Crystal Tears Chapter 5: Amethyst's Discoveries
By Aisuru
aisuru_chan@yahoo.com


"Great job collecting energy, Jadeite," Nephrite taunted. The generals were seated at a large table to discuss Dark Kingdom policies and strategy.

"Shut up," Jadeite retorted, in a horrible mood. He had been forced to appear before Queen Beryl, and all he could offer her was the measly energy he had taken from Osaka. Beryl was not pleased with his explanation about the aura of positive energy he had felt.

"Yes, Nephrite, shut up," Kunzite ordered, exercising his authority as the commander of the four generals. Then he turned to Jadeite. "What happened?" he asked in an eerily calm voice.

Jadeite growled in frustration. "I have no idea," he muttered. Then he looked up at the other generals. "We were gathering so much energy, and all of a sudden it dissipated. I teleported to the Osa-P, and it was complete chaos. The owner of the Osa-P was awake, the customers were waking up, and the youma had vanished without a trace."

"That was the youma that creepy child created, right?" Zoicite asked, knowing perfectly well that it was. "I'm not surprised it vanished. It was probably defective."

"It was not defective," Jadeite exclaimed defensively. "I oversaw its creation myself!"

"Whatever!" Zoicite countered.

Kunzite cleared his throat to stop the exchange. Then he returned his attention to Jadeite. "You mentioned some sort of positive aura to Queen Beryl."

Jadeite nodded. "It was disgusting," he said with a shudder. "It reminded me of the power used by the people of the Moon Kingdom, but much weaker."

"The Moon Kingdom?" Zoicite said, jumping to his feet. He looked around him uneasily. "Have they returned?"

"Sit down," Kunzite said, annoyed.

"Yes, Kunzite-sama," Zoicite said, embarrassed by the fear he was feeling. He remembered Queen Serenity's power too clearly.

Jadeite caught the attention of the other generals with a movement of his hands. "I have a plan to find out what happened," Jadeite said, an evil gleam returning to his eyes. 'I'll perform another human energy-gathering campaign,' he hought, the plan only then occurring to him, 'and I'll make sure if effects enough humans that whatever disrupted the last mission will return, but this time 'll have Amethyst on site to report on the nature of the interference.'

Kunzite nodded. "Go ahead with your plan," he said, not really caring about the nature of Jadeite's plan as long as it was accomplished, "assuming you have Queen Beryl's permission, of course."

"Of course," Jadeite replied with a submissive nod to the leader of the generals.

He walked away from the generals then, further plotting the details of his next energy-gathering mission. It would have to be highly visible to attract the attention of the source of that positive aura. He heard Nephrite calling after him: "You might want to make the youma yourself this time."

*****

Jadeite walked the sidewalks in Tokyo, searching for another target for energy collection. He was dressed in his suit, this time with the addition of a long brown trench coat and brown detective hat. A long line of adolescents caught his attention. They were waiting in line to have an old man tell their fortunes. Jadeite joined the line, listening to the conversations of the humans.

"He's pretty accurate, isn't he?" the girl in front of him was saying.

"Wow, a line already?" someone else was saying.

Jadeite smirked to himself as he left the line and walked down the street. "So humans like to have their fortunes read?" he thought. "Stupid humans. There is no way that man can know their fortunes using that bunch of sticks. I'll give them a fortune that will come true," he chuckled evilly.

*****

Amethyst sat in Jadeite's quarters, once again making crystals. These crystals, however, had to be very tiny. They would decorate the tarot cards the youma would use to gather the energy of the humans. Jadeite had insisted on making the youma himself this time, and the result wasn't nearly as impressive as it would have been if she had made it. The youma scarcely looked human, what with those spooky eyes and weird hair. Amethyst knew better than to disagree with Jadeite, however, and instead contented herself with making the gem the youma fortune-teller wore on her forehead.

Amethyst tossed her hair away from her face as she worked. The crystals used in the cards were of her own design, complicated stones that would absorb the energy of their wearer very slowly while controlling their actions. Gathering energy was only secondary in this mission, Jadeite had explained. The real point was to attract the attention of the source of that positive aura Jadeite had felt when the last mission fell apart. Only by learning the true nature of the interruption could it be prevented in the future.

