******

"You mean, Sailor Venus," Darian corrected.

"No, I mean Sailor V.  I was still a mile from her house, in one of the
seedier parts of the city.  Seeing her here could only mean one thing."

"She was going after Artemis."

******

That's what she said, when I asked her.

"Were you trying to call me earlier?  I turned my communicator off for a
few minutes while I mugged a mugger," she added.

"You promised Serena you wouldn't do this," I protested.

"That was before Artemis got kidnapped.  I figure, if I interrogate enough
criminals, one of them has got to know where Artemis is being held."

"The police will find him when they find the ones who took him.  That's
their job.  Let them do it."  This was clearly not getting through to her,
so I tried a different tactic.  "What about your family?  What about
school?  How will you explain Mina's disappearance?  This isn't like our
battles with the Negaverse, you know.  This could take weeks."

"When we're done, I'll just say Mina got mistaken for Sailor V, and
kidnapped.  Serena can use her Disguise Pen to pretend to be me, and back
up my story."

"If she lives," I muttered.

"If she...WHAT?"  Mina knelt so our eyes were level.  "What do you mean,
'if she lives'?"

"She got in the way of one of Raye's fireballs.  She's in no condition to
pretend to be anybody."  After a moment, I queried, "Has Amy tried to
contact you?"

"No."  She pulled out her communicator and pushed the button for Amy, but
got no response.  "Something tells me we'd better check on her.  Come on,
Luna."

We stopped by Amy's house, but she had not been home.  On a hunch, we
checked Aqualite as well, but there was nobody there.  Trying the door, we
were both suprised when human shaped blobs of water seemed to melt out of
the walls and attack.

Mina managed to hit all of them with a single Love Chain.  Fortunately,
the monsters turned into puddles of water when the chain touched them.
Unfortunately, or so I thought at first, the chain also left a deep gouge
in the laboratory's wall.

After the short fight, we heard a mild sobbing.  We both followed it
around the side of the laboratory, but not before I noticed the slash in
the wall healing itself.  Mina gasped before I could point this out.  When
I caught up to her, I could see why: Sailor Mercury was sitting nearby,
crying into her hands.

"Stay back," she warned.

We looked at each other, then continued approaching her.

"Please.  I'm dangerous."

"Amy?" Mina asked.

"I'm the source of the monsters."

Mina was too shocked to reply, so I did.  "What are you saying?"

"Those monsters at the school, at my house, and the ones you fought just
now.  They're manifestations of my power.  I'm losing control, I can feel
it."  She paused to cry again.  Through the sobs we heard, "I...can't...
be...Sailor...Mercury."

"Amy, please, start making sense.  You are Sailor Mercury, right now!"

"But, if I stay like this, I'll lose control again.  The monsters could
come back.  Someone could get hurt."

"Amy..."  Mina reached out.

Amy jerked away.  "DON'T TOUCH ME!"  She shrank away, slowly getting to
her feet.  "Don't come near me for the rest of tonight."  She held up her
transformation wand.  "I've got to destroy this, before it's too late."

"AMY, NO!"  I leapt at Amy to take her wand away before she could act on
her threat.

"MERCURY BUBBLES, BLAST!"

I was caught off guard by the expanding pressure wave.  Fortunately, Mina
was a bit more alert, and managed to catch me after Amy's attack knocked
me off course.  However, when we looked up, Amy was already gone.

******

"It's a good thing her threat was hollow," Luna sighed.

"She couldn't bring herself to do it?  Or, she wanted to, but she could
not break the wand?"

"Neither.  I could make another one, eventually, if she destroyed hers.
The same goes for most of what I have given them.  Of course, I don't let
the Sailor Scouts know that; if I did, Serena might get even more careless
with her equipment.  It's not the replacement I dread so much as if
someone found it, and figured out what it was used for.  The Scouts'
identities must be protected.  I'm surprised they haven't let the secret
slip to more people as it is.  No, her threat was just a bluff, to put us
off guard."

"Why would she do that?"

"For the same reason she almost fought Raye after school the next day."

******

Lita and I had been trying to cheer up Raye, but she insisted on dwelling
on Serena's absence.

Amy announced her presence simply.  "YOU MURDERER!"

Raye did not react visibly.  Lita and I looked at Amy, but almost did not
recognize the angry woman in front of us.  Lita stood up, ready to put
herself in harm's way in case a fight broke out.

"It wasn't my fault," Raye finally spoke.  "Serena got in the way."

"Oh, really?" Amy replied.  "Then, why did you attack in the first place?"

"I sensed a great evil.  One so powerful, I...I just lost control.  I had
to attack, to strike it down."

