Chapter 7
Who Are You?

Zukamori sighed. <This is taking too long,> she grumbled to herself. The 
five women around her seemed to agree.
	Having no memory of herself and finding that she couldn't speak, 
Zukamori had gone to the Palace hoping to find some kind of answer to 
her questions.
	The Senshi had sensed her entering the Palace and gone to see who 
it was. After a brief encounter with the mute girl, they moved to 
another room, not wanting the Queen or King to know of Zukamori yet.
	"They have enough problems to deal with now," Minako reasoned. 
"Let's see what we can find out about her first, then we'll decide what 
to do."
	But now, another thought was running through Minako's head. 
<What's wrong with her?> she thought. Unknown to the other Senshi, she 
and Hotaru know a little more about Zukamori than they were letting on.
	Rei ran a hand through her hair as she said, "We aren't getting 
anywhere." She looked at the girl in the chair at the center of the 
room. "You *sure* you can't remember anything?"
	Zukamori shook her head.
	"Do you have anything with you besides that knife?"
	Zukamori thought about that. <I never did check my pockets. If I 
have any, that is.> She shrugged as she stuck her hands into her 
pockets. Her hand bumped against something. Quickly she pulled it out. 
In her hand was a white crystal that was the size of her palm. <Okay, 
what is this thing?>
	"A crystal?" Minako said as she stepped up closer. Zukamori looked 
up at her and shrugged her shoulders again.
	"This is great," Makoto grumbled. "Yet another mystery. Can 
anything be more frustrating?!"
	<I agree,> Zukamori thought. <This is almost too frustrating to 
bear. I know nothing. Absolutely *NOTHING*!> She sighed as she leaned 
back in the chair. <AAAARRRRGGGGHHH!!!!> she mentally screamed in 
frustration.
	Rei's head jerked slightly. A pulse of energy hit her. It wasn't 
strong enough to nock her down, but it wasn't weak enough not to notice 
it. The others did the same thing.
	"What was that?!" Ami gasped as another pulse came.
	*CRASH*
	A vase in the room shattered. The flowers blew also.
	*CRASH*
	Ami backed away from the mirror just as it blew.
	"What going on?!" Hotaru shouted as another vase shattered.
	"Let's get out of here! NOW!!" Minako ordered. No one argued as 
the chandelier on the ceiling exploded, sending a deafening crash that 
echoed through the halls.
	As they entered the hall, the light fixtures above them blew one 
by one as they passed under them.
	Then, as soon as it started, the lights stopped blowing up. The 
women came to a halt.
	"What was that?!" Makoto gasped between breaths.
	Zukamori shook her head roughly, trying to clear her thoughts. 
Images flashed in her mind.
*FLASH*
Zukamori found herself standing in some time of wasteland. The ground 
was covered with bluish-white sand. Huge columns of white marble 
scattered the area, the tops and bottoms looked as though they had been 
ripped apart. A woman with long hair stood beside her. She, herself, was 
younger. About five or six years old, her mind told her. The woman 
spoke, but Zukamori didn't hear any words. The woman motioned to 
something in from of them. On one of the columns of marble, another 
woman lay. She had silver hair that was styled in 'odango'. Her blue 
eyes were glazed over. Dead. A name came to mind. 'Queen Serenity'. 
Zukamori looked above her. In the black sky, there was a blue globe. 
Several pink balls entered the globe's atmosphere.
*FLASH*
"....kamori! Zukamori!"
	Zukamori shook her self out of the trance.
	"You okay?" Minako asked. "You kinda spaced out there."
	Zukamori weakly nodded, not knowing is she really was okay. 
Suddenly, her eyes couldn't focus. Her legs wobbled slightly as she 
pressed a hand to her forehead. She collapsed to the ground.
----------
"So the captive got away," the one-eyed boy said to himself.
	<Just one did,> a voice in his head said. <Besides, 'there's more 
than one way to skin a cat,' as the saying goes.>
	"But what about the--"
	<Just keep that one under lock and key. We've had her there for 
years and she has yet to escape. In two months time, we will attack.>
	"Two months? That long?"
	<Alert the others of the plan and get everything ready. Also, make 
sure that no one leaves the Crystal Palace while we plan. We don't want 
them to miss the fun.>
----------
<Serenity.>
	The young queen jerked. "Who's there?" she said.
	<Serneity. Nemesis is planning to attack in two months.>
	"What?!"
	<Prepare for the worst, Serenity. For it will come. No matter 
what, don't hesitate to do whatever is necessary to defeat him.>
	Serenity looked around the balcony she was on to see who had 
'spoken'. No one was there besides her. She shuddered. That voice. She 
had heard it before. Somewhere. She looked around once more before 
quickly heading inside.
----------
The dungeon was dark except for the scattered torches the were evenly 
spaced out on the wall. All of the cells were empty.
	All but the one closest to the main door.
