Usagi blinked. For one moment, she felt no more anger...she felt sorry for Ami...sorry for herself...and even sorry for Ruckus.

"That is true...our lives are short. But that doesn't mean our pain is as short as life. Pain can haunt you eternally, as love can eternally make you happy..." She said as she looked at him. Her eyes were no more claiming him that stolen kiss.

Ruckus kept his tongue, she would learn soon enough that her pain was only temporary.

"Yes, I can't deny I am selfish. I have cared a lot for me and that was why I hurt so much Ami-chan. You said you released her...have you ever thought that was really what she wanted? Ami-chan I know is warm and kind. Lady Ruin I met last night was cold and full of resentment...could she be fully happy that way?"

"It is you that turned her bitter that day, if she did not despise you so much, you could have seen how happy she is in our realm. As for the resentment, it will fade with time. The only reason she still harbors such feelings is because she is still focusing on the past, her life of pain. I will help her to forget that last life, and when she does the hatred and cold feelings that dominate her heart will dissipate like the morning fog." Ruckus didn't like having to defend his actions, he could just do as he pleased, but something within compelled him to explain himself.

Usagi took a deep breath.

"And also, there's something you are not considering yet. You said you have suffered a lot more than any human. But you make them suffer anyway. You can tell the whole world it was for a good reason... but no good reason could be based in misery. I believe that when you play with us, you try to make the others feel as lonely and sad as you say you have felt during all those centuries. But if instead of doing that, you were trying to find what you really want...to make your real dream come true, the suffering that is haunting you will finally disappear. Think about Chaos...although he seemed pleased doing such great games as the Masquerade, he was not completely happy until he followed the call of his heart. And that's what you had

not really understood yet."

"That's why I won't give up...even if I have to die. I will bring back Ami. I swear. And I also swear, I'll make you elves stop playing with humans...I'll make you understand the importance of listen to your soul and feelings...You think about it. What is the thing that you want the most? The real thing you ever longed for. And fight for it as hard as you can, instead of making people suffer."

Ruckus' eyes became cold and desolate, Usagi stepped back in instinctive fear but he took hold of her wrists. "Will you even kill us, to stop our gaming? Perhaps I will become like you. Considering only my future and the future of my fellow elven, you are so convinced to stop us. Then shall I kill you? The senshi would fall without you as their leader." An invisible force circled around Usagi, she could not see it but she knew it was there. Shutting her eyes tightly she waited, knowing full well Ruckus could kill her if he wanted. As quickly as it began, the winds died down and he let go of her wrists. Opening her eyes Usagi looked up at Ruckus, the cold and dark look no longer on his face.

"What is it? Weren't you going to kill me?" Usagi asked, a little hesitant and a little fearful.

"Lie, we are not like you. If we were, your world would have ended long ago. Carnage would kill you given the chance, and Havoc would not hesitate if it meant his continued freedom. But I will not kill you, princess of the moon. Nor will I entrap you in a box for over a thousand years. My life is at stake in this grand game, as well as my brother's and what remains of the elven race. I stand to lose everything, but you will take that from me, if it means sparing humans the discomfort and pain of enduring our games. They are not so terrible, for those willing to participate in them. But that sort of compromise isn't important to you, annihilate the smaller group for the greater good right? That is what your history displays repeatedly."

"This is not only for my good or the good of the Earth...it's also for you. I don't think you deserve to die or to become trapped in the Pandora boxes again. That wouldn't be fair. I don't want anyone to suffer. But if you don't believe me...there's nothing I can do." Something in his eyes, a glimmer of hope maybe? Usagi wasn't sure, it was so hard to tell with the elves.

Ruckus smiled lightly, "You have a beautiful dream, princess of the moon. I think it would be wonderful to share in it with you.." Usagi almost smiled, maybe she had gotten through. Whatever she saw in his eyes faded, Ruckus sighed and shook his head from side to side slowly. The smile that threatened to take hold of her was gone, replaced by a worried expression. "I will not betray my fellow elven, nor give up on our games, it is all we have left of our heritage. But you have been wronged, and that is why

I am here."

Usagi was finding it harder and harder to justify her position, she wasn't sure whether his words held true or if he was manipulating her with magik. Her strength was slipping away, physically and mentally.

She sat back down, staring at the ground.

Ruckus crouched beside her and lifted her chin up with his hand. "You wouldn't know the sort of betrayal that lingers in my memories, your heart is pure and barely touched by the suffering of the world. As for what I truly want, my brother and I found it a long time ago. In the end, that which we sought the most was our undoing. Whether or not you believe it, it is not our intention to make humans suffer, it is merely a component in our games. For one cannot know true joy, until one has known true sorrow.

But your pain will be wiped away, that which plagues your heart shall no longer weigh heavily on your shoulders. In your suffering you will find strength, and in your tears you will find new determination. And the weapon of pain you use to justify our eventual defeat will no longer be yours to wield."

Usagi didn't quite understand, but within a heartbeat she felt him invading her consciousness, and in that moment their minds touched. An elven woman of unmatched beauty stood before her, smiling like an angel. Then the picture disappeared from her eyes and faded from her memory, like a dream she never had. Usagi felt warm inside, renewed with strength. She would go to Mamoru and make things right again, and she would show Ami how loved she really is. There was so much to do, amends to be made, and challenges to overcome. Usagi opened her eyes and looked directly into Ruckus', he seemed a bit more pale than before, and very tired. A faint smile touched the corner of his mouth before he stood up and turned to leave. Usagi reached out and grasped him by the arm, he turned back with a questioning look on his face.

"Please wait, I want to repay you for what you've done and make amends for the injustice done to you and the other elves." Usagi looked up at him with pleading eyes.

Ruckus smiled sadly, "I wish you could princess, but you cannot. Nothing that has been set into motion can be stopped now. I'm afraid its too late."

"What can I do to show I really want to help you?"

She felt ashamed for Ruckus. After Chaos died, she thought that maybe...there was a slight possibility that they were not bad...but now that she heard him, she began to understand how unfair was the punishment

Queen Placidity and the Light Senshi had given to the elves. She asked herself if in a determined moment the warriors of the past had questioned what was the reason of their games or how they were feeling.

No, they just considered them as a threat.

She looked down at the transformation crystal in her bond.

"Sumimasen...Sailor Earth...Light Senshi...I can't prove I'm sincere if I have this." She removed the crystal and put it on the ground. Usagi could hear them in her mind, the faces of the senshi and those that loved her. Their voices rose and fell like a stir of echoes around her, all crying out desperately for her to stop. She closed her eyes as she crushed the crystal under her foot, and like a dream it shattered into a thousand fragments. "This is the only way..." she muttered.

Ruckus stared at her in disbelief, he simply didn't believe she would do something so daring and dangerous. Usagi looked straight into his eyes without a shred of regret, reaching out to grasp Ruckus' hand she smiled. "Now do you believe me?"

"I-I.. I'll see what I can do." Usagi nodded with a warm smile as she sat back down and looked at the remains of her shattered crystal.

She sighed, "No regrets.." she whispered to herself. But when she looked up again Ruckus was gone.

Ruckus stood atop a pole, watching Usagi look for him. Hopefully some of what he said would sink in, though he wasn't sure without using magik. A single tear rolled down his left cheek as a memory surfaced in his mind, the same Usagi had seen. The image of her smiling face twisted in his mind into a dark stranger with wintry blue eyes, his own image haunting him. It was the price he would pay for taking away her pain, he added it to his own. Ruckus shivered violently and almost lost his balance again. Quickly recovering he shook his head from side to side to clear his mind, taking one last look at the blonde haired girl he sighed as the soft cherry blossoms whisked him away.

*

"Prince Endymion?"

Mamoru looked up at the ceiling, in surprise. Did someone just call him . . .

"Prince Endymion?"

There it was again. Mamoru slowly looked around the room.

"Prince Endymion, can you hear me?"

That voice.

"Forgive me, Prince Endymion, but time is short."

------

A small source of light appeared in front of Mamoru Chiba, and when it was gone, so was most of the world. He stood in his living room…or was it?

The computer, which had been downloading a music file, was randomnly flashing images back and forth. He tried typing on the keypad, but it kept flashing an error sign with a picture of Usagi leaning on a file folder.

Mamoru walked to the window and threw the shutters open. Much to his surprise, the sight that greeted him was not Tokyo, but the void. He watched the endless stary night in confusion for a moment before a knock shook him out of it. Turning, he watched the front door.

"Come in," he said warily.

The door to his apartment slowly opened. In stepped Nephrite and Zoicite, still arguing with each other. They continued to argue until they caught Mamoru's stare and decided to put it off until they were done.

"Hello again, master."

"Zoicite, Nephrite, how did you pull this off? I thought I had to be asleep."