She smiled to herself when she remembered that she would be allowed to watch this youma work, but Jadeite had warned she must observe only and not be involved in the mission itself. "It would be too dangerous," he had said, stroking her cheek gently with his hand. "You are too precious, Amethyst-chan, to risk losing you to an unknown enemy."

"Precious," Amethyst repeated to herself. Despite his short temper, Jadeite was a ray of light in a life that kept her isolated from all other Dark Kingdom citizens. She narrowed her eyes as she thought of the citizens Jadeite had warned her about. They would be jealous of her talents, he had said, and would destroy her without a second thought. "Especially Zoicite," she muttered. Jadeite had told her how Zoicite had wanted to kill her before she woke up, and Zoicite's jealousy of anyone else talented in gemology was well known, even to her.

*****

When Jadeite entered Queen Beryl's throne-room, she had the Dark Kingdom citizens and youmas assembled. "Hurry," she told her minions, referring to finding the Silver Crystal. "Our Great Leader waits for adequate energy."

"It shall be done," they reply with one voice.

Queen Beryl then sensed Jadeite's presence. "Jadeite," she called, and he teleported in front of her, bowing. "You heard them. We have not yet found the Silver Crystal. I require human energy instead."

"Your majesty Queen Beryl-sama," he replied, "I have everything already arranged."

*****

Amethyst watched intently from her position behind some illusionary curtains. The psychic's house, from the sign outside reading "Sage of Juban Town" to the incense floating up from ornate lamps on pillars, was entirely illusion. A crowd of human adolescents filled the room, already under the youma's spell.

A nerdy boy with enormous glasses sat in front of the youma. "I still don't think it looks human," Amethyst muttered to herself, recognizing that Jadeite would have needed to use a powerful illusion spell for the humans to accept it as one of their own.

Tarot cards were arranged in a circle on the table. The youma clapped its hands, and the cards stood upright on their own. 'What a cheesy thing to do,' Amethyst thought, but the boy seemed impressed. "Awesome!" he gushed. Amethyst rolled her eyes.

"Look into my eyes," the youma commanded. The nerdy boy did just that, instantly falling into a trance. 'I can't believe they are so gullible!' Amethyst thought. Not one of the humans had thought the request strange. The youma selected a card, which floated towards the boy. "You are the servant of a charming demon," she told him.

"I will act as my desire dictates," the boy finished for the youma without prompting.

The youma grinned. "Soon I can extract his energy," she said.

When it grew later, the youma sent the adolescent humans to their respective homes. They would all forget about their experiences with the Sage of Juban Town until the youma recalled them, using the crystals embedded in the cards each carried.

*****

Jadeite came to retrieve Amethyst later that evening. Her teleportation skills were not yet stable enough to allow her to teleport between the earth and the Dark Kingdom safely. It frustrated Amethyst, but Jadeite was secretly relieved. If Amethyst were physically capable of teleporting long distances on her own, she would be harder to control and protect.

"So, what did you think?" he asked her when they were back in his quarters. "Your gems seem to be working nicely."

Amethyst tried not to blush at his complement. "Your plan seems to be working smoothly, Jadeite-sama," she stated instead, steering the conversation away from her gems.

"Yes, it does," Jadeite said, obviously pleased with himself. "Humans are so stupid. Tomorrow we will gather their young rebellious energy."

"Maybe we will find whoever ruined our last mission," Amethyst said.

"That is your job," Jadeite answered sharply, annoyed that Amethyst had reminded him of his past failure.

"Of course, Jadeite-sama," she replied softly. Then she said, "Your illusions are very powerful. None of them ever suspected that the psychic's house isn't real."

"I know," Jadeite said with a smirk. "Humans are so foolish." It didn't escape Amethyst's attention that Jadeite seemed to enjoy belittling the earth's humans. "You have been confined for so long," he said to Amethyst with a sympathetic look. "Tomorrow, use your own rebellious feelings to guide the humans under our control."

"I will," Amethyst agreed with a smile.

"You must remain hidden," he cautioned her. "I want you to find out what presence is getting in our way, but if one of the generals were to see you on earth..." he began. He didn't have to finish. Amethyst shuddered.

"I definitely will," she agreed.

"I hope so," Jadeite said, almost tenderly. "You are too precious to me, too important to the Dark Kingdom cause. Keeping you safe is one of my highest priorities."

