Fic: On Razor's Edge - Chapter 17
Title: On Razor’s Edge - Chapter 17
Summary: Crystal Tokyo has arrived. So has Ando Tanaka.
Warnings: Character Death.
A/N: A portion of this chapter was inspired by Charlaine Harris’ Living Dead in Dallas. Alas, no vampires in this one, folks.
The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard.
~ verse in the Katha-Upanishad
***
The day had started with a bang. Early in the morning, followed by reporters, Minister Takeshi Nakamura had officially taken residence in the Crystal Palace. In front of the gates, he had made a brief statement, framed by a cloud of hurried assistant, secretaries, and movers carrying non-descript black boxes.
“Over the past weeks, our country and our capital have been divided by fear. I believe that the time has come for the government to officially take residence in this palace. This is a part of our society, of our culture, and of our future and I refuse to let terrorists take this away from us. Therefore, starting today, I am relocating my offices and my private residence to the Crystal Palace and encourage my fellow ministers to do the same. This is the time to stand united. Thank you.”
Making sure to nod at the cameras, he made his excuse and vanished inside the palace.
***
Umino was still walking around from room to room, muttering enchantments, checking wards, and calling Usagi and the girls to stabilise and re-grow crystals where the attacks had damaged them. He’d been at this since his return from Elysion, but didn’t particularly miss sleep or food. He had a task to complete and it would pass the time until Mamoru had decided how to proceed with regards to Ando.
“Umino, take a break”, a surprising voice instructed him. Umino turned to the door and broke out into a smile. This was a good sign.
“Takeshi!” Sailor Moon happily exclaimed and immediately transformed back into Usagi. Haruka, Ami, and Minako followed suit and the stately senshi were replaced by a crowd of pretty, but tired women. “What are you doing here?”
“Moving in. Haruka, Umino, where can I best take residence? I need office space for me and my assistant, a couple of secretaries, and in a little while, hopefully a few other ministers and their staff. And I will be needing private rooms, too.”
“An apartment?” Usagi asked, almost jumping up and down with excitement and relief. These were good news in these dark times. “Mamo will be so glad!”
“Yes,” Takeshi replied and found himself smiling. Usagi just had that effect on people, even when the rest of the world was falling apart. How he could have not seen this in the Silver Millennium was completely beyond him now. This woman and his prince were the only chance they had.
“You and Setsuna are moving in here?” Haruka prodded, bringing his musings to a sudden end. Haruka looked---, well, she looked just like any person who had just lost the love of their life but refused to back down did. Takeshi had no doubt that what was keeping the guardian of Uranus alive and functioning at this point was a spitting rage channelled into the desire to keep Usagi safe and thus honour Michiru’s sacrifice. Haruka consulted a blueprint of the palace that they had placed on the floor. There was a wild crisscross of pink, yellow, and green markered lines on there. He was mildly wondering what each colour stood for. “I’d suggest the south tower for the officials and the west tower for private residence,” Haruka finally offered. “The east tower still needs fixing. Umino?” The east tower was all yellow, while the south was green, so at least this little riddle was solved.
“Would have been my suggestion, too. Do you need help moving in? Hiro is somewhere around here, too....”
“No, thank you,” Takeshi politely declined. “My assistant ordered some furniture for me and is just waiting for information with regards to the location of the rooms. We need to get computers, work stations and meeting rooms set up. We are also considering moving the CTCT here.”
Usagi smiled. “So you are keeping your apartment and setting up secondary residence here. That’s clever. Thanks, Takeshi, I’m sure this’ll help. When will Setsuna get here?”
Takeshi paused for just a second, a second that felt like an eternity to Minako who knew what was coming before the others did. It was in his eyes. It was always in his eyes, and the way they refused to meet hers.
“Actually, it’s just me.”
“But---” Usagi tried to say, just as Haruka exploded. “NOW IS NOT TO THE TIME FOR FUCKING BREAK-UPS!” Ami winced and cast a sideways look at her husband, who looked mildly confused, but not overly concerned.
Minako knelt down and reached for the pink marker, drawing a careful line on the portion of the map that detailed their current location. If she had to focus just a little more to make it perfectly straight, she was sure nobody would notice right now.
To her surprise, Takeshi’s reply to Haruka’s outburst wasn’t as icy as she’d expected. “My personal life is none of your business, Haruka. I’ll let this one slide because these are difficult times for all of us, but I politely ask you to contain yourself in the future.” A couple of years ago, this moment would have ended in an exploding ceiling light. They had come a long way.
Haruka whirled around and Minako suddenly found herself in the centre of her fellow senshi’s ire. “Do you have anything to do with this?”
Not bothering to dignify Haruka’s angry question with an answer, Minako got up, handed the pink marker to Ami, and directly turned to Takeshi. She was fairly certain that she didn’t have anything to do with it, at least not actively, but this was a thought she would engage in once the big issue was taken care of: returning her best friend to safety. She was still in crisis mode, and only once that was over would she allow herself to mourn her fallen friends, and only then would even consider indulging thoughts as trivial as what led to the breakdown of Takeshi’s and Setsuna’s relationship. She had to take life one step at a time. “Any news on Ando?”
“No, I am going to speak to Mamoru today. The committees are still debating the legislation that would legally allow the government to exercise capital punishment for malignant magical interference, and as long as that isn’t taken care of, Ando remains untouchable.”
“So that’s what they call it now,” Minako said with a bitter little chuckle. “Fair enough. I assume you have someone on these committees stalling the process.”
“Correct.”
