Hey there Minna-chan! I'm finally updating my current chapter fics. 'Bout time, ne? Didn't get too much feedback for Stars Will Fall. Did you guys not like it b/c it wasn't romantic? Just curious! ^_^ Alright then, prepare yourself for the horror of all horrors.... THE AUTHOR'S NOTES!!!! ::suitable screams of terror:: ANs: Okay, I'm not sure if any of you even remember this story (except maybe Anon... you can put the frying pan away now, dear ^_~). If by chance, you need a refresher, you can find the other five parts archived on this site. That said, let's move on. It's taken me six months to perfect (er... sorta) four pages. Let's just say this part has been giving me fits, and it's not even done yet. Yes, that's right. I'm debating whether or not to just end the story after part 6b (which would be ending it REALLY prematurely) because I've been having so much trouble with it. It's all up to you minna-chan, cause I'm taking votes here. I realize this part is short, but your resident EMS has been suffering from incredible self-doubt. Help, onegai? This is the 'action' part of the story, if I did it right. ^^; Oh, and as always a HUGE thank you and chocolate covered Mamo-chan's to my two wonderful beta readers; the lovely Natia_99 and the equally kind Sakura Girl. Go check out their stuff. You won't be disappointed, cross my heart! ^_^ wow... that was long. Okay, on your mark, get set.... READ!! ---------------------------------------------- Cadre Sister Book One: Mind Walking 6/6 by Meredith Bronwen Mallory mallorys-girl@cinci.rr.com ---------------------------------------------- The night was cold, and dark and silent, at least, to any normal human perception. Safely ensconced in the back of a pick-up, sleeping soundly, the mind of Serena Tsukino proved this was not so. The night was filled with voices, each singing a different melody, and her mind, though sleeping, was within each. She was Raye, curled up on the seat beside her, and the crickets, chirping quietly nearby. She was the sea which dashed itself against the beach, and the distant moon that hung in the sky. Her mind reached around the world, encompassed it all, and reached beyond, until she was a fish, long and eel-like, swimming within the fathomless depths of Neptune, and a strange gaseous creature on a planet in the Andromeda galaxy, and ... and ... and... Quite suddenly, like a freak thunderstorm, there was an explosion of voices, all around. Within an instant, Serena's mind contracted within itself, pulling back towards her human husk. There were voices everywhere, now, and not all of them nice. There were big, scary ones that spoke in distorted tones, and ones that were vicious, knowing only hunger, and familiar ones, belonging to her friends. All of them were swirling together, a violent, chaotic maelstrom. Serena jerked up wildly, her heart pounding, her lungs gasping for air as she burst from the sea and into the surface world. A pair of hands, roughened from work and worn from care, lifted her from her resting place, and she began to struggle. "Serena!" Instantly, she stilled, her mind having recognized both voices. One, was Darien, carried over the whisper line in a wave of fear, and the other, equally fearful, if not more so, belonged to her mother. "Hush, Serena," her mother said, lifting Serena into her arms. There was panic all around now, she could feel it in the voices of her friends, and in Darien, and in her mother. Without even trying, Serena could feel the storm within her mother, fear and disbelief, colored by rage. "We can't mind-speak now, all right? We have to run silent, just whisper in real voices, okay?" Dumbly, Serena nodded. She felt her mother's feet, pounding against the beach, and realized they were running, and that the voices, the spidery ones, where chasing them. The Negacops. Instantly, Darien broke in, his mind-voice quiet, and safe, because only she could hear him. The young girl wasn't quite sure which shocked her more, the fact that her mother had been strong enough to follow the line, or the fact that *she* was the one who'd brought all this trouble down on her family. Darien caught onto that last thought almost immediately Serena sucked in a breath, she hadn't realized she had been so loud, hadn't thought about the consequences at all... Now the voices of her friends were popping up, red, green, yellow and blue against the night, only to be silenced a few moments later, as the situation was explained to them as well. Arms tightening around her mother's neck, Serena choked back tears and looked up at the sky. At this close proximity, she couldn't help but *feel* everything inside her mother. And oh, Mommy was filled with things, black things and tears, and shiny things, so sharp that they hurt, and made Serena want to cry. The sky offered no comfort, just a million glittering eyes, watching the drama unfold. "We're going to play a game now, Serena" Ilene