2281/Murder, She Wrote

Murder, She Wrote
Date of Scene:	30 January 2025
Location:	Juuban Ward
Synopsis:	Having learned that the Senshi can surrender to Dark Energy, given incentive and exposure, it's the Black Moon Clan's intent to grind their spirits into the darkness. Koan is the first to try, targetting Shingo Tsukino's best friend, Junichi Nomura, because in another timeline, a thousand years away, he's an important ally to the ruling family of Crystal Tokyo. Mamoru and Hotaru make sure her attempted murder remains only an attempt. Kunzite, Jadeite, Hope Concept, Amy, and Sailor Moon ensure she can never try again. And yet - darkness *was* in play. CW: Description of Injury and Treatment, Attempted Murder of a Child, NPC Death (Koan. It's Koan.)
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Mamoru Chiba, Madoka Kaname, Kazuo Saitou, Jadeite, Hotaru Tomoe, Amanda Faust, 280
Tinyplot:	Black Moon Clan
Tinyplot2:	BMC: Rabbit Hunt

---

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Thanks for walking me home, Usagi-nee, Chiba-san. Not that I couldn't do it myself! But you know, there's been a lot of weird stuff going on lately, and -"

It's late afternoon in Juuban Ward, the sun sinking down behind the horizon, and the speak is one Junichi Nomura, 9 year old fourth grader at Radiant Heart Academy, and best friend of one Shingo Tsukino. Junichi's a pretty average fourth grader - a head shorter than Usagi, he's got chin-length, sandy brown that reaches his chin, most of it hanging free, but with the right side pulled up into a gravity defying little ponytail. He's still wearing his school uniform, the blue blazer contrasting aggressively with the orange button down top, and he's walking along happily at Usagi's side.

"Aw, don't worry about it, Junichi-kun! We were going to to walk this way anyway, we're catching the bus back to school."

Usagi Tsukino isn't wearing her school uniform anymore, but then again, they're coming from her house - it's only natural that she'd have taken the chance to change into something comfortable and warm; in this case, navy blue leggings under a pink-and-orange color-swirl t-shirt dress, with a jean jacket over the whole ensemble. Normally, she wouldn't be walking this part of Juuban anymore - what with living on campus and all - but Junichi had been having a playdate with her Shingo, and she had dragged along Mamoru and Kazuo along with her on a visit to get her mama and papa's signatures for some school paperwork.

Her plan had been a simple and effective one: use her fiancé and her fiancé's boyfriend as sacrifices to her parents, so they wouldn't ask too many questions about how school has been and what her grades are looking like for the term.

And on the whole, it had worked - except for the part where they'd been cornered into walking Junichi home, on the basis that of course such generous, well-behaved, older students who were all doing great in high school would be willing to walk a family friend home.

At least Chibiusa wouldn't mind the delay too much - she was the one getting to spend the afternoon baking muffins with Naru-chan.

"Seriously. It has been pretty crazy, lately, and if walking with you makes you feel safer, of course we'll walk with you!" Besides - as every mahou knows - it's not paranoia when things really do go bump in the night.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru smiles a little at Junichi, himself wearing his black uniform trousers with his black leather jacket zipped up and his hands shoved in his pockets. His hair's fluffy in the late afternoon breeze, the sinking sun heralding the night's chill creeping closer. Or that could be Kazuo. (It's not Kazuo, but Mamoru glances at him anyway, just to smile at him, too.)

Then the black-haired teenager laughs at Usagi and adds to Junichi, "She's saying it that way, but she also feels better about you being walked home. And I feel better about the two of us walking with the two of you." He indicates himself and Kazuo with his thumb, two imposingly tall boys.

The prince never quite makes it all the way to a grin, but-- one of their own died a few days ago, and she was very close to friends of his, and -- there's a lot to process. Instead, he's just pleasantly subdued, a little absent, a little preoccupied. He has not noticed his glasses are smudged again.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
o/` One two three, Three two one. We like to party 'cuz we like to have fun!
o/` Let's be kind, let's be sweet, let's go find something good to eat!

    No less than four voices are singing that happy tune, from an unseen place just around the corner. One of those voices is clearly Madoka, and the other three are her Chara: Sio, Medo, and Kamiko. There's another giggly voice, this one a bit more childish and boyish. Those who know Madoka's family might recognize it as belonging to her baby brother, Tetsuya.

    Madoka is happily carrying Tetsuya home after he had a playdate with family friends nearby. While technically the three year old boy could probably walk on his own, it's a long way back to the Kaname house and Madoka is in pretty good shape for a teenager. She's holding him up by his armpits and swaying gently back and forth as she sings, along with her fairies whom Tetsuya is still young enough to see.

    "Did you have fun today?" she asks, in a playfully soft mood."

    Tetsuya raises his hands in the air and says, "Yeah!"

    "Yay! If you're good, we'll get to go again some day!"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo gives Mamoru a wry look in exchange for his smile, and Junichi a more serious nod. He's been quiet for the walk. Not that this is unusual for him. It's just that he's at a loss for conversational topics with nine-year-olds who are so very different from the way he was at nine. He's not even sure Junichi has thought of backup escape plan contingencies from his bedroom, let alone figured out ways to practice them without breaking an ankle.

Jadeite has posed:
There's been a death. Tamaki hadn't known Molly much at all, but the loss had sent a shockwave through - everyone, really. He feels a little bad that he's so - unaffected.

( Then again. Tamaki's let himself orbit around his friends since he was ten. What's left of him to feel bad?)

And since everyone's been grieving, and since Tamaki has floundered in ways to help that aren't fetching drinks and going there there, he's tagging along on the walk back. (and also because of - well. The dates. They keep on getting ambushed. He might as well try and ambush back?)

"Fancy seeing you all here," he says casually, sidling in next to Kazuo.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
It was a dark and lonely... late-afternoon. This city? This city never slept and when it did sleep, it was an unrestful sleep. She was the zzquil of the night, the poofy pillow that--

Fortunately, after her last attempt to use the 'cloak', she'd gotten the pastry cleaned off it.

Unfortunately, her attempts to use it had, once again, backfired, as it blew into her face with a squeak, cutting off her internal monologue. Luminous Titan was pleased by this, because for them it was far, far less internal.

But she was once again on patrol, keeping a watch and... okay, once she wrestled her way out of the cloak that she was tangled up in, she'd...

... Oh, just forget it. The moment over and having run into little that counted as 'exciting adventure and/or dastardly deeds', the younger mahou of the Meiou household had ended up de-henshining and was now walking home... when her eyes fell on giants. Tall. Glamourous. Breathtaking. Three of the modelous icons of the 'Once a bad guy but not so bad anymore' club. On top of that, they had the world's COOLEST bunny with them! USAGI!

"Heyyyy!" she called out as she approached, giving them a wave. "What brings-- OH!" And then her eyes fell on their extra child. She paused, slowly looking between them before... "Ceiling?" she asked.

The question probably... raised questions of its own. Like '... Do you really think every small child with us is going to be another roof-child?' and 'Where did you get that big vampire-ish cloak from, and does Setsuna know you borrowed it?'

The answers would be 'Yes, Cosplay room and not so long as she returned it quickly.'

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Thursday eve--well, afternoon, just, it's winter--and Amy has homework she should be doing.

    How can she focus on that right now? Does school even matter?!

    That's... probably not a useful or healthy thought, but after catching herself staring at the page and not focusing for the third time she decides the time is better spent patrolling than on failing to do homework.

    And Juuban seems to need patrolling a lot.

    And hey, there are some familiar faces! She smiles to see them, but seeing the kids with them, doesn't drop in and say hi like this, just. Starts to follow nearby, on rooftops and such.

    About 20 seconds in to following them, Yokina Meiou looks at the kid and asks 'ceiling?' and

    "BAHAHAHA!" They hear someone burst out laughing, it's almost a cackle, above and behind them and Amy leaps off of the lamppost she was perched on and into some bushes to hide. Which is. Not the best, but her cloak and the rest of her outfit are magical and the bushes aren't so she is not as scratched up as one would expect as she desperately tries to stay quiet.