“I’m sorry, are you seriously talking business now?” Haruka once more interspersed, her voice laced with disdain. “What about Setsuna? Are we all supposed to pretend that this okay? And the CTCT moving in here? Two ex-girlfriends in one palace while we all try to keep our true nature hidden from prying eyes? How the fuck is that supposed to work, eh?”
Minako gave Haruka a look so blistering that it would have made Rei proud. “We are not talking business, we are talking the survival of one of our own. If that is not to your liking, I suggest that you leave this room before I make you.” Minako paused and allowed her words to sink in. To her right, Ami shuffled uncomfortably. “Any further thoughts, Haruka?” Minako looked at her fellow senshi until Haruka angrily broke the gaze and stared down. “No? Didn’t think so.” Minako reached in her pockets and pulled out her phone. “I’ll liase a story with Amnesty International, make sure that this death penalty debate becomes a thing.”
Usagi blinked. “I---...”
“Yes?” Minako asked, already halfway out of the door. She’d have to meet the people setting up shop here, vouch them, profile them, welcome them. She wouldn’t repeat the mistake she’d made with Ace. Once they were vetted, she’d arrange for them to meet Usagi, then later on, when the Queen had already charmed them, Mamoru. And she’d have to spin a nice story for a smaller newspaper, something that would mention Ando’s dual citizenship and his connection to New York. Make him an American in the eyes of one paper, and thanks to the blogosphere, the whole execution thing suddenly becomes an international cause for concern. She hadn’t been able to save Rei, Makoto, Aiko, or Michiru, but she would be damned to see Ando killed on her own front lawn. And if Takeshi’s presence here was any indicator, neither was he. “Any questions, Usa?”
Usagi looked from Takeshi to Minako to Haruka, and finally to Ami, who in an uncharacteristically clueless gesture, shrugged her shoulders. Umino was already back at work, running his hands over the crystalline walls. Unbeknownst to the others, he was smiling.
“We should get back to this,” he said without turning to the others. “If we have half the ministry moving in, we need to get this place presentable before they arrive or my cover as the harmless secretary is blown. And Ami’s, too.”
“Good point,” Takeshi said. “I’ll leave you to it.”
Minako held the door open for him. “Do you need me for this?” she asked Ami.
The doctor shook her head. “It doesn’t have to be all of us for small repairs.”
“It’s never all of us anyway,” Haruka muttered angrily, her eyes still on the floor, “not any more.”
Swallowing hard, Minako ignored the way her heart clenched. Not now.
“Good then,” she therefore said and stepped through the open door.
***
Minako was typing an email on her phone, not looking up as she made her way to the south tower. Takeshi was walking beside her, matching her brisk pace and occasionally, when Minako threatened to careen into a corner, instinctively reached out and steered her away from the obstacles. After a while, and more than a few close run-ins, Minako stopped typing and looked at the man walking next to her. He wondered if he had looked this normal after their own relationship had ended. Clean shaven, no shadows under his eyes, no lint on the suit, no crease in his tie. It was almost uncanny, how normal he looked. But then Ando had once joked that Takeshi was always perfectly appropriately dressed for any surprise funeral, so perhaps it just made sense now when they had counted four dead, but not a single one to bury. She owed her sisters so much. And more than anything, she owed it to Rei to both keep Usagi safe and to help Ando. She couldn’t do either if the focus shifted on their personal lives rather than the enormous tasks they had to undertake.
“If you keep touching my lower back while we walk through this building, not only will Haruka throw a fit, but we’ll have everyone, including your staff, gossiping,” she said, but couldn’t make it sound as stern as she wanted to.
He drew his hand back. “I’d just rather you didn’t run face first into the next pillar, Minako.”
“I didn’t say I mind, nor did I say I care.” She stopped and turned to face him. “These rumours won’t work to Usagi’s and Mamoru’s advantage. People need to see your presence here as being on your own accord, not caused by previous romantic entanglements.”
He looked at her, paused a beat, and chuckled. “Of course.”
Minako blinked. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware I was being funny.”
“It’s just that we had this conversation before,” he said after a little consideration. “A lifetime ago. Only that at that time, there was actually something to gossip about. And if we’d just been honest then, we might not even find ourselves in this situation today. Choices, Minako. Not destiny.”
She shook her head, disgruntled and amused at the same time. “Now really isn’t the time for this. Save the big philosophical discussion for Umino, I’m sure he’d be keen to engage.”
He inclined his head, thinking about it. “Maybe.”
“Will Setsuna still serve as the acting head of the CTCT?”
“Of course she will. Everything else would be highly risky for Usagi and Mamoru.”
“Is she moving in here too?”
“Not that I know.”
There were many more questions Minako wanted to ask, but instead of indulging, she picked the one that was most pertinent for Usagi.
“Has she reached Hotaru? We need her here.”
“She has, although I am not privy to the content of their conversation.”
“Umino said it was important to get her here.”
Takeshi frowned. It wasn’t like Umino to interfere in anyone’s personal life, and so far, he had been quite content to leave Hotaru be. Setsuna’s surrogate daughter had been in Sydney long before the return of the shitennou and had only visited a few times since. He’d met her once, when he was already -- when he had been -- dating Setsuna, and his impression of the young woman was a good one. In many ways, Hotaru reminded him of Rei: poised, sensitive, struggling with who fate required her to be. There could be only one reason for Umino to want her here, and that must have to do with Ando. Takeshi was puzzled.
“Do you think Hotaru could be helpful in getting Ando out of prison?” he asked Minako while running through the few facts he had about Hotaru’s magical abilities.
