Sailor Moon V: The Dark Adventures of the Sailor Scouts (part 3 of 13)

a Sailor Moon fanfiction by Troy "Silver" Stanton

Back to Part 2
(Author's Note: This episode occurs three months after the end of the 
original story entitled "By The New Moon's Light".) 

The fire continued to burn in the meditation room. It had been well 
fed earlier and it still had plenty to go before it would think of 
burning out. For now, it was content to remain in the confines of the 
ceremonial fireplace. It usually burned alone, only occasionally kept 
company by someone meditating during the night. But never before had 
the fire shared its flames with another entity, as it found itself 
doing tonight. 

The god stirred slightly, adjusting his position within the raging 
comfort of the flames. He watched in silence as his avatar was 
tortured, a procedure that had been going on for nearly two hours now. 

Amazing, he thought. If I tried to withstand that kind of torture in a 
human form, I would have been broken half an hour ago. Who would have 
thought her willpower was so strong? His mind reached out to her's and 
found that she would not be able to withstand another ten minutes of 
such treatment. Might as well prepare for it, he thought with a sigh. 

He focused his mind and a thin globe of energy surrounded the room. 
The energy was such that no sound would escape the room to disturb the 
slumber of the others. Already the sound level in the room was 
increasing as his avatar started to cry out, her willpower fading 
fast. 

Beside the god, the fire crackled out a question, the thin wisp of 
smoke curling into a strange pattern. The god thought for a second, 
then responded to the query, the sound of his voice matching the 
fire's. 

"No, it won't be for many years to come. But thank you for reminding 
me about that. I may be a god, but I don't remember every single 
piddly little detail about everything." 

A loud cry echoed throughout the room as his avatar's willpower 
finally gave out and she orgasmed. Her whole body shook as every 
single muscle in her body spasmed at once, a sight that impressed the 
god to no end. I wish that would happen to me, just once, he thought 
wistfully. 

The wave of pleasure running through her body caused her aura to 
become visible briefly, and for one single moment the sigil of her god 
could be seen on her forehead. But her captor never saw it since he 
was busy dealing with his own overflowing passions. 

The god's power reached out and crushed the life out of the seed that 
had been planted deep within his now-spent avatar. On impulse, he 
looked down a branch of time to see what would happen if had not 
intervened. His eyebrows arched at what he saw and he shook his head 
in wonder. 

"How in the world could such a young girl conceive and bear triplets?" 
he asked the flames next to him. The fire crackled out a smart-aleck 
answer, and the god laughed. "True. Anyway, I don't believe I am 
needed here any longer. Thank you for the company, my friend." 

He stood up and gave the girl one last look before departing. Such 
fiery passion in her, he thought as he watched her recover from her 
lovemaking. He smiled to himself as he slowly drew the mantle of sleep 
over her and her lover. "We shall meet again," he said to his avatar, 
knowing she would never hear the words. 

And with a final nod to his burning companion, the god Mars left. 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

"I'm telling you, Leda, it won't fit," said a slightly amused Mina. 
She was standing outside Leda's bedroom, listening to her friend 
struggle to fit inside an old swimsuit. 

"Of course it'll fit," Leda called out. She grunted slightly, then 
added, "It fit before, so it should fit now." 

"But that was three months ago, and I know that you've grown since 
then." 

"Yeah, right." There was a brief silence, then a triumphant cheer. "I 
told you it would fit, Mina!" 

Mina closed her eyes and smiled. A chocolate-fudge sundae says it 
won't last ten minutes, she thought. "Mind if I see how it looks on 
you?" 

Leda stepped out of her room wearing a dangerously tight gold bikini 
top and bluejeans. "Hah, I knew it would fit." 

Mina's eyebrows almost hit the ceiling. "Whoa, girl, we're going to go 
soak in the thermal pools, not go guy-hunting on the beach." 

"Well, this is the only one I have available right now," Leda said 
with a slight blush. 

Mina held up the shopping bag she was carrying. "That's why I told you 
to buy one when we went shopping last week." She reached inside and 
pulled out a gold bikini that was two sizes larger than the one Leda 
was wearing. "Here, I got this for you on a hunch." 

Leda laughed. "And what makes you think I want to change my swimsuit 
now that I've got it on?" 

Mina reached out and lightly tapped her friend's nose. Leda stepped 
back, made a face, and sneezed. The sound of the over-stressed fabric 
tearing echoed for several seconds as Leda's green eyes became 
impossibly wide. 

"Because you haven't got one on anymore," Mina said innocently as she 
held out the swimsuit to her highly embarrassed friend. 

"You did that on purpose," Leda muttered as she dashed back into her 
room to change. 

Mina laughed. "Probably. Or would you rather that happened when you 
were in the middle of a hot mineral pool with four other people 
watching?" 

"It wouldn't be anything they hadn't seen before. Besides, it's not 
like I have anything to hide from my friends." 

"Perhaps, but there are some things you should. You might want to 
change the bikini bottom as well, if the top was any indication of how 
tight it is." 

"Thanks, Mina," came the dry response. "I don't know what I would ever 
do without you." 

"Probably start flashing everyone at inopportune times," she laughed. 
She blushed furiously as Leda not-so-politely suggested that she 
should perform an advanced biological function. 

"But I thought you didn't want me to do that until I was eighteen...." 

There was a heavy sigh. "Don't make me hurt you, Mina." 

"I didn't know you were into S&M," Mina commented. 

There was a roar of fury, and Mina was knocked halfway down the hall 
by a pair of very dense and heavy pillows. "Okay, okay, I'll shut up 
now. You can stop with the fluff attack." 

Leda stepped back out of her room, busy pulling a heavy sweater over 
her bikini top. "Mina, what's with you? You're starting to sound like 
Artemis, and that's bad." 

Mina stood up and dusted herself off. "Sorry. I guess I am starting to 
get just a little smart-alecky." 

Leda smiled. "Just don't let it get out of hand. I take it you've got 
your suit on under that?" she asked, gesturing to Mina's sweater. 

Mina nodded, and pulled up her sweater. Beneath it was a rather 
slender white one-piece swimsuit. The suit was covered with tiny 
pieces of glitter, so Mina seemed to twinkle as she moved. 

"And you yell at me for wearing a tight suit?" Leda asked. 

Mina smiled shyly as she tugged her sweater back down. "But notice I'm 
in no danger of falling out or anything." Her tone grew softer as she 
added, "And if I do, you'll be there to catch me." 

Leda blinked in surprise. "Uh huh.... Girl, your curiosity is going to 
get you into big trouble one of these days, you know that?" 

Mina nodded. "I was just making sure you hadn't forgotten about that 
time everyone spent the night at Ami's." 

"I haven't," the brunette replied softly. "Maybe.... maybe once we get 
back from this weekend trip, we'll talk about it...." 

"No problem, Leda." Mina reached out and squeezed Leda's shoulder. 
"Come on, we've got to get to the bus stop before five, or we'll be 
late." 

Leda ran back into her room. "I'm all packed and everything. I just 
have to get my boots and coat on. How cold was it when you came in?" 

"Around two Celsius." She heard Leda make a plaintive whimpering 
sound, and she laughed. "That's exactly what I said when I stepped out 
of my studio this morning. I think it's going to snow tonight." 

"That should be a gas. Think of it: The five of us sitting in 
swimsuits in the middle of a thermal pool with snowflakes floating all 
around us. It'll be a trip and a half." 

Mina chuckled. "It might be just four of us. I couldn't get hold of 
Rei last night to make sure she was coming or not. Ami called and said 
she'd be coming, and that we'd better have a bunch of tranquilizers 
ready because Serena is all hyper about this trip." 

Leda came back out dressed in cold-weather gear and holding a rather 
large duffel bag. "I think we can find a large mallet or something. 
Ready?" 

The blonde nodded and hefted her backpack onto her shoulder. "Let's 
go!" she said as she slipped on a pair of earmuffs. 

The two of them left Leda's apartment building and walked along the 
cold streets of Tokyo. They walked in silence, trying not to breathe 
any more cold air than they had to. After twenty minutes, they ran 
across a slightly limping figure with an over-sized backpack waiting 
at the bus stop. 

"Hey, you two!" the figure called out as she recognized Leda and Mina. 

Leda's face lit up. "Rei! I take it you could make it after all?" 

Rei nodded, the lower half of her face hidden by a thick scarf. "Yeah, 
I finally got grandpa to give me permission this morning." 

"Cool. Umm, what happened to your leg?" Mina asked. 

"I, um, kinda hurt it yesterday during a practice fight with Chad." 

"Ow, sounds painful," commented Leda. "You kick his butt?" 

Rei's eyes took on a strange look. "Well, not exactly.... I think that 
grandpa has been giving him extra lessons on the side without telling 
me." She caught the strange look Mina was giving her. "What?" 

"Nothing," the blonde said with a shake of her head. "You just look 
like you're in a bit of pain, that's all." 

Rei sneezed abruptly, then nodded her head. "A little," she admitted. 

Leda laughed and patted Rei on the back. "Don't worry, tonight we'll 
toss you into a hot mineral bath and that'll ease your pain. And if 
that doesn't work, I'll see if I can't massage the pain out." 

Mina's eyes brightened. "You know massage techniques?" 

"Several. I'm not very good at them, though, but they suffice." 

"Coolness. Think you could teach us?" Mina said with a gleam in her 
eye. 

"Yeah, that would be so neat," said Rei. 

Leda chuckled. "Okay, I'll teach you guys later. Right now, we've got 
a bus to catch." 

"It won't be here for another fifteen minutes," said a voice behind 
them, and everyone jumped. They whirled around to find the fourth 
member of their weekend expedition smiling gently to herself. 

"Ami, don't sneak up on us like that!" Leda chided her blue-haired 
friend. "You almost gave me a heart attack. How'd you manage to get so 
close without us hearing you?" 

Ami shrugged, her winter parka muffling any sound she might have made 
in the movement. "I don't know. You guys weren't paying much 
attention, I guess. I thought I made enough noise coming up here." 

"Yuck," said Mina, making a sour face. "Girl, how can you be wearing a 
skirt in this weather?" 

Ami blinked. "I think it's made easier by wearing stockings and liking 
cold weather. Being a vampire might also have something to do with 
it." 

"Sick child," muttered Rei, and everyone laughed. Rei's dislike of the 
cold was made quite clear several times in the past few weeks, and she 
simply couldn't comprehend how anyone could like cold weather. 

"Ami," said Mina slowly, "We have got to get you out more." 

Ami laughed, her breath condensing into a thick cloud of steam. "You 
keep saying that, Mina. Why do you think I'm coming with you instead 
of spending my time studying for my physics exam on Wednesday?" 

Leda muttered something underneath her breath and Mina blinked. 
"That's not very polite," the blonde said pointedly. "Besides, I 
thought you liked it when she drains you." 

Rei gave everyone a strange look. "Do I want to ask?" 

Leda shook her head violently, but Mina spoke up anyway. "Oh, Leda 
just said that Ami was coming along so she could drain Leda's blood 
when the time came." 

Ami looked at Leda. "If you don't want me to, all you have to do is 
say so. Remember, you volunteered for this." 

Leda blushed. "No, it's not that. I was just being a smart-aleck." She 
looked like she was going to say more, but suddenly turned her head to 
stare down the street. 

"Hear something?" Mina asked, following her friend's gaze. 

"I think I hear someone playing an ocarina...." 

The wind stirred lightly, bringing with it the soft sounds of music. 
It was a gentle melody, and the four girls found themselves in awe of 
its beauty. The sound grew louder as its source moved closer to the 
bus stop. 

Ami's vision was the best of the four, and she was the first one to 
make out the form of the music's owner. Her breath caught in her 
throat as she recognized her. "No way...." she whispered. 

The form drew closer, her ankle-length ponytails streaming behind her 
as the wind blew past her. The pink winter jacket made no noise as she 
moved, the only sound coming from the delicate ocarina she played. 
When she reached the bus stop, she stopped playing the beautiful 
melody and let her heavy backpack slide to the ground. 

"Serena...?" Mina said, too stunned for other words. 

Serena looked up, her blue eyes twinkling. "Wow, you guys, you look 
like you've never seen someone play an ocarina before." 

Rei sneezed. "We have, but we never expected to hear YOU play four 
notes without screwing up, let alone something as beautiful as that." 

Serena made a face at Rei. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." 

"Well," said Ami, "You do have a singular talent for clumsiness. Just 
how long have you been practicing that?" 

"It's only been five weeks, but Darian has been helping me out." 

Mina blinked. "I didn't know he could play the ocarina." 

Serena shook her head, sending her bizarre hairstyle whipping about. 
"He can't, but he does play the flute and the two are quite similar." 

Leda laughed. "Looks like there's hope for you yet, Serena." 

Mina patted Serena on the back. "You're doing quite well. Do you think 
you could drop by my apartment sometime? I think I can help you learn 
some of the more difficult aspects of playing music. I don't know if I 
can actually help with the fingering or anything, but I can make sure 
you can read music." 

Serena knew of her friend's unearthly skill with the synthesizer. 
"Sure, I'd love to. Thanks." 

"No problem. It's rare to find a good musician these days." 

"Rare compared to you," Leda chuckled. 

Rei sneezed again. "Hey, Serena, how come you're here so early? The 
bus won't be here for another ten minutes, and I didn't expect to see 
you until it was pulling away from the stop." 

Serena blinked. "What do you mean, I'm early? I thought you four were 
still standing here because the bus was late." 

Ami started to giggle to herself. "My fault. I told her the bus would 
arrive at four-thirty, and figured she would get here around 
four-fifty." 

Everyone burst out laughing as Serena glared at the still-giggling 
Ami. "That's not funny, guys," she muttered darkly. 

"But it worked," Leda said, still laughing. 

"Just in time, too," said Mina. "Here comes the bus." 

"Coolness," said Serena as she grabbed her backpack. "Let's get this 
show on the road!" 

There were nods of assent as the bus pulled up to the stop. "You think 
Artemis and Luna will be okay for the weekend?" Rei said as she 
stepped onto the bus. 

Mina nodded. "I think they'll do fine. Besides, I think they could use 
some time together to catch up on stuff." 

"What kind of stuff?" asked Leda suspiciously. 

Mina just shrugged. "I don't know.... Stuff," she said as she boarded 
the bus. She turned to the driver. "This goes to the Hot Springs 
Resort?" 

"Express all the way," the driver said as he closed the door. Seconds 
later, the bus was on its way to the resort and to its naturally hot 
mineral springs. 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Lieutenant Commander Shar-Tei entered her private quarters, and was 
nearly knocked over as a crystalline spider the size of a small pony 
ran over to her. The weaver was chittering quite excitedly in its 
species-language, sounding to Shar-Tei like a set of wind chimes in a 
hurricane. 

"Nice to see you too, Dyvach. Now calm down before you kill me." The 
silver-haired Dragoon commander made her way over to her couch and sat 
down. "Now tell me what's got you all excited, and where exactly 
you've been for the past two months." 

The weaver skittered over to her and sat down on the floor. At a much 
slower pace, it told her about its discovery. Shar-Tei never quite 
understood the language, catching about three words in seven, but she 
was able to make out what Dyvach was saying. 

Her featureless red eyes went wide. "And how do you know this?" 

In response, the weaver promptly coughed up a tiny shard of crystal. 
It wiped the digestive slime off of it before handing it to Shar-Tei. 
Then it started talking in complex mathematics, reducing Shar-Tei's 
understanding to about one word in twelve. 

The Dragoon held up the crystal shard and gazed at it carefully. If 
the weaver is right, she thought, then this really is a piece of 
Eternal Crystal. "And you say you could tell what this was by eating 
part of it?" 

The weaver chimed an affirmative. "This is.... most unexpected. Tell 
me, where there any more crystals like this one around?" Again, the 
weaver chimed an affirmative. "How many?" she whispered, holding her 
breath. 

Dyvach chimed once more, and the number was staggering. The 
wastelands, thought Shar-Tei. It's got to be the wastelands. Queen 
Beryl wouldn't have put so many crystals there if it wasn't. "Tell 
me," she said urgently, "Do you remember the coordinates?" 

The weaver chimed a complex and lengthy response. Shar-Tei sat back 
and considered it carefully. "How long did it take you to get there?" 
The weaver thought for a second, did a few quick calculations, then 
chimed back an answer. 

Shar-Tei shook her head. "Too long. Very well, Dyvach. Go ahead and 
convert your measurements into standard. I'll try to find a Silkworm 
crystal to get us there faster." 

The two of them went off to work. The weaver skittered off to a 
special crystal loom and started to work the threads, performing vast 
mathematical calculations in a matter of seconds. Shar-Tei left her 
quarters and proceeded to make her way to the Dragoon headquarters 
complex. 

A single tear slid down her cheek as she considered what she was going 
to do. Don't worry, my love, she thought, I may not be able to free 
you from your prison, but I can give you the peace of death befitting 
a Dragoon. Her mind set, she increased her pace and walked into the 
Dragoon headquarters. 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

The soft-packed snow crunched noisily under their feet as the five 
girls made their way down the narrow pathway. Occasionally they would 
come across a steaming mineral pool, but Ami would briefly scan it 
with her computer and keep walking. 

"I don't get it, Ami," complained Serena. "That's the sixth pool we've 
passed so far, and they all look perfectly good." 

"Yeah, girl, what gives?" asked Leda. 

Ami poked at her computer for a few seconds before replying. "I'm 
trying to find a hot spring that doesn't have a high mineral-salt 
content." 

Mina looked confused. "Why does that make a difference? I thought 
those kinds of salts were harmless." 

"They usually are, but they have a strange irritating effect on my 
skin." 

"You did just fine last time we were here," said Serena. 

Ami gave her a look. "I wasn't a vampire last time." 

The blonde's eyes went slightly wide. "Oh." 

"Hey, what about this one?" Mina said, pointing to a smaller pool that 
was several dozens yards away from the path. 

Ami walked over to the edge of the path and held out her computer. 
After a few seconds the computer chirped softly, causing Ami to smile. 
"This one's perfect. It's one of the newer ones, so the minerals 
haven't had the chance to build up." 

"Well. come on then, what are we waiting for?" Leda said as she 
started to make her way towards the steaming pool. Serena and Mina 
started to follow her, but Ami held back to talk to Rei for a second. 

"You've been awfully quiet today, Rei. Is something wrong?" Ami asked. 

Rei shook her head. "I'm still in a bit of pain from yesterday, and 
the cold temperature isn't helping much." 

Ami smiled. "Don't worry, the heat from the mineral water should ease 
any aches and pains you have. Come on, the others are getting 
impatient." 

They made their way along the path of footsteps made by the others. 
Rei had a slight difficulty making her way through the snow due to her 
ankle, but they eventually made it to the clearing by the pool. 

When they arrived, Serena was busy pinning her hair back while Mina 
was undressing. Leda had already peeled down to her bikini and was 
arranging her stuff near the pool's edge. 

"We were wondering if you two were going to join us or not," said Mina 
as she finished removing her sweater. Her white swimsuit seemed to 
twinkle in the evening light as she unbuttoned her jeans and slid out 
of them. 

"Be with you in a bit," said Rei. "I'm going to start a fire so we 
don't have frozen towels when we're finished." 

"Hey, there's a thought," said Leda as she crouched at edge of the 
pool. "I wouldn't have thought of something like that." She eased into 
the mineral pool, and a blissful smile crossed her face. "Oooh, this 
is nice. Come on, the water's fine!" 

Ami set her pack next to a tree stump and started to unbutton her 
parka as Rei started to dig out a fire pit. Mina sat at the edge of 
the pool and fussed with the ribbon in her hair as Serena unbuttoned 
her blouse, revealing a pink bikini. 

"You're not going to pin your hair back, Mina?" Serena asked as she 
worked at the last few buttons on her blouse. 

"No, I figure I'll mess with it later. It needs cutting anyway, so if 
it gets too messed up it's no big deal." She smiled exactly like Leda 
as she slid into the hot water. "Oooh, you're right. This does feel 
quite nice." 

"Need any help, Rei?" Ami asked as she removed her shoes and 
stockings. 

Rei finished stacking the wood and stood up, her silvery Mars Wand in 
her hand. "Nope. Got everything all taken care of." She held up the 
wand up to the sky. "Mars Power!" she yelled. 

She was engulfed in a whirling field of energy, and was transformed 
into Sailor Mars. She blinked as the energy faded, and the surrounding 
cold crept in. She was wearing her sailor suit, which consisted of 
low-heeled pumps, a very short mini-skirt, a short-sleeved blouse, 
arm-length gloves, and a tiara. 

"Yiiii, it's cold out here!" she squealed, shivering slightly. She 
closed her eyes and focused her internal energies. "Mars Fire.... 
IGNITE!!" she said, and a crackling ball of fire formed at her 
fingertips. The ball leapt into the stack of wood, starting a nice, 
cozy little fire. The fire had barely caught when she concentrated 
once more, causing her transformation to reverse. 

"I don't think I've ever seen you transform that fast," Leda 
commented. 

"S-s-so w-w-what?" Rei said, her teeth chattering violently behind the 
red scarf she wore. 

Serena had finished undressing and was testing the water with her 
toes. "Feels warm enough," she said. Without warning, she was hit from 
behind with a snowball, causing her to lose her balance and fall into 
the pool with a loud splash. 

"Hey!" she yelled when she surfaced. "Who threw that?" 

Ami merely smiled as she let her skirt fall to the ground. Beneath it 
she was wearing a one-piece swimsuit in a medium shade of blue. 
"Sorry, impulse," she giggled, and everyone but Serena started to 
laugh. She turned around to look at Rei. "You coming?" 

Rei nodded and slowly moved over to the pool's edge as Ami slid into 
the pool. Ami made a strange face as she stood up and went to get her 
computer. 

"What's up, Ami? Salt in the water?" Mina asked. 

"No, it's not that," Ami said slowly as she poked at her computer for 
a minute. "The water just feels.... weird." 

"It's just because it's a mineral pool, that's all," Leda said as she 
made her way over to the pool's edge. 

"Rei! What happened to your face?" Serena said suddenly. 

Everyone turned to look at Rei. She had taken her scarf off, revealing 
a nasty bruise on one cheek and a jagged scar on the other. "I told 
you guys, practice got a little rough last night," she said as she sat 
down and removed her boots. 

Leda surged out of the pool, her face a mask of concern. "Rei, that 
looks like a cut on your cheek. Let me take a look at it." 

"Back off," Rei snapped. "It's nothing, just a bad scratch." 

Mina and Serena swam over to the edge to get a better look, and Ami 
walked over with her computer in hand. The computer beeped suddenly, 
and Ami frowned. She looked at the display for a few seconds before 
reprogramming her computer to do a scan. 

Leda's eyebrows went up as Rei removed her socks. "Great Zeus, what 
did you do to your foot?" she asked, staring at the scar on her ankle. 

Anger flashed in Rei's bottomless black eyes. "I told you, practice 
got rough and we both tore each other up. It's nothing, so forget 
about it." she snarled as she stood up and took off her winter coat. 

"Rei," Ami said quietly. "I want to talk to you." 

"Forget it." 

Mina got out of the pool and moved behind Leda as Ami stepped forward. 
"Rei, this is serious. Do you know what my scans have picked up?" Ami 
said, her blue eyes showing concern. 

Rei opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off as Leda 
screeched, her hand shooting out to grab the top of Rei's black 
swimsuit. She yanked it down fractionally to reveal more of the thin 
scar on the top of Rei's chest. 

Rei tried to break Leda's grip, but it was a futile attempt. "Leda, 
let go of my suit!" 

"Tell me what happened, Rei. I might believe this rough practice stuff 
about the marks on your face and ankle, but this," she said, gesturing 
at the scar, "This was made by a dagger, and it's too even for it to 
have been a mere accident." 

"Rei, I'm showing moderate bruising on your left cheek, a first-degree 
cut on your right cheek, a second-degree cut on your right ankle, a 
pair of cuts on on your chest, a second pair between your eighth and 
ninth left ribs, a single cut on your upper left thigh, and moderate 
bruising across your entire upper back," Ami said quietly. 

"What?" Leda said, shocked. She turned to Rei with a fire in her eyes. 
"Off with the suit, Rei. I want to see those cuts." 

There was a startled gasp from Mina as Rei glared at Leda. "You've got 
to be kidding, Leda. I'm not taking off my suit." 

"What's going on?" Serena said, her blue eyes wide. 

"Rei," said Ami softly. "I need to talk to you about this." 

"What don't you guys get? I keep telling you, I got these in a 
practice fight with Chad last night," Rei snapped. 

