913/Lost & Found: Destroyer (First Take)

Lost & Found: Destroyer (First Take)
Date of Scene:	21 December 2023
Location:	Tokyo International Airport
Synopsis:	Jadeite's rescue-- from the airport, Metalia, and himself. Ft. Serenity, Endymion, Mercury, and Mars.
Cast of Characters:	Jadeite, Ami Mizuno, Usagi Tsukino, Rei Hino, Mamoru Chiba
Tinyplot:	Lost & Found

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Jadeite has posed:
    Jadeite is a wounded creature. The tiara that was embedded in his chest and then struck by lightning may have been removed, but the inside-out scar down the center of his chest remains. He may have been brought back from the borderlands of death, but he feels closer to self-destructing now than ever. He has taken in so much Dark Energy to replace what was obliterated by the Silver Crystal, that his body is falling apart trying to contain it all. He went past his limit a long time ago.

    Finding out they'd taken Nephrite too was what pushed him over the edge.

    Sailor Moon is the Moon Princess. Hematite is Prince Endymion. Those two facts together are enough, when taken with his knowledge of who Mamoru is dating, to figure out the true identity of Usagi Tsukino. It seems so obvious now. Why did he never reach that conclusion this entire time it was right there in his face? He knew who Mamoru was dating, and he knew who Hematite was soft on!

    But now he knows.

    Dark Energy rampages through his body while a demon talks continuously in his mind. She has almost completely claimed him. But there's still that little bit of him that refuses to give in. That part of him that was Jadeite of Silver Millennium, the boy who was endlessly curious, studious, and eager to share the knowledge he collected. A scholar who might have become a teacher, had circumstances been different. But fate chose his path for him, and he became a Guardian of Prince Endymion. A protector, assuredly; a tutor, whenever he could get away with it; a betrayer who promised himself to Queen Beryl in exchange for the power to take back his Prince from the Moon Witch who had ensnared him.

    Or that's how he remembers it, anyway.

    It's late, and he has issued a challenge. About an hour ago, just as Usagi and Mamoru emerged from the Gates of Time, in fact.

    Jadeite's image and voice appeared in their minds, forcing them by telepathic suggestion to look up into the sky. There he was, glowering, angry, a red glare in his eyes. Sneering at the entire city, as all of Tokyo's inhabitants bore witness to the psychic projection, Jadeite said this:

    "I am Jadeite, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Dark Kingdom. You have stolen from me my Prince and my comrade, Nephrite. This travesty will not be allowed to go unanswered. I challenge the Sailor Senshi! Bring Hematite and the Silver Crystal to Tokyo International Airport within the hour. Otherwise, I will burn this entire city to the GROUND!" The image of Tokyo underneath Jadeite's eyes appears, and as planes begin falling from the sky, exploding against buildings and homes and streets, the city is gradually replaced by an inferno.

    So, Jadeite is at the airport. He has mind controlled everyone within at least a dozen kilometers to avoid the airport, and is even controlling the planes overhead that circle, waiting for a chance to land, as their fuel supply reaches precarious levels.

    Other passenger jets are idle around the runways, left out where they were before the airport staff went home at Jadeite's command.

    He is waiting.

    Time will be up in moments.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Not all of the Sailor Scouts had been staying at the Gates of Time. Though Sailor Mercury had visited once, while helping Sailor Pluto obtain the supplies necessary to help the Shittenou they were seeking to free, she had far too many obligations to be staying around there longer than necessary. There was school, and school. Let's not forget school. Her near perfect attendance record was in jepoardy if she stayed away too long.

There were other reasons of course. This was all a lot to take in. Usagi being a princess, Mamoru a prince. Them, aliens? that were reincarnated. It left her with a lot to think about.

That didn't mean she wasn't keeping tabs on when her fellow senshi arrived back in Japan from the Gates. The little computer she kept often by her side pings her as soon as the Gates have opened to inform her someone has arrived. That, mixed with the visions of Jadeite threatening everyone meant she was soon on her way racing toward the airport already transformed to cross the distance in a short time. For any other senshi that may be listening she sends out the message that she's on her way.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
They'd been in the Gates of Time again - Usagi was trying to spend as much time as possible there since Mamoru could leave, to the point that she'd mostly stopped sleeping in her room - she went to school so her parents couldn't get upset and then came straight back to the Gates, more than half of the time. It hadn't been very long - everything was unfolding so quickly - but every hour there felt like too many, which only made her feel worse about a decision even Serenity was too young to remember being made. But Nephrite was settled and Himeko's mama was determined to keep causing trouble and that meant they had to find Mamochan's guardians - which thankfully meant leaving the Gates.

