From Hate to Love by Lord Falcon Ashley Brown walked down the hot California sidewalk, heading home after a long day of school and looking forward to a nice relaxing bubble bath. I just hope Jade doesn't want me to go out tonight and patrol for trouble, she thought. The sound of a dozen young girls screaming reached her ears, "Huh?" she said aloud, "I wonder what all the commotion is about." She didn't notice the young man as he ran into her, knocking them both to the ground. The young man got up and helped Ashley to her feet, "I'm sorry, I didn't see you." he apologized. She then got a good look at his face. Yaten Kou, by far the most irritating person she'd ever met. Yaten got a good look at her as well, "You." he said with a disgusted face, he then pushed her back to the ground, "Cya 'round 'Trashley'." He said as he ran off. Ashley growled to herself as he disappeared around a corner. "Ashley!" a giddy voice said behind her. Ashley turned to see a dozen of her classmates looking this way and that, "Did you see which way that hunk Yaten went?" one of them asked. He's not my idea of a 'hunk', she thought to herself. Ashley pointed to the corner where Yaten ran. All the girls began to scream again and moved as a living mass to the area where they hoped to find the rock star. Ashley bent down and picked up her books, then resumed heading back to her apartment, "It's been one of those days," she muttered to herself, "I wonder what Setsuna is making for dinner?" *** Ashley made it back to the apartment with no other run-in's with Yaten or any of his brothers. She fumbled around for her key, when she found it she unlocked the door and stepped inside. Ashley was suddenly grabbed by her shoulders as someone kissed her rather passionately. She pushed away the person kissing her, "Hey!!!" she yelled, dropping into a defensive stance. Only to relax as she saw who the assailant was, "Michiru, I love you like a sister, you know that. BUT DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!!!" she shouted. Michiru jumped back, her hands covering her mouth and her eye's wide with surprise, "Ashley! Ohmigosh, I'm sorry, I thought you were Haruka. You know I'd never.." she stammered out. Her face turned red with embarrassment. "It's okay." Ashley said as she went toward her room, "Just don't do that again." Michiru nodded to her as she went into her room and closed the door. She seems a little down today, she thought to herself, I'll talk to her later and see what's wrong. There was the sound of someone opening the door and this time Michiru checked to see who it was. This time Haruka walked through, Michiru grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her like she had Ashley, only this time she found herself being kissed back. When she pulled back she looked into Haruka's gray green eyes with a smile. "What was that for?" Haruka asked with a smile. "You know," Michiru said, the blonde gave her a blank look, "It was for the gift you left on the bed this morning." She said. "How'd you know that I needed new strings for my violin?" Haruka smiled and put her arm around her aquamarine hared lover. "I saw how worn out your old ones were, and knowing how much new ones cost these days, I decided to save you some money and get some for you. I know how much you like to play." Michiru hugged her, "Thank you." she said softly to the blonde. "How can I repay you?" Haruka kissed her on the cheek, "You can do that tonight." She whispered seductively, Michiru giggled and placed her head on Harukas shoulder. "You two never cease to amaze me." a male voice said from the still open door. They turned to see a young man with long brown hair and blue eyes standing just outside the doorway. He was dressed completely in black, with the exception of the Ministers collar around his neck. "Hi Duo." Michiru said cheerfully, "Won't you please come in." she invited. "Hello Duo." Haruka said in a decidedly less cheerful tone. Duo Maxwell casually shrugged off Haruka's usual harshness, "Is Ashley home yet?" he asked. Michiru nodded, "Yeah, she's in her room." Haruka piped up, "Yeah, she's kinda tired, I really wore her out today." She winced as Michiru elbowed her in the ribs for the comment. Duo pick up the flute case he had with him, nodded his thanks, and went towards Ashley's room. When he was out of earshot Haruka turned to look at Michiru, "What was that for?" she asked her. "Are you gonna do that with every guy that comes to see her?" Michiru said glaring daggers at Haruka. "He just bugs me, that's all." the blonde said, trying to alive some of her lovers sudden anger. The aquamarine hared girl rolled her eyes, "All guys bug you Haruka. I wish you'd give at least one of them a chance to court Ashley, she's not gonna want to be single forever you know." Haruka looked away from her, "Don't try that," Michiru abolished the blonde, "I know we vowed to protect her, but that doesn't mean you chase away every guy that shows some interest in her." Haruka hung her head, "I know, but I just can't trust a man near her, you know men only want one thing from a girl." Again Michiru rolled her eye's, what am I ever going to do with her, she thought to herself. "Romance isn't totally dead love, there are still a few good guys out there, but she'll never find one if you keep chasing them all away." Haruka nodded. Michiru smiled, "Come on, let's go see what Setsuna is making for dinner." She said, leading her lover toward the kitchen. *** Duo stood out side Ashley's room and gently knocked on the door, "Who is it?" Ashley asked through the door. "The God of Death." Duo replied with a smile. "Come in Duo." She responded with a slight giggle. He opened the door and stepped inside, he saw Ashley laying on her bed, Jade her cat has laying next to her purring as she petted her. Duo set down his flute case and grabbed a folding chair and sat down in it. "Heard you ran in to one of our resident rock stars today, are you okay?" he said to her. She stopped petting her cat and brushed a loch of her orange hair out of her eyes, "Yaten, yeah and aside from a bruised butt, I'm fine." Duo laughed, "Yaten, the mean one, I swear that guy craps bricks, that's why he's always in such a bad mood." Ashley began to laugh as she got a mental picture. "So," she said, changing the subject, "What brings you here?" His eyes got wider, "Oh, I almost forgot." He said as he reached into his pocket, "Sensai wanted me to give you one of these." Duo said holding out a folded yellow sheet of paper, "It's info on the upcoming karate tournament, and she thought that you would want to sign up for it." Ashley took the paper, unfolded it, and skimmed over the details, "Yeah, maybe I will." She said, "Anyway, is that the only reason you stopped by?" Duo managed to keep himself from blushing, "Well, it's always nice to stop and see my best friend." "Meow." Jade piped up as she jumped into Duo's lap, he reached down and patted the green furred cat, she began to purr again. "You know Ashley, you have the strangest cat, green fur and a crescent mark on the forehead. Weird." Duo said. Jade made a low growl and jumped off his lap. "She doesn't like to be called weird." Ashley said. So I see, Duo thought to himself. "Well, are you ready for the High School entrance exams?" he asked her, "I can help you study if you like." Ashley laid back down and draped an arm over her eyes, "Don't remind me, I'm fourteen, why do I have to go through so many exams?" "I asked the same question when I was fourteen, I'm sixteen now and their still giving a dozen exams to me." said Duo. After that the two friends sat and talked for an hour, the tone was friendly, the silences pleasant. Their conversation was ended by a knock at the door, "Hey you two, get your clothes back on, dinner's ready." Setsuna said through the door. Ashley rolled her eyes, Why me, she thought. She and Duo then left her room, "Well, I'll be on my way now Ashley, see you at the dojo tomorrow." He said. Ashley tried to think of something to say that would make her friend stay awhile longer, she wasn't in the mood to listen to Haruka's prattle about how he was the wrong guy for her. Not after the day she'd had. "I won't hear of it," Setsuna said from the table, "You're staying right here, have a home cooked meal for once young man." Ashley smiled at Setsuna and she winked at her, "Well, who am I to disobey an order from such a lovely and refined woman." Duo said as he set his case down against a wall. He then took a seat at the table and Ashley sat next to him. Haruka gave Duo an icy glare but Ashley saw him give her a pleasant smile, Haruka simply turned her gaze elsewhere, a sign that he won, this time. Michiru kindly brought another plate for Duo, and the five of them began to dig in to the small feast that Setsuna had made for dinner. Conversation stayed mostly on what was happening in school, the topic of the weird monster's that had been showing up in the city lately was broached a few times, but either Ashley or Michiru found a way to change the subject, neither of them liked talking about the creatures that they had to destroy on almost a daily basis. *** In a dark and ominous chamber, Queen Beryl sat on her throne, her various minions stood in ranks before her. "Pyrite, come forth and give me your report." She barked out. A man with platinum gold hair and light blue eyes shimmered into existence before her. "All goes well in my operation in the human city called Los Angles my Queen, my youma forces are keeping the sailor senshi busy while I sent up the Mass Extractor. When it is complete, we shall be able to take energy from the entire city at once." General Pyrite said, kneeling down before Beryl. His deep voice didn't match his youthful features, it sounded more like the voice of a middle aged man than a young general that was barely into his third century of life. Pyrite's ingenious strategies and highly skilled combat abilities had caused him to rise quickly through the ranks of the Negaverse military. Beryl gave him a rare smile, "Good, I am pleased with your progress, I only wish that Jadeite was as intelligent as you, then I wouldn't have had to seal him away for all eternity. Kunzites failures in Japan are beginning to build and he too may share the same fate, as will you if you DARE to fail me. Understand that with the energy that we will gain from an entire city, we will have more than enough to release the Negaforce and conquer the universe. But if you fail, you will have no second chances." The general bowed his head, "I understand my Queen. I swear that I shall not fail you." he said still knelt before her. The queen narrowed her eye's, "Do well not too," she said, "Return to the Earth and continue with your plans." She ordered him. General Pyrite stood and left without another word to the queen, he faded out of existence just as he had faded in. Beryl then turned to the man standing next to her, "Tell me Prince Endymion, how goes Kunzite's latest plot?" The prince bowed respectfully, "He has transformed another human in an attempt to trap the five senshi." He said. "Good, go to my bed chambers, as soon as I finish here I shall join you." Beryl said. Endymion nodded and exited toward her bedroom. The Dark Queen was looking forward to having him relieve her stress in the way he always did. "Is there any other matter of importance that needs my attention?" *** "So there they were, covered in mud and bawling like newborns," Setsuna said, Ashley and Duo were both laughing as hard as either of them could remember, Michiru and Haruka however, were less amused by the green hared woman's tale, "that was the first and last time I ever tried to teach them how to ride a horse." "I wish I had been there to see that." Duo managed to say between laughs. Setsuna smiled, "You should hear the story where they got caught making out in the mmph!!" was as far as she got before Haruka clamped a hand over her mouth and laughed nervously. "I'm sure he doesn't want to hear THAT story, Michiru go get your violin." She said in haste. Michiru nodded and quickly excused herself to retrieve her violin, she returned a few moments later with it already tucked under her chin, "Duo is there anything you'd like to hear?" she asked, desperate to do something to keep Setsuna from recounting their childhood tales. "Just start playing, I'm sure you're a good enough violinist to provide us with a good song." Duo said. Michiru smiled and began to play a soft melody. As she played, Haruka leaned over to Duo and whispered to him. "Turn off the charm pal, she's MINE." Duo raised an eyebrow, "I thought Ashley was yours, I take it you now give up that claim, hmm?" he said snidely. Haruka's eyes widened as she realized her miscalculation. "This isn't over." She said as she went back to watching Michiru play. Duo shook his head inwardly, she worries too much, he thought as he leaned back to listen to the soft music, his stomach still settling after the dinner Setsuna had made, it had been awhile since he'd had a good meal like that, most night's it was Burger King or a frozen dinner at his apartment. Ashley didn't know that he lived alone, nor did she know about his OTHER life, the one he lived as the agent codenamed Deathscythe, control had assigned him to keep an eye on Ashley and the other senshi living in America. Of course Ashley and the others didn't know this, he knew of their alter egos as Sailors Earth, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. As Deathscythe, Duo had fought along side them many times when they needed help disposing of an enemy. He only wished that he could tell Ashley the truth about himself. As Michiru continued her music, an idea sprouted in his mind. Leaning over, Duo picked up the case that contained his flute. It only took a moment to ready it and he stood up and joined Michiru, she hardly noticed that he joined her, her mind too enthralled by the melody that she was playing. Michiru played a few notes and Duo brought the flute to his lips and repeated the same notes. She caught on and played some more notes, Duo repeated them. The two then fell into a rhythm of music that built and built until they finished together in a beautiful piece of pure music. *** They stood outside the apartment, "I'll see you at the dojo tomorrow Ash." Duo said as he mounted his motorcycle and started the engine, it roared to life. Ashley nodded and the young man took off, she watched him until he rounded a corner and was out of sight, "He is such a fine young man." Jade said from her position draped across Ashley's shoulders. She nodded her agreement. "Ashley!" Setsuna called as she, Haruka, and Michiru sprinted out of the apartment building, "We got trouble, there's a youma attacking a number of people over in the warehouse district. Ashley didn't need to be told anything else, she reached behind her and removed her transformation wand from its lunar space pocket, Setsuna and the others did the same. "Be careful everyone." Jade said. They all nodded once and raised their wands to the sky. "Earth Planet Power.... MAKE UP!!!" "Uranus Planet Power.... MAKE UP!!!" "Neptune Planet Power.... MAKE UP!!!" "Pluto Planet Power.... MAKE UP!!!" Then in a dazzling display of light and energy, the four girls changed from their street clothes to their senshi uniforms. All of them had the same white body suit, but each had color differing collars, boots, and miniskirts. Ashley's was a gray color with thigh high high heeled boots, and a blue bow on her chest and attached to the back of her miniskirt. Haruka's was in a shade of dark blue, with yellow bows and ankle boots. Michiru was in dark green with dark blue bows, she had low heeled green pumps instead of boots. Setsuna was in black and brown, with knee high black boots, and of all the senshi gathered, she was the only one with a physical weapon; a silver staff that looked a lot like a big key. "Let's go." Sailor Pluto said. The others nodded in agreement. *** The warehouse workers hid from the ugly creature that was attacking them, "What the hell is that thing?" one of the workers asked. "I don't know man, but I ain't sticking around to find out." Another worker said as he made a break for the door. A mistake. The youma shot out a tentacle from it's body and ensnared the man, he screamed out in utter terror as the ungodly monster drained his life energies. He glowed for a moment before his body became limp and the youma dropped his lifeless body to the ground. "Carl!!!" one of his co-workers called out. Another mistake. The youma zeroed in on the voice of the worker, who was huddled behind a pile of shipping crates. It swiped away the crates to reveal the man cowering behind them, "Your energy is mine!" the youma said in its inhuman voice as it prepared to insnare the man just as it had the last. "World.... SHAKING!!!" a woman's voice called out, then a ball of yellow energy slammed into the youma and smashed it into a far wall. "Follow me." a young, orange haired girl said to the worker. "Who are you people?" the man asked. He got his answer as the three Senshi over at the entrance began to speak. "Invited to the new era, Sailor Uranus, fights for magnificence!" "Also invited by the new era, Sailor Neptune, fights for elegance!" "I am the Guardian of Time, Sailor Pluto, I will not allow you to do as you please to this lovely Earth!" The worker looked at the girl who came to his side, "Are they always like that?" he asked. Sailor Earth shook her head, "Worse." She replied to the man, "Come on, let's get you and your co-workers out of here before things get rough." As Sailor Earth led the workers to safety, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto were sizing up the youma, Jeez, Uranus thought, this one's uglier than the last three put together. The youma was an ape-like creature, but with red eye's and ten long tendrils that emerged from it's back. "Your world will soon end!" it snarled at the Sailor Senshi. "Save it ugly, we've heard it all before." Someone said behind the youma, "Swirling.... SANDSTORM!" With those words, an obscuring cloud of dust and haze rose to block the creatures view of it's enemies. "He's all yours team." Sailor Earth said, again wishing that she had more than a diversionary power to fight with, Pluto had assured her that one day her other powers would manifest themselves. But it was always frustrating not to be able to do more to help her comrades. "Thank you Sailor Earth," Sailor Pluto said as she concentrated her powers, wisps of energy gathered at the top of her staff, she focused a little more and they coalesced into a sphere of reddish power. "Dead.... SCREAM!" she intoned, then launched the sphere to at the youma, intending to destroy it with one shot. It didn't work. The tendrils on its back came forth and blocked the blast of energy effortlessly, "Is that the best you have?" it asked, "How is it my brethren have fallen to you weak fools?" "Because