"And I don't believe that for one second!" Leda shot back. 

Mina reached out and grabbed Leda's arm. "Girl, I think you ought to 
ease off a little...." 

"Then explain the vaginal bruising and torn hymen." 

Everyone fell silent as Ami's statement registered. The only sound 
heard was Serena getting out of the mineral pool and walking over next 
to Ami. 

"What was that?" Mina asked quietly. 

"But that would mean...." Leda trailed off, unable to say more. 

"Rei, did Chad rape you?" Ami asked gently. 

Rei shook her head, tears streaming from her eyes. "No, he didn't. 
I.... I wanted it to happen.... the way it did...." She shivered 
lightly, but not from emotional distress. 

Ami reached out and helped Rei unzip her jeans. "Come on, we've got to 
get you in the water before you freeze." Rei nodded her assent as the 
others quietly made their way back into the pool. Ami help Rei finish 
up, then led her to the pool's edge where they both silently slid in. 

Ami waited until Rei had warmed up sufficiently before swimming over 
to sit next to her, computer in hand. "Rei, I need to get a better 
look at those cuts. We're all girls here, and we're your friends, so 
there's nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about," she said softly. 

Rei nodded silently and reached behind her. She untied her swimsuit 
and peeled it down to her waist. Everyone gasped in shock as they saw 
the cuts. Ami started to reach out but stopped, giving Rei an 
inquisitive look. Rei nodded again, and Ami gently touched the scars 
nestled between Rei's breasts. 

They started at the tops of her breasts and went diagonally down to 
just beneath the other breast, forming a vicious X-shaped scar. The 
only sound that could be heard was Ami's computer chittering softly to 
itself as it scanned the cuts. 

"They're only surface cuts, but they'll take several days to heal. 
There isn't any sign of infection, so they'll heal without any serious 
scarring." She moved her computer lower to scan Rei's ribs. "Same 
story with these two." The computer moved even lower to scan Rei's 
thigh and abdomen. "It's the same with the cut on your thigh. You've 
got minor internal bruising, but its not anything to really worry 
about. There's no internal bleeding, and my scans show no signs of 
pregnancy." 

Ami fell silent as Rei put her swimsuit back on. "So I take it I'll be 
fine?" Rei said eventually. 

"Yes, though you might want to go see your doctor just to be sure." 

"Thanks," was the soft reply. 

Mina swam over next to Rei and put a hand on her shoulder. "Will you 
tell us what happened?" 

Rei closed her eyes and wiped the tears away. No one said anything as 
she fought an internal struggle. Finally, she nodded her head and 
began to speak. 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Rei stood at the doorway, boku-toh in hand, and waited for her 
adversary to show himself. In her mind, she tried to remember why 
exactly she decided to accept Chad's challenge to combat. She knew he 
was going to leave tomorrow to start a six-week concert tour of 
southern Japan, but she still didn't quite know why he challenged her 
before he left. 

"I wanted to pay you back for everything," he had said, "And that I 
want to give you a little something to remember me by." 

Well, she thought, the only things that will be given are a nice set 
of bruises to you as I turn your butt into Swiss cheese. She indulged 
herself in an evil grin. This is going to be so easy. 

Something whizzed by her ear, and a bare second later a shuriken 
embedded itself in the wall she was facing. She whirled around to face 
the enemy behind her and slashed her ankle on the razor-sharp spine 
sticking up from the floor. 

In an instant, Rei realized her mistake. The spine was thrown past my 
ear to make it seem like the shuriken came from behind me, she thought 
at the speed of light. But they both came from above me, and now my 
back is unguarded. The information didn't arrive fast enough to help 
her. 

Pain exploded across her shoulder blades as she was smashed in the 
back by a powerful force. The blow sent her skidding painfully across 
the temple floor until she collided with the wall. She tried to stand 
up as fast as possible, but she was hampered by the stinging of her 
bleeding ankle. 

There was the sound of running footsteps, and Rei instinctively swung 
her wooden blade up to ward off the next blow. There was a hideous 
cracking sound as wood met tempered steel and her weapon splintered. 
Rei cried out in pain as the tip of the steel blade sliced across her 
cheek, leaving a bloody line in its wake. 

A hand grabbed the front of her robe and roughly hauled her to her 
feet. She looked up at her assailant and found a pair of vengeful eyes 
staring down at her. The dark emotion behind those eyes was 
unfamiliar, but the rest of his features were quite known to her. 

"Chad!" she said in shock and surprise. 

"Silence!" he roared as he backhanded her. Rei grunted softly as the 
blow landed on her undamaged cheek. She could feel it bruise almost 
instantly. She tried to focus on the dark figure holding her, but the 
pain in her ankle, back, and cheeks made it difficult. 

The grip on her robe grew tighter as his face moved to within inches 
of her own. "I've waited a long time for this," he hissed. "I have 
suffered at your hands for long enough, and now it's payback time. And 
as you can see, my training has been far more advanced than you had 
thought." 

Tiny tendrils of fear made their way into Rei's blood. "What do you 
want from me?" she said, and was backhanded again for her efforts. 
Again the blow landed on one cheek, and Rei was fortunate it wasn't 
her bleeding one. 

Chad's voice was barely audible as she whispered in her ear. "What I 
want is for you to know the true meaning of torture shortly before I 
relieve you of your virginity." There was a soft metallic hiss, and a 
ceremonial dagger was pressed against her throat. 

Rei froze in absolute fear, her heart on the verge of exploding inside 
her chest. "You would rape me...?" she whispered in utter shock. She 
tried to run but her body was paralyzed with fear and wouldn't 
respond. 

Chad laughed quietly, a low and ominous sound. "It all depends on how 
you react to the torture, my dear Rei. Respond well, and I won't have 
to. Respond poorly, and...." he trailed off. His dark smile made Rei 
shiver. 

"Shall we begin?" he asked, then slashed the dagger downward. Rei 
braced for the sensation of being flayed alive, but was surprised when 
the blade never touched her skin. Her surprise turned to horror as the 
front of her ceremonial robe was cut away, revealing the dull gray of 
her sports bra. 

"I know you quite well, Rei," he said as he lightly drew the dagger's 
flat surface across the top of her chest. "I have seen how you react 
to certain situations, certain sensations, certain stimulations...." 
Now the blade was on its razor-edge, still being carefully drawn along 
her skin. 

"I know you react to fear of pain by remaining motionless, hoping that 
if you keep still, it won't hurt you." Rei's black eyes widened as his 
words sank in. She was suddenly made keenly aware of the exquisite 
pain in her ankle and on her face. No, don't let him know.... she 
thought desperately as the tip of the dagger dug ever so lightly into 
the flesh just above her bra strap. 

His voice was like the whisper of leaves over stone as he breathed in 
her ear. "But I also know your true secret...." The dagger was slowly 
drawn in a diagonal line across her chest, slicing both skin and silk. 
"The secret that you like pain...." A hair-thin line of blood welled 
up in the track left by the dagger's passage. "And that a very fine 
pain turns you on...." 

"No...." came Rei's ragged voice. She meant to scream, but it came out 
as a soft moan. She felt as if a line of fire was being drawn on her 
chest, and her passions started to stir. The threat of being raped 
only seemed to further excite her, despite her fears. 

The dagger came to rest at a point just beneath her breast. Chad's 
lips lightly brushed her throat as his hand separated the slashed 
halves of her bra. Rei closed her eyes as the fabric moved, revealing 
her tender breasts and the diagonal line of blood between them. Rei 
knew it was only slightly deeper than a surface scratch, but the pain 
was as sharp as the dagger's edge. 

"They are as beautiful as I had imagined," whispered the voice in her 
ear as the flat edge of the dagger slid over her breast. Rei whimpered 
softly, not sure whether it was in fear, desire, anticipation, or a 
mixture of all three. Chad laughed softly. "You like this, don't you, 
Rei?" he whispered. 

She couldn't speak at the blade dug into the skin above her breast. 
Ever so slowly, the blade carved a diagonal path down to her other 
breast, mirroring its previous trail. The keen sensation of pain set 
her blood on fire, making her nipples ache with passion. 

"Ah, so you really do like this...." Chad whispered as his lips 
trailed down Rei's throat. The blade's flat edge was carefully drawn 
over her nipple, the cold metal sending a chill down Rei's back. The 
dagger suddenly flashed downwards, and Rei felt more of her robe being 
sliced away from her body. 

The combination of fear and passion was starting to overwhelm her, and 
she could feel her leg muscles giving out. She started to slide down 
the wall, but she felt Chad pinch her flesh and twist. The agony was 
far from stimulating, and Rei jerked back up. 

"None of this falling down quite yet, my dear Rei. I'm not even close 
to being finished with you," he laughed softly as his lips slid down 
to the top of the bloody X on Rei's chest. Rei gasped as the contact 
heightened the sharp stinging sensation. 

The blade's razor edge was very carefully drawn along her ribs. The 
skin yielded slightly but was not cut as the dagger passed over her 
stomach to the other set of ribs. The sensation caused a strange knot 
to form in her gut and only served to further weaken her self-control. 

Chad's lips brushed her hardened nipple, and Rei could barely hold 
back a moan. A dim part of her mind realized that if this was kept up 
much longer, being raped wouldn't matter to her since her brain would 
be too overloaded to care. 

A thin line of fire was drawn between two of her ribs just as Chad's 
lips drew her nipple into his mouth. The combination of pain and sheer 
pleasure was too much for her to handle, and she moaned aloud. She 
then gasped as Chad bit her nipple briefly. A second blazing line of 
pain was drawn parallel to the first, and Rei knew that a loss of 
control was imminent. 

Her captor apparently knew it too. "You seem to have a problem," he 
said softly as he kissed his way over to her other breast. "Is the 
torture becoming too much for you?" he teased as he drew the flat edge 
of the blade down across her waist. 

The dagger flashed down once more, and the last tattered remains of 
Rei's robe fell away from her, leaving her bare except for her lace 
panties and the remains of her bra. A light wind stirred up, sending 
shivers racing across her unprotected skin. 

"So what does the mighty Rei Hino have to say now that she has fallen 
in battle?" said Chad as he kissed the softness of her breast. Rei 
couldn't find the words to speak as the blade's flat edge was drawn 
down across her hips and onto her thighs. "What do you have to say 
before you become completely and utterly vanquished?" 

Rei's only response was a loud moan as Chad ran his tongue over her 
tight nipple before drawing it into his mouth. The dagger's keen edge 
lightly bit into her thigh even as Chad's teeth bit into Rei's nipple. 
The sensation was too much for Rei, and the last shreds of her control 
shattered like glass. 

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and tightly drew him close, 
her breathing ragged and her sheath on fire. "Please end this," she 
cried out as he returned her crushing embrace. The deep chuckle in her 
ear send a wave of desire coursing through her blood. 

"You respond well, Rei," he said as he kissed her ear. Her head turned 
and her lips sought out his. Their passionate kiss lasted some time 
before he gently pushed her away. "You are in no danger of being 
raped, my dear, but you are far from losing your virginity." 

"No...." Rei whispered through a haze of passion. "Chad.... I want you 
to take it.... I want you to take me...." Chad's dark laughter sent a 
strange chill down her spine. 

"Perhaps I will, my dear Rei. All in due time." His voice dropped to a 
soft whisper as his lips roamed over her ear. "But how long will you 
be able to stand the pleasure I'm going to give you? How long before 
your passions drive you mad with unquenchable desire? How long until 
you beg me to release your passion and send you to the very peak of 
pleasure?" 

Rei made a plaintive whimper as the meaning of his words sank in. 
"What do you mean by that?" she asked, her voice quivering with 
emotion. 

"And now the real torture begins," he said as he drew her down to 
him.... 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

The silence was profound as Rei's voice trailed off, unable to say 
more. 

"Rei, what happened after that?" Leda asked softly. 

It took Rei several seconds to find the words to explain what had 
happened to her that night. "He.... he stimulated me just enough to 
make me lose all control, but never quite finishing.... It.... it WAS 
torture.... He did that to me for two hours before finally making love 
to me.... He finally pushed me over the edge, and.... it felt like I 
died from pleasure...." 

"He was rough with you, wasn't he?" Ami asked softly. 

Rei looked down at the water. "Yes.... but I...." 

"You wanted it that way." Mina said. 

"Yes...." Rei said, her cheeks burning with shame. 

Mina squeezed her shoulder. "I think I understand. It's not the pain 
you really wanted, it was the feeling of total helplessness and 
domination, right?" Three pairs of eyes turned to look at Mina as she 
continued. "I've done a bit of psychology research on the subject. You 
have a natural desire for absolute control over your life, and one of 
the results of that is you find yourself aroused by the complete loss 
of control to someone you care about. It's a rather common sexual 
fantasy among people with your personality type, and it's nothing to 
be ashamed of. That's just the way you are." 

Ami and Leda nodded their heads in understanding and agreement, but 
Serena still seemed a little confused. "Umm.... I don't quite get it. 
You're saying that Rei wanted to be beat up like that?" 

Rei opened her mouth to say something, but Ami spoke up. "Serena, it's 
nothing to be concerned about. If you don't understand, then that's 
all the better. Trust me on this, it's nothing important." 

"We all have our little quirks and oddities, Serena," said Mina. "It's 
just a matter of personal preference." 

Serena arched an eyebrow. "Umm.... I think I understand." 

"If you're really bothered by it, Serena, come talk to me tonight and 
I'll see what I can do to clear things up," said Mina. 

"Umm.... okay...." 

Leda swam over to Rei. "Rei, I'm sorry I went off on you like that. 
It's just that I was concerned for your welfare, and something didn't 
sound right. I didn't mean to pry or upset you like that," she said, 
then started to swim toward the far end of the thermal pool. 

"Where you going?" Mina asked. 

"I'm going to go skinny-dip for a bit. Something in the water is 
making this suit irritate my tits, and it's starting to drive me 
nuts." She started to swim off, then stopped and turned to Rei. "Rei, 
I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but you have nice breasts 
and you should try to take care of them." Then before anyone could say 
anything, she swam off. 

"Does she have to be so blunt?" Serena said. 

Mina shrugged. "That's Leda for you." She felt a funny sensation on 
her back and turned around to find Ami staring at her. "What?" 

"I can hear the gears turning in your brain. Now what are you up to?" 

Mina laughed. "Well, I was just thinking that I've never skinny-dipped 
before, and...." 

Ami cut her off, waving a hand at a distant corner of the pool. "Just 
take it somewhere out there, okay? Some of us have a thing called 
modesty." 

"You didn't seem to care about Rei's modesty when you were poking at 
her chest," Mina said pointedly. 

Ami blushed a delicate shade of pink. "That was different. I was doing 
a medical analysis." 

"We're all girls here, and we're your friends, so there's nothing to 
be embarrassed or ashamed about," Mina mimicked as she fussed with the 
fastenings to her swimsuit. "Hey, Serena, you ever been 
skinny-dipping?" 

Serena blushed lightly. "Once, but not by choice." 

Rei blinked. "What happened?" 

"Well, we were here that one time and my little brother stole my 
towel." 

Mina and Rei burst out laughing, causing Serena's blush to deepen. Rei 
managed to stop laughing long enough to ask, "How bad did you hurt 
him?" 

"Well, Mom and Dad were here, so I didn't have to." 

Mina smiled as she sank below the waterline. Her head popped back up a 
few seconds later, holding her suit in one hand and making a strange 
face. "Ami, could you scan the water? I think Leda might be right 
about something making the fabric a little irritating." 

"Sure," she said, poking at her computer. She made a face at the 
reading. "There appears to be a rather high concentration of alkaline 
salt in the water. That explains both the irritation as well as why it 
feels funny to me." 

"So in other words," said Rei, "There was a good reason that the 
resort guide suggested that swimsuits shouldn't be used in the thermal 
pools." 

"Looks like it," admitted Ami. She felt a slight itch develop and 
sighed. "I think given a choice between being modest and being 
comfortable, I'd have to say I'd rather be comfortable," she said as 
she reached for the fastenings to her suit and slid deeper into the 
water. 

Mina waited until Ami's ears were under water. "If she was as modest 
as she claims to be, she would have gotten out of the water and sat by 
the fire instead of staying put," she said with a smile. 

Serena blinked as she watched Ami poke her head out of the water and 
lay her swimsuit on the edge of the pool. "Umm, then I take this has 
been turned into a skinny-dipping expedition?" she said with a hint of 
nervousness. 

"Unless you don't mind the irritation," said Rei. She adjusted her 
suit slightly and her eyes went wide. "Oooh, that hurt big time. I 
take it that alkaline salt is bad for healing cuts?" 

Ami nodded. "Very much, especially if something is rubbing against 
it." 

Rei sighed. "Figures," as she started to untie her suit again. 

Serena shrugged. "When in Rome...." she said as she sank down below 
the waterline. 

Leda swam over, her eyebrows arched up past her hairline. "What's 
this?" she said, holding her swimsuit in her hands. 

"Agreement that the water is irritating us," Mins said as she tossed 
her suit on the edge of the thermal pool. "Besides, I've never been 
skinny-dipping before and I wanted to try it." 

"It's just like bathing," said Rei. 

"Nah, it's cooler. Plus, you get to make fun of your friends," 
snickered Leda. 

Ami was about to say something when she saw the surprised look on 
Serena's face. "What's wrong, Serena?" 

"Umm, I don't mean to be rude or make fun of you, Ami, but you've got 
a dark spot down, umm...." 

Ami looked down. "What? I don't see any marks or anything." 

Mina giggled. "I think she means your pubic hair." 

Ami blushed and Serena looked shocked. "That's hair?" the blonde said, 
faintly disgusted. "What's it doing there?" 

Mina looked highly amused as she swam over to Serena. "I hate to break 
this to you, girl, but there's supposed to be hair down there." She 
laughed as Serena's eyes became impossibly wide. 

"Umm...." 

"Relax," said Leda, "You'll grow some when you get older." 

Rei laughed. "Yeah, that way you'll really be a natural blonde." 

Mina shot her a dark look. "That's not funny, Rei," she said, 
pointedly toying with her own blonde hair. 

Leda chuckled. "Besides, there's no guarantee it'll be the same 
color." 

Rei blinked. "What do you mean?" 

"Well, I'm a brunette up top, but I'm auburn down under." 

Rei looked mildly surprised. "You serious?" 

Leda nodded and sat up on the edge of the pool, still holding her suit 
in one hand. 

"That was blunt," Rei said, blushing furiously. Ami developed a fit of 
coughing and Serena found interesting little water swirls to study. 

"We get the picture, Leda, so you can get down from there," Mina said. 

"You asked," Leda said as she slid into the water. 

"Not.... like that," Ami said, still coughing. 

Leda shrugged and looked around. "Anyone else a two-toner?" 

Ami and Rei shook their heads, but Mina nodded. "Light gray, but I'm 
not crass enough to flash everyone just to prove it." 

Leda laughed. "Spoilsport." 

"Umm, does stuff like this fall under the 'quirks and oddities' of 
your friends?" Serena asked. 

Mina nodded. "Most definitely, especially Leda's behavior. I'll be 
sure to go over it during our talk tonight." 

Leda snorted. "Just make sure you give the same amount of attention to 
your own quirks, girl," she said, and Mina blushed a deep crimson. 

Rei suddenly sat up. "Ami, what's wrong?" 

Ami blinked. "What do you mean?" She looked around to find the four of 
them giving her concerned looks, and Serena was starting to edge away. 

"You mean you don't know?" Mina asked. 

A cold wind blew through Ami. "Know what?" she said slowly. 

"You're.... umm...." Rei said, making a gesture towards her mouth. 

Ami ran her tongue along her lips and promptly slashed it on her 
vampire fangs. She sat up and winced in pain. "My fangs...! But how? 
I'm not hungry or anything.... Are my eyes different, too?" 

Mina peered closer and nodded. "Yeah, they're that odd steel blue 
color. Ami, are you sure you're not hungry or anything?" 

Ami thought for a second. "No.... Well, wait...." She reached behind 
her and grabbed her computer. She did some quick programming and 
passed it over her body. It beeped, and she passed it over the water. 
"This is weird. It seems like I'm having some sort of reaction to a 
mineral in the water." 

"Umm, you going to be okay? I mean, you're not going to go ballistic 
on us or anything, right?" asked Serena nervously. 

"I don't think so, but I might want to get out of this water for 
awhile." She turned around to reach for her swimsuit, but she couldn't 
find it. She sighed and turned back to her friends. "Okay, where is 
it?" 

"Where's what?" Leda and Mina chorused innocently. 

Ami's gaze darkened as she glared at her friends. "If my swimsuit 
doesn't appear in front of me in the next ten seconds, I swear I will 
kill each and every one of you," she said in her best dark-evil voice. 

There was a quick flurry of motion and her swimsuit landed in the 
water in front of her. "Thank you," she said sweetly as she put it on. 
Maybe being a vampire isn't quite so bad after all, she thought as she 
climbed out of the thermal pool and moved over by the fire. 

Something brushed her face and she looked up. "Hey, everyone! Get 
this!" she yelled back as she pointed to her discovery. In an eerie 
silence, the snow started to fall. 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Shar-Tei focused her thoughts on the series of coordinates the weaver 
had given her. When she was sure she had them down, she directed those 
thoughts at the ancient Silkworm crystal she held. There was a brief 
surge of energy and a wormhole flared into existence in the wall 
before her. 

Well, she thought, here goes nothing. She was about to step through 
the whirling vortex when she felt a thought-presence intrude in her 
mind. 

<Where off in such hurry?> 

The Dragoon sighed and turned around. "That's a rather stupid question 
coming from a telepath, Ra'vel." 

Ra'vel clucked softly and spread her avian wings. <Perhaps is, but 
closed mind cannot read without touching-contact. Broadcast thoughts 
only can read from distance.> 

"I'll keep that in mind. You mind telling me what you want?" 

<Dragoon mind closed, but weaver mind open. Perhaps know plan, want to 
accompany with.> 

Shar-Tei said nothing as she studied the avian. Ra'vel was only five 
feet high and looking like a cross between an owl and a human. Her 
shiny black eyes seemed to study everything, and Shar-Tei knew her 
hearing was exceptional. But what made her most valuable to the 
Dragoon division was her powers of the mind. 

"If you know what I plan, then why come along?" 

The avian fluffed her feathers, the equivalent of a shrug. <Wasteland 
not hospitable, denizens less so. Accompany for support, tactical, 
butt-covering.> 

Shar-Tei finally smiled. "And you don't think I've learned enough to 
take care of my own rear-end?" 

<Care-take not issue. Issue loyalty, service, emotion Dragoon 
commander.> 

Shar-Tei blinked. "Lieutenant, what exactly are you saying?" 

Ra'vel snapped her beak, a sign of frustration. <Touching-contact 
needed explain deeper.> 

Shar-Tei nodded and stepped closer to the telepath. Ra'vel reached 
gently reached out with a clawed hand and lightly brushed Shar-Tei's 
face. Instantly, a series of images flooded the Dragoon commander's 
mind, and she understood. 

The Dragoon telepath stepped back as Shar-Tei regained her bearings. 
"So you want to come with me out of loyalty and respect for him as 
well." 

Ra'vel nodded. <Doubt none would perform same, considering 
after-effects Mintaka battle.> 

"Very well, Ra'vel, you may come with me.... And thank you." she said 
as she turned to the still-open wormhole. Together, the two Dragoons 
left the safety of the Dragoon complex and entered the harsh 
environment of the area called the wastelands. 

They came to a halt at what they saw. In front of them lay literally 
tens of thousands of giant crystals, each one containing a poor soul 
destined to be frozen for eternity by Queen Beryl's wrath. 

"This is it, alright. Problem is, it'll take forever to find which one 
is his," Shar-Tei said with dismay. 

<Closed mind cannot read, mind can identify from distance.> 

The Dragoon commander shook her head. "He's psi-mute, Ra'vel. It won't 
work with him." 

<Mind cannot read, cannot identify then identified.> 

Shar-Tei caught on. "So we look for the ones whose minds you can't get 
identified. Thank you, Ra'vel. Let's get started, shall we?" 

<Easier not blast-reflex region entire?> 

"Not a chance. I know some of these people, and believe me, they 
wouldn't deserve it. Okay, if you can start with the skies, I'll start 
looking from the ground." 

