/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
/\ "To Go, Please" /\
/\ Chapter 14: The Little White Rabbit /\
/\ E-mail: Adrial_06@yahoo.com /\
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OK, guys, I just wanted to start off by saying
I'M SORRY!
*whew* I feel better now! It's been a million
and one years since I've updated, and I would just like to
blame that on a little thing called LIFE.
So for all your trouble, I'm going to probably
add something in this one that I was going to otherwise leave
out for this next and FINAL (AH! She said 'final'!) chapter.
And for a quick A.N.: The first part (starts with '~~~~~~')
is still the past. Everything after (~~~~~~) is present, and
I will continue in the present from here on.
Thanks for sticking by me all this time! :D
-Adrial
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Usagi...
The phone spun rapidly in circles across my kitchen
floor; the backing snapped off and clattered underneath the
stove.
Something impalpable grasped around my neck, making it
painful for my labored breaths to come out. I stared at my empty
hand for what felt like hours, trying to grasp the situation I'd
found myself in.
A muffled noise desperately tried to break through my
troubled mind, and I regained control of my breathing slowly.
The phone had stopped spinning, laying a few feet
away from me. Malina's voice was gone, however, having melted
away seconds after she unveiled the truth I'd been frantically
searching for.
My eyes flew to the living room. It felt as if a
thousand snarling gazes were watching me as I tore across the
distance to the front door and kneeled down close to the wall.
The air vent covering I had intended on removing was laying
crookedly next to the pile of shoes in the foyer.
"Oh, God."
I threw my head to either side, suddenly aware of the
fact that I might not be completely alone in the apartment.
Taking a few steadying breaths to calm my racing heart, I
rubbed my forehead and rose shakily.
My bedroom door crashed into the wall as I threw it
open and launched myself into my desk chair. Lifting up papers
and folders hurriedly, I frantically searched for my palm pilot.
A blue corner peeked out from underneath a pile of
discarded index cards, and I tugged on it furiously. A cascade
of papers and cards fluttered to the floor, but I ignored them.
As I moved to open it, something drew my attention.
Tiny indents, much like teeth marks, were scattered across
the edges. I choked on my gasp, whipping the cover open and
checking for any signs of further attempts to invade its
contents. The screen flickered to life and I pressed my
index finger into a boxed in area.
'ACCESS GRANTED' It read.
I silently bowed down to myself for equipping the
memory to allow only myself to be allowed entrance to its
data.
Scooting back in the chair, I rose and exited my
room. Myora had obviously gone to all odds to gain entry
into my personalspace. She had, no doubt, discovered our
identities from the pictures scattered across my desk
and dresser.
I returned to the air vent and pointed my palm pilot
towards it. Streams of negative energy appeared over the
screen, red warning signals blaring over and over again.
I had expected this and quickly commanded the
computer to look past the negative energy. My blood ran
cold at the amount of negative energy that permeated from
the hole in my floor. Shivers raced up and down my spine.
There had definitely been something evil coming and going
through the air vents in my apartment.
"Time to catch the little white rabbit..." I muttered,
snapping my palm pilot shut and rising.
Before I had a chance to gather a plan or any sort
of idea of how I'd figure out the way to pinpoint Myora's
whereabouts, a piercing screech sliced through the air
outside my front door.
Malina...
How could I have forgotten her? She was the
answer--Myora had been using her! Talking to her...posing
as her innocent pet while constantly sneaking in and out
of her possession.
I stuffed my palm pilot into my pocket and threw
the door open. The screams had subsided, but I tore down
the corridor anyway. Malina's front door was opened slightly,
and I wasted no time in punching my way past it.
A crumpled mass lay next to the couch, and I rushed
to Malina's mother's side.
She whipped her head up to look at me, her green
eyes puffy and swollen, "Sh-she's gone, Ami-chan! Gone!"
She put a shaky hand to her mouth, "I didn't think anything
of it when she was talking to herself--she was a-always talking
to Mimi...but then she just..."
She trailed off, succombing to the sobs that shook
her body forcefully. My eyes left her own as she fell against
my chest, heaving with broken hearted cries. A folded sheet
of paper caught my attention, and I reached over for it.
The blood in my fingers ran cold.
'Tick tock, Mercury. Time's almost up. I do hope
you've decided to hand over the gem by now. I'd simply hate
having to hurt this precious little girl who's been so kind
as to care for me all this time. You have less than 2 hours
remaining. Come to the Tokyo Theater before then. I trust
that you will be able to find your way from there.
And, by the way, this Zachary boy is rather handsome.
I hope you wouldn't mind if I have a little fun with him.
Ta ta, Sis.'
My hand shook so harshly that I had to ball it into
a fist to control the tremors. Kayasha's breathing had slowed
to thin, ragged breaths and she looked at me with wide eyes.
"Ami-chan..." She whispered, moving to grasp the note
that still lay in my hand.
I pulled it away from her and helped her sit on the
couch. Her tear stained face was creased with worry, and I
cupped her cheeks in my hands, "Kayasha-san, I am going to
find her."
She shook her head slowly, "Ami-chan, where is she?"
I looked away. The gentle ticking of the gold trimmed
clock hanging from their wall drummed heavily into my ear drums.
"Ami-chan, tell me where she is! What's happening?!"
She grabbed my shoulders roughly, shaking me until I, too, was
crying.
"I-I...I'm sorry, Kayasha-san," I pushed my fingers into
her neck, rendering her unconscious. She folded over onto the
couch limply.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As I now stood in front of the entrance to the
theater, my insides a mass of anxious tangles and a pure
contrast to the tranquil glow encasing my body, I reached
out to whatever strength I could uncover and hung on to it
as if my life depended on it--and it did.
The evident waves of negative energy emitting from
the door barely penetrated the magic swirling around me.
I breathed in the last breath of fresh air I knew I would
be inhaling for a while and placed my palm on to the
door's ice cold surface.
Instantly, as if a freshly painted portrait
had been submerged under water, the face of the theater
melted away, revealing an ominous series of towers, dark
and looming in front of my widened eyes.
The sky swirled lethargically in grey and navy
wisps of night. I craned my neck back, watching with
wide eyes as they swelled over one another in a mesmorizing
dance before stretching out from the navy backround and
reaching towards me as if to lift me up into the heavens.
I was unable to stray from their silent summons,
and my feet stayed planted firmly to the ground. Translucent
limbs curled around my torso and arms, and suddenly, the biting
chill of the December evening left my bones and was replaced
with something I prayed I would never feel again.
My heart twisted violently in my chest, and my heaving
lungs battled against the ragged coughs that forced themselves out
of my throat. Buckling underneath my weight, my knees crashed
painfully onto the brick walk-way I was standing on.
I felt as if all emotions, all feelings, left my body
and were sucked into the hatred-polluted air around me. It was
worse than pain...worse than a broken heart.
They were sucking out my soul.
My mind was dimming, struggling to put together any type
of coherent thought or plan. I willed my eyes to remain open, but
they betrayed my pleas. Throughout out it all, as the sky wrapped
its bitter arms around me and drained away the essence my life,
the burning light of Mercury shown behind my eyes, and I knew
what to do.
"*gasp* Mer-Mercury cr-crystal *gasp* power...!"
When my eyes cracked open again, I had transformed from
my princess state and into my senshi form. A protective layer
of blue defended me from the churning sky's soul-extractions,
and my chest was filled with the intoxicating air of peace.
