Walking Towards Light: Ami Redux
Act 1 - First Steps
Chapter 5: Grave Bearing - wherein Ami goes missing, but she finds her way.
Rei was concerned when Ami didn't return home by dinnertime. It was raining, Rei figured she probably just got caught without an umbrella somewhere. She was an adult, and not a prisoner. She had the freedom to be out and about on her business.
Concern turned into worry after the shrine's night chores were completed. Hours had passed without a phone call or an explanation from Ami. Rei wasn't really sure if this was out of character for her anymore but the fact that she was even ignoring her communicator was a bad sign. Did Ami take off again? No, unlikely. Her Mercury Computer was still in her room. Ami would sooner part with her left hand, than leave that computer behind.
By 2 am, Rei pulled Makoto and Usagi into joining her on a search party. Apparently Ami had left Setsuna's office hours ago with a sealed copy of her mother's will. Ami said she was heading back to the temple, but that clearly didn't happen. Ami was in trouble then. They had to find her. She was their friend and their responsibility - Ami shouldn't be left alone right now. Officer Aino had no reports of any disturbances matching Ami's description or m/o. Considering recent history. No news was good news.
Dawn found the inner senshi reunited at the cemetery. They gathered in front of the simple grave marked "Mizuno Saeko". They found their missing friend sitting on the ground, her back leaning against her mother's headstone. Her ice cold hands and bloody knuckles stood as testament to how long she'd been here, and how she was feeling inside.
Ami didn't say a word. She simply didn't resist the hug Usagi offered her. They stayed together until the sun came up.
Calm on the outside, and a tsunami within. That was so Ami it that it hurt.
Makoto felt stupid for not checking the cemetery first. That should have been the first place she thought of. This is exactly what she'd done herself after her parents died. They'd checked the hospital, the park, the library, and even the sports centre pool before she'd realized that subconsciously, they were looking for the old Ami. That was when it clicked for Makoto. Cemetery.
She wasn't sure if Ami even knew where her mother's gravestone was. Makoto had been the one to make the funeral arrangements. By the time the police released Dr Mizuno's body for cremation, Ami had already pulled her disappearing act. With no known next of kin other than the now-missing Ami, Makoto claimed the body as a family friend. She had experience in the logistics of death and it seemed wrong to leave her unclaimed anyhow. Dr. Mizuno's colleagues at the hospital were of like mind and had pooled together to pay for the funeral. In the end it was a rather nice ceremony, considering the circumstances. Whatever was missing in family, was made up for in the presences of lives impacted and lives saved. Colleagues, students and former patients all came to pay their last respects to the good doctor.
Dr. Mizuno was well missed. Over the past 6 years, Makoto visited the grave occasionally. She swept the grave at Obon time alongside that of her own parents and visited on anniversaries of Dr Mizuno's death. It seemed appropriate. Saeko Mizuno had started to feel like family to her somehow. It might also have been a futile kindness, but Makoto thought it would be devastating if Ami to ever came back to an overgrown and dirty gravestone.
As soon as Makoto realized Ami was probably at the cemetery, she, Rei and Usagi had raced over there to check. Minako beat them there, having gone to the cemetery directly after her shift ended.
It was first light when they found their friend. They waited in silence together until the sun was fully risen.
The sounds of the city began to filter into the still of the cemetery. The city was waking up to begin a new day.
"Thank you"
Ami's voice was quiet and hoarse with emotion. She gave Usagi's a last squeeze as she stood up.
"I'm sorry everyone, I'll be leaving town for a while."
Her voice hardened. All business again.
"What?"
"London. I have a new lead. My mother left a letter in her will. I just received it. She was worried about a meeting with a Dr Edward Smith with the Blackstone Capital Investments Group. That's likely the last thing she did before she was taken by Queen Metaria. I need to know what happened."
Blackstone...the name rang a bell. Minako gasped.
"The Blackstone Group... I remember them. They were the investment group that funded the Dark Agency way back in the day. They were the money men. I'm coming too."
Ami turned to Minako.
"No. I'm doing this alone. This is my fault. If I hadn't been such a coward after my mother's death. We would have had this information 6 years ago. I will take care of this."
Minako didn't like the look in Ami's eyes. She was repressing something... too cold, too calculating. A killer's eyes. Shit...she didn't like where this was heading. Damn Ami and her obsessive focus. Someone needed to go with her.
"No you won't. Not alone. This is my territory. I know London. I know Blackstone. I can get you information, contacts. You're not doing this without me."
She positioned herself not as a friend, but as an asset. At the moment, it was the fastest way to get through to Ami. Relentless logic can go both ways.
Minako heard Rei and Makoto start to protest in the background, heard and dismissed. Rei was going to be so pissed about this later.
Ami looked at her suspiciously, then nodded once. She reached into her jacket and handed Minako a water stained envelope.
"Read this. I don't want to explain things twice. I'll go make the arrangements now. Minako, is 5 days enough notice for you to give to work? You have no obligation to come with me either way. I don't know how long I'll be gone."
"Just try and stop me."
The look on Ami's face answered for her. Don't tempt me.
"Ami-chan...you're leaving again? Let me come too."
Usagi expressed her love in the simplest terms. She was pained by the idea that her friend was leaving again. She was worried that her friends were leaving on a mission without her. She was sad that her friend was suffering so much and trying to bear it alone. At least Minako got through to her.
"No Usagi-chan. Only Minako, for the reasons she stated. Don't worry. I'll come back."
"That's a promise?"
Ami smiled reassuringly as she had once before in a frozen wasteland.
Only this time, no one could tell if she was lying or not, perhaps not even Ami herself.
-End of Act 1: First Steps-
A.N.
Our story is now established, we are preparing to move into Act 2: A Journey of 6000 Miles.
Thank you for reading! PM and Reviews always appreciated.
Up next: interlude chapter "Dr Mizuno", wherein we read what was in that envelope.
Flavour notes: Obon, or simply "Bon" festival is a Japanese Buddhist summer festival where it is traditional to gather one's family together and go visit the graves of your ancestors. The idea is that the souls of the departed visit the living again around this time of year, so it's good to go to the cemetery to honor them. Cleaning the grave is also a part of Japanese custom regarding the dead. There is also dancing and lanterns and food, so good times.
Also, I've been told that that culturally, leaning against a gravestone is a very very very weird thing to do in Japan. My intention with that action was to demonstrate that Ami was pretty much exhausted from being up and emotional all night. Also, she is in a way, too familiar with the grave, to the point where she is irreverent enough to lean on it. I suppose that stems from a sense of ownership over the grave because she was the one that killed her mother in the first place.
Continuity Notes: The "Dark Agency" was the enemy that Sailor V faced in Codename: Sailor V. Blackstone Group is something I made up.
*spoilers begin* Long story short, they were an entertainment talent agency that turned out to be a Dark Kingdom plot. *end spoilers*