Koan (280) has posed:
"Mr-mrow!"

It's a quiet, miserable little noise coming from not too far away, and it has Junichi's ears metaphorically pricking up, twisting his head this way and that. "Did you guys hear that? It sounded like a cat!"

Like most children, Junichi's curious, brave, and... easily distracted. Never mind that he was just thanking them for walking him home because things have been strange - dangerous - unsafe - lately. He heard the sound of a kitty in distress, and naturally he's darting ahead to check it out.

"I think it was coming from over - oh!" Stopping short, the little boy crouches down besides a tipped over garbage can and peers inside. "It's in here! It's a little cat, I think it got it's leg stuck! Hey, hey kitty-chan, don't worry, I'll help you out!"

From inside the garbage can, an orange kitten mews piteously, looking out at Junichi with big green eyes. It's not wearing a collar, and its fur is a sticky mess from being in the garbage can. Its back leg seems to have gotten stuck in a half-open can, and as Junichi reaches bravely into the garbage can to catch the kitten and pull it free, it seems to recognize his good intentions. The meowing cries stop, and the neck stretches forward as the kitten tips its head down and tries to nuzzle the hand reaching for it -

Only to meet empty air as the hand - no, the entire outstretched arm - is yanked away. The kitten's confused green eyes stare into Junichi's wide brown ones as he's snatched up, up, and into the air

"H-hey, what's going on?!? Put me down - urk!"

Koan of the Black Moon Clan, youngest of the Spectre Sisters, looks at the child choking and scrabbling with both hands at her clenched fist with distaste. "I can't believe you're the one. A garbage grubbing brat like you grew up to be the Man Who Fed the World?"

Junichi doesn't - can't - say anything in reply. He's struggling to breathe with her hand wrapped tight around his throat, legs kicking helplessly in the air. He'd been yoinked into the air by the back of his uniform shirt, but Koan had been quick to shift her grip from the deceptively strong weave of his shirt to a cruel grip about his throat, and her thumb is even now crushing into his windpipe. His cheeks are flushed red with struggle, his eyes bulging in confused terror, blood pounding in his ears so hard he can barely hear her. He stares into her violet eyes and sees nothing but satisfaction and disdain.

"You brought this on yourself by throwing your lot in with Neo Queen Serenity." Her grip tightens. Junichi's kicking intensifies, tears flooding from his eyes as his struggling, oxygen deprived body tries futiley to fight for his life. Koan's wicked smile widens. "Carry this thought with you into the next life - handing humanity over to Sailor Moon's sanctimonious schemes is why you're dying today."

Not once does her gaze stray to the group of teens some two-stories below her. Koan is fixated on Junichi - and on the man he would grow to be, eight years, twenty-five years, a thousand years from now, a man who would devote his life to ensuring every human in the Crystal Millennium could grow their own reliable food, preaching the word of Neo Queen Serenity and Neo King Endymion's goodness all the while, winning the people over, one garden plot at a time.

The onlookers are irrelevant. She'll burn her sigil into their bodies later, ensure the Sailor Senshi know that this is their fault, this and so much more to come.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka stops, and suddenly gets quiet, because she hears the mewing of a poor little kitten just around the corner. The pinkette is exactly the kind of girl who'd respond to such a cry for help, so she holds Tetsuya close to her chest. When he starts to make playful noises, she shushes him and says, "Be quiet right now, okay?"

    She looks around the corner, just in time to see Junichi go into a trash can to rescue the poor kitten. Madoka may not know him from Adam, but she can tell right off the bat that he's sweet, precious, adorable, and kind to small animals. As far as first impressions go, you could do a lot worse.

    Koan's arrival gets a sharp gasp from her, and she's suddenly clinging to her baby brother a lot tighter. "Kamiko-chan. Portal. Now!"

    A moment later, there's a Disturbance in the area. Everyone who knows Madoka can sense that she's nearby, and those who don't might feel that something in the air feels just a little extra optimistic.

    Sure enough, there's Hope Blossom rounding the corner, slow walking towards Koan. "I'm going to give you until the count of three to set him down and walk away," she shouts, while summoning a branchbow into her white gloved hand. "One..."

    Those who know Hope Blossom might sense that there's something Weird going on here. First off, Blossom doesn't usually have a subtle glowing aura like that. Secondly, it's hard to tell which Chara she's henshined with, because it looks like she just has Madoka's normal hairstyle with slightly fancier ribbons. Thirdly, the Hope Aura isn't really a thing that Blossom does. It's a thing that Hope Concept does. There's also a faint feeling that space isn't quite working the way that it should right now, as if there are visual distortions happening in the distance.

    There's a tenseness within the Hope Aura that has settled across the area. Madoka is... concerned. Deeply. Also a bit angry that anyone would dare be even slightly mean to this child, let alone threaten him.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy misses the meow, but something feels off; it sounds as if something else more notable is going on than her outburst, which makes her quiet down and listen, and then through the bush she sees... Koan?! Why is she grabbing some kid? Like, besides Chibiusa. It's off-brand!

    ...He's someone important in the future. Sailor Chalcopyrite stands up from the bush and summons her launcher-- wait, shit, the kid's right there. Uhhhh... Make herself a target?!

    Amy's voice rings out loud and clear: "You would punish someone because another version of them solved world hunger?! That him helped everyone be free... And this him deserves the freedom to grow up into whoever he wants! If you have a problem with that, than your fight is with me: Sailor Chalcopyrite!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
When Tamaki slinks in to join them, Usagi rolls her eyes a little, but in that fond way where one is naturally expecting that sort of thing - sure, her guardians don't spy on her dates anymore, but they had for a good while, and she's sure Tamaki is here for a similar reason -

Or, being generous, maybe he's just here out of fear of missing out. That happens too. Either way, it's good to see him - it's good to be close, especially with how... with how it's been.

She can't do anything about Molly's death or how it's broken Rashmi's heart or how it's made the stakes of everything real again for everyone, in a way she's not sure they'll ever let go of. She raised those slain by Beryl and Metallia in Paris. Mamoru healed the unbearable hurts Sunset of Sora caused, left her victims whole and hearty again. Madoka broke Sayaka's contract, let her be free and happy again.

But there's nothing any of them can do to fix Molly, and it's been a weight on her shoulders.

And then they have a friend joining, and Junichi runs off ahead, because of a cat, and she calls, "Junichi-kun, stay close, wait a second, hi Yokina-chan - wah, no it wasn't the ceiling, he's Shingo-kun's best friend, that's all!!" -

There's a burst of familiar laughter from a lamp post and Usagi whips around to glare, calling out, "Amy-cha-"

And that's when there's that confused yelp of terror, that calling, and ice water might as well have flooded down Usagi's spine, because she whips around yelling, "Junichi-kun!"

And her eyes track up, when she doesn't see him on the ground, and her face goes bone-white with horror as she Koan floating there with her hand around his throat. She doesn't even notice Hope Blossom in that moment - there's nothing but instinct.

"Moon Crystal Power, Make Up!"

Light flickers over her body in the swiftest transformation there's ever been.

"Let him go! You let him go right now!"

She can't look away from the terror in his face. Secret identities, magical threats, none of that occurs to her in that moment, moved on pure terror and instinct, reacting instead of acting as she is. All she can think of is Junichi at six, in Shingo's first grade class, the two of them doing their first errands together, their parents taking pictures and watching from the street. Junichi at seven, at eight, and yes, now, at nine, trusting her to walk him home safely -

"Let him go!"

Jadeite has posed:
Tamaki stares up, and up, and up. When he yanks his henshin out of his earring, its with barely a whisper.

Going up against this one's a bad idea tactically - ice is weak to fire, after all, and neither his shields nor his Snow Thimble will do much against a one on one hostage situation like this.

"Orders?" Jadeite asks - he's biting down his instincts to FIGHT as anger wells up in him, because that is n't helpful, becuase they have a kid to save - so order him, Mamoru, tell him how to help them win! Nothing he can think of will help, so what - !

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Amy can't send a missile.... but.

