Author: Grace of Mercury
Email: Graceofmercury@yahoo.com
Title: Forever Falling
Starring Senshi and General: Ami and Zoicite
Summary: Ami is haunted by her past love from the
Silver Millenium, and she remembers Forever Falling...

Author's Note: Hi! It's me again. I was feeling a bit
blue, so I wrote this up. It's just
a short little vignette, nothing too long. Love is
such a theme that is too often
portrayed as light and sweet and sugary, and I just
wanted to write a story to
express my understanding of love. As always, I
LLOOVVEE feedback! Best thing
in the world. This story might seem a bit similar to
Fire and Gold, but it's really not
in the same series. For those of you who have read
Fire and Gold, yes, I have decided to
turn that into a series w/ a story for each of the
senshi, but there will be another
story for Ami in that series. Currently, however, I'm
working on Minako's story in that
series. Again, people, FEEDBACK!
Graceofmercury@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: No, none of it belongs to me, so back off!

Ami stood out on her balcony, watching the ocean with
tired blue eyes. Her elbows leaning
on the railing, she closed her eyes briefly, as if in
pain. Her delicate, long white
fingers clenched briefly, her nails digging into her
palms. The senshi of ice then forced
herself to relax. She reopened her eyes and gazed out
at the waves pounding against the
beach. It was twilight, and the gathering darkness
seemed to settle tangibly around Ami.

A wind picked up, and riffled through Ami's hair. The
breeze seemed to whisper around her,
"Ami... ami..." Ami whispered back, her voice catching
in her throat almost imperceptibly,
"Yes?..."

"Remember... remember us... " Ami closer her eyes, and
involuntarily shivered as she was
taken back to another balcony, another ocean, another
time, another place.

*Flashback*

*Underneath a sky full of stars, above the rolling
ocean waves, clear green eyes gazed
into Ami's blue ones. "Zoicite.." Ami murmured,
somewhere between a sigh and a spell.
Zoicite reached up to stroke Ami's cheek, and Ami
captured his hand on her face, her
sorrowing eyes painful and bittersweet.

"Beloved, I-" Zoicite was cut off by Ami, who gently
placed a finger on his lips. The
senshi of ice said gently, "I know. Your duty lies
with Endymion, and mine lies with
Serenity. You belong to Earth, and I belong to the
Moon and to Mercury. And as long as
that is, we'll just have to be-"

"Always apart." Zoicite murmured, part curse, part
sigh.

"No." Ami's voice was surprisingly firm. "Never. It's
cliched, it's overused, but in the
end, it's true. I love you." Ami's voice now had an
edge of desperation. "I fell for you
when I first saw you, and I'm still falling. I can't
stop, couldn't if I wanted too. I
look at you, and I don't know where I am, because it
doesn't matter anymore, since you're
with me. It's sometimes scary, knowing that I'll be
forever falling, but if
you fall with me too," Ami's eyes gazed into Zoicite's
with an intensity so deep it
transcended truth, "then everything will be all
right."

"Can you doubt that I'm falling with you?" Zoicite's
normally melodic voice was rough
with emotion. "Ami, I love you past right, past wrong,
past duty. Everything has become
colorless except you, and it's like there is no good,
no evil, only you." Ami pulled
Zoicite into a tight hug, and her voice was muffled
against his shoulder.

"I know. I know. But there are people depending on us,
Zoicite. We cannot let them down."

The stars stood still and the waves ceased as for one
eternal moment, a woman and a man
held each other, untouched by time.*

Tears glimmered in Ami's eyes as she reopened her
eyes. Something made of starlight, silk,
and silver condensed into a shimmering, achingly
familiar presence.

"Zoicite-" a sigh, a lament torn from the soul, Ami
reached out to touch, but her
long, delicate white fingers passed through her love.

*Beloved...* Zoicite whispered through the murmur of
the wind. Ghostly fingers stroked
Ami's cheek, as they had in another time, another
place. *Look at you-*

"Look at where we are now?" the bitter laugh came out
as a sob, sorrow beyond place,
beyond time, beyond truth.

*Doesn't matter-* Zoicite murmured back through the
wind.

"Doesn't matter because we're always apart." Ami's
voice was bittersweet with the ghost of
another starlit night.

*No. Where we are doesn't matter anymore, because I'm
forever falling for you and can't
stop, Ami.*

Ami closed her eyes to stop tears, and she could feel
the presence of starlight and silk
wrap around her once more, one more time. Ami reveled
in the feeling of being in the
embrace of her love once more, but deep in her gut, a
knife twisted from the ghostly
touch. They had always been separated; yesterday,
today, and tomorrow.

*We're never apart because love transcends place,
time, death.*

"Eternally together, but always apart. When will it
stop, Zoicite, when will it stop?"
Ami cried out, anguished.

*I don't know, Ami.* Ami could feel Zoicite's presence
start to slip away, as if being
there at all was a tremendous feat. Then, with a
wrenching effort, Zoicite gave Ami back
the words spoken so long ago, and yet so agelessly
right.

*It's cliched, it's overused, but in the end, it's
true. I love you.* And with that,
Ami felt the presence start to slip away. His fingers
slipped away from her cheek,
traveling down her arm as he was pulled away. There
was one last moment of contact
between the tips of their fingers, and then..

"Zoicite, I love you too, beyond place, beyond time,
beyond death." the last word turned
bitter in Ami's mouth, and as Ami reached her arm out
desperately, imploringly, one
last time to the fading presence of her beloved, a
teardrop slid down her face, hanging
for a moment, and then,

Forever Falling.