Alright here's the next chapter, but before we move on,

Thanks to those that are reviewing, but I'm dissapointed. Some people review every chapter, while others review once every five or six when they are pleased or unpleased about something. I don't know what I'm gonna do. Please review and encourage me,

Gracedangel1864

Now on with the chapter!


Chapter 11

"Are you sure about this Siruto," his master asked once again, "are you sure you did not make a mistake?"

"Positive my lord. Those boys are up to something, they know more than they should about the hidden strength. I ask only your permission to observe them-" Siruto was cut off as his master growled a response.

"You went to the apartment, nearly gave us away to Ami with your ramblings, and oculd have killed her, and then you come to me begging for a mission?"

Siruto bowed his head in response. "I was wrong. Please my lord, I will find out about those boys."

His master paused a moment, before nodding.

"Alright then. That's fine. That will be your new mission, as well as collecting energy."

"Master, no!" A female voice cried this out from the doorway. Lara stood, looking quite raggad in appearance with Josh at her heels.

"Please master! We attend school with them, I can watch for them as well as Ami be-" With a hsout of rage, her master cut Lara off.

"Because of what? You and that insolent boy next to you have been observing Mizuno for over a month, and so far, there is no sign of the hidden strength or her power! No information on the senshi! Nothing, it's all bullshit!" He raised his hand to strike her.

"Master, please," Lara begged, "we can do better, much better!" Josh nodded at her side.

The master paused, slowly lowering his hand in thought.

"You have," he said, "two days. Two days to either find the hidden strength, or prove to me that you are useful of gathering information." Lara nodded quickly. "Of course, great one."

He paused again, before speaking. "Have you tested Mizuno for the strength?"

"Yes," Lara said, "and we got nothing."

"Actually," Josh contradicted, "she was riding on the back of a jet ski with the boy Siruto killed when it happened. She only got the after affects of the shock, not the real thing," Josh said. The master nodded.

"How do you know if they possess the hidden strength once you shock them," he asked.

"Well, if it happens to someone with out it, they are simply knocked unconsious. But to the one with it, it has opposite effects. Their powers go out of control for at least anhour," Lara responded. The master nodded, a smile coming to his face.

"Two days," he said, "two days."


Around 7:30, Ami stirred from her sleep. What time was it? What day was it? As she tried to sit up, and found it hurt, the memories all came flooding back. It was Saturday. Greg was dead, she had been attacked by Siruto. She had been in the guys' apartment...and had found that board. And then her friends had come in, and Duo had accused Heero of something like him shooting everyone, which he had agreed to. Then she had blacked out. Rubbing her eyes, she didn't know what to do. Were her friends alright?

Shifting slightly, she felt her t-shirt. Lifting it up slightly, she saw that her waist had been wrapped up. Her head was hurting. Placing her hand on her forehead, she felt what seemed like a cloth. Removing it and looking in the mirror, she saw that the left side of her forehead had a big medical patch over it. Her back and stomach really hurt, and feeling her neck, she knew that she had a large band aid there too. Glancing in the mirror again, she decided she was a mess. She resisted tears, remembering Greg once again. She wouldn't cry any more. She would have revenge. That was the first time Ami had ever wanted it so badly.

She had several cuts, almost fully closed up on her arms and chest, and probably her back although she couldn't tell. Her friends must have done this. Looking down, she saw that they had changed her clothes, into another pair of jogging pants,dark green ones, and a white t-shirt. Removing the sheets from her bed, she limped over to the bathroom in her room, holding the wall for support.. She washed her face and brushed her teeth, combing her hair as it fell right into place.After she had freshened up some more, she emerged from her bathroom, gripping the wall for support as she walked.

Opening her bedroom door, she peeked down the hall, squinting since she still had slight morning vision. Shaking her head, her vision cleared.

There were quite a few people sitting in her living room. Some were asleep on couched, others sleeping on chairs, and Usagi and Minako were asleep on a blanket on the floor, pillows under their heads and another blanket on top of them.

She paused once she realized the pilots were there too, asleep on couches or chairs spread out across the room. Why were they there? Did everyone make peace? Ami was confused about the board, but decided that since her friends trusted the guys enough to sleep in the same room with them, that they must have talked things out.

The only person she felt odd around was Heero. The other guys had shown concern, Heero had been cruel. While he was interrogating her, Ami had felt like she was dealing with a heartless monster, not a seventeen year old boy.

She smiled slightly, remembering that Wufei had stopped Heero.

Truth be told, Heero had scared her. He was still scary, even as Ami gazed at him, sleeping on the couch with his head on his arms on the arm rest. She wasn't sure that she could ever look at him the same again.

She looked around. Her friends had cleaned up the glass from the china cabinet, it was in a small garbage pail on the side by a broom and the vacuum cleaner.

Limping over to the closet tiredly, she grabbed a couple of blankets and proceeded to put them on the two people who didn't have one.

