Black Star

Chapter Six: Wonderland

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or Gundam Wing

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For some unknown reason, the girl formerly known as Usagi Tsukino felt the most lavishly decorated room in all of Crystal Tokyo, a place she'd partially decorated herself to comfort her warm heart, had become the coldest corner in the Crystal Palace. She sat quietly in the center of her grand bed, large enough for her to completely stretch her body to its fullest extent each and every way and still not brush the edge. Plush white bulges of the comforter bubbled between her splayed fingers, clenching and rubbing the soft fabric as long billowing drapes mocked her still in the slight breeze with their plain color. Her hair had been let loose from its original style, one which was constantly ridiculed by a woman whom she'd secretly considered her sister. Long tresses weighed down upon her back and blanketed her in gold as some strands spilled over her shoulders like manifest sunlight, gracing her, and her alone, with the only color in the entire room.

The pigtails gone, jewelry removed and with the dress set aside was the only way in which she felt proper to present herself in front of the package that Setsuna had so graciously brought her. Neo-Queen Serenity had been set aside and in the bright infiltrating light from the sun that draped her now luminescent body one could tell: This was Usagi Tsukino. Only as Usagi could she possibly dream of doing what she was about to do— of touching their hearts.

Just as her husband's former generals had had, Neo-Queen Serenity's Senshi— Usagi's sisters— had had corresponding stones, ones delved from deep within the core of their very planets; they were the very making of their Senshi hearts. Unlike the generals, however, these stones contained no increment of memory; no familiarity would surge through their veins, no flutter of pictures from thousands of years ago, and certainly no memory of their modern years as Sailor Senshi. These were the bare necessities; they bore raw power, the flowing and burning strength of Mercury, Mars, Venus and Jupiter and nothing, nothing, more.

Despite the love, the memories, she wished she could give them back, all she could return was power and commitment, something in which Usagi had dubbed confinement. But in a world where good reigned and evil constantly tried to penetrate good's peace, it was all she could give them. Grasping the four stones tightly to her chest, for the first time in years over her lost Senshi, Usagi cried.

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A slow, lazy hand reached out clumsily from beneath milky white covers and fumbled with the alarm clock beside the bed. Finally managing to switch it off, Ami Mizuno sat up and reached her arms above her head, stretching her limbs and grinning as her joints popped. Squinting one eye, she placed a hand over her mouth and yawned as she cracked her toes and slipped out of bed.

She grinned and stepped into her bathroom, going through her usual morning routine before slipping on a black and white striped sweater and a pair of loose blue jeans. Sliding a white headband onto her head she grabbed her purse and walked out of her apartment. Only when she reached the bottom of the steps did she glance at her watch. Groaned she slapped herself slightly on the head numerous times. How can I be late? She chastised herself. I'm never late! She inwardly groaned as she began to chew the inside of her cheek and speed walk to her destination.

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Duo Maxwell glanced at his watch for the thousandth time that morning. Propping his chin up lazily on his hand he began to count all of the letters on the small café's menu signs. How is she late? He thought to himself. She's never late.

In all honesty he was quite embarrassed. He was sitting in a café called Zola's with a cup of coffee that had long since been cold, surrounded by multiple crowded tables. It wasn't the crowd that bothered him, nor that his coffee had gone cold, but the fact that he was alone. He hated sitting alone and found it quite embarrassing. Duo Maxwell was always with one person or another, never alone.

Sighing he watched as the liquid in his cup shifted and wobbled from the outward force of his breath. Picking up a spoon he began to dip it into the caffeinated drink and slurp it up like a kid.

"Coffee with a spoon?" said teasing a voice across from him. "Now that's original."

Duo looked up; his lips paused inches away from the spoon, perked for the next slurp. Grinning he placed a sheepish hand behind his head. "I was busying myself until you got your lazy ass out of bed." Dropping the spoon he leaned back in his chair, more relaxed now that he wasn't alone. "So what's up, how come you're late? I'm usually the late comer. I should have known that the one day I get up early, you'd get up late."

"What can I say?" the girl sitting across from him laughed. "Something's different today." Across from Duo Ami sat, still a little out of breath and her cheeks flushed from running. She opened her mouth to say something else but Duo cut her off.

"Just hurry up and get your coffee to go," he mumbled. "I don't want all of the games at the arcade to be taken before we get there. Someone always manages to get Beegee Destroyer before I do."