And yet, as soon as they did -

"They're all such drama kings," she breathed out. "Mamochan, No one in the history of the world is allowed to say anything about girls being dramatic ever again."

That had been an hour ago. Now, Sailor Moon and (probably) Tuxedo Kamen we're arriving at the airport, staring up at the ridiculous display of power being thrown around. "You're sure you don't want me to kick his butt?"

But then they aren't alone! "Mercury-chan! You saw the big jerk in the sky too?"

Rei Hino has posed:
    SAILOR MARS confirms on the communicator that she is also en route.

    She arrives around the same time as Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, and... Some guy in formal wear?? Has she seen him before? Wasn't he at Crystal Tower? Well, Usagi-chan has Mamoru, so it can't hurt to look the tall fancy guy up and down a bit, right? N-not that that's a priority right now or anything! Teenage Hormones, Be Exorcised!

    Now she's gawking up at the planes circling in the sky like vultures, before starting to search for Jadeite. "Mercury-chan, can you scan the area to see if he's hiding somewhere? I think he has... Space powers or something. They let him warp physics around himself." She looks towards Sailor Moon as if seeking confirmation. Jadeite is her nemesis, right? Shouldn't their leader know?

    Either way, that psychic projection in the sky made quite the impression. Paired with what she remembered at Soryuu Shrine... She is off-balance to say the least.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
And Mamoru hasn't been having a very good time there, either, despite being there with Usagi frequently and Kazuo always, and now Nephrite, and sometimes Setsuna -- being unable to pinpoint Earth doesn't do great things for his peace of mind and body.

At least he has a henshin now.

"I mean, you can absolutely kick his butt; you might HAVE to kick his butt to get him to sit still," he says. "And I mean, if you can knock him out, it's the double bonus of releasing all the mind-control and making everything else hurt less."

Mercury and Mars are welcome arrivals, and he nods to them. "He's over there," he answers Mars, pointing across the tarmac. "But he can teleport. If we can take him down fast I can make sure he doesn't die, which is something I'm very invested in."

The tall drink of water cups his hands around his mouth and yells out, after taking a couple of steps forward so he doesn't deafen his compatriots, "HEY JADEITE! HEMATITE CAN'T COME TO THE PHONE RIGHT NOW, HE'S OUT OF DARK ENERGY AND IS FEELING A LOT BETTER!"

Jadeite has posed:
    Of course Jadeite is aware of them already. Probably, anyway. But the yelling helps.

    He turns his head to look in the direction of the heroes as he stands there with his arms folded behind his back.

    The tarmac practically explodes as an invisible force grinds up the ground on a direct path towards Tuxedo Mask and the Senshi, aiming to scatter them.

    He teleports to behind Sailor Mercury, wherever she winds up, one hand pulled back, wreathed in Dark Energy, as a shortsword forms out of ice. Of course Jadeite would try to murder the Senshi of Water and Ice with an ice sword.

    He lives for that kind of ironic bullshit.

    Not much for talking tonight, apparently. That's different.

    He didn't even ask for the Silver Crystal before attacking.

    One of the passenger jets starts moving, lighting up in the cockpit and turbines whirring to life, as it taxis around and starts heading towards the heroes. It's not very agile, but it's being operated by telekinesis, so it can probably do stuff it normally just... Couldn't. It's still slow though. Jadeite is already manipulating four passenger jets in the sky while doing all this, and who knows how many others he has circling over the city itself, high above in the night sky, where only their warning lights will reveal them before it's too late.

    Was he always this powerful?

    Jadeite doesn't care. He wants back what was taken from him. He wants it desperately. He was promised. He was PROMISED!

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Of course I saw," Mercury replies matter-of-fact as she jogs over to join the others gathering. "I've been keeping as much of an eye out for them as I can. I haven't forgotten that we're trying to rescue Prince Endymion's men." Whether they wanted it or not.

A little breath is let out as she comes to a stop giving everyone a proper amount of personal space so that there's reduced risk of accidental friendly fire attacks. Her attention shifts toward where Jadeite standsd on the tarmac while reaching up to tap the side of her tiara. The shimmering glow of her visor spreading out over her eyes is likely visible even from where he stands.

