Makomi lingered, walking slowly up to speak to Ami and Mako as they exited the building. "This is wrong," she said with conviction, "Keiko isn't the enemy." she said, her voice pleading with Ami as she reached out to her with words. "How could she be an enemy? She's my friend! That can't be right! It can't be!" Ami nods her head, taking all of Makomi's words in before she spoke. "I'll see if I can find anything that'll convince the others of this. But, in the meantime, you'll have to ask Keiko to give us some answers to what happened yesterday. Please." Makomi quickly nodded her head, without even thinking of the probable difficulties she would have approaching Keiko with that request. Still, Keiko hasn't hid anything before so she saw no difficulties. And, with that, Makomi was already walking away. "Mama --" she sighed, smiling a little bit, "-- she understands. I knew she'd help --" "Help --" Tears flowed down Ami's face as she struggled, face caught between ecstasy and pain. She was nude, and what Makomi was doing? Makomi was panting heavily. Her muscled tensed as sweat rolled down her nude form, her hands holding down Ami tightly. Her small beautiful body battered, her strength gone as Makomi clenched her teeth and -- The world spun, and returned to normal as she fell against a mailbox, her body crumpling beneath her. "MAKO-CHAN!!" Ami cried out, running to her side with Mako right behind her. As Mako's strong arms pulled Makomi up she tried to reason out what happened. It felt so real. Everything. The feelings of evil pleasure, the energy of forced -- oh goddess -- each sweat drop stung her skin as every motion of her hips and body -- felt so damnably real. But why? Everything was real. From the motion and feelings, to the scents and sensations, it felt so real. It was as if she was back there, back in Crystal Tokyo, reliving her own personal nightmare all over again. But it was only for a few seconds -- but why --? As Ami and Mako helped her up, moving her limp form back to their apartment, her senses numbed she failed to notice someone nearby. A shadow of a woman dressed in Winterian blue armor, body hidden in the muted shades of crystal blue, the only thing showing were her eyes which burned red. If one could see beneath her mask, they could see that she was smiling. ----- It was very cold as she hit the water, teeth clenched. Her senses reeled as she tried to come to grips with her surroundings. She had miscalculated. The drop which should have killed both of them instead threw them into the large reflecting lake near the ruins they had just lifted off from a few scant minutes ago. She would live. She felt the icy grip of the freezing water grip her, and in her heart she felt her memories churn up. In her mind's eye she was grabbing Ami-chan, holding her down, assaulting her as she? a silent scream ripped through her, bubbles of precious air escaping as she struggled to come to her senses. Her cybernetic eye burning red, she begins thrashing her arms struggling upwards towards the surface of the water. Would it have been this cold? When they were going to put the girls into hypersleep? Is this punishment for being born a tool of their torment? Is this her fate to freeze to death before surfacing? The cold burned her flesh, and began to freeze the cyber-organic metal exposed to it's chilling touch. She felt as if she was being turned to ice from the inside out. But she couldn't sink. He didn't hit the water, so he must be up there, still alive? so she struggled and struggled against the pull of the icy water and the pull of her own guilty heart, if only to reach him -- until at last she broke free into the air above. Coming free of the water she pulled herself onto one of the huge statue platforms jutting out of the water, the water clinging onto her as she drew herself into the cold night air. Looks like death wasn't for her? yet. Her red eye spun towards one side, and the sight of her prey -- dead. He had fallen into, ironically enough, a statue of Sailor Saturn set amongst statues of the "Soldiers" of past/present/future, her weapon impaling the bastard leader through his heart, his body twitching as the last of his life force fled him in his death throes. "What happened?" somebody screamed from the shore of the lake, "What the hell --" Despite the numbness, she managed a faint smile, "Hell has opened it's arms to him, and taken him home." Her senses failed, and she fell into darkness. A fitting place for her she surmised. ----- Her senses came to again, her body leaping from rest as she spun about. It wasn't Crystal Tokyo, but instead the Tokyo they've been "exiled" to since the "death" of their world. Ami-mama sat next to her, smiling as she woke, "You OK? You just crumpled like that? and then fell asleep the minute we got you home." "?please define "ok" for me, mama, and I'll tell you if it