Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hannah had been sitting in her room looking at the new pen Sheena had given to her a few days prior. Now what? she had wondered turning it over in her hand, giving it a rather thorough inspection.

The house had been quiet for some time now. Both of her parents had went to bed about an hour ago and yet she was wide awake; perhaps it was a residual effect of being attacked by her lookalike that still haunted her dreams. That was a terrifying night to remember. Waking up to someone hell bent on killing her with a letter opener; Hannah shuddered in remembrance. Had Delilah not of been sleeping over that night chances are that thing would have succeeded in its objective.

Before parting ways with Shang, and later on Sheena, Hannah had been warned to keep this other side of herself a secret. What about Delilah? I can tell her at least right? Having grown up together, the two of them were like sisters. Surely she was an exception to those words of caution.

Hannah leaned over then to pick up her phone off the nightstand to check the time. Almost 11, she might still be up… It was decided then as she stared at bright screen in contemplation; she would sneak out and power up then go check on her raven haired friend if only to make sure that she was okay. If Delilah was indeed asleep already then she’d just come home and try again some other time.

Delilah was indeed up.

With a history paper due at the end of the following week, she was blasting through resources on her laptop. The rest of the house was quiet, outside of her father’s snoring. Things in general had been quiet around there since the instant at Hannah’s home several days prior. Delilah had been the least shaken up out of the family and had thus set about trying to get Hannah and her family breakfast the next morning. The last thing they needed to be handling was a coffee pot.

But she had never explained why she had been the most focused. Why she had been able to think and act at something so….strange.

Glancing over at the pen that sat near her nightstand, Delilah leaned back in her chair and stretched.

It was going to be a long night.

What she missed though was the pair of red eyes sitting in the tree outside of her window looking in. There was a smile that twisted underneath those eyes as she closely watched her target like a bird of prey.

It was surprisingly easy to slip out of her home unnoticed. Weeks ago Hannah had memorized which floorboards were squeaky so avoiding those were a piece of cake. Plus ADT wasn’t scheduled to install their new home security system till the end of the month.

Once powered up the speed boon granted to her nearly halved the time it normally took for her to get to Delilah’s home. Upon spotting the familiar house Acrucis slowed her pace to a slow jog then a walk so she could catch her breath and not feel so winded. A smile spread across her face seeing the glowing light coming from her friends room. Ha! I knew it.

The expression she wore did not last long however as she got closer to the house. A rustle in the tree and shift in shadows drew Acrucis’ attention upward and is was there she spotted the raven haired girl sitting quietly; intently staring ahead. “What are you doing up there? Shouldn’t you be inside?” the Senshi of Prayer asked in a hushed voice to avoid waking up Mr and Mrs White.


The voice below made the female figure in the tree jump. She did not fall but her gaze turned downward in shock to the source. A woman in a strange outfit. It made the figure lean her head to the side in a confused expression. ”Who…”

She started, rising up and stepping out of the tree with far too much grace though a rather loud thud as she landed. “Are you?” The woman looked intrigued. Interested in the female who had appeared as she easily walked towards Acrucis, a hand reaching out to the material at the new comers chest

The senshi took a step back as Delilah approached. Something about her mannerisms and the way she spoke seemed really off. To a degree she almost reminded Acrucis of the blue caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland.

“Delilah? Are you okay? That was… that was quite the fall.” There was both worry and concern in her voice; though whether it was for the girl walking toward her or the because she felt almost threatened in the way grey tinted pale hands reached out to her.

Grey…

Acrucis’ brows furrowed. Taking one step back she swatted the hand away from her then retreated further from the front of the house towards the sidewalk to where the streetlamp better illuminated the ashen skin tone of the figure with eyes gleaming an unfamiliar red. “You’re not Delilah…”


The female form looked almost annoyed that her hand had been touched. Looking at it with a strange sort of realization that the action had caused pain, the dull red eyes finally flickered back on the new guest. “You hurt me.” She said with such monotone as she walked forward to close the gap. “That was rather rude of you. Now…”

Slowly, a twisted smile curled the forms lips upward at the corners. “I’m going to have to return the favor.”