Ra'vel nodded as she spread her wings and took off. Shar-Tei took a 
deep breath and looked at the crystals around her. So many, she 
thought. Don't worry, my love, we'll find you and finally set your 
spirit free. Picking a starting point at random, Shar-Tei started her 
search in the wastelands. 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Serena slowly walked out of Mina's room, her head still spinning from 
the conversation. Now I know why they say ignorance is bliss, she 
thought as she wandered into the cabin's tiny kitchen. Too much 
understanding gives you a real headache. What a motley bunch we make: 
Ami's a vampire, Mina's curiosity is unimaginable, Leda's a.... 
whatever that word meant, and Rei's got a thing for pain. Makes me 
wonder how I'm going to turn out. We have anything good to eat in this 
kitchen? 

She heard a strange noise coming from the living room and decided to 
check it out. I hope it's not Rei snoring again, she thought. How are 
we supposed to get any sleep if she's at it again? She turned the 
corner and froze. 

Leda was half-naked and stretched out on the floor with Ami kneeling 
above her. Even from across the room, Serena could see Ami's eerie 
steel-blue eyes and vampiric fangs. As she watched, Ami reached out to 
caress Leda's breasts. Leda made a soft noise and whispered something 
to Ami. The blue-haired vampire smiled and bent her head down, teasing 
Leda's nipples with her lips. 

Serena watched in astonishment and wonder as Ami continued to arouse 
and stimulate Leda. Ami's lips slowly trailed up to Leda's throat, 
whispering to her. Serena saw the fangs gleam in the moonlight as they 
slowly descended, and she knew that she was going to drain Leda. 

She wanted to cry out a warning, yet a tiny part of her mind told her 
to watch and learn, and she couldn't speak. She watched in silence as 
Leda's body first tensed as Ami bit down, then relaxed. A soft smile 
appeared on her lips, and she reached up to gently caress Ami's neck. 

Serena's attention was drawn to Leda's throat as Ami drank her blood. 
As she watched, a tiny rivulet of scarlet escaped Ami's lips and 
slowly trailed down Leda's neck. The sight caused Serena to 
involuntarily cry out softly and Ami's head snapped up to look at her. 

The blonde tried to run, but Ami's gaze suddenly took on an eerie 
gleam and she was frozen in place. She watched helplessly as Ami went 
back to Leda and whispered something to her. She then got up and went 
over to the couch, bringing back a pillow and several heavy blankets. 
She gently tucked Leda in where she lay, then turned her attention to 
Serena. 

"Follow me," she said, her voice sounding strange. Serena found 
herself following Ami, despite what she was telling her body. It's as 
if she's taken control of me! Serena thought in a panic. 

Ami led her into her bedroom, where she closed the door and gestured 
for Serena to sit down on the bed. Serena did so, then found that she 
had control over her body once more. She looked at Ami and found her 
staring outside at the falling snow. 

"You weren't supposed to have seen that, Serena," Ami said quietly. 
"How long were you there?" 

"I saw you touching Leda before you bit her," Serena managed to say, 
her voice quivering with fear. "I'm sorry, Ami, please don't be mad at 
me...." 

Ami turned from the window to look at Serena, all traces of her 
vampiric nature gone. "Serena, I'm not mad at you or anything. It's 
just that now I have to explain it to you, and that's something I 
never wanted to have to do." 

Serena blinked. "What do you mean?" 

"Serena, of the five of us, you are the one who has the innocent mind 
and soul. I'm not sure Leda was ever innocent to begin with, Mina 
routinely tries to lose her innocence with regard to everything, Rei's 
innocence was lost when her fiery nature became too much for her, and 
my innocence was destroyed the night I became a vampire." 

She crossed the room and sat down next to Serena. "But you, Serena, 
are still innocent and thus can't fully understand the darker sides of 
people. But if you are exposed to too much of that darkness, your 
spirit will be corrupted as well, and I don't want that. We all lose 
our innocence eventually, but it is far better to lose it gradually 
and naturally." 

The blonde shook her head. "You're not making much sense, Ami." 

Ami sighed. "Once you understand something, it permanantly changes 
your perception of life. Innocence is how you view life before the 
change has been made. Understand so far?" 

Serena nodded. "Good. Now there are many ways to understand something, 
and each way has a different effect on your view of life. For example. 
someone who understands that kissing is socially acceptable behavior 
will view kissing differently than someone who understands that 
kissing is only to be done in secret or private." 

Serena nodded her head. "I think I get it now. They act differently 
because their innocence to kissing was lost in different ways, right?" 

Ami smiled. "Exactly. And if you lose your innocence in the wrong way, 
then you'll wind up behaving differently than you would if you lost it 
in the right way." 

Serena's mood seemed to darken slightly. "So I take it you're upset 
that you have to explain things to me the right way instead of not 
needing to tell me about them in the first place." 

Ami got up and went back over to the window. "Right. And explaining 
some things would alter your perception unnecessarily, causing you to 
lose more of your innocence." 

"Couldn't we just forget I saw it?" 

"No, because your subconscious would still work on coming up with 
answers to your questions, and none of them would be right. If it's 
going to be done, it has to be done right the first time." 

Ami turned away from the window and sat down next to Serena. "Go ahead 
and ask your questions, and I will answer as best I can," she said. 

"Why were you touching Leda like that before you bit her?" 

Ami sighed. "I knew you were going to ask that, and that was one of 
the questions I had hoped to avoid answering. I was stimulating Leda's 
passions so I could taste them in her blood. Just between you and me, 
her blood is rather flat and tasteless and her passions add a bit of 
favor. Did Mina tell you of Leda's desires?" 

Serena nodded her head. "Yeah, she said Leda was by something and that 
she likes girls as well as guys." 

"The word is bisexual. Having a girl stimulate her instead of a guy 
has the effect of intensifying her pleasure, adding to her passions 
and to the taste of her blood. We both enjoy it in different ways, so 
that is why I do that with her." 

Serena digested the information in silence. "Do you do the same when 
you drain Mina?" she asked. 

"Yes, but for different reasons. Her blood is sweeter so it doesn't 
need any changes. However, the sensation of being drained affects her 
differently and she becomes rather aroused. The taste of her arousal 
in her blood causes my passions to react and to respond to her 
desires. That in turn increases her arousal and starts a resonance 
effect." 

"Is Mina a bisexual as well?" 

Ami shook her head. "No, her curiosity is causing her to experiment 
with the idea, just to see if she really is or not. Once her curiosity 
is, umm, satisfied, she'll most likely stay with guys. With any luck, 
she won't start experimenting with guys until she's much older." 

Again Serena fell silent as she thought about the information. "Ami, 
are you bisexual?" 

Ami chuckled to herself. "No, I prefer the touch of guys. Leda doesn't 
stimulate me and Mina only does by accident. It feels good, but not 
nearly as good as when Tolaris touches me." 

The blonde's eyes went wide. "You mean you and Tolaris...?" 

"Yes. It happened shortly after he bit me, and...." 

"Hold it," Serena interrupted. "You mean Tolaris bit you? But I 
thought you said you were bitten by a vampire." 

"I was. Tolaris was briefly changed into a vampire by a change in the 
Negaverse's moons, and during that time he bit me." 

Serena blinked as Ami made a strange face. "What?" 

Ami stood up, feeling odd. "I don't know. All of a sudden my skin is 
starting to tingle...." Her eyes widened as her hand darted up to the 
sapphire pendant she wore. "Tolaris...?" she whispered as the pendant 
started to glow with an inner light. 

Serena looked up in concern. "Ami, what's wrong?" 

"Tolaris...? But the moon...! Something feels wrong...." she said as 
her body started to tremble. 

Serena ran over to the door and threw it open. "Rei! Mina! Come quick, 
something's wrong with Ami!" She turned back to her friend. "Ami, what 
is it? What's wrong?" 

There was a scramble at the door as Rei and Mina burst into the room. 
Rei was still dressed in her nightgown while Mina was busy fumbling 
with the sash on her robe. "What?" asked Rei. 

Without warning, the room was filled with a bright cloud of electric 
blue motes of energy. The motes whirled around the room before 
coalescing into a humanoid form. The form had barely solidified before 
he was collapsing onto the floor. 

"Tolaris!" Ami screamed and rushed forward. She tried to catch him, 
but she staggered under his weight. "Someone give me a hand!" 

Rei lunged forward and helped Ami move Tolaris onto the bed. Mina 
turned around and started poking at the pile of clothes on the floor. 
She found what she was looking for, turned back around, and handed Ami 
her computer. 

"Thanks," she said as she passed it over the Dragoon's inert form. 
"His vital signs are starting to weaken," she said in a panic. "I 
can't seem to identify what the problem is, or what I can do to help 
him." 

"Crystal...." Tolaris said weakly, his voice barely audible. "Need.... 
rose...." 

Ami moved closer to him. "What? Tolaris, I don't understand." 

"Crystal...." he repeated. "Pendant...." 

Ami's mind was running in circles. I've got to help him, but I can't 
understand how.... A sudden thought occurred to her. "Tolaris, listen 
to me. Focus your mind on what you're trying to tell me. Think as hard 
as you can about it." 

Mina blinked. "Ami, what are you going to do?" 

"Get the information the hard way." She closed her eyes, and focused 
her mind. Her vampire fangs emerged from her gums, and when she opened 
her eyes again, they were a strange steel-blue color. She took hold of 
his arm, found a suitable vein, and bit down. 

Tolaris stiffened in pain as Ami started to drain his blood. She only 
drained a tiny bit, but it was enough for her to taste what he wanted. 
"Rei," she said as she lifted her head. "Get on the phone and call 
Darian right now. Tell him we need that crystal rose he's got, and 
tell him to hurry." 

"Right," Rei said, then limped out of the room. 

"Ami, what's wrong?" asked Mina as Ami started to double over in pain. 

"I don't know.... I think.... his blood must be toxic...." she said as 
she started to convulse. "Got to get rid of it...." She staggered out 
into the hallway and Mina guided her into the bathroom. 

Serena moved over to Tolaris's side, unsure of what to do. She looked 
at Ami's computer, but the readouts were too complex for her to 
understand. 

Tolaris groaned weakly as he tried to move. Serena reached out to 
steady his arm, and she noticed that the back of his hand was dripping 
his gray blood. That's where Tuxedo Mask's rose cut him during our 
battle! she thought. But that was months ago! Why would it be bleeding 
after all this time? 

Rei ran back into the room. "Darian's on his way, but it'll take him 
at least an hour to get here. Hey, where's Ami?" 

"She's here," said Mina as she helped a very pale Ami back into the 
room. She was still vampiric and her fangs were coated with a pale red 
fluid. 

"What happened?" Rei asked with concern. 

Ami slowly sat down on the bed as Mina explained. "She had a reaction 
to Tolaris's blood and threw it up. Does anyone know if she's drained 
Leda yet?" 

Serena nodded her head. "She just did a few minutes ago." 

Mina seemed to relax a bit. "Okay, so that explains all of the blood. 
I just wasn't sure if she bleeding internally or something." 

Rei spoke up. "Hey, where is Leda, anyway?" 

"Sleeping in the living room." Ami said as she reached over to grab 
her computer. She poked at it briefly before scanning Tolaris again. 
"His vital signs are slowly deteriorating. What we need to save him is 
that crystal rose he gave Darian." 

Mina shook her head in confusion. "What's so special about that rose?" 

"Just before he was frozen in crystal by Queen Beryl, he infused the 
rose and my crystal pendant with different parts of his essence. 
Without the part he locked away in my pendant, his body will weaken 
and die. But since his body was frozen, it didn't have the chance to 
weaken. But now it seems he's not crystallized anymore and now it's 
starting to take its toll." 

Serena blinked. "But you have your pendant right here. Why do we need 
to get the rose to save him?" 

Ami paused as a shudder ran through her body. "The crystal rose is the 
catalyst for the reaction. Without it, his essence can't be released 
from the pendant and infused back into him." 

"And you got all that information from the tiny amount of blood you 
took from him?" Mina asked in amazement. 

"Yes." 

There was a sleepy yawn at the door as Leda slowly walked in. "Ami, 
we've got to talk. I think you ripped out a chunk of my neck when you 
moved your head to glare at Serena." She blinked as she saw the form 
on the bed. "Huh? Who's that?" 

"Tolaris, but I don't know how or why he's here. I can't help but 
think that something is seriously wrong," Ami said. 

Mina set a hand on Ami's shoulder. "Is there anything you can do until 
Darian gets here with that rose?" 

Ami shook her head. "Nothing." 

"Then go lay down and rest. You look like you're still recovering from 
your reaction. We can keep an eye on Tolaris. Just program your 
computer to do automatic scans, and we'll call you if something comes 
up or if Darian gets here." She looked up at Rei. "You mind watching 
him while I help Leda get all patched up?" 

Rei shook her head. "No problem. I doubt he's going anywhere." 

"Come on," said Serena, "You can lie down in my room." She waited 
until Ami was finished messing with her computer, then slowly guided 
her down the hall and into her own room. 

"Now lie down and relax," she said. She noticed that Ami was still in 
her vampiric mode, and frowned with concern. "Ami, you okay? You're 
still doing that vampire thing." 

Ami nodded. "I'm fine, just a little weak." 

"Well then, you should try to calm down and relax. And I just happen 
to have the tools to help you." She reached over to her backpack and 
pulled out her ocarina. "A little music should work nicely. I don't 
think it'll be the same as Mina's synthesizer, but it'll have to do." 

Serena lifted the delicate instrument to her lips and began to play. 
It was a soft and simple melody, but Ami found herself getting quite 
relaxed by the sounds. The combination of fatigue and weakness was too 
much for her mind to handle, and she quietly slid into a silent sleep. 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

The nightmare tore at Ami's soul. It was the same one that plagued her 
dreams for months, the one that occurred on the nights that she had 
drained one of her friends. Let it end now! her mind shouted, but as 
always she could only stand by as the sequence played itself out. 

Sometimes Leda would urge her on and whisper encouragements into her 
ear. Other times, Leda would scream in agony and cry out for mercy. 
But the end result was always the same. Sometimes Mina's touch was 
cool and soothing until the last moments. Other times, she would lash 
out in fury and anger. But the end result was always the same. 

After an eternity, the fatal blow landed and Ami burst into 
consciousness, her body drenched in sweat and her pulse racing. But 
unlike the other times, the first thing she became aware of was her 
overwhelming hunger for blood. She was about to sit up and go look for 
Leda when her memory returned. 

Oh no, she thought, I lost Leda's blood when I threw up, and Mina's 
still recovering from the last time I drained her. So now what do I 
do? Her mind suddenly realized that someone was shaking her arm and 
calling her name. The voice sounded familiar, somehow reminding her of 
a peaceful glade. She thought some more and decided that peaceful 
wasn't the right word. Calm? Relaxing? Serene...? 

Serena. 

Ami's mind snapped back to reality as the name registered. "What?" she 
groaned as she tried to sit up. 

"Ami, are you alright? Come on, speak to me, let me know you're still 
on the same planet as the rest of us...." The voice trailed off as Ami 
felt her vampiric fangs emerge from her gums. 

"Umm, Ami? You feeling alright?" Serena asked quietly. 

Ami only partially heard her. She was waging an internal war against 
her vampiric nature, fighting the instinct to grab Serena's throat and 
drain her blood. Not her, she thought, not the innocent one. 

"Serena, you've got to leave," she said between clenched teeth. 

"You're hungry, aren't you?" the blonde replied, her voice oddly flat. 

"No time to argue, Serena. Please, you must leave now." 

"No." 

Ami looked up in surprise. Serena knelt on the bed next to her, a 
strange look of understanding in her eyes. "You can't drain Leda, and 
Mina is still too weak for you to try." As she spoke, she started to 
unbutton her nightgown. "Tolaris's blood is toxic, Rei's blood is 
probably a bit low from her 'fight' with Chad, and Darian isn't here 
yet. You need blood now, Ami...." 

She trailed off as her nightgown parted, revealing her tender throat 
and her dull white bra. She took hold of Ami's hand and drew her 
close. "And I'm the only one who can help," she said in a whisper. 
"Just.... be careful." 

Ami nodded slowly, then tilted her head up to kiss Serena. The blonde 
was surprised by the move, but didn't resist. Ami's lips then trailed 
down to her throat, lightly brushing the skin in search for a suitable 
vein. The sensation was rather pleasant, causing Serena to tremble 
slightly. 

I wonder if I could get Darian to kiss me like this, she thought. Then 
all thoughts fled as Ami bit down. Her muscles went rigid and she 
cried out, despite the pressure on her neck. Then she felt a wave of 
warmth flow across her body, relaxing her muscles and almost 
completely dampening the pain in her throat. 

"Ami...." she managed to say, her voice only partially muffled by 
Ami's fangs in her throat. "Ami, this feels wonderful...." 

Ami was far from paying attention. Serena's blood was by far the 
sweetest thing she had ever tasted before in her life. She drank as 
slowly as possible, savoring the taste. She could also taste an odd 
sort of energy in the blood, something she had never run across 
before. 

The more she thought about it, the less she liked it. Energy has to 
come from somewhere, she reasoned. Question is, what could be the 
source? Never had this problem with Mina or Leda. Her sense of unease 
increased when the energy level started to increase dramatically. 

Serena was aware of an increasing sensation inside of her body. It 
seemed to come from everywhere at once, a tingling feeling that kept 
growing stronger. On her forehead, the crescent moon sigil became 
visible and started to shine a bright golden color. The feeling 
continued to strengthen until Serena thought she couldn't stand it any 
longer. 

A cold wind blew through Ami as she finally realized what the source 
of the energy was: Serena's aura. She immediately stopped draining 
Serena and started to withdraw her fangs. I sure hope it doesn't think 
I'm something that needs to be dealt with because.... 

Her train of thought was interrupted as Serena's protective aura 
pulsed. 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Mina looked at the computer's display just as the readings dropped a 
bit lower. She sighed softly and looked up at her friends, slowly 
shaking her head back and forth. 

"I don't think he can hold out much longer." 

Rei was about to say something when she perked her head up. She 
listened for a second, then smiled. "That sounds like Darian's jeep." 
She sprang up and bolted for the cabin door. She returned several 
seconds later with Darian in tow, holding a colorless crystal rose. 

"Hey, guys, I got your message and.... Whoa!" he said as he caught 
sight of Tolaris's inert body. "Tolaris? What's he doing here?" 

"No time to talk," said Leda as she made for the door. "Let me get Ami 
so we can...." 

Without warning, the girls staggered as if they were hit by a huge 
force. Darian managed to catch both Leda and Rei before they fell 
down. Mina grabbed at the bed and somehow managed to stay on her feet. 
She looked up, her face a mask of confusion. 

"Whoa, what gives?" She blinked as she looked at her friends. "Hey, 
your sigils are glowing!" 

Rei and Leda looked at each other and blinked in surprise. The sign of 
Mars was glowing a bright red on Rei's forehead while the sign of 
Jupiter was burning a vivid green on Leda's forehead. They turned to 
Mina and saw that the sign of Venus was shining a bright orange on her 
forehead as well. 

"Same with you, Mina," Rei said as she slowly got up. "I don't know 
what that was, but I don't like it." 

"Come on, we've got to go check on Ami and Serena," Leda said as she 
got to her feet. "Umm, Darian?" 

"Yeah?" he said, still watching the celestial sigils glow on their 
heads. 

"I appreciate you stopping me from falling, and I know you didn't mean 
anything by it, but in the future could you grab onto something other 
than my breasts?" 

Darian blinked and blushed a dark shade of red. "I... uh.... umm.... 
I'm sorry, Leda.... I'll try to keep that in mind." 

Mina pushed past them and into the hallway. "Come on, let's go," she 
said with a touch of impatience. She made her way over to Serena's 
door and was about to knock when a sudden thought occurred to her. She 
mentally calculated the odds of it happening and didn't like the 
answer. 

She turned around to face everyone. "Change of plans. Darian, I want 
you and Rei to go back and keep an eye on Tolaris." 

Darian blinked and Rei frowned. "What gives?" she said. 

"I think Ami's going to be very hungry, and both of you are prime 
targets. Leda's already running on empty, no surprise there...." She 
reached out and put her hand over Leda's mouth, keeping her quiet. 
"And I'm still recovering from the last time, so she won't attack 
either of us. But she won't have any qualms about attacking either of 
you since you still have all of your blood. Unless you want to 
volunteer to be lunch, I suggest you be somewhere else before we go in 
there." 

"But what about Serena?" Darian asked with concern. 

"We can find out in a bit, but I want to make sure you two are safe 
before I go check." 

"Come on," said Rei, tugging on Darian's arm. "I don't think she's 
joking about Ami's appetite." She quickly led him back into Ami's room 
and closed the door. 

Mina breathed a sigh of relief and let go of Leda's mouth. "Before you 
start, I had to get rid of them before we went in. I think I know 
what's going on in there, and neither of them needs to see it." 

Leda made a face. "And we do, right?" 

"No time to argue. I'll handle Ami, you patch up Serena." She pushed 
the door open and went in. 

"Patch up Serena? But.... Hey, wait up!" Leda said as she dashed 
inside. She came to a complete halt as the situation fully sank in. 

Serena was spread out on the bed, the top of her nightgown open. The 
sign of the Moon still shone brightly on her forehead, illuminating 
the small traces of blood on her throat. She seemed fine, but Ami was 
a different story. 

Their blue-haired friend was sitting in a corner, half-naked and 
making soft sounds to herself. Leda couldn't see exactly what she was 
doing because Mina was in front of her, but she got the general idea. 
Oh boy, Leda thought, this should be a fun one to explain. She moved 
over to the bed to check on Serena, listening as Mina tried to figure 
out why Ami was acting strangely. 

"Ami? It's Mina.... Umm, no thanks.... Ami, can you tell me what's 
wrong? Ami? Ami, tell me what's wrong...." 

The response she got was so heavily slurred that Leda couldn't 
understand anything. Ami went on for a few seconds, still toying with 
the shredded pieces of her nightgown. Leda reached out and took hold 
of Serena's wrist. Pulse slightly rapid, but normal for having been 
vampired. Breathing steady, body temperature fine. Head's glowing like 
a beacon, though. Probably quite bad. 

Mina only partially understood what Ami was saying. "I think I 
understand what you mean, Ami, but right now we need your help. 
Darian's here with the rose, so we need you to come with us and...." 

Ami burst out in a fit of giggles. She said something incomprehensible 
as she reached up and tried to pull Mina down on top of her. Mina was 
prepared for this, however, and was able to keep herself on her feet. 

"Another time, perhaps. Come on, get up and get dressed. Here," she 
said as she picked up a nearby bathrobe. "Put this on and try not to 
turn this into confetti as well, okay? We need you to help save your 
boyfriend's life. You remember Tolaris, right?" 

Ami stumbled to her feet, saying something about boyfriends and 
clothes. She giggled again as Mina helped her put the robe on. Mina 
proceeded to tie the sash into a complex knot, keeping it quite 
secure. Ami frowned slightly and started to fuss with the knot. She 
was unsuccessful, however, in trying to figure out how to undo it and 
gave up after several seconds. 

Leda quietly walked over behind Mina. "Serena's fine. Right now she's 
sleeping. What's wrong with Ami?" 

Mina shrugged. "As far as I can figure out, she's drunk." 

"WHAT?!" 

"Ish no' possib'l," muttered Ami, the sign of Mercury glowing a dark 
shade of blue on her forehead. "No alk.... alch.... no beer." 

"She said she didn't drink any alcohol and I believe her. It's just 
that her entire behavior matches that of someone who's drunk off their 
butt." 

Ami giggled. "Ish shill here," he said as she fussed with the back of 
the robe. "Wanna shee?" 

Leda blinked. "Umm, I'll pass, thanks." She turned to Mina. "You think 
we'll still be able to help Tolaris?" 

Mina sighed. "I think so, but we'll need her cooperation to do it, and 
right now she's got the mental capacity of Jell-O. I think I've got an 
idea but I'm still working on it." 

There was a sleepy yawn behind them. "If it's raspberry Jell-O, save 
some for me...." muttered Serena, still asleep. She shifted positions 
and proceded to snore softly. 

Leda blinked. "Tell me that just didn't happen." 

Mina shrugged. "You know Serena and food. Come on, let's get Ami over 
to her room so we can help Tolaris." 

"This should be fun, Let's go, bubble-brain," she said as she took 
hold of Ami's arm. Mina grabbed the other arm and the two of them 
carefully led Ami down the hall. Ami didn't notice since she was 
preoccupied with a careful examination of a broken fingernail. 

"You know," Leda said thoughtfully, "I hope I wasn't this bad when I 
got drunk that one night." 

Mina blinked. "You got drunk? When was this?" 