"Uhm . . ." Nephrite looked a little embarrassed. "Well, you ARE. Thing is, we had to talk to you in a hurry and Zoicite didn't feel like waiting . . . "

"HEY!" Zoicite snapped.

"So, he zapped the part of your brain that regulates your sleeping behavior. You're probably spralled out on the floor now."

Both generals winced as Mamoru smacked his forehead with his palm. Nobody knows how to knock. Nobody's heard of a phone. Even spirits can use a Quiji board. But nooooooo . . . he gets the two who's motto was "When it absolutely, positively, has to be said in the next 10 seconds . . "

"Prince Endymion, things have taken a turn for the worse. The Sailor Senshi has been spread thin. There are too many enemies to face and two of them have been turned."

"Don't you think I know that, Zoicite? But what can I do about it?"

Mamoru looked out onto the void, sighing deeply. He was slowly losing his will to live. Nothing he could do seemed to stop the advance of the enemy. It was looking like the world would be destroyed and the only ones who could do anything about it were almost unconcerned. Something was seriously wrong with the fabric of reality.

"You can start, master, by not giving up."

Mamoru perked his head up a little. He had almost forgotten that Zoicite and Nephrite were there. He looked back at them.

"What's the point? Even with my new attack, I cannot do this alone. Our forces have been demoralized and I'm still injured. It's hopeless."

Mamoru watched the void again, this time seeing images passing by. More like memories being relived. There was a flash of light that filled a view. In the distance, Mamoru could hear surprise in the voices of Nephrite and Zoicite.

~I love you, Mamo-Chan! Please wake up! Moon Tiara Action!!~

~AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH.........!!!!!!!!~

The light subsided. Mamoru stood silent in the great hall of the Dark Kingdom as he watched Sailor Moon kill him when he was the dark prince. In the background, Zoicite and Nephrite were horrified at the sight.

"My god . . ."

"So . . . . this is what happened?"

"Yes," Mamoru answered without turning around. "Princess Serenity was forced to end my life when I would not awaken from Metallia's spell. All her friends had died and eventually she died as well. Tell me, are we just doomed to relieve the past? Over and over again for all time? Is this our fate?"

Then, he turned to look at the generals. Zoicite and Nephrite turned to look at each other, then back at Mamoru. They pleaded with him.

"But you all managed to come back from the precipice of death. The power of the Ginzuishou saved you. And you were able to be happy again." Nephrite said.

"You continue to live because you and the princess are destined for one another."

"Destiny?" Mamoru asked, almost rhetorically. "Don't make me laugh. Is it also our fate to be constantly tested by newer and greater foes? How long will it be before we are unable to stop the enemy?"

With a whim, the scene shifted to the Sailor Senshi's fight against the Black Moon Family. Once again Zoicite and Nephrite were awed as they watched the Wiseman transform Chibi-Usa into Black Lady, through the same kind of mental manipulation that the elves used on their victims.

"How can we stand against an enemy if they're able to turn our most cherished memories and feelings into deep resent and hatred, making us turn on one another?" Mamoru challenged the generals with his words.

But before Zoicite and Nephrite could respond, the imagery shifted again. This time, it showed the Sailor Senshi struggling desperately to prevent the Daimon hordes from leaving the Infinity School building, while Chibi-Usa lay dying in his arms.

"Master Endymion . . ."

This time the scene was on a plane, being suspended in the sky. It was a scene of yet another one of Mamoru's deaths. This time at the hands of Sailor Galaxia.

"It's become quite clear that the Sailor Senshi are a curse. As long as we exist, the enemy will be drawn to us. They want our power. They want our lives. What is the point? Why do we fight anymore?"

"To protect what's important to you."

All three turned their heads to see the Moonlight Knight sitting in one of the planes seats. He stood and walked over to Mamoru.

"And what if you don't fight, Mamoru? What will happen? People will suffer. People will die. All because they lack the strength to fight the evil. The Sailor Senshi exist to save those who cannot save themselves."

"But who will save us?" Mamoru countered. "While we are saving the world, who will protect us?"

"Each other, of course. It is your strong love and friendship that allows you to surmount the evil. But part of what you say is true. You and the Senshi have become complacent, unwilling to put forth a visible effort to stopping the enemy anymore. You, who used to be the inspiration to the Sailor Senshi, have been reduced to constant doubt and self-loathing."

"What should motivate me, then?" Mamoru asked.

"Hope."

The Moonlight Knight raised his hand and the scenery shifted again. This time, the scene showed the aftermath of the war with the Deathbusters. The Sailor Senshi were reuinited and a baby Hotaru had emerged from the chaos of the fight.

"Life ultimately triumphs over death, Mamoru."

The scene shifted again to a picture of Usagi, Mamoru, and Chibi-Usa together. The happiness was etched on their faces as they watched the clouds roll by on a lazy afternoon.

"Love conquers all."

The last scene was an image from after Galaxia had been healed. The Sailor Senshi had been restored. Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion embraced and didn't want to let go.

Mamoru turned to look at the Moonlight Knight. He seemed unconvinced.

"Yes, but all that is the past. It is the present that worries me. Our existence seems to bring equal suffering. The Sailor Senshi can inspire cruetly, as well."

A scene from a year ago. A blazing inferno raged through a large university in the States, where Mamoru had gone to study. A corrupt organization had warped the students to their own goals.

Tuxedo Kamen struggled with zombie-like students who threw Senshi attacks and had a blank, dead look in their eyes. They bodies had been cybernetically enhanced to manipulate such energies, leaving deep scars everywhere. He threw off several of the students, only to be blasted by a familiar-looking one, clad in a blue sweater.

Off to the side, Zoicite and Nephrite were looking a bit annoyed.

"We're being ignored, Nephrite."

"Oh well. Would you rather be trying to talk to those two?"

"People will use any excuse to be cruel, Mamoru. If it's not the image of the Senshi, it would be something else." The Moonlight Knight showed images of the elves, the Deathbusters, the Sailor Animates, and the Black Moon Family.

"But you have to remember why you fight, Mamoru."

"Why do I fight?"

"To protect those important to you." Brief images flew past the void, of Usagi, Chibi-Usa, Rei, Ami, Makoto, Minako, Motoki, Unazaki, and Michael. The pictures of them were all of smiling, happy faces.

"For if you were to stop fighting. . . . "

One-by-one, the images slowly faded out. That struck Mamoru deep in his heart. It was true. If he stopped, most likely everyone close to him would suffer and perish. For they would not stop fighting, because they believed in themselves and their friends. Suddenly, Mamoru was feeling about 6 inches tall.

"I have to fight, for them as well as myself." Mamoru nodded.

"At last, you understand. But I'm afraid that your efforts will not come soon enough."

This got Mamoru's attention very quickly. Even Zoicite and Nephrite were not expecting such a grim comment in the middle of a pep-talk like that.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"I'm sorry, Mamoru. But soon, someone close to you has not long to go. Their life is forfeit. I cannot tell who at this point, but it will be soon."

Before Mamoru could ask anything further, the whole world appeared to melt.

------

"What happened?"

Mamoru got up from off the floor of his apartment and flopped down on the couch. His head throbbed in pain and he looked around. What had just transpired here?

"I must fight . . . to save Usako . . ."

And with that, he drifted off to a troubled sleep.

* * *

"Dinner will be at 6:30 PM." Hikari looked at Kish's image with
agreement. She looked at her watch. It was 12:30PM now. "That will be in
six hours from now, Kish."
Hikari paused a moment and then warmly added. "I'm interested in hearing of Hitei and your travels, Kish."

Kish rubbed his chin then asked confusedly, "Which one? recently or old story?".
Then he stood up and opened the window. He looked at the sun then walked towards
the communicator and said, "Ok, six hours from now... I guess I could drop there
earlier before the dinner time right?".

