by Johinsa
Sailor Mercury stared in horror at the single red rose floating on the surface of the water. Beside her, she heard Sailor Moon gasp as the other girl realized what must have happened.
Jeddite chuckled. "That's all that's left of your precious Tuxedo Mask. And now, to get rid of you--"
I'll kill him. The thought came unbidden into Mercury's mind. I swear it on my honour as a Sailor Scout and on everything else that matters. Jeddite has to die.
"I don't know, guys." Raye lay on the floor of her room, reading a comic book. "I think Jeddite's toast. He hasn't shown up at all for the past month."
"But that doesn't make sense," Serena protested. "He nearly beat us lots of times. Why would Beryl kill him? It just doesn't seem logical."
"Serena's right." Amy looked over from the computer, where she was doing her homework. "There has to be an explanation."
Lita shrugged. "I guess. I know I'm new at this, but I do know something about military organizations. Maybe Jeddite was just demoted for his failure and this new general, Zoisite, was put in his place."
"Makes sense. But hey, why worry about it?" Serena grinned. "It's a beautiful day, the sun is shining, birds are singing, and the Burger Barn is having an all-you-can-eat sale!"
"I'm surprised they don't go out of business in this neighbourhood, with ad campaigns like that," Raye muttered, intending to be overheard. "Aren't they worried Serena will eat up everything in the store?"
"I'm ignoring you," Serena informed her. "I'm too mature to take offense at that sort of thing."
"Sure you are, meatball head."
"Quit calling me meatball head!" Serena shouted. "Why are you guys always picking on me?" She sat down on Raye's bed, bawling.
Lita stared at her. "Is she usually like this?"
"Most of the time," Amy admitted. "They're always fighting. You sort of get used to it after awhile." At the moment, though, she wasn't thinking about Serena and Raye. She was considering the idea that Jeddite might have lived. I swear it on my honour as a Sailor Scout... If he lived, she would kill him. He couldn't be allowed to survive. Not after all the things he'd done to the Scouts. Not after--
"Earth to Amy! Hey, where'd you drift off to?" Lita asked. She looked at Amy's face, concerned. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Amy managed. "What did you say?"
"I said, we're going to the Burger Barn. Coming?"
Amy grinned. "Sure. Let's see if Serena really can eat everything they have in stock."
"You're all so mean," Serena grumbled. "Just for that, you have to lend me some money. I already spent my allowance."
"Let's go, guys," Raye said, putting on her shoes. "It's too good a day to waste!"
"You got that right!" Amy headed out the door. But even the prospect of a day out with her friends couldn't entirely take her mind off thoughts of the negaverse. What if he really is alive? What will I do?
The answer, of course, was simple.
She would kill him.
Jeddite lay on his back on a glittering black plain. There were stars overhead, in constellations that were only vaguely familiar. The negaverse was far vaster than the planet Earth, and you could usually tell by the stars exactly where you were, but this wasn't a place he'd been to before.
He sat up and looked around. There were hundreds or maybe even thousands of other people lying in rows on every side of him. Some, like him, were conscious and looking around. Some were still sleeping, and some appeared to be dead. The black plain extended for miles in every direction. It wasn't really glittering, he realized now; the shine came from tiny pieces of glass or crystal scattered across the--
Jeddite gasped. He knew where he was now. This had to be the Crystal Fields.
When Queen Beryl was displeased with someone, she had them sealed in a block of crystal, just as she had done to Jeddite. It was then deposited here, in the Crystal Fields, and the inhabitant was forgotten. Those with strong enough powers usually survived. The others--didn't. "I've got to get out of here," Jeddite said to himself.
"You can't. Believe me, we've tried." Startled, he turned and found himself looking up at a copper-haired girl standing just behind him. "There's a shield around this whole place," she explained. "No-one can teleport in or out. Besides, where would you go?"
Jeddite stared at her. "What do you mean, where would I go? I'd return to Queen Beryl and ask for a second chance."
The girl nodded, as if confirming something in her thoughts. "So you're from Beryl's reign, then. I'd figured as much. The thing is, this place exists sort of--" She waved her hands, trying to frame the concept. "Outside time, I guess. I'm no scientist, but there are people here from as far back as the Granite Dynasty, and some from before that whose times we can't even place. And then there are some who come from a time ahead of yours, when some generals named Malachite and Darien rule under Beryl."
