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Oh s**t. Oh goddamn it, <********> Sue was really starting to feel it now. That was, what... four henshin pens down? A third of the way there, minus Scorpio. How was he going to feel after two more? Was there going to be anything left of him by the time he got through the whole lot?

Had to keep moving. He wasn't that bad off, after all. Nothing near as bad as he was going to be, probably. Still, he wished there was some way he didn't have to tromp around all over the ******** schoolyard. It would be so ******** nice if he could just....

Stripers, who had been running a bit ahead of the group, came tearing back with an unhappy report.

"Oh, s**t." In fact, Sue upgraded it: "Oh goddamn it, <********>. Two greenies, and one's in pieces." The cat interjected with a displeased yowl. Sue's fingers twitched. "... And Snuzzles."

And if Snuzzles was there, then that meant....

Oh God, God if you exist, please - don't let Andeon be a member of the Zodiac Guard. Please don't let Andeon be a member of the Zodiac Guard....

"Can you put them back together?" Sue was walking a little more quickly now, spurred on by the dread dawning in the back of his head. He wondered whether he was allowed to refuse to make a pen for someone, if it should turn out to be Andeon. But no - c'mon, there were two of them there, right? It had to be the other. Had to be....

Foramen followed along again, pissed off after the last fixed-zombie trying to make Queen Serenity. So noticing the people at their new destination didn't help his mood any.

On one hand, he now knew what had happened to Andeon and MacKenzie's ill-fated Tallahassee expedition. On the other hand...

"Seriously. Seriously?! ARE YOU ******** KIDDING ME?!" Foramen completely forgot about (or ignored) the presence of the Queen. Suddenly everything today was just too much and it was all coming out right now. "ANDEON? Andeon better ******** not be a senshi. It's ANDEON! And he's a ******** HEAD!"

A zombie head, even. But zombie status paled next to the fact that Andeon's head and body were clearly separated from one another. Foramen had just got through yelling at Ignacio for asking Queen Serenity to resurrect people. What was Serenity supposed to do with dismembered corpses?

"WORST. TEAM. EVER!" Foramen shouted.

No, it really, really didn't. Mack continued to stare at the multi-legged creature, disapproving and distrusting, but otherwise quiet. She didn't resist batting at it, however, chasing the little creature around with her hands and ultimately making a nuisance of herself, a little mini war going on in her mind. When it crawled off, Micky gave a surprisingly satisfied look, and sulked a little when he returned, making a face when it shoved Andeon's glasses back over the bridge of his nose.

"Ok, well that was kind of cute. But I still think it's laid it's eggs in your mouth or your body or something."

The people kind of snuck up on them. Mack fervently blamed this on the fact that she was keeping on eye on face-f/hugger, who she decidedly did not like (probably based highly on jealousy, but she would never admit to that.) For once, however, the zombie-girl did not jump up, merely lifting her head in a mildly startled motion, glancing between the three curiously. All alive, it seemed. No matter, they'd probably run in terror in a few seconds anyway, all 'Ahhh, look at the scary zombie.' The glimpse of purple hair, however, and she gave the team a second look, blinking slowly.

"Sue?"

She didn't recognize the others, but she certainly remembered Sue. How could she forget? He had thrown a brick at her. Little did she know the brainsquisher was there too.

"Team Columbus is looking a little small, now a days..."

It was the body of Sailor Chronos -- Queen Serenity, though Mackie couldn't be blamed for having no idea -- who walked up to her, sitting herself down in front of the girl and Snuzzles. She picked up Snuzzles, who waggled all of its little legs at her. "Are you going to be good?" she asked it. "You are? I understand."

Then she put Snuzzles down again, where it ran around to Andeon's head -- and Queen Serenity reached out to Mackie's shoulder. Sue and Sailor Foramen had seen her do this many times, tirelessly, but it was always a bit of a shock to watch. Mackenzie lit up like a white, bright flame, burning away the green, the death, the curse. The zombie. The part of her that was too much down the youma evolution trail -- all of this Queen Serenity took away, and then she laid her hand down.

"They're Gemini," she said, and this was more to Sue. "They will rise to the occasion, as the Zodiac Guard always have."

“In my defense,” Andeon began, “This zombie looked just like your mom, dude. Just like her. She even had a matching hairlip.”

Andeon was grinning like an idiot.. but when wasn't he?

The goings on around him made no sense. Even acquainted as he was with the existence of the mystical magical princess warriors, he still hadn't the slightest clue as to what the hell was going on. Fortunately, he didn't particularly care. His gaze turned on Serenade, or the woman he thought was Serenade.

“He's always good,” Andeon snapped, a bit defensively. People were always so judgmental of his Little Buddy. See one harmless little monster and all of the sudden its 'Oh God, Oh God it's going to eat me' left and right. Snuzzles was clicking happily, hopping up to his preferred perch atop Andeon's head, quite please with the Queen's approval. The little youma busied himself by fussing with the braids that Serenade had sorted his hair into, prodding at them with sharp little legs in an attempt to undo them. His Andeon did not wear braids. Snuzzles clicked his disapproval, fussily picking them loose.

Then, as Serenity laid her hand upon Mackenzie, it was as though a switch had been flicked. The sarcasm and lightness of the situation melted away, replaced by a dire need to protect the girl he had failed to protect before.