As if to scorn at my small victory, the sky's undulating
spirals flickered with lightnening before dispersing into a
desolate oblivion.
I reveled in being complete once more and turned to face
the fortress that was nothing more than an outline of peaks and
rooftops in the inky sky. The only sounds in the still night
were that of my boots as they clicked rapidly along the stone
pathway.
No one who came here could possibly survive...
I shivered involuntarily at the fresh memory of my soul
being sifted from my body. A cloud of doubt began to accumulate
over the sense of confidence I'd acquired, but I shoved it away
quickly.
Never taking my eyes from the path before me, I produced
my palm pilot. I slowed my sprint to a trot and pressed my finger
into the corner of the screen. Instantly, a map of the interior
of the fortress appeared on its surface. Five, flashing red
dots were juxtaposed in one area of the northern tower.
The senshi...
The fifth one must have been Mamoru, I mused. I wasn't
sure how I would be able to locate the others' positions without
having their vitals and physical data logged into its memory,
but I was sure I'd find them along the way.
Hurriedly tapping on the screen, I checked for the
strongest points of negative or evil energy. Two bright green
spheres of light appeared on the tip of the east and west
towers. I furrowed my brow.
Two?
I was now facing the edge of a drawbridge, and
contemplating the best plan of entry. I needn't worry too
long, however, as I felt something brush against my leg.
I gasped and jumped slightly, ready to attack at any
given moment.
Before I knew what was happening, I was swallowed
by darkness and fell uncerimoniously on my rear-end at the
bottom of a large tunnel.
I grunted slightly and pushed myself up, dusting off
my legs and automatically turning to my palm pilot.
It had been a good 50 or 60 foot drop, and I did not
fail to notice that there had been something to be held
accountable for breaking my fall and saving me from being
Mercurian history.
My eyes seemed to take forever to become adjusted
to the solid darkness, but my sense of smell was working just
fine. The stench was horrific--almost unbearable. I clapped
my hand over my nose and coughed a little.
Groaning from the disgusting, stale air, I lifted my
henshin wand into the air and a shower of blue light poured out
from the blue symbol atop it.
I was forced to remove my hand from my mouth in order
to shield my eyes from the sudden burst of illumination, and
when I uncovered them the first thing I noticed was the exit,
a narrow, 6 foot passage way.
I began to walk towards it, a little more than anxious to
rid my nostrils of the aroma of the place I'd found myself in.
I stumbled a little over the ground and fell to one knee on the
floor. I pushed up on it, lifting my hand to search for something
to grip. I felt something hard and tugged slightly.
Something crashed to the floor--a clatter of noises, and
then silence. I grunted from the wave of raunchy air that blew
over my head. Underneath my left hand was a patch of softness,
and I gripped it, curiously.
The hollow, decayed skull of a young girl rolled to a
stop a few inches in front of me. I tore my hand away from the
hair, instantly falling back in my shock. My back collided with
a stiff, bumpy something, and I turned to find the molted body of
a not completely deteriorated corpse resting behind me.
My throat closed to the screams that struggled to get
out, and I leapt up, stumbling blindly over the myriad of
cadavers in my haste.
I ended up slipping in a pool of liquid, and my legs
skidded across the ground painfully. Grunting, I picked up my
henshin wand which had fallen from my hand in my stumble and it
poured another stream of light into the room.
As much as every fiber of my being ached to be out of
that room and away from the discarded bodies, I found myself
looking around in utter disgust and confusion.
A collage of decomposed corpses were dangling limply
from the walls and ceiling in a distorted imitation of ceiling
fixtures. Empty eyes of men and women stared straight ahead,
seemingly transfixed on some point in the distance.
Shakily, I raised my wand into the air higher and moved
around in a slow circle. The stench was the least of my problems
at the moment.
My eye caught sight of a couple hanging limply from
the left side of the room, their hands clasped firmly around
one another's.
Their eyes were not staring straight ahead like the
others, but were steadfast in their gazes at one another. I
felt a wave of nausea wash over me, and everything in my
stomach lurched itself up my throat. I bent over my
knees, heaving and coughing violently.
After it had passed, I rose, breathing heavily, and
wiped my mouth with a shaky palm. I had to know how...why
this people had ended up here. My visor fell over my eyes
and rapidly computed the causes of their deaths. I waited
impatiently, urging it to move faster.
When it had finally finished beeping and clicking,
the screen went completely blank, save for one, blinking
white message.
'UNABLE TO DETECT SIGNS OF INJURY.'
"What?" I muttered. I turned my eyes back to the
hanging bodies and furrowed my brow. The man and woman's
clasped hands drew my attention once more, their eyes wide
with the terror they must have experienced before their
lives had been...
It dawned on me then, sending me to my knees once
again. My stomach had nothing left to heave at the moment,
leaving me gagging with dry coughs.
My visor disappeared from my face, and I hurriedly
ran for the exit. I wanted nothing more than to forget those
empty, souless faces.
I shoved my back against the wall a few yards away from
the room, wiping away dry tears that wouldn't fall from my eyes.
I turned to the opposite direction I was facing, and
was left with no other option than to continue left, as there
was a dead end to the right.
Shoving everything I'd encountered before that point
away from my mind for a minute, I began my journey along the
dark corridor.
After what seemed like hours of endless walking, I
seemed to be getting no where--and fast.
"North...East...damn it!" I cursed, slapping down
my palm pilot in disgust. The substantial amount of negative
energy permeating in the air was drowning out all possible
signals I could have even hoped to acquire that would
tell me just where in the hell I was. At least I could still
detect any signs of movement on the level I was on.
I was still blind as a bat in the murky darkness that
caved in on me from all sides, but didn't want to risk using
my henshin pen for fear of Myora discovering my exact location.
I was certain she already knew I was there.
I exhaled heavily into the darkness, and allowed myself
to think about just what was on the line here for the first time
since I'd left Malina's broken mother unconscious on her couch.
My chest contracted with worry at the thought of Usagi
being held in such danger. What was Myora doing to her? Had she
been hurt? I shuddered at the thought of her precious soul being
lifted from her body. I would die before I let that happen.
I tried futilely to sift out all thoughts of Zach from
my mind, but his familiar face filtered into my vision
nonetheless. I'd gotten him into this, and now I had to get
him out.
Abruptly, the blood in my body ran cold, and my visor
began trailing streams of data across the screen so rapidly that
I could barely make out what it was trying to communicate to me.
I did, however, see two distinctly orange squares on the screen,
both moving undeniably fast and directly towards the bright
blue triangle in one corner of the screen--me.
"Shimatte!" I whispered to myself, flinging my body against
the wall and edging along quietly. It would be no use turning
back--I knew what was at the end of that tunnel, and I had no
wish to be subjected to it again.
The orange squares paused for a moment, mere centimeters
from my symbol on the screen. I held my breath.
My hand brushed something round and hard from behind me,
and I tugged on it with all my might, praying that it would save
me from discovering the identities of the orange squares.
I fell backward suddenly, sliding across a wooden floor and
skidding to a halt. I stood quickly, darting my eyes around to take
in my surroundings. The room was fairly large yet devoid of any
objects or lurking youma for that matter.
I looked back at my palm pilot. The orange squares were no
longer where they had been--they were directly on top of the blue
triangle which was now outlined in red.
"Mmph!"
Alright. This situation had not been exactly how I'd
envisioned my courageous adventure to begin. But, then again,
neither was getting my soul nearly sucked out of me or falling
into a pit of decomposed corpses.