Minako frowned, her eyes already glued back to her phone. She was typing so quickly that Takeshi could just about make out the words New York and dual citizenship before Minako pressed enter and the line vanished from view.
“What? Hotaru? No, not really. Now, I’ll need a list of all the employees you plan on letting in here, and if you’ve already vetted them, I need whatever you found or didn’t find and will go over it again. So will Haruka. We’re not taking any risks.”
Not able to resist even though he knew it was petty, Takeshi said evenly. “So will you doublecheck that they don’t show up the list of protesters you refused to let me have a look at?”
Minako blanched. Another item on the long list of things that would forever stand between them. He’d been suspicious of Ace and his protesters, she’d felt superior, and as a consequence, their world had exploded, killing her sisters and little Aiko. Answering cost her dearly, but she did so anyway. “Yes.”
“Good,” he replied simply and straightened his tie. It had taken her years to learn that this was a movement he carried out when he needed a second to think. Years. “Anything else you need?”
They’d come to a standstill.
“There is,” she said, eventually. “I need you to get me into Ando’s cell, unseen. Soon.”
***
Unbeknownst to his wife and most of his shitennou, Mamoru Chiba was currently not safely ensconced in the palace. Instead, he was standing in front of Hiromasa’s house, trying to keep his friend from making a huge and potentially fatal mistake.
“I still don’t think you should do this. It’s not wise.”
“I have to,” Hiro tersely replied, eying the house that kept his wife trapped underneath crystal and electricity.
“What if the electric current is too strong? What if it kills you on the spot, Hiromasa. Think of your son.” They had been over this time and time again, but Hiromasa refused to see reason. He had to try to free her, he said. Had to try to reach her. Had to know whether his wife and daughter were still alive. He wasn’t Haruka; he couldn’t just give up. When he had insisted that his life was nothing without Makoto and Aiko, Mamoru had found himself out of arguments. Deep down, he knew he would do the same. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for Usagi, and they had the history of several lifetimes to prove it.
“I can’t just leave her there, Mamoru”, Hiro had exclaimed, anguish written all over his broad features, and so Mamoru had teleported them to what had once been the happiest home he’d known. Hiro and Makoto had lived the life he’d wished for himself more than once. Peaceful, merry. Real jobs, real days, a real chance.
Now all of that was gone and his friend was a mere shadow of himself. He hadn’t shaved or showered since the attack, and it had taken Ami an hour to convince him to change out of his bloodied and stained clothes and into something of Takeshi’s. It was so odd to see Hiro in the grey hooded sweater Takeshi wore when he went running when the furniture designer normally lived in his lumberjack shirts. This man was almost a stranger to him, and he had no idea how to help him. While Haruka was holding it together, even though Mamoru couldn’t fathom how, Hiromasa was fully consumed with fear. Fear that the feeling of his heart threatening to burst in his chest was actually grief, and that this house of his was not a trap, but a grave.
Hiro walked towards the house and stretched out a hand. “If this is Makoto’s protection, then it won’t hurt me. Then we can just get her and Aiko out of there.”
“Let’s at least ask Takeshi and Umino to help us. Takeshi too commands electricity, Hiro,” Mamoru tried to bargain.
Hiro shook his head. “He was here with me already. Didn’t work. And if Umino could have helped, he would have already.”
As he got closer, the electric currents multiplied and it was as if a million little bolts of lightning struck the house at the same time. Thunder began to roll and out of a sudden, dark, heavy clouds crept across the formerly blue sky.
“Take this as a sign, Hiro!” Mamoru shouted over the noise of the rising wind and pulled his friend back. For a moment, it seemed as if Hiro was about to argue, but then lightning struck a tree on the front lawn, a mere few feet away from the man just as the rain began to pour.
“Tell me this isn’t her,” Hiro muttered, awe in his voice, and turned to Mamoru with a frantic hope in his eyes. It was raining so hard that Mamoru’s jacket was already soaked. He was only too mindful that right behind Hiro, the currents still crackled.
“Tell me this isn’t my wife giving me a sign!” Hiro bellowed, hair plastered to his face, beard dripping with rain.
“If it is, then listen to her!” Mamoru pleaded intently and stepped closer to his friend, reaching for his shoulder. “Let’s get back to the palace,” he shouted over the sound of the storm, “let’s talk to Ami and Umino. We’ll figure this out. We did so once already, in the future. We freed Serenity from her sleep under the crystal, but it took us time, Hiro. Come on. Let’s go.”
Hiro’s inner struggle played all over his face. He looked feverish, tired, hopeful, defeated. It was enough to break Mamoru’s heart.
“But this doesn’t mean we give up,” he finally said, pleading with his friend not to defy him.
“It doesn’t,” Mamoru confirmed, “I promise!” and gripped Hiro’s hand to teleport them home.
***
Ando sat in his cell, counting the minutes. Takeshi had said that people were pushing to have him executed within a week. Two days down, five more to go. He wasn’t even sure anymore whether he wanted to make the most of the time left to him or whether he wanted to end this as quickly as possible.
All he knew was that Rei was dead because of him.
Nobody had come in to repair the security camera that had oh so accidentally broken during Takeshi’s visit. Nobody was behind the tinted windows, looking in. Even if not a single person in the government could work up the nerve to have him executed, if nobody ever came down here again to bring him food or water because he was the scariest thing they’d ever seen, then he estimated he could make his exit in roughly five days. But it would be painful, and cruel, and not the death he had wished for himself. Dehydration was a nasty way to go, but then so must be being burned to death by your soulmate. Rei hadn’t had any say in her final moments, so he shouldn’t have either.
