Life's Lessons
A Sailor Moon fanfic by Kristin Renee Taylor
Chapter 8 -
Terri stood on the rooftop of the women's dormitory in Crystal
Tokyo's University. This close to the Barrier the air was colder, and
she was glad that she wore a thick jacket over her gray school
uniform.
She looked southward, towards the heart of Crystal Tokyo, where
the eerily beautiful Crystal Palace stood, prism walls painted red by
the setting sun.
Kiyomi stood next to her, black and blue skisuit stained red from
the blood dripping slowly from her empty eye sockets, crimson tears
streaking her face. She said, "How does one live life? Is it done by
living? Or by dying? Are a person's deeds remembered from one life to
the next?"
Shouji was on Terri's other side, legs folded in the lotus style,
eyes closed, calmly floating two meters above the rooftop. He, too,
was still dressed in his ski suit. "The fat man walks alone," Shouji
intoned solemnly.
Terri looked at him, baffled.
Kiyomi gestured to the distant palace. "The Senshi are the epitomy
of contradictions. On the one hand, They've given the citizens of
Crystal Tokyo the perfect existance by coming off as a bunch of
all-knowing, omniscent dieties and controlling every facet of the
public's life, which works since, thanks to the Senshi's mental
tamperings, nobody even knows what they're missing."
"Lazy man works twice," Shouji stated.
Terri glanced at him, and discovered that he was now bald and
dressed in the robes of a Shaolin monk. "Um..."
Kiyomi ignored them both, continuing on, "On the other paw, the
Senshi are the embodiment of power, and therefore corrupt, for
absolute power corrupts, and power corrupts absolutly. And this
corruption bleeds off to the public, thanks to the Senshi using Their
power on the public and infecting all the mindless drones."
Kiyomi paused, and Terri looked at Shouji, expecting the
mechanic/monk to say something zen-like. Shouji tilted his head to
one side, frowned. "We're on a journey. Travelers in life. Crossing
into the unknown."
Terri blinked. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Troubled by my words? Enlightment is coming soon. Patience,
Grasshopper," was his answer.
"But, as I have clearly seen," Kiyomi made an odd gesture, passing
a hand in front of her face. "The Senshi thrive off of perverse acts.
Mercury's diabolical human experiments, Jupiter's twisted
interpretations of Truth and Justice, Mars's insanity-inducing mind
games, and Venus's obscene compulsions to keep her the focus of
everyone's attentions. It's gross, disgusting, evil, and it needs to
be stopped."
Shouji said, "One death is a tragedy. A thousand is a statistic."
Terri looked at Kiyomi. "Let me guess: This is where I come in,
right?"
Shouji smiled again. "The one thing that doesn't abide by majority
rule is a person's concience."
Kiyomi glanced at the red spires. Although the sun had set minutes
ago, the Palace pulsed rhythmically, vermillion light bathing the
city in a bloody haze, making the building seem a heart in truth.
"Terri, do you think the Senshi are evil?"
Terri was surprised. "Evil? Of course They're evil, Kiyomi! Look
what They did to the people of Crystal Tokyo. Hells, look what They
did to you! How can you believe They're anything other than evil?"
Kiyomi looked at Terri. "Who's talking? You or Minako?"
"W-what?"
"Who's talking? Who's the one that gave you that idea? Until
recently, you yourself was a citizen of Crystal Tokyo. Did you
believe the Senshi were evil, then?"
"Well, no... But that's because They had me under Their control. I
didn't know the truth until the Descendants rescued me."
"And what is the truth? To the people of this city, the Senshi are
the truth. To them, the Descendants are terrorists, heretics intent
on destroying everything that these people love."
"But, that's crazy. The Descendants are the bad guys. The Senshi
are!" Terri hesitated. "Why are you telling me these things?"
Kiyomi turned, put her back to Terri. "It's all a matter of
perspective. The Senshi's perspective, the Descendant's perspective,
your's... and hers."
"Her?" Terri looked around, but nobody else had joined them.
Shouji grinned at Terri. "Is there really a ghost in your shell,
or are you just a pawn of the Ultimate Puppetmaster?"
Kiyomi grabbed Terri's arm. "Too find yourself you must lose
yourself."
Shouji stood, and his Shaolin robes morphed into the orange of a
Priest of Venus. He grabbed Terri's other arm. "The journey of a
thousand miles starts with the first step."
Terri looked at them, startled. "What are you guys doing?!"
Kiyomi said, "Live this life like it's your last."
Shouji said, "Because it just might be!"
To her horror, Terri was shoved backwards, over the railing,
plunging ten stories to the pavement below.
Terri bolted upright and immediatly regretted the action when a small
nuclear device went off inside off her skull. She rose to her knees
and retched violently onto the floor, a fruitless effort since her
stomach was empty.
Only when the dry heaves had ceased and the fireworks behind her
eyes had settled down did she try to figure out where she was.
White on white met her gaze. Everywhere she turned she saw white.