*****

Amethyst was enjoying this mission. The adolescents thought up plenty of dirty tricks on their own, such as laughing out loud in the middle of class and tripping their teacher. One boy even flipped up his teacher's skirt! Amethyst gave them a few ideas of her own, such as smashing the windows of the school. She pretended it was the faces of the other three generals that the rocks were being thrown at. "If it wasn't for them, I would be free to come and go in the Dark Kingdom," she grumbled, conveniently forgetting that any one of the Dark Kingdom citizens would probably be happy to take her out.

When the group wandered away from the school grounds and towards the illusion psychic's house, she followed. It would soon be time to gather their energy. She licked her lips in anticipation. She had always loved energy gathering.

Behind the curtain again, Amethyst watched the assembly of adolescents. "Everybody has done a good job," the youma praised the group sitting on the floor in front of her. The kids muttered amongst themselves about how much fun they were having, unaware that even at that moment their energy was being drawn off by the youma and being collected by Jadeite.

Then a voice was heard through the illusion door at the entrance to the illusion psychic's house: "What's worse than middle aged folks being miffed by 'young is beautiful' are those who don't care about other people!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Amethyst wondered. She could feel the pure aura of the speaker before she even entered the room. It was weak, but radiated such goodness that is made Amethyst feel physically ill.

The speaker kicked open the door. "I am the sailor-suited soldier fighting for love and justice, Sailor Moon!" she cried out.

"Sailor Moon?" the youma echoed.

The intruder continued. "In the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!" Not impressed, the youma picked up a stack of tarot cards, hurling them at the girl. As the intruder ducked the tarot cards, which stuck into the wall behind her, Amethyst memorized the girl's appearance to relate to Jadeite. Long blond hair was done up in buns from which long ponytails emerged. She wore a golden-colored tiara on her head that seemed to emit some sort of power, as did the broach the girl wore over the bow on the front of her shirt. The outfit did look a lot like the school uniforms the children in Tokyo always wore, but the skirt was much shorter and was complemented by red boots and white gloves.

The youma instructed the controlled adolescents to attack Sailor Moon. "Stop it! Get away from me!" the girl cried, running until she was backed against a wall. "Get any closer and you'll be in trouble!" she threatened. She was too busy with the adolescents to notice the youma, which now looked like a monster, the hair ending in cruel claws.

A flower, which Amethyst would later learn was a rose, flew across the room in front of the youma. While it appeared to only distract the youma, Amethyst noticed that is actually severed the youma's ties to the adolescents. They froze in position, stunned.

"Another intruder? Who is that?" the youma yelled, annoyed.

"Tuxedo Kamen!" Sailor Moon cried out, answering the youma's question.

Tuxedo Kamen, a tall man in a formal black and white outfit, a red-lined cape, and a sort of goofy top hat, ignored the youma and faced Sailor Moon. "No matter how hopeless the situation is, you must not give up!" he instructed.

"Okay," Sailor Moon agreed, cheered by this corny pep-talk.

When the disappearing form of Tuxedo Kamen distracted Sailor Moon, the youma attacked her directly. Sailor Moon dodged by luck alone, and the youma's hair-claws ripped the floor to shreds. "That looks so painful!" Sailor Moon cried.

"Sailor Moon, you should use your Moon Tiara!" said a disembodied voice. Amethyst never did find its source. Sailor Moon, however, reacted. She removed her tiara, and it transformed into a disk of positive energy. "Moon Tiara... Action!" she cried, flinging it towards the youma. With horrible screams, the youma was vaporized into a pile of dust, a tarot card sitting in the dust.

Amethyst felt the energy returning to the adolescents. They blinked out of their stupor. "I did it!" Sailor Moon cried, as if she hadn't expected she would. "You're OK now," she told the kids before running out.

"Jadeite will not be happy about this," Amethyst muttered, waiting behind the curtains for him to fetch her. He teleported almost immediately, grabbed hold of Amethyst's arm rather roughly, removed the illusion with a sweep of his hand, and teleported both of them back to his Dark Kingdom quarters.

*****

There were suspicions that this Sailor Moon may have been left over from the Moon Kingdom of so long ago. Her energy signatures were similar, but much weaker. Jadeite set up many more energy collection schemes, but Amethyst was always excluded from their performance for her safety.

