Fic: On Razor's Edge - Chapter 16
Title: On Razor’s Edge - Chapter 16
Summary: Crystal Tokyo has arrived. So has Ando Tanaka.
Warnings: All the sad pandas.
A/N: One reference to Desmond and Lost. Thousand thanks to Charlie.
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
Setsuna’s and Takeshi’s bedroom was naturally very sleek and clean. There was only one framed print on the wall, a black and white skyline. Nothing so common as Paris, New York, London. It was Athens, its ancient buildings impressive even under a sky that was robbed of its daily cornflower blue, or its equally beautiful midnight shades.
The walls were painted white, the linens were white, the curtains were, too. The only blast of colour in the room came from the deep purple roses on the vanity. It was a tradition: every Saturday, Takeshi would bring Setsuna flowers. Always roses, always in a berry colour. She had long ago given up wondering why he never brought her anything yellow or orange. Thoughts like that were Pandora’s box, and she was far too smart to open it.
Right now, Takeshi was with Ando, and it was a duty Setsuna was not envious of. Telling Ando that he had killed Rei, albeit by accident, was an experience she could gladly do without. Setsuna moved to the window, brushing the curtains aside. The attacks had stopped, but the growth of the crystals had not. They had begun spreading again. Like fire that greedily consumed everything in its path, the crystals had claimed the city.
They had given Tokyo a skyline unlike any other in the world, but Setsuna knew that there would be too few left living to turn the ragged lines against the midnight sky into art. Every single place once tainted by darkness, every spot where they senshi had fought a monster, the crystal now reclaimed. Every new volcano that appeared, it covered. It was a protective growth, but that didn’t make it any less deadly.
She laughed, a sorry sound in the silence, and her hand flew to her mouth to cover it.
Crystal Tokyo. It was a joke they all had gotten far too late.
***
“We could just stay in Elysion,” Umino suggested in hushed, hurried whispers, trying not to wake Usagi, who had finally fallen asleep with her head on Ami’s lap. The little queen was sprawled on the couch, relegating everyone else to the armchair or floor. The tears in the corners of her eyes hadn’t yet dried. “Wait until the volcanoes have either taken over or gone quiet, wait until people forget what Ando did. We could sit it out here in Elysion, and then return when things are safe again and--”
“That could be hundreds of years,” Mamoru interjected, shaking his head. The discussion had gone on for hours, begun long before Takeshi left to deliver the news to Ando, but Umino was not willing to give up. There was a defiance in his eyes, his chin jutted upwards.
“Elysion is safe. A hundred years in safety are nothing to people who do not age, Mamoru. This might be how it was always supposed to be. It would only be logical.”
“Maybe so, maybe not. We don’t know how the future comes into being. Perhaps this is precisely what happened? It would explain why we never saw Ando in the future.” Mamoru whispered back, returning to a point he had made more than once tonight. He didn’t want Ando to die, but he couldn’t jeopardise everything. He was responsible for every soul inside and outside the walls of Takeshi’s home and he would not let them down.
Umino gave his king a long hard look. “You also didn’t see me or Takeshi, but you did see Rei and Makoto.”
Ami ran a hand over Usagi’s head, lost in thought and no longer willing or able to pay attention to her husband’s argument with Mamoru. She had taken care of everyone in the last day: had calmed Usagi, had given Haruka and Hiro some tranquilisers, made sure Umino ate something, had reasoned with Mamoru and Takeshi, and exchanged significant looks with Setsuna. The only person she hadn’t been able to speak with or aid in any way was Minako, who had disappeared right after Takeshi had left to tell Ando about Rei. While Mamoru’s and Umino’s hushed conversation continued, Ami kept on stroking Usagi, soothing herself just as much as the sleeping queen. When they’d been younger and had spent countless nights sleeping on the floor in the temple, they had always cuddled, always slept close to each other. Like puppies, Makoto had once said, laughing. Ami had always loved it. It was an affection given that she could never ask for, and her friends had provided it without question. Now Rei and Makoto were gone, and Michiru too, and the crystals were spreading.
Ami had always been the smartest kid in the class. Had known every answer, had found the solution to every problem. It was only when the crystals had shot up over what she hoped weren’t Rei’s, Makoto’s, and Michiru’s final resting places, that she understood what Crystal Tokyo was. The truth no-one had ever spoken.
The crystals protected the senshi. They protected the city. They were the apocalypse before their utopia. In the future they had seen, this was no less true than in the future they were heading towards now, with the shitennou by their side. Ami still hoped that, as had been the case so often, some magical item or power-up would appear to solve their problems, returning their three lost sisters. Chibi-Usa would be born.
She began to twirl a strand of Usagi’s long hair. It had grown again. Back when they were still school girls, Minako had once cut it and it had regrown in a day. It was one of the many puzzle pieces in revealing Usagi as their Serenity.
Ami had no doubt that Mamoru would rather have Ando executed than risk the existence of the Crystal Tokyo they had once seen. The one with his wife and daughter safe and sound in it. The horrible thing was, because it was logical, utterly logical, she would do the same.
***
Minako was outside, under the starry midnight sky, toying with a pack of cigarettes. She hadn’t smoked in ages, but she was sorely tempted now. Just to have something to do other than wait for Takeshi to return or Mamoru and Usagi to make a decision. Mamoru was knee deep in denial, telling himself that letting Ando take the fall for them all would reconstitute the future their king wished for. Ridiculous. She snorted and turned the pack in her hand, over and over again, and looked up.
The stars twinkled as if the fate of their world wasn’t being decided right then and there.
If you were prone to hiding from the truth, running away from your problems, then looking up at the sky would be the best thing you could do, Minako thought with uncharacteristic cynicism. Even though the city was ravaged by attacks and crystals, the sky looked as it ever did. Like a postcard.
And then she remembered all the postcards Ando had written to both her and Rei over the years, chronicling his adventures in far away lands, a smile or grin in almost every line.
She chucked the pack on the floor, turned on her heels, and strode back into the skyscraper.
***
She returned to find the apartment in upheaval. Haruka had woken and was in an argument with Ami of all people.
As Minako entered the living room, Haruka snorted. “No, Ami, it could not be ‘precisely what happened’. Because the future as we knew it did contain Chibi-Usa and did not contain the shitennou. And most importantly, it contained my wife.”
“Setsuna?” Usagi, with sleep and tears in her eyes, pleaded as she turned to the senshi of time. Setsuna opened her mouth, trying to find the right words.
Before the senshi of time composed an answer, Minako did it for her. She leaned against the doorframe, eyeing the scene in front of her. “Usagi, Setsuna cannot tell us anything. We have to make a decision, and only when that decision is made, does any kind of future manifest itself. There is no one plan etched in stone.”
“So you think there is no destiny,” Umino asked, sounding surprised.
Minako shrugged. “I believe our decisions matter more.” She gave Mamoru a significant look. She had always believed in her queen, and Usagi had always believed in the power of love. Convincing Usagi to save Ando was a piece of cake. Convincing Mamoru, and, as it turned out, Ami and Haruka, was another kettle of fish altogether.