	In that cell, a young woman was chained erect. The only thing 
between herself and the stone wall was her long white hair that fell 
down to her knees. Her wrists and ankles were bloody where the shackles 
held her, showing signs of struggle. A white mist suddenly filled her 
cell. The mist disappeared into her body. Her head snapped up as she 
took in a deep breath.
	Her golden eyes looked around the cell. She shook her head. <That 
message took longer than I thought,> she thought. <But, Serenity better 
get everything ready. Nemesis won't back down. He doesn't care who she 
really is.>
----------
A large tombstone was surrounded by people dressed in black. Almost all 
of them were crying. Especially one particular woman with silver hair 
and blue eyes.
	Beside her there stood a small girl with blonde hair and curious 
hazel eyes. Slowly the people parted reluctantly until the woman and 
child where left. The woman took a shaky breath as she stooped down so 
she could look at the girl in her eyes.
	"I know this is hard for you to understand now," the woman said 
gently to the girl, "but time has run out." The woman reached into her 
black cloak and pulled out a white crystal. "This is ours, by 
birthright. I should have given it to you sooner, and I didn't. I'm 
sorry. Please keep it with you."
	The girl cautiously took the box and looked it over.
	The woman hugged the girl tightly as she said, tears welling up in 
her eyes again. "Use it to protect Serenity. She will be your Queen 
soon, and you will serve her instead of me. Please."
----------
"Hey! Wake up!"
	Zukamori slowly opened her eyes. She sprang up.
	"I guess she's okay," Rei said.
	"It would appear so," Ami muttered as she pressed a few keys to 
her mini-computer. "But according to this, her energy level is almost 
zero." She looked over the top of the computer. "For this to be true, 
though, she would have had to expel a great amount of her original 
energy. That part I believe, but the question is--" she snapped her 
computer shut and looked down at Zukamori as she shakily stood, "--how 
did she expel it?"
	They all looked at her strangely.
	<'How did I expel--'> Zukamori started to think. Then it dawned on 
her.
	Ami saw the light in her eyes and said, "Do you know how?"
	Zukamori shrugged and shook her head, meaning, "Not sure."
	"Well, just try."
	Zukamori turned and pointed to the light fixtures that had blown. 
Then she pointed down the hall to the room they had been in. She turned 
back. <Okay,> she thought. <They don't get it.> Zukamori pointed to 
herself, then made a exploding motion with her hands, then pointed back 
the lights.
	"You made the lights blow?" Hotaru asked.
	Zukamori clapped her hands once and nodded. She pointed back to 
the room.
	"And the vases and the mirror?" Hotaru said.
	She nodded again.
	Ami thought about that. "It's possible. Her energy might have been 
that pulse we all felt and it might have caused everything to shatter."
	<This just explains one thing,> Zukamori said as she reached into 
her pocket. Her hand felt the edges of the crystal. <But what was that I 
saw? And that dream. The woman with the silver hair was the same in 
both. But what was that?>
----------
Adonis walked around the place, trying to find something to do. <Where 
is everybody?> he thought. He turned a corner and came across a pair of 
large double doors that reached up to the ceiling. Each door had designs 
finely chiseled into it. Adonis stepped up to the door on the left. It 
was made of white stone. Its design consisted of almost life-sized 
angels with large wings perched on their back. Each angel in itself was 
unique with it's own face and wing pattern. Near the top of the door 
there was an angel that was larger than the others were. That particular 
angel had it's arms raised and their head turned upwards.
	One of the other angels caught his attention. It was about eye 
level with him. Adonis traced the outline of its elegantly shaped face. 
The angel had short hair that stopped just after its shoulders. Its eyes 
looked back at him intently. It's face seemed familiar somehow.
	"Snap out of it, Adonis," he told himself. "It's just a door."
	He turned and looked at the other one. The one on the right was 
black. It had images of people with wings as large as the angels did, 
but they were like bat wings. Their faces each held an evil smirk. At 
the top of that door, like the other one, there was a bigger one of 
those creatures, poised like the angel opposite to it.
	At the very top of the doors, there were words. Adonis read them 
outloud.
	"'In one, there is always two.'"
	Suddenly the ground under him began to shake.
	Pang of slight pain ran through Adonis. He pressed his hand 
against the side of his head. He had felt it before when...
	"No!" he gasped when he realized what was happening. He ran back 
the way he came, pausing at the corner. He turned back to the doors. The 
angel he had noticed before seemed to draw his attention even more. He 
shook his head before running to warn the others.
----------
NEXT: Everyone finds themselves unable to leave the Palace. Meanwhile 
the mysterious woman, who warned Serenity about Nemesis' attack, makes 
another appearance. Who is she? Is she friend or foe? What did Zukamori 
see? Did she live during the Silver Millenium? What is behind the 
strange doors Adonis found? Next time: Trapped in the Palace.
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Hi all! This chapter was a little short, but I wanted to save what 
happens next for another chapter. After I finished this story (I have no 
idea how long I'll make it, so don't panic) I already have another one 
ready to be published, but I want to wait until I get one done.
Feedback, people! Feedback!! My mailbox is lonely. *sniffle*
-Anaconda-