After Felix finished talking about things they could do and have been doing, Mamoru took a quick second to think about it all, then replied in a friendly manner "You make some good points, Felix.  I'll have to watch for an upcoming weekend where I can spare a day of focusing all on my schoolwork, then go explore the Freedom Trail that Saturday.  After that, hopefully we can find some Saturday where we are both free, and you can drive us down to Plymouth.  By the way, I noticed you also mentioned Salem.  That's the old town that is famous for all the witch trials that took place there, correct?"

As Mamoru waited for Felix to respond to that, he took a couple sips of his hot tea.

Felix's face brightened. "Yes, it is the town where the witch trial occurred. Such a dark time in this area. There are several museums in the area, a lot that do not have anything to do with trials, such as The House of Seven Gables, and Nathanial Hawthorne's birthplace, that is a must. If you do want to see anything regarding the trials themselves there is the Salem Witch Museum. It is ok. They do have a nice history of what happened and some exhibits, but I would recommend the Witch Trials Memorial. It is in the spot where those people lost their lives. Stones surround the area, with the names of the accused and the words the spoke proclaiming their innocence. it is a far more meaningful spot. But yeah, whenever you are free or need a break. We can go."

Melrose and Celeste were in their room going over the meeting the Shadow Council.

"You don't think they will go after us do you?" Celeste asked her voice shaking. Despite Felix's reassurances she was still worried.

"No, for the millioneth time." Melrose snapped. Though she shared Celeste's concerns she was tired of being asked the same question over and over again. Her voice softened before continuing. "We are still here right? Besides we have Gustav and Felix to look after us."

"I guess you are right." Celeste replied still sounding uncertain.

"We are doing a good job. We got Usagi to trust us."

"I don't know what is taking Felix so long with Mamoru." Melrose thought to herself.

"What was that?" Celeste asked as the both heard loud noise, breaking Melrose's thoughts.

"I don't know." Melrose frowned.

The two girls left their room to find out what was going on. The stopped short when the past the bathroom.

"Zena is that you?" Melrose asked.

Zena shot up when she heard the voices. Was her mind playing tricks with her again. Her human emotions of fear had kicked in to overload. Zena slowly pushed herself up and walked slowly to her door. She peered the door open and peeked out to the other side.

"Who's there?" she called as her eyes searched for the voice source.

when she saw Melrose, she breathed a breath of relief. "Is everything okay?" she asked trying to regain her composure for the sake of the girls who were slammed pretty hard at the meeting with the shadow council.

Mamoru was impressed as he replied "And I thought the United States was a young country.  There seem to be a lot of historical sites in the area for such a young country.  I hope I have enough time to visit several of the places you have mentioned."  He then finished his cup of hot tea and went to wash it out in the kitchen sink.  After he was done doing this, he quickly turned back to Felix and said in a friendly manner "Unless you have anything else you want to tell me now, I should be going back to check on Usagi."  Finally, Mamoru waited to see what Felix's reaction to that would be.

 
"Yes, a short but rich history. A lot of key events about the birth of the nation happened right here in Boston." Felix beamed. "By all means, I don't wish to keep you, I hope she is ok. We can chat another time. I had scheduled some time at the observatory and I need to get a few thing together. If you will excuse me please."
 
Felix rinsed out his mug and put it in the dishwasher. He smiled at Mamoru before leaving the kitchen. He took his phone out while heading to his room and shot a text to Zena.

"On my way soon."

After hearing what Mamoru said about checking on Usagi, Felix wondered if there was a new development. He needed to meet with Zena to find out if the council had given her further instructions but he needed to know what was going on with Usagi. Felix settled on leaving. Before Relena was destroyed, the research and development had created a listening device, powerful and small. Felix had bugged the apartment just in case but he was not sure if the listening devices survived the trip. There was some damage to them and Felix had tried to repair but he is not sure if it would work. He went into his room and opened the top drawer on his night stand. He took out a small hand held remote.

"Here goes nothing."  Felix said, he activated the listening devices and hoped for the best.

He grabbed his messenger bag and left the room.

"I am leaving now."  He sent Zena one more message.

"See you later!" He called out the Mamoru and Usagi before closing the door behind him.

Melrose jabbed Celeste before she had a chance to open her mouth.