The floor, the ceiling, and even the walls were all the same, sterile
lack of color. All of the surfaces were luminescent, providing her
with light and ridding the room of every speck of darkness. The
effect was incredibly disorienting, especially since the only thing
in the room (she assumed she was in a room) was herself, and without
her shadow it was harder to discover the dimensions of her prison.
And prison it was, she had absoluetly no doubts about that. She
stood slowly, careful to pause everytime the tympani drum in her
skull threatened to become a gong. Trailing one hand along one wall,
she started walking, intending to pace out the room's size. Five
minutes later, she stopped frustrated, when she realized that the
wall she was touching was either part of an exceptionally long
corridor or curved in such a way to form a giant circle. And it
didn't help her at all that, thanks to the decor, she no longer had
an idea of where she had started.
Sighing, she sank to the ground, leaning back against the wall. A
glance at her watch proved that nearly two hours had passed since she
and the others had taken refuge in the abadoned subway system. 'Okay,
so I don't know where I am. I don't know where my friends are. And I
have no way to contact Minako and the others. I need to find a way
out of here.' Aloud, she growled, "And how the Hell am I supposed to
lose myself, anyway?"
"I'm glad to see you're awake, Terri. For a while I was afraid
your fall had only made your concussion worse."
Terri got to her feet, refusing to acknowledge her pain, and
glared balefully at the blue-robed Priestess that was suddenly there,
arms folded in an attitude of insolence. "Where are my friends?"
"Kiyomi's safe enough; Mercury doesn't want her harmed anymore
than she already is. As for your pal Shouji," She shrugged. "He's
probably dead. And you know what? I'm not the least bit upset."
Anger surged through Terri. "You'll pay for that."
"Is that anyway to treat your friend, Terri?"
"The day I call you my friend is the day a giant eagle rips out my
liver."
"It's good to see you haven't lost your imaginative wit."
"What are you talking about? I've never met you!"
The Priestess sighed. "How easily we forget," she murmured, and,
reaching up, pushed back the hood of her robe.
Terri's anger faded to shock. "Yoko?"
"You look surprised," Yoko said dryly.
"But... why? *How?* Kami-sama, Yoko, the last time I saw you, you
were on trial for heresy! Why didn't they kill you?"
Yoko's eyes glinted. "Mercury was kind enough to show me mercy. To
show my eternal gratitude, I decided to devote my life to the
Senshi's ideals, so I became a Priestess."
The person that has been shown mercy is the person whose loyalty
is bound to be unshakable. Terri's stomach, already unsettled,
clenched into a tighter knot as Minako's words came back. "But...
then... you've got to know that your dream was really the truth! The
Senshi tampered with our memories."
Yoko smiled. "You're only half right. The Senshi tampered with my
memories, but They never touched yours. They never got the chance
to."
"What?"
"Ask Hino Rei about why you can't remember parts of your life. You
may discover that your amnesia is 'selective,' so to speak."
Terri was taken aback. "I... Rei wouldn't..." Or would she?
Terri shook her head, and used the resulting flares of pain to
clear her mind. "That's not important now. Yoko, you know what's
going on and you're going to allow it?"
"Is there any reason why I shouldn't?"
Terri was too stunned to come up with a decent answer.
Yoko regarded Terri. "Terri, I'm disappointed. I thought you knew
me well enough to know that I would never pass up such a delicious
opprutunity at gaining power." She shook her head sadly. "I see
you've fallen for the sterotype, too."
"I... I don't understand."
"Of course you don't. You've always been so blindly trusting, so
willing to go along with whatever anyone says without even bothering
to check their motives. It's why I've been able to manipulate you as
much as I already have." She laughed loudly. "You are so gullible."
Terri sank down slowly, anger forgotten, pain forgotten, leaving
nothing but emptiness. Had everyone she had ever known used her?
Brown hair, brown eyes, average height, average looks. Everything
about Yoko had always been so utterly normal that many people had a
difficult time believing that she was anything other than a normal
University student.
What was Yoko now?
Yoko crouched down in front of Terri. "Oh, did I say something to
make you upset, Terri? I'd apologize but, you know, I can't."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Why do anything? For power, of course. The Senshi have it, and
I'm going to take it from Them. Nobody'll ever call me a 'powerless
runt' again." Her smile was predatory. "And you, as you always have,
figure prominently in my plan for power."
"Screw your plan. I won't let you use me!"
"Not even if I could get you and your friend out of here alive?"
Terri looked off to one side, fuming in silence.
"Think about it, Terri. What other choice do you have? Just work
with me, do what I say, and I'll take care of everything else. Then,
when my plan's done, I'll make you my right hand woman. We'll rule
Crystal Tokyo!"
Terri's hands clenched. "No... I won't do it!" She glared at Yoko.
"Nobody uses me!"
Yoko smirked. "People use people, Terri, and you're used more than
most. Face it, you can't go a single day without somebody thinking
what a great stooge you'd make." She smiled possesivly, gently
brushed a few strands of hair out of Terri's face. Her voice
softened. "But now... now you're all mine and nobody else is going to
have you."