Mamoru was sleeping the arm chair in the corner of the room, limping over to him with a huff, she placed a blanket on him, and the other one on a shivering Duolying on the couch.

Ami steadied herself on the tv. She really shouldn't walk around that much, she was still very injured.

Using the wall, she proceeded to make her way past Usagi and Minako quietly. Pausing to grip the wall by Wufei's chair tiredly, Ami was shocked and let out a startled gasp when he grabbed onto her wrist, awake and looking at her with an expression Ami couldn't place.

"You're up." Ami nodded at his statement, shifting her weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably, her other hand still gripping the wall, almost nervously.

"You alright? How are you up and walking already?" He sounded confused as he looked at her, remembering her injuries. Ami shrugged, and proceeded to step away, Wufei letting go of her wrist right away, a thoughtful look on his face, before changing the subject.

"Where's your bathroom?"

Ami sighed and pointed down the hall to the guest bathroom. Wufei walked in, and she heard him washing his face.

Ami continued to walk towards her destination, the empty chair in the corner, before pausing at the door.

Wufei emerged to find Ami holding the wall, looking down at something at the door. He quickly realized what it was as he neared. Greg's dry blood was all over the floor, staining the carpet.

He remembered seeing it last night, but having too many questions about other matters to give it much notice.

He expected her to start crying, as she had last night, but instead, an angry look crossed her face, and she clenched her right fist, the one not holding the wall. She closed her eyes a moment, almost like she was making a silent vow in her anger, before re-opening them, a calm expression on her face. She plopped down tiredly, still remembering what had happened last night. Greg wouldn't let Ami turn on the lights, because he didn't want her to see him all bloodied up like he was. Did he think it would scare her?

He was right. Even without seeing him, Ami had been afraid. She still was as she gazed at his blood.

Her ideas about the whole matter had shifted. She wanted revenge, and she would enjoy it, but...she really was upset. She vowed not to cry in front of her friends. They were upset and trying to stay strong for her. She would cry when she was alone. She would find Siruto, and she would kill him for killing Greg, hurting her, kissing her, and refusing to explain all of his motives. Ami nodded to herself. That just about covered it.

Minako stirred from her sleep next to Usagi to find Ami sitting in a chair, tired, but alright, and watching her with an unreadable expression.

"Ames! You're up!" Minako jumped up and hugged her friend. "I was so worried, we all were!"

Ami smiled gently at her. Minako's excited shouting had woken everyone else up. Everyone rubbed their eyes tiredly and looked up smiling.

"Ami, are you alright?" The question was asked a few times before Ami put up one of her hands to silence everyone.

"Yes, I'm okay. Thankyou everyone, for your help. Sorry if I scared some of you...I just didn't know what to do."

"Well, yeah, ya kinda did Ames, but no worries, we don't care," Duo said, plopping down in the chair next to her.

Ami smiled, but looked at her friends for an explanation. Makoto realized what Ami meant.

"Oh, right Ames! Sorry, guess you don't know. The guys are fine, Setsuna brought them here from another demension. We'll explain better later, but- Hey, where's Setsuna?" Ami gave a confused nod.

Everyone looked around, she was nowhere to be seen. Usagi shrugged.

"Guess she had something to take care of. Now...I'm totally starving. Mako, pancakes?"

Makoto sighed. "All you ever want me to make is pancakes, but fine."

She noticed Ami turn her attention back to the carpet, and Rei spoke up.

"Don't worry about that Ami, we'll clean it up later. You relax."

'Thanks for cleaning up all the glass by the way," Ami said, "did you happen to find the bits of my-"

"Communicater," asked Makoto, and Ami nodded.

"Yeah, it was shattered. How'd that happen?" Minako asked this while peering at Ami closely.

When Ami looked down and away and was slow to answer, Makoto spoke.

"Does a mix of plain, fruit, and chocolate chip pancakes sound good to everyone?" Makoto asked, changing the suddenly disturbing subject. Everyone said it was okay, and Usagi, Minako, and Rei followed Makoto into the kitchen, Mamoru following warning Usagi that she wasn't allowed to use anything to do with the oven anymore, and her defending and saying that she just wanted to help with the batter.

Ami watched all of her friends dissapear into the kitchen, turning back to the other staring five in the room.

Ami looked around, trying to find something to say.

"Guess I was wrong about you guys. Sorry, but the board looked very suspcious."

"Oh, that's okay Ames. The board was Heero's idea, wierd for the perfect soldier. Besides,we understand. It must have been pretty scary with all that stuff last night. Besides, we were suspecting you of stuff too," Duo said. Ami gave a thoughtful nod.

Typical that the board was Heero's idea, although Ami only understood half of what Duo said about being a soldier. Another silence passed over the group. The guys were quiet simply because they were waiting for Heero to give the apology he had promised the night before. Duo glanced over at Heero, who gave him a look that told him to stay silent or else. Ami looked down, uncomfortable about the silence.

