Blood. Blood everywhere. Mars staggered down the main corridor towards the throne room, gripping the hilt of her sword so tightly her knuckles ached. She tried to ignore the sight of one of her own squad members pinned to the wall, three feet off the floor. His face was twisted in an agony one could not even begin to imagine, one hand still gripping the spear that had been rammed through his chest. She moved past him, and felt rather than saw the arrow fired straight at her temple. She strafed to the left, the head of the arrow making an unearthly noise as it tore through the lobe of her right ear. She had sheathed her sword, spun a full one hundred and eighty degrees, firing off a flame sniper back in the direction of the unseen enemy, all before the first drop of blood from her new wound hit the white marble floor. The demon lurking in the shadows of a column hit the floor himself, choking and gurgling as it clawed fruitlessly at the flaming projectile lodged in it's jugular. Mars pressed forward. To her left, down one of the side halls, she could pick up the sounds of a fierce battle. She drew her sword once more, and readied herself before she turned the corner. The sharp, aching pain in her right leg seemed to scream at her, begging her to rest. The fire soldier glanced down briefly. 'Crap. It's already gone through the bandage. Maybe I should have left the damn dagger in there.' A terrifying war cry from Jupiter snapped her back to her situation. A youma tore around the corner Mars was preparing to turn down herself, followed by a very anger soldier of thunder. Mars launched herself at the demon, ignoring the screaming pain that tore through her side, and thrust her sword through it's heart. It hissed in anger and surprise, and with it's dying breath, brought it's own sword down in a sweeping arc. "Damn coward!" Jupiter snarled, catching it's wrist in the process, knocking it's blade loose, and snapping the joint back until it's clawed fingers touched it's forearm. The eerie cracking of bone made Mars shudder involuntarily. Jupiter gave the fire soldier a toothy grin and dropped the demon. "Thanks. Little bastard could run fast, but not fast enough." Mars wrenched her sword free as the body fell to the floor, and gave Jupiter a thankful grin of her own. "Come on, you can worship me later." The brunette said with a smirk. "But for now, we gotta find Venus. She should have the princess secured by now." Mars gaped at the blood caked all over Jupiter's face, and nodded mutely. Together they continued down the main hall at a hurried pace. The thunder soldier broke the silence first. "Hey Mars, you're bleeding pretty bad. You ok?" "Yeah. I'm good. Things are getting nasty in the courtyard. For every monster I kill, five more take it's place." She paused to spit out a mouthful of blood. "One of them got in a lucky shot." Jupiter eyed her critically, but said nothing. From what she could see, Mars had a bad leg, and her abdomen was bleeding heavily. A large nasty gash marred the surface of her armor, just below her ribs, and the brunette cringed when she saw fresh blood ooze with every step. 'Damn it. This is getting really bad. We're all banged up. I don't know how much longer we can fight.' As if she could read the thunder soldier's mind, she said, "You know, you're not a ten yourself." Jupiter grinned in response. "The powers that be gave me two eyes for a reason. I was always curious as to when I'd lose one. You know what they say about sharp objects...." Mars grunted in the affirmative, and nodded to Jupiter when they reached the double door entrance to the throne room. Each warrior took a side, and on the silent count to three, swung the doors open, weapons at the ready. Never in her darkest nightmares could she prepare herself for what she saw next. She fell to her knees, sword clattering uselessly to the floor beside her. She tried to move, tried to speak, but found all she could do was cry. --------------- Rei snapped awake, launching herself bolt upright, the silent scream dying on her lips. Her brain hammered against her skull relentlessly, and she quickly clamped her jaw shut to stamp out a cry of pain. 'Dream. Dream. It was just a damn dream.' She closed her eyes and gently massaged her temples with her finger tips. 'Felt so real. That's what I get for drinking so much last night.' Last night. Something about last night. Something important. It was right freaking there. She could almost grasp it.... A groan and light movement to her left brought her back to reality. She blinked, confused, and just about passed out when she discovered the form wrapped in her sheets on her bed. Whoever it was had a pillow over their head. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid.' she chastised herself, punctuating the thought by slapping her palm into her forehead., forgetting all about her wonderful hangover. The searing pain above her eyes joyfully reminded her however, and it took all Rei had in her not to cry. More rustling to her left. The raven haired woman swore under her breath. She had to figure out what happened. Fast. She knew she was in her own room, her own bed. Fabulous start. Her eyes did a quick survey of the room. Her chest plate had been tossed carelessly to the floor. It now lay in the center of the room, the sun's rays dancing off the polished black surface, almost mocking her. She got a glimpse of a gauntlet half under the foot of the bed, and another on the end table beside her. Her pants dangled off the sword mounted on her wall, and her shirt was in a heap under the lone chair on the far side of the room. Her stomach wrenched. Of course. She was naked. Apparently there was great fun involved. Another curse under her breath. She frowned inwardly. Ok, all of her clothes were accounted for, so...... She grabbed the sheet covering her mystery guest and timidly lifted it up. Smooth creamy skin, graceful curves, and long legs greeted her eyes. She dropped the sheet and studied the sleeping form. A female. Definitely a naked female. She could handle that. She had brought a girl or two home on her wild nights out. Lifting the pillow covering the head seemed like a rather risky endeavor, and she needed to know who she was dealing with so she could act in the appropriate manner. Rei tried to replay the previous nights activities in her head. She was at her usual bar. Her night off, who was there with her? A loud shriek startled Rei from her musings. Her head whipped around to the crystal on her end table. Noon? It was already noon?? That meant.... 