Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.
Chapter 10: How It All Went Wrong
In the blackness of unconsciousness, Ami and Satoru had once again gone back to the time of Silver Millennium to relive the final memories of their previous lives. After the incident up in the mountains where Zoisite almost lost his life, he and Mercury began to communicate with one another frequently over the communication device Mercury had given him. They talked with one another once or twice each day, but eventually Mercury realized there was a problem. The problem in question had always been there, and it had escalated to a point where Mercury could no longer deny its existence. Mercury realized she was in love with Zoisite, and that could cause serious problems.
Allowing Princess Serenity to continue her love affair with Prince Endymion already broke the rules in a serious way. If the members of their personal guard units also had love affairs with one another, and if the news of such affairs were ever to get out it would mean disaster. Mercury realized she had let herself get far too close to Zoisite, and in order to prevent the disaster that would only serve to hurt her princess and the relationships between the two kingdoms as a whole, she decided she had no other option but to cut all communications with Zoisite. However, she found such a thing was easier said than done. It was almost painful for Mercury to repeatedly ignore all of Zoisite's calls, and almost even worse to have one of her fellow Sailor Guardians to cover her shifts on chaperone duty with Zoisite, but it was something that had to be done.
Eventually Zoisite ceased trying to contact Mercury altogether, which further pained her but also seemed to be for the best in her point of view. Around the same time though, as the instances of human mutations continued to increase, unrest against the Moon Kingdom had broken out on Earth. The cause was a new movement started by a woman known as Princess Beryl, and her movement was quickly gaining ground. Naturally this movement had quickly caught the attention of the Sailor Guardians. They found they were forced to minimize Serenity's visits to Earth, and they also realized they needed more information.
One afternoon, Mercury had been called into Venus's office. When Mercury arrived, she found Venus seemed to be in a less than pleasant mood. The blonde guardian had been that way ever since visiting Kunzite on Earth a little while back. More than once Mercury wondered what could've happened during her visit, which she assumed was a professional meeting regarding the prince and princess. Venus quickly told Mercury to take a seat.
"I'll come straight to the point," Venus began. "I want you to find out more about this anti-Moon Kingdom movement happening on Earth. More specifically I want all the dirt you can find on this Princess Beryl who's leading it."
"Haven't the operatives we've sent down to Earth found out anything?" Mercury asked.
"They're already spread thin trying to determine the cause behind the mutations. Plus when she's not out trying to stir up the people, Beryl keeps herself secluded within a heavily guarded palace. None of the operatives we can spare have been able to make it in. All we do know is in addition to a lot of guards, Beryl seems to have magical protection around her palace."
"Let me guess, dark magic?"
Venus smirked and leaned back in her chair. "Do you really have to ask? This woman is beyond sketchy."
Mercury nodded. "So do you need my help in taking down the barrier around Baryl's castle?"
"I've got Mars working on that for now. I need you to go on an information-gathering mission, and for you it should be a simple one. The Earth Kingdom has to have information on Beryl, and I want you to get it."
"But…they may not be so willing to share what they have."
"You're right. Especially if it turns out the leadership of the Earth Kingdom is in league with Beryl. I mean I doubt Prince Endymion has anything to do with her, but their king and queen? It's a possibility we have to look into."
"Venus, I highly doubt anyone in the Earth Kingdom's royal family has any connection to Beryl."
"I don't think so either. I was just repeating what one of the Queen's advisors was saying earlier this morning. We do have confirmed rumors about the king and queen of Earth wanting Endymion to marry Princess Beryl, and certain members of our Royal Court believe this to be a sign the leadership of the Earth Kingdom supports Beryl's movement. The Queen doesn't know the Earthlings like we do, so she's taking the Court's theory seriously. What I want you to do is find evidence to exonerate the Earth Kingdom's leadership, to prove to the Queen and the Court that Beryl is an enemy of the Earth Kingdom as well."
Mercury sighed. "Okay, but getting such evidence still won't be easy."