they've had help, and because you freaks aren't as strong as you think you are." A woman's voice said from the shadows. The senshi turned to the shadows where the voice had come from, and Sailor Star Fighter stepped forth. "What's the matter? You all look surprised." She said. "Die bitch!!!" the youma screamed as it fired a beam of energy at her. The Sailor Starlight simply made a high jump out of the beams way, a few crates exploded where it hit. She landed a few feet away from Sailor Earth. "Hello." she said to the senshi before she leapt into the air once again, "Star Serious Laser!" she intoned. A bright beam of light shot from her hands and impacted the youma, it howled in pain. Star Fighter then landed next to Pluto, "Eat that you filthy beast." She spat. The youma stood up, "That does it, now I'm mad." It's body began to twist and reform, its body went from ape-like to a creature that resembled a cross between a man and a bat. It looked like a demon from the pits of Hell. "You will all die now." "Star Sensitive Inferno!" "Star Gentle Uterus!" Two beams lanced out from the shadows, the youma had just enough time to say "What?" before the beams made impact. The flash of light was almost blinding, but when it faded, the Senshi and the Starlight's gazed in disbelief as there was not even a scratch on the monster. We're in trouble, Sailor Earth thought. *** He stood up in the catwalks, observing the fight below. Within his mask he frowned as the Senshi and Starlight's attempted to fight the youma in hand to hand combat. Hmm, I wonder why Pluto is holding back so much, he thought, he activated the scanners built into his helmet and took a reading on the youma. "Level 5!" he said aloud, "They don't stand a chance unless they work together. Computer, display all files on level 5 youma." The green visor that covered his eyes glowed for a moment as his internal computer linked up with Central Controls mainframe and accessed the data. He skimmed the main details as they appeared. "Sailor V fought one once," he said, then he saw the piece of data that he needed, So, that's how to do it, he thought, an intense surge of energy directly to the heart, I didn't know these things had hearts. His attention was brought back to the battle, the man-bat youma had the Starlight's and Senshi all trapped within its tendrils, I guess I should step in now, he thought. Grabbing his Beam-Scythe, the warrior called Deathscythe leapt from the catwalks, as he fell he activated his Beam- Scythe, there was a snap-hiss as it flared to life. It created a scythe blade of green energy. Deathscythe charged up his G-Unit armor, it consisted of a black longcoat, armored boots and gauntlets, a chestplate and high powered booster rocket backpack, a Buster Shield that worked like his Beam-Scythe only it was a long range weapon, and finally, a full masked helmet with high powered sensors built into it. He only hopped that it was enough, the file also stated that V barely came out of her fight with the level 5 alive. *** Sailor Star Healer struggled to draw in breath, the tendril around her neck was doing its job quite effectively. She heard a SNAP-HISS and there was a flurry of motion. The youma suddenly cried out in pain and the pressure on her neck died away as the severed tendril fell to the ground. Once her vision cleared she looked to see their sudden savior. The man was dressed in a black overcoat with bits and pieces of armor here and there, a masked helmet hid his face. The visor of that mask made his eyes look like they had no pupils and were only a harsh green. In his hand he held a staff that was a scythe that's blade was made of glowing green energy. "Who are you?!" Star Healer demanded. "The man who just saved your ungrateful ass!" was the sharp reply. The shield on his arm began to hum, then the two silver parts of it split open and there was another SNAP-HISS and a beam of energy emerged from the middle of the shield. He pointed his arm at the youma and the shield flew off his arm and knocked the youma through a wall to the parking lot outside. Who is this guy? Sailor Star Healer thought. The man looked to the other Starlight's and the Sailor Senshi, "That won't hold him for long so listen; there's only one way to kill this thing and we're gonna have to work together to do it." "What? We have to work together?!" Star Healer protested. "Shut up and listen to him!" Sailor Earth yelled to her. Healer gave Earth an icy glare and Earth glared right back, Maker stepped between them, "Perhaps we should hear this man out first." She suggested calmly. "Thank you, and the names Deathscythe." the man said as the shield flew back to his left arm and attached itself. "All right, this is a level 5 youma we're dealing with, the only way to kill it is with a massive blast of energy to its heart. I'll distract it and the six of you must combine your powers into one surge and hit him in the heart." "Six?" Healer said, "I count seven fighters here." Sailor Earth lowered her head, "My powers don't have any destructive force to them." She said, sounding ashamed. "Figures." Healer said. "Watch it bitch!" Sailor Uranus growled. "Try me." Healer shot back. Then, acting as a mediator, Sailor Star Maker stepped in between Uranus and Healer, "Fight after the job's done." She said firmly to her sibling. Healer suppressed a growl. Deathscythe spoke up, "Okay, here's the plan, I have the ability to charge the thing one last time, when I hit him, he should be dazed for a moment. In that time all of you need to launch your powers at his heart. That will be enough to take him down, but don't miss, I won't be able to stun that thing again." The Senshi and Starlight's nodded. "Ggggwwwrrraaaarrrrr!!!!" That sudden roar told the warriors that the time for discussion was over, and it was time to face the enemy once again. The youma stepped through the hole it had made in the wall, "YOU SHALL DIE FOR THAT!!!" it bellowed. "Yeah right." Deathscythe taunted it as he activated his booster pack and flew directly at the man bat-like creature. With the tapping of a few well hidden buttons on his Beam-Scythe, the weapon changed from a scythe to a spear that he rammed into the youma's skull as he flew into it. Firing his pack once again, Deathscythe got himself safely out of the line of fire and shouted, "NOW!!!" "World... SHAKEING!" "Star Serious Laser!" "Deep... SUBMERGE!" "Star Sensitive Inferno!" "Dead... SCREAM!" "Star Gentle Uterus!" Together, the six beams of pure energy shot out at the unholy creature, all of them finding their mark at the center of its chest. At first, nothing happened, but then the creature screamed in agony as the beams bored into, and then through its body, emerging from its back as they burned a hole straight through it. When the beams faded away the youma just stood there for a moment, its chest had a hole the size of a basketball in it. "You may have defeated me, but your world will soon end, and there is no way for you to prevent it. Even if you fools worked together." The youma said as its body dissolved into dust, its final sounds were the sounds of evil laughter. Deathscythe landed a few feet away, he turned to the senshi, "One day I'm gonna put a tracer on those three." He said. Then the senshi noticed that the Starlight's had disappeared, as usual. "Are you four okay?" he then asked. *** Pyrite watched as the Sailor Senshi spoke with that impertinent interloper Deathscythe for a few moments before they all left the building. That fool, he thought, how dare he give them the slightest warning of my plans, if you weren't already dead, I'd kill you. Pyrite then teleported back to the place where the Mass Extractor was being built. "How much longer until it is complete?" he asked one of the men working on the giant crystal machine. The attendant looked up from his work, "Three more Earth weeks, and it will be perfectly calibrated for use here." the small man said. "This put's us four weeks ahead of schedule master Pyrite." "Excellent, you will be rewarded once this operation is complete." Pyrite said. The little man nodded once and returned to his tasks. Pyrite then went over to another part of the warehouse in which they had hidden the M.E. Inside, there was a series of columns, each with a different youma inside. "Now, what to send after them next?" *** Yaten flopped himself down on the couch the moment he was in the door, his hand still rubbing the area where that youmas tendril had been around his neck. This is gonna be a monster bruise, he thought, he watched as Seiya went to the back of their apartment to retrieve the healing stone that they'd brought with them to Earth. It was only to be used in extreme emergencies, but none of them followed protocol THAT much. And besides, that cut on his arm was serious, and would need stitches unless it was fast- healed by the stone. There was a hiss of pain to his right and Yaten looked to see Taiki rubbing some iodine into the small cuts on his shoulder. "You gonna be okay bro?" he asked. Taiki looked over to him, "Yeah, I'll be fine, I just wish Earth medicine wasn't so darn painful." "What do you expect, the humans can't even go any further out into space than their moon, the technology here is primitive at best." Seiya said as he emerged from the back room, his injuries now completely healed. Yaten and Taiki both nodded their agreement. "The girls here are cute though." Yaten quipped. Seiya rolled his eyes, "I don't know which is worse, your vanity, or the way you go on about the women of this planet." He said. Yaten was about to give a sharp retort when there was a loud bang as Taiki hit the gong that he was sitting next to, "Save it you two, I'm not in the mood to break up your petty fights right now. What I really want to know is who that guy in the armor was." Yaten and Seiya both quieted down as that thought was brought up. "Yaten, you spoke to him, what was it he called himself? I was to far away to hear." Seiya said. The silver haired Starlight frowned, "He said his name was Deathscythe. Probably gets it from that beam weapon we saw him carrying, do you think the home world may have sent him?" "No, they'd have informed us if they were going to send anyone else here." Taiki said, "Maybe the technology here isn't as low as we may think it is. I've read some old legends about a Kingdom on this worlds moon a thousand years ago, but it was attacked by some power mad Queen and destroyed. But not before a good queen could preserve the children of her homeland with some kind of magic crystal." Taiki's forehead creased in thought, "Maybe this 'Deathscythe' is one of those preserved children, or maybe a descendant of one, the legend also said that the Earth was nearly laid waste by the Dark Queen's onslaught before she was banished by the good queen." Seiya shook his head, "But that's just a legend." he said. Hmm, Yaten thought, "Seiya, even back home, most legends have a firm base in reality, and if there was an advanced civilization here a thousand years ago that was laid waste. Well it would make sense that a lot of its technology was lost, leaving humanity to start from scratch." He took one look at the shocked expressions on his brothers faces and said, "Hey, I know I can be a little naive, but I'm not totally brainless." "Could have fooled me." Seiya said. Taiki hit the gong again before Yaten could reply. *** Duo shrugged off the last piece of his Deathscythe armor and sat down in front of his computer console to start writing his report back to headquarters. He rubbed at a sore spot in his shoulder, that impact with the youma must of pulled something, he thought dourly. "Rough night?" someone said behind him. Duo's reaction was instantaneous, he jumped out of his seat and grabbed the Beam-Scythe from it's charger and activated it in one fluid motion. Its harsh green light illuminated the room and revealed the speaker. "Artemis," Duo said as he deactivated the weapon, "how many times have I told you that sneaking up on me is a good way to get yourself killed." "I recall you saying it a couple of times, but if you did kill me, imagine the paperwork that you'd have to go through." The lunar cat in human form said. Duo shook his head and sat down, "So, what brings the director of Central Control all the way over to the states, unless this is a social visit." The white haired man ran his fingers through his thick hair, "I wish it was that, but it isn't, something big is going down here in LA. We can't be sure what but we want you to keep your eyes open for trouble." "It would have been easier to tell me this over e-mail you know." said Duo. Artemis shrugged, "Well, I just needed to get away from Minako for a while, her prattle about cute guys is starting to get on my nerves." He said as he stood to leave. "Jealousy doesn't suit you Artemis, why don't you tell her how you feel?" asked Duo. Artemis didn't respond, instead he only faded away as he teleported back to Tokyo and the Senshi located there. The guy's headed for some serious heartbreak, Duo thought as he went back to typing up his report to HQ. *** Ashley stepped into the shower, letting the warm waters cascade down her nude body, easing the kinks in her muscles. Why are they so mistrustful? She thought as she grabbed a bar of soap and began to work up a good lather. Her thoughts were focused on the Sailor Starlight's, it seems as if we're on the same side, but they're so harsh and callus towards us. I wonder why they're here, if it's not to help us then why do they always appear when we're in trouble? She began the spread the lather across her body, once that was done, she turned the showerhead to rinse off the soap, taking the dirt and grime with it. She turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, I've tried to be nice to them, but they shrug off anything I say to them, where'd I put that towel? A quick search revealed that she'd forgotten to get one before she went into the shower. Damn, she thought, oh well, my room's right across the hall, I just hope Haruka is in her room. Opening the door, Ashley dashed across the hall and made it to her room, but not before she heard Haruka do a wolfwhistle directed at her, "Looking good Ash!" she said. Ashley none to politely suggested that Haruka go and perform a highly mature biological act, "I'd love to, your room or mine?" Ashley slammed the door behind her, Haruka smiled and went back to playing the racecar game on their Sony Playstation. "You're just terrible sometimes." Michiru said as she watched Haruka's display of skill at racing. *** Yaten walked down the halls of the Jr. High School, his mind still on the conversation he and his brothers had had last night. He didn't notice the foot that was placed in his path, "Whoa!" he shouted as he tumbled to the floor, his pony tail landing in a puddle of spilt soda. He got into a sitting position and looked at the sticky liquid that was now soaked into his hair. "MY HAIR!!" he shouted out. "You should watch where you're going small fry, then you wouldn't fall down so much." Someone said behind him. And he KNEW the voice. Yaten turned his head to his left to see Ashley standing in the side hall with her foot still extended outward. "You did that on purpose!" he said angrily. Ashley gave a impish grin, "Now would I do something like that?" she said in a mock-serious tone. Yaten glared daggers at her, fighting the urge to wipe the floor with her, he lost that fight. Shifting into a fighting crouch, Yaten lunged at her and tried to punch her in the face, Ashley dodged to one side with ease, "So, mister 'I don't like gym cause I don't like to get sweaty' has some moves after all." Ashley said as she dropped into her own fighting stance. "I got enough to wipe the floor with you, you little bitch." Yaten snarled. She smiled slyly at him, "We will see." she said simply. Yaten lunged at her again, and again she just stepped aside, effectively dodging the blow. She's good, he thought, this may be more difficult than I thought. Any further thoughts were suspended when Ashley kicked him square in the chest, winding him and knocking him to the floor. He quickly got up and was about to lunge at her again, but a strong hand grabbed the back of his shirt and held him firmly in place. "WHAT IN THUNDER IS GOING ON HERE!!!" a male voice bellowed. "Kou, what the hell are you thinking?" Ashley dropped out of her stance as Mr. Belchor stepped in and brought their little dual to a halt. Yaten forced himself to calm down and stand up straight, "Nothing sir, just a little misunderstanding between Ashley and myself. I guess I got a little overzealous." He said. Mr. Belchor let go of Yaten and gave him a short reprieve and then left. As he walked by Ashley she said to him, "Why didn't you turn me in?" "Because you're an equal fighter to me, I hope we can fight again sometime in more private surroundings." Yaten said to her. He went on his way, leaving a very perplexed Ashley behind him. Well, Ashley thought, I didn't expect him to say that. Someone clamped a hand on her shoulder, "Way to go Ash, you wiped the floor with him!" Ashley turned to the speaker. "Haruka? What are you doing here?" Ashley asked the blonde. "We came to take you to lunch, at Joe's Dinner." Haruka said to her in a quiet whisper, "Setsuna is signing you out right now." Ashley understood, they only went to Joe's when they were meeting with their contact in Central Control. It had to be important if he was disturbing their normal lives in order to meet with them. "Let's go." She said. *** They sat at the usual booth, waiting for their contact to arrive, "So," Haruka began, "What's so important that he needed us to meet right away?" she asked. Setsuna shook her head, "I don't know, the message just said that he needed to see us immediately and to go to the usual meeting place." She took a large gulp of her soda when someone in the next booth spoke. "It IS important, I have the name of your enemy and some sketchy info on what he's up to." None of the four senshi could see his face, as usual, but his information has never been wrong. Even with that, Haruka and Ashley didn't trust him, neither did Setsuna, Michiru was the only person that had a small amount of trust in him. Only because a small piece of info. that he'd given to her had helped save Harukas life once. "What do you have?" Setsuna asked. "Pyrite, that's the name of the one sending out the youma. You got close to whatever he's planning last night. That would explain why the youma you faced was so powerful, all I've been able to get on his plan is that it'll be ready to go in just under a month. You have that long to find him and stop him, but be careful, Pyrite is stronger than all four of the Dark Generals put together." The Informant said. "Miss Brown, I suggest that you train a little harder so you can unlock your offensive abilities, something tells me you're going to need them." he said as he stood to leave, "If