A Moon Never Grasped

by Punkdays

Serena made a deal with Galaxia, that if she swore her loyalty and her Star Seed to Galaxia, then all the dead on Earth would come back to life. Part of the deal was that no one would remember her. What will Serena do with having all the memories that her friends were forced to forget?

8. Chapter 7: A Soldier's Hell

A Moon Never Clasped

By:Danni Lynn

Chapter 7: A Soldier's Hell

~+!Ami!+~

Pale skin shone as an eerily pasty snow-cerulean under the faint light of the full moon that glowed through the cracks of the window curtains, shining onto the beige carpet, that now was drenched in a heavy, black liquid. Eyes open and rolled in the back of the head, revealing only the whites of them, stared pain struck into the darkness of the room, that was begin to reek with the smell of decay in the summer heat. The sound of cicadas ringing from outside became only white-noise as everything began to fade, except for the pleading of her mother's whines for death and the gunshots that had seemingly struck the little girl that stood like a silhouette in the middle of the room next to the heap of bodies.

Though, no wound actually injured her, she would forever be crippled, in her soul for as long as she walked among the Earth in body and in spirit. To be forever tortured by the sight of her beloveds' death. Silent tears fell upon the young child's cheeks with the one knowledge that her parents had been cruel enough to leave their own daughter behind in a world that she was not wanted in.

Their black blood was splattered against her new night dress, that her father had bought for her no more than a week before, but now it was ruined, by the conception of betrayal. Thinking they could show her love before they ripped it out of her heart, it was almost as if they, themselves, had tore open her chest and wrapped their fingers around her heart and squeezed till it was squished. By taking the choice of leaving their daughter in the reality they had wished to escape from, they had single-handedly murdered the child forever, by biding her silence with the pain of being left alone.

The child would never forget the look on her parents' faces as they pulled the trigger and left their only living kin alive and the way the blood splashed against her heated skin in a gory fashion. The one thing she remembered clearly was the smell of iron. The smell of blood that was splayed across her face, dress, walls, ceiling and floors. She was never the same after that.

The sound of gunshots rung into the air, causing the blue haired teen to jerk awake, and stare startled around the room, but all she saw was a white room that held nothing but a closed window and the bed that which she laid upon. As she tried to figure out where she was, she suddenly felt exhaustion hit her like a brick wall and before she knew it; her head hit the pillow with a soft thud and her eyes drifted shut, but not before she caught sight of familiar azure eyes watching her with a dead gaze that left her feeling cold.

Blond tresses fanned out softly in the wind, as a blinding white dress reflected the purity of the sun. "Ami." Came a sweet voice that beckoned the petite genius with an outstretched hand that's skin glowed with a light tan. Ami's sight was blurred by what, she did not know. All she could see was a blonde figure, shorter than she, with a gleaming alabaster dress that billowed behind her in the currents of the wind, her long blond hair trailing behind. The face was not visible, but Ami felt a soft light pierce her heart, and it was if the world faded from her. Not deprived of senses, but more of a lack of a world being around her, as the two female figures stood in an abyss of light.

"Ami, come to me." The woman called out to her as Ami felt the urge to be wrapped in this figure's present, to bask in the light the woman produced. Taking the blurred hand, Ami wrapped her fingers around it, but gasped when horrid imagines ransacked through her mind. Wrenching her hand free from the blonde goddess, as the bolts of lightening ebbed and her heart felt a little heavier. The light around them becoming an ashen color, beginning to turn gray as Ami took a few steps from the female figure before her, afraid at what she had saw in her mind's eye when they had made contact.

"Ami. I can grant you the light you yearn, to fill that void in your heart that you desperately hide from the world you live in," The lulling voice gently told Ami, somehow sensing Ami's fear as her secret had been ripped of its blanket and revealed naked, bare, to the woman before her. Ami suddenly felt very tiny and very scared. Frightened by this goddess that knew of the blackness that ate away at the kindred blue-haired teen. She had been discovered.

"Though, if you take my hand and bask in this light I willingly share with you, be warned, for it comes at a price that you might not wish to pay." The goddess explained as its tone grew quieter and held a hint of sadness in its depths that struck at Ami's strings with a forlorn tune. Curiosity sparked Ami's interest at what this price may be, but did she really want to pay it. Could she find out? All she had to do was ask. Didn't she? "May you tell me what this price is?" Ami wondered as the blurred figure seemingly rippled as if it was a reflection on a pond's surface, the sound of a low chuckling could be heard.

