Nightmares plagued her dreams. Everything was dark, nothing but blackness around her. She was choking, the darkness trying to swallow her. Then, suddenly, a bright light appeared from nowhere. Her eyes were blinded, until she could see again. There, standing in front of her, was Zoisite. He had a deep frown on his eyes, and they were as cold as ice.

"Zoi... thank God you are here! Please, take me with you!" pleaded Mercury. He said nothing, and stared at her with scorn.

She was taken back, but asked again: "Zoi, save me from the darkness!. I'm so scared!"

The general remained silent, just looking at her with eyes like daggers.

"Please!"

Nothing happened. "You despised me, now you are alone again," was what she heard.

My God, his voice... his voice is so cold. It's like he has no feelings at all... She tried to look into his soul, but it was unreadable.

"You never loved me, and I never did. Now, face your challenges alone" He was becoming brighter and brighter until he disappeared. Mercury was left alone again, and she screamed, crying: "ZOI, WAIT!!. I LOVE YOU, I REALLY DO!"

"ZOI!" She jumped on her bed, startling everyone. Still trembling, she opened her eyes, and looked around. She was on her bed, on the Moon palace. The rest of the inner Senshi and Princess Serenity were there too. They were with worry on their faces. As she woke up, Serenity walked to her side, and hugging her tightly, said: "Mercury, thank God you are awake!" Serenity's hug is so warm, she thought. It's like being in his arms... I feel so good when he hugs me...

Suddenly, she remembered what had happened, and while she returned the embrace, she started crying again. She rested her head on the Princess' shoulder, and let everything out. Her friends waited patiently for her to calm down before asking her.

Mercury did soon, but the heavy load remained on her heart. Washing the tears away, she tried to smile, and asked: "What am I doing here?"

Venus grimaced, and answered, "Queen Serenity felt a disturbance in the Silver Crystal, and started checking on all of us. You were the only one missing. We tracked you down with your communicator, and found you on Earth. You were on a beach, unconscious. We got you here, and that's it." Mercury sighed, and looked at the sheets. They were white, full of wrinkles, as her hands grabbed them tightly, trying to avoid crying again. She felt hot, and looking at her arms, noticed that they were very red. I must have been a lot of time under the sun. I got sunburned.

Nobody talked for a couple of seconds, until Jupiter said, her voice warm: "Mercury, what happened down there?" She stiffened as she heard this, her hands grabbing two more fistfuls of sheets. "It's OK if you don't want to tell us, Merc." She didn't move, just stayed there, trying to get the words come out of her mouth.

Mars understood, and standing up, motioned for the rest to do the same. "Mercury, you just recover your energy. Come on girls." They were walking towards the door, when a low voice interrupted them. "Wait!"

They stopped, and turned around. Mercury was looking at them with watery eyes, and grinning a little, said, "Remember what happened the last time I hid anything from you?" They smiled back, and returned to their places. "It all started in the morning, when Zoi--" At the mention of the name, poor Mercury choked and coughed softly. Regaining her composure, she decided to go on.

"…Lord Zoisite and I met at the beach..."

"WHY?, WHY DID SHE HAVE TO FOOL ME LIKE THIS?" The Earth palace shook in Zoisite's anger. His room was no longer recognizable. The walls were full of holes, each one bigger than the other was. His bed was broken, wood chips everywhere. The sheets, once as white as snow, were now stained with blood, and formed a pile of mess in the floor. The mirror hanging over the night table was upside down, the glass scattered in every place. Zoisite was standing in the middle of this chaos, blood coming out of his face and body. On his left hand, he had one of Mercury's pictures she had given to him, and on the other, one of his crystals shards was shining. He had a nasty look in his eyes, and was talking to the picture. "YOU... HOW COULD YOU? YOU KNEW I LOVED YOU. YOU WERE EVERYTHING TO ME..." He tried to break the picture in half, but he couldn't. He then tried to prick it with his crystal, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

The picture was indeed pretty. It was made by a famous artist, known all around the universe. It showed Mercury's face. She was closing an eye, and smiling beautifully. It could be told she was dressed as a Sailor Senshi, because of the tiara shining in her forehead. Her hair looked fabulous, and the opened eye was sparkling with life. It looked almost real. He saw as she smiled, and he melted with it. The crystal disappeared from his hand, as he looked deeply to the picture. She is so gorgeous. If she just loved me... He then remembered every time they had spent together, and felt as his heart ached in need to see her, to ask for her forgiveness, to see her smile again…

But she doesn't love you, rang a little voice in his head.

Despair filled him, and shouting, threw the picture to the wall. "SHUT UP!" The picture slammed hard against the stone wall, and dropped to the floor. Just as it left his hand, he regretted it. Running, he picked it up, and saw the damage was already done. The wooden border had broken, and the glass had cracked. Feeling as his heart tensed, he took the painting off the frame. The soft cloth on which it was made was now resting over his hand. He looked at it intently, and suddenly saw as a drop of water landed on it, and spread the paint. Raising his hand, he touched his face, and was surprised to see that it was wet, wet with his tears. Then, he could handle it no more. He pressed the cloth hardly against his chest, and burying his face on his hands, cried in silence. Between his sobs, he whispered a silent "I will always love you..."