"Oh, I'd say about twelve hours after I got dumped by my ex." 

Mina braced against the wall to keep Ami from falling down as she 
stumbled over her own feet. "Uh huh. And do you remember anything from 
that time?" 

The brunette shook her head. "No, and I'm beginning to think that was 
a blessing. I just remember hating life the next morning, and not just 
because of Freddy." 

Ami giggled. "Sund'rheart try to f'get good time shee had." she 
slurred. 

Leda turned a sickly shade of white. "Mina, what exactly did she say?" 

Mina blinked. "I could of sworn she said 'Thunderheart tried to forget 
the good time she had', or something to that effect." She blinked 
again as Leda's complexion lost even more color. "Leda, you okay?" 

"I'm fine. Come on, let's go." she said quietly as she helped pick Ami 
up off of the ground. 

"Right...." Mina said slowly, not convinced in the least. She resolved 
to talk to her about it later, then turned her attention to Ami to 
find out why she started cooing to herself. "Ah, so that's why 
Napoleon did it...." 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 



Rei looked up from the computer and her jaw hit the floor. "What 
happened to her?" she said, her eyes wide with surprise. 

Mina made a face. "Not sure, but for all intents and practical 
purposes, she's drunk." 

"WHAT?!" chorused Rei and Darian. 

"Nosh sho loud," complained Ami. She tried to stand up straight but 
kept losing her balance and slumping against Leda. 

"Yeah, I'd say she's blitzed," muttered Darian. He held out the 
crystal rose to Mina. "Well, here it is." 

"Thanks," said the blonde as she took the rose from him. She reached 
into the pocket of her robe and pulled out Ami's sapphire pendant. She 
then waved her hand in front of Ami's face until she got her 
attention. 

"Ami, do you remember what to do with these?" she said, carefully 
holding out the rose and pendant. Ami nodded her head violently and 
grabbed the rose, ignoring the pendant completely. 

She carefully looked the crystal over and watched it sparkle in the 
light. After a few seconds, she held the stem in one hand and proceded 
to tug on one of the petals with her other hand. "He lovesh me...." 
she said with a smile on her face. Mina sighed heavily and plucked the 
rose out of her grasp. 

"So much for that tactic. Darian, I've got two questions for you. 
First, you're a college student, right? 

"Yeah...." he said, slightly wary of the next question. 

"Would this theory work: The best way to get a drunk person's 
cooperation is to delude them into thinking they're in a particular 
situation where their actions correspond to the level of cooperation 
desired?" 

Darian thought for a second, trying to translate Mina's psychological 
statement into English. "From what I've seen, yeah, but the more 
complex the situation is, the harder it is for them to concentrate and 
to respond." 

Mina nodded. "That's what I thought. Okay, now everyone follow my lead 
and play along." She took a deep breath and turned to Ami. "Doctor 
Mizuno?" 

Ami blinked. "Doct'r M'zuno.... You mean me?" 

Mina nodded. "Yes, Doctor. We need your help." 

Ami giggled again, much to Leda's irritation. "No' Doct'r M'zuno. Esh 
Doct'r Scherling. Married, 'member?" 

"Of course, Doctor Sterling. Sorry I forgot," Mina said, a slight 
blush on her cheeks. She remembered a conversation she and Ami once 
had where Ami confessed that she wouldn't mind marrying Tolaris if he 
ever asked her. Mina's curiosity had turned the conversation down 
interesting paths, but right now she didn't have the time to worry 
about what Ami might say about that night. 

"Doctor, Commander Sterling is in critical condition resulting from 
the after-effects of his premature arrival on Earth. I think I have 
diagnosed his condition correctly, but I need your help with the cure. 
Do you remember how to do it?" 

Ami blinked and tried to focus her eyes on the prone figure in bed. "I 
need the shart, Nursh," she said to Rei, holding out her hand. 

Rei blinked in confusion before she saw Mina motioning to the computer 
she was holding. "Oh, the chart! Of course, Doctor. Here," she said as 
she gave it to Ami. 

"He'sh going to need a mash... mash.... large energy boosh," she said 
as she examined the readings. "You shaid you have the nesheshary 
t'ings?" 

Mina nodded and held out the pendant and rose. Ami dropped the 
computer to grab the items, ignoring the crunch of the electronics as 
it hit the floor. Once she had the items in her hands, she moved over 
to stand at Tolaris's side. 

Darian gave the damaged computer a strange look. "I'll bet that's 
going to be fun to try to fix." 

Ami turned around at the sound of his voice, looking for its source. 
Her eyes lit up as she saw who it was. "Oh, Doct'r," she purred, "Do 
you shink you could give me a hand wish thish?" 

Mina smiled at Darian's panicked look. "Now, now, Doctor Sterling, you 
know that Doctor Chiba has other patients to attend to, like the young 
blonde girl in the next room. You just go on ahead with this patient 
first." Mina watched as Darian nodded his thanks before bolting out of 
the room and down the hall. 

Ami pouted. "Oh, well." She turned her attention back to Tolaris and 
smiled. "Rel... Re.... Calm down, C'mmand'r Scherling, I'll have you 
pashed up in no time," she said, patting his arm. She nestled the 
sapphire pendant in the center of the crystal rose and concentrated 
briefly. 

The crystal rose started to glow with a bright golden color. There was 
a sharp crack as the pendant exploded upwards into a cloud of blue 
motes. The cloud drifted over to Tolaris and slowly settled over his 
body. After several seconds, the blue motes faded and the rose 
returned to transparency. 

"Okay, all done!" Ami said, bouncing lightly on her toes. "Twelve 
hoursh resht, then shee me in the morning," she told the semi-comatose 
form. She then turned to Mina. "Okay, Nursh, who'sh next?" 

Rei blinked in surprise. "You mean that's it?" she asked. 

"As long as it worked," replied Mina. She glanced at the computer 
still lying on the floor. "Unfortunately, I don't think we'll be able 
to tell right away. And as for you, Doctor Sterling, you've had a very 
long day today so its off to the showers with you," she said as she 
took the crystal rose from Ami. 

There was a muffled groan from the bed as Tolaris did his best to sit 
up. "Ay'cha navidshi," he muttered, holding his head gingerly. He 
winced in pain as he moved his still-bleeding hand, leaving a gray 
trail of blood. 

Ami frowned and walked back over to him. "I shaid you should resht," 
she said as she reached out and pushed him back down. Her gaze caught 
the injured hand and she blinked. "You're hurt.... Nursh, I need shome 
gauze for thish." 

Mina nodded. "Nurse Kino can do that. Come on. you need to get some 
rest as well, probably more than he does right now. Leda, if you can 
take care of his hand, Rei can keep an eye on him while I figure out 
what to do with Ami." 

Leda nodded silently as she left the room. Mina waited until she was 
down the hall before turning to Rei. "Listen, I think Leda's got a 
problem but I'm not sure what. Could you also keep a discreet eye on 
her?" 

Rei nodded. "Sure. What do you think we should do with her?" she 
asked, gesturing towards Ami. 

Mina smiled. "I think I have an idea." She turned and started to 
hustle Ami out of the room and down the hall, then paused and gave Rei 
a soft smile. "Let me warn you ahead of time. If you hear Ami scream, 
ignore it. If she's still screaming after ten seconds, it means I need 
help. And if you hear me screaming, call an ambulance." She turned and 
left, leaving behind a very tired Dragoon and a very confused Rei. 

"Right," Rei said slowly. She heard a loud groan behind her and she 
went over to Tolaris. "Commander Sterling? You feeling any better?" 

Tolaris opened his eyes and looked at Rei. It took him a full two 
seconds to realize that it wasn't Ami who was bending over him. 
"Who.... who are you?" he said weakly. "And where am I?" 

Rei smiled. "My name is Rei, and I'm a friend of Ami's." 

Tolaris closed his eyes for a second. "Rei.... I remember Ami telling 
me about you.... Miss Mars, correct?" 

She blinked in surprise, then nodded. "Yes. You're on Earth right 
now." 

The Dragoon coughed. "How.... How did I get here?" 

Rei shrugged. "Actually, we were hoping you could tell us." 

Leda walked back into the room carrying a roll of gauze and several 
large strips of adhesive medical tape. "Decided to wake up, 
Commander?" she said as she started to bandage his hand. 

Tolaris grunted as Leda's attentions sent a wave of pain through his 
hand. "I haven't felt this bad in centuries. And who might you be?" 

"Leda," she said as she finished her work. 

"Ah, yes.... Miss Jupiter, I believe. Thank you for bandaging my hand. 
I didn't have the time to take care of it earlier before I was turned 
into a lawn ornament." 

"You're welcome. How'd your hand get cut like that, anyway?" 

"That was my fault," said Darian as he walked into the room. "We 
weren't on the best of terms when we met and we really had it out. You 
doing okay?" he asked Tolaris. 

"No, but thanks for asking," Tolaris said with a small frown. "You 
must be Darian, correct?" Darian nodded and the Dragoon grunted 
softly. "We need to talk, but it can wait. Where's Ami?" 

Rei coughed lightly. "It's a long story...." 

Everyone jumped as they heard a high-pitched shriek coming from down 
the hall. Darian was about to run out into the hall when Rei grabbed 
his arm. "Mina said to wait a few seconds first before rushing in. I 
think she knows what she's doing. I hope," she added with a touch of 
concern. 

"I'm awake already, bitch, so you can let me out of here!" roared Ami 
from the bathroom. Darian looked shocked while Rei and Leda exchanged 
horrified looks. They knew that Ami only cussed when she was mad 
enough to kill someone. 

There was a flurry of motion and Mina burst into the room. She skidded 
to a halt and looked around frantically before her gaze settled on 
Darian. "Hey, you're tough and strong, right? Hide me," she said as 
she ducked behind him. 

Leda groaned. "Oh, great, here's were we all get killed...." 

Just then a very wet and very pissed off vampire burst into the room. 
She looked about before seeing Mina trying to hide behind Darian. 
"You're in for it now, Mina...." she growled as she advanced. 

"But I thought you liked cold water...." Mina said, trying to keep 
Darian between her and certain doom. 

"Uhh, perhaps you should calm down before you...." Darian suggested 
before Ami grabbed his shirt collar and tossed him aside like a poker 
chip. Before he even hit the floor, Ami had grabbed the front of 
Mina's robe with both hands and pinned her against the wall. 

"You are going to explain to me, in great detail, why you just did 
that," Ami said. Mina's eyes went wide at the sight of Ami's fangs 
hovering only a few inches away from her face. 

"W-w-we needed to get your brain back in working order, and I thought 
that since you acted like you were drunk that a suitable body-shock 
would unscramble your mind," Mina stammered out. 

"So you threw me into an ice-cold shower?" Ami growled. 

"It worked, right?" 

Ami glared at her for a few seconds before releasing her. "I'll get 
you for this, just as soon as I think of something suitable." 

"A little vindictive, aren't we, love?" Tolaris said from the bed. 

Ami whirled around and promptly forgot all about revenge. "Tolaris!" 
she said as she rushed over to his side. "You're alright!" She threw 
her arms around him and hugged him tightly. 

Rei reached down and helped Darian to his feet. "You okay?" she said 
in a quiet tone, trying not to attract Ami's attention. 

Darian nodded and suppressed a moan of pain. "I can't believe how 
strong she's gotten. Are you okay, Mina?" 

"So.... That's what Death looks like...." Mina said, trembling 
slightly. 

Rei gave Mina a reassuring look. "You're still breathing, so you can 
calm down now. Ami, I take it you know what happened to you?" 

Ami nodded. "I was draining Serena when her aura decided I was 
something that needed to be dealt with. This is only a guess, but I 
think it did the equivalent of shouting at the top of its lungs in my 
brain's synaptic ear, so to speak. The result was scrambled eggs for 
brains." She shuddered. "I can remember what I did, but I have no clue 
as to why." 

Leda chuckled. "And I was so looking forward to hearing your 
explanation on why you turned your favorite nightgown into so much 
confetti." 

Ami made a face. "You and me both. I really liked that nightgown, 
too." 

Tolaris whispered something audible only to Ami and she blushed. "No, 
it was the light blue silk one. That one was made of satin." 

"So I take it that's why our sigils start to glow?" Rei asked. 

Ami shrugged. "Probably a residual effect from the aura-blast." 

Tolaris smiled at Ami and opened his mouth to say something but wound 
up yawning instead. "Excuse me," he said when he was finished. 

"Tired?" Ami asked. Tolaris nodded and Ami kissed him. "Okay, just let 
me do a scan first, then we'll see what we can do about sleeping 
arrangements." 

"Uh, Ami?" Mina said cautiously. 

"What?" the vampire said in a flat tone. 

"You can't do a scan with your computer anymore." 

Ami blinked. "Why not?" 

Mina gestured to the pile of silicon on the floor. "You kinda dropped 
it when you went for the rose." 

Ami looked at her computer for a second before carefully picking it 
up. She shook it tentatively and her eyes widened as she heard 
something rattle inside the hard casing. "Oh, my...." She opened it 
and tried to boot it up, but gave up after she got six hardware errors 
in three seconds. 

She sighed and set it down on the windowsill. "Looks like now would be 
a good time to install a few upgrades while I'm fixing it. Okay, we'll 
do it like this: Tolaris, do you feel like you're dying?" 

Tolaris shook his head. "No, and believe me, I know what it feels 
like." 

"Then I guess its safe to say you'll live." 

"Thank you, Doctor Mizuno," Rei muttered under her breath. 

"Hush up, Rei," Ami said. "Darian, how's Serena doing?" 

Darian rubbed a newly-acquired bruise. "Well, I'm no doctor, but I 
think she's fine. She sounds fine, judging from the way she was 
snoring." 

"Good, Okay, now that we're sure everyone is relatively alive and 
intact, and seeing how it's.... ugh, one o'clock in the morning, we 
should all try to get some sleep," Ami said. 

"Dibs on the couch," said Leda. 

"Ditto for the fireplace," chimed in Rei. 

Ami nodded. "No problems with that. You two go on ahead while we sort 
out the rest. Good night." 

There was a round of "good nights" before Leda and Rei left the room 
and headed off, Leda to sleep on the couch and Rei to meditate in 
front of the fireplace. 

"I'm going to head on home. Talk to you guys later," Darian said as he 
started walking towards the door. 

"You're not going anywhere, Darian. Have you looked outside lately?" 
Ami said, gesturing to the window. "There's got to be at least a good 
foot of snow out there, and it doesn't look like its going to let up 
anytime soon." 

Darian peered out the window and blinked in surprise. "Okay.... So 
maybe I'm not going anywhere. Makes me glad I always keep a change of 
clothes in the back of my jeep." 

Mina started thinking. "Three rooms, and Serena's already asleep in 
one. Darian and Tolaris get this one, and Ami and I will have to work 
out who gets which room." 

Ami laughed quietly. "No, it's going to be like this: You get your 
room, Darian and Serena get Serena's room, and Tolaris and I get this 
room." Three sets of eyebrows rose up while Darian and Mina exchanged 
glances. 

"Ummm...." said Mina. 

Ami smiled at her. "Oh, calm down. Tolaris is too weak for me to try 
anything with him, and Darian knows that if he touches Serena in the 
wrong way that I'll drink all of his blood before I hand him his heart 
and something else as well. Understand, Darian?" she said sweetly. 

Darian turned as white as a sheet. "Perfectly," he said in a small 
voice. 

Ami laughed again. "Relax, Darian. Just behave yourself and I won't 
have to hurt you. You're allowed to kiss her if she wants. Now you go 
on and keep Serena company while Mina and I have a bit of a discussion 
in her room." 

Now it was Mina's turn to pale as Darian exited the room and entered 
the room Serena was sleeping in. Ami gestured Mina into the hall and 
followed her to Mina's room. Once there, Ami quietly shut the door and 
turned to face her friend. 

"Ok, it's payback time and here's how its going to happen: I've been 
doing some thinking about how I drain people and the effects is has on 
them. I think I've come up with a way to induce the effects without 
having to drain any of their blood, but I haven't had the chance to 
test it out." 

Mina nodded. "So I'm to be a guinea pig, then." 

Ami smiled. "Exactly. If it doesn't work, you'll only lose a very 
small amount of blood. If it does work...." She paused to smile in 
such a way as to make Mina fear for her life. "If it works, then your 
hormone level should go through the roof. Only problem is, you're 
sleeping alone tonight." 

Mina blinked. "You would, wouldn't you?" 

"Yes, I would. Shall we begin?" Ami said, then reached out and untied 
the sash to Mina's robe. She blinked in surprise when she discovered 
that Mina was naked beneath the robe. "You sleep in the nude or what?" 

"I was busy changing into my nightgown when Serena started yelling." 
Mina paused, a thoughtful look on her face. "Now that you mention it, 
I don't think I've ever tried sleeping nude before...." 

Ami giggled. "I did once. It was after Tolaris first made love to me, 
and I only did it because I was too lazy to get out of bed and get 
dressed." She gently pushed Mina down flat on the bed and leaned over 
her. Her lips gently kissed Mina's throat in search of a vein. She 
found one and promptly bit down. 

Ami had to battle her instincts as Mina's blood washed over her 
tongue. She savored the taste, noting with amusement that she could 
taste a sizable amount of fear in Mina's blood. Fighting the urge to 
swallow and go for more, she reversed the flow and carefully forced 
the blood back through the puncture wounds and into Mina's veins. 

Mina's eyes widened as she realized what Ami was doing. Ami's right, 
she thought. If this does work, I'll still feel the effects of being 
drained without losing any blood. Mina shuddered as she felt a wave of 
desire course through her body. She shuddered again as Ami reversed 
the flow, sending a second wave of desire through her. 

Mina started to worry. If this happens every time she changes the 
flow's direction.... She involuntarily whimpered as yet another wave 
of desire washed over her. I'm in trouble, she thought as her nipples 
started to ache. 

"You've made your point, Ami, and I'm sorry I threw you into the cold 
shower. You can let go of me now," she said softly. The pressure on 
her neck and the raging passion in her bloodstream made it difficult 
for her to talk. A wave of dread washed over her as she heard Ami 
chuckle softly to herself. 

The vampire lifted her head up from Mina's neck and gave her an evil 
grin. "You're not screaming loud enough. You must want more...." she 
said, then went back to her task. She clamped her hand over Mina's 
mouth just as the blonde started to scream. 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Darian entered the room and quietly closed the door. His gaze fell on 
the bed where Serena was sleeping, her nightgown still partly open. 
She really is quite beautiful, he thought, when she's not tripping or 
falling over anything. 

He sighed to himself as he looked around the room for a chair to sleep 
in. Beats sleeping on the floor, and I'm not about to incur the 
vampire's wrath by sleeping on the bed with Serena. Not that I would 
mind, he thought, but I'm not about to take any chances. 

He sighed again when he couldn't find a chair. Oh, well, he thought as 
he sat down against the wall farthest from the bed. He quickly removed 
his shoes and socks, placing them in a neat pile in the corner. Now 
all I need is a pillow and I'm set. 

Darian looked around for something suitable. The pile of shredded blue 
silk made him wary and nothing else seemed available. He briefly 
considered stealing a pillow from the bed, but Serena rolled over in 
her sleep and he quickly dismissed that idea. 

So much for that thought. Looks like I'll have to make-do. He took off 
his shirt and wadded it up into a ball before setting it on the floor. 
He laid down, using the shirt-ball as a make-shift pillow. Not the 
best of pillows, but it'll serve. He closed his eyes and tried to 
sleep. 

"Wouldn't the bed be more comfortable, Darian?" said a soft voice. 
Darian jumped and quickly sat up. Serena was watching him from the 
bed, still looking partially asleep. 

"I didn't mean to wake you up," he said. 

Serena smiled. "You didn't. I'm not going to bother asking why you're 
sleeping in here instead of elsewhere. Not that I mind. I don't see 
how you can sleep on the floor. It's all hard and cold while the bed 
is all soft and warm, with pillows and all." 

"Umm...." was Darian's response. 

Her smile became softer. "And I'm here as well...." 

"That's why I'm on the floor. Sleeping in here was Ami's idea, but she 
said that if anything happened she'd kill me in six different ways." 

Serena stretched and Darian couldn't help but notice the fact that the 
top of her nightgown was still open. She was briefly puzzled by his 
blush before she realized her state of undress. 

Several lines of thought ran through her mind. She weighed each one 
very carefully before listening to the one she thought would be the 
most satisfying. She reached down, finished unbuttoning her nightgown, 
took it off, and let it fall to the floor, leaving her clad only in 
her bra and panties. 

She was about to say something to Darian when she noticed his eyes 
were in serious danger of popping out. That has got to hurt, she 
thought. She took a deep breath more for courage than effect and 
spoke. "Darian?" 

It took Darian a few seconds to find his voice. "Uhhh.... Yes?" 

"Come to bed," she said softly, hoping she knew what she was doing. 

Darian gulped and started to sweat. "Umm.... is that wise? I mean, the 
idea sounds good.... really good.... but I happen to like my life and 
my blood as they are." 

"Nothing is going to happen. You are going to get into this bed with 
me, give me a good-night kiss, wrap your arms around me, hug me close, 
and we are going to fall asleep like that." She blinked and wondered 
where she had gotten the boldness from. 

Darian said nothing as he considered several factors. He finally 
arrived at a decision and got up off of the floor. Serena moved over 
to make room as he walked over to the bed and carefully stretched out 
on it, praying that he hadn't miscalculated somewhere along the line. 

Serena reached down and drew the covers over them both. She then 
hugged Darian tightly. "You don't know how much I've dreamed of 
falling asleep in your arms," she said before she tilted her head up 
to kiss him. Darian kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her bare 
waist. 

Their kiss lasted for several seconds before they broke apart. Serena 
stretched again, then twisted around so that her back was to him. She 
felt Darian's lips brush the back of her neck and she shivered 
lightly. "Mmmm, that felt good," she purred as she melted into his 
embrace. 

Darian chuckled softly as he kissed her neck again. "Good night, 
Serena." 

Serena was already starting to drift off to sleep again. "Darian?" 

"Yes?" 

"If you could without getting killed, would you make love to me?" 

Darian froze as his mind shifted into overdrive. "I.... we would have 
to sit down and really talk about it first. This is not something I 
would want us to rush into," he said carefully. 

"But eventually you would, right?" 

Darian kissed her neck again. "Eventually, yes." 

Serena moaned lightly at the contact. "Thank you, Darian. I figured 
that since I was making a dream a reality tonight, I would need a new 
dream." She reached up and unhooked the front of her bra. She then 
took his hand and held it to her bare breast. 

Darian realized what she was up to and tried to pull away but she held 
his hand in place with a grip of iron. "Darian, I want to feel your 
touch, if only for a little bit tonight. Call it something I can take 
with me to my dreams," she said as she rubbed his hand across her 
nipple. 

He nodded in understanding and gently squeezed her flesh. Serena 
moaned lightly again and let go of his hand. He continued to gently 
explore her for a few seconds, feeling how soft and tender her breast 
was. He felt her nipple harden at his touch and decided that too much 
more would drive them both over the edge. With a final squeeze, he 
released her flesh and placed his hand back on her smooth stomach. 

"Darian, I love you," Serena said as she fell asleep in his arms. 

Darian smiled and kissed her ear. "I love you too, Serena." He laid 
his head back on the pillow and was soon lost in the world of dreams. 
Neither of them noticed the blue-haired vampire leaving the room as 
quietly as she had entered. 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Tolaris sleepily rolled over as he heard the bedroom door shut. He 
looked up to find Ami with a very smug look on her face. "And what 
have you been up to?" he asked. 

Ami gave him an innocent smile. "What makes you think I've been up to 
anything, dear?" She gestured at his uniform. "Do you always sleep in 
your uniform or is this just a special occasion?" 

Tolaris blinked. "No, I don't. I just haven't had the time to undress 
yet. And I know you're up to something because you've got a wicked 
smile on your face. What'd you do to Mina?" 

"Oh, I just supercharged her hormone levels and made her sleep alone." 
She bent down and tried to figure out how his boots were sealed shut. 
"That, and I told her that if she tried to enlist Leda's help tonight 
that I'd kill her in the morning. Ahh, here we go," she said as she 
released the latch. "I did tell you about her and Leda, right?" 

Tolaris nodded. "I think you mentioned it before, but I thought that 
Leda was still thinking about the idea." 

"She is," Ami said as she carefully removed his boots. "But I figured 
that Mina might be very persuasive, considering her situation." 

Tolaris chuckled. "You're starting to let your darker side show by 
doing things like that, you know." 

