THE GRAND FINALE!
AN: Before I let you read this, I'll be re-posting this chapter all
week long starting Monday just b/c I want everyone to be able to have
easy access and not have to go searching and everything just to find it.
It's even early! :D I had a major burst of writing energy today.
The Epilogue's gonna be out soon, as well. Thanks for reading, and
I hope you've enjoyed this as much as me.
~Adrial~
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"To Go, Please"
Chapter 15: Reflections of A Soul
Author: Adrial
Rating: PG13
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He was so close. I could feel him, hear his breaths, the
ripple of the air as his voice smoothed over it.
Why had I remebered?
I gripped the steel handle of the door that would lead me
to him. But she was still there--an empty hollow of a hoard of memories
I'd never asked to recall.
Why was she so daunting? Sitting there, a mass of silver and
midnight, glowing as if a beacon for the soul that had drifted from her.
Or maybe it was the other way around.
I turned my stiff neck around a little. How long had I stood
in that spot, staring at the door like it could give me the answers I
so desperately needed?
A little more, and I would see her again.
"Myora..."
I said her name slowly, as if waiting for her to respond.
She remained still--still staring, still lifeless, still...
"Myora..."
I closed my eyes, willing them to shut out everything around
me, but they only resurfaced the cries of a deep despair I'd silenced
before.
A promise.
A promise I had broken.
A tear fell from my eyes, and I had turned back to her.
"What happened to you?" My knees fell to her side, a gentle
hand so close to mine that I could touch it without much movement, but
dared not to.
What had they done to her that night? At that moment I vowed to
find out. What had *he* done to her?
With a final glance at her, I left the room, now ready to redeem
myself and keep the promise I'd made to her so many years before.
"I'll never let you go."
The door creaked behind me as my hollow footsteps echoed off of
the stone walls, kissed by a silver glow.
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My mind was a dull rythm of jumbled thoughts as I walked
briskly through endless halls of black. I stared briefly at my
palm pilot, hardly surprised that its signal had been lost,
meaning I was undoubtedly somewhere at the heart of the
fortress.
Another hour lost, and I had gained little success in
my journey. But I felt them, all of them. An invisible fire thawed
my frozen fingers; electric jolts forced my exausted eyes open;
unbelievable warmth and comfort both nestled themselves deep in
the pit of my stomach.
They were close; I just had to find them.
"My, my, Ami-chan. Still poking around, I see?"
The sinister voice, tainted by a mocking scowl, swept
over my ears unpleasantly.
I whipped my head around, unsure of where her voice had
come from.
"You try finding your way around in the dark," I mumbled
to the walls. She wasn't coming out of hiding yet.
"Your friends are becoming rather...*tortured*...by the
fact that you haven't gallantly come to save the day yet. What
a pity it would be if they were hurt..."
A deep rage kindled in my chest.
It's not her. I told myself. She's been brainwashed.
"Your fight is with me, Myora. Leave my friends alone."
A cold chuckle fell onto my ears, followed by a shuffling
sound.
"Ami! You have to get out of that place! They're going
to--mmph!"
I jumped, "Makoto!" My legs started running blindly ahead,
"Makoto!"
Myora returned, "Nasty little right hand that one's got
on her. She'll be the first to go, you can rest assured. By the
way, sister of mine, you have twenty minutes. The clock of
death awaits you. Ta-ta."
"MYORA!" I screamed into the enveloping darkness, "If
you hurt them I'll kill you!"
Silence.
My heart was beating so rapidly that I barely felt it
at all. All I saw was rage, a deep burning rage so intense that
it traveled through my veins and behind my eyes like fire.
"Do you hear me?! You're nothing but a coward! Do you...
hear...me?!"
My knees crashed to the ground, the weight of the world
was pressed harder upon my shoulders as I sobbed dryly into the
palms of my hands.
"God...please..." My chest heaved, my stomach tightened.
My body felt completely defeated by a battle I hadn't even
entered yet.
All of this because of one man's jealousy...all of this
because my mother chose love over duty...all of this because
of me.
But I needed to get up. I had to get up. These were my
only thoughts. Just get up and fight. Fight for everything
that had been stolen from me.
Get up, Ami. Get up.
I rose shakily on feet which nearly buckled beneath
my weight. The myriad of souless bodies, the reflections of my
deepest pains and insecurities, the lost soul of my equally
lost sister, and the thought of my princess and friends re-charged
my determination until I felt strong enough to take on anything
thrown in my path.
Placing on my brain-hat, I touched my ear and my visor
swept over my eyes. Myora had been speaking through some sort of
an intercom, and I busily scanned the ceiling and walls for the
source.
Dull beeps and methodical buzzes filled the still air as I
chewed on my bottom lip.
"...you're still poking around, I see..."
That was it!
How stupid could I have been? It all made sense to me.
If she could see me, then why couldn't I see her?
I felt along the walls, leaning against them with my ear
pressed on their cold surface.
The reason I had felt so weak in the room of mirrors...
the reason my healing powers had twice restored pieces of my soul
that were being sucked into their world.
Everything was a reflection. This place was nothing more
than a fotress of mirrors.
I produced a ball of light and watched it bounce from wall
to wall down the hallway that seemed to never end.
My visor dissipated from my face with a mere thought,
and I stood in front of the wall to my left, the direction
Makoto's voice had come from, trying to warn me of what I had
only now discovered, and the spot of greatest weakness indicated
on the wall.
"Shine Aqua Illusion!"
Blinded momentarily by the light of my powers, I squinted
my eyes. A sheet of frigid ice and water spread over the walls in a
thick layer.
Satisfied with my aim, I put everything I had, every
ounce of strength I could muster, into a kick that shattered the
opaque glass like porcelain and watched it rain down upon a cold,
cement floor lit by a scarlet flood of light.
Cautiously, I stepped into the room quite aware that I would not
remain alone for very long. There was nothing but darkness inside, thick
with an evil I could only imagine. The suffocating stench of death and
despair fought to bring me to my knees, but I remained standing.