In the hallway behind her, the door to their apartment opened once more. Minako recognised Takeshi’s footsteps immediately. She resisted the urge to turn around, instead listening (as everyone else was doing too) as Takeshi retrieved Hiro from the bedroom. Together, the two men entered the living room.
Takeshi smiled tersely at Mamoru and Usagi, and Minako felt a shiver run down her spine. A lifetime and a half at his side had taught her exactly what this look meant.
“I have spoken with Ando,” Takeshi said. “He wishes to serve his king and queen to the best of his abilities and----”
“No,” Umino whispered, turning ashen.
“And he wishes to do so in whichever form is necessary,” Takeshi continued. “He has asked me to tell you that this is his wish and that you shouldn’t interfere with it.” The leader of the shitennou gave the guard’s youngest member a look. “It’s what he wants, Umino. He says that he’ll see you in another life.”
“Good,” Haruka spat out. “That should re-establish Usagi and Mamoru as non-threatening people of magic and help return peace to the city. Conversation closed.”
“The crystal is still doing damage, irrespective of whether you let Ando fall on his sword,” Umino said. He’d gotten up, and there was fire in his green eyes. “This city is doomed to fail.” He turned to Usagi. “Usa, let’s get Ando, let’s go to Elysion, and once the volcanoes and crystals have run their natural cause, as I’m sure they will, we can return and rebuild. Together.”
“What about Yoshi?” Hiro asked quietly. “What about my parents? What about yours? What about the families we have left, Umino?”
“We take them,” Usagi said immediately, while Mamoru shook his head. “You can’t enter Elysion unless you are…” he fished for the right word and finally, with an expression of disdain, said: “supernatural. We could perhaps be lucky with Yoshi, but we couldn’t take your parents, Hiro. I’m sorry.”
“Then I vote we let Ando do his thing.”
“His thing?” Umino asked. “His THING? Are you--- Hiromasa, we are talking about execution here.”
“We are talking about sacrifice,” Ami said quietly. “It would buy us more time. We can re-route the crystals the way we did with the palace. It’ll be exhausting, but we can do it.”
“You want to grow Crystal Tokyo,” Minako said slowly.
“Are you sure it would work?” Mamoru asked.
“What he wants to ask is whether you’re sure it would work without Michiru, Rei, and Makoto,” Haruka interspersed, and the conversation erupted like the volcano that had killed Rei.
Minako looked at her friends.
They were keen.
They’d found hope.
They’d let Ando die.
She looked at Usagi, who was biting her bottom lip.
“It’s Ando’s decision,” the queen said finally, looking sad and regal. “But for what it’s worth, I wish he’d decide otherwise.”
***
The next day, the remaining senshi and their queen teleported to a former site of battle. It was one where they’d fought alongside the Sailor Starlights, now long since returned to their own galaxy. Minako didn’t even remember what kind of monster she thrown her magic at here. It was without a doubt grotesque, evil, and banished at a moment’s notice. And they’d thought things had been hard back then.
A small volcano was forming there. It was in its beginning stages, which was why Ami had chosen this space. They had used the crystal to seal the volcano under the palace, but the trick had been to turn the crystal into a habitable space. That’s where the difficulty lay.
Sailor Moon knelt down and stretched a gloved hand over the smoking, charred floor. “Heal,” she whispered and the smoke died away instantly. A small crystal grew from the floor as if it were a flower and Sailor Moon was the sun.
“Stop,” Sailor Moon commanded, and the crystal did. She exhaled, and the tension left her shoulders.
“So it’s still controllable,” Uranus commented. “Good. Now let’s go to one that has already grown and see whether we can transform it.”
Their next destination was Naru Osaka’s childhood home. Naru’s mother had long since closed the jewelry shop and retired to the countryside, which was a good thing as the crystals had burst into being with a vengeance. They were wild and untamed and a part of Minako hoped they’d stay like that. If they couldn’t reshape them, then Tokyo was lost to their protective but dangerous power anyway, and there’d be no reason for Ando to be executed. But the part of Minako Aino that was Sailor Venus diligently took Sailor Moon’s outstretched hand in her left and Sailor Mercury’s in her right and closed her eyes, focusing her power on the ruins. A golden, tingly warmth spread through her body. Serenity.
She opened her eyes again and what had formerly been a wild mass was now recognisable as a tower. She looked at her queen: Sailor Moon hadn’t even broken a sweat.
***
Hiro had left the flat. Of course, Umino knew where he’d gone. He was at his house, staring at the crackling crystal, hoping his wife and daughter were still alive underneath. Umino had thought about coming with him, but then he’d remembered how easily Hiro had abandoned the idea of saving Ando and unable to quelch the bitterness growing in him, had remained in Takeshi’s flat.
Its original tenants were in their bedroom, and Umino could hear them talking behind the closed doors. They sounded so very normal. Their voices weren’t hushed or hurried, and nothing betrayed the importance of this day in all of their lives.
Taking a bite from one of the fancy cookies on Setsuna’s equally fancy china, he tried to come up with a way to create the illusion of Ando’s death. If he could fake his friend’s death, then there was really no reason why Ando couldn’t just go Elysion and hide there for--- well, a few hundred years.
They’d find some way to retrieve Makoto and Aiko from the house and then they’d hopefully be able to do the same for Michiru. Umino had little to no hope for Rei though. He’d felt the force of the fire: there was no way she could have survived. But that didn’t mean Ando had to die. There were still enough senshi to aid Usagi and---
he dropped his cookie, got up, went to knock at the bedroom door, and stopped himself. Teetering on the spot, Umino’s mind went in overdrive.
***
Minako had dressed conservatively. Well, not that she’d had a choice. With her own clothes still in the palace, she, much like Usagi and Ami, had been forced to accept Setsuna’s gracious offer to draw on her rich closet. A grey cashmere cardigan set and a mini skirt that unflatteringly came down in the middle of her knees because of course Setsuna was just so damn tall.
Now she was in the oh so hallowed halls of the CTCT where Takeshi still held an office. She hated this place for a number of reasons, but plastered a smile on her face anyway and greeted everyone she walked past as she made her way towards Takeshi’s office. People knew her here: the Queen’s PR woman, her liaison for all things media. Of course, they also knew that she usually partnered with Ando Tanaka, which explained the rather lukewarm response to her fake cheerfulness. Ando had shaken people’s hard-earned belief that magic was a good thing.
She fought the cold dread pooling in her stomach and went on, giving her best to seem unaffected, unworried. What the people needed to see from anyone affiliated with Usagi and Mamoru were the three C’s: calm, cheer, compassion. Of course, the part with the cheer would work so much better if she wasn’t forced to adopt Setsuna’s graveyard sartorial style. Just as she reached the part of the building she was heading towards, she saw a familiar back retreating down a very unfamiliar corridor.
“Takeshi, wait.”
Takeshi turned around without breaking his stride. “Minako, not now. I have to talk to--”
“Setsuna, I know. And people. All people. But you owe me this.”
He came to a stop and slowly turned to face her. His face had gone rigid.
“One minute, Takeshi, one.”
“Fine,” he acknowledged without enthusiasm.
