** The Enemy Within **, chapter 2
by Lilian
lilian413@yahoo.com
AN: I think some of you might've realized this is a
continuation of sorts to my other Ami story, where
she and Zoisite first met. Although not needed to
understand this story at *all*, it might be fun if
you stopped by 'First Meetings' and read it... poor
thing gets lonely, don'tcha know?
'Himeko': little Princess
'Minna': everyone
'fuku': uniform
'Kinzuishou': Mamoru's Golden Crystal
Maenads: Priestresses of Elysion. Kinda like the female
versions of Helios, although nowhere near as important.
(that finishes this impromptu Japanese lesson)
Oh, one more thing: 'ley lines' are invisible lines of
magic that run through Earth like roads. When a juncture
of ley lines occurs, said place is intrinsically magical.
For example, the Crystal Palace was built upon a
juncture of ley lines.
Enjoy and review!
*
*************************
*
"Run, and don't look back!"
Haruka's voice echoed in her ears and she was running
and running, her legs moving so fast they hurt--- one
hand typed furiously in the computer she held with the
other, a nasty crack running up and down the digital
screen.
Her visor was over her eyes, but the blood running
down her forehead still made it hard to see.
Someone was crying beside her and as she looked
sideways, her right foot lodged into a rock and she
stumbled a few steps before recovering her balance.
Her heart thundered in her ears and she felt something
wet mingling with her blood--- it took her a second or
two to realize they were tears.
She blinked them away, trying to make some sense of
the wasteland that lay before them as she plunged deep
into the chaos, her hands still clicking away at the
keyboard.
"Damn it, Ami, look out!"
The warning came from her left, and with a battle
instinct she did not know she possessed, she ducked
with no questions asked. The blast swerved past her
quickly, zinging the spot where her shoulder had been
just a few seconds before.
As she rolled through the dirt, she caught sight of
her friends. Mako-chan was looking at her through half
lidded eyes, Senshi uniform broken and torn as if she
had just escaped from a bloody battle. As Ami picked
herself up and took a look at herself, she realized
she wasn't in any better shape.
She nodded at Makoto once, telling her without words
that she was fine. But she was nowhere near fine---
Zoisite was dead, Usagi was dead--- Crystal Tokyo was
gone and they were running down Elysion, trying
helplessly to lose an enemy that just kept coming.
As they resumed their mad dash through what had once
been the peaceful, beautiful Land of Dreams, Ami
forced the despair back and made herself focus on the
task ahead. They had to get Small Lady to safety---
with Usagi and Mamoru gone, the pink-haired little
girl was their last hope at somehow stopping this...
As Minako clutched the limp girl into her arms and
jumped a falling column with ease, Ami couldn't help
but wonder if the small Princess (Queen, she told
herself. Chibi-Usa was Queen now, and no longer Chibi,
with Usagi gone...) would be of any help. Witnessing
the death of her own mother in the hands of what had
once been the Dream Silver Crystal was shock enough to
send anyone into catatonia...
"Just a hundred more feet, minna!"
Her voice barely made it above the ruckus of crashing
thunder and lightning, as the skies of the ever-green
Land of Hope became black as night and eternal winter
fell on them with a vengeance.
The ominous darkness that crawled through the skies
seemed to reach out for them with sticky tendrils, and
Ami swallowed the lump of fear that formed in the back
of her throat as she watched the Maenads try and buy
them some time.
The Altar, they had to make it to the Altar!
Ami bit her lips as her visor crackled in response to
the massive amounts of energy gathering behind them.
{Don't look back, whatever you do, just don't look
back!} The frantic string of words ran up and down her
head a million times a second, Haruka's last words
ringing in her ears like a shrill warning.
Through the corner of her eye, she saw Rei stumbling
over her high heels for the third time, and cursed
whoever superior entity had designed their fukus.
Slowing down just a fraction of a second, she made a
move to turn back and help her dark-haired friend---
the miko priestess looked at her in the eye, the fire
burning in them rivaling that of her strongest attack
and shook her head almost imperceptibly.
'Don't,' they said, without voice and yet screaming
their warning.
Ami turned her eyes forward just in time to avoid the
raised roots of an ancient oak. To get tangled in them
would mean death, because she knew the darkness was
looming closer--- she could hear it in the screams
behind her, in the claps of lightning and explosions
of power as minute by minute, the last standing
Bastion of Earth was brought a little bit closer to
its end.
In the distance, the Altar greeted their tired eyes,
and a glimmer of hope made it into their hearts. If
only they could get there in time--- Helios would help
them for sure. The sweet spoken Priest had been
defending Elysion until then, and with his help and
Chibi-Usa's power they could rein back the
unstoppable force of the Ginzuishou, as the Crystal
unleashed its power without an owner to keep it
controlled.
