Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Power Of Fire ❯ Chapter 13

"Rei," whispered Ami as she shivered tiredly, her arms wrapped protectively around her with the blanket. Crawling closer to the still slumped form of Rei, Ami reached out to touch Rei's soft cheek, brushing it with her fingertips.

Shifting herself closer again Ami got a good look at Rei's body. There were three long, stitched up gashes on her stomach and the flimsy bandages still clung to her shoulders. Ami drew her eyebrows inwards, her fingers running carefully over the puckered, stitched skin. I never felt them before when we were… Thought Ami suddenly realising just how much attention she hadn't been paying.

Feeling the tears well in her eyes Ami pulled Rei's head upward, giving her a small but definite shake. As Rei's eyelids fluttered Ami wrapped the blanket tightly around Rei, blocking her from the cold.

Ami's eyes were wide, she didn't want to touch the bloody mess which was Rei's nose, frightened she might hurt her already tortured lover.

"Rei, please be okay," whispered Ami as the tears began to flow. You've been crying a lot lately, came Omani-Kaye's voice in her head, sounding curious. Ami shook her head angrily, willing the voice to leave her alone.

"Please, Rei. I can't do this alone," whispered Ami, her fingers brushing over Rei's cheeks as she pressed in close.

Rei's eyelids fluttered again, Ami continuing to give her short, firm shakes.

"Ami…" whispered Rei, trying to breath through her nose and grimacing at the obvious pain of the motion.

Ami pulled Rei into a soft embrace, murmuring over and over, "Please be alright, please be alright…"

"Ami…" whispered Rei again, finding more strength as she coughed several times, trying to right herself but finding it impossible with Ami's arms around her, "I know what's wrong…"

Ami's eyes screwed closed, her eyebrow furrowing as she pulled back to look at Rei's pained expression. "What do you mean?" asked Ami warily, she didn't want to find out.

"I know what happened…" whispered Rei as she pulled an arm up and held it on her nose, trying to see if it was broken.

"Rei, are you alright? Please don't…" tried Ami but Rei had already obstinately pushed her nose back into place, another small gush of blood pouring down onto her lips.

"Ami, I felt it. It's the same energy that I felt from that girl outside…" whispered Rei, pushing herself up against the wall more and suddenly remembering what had been happening only minutes before.

"What do you mean Rei?" asked Ami. She knew that Rei could sense evil, or she could at least feel it, like the way she could also feel the power of the soldiers, but there was nothing out of the ordinary about Omani-Kaye… nothing THAT out of the ordinary anyway.

"The energy, it felt like you only it was worse…" Rei tried to explain the best she could the feeling she had got off the girl but it was hard. It felt, to Rei, like it was Ami but like there was evil connected as well. She had felt the energy before, the other night when Ami had pushed her back and it had happened again; something didn't want Rei near Ami.

"Rei, you aren't making sense," said Ami, feeling the cold creep under the blanket as they finally heard the sounds of the storm outside. It sounded as though it were ripping the world apart, or at least trying to kill the mass population.

"Actually, I am. You can feel it too Ami, I know you can because you're scared of it," replied Rei, using her hands to shield her naked body, oddly aware that about 10 minutes ago it had been the last thing she had wanted to shield.

"But it's not me Rei!" exclaimed Ami, her tears stopping as a small wisp of rage hit her.

"It's part of you. Not this Ami," said Rei, putting a hand on Ami's raging heartbeat, "But some of it's you."

Ami was taken aback; she couldn't understand how Rei could think that any part of her body wouldn't want her's.

"But Rei… You don't think I did it… Not intentionally," whispered Ami as she again felt the exhausting rip of a sinkhole inside of her. Omani's scared… Thought Ami without really paying attention, she just felt the knowledge pass through her.

"No, you didn't do it intentionally. It's just something… it's all connected, I know it is," murmured Rei, unsure of what she really wanted to say.

Ami held herself back still, partly afraid because she knew Rei was right in some odd part of her mind, and also because as she saw Rei now she could also see just how much pain she had inflicted.

"Oh Rei," whispered Ami, trying to bring more distance between them, but Rei pulled her into a hug, the roughness of the stitches rubbing against Ami's own bare stomach.

As another loud 'thwack' entered into the early evening causing the electricity to cut out, turning the whole world into night.