He opened a door marked NO ENTRY and ushered her in. They were in a small, dark, unused office that was mainly taken up by a giant shredder. A couple of boxes filled with documents were shoved against one wall and there was neither a computer nor a window. Interesting. So this was where the CTCT buried its dark secrets, Minako thought, and looked around curiously. No phone either. She hadn’t considered that the CTCT had any secrets but the slightly mythical nature of both its former and current head of department.
“Talk.” Takeshi crossed both arms in front of his chest, an unusually explanative gesture on his part. Clearly, he knew what this conversation was going to be about.
Minako sighed. “You can’t seriously let a mob of scared people shoot one of your own to make a peace that won’t last.”
“It’s Ando’s decision, Minako, not mine.”
“He doesn’t know what he’s thinking. He just lost Rei. Thinks he killed her, even, or had a hand in her death, which is very much the same, so Takeshi, please.” She fixed him with a steely look. Her voice was pleading, her eyes were not. Rei would damn her seven ways to hell if she didn’t protect Ando. She had to do it for her as much as for him. “He’s not thinking clearly. We need to get him out of this prison. Let’s hide him in Elysion.”
“He wants to do this, Minako. For his king.”
She gave him a look that could curdle milk.
“A king who never gave him the time of day? Oh, please. He wants to do it to punish himself. It’s self-inflicted retribution, it’s a bottle of whiskey a day revisited, it’s misery searching for an end. You can’t let him do this.”
They stared at each other, Minako with her fists on her hip, Takeshi with his arms crossed. They were less than a foot apart.
Takeshi cleared his throat and took a step back, forcing him to lean against the big shredder. “Even if I wanted to, and I am not saying that I do, when have I ever been able to keep Ando Tanaka from doing something that ran against my wishes?”
“Ando? Never. Jadeite? More than once.”
He uncrossed his arms and ran a hand over his face; for just a second, her previous fiancé, the man she’d thought of as the love of her life, so tall, strong, decisive, looked small. “We need to make peace, Minako. And the people are so afraid of all things magic that we need to visually separate Usagi and Mamoru from this mess outside. They need to show their people that they make sure the world is a safe place. And Ando killed so many, don’t you deny it.” He was almost pleading with her, asking her to understand. Asking her to let him off the hook.
But Minako Aino was having none of it. “He was aiming for Wiseman! Successfully, I might add. And he’s sorry, so sorry. It was an accident. Do you want to let him punish himself for that? Really?” She stepped closer again and looked him straight in the eyes. “It’s not sacrifice when you don’t have a choice.”
“What is it then?” he asked quietly, his hands now in his pockets.
“Murder,” she hissed.
***
When Setsuna returned to her apartment in the evening, she found it mostly deserted. The only person sitting in the living room was Minako. No longer dressed in her grey cardigan set, Setsuna noted, and wondered where Minako had gotten the dark red blazer and black mini skirt. There was a pair of heels on the thick carpet; clearly designer, and just as evidently, new. Another pair was on Minako’s feet. Apparently, Serenity’s head guardian hadn’t been able to decide.
“Good evening,” Setsuna said politely.
“Evening,” Minako replied, barely looking up from a laptop computer.
Setsuna looked around and listened. No sound reached her ears. The apartment was indeed empty. “Where is everyone?”
Minako closed the computer.
“Usagi, Ami, and Haruka have gone to Jikei Hospital. Ami will treat a couple of people, while Usagi cheers them up, and Haruka acts as bodyguard.”
“Good idea,” Setsuna acknowledged and placed her purse on the floor before sitting down in the armchair. Crossing her legs, she smoothed her skirt. There were plenty of long blonde hairs clinging to the carpet; whether they were Usagi’s or Minako’s, she couldn’t tell.
“And the rest?”
“The shitennou and the King,” Minako began slowly, her expression almost as contained as Setsuna’s, “are in Elysion.”
The senshi of time arched a brow. “Oh? Is Mamoru trying to amplify his healing powers by getting closer to the golden crystal?”
Minako smiled and looked at her new shoes. When she raised her eyes again, there was a glitter of almost feral satisfaction in them. “Good idea, but no. They’re trying to find a way to get Ando out of prison.”
***
Umino had taken them to a tree by a small duck pond. Dangling from one of the larger branches, a swing moved gently in the wind. Umino sat down on the green grass and expectantly looked up at his friends. “What?”
Takeshi blinked. “Please tell me you don’t want us to sit down cross-legged and form a circle, Umino.”
“This is going to be uncomfortable enough, we don’t have to stand around like chess pieces,” the youngest shitennou insisted, and shrugging a shoulder at Takeshi in an ‘it’s not as if it matters’ kind of way, Hiromasa followed Umino’s examples and stretched out on the grass.
He closed his eyes: he’d taken Jupiter here once, he remembered that. They’d gone and ridden on a unicorn. Most magical night of his life. And then he’d been reborn and became a father. Unicorns couldn’t top that, Elysion couldn’t top that, magic couldn’t top that. But perhaps, magic could bring it back. Over the last two days, he’d kept telling himself that Usagi and Mamoru would find a way to rescue Mako and Aiko from the house. And that they were still alive, all evidence to the contrary be damned.
Mamoru and Takeshi looked at each other, and then Mamoru too sat down. Takeshi shook his head and went to lean against the tree.
“So?” Umino prodded, “what’s the plan?”
“What plan?” Hiro asked without opening his eyes.
“The plan to get Ando out,” Umino answered. “Because if this is about anything else, I’m leaving. And I am not talking about Elysion, I mean for good.”
Mamoru did a double take. “What?”
The slight man with his mop of bronze curls, cross-legged on the dewy Elysionic grass, looked at him as if he’d just asked him to explain why the moon revolved around Earth. “I told you last night. I refuse to let Ando die. If this is what you decide on, I am done with you. All of you.”
Takeshi had known this would happen. Zoisite was the strongest of them all. He’d shaken free from Beryl’s influence in the last moments of the Silver Millennium, has died protecting Mercury rather than killing him as he was instructed to. And Umino and Ando were even closer than Zoisite and Jadeite had been, and he didn’t need Umino to explain the logic underlying his decision. They stuck together, they were brothers, they couldn’t let Ando die. If they let Ando die, then they weren’t brothers, and he was free to leave.
“What about Ami?” he asked, drawing on his final bargaining chip in a game he didn’t even play.
“Ami and I will figure something out. I can be with her without being with you.”
“But we are brothers,” Mamoru protested, clearly lagging one step behind.
“Yes, we are. Which is why we need to get Ando. But then I do think that this is what Takeshi wanted to talk to us about, isn’t it?” Umino looked at his commander, a challenge in his eyes.
Before Takeshi could reply, Hiro interfered, sounding simply tired. “Ando doesn’t want saving, Umino.”
“Ando thinks he killed Rei.”
“In a way, he did,” Mamoru supplied, still reeling from Umino’s announcement. Would he really leave? Could he?
Umino looked unimpressed. “Ando killed Rei as much as he killed Michiru or Makoto.”
Hiro opened his red-rimmed eyes and fastened them on his friend. “My wife isn’t dead.”
“I hope so too,” Umino replied sincerely. Makoto Obuchi was one of the nicest people he knew; he cared for her and her little girl deeply. “But that is not my point. He couldn’t have known that she was in the volcano. And what happened to Michiru and Makoto? Wiseman’s fault, not Ando’s. Or rather, the fault of everyone who brought dark energy to Tokyo, which, by the way, includes everyone here but you Mamoru. So don’t blame Ando. I won’t let you.”