A large hand grabbed a handfull of hair near the
middle of my head and yanked it back painfully.
"Fancy meeting you like this, Mercury..." The voice slid
over my ears in a malicious wave, "*Again.*"
My clenched eyes popped open in shock.
Again...
I choked on the salty taste of sweat and dirt coating my
lips beneath large, grimy hands--hands that I had felt before.
A deep chuckle tickled my other ear suddenly, and I
flinched. Another man trailed his finger along my jawline,
slowly and menacingly.
"This time, however," He paused his thumb's travel down my
neck and leaned close to my face, "We won't leave empty handed."
Abruptly, my arms and legs were free, and I flung myself to
the farthest corner of the room, panting painfully over the flashes
of memories from the night which had seemed to occur centuries ago.
The two men walked slowly and deliberately closer to me,
chuckling with amusement at the quaking fear in my eyes. I wanted
nothing more than to curl into a ball in the darkest corner I could
find and hide away from the world for the rest of my life.
The taller of the two, shaggy hair hanging limply in clumps
over his hidden eyes approached me and raked a disgusting palm
through it. Two shining slits of murky yellow glowed through
the darkness.
"Lookss like that boyfriend of yoursss won't be here to
ressscue you thiss time, hmm?"
He came nearer, opening his mouth wide enough for me to
glimpse the razor sharp fangs glimmering with venom inside.
A forked tongue shot around them in swift flicks.
I had the urge to poke him to make sure he was real.
My attacker had been a youma...? I forced myself to remember
my attack...what was done, what was said...
Once again, the man who had nearly taken my body for
his own appeared in my mind, identical to the one standing
before me, as he towered over my bruised and battered body
and spoke in a sinister voice.
"...she's almost there, now we'll let Myor-"
My body stiffened. It had been them. It had been *her.*
"You..." I whispered, looking on with bewildered eyes
as the other man's color-less eyes melted away to reveal two
gleaming orange ones.
He smiled coyly, "Glad to sssee you've finally caught
on."
I straightened my back, placing each piece together,
"Myora...you were doing it for Myora...but why?" I began to
walk along the wall slowly, completely aware of the hungry
gaze they had locked on me.
Yellow Eyes twisted his neck a bit, cracking the bones
there, and shrugged his shoulders, "One of her more...unsuccessssful
attemptss to retrieve the Hikari Gem--I wouldn't do that if
I were you."
I whipped my head back to them, unclenching my henshin
wand and continuing to walk around them.
"What was her plan? Trying to RAPE the gem out of me?"
I snorted, unimpressed, and folded my arms over my chest casually.
Orange Eyes glared at me, "More like...ssscare it out
of you."
I flinched slightly. It made sense, I supposed. She had
assumed that the gem would appear at the peak of my emotions.
I swallowed.
"Guess that didn't turn out too well, did it?" My voice
remained steady and calm, almost mocking.
Orange Eyes smiled slowly, "Not exssactly, Mercury." He
disappeared and in an instant was tightly clenching his hands
around my neck.
His face began to slowly transform into a yellowish hue
and scales formed where his skin had been.
The hands that were wrapped tightly around my neck
disappeared, and he stretched out into the colossal reptile
that had only hours before--although it seemed like years--taken
my friends away.
I hopped over his body with little thought, only wishing
to get myself OUT of the situation I'd been caught in. My attempts
at escape were severed, however, when his accomplice, Vernin--the
name I believed I'd heard Myora so affectionately refer to him
as--slithered over to block my path.
"Going sssomewhere?"
"Yes. But you aren't," I chuckled, deeply submerged within
my foggy, blue haze. The smile left my face as the air near my
left ear was sliced by what could have only been one of their lethal
fangs. I fell to the floor automatically, peering through the fog
at their bodies as they coiled around one another and darted fangs
in every direction.
"Find her! Where did she go?!" Vernin screeched. I kept my
breathing completely still, vowing to make no movements, lest they
sense them and attack.
Vernin began to slide down the middle of the floor, shooting
fangs around him blindly, and I rose slowly.
Now is not the time to miss, Mercury.
"MERCURY AQUA RASPHODY!"
Not even bothering to see if my attack had succeeded in
turning Vernin into an reptilian icicle, I rolled over to the
door and tore through it.
"To hell with stealth," I muttered and rose my henshin pen
into the air. A flood of light poured out of it and devoured the
shadows lurking in the hallway.
I began tearing down the corridor and pulled out my palm pilot.
One of the orange squares flickered for a moment before fading
out.
One down.
The other, as I'd assumed, resumed its path across the series
of tunnels. I felt the need to sigh of relief as it turned in the
opposite direction the blue triangle was heading.
I took a moment to catch my breath and leaned against the cold
wall. A few moments passed and my breathing slowed. I shoved off of
the stone wall and began to walk again.
An eerie silence filled the air around me, and I shivered. I
cast more light ahead of me and saw only stone walls. When it seemed
as if there were no end to this tunnel, I tripped over a discarded
rock and fell against the wall. The handle of a door dug into my
arm, and I grunted slightly.
I turned to my palm pilot and a silver circle appeared next
to my symbol on the screen.
Silver...? I furrowed my brow and milled around my
mind for an answer to this newest puzzle. The only lifeforms
to glow in silver weren't lifeforms at all--they were either
mystical creatures or spirits. I looked at the door and
decided that I'd take my chances.
It creaked open slowly, and I hesitantly peered around
the side. There seemed to be no movement in the inky darkeness,
and I edged through the door and stood completely within the room.
When another cascade of light flew from my wand and around
me, I nearly fell over from the pain that seared through my eyes.
The illumination was so great that I could barely stand to
peek through my eyelids. I grunted a little and mentally lowered
the amount of light emitting from my wand. It glowed softly, no
more than a candle, and I lifted it into the air.
I silently wondered why there were a million blue dots
surrounding me. And then I heard a laugh--the same laugh that
had haunted me since the first time I'd heard it.
I threw my head around, and tried to walk forward. A
smooth wall collided with my body, and I fell back. I rose my
tiny blue flame into the air and gasped. I was staring at me.
I reached my hand hesitantly and sighed when it touched
glass and not flesh.
Mirrors.
"You think a few mirrors are going to stop me, Myora?"
I called out into the darkness.
There was no answer to my question, and I brought my
visor down over my face. A few mirrors was an understatment.
There were hundreds of mirrors surrounding me, and I would
have to find a way to the center of them where the blinking
silver circle was.
"Ami..."
I whipped around, "Wha-?"
"You can't win, Ami-chan. Run away...away."
My heart sped up in my heaving chest and I shook my
head.
Don't listen to them, Ami, you're smarter than that.
I began to walk around again, feeling around with my
hand for any open space. After a few unsuccessful attempts,
I managed to walk more than one foot in front of me and
turned around a corner.
"Come on, angel! I've got you!" A man's voice chuckled,
and the tinkling of another's followed it.
"Daddy, don't let me go!"
I stood rigid. The skidding of skates across ice
sounded around me, and I watched with wide eyes as my father
grasped a little girl's tiny hand in his own. I resisted the
urge to reach out at the images surrounding me for a while,
but it became too great, and I shakily stretched out my
fingers to one of the images in front of me.
As my fingers touched the cool surface, the winter
scene melted away, along with the happy chuckles, and another
emerged.
"I have to leave, Ami-chan. I'm sorry."
My head was spinning. His face was everywhere. I whipped
my head around and covered my ears.
"No! Stop!"