"And what was this evil?  Me, I suppose?"

Raye just nodded.

Lita and I stared, not believing our eyes or ears.

"You should have told me you wanted Serena dead.  That, at least, would
have been believable."  Amy turned to address us.  "In the future, please
stay away from this pyromaniac, and tell Darian, Mina, and Artemis to do
so, too.  I do not think I could live with myself if she killed another of
my friends."  She stormed off.

Nothing further needed to be said.  Nothing more was said, either, before
Mina called on our communicators.  "Good news, guys."

"We could use some," mumbled Lita.

"I've got a lead on Artemis.  If it's correct, I'll have him back within
an hour."  A bus pulled up behind Mina, temporarily distracting her.
"Oops, my ride's here.  I'll fill you in later.  Don't try to follow me."
She flashed a V sign on the communicator's screen before signing off.

Lita was running before I noticed.  I scrambled to catch up with her.
"Where are you going?"

"I recognized Mina's bus.  I know where she's headed."

"But she asked us not to follow her."

"So?  I won't.  I'll show up before she does.  You stay with Raye."

Only then did I look back and see that Raye was not following us.  When I
looked up again, Lita was already gone.  With nothing else to do, I
followed Lita's request.

------

Half an hour later, Raye was praying at the temple.  Although her voice
was quiet, I thought I heard her wishing for Serena's health to return.
Not that I thought it would do much good at the time, but I did not want
to dash her hopes just yet.  With nothing else to do, I suddenly
remembered that I had not contacted you.

******

"I already knew.  Amy told me," Darian replied.

"I feared as much."

"Don't worry, Luna.  I could tell she was not telling me the entire truth.
This was about two hours ago, right?"

"Correct.  As fortune would have it, Mina had left her communicator on, so
I was able to witness what happened next."

******

I could see that she was in a warehouse, apparently near the shipping
district.  Although it was dark, I saw a movement behind some crates, as
did Mina.  From her gloves, I could tell that she was already in her
Sailor V guise.

"VENUSCRESCENTBEAMSMASH!"

And she was getting her attacks off faster than I ever had seen.

"Eep!"  Whatever she was firing at ducked, just in time.

"Come out of there with your hands up," Mina shouted.

Sailor Jupiter did as ordered.

I could almost hear Mina's eyes rolling.  "I thought I told you not to
follow me."

"I didn't.  I've been waiting here for the past five minutes."

"Lita, get out of here.  I've dealt with these criminals before.  You
haven't."

"So?"

"So, this isn't like dealing with the Negaverse, or those aliens.  Come
with me and we'll both regret it."

"If I don't come with you, I'll regret it," Lita replied.

I heard Mina take in a breath to reply, then hold it for a second as she
considered something.  "I don't have time to argue.  Just follow me, and
keep quiet."

"Yes, ma'-"

Mina slapped a hand over Lita's mouth, cutting her off.  Lita's eyes
looked to the side, apparently following Mina's, and I heard footsteps in
the distance.  Carefully, Mina let go of Lita and tipped over a hollow red
crate, which had concealed a trap door.  They snuck inside, and moved
through an area with too little light for Mina's communicator's camera to
pick up.

When the screen finally lit up again, they were in the doorway of a large,
empty room.  Artemis was in the exact center, his paws individually
chained to the ceiling, and his head in a large, funnel-shaped collar that
prevented him from trying to bite the chains.  His fur was smudged in
places; the only possible causes of these marks were tortures that I did
not care to think about.  Guarding him were three goons in dark business
suits; the ceiling lights were just bright enough to glint off of their
pistols.  They were standing back to back to back with their guns raised,
as if they knew danger was near.

"Three of them, two of us, and we'll have to dodge bullets while we
charge," Mina said.  "Not my idea of fun."

Lita glanced sideways at Mina as if trying to decide whether her partner
had gone insane, then stepped out into the office.  "I am Sailor Jupi-"

Mina quickly grabbed Lita back to the hallway outside the office as the
goons opened fire.  One of the bullets grazed Lita's arm, but the rest
missed.

"That..always...worked..." Lita panted once her suprise faded enough that
she remembered to breathe.

"I told you, this isn't the Negaverse," Mina scolded.

"Ok, no speech.  JUPITER THUNDER..."

Mina yanked her hand off of Jupiter before the gathering electricity could
touch her.  "DON'T!"

Lita jumped through the doorway, above the goons' aim.  "...CRASH!"

The guns went silent, and Mina bolted through the door.  Sure enough, the
goons were down.  Mina quickly checked their pulses.