Heero finally got off the couch and approached the group nearer to the door, planning on apologizing. When Ami noticed this, her expression changed from bored to slightly afraid and she gripped Duo's shoulder and the table to stand, Duo grabbing her arm to steady her in a confused way, as she excused herself by saying something about taking Tylenol, and limping into the kitchen.

Heero stood in the spot he had been when he was about to apologize. They had all seen the look she had given him. She was afraid of him.

"Dude, I hope you saw the way she looked at you," Duo said.

Heero glared at him, before sitting down on the couch next to the others with a sigh.

"Yes," he finally snapped, "she was scared."

"You know Heero, Ami has always given all of us polite looks of respect. I think it may take you a while to earn that back. We were wrong to think that one simple apology would do it. She was hurt and needed help, and being the great friends that we are, we did the opposite." Quatre explained this quietly, reasonably.

"We had a mission. It's understandable about our actions," Heero defended monotoniously.

"You know Heero, we may be preventers, but the war is over. You can't just barbarically question injured people here like you would have done in the war. It's two different things. You hurt her in those few moment maybe more than Siruto did, and I'm not talking just physically. You should try and be more compasionate towards others," Duo said.

Heero growled at him.

"And what? Are you trying to teach me how to do that in a five minute conversation?"

Heero stood up and went into the bathroom, and they heard the sound of running water. Silence passed over the group.

The apartment door opened up, and someone walked in. It took only a moment to realize whom it was.

Setsuna walked in, her hair back in it's usual style, half up with a bun and the rest down, falling gracefully past her waist.

"Hello boys, how are you all," she asked, back to her usual grace.

A few murmers from the remaining four met her ears, and Setsuna smiled slightly. Trowa did not miss the slightly upset look on her face.

"What's wrong Ms. Meioh?"

She sighed, and responded.

"I left early to check out the time gates. You now, to make sure everything was going alright since what happened last night was unexpected. I went back into time, and..." Her voice faded. Trowa frowned.

"And," Duo said.

"I saw what happened last night, it just upset me is all," she responded.

"What did happen, exactly," Qautre said.

"I'm not sure it's right to tell you," she said, "I'm just really angry and-" a voice cut Setsuna off.

"Hey Setsuna. Where'd you go," Ami asked from the doorway of the kitchen, leaning heavilly on the frame.

Setsuna ran towards Ami right away. "Oh, you're up already! Take a seat." She helped Ami into a chair, who just smiled.

"You know I heal fast," she said.

"Yes, and I also know you're stubborn," she responded, sitting down next to Ami and asking her about her injuries.

Her friends emerged with the food, everyone setting it down on the tables. The group sat to eat, but they were anything but loud as they quietly munched, almost nervously around Ami in the room. None of them missed Ami's face travelling over to both the china cabinet and the carpet repeatedly.

After breakfast, they did the dishes, and Makoto and Rei, toughest of the group, set to work on scrubbing the carpet. Ami sat, almost bewildered, as they did so. She didn't ofer to help, afraid that she would break down if she did so, and also feeling the pain of her injuries more now because she had walked around. Everyone else sat stiffly on the couches.

"Here Ami," Luna said as she and Artemis walked out of the kitchen, "a new communicater for you." Luna jumped up onto the couch Ami sat on, on the arm rest, and set it down.

"Thanks Luna," Ami responded dryly as she put the watch on. Luna frowned, worry etched onto her face, strange for a cat but she was doing it.

"The damn stain won't come out," complained Makoto after 10 minutes of vigorous scrubbing. Ami just barely stiffled a cry as Rei covered her mouth, Makoto cursing silently to herself at her own mistake. Everyone looked at Makoto.

Rei dropped the cloth, covering her mouth before she cried so that she didn't upset Ami even more, and ran from the room down the hall. None of them shoudl have attempted to clean the carpet, she realized, Greg was their friend and it was too hard. Usagi tore off after her.

Wufei approached Makoto, and took the cloth from her hand, setting it in the small bucket besides her.

"We'll just replace that piece of carpet, along with the glass paneling on the china cabinet," said Mamoru. "I'll take you on Monday." The phone ran, and Usagi picked it up from the guest room where she sat with Rei.

"Why not tomorrow," Ami asked, "it is the weekend, aren't you off?"

"I- uh, have months end," Mamoru explained.

"Well, I can just go with someone else, I'd like to get it over with," Ami said stoically.

"Sorry Ames. I have volleyball," Minako said.

"Rei and I have that karate class we teach," said Makoto.

"I'm grounded," Usagi said, emerging with Rei, whom was now calm, "that was Rini on the phone. My mom wants me home- now."

"We'd help ya Ames, but we have a ton of ignored schoolwork to catch up on," Duo said. Ami nodded.

