Well folks here we are again. It's another chapter in my fic. I
apologize for the long delay in getting this latest chapter out for you
but as in Military life, sometimes needs demand my attention elsewheres.
But I have taken care of my work load and have the time to launch the rest
of this out and hopefully get more written on the sequel. Wish me luck. I
hope this reaches you all as it did not last two tries.
As always, C&C is greatly appreciated and encouraged. I have gotten
a lot response both good and bad.
Sailor Moon is the sole property of Takauchi Naoko san, with whom we all
owe a great deal of thanks for not giving us a load of shit over it all.
P.S. : Steve, I inserted a homage, just to you.
sailorman S.
Someone to watch over me.
Chapter four.
To say the Saylor Pluto wasn't happy would be a drastic
understatement. She had been searching for a very long time and still she
could not find what she sought. She poured over every little nuance that
could have possibly caused a disruption. She rubbed her eyes and
continued to watch as images of countless lives flowed before her,
searching for anything, anything! Just as she was about to swear off all
hope for the nineteenth time, something caught her eye. It was subtle, so
small a difference in one little detail that it was no wonder that she
hadn't noticed it before. Now though, it received her full and undivided
attention as she backed the image flow up and started it again only at a
slower speed. She followed this one little anomaly through it's
consequences through to the presence and on to the future. She did not
like what she saw. She had found what she had been looking for but now
the question was, how to deal with it? Judging by what Earth and the Moon
called time she had only a few days to intervene before things were beyond
her control. With a wave of her hand her outfit began to shift. For a
moment she was covered in nothing accept a bluish glow, then it settled
once more upon her body forming a pair of plain khaki slacks and a white
blouse. With another wave of her hand she walked through the time tunnel
and vanished from her bastion as she entered normal time.
Eric awoke as he always did. Teddy standing on top of his chest ,
dancing eagerly. He smiled at the small canine as it bounded up to lick
his face spastically. Crawling out of bed, Eric made his way downstairs
to start his day. A short time later, after he had worked out and
showered and both he and the dog were fed, Eric clipped Teddy's leash onto
the energetic little dog and headed out to the park.
Ami was already up and running when her mother walked through the
door. It had been a very long at the hospital from the look of Mrs.
Mizuno as she plopped down wearily at the breakfast table. Ami set a
plate of eggs and toast in front of her followed by a glass of steaming
tea. "Rough night Mom?" She asked as the older woman sipped her tea.
"Three code blues and a two car, seven person accident, all in
critical condition." She replied. "Are you going to see Eric today?" She
asked in return.
"Later this afternoon. I promised Usagi and the girls that I'd
check out a couple of new stores in the district today." Her mom nodded
as she ate her toast.
"That's nice dear, tell me if you see anything nice." Ami nodded and
was on her way out the door and to Usagi's. Her situation with Eric
plagued her the whole way over. Was going further with Eric as right as
it felt like? Or was she letting her own hormones control her? She
didn't know and that was something that Ami could not stand. Once she met
up with the girls she forgot all about her worries as she became caught up
in a full fledged shopping frenzy. Soon they were walking the shopping
district and having a wonderful time. They roamed from shop to shop
trying on outfits and looking at the displays in the windows. Mina and
Makoto filled in the time between shopping with staring at some of the
cuter guys on the street then rating them on the CTEB scale witch Ami
found out much to her embarrassment meant "Compared to Eric's Body" scale.
They all had a giggle while Ami flushed red before laughing along with
them.
By mid-day the girls were getting hungry. Usagi spotted a quiet
looking coffee shop and motioned to the others. As she opened the door
Usagi froze. The building was all but oozing evil energy. She could feel
it as she stood in the doorway, crawling up her spine and sending chills
all along her skin raising goose bumps as it went. She watched as a perky
waitress bounced up to her and bowed.
"Hi. May I take you order miss?" Slowly she straightened up and
looked at Usagi. Her eyes where now glowing a faint purple. " Or should I
say Sailor Moon? At this Usagi backed out of the door and straight into
Ami and Mina.
"What's wrong Usagi?" Makoto asked looking at her friend.
"Ami, scan the building."
"Why?"
"Just scan the building." Ami slipped out her compact mini computer
and activated the scan mode. The readings she got back in return scared
her. The energy output was off the charts. Quickly the girls made there
way back across the street and out of the district.