"We were going to ask you the same thing." Melrose began, shooting Celeste a look that clearly said don't speak. "The meeting with council....was intense."

"We just wanted to see if you were ok." Celeste jumped in refusing to be silenced. "Cyran was not very nice."

Melrose rolled her eyes and glared at Celeste. Her eyes narrowed when she looked at Zena. "You don't seem like you are ok."

Zena looked up the girls that had become like sisters to her. It seemed eveyone had taken the meeting hard. Zena felt like she in a way had been hit the hardest, they hadn't even given her a chance to get under Usagi's skin and here they were telling her how to do her job. Yes she was new to this whole experience, but she did have a hold on what she was doing  why couldn't they see that.

Still trembling Zena spoke, "you're right about that, it seems they have it out for us. I don't know why, Felix's plan is working, yes it is slow, but it will work. But now, now they want me to hone in on their assistance to get into Usagi's head and also drain her energy, like that will be of any use to us, though I won't lie when we had to hold her down and help Gustav that was quite a rush, but I don't like to go about my tacticts that way."

Something changed in that moment in Zena as she continued to speak, her voice filling with rage. "Who are they to tell me what to do, they haven't even given me a chance to show my craft, I mean seriously why would I trust them. If I pair my mind and abilities with them o doubt they will take control over me. I just---"

In that moment steam started to rise out of Zena's hands and began to form a small swirling ball. The lights dimmed til they were nearly black, then shot back to a brightness that was not yet there. 

Zena felt herself getting angrier and angrier, she tried to get up but still felt the wounds previously inflicted on her from Gustav. 

Zena's eyes grew wild in the next moment, "and Gustav needs to do his job and mind his own business- we are supposed to be a team and he's over here attacking me, next time he may not be so lucky and I may actually strike back," Zena said as she slammed her fist down sending a blast across the room that collided with the wall knocking the shelves off the wall.

Zena was heaving now, trying to calm herself, but the rage in her was only growing more and more, she felt scared of herself, she didn't know what was happening to her so she pulled out her phone, noticing the message from Felix that was on his way, she passed her phone to Celeste as best she could despite the odd form her hands had now taken.

"please find out if Felix is almost here, maybe he knows whats going on", Zena said her voice full of fear.

After letting Felix go, Mamoru walked back to the living room where he had left Usagi.  He wanted to check if Usagi was still out or had woken up.  And if she was still out, he wanted to move her off the sofa so that she wouldn't accidentally roll off it and fall.  So he quietly walked over to her and whispered "Are you awake, Usako?" into her ear.

Usagi was deep in sleep in a dream world filled where her and Mamoru were doing the most fun of things. Gliding across the river in a row boat, having a picnic by the water. The dream felt so real even when Mamoru said her name.

...Usako. Usagi slowly opened her eyes, the image of her dream world disappearing and a blurry image of the world around her slowly coming into focus. She looked up through groggy eyes at Mamoru. She still felt a little dazed from her sleep. Was it morning already? She thought as she tried to sit up a bit. She lifted a hand to rub her eyes, the lights were a bit harsh for her so she focused on a part of the room away from the lights. 

She gave Mamoru a sleepy smile as she spoke, " Is it morning already Mamo-chan, I didn't oversleep again did I?" Usagi said as she pulled her limbs in towards her to try to keep warm, it wasn't terrbily cold, but ever since the attack and the climate change- Usagi's core temperature seemed to run lower than normal.

Usagi felt her eyes growing heavier and her eyelids  fell forward a bit before she jerked her head up. She spoke, her voice soft and a bit raspy from her being asleep, "I'm sorry Mamo-chan, I can get up, I just need a couple more minutes to sleep." she said as a big yawn escaped her lips.

Celeste shrieked as the lights dimmed. She had no idea Zena had such a power. For a moment she wondered if the Council knew about her and if they did not, what would happen to them if the Council found out that the knew about her.

"S-sure." Celeste took the phone from Zena and quickly searched for Felix's number.

Melrose, wide-eyed, mouth opened stared at Zena. As much as she hated to admit it, she was terrified. She did not know the Zena had such an ability. Once she recovered for her shock the only thing left was anger. Anger over always being kept in the dark, anger over by the Council questioning reawakening her.

