Chapter Two: Shadows of Their Former Selves


The next day at the Omega Master's castle, the four Sailor senshi had been left alone in their rooms, except for a few times during the day some clones served them something to eat. When they did, they continued to demand to see the Shadow senshi but the clones ignored them and left without a word. Near the evening, their respective clone went to their chambers and entered without even a knock. The senshi demanded to see the Shadow senshi once again but their clones denied their request and told them of their refusal to see them. Then, to their surprise, their clones told them they were free to walk about the castle, knowing they couldn't find any way to escape. They left the Sailor senshi in shock and then, after a while, the senshi wandered out of their chambers to search for each other or the Shadow senshi.

Sailor Venus was walking in a certain part of the castle in her search when she ran into Sailor Jupiter, and a wave of relief washed over her face as she ran over to meet her, "Jupiter!"

Sailor Jupiter ran over as well and felt a weight off her chest at seeing at least one of her friends was still okay, "I'm so glad to see you."

She nodded and placed a hand on Sailor Jupiter's arm, glad to just feel that she was near, "Me too. Have you found the others?" Shaking her head a bit, Sailor Jupiter sighed and suddenly became a bit worried again, looking back the way she just came from.

"No, not yet. I want to find Kage too."

Sailor Venus got a miffed look in her eyes and nodded, speaking fairly loud, "I know, what's going on with those guys? What are they doing with the Omega Master?"

"There they are!" Half expecting to find some clones running down to take them back, they were both very happy to see Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury running down the hall towards them. All of them seemed to get a look of relief on their faces at Sailor Mars looked over all of them as she arrived.

"Are you guys all right?"

Sailor Venus ran her gloved hand across her bare arm and nodded with a smile, "Yeah, how about you?"

With a surprised tone, Sailor Mercury clasped her hands in front of her and looked between them all, "They have been treating us surprisingly well."

"Have you guys seen the Shadow senshi?" Sailor Jupiter asked and felt her chest raise in hope, though she wondered what she would say when she did come across them. Both Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury shook their head and she looked down, a bit disappointed and relieved at the same time.

"No, not since yesterday when they brought us here."

Sailor Venus looked to the others and got a hurt look in her blue eyes, burrowing deep into her heart and voice, "I can't believe that they have turned on us." Sailor Mars shook her head in disbelief and closed her eyes, still trying to figure out how she blinded herself to that fact even as she and Yamito were in that pool.

"There's something going on. I can't believe they would just turn on us for no reason."

A different voice broke into their conversation and made them all stop talking for the moment, "Don't be so sure." The voice horribly familiar, they all looked to see Dark Shadow Mars standing down a very long hallway, his head cocked to the side a bit as he looked at them.

"Yamito?"

Sailor Mars stepped forward and held her fist over her chest, hoping he would be there to tell them that they were just doing this as a way to defeat the Omega Master. To her dismay, he just turned around and walked away from them, heading down the hallway into the darkness. Sailor Mars winced a bit and called after him again, then started running to catch him.

"Come on." Sailor Jupiter said to the others and they followed after her, hoping to get some answers as well. Through the maze of the castle they all ran until they came into dark room and the doors shut behind them, leaving them in a lighted center with darkness all around.

Sailor Mars looked around at all the blackness and felt really cold all of a sudden, "Yamito?"

"That was my human name. I'm no longer bound by that name."

Shadow Mars stepped halfway out into the light and stared coldly at her, making all their eyes lock onto him, though it was the hurt Sailor Mars who spoke to him, "What? What's going on? Why are you doing this?"

"Gees, is it really that hard? Are you gonna ask that question until we finally just start ignoring you?" Dark Shadow Venus quipped blandly and stepped out next to Shadow Mars, long shadows casting over their faces and hiding their eyes.

Sailor Venus looked at him pleadingly and felt her breath almost escape her, "Why did you do this, Suteki? Why turn against us?"

