Time Heals-Chapter 4

Hikari Kage Shi: Glad you like! Here's yet another! You know what? I had just submitted chapter 3 when your review came in....it was kinda funny...

Angelicmayuka: I know the 'betrayal' plot is used a lot, but it's usually the same, so I just HAD to put a twist on the betrayal. There HAD to be a real reason for it!

Amy-Star: I should hope you don't maim me! Then you wouldn't get any reviews from this authoress. Besides, that would hurt! Glad you like it though, and sorry for not telling you that I wrote. I can be such a baka sometimes. ^-^'

Mercury Ice Storm: Thanks for the review. I think the pairing will be leaned towards to in this chapter.

GracedAngel1854: Thanks for the review! This soon enough for ya?

Disclaimer: If I owned GW or SM I would be the happiest person in the world. I'm not very happy right now.

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It was about Seven o'clock when Duo and Ami returned from their Ice Cream jaunt. They made it just in time for dinner, where they both got teased. Although Duo had been shouting that it was the best date he'd ever been on, Ami, with a slight blush, remained silent.

"It was probably your 'best' date because you got to talk your head off baka." Wufei admonished.

Duo laughed. "I didn't always talk! Ami did get a few words in!"

Ami grinned just a little. Their little 'date' had actually been fun. They had gotten the ice cream first as Duo had claimed that he was starving...

'I think he's always starving' Ami mused.

~Earlier that day~

After Ami had gotten her two scoops, one vanilla, one strawberry, and Duo had gotten his extra large, super sized banana split, they headed for the park.

Sitting on the swings as they polished of their ice cream, Duo was telling her of his life as a junk man. "It's really neat what people throw away! I have enough junk there to build an armada of supped up cars! Plus there's all this military throw outs, old computers ect."

Ami listened intently. Duo, it seemed, was actually very smart. He just chose to live his life with humor and not a book.

She had told him that she was pretty handy with computers, and he had invited her over to take a look at some of the ones that he had. She hesitated before answering him yes.

When Duo heard her answer, he shocked her. He had hugged her! "Yay" he had shouted.

The rest of the afternoon they talked away. Most was regular chit chat like that they liked to eat, what they liked to do for fun ect. The only time their conversation got tense was when they were talking about their friends.

Duo had been chatting merrily away about the tendency of the other gundam pilots and some of the people he knew where he lived. But when he glanced over at Ami, he saw that she was very tense.

"What's the matter babe?" he had asked.

"Nothing" Ami lied.

Duo smirked. "If it's nothing, then why's it making you so tense?"

Ami didn't reply.

"Come on! Tell me! Please!?!"

Ami looked at him. 'Should I tell him? No, and Yes. Some truth for the answer to be true, but not the whole truth. Not now. Maybe not ever.'

So she answered him.

"My friends are as good as dead to me." Her eyes were as ice cold as her powers.

Duo seemed to get the message. That it was not a topic that she wanted to discuss.

From then on, the conversation was more comfortable. They talked about, or made fun of in their case, Relena. They commented on the people who were walking by. Neither talked really about their past. It was still to painful for both.

They didn't realize how much time had past until the sun began to set. Then they hurried back.

~Back to dinner~

After the outburst from Wufei, and Duo's answer, the table settled into silence.

Relena had tried to start a conversation for once, but she only started blabbing on politics, which no one wanted to hear then. It was dinner time. Leave the politics at the door.

An uneasy silence descended as everyone hurried to finish what was on their plate.

Ami was one of the first to leave the table. She, after hearing about the detailed files that existed in this time, was trying to find out what happened to the other scouts. They might not have been friends anymore, but for her own peace of mind, she wanted to know what happened to them. If they had found happiness.

Up in room, Ami began to search through the oldest files for her old friends. There were snippets of information from that time, but nothing of what they did.

All the information she had on Makoto, was that she had begun work at a small restaurant, but after a few years, and a lot of promotions, she completely disappeared from record. No other data.

Minako had begun an acting career, but as with Makoto, had disappeared as well.