"Frankly I'm more concerned with the state of the planes that haven't been able to land at this point. It's a very dangerous situation," she advises, perhaps unnecessarily.

She does flash a smile toward Mars, and Usagi however, adding, "It's good to see you all again, safe and sound." As for the over-dressed Tuxedo Kamen she nods politely in his direction in greeting as well before her attention is taken away by looking over the readouts on her visor while gazing slightly up toward the sky at the planes circling.

The taunt he yells out to Jadeite does have her absently remark, "Ah, that's too bad. Hematite was a real cutie."

The absent remark is the last she gets out before her visor pings her to the sudden threat teleported behind her. Ice. Her element. A jolt runs through her as she spins around throwing her arms out toward Jadeite with a cry of, "Shabon Spray!"

The bubbles that fly out do nothing to dispell the attack: The ice blade cuts through her shoulder with a pained cry before she's hidden in the spray of fog. The purpose was to make it harder for him to see them, though. There were others here far more skilled than she at dealing with sword weilding teleporters.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Well, it certainly does make them scatter; Tuxedo Kamen doesn't go far but he jumps away from the explosively crunching-in ground, and make a 'tch!' sound at the plane that comes to life.

Not fast enough to hit Jadeite before he cuts Mercury -- not with Mercury at his back and not knowing which target would be the one he picked -- Tuxedo Kamen spins on his heel and, in the same motion, looses a rose! It's aimed at Jadeite's foot, even as Mercury's throwing out her mist and obscuring where his foot is now, making a go of pinning the blond boy to the tarmac. He can heal it later if it works. That's honestly how he has to work to justify it in his head.

"You looking for your Prince, Jadeite? You know his name's not Hematite, right? It's Endymion!" he cries out into the fog. "Hematite was a lie that Beryl told -- and ironically, one that kept him safe from her clutches as he grew-- if she didn't know he was the Prince she sought, she wouldn't just make him hers!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon shrugs a little when Sailor Mars looks to her - hey, for the longest time she'd called the guy Fire Eyes! She's definitely not expert on him. "He's one of Mamochan's friends, but he's definitely the one who was doing that thing with gravity, at the Shrine, so we've got to be careful. And you're right Mercury-chan, because I really hope he can put the planes down... who knows how many people are in them."

She squeezes Tuxedo Kamen's hand - reaches right out to grab it and squeezes it, even - because he's right that knocking Jadeite out might be easier, but she's also sure he's worried and wishing it wouldn't take violence to make his dumb friends be less dumb.

At least the power of Incredible Violence has never let him down. Can Jadeite say the same?

Mean thought, but considering that Jadeite is just staring them down, except no he's not there's a whole force wave tearing up the ground, coming right at them! Sailor Moon's tenses up in fright because she's never stopped being afraid when scary things happen, but she doesn't freeze - she grabs Sailor Mars, who's nearest to her, and jerks the two of them out of the way.

Which leaves Mercury and Tuxedo Kamen alone.

Which leaves her facing a sword alone.

Usagi has some pretty bad memories about swords right now, and even as bubbling mist spreads around them she screams, "Mercury-chan!!!"

And then she's separating from the group, rushing for Mercury, putting them back to back so there's no easy target for Jadeite to strike at again.

There's no Moon Stick readily available, not at the moment - instead she's got her tiara in hand. No, not the tiara - the glowing discus of energy that the tiara became when she threw it.

She'd tried this, months ago now. Staring up at the towering figure of a frightening man with a black moon on his brow, lightning crashing around them, a wall of unimaginable power and hate standing against them - and her tiara, glowing brighter and brighter as metal transmuted to cosmic energy, love and hope made manifest, light growing bright and brighter as she makes a fist around that bright energy.

It was growing in strength as she held it, crackling with power now, and it almost hurt, but she waited - waited - body at the ready, in a stance she'd been drilled in. Sailor Moon was not a hand to hand combatant and never would be, but Inai-sensei and Hannah-chan had told her it was good to have something in your pocket that no one would expect, and Jadeite, who had felt her Tiara strike hard enough to be lodged in (ew blood, she cringed at the memory), would definitely expect her to throw it.

Her patience paid off. There was the thwip of the rose, flying bright and red and beautiful, the sound of castanets in the air, and she launches herself after it, the words on her lips.

"Moon Tiara Brass Knuckles!"