"I'd think it'd be no problem at all for you. Just ask Zoisite to let you have a look at whatever information he has on Beryl, discreetly of course."
"Well, that's the problem. Zoisite and I…it's better if we have as little contact with each other as possible."
Venus raised an eyebrow. "Does this have something to do with you asking the others to cover your shifts on chaperone duty with him before? If there's some sort of problem between the two of you, straighten it out. It's bad enough I have to deal with the problems Mars has with Jadeite. And right now…"
"There's no problem between me and Zoisite," Mercury told Venus before she could finish. "And there won't be as long as he and I don't see each other."
Venus looked at Mercury and then sighed. "Oh, that kind of problem. Have to say I'm a little surprised to hear something like this from you, but then again you're still a woman and not some heartless machine. Fine, just figure out some other way to get the information. If we can't get the evidence we need, this kingdom is likely going to march to war with Earth."
Mercury rose from her chair and bowed. "I understand. I'll find some way to find the proof we need."
It was the dead of night as Mercury teleported to the Earth Kingdom's palace. She hoped very much the flash from her teleportation beam hadn't alerted any guards. Mercury had thought hard about how to find the evidence Venus said they needed to prove the Earth Kingdom wasn't supporting Beryl's movement and she could only think of one way, but it was a major risk. It occurred to Mercury that the kingdom's government might have some sort of top-secret files on Beryl, and thanks to her time with Zoisite she knew where most of those files were kept. She had no choice but to sneak into Zoisite's office.
To Mercury's relief, Zoisite was not sitting behind his desk when she opened the door to the office. She had doubted he would be working in his office this late at night though. As quietly as she could, the blunette went over to the ornate wooden filing cabinet where Zoisite kept his most critical documents. It was easy for her to crack the combination lock on the top drawer using her computer goggles. The moment the drawer was open, Mercury began to thumb through the files.
Unfortunately she so far couldn't find any files on Beryl. If any such files existed, they were probably in one of the lower drawers, but of course Mercury didn't know which one. As she feared, it looked like this task was going to take awhile. Mercury was just about to close the first drawer of the cabinet when the office suddenly lit up. She turned and to her horror saw Zoisite standing in the doorway. A look of total shock was on the blonde Shitennou's face.
"What…are you doing?" Zoisite asked with a noticeable hint of anger in his voice.
"Zoisite, let me explain," Mercury began.
"You're looking through my files?" Zoisite practically shouted as he stormed over to the cabinet and pushed the top drawer closed. "Do you know how sensitive the information in these documents is?"
"If you'll just listen…"
"No! There's nothing you could say to justify you doing this!" Zoisite walked away from the cabinet and put a hand over his eyes as he took a breath. "Maybe you're not aware of this, but there've been a lot of bad things being said about the Moon Kingdom right now. People are saying that you're trying to dominate our kingdom and have been spying on us. And after what I've just seen…I'm suddenly forced to think those stories are true."
"Zoisite, please. It's not what you think."
"What am I supposed to think Mercury? First you totally break contact with me, and then I find you going through my private documents? How can I not think there's something sinister going on? Get out before I have the guards throw you in the dungeon."
"…But Zoisite…"
"GET OUT!"
With tears in her eyes, Mercury backed away from the filing cabinet towards the office window. She turned away from Zoisite and teleported away with a flash of blue light. As she vanished, Mercury realized she had made a horrible mistake.
Not long after the incident of Mercury's break-in, the Shitennou ended up having a meeting to discuss the accusations Beryl's movement had been making against the Moon Kingdom. Zoisite found he had no choice but to be totally honest regarding his own thoughts on the subject.
"To be honest, I don't think the question is how we stop a war with the Moon Kingdom," Zoisite spoke thoughtfully. "The real question is, should we go to war with them? And honestly, I think perhaps we should."
