Chapter 24:

In what seemed like a blink of the eye, sunrise was over. It felt unnaturally fast to Minako. On the Moon, the process was a much more prolonged affair. With the coming of dawn, the stars above would gently disappear a dozen at a time, washed out by the growing daylight. Much slower, shadows would emerge from the darkness and then gradually retract from the growing patches light. The process would continue for the better part of a day, or night depending on when exactly it began, and last for hours. After that, the Sun would be high and visible in the sky for just under 15 days, whereupon the process would happen in reverse as the Sun set below the horizon just as slowly.

Watching the Sun rise in what felt like a matter of minutes was far too quick, in Minako's opinion. She barely had time to appreciate it was happening before it was over. Despite this, as she walked to the warehouse she had appeared in with Ami and Ranma the day before, something much more unusual and much more annoying was at the forefront of her thoughts.

Cars.

Minako had long forgotten what they sounded like, and would have been glad to never hear them again. The presence of cars was fine, even convenient in some ways, if a bit counter-intuitive at times. However, the constant rumble of running motors and the whirl of rubber rolling against asphalt was decidedly annoying and seemingly omnipresent. Even the diminished traffic of the early morning around her only served to highlight the occasional passing vehicle and make it seem all the louder.

She hoped she would in time once again grow accustomed to the sounds of cars, as well as to all of the other sounds of Tokyo, so she could unconsciously tune them out as she remembered she had done in the past. However, the single night she had been back in Tokyo had certainly not been long enough for her mind to classify the noise of engines and wheels as being irrelevant yet. For now, the rush of cars was still very present and very much on her mind as she opened the door to the warehouse in front of her, revealing the strange sight of a person rolling around on the ground.

The person sprang to her feet, facing Minako in a martial artist's stance.

Minako adopted a defensive stance of her own, cursing again how she had left her sword at home when she had gone to the ball. She felt naked without it. Maybe she would be able to acquire a new one somehow. Ami might be able to fashion something, if not of crystal then of something else. She would need to consult with Ami about acquiring a new henshin rod anyway. Then again, she wasn't sure how carrying a sword around with her all the time would be received by the population at large. The local authorities might have an issue with her walking around while armed as well. She would need to look into that. In the meantime, she had to fall back on her unarmed abilities.

Her unrecognized opponent relaxed. Despite that, Minako kept her guard up in case it was a trap of some sort. It was only after several more moments, once she realized who it was, that Minako allowed herself to relax as well.

"Hey, Minako-chan. You had the same idea?" Ranma asked. With the red shirt and black pants she wore, instead of her normal white shirt and skirt, Minako had completely failed to recognize Ranma at first.

"That depends. Were you thinking of staging the warehouse so it looks like a kidnapping and rescue took place in case somebody thought to investigate our mysterious abduction?" Minako asked.

"Yes," Ranma answered.

"No," Minako answered.

"Right," Ranma said skeptically.

"Need a hand?" Minako asked.

"Sure. I got the break-in happening over there," Ranma said, pointing to a window with a broken pane of glass, "and I was working on the fight leading to the hostage room."

"Right. Why don't I start at the point of rescue? I was one of the damsels in distress, after all," Minako said melodramatically.

Minako ponderously made her way over to the room they had reappeared in, scuffing her feet and banging roughly into some crates as she walked. As she did so, she noticed the faded chalk symbols on the ground and the various broken esoteric instruments lying strewn about. They lent a vague atmosphere of cult-like ceremony to the room, and would certainly add substantially to any story an investigator might envision in regard to their supposed kidnapping.

Once Minako reached her destination, she roughly banged the door open and shut a few times. She then started pacing, sitting, lying, and generally emulating the behavior of a captive in rapid motion.

"Have you heard anything about Ami-chan?" Ranma asked her as she was doing all of this.

"Nothing yet. If I had to make a guess, I'd say she was going to be out of it for a good while longer," Minako said. She tossed a few crumbs of food semi-randomly across the floor. "Why'd she have to use a stimager anyway?"

"From what I can tell, her choices were to miss the last window of opportunity to survey Venus for who knows how long, to tell Serenity-sama that she wouldn't have the henshin rod ready for the big presentation, or to take a stimager. It seems like a pretty clear choice to me," Ranma answered.

"I know that. I was being rhetorical. I just meant the timing was awful," Minako clarified.

Ranma decisively opened the door to her room, pulling it slightly off of its hinges. In response, Minako emoted awed relief and said, "My hero. Here to rescue me?"

"Speaking of which," Ranma said, pulling the sitting Minako to her feet and leading her out of the room, "I'll need to have a talk with her about making another henshin rod for me and picking up the mantle of Sailor Terra again. By the way, you're now a guard."

Ranma then punched Minako in the stomach. She pulled her punch, using enough force to push Minako back but not enough force to wind her. A leg-sweep, obediently stood still for, and Minako was on the floor.

Minako climbed to her feet and stumbled towards the door. As she staggered, she asked, "You and me both. I left mine at home for the ball. I hope Ami-chan can figure something out. Oh, and your turn, Miss Mysterious Savior."

So saying, Minako took a standing jump at Ranma, leg outstretched. Ranma could have dodged the telegraphed and intentionally predictable jump kick, but instead braced herself as she was knocked backwards into a box.

"I'm sure she will. She always does," Ranma said as she got to her feet and dusted herself off.

