"What's wrong, Mako-chan?" Mina asked excitedly in English. "You're so quiet!"
Mako smiled at her, following Mina's head up and down with her eyes as Mina fairly skipped down the sidewalk. "And you're not. I've changed a bit in the past few years, Mina. I've done too many terrible things in a fit of impulsive action. I try to be calm and collected now-it prevents irreversible mistakes." Mako looked away. Mina stopped her excited jig down the strip mall, and walked sedately by Mako's side.
She put a kind hand around Mako's slumped shoulders. "There's a difference between being careful and being dead, Mako! We're together! It's like old times! We're on a great quest!" She gestured expansively at the bright blue sky, as if it held the answers to the universe.
"And Usagi's dead."
With a small frown on her face Mina picked up her pace, walked a few steps in front of Makoto, turned around, and held out her arm like a traffic cop stopping traffic. "Hold it right there, Mako!" Makoto stopped, a look of faint surprise on her face. Ami and Rei turned to watch the scene the two girls were making. Rei moved to step into the discussion, but Ami reached out a had to forestall her.
"Let them have this out. All of us have changed the last few years, and we're all going to have to get used to those changes. Not all of them have been good-those two can straighten each other out. They've got opposite problems, now."
Rei assumed a thoughtful look, then nodded in agreement.
Ami glanced at Rei in surprise at her restrained response. They had changed indeed.
*****
Serena clung to Mamoru for a few more seconds, then with a forlorn sniff, she lifted her head. "What am I going to do? I can't let my family here suffer, but I don't remember them. They might as well have never existed! Maybe it's better if they just keep thinking I'm dead. Maybe it'd hurt them more to see that I don't know them at all."
Mamoru smiled at her, proud of her newfound strength. "I'm not sure, either, Usako." he saw her smile faintly. "What?" he asked.
"I love it when you call me that, even if I don't remember my name being Usagi. Bunny." Her eyes sparkled a little. She made a delicate motion with her hand. "Go on, I didn't mean to interrupt."
"Well, I'm not sure which course of action would be better. Especially if you've made a family for yourself here."
Suddenly Serena glanced at her watch. "Oh, no! I've been gone for hours! Ron will be frantic! Endymion-" with a quick shake of her head at forgetting his new name she began her sentence again. "Mamoru, I can't explain you to him-but I'll try, if you want to come along. Please don't tell Ron about my family in Japan. I don't want to go there if I don't remember them. I don't want to leave Ron for people that I don't know."
Mamoru smiled back. "I'll go with you, but I don't know how much this 'Ron' will approve of you and me-I'm twenty-two, and you're still sixteen."
"Oh, we'll think of something. I don't want to let you out of my sight. Come on!" She pulled his arm in faint reassertion of her more brisk Usagi personality. Mamoru smiled happily and followed. He remembered Serenity, with her refinement and beauty, but he knew Usagi, with all her little quirks, so much better. He was happy to see any small reemergence of Usagi in her. With both her genteel and exuberant personalities merging, she seemed so different. Yet it seemed right, somehow.
*****
Mina stood in front of Mako, her feet planted on the ground a shoulder width apart, as if she'd put down roots.
"What's happened to you, Mako? You're so morbid. Yes, you may have had a rough time of it, but c'mon! Relax! You're alive, so why don't you live a little?!"
Mako folded stubborn arms. "You don't understand."
"Well, then, explain it to me!"
"Minako, I-" Mako stopped for a second, then took a deep breath. As she released it, she released the tension in her body, slumping in despair. "You don't understand, Minako. I let my temper-my rage-get out of control. Surely you heard what the Night Mares did under my leadership! I participated in drive-by shootings, I ran the protection rackets, I-I killed people, Mina! I'm a monster! If I let my emotions get out of control, who knows what I'll do?" She hugged herself forlornly, her knees giving way. Minako rushed forward to grab her, and they knelt on the cement together. With tears in their eyes, Ami and Rei moved in to shield them from curious eyes.
"Oh, Mako-I understand. I do. Only you're taking it to an extreme. Anger can get in the way of your reason-make you do things that you'd know were wrong if you took the time to think them out-but it's just a tool. I lost my will to fight after Usagi died. I'd listen to criminals get away on the news and figured that since Usagi was gone, since she'd died saving people, I was going to be smart. I was going to play it safe. And my onee-san was almost killed. You can't get rid of you're spirit, Mako! Why do you think you were such a good fighter? Because you had spirit. Your righteous anger gave you extra strength. You can't wall off your emotions!" As Mina felt Mako huddle in her arms, silent tears running down her face, Mina's eyes darkened. She remembered her own awakening, after she'd found out Katerina would be all right. After she moved to America....