Rei Hino has posed:
    Before any attempt at pleading or negotiating can be made, the ground starts grinding itself up like a giant invisible wheel is rolling across the tarmac. She is grabbed by Sailor Moon before she can do anything herself, and the two of them manage to get out of the way in time. But Mercury isn't so lucky! It sounds like she got hurt! Mars' temper flares as she watches Sailor Moon use her improvised attack with her tiara, much like the one used against Lightning Guy, but more refined, controlled, and far more powerful.

    "FIRE SOUL!"

    It's also on fire.

    Burning Moon Tiara Brass Knuckles, go!

    She really hopes this ends the fight, like, now. Too many lives hang in the balance. She watched Jadeite die, and she helped kill him. She is still shaken by that, so she's holding back and not using her new attack, but... She can't let her friends or innocent people get hurt or die. Sorry, Mamoru-kun.

Jadeite has posed:
    The rose punctures Jadeite's forceshield as he looks around swiftly after being immersed in the fog. He was just starting to lift off to get a bird's eye view, and maybe just flatten the entire airport from above, but now he's pinned through his foot. As Sailor Moon comes surging at him out of the fog, the building magical energy causing him to furiously try to free himself, more and more urgently, he eventually just uses telekinesis to cut his own foot off and leave it with the rose through it. He's already regenerating a replacement with all the Dark Energy he's full of.

    But not quickly enough.

    The tiara powered by hope, love, and cosmic energy, shrouded in flames that flare out like a bird's wings and a phoenix's tail that trails out behind, slams into the side of his face. A lot of things break, as he is hurled backwards. Unlike at Soryuu Shrine, even though this attack was objectively stronger than the Moon Tiara Action that helped kill him then, he does not crash to the ground several dozen meters away.

    In fact, there is no sound or sight of him hitting anything at all. He teleported during the knockback!

    Jadeite appears outside the fog's radius, since he can't see or sense a damn thing in there, and even sound is distorted. Part of his head seems to be missing, as he tries to cover it up with his left hand. It's been replaced by a black and red mist that keeps solidifying, dispersing, and solidifying, over and over again. The eye on that side is red not just from Metallia's influence, but from the massive damage inflicted that have turned it into a bulging crimson orb that partially protrudes from his face.

    "HE SAID HE WOULDN'T LEAVE ME BEHIND! HE SAID HE WOULDN'T REPLACE ME! HE PROMISED!" Jadeite screams back. "NOW HE'S GONE, AND NEPHRITE'S GONE, AND SOON ZOISITE WILL BE TOO, AND I WILL BE THE ONLY ONE LEFT AGAIN!" He sweeps his right arm outwards, to his side, and a wall of ice spikes appears, growing rapidly as they spread from the ground and into Mercury's mist.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Sailor Mercury doesn't remain in the same place long. Clutching her arm with her good hand to put pressure on the cut she moves, running to the side and backwards while the readouts from her visor give her the general position of everyone currently in the mists she'd created. It might be a weak 'attack' but when you needed to disorient or hide it had it's uses. Besides, she was trying *not* to harm Jadeite.

"He's badly wounded," she remarks over their comms, only to raise her voice a moment later in a simple plea:

"He didn't leave you! He's here to bring you with him! We're here to help you!"

She doubted he would listen. Her voice hardly held any sway, really, so far as she knew. Yet it was worth it to try some logic. Worth it to try pleading as the fog starts to clear away with the breeze that came off the crumpled tarmac. Or... Hopefully that wasn't the breeze created by the turbines of a jumbo jet getting closer.

The readout on her visor blares into life again sending a rapid-fire series of numbers as the spikes are summoned.

Fighting against the pain her arm she throws her arms out toward the source of those spikes with her own ice attack.

"Mercury Aqua Blizzard!"

Snow flurries up seeing to freeze what it touches. Ice fighting ice, but if she's lucky maybe she can lock Jadeite into place so Tuxedo Mask can talk some sense into him.

Even after her attack, though? She calls out, "You don't have to be alone anymore! Ever again!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"No, you ass--" calls Hematite's voice from within the mist, "--I got better! What Mercury just said! You left the battlefield after Usagi saved our lives, you probably didn't see-- come with me! I promised you there'd be a place for you if something good happened to me, remember? And it did! Come WITH me!"

That's Hematite's voice, all right.

"What is this, oh--" there's a crack from inside the ice. "Sailor Mars!...?" It's not a panicked sound or anything, but it is Concerned and uncertain. And then, then, Hematite's voice comes again and it's determined. "Sailor Moon, I'm going for it. Listen, okay?"

