"The Mirror Cracks"

Jadeite was laughing at the stupidity of this mere human. She had been 
tricked so easily into his trap. He would deal with Tuxedo Mask later... 
he'd show up. He always did. For now, he was going to have a little fun. 
Perhaps he would have a great deal of fun, all of it at Serena's 
expense.

For her part, the frightened Serena found none of this funny at all. 
This madman had a robot attack her, and turn her friends against her. 
This, though, impersonating her beloved Darien, was unforgivable. "Ooh, 
you're going to PAY!" Serena defiantly growled. Time for a change in 
wardrobe.

"Moon Crystal Power!!"

Jadeite stopped laughing midway through Serena's transformation into 
Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon. She had used the brooch to transform, a 
brooch with nothing less than the Silver Moon Crystal within it. Armed 
with that Crystal, Sailor Moon was dangerous, perhaps too much. Jadeite 
would be careful dealing with the new and improved Sailor Moon, but 
would also be merciless. His power was more than sufficient for the 
task.

Transformed, Sailor Moon squared off against her opponent, and quickly 
began to tell this dirtbag off. "I am Sailor Moon! I am the Champion of 
Love and Justice! You won't get away with impersonating my boyfriend, 
you creep! In the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!"

Jadeite laughed off this feeble attempt at humor. "So you've sprouted 
wings, have you? Well, I'll have to clip them." Serena was not quite so 
sure of herself anymore. "If you're so keen on wings, why, I'll have to 
keep up" Jadeite lifted himself off the ground with a mere thought, 
extending his open hands towards Serena, palms facing. Dark fog swirled 
before his hands, and a beam of crackling black energy slammed the 
ground in front of Sailor Moon, knocking her back several feet and onto 
her side. Jadeite laughed with glee.

The sky began to darken.

---

He had to find Sailor Moon quickly. Darien had to waste some time 
proving to Amy and Lita that he really was Darien, the real Darien, not 
the imposter who ran off with Serena, likely Jadeite himself. He could 
feel Sailor Moon's fear and anxiety. She needed him NOW.

Darien entered a dark alley. Tuxedo Mask exited with equal speed.

Something was wrong. On instinct, he leaped far forward, just in time to 
escape an explosion behind him. Tuxedo Mask looked over his cape to his 
left. A robot in humanoid shape, glittering with the light of steel, 
with its left hand extended towards him, was poised to do combat. Great. 
Just what he needed.

The robot's hand emitted energy waves towards him. Tuxedo Mask leaped 
high into the air to avoid the impact, and threw back his cape with his 
left arm, throwing as he did so three deep red roses directly at the 
robot. The robot was too intent on its attack to dodge the roses, which 
pierced the machine's right torso. Amidst short circuits and sounds of 
fried electronics. the dead machine fell to its right side, backwards, 
no longer a credible threat.

He hoped that he hadn't lost too much time.

---

Mina brought both Luna and Artemis. Rei was already with the others. The 
four girls transformed into the Sailor Senshi, and without a moment's 
delay, sped off towards Serena's last known position. Amy had done the 
calculations on her computer; she was 92% certain that Serena was in a 
construction site, that was probably abandoned due to these 
circumstances. No one was in sight, odd, since this was in the middle of 
the day. Not so odd, however, that it was impossible for Jadeite's 
forces to drive any onlookers away.

After making a turn, Lita, who was in the lead, saw a disoriented Serena 
just ahead. The Senshi ran closer, not sure what to make of this 
encounter. Mina looked around for any signs of Jadeite, or for that 
matter, Tuxedo Mask. Rei was the first one to ask the obvious question, 
"Serena, are you all right?"

Luna was suspicious, and sniffed the air. Quickly, she warned the 
Senshi, "That's not Serena! Be on your guard!!" At this, the girl that 
looked like Serena narrowed her eyes, and smiled. A feral laughter 
filled the air. Amy exclaimed to the team, "That's Frost's laughter!" 
Then, before their very eyes, the pretender extended her right hand to 
the sky, and said the words, "Moon Prism Power!"