I get any more information, I'll send it over e-mail, these meetings are becoming dangerous to my health, the higher ups don't want any of us even speaking with you four." "Who's 'US'?" Ashley asked, but their contact had already left the dinner. "I don't like it." Haruka said, crossing her arms over her chest and looking down at the table. "What's to like?" Setsuna said, "His information has never let us down before, so we should be on the lookout for whatever this Pyrite person is planning." "The warehouse district," Ashley said, "we should concentrate our search there since that's where we met that Batman wannabe last night." Michiru nodded her head, "Do you think we may have been right on top of him?" she took a sip of her iced tea, "I mean, could that warehouse be where he's hiding?" Setsuna shook her head, "No, there were people working there, if he's smart, Pyrite will hide in one of the abandoned warehouses. It's the only way to go unnoticed by anyone, except, maybe a homeless person." "Well, that's a big help, the people there don't talk to ANYONE, not even if you have booze." Ashley said. "It would be easier to just get a list of abandoned warehouses that are still serviceable, if I was going to set up something in an junked out warehouse, then I'd at least want one that I was sure wasn't going to cave in on me." After Ashleys words, the four senshi decided to check into any place in the warehouse district that could fit just the scenario that Ashley had described. After five grueling hours at the public library they came up with two likely places. *** Sailors Earth and Neptune stood outside the old warehouse, it wasn't anything special, a large gray building with dirty windows and rust covered metal doors. There were broken beer bottles and beer cans spread over almost the entire area. It's places like this that give LA a bad name, Sailor Earth thought. "Let's check this place out already, it gives me the creeps." Neptune said. "Tell me about it." Earth grumbled. Neptune stepped forward to enter the lot, Earth followed her. They hadn't made it six steps before they both fell to the ground unconscious. *** Painful consciousness returned the Sailor Earth, "Hey, take it easy, don't open your eyes to fast." A woman's voice said to her right. "Just wait for the pain to ease off before you try." "Who.. who's there?" Earth asked, her voice raspy and dry. "Sailor Star Maker." The woman said, "You've been unconscious for almost two days." "Neptune, where's Neptune?" Earth asked. "I'm here Earth, don't worry." Neptune said to her left. Sailor Earth regained enough strength to get herself into a sitting position, "Easy, don't try to force anything. That was my mistake." "I'll say." Maker said. Earth could almost feel Neptune glaring at the Sailor Starlight, "Save it you two." She said, her voice still raspy. Maker handed her a glass of water, Earth nodded her thanks and quickly downed the liquid. The water did wonders for her dry throat, "How did you end up in here Maker?" she asked as she opened her eyes. She winced as it brought a new wave of pain to her senses. The brown haired Sailor Starlight shrugged, "You four weren't the only ones to start looking for the cause of all the attacks lately, Healer and Fighter were checking out another warehouse while I came here. The same thing happened to me that happened to you. Few steps in and wham! Lights out, you've been out since I woke up in here." she said as she paced the small room they were trapped in, "Neptune's been such lovely company while you were sleeping." Earth heard Neptune make a low growling noise, she shot a look at her that clearly said 'don't do it', and she calmed down ad turned her head away. Earth looked back to Star Maker, "Have you two been able to find any way out of here?" she asked. She planned to talk with Maker as much as possible, if she could form a rapport with at least one of them, then maybe she could build a bridge that would lead to them working together. Star Maker shook her head, "No, that door is solid steel and my powers don't work in this room for some reason. I wonder why Healer and Fighter haven't come searching for me." Earth walked over to the door, she made a quick scan of the lock and smiled, "Should be a piece of cake." She said as she withdrew several thin strips of metal from her lunar space pocket. "What are you doing?" Neptune asked. "Picking the lock." Earth replied simply as she inserted the strips of metal into the locking mechanism. "You know how to do that?" asked Neptune. "Why didn't you ever tell us?" "You never asked for one thing," Earth said, still working the lock, "and I learned it in the orphanage, and that's a part of my life that I don't like to talk about." She finished, wincing at the memory of her 12 years in that horrid place. There was a loud click as she unlocked the door. "There, all done." Neptune stepped beside her, "Let me check it out first." She said. Earth watched as she opened the door and looked outside. "I don't like this," she said, "there's no one to guard us." "That's easily explained." Sailor Star Maker said, "They WANT us to escape, for what reason is beyond me, but whoever we're up against wants us to come back." "His name is Pyrite. He's a general for Queen Beryl." Earth said. "EARTH!" Neptune exclaimed, "What are you doing? We can't trust her, for all we now she could be working with Pyrite." Sailor Star Maker glared at Neptune, "I work with my sisters and we work for our home, I don't know who this Pyrite is, but I can assure you that we don't work for him." She said. Neptune glared right back at Maker and Earth stepped between them, her arms held out at her sides so as to keep them any from each other, "Save it you two, we're all on the same side here, Love and Justice right? So let's not kill each other over the difference in our technique in doing that job, okay?" Miraculously, they managed to get out of the building with no trouble, AND without any more stare downs. When they were outside the fence that marked the property line, Sailor Earth put her hand on Star Maker's shoulder, "Take this." she said, holding out a small gray wrist watch with the sigil of Earth on it. Maker accepted the item, "What is it?" she asked. "A way for us to communicate later, the other senshi and I know that Pyrite is planning something big, it'd probably be in our best interest to work together for this one." Earth told her. "We work alone." Maker stated. "You saw how far that got you didn't it. Like it or not, we have to work together on this one, after that.... Well that's up to the three of you." said Earth. "I'll talk to my sisters, but I don't promise ANYTHING." The Sailor Starlight said as she took off, disappearing from sight in seconds. Sailor Earth smiled, she had made a small weak connection with one of them, but it was a connection none the less. Neptune put a hand on her shoulder. "Let's get back, Haruka and Setsuna are probably worried sick about us." She said. Earth nodded in agreement and the two senshi headed off in the direction of their apartment. *** "That's not possible." Ashley said, "You said we were in there for two days." She said to Michiru. "We were, I felt two days pass. I know I did." Michiru said. When the two senshi made it back to their apartment, they had expected to find Setsuna and Haruka worrying about them. Instead, it turned out that they were only gone a few hours. Setsuna walked over to them and passed her staff over them once. "I believe you." she said. "You're both out of phase with time, where ever you were kept, time has been distorted around there." Setsunas eyes narrowed. "What is it?" Haruka asked. Setsuna cursed, "We have less time than our informant told us. If they're using the same distortion, then they could be ready in a few hours and not days." Haruka smashed her fist into her open palm, "Well then, let's get going. We have a job to do, so let's do it." *** The four Sailor Senshi stood outside the fence leading into the warehouse, "How far did you get before you passed out?" Pluto asked. "Six steps in." Neptune said. Pluto held out the Key to Time and concentrated, there was a low humming sound and then an orange dome around the building became visible. Sailor Pluto smiled, "There it is, you two lost consciousness when you passed through the temporal distortion without any protection. I'll bet you two woke up with one hell of a headache." She said. Earth and Neptune both winced as they nodded their conformation. "Come on, let's take this guy down already." Uranus said. "Really Sailor Uranus, you should show more patience when dealing with me." a voice said. All of the senshi looked from side to side for the source of the voice. "Try looking up my dear senshi." The voice said. They did, and saw a handsome man floating in midair above them. He had platinum gold hair and light blue eyes. He looked young, no more than twenty-five, that is if he were human, and all four senshi knew that he couldn't be, aside from the four generals that Beryl had brainwashed, all of her servants came from the Negaverse. "General Pyrite I presume." Pluto said. Pyrite smiled as he floated to the ground, "I see you are well informed my dear Pluto." He said. Pyrite lifted his hand towards her, he made a pushing gesture. Pluto suddenly flew backwards as if she were caught in a hurricane wind, she slammed into the wall of a near-by building and fell to the ground unconscious. "PLUTO!!!" Sailor Neptune called out. The dark general appeared in front of her, "Worry about yourself first my dear." He said as he used the same move on her. Neptune smashed into the fence around the warehouse and she too, was knocked out. "BASTERD!" Uranus screamed as she charged to attack him. She never made it. Using his telekinetic powers, Pyrite lifted the blonde senshi off the ground and held her a few feet in the air. She thrashed and cursed as she was suspended helplessly in the air. "Put me down!" she yelled. "As you wish." Pyrite said as he slammed Uranus into the ground hard. She grunted on impact and tried to get back up. But she then fell back to the ground unconscious. "Now for the last one. OMMPH!" Pyrite said as he was punched across the jaw. "That's for Pluto." Earth said as she punched him again, "That was for Neptune!" she said as she then hit him in the gut, "That was for Uranus." Sailor Earth then kicked him in the crotch, "And that's for me." Pyrite grunted with every blow, his anger increasing as well, once he was away from her he just used his powers to pinch a nerve in her neck that knocked her out in seconds. He stood among the fallen senshi, a bruise already forming on his face. Pyrite looked down at Sailor Earth, "I shall enjoy killing you." he said as he spat bloody saliva at her, it missed her by an inch. He then faded away, as did the four senshi as he teleported them into his base of operations. *** Returning to consciousness wasn't as painful this time for Sailor Earth, she lifted her head and discovered that this time, she was shackled to the wall. Oh great, she thought, this rules out picking the lock again. She took in her environment, Uranus and Neptune were likewise shackled, but they had not yet regained consciousness, Pluto was on some sort of rack, she was trying to break her bonds, but to no avail. Earth looked over to the door at the far end of the room, as she did so it opened to reveal Pyrite, he stepped inside and behind him followed three youma, each carrying one of the Sailor Starlight's. "Tie them up." Pyrite ordered the youma, "Your friends put up quite a fight, they must be the elite type of senshi. They even managed to draw my blood." He said, holding up his left hand to show a small ragged cut along his palm. "They're not with us." Earth said. "I gathered that from observing how you work, or rather don't work together. The seven of you would have made an excellent team if you'd have worked with each other. In fact, you may have even been able to stop me from fulfilling my plans." Pyrite said. "Oh, and what might those be?" Pluto asked. Pyrite began to laugh, a dark and evil sound, "Come now my dear senshi, do you take me for a fool? This isn't one of your cultures cheap sci-fi short stories. I wouldn't be stupid enough to give you even the slightest chance of stopping me, if you were able to break those bonds that is." Pyrite said as he stepped up to the bound Guardian of Time, he traced a hand down her cheek, "So lovely," he said, "it's such a shame that I'll have to kill you later, what a waste." He arched an eyebrow, "Unless of course, you'd join us in the Negaverse, I'm sure Queen Beryl could find a place for you in the world she is going to make with the power of the Negaforce." Pluto spit into his eye. Go Pluto, Earth thought. Pyrite wiped his face, "I'll take that as a no." was all he said. The Dark General then watched as the last Starlight was bound to the wall. When their task was finished, the youma left the chamber, Pyrites eyes came to Earth, "And what about you my dear? You can join us if you like, I will only make this offer once, if you accept, then I'll forgive that little beating you gave me outside." Earth responded to his offer in the same way Pluto had. "Hmm, suit yourselves, you will all die after I have finished my other plans." He said as he left the room, slamming and locking the door behind him. Sailor Earth's eyes widened as Pluto said a rather tart comment, "Did Queen Serenity know you talked like that?" she asked. Pluto looked over to her. "If only you could remember, the queen swore very often, but never once in English, I believe she use Latin a great deal of the time." The green haired senshi said. The other senshi nodded, "So, any ideas as to how we get out of this one?" she asked. Pluto lowered her head, "For once, I'm completely without answers, it's embarrassing." There was the sound of rattling metal and both conscious senshi looked to see Sailor Star Fighter trying to break the chains binding her to the wall. She grunted with each strain, but it was all to no avail as the metal the chains were made of suppressed their powers as well as the slightly enhanced strength that each Sailor Warrior gets when they transform. After a few minutes she gave up and slumped against the wall, exhausted from her attempts at breaking free. She looked over to Earth and Pluto, "Maker tells me you can pick locks, there anything you can do to help out?" Sailor Earth fained shock, "My my my, a Starlight asking a senshi for help, you must be desperate." She said. Then her face went a little more serious, "If I were lose, then these locks wouldn't be a problem, but as you can see, I'm a little tied up at the moment." Star Fighter nodded, "So I see." she turned to her fellow Starlight's, "Hey you two, WAKE UP!!" she shouted. The other two Starlight's regained consciousness in a second, then they both went into trying to break free of their bonds just as Fighter had. "Don't bother, these things won't break so save your strength." Fighter told them. Both Starlight's stopped struggling. "How long were we out?" Healer asked. "Not long I think. Maker, what do you make of this stuff? I feel completely normal with it touching me." Fighter said. Maker looked at the shackles holding her, "Got me, I've never heard of anything that can do whatever this stuff is doing to our powers." She said. Then she looked over to see the sailor senshi, "We meet again." She said. "So we do." Pluto said in a neutral voice. "Don't even start, I'm not in the mood to play peacemaker with you all." Earth said sternly. There were two soft moans as the other two senshi regained consciousness. "They live." Healer commented. "Too bad." Earth shot Healer an icy glare, "You remind me of someone I know in school, only I can tolerate him somewhat. I just don't get you three, I've tried to be nice to you and all you do is give me the cold shoulder. We should be working together, but it's clear to me now that you're all too pig-headed to see that, otherwise you would have used that communicator to contact us so we could try attacking together." she said. "What would be the point, you're useless in battle, at least I have an attack that can do some damage, not just make my enemies dusty." Healer retorted. "Oh yeah, well at least my uniform leaves some things to the imagination you slut!" Earth shot back. Healers eyes went wide at the insult, "HEY!!" the other two Starlight's said as Healer struggled to come up with a response. "EVERYONE QUIET!" Pluto shouted out, the Starlight's and Sailor Earth all stopped arguing at her sudden out burst. "Listen." She said in a more quiet voice. At first, Earth didn't hear anything, but as she strained to hear she heard the sound of approaching footsteps, "Who are you?!" a voice outside the door said, their guard obviously. "What the hell?!?!" the voice said. SNAP-HISS. There was a scream and the sound of an energy hum, Could it be him? Earth thought, How'd he get in here. All of the senshi and Starlight's looked over to the door as a green blade of energy sliced through the steel wall. The searing hot beam cut a large rectangular hole in the wall around the door, when it was finished, there was the sound of a metal booted foot kicking the cut section of metal. It fell to the floor with a loud bang and Deathscythe stepped into the chamber, his long coat swirling around his feet and his Beam-Scythe blazing in his hands, "What kept you?" Earth said jokingly. Deathscythe looked to her, "It isn't easy sneaking into a time-shifted building Lady Earth. Just walking past the perimeter can set off all kinds of alarms." He said. "I was just kidding armor-man, now get us down will ya." Earth said. Deathscythe nodded, he then raised his beam weapon over his head and made two quick slashes. There was the sound of metal hitting the floor and Sailor Earth was free, the armored man then moved to free the other senshi, "For once, I'm glad o see you." Uranus said as Deathscythe set her free, he said nothing and moved to free Pluto. When all of the senshi were freed, the five began to move out. "Hey!" Sailor Star Fighter shouted, "What about us?" Deathscythe looked each of the Sailor Starlight's in the eyes once, "I'll free you, but on one condition, you do everything I tell you to without question until this battle is over. Got it?" "Deal." Fighter said. Earth watched as the armored man made quick work of the shackles binding the other warriors, "This is all I want you to do, clear a path out of here while the senshi and I take out Pyrites little scheme, after that, we're even." "Done, okay you two let's get the hell out of here." Fighter said to her comrades. With that, the three Starlight's left the room, doing their part of making a path for the others to use to escape. "I found out what Pyrite is up to. He's set up some kind of machine that can suck out all of this cities life energies at once. He's going to activate it