"Where did that come from? Why are you hiding this from us? I thought you trusted but you have been keeping secrets! You and Felix both! Gustav is the only who has been honest from the beginning. He doesn't hide things!" Melrose shouted.




Felix was halfway to the safe house when his phone rang.

"Yes?" He answered.

"It's Celeste. You need to get here quick!"

"Celeste?" Felix frowned. It was out of the ordinary for her to call him. "What is going on? Is that shouting?"

"I- I don't know. Zena was so mad and then lights went dim and there was smoke. Melrose is yelling at her now. Please just get here." Celeste pleaded.

"I almost there."

Felix hung up and slammed on the gas pedal. He did not know what was going on but he was worried about what he was going to find when he arrived.

Mamoru was amused by Usagi's response to his question, though he answered her response in a tone that only indicated mild amusement "No, it's not quite morning yet.  So you didn't oversleep, no."  Then he noticed her curling up more, which reminded him that she had been cold before here.  So Mamoru then offered "Let me go get a blanket for you."  When she seemed to droop before jerking her head back up, Mamoru could tell that she was still quite sleepy.  So he responded to her request to only get up in a couple minutes with "It's okay, Usako.  You look sleepy.    So you may remain lying down.  Though wouldn't it be safer to sleep on the floor, to avoid the possibility of falling off the sofa?"  He only remembered what he had decided before about moving Usagi off the sofa at the last minute.

Usagi smiled lightly when Mamoru said it was still night and that she hadn’t overslept. She wanted to sleep more and was a bit confused as to why Mamoru had woke her up. When Mamoru said he was going to get her a blanket, Usagi smiled again. When he asked if she wanted to sleep on the floor she was a bit confused, was she really unsafe on the couch, but if Mamoru was saying it, it must be for good reason. She looked up at him before he went off to get the blanket. She asked her voice a bit raspy and groggy from being asleep, “do you think, could I possibly if there is a way sleep on a mat, of something with cushion, last night when I slept on the floor, I woke up very stiff, but if there’s no mat, I can just sleep on the floor.” Usagi smiled not wanting to worry Mamoru any further.

She tried to stand up so she could get down to the floor so she could sleep there. When she sat up fully and pushed up to stand up, she felt a pain rush through her side, she plopped back down and placed her hands on her side and clenched her teeth together as she squeezed her eyes shut an focused on not letting out a groan of pain.



Zena looked up with eyes full of fear at Melrose and Celeste. She was taken aback by Melrose’s comment. Granted Melrose wasn’t always the nicest person but for her to jump at Zena so quickly was a bit shocking. “I don’t even know what happened, you have to believe me, it was like I lost control of myself for a moment, if the council knew about this power then why didn’t they tell me?” she asked not really expecting to get an answer. 

She looked over to Celeste, she wouldn’t admit to the pain she was feeling, she was quite good at faking her emotions when she needed to, “I am okay Celeste, just a little scared is all.” Zena said when in reality her entire body was in pain and she felt if she were on fire and as if she was being jabbed by sharp objects, it didn’t help that Gustav has roughed her up earlier.

Zena wanted to comment on what Melrose said about Gustav but best decided to leave it be, but she couldn’t stop herself from saying, “well if you feel so strongly about Gustav, then maybe you should go find him and plan how to destroy this plan together.”

When Usagi asked for something soft like a mat to sleep on, Mamoru thought through what he had.  His face lit up when he came up with something that could work, because he always wanted to please Usagi.  "I think I've got just the thing," Mamoru told her.

Mamoru was about to go off and get the blanket and the cushion to sleep on when he saw her her react as if she was in bad pain (even though she didn't make a sound to indicate this).  He immediately put his plans to get those things on hold due to his concern for his love.  "Usako," he whispered.  "Take it easy.  Why don't you just remain in a sitting position on the sofa until I bring back that cushion for you to sleep on, and then lower yourself down onto it instead of standing up?"

Usagi nodded at Mamoru’s words and she settled back on to the couch and slouched back so she could rest her back on the couch. She watched as Mamoru got up and walked towards his bedroom. Usagi felt a bit bad, like she was continuing to cause a problem, normally she could always keep a smile on her face even if she were upset or sad about something, but now it’s as if her entire world had shifted and now she rarely if ever smiled. Granted though, she was the happiest she had been in months since her little escapade to America.