The four Senshi, Luna, and Artemis collectively gasped as the girl they 
had mistaken for Serena proceded to transform, before their very eyes, 
into a perfect duplicate of Sailor Moon - the original - with the only 
visible difference being a different transformation brooch, one with a 
black moon symbol, though this one was still facing upwards, not 
downwards such as the symbol of the Black Moon. Whoever this was, she 
had the exact features of Serena, down to the boots, the odango, and the 
Sailor Salute. A chill ran up everyone's spine, everyone, that is, 
except the Serena duplicate. Everyone forgot about Frost, who was 
unseen, unheard, and unavailable.

The altered Sailor Moon then proclaimed, "I am Sailor Moon! Champion of 
the Dark Kingdom!" Then she proceeded to use the _exact_ hand movements 
that Sailor Moon used when taunting her enemies. This was too eerie... 
"In the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!"

The Senshi had something to say about that. Sailor Venus visibly 
clenched her left fist, her left foot forward and her tone undeterred, 
"The real Sailor Moon would never attack her friends." Sailor Jupiter 
made similar aggressive gestures, and said, "In the name of Jupiter, I 
will defeat this imposter!" Sailor Mars pointed accusingly at the Sailor 
Moon imposter and accused, "I'll bet you're just one of the Dark 
Kingdom's illusions, or a plain old robot!" The Sailor Moon held her 
hands on her hips and laughed in a high-pitched voice.

It occured to Sailor Mercury to use her VR visor to analyse the 
situation. "Um, guys," she said in a voice that did not sound confident, 
"this doesn't look like an illusion. She's real, and she's not a robot. 
I don't know what she could be, unless she's..." Amy gasped, her fingers 
to her mouth. Mina realized what Amy was getting at: "Oh my stars, she's 
a CLONE!" The rest of the team gasped.

---

"Now," spoke Frost in a low, even voice, "live up to your part of the 
bargain."

---

Serena was taking a beating. The whole area was in flames. Jadeite was 
levitating about ten feet in the air, laughing. Serena was flat on her 
rear, her scepter grasped in her right hand, drooping across her bruised 
body. Her wounds were mostly scrapes and light burns, painful, but 
nothing serious. Jadeite mocked, "Give up?"

Serena didn't dignify that with a response. She simply tensed and 
snarled in defiance, and started to get up. "Oh," Jadeite began, "we 
can't have _that_, now can we?" He directed a wave of sonic energy to 
the ground, shaking it so much that Serena could not manage to stand. 
Jadeite was having an enormous ammount of fun tormenting this girl, 
particularly since she was helpless to stop him. He almost regretted 
having to destroy her.

Jadeite pointed the index finger of his left hand at Serena, and 
menacing silver light became attacted to it, building up energy. Serena 
might be able to dodge it...

Jadeite screamed in pain, his face contorted, his right hand grasping 
his other forearm. He looked down at his hand, only to find a rose 
planted in its center, its tip emerging on the other side. Not something 
he hadn't expected. One more loose end to take care of. Jadeite turned 
to where the rose had come from. Standing on a pile of steel girders was 
Tuxedo Mask, his left arm extended from the throw, his right hand 
containing his unextended black cane.

"I am Tuxedo Mask! Jadeite, it's time you left this Earth, for good!" 
Serena clasped her hands together, leaning forward, hearts in her eyes. 
Tuxedo Mask came to save her! She had renewed hope.

Jadeite, on the other hand, was none too pleased. He pulled back his 
right fist, then thrust it towards Tuxedo Mask, opening the fist so that 
a wide beam of crimson energy was launched directly at the hero. Jadeite 
was not surprised in the least that Tuxedo Mask was not there to be 
blasted. Tuxedo dropped to the ground below, and then leaped up in the 
wake of the beam, his cane extending to a lengh suitable for combat.

In response, Jadeite flew ten feet back, and crossed his arms high near 
his neck, and threw his head back. He threw his arms wide, his eyes 
focused clearly upon Tuxedo Mask, as a convex force of black energy, far 
too large to dodge, blasted Tuxedo out of the sky, sending him reeling 
to earth, to hit the ground hard on his back, his cane skipping away. 
Serena gasped.