"No problem."

"We should get going, let you rest Ami. Everyone." Setsuna stood, and everyone followed her lead. Rei and Usagi helped Ami into bed.

"You rest this weekend. Monday, things will look better, I promice," Setsuna said, as everyone left.


Lara and Josh arrived back at Lara's apartment around 12:00 that night. They had searched the whole damn city, throwing gems everywhere and still- no strength.

"Tomorrow," Lara said, "is our big day. Ami must have it, we've searched everyone else. Besides, she fits the criteria perfectly. I slipped my planner into Ami's back pack. I'll tell her I need it right away tomorrow, and have her bring it over. And then...we set our plan into action."

Josh nodded. "Brilliant as usual."

Lara laughed. "I try."


Around 12:00 noon on Sunday, Usagi, Rei, Makoto, Minako, Haruka, Michiru, Setsuna, Heero, Duo, Wufei, Quatre, and Trowa all met at the temple. Ami was not told, for her own well being. Rini and Hotaru were over at Usagi's house together, incase Ami called there. It was why they had all made excuses about today to Ami yesterday. There was no volleyball, karate, groundations, work, or homework to be donw today.

"We have a lot to discuss today," Setsuna told everyone, "so I'll tell everyone why I made sure we did not invite Ami. We have to discuss what happened the other night, why it could have happened, what to do about Greg since his body has dissapeared and he could be reported missing, and Ami's behaviour and well being. No one is to tell her that we met today."

"Right," Haruka said.

"Now," Setsuna said, "we'll start with what happened."

"If everyone will gather around in a circle and link hands, I can show you all what happened." Everyone did as they were told, intrigued by the situation.

Setsuna concentrated her energy and linked hands with Duo and Usagi, where the gap in the group was.

First everyone saw blackness, then they saw Greg, walking down the street towards Ami's apartment, obviously to give an apology for the fight that had earlier gone on. The gundam pilots were shocked as the scene played out in their heads.

Greg heard a sound behind him and spun around, and no one was there, but he was tense. He soon broke out into a run, and someone followed. They saw Siruto's face before the vision ended there.

"Out of respect for Greg's passing, I will not show you how he died. It was gruesome," explained Setsuna. The scene shifted again, and it re-opened to Ami's aprtment. She was sleeping on the couch, the tv still on, when she was awakened by a sound. Walking through the darkened room, there was the same sound again. She unsurely approached the door. Usagi sighed, opening her eyes and taking a deep breath before closing them again to continue with the vision. She felt like she was watching a horror movie, except the main actress was her best friend.

Ami called out throught the door, and repeated banging followed. Ami opened the door and screamed as a body fell on top of her. They all realized it was greg, and watched. Ami screamed again as Greg grabbed her hand, stopping her from turning on the light. He told her he was a bloody mess, not to turn them on. She said she had to do it to help him. She reached again, and this time Siruto stopped her. They heard Greg give Ami an apology, before they saw a small light, his body dissapearing. Ami cried, something that she hadn't down the whole time her friends had been with her since it happened. She and Siruto argued, Ami asked why, and Siruto told her Greg was getting in the way, in more ways than one. He said he had to compensate and make Ami suffer like she did to him, which none of the senshi understood.

They argued more before Siruto raised his hand and struck Ami across the face, knocking her to the ground form how hard it was. Wufei growled slightly as it played through his head. Siruto began babbling more about emotional pain Ami put him throught, about how she broke him, before saying how long he'd waited.

'For what,' wondered Minako, and everyone else heard her. As they watched the vision, their minds were all connected. Whatever one person thought could be heard in each person's head. It was the strangest thing the pilots had ever done. The vision continued.

He yanked Ami up by her arm and pushed her up against the cabinet, knocking a few things over, while again saying ,"so long, but you never let me!" He then leaned in and kissed her forcefully, and the group all gave sighs of disguist as he did it sohungrilly. Haruka swore loudly. Ami of course struggled, Wufei giving a nod of approval which went unnoticed, and Siruto pulled back.

"1000 years of waiting, and you couldn't even make this worth my wait!" He screamed, before pulling her away slightly and smashing her back into the glass panels on the chine cabinet as hard as he could, getting the loudest scream so far from Ami. That explained the cabinet, which everyone had hoped was destoyred by an energy blast rather than by her back.

"I don't understand," Rei communicated through though with everyone, as Ami struggled to crawl away, "didn't anyone else in the aprtment hear?"

"Siruto probably had a spell on the place," Setsuna replied, everyone agreeing as they watched.