"The light you seek, is the light I have, but the price I give, might not be the price you want to take." The blonde riddled, causing Ami's eyebrows to furrow to together in agitation. She was getting nowhere. "In English please?" Ami stubbornly retorted as she crossed her arms, becoming annoyed with the round about answers she was getting. The succulent sound of the woman's laughter enticed Ami, causing her to loosen up, coaxing her out of her anger.

"As you wish Ami, the price you must pay is the knowledge of pain that you will endure with the light you will receive, henceforth you are actually taking this offer of mine. Which in contrast, though the light will ease and mend your sorrows, you will gain pain in the knowledge that you have forgotten something dear to you. Something that you had once wanted to protect, but failed in doing so. This is the price you will pay, the question is: do you accept?" The goddess asked, her voice filled with sorrow that made Ami wonder who this blurry figure really was. Yet, did she want to take the offer? She would lose pain, but gain some in the end. She was dying because of pain. Could she live with pain and still be laughing, not on death's door?

Shrugging, Ami sighed as she gave a small smile before she bounded the few steps forward and grasped the blonde figure's still outstretched hand. "I accept." She replied, her voice coming loud and determined. She would not cower, she would live! No pain, no gain, as what she told as a child. How right they were. "As you wish." Was what she heard before everything around her was ripped away and she was left standing in darkness. Unlike the Hell she had went through earlier, this darkness was peaceful, gentle in a way and this time, instead of light coming to her, she was the light. Glowing with it, actually.

Then with a sudden jolt, Ami stumbled to the ground in the darkness, griping her chest in agony as sorrows she had never known jerked through her forcefully as memories came flooding through her, filling her mind with the capacity of an entity she was not aware she knew had existed. Image after image, she relived, each holding another joy, another laughter, but yet it also came with another misery and another grief. So much love, so much pain. How could she had let this happen?

As the memories began to fade away, and the pain began to ebb, Ami was curled in a tight ball onto the ground, sobbing. Her heart was bleeding more than it had ever been. God, was so cruel to her. "Ami. Its going to be okay. You accepted this. This is the price, but with it comes the light. Cherish it as well as the memories. Don't let the darkness win, again." The sweet voice whispered to her, as Ami pried her closed eyes open and glanced sideways at the angel before her that beamed with a radiance so astounding that it hurt to look at. Tears flooding down her cheeks, Ami leaned forward, feeling weak, with her hand reaching for her blonde goddess. Her one true light. Her guardian angel. She was mere inches away from touching the fabric of the blonde's dress, but felt exhaustion trickle through her, causing her to grow limp. The blond goddess moved forward and wrapped Ami in her arms, falling to her knees to catch Ami before she hit in the ground. Wings wrapped around them, as Ami stared at the blonde figure before her with her eyes half lidded, truly seeing her through eyes unveiled.

Smiling, Ami lifted her hand and caressed the blonde's cheek, "My friend." She whispered, as the tears stopped and her eyes closed, her hand falling onto her stomach, limp. Cerulean eyes twinkled and a sadden smile danced upon the pink lips, as the blond goddess hung her head and wept. "Thus the pain of remembering one such as I. Sleep well, and forget for now till we meet in the world you walk upon. Sweet dreams Ami. We'll meet again, sooner than you know." She whispered before the light and the goddess shattered and Ami floated in the comforting abyss once more. Resting peacefully for the first time in almost two years.

Warmth embedded her every being, coursing through her like laughter on a summer breeze, providing energy, she had not felt in years. Where had the time gone by? Day after day, she had suffered inside herself, with images that had tortured her as her body began to rot, but now, it was if a curse had been lifted. No more did she feel the restraints on her physical limits, and gone was the sorrows that churned her heart in agony. She felt like she could run forever, laughing and living. Doing what she loved most, being alive.