"I don't love you Ami-chan. I don't love you. I don't
love you."
"NO!" I thrashed out with my arms, and they banged
against the mirrors futilely.
My father's voice faded away, along with his face. I
remembered that face--the face that had left me so many years
before.
I felt the weight of his departure fall over my heart
again, and willed myself to fight the obvious mind game Myora
was playing with me.
"Don't leave, Daddy," My own broken sobs vibrated around
me. I wanted to reach out to that girl and tell her everything
would be okay.
I opened my eyes, and she was standing next to me, crystal
tears of pain creating salty rivers on her cheeks.
"You did it," She whispered. Her eyes darkened to inky
pools of black/blue.
"I hate you. I HATE YOU!" She cried out, and her voice
lowered to a rumble of disgust.
"DADDY LEFT BECAUSE OF YOU! NO ONE LOVES YOU, AMI!"
A drop of moisture fell onto my lips, and I gasped.
No, Ami-chan. Don't.
But I was reaching out to the girl, wanting nothing more
than to hold her in my arms and rock away her pain.
She disappeared in a whirl of desolate blue eyes and
reddened cheeks, and I fell to my knees, sobbing.
Don't do this, Ami-chan.
"You're not real." I whispered to the little girl who
was no longer there.
"You're not real!" I screamed, rising in my fury. Her
tiny sobs echoed around me.
"Leave...leave...leave..." She cried.
I refused. My hands wiped furiously at my face, slipping
against my wet cheeks. It took a hell of a lot of will power to
turn and begin to make my way through the maze again.
Think about Usagi...think about the senshi. They need
you. Zach needs you. I repeated this to myself, and a surge of
courage sped through my veins.
Myora couldn't win.
I felt around me again and found a another opening. It
was longer and wider, and I could walk quickly without colliding
with mirrors. I'd long since forced my eyes to stray from the
images of myself projected around me.
"You're so smart, Ami-chan."
I shook my head and kept my eyes to the floor. My own
voice continued to slice the air around me.
"Too bad Urawa didn't decide to stick around longer."
That one touched a nerve. I reluctantly rose my head, and
looked into my own eyes staring back at me.
The image of myself placed her hands on hips and 'tsked'.
"Did you honestly think he loved you?" She threw back her
head and laughed, "You poor, poor thing."
I rose my eyebrows in annoyance, "Yeah, well, I've grown
up since then."
She snapped her head back and scowled, "Grown up? HA!
You're still the same, Ami-chan--sickeningly boring and DULL."
I shrugged off her comment and continued to walk around.
Let her talk to herself. I wasn't going to listen anymore.
"Aw, c'mon, Ami! Don't try to deny it," She sang shrilly.
God, do *I* sound like that when I sing?
I shivered at the thought. With a glance at my palm pilot,
I could tell that I was gaining on the silver circle located in the
middle.
"It never ceases to amaze me at how you seem to snag these
guys. They are obviously desperate." She idly fiddled with her
fingernail.
"And this one has money!" She giggled, "Zach, is it? Ah...
he's pretty cute. I wonder how long he'll stick around."
I bit my tongue.
"She's right, ya know."
"Zach?" I let the word slip from my mouth before I could
catch it.
His eyes were laughing at me openly, and he threw an arm
around the image of myself casually.
"You're just...not good enough for me, Ami-chan."
My image disappeared, sneering with her eyes as she faded away.
Zach was left, staring at me with a look more akin to loathing than
I would have liked to think about.
I prepared myself to shrug his words off and continue on my
journey, but something touched my arm. He was reaching out of the
mirror now.
I gasped, unable to move at all. His eyes turned a shade
darker and he wrapped both hands around my arms tightly.
"I never loved you," He stated, his words laced with disgust.
I was shaking, although I did not know why. This was obviously
*not* the Zach I knew...but then why did his words feel so real?
"Yes, he does," I said shakily, more to reassure myself than
the person gripping my arms at the moment.
"Ungh," I grunted in pain as he shoved me to the floor. My
thigh skidded painfully across the rough surface, and I wiped a
wave of sweat from my forhead.
His face was inches from mine now, and he forced my chin up
to face him.
"Poor little Ami-chan. Everyone feels sorry for you," He
chuckled.
I closed my eyes, "No."
"You're a failure, Ami."
"No."
"You'll never find anyone to love you."
"No."
"You let them die, Ami-chan!"
"No!"
"Everyone is gone, and it's all your fault!"
"NO!"
I tore away from his cold hands as they shook me
back and forth roughly. In a matter of seconds, I was gone
and stumbling into mirrors in my desperation to get away from there.
Zach's face floated around me on all sides before melting
away into my own, torn visage. I stared at myself for a moment.
My eyes were puffy and outlined with red, and my tear-stained
cheeks glistened in front of me.
"This is what you've become, Ami-chan." Someone whispered
to me.
I wiped a tear from my cheek.
"This is what I've become," I repeated the words and
they began to chip away at my already dithering resolve.
"Sailor Mercury."
I couldn't bring my eyes to face hers. She was gone
because of me.
"Princess...I'm sorry," I heard myself saying, although
I was pleading with myself to stop.
She placed her hand on my shoulder, and I longed to
lean against hers and let her soothe away my pain like she
had done so many times before.
"You've failed me, Sailor Mercury," She stated solemnly,
and I began to weep softly.
"I tried...Pri--"
"No! No more sorry's, Ami-chan!" She pushed me away
from her. I lifted my body from the ground and rose again.
"You never tried! You were always pathetic! You and
your logistic reasoning never could do anyone any good!" Usagi's
cold, blue eyes were shooting daggers of hatred into my heart.
I stared at her for a moment, contemplating her words
in my mind.
"You're right," I whispered. A flare of something flashed
behind my eyes, and I looked into her unfeeling eyes again.
"You're right, Usagi." I straightened my posture. She
wasn't real, and I knew that. The real Usagi was waiting for
me to save her, and I would.
"So, you know what, 'Usagi'?" I began to move in on
her, and she sneered maliciously at me.
"SCREW LOGIC!"
For a split second, her eyes wavered.
"MERCURY POWER!"
Her face and hundreds of mirrors exploded like crystal
fireworks around me, and I basked in it. Shards of the mirrors
sliced into my skin, tore through my fuku, scratched my face
and my neck. Liquid pain poured down my body, and I stood
still within it all.
Silence echoed off of silence. I breathed deeply,
submerged within a waterfall of warmth. Blue waves summoned
from somewhere deep inside of myself rippled over my body and
cleansed my wounds. Jagged cuts adorning my neck sealed and the
crimson rivers seeping through my fuku were washed away.
After the last drops of the healing waters fell from my
skin, I breathed in the air of tranquility that permeated the air
around me. My heart charged with a power that had been fighting
to be released for some time, and pure adrenaline coarsed through
every one of my veins rapidly.
That felt pretty damn good.
I cracked my eyes open and took in my surroundings. I
was now standing in the middle of a blanket of shattered glass.
I resisted the urge to smirk, and stepped cautiously over it. My
steps were paused, however, when an object drew my attention.
The epitome of the silver circle on my screen now stood
before me, glowing with a blue haze and staring at me with unseeing
eyes of midnight.
I swallowed a lump in my throat.
"Myora?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------
OK...will you forgive me for being so cruel if I tell you that this
chapter took more out of me than running the 10K in crosscountry?
*phew*
Looks like 1 more and THEN there will be an epilogue.
Man...I think I need to take a nap now.
Ja!
