Life's Lessons
By Kristin Renee Taylor
Chapter 8
Terri stood on the rooftop of the women's dormitory in Crystal Tokyo's University. This close to the Barrier the air was colder, and she was glad that she wore a thick jacket over her gray school uniform.
She looked southward, towards the heart of Crystal Tokyo, where the eerily beautiful Crystal Palace stood, prism walls painted red by the setting sun.
Kiyomi stood next to her, black and blue ski suit stained red from the blood dripping slowly from her empty eye sockets, crimson tears streaking her face. She said, "How does one live life? Is it done by living? Or by dying? Are a person's deeds remembered from one life to the next?"
Shouji was on Terri's other side, legs folded in the lotus style, eyes closed, calmly floating two meters above the rooftop. He, too, was still dressed in his ski suit. "The fat man walks alone," Shouji intoned solemnly.
Terri looked at him, baffled.
Kiyomi gestured to the distant palace. "The Senshi are the epitomy of contradictions. On the one hand, They've given the citizens of Crystal Tokyo the perfect existence by coming off as a bunch of all-knowing, omniscient deities and controlling every facet of the public's life, which works since, thanks to the Senshi's mental tamperings, nobody even knows what they're missing."
"Lazy man works twice," Shouji stated.
Terri glanced at him, and discovered that he was now bald and dressed in the robes of a Shaolin monk. "Um..."
Kiyomi ignored them both, continuing on, "On the other paw, the Senshi are the embodiment of power, and therefore corrupt, for absolute power corrupts, and power corrupts absolutely. And this corruption bleeds off to the public, thanks to the Senshi using Their power on the public and infecting all the mindless drones."
Kiyomi paused, and Terri looked at Shouji, expecting the mechanic/monk to say something zen-like. Shouji tilted his head to one side, frowned. "We're on a journey. Travelers in life. Crossing into the unknown."
Terri blinked. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Troubled by my words? Enlightment is coming soon. Patience, Grasshopper," was his answer.
"But, as I have clearly seen," Kiyomi made an odd gesture, passing a hand in front of her face. "The Senshi thrive off of perverse acts. Mercury's diabolical human experiments, Jupiter's twisted interpretations of Truth and Justice, Mars's insanity-inducing mind games, and Venus's obscene compulsions to keep her the focus of everyone's attentions. It's gross, disgusting, evil, and it needs to be stopped."
Shouji said, "One death is a tragedy. A thousand is a statistic."
Terri looked at Kiyomi. "Let me guess: This is where I come in, right?"
Shouji smiled again. "The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience."
Kiyomi glanced at the red spires. Although the sun had set minutes ago, the Palace pulsed rhythmically, vermillion light bathing the city in a bloody haze, making the building seem a heart in truth.
"Terri, do you think the Senshi are evil?"
Terri was surprised. "Evil? Of course They're evil, Kiyomi! Look what They did to the people of Crystal Tokyo. Hells, look what They did to you! How can you believe They're anything other than evil?"
Kiyomi looked at Terri. "Who's talking? You or Minako?"
"W-what?"
"Who's talking? Who's the one that gave you that idea? Until recently, you yourself was a citizen of Crystal Tokyo. Did you believe the Senshi were evil, then?"
"Well, no... But that's because They had me under Their control. I didn't know the truth until the Descendants rescued me."
"And what is the truth? To the people of this city, the Senshi are the truth. To them, the Descendants are terrorists, heretics intent on destroying everything that these people love."
"But, that's crazy. The Descendants are the bad guys. The Senshi are!" Terri hesitated. "Why are you telling me these things?"
Kiyomi turned, put her back to Terri. "It's all a matter of perspective. The Senshi's perspective, the Descendant's perspective, your's... and hers."
"Her?" Terri looked around, but nobody else had joined them.
Shouji grinned at Terri. "Is there really a ghost in your shell, or are you just a pawn of the Ultimate Puppet master?"
