Chapter 20: The whole story
Saeko closed her eyes and just prayed for it to end soon. She had seen it all now, the battle, Mercury's courageous final stand, and then the sudden reversal at the last moment with the arrival of the other senshi, in time to perform the final act in this battle by taking down the enemy in a ballet of panache and gallantry. It had been a spectacular battle, one that raised the bar of her expectations and reversed her – flawed understanding from that night – beliefs about the senshi at the same. It gave Saeko the kind of awe that only a child had the fortunate of appreciating. But that had all come to an end, at the last second the enemy had done something that the senshi couldn't stop and that had been to deny them of accomplishing their only objective this evening, rescue her.
As she sailed in arc towards an unknown part of the roof – which she didn't dare to guess what it would do to her body – Saeko though about a lot things. As she descended, her thoughts mainly flashed through the high points of her life, from her own childhood to the moment she discovered Ami's special identity, all of it representing a series of events that characterized her life until now, as it would soon end in a bloody wreck on a cement roof. But among those thoughts late into her decent, Saeko returned her attention to the regrets in her life, her failed marriage, letting work consume her, but none of these came close to how she had never been able to reconcile with Ami before tonight.
It had taken her to see Ami in action as Mercury to convince her finally of how right her daughter had been that night. Not believing a single word from her that night, it only until seeing her daughter, perform well under adverse conditions in a truly hopeless situation, doing her very best to hold out long enough to wait for the others, to convince Saeko of the truth in what Ami had said. Even though she had come very close to seeing her daughter die, Saeko couldn't have been more impressed at her gallantry at holding out just long enough for her – as Setsuna had mildly put it before – loyal friends to come and save the day.
But what finally sold Saeko though, was seeing Mercury stand up and being helped back into the battle with the aid of Venus. Refusing to let the others take the brunt, even after what she had gone through, Mercury had played a role to the very end, working with another senshi to turn the tide of the battle in its grand finale and secure – a now impossible to achieve – victory. It was just like everything Ami had said before about her role as Mercury and it had been just like the many stories she had heard about the heroic feats the senshi routinely performed, but seeing for the first time gave it a special quality that recounts wouldn't have quite conveyed.
That Saeko now wouldn't ever get to say how wrong she was to doubt Ami, was the most regretful thing of her regrets. While justified in her concern, as any good mother is about their child, it was now quite clear that while it was a risky responsibility being a senshi, Saeko had underestimated the strength in her daughter. Seeing it herself, Ami had more than overcome the adversity that came with being Sailor Mercury, but excelled at it. Even battered and bruised, she had fought on, defying even her enemy's expectations on her survival, all in the now empty hope of rescuing her.
And now? Saeko couldn't imagine what was going on in Ami's mind, but panic at a failed mission and seeing her only family fall to an inevitable…
The feeling of being touched – or being knocked aside to be exact – surprised Saeko and she at once wondered what had happened, snapping her eyes open, she couldn't see a face, but a tattered uniform with the shredded remains of a light blue ribbon on the person's back and an equally ruined short skirt. That wasn't all she could sense however, and in a second her cheeks detected the flurry of hair brushing against her cheek. But before Saeko had even had the chance to determine it was her daughter, the two landed on the roof. It wasn't going to be a soft landing; in fact, it was almost a miracle in itself that either didn't get any more badly beaten up in process of skidding to a halt.
The Mizuno's landed with a thud, which was only made non-fatal by first, the angle in which they landed and second, by Mercury being the one to take the brunt. Motion didn't stop there however and without pause, they continued to crash to a halt through a path that was occupied by pipes, debris and ice – which added an additional ten meters to their skidding stop – that contributed in adding a broken leg to Saeko's list of injuries and crushed ribs to Ami's already long list. Motion however bled off with the ground friction and after tumbling thought twenty five meters of rooftop obstacles and debris.
Stopped in one place, the two were still embraced like they had on their decent and throughout their violent tumble to a stop. Mercury having ended up on top, raised her bloodied, battered and bruised body weakly to one side before collapsing on her back to look at up at the sky. Through the silence of her final move, was followed immediately by an almost explosive sound, as the radio tower finally came crashing onto the roof and echoed out everything else for several minutes. When the noises died down, Saeko finally spoke
"Ami…"
"Yeah?" Mercury replied, not at all worried about responding to her real name to this person now.