Something behind them growled and Ami did not want to
know what it was. Her right hand clicked the visor
away and she barely had a second to adjust to the
change of view before they flew into the Temple,
breaths haggard, bodies exhausted.
As she tended to Chibi-Usa's wounds, Rei and Makoto
bolted the doors behind them, keeping the darkness
outside. An ear-splitting howl echoed around them, and
she knew it wouldn't last long. They needed to find
Helios *now*!
"We have to keep moving. Deeper, into the heart of the
Temple."
Minako took off quickly, knowing her Senshi would
follow her. Makoto was carrying Chibi-Usa this time,
the taller, stronger woman in better shape than their
leader. Ami thought she heard the chestnut haired
woman whisper comforting words into the young girl's
ear, but she could not tell for sure...
As their heels click-clacked on the marble floors,
they heard hollow thumping through the corridors they
had just exited, as the darkness tried to get in.
Without the Maenads to keep Evil away (Ami was sure
they had to be dead by now; no one fought against the
Ginzuishou and won), it run rampant through the heavenly
land of Elysion--- but not for long if they could do
anything about it.
Ami all but ran into Minako as the Venus Senshi
stopped dead in her tracks.
"What is it?" she asked, her voice sounding empty and
weary to her own ears. She had screamed her throat raw
when she had found her husband dead...
"Something's wrong."
Before them stood the Gold Doors of Elysion, and
behind them, Helios waited... but as Minako's eyes
became lost in the intricate design of the threshold,
Ami felt it too. There was no sound coming from inside
the Sacred Chamber, whereas Helios incessant chanting
should've resounded around them from miles away.
She knew what her scan would show her even before she
asked her computer for it. But that did not make it
any easier to deal with.
As Rei pushed open the gold door with trembling hands,
Ami prayed, oh God she prayed that her computer was
wrong, that Helios was not dead, that the Sacred Flame
was not out--- but with Usagi gone, miracles just
didn't happen anymore.
Chibi-Usa made a strange sound when her ruby-red eyes
captured the sight in front of her. It was something
in between a sob and a whimper, but Ami was too
dismayed to care. She felt her mini computer sliding
through her fingers and she only realized she had
dropped it when the sharp, sickening crack of the
screen breaking completely reverberated around her.
{No}
Helios lay on the floor, the otherwise healthy glow of
the Kinzuishou settled upon his forehead dull and
dead. With the Prince of Earth gone, so had died the
light of their only hope.
They had hoped that with the Kinzuishou in their
hands, they could've somehow controlled the magic of
the Ginzuishou. With Chibi-Usa linked to both
Crystals, maybe they could've done something--- it
seemed the Golden Crystal only recognized Mamoru Chiba
as its true owner, and with him gone, all hope was
lost.
The Gold Doors shook with an unseen blow, and they
watched with wide eyes as the darkness began eating
through the magical doorway with ease. Ami looked into
Minako's eyes, trying to get some hope back into her
own heart.
She found none.
"What now, minna?"
The impossibly dark tendrils of magic flowed through
the doors and headed out towards them slowly, as if
enjoying watching them squirm.
None of them made any move to attack or defend
themselves--- the mighty Outer Senshi had given their
lives to try and buy them time to get away and wasted
all their energy in the process. In the end, they had
only delayed the inevitable...
Makoto simply clutched the whimpering Chibi-Usa to her
breast, in a way that Ami knew Usagi had once done.
"It'll be all right, himeko, it will be all right."
The brunette's words sounded empty to Ami's ears, but
she thanked to anyone who was listening (if there was
anyone at all) that Chibi-Usa had someone to cling
to--- she was just a child, a small orphaned child...
they were grown women and had suffered the horrors of
battle before. But there really was no way of
preparing for death, now was there?
Ami never knew when the cirri touched her. One moment,
she was staring deep into Rei's eyes, and the next,
everything was cold and dark and dead and she couldn't
breathe and she tried grasping at something
(anything!) but there was nothing there, just the
endless, vast darkness of the void inside the
Ginzuishou...
There was no noise afterwards.
*
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*
She bolted upright in bed, her hands clawing at the
empty air and her lungs aching with the lack of
oxygen. Her sharp, sudden scream echoed around the
stone room like a single bolt of thunder, and it came
back to her amplified a thousand times.
"NO!"
She gasped, trying in vain to collect her thoughts and
calm the beating of her thundering heart.
{Nightmare, it was just a nightmare, Ami...} she tried
telling herself over and over again, but somehow, she
knew it was not. As a Senshi, she had had her share of
prophetic dreams--- they came with the Sailor fuku and
the power over certain elements. But still, they had
never been her forte. Rei, Usagi, even Michiru--- they
were the ones to whom the Powers spoke through dreams.
She, on the other hand, dismissed most of her dreams
as what they were to her: reflections of her
metabolism while she slept. And that was that.
