I hate to say it, but I'm getting tired of writing this saga!
So I'm going to collapse the scope and go straight for the end now
rather than trying to keep Saturn and Saphire's story just for them.
So what I had planned as another story, namely Endymion/Serena/Serenity
and the whole past life romances of those two is going to get
snuck in here now...which works better in a way.
But more than that, Zoycite/Amy/Greg--resolutions are at hand
(that's for you Roofshadow if you're still reading!)
This is just a draft version for now...COMMENTS PLEASE!
So we begin again:
*************************************
Amy was not in the mood for a party. Of course, she put in her
appearance as duty dictated, but her mind wandered off to where
it had dwelled in the last week since they'd discovered Saphire and Diamond.
While Serena's arrival from the past, and the destruction of the
time door gave Amy other things to think about,
she neglected those in favor of the groove of guilt
etched in her mind.
The news had hit her as hard as any of the crashing
blows delivered by the Black Moon ships.
Rather like the buildings of Crystal Tokyo, she
did not shatter immediately, but just slowly
started to quiver inside. Even now, she felt the pain slide and
pull the acid of her stomach up to torture her. The
playful lights of the party irritated her for some reason,
and with a gasp
she ran out of the ballroom and into her refuge, the library.
Turning around on the balcony adjoining the
Palace library, she gazed over at the sun
setting along the horizon. Its beams danced
lithely along the lines of the restored city.
"Penny for your thoughts..." A voice said behind her.
She was too upset to recognize more than the
concern in the tone and that it was not another
scout who spoke to her. She needed a friend right
now, but somehow, she couldn't face any of hers.
Not until she wrung this feeling of guilt out
of her soul.
"A decimal point. How could I of all people
make that of all mistakes!" She kept her gaze focussed
on the winking crystal planes of the city.
The bitterness seemed so unnatural to the sweet
timbre of her voice. "I told Saphire and Diamond's people they would have 9 months of a cold season. They got 90 years of that, alternating with 90 years of a heat so hot we might have well sent them to live inside the sun!"
Zoycite took a step towards her. "Mercury, you had no idea!"
"That's exactly it. I didn't check and I should have. Lives were at stake, and I trusted a computer! How can I trust myself to even begin
to restore the time door?! They're counting on me to do something...
I'm the smart one...its all I have left isn't it? But I cannot...not even G.R.E.G. Thinks its possible.... "
Zoycite supressed the flash of jealousy he felt at the mention of the
computer that practically ran Crystal Tokyo. He knew she
refused to consider the program running the central
palace headquarters the same "person" as the man
she'd loved. Indeed, she didn't even consider
it a person. Of course, Zoycite thought
wryly, she probably felt the same way about him.
Out loud, he replied "What else were you supposed to do? I know you did not have a lot of time. The orbit would disappear in several hours, and it was sort of a "now or never' kind of jump. Anyone could make a mistake under
that kind of pressure...it doesn't mean you are useless!"
"I should have investigated more thourougly. I could have inisted we find a way
to track the planet despite its orbit. Or I should have
realized with an orbit that erratic that it could
not be supporting the life that it appeared to support!"
"Amy," Zoycite said suddenly using her old name "With
the life you saw on that planet, how could you have guessed that plants could survive for almost a century with no sunlight,or far too much of it, sprouting on the rare occasions of temperate climate? Desert flowers cannot survive even that long without sunlight's love. If this had not happened, I'd
have said you were describing alchemy not botany."
"Yet it happened." She replied stiffly. "Somehow, the plants survived, and I condemmned those people to suffer.
You shouldn't dress what happened in poetry."
He smiled slightly, knowing he'd overdone it
with his phrasing before. Yet he meant what he
said. "But they survived as well. Amy, that's what
is important."
"Survived like caged animals, the very fate they
wanted to avoid! That is how they succumbed to
Wiseman, and attacked us. That started the time-warping in the first
place....sending Rini back probably caused the rifts that have
trapped Serena here...If I had done my job propperly, then all this pain, theirs and ours would have been avoided!"
Zoycite took her hand in his, and used his other
hand to wipe the small tears at her eyes away. She
jerked, but didn't pull away. He knew that was more
because she was so distraught then that she'd wished the contact.