Tuxedo Kamen closes his eyes and jumps, aiming himself toward the murky crystalline twisted brightness that is his sense of Jadeite. He doesn't just jump, he's launching himself at Jadeite.

As he rockets out of the mist, he rips his mask off, showing Jadeite Mamoru's face, Hematite's face, Endymion's face -- and he's headed directly for a purposeful midair collision. "Here!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The Burning Moon Tiara Brass Knuckles (also known as Usagi & Rei with the Steel Chair) does damage, alright. More damage than Sailor Moon intended, and the sight of Jadeite, clutching his ruined head as red mist pours from and circulates within the wound, is definitely enough to make her stomach churn.

The screaming isn't helping - anger and grief pouring out of Jadeite, and her heart twists in sympathy. She doesn't like Jadeite - she doesn't know him, and what she's seen has been unfortunate, to put it mildly, but Mamoru counts him as a brother and Naru likes him and she's more than willing to fight for that.

And even then - hers is the heart that was swelled in pity and sorrow for Sunbreaker, who was objectively pretty awful. Jadeite is sick, and hurting. She wants to help him.

But would he listen to a word she said?

"He didn't leave!" Ice creaks and cracks as it spreads out and up, seeking to encase Jadeite, and then Tuxedo Kamen is throwing himself up and out at Jadeite, and they're both making much more compelling arguments, and she -

"Jadeite! I am the pretty-suited sailor soldier who fights for love and justice! If anyone knows the endless love in Mamoru's heart, it's me! But don't you worry - you'll trust that love too, after this!"

The Moon Stick is in her hand, sweeping up, out, carving the circle of golden light in the air.

Moon Healing Escalation!"

Rei Hino has posed:
    Mars looks up, alarmed, as she is called out to. Now what? But then there are ICE SPIKES and it is up to Mercury to stop them. Mars could try to melt them, but that's... A LOT of ice. Her friends are getting hurt. People are being put in danger. Jadeite himself is obviously falling apart. Memories of a different time, a different Jadeite, a different Younger Sailor Mars who had not yet taken over fully from her Elder, who was the time to get swept up in romance while guarding the Moon Princess, to fall for the scholar who she could discuss her planet's history and philosophies and culture with. The time spent with just the two of them at a library, arguing, debating, learning, growing closer, and... And well...! Other things!

    That person, and that Mars, are as far removed from Rei Hino and this attack dog for Metallia as one can get. What Beryl has done to him, what she did to all of them by ending Silver Millennium in bloodshed and suffering that still hasn't stopped echoing down the aeons after fourteen-thousand years... That combination of sorrow that isn't hers, and the anger that absolutely is, and the burning need to correct what is wrong before her eyes, leads to her pulling out an ofuda, and chanting, as Tuxedo Mask pins Jadeite down.

    Her violet eyes widen as Tuxedo Mask confesses to being Hematite and Mamoru and Endymion. An old sorrow tugs at her heart for some reason, and embarrassment for even looking at Usagi's boyfriend that way even unknowingly, and she gathers all of that up, and throws it into the furnace as well.

    It's not the Burning Mandala she lets loose with. But it's still a powerful attack.

    She throws the ofuda, then clasps her hands together. The form that her Fire Soul took when it was on Sailor Moon's tiara... That image. That burning legendary being. Much like the two crows, the Two Lovers, who could not be together and so were cast into the sky so eternally circle each other. So much of the Mars of before is coming out in these moments. Feelings she never experienced at any point during her encounters with Jadeite in the past, where he was simply the subject of many nightmares for the terror he had inflicted on her and her friends.

    All of it.

    All of it is added as fuel.

    The words come to her without her willing them to, like they were always there. "FIRE SOUL BIRD!" A Fire Soul launches from her fingertips, engulfs the ofuda mid-flight, and transforms into a firey phoenix-like construct that flies towards and through the ice spikes.

    With Mercury's ice attack aiming to hold Jadeite fast, and this upgraded Fire Soul clearing the way to do so, that's one less barrier to stopping this unfortunate soul. And saving everyone, she hopes.