Kazuo doesn't so much as blink. Or have time to answer Tamaki. Usagi turns, and her eyes track up, and she pales -- and the words aren't ones he's used before, but they come to him without thinking. "Earth Power, Make Up!"

The transformation is fast. Not as fast as Usagi's. But faster than his has ever been.

And it is barely complete when he is not saying a word. He is moving. Launching himself upward, precisely aimed, hands coming together over his head like the reverse of a dive - aimed precisely for the space between Koan and Junichi, to try to force her arms apart, to make her at least partly let go.

Of course, if he's successful, that puts him in a less-than-good position. But he can probably survive longer.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Yokina Meiou glanced towards the child, grinning as he ran off. Sure, he probably shouldn't, but it'd be fine.

And then her relaxed, casual attitude towards it turns grim as suddenly there was a person grabbing him and lifting him into the air?! WHAT THE HECK?!

She whipped around and, well... the cloak was looking like it wasn't going to have a good day today. The kid was being suspended high in the air... And he was in danger.

She eeked and ran and... Once she was out of sight, she'd henshin... and not come out of hiding. Instead, moving around and...

<< I don't care. Do it. >>

<< Telepathy link created. >>

<< Don't tell anyone about this, okay guys? I'm going to keep out of sight. If you can get the kid out of her grip, I can use a flight spell on him and catch him on the way down. Then I should be able to make a barrier and shunt him out of here. Please, PLEASE don't tell anyone about this. >>

...If there wasn't a little kid literally dangling with his throat grabbed right now she'd definitely NOT do that. But... well...

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Junichi reminds Mamoru somewhat of the younger kids in the orphanage when he was there, the ones who were small for their age -- but Junichi, for him it's socially safe to be enthusiastic about things he likes. Mamoru likes him. Plus, Chibiusa likes him, which is also a point in his favor.

Kazuo gives Mamoru a wry look in return, and the prince bumps against his arm... and then out of 'nowhere', Jadeite.

Mamoru gives his most yellow-haired knight a really suspicious look. "Fancy meeting you here?" he repeats, eyebrows going further up. "You know I can always tell where you are if I look, right--?"

But then Yokina's joining them and Mamoru blinks, looking up and down the street. Someone cackles in the distance when Yokina asks 'ceiling' and Mamoru spffts, laughing. "No, he's Usako's brother's friend-- Junichi-kun, this--" Mamoru stops, looking up and down the street again, and seeing Junichi running ahead, he sighs and smiles at Yokina then starts jogging after Junichi.

And then Koan.

"Hey!" Mamoru yelps, trying to catch at Junichi and missing by a mile, lacking his henshin speed. He stares as they go up, up, up, and then he pulls his hand out of his pocket, and in it is a pocketwatch, glinting orange-gold in the light of the sunset sky.

"Earth Prism Power, make up," he says flatly, and a dark wave of rich and vivid jewel-tone colors and shifting sparkles fills the outline of him for a second, and then it's Tuxedo Kamen glancing over at Hope... Blossom? But his gaze, masked now, flickers back up to Koan and the child. He can't grab him out of Koan's grip, her hand's around Junichi-kun's neck and it's tight and she won't let go, it would probably break his neck.

"F--" he starts, then swallows it. If she drops him, he can jump and get him before he's falling too fast. But his poor neck.

A dangerous and stupid thought, dismissed with great prejudice but still, appearing at all: if you could fly, if you were stronger than Koan, if you could combat teleport...

Amy's here. Mamoru's eyes are on Junichi. Usagi's henshined. Mamoru's eyes are on Junichi. Everyone's yelling. His eyes are on Junichi but his hand is in the inside jacket pocket of his tailcoat, and he fumbles something red without looking, and as Jadeite's asking him for orders, he's vanished the red things and his eyes are still on Junichi. "Can you do a pile of snow or something underneath?" he suggests, more to keep Jadeite from panicking than anything else.

And then Kazuo

he almost looks because what

and then Kunzite is flying up in his peripheral vision and engaging with Koan right away and Mamoru's heart's in his throat and his eyes are on Kunzite for a split second, but then they're on Junichi again.

<< Sounds good. >> he says, detached, in their heads.

Koan (280) has posed:
What comes next happens in flashes of motion:

There's a pink-haired girl with twintails walking up, bow in hand, and there's something not right about her, but Koan, raised on Nemesis, is hardly the sort of person who's going to notice or care about a little thing like someone being not right -

There's that red-haired Senshi, unique to this time, uniquely annoying, trying to grab her attention -
    here's Koan's hand tightening its grip all the further and the grinding of bone and the boy is wheezing, tears stream, unable to struggle weakening -

RThere's Sailor Moon, bursting into existence from an ordinary blonde girl, and Koan would, will, is going to crow about this crowning glory, unmasking Serenity in this time, being the one to make the woman who crowned herself queen pale with terror, voice quaking as she tries to spit demands -

There's the butler practically shaking in his boots, demanding orders like a dog -

There's the King Himself revealing himself as the fool who tried and failed to grab the boy in her arms, staring and dumbstruck and whispering plans that won't work -

There's an ordinary girl, scrambling in terror and fleeing for cover, unimportant, unnecessary -

And there's the snap-crack of bone breaking under her fist as she crushes vertebrae, arteries, and windpipe all at once, just as another man - unknown, unseen, unrecognized - bursts into motion, shunting his body in between them, forcing her to let go before can she reduce broken bones to pulp.

Junichi falls from her grip, feet first and tumbling limp through the air, unconscious, breath trapped by the mess made of his throat.

Koan lashes out at Kunzite with a wave of blue flame, her upturned palm facing his side as he shifts.

"DARK FIRE !"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    The strange thing taking Hope Blossom's shape is not the mind that responds to Hotaru. Actually, it's a very different voice, almost as if it's the Hope Aura itself that's speaking. <<Wait. A barrier might make it difficult for us to save him if he gets hurt, unless it pulls him in too. I'm going to draw us into my Labyrinth soon. Don't worry. It'll be safe. For us, and for the boy.>>

    She is pointedly not saying it will be safe for Koan.

    <<I don't know what there is to tell, but I won't.>>

    Madoka, or the thing pretending to be her, that is somehow a part of her, stares up at Koan as others drop bits and pieces of context for her to pick up. So, this boy is someone important in the future? Or possibly an alternate future? This small child is going to help save the world some day, possibly with some future version of Usagi's help, and that is the reason he needs to die?

    Everything happens so fast. There wasn't anything she could really do.

    This can't be real. This actually can't be... No, Madoka knows better. This could totally be real.

    It's real. Horrifyingly, shockingly, terrifyingly real.

    No wonder Homura couldn't let this kind of thing go.

    "If you hate the future so much..."

    The world around them shatters like glass, revealing a beautiful, playful landscape of clouds and rainbows and wafer cookies sticking out of a cake frosted ground that is a lot more solid than it looks. Behind Hope Blossom is the real Madoka, Hope Concept, holding her divine bow and charging a massive pink arrow. Behind the goddess is several other Hope Blossoms, each charging their bows.

    "... then maybe you shouldn't have one."

    Space itself gets shifted around. Those trying to catch the falling boy find themselves having an easier time doing so, and there's some kind of shield or spatial distortion around him that Koan would find almost impossible to penetrate but anyone else could cross just fine.

    As for the Doka army, each of them, with one exception, are are focused on Koan. They release their arrows one after another, a trickle that quickly becomes a flood, pink death flooding the air space around Koan as the goddess continues to charge. Hope Concept releases the final arrow, large and terrible in a way that only a sparkly magical girl attack could be, and it rips through the air as it seeks vengeance against Koan.

    As for the one exception, that Hope Blossom clone is rushing towards where Junichi is likely to land. She wont be the one who catches him, but she's there to help whoever does.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Everything happens so fast. Sailor Moon is rushing, running, terror giving her speed, horror holding tight to her voice, and there's the crack of bone that echoes in a way it shouldn't, suspended in the air, echoing, echoing, and she leaps for Junichi, tumbling through the air, headed for the ground, limp and silent and not moving, not moving, not moving -

She leaps, arms out-stretched, paying attention to nothing but the boy not the body, the boy falling towards the ground, and screams. It's pure chance that it's with telepathy and not her actual voice -

<<DON'T PUT UP A BARRIER, HE'LL BE ALL ALONE!>>

He lands in her out-stretched arms, and she catches him in a princess carry, cradles his head with her arms and lands skidding across the ground, his body warm in her arms, limp and warm and she can't tell if he's breathing and terror doesn't make her still, it makes everything move to fast and she's hunched over him on her knees, tears of terror and denial pouring down her face.