*

Mayhem left Ruin happily playing with her illusions at the Maze and let the mist take him, appearing next to Michael on the bus.
He looked around and then down at the sleeping Michael. "...Interesting..."
Michael, while not snoring, was leaving a slight drool trail down his shoulder; a normal hazard of falling asleep sitting up. His head was pressed against the bus window and he was still in the same clothing Mayhem had seen him in the day before. Apparently this is where he had spent the night.
Mayhem shook his head, and saw that no one had seen him appear...or no one seemed to care. Although one old woman in the back was starting to make him nervous.
"Enough of this." He reached over and shook Michael's shoulder.
"Huh....? Whu-za?" Michael slowly regained consciousness, opening both eyes slowly, then slamming them shut from the protest of the light in his eyes. Eventually, he pushed himself into a sitting position, shaking his head a little to remove the cobwebs, then instantly crying out in pain as the crick in his neck rebelled against him.
"Oww!! Aw...geez....did I fall asleep on the bus!? Thanks for waking me." Michael said to Mayhem, not realizing who was sitting next to him. He stretched lazily and licked his chops somewhat. Finally, he turned to look at Mayhem, but the image must not have registered since there was next to no reaction.
"It was my pleasure." Mayhem said sardonically. He leaned forward,
putting his arms across the chair in front of him. "I do hope you're up for a game, now, Michael-kun. Even after sleeping.....here..."
Michael rubbed his eyes a little and took a better look at Mayhem.
"Feh, you look like I feel. Look, I don't know what kind of game you mean, but I assure you, I do not know how to play Parcheesi." Michael hacked up a little, and tried to comb his hair straight from the uncomfortable pillow he had.
"Just gimmie a second. I gotta wake up."
"Obviously." Mayhem said. "But this dirty...vehicle is certainly not the place to do it!. If you're to be in any sort of condition to play well, you need to start out the day better. Here...you can clean up and get something to eat in my Realm..." He grasped Michael's wrist, and both disappeared in the mist...much to the displeasure of the bag lady in the back.
Less than a second later, they reappeared in Mayhem's sitting room. The tapestry to the Garden was still closed, but the one leading to Mayhem's bedroom was pulled aside. As the mage gestured at the table, a set of dishes appeared there, the aroma of good food filling the chamber.
Michael's eyes were quite open now, the expression on his face was one of dull shock. A cowlick was ticking straight in the air on his head, but he wasn't paying any attention to it. He glanced around, bemused. Michael looked up at Mayhem with some bloodshot eyes, obviously still half asleep.
"That's nothing. I can pat my head and rub my belly at the same time."
Michael stood up, dusted his worn clothes, and tried to walk in a straight direction. He found himself a nice chair, sat down, and promptly fell back asleep.
Mayhem blinked. "Alright......" Then he shrugged. It had been awhile since his last meal too, and that time under the Starfire hadn't helped any.
He sat in the opposite chair and made up two plates of food, setting the second in front of Michael, and starting to eat.
He took the chance to study his adversary. This really wasn't the way he had planned to start off this Game. Although he knew that things rarely work out as they are planned, this was a bit much. Still, he wasn't about to drop Michael off still half-asleep and as rumpled/dirty looking as he did now. That was something Carnage would do, and Mayhem prided himself on being better than her.
Out of nowhere, Michael suddenly shot out of his chair, nearly knocking the table over in the process. For some strange reason, he was incredibly awake and alert as his head whipped back and forth so fast to survey his surroundings, it appeared he was pulling a Linda Blair and doing 360's. He finally focused on Mayhem.
"I wish you'd give me some kind of warning before you do that! Yeesh, it's like I'm back at college again....."
Mayhem just chewed and stared up at him. "Well, I didn't want to sit on that odd , dirty car any longer than I had too. And it's much nicer here.
Are you hungry?" He gestured to Michael's plate.
"Um....give me a second." Michael was too busy watching the background.

He recognized the feel of this place. It was that strange Elven place he nearly died in before.
Michael picked up on a weird feel to this place and the one he was in last time. It's beautiful in form, very descriptive in essence, but......sterile. As if it was not real. After a moment, Michael sat down and decided to stare at his food instead.
A few moments later, he shrugged and started to eat it.
The mage helped himself to another glass of juice as he finished his breakfast, and leaned back.
"If you don't mind, may I ask what in Haven where you doing sleeping on that...thing? You look like something Rampage dragged in."
"Look, I'm new to the city. I wasn't paying attention to where I got on, so I didn't know what stop to get off of. I got tired, so I fell asleep."
"Well, aren't you touchy this morning." Mayhem sighed. "I suppose this means you didn't hear what I said to you before I brought you here." He took a sip of juice and stared thoughtfully at the tapestry hiding the
doorway to his Garden. "I have finished setting up the Hall for our first Game."
Michael raised an eyebrow, but decided not to comment. He didn't even remember being brought here, much less anything about the game. Still, it didn't look like he'd be leaving anytime soon, so it would not be good to protest.
"Uhm....right."
Michael tried to stand up, then there was a terrible, grinding pop coming from his waist. His eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, filled with water, and he just ... keeled over.
"(strained voice) Arrrrrgh....pins and needles! Pins and needles!"
Mayhem had NO idea what was happening to Michael, but he could see it was obviously painful. He was torn between trying to move him off the floor, or leaving him there so he wouldn't make it worse. Finally, he wrapped Michael in a restraining field, and teleported him to his bed.
"Are you alright?" Mayhem asked. He needed Michael to be in good shape for what he would face later.
Michael sat up in the bed, rubbed his hip a little, and just sighed.
"What? Haven't elves ever gotten stiff muscles before?" Of course, as with all stupid questions, he realized the answer the next instant. Michael forgot he was talking to a court of hedonists. They probably didn't know that much about physical injury.
"Nevermind. I'm fine."
Mayhem nodded. "Good." He inwardly sighed with relief. "Did you get enough to eat? And I must ask....is your hair supposed to stick up like that?"
Michael ran a hand through his hair one more time, and miraculously, the cowlick stayed down. He looked at Mayhem a little, almost appraisingly.
"Depends. How much physical activity does this 'Game' require?"
Mayhem leaned up against a wall and thought about that question. "Well, it depends quite a bit on your own choices. A lot of walking...almost certainly some running, although I don't think you'll have to climb..." He said. ~~As long as Ruin doesn't throw in any surprises..~~ He thought.
"It will probably take you awhile to finish it though." He grinned. "Tell me, are you any good at solving Mazes?"
"I beat Tomb Raider in record time!" Michael said, puffing up a little with pride. Then, again, he sighed. This guy would have NO idea what that was.
"I'll manage. Seeing what you mentioned, it's probably good I didn't stuff myself. Full stomachs make for slow runners." Michael was about to mention something else, but a different thought creeped into his already paranoid brain.
"Exactly what would I be running FROM?"
Mayhem laughed. "Ah...but that would be telling!" He stood and gestured to another open doorway. "The bathing room is in there, if you feel you need to clean up. I can also provide clean clothing....seeing as how that is the same outfit I last saw you in."
*Mamoru, when I get home, I am going to hurt you.....*
"I'll hang on to my own clothes, thanks." For the first time, Michael seemed a bit edgy. The blue sweater he had one had been with him for several years and he considered it lucky. He knew that most times when
hosts offered clean clothes, you never really saw the pair you had on again. Besides, he had some stuff in the pockets that may give him an edge just in case there were nasty surprises in this "Maze".
"Say, that ill-tempered guy with the huge sword isn't around, is he?"
"Havoc?" Mayhem reached out with his power to touch the other Realms. "No, he appears to be in your world at the moment."
Mayhem had the sudden urge to be in the sunlight again, and he stood and walked into his sitting room, to the other tapestry, not looking to see if Michael followed. He couldn't get out anyway, the doorway to the Outer Realm had been spelled closed.
Michael watched the elf leave, and quickly got out of the bed to examine what he DID have in his pockets. A quick stock of inventory later turned up his key to Mamoru's apartment; two pens, one of which was actually a laser pointer; some rubber bands; and *Jackpot!* a still intact hunk of chocolate from his encounter with the elven pixy. His trump card, no less.
He stuffed all the things back in his pockets and started rummaging through Mayhem's drawers, looking for something useful to use. You can't be too careful these days.
Michael found pretty much nothing useful, just books and clothes. Just his luck, he gets the non-collector. He sighed and sat back down on the bed. He stretched, the last of the pain leaving his poor body and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

Only a couple of minutes after he was finished invading Mayhem's privacy.Mayhem walked back into the room carrying......something...It looked to Michael to be...burning roses?!?
The Elven walked to each wall and carefully set a flower in what appeared to be specially prepared wall sconces. After he was finished setting out the burning flowers, he turned to face Michael.
It's much brighter in here with these, but I keep forgetting to cut them. They're pretty, but rather a pain to harvest."
He sighed. "It's a shame the don't last longer..." He reached out and held his hand beside one, almost letting his fingers touch the flame. They burn so fast and bright, like you mortals."
"Yeah, real pretty. I keep reminding myself to get some, but they never have my favorite color in stock." Ignoring the odd look he got for that remark, Michael jumped up and did a quick twirl, to see if he was fully awake or not. No falling down. He was awake.
"So, are you going to keep me in suspense or are we going to get this show on the road?"

