Chapter 1: A Glimpse into Four Worlds
1st Dimension: Silver Millennium (pre-Dark Kingdom invasion)
Princess Ami of Mercury, current resident of the Moon Kingdom, guardian of Princess Serenity, and defending warrior of her planet, couldn't recall a time when her life had been better. She thoroughly enjoyed her position as the Mercury senshi, and she even liked her daily routine on the Moon, which involved: early morning training; breakfast with the queen (when she was present), the princess, and her friends; the morning spent in ambassadorial meetings; lunch at the royal university; manning the communications' port every second day and the shuttle landing station every fifth day (on the days she didn't have these duties, she had legislative sessions with the Moon Council and free time for her own pursuits) and training every single day during the afternoon hours; a formal dinner with all the politicians and officials currently in attendance at the Moon Court; and an informal gathering with the other princesses and the queen's advisors (Luna and Artemis) directly afterwards. For the remainder of the night, she was left to her own devices. This usually meant haunting the spectacular Lunar Library after-hours.
Life was going beautifully. She had no disagreements with her friends at the moment, her skills as a senshi were progressing wonderfully, the queen had recently complimented her about a successfully negotiation she had recently completed...and she was in love. Shy, belittled, introverted Ami had blossomed under the attentions of the brash, reckless, ruddy-haired General Zoisite of Earth. It mattered quite a bit to her that such relations between a princess and a Terran general were strictly forbidden, but she had decided, for the time being and with the coercion of her friends, to forget about those restrictions. Besides, the generals were currently–along with their charge, Prince Endymion–on a diplomatic mission, which required them to reside in the Moon Palace for an indefinite period of time.
Ami smiled happily to herself as she strolled through the palace corridors, her cheeks blushing lightly as she remembered the lilies Zoisite had had delivered to her room that very morning. She remembered, just then, that she had promised Mina her notes on the last conference she had held with the Uranian embassy. Mina had stayed behind in the training room after their early morning practice, presumably to revise her training approaches. When the blue-haired princess had asked her where she would be, so she could deliver the desired notices, Mina had absentmindedly replied that she would be in the training room until breakfast and that Ami could drop by any time.
She hurried back to her room for the thick sheaf of papers that she had meticulously prepared the night before. On her way back to the training room, she happened to look out the windows facing the gardens: lo and behold, there were Princess Lita of Jupiter and General Nephrite of Earth. Lita always liked gardening in the early morning, but lately, she'd been having trouble waking up early enough to work with her plants before Mina's practices. Ami secretly suspected that it was because Nephrite had been coaxing her to spend late nights with him in the astrodome as he furthered her knowledge of astronomy, his favorite subject. She halted her steps, her eyes wide, as she saw Lita playfully lob a clump of dirt at the brown-haired general. He grinned widely, wiped off the mud, and chased after her. Her last view of the pair, before she hurried on, was Nephrite pinning the Jovian princess against a shadowy wall; he glanced around discreetly before he took her face in his hands and kissed her–"punishment" for her earthy attack on him.
Shaking her head, although her smile was undiminished in its brightness, Ami paused outside the training room. Sure enough, Mina was inside–in plain view, of course, but her charts and papers seemed to have been abandoned in a recent pursuit of...General Kunzite. Her mouth dropped open in shock as she watched the stiff, stern general laughing his head off as he held something she couldn't quite see high above his head. The Venusian princess was jumping up and down in front of him, trying to reach it–but of course, the task was impossible. Mina was of average height, for a woman, and Kunzite was at least a foot taller than the average man. At last, she gave up on that method...she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him directly on the lips. Ami giggled softly to herself as she saw Kunzite's cheeks darken, but he put his arms around the blonde's waist. Mina drew back immediately and snatched the coveted object from him, smiling triumphantly. He merely shook his head and drew her in for another kiss. Ami decided that she had better give Mina her papers during breakfast rather than risk interrupting them...
Finally, she headed for the temples, located in a secluded part of the palace. Few people, no matter how devout they claimed to be, were willing to show their devotion to the divinities at this hour, but Ami knew of one person who would most definitely be there: Rei, the Martian princess. If Rei hadn't been born a princess, her calling in life would have been a priestess. Yet again, another shocking event arrested her. Just before she reached the beaded curtain outside the shrine dedicated to Mars, god of fire and Rei's planetary patron, she heard a feminine voice alternating between giggling and scolding.