"I'm sorry I never understood you until now…" Saeko breathed out her words slowly, ignoring the pain in her leg.
"I'm sorry too…" Mercury said, her breathing feeling heavier now her lungs had to work harder to fill with air "…that I go so angry at you before…"
Saeko heard the heaviness in her voice and turned to face her daughter. She saw Mercury's bloodied face and the clearly damaged body, but judged, accurately that her daughter was still with her. She raised her hand – realizing at once she had sprained her wrist as well – and reached for her daughter's exposed hand. She cupped it in her own and felt the warmth still presiding over her.
"…then lets start over…" Saeko whispered, faintly hearing the sound of footsteps approaching them now "…when this is all over, how about we talk about it…"
Mercury simply sighed a reliving brief before adding "…okay"
From their silent few seconds together before the other senshi arrived, they had rebound what had been lost only days before.
While Venus and Neptune had gone to find where Mercury and her mother had landed, the others had a more pressing task at hand.
"…Well?" the general coughed in a whispered mutter, his low tone no longer possible under these circumstances.
It had just had to be his luck that he would actually survive the blast. Despite being only meters from the grenade and possible shrapnel that could've torn him apart; he had been merely blown backwards before being engulfed in the fireball, which too failed to kill him. His uniform, designed to protect its wearer from fires, was roasted and thus so was all of the weapons on his body, including his suicide knife – despite which a senshi had without courteously removed from his grasp anyway – negating his ability to escape with a more powerful explosion.
Instead of the fiery death he had hoped for, he was surrounded by girls, girls in senshi uniform with mean looks and passionate anger on their faces, all accept one. When she had come to some sort of agreement on what to do with him, Sailor moon had walked forward, again with her specter in hand like last time and like last time with Pluto in tow, her weapon out to counter any vain attempt the general might try like his fallen colonel had.
"Are you prepared to agree to our terms for your surrender?"
The general – surprised by what he was hearing – considered his options before nodding his submission.
The next twelve hours went by like a blur, which was exactly what it felt like, when Saeko tried to recall everything that happened the next morning. Having been rescued with substantial injuries, and after some argument on what to do, the senshi had collectively decided on letting the paramedics and hospital system handle her injuries, if anything to allow her missing status – which had been incidentally reported at the same time by the hospital – to be rectified with the appropriate, though obvious explanation. It wasn't the ideal solution though, since it involved the senshi breaking one fairly important rule in their usual procedures in departing a battlefield.
Even if Saeko had tried to deny it, having the senshi bring her to the paramedics that were now flooding the scene was more than enough to spark the attention of everyone, especially the police investigation force in charge of looking at this senshi battle. After being processed on site and being checked into the hospital – to the amazed surprise of the staff – she worked at, and after a very relieved medical staff treated her wounds from the last day, the police had been humble in their questioning of her interaction and brief disappearance. The questions were calmly asked, with the additional presence of Ryosuke, the senior doctor on duty at the moment, to make sure the police treated her with respect.
Saeko had recounted everything she could remember of the last day, careful the whole time to leave out the obvious details about her interaction with the senshi. She recounted everything she could 'apparently' remember but had been deliberately vague on how she had been kidnapped and who had kidnapped her. She had feigned complete forgetfulness when it came to asking why she was kidnapped at all, but the investigators understood on that score and it was never brought up again. Apart from her own disappearance though, Saeko managed to provide details of the warehouse as one place she was taken to and she provided a stellar detailed commentary of the battle just fought. Apart from that she rambled minor details that would be picked over by the investigators for weeks to come.
It had gone long into the night and into Christmas day before they decided they had taken enough of her time and left the rescued doctor to sleep. Ryosuke called the Mizuno residence to inform Ami, first of her mother's kidnapping and then of her rescue by the sailor senshi just hours before. To his surprise the phone was never picked up and after leaving a message on the answering machine, he returned to his rounds, which for the moment included assessing a number of other cases from tonight's battle. It wouldn't get as frantic as before because of the low numbers and fairly light injuries, but it would keep him busy for the whole night.
The shopping center had once become the focus of attention in the media for the second time in less than a fortnight, though compared to the relatively light damage from the previous attack, this most recent one made the damage from first battle practically insignificant. The food court was a blasted wreck, almost all of the skylights – which was now letting in the first snow to fall – had been shattered, dozens of store fronts were wrecked along with the mall itself and the radio mast which serviced mobile phone coverage and relayed local radio station signals was toppled over onto a rooftop mess that would take weeks to clean up.