This had not been her first target. Her true target lay in the bedroom above. However, if this one was going to be a problem as well, it must be eliminated. After all, no one could spoil her cover.

Coming forward again, the figure dove at Acrucis, aiming to wrap her grey hands around that delicate little neck.

Unable to react properly and dodge out of the way, cold fingers wrapped around the newly awakened senshi’s neck. Nails biting into her skin, Acrucis tried to pry the cone off of her “Let...Go” she yelled between gasps of breath.

The force behind the lunge was enough to send the two girls backwards off the curbs edge onto the open street. Thank God it was a residential neighborhood and late enough no cars were coming.

Both elbows scraped against the rough pavement seconds before her back hit solid ground knocking the air from her lungs. Help… she wanted to yell Doctor Jacobs… Sheena now she understood why they warned her not to go out alone.


The grin widened over the ash colored lips as she fell with the foolish girl. Her knees hit hard but that didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but feeling the last breath of life slip from this foolish foolish female. No one would question who she was after tonight. First she took care of this mistake and then, she took care of the human with her face.

As if knowing someone was thinking about her, Delilah sneezed. It was enough to break her focus on the research to glance over at a clock. “Wow. That late already.” Cracking her back as she leaned over the chair, Delilah reached over and turned off her desk light.

Darkness filled the room as she climbed into bed. With her blinds still up, she had a nice view of the night sky. Her bed was by the window. A placement done after having to sneak in and out several times. No use getting caught in the scramble under the covers.

But as she was about to lay down, her eyes caught movement out near the street light. At first she thought nothing of it. And then, she realized what it was.

Eyes went wide as she reacted naturally to any attacks on humans that she saw. Reaching to her bedside, it took a millisecond to grab the horrible red and white pin, open her window, and leap out.

It was also as she landed that Phact now realized that was not a civilian being attacked. They had an aura.

Moving quickly across the yard, Phact’s gloved hands reached out and grabbed onto the black hair of the woman pinning the senshi. “Hey, lay off!” She called out and yanked back only to be met with an annoyed look that quickly flashed into a smile. “Who…” Phact started as the raven haired figure released her prey’s neck.

“Interesting.” It hissed and slowly stood up. “Who would have guessed….”

Phact didn’t think as she snapped out. “Why do you have my face!”

Coughing as she gasped for air, Acrucis rolled over onto her side and looked up with a bewildered expression. What did the girl with an aura similar to her own mean by have her face? “Delilah?” she asked completely confused by the last statement made.

Phact’s face snapped out of the shock as she heard her other name spoken. Mentally she cursed. Physically she froze.

That was all the double needed.

“Now, that should be even more fun.” And she looked down at the little senshi on the ground. A movement of light and the appearance of Delilah was replaced with a match to the white and red senshi standing there. “Oh yes! So this is what they meant.”

The gray form smiled at her true form before pulling back at kicking the fallen girl in the ribs.

Too confused to roll out of the way, the force of the kick was enough to force the senshi of prayer to curl into a ball.

Tears pricked the corner of her eyes and with what strength she could muster Acrucis managed to bring her palms together and cast the magic Sheena had taught her a few nights ago. “Prayer of renew.” Like a beacon, her body began to glow a soft yellow hue. The pain in her ribs subsided gradually over the next several seconds, and once she was able to, Acrucis stood up to keep the imposter from landing another hit.

“I don’t know who you are, but you’re not my friend!” Narrow blue eyes fixated on the clone waiting for her to make another move.

Both forms of the senshi of doves stepped back as the senshi covered in crosses began to glow. They both appeared in shock but as one began to smile as the woman recovered to her feet, the second scowled.

“What the hell…” Came the false Phact as she growled. This woman should have been down with at least a bruised rib and here she was coming to her feet with a second wind. “Should have killed you when I had the…”

She didn’t have time to finish those thoughts.

The real Phact had moved and locked the copy of her into a headlock. “I don’t know why you look like me but you don’t belong here!”

“Foolish!” The gray copy snapped out reaching back to flip the true Phact forward and onto her back. “I will just kill you both!”

“Not tonight” or any other night, Acrucis mentally added the last part before lunging forward to steady the other senshi to keep the double from gaining the upper hand.

