Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from GW or SM.

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Chapter 10

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Ami had transformed as soon as she had stepped through the door. She clicked her earing, and her visor passed over her eyes. Unlike where she had been, it was morning. It looked as if the sun had just risen. Strange. It had been 9:00 p.m when she had found the door. Ami figured she could consider this day one.

---

When the g-boys stepped through the door, it dissapeared directly behind them, and as they had realized a minute before, they were lost. Ami was no-where to be seen. Heero took a few cautious steps towards one area of the forest, then backed up and started in a different direction.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," he said, backing back into their little group.

"Ami needs help you guys. She knows she can't beat Julliana. Her friends won't be here for 3 days. She's just planning on rescuing Quatre in that time without getting killed. It's practicly our duty to help! After all, hasn't Ami been discretly helping us for nearly a month?"

Everyone had to agree, but where to start?

"Well, it 's day-time. Looks like dawn. So, from what you've told me, Ami could be considering this Day 1 without her friends to help her fight, am I correct?" Everyone looked at Heero after that long statement. Duo nodded.

"We may not have any powers, but we fought in the Eve Wars. We know about battle, we are skilled fighters! I'm sure we can help," Duo said.

"Let's go that way, and hope we chose the right direction," Trowa suggested, pointing to the right. Everyone frowned at the long sentence he had used, but nodded.

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Sailor Mercury clicked her earing twice to close her visor. She sighed and sat down. She had to hurry, but...the forest dragged on forever.

After sitting another minute, she shook her head and stood.

"I have to be quick," she muttered to herself. She continued on through the trees, her vision blurred with brown and green, the fallen leaves crunching underneath her step. She spun around when she heard something. A laugh? From where?

She took a few cautious steps forward, then back. Pausing a moment, she could here something else. The sound of voices. Lots of voices, coming from her left. She approached the thick mass of bushes blocking her view, and the voices grew louder and louder. Pushing through the bushes, her mouth popped open at what she saw. A town. A real town.

A town on the dead planet Mercury? What sort of a trick was this? Julliana's doing, Ami presumed. Was she even on Mercury? The note had said so, but how could she be sure?

She didn't detransform, but entered as she was. The people were all laughing and talking, and several booths were set up. Like- a festival. Children giggled and reached their hands up to lean over high counters, and Ami felt at peace for a moment. Forgeting about her problems, Sailor Mercury momentarilly leaned against a pole and watched.

A man on her left was selling icecream, and she suddenly felt hungry.

"Don't be tempted Ames, this is all just a fake illusion created by Julliana. These people aren't real, and they never were," she thought to herself, "Infact, they could attack you at any minute." She stood, but she as she quickly started to walk away, she tripped over a piece of wood lying on the ground.

She toppled forwards and closed her eyes, and predicted that she would be falling into a blond girl that looked to be about 14 years old, but she didn't feel anything. She opened up her eyes with a frown, and gasped.

She had fallen into the girl, but technically, Ami hadn' touched the girl. The girl hadn't felt it. Ami knew because one of her legs was going through the girls left foot. Just going through it. She steadied her breath. The people weren't transparent, they had looked real enough.

"Remember Ames, they are illusions, you couldn't expect them to be solid. That only helps you rule out the possibility of them attacking you," she told herself.

She stood up, and heard a loud crash. Then she heard the sound of almost a stampede, or, a lot of people walking together at once. She looked up, along with all the other people. Horror regestered on their faces, and there was screaming and everybody started to scatter.

Beryl's army stood at the edge of the forest, led by Jedeite.

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The gundam pilots had walked in the directon Trowa had suggested. They were getting tired. Duo plopped down on the floor.

"Let's take a break."

Everyone rolled their eyes at him.

"You're so lazy Maxwell. You're the one that got us to come here, and now your sitting down. Have you no shame?," Wufei asked him angrilly.

"Hey, people get tired," Duo said. They started to argue.

Suddenly, they all looked up, hearing a loud noise. Like an army walking together, since they head heard it before. They turned to look, and Duo yelped.. A giant army of men dressed in general's uniforms being led by a blond haired man with piercing icy blue eyes.

They tryed to run out if the way, but there was no time, and Duo closed his eyes in hopes of not feeling it when he was crushed or shot. He waited, and the footsteps continued, but he felt nothing. Am I already dead?

He opened his eyes, and saw the army moving past them. Had they gone around them? He turned to look at his friends, and from their pale faces he could tell that they hadn't. They had gone through them.