Zoisite's comment caused Nephrite to raise an eyebrow in surprise. "Surely you can't be serious! For these last few months we've been working side by side with the members of Princess Serenity's royal guard, and now you're suddenly saying that they're our enemies?"
"I'm simply saying that we've perhaps been a little too trusting of them. I will admit that I've found some of Sailor Mercury's recent actions to be a bit suspicious."
"In what way?" Kunzite asked.
"Well for instance…one time I came back to my office to find Mercury looking through my private files. As you know, my files contain details for key strategic installations all over the kingdom. Additionally, I looked into Mercury's more recent examinations on our kingdom's central library. She was looking into all the material we had on human anatomy. That's just the type of information the Moon Kingdom might need for a biological weapon that turns humans into monsters."
"But you have no proof that's why Mercury was looking into that information?"
Zoisite shook his head, mentally noting how Mercury's research into human anatomy could've also been done for other reasons. "I don't, but I do believe that it's reason enough to at least be suspicious of the Moon Kingdom. Plus, you have to admit that Princess Beryl makes some compelling arguments."
"I don't believe this!" Nephrite protested. "Zoisite, I don't know what kind of experiences you've had working with Mercury, but Sailor Jupiter and I have fought alongside one another against those things that our people have been turning into, and she's been even more appalled that we've had to kill innocent civilians than I have been! Kunzite, you've had the same experiences with Sailor Venus, have you not?"
Kunzite tented his hands on his desk and nodded. "I have. And I do find it very difficult to believe that she and her people could be behind whatever's creating these monsters. I also have difficulty believing these claims of Princess Beryl that the Moon Kingdom has been spying on us, or even that they think they're superior to us."
"I don't," Jadeite interjected. "From the way that Sailor Mars has tended to act around me, she definitely thinks she's superior. More than once she's called me a savage barbarian."
"Maybe you just have a talent for getting on her bad side," Nephrite argued. "That mouth of yours has gotten you into trouble with the ladies more than once."
"Kunzite, you must admit that recent negotiations with the Moon Kingdom have been a little strained as of late," Zoisite interjected as he rose from his chair. "Plus you're all overlooking one simple fact. Technologically, the Moon Kingdom is far superior than we are. It's unfortunately not uncommon for people to think of those not as advanced as they are as inferior. The rulers of the Moon Kingdom seem to view themselves as the divinely appointed protectors of our world, and thus likely think we're incapable of taking care of ourselves."
"That's why they probably spy on us and think they can tell our rulers what we can and can't do," Jadeite added. "Just as Princess Beryl says."
Kunzite let out a heavy sigh. "What do you think we should do?"
"For now, I say we cut ties with the Moon Kingdom," Zoisite recommended. "At least until we can truly determine whether or not they're our enemy."
"I agree with Zoisite. Until we can figure out we can't trust them, we shouldn't let them near us," Jadeite declared.
"You two do realize what that would mean though. It would mean that our prince would have to end his little fling with Princess Serenity," Nephrite pointed out.
"That relationship had been doomed from the start," Zoisite pointed out. "Even if none of this had happened, a marriage between our Prince and Princess Serenity would never have been allowed."
At last, Kunzite reached a decision and rose from his chair. "Until we truly determine whether or not the Moon Kingdom is actually an enemy, we should cut all ties with them. Come, let's go tell the Prince."
With that, the four of them left Kunzite's office. A few minutes later they found Endymion in the palace garden. The prince noticed the serious expression on each of their faces as they approached.
"Kunzite, everyone, what's wrong?" Endymion asked.
"My prince…I'm afraid we can no longer permit you to see Princess Serenity," Kunzite spoke.
Endymion's expression became just as serious as that of his guards, but the fire of anger burned in his eyes. "And just what is the meaning behind this decision?"
"Prince, the fact is the Moon Kingdom now seems to be an enemy," Zoisite explained as he stepped forward. "If that is truly the case, then it would clearly be inappropriate for you and Princess Serenity to keep seeing each other."
