Celly just kept laughing and laughing, taking a slightly hysterical tone. She doubled over, her hands clutching her stomach as tears came to her eyes because of her outrageous gaiety. The memories kept pounding in her head, not letting up from the assault. She was feeling dizzy and light-headed from the wounds she had endured. But all she could do was laugh. Laugh and laugh and laugh.

"*Face myself,*" she repeated between her laughter.

"*Know myself,*" she repeated through her chuckles.

"*Free myself,*" she repeated despite her giggling.

"*Be myself,*" her countenance went immediately hard as she snapped out of her doubled over position and faced Terra.

"*Face myself. Know myself. Free myself. Be myself.*" Celly began walking in a circle around Terra, who was noticeably unnerved by her counterpart's behavior.

"What are you going on about, you fool?" she asked, a tremor in her voice.

"*Face myself. Know myself. Free myself. Be myself.*" Celly gave a disparaging laugh. "*You say too much, my dear otherself. You say far too much. I know how to take you down now... for good. For evil. For better. For worse. For eternity.*"

"Must you rave so? You know it is impossible for you to be rid of me because I am you."

"*True. But you must remember, that if you are me... I am you.*"

"Na--nani?"

"*I am you as you are me and we are all together!*" Celly crowed, laughing insanely again.

"Speak sense, fool!"

"*If you are me and I am you, then with that comes the whole kit and kaboodle!*" She still had that disturbing glint of madness, of a person who had been pushed too far to the edge, in her eyes. Celly drifted into the air, her colorless aura shining around her. She raised her hands. "*You want to be me?!? Fine! EAT THIS!!!*"

Reality ripped around them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a beautiful sunny day.

The sunlight streamed in through the open windows, bouncing off the polished marble that made up the walls and floors of the Moon Palace. The salty smell of the ocean drifted in as well, from the Sea of Serenity. Birds sang happily, and down one log corridor, a woman wearing a green and brown dress walked, her nose buried in a book. The sounds of rushing footsteps came down the hall, but were unnoticed by the raven-haired woman who was reading.

That is, until the footsteps stopped, and strong arms grabbed her from behind and tossed her into the air. Lady Celeste gave a shriek of fright and dropped her book before she noticed just *who* had made the preemptive attack on her. Then she opted to giggle in delight as the strong arms spun her around and around. Finally she was set down on the ground, but not removed from the embrace.

"No," Terra whispered. "I don't want to see this..."

Celly merely grinned savagely at her counterpart's plight.

"To what do I owe such a greeting, sir?" she asked, catching her breath.

The warm silvery-grey twinkled at her. Dionysus lifted her hand and kissed it as an answer.

"It is a trifle late for such a thing, is it not, Dion?"

He smiled again. "She said yes," he said simply.

"I mean, you cannot expect to simply kiss my hand after you accosted me--What did you say?!?"

"Ce-ko, she said yes. Queen Serenity approved our request for marriage. It is all lawful and tidy now."

Celeste stared at her lover--no, make that husband now, in shock. "She--she did? But... but I thought..."

A wounded look appeared in Dionysus' eyes. He dropped his arms from around Celeste and clutched them over his heart. "Ah, my lady... you wound me to the quick! I have given my heart to you and you have trample upon it! Oh! Woe is the day I was Promised to you! Now I must seek the Queen and remove this accursed Bond between us, so you may dally with your other lovers!" He turned and began to trudge away.

Celeste laughed and grabbed his arm, pulling him into her embrace and kissing him soundly. "Idiot," she muttered affectionately. "I'm so happy. I thought that this day would never come. But, you are a terrible actor, my promised."

"Husband," he replied, kissing her again. "Our formal joining was approved. Now we only need tell the others and have a small ceremony to make our marriage public."

"I don't want to see this," Terra repeated, trying to turn away. Celly pounced, forcing her head to face the scene before them.

"*Oh, but you must. You must! You wanted to be me. Here's you chance.*"

"Oh!" Celeste exclaimed, pulling out of her new husband's arms. "The others! I must tell my bloodsister of this! And the others as well. You would do good to tell your brother and sister-in-law as well."

Celly flew off, leaving a baffled, yet amused, Dionysus standing in the hallway.

"I can't watch this!"

"*But you must! Don't you see? You want to be me and you want me to be you. Well, be me then! Know my pain!*"

Celeste wandered through the hallways, muttering darkly to herself. "Where can Sere be? And the others as well? I've looked all around the Palace and the Gardens twice! Ah, the day I wish to see them, the more I cannot find them!"

A strange noise presented itself to Celeste's ears. The sounds of metal... swords? Clashing against each other... a fight? In the Palace?!? Celeste rushed off towards the source of the sound, her Senshi abilities ready to be loosed at a moment's need. As she skidded around a hallway the sounds became louder, the tell-tale clashing of swords coming faster and faster. One lone, closed door was at the end of the hallway. She ran at it at top speed, throwing them open as soon as she came upon them. Her eyes took in the scene before her in horror and her mouth screamed the words before her mind could process her surroundings.

"I don't want to see this! I don't want to see this!"

"*YOU WILL! You will see my pain! I am you. You are me! This is our pain!*"

"DIONYSUS!!!"

Her husband of two hours turned towards the sound of her voice, worry in his eyes. He opened his mouth to yell a warning, but all that came out was a little gurgle and a thin trickle of blood. His eyes took a shocked look, as well as one of sadness, as he looked down to see the blade of a sword neatly imbedded in his chest. The sword withdrew and Dionysus' body slipped off the cold blade, falling to the polished marble floor.

Celeste moved faster than she ever had in her life as time seemed to stop around her. She knew she was screaming, but could not hear her own words. Tears blurred her vision. Valiantly, she caught Dionysus' body before it hit the floor, but his weight bore her down until she was sitting with his head cradled in her lap, his crimson blood pooling around them. Celeste cried out in grief as she tried to place her small hands against the gaping wound on her husband's chest. Through the haze of her tears, she looked up at the figure in black and silver armor, who still stood in shock, staring at his bloodied sword. As if he could feel her stare, his eyes met hers. Both heads covered with raven-black hair and blue eyes stared at each other.

"Why?" Celeste whispered through her sobs. "Why, Endymion? Why?"

He could not answer and fled the room instead.

Celeste collapsed on Dionysus' body, shattered and alone. Her eyes alighted on his sword, still held in his hand. Celeste bit back her sobs as she kissed Dionysus for the last time and closed his eyes. She took the sword from his grip, pointing it at her breast. "I will be with you soon," she whispered and then repeated the verse she knew from memory. "To have honor, when one can no longer live with honor..."

"Why are you forcing me to see this?!? What good does it do?!? It only makes you suffer as well!"

"*Because! Because I will not be beaten by the likes of you. Face myself. Know myself. Free myself. Be myself. I can live up to and accept my past... the question is... Can you?!?"

Before Celeste could drive Dionysus' sword into her chest, a pair of hands grabbed her and wrestled the sword from her grasp. Celeste screamed and raved, clawing at the damned hands and pulling at the long green hair of the woman who had stopped her. But the hold was firm and unyielding, refusing to allow her to get near the sword, nor Dionysus' body once more.

Celeste was driven to madness and died that night.

Terra took her place.

TBC...