whispered hoarsely in her daughter's ear, "We're going to play hide and go seek." "From the voices?" Serena asked, referring the spiders that were right on their tail. Her mother just nodded fearfully. "What... what are the other voices?" "Dogs," the older woman said. Darien must have been listening too, because Serena felt a flash of fear, and then, transparent, like a ghost, the image of a younger Darien, holding the hands of a man and a woman, while the voices of dogs followed them in the distance. Serena whispered carefully. Darien's reply was so filled with emotion that it almost hurt. The young girl took a deep breath, closed her eyes and asked; There was a pause. Whether it lasted a minute, a millennium, or merely one footfall, neither one could gauge. But at last the answer came, accompanied by memories so worn and tattered even Darien couldn't fully understand them.. His reply was so quite Serena had to strain in order to here it, but it was only one word. Now Serena did cry, silently, salty rain drops rolling down her cheeks as she buried her face in her mother's neck. And she knew, without knowing, that he was crying too, miles away, curled up in a shaft of moonlight. The beach seemed to go on forever, stretching all around the world in both directions. They'd been running for so long, Serena was beginning to fear that all she had ever known, all she ever would know, was the jostling of her mother's arms as they ran through the night. That Darien, her friends and all those other places were mere fantasy, nothing more than a distant, fading dream. Panic suddenly rose in Serena, beating dark wings against her chest as she felt a mind, cool and slithering, brush against her own. The Negacops... they were getting closer! The child imagined them, off in the distance, eyes glowing red, like the werewolves and demons of her nightmares. Quickly, Serena drew a shield over herself and her mother, slowly, so as not attract attention as she fashioned it out of shadows and silence. It wouldn't hold for long, she knew. The minds at her's were sharp and well trained, like machines humming, quick, efficient and deadly. When her mother's strength began to wane, Serena pushed more into the older woman, feeling her muscles strain, the blood rush like ice in her veins. They came to a place where the beach road met the sand, a movement from the underbrush sending a thousand images of red-eyed Negacops flying through Serena's brain. Her mother's heart leapt into her throat, but slipped back into place soon after. It was only Uncle Aino and Aunt Osaka, trotting out onto the path, Mina and Sammy clutched tightly to their shadowy forms. "Ilene," Aunt Osaka began, eyes darting worriedly to the cliff in the distance. "They..." A scream pierced the otherwise silent night, it was mental and physical, and it was pain. Serena's ears picked up the dying screams of a woman, but her mind, more sensitive than any of her physical receptors would ever be, told her much more than that. In the choir of voices tonight, a sweet soprano was quickly dropping away. It was a golden voice that carried the scent of tea within, even as it smoldered and died. There was a moment of absolute silence, every mind voice, Negacop and other wise, listening in common. It came quickly, a quick clap of thunder, before death swallowed the voice up; it would never sing again. Uncle Aino was crying, and Serena was shocked. She'd never seen a man, especially a reserved man like Mina's father, cry. the distraught mind voice went on, His mental cries were loud, drowning out Mina's golden one, glittering in confusion, and even the black ones in the distance. Presently, Serena felt the Negacops perk up, tracking the clamor like blood hounds. "Robert," Serena's mother hissed in fear, "Hush!" her eyes darted side to side, fearfully, "They can HEAR you!" There were tears in Ilene's eyes as she said this, her voice cracking just a little, and Serena suddenly understood; Alicia Aino, Mina's mother, was dead. But Robert didn't hear her, his mind was a chaotic swirl of emotions, all of them reflecting grief and despair. And each one of them a beacon, lighting up the night, and like hunting dogs, their pursuers saw this, and sniffed them out. "We have to keep moving," Aunt Osaka bit out painfully. "If we just keep moving..." Somewhere, during that long flight down the beach, something cold settled in Serena's chest, and took root there. She knew, with a certain, chilling knowledge, that despite Darien's desperate reassurances, there was every possibility that she might die before the sun rose. So she clung to her mother with her arms, and clung to Darien with her mind, all the while thinking that somehow, should she survive this night, she would find a way to fight the Negacorps, and make sure no one had to hurt like she did, ever again. Every once in a while, a scream would pierce the air, another family