"Amy, stop resisting it. This was destiny. You already knew the Black Moon Family attacked Crystal Tokyo, long before it happened. And you
do not know for sure that Serena being trapped here is a direct result
of your mistake...that seems too much of a jump to me."
"What are you saying!?" She asked even though
she knew exactly what he meant. If this were
foreordained, then she could not have avoided the
pain. The mistake was not hers really--for one
way or another the events had been set in motion
long before she misread the screen. "That is
is not my fault because it was inevitable?"
He nodded. "Even if there was some connection to Serena's predicament, Well....it already happened."
"I find that less comforting." She yanked her
hands away then blushed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't
take my frustration with myself out on you.
Its just, I've always felt that nothing was
set. That I could, if I tried, cut myself free
from destiny and build the best future I could
dream. Yet when the test arose, I failed."
"Failed? All you failed to do was change history! You're still free
to make your future!"
She smiled ruefully. "I know. Time travel is rather
confusing isn't it? Just look at what has happened with Serena...
But I wanted to escape destiny, and you are
right,this was history...I had
not really thought about it from that perspective."
"Perspective is everything. I've thought sometimes that
time exists continuously.That we arbitrarily divide one
moment from the next into times just as we divide one
color from the next. Its all our perception of it, Amy.
That is how we see the dimensions, or are unable to see
others...our inability to truly understand may be akin
to that of a blind person's imagining a rainbow."
The corners of her mouth perked up. "I've heard that
theory before you know. What do you mean by it? Do you think
there is someway to open the doors of time again?!"
He laughed slightly, slapping one hand to his
chest. "You caught me. I'm quoting someone else,
but I agree with that observation. And I think that
theory explains why maybe what you wanted is possible.
And if it was possible then, it would be possible
now. I'm just saying there is more to time than
we understand, and perhaps even history could
be altered selectively without affecting the present. There may be
a way to reopen the doors of time...and to change things...
I'm not saying it would be easy, but I think maybe
it is possible to get beyond destiny. I don't know how,
but the first step is to believe."
Amy met his eyes slowly, completely unaware
of the darkening of her cheeks, or the fluttering
in her breath. "Is that what you want?"
"Me?" He stopped hismself from saying he only
wanted to be with her. A glimpse of his reflection
reminded him he'd lost that chance--gone was the boyish
innocent he'd been, replaced with the roughened visage
of an unrepetantant rougue. At least, that was what
he thought she saw. Though he didn't remember doing
all they said he'd done, he believed their accusations. "I suppose
I'd just want to atone for what I've done...what
my sister did. I guess I wouldn't mind clearing
the slate and starting over, but here in Crystal
Tokyo, that won't happen for a long time. And
I'm not the suicidal type."
A brief smile displaced the sad, self-tortured look in her eyes.
Her hand reached out for his, as she squeezed it to let
him know that some of the ice between them had melted. "For
that, I'm glad....you've made me feel much better, somehow.
Thank you."
It took all his willpower not
to pull her into his arms right then, so instead he
merely added "My lady, hoping to please you is what keeps me alive."
as he turned around to leave.
Her eyes expanded until they could widen no more. As the blush ripened into an almost purplish-red on her face, she broke through the shock that held
her prisoner and opened her mouth to speak. Yet nothing
emerged. What could she really say? She might know his feelings,
but she didn't know hers. Despite knowing what he'd done in
his resurrcted life, or after his possession in his past one, he still
felt as if the events were some nightmare. He had no personal
recollection of any of it. So he still felt exactly as he had the night
he'd left her in the Moon Kingdom Gardens. Yet he tempered his emotions with
the fact that much too much had changed for her.
She turned back around to gaze at the Crystal City. If she had not seen
the attacks herself, she would have doubted any evil ever touched it, as peaceful
and whole as it seemed now. Rather like Zoycite, she thought.
A figure stood on the balcony, watching the pair with narrowed eyes.
"So, brother dear...you think I will allow you to be happy when I
am suffering? There is no way...I will not ...will not...ALLOW IT."
She grinned evilly as she slid back into the shadows.
Inside of her something existed that gave her power. Its appearance
had been sudden, as sudden as the destruction of the Door of Time.