But then again, sometimes they weren't... she could
still remember the cold, overpowering feeling of the
Silence as it crawled through the streets of Tokyo
eating everything on its path. The same unnerving hum
was coursing through her veins right now, that sixth
sense some called intuition, blaring in her ears that
this dream was not the result of late night snacking.
This was something else all together.
Kicking the covers back, she ignored the sudden cold
of the palace's marble floors under her naked feet,
and all but flew through the corridors of the
seemingly empty palace. The Library, she needed to get
to the library!
As she entered, the door closed behind her and the
bolt clicked into place. She barely acknowledged it,
and a distant part of her brain realized she had never
touched it--- she didn't care.
Her eyes fixed on the last row of shelves, she leaned
back against the closed door and took a deep breath.
Whatever it was that remained hidden behind the
shelves, was calling her. She could feel it now, could
feel the pull reeling her in, whispering her name in
the back of her mind as it enveloped her completely.
How come she hadn't heard it the first time?
The memory of the dream fresh in her mind, she took a
few steps forward and the library creaked around her
as if coming to life. She forced her quickening
heartbeat down, forced herself to not run away and
kept on walking. Her pace was slow, but she couldn't
move any quicker.
'It'll be all right, himeko.' Like a butterfly in the
spring, Mako-chan's voice came to haunt her from the
recesses of her mind. The fear, the terror of death
still lingered within her, and Ami shivered as the
image of the otherwise brave warrior clutching a
whimpering girl to her bosom.
No. She would not let that happen. No matter what it
took, her dear Mako-chan would never fear death like
she had in her dream--- be it heaven or hell, Ami was
going to make things better.
With newfound resolution, she strode forward
purposefully, her bare feet barely making noise
against the rocky floor. Her nightgown fluttered
around her and became sticky against her legs, as if
somehow trying to keep her away. She ignored it, and
faced the last row of shelves with a critical eye.
As if in cue with her stare, a distant rumble echoed
around her, and the shelf began moving on its own
accord, the moan of gears centuries old resounding in
her ears. Surprised, she took a step back, allowing
the impossibly heavy furniture to slide effortlessly
across the floor, unveiling a long, narrow corridor
behind it.
Swallowing her doubts and fears, she entered the
darkness. As if knowing someone was inside it, a
thousand torches burst into life--- magically
empowered, she thought to herself, as she felt the
disturbance in the ley lines running deep into the
heart of Mercury.
For what seemed an eternity, she walked down the
hallway, the light of the torches casting her shadow
across the marble floor--- her soft breathing breaking
the silence, her wide eyes darting back and forth as
if searching for something. What, even she did not
know.
She reached a door, and it seemed so ominous just
standing there, in the middle of nowhere that she
seriously considered turning back and forgetting about
the whole thing. The memory of Chibi-Usa's haunted
eyes and her own mind-numbing fear kept her rooted on
the spot.
"Get a grip, Ami," she told herself through clenched
teeth, almost jumping in surprise as the endless walls
around her acted like amplifiers and magnified her
voice a thousand times.
As the echo of her words died out, the floor rumbled
once again and she braced herself, not knowing what to
expect. In the end, the golden surface of the door
rippled and changed, disappearing from sight. In its
place, a long mirror appeared, covering the entrance
from top to bottom.
Curious, she leaned forward to take a look.
She did not see herself.
Or rather, she did not see herself as she was now,
leaning into the mirror to take a look--- instead, she
saw herself reading a book. A large, obviously
ancient, obviously powerful book. Her own trembling
fingers were passing the pages slowly and she was
shocked to realize she was wearing the same nightgown
she was sporting right now.
Did this mean she was seeing the future?
Her other self came to a stop at a certain page and
Ami watched helplessly as her eyes widened and she bit
back a scream. Whatever it was her self from the other
side of the mirror had seen had horrified her---
Was that the Book of Truth? Was she reading the pages
of the Forbidden Book? The memory of her computer
incident just a few hours back came with a vengeance,
and she remembered reading that whoever dared to flip
the pages of the Book of Truth suffered an untimely
death...
"Oblivion."
The word came to her from across the traslucid surface
and neither she nor the other Ami had spoken it. But
they both heard it because as one, their heads snapped
up and looked at each other.
Deeply into each other's eyes, Ami lost herself among
her own cerulean depths, seeing the bottomless abyss
of her own soul.
"Destruction."
The ethereal voice came from nowhere and everywhere at
the same time, and both Ami's listened in silence,
never once looking away from each other. Ami could see
herself reflected in the mirror, could see the
similarities in between them: the same hair cut, the
same small scar next to her right ear. The same
sapphire necklace around her neck, the same nightgown
covering her body.
But she could also see the differences.
The other Ami was pregnant.
Almost six months pregnant, said the doctor in her,
recognizing the obvious swelling of her tummy and
turgid breasts. The nightgown curved and flowed around
her in intricate patterns from a window that did not
exist, but it did nothing to hide the beautiful arch
of the life growing inside of her.