"There was no active readings but the residual was extremely high.
Something very big and very powerful was there and recently." Ami closed
her computer and placed it back into her purse. "Its daemon energy but
for some reason it was registering differently.
"Well it looks like the vacations over." Rei said with a sigh.
Eric looked around the disaster he was currently calling his room
for the ringing phone. He was in the middle of cleaning said room and
piles of clothes and junk lie strewn about as if a bomb had went off.
Teddy barked furiously at one pile in particular. Taking the queue, Eric
reached into it and was rewarded with the phone's receiver. "Hello, Riley
residence." He announced rubbing Teddy lightly on his head in
appreciation.
"Hi sweetie, it's me." Came Ami's cheerful voice. "I just wanted to
let you know that I'm not going to be able to come over tonight. Minako
needs me."
"Oh, I hope nothings wrong." He said in a somewhat let down tone.
"She broke up with her boyfriend and it was pretty messy from what I
got over the phone. A bunch of us are going over for moral support."
"Again? Man she was going so good too. Well tell her I wish my
best. I really hope she finds someone nicer next time." Eric sounded very
sorry for Mina. Ami hated to lie but she couldn't very well tell him the
truth. " I love you Mi-chan" She smiled at the sound of her pet name. It
made her feel better somehow.
" I love you too Ri-chan." She replied and hung up the phone. "Okay,
lets do it." She stood up and headed for the door with the rest.
"Ri-chan?" quipped Haruka. Ami blushed as Haruka fended off
Michiru's swats to her head.
Eric meanwhile hung up the now uncovered phone. and looked at Teddy.
"[ Well Ted my boy, it looks like we'll be able to take our time on the
project.]" The little dog hopped into his lap and licked his face
happily.
The scouts crept along quietly towards the little shop. Nothing
seemed out of the ordinary about the little coffee shop, in fact, it
looked perfectly normal. But they new better than to trust appearances.
Ami flipped down her visor and began scanning the shop. The building
radiated an evil aura though at much lower levels than before. "I'm
reading one signature inside the building. It's very faint." She looked
at the readings again. Some were several notches higher than they should
be while others were almost not readable. With information in hand the
scouts circled the building and made their way in.
Sailor Moon pressed against the door and found that it was open.
She walked slowly into the cafe with Venus, Neptune and Mercury behind
her. In the back Mars, Uranus and Jupiter popped the lock and were
entering the kitchen area. As they entered the main Cafe area where the
others were a voce cut through the darkness before them.
"I was wondering when you'd show up?" Ami's visor registered the
humanoid shape of the speaker long before they walked into the light from
the street light outside the window. It was the waitress that greeted
Usagi earlier that day. Before anyone could reply the girl lunged at Moon
with a savage cry. Dodging out of the way Usagi turned to see the woman's
had smash into the wall behind her as if it had been made of glass. The
whole spiderwebing out to several times the size of her fist. The girls
quickly surrounded the possessed hostess as she growled in an all to deep
tone. "It is useless to resist us now. We cannot be stopped."
"Who are you?" Venus asked trying to keep the creatures attention.
The girl only smiled in a very sadistic manner.
"Why, we are the shadows hounding the heels of your light. We are
the blackness the stole into Beryl's heart and turned her from you. Ad
now, thanks to Tomoe, we are legion." she started to walk towards Venus
but at that moment a parchment slammed into her back and the girl rocketed
to the floor, smoke issuing from her eyes and mouth. Sailor Mars walked
over to the girl and checked her pulse.
"Well, she's alive, probably just unconscious. All in all I'd say
that went quite we..." The raven hared Senshi was suddenly knocked onto
her rear as a small charcoal creature erupted from the unconscious woman
and leaped for the window. Uranus reached the window in time to see it
disappearing over the roof of an adjacent building.
"Dammit! Whatever it was it's gone."
"It appears to be made of daemon energy but the readings are very
off." Ami replied looking at it's trail up the building and over the roof.
She turned and looked to the girl lying prone on the floor. "We probably
need to get out of her before she wakes up." As they headed out the door
the woman slowly started to stir. She would have no recollection of
exactly why she was at the cafe in the middle of the night.