Minako lightly walked back to the room they had started in and said, "That's true. So, let's see if we can't get that problem-solver out of here too."

"Still, best of luck to her. Once she can transform into Sailor Mercury I'm sure she'll be fine, but I can't imagine trying to explain to any of the others what needs to be done to create a henshin rod to connect her to Mariner Castle. I mean, I lived there and I don't even understand the things Ami-chan tries to explain sometimes, and that's ignoring the questions it would raise in the others about how she knows this stuff," Ranma said. She then picked Minako up and held her in her arms.

"My hero. Here to rescue me?" Minako asked again. "By the way, how did last night go? Did you have any problems with, what was her name," Minako thought quickly, trying to remember what had been said the previous night, "Akane-san?"

"No. I just said I was tired," Ranma answered. Neither she nor Minako paid any attention to the complicated footwork and occasional back-flip Ranma did while holding her charge. "She didn't press me too hard for answers after that, and she was still sleeping when I left this morning."

Minako was somewhat lucky in that regard. Due to the obvious ordeal she had been through, Makoto was going to keep Artemis until the meeting, all so Minako would have a chance to recover in peace. After the meeting, she would have had a chance to consult with the others, so would better know how to answer any inquiring questions the cat had.

"Main door?" Ranma asked abruptly.

"Too much chance of being seen. Let's do a window. If we're doing a rescue, we should do it right," Minako said.

"Suit yourself. Watch your eyes," Ranma said. She then jumped, back first, through a window. She landed in a crouch and let Minako regain her footing. Both looked around, trying to see if they had been observed.

Once she had established that the only other person in sight was Ranma, Minako walked back to the window and carefully gave herself a light gash with the edge of the broken glass. As she did so, she said, "That takes care of the kidnapping, but we still need to figure out what to tell the others."

"What to tell the others," Ranma repeated. Minako knew that look; the one which suggested Ranma had already turned the idea over several times in her mind, each time coming up with a conclusion that she hadn't expected. "I was thinking about that. Why don't we just tell them the truth?"

"The truth?" Minako asked, surprised.

That was an idea Minako hadn't even considered. It seemed so natural to tell them some cover story. Some sort of lie. It was the same instinct which had caused her to mask her actions as Sailor V, and later Sailor Venus, to her teachers, to her friends, and to the public at large.

However, that was for the general masses: the people who would get in the way of the job she knew she had to do, and the people whose lives would be put into danger trying to help her in ways they simply wouldn't be able to. That wasn't for her former, and may become again, allies and friends.

"Why not?" Ranma asked in return. "I've changed. We all have. It'll be hard enough to keep it all a secret anyway. Why not just come clean?"

That was true enough. Minako hadn't even remembered that she was supposed to be a student here. She had stumbled across her old student identification card while exploring her home which had reminded her of that fact, as well as of which school she was supposed to be attending. She still needed to locate a map at some point to find out where exactly Juuban High School was, as well as locate some kind of class schedule. It would be much easier if she could just ask somebody.

For that matter, Minako really couldn't think of any reason to keep everything a secret from the other Sailor Senshi. From the general public, sure, for all of the reasons they kept everything else a secret. However, from the other Sailor Senshi? What's the worst that could happen? That they ask for some of the details about the start of the Silver Millennium? It was hard to see that causing any issues. After all, it wasn't like any of their grandfathers, paternal or otherwise, had been there.

"If you want to tell them the truth I don't have a problem with it, but Ami-chan might. You know how she is about the importance of keeping things secret sometimes," Minako said.

Ranma shook her head and said, "As long as she doesn't go on another lecture about the problems of paradox and breaking the timeline again, I'm fine with whatever she says."

"You and me both," Minako agreed. She had been on the receiving end of one of those lectures far too many times. However, in fairness, seeing how Ami had apparently been right, maybe she should have paid more attention to her. "So once Ami-chan wakes up, we check with her, and assuming she's okay with it, we tell them the truth, right? Even about you and Setsuna-chan?"

Ranma stopped walking and didn't answer.

Minako turned and looked at her unresponsive companion.

Ranma had an ashen look on her face.

Too soon, apparently.

Ami awoke with a start.

Ami awoke with a start, and a blindingly painful headache, rather.

She knew from past experience that there was nothing to be done for it. The one time she had transformed into Sailor Mercury to flood her body with aetheric energy in an attempt to substitute it for the dearth of life energy within her had successfully alleviated the pain temporarily, but the headache had returned with heavy interest when she had released her link with Mariner Castle later.

Just like every other time she had awoken from a stimager crash, Ami resolved yet again to spend the time necessary to diminish or even eliminate the side-effects of front-loading life energy patterns, but knew she wouldn't bother once her current predicament had ended. Nobody, including herself, used them enough to make improving their design a priority over the numerous other more pressing demands in the lab. The heavy side-effects also helped make sure that people thought long and hard before using one and that they didn't become too habitual a crutch.

The last thing Ami remembered was Setsuna's accepting the mantle of Sailor Pluto. That meant she must have crashed at the ball. Hopefully Ranma had taken her back home. If it had been Minako, she was sure she would be teased about it for days.

Ami forced her eyes open to get her bearings, fully expecting to see her bedroom. What she saw was in fact her bedroom, but not the one she had been expecting. Instead, she saw her bedroom in Tokyo. The room she had had before her forced migration to the Moon Kingdom.

