Empire of the Dark Ami

by amiwakawaiidesu

(Based on characters and situations from "Sailor Moon", created by Naoko Takeuchi and not owned by myself.)

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CHAPTER SEVEN

With a terrible groaning sound, Mugen Palace trembled, shuddered, then collapsed in a cloud of dust. It was almost completely pitch-black afterward; Kuroiami had seen to it that few electric power lines still ran through central Tokyo. But a supernatural light did shine from four Outer Senshi still standing before the ruins--a light that cast a pale glow on the bodies of the three Black Senshi now lying prone before them, blasted beyond consciousness.

Sailorpluto, Sailoruranus and Sailorneptune--who'd been running for their lives just minutes before--were not disposed to be sympathetic to their enemies; with the sudden appearance of Sailorsaturn, the tables had been turned on Kuroiami and her Black Senshi, and all four of the Outer Senshi strode forward to make certain of their victory once the palace fell.

Even as she stepped forward, though, Sailorsaturn felt something peculiar underneath one of her boots and paused to see what it was. Drawing back her foot, she saw it was a black chess piece--a queen specifically--apparently thrown from the building when it fell.

The piece in and of itself was trivial, yet something compelled Sailorsaturn to kneel down, pick up the queen and study it in one gloved hand. It was then, as she looked at the queen's stern face, that a strangely familiar voice spoke to her.

Sailorsaturn, the voice said, your work here is done. Return to me.

"Who are you?" Sailorsaturn asked.

I am your mother. I am she who bore you.

Sailorsaturn frowned, but nodded.

"What is it, Saturn?" Sailorpluto asked, only then noticing that Sailorsaturn was not in step with the other Senshi. Sailorsaturn didn't respond or reply, however; she merely dropped the queen, looked to the east and leapt away from her companions.

"Saturn!"

"What is it, Pluto?" Sailoruranus asked, turning around.

"Sailorsaturn is gone," Sailorpluto replied; "she left without saying a word."

"She never was really one of us," Sailorneptune said; "even in the Moon Kingdom, Saturn followed her own path."

"Perhaps," Sailorpluto said. "But I sense something more foreboding here; we know that Hotaru was killed by Kuroiami, yet there she stood before us. I fear our situation is only become more complex…"

* * * * *

After Mugen Palace fell, Ami was too stunned to know how to react. Huddled in a tool shed with Usagi, Ami stared into the storm of dust with a feeling of utter hopelessness in her heart.

"Ami-chan," Usagi said, "what do you mean you just watched your son die?"

"Hoshi…" Ami cried; "Hoshi was in there…"

Usagi was confused for a moment.

"Hoshi? You mean the blue-haired boy?"

Ami sobbed, nodding her head.

More minutes passed, with the dust from Mugen slowly spreading out to cover everything in sight, blacking out what little light remained in the area.

"Ami-chan," Usagi said, "it may not be safe to stay here…"

Ami didn't comment, but neither did she protest when Usagi lifted her up to her feet and guided her out of the shed. For Usagi--who had just spent what seemed like months in a dream world--it was strange and surreal to find herself treading on rubble with her slippered feet, choking on dust and dragging the hem of her white royal gown over all manner of debris; but it was stranger still to realize this was not a dream.

In fact, Usagi didn't grasp exactly where she was, or what was happening, until later. Her first priority was just getting Ami and herself out of immediate danger; thus, she staggered blindly away from Mugen Palace until they came to a bridge, then made her way across the bridge to a cluster of battered warehouses marking the southernmost edge of Minato-ku. It was only then, as the dust cleared somewhat, that Usagi realized she was back in Tokyo.

"Oh my god…" Usagi gasped, looking east across the bay and spotting the lights of the Port of Tokyo--a portion of the city not blacked out by Kuroiami. That much was familiar to her, but even she had never seen Minato-ku as absolutely dark as it was now, even after an earthquake.

"Ami…what is this place?"

"This is Tokyo," Ami said, managing a feeble smile. "But not *our* Tokyo; we were brought here by Kuroiami."

"That lady with the blue hair?"

Ami nodded.

"And you mentioned you had a son here?"

Ami started crying, and Usagi instinctively moved to comfort her, even though she could barely see her in the darkness.

"I'm sorry," Usagi said, holding Ami; "it's just…a lot to understand all at once…"

Just then, though--when Usagi thought the situation couldn't get any stranger--she was shocked to hear a familiar voice coming out of the darkness.