In total, it was in even worse a mess than the Minato district police station and already rumors about the shopping center attaining bad luck somehow was being circulated by the public. By the end of the week, the center's management would be afraid for the future of their property – with the planned office tower only about months away from groundbreaking – but their greatest concern was over the damage done to the shopping center and how long it would be before the center could resume trading. It was only until the fire department had entered the building and certified it safe for people to enter, that the police could even begin their investigation.
With the dismal discovery that no footage had been recorded, detectives were forced to reconstruct events based on testimonies and observations about the damage. While the roof was beyond the pale for any investigator to properly understand, the inside of the building was just barely explainable though none of them would fully reconstruct what had taken place. While most of the evidence had burned away as the auto-troops were designed to, a few things remained. Among those things, detectives were quick to discover a pair of bodies that lay on the floor in a crumpled heap.
Mercifully, the crushing forces had spared their heads, which at least left the detectives with a face that helped identify them as human beings, though it wouldn't help explain what the rest of their bodies looked like after how disordered they had become. No biopsy would ever work out what killed them exactly, though a careful observation from junior investigator had noted that despite rigor mortis not having set in yet, both bodies were gripping a piece of wood with an inch of steel on the end. A more senior detective, upon seeing it himself, noted the dowel piece of wood as being apart of a sword once he noticed the blue and a red slash merely draped around the wrist.
Nobody knew who they were and after their bodies had been photographed enough times, were put into two body bags destined for the closest morgue. In another week, after an exhaustive search for their identities, their remains were cremated.
"You must've had an exciting last day and a half" Hiroyoshi commented as he took the liberty to check on Saeko's chart "I haven't seen this many bruises on anyone since my days at Kobe University"
Saeko had a light chuckle at the reference to Hiroyoshi's younger days. She noted that he could've just as easily referred to the more recent attack at the police station – where those bruises had been serious wounds – but Hiroyoshi was one those doctors with a good bedside manner and didn't like to remind patents of less fortunate cases.
"It was pretty rough…I have to admit…but I got rescued right?"
"By the sailor senshi no less…that must've been one hell of a Christmas present" Hiroyoshi replied in a chuckled as he finished reading the chart "…next time, how about just asking for a nice watch?"
The two laughed lightly at the joke. When Saeko settled down, Hiroyoshi smiled as he put away the chart before sitting down in the chair set up next to the bed.
"So what's the prognosis?" Saeko asked, both for conversation and to see how she really was.
"You're fine…I can even get you discharged by lunch…" Hiroyoshi replied before going on "…but the leg will need at least a month or two, but I imagine your due for some time off anyway…at least that's what the head doctor will agree to when he gets back"
"Hiro…" Saeko turned serious
"Doctor's orders" Hiroyoshi hid behind the oldest of medical excuses "Think of it this way, now you can spend some time with your daughter instead of huddling down in your office twenty five hours a day…enjoy the day off"
Saeko felt a pang of guilt just then, and it came from an instant recall of something when he mentioned her own Ami.
"What about your daughters…and your sister…what are they doing right now?"
"They understand…besides with you out of action, who is going to take up the slack?"
"Hiro…" Saeko warned again, this time with a downward tone in her voice.
"Don't worry about it…I'll have someone relieve me at midday and then I'll go with my daughters to the park…it doesn't have to be in the morning does it?"
Saeko sighed relief, though the pang of guilt never went away. It did ask a new question however, but fortunately she would never have to ask the question aloud, since its subject had just arrived.
"Mother" Ami spoke from the door.
Ami averted from the temptation to dash to the bed and instead walked a brisk pace before reaching down to hug her bed-bound mother. Saeko embraced her daughter in warm hug for almost a minute before she released again. Hiroyoshi, not having to be told, made it his queue to leave without another word.
"How are you doing?" Ami asked the most obvious question.
"I'm alright…thought I honestly can't remember how I got here…" Saeko spoke in a soft voice.
Ami went quiet with concern when she heard that. Though for a second she had wondered if it was an act, the inflection just wasn't right for that.
"You don't remember anything?"
