Life's Lessons
A Sailor Moon fanfic by Kristin Renee Taylor

Chapter 12 -


Ami stared down at the cup of hot tea held between her hands,
wondering how long till the purification systems were up and running,
since the bottled water wouldn't last forever.

'I should have had Minako-chan bring a couple of the portable water
purifiers with her, then we could have had fresh water immediately,
instead of planning to use whatever facilities Beryl may have left
behind. Of course, I probably wasn't in the correct frame of mind to
give the necessary orders while we were evacuating.'

She smiled ruefully. And while she was thinking about stuff she
should have brought, how about adding a new wardrobe, a queen-sized
bed, a spa, and her library to her mental list? And a couple of space
heaters. And a very strong drink. Preferably scotch. Or whiskey. Or
something stronger than whiskey. What was stronger than whiskey? Maybe
Rei would know.

No, wait. She couldn't ask Rei. Talking to Rei would remind Ami
about the thing Ami was desperately trying to forget.

Ami winced and sipped her tea. It was lemon tea. She hated lemon
tea. Why couldn't it be green tea? Makoto had been growing green tea.
Why hadn't she brought some of it?

"What time is it?" Someone muttered nearby.

Ami looked up, dreading what she find, but too polite to simply
ignore the voice.

Rei stared blearily down at Ami from across the table. Other than a
few thin lines of paler flesh along her arms, Rei showed no obvious
signs of earlier trip down the volcano's side.

"Three in the morning," Ami said thickly.

Rei grunted and walked away, headed for the stove and the big pot
of food cooking on one of the ranges. This area, a small clearing in a
veritable maze of canvas that had been erected, was one of three
cafeterias for people who, like Ami, spent most of their time being
nocturnal.

How unfortunate that, at this particular time, the only two people
up and about were Rei and Ami herself.

'Vodka. That's the alcohol I'm thinking of. Definitely vodka.'

Rei set a bowl on the table and sat down. "Where's Mako-chan?"

"Sleeping."

"Voluntarily?"

'As voluntarily as a couple of grams of diazepam could make her.'
Ami took a swallow of her tea. "Not entirely."

"Can't say she didn't deserve it." She ate some of the yellowish
substance in her bowl and made a face. "I wish stuff wouldn't taste
like it looked."

Ami made a sound of acquiescence. Rei gave Ami an odd look, then
shrugged and continued eating. She ate about half the bowl before she
said, "So what are you waiting for?"

Caught off guard, Ami looked up in surprise. "What?"

Rei kept eating. "I'm too tired to yell back, Ami-chan, so you'll
never get a better chance to tear into me."

"'Tear into?' Oh... you mean for me to..." Ami hesitated, and
looked at Rei. "Actually, Rei-chan, I believe I should apologize for
my earlier behavior. I... I... jumped to conclusions before I fully
understood the reasons behind your behavior. I'm very sorry."

To Ami's surprise, Rei started to laugh. "I guess I should've
expected that," she said when she had calmed down some. She patted
Ami's hand. "It's okay, Ami-chan. It's no big deal."

'Oh, Rei-chan, but it is.' Ami took a deep breath. "Rei-chan..."

"Yep?"

"I know what happened in Chicago."

Rei's spoon froze halfway to her mouth. A complex array of emotions
flashed across her face, before settling on disconcerting blankness.
"Is that so?" She kept eating.

Ami stared at her, Rei's sudden lack of expression more upsetting
than any of the emotional outbursts that Ami had expected. Disturbed,
Ami looked down at her tea. "I guess I shouldn't have pried, but, what
was I supposed to do? I was angry. Angry at you, angry about what you
did, angry about the fact that you never told us. I just wanted to
know why."

"And when you found out why?" Rei asked softly.

Ami couldn't look up. Numbers ran through her mind. Forty-eight
dead. Two hundred sixteen injured. Ami's hands tightened. "Now I want
to know why you did it."

Rei sighed and set her spoon down. She laced her fingers together.
"What do you want me to tell you, Ami-chan?"