Jadeite has posed:
    Jadeite is half-blind, but columns of crushing force begin to circulate around him, tearing and grinding the ground into a ring of destruction that sucks up concrete and rebar, as the jet's turbines power up and it begins reaching the speeds needed to take off, while headed straight for where he believes his enemies are. Somehow, instinctively, even with this fearsome defense in place, he slows the grinding columns just enough for Tuxedo Mask to make it through a gap. Not that the masked man needed the help. But Jadeite... Hesitated to attack.

    That voice... He is pinned to the ground, his telekinetic crushing columns ceasing their pulverizing of the thoroughly-destroyed ground. Tuxedo Mask is holding Jadeite down. Ice is flowing out to engulf his limbs and hold him in place. Does he trust Hematite? Does he trust Mamoru? Does he trust Endymion?

    As the Moon Healing Escalation is performed, there is nothing between Tuxedo Mask and Jadeite that is familiar. There's just Metallia. There. Inside of him. The Demon herself looking out through his eyes, and her voice reverberating with his own when he speaks, in a hissing demonic tongue that cuts in and out of anything understandable.

    But this much is clear.

    "SURRENDER THE SILVER CRYSTAL AND I MAY KILL YOU WITHOUT TOO MUCH SUFFERING!" Evil, inhuman, ancient, the specter that has haunted them all for far too long.

    And a tiny spark of jade light that is flickering in its defiance, but slowly fading towards going out completely.

    The Escalation hits Jadeite where he lies, as floods of Dark Energy turn muscles into masses of reinforced youma flash, trying to claim this host before it's too la--

    Metallia screams.

    Jadeite screams.

    Metallia screams in rage, every word a death curse if only she could manifest properly.

    Jadeite screams in pain as that tiny jade light is forced to grow and brighten in the darkness after being alone for far too long. Even when he was together with his brothers, with his Prince, Jadeite has felt alone. Needlessly, yes. Irrationally, very much so.

    But he still put himself in a box with spikes aimed both inwards and out. Wanting to be with others, but afraid of hurting them. Wanting others to be with him, but afraid of being hurt. The Hedgehog's Dilemma, it's called.

    Why does he remember that right now, as his entire being is torn and stretched and flushed of the evil that has infested it, and remade.

    Maybe he'll just take this as his cue to leave the stage.

    This is enough.

    He doesn't need any more.

    This is enough.

    Planes start falling from the sky, and the passenger jet moving far too fast to stop on its own even with no more telekinetic manipulation, aimed towards everyone... And Jadeite, frozen to the ground, and unconscious.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Sailor Mercury lowers her arm as she sags where she stands allowing herself a moment to catch her breath. Just a few moments, clutching at the sore and aching arm that still bled. It had slowed thanks to the pressure she'd put on it but a good portion of her arm was garrishly crimson in contrast to the white and blue of her attire. The purification had begun. She could feel that shift in energies in the air as it does.

But with it is the complete frenzy of data streaming across her visor. Trajectories. Coordinates. Time until impact.

"No!" A shudder ripples through her as she falls to her knees right there ignoring any of the torn tarmac that might dig into her calves as she does so. A dismissive wave sends the rest of her mist completely away so that she can see properly. So they *all* can see.

It was quite the sight. Prince Endymion there with the gravely injured Jadeite. Princess Serenity as well.

Though part of her wants to watch, she pulls her small computer out to begin typing on it frantically attempting to get the planes back on course. If she could just get their autopilots to level out, then ensure none were in the same flight path... All around her is forgotten as she focuses on this task so the others can do what they need to do uninterrupted.

Of course, there plane that was cruising along on the ground was the least important thing in her mind currently.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The Escalation was powerful, but not as powerful as the one that Usagi wielded on Nephrite, and when that voice begins to screech it's threats - when that demon speaks through Jadeite -

The Silver Crystal glows. Without realizing, Sailor Moon becomes the Moon Princess, the glow washing up from her Silver Crystal through her body in that still-new henshin. Old memory surges to the forefront, memories of grief and memories of hope, and she tightens her grip on the Moon Stick, the force of the power let loose enough to blow back hair and skirts alike.

"You cannot have him! Jadeite is Endymion's guardian, not your play thing!"

Her voice is different, as Serenity - her cadence more crisp, less formal, Usagi's casual enthusiasm pressed down to give room for Serenity's eloquent upbringing. There is Jadeite, speaking Metallia's tongue. There are the planes which fall, and Mercury frantically working to set things to rights and Serenity -

"Moon Power!"

