Double Jeopardy

Chapter 5: Broken Rules

She wasn't sure if her eyes were open or not because it was so dark. All Ami could see was a black so deep that it seemed to penetrate her very mind. The silence was deafening. Her wrists hurt and she couldn't feel her feet on the ground, which probably meant she was hanging from something by her wrists. It seemed as if that was her entire world. It was maddening for her not to be able to tell anything about her surroundings. For a moment she wondered if she was dead.

Suddenly, out of the darkness, she heard footsteps, then felt something small and cold being pasted to the back of her neck and near the bottom of both her legs. Then she heard a voice. A voice so familiar it sounded like her own mind speaking outside her head.

"Such a lonely soul." The voice continued, "I just spent an entire day in your life. How sad you must be, always seeing that which you want more than anything else, just out of reach your reach. So close to you that you can brush the very tips of your fingers on it, but you can't get a hold of it. You have my sympathies. Why, it must be maddening to be you." As if she found the thought amusing, the voice laughed quietly at the last words it spoke.

Ami felt afraid and more than a little confused as she asked, "Who is there?"

The voice roared with laughter for a moment as if the question were hilariously amusing. Then it answered, "Put simply? You." Then sounding disgusted, and yet also pitying her from the darkness, "Yet, we are different. You see unlike you, I have the one thing you ever wanted. Love. More specifically, her love."

Then Ami heard a high-pitched whine followed by a sharp pain coursing through her body. It seemed to be everywhere at once, flowing through her muscles, causing them to twitch both involuntarily and in pain. She could actually feel the shape of her heart, lungs, and brain, as well as other internal organs from the intensity of it. It took her a moment to realize she was being electrocuted! She screamed in agony, her voice being so heavily distorted by the electricity traveling up and down her throat that it almost made her sound like a tire screeching on pavement. Just as suddenly as the experience started it stopped without warning leaving her able only to groan in agony.

A hand reached out and grabbed her chin roughly. "That my friend, is the closest you will ever get to feeling her wrapped around your body." Then she felt another hand grab her throat and squeeze hard enough for her not to be able to breathe as the eerie voice growled, "I would be doing you a favor by killing you now. Putting you out of your misery, you might say." Then the hand crushing her throat pulled away allowing her to breathe, which she did with a loud gasp, feeling fresh cold air rush back into her lungs.

Ami wasn't sure if it was from the electricity or because her tormentor simply wasn't being clear enough, but she still felt confused. She knew this had to have a purpose so she asked weakly, "What do you want from me?"

The hand came back again, this time slapping her sharply as her own voice answered her back, sighing as if disappointed. "To help you understand just how pathetic you truly are. To make you see yourself how you really are deep down. Most importantly, to make you realize just how weak and powerless you actually are."

"For example, this is power." As the pain renewed itself through Ami's body, the voice continued as if lecturing her on physics. "Ten thousand volts of electricity coursing through your small, withering, pathetic frame of a body. A normal human would have died after seconds, but we both know that you are not normal. The fact that you are still alive shows that you have some power, however insignificant it might be. The fact that you're in pain, however, shows that I have far more power over you at the moment. As long as we are on the subject of power, let us discuss the power of love. Have you ever been in love, Ami?"

The pain Ami felt stopped again, but she could still feel her body convulsing on its own from the electricity still surging through her. After a few more moments of silence, Ami realized her torturer was waiting for an answer. Once she was able to, Ami choked out, "No."

The voice laughed out, shouting at the same time, "Wrong answer!" Ami cringed, expecting more electricity to shoot through her. To her surprise, it didn't. Instead the mysterious voice said,"You love her."

Then, as if letting Ami in on a little secret, her tormentor whispered in her ear much closer than Ami was comfortable with, "Makoto Kino. You long for her attention, her . . . affection. Her touch. Her kiss, and most of all, you long for her love."

Assuming a lecturing tone again the voice continued, "Unlike me, You do not have it. I think I know why. The answer is as simple to you as how gravity works. You are afraid. Not of love, or even rejection. No no, that's not it. You, my poor little weak soul, are afraid of breaking the rules. You are afraid of what people will think. Why for example, what would your mother say if she knew?"

Touching Ami's cheek gently as if to wipe away a tear, her 'instructor' said, "Poor little soul. Your world would consider you as disgusting as vomit in a trash can for your simple desire to be loved by someone you are close to. Despite even how you feel about her, you see yourself as filthy, simply because of what you know are your true thoughts. This makes you feel as if you are garbage. Trash that should have been disposed of long ago. Thus, this robs you of a wonderful power you will never experience."