It had been a long time since she dreamed of that home. So long, in fact, that she couldn't remember the last time she had done so.

Certainly she had never had such a headache during a dream of Tokyo. She couldn't ever remember thinking that she was in a dream during one either. Idly, she tried to will herself to fly, just as a quick test. Nothing happened.

Ami reflexively reached for her Mercury Computer when she stopped. Of course she didn't have it with her. She had left it at home for the anniversary ball. She cursed her luck.

She could make another one, of course. She had spent enough years analyzing it and experimenting with it by this point that she knew it backwards and forwards. Recreating a new Mercury Computer wouldn't be a problem, although that was assuming she had access to some serious aetheric energy or an absurd amount of life energy.

More fortunately, there was good reason to think she would have access to a serious amount of aetheric energy. Unlike the Mercury Computer, she had actually brought her henshin rod with her to the ball. It was most lucky that she had discovered that particular trick, which had necessitated having her henshin rod with her, to use against Ranma this year; but given the circumstances, she thanked that particular bit of serendipity. If she could find the gown she had worn to the ball, retrieving the henshin rod from the small pocket designed to hold it in her dress would be easy.

Worst case, if the henshin rod was in fact gone, she might be able to use Ranma's psionic energy to create some sort of very temporary connection to Mariner Castle which she could use to bootstrap something together. Hopefully that wouldn't be the case, though. It would take hours, maybe days, to explain to Ranma what would need to be done.

That would be a problem for another time, though. A time when she didn't feel like she had a dagger jammed into her right parietal lobe.

Ami cautiously pulled herself to her feet. Then, as steadily as she could, she staggered to the living room. Once there, she saw a shrine had been put up with a picture of her smiling in a school uniform featuring prominently. If this was a dream, she was sure psychologists would have a field day with it.

She barely had time to take it all in when she was enveloped by an enormous hug.

"Oh, my baby. My darling little girl. I'm so glad you're alright," her mother said while clinging desperately to Ami as though she might float away at any moment. "I heard all about it from your friends. It must have been a terrible experience for you."

Terrible experience? No. It had been rough at first, but after the first few years it had actually been rather nice, especially the last decade once she had started dating Jadeite and had subsequently married him. Jadeite. The thought that he might be gone forever sobered Ami up from the fuzzy happiness she felt at seeing her mother again after having given up hope so long ago. She tried to get her muddled head to think more clearly.

There was almost no way that Minako and Ranma would have told her mother the truth. It was much more likely that they had told her mother some sort of cover story. What that story was, though, Ami had no idea, so she did what she always did in such situations. Like a good scientist, she gathered more information without committing to anything.

"Yes, it was terrible," Ami said as noncommittally as she could.

"Kidnapped. In Tokyo. I don't know what those police have been doing. What happened?" her mother asked.

Kidnapped? That answered one question. It also was a good cover story. It allowed a great deal of flexibility in circumstances, and it would explain how she was still alive after all these years yet hadn't been able to get in contact with her mother before. It didn't explain why she looked so similar to how she had appeared those 20-some years ago, but her mother hadn't asked. Then again, her mother didn't look that much older herself. There was something she didn't understand going on here.

But she had been asked a question. What happened? What explanation of circumstances, if any, had Minako and Ranma given? What explanation would she herself have given if she had been the one to deliver an unconscious Ami to her mother, knowing that that Ami would wake up later without the chance of being briefed?

What she would have voluntarily said would be nothing. And her mother would probably have been so relieved that she wouldn't have asked too many detailed questions either.

Saying nothing was probably the safest answer to give now as well. Moreover, even if Minako or Ranma had given some explanation, Ami could simply have not been in a position to have seen anything herself. So, nothing it was.

"I don't know. It all happened so fast. I'm not sure what happened," Ami said.

"Still, gone for a whole month. Didn't you find out anything? Why did they take you? Why didn't they contact me? How did you survive?" her mother asked.

A month? Only? That would account for a few of the oddities she had noticed thus far and answer several of her outstanding questions, even as it raised countless more about what had happened. Most of those questions were answered just as quickly as they came up. How only a month? If time travel was involved, as she thought it was, then why not only a month? Then why not have them return immediately? That would be a question to ask whoever had arranged their return, assuming it wasn't just happenstance.

So much could have happened, must have happened, while she had been asleep. She needed to find Minako and Ranma as soon as she could.

Her mother looked at her with an expectant look.

Ami had to say something. Something that was safe and reassuring, but wouldn't raise too many questions. "It could have been much worse." Her body was in a good state, although certainly leaner than it had been all those years ago. "They gave me enough to eat that I wouldn't starve." She had just woken up from a stimager crash, so would have been comatose up until this point. "If anything, the leaving was more exhausting than the weeks spent there." Did Ranma get involved with the storyline with some kind of daring escape? That speculation was too tentative given the available data. "To tell you the truth, it was more boring than anything else, spending all that time with nothing to do."

"You poor thing. Once you start feeling better we'll get you signed up for some self-defense classes. If this ever happens again, you need to be able to take care of it yourself," her mother said.

Self-defense classes sounded like a good idea. They would reassure her mother and help explain some of the skills she had picked up over the years.

"I'd like that," Ami said.

"You said he was cold before. How's it any different now?" Hotaru asked Akane over the ice cream sundae the older woman had bought for her.