*****
"I'm glad you've gone back to being Sailor V, Minako. It's almost like old times. We have to come up with a practice schedule, now, to get you back in fighting condition." Artemis sat on her bed, giving tedious orders.
"Why should I bother with that?" Mina asked with an impudent toss of her long, blonde hair. "I know enough to fight-I've been doing it for two years. I just want to get out there!" She clenched her fists in anticipation.
Artemis examined her with concern. "Mina...."
"I don't have time for this now, Artemis." Mina rolled her eyes impatiently, "I'm going out. If you want to follow, then follow." She fished around in her pocket for her old familiar pen. "Moon Power Transform!"
With a gleam in her eye Sailor V turned around as she placed her high-heel clad foot on her window sill. She gave Artemis a loaded look. "Well? Are you coming?"
*****
"Mina! Mina! Wake up!" One of Mina's new classmates leaned over to whisper in her ear. "The teacher will see you any-"
"Mina Aino! Are you sleeping?!"
"Oops, too late." The girl sat up straight, her warning having given Mina away.
Mina woke up at the teacher's shout, blushing as she noticed every single eye in the room staring at her. "H-hai, Thompson-sensei? Um-Yes, Miss Thompson?"
The teacher have her a severe look. "Since you seem to find history so stimulating-" she paused for the obligatory snicker from the class. "-I think that you should write a four page report on the War of 1812, to be read in front of the class tomorrow."
"Yes, Miss Thompson." Mina sighed. That's what she got for staying out so late.
*****
"That's what you get for staying out so late, Mina." Artemis refused to sympathize with her. "I told you, you shouldn't go running around all night. You still need your sleep." Quick as a flash Artemis ran up to her, stuck his paw in her pocket, and ran out of the room with her transformation pen clutched gently between his teeth.
"Hey!" Mina stood up to go after him, but he returned in a second.
"That's just to make sure you don't do anything silly. I never had to resort to such tactics before, but you're getting a little too reckless, Mina. And don't bother looking for it, you won't find it." With that he settled down to wash his front right paw.
"Just tell me one thing," Mina said as she settled down with her history book.
"What?" Artemis looked up from his grooming.
"You didn't put it in the litter box, did you?"
"MINA!"
She laughed at the stricken look on his face, and then began to work on her history report.
*****
"Mina, honey, what's wrong?"
"What?" Mina turned with surprise at her mother's question. "What do you mean? Nothing's wrong."
"Honey, you're so distracted, ant tired all the time. Your school work's suffering again. I thought this was over once we moved out of England-you seemed to settle down-but now it's started up again."
Mina smiled. "Nothing's wrong, Mom, I'm just-making new friends and stuff. I settled down in England 'cause I didn't know anybody-I didn't have anything to do."
"Well, dear, I don't mind your having friends, but try to buckle down a little, won't you?"
*****
"Hey! Hey, Mina! Want to go shopping? A few of us are going down to the mall, and were wondering if you wanted to come," one of Mina's classmates asked breathlessly. Mina thought her name was Mary. She turned with a smile.
"I'd love to, but I have work to do tonight."
Mary looked confused for a second. "What do you mean? We didn't get any homework assigned. Do you have a job or something? C'mon, I know you want to go shopping with us. We'll show all the best places to shop. It'll be exciting!"
<It can't hold a candle up to jumping over buildings, defeating criminals, feeling the danger and excitement pour though my veins!> "I'm really sorry, Mary. I appreciate the offer but....I have something to do. Sorry." Mina scurried home. There were always criminals to catch, plots to foil, even if they weren't supernatural.
*****
Mina stood around the corner, listening to all the juicy gossip the girls whispered to each other while staying out of sight. Most of it for the last week had been about her. She felt the familiar rejection as her time spent as Sailor V made it impossible for her to spend time with any of her classmates.
"She's never AROUND! I've never been able to get her to go to anything with me!"
"She's gorgeous-she'd have a cute boyfriend for sure if she ever took the time to go on a date. But she's too busy!"
"I bet she thinks she's too good for us. Moving around, living all over the world. She's probably convinced she's better than us. That's what I think!"
Mina felt her stomach shrivel inside her. Shades of the past were coming back to haunt her. <Oh, well, I don't care. None of them could be friends like Usagi anyway.> Mina comforted herself as she rounded the corner towards her own locker, pretending she hadn't heard anything. She grabbed her lunch and scurried outside, to eat alone. With a happy sigh she dismissed her problems and opened her mouth wide to take a big bite out of her sandwich.