Ami wasn't able to stop the small whimper of sadness from leaving her lips. Her captor couldn't have hurt her more if she had physically punched her in her stomach.

"I shall do you a favor. A single act of kindness for such a wretched, sad, pathetic soul, you might say. I will throw the switch again letting you experience the closest you will ever come to intimacy with her. True power. Try to remember that through your suffering for the rest of your days as you long for her. Remember. It was I that did you this favor."

Once again, Ami felt the jolt of electricity through her body. This time, the pain actually felt worse. The voltage was up so high that despite being blindfolded she could see the electricity arching in front of her eyes as she opened her mouth to scream.

It took her several seconds to realize that she was sitting up in bed screaming at the top of her lungs, and that all that was wrapping around her now were her sweat-soaked blankets. The nightmare was so vivid that despite being awake, she swore she could still feel the electricity surging through her. The feeling of terror was real enough though, causing her to hyperventilate. Even though she knew where she was and knew she was safe, she still felt the terror of the dream gripping her heart.

She was home in bed, right where Makoto had left her that afternoon when she came home from the hospital. As she breathed raggedly, it sunk in slowly that Artemis and Minako were sitting next to her bed with looks of concern on their faces. Still breathing heavily and clutching her chest for a moment almost able to feel her heart's rapid beating, Ami spoke up before her roommates could say anything. "I'm okay! I'm okay! It was just a dream . . . just a dream."

Ami held her head in her hands, trying to forget the horrible nightmare. Even though she knew Minako and Artemis couldn't know what she was dreaming about, she didn't want to admit that it was more than a dream. A dream implied it had never happened, and that wasn't the case. It was a night terror.

The small white cat jumped onto the side of the bed and looked up at Ami. "We heard you screaming so we came in to check on you. I thought you were being attacked or something. Must have been one heck of a convincing dream. It took me and Minako nearly five minutes to get you to stop screaming and wake up."

Ami's blond friend sat down on the other side of the bed and wrapped her arms around her. "Relax, Ami. It's ok now. You're safe."

Ami couldn't help but think to herself still feeling very real fear, 'Like hell, it is!' Instead of voicing her thoughts though, she pushed Minako away, got up, padded across the room to her coat hanging on the back of her desk chair and put it on over her pajamas as she said, "I am going to go get some fresh air." Then she grabbed her glasses off the computer desk and started to leave the room.

"It's two in the morning, Ami ... maybe you should try going back to sleep?", asked Minako. When Ami started walking down the hall without answering, Minako and Artemis got up to follow her.

Ami reached for the doorknob, but stopped when she realized she was being followed. Sounding uncharacteristically impatient she said, "I would very much rather be alone if it is all the same with the two of you." Then, less irritated and trying to make them understand, she said, "I just have some things I need to think about. I will be alright." With that, she opened the door and left the apartment leaving her two friends to stare at the door as it closed behind her.

Artemis looked up at his long-time companion, twitching his ears nervously. "I don't know about you, but I'm worried about her."

"I know." Minako kept staring at the door a few more seconds then said, "We all are."

The door to the roof of her apartment building flew open as Ami walked outside, stretching her arms. She looked up at the full moon for a while wanting it to answer the questions racing through her mind. When it didn't, she gave it a few more seconds of a look that said she blamed it for everything that was happening. Then she walked over to the edge of the roof, leaning over the concrete barrier to look over the side. On a clear night one could see the city skyline of Tokyo for miles in every direction, but Ami's attention wasn't on the beautiful scenery. She leaned over the waist-high concrete wall, looking down at the street.

As she looked at the hard unfeeling pavement below, a thought crossed her mind. Since no one was around, she voiced them out loud. "I could end it all right now."

She pushed down on the barrier slightly with her hands, as if testing it to see if it could hold her weight, lifting herself up just a few inches for a moment.

Then she took a deep breath. "No more worrying about being alone for a thousand years. No more defending a world that barely knows it is in any danger all the time or that we even we exist. No more stressing about Makoto, or agonizing over if things will work with Pie Lover - or any other woman, for that matter. No more dealing with my insecurities. No more night terrors. Best of all," she said last, the thought almost bringing a smile to her face, "No more pain of any kind. I can just rest and let history take its course without me."

After staring down at the ground below a few more moments, she gave the wall another testing push, lifting herself just a little farther up this time.

