Walking Towards Light: Ami Redux
Act 2: A Journey of 6000 Miles
Chapter 11: Somewhere in Tokyo - wherein we follow up on Rei, Usagi and Makoto back home in Tokyo. Oh the places they'll go.
Several Hours ago in Tokyo, at Narita International Airport
Rei stood outside the airport gates until Minako was out of sight. Ami was already long gone, but Minako had lingered back until the last possible moment.
She was the only one of the Senshi that came to see them off. Makoto had issues with airports and Ami, so it didn't seem fair to ask her to come. Usagi had wanted to be here, but Ami insisted that she not come say goodbye for some reason. That left Rei to see them off by herself. It was a lonely feeling watching Minako walk away. After last night, Rei wished she was headed off to Europe as well. Something about an international life still appealed to her, even if her roots were firmly here in Japan.
Her temple was a crime scene at the moment. 5 total strangers attacked in the middle of the night. 3 of them were in the hospital now. The 4th and 5th, who were the only ones fit for police questioning, had no answers. One thought he was just having a violent nightmare. He had no idea how he got to the temple. The other thought he was taking part in a judo tournament right up until the point he woke up in an ambulance.
The police could make no sense of their testimony and were shocked when Rei declined to press any charges.
It wasn't that Rei was the particularly forgiving type, it was just that she knew something the police didn't.
This was the work of a youma.
The quick fire reading she had done last night didn't lead to anything conclusive. Rei saw the dark energy signature youma involvement easily enough, but its exact location was constantly shifting. It was impossible to locate. A call to Michiru revealed that she had the same results in the Aqua Mirror – except that she felt the energy of 3 more youma in the city on top of the one Rei had felt.
Rei noted with more than a little annoyance that Michiru's precognition proved to be more accurate once again.
Last night, a youma violated her home, and she hadn't seen it coming. On top of that, Minako was away in another country for who knows how long. Rei knew she had to go, but the timing was awful.
All together, that left Rei feeling somewhat vulnerable. She hated that feeling. At least Minako promised to check in from London when she got there. Better yet, she promised to pass on any details from the police investigation regarding the attack at the temple. Rei knew that she would keep her word.
On that thought, she contacted Usagi and Makoto and called a senshi meeting. Just like old times. It was a shame they couldn't hold the meeting at any of the usual places. Her house was out of the question and the Fruit Parlour Crown was awkward, given that it was managed by Makoto's ex-girlfriend.
In the end, they all agreed to just meet at the playground near the ice cream stand that Usagi liked. Rei wasn't sure why anyone would build a playground under an overpass, but it was always conveniently deserted. She didn't like it, but there it was. Neutral ground.
She felt somewhat uneasy about it all the same. It was rare for Rei to be so sentimental, but she found comfort in familiar places. She liked to think the spirits in those places knew and accepted her already. To her, going somewhere new was like meeting strangers. Exciting and full of opportunities, but not something she wanted when she was already feeling overwhelmed.
Rei grit her teeth. The feeling of being off-centre was really starting to piss her off. She knew from experience that the best way for her to get her edge back was to hunt down that damn youma for some payback.
Rei looked forward to the upcoming battle.
When psychic powers couldn't pinpoint the location of the youma, the Senshi went back to good old fashioned legwork.
The only real lead they had was the 5 assailants at the temple. Minako called and leaked the background checks the police had done. None of them seemed to know each other, nor did they seem to be lying about anything. The only common thread was that all 5 men were practicing martial artists. The last thing each of them remembered was being at their gym. It wasn't much of a lead, seeing as they all went to different dojos in completely different parts of the city, but it was better than nothing.
The only thing to do was to check into each gym individually.
For the purposes of convenience/convertible, Haruka and Michiru took the 3 furthest from Juuban. Rei, Makoto and Usagi could handle the other two via the joys of public transportation.
The first gym yielded nothing. It was a boxing gym full of gross sweaty alpha males. No dark energy, no enemies. The most interesting thing there was the guy that wouldn't stop hitting on Usagi. He wound up getting KO'd by a pissed off and cranky Makoto. Rei sighed. She did not like men.
The second gym was different. It was eerily quiet and Rei felt the dark energy even from the outside. Usagi made a quick call to Haruka and Michiru to let them know about the situation. Then the three Senshi walked in to investigate.
The moment the door closed behind them, Rei knew something was horribly wrong. Suddenly, there was only darkness. Reality ceased to exist.
There was absolutely nothing inside the building. Absolutely nothing. Less than nothing. It was a void. Space itself didn't seem to exist
"Rei? Mako?"
Usagi's voice rang out of the nowhere, calling to her friends.
"I'm here! Where are you?"
Makoto's voice was shaky. Just on the edge of hyper ventilating. Rei was glad she wasn't the only one experiencing this void. Her heart was beating fast and it was a struggle to keep from panicking herself. If there was a hell, this was exactly what she imagined it would be. Except that Usagi wouldn't be here.
"Usagi!"
Rei transformed as called out into the darkness looking for Usagi. They had to find her. Something wicked this way comes...
An unexpected fourth voice came out of the mist.
"Where...where do you fear most? Where?"