*

~Mamoru . . . ~
Mamoru sat on his couch, trying to clear his head. He could have
sworn he heard . . .
~Mamoru!~
Mamoru umped straight up out of his seat and twirled around in his place. He couldn't believe that Zoicite and Nephrite were back already. But that voice . . .
~Hello? Tuxedo Kamen? Mamoru, you moron!~
Michael! That was Michael's voice. But where was he . . .? He had vanished only the day before.
~Michael, where are you? How can you be talking to me? I only have psychic links to the Senshi.~

~Mamoru, for crying out loud, did you forget the college experience ALREADY?~
Mamoru slapped a forehead with an open palm. That was Michael alright. And it would make sense the link worked with him too, taking what happened that year in college into consideration.

~Michael . . .where are you?~
~I got abducted by one of those elves. They want to play a game with me and I just thought I should tell you I might be late for dinner. . . .well, I think I'll just keep you updated. Okay?~
~Okay, be careful.~
Mamoru sat back on the couch and groaned. Those elves were even more of a pain than he had anticipated. He's just have to pray nothing bad came out of this.

Mayhem nodded. "I was just waiting for you to say the word." In a heartbeat, the mist stole them from the room and deposited them at the entrance to the Maze. Huge stone walls rose almost 30 feet up in the air, while the ground appeared to be made up of marble tiles. In a Blue and black checkerboard fashion, each square at least 10 feet wide. But everything was covered in a perpetual gloom, making it almost impossible to see more than 3 squares in any direction.
Mayhem pointed at the only opening visible in the long wall.
"That is the entrance. You have as long as you need to finish the Maze, and can use any means at your disposal to deal with the obstacles you may find there.
Usually, I play these games for keeps...but as it seems you are the only -willing- opponent I will find here, I have made all of the obstacles non-lethal. But if they touch you, or you succumb to a trap, you will feel as though that much amount of damage was actually inflicted upon you. If you are "hurt" badly enough to lose consciousness, it is the same if you had been "dead" and you lose the game."
Mayhem bowed to Michael and took a step back, fading from his view.
*Greaaaaaaat.......* Michael thought sarcastically. He scratched his shoulder blade for a minute and a half, for no apparent reason. At least, no visible reason.
"Hm.....gee, I wonder which one I should try...." he said with a grim look. Stepping forward, he made his way into the entrance.
"You know," he said to himself, just to keep the emptiness from getting to him. "I almost bought this place. Yup. But you just can't trust what they sell at police auctions."
Michael kept walking, finally calming down. This place wasn't so bad. Just needed a heater.
Michael only had to walk the gloomy three squares before being faced with his
first choice of direction. Forward, there was only a wall, he could go either left or right.
"Gee, door number one or door number two. What a stumper." Michael wished he had some change in his pocket so he could flip a coin, but decided to get his wallet/glasses case and flip his drivers license instead. It landed face side up.
After picking up the license and actually assigning directions to the two sides, he started down the road to the right.
He didn't have to go far before he was again presented with a choice. This time, he could continue forward, a way he saw ended in a turn to the left twenty feet or so ahead, or he could turn to the left, right then. Michael scratched the top of his head, before shrugging his shoulders and taking off down the path to the immediate left. Coming up a few squares later, he was again given the choice of going forward, or going left.
His mental map skills were not their best. Michael shook his head. This was just not the way to start the day. Closing his eyes, he spun himself in a circle and pointed. Opening them again, and regaining his balance, he found himself headed straight forward.
Michael walked straight, only to have to turn to the right, then after 20 feet have to turn left.... After just turning, a sound started to bother him...a low level hum that grew in intensity as he walked farther this way.
Just up ahead he saw a turn to the right, as the hum steadied out into a real sound.....the sound of laughter...?
Natural curiosity took over as Michael continued down the path. The sound of laughter in this tiled maze that could only have been concocted by a crazed bathroom designer seemed out of place.
Michael discovered what was making the noise when he rounded the corner.A small flock of round.....somethings hovered in the air. The laugher seemed to be coming from them...which didn't make any sense at all, because it looked like just so many small yellow discs hovering there...until they sensed Michael's presence and turned as one.
Suddenly he was faced with a flock of Happy Faces...but they looked anything but happy... As if some inmate at an insane asylum had drawn their out-of-proportion crazed grins. Grins...Michael noticed, that contained way to many sharp teeth. The laughter grew ten-fold as the Demonic Happy Faces closed in on him.
Michael watched the faces close in on him, each one like something only someone else's mother could love. However, seeing as how they were still the yellow happy faces from so many T-shirts and bumper stickers (and his host was just as loony), Michael decided it was time to try something radical.
"Hi. My name's Michael. What's yours?"
This seemed to confuse the Faces, as they slowed and the sound of the laughter took on a confused tone. It subsided for just a moment, before the lead Face snarled and dived at Michael, mouth gaping open. The rest of the flock seemed to be reassured and followed suit. Michael seemed unconcerned, hands in his pockets, as the Demonic faces charged him. He just stood there, with a non-expressive look on his face as it got closer and closer.
With a small smile, his left hand came out of his pocket and the sound of a finger snap resounded in the cavernous hallway. It was dark, so no one could really see the small piece of enchanted chocolate that he had flicked into the mouth of the leader as it suddenly turned into a small pink rabbit that Michael caught in his arms. He continued to smile at the others.
This did indeed stop the flock for moments, as the paused to regroup and the laughter increased as they figured out what had happened. Unfortunately, the change in body did nothing to change the temperament of the bunny Michael held. It turned and bit him viciously on the arm. As if encouraged or excited by the smell of the blood welling up from the cut, the Faces started to dive at Michael, too small to inflict any serious
wounds, but still slashing at him as best they could.......
And Mayhem watched it with growing horror. There should have been no blood! Even if the Face had been changed to a rabbit, the pain should only have been phantom! Something was horribly wrong, and he tried to teleport in to find out what it was. But he was blocked....something was keeping him out of the Maze!
Now Michael was just a little upset at being bitten by the little pink menace as he held it up by it's ears, looking a little cross. But then, he lowered it a little to see the faces regrouping and the old smile came back.
Holding the rabbit over his head once again, he started to spin it like a sling rapidly, making the little bunny's eyes spin too. When the faces were close enough, he let go of the rabbit and viola! The lead face smashed into the one behind it on impact, smashing into more, and more, until they were all bouncing around like pool balls.
Michael took this opportunity to race past them into the next corridor, sucking on the bite. He wasn't too happy about it, but it wasn't anything that required stitches.
"Non-lethal.....but man, does that hurt like all hell. Now THAT is interactive."
All too soon, he saw a dead end coming up and he had to turn to the right to avoid smacking into the wall.
After following this route and making the only turns allowed to him, he stopped at a three-way cross roads. He could go foreword, turn to the right, just a couple of squares ahead, or turn immediately to his left.
Michael pondered his options.....well, he appeared to be pondering his options. In his mind, he was putting a cabbage patch doll that looked like Mayhem in a noose and hanging it from the ceiling. When he finally shook himself out of his dream state, he decided that left might be the best option....or at least if it wasn't, he could always turn back. So he walked left and came upon the first variation in architecture he'd seen. An archway ....The archway loomed up ahead and he crossed under it, walking into a large
room.
Unfortunately, the entrance to the room flowed closed as soon as he crossed the threshold, effectively barring his way back. The room here was different, being the size of a small Ballroom, it was much better lit than the rest of the Maze had been, and the floor squares here where smaller than the ones elsewhere, being only about 3x3. And across the length of the room, Michael could see the archway leading to the next section of the maze.
All he had to do was walk to it........
When suddenly, the floor started to glow, the black squares pulsing like black-lights, while the blue ones glowed in a steady light. And they shifted colors...one moment a square being blue the next black, but as he watched it, a patter came clear, a path of lighter blue squares leading to the other Arch. The problem was, the path was constantly changing slightly, so the position of the next blue square was always a bit uncertain.
He stared at the path, just how bad would it be to step on one of the black squares?
Michael looked rather annoyed. He got brought all this way to play hopscotch? If this wasn't an insult to his intelligence, he had no idea what was. Reaching into his pocket, he snatched one of his rubber bands and tossed it to where a black square would appear.
The rubberband lay quivering for less than a heartbeat on the black square before it blew up, the force of the explosion driving Michael back a step, as thick smoke and a chunk of marble flew by his face. The upshot was that the broken tile remained dark and inactive.
".......non-lethal, my ass." Michael reached into his pocket for his wallet/glasses case and started bringing out every business card, every stray yen piece, everything that could be torn up, spread out, or other wise thrown and started peppering the room with shards of stuff, hoping he could ruin enough tiles to get across the room.
Mayhem watched his slow progress across the room and fumed silently.
Those squares were supposed to give electric shocks! Not blow up!Again he threw his power against the shields keeping him out of his own Game, and again he failed. Only Ruin could be behind this, as she was the only one with magik new enough that he couldn't yet bypass it. He was frantically working on learning how she had set everything up, but he feared it would be too late.
His eyes glittered in the low light. "When I see her ....there will be a
Reckoning for this...." He hissed.
Michael had finally achieved crossing the room, smoke billowing from all the tiles that were destroyed. He watched the wreckage. There were barely enough tiles left to light up half the blue hopscotch pathway.
"There goes all those business cards Mamoru gave me. Oh well, not like I could read many of them. My reading Japanese isn't' quite up to par yet. Still, that was one nasty trap. Serves me right for volunteering...." Michael continued down the corridor.
After walking or quite a ways and making a few turns, Michael wondered if he was actually getting anywhere...when he finally saw a break in the wall and a choice of going left or right.
Stretching a little, Michael decided to just sit down for a moment to rest himself. He sighed and looked through his wallet for the few pieces of paper he had left. Most of them were just photographs. One of Mamoru and him at College, another one of Mamoru and his girlfriend (what an airhead.....), and the last was a group shot of the people who composed the Inner Senshi.
"Ah, I wish Ami were here...." he said aloud. He wondered what had happened to her since he last saw her at home. Sighing, Michael stood up and took off down the direction to the right.
Walking down yet another featureless hall for a couple of minutes,
Michael was on his guard, but then just as he stepped from one square to the next, a panel slid back in the wall beside him and a huge Piranha Plant shot out sideways towards him, mouth opening wide....
At the last second, Michael hopped backward, the plant missing him by mere inches. Michael scurried backwards some more steps and watched the thing.
"That does it. I am never playing Dungeons and Dragons again!!"
Michel continued down this hall towards the turn he could see at the end, occasionally having to dodge another Plant, experiencing a few too many close calls.