"And just what evidence do you have that the Moon Kingdom is our enemy?"
"Sire, it's totally obvious that the Moon Kingdom sees us as lower than dogs!" Jadeite cut in. "We're tired of them ordering us around and spying on us!"
"And since when have you been ordered around and spied upon?" Endymion asked forcefully, causing all the Shitennou to flinch. "Just whose words are you speaking? Yours, or that repugnant creature's?"
None of them could bring themselves to respond. It was clear that Endymion wasn't going to listen to anything based on Beryl's accusations about the Moon Kingdom, and they all felt a bit foolish for even bringing it up.
Endymion turned away from the four and composed himself. "I will not be swayed by Beryl's fear-mongering, and I'm greatly disappointed that the four of you were. I will keep seeing Serenity despite anyone's objections. If the four of you still have a problem with that, then you're all free to resign as my protectors."
With that, Endymion marched away back into the palace. The four guards remained rooted where they were, feeling rather ashamed of themselves.
"Well that went beautifully," Nephrite sarcastically declared. "I'm so glad I went along with all of you on this."
"Clearly we underestimated how badly the Prince would react to our decision," Zoisite observed.
Kunzite sighed and nodded. "I myself once said that it would be impossible for us to keep the Prince from seeing Princess Serenity."
"So what do we do now?" Jadeite asked.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I need some time alone to think," Kunzite decided as he began to walk away. "I'm going to my homeland and shall be back by morning. Keep an eye on things while I'm gone."
The other three Shitennou watched as Kunzite turned on his heel and left in the opposite direction from the prince.
"Now what?" Jadeite asked.
"I'm going to try and find more evidence that either confirms or disproves Beryl's accusations," Zoisite answered. He then looked straight at Nephrite. "Just like you and Kunzite, I truly don't want to believe that the Moon Kingdom might now be an enemy, but we need to find proof that what Baryl's been saying is nothing more than a lie. That's what I'll be working on."
Zoisite had gone to his personal laboratory in the palace rather than his office. He found his lab was the best place for him to think, and he had some serious thinking to do. Zoisite had been telling the truth when he told Nephrite he didn't want to believe the Moon Kingdom could be an enemy. Later on he had regretted losing his temper with Mercury when he caught her in his office that night. His anger had been more because of how Mercury had suddenly broken off contact with him. Had he been more rational and allowed Mercury to explain herself, it might've turned out Mercury had a very reasonable and innocent reason for her act of espionage…though chances are he would've had a hard time believing it.
"Working late, aren't you?" a familiar voice asked.
Zoisite looked up from the desk he was sitting at to see Mercury walking into the light. He noticed though that was something a little strange about the blunette; something about her eyes and the expression on her face.
"Sorry to disturb you," Mercury continued as she came over.
"What're you doing here Mercury?" Zoisite asked. "Did you come to try and explain again why you were looking through my files the other night?"
Mercury paused and looked confused for a moment, but then began to chuckle. "Oh, that? Just a little misunderstanding."
"I'd say that's an understatement. You were looking through critical documents. The information those files contain could be used to topple the kingdom."
Mercury again snickered as she came behind Zoisite's chair and ran her fingers over his shoulder. "Don't be silly. I wasn't looking through your files to find a way to cripple your precious kingdom."
"And you really expect me to just believe that?"
"Of course! Because," and at this point Zoisite felt a cold stabbing sensation in his chest as Mercury bent in to whisper in his ear. "I don't need your files to topple your kingdom. You humans are as easy to exterminate as insects."
Zoisite looked down and saw a cold icicle with mist coming off it had been stabbed into his heart like a dagger, and Mercury's gloved hand was around the stump end that served as its handle.
Mercury pulled her hand away and came back around to the front of Zoisite's desk. "The time of humanity's rule of Earth has come to an end. From this point on we shall be your planet's masters, and it all starts with the death of you and your fellow generals. Once you're out of the way, your world will be ours for the taking."
