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Ami raced down the halls blindly and let her feet carry her where they would. Her mind was a thick forest of confused thoughts and she had no way of seeing above the trees. So she simply gave in to the forest, letting her mind run wildly through it, as her feet ran wildly through the empty palace. As her feet slowed, she pulled herself away from her thoughts and looked about to find where she was. Directly in front of her, amidst the emptiness of the hallway she stood in, was an ornately decorated set of doors. The princess recognized it immediately. She had been through these doors uncountable times before. She had sneaked in quietly, she had happily skipped through them with an eager heart, she had passed through them to hide her tears. Beyond them lie sanctuary. They were the entrance to the library. Quickly she opened a door and entered. Not a single candle was lit in the room to ward off the blackness of the night, since all people in the castle tonight were frolicking in the light of the ballroom, but the light of the stars poured in through numerous windows in the walls and the ceiling. Ami stood by the now closed doors, waiting for her vision to adjust. As she waited, she noticed that she still had her mask on. Loosening the ribbons that held it in place, she let her mask fall into her hands. She set the mask on a low table near the door she stood by and looked up again to find that she could see enough to find her way, though she could have done it without a light at all, for she knew the path by heart. She soon realized that she would not be able to read a bit without at least a candle, and began to search one out. She looked in every candleholder but each was empty. The peace that had descended upon her when she had entered the library was getting eaten away by her anxiety at not finding the sanctuary she had sought, which was pushed and prodded by her anxiety at the night’s events. She understood that she would find no peace in a room full of books which she could not read. She paced a bit, trying to keep some part of her busy and distracted while she thought of what to do. She needed distraction, that was obvious. She searched about like a hungry cat looking for her dinner, jumping about in distress like a fish on land looking for her watery home. That’s it! She thought. Her watery home…. She jumped up and sprinted through the less obvious door of the library, the one that headed toward the lake. * * * * The slightly nervous general tried to regain his ever-present confidence as he walked towards the refreshment table. He wove in and out of couples dancing across the floor and groups of people standing and talking. As he passed through the sitting tables he heard a laugh – a sound he recognized but heard rarely. He turned his head to find the stolid Kunzite quite openly voicing his amusement, which in itself was amusing -- and amazing. His eyes turned to the bubbly beauty beside his friend who was beaming her pleasure and just as loudly expressing something which must have been terribly funny. He turned his attention back to his path, shaking his head with a smile. He hardly thought it was possible, but that girl had done it. He reached the food table and filled two glasses with some rich red juice. He turned back to trace his way back to his princess and looked about for his other two friends. Nephrite was nowhere to be seen, but he finally spotted Jadeite leading a lovely girl out to the dance floor. He must be positively smitten, Zoicite thought, to have actually built up enough nerve to ask her himself. Thinking of his shy friend reminded him of the deer-like creature he was supposed to be entertaining, and he looked ahead of him to find where she was waiting. He reached the spot where he was nearly sure he had left her in and stopped, looking about him in confusion. Mixed emotions running though him – or running him through, as the case may be – his search became a bit more frantic. He tuned about suddenly to find the very opposite of what he wished to find: Nephrite. The proud smile on Nephrite’s face was just sickening, Zoicite thought. He gave his friend a sour expression and waited for the barbs to start flying his way. But nothing came. Only that stupid smile greeted him. Zoicite’s emotions were beginning to get the better of him. "WHAT?!?!" he demanded in frustration, among other things. His cry was loud enough to call the attention of several of the couples around him and a certain section of the dance floor suddenly was off the beat. Nephrite’s smile grew but that was the only change in him, as he all the while stared at his distressed friend. Finally he said quietly, taking the drinks out of Zoicite’s hands, "That door is open." With that he turned and walked away. For a moment Zoicite just stared, his hands still in front of him where they once held glasses. Then, with a start, he turned and flew to the open doorway. * * * * As she looked at the shining waters, the princess sighed with relief. This was Moonlight Lake. Now of course, the crystal waters did not glimmer with the reflections of some distant planetary body, as Ami recalled how Usagi described the waters of the Earth. No, the Moonlight Lake was lit with the light of the moon in the truest sense of the expression. It nearly glowed in itself, becoming an open passage for the white light of the moon she stood on to flow out. The moon lit this lake from the inside out. This was another haven of the Mercurian princess. Floating through the beaming waters carried a serenity into her soul that she could know nowhere else. Whenever she was there she wondered how she could ever spend her hours anywhere else, and it was even more of a marvel that she could ever leave. Approaching the crystal waters, she highly doubted she would this time. Before entering the lake, Ami assessed a few things. First of all, she had no swimsuit. That was hardly a great matter, for she had swum many times before in her clothes, and this outfit was no great care to her. She simply stretched the waist a little, allowing much more free movement, and tore the bottom of the lengthy skirt off. It was a messy job, and looked more like she had been caught between some rocks and had to squeeze out of them, but Ami didn’t care, knowing she would never let anyone see her like this. The second thing, however, was a bit more serious. There had been a good amount of heavy rainfall lately, and the lake had grown with the additions. This was not a particularly remarkable thing in itself, if it hadn’t been for the small canal that was created to a river that flowed nearby. The river’s waters ran fast and deep in this area, especially with the rainfall. It would not be a safe place to be, no matter the expertise of the swimmer. This was not a concern to her long, however, for she knew she could avoid the opening of the "canal" easily and there was not much that was going to keep her from swimming. She eased into the shining waters