Suddenly, in mid-bite, she heard sirens begin to screech. An ambulance and two cop cars sped down the street in front of the school. Mina surreptitiously glanced around. No one could see her. She brought out her pen.
"Moon Transform Power!" She ran off after the sound of the sirens. Maybe she could help.
*****
"Detention! For three days!? That's not fair!" Mina cried.
The principal shot her a stern look over her glasses. "It's more than fair. You know you're not allowed to leave school grounds during lunch. I could have suspended you instead. Your parents will have to be notified, of course. Here, bring this signed paper to my office tomorrow. I hope you like school, girl. You're going to be here a lot this week."
Mina walked home, dejected. She'd get in a lot of trouble over this. She was just glad she had the presence of mind to go to the local fast food restaurant and order something before she came back to school. It'd be harder to explain things without that excuse.
Needless to say, by the time she got home her parents were less than happy with her.
"What on earth possessed you to walk off school grounds to get lunch? You packed yourself a lunch this morning-I saw you!"
Mina shrugged. "It didn't sound good anymore. I wanted something else. I'm sorry, Mom, Dad. I won't do it again."
Her parents exchanged worried looks as Mina went upstairs to her room. What was happening to their daughter?
*****
"What on earth possessed you to go off to fight crime during your lunch period, Mina? Are you insane? Of course you deserve to get in trouble for pulling something like that! The whole point of having a secret identity is that is allows you to keep your crime fighting secret! This stunt didn't help at all! What if you'd been caught? What if you'd been hurt?! I'm worried about you, Mina. Maybe you should lay off being Sailor V for awhile. First you should make friends, try to fit in here. Crime fighting shouldn't be your whole life." Artemis shook his head, disgusted. Mina thought for second.
"You're right, I should be concentrating on settling in here." She reached out to pat Artemis on the head. "Thanks, I think I needed that." She walked into the bathroom to begin getting ready for bed. Tomorrow was a new day.
*****
Mina smiled on her way out of school. She walked over to Mary and a few other girls, all gathered in a group, giggling and gossiping. "Hey, you guys, I'm finally free to go do something. Do you have anything planned this weekend? Maybe we could all go shopping or catch a movie or something!"
The girls exchanged leaden looks. Finally Mary cleared her throat and spoke up. "I'm sorry, Mina, but we did all our shopping, and, well, we're not doing anything this weekend. Maybe some other time." Mina's face fell.
"Oh, well, all right then. Maybe next weekend."
"Yeah, maybe then." The girls all stood there silently, waiting for her to leave. She turned to go. Maybe they really didn't want to do anything this weekend. She was probably just being too sensitive. She squared her shoulders. Next week.
*****
"Can you believe it?!" Mina winced at the shrill giggles emanating from the gossiping group of girls. She was in her old familiar haunt the next Monday during lunch period, around the corner from the lockers, listening in to their conversation, unseen. "She asked if we wanted to do something with her! As if!" More giggles. Mina grimaced. She hoped she didn't sound that silly and empty headed. She made a private promise to herself to never giggle again-unless it was a special occasion. "She's been shrugging us off for two weeks, and all of a sudden she wants to make nice? Yeah, right."
"She's a stuck up goody two shoes!"
"Why would we want anything to do with her?"
"I bet she heard about the party at Ellen's and wanted us to invite her."
"Can you believe the nerve that girl has?"
Mina closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She had to walk past those girls to get to her locker. Could she bear to walk by them, knowing what they thought of her? She stared at her locker for second, then turned around and walked away. Her lunch could just stay in her locker. She wasn't all that hungry anymore anyway.
*****
"Sailor V! Wait up!" Artemis struggled to keep up with her. She was moving quickly, as if she were running away from something. "Slow down for a second!"
"I heard something about a hostage situation over the police radio, Artemis. I have to get there in a hurry. No time to waste." She ran and leapt even faster. Artemis didn't have the breath to waste on grumbling, but he wished he did.
Sailor V arrived at the school building. She listened in to the policemen discussing the situation from her vantage point on top of a nearby house.
"The man's gone nuts! He's got twenty first-graders locked up in this classroom with him, and he won't let them out until his demands are met!"
"Well, can we meet them?"
"No, sir, he wants his wife to come back to him. She left with his kid about three months ago. One of those hostages is his daughter."
"Is his wife here?"
"Yes sir, right over there."
"Let's go have a chat with her then." The men walked toward a distraught woman, putting a sopping wet handkerchief through some amazing gyrations. Sailor V sat quietly for a second.
<I can't let that man hurt those little kids! My Crescent Beam is narrow enough-I can knock his gun out of his hands and save the kids!> With that decided she leapt to the roof of the school building, and crawled down the ventilation shafts toward the man and his hostages.