Usagi stared up at the ceiling deep in thought wondering how her not so fellow senshi were and if they had even noticed she was gone.

Felix parked the car and rushed inside. He did not like how Celeste sounded and hoped that Zena did not do too much damage with he powers. He grumbled to himself about not being able to help her sooner. Felix had hoped that he would have more time to help Zena reign in her power and help her get it under the control. He blamed the council for much of this. Had they had just left them alone to work, they would not be on edge. He did not blame Cyran for this, he knew that he was just the mouthpiece.

He walked in to see Zena and Melrose yelling back and forth and a scared Celeste. Celeste was the first to see him, a look of relief on her face. Felix stalked over to the arguing girls, stepped into between them pushing to separate them.

"Would someone care to explain exactly what you two think you are doing?" Felix said icily through clenched teeth.

After Usagi sat back down on the couch, Mamoru walked out of the living room, then headed up to his bedroom.  When he arrived in there, Mamoru first got out a spare, clean blanket for Usagi.  Then he searched for a soft cushion-like pad large enough for someone to sleep on.  Once he found such an item, he also picked up the blanket he had set aside for Usagi.  Then he headed back down to the living room.

When Mamoru arrived back in the living room, he found Usagi apparently deep in thought on the couch.  Trying to not startle her, he spoke his pet name for her softly "Usako."  Once he had gotten her attention, Mamoru handed the folded-up blanket to her and said "Here's your blanket.  You prepare that as you want it, and I'll prepare this pad for you to sleep on."  He then held up the rolled up pad for her to sleep on, followed by unrolling it onto the floor near the couch.

====================



Ami was in her bedroom studying for her classes.  Just as she finished her studies for one class, and was about to switch to another one of her classes, she heard her mobile phone beep that she had just received a text message.  In response, Ami thought 'Well, I am at a convenient breaking point, so I might as well check the message now.'  She took out her phone, and read Makoto's text message about being at the Fruits Parlor Crown.  It reminded her about Usagi and her desire to follow up on that old friendship, which unfortunately she hadn't been able to do recently.  Ami realized now was the perfect opportunity to do so.  So she packed up her books and other papers, then got her mobile phone back out to send a quick text message to Makoto.  I'll be there in about ten minutes.  Finally, she headed out of her bedroom, quickly told her mom where she was going, then headed outside to go to the Crown café.

Zena looked up at Felix who was now standing in between her and Melrose. Zena felt embarrassed and hated hearing Felix speak in that tone, it made her feel really bad. Another blow tonight….I am really messing up, why is everyone out to get me, what am I doing wrong? She thought as she ran away, shoving Felix aside so she could get outside. 

Zena could feel something inside her brewing stronger and stronger, almost suffocating her. She gripped the doorway as she stumbled forward out of the door. She needed to get outside and fast. She hoped the air would calm her nerves and her mind. She didn’t know what was going on. The information the Shadow Council gave her tonight was alarming enough, she felt their doubts casted on her and heard their words of what would happen if she failed to listen to them.

Zena took the elevator to the roof, but when she got to the roof collapsed to her knees, covering her ears trying to block out all that had happened with the council, Gustav, and now Felix. Zena couldn’t get the events with Gustav out of her head but for a split second she saw Felix where Gustav was in her mind. Zena shot up and cried out, hoping somehow it would answer the fear she was feeling. 

Zena didn’t know if she had been followed or not, but she didn’t care. Zena was also unaware of the wind and dark clouds that were now coming in over the city.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Usagi slowly directed her gaze back towards Mamoru. “Sorry, I was just thinking about some things.” She said as she slowly sat back up. She thanked Mamoru for bringing her the mat and the blanket. Once Mamoru laid the mat down, Usagi scooted slowly to the edge of the couch. She only lifted herself a bit so she could place her feet and one hand on to the mat. This would help stabilize herself when she scooted down to the mat. Once Usagi was down on the mat, she felt much better, the mat was nice and soft and the blanket was beginning to help Usagi feel warm.