"Stop–stop it, Jade! They'll hear us!"
A male voice, amused and drawling, replied, "Who exactly do you think is as reverent of the gods as you, my beautiful, saintly princess?"
Ami instantly identified the speakers. The woman, of course, was none other than Rei, who had chased away all her suitors with her fiery temper–and was currently doing something other than praying in the Martian shrine with the one man she hadn't been able to get rid of. And the aforementioned "Jade" could be none other than General Jadeite. Ami hoped there would be no more earth-shattering shocks that morning; she didn't think she could take any more. She peeked cautiously around the doorframe to see Rei, her arms folded across her chest, glaring up at Jadeite, looking breathless and disheveled.
The blond-haired general was grinning roguishly, and he remarked, "I didn't know you were so ticklish, Rei. If I'd known it would bring down your defenses so quickly, I would've tried it sooner. As it so happens, there's a ball coming up tomorrow night. I won't schedule a repeat of our little tickling fight if you agree to go with me." His tone changed from impish to suave and charming, and Ami quickly ducked out of sight.
Her skirts had made a soft rustling sound, and Rei's sharp ears had picked up the noise. "Now you've done it, Jade!" she exclaimed.
"Done what?" he asked innocently...
Sighing blissfully, the smile on her face becoming a grin, Ami almost skipped through the maze of hallways towards the dining hall. It seemed, however, that fate had more surprises in store for her that morning. The unpleasant shock involved her attempting to take a side entrance into the dining hall rather than through the main doors. Ami never liked attracting too much attention, so she always preferred to slip in that way.
Unfortunately, she managed to catch Prince Endymion and Princess Serenity in a passionate embrace. They both looked up guiltily at her astonished cry, and she and Serenity flushed simultaneously. Endymion, meanwhile, helped the Moon Princess up from the ground, where she had tumbled in fright when Ami had entered. He smiled cordially at the newcomer and greeted, "Good morning, Ami. You wouldn't mind telling the queen for us that we'll be just another few minutes, would you?"
She hastily replied in the affirmative and backed out, her face burning scarlet. It seemed she would have to go through the main doors after all. Just as she reached for the handle of the gilded doors, she was enveloped from behind in a warm embrace. She would have cried out in surprise if one of her captor's hands hadn't covered her mouth. Ami twisted around indignantly, and her cerulean blue eyes widened when they met teasing, twinkling green. "Zoisite!" she exclaimed when he removed his hand, still entangled in his arms.
"Good morning," he said nonchalantly, kissing her on the tip of her nose.
"You know I hate being taken unawares! You always sneak up on me!"
He smiled incorrigibly and released her. "I couldn't resist the golden opportunity when it presented itself to me," Zoisite replied. Before she could further reprimand him, the coppery-haired general leaned down and captured her lips with his, kissing her thoroughly until they were both out of breath. He pulled back, grinned charmingly, and opened the door. "After you, milady."
They strolled in together, and Queen Selenity looked up from a letter she had been reading and smiled in welcome. "Good morning Ami, General Zoisite." After they had greeted her, she said, "I can't imagine where everyone is. Usually all of you are here by now; I wonder what's going on today. You don't happen to know where the rest of our company is, do you?"
Ami giggled uncharacteristically as Zoisite pulled out her seat for him. As he seated himself beside her, he replied in a solemn tone that only served to further their amusement, "I imagine they're a bit delayed this morning, your highness." He grinned and reached out to take Ami's hand, and a light blush spread over her cheeks.
Noticing their preoccupation with each other, Selenity raised her eyebrows and asked, "How did you happen to come in at the same time? Were you doing something together earlier this morning?"
Ami was at a loss for what to say, but Zoisite's mischievous grin grew wider as his grip on her hand tightened. "Oh, no...we met outside the doors just now."
The queen turned her attention back to her papers, and Ami and Zoisite helped themselves to the dishes set out on the long table. Slowly, the other princesses and generals trickled in...in twos. First Serenity and Endymion entered (one of the Moon Princess's meatballs was crooked), followed soon after by Rei and Jadeite, looking flushed and out of breath (although that could be attributed to the fact that they heard her arguing with him just outside the doors before they came in through them).