Ami shrugged her shoulders before getting up and walking over to the cashiers table. "Agreed," was all Duo could catch her say.

After Ami bought her coffee the two continued on to their destination. Ami held the hot cup with the sleeves of her sweater covering the cardboard. She cursed herself for not picking up one of those little brown sleeves to go over it…what were they called again?

"So," Duo began, breaking up her thoughts. "Did you hear about the new curfew that's been issued?"

Ami glared down at her steaming cup. "Yeah," she mumbled bitterly, "I have." Taking a sip of her coffee she winced and mentally cursed as she burned her tongue. Oh Neo-Queen Serenity, you're like a burnt tongue. Whenever you're there, you're exceedingly annoying. "I don't even see why she did it." Ami had never really seen eye to eye with Neo-Queen Serenity's rule. The only person she'd really openly expressed her seething disagreement to was Duo, only because he honestly didn't care about politics and never fought against her on the matters. "What, is it another point for her in her totalitarian regime that, by the way, is slowly destroying individuality?"

Duo placed his arms behind his head and sighed. Unfazed by her harsh criticism of their Queen, he looked down at his smaller companion and raised an eyebrow. "Gee Ami," he said, "A little harsh, don't you think?"

Ami looked up and glowered at him. "Oh give it a rest, Duo, I know you're just as skeptical as I am," Ami said, jabbing an accusing finger at the taller man. "Come on Neo-Queen Serenity. Why don't you actually tell us what's going on in the world and our own city before you eventually kill diversity and your own people," she said to no one in particular, this time cursing aloud as she burnt her tongue again. "Damn it! Why don't they make this coffee just a little hotter? Then maybe my tongue will turn black, decay and deteriorate!"

Duo chuckled and shoved one hand into his pocket while he used his other to ruffle Ami's hair. "Well," he said with finality, "I've deduced that you're PMS-ing," he joked and pulled his hand from her head before she attempted to smack it away.

"Oh don't even go there, Duo." She gave a heavy sigh. "Am I really the only one cognizant of our corrupt city, of the possible impending danger?"

"Impending danger? Look Ames, maybe you should lay off the coffee a bit, you're starting to use big words," he turned away and mumbled something about the word 'cognizant' as they waited to cross a street.

Ami frowned as she took a daring, yet more controlled and hesitant sip of her coffee. Was he implying that she was paranoid? She might as well have been if no one was going openly question their Queen. Just barely shaking her head she looked up to the clouds and sighed again. Watching them amble aimlessly across the sky made Ami smile. She closed her eyes and let the sun beat down on her face as well as allowed some of the churning disquiet and uneasiness to slip away. Calm yourself, Ami, there's no use getting angry or riled up.

Duo was about to cross the street when he noticed Ami's peaceful and relaxed posture. She stood in a small pocket of sun and basked in its light. His surprised look eased into a smile as he recognized her calming method.

Ami's mind drifted, the warm sun beating down on her face eased her into a state of submissiveness. She was bound to the sun, a slave to its heat and luminosity. But there was something missing, something she couldn't quite place her finger on until it literally fell onto her forehead.

Ami smiled. The substance dripped leisurely onto her face and Ami grinned heartily at the refreshing feeling. How two things so different, the warming, relaxing touch of sun and the refreshing, cool brush of rain, could be so perfect together stymied her. She opened her eyes to cross the street but stopped. Ami stood stunned and utterly befuddled at the panorama of dark pines that enclosed her beneath a case of bristling boughs.

What…How…Where on earth was she? While moments ago she'd been standing, basking in rays of the sun beside Duo, she now stood frozen in shock, surrounded by the musky scent of the pines that circled her like protecting sentries. Ami tipped her head back and peered through the tips of the trees to the darkening clouds above her. As soon as she looked up, the rain was released in torrents of wet sheets, drenching the small, blue-haired girl. Letting her shock and questions drip away with the vaguely florescent beads of water dripping off of her skin, Ami raised her arms to the sky, almost expecting a dramatic clap of thunder in its wake. However, no thunder preceded the deluge and no wind disrupted the calm, susurrant drumming of the heavy downpour.

As she lowered her arms, Ami as well lowered her head and took in a deep breath. Exhaling heavily, eyes still closed, she failed to notice her breath come out as a silvery mist, immediately freezing all drops in its path. The frozen rain fell and cluttered the forest floor like clear, crystal jewels.