refers to me or not." she remarked blandly, falling back onto the couch with a tired rasping breath, "I don't think I'm alright. Not by a long shot." "What happened? You collapsed all of a sudden and?" "I don't know." Makomi sighed, "I just don't know. All I do know is I think my insides have been put through a blender -- without the benefit of being removed first. Bleah." Ami, while worried, let her rest abit without any further inquiry. Mako was in the kitchen no doubt cooking up something to eat, so it was Ami's job to keep an eye on their "daughter" while she cooked. Her hand instinctively reached up, touching her Mercury transformation tool hidden in her clothes. "I don't deserve you." she whispered, "You're too good for me. I wish --" Ami blushed, trying to look calm despite her sudden shock, "I'm -- I'm Ok?" (shakes head) "?I mean I'm? I'm Ok for a "first time mother" -- I mean --" (blushes brighter red) "?sorry? I'm just no good with an already grown daughter to take "care" of and all. I mean, I thought I would have some time to get used to being a parent but -- it was way too quick for me when I finally learned you were? you." Makomi's hand reaches up to cup Ami's cheek, her smile fading slightly as a brief flicker of memory grazes her mind's eye. Ami, crying, crushed against Makomi's chest as she violated her? Suppressing her emotions she tried her best to keep her face smiling despite the flash of "memory". "I honestly wish I knew what you saw in me. Why you didn't kill me when you had the chance? It would have been exactly what I deserved, and still deserve? I would have? understood that. But what you did? making me your daughter? I don't understand." Ami didn't know what to say, so she simply laid herself down on Makomi's body and whispered "Ask me in 1000 years. I might have an answer then." Somehow, Makomi surmised as she felt sleep retake her, she didn't know if she wanted to know the answer. As Makomi fell asleep, Ami felt a hand touch her forehead. She turned to come face to face with Mako, her smiling visage taking the two in as she knelt beside them. "I always knew you had a motherly instinct in you. Guess that makes me the man of the house, right?" "My husband. My mate. My hero. I guess that suits you best." Ami concluded, her smile widening as Mako ran a hand through her blue hair, "I always felt you had a butch-ness about you. Sometimes I really think you're a guy in drag the way you act?. Uh?" (blushes) "?that didn't come out right, did it?" "Hmph." Mako grunted in mock manner, standing up again, "See if I feed your needs if you keep that up." (walks off without another word, grumbling "Guy in drag. (hmph)") ----- A few hours later, after recovering at Ami/Mako's place, Makomi goes to speak to Keiko. She finds her at the Daidouji estates, waiting for dinner. The explanation is short and simple, but the feelings that come from said explanation is anything but. "Oh. Is that all they want?" Keiko relented, leaning back in her chair as she listened to Makomi make her pitch. "Sure. Why not. I have no problem appearing at my own lynching. Anything else or can I go get some replacement blood ready after they drain me dry?" "It's not going to be so bad." Makomi replied, lowering her head abit, "I know it sounds bad but -- I guess it's for the best -- I guess." "If you say so then it must be so? I suppose." (waves for Makomi to join her) "Hey, can I interest you in staying over for dinner? Sakura's cooking tonight and she's pretty good at cooking. In a few years she'll be par with Mako's cooking--" Keiko's beeper goes off, her hand reaching over to grab it. A few seconds later her features darken. "Oh, boy. Speak of the "devil" and it'll make an appearance, in a sense at least." (Keiko holds her beeper up for Makomi to see) " Somebody's hacking into Judgment HQ computers -- and it looks like they're trying to dig my records up? any idea who that could be?" Makomi's face darkens now in turn, "Ami-chan?" ----- The file scrolled onto the computer screen in the two's bedroom. JUDGMENT FILE #0508 Seventh Judgment of Nippon Name - Yamanaka, Keiko. See "Alias/nicknames" for list of alternate "names" given her. Born in the Late 15th Century (Waking World Earth) Expert in bladed weapons. Weapon of choice - "cursed" katana blade unique to herself. Record of Service follows? "She has a long and spotless record." Ami notes as she reads the info on her file, feeling a pange of regret having hacked into her file in the first place. "This was a waste of time. Why did I let Mako-chan talk me into this?" (blinks) "?because I'm such a push-over, that's why." (lowers head) "?Mako-chan?" ----- Minutes pass, but Keiko is not sitting around as her file is hacked into. "What does she hope to find?" Keiko ponders out loud as she waits for "Sakura" (Miyuko's Sex Droid, aka "Ed") to trace the hack being done. "?I'm not exactly stupid, you know. If you had to put a name to my file? It'd have to be "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless File"." (sighs) "Honestly, do they think they're going to find something on my official records? 