--Adrial
/\ "To Go, Please" /\
/\ Chapter 14: The Little White Rabbit /\
/\ E-mail: Adrial_06@yahoo.com /\
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
OK, guys, I just wanted to start off by saying
I'M SORRY!
*whew* I feel better now! It's been a million
and one years since I've updated, and I would just like to
blame that on a little thing called LIFE.
So for all your trouble, I'm going to probably
add something in this one that I was going to otherwise leave
out for this next and FINAL (AH! She said 'final'!) chapter.
And for a quick A.N.: The first part (starts with '~~~~~~')
is still the past. Everything after (~~~~~~) is present, and
I will continue in the present from here on.
Thanks for sticking by me all this time! :D
-Adrial
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Usagi...
The phone spun rapidly in circles across my kitchen
floor; the backing snapped off and clattered underneath the
stove.
Something impalpable grasped around my neck, making it
painful for my labored breaths to come out. I stared at my empty
hand for what felt like hours, trying to grasp the situation I'd
found myself in.
A muffled noise desperately tried to break through my
troubled mind, and I regained control of my breathing slowly.
The phone had stopped spinning, laying a few feet
away from me. Malina's voice was gone, however, having melted
away seconds after she unveiled the truth I'd been frantically
searching for.
My eyes flew to the living room. It felt as if a
thousand snarling gazes were watching me as I tore across the
distance to the front door and kneeled down close to the wall.
The air vent covering I had intended on removing was laying
crookedly next to the pile of shoes in the foyer.
"Oh, God."
I threw my head to either side, suddenly aware of the
fact that I might not be completely alone in the apartment.
Taking a few steadying breaths to calm my racing heart, I
rubbed my forehead and rose shakily.
My bedroom door crashed into the wall as I threw it
open and launched myself into my desk chair. Lifting up papers
and folders hurriedly, I frantically searched for my palm pilot.
A blue corner peeked out from underneath a pile of
discarded index cards, and I tugged on it furiously. A cascade
of papers and cards fluttered to the floor, but I ignored them.
As I moved to open it, something drew my attention.
Tiny indents, much like teeth marks, were scattered across
the edges. I choked on my gasp, whipping the cover open and
checking for any signs of further attempts to invade its
contents. The screen flickered to life and I pressed my
index finger into a boxed in area.
'ACCESS GRANTED' It read.
I silently bowed down to myself for equipping the
memory to allow only myself to be allowed entrance to its
data.
Scooting back in the chair, I rose and exited my
room. Myora had obviously gone to all odds to gain entry
into my personalspace. She had, no doubt, discovered our
identities from the pictures scattered across my desk
and dresser.
I returned to the air vent and pointed my palm pilot
towards it. Streams of negative energy appeared over the
screen, red warning signals blaring over and over again.
I had expected this and quickly commanded the
computer to look past the negative energy. My blood ran
cold at the amount of negative energy that permeated from
the hole in my floor. Shivers raced up and down my spine.
There had definitely been something evil coming and going
through the air vents in my apartment.
"Time to catch the little white rabbit..." I muttered,
snapping my palm pilot shut and rising.
Before I had a chance to gather a plan or any sort
of idea of how I'd figure out the way to pinpoint Myora's
whereabouts, a piercing screech sliced through the air
outside my front door.
Malina...
How could I have forgotten her? She was the
answer--Myora had been using her! Talking to her...posing
as her innocent pet while constantly sneaking in and out
of her possession.
I stuffed my palm pilot into my pocket and threw
the door open. The screams had subsided, but I tore down
the corridor anyway. Malina's front door was opened slightly,
and I wasted no time in punching my way past it.
A crumpled mass lay next to the couch, and I rushed
to Malina's mother's side.
She whipped her head up to look at me, her green
eyes puffy and swollen, "Sh-she's gone, Ami-chan! Gone!"
She put a shaky hand to her mouth, "I didn't think anything
of it when she was talking to herself--she was a-always talking
to Mimi...but then she just..."
She trailed off, succombing to the sobs that shook
her body forcefully. My eyes left her own as she fell against
my chest, heaving with broken hearted cries. A folded sheet
of paper caught my attention, and I reached over for it.
The blood in my fingers ran cold.
'Tick tock, Mercury. Time's almost up. I do hope
you've decided to hand over the gem by now. I'd simply hate
having to hurt this precious little girl who's been so kind
as to care for me all this time. You have less than 2 hours
remaining. Come to the Tokyo Theater before then. I trust
that you will be able to find your way from there.
And, by the way, this Zachary boy is rather handsome.
I hope you wouldn't mind if I have a little fun with him.
Ta ta, Sis.'
My hand shook so harshly that I had to ball it into
a fist to control the tremors. Kayasha's breathing had slowed
to thin, ragged breaths and she looked at me with wide eyes.
"Ami-chan..." She whispered, moving to grasp the note
that still lay in my hand.
I pulled it away from her and helped her sit on the
couch. Her tear stained face was creased with worry, and I
cupped her cheeks in my hands, "Kayasha-san, I am going to
find her."
She shook her head slowly, "Ami-chan, where is she?"
I looked away. The gentle ticking of the gold trimmed
clock hanging from their wall drummed heavily into my ear drums.
"Ami-chan, tell me where she is! What's happening?!"
She grabbed my shoulders roughly, shaking me until I, too, was
crying.
"I-I...I'm sorry, Kayasha-san," I pushed my fingers into
her neck, rendering her unconscious. She folded over onto the
couch limply.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As I now stood in front of the entrance to the
theater, my insides a mass of anxious tangles and a pure
contrast to the tranquil glow encasing my body, I reached
out to whatever strength I could uncover and hung on to it
as if my life depended on it--and it did.
The evident waves of negative energy emitting from
the door barely penetrated the magic swirling around me.
I breathed in the last breath of fresh air I knew I would
be inhaling for a while and placed my palm on to the
door's ice cold surface.
Instantly, as if a freshly painted portrait
had been submerged under water, the face of the theater
melted away, revealing an ominous series of towers, dark
and looming in front of my widened eyes.
The sky swirled lethargically in grey and navy
wisps of night. I craned my neck back, watching with
wide eyes as they swelled over one another in a mesmorizing
dance before stretching out from the navy backround and
reaching towards me as if to lift me up into the heavens.
I was unable to stray from their silent summons,
and my feet stayed planted firmly to the ground. Translucent
limbs curled around my torso and arms, and suddenly, the biting
chill of the December evening left my bones and was replaced
with something I prayed I would never feel again.
My heart twisted violently in my chest, and my heaving
lungs battled against the ragged coughs that forced themselves out
of my throat. Buckling underneath my weight, my knees crashed
painfully onto the brick walk-way I was standing on.
I felt as if all emotions, all feelings, left my body
and were sucked into the hatred-polluted air around me. It was
worse than pain...worse than a broken heart.
They were sucking out my soul.
My mind was dimming, struggling to put together any type
of coherent thought or plan. I willed my eyes to remain open, but
they betrayed my pleas. Throughout out it all, as the sky wrapped
its bitter arms around me and drained away the essence my life,
the burning light of Mercury shown behind my eyes, and I knew
what to do.
"*gasp* Mer-Mercury cr-crystal *gasp* power...!"
When my eyes cracked open again, I had transformed from
my princess state and into my senshi form. A protective layer
of blue defended me from the churning sky's soul-extractions,
and my chest was filled with the intoxicating air of peace.