A snicker permeated the air, deliberate in its attempt to
raise the fine baby hairs on my neck, and melted into the cold
silence as smoothly as it entered.
A sob reached my ears, broken and defeated sounding. A flash
of light snapped in front of me and a silver screen appeared, the
image of Usagi laying crumpled on the ground displayed upon it.
I gasped, raising my hand to my mouth to cover the cry that
fought against my self-constraints to be released.
Seven more screens like it appeared around it, all graced
with pictures of the senshi and the others fighting against images
of what could only be their own darkest nightmares.
Darien, clad in the tuxedo he'd donned at the Christmas Eve
banquet, held his head in his hands as a black sedan veered off of a
dark road and exploded into flames at the bottom of a cliff over
and over again.
My heart twisted painfully as he struggled to remain standing
when Usagi appeared beside him and spouted the most unimaginable insults
and degrading remarks I'd ever heard.
To his right, Rei slammed her fist into every piece of glass she
could find; her plams bled from the effort to smash away her mother's tomb
stone and the sound a car door slamming as her father zoomed off to America
shortly after.
Makoto was huddled in a corner above her, struggling to shake away
the deafening roar of a plane's engine as it sputtered and exploded in the
sky, taking her parents with it into the unforgiving waters of the Atlantic
Ocean.
"You've failed me!" The Princess screamed at Minako who wiped her
eyes furiously with the back of her palm. Images of Usagi laying dead the
night of the Moon Kingdom's tragic fall beside her prince surrounded
her. She crumpled to the ground, shaking her head and trying not to face
Serenity's cold, hate-filled face.
I nearly fell to my own knees as I watched Jason, Matt, and Kyle
watch their siblings destroyed by the evil holding them captive or their
loves' empty faces staring at them and asking why they couldn't save them.
"Guys..." I choked, unable to watch the friends I'd only just met
and gotten to know go through so much pain that none of them deserved.
"Stop this!" I finally yelled, aching inside more than ever. I
whipped around, searching for anything and anybody.
"But, Ami-chan. Don't you want to see what I've saved especially
for last?" The slither of her voice slid over my ears, and a cold hand
gripped my arm, roughly wrenching it behind me.
Myora's hot breath burned the skin next to my ear, "You'll enjoy
this one most of all."
I struggled in her grasp, futilely trying to lash out at her
with my arms, as they were frozen by her power.
The screens of my friends disappeared, and one larger square
fell into the middle.
"No!"
But he was there. My heart collapsed in an agony stronger than
any other I'd ever experienced.
Zach stood, his torn eyes wide with terror. A strip of scenes
flitted around him. Myora strangling me with her bare hands and tossing
me into a pit of souless faces after stealing my own from me in a long,
drawn out fashion dominated visions of his father's disapproving glare
and mother's scowling look of contempt.
Pain like never before seared through my insides when his
eyes--eyes meant to reflect nothing other than the infectious passion
for living that I had fallen in love with--were clouded over in grief
and remained transfixed upon the screen.
"Stop this!" I thrashed out more violently then before, kicking
and throwing any limb I could unstick towards the slimy hold she held on
my body.
"Not him, please. Stop hurting him!" I begged her, but her only
response was to chuckle venomously in my ear.
"And ruin all my fun? I wouldn't dare," She trailed off, and the
invisible restraints on my arms and legs were removed.
I flung myself as far as I could get from her sickening touch,
and breathed heavily over the race of my heart beat.
Her scarlet eyes darkened a shade, "Soon they will be too weak
to care anymore, and the mirrors will suck out every ounce of their
souls," She began to walk slowly towards me, "Every smile, every bit of
happiness they've ever been given will be gone."
"Why are you doing this?" I asked, creeping backward with every
advancing step she took.
She didn't miss a beat. "Revenge."
I had no time to think about her repsonse as my body slammed into
the cement wall behind me by a ball of blood red energy.
She held me there for a moment, scowling at my emotionless face.
"You'll pay for my pain. All of you will," The chain of black electricity tightened around my neck, "Give me the Hikari Gem or I
swear I will destroy them as easily as Sarius destroyed your mother."
"My mother?" I gasped, "He killed our father! Don't you *gasp* see,
Myora?!" I kicked the air as the pain became unbearable.
She laughed coldly, "Your people killed my father! They were the traitors!"
I turned rage-filled eyes towards her, "And you're nothing but a pawn
in the grand scheme of Sarius's plans to avenge my mother for loving him."
She growled, "You know nothing!"
"I can feel. I can feel the pain of watching my friends suffer
because I have a soul, but you don't, Myora! Sarius took that from you!"
"Lies!" She screeched and let go of her hold on my body. I crashed to
the ground painfully and struggled to stand on my feet. The taste of blood
seeped onto my tongue, but I ignored it.
"Don't you remember?" I whispered, "They took you that day. They took
you from me and Alana."
She shook her head, "Shut up, Mercury."
"I remember!" I cried desperately, "I remember growing up with you
for six years! I remember how you used to turn into a rabbit because our father passed down his Lunarian powers to you when he died!"
"Liar!"
A blast of energy soared towards me, and I rolled out of the way
just in time.
She countered it with a deafening roar of contempt and threw a
could of black upon me that burned my skin from the inside and forced me
to my knees once again.
When my vision blurred, and I could barely see the faces of the
senshi revisiting their fears repeatedly, Myora stood over me, smiling
maliciously.
I closed my eyes. Even that hurt.
"I'm sorry..."
She looked taken aback by my whispered apology, "I don't need
your pity," She spat, her eyes returning to scarlet hollows.
"I'm sorry I let them take you. I'm--ungh--I'm sorry for not
being able to protect you."
*SMACK*
My head slowly rolled back to face her, stinging from the
print of her hand upon it.
"A pity the gem had to be handed down to you," She spat with an even
more venomous tone.
A chuckle escaped my lips as I slipped into unconciousness.
"But it wasn't."
Another chuckle, and I was ready to succomb into the darkness.
She started and glared at me, "What games are you playing now,
Mercury?"