---

"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!!!"

Sailor Jupiter launched her attack with haste. This clone was going to 
pay for impersonating her friend. The clone, however, was not as 
impressed with the power of Jupiter's attack as one might expect. This 
would not be the last time the Senshi were surprised, but the most 
important: Sailor Moon pulled from her side, grasping it with both 
hands, her eyes closed with deep concentration, nothing less than the 
Crescent Moon Wand! Luna could not believe it. Artemis knew what was 
going to happen, and yelled to Sailor Jupiter to get to cover. Sailor 
Moon used the wand, in a vicious backhand stroke that would make any 
tennis player proud, to knock Sailor Jupiter's attack right back at her. 
Jupiter jumped to the right just in time, the explosion throwing her 
much further than her momentum would have. Jupiter rolled on the ground, 
then rose to one knee, ready for action.

Sailor Mars used her Fire Soul attack to put Sailor Moon off guard. The 
latter rolled a short distance to her right, dodging the wasted attack. 
Sailor Venus tried to use her Love-Me Chain, but she was knocked back 
onto the hard pavement by an energy blast from the Crescent Wand. 
Mercury began to use her Shining Aqua Illusion power, but Sailor Moon 
was ready. Just as Mercury finished her attack, Sailor Moon said was 
saying, behind the screen of the illusion, "Moon... Tiara... Magic!!" 
The magic tiara flew through the illusion, straight for Sailor Mercury, 
who was frozen in place as she yelled in fear. At the last possible 
moment, Mars leaped at her, knocking her to the ground, Mars on top of 
her, while the tiara blew a huge hole in the wall behind her.

Luna: "Sailor Senshi! You have to work _together_!

The Sailors looked to one another. Their eyes confirmed what they knew: 
they could not fail. Sailor Moon was counting on them to defeat this 
creature. They hoped Tuxedo Mask was having better luck then they were.

---

Sadly, that was not the case.

"Nooooo!!" Sailor Moon wailed as Tuxedo Mask took another blow. He had 
taken a direct blast of fire in the chest, knocking him back to the 
ground. Sailor Moon rushed to his side, holding his wounded body in her 
arms. Tuxedo Mask was not out of the battle yet, simply because he was 
needed. Tears in her eyes, Serena called out to him.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Jadeite continued with his mocking laughter. "How 
sweet. Two lovers about to die together. I had hoped to prolong your 
suffering, but you have outlived your usefulness. Prepare to die!!!" A 
globe of dark blue energy surrounded Jadeite's form, expanding rapidly. 
The very air screamed as Jadeite threw the magical construct at the two, 
approaching with great speed. Yet it might well have been an eternity.

Tuxedo Mask saw what was coming. Now, in his final moments, he knew that 
he was powerless to stop it.

He saw his life in front of his eyes.

Darien, the orphan, frightened and alone.

Darien, the high school graduate, the cold, the cruel.

Tuxedo Mask, the protector, the warrior.

Prince Darien, the evil, the relentless, the remorseless.

The Moonlight Knight, the pure, the silent.

Prince Darien. All those years ago...

He thought of Princess Serena. About all the times they had shared... 
all those times he could not be with her... when they had been friends, 
and enemies... and how he truly loved her.

The globe of energy was very close now.

Now it was about to end.

Time slowed to a trickle. He blinked, slowly, it seemed. He could hear 
Serena... "No..." she was reaching for her scepter... she had it in her 
hand... suddenly it glowed hot with a crystal white light... no... it 
was too late... no, Serena, save yourself... no... the scepter's head 
flashed with a twinkle of starlight, and the light grew... and grew...

The cold, blue energy of the night had engulphed them.

Jadeite laughed.

The ground shook and gave way. Fragments of shrapnel flew in every 
direction outward.

Then he saw it.