Artemis stood on the roof Sailor V had just left, chest heaving with the exertion of finally catching up to her. "What in the name of all that's sane is she doing now? This is a job for the police, not Mina!" Having enough wind to grumble now, he did so, as he followed.
*****
Sailor V tried to get a good look into the classroom without letting the man who was holding the children hostage seeing her. Finally she struck on an idea. She took out her Crescent Moon Compact and stuck the mirror just over the edge of the window on the classroom door. Whoever the man was, he'd be a lot less likely to notice that little edge of the mirror than her head, with the bright red bow. Slowly she brought the mirror up, and tried to see what the situation was.
"What are you doing, Sailor V? You look a little silly hunched up against the door like that, looking at yourself in the mirror."
Sailor V almost dropped her compact. "Don't DO that, Artemis!" she hissed. "They might hear you! I wasn't looking at myself, I was using the mirror to see into the room! This is the classroom with the hostages, but there's not just one man like the police think! It looks like a couple of men with shotguns are in there-like his brothers or something!"
"Sailor V! You can't take more than one man on, not when they all have guns! Let the police handle it!" Artemis looked really concerned.
Sailor V shot him a disdainful look. "I can handle it, Artemis. The cops couldn't even get good reconnaissance. If they can't even get the number of perpetrators right, how are they going to rescue these kids?"
"You're getting reckless again, Sailor V...." Artemis warned.
Sailor V shot him an unreadable look. <I may be a little reckless, but this is the only time I feel alive! This is the only thing I do well! I'm not a good friend, a good student, a good cook, or anything like that. This is it. This is what I do, so, by God, I'm going to do it, and screw the consequences!> With a determined look, Sailor V ignored Artemis while she considered her plan of attack. <See? I'm taking time to think things out. And he calls me reckless!>
The men would most likely expect any assault to come from the classroom's door or its windows. Sailor V just had to attack from a different direction....
Without a word Sailor V ran a few classrooms away, so any noise she made wouldn't be heard by the men, and she piled a chair on a teacher's desk, removed a panel from the school ceiling, and crawled into the cramped space between the ceiling and the tiles. She made sure she stayed on the load bearing struts, and stopped when she was over the classroom with the children in it. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady herself. She felt something tickle her neck. Artemis's whiskers were there, along with the rest of him. Despite the fact that he didn't agree with what she was doing, he was there. She shot him a wild grin and jumped down out of the ceiling.
Without even a split second of hesitation she turned to the nearest man. "Sailor V Chop!" she shouted, knocking the gun out of his hands. "Sailor V Kick!" With a mighty blow she knocked him unconscious. She heard a ferocious growl as Artemis launched himself at one of the remaining three men, knocking of his aim before he could shoot Sailor V. She turned to the last two men. They were almost lined up perfectly. She moved a little so that the shot was perfect...."Crescent Beam!" She melted the muzzles of both of their guns, rendering them useless. She moved in and knocked them out, then turned toward the man Artemis was detaining. Just as she spun on her heels to face him, the man threw Artemis against a wall and brought his gun to bear on a little kid standing open-mouthed near him. With and angry cry Sailor V jumped on him, sending them both sprawling on the ground. As they hit the floor, the shotgun went off. All the children threw themselves to the ground screams, and the police rushed in. Sailor V heard the clicks as about ten different guns were cocked by the policemen surrounding her and the man. She slowly got up, hands in the air. A few of the men looked at her and her costume in surprise. One man, dressed in plain clothes, walked up to her and pulled her aside. As she was steered out of the room she heard the other officers place handcuffs on the four men she'd stopped, while a teacher rushed in to herd frightened and hysterical children out of the room. The detective in plain clothes tried to force her out of the classroom with a firm hand on her arm, but with her increased strength as a senshi, she easily broke his hold to run over to Artemis.
"Oh, Artemis! Are you hurt? Did that man hurt you?" She carefully examined him, and stopped when she saw blood on his usually impeccable coat. She stood up with the small ball of fur in her arms, and began to walk toward the man that had thrown him, a murderous glare in her eyes. The detective that had begun to pull her aside stepped between her and her goal.
"We'd like you to answer a few questions, miss. I'd rather not place handcuffs on you, but...." he stopped when he saw the anger in her eyes.
"I won't be answering any questions. I stopped the men, that's all you need to know," she said as insultingly as possible. Without any warning she ran out of the classroom, onto the school roof, and over onto buildings, out of sight, before the police could catch her.
"Whoa, did you see that?" one of the arresting officers asked. "I can't believe I just saw a teenage girl do that! Can you, Detective Williams?"
"No, Officer O'Brian, I can't."
