In the midst of her sobs, Ami could barely hear two shouts: "Venus Power... Jupiter Power... Make-up!" Only a few seconds later, a kick threw the door open, and in the opening stood Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus. When the dust was dissipated, they saw her dearest friend lying on the floor, her hands covering her face, crying. None of them noticed the flowers, or the dark shadow that was hiding behind the curtains.

They run to her, and Jupiter took her in her arms, trying to soothe her sadness. She rocked her back and forth, just like her mother used to. The young princess started sobbing in her shoulder, grabbing her like a life savior. Jupiter looked at Venus, and said: "Call the Queen and the other Senshi. This is serious."

The blond nodded, and flew to the Queen's quarters. She ran through hallways and corridors, nearly crashing one or two servants. Her Majesty was still awake, and talking to her daughter. As the Senshi of Venus entered the room, they both looked at her face, and knew this was important.

"What is it, Lady Venus? And why are you transformed?" asked the governor of the Silver Millenium.

"Yeah," echoed a voice really similar to the first, but and octave higher, "what's up, Ven?"

Minako gasped for breath, and said: "Queen Serenity, you should follow me immediately. There's been an incident in Lady Mercury's quarters." The gravity in her voice was enough to make even the Moon Princess serious, and Sailor Venus headed back to her friend's room, followed by a woman and a girl with the same hairstyle.

When they arrived at Mercury's, they saw that Lady Mars had also checked in, and was trying to avoid the curious mass of people gathered in the door trying to enter the room. Everything went silent as the Queen approached, and spoke: "I appreciate your caring for the Mercury princess, but your presence is no longer required. You may leave now."

Concern could be easily distinguished in Queen Serenity's voice, and the crowd disappeared within seconds. Then, they entered the room, and closed the door behind them. Inside, there was a still sobbing Mercury, and Lady Jupiter was still trying to calm her down. However, her despair was so big, that nothing seemed to work.

Looking around, the Queen noticed the large amount of white roses in the room, and how, one by one, they began to turn black. They shone a couple of seconds, then slowly started to drift to darkness, until they were totally black. However, she failed to notice the shadow, too.

Kneeling near to the pair of friends, the Queen said: "Lady Mercury, what happened?" The young girl tried to answer, but her body didn't respond her. Princess Serenity also sat down, and said: "Mercury-chan, don't worry. We are here now. Nothing can hurt you anymore." Her voice was caring and worried, and made her stop crying. She slowly let go of Jupiter, nervousness dominating her. Her eyes were still watery, and looked around as if looking for someone.

Queen Serenity, seeing that the princess had calmed down a bit, asked again, now using a motherly tone, and a name only the occupants of the room knew: "Ami, it's Ok now. Can you tell us what happened?"

Lady Mercury stroked her eyes, and washed the tears away. She was about to answer, when a low whisper came to her ears: "Remember, if you tell anyone, I will kill you, and the one you told." Her heart stopped beating, and a cold breeze made her shiver. Looking to the window, she saw the shadow looking at her, and a couple of purple eyes shining with evil.

Opening her eyes very wide, she repressed the urge to scream, and answered to her Queen: "It's nothing, your highness." Everyone was shocked with this answer, and Lady Mars stood up, not being able to control her temper.

"Are you telling me that all this mess was for nothing? Excuse ME, Mercury, but that's not true!"

Jupiter threw a killing glance at her Senshi friend, but said nothing. She also knew Mercury was lying, but also could tell that yelling wasn't the proper way of questioning her. Venus shook her head, and said: "Come on, Mercury-chan, you know you can trust us. We are your friends."

The blue haired girl hated lying, and never thought of doing it to her friends, but it was too risky. Looking at the window again, she saw the shadow grinning sarcastically, and breathing deep, said: "It really was nothing, guys. Just home-sick I guess."

She tried to reassure her answer by smiling, but only managed a faint grin. Princess Serenity tried to ask her again, but one of her mother's hands on her shoulder stopped her. She looked at her mother, and saw her saying no with her head. Speaking again with that soft tone, she said: "It's Ok, Lady Mercury, if you don't want to tell us what happened. But if you feel you need someone to lean on, I want you to know that all of us will be expecting you. Now, come on girls, let's give Lady Mercury some peace."

She stood up, and made a gesture to the rest of the Senshi. They stood up too, and Minako said, "You know Merc (this was her pet name), that you can trust any of us." Makoto nodded, and echoed: "That's right. What are friends for?" Princess Serenity hugged her, and said, "We will always be there for you". Her mother just smiled reassuringly, while Rei grinned, and said: "Relax Ames, it's all over now. Besides, no one can hurt you inside the palace."

Ami sighed, and thought: That's what you think. Looking at the window, she saw the shadow getting up, sending an airborne kiss to her, and leaping off, disappearing in the night. However, she didn't feel safe and looking at her friends, said:

"Mako-chan, wait. Could you stay with me tonight, please?" I'm so scared. What if Ren comes back?. I may not be this lucky next time… she thought. Her eyes showed such a plea, that Lady Jupiter couldn't say no. "Of course I'll stay here if you want, Ames."

"Thank you really much, Mako-chan." That night, Mercury had awful nightmares, where her body transformed into a white rose, and a big black rose with some resemblance to Ren stood over her…