In the midst of his silence, Dark Shadow Mercury stepped out across the room from the other two and made them all whip around with his answer instead, "It was inevitable. Our power stem from our darkness, so it's only rational that we let it have the control."

"That doesn't sound like you at all, Kurai! You told me your greatest strength was always keeping the darkness in control." Sailor Mercury declared loudly, her face showing how much this was hurting her, but didn't get any reaction from him. Dark Shadow Jupiter was next to step out next to him and crossed his arms over his chest, still the shadows casting shadows over their eyes.

"Some strength. It was that idea that held us back from becoming what we truly are. "

Keeping with the trend, Sailor Jupiter stepped towards him and threw her hand to the side in frustration, "What are you talking about? What you truly are?"

"Yes, what we truly are. We are darkness itself." Shadow Mars said solemnly through his teeth, in a voice that chilled the girls' souls and made them all look to him. Sailor Mars looked back to him and shook her head a bit, not believing this at all.

"You.....you're wrong, Yamito. You're not darkness because.....because......"

This time he stepped out of the darkness completely and let his eyes be seen, dark and cold like they had never been seen before, "Because of what?"

As if she were struggling with the words, Sailor Mars closed her eyes and seethed a bit, then cried out passionately that echoed throughout the room, "Because I could never love somebody who is nothing but darkness!" The words cast a deafening silence in the room as all of them, even the Sailor senshi looked at Sailor Mars in surprise. Even as her voice became a bit weak, she managed to smile and look up at him, her voice shaky and sincere, "Yeah, it's kind of corny, but it's the truth. And, I know you care for me too." Still receiving that cold look, she couldn't help but look for the glimmer in her eye that would confirm her statement, but was met by his cruel voice instead.

"This level of endearment you have is admirable, but you're kidding yourself if you really believe that." Shaken by his words, she blinked a few times in disbelief and even the other stared at him in anger at his cold candor about this subject. The other Shadow senshi just grinned widely as he kept speaking, a reflection of what they all lead themselves to believe, "You let yourself be taken, even when you knew that I was not the same as before. You don't think I saw it in your eyes? You fooled yourself that your love would make it go away. Now that it hasn't, you're grabbing for anything you can to hold onto what we had before. Face the facts, Sailor Mars, there is no future for us besides blood and tears."

Looking quickly to the ground, she shook her head once and threw some sparkling tears to the side, and spoke in an almost beaten voice, "And that night, in the pool when we......we were......."

"Tactics to keep you off your guard and maintain our deception. The only person who felt anything that night.......was you."

His quick interruption made her turn away with a whimper, and clench her fists at her sides. With a light smirk, he simply turned away as well and started into the darkness, but was stopped by her powerful words, "I don't believe you." Instead of turning back around, he began walking again and disappeared into the darkness once more, leaving all of the others struggling to live up to that display. Shadow Venus rubbed his head a bit and looked from Sailor Mars for a moment with a weak laugh, trying to get this back into the right mood.

"Uhm, okay. Anyway, the fact is that your four are only alive because he promised Moon girl that we wouldn't kill you. Don't get any funny ideas, our past is just that, the past."

"Suteki, you can't mean all this! Our past isn't just the past, it determines our futures as well!" Sailor Venus declared and approached him a bit, but a glare from Dark Shadow Jupiter made her stop and keep her distance. It was then that Shadow Mercury leaned against him and scoffed a bit, speaking in his refined but arrogant tone. "Marvelous insights from the senshi of love. I sometimes ponder how a girl like you could have gotten through the entrance exams for high school. Your revelations are staggering."