Amazed, Ami placed a hand against the mirror.
She had been trying for so long... she and Zoisite had
tried everything, and nothing had worked. The rest of
the Senshi all had children and even grandchildren but
she had remained barren as her friends abdomens
expanded. She had brought all those wonderful children
to the world, but she had none to call her own.
And she wanted to-- for the first time in centuries,
she wanted to.
And she couldn't.
As a doctor, she knew the impossibility of becoming
pregnant after performing the tests in order. She knew
no life would ever grown inside of her, no baby would
ever kick... a genetic trait that had prevented her
mother from giving her the brothers and sisters she
had always wanted had been passed on to her, and as a
result, her eternal body did not have what it took to
conceive.
But here she was, staring into the face of
impossibility, watching it shatter into a million and
one pieces...
"How?" she asked her reflection, tears welling in her
eyes. The other Ami approached the mirror carefully,
and seemed as curious as she was as to why were they
able to see each other.
"A miracle," the reflection said in the end, her face
softening as she recognized her kindred soul in the
strange reflection that seemed to have a life of its
own.
For a semi-eternal span of time, they looked at each
other. And then the other Ami raised her hand and
placed it against her own. Through the unyielding
glass surface, Ami could feel the faint warmth of her
hand. She knew it wasn't possible, but she also knew
that magic didn't not follow the rules of physics and
time...
"But it came too late," continued the other Ami, her
eyes watering to mirror Ami's. Her hand lowered to her
lap and cupped her protruding belly in a tender
embrace. "The Crystal is here."
Behind her, the book she had been reading slammed shut
and the other Ami jumped. The terror that flew across
her eyes was fleeting, but Ami saw it nonetheless.
"Let me help!" she heard herself say and her hands
strained to reach the other one across the time gap
that separated them. But the mirror kept them
separated, barely an inch away and yet centuries
apart.
"You cannot. I do not exist yet, Ami, and you know
it."
The other Ami's words were lacking of any feeling
whatsoever and it was clear she had abandoned all
hope. Ami's fists banged against the vitreous barrier
between them and she watched with wide eyes as
something, she couldn't say what, began appearing
behind her other self.
That Ami turned and took a deep breath as she saw the
gathering mass of darkness that began taking shape. As
she turned back to Ami, her hands protected her belly
in a hopeless attempt to defend the small life that
would never see the light of day.
"She never stood a chance, Ami. None of us did. But
now you know... prevent it! You can, I know you can...
don't let it happen again. For us, for the future---
for little Athena, who will never live to see what a
wonderful place this Earth is!"
"No!" screamed Ami, her lithe fingers trying in vain
to penetrate the granite surface.
But there was nothing she could do.
In the end, she watched helplessly as the darkness
mounted and exploded in a sudden discharge of shadow.
As the other Ami was consumed by the blast, one last
word echoed around Ami: 'Please!'
And then the mirror shattered, countless shards of
glass flying around, flaying her skin and chafing her
hands.
She did not feel it.
She just lay there, eyes wide and unseen, the shards
of mirror laying around her like millions of
glistening tears, as if making up for her lack of
reaction. A soft rivulet of blood made its way down
her face and she only realized she was bleeding when a
lone crimson droplet landed on her exposed hand.
As she looked at the scarlet stain, she was reminded
of something she had read once before: 'Out damn spot!
Out I say!'
The caustic words seemed oddly fitting as they came to
her mind and she brushed her hand against the
whiteness of her nightgown, uncaring of the offensive
ruby smear that bruised the otherwise pristine
clothing.
She had had what she so wanted. She had a child--- and
it had all been taken away from her in an instant, as
the Ginzuishou came to life and in doing so, drained
it from everything else around it.
Was Fate hell-bent on keeping her miserable?
Forcing her jumbled thoughts to a stop, she took a
deep breath and rose. Her wavering eyes narrowed at
the sight of the gaping maw in front of her, where
once a mirror had stood. It called her, beckoned her
to enter... and she was going to. She was going to
prevent all this from happening, even if it was the
last thing she ever did.
As she walked through the darkness and into the deeper
corners of the castle, a lone certainty settled on her
heart.
It probably would be the last thing she ever did.
*
**************
*
TBC...
Yui: don't worry! Yo tampoco soy norteamericana! De hecho, soy chilena. Ojalá que te haya gustado este capítulo.
Taerir: I'm enjoying your ongoing series too, so I'm really flattered you liked this little fic of mine.
wyannick54: Ami fics are always welcome, aren't they? I hope I met up to your expectations.
Michelle Ann/Myst Lady: Don't you worry, I'm not stopping. In addition to this chapter, two more are waiting to be posted.
