Friendly Fire - Lita's Thoughts

Written by Adrian Tymes

[Legal disclaimer:

This story is based on characters created by Naoko Takeuchi.  Permission
is granted to freely distribute this story, so long as:
a: no recompense of financial value is received or given by the person who
distributes the story, and
b: the distributed copy is identical to the story as originally authored.
In other words, don't sell it, and don't alter it.

Copyright (c) 1998, all rights reserved, et cetera.]

******

Mina's gone psycho again.

I know, I shouldn't think of my friends that way, but there's no better
way to describe her when she's like this.  Crazy, wild, zealous...they all
fit, but psycho fits better.  It's best to either avoid her or go along
with the flow until she comes back on her own.

Except this time, I think I may have pushed her too far over the edge, and
I have no choice but to go along with her.  Not a good thing, when the
topic is death.

Did she really kill people as Sailor V?  She's never said anything, but
then, I don't think she ever would.  I'll have to ask Artemis later.  Even
if she did it when he wasn't present, she'd have confided in him.

Strange, it doesn't feel as bad as I thought it would have.  I mean, sure,
I don't like having broken her promise, but I didn't know about it before.
The only physical pain is from that bullet, and that was just a flesh
wound.  I've had much worse.  Heck, I've been dead too, and that hasn't
stopped me.

I just wish they'd stop staring at me.

Silly, I know.  I mean, they just fell like that, and if I moved a little
to my left, they'd be staring off into space.  It's not a coincidence that
they were looking at me when I killed them.

"Snap out of it, Jupiter!"

Ow!  "Did you have to slap me that hard?"

"Do you want to live?"

"Huh?"

"You weren't listening.  There's more of them on the way.  We've got to
get out of here now!  I'll take Artemis, you lead."

Oh, right.  We're in the middle of a warehouse full of these jerks.  "I'll
take care of anyone who gets in our way."

"You will stay AWAY from trouble.  If anyone else dies here today, it will
be you.  Venus Crescent Beam..."

She's aiming for me.  Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod...

"SMASH!"

...

I'm still alive?  Did she miss?

She changed her aim at the last second.  Bad time to blink...ok, bad time
to cover my face with my arms in a paniced and futile attempt to block her
attack.  She hit the wall.  Is that the street on the other side of the
hole?  "Wha..."

"When the police told me this was one of the crooks' hideouts, I looked up
the maps of the place in City Records.  I would've come earlier, but I
wasn't sure Artemis was here.  If I was seen here and he wasn't..."

"Don't worry, V.  Mercury told them to keep me alive.  The worst they did
to me was feed me some of that stuff they call cat food.  I wasn't sure if
it was poison or not!"  Artemis is such a liar.  I can see the pain that
speaking causes him.

At least Mina got a chuckle out of it.  "Ok, ok, Artemis.  When we get
home, I'll dice up a chicken leg for you."

Show no fear.  Show no fear.  "I...I thought you were going to..."  Nice
try, Lita.

Ok, NOW show fear.  Mina's look was made for it.  "I will.  IF."

...if I don't do as she says.  Right.  Let's get out of here.

"YOW!  Artemis!  What'd you do that for?"

"V."  Now HE'S upset?  Uh-oh...  "Do not threaten the other Sailors'
lives."

"Look, Art-"

I sometimes wonder if part of being a Sailor Scout is actual telepathy, or
if there's some other way we sense danger.  I know that there are actual
psychics out there: Amy's friend Greg is one, through the power of the
Shadows.  It would certainly explain Raye's powers, too.  Then again,
maybe we were able to duck in the split second between when we heard the
bullets' firing and when the bullets actually reached where we used to be.

One way to deal with this.  "JUPI-"

What, is she TRYING to knock me into their line of fire?  That tackle sure
felt like it.  "V!"

"Don't EVEN think about it!"

"Look, it's them or us.  You wouldn't really kill me, would you?"

That got the goons' attention.  They've stopped firing.

"I would have killed them in a heartbeat, before I met Serenity.  I can
not allow my friends to go down that path."

Only one chance.  She doesn't want to do this, so she's just slow enough
to let me knock her arm away for a second.  "JUPITER..."

"VENUSCRESCENTB-"

"...THUNDER..."  That's all I need to summon lightning; just enough to
jolt and distract her.

Now the goons have started aiming again.  Too late.

"...CRASH!"  Tone down the power.  They drop just like the others, but I'd
better check their pulse.

Yes!  "They're still alive, V.  Just unconcious."  Now, the hard part.
"You really would have."

"To protect you."

"Protect me?  From what?"

"Me."

...  "Huh?"

"To protect you from becoming the monster I was, Lita, yes, I would have
killed you.  I'm sorry."

"That makes no sense."

I can see she really is sorry.  "Even the vilest human being can know
love, Jupiter.  When you start treating life as disposable, when you don't
care who dies, when you live and fight for anger and revenge instead of
saving those you care about...I couldn't feel love any more.  Ironically,
my worst enemy, a servant of the Negaverse, brought me back with his love.
But, for a time, I was no longer human.  Only the monstrous parody that
Sailor V had become.  I said I was a fighter for love and justice.  That
had become the biggest lie of my life, but I swore to make myself worthy
of that title once again.  I could not bear to let you go through the same
thing."

"Mina..."

"From now on, when I ask you not to follow me, please don't.  For your own
good."

"Come on, you two!  They're waiting for us!"  You know how to spoil the
moment, Artemis...

...but you're right.  "Let's go!"

I'm sorry, Mina.  I'm sorry you had to suffer.  And, I promise, I won't
torture you by going where you've been.

None of my friends should be there.

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