Just then Ando picked a thought out of thin air. Not a thought, more a feeling. Anger and worry and steely resolve.
He smiled as the door opened for the first time since Takeshi had left. “Hello sweetheart. Come to say goodbye?”
Minako stepped inside and gently closed the door behind her. He could tell that she was taking in the situation, the smell, the filth. It hadn’t been long, but human beings shouldn’t be locked up in small rooms without sanitary facilities.
Even though unlike himself, she was clean and pretty as a new penny, she looked like hell. Worry was etching the first lines into her face, and gave her mouth a downwards pull that hadn’t been there when he’d last seen her. But then of course, when he’d last seen her, Rei had still been with them. Makoto and Aiko, too.
“I can’t take you with me yet,” she said and crossed the room to enclose him in rib-breaking hug. He reached around her and held on fast. She smelled of sunshine; he inhaled deeply. “I know.”
“We’ll figure something out.”
“Don’t.”
Minako pushed away from him. “You can’t be serious.”
He smiled at her, and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “I want to be with Rei, Minako. I don’t want to live in a world without her. Not again.”
“We don’t even know if she’s really--” her voice died away.
“Dead? She is.” He swallowed. “There is no way she could have survived this, whether fire is her element or not. Let me go, Minako.”
Her mind was a swirl of incomprehension. Minako would never give up. She’d found a way to live without Takeshi, and he was sure this darling girl of his would go on and on and on, never giving up and that was what would kill her one day in the faraway future. She’d go out in a blaze, that one, but only after everyone else.
“I am trying everything I can to keep you alive, Ando!” she exclaimed, and he could read any maneuver she’d pulled in her thoughts. There were many, and in other circumstances, he’d tease her about some. Dual citizenship. As if people cared about politics when they could confront a thing they feared. A monster. Hadn’t she ever read Beowulf?
So instead, he smiled again, and reached for her hand. “I know, sweetheart, I know.” He stroked her palm with his thumb. Their friendship had always been an affectionate one, same as with Umino. He wished he could that bugger one more time, but it was probably too late for that. “Mi,” he said, “this is it. This must be it. If you want to help me, then make sure that I go soon.” His voice broke away for a moment and he had to close his eyes and swallow down the tears. “It’ll help Usagi and Mamoru. And it’ll be a relief for me. I cannot be here without her. I don’t want to.”
She’d gone pale, and even though they barely aged, he could see all her years in her eyes, all her deaths, all her injuries, and all of her dashed hopes. “You’re my best friend,” she finally whispered, as the tears began to spill down her cheeks. “Please don’t ask this of me.”
He hugged her again. “Okay, I won’t,” he whispered against her hair, but both knew he was lying. The master of illusion, going in for one of last tricks.
She held onto him with all her might. “Rei wouldn’t want you to do this.”
“I know,” he muttered and closed his eyes, the image of Rei Hino burning brightly in his mind.
***
Ten minutes later, Minako left the cell, leaving the door behind her wide open. She walked through the secret corridors, and entered the elevator. Pressing 1, she breathed in, waiting for the doors to close. With a soft swoosh, they did.
When she arrived on the ground floor, Takeshi was already waiting for her. Silently, he offered her a tissue, and she wiped away the rest of her eye make-up. They exited the palace in complete and utter silence.
Once they were in the car, Minako took a deep breath, reached for her phone, and sent out a message. It was an anonymous tip, and as Ando had requested, the news vans would be here soon, and she and Takeshi would be gone.
“Drive,” she whispered, and Takeshi did.
***
It was a beautiful bright day. The sun was shining high in the sky, and each ray was reflected all over the city, bouncing from crystal to crystal, until it seemed as if all of Tokyo was aglow. It smelled just like Minako had, of sunshine. But this was winter sunshine, sharp and crisp and clear, a new beginning, a last shot at hope before night would fall early once more. There were the last hints of some storm clouds in the west, where the sun would soon set.
Ando Tanaka walked out of the secret government building where he had been imprisoned. He’d encountered a few agents and employes as he’d left, but they’d run as fast and as hard as they could once they’d realised who he was. What he was.
He could already hear sirens, and knew that Minako had placed the anonymous tip he’d asked her for. Hands in his pockets, he walked down the empty parking lot, looking for all intents and purposes like a man on a little afternoon stroll. Nobody there. Nobody at risk. Just himself, the sunshine, and the memory of Rei Hino,
fierce,
beautiful,
gentle.
He snapped a small flame into life. It burned on his hand, a welcome heat. One of the first things he’d had to learn all those lives ago when he’d become a shitennou was how to call the fire without letting it burn him. It was an easy lesson once learned, a simple trick once mastered. It was only fitting that this first lesson would now pave the way for Usagi’s and Mamoru’s peaceful reign and would allow him to atone for his sins. It would bring him to Rei once more.
In the distance, he could see that a tall, graceful figure had appeared. Sailor Pluto had come to pay her last respects. Of course she had known all along. He nodded at her, and she returned the gesture, the ruby in her staff reflecting the sunlight. Soon, it would reflect fire.
Watching the flame dance in his palm, its greedy and joyful flickering, he let go of the control that bound it. So simple. You want to control fire? Do it. You don’t? Then let go. Helios had smiled when he’d taught him that, Ando remembered, as he felt the energy rise. As the heat enclosed him like a lover, seared into his body and soul, he spread his arms and looked at the blue sky one last time.
What a beautiful bright day, Ando Tanaka thought, what a beautiful ---.
