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Half-formed memories had plagued Sailor Nemesis' thoughts ever since she came back from planet Nemesis, never with the clarity she desired but always enough to leave her agitated. She wasn't strong enough to return to her home world, to force the memories back to the front of her mind. All she could do was grasp at the vague concepts that had presented themselves to her. Her planet was nothing like the images she had formed in her mind about the Moon Kingdom, and if anything it felt like planet Nemesis and her past self were at odds with the Moon. Something had transpired between them, and Nemesis didn't have the ability to find out. It was slowly driving her mad with frustration.

Was that why she joined the Blood Moon Court, to separate herself from the Moon senshi even more? No, that couldn't be possible because she hadn't felt so wrong with the Moon Kingdom before. She hadn't been sweet and cheery like most other moon senshi, but she was still one of them. Her past self had been frustrated to the point of tears with some situation involving the Moon Kingdom. They hadn't listened to her... something like that. The memories were nothing but brief flashes, which in that moment had been so real. Now they were fading, and she was grasping at straws to keep those images clear.

Her efforts were failing, and the inner turmoil she was going through was making its way to the surface. Sailor Nemesis was frustrated with the world. The BMC's next operation was going to be headed by Sailor <********> Birhan, one of the most worthless senshi she had encountered. Her vision of the other senshi was likely even more skewed because of Nemesis' unwillingness to listen to anyone else but Ares. Birhan had not earned her trust. The Moon senshi were quickly losing the trust she had put in them. Perhaps it was silly to let something that happened a thousand years ago effect her present life, but she could hardly control the feelings of anger and frustration that had carried on through the past.

Nemesis' anger could not be directed at either of those forces, though. It was better to release her turmoil against an enemy that deserved it. From the very beginning, Nemesis held no intention of having a fair fight with her opponent. It was all good though, considering that her opponent was even less likely to fight fairly. A captain in the Negaverse, strong and cocky enough to think they could take her on, was the opponent she singled out. How many starseeds had this individual stolen? How many lives had been ruined by this single Negaverser?

Each member of that faction counted, each member could destroy dozens of lives in the matter of months. So, each loss the Negaverse was given had to equally hurt. The Eternal Senshi of Decay didn't need to think, and perhaps that was for the better. This unchecked anger, these unwavering emotions were carrying her through the fight. She didn't have to think before countering a blow, didn't have to think while she followed the assault up with a swift kick to the Negaverser's gut. All she needed was instinct.

Perhaps, if she were lucky, kicking this one Nega's a** would help to soothe her own volatile emotions. Sailor Nemesis was not really known to be lucky.

"Touch of Death." The energy that flowed to her palms was a relief, a reassurance of the power that she possessed. Hard work as a regular and super senshi made for a slightly easier time now. The opponents were stronger, but that was only when she picked to fight on someone at her level. The Negaverser, who really couldn't be a day older than she was, was still reeling back as her hand latched onto his throat. The skin underneath her bare hands began to rot, but the process wasn't quick enough to cut off the blood curdling scream that was wrenched from his throat. But, it wasn't like anyone was close enough to save him. If someone called the police, they would never arrive in time. Sailor Nemesis didn't even register her own thoughts switching gears from 'harming' her opponent to 'killing' her opponent.

The captain merely looked up briefly when he heard the scream, unsure of what to make of it. In the past, it could usually be assumed to come from a senshi, because they were all too obsessed with their self-righteous pacifism. With all the strange things that had happened lately, though... the number of soldiers the Negaverse had lost already was becoming a pretty hefty list. It didn't help to be inexperienced - the lieutenants were basically screwed, worse now than ever. There were more of them now, loads more, but there were also way more senshi than Hematite was used to. He hardly recognized most of the names Alkaid mentioned. Patrolling alone was dangerous too, the numbers said as much. ********, everything was different.

Footsteps snapped him out of his thoughts. At Alkaid's sudden departure, the captain let the civilian hit the pavement and dashed after her. Whatever was going on, he trusted her instincts. He stopped just short of the outstretched arm, holding up his weapon threateningly, poised to throw. An impersonal grimace cut across his face at the scene. Blood, gore, and otherwise didn't particularly bother him unless it was coming out of him. That was when it was generally his problem. His several years of Negaverse experience had completely desensitized him, to the point that he couldn't even work up any sympathy for the captain. Shouldn't have been out alone and so cocky that he went looking for trouble from a senshi with those stupid wings on their butt; if he survived then he would learn a damn lesson from it. The senshi he simply derided. "Oh, wow, this is pretty ******** up for a senshi."

