability to self-preserve," he growled as he grabbed him by the collar and pushed him behind him to save him from yet another attack. "This is an ambush," he shouted back to him. "Let her guardians rescue her. the enemy clearly has a vested interest in keeping us all separated and I will NOT let them apprehend you."

"I can't live without her Kunzite," the Prince whispered as they continued to fight the onslaught of youmas.

Kunzite turned to him momentarily and softened his glare. "I know Mamoru, but I can't let you die," he admitted.

A large flash of red energy caught Kunzite and Mamoru's attention as they both turned to where Sailor Moon and Rubeus were. They were just in time to see Sailor Moon blasted off of Rubeus. Kunzite immediately grabbed onto Mamoru knowing fully well he would disregard his own safety to save her. He watched as his body tensed and Sailor Moon shakily brought herself back to her knees. She grabbed her tiara and blindly set it towards Rubeus. The tiara lodged itself into his right bicep.

"HA," she screamed in triumph as Rubeus fell backward holding onto his arm. She took the opportunity to pick herself up and run away from the crazed man. She looked around her wildly, trying to determine the best escape route. She made brief eye contact with Mamoru from across the battlefield and gave him a small smile to signify she was ok, even though her entire body ached. She didn't need him to worry about her as she clutched her abdomen.

In the meantime, Rubeus was picking himself up as well. The feisty Princess had been far more powerful and enraged than he anticipated. He looked up to the skies and summoned Berthier to him. While he wanted to dispose of the Princess, he didn't want to die doing so. Berthier could handle this and if not, it wasn't that much of a loss.

Berthier felt the summons from Rubeus and sent one final blast towards her opponents: Mercury and Jupiter. She froze both of their feet to the already icy ground and let out a shrill laugh at the small victory. She created a few more youma and advised them to attack the lightning and water Senshi, as she floated towards Rubeus.

"You look terrible Rubeus," she commented as she saw his arm was slashed open, that his nose was bleeding and he had several cuts across his face. "What happened to you?" she asked in disbelief that he would have been so mangled from one of the Senshi.

"It doesn't matter what happened," he growled. "Change your target from Mercury to Moon. I need her taken down immediately. Don't let her get away."

Berthier nodded at the command. "Oh Rubeus, it's so easy. Look," she said as she flicked her wrist and sent a blast of cold flurries towards Sailor Moon but to her surprise she ducked. Berthier made a face at the expert maneuver that Sailor Moon displayed. "I see, she's feisty," she growled as she went after her.

Sailor Moon let out a cry as the crazed woman was now after her. Can't I get at least a break for a minute? she thought to herself as she continued. In her hurry to get away from Berthier she lost her footing, it was bound to happen, and she took advantage to send a final blast as Sailor Moon fell to the ground.

Moon closed her eyes waiting for the attack to hit her. She had nowhere to go and braced as best as she could for the impact to hit, but it never came. Instead, she felt herself being pushed out of the way by small hands. Her eyes flew open to observe who exactly saved her, and saw Mercury lying across her wincing in pain from receiving the brunt of the attack. Moon immediately grabbed her friend by the shoulders, "Why did you do that? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine Usagi," Mercury mumbled as she rolled off of Sailor Moon. She regained her footing rather quickly and concentrated on her powerful attack Sabao Spray. A thick fog slowly formed across the temple allowing the Senshi and Kings a small reprieve from the ongoing attacks. The youmas hissed and shrieked in objection to the thick white mist that surrounded them, and both Berthier and Rubeus cursed loudly as their eyesight was removed.

"We need to regroup," Mercury whispered to Moon as she activated her visor and took out her handheld computer from her subspace pocket. "They're too strong. All we're doing is wasting precious energy fighting the same youma, over and over again as they regenerate themselves. The only thing I can see from all of my scans is that Berthier is definitely controlling all the youma. If we can somehow disarm her, we would be in a better position to fight the youmas."

Moon nodded in agreement. "I'll do what I can," she said taking on a fighter stance. "I'm sure I can send my tiara at her and weaken her!"

Mercury looked to her leader and scanned her quickly to ensure the blonde was actually capable of continuing to fight. The minute she had pushed Moon out of the way she had felt her weakened state and the scan proved exactly that. Her vitals and energy source were reaching a critically low level. Did Sailor Moon not feel it or was she choosing to ignore it? Mercury thought to herself. She knew she was pigheaded but to continue fighting after the blows she sustained would potentially do permanent damage.

"I can't let you fight Sailor Moon," Mercury finally spoke. "You're too weak right now… Just stand back and let us handle it until we need you ok?" she said gently requesting for her leader to step down. "We need the princess safe."

Sailor Moon looked at her taken aback by the suggestion. "Excuse me?" she said softly. "I'm not going to let you all fight these monsters to keep me safe. I refuse to let that happen. I'm a Senshi just as much as anyone else and I will fight alongside all of you."