tonight." Deathscythe informed the Sailor Senshi. "Oh we gotta stop this." Uranus said grimly. "Do you know where this machine is kept?" Pluto asked. Deathscythe nodded, "Follow me." he said. *** Pyrite stood before the Mass Extractor, "Beautiful." he said as he gazed upon the giant crystal. "Ten minutes until activation sir." One of the technicians said. "Good, evacuate all personel, and prepare those senshi for departure into the Negaverse. Queen Beryl could use some more brainwashed puppets." Said Pyrite. "Don't bother pal, we're already here, and we're ready to kick your ass into next year!" a voice said from the doorway. Pyrite looked over to the doorway to see the Sailor Senshi and the armored man who had been helping them from time to time standing there. He decided to address him first, "So we meet face to face at last mister, well I'm afraid I don't now your name." Deathscythe stepped forward, "I am called Deathscythe." he said. "Charming." Pyrite said, he then looked at Deathscythe's helmet, "Why don't you face me as a gentleman and remove that garish mask." "Gentleman, you? Oh give me a break." Uranus commented. "Your oppinion of me means little, as in under ten minutes, this city will be completely drained of energy, you included. And you will discover that your powers have not yet returned, so there is nothing you can do to stop me." Pyrite said. "I can do THIS." Deathscythe said as he swiped his Beam-Scythe at Pyrite. The general side-stepped the attack. He then held up his hand palm out toward Deathscythe. "I will not face an oponent who wears a mask, I'll just have to fix that." He said as he blasted his powers outward. The force of Pyrite powers pushed Deathscythe hard against the wall, his hemet crashing into and shatering as it hit. The broken metal fell to the floor leaveing his face exposed, "What's this? The man who has caused me so much trouble is nothing more than a mere boy? I feel insulted." Duo stood up and wiped the blood away from his mouth, "Happy to do so Pyrite." He said. "DUO!?" all four of the senshi said at once. "Aaa.... Hi guys." Duo said nervously. There was a whiring sound as the Mass Extractor went into it's final stage. "It's too late Sailor Senshi, your city is doomed." Pyrite said with dark laughter. Duo then knew what he had to do. He turned to Pluto. "Sailor Pluto, get them as far away from this building as you can. I'll take care of the Mass Extractor." He said. "No, we'll stay and help." Earth said. "No you need to get out of here now," He said as he walked over to her, oddly enough Pyrite didn't attack but choose to watch the little drama, "Please Ashley, get out of here, I have an idea of how strong this guy is and I don't need him using you as a weapon against me." Sailor Earths eyes widened, "How did you know that I'm.." she was unable to finish as Duo took her in a passionate kiss. Duo pulled away and looked into her eyes, "I wish things could have been different." He said, then he looked to the other three senshi, "Get her out of here." Neptune grabbed Earth and lifted her over her shoulder, much to Earths protests, and made a bee line for the exit. Pluto followed her, she only turned to give him a quick nod before she too exited. Uranus put her hand on his shoulder, she knew what he meant to do, "I was wrong about you, forgive me." she said. Duo nodded, and the senshi of the planet Uranus exited. "Are you ready to face me now?" Pyrite asked from his position leaning against the wall. "Let's go." Duo said as he began the charge up process for his armors self-detonation system. I only hope it can be ready in time, he thought, and I can survive long enough to push the button. *** "Put me down Neptune, I have to help him!" Earth protested. "I'm sorry Ashley, I can't do that." Neptune apologized. "But he doesn't stand a chance against Pyrite." Earth said, holding back tears that were threatening to break free. As the senshi made their way through the coridors they noticed that many of the youma have been knocked out. The Sailor Starlights handywork no doubt, Pluto thought as the jumped over yet another fallen youma. And they did all this without their powers, she thought as her opinion of them raised by several notches, going into the level of respect for their skills. "There's the exit." Uranus said, pointing to the door at the end of the passageway. "Let's get the hell out of here." As they exited the building, the senshi made their way across the parking lot to outside the fence. Good luck Duo, Pluto thought, you'll need it. *** SLAM. Duo grunted in pain as Pyrite once again used his powers to knock him into a wall, his self-detonation system was not yet ready and he was losing this battle fast. Over in the center of the room, the Mass Extractors hum increased in pitch as it neared the point where it would drain dry the life energies of everyone in the city. I WON'T let that happen, Duo thought as he touched a control on his Buster Shield, the weapon activated and flew out toward Pyrite. "What?!" Pyrite said, not expecting him to have a range weapon on him. He quickly destroyed the shield by firing a burst of plasma energy at it. The weapon fell to the ground in a heap of twisted metal and circuitry. "Are you done playing with you're toys, BOY!?" "Not quite YET!" Duo said as he activated his rear boosters and launched himself at Pyrite, hoping to be able to slice the evil man in half with his scythe. No such luck. Pyrite sidestepped the attack and reached out with his telekenetic powers. He grabbed Duo and lifted him off the ground, Just hold on for another minute Duo, Duo thought to himself, you can do it. Pyrite began to smash Duo against the ceiling and walls, Duo grunted with each impact. His body may have been covered with nearly indestructable armor, but he was still flesh and blood underneath. Pyrite slamed him into the concrete floor once more and then releaseed his telekenetic hold on him. Duo coughed once, and a spot of his blood appeared on the floor. The M.E. increased in pitch again and Pyrite began to laugh darkly. "Ha ha ha ha, in moments you and all those in this city will be drained of life energy and Queen Beryl will release the power of the Negaforce once again!" Pyrite ranted. "Not if I can help it." Duo said, coughing up more of his blood, he knew he was bleeding internally now. Come on, he thought, hurry up and charge. BEEP. There it was, the sound he had been waiting for. It was his armors signal that the self-detonation system was charged and ready. Good bye Ashley, he thought. "You can never defeat me, BOY!" Pyrite spat out, his voice dripping with contempt. Duo began to laugh. "Oh, and what is so funny?" the dark man asked. Duo looked up into the generals eyes, "You know, it just may be a tie." He said as he depressed a button on his Beam-Scythe, activating the self-destruct system. For a moment, his entire armor glowed from inside, then the glow dissapated and his G-unit armor exploded with the force of a pocket sized nuke, taking the Mass Extractor, Pyrite, and himself along with it. *** "DUOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!" Earth cried out as the building exploded, the blast was so imense that there was only a crater left to mark the location of where it once was. Sailor Earth fell to her knees, "No." she said, hitting the ground in frustration. "I have to admit, I didn't think he had the guts to do it." a voice said above them. The Sailor Senshi all looked up to see a man floating above them, he was dress in black with silver highlights here and there. He had mild shoulder armor on and a sword hung from his waist, "Who are you?" Sailor Earth demanded. The young man floated down to the ground, his face became visable, he was young, nineteen, twenty at the most, he had deep blue eyes and short black hair. "I am Prince Endymion, and I will finish what Pyrite started." He said as he threw a black rose at her. Earth dodged the attack by rolling on the ground. Sailor Uranus walked up behind this new enemy, "Finish this!" she said as she held her hand up to the sky, "World...." She began, but this time there was no build up of energy in her hand. Uranus looked at her hand as if she had never seen it before, "Oh crap." "I see you're still feeling the effects of the gundarmium shackles Pyrite had chained you in. Too bad." Endymion said as he pointed his hand at her, a black sphere of power fromed in it. He fired that energy at Uranus. Sailor Uranus screamed in agony as the energy hit her body, Earth half expected it to vaporize her in an instant. But instead it only caused what must have been unbarable pain for her. a voice said in her mind. Duo? she thought, No, that can't be. Earth shook off the eerie feeling and readied herself to attack this Endymion person, but she couldn't help the feeling that she KNEW this young man from somewhere. It was like the echo of a memory for her. Endymion lowered his hand and Earth saw her opening. She put all of her fighting skills into her attack on the Dark Prince. He blocked most of her blows and dodged the rest. Pluto moved up behind him to give Earth a hand. Endymion gave her one of his black spheres for her trouble and Sailor Pluto fell to the ground screaming in pain. I've gotta do something or we're all toast, Earth thought. the voice in her mind said again, this time, she could hear it more clearly. It WAS Duo's voice. Sailor Earth dodged an attack from Endymions blade as she tried to figure out if she was going crazy from the loss of her best friend. "You're good girl." Endymion said as she avoided another of his attacks. "I've trained with the best." Earth said back to him. She tried to sidekick him, but to no avail. "If you mean your friends, than I highly doubt that." He scoffed. The anger that the comment stirred in her allowed Earth to land one punch on Endymion. He staggered back from the force of the blow. "You will pay for that!" he said as he tried to regain his bearings. The hit had temporarily dazed him. Earth chanced a look to see where Neptune was, she saw her kneeling next to Uranus, who was still screaming in pain. The aquamaraine haired senshi was trying to comfort her agonized lover. this time that voice screamed in her mind, Duo said. Suddenly Earth felt a wave of information flood into her mind, he said. Yes, she thought, it's all so clear now. Sailor Earth focused her mind and her transformation wand appeared in front of her. It began to glow and change shape, going from a wand look to the look of a sword hilt, the symbol of the Earth that was sitting on top the the small sphere melded into it and became a crystal. Sailor Earth reached out and grabbed the new wand. "Earth Crystal Power.... MAKE UP!!!" she didn't even realize she said the words until she'd already spoken them. A series of lights and energies flew around her as her senshi uniform changed shape. The bow attched to the back of her miniskirt became larger, grayblue hair decorations appeared in her orange hair, and a golden star attached itself to the choker around her neck. When the transformation was complete Sailor Earth looked over to the astonished Prince Endymion, "I am Sailor Earth, and I fight for love and justice. I will not allow you to bring harm to my homeland, in the name of Earth, the planet of beauty and life, I will punish you." she said while going through a series of movements that were similar to a certain senshi in Japan. "Save it girl." Endymion said as he charged at her with his sword, intending to slice her in half with one swipe of the blade. Sailor Earth threw her arms out to her either side of her and concentrated. Behind and around her, energy resembling the form of water formed. The power streamed into her hands, forming a silver sphere in each hand about the size of a globe, "Tsunami.... WASHOUT!!!!" she called out as she launched them at Endymion. The orbs of power flew true for their mistress as they both slamed him square in the chest. "ARRRGGGHHHH!!" he screamed as the energy pounded his body, he fell to the ground, his left arm getting cut on a broken beer bottle. He groaned weakly as Earth walked over to him, she summoned up another energy blast, intending to finish him off. "Sailor Earth, NO! Don't kill him!" Pluto called out. After Endymion had been hit, his attacks on Pluto and Uranus had ended and their pain ceased. Earth hesitated in her attack. "This isn't over!" Endymion said as he faded from existence, returning to the Negaverse. "Why did you stop me?" Earth asked, her voice cold and without emotion. "I have my reasons." Pluto said in the same tone. Earth didn't say anything, she just walked over to the crater that had once been a warehouse. A few areas were still burning, she surveyed the scene, a small part of her hopeing that Duo had somehow made it out alive, but, no, it wasn't possible for anyone to have made it out of there. In her mind, Sailor Earth remembered all the times she had spent with Duo during the two years she'd known him. He had always been there for her, in the good times and the bad, he was a shoulder to cry on when she was sad, and a person to laugh with when she was happy. And now he was gone, taken from her in an instant. She remembered the way he had kissed her when they'd escaped from Pyrite, you never told me you felt that way, she thought. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. She felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned to see Sailor Pluto standing behind her, her expression one of sadness and loss. Pluto hugged her, she returned the hug, and she cried. *** Sailor Star Healer watched the scene from a distence, why am I feeling this way, she thought as she saw Sailor Earth begin to cry. The sight brought an almost physical pain to her. It was too bad about Deathscythe, she wanted to find out more about the man, he may have been able to point them in the right direction to finding the princess. She watched as the Sailor Senshi departed the area, she then looked to the crater that was Deathscythes final resting place, "Ai'imre toe nagsi bay." She said in her native language, they were the words said to give warriors passage into the next world without danger. It was an old belief, and if Fighter and Maker ever found out she believed in it, then she'd never hear the end of it. She looked over to her siblings, Fighter was putting her leg into a splint until she could use the healing stone to repair the break. Maker was the only one of them to get out of their fight with the seemingly endless stream of youma without a scratch. Healer herself had a deep long cut that was going down her arm, a cut that was still bleeding, walking over to her sisters she said, "Let's get out of here before the cops show up." The other two Starlights nodded their agreement. *** He sat silently in the room, he had been meditating for the past three hours without interruption until his computer console beeped. He opened his eyes to see what it was, on the screen was a single message blinking in large red letters. It said CODE 5 MESSAGE. That could only mean one thing, that one of the G-Unit members had just died. He got up and walked over to the computer, taking a seat he opened the message and read the text. HEY TEAM, IF THIS IS BEING READ, THEN IT MEANS THAT I'M DEAD. I GOTTA ADMIT, IT SUCKS. WELL SERIOUSLY, IT ALSO MEANS THAT ASHLEY IS NO LONGER UNDER MY PROTECTION. I NEED ALL OF YOU TO GO TO AMERICA AND FIND HER, AS MY LAST ORDER TO ALL OF YOU, I WANT YOU TO FOLLOW HER ORDERS FROM NOW ON. ASHLEY BROWN/SAILOR EARTH IS NOW YOUR LEADER. DEAL WITH IT QUATRE, OKAY. SIGNED, DUO "THE GOD OF DEATH" MAXWELL He laughed, even in death, Duo still made jokes. He blinked as he noticed a small message that was meant only for him was attached to the other one. He typed in the password HOPE and read Duos last words to him. HEERO, I NEED YOU TO GO IN MY LOCKER AT HQ, IN IT THERE IS A PACKAGE THAT I NEED YOU TO GIVE TO ASHLEY FOR ME. YOU'RE THE ONE PERSON THAT I KNOW WILL DO THIS WITHOUT LOOKING TO SEE WHAT'S IN IT. SO PLEASE DELIVER IT FOR ME. THAT'S AN ORDER. He stood up from the console, "Mission: Accepted." He said as he went to wake Relena and pack for the flight to the states. His face did a good job of hiding the pain he felt from the knowledge that a good friend was now dead. "Farewell Duo, I hope you died with honor." Heero Yuy said. *** TWO MONTHS LATER Ashley sat in her desk, waiting for the test sheet to be passed down to her. Over the past two months she had done nothing but study for the exams to try to ease the pain in her heart. She knew Jade and the others were worried about her, she just shrugged off all their attemps to cheer her up. She didn't want to be cheery, she didn't deserve it. Duo had died because she didn't have the power to help him. A few days after he died there was news that Duo Maxwell had died in a tragic car crash. She knew it was a cover story that Central Control was using. None the less, there was going to be a funeral for him in three weeks and she planned on attending. The final sheet of paper was placed in front of her. Ashley picked up her #2 pencil and began to take her High School entrance exams. The first test was in math, no sweat, with all her studying, it was as if the questions were meant for a five year old. After the math test came World History, it was the same for it as it was for the math test. Ashley didn't even know why she bothered to come here for such a useless test of her skills. She filled in the little scantron sheets anyway though. After the English test, Ashley was beginning to feel as if her intelligence was being insulted by the ease of the questions. Once Ashley had finished the final test she rose from her seat and placed her papers on her teacher Mr. Acavedo's desk. She then grabbed her backpack and headed for the door. "Ashey? Where are you going? The dismissal bell hasn't rung yet." Mr. Acavedo said. She turned to look at him, "My tests are done and I don't need to be here any longer. There's somewhere else that I need to be right now." Ashley said as she left the room. Her teacher made no move to stop her. For that, she silently thanked him. *** Sailor Earth stood in the parking lot that was next to the crater where he died. She kept asking herself why she kept coming back here. Knealing down, Sailor Earth picked up an odd looking peice of metal. A closer look at it told her what it was, and again tears threatened to flow out of her eyes. It was a piece of Deathscythes armor, she didn't know how she knew, but she did. "You two must have been close." someone said behind her. The senshi of the Earth turned to see Sailor Star Healer standing behind her. "Why are you here?" she asked. "And what do you want?" Healer shrugged, "Something told me that I needed to be here." She then walked over to stand beside Earth, "So, how close were you two?" she asked. Sailor Earth looked at the ground, "He was my best friend. And I let him down." She said. Healer