Luna and Artemis sat silently in the darkness of the command center as
they waited for the computer to start up. They were here for a reason,
to research on the reason for this test, each set of tests was set up for
a certain reason, to enhance or develop something in each of the princesses,
and they wanted to find out what this was. As the monitor lighted
up with the appropriate screen, Luna immediately pounced onto the keyboard
and began typing; they first had to research the power of the Kuriverse
Go- the universe that Ami was captured in, and then, the type of test this
was, then decide on an appropriate form of action to help Ami escape.
As easy as it may have sounded, Artemis and Luna were fully prepared to
stay researching for the entire nightfall.
Lord Takeuchi paced around the room, nearly wearing a hole in the luxurious
carpeting that lay on the ground. He was distressed due to what the
Kuriverse Go doctor had reported to him; his lady was suffering from a
virus that was inherent in all Kuriverse beings, and lay dormant in their
bodies, however, Earthlings were not immune to the virus and could be sick
for many months and become physically weakened for life. Only those
humans who had been brought into the medical unit for a brainwash or chip
implant had been injected with a vaccine… He had neglected to bring
Ami into the medical unit, and now that she had been infected, it was too
late. He blamed himself for letting this happen to his beloved, he
could not allow her to be brainwashed, for once she was, she would no longer
be herself, and she would lose the disposition that he loved so much in
her, yet due to his neglect, she was suffering…
“…the only way that she can recover is by leaving, but how can I just let
her go? Somehow, she’s managed to evoke in me, feelings that I have
never experienced, no matter the ladies that I have been introduced to,
there is no such feeling of absolute awe, and love and that I feel for
her. I wish that I knew…”
Ami’s body continue to lay in deep sleep while her mind began to wander,
until her ears caught the voice of Lord Takeuchi’s monologue.
“This fever, this wretched fever, if I take her away from here now, she
will be able to recover fully, but if I take her away, then I will lose
her forever, or lose this kingdom of mine. The decision seems so
easy, to give her up, and continue my life as it was, I managed to survive
so many years without her, surely I would be able to find my life again,
but then I think about my sole existence before her… and I realize, maybe
my choice has already been cut out for me. I must, and I am so willing
that it scares me, to give up everything that I have ever known in this
world for her. I know that I will have no regrets, the only regret
that I will have will be to not follow her… My lady, are you awaking?”
Ami frowned, she must have twitched without her knowing while listening
to him speak; slowly, she opened her eyes, and looked at him. She
saw a pair of green eyes looking at her in concern to which she stared
into confusedly with her dark blue. She hadn’t heard all of what
he had said, and she wondered if it had been but a dream, Ami Mizuno had
never deserved to be loved by those other than her mother…. The word
had been foreign in her vocabulary until only recently, and now, she had
just heard a declaration from him. She sat up slowly and pulled away
from his support, as she opened her mouth to speak she felt the dryness
in her mouth, “I will be fine, but you need some sleep my dear, I would
feel so guilty if you sat by me all night.” She reached up to touch
his face ever so lightly: although over time, she had become accustomed
to such actions of affection, after what she had just heard, she felt her
hand tremble at the movement.
He smiled back at her, and nodded, then kissing his forehead he left the
room, only stopping momentarily as he looked back from the doorway to say
goodnight.
Dr Mizuno stared at the manuscript which had just been delivered to her
office, the crusty paper crackled as she opened the front page. She
sighed as she read the note that Setsuna (SailorPluto) had
sent her, Luna and Artemis was trying to break through security once again,
she knew that they meant well, and that they wanted to help, but she would
need to talk to them about this. She looked up at the time on the
clock as she leaned back into her large office chair, it would have to
wait though, she thought, she was tired, and now that her shift was finally
over, she craved for nothing more than the warmness of her bed.
Her ears perked up though as she heard the emergency alarm on her phone
ringing, she breathed another sigh, she knew that she would not be able
to leave the hospital until afterwards.