By the time he took in what his partner had been seeing, though, she was taking off again, this time straight for the senshi that outranked her in power and the injured captain. He could only consider the situation for a moment, but it was all he needed to prioritize. His head snapped up and he called out to her before he'd even thought about it: "Alkaid!"

The captain let his boomerang shoot off toward the enemy senshi. He hesitated a couple of seconds before he gave chase as well.

The sickening crunch of the Captain's neck snapping sent panic rippling through Alkaid. Panic and guilt. It settled over her like a rain cloud and no matter what she thought she was used to, death was always different. It always caught her off guard, always made her sick to her stomach. The fact that she could have saved this Captain didn't help her sudden stomach flipping either. What if she'd just been a little faster? A little stronger? A little more anything?

Even Hematite's voice was drowned out in that regret.

She groaned as the body collided with her, sending her down hard against the pavement. She shifted uselessly for a few moments before she could roll the larger body off, then stopped just long enough to make sure he was really dead. The fact that his skin wasn't healing from Nemesis' attack was a sure sign - living tissue healed.

There were only a few moments spared for the Captain she didn't know, a few moments of guilt and pain and regret. Then she heard Nemesis shout out, then, and remembered that there was still one Captain to save from the brutal power that she had experienced first hand. She brushed her hands over the Captain's eyelids, to close the still panicked gaze, and stood to face the murderer again.

The murderer closing on Hematite.

A different kind of panic filled her then. Not the solemn, debilitating kind. No, it was the same panic that caused rash actions and acts without thought. She curled her hands into fists and ran after Nemesis again, not even flinching as she saw the fist collide with Hema's jaw. No glow, no danger. "Stay away from her hands," she hissed, a blanket warning that she knew would serve him better than a detailed one. She couldn't surprise him with power if he knew to stay away from them at all costs.

Then she was on her, reaching out and grabbing the pigtails at the back of her head. She shifted, pulled, and used every ounce of strength she had to try and throw the girl down and away from the Captain.

She hated Captains, moreso than corrupted senshi, if only because they had goddamn weapons. How was she supposed to get past the sharp end of a boomerang and to her opponent? Nemesis wasn't so comfortable getting close without the back-up of her senshi power. If she could use her attack again, she might be able to dull the edges of the boomerang's blade without taking too much damage. But, the seconds were ticking by slowly in this fight, and not even worth counting. She had to rely solely on her fighting abilities, because it would be too late by the time she could use Touch of Death again.

For now, she was keeping a mindful distance from Hematite while her brain tried to conjure up some method to get to him without being sliced and diced into delicious pocket-sized pieces. There were easier opponents for her right now, which brought her mind startlingly back to the fact that Alkaid couldn't possibly still be wound up with that Negaverser Captain. She wouldn't stay out of the battle long enough for Hematite to get hurt. The thought occurred to her too late, because she felt finger snagging her pigtails cruelly, pulling her backwards and nearly off of her own two feet.

Even then, if it had just been Alkaid she could have made a swift recovery and dove back into the battle. But, if nothing else, Alkaid and Hematite had a moment of perfect harmony. The boomerang made a shallow cut at her stomach, deep enough to bleed and hurt like a b***h, but shallow enough that it did no other damage besides the pain (and perhaps the new bruising to her eternal ego). Close-quarters combat was her expertise, but she knew at that moment she'd get nowhere like this.

Twisting away and out of Alkaid's grip, she took a few strides back from the dynamic duo, wiping the grimace of pain off her face. She was going to hurt a helluva lot more if she couldn't defend herself. "Is this how you treat your past girlfriends, Alkaid? Because this is really overly aggressive of you. From what I recall you were head over heels in love with me, so this turn-around is rather shocking." It was one of the few things she had going for her, a mouth that didn't quite ever stop running. Perhaps it would buy her enough time to...