"Malachite," Jeddite muttered. "So that's who replaced me." He tried to figure out this idea. "What you're saying is that if I did manage to teleport out, I could end up--"
"Anywhere," she agreed. "Any time. This is all just speculation, of course; no-one's ever gotten out. I'm one of the strongest, and I couldn't even come close."
Jeddite examined her, reaching out tentatively with tendrils of his power. She seemed to be about a quarter of his strength, if that. Maybe he had a chance after all. "I'm going to try to teleport out of here," he said.
The girl had clearly expected this. "Everyone has to try at least once before they start to believe they're stuck here," she said complacently. "Tell me when you're done."
He gathered his energy and probed outward. The shield was about a mile above the ground and twelve miles away on each side. There were no weak points that he could detect. He'd just have to try using brute force to punch a hole through it.
Carefully, Jeddite drew in his power and formed it into an energy lance. He threw it straight upward, and vanished after it.
He was falling down a steep slope. Branches and rocks tore at him as he careened wildly, out of control. Almost instinctively he reached for his power to slow his fall, and found--nothing.
Jeddite realized immediately what must have happened: the shock of his passage through the shield had temporarily burned out his powers. He was as helpless as any mortal, for now, and it could be days or even weeks before he recovered.
With a sudden jolt, Jeddite struck the ground at the bottom of the hill. He stood slowly and looked at his surroundings. There were trees all around, and he couldn't see for more than a few meters in any direction. This was definitely a strange part of the negaverse.
He began walking, remembering from somewhere that when you were lost in the woods, you were supposed to walk downhill. It seemed to be the correct choice; after a few minutes, he emerged from the trees and found himself beside a road. It was paved with some sort of grey stone or cement, almost like--
Then it hit him. He wasn't in the negaverse at all anymore. He was on Earth.
This was too much for Jeddite to deal with right now. He collapsed, unconscious, beside the road.
The loudspeaker on the wall of Amy's office crackled to life. "Dr. Anderson to the ER, please. Dr. Anderson to the ER, please."
Amy stood quickly. "I'd better go," she said. "I'm sorry about this--"
"It's no problem," Neo-Queen Serena answered, smiling. "Reeny and I will just wait here until you come back. Okay?"
"Thanks." Amy darted out the door, nearly knocking over a coatrack on the way out.
Serena looked down at the pink-haired girl beside her. "Don't worry. Doctor Amy will be back in a few minutes and then we can get your checkup all finished. Okay?"
"Don't want a checkup," Reeny muttered. "I'm not sick."
"Now, don't sulk," Serena admonished her. "It'll only take a couple of minutes, and then we can go and get ice cream after."
Reeny's face brightened. "Ice cream!"
"Good girl. We'll just wait here for Doctor Amy."
"Who's the patient?" Amy asked as she entered the emergency room.
The duty nurse, Pamela, shrugged. "John Doe patient, no ID. Came in with respiratory distress, bruises, and what looked like severe scratches or animal bites. I put him on oxygen but it didn't seem to do any good."
"Let me take a look." Amy walked quickly over to one of the beds, where the man was lying. He did indeed look as though he'd been mauled by an animal, but that didn't explain the other injuries or his general appearance. His blond hair was matted with dirt and twigs, and a three-day beard stubbled his face. He was naked aside from the hospital gown, and a pattern of yellowed bruises mottled his back. Amy decided he'd probably been out in the woods for several days and was suffering from exposure. "Where'd he come from, Pam?"
"I'm not sure," Pamela admitted. "The woman who brought him in said she found him lying beside the highway. She thought he'd been in a car accident, but that's clearly not the case."
"Mm-hmm." Amy looked at him again. He seemed familiar somehow--She shook her head, irritated. That was ridiculous; she'd never seen him before. "After we get done here, I want you to call my secretary and have her check city records--"
By the time Amy returned to her office, Serena had gone. She'd left a note saying that she had to attend a meeting but would call Amy's secretary for another appointment. Amy understood, of course; she knew how busy Serena was. Running Crystal Tokyo was a difficult job.
The man's elusively familiar face continued to bother Amy as she packed her briefcase to go home. She hadn't been able to recognize him clearly with his injuries and the oxygen mask, but there was something about him...
"Bad day today, hon?" Greg asked as Amy came in. "You've got that look on your face. What happened?"