She opened her eyes.

Yes… Ami had been here before. She'd visited this place a few times in her dreams. She'd not been to this exact location, per se, (she usually ended up around a river surrounded by invading stones, bigger than Ami dared to fathom) but the smells were the same and the feeling of being one with the surrounding water was undeniably familiar.

She hadn't been here in so long, this inexplicable water wonderland where she could control the one thing she bonded with. Grinning, Ami held out her hands and concentrated. Focusing on each drop of water that landed on her skin, she felt herself begin to absorb the rain, rather than repel it. She became one with it, and it became one with her. No longer coursing through her veins was the life support of blood, but streams of water, powerful currents that now gave power to her mind body and soul. Exhaling she felt her body pulse, something unknown yet so indisputably home rushed from within her and enveloped Ami and the surrounding water around her. This comfort, this… raw power leaked from her every pore and slinked around every droplet that fell from the sky to the earth below.

When the only sound that penetrated Ami's eardrums was the rapid pumping of her heart she dared to open her eyes. Her fingers slowly reached out in astonishment at the veils of rain that surrounded her. The drops had simply frozen in mid air, as if she'd managed to stop time. Ami knew that wasn't the case, for a slight breeze shifted the bristly pines and the needles rustled amongst each other. She brushed back a curtain of water and smiled at how it moved like a silky curtain.

Well jeez. She'd never been able to do this before. The last time she'd visited her mystical dream land she'd managed to create water in the palms of her hands, and sometimes even shoot it outwards like a fountain. But this…this was just too cool. This was just so… right. Something was prying at her gut and Ami felt herself place her hand on her stomach. Trying to deny the new and painful feeling she gripped her shirt and tried to shove it out of her system. She remembered this…this pain. It came only when she felt on the cusp of an answer, the solution on the tip of her tongue, yet something she just, for the life of her, couldn't figure out, couldn't remember.

It was like a locked box weighing her down. She held the key… but something was in her mind was keeping her from opening it—no, something foreign was restraining her from opening it. This pain building behind the first one, however, was different from the previous prickles, tingles she'd felt before. The restraint, the chains keeping her from unlocking the box gave her tingly, sharp warnings. This was much different—

Ami's thoughts were cut off as she felt something tangible wrap around her stomach. It couldn't have been her own arms, for they already cradled her stomach like a child. No, this was cold yet strong and Ami could feel the sinewy fibers that gave it power as it wrapped tighter around her. Looking down Ami started. Wrapping around her like a snake winding around its prey were black, sinuous arms. More appeared behind her and clung to her body; some wrapped around her legs, others pulled at her throat, and some even tugged at her hair.

A groan of pain escaped from Ami's throat as she felt the black arms pull her away from her dream land and into a foreign darkness, somewhere cold and vastly uncomfortable. Trying to escape, Ami found that the more she struggled the tighter the arms wound around her; almost like quicksand. Her air supply was cutting off and Ami almost screamed as a black hand reached up and squeezed her throat. Clenching her eyes closed in pain, the small girl jumped when she heard a voice whisper in her ear.

Ami…

Her eyes opened but her vision was blurred, not that it mattered for she'd been torn from her dream land and now resided in a field of pure blackness.

Ami…

She felt her heartbeat quicken, her pulse drum within her body and her head became lighter and lighter with each passing moment of oxygen deprivation. Out of the corner of her eye she just faintly caught a glimpse of something blue before it vanished. The strange, malevolent voice was about to whisper one more thing to her when Ami felt herself jerked roughly from the blackness.

"Ami!"

Ami shot up from the chair she currently resided in. Inhaling deeply she found she'd never been so happy to be able to breath. Oxygen really was a beautiful thing. She exhaled and repeated such actions a few more times to make sure that she could really breathe. She placed a delicate hand to her throat, still able to feel the hands that gripped her so uncomfortably, so tightly. It had been a long time since she'd been to that dream place, that water wonderland.

Looking to her right she glanced at Duo, barely able to see his features as it was completely dark within the room. She was about to ask Duo where they were when she felt a hand gripping her left shoulder. Jumping up she smacked the hand away and was ready to fight her way from the grasping appendage when she heard a squeak and a girlish "Hey!" omitted from whoever tried to grab her.

Ami squinted in the darkness, finally recognizing the girl in front of her. "Harumi?" she questioned. When the girl gave a blatant "duh" Ami reached out an apologetic hand. "Oh I'm sorry," she giggled, placing a slightly shaking hand over her heart, "you startled me is all."

