Part I: Too Dead To Cry
Inspired by Bother – Stone Sour
“I don’t need anything from you, Sailor Senshi,” he spat bitterly. “Certainly not your pity.” He could feel her eyes on him, staring at him, and he refused to look up, refused to meet those startlingly sympathetic eyes. Didn’t she know that sympathy was an emotion that a servant of the Dark Kingdom could ill afford?
Her pity rankled him, making him curse his very existence. What good was he to the Dark Kingdom if he could be so quickly replaced by an easily manipulated Sailor Senshi like Sailor Mercury. It would be so easy to give up, he knew, to just take out his sword and end his existence, but something held him back: the hope that he could regain Queen Beryl’s forgiveness.
He ignored the Senshi, and when she was reclaimed by her own, he envied her. Her absence forced him to acknowledge how much he had enjoyed her presence, even when she was pushing her pity at him.
And when he did take out his sword and plunge it into his own chest at Beryl’s manipulation, it was not the face of his queen that he saw, but one framed by softly curling blue hair and a slightly crooked, evil smirk that made him want to smile in response. Such a look on such a beautiful face, was his final thought before he faded out of existence.
When he opened his eyes to find himself not dead, but alive, and worse than alive, but human, he pushed thoughts of the beautiful Senshi out of his mind and focused his attention on regaining Beryl’s favor.
Until he looked up and saw Mizuno Ami standing in the entrance of Crown, staring at him in surprise and recognition.
Part II: Every Now and Then
Inspired by The River and The Highway – Pam Tillis
Ami stared at the awkward teen behind the counter at Crown, uncertain if she should be grateful that he somehow survived or wary that he might be there for her. But no, the logical part of her brain kicked in immediately, he was just as surprised as she had been. Certainly neither of them had expected to see the other in their civilian lives.
Thoughts of Nephrite having a civilian life made her wonder where he lived, and with whom, but she quickly pushed those thoughts away. Still, when she found herself having made enough to feed several more people than usual, she was honest enough to admit that she had done so with him in mind. When he reached across the counter hesitantly three days later, pushing a tiny charm at her, she tamped down the warm feeling that rose in her chest. She knew that Nephrite was not happy, that if he had the chance, he would return to Beryl’s side without hesitation.
Whatever happened, they would be on opposite sides of the issue. If he won, she and her friends would be subjugated to the Dark Kingdom, at the very least, if not outright killed. Would he be able to kill her, she wondered, or would his code of honor, however rusty it might be, interfere? If she won, he and his fellows might be given sanctuary by Usagi-chan, but there was no way to know that for certain without asking and revealing his identity, and that she would not do.
She fingered the charm now hanging proudly from her cell phone and smiled softly. It was impossible for them to ever have anything but an adversarial relationship, given who they were, she knew. But a dark, secret part of her that hadn’t woken until she’d been taken to the Dark Kingdom thought that perhaps there was something they could do for one another from time to time. She instantly flushed bright red and stuffed the Dark Mercury back into the box she’d built in her mind to contain the creature.
When she returned to Crown after her memories returned, she practiced her warmest smile for her enemy and walked quietly through the door.
But Nephrite was not there, and questioning Motoki about him only lead to blank stares that made her think that his existence had been wiped out entirely in this timeline. She slipped into their headquarters as quickly as possible and dropped to the small sofa, tears pouring down her cheeks. Not knowing that the boy behind the counter had been Nephrite, would the others even remember his existence? Was she to be the only one who would ever remember the awkward, short-tempered counter boy at Crown?
“So he’s gone, too?” a male voice asked from the doorway, and Ami looked up in surprise to see Mamoru standing at the head of the stairs.
“It looks that way,” she answered softly.
“I’m sorry,” he offered quietly. “I’ve – got things to do,” he muttered before leaving the room. Ami smiled to herself. Mamoru would remember. Between them, it would surely be enough.