"The gem...was never passed down to me," I laughed deliriously,
blindly ignoring the wretches of pain that shot through my undoubtedly
broken ribcage.
"Enough!" A deep, booming voice sliced through the air suddenly,
and Myora whipped around.
She flew to the disturbing form sliding through the air and
fell upon her knees in front of it.
"King Sarius."
Her body shed tremors down through her, and I saw how she shook
in her place. From terror or apprehension, I wasn't sure.
From somewhere deep inside myself, I forced my eyes to stay open
so I could see him--so I could put a face to the torrent of contempt I'd
been harboring for so long.
What I saw was not a face. There were no eyes, nose, or ears. Hair
was absent for the scaly gray of his head, and a thin, dark line that moved
open and closed substituted as a mouth.
It had destroyed him that night but not killed him as Luna had presumed.
As I lay hunched over in physical pain, another flame of adrenaline
sparked in my veins from the mere thought that I could finish what the gem
had started.
Where was mercy?
Mercy was left behind the moment I discovered Myora's beautiful
soul, hoarded away like a sack of potatoes for his own demented use.
Mercy disappeared with Usagi's body.
Mercy was but a memory to me now.
Monster.
It was the only word that came to mind that moment.
He lay a scraggly hand upon her shoulder and masaged it slowly,
his deep scowl failing to match the almost endearing caress.
"You've done well, Myora..."
The air around me seemed to curl itself at the sound of his
voice. It spread like oil over the room, stretching into the darkest
corners to create shivers through even the smallest night crawlers.
She raised her head a bit, a small smile sliding around her lips.
"My Leige, the senshi are nearly weak enough for the mirrors
to begin the process. You should be in full power within the hour."
He nodded succintly, and gestured for her to rise.
The edges of conciousness became slippery as ice, but I held
on for all I was worth.
"Princess Mercury..."
Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to my knees. Pain was nothing
to me at this point.
He turned to me, his thin line of a mouth twitching, and began
hovering towards me. The drop in temperature in the air made me instinctively
draw backward, but I stopped and stood my ground.
A scaly hand reached up to touch my face, and I gasped painfully.
I couldn't move.
He snickered, running a clammy palm across my cheek as if memorizing
my face with his hands.
"You look so much like her...the same eyes...hair...skin as soft as
feathers..." His voice sounded wistful as if he were in another place all
together.
I tried to strain from his touch that chilled my bones, but my limbs
remained frozen.
"The last piece to the puzzle."
"You'll never win, Sarius. You may have killed my mother, but I
am not her, and I am not willing to--ack."
He gripped my throat in a suffocating hold, and my knees buckled.
"Defiant as well?" He chuckled, "You are more like her than you might
think."
"Ungh," I answered, gripping his disgusting wrist with my hands.
His voice seemed far away, "Myora."
It was more of a command than a summon, and Myora began to scurry
around, quickly pressing knobs and buttons I couldn't see but only hear as
they clicked.
Walls fell from the ceiling, landing softly around our bodies. The
sound of them touching the floor rang in my ears, and reflection after
reflection of myself and Sarius were scattered around us.
I struggled even more now, desperately trying to release his
hold on my neck. My lungs burned. I couldn't breathe, and darkness threatened
to overtake me.
He sneered, giving me a sweet taste of air only to clasp my
air canal once more.
"Did you enjoy my hall of mirrors? Quite a room it was, eh?"
I only sputtered from the lack of oxygen.
"What a tale the visions of our past can tell. For instance..."
He released my neck and thrust me around until I faced an image of
a room I could only place as the throne room of the Mercurian Palace.
A younger version of my mother, only 19 at the time, lay crumpled
on the ground, a mass of tears and grief as a healthier, but not less intimidating, Sarius bore over her.
"'Once last chance, Aiya. Hand yourself to me or suffer the
consequences,'" He grabbed her by the hair roughly and brought her to his
face.
"What will it be?"
She stared at him with furious eyes of indigo, "'I would rather die
than be your wife, Sarius. You are no more than a heartless monster and you
will pay for what you have done to my kingdom!'" She wretched in his grasp.
He slammed her to the hard ground and stood over her, "'A monster am I?!'"
An angry fist slammed into my mother's jaw. I gritted my teeth.
"'If I can't have you, then no man will!'" He flung her across the
room, and I cried out as she slammed with a sickening smack against the opposite wall. A smear of blood leaked from behind her.
"'Long live the wench of Mercury.'" He spoke his final words and
raised his hands in front of him.
My mother's face was steely and emotionless even as his stolen powers impacted her body, leaving a charred formed in her place.
My knees crashed to the ground, the image of her death flitting
through my mind relentlessly.
"A beautiful site, is it not, my sweet?" Saris whispered in my
ear.
His rough hand grabbed the back of my hair and forced my face
to the mirrors again.
"And this...this is my favorite part, dearest Ami."
My skin crawled from the way he said my name, but my eyes were
transfixed upon Aiya's blood encrusted body. A blinding glare of blue
erupted from out of no where, and I inhaled a deep breath of air when I saw the tell-tale flutter of her eyes before an oval of pure white emegered from
her midsection and into the enveloping blue.
My hand rose out of its own will to touch the pane of glass as the oval
vanished just as quickly as Sarius had blown my mother's life away like dust in his palm. Aiya's eyes remained open for a few more seconds before finally closing, and her face was overtaken by a look of such serene calmness that I nearly sighed at the surreal beauty of her contentment.
The younger Sarius glared at her from once more, indecision flashing
across his features before bringing his glowing blue hands to his face and
sneering benevolently.
"'Rest in peace, Aiya. I know I will.'"
The irony of his words were left embedded in my mind when the image
vanished and was replaced with my own.
I glared at his face, more enraged than ever, "And why not show me
your downfall, Sarius? Huh? Show me how the gem destroyed your body! Show
me the destruction of your precious kingdom!" I screeched at his face.
"I want to see the look on your face," My voice lowered to barely
audible, "Or does it hurt too much?"
He merely chuckled.