Eventually he came to the turn and after walking 50 feet was confronted with a turn to the right, or a path going forward.
Michael was really starting to wonder if this whole thing was such a smart idea. He looked pretty weary and just trudged on forward.
Again after a awhile, he could continue straight, or turn to his left.
He was starting to get dizzy from all these corridors. Michael just stumbled to his left and walked on down that road.
Right into a dead end.
"Oooooooh....impressive. A wall of bricks. What's the matter, Mayhem? Don't have any possessed Quiji Tables or heads of lettuce bearing fangs to throw at me?" Michael turned back and headed down the original forward path.
After following this path he had to turn right, then almost immediately to his left, walking a short distance to again see the same right or left choice of direction.
But he didn't get to choose a direction just yet. As he stumbled up to the new corridor, white mist began to seep out of the floor and from where the walls meet the ceiling. Amazingly rapidly, the mist gathered and took on the form of 4 hulking men. Crude golems at best, but they looked effective as the blocked his paths. As white as the mist was, they didn't look quite...real... Not quite solid. But they felt extremely solid as one of them took a swing at Michael and it grazed his side.
Michael held his side and backed up quickly. These things were just plain MEAN. What did he ever do to deserve this? As he watched these creatures, he noticed that they all stood in pretty much a pattern.
However, he suddenly shifted gears and started racing at the golems. He picked up as much speed as he could, getting closer and closer to the mist things. Praying the information berated into his brain by his PE coach from High School still remained, he leaped and went into a baseball player's dive, sliding between legs and getting to his feet as fast as he could to get away from the creatures.
But, surprisingly, these monsters were different than the others. Smarter even. They followed.
He skidded to a halt to avoid colliding with a wall and looked left and right, quickly choosing to turn left, again halting in front of a wall, but this time with no where to turn but back, with the Mist men coming in behind.
Michael turned back to watch the hulking mist men come up from behind them, curious as to see how long they could travel outside of the hall where the mist sustained them. They didn't seem to be getting any weaker, so Michael reached into his pocket and pulled out his pens.
Popping one of the lids, he found his laser pointer and aimed it at the creatures, hoping this rather stupid idea worked. He quickly turned it on and made a swiping motion with the beam, hoping that light still cut through mist like in the early morning when sunbeams peek through the clouds.
To Michael's surprise, the beam actually separates one of the things from its hand, the floating limb just puffing away like a cloud. Before they could advance much further, he kept swinging away with the pen, praying the battery didn't die on him.
The Mist men dealt with, Michael walked back down to his last choice and this time took the right hallway. Soon coming to a choice of straight ahead, or turning left.
Michael turned left at the next crossroads, rather irate by now that he's come this close to cashing in on his Blue Cross. Mayhem was going to get a piece of his mind when he made it to the end of this maze...assuming he lived that long.

*

Mamoru Chiba sat on the couch, staring at a blank TV screen. He didn't move, he didn't turn it on, he didn't even noticed it was there.
For his mind was elsewhere . . .
~Non-lethal, he says. The teeth on those faces were real!!~
~I know, Michael. But what other choice do you have but to play through? I don't know where you are or how to get you out. None of the Senshi were answering their phones either.~
~Well, that's just swell, Mamoru.~ Michael added, sarcastically.
~They're out on a picnic and I'm bleeding to death!~
~I'm going to go to Usako's school and see if I can get her help. Sailor Moon might have the power to get through the barrier.~
~Alright, Mamoru. But hurry. I don't know how much longer I can last.~
With a silent nod, Mamoru got up from his spot and walked calmly down towards the apartment's garage, where he got into his car and drove towards Usagi's high school.
On the way, he kept tabs on Michael's progress, wincing at the explosions that went off as he made his way thorugh the tile trap. Mayhem was playing a very dangerous game right now. Whatever those traps were, they certainly weren't illusionary.
Once at the school, he asked the receptionist as to the location of Usagi Tsukino, pretending to be her cousin, who was visiting for awhile. With some fast talking, he convinced the receptionist to call Usagi on the intercom, telling her to meet him in front of the school, where he waited.
~<insert swear word of your choice>!!! Those mist things HURT!~
~Hold on just a little longer! Usako is on her way.~

Usagi was thinking about her last meeting with Ruckus and how she dare to break her crystal when she heard the call.
She walked patiently to the front entrance, questioning herself a thousand times about what she had done. What will her friends think? What will the Ancient Senshi say? And what was she going to do now that she can't morph into Sailor Moon?.
<It's OK, I want to prove them I'm sincere...besides, there's no turn back.
I must go on no matter how difficult the obstacles are. For the sake of those I love.>
As she got to the place indicated her eyes widened in surprise at the recognition of the person who was waiting for her.
"Mamo-chan! What are you doing here?"