"We know Sailor Moon. But do you realize the extensive damage you've sustained today? Your readings are off the chart in a negative way… you must realize you're injured," the blue haired girl spoke quietly. The last thing she needed was for the enemy to hear how badly Moon was injured.

True, Moon felt terrible. There was no denying, that every movement sent a searing pain across her body, but she couldn't let her friends take on the attacks without her help. She needed to be there for them. She had to prove her worth as Usagi. Maybe, the Princess wouldn't fight but Usagi would. She needed to and if she died doing it, then so be it. It would be better than being viewed as someone entirely different than she was.

As if reading her thoughts Mercury put a hand on Sailor Moon's shoulder. "You're no good to us dead Sailor Moon," she whispered. "We need you alive… this doesn't have to be a suicide mission. After this fight, I can tell you how to break the block. It's relatively easy," she stated as the fog around them started to lift. "You just need to trust in us and stand down. Let me handle Berthier and if Rubeus comes after you again, we'll deal with him then."

Sailor Moon wanted to object, but she couldn't find the words to do so. She knew that Mercury was right. She was tired, and discouraged, and all she wanted was a pillow to crash on. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and as a result, pain started to increase. She winced as she pressed a hand to her ribs on her right side and involuntarily let out a small moan. That's going to take a while to heal, she thought to herself as she watched the fog lift completely and the battle resumed.

Even though Mercury and her conscious told her to stand down, she braced for the upcoming fight as Berthier was upon them within seconds. Ice burned behind her lifeless blue eyes, focusing on Moon behind Mercury. She sent several blasts of energy to repel the blue Senshi from Moon, but nothing worked. Mercury was proving to be an admirable opponent.

Berthier rolled her eyes in aggravation at the petite water Senshi. If the Senshi wouldn't move, then she would destroy her. At least, if she was able to get rid of Mercury then Moon would be hers. And anyway, the original target had been the water goddess herself, so why not continue down that path. She glared at her original target as a smile curved at the corner of her mouth.

"Mercury, you think that you can withstand my attacks?" Berthier shouted at her.

Mercury's eyes filled with mirth. "I believe I have been so far," she replied cheekily. "You think your attacks have been powerful, but they're all in vain. I'm still standing before you."

"Not for long Mercury," she insisted as she observed her surroundings. Rubeus materialized behind Sailor Moon locking an arm around her delicate neck. Sailor Moon let out a strangled cry at the unexpected sensation and struggled against his hold.

At the sound of Sailor Moon's cry for help, Mercury turned around quickly to help fight Rubeus. She sent a powerful shower of water towards him, knocking him and Sailor Moon to their knees. As she unleashed the attack, Berthier took the opportunity to send a wave of blue fire towards the unsuspecting Senshi. The fire, which was made of electric cold water captured Mercury. Her limbs immediately ceased as she let out a terrified scream as the crystallized ice burned away at her skin.

'I can't breathe,' the fallen Senshi thought to herself as she tried, in vain, to remove herself from the cold fire that engulfed her. Her eyes were becoming heavier as the blue haze continued to attack her. She looked over to Sailor Moon who was struggling to her feet screaming about the fallen Senshi.

'I failed you Usagi…' she thought to herself as her friend continued to struggle to stand. She could see Kunzite, Zoisite and Mamoru running towards them with worry etched across their faces. None more than Zoisite. His green eyes fell on Mercury's as he unleashed a powerful attack towards Rubeus and Berthier.

Mercury held his gaze, for support, as her eyes began to roll back into her head and she whispered a soft apology for being so weak. Her limp head fell to the side, eyes blinking slowly, watching Berthier. Their eyes locked and the ice queen whispered with a curved smile, "Checkmate!" and with that Mercury lost consciousness.

Screams of panic erupted from the fallen Moon Senshi and Mercury's companion, Zoisite, as they stared at Mercury's broken body and ran to where she had been aimlessly. Both villains took the opportunity to float upwards with Mercury imprisoned at their side. Rubeus looked down at the Senshi and Kings as they still fought youmas. He noticed some were throwing attacks towards him and Berthier, but he only grinned. It was all in vain. Nothing would destroy them, they were too powerful and protected by the Black Crystal.

His eyes fell on Sailor Moon, in particular, who was crying, like the baby she was, clutching onto Mercury's computer. The sight brought him joy, as he was seeing the once graceful Princess broken and sobbing on the ground. While he knew, it was the perfect time to kill her, he didn't dare. Moments before both him and Berthier had received a summons to return to Diamond immediately with the water Senshi. If he killed Sailor Moon now, there would be no benefit for his well being or Berthier's.

"So long Sailor Brats. Let's see how well you function and protect your useless leader without the brains of your sad, pathetic little group," he said with a laugh and disappeared with Berthier and Mercury.