He blocked Ami's path of escape, and grabbed her wirst, crushing the communicater and hurting her wrist with it's pieces, the group knowing by her scream as he was saying something about help. 'So that's how it happened,' thought Makoto. He then kept hold of her wrist as he threw her into the shelf by the door against the wall. Guilt rose up inside Heero as he realized the condition she must have been in, worse than he thought, as she crawled out the door. A youma stood guarding the stairs, and Siruto raised his hand and fired a red blast at Ami, surrounding her and electrifying her as she collaped with a scream. Siruto walked over and grabbed her by the t-shirt, and the senshi and pilots were all amazed as she still gave him an angry glare when he did so. "Still got too much fight left in you, huh? I can fix that," he said calmly, firing right at her stomach, She dropped to the floor and clutched it, shaking violently. Finally standing, she backed away towards the guys door, away from Siruto at her own door and the youma. Siruto raised his hand to attack again, and Ami seemed to instinctively lower herself. Her elbow hit the door handle, pushing it down and the door swung open as Ami gasped, falling in. She got to her feet and tried to limp away, Siruto following, saying how she was making killing her pathetic.

He fired something at Ami's back, and she smacked into a board hung on the wall, slowly sliding down it until she fell on the ground, the board having been loosened and falling on top of her. She reached for the small lamp, and after turning it on, she knocked the board off of herself. It fell face up.

"I was concerend about this," Setsuna said, and Siruto and Ami both looked at the board. After a moment of reading, a hurt look crossed Ami's face and she grabbed her head, stopping herself from passing out and breathing very hard. Siruto approached, looking shocked, before saying, "those boys- those nothings, how did they know about this? I must report to my master. You're spared for tonight scout. Come." Siruto ushered at his youma and the two dissapeared. Ami seemed to spot a phone not too far away, and painfully began to drag herself there, holding back tears for the moment. She grabbed the phone and dialed,getting Rei. They heard a worried murmuring on the other end, but couldn't actually hear what Rei was saying. Then Ami spoke, unable to hold back tears as she did so."Greg, he's- he's dead." The phone slipped for Ami's hand onto the receiver, and she struggled to get away from the shelf she was next to. The scene shifted to the pilots coming up the stairs and seeing the apartment door was open. They all pulled out weapons and walked in cautiously. Duo turned on the lighst and closed the door. Ami friends came up the steps and went inside her apartment, beginning to look around. The scene went back to the pilots. The boys stood shocked when they realized Ami was in the room, and then Duo, Quatre, and Wufei approached. She told them to get away.

"I am ending the scene here," Setsuna said.

"Why," Michiru asked.

"Because it could damage a few relationships here," Setsuna said.

"Oh just let us watch," Rei said. Setsuna finally agreed, and it continued.

Heero approached Ami, gun in hand, and he walked around her prone form to face her. Her eyes were half open, but still she glared. He asked why she was in there, what had happened. Receiving no response, he continued. He asked her who she worked for, she said no one, and Heero grunted and put the gun to her temple. At this point, Duo began to argue with Heero, and the senshi watched, entranced, as Duo defended Ami. He said that she'd helped them, saved Wufei, saved all of them. Heero was quick to shut Duo up, telling him that he had risked everything in the mission for his stupid friendships. Duo's response was, 'So every act of kindness she ever did for you was nothing.?'

Heero looked away. He was ashamed as he watched, and he knew what was coming next. The girls would all hate him.

Heero asked Ami if she had looked at the board. Ami's eyes flickered towards it, but she seemed very disoriented as she tried to stay focused.

The senshi could handle everyting so far, but what he did next was unexpected.

He grabbed Ami's arm, turning her over to her other side to face the board ruffly. She cried out and was quickly silenced as he grabbed her face, forcing her to look at the board. "Did you look at it," he repeated coldly. A hand encircled Heero's wrist and pulled him away. "That's enough," said Wufei, letting of of Heero's hand. "Don't interfere Chang. Apparently I'm the only one who has enough God damn sense left to finish the mission."

Pluto ended the vision there.

"This is when you scouts entered." Everyone sat silent. Minako, Rei, and Makoto sat quietly, a few tears glazing their eyes. The pilots all sat, unmoving, disturbed by the vision, yet also afraid of the senshi's reaction to the last scene. Usagi was outright crying, as she had been starting from the beginning. Mamoru sat quietly next to her, gripping Usagi's hand firmly. He was looing down at the ground, his thoughts focused on what he had seen. Haruka and Michiru sat leaning against each other. Michiru, sensitive like the others when her friends were hurt, was tearing up. Haruka looked up at the ceiling. She knew that she could be very harsh on the inners at times. Sometimes she was intimidating and cruel, but she always meant for the best. In truth, Haruka had grown to love all the senshi as sisters. Seeing the way Ami handled herself had quite frankly made her proud. She showed no fear towards Siruto, no matter what he did, and when the pilots returned, even after being beaten half to death, she stayed mostly alert and was still un-afraid.

Makoto sat shocked. Heero, their friend, the guy she had secretly been crushing on for 2 months, was a cold hearted- she didn't know what he was. No wonder Pluto hadn't wanted them to see. She knew it would damage pre-made friendships, and somehow, it had, even if no one spoke up at all, whether they did or didn't, it had.