With those words, Mercury began to cackle with delight as she walked back into the darkness of the lab. Zoisite lifted an arm to reach out to her, but soon his entire world went black.
Zoisite eventually came back to consciousness to find a woman standing over him. She had long wavy red hair, red eyes, and wore a black cloak with a long black dress. Her skin was incredibly pale and her ears had a slight point to them.
It took Zoisite a moment to realize who he was looking at. "Princess Beryl? Is that you?"
Beryl nodded. "I came here to speak with the king and queen about the Moon Kingdom threat, and on my way here I saw you on the brink of death."
Zoisite looked down and saw the icicle still sticking out of his chest. "I fear…nothing can be done for me. You were right along…about the Moon Kingdom. They're planning to take over."
"Not if we can help it," Beryl told him as she reached into a pocket on the inside of her cloak. The redhead then presented Zoisite with a test tube containing some sort of black liquid. "This potion of mine can save your life and make you at least ten times more powerful than you were before. You'll have more than enough power to crush those traitorous Sailor Guardians!"
With nothing to lose, Zoisite took the vile of potion from Beryl. The redhead pulled the icicle from Zoisite's chest as he drank the vile-tasting black liquid. As soon as he swallowed the concoction, Zoisite's entire body became wracked with incredible pain. The pain soon passed though, and the fatal wound he had sustained from the icicle had healed in a matter of seconds. At the same time though, Zoisite realized there was something fundamentally wrong, like his body was no longer his own. Suddenly the memory of Mercury stabbing him the chest played back in his mind and Zoisite saw what had really happened.
"I thought something was off!" Zoisite declared as he rose from his chair, glaring at Beryl. "Mercury wasn't acting like herself. It was you who stabbed me, not her!"
Beryl chuckled. "How right you are, but it's too late for you to do anything about it now. The moment my potion passed your lips you became mine! Your body, your heart and your will now only exist to serve me!"
The wicked redhead snapped her fingers and Zoisite was instantly overcome with a searing pain. In an instant he had totally forgotten the truth about who had really stabbed him.
"As of this moment you are now a general of my Dark Kingdom!" Beryl declared as Zoisite's pain subsided. "And my first command is to help me lead an assault against the Moon Kingdom!"
Zoisite kneeled before Beryl and bowed his head. "I am but a slave to your will, Queen Beryl. I will make sure your every wish becomes a reality."
The other three Shitennou had quickly fallen under Beryl's control as well, and in a short time the five led a massive army on a siege of the Moon Kingdom. Just before the attack, Mercury and the other three Sailor Guardians had managed to get both Endymion and Serenity back to the Moon Kingdom's palace to try and keep them both safe. Venus had decided they needed to protect Endymion not just for Serenity, but in the hopes he might somehow be able to restore his people to sanity. Total chaos had broken out the moment the army of the Dark Kingdom began its attack. The events of the battle that ensued all unfolded in what seemed like seconds.
Somehow Mercury had ended up in battle against Zoisite. It soon became clear to Mercury she was not facing the Zoisite she knew. The man she knew…the man she loved…could never be a party to such horrible acts of bloodshed like the ones occurring now. Beryl had clearly done something to his mind. During the battle Mercury had repeatedly tried appealing to Zoisite rationally, but so far all of her efforts had failed.
"Are you actually going to try and fight back, or is your strategy to try and talk me to death?" Zoisite asked as he advanced on Mercury with his sword pointed at her.
"Zoisite, please! You have to remember who you really are!" Mercury told him. "I don't know what Beryl's done to twist your mind, but she's using you!"
"For the last time, I will not listen to the words of a filthy Moon Kingdom citizen! My comrades and I have come here to exterminate you!"
Just then a little girl with blond hair came front around the corner of one of the flaming buildings near the palace. The child was in a desperate search for her mother.
Zoisite noticed the child and grinned. "Well what do you know? Another cockroach has crawled out of the woodwork. This pest will be an easy one for me to exterminate."
