A Moon Never Clasped

By: Danni Lynn

Chapter 6: Fighting Amongst Ourselves

~!+Mina+!~

Feeling the rapid pound of her heart hammering in her chest, Mina sat down onto the bed, feeling herself grow faint as she began to perceive the new information she has just obtained in just a few little sentences. Gripping the note hard enough to turn her knuckles white, she could only blink and blink as the seed of panic began to seize her mind.

Suddenly, she opened her mouth and breathed in a gulp of air as she brought her hand up to her mouth in shock. The news finally settling in. "Oh my God! Oh my God!" Mina shrieked as she began to hyperventilate unable to grasp the idea that Ami might be dead because Mina had foolishly trusted an unknown enemy that had just happened to kill a youma and help her friends.

Cosmos had kidnapped Ami. How was she going to explain this to Lita or Rei? Especially with the knowledge that Ami was ill and might kneel over to die at any moment. The scouts were injured and their Midnight clad ally was on the verge of death. Then, Mina paled, at the very thought of explaining the situation to the Outer scouts. They barely got along with the Inners, and then with the sudden kidnapping of a fellow comrade, this would surely bring the rest of the Inners to ruin and the fragile compact between the Inners and the Outers would shatter.

"Shit." Mina moaned as she laid onto the bed and covered her face with her arm. Her life had just went down to Hell. Suddenly, the ringing of a high pitch scream began to resonate throughout the room, as Mina's pocket began to vibrate with a square glow shining through the thin fabric.

Reaching for her phone, Mina read the caller-ID and instantly began to have a serious panic attack as she thought of ludicrous ways for an explanation to justify what was happening. Coming up with a sketchy plan Mina shakily answered her phone with a faint, "H-h-hello?"

With the sound of a low grunt, a husky voice replied with an annoyed, "Mina?" Cursing herself mentally, Mina took a deep breath and cleared her mind of all thoughts. "Yes?" She reproached with a stronger voice. The line went silent as there was the sound of rustling and angry whispers heard in the background.

Then with another grunt there was a grumbled, "Fine." before the sound of breathing broke the silence Mina had rapidly grown accustomed to. "Mina, its Amara. Rei called us not too long ago about the condition you guys are in from a youma attack, but we heard Ami was in for the worse, so we decided to call and find out if she's gonna be alright." Amara's husky voice growled across the phone as Mina winced from the blunt tone she used.

"Umm, about that..well, you see..." Mina trailed off as her bright tone instantly crumbled to mumbled replies as she searched of a way for Amara not to drive over to the hospital and kick her wimpy ass. "Mina, what happened to Ami?" Amara's tone raised a little and grew sharper as Mina closed her eyes and sighed. Opening them again she fixed them onto her shoes as she sat up and hunched over. "Amara, Ami got kidnapped."

The line went dead and the sound of screeching and things being thrown bleated out the low tone of electricity humming. Mina immediately stood up and left Ami's hospital room, throwing Cosmos' note into her pocket. Then the line was picked up once again and this time Michelle's gentle voice came on. "We're heading to the hospital now. Don't leave." She commanded sternly as if Mina was nothing more than a simple lap dog.

Snapping her phone shut, Mina hissed beneath her breath, "Shit." as she headed for Lita's room aware of the fact that was were Rei was as well. Running through hallways and being yelled after by several nurses, Mina made her way to Lita's room where she rested asleep onto a hospital bed with her leg bandaged and an IV drip attached to her arm.

Coming to a sudden halt in the doorway, the sound of Mina's shoes making loud slaps against the tile floor startled a dozing Rei awake as she jumped at her feet and stared at Mina alarmed. "What is it Mina?" Rei nearly yelled as she readily gripped her transformation pin in her right fist. Mina raised her hand to stop her as she took pants of breath.

Moving to take a seat beside Rei, Mina plopped down onto a white chair and covered her face with her hands. Rei stood next to her, watching her with fear and concern. "God..." Mina groaned as she lifted her face from her palms and stared at Rei with exhaustion. "Sit down Rei, I don't want you to hurt herself even more." Mina gripped Rei's hand in a relaxing manner as she tried to coax the fire senshi into the chair next to her.

Releasing her held breath, Mina stared at Rei with the most serious face she could muster as Rei waited anxiously to hear what had happened to her most closest best friend. "Cosmos kidnapped Ami." Mina blurted out as she held onto Rei in misery.