Terri pulled away angrily. "The Yoko I know would never say such
things. They did this to you, didn't they? Those damn Senshi! They
put those stupid ideas iin your head and they're making you act like
this. I won't let them get away this!"
Yoko laughed. "Exactly what I predicted you'd say! I don't have to
give you orders, Terri; so long as you stay yourself, you'll do
everything I want you to whether you know you're doing it or not!"
She stood. "But enough fun. You're tired, and I've been away from
Mercury's side long enough. You just rest now, and think about what I
said." She pressed two fingers against Terri's forehead.
Terri resisted, but the world swam away into a grey place.
Ami crossed the elevator's threshold and entered the observation deck
of the Tokyo Tower. Much of the already bare furnishings had been
stripped more, making way for hulking machinary, metallic monoliths
with thick cables like tentacles that could have easily spawned a
hentai otaku's fantasies for centuries, had any of those perverts
still been alive.
The air hummed, a high-pitched note that Ami's hearing could
barely percieve. It set Ami's teeth on edge and made the hairs on the
back of her neck rise, the same sensation she got whenever she knew
that someone was watching her. Sneaking up behind her. Fingers
reaching out to grab and twist and tear.
Ami shuddered and rubbed the back of her neck, determined not to
turn around. "No more dreaming," she muttered. "I'm awake now."
Moving with deliberate casualness she slowly picked her way among
the cables, heading to the place where the ecchi tentacles converged.
Amid a nest of cables she found her target: a tall obelisk of
white marble veined with orange lines of power. The light gathered at
the apex, coalescing into a single beam that rose skyward, through
the ceiling, and striking what Ami knew to be a complex system of
amplifiers.
Ami glanced beyond the windows. In the distance, easily seen
against the dark clouds from the east, was a dome of golden light
which served to enclose the entire base, even extending down into the
ground where Ami couldn't see it.
The generator creating this force field sat lotus-style on the
ground, her back flush with the obelisk's surface, surrounded by a
golden aura. Small wires appeared from under her shirt, running into
a nearby muted electrocardiograph, and the silent but steady line
showed Minako's heart rate at a slow fourty-four beats a minute, the
same as an exceptionally deep sleeper.
Although Ami had made no noise and Minako hadn't opened her eyes,
the blonde's lips quirked up in a slight smile. The obelisk's light
changed subtly, pulsed, and Minako's voice came from the air. "You
look well."
"And you look like something out of one of Frued's patient's
dreams."
Minako's laughter was odd, seeing as how it came from almost a
meter above her head. "Is that so? Care to explain?"
Ami blushed. "Well... um... I... I'm... sure you know what...
what... Freud's general themes were. You've studied psychology."
"Oh yeah. That's right. So I'm probably some sort of virgin just
waiting to be sacrificed to a mighty tentacle demon." Minako's voice
became coy. "So that must mean that this here obelisk must be a big-"
Ami developed a massive coughing fit, which had the effect of
blocking out Minako's last word.
When it had passed, Minako said, "You are such a faker, Ami-chan.
Did'ja know that?"
Ami smiled. "I have no idea what you are talking about,
Minako-chan."
Minako snorted. "Whatever. What happened to your clothes? Why are
they so big?"
Ami wore blue jeans, sneakers, and a plain green sweatshirt.
"Well... um... I went back to my apartment to get a change of
clothes... since the clothes I was wearing was... well I didn't want
to wear them anymore. But I discovered that everything in my closet
smells like blood... among... other things. So I borrowed some
clothes from Mako-chan."
Minako said quietly, "How much do you remember?"
"Too much," Ami said immediatly. She caught herself rubbing the
back of her neck and hastily brought her arm down. "I mean, I have a
lot of gray areas in my memory, especially during the first few
months, but I think I retained a majority of the latter months.
Especially the 'wet work' that I did. I... I remember all of that.
Vividly."
"Ami-chan..."
Ami folded her arms. "I know that, technically, it wasn't *me*
doing those things, but, in all honesty Minako-chan, I don't know if
Mercury was controlling me or if she planted post-hypnotic
suggestions in my mind and I carried them out for her."
"That's ridiculous, Ami-chan! Mercury had to be controlling you!
There's no other-"
"Minako!" Ami said sharply. Minako didn't quite scowl, but she did
fall silent. Ami said more gently, "You know as much about the Senshi
as I do, so you know that Mercury doesn't like to control people. She
manipulates, she murders, and she likes twisting people's minds, but
she *doesn't* outright control people. She leaves that to Mars.
"You also know that hypnotic suggestions are just that,
suggestions. A person under hypnosis doesn't have to obey the
suggestion if they don't want to. Even if she magically-enforced her
suggestions, Mercury couldn't have made me ki... do the things that I
did... Unless I wanted to do them."
Ami smiled wanly. "And that's the scary part, really. Even though
Rei-chan said that Mercury broke her link to me, there's no clue how
many more suggestions she planted in my head, no telling if anything
I'm doing now is really what I want do do, or what *she* wants me to
do."
Minako frowned. Ami found a clear spot among the cables and sat
down. Neither spoke.