She gathered her newfound strength must be linked to that
event...after all, wasn't she herself an accident of Time-Travel?
Formed out of a wrinkle of the fabric of reality itself, she'd awoken to
realize the absolute control over destiny she could have if she could only
learn to utilize this new energy running through out her. She laughed
like a maniac, the sound drowned by the pulsating music.
"Dance fools while you can. Things are going to change around here...
Oh, things are going to change...." Lia La Met, the female and evil half of
Zoycite laughed, and laughed and laughed...
{That's the prologue to EOM, this is the Chapter Two part}
Saphire blushed as Saturn straightened the tight black dress Setsuna had
left for her. Actually, she'd left her a stretch knit dress that would have
been loose on her former size, but the sudden growth spurt had rendered
it a much less innocent dress than it initially appeared to be.
"Are you sure you want to go back to the dance?" He asked
softly staring at her.
She nodded. "I'm sorry....but whatever is making me grow
like this may not be an immediate danger. And this may
seem strange...but in my other lives I have never felt as
strong as I do now....it may be selfish of me, but even
if its for just a brief second I want to experience this
life as fully as I can."
"And a dance is the way to do that?" He asked somewhat
skeptically.
"I don't know. I just know I have never really been to one."
She blushed. "Will you go with me?"
He shrugged. "I wasn't exactly busy." He replied, making
her giggle and he smiled as he held out an arm to her.
She reminded him of a firelfly, quite appropriate actually,
considering her name, as she lit the night with the glow of
her excitement as they reentered the hall of pulsating music.
They stood shyly by each other, wanting to dance but not
really sure of how to start.
From across the room, Queen Serenity guided her husband away
from Serena.
"Were you going to dance with her again!?" The Queen complained,
her voice taking on an edigness it had not had in years.
The confused king tried looking over her head. "Of course
not dear, unless you wanted me to do that....I mean, she
is *you*, isn't she?"
"But you're *my* husband." The Queen whispered.
"You can't be jealous of yourself..." he teased.
The tug on his arm let him know that, in fact, she
*was* jealous of herself, even as she replied "I 'm not."
He sighed. And he'd thought dealing with his daughter and
wife before they were his daughter and wife had been
awkward. His younger self had gotten off lightly, King
Endymion thought as he saw Serena wave at him over Serenity's
head. He winced, knowing from the great distance Serena
couldn't see it. She needed a distraction, he thought.
She'd never liked being alone, a weakness in her personality
that he'd grown used to because it formed the base of her
strength--her ever welcoming heart. She didn't like to
be by herself, because she loved other people too much.
And in particular, given all she and he had gone through,
she clung to every moment with him above all others. How hard it must be, Endymion
thought, for her to be separated from his younger self. The time lines
must have split, because he could not remember a time of
being separated from her after their engagement. If they
had been, he felt sure he himself would be suffering quite
intensely. Yet he couldn't hurt his wife to help the
girl who was and was not his wife. He frowned. Such
twists of time simply shouldn't happen, he thought,
because he'd already put up with more than his share.
And he could see her, pleading with her eyes for him to
come and dance with her. He sighed pretending not to see her.
Serena tapped a foot. How she wished her Darien could be with
her to see this place--a giant club, rather than the elegant
ballroom that she recalled they'd danced in at the time of
the Moon Kingdom. She giggled recalling the first dance
she and Darien had together--at Princess Diamond's Embassy
ball. Back then, Molly had been chasing Neflite, and
Serena had gotten drunk on punch. She couldn't remember
exactly, but she thought that evening might have been the
first time Darien had kissed her in this life. Almost
like the time he'd first kissed her in their previous
one.
Princess Diamond....Serena wondered her eyes darting
to Ex-Prince Diamond...was there a connection or was
that just an odd coincidence? She looked over to
Saphire, who stood by a tall woman she didn't recognize.
Neither of them resembled the girl with the thick glasses
that obscured a pretty face.