Horror dawned on Mercury as she realized what Zoisite was planning to do. "No…DON'T!"
Zoisite raised his sword and prepared to fire a crystal attack at the girl, but before he could attack Mercury launched a Shine Snow Illusion attack at him. The attack formed into several small icicles that pierced him in several spots in his chest like a barrage of bullets. Stunned, Zoisite collapsed to the ground like a fallen tree. Horrified, Mercury rushed over to Zoisite's side. His wounds were serious, and he was losing blood by the second.
Out of desperation, Mercury summoned her healing scepter to her hand. She began to channel all of her life energy into the scepter, and soon a ray of blue light shone from the top onto Zoisite. Unfortunately Zoisite's wounds were healing very slowly. The damage from her attack was too great. Even so, even after all of the horrible things he had done under Beryl's command, Mercury couldn't allow Zoisite to die.
She didn't know how much time had actually passed, but it felt to Mercury like the healing process was taking hours. It was working though. All of Zoisite's wounds had almost completely closed up. Yet at the same time, Mercury's consciousness was starting to fade out like a dying candle. She had to save Zoisite though, even if it cost her life.
Mercury poured every ounce of her life energy into the scepter, intensifying the strength of its healing beam. Finally all of Zoisite's wounds closed up and he regained consciousness. At the same time though, Mercury dropped her scepter and fell unconscious. Zoisite was totally confused as to why someone from the Moon Kingdom would heal his injuries. Then suddenly he heard a horrible scream from the steps of the Moon Palace.
Zoisite looked towards the palace steps and saw Princess Serenity watching in horror as Beryl stabbed Endymion through the chest. In that instant Zoisite came back to his senses and he realized the horror of what he had done. He rushed over to Mercury and attempted to shake her awake, but nothing he did could rouse her to consciousness. Suddenly a horrible thought occurred to Zoisite. As he reached for Mercury's wrist to take her pulse, he noticed she had been wearing the frog bracelet he had given her as a symbol of the unspoken love he had refused to openly admit. Seeing this bracelet was a revelation that made his recent actions all the more horrible. Zoisite took Mercury's pulse and prayed that she still had one, but just as he feared she was dead.
Mercury had given up her very life to save Zoisite's and for what? He certainly didn't deserve saving, not after everything he'd done…not after everything he tried to do. And now he had failed in his duty to protect the Prince. The woman he loved had given up her life for nothing, and with both Mercury and Endymion gone he had nothing left to live for. Zoisite glanced back towards the steps just in time to see Serenity impale herself with the same sword used to slay Endymion, and in that moment he knew what he had to do.
Zoisite looked and saw the girl from before watching him. "You should run away now. You won't want to see what's about to happen. Sorry for frightening you before."
The little girl nodded and ran off as fast as she could. Zoisite meanwhile lifted his sword, squeezed his eyes shut, and impaled himself through the chest. Pain filled his body, and very quickly his world went dark.
Zoisite gasped and shot up as he returned to the present. He saw Erica standing over him with her arms crossed.
Erica shook her head. "You can be very troublesome at times, you know that? I had to bring you back from the brink of death. Where's Ms. Ami."
It took a moment for Zoisite to fully recall what had happened. "Oh god! Reverend Jim took her. He used some sort of magic against us and captured her."
Erica lowered her arms and sighed. "Great! We have to assume he took her back to Innsmouth for the Deep Ones to use as breeding stock."
Zoisite groaned and put his hands over her eyes. "I failed her…again."
"Let me guess, you recovered more of your past life memories while you were out."
"I remembered the last of it…how it all went wrong. How I let Beryl control me…and how Ami gave up her life then to try and save my worthless soul. And now she's going to suffer a fate worse than death because I failed to protect her."
Erica let out another heavy sigh as he came over and grabbed Zoisite by the collar. "Forgive me in advance."
The pinkette then slapped Zoisite in the face four times. Zoisite was left completely stunned and confused.