Finally, Minako said, "Hey, Ami-chan?"
"Yes, Minako-chan?"
"Wasn't Freud sexist?"
Ami stared at Minako. Minako grinned.
Their laughter echoed throughout the Tower.
Venus stood on the balcony of the CTDC Santallius, one of the ten
battlecruisers specially equipped for use outside the bounderies of
Crystal Tokyo's magic grid. She had wanted to take the flag ship, the
Vintarus, but Mercury... Mercury...
Venus's hand clench. 'How *dare* She refuse Me the use of the
Vintarus! Who does She think She is?! She's not even using the damn
thing!'
Her eyes picked out several dots moving in the distance. A small
knot of Enforcers, red-robed Priests, and one of Her own Priestesses
gathered close to a tremendously powerful force field, doing their
best to find a way past the golden barrier.
'Damn Mercury and Her foolish plans,' Venus thought, glaring
balefully at the near, but unreachable, Tokyo Tower. 'If We had only
let Me handle things, I wouldn't be in this position now, and *SHE*
wouldn't be inside that infernal Tower, gloating at Me.'
The force field, no doubt the handiwork of that bitch Minako, had
appeared from nowhere, neatly severing Venus off from a third of Her
fleet. A brief report from one of Her Priests told of a force
slaughtering Her troops, probably also the handiwork of Minako. The
force field also made it impossible for the remaining two-thirds of
the fleet to reach the access tunnel that Ami had purposefully made
defenseless.
'And I can't believe Mercury fell for Ami's trick. No doubt Ami
had this scenario planned out from the beginning.' Venus clenched the
hand rail, the metal screeching as it was twisted out of its original
shape.
"I don't understand why You are so upset, Venus-sama," a calm male
voice said. "This shield is only a temporary setback, as I'm sure You
already know."
"It is not the force field that is upsetting Me, although that is
certainly one part of it. What makes Me furious is that My vengeance
is being delayed by this 'setback.'"
A hand touched Her cheek, tracing a path from beneath Her ear to
Her chin. "Actually, I think the scar makes You look rather sexy,
Venus-sama. Maybe You should thank Minako before You kill her."
Venus slapped the hand away irritably, glaring at the hand's
owner. "You overstep your bounds, slave," She growled.
He backed away, bowing, silver-blue hair whipped about the wind.
"My humblest apologies, Venus-sama. I did not mean to."
She frowned, watching him. Several decades ago, before the
Descendants had become so bothersome, another group had dared to
rebel against the Senshi, and had been summarily routed. Rather than
kill the ringleader, Venus had decided to have Mars reprogram him
into the slave he was now (Mercury's methods left too much room for
free thought, in Venus's opinion.).
Now, She drawled, "You're beginning to bore Me, slave. Perhaps
it's time I sought out that brother of yours. What was his name
again? Saffir?"
Although his outward appearance didn't change, She sensed his
sudden, burning rage. She smiled, coldly. "Or... perhaps... that
woman you used to be fond of. Esmeraude, I believe her name was. I've
got some Priests that could use a nice reward." She smiled in
satisfaction as he glared at Her.
"My apologies for intruding, Lady Venus, but I bring important
news."
Venus gritted Her teeth. Turning, She forced a smile on Her face
for the benefit of Mercury's latest Priestess. "Yoko, how kind of you
to pop in. Uninvited. What news do you have that is so important that
you would risk My wrath?"
Yoko returned Venus's smile polietly. "My Lady has given me the
freedom to peruse Her vast store of knowledge. From my research I
think I have discovered a way to breach the force field."
"And Mercury decided to send you over here. How nice of Her. Tell
Her that I no longer want any of Her help, seeing as how Her track
record is less than appealing."
Yoko said, "My Lady did not send me, Lady Venus. As I am sure You
are well aware, my Lady could care less whether You sucedeed today or
not. Therefore, I took the initiative and decided to help You."
Venus regarded Yoko suspiciously. "I don't trust your motives.
What is it that you truly want?"
"Protection," Yoko replied promptly.
"From what?"
"The other Senshi. Specifically from Uranus and Jupiter."
"And what would I get in return?"
"Access to all of my Lady's archives, including Her private files.
I can also make it possible for both Terri Ganabile and Aino Minako
to be delivered into Your hands. And, of course, I will pledge my
allegiance to You and become one of Your Priestesses."
Venus snorted. "Your allegiance means nothing to Me, but the
former two arouse my interest. Bring down that force field, and I'll
see about your... protection."
Yoko bowed. "As You wish, my Lady. I shall inform Lady Mercury of
my resignation as Her Priestess immediatly." She vanished.
For the first time since Yoko's arrival, the slave spoke. "That
one means to betray You, Venus-sama."
Venus dismissed the statement with a laugh. "Of course she does!
And I find that so charming. I haven't met someone that ambitious
since... well... you." She smiled fondly at him. "I'll have her
killed in a few days, but, until then, I'll let her antics amuse me."
She walked past him, entering Her rooms. "Now come. It's time for
my bath."
