Of shattered glass, spilled wine, and ruined dresses
Prompt: "I can't believe you wore that"
Reinako angst to the max
"Dammit" she cursed as her heel broke on the last few steps before her apartment. The blonde slipped and managed to get a hold of the railing, keeping her from falling down.
Nausea took over her and she resisted the urge to vomit as her head started spinning.
Oh what a sight she was, the goddess of love and beauty. Drenched from head to toe and ruined make-up on her face, trying not to fall down stairs she'd walked thousands of times before.
With aching limbs, she pulled herself up, following the handrail until her feet finally met even ground again. She muttered a curse as she searched for the key in her handbag, shoving aside various things that she didn't actually need but only kept in there so it wouldn't feel so empty.
She wondered why she even bothered locking the door anymore. There was nothing in there that she wouldn't mind losing. A robbery would be a good excuse to get rid of the place she learned to hate so much that the pure thought of entering it sent unpleasant shivers down her spine, and yet she couldn't bring it over herself to just set the whole damn thing on fire.
Fire, huh…
She managed to get a hold of the handle and opened the door. Despite her dizziness, she found the light switch and the small apartment got engulfed in a warm and gentle light.
To everyone else, the apartment seemed cosy, like a place you look forward to when returning home. A place where you relax as soon as you pass the entrance, a place that makes you forget your worries.
It might have been that place once, but it will never be like that ever again.
Now, it was just an illusion crafted from the memories within he. Everything from the loveseat in front of the fire place to the framed pictures on the wall was a lie. It was a prison designed to keep her in like a caged bird, unable to ever break out no matter how hard she tried.
There hadn't been any fire in that fireplace for months
"You're late." a stern voice scolded her from somewhere inside the room.
The drenched blonde didn't care, didn't even bother to look. She'd been through this often enough. She lazily took her shoes off and threw them somewhere in the corner before she staggered over to a closet and pulled out a bottle of red wine.
"Well it's not like anyone is waiting for me, right?" she hissed as she popped the cork and took a gulp, her once sharp and perceptive eyes turning glassier with every passing second.
"You know if you insist on coming over from time to time you could start paying half of the rent again, it'd sure help-"
"Minako, please. You shouldn't continue doing this." Came the instant lecture in that well-known, scoffing tone that Minako knew so well. It was a sound that made her heart ache for the past, and once again, she wished she could travel back in time to change things. The blonde let herself fall face-down on the pillow, bottle still in hand.
The other woman in the room shook her head in exasperation and crossed her arms. She took a look at Minakos clothes - or rather, the lack of,
"And I can't believe you wore that Mina, you knew it was going to rain. You should be more -"
"If you are telling me to be more responsible, then please leave." Minako lifted her head from the pillow and managed see the other figure through half-closed eyes. She vaguely gestured towards the door, but her arm slouched down and dropped on the couch.
The dark haired woman towered above her, scowling down while having her arms crossed before her torso.
"And besides, not all of us can walk around like CEO's the entire time." Minako said as she took in Rei's elegantly fitting blazer and black pants, a rather sharp contrast to her own choice of clothing.
Minako sighed and held her head as she tried to fight some bad memories from returning.
Rei looked at the broken image of what the proud soldier of Venus had once been. Here she was, wet from head to toe, only clad in a skimpy dress, and reeking of alcohol.
There was pity in her eyes when the dark haired woman raised her voice again.
"Haruka Is worried about you, Mina."
"Then tell Haruka fucking Tenoh to rise from the dead and tell me in person." Minako looked up to meet her eyes. The spite in her voice made Rei take a small step back, but she quickly managed to regain composure.
Rei let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head.
Minako took another gulp from the bottle.
Never had her nightmares been so vivid. It actually felt like she was right here with her, in the same room, having another one of their usual quarrels.
Rei's eyes glanced for a moment on the alcohol and started she started to pace around the small living room.
"Mina, you can't continue torturing yourself like this"
"Why? Who's going to stop me? You?" Minako laughed "I'd like to see that, Rei. Really, I WISH you were able to stop me, because that would mean you-"
"I am just trying to stop you from destroying yourself!" Rei shouted and flailed her arms before jabbing her index finger at Mina "how long are you going to blame yourself for what has happened? Usagi still needs you, she needs the leader of her -"
"How can I be a leader without soldiers?" the blonde raised her voice.
Minako didn't care when the bottle escaped her grasp and shattered on the floor when she stood up. The shards of glass spilled across the floor and she felt a few of them digging into her bare feet as she took a step forward.
"Who am I going to lead into battle?" She asked, her eyes glimmering with pain.
Rei averted her gaze. She couldn't bear to look into those cold blue pools that once held so much laughter and hope.
"I lost my right as leader the moment all of you died." Minako spat out as if the words were venom on her tongue. "If only Usagi had been on that mission, then I could at least say it was for my princess but it wasn't! The only reason I was the one surviving was out of goddamn luck! I should have died with all of you, Rei!"
