No answer.

"Kaitlyn!" Umi yelled, searching frantically for a link to Kaitlyn’s mind.  Anxiously, he pressed his scaly body against the glass encasing of the tank.

"If I don’t find her, I'm going to be killed, again!" Umi thought to himself, swimming frantically."but what do they expect me to do, anyway?  I’ve got the body of a fish!  It’s not like I can just jump out of here and go off looking for her," he fretted, hoping that his punishment would not be too painful.

"You are completely missing the point," an echoing voice pierced Umi’s thoughts.

"What-ever," Umi said. "Look, can’t you just give me my body back, for just a little while?"

"No."

"What, so you’re just going to let her go?" Umi said. "I’d do that if I were you… she seems like a pretty hopeless case to me."

A great sigh, that of which was not his own, passed through Umi’s body.

"You are the hopeless case, Umi…"

"Well, what do you want me to do?  This isn’t a very flexible body."

"Perhaps we were expecting you to change too soon…" another sigh traveled through Umi’s body. "It looks as though we’re going to have to go with Plan B."

Kaitlyn slowly opened up her eyes, blinking. "Where… where am I…" she whispered hoarsely, wrapping her arms around herself and shivering.  She examined her surroundings, running her fingers along the marble edge of a chair she had been draped across.  She found herself sitting in a pool of light, just enough to see her chair and one half of a table in front of her. The table had several unidentifiable objects sitting on the shadowed half, and she could vaguely make out another chair placed near the dark end.  Kaitlyn blinked again, noting that there was also an unidentifiable object sitting in the other chair.

"Is… Is anyone there?" she said tentatively, squirming on the hard surface of her seat.

"Yes," a young man’s deep voice answered her, and she recoiled, shaking.

"Be brave, be brave, it’s okay, it’s okay," she told herself, nibbling her lip.  The unidentifiable object sitting in the opposite chair stood and stepped into the light.

"You’re the guy… that was at my apartment…" she said softly, as she remembered the feel of the young man’s icy fingers clutching her neck. "Who are you?  What do you want?" she asked, her voice tinged with fear. "Are you... are you from the Negaverse?"

"So many questions," the young man said softly. "In answer to your first question, my name is Etienne."

He paused, as if savoring the moment, and plucked something from off the top of the shadowed half of the table.  He slid his long fingers around the crystal stem of the goblet he had taken, taking a small sip of the bloodred liquid that glittered inside it, waiting for her reaction.

"Et… Etienne?" she blinked, shocked, staring at him. "But… Etienne has short hair, and he’s not that tall."

Etienne yawned, feeling suave, and held up his hand.  A strong wind swirled around his body, and when it died down, he was replaced with the boy Kaitlyn had described.  Etienne smiled at her surprised expression.  Damn, he was good.

"Oh, Goddd…" Kaitlyn moaned, burying her face in her hands. "I can’t believe this."

Etienne returned to his normal self, and continued. "I'm not really sure what I want though."

"You're not?" Kaitlyn said, rubbing her perspiring hands on her shirt. "Then maybe you could let me go?"

"Not an option."

"How did you even know I was a senshi?"

"Truth be told, I honestly was not entirely sure," he said. "Something drew me to you when I first saw you, however, and since then I’ve been following you…that’s why I went to your school, so I could watch you more."

Etienne  paused abrubtly and kneeled down in front of her.  He smiled slightly and leaned forward, causing his long black hair to spill over his shoulders.  He felt that he had lost ground by revealing his lack of purpose, but frightening her well enough would fix that. "I know everything about you, Kaitlyn…"

"How long have you been following me?" Kaitlyn pressed back into her chair, trembling.

"Three years," he said. "Probably would've kept on with it, but I got kind of tired of waiting around."

"Three years?" Kaitlyn’s eyes widened. "Why didn’t I ever see you?"

"I have my ways," he said, straightening.

"Okay," she said, clearly disturbed, which pleased him.  "So what are you going to do with me?"