Michael turned a couple of corners and was met by an odd sight. The monotony of the Maze finally was broken, the walls breaking down into ruins the farther he walked, the walls being replaced with densely packed trees and undergrowth, making it impossible to walk anywhere still but the Maze path…by now overgrown with thick grass.
Just past another left turn, and Michael stopped short, confronted with a pair of yellow eyes glinting at him from the eternal dusk. The big cat stalked forward, growling.
Mayhem watched in disbelief as his maze melted into a primeval rainforest.
But as the tiger moved into the light, he vowed.....someone would pay....
"What the hell....?!" Michael backed away slowly. He had never seen this creature before. It was some kind of panther, but he couldn't tell.
Not that it would matter if the thing was very hungry. Michael narrowed his eyes and reached into his pocket. He had two options right off the bat. Inside his pocket was the other half of the chocolate he stolen from Hysteria so long ago and his pen light. Either of which could be used, unless he had to do something drastic like climb a tree. Michael watched the cat carefully.
"I wouldn't do that. See, Aramis, like his brother, Porthos, don't react kindly to weapons..."
Michael froze in place. Where did that voice come from?? He looked all over for the source, while keeping the cat in his scope of vision.
"Hey? Who's there?"
There was a little hint of musical laughter, as the blue tiger stalked forward a bit. "Actually, his name is Aramis..." said the female voice.
Aramis approached Michael, stopping only a few feet away.
"Mind you, that's his brother Porthos, over there," said the voice, as Porthos, was to Michael's back gave a low growl of warning.
Michael was starting to get really nervous. Was Mayhem out of his mind?! This was not good. Michael's mind was whirling back and forth, determined to out think these things. He froze in place and almost clutched at his chest.
Michael realized that the old reflexes were starting to fight for emergence. But he fought them back. He didn't need them to handle this. Well, he probably did, but he didn't want to take the risk.
Noting the cats were starting to get restless, he tried addressing the voice again.
"Hey! Who is there? I'm serious!"
"That's nice. I'm Lady Ruin..." said the voice, suddenly rising out of the ground directly in front of Michael, as an ice statue. When it reached its expected height, it melted away with a wave of its arm, bringing the color to Ruin's face. The runes etched like some sort of tattoo glittered ominously, as she smirked. "It seems that you, also, had to try you luck
here, ne?" She turned her back swiftly as Aramis bared his fangs at Michael. Lady Ruin was so sure of the reason he was here.
"So, Michael Florian, what brings you to my little hovel, ne? Was it revenge? Are we seeking out a treasure? Are we looking for love in the wrong place?" she added the last line with a slight hiss.
"Actually, it was a friend of yours who thinks he can get his jollies by watching me jump through his hoops. Believe me, the last thing I wanted to do was intrude."
Michael didn't know what to make of this elf. She seemed different than the ones he's seen before, even briefly. She....had that odd feeling he sensed when he was running around the hospital. Now he remembered, she was one of those shapeless blobs that handed him back his glasses when he got stuck on the roof.
"Ah, I know you. Hey, thank you very much for giving me my glasses back. You disappeared so fast, I never got the chance."
Lady Ruin narrowed her eyes. "I believe you are mistaken. I've seen you around, yes, but I never would help such a human in finding his other pair of eyes.... It was Calestria who did such a 'noble thing'," she said sarcastically. "But what happened then does not concern me. As a matter of fact, we shouldn't talk about me... but of you. Just how do you intend on escaping my... Mayhem's little Game? Do you actually believe you can outwit him?"
The tigers snuffled; their version of laughter, as Lady Ruin stroked Aramis under the ear.
"Well, I've done okay so far!" Michael was a little bewildered. He was SURE that he'd seen this one before. "I mean, I've gotten this far without many scratches...." Michael was really getting uncomfortable with this whole discussion. Was she going to get to the point? Still, better not antagonize her any more than necessary.
"Hey, do you know the way out of this maze?" He looked around the forest. "Am I even IN the maze anymore?"
Mayhem watched the two converse with growing distress, still frantically working on the spells Ruin had placed on his Game.......
"Not particularly, Michael. You're in MY home, now. Home, turf, dominion, whatever YOU wish to call it. And it seems to me, that you're trespassing." She added a smirk to her face. Michael, such a simple human. One of... Mamoru's friends, was it? Ah yes, her old self had met him at the ball. He was chasing after Saturn, then. What a complete idiot she was to let him run with her. Ruin could handle anyone or anything just fine.
"Okay, if you're not the one who gave me my glasses, just when HAVE we met? I don't remember telling you my name. How do you know it?" Michael asked, looking more curious by the moment.
Ruin's eyes narrowed. That was how she lost in her 'mental battle with Usagi, so many days before. By answering too many questions. She brought her arms over her face as like a defense move, and the tigers were suddenly formed into ice statuettes.
"I know how to get out of the Maze. I know even how to defeat the
Maze in a few simple moves... but what's so 'challenging' about that, Michael?" she said, her voice sickening sweet. "You and all your senshi friends never did like a good challenge. I know Usagi especially hates using her brain where it counts. Always relying on others. what a waste, they can turn on you in an instant. So, let's see if you're better then that, and can rely on yourself to get out." Suddenly, she had an idea.
Michael blinked for a moment. He must be intruding on something. Shrugging, he just walked on past Ruin towards the other end of the forest. He'll figure out what the space cadet was talking about when he got back to earth.
Ruin blinked a few times. Did he just...walk away? From her?
Slowly, she turned her head. Yup, he had walked away from her. And was shaking his head as well.
Bringing her fist up in a rage, a sweatdrop went down her quickly SD' self. "Ignore ME, will you!! I'm the most powerful ally you ever could have had, any senshi could have had!!"
Springing backwards in a flip, she rose up into the air.
Glancing down at her two tiger statutes, she simply waved her arm. Aramis and Porthos broke out of the ice with loud roars. "Go!" she said loudly, her voice echoing throughout her forest. And with obedience to her lordship, they took off after the human.
Michael could only sob in frustration. He just couldn't win. Reaching into his pocket, he reached for his laser pointer, hoping to use it to try and blind the tigers. However, it was caught with his regular pen and a rubber band. He struggled a little, but suddenly got himself one of those MacGuyver ideas.
Adjusting his hand, he took the pens and rubber band and held them like a pair of chopsticks, the rubberband on top. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the rest of Hysteria's rabbit chocolate. Snapping it into two pieces, he loaded his makeshift slingshot and dropped to one knee like Link in that N64 game.
Taking careful aim, he fired a chunk of chocolate at the lead tiger, which luckily had its big mouth open in a roar. The next moment, a very surprised pink rabbit smacked into a tree. He tried loading the slingshot again, but fumbled and lost the second chocolate piece.
"Oh crap......."
The second tiger was about to leap at him, having bridged the distance easily. He shrieked and jumped to the side.
Ruin laughed as her other tiger but a bite lock on Michael's throat.

