Chapter 10

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They had stayed in a hotel overnight, still using the names of Naru and Nephrite and careful to stay in character. Two love-struck kids, late teens or early twenties, renting a room for the night. The love-struck part wasn't too hard, but they had both lived through too much to easily pretend to be innocent kids. But they pulled it off and got the best room they could find. Heero did all the talking as Ami refused to say a word. She had not spoken since before the funeral. Once in their room, she crawled onto the bed and was fast asleep, tear tracks still painfully evident on her face. Heero had laid down beside her and wrapped her carefully in his arms.

When he woke up the next morning she had disappeared. He panicked for a few moments before he looked over to the window and saw her sitting out on the balcony. Her feet dangled slightly above the cement ground as she leaned forward in her chair to rest her elbows on the balcony. Her hair, now blue once more, blew gently in the wind, falling across her face and neck but she did nothing about it. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, Heero crossed the room to her. She jumped slightly when he encircled her waist with his arms but calmed quickly. "Hey, handsome," she whispered.

"Hey, beautiful. Feeling better?"

Ami nodded. "Alternate realities are a real mind-fuck, huh?"

He forced a laugh. "That's one I've never heard you use before."

"It was a favorite phrase of Makoto's. After hearing something for a few decades, you start to pick it up."

For a few moments they just stood like that in silence, holding onto each other. Heero had her tucked tightly against him and ran one hand through her long hair, his lips pressed gently to the back of her head. She began to cry once more, noiseless tears tracking their way down her face, and she shook with sobs. He took it upon himself to rock her gently from side to side, whispering words of comfort and acting as her moral support. He held her for as long as she needed to be held and longer.

"Aw isn't that sweet. Crying make it feel all better?"

They both jerked their heads up as one to see Setsuna floating, in all her evil glory, just inches off the balcony. Behind her, growling and pacing, were the time hounds. The senshi of Pluto cackled maniacally, raising her Garnet Rod high above her head. "Dead Scream!" The words were not whispered as had been her tradition in the past. No, this time she shouted them for all the world to hear.

Ami just barely managed to open a portal beneath her feet for Heero and herself to fall through before the wave of death passed over their heads. When they got to their feet once more in the realm of the Time Gates, Setsuna already stood there waiting for them. An evil smile crossed the face of the older woman and with a mere gesture she tore the key from around Ami's neck. "Now why didn't I think of that before?" she asked herself, laughing maliciously for their benefit.

They were trapped with no way to escape as the hounds slowly closed in around them. Ami flung pound after pound of ice at them but it had no effect, they only got closer. "Ami-chan," Setsuna purred, "Why did you try to run from me? I would have made your death swift, painless even, but you had to try to outwit me. Old age and wisdom will always prevail over youth and vigor. Always remember that, Ami-chan, always remember that."

Ami's small face contorted into a look of pure rage. "What is wisdom when you don't have the brains to use it?" she shot back.

And was immediately rewarded with a blast of energy that blew her back twenty feet, over and past the hounds. The group of dogs instantly tightened their circle around Heero, pacing and licking their nonexistent chops. Setsuna began to laugh once more, the sound not unlike the shriek of a harpie, and Ami winced. "I couldn't have asked for anything more perfect. Separate, I can cause you so much more pain." One side of her mouth curled up, then the other, until her lips curved into a perfect grimace of revenge complete. "Hounds," she said softly, hate resonating in her voice.

"Attack."

"NO!" In less than a split second, Ami remembered how to kill the time hounds. You had to kill their mistress. Without thinking, she acted. Ice pooled in her outstretched palm. No magic, just frost, and it twirled and lengthened until it was long and solid and ready. A slight flick of her wrist sent it spinning through the air to meet its target. Setsuna could easily block magic with nothing more than a thought. She was not prepared for a physical assault.

So when the knife of pure ice imbedded itself to the hilt in her chest, she did not know what had happened until it had.

"NO!" Once again, the word fell from Ami's lips. She didn't even see as the time hounds disappeared in mid-leap, all she saw was a dear friend crumple to the ground, a blade buried in her breast. Ami was at her side in a flash, holding onto Setsuna's hand and pleading for her to come back but it was of no use. The time senshi was dead before she hit the ground. Ami had sacrificed everything.

A thousand years of friendship for one year of love.

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i have this posted for over a week and i get a grand total of 4 reviews. gee, thanks guys.

SakuraMona: the vampire fic is in the making. and it was supposed to be sad.
Petra: it won't be ami/heero but it will be another ami centered fic. hope you like the ending here so far.
fluffy pink bouncy bunny: i thought that part was sad too. and I thought the whole going to your own funeral thing was kinda neat (that's why I put it in).
Kaiya: 'Save a horse, ride a cowboy.' if you don't get it, its probably a good thing.