400+ years of life sorta drilled into me the need to keep my records as clean and spotless as possible." (sighs again as she leans back, glancing over at Makomi) "?and if I have skeletons in my "closet" that's where they'd stay, and not be available for public access." Makomi looked at her skeptically, "Are you saying there's?" "Not to the tune your friends and family are thinking of." she sighed, "Everyone has something they're not entirely pleased with in their past. It's no big secret, but it's not very flattering all the same to have that kind of details in one permanent record. In fact it can only cause misunderstandings. And speaking of misunderstandings?" (silence for a few seconds) "?how's Grace?" "She's fine." Makomi answered quickly, abit of a frown working it's way across her lips. "She was born that way, you know, being light blind. Unable to walk in direct sunlight without a special visor to help her see in the bright light." Keiko turns her attention away from the computer, regarding Makomi as she spoke. "I wonder sometimes what it must be like, to be her I mean? being in total darkness while standing in the middle of a bright sunny day. Yet being able to see in darkness as if it was broad daylight." "She ever have any weird -- I mean curious -- kinks?" Keiko asked, "Don't need to answer but?" "She sometimes wants to make love in a fully lit room." Makomi answers. "No visor, room with full lights on. Blind to the world and helpless under my touch -- and yet she has no fear." "Should I be afraid of you. Should she be afraid of you." "-- sometimes I'm afraid of me -- why not her? what does she see in me? what do they all see in me?" "?hope?" "Found her!" "Sakura" cried out, her fingers tapping quickly over the keyboard as she worked, "Ami is really Ami because she's home right now! See?" Keiko looks over at "Ed/Sakura" oddly, "Ami is Ami?" "She could be Not Ami and just be piggybacking her computer signal over Ami-Ami's line. Of course that'd take quite abit of skill for Not Ami to pretend to be Ami Ami, and Ami Ami would not be happy if Not Ami was impersonating her and Mako Mako would not be happy?" (blinks) "?think she has a Not Mako to go with Not Ami? And does Not Mako do it the same way Mako Mako does when they?" (hand covers her mouth) "And that's information I DON'T need." Keiko yelps, "Focus, girl, focus." "I need to speak to mama." Makomi grumbled, turning to leave, only for Keiko to stop her. "I'll go with you." "Do we keep hacking?" "Ed"/Sakura asked, "I'm bored." "Whatever. Do what you want?" (stops) "?sex in your own room, though. No thumping on my bed." "Awww?." ----- As she stepped out into the sunlight she looked up, and thought out loud. "Why do you care for me so?" An image of her formed in her mind. Naked, lying beneath her, smiling as her visor came free of her face, exposing her to the light around them. "?does it hurt??" "No. I'm fine. Light doesn't hurt me. I just can't see, that's all -- but that's OK?" she whispered, her hand reaching up to cup Makomi's cheek, "I feel you close to me, and that's all I need to know I'm safe." Makomi shut her eyes, and sighed, "I wish I felt so sure as you do." "Do you feel safe as long as I'm near?" Makomi didn't know how to answer, taken aback by the question, so she said the only thing she could think of saying -- "Yes." "Then you know how I feel when I'm near you." Her fingers touched Grace's face, turning her head slightly so she could see her faint shimmering eyes. No strong pigments of color shaded Grace's eyes, they were a soft muted color denoting her light blindness. But yet, for Makomi, the soft muted color was beautiful, and compelling. She could look into them forever. Shaking off the dust of her memory, Makomi turned to head back to Ami/Mako's apartment. ----- As the file finished downloading, Ami shut her computer off and leaned back in her chair as if burdened by what she just did. Her hand reaches up to rub her eyes, the other pushing her glasses out of the way. It seemed like the right thing to do, if only in theory, but she felt so guilty from having done it. And, after seeing Keiko's file, she felt even more guilty now that it seemed that the effort was wasted. If Keiko had anything to hide she hid it well, keeping her record as clean as possible. But even then it seemed they were going on a wrong route to suspect her. She promised Makomi she would give Keiko a chance, and she broke her word by hacking into her file. But if Ami thought she could recover from this she was sadly mistaken since Mako drags her to the door complaining about being "absent minded" about something. So, with