As if to scorn at my small victory, the sky's undulating
spirals flickered with lightnening before dispersing into a
desolate oblivion.
I reveled in being complete once more and turned to face
the fortress that was nothing more than an outline of peaks and
rooftops in the inky sky. The only sounds in the still night
were that of my boots as they clicked rapidly along the stone
pathway.
No one who came here could possibly survive...
I shivered involuntarily at the fresh memory of my soul
being sifted from my body. A cloud of doubt began to accumulate
over the sense of confidence I'd acquired, but I shoved it away
quickly.
Never taking my eyes from the path before me, I produced
my palm pilot. I slowed my sprint to a trot and pressed my finger
into the corner of the screen. Instantly, a map of the interior
of the fortress appeared on its surface. Five, flashing red
dots were juxtaposed in one area of the northern tower.
The senshi...
The fifth one must have been Mamoru, I mused. I wasn't
sure how I would be able to locate the others' positions without
having their vitals and physical data logged into its memory,
but I was sure I'd find them along the way.
Hurriedly tapping on the screen, I checked for the
strongest points of negative or evil energy. Two bright green
spheres of light appeared on the tip of the east and west
towers. I furrowed my brow.
Two?
I was now facing the edge of a drawbridge, and
contemplating the best plan of entry. I needn't worry too
long, however, as I felt something brush against my leg.
I gasped and jumped slightly, ready to attack at any
given moment.
Before I knew what was happening, I was swallowed
by darkness and fell uncerimoniously on my rear-end at the
bottom of a large tunnel.
I grunted slightly and pushed myself up, dusting off
my legs and automatically turning to my palm pilot.
It had been a good 50 or 60 foot drop, and I did not
fail to notice that there had been something to be held
accountable for breaking my fall and saving me from being
Mercurian history.
My eyes seemed to take forever to become adjusted
to the solid darkness, but my sense of smell was working just
fine. The stench was horrific--almost unbearable. I clapped
my hand over my nose and coughed a little.
Groaning from the disgusting, stale air, I lifted my
henshin wand into the air and a shower of blue light poured out
from the blue symbol atop it.
I was forced to remove my hand from my mouth in order
to shield my eyes from the sudden burst of illumination, and
when I uncovered them the first thing I noticed was the exit,
a narrow, 6 foot passage way.
I began to walk towards it, a little more than anxious to
rid my nostrils of the aroma of the place I'd found myself in.
I stumbled a little over the ground and fell to one knee on the
floor. I pushed up on it, lifting my hand to search for something
to grip. I felt something hard and tugged slightly.
Something crashed to the floor--a clatter of noises, and
then silence. I grunted from the wave of raunchy air that blew
over my head. Underneath my left hand was a patch of softness,
and I gripped it, curiously.
The hollow, decayed skull of a young girl rolled to a
stop a few inches in front of me. I tore my hand away from the
hair, instantly falling back in my shock. My back collided with
a stiff, bumpy something, and I turned to find the molted body of
a not completely deteriorated corpse resting behind me.
My throat closed to the screams that struggled to get
out, and I leapt up, stumbling blindly over the myriad of
cadavers in my haste.
I ended up slipping in a pool of liquid, and my legs
skidded across the ground painfully. Grunting, I picked up my
henshin wand which had fallen from my hand in my stumble and it
poured another stream of light into the room.
As much as every fiber of my being ached to be out of
that room and away from the discarded bodies, I found myself
looking around in utter disgust and confusion.
A collage of decomposed corpses were dangling limply
from the walls and ceiling in a distorted imitation of ceiling
fixtures. Empty eyes of men and women stared straight ahead,
seemingly transfixed on some point in the distance.
Shakily, I raised my wand into the air higher and moved
around in a slow circle. The stench was the least of my problems
at the moment.
My eye caught sight of a couple hanging limply from
the left side of the room, their hands clasped firmly around
one another's.
Their eyes were not staring straight ahead like the
others, but were steadfast in their gazes at one another. I
felt a wave of nausea wash over me, and everything in my
stomach lurched itself up my throat. I bent over my
knees, heaving and coughing violently.
After it had passed, I rose, breathing heavily, and
wiped my mouth with a shaky palm. I had to know how...why
this people had ended up here. My visor fell over my eyes
and rapidly computed the causes of their deaths. I waited
impatiently, urging it to move faster.
When it had finally finished beeping and clicking,
the screen went completely blank, save for one, blinking
white message.
'UNABLE TO DETECT SIGNS OF INJURY.'
"What?" I muttered. I turned my eyes back to the
hanging bodies and furrowed my brow. The man and woman's
clasped hands drew my attention once more, their eyes wide
with the terror they must have experienced before their
lives had been...
It dawned on me then, sending me to my knees once
again. My stomach had nothing left to heave at the moment,
leaving me gagging with dry coughs.
My visor disappeared from my face, and I hurriedly
ran for the exit. I wanted nothing more than to forget those
empty, souless faces.
I shoved my back against the wall a few yards away from
the room, wiping away dry tears that wouldn't fall from my eyes.
I turned to the opposite direction I was facing, and
was left with no other option than to continue left, as there
was a dead end to the right.
Shoving everything I'd encountered before that point
away from my mind for a minute, I began my journey along the
dark corridor.
After what seemed like hours of endless walking, I
seemed to be getting no where--and fast.
"North...East...damn it!" I cursed, slapping down
my palm pilot in disgust. The substantial amount of negative
energy permeating in the air was drowning out all possible
signals I could have even hoped to acquire that would
tell me just where in the hell I was. At least I could still
detect any signs of movement on the level I was on.
I was still blind as a bat in the murky darkness that
caved in on me from all sides, but didn't want to risk using
my henshin pen for fear of Myora discovering my exact location.
I was certain she already knew I was there.
I exhaled heavily into the darkness, and allowed myself
to think about just what was on the line here for the first time
since I'd left Malina's broken mother unconscious on her couch.
My chest contracted with worry at the thought of Usagi
being held in such danger. What was Myora doing to her? Had she
been hurt? I shuddered at the thought of her precious soul being
lifted from her body. I would die before I let that happen.
I tried futilely to sift out all thoughts of Zach from
my mind, but his familiar face filtered into my vision
nonetheless. I'd gotten him into this, and now I had to get
him out.
Abruptly, the blood in my body ran cold, and my visor
began trailing streams of data across the screen so rapidly that
I could barely make out what it was trying to communicate to me.
I did, however, see two distinctly orange squares on the screen,
both moving undeniably fast and directly towards the bright
blue triangle in one corner of the screen--me.
"Shimatte!" I whispered to myself, flinging my body against
the wall and edging along quietly. It would be no use turning
back--I knew what was at the end of that tunnel, and I had no
wish to be subjected to it again.
The orange squares paused for a moment, mere centimeters
from my symbol on the screen. I held my breath.
My hand brushed something round and hard from behind me,
and I tugged on it with all my might, praying that it would save
me from discovering the identities of the orange squares.
I fell backward suddenly, sliding across a wooden floor and
skidding to a halt. I stood quickly, darting my eyes around to take
in my surroundings. The room was fairly large yet devoid of any
objects or lurking youma for that matter.
I looked back at my palm pilot. The orange squares were no
longer where they had been--they were directly on top of the blue
triangle which was now outlined in red.
"Mmph!"
Alright. This situation had not been exactly how I'd
envisioned my courageous adventure to begin. But, then again,
neither was getting my soul nearly sucked out of me or falling
into a pit of decomposed corpses.
