(Untitled)

[sculptingwater]

The place: a huge forest, with impossibly tall, ancient trees. Two figures, one in blue, one in pink and green, dodge around the trunks and over roots. Their boots make only a little noise on the forest floor, heavily carpeted with layers of old leaves

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[forberylsama]

A blast of energy heads straight for Jupiter without further preamble. Nephrite has arrived.

"Pull it together!" he barks back at Mercury. Seriously, what is she doing holding back?

[sculptingwater]

Mercury scrambles to her feet. "Nephrite!"

Why was he here? She doesn't have time to ask. Another Supreme Thunder is striking. Mercury at least gets out of the way this time, barely.

Paused behind another tree trunk and glancing over her shoulder towards the general direction of Sailorjupiter, Mercury considers her strategy. She didn't want to be too hard on her. Jupiter...Mako-chan. Even if they couldn't be friends, maybe it wasn't too late for her to realize the truth about the Princess!

[forberylsama]

"Don't make me have to come clean up after you!" Nephrite tells Mercury. The odds are definitely in their favor now, and he doesn't seem nearly as concerned as Mercury about Jupiter's well-being.

Actually, he'd kind of like to take Jupiter down permanently. The air before him glows as he gathers another attack.

[sculptingwater]

Mercury scrambles for Nephrite this time, and reaches to grab his arm. "Don't!" she pleads. "Jupiter--don't kill her!"

Jupiter doesn't seemed as concerned with Mercury's well-being at this point as Nephrite is with Jupiter's. The senshi gathers for a Thunberbolt attack and aims it at the water senshi.

[earthvictorious]

Ohh? Kunzite holds back, concealed among the trees. His momentary interest soon turns to dismissive disapproval as he notes Mercury's lack of... determination, perhaps he should call it. She should have Jupiter at her mercy - and she should not be showing any.

[sculptingwater]

Mercury gets to her feet and watches the direction of her opponent. That stance and expression suggests she's working out a strategy in her head.

Rapid footsteps suggest Jupiter's approach, and she emerges from the mist, throwing a hard kick at Mercury. The girl blocks but stumbles. One of her conventional attacks wouldn't work at this close range!

She doesn't fight back though, remaining on the defensive. Jupiter stops suddenly, and looks down at her fist, which she suddenly can't open. It's glittering, strangely, like... "What'd you do?!" Jupiter demands.

[earthvictorious]

A new power? Perhaps there was something worth seeing here after all. Kunzite narrows his eyes and remains where he is instead of leaving.

Still, why couldn't that girl figure out something this simple?: The point wasn't to stop Jupiter. It was to kill her. She stood between Mercury and the princess; that much he could already guess. There was no mercy for that. He hadn't shown mercy even on Zoisite for that.

[sculptingwater]

Mercury holds her hands out slowly before her, brow furrowed a little. Ice creeps up Jupiter's leg before she realizes it fully. Beating at it has no effect, Mercury only reinforces it. But then she stops.

"You have to listen! What Serenity's telling you, it isn't true!" Mercury pleads with the other senshi. "Don't fuck around!" Jupiter snaps. "I've heard all this before. Ami-chan was the one being fed lies."

Wait, was? "Mako-chan--" "Don't call me that! You're not Ami-chan!" Lightning crackles around them, eliciting a little yelp from Mercury, who backs out of the way. Well, that didn't go as planned. Now what?

[quietglaives]

It doesn't even take a second thought. As soon as the multiverse brings Saturn here, as soon as Saturn realises who is who, she's by Mercury's side, glaive held out steadily, a frown being directed straight at Jupiter. Briefly, her mind points out that this Mercury wears a different fuku to the one she's familiar with, but the girl soldier shoves that aside. If she's being attacked by someone who once sided with her, if Jupiter was accusing her, that was enough.

She could always ask questions later after all. For now, Saturn will keep her eyes on the green and pink figure, watching her carefully. "Mercury."

orz sorry for late

[sculptingwater]

"Eh?" Mercury freezes and looks to the newcomer.

"...Who are you?" she asks, voice full of concerned curiosity. Her outfit. A sailor fuku?

[moonsmash]

"No!!"

Sailor Moon may not know a whole lot, or about how she got here given where she had been, but she knows this isn't a brawl between allies, nor was it a training session or even a problem of brainwashing. There is something different in the air. Alternates? A misunderstanding? Or...

Quickly she jumps in, not on anyone's side, but in the middle, as if to mediate. She won't hesitate to fight if she has to but, if she can get to the bottom of what is happening, perhaps there was a way to end it.

"Stop this!! Please, both of you!" She brings her hands up. "This kind of senseless fighting won't solve anything!"

[sculptingwater]

This is completely unexpected, by both parties.

"Usagi?" Sailorjupiter stops, frozen in a fighting stance.
"Sailormoon?" Sailormercury shifts into a defensive stance immediately.

Why was Sailormoon stopping them?

[moonsmash]

"Please," she looks at Mercury, then at Jupiter, her eyes pleading. "Whatever has separated you...this kind of violence isn't always the answer! A true brawler knows that you don't just fight to fight, don't you remember?"

She doesn't know what's going on. But, she thinks, surely it's something that could be solved before going into a brutal brawl, isn't it?

[sculptingwater]

Usagi-chan, it's your other soul that's the cause of this. Just, by the way.

"Usagi," Jupiter growls somewhat exasperatedly. "Did you forget? This girl is the Dark Kingdom now. She'll kill you without hesitation."

"That's not what I want!" Mercury protests a little more vehemently than Usagi might be used to Mercury being. "It's the Princess that's the cause of this. I don't want to kill anyone!"