Kiyomi grabbed Terri's arm. "Too find yourself you must lose yourself."
Shouji stood, and his Shaolin robes morphed into the orange of a Priest of Venus. He grabbed Terri's other arm. "The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step."
Terri looked at them, startled. "What are you guys doing?!"
Kiyomi said, "Live this life like it's your last."
Shouji said, "Because it just might be!"
To her horror, Terri was shoved backwards, over the railing, plunging ten stories to the pavement below.
* * * * * * * * * *
Terri bolted upright and immediately regretted the action when a small nuclear device went off inside off her skull. She rose to her knees and retched violently onto the floor, a fruitless effort since her stomach was empty.
Only when the dry heaves had ceased and the fireworks behind her eyes had settled down did she try to figure out where she was.
White on white met her gaze. Everywhere she turned she saw white. The floor, the ceiling, and even the walls were all the same, sterile lack of color. All of the surfaces were luminescent, providing her with light and ridding the room of every speck of darkness. The effect was incredibly disorienting, especially since the only thing in the room (she assumed she was in a room) was herself, and without her shadow it was harder to discover the dimensions of her prison.
And prison it was, she had absolutely no doubts about that. She stood slowly, careful to pause every time the tympani drum in her skull threatened to become a gong. Trailing one hand along one wall, she started walking, intending to pace out the room's size. Five minutes later, she stopped frustrated, when she realized that the wall she was touching was either part of an exceptionally long corridor or curved in such a way to form a giant circle. And it didn't help her at all that, thanks to the decor, she no longer had an idea of where she had started.
Sighing, she sank to the ground, leaning back against the wall. A glance at her watch proved that nearly two hours had passed since she and the others had taken refuge in the abandoned subway system. 'Okay, so I don't know where I am. I don't know where my friends are. And I have no way to contact Minako and the others. I need to find a way out of here.' Aloud, she growled, "And how the Hell am I supposed to lose myself, anyway?"
"I'm glad to see you're awake, Terri. For a while I was afraid your fall had only made your concussion worse."
Terri got to her feet, refusing to acknowledge her pain, and glared balefully at the blue-robed Priestess that was suddenly there, arms folded in an attitude of insolence. "Where are my friends?"
"Kiyomi's safe enough; Mercury doesn't want her harmed anymore than she already is. As for your pal Shouji," She shrugged. "He's probably dead. And you know what? I'm not the least bit upset."
Anger surged through Terri. "You'll pay for that."
"Is that anyway to treat your friend, Terri?"
"The day I call you my friend is the day a giant eagle rips out my spleen."
"It's good to see you haven't lost your imaginative wit."
"What are you talking about? I've never met you!"
The Priestess sighed. "How easily we forget," she murmured, and, reaching up, pushed back the hood of her robe.
Terri's anger faded to shock. "Yoko?"
"You look surprised," Yoko said dryly.
"But... why? *How?* Kami-sama, Yoko, the last time I saw you, you were on trial for heresy! Why didn't they kill you?"
Yoko's eyes glinted. "Mercury was kind enough to show me mercy. To show my eternal gratitude, I decided to devote my life to the Senshi's ideals, so I became a Priestess."
<The person that has been shown mercy is the person whose loyalty is bound to be unshakable.> Terri's stomach, already unsettled, clenched into a tighter knot as Minako's words came back. "But... then... you've got to know that your dream was really the truth! The Senshi tampered with our memories."
Yoko smiled. "You're only half right. The Senshi tampered with my memories, but They never touched yours. They never got the chance to."
"What?"
"Ask Hino Rei about why you can't remember parts of your life. You may discover that your amnesia is 'selective,' so to speak."
Terri was taken aback. "I... Rei wouldn't..." Or would she?
Terri shook her head, and used the resulting flares of pain to clear her mind. "That's not important now. Yoko, you know what's going on and you're going to allow it?"
"Is there any reason why I shouldn't?"