Adyen: of *course* she's going to look. After all, if she didn't, then we'd have no story, would we?
by Lilian
lilian413@yahoo.com
AN: I think some of you might've realized this is a
continuation of sorts to my other Ami story, where
she and Zoisite first met. Although not needed to
understand this story at *all*, it might be fun if
you stopped by 'First Meetings' and read it... poor
thing gets lonely, don'tcha know?
'Himeko': little Princess
'Minna': everyone
'fuku': uniform
'Kinzuishou': Mamoru's Golden Crystal
Maenads: Priestresses of Elysion. Kinda like the female
versions of Helios, although nowhere near as important.
(that finishes this impromptu Japanese lesson)
Oh, one more thing: 'ley lines' are invisible lines of
magic that run through Earth like roads. When a juncture
of ley lines occurs, said place is intrinsically magical.
For example, the Crystal Palace was built upon a
juncture of ley lines.
Enjoy and review!
*
*************************
*
"Run, and don't look back!"
Haruka's voice echoed in her ears and she was running
and running, her legs moving so fast they hurt--- one
hand typed furiously in the computer she held with the
other, a nasty crack running up and down the digital
screen.
Her visor was over her eyes, but the blood running
down her forehead still made it hard to see.
Someone was crying beside her and as she looked
sideways, her right foot lodged into a rock and she
stumbled a few steps before recovering her balance.
Her heart thundered in her ears and she felt something
wet mingling with her blood--- it took her a second or
two to realize they were tears.
She blinked them away, trying to make some sense of
the wasteland that lay before them as she plunged deep
into the chaos, her hands still clicking away at the
keyboard.
"Damn it, Ami, look out!"
The warning came from her left, and with a battle
instinct she did not know she possessed, she ducked
with no questions asked. The blast swerved past her
quickly, zinging the spot where her shoulder had been
just a few seconds before.
As she rolled through the dirt, she caught sight of
her friends. Mako-chan was looking at her through half
lidded eyes, Senshi uniform broken and torn as if she
had just escaped from a bloody battle. As Ami picked
herself up and took a look at herself, she realized
she wasn't in any better shape.
She nodded at Makoto once, telling her without words
that she was fine. But she was nowhere near fine---
Zoisite was dead, Usagi was dead--- Crystal Tokyo was
gone and they were running down Elysion, trying
helplessly to lose an enemy that just kept coming.
As they resumed their mad dash through what had once
been the peaceful, beautiful Land of Dreams, Ami
forced the despair back and made herself focus on the
task ahead. They had to get Small Lady to safety---
with Usagi and Mamoru gone, the pink-haired little
girl was their last hope at somehow stopping this...
As Minako clutched the limp girl into her arms and
jumped a falling column with ease, Ami couldn't help
but wonder if the small Princess (Queen, she told
herself. Chibi-Usa was Queen now, and no longer Chibi,
with Usagi gone...) would be of any help. Witnessing
the death of her own mother in the hands of what had
once been the Dream Silver Crystal was shock enough to
send anyone into catatonia...
"Just a hundred more feet, minna!"
Her voice barely made it above the ruckus of crashing
thunder and lightning, as the skies of the ever-green
Land of Hope became black as night and eternal winter
fell on them with a vengeance.
The ominous darkness that crawled through the skies
seemed to reach out for them with sticky tendrils, and
Ami swallowed the lump of fear that formed in the back
of her throat as she watched the Maenads try and buy
them some time.
The Altar, they had to make it to the Altar!
Ami bit her lips as her visor crackled in response to
the massive amounts of energy gathering behind them.
{Don't look back, whatever you do, just don't look
back!} The frantic string of words ran up and down her
head a million times a second, Haruka's last words
ringing in her ears like a shrill warning.
Through the corner of her eye, she saw Rei stumbling
over her high heels for the third time, and cursed
whoever superior entity had designed their fukus.
Slowing down just a fraction of a second, she made a
move to turn back and help her dark-haired friend---
the miko priestess looked at her in the eye, the fire
burning in them rivaling that of her strongest attack
and shook her head almost imperceptibly.
'Don't,' they said, without voice and yet screaming
their warning.
Ami turned her eyes forward just in time to avoid the
raised roots of an ancient oak. To get tangled in them
would mean death, because she knew the darkness was
looming closer--- she could hear it in the screams
behind her, in the claps of lightning and explosions
of power as minute by minute, the last standing
Bastion of Earth was brought a little bit closer to
its end.
In the distance, the Altar greeted their tired eyes,
and a glimmer of hope made it into their hearts. If
only they could get there in time--- Helios would help
them for sure. The sweet spoken Priest had been
defending Elysion until then, and with his help and
Chibi-Usa's power they could rein back the
unstoppable force of the Ginzuishou, as the Crystal
unleashed its power without an owner to keep it
controlled.
