The airport was as crowded as it had been every time we'd gone there the week before, but we wanted to see my - and Ami's new - American friends off together. My mother and sister had discovered they liked the others as much as I did - well, almost as much, since I'd been in love with each of the others, and still loved all of them. Sarah was looking around sadly, with the gaze of someone who hopes they'll find something - or someone - before it's too late. Rusty and Becky were laughing at a joke Gwen had just told. The sounds of machinegun fire punctuated their laughter.
Ami and I looked at each other in surprise. Machinegun fire? There wasn't even a question about what we'd do. Ami transformed, right in the middle of our friends, while I leapt atop the nearest high object to scan for the enemy. Down the hall, near the El Al counter, were a group of eight people wearing bandanas over their faces and waving AK-47s. Sailor Mercury joined me on my perch and we plotted our course over the heads of the panicking crowd. I had to trust our friends to find a spot out of the crush and stick together; we had work to do.
Between my grapple and some convenient lockers and vending machines, we managed to make it close enough to the terrorists to make our attack. Mercury used her Shabon Spray to blind and confuse them, and I moved in to finish them off. I didn't kill any, despite the number of bodies they'd left behind the ticket counter, but I was sure the broken bones they received when I passed through would keep them out of trouble for enough time to allow the police to arrive.
When we got back to where we'd left our friends, we found they had done as I'd hoped and retreated to a maintenance alcove. Sailor Mercury transformed back to Ami, and was immediately besieged by questions. After letting the confusion go on for a minute, Ami raised her hand and got quiet from everyone.
"Yes, I'm Sailor Mercury. Yes, Bill knew it when he asked me to marry him. Yes, it has a lot to do with why he's so healthy now. Yes, I know how dangerous this is." She looked at me and smiled with all the love in her heart and a pleading look in her eyes. I wrapped my arms around her and held her close.
"Yes, I know how dangerous this is, too. But as Serenity said, I am a Demon Hunter, so it's no more dangerous than my destined work." I groaned softly as they looked at me expectantly. No escape now but to tell them the parts of my story I'd glossed over or omitted entirely. "Let's find a place we can sit while we talk. This is going to take a while...I'm not sure we'll be able to finish it before your flight."
"We will," Setsuna said as she joined us. "It's important for your friends to understand who and what you are. At least, as much as you understand it." She gave one of those knowing smiles of hers, revealing - in my opinion - that she knew a lot more about what was going on than I did.
Setsuna turned and opened the maintenance door. "If you will all come this way, I have a place waiting for you."
Setsuna walked through the door and vanished into the mist that completely obscured whatever lay beyond. The others looked at each other, then at the mist, then at Ami and me. She smiled and nodded, then walked into the mist. As soon as she'd done that, the others followed. Once the last of them was through, I stepped into the mist, closing the door behind me.
We were in a castle. That much I could tell. The light was soft enough that I could have tolerated it without pain before I died, and revealed a polished onyx floor that stretched into the darkness on all sides. A cluster of seats - several comfy-chairs (Ami always teases me about calling out the Spammish Repetition when I use that term), a couple sofas, and a love seat. Ami had already claimed the love seat and snuggled against me when I sat with her. Setsuna was sitting against one arm of one of the sofas, and drew Sarah down beside her. Once everyone was seated, Setsuna looked to me and nodded, smiling secretively.
"I'd have to say it started with the contest in Newtype magazine. It was a 'Name your favorite Senshi' contest, with a Japanese tour as its grand prize. I won." I shrugged, and looked down at Ami as I thought of just how much I'd won.
"I never found that contest, and I searched that issue from front to back six times when you told me about it," Rusty sounded annoyed and disappointed. He was as much an otaku as me, and when I'd mentioned the contest while we were talking online, he'd been rather - ok, extremely - excited.
"That's because it didn't exist," Setsuna said. "I inserted it into Bill's copy of the magazine, because I knew he wouldn't be able to resist it. And it was important for him to be in Japan."
I should have known she had something to do with it. It was the first time in my life I'd won anything more than a $2 lottery prize or honorable mention in a writing contest.
"And do you know how grateful I was that you didn't enter every contest that came along?" Setsuna asked, her eyes on me. "It wasn't easy, making sure you lost until it was time for you to win."
Wasn't easy? With her power, it should have been a snap. All she'd have to do is pick the probability that had what she wanted and make it the actuality. I looked at her and opened my mouth to ask what she meant - and closed it again when I saw the glistening in her eyes. She hadn't been talking about the mechanics of it...she'd been talking about her emotions. This was getting really weird. Did she feel the same strange connection that Ami and I felt to her?
"And so...?" Rusty prodded gently.
"Oh. Right. Well, on my second day in Tokyo, I decided to take in the Tokyo Tower. I mean, it's as famous as the Eiffel Tower, and a lot easier to get to when you're not in Paris." I grinned. The others laughed. Good. That difficult spot past.
"So anyway, I was waiting in line for an elevator to the observation deck, when the Senshi arrived, fighting with something that looked like it came out of UrotsukidĂ…