The man and the woman stood on the roof, staring at the spot where the sailor vigilante finally faded from sight.
*****
Mako sniffed and wiped the tears out of her eyes. "I guess you're right. I just have to learn some moderation." Minako smiled at her and nodded.
"I probably do too-hesitation cost me, so I may have overcompensated. We all have things to work on."
"Tell you what. You promise to stop walking on clouds, and I'll try to be a little less gloomy and more cheerful."
"Deal!" Minako happily stuck out her hand, and they shook on it.
Ami cleared her throat. "Now, about this energy source we're supposed to investigate?"
With a small chuckle, they all began to make their way toward whatever it was Ami's computer had detected.
*****
Serena fairly ran up to her apartment building. Ron would be so worried. She dragged Mamoru after her. Finally they stood in front of the door to the apartment. Serena hesitated. "What are we going to tell him?"
"How about the truth?"
She rolled her eyes. "That's right. I'm a princess from a magical kingdom that was destroyed a thousand years ago, and you were my betrothed. Then we were both killed, so my mother sent us into the future. After that, maybe I can convince him to give me unlimited access to his credit cards!" With a gasp she spun around to give a very shocked Mamoru a hug. "Oh, I don't mean to put down your idea! I'm sure it's a very good idea, but-"
"Usako-" Mamoru laughed, "I don't mean tell him the whole truth-just tell him I know you from Japan, but since you don't remember your life there, you've asked me not to tell you who your family was until you do, and not to tell your family you're alive until you remember." He gave her an odd look. "You know, you've never spoken so sarcastically to me before. You sure have changed."
Serena blushed. She knew she wouldn't have as Serenity, even if she couldn't remember what she'd been like as Usagi. She was different. She looked up at him. "Is it really bad? I mean, is it okay that I've changed the way I have?" <Endymion. I don't want to change if it means I can't be with you!>
"No, it's not bad at all-just different. Usako," he hugged her close for a second, just breathing in her presence, "I will love you no matter what-no matter what happens to you, or to me. I love you with all of my soul-so how could I not love the way you change as well?" He slowly leaned down to give her a kiss. Serena slowly rose to her tip-toes, and closed her eyes.
<Endymion. Mamo-chan.>
Just then, Ron opened the apartment door.
"What the HELL is THIS?!"
*****
The dragon silently alighted on the roof of a squat, inelegant building-built of boring rectangular blocks of some sort of stone. <These creatures don't understand anything of beauty!> the black rider thought to himself, outraged. He closed his eyes to feel the energy resonance in this area. This wasn't the source of the largest energy signature, but it was close to that source, and something monumental had happened here too. His eyes snapped open. <Someone's coming. Four beings-not as powerful as the one I've been sensing, but they have potential to be, and all together, they can put up a good fight against me! I have to get in position!> The black rider sank through the roof of the building-a common strip mall, and into a computer store. He made himself visible.
A mortal walked toward him. She gave him a strange look, then forced out a smile. "Good day, sir. I see you've been to the costume store down at the other end of the mall. Let me guess, the mysterious black knight-are you going to a masquerade party?"
The black rider didn't answer. The mortal's smile faltered for a second, then came back. "My name's Serena. What can I help you find today?"
<Foolish creature, does she think I would lower myself down to actually conversing with her?!> The knight didn't say anything, simply reached out and touched her head.
"What-?" the creature gasped out, then collapsed in a heap on the floor. The knight concentrated, and slowly melded himself into the woman. At first he was assaulted by a confusing barrage of thoughts, on three or four separate levels. For what seemed like an eternity to the Black Knight, he struggled to sort out the cacophony of images. Even though time was very subjective while he was immersed in nothing but pure thought, he was worried at first by how long it took him to wade through all the wasted space and twisted dreams toward the bright kernal of concious thought. <These creatures have no concept of what is contained in their own minds!> He was pleasantly surprised by the unexpected depths he discovered inside these mortal minds. When he was sure he had truly gained control of the creature's thoughts, he began to extend his awareness. He could hear the original owner of his new body cowering within the strange depths of her own subconcious, and he tasted her delicious tremors of fear and shock. He delicately dipped tendrils of will into the different aspects of this human's mind, and enjoyed the mortality the permeated every thought and action of his new host. What a delightful new experience. The new emotions he was experiencing went straight to his head, and they were almost intoxicating in their power. The Black Knight extended himself into the parts of the mind that controlled his new body.
Serena opened her eyes and smiled wickedly. <These mortals are almost completely helpless. Let's hope that the creature I've been sensing is as naive as this woman.> She turned to prepare for the four beings she could feel approaching ever closer.