“Hey, what are you- No! Mackenzie!” Andeon's shout was abrupt, filled with the kind of emotion that Sue and Kirin likely did not know he was capable of expressing for another human being. Of course, Mackenzie was not just another human being. Mackenzie was important to Andeon in a way that nobody else could begin to understand. He had been close to her for such a brief period of time, and yet the very notion of losing her was more painful that any memory he could dredge up. He needed her, and not in the way he had so often professed to needing women. It was inexplicable, illogical, but he needed Mackenzie they way other people needed water.

As she began to glow brightly, Andeon feared the worst.

It was only when that glow subsided, when he saw Mackenzie standing there whole and healthy and healed, that his worry subsided. It was replaced with a feeling that words could not adequately name. It was beyond relief, beyond joy. The closest word to describe what was reflected in those bright green eyes was love. This was a part of Andeon that most would never see, the part that was reserved solely for the girl he remembered so fondly, standing before him now as lovely as he remembered her. She was more beautiful to him at that moment than any Princess or Queen could have been; even Serenity, in the body of Chronos, paled in comparison.

“Beautiful as ever,” he said softly, staring up at Mackenzie. Though he was sure that neither Sue nor the red-headed woman would let him forget it, there were tears in Andeon's eyes as he took her in. She was healed. Really, truly healed. The strong, beautiful young woman he remembered had been returned to him.

He could not have wished for more.

Hey, he couldn't blame her for wanting to know where his p***s was. It was a hot commodity, and Andeon could fully understand the fear that it might vanish forever. Don't worry, Serenity, there's enough of Andeon's p***s to go around.

Not for you, Kirin. You stay away.

As Andeon gazed up at the woman who was most certainly not Serenade, he felt a sense of awe that had nothing to do with mystical forces and everything to do with the way this woman carried herself. There was no magical inner nagging demanding that he respect her, but he did so anyways. There was no temptation to make a lewd comment about how he could totally imagine her naked, nor any desire to waggle his brows and tell her that if she finds his body first she gets to keep it. There was only a silent, still sense of respect, followed by the knowledge that this woman was above such things.

“It's there,” he glanced sideways, to where his body lay. It was as green as his face, and still covered with the blood and gore of the moments that had followed his death. “There w- wait. Wait where the ******** is my hand?!” Andeon glared at the bloody stump at the end of his wrist, where it appeared his left hand had been gnawed off. “Sue, did your ******** cats eat my hand? I swear on the name of the Baby Buddha I will make a muff out of each and every one of them."

Apparently the moment of awe had passed.

She really had no idea what was going on. Then again, she rarely knew what was going on anymore. With everything that had happened with BP, and lord knew that poor Barren Pines had been through hell, she was definitely with Andeon on the fact that nothing could surprise her anymore. Sue seemed preoccupied, looking extremely serious and ... well, generally very Sue-like, from what she had gathered. It was actually pretty amusing, to see the expressions flicker across his face, first relief (although she could have punched him for it) and then what seemed to be a mild sense of horror.

'They're Gemini.'

Well yes. As a matter of fact, she was a gemini. How very kind of Sue to know this? Ultimately, Sue was proving very quickly that he needed a nap, and perhaps some crazy meds.

Chronos... Queen Serenity... stopped that thought entirely. In fact, most thought process stopped as the green-haired girl bent down to sit before her, Mack's eyes swelling to the size of saucers. She didn't know why, or what it was, but there was something about her. And Mackenzie was speechless. She barely heard the voice talking to the facehugger, more than a little dazed. She felt the need to bow or something, but why? Now that was a great mystery. But if there was one thing that this whole thing had taught her, it was to not always ask why. Just... go with what felt right.

Micky's head was dipped, low and respectful, when the hand touched her shoulder, and the white flame began to lap at her skin, returning her to something similar to what she was before. But if there was any physical pain, she didn't feel it. Instead, what ached inside her was her humanity, the reversal of the dispassionate attitude that had festered along with her body. It burned more harshly than any physical pain ever could.

When Micky looked up, her skin wasn't green anymore, clear green eyes welled with tears.

"You... stupid..."

'Don't cry for me, stupid, don't...'

Despite being healed, it was a nightmare, worse than anything she could come up with herself. Before her 'first death' at Elle's hand, she had felt the rampant guilt of killing the closest person to her, and now that she had been restored if not completely, then nearly so, she was in very serious danger of losing it. This couldn't happen. This wasn't fair. She would not let this girl, this woman, whoever she was whatever she was go without saving him. She could not just... just waltz in and wave her hand and suddenly she was saved but not him. Micky was sure it didn't matter to her, but she had come to really love him. Tragedy and challenge brought people together, but this was ridiculous. She had never been a romantic, she had always been a diplomat, a logical thinking, the voice of reason who had a drinking streak longer than most and loose morals when it came to love. She never believed in silly things like that, even with Elle, who had been her lover and best friend. Andeon, in the course of god knew how many days, had somehow managed to become more than a friend or a lover. More than a confident or a rival.

If she had to get onto her knees and beg, bargain...

But it seemed there was no need for her to beg. Because the queen looked at Andeon and Mackenzie held a breath she actually needed now, not even daring to think it, let alone hope or pray.