a little reluctance, Ami follows her taller lover out into the streets and towards the nearest grocery store. "I can't believe it." Mako grumbled, walking a few steps in front of Ami as they walked. "I go through all the trouble to make dessert and I forget the most important thing! How could I be so stupid!" "Whip cream isn't that important." Ami notes, "I'm happy with anything you make! I love your desserts!" "But it doesn't help later! How can it help us later if I don't have it now?" Ami frowns, "Later? What --" (Ami grows silent, her face blushing) "? Mako-chan!" "You know I like the full bodied whip cream. It tastes that much sweeter when tasting it from your sweet?" "AH!!" (Ami quickly spins back and grabs Mako's mouth) "?not in public!! You promised!!" A few more attempts and Mako finally relents to not speaking of "it" in public, but she merely notes "You know you like it too, Ami-chan, don't deny it!" Ami lowers her head, "It's special -- but just for us?" (Mako leans forward as if urging Ami to say more) "?I like spreading it all over you? especially? you know? but don't say it too loud." "Say no more." Mako announces as they reach the store, pulling Ami towards the sliding doors, "I know exactly what you mean. Say no more." "Thank you?" she sighs. "I wish we didn't have to hack her file. I promised Makomi?" "I know." Mako replies, "I wish we didn't have to do it too, but once she realizes we're only doing it because we're concerned she'll understand. And it'll give you ammo to prove her case to the others anyway so she'll be happy with that." (Mako smiles) "?in anycase it's exactly what I always thought?" Ami nods her head, "Keiko's a good person at heart." "Huh? No. I mean I always thought you were a breast girl at heart and that proves it! You just love my?" "MAKO!!" Before Mako can respond, a blur runs past her and grabs Ami, pulling her into a nearby huge limo that speeds off. "?!!?" Mako quickly spins towards the vehicle as it races out of sight, left behind without even having a chance to respond. In a few seconds she had lost the most important person in her life, and she was gripped in fear and the need to do something to find her -- but she didn't know what to do. ----- It happened too quickly. Ami couldn't even respond. She was pulled into a vehicle, and darkness overwhelmed her. Hands groped her, heavy breathing -- males -- it was too fast. She couldn't make sense of anything. Someone pried her mouth open and kissed her, shoving his tongue into her mouth. She shut her eyes, and tried to struggle but in vain. It was too fast, and she wasn't near coming to her senses. Everything was happening just too fast, and it was about to go too far in a matter of seconds. In the front of the huge limo it's driver smiles, tagging the limo's commlink. "And people say dreams don't come true --" (silence as link is established) "-- I secured the target package opening our new operation promising to be a very long and fruitful business venture. You were right, monitoring her apartment was the easiest way to catch her off guard. Once she seemed the most distracted we grabbed her. I think the boys in back are going to have every little "dream" come true today?" (smiles) "?oh yes? from the sounds in the back I think they're getting ready to unwrap their gift. A boy's dream come true if you ask me." "Car #7? Better be on guard, all systems have suddenly gone red and a Level 7 Security Lockdown is being set up. Looks like you screwed up and left her dyke lover up and walking about to raise the alarm." "Such language." the driver chuckled, "She's next week remember? And her bang is going to be far more satisfying since she's got a slut's body well worth doing. Anyway it's not like?" (silence) "?Level 7..." "What's going on? Car #7? What's going on? Car?" The commlink shut off with a snap, as his hand turned on the vehicle's sensors. Nothing. Traffic on this road was quiet since it led through a lot of automated factories in an industrial district. That's when he saw it. ----- One man pushed Ami onto her back, his hand forcing itself between her legs. She shut her eyes and prayed. That's when something wet splashed against her face, and a heavy weight dropped on her, and a bright light filled her view. The young men looked up shocked, their gaze turned towards the light now streaming through a back window. Ami struggled, her hands pushing aside the figure who she realized was melting in her hands -- waking up -- an arrow through his neck as he faded. Dreamlings, when "killed", stayed dead as far as people knew. Fictionals returned unharmed. Normals woke up. Since he was a Normal he was waking up from his "Dream". Another arrow found it's mark, "killing" another "Normal". Then another. As the remaining men struggled to flee, they woke up out of fear and faded leaving Ami alone in the back. As she raises