didn't say anything, she just stood there next to Earth. After a few minutes she asked, "What was he like? I only saw him those two times." "Why are you so interrested?" Earth asked. Star Healer looked into Sailor Earths gray eyes, "Because I've never seen someone who would give their life without thinking about it. I saw how he fought with Pyrite through the window, he took one hell of a beating. But he never gave up. I don't know anyone like that outside of the other Starlights." She said. Sailor Earth smiled, it was a weak smile, but it was still a smile, "You know everything you need to." she said. Earth took a last look at the crater, and turned to leave. "Sailor Earth wait!" Healer said, Earth turned back to her. "What?" she asked. "We thought you might want this back." Healer said as she held out the communicator that she'd given to Maker. Earth shook her head, "No, you keep it. I've said that we should work together, maybe you'll listen to that now." Healer nodded. Sailor Earth nodded back and left the area. Yeah, maybe it's time we did do that, Healer thought. *** TWO DAYS LATER Ashley stood at the back of the crowd. The results of the entrance exams had come in and the school had decided to display them on the main hall bulletin board. She made her way through the crowd to find her name and scores. The list was alphabetically listed, so she had no trouble finding her name. JESSIE BROISK: 87% ASHLEY BROWN: 100% AMIEE BROZE: 32% Ashleys eyes went wide, wow, was all she could think as she walked away from the score board. She continued to walk through the halls until she emerged outside in the courtyard of her Jr. High school. She looked up into the clouds, "I'd trade it in a nanosecond if it would bring you back Duo." she said aloud as a wave of anguish swept over her from the knowledge that if he hadn't died, then she wouldn't have dulled the pain by studying her brains out. A tear made its way down her cheek. "Talking to yourself slut?" an angry voice said behind her. The orange haired girl looked behind her to see three girls standing behind her, Heather Hutton, Shelly Garcia, and Jamie Shultz. The three biggest trouble makers in the whole school. "What do you want?" Ashley asked, trying to sound tough. In response, Jamie came over and punched her in the gut hard. Ashley fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of her, her vision blurred from the pain. One of the other girls, Heather, came up and kicked her in the ribs, Ashley hissed in pain and there was a sharp snaping sound as two of her ribs broke from the kick. "How'd you do it you little whore, huh?" Shelly said as she too, kicked Ashley. "What'd you do, give the teach a blowjob?" she spat. Ashley tried to get to her feet, "Oh no, none of that now." Heather said as she hit Ashley on the back with a Baseball bat that she had with her. She laughed as Ashley screamed and fell back to the ground, an intense pain shooting through her body as yet another bone cracked. From a distense, Ashley wondered why no teacher was coming to stop them. "You're gonna die you little preppy bitch. And no one is gonna help you, we saw to that." Heather said. The senshi heard the snick of a switchblade being drawn, Oh God! she thought. Ashley tried to scream for help, but what came out was barely a whisper, she was hurt, badly. Then a new pain came as the knife was pushed into her flesh, it was just below her ribs. The blade was pulled out and shoved in again, this time into her shoulder. She was being stabed to death! Oddly enough, she didn't care, at least she'd see Duo again soon. She felt her consciousness fading away when she the the sound of someone screaming a battle cry. "What!" one of her attackers said, then there was the sound of several punches being thrown and the sound of three bodies hitting the ground. The last thing Ashley felt was the feeling of someone picking her up, just before she lost consciousness and her world went completely black. *** Seiya Kou sat in the apartment that he shared with is brothers, for the last three hours, he'd been working on the newest song for their band The Three Lights. He sat back and sighed, his head starting to pound from the stress of working so hard on the song. He jumped in his seat as the door to the apartment was kicked in and Yaten ran in, he was carrying someone in his arms. A young orange haired girl, and she was bleeding, badly. There were several deep cuts in various places on her body. On closer inspection, Seiya saw that they were stab wounds. Yaten laid the girl on the couch. "Seiya, get the Healing Stone, hurry!" Yaten said to him. "Yaten, you know that we can't...." Seiya began, but Yaten cut him off. "NOW!!!" he said, and the look on his face left no room for argument. Seiya went into the bathroom and got the Healing Stone that they had brought with them to Earth. He brought the blue stone encased in a golden band back to Yaten. Yaten quickly grabbed the stone from Seiya and placed it on Ashleys body, it began to glow as it sensed her injuries. The glow spread over her body and began to heal her. The stab wounds began to close and her ribs and back also healed over. A few moments before her body was completely healed, Yaten removed the stone and stopped the process. "Can't heal her completely, she'd ask to many questions." Yaten said as Seiya looked at him curiously. Ashley stirred, "Hey, take it easy. You got hurt pretty bad." Yaten said soothingly. "When did you become such a nice guy?" Seiya asked. Yaten shot him a dark look and Seiya held up his hands in a peaceful gesture, "Okay, forget I asked." he said. On the couch, Ashley groaned softly, "Cold." She whispered. Seiya got up to go get a blanket for her. Being healed from the stone for the first time has that effect on most people, he thought as he handed the thick blanket to his brother. Yaten drapped the cloth over Ashleys body, "Tired." she whispered. "Then rest." Yaten said in the same soothing tone. "You're gonna be fine Ashley. Just rest now." Ashley managed a weak nod before she fell into a deep sleep. "Okay Yaten, you wanna explain this?" Seiya asked. "Who is this girl?" "She's a classmate, her name is Ashley Brown. I think you've met her a couple of times." Yaten said. "Whoa, hold on a sec. Is this the same Ashley that you said could go to hell for all you cared?" Seiya asked. "I lied." Yaten said simply, "I now think of her as an equal to me." A grin came to Seiyas face, "You're sweet on this chick." He said. "I am not!" Yaten protested, but a blush on his face said otherwise. "Wait 'til Taiki hears this." Seiya said as he went back to the desk to work on the song he was writing. "Great, just great." Yaten muttered, he then looked to Ashleys sleeping form, "Why'd I have to meet you?" *** In her sleep, Ashley dreamed. She was standing in the warehouse, Duo was fighting with Pyrite. He was losing. She watched as Duo was pounded again and again into the walls, ceiling, and floor. When she tried to move to help him, she discovered that she was glued to the floor and couldn't move. She was forced to watch as Duo was beaten to death. a disembodied voice said, Ashley looked to her side to see the silhouette of a man standing in the shadows, he said in her mind. "Fa.. father?" Ashley said. She turned away from him and looked back to where Duo was. She saw him lying lifelessly on the floor, his body broken and beaten to a heap of lifeless flesh and blood. "Why Ash? Why did you let me die? I thought we were friends." Duos voice said. "No, I didn't, I... I.." Ashley tried to say. her fathers voice said again. No, please god no, she thought, make it stop, no. *** "NO!!!" Ashley screamed as she awoke, Yaten jumped slightly, she had startled him. He had been over her for hours. Eventually, he rested his head on part of the couch and had fallen asleep. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her to the present. "Ashley! Snap out of it, you're okay." He said. She stopped screaming and wrapped her arms around herself, she began to shake feircely, "Where am I? Am I dead?" she asked. Yaten squeeze her shoulder reasureingly, "No, you're fine. And you're damn lucky I was wandering around outside when I was." Ashley got her bearings and looked at him, "Yaten!?" she said, baffled. Then a hardened look replaced the one of utter fear that was on her face only moments ago. "Why'd you help me? What's in it for you." she asked coldly. Yaten didn't blame her, he deserved it for the way he'd treated her in the time since they'd met. "The satisfaction that I saved your life from a bunch of bitches who couldn't get an A if their lives depended on it." he said. Her eyes went wide, "You're the one who helped me. I thought I was dying from the stab wounds and..." she started, but then she pulled up her T-shirt and looked at the wound on her abdomen, it was only a miner cut that would heal in a few days without even a scar. "But I thought..?" she tried to say. Yaten pulled a chair over to sit in, "They only used a little knife that didn't even have an inch long blade, but from the way she jabbed it into you I'm sure it must have felt longer." He lied, hopeing that she'd buy it and not ask anymore questions. She did. "Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?" she asked. Yaten blew out a long breath, Okay, here goes, he thought. "Because you're not like the other girls at school. You have a thinking mind and not a bubblehead like most of the other girls. And, you are the only girl I've met that could match me in a fight." He said, then he looked into her eyes, "And that's something that I respect." Ashley didn't know what to say, she just look at him. She felt herself become absorbed by his green eyes, for the first time in her life, she was able to see the emotion in the eyes of another. Yaten was really concerned for her, there was something else there as well, but she couldn't identify it. She winced as the cut on her arm started to hurt, "Ow, jeez!" she said as she put her hand over the cut. She applied pressure to try and dull the pain. "Wait here, I'll go get something for that." Yaten said as he got up and headed for the first aid kit in the bathroom. As he passed Seiyas room he looked inside to see his brother desperately trying to contain his laughter. "Not. One. Word." Yaten said in a dangerous tone. Seiya snikered softly and made phony kissing motions at Yaten. The silver haired Starlight suppressed a growl, grabbed the kit from the bathroom and went back to where Ashley was sitting. *** Ashley winced as the hydrogen poroxide was applied to her cuts, "Damn that stuff stings." She complained. Yaten looked up into her eyes, "Would you rather risk infection?" he asked, "Imagine how much that would sting." "Good point." Yaten quickly finished cleaning the wounds and put everything back into the kit. "So," Ashley began, "what happened to those girls that attacked me?" "Oh, I put them in the Hospital with various broken bones." Yaten said without missing a beat. Ashley found herself doing something she hadn't done in the past two months, she laughed with genuine humor. It felt good, and ebbed away some of the fear that her nightmare had caused. After a few minutes Ashley looked at Yaten, "Thank you, for saveing me." Yaten smiled and nodded, "Sure, listen Ashley, about that little nickname I called you." he began to say. Ashley held up a hand, "Already forgotten. Um, how long was I out?" she asked, changing the subject. Yaten looked over at the clock mounted on the wall, "Oh, about seven hours, why?" "Can I use your phone? Setsuna and the others are probably worried about me by now." Ashley said. "Sure." Yaten said, handing her the cordless phone that was on the stand beside the couch. Ashley accepted the phone and dialed the number for the apartment she shared with the others. It rang three times before someone picked up, "Hello?" Setsuna said on the other side. "Hi Setsuna, it's me." Ashley said. "ASHLEY! Where the hell have you been, are you okay? Do you need any help?" Setsuna blurted out, her voice sounding worried. "No, I'm fine. I got attacked after school, but was saved by a most unexpected person." Ashley said, giving Yaten a smile. He blushed slightly. Setsuna spoke quickly for a few moments, "No, that's okay, I don't need you to send Haruka to pick me up, I'll stay where I am for the night. I have a feeling that I'm safe here." Setsuna asked where she was specifically, here goes, she thought, "I'm at the Three Lights' place." She said. Thankfully, Setsuna didn't go berserk, she just asked to speak with one of them. She held the phone out to Yaten, "She wants to talk to you." Ashley said. Yaten took the phone and spoke with Setsuna for a few moments, Ashley couldn't hear what she was saying to Yaten, and his responses didn't give any insight to what she was saying to him. Finally Yaten said, "Okay, goodnight." and then he turned off the cordless and placed it back in the charger. "What did she want?" Ashley asked. "Just to know if you were gonna be okay, may I know the reason you'd like to stay here the night?" Yaten said. "I wanna live, have you seen how Haruka drives?" she responded. "Point." Yaten sighed, "Well Idon't think my brothers will mind, Taiki isn't back yet, but I think he'll be alright with it." "You mean Seiya is here?" Ashley asked, "Where is he?" "Back here in my room." Seiya responded, "And feel free to stay the night Ashley. LA isn't the town to go around in at night anyway." "Evesdropping is rude Seiya." Yaten said. "Gotta entertain mt self somehow, and listening in on you two lovebirds is quite entertaining." He said laughing. Yaten rolled his eyes, "Lovebirds?" Ashley asked looking at Yaten. "Don't ask." Yaten said. He then left and returned a few moments later with a couple of pillows. He handed them to Ashley, "These are a bit more comfy than those couch pillows." He said as she accepted them. "Thank you." Ashley said. The two sat in silence for a few moments, neither of them realized that they had become absorbed by each others eyes. The silence was broken by the sound of Ashleys stomach growling. "Sorry." She apologized. "Think you can hold down some steak? We have a little left, it shouldn't take long for me to heat it up." Yaten offered. "I'd like that, thanks." she said. Yaten stood and headed for the kitchen. "Aww, isn't that cute?" Seiya said teaseingly. "Can it Seiya, you're lucky I'm too weak right now, or I'd give you a new face." Ashley said. "Sorry Ash, I didn't mean to offend you, just my brother." Seiya said as he came into view. Ashley narrowed her eyes, "Don't ever call me that again." She said as he sat in an easychair. "Huh? What'd I do?" Seiya asked. "Do I look like that idiot from Pokemon?" she asked, her voice laced with steel. "Whats Pokemon?" Seiya asked. "Never mind, just don't call me Ash. I hate that." Ashley said. "Haruka calls me that to get on my nerves." "Okay, sorry." "Sorry about what?" Yaten said as he returned with a steaming plate and a TV tray. He placed them in front of Ashley and sat down next to her. Seiya struggled to hold back a fit of laughter, Ashley could see it. The three then sat together and talked while she ate, several times Ashley had to prevent Yaten and Seiya from fighting. Conversation stayed mostly on the way that The Three Lights had come to where they were today. They spoke long enough for Ashley to get better insight into both of them, and in a few short minutes, her opinion of Yaten had been completely changed. Taiki returned a few minutes later and Ashley found herself being allowed to see a rehersal of The Three Lights latest song. After they had finished everyone said goodnight and went toward their respective bedrooms, from the couch, Ashley heard Taiki go, "You're kidding, Yaten has the hots for someone, who?" Ashley coudn't hear what Seiya responded, but the next sound she heard was the sound of Taiki laughing hysterically. "Yeah, I noticed that too." She heard Taiki say. Ashley shook her head and laid her head down on the pillows to sleep. *** "NO!" Ashley screamed as she awoke in a cold sweat, the same nightmare had come to her again as she slept. Ashley sat up and began to shake violently, she wrapped her arms around her. She felt as if her bones had turned to ice with fear, fear that the dream was right, that she was useless. Ashley felt a hand on her. She looked up to see Yaten standing over her, a look of concern on his face. "Ashley, are you okay?" he asked. She didn't care that two months ago, she hated this man, she just got up and threw her arms around him. Sobbing almost uncontrollably Ashley said, "Yaten, hold me, tight." Yaten put his arms around her and held her as she cried. "It was my fault." she sobbed. "What?" Yaten asked, trying to comfort her, while also trying to sort through the torent of emotions going through him. "I can't tell you. But that dream I've been having is right, I AM useless, I can't even save one friend." She said. Yaten moved to sit down so they'd be more comfortable. "Duo died because of me. Because I couldn't protect him." "Accidents happen Ashley, you couldn't have known that there would be a drunk out that night." Yaten said. He wanted to tell her that he knew that Duo had died a noble death by saving the entire city from an evil general from another world. But she'd never believe it. "I didn't know Duo to well, but I know he wouldn't want you to suffer like this. And you're not useless Ashley." He said. Ashley looked at Yaten, he was the same height as she was, so she didn't have to crain her neck to do so. "Then why did my father send me away? I was placed in an orphange right after I was born, no one wanted me. It wasn't until Setsuna came that I got out of that horrible place." Yaten couldn't hide the shock on his face, "You were sent away?!" he said, not wanting to believe anyone would send away their own child. Ashley nodded. "I snuck into the file room at the orphanage, I saw my file on how I was placed there." She said, wiping away some of the tears. As she remembered reading that file, all of the pain that came from learning that she was unwanted by her father melded with the pain of her best friends death and churned her insides. She began to cry again into Yatens shoulder. "Shh, it's alright." Yaten soothed her, he finally realized what he was feeling for her. Love. He couldn't deny it, he was in love with her. Ashley was the first girl he'd met who challenged him and didn't just through herself at him like so many others. As he held her, Yaten could almost feel how much emotional torment she was in, and he wanted to help her to end it. So he just sat there with his arms around her, saying soothing words to try to comfort her. Ashley just let it out, all the pain she'd kept bottled up since the day she'd read that file and all the pain from Duos death. She just let it out, never, not once in her life had she opened up so completely for someone, not even Duo. But