The light had formed a crescent wall of energy, impenetrable energy that 
not even the blackest of night could not penetrate. And so they had 
survived. Darien looked up at Serena, holding her scepter steadfastly 
against the onslaught of evil. He stared at her forehead... the symbol 
of the moon showed itself clearly, as clearly as he had ever seen it, 
flashing with the power of her heritage, glowing with her fierce 
determination.

Then Serena wavered, and swooned towards him. Tuxedo Mask held her in 
his arms. She was not out, simply drained momentarily of energy. He knew 
what they had to do.

---

Sailor Venus cried, "Crescent BEAM!" A laser of pure white light shot 
from her finger at the clone. The clone leaped to the side, as the beam 
smashed into the unfinished brick wall behind her, smashing two bricks 
and cracking a third, though the wall had not been breached. The clone 
grasped the wand with both hands; it was firmly gripped. Sailor Mercury 
once again used her Aqua Illusion, while Sailor Jupiter attacked with 
her Supreme Thunder power. Sensing danger, the clone rolled forward, 
dodging the attack, which blew the wall behind her to dust, even though 
she could not see the damage. She heard an ominous chant, that of 
"Burning.... MANDALA!!"

The clone reflexively grasped the wand and formed a shield, behind which 
she would be safe against the onslaught. Rings of fire literally bounced 
off the shield she had formed with dark energy to both sides, wasted. 
She heard another chant, and suddenly her legs went out under her, both 
grasped firmly by Venus' chain. She was dragged to the ground, and her 
wand skipped away. Calling upon her powers, the clone created a rock 
shard, which she flung at the chain, shattering it. Before she could 
grasp the wand, a boot - blue - kicked it away. A chant she had never 
heard before ended with a piece of paper, with mystic symbols, land 
squarely on her forehead, knocking her back, stunned and in agony.

The mist dissipated. The four Sailor Senshi were triumphant. The clone 
was not soft, and had pulled away the anti-evil sign from her forehead, 
but was still very weak, and very vulnerable.

Sailor Jupiter took no chances, and proceeded to reach for the wand...
but stopped as, just before her outstretched hand, a dagger implanted 
itself into the ground.

Jupiter reflexively pulled her hand back, looking up and over her 
shoulder. The dagger itself was straight, long, shiny, with a somewhat 
stylish hilt colored completely in black.

>From the top of a construction machine stood a mysterious woman, clothed 
in black, her dark cloak and her smooth, flowing, autumn brown hair 
blowing in the wind.

The woman jumped into the air, and with incredible speed landed right in 
front of Jupiter. Jupiter lunged at the woman, but her left hand, 
closing for a vicious punch, was grasped by the lady, who wore a black 
veil. The next thing Jupiter knew was that she was flying through the 
air, upside down. Jupiter landed with an audible 'thud' against what 
remained of the brick wall, and slowly dropped to the ground.

The woman reached downward, took her dagger in one hand, the wand in 
another, and then leaped at least thirty feet into the air, landing with 
her tabi boots resting firmly upon the edge of a window of a partially 
completed building. Then, she vanished in a cloud of black smoke.

When the remaining Senshi gathered their senses, they saw that the clone 
was gone, too. Vanished into thin air. Amy ran over to Lita to see if 
she was okay. Mina asked, "Who was that??", a question no one could 
answer.

---

"Serena, we have to beat this guy together." Serena nodded her 
agreement. Both knew that this was the only way they'd ever beat 
Jadeite. It was more than their last chance: the world was depending on 
them to defeat this evil. They had to have absolute confidence in one 
another.

Sailor Moon rose to her feet, clenching her scepter before her. "HEY, 
JADEITE!" she yelled, "You want a piece of me? Come on, you scumbag, 
come on and get it!!!" Snarling in renewed rage, Jadeite followed her 
advice, launching a huge stream of fire at her. Sailor Moon barely 
managed to dodge out of the way, the heat from the flames singing her 
skirt. She hit the ground hard, but she made it.