herself up she came to a welcome sight behind the limo catching up. Mako, holding on for dear life in the sidecar, looked shocked as she saw Ami poke her head up. "Can you tell me NEXT time you're going to do something like that?!? You took 10 years off my eternity doing that!" "Sorry. But it's not like you're going to miss those 10 years -- trust me." Keiko apologized, shedding her bow back into it's tesseract jewel, her hand removing the Tech Visor she used to "gaze" into the vechile to pick her targets off, "There just wasn't time for an explanation." As Makomi accelerated, she reached a hand out to grab Mako's shoulder, "We need to talk. But for now?" (hand returns to the bike's controls) "?wait here." With a toggle of a switch the bike goes into auto control. "Let's go." Two thumps, and Ami realizes they picked up new "passengers". Ami gasps as the driver falls into the back with her, two guns in his hands as he rolls over onto his back, firing upwards into the ceiling. The commlink crackled to life. "What's going --- what --" "IT'S HER!! IT'S HER!! YAMANAKA!!" Ami curls up, fear overtaking her as she watches the violence before her. Silently she curses herself, yet cannot bring herself to move. She just waited for the blood to start flowing from the ceiling. But that wasn't going to happen. Makomi, as Trooper Mercury, had drawn her armor. The armor was a smooth crystalline sheathing that covered her from head to toe, it's partially transparent crystal weave protecting her from attack. Keiko, climbing onto her back, was protected from gunfire as well. "Ah, my adoring public." she grumbled, her hand curling into a fist. With a growl she thrust her fist through the ceiling, hand snapping open to grab the offending gun. In one swift motion she yanked it out and tossed it backwards where it broke on the street on impact. It didn't take much longer to end the "chase" as quickly as it began, as Keiko takes over the driver's seat and stops the vechile. The driver bails out attempting to run. "Damn bitch!" Thunder from the clear skies above came down hard, stopping him from running further. Mako, now as Sailor Jupiter, quickly runs to the limo where a breathless but safe Ami awaited her. She didn't wait, nor did she care to wait, as she grabbed Ami out holding her tightly tears flowing down her face. "Ami-chan? Ami-chan?" "I'm ok. I'm ok." she reassured her, holding onto her. Makomi and Keiko turn their gaze to the driver, eyes narrowed. "Guess that leaves you." A scythe slams into the ground in front of them, breaking the tension. From behind four Assassin Guilders launch themselves into attack. Drone units. As the driver is dragged away, the drones press their attack with scythes swinging. Keiko knocks one back as her blade meets the attack of two more. "Give me a break!" "All this was just for an attack!?!" Makomi screamed, breaking one drone's neck shutting it down, "DAMN!" "How insulting." a voice called out, "Aren't we forgetting something?" ----- The driver stumbles into a nearby building, looking about for his saviors, the sound of hissing coming from a distance in the room. "Thanks! Whoever you guys are thanks! Whatever you want it's yours! Girls to please? We can do that! Any girl you want is yours!" "Anything?" "YES!" he cried out, looking abit anxious, "Just get me away from her and I'll do anything!" "Ok." the voice responded, "Don't leave a mess as you die." "W-wh--" The sound of hissing grew closer, as did large creatures with fangs and claws. "?" The screams lasted two whole minutes. Holocaust leans back in his chair, pushing a button on the armrest. "How many did we find?" "Four vehicles committing attempted rapes, plus one "command base". All total? 14 "coins"." "Make that 15..." Holocaust noted, watching one of the Galerians pick up the coin in it's human form, "I'm afraid Mr. Driver just cashed in his chips." ------ Keiko swung her blade in quick swipes, knocking away each scythe thrown at her while keeping the drones at bay with alternating "Wind Gusts" from her blade. After each deflect she would leap backward taking a wide swing, unleashing wind magic from her blade that knocked her enemy back abit. Makomi/Trooper Mercury, dealt with the Prime Drone, holding it at bay and matching it blow for blow as they fought it out. With each swing it was being pushed back, unable to breech Mercury's tight defenses. Suddenly her world flipped upside down in her mind's eye. Every old pain, tortured pleasure and sinful desire came up all at once and slammed her hard. She stumbled, and paid for it by catching one scythe into her side, the pain bringing her back enough to backhand the offending Prime Drone away from her. But the sensations continued to pound into her mercilessly, driving her back as she barely managed to stay one step ahead of her now relentless opponent, keeping out of range of his