"It's still not enough. Why can't I get back into shape?" she whispered. She stared at her arm and flexed it. Raw bouts of pain flew through it. She hissed a curse and held the muscle, massaging it to ease the cramps.
Just then, Amara walked in. She frowned at the taller girl. "Atia, I'm worried about you. You spent all the spring vacation doing nothing but being here." Her eyes widened as she saw her newest friend more closely. Normal people didn't gain that much muscle over a two-week course. "What are you trying to do?"
Despair welled up inside Atia. She wanted to break down and tell Amara everything. But how could she? Amara would never understand or remember. And she didn't want to be enemies with her again. "It's just..." She flexed her arm again; no pain. "I can't..." Her voice trailed off, and anger coursed through her. Before she could stop herself, her first flew straight into the mirror she had been looking into. Glass shattered as though a wrecking ball had crashed into it. Shards of the stuff struck the girl in the face, chest, shoulders, and arms, and her knuckles were nothing but blood.
"Atia!" Amara stared at her incredulously.
Atia looked alarmed, as though she hadn't meant to crash the glass. She stared at her shaking hand and shook her head. It was then she realized she had not lost her famous temper, her anger that had led to so many different things. Tears filled her eyes, but she willed them away. Blood ran down her arm, chest, and face. Her whole body was shaking now, upset at her discovery.
Amara's eyes softened. "Atia, if you want to talk, I'll listen."
One tear leaked down the other's face. She wiped her hand across it, spreading the blood. The sight of it didn't seem to bother her. "Amara, I know we haven't known each other that long. It's nothing I can explain, but I trust you," she choked out, stepping back from the mirror.
The shards of glass suddenly flew back into the shattered mirror frame. With a pale flash of light, the perfectly assembled mirror was there with not a crack to find. Before Amara could react, the blood and injuries from the mirror vanished on Atia's body. The blonde opened her mouth to say something, but there was a sudden bout of screaming from the main gym. She hesitated. There would nowhere else to transform.
"You trusted me. Now it's my turn to trust you. Uranus Planet Power, Make-Up!!"
They stared at each other then, friend to friend. Atia smiled a little, then gestured towards the gym. Sailor Uranus smiled back, then turned and left the restroom. The tears ran out of Atia's eyes. "Will things ever be the same?"
The senshi were about to get their butts kicked when a gloved hand picked up a bar weight that measured up to be nearly three hundred pounds. They watched in surprise as Sailor Solar hefted it up, grabbed it with both hands, and then slammed it into the head of the man attacking them. The sound of metal crushing bone tore through the area. The man fell to the ground, dead. His body vanished, turned to a corpse, and was replaced by the hawk-like shadow. It had more shape than usual.
"Took you long enough!" Pluto scolded.
"I thought you said they needed to be healed," Mini Moon added curiously.
"Not all of them. And I had some detours along the way." The shadow lunged at her, but she ducked away. "I'm not in the mood for this..." The closest senshi could hear anger seeping into her voice.
"Solar! Watch it!" Pluto called in alarm, sensing her friend's anger.
It took all the self-control the sailor had to keep her anger at bay. Her movements were curt and jerky. She blasted the bird back repeatedly, enraging it as well as herself. Just when Sailor Moon was about to blast it, the hovering bird screamed. A mist began to cloak it. When the mist disappeared, a man stood in its place, staring down at the senshi. He lowered himself to the ground, stared sweetly at Solar, who backed away. "It's nice to see you too."
"Go. Leave them alone." Her anger doubled over and collapsed in a new wave of uncertainty.
"And who's going to make me?" he asked softly. "Certainly not yourself, hm?"
Suddenly Solar looked up, looking almost angry again. "Lia." Her eyes scanned the area, then came to rest on the man. "What have you done with her?!" she shrieked, her obvious fear dying.
The man started. "What do you mean?"
"Three words - where is Lia?" Pluto was quivering and angry as well.
"I see there's no getting past you two," he growled quietly. He no longer had the element of surprise. But he did have the element of postponing. "All in good time, my friends." A blast of dark power roared into the crowd of senshi, who scattered. Solar didn't jump far enough away, and a trail end of the explosion struck her upper arm in a blistered band. "All in good time." Then he vanished.
"Sebradon!!" Solar's pained screech echoed throughout the deserted gym. "You coward!!" Tears fell down her face. "You liar. Traitor. Good for nothing...hopeless...ngh!" She whirled around and punched a punching bag so hard it flew off the ring and soared to the other side of the gym. Blood ran down her arm.
The ghost of a woman watched the man reappear. He looked haunted and distressed. I hope they beat the living crap out of you. Her voice was so cold it made him shudder.
He turned to face her. "It's time now, 'qual. It's your turn."
Do you really think you can get away with this?!
"No." His eyes narrowed. "I know I can." He raised his arm and called the power of Change. "And you're going to help me!"
Amara went back up to the bathroom to see Atia standing there, putting on make-up. "That didn't last very long," the other girl commented with a smile.
"No."
"You sound shaken. I know the senshi's business is none of mine, but it you want to talk..."
"I'm just so confused. Nothing makes sense anymore. There's a new senshi. She and Pluto know what we're dealing with, but they're not really telling us what's going on. There's this guy that Solar knows and he's the one attacking us...she's so upset..." Amara stared up at Atia as she felt the girl put a hand on her shoulder.
Atia smiled reassuringly. "I'm sure they have a good reason for not telling you. Maybe Solar will get over whatever's bugging her." Did her smile waver, if only for a second? "Come on, cheer up. Want a soda or something?" she asked, maneuvering the other girl out of the bathroom.
"Sure," she replied quietly. Something about Atia made her feel relaxed, better.