A Sailor Moon fanfic by Kristin Renee Taylor
Chapter 8 -
Terri stood on the rooftop of the women's dormitory in Crystal
Tokyo's University. This close to the Barrier the air was colder, and
she was glad that she wore a thick jacket over her gray school
uniform.
She looked southward, towards the heart of Crystal Tokyo, where
the eerily beautiful Crystal Palace stood, prism walls painted red by
the setting sun.
Kiyomi stood next to her, black and blue skisuit stained red from
the blood dripping slowly from her empty eye sockets, crimson tears
streaking her face. She said, "How does one live life? Is it done by
living? Or by dying? Are a person's deeds remembered from one life to
the next?"
Shouji was on Terri's other side, legs folded in the lotus style,
eyes closed, calmly floating two meters above the rooftop. He, too,
was still dressed in his ski suit. "The fat man walks alone," Shouji
intoned solemnly.
Terri looked at him, baffled.
Kiyomi gestured to the distant palace. "The Senshi are the epitomy
of contradictions. On the one hand, They've given the citizens of
Crystal Tokyo the perfect existance by coming off as a bunch of
all-knowing, omniscent dieties and controlling every facet of the
public's life, which works since, thanks to the Senshi's mental
tamperings, nobody even knows what they're missing."
"Lazy man works twice," Shouji stated.
Terri glanced at him, and discovered that he was now bald and
dressed in the robes of a Shaolin monk. "Um..."
Kiyomi ignored them both, continuing on, "On the other paw, the
Senshi are the embodiment of power, and therefore corrupt, for
absolute power corrupts, and power corrupts absolutly. And this
corruption bleeds off to the public, thanks to the Senshi using Their
power on the public and infecting all the mindless drones."
Kiyomi paused, and Terri looked at Shouji, expecting the
mechanic/monk to say something zen-like. Shouji tilted his head to
one side, frowned. "We're on a journey. Travelers in life. Crossing
into the unknown."
Terri blinked. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Troubled by my words? Enlightment is coming soon. Patience,
Grasshopper," was his answer.
"But, as I have clearly seen," Kiyomi made an odd gesture, passing
a hand in front of her face. "The Senshi thrive off of perverse acts.
Mercury's diabolical human experiments, Jupiter's twisted
interpretations of Truth and Justice, Mars's insanity-inducing mind
games, and Venus's obscene compulsions to keep her the focus of
everyone's attentions. It's gross, disgusting, evil, and it needs to
be stopped."
Shouji said, "One death is a tragedy. A thousand is a statistic."
Terri looked at Kiyomi. "Let me guess: This is where I come in,
right?"
Shouji smiled again. "The one thing that doesn't abide by majority
rule is a person's concience."
Kiyomi glanced at the red spires. Although the sun had set minutes
ago, the Palace pulsed rhythmically, vermillion light bathing the
city in a bloody haze, making the building seem a heart in truth.
"Terri, do you think the Senshi are evil?"
Terri was surprised. "Evil? Of course They're evil, Kiyomi! Look
what They did to the people of Crystal Tokyo. Hells, look what They
did to you! How can you believe They're anything other than evil?"
Kiyomi looked at Terri. "Who's talking? You or Minako?"
"W-what?"
"Who's talking? Who's the one that gave you that idea? Until
recently, you yourself was a citizen of Crystal Tokyo. Did you
believe the Senshi were evil, then?"
"Well, no... But that's because They had me under Their control. I
didn't know the truth until the Descendants rescued me."
"And what is the truth? To the people of this city, the Senshi are
the truth. To them, the Descendants are terrorists, heretics intent
on destroying everything that these people love."
"But, that's crazy. The Descendants are the bad guys. The Senshi
are!" Terri hesitated. "Why are you telling me these things?"
Kiyomi turned, put her back to Terri. "It's all a matter of
perspective. The Senshi's perspective, the Descendant's perspective,
your's... and hers."
"Her?" Terri looked around, but nobody else had joined them.
Shouji grinned at Terri. "Is there really a ghost in your shell,
or are you just a pawn of the Ultimate Puppetmaster?"
Kiyomi grabbed Terri's arm. "Too find yourself you must lose
yourself."
Shouji stood, and his Shaolin robes morphed into the orange of a
Priest of Venus. He grabbed Terri's other arm. "The journey of a
thousand miles starts with the first step."
Terri looked at them, startled. "What are you guys doing?!"
Kiyomi said, "Live this life like it's your last."
Shouji said, "Because it just might be!"
To her horror, Terri was shoved backwards, over the railing,
plunging ten stories to the pavement below.
Terri bolted upright and immediatly regretted the action when a small
nuclear device went off inside off her skull. She rose to her knees
and retched violently onto the floor, a fruitless effort since her
stomach was empty.
Only when the dry heaves had ceased and the fireworks behind her
eyes had settled down did she try to figure out where she was.
White on white met her gaze. Everywhere she turned she saw white.