attacks. But as the pain dragged her down she felt his attacks draw closer to connecting, and her defenses fading. Unseen, the same figure from before watched, her red eyes deadset on Makomi. Her gaze did not lift, nor did it stray, it stood locked in -- as if her gaze was the thing that caused her pain. And, in a sense, it did. As long as she held her gaze she could reach into Makomi's "mind", her wetware computer, and unleash the gathered "experiences" of her time in darkness, and inflict it upon her 10x in intensity. But just as she was near falling, something flew out of nowhere and shattered her visor, blinding her. Keiko's battle was now so intense it was kicking up rocks and flinging them about like bullets, one of them hit the mysterious figure's visor shattering it by accident. As she fled, Makomi's mind cleared and she regained her senses. She didn't have time to ponder why this happened, though, she had to power through her fight against the Prime Drone ahead of her. With one shot she put it down, but it was quickly up again slashing anew with it's scythes. Finally the two locked, blades vs. hands, gripped together -- it's own gaze locked on her. With one strong push she gave herself room, and used it to break one of the drone's arms, wrenching it in two knocking the now crippled drone backwards. With a dull hiss it threw it's remaining scythe at her, using it as distraction to get close enough to grab her and pummel her with electricity attacks at point blank range. At first it seemed to work, but as it attacked it slowly began to realize she was getting stronger, not weaker, from it's attacks. With one final push she shoved it backwards several feet, her hands powering up. "VICIOUS THUNDER SLASH!!" All the energy she gathered raced into her hands, gathered, and was unleashed in a massive electrical attack that shattered the drone into pieces in one shot. Drained, and wasted from the fight, Makomi fell onto her knees rasping for breath. Mako was with Ami, who was safe. Keiko was cleaning up the last of the drone units. She would talk with them over what they did, but for now she was too tired to even think of talking. She just wanted to get back to her, and be with the one she loved. ----- Day turns to night? Holocaust sits down in the center of his command center's "bridge", observing the view of Tokyo all about him as he ponders his next move. One more Prime Drone, the Assassin Reaper, was terminated. "Trooper Mercury." he whispered, his thoughts already mulling over the problem. "But the appearance of Von Hammer was NOT part of the plan!" another voice called out. "We calculated her appearance and resistance to our operations, but not Von Hammer's arrival!" "A minor setback that he would show up at this time, nothing more." Holocaust whispered, his gaze turning towards his "guest", "We can work around it. He is, after all, traditionally drawn to battle the 7th Judgment, so we have nothing to fear from him." "He is an unknown in a perfectly formulated plan, and that is something we can-NOT afford right now." he pressed, his voice growing tense as he spoke, The last thing we need is a stain of darkness on the field of light, especially when our own plans may come into jeopardy when Von Hammer begins to work his own "schemes". This is not something to take lightly." "We will complete the task before us, and keep the Soldiers at bay until we are done. That is not in doubt." (Holocaust leans back in his chair) "What is in doubt is our ability to figure out the damn riddle of--" Everything turns to white. "--I hate it when this happens." ------ At the same moment Keiko turns to find herself standing in the ruins of Tokyo. The same time Ami turns to look, calling out Mako's name once before Rei places a gentle hand on her shoulder to calm her. Besides them, one other was there, playing the silent observer. Holocaust, watching in the distance behind them (unseen by them), waited as Rei turned towards Lazarus, "Not you again, Lazarus." Rei noted with a bit of disappointment. "I could almost swear your enthusiasm, such as it is, is dying with each visit. Soon it'll be as dead as this "city" is if you keep that up." Rei smirks slightly, taking in the sights about her as she waits for him to speak again. "As you know, all paths will intercept and your destinies will intertwine with the destinies of others." "That's all?" Rei asks, the others watching from nearby, "I already told you I can't say yet since even I don't know the full details, but everything is coming up in threes in my visions." "Again with the threes." Rei remarks, "That's nothing new." "Oh, really? Events of late seem to fall into a pattern of three if you think of it. The arrival of CLAMP School in the skies above, one. The quest to recapture the Clow Cards, two. And now the threat against Clow Card females, three. Of course that most