Minako's entire body was shaking. Her breathing came in avid, rapid gasps as she struggled to find the right words, glassy eyes carefully avoiding to look anywhere but Rei. The spilled wine tainted the entire floor in a sea of red. The liquid was caressing her feet and her own blood mixed with the alcohol, sending a burning sensation through her body like she was walking on fire.
"And do you know what the worst part is? Do you know that?" She breathed out in a faint whisper that would've been hard to catch for any other person.
Rei stayed silent, but there was an understanding in her eyes that spoke more than a thousand words.
"The worst part is not being able to forget or let go. I am still living in OUR apartment. I still sleep in OUR bed. I see YOUR clothes when I open the closet. I want to leave this place, Rei. I desperately want to leave this entire thing behind and burn it to the ground and someday I will, but not yet."
She let out a pained laugh and looked down on the puddle of red beneath her feet.
"Apparently I haven't suffered enough yet! Every memory I have is so much more vivid, and I am reliving all of them." She took in a strong breath "I see you, sitting in the crowd at my volleyball match, internally cheering for me. I see you scowling when I flirted with you in front of my team mates…I see you, Rei."
The blonde choked back tears and put on a fake smile.
"I see Mako baking that special birthday cake for Ami, the one Usagi accidentally fell into face-first because she wanted to take a look at the screen of my phone. I see Haruka and Michiru going through the park Hotaru in the middle, talking about ice-cream. I see Setsuna getting drunk on Christmas and telling us random things of stuff that she'd seen across centuries,… and every time I try to make myself forget, you show up and continue to haunt me as reminder of my failure in love and war, as reminder of the fact that I did not deserve to survive, because every single one of you deserved it more than I did."
"Minako, you-"
"No, you fucking listen to me, Rei!"
Her eyes were slowly filling themselves with tears, betraying the smile on her face.
Minako was suffering beyond measure.
"I will never be able to forget, and you will continue haunting me for the rest of my days. So don't even try to console me with this bullshit."
"The pain will stop one day, trust me. It might take some time for you to adjust but you are not going crazy, you're too strong for that."
"It's been 3 months, Rei, and it's only gotten worse." Minako sighed in defeat and slid down next to the couch, not caring when the red liquid came in contact with her hands and clothes.
"You don't need to worry about Usagi. Venus will do as best as she can to fulfil her duty, but don't expect more of Minako than she is able to do." She managed to say before she put her face in her palms and cowered on the floor. Wine got smeared all over her cheeks and mixed with her tears until they dropped down her chin.
"And about the 'going crazy' part, I mean right now I am talking to someone who's dead, so I am not so sure about that."
She clasped her hands and let her head hang down, her gaze fixed on red pool she was sitting in.
Rei sat down next to her, their shoulders almost touching as she waited for Minako to gather up her strength.
Minako pried her gaze away from the puddle and, for the first time that evening, really looked at Rei.
She was the most beautiful nightmare Minako ever had.
She looked stressed and frustrated, and yet, there was a small, rosy blush on her pale cheeks, probably from internally screaming at Minako for acting so irresponsible. Her hair was slightly dishevelled from arguing with the blonde, but her eyes were emitting a strange kind of comfort. They radiated warmth, like a small candle in a dark place, and Minako found herself lost in them.
She missed them. She missed all of them. But she mostly missed her.
She slowly shifted her position and turned towards the raven. She didn't know what to expect, but the image of seeing Rei looking so alive right next to her ignited a small spark of hope in her heart that maybe, this meant something. That maybe, this was more than a simple hallucination. That maybe tomorrow, she would finally be free from this nightmare. That she wouldn't wake up alone, but with Rei lying right next to her and 2 missed calls from Haruka on her phone.
She just wanted to have that small bit of peace back.
"Reiko…" she whispered and slowly reached out, wanting to touch the raven as she leaned forward.
Rei took in a sharp breath, her expression changed from controlled to something pained, but also yearning. There was so much pity in her eyes as she looked at the broken blonde in front of her.
Rei didn't pull back. She raised her hand to meet Minako's red-stained one halfway. She slowly threaded her fingers through the blonde's, but Minako felt no resistance.
She looked at their intertwined hands with glassy eyes, only feeling empty space as realization settled inside her. There was no warmth at all. There was only the cold, wet sensation of the red wine on her hands.
This wasn't real. Rei wasn't here.
Nausea overcame the blonde and her vision started to blur.
She faintly heard Rei's voice calling for her, but her mind couldn't process what was happening. Her head started to spin and she tried to get a hold of the sofa, but her body gave out and she dropped on the cold and wet floor.
Her mind went black, only the smell of wine and blood escorting her into the darkness.
When Minako woke up hours later, she was alone, but her dress was stained blood-red.