Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ It can't be! ❯ The world was grey ( Chapter 1 )

The world was grey, misty and all together too peculiar to be real. In a daze Ami spun around on the spot. Everything moved too slowly, like she was standing in a large vat of treacle. Where was she? Why did her ribs hurt so badly? And why, when she raised her hand to her eyes, did she feel tears?

Slowly the scene shifted around her and she saw a street. This street was familiar to her somehow, yet it was abstract and bizarre. Surely this was the street she had walked along a million times in her youth. There was the crown arcade where she had wiled away her time with her friends. The lampposts and street signs were there but they were impossibly large. If she tried to focus on one it would fade away and reappear somewhere else. In fact the only solid thing seemed to be the road in which she was standing. There were no cars on it and Ami knew that was wrong, there were always cars on this road.

A noise alerted her to another's presence, not another person, but a small cat. Not just any small cat, this was Luna, their Luna. Grinning Ami started towards her, something held her back though and her legs would not move. Frowning Ami tried to approach the situation logically but her brain would not focus on anything other than the small black cat now slowly crossing the road. A horn tooted and from nowhere a car materialised, it careened towards a startled Luna. Ami's eyes grew impossibly wide and she screamed for Luna to move, tried to activate her powers to freeze the cars wheels, but to no avail. As the car viciously smashed into the helpless cat and once again disappeared, realisation dawned on Ami.

It was happening again. Less than two days ago Ami had been at the hospital where she was a junior doctor, she was just finishing up surgery on a deep gash, putting in the stitches when a vision had hit her. Now the same vision was repeating itself. Was it possible she had died and was now in hell, being forced to relive the saddest moments in her life again and again?

Ami returned her attention Luna's lifeless form, just as before she now saw a grief stricken Usagi kneeling by her guardian's side. Usagi began to sob as she stroked Luna's reddened fur. Luna was still breathing but barely. A hand came to rest on Usagi's shoulder, Rei's. After a few moments and a few more tears a resolute look settled on Usagi's face. Gently cupping her hands over her chest she called forth the ginzuishou and set its healing powers to work.

Over the last six years or so they had all become experienced in using some of their basic powers without transforming, so the small feat of healing Luna took very little out of Usagi. However this extra skill did not help Usagi in what was to happen next.

A random man materialised from the mist. He regarded Usagi and the healed Luna, who was purring and rubbing herself on Usagi's legs, first with fear and mistrust and finally anger. From nowhere and too quickly to comprehend he pulled out a handgun. Raised it to eye level and fired. Usagi heard the noise and looked up before she registered the pain in her ribs. The bullet hit just below her breastbone and shattered a rib. She looked down and saw the blood oozing from her pale blue blouse and looked up at the man with a questioning gaze. He was yelling something about mutants, filthy mutants --Who didn't deserve to live. Usagi never got to question him as her eyes glazed over and she sank to the floor in a heap.

Rei who was beside Usagi collapsed next and all through out the city of Tokyo the rest of the senshi collapsed too and were subjected to the vision of Usagi being forced into a coma. The wave from Usagi reached out and hit Ami in a hospital in Sendai. Then it spread, to Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru, wherever they were, next to Mamoru in Michigan USA, where he had stayed to teach physics to fellow University students. If it reached Setsuna in the mysterious realm of the time gates Ami did not know. She and the other inner senshi recovered as soon as the vision had played out in their minds. Poor Rei who had seen the shooting was forced to live through Usagi's nadir twice.

Ami and her fellow inner senshi had all been drawn inexplicably to their Princess' side. Once Ami had recovered she had left the hospital in a trance. The angry, confused shouts of her colleagues and superiors had followed her all the way to her car.

Ami had not arrived until the following day. Usagi was in the hospital by then, hooked to all of the machinery that was supposed to keep her alive. It all looked too terrifyingly real. As Ami entered the hospital room she found she was able to think rationally again and the machines that bleeped and wheezed looked so strange to her, despite their familiarity. They all knew how absurd it was that Usagi should be struck down by something so real as a human with a gun. Not a monster or a mythical beast, they could have handled that. Maybe even understood it, this they could not.

In the misty, grey world Ami relived the sorrow of seeing her best friend comatose. The walls faded away and all she could see were the inner senshi, her friends. For some reason they appeared just as coloured blobs. Orange and gold for Minako, green and brown for Makoto and so on. She spoke with them as she had before.

There had been no word from Mamoru, or the outers. They had not been drawn to Usagi it appeared. It was to be expected Ami explained, they, the inner senshi were Usagi's guardians. The outers probably thought they had had some kind of psychotic episode, they would not know that the vision was real. The psychic link they all shared was not as strong with them. But Mamoru was a different story. Since they had realised their destiny he had always had the strongest connection with Usagi, yet he had not even called. Even Ami did not have an explanation for that.