The floor, the ceiling, and even the walls were all the same, sterile
lack of color. All of the surfaces were luminescent, providing her
with light and ridding the room of every speck of darkness. The
effect was incredibly disorienting, especially since the only thing
in the room (she assumed she was in a room) was herself, and without
her shadow it was harder to discover the dimensions of her prison.
And prison it was, she had absoluetly no doubts about that. She
stood slowly, careful to pause everytime the tympani drum in her
skull threatened to become a gong. Trailing one hand along one wall,
she started walking, intending to pace out the room's size. Five
minutes later, she stopped frustrated, when she realized that the
wall she was touching was either part of an exceptionally long
corridor or curved in such a way to form a giant circle. And it
didn't help her at all that, thanks to the decor, she no longer had
an idea of where she had started.
Sighing, she sank to the ground, leaning back against the wall. A
glance at her watch proved that nearly two hours had passed since she
and the others had taken refuge in the abadoned subway system. 'Okay,
so I don't know where I am. I don't know where my friends are. And I
have no way to contact Minako and the others. I need to find a way
out of here.' Aloud, she growled, "And how the Hell am I supposed to
lose myself, anyway?"
"I'm glad to see you're awake, Terri. For a while I was afraid
your fall had only made your concussion worse."
Terri got to her feet, refusing to acknowledge her pain, and
glared balefully at the blue-robed Priestess that was suddenly there,
arms folded in an attitude of insolence. "Where are my friends?"
"Kiyomi's safe enough; Mercury doesn't want her harmed anymore
than she already is. As for your pal Shouji," She shrugged. "He's
probably dead. And you know what? I'm not the least bit upset."
Anger surged through Terri. "You'll pay for that."
"Is that anyway to treat your friend, Terri?"
"The day I call you my friend is the day a giant eagle rips out my
liver."
"It's good to see you haven't lost your imaginative wit."
"What are you talking about? I've never met you!"
The Priestess sighed. "How easily we forget," she murmured, and,
reaching up, pushed back the hood of her robe.
Terri's anger faded to shock. "Yoko?"
"You look surprised," Yoko said dryly.
"But... why? *How?* Kami-sama, Yoko, the last time I saw you, you
were on trial for heresy! Why didn't they kill you?"
Yoko's eyes glinted. "Mercury was kind enough to show me mercy. To
show my eternal gratitude, I decided to devote my life to the
Senshi's ideals, so I became a Priestess."
The person that has been shown mercy is the person whose loyalty
is bound to be unshakable. Terri's stomach, already unsettled,
clenched into a tighter knot as Minako's words came back. "But...
then... you've got to know that your dream was really the truth! The
Senshi tampered with our memories."
Yoko smiled. "You're only half right. The Senshi tampered with my
memories, but They never touched yours. They never got the chance
to."
"What?"
"Ask Hino Rei about why you can't remember parts of your life. You
may discover that your amnesia is 'selective,' so to speak."
Terri was taken aback. "I... Rei wouldn't..." Or would she?
Terri shook her head, and used the resulting flares of pain to
clear her mind. "That's not important now. Yoko, you know what's
going on and you're going to allow it?"
"Is there any reason why I shouldn't?"
Terri was too stunned to come up with a decent answer.
Yoko regarded Terri. "Terri, I'm disappointed. I thought you knew
me well enough to know that I would never pass up such a delicious
opprutunity at gaining power." She shook her head sadly. "I see
you've fallen for the sterotype, too."
"I... I don't understand."
"Of course you don't. You've always been so blindly trusting, so
willing to go along with whatever anyone says without even bothering
to check their motives. It's why I've been able to manipulate you as
much as I already have." She laughed loudly. "You are so gullible."
Terri sank down slowly, anger forgotten, pain forgotten, leaving
nothing but emptiness. Had everyone she had ever known used her?
Brown hair, brown eyes, average height, average looks. Everything
about Yoko had always been so utterly normal that many people had a
difficult time believing that she was anything other than a normal
University student.
What was Yoko now?
Yoko crouched down in front of Terri. "Oh, did I say something to
make you upset, Terri? I'd apologize but, you know, I can't."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Why do anything? For power, of course. The Senshi have it, and
I'm going to take it from Them. Nobody'll ever call me a 'powerless
runt' again." Her smile was predatory. "And you, as you always have,
figure prominently in my plan for power."
"Screw your plan. I won't let you use me!"
"Not even if I could get you and your friend out of here alive?"
Terri looked off to one side, fuming in silence.
"Think about it, Terri. What other choice do you have? Just work
with me, do what I say, and I'll take care of everything else. Then,
when my plan's done, I'll make you my right hand woman. We'll rule
Crystal Tokyo!"
Terri's hands clenched. "No... I won't do it!" She glared at Yoko.
"Nobody uses me!"
Yoko smirked. "People use people, Terri, and you're used more than
most. Face it, you can't go a single day without somebody thinking
what a great stooge you'd make." She smiled possesivly, gently
brushed a few strands of hair out of Terri's face. Her voice
softened. "But now... now you're all mine and nobody else is going to
have you."
