***
POLARITY: Pisces. Virgo is the sign of work and
self-improvement.
Its natives are perfectionists who dissect facts in
order to find the
truth and obtain all the information available.
Pisces, Virgo's
opposite sign, is the sign of illusion and
self-deception. Of all
the signs, Pisces is the only one who can give Virgo
problems (aside
from Sagittarius).
***
His Royal Highness, Prince Demando of Nemesis, sat on
the Pellucid
Throne appearing as strong as his namesake. Instead
of being
handsome, he was beautiful like a diamond, and just as
cold. Only
one thing could warm him to any passion- the thought
of Neo-Queen
Serenity, the silent sleeper in the Crystal Palace.
Beside him sat her daughter, the warped Black Lady.
Just as
beautiful as her mother, she lacked the purity and
love that had
touched the heart of the White Prince. Black Lady
had the power of
the jakokuzuishou flowing through her, and like
everything it
touched, she had been twisted into a terrible
caricature of her
former self. Small Lady was gone; all traces of the
child beloved
by the Senshi had been washed away as though she had
never existed in
the first place.
From the floor below him, a swirl of lights appeared.
The Prince
watched calmly, used to the dramatic entrances of his
most trusted
advisor. The Wiseman rose from the floor, his face
covered, as
usual, by the low cowl. His claw-like hands were
playing with a
crystal globe. "My Prince, I come bearing distressing
news from the
future," he said. His voice was eerie and entrancing
at the same
time.
His face expressionless, Demando motioned for his
lackey to
proceed.
"I fear that Saffir had betrayed us,� he stated
grimly.
Demando's world collapsed. Black Lady watched in
amazement as,
for the first time since she had known him, there was
visible emotion
on his ivory face. Shock, pain, then finally
disbelief. "No, it
can't be," he said softly, clenching the arm of the
chair tightly.
"Saffir would never betray me."
The Wiseman's eyes started glowing. "He has stolen
the control
card to the jakokuzuishou. Without it, we cannot
harness any more
power," he said. "The future is fluctuating."
The Wiseman had never lied to him before. Demando
closed his eyes
for a second, trying to regain his equilibrium. "He
must have had
some reason," he said, clinging to the hope that
Saffir was still on
the side of the Black Moon Family. Throughout all the
battles,
Saffir had always been there, his adoring younger
brother. He had
dreamed of having the Neo-Queen by his side, but
Saffir had always
been his other self.
"He does have a reason," the Wiseman returned. "He
is jealous of
your power," he said, preying on the fears of every
reigning head of
state. "He wishes to replace you."
Black Lady smiled evil and stretched, giggling
slightly. "I'll
help you, your Highness!" she declared rather grandly.
"I'll get
the control card back, and punish Saffir while I'm at
it!" She rose
to her feet, her long legs flashing through the slits
in her dress.
"No! Don't hurt Saffir!" Demando commanded harshly,
the old
protective urges towards his younger brother welling
up inside him.
"He is a traitor, and thus, no longer part of the
family. You
know what we do to traitors!" the Wiseman countered.
He started to
sink into the floor again, but his sibilant his
lingered in the air
behind him. "Kill him."
Black Lady laughed and leapt into the air,
disappearing. The
White Prince sat on his hard throne alone, unable to
believe that one
of the pillars of his very existence had just been
turned to sand and
washed away. "Ototochan," he whispered sadly. Then
he faded from
the Palace, hoping to find Saffir and hear his
explanation. There
had to be one aside from betrayal.
***
COLORS: Navy Blue and Gray- the classic colors of
taste and
refinement.
***
Four in the morning.
Saffir's eyes jerked open as some kind of internal
alarm went off.
He usually needed very little sleep, but his injuries
had changed
that. He touched his ribs carefully, testing for
pain, and was
relieved that there was only a dull ache in reply.
The power of
Nemesis flowed through his veins like wine, and it had
healed one of
its children. He shoved the covers off and slipped
his feet onto
the floor, grateful for the thick carpeting. His
night vision was
decent, so he was able to find his jacket and shoes
without too much
trouble.
Saffir slipped into the thick blue jacket, carefully
buttoning it.
His hand reflexively went to the upper pocket to feel
for the control
card. Reassured by its presence, he slid silently
across the room
towards Ami's bedroom. She had left her door opened,
obviously so
she could check on him without too much effort. He
peered in,
surprised that she wasn't in bed.
Ami sat at her desk, her head resting on an open
textbook. Her
mouth was slightly open and he could see her chest
lift with her
light breathing. Some of her hair was covering her
face, the
brilliant blue a striking contrast to the pallor of
her skin.
He watched her for a second, his thoughts moving at a
thousand
miles. She looked so vulnerable, and in her sleep,
she was. It
would be so easy for him to snap her neck quickly.