The vampire stopped tugging on his socks. "You really think so?" she 
asked softly. 

"Perhaps. Maybe you should ask yourself what you would have done a 
year ago if you were vampiric. Do you think it would have crossed your 
mind to do such a thing?" 

Ami seemed to wilt slightly. "No," she admitted. She finished her task 
and sat down next to Tolaris. "So how exactly are you feeling?" she 
asked as she reached out and started to unbutton his tunic. 

"I haven't felt this bad since the battle of Mintaka. There are eight 
layers in my skin, and I swear I can feel every one of them ache. My 
muscles feel as mobile as rocks, the slash on my hand itches like 
crazy, my stomach feels like its trying to digest a live rakketh, and 
worst of all, I've got a migraine." 

Ami giggled as she finished unbuttoning his tunic. "And say you're 
sure you'll live?" 

The Dragoon smiled. "As much as I wish otherwise at this instant, 
yes." 

"That bad, hmm?" 

"You'd be surprised." He shifted slightly as Ami started to pull his 
arms through the tunic sleeves. 

"So what happened at the battle of Mintaka?" Ami asked. She almost 
jumped at how fast Tolaris's mood darkened. "Dear, you alright?" 

"I'd rather not talk about Mintaka right now, if you don't mind. I'll 
tell you one of these days, though, when I'm sure I can do it without 
cringing at the memories. Let's just say that I was critically wounded 
in several different places." 

Ami paused to think, trying to decide if she should push the issue to 
answer a question that had been on her mind for months. "Tolaris, if 
you don't mind my asking, is it because of your injuries at Mintaka 
why you can't have any children?" she asked cautiously. 

It was several seconds before he spoke. "Yes. My abdomen was cratered 
by plasma bolt. What wasn't burned outright was damaged because of 
residual radiation. The doctors said all my injuries would heal in 
time except that I would be sterile." 

Ami laid her head on his bare chest and silently hugged him. She 
looked up at him when she felt his chest quiver with laughter. "What 
is it?" 

The Dragoon smiled ironically. "The idea of being sterile didn't 
bother me nearly enough as the fact that I couldn't use the bathroom 
correctly for three months." 

Ami was torn between wanting to laugh with him and wanting to cringe. 
She finally settled on laughing very quietly and went back to her task 
of removing his tunic. She had just gotten it off when he made a face 
and sat up. 

"What, did I scratch you or something?" Ami asked with concern. 

Tolaris shook his head. "Nope. It's just that duty calls," he said as 
he slowly got out of bed. "Umm, where's the bathroom?" 

Ami blinked in confusion before it registered. She burst into a fit of 
giggles and told him. She watched as he painfully made his way out of 
the room and down the hall. 

There was a soft noise at the door and Rei stuck her head in. "Hey, 
why is he up and walking? I thought you said he needed lots of rest." 

Ami shrugged. "When you have to go, you have to go." 

"Ah," Rei said, then glanced down the hallway. "You know, maybe it's a 
good thing that Leda's asleep right now. If she saw Tolaris walking 
around with his shirt off like that, she'd start some serious 
drooling." 

Ami smirked. "Jealous, Rei?" 

Rei thought for a second. "To be honest, yes. He's a major hunk, Ami, 
and if you know what's best for you, you won't let him get away." 

The vampire smiled knowingly. "Trust me, I don't intend to." 

"So my fate is already sealed, eh?" came the deep voice from behind 
Rei. 

Rei jumped and turned around, blushing furiously. "Ummm...." was all 
she could say. 

Tolaris chuckled and laid a hand on her shoulder. "I think I'll take 
your comment as a compliment, if you don't mind." He blinked and 
looked at her more closely. "Your aura is unusually strong," he said. 

Both Rei and Ami blinked. "I've spent most of my life training to be a 
Shinto priestess," Rei said. "It's a deeply involved spiritual 
process. That might have something to do with it." 

"Hmmm.... a spiritual priestess. Rei, would you object to a spiritual 
probe of sorts to see what kind of potential you have?" the Dragoon 
asked. 

Rei shrugged. "I don't see why not." 

Tolaris nodded and focused his spirit. "Just relax and do your best to 
open your mind and spirit." He let his spirit flow out through his 
fingertips to merge with Rei's spirit. He was amazed at the amount of 
raw power available for her to use should she learn to tap it. 

The Dragoon let his concentration return to the present. "Rei, I've 
been practicing my spiritual arts for a long time now and have built 
my power levels up to a considerable amount. Right now, you've got 
more than triple my power levels to start with, and that's all raw 
potential." 

Rei blinked. "I take it that's good?" 

"That's beyond good. With the right training, you could very well 
become a neo-goddess. Well, maybe not that powerful, but you would 
still possess powers beyond your immediate comprehension." 

Rei looked stunned. "I don't think I'm quite following you here. 
You're saying I could become super-powerful?" 

Tolaris nodded. "Yes. For example, I've learned to focus my spiritual 
energies in such a way as to allow me to run incredibly fast, almost 
as fast as the sound barrier. Granted I can't do it for very long, but 
I can still do it. With the right training you could easily do the 
same and probably go twice as fast." 

Ami reached out and grabbed Rei as she started to sway. "Come on, Rei, 
stay with us here." Rei shook her head rapidly to clear the shock and 
stood up straight. 

"Ummm...." was all her brain could manage to say. 

"Rei, go lie down and meditate for awhile. We'll talk about this later 
when the shock's worn off. If you want, I can give you a simple 
practice exercise to help keep you occupied," Tolaris said. 

Rei nodded and Tolaris told her to imagine an itch on one of her 
fingers. She was supposed to concentrate until she could actually feel 
the itch as if it really was there. She was then to imagine the itch 
moving across various portions of her body. 

"It'll take a while before you can really make it work," he told her, 
"But when you can do it, I'll teach you the next phase of the 
exercise. Think you can handle it?" She nodded and he smiled. "Good. 
Now off to bed with you. We'll continue this discussion at a later 
date. Good night, Rei." 

Rei smiled. "Good night, you two. And thanks, Tolaris," she said, then 
wandered back into the living room. 

Ami looked at Tolaris. "She really has that kind of power?" she asked. 

Tolaris nodded as he made his way back over to the bed. "Yes, she 
does. She will need to find an experienced teacher, though, for her to 
become really strong within her lifetime. Remember, I've had seven 
hundred years to practice the spiritual arts, and I doubt she'll live 
past a hundred. Unless one of the first things she learns is how to 
control the rate of decay in her body." 

Ami waited until he had stretched out on the bed before sitting down 
next to him. "It's funny," she said. "I always thought that spiritual 
meditations and such were a bunch of nonsense until I saw one of her 
fire-readings. Then I was convinced that there had to be something to 
it, but I wasn't quite sure sure what." 

The Dragoon chuckled. "Trust me, it's very real." He suddenly yawned 
and made a face. "Love, can we talk about this later? I'm rather tired 
and the thought of sleeping sounds appealing." 

Ami smiled and stood up. Moving slow enough to catch Tolaris's 
attention, she untied the robe and let it fall to the floor, leaving 
her clad only in her panties. "Sure I can't convince you to stay up 
for just a while longer?" she said seductively as she stretched out 
next to him. 

The Dragoon's eyebrows arched up almost to his hairline. "Mmmm, you do 
know how to put up a convincing argument, my love. But I'm afraid I'll 
have to pass for tonight. Sorry," he added as Ami started to pout 
slightly, "But I simply don't have the energy for anything. Besides, I 
believe I'm under orders to get at least twelve hours rest." 

Ami blinked. "Orders?" 

"Of course, Doctor Sterling. Don't you remember?" 

Ami blushed a deep shade of red. "Umm...." 

Tolaris laughed. "Do I want to hear the explanation for that one?" 

Ami closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Tolaris, I.... I remember 
telling Mina that if you ever asked, I would marry you." 

Tolaris blinked in surprise. "You would be my lifemate?" he asked 
softly. She nodded and he blinked again. "I.... will have to consider 
this matter very carefully. Do you know what you are asking?" 

"Most likely not, but I think we can come to an understanding." 

The Dragoon said nothing as Ami drew the blankets over them both. He 
reached out and embraced her, hugging her close and kissing the tip of 
her ear. "You've given me much to think about, Ami, but right now I'm 
too tired to try to think this one over. Can we talk about it some 
other time?" 

"Of course," she said, slightly unsure of the situation. 

"Then sleep well, my love," he said. He kissed the back of her neck 
and settled down to sleep. It wasn't more than a minute before his 
body's needs overrode his brain's desires and he fell into a deep, 
restful slumber. 

Ami didn't want to sleep. She knew that she would have the nightmare 
once she fell asleep. Please don't let it happen tonight, she prayed. 
She soon slipped into a similar state of sleep, still embracing the 
slumbering form of her true love. 

Outside, the night's quiet was broken only by the sound of falling 
snow. 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

The hunter-scout made no noise as it walked across the snow towards 
the cabin, intent on its mission. Ordinarily such a mission would have 
been given to someone with a fully sentient brain, but the computer 
crystal implanted in it's head made it's skills uniquely qualified. 

Those same skills had allowed it to track the mysterious aura-pulse to 
its source. Even as it concentrated on approaching the cabin 
undetected, the tiny crystal reviewed its mission and assigned 
priorities to the various parameters. 

<Priority One: Remain functional at all costs. Priority Two: Remain 
undetected. Priority Three: Neutralize vampiric life-form. Priority 
Four: Neutralize human life-forms after vampiric life-form is 
neutralized.> 

The hunter-scout's mind approved the mission priorities and prepared 
to execute it's mission. It stopped a few feet from the cabin door and 
laid down in the snow, its motionless body indistinguishable from the 
snow around it. It blinked its eyes and switched to thermographic 
vision. 

Despite the blindspot created by the fireplace, the hunter-scout could 
make out six heat traces. The fact didn't overly concern it. It had 
been told that there would be five life-forms present, with the remote 
possibility of a sixth being present as well. 

A sub-routine was activated in the crystal. <Past analysis indicates 
that one of the targets prefers to keep a large fire source within 
immediate range of her,> it told the hunter-scout mind. <Suggested 
course of action: Detailed thermal scan of the area in close proximity 
to fire.> 

It mentally nodded and looked closely at the glaring white spot. It 
ran several filters over its vision before it could make out the heat 
trace of the life-form inside. The hunter-scout mind congratulated 
itself on successfully locating a camouflaged target. 

<Warning: Target total exceeded projected amount. Suggestion: Continue 
mission with extreme caution.> It wasn't about to ignore the 
suggestion of caution. It immediately tried to do a motion-sensor 
sweep of the area, but the thousands of moving snowflakes effectively 
blocked the scan. 

Infrared and ultraviolet scans showed no life-forms in the immediate 
area except for the seven targets. Satisfied that nothing currently 
posed a threat to it, it started to walk around the cabin, seeking to 
identify which target was which. 

It stopped outside the section where the lone life-form was. Lying 
down in the snow, it focused its meager psionic powers to try to 
examine the target. The crystal had been designed to interface with 
its powers and was able to instantly analyze the raw data it received. 

<Target One: Human female, bio-index 99%, respiration above normal, 
pulse above normal. Beginning alpha scan.> The hunter-scout told the 
crystal to cancel the brain scan and instead do a blood analysis. It 
knew from the bio- index that she wasn't it's primary target. However, 
something was wrong with her and it wanted to know what. 

The crystal analyzed her blood as best it could, but it could find 
nothing in its limited databanks to describe her current condition. 
<Status: Unknown, probability of injury is 1.4%. Theory: Target One is 
in the middle of her mating cycle. Theory based on elevated levels of 
both primary and secondary hormones, increased adrenaline, and 
increased synaptic activity.> 

The hunter-scout smiled to itself knowingly, It perfectly understood 
the concept of being stuck in the middle of a mating cycle with no one 
around to mate with. It decided that Target One would pose little or 
no threat to it. 

It got up and walked further down the edge of the cabin until it came 
to the section where two more life-forms were. Again it laid down in 
the snow and extended its mental powers, concentrating on the target 
on the right. 

<Target Two: Human male, bio-index 100%, respiration normal, pulse 
normal. Beginning alpha scan.... Danger: Alpha scan pattern match to 
known life-form.> 

The hunter-scout blinked in surprise and asked for the identification 
of the target. It didn't think that they had alpha scan patterns for 
many humans. 

<Target Two identified as Prince Darian.> 

It started to sweat. It might not be fully sentient or very 
intelligent, but it knew trouble when it found it. Prince Darian meant 
Tuxedo Mask, and having Tuxedo Mask around usually meant that the 
Sailor Scouts were around. In a burst of intelligence unnatural to 
most of its kind, it jumped to a conclusion: that the other human 
life-form targets were the Sailor Scouts. 

The hunter-scout was torn between staying around to fulfill its 
mission and running for its life. It reviewed its priorities and 
decided that it would neutralize the human targets if and only if it 
could do so while remaining unnoticed. Otherwise it'd be too 
vulnerable to injury and that would violate its first priority. 

<Projection: Based on past observations of Prince Darian's behavior, 
it is highly probable that Target Three is Sailor Moon. Suggestion: 
Make no attempt to engage. Suggestion: Attempt to scan and record 
Target Three's vital signs for future intelligence.> 

The hunter-scout agreed with the assessment and concentrated his 
psionic powers on scanning the target on the left. 

<Target Three: Human female. tentative identification as Sailor Moon, 
bio- index 100%, average respiration, average pulse. Beginning alpha 
scan....> The crystal proceded to analyze and record everything it 
could about the target. When it was finished, it recorded the target's 
current thermal image and told the hunter-scout to proceed to the next 
target. 

It walked along the edge of the cabin until it reached the other 
section with two occupants. It sat down in the snow and proceded to 
scan the target on the left. 

<Target Four: Human female, bio-index 74%, normal respiration, 
abnormal pulse. Beginning alpha scan.... Warning: Unable to 
differentiate brain waves. Beginning blood analysis.... Warning: 
Excessive concentration of foreign blood cells in bloodstream. 
Projection: Vampiric life-form.> 

It smiled to itself. It had found its primary target, and now it was 
ready to complete its mission. It suddenly remembered the human 
targets and their probable identities, and decided that it would be 
best to scan the other life-form in the room. 

<Target Five: Denizen male, bio-index 100%, normal respiration, normal 
pulse. Beginning alpha scan.... Danger: Alpha scan pattern match to 
known life-form.> 

The hunter-scout froze in absolute fear. The life-form lying next to 
the vampire was from the Negaverse. It considered the possibility of 
its mission being compromised and quickly developed several 
contingencies. It didn't want to know, but it asked for an 
identification anyway. 

<Target Five identified as Dragoon Commander Tolaris.> 

Several decisions ran through its feeble mind at once. It finally 
sorted out its options and chose the one that it felt most comfortable 
with. It got to its feet and retracted its steps carefully, trying not 
to leave any more tracks than necessary. It knew that the snow would 
cover any tracks it made within minutes, but it didn't want to take 
any chances. 

It had failed at its hunting mission, but it felt that its success at 
its scouting mission would more than make up. Armed with the 
information about the cabin's occupants, it returned to its point of 
origin as fast as it could while still remaining undetected. 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Serena woke up and was immediately blinded by the morning sunlight 
coming through the window. She reflexively rolled over and promptly 
bumped heads with the still-sleeping Darian. 

There was a soft grunt and Darian opened his eyes. "Good morning to 
you too, meatball head," he muttered, wincing in pain. 

She blushed and kissed him. "Sorry about that," she said sleepily. She 
scooted back and stretched, making sure she didn't hit him again. It 
took her a second to realize that Darian was looking at her and 
blushing an interesting shade of red. It took her another second to 
realize that her bra was still open and that she was in a rather 
provocative position. 

Serena's hands darted down to her chest to fasten her bra. She halted 
her movements when Darian reached out and ran his fingertips along the 
side of her neck. She closed her eyes as the sensation sent a small 
shiver through her. 

"Serena, have I ever told you just how beautiful you are?" Darian said 
quietly as he stroked the soft skin of her throat. 

She opened her eyes and found him smiling at her. "Darian...." she 
said softly, her cheeks turning a rosy shade of pink. 

"You really are, Serena...." he said. He wrapped his other hand around 
her waist and pulled her closer, dipping his head down to gently kiss 
her neck. She whimpered as the contact sent another shiver through 
her. She reached out and started to massage the back of his neck. 

"Darian...." she whispered as she started to tremble with desire. 
Darian continued to softly kiss her throat as he slid his hand beneath 
her bra to cup her breast. She moaned at his touch and whispered his 
name again. She closed her eyes and let the strange sensations of 
arousal take her. 

She opened her eyes when Darian abruptly pulled back and cast a 
suspicious glance around the room. "Darian, what is it?" she asked 
with concern. 

He blinked and shook his head. "Nothing, really, It's just that for a 
moment it felt as if someone else was in the room watching us." 

Serena looked around the room. "There's nothing here." 

"You mean you don't see me?" said a surprised voice. 

Serena blinked and screamed as she suddenly saw Ami leaning against 
the far wall. Darian also yelped in surprise and shock, almost falling 
out of the bed. Serena quickly grabbed the sheets and yanked them up 
to her chin, her cheeks burning a bright red. 

"Where did you come from?!" the blonde squealed. 

Ami blinked. "I've been standing here for the past three mintues. You 
honestly didn't see me?" she asked. 

Darian nodded, visibly shaken. "No, we didn't, and I know I would have 
seen you earlier if you were here. How did you do that?" 

The vampire spread her hands and shrugged. "I don't know.... I mean, I 
was just standing here.... Wait a second.... I was hoping that you 
wouldn't notice my presence while I was seeing what you two were up 
to.... And I think I know what YOU were up to," she added, glaring at 
Darian. 

Darian turned as white as the bedsheets. "It's not what you think...." 
he started to say. 

"That doesn't matter," Ami interrupted. "What matters is that I 
thought I made it quite clear to you that you weren't supposed to 
touch her." 

"Ami, did you mention anything about the morning?" Serena asked. 

Ami blinked. "What?" 

Serena smiled. "I was just asking if you had said anything about what 
he was allowed to do in the morning." 

"Which, if I recall, you said nothing about," Darian said cautiously. 

The vampire was at a loss for words. Several thoughts ran through her 
brain at once, ranging from letting them finish to fulfilling her 
promise to simply killing them both. She sighed heavily and settled on 
leaving them alive but watched. 

"Oh, alright. I'll let you live, Darian, but I won't be so forgiving 
next time. Anyway, now that you two are up, I was going to tell you 
that Leda has breakfast ready." 

Darian breathed a sigh of relief. His sigh was short-lived as Serena 
suddenly bolted up into a sitting position, dragging the sheets with 
her and giving him a minor friction burn. 

"Ooh, what's for breakfast?" the blonde drooled, her eyes shining. 

Ami laughed. "Nothing fancy, I'm afraid. Oatmeal, eggs, bacon, toast, 
and various juices. Oh, and hot chocolate for whomever wants it." 

Serena smiled and was about to jump out of bed when she remembered her 
state of undress. "Umm, Ami? Would you mind if we had a chance to get 
dressed first?" she asked, blushing furiously once again. 

"I'm not sure. Can I trust you two alone for a few minutes?" she 
asked, giving Darian a meaningful glare. 

Darian opened his mouth to reply but Serena cut him off. "Oh, go away, 
Ami. Just because you couldn't cuddle up with Tolaris last night 
doesn't mean you have to make sure no one else can. We'll be out in a 
few minutes." 

Ami's blue eyes became impossibly wide as Serena's statement 
registered. Darian noted that if she seemed surprised before, she 
seemed absolutely floored now. He watched in interest as several 
emotions passed before her eyes. She blinked as something clicked into 
place, then glared at them both. With a derisive snort, she spun on 
her heel and stalked out of the room, closing the door behind her. 

"Somehow, I don't think that went over well," he said to Serena. 

Serena shrugged. "Her problem," she said as she straightened her bra 
and rehooked it. She climbed out of bed and started to hunt for her 
nightgown. 

"It's going to be our problem if she really gets pissed off at us." 

"But she won't do anything," she replied. "Remember, she doesn't have 
much room to talk about dealing with one's boyfriend." 

Darian paused in mid-stretch. "She doesn't?" he asked in amazement. 

Serena blinked and realized that no one had ever told Darian. 
"Umm...." 

He laughed. "Out with it, meatball head. What's up between those two? 
Aside from being in love, that is." 

She blushed. "Well, let's just say that Ami and Tolaris know each 
other quite well...." 

Darian chuckled to himself. "I think I know what you mean. I'll have 
to admit that I thought Ami would be too young for that, but I think 
she's smart enough to know what she's doing." 

Serena smiled and tossed Darian his shirt. "So do we. Now get dressed 
so we can go eat breakfast. I'm hungry." 

"You're always hungry." 

She shrugged as she put her nightgown on. "Well, I'm a growing girl 
and I need lots of food." 

Darian stood up and walked over to her, still holding his shirt in one 
hand. "And you're growing up quite nicely," he said as he kissed her. 

She blushed and ran her hand over his chest. "You seem to be doing 
pretty good yourself," she said with a soft smile. She stood up on her 
tiptoes to kiss his cheek. "Let's go before Ami gets suspicious 
again." 

"Too late," said the vampire. 

Both Serena and Darian yelped in surprise as Ami suddenly became 
visible. "How do you keep doing that?!" Serena yelled, clutching her 
chest and trying to slow her breathing. Darian was busy trying to keep 
breathing to worry about slowing it down. 

Ami's expression grew thoughtful. "All I'm doing is concentrating on 
not being noticed." She starting thinking, only half noticing Darian 
putting his shirt on. "Would you two mind if we did a few simple 
experiments?" 

Serena made a face. "Sure, but make it quick. I wanna eat." 

Ami laughed. "Ok. Just tell me when you can't see me anymore." Darian 
and Serena nodded. After a few seconds, Ami suddenly vanished without 
warning. 

"Hey!" exclaimed Serena. "I can't see you anymore!" 

"Same here," said Darian, a surprised look on his face. 

"But I haven't moved," said Ami's voice from apparently thin air. "Now 
tell me when you can see me." 

"Ok, you're visible," said Darian after a few seconds. 

"No, she's not," protested Serena. 

Darian blinked. "You mean I can see her and you can't?" 

"No.... Oh, now I can see you, Ami." 

The now-visible vampire smiled. "Ahh, so that's how it works. It's not 
making myself invisible, it's making the other person not see me." 

Serena blinked. "What?" 

Ami smiled again. "I think it's part of my hypnotic powers. I'm making 
you forget you see me, so I appear invisible to you. But to everyone 
else I'm still visible. Very interesting...." 

She was interrupted by the sound of Serena's stomach growling loudly. 
The blonde blinked and blushed a medium shade of pink. "Ummm, excuse 
me...." 

Ami and Darian laughed. "Come on, meatball head, let's get breakfast 
before your stomach starts an earthquake," Darian said. 

Serena pouted. "I'm not that bad." She paused as her stomach rumbled 
to itself again. "Well...." 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Half an hour later, everyone except Mina were in the cabin's small 
dining room talking about the Sailor Scout's venture into the 
Negaverse to do battle with Queen Beryl. Serena was doing most of the 
talking with Rei and Ami adding or correcting the details as needed. 
Leda was uncharacteristically silent and appeared to be content to 
listen. 

"...And then all of a sudden we found ourselves in the middle of an 
arctic wasteland," Serena was saying between mouthfuls of oatmeal. 

"We think it was somewhere in Greenland," Ami said. 

Tolaris smiled and sipped his hot chocolate. Cocoa was a new 
experience to him and he found the taste to be quite pleasing. "They 
call a barren ice plain Greenland?" the Dragoon asked. 

Serena shrugged. "Hey, blame the Vikings. They named it, not us." 

Tolaris dismissed the matter. "Anyway. I take it Queen Beryl had a 
warm welcome waiting for you girls?" 

Rei snorted. "We wish. They called themselves the Gloom 'N Doom 
Girls." 

Tolaris choked and spewed hot chocolate, somehow managing to miss 
hitting Leda sitting across from him. He gratefully accepted a napkin 
from Ami and wiped up most of the mess, still coughing. "She sent the 
Girls?" he said when he could breathe properly. 

"Ohh, yes," said Serena with a sour look on her face. "And trust us, 
the five of them showed the five of us just how they got their name." 

Tolaris blinked. "All five of them at once? Just how did you manage to 
survive?" 

Ami smiled softly. "Actually, only Serena survived. The rest of us 
were killed in various gruesome ways." 