"Are there coincidences or is everything fate and
destiny?" She mused, her eyes stuck on Saphire. Maybe
it was just the light, but he looked remarkably like
Darien did. In fact, she needed only shift her eyes
to Endymion to make sure of the comparison. Though
Endymion was older than the Darien she'd left behind,
the difference was there, but Saphire actually looked
about the same age. She felt an odd sensation turn over
in her heart, that strange quickening that she'd
felt when she'd looked at Andrew or Seiya, or even
Allen, that slight tingling that had occupied her when
Darien's love had not been there to blot out those
instincts.
If she hadn't met Darien, who might she have loved?
If she existed in a world without Darien, who could
she love?
She'd never dared or needed to ask that question before.
But if it were true that she could not return to her own
time, that she was stuck in Crystal Tokyo, she needed
to find an answer. She swallowed the impulse to
cry for Darien and tried to be cheerful because it
was a party. Across the floor her eyes met those of
Queen Serenity, and she felt something strange run
through her, watching another woman (to her eyes) dance
in the arms of the only man she loved.
Serena's gaze shifted back to Saphire. Then her eyes
flicked to Endymion who continued to dance with his
gaze blocking out all the world but Queen Serenity.
With strong purposeful strides, Serena crossed to Saphire.
******************************************************
IN THE PAST:
"I wonder what they're up to." Mina said, staring up at the stars.
"Who!?" EZ wondered, this time failing to keep up with this particular
shift in his love's thoughts. "What are you talking about, Mina?"
She sighed, and leaned back further into his arms. "Oh, just some
friends of ours...that cute singing group I told you about."
"Trying to make me jealous?" He said, his voice just above a growl.
"Oh, I'm not trying. You are." She teased, kissing his cheek. "But
you shouldn't be. You're the only man for me."
"Good."
"Of course, they weren't exactly men!" She giggled, as he gave her
the weirdest look.
"That's another of your adventures you'll have to tell me about." He said
catching her about the waist and kissing the top of her head.
Her giggle grew into a yawn, and he added "But we'll save
that story for another time. Let's go back inside,
it's getting too hot out here anyway. Unusual for this time of year."
"I know. It's steadily been getting hotter hasn't it? All this rain,too,
you'd think we were in England!" She said. "Except for the heat."
"Well maybe that's where we should go on our honeymoon." He
said, closing the window. She blushed. He'd found out that she'd
not only told the hospital attendants, his doorman, his boss at
the University but somehow half the University had found out as well.
So he'd taken to teasing her about their non-existent engagement.
Anything to keep her from worrying about Serena's continued
dissappearance.
He looked at the clock--3:am. Part of the reason his date with Mina
had started at midnight, was that EZ had spent the entire day until
well after sunset at the lab. He intended to be back in at 7, so when
Mina fell asleep on the corner of his bed, he simply tucked her in.
He set the alarm for 7 and then he crashed next to her,on top
of the covers.
He woke to the sound of the phone ringing, what seemed a few seconds
later.
"EZ Spade here." He said groggily. He could barely make out the time.
5 am.
"Spade? It's Tetsuo Takashi, the director of security at the labs. You'd better get down here. Your experiment got out of control."
"What? I don't like being woken up this early. I"ll deal
with it later." He growled, slamming the phone down. So much for a professor's
job being a sine cure--surely life in industry couldn't be worse.
The phone rang a minute later, and he heard Mina whimper and
mumble something, as she rolled over. If he hadn't been awake,
the fist she slammed into his side of the bed would have done the trick.
He decided against ignoring the ringing, and picked up
the cordless handset and walked outside, where the rain had
started again. The drops fell hard and uncaring on his
cold face, plastering his dress shirt to him.
"What!? Tetsou--" He started.
"It's not Tetsou. This is Nagai Aturo."
"Sir!" Ez gripped the phone harder, as he recognized his
Department Chair's voice. "It's a little early isn't it?"
"You'd better get down here. Tetsuo said you refused."
"A bad connection. What is going on?"
"Your experiment is what is going on. It exploded,
and is destroying the lab."
"What? That's impossible."
"Is it? I don't wan't to be up at 5 on my Saturday either.
It's bad enough this hot rain won't stop...but it's your
mess. You get down there and deal with it. The press are
already hounding me for some explanation." The man
slammed the phone, before EZ could reply.