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Mercury jumped up and looked around. The army attacked. They attacked using powers and swords, such as bombs made entirely out of energy or attacks that reminded her of Mina's crescent beam. Some even controled thunder or ice. Jedeite used fire as his lead attack, when controling his army.

"Stop!," Ami cried, but it didn't make a difference. People around her fell. Children were screaming, as their parents hit the ground. Parents begged mercy for their children. The army showed no mercy. Blood soaked the ground and the soldiers swords.

The screams of the people filled Mercury's ears, and she somehow knew she would never forget the sound. Babies that were crying, were silenced.

A small child, no older than 2 or 3, was crying loudly when her mother was killed. A soldier advanced on the child, and raised his sword.

"NO!" Ami ran over to the child and the soldier, but screamed when her hand went through them and the sword connected with the child's head, chest, and stomach, being that the sword was so big and that the child was so small. The little girl fell to the floor limply, falling through Mercury and making a thump as she hit the floor.

Mercury covered her eyes with her hand, trembling as she sank onto the ground. She didn't want to see it anymore.

She felt useless. She was unable to help.

"Why aren't you helping them Mercury? Isn't that what you senshi do?," a voice boomed over the ruckus. Julliana.



"Stop it Julliana," Ami said.

"What's wrong princess? Is it too much to see your people fall?"

"My people fall?," she asked.

"They aren't just illusions. They are illusions of their former selves, meaning these people did all once exist. Spirits, if you will. Today, all of the planets are alligned, not including Earth's moon. It was on this day thousands of years ago that Mercury was attacked. As I told you before, the re-inactment has begun.

"Your going to see many fall in the next three days," julliana continued," yes, I know your friends won't be here for three days. How fitting, that you will be here alone, experiencing the fall of Mercury. The fall that took Beryl only three days to accomplish. Setsuna was very handy with the time limit she chose."

"No, just return Quatre to his own demension!"



"Soon, you will know what true pain is, not to be the one who died, but to be the last left standing!"

"Oh, and for the record," the voice added, "what you just saw was the destruction o9f the town Yoshimina."

The voice stopped, and soon the screams died out. Mercury stood silently in the center of the town.

She took a deep, steadying breath. The bodies stayed littering the floor, instead of dissapearing, and the soldiers dissapeared back into the forest, their laughter echoing through the street.

Re-opening her visor, she scanned the area, and sighed. Julliana knew she was looking for Quatre, but wanted her to see everythng first. She couldn't just trace Julliana's power source. Julliana had left bits of her power in several locations, in a strait path she would have to see in the three days. Mercury would have to make every stop in order to find julliana's base. Julliana was clever.

She calculated where the next terrible trace of Julliana's power was. It was about 30 miles from the town. 30 MILES! Not only was Julliana clever, but she was extremely cruel.

"Ami!" Duo's voice rang through the empty street. Sailor Mercury sighed. Had she expected anything different? She turned to look at them. They stood at the edge of the forest looking slightly disturbed.

"A battle?," asked Wufei.

"You could say that," she said, walking towards them.

"but.."

"Why did you guys follow, didn't I tell you to stay back?," she asked.

"You believed us? Come on, it's us! You couldn't have killed all these people Ames, so..," started Duo.

"Touch one of them," Ami challenged.



"What? Are you ok Ami?," Duo asked in bewilderment.

"It's Mercury in this form, and I'm fine, touch one of them," she answered firmly.

"A- Mercury, you're not sounding quite like yourself, so," Duo tryed again.

"Do it, or you're going to be found tied up at the mansion," she threatened. Duo knew Ami would never have the heart to do that to them, but he reached down and touched the hand of an old man lying next to him. He jumped backwards when his hand went through him.

"They aren't real people. These are just images of what did happen to them," she explained.

"Oh."

After a minute more of explaining, she asked them to return.

"No, from what I can see, you're going to need moral support and we're just the people to help you out with that," Duo said. Everyone nodded.

"But.."

"Let us stay, we want to help our friend," Wufei said firmly. Sailor Mercury met his eyes for only a moment, before nodding.

"Alright, let's go. We have a 30 mile walk ahead of us," she said, turning away.

"30 MILES!"

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The walk was aggrivating....

"Ame- Sailor Mercury, how many miles have we walked," groaned Duo. She checked her computer.

"11, Duo," she responded.