now, she just knew she could do that with Yaten. He had been harsh toward her and she had in turn been harsh to him, most guys at school were afraid of her, because of how tough she was most of the time. But Yaten was different, he never ran from a challenge when she made one, just like Duo when she'd first met him. Could that be why she trusted him all of a sudden? Because he now reminded her of her best friend? No, it was something else, something deeper and with more meaning. Oh no, Ashley thought as she realized what it was, aw man, why'd I have to fall for a jerk like him? But she couldn't deny it, no matter how much she wanted to. She was in love with Yaten. It annoyed her to no ends. Still, she continued to let herself cry on his shoulder, it felt good to release all of the pain she had kept to herself for so long. A few minutes later, Ashley stopped crying. She sat back against the couch, sniffling and wiping her eyes. "Sounds like you've been holding that back for a while now." Yaten said. Ashley nodded, "Yeah, I have, thank you." she said. "For what?" Yaten asked "For being so kind to me." she replied. Yaten smiled and laid back with her on the couch. They sat is silence for a while. Yaten looked over into her gray eyes, "Do you want to talk about anything? That dream you mentioned maybe?" he said. "Not right now. Now, I'd like to try to get back to sleep." Ashley said. Yaten stood to leave, "Ill see you in the morning then." He said. "Um, Yaten?" Ashley said nervously, "I don't want to be alone right now. Do you think you could stay with me? At least until I fall asleep." Yaten thought about it for a moment, Seiya and Taiki would never let him hear the end of it. He decided that he didn't care. Pulling aside part of the blanket, Yaten moved closer to Ashley, he put his arm around her. "Is this okay?" he asked. "Umm hmm." She said as she placed her head against his chest. He leaned his cheek against the top of her head. It was strange how normal it felt for him to do it. It wasn't long before they both fell into a peaceful dreamless sleep. *** They stepped off the plane terminal and headed toward the baggage claim, "So, this is America." Relena said. Heero looked at his blonde friend, "You've never been to the states?" he asked as he switched the package over to his other arm. Relena shook her head, "Nope, not once." She said as they reached the claim area and waited for their things to roll around. "Well well well, isn't this a surprise. Long time no see Heero." Someone said behind them. Heero and Relena turned to see Wufei Chang standing there. "How have you two been?" he asked. Heero walked over and shook the hand of his comrade, "I've been fine. It's nice to see you again Wufei. Last I heard, you were asigned to the office in China." The dark haired young man nodded, "I was, until I got that CODE 5 message. Now I'm here to meet our new leader, I can only hope her sense of justice is as strong as Duos was." He said. "I don't think he would have choosen her otherwise." And quiet voice said from a nearby bench. The three turned to see a young man of about seventeen sitting there, he had brown hair that was long in the front and combed over to cover one of his eyes. "Trowa!" Relena said as she went to greet him, the last time she saw him was over two years ago. The stoic young man accepted her friendly hug. Trowa then went over to shake hands with the other two members of his old team mates. "I've met Ashley, she may not be very powerful, but her sense of right and wrong is very strong." Trowa said. "Come on, let's get your things, Catharine and Hilde are outside waiting with the van. I've already got a base that we can use set up." "Do you know when Quatre is going to arrive?" Relena asked as she went back to Heeros side. Trowa shook his head, "He can't get here until the day before the funeral, there's a bit of trouble in Arabia that only Sandrock can handle so C.C. is gonna keep him there until it's resolved. He said it shouldn't take much longer to take care of the problem." he said. "Did you speak with him?" Heero asked as he picked up a large case, the one that held his Wing armor suit. Getting it through customs had been tricky, but he had been trained well to handle every problem that could arise. Relena helped him put it on a baggage cart. "Yesterday morning, yes." Trowa replied as he helped Wufei with the case that held the Shen-long armor. "He misses all of us." "Well it's been a while, AND, even though he'd never admit it aloud, Heero missed all of you guys as well." Relena said. Heero didn't say anything, he just finished getting his and Relenas things and placed them on the cart. "Where's your van parked?" he asked. Trowa finished helping Wufei with his things, "Follow me." he said. The group made their way through the airport to the parking lot where they found Catharine and Hilde waiting patiently. Relena, like a young school girl, went over and happily greeted her friends. "Relena seams different than last I saw her." Wufei said. "Shock from Duos death, she's in the 'all lifes moments must be charished' stage. She'll be back to normal a few days after the funeral." Heero said as he loaded their luggage into the van. Once everything was put onboard, Heero and the other piled into the green van and started toward the base that Trowa had set up. "Hilde, this is for you. I found it in Duos locker, it's addressed to you in the event of his passing." Heero said, holding an envelope out to the purple haired young lady. "Thank you Heero." Hilde said as she took the envelope from him. She opened the package, inside was a zip drive disk and a note with six words on it. She read the note: YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO HILDE. She blinked, what does that mean? she thought. Hilde then looked at what was written on the disk, D-HELL PLANS was written on it with black magic marker. He can't be serious, she thought, but then again... "Trowa, what do you have on Ashley Brown?" Wufei asked. The wearer of the Heavyarms armor reached down and withdrew two minalla envelopes, he handed one to both Wufei and Heero. "That's everything Duo had in his files on the Sailor Senshi here in the states. He even went so far as to include their sexual orientations." Trowa said. "Thanks." Heero said as he began to read the file. *** In the morning, Ashley sat down and had breakfast with Yaten and his brothers. Afterwards, Yaten walked her back home. "You didn't have to walk me back you know." Ashley said. Yaten shrugged, "It'll keep me from having to deal with my brothers for a while." He said. "Hmm." Was all she said in response as they reached the entrance to her apartment. "Uhh, Ashley?" he said nervously. "Yes?" she responded. Yaten figited, hateing the nervous sensations going through him as he tried to figure out how to best ask her what he wanted to. He decided to just say it straight out, "Would you like to go out with me tomorrow night?" "I'd love to." Ashley said without hesitation. "Okay, pick you up a seven?" he said. "Yeah, that'd be great." She replied. With that, Yaten bid her farwell and left the building. Ashley then wondered what she had just goten herself into. She looked down at her bruised body, she was healing rather fast, faster than she should, considering that she was only attacked just yesterday. At this rate, I'll be healed completely by morning tomorrow, she thought as she opened the door and entered the apartment. Inside she found Haruka and Michiru sharing a rather passionate kiss, Haruka hand was gently kneading Michirus breast through her clothes. Jade was laying on the easychair, not noticeing or not caring about the rather amorous moment the two lovers were sharing. "Ahem!" Ashley said. Both girls jumped apart and struggled to compose themselves, "Uh, hi Ash, where have you been?" Haruka said,with a bright red blush on her cheek. Ashley slumped down on the couch, "Getting my butt kicked by some bitches at school." She said sourly. She lifted her shirt to show the array of bruises on her body, along with the bandaged cuts. "Oh my gosh, Ashley are you okay?" Michiru asked as she moved to get a closer look at her cuts. "I'm fine, Yaten saved me and patched me up." Ashley responded. "Yaten? That jerk from the rock band that every girl in the high school is drooling over?" Haruka asked. Ashley narrowed her eyes at Haruka, "Every girl but you, yeah, that's him. He saved my life Haruka, so he can't be that bad." Ashley said. Oh god, she thought, I just defended him, why me? "I suppose," Haruka agreed reluctantly, "but I though he'd be the last person you'd accept help from." She said. "Two months ago you would have been right, but now..." Ashley said as she felt another fit of tears threaten to break lose. "Whoa, take it easy. He saved your life, okay, so he has one good point. I'll have to thank him the next time I see him." Haruka said. Ashley got her emotions under control, "You can tell him tomorrow night when he comes by to pick me up. We have a date." She said. "WHAT!?!?!?" Haruka bellowed. Ashley was about to respond when there was a bright flash and Setsuna appeared, her staff in hand. "God Setsuna-chan, how many times have we asked you not to do that." Michiru said, blinking her eyes to try and clear the after image that flash had left behind. "Sorry." Setsuna said sheepishly, "I needed to look into a few things in the future." the Time Guardian said. "Anything we need to know about?" Ashley said, lowering her shirt after Michiru had finished examining the injuries. "You know I can't tell you of your own future." Setsuna said. "Oh, so it was MY future that you looked into." Ashley said with a smile. Setsuna didn't say anything in response, she just picked up Jade and headed to her room. "I hate it when she does that." Haruka said, she turned back to Ashley, "Now, whats this about a date?" The orange haired girl shrugged, "It's just as I said, he asked me out and I said yes. So now I have a date with him." Ashley said, wondering what the big deal was. "Look Haruka, he saved my life from those girls. The least I can do is go out with him once." Haruka flopped down on a nearby chair, "I suppose so." She said, not like the fact that Ashley was going out on an official date. "Just let me meet him be fore you go." "Fine, sure." Ashley said as she got up and headed toward the bathroom, "Now if you'll excuse me, I am dying for a shower." She said as she grabbed a towel and went inside. "Don't do it." Michiru said, her voice laced with steel. "Do what?" Haruka asked. "Ruin her date before it even starts." The aqua haired girl responded. "Now would I do something like that?" the blonde said. "You really want me to answer that?" Michiru said. Haruka didn't respond, instead she stood up and walked over to Michiru. The blonde senshi picked up the love of her life and started for their room, "No, what I'd really like to do is pick up where we left of before Ash came home." She said. "DON'T CALL ME THAT!!!" Ashley bellowed from the bathroom. *** Wufei finished setting his armor into the chargeing stall that Trowa had built into the building, he had only been here a few hours, and already he could feel the evils that lurked in this city. It will be a challenge to work here, he thought, the darkness in this city is intense, it is much worse than C.C. had indicated in the reports he'd read. Speaking of reports, after they had all read the report on the Sailor Senshi here in America, it was decided that they all enroll in Ashleys high school to be able to work with her while she worked at building a life for herself. From what he'd read on them, Wufei knew that Haruka Ten'ou would be most difficult to get along with. She did not trust any males very well, and even went as far as to pretend that she and Ashley were lovers in order to scare away any male that showed an interest in the young senshi. He knew that he would be able to work with Sailor Uranus however, the report stated that she was extremly devoted to her mission to protect the people of the Earth. Wufei began to calibrate the settings on his Beam-Glaive, "They all have a strong sense of integrity, I only hope that it will be enough to face whatever the future has in store for us. Integrity alone does not win the war." *** Hilde stood in the Gundanium store room, I can't believe I'm gonna do this, she thought as she began to gather enough of the alloy to build the thing that was on the disk that Duo had left her. "It'll take me time to build it Duo. But it will be flawless, I only hope that I am truly worthy of the honor that you've given me." she said as she piled the lightweight alloy onto a cart. When she was sure she had enough, Hilde headed for an unused workroom with in the base that Trowa had set up to begin her work. *** She sat in front of the mirror, running a brush through her long orange hair. Yaten was going to arrive in a few minutes and she wanted to be ready. Not because she was overly eager to go out with him, but to get him away from Haruka as fast as possible. Knowing her, she was probably going to give him the thrid degree if not worse. "Ashley, you look fine. Why don't you go out to the living room and relax until he gets here?" Jade said from her position on the bed. Ashley looked at the green fured cat, "I will if you tell me what Setsuna told you about my future." she said. Jade narrowed her eyes, "All she said was that the next five years of your life are going to be interesting, nothing more." "Hmm, why does she always have to be so cryptic?" Ashley asked. "Part of my nature." Setsuna said from the doorway. She smiled as Ashley blushed, "Trust me, you don't want me to ruin the surprises that are in store for you." "Yes I do." Ashley said in an overly cheerful voice, "Tell me, pwease." She said in a childish tone. Setsuna shook her head, "You know that I can't tell you." she said almost apologetically. The orange haired senshi made a mock pout face, then smiled, "Well in that case, can I ask something else of you?" she asked. "Name it." "Don't let Haruka ruin my date tonight, knock her out, tie her up, I don't care just keep her from following us." Ashley said. "Already taken care of." Setsuna said with a preditory grin. Ashley smiled and applied a bit of make-up to her face. "So Ashley, do you think you will come to be in love with this young man?" Jade asked. "Jade!" Setsuna exclaimed. "What? I though the purpose of dateing was to find the one you will be in love with." Jade said. "It is. And I think I am." Ashley said. Setsuna looked at the girl, "Really, are you sure it's not just a crush?" she asked. "I don't get it Setsuna, a few weeks ago I could care less about him, but now, I can't get him out of my mind." Ashley said. "That look in his eyes, he's the only person whose eyes I could ever read. When I look at him now, it's like looking at a part of myself that I've only now just found. If that makes any sense." Jade began to laugh, "Maybe thats why you couldn't stand him at first, because you two are so much alike, in a relationship like that you naturally push each others buttons." She said. Setsuna nodded in agreement, "Come on, lets go wait for him in the living room." *** The limo pulled up along side the entrance to the bulding, Yaten stepped out and told the driver to wait a few minutes for him and his date to return. He walked up to the main doorway and pressed the switch that coresponded to Ashleys apartment number. "Who is it?" a womans voice came through the intercom. "Yaten Kou ma'am, I'm here to pick up Ashley." He managed to say without stuttering, he didn't know why he was so nervous. Maybe because this is your first date EVER! A voice in his mind said. "Could be." Yaten agreed as the main door buzzed and he was allowed inside. Yaten was wearing a gray T-shirt and blue jeans, he hoped that he wouldn't be recognized. It was times like this that got on his nerves, when he couldn't even go out anywhere without wearing something that would help him blend in and go unnoticed. Their whole mission on Earth depended on himself and his brothers standing out, so they could attract the princess to them. Yaten waited patiently for the elevator to get to him, when it arrived he stepped in side and pressed the 17 key, the doors closed in front of him and the elevator began to asend. The trip up was a shrot one and Yaten soon found himself on the 17th floor. He made his way through the hallway to her apartment door. Taking a deep breath, he knocked three times. The door opened and a young woman with close cut blonde hair stood their, she had gray green eyes that had a toughened look in them. She was wearing cut off jeans and a black tanktop. Haruka. "Come in Yaten, we've been waiting for you." she said, there was an icy undercurrent in her voice that told Yaten that this part of his date wasn't going to be pleasant at all. Steeling his nerves, Yaten followed Haruka inside. Nice place, that was the first thought that came to his mind as he surveyed the apartment. He noticed Ashley sitting on the couch, the sight of her caused his heart to skip a beat, her hair was flowing losely down her back, she was dressed almost like he was, blue jeans and a T-shirt, only her shirt was an aqua color that went well with her gray eyes. She stood up and walked over to him, she smiled. "Yaten Kou, I'd like to introduce you to Setsuna Meiou, my guardian, but I think of her as my mother." Ashley said, and Setsuna couldn't hide how moved she was at her admition, Ashley turned to the other two girls in the apartment. "This is Haruka Ten'ou and Michiru Kaiou, they're both like big sisters to me." she said, gestureing to each of them in turn. "Everyone, this is Yaten Kou." "We've met before." Haruka said evenly. Yaten winced at the memory of the chance meeting, he still had a scar from that incounter. Haruka walked up to him, "Though we have never been properly introduced." she said as she held out her hand. Yaten took her hand and she squeezed it firmly, so firmly in fact that for a moment Yaten thought she was trying to break it. "Nice grip." Yaten said through clenched teeth. "I was hoping you'd notice." Haruka said as she pulled him close enough to whisper in his ear. "Listen, I agreed to let her go out with you because she's been bugging me to let her find out what being with a guy is like. But don't forget that she's MINE, and if you so much as touch her with anything but the most honorable intentions... I'll rip out your liver and feed it to the cat." She said in an ominous tone. Yaten gulped and nodded. "You have my word ma'am." He whispered back. Haruka let him go. "Oh, I almost forgot," Ashley said as she picked up a green cat from the floor, it had green fur and a cresent mark on its forehead, "this is Jade, my kitty." She said. "Jade, say hello to Yaten." "Meow." Jade went. Ashley set her back on the floor and the cat went over to Yaten and rubbed her flank against his calf. An action