*** End of Chapter 17 ***
Summary: Crystal Tokyo has arrived. So has Ando Tanaka.
Warnings: Character Death.
A/N: A portion of this chapter was inspired by Charlaine Harris’ Living Dead in Dallas. Alas, no vampires in this one, folks.
The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard.
~ verse in the Katha-Upanishad
***
The day had started with a bang. Early in the morning, followed by reporters, Minister Takeshi Nakamura had officially taken residence in the Crystal Palace. In front of the gates, he had made a brief statement, framed by a cloud of hurried assistant, secretaries, and movers carrying non-descript black boxes.
“Over the past weeks, our country and our capital have been divided by fear. I believe that the time has come for the government to officially take residence in this palace. This is a part of our society, of our culture, and of our future and I refuse to let terrorists take this away from us. Therefore, starting today, I am relocating my offices and my private residence to the Crystal Palace and encourage my fellow ministers to do the same. This is the time to stand united. Thank you.”
Making sure to nod at the cameras, he made his excuse and vanished inside the palace.
***
Umino was still walking around from room to room, muttering enchantments, checking wards, and calling Usagi and the girls to stabilise and re-grow crystals where the attacks had damaged them. He’d been at this since his return from Elysion, but didn’t particularly miss sleep or food. He had a task to complete and it would pass the time until Mamoru had decided how to proceed with regards to Ando.
“Umino, take a break”, a surprising voice instructed him. Umino turned to the door and broke out into a smile. This was a good sign.
“Takeshi!” Sailor Moon happily exclaimed and immediately transformed back into Usagi. Haruka, Ami, and Minako followed suit and the stately senshi were replaced by a crowd of pretty, but tired women. “What are you doing here?”
“Moving in. Haruka, Umino, where can I best take residence? I need office space for me and my assistant, a couple of secretaries, and in a little while, hopefully a few other ministers and their staff. And I will be needing private rooms, too.”
“An apartment?” Usagi asked, almost jumping up and down with excitement and relief. These were good news in these dark times. “Mamo will be so glad!”
“Yes,” Takeshi replied and found himself smiling. Usagi just had that effect on people, even when the rest of the world was falling apart. How he could have not seen this in the Silver Millennium was completely beyond him now. This woman and his prince were the only chance they had.
“You and Setsuna are moving in here?” Haruka prodded, bringing his musings to a sudden end. Haruka looked---, well, she looked just like any person who had just lost the love of their life but refused to back down did. Takeshi had no doubt that what was keeping the guardian of Uranus alive and functioning at this point was a spitting rage channelled into the desire to keep Usagi safe and thus honour Michiru’s sacrifice. Haruka consulted a blueprint of the palace that they had placed on the floor. There was a wild crisscross of pink, yellow, and green markered lines on there. He was mildly wondering what each colour stood for. “I’d suggest the south tower for the officials and the west tower for private residence,” Haruka finally offered. “The east tower still needs fixing. Umino?” The east tower was all yellow, while the south was green, so at least this little riddle was solved.
“Would have been my suggestion, too. Do you need help moving in? Hiro is somewhere around here, too....”
“No, thank you,” Takeshi politely declined. “My assistant ordered some furniture for me and is just waiting for information with regards to the location of the rooms. We need to get computers, work stations and meeting rooms set up. We are also considering moving the CTCT here.”
Usagi smiled. “So you are keeping your apartment and setting up secondary residence here. That’s clever. Thanks, Takeshi, I’m sure this’ll help. When will Setsuna get here?”
Takeshi paused for just a second, a second that felt like an eternity to Minako who knew what was coming before the others did. It was in his eyes. It was always in his eyes, and the way they refused to meet hers.
“Actually, it’s just me.”
“But---” Usagi tried to say, just as Haruka exploded. “NOW IS NOT TO THE TIME FOR FUCKING BREAK-UPS!” Ami winced and cast a sideways look at her husband, who looked mildly confused, but not overly concerned.
Minako knelt down and reached for the pink marker, drawing a careful line on the portion of the map that detailed their current location. If she had to focus just a little more to make it perfectly straight, she was sure nobody would notice right now.
To her surprise, Takeshi’s reply to Haruka’s outburst wasn’t as icy as she’d expected. “My personal life is none of your business, Haruka. I’ll let this one slide because these are difficult times for all of us, but I politely ask you to contain yourself in the future.” A couple of years ago, this moment would have ended in an exploding ceiling light. They had come a long way.
Haruka whirled around and Minako suddenly found herself in the centre of her fellow senshi’s ire. “Do you have anything to do with this?”
Not bothering to dignify Haruka’s angry question with an answer, Minako got up, handed the pink marker to Ami, and directly turned to Takeshi. She was fairly certain that she didn’t have anything to do with it, at least not actively, but this was a thought she would engage in once the big issue was taken care of: returning her best friend to safety. She was still in crisis mode, and only once that was over would she allow herself to mourn her fallen friends, and only then would even consider indulging thoughts as trivial as what led to the breakdown of Takeshi’s and Setsuna’s relationship. She had to take life one step at a time. “Any news on Ando?”
“No, I am going to speak to Mamoru today. The committees are still debating the legislation that would legally allow the government to exercise capital punishment for malignant magical interference, and as long as that isn’t taken care of, Ando remains untouchable.”
“So that’s what they call it now,” Minako said with a bitter little chuckle. “Fair enough. I assume you have someone on these committees stalling the process.”
“Correct.”
