Amethyst was bored. She had been up for hours and hadn't seen Jasper in all that time. Now she just wanted him here. She was getting restless, but didn't have time to go out and do something fun.
She looked around the room, but it was so bare. Nothing new and interesting in the whole apartment.
Except Tenshi, that is.
"Oh, Ten-shi!" she sang. "Come over here, darling!"
It had been quite amusing when she had come out of the bedroom to find Tenshi on the couch. Obviously, she had made Jasper nervous, and he was trying to treat her like a real person with needs like sleep and food. But Tenshi didn't need those in this state. Well, maybe food, but no sleep. Her soul was doing enough of that on its own.
Tenshi was an obedient girl and came to Amethyst. If Amethyst wasn't so used to these necklaces, she would have expected her to answer with a "Yes, Master." But she knew better, although she could always order Tenshi to say it.
She didn't have to ask, but it made her feel better when she had Tenshi's "permission." Besides, if Jasper asked, she could always say that Tenshi had a say in the matter. "You want to have some fun now, don't you, Tenshi?"
"Hai."
Amethyst smiled and tried to think of the best way to use her new toy.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jasper had been wandering aimlessly around Crystal Tokyo for several hours and somehow found himself in front of the mansion Team Eclipse had occupied prior to the fight with the Senshi. Without the team's care, the extensive property had already begun to look unkempt. He sighed as he walked through the greenhouse, surveying how quickly the assortment of flora he had been tending had either turned sickly from lack of care or grown out of control since he was no longer here to prune them.
He quietly assessed whether he wanted to actually go in the mansion. He hadn't been here since Friday, when Amber's kidnapping of Puroko and Carnelian's of Chibi had forced the Sailor Senshi into a confrontation with Team Eclipse. Things had not ended well for his team, and he wasn't sure he could stand to return.
But he still had questions. He hadn't seen any proof that Amber was dead. Amethyst had seen her dead twin, but they both had just assumed that Crystal and Amber were dead when the two younger members of the team didn't meet up with them.
However, that didn't mean it was necessarily true.
So he made his way through the mansion, looking for any sign that Amber was dead or alive. Or even that Crystal was. He found nothing.
That was until he reached the hallway outside the parlor, where he found a clue. A hint of gold caught his eye. He stooped to examine the small token, and then picked it up.
Amber's necklace, which had given her her air-based powers, began to glow as he took it in his hand. Not as brightly as if she had used it herself, but it still held power. It also held the key to destroying all hope that she was still alive. He and Amber hadn't taken off their necklaces since General Eclipse had bestowed them upon the siblings twenty years ago. If the necklace was here, abandoned on the floor in a likely spot for Amber to have fought one of the Senshi, it was almost certain that she was dead.
Jasper clasped it in his hands and said a small prayer for her. Then he pocketed the amulet, deciding it was time to go home.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
He materialized in their apartment to find Amethyst fawning over Tenshi.
She turned instantly to him. "Jaspy, you're home!" she said ecstatically, as she ran to him and gave him a hug.
"Ame, what were you doing?"
"Oh, Tenshi and I were just having some fun," she answered. She pouted as she observed his disapproving frown. "I got bored. You were gone."
Jasper sighed and pretended not to notice that Tenshi's lips were smeared with Amethyst's lipstick. "Fine, whatever. What are we going to do with her anyway?"
Amethyst clapped her hands together. "Oh, it's the same principle as getting Jian-wa on our side. See, Sailor Scouts don't like hurting their own or their friends. So if we�." She stopped herself before saying "use Tenshi," considering Jasper's reaction to the whole Tenshi-situation, and switched tactics. "If one of their own attacks them, the Senshi won't kill them. And if they do, they'll be devastated from killing their friend. Of course they'll be just as horrified if their friend kills one of them. So Tenshi could fight one of Neko's siblings, and Neko will freak out either as Tenshi gets killed or as Tenshi kills, say, her twin." Suddenly, she smiled cruelly. "Wait, that's perfect!"
"What?"
"Jaspy, can I borrow your sword?"
He glanced back at the golden-handled sword sheathed in the corner of the room. It wasn't that he needed it. He had his attacks, and he could always use the knife he carried with him if necessity struck. It was just that it had been specifically given to him by General Eclipse, Amethyst's father, shortly before he had died. Jasper had considered it a great honor to have received it, and deemed it a sign of his worthiness to have Amethyst. "What do you want it for?" He was worried she was going to do something to Tenshi with it.
"You'll see," she answered impishly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Neko entered the training room and noticed immediately that Tenshi wasn't in there with the rest of the pole vault team.
"Ne, Rika-san? Do you know if Tenshi-san is coming today?" Neko asked the redhead who was Tenshi's friend and classmate, as she caught up to the team. She really couldn't decide what she wanted the answer to be, but she knew she didn't want Tenshi to give up pole vault altogether.