Pluto suddenly broke the mind link everyone had, and everyone collapsed for a moment, before sitting up, their thoughts free to themselves.

"Now you know what happened," Setsuna said, and was about to continue, before Haruka spoke up.

"You bastard," she told Heero, "what have you done?"

A silence passed over the room. Quatre nudged heero, trying to get him to make piece of any kind with the group.

"I'm...sorry," he said, the words harder to say then he had ever imagined, "I was wrong. I-" he glanced over at Makoto, some sort of betrayel in her eyes. "I'm trying to change," he said, "It's hard. I took the mission too far." Everyone nodded, seemingly accepting his apology for the moment. The pilots sat stunned as they looked at Heero. Was someone possessing his body? They decided not ot say anything and spoil the apology.

"Now if you could only find a way to say that to Ami withouther looking atyou like some kind of monster," Duo said, beginning to laugh. No one joined in, so he grew quiet.

"Now that we know what happened, we have something else to discuss. Greg's body had dissapeared, we have no body to give to the police to prove that he is dead. Sowe must decide a few things. First,where his bosy went to and why, and second, what to do about it."


Around 2:00 on Sunday, the phone in Ami's apartment rang. She jumped up to get it. She was very sore, but her injuries had dissapeared, her appearing normal. She had thrown a rag over the blood stains on the carpet. She was ashamed to do it, but the more she looked at it, the more she felt like breaking down and crying. And it made her feel weak, and she didn't want Siruto to get to her. Too late, because he had dug too deep.

"Hello?"

"Hi Ami, it's Lara. I just spoke to Josh. The idiot slipped into my planner into your backpack as a joke. I have several appointments for today and tomorrow, starting at around 3:00 today, and I really need it. I am having some medical testing done, so I can't be late. These appointments with specialists take forever to get, you know."

"I know, can I just read to you what's in it?"

"I would prefer that you didn't," Lara said, her voice growing embarassed, "It's private. Can I come pick it up?"

Remembering the state of her apartment, she quickly responded.

"Er...no. I'll bring it over. I'll be right there. Your apartment number?" Lara smiled.

"133."

"Thanks."

Ami grabbed her backpack and looked inside. Sure enough, it was there. She grabbed it and headed out her door, locking it behind her.

Lara's apartment building was a block away. It was slightly more luxurious than Ami's. In Ami's apartment, each apartment took up half a floor, large, but not as big as Lara's, which took up a whole floor per tennant. Arriving, she entered, and after walking down the hall, she realised Lara was on the first floor. The apartment building looked almost deserted that Sunday.

'Creepy,' thought Ami as she knocked on the door. Lara opened up the door right away, a bright smile on her face.

"Hey Ami! Thanks a lot," she said, ushering for her to enter. Lara's apartment was anything but creepy. It was light and lush, with paintings everywhere and large windows letting the sun come in. Lara led her to a room past the kitchen, a small sitting room.

Unlike Ami's apartment, the main room was more of a dining room, so this room was obviously Lara's living room.

"Would you like something to drink," Lara said. Ami said no, but Lara insisted and walked away, closing the door behind her. Ami frowned. She heard Lara talking to someone. Her parents? No, it was a young mans voice. Ami remembered Lara telling her that she lived alone, so it couldn't be her parents. Perhaps Josh? Ami stood, wondering why the two were whispering in hushed voices behind the door. She reached for the handle and gasped.

Locked.

"Hey!" She got no reply. There was only one other door, on the same wall as this one only on the opposite side. Another door? Ami wasn't sure, but tried anyways. It was unlocked, but it did not lead to the hall. Rather, it was another small room, like a large walk in closet. Ami flicked on the lights, and what she saw nearly knocked the wind right out of her.

Pictures. Papers. The room was a mess. But that had nothing to do with it. Every picture was of either Ami, or a relative or friend of hers. The pictures were ranging in age, some new, some old. All were within the last 3 months, however Ami had only met Lara and Josh a month ago. And the wall was covered with them. On some of the pictures, someone had written little comments, like "after school hangout", or "home by 6", or even "there wednsdays and fridays." On the papers in the room, where her school records, her health information, and even typed up sheets Ami herself didn't know existed, obviously created. There were schedules, of where she was at every moment of every day, there were notes on people Ami knew, how close they were to her. There were statistics on Ami's powers. It was Ami's life, in a 6' by 8' space. Ami felt sick. She fell against the free wall in shock, slumping down to the ground, still sitting upright with a bewildered expression on her face.

She heard the door open, and saw Lara and Josh standing in the closet's doorway.

"So you've found our little collection, hmm? Like it, I feel it's very good, very...accurate." Lara said the last words with confidence, trying to get a good look at Ami's face. Josh approached Ami.