that Yaten noticed many of this piticular Earth species did. "Well, we had better get going." Yaten said, "The movie starts in half an hour." "Have a good time you two." Setsuna said with a smile. "Not TOO good." Haruka said in a tone just above a whisper. She winced as Michiru elbowed her in the ribs. "Hush." The aqua haired senshi said. After that, the couple left the apartment and headed for the elevator, "Well, that could have been worse, Haruka must be in a good mood today." Ashley said as they stepped into the evevator, the doors closed behind them. "So, which line did she try on you? The 'she's my bi-sexual lover' or the "she's curious about guys' bit?" she asked. "I take it she is a bit over protective of you?" Yaten said as he hit the ground floor button. The elevator began to desend. "Yup, it's because of that that this is my first date, any other guy who has ever shown interest in me has been scared away by her." Ashley sighed, "I'm amazed that she's letting this date even happen." "Hmm." Was all Yaten could say. "What movie are we going to see?" Ashley asked. "None really, I just needed an excuse to get us out of there." Yaten said. "Smart boy." She commented him. They soon reached the bottom floor, the two left the elevator and went to where the limo was waiting. *** She watched the limo as it departed, Okay, she thought as she put her shoes on and prepared to follow them. "And WHERE do you think YOU'RE going?" Michiru asked as she was at the door. "To keep an eye on them, what else." Haruka replied as she reached for her carkeys, Michiru grabbed her wrist and stopped her. "Hon, what are you doing?" she asked with a faint edge to her voice. "Preventing you from ruining Ashleys date." Michiru said simply, "What ever it takes Haruka, you're not leaveing this apartment until she gets back." She said narrowing her eyes. "Make it easy on yourself and don't resist." "Ahh, no." Haruka said as she grabbed the keys and prepared to dash out the door. "I was afraid you'd say that." Michiru said as she wrapped her arms around Haruka, pinning her. Haruka struggled a bit, "Okay Setsuna, I've got her, hurry! This is for your own good love, sorry." Michiru said as the blonde struggled a bit more. "What are you gonna do?" Haruka asked. She soon got an answer. Setsuna walked in front of her with a roll of duct tape. She grabbed the edge and pulled up a few inches of it. *** Yaten and Ashley sat in separate seats at the arcade racing game. This was one of her favorite places to come to, the sounds of all the different games playing at once had a relaxing effect on her. At the moment, she and Yaten were racing each other in a two player race car game, and she was leaveing him in her dust. "Jeez, where'd you learn to drive like that?" Yaten said as the screen went dark and a Game Over sign came into view. "Haruka." Ashley said simply. "I should have guessed." Yaten said. He turned his eyes to the small crowd of girls that were stealing glances at them every chance they could. The down side to being an Idol, is you can't get even the smallest privacy in a public place, he thought. "Would you like to get somthing to eat Ashley?" he asked. "Yeah sure, but can we go somewhere that your little fan club isn't?" she responded. "My thoughts exactly." Said Yaten. They left the malls arcade and headed for the parking lot, they made their way to where the limo was waiting and climbed inside. "Where'd you like to go to eat?" he asked her. "Hmm, I'm kinda in the mood for some seafood." Ashley said as she straightened out her orange hair. Yaten told the driver to take them to the nearest Red Lobster. The limo started up and left the mall parking lot. Yaten went over to a small refrigerator and withdrew a can of Sprite. "Would you like anything?" he offered Ashley. "A Sprite would be fine, thanks." she said. He reached in and withdrew another can and handed it ot her. Their date so far had been the most fun Ashley had had in the last two months, Yaten had taken her shopping in the mall and treated her two fifty bucks at the arcade. She used half of that to kick his butt at various fighting games, the rest was used to play a number of rounds at the claw machine. Ashley won six of the prizes while Yaten couldn't win one to save his life. She didn't buy much during the little shopping spree he'd given her. A pair of shoes and a new sweater was all she got. Ashley was a very non-materialistic type girl. The rest of the time she spent talking and laughing with Yaten, she found that she enjoyed his company a great deal, it was almost as if he was a part of her. When she had trouble thinking of what to say, he would finish the sentence for her and vice versa. You can't doubt it anymore girl, you're in love with him, a voice said in the back of her mind. She absently sipped at her soda, looking into his green eyes, Ashley felt as if time had slowed down. She read the emotions in his eyes, he to was sorting through a number of them, trying to pin down what he felt for her. She wanted to help him in that endeavor. Ashley remembered Yaten saying that one of the best ways for him to think things through was when he was sparing with someone or just practicing martial arts. "You know, forget diner, let's just go to the park, I still owe you a rematch, remember?" Ashley said as they went past a park. "You read my mind." Yatensaid as he told the driver to take them into the park instead. Ashley could see the driver mutter something under his breath as he maneuvered the limo into the park area. *** Yaten walked through the park at sunset with Ashley, his mind raceing as he tried to figure out if Ashley felt the same way for him as he did for her. He hoped that she did, no girl he'd ever met had made him feel this way, he was nervous, giddy, and excited all at the same time. After he had dropped her off at her home the other day, he couldn't stop thinking about her. About her gray eyes, and how they went strangly well with her orange hair. Ashley interrupted his thoughts, "Well, you want a free shot, just to give you a bit more of a chance against me?" she said. Yaten walked to stand a couple of feet from her, "Nah, I think it's me who should offer you the free shot." He said. "Some one has a short memory." She said as she bowed. "Oh I remember." He said as he returned the bow and went into a fighting stance. They began their duel, both of them pulled their punches and kicks. Neither one wanting to hurt the other, this was for sport, not to settle a score. As they fought they both realized that they were equally matched as neither of them could solidly land a single attack. During the duel, neither combatant ever took their eyes away from the other fighters eyes. They soon fell into a rhythm, Yaten would through a punch, and Ashley would block it with ease. The she would try a kick and he would block without any effort. For a moment, Ashley was forced to turn her eyes away to properly block an attack. When she looked back into Yatens eyes, she saw a reflection of her own emotions, he loved her, and he hoped for her to feel the same way about him. The two became locked in an intense gaze, as they did so, each could clearly see the others core, in an instant, Yaten and Ashley knew practically everything about one another. (Though the main secret that each of them held was still closed off.) Neither if them was embarrassed, quite the oppisite, they both realized how liberateing such a connection was, and how much they had both longed for such a relationship. They ceased their little sparing match and came close to one another, their eyes still locked on each others. Ashley saw a well of love and compassion in Yatens eyes, while Yaten saw a fire in Ashleys eyes that matched his own. Yaten reached out and traced his fingers along Ashleys jawline, his touch sending a tingling sensation through her entire body. She closed her eyes and sighed as she leaned into his touch. He stepped closer to her, close enough that she could smell the light layer of sweat on his body, Yaten touched his forehead to hers, and for a moment, all the pain Ashley had ever felt in her life vanished as if it had never existed. Yaten felt all of his uncertainties dissapear as his forehead met hers, he closed his eyes and focused on what he was feeling, everything was so clear at that moment, he knew everything he could ever want out of life was standing right before him. "Kiss me." Ashley whispered so lightly that Yaten wondered if he'd actually heard her say it. One way to find out, he thought as he brought his lips to meet hers. He kissed her full on the lips, his heart beginning to speed up as he did so. Ashleys heart was soaring the moment his lips met hers. It all felt so right to her, the touch of his hand, the kiss of his lips, everything. In that instant, Ashley knew that Yaten Kou was the person she was destined for. She deepened the kiss, sliding her tongue between his lips to meet with his, he accepted her motion willingly and kissed back with equal passion. They stayed like that for seven minutes before they were forced to come up for air. "I love you." they both said in unison, then they kissed again. *** LATER THAT NIGHT Ashley stood outside the door to her apartment with Yaten, she was hugging him as if she would never let go. Finally, she pulled away, "Thank you for a wonderful evening Yaten." She said with a smile. "You're very welcome Ashley." Yaten said, returning her smile. "Um Yaten, what are you and your brothers doing on the thirtyth?" Ashley asked. The silver haired young man thought for a moment, "Nothing, why?" he said. "Do you think the three of you could play at Duos funeral reception? There's something I want to do, but no funeral band will do for the type of music I need." Ashley said as she opened the door. "What do you mean?" he asked as they stepped inside, no one was in the room at the moment. "Wait here." Ashley said as she went to her room. Along the way she passed Haruka and Michirus room, the door was open. Peaking inside, Ashley saw Haruka lying on the bed and tied up with duct tape, Michiru sat beside her trying to keep her calm. "Do I wanna ask?" Ashley said quietly. "No." Michiru said just as quietly. "I thought as much." the orange haired girl said as she continued to her room. She went inside and quickly found what she was looking for. She made it when she was still in the orphanage, it was the only thing that gave her hope whenever she read it. It had never been sung before, and the music never played, but she intended to change that at Duos funeral. He had always said that she should sing it at a school talent show, but she never had the courage to do so. She brought the sheets back to Yaten and handed them to him. "Do you thing the three of you could play this?" she asked him. Yaten looked over the sheet music notes, they were seperated by instrument. I'll have a time playing this, he thought as he noticed that the keyboard played the biggest role in the piece. He looked to the title, 'Say Yes'. "I don't think it'll be a problem." he said as he looked to Ashley. "Let me run it by my brothers. If you'll give me your number, then I'll call you with an answer." He said. "Oh thank you." Ashley said as she picked up a pen and paper from a stand next to the couch. She quickly wrote down her number and handed it to Yaten. "Here, and call me anytime." She said as she kissed him on the cheek. "I will." he said. Yaten then shrugged his shoulders, "Well, I guess this is good night." "Yup." Ashley said as she grabbed his head and kissed him thoroughly, "Good night Yaten." She said when she pulled away, a twinkle in her eye. "This is going to be an interesting relationship." Yaten said. He then gave her one last hug before he left, Ashley now felt incomplete as he entered the elevator and left her line of sight. *** DUOS FUNERAL The people were gathered in a medium sized room. At one end of the room there was a table that was decorated with flowers and a picture of Duo. Ashley sat with Yaten, her head leaning against his shoulder, his presence here with her helped dampen the pain a great deal. Haruka and Michiru sat behind them quietly, Haruka scowled at the back of Yatens head. If it wasn't for the fact that she didn't want to cause a scene, she would have kicked his butt then and there. Ashley surveyed the other guests, a few students from the high school were here, a pair of adults were sitting together, not talking at all. Duos parents, Ashley guessed. Behind them sat a group of seven people, four male, three female. All of them looked to be in their late teens. One, a young Japanese man with brown hair and blue eyes was sitting with a European girl with caramel blonde hair and eyes the same shade of blue as the young mans. Ashley knew this guy was a man, not a boy, he had an intenseity in his eyes that showed wisdom far beyond his physical years. Looking to the rest of the group, Ashley saw a young girl with indigo eyes and hair sitting with an Arabian boy with gold blonde hair and babyblue eyes. A young Chinese boy sat alone, he was wearing old style Chinese clothes, like the kind seen in many Kung Fu movies. He had straight black hair that came to the base of his neck and was tied in a tight ponytail behind his head. Ashley couldn't see his eye color because he had them closed. Two seat next to him were a pair of people sitting with one another, the frist one, a young man of about 17 Ashley guessed, with brown hair that was long in the front and combed to cover one of his green eyes was with a girl of about the same age who had light brown hair and icy blue eyes. Though these people were sitting seperatly, Ashley could somehow tell these people were a tight group. She looked back to the priest and listened as he finished his sermon. *** At the reception, Setsuna stood alone while some people danced, Duos will had stated "Hey, I may be dead, but if ANY of you spend this day in the dumps, then I swear that I'll haunt you forever." When that part was read, there was a round of chuckles from everyone gathered. She watched as Ashley and Yaten swayed to the music on the dance floor, Ashley had her head leaning on his shoulder. Not to far away, Setsuna saw Haruka and Michiru also dancing, the blonde was glaring daggers at the silver haired young man. The dakr green haired senshi leaned back against the wall and sighed, wishing that she had someone to be with. "May I have this dance?" some one asked her. Setsuna looked to the speaker, it was one of the young men who were sitting in the back while the sermon was going on. He had brown hair and absorbing green eyes, she saw something in his eyes, something familiar, but she couldn't identify it right off. He looked to be about seventeen, maybe eightteen. "And I don't even know your name." Setsuna said with a smile. He didn't smile back, and she got the impression that this young man hadn't truly smiled in years, "I don't have a name, but if you must call me something, then call me Trowa Barton." He said holding out his hand, "Now, would you care to dance?" "Setsuna Meiou," she said, accepting his hand, "and I'd love to." The two then walked out onto the dance floor, Trowa placed his hand on Setsunas waist and put her hand on his shoulder, they locked their other hands together at their sides and began to move with the music. Setsuna could feel that this young man had a very strong aura to him, something some one so young shouldn't have. She looked deeply into his green eyes, and became lost in what she saw there. Lonliness, a lonliness that mirrored her own. *** Relena and Heero sat together at one of the diner tables, enjoying the food that was being catered to the reception. Central Control sure goes all out when one of their own dies, she thought as she ate some of the grilled salmon that was at the buffet. Heero ate in silence, he hadn't said a word all day. "So, when are you going to deliver that package to her?" she asked, patting a bulge in his coat. He hadn't let that small bundle out of his sight of an instant since he had gotten it from Duos locker. "Later tonight." He said quietly. "Heero, are you alright? You've been quieter than usual today." Relena said. "I have a lot on my mind, these Sailor Starlights have me worried. I don't like unknown factors in my mission. C.C. has almost nothing on them, they have less on them than they do on your brother." Heero said, his forehead creasing in thought. Relena lowered her head at the mention of her brother, the time she'd spent with him could be measured in hours. He too, was a wearer of one of the strange high-tech, but ancient armors, the Tallgeese. The other G-Unit members had been forced to fight him on several occasions, none of them knew what his agenda was. Sure, he had helped them a few times, but after the enemy was beaten, he'd turn and challenge them all over again. She looked over at the senshi, Relena was looking forward to meeting them, but it was decided to wait until they had settled things down and taken care of the proper cover stories before they approached them. She looked forward to speaking with Ashley the most, so she could learn of what Duo had been since the two years she last saw him. She hoped to be able to make friends with all of them, being on the run with Heero, she hadn't had much time for other female friendships aside from Hilde and Catharine. *** "Are you sure you want to do this?" Yaten asked. He and his brothers had agreed to play at the reception, they had used the time between Yatens date and today to practice the music that Ashley had given them. Seiya had said that it was one of the most moving songs he'd ever read. Ashley nodded as she stepped up onto the small stage where they had set up their instruments, "Yeah, I'm sure." She said. She then grabbed the mic and tapped it a couple of times to get every ones attention, when she had it she said, "Duo was my best friend, and he was also the only one with whom I had shared my secret of singing with. After he heard me, he told me that I should share my talent with others, but I was afraid. He told me that I shouldn't be and that I could do anything if I really wanted it." She gestured to The Three Lights, "Well now I want to share the one song I've ever written with all of you, his friends and loved ones, it's called Say Yes, and it's about how nothing, nto even death can take away what he's given to all of us." Yaten began to play the keyboard, it was a soft buy slightly fast melody, Taiki played the drums where necessary, as did Seiya with his guitar. When it was time, Ashley began to sing the song she had put so much of her time and emotion into writting "LIKE THE WIND, YOU HAVE COME AND GONE THIS BROKEN HEART, WILL SOMEHOW CARRY ON NOT EVEN DEATH COULD TAKE, YOUR LIGHT AWAY." She kept her voice even with what the song called for, she would not alow herself to make a single mistake. "I STILL RECALL, THE WORDS YOU'VE SAID TO ME I'LL BE