Something behind them growled and Ami did not want to
know what it was. Her right hand clicked the visor
away and she barely had a second to adjust to the
change of view before they flew into the Temple,
breaths haggard, bodies exhausted.
As she tended to Chibi-Usa's wounds, Rei and Makoto
bolted the doors behind them, keeping the darkness
outside. An ear-splitting howl echoed around them, and
she knew it wouldn't last long. They needed to find
Helios *now*!
"We have to keep moving. Deeper, into the heart of the
Temple."
Minako took off quickly, knowing her Senshi would
follow her. Makoto was carrying Chibi-Usa this time,
the taller, stronger woman in better shape than their
leader. Ami thought she heard the chestnut haired
woman whisper comforting words into the young girl's
ear, but she could not tell for sure...
As their heels click-clacked on the marble floors,
they heard hollow thumping through the corridors they
had just exited, as the darkness tried to get in.
Without the Maenads to keep Evil away (Ami was sure
they had to be dead by now; no one fought against the
Ginzuishou and won), it run rampant through the heavenly
land of Elysion--- but not for long if they could do
anything about it.
Ami all but ran into Minako as the Venus Senshi
stopped dead in her tracks.
"What is it?" she asked, her voice sounding empty and
weary to her own ears. She had screamed her throat raw
when she had found her husband dead...
"Something's wrong."
Before them stood the Gold Doors of Elysion, and
behind them, Helios waited... but as Minako's eyes
became lost in the intricate design of the threshold,
Ami felt it too. There was no sound coming from inside
the Sacred Chamber, whereas Helios incessant chanting
should've resounded around them from miles away.
She knew what her scan would show her even before she
asked her computer for it. But that did not make it
any easier to deal with.
As Rei pushed open the gold door with trembling hands,
Ami prayed, oh God she prayed that her computer was
wrong, that Helios was not dead, that the Sacred Flame
was not out--- but with Usagi gone, miracles just
didn't happen anymore.
Chibi-Usa made a strange sound when her ruby-red eyes
captured the sight in front of her. It was something
in between a sob and a whimper, but Ami was too
dismayed to care. She felt her mini computer sliding
through her fingers and she only realized she had
dropped it when the sharp, sickening crack of the
screen breaking completely reverberated around her.
{No}
Helios lay on the floor, the otherwise healthy glow of
the Kinzuishou settled upon his forehead dull and
dead. With the Prince of Earth gone, so had died the
light of their only hope.
They had hoped that with the Kinzuishou in their
hands, they could've somehow controlled the magic of
the Ginzuishou. With Chibi-Usa linked to both
Crystals, maybe they could've done something--- it
seemed the Golden Crystal only recognized Mamoru Chiba
as its true owner, and with him gone, all hope was
lost.
The Gold Doors shook with an unseen blow, and they
watched with wide eyes as the darkness began eating
through the magical doorway with ease. Ami looked into
Minako's eyes, trying to get some hope back into her
own heart.
She found none.
"What now, minna?"
The impossibly dark tendrils of magic flowed through
the doors and headed out towards them slowly, as if
enjoying watching them squirm.
None of them made any move to attack or defend
themselves--- the mighty Outer Senshi had given their
lives to try and buy them time to get away and wasted
all their energy in the process. In the end, they had
only delayed the inevitable...
Makoto simply clutched the whimpering Chibi-Usa to her
breast, in a way that Ami knew Usagi had once done.
"It'll be all right, himeko, it will be all right."
The brunette's words sounded empty to Ami's ears, but
she thanked to anyone who was listening (if there was
anyone at all) that Chibi-Usa had someone to cling
to--- she was just a child, a small orphaned child...
they were grown women and had suffered the horrors of
battle before. But there really was no way of
preparing for death, now was there?
Ami never knew when the cirri touched her. One moment,
she was staring deep into Rei's eyes, and the next,
everything was cold and dark and dead and she couldn't
breathe and she tried grasping at something
(anything!) but there was nothing there, just the
endless, vast darkness of the void inside the
Ginzuishou...
There was no noise afterwards.
*
**************************
*
She bolted upright in bed, her hands clawing at the
empty air and her lungs aching with the lack of
oxygen. Her sharp, sudden scream echoed around the
stone room like a single bolt of thunder, and it came
back to her amplified a thousand times.
"NO!"
She gasped, trying in vain to collect her thoughts and
calm the beating of her thundering heart.
{Nightmare, it was just a nightmare, Ami...} she tried
telling herself over and over again, but somehow, she
knew it was not. As a Senshi, she had had her share of
prophetic dreams--- they came with the Sailor fuku and
the power over certain elements. But still, they had
never been her forte. Rei, Usagi, even Michiru--- they
were the ones to whom the Powers spoke through dreams.
She, on the other hand, dismissed most of her dreams
as what they were to her: reflections of her
metabolism while she slept. And that was that.