Serenity channels the Silver Crystal's power in its most base form, pushing out a wave of sparkling, purifying energy. It won't catch the planes - she does not have telekinesis - but it will throw them higher, give Mercury time to hack into their systems, to engage autopilot. The plane rushing towards them veers off, slowing as the wave of purifying energy collides with it. It may still crash, but hopefully, without the level of speed or force it flew with earlier.

And Jadeite? Jadeite will feel that force scour through his body, cleansing every scrap of corruption from him, every hint of Metallia's plague, uprooting every stray trace and evaporating it into nothing.

It hurts. It hurts. It's a good thing he's unconscious, his Prince keep him alive.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Abruptly it's not Tuxedo Kamen holding Jadeite down-- with a change similar to the one 'Darien' would use to turn into Hematite, a thin gold sparking line like self-lighting charcoal sweeps over the overdressed youth, leaving behind Prince Endymion, with his bare hands and the familiar lines of trim on his breastplate, pauldrons keeping back his cape. He's got one hand pinning Jadeite to the tarmac by the shoulder, and the other is on the ruined half of Jadeite's face.

It's not often that Mamoru Chiba prays, but when he does, it's to every applicable kami he can think of, and right now he's asking that Serenity's setting things to rights helps him to set bone. It's horrifying, but there's no horror in Endymion's heart right now, only the welling determination of brilliant gold, coming from the ground beneath the two of them as the Prince's fingertips pull the power from his planet. Protector of Earth...

...Crown Prince of Earth, born and raised to vast responsibility and careful power, but still so young, believing every moment could last forever. Every moment with his guardians, his knights, his friends -- he never thought they could betray him. For all he was an empath, he couldn't feel the growing darkness spreading among them, widening fissures and exaggerating unhappinesses and sorrows. He didn't understand why they argued, why they fell for Beryl's lies, and he had thought it was a failing of his--

"Jadeite, my friend, I love you, stay with me," murmurs Endymion, holding on tightly, pouring in power and healing, using the senses that go with it to fill in gaps whenever they're ripped open, whereever they are; he floods him, chasing the silvery light of the Moon with the golden light of the boy guarded by the Sun; he grounds him, firmly and determinedly hanging on to that shining green light, that beautiful color he can strengthen even as he heals that light's body--

He trusts Serenity absolutely. She and her Senshi will keep them from harm.

Rei Hino has posed:
    Mars is set to... Burn the tires of the oncoming jet so that they explode, thus causing it to change direction? Or something? It's moving at close to takeoff velocity. That's hundreds of kph at least, right??? Thankfully, she doesn't have to, as Princess Serenity makes an appearance, buying them time, and putting wrong things to rights.

    So she just kneels with Mercury, and tries to help put pressure on her wound while Ami in turn triesto get control of the planes that are falling. Her hair is blowing in her face, so she uses one hand to hold it aside so that she can see what's going on. She doesn't have a free hand for her skirt though, thanks, Princess.

    "You can do it, everyone! We have to! There's no other option!" Not like back then. Not like Silver Millennium when they failed. This is their second chance. They CAN'T fail here. Whatever Mars can do, she'll do. Because there's no guarantee there will be anything left to protect if they even get a third chance.

Jadeite has posed:
    Have you ever seen something so run through with mold and disease that it just... Crumbles? Falls apart when pressure is placed on it? Bio-mass, something that was once something out, rendered unrecognizable, a symbol of entropy and the decay that will eventually claim all things.

    Like a block of cheese, aged far beyond any usability. Just rot and nothing more.

    That's Jadeite's body as Prince Endymion heals him, and Princess Serenity purifies him. There's almost not enough human left in him to heal.

    Almost.

    His body falls apart in Endymion's grasp, beneath his weight, as even the touching of healing brings destruction.

    With Metallia gone, and the Dark Energy as well, the planes all across the city get back under control. Their pilots come back to awareness and begin frantically beginning emergency landing maneuvers. The ones without pilots, or pilots who can't get things levelled out in time get auto-pilot courtesy of a Silver Millennium super computer.

    Sailor Mars watches from afar as a Jadeite who is not the one she knew, just as she is not the Sailor Mars that Jadeite knew, crumbles to dust and bio-matter, like...

    Like he's made of dirt. Or clay.

    A crystal blazes to life on the remains of Jadeite's forehead. Green light radiating outwards, and a spatial anomaly collapsing in on itself. Jadeite's body starts to appear beneath Endymion. The healing begins pouring into the ravaged form that was left behind after he shifted all of his corruption into a youma, leaving his body mangled and unable to act. His final gambit, a desperate last scheme to catch out his enemies. Nonsensical. Insane.