Rei blinked a couple of times, unable to understand what Mina had just said. The few moments of silence seemed to stretch to what felt like forever to Mina as she watched Rei with worried eyes, afraid the raven girl might implode or faint or, or...something scary, Mina reasoned to herself.

Shifting her weight in her seat, Mina squirmed in the tense atmosphere that had begun to settle into the room with only the sound of Lita's IV drip making a steady hum as she was pumped with medications of all sorts. Then, Rei leaned back into her chair and stared wide-eyed at the ceiling.

"God dammit, Mina!" Rei screamed as she jumped to her feet and glared down at Mina with an accusing stare. Mina didn't shrink back in fright, she was expecting that Rei would be angry with her for it was the raven's way of coping with feelings she couldn't understand. Suddenly, Lita groaned and twitched a bit where she lay painstakingly pitiful on the white hospital sheets, as she gained the attention of the other two senshi that took resident in the room with her.

Standing up, Mina grabbed Rei by the forearm and led her out into the hallway as not to disturb their injured friend. "Rei, I know your upset and probably want to beat the shit out of me, but right now is not the time. Amara and the rest of them are probably driving like Hell over to us and I can't keep having you glare at me the entire time." Mina hissed under her breath in a regal tone, making sure her fellow comrade understood the hinted message.

Rei angrily nodded her head as she began to pace back and fro in the hallway outside of Lita's room, as Mina stood contemplating what she was going to tell the Outer scouts on how they lost a blue haired senshi in a hospital surrounded by armed guards in broad daylight. "How are we going to be able to get Ami back? We have no leads!" Mina yelled frustrated at their lack of info on to find their stolen friend.

Suddenly, Rei stopped in front of Mina and stared at her with an unfocused gaze, seeing something that wasn't Mina. Her eyebrows knitted together as she pursed her lips in confusion, trying to fill in the blanks in her head. Then with a slap to her forehead, Rei jumped with glee.

"Yes! I've got it!" She shouted as Mina watched her with a curious look written on her relaxed expression. "What is it, Rei?" Mina asked her as she shifted her weight on her feet, anxiously waiting for Rei's reply in hopes that they would be able to hunt down this mysterious Cosmos and bring her to justice's end.

Flicking her gaze to the blond, Rei gave her a small grin as she took out her communicator and handed it to Mina. "This," Rei paused as she pointed to the small device Mina clutched her hand, "is how we'll find her."

Tipping her head to the side confused, Mina stared at Rei, unable to comprehend the message that Rei was implying with the tiny gadget that laid in the love senshi's open palm. "So? What we going to do, just ring her up and be like, 'Hey, Ami, if you aren't dead yet or unconscious or conspicuously tied up in a hole somewhere, do you mind telling us where you are?', like that's a real ideal plan, Rei. Let's also dress up like a bunch of bunny-rabbits eating carrots and calling everybody 'Doc.'" Mina sneered as she rolled her eyes and leaned against the wall, with eyes glaring at the fire senshi through exhaustion and hunger. Rei raised her hand, her expression twisted in rage at Mina's taunting as the senshi of Venus and Mars stared at each with the utmost of hatred due to the frustration of their beloved friend's kidnapping, and the dreadful exhaustion that came with being a senshi and having dealt blows with an ridiculously strong super-human creature, but just as Rei's hand was about to come flying down on her fellow comrade's face, she was halted from movement.

Suddenly, without warning, Rei's legs gave out beneath her as she slammed down hard onto her knees, and a heavy pressure was pinned into the back of her spine, keeping her to the floor. "Stay." Came a gruff voice that was cold like steel, that sent deep shivers down the short-tempered priestess's back, as she slowly jerked her hand up to meet cobalt eyes that watched her with annoyance. Mina stepped forward, leaning down to take Rei's arm, her azure eyes never wavering from the cross-dressing senshi, who had the raven crumpled to the ground. "Release her, Amara. This is no place to pick a fight." Mina warned as she helped lift the reluctant Rei off the ground and against the senshi of love, for support, for even though Rei's main injury was her dislocated shoulder she still was tired from the fight with the youma and the latest knowledge of their now stolen friend.