"Ultimately?  I’m not sure.  Maybe I’ll  keep you prisoner.  Maybe I’ll just kill you."

Kaitlyn swallowed again and stood up, trying to make her voice sound intimidating.

"You can’t beat me that easily!" she squeaked, failing miserably.

"Oh?  It looks like I already have," Etienne took another sip from his goblet, smiling.  He reached out to her and stroked her hair.

"Pretty little senshi… you belong to me now."

Kaitlyn stepped away from him, stumbling over the chair.  Etienne chuckled.  Too easy, he thought to himself, too easy.

"Aughh… that’s it!" Kaitlyn jumped up, her fear giving way to angry humiliation.  She dug into the pocket of her shirt, feeling around for her henshin pen.

"I’m afraid not," Etienne said nastily, picking up another object from the shadowed half of the table.  He held it in front of her, and it glittered in the dim light.

"My pen!" she cried, reaching for it.  Etienne pulled it away.

"You have to give me some credit, Kaitlyn," he said disgustedly, fingering the stick.

Kaitlyn folded her arms across her chest, annoyed.  He laughed and returned the pen to its place on the table, striding over to Kaitlyn and picking her up, holding her easily.

"Besides, even if you did transform, you couldn’t beat me," he settled down on the chair, still holding her. "To me, my dear, you are but a feather."

Kaitlyn squirmed in his arms, struggling to free herself. "Let me go!"

"Nah," he said, cupping his hand under her chin and turning her head so that she was looking directly at him.

Kaitlyn trembled.

"Who are you, Kaitlyn?" he whispered suddenly, not letting go of her.

Kaitlyn blinked, but retorted: "You ought to know, you’ve been stalking me for the last three years…"

"I don't, really," he said, continuing to speak in a whisper. "I don't understand why I feel this connection to you."

He eased his grip on her, stroking her cheek. "At first, I thought it was because of your position--I mean, as a senshi.  But now I don't think that's it."

Etienne closed his eyes and leaned in closer to her, kissing her lips gently. "Maybe you could tell me."

"Ack!" Kaitlyn shrieked as Etienne pulled away. "Are you some kind of sicko that likes to play with his victims before he kills them or what!?"

Etienne let her go, setting her on the chair and standing.  He turned away from her again, hanging his head.

"No," he said.  "I just needed to know something."

As he looked back at her, he held up his hand again.  Light was shed on the rest of the room, revealing the other half of the table, another chair, along with a dresser, a mirror, and a small bed.  She squirmed around in the chair, peering over the back and seeing a simple wooden door.

Etienne took the pen again, clutching it tightly in his left hand.  He jerked his head towards her and spoke in a strange voice, before abrubtly exiting: "This is where you will be staying for now…I’ll be back to check on you later.  Goodbye, Kaitlyn."

Kaitlyn, ignoring Etienne’s abrubtness, jumped up and shook the doorknob, not surprised to find that it was locked.

"Aw, man…" she moaned, sinking into her chair. "What am I gonna do now?"

"I wish that girl would hurry up," Jada mumbled, dashing up the steps of the local library and pressing her face against the glass doors, searching for the figure of her friend.

"Who are you looking for?" Kiera asked, gently tapping Jada on the shoulder.

"Eek!" Jada whirled around, breathing a great sigh  of relief when she saw Kiera. "I thought you were still inside."

Kiera shrugged.

"Sorry." She said emotionlessly, yawning a little.

"Ah, it’s okay," Jada said, smiling and patting her friend on the back. "Come on, let’s go sit on the steps and wait for my mom, ‘kay?"

"All right," Kiera said, shifting the weight of the books she held in her arms. She set the books on the steps and sat down, staring up into the sky and frowning at the golden sun as it shone onto her half of the world.  She buried her face in one of her books, edging towards the shade offered by the branches of one of the trees that surrounded the library.

Jada was about to follow when suddenly she heard the sound of someone crying.