Yet, as she cracked her eyes open and sat up happily in the bed she occupied, she was aware that she was in a room unfamiliar to her, but it did not hold the depths of darkness and decay most houses held, more of a joyous tune that hummed in the air, as she would put it. Smiling, she shrugged before she stretched, yawning away the sleepiness that gnawed at her waking body. Rubbing her eyes, she realized she was in the very room she had first awoken in before she had fainted back into a sleep. A sleep that had oddly left her rejuvenated and spry with energy. The beige walls seemingly glowed with her laughter as she threw off the covers of the bed and sprang to her feet, shrieking with laughter. "Its so good to be alive!" She merrily sang as she sauntered to the open window and peered out, seeing nothing but a street that lead out into the mountains. Tilting her head to the side, she gave a small smile, unsure of where she was. "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." She cried jokingly as she flippantly turn away from the mountains and forests, and began to head towards the door, when suddenly she stopped.

For there stood the blonde goddess of her dream and suddenly, a name escaped her lips, "Serena" she whispered to the wind, but yet, the name held no flavor, no charitable memory that came to recollect on the reason why the foreign name sounded so sweet to her ears and felt so familiar on her lips. Azure eyes watched on in grief clouded misery as pink lips ordained a lilting smirk, amusement overlapping pain. Ami instantly could see that the blonde woman from her dream was positively the same before her, that stood with arms crossed leaning against the door frame staring at her. "Why Dorthy, whatever do you mean? This is Kansas alright, all you have to do is look around the river bend." The petite blonde grinned as she jerked her thumb behind her, pointing in the direction of a window on the other side of the next room.

Ami chuckled as she moved past the blonde and scurried into the next room, practically skipping all the way to the other window. Flipping open the panel lock, and gently pushing the window open, Ami leaned out and saw that she was still home. Just on the very edges of Tokyo city, where it lead out into the mountains. A good couple miles away from her home, but still in the same city. Which made bus tax less expensive, she laughed at the thought. "Why its Kansas! Toto! We're back home!" Ami cried as she spun around and faced the blond, as she sucked in a fake gasp, holding a hand to her mouth, acting as if she were surprised. "Why I had the strangest dream, and you were in it." Ami honestly told the woman before her and crossed her arms and leaned against the edge of the window sill.

The blond tried to give a smile but only grimaced before her gleaming azure eyes darkened to a hazed cobalt blue. Leaving the blue-haired teen left to wonder why she made such a sadden face. "Yes, Ami, I was. Please. Take a seat, and let me explain." The blond gestured toward the couches that were next to her, as she moved around towards the front of it and took a seat. Ami nodded her head and made her way to the seat perpendicular away from her the woman before her.

"Ami, so much has changed, that I cannot merely begin to tell you where this tale of mine lies, but instead of me explaining it to you, I can give it to you. Well, more as I already did." The blond gave a small smile before she reached inside her pocket and pulled out a blue pen, one at which Ami gasped as the symbol of Mercury was adorned onto the cap of the pen, revealing, that she was Sailor Mercury, as well as Ami Mizuno. The blond placed the pen onto the coffee table that laid between the two woman that sat at polar opposites of each other. Leaning back into the couch, and crossing her legs as she folds her hands neatly into her lap, the smaller woman smiles gently at Ami. "You have all the memories that you have lost back inside you. You have paid the price for remembering what you have lost, but right at this moment, in a sense you have amnesia. You have what you need, but if you truly want it, all you have to do is pick up your pen." The woman nodded for Ami to retrieve it, but held up her hand to signal for Ami to wait, as she was already reaching for the pen.

"Alas, if you pick up that pen, you will be who you were before this...all began, but you will have to take the horrors you once endured back into your heart and learn to live with the misery of that knowledge. Now, if you refuse it, the light you have received will flee, because I cannot save you if you wish to remain in the dark. Now, decide. The light is hell but rewarding and elating. The dark is heaven but torturous and killing." The blond finished as she watched Ami with a guarded face, waiting for Ami to respond, who raised an eyebrow and smirked. "I will remember what I have forgotten and be fine, for if I lived through it once, I can live through again. I want to keep laughing, don't you dare think otherwise." Ami firmly stated as snatched up the pen and winked before she held the pen closed to her heart and smiled.