"Konbanwa, Usagi-chan," Luna said.

"Luna…?"

"Not *your* Luna, I'm afraid," the black cat said, stepping forward, "but a friend, nonetheless. Your friend has had a very hard day, and she needs to rest now. Won't you follow me?"

"I can barely see you," Usagi admitted, trying to pick out the black cat in the dark.

"I thought of that," Luna replied, picking up a small penlight she'd been carrying before, and placing it at Usagi's feet. "That will help you see a little better."

Usagi stooped down to pick up the penlight, and was surprised by the brightness of the beam. Casting the beam around, she was half-relieved and half-alarmed to see that she, Ami and Luna were all alone there; it was only then that Usagi realized how damaged all the buildings nearby were, as if a colossal battle had been fought in the area, and the damage was never repaired.

"We must move quickly, though," Luna said; "the Black Senshi have been beaten, and Kuroiami has fled, but her army still controls the city. It's best we not be caught in the open."

Usagi glanced at Ami, and Ami--after a moment's reflection--nodded her head. Ami well remembered how Kuroiami had disguised herself as Luna before, but under the circumstances, Ami doubted that Kuroiami would attempt such a gambit again; not with the Outer Senshi hot on her trail and keen for revenge.

"All right, Luna," Usagi said, still holding Ami. "Let's go…wherever we're going."

* * * * *

Meanwhile, not more than 500 meters to the north, Sailorsaturn was just walking into the half-collapsed shell of a warehouse near the Tokyo Docks. There was no power here either, but a lone woman with long red hair was sitting at a small desk in the middle of the warehouse, illuminated by the glow from a laptop computer screen. The woman looked up from her computer as soon as Sailorsaturn arrived.

"Mother," Sailorsaturn said. "Why have you summoned me?"

Rising from her chair, Kaorinite beamed with pride; she half-expected Sailorsaturn to have forgotten her--since Kaorinite had only been with her briefly when she was born--but Sailorsaturn was obviously a very perceptive being.

"I will tell you," Kaorinite said, picking up a short black dress and Mary Jane shoes from her desk; "but first, you might want to transform and put these on. I need your energy for something more productive than maintaining your Senshi identity."

Sailorsaturn acknowledged Kaorinite's request by de-transforming, appearing not the least bit embarrassed to be left standing there naked in the middle of the dark warehouse. But neither did she resist Kaorinite when she moved to dress her, for the sake of modesty.

"Don't you look charming!" Kaorinite said afterward, beaming at Hotaru as she stepped back to have a look at her. "But tell me, who are you?"

"I am Mistress Nine, the Sovereign of Silence, Gatekeeper of the Destroyer."

"Very good," Kaorinite said, smiling at Hotaru and guiding her forward into the middle of the warehouse floor, "your father would be so proud. But now let me tell you why I've brought you here…

"Years ago, before our power was checked by the villain Kuroiami, a subordinate of mine was close to finding the location of the Holy Grail. But unfortunately, Mimete killed Eudial before she could tell us where she archived the data; after Kuroiami defeated us, I spent years trying to figure out where Eudial archived the data, but so far I've only narrowed it down to this…"

Kaorinite gestured toward the mountain of crates and boxes before them.

"It's somewhere in there, in the records annex of Mugen Gakuen."

Hotaru looked around at the pile thoughtfully for a moment, then lifted her hands and placed them together before her face as she closed her eyes and concentrated. A moment later, a supernatural glow erupted from a point high up on the mountain of records.

"There," Hotaru said, pointing toward the light.

Kaorinite nodded, and promptly began crawling up the pile heedless of the fact that her own short black dress and high heels weren't ideal for climbing. But her only thought was on the glowing light before her, which proved to be coming from an otherwise anonymous packing crate almost completely buried amongst other anonymous boxes full of old paper records and floppy disks. She was there only a few seconds, digging through the records, before she narrowed the source of the light down to a single storage disk.

"Here it is," Kaorinite said, scrambling back down the pile to the floor of the warehouse, then taking the disk over to her own computer. Hotaru--now much more animated than before--moved over to join Kaorinite as the latter accessed Eudial's records.

"Well, what do you know about that," Kaorinite exclaimed. "The pure hearts were under our noses the whole time!"