"Umm…?" she mumbled, glancing from side to side. "Hey, Kiera…" she tugged on her friend’s sleeve. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Kiera asked absentmindedly, turning a page in one of her books.  The lament sounded again.

"That.  Someone’s crying."

"Oh?  I wonder what’s wrong," Kiera said, turning a page in her book.

Jada reached down and grabbed her friend’s arm, pulling her up. "Let’s go see!"

Kiera narrowed her dark red eyes, brushing a lock of her black hair out of her face.  She seemed about to protest, but then she looked at her friend’s eagerly concerned face and sighed, knowing this wasn’t an argument she was going to win.

"Come on, it’s this way!" Jada said, dragging Kiera down the steps and into the dense thicket of trees.

"Jada…" Kiera said, trying to remove herself from her friend’s grasp, "Jada, are you sure you heard someone crying?  It could have just been the wind."

"No, it was crying, I’m sure of it!" Jada stopped, finally letting go of Kiera.  She closed her eyes and listened, and this time the sobbing reached both their ears.

"See!  There it is again!" Jada cried, darting through the trees.  Kiera shook her head and scrambled after Jada, almost running into her when Jada stopped suddenly.

"Ack," Kiera quickly stepped away from Jada, peering around the other girl’s side.  Another girl with wavy, shoulder length green hair was sitting on a rock in front of them, her back turned to them, crying miserably.

"I’m gonna go see if she’s okay," Jada whispered, slowly walking towards the girl.  Before she could go even four steps, however, the girl’s sobs ceased and she whirled around, her blue eyes wide with fear.  Her mouth opened as if she were screaming, but no sound came out.  Jada and Kiera both looked over their shoulders, but all they could see were the leaves of the trees, whispering amongst each other in the afternoon wind.

"What’s wrong?" Jada asked, turning back to the girl and reaching out to her, gasping as the girl disappeared before Jada’s eyes.

"Kiera!  Did you see that!?" Jada shrieked, moving quickly to the rock.  Her friend was close behind, and they stared at the rock together.

"Look…" Jada said softly.  A swirling purple circle covered the place where the strange girl had been sitting.  Mesmerized, Jada held out her hand, her fingers extended towards the glowing circle.

"Jada, I don’t think you should--" Kiera interrupted, but it was too late—Jada’s fingertips touched the circle, and it glowed a brilliant white.

"Huh?" Jada said, trying to take her hand away, but found that she was unable to—the circle was drawing her in!  "Kiera!  Kiera, help me!" Jada cried, as the white light spread all over the rock.

"Jada!" Kiera grabbed her friend’s other arm, closing her eyes and trying to pull Jada away, but her efforts were futile—Jada was being taken in, and Kiera was being brought along with her.

"What we just implemented… we had not expected to call on the others so soon, but apparently it cannot be helped."

"The others?" Umi said, puzzled.

"In addition to the Inner Senshi, there are also two others, companions of Mana.  They are the Sailors Shade and Lumina."

"Wait, wait, let me guess… they represent darkness and light, right?"

"Indeed.  Both of them have been living in Vinton for quite some time now."

"Oh…Er, okay..." Umi said.  He would have blinked, had he had eyelids. "Well, you’re supposed to be all omnipotent and such… why don’t you go and save them?"

"We cannot interfere with such events directly.  If we could, we wouldn’t need anyone—we would just get rid of the evil ourselves.  All we can do is guide those who are chosen." THEM paused. "…Let us pray that Lumina and Shade do well, for, as of now… they are our only hope."

"Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore…" Jada said, rubbing her head.  Mist and shadows surrounded Jada and her friend.

"Hmm…" Kiera replied, pressing her hand against the barren ground. "We appear to have been teleported to another dimension, for no land on Earth is as neglected as this."

"You don’t think so?  You oughtta see my room," Jada cracked, standing up.

"Jada, this really isn’t a time to be making bad jokes," Kiera said, standing as well and squinting to see through the mists.

