Author's Note: Apologies for getting this chapter up a week late. I had a rough Thanksgiving weekend, and this past week hasn't gone too well either. The weather in my part of the world has been wreaking havoc on my sinuses. Anyway, here at long last is the next installment of our story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

Chapter 5: The Infatuation Syndrome

Ami had worked with Ward long into the night reviewing his initial research into trying to develop some sort of poison to kill the shoggoths. Ward's notes revealed his initial attempts were to try and develop some sort of special powder to make a shoggoth break down into dust, not unlike what happens when one puts salt on a slug. So far though, all of Ward's attempts had ended in failure. During this review, Ami suggested they try to figure out what was causing the shoggoths to die off in the first place and develop a poison from that, but Ward pointed out how nobody had so far been able to determine the specific cause for the shoggoths' declining population. In the end, their first night of collaboration had yielded nothing.

Due to working such late hours, Ami decided to spend the day relaxing in her hotel room before returning to the ruins of Innsmouth for another night of work. At the moment, Ami was lounging on her bed reading a book of ecchi manga she had brought with her. Suddenly there was a knock on the door, causing Ami to flinch and nearly drop the book onto her lap. With her face bright red, the blue-haired genius quickly hid the risqué manga volume under her pillow before going over to answer the door. In another few moments, Ami opened the door and looked down to find Erica standing before her.

"Might I have a word?" Erica asked.

Ami stepped aside to allow the pinkette into the room. "I can guess what it is you want to talk about."

"If you're guessing I've come to talk to you about your foolish collaboration with Joseph Curwen, you're quite right."

"I've told you! He's Charles Dexter Ward, and he's trying to stop the Knights of Dagon from within. We spent all of last night trying to figure out an affective way to kill those shoggoth creatures."

Erica let out a heavy sigh. "Okay, even if 'Ward' is telling the truth and he was brought back from the dead due to a case of mistaken identity, he still shouldn't be trusted. If what you told us about him is true, he's still related to Curwen and could have his own dark agenda."

"And for all I know, you and Satoru have a 'dark agenda' of your own. Unlike Charles, you haven't given me much reason to trust you."

"I realize that, which is part of the reason why I'm here. Mr. Petrov and I are working to dismantle the Knights from within. For the past several weeks we've done our best to sabotage their operations. Unfortunately, we haven't had much luck in slowing them down."

"Okay, but why are the Knight's such a threat? I understand the shoggoths are a real danger, but what is their ultimate goal?"

"Reverend Jim told you the organization's goal last night. They're trying to raise an army to assist the ultimate enemy, Cthulhu."

Ami raised an eyebrow. "The god he was preaching about? You're saying it's real?"

Erica nodded. "I wouldn't call that entity a god, but with its level of power it might as well be. Cthulhu came to this planet ages ago, long before your kingdom of Silver Millennium rose to power, even long before the first humans walked the earth. Fortunately he became dormant and his great city fell into the sea. Cthulhu can only be active during a certain period of celestial alignment. When the stars and planets are improperly aligned, his body goes into a sort of death state.

"His mind however remains active, and for the past several eons Cthulhu has used his mental abilities to shape the dreams of certain primitive humans, forming them into a cult to worship him as a god; a cult that endures even today. Reverend Jim is one of Cthulhu's latest high priests."

"So you and Satoru are working to stop this Cthulhu."

Erica adjusted her glasses. "Nothing can be done to stop Cthulhu. The stars are right and he is awakening. Soon enough his city will rise from the sea and he will emerge to destroy everything on this planet. All the three of us can do is attempt to minimize the damage that thing can do by eliminating his armies. But please believe me, Sailor Mercury. We are on the same side in this."

Ami looked at Erica for a few moments and sighed. "I'll admit you seem sincere, but I still can't bring myself to trust you and Satoru completely. I'm also going to keep working with Charles."