"I don't understand. Rei-chan, what are you talking a-"

Rei leaned across the table, staring intently at Ami. "What
conceivable reason could I give you that would put your mind at ease?
How can I justify the murder of nearly fifty people? *What* do you
want me to tell you?"

Pinned by Rei's stare, Ami tried to come up with something,
floundered, and remained silent. Seeing this, Rei backed off, leaning
back in her chair. "Why did I do it?" She shrugged. "Somebody probably
pissed me off. Or maybe I just couldn't handle grief. Losing my
grandfather and my best friend in the same year's kinda tough." She
was silent for a moment. "But whatever the reason the result was the
same: I lost control of my own power."

Ami's mouth was dry. She sipped her tea, which was pointless since
it was cold. "That... is a lot of fire to lose control of."

Rei laughed humorlessly. "Damn straight." She stood, got herself a
cup of tea, and sat back down. "Anyway, we have Minako-chan to thank
for stopping me. While I was in the process of creating the second
Chicago Fire, she hunted me down, stuck a gun to my head, and told me
that if I didn't get a hold on myself, she'd aerate my brain."

Ami spluttered. "She did *what?!*"

"She stuck a gun to my head and told me-," Rei said, much to
calmly.

"I-I know what you said, but where did she get a gun? And what was
she doing in Chicago? All of the records say she was in Greece!"

Rei stared into her tea, probably wishing that she, too, had
something stronger to drink. "Minako-chan's job as a model was a
cover, an excuse she used for being able to travel freely across the
globe. Her real job was as a Black Ops Special Agent for PUMA."

"The political organization responsible for the creation of the
United World Nation?"

"One and the same."

"I wasn't aware they had a covert operations division."

"Ami-chan..." Rei shook her head, faintly amused. "I'm sure that if
you had known about them, they probably would have killed you pretty
fast." Rei drank some tea.

Ami said, "The mental block in my brain."

"Was put in after I regained my sanity and returned to Japan," Rei
confirmed, nodding. "There's one in each of us." She set her cup down.
"Does knowing the 'why' of it make it easier to accept?"

Ami sighed. "It does, yes. I just wish you had told us earlier.
Don't you trust us?"

"I trust all of you, even Minako-chan although she makes me want to
kill her sometimes." She ran a finger along the edge of her cup. "I
guess... I wanted to spare you guys the guilt of knowing that you were
friends with a homicidal maniac."

"Rei-chan..."

Rei laughed suddenly and smiled ruefully at Ami. "And speaking of
homicidal maniacs, would you be willing to break all of this to Mako-
chan?"



"Are you sure you're going to be all right?" Michiru asked again.

Terri smiled at her hostess and nodded. "I'll be fine, Michiru-san.
I was just a little dizzy. Probably got out of bed too fast." The use
of the old Japanese honorific came easily to Terri, and it surprised
her that it seemed almost natural to add it Michiru's name. Michiru
didn't seem to mind, either, probably because her own accent was
nearly as thick as the Descendants.

Michiru stared briefly at Terri, but did nothing to point out
Terri's lie. Instead, she said, "Then I'll let you meet your friends
in private. They should still be down at the beach."

The path they stood on branched off into two different directions.
Michiru would be heading down the right path, towards the stables,
where Terri could already see a group of people gathered about. Terri
would keep straight until she ran into the beach.

Movement caught Terri's eyes. She turned her head, and saw another
woman approaching them. But not just any woman.

'A Senshi?! *Here?!*' Terri opened her mouth to scream a warning.

The Senshi looked directly at Terri, and the scream died in her
throat. The world around her seemed to shrink, everything fading till
the only thing she became aware of were blood-red eyes boring into her
own.

The Senshi spoke. "Do you know who I am?"

"You're Sailor Pluto," Terri said without hesitation.

"I am many things," Sailor Pluto said. "However, for the time
being, I am not your enemy. Is this understood?"

Terri nodded. "Yes. Of course. You're not my enemy."