STRONG, WON'T GIVE UP EASILY BUT THEY'RE JUST WHISPERS ON THE RISING WIND." "THOUGH I KEEP RUNNING I ALWAYS FEEL THE WORLD IS FALLING DOWN AROUND ME." STILL I KEEP RUNNING WITH EVERY STEP I CAN HEAR YOU CALLING KEEP ON RUNNING TILL THE STORM IS GONE FOREVER." "SAY YES! THE FIRE IS SO MUCH HOTTER THAT YESTERDAY I'LL KEEP IT RUNNING." "SAY YES! HELPLESSLY I'VE KNOWN THE PAIN WHEN I WAS LOST AND LONELY." "SAY YES! THERE'S GOT TO BE A SIGN THAT I CAN STAY ON MY WAY." "HEAR ME SAY I CAN BE! I CAN DO! I CAN SING! I CAN LIVE!" "THERE'S A LIGHT THAT'S SHINNING THROUGH THE PAIN AND IT CUTS RIGHT THROUGH THE DRYING RAIN YOUR WARMTH COMES AND SPLITS THE DARKNESS." "AND THIS PLIGHT WILL NOT CAPTURE ME 'CAUSE YOUR DREAMS HAVE FINALLY SET ME FREE I'LL HOLD THEM IN MY HEART FOREVER." "WHEN I LOOK UP NOW IT'S HARD TO SEE THROUGH ALL THE TEARS THAT I'VE BEEN CRYING. STILL I LOOK UP NOW KNOWING THAT YOUR LOVE IS WAITING FOR ME. STARS UP IN THE NIGHT BRING HOPE TO NEW TOMORROWS." "SAY YES! THE FIRE'S BURNING HOTTER THAN YESTERDAY I'LL KEEP IT RUNNING." "SAY YES! HELPLESSLY I'VE KNOWN THE PAIN WHEN I WAS LOST AND LONELY." "SAY YES! THERE'S GOT TO BE A SIGN THAT I CAN STAY ON MY WAY." "HEAR ME SAY YOU CAN BE! YOU CAN DO! YOU CAN SING! YOU CAN LIVE!" The Lights went into a music solo that was Seiyas favorite part, it was so full of emotion that it didn't need words to go with it. Ashley let the music wash over her and clear away any doubts in her life, she could see the path she must take, it wouldn't be easy, but she was strong, she could endure, because she had her friends. Friends that would never let her down or leave her, and she now had Yaten, a person she could share herself with, someone who truly understood her. As the music solo came to an end, Ashley poured all of her heart and soul into the last verse, this was more than just a song now, it was her way of saying good bye to her best friend. "SAY YES!!! THE FIRE'S BURNING SO MUCH HOTTER THAN YESTERDAY I'LL KEEP IT RUNNING." "SAY YES!!! HELPLESSLY I'VE KNOWN THE PAIN WHEN I WAS LOST AND LONELY." "SAY YES!!! THERE'S GOT TO BE A SIGN THAT I CAN STAY ON MY WAY." "HEAR ME SAY I CAN BE!!! I CAN DO!!! I CAN SING!!! I CAN LIVE!!!" "HEAR ME SAY YOU CAN BE!!! YOU CAN DO!!! YOU CAN SING!!! YOU CAN LIVE!!!" "HEAR ME SAY I CAN BE!!! I CAN DO!!! I CAN SING!!! I CAN LIVE!!!" As the music faded away, Ashley felt as if a great weight had been lifted from her, it was the guilt that she had carried sice he died. A guilt that she never needed to carry in the first place, Duos death wasn't her fault. In fact, by sacrificing his life, he had saved her life and the lives of everyone in the city. She realized that now, and she was proud of him and how noble he truly was. She would miss him, but she knew his spirit would watch over her and protect her. Good bye, Duo, she thought. a voice said in her mind. She smiled, she felt much better without the weight of guilt on her back. An applause came up from the gathered guests, along with a few cheers from Haruka and a purple haired young lady in the back. *** Later that evening, Ashley and the other senshi returned to their apartment. Haruka and Michiru retired to the room that they shared. Setsuna sat quietly at a sewing machine, making a dress that she had designed. Ashley herself plopped herself in front of the television, Yaten and his brothers had to go out of town for a few days right after the reception. He promised to be back as soon as possible, she hoped so. It hadn't been one day and already she missed him terribly. Jade hopped up on the couch and Ashley began to pet the cat idlely. "Haruka told me about your little performance, why didn't you ever tell us that you liked to sing?" Jade said. "You never asked." Ashley responded. There was a knock at the door. "I'll get it." Ashley said. She walked over to the door, wondering who it could be, they didn't know many people in the building and no one had buzzed the intercom asking to be let in. She looked through the peep hole, outside was a young man who looked about fifteen, he had dark blue eyes and short brown hair. Ashley recognized him from the funeral, he was one of the people with the group sitting in the back. She unlocked and opened the door, "Can we help you?" she asked. The young man looked at her, "Ashley Brown?" he asked. Ashley nodded, he reached into his light jacket and with drew a small item that was bound in cloth and tied shut with string. On it there was a small card with her name on it, "Duo wanted you to get this in the event of his death." He said as he handed it to her. He then turned to leave. "Wait!" Ashley said, stepping out of the apartment to follow him, "You knew Duo?" she asked. "We've worked together." he responded, still walking toward the elevator. "Hang on," Ashley said as he stepped into the lift, she ran over and stopped the doors from closeing, "At least tell me your name." He looked at her, "My name is Heero Yuy, and I'm sure we'll meet again." He said as he moved her hand, "But at the moment, there's somewhere else I need to be." The elevator doors closed before Ashley could say anything else. She took another look at the package he'd given to her, she unwrapped it, inside was a video tape and a small item that looked like a car alarm remote. The tape was marked WATCH ME WITH SETSUNA AND THE OTHERS. Ashley blinked, what are you up to Duo? she thought. The orange haired senshi walked back into the apartment and called the others. Michiru and Haruka came into the living room looking as if they had gotten dressed in a hurry, Ashley rolled her eyes and put the tape in the player and hit the 'play' button. There was a few seconds of static, but it soon cleared to show an image of Duo sitting behind an expensive looking desk. "Hey guys, if this is being played then it can only mean that I have died. I can only hope that I went out with honor. Anyway, there are a few things that all of you should know about me. First of all, I am the armored guy called Deathscythe that has been helping you from time to time." Duo said. "Yeah we know." Haruka said. "Hush!" Michiru said harshly. The recording continued, "Ashley, another thing I want to tell you is how I've felt about you since the day we met, I love you. I know that you only think of me as a friend, but that's how I feel towards you. It's a little unprofessional, given my occupation. You see, I'm an agent working for Central Control, and I've known who all of you are for quite some time. My asignment was to keep an eye on all of you and to help you where I saw it fit to do so. An associate of mine has been the one who has been giving you information on the evils in the city from time to time." The image of Duo sighed, "I know this is a lot to take in at once, but I have to tell you. There are many things you need to know, hmm, I've said that already haven't I? Oh well, here's another kicker, I'm not the only one with the G-unit armor, that what Deathscythe is. There are five others around the world, for a time, four of them worked with me, we were a formidable team. We'd fought many battles together, and never once came close to loseing. Their names are Wing, Shen-Long, but he prefers that you call him Nataku, after the ancient Chinese warrior, Sandrock, and Heavyarms. Also, if this is being watched, then Ashley, you've already met the wearer of the Wing Armor, his name is Heero Yuy, he was part of a ninja clan in Japan, he found his suit in a cave from what he told me. He and the other members of G-Unit, that's what C.C. called us, should be here in America by the time you get this. They are now under your command, Sailor Earth." Duo smiled, "I told you I knew who you guys were so don't look so shocked." It took a moment for Ashley to realize that there was a shocked look on her face, and on the faces of everyone else. The recording went on, "This," Duo said, holding up the same device that was in the package with the tape, "is a way for you to call the other members of G-Unit whenever you need them, blue means you need to talk with one of them, just press it and say the name of which one you need to speak with, it will conect you with their corresponding wristcoms. Green, means you need to meet with all of them, but outside of their armor. Red, well, you can probably guess, but it means emergancy, and will call all of them to you in full armor. The names of the other pilots, that's the best way to refer to us, are Heero Yuy, Quatre Raberba Winner, Wufei Chang, and Trowa Barton." Setsunas eyes went wide and Ashley paused the tape, "What is it?" she asked. "I've already met Trowa, but let's talk about it later, please continue the tape." Setsuna said. Ashley resumed the tape. "All of them are very competent and VERY loyal." Duo said, "They all have a strong sense of right and wrong, especially Heero and Wufei." Duo slapped his hands down on the desk, "Well, now that that's out of the way, there something very important that you must know. Ashley, you have a brother, his name is Mamoru Chiba, back in The Silver Milllenium he was called Endymion, and up until a month ago, he was living in Tokyo, Japan. But that was before he was kidnapped by Queen Beryl, all my information shows that he has been brainwashed by Beryl, much like the four generals were back in The Silver Millenium. Sailor Moon and the other senshi living in Japan are doing what they can to get him back." Ashley paused the tape and looked at Setsuna with a gaze that could have condensed liquid nitrogen, "You knew, didn't you!?" she said just as cold as her gaze, Haruka and Michiru scooched away from her. "That guy I fought with at the warehouse, he was my brother, and you knew it!?" "Yes." Setsuna said quietly. "AND YOU DIDN'T THINK IT PRUDENT TO TELL ME!?!?!?" Ashley bellowed, her face turning red with pure rage. She had family, real living family, and she had almost killed him. "I didn't know how you would react, we were in the middle of a battle and I couldn't aford to distract you." Setsuna said, tears falling down her eyes, "I wanted to tell you, but I knew you would have wanted to go to Tokyo at the moment I did, and if you did, then you would have died. I saw in the future that if you ever went to Tokyo, you'd die." "I still had a right to know." Ashley said as she started the tape again. "But I don't know how they will be able to do it." Duo said, he sighed, "Haruka, I have something to tell you as well, you're not fooling anyone with that stupid act of yours, everyone in school knows you're hot for Michiru. So stop pretending otherwise, and you never fooled me for a second with your pertending to be Ashleys lover bit." Haruka rolled her eyes. "Don't roll your eyes at me." Duo said, Harukas jaw dropped, "Close your mouth, it's rude to let it gape like that." The recording went, Michiru began to giggle, Haruka stomped her foot and turned her back to the screen. "And don't turn your back on me either." Duo went. "Stop that!" the blonde yelled at the image of Duo. "No." Duo said. Haruka let out a frustrated scream and went to her room before she smashed the screen, "Touchy, isn't she?" Duo said, his eyes looking back to them as if he had watched her storm away and was now turning back to them. Michiru burst into laughter, Setsuna and Ashley joined her. "Well, I guess this is good bye, it's been an honor working with all of you. Michiru, take good care of Haruka, you're the only one who can keep her temper in check. Setsuna, Ashley will reach her proper level in due time, so stop holding back so much in battle, your skills will prevent a lot of unneeded injuries with the lot of you. And Ashley, I'm sorry for not telling you the truth about me, but I didn't for the same reasons you didn't tell me about your alter ego. I love you, and I always will, good bye." Duo said, then the screen went black, than static replaced the blackness. "Good bye, Duo." Ashley said. She then turned to look at Setsuna, her gaze had warmed slightly, it now cold only freeze fire, "You said that you met Barton?" She asked. Setsuna nodded, "He asked me to dance at the reception, he was very stoic." She said, and Asley caught the glimmer of emotion in her usually unreadable eyes. "You like him." It was a statement and not a question. "I saw something familiar in his eyes, that's all." Setsuna said defensively. Ashley decided not to persue the matter any farther, she looked and the small device in her hand. "Michiru," she said in a conversational tone, "pick a pilot you'd like to talk to." Michiru blinked, "Uh, Quatre?" she said. Ashley depressed the blue button and said his name into it, there was a soft beep, and a gentle voice came through, "This is Quatre, what is it guys?" "Hello Quatre, this is Ashley Brown. How are you this evening?" Ashley said into the device. "I'm just fine Ms. Brown, how did you get this frequency?" he asked. "Duo left me a little gizmo that gives me access to it." Ashley said simply. "That sounds like something he'd do. Is there anything you need at the moment, I'm rather busy settleing in. I just arrived here this morning." Quatre said. "No, I was really just seeing if this thing really worked." She said. "Ah, I see, well, I look forward to meeting you all. I just hope we're not fighting for our lives at the time. Good night." Quatre said. There was another beep as he closed the comline down. "Well, THAT was informative." Michiru said. "I guess we'll just have to wait until we can meet them in person." Ashley said. "I guess so." Setsuna agreed. ~END~ EPILOGE Sailor Earth ducked beneath the youmas attack and smashed it in the face with the heel of her boot. The creature howled in pain and staggered back, dazed. She put her hands out to her sides, intending to use her powers to finish the thing off. Though she'd never say it aloud, she was glad to have a real fighting power now, and a strong one too. She didn't even have to call the others for help in dealing with this youma. Something grabbed her from behind and lifted her into the air. "Let go!" she demanded. "Not until I have absorbed all of your like energy girl." A second youma said. she didn't know there were two of them, she screamed as it began to drain her life force, "Scream all you like girl, it will do you no good." Earth now wished she had called the others, now she knew she was a goner, regrets flooded into her mind, not being able to say good bye to Setsuna and the others, not being in Yatens arms one last time. She suddenly kicked wildly, determined not to die here, and not by the hands of a lowly youma. RATATATATATATATATATATATATAT!!!! The ear spliting sound tore through the nights silence, it took Earth a moment to realize that it was the sound of a gattling gun firing. The tentacles holding her slackened, then released completely, letting her drop the the ground. Earth was higher in the air than she thought as she found her self falling from a rooftop level. She heard a sound like a jet engine firing and someone grabbed her out of the air and carried her safly to the ground, she looked at her sudden savior. It was a man, and he was wearing a suit of armor much like Deathscythes. Only his was in shades of blue and red, not black and gray. The most outstanding difference in the armor though, were the two jet wings attached to his back. They were in the place where Deathscythe had worn a jetpack. Sailor Earth knew she was looking at one of the G-Unit, "Which one are you?" she asked. "I am called Wing." He replied, he then reached for a red shield that was attached to his left forearm, it looked kind of like a birds head. he removed a rather large rifle from it. "Are you still able to fight?" he asked as he flicked off the safety switch. Sailor Earth tested her power levels, the youma must have drained more than she thought as she couldn't summon any of her powers. "No, ugly there drained me too much." she said looking toward the youma that had grabbed her. She blinked as she saw that all that was left of the creature was a stain on the wall, a series of bullet holes marked where he'd missed the monster. "You missed him a couple of times." She said. "That isn't my work." Wing said. Earth looked at him, "Then who..." she began. "I fired at the youma, and I never missed him once, these things are just too soft to stop all of my beam bullets, a few went straight through it." another voice said. Earth looked to the source of the voice and saw another G-Unit, this one was wearing red and white armor. The most distinctive feature on him was the large gattling gun attached to his left arm. His right arm had a type of knife attached to it that looked to be attached to a hinge of sorts, meaning he could flip out that blade at any time he choose to do so. "I am called Heavyarms." He said. "We're here as well." Some one else said. Earth looked to see two more G-Unit pilots. The one who'd spoken looked like he was out of a desert noble men movie, he carried two big scimitars in his hands, a shield like a cobras head was on his left arm, Earth was noticeing the pattern. The other was in red and blue like the one who had caught her in the air, but his most striking feature was a strange guantlet on his right arm. This one noticed her inspection and gave her a demonstration, holding out his right arm, he made a fist at the remaining youma. The large top part of the guantlet flipped over, as did the bottom half formung what looked like a dragons head, the head shot out like a snake striking its prey and hit the youma in it's chest. Earth saw that now the sleeve of his arm was much longer than it had been, the warrior lifted the youma off the ground and toosed it into the air. "All yours Wing." He said. Wing nodded and pointed his rifle at the thing, there was a humming sound and motes of energy gathered at the end of the muzzle. The a huge blast of raw energy fired out and hit the airborn youma, disintegrating it in an instant. "Wow." was all Sailor Earth could say. Wing looked to her. "An effective weapon, but it does have it's limitations. I prefer to use my Beam-Saber." He said. The G-Unit member then lined up in front of her. The one with the big swords stepped forward. "Sailor Earth, I am called Sandrock. This is Nataku," he said, gesturing to the dragon armed warrior, "and you've met Heavyarms and Wing." He said. "You are now our leader, let us work together to protect this world from all those who wish to do it harm." Sandrock then dropped to one knee before her, the other pilots did the same. This is going to be interesting, she thought. ~TO BE CONTINUED~ Standered disclaimers apply. Well, what do you think of this one? It's my first Non-Hentai fic, and this is connected to "Second Chance Romance", a hentai I made a while back. It takes place five years before that fic and this will be the beginning of a series I am going to make. It is entitled "Sailor Earth and the G-Unit". It will star many of the characters you've seen in this fic. This fic is kind of a prelude for that series.