A gloved hand came out of nowhere and gently pushed down on her shoulder, putting Ami's feet back on the solid roof. "You left out the pain your absence would cause others who care about you if you did, though." Setsuna, dressed in the black and white Guardian uniform of Sailor Pluto, her long dark green almost black hair flowing in the wind added quietly, "So for my own selfish reasons, I'd just as soon you didn't."

Ami stared out over the edge, this time focusing on the horizon. "You know I won't do it anyway." Giving herself a sad smile, the smaller woman added, "It would be too easy." Then feeling tears run down her face, she finished, "So easy that its unimaginably tempting, Setsuna."

The Guardian of time gently pulled Ami away from the barrier. "I know it hurts now, but if you give it time, you will see that the universe will unfold as it should. You won't hurt forever." Smiling as she stood behind Ami, Pluto said, "You'll find that the pain might even be worth it to experience the joys your life will eventually bring you, and you'll appreciate them that much more because of how you feel right now."

Ami wasn't sure whether to be angry with Sailor Pluto for not telling her more about her future, or grateful for the small tidbit she had revealed. Somehow, knowing that helped the aching pain in Ami's spirit, if only a little.

She continued to search the horizon for answers and said, "Makoto has agreed to tell the others that I am going to take a bit to sort things out. So she will inform you all of what I learned about our new adversaries during my … stay with them. I feel guilty though, almost like I'm abandoning them. I know it is only temporary, but I ..."

As Ami became lost in her own thoughts, Setsuna said reassuringly, "You don't need my permission. Your reasons for needing a bit of time with a little less stress are more than acceptable enough. On top of that, you were able to make some use out of what must have been a terrifying situation by getting valuable information about your captors. When you're ready to help out again, we will accept you with open arms. We will also be here for you if you need us, just as I know you will be here for us if we need you. I just ask that you keep one more thing in mind while you sort through things."

Ami looked up at her, waiting for her to continue. Setsuna looked out at the city skyline, then said quietly, "Don't fear or deny yourself your destiny. No matter what."

"Where's Ami, anyway?", Hotaru asked out loud to whoever would answer her question.

Makoto had just finished telling the others of her new role as owner at her restaurant. Then she made a comment about wishing Ami was here after saying it, which led Hotaru to ask her question. All of the Guardians besides Ami that is, had gathered in Rei's room for a meeting to discuss what they knew and should do about their new threat. Since a few in the group hadn't been informed of Ami's decision, Hotaru's question was a good one.

Makoto opened her mouth to answer, but was beat to it by Minako. "She's not coming."

Hotaru, Michiru, Haruka, Rei, and Usagi all had the same comment. A very surprised "What?" at the same time.

'The question and answer session of the meeting is going to start early today', was Rei's thought. So she asked, "What do you mean she's not coming? She's the one who has had the most contact with our new threat!" No one on the team wanted to refer to the Sekkou as their doubles, or admit that they had anything in common even though it was obvious. "Plus, she's our strategist! This is like practicing Tai Chi while missing a leg! It's...It's..." Rei looked at the others in the group, trying to think of a way to continue her tirade.

Haruka mumbled, "It's stupid that's what it is."

Makoto cut off Usagi as she said, "She's not coming because I told her not to." The others now turned their attention to her.

Usagi looked at Makoto, confused, and asked the obvious question. "Why would you do that, Makoto? Ami hasn't missed a meeting since … the beginning."

Taking a deep breath, Makoto said, "Because she is under a lot of ... psychological stress at the moment. Her ordeal was extremely traumatic on her. So while she comes to terms with what she went through, she's taking a break from her duties as a Sailor Guardian. She told me what she wants to say during this meeting, so she doesn't need to be here anyway. So, think of her as being in reserve for the time being."

Minako nodded in agreement.

Then Makoto said, "And because her mother sorta ... asked me to suggest it to her."

Minako nodded again, then froze with her eyes wide open once it sunk in what Makoto had said.

Everyone else in the group had their eyes and mouths wide open except Setsuna, though the comment even got a reaction out of her as she raised one eyebrow and leaned forward, waiting for Makoto to continue.

Michiru broke the silence saying, "What do you mean, she asked you to?" After she said that, everyone else decided to speak their minds at once.

"What?! Did Ami just outright tell her everything?", Rei nearly screamed.

"Oh, my god..." spoke Minako, almost in a whisper.

Haruka yelled out, "You're kidding, right?"

Hotaru shouted at Rei, "Ami would never do such a thing!"

Setsuna smiled as she said, "Now, that is interesting."

Usagi just stammered, "Bu...bu...bu..."

Despite being the tallest one in the room, Makoto suddenly felt about the size of an ant. No, an ant would have been taller. Feeling angry for being forced into a corner she screamed, "Quiet!"