"Quit feeling sorry for yourself!" Erica shouted as though she were a drill sergeant. "Okay, you screwed up royally in your past life! If you hadn't, your worthless ass wouldn't be stuck working for me! But you've gotten a second chance to make things right, and the only way you're going to do that is if you quit whining about how you screwed up and take some damn action! Now we know where Ami is and we still have a chance to save her! So get your damn act together and let's move out!"
Zoisite composed himself and got back to his feet. "You're right. I may have failed Ami in the past, but I can save her now! The only problem is I don't think I can do it alone. She is after all in the heart of enemy territory."
"Fortunately you have me as backup. I think it's time I finally reveal my true identity." Erica put a hand to her chest. "Eir Star Power MAKE-UP!"
A blinding ray of silver light came down from above and struck Erica, fading away moments later to reveal her in a new form. She had on a uniform similar to a Sailor Guardian's only it was more heavily armored. A plate of silver armor covered the front of her torso, and on her chest was a pink bow with a heart-shaped crystalline broach in the center. A short pink skirt hung down around her waist, and two pieces of golden armor covered her shoulders. On her legs she wore a pair of knee-high silver boots, and a pair of elbow-high silver gloves covered her hands. The pinkette had a white tiara covering her forehead with a pair of white metal wings on the sides of her head, and covering her eyes was a pair of rectangular pink goggles similar to the ones Sailor Mercury used.
"Guided by the Eir Moon of Planet Folkvangr, I am Sailor Eir!" the pinkette announced as she did a dramatic pose.
"You're a Sailor Guardian?" a surprised Zoisite asked. "Like Ami and her friends?"
"Correct, only I come from a faraway world in the Yggdrasil System," Sailor Eir explained. "I am part of a team known as the Sailor Valkyries, one of the oldest Sailor Guardian teams in the galaxy. My comrades and I came to this planet on a mission to stop the Great Old Ones from rising…if we can."
"Well, right now Ami needs our help. We can worry about stopping the Old Ones another time."
Eir nodded. "Right you are! Let's move out!"
Ami finally awoke to discover she was in some sort of underground dungeon. She recognized the stone chamber as one of the rooms of the Innsmouth underground. Ami also realized her arms were bound above her head by thick metal chains, and that she had on a short white dress that was more like a toga and nothing else.
"Welcome back," a familiar voice spoke. Ami looked and saw Irene leaning in a corner of the room with her arms crossed. "I wouldn't bother trying to transform into that superhero alter ego of yours or anything. Reverend Jim says those chains should dampen whatever powers you have."
"Where's Satoru?" Ami asked.
"Dead probably. Jim hit him with a pretty nasty-looking blast after he knocked you out. Anyway, you should stop worrying about him and get ready. In just a few hours we're going to hand you over to one of the Deep Ones. Right now all of the fertile males here are working their way through the virgin members of my sorority. It'll take them a while. In the meantime, make yourself comfortable." Irene began to head for the door and then stopped. "By the way, just before you woke up I injected you with a little aphrodisiac to get you in the mood. It should kick in here in a couple hours or so. Later!"
Irene finally left the cell. Tears came to Ami's eyes as she recalled what Irene had said about Satoru probably being dead. She couldn't believe it, especially not after she had just confessed her feelings to him. Of course Ami felt like she didn't deserve Satoru after having recalled the last of her past life memories. She had pushed him away and then made things worse between them by going through his private files. It was her fault Satoru had ended up as one of Beryl's minions, and now as punishment, it looked as though she was never going to see him again.
Author's Note: Those of you who've read my previous three stories in this series probably recall seeing the meeting scene with the Shitennou happening in each one, but from different points of view. Initially I thought about leaving that scene out of this story because I was afraid it might make things a little too repetitive, but in the end I decided that leaving it out completely would just be phoning it in. To any of those reading who do think it was repetative to use that scene for a fourth time though, I apologize.
Please review and let me know what you think.