It wouldn't
cause her any pain. His eyes widened as he grasped
the
possibilities- without Sailor Mercury, the future
Senshi wouldn't
have the strength to continue the shield, and the
Crystal Palace
would fall.
But if the Senshi never cast the spell, there would
no reason for
any of the Black Moon Family to go back into the past,
and he
wouldn't have had the chance. Paradox. He could
easily rip the time
stream apart with such a careless action. Temporal
Mechanics had
never been one of his favorite things. There was only
one master of
that subject, and that was Sailor Pluto. For some
reason, he doubted
she'd be willing to help him.
Besides, he had given his word that he would not harm
a hair on
Ami's head this night. He remembered the look in
Mars' eyes as she
warned him he had better keep that promise. He had
the feeling that
no place or time would be safe if he crossed the
Senshi. Anyway, he
was a honorable man. He would keep his word.
He glanced back once before leaving, struck by how
fragile she
appeared. It was so hard for him to believe that she
was one of the
Senshi.
Ami had the strangest feeling that she was being
watched as she
slowly surfaced from the clutches of sleep. She
raised her head
slowly, not surprised to see that she had fallen
asleep in the middle
of studying. She had so many responsibilities to
juggle that she
was just waiting for it to all come crashing down
around her.
Daughter, friend, Senshi, star student- she just hoped
she could
continue to succeed until... until things changed
somehow.
Shaking herself out of her reverie, she touched her
left cheek.
It tingled from lack of blood, and she was sure she
must have a
brilliant red blotch on it where the book had pressed
into her skin.
It wouldn't be the first time.
As she shook the last remnants of slumber from her
mind, she
remembered her guest. Rising to her feet without her
usual grace,
she stumbled towards the door. As she feared, the bed
she had made
was empty- Saffir was gone.
Without thinking, she clicked her communicator on and
waited for
someone to reply. After about thirty seconds,
someone answered.
"Hello?"
Her jaw almost dropped in shock. "Mamoru-san?" she
asked,
surprised.
He nodded and ran a hand through his sleep-tousled
hair. "Hai.
Usako decided she wanted to stay over tonight, and the
little beep on
this thing doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of
waking her
up." His face lost its smile. "Is something wrong
with Saffir?"
he asked.
Ami ignored the implications of Usagi's presence at
Mamoru's
apartment. "He's gone," she said. "I have the
feeling that he went
to the Dark Crystal to find Demando."
"Let him go," he answered.
"No. I- we- I think the Senshi are needed with
him," Ami
answered tentatively. "If we're lucky, he might lead
us straight to
Chibi-Usa."
Mamoru frowned. "I thought Rei was the psychic one
of you girls,"
he said. "I'll wake Usako up and get the rest of
the Senshi
together." He clicked out, grasping at any hope to
reclaim his
future daughter.
She stared at her communicator for a second before
grabbing her
henshin stick. "Mercury Star Power!" she called,
beginning her
transformation.
***
DOMINANT KEYWORD: I ANALYZE
***
Saffir stood in an alleyway, trying to catch his
breath. His
wounds from the Wiseman's attack had been severe, and
he really
should have allowed for a longer recuperation period.
But he didn't
have the time, so he was forced to write his body an
IOU by tapping
into the power of the Black Moon. After a few hours
of regular
health, he knew he would collapse into a coma-like
state for hours,
dangerously vulnerable. It would be worth it, though.
There was no
way he was going to let the Wiseman's plans hurt his
brother.
He hoped that he wasn't too late. There were so
many variables
that he couldn't possibly account for them all. He
had no clue
exactly what the Death Phantom was- only that the
Wiseman served him.
The Wiseman was a powerful creature, and Saffir didn't
want to see
what the Master of such a servant would be like.
It seemed as thought the Dark Crystal was an
unreachable goal- for
every few steps her took, it appeared to be moving
backwards at an
equal rate. Finally he rounded the corner of a small
street, and
the Dark Crystal Palace lay right before him.
He steeled himself mentally, preparing for his
brother's anger.
He had deserted his post in the future, but after he
explained,
surely Demando would understand. Together the
brothers could reclaim the control over the
jakokuzuishou and complete the conquest of
Crystal Tokyo.
He stepped out into the street, looking coldly at the
policemen
who had set up a perimeter around the Crystal. A few
hardy news
hounds were camped out at the very edge, but aside
from that, the
streets were deserted. Saffir knew that in such a
crowded city as
Tokyo, this was a very odd site- almost as strange as
having a large
black object grow out of nowhere.
He started to walk through the police tape (which
strangely said
"crime scene") when one of the officers stopped and
confronted him.
"You can't go in there! It's not safe!"