A large hand grabbed a handfull of hair near the
middle of my head and yanked it back painfully.
"Fancy meeting you like this, Mercury..." The voice slid
over my ears in a malicious wave, "*Again.*"
My clenched eyes popped open in shock.
Again...
I choked on the salty taste of sweat and dirt coating my
lips beneath large, grimy hands--hands that I had felt before.
A deep chuckle tickled my other ear suddenly, and I
flinched. Another man trailed his finger along my jawline,
slowly and menacingly.
"This time, however," He paused his thumb's travel down my
neck and leaned close to my face, "We won't leave empty handed."
Abruptly, my arms and legs were free, and I flung myself to
the farthest corner of the room, panting painfully over the flashes
of memories from the night which had seemed to occur centuries ago.
The two men walked slowly and deliberately closer to me,
chuckling with amusement at the quaking fear in my eyes. I wanted
nothing more than to curl into a ball in the darkest corner I could
find and hide away from the world for the rest of my life.
The taller of the two, shaggy hair hanging limply in clumps
over his hidden eyes approached me and raked a disgusting palm
through it. Two shining slits of murky yellow glowed through
the darkness.
"Lookss like that boyfriend of yoursss won't be here to
ressscue you thiss time, hmm?"
He came nearer, opening his mouth wide enough for me to
glimpse the razor sharp fangs glimmering with venom inside.
A forked tongue shot around them in swift flicks.
I had the urge to poke him to make sure he was real.
My attacker had been a youma...? I forced myself to remember
my attack...what was done, what was said...
Once again, the man who had nearly taken my body for
his own appeared in my mind, identical to the one standing
before me, as he towered over my bruised and battered body
and spoke in a sinister voice.
"...she's almost there, now we'll let Myor-"
My body stiffened. It had been them. It had been *her.*
"You..." I whispered, looking on with bewildered eyes
as the other man's color-less eyes melted away to reveal two
gleaming orange ones.
He smiled coyly, "Glad to sssee you've finally caught
on."
I straightened my back, placing each piece together,
"Myora...you were doing it for Myora...but why?" I began to
walk along the wall slowly, completely aware of the hungry
gaze they had locked on me.
Yellow Eyes twisted his neck a bit, cracking the bones
there, and shrugged his shoulders, "One of her more...unsuccessssful
attemptss to retrieve the Hikari Gem--I wouldn't do that if
I were you."
I whipped my head back to them, unclenching my henshin
wand and continuing to walk around them.
"What was her plan? Trying to RAPE the gem out of me?"
I snorted, unimpressed, and folded my arms over my chest casually.
Orange Eyes glared at me, "More like...ssscare it out
of you."
I flinched slightly. It made sense, I supposed. She had
assumed that the gem would appear at the peak of my emotions.
I swallowed.
"Guess that didn't turn out too well, did it?" My voice
remained steady and calm, almost mocking.
Orange Eyes smiled slowly, "Not exssactly, Mercury." He
disappeared and in an instant was tightly clenching his hands
around my neck.
His face began to slowly transform into a yellowish hue
and scales formed where his skin had been.
The hands that were wrapped tightly around my neck
disappeared, and he stretched out into the colossal reptile
that had only hours before--although it seemed like years--taken
my friends away.
I hopped over his body with little thought, only wishing
to get myself OUT of the situation I'd been caught in. My attempts
at escape were severed, however, when his accomplice, Vernin--the
name I believed I'd heard Myora so affectionately refer to him
as--slithered over to block my path.
"Going sssomewhere?"
"Yes. But you aren't," I chuckled, deeply submerged within
my foggy, blue haze. The smile left my face as the air near my
left ear was sliced by what could have only been one of their lethal
fangs. I fell to the floor automatically, peering through the fog
at their bodies as they coiled around one another and darted fangs
in every direction.
"Find her! Where did she go?!" Vernin screeched. I kept my
breathing completely still, vowing to make no movements, lest they
sense them and attack.
Vernin began to slide down the middle of the floor, shooting
fangs around him blindly, and I rose slowly.
Now is not the time to miss, Mercury.
"MERCURY AQUA RASPHODY!"
Not even bothering to see if my attack had succeeded in
turning Vernin into an reptilian icicle, I rolled over to the
door and tore through it.
"To hell with stealth," I muttered and rose my henshin pen
into the air. A flood of light poured out of it and devoured the
shadows lurking in the hallway.
I began tearing down the corridor and pulled out my palm pilot.
One of the orange squares flickered for a moment before fading
out.
One down.
The other, as I'd assumed, resumed its path across the series
of tunnels. I felt the need to sigh of relief as it turned in the
opposite direction the blue triangle was heading.
I took a moment to catch my breath and leaned against the cold
wall. A few moments passed and my breathing slowed. I shoved off of
the stone wall and began to walk again.
An eerie silence filled the air around me, and I shivered. I
cast more light ahead of me and saw only stone walls. When it seemed
as if there were no end to this tunnel, I tripped over a discarded
rock and fell against the wall. The handle of a door dug into my
arm, and I grunted slightly.
I turned to my palm pilot and a silver circle appeared next
to my symbol on the screen.
Silver...? I furrowed my brow and milled around my
mind for an answer to this newest puzzle. The only lifeforms
to glow in silver weren't lifeforms at all--they were either
mystical creatures or spirits. I looked at the door and
decided that I'd take my chances.
It creaked open slowly, and I hesitantly peered around
the side. There seemed to be no movement in the inky darkeness,
and I edged through the door and stood completely within the room.
When another cascade of light flew from my wand and around
me, I nearly fell over from the pain that seared through my eyes.
The illumination was so great that I could barely stand to
peek through my eyelids. I grunted a little and mentally lowered
the amount of light emitting from my wand. It glowed softly, no
more than a candle, and I lifted it into the air.
I silently wondered why there were a million blue dots
surrounding me. And then I heard a laugh--the same laugh that
had haunted me since the first time I'd heard it.
I threw my head around, and tried to walk forward. A
smooth wall collided with my body, and I fell back. I rose my
tiny blue flame into the air and gasped. I was staring at me.
I reached my hand hesitantly and sighed when it touched
glass and not flesh.
Mirrors.
"You think a few mirrors are going to stop me, Myora?"
I called out into the darkness.
There was no answer to my question, and I brought my
visor down over my face. A few mirrors was an understatment.
There were hundreds of mirrors surrounding me, and I would
have to find a way to the center of them where the blinking
silver circle was.
"Ami..."
I whipped around, "Wha-?"
"You can't win, Ami-chan. Run away...away."
My heart sped up in my heaving chest and I shook my
head.
Don't listen to them, Ami, you're smarter than that.
I began to walk around again, feeling around with my
hand for any open space. After a few unsuccessful attempts,
I managed to walk more than one foot in front of me and
turned around a corner.
"Come on, angel! I've got you!" A man's voice chuckled,
and the tinkling of another's followed it.
"Daddy, don't let me go!"
I stood rigid. The skidding of skates across ice
sounded around me, and I watched with wide eyes as my father
grasped a little girl's tiny hand in his own. I resisted the
urge to reach out at the images surrounding me for a while,
but it became too great, and I shakily stretched out my
fingers to one of the images in front of me.
As my fingers touched the cool surface, the winter
scene melted away, along with the happy chuckles, and another
emerged.
"I have to leave, Ami-chan. I'm sorry."
My head was spinning. His face was everywhere. I whipped
my head around and covered my ears.
"No! Stop!"