"Good job, Porthos! Let him go."
With a whine, it backed off, then sat next to the pink rabbit, which was obviously in shock. Gently, it picked it up without its teeth and trotted off as Ruin satin the air, crossing her legs.
She laughed, and then frowned at him. "You and your hormones think you can just walk away from me like I was nothing? That's the problem with you humans. You always thin you're the better species. We elves, however, KNOW we are..." she trailed off, watching as Porthos left the thicket.
"although that trick you pulled on Aramis... very good."
"Look! I don't know what kind of medication they've got you on, but they'd better double the dosage. Better species, my ass! You're a bunch of hedonistic sadists. Humans are not the best race on the evolutionary chart, but at least we admit we can be sick. You all praise each other for your brainfarts."
With that, Michael turned and raced off, determined to find his way out of this maze and back home. Then...he was going to take a long relaxing bath, and strangle Mamoru for bringing him into this.
Mayhem ever so carefully threaded his way past Ruin's last few protective Magiks, one eye still on the mirror that he was watching them from.
Ruin growled, as he took off yet again. "So, Michael wants to play HARDBALL... Let's see if this will be familiar to his four-eyed majesty...."
In a swirl of snow, Ruin had turned into was depicted so many nights, maybe a whole lifetime ago, on Mayhem's tarot cards. The Elven Huntress. And dressed to kill, no less.
Ruin pushed her snowy blue hair out of her eyes, as she soared in the direction he went... And with a spear lodged to her back.
"Michael, no baka! I will show you just how powerful I am!" she shouted. She searched for him, and trace of him.
Michael was starting to lose his strength. This was bringing back too many memories of his college years. The horror of went on there lingered in his mind. If it wasn't' for Mamoru, he may not have survived, so he owed it to him to get out of this maze and back to earth. This Ruin girl obviously had something against him, but he hadn't' the slightest clue what. It was almost like she had something to prove to herself, more than him.
Mayhem sighed and let the familiar mist take him. "Please let me not be to late...I can't lose him yet....Can't lose either of them..."
Instead of appearing where they fought, however, he appeared at the end of his Maze, one last shield blocking him. Power crackled over it, as Mayhem realized just how strong Ruin was. A shield made entirely of power!! It was pure magik, with no loopholes or catches for him to slip past. In a moment of pure scholarly interest, he wondered how long she could keep it up before she collapsed.
"You know, I'm not lawyer...." Michael gasped, leaning against a tree during a brief pause. "But I do believe this is a violation of my rights."
"There are no rules here, only ruin!" she shouted, springing up behind Michael.
Michael turned around to look at her. He was getting exhausted. This was not working out. The whole notion of a "non-lethal" maze was just not registering with him anymore. He faced Ruin, trying to look confident.
"Okay, enough is enough. What are you pestering me for? If its' about stumbling on to your little garden here, I'm sorry already. I just want to go home."
She landed hard onto him, and the two rolled end over end, until she finally slammed him into the ground, and pressed her small elven hands into his throat. She started to squeeze, her eyes looking murderous. "You... you and all the others like you...." she pressed harder.
"Ggggggghhhh...."
Lady Ruin nodded savagely. "That's right. In the end, I'm kinda sorry I had to do this to one as cute as you, but Usagi must pay... her, Rei, all of them!! and if that means I have to strangle you to get their attention then-"
While Ruin was busy making a speech, like everyone else in this crazy country, Michael had popped his pen open and jabbed her in the arm with it, with as much force as he could.
With a scream, she recoiled back and to the left, landing on his legs. Her eyes turned a frozen blue, as though the pain had induced something in
her mind.
~That hurt!! He's trying to defend himself! Finally... no... wait, what do *I* have? I haven't anything!! I can't compete!~
~Shut up!!~ raged the voice back in her mind. ~This is what we wanted! We have power, you just don't have any frickin' guts!~
~I do have guts, I also have many qualities that made me who I-~
~WAS. Joining the elves was the best decision we ever made, and I'll be damned if YOUR doubts will try and stop us now!~
The runes of ruin left Calestria's face, as she scuttled backwards and jumped to her feet, wide-eyed & scared.
Michael dragged himself to his feet. He had just about enough of this one to last him a lifetime. Boy, who would have guessed that Tolkien was so full of crap? Michael was having a hard time breathing for a moment, her choking cutting off most of his circulation.
While she seemed to be arguing with....herself.....Michael started
stumbling off down his previous path.
~You're letting him get away!!~ she shrieked.
~You're right, I am. Our business is strictly with Usagi, Rei and Yaten, and it always should have been!~
~That's it, senshi! Time to make you stay silent!~
Michael looked right and left when he could have sworn he heard a voice say, "You can't have Calestria... you can't have control of us anymore. I see now that I have made a huge mistake."
Michael was stumbling ... er, proudly towards his destination, when a very familiar voice rang out: "You can't have Calestria...you can't have control of us anymore. I see now that I have made a huge mistake."
That made him freeze in place. With eyes the size of dinner plates and a pale expression, he slowly turned his head to watch Ruin.
Calestria had gripped the sides of her head, covering her ears, her pointed ears, as two women seemed to rise out of the ground behind her. With the appearances of ghosts, the two's voices audibly rose to Michael's own ears.
"It's time we end this, Mizuno. You walked into the Elves' arms. I say you were just looking for a handout, a pity party. And now that you're an equal to them you just can't STAND it!" growled Lady Ruin.
Her ice blue hair hung scraggily around her neck, tied with a blue head band. Her fighting outfit was a light grayish almost, as the two began to solidify. Tight two piece, she crossed her arms, as the all familiar senshi of Ice appeared, Sailor Mercury. And looking none to pleased...
"AMI!" Michael screamed. It was Sailor Mercury, who had gone missing.
The last time he saw her, he was mooching cab fare and warning her about what the elves had done to Mamoru and Usagi. But now, it appeared she was .
. . . hell, he had never seen this before.
His mind was wracked with memories of Mamoru talking about the Inner Senshi in great detail and there was no way he could mistake THAT blue-clad senshi.
He tensed, gathering the physical strength to race on over there.
"You abused what I thought would have been the right choice-"
Ruin cursed in elven, roughly the equivalent of bullspit. "You know, what, if hadn't had been the Elves, of which I'M very grateful for, it would have been those Vampyres, wouldn't it, Sailor Mercury? Or maybe you would have tucked tail and ran for Germany the LAST time you felt you were a loser?!"
"Liar!" hissed Sailor Mercury. "I WAS needed..."
"For what?! THAT'S why you can't take this, now we can do whatever we want without 'logically thinking it out'," she said, imitating a professor, "Or, 'wondering if it'll screw up the time stream'. Forget Chibi-Usa, and all the Crystal Tokyo garbage! Forget EVERYTHING about being a wimp, because as long as I'm in control, no one will ever look down their nose at us again."
"Why you educated self inflated elven.... bitch!!!"
Ruin took a step back in surprise.
Ruin started to flare her battle aura, as Sailor Mercury also flared hers right back. Ruin said coldly, "What did you call me."
"Me? US! Look what we've become! This is not what the senshi stand for, it's not what friendship or love stands for, and it's NEVER what I, Mizuno Ami stood for!! I see now that revenge was nothing, a whim in my own heat of emotions, of which I never should have had!"
"I AM YOUR EMOTIONS!! Why do you think I'm avenging us?! We've been put down and used for far too long, and I, Lady Ruin, of the Court of Chaos, shall make sure that every senshi will feel pain by my hand!! Starting with you."
As they argued, a strange dampness started to hang in the air. Slowly, as though it were a fast moving weather pattern, a cold fog started to fill the whole forest. It had a familiar appearance to it......like Mercury's old Bubble Spray attack, but she certainly wasn't causing it.
Sailor Mercury raised her arms above her head, as Ruin flared hers forward, both gathering in Calestria's mind how much magik they really had. No sooner had they done this, then Calestria was moved back an inch by a weird breeze. In effect, both girls were thrown off balance.
Ruin growled, her dress outfit torn up her thigh, as she leapt to her feet. "Really. Shabon Spray, your weakest attack. I rest my case without even lifting a finger."
"wasn't me," came back the perplexed reply.
Ruin arched an eyebrow, knowing exactly that Sailor Mercury would be analyzing where she was and going to attack, but in the back of thoughts she wondered what brought the fog in. Ruin leapt up as Sailor Mercury shot off her blast, and Ruin knocked her back with a swift kick. "Alas, it seems that you're letting too many things distract you, ne?" she laughed as Sailor Mercury hit the ground, her aura suddenly blowing away as Ruin and her both disappeared rather abruptly.
Calestria suddenly fell back to the ground, breathing heavily, her eyes blank. She landed face-down in the snow on the forest floor that had surrounded her, her blank eyes searching... searching...
"Mayhem-chan, I'm scared... where am I?" she whispered.
Meanwhile, the mysterious fog was becoming more and more intense, visibility almost nil. There was a strange power coming from somewhere in the forest, but it was neither elven in nature, nor was it magik. A blue aura seemed to shine in the darkness, a pair of glowing eyes in the center.
Mayhem gasped and stepped back quickly as the magik shield keeping him out was dispelled suddenly. He conjured up his mirror to watch the proceedings inside the Maze, cautious.
The mirror showed the forest fading, as Calestria's power lost hold on the Maze. The trees reverted to their original blank walls, the ground to tiled marble..leaving the Maze in its original non-lethal state, and a stunned Elven woman laying on the floor. Mayhem took pity on her and now that he could use his magik freely, teleported her back to her own Realm.
Leaving on of his spelled mirrors with her, so she could watch the end of this Game, as she recovered.
"Michael...." Mayhem said, turning his attention back to the human.
"You've come this far....you can finish this game..."
Michael was simply standing in the middle of the room, head lowered to the ground. The fog slowly dissipated and he looked up at the hallway leading to the end. His eyes were angry now. He slowly started to walk. That walk turned into a jog. And that jog turns into a run.
Michael raced down the hallway, memories flooding back.
Michael's face was strangely calm, as he rounded the last turn and headed towards a long hallway. At the other end, he could see Mayhem standing there. He skidded to a halt, at his end of the hallway.
Mayhem smiled, very slightly. "Well, I'm glad to see you made it this far. Even after the Game turned out....like neither of us expected..."
He gestured at the long rift in the floor that was the last obstacle between Michael and freedom.
"Simply walk to me, and this will be over. It is much easier than it seems, you just have to make leap of faith."
Michael sneered somewhat. A leap of faith......how appropriate a term.