Once everyone quieted down she said, "She knows. Apparently, she's known since nearly the beginning. The only reason she brought it up was because Ami wound up in the hospital and her mom was concerned. She just asks that we make sure she isn't hurt again when she returns. I know none of us can guarantee that, but I promised I would do my best. Ami doesn't know, and I also agreed to keep that from her at least as long as possible." Then she added, "So, yeah, She knows. I felt you all should know as well. That's really all there is to say about it. Now, can we please move on to the main reason we're here in the first place?"

Everyone else in the group looked at each other, then at Makoto and nodded in agreement.

Minako decided to move on to the next topic. "Ami will still be nearby, but she won't be participating in meetings, training, or anything else while she recovers. She also suggested to me this morning that we use Hotaru as our strategist until she is ready to rejoin us."

Hotaru, still trying to make sense of everything said at this point, was caught off guard as she fell under the scrutiny of the group. "Huh?! Why me?"

Minako smiled at the young girl then said, "Ami actually gave several reasons for it. The main two though, were that you are one of her best students, and because of what she heard about how you ended the hostilities during our last encounter. You showed a lot of potential in your decision making skills when you held their leader hostage in exchange for Ami and their departure."

Mostly for Makoto's benefit, Minako relayed the events leading up to how Hotaru managed to catch Dark Moon off guard. "We had decided that when we didn't find you outside, we would go in and have a look. None of us knew what we were dealing with or where they were. So Hotaru suggested that the outer Guardians surround the outside of the building and watch to make sure no one tried to come in and jump us, and if we needed them for us to give them a signal. When she saw the equipment fly through the wall, she decided that was a good time to come in. She climbed up the side of the building using an old access ladder to the roof and found a way to get onto the catwalks."

Smiling when Hotaru started to blush Minako said, "She found Dark Moon observing the battle from above and caught her off guard. You know the rest. You saved the day Hotaru, and only by using your head."

Haruka proudly placed a hand on Hotaru's shoulder then said, "So what are your first words of wisdom?", to which everyone cheered.

Hotaru jumped into her new roll, even if if awkwardly. "I shouldn't have done that. I should have found another way to get you all out without them seeing me. By doing that, I gave away the answer to the one question they wanted most. That being if there are more Guardians."

Rei said reassuringly, "They may know about you, but they can't know about your parents since they didn't see them."

Hotaru responded, "They're not stupid. Even if they aren't sure, they'll probably start looking for myself, Haruka papa, Michiru mama, and Setsuna mama where ever it is they come from, if they haven't already. Of course, they'll be right."

Usagi spoke, connecting the dots in her mind out loud. "So that means they are probably going to come back with a full group."

Michiru said. "They'll have to find them first, then train them. At least that buys us some time to come up with a plan, which means it's time to start talking about what we know about them so we can get to work on that."

Makoto unfolded the paper Ami had typed up for her this morning. It was actually the second draft, since the first had words in it Makoto couldn't pronounce. "Got it." she said as she started to read.

"The five we know of have different names from us. Usagi's double is named Serena, mine is named Lita, Ami's is Amy, Rei's is namedRay, and Minako's is named Mina. They call themselves Sekkou, as in spy or scout, instead of Guardians like we do. Ami feels this indicates they are perhaps scouts for an invasion of some sort and are currently in the information gathering stage."

Rei mumbled from her seat, "Oh, that's wonderful. If they come at us with all the planetary Guardians, that's fine. I'd even say that would be fair. But if they pull out, say, a Dark Sailor Galaxia, you guys can count me out, okay?"

Ignoring Rei, Makoto said, "They are essentially like us. Similar personalities, mannerisms, nearly exact appearance,planetary association and so forth. But ... they are psychotic. Twisted. And much more violent when provoked or angered, except for Serena who is strangely caring, and seams to detest the others' ways of doing things. She isn't, however, willing to betray or work against them, and tends to go along with what they decide even if she is repulsed by it. Their attacks are also more aggressive, and they will use any means necessary to accomplish a goal. They can pass for any of us, but because of differences possibly in culture and history, as well as their previously mentioned psychology, they can only do it for so long before it would become apparent to us."

She closed saying, "Ami thinks they are from a parallel dimension to our own. Her only suggestion at this time is that we come up with a 'code question' to ask each other if we think one of us isn't … who we seem to be. She also suggests we start fighting each other for practice again, and says that it is currently impossible for us to build a portal or otherwise come up with a way for us to bring the fight to them due to technological limitations and ..." She flipped the paper to make sure she hadn't missed anything before saying, That's it."