Mamoru is at her side. She knows he is. She feels him.

She gives Junichi to him, words falling from her lips, the Silver Crystal dim in it's place in her compact.

"Fix him, fix him, please, you can fix him Mamochan, you can fix him -"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    snap-crack

    but there's a healer right here

    they have until the brain runs out of oxygen, which does mean there still needs to be a brain which means not carelessly blowing them up

    Amy had an attack half-planned and she curses herself for not firing it faster, but it gave her time to think of a safety measure--

    She thrusts out her hand and that awful cracking sound is echoed by the cracks of dozens of tiny objects breaking the sound barrier, tiny explosiveless missiles more like bullets launching from in front of Sailor Chalcopyrite, curving so as to hopefully hit Koan from the side opposite Junichi -- and, as a last-split-second addition, any that miss or fully penetrate curve away from Koan's young victim!

    She can't do anything to make Junichi land safely. They'll deal with it, somehow, they just have to stop her from making it worse.

    They have to end this before the brain runs out of--

    People are screaming in her head. Barrier, don't barrier, space is warping, there's Madoka-not-Madoka and several Hope Blossoms and what--

    Kamiko, please... the Puella Magi thinks, not over telepathy, just an inaudible wish finding hope in the friend warping reality in front of her...

Jadeite has posed:
Jadeite gets orders - and the boy DROPS.

Forget attacking. Forget Koan. He trusts Kunzite to keep her busy. Forget snow, Sailor Moon is already jumping to catch him, Mamoru at her side -

So Jadeite drags up an icy half-dome around Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask as he runs to them, thickening the shields while preparing more to block any incoming attacks. And then, as he waits, he puts a hand on each of their backs and lets his power flood into the two of them, everything not dedicated to defense drained to feed their healing.

(Mamoru will feel the bone-deep trust in Tamaki's touch. That Mamoru not only CAN save the boy, but he WILL. That both of them will.)

(Miracles with the Silver Crystal - Tamaki's own flesh knitting back together before his eyes - the warmth flooding his body as he is healed, the pain ebbing away, the feeling of safety - )

( They're going to save him. They WILL. There is no other option. And Tamaki has bitten down hard on his kneejerk instinct to attack to ensure it. He is clay, and clay can become a wall to protect others, can become a pillar to support them - there is nothing he can do on his own to fix an injury like this, but he knows Mamoru and Usagi can. And that they will. And he will do everything in his power to ensure it.)

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Not quite in time. Not quite not. Junichi's falling - leave that to someone else; Kunzite curls midair and literally kicks off from Koan. That gives him space to pull his cape around him as he falls, blocking the Dark Fire --

-- blocking part of the Dark Fire, reflecting it back into the air between them in an immense gout of gasflame blue. Faster than his shields would've been. But Koan was faster still.

It's good that Amy lashed out in attack that curved, because it means Kunzite doesn't run into her missile-bullets as he falls. He hits the ground near her, harder than he should, lying flat instead of catlike on his feet. For a moment. Only for a moment. Then he shifts, favoring the side she struck at and keeping his cape over it, and comes up to one knee. A little mobility again.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru had a plan. Get her to drop the kid, make him fly, drop him to the ground, bam, barrier.

And then the kid's neck was broken. And any plan... faded.

The moment that happened? The barrier was off the table. It wasn't an option, in the slightest. Because he needed help, their help. If there was any chance...

The magic of her energy glaive flared and then she was off, leaping through the air, leaping from window to window to roof to up and then she'd be viewable to Koan, if she was paying much attention to 'up'.

All safeties were disengaged. The blade came down, the pulsing energy in it so loud it was vibrating. Charon's eyes had gone almost hollow as she looked down at the killer. The woman had to be removed, she was a monster. A threat to everything.

She. Did. Not. Belong. And she would be purged.

Luminous Titan struggled to contain the flash of power echoing through the blade as the glaive came down at Koan from above...

Only to stop, all of that humming energy suppressing back to normal as Charon fell... past Koan. Didn't even swipe as she went down. Dropping down below and running towards Tuxedo mask. "I-I have healing," she said. "I-I can heal with my touch, I just... I-I'm not as good as you are, Tuxedo Mask, but I can help. Just... Just direct me where you need me."

In the end, she wasn't like him. She didn't have full control over it, it just kind of happened when she touched people... But with his direction, guiding her? Hopefully she could help reinforce his own efforts as she offered her hand to him.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru is detached, watching connections, watching life, keeping everyone in his periphery located in the back of his head, he's pointedly not thinking about, about anything that could distract him--

Tuxedo Mask's eyes are on Junichi, and Kunzite is in her face and there's

a grinding crack

it's the right kind of sound that even two storeys up and through decibel-lowering earplugs

and that little boy's head should not be hanging like that, should not should not, should NOT; Mamoru does't even notice Kazuo getting burned. Doesn't notice the panic. Doesn't hear it, mostly-- doesn't register it. His face is pale, a little greyish, and Usagi catches Junichi and she's panicking and Mamoru kisses her head as he takes Junichi, gloves off. His hand immediately goes to touch the boy's salty puffy red unconscious face.

His breath catches, and he's white as a sheet too, now, and he carefully and hurriedly sets Junichi down on somebody's front lawn, yellow and scratchy and dry from the winter. Hope Blossom #240 is there and he says immediately, "A bendy straw or something, a trach -- Kami-sama --"

Life support. Junichi is on Mamoru's life support, but his lungs can't get air in and are filling with fluid, his brain is starving for oxygen, and Mamoru--

He's on his armored knees and one hand's holding the back of that ruined neck and the other's getting the top of the boy's uniform shirt open-- and then he looks back at Kunzite.

There's a look in his eyes that Kazuo's never seen, but Kunzite knows on a gut level. It's a request from Mamoru. It was an order, coming from Endymion, once upon a time.

He mouths the words, then looks back at the boy whose life is in his hands.

Then Charon is there too, and Mamoru looks at Hotaru blankly for a second. "For now can you just feed him energy? I need to get-- don't look, Charon-chan. Once I get this done I'll need you to hold it open until we get a straw."

'Once I get this done.'

One hand still on Junichi and Mamoru's abruptly rummaging through his hat, and he is-- if he lives Junichi will need so many antibiotics-- Mamoru is pulling out a pen knife. His body blocks the view.

Koan (280) has posed:
The caped crusader kicks off from Koan, flailing to block her blow, spasming in the air, but there's hardly time to take umbrage, to put him down the way he deserves, with missiles and arrows alike firing from all around.

Someone lesser would panic, to be the subject of so much fury and rage, but Koan isn't lesser, and she won't panic, will funnel her hatred and her rage into power and stomp them into the ground.

"Dark Fire Enclose!"

It's a spiral of motion as Koan reaches towards the ground in midair and throws herself back intio a spin, dragging a curtain of fire into existence all around her - the missiles and arrows collide with that curtain of blue fire and erupt, the strength of her dark energy and her fire alike taking the brunt of the damage for her.

There's a curtain of smoke. When it clears, Koan hovers in the air, black crystal earrings gleaming, cruel smile stretched across her face - just before a girl fell down inches from her, body and blade streaking by towards the ground.

That throws Koan, in the way that only having someone fall past you can, and she jolts in the air, looks down -

See the half-dome of ice and the girl landing on the side, reaching to support -

Her face twists with hateful rage as she realizes what the King, Queen, and Spare are up to.

"No," she says, and then screams, "NO!"

Koan dives from the air at that shield of ice, spinning through the air and driving her heel down blasting fire through the bottom of her foot, melting until she could connect and shatter what remained. It's a terrible amount of power that Jadeite has poured into those shields, but she is wreathed in black energy, in the darkness of Nemesis itsel, and she breaks through.