"Fine, Sir." He muttered. He pushed the sliding door
that led to the roofdeck open, and reentered his
bedroom. Stripping the wet clothes he'd worn the day
before, he decided the rain had already provided him a shower.
He'd just pulled on everything but a shirt when he became
aware of a very flushed, but intently intrigued Mina.
"Sorry, I didn't want to wake you."
"You should have." She teased, but then blushed as she
realized how that sounded. "I wasn't looking, really."
He knew if that were true, it was only because she couldn't
really see him in the dark, except as an outlined shadow.
He crossed to the bed, and leaned down and kissed her. "You
can look."
"Where are you going?" She asked, obviously able to tell
that he'd changed into street clothes again.
"There's been an accident at the lab." He said. "My experiment
has blown up the building or something."
She threw back the covers, smoothed the long
orange dress she had on, and said "I'm coming too then."
"Come on, Mina, get some rest, both of us don't have to go."
"No I want to help."
"Mina, with your help, I might destroy the whole University."
She gave him a shove. "Stop it! I've saved *your* hide
enough times, if there's really something wrong I should be there."
He considered her offer. Since Serena had dissappeared, Mina
had gotten more nervous about letting the others she cared about
out of her sight, expecially him. He knew she didn't want
to be alone with the guilt she felt. Finally, he realized that arguing with
her would do more damage than just agreeing, so he said "
"Fine, let's go. Just *DON"T* touch anything."
*********
Not bothering to look for a parking space, EZ drove onto the
lawn. The sight ahead of him was enough to make him forget all
about the driving rules.
"What is THAT!?" Mina said, turning off the radio, breaking off the
song she'd been singing to (more or less on key).
Beside the building that had been the lab, a few camera crews
and vans were already assembled, reporters hurridedly doing
sound checks.
"Good, Spade, you're here." Tetsuo, the University Security chief
said hurrying over to them. "What is this stuff?" He gestured
with his arm to the building that had once been a boring sedate
red brick.
They could still see the outlines of it, underneath a pulsating
gelatinous-looking substance that coated the building, and spilled
down the sides. Everyone was keeping their distance.
"No one was inside the building, as far as we know. But
we have no idea how that stuff could grow so fast either, or
what will stop it. In the last ten minutes, it's thickened so much
over the parts where it had previously covered. And now
it looks like it's spilling over--"
"Another 50 centimeters growth!" someone called.
"What is it?" Tetsou demanded. "How do we get rid of it?"
"Why are you asking me? How do you know it's mine?" But
EZ recognized the triangular patterns he could see
in the structure of the material--it wasn't smooth, but
faceted, like a soft crystal. In fact, he was fairly sure
that since it was the same color as the crystal he'd
taken from the fight a week ago, that it *was* or had been
that substance. At least, what had resulted when he'd combined
that with his previous work on the power crystals.
"Security tapes. We reviewed all the labs in the central
office--and they show how this stuff literally oozed out
of your petri dishes and filled the lab. Its been going
on since about 11 tonight. It's showig no signs of stopping."
Just then a reporter touched the edge of the substance, and
pulled back in shock. His shoe was embedded in the
substance, and as he tugged to get it out, he found he couldn't.
He put his hand on the edge, to gain leverage, and soon found
himself trapped. He started screaming. "Help, I'm trapped,
it's going to eat me!" It began forming around his legs,
slowly encasing him as it had done everything else.
"He'll suffocate soon--we've got to get him out." someone shouted,
the panic ringing in the tones. Murmurs of agreements blew in
whispered comments made by the reporters, as they began to
report live.
"EVERYONE STAY BACK!" the security called, herding people
back. The reporters began to talk.
"EZ, I'm getting help." She said, and he nodded.
Mina slipped back, running away, crawling into
the car's back seat. She pulled out her transformation
wand, used it, and then used her communicator.
She was met with several annoyed, sleepy faces.
"It's an emergency guys. My University Campus.
Hurry!" She said.
"What gives Venus?" said Lita peering annoyedly into
the screen. "Monster?"
"Uh, no, but there was some accident at EZ's lab...that
crystal experiment he did got out of control. "
"So?" Rei said annoyed.
Venus tried to focus, ignoring the scream of the man
behind her and the urge to jump in. "Get here ok?