"There are two people on this island with whom you are capable of
forging a magical link with, a link that is similar to the one you
share with Hino Rei. Although you will not be consciously aware of it,
you will set about forging those links with Ten'oh Haruka and Kaioh
Michiru. You will do so in such a way that neither you nor they will
be aware of them. However, you will not activate the links until you
receive the sign to do so."

Terri frowned in concentration. "I... understand. What is the
sign?"

Pluto pointed skywards. "The Phoenix and the Dragon." Terri looked
up, puzzled, then back at Pluto.

"One last instruction. Very soon now, you will see Me walking
towards you. You will not know Me. In fact, you will not consciously
remember that this discussion took place. Is this understood?"

"We never talked because I've never met you before," Terri agreed
amiably.

Pluto smiled and-

Movement caught Terri's eyes. She turned her head, saw another
woman approaching them, and had the sudden overwhelming feeling that
she had been through all of this before. 'Must be the heat,' she
thought, baffled.

"Setsuna," Michiru said, smiling brightly as the newcomer joined
them. "I don't believe you've met Terri-chan, yet." To Terri, "Terri-
chan, I'd like you to meet Meioh Setsuna."

"A pleasure to meet you, Setsuna-san." Terri bowed slightly.

Setsuna smiled warmly. "The pleasure is all mine, Terri-san." Their
eyes met.

For a brief moment, Terri had the oddest sensation that she should
be afraid of Setsuna. But that was silly; Setsuna wasn't an enemy.
Terri blinked rapidly, and realized that Michiru was looking at her
expectantly. Quickly, she tried to recall the last thing that had been
said. "Uh... yes. I think I should be going, now." She started to turn
away.

Setsuna called out, "Don't forget what I said, Terri-san."

Without knowing why, Terri shuddered.



The structure of ice was impressively tall, and the magic that had not
only built it but had sustained it through centuries of ice and snow
storms was equally impressive. Mars would have given quite a bit to
know who was capable of such strong magic.

Mars looked behind Her. About a kilometer away was another
structure, this one more like a spire, and it was even taller than the
one She currently stood on.

Mars turned towards the volcano in the distance and frowned. What
*had* happened here?

Well, it didn't matter. It wasn't Mars' job to figure that out. Her
job was to deal with those irritable Descendants.

Mars settled Herself on the ice, sitting lotus-style, and tried to
make Herself comfortable. This was going to take a while.



"TEEEEERRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Terri stopped her cloud-watching, looking around her in time to be
tackled by a blue-haired barefoot streak of silliness. She hit the
sand with a startled "Oof!"

"Oh, God, Terri! I was so worried about you! I mean, after they
split us up and I didn't know where they put you and Shouji was gone
and I couldn't see and then I could see but then the cruiser blew up
and I didn't know where we were 'cause there was nothing but snow-"
Kiyomi inhaled "-and there was soooooooooooo much snow and all we did
was walk around and then you guys were gone and I passed out and then
I woke up and we were here and I'm so happy to see you!" Kiyomi
grinned brightly down at Terri from her position on Terri's lap.

Terri managed a groan.

Kiyomi gasped. "Oh, no! I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"Ow..."

Kiyomi scooted over to Terri's side and hauled Terri into a sitting
position. She carefully examined her. "You look okay... Maybe you hit
your head? How many fingers am I holding up?" She waved her hands in
front of Terri's face.

Terri caught her hands. "Kiyomi."

"Yes, Terri?"

"If you ever so much as think of tackling me again, I'm going to
kill you. Okay?"

Kiyomi stared at her silently. Slowly, her eyes begin to fill with
tears.

"Oh, great. Kiyomi, don't start cry-"

"I'm SORRY!" Kiyomi threw her arms around Terri's neck and started
sobbing into Terri's shoulder. "I'll never do it again! I promise!"

Terri gritted her teeth. "Kiyomi... Kiyomi! Kiyomi, cut it out!"