They were all scared by the strength of the link. The fact that they had all collapsed when Usagi was hurt made them wonder what else it could have caused. What if one of them had been driving when it happened? That was when the fear turned to anger and guilt. They were her protectors and here Usagi was, dying and there they were, worrying about themselves. Ami almost expected it when the finger of blame was passed on to her.

It was the same arguments as before. Of course she should pursue her career, of course she could have a life. But she should have it in Tokyo, with Usagi, not 600 miles away in the rural town of Sendai. An uneasy silence had fallen. The grey world started to fade until all she could see was Usagi's stricken face, tubes coming out of her nose and mouth, her hair messy, her eyes closed, hardly fluttering at all.

***

The misty world started to smell strange. It made Ami want to cough. This was it, she really was in hell and now the whole scene was about to replay and once more she would be helpless to do anything. Funny though, the smell wasn't sulphur, it didn't smell like hell was supposed to.

The smell was getting stronger and now the world wasn't grey it was black. God the smell it was too much. Ami scrunched her eyes and tried to exhale the scent. She coughed and spluttered.

Ami's eyes flew open as she coughed and she turned her head to the side to gasp in air. She blinked a few times as she realised she was no longer in the misty world. In fact she was looking at a white washed wall. There were bright electric lights overhead and standing over her was a man.

*****

"Ami Mizuno, Welcome. I am colonel Trask. I must apologise for your predicament but it is imperative that we protect you, a promising young woman, from the mutant threat that is Miss Usagi Tsukino."

Ami glared at him. She remembered the men grabbing her. It made her hate this man immediately. So did his words - mutant. That word again the man in the vision, and the dream she had just had, had used that word. She vaguely recalled something about it that had come through from American research. Adolescents, who developed some sort of powers, and this man thought Usagi was one. Ami went to stand but found she had been bound to her chair. She glared daggers.

"Ah, yes, the restraints. A necessary precaution whilst we run some tests to assure you are one of us. I am from a special agency within the US government dedicated to exposing, and where necessary eradicating the mutant threat." Trask spoke English so it was a good job Ami was fluent. Otherwise she might not have been quite as angry.

"Usagi-chan is not a mutant! How dare you! Let me go, you have no jurisdiction here!"

"Ah, but Miss Mizuno we have CCTV footage of her using mutant powers, furthermore, these powers are the same exhibited by the vigilante you know here as `Sailor moon'. Of course until now Sailor moon's appearance has been unknown to us. But with the evidence we received from your own government we were able to make the connection. There is no use denying it."

He paused to bend to her eye level. His tone was condescending, as though he thought Ami were a two year old who could not understand what he was saying.

"Miss Mizuno, Mutants are a very real threat. They are dangerous and uncontrollable. For the safety of mankind it is our duty to put them in secure colonies where they no longer pose a threat to the ordinary citizens of this world. Why just a few months ago a group of mutants nearly destroyed a city. Miss. . . Ami. We need your help to get to Usagi Tsukino. For her own safety as well as the world's."

*****

"That'a girl Usagi, I knew you could do it." Rei smiled at her sleeping friend. Small tears formed in the corners of her eyes and trailed a path down her nose, dropping from its tip onto the hand that was clutching Usagi's. The doctors had just switched of the respirator, Usagi was breathing by herself now. It had been exactly nine hours since Ami had left and almost 42 since Usagi had been shot. The doctors had removed the bullet and stitched up the wound, now the ginzuishou was fixing the rest. Ah but how slowly.

Rei gently stroked Usagi's hand. Running her fingertips over Usagi's perfect nails, making sure they were smooth and didn't need any more filing or buffing. Rei hadn't left her Princess' side since it had happened. She felt so guilty. She had been with Usagi when it happened and what had she done? She'd stared in shock and cried, sank to her knees in despair as Usagi fell. She had cradled Usagi's lap in her head, tried to stop the bleeding, checked that she was still alive. Wished that she were Ami so at least she wouldn't feel so helpless. Then her world had gone black and she had passed out.

At first she thought it was from shock and all she could think was that her best friend was dead and she would never see her again. Until the terror that was watching Usagi get shot had started again. She had cried for all she was worth as the bullet hit. The look on Usagi's face as the pain exploded in her chest had been almost too much to bear. . .

Rei snapped back to reality. It did her no good to keep reliving it.