This thing is swallowing the school."
Ami had already long since switched off, while the
others continued protesting.
Venus clicked off, the absence of Serena smashing into her
with almost physical pain. When they'd contacted the Outer Scouts
to tell them about Serena's dissappearance, the three
fellow scouts had simply shut off the communicators
without another word. They got only static after that
when they tried to contact them, the same as what happened
when they tried to contact Serena.
Venus shook her head. She couldn'nt think about that now. She sprang up
and raced towards the trapped man. The purple surface
glinted innocently enough, revealing a rainbow of light.
"Beautiful" she thought before she could stop herself, but
then raised her hand. It was time for action. "Venus
Crescent Beam" She said, shooting at the crystal around
the man's chest to see if she could free him.
The crystal shimmied, and retreated a bit, but began glowing.
She then threw the chain around him, told him to hold on and
began to pull. He grabbed, but then the crystal filled with
an intense light.
The man screamed again and then slumped unconcious, face
forward onto the grass. The crystal resumed it's hold on him
and began to crawl up the chain. Venus immediately dismissed it,
and slumped. Her fatigue crawled through her entire body, just as
if she'd been hit by some Negaverse-style blast.
"Looks like it drained both of you of energy."
Mercury said, lightly supporting her. Besides the gentle
voice, Venus recognized her freind's blue hair. Mercury's
eyes, however, were hidden beneath her visor. The glare
of the lights of the reporters blocked that part of her
face, and all Venus could see was her own weary reflection.
"Can we get them to stop?" Mercury blushed, as Venus raised a hand to
block the light. "They slowed the others down, but
they're here."
"What do you mean!?" Venus asked slowly.
"Interviews--we've never had reporters at the scene like this
before...at least, a real reporter, not some Monster disguised as one."
"I see." Venus peered over Mercury's head, and sure enough, there
was Mars posing to answer the questions of
an attractive reporter, while a disgruntled Jupiter pulled
her towards Venus.
"Hey!? Not without me you guys!
I'm the one that knows--" A gentle tug around her waist made
her break off the sentence, and stop her progress forward to the
cameras.
She whirled around, and found herself staring into Malachite's
eyes, that eerily enough, matched the crystal substance. That
reminded her of what was going on. "Focus, Venus." He said sharply.
She nodded. "Sorry. You're right. Can your type of magic
do anything?"
He shook his head. "I don't think so. If I were caught, I could
teleport out. I can move some small objects telekinetically. But force
won't work. I
could even take a person with me if I teleported. But to teleport
another individual? I can't do that."
"Neither can I." Neflite said, as Jaedite nodded.
Jaedite added. "Of all of us, Malachite and Zoicite were the best
at that kind of magic."
Malachite's eyes narrowed. "Zoicite was better than I, at that."
Venus made a mental note to ask him to share those
memories with her. In their first weeks together, that hadn't
seemed important to ask about--not when so many other details
cried out to be discussed. Catching up
on two lifetimes (this one and the past) while dealing with regular
life wasn't easy, and then this whole Serena dissappearance
had come up.
Tuxedo Mask appeared, but didn't say anything. Venus felt
quite surprised to see him. Darien had been in a state of
extreme shock the last week or two.
Mercury looked up. "As far as I've calculated, this substance is
based on a crystaline substance. It's expanding at an exponential
rate, mutating its underlying structure from a semi-solid
state to a solid one. I'm still running an examination of
its organizational structure, but it seems--"
"Mercury, translation please!?" Jaedite said, his eyes fixed
on the trapped man. As a general, he seemed far less easy-going,
and more in control. "What does that mean?"
"What's important is, this crystal will keep growing faster.
It's similar to what was used by Zoicite in the Negaverse. But it's also
remarkably similar to the texture of the walls of Future Crystal
Tokyo"
"What?!" Jupiter exclaimed.
"Crystal Tokyo? Neflite inquired staring at the expanding substance,
they'd mentioned that term before, but he'd always gotten distracted
when asking Lita about it.
"Why do you think that!?" Mars said, trying to peer at the strange
computer screen. She couldn't understand any of it.
"I stored a sample when we went to the future. It's almost a perfect match."