Kiyomi pulled away, sniffling. "I'm sorry." Sniff. "It's just-"
Sniff. "-I'm *so* happy-" Sniff. "-to see you!" Sniff sniff sniffle.

Terri's smile was strained. "I'm happy to see you, too, Kiyomi. And
I'm happy that you're happy to see me, but can you be just a tad
less-"

"Hyperactive?"

"Zealous," Terri said firmly, but she smiled to soften her words.
"You do get a little carried away sometimes."

Kiyomi laughed. "Yeah, I guess I do." She sobered, though, and
started to study Terri intently.

Terri blinked at her friend's switch in behavior. "Um... Kiyomi? Is
something wrong?" Terri frowned, and poked Terri in the chest. Terri
jumped. "Hey! What're you doing?!"

Kiyomi smirked. "I knew it. You're not wearing a bra!"

"WHAT?!" Terri's blush must have gone all the way to the ends of
her hair.

"Well," Kiyomi drawled. "You were kinda bouncy when you were
walking down here. And I must say that I'm surprised. I would've never
pictured you as being the braless type."

Terri stammered incoherently and stood, face so hot she thought
that, at any moment, she'd burst into flames. "Where's Shouji?" she
squeaked eventually.

Kiyomi rose more gracefully, still smirking. She casually brushed
sand off of her dress. "Oh, he's out in the water, reliving his
childhood. Why? You wanna show him how 'perky' you are, too?"

"Cut it out, Kiyomi!" But she laughed. She hadn't seen Kiyomi this
happy since... since... 'Since we entered that subway tunnel.' She
headed for the water's edge, Kiyomi keeping pace beside her. "Say,
Kiyomi?"

"Hm?"

"How exactly did we escape from Mercury? I don't remember."

Kiyomi looked at her strangely. "I told you. The cruiser blew up."

"Blew up? How did that happen?"

Kiyomi paused to pick up a handful of sand. "I don't know. Probably
an engine blew and- Blam!" She scattered the sand out ahead of them.
"Of course, I didn't see the actual explosion. Heard it, though. Felt
it, too. And from what I heard and felt, I think it's a miracle we
survived the thing. Shouji said the cruiser was this big, burning mess
behind us."

"Behind us? What were we doing in front of it?"

Kiyomi gave Terri the strange look again, then she shrugged. "I
don't know how we got there. It's bizarre. Shouji said that one moment
the cruiser was coming apart at the seams, and then the next thing he
knows the three of us are standing in the snow watching the sucker
turn into a big pile of melted slag. He also said that you were acting
really strange, not talking or anything. You just started walking, so
we sorta trailed along."

Terri frowned. "I don't remember any of this."

"Don't worry about it. Look. There's Shouji!" She waved. "Shouji!
Look who I found!"

Shouji, clad in only a pair of cut-off shorts, rose from the sand
and waved back, a huge grin on his face. "Terri! I'm glad to see you
are all right."

Terri laughed. "Everybody keeps saying that. You guys are making me
think I was about to die or something."

Shouji and Kiyomi exchanged a look. Terri blinked and looked at
them, suddenly uneasy. "I wasn't going to die... was I?"

Kiyomi sidled over to Shouji and whispered something in his ear.
Shouji stared at Terri for a long, uncomfortable moment, and said,
"You might wanna wear a bra with that shirt, Terri." Kiyomi grinned
and took off running.

"Kiyomi! I'm gonna *kill* you!"



"Sleep
Dream
Remember
What you once were.

"Lives lost
Lives lived
Relive
Through the dream.

"Past strengthen
Present fade
Reality slumber
Only dreams are real.

"The past comes alive
Remember
Dream
Sleep."


Sleep

Makoto leaned against the wall, using her knife to clean her
fingernails, listening intently as footsteps approached, passed her,
and faded into the distance. Across from her, a man slumped against
the ground, seemingly asleep. The instant the last footfalls vanished,
the man lifted a hand and knocked on the wall behind him.