Terri was too stunned to come up with a decent answer.
Yoko regarded Terri. "Terri, I'm disappointed. I thought you knew me well enough to know that I would never pass up such a delicious opportunity at gaining power." She shook her head sadly. "I see you've fallen for the stereotype, too."
"I... I don't understand."
"Of course you don't. You've always been so blindly trusting, so willing to go along with whatever anyone says without even bothering to check their motives. It's why I've been able to manipulate you as much as I already have." She laughed loudly. "You are so gullible."
Terri sank down slowly, anger forgotten, pain forgotten, leaving nothing but emptiness. Had everyone she had ever known used her?
Brown hair, brown eyes, average height, average looks. Everything about Yoko had always been so utterly normal that many people had a difficult time believing that she was anything other than a normal University student.
What was Yoko now?
Yoko crouched down in front of Terri. "Oh, did I say something to make you upset, Terri? I'd apologize but, you know, I can't."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Why do anything? For power, of course. The Senshi have it, and I'm going to take it from Them. Nobody'll ever call me a 'powerless runt' again." Her smile was predatory. "And you, as you always have, figure prominently in my plan for power."
"Screw your plan. I won't let you use me!"
"Not even if I could get you and your friend out of here alive?"
Terri looked off to one side, fuming in silence.
"Think about it, Terri. What other choice do you have? Just work with me, do what I say, and I'll take care of everything else. Then, when my plan's done, I'll make you my right hand woman. We'll rule Crystal Tokyo!"
Terri's hands clenched. "No... I won't do it!" She glared at Yoko. "Nobody uses me!"
Yoko smirked. "People use people, Terri, and you're used more than most. Face it, you can't go a single day without somebody thinking what a great stooge you'd make." She smiled possessively, gently brushed a few strands of hair out of Terri's face. Her voice softened. "But now... now you're all mine and nobody else is going to have you."
Terri pulled away angrily. "The Yoko I know would never say such things. They did this to you, didn't they? Those damn Senshi! They put those stupid ideas in your head and they're making you act like this. I won't let them get away this!"
Yoko laughed. "Exactly what I predicted you'd say! I don't have to give you orders, Terri; so long as you stay yourself, you'll do everything I want you to whether you know you're doing it or not!" She stood. "But enough fun. You're tired, and I've been away from Mercury's side long enough. You just rest now, and think about what I said." She pressed two fingers against Terri's forehead.
Terri resisted, but the world swam away into a grey place.
* * * * * * * * * *
Ami crossed the elevator's threshold and entered the observation deck of the Tokyo Tower. Much of the already bare furnishings had been stripped more, making way for hulking machinery, metallic monoliths with thick cables like tentacles that could have easily spawned a hentai otaku's fantasies for centuries, had any of those perverts still been alive.
The air hummed, a high-pitched note that Ami's hearing could barely perceive. It set Ami's teeth on edge and made the hairs on the back of her neck rise, the same sensation she got whenever she knew that someone was watching her. Sneaking up behind her. Fingers reaching out to grab and twist and tear.
Ami shuddered and rubbed the back of her neck, determined not to turn around. "No more dreaming," she muttered. "I'm awake now."
Moving with deliberate casualness she slowly picked her way among the cables, heading to the place where the ecchi tentacles converged.
Amid a nest of cables she found her target: a tall obelisk of white marble veined with orange lines of power. The light gathered at the apex, coalescing into a single beam that rose skyward, through the ceiling, and striking what Ami knew to be a complex system of amplifiers.
Ami glanced beyond the windows. In the distance, easily seen against the dark clouds from the east, was a dome of golden light which served to enclose the entire base, even extending down into the ground where Ami couldn't see it.
The generator creating this force field sat lotus-style on the ground, her back flush with the obelisk's surface, surrounded by a golden aura. Small wires appeared from under her shirt, running into a nearby muted electrocardiograph, and the silent but steady line showed Minako's heart rate at a slow forty-four beats a minute, the same as an exceptionally deep sleeper.