Amara's eyes shimmered with humor as she smirked at the ready-to-kneel-over-and-die senshi. "You should think about what you just said. Was it not I, who stopped the fight you, two, were just about to go brawling? No?" She teased as she stuffed her hands in her pockets and rocked onto the backs of her heels, loosening up abit and letting the atmosphere drop from menacing to semi-hostile. Mina sighed and hung her head, ashamed that she had lost her temper and drove her friend to almost hitting her. "Alright, you win, but please Amara, we are tired enough of as is it. Don't go agitating us, for what you saw was no mere than a dispute because we are weary and scared. Now, let us go discuss this in the waiting room, for Lita is resting in the room behind us." The love senshi complied as she began to move down the hall, helping support Rei, who was beginning to grow weak from lack of hunger and sleep, Amara followed as Michele, Setsuna, and Hotaru trailed quietly behind, anxious to find out more to what Mina had meant on the phone on how Ami got kidnapped by this Cosmos thing, or whatnot.

~!+Ami+!~

Darkness. Deep, black abyss reeking of only death, disease, and misery. The suffocating stench of anger and regret, blotting the nose with the acrid smell of decay. A figure lay amongst a pile of millions of bodies that seemingly squirmed and jerked, none no moving. Yet...the sound. Oh God...Oh sweet, sweet, merciful heaven...the sound was unbearable. The agonizing moans of pain, loss, and grief screamed into the air revealing nothing but it was, darkness.

The petite figure opened its' mouth to scream, but all that came out was an animal-like whimper. As it tried to move, nothing happened except flares of fire bolted through its skin when it tried to do anything that meant physical movement, that caused the figure to writhe in spasms of pain. After several attempts of making any sound or movement, the figure began to quickly lose hope as it ceased doing anything proactive.

Staring out into the darkness, near to blind eyes could make out naked bodies that stretched as far as the horizon in a shade of black gray with a thick film of a heavy atmosphere giving the impending doom of an eternity stuck like this. Mountains of flesh were piled high, each and every body awake, shrieking silently the cursed realm they found themselves in. Yet, the figure could only wonder in solemn realization, that maybe where they were, was Hell. Yes, most certainly, this was Hell, to pay back all that they did wrong when they were living. Being human was a powerful thing, especially when it meant that if you were not careful when you were living, you would pay back all sins you made ten-fold after you die. This is Hell, and I deserve to be here. The figure decided, as they closed their eyes and let the world around them fade, to escape to memories that were still fresh in their mind, before...they were forgotten in the darkness.

"Ami..." A soft voice called as a beam of light streaked through the darkness, landing upon the figure. Opening their eyes, the figure watched as the light began to grow in spindling cracks through the darkness. "Ami.." The lilting voice grew more urgent as the light began to grow brighter, blinding the figure as they tried to get adjusted.

"Ami!" The voice urged as it cried, suddenly, the figure felt a sense of weightlessness as if a burden had been removed, yet...as the figure realized that it was floating towards the light, something heavy and painful slammed into them, making them remember why they were in this hell. Their sin. "Ami, you have to let it go. Your strong, you can move on, but you have to forgive yourself. Your not alone, but I need you to let it go." The soft voice quietly pleaded as the light grew brighter and brighter.

How could she move on? She deserved it, after what she did. She deserved hell and she was granted access, but now they wished to rob her of her only way to be forgiven? How dare they! Yet...did she really want to be left alone in that darkness being eaten away by the nothingness and the growing mass of bodies that piled higher and higher? No! Don't leave me here! The figure screeched inside her mind, as she watched the light, and demanded that it take her away from this hell. "Let it go..." The voice was distant as the light began to fade and the darkness began to settle once more.

Did she want to be left here? Let it go? How could she let it go? "Believe in yourself...don't let your self-loathing consume you...let it go..." The voice was almost inaudible and the figure began to panic, as it felt itself began to lower back down towards the mass of writhing flesh. Feeling themselves beginning to grow fearful, they took a deep breath and closed their eyes, as they went inside themselves and probed around their bleeding heart. No, they couldn't let it go, they mournfully realized, but yet, they felt they could mend some of the holes that had began to grow out of anguish and sorrow, and if they could fix some of what was broken, then they could fix themselves after being given time. Yes, they could forgive, just not forget.