"No…" Saeko replied "…just something about the…they thought I was Sailor Mercury…for some reason…and…"
Ami's face went ghostly pale and a chill went down her spine colder than last night had been when she heard that. Just what had happened to her mother overnight, and what could have made her have amnesia about the last eight or so days since she revealed her identity as Mercury? Would she have to do it again? Would the others allow her to do it? Ami's mind blanked out at the thought as she feared for the worst for her mother's health.
"Are you sure you…" Ami blurted out before being cut off by Saeko's giggle.
Saeko at once changed her expression from an unaware battered survivor to what she had been before Ami had entered the door.
"Ami…Ami…haven't your friends ever tried pulling one over you yet?" Saeko giggled "don't worry…I remember who you are...Sailor Mercury"
Ami breathed a sigh of a relief, which only prompted Saeko's giggle to upgrade to a chuckle like before. Ami drooped down onto the bed while her behind found the chair that was placed beside it. Saeko smiled and patted her daughter's head while the two enjoyed the time alone for another minute before…
"I told you it was here…" came a distinct voice in the hallway "…when it comes to floor maps, you can't read Haruka"
"And who drove you here?" the other voice asked sarcastically.
"Michiru?"
From the door, Setsuna, Haruka, Michiru all filed in while Hotaru at once joined Ami – who sat upright upon their arrival – at Saeko's side to offer her own praise at her safe rescue. Part of it was an act, though like all actors, it also had a little bit of truth inside.
"Meioh-san, Tenoh-san, Kaioh-san" Saeko spoke to the three adults of the group "you didn't have to come all this way…"
"Don't sweat about it…we wanted to come" Haruka replied, though personally she really wished they had give her an hour more of shut eye "…besides, we needed to drop Ami-san off so she could see you"
"Ami was staying at your house?" Saeko asked in surprise
"To heal up and to get some sleep" Setsuna explained "…she was pretty badly beaten up from our fight…so we let her stay over…I hope you didn't mind that we…"
"Oh no…please" Saeko replied, afraid of offending her visitor "…I don't mind at all…thank you even…"
"So how are you feeling?" Hotaru asked
Saeko turned to face the girl she learnt only a day ago was a twice born-again of the same person. Until this moment, she had put it into the back of her head, but upon hearing her voice, it for some unearthly reason, it had brought it all back up. How unnerving it was to think in those terms however, Saeko couldn't dare bring herself to look at Hotaru any other way than the cheerful pre-teen that she was in her eyes. Saeko would have a chance to ask about it in the days to come of course, but never would Saeko ever deny Hotaru the same respect she gave her daughter or the others in the Sailor Senshi.
"I'm doing very well…I take it I have you to thank for healing my Ami again?"
"Yes…It was tough but I…" Hotaru stopped when Saeko patted her on the head.
"Thank you…for everything"
Hotaru felt the warmest smile since she was in her father's arms.
"So I guess that means you can head out" Haruka asked
"Head out?"
"You know, discharged…break bail….get the out of dodge…" Haruka offered some alterative phases.
"I get it…" Saeko waved Haruka to stop "…let me talk to someone"
"Have this copied and filed when you have the chance" Hiroyoshi spoke as he handed the medical charts over to the duty nurse
"Yes doctor…" the nurse replied cheerfully upon seeing the name on the card. Her boss was leaving after her short half day visit.
Hiroyoshi waved off to the desk and walked back to his own office where he usually sat vigil during his half-hourly walk around the floor. He closed the door and inside a minute was alone with his thoughts again. Having done the favor for Saeko, he had nothing else to do today but stare idly at clock until midday, when he too could leave work – to have Hatori or someone else come in – and play with his daughters finally. But despite losing the one thing to distract him at his job, he was actually quite happy to help Saeko keep a promise from two weeks ago that she had tried to make to Ami.
Her early departure however ruined one surprise that had already been altered from the original plans to cheer Saeko up on Christmas day. Having until a few hours ago assumed she would be on duty, he had placed a present in her office, a gift that would have made the day go a lot faster. But upon learning she was admitted to the hospital as a patient, he had quietly removed the present from her office to instead give it to her Saeko on the way out of the hospital when he left at the same time. But the visitors had grounded that plan into the dirt, leaving him with the present in his desk.