"Can't" was one of the few words no one ever said to
Saffir,
younger brother to the Prince of Nemesis. His eyes
flared and he
motioned carelessly, propelling the officer backward
about twenty
feet. Even though he rarely used his magic
combatively, his aim was
good. The officer landed in a heap against a
building,
unconscious. The man wasn't too badly damaged, but he
would have a
hell of a headache when he woke up.
"Nice to see you've kept up your magical skills,
Saffir," a voice
came from above him.
Saffir summoned a shield as soon as he heard the
voice. "Black
Lady," he said.
Black Lady floated about fifteen feet up in the air,
her legs
crossed. She smiled at him nastily, her red lips
cruel. "Hello
again to you. And good-bye," she said. She tossed
Luna P up into
the air and called out for it to change. The cat
head turned into
an umbrella, which she opened with a flourish.
Saffir had long suspected that Black Lady's
allegiance lay with
the Wiseman instead of Demando, and now he had all the
proof he
needed. Saffir's powers were depleting rapidly,
though, and he was
well aware of Black Lady's strength. He thought for a
second, then
decided on a strategy. Fight smarter, not harder.
Instead of attacking the pink-haired psycho, he aimed
a small
concentrated blast at the Luna P-turned-umbrella,
understanding that
Black Lady liked to channel her attacks through it.
The umbrella
imploded, returning to its originally form. She cried
out in fury.
Had anyone been looking at Luna P, they would have
noticed that its
expression looked slightly dazed.
But no one was looking. Saffir had begun a mad dash
towards the
crystal, prepared for a few more attacks. If he could
manage to
deflect the attacks for the next few blocks, he might
be able to get
through to his brother... if not, he was a dead man.
Black Lady whirled towards the blue-haired fugitive,
wanted to
avenge the damage to her Luna P. Shutting her eyes,
she attuned
herself with the jakokuzuishou, feeling its power
throb through her.
Opening her eyes, she sighted Saffir and started to
prepare burst of
magic that would utterly destroy him.
"Chibi-Usa!" a voice called, distracting her from her
spell. "Stop
this! Onegai! This is not you!"
It seemed as though the world had stopped. The power
Black Lady
had been summoning dispelled, and the Senshi stood in
front of her.
Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen stood together, their
linked hands
saying so much more then simple words.
"We love you," Sailor Moon continued, for it had been
she who had
spoke. "Come back to us... we miss you."
Black Lady's eyes flashed longingly, but then her
bitterness
regained control. "You miss having someone to ignore,
you mean," she
said. "You'll not catch me in that trap again! I am
Black Lady,
conduit for the jakokuzuishou!" With a feral howl,
she threw out a
burst of dark power, scattering the Senshi.
Saffir, meanwhile, had almost made it to the Dark
Crystal..
Black Lady hadn't followed him, and he wasn't about to
question his
luck. From behind him, he felt a surge of power, and
almost
unwillingly, turned around to prepare for the attack
he was positive
was coming. To his surprise, he saw the Senshi being
scattered to
the winds like leaves. A man in a strange formal
outfit slammed
into the Dark Crystal itself. Saffir recognized him
as the one who
had stolen Sailor Moon away from Demando.
"Shimatta," Saffir cursed in a whisper. What are the
Sailors doing
here? he wondered. Had Ami heard him leave? He
doubted it, but
then anything was possible. But why were they here?
"Now that they're out of the way for the time being,
I can get
back to the matter at hand," Black Lady said,
appearing in front of
him. "Give me that control card back, now!" she
commanded him.
"Never!" he spat back.
"Why not?" a voice said, coming from behind him.
Saffir's eyes widened gladly as he recognized the
cool tones of
his brother. "Oniisan!" he cried.
Prince Demando stood in the middle of the street, a
soft wind
lifting his cloak off his shoulders. He looked like
the diamond for
which he was named, cold and hard and beautiful.
Saffir searched
his eyes for the trace of gentleness Demando only
showed him, but
there was nothing there. Obviously the Wiseman had
gotten to the
Prince already. "Why did you steal the control chip?"
he asked.
Saffir mentally winced at the rebuke, but knew he was
doing what
was right for his brother. "Demando-sama, the Wiseman
has betrayed
you! He seeks to cause the jakokuzuishou to overflow
and open a Gate
for his true master- the Death Phantom."
Demando looked down coolly. "You and your silly
jealousy of the
Wiseman. He is my most loyal advisor... I trust him
with my life."
Saffir walked over to his brother, picking up the
Prince's cool
hand, wrapping it earnestly in his own. "Don't you
trust me?" he
pleaded. "Has all this time together come to mean
nothing to you?"
Something flashed in Demando's face, but it was gone
too quickly
for Saffir to tell what it was. "Give me the control
card back and
we'll forget this ever happened."