A small bird landed on the swing and observed itself in the mirror of the water. Suddenly, it trilled and started back into the sky. Takeshi watched it fly away. He sighed.
“I propose we tell the general public that we have a magical high-security prison available and take Ando there. Tell them that lifelong isolation is a harder punishment than losing your life. And perhaps have Usagi say something to the effect that we want to be better than murderers.”
Mamoru frowned. “They won’t buy it.”
“Usagi can make them buy it,” Umino insisted. “Good plan.”
“And then Ando goes where?” Hiro asked.
“Here,” Takeshi said simply.
The men fell silent.
“Have you spoken to Helios?” Mamoru finally said, turning to Takeshi.
“Can’t find him,” the former architect replied.
“That’s odd,” Mamoru murmured, more to himself than anyone else.
“No, it isn’t,” Umino said. “Take a look around.”
Mamoru did. Tree. Pond. Grass. Sunshine.
“What am I supposed to see?”
Umino waited. Hiro slowly got up and began to walk around. After having taking a turn around the pond, the large man looked up at the green and golden canopy of the tree. Golden.
“Autumn is coming to Elysion,” he said, wonder in his voice.
“Elysion doesn’t have seasons,” Mamoru corrected him, but he too got up and moved to stand beside his friend, staring up. There were indeed some golden leaves. Had there even been golden leaves in Elysion? Had there been rain, snow? He came up with nothing.
“Elysion has fairies, unicorns, dwarves, and a priest. See anyone?” Umino replied, still sitting, playing with a blade of grass.
Takeshi looked around, but didn’t move. “Do you know what this means?” he asked Umino.
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Elysion is the core of this planet. And it’s using its magical properties up.”
“Come again?” Mamoru asked.
“Usagi’s crystal isn’t the only thing trying to fight the remnants of dark energy. Elysion is too. But even Elysion’s powers are finite.” He shrugged. “We can hide Ando here, but we can’t hide him here forever.”
Hiro blinked, and shook his head, and blinked again. “Can you explain to me why the fuck you’re so… tranquil?”
“Because this isn’t how it ends.”
“And how does it end?”
“Ask Setsuna,” Umino replied simply. “But then again, I don’t think she’s figured it out yet.” He looked at Takeshi. “Tell your girlfriend she’s looking at the wrong version of the future.”
“I’m sorry,” Mamoru said, confusion written all over his face, “but can you please explain yourself?”
“No,” Umino said, and there was steel in his eyes. “What I can do and will do is insist that we stand together. We don’t sacrifice our friends, families, hopes, ideals. We try to be the best people we can be, for as long as we can be. And if that’s how it ends, then everything will be okay. I know that for sure.”
“You’re not making any sense, Umino,” Mamoru replied. He knelt down to face his friend and reached over to cover one of Umino’s thin hands with his own. Perhaps he’d been more grievously injured than Mamoru thought. Protecting the palace for as long as he could… it might have done something to him.
“What do you propose we do about Ando?” Umino insisted, his hair ruffled by the wind. He looked utterly normal, utterly undamaged.
Mamoru looked to Hiro and Takeshi. “I--- it’s not as if I want him dead,” he finally exclaimed and Umino broke into a smile. “Good, that settles it then.” He got up and brushed some grass off his pants. “Good meeting, Takeshi, thanks.” And, patting Mamoru’s shoulder once, he wandered off, leaving three befuddled men behind.
***
That evening, observed by everyone with a functioning television or internet access, the King and Queen moved back into their ruined palace.
Unseen, Hiromasa, Haruka, Minako, and Umino did too.
***
In the flat that now felt almost deserted in its quietness, a storm was raging.
“It’s his destiny, Takeshi,” Setsuna exclaimed, her infallible patience almost at an end.
Takeshi got up, restlessly moving through his living room, sidestepping a pair of heels one of their guests must have forgotten. “I find that the idea of being shot in front of a scared crowd has little to do with destiny, Setsuna. It’s murder.”
Setsuna threw her hands up in protest. “The future has revealed itself to me, and this is Ando Tanaka’s calling. He was always destined to die for his king.”
Takeshi turned to her, his voice cold. “He is one of my men, Setsuna. I will not let someone shoot him in the back of his head to protect a future that would make Mamoru unhappy anyway.”
“Then shoot him yourself. He has to die. There will be no peace without a sacrifice. It’s the price of the happy ending that Usagi and Mamoru so deserve!”
“I dare say we have sacrificed enough,” Takeshi finally roared.
Setsuna blinked. She’d never witnessed him raising his voice, not to her, not to anyone. Makoto had once told her that the night Takeshi left Minako, he’d been in a shouting match with Ando. Because of Minako. That was the only time she’d ever heard of him losing control like that. It set her teeth on edge.
Hiding her rage, she sat down again. She took a moment to arrange her clothes before speaking again, sounding ever so nonchalant. “Why do I have the feeling that you are talking about your former relationship rather than Makoto, Aiko, Rei, and Michiru?”
Taking a sip of Merlot, she put put her glass down on the polished table that had never not been protected with a coaster.
Takeshi narrowed his eyes.
“I will not lay a hand on Ando. And neither will you. We will find another way to solve this. We have changed the future once, we can do so again. After all, I have not entered into an alliance with Wiseman, our group is not divided, and----”
Setsuna shot up. “That was a vision, Takeshi. The Deep Aqua Mirror shows you what can be, not what has to be. What I saw was destiny unfolded, time and time again. Don’t be a fool.”
“I haven’t been one in many hundred years,” he insisted, “I have once chosen to sacrifice an innocent life for the greater good, and look where it led us. It was the downfall of a civilization. I will not make this mistake again.”
“It’s his destiny, Takeshi! It will come to be, whether you want to or not, whether you pull the trigger or not, whether you throw yourself in front of him as someone else fires the shot or not. He will die. He was born for it.”
Takeshi stroked his tie. Looking at Setsuna now made him think of the ocean right before the storm. You could feel the wave that was about to hit before it rose, feel its pull before it drew you under. His ship was caught with nowhere to go but down down down. He cleared his throat and looked into those exceptional purple eyes. “If you put so much stock in destiny,” he paused, visibly having to collect himself. “If you put so much stock in destiny, then how come I am sitting here with you instead of her?”
“Not the same thing,” Setsuna insisted, her eyes wide. It was hard to surprise her, but the conversation had suddenly taken a turn she hadn’t expected.
“How so?” he asked calmly.
She opened her mouth.
“How so, Setsuna? If our choices matter so little?” There was a world of grief in his eyes.
She closed her mouth, suddenly finding that there was very little left to be said. He was right. She believed in destiny. It was who she was. And destiny did not allow for her to have a companion. He wasn’t hers to keep.
“I need you to support me in this, Setsuna. We can’t let Ando die.”
Knowing what the next words would cost her, she shook her head. “He has to.”
Takeshi got up and made for the door. Not turning around, he paused for a moment. “We could have had a good life. A good, honest, purposeful life together.”
And then he left, softly closing the door behind him.