But then again, sometimes they weren't... she could
still remember the cold, overpowering feeling of the
Silence as it crawled through the streets of Tokyo
eating everything on its path. The same unnerving hum
was coursing through her veins right now, that sixth
sense some called intuition, blaring in her ears that
this dream was not the result of late night snacking.
This was something else all together.
Kicking the covers back, she ignored the sudden cold
of the palace's marble floors under her naked feet,
and all but flew through the corridors of the
seemingly empty palace. The Library, she needed to get
to the library!
As she entered, the door closed behind her and the
bolt clicked into place. She barely acknowledged it,
and a distant part of her brain realized she had never
touched it--- she didn't care.
Her eyes fixed on the last row of shelves, she leaned
back against the closed door and took a deep breath.
Whatever it was that remained hidden behind the
shelves, was calling her. She could feel it now, could
feel the pull reeling her in, whispering her name in
the back of her mind as it enveloped her completely.
How come she hadn't heard it the first time?
The memory of the dream fresh in her mind, she took a
few steps forward and the library creaked around her
as if coming to life. She forced her quickening
heartbeat down, forced herself to not run away and
kept on walking. Her pace was slow, but she couldn't
move any quicker.
'It'll be all right, himeko.' Like a butterfly in the
spring, Mako-chan's voice came to haunt her from the
recesses of her mind. The fear, the terror of death
still lingered within her, and Ami shivered as the
image of the otherwise brave warrior clutching a
whimpering girl to her bosom.
No. She would not let that happen. No matter what it
took, her dear Mako-chan would never fear death like
she had in her dream--- be it heaven or hell, Ami was
going to make things better.
With newfound resolution, she strode forward
purposefully, her bare feet barely making noise
against the rocky floor. Her nightgown fluttered
around her and became sticky against her legs, as if
somehow trying to keep her away. She ignored it, and
faced the last row of shelves with a critical eye.
As if in cue with her stare, a distant rumble echoed
around her, and the shelf began moving on its own
accord, the moan of gears centuries old resounding in
her ears. Surprised, she took a step back, allowing
the impossibly heavy furniture to slide effortlessly
across the floor, unveiling a long, narrow corridor
behind it.
Swallowing her doubts and fears, she entered the
darkness. As if knowing someone was inside it, a
thousand torches burst into life--- magically
empowered, she thought to herself, as she felt the
disturbance in the ley lines running deep into the
heart of Mercury.
For what seemed an eternity, she walked down the
hallway, the light of the torches casting her shadow
across the marble floor--- her soft breathing breaking
the silence, her wide eyes darting back and forth as
if searching for something. What, even she did not
know.
She reached a door, and it seemed so ominous just
standing there, in the middle of nowhere that she
seriously considered turning back and forgetting about
the whole thing. The memory of Chibi-Usa's haunted
eyes and her own mind-numbing fear kept her rooted on
the spot.
"Get a grip, Ami," she told herself through clenched
teeth, almost jumping in surprise as the endless walls
around her acted like amplifiers and magnified her
voice a thousand times.
As the echo of her words died out, the floor rumbled
once again and she braced herself, not knowing what to
expect. In the end, the golden surface of the door
rippled and changed, disappearing from sight. In its
place, a long mirror appeared, covering the entrance
from top to bottom.
Curious, she leaned forward to take a look.
She did not see herself.
Or rather, she did not see herself as she was now,
leaning into the mirror to take a look--- instead, she
saw herself reading a book. A large, obviously
ancient, obviously powerful book. Her own trembling
fingers were passing the pages slowly and she was
shocked to realize she was wearing the same nightgown
she was sporting right now.
Did this mean she was seeing the future?
Her other self came to a stop at a certain page and
Ami watched helplessly as her eyes widened and she bit
back a scream. Whatever it was her self from the other
side of the mirror had seen had horrified her---
Was that the Book of Truth? Was she reading the pages
of the Forbidden Book? The memory of her computer
incident just a few hours back came with a vengeance,
and she remembered reading that whoever dared to flip
the pages of the Book of Truth suffered an untimely
death...
"Oblivion."
The word came to her from across the traslucid surface
and neither she nor the other Ami had spoken it. But
they both heard it because as one, their heads snapped
up and looked at each other.
Deeply into each other's eyes, Ami lost herself among
her own cerulean depths, seeing the bottomless abyss
of her own soul.
"Destruction."
The ethereal voice came from nowhere and everywhere at
the same time, and both Ami's listened in silence,
never once looking away from each other. Ami could see
herself reflected in the mirror, could see the
similarities in between them: the same hair cut, the
same small scar next to her right ear. The same
sapphire necklace around her neck, the same nightgown
covering her body.
But she could also see the differences.
The other Ami was pregnant.
Almost six months pregnant, said the doctor in her,
recognizing the obvious swelling of her tummy and
turgid breasts. The nightgown curved and flowed around
her in intricate patterns from a window that did not
exist, but it did nothing to hide the beautiful arch
of the life growing inside of her.