There's a split second where she sees the Junichi Nomura, head tilted back, broken, dying, dying as he deserved for strengthening their rule, sees the black-suited King Endymion on his knees, hands aglow, fueling the sputtering flame of his life, sees the butler with his hands on the King and Queen's backs, sees the Queen in useless tears, hands shaking in the hair, fingers curled like helpless claws, sees the Spare Senshi that could have struck but chose to try and fan those flames -

In the split second she has to decide, she falls back on spite, on hate, on making it hurt.

rIt's what the Black Moon Clan do best.

"You don't get to save him!" No. The Neo Queen fails today. The King fails today. She will make their hearts shatter.

There is a distortion in space, a wall that keeps her from the boy, that won't let her touch him, that slows her hand as she even tries, and she twists instead, at the last moment, unable to touch Junichi and instead smashing her fist of darkness against Tuxedo Kamen's bowed shoulder -

There's that crack again, bone giving way, but the golden light doesn't so much as flicker.

Jadeite has posed:
Jadeite probably can't HURT Koan, not like the others are. Not when he's pouring all his power into Usagi and Mamoru, (pouring his trust, pouring his love), not when ice attacks are just going to melt against her.

But he doesn't need to hurt her. He just has to give Kunzite and Amy and Hope Blossom enough space to attack with nothing held back.

"We do get to save him. And we will. Know that all your lashing out has done nothing for you or your cause," Jadeite says, and slams the hand that was only Sailor Moon against the golden shield -

"SNOW THIMBLE!"

The icy bell won't hurt her - but at this range, that much ice slamming into Koan will send her flying away from the five of them.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Kamiko is a part of Hope Concept right now, and while she doesn't quite pick up on Amy's not-quite-telepathic wish, Madoka does notice the Puella for a moment. <<I wish I could promise you that it will be alright. I can only promise that we'll be doing our best.>>

    There are a lot of things that Madoka can... understand. A lot that she can even forgive. But this isn't like that. This is pure, unapologetic evil. Something so unbearably cruel that it finds itself squarely on the wrong side of the paradox of tolerance. Hope Concept cannot both protect humanity and allow Koan to live. She has to choose one, and as always she chooses the many.

    The tiny little nurse minidoka drops out of a portal from within Madoka's shield, because this is Hope Concept's space and she can do what she wants. A Hope Blossom clone wearing a flossie drops in after her, carrying a medical bag. She sets it down on the strange Labyrinth landscape, and starts pulling things out of it. A tray of scalpels, a bendy straw, an oxygen tank complete with breather, a heart rate monitor, an IV bag that gets pushed off to the side.

    Anyone who has time to think about it might realize that the things she's pulling out of the bag could not possibly have ever fit within it. They are also, in some way or another, unnecessarily pink and white and may have small floral patterns or decorative lace on them. Medo, the tiny nurse fairy, is taking this all in stride. She's being helpful by setting up various bits of equipment, like connecting the heartrate monitor or managing the oxygen tank, while the Blossom Clone is helping to move around the things that are too big for the Chara to manage.

    The landscape itself bends and shapes around Tuxedo Kamen, Hotaru, Jadeite and anyone else interested in either helping save the boy's life or shielding those who are. Walls made of wafer cookies burst out of the cakey ground, surrounding the mahou medical team, leaving some gaps large enough for people and light to pass through but otherwise providing a lot of defensible terrain. Madoka's space-bending barrier expands to surround that group.

    That focus and energy spent on keeping the medics safe doesn't mean that Madoka isn't also intending to kill Koan, though. The Blossom Clones spread out and surround Koan from all sides, and begin attacking her like a pack of wolves. One comes in to smack her with a glowing pink branch bow while another fires an arrow from the opposite direction. A third and a fourth follow up with a branch swing at her head and another at her knees. More and more they pile onto her, using floating bits of candy suspended in the air as platforms to jump from, backing away only to allow other magicals a chance to go in. Each one can likely be defeated with a powerful enough attack, but they are many and they are relentless and they've each already tasted death and were left unimpressed.

    Eventually one tries to grapple Koan, and another comes in to help, and another and another. Even if the fire user burns them off, more come in to replace them, relentless in a way that only lemmings are actually known for.

    Soon it becomes clear why, because Hope Concept herself is Doing Something. Tiny portals, leading to a dimension full of pink hair, open all around Koan. Locks of infinitely long hair begin to spread and wrap around her, trying to tangle her in, wrap around her, crush her. It's again, just magical henshin hair, but there's so much of it and it wants to hurt you.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
"Your opinion is an irrelevant as you," Charon said, her focus on Tuxedo Mask and the boy. She noticed his wound, but she didn't even move to help him with it. He had it handled and, at the end of the day?

His shoulder would heal. The boy's neck might not. With every moment she could feel the boy's life ebbing away, though she tried to hold onto it. It was going to be okay. To give him the soft, gentle healing light of her magic. She wasn't like Mamoru, it wasn't this warm, gentle presence that made one feel safe. The hold of the earth. No, in times like this? It was... like a single hand on one's shoulder as their life parts. A gentle footstep besides them. In any other situation, it would likely be scary. The reaper walking besides them.

But as life fades, and one feels frightened... that hand would be confident. Holding on. Reminding them they weren't alone. They didn't need to be afraid of the end. But... it also wasn't time. Take her hand and she'll pull you towards the warmth of the earth and the miracle of the moon...

It is not your time.

Amanda Faust has posed:
crackcrackcrackcrackcrackcrackcrackcrackcrackcrackcrackcrack

    After she feels the conjuration go off successfully once, Amy just... keeps doing it. Like dozens of magic homing machineguns firing at once.

    Amanda doesn't have healing powers. She can't save the entire world.

    But with the Queen and King who'll save the world and a Goddess here in front of her

    She doesn't have to.

    She can be their soldier, that's what 'Senshi' means, doesn't it?

    Koan presses the attack, trying to go for the kill even now--

    --and so does Amy, the barrage of tiny piercing rockets coming faster, as if the RPM of an invisible magic homing machinegun battery has been turned up. No barrels to overheat. No loading systems to jam. Just magic. Just a SOUL shaping tiny pieces of the world to its will, as another changes the world all around them.

    And right now this soul's will is that Koan die

    That Koan, in this moment and all of the future, never be the cause of any negative effect in the universe from here and now on, that she never be the cause of any negative effect in the region of space-time that starts here and now and expands at roughly 300 km/s in all directions, the speed of cause and effect itself.

    On her left arm, Amanda's soul gem burns to corruption, but slowly -- there's a lot of little things but she's not making huge booms or rocketing whole people around or even making anything go hypersonic speed.

    Just a sideways rain of deadly metal homing in on evil until it stops.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Hope Blossom descends with them, rushing to help Junichi. Charon descends on them, healing hands out stretched, begging for what to do. There's ice erected over them, a shield, a hand at her back, pouring energy in that does nothing, that does nothing, the Silver Crystal is dim and sputtering like her heart, caught in her throat as she looks at the ruins of Junichi's.

There's nothing in Sailor Moon's head but desperate hope and terror, the sounds of the fight distant. She can't do anything.

All she can think is that she can't do anything.

Jadeite is wasting his power, she can't do anything, she can't fix him, he's not tainted, he's not corrupted, there's nothing to purify, and she can't fix him the way she couldn't fix Molly, couldn't even find her body, what if she has to bring his body, what will she do, she caught him and it wasn't enough, she ran for him and it wasn't enough, all this power and it's not enough, what's the point of it all -

KRA-KOOOOOM!!

The shattering of ice into so many pieces tears her out of it, as Koan's fist flies down past them all to strike against Tuxedo Kamen's shoulder with the second terrible breaking of bone in the span of not even a moment -

The world goes distant, for Usagi. Her heart sputters. The Silver Crystal sputters.

And then everything goes red.

The Sailor Moon that rises from the shattered remnants of that shield is not the Sailor Moon that skidded across the ground with a broken boy in her arms, helpless, terrified. This is a Sailor Moon that tells Jadeite, in a hard voice, "Give your power to Charon too," and then launches herself after the villainess he's just sent flying.