He pulled open the draw to look at it again and lifted it out of the simple shopping bag It was a brand new 'Sailor Stars' Sailor Mercury action figurine, the senshi that Saeko had so often mentioned was her favorite. It wasn't covered up in gift wrap, but did have a simple red ribbon box-tied to it with a fancy bow and the tag 'Mizuno' attached. He had bought Mars and Venus for his daughters, but he had saved this one for his work colleague.
"I guess I can't beat the real thing" Hiroyoshi admitted as he admired the figurine through the plastic box.
Having gazed at it enough, he put it away, sure that he could always give it to Saeko another day.
The departure from the hospital had been a complicated exercise at first, but Saeko's rank and station in this particular facility – In addition to the word about what she had just been though – gave her the ability to obtain a pair of crutches and a wheelchair on her way out. It was far easier to replace than a medic bag and considering the day, nobody really minded that much anyway. Apart from the task of obtaining those two items, the outer senshi had come prepared for this move. Michiru had brought he own car in addition to Haruka taking her own, giving the party of six the right logistical arrangements for their travel to the Mizuno residence.
It was a quick drive to the Mizuno residence - compared to the longer journey Saeko had taken two nights ago – and the two vehicles soon found themselves at their destination, parking near the garage entrance to the apartment complex. Saeko was aided into her chair by Haruka and Setsuna, before being wheeled around to the wheel-chair accessible ground floor lobby by Ami, for the elevator was accessible. While not expressing it verbally or otherwise, Saeko felt safe this time in knowing that with the protection of at least five sailor senshi, she would make it home this time, without anyone kidnapping her again.
Two elevator rides were needed to bring all six of them to the right floor – the wheelchair had taken up a lot of space in the already small elevator car – before the group could continue on the final stretch for the Mizuno's condo residence, where a surprise had been waiting for them behind the door. After having knocked on the door, which confused Saeko for a second, it had opened to reveal the other four senshi and two cats were waiting inside for them, armed with party poppers. Their surprise was well recieved, thought Saeko felt even more guilt upon learning about the arrangements that they had gotten themselves out of.
"Are you sure it's okay?" Saeko had asked again on their drive to her home "I mean don't all of you have families to…"
"Hardly…" Haruka commented, with a tone that Saeko didn't mistake for sarcasm.
"We…that is to say the four of us are our own family" Setsuna explained "…and all of us don't mind at all"
"…and I talked it over with my mother…she doesn't mind it a bit, for as long as I'm home for dinner" Usagi laughed
"Grandfather is over at another temple today anyway to visit an old friend, so it's no problem for me" Rei added.
"My family understands as well…" Minako replied last "besides…their idea of Christmas is about presents at six in the morning…as long as I'm home for dinner, they don't mind a bit"
Saeko took that at the value it presented itself and learned a new thing about her new…friends? They were really friends to Ami course, but where they now friends with her as well? Certainly they must have, given that didn't need to help Saeko get home or spend time with her and Ami, but it was a new thought to consider as she wheeled herself into the living room. Apart from the understandable changes to the layout in her furniture today to accommodate both the chair she was in and the additional visitors, the coffee table was covered in all manner of food, including a pair of Christmas cakes from the workplace that Minako and Makoto had been at the previous night.
It had taken the combined efforts of the other four inner senshi from nine in the morning to now to cook enough food for the ten of them and their effort was rewarded by the outer senshi, Ami and Saeko on a job well done. With a few further deliberations and a few words spoken, the group sat down around the table to their lunch, prayed their thanks for the meal for which they were about to share and started to eat. The arrangement wasn't perfect, the Mizuno's didn't have a dining table in their condo and there were nowhere near enough seats for everyone, but everyone made do.
Usagi, Michiru Ami and Makoto had all crammed onto the couch, Minako and Rei managed to share the sofa chair by one of them sitting on the wide cushioned arm rests, Setsuna managed to get the chair from Ami's room and Artemis, Luna, Haruka and Hotaru, having nothing to sit on, took the floor, but only after stealing several cushions from the sofa. In all, it was a comical arrangement, but for its simplicity, was none the less met with no complaints, but plenty of jokes. Food was passed out, drinks were handled and the impromptu party of ten started with their lunch. Discussion broke out after the first few minutes and among at first things brought up was the inevitable talk the battle last night.
