Cycle of Our Souls: Heart's Fire
Part VII
M is for Mars

"There are two of us,
There are two of us --
It's the cycle of our souls.
Yet we try and change and rearrange the story goes.
That's the way the story goes."
-from "Cycle of Our Souls" by Shawn Mulllins

Next afternoon the girls were all sitting around Lita's apartment -- well, except for Raye, who was pacing back and forth like a caged lion -- waiting for Jay Dalinger to arrive. "We should just destroy him. Jadeite can't be trusted, as he proved back in the Silver Millennium," the miko said for the umpteenth time.
"Raye, will you just relax?" Serena gently told her friend. "Everyone deserves a second chance, and besides that, we don't know what Beryl did to them back then. Torture can be very persuasive, you know."
"Or she could have used brainwashing," Amy added. "That's what she did to Darien, remember."
"I don't see why we're all so worried about this," Lita said casually. "If he tries anything, we outnumber him five to one. He'll be toast before he can say 'Kami-sama'."
Mina frowned. "Well I hope we don't have to destroy anyone today. I like Jay."
"You didn't know Jadeite," Raye pointed out mildly just as the doorbell rang.
Lita ran to the door and threw it open. "Jay, hi! I'm so glad you could make it. Come on in!"
Jay smiled wanly at Lita's enthusiastic greeting and allowed himself to be led into her apartment. What was all this about, anyway? Raye had made herself perfectly clear yesterday: for whatever strange reason, the sight of the ring had infuriated her and she wanted nothing more to do with him. It seemed strange that Lita -- the thought stopped midway through and Jay gaped at the sight before him. He vaguely noticed the other girls, each greeting him warmly, before his gaze settled on one, one who would not meet his eyes. "Lita, what is this? I thought you invited me over here for lunch."
Amy had her handheld computer out and was rapidly scanning him. "It's negative, minna," she said.
"Negative for what?"
"Why don't you sit down, Jay," the brunette invited, gesturing to the couch.
"Not until someone tells me what's going on here. I feel like I'm being ambushed," he said, his voice rising in anger.
"Relax, Jay," Serena said brightly, "we aren't ambushing you, we just want to ask you a few questions."
"Questions? About what?" He was beginning to feel like an idiot, parroting everything they said like this.
All five girls shared a glance, and Mina looked back at him with a grin. "Are you Jadeite?" she demanded cheerfully.
"Am I jadeite? What kind of question is that? How could I be a rock?"
"Jadeite isn't a rock," Raye said quietly, "he's a person... a very evil person. Amy just did a scan on you, and it seems there isn't any Nega-energy remaining in your system, but that doesn't mean you aren't..." she trailed off and looked away quickly.
He frowned in confusion and sat down hard on the couch. "Raye, what are you talking about? 'Jadeite'... that's what you said when you saw the ring. Do you think I'm this Jadeite person? Don't you trust me?"
She shook her head. "It isn't that, Jay... it's just..."
"Jadeite gave her a ring just like that one a long time ago," Serena supplied helpfully.
"NANI?!? I thought you said this guy was evil! What were you doing..." Jay trailed off as though suddenly realizing something. "You were involved with him? Are you still in love with him, Raye? Is that what this is all about?"
"Nai! You don't understand! Jadeite is my enemy... but he wasn't always." Raye took a deep breath and shook her head. "It's no good, guys," she said to her friends, "why should he believe me?"
"He'll believe you because it's true, Raye," Serena said gently.
Rising from her chair, Raye crossed the room and knelt in front of Jay, resting her hands on his knees. "I'm going to tell you something impossible to believe, Jay, but you have to know it's the truth. There are things about us, and about yourself, that you don't even realize, and I didn't until you gave me that ring." She pulled it out of her pocket. "When I saw this, I was reminded of something that happened between you and I a long, long time ago."
"But Raye, we just met a few weeks ago!" he cried, completely confused.
"Iie, we've known each other much longer than that. A thousand years ago a grand kingdom flourished on our moon, Jay, and Serena was the princess of that kingdom. I was a princess of Mars, Lita of Jupiter, Mina of Venus and Amy of Mercury. You, my dear, were a prince of Earth and a protector of the High Prince, Endymion. You, your comrades and Endy -- Darien -- traveled to the Moon to meet with Queen Serenity in the hopes of forming a peaceful understanding between the long-estranged kingdoms.
"That is when we met, for I was a protector of Princess Serena. You were known then as 'Jadeite', and I loved you as truly then as I do now. I was, and still am, Sailor Mars. My friends," she said with a gesture to the other girls, "and I are the Sailor Scouts."
"But... how...?" he stammered, wondering how she could know... I dreamt of this, he thought, but that's all they were, right? Just dreams...?
"That isn't all. An evil woman named Beryl somehow gained control of you and your fellow generals -- Zoisite, Nephrite and Malachite - -and you came to the Moon to destroy us all. Beryl almost succeeded, but with her last strength, Queen Serenity sent us all one thousand years into the future. Here, Luna and Artemis found us Scouts and have trained us to fight the evil of the Negaverse... and you were part of that evil. Concentrate, Jay: do you remember Sailor Moon, Mars and Mercury? Do you remember the battle at the airport? You almost killed Tuxedo Mask..." She shook her head sadly. "Or maybe you remember the Moon Kingdom. It was so beautiful and peaceful there... on the balcony beneath a full Earth you gave me this ring, and I promised never to forget you. Do you remember?"