The void slowly began to take form. It grew bitterly cold. A wind whipped up, snow blew in her face until Mars could barely see Jupiter standing directly beside her. Not that it mattered. Mars didn't need to see to know where she was. She could feel it.
This was a familiar place. One never forgets their first death.
D-Point.
Cold! Cold! Cold! Cold! Cold!
When did everything turn into snow? Usagi's eyes lit up. She could see Rei and Makoto in the distance. She had been so scared just now when she thought she was alone.
Wherever here was...
Usagi looked around. No. She had to be dreaming. This couldn't be real.
This couldn't be D-point.
"USAGI-CHAN!"
"USAGI!"
Her friends. They were calling for her. They were coming for her.
Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter ran up beside her. Jupiter to her left, Mars to her right. They stood guard and looked around for an enemy to fight.
Usagi transformed and joined the fight belatedly.
This was getting scary. It was too quiet. There was no enemy here. There was nothing to fight but the cold. There was nothing to do but relive old memories.
Jupiter to her left, again dangling from a tower of ice. Mars, to her right, sprawled out lifelessly on top of a frozen mound. The images were seared into her brain. In her nightmares. Get out. Get out.
No. Not again. Never again.
The seconds seemed to tick by like hours.
"Hello? Is there anyone here?"
Sailor Moon called out into the wasteland, hoping to talk to whatever was causing this situation. Things didn't have to end the same way twice. They would all be ok and go home safely tonight.
Mars suddenly shoved her to the ground for no reason at all.
"Over there! I can see it! To your right!"
Jupiter was shouting too. Sailor Moon looked to her right. There was nothing there but Mars.
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"
Jupiter shot her lighting ball. It was heading straight for Mars.
Sailor Moon fully expected Mars to dodge the attack. She was always so graceful and daring in battle. She never ducked until the last second.
Something was wrong this time. Mars didn't react at all until the lighting crashed into her. Her scream of pain, caused by Jupiter, was so wrong. This shouldn't be happening. Jupiter would never hurt Mars on purpose. This had to be a trick.
"Jupiter! Stop! What are you doing?"
"The youma! It's right there!"
"Stop! You're seeing things! That's Mars!"
"No! Sailor Moon! I WON'T LET YOU TOUCH HER! JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION! "
Leaves of lightning flew at Mars. There was no way she could dodge them all. Usagi did the only thing she could. She threw herself on top of Mars, hoping to protect her from the worst.
The impact never came.
Jupiter screamed as she saw Sailor Moon jump in front of her attack. The lighting flew off in random directions. No trick in the world could make her hurt Sailor Moon.
A small explosion and an inhuman noise sounded above them. Looks like Jupiter managed to hit something accidentally with that electrical explosion.
A youma finally flickered into view. It was tall one, with a weird antenna in the middle of its face. It was also hurt now, and angry. It was very angry.
"Where are you aiming? Where am I? WHEERRRE?"
The youma's mocking voice rang out as it disappeared again.
Pillars of ice shot out of the ground. Mars and Jupiter were caught off guard. They were being crushed. It was real this time. Their screams were real.
No! She had to stop this! She swore to never let this happen again.
She was Sailor Moon. She was Super Sailor Moon. She was older, stronger, and wiser. She had grown up so much since the first time she was here.
It didn't matter what the situation was. She was going to save Rei and Makoto. They were important to her, and they were important to people she cared about. Minako and Ami needed people to come home to. Minako needed to run towards Rei at the airport and knock her down with a big kiss. Ami had to get better and learn to love again. They should all have the happiness in life that Usagi dreamed of.
Everyone was important to her. This wasn't about power. This wasn't about destroying a youma. This was about saving her friends. It didn't matter where the youma was at all. Nothing mattered except for the people she cared about.
She focused on the beautiful dreams she had for her friends as she called out her power.
"MOON GORGEOUS...MEDITATION!"
The kaleidoscopic power eliminated everything in the room. It blew D-Point away and pushed back the void. Reality returned to normal. The senshi found themselves in an empty gym in Tokyo again. Wherever it was, they heard the youma's final cry as it disintegrated.
"WHEEEEEEERRRREEE?"
A.N.
We are officially past the halfway point of this story dear readers! Good to see you here. Greatly appreciated. *bows to you all*
Thank you to reviewer Awesomesauce! You're awesomesauce! I started writing this story with the intention to really deconstruct the 'happily ever after' I wedged into the prequel of this story 8 years ago. It took a while, but I am proud to be able to take the long way around in Ami's journey to recovery. Thank you for reading!
Hello and goodbye to the second Monster of the Day to appear in this story! Goodbye youma "Where"! Your powers were vaguely defined, and your death shall move the plot forward. RIP wherever you are.
Also, my first and only Usagi POV. I love her, but have a hard time getting into her headspace deep enough to write it. Kudos to all you Usagi writers out there.
Sidenote: To actually define youma Where's powers...I think of it as being something like the DD girls illusion stone back in the North Pole. Where has the ability to project environmental/location based illusions that actually pack a physical punch. Where also has limited psychic ability to scan minds to find locations to imitate, and the ability to project different illusions to a number of people simultaneously.
Up next: Chapter 12! We are heading back to round out the Ami and Minako travelogue with a sidetrip to Zurich.