"Ouch, that kinda hurt, ya know? I'm a senshi of love too." Shadow Venus quipped in an almost sarcastic tone, then burst out into laughter as he nodded his head towards the shadows, "Let's go." As if taking the order, the other two turned and disappeared into the darkness, leaving only the disturbed Sailor senshi and a grinning Shadow senshi, "As for you four, these are the rules. These moron clones don't like you, they don't like us....they don't like anybody. Anyway, steer clear of them and we'll take care of the rest. Also, your clones aren't too fond of the idea we're keeping you alive, so watch out for them too. You can wander around, but at your own risk. You'd be best off just staying in your rooms until Friday, understand?" The senshi looked to him with a million questions on their minds, but he just raised a hand and cut them all short, "Before any of you even start, let me just warn you about trying to get us to turn back to your side. We're happy being evil, or dark, or whatever you want to call us. Mars says we ally ourselves with the Omega wanker, so that's what we do. Just go to your rooms and sit there. We'll see each other on Friday, ya know? Now, go back to your rooms and wait. See ya." Before any of them could object, he faded away into the darkness and left them alone, and hurt.


Usagi and Luna were walking home after school and talking about what they were going to do about the pending battle with the Shadow senshi. Usagi looked very worried but Luna had to press the subject, looking up at her as they walked, "You'll have to face reality, Usagi, you may have to fight them if it means getting the others back."

"I know, but we have gotten Mamoru, Chibi-Usa and countless others back from the forces of evil. I'm sure we can do the same for the Shadow senshi."

Usagi sighed loudly and looked at the ground, which made Luna decide to cheer her up a bit, "Maybe. We'll try the Ginzuishou on them and hope that does the trick, okay?"

With the same concerned look on her face, Usagi gazed forward and let out a slow breath, nodding her head a bit. After a few moments of silence, she looked down at the little cat, "Just when I thought things would be all right again....the Shadow senshi were back and the others were so happy, it all fell apart. Now I have to fight Yamito and the others?"

"You have to face it, Usagi, life as a Sailor senshi will never be normal. As long as there is evil forces in the universe, you'll have to live up to your responsibilities as a Sailor senshi. Even if it means you have to fight some of your friends."

It wasn't what she wanted to hear at the moment, but she couldn't escape that reality. In the end, she nodded and looked forward once more, "I don't want to fight him, Luna. I don't even know how."

Luna also looked forward and thought for a moment, then looked back at her slowly, "You and Yamito had a very strange relationship, Usagi. I never could guess what you two were going to do next, but I guess that was decided for you. In the end, that makes you the deciding factor. The others, they trained with the Shadow senshi, but you never did. As much as you may hate the idea, it'll be you that stops Yamito and the others."

"I.....I don't know if I can do that, Luna." Usagi said and looked away a bit, refusing that it was going to be the only way. Luna looked at her and felt so sorry for her having to go through this, and worried how this was going to affect her.

"What did go on between you and Yamito?"

"I can't really explain it. It's just......I don't know."

"Well, you have to put all those feelings aside and focus on getting the others back. Right now, Yamito is the enemy."

Usagi looked to her brooch lightly and sighed, talking in almost a whisper, "I know." And with that tone, Luna couldn't say anything else at the moment. She watched Usagi for a moment and wanted to tell her it would be fine, but she didn't know if that were true at the moment. As the two walked along the sidewalk, a thought came to Usagi and she blinked a bit, "I can't believe their families haven't been calling about where they are."

"That is strange, I wonder why they haven't." Luna agreed and was happy for a change of subject, "Maybe you should go and find out why."

With a nervous look, Usagi put her hands behind her head and looked into the sky, her mind not totally on the subject that the cat was, "No way, if it isn't broke, don't fix it. Anyway, we'll have them back tomorrow and we won't even have to make up a story."

"Actually, for once, you're right. No need arousing their suspicions any more than we have to."

Usagi suddenly pulled her hands down and glared at the cat, holding up a clenched fist and yelling at her, "Whaddya mean for once I'm right!?"

As she growled at her, Luna smiled sheepishly at her and tried to change the subject once again, "Uhm, do you think the other senshi will show up to help us out tomorrow?"

With an insulted look on her face, Usagi huffed and looked away, just seething at the cat, "Hmph, a lot of help you are. Even if they do, we'll get the others back and Ginzuishou will turn Yamito and the others back too! Yeah, you'll see."

"I hope you're right."


Next Chapter: The Night Before.....