"I can't explain it. I know Ranma better than anybody else, except maybe his father, and he's just different now," Akane insisted, her hands moving randomly to express the sentiment that her voice wasn't able to convey. "I used to be able to tell how he was feeling just by looking at him. He was angry, but I could tell. Now it's like he's a completely different person. I can't tell what he's thinking at all anymore. I guess it's good that he's not angry, I think, but... I don't know."

"That sounds terrible," Hotaru said, nodding in sympathy. She didn't know what else to say. In fact, she suspected Akane wasn't expecting anything at all from her, except a sincere ear to listen.

"It's like when he first got home, I saw him crying. There's no way that Ranma, 'man among men,' would ever cry, but there he was. That's another thing too. It used to be that he never spent any more time as a girl than he had to, but he didn't even bother getting any hot water before he went to sleep last night. It used to be that he would turn male whenever he could, and now it seems, I don't know," Akane said. "I just don't understand him anymore."

"Well he did spend a month with Ami-san, Minako-san, and Setsuna-mama..." Hotaru said, looking around the ice cream parlor, and while it didn't appear anybody was paying attention, it was better safe than sorry, "... doing stuff. Whatever they faced must have been really bad. I don't think I've ever seen Setsuna-mama like that before either."

"Did you find out what happened? I tried asking Ranma, but he avoided the question yesterday, and this morning when I woke up, he was already gone," Akane asked. "That's also another thing. I tried to get up extra early today to buy a big breakfast for him, but he had already left home before I woke up. It used to be that his father would have to throw him into a pond to get him to stop sleeping. He never woke up early before."

Hotaru was tempted to giggle at the imagery Akane had evoked within her of such an unorthodox wake-up call, but knew that that wouldn't be so well received. Instead, she answered Akane's question, saying, "No, I don't know anything either. Michiru-mama and Haruka-papa were trying to ask Setsuna-mama what happened, but she wouldn't tell us anything. It must have a terrible thing they went through."

In fact, she had thought she had even heard Setsuna crying, but Haruka had passed by and said that it was probably best to leave her alone, so Hotaru hadn't investigated.

"I'm sure it was. Ranma looked to be in worse shape than after his fight with Herb, and that fight caused a landslide," Akane said.

Hotaru found the idea of a fight causing a landslide somewhat unbelievable. Even the fight against Mordecia, which had caused more collateral damage than all but the largest fights the Sailor Senshi had fought against their most dangerous enemies, had only gone to the point of severely damaging a shopping mall. It certainly hadn't caused major terrain changes. Then again, it was more believable than the thought of Akane just making that up, especially from what she had heard and seen of Ranma's fighting abilities.

"I wonder what happened while they were gone," Hotaru asked.

"Me too. I can't wait for the meeting. I'll be glad to finally find out what happened," Akane said. "I just hope Ranma will be there too. I don't know if he's planning on going. I suppose Ami-san, Minako-san, and Setsuna-san will be there, though, so we should be able to get some answers at least."

"We haven't seen Setsuna-mama since this morning either, but that's not too unusual, and I don't know if Ami-san has woken up yet. At the very worst, we should at least have Minako-san to answer some questions," Hotaru said.

Ami was walking down the street, taking in all the sights and smells around her as she made her way to the restaurant Setsuna had suggested they meet at. It was a suggestion that Ami was more than happy to agree to. Most of her headache had disappeared, but that only had the effect of making her more aware of the fact that she hadn't eaten anything for over 24 hours.

Ideally she would have been meeting Minako and Ranma in addition to Setsuna, but she hadn't been able to arrange that. In fact, she had been in the process of reaching for the phone to call Minako's number, which she had luckily found written in an address book, when her own phone had rung. Setsuna had coincidentally called her at the exact same time. After they had confirmed a time and place to meet, Ami had proceeded to call Minako, but she had had no luck in reaching her. Nobody picked up. Getting in contact with Ranma was even less possible as Ami didn't know if Ranma's home even had a phone, nor did she know its physical location.

With any luck, Setsuna would have reached out to Minako and Ranma, and Ami would find all three of them at the restaurant waiting for her. Setsuna had been the one to contact her, after all. Regardless, even if she was only able to talk to Setsuna, she was sure she could get a great deal of basic information from her, especially if Setsuna had already spoken with Minako and Ranma, as Ami suspected she had.

Thoughts of questions, answers, plots, and plans fell by the wayside as she drew close to the restaurant. They were pushed to the side where they were merely a niggling concern rather than the active train of thought, suppressed but not completely eliminated by her hunger. She really hoped that the others had arrived before her and there was already food on the table.

Half of her hope came true. Pushing open the door, she spotted that Setsuna was already in the restaurant waiting for her, strategically placed in a relatively isolated booth in the back corner of the room with a bag next to her.

That answered one question for Ami immediately. Unless something extremely serious had happened while she had been asleep, it was clearly the original, older Setsuna she was meeting. How the presumed-dead Sailor Senshi had survived, how she was here, and what her role in everything was, Ami had no clue. However, the frosty composed look betraying nothing of her inner state of mind would have been completely foreign to the face of the lively young woman she had watched growing up.

Almost more welcome to Ami's eyes was the large spread of dishes already in place in front of her. Ami assumed Setsuna had ordered for the group, given the sheer amount of food on the table. Even so, Ami felt so famished that she hoped it would be enough for everybody. She felt as though she could eat at least half of the dishes herself.