"The Outer Senshi," Hotaru said. "They carry the pure hearts which will summon the talismans, and the talismans will summon the Holy Grail."

"Indeed," Kaorinite said, looking up at Hotaru with a broad smile. "Soon, we shall have revenge for your father."

* * * * *

Shortly after they started walking, Ami recovered her equilibrium and let Usagi know she didn't need her support to keep going. The two girls did continue to hold hands, though, so they wouldn't become separated following Luna through the dark streets of Minato-ku.

Luckily for the group, a full moon rose shortly thereafter, and that--together with their improving night vision--let them navigate more quickly through the city. To Ami's surprise, though, their ultimate destination was the last place she expected to see anytime soon--the Tsukino home in central Juuban. The house was all dark, of course, but otherwise it appeared to be in remarkably good shape compared to the smashed and burned-out buildings nearby.

"Is this…my home?" Usagi asked, entering the kitchen door behind Luna and Ami.

"In a manner of speaking," Luna said, hopping onto a kitchen counter. "This was our Usagi's home, before she was captured by Kuroiami."

"It seems awfully dingy…"

"Well, it's probably been abandoned for years," Ami conjectured. "You need to remember, Usagi-chan, the current date here is the year 2000, three years ahead of our world. And the Sailormoon in this world was defeated six years ago."

Ami then turned to Luna, who was only a vague shape in the moonlight.

"Are you sure it's wise to be here, though? Surely, Kuroiami's troops would know Usagi lived here."

"That's true," Luna admitted, "but Kuroiami's troops believe the Outers went north to hide out. Plus those troops don't like being too close to Mugen Palace--which is actually just 2 kilometers south of here."

Ami nodded, well aware of Kuroiami's capacity for inducing terror among friend and foe alike.

Usagi, meanwhile, had wandered into the living room, awestruck by the vision of a home clearly familiar, yet also clearly abandoned by its family. The house was full of things she remembered, couches, chairs, pictures, the television…yet the broken windows, dirt and dust suggested the old owners were long gone.

If this was my home, Usagi thought, then I must have had a bedroom here…

So thinking, Usagi then climbed up the stairs to her room--hearing the boards creak beneath her slippers as she did so--and felt her heart beating suddenly fast as her room came into sight. She had a sense of a presence there, like a ghost, and she almost fainted when she felt something tug on the back of her dress. It was only a nail that had snagged the hem of her dress, however, and she moved on with relief after freeing herself.

My things are still here, Usagi thought, looking around at 'her' room in the moonlight. On her bed, she immediately recognized a moth-eaten bedspread sporting crescent moons and bunnies, and on her desk was a picture of herself and Mamoru that might have been taken just yesterday, except for the dust that lay thick on the glass and frame.

I wonder… Usagi thought; did Chibi-Usa live here too…?

When Usagi went to check the room where Chibi-Usa normally lived, though, there was no sign that anyone had ever lived there.

"Oh no," Usagi gasped out loud, "was she killed…?"

"Actually, no," Ami said--startling Usagi by appearing behind her in the dark. "Chibi-Usa doesn't exist in this world."

"But how is that possible? I saw a picture of Mamoru and…well, me..."

"Apparently, Kuroiami changed history in this world, in such a way that Chibi-Usa was never born. Indeed, the entire future of this world may be different from the world we know."

"Ami-chan, this is terrible! Who would do such a thing?"

"Apparently, I did. Or rather, my alter-ego in this world."

"Kuroiami?"

"Yes; evidently, Queen Metallia took control of Princess Mercury during the days of the Moon Kingdom, and groomed her as a replacement for Queen Beryl. And it seems to have been a wise choice, since Kuroiami defeated Metallia's foes and now reigns over all the Earth with Beryl's generals and the Black Senshi as her minions…

"Or at least she did, until tonight; I honestly don't know where she is now, but like Luna said, Kuroiami's army is still a danger to us. Virtually the entire world was loyal to her--including all its armies and police forces--so we have almost no friends in this world, except the Outer Senshi."

"Luna did call this a 'safe house'," Usagi said. "Is this where the Outer Senshi live?"

"Yes. She told me they just moved in here today. I was separated from them after Kuroiami captured me, so I don't know exactly where the Outer Senshi were yesterday."

"Did Kuroiami torture you?" Usagi asked (admittedly intrigued by the thought of an evil version of Ami--who was only the nicest person Usagi had ever met).