    It failed, thankfully for him and everyone.

    And now the Jadeite who was truly there, that tiny green spark, has spread out through limbs that heal their missing flesh, their sacrificed limbs, their shattered bones. His head is the one slowest and most difficult to heal, because of the corruption that was woven throughout it, digging into his brain to manipulate him manually if the need arose -- which, at the very end, it did.

    But he heals. He is restored. Humanity returns to him.

    He just had to be destroyed first to be saved.

    Jadeite's eyes open eventually, half-way, staring back into Endymion's eyes. "...You said you wouldn't give her the Silver Crystal."

    That's what he has to say after everything. A sleepily stated accusation about a not-quite-lie told when they were both controlled by darkness, and Jadeite was infested with evil, and he doesn't even sound upset by it.

    It's convoluted, passive-aggressive, and indirect, when what he really wants to say is, 'My mind is clear now.'

    It's so characteristically Jadeite, that it's almost but not quite worth crying over.

    Jadeite cries anyway, silently, letting the tears run from his green eyes, that are sometimes blue in the right lighting, but will never again be red.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ping. Ping, Ping.

The all clear starts to register on that little Silver Millenia computer of Sailor Mercury's as things begin to right themselves. The pilots take over, or the autopilot where needed, but it was all starting to fall into place smoothly.

Her shoulders slump as her weight shifts toward Sailor Mars with her head dropping forward in utter, absolute relief. "Thank you, Mars," comes quietly from her as she focuses on regaining her composure. She still ached. Still hurt. No one was dying though and she knew she would be fine as well.

"That took a lot of work. I wasn't sure..." Her head lifts to gaze up at the red and white blinking lights on the wings of those too-dark shadows of planes against the nighttime sky.

"It's safe now. We're safe now." That was perhaps obvious though by now.

Her hand lifts to rest aginst Mars' giving her friend a thankful squeeze at her care and concern while she had been busy. Her gaze sweeps over toward Princess Serenity to regard her with a soft smile. They had done well.

"How is he? We should... is he safe to take to the Gates yet? He should rest with all he's been through."

Lower her voice goes to murmer to Mars, "Are *you* okay? I know this isn't the Jadeite you knew before, but..." The memories had been teasing at her too as of late. The flashes of deja vu that were more than that.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"He can't give me what belongs to me," Princess Serenity says with a little huff, coming over to kneel at Endymion's side, her hand on his shoulder, her strength offered freely to him. She looks down at Jadeite, into his face, at his tears.

It's not that her heart isn't moved.

It's that she remembers the end - and she is very aware that every one of Endymion's corrupted guardians has been taken back by force. Their tears may be remorseful now, but it wasn't by their choices that Nephrite and now Jadeite were freed.

"Rest. We're taking you to reunite with Nephrite and Kunzite." She then raises her voice, for Mercury and Mars to hear. "He's healed. The combination of our power has flushed him clean and repaired the damage - the best thing we can do is hurry him back now."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Singleminded with a furiously determined ferocious will, what Endymion rebuilds with Serenity's help is truly Jadeite; his body may have been-- not worth the pain of contemplating overmuch, but there will be nightmares. Some people have anxiety nightmares about their teeth crumbling, Mamoru will have nightmares about his guardians crumbling. But that was his body. He knows the boy who finally awakens is Jadeite because that light never went out.

And because the first thing he does when he awakens is tease Endymion.

He's so taken aback by it that he's already sniffle-laughing when Serenity comes over and defends his honor.

Endymion leans his head briefly against Serenity's hand on his shoulder, smiling through his own tears-- like a tiny unconventional hug-- and then borrows that strength to gather himself enough to get off of Jadeite and sit on the ground itself for a moment. "You missed it, but when I almost died at the shrine, she cried and it manifested. Like she says-- it was hers already, she had it without knowing it."

He calls back to Ami, "Neph didn't think so either, but I knew it would. And-- we need to get off the tarmac before going to the Gates or the next time we come out it'll be right here," he finishes with a thick-sounding laugh.

It's going to be a few minutes on the ground before Endymion has enough energy to pick himself up, nevermind picking Jadeite up, to get going -- but they do have a few minutes before the next plane needs the runway. And then ready or not, it's off the tarmac and onwards to asking for the Path of Light.