Nephrite came in next, looking serious. His pensive look disappeared when Lita hurried into the dining hall, wearing a different gown than she had originally intended to wear today, and he grinned devilishly at her.
Last to arrive were Mina and Kunzite, and no one commented on how Kunzite's normally-immaculate appearance had changed into a less distinguished-looking one: his gray uniform shirt was no longer tucked into his pants, and his long silver hair did not possess its usual, painful straightness. Mina had every hair perfectly in place, but the brilliant smile on her face never faded during the morning meal.
As soon as Queen Selenity had left for an early council meeting, they all burst out laughing, and life was good.
2nd Dimension: Tokyo, Present-Time (post-Silver Millennium fall) {Original Season}
It was a normal day in Juuban district...there had been the usual youma attack, rush-hour traffic jams, and detention given to one Tsukino Usagi during school. Said meatball-headed senshi of the Moon, present incarnation of Princess Serenity, was currently making a lot of noise in the bushes of their local park, giggling madly as she spied on the first senshi she had discovered and befriended in this life. With her were Makoto, who was making most of the rustling noises as she tried to fit her tall frame behind the hedge, Minako, her partner in crime and the one who had called everyone to make sure they turned out to witness this momentous event, and Rei, whose face was red as she crouched on Usagi's right side. "Move over, meatball head! I can't see anything with your meatballs in the way!"
Kumada Yuuichirou, rock-star idol and hopelessly-in-love admirer of Rei, snickered as Usagi whined, "You could've just asked me to move... You don't have to be so mean, Rei!"
Mina sighed. "Will you two shut up? We're missing the best part!"
Burying her face in Ryo's shirt, the blue-haired girl whispered to her boyfriend, "Are we ever going to get rid of them?"
For the whole afternoon, the pair had commuted from school (Usagi had gotten detention when the group had been spying on them...Ami and Ryo had been trying to get some early studying in before class started...Usagi had lost her balance and smacked into the window panes), to the mall (they had left when they felt sneaky eyes from the shoppers ducking into and out of the shops behind them), to the arcade (where Serena announced their presence by shrieking loudly when she spotted the new video game), and all over Juuban. They were finally in the park, but it seemed that Minako, Rei, and Makoto had caught up to them-again.
Shrugging helplessly, Urawa Ryo replied, "I don't think it's worth going someplace else this time, Ami-chan. Actually, I'm surprised Yuuichirou hasn't shown up yet."
"Uh....hey, Ryo!! Don't worry man, I'm finally here to support your cause!"
"Yuuichirou, you idiot!" Rei hissed, her raven hair fall all over her face as she knelt lower in mortification. Ami was going to murder them at the next senshi meeting.
"But hey, man, another one of those evil youma dudes could be hiding right around the corner, and you'd be so busy doing-"
A resounding smack was dealt to him, and Rei shoved him aside and smiled sweetly at her friends. "Don't you think we'd better be going now?"
They laughed nervously as Ami shot them an evil glare...and it was all part of a typical day in Juuban for the senshi who would save the world: fighting youma, going shopping, playing video games, and spying on Ami and Ryo all mixed together.
3rd Dimension: Present-Time (post-second Dark Kingdom invasion) {Season R}
Ami Anderson hurried home from school, her normally-serene features twisted in anger and annoyance. That–that–that unspeakable excuse for a person had actually been reborn! He had showed up with that evil (a different kind of evil than he'd been during the Dark Kingdom invasions), too-handsome-for-his-own good grin during her first period class. In the flesh. Living and breathing. The last time Ami had thought about him, she had assumed that he was dust, other nasty particles, and most importantly, dead!
And if that hadn't been bad enough, he had had the audacity to flirt with her! Ami had never been more embarrassed, and to top it all off, all the girls (except the other senshi, who weren't in her class) had been jealous of her for ensnaring the attention of the new guy. They were already sore about her good grades, but Ami thought this was a ridiculous issue for them to be upset over.