"I suppose that's the best I can hope for at this point. Since I've said all I have to say, I'll leave." Erica began to head for the door, but stopped and looked back at Ami. "By the way, you might want to think of better hiding places for your rather…provocative reading material than under your pillow."

Ami became flustered and turned as red as a tomato. "How…how did you know?"

"My glasses are simply part of my disguise here on Earth, but I created them with a type of X-ray function. I have an unfortunate tendency to drop in on people at a bad time. These glasses are an attempt to minimize such an occurrence. Anyway, I'll be going now."

In another few moments Erica had left the room. Ami let out a heavy sigh as soon as the pink-haired girl was gone. Erica's X-ray specs had done little to convince Ami to fully trust her.

Satoru was busy typing away on a laptop when Erica walked through the door of their shared apartment. The pinkette let out a heavy sigh as she passed Satoru on her way to the small kitchen.

"Did things not go well with Ami?" Satoru asked.

"Well, I think I convinced her we're not the enemy, but she still doesn't see us as allies either," Erica answered from the kitchen as she poured herself a glass of milk. "In other words, we're essentially back to where we started in regards to our relationship with her."

"Well, that's something at least," the blonde remarked as he shut his laptop.

"She still insists on working with Curwen…or Ward or whatever his real name is. Somehow she finds that undead warlock to be more trustworthy than us."

"I think I'm to blame for Ami's mistrust," Satoru theorized with a bitter smile. "Remember, I was once one of her greatest enemies."

"Hmm…I suppose such a thing would be hard for her to get past."

"I could try talking with her; show her I'm not the same man who tried to kill her. In fact I have an idea for a way to try and build trust."

Erica shrugged. "Go for it. We've certainly got nothing to lose."

As the afternoon set in Ami decided to make another visit to the Miskatonic campus. After her visit from Erica at her hotel room, Ami felt she needed to get out and think things out for a bit, specifically whether or not Erica and Satoru could really be trusted. The campus of Miskatonic University seemed like the best place to ponder such problems. At the moment, Ami was looking for a secluded spot to sit down and contemplate her current predicament when she felt someone touch her on the shoulder. Letting out a startled gasp, Ami turned around to discover it was only Satoru.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you," Satoru told her. "I actually came to your hotel to see you. When I didn't find you there, I hoped you'd be around here on the campus. Turns out I was right."

"What do you want?" Ami asked.

"Just two things. First, I wanted to give you something."

Satoru handed Ami a small round light-blue object resembling a compact. On the very top was a small light-green crystal.

"It's an emergency beacon I rigged up," Satoru explained. "All you need to do is press the button on the top, and it'll send a signal to my phone showing your exact location. That way I can rush to your aid in the event of an emergency. Last night you mentioned you had no way of contacting me in the event of an attack, so I thought I'd try and solve the problem."

Ami held up the device and looked it over. "You made this last night?"

"This morning actually. I woke up a little early and found I had some time on my hands. Tinkering with electronics is something of a hobby of mine. So is playing the harpsichord."

"Um…thank you," Ami responded as she put the device in her jacket pocket. "What's the other reason you came to find me?"

Satoru held up a rectangular wooden box Ami identified as a folded chessboard. "I thought I'd give you a chance at a rematch. What do you say?"

Ami found that her pride as a chess player outweighed her mistrust of Satoru, so she agreed to his challenge. Satoru led her to a secluded outdoor area of the campus with a picnic table where they could set up the board. Right away, the game began. Just like before, Ami found she could read and anticipate Satoru's moves, but Satoru could easily anticipate her moves as well. It looked as though they were both in for another challenging game.

"You know…I can't blame you for trusting Mr. Ward more than you trust me or Ms. Erica," Satoru remarked as he moved another piece. "It's because of the troubled history you and I share, isn't it?"

Ami thought for a moment as she moved another of her pieces. "I'll admit I am a little biased against you. Then again, neither of you told me you had already infiltrated the Knights of Dagon, or about the threat they posed."