with a sigh and started swimming. Floating peacefully on her back, she thought dreamily, You are my only faithful friend, my water. You and I are friends, obeying the call of the other, working together and never against each other. No, my friend, you would never throw my life into chaos suddenly. You would only protect me from such pains. For you and I love each other, and that is what love is, isn’t it? * * * * Zoicite had no idea how he managed to do it, but he had finally found the library. He thanked the thoughtfulness of the good Queen Serenity for the elaborately lettered "Library" heading above the doorway. He had heard somewhere – probably from the Prince’s stories – that the Princess Mercury liked to read. This being his only clue, he headed there first. He passed through the heavy doors with a sigh and stopped as he found the room to be completely dark. The door closed behind him and the general stood in place, dumbfounded, realizing that this was probably not a good sign. He stood there long enough for his eyes to adjust to the slight light coming in from the windows, and as he realized this, he looked about himself. Some odd shadows on a nearby table caught his eye, and he reached out to find what was causing them. He grasped something and his hand brought back an oddly shaped object that took Zoicite a moment to recognize in the dim light. Suddenly it dawned on him – this was Princess Mercury’s mask!! Much more hopeful, he carried the mask with him as he mainly felt his way down each row of bookshelves. As the number of unsearched aisles grew fewer, Zoicite’s hope grew dimmer. Finally he found himself walking down the last row of shelves, against the wall. At the end of the row he noticed a break in the shelves and stepped in for a closer look. His dark-senses growing, he soon found it to be a door, and that it was slightly ajar. His anticipation leaped as he opened it … … to be onslaught by a face-full of water. Water poured onto him and over him and onto him again. He quickly closed his eyes then shook his head to banish some of the water and the shock. He opened them again to realize that it was raining – and hard! The rain nearly beat on him in thick heavy sheets. He sensed that simply walking though it would feel like wading through the bottom of an ocean. His mind quickly agreed with his body that the gentle princess would have enough sense to stay out of that mess, distress or no. Shutting the door and stepping out of the puddle he now stood in, he wondered what to do next. * * * * It seemed to Ami that she had hardly even begun to enjoy her relaxation when it was abruptly ended. The next thing she knew she was being pounded down by a waterfall of rain. She quickly began to tread the water but even that was difficult as the heavy rain began to churn the normally ice-calm waters. Now the solidity of that ice was being smashed to pieces and thrown about the helpless princess. She began to desperately make her way to the shore, but as the waters growing in the lake began to get more and more confined, it feverently sought it’s way out of the lake, and into the thrashing river, dragging her along with it. Ami was thrashing about as much as the water, desperately trying to stay above the tides. As she was swept into the river, she was dragged under suddenly several times, and each time finding the surface again was more difficult. The land raced by, and Ami realized quickly that she needed some kind of help. She tried to gradually make her way to shore, but the more she attempted to defy the controlling current, the more she went under, and the less oxygen she had to power her struggles. What she needed was something to keep her afloat. And she didn’t have a single thing. The rain that constantly poured over her during the entire battle was definitely not on her side. It and the river seemed to be working together to end her struggles – or to smash her into the water so much to make them one being. Whatever their reasons, Ami wanted to remain just how she was – alive and human. And solitary … a distant part of her mind whispered. Safe in my solitaire…. Ami quickly shut out those thoughts, telling herself they were not going to help her out of this mess. She felt a great shiver run through her and realized that she was freezing cold. Dispite all the energy she was using, the icy rain and river water was getting the best of her. She thought she might freeze before they ever got a chance to drown her! Well, if I froze I would finally achieve the ability to stay above the water, she thought with irony. Wait! She thought. She did have some little power over the water at hand – and her specialty was ice! She concentrated on the water just beside her and felt for it’s closeness to turning to ice. It was very close! Her hope began to blossom. It was a very good thing that she would not have to do much to turn it to ice, for it was flowing so quickly past her that she needed to do it quickly for any success to come of it. She took a deep breath, held her hands out, and gave a huge, quick push with all her mental and magical energy into the water. In the next moment her hands sensed something solid and she grasped it as quick as possible. Hugging whatever it was to her, she realized her success when the coldness of it ran through her. It wasn’t terribly big, but it seemed enough to pull her back above water each time she was pulled under, and all she really needed was something to indicate the direction of air. * * * * Ami could hardly recall being anything but cold now, the ice at her chest only furthering the overtake of her body with the cold of everything around her. The water in which she was being carried away from anywhere she knew was cold, the water still pouring down over her head was cold. With all that, and the huge amounts of energy she had used and was continuing to use, she was beginning to grow very tired. One of the last really cohesive thoughts she had was that she couldn’t float down this river for the rest of her life – though it very much seemed like she would. She couldn’t get to shore on her own so she needed … she needed ..…. help! That’s it! Usagi and the others would come to her rescue. But they didn’t know where she was – in face, she didn’t even know where she was! How could she tell them that she needed help, and where they could give it to her? A wave of tiredness rolled over her, nearly dragging under the black tides it carried. But a sudden thought of Serenity came to her, and kept her above the darkness. She now recalled something the Queen had told her and her friends. "You five are as one, ever separate and ever together. Your souls are the same, and each is connected to the next. If any of you has a great emotional or mental even, the others will know. If any of you has a terrible distress, the others will ... " The princess’ thoughts drifted to nothing as the waves of sleep rolled over her once again, taking her with them.
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