"This storm is worse than the others," said Rei, wincing as she stood up, holding Ami as she did so.

"Do you think we should go see the others?" asked Ami worriedly, What if one of them was caught out in this freak weather?

"I think… I think we should go see Haruka and Michiru," whispered Rei, turning to look around at the mess of the clothes on the floor in the dim light that they still had from the lightning, "But I might need to borrow some clothes."

Ami was at a loss what to do, she had to find some candles and a lighter so that they could see properly but both her and Rei were wrapped up in the one blanket and even in the dim light she knew Rei would be able to perfectly see her.

"Ami," whispered Rei, looking down at the slightly shorter girl, worry in her voice as Ami stood their biting her lip, unsure of what to do.

Ami slowly let herself out of the blanket, the coldness attacking her body. It hadn't felt this cold when Rei and I were… Her thoughts trailed off, unable to even think about what they had done let alone what it had done to her.

Ami grabbed another blanket from the bed to wrap herself in and she heard Rei's laugh in the dark.

"We look like those Greek goddesses all wrapped up like this," joked Rei as she tied her's around her chest.

Ami turned to look and agreed that even though there were cuts on Rei's face, neck and chest, as well as the roughly managed bandage; Rei still looked like she had stepped out of a mythology book.

Ami blushed as it struck her that she knew what Rei looked like naked, the image planting itself in her mind causing her hands to quiver as she went to wardrobe and pulled out a few candles, setting them on her desk. Opening the draws, the shaking of her hands was easily heard as it rattled the locks in the draws. If Rei noticed, she didn't say anything; she had already begun to look through Ami's clothes for something to wear.

"Ah, Ami… Do you think you'd have underwear that'd fit me?" asked Rei, looking over her shoulder at Ami, seeming just as embarrassed as Ami was at the moment.

"I don't know, try the third draw down over there," said Ami point to an old chest of draws in the corner. Ami's breathing hitched as she heard Ami open the draw, rifling through her underwear. "Have you got some?" asked Ami as she found a lighter and lit the three candles she had previously found.

"Yeah," replied Rei as she shuffled about, trying to get them on without removing the blanket around her.

Ami waited until she was sure Rei was done, and using the sparkling light of the candles began to find herself some new underwear. I'm going to have to clean this after I get back, looking from the mess of clothes on the floor to the bed where a small, but very evident red stain sat on her white parlour sheets.

Blushing again, Ami pulled on her underwear; she could hear Rei dressing, letting out a small groan.

Ami looked over; Rei was trying to pull a top over her head with only her right hand, her left shoulder looking swollen. "Looks like the pain meds wore off," laughed Rei off-handedly, obviously trying to keep Ami from feeling guilty.

Walking over Ami helped Rei to pull the shirt over her head, being careful not to touch Rei's body as she did so. You prude… Interrupted Omani-Kaye's voice again, accompanied by a snicker as well.

Biting her lip Ami tried not to answer the voice out loud, turning back to continue getting dressed herself.

When Ami was finished she looked over at Rei who was sitting on the end of the bed, the blanket she had previously wrapped around sitting in a pile on her lap as Rei stared down at her hands.

"Rei… I'm sorry," whispered Ami automatically thinking she had done something wrong.

"Ami you've nothing to apologise for," replied Rei slowly as she hitched her legs up, crumpling the blanket between her body, resting her head on her knees.

Ami walked over and sat down next to her, taking one of Rei's hands in hers.

"We should probably go, the storm seems to have died down a little bit," said Rei as she planted a small kiss on Ami's blushing cheek.