What Ami didn't see were her two friends.

"Hello, Setsuna...chan?" Ami asked once she was in earshot. She hesitated, not sure how to address the woman.

"Take a seat and help yourself, Ami-chan. I'm sure you must be hungry," Setsuna replied with flat composure.

"Thanks," Ami said, and slid into the booth across from Setsuna.

Ami made it a point to eat much slower than she wanted to, possibly even eating less quickly than she usually did. It would do no good to gorge herself only to lose it all by being sick from overeating. She was aided in her attempts to slow her eating by how odd the food tasted. It wasn't bad as such, but the flavors were definitely unusual in her mouth.

"Any idea how long before the others show up?" Ami asked, once the edge had been taken off of her hunger.

"They're not coming, unless you know something I don't. I wasn't able to invite Minako-chan or Ranma-san," Setsuna said plainly.

"You didn't call them? I thought for sure you'd have called all of us together to talk about everything that's happened," Ami said.

"I'd have liked to, but I couldn't find a way to find them before coming here," Setsuna explained coldly.

"Couldn't you find them in the Gates of Time or something?" Ami asked, surprised. She had never had a chance to really find out what the capabilities of the Gates of Time were, but she had assumed that simply locating a person would be a relatively easy thing to do with them.

"They don't work that way. If they did, I could have helped much more with some of the problems which you've faced throughout the years," Setsuna answered clinically. "Just look how long Chibi-Usa was able to remain unfound after stealing one of the keys to the fourth dimension."

"Strange. I'd have thought that the Guardian of Time would have had more power than that," Ami said. She had put a lot of thought into various theories of temporal manipulation, but from what she could tell, knowledge of the location of people wouldn't cause any substantial problems with the timeline.

"Guardian of Time, not Mistress. I can only directly influence time in certain specific ways, and finding people isn't one of them," Setsuna said coldly. That piqued Ami's interest, but that was a conversation for another time. "Even so, I managed find you, and you were by far the most important person. The others already know the basics."

"Right. So, what happened?" Ami asked between mouthfuls of rice.

"The completion of a bootstrapping paradox, to arrange my own birth," Setsuna said simply. Ami accepted the statement without question or explanation. It fit all of the data just as well as any of the theories she could come up with, and she had no reason to doubt Setsuna's statement.

"Right. I guess that makes sense. What about the people left behind? What about Jadeite? What happened to him?" Ami asked, feeling more than slightly detached from the situation for some reason. Odd, considering how she had just found out that she would never see her husband again.

Acute stress reaction, the analytical part of her mind decided. Statistically, after 48 to 72 hours, it would fade and the reality of recent events would hit her. That was when the true emotional impact would start. However, that was something to deal with when it occurred. In the meantime, focus on the problem at hand. There were all sorts of questions and issues to address, and she was sure she wouldn't be in a state to handle either once her psychological detachment had ended.

Setsuna paused in thought, and then said, "From what I can remember, it took him some 50 years to get over your disappearance, but he never forgot you. He eventually remarried. They named their first daughter after you."

That Jadeite. Always so sentimental. He should have given up on her much sooner.

"Was he happy?" Ami asked.

"He seemed to be," Setsuna answered flatly.

"I suppose I should be upset at you, for what you did," Ami said, still emotionally detached from the situation.

"You probably should. I did some terrible things. I deserve what I get," Setsuna said, her lack of emotion oddly jarring with the contents of her speech.

Something wasn't right here. All of the little cues, little mismatches in Setsuna's behavior, they seemed important to Ami for some reason. She put her chopsticks down and thought. Obviously Ami was having a psychological reaction to recent traumatic events, but Setsuna had been the cause of all of these events and had known they were coming up. It was doubtful that she was having the same reaction that Ami was.

Still, Setsuna seemed as detached as Ami was. Maybe even more so. Her actions seemed familiar too, somehow. They reminded her of Ranma in some way. Ranma from way back when, somehow. Back when something truly unforgettable had happened.

"You really shouldn't use the Soul of Ice for any prolonged period of time. Your mother tried it once, and it's really not healthy," Ami finally said, once everything had clicked into place.

Setsuna just stared at Ami for a second, pausing in thought. Another second. Then she broke out crying, "She hates me! She does! And I deserve it!"

The restaurant was fairly empty, and the booth provided enough distance between them and the rest of the room that Ami had felt comfortable discussing the confidential things they had been talking about. Still, Setsuna's outburst was loud enough to grab everybody's attention, and the other people in the room turned to look at her. Upon seeing the grown woman crying, they all turned back to politely mind their own business. Culturally enforced privacy was almost as effective as a physical wall.

"Don't worry. Ranma-chan really does love you. You only did what you had to do. She'll come around once she sees that," Ami tried to say in explanation.

"No, she won't. She'll hate me forever. I'd hate me forever. I do hate me," Setsuna disagreed.

"You didn't have a choice," Ami reassured her. What was the proper thing to do here? Ami decided to move out from her side of the booth and take a seat next to Setsuna.

"There's always a choice," Setsuna disagreed. "Always."

"Except when there isn't," Ami insisted. "You did the right thing."