Darien, Serena, Trista, Rini, and Michelle were still there. "Oh! What are you guys doing here?" Atia asked, cocking her head to one side slightly.
Seeing her, Trista looked surprised, then confident of something only she knew. "We were going out to eat and came to see if you wanted to come."
"Atia." Darien took a step forward and grabbed her wrist tightly.
"Darien?" Atia looked at him uncertainly and acted as though to step back.
"Are you on steroids?" Serena started to say something, and Trista's eyes blazed in anger, but Darien said quietly, "All of you. Stay out of this."
"Wh-what?" Her choked voice was barely a whisper.
"How-"
"Owch! Let me go!" Atia yelped, loosing feeling in her hand and interrupting him unintentionally. "Darien!" In response, he grabbed the sleeve of her white T-shirt and pulled it up. Her arm was red, as though it had been burned. She gave a half-whimper as the air touched it.
"What's this?"
"An accident from earlier!" She squirmed and jerked fit for a puppy about to get a shot, but she couldn't dislodge his tightening grip. "I swear!" The injury started to dribble blood, as the shirt had taken the forming scab with it.
"Accident from what?"
"It's- I....I didn't do it on purpose! And I'm not on steroids!" Atia shrieked as he carefully touched an edge of it, as though to make sure it were real. Her eyes widened, then flew shut at the pain of the gentle touch. Suddenly a fire blossomed on her arm, where the injury was. Her eyes opened again and stared at her arm, expecting to see flames. There was none.
With every beat of her heart the pain spread throughout her arm, down her numbed hand, over her shoulder, and buckled into her side. Words being said to her ran together, thicker than molasses, and she couldn't hear. She gagged, unable to breathe, and felt trapped. Gasping, trying to draw air into her lungs, she watched the world take a dip before her. She wavered on her feet, and the hand connected to the clutched wrist grabbed Darien's own wrist for support. Her right knee started shaking, then buckled, just as Darien's other arm wrapped around her.
Then all she could hear was the beating of her heart. Black became her vision, but she could feel. Darien was holding her, Darien was there. She forced herself to concentrate on Darien. She felt her eyes blink and tried to picture him before her. But she couldn't. It was like something was eating at her memories, her every thought. She felt a hand on her face. With a deafening snap that hurt her ears, the pain began to ebb.
Shadows became figures, figures became shapes, shapes became people, and people became friends. Snatches of words began to make sense to her. She could breathe, she could see, she could hear. But her head hurt and she felt like she was forgetting something.
"Trista?" Her arm throbbed.
"Atia! Thank God," her friend murmured, looking immensely relieved. "What happened?"
"I don't know. It just...hurt." Atia looked down at her arm. The burn covered her arm from shoulder to elbow. "Hey...that's not...right." She felt light-headed and nauseous.
"Atia," Darien said calmly, "do you need to sit down?"
Atia was shaking. "I'm forgetting something. Something important." Her voice was raising with fright.
"Ssshhh. It's okay, you're alright now," Trista said gently, taking her friend's hand in her own. It was ice cold. "Don't worry."
Darien gently lifted the girl. For all her apparent strength, she felt like a feather in his arms. Anorexic? Bulimic? Who knew. He sat her down on a table bench. She swung her legs around and put her face in her hands, body shaking uncontrollably. Blood wept down her arm.
She felt something cold press against her arm and glanced over to see Trista pressing an ice pack against it. Murmuring a soft word, Trista wrapped her other arm around Atia. The other girl gave a shaky sigh and leaned against her, put her head on her shoulder. She didn't flinch when she felt a prick on the side of her other arm. As her senses dulled, she felt the prick leave her arm and a hand shoved against it. Within moments Atia's shaking stopped, and the girl looked like she'd been given a shot of morphine, so calm was she.
"Trista!" Amara nearly shouted. "What did you do?!"
"Relax - it's only a sedative." Trista tucked the now-empty syringe back into her pocket. "It just dulls her senses."
"Why?" Rini whispered, almost frightened.
"She has a certain panic disorder. When something happens to her, like what just happened, it'll make her go into static shock and panic. She totally looses it and often hurts herself or others. The sedative prevents her from doing so." She paused. "I'm going to guess that's what happened - she got upset and burnt her arm."
"Trista, you know a lot about her," Michelle said evenly. "What other disorders does she have?"
Trista's eyes narrowed. "None."
"No obsessive compulsive behavior, anorexia, bulimia, or drug use?" Darien took up on the teal-haired girl's lead.
The Guardian frowned, alarmed. "No. Atia would never do anything like that." Was it their imagination, or did her arm tighten more protectively around the girl? "She has no reason to."
"I believe you." They all stared at Serena in surprise. "Come on, you guys. Drug abusers are known to be violent. I've never seen her loose her temper. People with eating disorders purge, disappear after meals, and starve themselves. I've never seen her do anything like that. She's just sick and needs our help - and friendship."
Atia could hear muggy voices and knew they were talking about her. She was, however, more than content just to sit and lay in Trista's embrace. After nearly five minutes, her senses kicked back into gear. Minus a headache, she felt good. She sighed and sat up slowly. She closed her eyes and looked up. "Ugh, thanks a million. That is so much better."
"Anytime."
Atia sniffed. "You said we were going to go eat. I'm hungry. Let's eat. Please??"
Trista laughed and shot an I-told-you-so look at Michelle and Darien. "Alright, alright. Come on, pig."
"I'm notta pig," Atia pouted. "Just deprived of food."
Trista smirked. "Where do you want to go?"
"Um. I don't know." She looked at her arm again. "Somewhere where I can get a bandage first? This is ugly."