For several seconds, silence reigned upon the room and the blond squirmed, fidgeting in fear at the final outcome the blue-haired genius might do. Ami wept silently as smiled, the pain that stabbed at her in her dream was almost murderous but it wasn't so devastating as now she had the light and grasped the darkness, remembering to accept both of them for peace. Opening her tear soaked eyes, Ami stared at the blond girl before her. What was lost had been found and the wound in Ami's heart began to mend back together again.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the King's horses and all the king's men,

had put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Ami got up and moved to stand in front of the blond, before she fell to her knees, head bowed in respect, much like a knight would do to a Queen. "Sere, I apologize for I have forgotten the most precious thing in my life. You. I was left alone in a void, unable to find what was missing, but princess, you have saved me. I am in debt. Is there anything I can do for you as a faithful servant?" Ami asked, feeling fear in her heart at what her loving princess might do. Would she be banished? Would she be beaten like the unruly dog she was? How could she be forgiven?

Serena stared at Ami, her face almost grief stricken, as a few trickles of tears escaped the corners of the blond's eyes. Feeling her heart contract in pain, Ami sat down next to the petite blond and pulled her into her arms, repeating the same action the goddess in her dream had done to her. Serena buried her face in Ami's chest and began to sob, her tiny body shaking with a wrenching force, her cries almost sounding like screams. They stayed there for minutes; Ami holding her princess, as Serena clung to her guardian with a possessive force, crying her woes to the world.

After a little while, Serena's sobbing died down, and she pulled away from Ami, to get a good look at her lost friend. "Ami, I've finally gotten you back. I missed you so much. All I ask of you, not out of a servant but out as a friend, don't ever leave me again. I couldn't bear it." Her princess softly murmured as she began to wipe away her drying tears, trying regain some of her lost composure. Ami's heart jerked violently in pain at the thought that her beloved friend, sister, princess, had been left alone without anyone to care for her. God wasn't just cruel to her, but to all of his creation.

~+!Mina!+~

Standing outside the outskirts of Tokyo, Sailor Venus glanced back down at her communicator that pinpointed the exact location that Venus had been following. "Ami, hold on. I'm coming for you." The orange clad senshi whispered as she placed a hand above her brow to block the blinding rays of the sun to glance up at the run down apartment complex that her communicator had led her to.

Feeling her heart pound in anxiety, Venus sucked in a deep breath, as she saw a window on the second story wide open, revealing little of the room, but it was more than what she had, and she wasn't going to waste the chance. Bending down low, the senshi of love felt her muscles tense as built up power was instantly releases, as Venus sprang fifteen feet off the ground. Air flowing around her, the nimble blond grasped the window sill with the tips of her fingers, before she took another breath and swung backwards through the open window; wishing, believing, that what she might find would ring true with life, not death.

Landing cat-like on her feet, Sailor Venus scanned the room she was in, and stopped dead when she caught sight of a oh-so familiar blond and the girl that she had been searching for. Rubbing her eyes in disbelief, the love senshi was unable to attain an understanding on why the two woman sat in the middle of the room as if they were old friends catching up on lost time.

"Ami? And is that you...Tsukino-san...From school?" Venus exclaimed as she stood rooted to the spot with denial as the two females turned around to see the Sailor senshi standing in the room. Ami's face lit up as the blond's face darkened a bit and made her way to her feet. "Mina." They said in unison, the tone differing from cheerful to mournful.

For one, why did Ami look like she was healthy as an ox? Venus couldn't remember the last time she looked so...living. For two, why was the girl she just met at school two days prior with Ami and seemingly appearing as if she was crying? Venus couldn't wrap her head around it, unless...unless. No, it couldn't be! But, ah, what else was more reasonable than some other ridiculous notion that the blond could think up?

"Your Cosmos, aren't you? Tsukino-san?" The senshi of love snarled as she regained her bearings and bounded the few meters to Ami and snatched her up out from the couch, wrapping her friend in her arms protectively, while glaring at the blonde all the while. Tsukino-san understood the menacing atmosphere as she voluntarily took a few steps away from the love senshi and Ami. "I can understand how upset you are about this whole ordeal, Mina, but if you would let me just explain-" The blond tried to reason but was cut off as Venus jumped right in on her, going for the throat. "Your Cosmos, aren't you? Aren't you?" Venus shrieked accusingly as she began to pull a reluctant Ami behind her, who was trying to mumble something to the increasingly agitated blond.