Eric listened to the message on his answering machine for the third
time since he had went out to pick up his father from the pier. *Beep*
"Hi, Eric? This is Ami's mother. I just wanted to let Ami know that I
have to work the late shift again so don't worry about leaving the light
on. I hope you two had a nice dinner. Don't keep her out too late okay?
Bye. *Beep*
Something was really wrong here? Why would her mother think?... On
a whim Eric picked up the phone and dialed Minako's number. After a
moment a Japanese man's voice came over the phone.
"Hello? Aino residence."
"Hello. Is Minako there? This is Eric, I'm a friend of hers."
"Oh yes." The man replied. "You're Ami's boyfriend no?"
"Yes that's me." Eric replied trying to sound nice. Inside he was
rapidly becoming very worried.
"Mina and the girls went out tonight. I think they said it was a
girl's night out or something. Didn't they tell you?" Eric paused for a
moment.
"Uh Yeah but I was going to tell Ami something and I was hoping to
catch her there. Oh well." He and Minako's father traded pleasantries for
a few moments then Eric said good bye and hung up the phone. He turned
around to see his father, no longer in his uniform but sporting jeans and
a old button down shirt, coming down the stairs with an ultra happy Teddy
bounding around his heels yapping excitedly.
"[ What have you and that girl of yours been feeding this poor
little guy? I just tried to pick him up and I swear he weighs more than I
do now.]" Said the gruff sounding older man.
"[Same things we've always given him. Dad. I'm going to go upstairs
and make a phone call okay?]" Eric's father turned to him and laughed.
"[ What? Afraid your old man'll embarrass you with, what was her
name?]" He paused to open his beer.
"[Ami Dad, her name's Ami. And no I'm not worried you'll embarrass
me I do that enough on my own.]" Eric's Dad laughed even harder.
"[Yep, you're a son of mine alright.]" He settled down on the couch
with Teddy while Eric went upstairs tot his room. After several minutes
he placed the phone down and went to his computer. Typing out a quick
e-mail he hit the send button then shut everything down so he could go
back downstairs and bee with his dad. Usually When one of his parents
came home, the smile didn't leave Eric's face for about a week. As he
reached the bottom of the stairs his smile had already long since faded.
He shook his head and went into the living room and watched sports with
his father and one very, very happy Jack Russell Terrier.
Ami walked out of the shower and into her bedroom. With one hand
she called up her e-mail while the other continued to dry her hair. As
she slipped on her underwear she heard the familiar chime that told her
she had messages in her box. Fastening her bra and slipping on a night
shirt Ami made her way to her desk and sat down and started to scan her
mail. Most were from her mailing lists and bbs's that she subscribed to.
Skimming over the topics she kept the ones that sounded interesting: Black
holes Myths and realities, Neutron theories for the modern age, Quarks and
the new Millennium. She also noticed one marked " The recipe you asked
for, keep it secret." (This was from Makoto) and several more on various
this and that. One however stood out from all the rest. It was from
Eric. She double clicked it and read the note that popped up on the
screen.
To: FrstQn@USA.NetDirect.com
From: DvlPup@AOL.com
Subject: Huh?
Ami,
Your mother called here last night and saying that she would be out
late and not to leave the light on for her.
She also said that she hoped we had a nice dinner. Rei's
Grandfather says he hopes the movie we all went to was a good one.
Minako's Father says I shouldn't worry about your "Girl's night
out".
Should I? I think we need to talk.
Eric.
Ami's world ground to a halt. She sat staring at the screen for
several minutes, the true scope of what she read slowly sinking in.
Finally she lowered her head and let out a long depressed sigh. "Shit."
The creature watched the images within the mind of it's minion. The
encounter had gone almost exactly as planned. The location of the eggs
had been found but they themselves still eluded him. But it was only a
matter of time. Slowly it turned and looked out over the rooftops of
Jubaan. ~Almost time.~
Eric thrust the bar back out as far as he could reach. his muscles
protested the movement but he was far to upset to concede their demands.
Why had Ami deceived him? He wanted to ask why she'd lied but he wasn't
sure she had. But he was sure that he wasn't being told the whole truth.
What was she afraid to tell him? She had called him earlier and said that
she was coming over. He hoped she'd get there soon. From the floor,
Teddy looked up at his master and wondered why one of his people was so
upset?