"You're right. Not telling you about our operation was a mistake. We should've let you in on everything the night we fought that shoggoth together."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because we're trying to operate under absolute secrecy," Satoru answered as he took one of Ami's pieces. "Ms. Erica felt you weren't ready to be read in. Besides, would you have honestly believed us right away?"

Ami was about to move another piece on the board and froze. "No…I suppose I wouldn't have. You suddenly showing up again after all this time…it all happened so fast."

"And as you said yourself, you're biased against me."

"…Yes," Ami confirmed as she finally moved her piece. "You were once a deadly enemy."

"But back then I was under Beryl's control," Satoru pointed out as he made another countermove. "Surely you can see I'm not the same as I was back then."

"True. I can tell you're definitely not the same man who tried to kill my friends and I, and steal the Legendary Silver Crystal."

"There's also the fact we once worked together back during the Silver Millennium before it all fell."

"Very true. Though I don't really remember much from the times we apparently worked together," Ami revealed as she took one of Satoru's pieces.

"I can't either," Satoru admitted as he made another countermove.

"What do you intend to do once your mission with Erica is finished?"

"Try and get back the life I had before Beryl corrupted me again, and of course go back to protecting the Prince. I suppose if it works out, you and I would likely be working together quite closely again, especially since the Prince and Princess are married now."

"How on earth do you know about that?"

"My comrades and I were at least able to watch over our master in spirit form."

"I see. Well, Mamoru will certainly be surprised to see you alive again."

Here Satoru's expression saddened a bit. "I only hope he'll want me back after the way I essentially betrayed our kingdom."

"I wouldn't worry too much. I'm certain Mamoru will be pleased to see you back among the living."

"I hope you're right," Satoru responded as he moved one more piece. "Well, that's checkmate."

Ami's eyes widened as she looked down at the board. She couldn't believe Satoru had managed to defeat her again.

"Well, I'd be glad to give you another rematch, but right now I have a class to attend," Satoru told her as he rose from his seat. "I'll come back for the board later."

As Satoru walked off, Ami sat looking down at the pieces on the chessboard, replaying the last few moves of the game in her head and trying to figure out where she messed up. This loss had made Ami more determined than ever to defeat Satoru.

After she had gone back to her hotel room, Ami ended up dozing off while reading. As she fell into slumber, her mind had once more gone back to the time of her past life during Silver Millennium. Back then, Mercury and Zoisite had worked several more shifts together watching over Serenity and Endymion. During those shifts the two guards would pass the time playing chess against one another. Much to the blue-haired Sailor Guardian's frustration, Zoisite kept managing to defeat her. Mercury found Zoisite to be a very vexing opponent.

At the same time though, Mercury felt Zoisite was extremely interesting for a human. Given the Earth Kingdom's level of technological development, Mercury had never expected to encounter a human who was so intelligent, especially one among their warrior class. Mercury found she wanted to know more about this man, and before she realized it Zoisite had begun to dominate her thoughts. She also found she couldn't help but look forward to the times they'd be working chaperone duty together.

One evening Mercury was sitting in her office looking at surveillance footage of Satoru trotting down an old dirt road on a brown horse. He was apparently heading back to the castle after having completed some sort of currier or patrol mission. At one point Zoisite stopped his horse and dismounted to go look at a nearby tree. Mercury zoomed in to get a closer look at what the blonde had gone over to investigate. To her surprise, Zoisite had gone over to look at a tree frog.

Mercury found this observation fascinating and made sure to jot it down in the notebook she had been using to record all of her most notable observations about Zoisite, making sure to mention the time and date. She didn't know how this observation would help in her overall research of the man, but Mercury felt it might somehow come in handy.

"Mercury, what're you doing?" a voice suddenly asked from behind.

With a startled cry, Mercury dropped her notebook and quickly shut off the holographic screen showing Zoisite's image. She then swiveled her chair around to find Princess Serenity standing before her.