Zoisite, or "Zachary Crystal," as he proclaimed himself, had made her day go from bad, to awful, to horrible. He had shown up in every single one of her classes. Some of the other reborn generals had been in attendance, as well: Jadeite, his joker's grin plastered firmly in place (he was masquerading as "Jed Aura"), Nephrite as "Nevin Starre," acting serious and well-mannered, and Kunzite (alias "Kenneth Silverstone"), still silver-haired and stony-faced. Just when she'd thought she could be finished with swim practice and go home, stew, and rage with the other senshi about the current state of affairs, Zachary had shown up in his swim trunks and with the intention of joining the swim team. She wanted to...kill herself, or do something equally drastic.
"Hey! Ami! Wait up!"
She whirled around–it couldn't be him, and yet...it was. What was his problem?! How did he manage to find her every single moment of the day?! Did he have built-in radar that alerted him whenever she was anywhere near him? "Go away! I don't want to have anything to do with you! Leave me alone! Isn't it bad enough the way things are?"
Zach skidded to a stop a few feet away from her, the effervescent grin on his face fading. Looking sorrowfully at her, he sighed. The portion of him that was General Zoisite murmured, ‘Sorry, love.' Taking out the textbook she had left in the girls' locker room and he had rescued (one of the girls on the team had brought it out, asking loudly whether anyone wanted to give it to its owner. She had, sniggering meanly, dumped it into the lost-and-found, where no one ever looked), he handed it to her silently.
Ami's ocean-blue eyes conveyed her confusion and distress; they were brimming with tears and anguish. She retrieved her property, muttered a thank you, and walked away from him as rapidly as could.
He stood on the street, watching her retreating form for several minutes before turning away, shaking his head sadly. If he'd known it was going to be this hard to get back into her good graces, he might have preferred staying dead...and then Zach's emerald eyes came back to life. It was no good thinking like that. He loved her. He would always love her. He would just have to try harder tomorrow.
4th Dimension: Alternate Universe (post-fall of Silver Millennium, before the first strike of the restored Dark Kingdom)
"General Zoisite! General Jadeite! General Nephrite! General Kunzite! Report AT ONCE!!" Beryl screeched, while four other grey-uniformed girls winced and made an effort not to cover their ears.
Topaz, running a gloved hand through shimmering, saffron-hued hair, glanced at her three companions and telepathed, ‘Why do they get the title of ‘general' and we don't?'
Although her expression remained unruffled, as if it had been carved out of stone, they could all sense Ruby's evil mental grin. Her fiery temper went well with her flame-red locks and scarlet eyes. ‘Precedence from bedroom duties to Beryl?' she suggested in an innocent tone.
‘You are just too much,' Emerald of the green hair and eyes commented, amusement coloring her tone.
Before Sapphire could add a comment of her own, the four strikingly handsome generals entered the throne room, each with one gloved hand placed diagonally across their chests as tribute to their queen. Zoisite, Sapphire's chief rival and hated enemy, teleported into the throne room, accompanied by his customary swirl of cherry blossoms, which vanished the instant his shiny boots hit the polished, dark tiles.
An intense azure blue sphere appeared and grew rapidly larger until it took up the whole room, blinding everyone until it popped. In its place was Jadeite, smiling complacently. The other three girls could all feel Ruby's annoyance at his cockiness swelling up inside of her, faster than Jadeite's teleportation globe had been expanding. Sapphire hoped, inwardly, that she wouldn't lash out at the blond-haired general until Queen Beryl had dismissed them.
A millisecond later, blazing stars bounced off the walls while the room's occupants ducked, hearing whooshes as the sharp-edged stars just missed them. The auburn-haired gen materialized, bowing deeply to his unappreciative audience.
Kunzite simply appeared, wearing his usual, stoical, unimpressed expression. Trying to refrain from rolling her eyes, the blue-haired girl directed her attention towards her redheaded queen.
"NEPHRITE!! JADEITE!" she screeched angrily. Both flinched at the sound of her voice, inclining their heads briefly in apology. Slightly placated, she smoothed her ruffled hair, although it didn't make much of a difference in her audience's eyes. The Negaverse Queen's odd, greenish-yellow eyes roved around the room for a few minutes as she remained silent, trying to create a dramatic effect. It failed, for the two groups were furiously telepathing amongst themselves, criticizing and badmouthing the members of their counterparts. Even Sapphire participated in the conversation, putting in a few disparaging comments about Zoisite's hair color and flower petals.