"Such anger, Mercury. It will do you no good where you are going."
I returned to his grasp once more, painfully wriggling back and
forth.
"I will take your soul just as I took your father's and so many
others since my unforseen sentence to this...despicable life."
I grunted, "Living off of other's souls, Sarius? Somehow it fits you."
"And you will be next. After you have given me what was so unjustly
taken from my grasp," He brought his fingertips to my forehead, "The Hikari Gem."
"Uck...ack...agh," were the only sounds as my soul began to filter
through his fingertips.
I don't remeber much after that. I cast my eyes past his face and
the walls of mirrors seemed to disappear.
Myora's eyes were resting on my own, wide and awestruck in their
gaze. She shook violently in her place, and I could do nothing to speak
to her or beg for help.
She kept staring. I heard my mother's cries once more in my head.
On shaky feet she walked towards us. Two more steps and she was within
the dome of mirrors.
I fought. I fought as hard as my heart was willing. His fingers shook,
straining as I struggled.
"'You are nothing, Myora!'" Echoed around me, painfully ringing in my
ears, "'I will show you what you must become!'"
"'B-But...what about Ami-chan? What about my father?" A tiny voice
followed.'
"'Traitors! All of them! They have killed your father! They took
you from him and slaughtered him in his home!'"
"'Papa...no."
"'Yes, Myora. Come to me and give me your hand...I will show you.
Look into your reflection and see the truth. See what they have done.'"
"'PAPA!"
"'Yessss...see, child.'
"'Papa...'" More cries before the thirsting mirrors rained down
upon her frail body, performing the inevitable.
"NO!" Myora's screams faded in my mind. I was losing. I knew I was.
Princess...I'm sorry for failing you.
"I remeber! It was you!" Bright silver light exploded in a shower of serenity.
Mother, embrace me when I see you.
"Ami-chan!"
Zach...I love you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Floating. I was floating. Where?
My eyes cracked open hesitantly, unsure of what they would encounter.
A blinding light forced them shut once more, and I groaned.
Mother? Would I see her now? Was this death?
I braved the light of the unknown once more. Straining, I gritted
my teeth and squinted up at two ovals in the distance.
'Come back to me...'
But it's so warm here. Who's calling for me?
My feet began to move on their own, gliding towards the two specks.
'Please, Ami-chan. Fight for me.'
Alright, I'm coming. Can you hear me? I'm coming.
'Don't leave me, Ami-chan. Push harder!'
I'm trying!
Invisible barriers made it hard for me to move through the space,
but I trudged on with purpose. I was coming. Wait for me.
'Please...'
They were closer now, and I broke into a desperate run. The voice.
So familiar. I wanted to hear it again.
'Ami-chan, please.'
I tore through the white, speeding towards the twin ovals waiting
for me.
A smiling face. Loving eyes. Eyes I remembered. Two breaths of midnight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"M-Myora...?"
A hazy cloud moved over my vision, making it hard to decipher
the blur in front of me.
My throat was unbearably dry, and I coughed raggedly over it. I reached
up with shaky hands to rub the smeared images away. Everything around me seemed to echo painfully off of my eardrums.
"Ami-chan."
Warm hands lifted my head up slightly, and she was staring at me.
I reached out to touch her face.
"Myora...are you...?" I turned my head around, "Am...I?"
A smile stretched across her softened face, sublime and warm.
"You're alive, Ami," She took my hand in her own, "Thank you."
It was all too much to absorb, and I shook my head. Ouch. I shoved
myself onto my elbows and nearly collapsed into a heap when I tried to stand.
She embraced my body, supporting me with her own weight until I grasped
my bearings.
"What happened?" Her face cleared, and I could see again.
A crystal tear fell from her eyes which were no longer the scarlet
hue from before.
"You...You saved me, Ami-chan."
"Me? I saved you?"
She nodded, and I stood back a moment. She looked like a spirit almost, glowing with silver, surrounded by dancing strands of navy hair.
"I had to see for myself. I had to remember in order for the gem to be
released, and I did...thanks to you."
Smiling. I was smiling. She was alive, with her soul returned.
"Oh, God. Myora," I enveloped her in my arms, overwhelmed with the
relief that she had been restored.
"What does this mean? Can you stay here...on earth? What about Sarius?"
Her smile flickered for a moment, and she brushed a tear of elation from my eye.
"I'm sorry, Ami-chan, but I must go. I have to destory the gem for good. We can't let what happened repeat itself. I am its true keeper, and I have to end its cycle before more harm can come of it."
"As for Sarius," She winked, "He won't be around to see its retirement."
I choked on my tears. She was leaving me again?
"But you can't! If you destroy the gem, you'll destroy yourself."
She stared at me with a rueful, yet understanding smile, "It's my destiny."
"But...I need you." It was my plea for her to stay. Why leave when
we had just been reunited?
She embraced me once more, "You have the others, Ami-chan. You have your princess to protect and the senshi to be your companions," My tears fell faster than she could catch them, "And now you have Zach, as well. You are strong, Ami-chan. Stronger than anyone ever knew, including yourself. Your destiny here is not fulfilled yet."
I didn't want her to leave. She was the last string I had to connect to a past I hardly remembered, but she was right. It was her destiny, and I could do nothing to prevent it.
"I understand..." I uttered, wrapping my arms around her once again.
She released me, eyes brimming with silver tears, "You've freed me, Ami-chan...always know that and embrace it. Because of you I can live on, whole and happily. I will always be with you."
She grasped my hand, "When you call on Mercury for power, I'll be standing beside you. And most of all, Ami-chan...I will *always* be your
sister."
With the imprint of her lips on my forehead, I told her I loved her, and she turned away.
Seconds later, I shielded my eyes from a soundless explosion of sapphire light, and my heart swelled.
The vision of my sister's face appeared once more before melting away in whispers of silver and midnight.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't worry! An epilogue's coming next!
And I'm expecting everyone of you guys to write a final review for either
this chapter or the epilogue! Parting words, if you will...
I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for your support.
Thanks to all of you.