He shook his head. "Raye, I... I don't even believe in Sailor Moon... how can this be true?"
She bit her lower lip. "Do you remember how I told you there were some things about me I couldn't tell you? Some secrets that weren't mine alone? This is what I meant."
"We can show you if you'd like," Mina offered, holding out her transformation stick. "It really is quite pretty," she assured him.
"I know it's a lot to absorb, Jay, but it gets easier with time," Luna said kindly.
His already saucer-like eyes widened even further. "Raye... did Serena's cat just talk to me?"
"She sure did," Artemis said. Raye knew that if cats could smile, he would be grinning from ear to pointy ear.
"You aren't crazy, Jay, and neither are we," the miko said, trying to give him some comfort. "I'm sorry about the way I reacted over the ring, but I..."
"You thought I was your enemy," he said hollowly.
She nodded quickly. "I know you can't possibly believe me-"
"I believe you, Raye," he interrupted.
She sat back, surprised. "You do? Then you remember?"
"I've been having dreams lately, strange dreams about a beautiful, silvery world... you were there, Raye, and I loved you in my dream as much as I do in real life. They were always wonderful... until last night. Last night's was a nightmare, something more horrible than I knew I was capable of imaging." He shuddered.
"Tell me," she whispered.
Frowning, he ran a hand through his wavy blond hair. "There was a woman..." he began hesitantly, "with the strangest hair... red, and it stood straight up. Her skin was green and she had fangs. Her hands were like... they were like claws."
"Beryl," Serena said darkly.
"She told us we had to swear allegiance to her," Jay continued as though Serena hadn't spoken. "We refused, of course, and so... and so she... it was Hell, Raye, pure Hell, and that's what she meant it to be. We tried to resist, tried and tried... but she was too strong, and the visions were too horrible. We failed, Raye... I failed. I failed you and my prince and his princess... Gods, Raye, I killed you!" And suddenly he was no longer Jay Dalinger, but Jadeite of Earth, and she was no longer Raye Hino, but Princess Rei of Mars.
"It's ok, Jadeite," she whispered, "I know it wasn't really you. I know, my love, I know. You didn't fail me," she repeated again and again.
The others watched, heartsick, as she tried to comfort him. "It was not you fault, Jadeite," Serena said gently, her voice sounding more like Princess Serenity than Serena Tsukino. "We don't blame you, and we don't blame the others. Queen Metallia was the evil, and Beryl her henchman. They're both gone now."
"Are they?" Mina, her voice unusually bleak, asked. "Are they really gone, or is this just the beginning?"
"We're stronger than we were then," Lita said defiantly. "Beryl was a walk in the park compared to the Dark Moon family."
Serena shuddered and she was suddenly herself again. "And you didn't even have personal contact with Prince Diamond. He was way gross."
"And Beryl was Betty Crocker?" Lita demanded.
"I don't think we'll have to worry about Beryl anymore," Raye said softly. "She's dead."
"So were we," Amy pointed out.
"More than once," Luna agreed.
"And so was Jadeite," Mina said with a frown.
"Iie, Beryl didn't kill me," Jay spoke up. "She... well she froze me in a block of ice. It was worse than death, really, because I could still see and hear everything that happened. I was her personal museum relic."
Raye shuddered. "That's horrible," she whispered. "I wish that was one memory you hadn't recovered."
He smiled wanly. "No, firefly, memories like that, though terrible, are good for you. They make you strong and smart and quick. It's not something that I'll let happen to me again, I assure you."
Serena frowned and chewed on the end of a ponytail before saying, "So is that what she did to Zoisite? I killed Malachite, and Nephrite died in Molly's arms, but what about Zoisite?"
Jay shook his head slowly. "Beryl was displeased with Zoisite because he harmed Tuxedo Mask against her orders. She set him on fire."
"Itai," Lita muttered ruefully.
"Indeed," he agreed dryly, "but that was Beryl."
There was a long, sad silence before Lita said, "So what now?"
"Now we wait," Amy told her. "Just because we saw the others die doesn't mean they won't be making an encore appearance as well."
"And it seems to me," Raye said slowly, "that this is happening for a reason, as though we're being prepared for something."
"I agree," Luna said. "We should all be especially watchful in the weeks to come. Things have been far too quiet recently."
"This is quiet? People coming back from the dead?" Jay asked.
"Well considering we've come back from the dead twice, this is practically nothing," Mina told him with a giggle.
"You consider being born 'coming back from the dead'?" Lita asked warily.
"It was in a way," Artemis said, "since you'd all lived before."
Raye rolled her eyes. "I think we're gonna go, minna," she told her friends.
"You aren't staying for lunch?" Lita asked, jumping up from her place on the floor.
The miko glanced at Jay and a smile touched the corners of his mouth. "Nai, Lita," she said, "I think Jay and I have a lot to talk about." Hand in hand, the two walked out of the apartment, leaving the others to share nods and knowing smiles.
And a sigh. From Mina, of course: "They're just so kawaii, don't you think?"
End VII

So that's it for the Raye/Jadeite section. Please tell me what you think!
Thanks to all who have written me with positive feedback and Joe for being my ever-willing reader.