"You don't get to have him!" she screams, and her voice is the shattering of glass, the breaking of stone (or it would be, if not for Hope Concept's Labyrinth, sprawling, buoying, giving and gifting). Her red odango caps glow, focusing Supersonic Scream at Koan, instead of her allies.

There's a feeling in her voice, a way she carries her body, as the Spiral Heart Moon Rod appears in her upward thrust hand, that none of them have ever seen before.
Sheomething dark.

Usagi Tsukino is far from a perfect girl. She feels things a little too deeply, some would say, all heart and no brain. A crybaby, a scaredycat, sometimes selfish, and lazy, and occasionally, without thinking about it, cruel, because she sees into people's hearts and she knows them and she doesn't always think before she acts. Most people would say she wears her heart on her sleeve.

In truth, she keeps it in her broach, and most any day, any occasion, it shines with light. With hope. With love.

In this moment, diving amidst the copies of Hope Blossom, twisting around the strands of hair that hate, caring nothing for any and every shot that may bounce off the the white of her chestplate or graze her flesh, as she brings her weapon down, the Silver Crystal gleams with hate.

"You don't get to touch any of them, ever again!"

This time, when the bones break, it's because of her.

CRACK.

CRACK.

CRACK.

There will be consequences for this, later. Wretching up corrupt energy in a hamster ball as light pours over her. Kneeling over a hand that needed holding. Wondering if she could have given her energy, to make it easier, faster, neater, if she could have made something of a miracle, so there didn't have to be the knife, the straw, the blood, flesh held apart.

But for now, there's just -

CRACK.

CRACK.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kunzite tracks Jadeite's attack - factors both it and Koan's displayed resistance into the aiming - and lifts both hands from where he half-kneels by Amy, pausing the barest instant to glance sideways at her, then bringing them together. Focusing power into a bright beam that shimmers on the edge between pink and violet; adding a spiraling whisper of silvery gleams, a precious trace of a power stolen from Rubeus and redeemed by Sailor Moon. Armor for an attack, to counteract the darkness she shields herself with. He pours himself into it. At the very least, it'll distract Koan long enough for the Blossom Clones to be able to group more effectively. Cut a slash through her defenses for Amy's magical attacks.

He'd like to be able to preempt them both. Like to spare them that. But he's not enough of a fool to imagine he can take Koan down by himself. Only to help, and perhaps to make it faster.

It needs to be faster.

His prince gave him that look. It cannot possibly be fast enough.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The golden light doesn't flicker; the Prince in the formalwear hisses, jarred and in sudden agony, and the hand that's touching Junichi grows brighter, and Tuxedo Kamen thinks uselessly that the pauldrons were good for something after all.

His breath is shallow and his voice is short and tight and distant. "Charon-chan. Thank you. I need two hands and can't lift my arm. Please put a hand on me so I can show you where to hold?" he asks very, very measuredly.

"Hope Doka, please hold that open," and he absolutely means the opening for a breathing tube, "unless you have..." he runs out of words; he already said it, and holy shit that's a lot of medical equipment and the minidokas know how to use it, and it's hard to dissociate when he hurts so bad. "Thanks, straw in there."

He moves his knee to move his arm to let his hand touch the ground of the labyrinth, cakey and strange as it is, and waits for a signal-- and then his fingers sink into the cake to touch grass and pull still more power from the Earth.

Tuxedo Mask concentrates on getting blood to the brain for a minute, working on the arteries briefly, then. He breathes while he's working, and he doesn't look at anything else. He can't literally push bones back into place until he has two functioning hands again.

"Need to, to, vertebrae, but spinal cord. But arteries."

They're taking care of the threat. He knows what he told Kazuo. The shields may fall but they'll put them back up. His-- he feels something wrong, he feels something twist hot and dark within silver, but his heart's already in his throat. He hears Usagi's voice, and the choice is always there. The temptation will always be there at the worst of times--

--the temptation to be stronger, faster. Despite how painful it was for him to use, the darkness certainly was convenient.

He won't follow that way, though. Later, he'll worry about it Usagi-- about that cracking bone-- later. He vaguely realizes his eyes are tearing, but it's only a physiological response to the various types of stress. He's thi-- sonic scream.

Mamoru is so glad for his earplugs.

Koan (280) has posed:
Koan still has the knuckles of her fist grinding against Tuxedo Kamen's flesh when the ice bell-flower forms, momentum, launching her away with terrible force, sending her bouncing along the ground until she twists herself back up, getting her feet under her, launching -

Right into the first wave of Dokas. The blows are exchanged, flashes of fire and bolts of arrows, as the number of arrows flashing through the air grows and the missiles and bullets grows and they all begin to fire and fire and fire and fire until the bullets are flying but the Dokas are grappling -

An arm catches around her shoulders, throws Koan to the ground. She kicks up, lashing out with fire and fury, but there are always more, and more, and more.

Only the dying can truly know what it is to die. To walk with the Reaper. To know your time has come.

Only the dying, and Koan.

She fights not for her life but for her cause, her mission, her orders. Every Hope Blossom clone she burns. Every lash of hair she singes. Every bullet she takes. It's all for the cause.

Every splash of blood that leaves her. Every bit of flesh that bruises. Every bit of bone that fractures.

A bolt of silver flies, pure and shining, catches her in the back of the head, a beam that has her throwing her head back, screaming, as purification pours through her, around her. The splash catches the earrings dangling from her ears, the crystal shards, and they smoke, and they shake, and then they burst, in a shattering of shards, and Koan's dark power bursts too, leaves shreds of power that are only her own and nothing of Nemesis, and she falters.

And then there is hair, again, tangling about her limbs, pulling, ensnaring, holding, leaving her vulnerable.

Amy's bullets, the Many Dokas, they tear her asunder -

And then there is Sailor Moon, her crystal eyes dark with wrath, with hate, and even as she raises the Spiral Heart Moon Rod for the blows, Koan begins to laugh.

"Ahahaha -You - hate - me - so - much -"

And laugh, as Amy's rockets begin to burn her, shaping words around her laughter.

"Hahahaha - now - you - know - how - I - ahahaha - feel -"

And laughs, as the strangling hair cuts the flow of blood to her limbs.

"Is - the - hehehehe - darkness - sweet - Ne - Queen?"

It isn't any one blow, that finishes her. It's all of them, together, and the absence of her dark power.

All they know is that eventually, she laughs no more.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
The crystal earrings Koan is wearing smoke.

Shake.

Shatter.

And Kunzite straightens with an abrupt, feral smile, as if in the absence of the Dokas and Sailor Moon he might leap in himself below the level of Amy's rockets and tear at Koan's throat with his teeth.

He does not, mind you, do any such thing. But even as he sees what Moon is doing, even as he hears how desperate Tuxedo Kamen is, even as he works his way carefully and painfully to his feet and attempts to pace toward where Koan's laughter has ceased ... his eyes keep a trace of it. As if something in him were laughing. As if, in that moment, something in him thought they might have just -- not only for this fight -- won.

(They have not, and he knows it. But now they know a secret of the enemy's, too.)

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Charon nodded, following Mamoru's guidance. She could... could...

Something was wrong. Something was so wrong. Something was...

Her princess. Sailor Moon. She was... dark... energy...

For a moment, Charon faltered. Not her healing. But... her soul. One part of her, deep inside, was horrified. To see the princess brought to that low...

Another part of her, that part of her she'd been working so hard, so desperately, to suppress... Gloated.

If even Sailor Moon fell to the darkness, if even she couldn't be pure... what chance did this child? It was hardly fair, to expect her to not give into the rage for a second, especially in a situation like this... but... After everything? This all felt... so... so much more... real...

She tried to bury it down, to focus on the task at hand. To save the boy... to save the life...

Jadeite has posed:
Sailor Moon SCREAMS.

Jadeite understands her rage, her powerlessness, her desire to rend Koan limb from limb for what she had done. For the boy gurgling under Mamoru's hands, face going blue. (He wishes she'd express it in a way less damaging to his ears, but he gets it.)