"Nailed 'em."  Lita sounded happy.

"Killed them."  Mina did not.

No sound for a moment.

"Three human beings, Lita.  With lives, and families.  Dead, because of
you."

"I..."

"Not long before I met you, when I saw what Sailor V was becoming, I swore
to myself that no more people would die because of Sailor V.  No more
human lives would be lost."  Mina sounded close to losing control, and
from the communicator's camera, I could see one of her fists balled up
under Lita's jaw.  "You have just broken my promise," she snarled.

"...I'm sorry..."

"I told you we'd regret it if you came."  Mina pointed to one of them.  "I
knew this one; he's the one who slipped up and lead me here.  Mr. Haruna."

"Haruna?"  Lita gulped.  "Like our teacher, Mrs. Haruna?"

"Her brother.  His illegal income was helping to support her.  At the
least, you should apologize to her for this, so she will know how he died.
And why."

"I will."

One of Mina's tears rolled down the camera's lens.  "And know this: you
will remember today for the rest of your life.  Even when you have done
everything you can to make up for it, you will never fully regain what
peace you had.  You may force yourself to be cheerful, but inside, you
will...you CAN...never be the same again.  Monsters of evil know nothing
other than fighting, cruelty, and obedience; they live to serve and die
for their masters.  But even the vilest human being can know love..."

Artemis coughed.  "You're being a little rough on her, V."

Mina began undoing his restraints.  "She insisted on coming.  Now she can
see why I fight crime alone, but welcome company against other enemies."

"Speaking of which," Artemis replied, "I should warn you...Amy set you
up."

I had not heard Raye sneak up behind me.  "Amy WHAT?" she exclaimed.

The communicator's view spun; I would guess that Mina jumped in surprise.
When the view stopped, it was looking at Mina.

"You left your communicator open," I answered before Mina could ask the
obvious.

"Then we won't have to call you," Artemis replied.  "Amy delivered me for
the bounty on Sailor V, planning on giving you a story to make her rescue
me.  She even asked the goons to rough her up to make her story more
believable."

"Thanks for the warning.  Are you alright, Artemis?"

"I'll live.  Thanks for the concern."  He smiled directly into the
communicator.

"Huh.  Don't let it go to your head.  I think we all know where we should
go next."

******

"Aqualite," Darian mused.

"No one had to say it.  Although, once we were there, I did have a hard
time convincing Raye to wait for the others.  I was doing well enough,
though, until you appeared on Aqualite's doorstep.  Or, rather, what we
thought was you."

******

The laboratory seemed as abandoned as always, but this time, no monsters
appeared when we touched the door.  It was unlocked, so Raye insisted that
we wait inside.  The lobby seemed just like that of any other office
building, but the utter lack of people, even considering that night had
already fallen, seemed a bit odd.  Shortly after we entered, 'Darian'
walked through the front door.

"Raye," 'Darian' beamed, "thank you!"

Raye blinked.  "For what?"  She unconsciously walked towards him.

"For freeing me.  For breaking destiny."  He held out a single,
long-stemmed rose.

"Darian?"  She took the rose and sniffed it.  I could tell she was going
into a trance, especially when she showed no reaction to my yelling a
warning.

"I was fated to marry Serena.  But now, by killing her, you have freed my
heart to follow my true love.  You."

"Then...you're glad I..."  Her eyes seemed glazed and far away.

"Yes."  He clasped her hand, smiling.

Her free hand slapped his head off.

'Darian' melted back into the floor, along with his rose.

"I'm sorry," Amy giggled.   "I would have made him tougher if I'd known
you like it rough."

Raye and I turned as one, and saw Sailor Mercury leaning in an interior
doorway, grinning.

"The real Darian would never forgive me," retorted Raye.

******

"She's wrong.  I do forgive her," replied Darian.

"Make sure to tell her that when you see her," advised Luna.  "She really
believes what she said."

******

"What's going on?" I demanded.

"Why don't you ask her?"  Amy smiled, and pointed to another of her
constructs: a parody of Serena, with only a charred skeleton where her
skin should have been.  Oddly, the parody's hair was intact; even her
braids were not burnt.

"Why, Raye?" the parody asked.  "Why did you do this?"

"I already told you," Raye growled, still facing Amy but watching the
parody out of the corner of her eyes.

"You sensed I was evil," Amy answered, dismissing the parody with a
thought.  "We only have your word on that, but even if you told the truth,
how do you know you can trust your senses?  Have they been failing you
lately?  You attacked Serena when we first met you; perhaps you thought
she was evil then?  Or now?"  I had expected anger, but her voice seemed
calm, even a bit happy.