“I’m sorry, are you seriously talking business now?” Haruka once more interspersed, her voice laced with disdain. “What about Setsuna? Are we all supposed to pretend that this okay? And the CTCT moving in here? Two ex-girlfriends in one palace while we all try to keep our true nature hidden from prying eyes? How the fuck is that supposed to work, eh?”
Minako gave Haruka a look so blistering that it would have made Rei proud. “We are not talking business, we are talking the survival of one of our own. If that is not to your liking, I suggest that you leave this room before I make you.” Minako paused and allowed her words to sink in. To her right, Ami shuffled uncomfortably. “Any further thoughts, Haruka?” Minako looked at her fellow senshi until Haruka angrily broke the gaze and stared down. “No? Didn’t think so.” Minako reached in her pockets and pulled out her phone. “I’ll liase a story with Amnesty International, make sure that this death penalty debate becomes a thing.”
Usagi blinked. “I---...”
“Yes?” Minako asked, already halfway out of the door. She’d have to meet the people setting up shop here, vouch them, profile them, welcome them. She wouldn’t repeat the mistake she’d made with Ace. Once they were vetted, she’d arrange for them to meet Usagi, then later on, when the Queen had already charmed them, Mamoru. And she’d have to spin a nice story for a smaller newspaper, something that would mention Ando’s dual citizenship and his connection to New York. Make him an American in the eyes of one paper, and thanks to the blogosphere, the whole execution thing suddenly becomes an international cause for concern. She hadn’t been able to save Rei, Makoto, Aiko, or Michiru, but she would be damned to see Ando killed on her own front lawn. And if Takeshi’s presence here was any indicator, neither was he. “Any questions, Usa?”
Usagi looked from Takeshi to Minako to Haruka, and finally to Ami, who in an uncharacteristically clueless gesture, shrugged her shoulders. Umino was already back at work, running his hands over the crystalline walls. Unbeknownst to the others, he was smiling.
“We should get back to this,” he said without turning to the others. “If we have half the ministry moving in, we need to get this place presentable before they arrive or my cover as the harmless secretary is blown. And Ami’s, too.”
“Good point,” Takeshi said. “I’ll leave you to it.”
Minako held the door open for him. “Do you need me for this?” she asked Ami.
The doctor shook her head. “It doesn’t have to be all of us for small repairs.”
“It’s never all of us anyway,” Haruka muttered angrily, her eyes still on the floor, “not any more.”
Swallowing hard, Minako ignored the way her heart clenched. Not now.
“Good then,” she therefore said and stepped through the open door.
***
Minako was typing an email on her phone, not looking up as she made her way to the south tower. Takeshi was walking beside her, matching her brisk pace and occasionally, when Minako threatened to careen into a corner, instinctively reached out and steered her away from the obstacles. After a while, and more than a few close run-ins, Minako stopped typing and looked at the man walking next to her. He wondered if he had looked this normal after their own relationship had ended. Clean shaven, no shadows under his eyes, no lint on the suit, no crease in his tie. It was almost uncanny, how normal he looked. But then Ando had once joked that Takeshi was always perfectly appropriately dressed for any surprise funeral, so perhaps it just made sense now when they had counted four dead, but not a single one to bury. She owed her sisters so much. And more than anything, she owed it to Rei to both keep Usagi safe and to help Ando. She couldn’t do either if the focus shifted on their personal lives rather than the enormous tasks they had to undertake.
“If you keep touching my lower back while we walk through this building, not only will Haruka throw a fit, but we’ll have everyone, including your staff, gossiping,” she said, but couldn’t make it sound as stern as she wanted to.
He drew his hand back. “I’d just rather you didn’t run face first into the next pillar, Minako.”
“I didn’t say I mind, nor did I say I care.” She stopped and turned to face him. “These rumours won’t work to Usagi’s and Mamoru’s advantage. People need to see your presence here as being on your own accord, not caused by previous romantic entanglements.”
He looked at her, paused a beat, and chuckled. “Of course.”
Minako blinked. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware I was being funny.”
“It’s just that we had this conversation before,” he said after a little consideration. “A lifetime ago. Only that at that time, there was actually something to gossip about. And if we’d just been honest then, we might not even find ourselves in this situation today. Choices, Minako. Not destiny.”
She shook her head, disgruntled and amused at the same time. “Now really isn’t the time for this. Save the big philosophical discussion for Umino, I’m sure he’d be keen to engage.”
He inclined his head, thinking about it. “Maybe.”
“Will Setsuna still serve as the acting head of the CTCT?”
“Of course she will. Everything else would be highly risky for Usagi and Mamoru.”
“Is she moving in here too?”
“Not that I know.”
There were many more questions Minako wanted to ask, but instead of indulging, she picked the one that was most pertinent for Usagi.
“Has she reached Hotaru? We need her here.”
“She has, although I am not privy to the content of their conversation.”
“Umino said it was important to get her here.”
Takeshi frowned. It wasn’t like Umino to interfere in anyone’s personal life, and so far, he had been quite content to leave Hotaru be. Setsuna’s surrogate daughter had been in Sydney long before the return of the shitennou and had only visited a few times since. He’d met her once, when he was already -- when he had been -- dating Setsuna, and his impression of the young woman was a good one. In many ways, Hotaru reminded him of Rei: poised, sensitive, struggling with who fate required her to be. There could be only one reason for Umino to want her here, and that must have to do with Ando. Takeshi was puzzled.
“Do you think Hotaru could be helpful in getting Ando out of prison?” he asked Minako while running through the few facts he had about Hotaru’s magical abilities.