Finally, Beryl smiled, showing her fangs. The light glinted off them unpleasantly, and her servitors came to attention–especially General Kunzite and Captain Topaz, who were trying outdo each other in neatness, efficiency, and...posture? The beautiful, golden-haired woman–despite her best efforts–was losing the battle because of the height she had been destined to be, but her spine was proudly erect, her chin high in the air.
"I have a mission for you...it has been brought to my attention that you are not getting along with each other. Need I remind you that cooperation is necessary for our invasion of Earth? Particularly because it has no defenders now." She grinned evilly, and the jewel-named women felt a nervous brush of anxiety. They possessed no memories of their lives before the day they had woken up to find themselves in the Dark Kingdom, sworn to the queen and introduced to her four generals, whom they had hated upon sight and further meetings. Nevertheless, the brief feeling of wrongness subsided, and their cool masks were firmly back in place.
"My solution is this: you must gain experience in working together, but because you refuse to voluntarily do this, I have been forced to pair you up to work on some projects." Looks of horror swept across ten faces simultaneously, but the dark queen ignored them. Interrupting the impending silence, she barked, "General Kunzite!" He came forth obediently, and she ordered, "Captain Topaz, step forward." The girl who had been called Minako Aino in another life followed her orders, repressing the urge to give him a look of deep hatred. "You two will commence charting out our invasion plans right down to the last detail of the last attack; is that clear?" They nodded sullenly and stepped back in place.
The same thing happened two more times, with General Jadeite and Ensign Ruby and General Nephrite and Sergeant Emerald. Jadeite and Rei Hino were commanded to oversee an important construction project concerning the rebuilding of a barrier that had recently crumbled away because of old age. Beryl wanted there to be no cracks left unwatched in her kingdom, just in case the prince and princess awoke. Those nasty Lunar guardians were still running around on Earth, up to no good, most likely. Ruby had not been able to keep herself from showing him her enmity, but Jadeite had merely showed all his sparkling white teeth in a malicious grin, further provoking her.
Nephrite and Makoto Kino had the task of training the youma army. Sapphire pitied them as she waited silently for her own orders. The youma were, bluntly, pathetic. They had no stamina, none of them were particularly gifted, and she was amazed that for creatures who possessed brains approximately the size of a human's, they were incredibly stupid.
Then, her stomach lurched unpleasantly as she looked straight into the eyes of General Zoisite, the only general left standing across from her who had not been told his duty. He was leering at her, and she closed her eyes in disgust. She hated him, she despised him, she–no. She had to remain calm. She wasn't giving him the satisfaction of seeing her angry. Ami Mizuno became ice then, and when she opened her eyes, they were a glittering, dangerous blue.
"Ah, and last of all, we have General Zoisite and Lieutenant Sapphire." Lieutenant Sapphire wanted to strangle her. "You have the esteemed job of perfecting the explosives and checking all of the technical equipment. You'll be wanting to start that right away," she smiled malevolently. They had the most difficult task of all, because the assignment was so lengthy and long. There were at least fifty storerooms full of various devices and instruments they had to look over.
Topaz foresaw an opportunity to get rid of Kunzite while they were working together...alone... It'd be so satisfactory, she thought, to give him a good stab in heart and get it over with. Ruby was entertaining herself with an image of a gigantic cement block smashing down onto Jadeite's blond head. Even his thick skull couldn't withstand that, she thought smugly. Emerald was hoping that one–or several–of the idiotic youma would misfire their attacks and that Nephrite would have an "accident." She made a note to talk to Ruby, so she could ask if her red-haired friend had any advice for instigating said sad, sad event. Even Sapphire had dark thoughts for Zoisite. She was wondering of any of the explosives could be wired to go off suddenly...preferably when she wasn't in the room with him, of course.
"WELL?! What are you waiting for? Get out of my sight!! By this time tomorrow morning, you had all better be working with each other–and nicely now, children." She bared her fangs at them. "We don't want any ‘accidental killings' now, do we?" They were all wishing that an intentional murder could happen this moment–to her.
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AN: And there you have it...the beginning of a frightening, wonderful story.
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Infinite Ice