*Maybe I'm just paranoid.* He thought to himself for the millionth
time. *Maybe her mom got things mixed up. She is an awfully busy woman.*
A small part of him hoped and prayed that it was so but somehow he knew
better. The sound of the door chime upstairs told him Ami had probably
arrived. Teddy scrambled u the stairs while Eric sat up on the weight
bench. Wiping himself off with a towel he headed upstairs. He could hear
his father talking to someone as he reached the landing. Turning the
corner he saw that it was indeed Ami. Her and his father were setting at
the kitchen counter chatting amicably. "Let me take a quick shower and we
can head out." He said trying to sound cheerful. Ami looked at him, her
smile was slightly strained at the edges.
"[Okay Sweetie]" She replied. As He headed upstairs. Eric could
hear his father compliment Ami on how well she had tutored him in
Japanese. He went into the bathroom and quickly hoped into the shower.
He had to think of a way to approach this situation but no matter how he
looked at it, it was going to be ugly.
The creature gazed down at the slave before it as he prostrated.
When it motioned, he rose from the floor and gave his report. "My lord.
We have located the hiding place of your brethren but we are having
trouble retrieving them. They are sealed within several magic layers
and..."
~Redouble your efforts. Do not report back to me until you have
them.~ Came it's mind voice. The slave fell to the floor begging
forgiveness.
"Yes my lord. At once." He left quickly to relay the orders to the
workers. Having settled that matter the creature turned to two other
servants and bade them to come closer.
~I have a job for you.~ It's mental voice took n a far more sinister
tone than before. ~Find this girl and deliver to her this message.~ The
image of Usagi came into the two girls minds. ~Tell her that if she and
her friends turn themselves over to me by the end of the week, I promise
them a quick death. Otherwise...~ The girls bowed and left the audience
hall. Now alone the creature settled to the ground like a malignant fog.
It was only a matter of time now and that time was coming quickly to hand.
Meiou Setsuna, also known as Sailor Pluto, the guardian of time, sat
at the table of one Tsukino Usagi. The young blonde woman before her
would one day grow up to be Queen Serenity and usher in the silver
millennium bringing about the rise of Crystal Tokyo and the Moon Kingdom.
This was to be the woman who would unite all of mankind in it's humanity
under one flag with peace and justice. And the woman who, at this very
moment, was igniting toast. Stifling a giggle she and went to help her
once and future liege in an attempt to salvage the now doomed attempt at
breakfast. After the "toast" was disposed of and a second attempt was
made with far better results, the two girls sat down and discussed what
was to come.
"So whatever Professor Tomoe did to the daemon eggs created the dark
kingdom?" Usagi asked still a little confused but Setsuna expected it do
to the scope of everything she was dropping into the young girls lap.
"No" She replied. "" The Daemon egg that Tomoe altered was warped
a second time when it tried to fuse with Eric's body. The result was a
sentient evil that in time, will seek out Beryl because her weakened mind
will allow it to take over her easily." Usagi thought for a moment while
Setsuna nibbled on her toast and jam.
"I have a feeling that there's more isn't there."
" I'm afraid so. There was six more eggs. Even as we speak the
entity has located them but it will still take several days before it can
reach them. If we do not act soon your reign will never get the chance to
begin."
"Really?" Usagi swallowed loudly.
"If not stopped you, your king and all of the Senshi will die and
the evil will grow unstoppable. It will roam the land unhindered
enslaving and slaughtering at will." She watched as Usagi went quite
pale.
"So w, what do we have to do?" she asked in a shaken voice. Setsuna
placed her tea cup down and sighed.
"As I see it in two days time it will have broken the seals on the
eggs. We must strike then and eliminate the eggs and the creature all at
once when it's forces can easily be divided." At this Usagi excused
herself and headed to the phone to start calling the other scouts. As
Setsuna sat at the table Luna walked up and sat down beside her.
"You're still not telling her everything are you."
"No." Came her reply. "The rest is not for her to know, yet. You
however do." She turned to the small black cat. "I need you and Artemis
to find something for me. It is very important...please." This last word
caught Luna's ears. Setsuna, in all the time Luna had known her both here
and on the moon, had never said please or for that matter, asked for help.
Now she had the cats full and undivided attention.
"What is it?" She asked quietly.