"Excuuse me for trying to lighten the atmosphere," Jada sniffed.

"Look up there," Kiera said softly, ignoring her friend’s comment.

"Umm?" Jada squinted and took a few steps forward, just barely able to make out the outlines of a house ahead of them. "Hey, a house!"

"Who would live out here?" Kiera said to herself, rubbing her chin.

"I dunno… what should we do?" Jada asked, nibbling her lip.

"Perhaps we should see if anyone’s home."

"What if a psycho lives there or something?" Jada said worriedly, uncertain.

"There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?" Kiera answered, taking a step forward, feeling her foot came down on two metal objects as she did.

"Hmm?" she said, removing her foot and plucking the objects from the dust.  She blew on them, finding that they were strange pens.  One of them was made of black metal and had an eye carved into it, and the other was made of white metal and had the symbol of eternity on it.  Jada peered over her friend’s shoulder.

"Oooo… what’re those?" she whispered.

"I’m not sure," Kiera answered, clutching the one made of black metal in her hand and proffering the other one to Jada. "But I feel as though they belong to us."

Jada blinked, and then shrugged.

"Cool," she said, holding up her pen. "I wonder if it does anything?  Besides write, that is..."

"You guys are quick."

"Who said that?" Jada whipped around, looking around expectantly.

"I did."

"Look below you, Jada," Kiera said, sounding as if she didn’t quite believe what she was seeing.

Jada stepped back and saw a fishbowl sitting in front of her, with a small silver fish swimming around inside.

"A… telepathic fish?" Jada asked, rubbing her head.

"Ding ding ding!  Bob, tell the girls what they’ve won!" the fish said sarcastically, continuing, "Well, Umi, these two have won an all expense paid trip to the Negaverse, where they’ll have to save their fellow Senshi from the clutches of an evil maniac!  Congratulations, and have fun!"

"Negaverse?" Kiera said. "Is that where we are?"

"Senshi?" Jada blinked.

"Well, duh," the fish said. "You don’t think any normal people would be talking to a telepathic fish, do you?"

Kiera and Jada looked at each other and shrugged.

"Right." The fish said. "Now, let’s do introductions, shall we?  I’m Umi, and you two are Sailors Shade and Lumina."

"You mean… like Sailor Moon?" Jada asked. "I didn’t think she really existed…"

"Well, she does, but enough about that… you guys need to get in that house and rescue Kaitlyn, or else I’m gonna be fried fish fillet."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Kiera asked, fingering the stick.

"You’ve got the henshin pens, haven’t you?  Transform!" Umi said. "Jada, you say, "Lumina Power," and Kiera, you say "Shadow Power," got it?"

"Kiera, I would like to wake up from this dream now…" Jada said nervously.

"Do not look at me, you are the one that wanted to follow the crying girl," Kiera said, sighing.

Jada looked at Umi, then at Kiera, then at her surroundings, then back at Umi again and sighed as well.  Having a conscience really sucked sometimes, she thought.

"What the hell are you waiting for!?  Transform, already!" Umi yelled impatiently.

"All right, all right… don’t get your fins in a twist," Jada said, holding up her pens.

"Lumina… Power!" she yelled.  Bright lights shimmered all around her, shining down upon her body.  She closed her eyes as the lights swirled around her, and when she opened them again, she found that she was in a sailor sort of outfit, made of the colors of gold, white, and ice blue.

"Shadow… Power!" Kiera yelled.  A dark, cold wind blew around her, slithering around her and whispering in her ears.  She closed her eyes as well, and when she opened them, she found herself in a fuku made of the colors of black, bloodred, and purple.

"Why the hell are these skirts so short!?" Jada said angrily, trying to pat hers down.

"Umm…?" Umi said, his fishy face pressed against the glass.  Kiera frowned and slapped the glass of Umi’s bowl, causing him to involuntarily jerk away.