Terri pulled away angrily. "The Yoko I know would never say such
things. They did this to you, didn't they? Those damn Senshi! They
put those stupid ideas iin your head and they're making you act like
this. I won't let them get away this!"
Yoko laughed. "Exactly what I predicted you'd say! I don't have to
give you orders, Terri; so long as you stay yourself, you'll do
everything I want you to whether you know you're doing it or not!"
She stood. "But enough fun. You're tired, and I've been away from
Mercury's side long enough. You just rest now, and think about what I
said." She pressed two fingers against Terri's forehead.
Terri resisted, but the world swam away into a grey place.
Ami crossed the elevator's threshold and entered the observation deck
of the Tokyo Tower. Much of the already bare furnishings had been
stripped more, making way for hulking machinary, metallic monoliths
with thick cables like tentacles that could have easily spawned a
hentai otaku's fantasies for centuries, had any of those perverts
still been alive.
The air hummed, a high-pitched note that Ami's hearing could
barely percieve. It set Ami's teeth on edge and made the hairs on the
back of her neck rise, the same sensation she got whenever she knew
that someone was watching her. Sneaking up behind her. Fingers
reaching out to grab and twist and tear.
Ami shuddered and rubbed the back of her neck, determined not to
turn around. "No more dreaming," she muttered. "I'm awake now."
Moving with deliberate casualness she slowly picked her way among
the cables, heading to the place where the ecchi tentacles converged.
Amid a nest of cables she found her target: a tall obelisk of
white marble veined with orange lines of power. The light gathered at
the apex, coalescing into a single beam that rose skyward, through
the ceiling, and striking what Ami knew to be a complex system of
amplifiers.
Ami glanced beyond the windows. In the distance, easily seen
against the dark clouds from the east, was a dome of golden light
which served to enclose the entire base, even extending down into the
ground where Ami couldn't see it.
The generator creating this force field sat lotus-style on the
ground, her back flush with the obelisk's surface, surrounded by a
golden aura. Small wires appeared from under her shirt, running into
a nearby muted electrocardiograph, and the silent but steady line
showed Minako's heart rate at a slow fourty-four beats a minute, the
same as an exceptionally deep sleeper.
Although Ami had made no noise and Minako hadn't opened her eyes,
the blonde's lips quirked up in a slight smile. The obelisk's light
changed subtly, pulsed, and Minako's voice came from the air. "You
look well."
"And you look like something out of one of Frued's patient's
dreams."
Minako's laughter was odd, seeing as how it came from almost a
meter above her head. "Is that so? Care to explain?"
Ami blushed. "Well... um... I... I'm... sure you know what...
what... Freud's general themes were. You've studied psychology."
"Oh yeah. That's right. So I'm probably some sort of virgin just
waiting to be sacrificed to a mighty tentacle demon." Minako's voice
became coy. "So that must mean that this here obelisk must be a big-"
Ami developed a massive coughing fit, which had the effect of
blocking out Minako's last word.
When it had passed, Minako said, "You are such a faker, Ami-chan.
Did'ja know that?"
Ami smiled. "I have no idea what you are talking about,
Minako-chan."
Minako snorted. "Whatever. What happened to your clothes? Why are
they so big?"
Ami wore blue jeans, sneakers, and a plain green sweatshirt.
"Well... um... I went back to my apartment to get a change of
clothes... since the clothes I was wearing was... well I didn't want
to wear them anymore. But I discovered that everything in my closet
smells like blood... among... other things. So I borrowed some
clothes from Mako-chan."
Minako said quietly, "How much do you remember?"
"Too much," Ami said immediatly. She caught herself rubbing the
back of her neck and hastily brought her arm down. "I mean, I have a
lot of gray areas in my memory, especially during the first few
months, but I think I retained a majority of the latter months.
Especially the 'wet work' that I did. I... I remember all of that.
Vividly."
"Ami-chan..."
Ami folded her arms. "I know that, technically, it wasn't *me*
doing those things, but, in all honesty Minako-chan, I don't know if
Mercury was controlling me or if she planted post-hypnotic
suggestions in my mind and I carried them out for her."
"That's ridiculous, Ami-chan! Mercury had to be controlling you!
There's no other-"
"Minako!" Ami said sharply. Minako didn't quite scowl, but she did
fall silent. Ami said more gently, "You know as much about the Senshi
as I do, so you know that Mercury doesn't like to control people. She
manipulates, she murders, and she likes twisting people's minds, but
she *doesn't* outright control people. She leaves that to Mars.
"You also know that hypnotic suggestions are just that,
suggestions. A person under hypnosis doesn't have to obey the
suggestion if they don't want to. Even if she magically-enforced her
suggestions, Mercury couldn't have made me ki... do the things that I
did... Unless I wanted to do them."
Ami smiled wanly. "And that's the scary part, really. Even though
Rei-chan said that Mercury broke her link to me, there's no clue how
many more suggestions she planted in my head, no telling if anything
I'm doing now is really what I want do do, or what *she* wants me to
do."
Minako frowned. Ami found a clear spot among the cables and sat
down. Neither spoke.