Mercury let out a heavy sigh. "Princess, you really shouldn't startle me like that."

"Sorry," Serenity responded. "Why were you looking at a picture of Zoisite?"

"I…I was just seeing how things were doing down on Earth, and the probe I sent just happened to catch an image of Zoisite."

"Oh." Serenity looked down and saw the notebook on the floor. She picked it up and began looking through it. "Are all of these notes about Zoisite?"

Mercury let out another startled cry and quickly snatched the notebook away from Serenity. "That…that's just some research I've been conducting on a totally unrelated matter."

Just then a large grin formed on Serenity's face. "Mercury, are you in love with Zoisite?"

Here the blunette's face turned an even brighter shade of red. "Don't be absurd! What makes you think I'm in love with him?"

"Well, you were watching him just now, and you have that secret notebook filled with things about him. My guess is you can't get him off your mind, right? That has to mean you're in love with him."

Mercury let out another heavy sigh. "Princess, you're simply reading things the wrong way. This is just as absurd as your idea that Mars is in love with General Jadeite. I'm merely conducting research on General Zoisite because I find him to be a very unique and interesting human, quite unlike anyone else of his species. It's scientific research and nothing more."

"If that's true, how come you're so embarrassed right now?"

"Well, because…I simply don't want people getting the wrong idea about what I'm doing, which is just what has happened with you."

"Mercury, have you ever been in love before?"

Serenity's question totally caught Mercury off guard. "I…well…actually, I don't believe I have. No. My life has been devoted to study, and to your safety and education of course. I've never had the time or luxury of falling in love."

"So then how do you know for sure your interest in Zoisite isn't love?"

Mercury opened her mouth to answer, but found the words she wanted to say wouldn't come out. This was because she could find no words to quantify a satisfactory answer for herself or her princess. The simple fact was Mercury couldn't say for certain she wasn't in love because she had no previous experience in the matter to use as a suitable frame of reference.

"I should probably head for bed now," Serenity decided. "I'll see you in the morning."

Mercury swiveled her chair back around as Serenity trotted out of the room as she hummed a cheerful tune to herself, and looked at the notebook in her hands. Now that Serenity had planted this idea of her infatuation with Zoisite in her head, the blunette couldn't help but wonder if the princess was onto something.

Ami awoke in her hotel room to find the sun had almost totally set. In another hour she was to meet with Ward and return to the lab in Innsmouth. As she got out of bed, Ami couldn't help but replay her most recent past life memory of her conversation with Princess Serenity, or what she had been doing shortly before the conversation had happened.

"Boy! I was a real stalker back then, wasn't I?" Ami spoke as she went over to the window.

On the glass table next to the window, Ami spotted the emergency beacon Satoru had given her earlier on the day and picked it up. She couldn't help but be moved by how Satoru was genuinely concerned for her safety. As Ami examined the beacon again in her hand, she began to think she might truly have been in love with Satoru back during Silver Millennium…but now she was wondering if she was still in love with him.

Just as Ami had dozed off when she had returned to her hotel room, Satoru had also dozed off when he returned to his apartment and began to recall more of his lost memories from the time of Silver Millennium. At that particular moment in the past, Zoisite returned to the palace from a long evening patrol as the morning sun rose. As he rode his horse to the stables, Zoisite was once again pondering a particular problem he had been having for weeks now. For whatever reason, Sailor Mercury had been dominating his thoughts. Just last night he had come across an interesting tree frog, and the first thing Zoisite had thought about was how fascinating Mercury would find the creature.

Zoisite also found that he greatly looked forward to when he and Mercury would be working be working a shift together to watch over Endymion and Serenity. After much thought, Zoisite had arrived at a theory regarding what had some over him, but he needed to talk to someone he could compare notes with. Thus he decided to seek out Prince Endymion. He eventually found the dark-haired prince out in the rose garden.

"Good morning, Zoisite," Endymion greeted as the blonde approached. "I trust your patrol was uneventful."

