After reading The Lovely Bones (by Alice Sebold) I came up with this story. Pardon the darkness…. Enjoy.

Night, night seemed to fall almost instantly as I gathered my courage to leave the school. Life had a way of getting by after tragedy as it had once we defeated Galaxia. My life seemed to get along anyhow, some people couldn't be expected to forget and move on. I was their champion I had no choice. It had happened quickly, a flicker of time frozen for just a moment. The dust cleared, the pain of loss faded and we stood, solders of justice united once more. Michiru and Haruka took Hotaru to England expecting to give her a different kind of life. Setsuna made her way back to the gates of time promising to visit more often than she had. Rei fell into herself feeling the most pressure to succeed and the weight of her failure; no one had heard from her since the wedding. Minako became the opposite stepping into the spot light of an idol as she toured the world as a star. Ami did exactly what we all thought, Ami studied. Mamoru and I married and after a year had our first child, Chibi-usa. The world she had traveled from in the future was no longer a realization as the terror of evil had been destroyed; she did however enjoy the stories we told her. Makoto owned a diner, she spent her days cooking and her nights drinking gin and trying anything to forget that night.

'Usagi!'

'Hai.' I said leaning into the cool breeze of the August night smiling brightly at my dear friend Ami.

'I never expected to see you leaving a school at this late hour.' Ami said closing her eyes in the wind.

'Mamo-chan wants me to study harder, as a good wife I want to do as he says.'

'Usagi-chan you are so good to him.' Ami laughed wrapping one of her thin arms through my own. 'Let's get bubble tea and catch up.' I brightened at the prospect of sweets and let her pull me to the local diner. We took seats next to the window and ordered our tea and cake. Ami spoke first. 'It's been too long.'

'Hai.' I agreed happily. It really had been none of us had been together since I married Mamoru, and only a few had come for the birth of Chibi-usa.

'How is Chibi-usa-chan?' Ami asked once our tea was left on the table. I took a long sip and shoved my fork into the cake.

'Fine.' I said through vanilla layers. Ami smiled. 'She's going to be two in a month, she's smarter than any other two year old but that's not surprising.'

'No. Not for Chibi-usa.'

'She's exactly the same though. She remembers Crystal Tokyo and is still sure it's coming.' I sipped my tea and stare for a moment thinking of my small child, her lust for adventure so different from my need to hide away from the things that go bump. How our lives were different, she would likely never be called to safe the world, as she so desperately longed for yet I had the honor more times than I liked.

'What are you taking at the college?'

'Household and finance. Mamoru thinks it's best if I get better at being a wife.' I frowned at this truth.

'He loves you.'

'Hai.' I agreed regaining my cheer. Mamoru did love me, of that there was no question. And I wanted to be a good wife for him, a good mother for Chibi-usa. It was hard for me, I was to easily distracted and the usual things that came easy to a woman didn't come for me at all. Ami's watch beeped and set off a series of events I watched in wonder and surprise. Ami nodded to her watch as if to acknowledge its beep, she then pulled open her bag and removed a small bottle, from the bottle she pulled three blue pills and placing them onto the whipped cream of her cake, ate them. She sat quiet for a moment before her eyes met mine.

'It's for my anxiety.' She said softly. I said nothing. When we parted that night I wondered how it was that I, the barer of the most tragic of the events could have moved past it when so many of my friends were left unable. I made my way to the bus station and stood where my bus would pick up. Mamoru would be worried because I was late but he would understand once I explained things. Chibi-usa would be asleep. I saw the bus round the corner and slow coming to a stop just in front of me. I stepped onto the bus and took the only remaining seat next to an older gentleman; this would be the last action I did willingly.

The bus drove by my stop hurried, hurried because I had not requested the stop, hurried because I could no longer speak without the threat of death. The gentleman next to me held my long hair in his hand, a large sharp knife was placed against my abdomen and the people on the bus were crowded together in fear. He'd yelled at us in a language we didn't understand before pulling the knife and grabbing me. The driver was told to drive in English and he did. Several macho men tried to reason with the gentleman but they were unsuccessful, he didn't speak the language and we didn't understand him. The bus turned hard and rocked as we left the main roads for a back road. 'Stop.' The gentleman demanded in broken English; the bus stopped. My heart leaped at the prospect of being let go, but I wasn't so lucky. The gentleman held the knife to my throat as he lifted me up from the seat; my bag dropped to the floor as he pulled me off of the bus. I screamed for help but was met with the gentleman's fist into my jaw. 'Drive.' He told the bus, he repeated it louder and louder until the driver, giving me a soulful look, obeyed. We were in a rice field, it was wet and muddy under my feet and I slipped while trying to keep up with my kidnapper as he dragged me. I was mumbling pleads, begging him to let me go. He said nothing as he walked, dragging me behind him. I worried about what he was planning, was this kidnapping for ransom? A rape? Did he know who I was? Did he care? Finally he stopped moving and I took in my surroundings. He said something to me and I couldn't understand him instead I stared at him, trying to look innocent and weak. He held the knife to my throat.