Theme: Twelve - Inside Out
Genre: Angst
Version: PGSM/AU-ish
Rating: PG
I'm a believer/ Nothing could be worse/ All these imaginary friends/ Hiding betrayal/ Driving the nail/ Hoping to find a savior/ No, don't/ Leave me to die here/ Help me survive here/ Alone, don't/ Surrender, surrender - "Evil Angel" by Breaking Benjamin
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Evil Angel
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"I want you to leave Usagi-chan alone."
Makoto had found her at the drinking fountain, daintily holding her dark hair away from her face. Why evil even needed to bother to rehydrate in a crowded hallway, Makoto didn't know. Maybe she knew Makoto would be looking for her, and had just put herself in a prime location. Ami-chan had always been smart like that. It made Makoto's confidence whither a little.
"I'm not doing anything that Tsukino-san doesn't deserve," replied Ami as she straightened and shouldered her school bag firmly. "Actually, I think I'm being generous."
Makoto glanced around. It was between periods, and most of the kids seemed too preoccupied with chatting with their friends and frantically doing unfinished homework for their next class to pay any attention to the two, outcast girls in front of the water fountain.
"I just want you to know I'm watching you," warned Makoto.
The smile that danced across Ami's face wasn't one Makoto had ever seen before. It was subtle and sinister, like a Cheshire cat. As Ami moved towards her, it took most of Makoto's will power not to back away.
"You're watching me, Kino-san?" asked Ami. "Usagi-chan is lucky to have you as a friend."
Makoto tried to rally her courage. "It's not just for Usagi-chan," she said softly. "It's for the Ami-chan I know is still inside of you. The one we're going to get back."
"How do you even know she's there to save? Oh, Kino-san!" Makoto's name was spoken as a squeal, like she'd just told Ami-chan a great, naughty secret. The smaller girl launched her arms around Makoto's shoulders, pulling her into a friendly hug as she bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet. "Do you really what to know what's inside of me?" breathed Ami, her mouth curled inches from Makoto's ear.
"I know you're still Ami-chan," whispered Makoto. "Deep down, you're still there."
Ami's fingernails dug harshly into the back of Makoto's neck. "You're wrong," she said gleefully. "That girl is gone, and this is me. I'm free now. I'm free to hate, and to reach the potential I would have never been able to achieve under your sniveling princess. I am part of something bigger, better."
"This isn't you," insisted Makoto.
"But it is," whispered Ami. "This is who I have always been, deep inside. And do you know what I'm going to do with my new freedom?" She rested her head on Makoto's shoulder intimately, reminiscent of the Ami-chan that had been rushed to the hospital in Motoki's ridiculous green car. Makoto flinched at the memory. "I'm going to pick your limbs from your body and feed your eyes to the crows we keep in our dark garden," Ami sighed wistfully. "And I'll do it in front of your princess. She will get to watch each and every one of you as you die."
Makoto could barely meet Ami's eyes as she stepped back. They looked too old, too full of hate to belong on Ami-chan's round, innocent face. Rage seemed to drip downward, obscuring the last of what Makoto knew of her friend. Ami sneered.
"Then, maybe," the shell of Ami said. "Then, maybe, she'll understand loneliness the way I do."
She slipped off like a ghost, blending with the groups walking the hallways, but no matter what she did Makoto could still feel her. All the hate and anger that had been carefully built up in that small body could never fully dilute the last of Ami's calm, cool spirit. Makoto let out a breath she hadn't even been aware she'd been holding.
"Oh, Ami-chan," she whispered. "I promise. You're not alone anymore."