*** End of Chapter 16 ***
Summary: Crystal Tokyo has arrived. So has Ando Tanaka.
Warnings: All the sad pandas.
A/N: One reference to Desmond and Lost. Thousand thanks to Charlie.
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
Setsuna’s and Takeshi’s bedroom was naturally very sleek and clean. There was only one framed print on the wall, a black and white skyline. Nothing so common as Paris, New York, London. It was Athens, its ancient buildings impressive even under a sky that was robbed of its daily cornflower blue, or its equally beautiful midnight shades.
The walls were painted white, the linens were white, the curtains were, too. The only blast of colour in the room came from the deep purple roses on the vanity. It was a tradition: every Saturday, Takeshi would bring Setsuna flowers. Always roses, always in a berry colour. She had long ago given up wondering why he never brought her anything yellow or orange. Thoughts like that were Pandora’s box, and she was far too smart to open it.
Right now, Takeshi was with Ando, and it was a duty Setsuna was not envious of. Telling Ando that he had killed Rei, albeit by accident, was an experience she could gladly do without. Setsuna moved to the window, brushing the curtains aside. The attacks had stopped, but the growth of the crystals had not. They had begun spreading again. Like fire that greedily consumed everything in its path, the crystals had claimed the city.
They had given Tokyo a skyline unlike any other in the world, but Setsuna knew that there would be too few left living to turn the ragged lines against the midnight sky into art. Every single place once tainted by darkness, every spot where they senshi had fought a monster, the crystal now reclaimed. Every new volcano that appeared, it covered. It was a protective growth, but that didn’t make it any less deadly.
She laughed, a sorry sound in the silence, and her hand flew to her mouth to cover it.
Crystal Tokyo. It was a joke they all had gotten far too late.
***
“We could just stay in Elysion,” Umino suggested in hushed, hurried whispers, trying not to wake Usagi, who had finally fallen asleep with her head on Ami’s lap. The little queen was sprawled on the couch, relegating everyone else to the armchair or floor. The tears in the corners of her eyes hadn’t yet dried. “Wait until the volcanoes have either taken over or gone quiet, wait until people forget what Ando did. We could sit it out here in Elysion, and then return when things are safe again and--”
“That could be hundreds of years,” Mamoru interjected, shaking his head. The discussion had gone on for hours, begun long before Takeshi left to deliver the news to Ando, but Umino was not willing to give up. There was a defiance in his eyes, his chin jutted upwards.
“Elysion is safe. A hundred years in safety are nothing to people who do not age, Mamoru. This might be how it was always supposed to be. It would only be logical.”
“Maybe so, maybe not. We don’t know how the future comes into being. Perhaps this is precisely what happened? It would explain why we never saw Ando in the future.” Mamoru whispered back, returning to a point he had made more than once tonight. He didn’t want Ando to die, but he couldn’t jeopardise everything. He was responsible for every soul inside and outside the walls of Takeshi’s home and he would not let them down.
Umino gave his king a long hard look. “You also didn’t see me or Takeshi, but you did see Rei and Makoto.”
Ami ran a hand over Usagi’s head, lost in thought and no longer willing or able to pay attention to her husband’s argument with Mamoru. She had taken care of everyone in the last day: had calmed Usagi, had given Haruka and Hiro some tranquilisers, made sure Umino ate something, had reasoned with Mamoru and Takeshi, and exchanged significant looks with Setsuna. The only person she hadn’t been able to speak with or aid in any way was Minako, who had disappeared right after Takeshi had left to tell Ando about Rei. While Mamoru’s and Umino’s hushed conversation continued, Ami kept on stroking Usagi, soothing herself just as much as the sleeping queen. When they’d been younger and had spent countless nights sleeping on the floor in the temple, they had always cuddled, always slept close to each other. Like puppies, Makoto had once said, laughing. Ami had always loved it. It was an affection given that she could never ask for, and her friends had provided it without question. Now Rei and Makoto were gone, and Michiru too, and the crystals were spreading.
Ami had always been the smartest kid in the class. Had known every answer, had found the solution to every problem. It was only when the crystals had shot up over what she hoped weren’t Rei’s, Makoto’s, and Michiru’s final resting places, that she understood what Crystal Tokyo was. The truth no-one had ever spoken.
The crystals protected the senshi. They protected the city. They were the apocalypse before their utopia. In the future they had seen, this was no less true than in the future they were heading towards now, with the shitennou by their side. Ami still hoped that, as had been the case so often, some magical item or power-up would appear to solve their problems, returning their three lost sisters. Chibi-Usa would be born.
She began to twirl a strand of Usagi’s long hair. It had grown again. Back when they were still school girls, Minako had once cut it and it had regrown in a day. It was one of the many puzzle pieces in revealing Usagi as their Serenity.
Ami had no doubt that Mamoru would rather have Ando executed than risk the existence of the Crystal Tokyo they had once seen. The one with his wife and daughter safe and sound in it. The horrible thing was, because it was logical, utterly logical, she would do the same.
***
Minako was outside, under the starry midnight sky, toying with a pack of cigarettes. She hadn’t smoked in ages, but she was sorely tempted now. Just to have something to do other than wait for Takeshi to return or Mamoru and Usagi to make a decision. Mamoru was knee deep in denial, telling himself that letting Ando take the fall for them all would reconstitute the future their king wished for. Ridiculous. She snorted and turned the pack in her hand, over and over again, and looked up.
The stars twinkled as if the fate of their world wasn’t being decided right then and there.
If you were prone to hiding from the truth, running away from your problems, then looking up at the sky would be the best thing you could do, Minako thought with uncharacteristic cynicism. Even though the city was ravaged by attacks and crystals, the sky looked as it ever did. Like a postcard.
And then she remembered all the postcards Ando had written to both her and Rei over the years, chronicling his adventures in far away lands, a smile or grin in almost every line.
She chucked the pack on the floor, turned on her heels, and strode back into the skyscraper.
***
She returned to find the apartment in upheaval. Haruka had woken and was in an argument with Ami of all people.
As Minako entered the living room, Haruka snorted. “No, Ami, it could not be ‘precisely what happened’. Because the future as we knew it did contain Chibi-Usa and did not contain the shitennou. And most importantly, it contained my wife.”
“Setsuna?” Usagi, with sleep and tears in her eyes, pleaded as she turned to the senshi of time. Setsuna opened her mouth, trying to find the right words.
Before the senshi of time composed an answer, Minako did it for her. She leaned against the doorframe, eyeing the scene in front of her. “Usagi, Setsuna cannot tell us anything. We have to make a decision, and only when that decision is made, does any kind of future manifest itself. There is no one plan etched in stone.”
“So you think there is no destiny,” Umino asked, sounding surprised.
Minako shrugged. “I believe our decisions matter more.” She gave Mamoru a significant look. She had always believed in her queen, and Usagi had always believed in the power of love. Convincing Usagi to save Ando was a piece of cake. Convincing Mamoru, and, as it turned out, Ami and Haruka, was another kettle of fish altogether.
In the hallway behind her, the door to their apartment opened once more. Minako recognised Takeshi’s footsteps immediately. She resisted the urge to turn around, instead listening (as everyone else was doing too) as Takeshi retrieved Hiro from the bedroom. Together, the two men entered the living room.