"It's an ancient artifact from the moon kingdom called the trident
of true heart. It may come in handy, though I hope not." Luna listened as
Setsuna gave her instructions.
Teddy strained against his leash, his little claws making scratching
noises against the pavement. He loved his people, really he did. They
were wonderful. They fed him and played with him and showered him with
scratches in all those really hard to get at areas even all along his
tummy. But sometimes they could walk so blasted SLOW!
Ami and Eric walked along the park in silence. Both knew the
problem between them but neither knew how best to approach it. Finally as
the reached the center of the park Eric stopped. Ami busied herself with
watching Teddy sniff at a nearby tree. She tried to look everywhere but
Eric's eyes.
"So, Where did you go last night?" Eric's voice was quiet and calm,
barely above a whisper. Ami started to formulate a way out of this but
Eric interrupted her train of thought. "I know you weren't at Minako's
house."
"I was, out with the girls. We.." She began.
"I called around after your mom left me the message. Mr. Aino said
you were all having a girl's night out. Usagi's said you were at the
movies, Rei's grandfather said you at your house. Makoto's machine
picked up four times and I got Michiru and Haruka's neighbor saying she
was house sitting while they were having an evening out alone." Ami
flinched. This was going to be very difficult.
"Eric, I"
"I Want the truth." Eric stated flatly.
"wish I could tell you what was going on. Really I do. but....ohh
please Eric , please understand." Her voice wavered. Eric looked at her
with a mix of confusion and shock.
"Understand what? Look Ami, if, if it had just been one person I
could see it being a mix up but nobody knows where you were last night.
If you wanted to go out with the girls, all you had to do was tell me the
tru,"
"Oh so that's it? You think I blew you off to go out? Eric what
kind of a person do you think I am?" Ami's voice was starting to raise
slightly with agitation.
"No! That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying that if you'd have
told me you wanted to go out with them I wouldn't have mind. I was just
w,"
Ami exploded. "Oh, so I'm supposed to report in now? I thought we
had a better relationship than that Eric!" Eric reeled then came back no
less exasperated.
"I did not say that! I'm simply trying to tell you that I'm worried
that you disappeared last night and no one, not even your mother or
anyone, knew where you were. If you're in trouble tell me Mi-chan. I want
to help." Ami looked into his pleading eyes. She wanted to tell him, she
really did.
"Eric, please, it's complicated and I'm really uncomf..."
"Uncomfortable? Sweetheart, how do you think I feel? I mean you're
the most important woman in the world to me yet you can't tell me w,"
"No, Eric I can't! Look would you just trust me on this?" Her voice
was rapidly approaching hysterical. Things were getting way out of hand
and Ami was finding it extremely difficult to think strait.
"How am I supposed to trust you when you won't tell me what's going
on? For all I know you could be lying to me!"
The air echoed with the sound like a gunshot. Ami froze in horror.
Neither one had seen the slap coming but now, it was too late. Whatever
hope they had of salvaging the argument died the moment hand connected
with cheek. Ami watched morbidly as the hand in question followed along
it's arch and back to her side. She stared at the reddened welt starting
to show on Eric's face. Slowly, as if time itself had ground to a snails
pace, he turned his head back to face her. There was no look of hatred or
malice that Ami thought should be for what she had done. Instead his
features were calm, almost frighteningly so. As she looked deep into his
soft, brown eyes she was all but certain that she could see the light for
her go out.
Eric placed his hand to his jaw. It was stinging fiercely and he
could taste the tangy, metallic flavor of blood. Whatever part of his
mind that was pleading to hear Ami out and try to understand were she was
coming from was now silenced by the overwhelming sense of betrayal he
felt. He could feel his cheek starting to swell as the stinging settled
into a dull, rhythmic throb. Taking a slow deep breath he did the only
thing he thought was right.
Ami watched as Eric lowered his hand from his cheek, his eyes never
leaving hers. Slowly he turned and began to walk away. A part of her
mind screamed for her to run after him, grab him and tell him that she was
sorry, beg to start the whole day over. But she watched him as he walked
down the pathway, Teddy trailing behind him in an attempt to catch up.
She watched the spot were he turned the corner and disappeared from sight
for over an hour before she sat down on a nearby bench and placed her head
in her hands. "Kami...What have I done?"