The moment of truth. Saffir longed to fork it over,
but he
realized that with it, the Wiseman would succeed.
"I... can't," he
whispered, feeling like his heart was being torn out.
"Very well, then," Demando said. He looked up at
Black Lady, who
had been observing the entire conversation with
fascination. "Get
the control chip back," he commanded her.
"With pleasure," she responded.
"Oniisan!" Saffir cried, tightening his grip, unable
to believe
what was happening. Demando, the man who had been
his protector his
entire life, was deserting him.
"I have no brother," Demando replied, yanking himself
free of his
younger brother's hands. He turned around and faded
from view,
leaving only a heart-broken young man and Black Lady,
who was gearing
up for another attack.
Saffir crumpled to his knees in disbelief, feeling as
though he
had just been stabbed through the heart. He was
completely
oblivious to Black Lady's attack. She hurled a bolt
of powerful
energy at him, and it hit. His shield absorbed most
of the energy,
but enough of it got through to send him flying into
the wall. It
was just too much for him- he collapsed into
unconsciousness, his
body claiming its much-needed rest at the worst
possible time.
"And now to finish it!" Black Lady declared. She
retrieved the
Luna P, which had recovered from Saffir's earlier
attack. She
whipped it into a cane (much like the one carried by
Neo King
Endymion) and pointed it at the unconscious man.
"We can't let you do this!" Mars called from behind
her. The
Senshi were slowly struggling to their feet, finally
recovering from
the blast that had been thrown at them.
"Venus Love-Me Chain!" Sailor Venus called at the
same time,
shooting out her most recent attack. It wrapped
itself tightly
around Black Lady's waist. Venus jerked it, causing
Black Lady to
lose her grip on the cane. As soon as it touched the
ground, it
turned back into Luna P.
"That wasn't nice!" Black Lady howled.
"Chibi-Usa..." Sailor Moon whispered as she pulled
herself
upright. "Don't hurt anyone- you'll never forgive
yourself.... this
isn't you."
"How do you know who I am?" Black Lady returned
angrily. The
upside-down moon on her forehead began to glow with a
weird shimmery
light. She touched it with her right hand and moaned
as another
wave of power was poured into her. "You left me
ALONE!"
Raising both hands to the sky, the light seemed to
run along her
body to coalesce in a glowing ball that floated in the
space between
her hands. "Black Moon Eternal Night!" she called as
rays of the
dark energy shot forth from her fingertips to wrap
themselves around
the Senshi, Tuxedo Kamen and the unconscious Saffir.
All of their
bodies jolted in pain. The Senshi stood weakly,
refusing to succumb.
"Shabon Spray!" Mercury exclaimed, relying on her
earliest attack
to provide some shelter from Wicked Lady's misguided
wrath.
The Senshi quickly withdrew, Jupiter remembering to
pick up
Saffir. As the mist cleared, only Black Lady and
Tuxedo Kamen
remained.
"Now is not the time for battle, daughter," he told
her softly.
Producing a white rose, he tossed it so it landed in
her hands.
"Know that we love you and miss you... someday we'll
make things
right again. I promise you that." With a swirl of
his cape, he
bounded off too quickly for her to follow him.
Black Lady stared down at the rose in her hands,
wondering.
END PART ONE
Notes and Thanks:
So the first part of the infamous Saffir/Ami romance
is out. If I don�t
get any feedback, I won�t bother posting the rest of
it... I got
absolutely no feedback on my last story!
This is promising to be VERY long... I have three
other parts at
various stages of writing, and a basic plot laid
out.... can we say
100,000 words (so you have an idea, this part is about
8,400).
I must extend thanks to Celeste-chan, over at the
Bakery and her
cybersib Saint Erythros:
http://members.xoom.com/cyberpastry/
Also, my eternal gratitude go towards Bill Harris, the
most anal
editor a girl could ever wish for. He�s a wonderful
writer, and
specializes in xovers....
Finally, thanks to Glen Pearce, without whom I would
never have seen
enough of Sailor Moon to write a semi-decent piece of
fan fiction.
My webpage is located at
http://www.homestead.com/quicksilverslabyrinth/headpage.htm
Take a visit! I tend to post things there before
posting to the rest
of the archives!
QS
PS- Can anyone tell me how to transfer my membership
to the FFML to a different account? I'm on vacation,
have lost all contact with the list (except to
post)and need to sign up using a different account-
what's the website?
=====
Quicksilver
Lady of the Labyrinth
Full time student and part-time writer
She who is going to flunk statistics because she's a ditz
http://www.homestead.com/quicksilverslabyrinth
"I'm a history book you never could write;
Poetry in paralysis, too deep to recite."
__________________________________________________
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