"No…not unless you call playing chess 'torture'."

"Well, I would," Usagi admitted.

Ami smiled, putting an arm around Usagi.

"Why don't you come back downstairs, Usagi? Luna says it's not safe to stay upstairs, where you might be spotted."

"All right," Usagi said, "but just one thing. You said you had a son…?"

"Actually, I still don't understand that myself. Kuroiami claimed that she went into my future, took my child away from me, then raised him as her own just to spite me. You weren't there, but she let Hoshi die before my eyes, just before you returned."

Usagi looked at Ami sympathetically--astonished to think of Ami as a mother. And yet, what was more natural than the thought of Ami as a mother, kind and thoughtful as she was? If Ami was Hoshi's mother, Usagi was certain he had been blessed to have such a parent.

"Oh, Ami-chan, I'm so sorry…"

Usagi paused a moment.

"But if he was your son, do you happen to know…"

"Who the father was? No."

* * * * *

After Usagi and Ami returned to the ground floor, Luna confirmed what Ami had already told her about Kuroiami--although it was only then that Ami realized she had first heard the story from Kuroiami when Kuroiami was disguised as Luna. That Kuroiami had told Ami the truth about herself was unexpected, but then Kuroiami had treated Ami with unusual deference. Apart from the cruelty of letting Hoshi die right before Ami's eyes, Kuroiami had indeed treated Ami with considerable hospitality.

Like a worthy rival, Ami thought; but how she twisted the knife in my heart!

Since there were no utilities going into the house, Luna also showed Usagi and Ami the sanitary arrangements they had rigged up in the main bathroom--including an apparatus for purifying water. Usagi was horrified at first that there wasn't enough water for a bath or a shower, but she was somewhat mollified when Ami reminded her that she hadn't had a bath for more than two days herself.

"I'm sorry," Usagi said, sitting on a couch opposite Ami and Luna in the living room; "I guess I got spoiled living in the palace."

"In your dream, you mean?" Luna asked.

"Yes. I dreamt that I was my future self--Neo-Queen Serenity--in Crystal Tokyo of the future. Then I died and found out that Queen Beryl was actually my friend, although I was a little sad when…"

"What, Usagi-chan?" Ami asked.

"Well, I found out you were having an affair with Mamo-chan, after I died."

"Oh my!" Ami gasped, covering her mouth in surprise.

"It was only a dream world," Luna said to Ami, "created by Kuroiami to keep both Usagis in a trance. And, doubtless, the detail about Ami was design to sow mistrust between the two of you…

"Still, I would like to see this 'Crystal Tokyo' you speak of. For so long, I have feared that our world has no future, but today I saw that Kuroiami could be beaten. Perhaps this is a sign that we have a future after all."

"I hope so," Usagi said, encouragingly. "But in the meantime, is there any place we can actually sleep here…?"

"Oh yes; you two can stay in the master bedroom, and I'll let the Outer Senshi know you're here when they return."

"The master bedroom?" Usagi said. "But that was my parents' room…"

"I'm sure they won't mind," Luna said, guiding the two girls to the bedroom.

"Don't the Outer Senshi sleep in this room?" Ami asked, when she saw the enormous queen-size bed.

"Just Setsuna," Luna said; "Haruka and Michiru think it's too 'comfortable'. But I'm sure Setsuna won't mind letting you stay here tonight…especially since it's Usagi's own house."

"What…happened to Usagi's parents?" Ami asked.

"Actually, we're not sure," Luna admitted. "We don't think they died, though; the rumor is they escaped to Canada, and they're still living over there today."

"That's a relief," Usagi said; "I'd probably get in a lot of trouble if I stayed in their room without telling them…

"But what about Ami's parents? Do you know about them?"

"Kuroiami's mother was killed during the battle with the Death Busters," Luna said. "She was looking after the wounded near the docks when a building fell on her. Her father, we don't know."

Ami sighed; she could easily imagine her own mother doing exactly the same thing, if a similar crisis occurred in her own world.

"I'm so sorry, Ami-chan," Usagi said--misinterpreting Ami's look of sadness. "But at least we have a nice bed to sleep on, if nothing else."

Usagi then impetuously flopped onto her parents' bed--which promptly broke and smashed to the floor as the rickety bed frame collapsed underneath her.

"Usagi-chan, be *careful*!" Ami said--half-expecting a sniper to start blasting away through the nearest window.