"Nothing important," Amy said, smiling. "I just had the weirdest feeling of deja vu today. Like I'd seen one of my patients before, except I don't think I could have."
"Well, you know a lot of people," Greg answered reasonably. "You're one of the best doctors in Crystal Tokyo. Doesn't it make sense that you might have seen him and forgotten?"
Amy sighed. "I guess. It's probably nothing. How was your day?"
"Oh, not bad. I took the girls to the park, did some shopping--same old, same old."
"Sounds like fun. I'd probably better go start dinner, and then I've got some papers to look over-- "
Greg caught her arm, grinning. "I already ordered dinner. You work way too hard, Amy, you need to take a break sometimes."
"Well, if you insist--" Amy decided to forget about the mysterious stranger. She had more important things to think about right now.
Sailor Mercury stared in horror at the single red rose floating on the surface of the water. Beside her, she heard Sailor Moon gasp as the other girl realized what must have happened. Jeddite chuckled. "That's all that's left of your precious Tuxedo Mask. And now, to get rid of you-- "
Amy awoke in a cold sweat. "What's wrong? Amy, are you okay?" Greg asked, sitting up beside her.
She turned to him, her face grim. "I just had a dream, Greg. I remembered where I'd seen him before. That man was Jeddite."
"From the Negaverse?" Greg exclaimed. "But how is that possible?"
"I don't know. I don't know. I just--" Amy stood abruptly and pulled her nightgown over her head, putting on a pair of jeans and a sweater. "I have to get over there. I have to make sure."
"Amy?" Greg was staring up at her. "Amy, don't do this."
"Do what? I'm just--"
"Don't kill him. I just had a vision. You're planning to kill him, aren't you." It wasn't a question.
Amy shook her head vehemently. "I'm going to make sure it's Jeddite. That's all. I just have to see him." She picked up her shoes from where they lay beside the door. "Go back to sleep, Greg."
"How can I sleep," Greg snapped, "when my wife is about to commit murder?"
"Murder?" Amy repeated. "Greg, I don't believe this! You know who Jeddite was. He's evil."
"Amy, the war with the Negaverse has been over for years," Greg said. "He's not our enemy anymore. I don't know why he's here, but he can't hurt us the way he is right now."
Amy stared at her husband. It was too dark to see his face, but she knew what his expression would be. "I just have to see him," she said, sounding unconvincing even to herself. "That's all."
"Amy, I saw you. Please. Don't do this."
"I'll be back in a few minutes." Amy left the room. The door clicked shut behind her.
The dim corridors of the hospital were silent and deserted. Amy saw no-one as she headed toward Jeddite's room. She paused for a moment at the door, her hand on the knob. If Greg was right--
"It doesn't matter," she said firmly. She pushed the door open and hurried inside.
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw the figure lying on the bed. There was no mistaking that face. It was him.
Amy hadn't thought this far ahead. In the back of her mind there had still been the hope that maybe she was mistaken, maybe this was just someone who happened to look a little like him, maybe--but now she was sure.
"Greg was right," she whispered. "I'm going to kill him. I have to kill him."
There was no doubt left in her mind. She had to do this. I swear it on my honour as a Sailor Scout... I swear in the presence of the Almighty and before my family, my teachers and my peers...
She was a person of her word--but which oath held here? Jeddite was a monster. He deserved to die. The Hippocratic Oath was never intended to apply in a situation like this.
I will treat without exception all who seek my ministrations... I'll kill him. Jeddite has to die.
"I have to do this," she said aloud. It wouldn't be difficult. Just smother him with a pillow--he wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight--
I will perform the utmost respect for every human life... Jeddite has to die... I will keep this oath... I'll kill him... I will keep this oath... My honour as a Sailor Scout... My oath... My honour...
Amy dropped to her knees beside the bed, sobbing. "Why? Why can't I do this? I know what I have to do. If Jeddite lives--if he lives--" She wasn't a murderer. She had killed before, in battle with the negaverse, but to murder a man in cold blood--it went against everything she believed.
She stood and looked down at him one last time. "If you attack us again, in the negaverse's service," she said, "we will have to kill you. But not this way. It's not right." Amy sighed. "I hope I don't regret this."
She closed the door behind her and left. In the darkened room, Jeddite's eyes opened, shining with a coldly evil light, and he smiled...
End.