"Ami..." The voice called once more, this time when the figure began to float once more, they didn't feel their burden disappear and slam back into them, more as the load had lightened, but was still there. Yet, when the figure looked back at all those pain filled hearts, they saw their own body amongst the stack, even though they, themselves, were leaving this infernal hell. "You always have a place here in hell, but you have a place in heaven too. It is just your decision on whether or not you want to be down back here, or up to a paradise where hell can not reach." The voice explained as the figure left the stacks of bodies and was bathed in a white light, and the world around them faded.

The pain from their burden stayed, but they felt more at peace with themselves. They must live with their sin, but they shouldn't have to suffer for it for the rest of their lives. Maybe, she could change now.

~+!Mina!+~

"So...your telling me, that this...angelic warrior called Cosmos, is going around killing youma, saved your asses a couple of times and now, just kidnapped Ami? Did I leave anything out?" Amara growled as she leaned forward with her elbows resting on her legs and her head buried in her hands that rubbed her face from exhaustion. Michelle put an arm around Amara and rubbed her leg in a gentle, comforting manner, hoping to relieve her beloved some of her stress.

Mina sat back in her chair with her arms crossed over her chest with a distant stare that didn't seem to be directed anywhere. "Yip, that's all of it." She replied as she glanced down at Rei, who laid dozing on the couch next to her, back facing the room. Putting her hand on Rei's head and moving some strands out of her face in an affectionate way as Mina sighed and shook her head in pity. "Poor girl." She murmured as she thought about how close Rei was with Ami, and how it broke her heart when she found out she was stolen when she was on death's doorstep.

"Do you have any idea on how we might find her?" Setsuna asked as she crossed her legs and waited for Mina's response. "Yes, but it was Rei's idea and I think she should need to explain it, but we need our rest. We won't be much of a reliable resource if we continue on like this." Mina explained as she met the eyes of Setsuna and watched the senshi of time. "Not like you really were a reliable resource to begin with. You trusted an enemy and let your guard down, which only ended up with Ami being kidnapped!" Amara accused as she sprang from her chair and gripped Mina by the collar of her shirt. The love senshi stared with dull and heavy eyes, but when Amara began to shake her, they flashed with irritation before Amara was kicked across the room with a petite body laying on top of her with their fingers wrapped around their throat.

Michele jumped to her feet as she watched Mina choking Amara, but was stopped by little Hotaru that placed her hand out to stop the older woman. "No, this is their fight. Let them sort this out amongst themselves. This is their battle, not yours." She sullenly told Michele as she shook her head.

Mina squeezed hard against Amara's neck, feeling the senshi of the wind beginning to sputter at the lack of oxygen she wasn't getting. "I just watched Rei almost get herself killed by the youma but Cosmos saved her ass, also, she saved Ami and Darien. So fuck off, you bitch. Where were you guys as that youma almost wiped out three of our teammates? Hmm? Where were you all those other times we almost died fighting a youma? While you were wasting your time letting us protect you, I grew stronger, so I'm not so weak as I used to be. So, Amara stop carrying your weight around like your some bad-ass hoe, because you ain't shit compared to us, to me. I am the leader of this little group, so, I order you to stand down and watch over what's left of our comrades that are vacating this current hospital, and let Rei and I have a goddamn chance to fucking recuperate. Got that, bitch?" Mina hissed into Amara's ear as she squeezed even tighter to make sure Amara would nod her head.

When she did, Mina got off Amara and walked back towards Rei and gently shook her, leaving the startled and annoyed Amara, coughing and wheezing on the tile floor. "Alright, you crazy fucker, I get it. Call me when you get the fuck up later." Amara growled as she let Michele coax her to her feet and into a chair. As Mina waited for Rei to wake up, she noticed a brown stain running across Rei's back on her shirt.

Rei opened her eyes and sighed. "Can't even have a couple hours of rest before you have to come wake me up." She grumbled as she stretched and made her way to her feet, only to stumble into Mina's waiting arms. Mina pulled her close in a hug, "Sorry, but you need rest, and Amara needs sometime to chill before we talk about...business." Mina hesitated on whether or not she should mention Ami in the already exhausted, and over-exerted girl. Rei nodded her head in understanding, as Mina slung her arm around Rei's waist and wrapped Rei's arm around Mina's neck to help Rei keep her balance.