Zoisite nodded and took a deep breath to prepare himself. "Prince, if it's not too bold of me, may I ask you a personal question?"

"Go ahead."

"How…did you know you were in love with Princess Serenity? I mean, when did you realize your attraction to her?"

Endymion was surprised by this question at first, but smiled. "Did I ever tell you about the time I first met Serenity?"

"I don't believe so."

"It was at night in this very rose garden. I had left the castle to get some air. During my walk I noticed someone peeking at me from behind one of the bushes. She ran from me at first, and I chased after her thinking she might be an intruder. Eventually I cornered her and found her to be an innocent young maiden, with eyes like sapphires and golden hair that seemed to glow in the light of the moon.

"I assured the girl I meant no harm. She soon relaxed and told me who she was. You couldn't believe my surprise when I learned she was the Princess of the Moon. Serenity and I began talking, and I was amazed by how innocent and pure she seemed, and how she viewed everything about our world with the eyes of a newborn child. Before I knew it, I was captivated by her."

"So…it was the phenomenon known as love at first sight?"

Endymion chuckled. "I'm not sure I'd go that far. To be honest, I'm not sure if love at first sight actually exists. If you ask me, you can only truly love someone after you get to know that person. But there was a definite spark between Serenity and I. Over time as I got to know her, I found myself thinking about her almost constantly, and I would always be overjoyed whenever she snuck down from the Moon to see me. The moment I realized how much Serenity dominated my thoughts was when I realized I had fallen in love with her."

Zoisite put his hand to his chin in thought. "I see. It looks like my theory was right."

"Why are you asking me this out of the blue Zoisite?"

Zoisite flinched and his face turned red. "Just, um…asking for a friend."

"There you are, Prince?" a voice interrupted. The two looked and saw Zoisite's tall brown-haired comrade, Nephrite standing nearby. "Kunzite was looking for you earlier. He wanted to discuss a report with you about some strange incidents happening in his territory. It seemed rather important."

"Then I better go meet with him," Endymion responded. "I hope I was of some help to you, Zoisite."

The prince then headed into the palace. Zoisite meanwhile remained frozen where he was. He didn't need to turn around to know that Nephrite was now smirking at him.

"How much of that conversation did you hear?" Zoisite asked.

"Pretty much the entire thing," Nephrite answered. "Let me guess, lately you've been thinking almost constantly about a certain blue-haired maiden from Mercury, am I right?"

At last Zoisite turned to face him and sighed. "Am I so easy to read?"

Nephrite chuckled. "Relax. I'm not going to give you a hard time or anything. I should warn you though. If you have any ideas about pursuing a relationship with Sailor Mercury, you had better be careful. It's one thing for the Prince to be fooling around with Princess Serenity in spite of the taboo, but if you and Mercury were to start a relationship…well, I don't think I need to tell you what could go wrong."

With those words, Nephrite began to head out of the garden. Meanwhile as Zoisite pondered this warning, he realized his friend was right. Any relationship between him and Mercury would only serve to put the Prince and Princess in further danger of being found out. Zoisite realized he was going to have to keep his feelings for Mercury a total secret. Besides, he felt certain Mercury couldn't possibly feel the same way about him.

Satoru awoke in the apartment to discover dusk was setting in. His mind was still reeling from the revelations his newly awakened memories had given him. In fact the memories had made Satoru realize how he had been thinking almost constantly about Ami ever since they had first met up again. He also recalled how alarmed he was when he had learned of how Ami had been ambushed by those two shoggoths the other night.

The door to the apartment opened and Erica walked in carrying a grocery bag. "I've finished the shopping. We should start getting ready to leave. The van taking us to Innsmouth should be coming soon. By the way, how did things go with Sailor Mercury this afternoon? Does she trust us a little more now?"

"I think so…but we may have a new problem," Satoru answered. "I think I'm in love with Ami."

Please review and let me know what you think.