So as Koan is battered and broken under the barrage, he puts his hand on Charon, channeling what power he has left into her so that she can heal.

"You're doing a good job, Charon. Keep going. I'll make sure you don't run out of energy," he tells her seriously. "Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask trust you to help them. Let's save this kid."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope Concept glances over to Sailor Moon with concern as she notices that taint of darkness. Madoka checks her own heart, but no... Gretchen isn't coming back yet. Killing Beryl wasn't enough to turn Madoka dark, but... now she gets defensive regarding her own heart. What she did was right, she knows it, and she did it for the right reasons... but Magic runs on emotions.

    Maybe it's for the best that Madoka is in her goddess brain right now, because the wrath of the divine isn't quite the same as the murderous rage of mortals, even if Madoka-chan can certainly empathize. Her hand goes to the Humpty Lock still hanging around her neck. If needed, she could...

    Koan's laughter distracts her. She has to focus on the fight, and focus she does. Lashing out with every part of her being until Koan falls.

    When the monster's laughter finally fades, Hope Concept says, "You wished to destroy your own future." She turns away from her and looks down at the cakey ground. "Wish granted."

    Then, when she hears her own words, does she realize just how close she is to the tipping point. It doesn't feel that way, but dark energy is deceptive. The Humpty Lock glows faintly, and there's a slight purifying effect spreading throughout the combat arena portion of the Labyrinth, though Kamen's group is left alone since none of them seem to have teetered close to the darkness (that Madoka could see). Hope Concept starts floating a closer to where the impromptu trauma team is, closing her eyes to better direct her other self with more care and precision.

    The airway is kept open, and other things are handled. A tiny rupture in reality happens near the ground to let Mamoru connect to Earth a little more easily as Madoka's Labyrinth shifts closer to augmenting reality rather than replacing it outright.

    Medo, tiny and cute as she is, never once flinches in her medical professionalism. There's no need to do a Chara Change here, because Madoka is already following her dream of being a medic. Even if she's using a clone to do so.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Koan starts to laugh. Koan starts to 'if you kill me you will be just like me' speech.

    "No." Announces Amy. "We do not feel like murdering innocent children."

    Perhaps it's spite, rather than technical correctness, that spurs her words, but she won't let Koan take even a shred of victory here.

    There's a point when the rocket-bullets go from being maybe-overkill to definitely-overkill, and just before then they stop.

    Sailor Moon is filled with rage and hate, and right now Amy can't find that horrifying. Good is not always Nice.

    The Puella Magi walks over to the body, holds out her hand towards its head, and, in front of Charon and everyone

        BANG

            there's a line of orange light visible for an instant and the head is just gone. And there's a chunk blown out of the cake-ground underneath.

    Yeah Amy thought she was just doing her version of a bullet to the head to make sure but, in the heat of the moment, forgot that she was targeting nonmagical flesh. She looks a bit shocked, too. "Uh... I was... I was just trying to make sure..."

    That, and hearing people walking Charon through things bring Amy back to reality. She turns and walks over to observe the surgery, which they seem to have well in hand.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's only been something like two minutes since Koan crushed this baby's throat. If that. There's not a lot of time, but it's, it's, ahhhhh, Koan is finally fucking dead and Mamoru can work in relative peace. Despite having a badly broken shoulder, he has another healer he can direct by touch mostly because words are hard at the moment, he has Jadeite giving Charon energy, and he has Madoka and Madoka and Madoka, and he's so grateful, and this really hurts phenomenally amazingly--

It'll be a while. But with careful work and precision and dedication and so very, very many hands, after about twenty minutes Mamoru can work less frenetically, can actually speak. "He won't die if I let go of him for half a minute," the black-haired boy exhales.

It's been enough time for Junichi's parents to have called the Tsukinos. Mamoru's shoulder is still broken. "What do we do? How do we-- explain-- her head is gone? Guys-- what--??"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kunzite doesn't say a word about Amy's ... underestimation of that last effect. He considers the spot, instead, and then leans down to examine it more closely, reaching out with a thin ghost of his shadow shields.

If he can find so much as individual specks of those shattered (and re-shattered) crystals remaining ... they are not staying in a place so clearly Hope's when the rest of them go.

It's only when Mamoru's voice is heard that he lifts his head. "Explanations depend on how much we can do for him," he says. "They start with 'there was a kitten' and range upward. What do you need?"

Plainly on Kunzite's scale the missing head doesn't rate. At least he's got a different set of issues to deal with than... er... most of the people here.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Koan is wrong. Usagi is not like her.

Koan is right. Usagi is like her.

Not for killing her. No - good isn't always nice, and good isn't even always kind. Good doesn't have to be endlessly reaching out a hand, trying to bring the lost into the fold. Good can be putting down the hunters that steal your sheep.

But Usagi didn't kill her to save Junichi. She didn't even kill her to make sure she never hurt anyone again.

She killed her, because in that moment, she was filled with more hatred than she knew what to do with, helpless and furious and sickened and enraged, begging for a miracle, the Silver Crystal dim and dull and refusing to bless her with one.

Again.

This was justice, but it was revenge, too, and when she sees the blood, dripping from the heart and crown head of her Spiral Heart Moon Rod, she shudders - and shakes - and then there is the softest, lightest touch of purification, of light, the reminder that they're the good guys here -

It's a coincidence that Amy blows off Koan's head just as the shaking in Usagi's body becomes spasming, becomes wretching, becomes -

Oh, she's not throwing up. Or - she's not throwing up the contents of her stomach, anyway.

No, that's a rainbow of light, pouring from mouth and nose and eyes as Sailor Moon hunches forward and purges the darkness from her system, prompted by that every so gentle tickle of light.

By the time Mamoru is done healing, she's stopped vomiting, though there's a portion of labyrinth-covered-concrete that gleams with magic and will for a while longer.

She still needs proper purification, will need to ask Wako for her hamster ball, or Madoka to let shine the Humpty Lock on her later, but for now...

For now, when Mamoru is done she is sitting beside him, quiet and wan and says, "I'll - I'll call his parents. My parents. And an ambulance, probably. He's - hell, we can't let them see her body, but there's enough blood that they'll believe us when we say someone attacked us -"

Jadeite has posed:
"Amy double tapped Koan to make sure she wouldn't get back up," Jadeite reports. He's slowed down the flow of energy now that Junichi's been stablized, maintaining a slow but steady push of energy into both Mamoru and Charon.

"It appears to have worked. We're going to need an ambulance for two, for a severe neck injury and a broken shoulder at minimum. Also, I don't know what we're doing with Koan's body, since it hasn't vanished - Madoka, can you use this labrinth to hide Koan or will that mess things up in here?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Hope Blossom clone has been helping Kamen this whole time, along with Medo. Hope Concept has been staying at the sidelines, watching from a distance, ensuring that they have whatever they need. Anything that her world can make, she provides. It's not as good as the kind of magical healing that Hotaru and Mamoru can produce, but it's life support from someone who has a lot more trauma care experience than anyone Madoka's age should ever have.

    Sometimes, though, trying to be the hero often involves looking directly at the horrors of the world, and today is very much one of those days.

    The medical Blossom clone reports, "I don't think we can keep him out of the hospital. It's a miracle he's still alive at all. I've seen people recover from worse but... not much worse."

    Hope Concept looks at Sailor Moon with a soft, commiserating smile. "I don't want you to go too far down dark paths, but... I don't want to stifle your emotions either. If you want to wait... or if you'd prefer someone else..."

    Sailor Moon wouldn't purify Gretchen without permission. Hope Concept is honoring that mindset.

    To Jadeite, Madoka says, "Bodies, without magic or a soul, vanish when a Labyrinth closes. It's... something that a lot of Puella have had to deal with before. If you don't leave with the corpse you lose it forever." She glances back at Koan. "Granted, I'm fine with leaving her here."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Time," Mamoru says, and his voice sounds like it just stopped being able to pretend not to sound kind of ragged. "Concentration. Madoka-chan. Rashmi-chan. The only way I can think to get time is by asking Wako-chan, but... that wouldn't bring Junichi-kun with us. Hope Doka, can you uhh--" He shakes his head and takes a breath. She's already helping Usagi.