Hotaru said quietly from where she was, "I hate to say it, but that doesn't give us much to go on. We could have guessed some of that on our own ..."

"What if we make up a question, and they anticipate it, and know the answer?", was Usagi's question. Makoto blinked a few times, thinking to herself that it was a very good question since Ami apparently hadn't thought of an answer either due to her not writing anything about the possibility.

In a parallel dimension not too far from where the Sailor Guardians were now, the Sailor Sekkou were having a meeting of their own. Where the shrine the Guardians meet up at in their universe would be normally was instead a huge skyscraper building for office space run by Ray's family. They held their meetings in the top floor, far above Tokyo in a huge spacious office. Black marble tile, concrete and steel, a wonderful view . . . the building was everything the shrine wasn't.

As Serena was lifted off the ground several feet by a furious Lita, Ray screamed, "Just what the hell were you thinking when you were up there anyway?"

"I was . . . watching to see if anyone else was coming," she said weakly.

Amy tapped Lita on the shoulder gently. "It is not of any concern. We found out what we wanted to know at this point in the game. If she had not gotten caught like that, we might not have learned a thing."

Mina looked at Amy in disbelief. "How can you stand up for her right now? You know damn well the reason she was up there was because she didn't want to fight them. I'm surprised you're willing to tolerate such weakness." Then with a mix of fear and anger she asked, "Do you know what Beryl would do to us if she found out about her actions?"

Amy snapped back, "Almighty Queen Beryl only thinks she is in charge. She needs us, so it doesn't matter what she knows. Yes, it was weakness. For once, a weakness that serves our purposes, so I'm willing to tolerate it this time."

Sounding like a mad scientist Amy said, "The important thing is the plan worked! The dimensional portal works! Since mirror matter and dark matter is present in their universe with sufficient abundance then its gravitational effects can be detected! Because mirror matter is analogous to ordinary matter, and its striking similarity to dark ma-"

Dark Moon cut Amy's rambling off short, shouting, "You're a fool if you think she needs us for anything more than trophies!"

Lita shook Serena violently for a moment, even more infuriated with her for insulting her wife, saying, "Then next time you should be of more help during a fight if that's what you think!" She roared in frustration then threw their princess down on the unforgiving ground as hard as she could.

Ray spoke, changing the subject and sounding as if nothing had happened. "So what useful little tidbits did we manage to uncover?"

Amy flipped on her mini computer for a moment, referencing notes. "I found out a ton of information on our doppelgangers, for starters. Some of it may be useful, some of it may not. I'll print up reports of what I found out about them for all of you. Most of it is from observation, so it may only be things specific to a situation, may not be useful at all, or may be valuable. Time will tell."

More concerned she said, "Their history is for the most part, similar to our own. Obviously, they managed to defeat at least Beryl. That's probably why she fears them."

"Their technology is vastly inferior to ours. City layouts are flipped or scrambled beyond recognition, but many building designs and functions are similar. I've got so much data to analyze, its insane." She had nearly filled her data computer to its capacity and hadn't scratched the surface of their Internet.

"Culturally, there world is completely different. LGBT relationships for example, are still generally regarded as taboo, though at the moment it seems to be very slowly becoming acceptable. They still use a primitive economic system based on money. As another example, they drink alcohol, which is a chemical substance we use for medicinal and cleaning purposes only. It's great stuff, by the way." Amy stopped a moment while she gathered her thoughts. So much information, so little time to go over it all. "There isn't any way we are going to be able to try a swap for near as long as we did this time now that they are aware of us. Their culture is just too different and primitive for them not to notice. Eventually we would slip up. But we may be able to do it for a few hours, if necessary."

Then Amy added, going back to mad scientist mode, "On a scientific note, which no one else seems to be interested in hearing at the moment, dark matter makes up something like seventy-three percent of their galaxies in their universe. Since dark matter is extremely useful to-"

Mina nodded impatiently. "Yea, yea! Bla bla bla! What about the extra Guardians?"

Sighing, Amy said, "Some people have no appreciation for science. Well, I can take an educated guess, but it's going to take time to find them without tipping Beryl off as to what we are up to."

Rising from the floor, Serena said, "That's where I come in."

The other Sekkou looked at her a little doubtfully. "Beryl is going to listen to you tell her we want to awake four more Sailor Sekkou?", asked Ray. "She barely trusts us enough to let us live."

"She won't just let us. By the time I get through talking to her, she'll even help us do it!"