"Mayhem, I don't know what to say. You've really outdone yourself."
Michael gestured back towards the previous room.
"You know, back when I was in college, Mamoru told me stories about the Senshi. They used to give me hope since they stood fast in the face of the most impossible odds. I especially idolized Mercury, who could figure a way out of anything." Michael growled.
"And I've watched you people pervert that! I've had it!" Michael started to glow. It was the same blue glow that Calestria saw from the forest. Michael raised his hands over his head. A very cold breeze started to blow through the corridor. "You're mine, you freak!"
"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!!!!!" Michael twirled in place, throwing a blast of ice. The ice smacked into the ground in front of the trench, but kept on going, creating a bridge of ice. Michael raced towards Mayhem, with a murderous look on his face, making some motions with his hands.
Sulking is what she was doing. Not Ruin, not Calestria, but deep down inside, Mizuno Ami was still alive, sulking.
"She got me... I can't believe I fell for that. She probably used that fog as an illusion... but I would have felt it... oh Kami, I'm so confused... I want to go home...."
Calestria gingerly rolled over, and noticed that there was a blue tiger, cuddling a pink rabbit. sitting up-right, she wondered how long she had been out. "Oh my word... what happened... I just saw him... I don't remember anything else..." She gazed upwards, and smiled tenderly; Mayhem had thought of her, whatever the circumstances. He had left her a mirror to watch the proceedings of the Maze Game that they had so carefully constructed.
"Although I thought there were more trees, eh, Aramis?" she asked the tiger. he growled back.
"Excuse me, Porthos," she said, leaning away from him, and watching Mayhem confront Mamoru's American colleague, Michael.
Mayhem gaped in shock, momentarily stunned by Michael's use of power.
But he wasn't stunned for long. He hadn't survived this long being a sitting duck. As Michael raced towards him, Mayhem's hands came up in a defensive position as he stepped back. His mind was racing....
~~That...that was Mercury's attack!! How could...he..possibly have used it!~~
So many questions, and the only person who could answer was currently heading towards him with murder in his eyes. This was not going at all how Mayhem had planned....
Calestria narrowed, then squinted. Unfortunately, she couldn't hear a thing, mirror hadn't any audio components. She raised an eyebrow as Michael had lifted his hands....
... then was up on her feet seconds. "That!! That... couldn't have been...! Only I can..... Kami-sama, Mayhem-chan! He needs me!!"
Still weak from her own magik being drained, Calestria attempted to teleport to where Mayhem was....
"Bring Ami back, you demented psycho!" Michael was thoroughly beyond reason right now. He knew full well that if he kept using his powers, he'd die, but he seemed not to care. "I idolized her and I won't watch this go on!"
"MERCURY AQUA MIRAGE!!!" Michael cut loose with another attack, his hands covered in frost and his breath coming out in a visible fog. He appeared to be showing the signs of hypothermia, but not suffering from it.
Mayhem needed no second warnings after that little speech Michael gave.
As the attack raced at him, he summoned a counter attack of his own.
"LEVIATHON!!"
The two water spells met, fighting for dominance, but neither won, the water cascading uselessly to the floor.
Mayhem summoned another such monster, holding it at ready.
"Please! Stop this! You understand so little of what's going on!"
"I understand enough! One thing that Mamoru stressed time and time again whenever he MENTIONED Ami's name was her devotion to her friends and loved ones. Now look at her. Ready to kill those she used to fought beside and throw away all her old ideals. Does that sound like the actions of someone who is in their right mind?! I think those *expletive deleted* twins Riot and Ruckus twisted her just like they twisted Usagi! I'm going to finish this right now!"
Michael seemed to almost convulse as the energy gathered in front of him. It was slow forming, but it appeared to be a harp made out of water. He strummed it, streams of water racing at Mayhem.
"MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!!!"
" Mayhem-chan?!" Calestria wasn't a master at teleportaion yet, and had landed somewhere in the middle of the Game. And Calestria did not like that.
"Kami, what if I run into a evil smiley face or if I get lost?! Mayhem-chan!!" se called, running this way and that. "Michael-san!! Stop!! Yamenasai!!"
Mayhem heard her cries, but unfortunately, he was more than a little distracted.
Teleporting away at the last instant, and again letting his Leviathan take care of the attack, Mayhem reappeared beside Michael, grabbing him by the shoulders and slamming him up against the wall.
"STOP! You accuse us of twisting her, but anything she is...anything she's done, they are all from her mind alone!
She joined us of her own free will...if she has problems with the Senshi....maybe they were there to begin with..." Mayhem growled.
Michael was in intense pain when Mayhem had grabbed him by the shoulders, the old scars from the cybernetics grafting program lying there. But he eventually recovered enough presence of mind to shout...
"SHABON SPRAY; FREEZING!!!!" The cold radiated from his body, flash freezing most of Mayhem. Michael twirled and in turn, slammed Mayhem into the wall. His voice was a low hiss.
"Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me that Riot and Ruckus didn't have something to do with the way she is now? Can you tell me that the person who tried to murder me back there is actually Ami Mizuno?! Answer me!"
Mayhem stared up at him, as he lay slumped against the wall, thankful that he knew about water, or he'd be going into cold shock about now.
Speaking softly, he looked up into Michael's eyes. "I know well enough how Riot and Ruckus are, though to all my knowledge, Ami came to us freely, with little regret for her choice. I would...." he growled again "I would kill them if they did anything to hurt her." The ice was melting under the mage's magik, and he used the wall for support to stand.
"As to the woman who tried to murder you.....where you totally blind back there? Ami's soul is split in two now...It WASN'T her that hoped for your death..." He stopped to gasp for air.
Michael himself was already staggering. When he looked up, his eyes were full of sadness instead of anger. He stared at Mayhem directly in the eyes.
"The most dedicated of all the Senshi suddenly decides to join the elves and after she does, her soul is split into two. How can someone so smart be so STUPID! Do you claim total innocence from all that? Do you truly think that you elves, in your infinite arrogance, didn't do this to her? Is this what you wanted? Was this your...intent....I........."
Michael, looking very pale, dropped to his knees. He was grasping his chest and looked like he had trouble breathing. He looked up at Mayhem once again.
"Mayhem.......look at her. Is that the Sailor Mercury you've heard about or think you know?" With that...Michael collapsed totally, his breathing shallow beyond belief.
Calestria gave up, and shot upwards, so she could have a glaring view of her surroundings. "Mayhem-cha-....."
Her eyes zeroed in on the two, as she dove down towards them, faster then one could blink. She landed next to Mayhem's side, and hugged his arm.
"What...."
Calestria's eyes have a nervousness about them, as she dropped to one knee next to Michael.
Calestria knelt by Michael's head, her eyebrow furrowing. "He.... has some sort of energy... not unlike my own powers before... I gave them up... Mayhem, can you heal him?" She jumped up. "I mean, he's not supposed to die, right?" She pleaded with her eyes. "We REALLY aren't out to kill them, are we?"
Mayhem stared down at her, his eyes cold. "I cannot heal. None of us can. I certainly was not trying to kill him.....Calestria....do you not remember ANY of your actions from the Maze?!" He asked in disbelief.
Calestria nodded. "Of course! I remember helping you design it, then seeing that it was Michael who you had picked to be your opponent..." she trailed off... "but then I had ended up in my room... you had sent me there. Why?"
He almost laughed from shock right then. "That is most certainly NOT
all!"He conjured a mirror, setting it on playback, and showed her own actions from only minutes ago.....
"A..ami-san......"
"Am..ami..ami-san..." Michael repeated, using the honorific for the first time since learning the language. He was having some trouble breathing and each word sounded like an individual effort in itself. "I....I wish I..I had said how much I looked up to ou.....when I had the chance.....I don't know if you....*hard swallow* can hear me.....but..you've always been my hero."
Caletria watched as she, Calestria... beat the living soul of Michael Florian. she put a hand over her mouth. "Oh my... "she shook, watching...
Slowly, she tore her tear-ridden eyes away, and glanced at the human she had battered, who laid almost lifeless at her and Mayhem's feet.
He struggled, trying to reach over to her and Mayhem, but his body suddenly started to fade in and out of existence, before exploding in a bright flash of light, sending little yellow balls of energy to the sky. Where Michael lay, was a small crystal, with a blue light inside. It was a starseed. But unlike normal ones, it was all scratched up, throwing sparks left and right. And the light inside was dim. A final marker to the horrors of the Sailor Star Project.
Somewhere, deep inside... Mizuno Ami screamed...
Somewhere, deep inside, Ruin laughed...
And here, in reality, Calestria grabbed the Seed, and with a choke-filled sob, turned her back on Mayhem. "P-please.... matsu.... I need to be alone, but please come and see me as soon as I'm rested...." she
whirled back to face him, her ice blue eyes boring holes into his gray ones.
"I.... love....you...." And the ground swallowed her up, to bring her back to her place of Refuge.
Mayhem's eyes closed, as pain etched it's way across his face. Slowly opening them, he took a last look at the place where Michael had died, and with a snap of his fingers, the Maze disappeared, undoing hours of work...He looked out into the gray nothingness of the unformed Realm. "I hope you're happy...Ruin..."
And then he too, disappeared.

As he sat in his palace he looked around him and dreamed of past battles, he wondered how long it would be before he was in action again. He dared not move too soon though for he wanted to be a lone warrior. But he was ready to answer when either the need arose or Hikari summoned him.

"Usako!" he said, breathlessly. "I need your help desperately."
Mamoru was going to said more, but he quickly steered Usagi into an area where no one would see them. Once they were out of sight, he finally le this composure drop He was in dead panic.
"Usako, it's a matter of life and death. It's Michael . . . the elves abducted him. They're playing a game with him and he's in danger. I need Sailor Moon's power to break through the barrier on the elven realm so we
can rescue him. If not, he could die!"
Deciding that words couldn't express his thoughts enough, he took Usagi's hands and showed her what he saw through Michael's eyes. And a bit of a recap. Finally, it showed Michael walking through a strange forest.
~Michael!~
~Mamoru?~
~Usagi is here. She's watching with me.~
~Hi Usagi!! Sorry we couldn't be talking on a more casual basis, but I need a big favor. GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!!!~ Michael's voice was tinged with utter terror. He wouldn't let the elves see it, but he was that close to wetting his pants.
~Usagi, please. I'm begging you. Help me! Please, I don't want to die!~

"We'll make everything better. For Ami's sake....for our sake....for the future's sake. I won't let Chibi-Usa grow up in a situation like this. I promise."
<For Ami-s sake...for our sake...for the future's sake> Usagi repeated within her mind.
"You're right. We will confront them together. We will stop them."
Mamoru leaned in, to brush a little hair out of her face. Then he leaned in and kissed her. A moment later, he pulled away and looked down at her again.
"Usako...would you like me to talk to the school? See if I can get you the day off?"
"Yes, please." She answered. The less thing she wanted was to study, her mind was a mess, she felt so tired.
Mamoru went and made the arrangements, with a false excuse, then quickly came outside and helped Usagi into his car, where they drove off.