Tsukino-san flinched as she bowed low in commendation for the senshi of love, refusing to straighten herself up in retrieval of anything left of self-respect giving way that she, herself was a dishonor to the authority of Venus. "Yes." She answered, her voice ringing clearly with confidence. Venus' eyes widen, feeling herself gasp with shock, even though she had already known, but now that the blond had openly admitted it, she felt realization begin to set in.

"Your Cosmos." Venus repeated, eyes losing color and going dull as they hardened with hostility. Still bowed low, Tsukino-san nodded her head, as the senshi of love clenched and unclenched her hands. Angry that Ami had been kidnapped by a person that she had trusted in. How could this be? "Transform." The orange clad senshi spat as she caught Tsukino-san adjust her weight from each foot in, what Venus suspected was, uncertainty. "I cannot." Was the simple reply as the blond kept her head low.

"Why not?" Venus snarled, becoming hysterical as the wild clutches of exhaustion and repressed helplessness began to grab her heart in an iron grip, breaching any sense of rationality. Tsukino-san slowly began to straighten up as the atmosphere began to cackle with a power, Venus almost shied away from, but kept firm. Sapphire meeting cobalt, their gazes met, each wielding a power far greater than any human could ever imagine. A struggle hold for dominance, must you.

"I refuse to meet to you demands, in this delusional state, Mina-san." Tsukino-san snapped as she waved a hand nonchalantly over Mina's tensed and battle-hungry body. Her blood boiling in annoyance, Venus grabbed her love-chain from her subspace pocket, and cracked it in the air, trying to startle the blond. "Transform, and show me that you are, who you say you are, Tsukino-san, or I shall be condemned to use unusual force to make you understand what I mean." The tired swept senshi hissed as her knuckles went white from gripping the chain in a death hold.

Sighing, the petite woman nodded her head in commission. "Do not underestimate me, Mina-chan. I wish not to spill blood that you might regret when you will be...more submissive to understanding and logic later. Please, know, that making me do this, will cause you some...guilt." The blonde warned as she took a step back and muttered some words that caused the room to be bathed in a blinding, pure white light. Venus heard Ami gasp as she caught sight of the now transformed Sailor Cosmos that stood in the middle of the room.

Seizing her up, Venus felt a shudder of cold fear run down her spine, as she reviewed Cosmos' wings that tucked in neatly behind her, as if they had been there all along, hidden by a cloth of some sort. "'Tis, my true form, Sailor Venus. Any further questions you wish to demand?" Cosmos commanded as her voice lost emotion and those dead, empty-void-like eyes watched Venus with an energy that caused the love senshi to take a few steps away from the winged goddess, falling in line with Ami, who Venus had admittedly forgotten.

"Why did you save us, if you were just going to take Ami from the get-go?" Venus asked as she thoughtfully took her love-chain back into its subspace pocket, not wanting to entice an unneeded battle. Cosmos eyes darkened and her silence caused Venus to shiver. Just then, Ami jumped between the conversing blonds and held her arms wipe open, seemingly trying to protect Cosmos from Venus. "Mina! Stop this! Sere meant no harm. She was trying to keep us safe." Ami interluded as she glared accusingly at Venus, who stared at her with a fixed stare. "Harm? Harm? Ami! You were dying, and then this bimbo decided she was going to kidnap you as you were on death's doorstep! How is that keeping you safe? When there are doctors that can help you!" Venus insisted as she vigorously threw her hands up in the air as if they ratified the answer the frustrated senshi was trying to put out.

Instantly, Ami's face went stricken with misery and forlorn as she hung her head abit, causing Venus to mentally slap herself. "They couldn't have done anything, Mina. Yesterday, when I had that seizure, my heart was about to fail. I was dying...I was suppose to be dead, yesterday but she," Waving her hand behind her towards Cosmos, who only watched the friends argue with a detached gaze, glared at Venus, "saved my life. I would have been dead if she hadn't done what she did. You should be thanking her, not trying assault her." Ami finished as she crossed her arms and waited for Venus to respond.

Unable to produce any words, the senshi of love could only stare at Ami as the blond's brain began to fry from the all the stress and exhaustion that she had fueled endlessly for the last forty-eight hours. Suddenly, there was a sound of fluttering feathers as Cosmos made her way around Ami, who graciously stepped back to let the winged goddess through, and stopped to stand in front of Venus, who stood wavering on her feet. "Sleep, Mina. Rest is your well deserved." Cosmos waved her hand over Venus, and instantly, without warning, Sailor Venus was transformed back into her alter ego, Mina Aino. Then, as if a light had been turned off, Mina felt as if all strength had fled her.