"Get away from me," Ami said, shakilly standing and backing up.

"Oh Ami, there's no need to be afraid. Don't you understand? We have to complete the mission, the mission is important," Lara said.

"Stop," Ami said, pointing a shaking finger at Josh. Her henshin wand was back in her apartment. In her hurry, she had forgotten it.

"Don't you understand," Josh repeated, "it's all for the mission! The mision is the most important! It's all about you. In the end, all about YOU!" Josh's psyco babble had certainly succeeded in scaring Ami, whom was backed up against a wall, totally freaked out. She had no idea what he was talking about, the poor guy was out of his mind.

"Now Josh, here." Lara tossed him a blue gem. Ami gasped, suddenly realizing what was happening, but it wast oo late. Josh had thrown the gem at Ami, and it attatched itself to her arm immediately, sending a black lightning around her, and electricuting her, her screams echoeing off of the walls.

"What now," she heard Josh ask as she slumped to the ground.

"Drag her out of the apartment. The building is empty, so we'll have no problems, I took care of it. Do it quickly, I felt a strong power come off of her. Quickly, before you can no longer touch her!"

Josh nodded and did as he was told, grabbing Ami by her arm and dragging her out of the closet. She could only faintly tell he was doing this as she desperately tried to alert herself.

Out the door of he apartment, into the main hall in front of the doors. Josh suddenly dropped her arm with a gasp, rubbing his palms together in an attempt to warm them up. Ami struggled to sit up, and finally managed to do so. She felt...cold.

She stared at Lara and Josh as they watched her with extreme interest, very alert. Ami breathed out deeply, shakilly, and her eyes widened whe her breath was visible, as if she was out in a cold winter day. She could almost see the little ice crystals in the puff of air.

Ami grabbed her head, all of a sudden feeling dizzy. Lara began to smile expectantly. Ami put her other hand down on the ground to support herself. Another cold feeling spread through her, and she began to shake. Around her hand, where she had touched, ice began to form. It spread from under her palm, and Ami's eyes widened at the sight. She drew her hand back, and looked at Lara and Josh.

"She has it! I knew it! I knew it!" Lara jumped excitedly. Josh smiled.

"Grab her, now," Lara suddenly said.

"Are you joking? She'll freeze me to death," Josh said incrediously.

"You're right," Lara said, "get the gem off of her, and eventually the power burst will fade."

Josh did as he was told, grabbing it off her arm quickly. "How long?"

"Between 30 minutes to an hour. Then we'll take her," lara said. Josh nodded. While the two were talking, Ami struggled to her feet. She was going to pass out, she knew it. She ran out the door, Lara and Josh looking up.

"No! Now what, we can't grab her," Josh said.

"Whatever, if we have to knock her unconsious then wait, we'll do it," Lara said, as she and Josh took off after Ami. They exited the apartment to see that Ami was gone.

"Damn, where'de she go," Josh asked.

"Probably this way, let's go," Lara said, running off. Ami had actually run off in the opposite direction, and turned down an alley and continued. Whatever was happening ot her had grown stronger, because halfway down the alley, wherever her feet touched the ground, Ice would form and start to spread until she removed her foot. She didn't make it very far before she tired, and grabbed the wall of one of the many buildings she had passed by to stand, ice spreading all over that spot, making her shake more and fall to the ground. She looked at her hands. What was happening? What did they mean by her having it? Having what?

She was so cold. Everything she touched was being covered with ice, she had no control. Ami felt like passing out, but was too afraid Josh and lara would find her, and then what would happen to her? Underneath her, ice was forming, making her even colder. She had never been this cold before, not even in the worst snowstorms in her senshi outfit, and she was in jeans and a t-shirt. Her head hurt, she reached up a hand to touch her forehead. Apparently, Ami couldn't freeze herself to death.

How long was it that Lara said? She struggled to stay conscious. She'd have to call her friends for help again, something she knew she should od, but made her feel even more like a burden. She felt so betrayed by Lara and Josh right now, especially Lara. Ami had trusted her. That creepy layout of photos and information in her apartment did nothing to help the situation.

Ami opened up her communicater to reveal the small screen, and pushed a button. Whoever's it was, she didn't care. Usagi's face appeared on the screen. Ami removed her hand to stop it from being covered in ice.

"Hey Ami, what's wrong? You're so pale!" Ami heard the sound of people arguing in the background, and Usagi turned around and shushed them all.

"I thought you were grounded," Ami said.

"Oh me? I am...those are just my cousins," Usagi lied quickly.

"You don't have any," Ami responded, slightly hard to here since Ami was shivering so much.

"I- what's happened? Why are you shivering?" Ami felt like closing the communicater right then and there. Usagi wasn't grounded. None of them were busy. She had heard some of their voices in the background in the beginning, some laughing, others arguing, about what she wasn't sure. She was so big a burden that they had all gotten together at the temple without her, she could see the curtains that were so familiar behind Usagi's head.

