A.N. Chapter 2 - Wherein Ami returns to Japan and all hell mysteriously breaks loose.

Six Years previous

The hospital room was coolly lit by the glow of Ami's laptop monitor. Ami had been in the here for days. Weeks maybe? She wasn't too sure anymore. Everything felt somewhat surreal. Viuly's nanites, Mistress 9, Pharoah 90 and then Queen Metaria again. It felt like this whole year had been just one long battle. Death at every turn. Ami remembered the last battle, where Queen Metaria's dying attack had ripped through her body with a vengeance. Her world was now down to pain and disjointed memories.

Sailor Moon screaming, inside a barrier of blood magic

Despair as the Senshi helplessly trapped outside.

Fear, as the glowing, distorted form of Dr Mizuno Sakeo gathered energy to obliterate Sailor Moon.

Horror as she deduced that she alone could walk through the barrier and end this fight

Hopelessness, as she saw no other alternatives

Numbness as she called the Mercury Sword to her hand and committed to act

Pain

Fear

Death

Once again, she relived the memory of breaking through the barrier and running a sword through her mother's heart.

In the weeks that she was recovering in the hospital, Ami lived in her own head. They won, but it wasn't without cost. Things happened around her. Nurses came in and out to change bandages. The police came to ask questions she couldn't answer. Her friends came to comfort her, but to no avail.

Then came the day where Ami couldn't hold it back any longer.

"Why are you here? What more do you want? This is the last thing I have to say to you people. I've had enough. No more. No more sacrifices. How much are you all willing to give?

Rei, are you such a huge bitch to everyone so they don't get close enough find out you're a glorified bodyguard for some Princess of a dead kingdom? Mina…do you spend all day pretending to be an idiot so that when the day comes when we all get killed, no one is surprised that you fucked up? And Mako…will you ever be able to stop fighting? If you want a death in battle, fine. You do it without me.

You want your dream of Crystal Tokyo? Fine, you can do that without me too. I can't give any more, I've got nothing left. You could die and the world can go to hell for all I care. You have no right to talk to me about love and duty. I've done my duty, I killed my mother. For you. For your 'destiny'. NO MORE. Leave me alone. "

That was the last time they had seen Ami. They had left the hospital room shaken. Ami's words had all hit close to home. For such despairing words to be coming from their kind and gentle friend was hard to bear. No one had known what to do. What Ami had said echoed with each of the scouts, alone at night, in the corner of their minds. They were soldiers. Their duty meant that they could at any point, be called upon to sacrifice everything, life or innocence be damned.

Usagi was shaken most of all. Her heart broke again and again as the sacrifice her friends made for her came into sharp focus. She felt unworthy. It took a long while for her to regain the confidence she needed to be Sailor Moon and a long time for the remaining Senshi to come to terms and reaffirm their commitment to duty.

The next day, Ami was gone. Transferred to another hospital for physical rehabilitation her floor nurses were told. No one seemed to know where. The hospital records had mysteriously been corrupted.

Present day

Ami stepped out of the airport into the cool crisp air of a Tokyo winter's day.

It was difficult returning to Japan. She had spent 6 years of living as someone else and had cut off all ties to her life here.

But now she was back.

In a sense, Ami was home.

Ami stood at a crossroads. The path to the left through the park led to the Hikawa Jinja. The right, an open road that led nowhere special, for there was no place else for Ami to be.

The Senshi…

She turned left.

There was so much to do.

And that was when a bolt of dark energy shot out of nowhere and blasted Ami into the black.

A lone figure stood on the steps of the temple; a slender miko sweeping the steps. The setting sun made a tableau of blood red and black shadows.

Rei looked up as she felt something darkly wrong. There was something behind her. Something cold…blue hair...blue eyes…

"…Ami?"

Ami stepped into the light…

"You're here!"

…and ran her through with a dark sword.

As she fell to the steps, the last thing she heard were Phobos' and Deimos' wings and her Grandfather's footsteps as he ran to see what the disturbance was.

The last thing she saw were a pair of dark blue boots and a blood dark sword.

The energy bolt had caught her from behind. Ami landed heavily against the wall of a nearby building. She felt light headed, slow, dull…

Weak That's what I am...weak…

"Attack Ami, show your strength. Show your true power"

Yes

Someone was laughing at her, at her weakness, her inability to defend even herself.

No...no more

Ami called forth the power that was inside. Raw power crashed and cascaded over her. It felt different. Stronger, and wilder. It felt good.

Was it always like this?

A blood-black sword formed form the wispy vapours swirling around her hand. The ice sword had manifested during her last battle as Sailor Mercury. This was the sword that she drove into her mother's heart to kill Metaria.