--Adrial
AN: Before I let you read this, I'll be re-posting this chapter all
week long starting Monday just b/c I want everyone to be able to have
easy access and not have to go searching and everything just to find it.
It's even early! :D I had a major burst of writing energy today.
The Epilogue's gonna be out soon, as well. Thanks for reading, and
I hope you've enjoyed this as much as me.
~Adrial~
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"To Go, Please"
Chapter 15: Reflections of A Soul
Author: Adrial
Rating: PG13
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He was so close. I could feel him, hear his breaths, the
ripple of the air as his voice smoothed over it.
Why had I remebered?
I gripped the steel handle of the door that would lead me
to him. But she was still there--an empty hollow of a hoard of memories
I'd never asked to recall.
Why was she so daunting? Sitting there, a mass of silver and
midnight, glowing as if a beacon for the soul that had drifted from her.
Or maybe it was the other way around.
I turned my stiff neck around a little. How long had I stood
in that spot, staring at the door like it could give me the answers I
so desperately needed?
A little more, and I would see her again.
"Myora..."
I said her name slowly, as if waiting for her to respond.
She remained still--still staring, still lifeless, still...
"Myora..."
I closed my eyes, willing them to shut out everything around
me, but they only resurfaced the cries of a deep despair I'd silenced
before.
A promise.
A promise I had broken.
A tear fell from my eyes, and I had turned back to her.
"What happened to you?" My knees fell to her side, a gentle
hand so close to mine that I could touch it without much movement, but
dared not to.
What had they done to her that night? At that moment I vowed to
find out. What had *he* done to her?
With a final glance at her, I left the room, now ready to redeem
myself and keep the promise I'd made to her so many years before.
"I'll never let you go."
The door creaked behind me as my hollow footsteps echoed off of
the stone walls, kissed by a silver glow.
-----------------------------------------------------------
My mind was a dull rythm of jumbled thoughts as I walked
briskly through endless halls of black. I stared briefly at my
palm pilot, hardly surprised that its signal had been lost,
meaning I was undoubtedly somewhere at the heart of the
fortress.
Another hour lost, and I had gained little success in
my journey. But I felt them, all of them. An invisible fire thawed
my frozen fingers; electric jolts forced my exausted eyes open;
unbelievable warmth and comfort both nestled themselves deep in
the pit of my stomach.
They were close; I just had to find them.
"My, my, Ami-chan. Still poking around, I see?"
The sinister voice, tainted by a mocking scowl, swept
over my ears unpleasantly.
I whipped my head around, unsure of where her voice had
come from.
"You try finding your way around in the dark," I mumbled
to the walls. She wasn't coming out of hiding yet.
"Your friends are becoming rather...*tortured*...by the
fact that you haven't gallantly come to save the day yet. What
a pity it would be if they were hurt..."
A deep rage kindled in my chest.
It's not her. I told myself. She's been brainwashed.
"Your fight is with me, Myora. Leave my friends alone."
A cold chuckle fell onto my ears, followed by a shuffling
sound.
"Ami! You have to get out of that place! They're going
to--mmph!"
I jumped, "Makoto!" My legs started running blindly ahead,
"Makoto!"
Myora returned, "Nasty little right hand that one's got
on her. She'll be the first to go, you can rest assured. By the
way, sister of mine, you have twenty minutes. The clock of
death awaits you. Ta-ta."
"MYORA!" I screamed into the enveloping darkness, "If
you hurt them I'll kill you!"
Silence.
My heart was beating so rapidly that I barely felt it
at all. All I saw was rage, a deep burning rage so intense that
it traveled through my veins and behind my eyes like fire.
"Do you hear me?! You're nothing but a coward! Do you...
hear...me?!"
My knees crashed to the ground, the weight of the world
was pressed harder upon my shoulders as I sobbed dryly into the
palms of my hands.
"God...please..." My chest heaved, my stomach tightened.
My body felt completely defeated by a battle I hadn't even
entered yet.
All of this because of one man's jealousy...all of this
because my mother chose love over duty...all of this because
of me.
But I needed to get up. I had to get up. These were my
only thoughts. Just get up and fight. Fight for everything
that had been stolen from me.
Get up, Ami. Get up.
I rose shakily on feet which nearly buckled beneath
my weight. The myriad of souless bodies, the reflections of my
deepest pains and insecurities, the lost soul of my equally
lost sister, and the thought of my princess and friends re-charged
my determination until I felt strong enough to take on anything
thrown in my path.
Placing on my brain-hat, I touched my ear and my visor
swept over my eyes. Myora had been speaking through some sort of
an intercom, and I busily scanned the ceiling and walls for the
source.
Dull beeps and methodical buzzes filled the still air as I
chewed on my bottom lip.
"...you're still poking around, I see..."
That was it!
How stupid could I have been? It all made sense to me.
If she could see me, then why couldn't I see her?
I felt along the walls, leaning against them with my ear
pressed on their cold surface.
The reason I had felt so weak in the room of mirrors...
the reason my healing powers had twice restored pieces of my soul
that were being sucked into their world.
Everything was a reflection. This place was nothing more
than a fotress of mirrors.
I produced a ball of light and watched it bounce from wall
to wall down the hallway that seemed to never end.
My visor dissipated from my face with a mere thought,
and I stood in front of the wall to my left, the direction
Makoto's voice had come from, trying to warn me of what I had
only now discovered, and the spot of greatest weakness indicated
on the wall.
"Shine Aqua Illusion!"
Blinded momentarily by the light of my powers, I squinted
my eyes. A sheet of frigid ice and water spread over the walls in a
thick layer.
Satisfied with my aim, I put everything I had, every
ounce of strength I could muster, into a kick that shattered the
opaque glass like porcelain and watched it rain down upon a cold,
cement floor lit by a scarlet flood of light.
Cautiously, I stepped into the room quite aware that I would not
remain alone for very long. There was nothing but darkness inside, thick
with an evil I could only imagine. The suffocating stench of death and
despair fought to bring me to my knees, but I remained standing.