The girl raised an eyebrow. "I startled you?" she asked. "What's up with you girl? I come over to console you and you flip out!" Harumi leaned close and used her fingers to open Ami's eyes wider. After a shout and tiny, barely harmful slaps from the interrogated girl, Harumi placed her hands on her hips and glared at Ami. "Have you been smoking?" she asked fiercely. "First Duo tells me you pass out in the middle of the street, and now you're freaking out and slapping people!" She leaned in close to Ami's face, which leaned back in surprise. "Sounds like pot to me!" she accused.

"Sounds like what? Pot?! No, I would never! I passed out?"

Duo nodded, though Ami could barely see it in the dimly lit room. "Right in the middle of the street Ames, it was kinda scary, but I figured it had to do with you wearing a sweater and jeans in the middle of summer," he said as he glared at her.

Ami frowned, folding her hands in her lap. She'd never reverted from her normal self into the wonderland; it had always been when she was sleeping. She wasn't one to quite believe in spiritual and magical what not, but had something… out of the ordinary forced her into it? Looking up she grasped Duo's arm lightly. "You're right Duo; I'm kind of tired anyway. I think I'll go home, take a nap and change into something cooler. I'll meet up with you guys later, okay?"

Startling both Ami and Duo, Harumi shot out of her seat. Pointing a finger at Ami she grinned maniacally. "Tired, you say?"

Ami blinked.

"It's the pot I tell you!"

"Harumi I do not smoke pot!"

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Setsuna's heart thrummed as she felt a chill run down her spine. Turning she looked out of a nearby window in confusion. No, not confusion. Rather in worry and wonder. She'd felt… she'd felt Ami. Ami… no, she hadn't felt Ami, she'd felt the pulse of Mercury's power. "Impossible," she mumbled. "I just dug up the stones…" Setsuna stood quickly and went to consult her Queen.

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Minako shoved her hands into the front pocket of her sweatshirt and tried not to seem obvious. She stood in front of a small decrepit apartment house that was shrouded in darkness from surrounding buildings. The area was dank, wet and cold erasing all of her happy feelings from the previous sunrise. Old newspaper sections, fast food throw-aways and tattered cloths littered the ground and stopped up corners. The concrete stairs leading to the flaking white door were cracked in intricate spider webbed patterns that seemed to restrain themselves only to the center of the stairs.

Minako tried to think of what she could possibly say. Oh hi, I just happened to follow you home and… do you by any chance know who I am? Minako smacked her forehead and dragged it dramatically down her face. There was no way she could approach the woman without sounding like a complete lunatic or a crazy stalker. But she couldn't just walk away. What had happened on her balcony… that wasn't and everyday thing, something had been exchanged between them and Minako wanted to know what it was. Gulping down her fear, she kept to the left side of the steps and stood before the door. Taking a deep breath she tried to calm herself. What are you going to say, Minako? She asked herself. Knowing there was no answer she reached out a hand to knock before she could stop herself. Hand poised and ready to knock, she paused as the door slowly but surely opened.

Minako blinked. In front of her was probably one of the prettiest women she'd ever seen. Long black wavy hair was draped over her shoulders and her gorgeous amethyst eyes pierced Minako's blue ones. On her tiny pink lips was a welcoming smile. She lightly touched Minako's hand, which hovered in front of her face in a knocking position, and moved to the side in a gesture for Minako to step inside. After the blonde got over her surprise she did so slightly hesitantly and cautiously. Had the woman known that she'd been followed?

They stared at each other for a moment and Minako felt the need to break the ice. Holding out her hand she tried to start a conversation that wouldn't seem too awkward. "Hi," she began, "I'm Minako." The woman wiped her hands on the white apron that hung around her neck and shook Minako's hand. It was now that the young blonde realized why she'd been holding her stomach protectively. The woman was pregnant. And judging by the size of her she was due any day. But then again Minako was no doctor and just judged pregnant women on how fat they were, in all honesty she had no idea how far along she was.

"Saiyuri," the woman responded. The two women stared at each other for another moment, causing the nerves to jump a mile a minute in Minako's body. She wanted desperately to say something else but couldn't think of what she could possibly say.

"How'd you know I was here?" Minako mentally winced at her stupid statement, though it was a legitimate question.

"I could sense you."