"Pervert!" Jada said, narrowing her eyes.

"Sorry," Umi said, even though it was quite clear that he wasn’t. "Anyway… as Sailors, you each have your own little unique set of powers. Lumina, your first power is "Lucent Beam," and Shade, yours is "Dark Force."  To use’em, you just say the words while you’re transformed.  Okay?"

"Yes… one question, please," Kiera said, brushing her black bangs away from her forehead. "Who is Kaitlyn?"

"Y’know that girl that was crying on the rock?  That’s her.  She’s Sailor Mana, and she’s been captured and is being held in that house."

"So I was right… there is some evil psycho living in there," Jada said, rubbing her head.

"Hrm.  Well, let’s go, then," Kiera said, starting to walk.

"Hey!  What’re you doing!?" Jada cried, grabbing her friend’s arm and pulling her back. "What if we don’t get out of there alive?"

Kiera shrugged her friend off and resumed walking.

"If we stand around here all day, chances are something nasty will find us and kill us anyway," she said.

Jada sighed and trotted after her friend.

"I just can’t win with you, can I?"

"No," Kiera answered, smiling a little.

Umi watched as the two girls disappeared into the fog, feeling relief wash over him.

"Whew…" he said to himself as his fishbowl began to glow, "I’m saved."

 Etienne draped his lanky body across his chair, holding a goblet above him and staring at the dark red liquid that swished around inside it.

"That wasn't too bad," he said to himself, taking a swig from the goblet.  He swallowed, shaking his head and sitting up, sighing.  He set his glass down on a small table sitting next to his chair and stood, walking slowly to his window.  He had gotten what he had sought after for so long.  He had achieved his purpose.  Etienne laid his hand against the cool surface of the window, lowering his head.  He clenched his gloved fingers into a fist, squeezing his  eyes shut.

"But why I do I still feel that energy?" he whispered.  "What is it that I’m feeling?"

Raising his head skyward, Etienne opened his eyes, searching his memory for when he first saw Kaitlyn.

…Etienne slid his hands into his pockets, listening to the sound of grass crunching under his boots as he walked.  The gold-orange sun hung low and heavy in the dusk, sending out a few final rays of sunlight before the icy night came to call.  Etienne kept his head bent low, watching the evening wind play with the blades of grass beneath him.  He could faintly hear the sounds of people talking and laughing, the sound of car doors closing as everyone drove back to the warmth of their houses.  He passed by a white sign that had "Oak Park" painted in block letters on its surface.  He watched streetlamps flicker to life, bathing the park benches in pools of yellowish light.

 "How different life is here…" he said to himself as he strolled, keeping away from the paved paths that ran through the park.  He plucked a reddish leaf from off the branch of a nearby tree, twisting the small piece of foliage around in his fingers.

"Hrm?" he dropped the leaf and turned his head, as the sound of a young girl’s loud, nervous voice reached his ears.  Etienne moved closer to the voice, making sure to keep himself unnoticeable.  He saw a tall man standing in front of a girl with shoulder length greenish hair.  He watched as the girl blushed, babbling incessantly, staring at the ground.  Etienne frowned as he looked at the man’s face, which had a strange smile plastered onto it.  Etienne glanced back at the girl, who didn’t seem to notice the man’s fingers running through her hair.  Etienne moved a little closer, suddenly feeling a strange energy coming from this girl.

"Could she be a Senshi?" he said to himself, leaning against the bark of the tree he was hidden behind.  He paused as he heard her voice cease, and he turned to look again, watching as the man moved closer to her.  The energy coming from her grew stronger, and Etienne knew he had to do something.