Usagi snuggled into her blanket. “Thanks again, Mamo-chan,” she said as she smiled up at him. Usagi asked “will I ever get out of this rut?” Usagi wasn’t really expecting an answer, but the thought had been burdening her for some time and she felt like she would never regain her strength or happiness she once knew. Before Mamoru could answer, Usagi’s eyelids which had grown heavy drifted shut as she fell into a deep sleep.

When Usagi apologized for thinking about things, Mamoru brushed it off, because he had never been concerned about that.  "That's okay," he smiled, then quickly resumed what he had been doing.  Though Mamoru did nod in acknowledgement of Usagi thanking him for bringing the two items "It was no bother."

A little bit later, Mamoru was a little confused and surprised when Usagi asked about being in a rut; before he could think of a good, appropriate response, he noticed Usagi was sound asleep on the mat.  He smiled and whispered towards her "Sleep well, Usako," obviously not expecting any response.  Finally, he turned around and left the living room, headed back to his bedroom to get ready to go to sleep himself.

Felix groaned as he ran his fingers through his hair. He did not have time for this. He knew if he did not get a handle on the situation with the girls that they will implode. However he had his own mission that was failing because of all of these side issues. Felix thought about going after her but thought it would be best to let her calm down. He turned to Melrose.

"Look, I don't know what is going on, our why you two are arguing but frankly I really don't care right now. We have bigger problems to deal with and our own lives are risk. We don't have time for these petty arguments. Whatever it is work it out." Felix glared before leaving.

Slamming the door behind him, he headed to his car. He pulled out his phone and sent a message to the Gustav.

"I don't know where you are but there are problems back at the safe house and I strongly suggest that you get back to their now. I can't fix everything on my own." 

Felix started his car and headed back to the apartment. He hoped that the listening device worked and that he had recorded some useful information. He marked in his usual spot and crept into the apartment and into his room. He checked the recording and found it to be sketchy at best. The device was still damaged and he still had more work to repair. Frustrated, Felix collapsed on his bed and went to sleep.

Zena had been up on the roof for some time, no one had come up which only made her thoughts turn towards the negative side. She was confused and had no idea what was going on. The Shadow Council had threatened her life. Gustav had beaten her to a pulp and now Felix was angry with her, maybe she just wasn’t cut out for this line of work after all.

Zena let out a yell in frustration as she dropped to the ground, slamming her fists on the roof of the building. Zena wasn’t aware but her connection with the earth was causing quite a stir as ominous clouds began to appear and block the moon. Zena felt tears fall down her cheek, she was frustrated and couldn’t take any more surprises. Her tears flowed faster, which also caused rain to fall. Zena was connected to all of the elements and her emotions were causing a storm to brew.

The wind increased and thunder began to rumble. Zena stood up, unaware until that point as to what was going on. She yelled out not caring if anyone responded,  “Am I ever going to get anything right?” at the same time a flash of lighting whipped across the sky as Zena curled up and sat in the rain for awhile longer. She wondered where someone who could help her was when she needed it.

Little did she know Melrose and Celeste had followed her up to the roof. Celeste grew more scared, mainly for Zena, she could tell something was stirring inside her friend and Melrose felt more betrayed and as if Zena was keeping more secrets from her. Melrose was tempted to go over and slap Zena senseless but decided to be mature and listen to Felix’s words, unlike anyone else in the group, Melrose decided she would talk t Felix, she was also capable of getting information out of Usagi as Zena, better yet, Melrose decided she would spend time with Usagi and see what she could get, she would prove to Felix and the others she was just as capable as anyone else, though she did consider involving Gustav as he could prove quite helpful if Usagi did not cooperate.


Gustav was walking through the park when he got Felix’s text. Great now what this guy want seriously who does he think he is, my mother, telling me to go back to the safehouse. Gustav text Felix back in all caps.

WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO! I DON’T ANSWER TO ANYONE BUT MYSELF, PLUS WHY WOULD I WANT TO GO BACK TO WHERE THAT PIECE OF SCUM ZENA IS, THIS IS ALL HER FAULT, YOU KNOW THAT RIGHT…..he continued the text on a less blatant tone…I will be at another safe house, if it will get you off my back…


He hit send as he continued to walk towards Felix’s apartment, he had to know how Usagi was doing, he hoped she was in pain, he knew he had done enough for the night, but was already planning his next move, which would prove to be quite tortuous on the young girls mind. Gustav smirked as he rounded the corner to the apartment complex that housed one of the Shadow Council’s safe houses.

