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Castor didn't have time.

There was no time left.

The captain was in his way.

In failing to hit the captain, Castor changed direction. Something dug deep into his side, he could feel a dull throb. Later, he'd notice, feel the painful burn and the sting of Wolfy's attack. But now dark blue eyes were locked onto the source of so much suffering, the source off all the scars on his heart. Castor felt the weight of the ice thick on his fist. One shot. One chance.

He wasn't going to let it slip by.

He honestly never cared for cake, probably never would again, too much frosting too much sweet, it was clogging and cloying and he'd squashed as much of it as he'd eaten...
and then something cracked against his teeth when he bit down, sudden and painful and at the same time -powerful.
His heart, he could have sworn skipped a beat in his chest and he had to keep himself from swallowing it right then and there.
He had it...he HAD it...
He glanced first towards the Queen, shoveling another handful of cake as cover as though he were still searching, no...no she was over run, not that he doubted she could handle it...
She was the QUEEN after all, and he had something that could not be risked.

There was no time to tell anyone, he had to go...
He closed his eyes and concentrated... teleporting to the Negaverse 'subspace' where he collapsed exhausted, spitting out his precious cargo into a shaking hand.

Azzo got out of the smoke when it appeared. Something happened everything seemed to slow down. What the hell was going on?

His eye twitched as he watched everyone. Where did that crystal go? He frowned softly, looking around confused, had anyone on the senshi side got it?

Sailor Neso did not notice the crystal disappear. He was busy.

When the youma ran past him toward him, the senshi of summer spun to chase it down, to save Chronos. Captain Serandite took him by complete surprise, knocking his legs out from under him so swiftly that he skid several feet forward across the ice. His gangly legs kicked out, trying to flail at the girl who had knocked him down.

Kick kick kick kick kick. Just like that.





Two youma tackled Taranis to the ground. He struggled to fight them off, dusting one with a shard of coffin and tossing the other one away. There was no time for him to see what Castor was doing, or where the crystal had gone.





Sailor Ares felt the crystal disappear as if a hole had been punched through her chest. She watched the empire that she saw swell before her eyes crumble. She imagined Nehelenia's voice telling she was disappointed, that now the parallels would never return to their rightful place.

Defeated, crushed, and crumbling, Ares screamed, loud and deep, and then slammed a fist into the nearest youma, dusting it on the spot.

In a glance, Perseus had seen the look on Zinkenite's face. She knew the Negaverser well enough to read it with some accuracy, and it was only seconds after it that she'd moved towards him, intent on restraining him in some way, possibly attacking him.

The Senshi of Illusion wasn't fast enough. The boy's coat practically disappeared underneath her fingers. "Augh!" The frustrated cry at the officer slipping through her fingers was practically anguished at this point. Perseus was beaten, bloody, bruised, burned, and covered in frosting.

She felt defeated. The loss of the crystal was apparent in the room, like half of the power had drained from out of the building. In her frustration, she kicked the cake table as hard as she could manage.

His cake-eating bonanza was painfully interrupted by something digging into his thigh. Laocoon's first reaction was to shake the thigh to try and convince whatever it was to get the hell off of him. The shaking only seemed to encourage whatever it was to keep going, climbing up his body with what felt like a pair of claws. Wait… claws?! The cavalier reached up two very messy hands just as Zircona announced her presence, nearly scaring the bejeebus out of the green-haired teen she was currently sitting on. Laocoon practically went cross-eyed as he tried to get a good look at her, completely distracted from his original task by the fact that Zircona, Parallel Guardian cat was sitting on his head.

"YOU! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! Ares you didn't tell me about her!" Zircona didn't seem to have any class when it came to reunions. The guardian cat was much more focused on the task at hand – what was it with girls and their unshakeable drive? – and she was already urging to keep eating, to eat faster. "Alright, alright, eating! Look, see, cake." Laocoon stuffed another handful in his mouth in attempt to pacify the guardian cat, hoping that somehow it would make her ease up a little on his hair. In his haste to eat more cake than his could possibly handle he didn't even notice Azzo's presence until the boy called his name, a senshi nearby echoing his name through a mouthful of her own delicious dessert. He fixed Azzo was a charming grin and then waved a hand at Sinon in a "eat now-talk later" kind of motion. The cat on his head? Not the biggest problem of the night.

Something changed when he hit his fifth scoop, Ares roaring to life nearby and covering the entire area with her infamous smoke. That certainly put a damper on eating. Laocoon ducked his chin into his high collar and coughed, trying to clear the smoke from his lungs before it really became smothering. Already he could feel it burning his eyes. Reaching up onto his head he tried to detach Zircona from his hair so he could tuck her into his robes. He didn't want her to be smothered either.

And then it all stopped.

Laocoon carefully raised his head, eyes still watering from Ares' smoke attack, blinking furiously as he tried to figure out what was going on. As exhaustion began to seep slowly into his bones the pieces of the puzzle fell neatly together. The crystal was gone. They'd lost it. Ares' scream only solidified the idea in his mind and with a frustrated noise the cavalier shook the remaining bits of icing off his hands. Damnit.

"Now what?" He said aloud, more to himself and Zircona than anyone else.

Sailor Neso felt his kick make contact, but then the girl who he was striking disappeared, leaving him with a foreboding message.

Nursing the pain in his stomach and back, the senshi of summer dragged himself to his feet and ran over to Princess Chronos. The crystal was gone, sure, but there were still plenty of Negaverse officers in the room. Neso wrapped one arm around the Princess. "We need to go," he said, hurriedly. His eyes searched for the senshi of spring. "Flora! Come on!" Gently, he tried to nudge her toward the exit.

Just then, his eyes caught a familiar form. Perseus. She looked upset, but still beautiful. She was quite lovely, even when coated in cake. A part of him wanted to run to her, but with Chronos at his side, nothing would move him. He stared at her weakly, then dropped his eyes and turned his attention back to Chronos, eyes scanning the room for an attack.

Azzo saw Ares' anger he cringed slightly. He knew no one wanted her mad, he'd seen her angry at him after the first youma accident.

He frowned, "It's gone then?" He asked curiously and frowned, "I was going to help get it for one of the senshi sides. I didn't know you guys were here till just now." He added.

Then he looked up at the cat with a brow lofted. He noticed Laocoon had been talking to the cat. Was Laocoon nuts or was Azzo nuts for thinking Laocoon was nuts.

"... Why are you talking to the cat anyways?" He asked.