Takeshi smiled tersely at Mamoru and Usagi, and Minako felt a shiver run down her spine. A lifetime and a half at his side had taught her exactly what this look meant.
“I have spoken with Ando,” Takeshi said. “He wishes to serve his king and queen to the best of his abilities and----”
“No,” Umino whispered, turning ashen.
“And he wishes to do so in whichever form is necessary,” Takeshi continued. “He has asked me to tell you that this is his wish and that you shouldn’t interfere with it.” The leader of the shitennou gave the guard’s youngest member a look. “It’s what he wants, Umino. He says that he’ll see you in another life.”
“Good,” Haruka spat out. “That should re-establish Usagi and Mamoru as non-threatening people of magic and help return peace to the city. Conversation closed.”
“The crystal is still doing damage, irrespective of whether you let Ando fall on his sword,” Umino said. He’d gotten up, and there was fire in his green eyes. “This city is doomed to fail.” He turned to Usagi. “Usa, let’s get Ando, let’s go to Elysion, and once the volcanoes and crystals have run their natural cause, as I’m sure they will, we can return and rebuild. Together.”
“What about Yoshi?” Hiro asked quietly. “What about my parents? What about yours? What about the families we have left, Umino?”
“We take them,” Usagi said immediately, while Mamoru shook his head. “You can’t enter Elysion unless you are…” he fished for the right word and finally, with an expression of disdain, said: “supernatural. We could perhaps be lucky with Yoshi, but we couldn’t take your parents, Hiro. I’m sorry.”
“Then I vote we let Ando do his thing.”
“His thing?” Umino asked. “His THING? Are you--- Hiromasa, we are talking about execution here.”
“We are talking about sacrifice,” Ami said quietly. “It would buy us more time. We can re-route the crystals the way we did with the palace. It’ll be exhausting, but we can do it.”
“You want to grow Crystal Tokyo,” Minako said slowly.
“Are you sure it would work?” Mamoru asked.
“What he wants to ask is whether you’re sure it would work without Michiru, Rei, and Makoto,” Haruka interspersed, and the conversation erupted like the volcano that had killed Rei.
Minako looked at her friends.
They were keen.
They’d found hope.
They’d let Ando die.
She looked at Usagi, who was biting her bottom lip.
“It’s Ando’s decision,” the queen said finally, looking sad and regal. “But for what it’s worth, I wish he’d decide otherwise.”
***
The next day, the remaining senshi and their queen teleported to a former site of battle. It was one where they’d fought alongside the Sailor Starlights, now long since returned to their own galaxy. Minako didn’t even remember what kind of monster she thrown her magic at here. It was without a doubt grotesque, evil, and banished at a moment’s notice. And they’d thought things had been hard back then.
A small volcano was forming there. It was in its beginning stages, which was why Ami had chosen this space. They had used the crystal to seal the volcano under the palace, but the trick had been to turn the crystal into a habitable space. That’s where the difficulty lay.
Sailor Moon knelt down and stretched a gloved hand over the smoking, charred floor. “Heal,” she whispered and the smoke died away instantly. A small crystal grew from the floor as if it were a flower and Sailor Moon was the sun.
“Stop,” Sailor Moon commanded, and the crystal did. She exhaled, and the tension left her shoulders.
“So it’s still controllable,” Uranus commented. “Good. Now let’s go to one that has already grown and see whether we can transform it.”
Their next destination was Naru Osaka’s childhood home. Naru’s mother had long since closed the jewelry shop and retired to the countryside, which was a good thing as the crystals had burst into being with a vengeance. They were wild and untamed and a part of Minako hoped they’d stay like that. If they couldn’t reshape them, then Tokyo was lost to their protective but dangerous power anyway, and there’d be no reason for Ando to be executed. But the part of Minako Aino that was Sailor Venus diligently took Sailor Moon’s outstretched hand in her left and Sailor Mercury’s in her right and closed her eyes, focusing her power on the ruins. A golden, tingly warmth spread through her body. Serenity.
She opened her eyes again and what had formerly been a wild mass was now recognisable as a tower. She looked at her queen: Sailor Moon hadn’t even broken a sweat.
***
Hiro had left the flat. Of course, Umino knew where he’d gone. He was at his house, staring at the crackling crystal, hoping his wife and daughter were still alive underneath. Umino had thought about coming with him, but then he’d remembered how easily Hiro had abandoned the idea of saving Ando and unable to quelch the bitterness growing in him, had remained in Takeshi’s flat.
Its original tenants were in their bedroom, and Umino could hear them talking behind the closed doors. They sounded so very normal. Their voices weren’t hushed or hurried, and nothing betrayed the importance of this day in all of their lives.
Taking a bite from one of the fancy cookies on Setsuna’s equally fancy china, he tried to come up with a way to create the illusion of Ando’s death. If he could fake his friend’s death, then there was really no reason why Ando couldn’t just go Elysion and hide there for--- well, a few hundred years.
They’d find some way to retrieve Makoto and Aiko from the house and then they’d hopefully be able to do the same for Michiru. Umino had little to no hope for Rei though. He’d felt the force of the fire: there was no way she could have survived. But that didn’t mean Ando had to die. There were still enough senshi to aid Usagi and---
he dropped his cookie, got up, went to knock at the bedroom door, and stopped himself. Teetering on the spot, Umino’s mind went in overdrive.
***
Minako had dressed conservatively. Well, not that she’d had a choice. With her own clothes still in the palace, she, much like Usagi and Ami, had been forced to accept Setsuna’s gracious offer to draw on her rich closet. A grey cashmere cardigan set and a mini skirt that unflatteringly came down in the middle of her knees because of course Setsuna was just so damn tall.
Now she was in the oh so hallowed halls of the CTCT where Takeshi still held an office. She hated this place for a number of reasons, but plastered a smile on her face anyway and greeted everyone she walked past as she made her way towards Takeshi’s office. People knew her here: the Queen’s PR woman, her liaison for all things media. Of course, they also knew that she usually partnered with Ando Tanaka, which explained the rather lukewarm response to her fake cheerfulness. Ando had shaken people’s hard-earned belief that magic was a good thing.
She fought the cold dread pooling in her stomach and went on, giving her best to seem unaffected, unworried. What the people needed to see from anyone affiliated with Usagi and Mamoru were the three C’s: calm, cheer, compassion. Of course, the part with the cheer would work so much better if she wasn’t forced to adopt Setsuna’s graveyard sartorial style. Just as she reached the part of the building she was heading towards, she saw a familiar back retreating down a very unfamiliar corridor.
“Takeshi, wait.”
Takeshi turned around without breaking his stride. “Minako, not now. I have to talk to--”
“Setsuna, I know. And people. All people. But you owe me this.”
He came to a stop and slowly turned to face her. His face had gone rigid.
“One minute, Takeshi, one.”
“Fine,” he acknowledged without enthusiasm.
He opened a door marked NO ENTRY and ushered her in. They were in a small, dark, unused office that was mainly taken up by a giant shredder. A couple of boxes filled with documents were shoved against one wall and there was neither a computer nor a window. Interesting. So this was where the CTCT buried its dark secrets, Minako thought, and looked around curiously. No phone either. She hadn’t considered that the CTCT had any secrets but the slightly mythical nature of both its former and current head of department.