Ami was having serious second thoughts about telling Setsuna to discontinue using the Soul of Ice. It would have been much better timing to have waited for a time when Minako was around. Her friend had always been better at handling these situations than Ami was. Moreover, her own current analytical state did nothing to help her connect with the woman who, ironically, was the catalyst for the situation at hand.

"But still, she hates me," Setsuna said.

"I'm sure Ranma-chan will eventually understand," Ami said. She tried her best to ignore the vast age difference between them. She instead pretended that the crying woman was the young Setsuna from just a couple of days ago, coming to see her aunt Ami about some problem she was having in her life. Ami decided that in that case, most likely Ami's response would have been to hug the young Setsuna, so she did so.

They sat there for a while, Setsuna sobbing quietly to herself in Ami's arms while Ami murmured reassuring nothings to her.

Eventually Setsuna calmed down, although the streaks from her tears still adorned her cheeks. She asked Ami, "Do you think you could talk to her for me?"

"Me?" Ami asked. She didn't really want to be in that position, but what else could she do? It wasn't an unreasonable request, and she really might be the best person to talk to Ranma. Either her or Minako, and Minako wasn't around. "I'll see what I can do."

They sat together for a couple more minutes before Ami felt that it was safe and appropriate to go back to her side of the table to finish her meal and their conversation.

Ami was a bit early for the Sailor Senshi meeting, but in her opinion that was a good thing. She hadn't been able to reach Minako or Ranma since lunch, and she was eager to brief them on what she and Setsuna had concluded; or to be briefed by them on what they had concluded, as the case may be.

She had stopped at her home to hide the bag Setsuna had given her which contained her halter dress and shoes. They were the only physical evidence that her time on the moon hadn't been some elaborate shared delusion, but, more importantly, her dress did in fact still contain her henshin rod. A quick experiment had shown that she was still able to transform into Sailor Mercury. It felt a bit different than she remembered, but certainly the centuries or millenniums which had passed since her disappearance from the Moon Kingdom would have brought with them advances and developments that she had never even dreamed of. She looked forward to reverse engineering all of those changes and improvements when she had the chance.

One such trick she was notably curious about was the means by which those who had succeeded her, or had preceded her depending on perspective, had managed to devise to store the henshin rod and other devices in a non-corporeal state. A test of her henshin rod demonstrated that she could now use a storage command to cause it to vanish, while the same trick hadn't worked with the same rod in the past. This implied it was something to do with either the link to Mariner Castle or something in Mariner Castle itself. The puzzle had haunted her for decades, and she looked forward to finally finding out how they had done it.

Once she had reached her home, though, she had changed her mind about what to do with the bag. Rather than hide her ballgown and shoes in an appropriately secret place, she decided she'd bring them with her to the meeting. In talking with Setsuna, their conclusion was to tell the other Sailor Senshi at least part of what had happened. Carrying physical proof of their fantastic adventure would aid substantially in convincing the others that it had actually happened; and if Minako and Ranma didn't want to reveal the truth, it would be easy enough to hide the bag away or otherwise keep it a secret.

Before leaving her home, Ami had tried to call Minako one last time, but had been unable to reach her. As a result, Ami had decided to come to the meeting early. She was relatively sure that the other two would have had similar thoughts and would arrive early as well. She was less sure how much privacy they would have, as the other Sailor Senshi might show up early in eager anticipation of finding out what had happened. Regardless of the others' punctuality or curiosity, though, Ami was almost positive that Rei would be around. Given that, it would take some careful maneuvering to safely talk with Minako and Ranma, either of a physical means to avoid the shrine maiden or of a linguistic means to mislead her.

Upon reaching the top of the stairs, she saw that her hunch had been correct. Leaning against a building were Minako and Ranma. It took Ami a second to recognize Ranma, as different as she looked from how Ami was accustomed to. They were strategically placed on two faces of the same building corner, such that they could observe in all directions at once. Theoretically watch in all directions at once, at least. Minako was casually leaning back against a wall, but Ranma had her head down with a deep, thoughtful look on her face. Both of them had bags next to them not unlike the one Ami herself carried. Barring further evidence, Ami suspected that they had probably come to a similar conclusion about telling the truth that she and Setsuna had.

A second quick glance did not reveal the presence of the resident shrine maiden or anybody else nearby. Given the position of Minako and Ranma, it was reasonable to assume that they were alone, but Ami still would wait for a signal from one of them before saying anything too risky. She didn't want to commit to anything without being sure there was a group consensus first.

"So, you're finally up, sleepyhead?" Minako asked once Ami got close enough that she didn't need to shout.

Ami thought, trying to figure out what she would have said all those years ago. She finally settled on saying, "I'm feeling much better now. Sorry to have worried you all." As she spoke, she searched both of their faces for any clue as to whether they could talk freely or not.

Ranma briefly looked up as Ami spoke, but then returned to staring at her shoes. Minako caught the glance Ami was casting out, and said, "It's fine. Nobody else is here. We saw Rei-chan sweeping out back, but it's been a while and she's probably somewhere else by now."

"I spoke with Setsuna-chan and I know most of what's going on," Ami said in a low voice. At the mention of her daughter's name, Ranma's head sunk even more.

"It's weird being back, isn't it? I keep expecting to wake up like it's some strange dream, or nightmare, or something," Minako said.

"If only that were the case. I'd like nothing more than to wake up and tell Jadeite about the strangest dream I've ever had in my life," Ami agreed. "You think you could turn into Mount Fuji, just to add to it?"