Minako frowned, her eyes already glued back to her phone. She was typing so quickly that Takeshi could just about make out the words New York and dual citizenship before Minako pressed enter and the line vanished from view.
“What? Hotaru? No, not really. Now, I’ll need a list of all the employees you plan on letting in here, and if you’ve already vetted them, I need whatever you found or didn’t find and will go over it again. So will Haruka. We’re not taking any risks.”
Not able to resist even though he knew it was petty, Takeshi said evenly. “So will you doublecheck that they don’t show up the list of protesters you refused to let me have a look at?”
Minako blanched. Another item on the long list of things that would forever stand between them. He’d been suspicious of Ace and his protesters, she’d felt superior, and as a consequence, their world had exploded, killing her sisters and little Aiko. Answering cost her dearly, but she did so anyway. “Yes.”
“Good,” he replied simply and straightened his tie. It had taken her years to learn that this was a movement he carried out when he needed a second to think. Years. “Anything else you need?”
They’d come to a standstill.
“There is,” she said, eventually. “I need you to get me into Ando’s cell, unseen. Soon.”
***
Unbeknownst to his wife and most of his shitennou, Mamoru Chiba was currently not safely ensconced in the palace. Instead, he was standing in front of Hiromasa’s house, trying to keep his friend from making a huge and potentially fatal mistake.
“I still don’t think you should do this. It’s not wise.”
“I have to,” Hiro tersely replied, eying the house that kept his wife trapped underneath crystal and electricity.
“What if the electric current is too strong? What if it kills you on the spot, Hiromasa. Think of your son.” They had been over this time and time again, but Hiromasa refused to see reason. He had to try to free her, he said. Had to try to reach her. Had to know whether his wife and daughter were still alive. He wasn’t Haruka; he couldn’t just give up. When he had insisted that his life was nothing without Makoto and Aiko, Mamoru had found himself out of arguments. Deep down, he knew he would do the same. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for Usagi, and they had the history of several lifetimes to prove it.
“I can’t just leave her there, Mamoru”, Hiro had exclaimed, anguish written all over his broad features, and so Mamoru had teleported them to what had once been the happiest home he’d known. Hiro and Makoto had lived the life he’d wished for himself more than once. Peaceful, merry. Real jobs, real days, a real chance.
Now all of that was gone and his friend was a mere shadow of himself. He hadn’t shaved or showered since the attack, and it had taken Ami an hour to convince him to change out of his bloodied and stained clothes and into something of Takeshi’s. It was so odd to see Hiro in the grey hooded sweater Takeshi wore when he went running when the furniture designer normally lived in his lumberjack shirts. This man was almost a stranger to him, and he had no idea how to help him. While Haruka was holding it together, even though Mamoru couldn’t fathom how, Hiromasa was fully consumed with fear. Fear that the feeling of his heart threatening to burst in his chest was actually grief, and that this house of his was not a trap, but a grave.
Hiro walked towards the house and stretched out a hand. “If this is Makoto’s protection, then it won’t hurt me. Then we can just get her and Aiko out of there.”
“Let’s at least ask Takeshi and Umino to help us. Takeshi too commands electricity, Hiro,” Mamoru tried to bargain.
Hiro shook his head. “He was here with me already. Didn’t work. And if Umino could have helped, he would have already.”
As he got closer, the electric currents multiplied and it was as if a million little bolts of lightning struck the house at the same time. Thunder began to roll and out of a sudden, dark, heavy clouds crept across the formerly blue sky.
“Take this as a sign, Hiro!” Mamoru shouted over the noise of the rising wind and pulled his friend back. For a moment, it seemed as if Hiro was about to argue, but then lightning struck a tree on the front lawn, a mere few feet away from the man just as the rain began to pour.
“Tell me this isn’t her,” Hiro muttered, awe in his voice, and turned to Mamoru with a frantic hope in his eyes. It was raining so hard that Mamoru’s jacket was already soaked. He was only too mindful that right behind Hiro, the currents still crackled.
“Tell me this isn’t my wife giving me a sign!” Hiro bellowed, hair plastered to his face, beard dripping with rain.
“If it is, then listen to her!” Mamoru pleaded intently and stepped closer to his friend, reaching for his shoulder. “Let’s get back to the palace,” he shouted over the sound of the storm, “let’s talk to Ami and Umino. We’ll figure this out. We did so once already, in the future. We freed Serenity from her sleep under the crystal, but it took us time, Hiro. Come on. Let’s go.”
Hiro’s inner struggle played all over his face. He looked feverish, tired, hopeful, defeated. It was enough to break Mamoru’s heart.
“But this doesn’t mean we give up,” he finally said, pleading with his friend not to defy him.
“It doesn’t,” Mamoru confirmed, “I promise!” and gripped Hiro’s hand to teleport them home.
***
Ando sat in his cell, counting the minutes. Takeshi had said that people were pushing to have him executed within a week. Two days down, five more to go. He wasn’t even sure anymore whether he wanted to make the most of the time left to him or whether he wanted to end this as quickly as possible.
All he knew was that Rei was dead because of him.
Nobody had come in to repair the security camera that had oh so accidentally broken during Takeshi’s visit. Nobody was behind the tinted windows, looking in. Even if not a single person in the government could work up the nerve to have him executed, if nobody ever came down here again to bring him food or water because he was the scariest thing they’d ever seen, then he estimated he could make his exit in roughly five days. But it would be painful, and cruel, and not the death he had wished for himself. Dehydration was a nasty way to go, but then so must be being burned to death by your soulmate. Rei hadn’t had any say in her final moments, so he shouldn’t have either.