Felix suppressed a yell of rage. The threat to Zena was unacceptable. He was concerned that he would do the same to the other girls but Gustav's rage seemed to be directly solely at her. He did not want to disturb Mamoru or Usagi, nor did he want to them running in here asking what was wrong. He was fed up with Gustav antics and with him continuing to to put them at risk. He had stuck his neck out once for him and was starting to regret it. Felix had hoped by doing that, things would get better between the two of them. It has appeared that his gesture went unappreciated.

"Don't tempt me Gustav...Being angry at me fine, but go after Zena or any of the other girls, I will not be as forgiving..." Felix paused before continuing. "Perhaps another safe house would be best for now. You are putting yourself at risk."

Felix tossed his phone aside and went back to work on the listening device. He had turned it off so he could fix it, and the repairs were taking longer than he anticipated.

Ami had hurried to the Crown café, stopping only when her safety depended on it.  So it wasn't until now, when she was just outside the Crown café, that she noticed she had gotten another text message while on her way over here.  She checked it, saw it was just a message from Makoto that she didn't need to reply to, and told her phone to erase it.  Then she walked into the café and found where Makoto was.  Ami followed that up by greeting the tall brunette while sitting down at her booth/table "Konban-wa, Mako-chan!  I take it you haven't heard from Usagi-chan?  I haven't either."  Finally, Ami started getting out her books & other papers for the next class she wanted to study for.

Gustav rolled his eyes and slammed his phone down. It’s just like him to stick up for Zen, she continues to fail and rat me out and yet he supports her. I may listen for now, but you didn’t say I couldn’t go after Usagi. I will be planning my next attack while you have your head in the clouds kissing Zena’s butt, Gustav thought as he began to plot his next attack on Usagi. He was never going to let Felix tell him what to do and actually believed he had made the most progress. How was the plan in jepordy when he proved his ability to continue to weaken Usagi and he didn’t even have to get near her.

Zena looked up, her hair and clothes completely drenched from the rain. Her hair clung to her as she lifted her head. She had not realized she was crying and couldn’t tell if the wetness on her face was from the rain or from her tears. 

Zena in a way felt a connectedness to Celeste, she felt she could be honest with her and Celeste wouldn’t lash out on her.  It felt like everyone had turned their backs on Zena tonight, of all nights, why did it have to be tonight. Would this night ever end?

Zena spoke as she kept her focus on Celeste, “no….I don’t know what is happening to me, I feel like someone is inside me trying to break out.” As she said this she clutched her hands around her hair, pushing it from her face. Zena was aware of her powers with the elements, but she did not know her powers were causing the storm that was now brewing. A clap of thunder echoed all around Zena and Celeste as she grew more and more frustrated.

“Why won’t anyone believe me, I really don’t know what is going on and am not supporting what the Shadow Council is asking for me………….” Zena then spoke so low she wasn’t sure if Celeste would have heard her. As she spoke an icy wind blew and the rain began to fall, only it was a slow and soft rain, reflective of the sorrow Zena felt to the very core of her being.

“Where is Felix when I needed him, he had supported my plan when I met with him earlier tonight, but then he showed up…and he was so mad….the way he looked at me……I have never felt anything like this in my life, what is happening to me? Why do I feel this way? Was I naive to believe I was capable of delivering on the mission?” As the last words left Zena’s lips she collapsed, falling face first against the roof. Her body was beat from using so much energy and her hidden powers had exhausted her. As Zena collapsed, she lost consciousness.

[TIME JUMP TO NEXT MORNING for Boston-area characters only; the scene with Makoto and Ami will continue on as-is]

Mamoru woke up at his normal time for a Friday morning.  After getting out of bed, he went through his typical weekday morning preparations for the new day (showering, getting dressed, etc.) in the master bedroom & its bathroom that Felix had generously left for him when he moved in.  When he was finished with that, he went down to the living room to see whether Usagi was up yet or not.  If she was either still asleep or not there due to already walking up and leaving the living room where she had been sleeping, then Mamoru would continue on to the kitchen to make himself breakfast.  But if she was there and awake, he would quietly say "Usako," to try to get her attention.