There was a long pause as Minako waited for her to say something else. When nothing else came out of Saiyuri's mouth Minako mentally groaned and hoped this wasn't going to turn out to be something straight out of a horror movie. She fidgeted as she tried to look anywhere but at Saiyuri. "So, are you like a psychic or something then?" she tried, trying not to sound too creeped out.

"If that's what you'd like to call it."

It was now that Minako was starting to get annoyed at the woman's one phrase responses. She tried not to let it show on her face but she knew she must have looked some kind of unhappy because Saiyuri giggled and apologized.

"I'm sorry," she said, "please, follow me into the kitchen, I've just made some tea."

Minako followed her down the short hallway, walls bare and very little furniture adorning the small house. All that was in the kitchen, besides the necessary kitchen machines, was a small table that could just barely comfortably fit four people. Sitting on it was a tea pot and two cups as well as a small plate of crackers and cheese. Saiyuri sat down and gestured for Minako to follow her.

"I know you just got here but this must be short and quick. My kind are not supposed to mingle with yours." Minako was about to ask what she meant by 'her kind' but she refrained herself from doing so. "Now hold out your hands." Minako complied and placed her hands on top of Saiyuri's. As she did so she felt nothing, but obviously the older woman did as a smile came to her lips and she sighed. "It's nice to know you are," she said quietly, slowly taking her hands from Minako as the blonde frowned in question. Saiyuri grabbed a small piece of paper from a nearby counter and wrote something down on it. "I need you to go visit my niece, she—" She paused as there was a knock on her door.

Saiyuri stood slowly while glancing cautiously at the door. She placed a finger over her lips in a motion for her to be quiet and slowly stood, gesturing for Minako to follow her. Minako's head was spinning. What on earth was going on, was this woman some kind of criminal or lunatic? Who were these people knocking at her door, the crystal police or something more sinister? "Saiyuri, what—" the beautiful woman spun around and placed a hand over Minako's mouth as there was another knock on the door.

"You must be quiet," she whispered, eyes wide as she glanced at the door once more. Taking Minako's hand she pulled the younger girl through another room to a small desk where she opened a tiny drawer and pulled out a small golden locket. At this point Minako was quite fed up. What the hell was going on?! She almost wanted to scream in frustration when Saiyuri stopped at a door that led to her back yard.

"Take this," she said, placing the locket in Minako's outstretched hand, "and this," she placed the piece of paper she'd written on before next to the locket and closed Minako's hand. "I need to you visit my niece, she's the daughter of my late sister and able to see and feel the same things I am, though she's a little rusty." The door to Saiyuri's house opened. The two women stood silently as the floor creaked. They could hear the footsteps slowly walking in the house.

The pregnant woman now looked slightly frantic. "Tell her I sent you and show her the locket. In my back yard there's a hole under the fence in the far left corner. Crawl under it and go to the place on the paper and ask for the name I've written down. Now go!" She shoved Minako out the door as the footsteps slowly got closer.

Minako sprinted like her life depended on it to where Saiyuri instructed her. However as she crawled under the fence she had a bad feeling and became worried for the woman. After she'd cleared the fence she looked back at the house. It was impossible to see inside, no matter what window she looked through it was completely black inside. "Saiyuri," she whispered worriedly as she took a step back from the house. Despite her earlier feelings on people being able to 'sense' things, she definitely got a bad vibe from that house. Who ever had walked into it was no normal person and within something was going down. She took another step back as she could have sworn she saw something exit the door. Something had followed her into the yard, but with the grass so long in Saiyuri's back yard she couldn't see exactly what it was. The grasses rustled as whatever followed her surged through them.

Minako took many steps back in fright. How could she have put herself in this mess? She took a few more steps backwards when the thing reached the hole she'd come from and was about to turn around and run like she'd never run before when the ground beneath her ran out. Opening her mouth in a silent scream, Minako reached out her hands in desperation as she began to fall.

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Goodness gracious it's been a long time. I finally got Ami into the story and continued with Minako's. Since it's been so long I figured the chapter might as well be extra long too. Now that I might finally have a little more time on my hands I figure the next chapter I'll bring in Rei and maybe continue with Makoto's dilemma.

Don't worry, they'll all tie together soon, it's just taking so damn long and I'm really lazy. The latter being why this chapter is pretty much a load of crap, but I wanted to get it out there, what can i say.

MidnightOpal