"Ami, talk to me," Usagi said, sensing her friends distress, "where are you?"

Ami put a hand to her head once again, feeling another splitting pain come on. She gritted her teeth and breathed in deeply to try and make the pain dissapear.

Ami did get headaches a lot but this pain was unreal. Being beaten by Siruto didn't hurt this bad! It felt like her head was going to explode. After that it all started at once. Pain in her head was followed by her stomach, her back, her arms and legs and chest and sides- this was different than wounds inflicted on the outside, she felt like she was being ripped apart from inside. The ice around her spread quicker now.Her hand slipped, and she could here Usagi screaming something to her as her arm hit the ground, turning the communicater off.


Usagi turned to the others, silent and looking at her expectantly. Worry covered their faces.

"I don't know where she is, she wouldn't tell me what was wrong," she explained quickly.

"We heard, Ami must have realized we were all together after we lied to her yesterday,' Setsuna explained.

"I think she was hurt, but I couldn't tell. Now what?"

"We split up. Wufei, Rei, Quatre, Michiru, you all go to Ami's apartment and check to see if she's there. Trowa, you and I will check the park area. Mamoru, Usagi, you check the school area. Minako, Makoto, Duo, Heero, Haruka and Michiru will check around the apartment building complexes in Ami's area. I mean all of the alleys and shortcuts. Trowa, you andI will check downtown. Understood?"

Everyone nodded and departed.


Lara and Josh paused, about halfwy down the last street they had run down.

"I don't get it, why can't we wait to capture her another time, when she's not expecting it. It's not like she means anything nwo while she can freeze us to death," Josh said. Lara shook her head.

"No Josh. You don't understand. You see, besides getting very cold and freezing things, Ami will really show one big amount of power. First she'll feel extreme pain all over, impossible pain, and then, one final burst of strength before our proof dissapears and she returns to normal. I would prefer it was in the abandoned apartment building than on the street where everyone can see and makea ruckus. master would be mad."

Josh nodded. "One final burst of strength- like how?"


Uranus, Neptune, Heero, Duo, Jupiter, and Venus ran through yet another alley. They could see what Pluto meant. Behind the buildings was a maze. The group wasrunning pas another building when Heero stopped suddenly, looking down another darkened alley. The group entered unsurely, and after a moment of their eyes adjusting to the lighting, had found what they were looking for.

"Ami," Duo cried out, looking at the prone figure. Rather than being unconsious, she was shaking violently. Ice had spread from beneath her onto the surrounding are, both the walls and ground.

"What's happening," Venus asked. Uranus put her hand up to stop everyone, stepping forwards cautiously.

"Ames?"

Ami didn't respond, so Uranus reached over to touch her arm.

"You alright?" As soon as she did so, she let out a startled gasp and drew her hand back, rubbing her palms together andbreathing on her own hand.

"She's so cold! It felt like my finger tips were being frozen!"

Venus and Jupiter exchanged a worried look, not knowing what to do. Neptune looked at Heero and Duo, Heero who's look she couldn't place, and Duo's shocked look.

Ami continued to shake, not knowing what was happening. The pain, whatever it was, ha dintensified. It felt like she was being torn apart.

Everyone was snapped out of their thoughts in that moment when Ami let out a blood curdling scream.

Clouds began to roll in on the bright sunny day, and it got about 15-20 degrees colder in an instant. The wind picked up, and as Ami's screaming died down, the ice exploded all around her, intensifying, building up higher and higher, until it shattered and dissapeared. The others watched, mouths wide open. The clouds dissapeared, the wind slowed, and the temperature returned to normal.

They group all ran over to where she lay now, ice free, and Uranus unsurely taped her again. The colour that had all been drained from Ami's face seemed to be slowly returning.

"She's cold," Uranus admitted, "but humanly cold, like she's been out in the snow or something."

Ami was no longer shaking as violently, just trembling a bit. Heero walked around Ami to face her and he crouched down. The others lal got deja vu of what they had earlier scene, and Jupiter and Duo both reached out to him. He ignored them and spoke.

"She's unconscious, we should get her some place warm." He picked her up before over protective Uranus could object. Jupiter smiled. Heero was trying to make up to Ami what he had done.

"Yes, let's go," Neptune said.

Venus called the others on their communicaters, and they all headed for the temple, simply looking for an explanation.


Lara and Josh bowed deeply before their master.

"Well done," he said.

"But Master, we did not get the girl," Josh said, befor bending his head down ti avoid eye contact with his master.

"I know. It's alright for now. We'll get her another time. But you've shown me something important. Siruto, I still want you to keep an eye on the pilots. You two, keep watch of Ami still, even discreetly."


Super long chapter. Sorry if it's too long! PLEASE review for my effort!