Jadeite turned to deal with her, but was suddenly facing an assault from 
his right. Turning, he was slammed by a blow to his right shoulder, from 
the cane of Tuxedo Mask, who was in full flight after him. Jadeite was 
knocked on balance, momentarily. Tuxedo Mask passed by him, but Jadeite 
moved away, and turning around, launched a full scale assault. Jadeite 
flung a vast number of razor-sharp crystal shards at Tuxedo Mask.

"Moon..."

Tuxedo Mask was kneeling on the ground, his cloak flowing behind him. He 
could see the rock shards coming at him. Tuxedo Mask whirled around to 
his right, his roses launched straight at the swarm. The tips of his 
roses shattered most of the crystal shards into small pieces of rock, 
passing straight through. Tuxedo Mask leaped to his right, turning with 
his left hand grasping his cloak, covering himself with it to prevent 
the rock fragments from wounding him. The shattered fragments bounced 
off the cloak, ripping it somewhat, but leaving him intact.

"Sceptre..."

Jadeite knew what was coming as soon as the roses flew right _through_ 
his own attack. It was too late to use his magical powers to destroy the 
roses in mid-flight. Jadeite instead teleported himself a short distance 
away, the roses flying harmlessly away. The threat had ended...

"Elimination!!!"

All of Serena's energy flowed through her scepter as a conduit. Every 
ounce was transformed into magical energy, which streamed forward...

Jadeite turned, and realized, too late, what had happened... his face 
twisted in horror.

Then her power struck.

Jadeite screamed in absolute agony. The energy envelopped his body, 
draining away his very essence, attempting to destroy him. The assault 
was relentless, the pain terrible...

Then it was over...

and Jadeite was still alive.

Wounded, yes. Weakened, yes. But he had not been destroyed.

Then he laughed evilly.

Serena gasped...

Jadeite reached up and created a huge ball of completely black energy, 
crackling all around. He launched this force after Sailor Moon, who was 
blasted far to her right, towards Tuxedo Mask. He drew close to her, 
grasping his dear Sailor Moon behind the head, and she opened her eyes, 
staring at him, smiling. Then both looked upwards, at Jadeite... Tuxedo 
Mask pulled out a rose in his right hand... Jadeite amassed more 
energy... and yelled, "If I go, I'm taking you both with me!!!...." They 
knew they would not be able to survive another blast...

Jadeite pulled back all of his remaining energy for the final blow... 
his face was filled with the satisfaction of vengeance.

Then the face changed to untold agony. The energy dissipated into 
nothingness...

Jadeite looked down to his chest. And saw a spear driven straight 
through it.

A spear of ice.

Jadeite began to drop to the ground. Darien and Serena were in total 
shock... they had been prepared for the end, but not for this. Jadeite 
turned around, still floating downward, his powers of levitation and 
flight quickly leaving him. Behind where he had once been was a lone 
figure, arms crossed, his face showing neither pleasure nor remorse. A 
face ice cold. The face of Frost.

Jadeite could not believe it. He could not find the strengh to say the 
words, but his expression begged the question. And so Frost responded: 
"You were a fool, Jadeite. You outlived your usefulness. You taught us 
to disregard both mercy and remorse... I was your finest student. I have 
learnt your lessons well."

Jadeite hung his head low, finally defeated. Then it was over. His body 
began to dissolve and dissipate into the sky. The spear of ice crashed 
to the ground, and then melted into water.

The sky began to clear.

---

The four other Senshi had arrived. Frost was still levitating in the 
air. He looked at the situation, and knew that this was not his day to 
do battle, outnumbered as he was.

"I have no quarrel with you today, Sailor Senshi. I am but one of the 
Dark Senshi Jadeite trained. There are five of us; you have already met 
another." This caused some confusion for both Sailor Moon and Tuxedo 
Mask, as they had no idea that a clone existed... and perhaps did not 
want to find out. "We will destroy you another day. We will conquer this 
world, and all others. We will rule unchallenged. Prepare for the 
inevitability of your destruction."

This said, Frost teleported away, in a shroud of ice and wind.

- A long moment of silence ensued.

Then, Serena spoke, softly.

"Darien, let's go home."