member, injured, captured... or dead. --------------- They materialized out of the night like demons, as though they were the substance of the shadows, terror given form. The small band of fleeing telepaths were surrounded, before any of them even knew it. Serena, who had almost fallen asleep from mental exhaustion, was instantly awake. It was a voice she'd never heard before, speaking into her mind like a cold winter wind. Chilling. A gun shot sounded, someone pitched forward, a Negacop laughed, deep and loud, full of mirth. There was another sound, not like the one before it, and suddenly Serena realized she was tipping backwards, that her mother, who still clutched her tightly, was falling....falling.... With a thump they landed on the sandy beach, and something exploded within Serena's mother, something bright, that hurt a lot. The mental world took precedence over that of the physical as a vision enveloped Serena's senses. It was Mother, holding hands with another, older woman who's hair was tied up in twin buns. It was hard to make them out, a silvery glow surrounded them, and stumbling like one who had been blinded, Serena making her way towards them, groping for understanding. And then, as quickly as it had come, it was gone, sucked away, and there was a moan of pain before all was quite again. A brief glimpse of endless, murky water was all Serena saw before she was jerked roughly back to reality. A Negacop, cool and emotionless, was pulling her away from her mother, and she was crying, without really understanding why, though some part of her knew the truth... her mother was dead. "Well, well, well,"another voice. How many would speak tonight? Serena wondered dimly, hot tears coursing down her cheeks. She looked up, though, and saw a savior. She was tall, and from the first glance the young girl knew that this was someone who could be trusted. Defiance and carelessness were etched, side by side in each curve of the woman's body, her gray/black hair tumbling down her back from twin buns secured on either side of her head. In her hand she clutched a semi-automatic, her body language stating that yes, she knew how to use it, and she wasn't afraid to, either. There were others with her, but the woman's dramatic presence drew the attention away from them. She was center stage. "Put the girl down, bastard." "Luna Temple," one the Negacops spat, "Shoulda known you would show up here!" "You've heard of me," Luna stated tonelessly, "I'm flattered," effortlessly, she raised the gun, "Put the girl down. I'm not going to ask you again." The Negacop holding Serena snorted, and rather than set her down he locked her slim neck in a choke hold. "One step closer," he threatened, "And the girl dies." ----------------------------------- Greenville, Japan 20 miles outside of Tokyo 2 am. ----------------------------------- It was guilt that roused Darien Chiba from his light, tormented sleep.. That and fear that was not his own, traveling down the whisper line like lightening as Serena struggled for breath. He jolted up in bed, reaching for his friend with all his might. he berated himself harshly. He never should have fallen asleep, he hadn't meant to, but the Challenge earlier that day had exhausted him, whether or not he needed to be strong for his friend's sake. Darien thought sadly. He'd even promised Serena he would stay with her, try to distract her from her pursuers. Hatred filled him, those stupid Negacops! All they ever did was hurt people, his mother, his friends, his Serena. There is a spot on a whisper line where two minds join, where one psyche ends and the other begins, like a seam, holding the connection together. With quicksilver speed, Darien rushed down the line, to the seam, glowing silver and gold against the darkness of his mind. Just on the other side, he could sense Serena, frightened and bewildered, the horizon of a foreinge shore. He had never considered what would happen if he crossed that seam, it had always been understood that, while the whisper line was for both of them, their minds were a private thing. Or, as private as it could be, considering thoughts leaked on occasion. But now, he stood on the threshold of Serena's mind, and there wasn't any time to think it through. He could feel Serena loosing consciousness, the beat of her heart becoming slower and slower as the Negacop's grip pressed into the artery in her neck, the blood laying almost stagnant in her veins. Panic gripped him, what if she... if she... if she DIED!? And with that thought firmly in mind, Darien crossed the threshold. -------------------- BWAHAHAHAHA!!!! (tell me you didn't see that coming?) Feedback will be directed to my hungry muse, who is currently sitting on my shoulder complaining about the lack of food around here. Flames will be used to keep Demando in line. ^_^ Feedback... please? Next thing to tackle? The Will of Heaven part 9. ^^ Oy vey. Luv, Meredith