'Oh dear god....' A loud banging on the door caused her to jump just a little higher. Her princess' voice carried through the heavy oak. "Rei? Are you up yet? I've waited long enough!" Rei tried to speak but her mouth had gone dry. She caught another voice through the door as well. "Weird. She's never late. And why are Minako's clothes all over the hall?" 'Jupiter too. Of course. I'm late for our sparring match. Wait. What? WHAT??? Minako???' "That's it. I don't care how mad the great Mars gets. I'm going to drag her lazy butt out of bed for once." Serenity announced gleefully. Rei was now officially in full blown panic mode. She was pretty damn sure Minako was the blissfully sleeping guest in her bed. With a speed that would have impressed even the great soldier Uranus, Rei leaped to the other side of the mattress, scooped up the still sleeping Venus, sheets and all, and promptly deposited her under the bed. "What the mpfh" The fire soldier swiftly covered the blonde's mouth with her hand and apologized quickly. "Please, please Mina, for the love of all that is pure and good, please, just be quiet for a few minuets, ok? We'll talk after. I'm so, so very sorry. Please!" Minako's eyes widened slightly as it dawned on her that a very naked, and very panicked Rei was her attacker. She nodded slowly, and gave her friend? Lover? A look that promised they would indeed be discussing this very soon. Rei cringed visibly, and yanked the blanket down to cover the goddess stashed under her bed. She threw herself into the spot Minako had occupied only moments before and yanked the blanket completely over her head, with not a second to spare. The door was thrown open, and before Rei could even give a sigh of relief, her princess had thrown herself on top of the raven haired girl. "Reeeeeeeeeeei! Come on! Get up already!" Serenity demanded with a giggle, poking her bodyguard in the ribs. Rei let out a growl, feigning sleep, and pushed the bouncy blonde off of her. Not one to be deterred, the blonde once again jumped on her loyal soldier and pulled the blanket off of her face. "Hey! There you are sunshine! Come on! The day's half over! " "This from the one who would sleep all day if we'd let her." came the gruff retort. Serenity gave her a look of playful indigence, and mock punched her in the jaw. "We were looking all over for you, you know. Had me worried. We couldn't find Minako either." "Minako?" Rei repeated dumbly. "Yeah. Found all her stuff in the hallway here." Jupiter added from the doorway with a smirk. Rei felt her eye twitch. She could fool the blonde, but not the great soldier of thunder. Jupiter coughed quietly into her fist, and Rei had to fight the blush that threatened to give her away. "Ah, well," she started, floundering for the words. She swung her leg off the bed, and felt something that distinctly felt like a fingernail poke her in the ankle. The corner of her mouth twitched nervously, and Jupiter had to stifle a laugh. "What?" Serenity asked, now thoroughly confused, looking back and forth between her soldiers. Now Rei did blush. 'I must have been insanely evil in some past life. I bet I killed puppies on Christmas and made armor out of baby teeth....' "Why are you blushing like that? Are you sick? I bet you were out drinking! Rei! What did I tell you about that?" Rei groaned inwardly and wished the ground would just open and swallow her whole. She covered her face with her hands and let out a frustrated sigh. That was when her princess picked up on mistake number two. "Ah, Rei? What happened to your clothes?" 'Baby teeth? No. Must have been worse. I bet I have killed many, many nuns, and then burned down some orphanages. Maybe I ate the babies. Grind their bones to make my bread kinda stuff. Maybe I can save this.' "Sorry Princess. I was out drinking, and Venus was with me, but we split up. I was so messed up I came home and stripped down. I get insanely warm when I drink." she explained hastily. Serenity chewed on her lower lip for a moment, and nodded to herself. "But you still don't know where Venus went?" "Who knows. Last time we all had a drink, she streaked around the courtyard, remember?" The princess giggled at this, and Minako pinched the back of Rei's ankle as hard as she could. Rei let out a cry of pain in surprise and sat up on the bed quickly, almost knocking heads with Serenity. "What's wrong?" she cried, laying her hands on Rei's shoulders, concern in her deep blue eyes. "Ah, nothing. I'm good. Just a cramp." She hissed through clamped teeth, swinging her unseen foot back to catch Venus in the forehead. Minako bit back her own cry of pain and pinched Rei again. By now, Jupiter looked like she was going to burst. She blurted out a hasty lie about needing to be somewhere, and took off down the hall, her laughter ringing in Rei's ears. The princess gave her another look of concern, and shook her head, treating Rei to one of her dazzling smiles. "I'll leave you to get ready, ok? Please. Take care of yourself Rei. It hurts me to see you do this to yourself. Maybe one day you'll talk to me about it." The guilt the fire soldier felt at that moment tore her apart, and she had to turn her gaze away. Serenity leaned in and pressed her lips to her bodyguard's forehead, then wrapped her arms around Rei and hugged her tight. With that, she was gone, and the warrior from Mars knew her troubles were only beginning. As soon as the door was closed, Minako crawled out from under the bed, hugging the sheets to her lithe form. Rei gave her a sheepish grin in apology, and wasn't the least bit surprised when the goddess of love decked her. 'This sure isn't going to help my hangover.'
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