A snicker permeated the air, deliberate in its attempt to
raise the fine baby hairs on my neck, and melted into the cold
silence as smoothly as it entered.
A sob reached my ears, broken and defeated sounding. A flash
of light snapped in front of me and a silver screen appeared, the
image of Usagi laying crumpled on the ground displayed upon it.
I gasped, raising my hand to my mouth to cover the cry that
fought against my self-constraints to be released.
Seven more screens like it appeared around it, all graced
with pictures of the senshi and the others fighting against images
of what could only be their own darkest nightmares.
Darien, clad in the tuxedo he'd donned at the Christmas Eve
banquet, held his head in his hands as a black sedan veered off of a
dark road and exploded into flames at the bottom of a cliff over
and over again.
My heart twisted painfully as he struggled to remain standing
when Usagi appeared beside him and spouted the most unimaginable insults
and degrading remarks I'd ever heard.
To his right, Rei slammed her fist into every piece of glass she
could find; her plams bled from the effort to smash away her mother's tomb
stone and the sound a car door slamming as her father zoomed off to America
shortly after.
Makoto was huddled in a corner above her, struggling to shake away
the deafening roar of a plane's engine as it sputtered and exploded in the
sky, taking her parents with it into the unforgiving waters of the Atlantic
Ocean.
"You've failed me!" The Princess screamed at Minako who wiped her
eyes furiously with the back of her palm. Images of Usagi laying dead the
night of the Moon Kingdom's tragic fall beside her prince surrounded
her. She crumpled to the ground, shaking her head and trying not to face
Serenity's cold, hate-filled face.
I nearly fell to my own knees as I watched Jason, Matt, and Kyle
watch their siblings destroyed by the evil holding them captive or their
loves' empty faces staring at them and asking why they couldn't save them.
"Guys..." I choked, unable to watch the friends I'd only just met
and gotten to know go through so much pain that none of them deserved.
"Stop this!" I finally yelled, aching inside more than ever. I
whipped around, searching for anything and anybody.
"But, Ami-chan. Don't you want to see what I've saved especially
for last?" The slither of her voice slid over my ears, and a cold hand
gripped my arm, roughly wrenching it behind me.
Myora's hot breath burned the skin next to my ear, "You'll enjoy
this one most of all."
I struggled in her grasp, futilely trying to lash out at her
with my arms, as they were frozen by her power.
The screens of my friends disappeared, and one larger square
fell into the middle.
"No!"
But he was there. My heart collapsed in an agony stronger than
any other I'd ever experienced.
Zach stood, his torn eyes wide with terror. A strip of scenes
flitted around him. Myora strangling me with her bare hands and tossing
me into a pit of souless faces after stealing my own from me in a long,
drawn out fashion dominated visions of his father's disapproving glare
and mother's scowling look of contempt.
Pain like never before seared through my insides when his
eyes--eyes meant to reflect nothing other than the infectious passion
for living that I had fallen in love with--were clouded over in grief
and remained transfixed upon the screen.
"Stop this!" I thrashed out more violently then before, kicking
and throwing any limb I could unstick towards the slimy hold she held on
my body.
"Not him, please. Stop hurting him!" I begged her, but her only
response was to chuckle venomously in my ear.
"And ruin all my fun? I wouldn't dare," She trailed off, and the
invisible restraints on my arms and legs were removed.
I flung myself as far as I could get from her sickening touch,
and breathed heavily over the race of my heart beat.
Her scarlet eyes darkened a shade, "Soon they will be too weak
to care anymore, and the mirrors will suck out every ounce of their
souls," She began to walk slowly towards me, "Every smile, every bit of
happiness they've ever been given will be gone."
"Why are you doing this?" I asked, creeping backward with every
advancing step she took.
She didn't miss a beat. "Revenge."
I had no time to think about her repsonse as my body slammed into
the cement wall behind me by a ball of blood red energy.
She held me there for a moment, scowling at my emotionless face.
"You'll pay for my pain. All of you will," The chain of black electricity tightened around my neck, "Give me the Hikari Gem or I
swear I will destroy them as easily as Sarius destroyed your mother."
"My mother?" I gasped, "He killed our father! Don't you *gasp* see,
Myora?!" I kicked the air as the pain became unbearable.
She laughed coldly, "Your people killed my father! They were the traitors!"
I turned rage-filled eyes towards her, "And you're nothing but a pawn
in the grand scheme of Sarius's plans to avenge my mother for loving him."
She growled, "You know nothing!"
"I can feel. I can feel the pain of watching my friends suffer
because I have a soul, but you don't, Myora! Sarius took that from you!"
"Lies!" She screeched and let go of her hold on my body. I crashed to
the ground painfully and struggled to stand on my feet. The taste of blood
seeped onto my tongue, but I ignored it.
"Don't you remember?" I whispered, "They took you that day. They took
you from me and Alana."
She shook her head, "Shut up, Mercury."
"I remember!" I cried desperately, "I remember growing up with you
for six years! I remember how you used to turn into a rabbit because our father passed down his Lunarian powers to you when he died!"
"Liar!"
A blast of energy soared towards me, and I rolled out of the way
just in time.
She countered it with a deafening roar of contempt and threw a
could of black upon me that burned my skin from the inside and forced me
to my knees once again.
When my vision blurred, and I could barely see the faces of the
senshi revisiting their fears repeatedly, Myora stood over me, smiling
maliciously.
I closed my eyes. Even that hurt.
"I'm sorry..."
She looked taken aback by my whispered apology, "I don't need
your pity," She spat, her eyes returning to scarlet hollows.
"I'm sorry I let them take you. I'm--ungh--I'm sorry for not
being able to protect you."
*SMACK*
My head slowly rolled back to face her, stinging from the
print of her hand upon it.
"A pity the gem had to be handed down to you," She spat with an even
more venomous tone.
A chuckle escaped my lips as I slipped into unconciousness.
"But it wasn't."
Another chuckle, and I was ready to succomb into the darkness.
She started and glared at me, "What games are you playing now,
Mercury?"