She felt the sword's lust for blood. It had taken life before. It would do it again. Now.

There was someone else here.

Is this the enemy?

Ami hesitated. Then, she followed through. She felt herself stepping forward and running the ice-sharp blade straight through the enemy. A dark vortex appeared at the tip of Mercury's sword. Dark winds rushed around her, beating at her head and body. The vortex grew. The ground, the sky all became dark. Ami could see the destruction that raged silently around her. At the center of it all, Ami screamed.

And then there was nothing.

Ami woke up lying face down in an alley. The sun was beginning to rise over the skyscrapers of Tokyo.

What the hell happened?

White. Fuzzy. Bright. Hurts.

"Unngh"

Rei awoke in an unfamiliar bed.

"She's awake!"

Frantic shuffling ensued. More than one person came running in through the door.

Rei felt a pair of arms wrap around her as Minako's face came into focus.

"Rei! Thank goodness. We were so worried."

"unn…get off …love you too, Mina-chan...OUCH! Off! What happened? Is Grandpa ok?"

Minako stayed close, offering comfort as Usagi told the story.

"Grandpa is fine. We just sent him home to get some rest. He's been here non-stop since you got out of surgery. Mamo-chan's on the way to the temple to get him, so he'll be here soon. I'm so happy you are awake now. You've been out for 2 days. Grandpa heard a commotion and ran over to find you lying in a pool of blood on the steps. Phobos and Deimos drove the attacker off I think. They were flapping around freaking out. Did you see who did this to you Rei-chan?"

"Ami…."

Four startled eyes looked up at that faint whisper.

"It was Ami...she was here...She stabbed me."

The familiar tone of a communicator pinged throughout the room. Makoto's face drained of colour as looked at her communicator's screen

The flashing blue call sign of Mercury.

It had been a long six years since Ami was gone. There had been no major threats since the second resurgence of Queen Metaria. Ami had ended that threat and paid for it dearly.

In the peace that followed, the Senshi all moved on and made lives for themselves. Rei continued her spiritual training intensively and became (in her grandpa's opinion), one of the finest mikos to ever grace the steps of a temple.

Against her better judgement, Minako found herself joining the ranks of Tokyo's finest, recently promoted to the rank of Officer in the Tokyo MPD's Criminal Investigation Bureau.

Mako pursued her dream of culinary greatness and epic romance and found that she was more successful in the former than the latter. Her new bakery was starting to develop a reputation for delicious, delightful confections while Mako herself developed the skills needed to manage an increasingly complex enterprise.

Usagi, to everyone's delight, finally found a reason to like school: being a teacher. The irony of Usagi professional calling wasn't lost on anyone, but her patience, kindness, and empathy won the hearts of her pupils and made her junior high social studies class a true learning experience.

These skills and experiences would serve the people well the day that Crystal Tokyo arrived. Until then, they were just 4 young women living normal lives as best they could.

However, there was one piece missing from all their lives.

Now, without warning, she was back.

"Guys…its Ami….she's calling on the communicator."

Any other day, this announcement would have been greeted with excitement, the return of a long lost friend and perhaps, the first steps towards healing.

Today however was different.

Rei lay in a hospital bed, lucky to be alive, and Ami the apparent cause.

Everyone froze, unsure of what to do next.

"Is that really Ami?"

"It can't be…."

"Should we answer?"

"What about Rei?"

"What if she's in trouble? What if the Dark Kingdom's got her? We have to just make sure she's ok, we can't...we owe her that much at least."

They hesitated until the beeping stopped.

Ami was gone again.

No answer.

Ami sank to the ground in defeat. Something was very wrong here, and she couldn't even warn the Senshi about it.

Ami felt as though a fire was pulsing through her brain. She fumbled for a bottle of painkillers in her bag.

A new threat to the precious Princess?

Is this why I felt compelled to come back here? Am I unable to escape my destiny as a soldier?

"You know the answer to that"

Ami snapped out of her thoughts. She shook her head, trying to clear it. Usually, there was very little that could escape her when she applied herself, but no pattern emerged from the events of the recent past. Just a confusing jumble of dream and reality. She couldn't concentrate, nothing made sense.

She popped opened her bottle.

Am I going crazy?

"No Ami, embrace it."

That voice, again. In her head. Again.

No, it can't be, it's nothing

Ami turned her attention to something more immediate.

She swallowed 3 pills.

Only 5 left.

Last bottle.

The migraine got worse.

A.N. I tried to keep the POV centered on Ami as much as possible to really isolate her, but a story about Ami isn't complete if there are no other Senshi. Especially if she keeps blacking out like that.

Up next: An interlude, wherein we see the lives that Ami interrupted when she returned. There will be shoujo-ai.