 

~~~~~

 

Michiru stood in the rain, drenched through so thoroughly it felt like she might never be warm again.

"Haruka!" called out Michiru as she again caught the form of her lover stalking across the street. As the rain continued to thunder Michiru considering how insane she must look, the street was practically deserted except for her and Haruka.

"Just tell me what it is Michiru!" called back Haruka, as she finished crossing the road, turning around to face her lover.

"I don't know what there is to tell!" cried out Michiru, her own tears starting to mix with the rain.

"You do! Now tell me, or I'm going to keep walking and you'll be lucky if I come back," Haruka pursed her lips, she knew she would never go through with the threat but Michiru didn't, and Michiru also knew how hard and fast Haruka could run if given the chance. "Please just tell me Michiru!" pleaded Haruka, she hated having distance between them, she wanted to shelter Michiru as she stood in the middle of the road, sopping wet in the rain and probably catching a cold.

"I don't know what you want me to tell you," cried out Michiru, her tears evident in her voice as her knees buckled slightly as she suddenly felt a wave of nausea knock her back.

"You do Michiru!" replied Haruka angrily. She could tell in the way Michiru talked that she was careful with her words and it was driving Haruka insane, they had used to find it so easy to tell each other anything.

"I swear Haruka! I swear I have nothing to tell you!" screamed Michiru, her own anger igniting as she felt one of her legs give out, sending her plummeting to the ground painfully.

"Swear that you aren't hiding anything from me," called back Haruka, her hands clenched into fists as she fought the urge to go and help Michiru.

"I… I swear… I just… Haruka please!" cried Michiru, the nausea coming on stronger as she felt the magnetism that had always held her and Haruka together slowly evaporate.

"No," replied Haruka obstinately, her whole body somehow reacting to the air, as if it was shifting, she didn't feel connected to Michiru anymore; she was now connected to someone else, and they were close-by.

Michiru collapsed onto the ground completely, no longer fighting the nausea that only seemed to roll her stomach, the black abyss inside her opening up again and a torrent of thoughts rushing into her mind. They don't deserve this world… I hope they drown it… I've got to wash away… Wash away all the sins… Kill them… Destroy them… Cleanse the world… Break their city… Break their corruption… Break their souls…

The dead emotions that flooded her body almost left her speechless as the evil, vindictiveness of the unknown voice rattled her mind. Pressing her hands on either ear, Michiru tried to drown the words out, terrified because she knew that in some way it was her fault.

Let them drown… Hear the thunder… See the lightning… Feel the rain… Let them drown… LET THEM DROWN!

Michiru screamed out, stopping the raging Haruka in her tracks. The sound that had escaped her was something between despair and torture, it had rose horridly and then dropped down low; it sounded like defeat; it sounded like suicide.

Haruka barely realised what she was doing as she crouched down beside Michiru, the few people in the street instantly finding refuge from the storm and the girl collapsed in the street.

"NO!" screamed out Michiru, her voice turning guttural until it sounded nothing like her.

"Michiru, look at me!" screamed Haruka, trying to get Michiru to come back.

Michiru slowly opened her eyes, but only the whites of them were what met with Haruka.

"Michiru!" cried out Haruka as she again felt the tugging, the urge inside her to follow the unknown force.

"Let them drown… Hear the thunder… See the lightning… Feel the rain… Let them drown…" Michiru's voice was hoarse as she repeated the words in her head, over and over, the whites of her eyes still the only thing that Haruka could find.

"Please Michiru…" pleaded Haruka, bowing her head against Michiru's, dragging her ragged lips over her lover's.

Michiru's body lurched, pushing Haruka off and flinging her through the air and right into the telegraph pole on the other side of the street. Haruka's back arched on impact and a gurgled scream of agony came from her throat as she too slumped onto the ground. The last thing Haruka saw was Michiru's eyes roll back, the horrible tortured expression imprinting itself in her mind as unconsciousness carried her away.

Michiru slumped forward, her head making a loud 'thwack' on the cement as her body gave out.

 

~~~~~

 

Samson stood in the shadows watching as the soldiers fell to their own power. "Weaklings," he murmured as he turned to the man beside him, grabbing onto his hand tightly.

"What do you think Furo?" asked Samson, giving his lover's hand a tight squeeze.

"Ripe for the picking," replied Furo-Ien as he stepped forward, a small smirk present on his face as he made the action of lifting his hand up, Haruka's face raising as he did so.

"But we still have to find the others," growled Samson angrily…

"We've already got four of us, that means there is only half to go and they can't be that hard to find. They were born into this time just like us, it's just a matter of waiting for the call," replied Furo-Ien as he turned his back, pulling Samson as he began to walk off.

"Do you think it's alright leaving them like that? I would hate for one of them to die," considered Samson.

"We'd know if one of them was going to die. Anyway another one is coming as we speak so we better get moving if we don't want to be found out," said Furo-Ien as he walked into an alleyway, disappearing with the wind.