Although Ami had made no noise and Minako hadn't opened her eyes, the blonde's lips quirked up in a slight smile. The obelisk's light changed subtly, pulsed, and Minako's voice came from the air. "You look well."
"And you look like something out of one of Freud's patient's dreams."
Minako's laughter was odd, seeing as how it came from almost a meter above her head. "Is that so? Care to explain?"
Ami blushed. "Well... um... I... I'm... sure you know what... what... Freud's general themes were. You've studied psychology."
"Oh yeah. That's right. So I'm probably some sort of virgin just waiting to be sacrificed to a mighty tentacle demon." Minako's voice became coy. "So that must mean that this here obelisk must be a big-"
Ami developed a massive coughing fit, which had the effect of blocking out Minako's last word.
When it had passed, Minako said, "You are such a faker, Ami-chan. Did'ja know that?"
Ami smiled. "I have no idea what you are talking about, Minako-chan."
Minako snorted. "Whatever. What happened to your clothes? Why are they so big?"
Ami wore blue jeans, sneakers, and a plain green sweatshirt. "Well... um... I went back to my apartment to get a change of clothes... since the clothes I was wearing was... well I didn't want to wear them anymore. But I discovered that everything in my closet smells like blood... among... other things. So I borrowed some clothes from Mako-chan."
Minako said quietly, "How much do you remember?"
"Too much," Ami said immediately. She caught herself rubbing the back of her neck and hastily brought her arm down. "I mean, I have a lot of gray areas in my memory, especially during the first few months, but I think I retained a majority of the latter months. Especially the 'wet work' that I did. I... I remember all of that. Vividly."
"Ami-chan..."
Ami folded her arms. "I know that, technically, it wasn't *me* doing those things, but, in all honesty Minako-chan, I don't know if Mercury was controlling me or if she planted post-hypnotic suggestions in my mind and I carried them out for her."
"That's ridiculous, Ami-chan! Mercury had to be controlling you! There's no other-"
"Minako!" Ami said sharply. Minako didn't quite scowl, but she did fall silent. Ami said more gently, "You know as much about the Senshi as I do, so you know that Mercury doesn't like to control people. She manipulates, she murders, and she likes twisting people's minds, but she *doesn't* outright control people. She leaves that to Mars.
"You also know that hypnotic suggestions are just that, suggestions. A person under hypnosis doesn't have to obey the suggestion if they don't want to. Even if she magically-enforced her suggestions, Mercury couldn't have made me ki... do the things that I did... Unless I wanted to do them."
Ami smiled wanly. "And that's the scary part, really. Even though Rei-chan said that Mercury broke her link to me, there's no clue how many more suggestions she planted in my head, no telling if anything I'm doing now is really what I want do do, or what *she* wants me to do."
Minako frowned. Ami found a clear spot among the cables and sat down. Neither spoke.
Finally, Minako said, "Hey, Ami-chan?"
"Yes, Minako-chan?"
"Wasn't Freud sexist?"
Ami stared at Minako. Minako grinned.
Their laughter echoed throughout the Tower.
* * * * * * * * * *
Venus stood on the balcony of the CTDC Santallius, one of the ten battle cruisers specially equipped for use outside the boundaries of Crystal Tokyo's magic grid. She had wanted to take the flag ship, the Vintarus, but Mercury... Mercury...
Venus's hand clench. 'How *dare* She refuse Me the use of the Vintarus! Who does She think She is?! She's not even using the damn thing!'
Her eyes picked out several dots moving in the distance. A small knot of Enforcers, red-robed Priests, and one of Her own Priestesses gathered close to a tremendously powerful force field, doing their best to find a way past the golden barrier.
'Damn Mercury and Her foolish plans,' Venus thought, glaring balefully at the near, but unreachable, Tokyo Tower. 'If We had only let Me handle things, I wouldn't be in this position now, and *SHE* wouldn't be inside that infernal Tower, gloating at Me.'