"I don't think I'll be able to do that. I'm a lot of things but I'm no eggplant, and Ranma-chan's no hawk either, no matter how much time she spends up in the air," Minako answered, catching the reference Ami threw out.

"That's unfortunate. I guess this isn't a dream," Ami said. More seriously, she then asked, "Any thoughts about what to tell the others?"

Minako answered for the two of them, as Ranma still stared at the floor. She said, "We talked it over for a bit, and Ranma-chan and I thought we should, you know, actually tell them the truth."

"The whole truth?" Ami asked. The only part that she and Setsuna hadn't been sure about was, "Even about Ranma-chan and Setsuna-chan?"

"I don't know about that. Every time I try to ask about Setsuna-chan, Ranma-chan's, well..." Minako said, gesturing towards the woman still sitting, head now in her hands. "I guess she, along with you, did get the short end of things. How are you holding up?"

"I'm fairly sure I'm experiencing acute stress reaction. Shock, if you will. I'm fine right now, but one of you should probably come by to check on me in the next two or three days. I'll try to contact one of you if I start needing help, but I might not realize I need it until I'm in a state where I won't be able to do so," Ami declared clinically. She thought more about her situation, and then added, "I recommend that you remind me that Jadeite wouldn't want me to mope about any more than I would want him to. Do want him to. Did want him to. Whatever the proper tense to use is."

"I can handle that. I don't think Ranma-chan will be in any state to do anything herself either. She's still a bit upset about what Setsuna-chan did," Minako said.

"Why did she do it?" Ranma asked, joining the conversation for the first time since Ami had shown up.

"She did what she had to do," Ami said. That was all that mattered to Ami, for now.

"No she didn't. She didn't have to kidnap us. Forget about me, what about you and Jadeite? What about Setsuna-chan? My daughter's going to grow up, did grow up, without any parents," Ranma said.

"She had a fine parent for the first 20 years of her life. That's more than a lot of people. That's better than I had," Minako said.

"Or really most of the Sailor Senshi," Ami agreed.

"I don't like it any more than you do, but don't you think you're being a bit hard on her?" Minako continued.

"I didn't raise her like that. And this is just the one situation we know of. What else has she done, supposedly to protect the timeline? It's not right for her to be forcing others to do things like that," Ranma said.

"Look. I know it hurts that Setsuna-chan didn't give you a choice and did this on her own. How do you think I feel about losing Jadeite?" Ami asked. Or would feel in a few days, once her initial trauma had passed. "But do you really think she would have stolen your chance of a life together if she had any choice in the matter?"

"I don't know. I don't know her anymore," Ranma said.

"Yes you do," Ami answered sharply. "She did the right thing. You know that too. Don't let your loss of a life with the young Setsuna-chan ruin your chance with her right now. She loves you, and she misses you."

Ranma just gave a humph in protest, but didn't answer.

Head down. Frown on her face. Stubborn refusal to address the problem at hand. Ami diagnosed that Ranma was suffering a classic case of being grumpy. That established, she thought through her catalog of responses to the situation and possible treatments for the condition. Ultimately, she decided on one which had a proven history of having worked. She reached over, grabbed Ranma by the arm and hip, and tossed her bodily into the air.

Despite being caught off-guard and in the air, Ranma had already oriented herself to safely land on her feet. Ami repositioned herself to compensate for Ranma's different bearing and moved into a position more conducive for catching her. Even so, stopping the falling human projectile was going to be a jarring experience, but she knew from past experience as recent as two days ago that she could safely do it.

She positioned herself appropriately around the falling Ranma, catching her and placing her in a properly elegant starting position on the ground. She asked, "May I have this dance?"

"What? Now?" Ranma asked, baffled.

"Sure, why not? Nobody else is here yet, and you look like you can use some fun," Ami declared. Without waiting for a response, she stepped forward, forcing Ranma to step back or be pushed over.

"Well, there's no music for oneee!" Ranma said, the last as a shout as a quick direction change had almost, but not quite, managed to trip her.

It was the most flatfooted Ami had managed to catch Ranma in years. It was obvious that Setsuna weighed as heavily on Ranma's mind as Ranma did on Setsuna's. If that were the case, doing something to take Ranma's mind off of it for a bit might be a good thing, but Ami would need to watch herself to make sure her partner didn't end up in too much trouble. She certainly wouldn't be using her full efforts this time. It was a different type of challenge for Ami, to make it interesting enough to distract Ranma, but not so much as to overwhelm her despite her absentminded state.

"Consider it a handicap. After all, isn't a martial artist supposed to be ready for anything?" Ami asked, parroting back the words Ranma had told her so frequently in the past.

Behind her, Ami heard Minako's voice start to sing, almost on cue. Her friend must have agreed with her judgment, as she picked up the beat Ami had set and without hesitation started singing "Twilight's Embrace." The song lacked a complex harmony, meaning it was a waste to sing with a full orchestra, but the simple melody made it perfect for singing solo at times like this.

"There's your music, so now what's your excuse going to be?" Ami challenged, pulling Ranma casually to her side. She sped up her pace slightly to match Minako's rhythm.

"Fine, fine, I get it," Ranma said, to the empty space Ami had been a moment before as Ami took hold of her hand and swiveled around her, turning in a half circle and ending up behind Ranma.

That was the last of the conversation for the moment as the pair cavorted around as only a pair of expert martial artists who had spent years as dance partners could. Ami could tell as they went that her idea was working. Ranma, almost in spite of herself, was having fun.

"I've been meaning to mention to you," Ranma finally said, while flying through the air, "Minako-chan and I are going to need you to make us another set henshin rods, seeing how the last ones are lost who knows where."

"If I know Spinel-chan, she probably hid them away in the lab somewhere for examination before Serenity-sama could turn them into some memorial or put them in a museum or something," Ami said. "I should be able to make some replacements without too much trouble, but it might be a bit before I can get them done."

"That will be fine. It's not like we need to transform into Sailor Senshi on a daily basis," Ranma said.

They continued to flow together for several seconds more before Ami felt Ranma stiffen. Then, with a wooden voice, Ranma asked, "So, you met up with Setsuna-chan earlier today? How is she?"

Never mind the fact that that at that particular moment they had their backs to each other. Or maybe Ranma had picked that particular timing on purpose.

Ami took the moment to pick up Ranma from behind her and pulled her over her head back to standing in front of her. She looked Ranma squarely in the eye and said, "She's sad. What you said hurt her. She's really sorry for what she had to do, you know."

"I know, I know, I know," Ranma said. She sighed, and continued, "I really can't blame her for it, either. It's like you said; she did what she had to. We all have, sometime. I shouldn't have rejected her like that."

"It's not too late to apologize you know. She still loves you. A lot," Ami said. She then noticed out of the corner of her eye that Usagi and Mamoru were standing halfway up the stairs, jaws agape. "I think we have some company."

"You just noticed now? They've been watching us for the better part of a minute. Rei-chan's over there, too," Ranma said non-nonchalantly, pointing with her head to the side. "What have I told you about being more observant?"

Ami chanced a glance in the direction Ranma gestured, still on guard in case this was a trick of some sort to distract her. Now that it was pointed out, she did see the shrine maiden semi-hidden behind a tree.

"Well, we were planning on telling them the truth anyway, so I guess the more questions we give them before the meeting the easier it will go," Ami said. "Ready for the big finale?"

"Have I ever not been ready?" Ranma answered back with a smirk.

Ranma had much more of her normal bearing back, so Ami felt more comfortable with what her partner would be able to handle. It was a repeat of the ball, but it had worked well enough then, and to the best of her knowledge, Ranma still hadn't figured out an appropriate way to counter it. Ami waited for the appropriate verse to time it just right, and then threw Ranma up into the air. Ami timed it for only a single push this time. She had seen how much of a drain a multiple bounce had taken on Ranma at the ball, and she had no desire to wipe her out just prior to what would certainly be an interesting meeting.

As Ranma reached the apex of her flight path, Ami palmed her henshin rod to channel some of the aetheric energy from Mariner Castle up at the airborne Ranma. Ami couldn't get access to very much energy while in this form, but it was enough to keep Ranma suspended in the air.

Unlike the night of the ball, this time Ranma started glowing a brilliant golden color, distinctly visible despite the bright sunlight all around them. She then repeated the same trick from the ball, pushing off with some unknown force, presumably her psionic energy, disrupting the aetheric energy Ami was using and dispersing the force violently in all directions. Unlike the night of the ball, this time the feedback was both strong enough and surprising enough to force Ami's hand out.

Her henshin rod scattered out of her hand and across the temple grounds, settling to a stop several meters away from her.

Ami disregarded the rod. She could retrieve it later. Instead, she quickly calculated Ranma's new arc of flight, and moved to intercept the woman. She had every confidence that Ranma had things under control, but still was prepared to move out of her stylistic landing position to a more vulgar and effective one catch the human projectile in the event it was needed.

Ranma maintained her orientation beautifully and no desperate save was needed. The landing was picture perfect. She looked much less strained this time as well, even taking into account that Ami had only bounced her once this time. Leave it to Ranma to figure out a better counter in a matter of days.

The timing of the landing was perfect as well, the final echoes of Minako's melody fading all around them.

As compared to the applause she was accustomed to, the silence surrounding them was a bit eerie. This was broken when Usagi ran forward, calling out, "That was amazing, Ami-chan. Where did you learn how to do that? You too, Minako-chan. I knew you wanted to be an idol, but I didn't know you were that good."

"It's a long story," Ami answered the approaching blonde whirlwind of energy. She had forgotten how excitable Usagi could be. "A very long story. It actually has to do with our trip into that portal and this meeting."

Mamoru had walked forward as well, taking a position just to the side of Usagi. He cast some unreadable glance towards Ranma, who returned an equally inscrutable one back.

"It does?" Usagi asked, suddenly puzzled.

"Yes, it does," Ranma answered as Ami walked over to pick up her wayward henshin rod. Ranma then called out, "You can come out too, Rei-chan."

Rei emerged from behind the tree, looking slightly sheepish. A quick glance at Minako showed that her blonde friend hadn't noticed Rei either. That made Ami feel a bit better that she hadn't noticed the shrine maiden herself earlier.

"Then why don't you tell us now? We're at the meeting," Usagi pressured Ami.

"Why don't we wait for Akane-san and..." Minako said, and then slightly hesitated, "... the others to show up. That way we only have to tell the story once."

Ami agreed. Maybe by then, Ranma would have figured out whether to tell the story of Setsuna as well.

Last Updated: November 2, 2014