"What should I care?" he whispered fiercely. "It’s just one less human to worry about…"

He stood there for a few seconds, struggling with his sensibilities.  Finally, he reached into his pocket, bringing out a switchblade.  He flicked out the jagged knife, and teleported himself so that he was directly behind the man.  Calmly, without any sign of emotion his features, he lifted the sharp blade and jammed it into the man’s neck, twisting the knife a little.  The man fell back, and Etienne stepped out of the way as the man’s body hit the ground, causing the knife to go all the way through his neck.  Etienne stepped back into the shadows, watching the girl’s features twist into an expression of disgust and horror.  She took a few small steps back before breaking into a run, yelling for help at the top of her lungs.  Etienne stood there, the wind blowing through his long dark hair, waiting in the darkness...

....Eventually,  Kaitlyn came back, followed by a group of girls and a few police officers.  He watched the scene until it ended, and then he followed the girl home, finding out her name, that she was fourteen, and that she lived in an orphanage.  Etienne followed her to school the next day, followed her to the movies, to the mall.  That strange energy drew him to her.  So for three years of her life, he followed her, the energy never weakening, an energy he could still feel now.  And he hated it.  Hated not knowing what it was, hated that it was so strong, hated that it never seemed to leave him.

He strangled his glass, squeezing it until it shattered in his hands.  The fragments fell to the floor, and the wine spilled everywhere.  He stared at his stained gloves, at the bloody liquid that was seeping into the white fabric.

"When did this happen to me?" he said softly. "When did I become like this?"

So bitter.  Had he always been like this? He clenched his fists and looked back out his window, staring into the desolate nothingness of the Negaverse.  This place, and this house, were all that he knew.  Born in the lifeless veldt surrounding the house, he had managed to survive only through the fleeting sympathies of passersby.  One such person took care of him until he could stand on his own, and then left.  Etienne had no memory of this, even as to whether this person was male or female.  All he remembered was being fed and looked after, and then he remembered the doors of this house, abandoned, just like him.

As he gazed out his window, he saw two girls that looked very out of place in Negaverse coming towards his house. "I guess I’ve got company."

"What a strange old house," Kiera mused as they waited for someone to answer the door.  The place was mansion size, and it was crafted of black stone.  The double doors were made of mahogany and had two stained glass circles set into them.  Kiera ran her fingers over the cool stone, wondering who could possibly live in a place like this.

"Hey,"  Jada said suddenly, motioning to Kiera. "The door… it’s open."

Kiera blinked and looked back.

"Well, then… shall we?" she said, stepping nonchalantly into the darkness.

"Kiera!" Jada yelled, darting after her friend, still holding the pen in her hand.

"You’re lucky you’ve got someone cautious like me as your friend," Jada said, as the doors swung shut behind them.

"Uh?" Kiera turned around and grasped the knob of one of the doors. "Locked…"

"Locked!?" Jada cried, a hint of panic in her voice. "Aww, maaann… I don’t like this… I seriously, seriously, do not like this…" she started to moan.

"How many of you Sailors are there?" a voice asked, and Kiera and Jada turned their heads rapidly.  A young man’s figure appeared, and he stood, floating in the air.

"Let Sailor Mana go, or else!" Jada yelled.

"Or else what?" the young man smiled a little.

"Or else we shall be forced to harm you," Kiera answered simply, moving closer to him.

"You?  Hurt me?" he chuckled. "Not likely."

"We’ll see about that!" Jada raised her arm and yelled.

"Lucent Beam!" she threw her hand back and slashed it in the man’s direction.

A light twinkled  in the darkness, and beams of pure energy stemmed from it, aiming directly for the man.  The light slammed into him, knocking him off guard, and off his feet, as well.

"Urgh…" the man shook his head vigorously and stood up. "Perhaps you aren’t as weak as I percieved you to be…. All right… try and find your precious Mana… if you can," he chuckled in that annoying way that villains often do, and disappeared (also in that annoying way that villains often do).  Light flooded the space the girls’ occupied, revealing that they were in some sort of corridor.

"Good work, Lumina," Kiera said, her boots clicking against the marble floor as she started to walk.

"Thanks!" Jada smiled and trotted after her friend. "So what do we do now?"

Kiera shrugged. "Find Sailor Mana."