Cosmos turned halfway to get Ami's attention as she muttered in a low voice, "Catch her, before she falls.", and walked away from the two friends. Mina's eyes began to grow heavy and the world started to become dim. Ami hurriedly ran to Mina, just as the exhausted blond's legs gave out from under her. Staring up into Ami's face, Mina gave a small smile as her eyes slowly closed. "Ami-chan, Rei's going to be so happy to hear...your alive...", the light disappeared and was replaced by a comforting darkness that Mina gratefully welcomed as her consciousness fled, "I'm happy...too.."

The living wake of hell was gone, and now came the sweet a-bliss.

~+!Serena!+~

Seeing Mina glaring at her as if she was a person to be despised had brought Serena a great deal of sorrow, causing her to turn away just as Ami caught the now sleeping Mina. Cosmos had seen how frigid and tired the love senshi had appeared, wishing not to dredge up something that could be easily avoided, she had consented to the whims of the exhausted blonde and done as she had commanded, but knowing she needed rest, Cosmos had justified the situation by letting the senshi get some well deserved sleep.

Ami grunted as she climbed slowly to her feet, Mina's weight supporting against her. Cosmos turned and gave a half smile at the almost comical situation Ami had found herself in. "Need help?" The winged goddess offered as walked to Ami's side, who gently pushing her away by giving her a small shake of her head. "No, need princess. I've got energy to spare. I want to do this on my own." Ami insisted as she dragged Mina's limp body towards the bed Serena had lent to Ami.

"As you wish." Serena consented as she gave a low chuckle to Ami's grumbles on Mina being fat and needing a major weight-loss plan. Turning away from the struggling pair, Cosmos transformed back into Serena and made her way towards the room, to preform the almost daily ritual of becoming heaven sent to becoming mortal.

Running some warm water into the bathtub, Serena pulled the bathroom door shut and sat down on the edge of the bathtub. Her wings folding around her, she tried to keep her gaze away from the gruesome display of the blood tinted restroom. Usually, she waited till all the feathers blew away, but she couldn't walk around with wings attached to back now could she? Especially, when her apartment was only so big.

Letting the sound of rushing water drown out her moans of agony, Serena grabbed the machete and brought it to her left wing, while lifting her head upwards towards the ceiling. Tears were streaming out from her eyes, as the dulling blade ripped through muscle, tendons, tissue and bone. Feeling each nerve frayed on ends from the pain, Serena groaned as the weight of her burden lifted and the wing dissipated into the air, relieving Serena to some extent.

"Stupid Mina and stupid ways of being showed something." Serena muttered darkly under her breath as blood sprayed the walls and and splashed into the tub. Sweat broke out onto Serena's brow as the agonized blond shrieked from the pain that raked through her body like being burned at the staked. The air crackling with Serena's screaming as she brought the blade to her other wing and began to rigorously saw through it.

Suddenly, the door swung open to reveal a wild-eyed Ami, who stared at Serena in utter horror as she mutilated her own body to shed the wings that were so heavenly divine. "Great Goddess! Serena! Stop it!" Ami screeched as she tried to get close, but Serena's wing broke off and began to fade into thin air as crimson sprayed onto the walls of the bathroom.

Serena's eyes rolled into the back of her head, as Ami caught Serena just in time before she face planted into tile floor. Blood oozed from Serena's back as it poured into the vermillion colored tub. Ami took in the entire rust colored bathroom, that seemed to be bathed in past dried blood. Just as Serena was regaining her composure, she heard Ami murmur underneath her breath, "What has happened to you, since we were gone, Sere?", whispering profanities.

Serena weakly lifted her head, still leaning against Ami, and slowly grimaced. "Hell, Ami. I've been through Hell."

Alright, a fast-update. Again, not an action packed one, but you know, you always have work your way to a climax, ja? So, tell me if it was a yeah, or nay, story. Give me a review, and maybe..maybe..I'll continue...aha, just kidding, of course, I'll finish it!

-Danni