A minute later....

"A- Mercury, how many miles have we been walking?" It was Sailor Mercury's turn to groan. That was the 50th time he'd asked since they had left the town.

"PLEASE," she said, then managed to regain her cool,"don't ask me anymore Duo, and I'll let you know when we're in a 5 mile radius of the next town."

"Awww, that's no fun," whined Duo. As they walked, Duo and Mercury got into an arguement about common sense and, from Duo's point of view, how mean Ami was and how that calm, cool sherade she was playing didn't fool him.

"Watch out!," Heero's voice halted their arguement. They both looked up, but it was too late and something hit Mercury's arm. She grimaced and sank to her knees. Everyone looked around.

"So, the Gundam Pilots are here too. I thought they'd pull an interfearing trick such as this one," Julliana sneered from a tree. She jumped down. Mercury looked at her arm. There was a deep slash. She covered it with her gloved hand and stood.

"It's not interfearance, we want you to release Quatre," Duo told her. Julliana laughed.

"Well, it's not going to happen. Anyways gundam pilots, enjoy your time here on Mercury. You're unnaffeted by hwat's happening around you, well, unless some of my warriors attack you," Julliana said. She turned to Sailor Mercury.

"As for you," she paused, and smiled.

"Indeed, I can feel your powers weaker. your skills are not as sharp as they once were on Mercury thousands of years ago. Shame on you for letting your powers grow so weak. It appears you have been spoiled by that modern world you were re-born in. As of now, you are of no use to me. So, my warriors will follow you to my base.

"The whole way, they will. They will remain hidden, and attack at any time. These ae lower class warriors. If you do make it to my base, only then will you be worthy to stand in my presence and demand Quatre be returned to his demension," Julliana told her. She dissapeared before anyone could say another word.

Everyone was silent for only a moment before Duo turned to Mercury.

"Is your arm alright," he asked. She still seemed to be thinking about what Julliana had said to her, and looked at him blankly. Her hand was still tightly wrapped around her arm. Snapping out of her daze, she removed her hand. Her glove was now staind with her blood.

They all peered at her arm, making her roll her eyes and sigh in impatience.

"What?"

"That is really gross Ames, I mean, really," Duo said.

"Mercury Duo, it's Mercury. Now, since her warriors are following us I can't possibly keep all of you here. You will have to return," she told them. Everyone protested.

"No WAY I'M WALKING ABOUT 15 MILES BACK TO GET TO THE DOOR!" That was duo, lazy as always.

"Come on, it's not that bad," she told him.

"Yes it is, even if we were stupid enough to walk back that far, the door dissapeared behind us as soon as we entered," Duo said flipantly, sticking his nose in the air. The other pilots sweatdropped.

"It what," Mercury said, her tone growing icy. Nervous laughter on Duo's behalf.

"It dissapeared, right after we stepped through, and..."

"And you just happened to neglect mentioning this to me. Noiw eveen if we free Quatre before the three daya are up we won't be able to return to your demension. not untill my friends arive!"

"Why would your friends arriving matter," asked Heero.

"When we're all together, we have enough power to do a sailor telport, and we can just teleport off this planet," Mercury told him.

"I still don't see how this is my fault," Duo cut in.

"I'm not saying it's your fault, I'm saing-," Mercury was cut off. Duo threw his hands over his ears.

"La la la la la. Not listening! You're mean!"

Her and Duo again started to argue, everyone joining in this time.

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They arrived at where Julliana's power source was located, still not attacked by her warriors.

"Where are we," asked Duo.

Mercury looked around. Suddenly the area came alive. A gigantic building appeared in front of them. It was dome shaped, and had grand marbe pillars at the entrance. There was a lot of commotion going on, and several coaches pulled by horses lined up in front of the steps at the entrance. A sign next to the entrance read 'Mercurian Hall of Fine Arts'.

Normally, she would have admired it's beauty more closely, but she knew terror was about to strike. She checked her computer. Her calculations showed that the power source came from inside the building, and she wouldn't know where the next stop was unless she witnessed the whole scene. Julliana was too cruel.

"Let's go in," she told them. Everyone was silent as they entered.

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Not that long, but I hope it was alright. I realize this chapter was much later updated than most, but with the beautiful sunlight caling outside, I fine it extremely difficult to sit down and type out these chapters. I wil try hard to update quickly. I hope I haven't confused anyone, if so, voice you're concerns.