Mina escorted Rei out of the room with Amara glaring holes at them all the way. "She's such a bitch when she wants to be." Amara grumbled as she nuzzled her face into Michele's neck as she pulled the blue-haired lover closer to her. Little Hotaru pranced up to Amara and jumped into the seat beside her. "Reminds me of you, Amara-papa." The tiny child commented as she watched the senshi of love and fire leave the room on a set of two good legs. Setsuna smirked and chuckled at Hotaru's statement, as Michele grinned at Amara's flustered and irritated face. "Be quiet child." Amara scolded as she brought Michele closer to her. Hotaru only looked at them with wide innocent eyes that always held the mist of foreboding in their depths.

Mina staggered down the hall with Rei bent over her, panting for air, catching Mina's concerned stare. "What? Got a problem with an injured soldier trying to breath?" Rei sneered as she stopped and leaned against the wall, tilting her head up towards the ceiling as not to see Mina's worried expression. "I am when you have a deep and bleeding gash across your back that you decided not to inform anyone about." The blond warrior retorted as she crossed her arms over her chest and waited for Rei's intelligent remark.

None came, as Rei only sighed and went back to having an arm around Mina's neck and letting the senshi of love lead her out of the hospital and back towards home. "I just wish Ami was still healthy and we were all just normal people living normal lives." Rei murmured forlornly under her breath, not meaning anyone to really hear her. Mina stiffened and sucked in air before she pursed her lips in a tight, grim frown. "If wishing could fix the world, Rei, then we would live in a hella-lot better place than this, but this is what we got and as long as you don't ever take that for granted, then...your good." Mina whispered back as they made their way into an empty elevator and Mina tightened her grip on Rei, as the elevator started its decent down.

"How the fuck am I good if my best friend, Ami, is fucking dying? If she dies...if she dies...if she dies I'll have no one!" Rei began to sob as she pulled away from Mina and hunched her shoulders, curling into herself, refusing to let anyone in. Mina felt her heart shake as she felt the grief for her dear friend's kidnapping and dance with death as well as misery for the dear friend that was heart broken over the very fact of it. The senshi of love shook her head clear of all thoughts and slid her arms around Rei's waist and pulled the hysterical raven into her, letting the priestess to cry out her soul. Rei turned towards Mina and buried her face into the blond's chest, drenching Mina in Rei's tears.

By the time the soft ding! of the elevator reaching the ground floor went off, Rei had gathered some parts of herself together and was only crying with an expressionless face. "Ami isn't dead yet, and your not alone, you have Lita, Darien and I as well as pig-headed Amara and her crew. Just have faith, Rei and believe that this will get better. We will get better. Ami will get better. Just believe." Mina answered as they trudged out of the elevator and towards the doors of the hospital where they would only be blocks away from Lita's house, which served as everybody's living space. Ami and Rei practically already lived there, even though it wasn't official and Mina was always over there if she wasn't at school or the Crown Arcade flirting with Andy or some other cute, helpless guy. Their home was with everyone. If Ami wasn't there, then it wouldn't be much of a home at all.

\(^.^)/

Afternoon light splayed across the magnolia-colored carpet, as the sound of hissing rippled in the air, almost like a feral cat in pain. As Rei sat in a chair hunched over with her teeth clenched, Mina attended the wound that ran down Rei's back, dribbling blood down the beige stool, that the raven sat upon. "Its amazing that none of the doctors caught sight of this when you were being treated at the hospital." Mina commented as she dabbed a wet cloth against the laceration.

"I told them to let me keep my shirt on, since my shoulder was the only real injury." Rei muttered, as she clenched her fingers in the soft cushion of her seat. Mina pulled back and placed the now blood stained cloth into the hand bucket that she had placed at her feet when she began to treat Rei's wound. Shaking her head in disapproval, Mina took out her pen and murmured her transformation line, as Sailor Venus of love stood behind a wincing raven. "I still think your an idiot for not letting the doctors stitch you back up, because I now have to waste energy healing your tight-lipped ass." Venus grumbled as she carefully placed her hand on the deep slash and tried to apply the least amount of pressure as she focused all her energy into healing Rei's wound.