Both Tolaris and Darian looked severely shaken. "You were killed?" 
Darian asked Rei. "But.... how is it that you're alive now?" 

Rei shrugged. "We're still working on that. The best we can come up 
with is that the Imperium Silver Crystal resurrected us." 

"What happened?" Tolaris asked, still rattled. 

Serena took a large swallow of her hot chocolate and took a deep 
breath. "Well, first they introduced themselves, then promptly 
burrowed under the ice. Next thing we know, four of them have Jupiter 
wrapped up in some sort of vine type attack." 

Leda shuddered at the memory. "You have no idea how badly those things 
hurt." 

"Anyway," continued Serena, "She got pissed off and summoned her 
Jupiter Thunder. But because they were all connected by the vines, 
they all got electrocuted. It fried one of the Girls but also turned 
Jupiter into a Crispy Scout." 

Tolaris and Darian both looked at Leda. The brunette merely smiled 
back at them. "Stupid move on my part and I paid for it. I don't 
remember much after that until I heard Serena's voice calling me back 
somehow." 

Darian cringed. "Ouch. So what happened next?" 

Ami coughed. "What happened next was a pillar of ice appeared beneath 
my feet. Before I could blink, I was thirty feet off the ground and 
had two of those Gloom Girls in my face. I'm trying to forget what 
happened next." 

"You were pushed off, but you grabbed one of the Girls as you fell." 
Rei said with a shudder. "I don't think I'll ever forget the sound of 
your neck snapping like a twig as you landed wrong." 

Tolaris blinked. "Did you get her?" he asked. 

Ami smiled weakly. "I did my best to use her as a cushion. Obviously 
it didn't work too well." 

"And it wasn't pretty, either," Serena said with disgust. "I watched 
you both go squish and lost my breakfast." 

Darian looked at his half-eaten bowl of oatmeal and made a face. 
"Thanks for sharing that with us, meatball head." Serena stuck her 
tongue out at him and he laughed. "Maybe later," he said with an evil 
grin. 

Serena blinked and put her tongue back in her mouth. "Okay...." she 
said slowly, trying to figure out what he was talking about. Her train 
of thought was interrupted by Mina walking into the room. 

Everyone turned to look at her and jaws dropped. She looked like she 
had spent the night sleeping in a hurricane. Her long blonde hair, 
usually seeming to gracefully flow down her back, was a mass of snarls 
and tangles. Her robe was rumpled and even her slippers looked bent 
out of shape. Her blue eyes were dull and bloodshot, glaring at 
whatever happened to move. 

"Ami, could I have a word with you, please?" she said in a silken 
voice that seemed totally out of place for her current condition. 

Ami felt a subtle chill creep down her spine as she stood up and 
walked over to where Mina was standing. "Umm, you feeling okay?" she 
asked. 

Mina grabbed Ami and pushed her against the wall. Her hand twitched, 
and a long, slender stiletto slid out of her robe and into her palm. 
With a snarl, she jerked the blade forward, embedding the tip in Ami's 
chest. 

Ami gasped sharply and immediately became vampiric. There was a brief 
scramble as everyone jumped up from the table. Tolaris was about ready 
to dash forward when Darian blocked his way with an arm. 

"Let them be for a second," Darian said in a low voice. The Dragoon 
shot him a sharp look but stayed in place. 

"Listen carefully, vampire, because I'm only going to say this once," 
Mina hissed. "You put me through Hell last night and I'm not going to 
let you do it again. If you EVER use your powers against me or anyone 
else with malicious intent again, I swear by Venus I'll skewer your 
heart like a steak kabob and we'll see if the stake-through-the-heart 
routine works for Negaverse vampires. I'm not the vampire hunter my 
great-grandmother was, but that could change very easily. Understand?" 

Ami blinked away the tears of pain and looked into Mina's eyes. What 
she saw was more than enough to convince her that Mina would do 
exactly as she said she would do. "I understand, Mina," she said. She 
could feel the blood seep out of the wound and soak her bra. 

Mina seemed satisfied and withdrew the blade, ignoring the blood 
coating the stainless steel tip. She turned and started walking 
towards the table, carefully putting the stiletto back in the special 
sheath on her arm. 

She felt a hand grab her wrist with the strength of steel. Mina was 
about to turn around when she felt Ami's other hand holding her 
shoulder, keeping her immobile. It suddenly occurred to Mina that 
perhaps she misjudged Ami's character by turning her back on her. She 
felt Ami's lips brush her ear as the vampire spoke. 

"While we're on the subject of my demise, let me make it understood 
that should you feel it necessary to kill me, you will only get once 
chance. If I happen to live after your attempt, I will personally send 
you to your grave." 

Mina smiled. "Of course. That's one of the drawbacks to trying to kill 
a vampire. If you behave, I won't have any reason to kill you and you 
won't need to try to kill me." She heard a frantic commotion at the 
table but she ignored it to concentrate on her current situation. 

Ami laughed quietly. "So I take it we understand each other?" 

Mina was about to reply when Ami suddenly made a high-pitched noise 
and stumbled back. She turned around to see what was wrong with Ami 
when she heard Rei's voice from across the room. 

"Mina, get back!" 

The blonde looked at Rei and blinked in surprise. Rei was standing up 
from the table with one of her spiritual wards in her hand. "Mina, 
back away from her while this thing still works." 

"Rei, what have you done?" Tolaris growled. 

"I'm using a specially crafted vampire charm. It should paralyze her 
for a few minutes," was the response. 

Ami closed her eyes and shuddered in pain. "Rei.... Please.... 
turn.... it.... off...." she said between clenched fangs. 

"So you can go after Mina again? Yeah, right." 

Mina glared at the spiritual neophyte. "Rei." 

Rei blinked. "You've got to be kidding." 

"You're hurting her, Rei. Turn it off." 

"But she was going to hurt you...!" 

"I'm going to hurt you if you don't turn it off now!" Mina snapped. 

Rei muttered something acidic and deactivated the ward. Immediately 
Ami slumped to the ground, whimpering softly. Tolaris ran across to 
her side and was going to kneel down when Mina stopped him. 

"Stay back until she's fully aware of her surroundings. We don't need 
her attacking you in search of blood and throwing up again when she 
gets poisoned." Mina said softly. 

"Will someone explain to me what's going on?" Serena said, highly 
upset at the recent turn of events. 

"In just a bit," Mina said, She cautiously bent over Ami, making sure 
she would have ample warning if the vampire made any sudden moves. 
"Ami, speak to me. Are you alright?" 

Ami whimpered again and opened her eyes. "Head.... hurts...." she said 
weakly. She blinked several times and managed to focus her gaze on 
Mina. She coughed twice before she could speak again. "What.... What 
did you do?" 

"Talk to Rei. She used one of her wards on you," Mina said flatly. 

"Ami, are you okay?" Tolaris said, kneeling down and stroking her 
gently. 

"I will be as soon as my blood stops burning," Ami said with a weak 
smile. 

Mina left Tolaris alone to comfort Ami and walked over to the table. 
She sat down and grabbed the unused plate that had been left for her. 
"Do we have any coffee?" she asked. 

Everyone just stared at her calmness. She blinked and ran her fingers 
through her hair. "I know I look like Hell, but you don't have to 
stare," she said pointedly. 

"Mina, what is going on?" Darian said slowly. 

Mina shrugged. "Not much. Ami's been getting an attitude as of late 
and I just straightened it out. I don't think anyone will have to 
worry about her doing stuff like she did last night anymore. Could 
someone pass me the toast?" 

Serena slid the plate across the table. "But what was that talk about 
killing each other? And what about that knife you're wearing?" she 
said. 

Mina smiled. "What, this?" She flicked her wrist and the stiletto slid 
into her palm. She picked up a napkin and wiped the blood off the tip 
before flipping the weapon into the air. She caught it by the blade 
and offered it hilt-first to Serena. "This is something my grandmother 
gave to me when I was a child." 

Rei blinked. "Your grandmother gave you a blade when you were a 
child?!" she said incrediously. "That's unbelievable!" 

"About as unbelievable as giving a four-year-old her first fire 
meditation lesson," Mina replied. "I didn't get that until I was 
seven, and I had to swear on my honor that I would only use it against 
vampires." 

Ami and Tolaris sat down next to her, both giving her stunned looks. 
Rei glared at Ami and casually let her hand stray to the dormant 
vampire ward on the table. Serena looked up at Ami in shock as she 
passed the stiletto over to Leda. 

"Mina?" Ami said softly. "How long have you been carrying that blade 
with you?" 

"I've always kept it in my dresser drawer, and if I go anywhere for 
any great length of time, I bring it with me. I've only started 
actually wearing it since that one battle where you eviscerated that 
Negaverse warrior. It was three weeks after you became vampiric, 
remember?" 

Ami nodded sullenly. "I remember. Why did you start wearing it then?" 

Mina put down her toast and looked Ami straight in the eye. "Because I 
realized at that point that you could go off at any time without any 
control over your actions.... or who your targets were. You are a dear 
friend to me, Ami, but I cannot allow you to hurt anyone if you lose 
control of yourself." 

Ami seemed to wither in her chair and she blinked back tears. 
"Mina.... That hurts more than any dagger you could have stabbed me 
with...." she said. 

Mina reached out and accepted the stiletto from Leda. Putting it back 
in her arm sheath, she gave Ami an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Ami, 
but that's the way it has to be. We understand each other, right?" 

Tolaris put his arm around Ami's shoulders and comforted her. The 
vampire nodded slowly to Mina. "Yes, we do. Rei.... I take it you feel 
the same way about me?" 

All eyes focused on Rei and she blinked. "What do you mean?" 

Ami gestured to the ward on the table. "That's no ordinary ward you're 
holding. You said it was made specifically against vampires. How long 
have you had it?" 

"Since you became a vampire. Of all of the wards I routinely carry, 
only three aren't defensive in nature. This is one," she said, tapping 
the ward. "The other two are designed to paralyze evil long enough to 
destroy it, and I've made quite sure that all three will work on you." 

Leda shot Rei a glare that could have melted steel. "I don't believe 
you just said that," she said coldly. 

Ami looked at Rei with intense sadness in her eyes. "Do you fear me 
that much, Rei?" 

"I'm making sure I won't get attacked if you get too hungry." 

Ami sighed and stood up. "With the single exception of the first time 
I bit Leda, I have never drained a person who didn't volunteer. Leda, 
do you disagree with that?" 

Leda shook her head. "Nope. I wanted it each time, and I don't count 
that first morning, either." 

"Mina, what about you?" 

"Same story. Last night was questionable, but I did agree to volunteer 
to be a guinea pig. All the other times I volunteered for, just like 
you said." 

Ami nodded her head. "Sorry about last night. Serena, what about you? 
I only drained you once, and that was out of necessity, but you 
volunteered for it, correct?" 

Serena nodded and Ami continued. "Did you feel like you had to 
volunteer for it or be attacked?" 

"No. In fact, you were trying to get rid of me before you lost 
control." 

Ami nodded again and faced Rei. "Rei, if you still feel that you can't 
trust me not to drain you if you don't want me to, then take Mina's 
blade and kill me now." 

No one moved for a few seconds. Mina finally nodded her head once and 
removed her stiletto from her arm sheath. She flipped it over and 
offered the hilt to Rei. Leda jumped up from her chair but Ami shot 
her a look and she quietly sat back down. 

Rei's gaze alternated between Ami and the stiletto. She extended a 
hand to touch the weapon but stopped when she couldn't stop her hand 
from shaking. "Ami.... Why?" she whispered. 

"I would rather die than to have my best friends fear me, Rei. It took 
me several months to come to terms with what I've become. I am a 
vampire. Part of my spirit is tainted with evil now, and I hold no 
hopes of ever getting rid of it. I need human blood to survive but I 
will only drain volunteers. If you can't find it within yourself to 
accept me for what I have become, so be it." 

"Ami...." Rei said softly. 

"But I beg you, all of you, don't fear me. It would be more humane for 
you to kill me now than for me to continue to live knowing that my 
friends are afraid of me. That is a pain more intense than any blade 
wound you could give me. Take the blade, Rei." 

The priestess shook her head. "I.... I couldn't...." 

Ami looked around the table. "Leda.... Serena.... Mina.... Darian.... 
Any of you?" No one moved towards the blade and Mina finally put it 
back in her arm sheath. Ami bowed her head and sat back down. "Then we 
shall not speak of this again," she said, then closed her eyes and 
leaned against Tolaris. 

Silence descended upon the room like a heavy cloak. No one moved or 
made any sound for several minutes. Serena's stomach growled softly 
and she made a face. "Sorry," she said as she reached for her 
half-eaten bowl of oatmeal. 

Mina smiled. "Good idea. Leda, do you still have any left?" 

Leda nodded and got up. "Sure. Still want that coffee?" 

"Oh, yes.... Just bring the whole pot over here." 

Ami managed a smile. "Was it really that bad?" 

Mina nodded. "Not a pleasant experience. Ranks up there with getting 
killed in the Negaverse." 

Tolaris smiled. "You know, you guys never finished telling me what 
went on after Ami was killed." 

Serena made a face. "Things went down hill from there...." 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Ami looked up from her work as Leda set a cup of hot tea in front of 
her. The brunette smiled and gestured to the disassembled remains of 
Ami's computer and communicator. "Think you can fix it?" 

Ami sighed and looked down at her work. "I think so. I somehow managed 
to crack three logic chips and a memory module when I dropped it. The 
sensor suite is fine but it needs those chips in order to properly 
analyze the data. In simple computer talk, my system bus has a flat." 

Leda merely shrugged. "Whatever that meant, it sounds bad. Why did you 
take apart your communicator as well?" 

"I'm going to use the chips from the communicator to replace the 
broken chips on the daughterboard." 

Leda blinked. "Don't you mean the motherboard?" 

Ami smiled. "No, this is the daughterboard," she said, gesturing at 
the silicon wafer with the cracked chips. "That one over there, the 
one with all of the RAM chips, that's the motherboard. It didn't get 
touched so I don't need to mess with it." 

"Okay...." Leda said slowly. She pointed to a computer board that Ami 
was in the process of building. "Then what's that?" 

"That is going to be a transmission node I'm going to put into my 
computer so we can access it through our communicators. I can't 
connect the sensors to it yet but all of the calculation power should 
be available." 

Leda nodded her head in understanding. "So if I have a tough math 
problem I needed solves, I can just dial up your computer and use it?" 

The vampire smiled. "Exactly. I'm still working on it, but give me 
three days and it should work. Of course, I'm going to need a new 
communicator since I've virtually torn everything out of it, but I 
think Luna can build a new one for me." 

Leda laughed. "But she won't like it. You remember when Serena stepped 
on her communicator last month? Luna didn't shut up for a week about 
having to replace it." She paused as a thought occurred to her. "Just 
how exactly does she replace it, anyway?" 

Ami shrugged as she picked up a micro-screwdriver. "I don't know, 
really. I think it has to do with Lunar Magic. You know, the same 
thing that allows Serena to keep the Crescent Moon Wand in easy reach 
even when she's not wearing anything?" 

Leda smiled and plucked the 'driver out of Ami's hand. "Speaking of 
not wearing anything, everyone's getting cabin fever and they want to 
go sit in the thermal pools again. You want to come?" 

Ami looked at her work and sighed. "Sure, but what do you plan to do 
with Tolaris and Darian? Tolaris doesn't have a suit and I don't think 
Darian does, either." 

Leda shrugged. "Tolaris gave me some cryptic answer and told me that 
all would be taken care of. Said something about mist dragons and 
crystals." 

Ami thought about what he could have meant, but nothing occurred to 
her. She shrugged and stood up. "Well, whatever he means, I trust him 
to know what he's doing." 

"Or so we hope," Leda added as she left the room, followed by Ami. The 
two girls made their way over to the living room and started to put on 
their winter coats and boots. Rei and Mina had already dressed while 
Darian had gone out to his jeep to retrieve his jacket. 

Serena walked into the room carrying several large towels. "Here, 
we'll need these when we're done," she said as she handed everyone a 
towel. When she was finished with her task she started to get dressed 
as well. "I hope someone remembers where that pool was because I 
don't," she said. 

Mina smiled. "Don't worry, I know where it is." 

Tolaris walked into the room and smiled at everyone. "You won't need 
to wear those heavy jackets on the way down there, you know." 

Rei snorted. "It's ten degrees below freezing out there!." 

Tolaris shrugged. "Suit yourself, but you're going to be awfully warm 
in that thing." 

Ami and Mina exchanged glances. Mina nodded and both of them removed 
the heavy coats they wore. Leda did so as well after a few seconds 
hesitation and Serena followed suit with a very confused expression on 
her face. Rei looked at everyone as if they had gone mad but sighed to 
herself and removed her coat as well. 

"One final thing before we go. We'll have to walk together in a small 
group or I won't be able to keep everyone inside the heat shield," the 
Dragoon said as he walked towards the door. 

"Heat shield?" Serena asked. 

Tolaris smiled. "Did you forget that I can control the weather? I 
intend to keep a pocket of warm air around us so we don't freeze as we 
walk. The only problem is that keeping a pocket of air at a 
comfortable temperature while the air around is deathly cold is rather 
difficult so I can't create a very large pocket." 

Ami nodded in understanding but everyone else seemed lost. "Wait just 
a minute," Leda said slowly. "You can control the weather?" 

The Dragoon gave Ami a bemused look. "Didn't you ever tell them 
anything about me?" Ami shrugged helplessly and Tolaris grinned. "I 
suppose you never told them how old I was, either." 

"I told everyone except Rei. She was in the bathroom at the time and I 
guess it never occurred to me to tell her," Ami said with a faint 
blush. 

Rei blinked. "Umm.... Do I want to ask how old you are?" 

Tolaris smiled. "Seven hundred and twenty-four." 

The priestess sat down hard on the couch with a stunned look on her 
face. "That.... That's old...." she said in a dazed tone. She looked 
up at Ami with a curious look. "And you're only what, fifteen?" 

Ami blushed. "Yes. I know there's a bit of an age difference, but it 
really doesn't matter." 

Rei's jaw cracked open. "A BIT of an age difference? Ami, we are 
talking about seven centuries!" 

Ami shrugged. "Your point?" 

Rei blinked and calmed down. "Well.... It's just that.... Ummm..... 
Oh, never mind." She stood up and looked at Tolaris in a new light. 
"You said you could control the weather? How is this possible?" 

"The denizens of the Negaverse are all born with various powers. My 
major one just happens to be manipulating the weather." He 
concentrated and a tiny whirlwind sprung up in the cabin's living 
room. It whirled around madly for a few seconds before vanishing into 
nothingness, being replaced with a miniature raincloud. 

The cloud floated over Ami's head and started to rain. The vampire 
glared at Tolaris but stayed in place, slowly getting drenched. 
Tolaris smiled and the cloud puffed away into air. A blisteringly hot 
wind swept across the room, drying Ami and the carpet in seconds. The 
wind died down and was replaced with a gentle spring breeze that 
teased Ami's hair back into place. 

"If I didn't love you, dear, I would hurt you," Ami said with 
amusement. 

"Too bad you love me," Tolaris said as he walked over to Ami and 
kissed her cheek. 

Mina suddenly burst into a fit of laughter. Everyone shot her a 
strange look but she waved them away and did her best to get her mirth 
under control. "I.... I understand it now...." She wiped away a tear 
of laughter and took a deep breath. "I understand now why we've been 
getting freak thunderstorms on the night of a new moon for the past 
four months." 

Tolaris and Ami exchanged looks. "Ummm.... and why is that, Mina?" Ami 
said nervously. 

"You've been making him lose control of his powers, haven't you?" Mina 
giggled. She burst into laughter again as Ami blushed a bright shade 
of red and Tolaris developed a fit of coughing. Leda and Rei smiled 
knowingly while Serena seemed lost. 

"How do you manage to do that, Ami?" she asked innocently. 

"It's a complicated process," Mina said between giggles. "We can talk 
again tonight, if you want." 

Serena shrugged. "Sure. Can we go to the pools now? Rei looks like she 
could use a bath and I know I need a good soak." Not surprisingly, an 
argument shortly arose between Serena and Rei about hygiene. The 
argument came to an abrupt end when the sound of a thunderbolt cracked 
through the room. 

"Are you ladies finished?" Tolaris said mildly. 

Serena nodded and peeled herself off the floor where she had 
reflexively thrown herself. Rei cautiously poked her head up behind 
the chair and also nodded. 

"Good. Then gather around so we can go. Has anyone seen Darian 
lately?" 

"Right here," said Darian as he walked into the room with his jacket 
slung over his shoulder. "I really have to say that's the fastest I've 
seen anyone get those two to shut up. Think you can teach the rest of 
us?" 

"I'm afraid not. Everyone ready?" 

There were nods all around as they gathered together in a small group 
with Tolaris at the center. The Dragoon concentrated and the air 
around them grew slightly warmer. "Now remember, stay close or you'll 
fall outside the pocket and be exposed to the cold. Let's go," he said 
and led them out the door. 

Together they slowly moved towards the thermal pool Ami had pointed 
out yesterday. They had to move slowly because Rei was still having 
problems with her ankle, a fact that didn't escape either Tolaris or 
Darian. 

"Rei, what exactly did you do to your ankle?" Darian asked as they 
walked. 

"It got injured in a practice fight with Chad a couple of days ago." 

Darian blinked. "Is that what also how you got that cut on your face?" 

Rei almost stumbled but Ami caught her arm and helped her to her feet. 
"Yeah, it is. We kind of tore each other up that night," she said with 
a dark blush. 

Tolaris gave her a curious look. "Tell me something, Rei. Do you 
always use metallic weapons in practice combat?" 

Rei's gaze dropped to the trail. "No, it was a special occasion," she 
said softly. 

The Dragoon was about to inquire what the occasion was when he looked 
up and caught the look in Mina's eyes. He didn't fully understand what 
she meant but he knew enough not to ask. "You really should be more 
careful next time," was all he said. 

Rei relaxed slightly and smiled. "Oh, believe me, I intend to." 

"We're here," Mina announced as the entered the clearing. Ahead of 
them they could see the thermal pool and the wisps of steam coming off 
of the pool's surface. 

Tolaris nodded. "Good. Now everyone stand back for a bit while I melt 
the snow around the edges. The air pocket might get a bit colder since 
I'm splitting my attention span but it shouldn't get too bad." He 
closed his eyes and concentrated carefully. 

A cloud of blistering desert winds swept across the surface of the 
pool, melting the surrounding snow and sending huge clouds of steam 
billowing into the frigid air. The winds died down, leaving the area 
dry and snow-free. 

"Okay, now here's where we have to move fast. I want everyone to 
spread out around the pool's perimeter. Stand at the edge and remove 
as much clothing as your modesty permits. As soon as everyone is ready 
I'll summon a fog cloud so you can finish undressing and get into the 
pool. Once you're in, keep only your head above the waterline while I 
dissipate the fog. This will let you move around to where you want to 
be before I create another fog bank and change the density of the fog 
to dampen sound waves for private conversations. Does everybody 
understand all of this?" 

Mina coughed and raised her hand. "Wouldn't it be easier to have all 
the girls at one end and you and Darian at the other? You could just 
create a fog partition across the pool until we're all set and in the 
water. Once we're in, we can go with the moving around part and 
subsequent fog bank." 

Tolaris smiled at Mina. "Excellent idea, Mina. Any objections?" No one 
spoke up and the Dragoon nodded. "Okay, then move out." 

Tolaris dropped the heat shield and they all ran, Tolaris and Darian 
to one side of the pool while the girls dashed towards the other. A 
thick wall of fog sprang up in the middle of the pool, dividing the 
pool in half and totally obscuring vision between the two parties. 

The two guys reached the edge of the water and started to peel down. 
They could hear several loud complaints about cold temperatures and 
bare skin coming from across the partition. Darian chuckled as he 
removed his shirt. "If you girls would pay more attention to stripping 
than complaining about the cold, you'd probably already be in there by 
now," he called out. 

The sound of a loud splash echoed across the clearing. "That's funny," 
said Leda, "I don't hear you in here already." 

"That's because the rest of us believe in wearing underwear," Mina 
said. 

Darian and Tolaris exchanged glances as the sound of splashing water 
was heard, followed by Mina's voice complaining about getting wet. 
Darian shrugged as he slipped out of his boxer shorts and slid into 
the water. "I hope this fog idea of yours works," he said quietly. 

Tolaris chuckled as he stepped out of his uniform trousers. "I don't 
see why it wouldn't. And besides, I thought most men your age would 
enjoy seeing five naked young women in a hot pool. Not that I think 
you will, but just in case...." 