"The gem...was never passed down to me," I laughed deliriously,
blindly ignoring the wretches of pain that shot through my undoubtedly
broken ribcage.
"Enough!" A deep, booming voice sliced through the air suddenly,
and Myora whipped around.
She flew to the disturbing form sliding through the air and
fell upon her knees in front of it.
"King Sarius."
Her body shed tremors down through her, and I saw how she shook
in her place. From terror or apprehension, I wasn't sure.
From somewhere deep inside myself, I forced my eyes to stay open
so I could see him--so I could put a face to the torrent of contempt I'd
been harboring for so long.
What I saw was not a face. There were no eyes, nose, or ears. Hair
was absent for the scaly gray of his head, and a thin, dark line that moved
open and closed substituted as a mouth.
It had destroyed him that night but not killed him as Luna had presumed.
As I lay hunched over in physical pain, another flame of adrenaline
sparked in my veins from the mere thought that I could finish what the gem
had started.
Where was mercy?
Mercy was left behind the moment I discovered Myora's beautiful
soul, hoarded away like a sack of potatoes for his own demented use.
Mercy disappeared with Usagi's body.
Mercy was but a memory to me now.
Monster.
It was the only word that came to mind that moment.
He lay a scraggly hand upon her shoulder and masaged it slowly,
his deep scowl failing to match the almost endearing caress.
"You've done well, Myora..."
The air around me seemed to curl itself at the sound of his
voice. It spread like oil over the room, stretching into the darkest
corners to create shivers through even the smallest night crawlers.
She raised her head a bit, a small smile sliding around her lips.
"My Leige, the senshi are nearly weak enough for the mirrors
to begin the process. You should be in full power within the hour."
He nodded succintly, and gestured for her to rise.
The edges of conciousness became slippery as ice, but I held
on for all I was worth.
"Princess Mercury..."
Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to my knees. Pain was nothing
to me at this point.
He turned to me, his thin line of a mouth twitching, and began
hovering towards me. The drop in temperature in the air made me instinctively
draw backward, but I stopped and stood my ground.
A scaly hand reached up to touch my face, and I gasped painfully.
I couldn't move.
He snickered, running a clammy palm across my cheek as if memorizing
my face with his hands.
"You look so much like her...the same eyes...hair...skin as soft as
feathers..." His voice sounded wistful as if he were in another place all
together.
I tried to strain from his touch that chilled my bones, but my limbs
remained frozen.
"The last piece to the puzzle."
"You'll never win, Sarius. You may have killed my mother, but I
am not her, and I am not willing to--ack."
He gripped my throat in a suffocating hold, and my knees buckled.
"Defiant as well?" He chuckled, "You are more like her than you might
think."
"Ungh," I answered, gripping his disgusting wrist with my hands.
His voice seemed far away, "Myora."
It was more of a command than a summon, and Myora began to scurry
around, quickly pressing knobs and buttons I couldn't see but only hear as
they clicked.
Walls fell from the ceiling, landing softly around our bodies. The
sound of them touching the floor rang in my ears, and reflection after
reflection of myself and Sarius were scattered around us.
I struggled even more now, desperately trying to release his
hold on my neck. My lungs burned. I couldn't breathe, and darkness threatened
to overtake me.
He sneered, giving me a sweet taste of air only to clasp my
air canal once more.
"Did you enjoy my hall of mirrors? Quite a room it was, eh?"
I only sputtered from the lack of oxygen.
"What a tale the visions of our past can tell. For instance..."
He released my neck and thrust me around until I faced an image of
a room I could only place as the throne room of the Mercurian Palace.
A younger version of my mother, only 19 at the time, lay crumpled
on the ground, a mass of tears and grief as a healthier, but not less intimidating, Sarius bore over her.
"'Once last chance, Aiya. Hand yourself to me or suffer the
consequences,'" He grabbed her by the hair roughly and brought her to his
face.
"What will it be?"
She stared at him with furious eyes of indigo, "'I would rather die
than be your wife, Sarius. You are no more than a heartless monster and you
will pay for what you have done to my kingdom!'" She wretched in his grasp.
He slammed her to the hard ground and stood over her, "'A monster am I?!'"
An angry fist slammed into my mother's jaw. I gritted my teeth.
"'If I can't have you, then no man will!'" He flung her across the
room, and I cried out as she slammed with a sickening smack against the opposite wall. A smear of blood leaked from behind her.
"'Long live the wench of Mercury.'" He spoke his final words and
raised his hands in front of him.
My mother's face was steely and emotionless even as his stolen powers impacted her body, leaving a charred formed in her place.
My knees crashed to the ground, the image of her death flitting
through my mind relentlessly.
"A beautiful site, is it not, my sweet?" Saris whispered in my
ear.
His rough hand grabbed the back of my hair and forced my face
to the mirrors again.
"And this...this is my favorite part, dearest Ami."
My skin crawled from the way he said my name, but my eyes were
transfixed upon Aiya's blood encrusted body. A blinding glare of blue
erupted from out of no where, and I inhaled a deep breath of air when I saw the tell-tale flutter of her eyes before an oval of pure white emegered from
her midsection and into the enveloping blue.
My hand rose out of its own will to touch the pane of glass as the oval
vanished just as quickly as Sarius had blown my mother's life away like dust in his palm. Aiya's eyes remained open for a few more seconds before finally closing, and her face was overtaken by a look of such serene calmness that I nearly sighed at the surreal beauty of her contentment.
The younger Sarius glared at her from once more, indecision flashing
across his features before bringing his glowing blue hands to his face and
sneering benevolently.
"'Rest in peace, Aiya. I know I will.'"
The irony of his words were left embedded in my mind when the image
vanished and was replaced with my own.
I glared at his face, more enraged than ever, "And why not show me
your downfall, Sarius? Huh? Show me how the gem destroyed your body! Show
me the destruction of your precious kingdom!" I screeched at his face.
"I want to see the look on your face," My voice lowered to barely
audible, "Or does it hurt too much?"
He merely chuckled.