A soft light glowed around the wound, as the skin began to mend back together and the blood began to cease. Rei's back lost its stiffness as the fire senshi stood up straighter and unwound her fingers from the chair, that now held claw marks upon the bottom. "Yeah, well...I was going to be fine and Ami, Darien and Lita needed much more attention than I did. So 'why bother', I thought and just decided that I'd get you to heal it up later." Rei replied as Venus pulled away and the soft glow disappeared, leaving only an angry-looking pink scar on Rei's back, running right through the circular scar that was penetrated exactly in the middle of Rei's back, except it was a lighter hue than the newly added one.

Venus sighed as she grabbed her pen and waved it over her body, leaving Mina standing exactly where the senshi of love had stood before, moments ago. Mina placed her hand to her forehead and used her other hand to grip Rei's shoulder for balance, as she stood swaying on her feet. Rei glanced back at Mina and crinkled her brow in concern as she immediately stood up and let her friend use her as support. "Are you okay? Did that really take that much out of you?" She asked as she lead the disoriented blonde to the couch, where she let Mina sit and rest. Rei moved some discarded magazines on the coffee table and stacked them together in a corner before she sat down in front of Mina, watching her with worried eyes.

"I'm fine." Mina answered as she shook her head to get rid of the dizzy spell that she was caught up in and climbed to her feet, hurriedly making her way to the kitchen, afraid to admit how much rest she needed. She hadn't slept in almost two days, because of the damn youma, that Cosmos had killed, and killed again. She needed to be strong for her senshi, seeing as Rei, the most sensible one out of all of them, had lost her cool, then Mina couldn't afford to.

Digging around in the frig, Mina saw dozens of delicious things that would have made her mouth water, if it wasn't for the fact that she was too tired to eat and had no energy to make anything. Rei sauntered into the kitchen and gently pulled Mina out of the refrigerator and pulled the blonde into a hug. Surprising the love senshi, Mina jerked backwards away from the raven's embrace, startled by Rei's gesture of affection. "What was that for?" She stuttered as she took a step back, not used to Rei's friendly way of showing appreciation.

Rei shrugged her crossed her arms, putting all her weight into her left leg. "I just wanted to give you a hug in thanks of being my friend. I know that sometimes, I am a total bitch and take your friendship for granted, but I wanted to let you know that I am here for you...just in case, you know, want to talk. That's what Ami always did for me." Rei's face darkened at the mention of Ami and Mina could see the shining glisten of the violet eyes of Rei's began to water, as she tried to shove her tears down, refusing to let them fall. Mina inwardly cursed her own weakness, and gave Rei a thankful grin as she grabbed the raven's arm and pulled her out of the kitchen and into Lita's bedroom.

Shoving the raven onto the bed and throwing the covers onto her, Mina stood at the edge of the bed and smirked. "Your losing your mind, if you actually think I think of you as a bitch and you need to give a thank you hug to make me feel better. Get a clue, Rei, your one of my best friends, I'd talk to you if I needed to, but right now, your dead on your feet and need rest. We'll find a way to save Ami when you wake up. So, sleep well." Mina scolded as she walked out of the room, leaving a stunned raven as she closed the door behind her.

As soon as Mina heard the soft click! ofthe door being shut, she buried her hands in her face and sighed. "What the hell are you doing, Mina? Getting tired? You need to hurry up and find Ami!" She muttered to herself as she made her way to the balcony. Pulling open the doors, she transformed into her counter ego and jumped out into the afternoon air. Her blonde hair fluttering madly behind her as she nimbly landed onto the roof across the street, ten stories down where Lita's apartment stood on the twentieth floor.

The sun began to sink down the horizon, giving way from afternoon to evening, as the air began cooler. Venus took out her communicator and clicked on the tracking button, knowing that there might be a chance that Ami had her communicator. Even though, Rei hadn't explained how she was going to use the communicator to find Ami, Mina had already figured it out, after the raven had mentioned it. Completely forgetting the fact that each senshi had a tracker in their communicator if such a situation as this one would occur.

As she watched the screen scan out her surroundings and navigate its way towards Ami's communicator, Mina knew that wherever Ami was, surely Cosmos was as well. She needed Cosmos to answer some of her questions, but with Rei around, she couldn't. So, taking the time for Rei to rest, Mina was going to find Cosmos and get Ami back. Even if it meant killing the one person that had saved her and her friends' lives. Ami would come home. Alive.

Alright...its been six months, but comment and tell if this chapter was a complete waste of my time or if this might be leading to something. Your decision.

-Danni