Leda screeched from behind the fog wall. "I thought this was a trap!" 
she said and made a splashing sound. Tolaris blinked as an impressive 
amount of water flew past the barrier and across the pool. It fell far 
short of hitting either of them, but it was still amazing that she 
could have splashed it that far. 

"Come now, Miss Jupiter, try to keep in mind that I'm almost fifty 
times your age and there is absolutely nothing you've got that I 
haven't seen and more," he said as he finished stripping and entered 
the water. He smiled in pleasure as the warm waters surrounded him, a 
welcome sensation after being exposed to the bitter cold. 

Tolaris swore he could hear the silent sound of a pair of eyes 
blinking in surprise. "And more?" Leda echoed from across the pool. 

"There are a few speices of humanoids in the Negaverse that are, shall 
we say, built differently than most," he said with a smile. 

"Uh huh.... Dear, do I even want to ask?" Ami said. Her words were 
soon followed by a pair of splashes. 

"One of my lieutenants is an avian, which is half denizen and half 
owl, I think. She happened to walk into my quarters as I was 
experimenting with tiny tornadoes. Problem was that she was in the 
middle of her molting cycle when she got caught in a whirlwind," he 
explained. 

"So what happened?" Mina asked. 

Tolaris blushed a dark gray at the memory. "What happened was that all 
of her feathers got blown out into the corridor. She spent the next 
five weeks on vacation in her quarters until her feathers grew back 
enough to cover her. If I remember right, it was another two months 
before she was able to fly again." 

"That must have been interesting," commented Leda. 

"Only if you like gray skin and scales," Tolaris said simply. 

There was the sound of two more splashes and Mina called out to 
Tolaris. "Okay, we're all in here." 

"Great. Now everyone keep your necks below water because I'm dropping 
the partition." There was a chorus of acknowledgements and Tolaris let 
the wall of fog fall apart. The mist quickly dissipated and everyone 
spread out. 

Darian stayed where he was while Tolaris slowly swam farther out, 
staying close to the edge of the pool. Ami changed her course to 
intercept Tolaris while Rei, Leda, and Mina clustered together near 
the far edge of the pool. Serena swam to the center of the pool and 
seemed content to stay there, away from everyone else. 

"Okay, everyone where they want to be?" Everyone nodded their heads 
and Tolaris continued. "Good. I'm going to warn you ahead of time. 
This fog bank will probably be the thickest one you've ever been in. 
Your range of vision will most likely only be three or four inches 
beyond your nose, so be careful. I'm also going to change the fog's 
density to dampen sound waves, so you'll need to stay close to hear 
one another. Sound off so I know you're ready." 

"Check," said Darian. 

"Got it," said Mina. 

"Ready when you are," Leda called out. 

"Ditto," said Serena. 

"Let's go!" Rei replied. 

"I'm ready," Ami said with a soft smile at Tolaris. 

The Dragoon chuckled. "Then as the mists rise, all shall be 
concealed." In eerie silence, the pool was instantly enveloped by a 
thick fog, completely obscuring vision and muffling most of the 
sounds. 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Leda blinked in surprise as the fog swirled around her. She held her 
hand up to her face and all she could see was a dark blur in the mist. 
Boy, Tolaris wasn't kidding around, she thought. Something brushed her 
arm and she felt someone grab her wrist. 

"Leda, that you?" came Mina's voice, sounding somewhat distant in the 
fog. 

"Yeah," Leda replied. "Geez, girl, I can barely hear you in this soup 
and you're not two feet away from me." 

"Same here." Mina paused for a moment to gather her thoughts and 
choose her words. "Umm, Leda? Can I ask you a personal question?" 

Leda frowned to herself, a sense of unease creeping down her spine. 
She usually didn't mind answering most personal questions, but she had 
a feeling that she would not like this one. "I guess, but I'm not 
going to guarantee an answer." 

"Fair enough. You've haven't been yourself recently, and I think it 
all started when Ami called you 'Thunderheart' last night." 

Leda sighed and closed her eyes. "Mina, please don't mention that 
again." 

"I didn't mean to offend you or anything, but I was just curious...." 

Leda waved her hand in the air, forgetting that Mina couldn't see the 
gesture. "No, you didn't offend me. It's just that.... well...." 

Mina gently squeezed Leda's wrist. "If you don't want to talk about 
it, that's okay." 

"No, I guess I need to get all this weight off my chest." She took a 
deep breath and gathered her courage to face the memories. 
"Thunderheart was the nickname Jenni called me when we were.... well, 
lovers, to be precise. She said my passionate love reminded her of a 
summer storm. Hence the name. The six months we spent together were 
probably the best times of my life so far." 

"And then she died." 

"Yes. The memories have been too painful for me to dwell on them and 
to really come to terms with her loss. Ami must have somehow gotten 
the name from my thoughts when she drained me last night." 

Mina was silent for a few minutes. "Leda, is it because you don't feel 
that you're over Jenni's death that you don't want to make love to 
me?" 

"No, it's not that.... It's just.... well.... I don't know what it 
is." 

Mina slid her arms around Leda's waist and drew her close. Leda was 
taken aback by the move but quickly recovered her wits. "Mina, what do 
you think you're doing?" she demanded. "Let me g...!" She was suddenly 
cut off as Mina tilted her head up and kissed her. 

"Leda," the blonde said after Leda fell silent, "Just hold me for 
awhile." She laid her head in the crook of Leda's shoulder, her body 
starting to tremble slightly. "Do you know what Ami did to me last 
night?" 

"Not exactly," Leda said slowly, unsure of how to handle the 
situation. She opted for remaining motionless and listening to what 
Mina had to say. She did her best to ignore her body's reactions as 
Mina's nude form rubbed against her own. 

"It was an experiment. She would drain my blood and put it back, 
trying to see if it would work. It worked all too well, and you know 
how I respond to being bitten. We learned that the flow of blood is 
what causes the reaction, and every time she changed the flow's 
direction I became more stimulated." 

A chill ran down Leda's spine as realization sank in as to what Mina 
went through last night. "Great Zeus, no wonder you wanted to kill 
her.... And she didn't finish the job?" She trembled slightly as 
Mina's lips started to roam over her neck. 

"No, she didn't. She said it was vengence for throwing her in the 
shower. To make matters worse, she told me that she would seriously 
injure me if I made any attempt to get your help." Mina stretched up 
and ran her tongue around the edge of Leda's ear, elicting a soft moan 
from the brunette. "And it's your help that I want now," she whispered 
in her ear. 

Leda shivered lightly as her nipples tightened with desire. "What do 
you want from me?" she said, trying not to let her voice betray her. 
She whimpered as Mina reached out and caressed her breasts. The blonde 
then took her hand and placed in on her own breasts. 

"Finish the job Ami started last night...." she said, her voice barely 
a whisper in Leda's ear. "And start something I've wanted for three 
months...." 

"No," Leda whispered. "Not here, Mina, not now...." 

Mina gently squeezed Leda's aching nipple. "Then will you at least 
help finish what Ami started?" she asked softly. 

"Yes...." Leda said as she bent down and kissed her.... 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Darian was amazed at how thick the fog was. He looked closely at it 
and noticed subtle air currents creating eddies and swirls in the 
mist. He passed his hand in front of his nose and watched as the mist 
seemed to swirl around an insubstantial shadow. When Tolaris says he's 
going to make a dense fog bank, he thought, he doesn't mess around. He 
sighed and stretched out, content to float aimlessly for the time 
being. 

His relaxation was short lived as he felt something brush the bottom 
of his foot, followed by the distant sound of a familiar voice. 
"Darian, is that you?" 

Darian quickly righted himself and sank down in the water. "Yes, 
Serena, it is." He felt her touch his arm and he peered into the mist, 
trying to see her. He was barely able to make her out, a patch of 
shadow a shade darker than the surrounding fog. 

"Do you mind if I stay here with you for awhile?" she asked 
hesitantly. She used his arm as a guide and worked her way around 
until she was behind him. "I just want to be with you for a bit." 

Darian shrugged. "Sure, if you want to." 

"Thanks," she said and embraced him, pressing her body against his 
back. "I just.... don't want to be alone in this fog." 

"I can't imagine why. I'm not sure I can see the tip of my nose and I 
can barely hear you, and you're right behind me." 

Serena made a soft noise and nuzzled his ear. "Does this help?" she 
said as she kissed the edge of his ear. 

"Yes and no," he replied, suddenly grateful for the fact that Serena 
was behind him. The sensation of her nuzzling his ear was starting to 
arouse him and he was acutely aware of the feeling of her bare breasts 
pressing into his back. Thank goodness for the fog, he thought. 
Otherwise this would be highly embarrassing to explain. 

"Yes and no? What's that supposed to mean?" she breathed into his ear. 

"Well, yes since I can hear you a lot better, but no because you're 
making me nuts with your breathing in my ear." 

Serena made a plaintive noise. "Sorry. I just remember reading that 
some guys liked that sort of thing." 

"It's not that I don't like it, it's that I like it too much. Know 
what I mean?" he said, hoping she would understand so he wouldn't have 
to explain it further. 

He felt Serena shrug. "No," she said honestly. 

Darian thought of several ways he could explain it to her. He sighed 
and finally settled on being blunt. "It's turning me on, meatball 
head," he said. He immediately realized that being blunt was a mistake 
when he felt her hands stroke his chest and she giggled softly in his 
ear. 

"And this is a problem?" she whispered as she ran her tongue around 
the inside edge of his ear. His confession of his reaction to her 
attentions was making her aroused and she could feel her nipples 
harden like rocks. If he wants me as much as I want him.... she 
thought, but left the idea unfinished. 

"Serena, stop that unless you want to get raped," he said hoarsely. 

She froze, trying to fathom his intentions. "You wouldn't," she said. 

Darian sighed. "You're right, I wouldn't, but do you get the picture?" 

She laid her head against his neck. "Darian, I'm sorry...." she said 
as she started to tremble. "Please don't be mad at me...." 

"I'm not mad at you or anything, Serena. It's just that this isn't the 
time or the place for us to start anything." He twisted around in her 
embrace to hold her, all thoughts of his arousal gone. He looked at 
her through the fog but could only see the vaguest of shadowy 
outlines. 

"I love you, Serena, and I don't want to rush into anything or do 
anything that might hurt you." He bent his head down and gave her a 
reassuring kiss. 

She moaned quietly as she kissed him back. "I love you too, Darian." 
She sighed in contentment and rested her head on his chest, her state 
of arousal also forgotten. She let her mind dwell on the warmth she 
was feeling inside as a result of his embrace. 

A thought occurred to her and she decided to give it a try. "Darian?" 
she said softly. 

"Yes, Serena?" he said. She still had her head on his chest and she 
could hear his voice rumble inside his chest cavity. 

"You said last night that we should talk things over before we make 
love to each other, right?" 

Darian nodded. "Yes, I did. We need to make sure we both understand 
each other and everything else before we start." 

"Would now be a good time to talk?" she said, listening to the beating 
of his heart. It was a slow and steady rhythm that was somehow 
comforting to her. 

He reached up and stroked her hair. "I don't see why not, seeing how 
we won't really have to worry about being overheard or anything." 

Serena laughed quietly. "So where should be begin?" 

"How about we start off with your expectations of this?" he suggested. 

"I think I can handle that...." she said, and they began to talk.... 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Tolaris smiled to himself as the fog surrounded him. It feels nice to 
be able to do something right every now and then, he thought, 
considering I've been out of practice for almost nine months now. He 
sank deeper into the pool and sighed contentedly, feeling his aching 
muscles start to unwind. 

"Tolaris, you weren't kidding about the fog," said a distant voice. 

The Dragoon laughed. "Do I ever joke about the weather, my love?" 

A hand touched his and Tolaris didn't have time to react before he 
found himself in a compromising embrace with Ami. He was about to say 
something when she tilted her head up and kissed him thoroughly. 

"Mmmm, Ami?" he said when he could breathe again. 

"Yes?" 

"I think you put way too much cinnamon in your oatmeal this morning." 

She buried her head in his shoulder and he could feel the heat from 
her face as she blushed. He chuckled softly and started to stroke her 
head. 

"Sorry," she said after a few seconds had passed. 

Tolaris shrugged. "Just remember that we have extremely little in the 
way of spices in the Negaverse. That's why I had that severe 
indigestion when we went to that Chinese place when we fell in love." 

"Yes, I remember." She looked up at him but could only see a dark 
shadow. "Are you feeling any better this morning?" 

"Very much, now that I'm no longer Queen Beryl's idea of a lawn 
ornament." 

"Speaking of which, do you have any idea how you got free?" 

Tolaris grunted. "No, but I intend to find out. I need to find a way 
to return to the Negaverse to get several things, and I think I just 
might know how." 

Ami suddenly sat up in his lap. "You're going back?" 

"It would only be a quick in-and-out trip, just long enough for me to 
grab what I need and come back. I don't have any intention of staying 
there, Ami, so you can calm down," he said, giving her a reassuring 
kiss. 

She sighed and relaxed in his arms. "When will you go?" 

"I'm not sure. I'll need to check out General Nephlyte's cathedral to 
see what I can find first." 

Ami quickly sat up again, accidentally jabbing him in the ribs with 
her elbow. "Sorry," she apologized as he grunted. "But you know where 
Nephlyte's base is?" 

"Of course, love. I helped pick out the site for it. Remember when we 
first met how I was looking for a site for a cathedral?" 

Ami sighed and slapped her head. "Why didn't I see this before? Do you 
have any idea how long we've been looking for that?" 

Tolaris shrugged to himself and tried to soothe Ami. "It's in the 
past, dear, so you can relax." 

"Not yet. I'm coming with you when you go," she said firmly. 

Tolaris supressed a laugh. "I don't think so, love. You'll stick out 
like a vep'tera in the middle of a nest of weavers." 

"A what in a what?" 

"A six-foot bird in a nest of oversized crystal spiders." 

"Oh, ick.... Anyway, I'm not letting you go alone. Unless I 
misunderstood the situation, you were branded a traitor and several 
people wanted your blood splattered on a wall." 

This time the Dragoon did laugh. "Perhaps, but that pales in 
comparison to the things they would do to a Sailor Scout. I know the 
danger, Ami, but I'm willing to take the risk. You, on the other hand, 
really don't know what you'd be up against, and I can't allow you to 
go with me." 

"Want to try and stop me?" she challenged. 

"Must we have a repeat of our last fight?" he said softly. 

"I'm different now, Tolaris. I'm stronger, faster, and more powerful." 

"But can you control it?" 

Ami reacted as if he had slapped her. "Dear," she said, her eyes 
filling with tears, "That was cruel." 

"Ami, I'm sorry, but that fact has to be faced." He bent his head down 
and tenderly kissed her. "Can you be sure you'll keep control of your 
vampiric nature in there? And what if we're captured? I might be 
tortured before they kill me, but do you know what they'll do to you?" 

"Tolaris...." 

"The last I heard was when it was just you and Sailor Moon. The plan 
in the event of your capture was to turn Sailor Moon over to Beryl for 
questioning and to turn you over to the Psi-Corp. Their telepaths 
would sift through your mind for any and all information they could 
get, destroying your mind in the process. You would be then given to a 
cadre of elite soldiers as a toy for their amusement." 

Ami started to tremble but Tolaris continued. "The projection was that 
they would rape you for a week before they would get bored and kill 
you. Of course, that was before Queen Beryl and a significant portion 
of the Negaverse military was obliterated by you and the other Sailor 
Scouts. Can you imagine what they would plan to do to you now? Or when 
they discover that you're a vampire?" 

Ami burst into tears. "I don't care! I love you and I want to be with 
you if you're in danger of getting killed!" She buried her head in the 
crook of his shoulder and cried. 

Tolaris spent the next several minutes comforting and soothing her. 
Her tears eventually dried up and she stopped sobbing, but she was 
still upset at the thought of Tolaris returning alone to the 
Negaverse. 

"Tolaris, can you at least think about it for awhile? Please?" she 
asked softly, still trembling lightly. 

The Dragoon sighed quietly and kissed her rim of her ear. "I'll 
consider it, my love, but I can't promise you anything," he whispered 
in her ear as he continued to kiss her softly. 

She sighed and melted into his arms, satisfied for the moment. Her 
sighs soon turned to soft moans of passion as Tolaris's continued 
attentions started to arouse her. 

"I take it you're feeling better?" she said as she began to kiss him 
back. 

Tolaris laughed softly. "Some, my love, but I suspect that it's your 
prescence that's doing it." 

She made a soft purring sound and moved seductively against him, 
making sure her nude body rubbed his in the right places. "And just 
how much better are you feeling?" she whispered in his ear. 

"Probably not enough for what you have in mind, dear. I'm afraid we'll 
have to stick to cuddling for the time being." 

"Mmmm, are you sure about that?" she said as rubbed her abdomen 
against his in such a way as to leave no doubt of her intentions. 

Tolaris sighed quietly. "I love you dearly, but try to remember that 
fog like this rarely exists in nature and simply can't occur in this 
weather." 

"So?" she said, kissing the edge of his jaw. 

"So I need to keep a certain level of concentration to maintain the 
fog." 

"You keep saying that. Your point?" she said as she let her hands roam 
across his chest. 

"So kindly get out of my lap, please." 

Ami kissed the tip of his nose before she started to move. She made 
quite sure that her body kept in contact with most of his as she slid 
across the length of his body with deliberate slowness. 

Tolaris could feel the density of the fog start to change and he 
quickly focused on the weather. "Ami...." he said in a warning tone. 

She brushed her lips across his ear as she finished her movements. 
"I'm out," she said innocently. She was surprised when he suddenly 
reached out and grabbed her. He twisted her around so that her back 
was to him and pulled her in close. 

"So you want to play games, do you?" he whispered in her ear in a tone 
Ami wasn't quite sure she liked. He reached around her and began to 
massage her breasts, elicting a soft moan from her. He sank down in 
the water, drawing her down with him until the water was just below 
her chin. 

"I've got a game for you, my dear. It's called Tolerance," he said as 
he ran his tongue along the inside edge of her ear. His hands 
continued to knead and tease her breasts, gently twisting and tugging 
on her nipples. He moved a hand down between her legs and gently 
caressed her sheath, causing her to whimper with passion and 
anticipation. 

"The rules are simple: I'll tease you and you try to stop from 
orgasming." His finger dipped into her and she moaned loudly, pressing 
herself against him. She body suddenly spasmed as the muscles in her 
abdomen were shocked by a weak electrical current. The sensation of 
being electrocuted from within instantly brought her to orgasm and she 
cried out with pleasure. 

She became aware of her surroundings again after a few seconds, 
letting her body lean against Tolaris as she recovered. "What.... What 
did you do?" she said slowly. She blinked in surprise as she realized 
that the surrounding fog was glowing a soft shade of blue, a result of 
the sigil glowing on her forehead. 

"Oh, did I ever mention that I can create lightning bolts with varying 
intensities? I can range it from as weak as a static electricity 
shock, such as the one you felt, to a bolt strong enough to light up 
this city for a year." He kissed her ear as he slowly moved his finger 
inside of her. "By the way, the game ends when you can withstand three 
shocks in a row without orgasming, or when you've convinced me that 
you can't take any more pleasure." 

Ami's eyes widened as his words sank in. Her response was instantly 
forgotten as she was electrocuted again, bringing her to orgasm once 
more. She cried out with passion and pleasure as her body first 
tensed, then relaxed. 

"Dear...." she said breathlessly when she was able to speak again, 
"You are evil.... You can't let me make love to you but you can do 
this to me?" 

"Of course. It's easier to concentrate on fog and lightning than it is 
to concentrate on fog when I'm making love to you. Granted I can't 
create very strong lightning pulses and keep the fog around at the 
same time, but I don't need lots of lightning for this." He paused and 
nuzzled her ear. "You are enjoying this, right?" he asked hesitantly. 

Ami moaned quietly. "Tolaris, if you truly love me, don't stop...." 

"I thought you would like this game," he whispered in her ear as he 
kissed the back of her neck. He then caressed her breasts as he 
electrocuted Ami once more.... 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Rei would never have admitted it to anyone, but she had gotten lost in 
the fog ten seconds after it formed around her. Okay, so I have no 
innate sense of direction, she thought to herself. I thought Leda and 
Mina were over here.... 

She swam through the thermal pool, listening for any signs of life. 
She heard the soft sounds of conversation drifting through the mist 
and changed her course to intercept. She was ready to call out when 
she recognized the voices and overheard part of what they were saying. 

"Thunderheart was the nickname Jenni called me when we were... well, 
lovers, to be precise...." said Leda's faint voice through the fog. 

Rei became absolutely still as Leda's words registered. She strained 
her ears, trying to hear the rest of the converstaion to make sure she 
didn't misunderstand the case. The mental image of Leda and another 
woman together simply didn't compute. Not with the way she keeps going 
on about cute guys, she thought. 

"Leda, is it because you don't feel that you're over Jenni's death 
that you don't want to make love to me?" said Mina's voice. 

Rei was shocked beyond imagination. Several puzzle pieces fell into 
place and she nearly had a heart attack. They really are, she thought. 
The reason they spend a lot of time together.... Why Leda wanted me to 
remove my suit.... The scene with the hair.... Mina's willingness to 
skinny-dip.... Leda's comment about my breasts.... 

The cuts between her breasts began to itch and she absently started to 
rub them. This.... this is going to take some getting used to, she 
thought as she thought about Leda and Mina. As she thought, she 
continued to gently rub the healing cuts on her chest, producing a 
strange sensation throughout her body. 

She blinked as she realized that she was starting to become aroused. I 
don't get it, she thought, what exactly am I doing to make me feel 
this way? A chill crept down her spine as she realized that she had 
been thinking of Leda and Mina together. No, it can't be that.... 
Could it? 

She was interrupted by the sound of a low moan cutting through the 
fog. Okay, that's it, she thought as she swam away from her friends. I 
may be just a little curious, but I'm not THAT curious. She paused as 
a thought occurred to her. Or am I? 

She stretched out on her back and floated in place for a few minutes 
while she gave it some thought. As her mind worked furiously on the 
subject, she let her hand carefully trace along the path that Chad's 
dagger had made two nights ago. 

A strange shiver ran though her body, disrupting her train of thought. 
She blinked and sank back down in the water, unsure of what she had 
just felt. I think I'll have to talk to Mina one of these days about 
this, she thought. I know she's been explaining a few things to Serena 
and I guess I need a few of them explained to me. 

Her mind made up, she continued to lazily swim around the pool in 
search of someone to talk to. She blinked again and stopped as a 
second shiver ran through her. She looked around and was surprised to 
see a faintly glowing blue light off in the distance. Strange, she 
thought, what could be causing that odd light? 

She started to swim toward the light, hoping she could figure out what 
it was. She stopped and stood still as she heard a pair of voices 
through the mist. 

"Tolaris, if you truly love me, don't stop...." 

"I thought you would like this game...." 

Rei jumped as another tingle ran through her and Ami cried out. She 
was about to swim over to her aid when she remembered that Ami didn't 
want Tolaris to stop doing whatever it was he was doing. 

What exactly IS he doing? Rei thought to herself as she listened to 
them whisper quietly to each other. She suppressed a moan as yet 
another tingle ran through her, elicting another loud cry of passion 
from Ami. Rei didn't know what the Dragoon was doing, but she was 
quite sure it was having an effect on her. 

She whimpered quietly as a fifth tingle ran through her body, causing 
her already hardened nipples to ache for attention. If I stick around 
here much longer, she thought, I'll probably be driven insane by this. 
She brushed her nipples with her fingertips and was surprised at how 
good it felt. She sighed and found herself thinking of Chad, wishing 
he was here with her instead of on his concert tour in southern Japan. 

"Dear," came Ami's voice through the fog, "How did you know I would 
like being electrocuted like this?" 

"To be honest, Ami, I didn't," came Tolaris's voice. 

"What? You're telling me that you just decided to run lightning bolts 
through my body?" 

A soft laugh. "It works, doesn't it?" His words were shortly followed 
by another pulse and a cry of pleasure. 

Rei started to panic. She knew that electricity and water didn't mix 
very well and really didn't want to stick around anymore. Well, she 
thought as she swam away from the glowing fog, I guess that solves two 
mysteries. The tingle is Tolaris and his lightning, and the blue glow 
is probably Ami's sigil glowing again. 