Just then Ando picked a thought out of thin air. Not a thought, more a feeling. Anger and worry and steely resolve.
He smiled as the door opened for the first time since Takeshi had left. “Hello sweetheart. Come to say goodbye?”
Minako stepped inside and gently closed the door behind her. He could tell that she was taking in the situation, the smell, the filth. It hadn’t been long, but human beings shouldn’t be locked up in small rooms without sanitary facilities.
Even though unlike himself, she was clean and pretty as a new penny, she looked like hell. Worry was etching the first lines into her face, and gave her mouth a downwards pull that hadn’t been there when he’d last seen her. But then of course, when he’d last seen her, Rei had still been with them. Makoto and Aiko, too.
“I can’t take you with me yet,” she said and crossed the room to enclose him in rib-breaking hug. He reached around her and held on fast. She smelled of sunshine; he inhaled deeply. “I know.”
“We’ll figure something out.”
“Don’t.”
Minako pushed away from him. “You can’t be serious.”
He smiled at her, and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “I want to be with Rei, Minako. I don’t want to live in a world without her. Not again.”
“We don’t even know if she’s really--” her voice died away.
“Dead? She is.” He swallowed. “There is no way she could have survived this, whether fire is her element or not. Let me go, Minako.”
Her mind was a swirl of incomprehension. Minako would never give up. She’d found a way to live without Takeshi, and he was sure this darling girl of his would go on and on and on, never giving up and that was what would kill her one day in the faraway future. She’d go out in a blaze, that one, but only after everyone else.
“I am trying everything I can to keep you alive, Ando!” she exclaimed, and he could read any maneuver she’d pulled in her thoughts. There were many, and in other circumstances, he’d tease her about some. Dual citizenship. As if people cared about politics when they could confront a thing they feared. A monster. Hadn’t she ever read Beowulf?
So instead, he smiled again, and reached for her hand. “I know, sweetheart, I know.” He stroked her palm with his thumb. Their friendship had always been an affectionate one, same as with Umino. He wished he could that bugger one more time, but it was probably too late for that. “Mi,” he said, “this is it. This must be it. If you want to help me, then make sure that I go soon.” His voice broke away for a moment and he had to close his eyes and swallow down the tears. “It’ll help Usagi and Mamoru. And it’ll be a relief for me. I cannot be here without her. I don’t want to.”
She’d gone pale, and even though they barely aged, he could see all her years in her eyes, all her deaths, all her injuries, and all of her dashed hopes. “You’re my best friend,” she finally whispered, as the tears began to spill down her cheeks. “Please don’t ask this of me.”
He hugged her again. “Okay, I won’t,” he whispered against her hair, but both knew he was lying. The master of illusion, going in for one of last tricks.
She held onto him with all her might. “Rei wouldn’t want you to do this.”
“I know,” he muttered and closed his eyes, the image of Rei Hino burning brightly in his mind.
***
Ten minutes later, Minako left the cell, leaving the door behind her wide open. She walked through the secret corridors, and entered the elevator. Pressing 1, she breathed in, waiting for the doors to close. With a soft swoosh, they did.
When she arrived on the ground floor, Takeshi was already waiting for her. Silently, he offered her a tissue, and she wiped away the rest of her eye make-up. They exited the palace in complete and utter silence.
Once they were in the car, Minako took a deep breath, reached for her phone, and sent out a message. It was an anonymous tip, and as Ando had requested, the news vans would be here soon, and she and Takeshi would be gone.
“Drive,” she whispered, and Takeshi did.
***
It was a beautiful bright day. The sun was shining high in the sky, and each ray was reflected all over the city, bouncing from crystal to crystal, until it seemed as if all of Tokyo was aglow. It smelled just like Minako had, of sunshine. But this was winter sunshine, sharp and crisp and clear, a new beginning, a last shot at hope before night would fall early once more. There were the last hints of some storm clouds in the west, where the sun would soon set.
Ando Tanaka walked out of the secret government building where he had been imprisoned. He’d encountered a few agents and employes as he’d left, but they’d run as fast and as hard as they could once they’d realised who he was. What he was.
He could already hear sirens, and knew that Minako had placed the anonymous tip he’d asked her for. Hands in his pockets, he walked down the empty parking lot, looking for all intents and purposes like a man on a little afternoon stroll. Nobody there. Nobody at risk. Just himself, the sunshine, and the memory of Rei Hino,
fierce,
beautiful,
gentle.
He snapped a small flame into life. It burned on his hand, a welcome heat. One of the first things he’d had to learn all those lives ago when he’d become a shitennou was how to call the fire without letting it burn him. It was an easy lesson once learned, a simple trick once mastered. It was only fitting that this first lesson would now pave the way for Usagi’s and Mamoru’s peaceful reign and would allow him to atone for his sins. It would bring him to Rei once more.
In the distance, he could see that a tall, graceful figure had appeared. Sailor Pluto had come to pay her last respects. Of course she had known all along. He nodded at her, and she returned the gesture, the ruby in her staff reflecting the sunlight. Soon, it would reflect fire.
Watching the flame dance in his palm, its greedy and joyful flickering, he let go of the control that bound it. So simple. You want to control fire? Do it. You don’t? Then let go. Helios had smiled when he’d taught him that, Ando remembered, as he felt the energy rise. As the heat enclosed him like a lover, seared into his body and soul, he spread his arms and looked at the blue sky one last time.
What a beautiful bright day, Ando Tanaka thought, what a beautiful ---.
*** End of Chapter 17 ***