likely isn't the three in discussion?" (smirks as he waves a hand in the air as if dismissing his last thought) "Then again it might be, who knows!" (giggles a nervous shaky laugh before continuing) "That may as well be a triad of events in itself, especially since we don't know where things will fall when the time comes. I feel there's a triad specifically centered around yourselves, but what that is? It eludes me. Three powers that be which bring darkness." "What three powers would that be?" Keiko asks, speaking for the first time since "arriving". "That I don't know. Three powers of darkness. Three powers of light. Three who are the answer to one riddle, of which I don't know of. And, on the opposite end of the spectrum we have three who are the cause of another unknown riddle. Three who are the salvation of this Tokyo, and most likely three who may mean the destruction of everything." (sighs) "Being omnipotent isn't as easy as it looks, you know." "And yet you make it look so easy the way you speak in such "cryptic" speech patterns." Keiko shoots back. Behind them loomed a building with the words "CLAMP School is HELL" written in red scrawled across the face of the building. "So all attempts to keep CLAMP School from becoming a battleground is going to fail, is it?" "Obviously considering our surroundings. But yet it might have a chance at surviving even this if--" he stops, and turns? "Hold on a sec?" With a wave of his arm Holocaust is knocked back. With a gasp Holocaust is brought back to "reality", eyes narrowing as he regains his wits. "Everything is coming up in threes, eh?" (frowns) "?what the hell does that mean." ----- Back in the ruins of Tokyo (dreamscape) "Yeah, Jack, cryptic as always. Did I ever tell you that's what I hate about you?" Keiko mutters, turning her gaze briefly over to Ami (who blushes at the attention) before turning back to Jack. "It couldn't be as easy as finding three "talismans", no, it had to be something with multiple layers of complexity! Nothing easy!" "It's not as hard as you think since sometimes certain "players" are the answer to more than one--" Keiko raises her hand, bringing the discussion to a halt. "Hold that thought." As she turns her gaze, her hand grasps her sword. "No peeping." ------ The Apartment of Haruka/Michiru Inside the mirror Keiko turns about, and stares as if looking right at Michiru to her shock. Her hand thrusts forward, her katana blade within it "shattering" the mirror's face erasing the image within and returning it to a simple reflection of Michiru's face. Michiru grimaces at it, not pleased with what happened. "What's wrong?" "I don't believe it?" she mutters, wiping the mirror face off. "I was trying to read the mirror when?" (sighs) "?something interfered and it clouded over. It wiped off easily though." Haruka walked close, and held Michiru in her arms. At this Michiru suddenly became silent for a few seconds before admitting something. "What we're trying to do for Hot-- I mean Eve -- may be futile." "She doesn't want our help. She doesn't want to be Hotaru anymore." "We knew that when we accepted her into our lives, remember?" ----- Flashback Hotaru/Eve moved towards the door, already reaching out as she tried to change back. "Does it bother you so to be Hotaru?" Haruka bluntly asked, bringing Hotaru/Eve's gaze onto her, eyes narrowed as she glared at Sailor Uranus. Undaunted, she asked again "Does being yourself hurt so?" "I?" She reached out to herself, younger and more innocent, crying out "I'M SORRY!!" "DON'T TOUCH ME!" she cried, jumping away from Haruka's grasp before she could get ahold, "I'll let myself out!" "Is there something wrong, Hotaru?" Michiru asked, pressing the subject as she moved in to give support to Haruka, "Why does it hurt so much to be yourself?" "This is NOT me." she muttered, eyes narrowed, "Hotaru is dead. What I feel --" Watching herself being raped and feeling herself being raped in turn? surrealistic Twilight Zone slash Outer Limits mind screwing madness but? "You look pretty well for a dead person." Haruka bluntly replied, breaking her concentration. "You're one to talk, Haruka-papa." Eve growled, "You can keep it up all you want, but Hotaru died the day they butchered Usa-chan -- maybe sooner than that -- and violated her body and soul. Nothing will bring her back, nor will Hotaru ever "return" for "death" as far as I'm concerned. She should have died with Chibi-Usa? I wish I died?" Her thoughts drifted, and remembrance hit her hard. Her face looked so loving, yet so tortured? her younger self that is? all her remembrances of Chibi-Usa were tortured memories, only these faint images of her younger self remained loving despite the torture she was experiencing. Suddenly her eyes blaze, and her face scrunches in a blind rage, "HOTARU'S DEAD! I CAN NEVER BE THAT GIRL EVER AGAIN!! REMEMBER THAT!! SHE'S AS