For the first time since the battle, all the senshi started discuss what had happened with respect to their experiences and the highlights of the evening. For Ami, it filled in the gaps on her own questions about what happened while she faced off the general alone. For Saeko however, their respective stories added flavor to the side of the battle she had witnessed herself. Though humble in their explanations, from what Saeko learned, they were quite adapt at coming up with creative ways of defeating their enemy last night, with Makoto' retelling of Minako's toy store stand off being the particular highlight of this discussion.
As it unavoidable as the discussion about the battle was, so was the discussion about the general and what Sailor moon and the others had done to him while Mercury, Venus and Neptune and Saeko were elsewhere. Usagi, being the original arbitrator of the surrender terms, started to explain the basic agreement that she and the general had come to. In exchange for revealing all the details he had gotten out of Saeko and location of his – now abandoned – base, he would serve time frozen in carbon crystal and kept in the space-time tunnel, to be reanimated sometime in the future.
"…for now, that's the only thing we can do…when the time comes, we will deal with him properly" Setsuna added, actually repeating words Usagi had said to her the night before.
"We should have wasted him…" Haruka spoke bluntly "after what he did? Why give him a second chance?"
"But if we did that… wouldn't that have justified everything he has ever thought about us?" Minako argued "I agree with Usagi…even for all of things he did…its better this way"
The group paused at that, with the scraping of folks on plates and the hum of the reverse cycle air conditioner warming up the room making the only noise. It was a heavy thought to consider that wouldn't soon go away, but it was Usagi who felt she needed to say one more thing on the subject.
"In meantime though…" Usagi spoke "…I left him to think about what good will fighting over the past do for the future"
"…which might have been the most intelligent thing I've ever heard you say" Rei commented slyly.
"What?" Usagi turned to the culprit of that remark "I say plenty of smart things!"
"Then what about the time when…" Rei started to recount a story from early in their careers as senshi. It was a fun story everyone remembered and Saeko soon found it amusing herself by the time of the climax. Despite the embarrassment caused, the tense strain from the subject from only a few minutes before – that threatened to be lethal to the atmosphere of the party – disappeared after that and was never directly touched upon again.
"In a few days, we'll travel up to that hotel and make sure everything is destroyed or not in unsafe hands" Setsuna announced
"Assuming he was telling the truth" Rei pointed out
"We'll take caution…" Haruka noted "besides…from what he told us…the good news is he didn't really know all of our names"
"What?" Ami said "When I talked to him…he seemed to imply hew knew all our identities"
"Well…According to him once we had him on the ground, he claimed to only know the names of four of us…" Setsuna replied "You, Minako, Haruka and Hotaru"
"…and that would be my fault"
All turned to Saeko, who had grimaced at the subject being brought up. Among other subjects, she had managed to avoid it until now, but there was really nothing Saeko could say to excuse herself. With that self admission made vocal, Saeko started explaining the details slowly she could remember about her interrogation and described the device that Colonel Soyuz had used on her. While she got looks from everyone, at the end, it wasn't looks for resentment or even disappointment, rather awe in Saeko's resistance to give information. Having learnt that she had been tortured for the information and given how new Saeko was to things of this nature, nobody at the table dared to objective to her bravery.
When Saeko finished her illation of what had happened, the room became silent again for the second time. It wasn't the kind of thing one wanted to listen to in an otherwise cheerful occasion, though all of them finally understood just how dedicated Saeko had been to keeping their secret. Ami tensed at hearing the details and winced when her mother talked about the Orb device in detail. The enemy had gone to fairly extreme lengths to get the information they were after and her mother had paid for the burden. It would be a long time before Ami could ever forgive herself for what had happened, but just like the other senshi had come to conclude, Saeko had a level of integrity that any of the of them could admire.
"…I don't know what might have happened If I wasn't rescued last night…he might have gotten all of the names" Saeko replied after a few minutes of silence passed "Even so…I…"
"You have nothing to apologize for"
Saeko stopped grieving at her mistake when Setsuna continued to speak.
"If it were any of us, we probably would've done the same thing eventually…Doctor Mizuno, I think I speak for everyone when I say that we'll never judge you for this…" Setsuna replied kindly "…and on that note, I think I speak for everyone when I Say that we will never have worry about our secret with you"
Eight heads all nodded in agreement with Setsuna's position, confirming for Saeko the official understanding and forgiveness from people whom, she felt only seconds before, would become disillusioned with trusting her with their secret. Sudden fears however are usually misplaced and after the official forgiveness, Setsuna was about to say something to make the day the more meaningful. The eldest senshi turned to the two other leaders of the senshi.
"Minako? Usagi?"
Both knew what Setsuna had been referring to by just to look in her eyes. Ceremonial as it was, Setsuna still wished to have their collective blessing to be sure.
"No objections" Minako, the leader of the inner senshi, replied
"No complaints from me" Usagi, the future queen, answered, confirming for Setsuna what she wanted to say.
"Then I can say it…Doctor Mizuno, Welcome to our family"
Saeko was speechless, honored and felt the warm feeling of admiration tingle through her heart at hearing that. It was a fairly strange family to be inducted to of course, all female, with two talking cats and all of them were younger than Saeko by a generation. But however weird their personality traits were – let alone their secret ones – she, like anybody here, would not have it any other way.
"Thank you…so much"
Minako announced a toast for the newly declared member of the senshi family, and while Saeko would never wear the uniform, or ever have powers like all of them, they would still fondly consider her one of their own. The toast made, the discussions about the battle soon subsided and talk on other subjects followed. Apart from the customary argument between Usagi and Rei on some minor detail, the otherwise pleasant lunch rest was uneventful.
By two in the afternoon, Minako and Usagi left for their respective families at home to spend the rest of the holiday with them. This left Rei and Makoto to continue telling funny stories about Ami's secret past – all to the embarrassingly displeasure of their friend – while they looked over the pictures that Saeko had discovered the other day and Ami had realized her mother had found. But by dinner, they too had left, along with the outer senshi who had plans to go ice skating like they had planned. This left Ami and Saeko alone with themselves for the first time since the hospital this morning, or since the morning after Saeko had learnt of her daughter's identity depending on perspective.
After cleaning up the mess – which there was remarkably little of – Saeko returned to her original promise the night before to talk about Ami's secret identity in more detail. Saeko had been especially diligent in suppressing her curiosity until now and while she could have easily asked any of the senshi the same questions; it was Ami's answer that she wanted to hear. There would be some questions Saeko would peruse in the future with Setsuna, like Hotaru and the moon kingdom, but for now, Saeko just wanted to get to know her daughter better.
Their discussion went late into the evening and exhausted both Mizuno as they sat on the couch and examined more photos in Ami's extensive achieve of her once-secret past. Eventually however sleep became a necessity for both and retirement to their beds was mutually decided upon.
"I still have so many things I wanted to ask…" Saeko spoke as she was helped by Ami into her bedroom
"They can wait for tomorrow though right?" Ami said with an understanding tone
"Yes, I guess they can" she chuckled before being helped onto the bed "Though…there is one thing to ask you…"
It had taken an extra day to find the hideout due to a minor error in the general's own disclosure to the senshi, but three days after the battle, his base in the mountains was located. True to his word, the quartet of senshi tasked to its destruction found no traps, no hidden robots, nothing at all the excepted sundries of the men and women Kovomeyer lead until their demise as a team. This didn't stop the senshi from being cautious of course, but fear eventually became boring and the fours hours of trap-free exploration of the site made all of them relax as they continued to locate all manner of items, with the top priority being to find the orb.
Other things were discovered, spare auto-troop parts, various tools used by all of the colonels, the computer and stack of VHS tapes from the police station, the roster form that had made the kidnapping of only last week even possible and all manner of items from their two week campaign against the senshi. The only thing that couldn't be found however was the Orb, and despite comprehensive searches of the building, nobody had managed to locate it. Even with Saeko's description, the senshi were lost in trying to find the one item that they needed to destroy the most.
But Sailor Pluto was fairly certain that it was here – though the general never mentioned it – and was determined like the others to locate it before they left this place. Five hours passed however before Saturn, having really been curious about a certain room, found the orb wrapped in a blanket, hidden in what had been the general's quarters.
"Is this it?" Uranus asked in surprise at the orb Saturn was holding.
"Seems to be" Pluto replied after she took it from Saturn's hands.
Pluto caressed the silver ball, looking for a way to activate the supposed device. After a few tries, Pluto found the hidden on switch and a holographic screen popped up with almost random things stored in its memory.
"Well?" Neptune asked from the door.
"This is it" Pluto repeated and confirmed Uranus's words.
Without having to be told, the quartet of senshi proceeded outside to dispose of this piece of hardware properly like they had for everything else they found so far. One destructive blast later from Pluto's staff, the orb was no more. All the trouble of the last two weeks became a thing of history now and with the significant addition to the senshi circle, everything could now return to as before.
"Well, that was fairly easy" Uranus spoke as she inspected the creator they had just made in the courtyard.
"…and that closes the book on this whole affair" Neptune added "Pluto?"
"I think so…and if there is stuff we haven't found, then more than likely won't be found by anyone else"
"That's a fairly bold gamble considering the computer we just found" Uranus quipped
"I think it's an acceptable gamble" Pluto reminded her friend.
"Then I guess that means our job is done here" Saturn noted with some amusement, looking forward to what would soon follow.
The senshi didn't need to ask about what Saturn was really talking about and all of them shared agreement, it was time to take their delayed vacation. Stopping by the mountain base had merely been a stop along their way on their ski slopes. They were only another half a day's drive from here and all of them looked forward to taking time off after the tension of last two weeks. Without any further debate, the quartet of senshi left the mountain base and with it, the whole episode was over.
Three days was about the time Saeko needed to adjust to her new circumstances. It had been a very long time since she had been bandaged up for anything, let alone for a broken limb, which was guaranteed to create additional constraints on what she could do. The hospital had no choice but to agree and granted her two months of leave on that basis alone, giving Saeko a well deserved vacation, and time to spend her – existing and new – family. The first few days however, were spent with Ami, first working out a routine based around her disability and second to talk more about the subject that had played a role in breaking her leg in the first place.
One part of the routine quickly established was a daily visit to a nearby park or the nearest food store. Cabin fever and boredom was a fairly enviable part of her current circumstances and so was the strain to keep to a routine to keep the mind active, despite the badly needed rest Saeko needed from that. The only apparent downside in this was Saeko's dependence on Ami to help her out. While she was starting to get use to the crutches around her home, for longer distances – a term which seemed to encompass anything beyond the front door – Saeko needed the wheelchair and Ami to accompany her.
This wasn't as much a downside as Saeko thought however, though she was starting to feel slightly guilty for taking Ami away from her daily routine of study, friends and other activities. Because of this and other reasons, Saeko had restrained herself from annoying her daughter with too many questions about her subject of interest, save for the one favor that Ami had, with partial reluctance and partial interest, agreed to the day before.
Otherwise, except for the call from the work, Saeko had spent the last few days unwinding her stressful work life and enjoying the break, even if was at the cost of her leg.
Ami didn't actually mind helping her mother, though she also felt guilty at wondering what her mother would do when school resumed next week. For the time being however, she helped out as much as Ami was able to, which for moment meant a lot of things. Among the most memorable however was the favor that her mother had asked for on Christmas, to be done the next day when she had the time. Ami had her reservations, but couldn't deny that in the greater scheme of things, it was something she wanted to do as well.
"So how long will they before they come back?" Saeko asked
"Another week" Ami replied "at least for as long as they had originally planned"
"…and the other thing?" she spoke, as Saeko now referred to anything senshi related.
"Handled"
Ami and Saeko travelled down a path along the frozen lake bed and took the occasional glance at the people who were taking the risk of skating atop it.
"So what do you want for dinner?" Saeko asked, turning to a more familiar topic
"Pasta…something warm for dinner…"Ami answered "that's if we had the stuff for it at home…we'll have to make a trip to the store for that"
"Then lets go" Sako commanded while chucking.
Ami smiled and completed at once, turning the wheelchair around to exit the park. On their way towards the gate, Saeko reached for her wallet in her handbag to count cash she would need to buy both dinner, and caught a glimpse of the new photo she had for the window section in her wallet.
Her request to Ami had been to take the chance to update the photograph she kept in her wallet from the one already dated by several years, and to do this time both as her daughter and as the Sailor senshi that she had so admired. It had been something Ami had been worried about at first, but upon her own careful consideration, was something she herself wanted to do. Arranging the photo was easily done and with the selection of Ami's usual place for developing the film, it had been a fairly simple and as always, kept a secret. Saeko was more than pleased with the outcome and now had both pictures in her wallet.
"So about what Rei was talking about that time at the beach…"
Ami chuckled when she recognized what her mother was talking about "She didn't tell it right…let me tell you the whole story this time"