"Such anger, Mercury. It will do you no good where you are going."
I returned to his grasp once more, painfully wriggling back and
forth.
"I will take your soul just as I took your father's and so many
others since my unforseen sentence to this...despicable life."
I grunted, "Living off of other's souls, Sarius? Somehow it fits you."
"And you will be next. After you have given me what was so unjustly
taken from my grasp," He brought his fingertips to my forehead, "The Hikari Gem."
"Uck...ack...agh," were the only sounds as my soul began to filter
through his fingertips.
I don't remeber much after that. I cast my eyes past his face and
the walls of mirrors seemed to disappear.
Myora's eyes were resting on my own, wide and awestruck in their
gaze. She shook violently in her place, and I could do nothing to speak
to her or beg for help.
She kept staring. I heard my mother's cries once more in my head.
On shaky feet she walked towards us. Two more steps and she was within
the dome of mirrors.
I fought. I fought as hard as my heart was willing. His fingers shook,
straining as I struggled.
"'You are nothing, Myora!'" Echoed around me, painfully ringing in my
ears, "'I will show you what you must become!'"
"'B-But...what about Ami-chan? What about my father?" A tiny voice
followed.'
"'Traitors! All of them! They have killed your father! They took
you from him and slaughtered him in his home!'"
"'Papa...no."
"'Yes, Myora. Come to me and give me your hand...I will show you.
Look into your reflection and see the truth. See what they have done.'"
"'PAPA!"
"'Yessss...see, child.'
"'Papa...'" More cries before the thirsting mirrors rained down
upon her frail body, performing the inevitable.
"NO!" Myora's screams faded in my mind. I was losing. I knew I was.
Princess...I'm sorry for failing you.
"I remeber! It was you!" Bright silver light exploded in a shower of serenity.
Mother, embrace me when I see you.
"Ami-chan!"
Zach...I love you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Floating. I was floating. Where?
My eyes cracked open hesitantly, unsure of what they would encounter.
A blinding light forced them shut once more, and I groaned.
Mother? Would I see her now? Was this death?
I braved the light of the unknown once more. Straining, I gritted
my teeth and squinted up at two ovals in the distance.
'Come back to me...'
But it's so warm here. Who's calling for me?
My feet began to move on their own, gliding towards the two specks.
'Please, Ami-chan. Fight for me.'
Alright, I'm coming. Can you hear me? I'm coming.
'Don't leave me, Ami-chan. Push harder!'
I'm trying!
Invisible barriers made it hard for me to move through the space,
but I trudged on with purpose. I was coming. Wait for me.
'Please...'
They were closer now, and I broke into a desperate run. The voice.
So familiar. I wanted to hear it again.
'Ami-chan, please.'
I tore through the white, speeding towards the twin ovals waiting
for me.
A smiling face. Loving eyes. Eyes I remembered. Two breaths of midnight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"M-Myora...?"
A hazy cloud moved over my vision, making it hard to decipher
the blur in front of me.
My throat was unbearably dry, and I coughed raggedly over it. I reached
up with shaky hands to rub the smeared images away. Everything around me seemed to echo painfully off of my eardrums.
"Ami-chan."
Warm hands lifted my head up slightly, and she was staring at me.
I reached out to touch her face.
"Myora...are you...?" I turned my head around, "Am...I?"
A smile stretched across her softened face, sublime and warm.
"You're alive, Ami," She took my hand in her own, "Thank you."
It was all too much to absorb, and I shook my head. Ouch. I shoved
myself onto my elbows and nearly collapsed into a heap when I tried to stand.
She embraced my body, supporting me with her own weight until I grasped
my bearings.
"What happened?" Her face cleared, and I could see again.
A crystal tear fell from her eyes which were no longer the scarlet
hue from before.
"You...You saved me, Ami-chan."
"Me? I saved you?"
She nodded, and I stood back a moment. She looked like a spirit almost, glowing with silver, surrounded by dancing strands of navy hair.
"I had to see for myself. I had to remember in order for the gem to be
released, and I did...thanks to you."
Smiling. I was smiling. She was alive, with her soul returned.
"Oh, God. Myora," I enveloped her in my arms, overwhelmed with the
relief that she had been restored.
"What does this mean? Can you stay here...on earth? What about Sarius?"
Her smile flickered for a moment, and she brushed a tear of elation from my eye.
"I'm sorry, Ami-chan, but I must go. I have to destory the gem for good. We can't let what happened repeat itself. I am its true keeper, and I have to end its cycle before more harm can come of it."
"As for Sarius," She winked, "He won't be around to see its retirement."
I choked on my tears. She was leaving me again?
"But you can't! If you destroy the gem, you'll destroy yourself."
She stared at me with a rueful, yet understanding smile, "It's my destiny."
"But...I need you." It was my plea for her to stay. Why leave when
we had just been reunited?
She embraced me once more, "You have the others, Ami-chan. You have your princess to protect and the senshi to be your companions," My tears fell faster than she could catch them, "And now you have Zach, as well. You are strong, Ami-chan. Stronger than anyone ever knew, including yourself. Your destiny here is not fulfilled yet."
I didn't want her to leave. She was the last string I had to connect to a past I hardly remembered, but she was right. It was her destiny, and I could do nothing to prevent it.
"I understand..." I uttered, wrapping my arms around her once again.
She released me, eyes brimming with silver tears, "You've freed me, Ami-chan...always know that and embrace it. Because of you I can live on, whole and happily. I will always be with you."
She grasped my hand, "When you call on Mercury for power, I'll be standing beside you. And most of all, Ami-chan...I will *always* be your
sister."
With the imprint of her lips on my forehead, I told her I loved her, and she turned away.
Seconds later, I shielded my eyes from a soundless explosion of sapphire light, and my heart swelled.
The vision of my sister's face appeared once more before melting away in whispers of silver and midnight.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't worry! An epilogue's coming next!
And I'm expecting everyone of you guys to write a final review for either
this chapter or the epilogue! Parting words, if you will...
I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for your support.
Thanks to all of you.
--Adrial