DEAD AS THE WORLD SHE WAS BORN TO!! PERIOD!!" And with that she stormed out of the apartment. ------ "She doesn't want to see reason." Haruka grumbles, "She's too far gone for reason now." "There's always hope." "Is there?" Haruka asked, wondering if there could ever be hope for her. ------ She didn't want to move. All she wanted to do was stay perfectly still and cuddle with Mako-chan as long as possible. The taller woman was fast asleep, so she wasn't going to be interrupted or anything, but still she just couldn't seem to fall back asleep after all those revelations she had to sit through. Mako was very apologetic about the making her spy on Keiko thing, in fact she was so apologetic that it seems she just couldn't stop apologizing. They were that sorry. Yet, and yet, when morning came Ami once again found herself in strange situations. As she lifted the hefty book in her hands, she gave an almost inaudible moan as she did. Once again, it seems, Mako-chan talked her into doing something she wasn't comfortable with, again. And she had to do it at the most inappropriate time, when she was in no condition to resist or say no. Ami blushes slightly at the memory, "?." and decided it best to push the memory aside for later. The huge tome was on the Judgments of Japan, Keiko being one of them. As she flipped through the pages another book fell on top of it, opened to a picture of statuary. "This might be more useful." a familiar female voice said from behind Ami. The statue was of a female Judgment, sword raised, hovering over an angel whose wings were hacked off. Located in the city of Judgment in the continent of the GrimmLands (the dream continent of Germany), it represented the turning point in the "mission" of the Judgment order from order of light to judges of light and darkness. The female caught Ami's attention : it was Keiko. Even in statuary her distinctive features stood in, especially since it was made in the GrimmLands (where it was really easy to tell a girl from Asian descendent apart from the tall females that were seemingly a staple of the European dream continent). The statue was made in the 18th Century, about the time of the reformation of the Judgment Order." the female voice near Ami continued, "Although? the Judgment in question was not native born of the continent of which she became a Judgment. She had only arrived on it's shores about 100-200 years prior to this incident. Call it, perhaps, a time in exile if you will for her. Because eventually, as memory faded, she did come back to her native land and?" Michiru stops to give an autograph, only to turn back and find her rapt audience now missing. "?that was fast?" she whispered. "So Keiko is a woman formerly in exile." Michiru now had the "pleasure" of being caught off guard. "That's seems just about right." she noted, turning her gaze at the speaker, "Grace, isn't it?" The young woman nods her head, her visor reflecting Michiru as she stared right at her. "If you're so curious about her, you could always --" (features turn from calm to curious) "-- "go straight to the source and ask the horse"? if that is an appropriate use of the lyrics in this situation." On this topic all Michiru knew was it was all Rei's fault that Haruka knew more about "Classic American TV" than she did. Rei once had a sleepover for everyone and TVLand was on, and that as they say was that. Add to that the fact the dream continent had access to 1755 cross dimensional channels including TVLand of which Haruka tended to watch when she was bored, making Michiru watch as well and drumming the most useless facts into her head at times. She simply smiled at Grace's comments and said nothing, which is mostly what she does when Haruka tries to get her to watch another episode of some old TV Series. ----- Meanwhile? One mistake. One simple mistake and Haruka was getting an earful. "I HAVE ONE BAD HAIR DAY AND I HAVE TO HEAR EVERYONE BITCH ME OUT FOR IT!!" Obviously the now irate Nina Kotobuki was tired of hearing EVERYONE confuse her for Ami, which Haruka had just done. Either that or she was just ragging her out for no reason. One way, or another, she was just not in a good mood, and yet sporting very blue hair for someone who usually has green hair. Her mood shifts, and she smiles, "So anyway how is it? Being the way you are I bet it's fun." "Fun?" Nina slides up and pats Haruka's rear. "Gotta be fun having the best of both worlds, eh? Strength, feminine wiles, and that little extra umph that keeps Michiru happy in bed?" "?!!?" Haruka nearly falls over, "WHAT?!?" "You don't need to be so coy with me." Nina chided, leaning over to smile, "It's such a lady slayer!" "?you're evil?" "Yeah. Everyone tells me that." Nina agrees, "So can I touch?" Haruka was already regretting speaking to her, this only made things worse.
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