Fighting was not her forte or anywhere on her resume. Aside from playfully shoving her cousins or nudging her friends with her elbow, there really wasn’t much of an aggressive bone in her body which is why it felt so foreign to feel a strong desire to swing a fist at the clone.

If her own was any indication of how deadly these doppelgangers could be, then a powered one was one that wasn’t to be taken lightly; even the cats were vicious.

The true Phact winced as she hit the ground but came up to lean against the new comer. “Thanks…” But her eyes turned quickly back towards her double. The thing did not seem at all concerned about having two people facing it. In fact, it seemed quite amused.

“You are both weak.” She started towards them at a slow walk.

“When you see the dove, run.” Phact didn’t leave the other senshi time to disagree. Evening forward, she could still summon her attack. A soft coo echoed through the air as a white form appeared in front of the true Phact. For a quick second, the false one looked confused but was suddenly dealing with a dove flying directly at its face.

“Now!” Phact whispered, turning, grabbing the senshi’s hand and yanking her off into the night. They had both been surprised. They needed to think.

Where was a bookcase when you needed one…

Jerked forward rather abruptly, Acrucis stumbled several steps as she was quite literally dragged away from her friends home.

“Wait… wa-” she began coughing trying to catch her breath once she knew they were not being pursued. Their sprinting had taken a lot out of her, it was night time after all and the Senshi of Prayer did forgo sleep in order to check on her friend. “Hold up, please.” Once stopped, however, Acrucis fell to her hands and knees panting. “What just happened back there? Why did that look-a-like turn into you?”

Phact stopped as she felt the resistance dragging her back. Releasing the other woman’s hand, she quickly surveyed the area before dropping to into a squat to run her hand over the woman’s back. It was an old habit she had developed when Hannah had started to cough like this.

“You shouldn’t be out here if you are sick…” Phact spoke softly glancing back the way they came. There was no sign of being followed. That was a plus.

Looking down at the girl, she frowned. “I don’t know. I’ve only seen one other like it and didn’t change. Though it too seemed far too inclined to kill.” Phact bit her lip continuing to glance from street to the female with her. “Are you okay?”

All too familiar words of caution rang louder than the rapid beating of her own heart. “I’m fine, thank you” Acrucis finally managed to reply despite her legs feeling like jelly.

Sapphire eyes looked up finally and locked with ones of ruby red. “You didn’t answer my question though.” Or perhaps she did, in all honesty the Senshi of Prayer couldn’t really recall what she had just asked the other senshi. “One minute.” She stopped to process what happened, to go over the events like a slide show in her mind.

“One minute it looks like Delilah, the next she’s turning into you. Are you…” her words trailed off but the inquiry was clear.

Phact opened her mouth and shut it again. Technically she had answered the question of what happened back there. Unless the woman was looking for we got our butts kicked by a fake me.

A fake me.

So this was the same thing as what attacked Hannah. But how?

And then the second question came and Phact felt her hand come up to brush back some hair. “I seem to find myself in a very awkward place…” She admitted with a weak smile. “Because to deny what you are implying would still give it away…” The senshi of doves gave a very long sigh. She was out of luck on this one unless she wanted to beat the other woman into a blackout state.

“My name in this form is Sailor Phact, Senshi of Doves. However, it sounds as if you know me in my more human state…” Her body began to glow for a moment and in her place was black haired woman in yoga pants, a tank and bare foot. “As Delilah White.”

What happened next was a completely involuntary reaction.

One blink and the two were falling over sideways when the periwinkle haired girl threw her arms around her best friend and sister. “Delilah! I knew it. I just… I mean I hoped it was you but…”

All too abruptly Acrucis fell silent as she pulled her head back and looked down at the only person in the world she named sister. “I’m so sorry!” Suddenly self-conscious and a little sheepish, she got off the once white clad senshi and offered her a rueful smile before following suit and powering down as well.

Delilah’s hand went back to keep her from being completely thrown to the ground as she was suddenly embraced by this very strange senshi. It took her several moments to even process what the woman was saying before she glanced down at those eyes.

“Who are….”

Her question didn’t even come out and a moment later, Delilah sat there, mouth wide open and eyes as large as dinner plates. “Wha...who...when...how…” The words couldn’t make it past her lips as she gazed at her sister. Her best friend. The one person she did NOT want involved in this.