Finally, Minako said, "Hey, Ami-chan?"
"Yes, Minako-chan?"
"Wasn't Freud sexist?"
Ami stared at Minako. Minako grinned.
Their laughter echoed throughout the Tower.
Venus stood on the balcony of the CTDC Santallius, one of the ten
battlecruisers specially equipped for use outside the bounderies of
Crystal Tokyo's magic grid. She had wanted to take the flag ship, the
Vintarus, but Mercury... Mercury...
Venus's hand clench. 'How *dare* She refuse Me the use of the
Vintarus! Who does She think She is?! She's not even using the damn
thing!'
Her eyes picked out several dots moving in the distance. A small
knot of Enforcers, red-robed Priests, and one of Her own Priestesses
gathered close to a tremendously powerful force field, doing their
best to find a way past the golden barrier.
'Damn Mercury and Her foolish plans,' Venus thought, glaring
balefully at the near, but unreachable, Tokyo Tower. 'If We had only
let Me handle things, I wouldn't be in this position now, and *SHE*
wouldn't be inside that infernal Tower, gloating at Me.'
The force field, no doubt the handiwork of that bitch Minako, had
appeared from nowhere, neatly severing Venus off from a third of Her
fleet. A brief report from one of Her Priests told of a force
slaughtering Her troops, probably also the handiwork of Minako. The
force field also made it impossible for the remaining two-thirds of
the fleet to reach the access tunnel that Ami had purposefully made
defenseless.
'And I can't believe Mercury fell for Ami's trick. No doubt Ami
had this scenario planned out from the beginning.' Venus clenched the
hand rail, the metal screeching as it was twisted out of its original
shape.
"I don't understand why You are so upset, Venus-sama," a calm male
voice said. "This shield is only a temporary setback, as I'm sure You
already know."
"It is not the force field that is upsetting Me, although that is
certainly one part of it. What makes Me furious is that My vengeance
is being delayed by this 'setback.'"
A hand touched Her cheek, tracing a path from beneath Her ear to
Her chin. "Actually, I think the scar makes You look rather sexy,
Venus-sama. Maybe You should thank Minako before You kill her."
Venus slapped the hand away irritably, glaring at the hand's
owner. "You overstep your bounds, slave," She growled.
He backed away, bowing, silver-blue hair whipped about the wind.
"My humblest apologies, Venus-sama. I did not mean to."
She frowned, watching him. Several decades ago, before the
Descendants had become so bothersome, another group had dared to
rebel against the Senshi, and had been summarily routed. Rather than
kill the ringleader, Venus had decided to have Mars reprogram him
into the slave he was now (Mercury's methods left too much room for
free thought, in Venus's opinion.).
Now, She drawled, "You're beginning to bore Me, slave. Perhaps
it's time I sought out that brother of yours. What was his name
again? Saffir?"
Although his outward appearance didn't change, She sensed his
sudden, burning rage. She smiled, coldly. "Or... perhaps... that
woman you used to be fond of. Esmeraude, I believe her name was. I've
got some Priests that could use a nice reward." She smiled in
satisfaction as he glared at Her.
"My apologies for intruding, Lady Venus, but I bring important
news."
Venus gritted Her teeth. Turning, She forced a smile on Her face
for the benefit of Mercury's latest Priestess. "Yoko, how kind of you
to pop in. Uninvited. What news do you have that is so important that
you would risk My wrath?"
Yoko returned Venus's smile polietly. "My Lady has given me the
freedom to peruse Her vast store of knowledge. From my research I
think I have discovered a way to breach the force field."
"And Mercury decided to send you over here. How nice of Her. Tell
Her that I no longer want any of Her help, seeing as how Her track
record is less than appealing."
Yoko said, "My Lady did not send me, Lady Venus. As I am sure You
are well aware, my Lady could care less whether You sucedeed today or
not. Therefore, I took the initiative and decided to help You."
Venus regarded Yoko suspiciously. "I don't trust your motives.
What is it that you truly want?"
"Protection," Yoko replied promptly.
"From what?"
"The other Senshi. Specifically from Uranus and Jupiter."
"And what would I get in return?"
"Access to all of my Lady's archives, including Her private files.
I can also make it possible for both Terri Ganabile and Aino Minako
to be delivered into Your hands. And, of course, I will pledge my
allegiance to You and become one of Your Priestesses."
Venus snorted. "Your allegiance means nothing to Me, but the
former two arouse my interest. Bring down that force field, and I'll
see about your... protection."
Yoko bowed. "As You wish, my Lady. I shall inform Lady Mercury of
my resignation as Her Priestess immediatly." She vanished.
For the first time since Yoko's arrival, the slave spoke. "That
one means to betray You, Venus-sama."
Venus dismissed the statement with a laugh. "Of course she does!
And I find that so charming. I haven't met someone that ambitious
since... well... you." She smiled fondly at him. "I'll have her
killed in a few days, but, until then, I'll let her antics amuse me."
She walked past him, entering Her rooms. "Now come. It's time for
my bath."