“Talk.” Takeshi crossed both arms in front of his chest, an unusually explanative gesture on his part. Clearly, he knew what this conversation was going to be about.
Minako sighed. “You can’t seriously let a mob of scared people shoot one of your own to make a peace that won’t last.”
“It’s Ando’s decision, Minako, not mine.”
“He doesn’t know what he’s thinking. He just lost Rei. Thinks he killed her, even, or had a hand in her death, which is very much the same, so Takeshi, please.” She fixed him with a steely look. Her voice was pleading, her eyes were not. Rei would damn her seven ways to hell if she didn’t protect Ando. She had to do it for her as much as for him. “He’s not thinking clearly. We need to get him out of this prison. Let’s hide him in Elysion.”
“He wants to do this, Minako. For his king.”
She gave him a look that could curdle milk.
“A king who never gave him the time of day? Oh, please. He wants to do it to punish himself. It’s self-inflicted retribution, it’s a bottle of whiskey a day revisited, it’s misery searching for an end. You can’t let him do this.”
They stared at each other, Minako with her fists on her hip, Takeshi with his arms crossed. They were less than a foot apart.
Takeshi cleared his throat and took a step back, forcing him to lean against the big shredder. “Even if I wanted to, and I am not saying that I do, when have I ever been able to keep Ando Tanaka from doing something that ran against my wishes?”
“Ando? Never. Jadeite? More than once.”
He uncrossed his arms and ran a hand over his face; for just a second, her previous fiancé, the man she’d thought of as the love of her life, so tall, strong, decisive, looked small. “We need to make peace, Minako. And the people are so afraid of all things magic that we need to visually separate Usagi and Mamoru from this mess outside. They need to show their people that they make sure the world is a safe place. And Ando killed so many, don’t you deny it.” He was almost pleading with her, asking her to understand. Asking her to let him off the hook.
But Minako Aino was having none of it. “He was aiming for Wiseman! Successfully, I might add. And he’s sorry, so sorry. It was an accident. Do you want to let him punish himself for that? Really?” She stepped closer again and looked him straight in the eyes. “It’s not sacrifice when you don’t have a choice.”
“What is it then?” he asked quietly, his hands now in his pockets.
“Murder,” she hissed.
***
When Setsuna returned to her apartment in the evening, she found it mostly deserted. The only person sitting in the living room was Minako. No longer dressed in her grey cardigan set, Setsuna noted, and wondered where Minako had gotten the dark red blazer and black mini skirt. There was a pair of heels on the thick carpet; clearly designer, and just as evidently, new. Another pair was on Minako’s feet. Apparently, Serenity’s head guardian hadn’t been able to decide.
“Good evening,” Setsuna said politely.
“Evening,” Minako replied, barely looking up from a laptop computer.
Setsuna looked around and listened. No sound reached her ears. The apartment was indeed empty. “Where is everyone?”
Minako closed the computer.
“Usagi, Ami, and Haruka have gone to Jikei Hospital. Ami will treat a couple of people, while Usagi cheers them up, and Haruka acts as bodyguard.”
“Good idea,” Setsuna acknowledged and placed her purse on the floor before sitting down in the armchair. Crossing her legs, she smoothed her skirt. There were plenty of long blonde hairs clinging to the carpet; whether they were Usagi’s or Minako’s, she couldn’t tell.
“And the rest?”
“The shitennou and the King,” Minako began slowly, her expression almost as contained as Setsuna’s, “are in Elysion.”
The senshi of time arched a brow. “Oh? Is Mamoru trying to amplify his healing powers by getting closer to the golden crystal?”
Minako smiled and looked at her new shoes. When she raised her eyes again, there was a glitter of almost feral satisfaction in them. “Good idea, but no. They’re trying to find a way to get Ando out of prison.”
***
Umino had taken them to a tree by a small duck pond. Dangling from one of the larger branches, a swing moved gently in the wind. Umino sat down on the green grass and expectantly looked up at his friends. “What?”
Takeshi blinked. “Please tell me you don’t want us to sit down cross-legged and form a circle, Umino.”
“This is going to be uncomfortable enough, we don’t have to stand around like chess pieces,” the youngest shitennou insisted, and shrugging a shoulder at Takeshi in an ‘it’s not as if it matters’ kind of way, Hiromasa followed Umino’s examples and stretched out on the grass.
He closed his eyes: he’d taken Jupiter here once, he remembered that. They’d gone and ridden on a unicorn. Most magical night of his life. And then he’d been reborn and became a father. Unicorns couldn’t top that, Elysion couldn’t top that, magic couldn’t top that. But perhaps, magic could bring it back. Over the last two days, he’d kept telling himself that Usagi and Mamoru would find a way to rescue Mako and Aiko from the house. And that they were still alive, all evidence to the contrary be damned.
Mamoru and Takeshi looked at each other, and then Mamoru too sat down. Takeshi shook his head and went to lean against the tree.
“So?” Umino prodded, “what’s the plan?”
“What plan?” Hiro asked without opening his eyes.
“The plan to get Ando out,” Umino answered. “Because if this is about anything else, I’m leaving. And I am not talking about Elysion, I mean for good.”
Mamoru did a double take. “What?”
The slight man with his mop of bronze curls, cross-legged on the dewy Elysionic grass, looked at him as if he’d just asked him to explain why the moon revolved around Earth. “I told you last night. I refuse to let Ando die. If this is what you decide on, I am done with you. All of you.”
Takeshi had known this would happen. Zoisite was the strongest of them all. He’d shaken free from Beryl’s influence in the last moments of the Silver Millennium, has died protecting Mercury rather than killing him as he was instructed to. And Umino and Ando were even closer than Zoisite and Jadeite had been, and he didn’t need Umino to explain the logic underlying his decision. They stuck together, they were brothers, they couldn’t let Ando die. If they let Ando die, then they weren’t brothers, and he was free to leave.
“What about Ami?” he asked, drawing on his final bargaining chip in a game he didn’t even play.
“Ami and I will figure something out. I can be with her without being with you.”
“But we are brothers,” Mamoru protested, clearly lagging one step behind.
“Yes, we are. Which is why we need to get Ando. But then I do think that this is what Takeshi wanted to talk to us about, isn’t it?” Umino looked at his commander, a challenge in his eyes.
Before Takeshi could reply, Hiro interfered, sounding simply tired. “Ando doesn’t want saving, Umino.”
“Ando thinks he killed Rei.”
“In a way, he did,” Mamoru supplied, still reeling from Umino’s announcement. Would he really leave? Could he?
Umino looked unimpressed. “Ando killed Rei as much as he killed Michiru or Makoto.”
Hiro opened his red-rimmed eyes and fastened them on his friend. “My wife isn’t dead.”
“I hope so too,” Umino replied sincerely. Makoto Obuchi was one of the nicest people he knew; he cared for her and her little girl deeply. “But that is not my point. He couldn’t have known that she was in the volcano. And what happened to Michiru and Makoto? Wiseman’s fault, not Ando’s. Or rather, the fault of everyone who brought dark energy to Tokyo, which, by the way, includes everyone here but you Mamoru. So don’t blame Ando. I won’t let you.”