"Gomen nasai!," Usagi said, turning pink with embarrassment.

* * * * *

Despite herself, Usagi couldn't help but feel safe in her 'own' home; although she'd seen the shattered city outside, and personally encountered the tyrant Kuroiami--whose very name was synonymous with 'terror'--that cold reality seemed very remote when she was sitting in her parents' big bed with one of her best friends, getting ready for bed. Indeed, she found that some of the clothes in her upstairs bedroom--though a bit dusty and moth-eaten--were still fit to wear, including a pair of bunny pajamas that were a lot more comfortable than her princess gown. Luna--for her part--tried to impress upon Usagi the importance of wearing practical clothes like Ami's school uniform (in case they had to leave in a hurry), but Usagi was already asleep beneath a surprisingly well-preserved blanket by the time Luna made the attempt.

"Oh, let her rest," Ami said, lying next to Usagi. "She's had a hard day."

Luna would have reminded Ami that Ami's own day had been just as hard as Usagi's, but she let the girls get to sleep without further comment. In the event, though, Ami found it nearly impossible to sleep; lying in the moonlit room, her heart was torn between the joy of Usagi's return, and the heartbreak of Hoshi's loss.

Why should this be so hard? Ami thought; I hardly knew Hoshi, and I only have Kuroiami's word that he was actually my son. She could have lied; it would certainly be in her character…

But I know she was truthful! I know in my heart, that boy was my son!

But if that's true, it means I have a future life I can't even begin to imagine. For this to have happened, I had to meet someone, fall in love (I assume), have a baby…then lose him again in the future all over again, just like I lost him today!

Dwelling on this, Ami cried, and she didn't actually fall asleep until the first glow of dawn showed on the horizon. Then--almost immediately, it seemed--she awoke to the sound of soft conversation elsewhere in the house; the Outer Senshi had returned.

Usagi was happily oblivious, snoring away on the bed, but Ami moved toward the bedroom door to hear what the Outer Senshi and Luna were saying.

"…Haruka, let me get this right; Sailorsaturn--whom we know is dead--came back to life and saved you?"

"Well, she looked alive enough to me, Luna. And she definitely helped us demolish Mugen Palace. But now she's vanished again. We searched all night for her, but we couldn't find any trace of her."

"How peculiar. And what of the Black Senshi?"

"They're dead. We made certain of that."

Ami felt a chill run through her heart; dangerous though the Black Senshi were, they were the counterparts of Ami's own friends in her own world. She could only guess how devastated the Usagi of this world--if she were ever freed from Kuroiami's spell--would be when she heard this news.

Ami's eavedropping was interrupted, however, by the waking of Usagi behind her.

"Ami-chan; what's up?"

"I think the Outers have returned," Ami said.

"Well, let's go meet them," Usagi said, hopping out of bed and slipping on her slippers.

Ami shook her head at Usagi's enthusiasm, but followed her out to the kitchen where Luna and the Outers were speaking.

"Well, if it isn't Odango Atama," Haruka said. "And Ami-san. Ohaiyo gozaimasu, Ami-san."

"Well," said Usagi (who actually hadn't undone her odango), "it's nice to see you too."

"It's a force of habit for Haruka," Michiru said, smiling at Usagi and Ami. "It's very nice to see you both. We feared for you, when the palace fell."

"Indeed," Setsuna said. "But a decisive blow has been struck against Kuroiami. As we were telling Luna, Sailorsaturn appeared before us, and helped us to overcome Kuroiami's forces."

"Sailorsaturn is here?" Usagi asked.

"No. She disappeared under mysterious circumstances."

"What of Kuroiami's troops?" Ami asked--noting that the Outer Senshi were back to their fatigue uniforms.

"We were worried about that ourselves," Haruka admitted. "But that's the damnedest thing; we encountered a patrol in Shinagawa, but they didn't do anything at all--except suggest we should get along home for our own safety."

"Right," Michiru said; "and we actually saw city crews out this morning working on power lines and other utilities. There's even a radio station back on the air already--which was never allowed during Kuroiami's reign; it's almost like the city is waking up after a long sleep…"

"But Kuroiami wasn't killed," Ami observed. "Is it possible she's just hiding out somewhere?"

"I don't know," Luna said. "But she is full of surprises. Somehow, I fear we aren't out of danger yet."