Above her, a head poked out of a window. "Myrmidon?" A constable
this close could make leaving the scene of the crime considerably
harder.

"Mobility," she answered sharply. Slipping her knife into the
sheath hidden in her sleeve, she turned, grabbed the hand stretched
towards her, and scrambled up the wall and through the window. She
crouched below the window. "Well?"

The boy flashed her a smile, teeth bright in the darkness. "The
Oak's out like you said, old hand."

Makoto whacked the boy on the head. "Shut up. You wanna get caught
and die of hempen fever?" The boy shook his head rapidly. Makoto
stood. "Then find the iron and drop 'em to the family man." She jerked
her head towards the window.

They split up and begin to move through the rooms, Makoto picking
up things of value and stuffing them into the sack she carried.
Whoever lived here was of considerable wealth, which was why she had
chosen to break in here in the first place.

She was considering breaking open a small chest, when the boy
squealed "Mort!"

Makoto ran back to the original room, which was suddenly lit by a
lamp set on a table. She froze when she saw the woman holding the boy
by the scruff of his collar. Makoto scowled. "Alethea. How nice to
see you."

"Is this one your's, Faith?" Makoto's twin gestured to the boy with
her free hand.

"He is. And don't call me that," Makoto growled. They stared at one
other coldly. The silence was broken by the boy's snicker. "Faith!?
You've got a girl's name?"

Makoto pinned him with a glare. "You. Shut up."

Alethea smiled down at the boy. "Well, of course she has a girl's
name, hon. What do you think she is?"

The boy goggled. "You mean... He's a..." He stared wide-eyed at
Makoto. "You're a mort!"

"I thought I told you to shut up," Makoto said angrily. She
glowered at Alethea. "You gonna cry beef?"

"Why would I do that, Faith?" She released the boy, who scrambled
over to cower behind Makoto. "Despite your... questionable choice of
careers, you are still my sister. I'll let you and your companions go,
so long as you return the things you and your male friend there have
already stolen." She politely inclined her head towards the doorway.

Grumbling under her breath, Makoto handed her sack to the boy. "Do
as she says. And be quick!" The boy scurried off, still giggling.

Makoto leaned against the doorframe. Alethea inspected her hands.
"So..." Makoto said slowly. "How's the academy?"

"It's going well. The girls are doing very well at their studies."

Makoto snorted. 'I can bet. And she calls my line of work
questionable.'

Silence.

"Is that boy your-"

"Rum bob." Meaning that he was Makoto's apprentice, and a skilled
one at that. Alethea nodded and looked outside. "Your family man is
still there. Should I tell him to leave?"

"He'll leave on his own."

The boy returned, tripped over Makoto's foot and sprawled on the
floor. Makoto picked him up, carrying him easily under her arm like a
sack. "Well, I guess we'll be leaving. By the door." She turned
around.

"You know, Faith, the girls miss you. They still wonder when 'Aunt
Faith' is going to come back."

Makoto flashed her sister an insincere smile. "It's nice to know
you still know your slang, Abbess." The boy giggled. Makoto punched
him in the back of the head. "Quiet!"

'Great. Now I'm never gonna live this one down...'








Author's Notes:

All of the gibberish spoken during Mako-chan's scene I got from the
Lexicon of Thieves Cant (compiled by Shaun Hately). Here's the
meanings of all the words I used.

Abbess - the mistress of a brothel
Academy - brothel
Aunt - a prostitute or someone who procures prostitutes.
cry beef - to "cry beef" is to give an alarm
family man - a receiver of stolen goods
gibberish, slang - Thieves cant
hempen fever - a person who has been hanged is said to have died of
"hempen fever."
iron - money
Mobility - A commoner
Mort - a woman
Myrmidon - a constable
Oak - a rich person
Old hand - an experienced thief
rum bob - a skilled apprentice thief.

And by the way, Alethea is Greek for Truth.

And another one bites the dust. *singing* And another one. Another
one. Another one bites the dust. Okay, I'll stop.

Anyway, onward to Chapter 13!