A small bird landed on the swing and observed itself in the mirror of the water. Suddenly, it trilled and started back into the sky. Takeshi watched it fly away. He sighed.
“I propose we tell the general public that we have a magical high-security prison available and take Ando there. Tell them that lifelong isolation is a harder punishment than losing your life. And perhaps have Usagi say something to the effect that we want to be better than murderers.”
Mamoru frowned. “They won’t buy it.”
“Usagi can make them buy it,” Umino insisted. “Good plan.”
“And then Ando goes where?” Hiro asked.
“Here,” Takeshi said simply.
The men fell silent.
“Have you spoken to Helios?” Mamoru finally said, turning to Takeshi.
“Can’t find him,” the former architect replied.
“That’s odd,” Mamoru murmured, more to himself than anyone else.
“No, it isn’t,” Umino said. “Take a look around.”
Mamoru did. Tree. Pond. Grass. Sunshine.
“What am I supposed to see?”
Umino waited. Hiro slowly got up and began to walk around. After having taking a turn around the pond, the large man looked up at the green and golden canopy of the tree. Golden.
“Autumn is coming to Elysion,” he said, wonder in his voice.
“Elysion doesn’t have seasons,” Mamoru corrected him, but he too got up and moved to stand beside his friend, staring up. There were indeed some golden leaves. Had there even been golden leaves in Elysion? Had there been rain, snow? He came up with nothing.
“Elysion has fairies, unicorns, dwarves, and a priest. See anyone?” Umino replied, still sitting, playing with a blade of grass.
Takeshi looked around, but didn’t move. “Do you know what this means?” he asked Umino.
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Elysion is the core of this planet. And it’s using its magical properties up.”
“Come again?” Mamoru asked.
“Usagi’s crystal isn’t the only thing trying to fight the remnants of dark energy. Elysion is too. But even Elysion’s powers are finite.” He shrugged. “We can hide Ando here, but we can’t hide him here forever.”
Hiro blinked, and shook his head, and blinked again. “Can you explain to me why the fuck you’re so… tranquil?”
“Because this isn’t how it ends.”
“And how does it end?”
“Ask Setsuna,” Umino replied simply. “But then again, I don’t think she’s figured it out yet.” He looked at Takeshi. “Tell your girlfriend she’s looking at the wrong version of the future.”
“I’m sorry,” Mamoru said, confusion written all over his face, “but can you please explain yourself?”
“No,” Umino said, and there was steel in his eyes. “What I can do and will do is insist that we stand together. We don’t sacrifice our friends, families, hopes, ideals. We try to be the best people we can be, for as long as we can be. And if that’s how it ends, then everything will be okay. I know that for sure.”
“You’re not making any sense, Umino,” Mamoru replied. He knelt down to face his friend and reached over to cover one of Umino’s thin hands with his own. Perhaps he’d been more grievously injured than Mamoru thought. Protecting the palace for as long as he could… it might have done something to him.
“What do you propose we do about Ando?” Umino insisted, his hair ruffled by the wind. He looked utterly normal, utterly undamaged.
Mamoru looked to Hiro and Takeshi. “I--- it’s not as if I want him dead,” he finally exclaimed and Umino broke into a smile. “Good, that settles it then.” He got up and brushed some grass off his pants. “Good meeting, Takeshi, thanks.” And, patting Mamoru’s shoulder once, he wandered off, leaving three befuddled men behind.
***
That evening, observed by everyone with a functioning television or internet access, the King and Queen moved back into their ruined palace.
Unseen, Hiromasa, Haruka, Minako, and Umino did too.
***
In the flat that now felt almost deserted in its quietness, a storm was raging.
“It’s his destiny, Takeshi,” Setsuna exclaimed, her infallible patience almost at an end.
Takeshi got up, restlessly moving through his living room, sidestepping a pair of heels one of their guests must have forgotten. “I find that the idea of being shot in front of a scared crowd has little to do with destiny, Setsuna. It’s murder.”
Setsuna threw her hands up in protest. “The future has revealed itself to me, and this is Ando Tanaka’s calling. He was always destined to die for his king.”
Takeshi turned to her, his voice cold. “He is one of my men, Setsuna. I will not let someone shoot him in the back of his head to protect a future that would make Mamoru unhappy anyway.”
“Then shoot him yourself. He has to die. There will be no peace without a sacrifice. It’s the price of the happy ending that Usagi and Mamoru so deserve!”
“I dare say we have sacrificed enough,” Takeshi finally roared.
Setsuna blinked. She’d never witnessed him raising his voice, not to her, not to anyone. Makoto had once told her that the night Takeshi left Minako, he’d been in a shouting match with Ando. Because of Minako. That was the only time she’d ever heard of him losing control like that. It set her teeth on edge.
Hiding her rage, she sat down again. She took a moment to arrange her clothes before speaking again, sounding ever so nonchalant. “Why do I have the feeling that you are talking about your former relationship rather than Makoto, Aiko, Rei, and Michiru?”
Taking a sip of Merlot, she put put her glass down on the polished table that had never not been protected with a coaster.
Takeshi narrowed his eyes.
“I will not lay a hand on Ando. And neither will you. We will find another way to solve this. We have changed the future once, we can do so again. After all, I have not entered into an alliance with Wiseman, our group is not divided, and----”
Setsuna shot up. “That was a vision, Takeshi. The Deep Aqua Mirror shows you what can be, not what has to be. What I saw was destiny unfolded, time and time again. Don’t be a fool.”
“I haven’t been one in many hundred years,” he insisted, “I have once chosen to sacrifice an innocent life for the greater good, and look where it led us. It was the downfall of a civilization. I will not make this mistake again.”
“It’s his destiny, Takeshi! It will come to be, whether you want to or not, whether you pull the trigger or not, whether you throw yourself in front of him as someone else fires the shot or not. He will die. He was born for it.”
Takeshi stroked his tie. Looking at Setsuna now made him think of the ocean right before the storm. You could feel the wave that was about to hit before it rose, feel its pull before it drew you under. His ship was caught with nowhere to go but down down down. He cleared his throat and looked into those exceptional purple eyes. “If you put so much stock in destiny,” he paused, visibly having to collect himself. “If you put so much stock in destiny, then how come I am sitting here with you instead of her?”
“Not the same thing,” Setsuna insisted, her eyes wide. It was hard to surprise her, but the conversation had suddenly taken a turn she hadn’t expected.
“How so?” he asked calmly.
She opened her mouth.
“How so, Setsuna? If our choices matter so little?” There was a world of grief in his eyes.
She closed her mouth, suddenly finding that there was very little left to be said. He was right. She believed in destiny. It was who she was. And destiny did not allow for her to have a companion. He wasn’t hers to keep.
“I need you to support me in this, Setsuna. We can’t let Ando die.”
Knowing what the next words would cost her, she shook her head. “He has to.”
Takeshi got up and made for the door. Not turning around, he paused for a moment. “We could have had a good life. A good, honest, purposeful life together.”
And then he left, softly closing the door behind him.
*** End of Chapter 16 ***