She was going to skin those damn cats…

“Umm, about two nights ago.” Hannah shrugged her shoulders. Her expression, however, looked like a kid that got caught doing something she shouldn’t have been doing.

“I was at the park just kind of thinking, I guess, when this cat came out of nowhere. She was being chased by an evil cat that was mauling this guy that was with her and then things just kind of happened.” Paraphrasing 101, when you’re not sure what you should or shouldn’t say just skim over everything and hope they can make sense of it.

“I would have told you sooner but I was told not to tell anyone. But you- you’re like a sister to me, I can’t keep something like this a secret from you. Which is why I showed up at your house tonight.” If she were anyone else that statement alone would have been enough for someone to call her a creeper; thank god they were friends.

Delilah’s hand went to her face and she began to rub the sides of her temples as she processed what Hannah was saying to her. Cat. Bad cat. Human. Cat did stupid thing…

She was going to have a fur pelt after this.

“Hannah...did they not tell you to not go wandering around on your own as well? At least not until you have gotten the hang of this?” Delilah muttered, her annoyance pretty clear. “There are so many things that will want to kill you now it’s not even…”

And then something dawned on her.

“What’s your power?”

“Prayer… minor healing I guess.” She had used the magic on Sheena and Shang and whatever it did, after they started glowing yellow, seemed to give them some sort of relief.

“And they did tell me…” Hannah’s eyes drifted downward as her voice trailed off like a scolded child. The sound of reproach in Delilah’s voice was heavy which made her heart ache; the last thing she had wanted to do was disappoint her friend especially since they had just finally met up again after almost two years.

“I’m sorry,” I didn’t for tonight to come out this way; I just thought you’d understand. Was I wrong to have wanted to share this with you? “What do we do now?” Part ways and go home? What about the doppelganger that was still searching for Delilah? Surely, with the persistence the clones carried, she would indeed find the raven haired girl again in due time.

“Prayer? Then that yellow light that surrounded you healed where that thing kicked you?” If that was so Delilah was all but amused at the irony of her power. Healing abilities to the one woman who could slip from this world so quickly. “Irony…” She sighed and sat back.

“Now we figure out what needs to happen. Whether I like it or not, you are involved in this war now and I need to accept it.” Her hands dropped and she shook her head at her sister. “Thank you for letting me know. I would have worried if you had just started doing disappearing acts. Especially if your parents called me in the dead of night.”

“Heh,” the corners of Hannah’s lips lifted into a lopsided grin. “Even though we’re not blood related, we’re still family.” Even her own parents considered Delilah their second daughter.

“I only know of Shangri-La and Sheena; however, I don’t know how to get in contact with them. The little cat gave me a phone but I don’t exactly know their numbers...” Did cats have phones anyway? Hannah wondered. If they could talk, shoot beams out of their head, and summon strange magical objects, something she was still getting her mind wrapped around, then why wouldn’t they have phones of their own? Seemed plausible enough given the circumstances.

“You have to scan someone with it.” Delilah offered with a smile. “And I don’t have a clue who either of those two figures are. But it sounds as if you got the same intro I did. Here you go! Welcome! Go Fight evil…”

“I hate that you are part of this though. You have enough on your plate getting caught up in school and things here. This just adds something else that seems to laugh at us all on a daily bases.”

She gave another sigh and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Like that second me. That makes me think of the one that attacked us at your place. But it has my senshi powers which worries me…”

“Hey,” Hannah reached out to give Delilah’s hand a squeeze. “We’ll make it through this like like time. Just like how you had my back, I have yours. I won’t let you get hurt.” At least she try her best to make sure her friend stayed safe, that’s what healers do right?

“Though a little help might be a good thing, I’m a little rusty on throwing punches.” She jested.

In returned to the squeeze, Delilah gave her friend a warm smile. “You never were very good with them. Not that I was much better…”

She trailed off, her hand pulling from Hannah’s before wincing at the shock they gave each other.

Delilah looked down at her hand as she suddenly began to feel her smile turn into a grin. “But I know someone who can help with this. Come on. Let’s get you home first.”