The force field, no doubt the handiwork of that bitch Minako, had appeared from nowhere, neatly severing Venus off from a third of Her fleet. A brief report from one of Her Priests told of a force slaughtering Her troops, probably also the handiwork of Minako. The force field also made it impossible for the remaining two-thirds of the fleet to reach the access tunnel that Ami had purposefully made defenseless.
'And I can't believe Mercury fell for Ami's trick. No doubt Ami had this scenario planned out from the beginning.' Venus clenched the hand rail, the metal screeching as it was twisted out of its original shape.
"I don't understand why You are so upset, Venus-sama," a calm male voice said. "This shield is only a temporary setback, as I'm sure You already know."
"It is not the force field that is upsetting Me, although that is certainly one part of it. What makes Me furious is that My vengeance is being delayed by this 'setback.'"
A hand touched Her cheek, tracing a path from beneath Her ear to Her chin. "Actually, I think the scar makes You look rather sexy, Venus-sama. Maybe You should thank Minako before You kill her."
Venus slapped the hand away irritably, glaring at the hand's owner. "You overstep your bounds, slave," She growled.
He backed away, bowing, silver-blue hair whipped about the wind. "My humblest apologies, Venus-sama. I did not mean to."
She frowned, watching him. Several decades ago, before the Descendants had become so bothersome, another group had dared to rebel against the Senshi, and had been summarily routed. Rather than kill the ringleader, Venus had decided to have Mars reprogram him into the slave he was now (Mercury's methods left too much room for free thought, in Venus's opinion.).
Now, She drawled, "You're beginning to bore Me, slave. Perhaps it's time I sought out that brother of yours. What was his name again? Saffir?"
Although his outward appearance didn't change, She sensed his sudden, burning rage. She smiled, coldly. "Or... perhaps... that woman you used to be fond of. Esmeraude, I believe her name was. I've got some Priests that could use a nice reward." She smiled in satisfaction as he glared at Her.
"My apologies for intruding, Lady Venus, but I bring important news."
Venus gritted Her teeth. Turning, She forced a smile on Her face for the benefit of Mercury's latest Priestess. "Yoko, how kind of you to pop in. Uninvited. What news do you have that is so important that you would risk My wrath?"
Yoko returned Venus's smile politely. "My Lady has given me the freedom to peruse Her vast store of knowledge. From my research I think I have discovered a way to breach the force field."
"And Mercury decided to send you over here. How nice of Her. Tell Her that I no longer want any of Her help, seeing as how Her track record is less than appealing."
Yoko said, "My Lady did not send me, Lady Venus. As I am sure You are well aware, my Lady could care less whether You succeeded today or not. Therefore, I took the initiative and decided to help You."
Venus regarded Yoko suspiciously. "I don't trust your motives. What is it that you truly want?"
"Protection," Yoko replied promptly.
"From what?"
"The other Senshi. Specifically from Uranus and Jupiter."
"And what would I get in return?"
"Access to all of my Lady's archives, including Her private files. I can also make it possible for both Terri Ganabile and Aino Minako to be delivered into Your hands. And, of course, I will pledge my allegiance to You and become one of Your Priestesses."
Venus snorted. "Your allegiance means nothing to Me, but the former two arouse my interest. Bring down that force field, and I'll see about your... protection."
Yoko bowed. "As You wish, my Lady. I shall inform Lady Mercury of my resignation as Her Priestess immediately." She vanished.
For the first time since Yoko's arrival, the slave spoke. "That one means to betray You, Venus-sama."
Venus dismissed the statement with a laugh. "Of course she does! And I find that so charming. I haven't met someone that ambitious since... well... you." She smiled fondly at him. "I'll have her killed in a few days, but, until then, I'll let her antics amuse me."
She walked past him, entering Her rooms. "Now come. It's time for my bath."
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