She slowed down and wondered why their sigils glowed when they did. 
She knew that Mina's sigil would sometimes glow when Ami drank her 
blood, and she remembered her own sigil lighting up for a brief period 
of time when she was being quasi-raped by Chad. 

She frowned lightly as her train of thought switched back over to what 
happened with Chad. She knew that some people would say she was raped, 
but she knew in her heart that she wouldn't have wanted it any other 
way. She touched the bruise on her cheek and decided that the bruises 
could have been skipped without any real impact on her experience that 
night. 

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted as she swam head-first into the 
edge of the thermal pool. She grunted and sank down in the water, 
rubbing the sore spot on her head. Ow, that hurt! she thought and 
reached out, trying to find the edge. She found it and used it as a 
guide to work her way around the edge of the pool. 

Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be one of those days? 
she thought as she swam. She was on the verge of answering herself 
when she heard more familiar voices talking quietly ahead of her. She 
smiled and slowly drew near, wondering what Serena and Darian were 
talking about this time. 

The priestess blinked in surprise when she discovered that they were 
in the middle of a very honest and open discussion about sex. She 
blushed and was about to leave when Serena asked a very intelligent 
question. Rei blinked in surprise when she realized that she didn't 
have a clue about the answer. If I stick around, she thought, I could 
probably learn a lot. 

She steeled herself and called out to them. "Serena? Darian?" 

The voices suddenly fell silent. "Rei, that you?" Serena's voice said 
from the mist. 

"Yeah, it's me. Ummm, I know you two are in the middle of a sensitive 
discussion, but would either of you two mind if I listened in for 
awhile? I think there's several things I could learn from your 
conversation. I know this is asking alot, but I'd like to know." 

Darian coughed lightly. "I don't have any real objections, Rei, but 
I'm curious. Are you planning anything with Chad?" 

Rei was grateful for the fact that the fog hid the blush on her 
cheeks. She expected Serena to open her mouth and say something about 
it, but was very surprised when the blonde remained silent. She sighed 
to herself and gathered her courage together. 

"I.... It's a little late to plan anything now," she managed to say. 

"Darian," Serena said, "I think Rei needs to know some of the things 
you told me as well. I think there's a few things she can tell us as 
well, if she feels like it." 

"I see...." he said slowly. "Rei, if you don't mind my asking, I take 
it that your experience was an unusual one?" 

Rei nodded unconsicously, forgetting that the gesture couldn't be 
seen. "You could say that.... I'm not sure that you would want to hear 
about it." 

"Umm.... Is this something that I should hear about?' he asked 
cautiously. 

"Yes, it is," Serena said. "Rei, if you can, please tell us. I know it 
is hard for you to do, but I think you're strong enough not to let it 
affect your character." 

Serena's unexpected faith in Rei's character seemed to ease the heavy 
load on her conscious. "Thank you, Serena," she said. "I think my mind 
is at ease already." She took a deep breath and started to tell her 
story again.... 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Everyone looked up as the fog thinned out enough for sound waves to 
travel freely from point to point. The mist was still thick enough to 
obscure vision, but what was once indistinct shadows were now visible 
outlines. 

"If I can get everyone's attention for a bit," Tolaris's voice boomed 
out across the thermal pool, "I just want to check up on everyone to 
see if you're still alive. Sound off, please." 

One by one they called out to Tolaris. He chuckled to himself and 
started talking again. "Okay, it seems we're all doing just fine. My 
best guess is that we've been in here for roughly two hours or so and 
I think I'm starting to get just a bit waterlogged. I want to get a 
vote going to see if we should go back or stay here for awhile longer. 
There's seven of us here so the majority rules. Anyone have any 
problems with this idea?" 

No one did and the voting quickly took place. They all agreed that 
they were getting just a bit wrinkled and it was time to head back. 

"So how are we going to handle getting out?" Rei asked. 

"Well, my first suggestion is for a reversal of what we did going in. 
The only problem with that is we're wet and it's still freezing. I 
could quickly dry us off inside the heat shield, but it has a very 
small radius." 

"I've got an idea," Mina said. 

The Dragoon laughed. "You got us in here, Mina, so you might as well 
get us out." 

"Thanks," she said dryly. "Go with the partition thing first. You and 
Darian climb out and into the heat shield. Once you two are dressed 
and dry, walk over to our side, keeping the partition between you and 
us. You sit down with your backs to the pool, drop the partition, and 
expand the heat shield as wide as you can. We then climb out, dry off 
inside the shield, and dress while you two don't see a thing. Everyone 
is out and modesty is preserved." 

Tolaris laughed. "Mina, by the power vested in me being the commanding 
officer of the elite military intelligence, I am hereby making you an 
honorary Dragoon officer. That is a brillant plan." 

"And they say blondes are dumb," she giggled. 

"But you're not a natural blonde, remember?" Leda said jokingly. 

"Shut up," Mina said, still using the same giggling tone. 

"Should I ask?" came Darian's voice from the far side of the pool. 

"No," chorused the five girls simultaneously. 

"Okay...." he replied slowly. 

Tolaris chuckled. "We're going to ignore that one. Anyway, everyone 
keep yourselves below the waterline because I'm going to let the fog 
burn off. If I just dissipated it, we'd all get blinded by the sudden 
change in light. The fog should only take a minute or two to burn off, 
so sit tight and relax." 

Darian looked around as the mist slowly started to break apart. He 
could see the indistinct outlines of Serena and Rei slowly start to 
take form. Rei sank down into the water and started to swim back to 
the other side of the thermal pool. 

"See you two in a bit," she called out as she left. 

Darian expected Serena to do the same and was surprised when she 
started to draw closer to him. The fog hadn't thinned enough to let 
Darian totally see her but he could see enough of her outline to know 
that the waterline was only up to her waist. 

"Uh, Serena, you might want to get back down in the water," he said in 
a quiet tone as she reached out and hugged him. 

"Are you afraid of seeing me naked after all we talked about, Darian?" 
she said softly, brushing her lips against his. 

"Far from it, my love, but if I can see you, so can everyone else." He 
figured from how fast she sank into the water that she hadn't 
considered that. He smiled and kissed her forehead. "Another time, 
perhaps." 

The fog lifted enough for him to see her smile. "Another time." She 
gave him a quick hug before she swam off to the other side of the 
pool. He watched her go and noticed that the fog bank was now a slight 
haze that hid nothing. 

Tolaris and Ami were starting to swim away from each other and the 
other girls were already waiting on the opposite side. The Dragoon 
quickly reached the edge of the pool and a thick wall of fog arose, 
dividing the pool in half and again obscuring vision. 

Darian got out of the pool and immediately wished he hadn't. "Whoa, 
it's really cold out here! How come it wasn't this cold with the fog 
around?" 

Tolaris shrugged and climbed out. "I tried to keep the fog as warm as 
I could, so I guess that had something to do with it. Hold still," he 
said and a surprisingly hot wind swept across the area. The wind 
completely dried them off within minutes and they hurriedly dressed. 

"How long does it take you guys to dry off and get dressed?" Leda 
called out impatently from across the pool. 

"We're making sure we're dry so our underwear doesn't ride up our 
butts!" Tolaris yelled back. "And unlike you, we like wearing 
underwear for the simple reason that it prevents us from getting 
caught in our zippers." 

His statement was greeted with gales of laughter. "That sounds like 
the voice of experience," Mina said, still laughing. 

"Let's see you live as long as I have and not wind up doing it one 
morning when you're not fully awake." 

Leda chuckled. "Another reason to enjoy being female." 

"Until you have to see a gynecologist," Tolaris said pointedly. As he 
had expected, the laughter came to an abrupt halt. "See, we don't have 
to be put through stuff like that, but I think it evens out. Anyway, 
we're ready, so stay low just in case." 

Tolaris slowly walked around the perimeter of the pool, moving the 
wall of fog with him to keep it between him and the girls. He finally 
came to an area littered with piles of clothes. "I'd say this is it, 
wouldn't you?" he said to Darian as he sat down and faced away from 
the piles. 

"Yeah, I would think so." He sat down on the cold ground, also facing 
away from the thermal pool. He closed his eyes and said, "Ready when 
you are." 

The Dragoon nodded and started studying the landscape. "Okay, girls, 
go for it," he said and concentrated. Again the desert winds arose, 
whipping past the two guys and burning off the fog partition in 
seconds. 

There was a series of splashes as the girls climbed out of the pool 
and started drying off in the heat shield. "Oooh, this feels nice," 
Leda said with a smile in her voice. "Tolaris, are you going to make 
us use towels or will this dry us off by itself?" 

"You should be able to let the wind do the work, but don't spend too 
much time basking in it because it will dry your skin out. This is a 
desert wind, after all," he replied. 

"So, Rei," Mina said casually, "You learn anything from bouncing 
around between groups?" 

The priestess suddenly burst into a fit of coughing while Darian was 
suddenly grateful for the fact that none of them could see the 
expression on his face. "What.... What do you mean?" she said, still 
coughing. 

"Well, I know you listened in on Leda and myself for a time before you 
went elsewhere. You didn't come back so I figured you found something 
else to do. I could tell you when you arrived and when you left 
because of the waves you made while swimming." 

Rei managed to stop coughing. "Uhh.... Could we talk about this 
another time? We're not exactly in the best of sitations to discuss 
that." 

"Mina, do I want to bother asking what you did?" Ami asked. 

"Just getting Leda to finish what you started last night," Mina 
replied. "Stop glaring at me like that, Leda. You're the one who 
enjoys being blunt about everything." 

"But not about my sex life!" was the tart reply. 

"Whoa!" Darian said as he nearly fell over in shock. "Excuse me for 
interruping here, but would you care to explain that to me? It didn't 
sound quite right...." 

Leda sighed heavily. "I might as well get this over with. I'm bisexual 
and Mina's just unbelievably curious, and while we were in the pool I 
helped her alleviate the suffering caused by Ami's deliberate 
supercharging of her hormone levels." 

"What kind of suffering?" Serena asked quietly as she walked over and 
sat down next to Darian, fully dressed. 

"The kind where you're all worked up and no one to help you calm 
down," Mina said with a glare at Ami. 

"I really didn't need to know this," Darian moaned. 

"Darian, does Leda's preference for a bedmate really change who she is 
inside?" Tolaris said mildly, still studying the surrounding trees. 

"I.... I guess not," Darian said with a blush. 

"Then don't worry about it. It's a personal thing and that's all it 
is." 

"You seem to be taking this quite well," Mina commented to Tolaris. 

The Dragoon shrugged. "What can I say? I've been seeing this sort of 
thing for six centuries now and I'm used to it. There's very little in 
the way of sexual behavior that bothers me anymore. Not that I'd do 
most of it, mind you, but it doesn't mean a thing to me." 

"That's good," said Mina. "By the way, we're all dressed except for 
Leda here who's still playing in the wind." 

"Okay, okay," Leda grumbled, "I'll get dressed so we can go." 

"Don't get dressed on our account," Darian snickered. His comment 
earned him a slap on the head from Serena. "Hey, it was just a joke, 
meatball head." 

"It wasn't very funny," she said darkly. 

"Only if you're a guy," Tolaris grinned. He stopped grinning when Ami 
walked over and also smacked him on the head. "Calm down, love." 

"So, just out of curiosity," Mina said slowly, "When exactly are we 
going into Negaverse?" 

"What?" he said, almost forgetting that he wasn't allowed to turn 
around. "Ami, what did you tell them?" 

She bent down and kissed his ear. "Just that you were planning on 
going into the Negaverse soon and that I wanted to go with you." 

"Hey, if she's going in, she'll need some major backup," Leda said as 
she finished tying her shoes. "So if she goes, I go." 

"I'm curious to see what the Negaverse is like, since we didn't get 
the best of glimpses last time. Besides, I can't let those two have 
all of the fun," added Mina. 

Rei smiled. "And since we're a team, I'm going as well. Someone's got 
to keep those three out of trouble." 

Tolaris sighed and wondered where he went wrong. "Serena, I haven't 
heard anything from you about this. You're their leader. What do you 
think?" 

The blonde looked down at the ground. "Well, it is risky and I'm still 
not sure why we would be going, but Rei is right. We're a team and 
we'll go together." 

The Dragoon nodded. "So be it, then." He looked over at Darian and 
gave him a weak grin. "What about Tuxedo Mask? You think you want to 
go with them to keep them out of my hair?" 

Darian smiled back. "Of course. Someone needs to make sure they'll 
come back in one piece." 

"Like we can't do that on our own," Serena pouted. 

"Weren't you just telling us this morning how the rest of the Sailor 
Scouts were killed?" Tolaris said pointedly. He was greeted with 
silence and he nodded. "Exactly. I want all of you to please think 
this over. All I'm doing is a simple cargo run and you don't need to 
come with me." 

"But I do," Ami said softly. "Tolaris, if you go alone and don't come 
back, I'll drive myself deathly ill with worry and will eventually go 
in there myself looking for you. But if I'm with you, I'll know what 
happens." 

"And the rest of us would go with her if she goes," Leda said. "I'm 
all dressed now, so we can go back to the cabin so I can get lunch 
started." 

Tolaris stood up and stretched. "Okay. One quick question for you, 
Leda. Why are you doing all of the cooking?" 

"Because I love cooking and want to be a chef in my own restaurant 
some day," she said with a smile. 

Tolaris shrugged. "Oh, okay. Everyone ready?" There were nods of 
assent all around as they grouped together and started walking back to 
the cabin. 

Halfway though the trip, Ami started yawning. "Oh, my," she said after 
spending the last two minutes yawning, "I think I'm going to need a 
nap." 

Leda gave her a curious look. "I see.... And what have you been doing 
that's got you so exhausted?" she said with a grin. 

"Did the fog stay in place?" Tolaris asked her. 

"Yeah...." 

"Then it's not what you think. Neither my concentration nor my 
attention span can handle both." He laid a hand on Ami's shoulder and 
squeezed. "Come on, dear, stay awake long enough for us to get back 
and I'll tuck you in." 

Ami smiled and leaned against him. "Only if you come with me." 

"So much for this afternoon's sunny forecast," Mina quipped. 

Tolaris shot her a reproving look. "Be nice, Mina. I won't be staying 
here much longer. I need to get to the cathedral so I can start my 
work and I was planning on asking Darian for a ride there." 

"No problem," said Darian. "I just need to get my jeep out of this 
snow before we can go anywhere." 

The Dragoon laughed. "Easily taken care of. It's days like this where 
I truly appreciate being able to control the weather." He looked up as 
the trail ended ahead of them. "Looks like we're here already." 

"Good," Serena said with a hand over her stomach. "I'm starting to get 
hungry again." Her words were soon followed by the soft sounds of a 
growling stomach. 

"Here we go again...." Darian sighed. 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

"Okay, here's the general plan," Tolaris told the group as they ate 
lunch. "Come down to the cathedral either Friday night or Saturday 
morning, depending on when you can. We'll spend the entire day 
Saturday planning and practicing our strategies. We all get a good 
night's sleep on Saturday and on Sunday we go in. I'm already setting 
into motion a snow storm that will blanket the entire city Sunday 
morning so you won't have to worry about missing school or anything on 
Monday if we have to spend the night in the Negaverse. Anyone have any 
sort of problem or objections with this plan?" 

Ami suddenly blinked. "Oh, I almost forgot we have school tomorrow! I 
need to study for my physics exam after I fix my computer, if I can. 
Thanks for reminding me, dear," she said as she leaned over and kissed 
his cheek. 

The Dragoon shrugged. "It was unintentional, but you're welcome. As I 
was saying, does anyone have anything they'd like to say about this?" 

"Aside from I can be there Friday night, nothing," Leda said. 

"What about Luna and Artemis?" Mina asked. "You know they're going to 
have a serious fit about this." 

"Oops, I forgot about them," Serena said, her eyes wide. "And I think 
you're right about their reactions. Man, Luna is going to kill me...." 

"Can't we just bring them along?" said Rei. 

Tolaris frowned. "Can they fight well?" 

Leda snickered. "Not as well as they'd like to think." 

"Then I'm afraid they'll have to remain behind. I've never met 
Artemis, but Luna doesn't strike me as the kind of cat that would be 
useful in combat." 

"Are we expecting a fight, then?" Darian asked as he sipped his 
coffee. 

"If we're taking seven people into the Negaverse in a group, we're 
bound to run across a strike team or two. My information is 
out-of-date, but even a routine border patrol team would pose a 
serious threat to us. As I said, I'll need to update my information 
once I get to the cathedral." 

"Which we should get going," Darian said as he looked at his watch. "I 
have to go to work in a few hours and I want to go home and change 
first." 

The Dragoon nodded. "I'm ready whenever you are." 

"You have to say good-bye to me first," Ami pouted. 

Darian chuckled. "And how long will that take?" 

Ami shrugged. "Ideally, forever, but we don't have that long so I'll 
just have to keep it short." She stood up and gave Tolaris a very 
passionate kiss. 

Leda smirked and went into the kitchen, taking several dirty dishes 
with her. Rei deemed it necessary to start sorting her ward collection 
while Mina studied a chip in her nail. Serena closed her eyes and 
leaned against Darian who was busy draining his cup of coffee. 

Ami eventually let go of Tolaris and sat back down. "Try not to work 
too hard, dear," she said with a smile. 

Tolaris smiled back and stood up. "Believe it or not, I try not to." 
He bent down and kissed her on the cheek before turning to Darian. 
"Ready?" 

Darian nodded and stood up. "Of course." He turned to Serena and gave 
her a quick hug. "I'll call you sometime after school, Serena. Thanks 
again for lunch, Leda, and I'll see you all on Saturday." 

There was a round of good-byes as the two guys left. After the door 
had closed, Mina looked around the table. "So, we've got nine hours 
until the bus comes to take us back. What should we do until then?" 

"I think sitting in the thermal pool is out," said Rei. "I'm still 
just a bit waterlogged from this morning. Were we really in there for 
two hours?" 

Leda came back into the room with a fresh pot of coffee and sat down. 
"I looked at the clock and Tolaris wasn't kidding. Time flies when 
you're having fun." 

"Some more than others," Serena said, looking down at the remains of 
her lunch. She picked through a half-eaten sandwich in search of 
leftover bacon. "Mina, I think we need to have another talk today 
about what went on." 

"No problem. Judging from the look on your face, Rei, I take it you 
want in on this one as well?" Mina said. 

The priestess nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. I already talked with Darian 
and Serena about a few things, but there's a whole lot more that I 
need to have explained to me." 

Ami blinked and yawned. "You'll have to count me out for this one. I'm 
going to take a nap before I finish fixing my computer and start 
studying." 

Rei smiled. "Is being electrocuted all that tiring?" she said and 
watched as Ami blushed a dark shade of crimson. Three sets of eyebrows 
arched at the statement and Mina gave Ami a sly grin. 

"Anything you want to tell us?" the blonde said. 

"Only that I'd hate to be on the wrong end of a lightning bolt," Ami 
said as she stood up, still blushing. "Thanks for lunch, Leda. I'll 
see you all after I'm finished studying." She waved and headed off to 
her room. 

"What about you, Leda?" Mina asked the brunette. "You want to join 
this little discussion?" 

Leda sighed and stood up. "No thanks. I've got to get these dishes 
taken care of before I start dinner. Anyone have any problems with 
eating garden salads and chicken soup tonight?" 

"Can you throw in a cake for dessert?" Serena said, drooling slightly. 

Leda smiled. "Of course. What kind?" 

"Chocolate," chorused Mina, Rei, and Serena. 

The brunette laughed as she gathered the rest of the dishes together. 
"I think I can make a nice, fluffy chocolate cake for dessert," she 
said and went off into the kitchen. 

"So," Mina said as she poured herself a fresh cup of coffee. "Where do 
you think we should begin?" 

"Start with your curiosity," Rei said, sipping her herbal tea. 

"That's easy enough," Mina said and started to speak.... 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Tolaris looked up from his work as he caught motion out of the corner 
of his eye. "Hello there," he said to the black cat. "You're Luna, 
right?" 

Luna nodded. "So you do remember me, Commander Sterling. Do you mind 
if we had a talk for a bit?" she said as she slowly walked into the 
room. 

Tolaris got out of the chair and sat down on the floor. "By all means, 
please do. I was wondering when you would get around to hunting me 
down. I take it you want to talk about our plan to enter the 
Negaverse?" 

She sat down across from him and sighed quietly. "Actually, no. I was 
going to bring that point up tomorrow afternoon when everyone was 
here." 

"That would be a good time. Where is everyone, by the way?" 

"Ami is in a computer class right now, Rei is busy with her work at 
the temple, and Serena is busy doing detention for being late to 
class. Again. Artemis and Mina are out doing something and Leda should 
be getting here rather shortly. As for Darian, I think he's working 
late tonight so he's sleeping, but I'm not sure." 

The Dragoon nodded. "I was just curious. What did you want to talk to 
me about?" 

Luna stretched and settled down for a long talk. "I just wanted to 
find out what your intentions were with regard to Ami." She looked up 
and gave him a glare that was pure venom. "That, and to hear your 
explanation as to why she is no longer a virgin." 

Tolaris smiled. "Luna, my intentions are simple: I am going to love 
her with all my heart, and when she's old enough, I'm going to ask her 
to marry me. I know she's only fifteen now and I'm seven hundred 
twenty-four, but love goes along way. Surely you can understand that." 

The cat nodded. "Yes, I can. Now about the other matter...." 

Tolaris held up his hands. "I was under orders." 

Luna blinked in surprise. "What? And just whose orders were they?!" 
she demanded. 

"The god Mercury's. You can take it up with him, if you like." 

She gave him a very suspicious look. "I see...." she said slowly. "Can 
you tell me exactly how you were ordered to?" 

Tolaris told her of how he had borrowed Ami's Mercury Wand and prayed 
for divine intervention, and what occurred between him and the god. 
When he was finished, Luna reluctantly agreed that it indeed was 
Mercury. 

"I've heard of such divine communication before, back in the Moon 
Kingdom. I've never actually seen it, but Queen Serenity said she had 
several times." She sighed and felt older than usual. "He could at 
least have warned me about it before I chewed her out. Poor thing." 

"To be honest, I don't think she knew about it either," Tolaris 
admitted. 

"So she thinks you seduced her?" Luna said with another glare. 

"Actually, she put quite an effort into seducing me...." 

The cat was silent for several seconds as her heart threatened to quit 
on her. "Oh sure, Queen Serenity, I'll keep the princess and her court 
out of trouble," she said to no one in particular. "I'm beginning to 
regret taking this job." 

"That's what my mother said when I was growing up," Tolaris said with 
a soft smile. "They're older and more mature than you think, Luna. Ami 
knew what she was doing, probably more so than I did." 

Luna sighed. "I figured as much, but it's hard not to react as a 
mother would. After all, I did promise their mothers I would watch 
over them as they grew to maturity and beyond." She sighed again and 
stood up, stretching as she did so. 

"Commander, I believe you when you say you love Ami, but I just want 
it made clear that if you hurt her in any way, shape, or form, I will 
personally come after you with all of the rage only a mother could 
wield." 

Tolaris smiled. "Luna, if I should hurt Ami, you will have to stand in 
line as I belive I will be busy contending with four other Sailor 
Scouts and quite possibly Tuxedo Mask first." 

Luna smiled at the image. "Just so we understand each other, 
Commander." 

"That we do, Luna." He blinked and yawned quietly. "If you'll excuse 
me, I think I'm ready to go to bed. I haven't slept in two days 
because I've been busy going through Nephlyte's computer database. I 
think I've found what I was looking for, and more." 

"Will everything be ready for tomorrow?" she asked. 

"Yes." He yawned again and stood up. "My apologies, Luna, but I'm 
really getting tired. When Leda gets here, tell her to just make 
herself at home but don't touch either the astroglobe or anything that 
looks like a giant crystal." 

Luna nodded. "What's the astroglobe?" 

"The star mosaic in the central hallway. I think it's activated by a 
set of controls on the wall, but I'm not sure." 

"I'll be sure to tell her. Sleep well, Commander Sterling.... and 
thank you for talking to me about Ami." 

Tolaris smiled. "You're quite welcome, Luna. Take care." 

The cat nodded her head once. "See you tomorrow," she said and left. 

The Dragoon closed the door after her and quickly got ready for bed. 
He laid down on the soft bed, thinking about what tomorrow would bring 
and the trials they would soon face the day after. 

I guess we'll just have to find out, he thought to himself as his body 
fell asleep and he slid into a comfortless world of sleep and dreams. 

Onwards to Part 4


Back to Sailor Moon V: The Dark Adventures of the Sailor Scouts Index - Back to Sailor Moon Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction