Cognitive Dissonance: In which Mercury is surprised much more often than she had expected
The first thing Ami noticed as she came to was the sound of someone's windpipe being crushed. Oh, well. He probably deserves it.
She ignored the gurgling and continued to take stock of her situation. She was lying on the ground, wrapped in a soaking wet sheet and surrounded by the thick smells of blood and rain. The wounds on her head, chest and thighs were throbbing dully, and the raw patches where her skin had been worn by scraping against the sides of her cage were stinging like someone had rubbed them with salt. She had the feeling that if she were to open her eyes, the world would be spinning, and not just in the way that worlds always spun. This development, along with the hazy quality of her thoughts, was most unwelcome. However, she knew it could have been much worse.
She felt the presence of another person standing over her, just before a hand pulled the sheet from her head. She could feel the eyes on her, carefully scrutinizing her face, where she knew the blood had clotted itself into her hair. She held her breath as long as possible, hoping that the stranger, who had presumably just strangled someone, would satisfy their morbid curiosity before discovering that she was one of the Senshi and doubtlessly feeling compelled to announce it to the world at large. But she couldn't hold her breath forever, and whoever it was certainly seemed to be taking their sweet time. She had to exhale, and she could feel the other tense slightly when she did so. Damn. A hand on her chest quickly confirmed that she was alive, and it was a blessed mercy that it missed all her injuries or she might have cried out in pain.
She was not expecting what happened next, which was that the mysterious person picked her up as if she were a sack of feathers. She wasn't exactly heavy, especially not after the previous month's captivity, but to judge by the ease with which she was being lifted off the ground, this stranger possessed incredible strength. She wondered what sort of man he must be, but got her answer immediately.
Wow. Undoubtedly a female one.
A minute blush somehow managed to cross her face. The hand that supported her head was gentle, if very new to being so. It was also callused from manual labor, or perhaps from wielding a weapon. With a mounting sense of dread, Ami felt it snag and pull some of her bangs away. Hopefully it would not be enough to make out the details of her mark. A growl of thunder gave the moment an appropriately ominous background, although by the sound of it and the lessening rain, the storm was beginning to move off. She instinctively tried to cover her face with her own hand, but found that her chest wounds screamed in protest at this effort, and thus only managed to raise her arm a little.
"Mercury," the woman whispered, incredulous.
Damn again.
That accent gave her pause. It was light, but definitely present, as if the speaker had been forced to sit through hours of diction lessons in both Common and High Lunar, rebelled, and gone back to doing whatever it was that gave her hands their roughness. Martian? No, not quite right. Jovian? Sounds like it, but that doesn't make any sense.
"Princess Sayori, can you hear me?"
That is a Jovian accent! Ami opened a cautious eye onto a wildly swirling scene, and quickly closed it again before things could come into focus, feeling both dizzy and a little sick. "Not Sayori... I'm not even a princess," she said. Her voice felt so thick in her throat, she figured must have sounded like an idiot.
The woman seemed to consider this for a moment. "Right. You're not a princess. Then, who are you?"
"Nobody important, really."
"Not true. I saw that mark on your forehead. You're Mercury, one way or another. What I meant was have you got a name, or should I just refer to you as Not-Princess Mercury or Nobody Important?" The stranger had started walking, carrying her somewhere, painstakingly holding her head still.
"Ami. My name is Ami."
"Good, that's less of a mouthful. Hey! A little help here! This one's in bad shape!"
"Wait, who are you?" she started to ask, but stopped abruptly when she felt herself being shifted so the Jovian could signal to someone. She chanced opening her eyes again, and found that she had been brought onto what looked like a fairly major city street, and that they stood in a patch of darkness between the pools of light cast by the magical lamps. Things no longer looked like they were swirling around her, but they were still obnoxiously fuzzy. A white-haired man was approaching them, holding up a hooded lantern, and trying to get a look at her. She buried her face in the woman's emerald green tunic, hiding from both the unwelcome light and the prying eyes.
"Good gods, it's Ten Red Rivers herself! Princess, my throat is bare!"
"My axe is sharp," responded the woman holding Ami. She knew, from listening to some of the foreigners who came through her part of Mercury's capital city, that for a pair of Jovians this opening exchange was near excruciatingly polite, and that almost nobody else ever understood it that way. "It's not with me at the moment, though. Right now, she needs a fix-up, I could stand a stiff drink, and someone should probably clean up that mess."
Wait, he definitely meant her when he said... Right, I'm hearing things. There's no way in hell...
"The nearest healer's in the nearest place to get a drink, highness. That'd be the Iron Scepter. You see all those lights down that way? There, where that chair just flew through the... ooh, that's gonna smart in the morning!" he laughed appreciatively. "I'll warn you, she's from Mars, but all the same she's not too bad. Does a decent enough job making sure those young hotheads don't all kill each other, at any rate, and she's the only one who'll be working on a night like this."
No. This can't be Princess Jupiter. Why would she go around picking up stray Mercurians?
"Ha! Looks like it'd be my kind of place for entertainment, any other time. But I guess if steering someone in her condition through a crowd like that to take a gamble on a Martian healer is the best we can do, then that's what we'll have to do. Thank you."
"I'll take care of things here. I am ever mindful of your blades."
"They never rest." The old man bowed at the dismissal and passed by the pair and into the deeper darkness they had come from. "I guess you got the answer to your question, hmm?"
Ami allowed her eyes to drift upward to the other woman's face, where she saw green eyes with an otherworldly gleam, and of course the telltale planetary symbol. Thrice damn! I seem to be in over my head. Her vision blurred again, becoming useless to her. "Y-you're really the one they call Bloody Mako? Er, your highness?" Oh, why can't my words come out right?
"Yes. And I seem to be living up to it right now. Although, I'm pretty sure a lot of this over here is actually bits of brain, and there's definitely more mud on my boots than anything else."
"And, um, you're not going to tear my heart out and eat it raw?" It was probably not the smartest subject to bring up, but Ami's wits didn't seem to be fully in command of her mouth at the moment. This was beginning to make her nervous about her chances of survival, and that nervousness in turn contributed to her lack of control. In other words, she was really starting to detest vicious circles. "I read somewhere that you..."
"Oh, not again. Look, it wasn't raw! I had it roasted, on a bed of mixed greens, with a delicious red wine reduction sauce! I swear, the things people have been coming up with tonight! It makes me crazy!"
Somehow, that revelation is even more disturbing, thought Ami. And just where did she find mixed greens and a red wine reduction in the middle of a battle?
Fortunately, Princess Makoto sounded more amused than actually offended as she went on. "Besides, that was only once. So, no, I won't be eating any part of you. Instead, since I'm not actually a monster, I'm going to have someone see to your wounds and then hand you over to your people, who I'm sure will be grateful for your safe return."
"They'd be enormously grateful. Of course, tearing my heart out would be faster, and I'm reasonably certain it would hurt less." I hope she doesn't take that as an invitation. Oh well, it's too late now.
"You're saying other Mercurians did this to you?"
"Yes, they did." Hmm, my heart is still in and she sounds intrigued. I'm not sure that's entirely a good thing. Better keep talking in case she changes her mind. "So, you understand why I'd sooner not go back. I'd rather they continue thinking that they actually killed me. And I can't say I'd trust anyone in this city to keep the fact that I'm still alive a secret, so a healer's attention would probably do more harm than good."
"Hm. And yet you're telling me all this. Should I still be assuming that you don't want to die?"
Uh oh. Time to clarify. "I'd really prefer not to, if at all possible. And if I'm seen..." she trailed off at that, figuring that her point had been made.
"Of course... I know better than anyone the way word gets around." Jupiter sighed heavily, seemed to weigh her options for a moment, and then turned around and began to hurry back the way she had come. "I'll take you to the palace, and I'll bind your wounds myself. I can't promise that'll do much good, but you have my word I'll do whatever I can for you. None of the servants have the courage to enter my rooms, either, so you're not likely to be found out."
"Um... I... um, er... you are far too kind. I..." Well, if I wasn't in over my head before, I certainly am now.
"Don't thank me just yet. I'm more in the business of causing injuries than fixing them. And as soon as you're back on your feet, I'm taking you to Queen Serenity. If you really aren't who you say you aren't, we might have yet another problem. Maybe there'll even be a war, not to say that I don't think things are just fine right now."
Oh, we have a problem, all right. It was not being her that got me into this mess in the first place. Of course, if my powers had awakened, I could have eluded the King's Guard when they came for me, but that's neither here nor there. Now I just have to stay alive, and as soon as I can, I'll sneak away on my own and then fade back into the shadows. At least I heal fast enough that it won't take too long.
It did not take long for Jupiter to make her way back through the largely empty streets and up to the palace. Ami opened her eyes again, watching the annoyingly out-of-focus guards raise the creaking portcullis to let the princess reenter, wondering why they didn't seem to notice her own presence. True, she was doing her best to be inconspicuous. Be that as it may, it was rather difficult to be unobtrusive while being carried through corridors and up stairs. No one they passed even managed to meet Makoto's eyes, let alone inquire about just what or whom she had brought in with her. I guess if I have to hide behind somebody for the time being, at least she's somebody everyone else is afraid to look behind.
When they arrived, Jupiter's quarters were awash with the scents of roses, jasmine, and the aftermath of the storm, flowing in through the still-open windows, but that was not what captured Ami's attention. Instead, she stared in disbelief at the extensive display of weapons that she supposed must pass for ornament here. They were rather grim and utilitarian for the most part; almost all were of black steel, the blades of swords and axes visibly sharpened to a lethal edge, the heads of maces and hammers polished into a dark mirror sheen that reflected the yellow-orange flicker of a torch or the green of the bed-hangings in a fashion that was nothing if not sinister. How could anyone possibly even know how to use all of those, let alone feel the need to pack up the entire armory to leave home? And... are those real skulls over there on the mantelpiece?
They were.
Maybe she was serious about servants being afraid to come in here.
The white marble and cool silver of the palace's original decor threw it all into hideous relief, and Ami found herself suppressing a little shudder and squeezing her eyes shut yet again. Makoto pulled the sheet completely off of her and laid her down on a fur next to the gruesomely appointed fireplace.
"Gods, you're a real mess." She could hear the princess rummaging around somewhere near the bed. "Good thing I decided to bring this stuff after all."
Suddenly, the rough hands were back, carefully cleaning out the wound on her forehead with something that burned like acid but was probably just antiseptic. The pain was fleeting, and soon enough she found herself lulled by the tenderness of the touch. It was beyond stupidity to feel so safe here, in the very lair of this woman, who was known in all parts for the depths of depravity in which she conducted her daily life, who allegedly hunted people for mere sport, who had confirmed that on at least one occasion she had consumed human flesh, and furthermore, a hundred other terrible things could spring readily to mind... and who had carried her in her arms as carefully as if the Senshi of Mercury had been made from the delicate ice she was supposed to be able to command.
Cognitive dissonance and Makoto's sudden low whistle joined forces to snap her out of her sleepy thoughts. "This is enough to tell me you're a lot tougher than you look. A scrawny little thing like you would ordinarily be dead in a minute." The cut she was referring was the one over Ami's heart, where some sort of enchanted knife had sliced into her earlier. She looked down at it, startled to see that it was still slowly dripping crimson.
"It's the only good thing about being Mercury," she said with a twinge of bitterness deeper than her typical level. "I seem to always have just a little more blood in me. That should definitely have stopped by now, though."
"No. I know what kind of weapon did this. A Twilight Edge, or a Dagger of Bliss. Only fifteen left in all the kingdoms, and I've actually got one. They're Venusian-made, mostly pre-Lunar Age, nasty as hell, mostly used for... gathering intelligence, and banned everywhere except for Jupiter and, of course, Venus." She chuckled mirthlessly. "You would have bled until you were a dried-up husk that crumbled at the merest touch, and you might never have known until it was too late. But I know how to stop it. Someone must be speaking for you among the gods; I mean, really, what are the odds?" Ami stared up at impending doom, as Makoto was standing over her with a faintly glowing serpentine dagger in hand. "I see you don't trust me," she sighed in obvious resignation. "I guess I can't fault you for that. Now I'll warn you, this might hurt a bit. Actually, a lot, but it's much better than the alternative."
