Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Eternal City:Crystal Tokyo ❯ Chapter 13

Eternal City, Crystal Tokyo: Part Thirteen

Here be monsters...

Ami Mizuno frowned up at the man who was following just behind her, "I thought I gave express orders not to be followed?"

The green haired man shrugged slightly in return, the katana that he usually carried over his shoulder shifting a bit. "I also received express orders from Lady Mars to go with you," Saionji Kyouichi explained to her cheerfully. He gave her a wry look, "Do you really thing I'm going to try and argue with her?"

Ami had to smile slightly, "I suppose not." She looked over at the weapon he carried, "How's the new alloy for your blade working?"

"Quite well, Lady Mercury," Saionji answered.

Ami stopped so suddenly that the taller man nearly bumped right into her. "We've known each other for nearly a thousand years now," she sighed, "so surely you could call me something a bit less formal, Saionji!"

"Of course, Mercury-sama," Saionji's lips twitched, fighting back a smile.

"Arrgh," Ami wheeled around, striding off.

Saionji smiled, speeding up a bit to keep up with her. Teasing Ami was one of the things he rather enjoyed, honestly, and it was something he had done for her down through the years. Her first degree, when she became a doctor, and all her other titles down through the years. It was an old game, and one her rather expected they both enjoyed.

"So where, exactly, are we going?" Saionji asked, looking around them at the bleak, rocky heights they walked through cautiously. Ami had teleported them out there from the Palace, and he didn't see any landmarks around them.

"To see someone," Ami answered him quietly.

"Visiting an old friend?" Saionji asked.

"Not exactly." A grim little smile appeared on Ami's face, "The last time we met, she tried her very best to kill me."

Saionji looked down to see if she was joking with him, but he saw no trace of humor on her face. He reached up to adjust the sword over his shoulder to make drawing it a little easier as he asked, "Do you think her attitudes have changed?"

"I'm not expecting it," Ami admitted, "but I'm obligated to approach her. It's partially the Senshi's fault she's in the position she's in."

"Who, exactly, are we dealing with?" Saionji asked seriously.

"Jun," Ami said softly, "the Devilman Lady."

Saionji looked down at her in honest disbelief. The Devilman Lady had almost acquired an mythic status over the years, and he knew her story pretty well. While the Senshi were facing a crisis in time itself, the Lady had fought valiantly against a small army of humanoid monsters in Tokyo. Without her knowledge she was manipulated by the dangerous Asuka, and had only been able to stop her tormentor at great cost.

"How can she still be alive?" Saionji blinked.

"Her body has an incredible regenerative factor," Ami answered softly, "it's held off the effects of time, as well as protected her from injury." Their steps brought them to the base of a sheer cliff, "We'll have to climb from here."

"Climb," Saionji echoed as he looked up at the gray stone face, feeling the wind begin to pick up around them. "Rei, you're going to owe me a great deal for this," he muttered to himself softly as they began to ascend.

Ami climbed easily, her blue visor appearing in front of her eyes. With unerring precision she found the secure handholds, her path guiding Saionji on up. The wind rattled them a few times, but after a moment's rest they would continue onward. Finally, the two reached a large shelf, and just beyond a cave disappearing into the cliffside.

"I want you to stay out here," Ami crisply ordered him, all the while expecting what his response to that would be.

"I can't do that," Saionji shrugged.

Ami looked at him, her expression more worried that angry, "I don't know if I can protect both of us from her!"

Saionji actually smiled slightly, "I'd be more worried about her."

"You haven't fought her before," Ami muttered. She sighed, "If you won't see reason, I guess we'll have to go in."

"That isn't necessary," the cold voice said quietly. She walked out of the cave dressed in simple clothes, a plain tunic and pants, her long brown hair flowing behind her. She gave Ami a cold glance, "You aren't welcome here, Mizuno."

Ami met those dark eyes, relieved to see the madness and grief that once filled them was gone. But in it's place was a cold rage, one that she feared would be as resistant to reason as the madness had been. "It's vital that I speak to you," Ami said quietly.

Jun moved like a shot, the transformation overtaking her. Dark fur swiftly covered her form, her hair raising up into stylized bat wings as muscle bulked up her entire body. With an inhuman strength she hammered Ami into the stone wall, her hand on the smaller girl's throat, "Leave here!" A chill at the base of Jun's throat distracted her from her rage, and she looked down to see the silver of a sword blade being held there.

Saionji smiled grimly at her, "Let Ami go, right now. I don't know if your regenerative abilities can handle a decapitation, but I wouldn't risk it."

'I never even saw him draw,' Jun noted as she eased her grip on Ami's throat. "Leave here," she said coldly, "I'm not interested in what you're selling."

"I know you're angry at the Senshi," Saionji frowned at her, "but you should at least listen to what she has to say."

Jun looked at him curiously, her long hair flowing around her as she quietly asked, "Do you understand what she did to me, boy?"

"I know the Senshi were gone for a time, and that you were forced to watch over Tokyo all alone," Saionji looked at her in honest confusion.

"She didn't tell you," Jun laughed, a harsh, cold sound. "The research, the initial theories that Asuka used, they were all based on one thing. Professor Ami Mizuno's research into human/ animal splicing. Without her," Jun finished, "I wouldn't even exist."

As Saionji looked at her in shock, Ami leaned up against the wall, rubbing at her throat. "That's why I'm here," she said softly, "I think I can cure you."

Jun looked away as she bitterly asked, "And can you cure Katsumi, too? Or any of the others who were transformed?"

"No," Ami said to her softly. "But I've tried to understand how Asuka corrupted my work, and I think I've reverse engineered the virus they used."

Jun's gaze seemed to soften a bit. "No," she shook her head slightly, "it isn't necessary. I've adapted to what I am, I'm... content."

"Which is why you're living in a cave?" Saionji asked dryly.

Jun flashed a sudden smile, "It seems I still have fans, in both of my identities. At least out here, I am rarely visited."

"A few have managed it," Ami rubbed at her throat, the red mark already fading, "it's how I knew she was here." A breath, "Would you consider visiting Crystal Tokyo?"

Jun raised an elegant eyebrow, "And why would I want to do that."

"There are others like us," Ami answered, "who have lived a very long time. Over the past few weeks we've been gathering there, with more still to come." A slight smile, "At least around them, you might not feel so.. alone, anymore."

"I'll consider it," Jun finally said, disappearing into the darkness of her cave once again.

Characters in this Episode: Ami Mizuno is from Sailor Moon. Saionji is from Revolutionary Girl Utena. Finally, Jun is from Devilman Lady (released in North America simply as Devil Lady).

Author's Notes: Jun mentions Katsumi, a girl she cared about, and possibly loved, in the Devilman Lady series. The connection between the Devilman Lady and Ami Mizuno's research is something I added, not from either series. When did Ami begin her studies on human/animal fusion? Probably while studying Luna and Artemis...