"I don't love you Ami-chan. I don't love you. I don't
love you."
"NO!" I thrashed out with my arms, and they banged
against the mirrors futilely.
My father's voice faded away, along with his face. I
remembered that face--the face that had left me so many years
before.
I felt the weight of his departure fall over my heart
again, and willed myself to fight the obvious mind game Myora
was playing with me.
"Don't leave, Daddy," My own broken sobs vibrated around
me. I wanted to reach out to that girl and tell her everything
would be okay.
I opened my eyes, and she was standing next to me, crystal
tears of pain creating salty rivers on her cheeks.
"You did it," She whispered. Her eyes darkened to inky
pools of black/blue.
"I hate you. I HATE YOU!" She cried out, and her voice
lowered to a rumble of disgust.
"DADDY LEFT BECAUSE OF YOU! NO ONE LOVES YOU, AMI!"
A drop of moisture fell onto my lips, and I gasped.
No, Ami-chan. Don't.
But I was reaching out to the girl, wanting nothing more
than to hold her in my arms and rock away her pain.
She disappeared in a whirl of desolate blue eyes and
reddened cheeks, and I fell to my knees, sobbing.
Don't do this, Ami-chan.
"You're not real." I whispered to the little girl who
was no longer there.
"You're not real!" I screamed, rising in my fury. Her
tiny sobs echoed around me.
"Leave...leave...leave..." She cried.
I refused. My hands wiped furiously at my face, slipping
against my wet cheeks. It took a hell of a lot of will power to
turn and begin to make my way through the maze again.
Think about Usagi...think about the senshi. They need
you. Zach needs you. I repeated this to myself, and a surge of
courage sped through my veins.
Myora couldn't win.
I felt around me again and found a another opening. It
was longer and wider, and I could walk quickly without colliding
with mirrors. I'd long since forced my eyes to stray from the
images of myself projected around me.
"You're so smart, Ami-chan."
I shook my head and kept my eyes to the floor. My own
voice continued to slice the air around me.
"Too bad Urawa didn't decide to stick around longer."
That one touched a nerve. I reluctantly rose my head, and
looked into my own eyes staring back at me.
The image of myself placed her hands on hips and 'tsked'.
"Did you honestly think he loved you?" She threw back her
head and laughed, "You poor, poor thing."
I rose my eyebrows in annoyance, "Yeah, well, I've grown
up since then."
She snapped her head back and scowled, "Grown up? HA!
You're still the same, Ami-chan--sickeningly boring and DULL."
I shrugged off her comment and continued to walk around.
Let her talk to herself. I wasn't going to listen anymore.
"Aw, c'mon, Ami! Don't try to deny it," She sang shrilly.
God, do *I* sound like that when I sing?
I shivered at the thought. With a glance at my palm pilot,
I could tell that I was gaining on the silver circle located in the
middle.
"It never ceases to amaze me at how you seem to snag these
guys. They are obviously desperate." She idly fiddled with her
fingernail.
"And this one has money!" She giggled, "Zach, is it? Ah...
he's pretty cute. I wonder how long he'll stick around."
I bit my tongue.
"She's right, ya know."
"Zach?" I let the word slip from my mouth before I could
catch it.
His eyes were laughing at me openly, and he threw an arm
around the image of myself casually.
"You're just...not good enough for me, Ami-chan."
My image disappeared, sneering with her eyes as she faded away.
Zach was left, staring at me with a look more akin to loathing than
I would have liked to think about.
I prepared myself to shrug his words off and continue on my
journey, but something touched my arm. He was reaching out of the
mirror now.
I gasped, unable to move at all. His eyes turned a shade
darker and he wrapped both hands around my arms tightly.
"I never loved you," He stated, his words laced with disgust.
I was shaking, although I did not know why. This was obviously
*not* the Zach I knew...but then why did his words feel so real?
"Yes, he does," I said shakily, more to reassure myself than
the person gripping my arms at the moment.
"Ungh," I grunted in pain as he shoved me to the floor. My
thigh skidded painfully across the rough surface, and I wiped a
wave of sweat from my forhead.
His face was inches from mine now, and he forced my chin up
to face him.
"Poor little Ami-chan. Everyone feels sorry for you," He
chuckled.
I closed my eyes, "No."
"You're a failure, Ami."
"No."
"You'll never find anyone to love you."
"No."
"You let them die, Ami-chan!"
"No!"
"Everyone is gone, and it's all your fault!"
"NO!"
I tore away from his cold hands as they shook me
back and forth roughly. In a matter of seconds, I was gone
and stumbling into mirrors in my desperation to get away from there.
Zach's face floated around me on all sides before melting
away into my own, torn visage. I stared at myself for a moment.
My eyes were puffy and outlined with red, and my tear-stained
cheeks glistened in front of me.
"This is what you've become, Ami-chan." Someone whispered
to me.
I wiped a tear from my cheek.
"This is what I've become," I repeated the words and
they began to chip away at my already dithering resolve.
"Sailor Mercury."
I couldn't bring my eyes to face hers. She was gone
because of me.
"Princess...I'm sorry," I heard myself saying, although
I was pleading with myself to stop.
She placed her hand on my shoulder, and I longed to
lean against hers and let her soothe away my pain like she
had done so many times before.
"You've failed me, Sailor Mercury," She stated solemnly,
and I began to weep softly.
"I tried...Pri--"
"No! No more sorry's, Ami-chan!" She pushed me away
from her. I lifted my body from the ground and rose again.
"You never tried! You were always pathetic! You and
your logistic reasoning never could do anyone any good!" Usagi's
cold, blue eyes were shooting daggers of hatred into my heart.
I stared at her for a moment, contemplating her words
in my mind.
"You're right," I whispered. A flare of something flashed
behind my eyes, and I looked into her unfeeling eyes again.
"You're right, Usagi." I straightened my posture. She
wasn't real, and I knew that. The real Usagi was waiting for
me to save her, and I would.
"So, you know what, 'Usagi'?" I began to move in on
her, and she sneered maliciously at me.
"SCREW LOGIC!"
For a split second, her eyes wavered.
"MERCURY POWER!"
Her face and hundreds of mirrors exploded like crystal
fireworks around me, and I basked in it. Shards of the mirrors
sliced into my skin, tore through my fuku, scratched my face
and my neck. Liquid pain poured down my body, and I stood
still within it all.
Silence echoed off of silence. I breathed deeply,
submerged within a waterfall of warmth. Blue waves summoned
from somewhere deep inside of myself rippled over my body and
cleansed my wounds. Jagged cuts adorning my neck sealed and the
crimson rivers seeping through my fuku were washed away.
After the last drops of the healing waters fell from my
skin, I breathed in the air of tranquility that permeated the air
around me. My heart charged with a power that had been fighting
to be released for some time, and pure adrenaline coarsed through
every one of my veins rapidly.
That felt pretty damn good.
I cracked my eyes open and took in my surroundings. I
was now standing in the middle of a blanket of shattered glass.
I resisted the urge to smirk, and stepped cautiously over it. My
steps were paused, however, when an object drew my attention.
The epitome of the silver circle on my screen now stood
before me, glowing with a blue haze and staring at me with unseeing
eyes of midnight.
I swallowed a lump in my throat.
"Myora?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------
OK...will you forgive me for being so cruel if I tell you that this
chapter took more out of me than running the 10K in crosscountry?
*phew*
Looks like 1 more and THEN there will be an epilogue.
Man...I think I need to take a nap now.
Ja!
--Adrial