Locked in Jadeite's room, totally alone, she practiced using the knowledge she had gleaned during her long imprisonment. She worked magic with her original purple energy stone, which Jadeite had returned to her, adjusting the bonds until it was a truly superior stone. Her tinier stones were almost always a part of Jadeite's plans, but she had never shown him her modifications of the purple stone. She teleported between rooms in Jadeite's quarters, levitated for extended periods of time, and even practiced making youma. Her youma were never used again, with the exception of the Shanellas, which were small and disguised as furry creatures, but in reality fed on feeling of loneliness, feelings Amethyst knew all too well.

When Amethyst was the loneliest, she would look through book of earth mythology that Jadeite had stolen for her on one of his first scouting missions in Tokyo, the mission where he had discovered the OSA-P jewelry store. Amethyst was surprised to find that, with enough focus, she could summon these creatures into Jadeite's quarters. She only attempted this with the smallest of creatures, such as the fairies, and she was always careful to return them quickly so Jadeite would not find out. The activity brought her joy, but Jadeite would probably consider it a danger to her safety.

In the course of his energy gathering schemes, Jadeite had faced off with Sailor Moon in person, using his telekinesis to stop her tiara in mid-flight and his force fields to block her other attacks. Tuxedo Kamen had always shown up, however, and Jadeite would retreat, sensing some sort of hidden power in the man that he did not want to tangle with alone. Eventually another Sailor Senshi showed up, and then another. Called Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars, their attacks used the very elements of the earth. The youma had to be stronger in response, which took more and more energy and made Queen Beryl angrier and angrier as each of Jadeite's schemes failed. Of course, Jadeite was gathering energy for Queen Beryl; he never returned entirely empty handed, but the big schemes always failed in the end, and the energy was never enough.

Amethyst was aware that the schemes never lasted long, but she was never aware of the full scope of the problem. Jadeite would return from a mission, grumpy after a bad meeting with Queen Beryl or taunting from the stupid generals, and she would cheer him up. She would show him her latest gemstone, a miniaturized low-power youma, or show off how long she could levitate. He would smile at her and relax, enjoying the carefree spirit she only showed when he was around.

Then, after yet another failed scheme, something involving airplanes and telekinesis, he had failed to return. Amethyst was surprised when General Kunzite stepped into Jadeite's quarters. "You must be Amethyst. I would tell you that Jadeite had told me all about you, but in fact he has been very tight-lipped regarding you."

Amethyst met his cool gaze with purple fire in her eyes. "What are you doing here?" she challenged. She vaguely wondered why Jadeite's shields had failed.

Kunzite raised a white eyebrow at her tone. "My, my, what insolence, what fire!" he had exclaimed mockingly. "Did you speak to Jadeite in that tone?"

Amethyst felt sick to her stomach and her world tilted. "Why did you say 'did'?" she accused, and then, "What did you do to him!"

Kunzite only chuckled. "It isn't what I did to him, little girl," he said. "It was Queen Beryl herself." Kunzite held up a glowing ball of energy, displaying within it the scene that had unfolded in Queen Beryl's throne room only hours before:

Jadeite teleports into Queen Beryl's
throne room. He is obviously injured. "Qu...
Queen Beryl-sama," he stutters in pain.
"You fool!" Queen Beryl explodes in anger.
"You come crawling back to me?"
"Queen Beryl-sama," Jadeite says desperately,
"The Sailor Senshi's true forms..."
"No excuses!" the Queen screams. Then she
narrows her eyes: "Sleep forever!"
A white light flashes from the Queen's eyes.
"Queen Beryl-sama!" he cries as he is encased in
crystal.
"Dispose of the useless servant," Queen Beryl
spits out. The crystal-encased Jadeite vanished.
"The task now falls on you, Nephrite!" the
Queen announces.
"Jadeite was a fool. I will not disappoint
you." Nephrite says with an evil laugh.

Amethyst refused to cry as the scene played out before her. She knew that Queen Beryl's words, 'Sleep forever,' did not refer to a normal sleep, but to an eternity of isolated consciousness, much like the thousand-year isolation she had experienced. Amethyst let a cool anger burn within her, dispelling the fear she felt for her own safety and the pain of losing her only friend. Her programmed loyalty would never let her turn her anger on her beloved Queen Beryl, so it found another source. 'The Sailor Senshi will pay for this!' she vowed.

*****

Author's Notes:

I told you this chapter would be longer! What is Amethyst going to do without Jadeite? How will she get her revenge on the Sailor Senshi? Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter! But please review while you wait. I NEED REVIEWS!