Starlight Asylum
Rei
was infuriated. They had lost another friend. First Sailor Venus and now
Prince Darien. The Negaverse was picking them off one by one. She could
only wonder who was next. And it was all that stupid meatball-head Serena’s
fault. If she weren’t such a spineless leader!
The thought forced another growl from Rei as she shattered the mirror in her bathroom. She drew her hand away, analyzing the bloody knuckles. She was so angry that it didn’t even hurt.
A smile, wry and vengeful, drew across her face. The Japanese girl’s violet eyes drew even more narrow.
“Serena, we all miss him.” Lita’s eyes were full of unreleased tears, “He was a friend and savior to all of us. Besides, you defeated those bastards that killed him.”
“No,” Serena shook her meatballed head, “I just threw them back. They’re trapped for now, but who knows when they’ll return and kill us all.” The three friends sat on the deck, each expressing grief in her own way.
“Where are you, you little screw-up!” they heard Rei’s angry shout. Luna’s ears perked up a bit as the enraged temple maid stormed along the corridor and kicked open the heavy steel door to the bay. Her eyes immediately landed on Serena. For a moment, Rei stood silent, blinking to let a tear slide down her cheek.
Serena stood up, “what is it, Rei?” Instead of answering, Rei charged at Serena and began delivering blows and insults. Serena, submissive, began backing off and trying to block the hail of punches. In a momentary lull, she began tearing at Rei herself and the two grappled.
Amy locked her arms around Serena and Lita took hold of Rei’s shoulders to pull them apart.
“You let him die! You let Mina die!. This is your fault!” Rei shouted, trying to jerk out of Lita’s grasp. “You could have saved them.”
“I tried!” Serena snapped back, herself trying to get loose, “I would have saved Darien were it not for those Negatrash bearing down on us! I would have saved Mina if she had let me! I had a frikkin’ job to do!”
“You could have saved them both!”
“I could not!”
“You didn’t try hard enough!”
“And you didn’t have to look into Mina’s eyes as she fell to her death! You didn’t love Darien like I did!”
“You didn’t...”
“Don’t tell me what I did and did not do! You weren’t there!” That last snap from Serena shut Rei up, though both girls were still trying to get at each other. It took a minute, but Serena calmed first. Soon, Lita and Amy agreed that it was safe to let the two go.
Now free, Rei gave a long hard stare at Serena before turning and walking away. Serena went to her own quarters to bury her face in a pillow.
“That better not be you, meatball breath!” she snapped. The door opened slowly and Amy stepped in to the room.
“What are you doing, Rei?” She asked, half expecting to be yelled at. These were the first words Amy had directly spoken to Rei in a month.
“I’m leaving, Amy.” the raven-haired girl answered calmly.
The short genius gave it some thought, then asked, “You aren’t taking your anger at me out on Serena are you?”
“No,” Rei shook her head, “I’m not.”
“Oh,” Amy’s chin went to her chest as she turned to leave.
“Amy.” Rei called after her.
“Yeah?”
“I just want you to know,” it must have been impossible for Rei to say aloud, “I’m not mad at you.”
“You’re not?” Amy threw a surprised glance over her shoulder.
“No.” Rei smiled, “I mean, where did you get that nutzoid idea?”
“It’s just that we haven’t spoken in weeks and you were so mad at me.” Amy turned back around, “And I did hit you.”
“Yeah, but I was more upset about Mina.”
“I’m really sorry, Reiko.”
“No, Ams.” Rei shook her head, “It’s me that should be apologizing. I said some really way harsh things to you, and I’m sorry.” Unexpectedly, the two friends embraced each other.
“Why won’t you stay?” the blue-haired girl asked.
“I can’t.” Rei shook her head, “I can’t keep taking orders from Serena. I don’t have that kind of subordinate nature. I need to be out on my own, be my own leader for a while.”
“I’m going to miss you,” Amy swallowed the lump in her throat.
“I’m really gonna miss you too, Ams.”
“You take care of yourself out there.”
“Don’t worry, I will.” Rei smiled wide, “And you take care of our meatball-head, okay?”
“Deal.” Amy returned the smile. She looked Rei over one last time before the Japanese scout opened her door and walked away. Amy waited a moment before racing out into the corridor to get one last glance at her friend, but she had already disappeared.
He realized that he was on a large plain or plateau. To his left was a set of steep, stony steps leading high up to a niche in the rock that looked like a monster’s skull. The stairway led into a scar in it’s right cheek and to it’s right eye. The large “eyes” on the skull glowed an orangish yellow. He could barely make out a knarled chair on a platform and a large flat space. In another place, a rock jutted out from a cliff toward another skull with fangs that hung over a platform-like rock. The remnants of an orange membrane that had been rotting for over two years lay smeared over the platform under the skull’s gaping mouth.
“Ah, now I recognize this place.” As he ascended the stairs to the first skull, “This is the true Negaverse.” This was the place that Queen Beryl had coordinated her attack on Earth. He sat down in what had once been Beryl’s throne. From there, he gazed down to where he had been standing to see his recovering army. Jekter, Meredith, the Jigsaw Man, Electrichead, and most of the asp soldiers, workers, and devouerors were now standing back up. Apparently, some of them had been left behind on Earth. Many were dead.
No matter. He still had enough of an army to return and invade the Earth.
“Sir?” Jekter cried as he climbed the stairs, “I have bad news.” As the young warrior stopped at the top of the stairs, he looked around the throne room in awe.
“Well?” Flute impatiently called him back from his reverie.
“Oh, yes, uh,” Jekter bowed, “our pathway into Earth’s universe has been closed. We are trapped here.”
“Well find a way out.” Flute shouted, “I will not be satisfied with defeat. I must find a way back to the universe and crush Princess Serena once and for all!”