"No," the prince tells Jadeite, looking up. "I need to at least get him to the point where it's like someone without superhuman strength did it. And I do not want-- I do not want to go to the hospital ever again if possible, but thank you."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Charon was silent as they worked, her head down, hands focused on the task. She had support and help from others. Mamoru was hurt... but she had to focus her healing on the child in front of her. She'd never done this before.

Well, admittedly, she'd healed more broken bones of Takashi's than... this. Never a life on the line.

It felt both better and so, so much worse.

She tuned out the rest of the world, focusing on healing the child in front of her, not focusing on Sailor Moon's darkness or the others talking much.

How would you even explain this? A car? A professional body builder? A monster?

It was not your time...

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Was all the icing on the cake ground in this area that kind of reddish shade a moment ago? Let's not think about that.

    She thought she'd be okay if she saw something like that -- and sometimes, perhaps, she is -- but in her present mindset she prefers to look away from Koan.

    ...Like, at Sailor Moon actually throwing up a rainbow.


TAnd not thinking about filtering, she blurts out, "Huh, I thought anime made that up." She prods the puddle of... magic... with the tip of her boot. "Um, are you gonna be okay?"

    Once there's... some indication that Usagi knows what's happening to her, Amy goes to watch the healers. Fascinating.

    Jadeite says he's not sure what to do with the body. "I've heard pigs work pretty well." Still no filter, just, brain right to mouth. "...........Actually it looks like I could just blow up the rest of her and there would be nothing for them to find left." Then Madoka clarifies that yes, it still works like a Witch's Labyrinth in that respect, and she nods.

    So, the... patient. "How... bad is it, doc?" She asks Mamoru as he takes a moment to recover. "I don't know what the hardest parts are for... magic... like... the nerves, and, getting the bone to a state where it can heal...?"

    Amy looks at Junichi. "It's incredible you got him to this point..."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Amy suggests that she thought anime made that up. Honestly, Usagi had thought the same, before. She doesn't know what's happened to her, not really, but she feels that little bit better, to clearly it was good for her, and -

Madoka is offering. Usagi should take her up on it. Should let her pour the Humpty Lock's light out and free her heart.

But she can't. Not here. Not yet.

She doesn't want to cling to the darkness - it's power makes her sick, still, even (especially?) with the sparkling aftermath of a rainbow of vomit clinging to tongue and lips - but every time she looks at Junichi - and she's holding his little hand, where she won't be in the way, holding it, and it's too cold but not so cold, not dead cold, because Mamoru and Hotaru are pouring life into him - every time she looks at him, she feels the shadows of it again. Hatred. Rage. The kind of fury that says Koan died easy, when she knows it's untrue.

Purifying her now wouldn't finish the job. She has to let go of these feels herself, and there's people she could go to, with these feelings, but there's only one person she could go to and be purified.

"I'll ask Wako-chan," she says quietly, and then adds, "And if she can't help soon enough, I'll find you. Promise."

She'd dropped her henshin already, but now she pulls out her phone, and sees the missed calls - one from her parents, and one from Junichi's.

"I'm - gonna call them, as soon as you're ready for me too, Mamochan."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kunzite can't donate time. But what he can do is cross over to Tuxedo Kamen, working his way through the wafence, and find a bit of skin to lay his hand on. It's not as good a way of helping Mamoru focus as it usually is; he's injured as well - but the first instant is enough to let Mamoru know that the injury is not severe. Painful as hell - burns always are - but Koan was unfocused in the first moments of her attack on him, and he pulled loose fast enough to intercept the worst. Not a priority.

"He asked for concentration," Kunzite says to Amy. "Can your answers wait a little? He has a lot to do yet, and he's in pain himself." He pauses, then, and considers. "Jadeite. You're American. If we have can avoid either you or me dealing with the police or the ambulance, that's best. Let the ones who look cute and deceptively helpless deal with them, so that the adults are too busy trying to soothe them to ask questions. You and I should get the kitten, so we look harmless too." And see if any help's needed to align Mamoru's shoulder.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    "We can worry about funeral rites in a bit," says Hope Concept. "Honestly I'm more interested in making sure we only have one corpse."

    Tuxedo Kamen needs time, and Hope considers. Would Homura really be able to help here? Maybe, but her power has strict limits, and may actually make things worse. Then she considers the nature of her own Labyrinth. "I know that some Witches can distort time, but... that's rare. The Drowning Witch happened long before I had powers, let alone the ability to save the souls of Witches."

    She thinks back. Has she saved the soul of a time distorting Witch before? Sometimes time gets distorted whenever space bending is involved, but is that really enough to be useful?

    "I... can try calling someone, but..." Concept glances at Junichi while her copy and her fairy continue to monitor him. She takes out her cell phone and starts texting. "... let me see if I can reach them."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Mamoru needs time. She can't give him that. He needs concentration. She doesn't know if she can give him that.

But she can give him something else.

Heart torn with doubts or not, stained with darkness or not, she is Sailor Moon. She is the one, the only, the Sailor Moon. And her hand reaches for her broach, and she flips it open, to reveal the Silver Crystal, dip and dull and she clasps her hand to it, the one that isn't clutching Junichi's, and she -

Prays.

Eyes shut. Facets digging into the meat of her palm. Face tipped up, to the sky (to the Moon).

Please. Please. Please. I can do this. I have to do this.

Through the gaps in her fingers, the Silver Crystal shines.

She reaches for Mamoru - places her hand on the top of his head, for lack of better place to touch skin to skin -

And lets pour the light of her soul.

"Let's see if this helps."

Jadeite has posed:
Jadeite gingerly helps Mamoru take his jacket off one shoulder at a time, careful not to interupt his healing. Usagi and Kazuo have offered their support, their touches - so Jadeite too gingerly presses his fingerpads against Mamoru's hand.

Let's his bone deep faith in Mamoru pour into him. Knowing that Mamoru has healed before, will heal again - the faith that they all have done everything in their power to help.

"Once Junichi's a little more stable, I'll help you get the kitten," he tells Kunzite. "Good call on letting the others handle the authorities."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It was certainly not Junichi's time, no matter what Koan said. This little clutch of magical kids has made sure of it. Mamoru's glad he doesn't have to come up with the lie, he's not sure he could even come up with the truth right now.

He can hear Usagi throwing up after all that, and he has to ignore it. His attention sinks back into what's underneath poor Junichi's skin, hurriedly putting together puzzle pieces of bone. Then he hears 'Mamochan' but it doesn't sound urgent, so he nudges Junichi's spinal cord back into place, and they can all hear the little boy breathing through the straw.

They can all hear it, close as they are, with hands on Mamoru or on Junichi. There's a moment where Mamoru's murmuring to Jadeite, asking him for help with his jacket, to get it off before the ambulances arrive; then he's apologizing because yes, he needs the ambulance after all, but--

--then Usagi puts the Silver Crystal on his head, and something wild-eyed and scared in the back of his mind laughs, instead of screaming.

Usagi releases the light of her soul in a beautiful fountain of luminous silver, and as hurt and in pain as she is, there's nothing so strong, Mamoru thinks, as her heart. Bathing in it without the power of corruption to sting is the most refreshing thing, a breath of fresh air in a stale tunnel, a dip in cool water, a reassurance that truth exists and things are fundamentally cosmically going to be okay.

Between the two of them, the healing and growth and someplace quiet to hide in the sun, and the spiritual healing and order and someplace dim to be the light you're dancing by--

Among the lot of them, there is intent and will and power, strength and energy and desperate wishes and love. The power that sets things to rights -- yes please help line those bone pieces up like that, make them stay, yes like that! -- merges with the power that uses a golden thread to mend cracks and breaks, and the silvery purple power that Charon keeps hidden, and the chill and the labyrinth and the offers of energy...

By the time emergency services arrives, the poor baby will at least seem like he was viciously attacked, but by someone with regular strength.

No one but the mahoujin here tonight will ever know how bad it really was.