Amazed, Ami placed a hand against the mirror.
She had been trying for so long... she and Zoisite had
tried everything, and nothing had worked. The rest of
the Senshi all had children and even grandchildren but
she had remained barren as her friends abdomens
expanded. She had brought all those wonderful children
to the world, but she had none to call her own.
And she wanted to-- for the first time in centuries,
she wanted to.
And she couldn't.
As a doctor, she knew the impossibility of becoming
pregnant after performing the tests in order. She knew
no life would ever grown inside of her, no baby would
ever kick... a genetic trait that had prevented her
mother from giving her the brothers and sisters she
had always wanted had been passed on to her, and as a
result, her eternal body did not have what it took to
conceive.
But here she was, staring into the face of
impossibility, watching it shatter into a million and
one pieces...
"How?" she asked her reflection, tears welling in her
eyes. The other Ami approached the mirror carefully,
and seemed as curious as she was as to why were they
able to see each other.
"A miracle," the reflection said in the end, her face
softening as she recognized her kindred soul in the
strange reflection that seemed to have a life of its
own.
For a semi-eternal span of time, they looked at each
other. And then the other Ami raised her hand and
placed it against her own. Through the unyielding
glass surface, Ami could feel the faint warmth of her
hand. She knew it wasn't possible, but she also knew
that magic didn't not follow the rules of physics and
time...
"But it came too late," continued the other Ami, her
eyes watering to mirror Ami's. Her hand lowered to her
lap and cupped her protruding belly in a tender
embrace. "The Crystal is here."
Behind her, the book she had been reading slammed shut
and the other Ami jumped. The terror that flew across
her eyes was fleeting, but Ami saw it nonetheless.
"Let me help!" she heard herself say and her hands
strained to reach the other one across the time gap
that separated them. But the mirror kept them
separated, barely an inch away and yet centuries
apart.
"You cannot. I do not exist yet, Ami, and you know
it."
The other Ami's words were lacking of any feeling
whatsoever and it was clear she had abandoned all
hope. Ami's fists banged against the vitreous barrier
between them and she watched with wide eyes as
something, she couldn't say what, began appearing
behind her other self.
That Ami turned and took a deep breath as she saw the
gathering mass of darkness that began taking shape. As
she turned back to Ami, her hands protected her belly
in a hopeless attempt to defend the small life that
would never see the light of day.
"She never stood a chance, Ami. None of us did. But
now you know... prevent it! You can, I know you can...
don't let it happen again. For us, for the future---
for little Athena, who will never live to see what a
wonderful place this Earth is!"
"No!" screamed Ami, her lithe fingers trying in vain
to penetrate the granite surface.
But there was nothing she could do.
In the end, she watched helplessly as the darkness
mounted and exploded in a sudden discharge of shadow.
As the other Ami was consumed by the blast, one last
word echoed around Ami: 'Please!'
And then the mirror shattered, countless shards of
glass flying around, flaying her skin and chafing her
hands.
She did not feel it.
She just lay there, eyes wide and unseen, the shards
of mirror laying around her like millions of
glistening tears, as if making up for her lack of
reaction. A soft rivulet of blood made its way down
her face and she only realized she was bleeding when a
lone crimson droplet landed on her exposed hand.
As she looked at the scarlet stain, she was reminded
of something she had read once before: 'Out damn spot!
Out I say!'
The caustic words seemed oddly fitting as they came to
her mind and she brushed her hand against the
whiteness of her nightgown, uncaring of the offensive
ruby smear that bruised the otherwise pristine
clothing.
She had had what she so wanted. She had a child--- and
it had all been taken away from her in an instant, as
the Ginzuishou came to life and in doing so, drained
it from everything else around it.
Was Fate hell-bent on keeping her miserable?
Forcing her jumbled thoughts to a stop, she took a
deep breath and rose. Her wavering eyes narrowed at
the sight of the gaping maw in front of her, where
once a mirror had stood. It called her, beckoned her
to enter... and she was going to. She was going to
prevent all this from happening, even if it was the
last thing she ever did.
As she walked through the darkness and into the deeper
corners of the castle, a lone certainty settled on her
heart.
It probably would be the last thing she ever did.
*
**************
*
TBC...
Yui: don't worry! Yo tampoco soy norteamericana! De hecho, soy chilena. Ojalá que te haya gustado este capítulo.
Taerir: I'm enjoying your ongoing series too, so I'm really flattered you liked this little fic of mine.
wyannick54: Ami fics are always welcome, aren't they? I hope I met up to your expectations.
Michelle Ann/Myst Lady: Don't you worry, I'm not stopping. In addition to this chapter, two more are waiting to be posted.
Adyen: of *course* she's going to look. After all, if she didn't, then we'd have no story, would we?