There was nothing on Rei. But if she had remained at the shrine, there wouldn't really be any information.

There were no death certificates, and no other information, but Ami wasn't going to give up. For her own sake, she couldn't.

For the sake of amusement, she tried looking up herself. There was nothing on her. It was like she had never existed. But that was what Pluto had said she would do when she brought Ami here.

It had disheartened her at first, but when she was thinking back, she decided that it was a good thing. Her mother wouldn't worry, and she could work to her hearts content. Her father could pain the rest of his life away, not that he didn't anyway. And no one else would worry.

Ami was disturbed from working on the computer by a soft knock on her door. Quietly, yet quickly, Ami ran for the door. Opening it, she saw Millardo standing there.

"Hello Mr. Millardo." Ami said politely.

Millardo grinned. "I told you to just call me Millardo. You don't need to call me Mister. It makes me feel so old!" He complained.

Ami giggled. "So, why are you here Mr.........Millardo?"

He smiled at her attempt. "I just wanted to make sure that Duo wasn't causing you any problems or any of the other guys in fact."

Ami shook her head vigorously. "No, none of the guys are causing me any problems. In fact, Duo made me laugh a few times today."

Inwardly, Millardo smiled. Duo could make anyone no matter what their past laugh. 'And Ami need to laugh. To recover, and to hopefully forgive herself.'

"Well then," he said. "Then I shall say 'goodnight' to you, and see you in the morning." With that said, he swished off, musing.

'She's a strong one. And I'm glad Setsuna thought I would be an adequate person to watch over her until she heals. Heh, she's better company now than my sister ever was. I love my sister, but she is really annoying sometimes. So, now I have one annoying sister, and one lovable one! My life is getting complicated.'

Ami sat at the window again, staring up at the stars. Wishing that she could have done something to protect Usagi from her fate. Wishing that she knew how the other scouts fared. But she ultimately knew, the past is the past, there was nothing she could do about it now but to go on with life, no matter how hard it was.

Ami dreamed that night, like so many nights before. She saw Usagi in the pool of blood, but where realtiy left off, her nightmare began.

She saw Usagi rise, the ice shard still embedded in her chest, blood still running like crimson rivers. "It's all your fault! You killed me! It wasn't my time yet! You've destroyed the future! It's all your fault!"

From those nightmares, Ami would always wake drenched in sweat, and breathing heavily. She kept repeating to herself that it was just a dream. It was only a dream. It was just a dream. It wasn't real. It was true.

~At the time gates~

Setsuna watched as Ami woke from yet another nightmare. "This is the only way. I am so sorry to all of you."

Setsuna sat in the mist that covered the flooring at the gates and went over what was in store for all the scouts.

'We need Usagi, but to get her back, we need the rest of the inner scouts to be together again. And the way they were going, if I didn't do something, that would never happen.'

Setsuna growled. 'Stubborn to the last, they all are! But they need the time apart. Ami needed to heal, and understand. The others needed to calm down and realize that they had just lost someone important to them. A friend.

They would never be able to be friends again if they were all around each other, reopening those wounds. They all had to want to all be together again.

Sighing, Setsuna checked on the other scouts. She did not remove the memory of Ami from their minds. They had to remember her.

'A fit of rage will make your life seem ruined, but two, will ruin everything. That is unless you have someone to fix everything! And yippee...that gets to be me once more.' Setsuna sighed tiredly.

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If you don't understand what Setsuna was thinking, then here's the plain English version: If all the remaining inner scouts were still together, and wanted Usagi back, then she would be reborn. Since Ami was driven away by their rage, they can't get Usagi back. Thus destroying Crystal Tokyo. And just as info: Mars, Venus, and Jupiter were just really pissed off and hurt when they cast Ami out. They didn't really mean it. Yet another fit of rage ruining life. Two wrongs don't make a right you know. So, I do have plans on bringing the scouts back together. Four reviews and I'll work on the next chapter. See-ya crazies!

~DevilWench~