Raye gasped, then looked at me.  I knew she was wondering if I had told
Amy about her misdetection at Amy's house, so I shook my head to answer
no.

"And, if you can't trust it, is it worth acting on?  Taking a life?"  She
grinned, and I thought I saw a spark of red in her eyes.  "You killed
Serena, your...our...best friend, for no good reason.  You will remember
that for the rest of your life.  I could go around reminding everyone, but
I will be merciful."

Raye charged, but a web of gelatinous water materialized out of the floor
and lifted Amy to safety before Raye could get to her.

"Now, Raye," Amy chided.  "Violence will get you nowhere."

"MARS FIRE IGNITE!"  Raye's fireball headed for Amy, but Amy's net shifted
the target away.  The fireball created a hole in the ceiling, which
quickly sealed.

"Is the pyro feeling a bit outthought?"  Her cheerfulness seemed most out
of place, given the seriousness of the situation.  "I've planned for every
trick you might try.  You're helpless."  Tendrils of water leapt from the
floor and ceiling, binding Raye tight.  "And now, Raye, it is time to end
your life, to make up for the one you ended."

A glowing disc severed the top tendrils, then boomeranged back to sever
the bottom ones.  When our eyes followed it back to its owner...

******

"Go on," Darian interjected when Luna paused.

Luna blushed.  "Well, I'm afraid I fainted when I saw Sailor Moon."

"Ah, so this is the part you want me to fill in," Darian replied.

"Partly.  I also want to know how she recovered."

Darian took a breath.  "Well, I was keeping a vigil on Serena..."

======

I was practicing my rose tosses into a vase next to her bed.  I tried not
to look at Serena; even though only her face and hair were outside her bed
covers, they were scarred and burnt enough that even glimpsing them told
me what the rest of her body must have looked like.  I could feel that a
way to revive her was right there, if only I could see it.

Then I saw it, just as she woke up.

"Tuxedo Mask?"  Her voice was weak.

"I'm here."  I did not know what to say.

"I had a terrible nightmare.  Raye..."  She was trying to cry, but could
not.  I hoped it was just because she was too tired.

"It was no nightmare."  I picked up her brooch, opened it, and carefully
pulled her hands out from under the covers.  "Stay with me; don't let
yourself fall asleep again."

"But I'm so tired."  She winced from the pain of motion, but at least it
was keeping her awake.

I placed her brooch in her hands.  "Just say the words, Serena.  Repeat
after me.  Moon..."

"moon..."  Her voice was still weak, but I sensed hope.

"Crystal..."

"...Crystal..."  She seemed to regain strength even before the magic
completed.

"Healing..."

"...Healing...ACTIVATION!"

The monitors she had been hooked to all flatlined.

It took me long enough to figure out that their sensors had merely fallen
off that I missed Serena's healing, and did not notice her transform to
Sailor Moon.  When I looked at her again, it was as if she had never been
injured.  Even her braids were at full length.  "You look..."

"I feel fine."  She walked around the room, gathering her possessions.
"What happened?  The last I remember, I was protecting Amy from Raye..."

"I don't know."  I had picked up her communicator, which was set to tracer
mode.  "But whatever it was, something's happening now."  I showed her the
screen.  "The other Scouts are converging on Amy.  We'd better check it
out."

======

Luna smacked herself on her forehead with a paw.  "The Empyrean Crystal!
How could I forget?"

"You thought she was unconscious.  She can't use the crystal when she's
asleep."

"Oh, right.  Anyway, I gather that Amy had not entirely been in control of
herself since her nightmare, but I do not know the specifics."

"I do.  At least, I do now," replied Darian.  "It came out during the
fight.  While you three were stunned by her entrance, Serena used her
crystal to heal Amy."

"Heal?"

"We'd already tested Aqualite's walls.  They were pure water, shaped by
the same force that made the monsters.  When she saw the fight, Serena
just assumed that something had possessed Amy...and she guessed right."

======

At first, it seemed that nothing had happened.  Slowly, water dripped out
of Amy's skin, until she appeared a bit shriveled.  The water swirled
around itself, slowly taking shape...

"Titana," Serena finally said, her voice on edge.  "I thought we destroyed
you."

"No such luck, I'm afraid," the former Negaverse servant replied.  "You
wounded me, but with all of Tokyo Bay right there, I could easily lay low
until I recovered.  I thought you would have noticed that I did not
disintegrate."  Her voice seemed to be permanently cheery, as if her
universe was pure delight.

"So, why come back now?" queried Raye.  "Your masters are gone.  Your
cause is lost."