No. She doubted it would be enough time, and so the wheels in her mind were turning frantically in hopes of finding some miracle solution to this situation. Again she closed in on the pair, focusing her attention instead on Alkaid. Alkaid knew how to come to the defense of other people, and Nemesis was hoping that her partner did not. She was also riding on the slim chance that her words had actually gotten to Alkaid. Raising her leg, she attempted to drive her knee into the girl's stomach. All she needed to do was get one of the way so she could efficiently deal with the other.

The banter was mostly lost on the captain, who could only look between the two in confusion.

But Nemesis guessed right; Hematite wasn't used to playing backup in a fight. Somehow he just... expected she'd come after him again instead of Alkaid. Unlike Alkaid, he didn't know Nemesis or what she could do. If she could just snap a guy's neck then he expected to be her first choice just on account of how he'd cut her. He and Alkaid shared their brief look as his partner struggled to recover. That was when he started to feel fear.

Without giving any thought to the warning Alkaid had given him moments ago, Hematite ran right at the eternal and body-slammed her. It was the only thing he could think to do to put any space between the two senshi.

"You're into girls?" he asked Alkaid loudly over his shoulder. There may have been a very slight hint of disappointment in his voice. Apparently he'd finally figured out what they were talking about. The dead captain and the threat of death by senshi apparently were not even half as shocking as this.

Alkaid's mouth opened to yell at Hematite the second she realized what he was intending to do - but it was too late, he was already flying at her and in seconds Nemesis was pinned down by the weight of him. All she could do was try to shuffle closer as quickly as she could while still clutching her side and hope that she could get to him faster than Nemesis called the power to her hands.

Really, was now the time to ask such a stupid question?

The call for the attack came to her as a garbled hiss, blocked by Hematite's body. Panic swelled in her and sent a rush of adrenaline through her that was so strong, she all but forgot about the pulsing pain in her side. Almost, in that she still limped awkwardly even as she tried to run. Just as Nemesis slipped away and ran off into the darkness of Destiny City in the distance, she was falling to her knees at his side.

She pushed him over slowly and began to give him a quick glance over, looking for any open wound or tear in his uniform. Then she realized that there was nothing, except a strange stiffness, wrong with him. He was still there in his dark eyes - not dead, not dying, just frozen. Relief swept through her and she let out a long sigh, then promptly swatted him on the shoulder with a purposeful frown.

"You're stupid sometimes, you know that?" She flopped back onto the asphalt next to him and drew her knees up, wrapping her arms around them. She glanced off into the distance, realizing that she should have just run after Nemesis instead of being so concerned with Hema's safety. Yet, as she glanced down at him, she realized she wouldn't have done anything different even if the thought had occurred to her. Now that she knew nothing was wrong, she just had to wait out the effects of an attack she had seen before in person.

"And I don't like girls," she added as an afterthought. Her tone seemed almost insulted by the insinuation, even if she knew that it had been her own banter that made him jump to that conclusion. "I did, once, or something. I don't know, it's a long story."

Her gaze slid away from him and settled on the other still body not too far from them. She knew that it wasn't moving for an entirely different purpose and the reality of fighting Nemsis really hit her then. Her fingers curled tighter against her legs, so much so that the knuckles were turning white.

"Don't do that again. Her other attack is much less.. manageable." It was half command, half pleading, all worry.

The dead body just feet away from them was sobering enough that she didn't even feel like arguing with Hematite about the differences between Nemesis' powers. He was safe and recovering despite the fact that he had nearly scared her to death, so for the time being she would just let him be a little snarky if he wanted to.

It was a long moment before she realized that he had stood up, even longer before she realized he had offered his hand to help her up. Instead of taking it immediately, she glanced down at the pavement to her side, letting his words wash over her. She didn't want to be the weak one here, she wanted to be able to do this and deal with the consequences of war.

She knew she couldn't though - if she looked in that face she would see Hematite, or Fluorite, or Labyrinthite.

She finally reached up and curled her hand around his open one, squeezing the fingers that all but engulfed her smaller ones, as if to remind herself that he still had a pulse. Then she let him pull her up, using her own momentum as well, until she was steady and on her feet again. She still didn't look up at him, even as she battled herself over what to do. Her jaw was clenched and her body tensed, but if she couldn't bring herself to look at him then she knew she wouldn't be able to stomach the corpse.

"Don't take too long," she mumbled, a little more than a whisper, and with one last desperate squeeze of his hand she blinked out of sight.