*****

It was odd. Usagi could see and hear Rei-chan, but Rei didn't seem to be able to see or hear her. It was annoying. For about the tenth time Usagi waved her hands in front of Rei's face. "Darn it Rei. Look at me!" Usagi flicked Rei's nose. The nose a tear had just fallen off of. Usagi's hand did not pass through Rei's nose; Usagi could see no reason Rei couldn't feel her poking and prodding but then, she wasn't the clever one. Next time she'd make sure Ami got turned invisible.

It was kind of cool, this out of body thing. Sure at first it had been scary to sit up in bed and have no one see you. The doctors had just turned off the breathing machine thing when she woke up, so for about the last 10 minutes Usagi had been in this invisible state. When she'd first seen her body laying there she'd worried she was dead. She'd tried to stand on the edge of the bed and jump into the light bulb, her brain had reasoned she needed to go into the light. But then she realised the irritating bleeping coming from the machine she had just told to `shut up' was a heart monitor. That definitely meant she was alive. Usagi had then proceeded to try and get Rei (the only other person in the room) to notice her.

With a sigh she gave up. Rei was day dreaming about something anyway, she wasn't paying any attention.

Usagi knew she had been shot. She remembered that clearly. In fact her ribs still hurt where the bullet had hit. Usagi sighed and flopped onto the bed, arms folded sternly in Rei's direction. "Come on Rei. You're supposed to be psychic. I know you're sad and everything but I really don't feel like being miss invisible for much longer. If you know I'm ok you wont be sad any more. So look up. . . now." Nothing happened. Well, Rei sniffed quite loudly. "Now." Usagi snapped her fingers in Rei's face. Nope, that didn't work.

"What I really need is Ami-chan…" Usagi didn't notice her surroundings change to a small room with white walls and a heavy metal door. "She would so know what to d- Huh?"

Usagi looked around her. Where in the world was she now? Where'd Rei go?

"Uh. . ." Usagi frowned. Then raised an eyebrow. This was certainly -- new. It was then that she realised she wasn't alone in the room. A man was muttering something and putting on a pair of white gloves. But something that really made her heart flutter with joy was the welcome sight of Ami. Ami, tied to a chair, and with a rather large bruise on her cheek. Usagi fumed.

"Hey, You jerk what are you doing to my friend!" Usagi strode up to him. If she was visible she would be about two inches from his face. She stood on tiptoes and raised her chin to yell at him. "No-one hurts my friends! Leave Ami alone!"

Frustratingly this man didn't seem to see or hear her either.

"Miss Mizuno. You are beginning to try my patience. With or without your cooperation a revolution is upon us. We have means of getting what we want. However, with your help the removal of Miss Tsukino will go a lot smoother. So again I ask, what do you know about her powers?"

Ami looked Trask in the eye and said simply: "No." His pretence at friendliness melted and he slapped her hard across her cheek with the back of his gloved hand. Tears escaped her closed eyelids as her head whipped to the side. Usagi was incredulous. Her mouth opened from shock. Ami was being hurt because of her. What did this evil American man want with her?

Trask was saying something again, Usagi was too busy being alarmed to catch it all but she did hear something about mutants. Oh boy did she know *that* word. It was what the man who shot her had yelled as he pulled the trigger. What did it mean though? Ami obviously knew, Ami always knew things like that. The man hit Ami again, for apparently no reason.

Usagi let out a sob with Ami. "Stop it! Can't you see you're hurting her! Ami, Ami just transform and freeze his privates off, please Ami-chan, stop being stubborn and brave and just let him have it." Her words had no effect. Usagi growled and threw her hands up in agitation.

"This is no good. How am I supposed to help if no one can see me! I need to find someone who can sense me or someth-" Usagi stopped mid sentence. For some reason she was now standing in what looked decidedly like a small metal aeroplane. People were seated in padded chairs, their safety assured by the belts around their waists. Usagi could hear the distinctive noise of an engine. She was standing right in front of a girl with pretty red hair and dressed in a black and green jumpsuit. The girl jumped and gave a small startled scream. Much to Usagi's jubilation the girl was staring right at her. Usagi clapped her hands and grinned.

"You can see me! This whole moving to where I wanna go thing is very cool! You have to help me, my friend's in trouble!"

Jean Grey raised a carefully sculptured eyebrow and looked towards Scott who was sitting next to her. He was staring right through the blonde girl standing in front of her. Jean turned back to the girl.

"Hey, you're one of them!"

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A.N. It's so much easier to spot errors when it isn't your own writing so let me know if you spot any. Thanks to all the lovely reviewers.

Next time: Will Usagi find a way to help Ami? What are the x-men doing? Will Usagi get back into her body?

As always constructive criticism is very welcome, how else will I know where I'm going wrong? Do you think this is going to slowly, was it confusing, boring etc. please let me know using the review button down there *points*. I'm still looking for an editor if you would like to help me out.