They looked at the test scores of each test that the girls had head, and
the breakdown of the tests, which showed them in what why they were being
tested. They looked at the tests that they had passed during their
5 years as senshi, some with approval, and due to the hilarious moments
which occurred. The girls were now 17, this would have been their
fourth test so far, yet the name of the test had not been listed for them.
They then checked each of the senshi individually, and there, they found
some sort of success. They shook their heads in dismay as they saw
how little detail were given, the categories listed were: development
of weaknesses, strength of _____ (*access
denied*), individuality, ability to cover
(*access denied*).
They stared at the list in front of them, knowing that the list could mean
anything without the details of description, and the access denial meant
that some of the list hardly made sense. All they could find out
was that Kuriverse Go’s power was more than two times greater than that
of all the inner senshi combined… And that meant that there was nothing
that they could do to help Ami without knowing the structure of the test.
Her heart pounded after what she had heard, and her stomach churned, she
wasn’t sure whether it was because of the blood that she saw on her hands,
or what she had just heard Lord Takeuchi say. When she looked at
her hands and at the area under her fingernails, she imagined crusted blood
that stained and refused to wash off, her clothes in a similar splash of
red, and worse of all, she could see the same ruby redness spilling around
her feet like water from an ocean. She suddenly felt more and more
like Lady Macbeth, driven to spells of scrubbing her hands under water
to wash the imagined blood of someone. She could hear her own mind
repeat the words of Lady Macbeth, questioning if ‘these hand ne’er be clean
again’, while knowing that ‘all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten
this little hand’. Tears fell from her eyes as she curled into a
fetal position, her mind working overtime to protect her sanity but her
eyes imagining the worst, she had seen his execution, and now it replayed
through her mind time and again, as she began to imagine the pain which
he must felt, and the horror of awaiting death.
She had always thought that she fought for love and justice, that she only
terminated heartless monsters, but now, she knew that it was not so.
There was nothing that differed her from the monsters that had attacked
her once before, she was just as heartless, and not even Queen Serenity’s
pardon could deliver and save her from the guilt that she was in, nor sweep
away the pools of blood at her feet.
Suicide suddenly became a very attractive option in her mind, depression
over took her, as her medical and analytical mind looked around the room
for the easiest way. Her morality reminded her not to look for the
most painless, but the most effective, as she ruled out each option.
Scanning the ground in her memories, she found countless ways to escape
from self-judgment, but when the door swung open without warning, she immediately
lost her chain of thought.
A young woman appeared, and Ami recognized with shock that the woman was
Akiko Watanebe, the one and the same girl whom held the number one women’s
figure skating position in Japan, and the girl whom she had exchanged ‘words’
with. She stared at Akiko, and tried to figure out what she was doing
here, the champion skater, in the Kuriverse, not quite against her will,
but not a youma. The door closed softly, but her ears perked when
she heard the door being locked and Akiko standing with her back to the
door. Her body froze when she heard a shrill laughter as Akiko raised
an arm holding a sharp jewel knife in front of her, as though examining
the sharpness of the blade. Mentally, she slapped herself for fearing
death when she herself had been contemplating the same idea, but the wicked
curve of the sickle shaped knife shone and reflected the flame of the candles
that lit her room. She could see, even in the distance, that the
blade will cut through her like a scalpel would cut margarine. Her
breath caught when she heard the door close softly, and the enjoyment that
glimmered in Akiko’s eyes, then, her stomach rose and squirmed against
her throat when she heard the harsh laugh that rung in the room, and falsely
innocent eyes that pressed onto her shocked form.
“Don’t move and don’t scream, Ami Mizuno,
you and I both know what this knife might do and I won’t hesitate, don’t
think that I will.” And as if
to prove her point, she walked towards one of the many candles that lit
the room and slashed her blade across it in a fast movement. She
saw the blade cut across it without resistance from the thick candle, the
flame did not even flicker… Ami shuddered as she imagined it to be
her neck that the blade had just swung through. Akiko smiled with
satisfaction, and continued, “I know
what you are doing, and I am not going to let you, because I know, and
I can stop you. I know everything about you.”