"Revenge.  I could have been one of Beryl's generals, if she still
survived.  You ruined my life, so now I have ruined yours.  Even as we
speak, your two friends are heading to their deaths in a futile attempt to
save their cat."

Raye grinned.  I followed her line of sight, and saw Sailor Jupiter
sneaking up behind Titana, while Sailor Venus tended to a bandage where
Lita had been shot.

"But before I could take care of you, I had to enhance myself to counter
your powers."  Titana pointed at Raye.  "Take, for instance, your sense
for evil.  I can control it, to hide myself completely..."

Raye's eyes widened in suprise.

"...or make you lose control."

Raye frowned.  "I'll...never...lose," she said with difficulty, her
concentration split between forming the words and backing them up.

"No, you probably won't, now that you're expecting it.  But you weren't,
when I made you burn Sailor Moon.  Speaking of which..."  She faced
Serena.  "I'm suprised that you would throw away your friend's life like
that."

"What do you mean?" Serena demanded.

"You didn't know?  My water was infused in every cell in her being.  By
stripping my essence from her, you've dehydrated her fatally."  She
cackled.  "Amusing to think that you did it by 'healing' her."

"You can't kill someone by healing them!"

"Care to bet your life on it?  You've already bet hers."

"Enough!" Raye shouted.  "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND!"

The fire attack turned Titana into steam, but she quickly reformed.

"Did I mention that another of my enhancements was invulnerability to your
attacks?  You can cut me, boil me, or freeze me...if your friend was still
around...and I won't care," she gloated.

As if her words were not bad enough, her voice was starting to get to me,
so I did what came naturally.  I tossed a rose straight at her.

It went straight through her.

"Even your magic won't work against me.  Anything that is water, I can
control."

"Thanks for the tip," Sailor Jupiter quipped.  "JUPITER THUNDERCRASH ZAP!"

I don't think they had chemistry in the Negaverse.  Her scream as she
disintegrated was not caused so much by the fear of death, as by the fear
of not understanding that her body was no longer water.  The important
thing is, she disintegrated, as did the Aqualite building.  When we were
done wiping water from our eyes, all that was left was a vacant lot, us,
and...

======

"...that briefcase," Darian said, pointing to the container Luna had
brought in.

"The splash woke me up.  When I saw the briefcase, and I heard Artemis
identify it as the one the crooks had give Amy, I knew what was about to
happen.  That's why I asked to meet you here, now."

"I see.  I bet the girls were a little puzzled when I left."

"They were, but they were more relieved to see Amy get back up.  She
remembered nothing since Titana possessed her during her nightmare.  Given
that, the others were more than willing to forgive her for what happened."

"And the briefcase?"

"Mina wanted to keep it, but Serena, Raye, and Lita all voted against, on
the grounds that profiting from blood money was wrong.  Before anyone
could get any ideas, I touched it, and turned it into a swirl of sparks
which seemed to disappear into my mark," Luna concluded, touching the
crescent moon on her forehead.  "I so hate carrying anything not of the
moon in there, but it had to be done."

"LUNA!" Serena's voice echoed, causing both present to jump and look
around.

"Serena?"  "Where are you?"

"Luna left her communicator open," Mina giggled.  "We've been listening
in."

"Luna, when I get my hands on you..." Serena fumed.  "You tricked us!"

"Darian?" Raye queried before Luna and Serena could start arguing.  "I'm
sorry I..."

Darian cut her off.  "You're forgiven.  Just don't let it happen again."

"I won't."  Raye lowered her voice.  "Even if the brat could use an
attitude adjustment."

"Raye!"  Lita's voice came in loud and clear over Serena's muffled crying.
"Stop being so mean to her!" 

As the Sailor Scouts' voices dropped back to their standard cacophony,
Artemis spoke up.  "Well, Luna, looks like things are back to normal."

"Indeed.  Although..."  Luna switched off her communicator.  "Darian,
would you mind terribly if I slept here tonight?  I think it would be a
good idea to give Serena some time to forget about my deceit before I see
her again."

"No problem.  I've got a perfect cat bed."  He gestured to the empty
briefcase.  "And, in the morning, it turns into a scratching post."

Luna purred.  Once again, things had worked out for the best.  If only
things would always do so...

"Of course they will."  Darian scratched Luna between her ears.  "You need
to stop worrying so much."

And to stop thinking out loud.

Her thoughts became incoherent as she stretched out in the empty
briefcase.  Her  last conscious act that night was to look out the window.
Tonight, like most nights that the Sailor Scouts had seen action, there
was a crescent moon out...

Side Stories

More fics
Home