Ami closed her eyes and hoped that if her death was going to be a painful one, it would at least be quick. Rather than stabbing her, however, the Jovian only laid the flat of the blade against the wound. It was as if the blood in her veins had turned to molten gold, searing its way from the tips of her fingers and toes all the way back to her heart, and she screamed with the agony of it until she couldn't anymore, and finally blacked out.
When she came to again, she could hear Makoto muttering something about nosy cat-men, and awkward questions. She still hurt all over, but her mind and senses were truly clear for the first time that whole evening. The rest of her injuries had been tended to, and although she could now feel the full extent of the pain radiating from all of them, some instinct within her body gave her the message that she was now much healthier, cleansed of whatever toxins had numbed her and kept her bleeding. She was rather surprised that she had been moved to the comfort of the soft bed, but before she could say anything to that effect, there was a cup of water being held to her lips.
"You'll need this." Indeed, she realized her throat was parched, and she drank gratefully. "I've made dinner, too."
"Thank you," Ami whispered, her voice still hoarse from screaming. This is too weird for words. What kind of royalty is she, anyway?
"Hey, I know that look. Cut it out. If as many people had tried to poison you as they have me, you'd learn your own way around a kitchen pretty quickly."
"I guess political business is done the same way everywhere, then," she found herself saying in response to the princess' quiet laughter.
"Of course. I love it so much I can't turn my back on it even for a second. Now come on and eat, before this cools off. You look like you haven't had a bite in weeks!"
At this point, Ami did not much care, and practically inhaled the soup she'd been offered, not even pausing to wonder about the unfamiliar herbs that flavored it. When she had finished, she chanced another, closer look at her unlikely savior, who was currently sitting on the end of the bed, turning the the Twilight Edge dagger over in her hand, apparently lost in thoughts that pleased her. She had let her hair down, and it hung past her waist in windblown auburn waves. One lock of it had fallen across her face, but it failed to hide the thin, white scar that ran down from her right cheekbone to the edge of her jaw, the only apparent mark of all the battles she had fought. Nothing I ever read about her mentioned that she was this beautiful. The emerald eyes that suddenly rose from the knife to meet hers seemed to have a genuine warmth to them, but as quickly as she had noticed it, the expression vanished, and when Makoto spoke again, her face had hardened into steely indifference, and her voice was just as cold.
"You should sleep now. In the morning, you'll tell me exactly how you ended up where I found you. I'll be outside."
She stood, turned on her heel, and walked through the glass door onto the balcony. Ami watched her curiously as she leant her elbows on the rain-slick railing and stared up at the sky, troubled shadows crossing her countenance. Exhaustion and restlessness warred in her mind, along with the odd impulse to follow the brooding Jovian onto the balcony and ask her what the matter was. Knowing she was most likely unwelcome outside, she quashed this urge and continued to watch and think about it instead.
Maybe killing doesn't sit so well with her as it seems to...
Makoto plucked one of the climbing roses that had insinuated itself into the balustrade and crushed the blossom in her hand with what looked like a frustrated sigh, tossing its bruised and dismembered remains over the edge.
...or maybe that's not it at all. But in every cruelty, there must be the germ of a kindness. In the deepest darkness, someone, somewhere, will always hold up a light. Even in the mightiest fortress walls, there must be an open gate someplace. And in every supposed truth, there is something, however small, that is not so absolute.
Ami yawned.
Well, so much for philosophizing. Hopefully I can get well and leave this place, and her, before I have to find any more of it. Her exhaustion had won out at last; she drifted off into black nothingness again. And that was when both she and Jupiter found out that their new downstairs neighbor was Princess Mars.