Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon nor Dresden Files. If I did, Moon would not be so useless, and fans would burn me at the stake for destroying Harry's awesomeness.

The Senshi Files: Silver Warden
File 08: Hard Laws
By Irritus185/Raithe

It was the most diabolical trap I'd ever seen – perfectly designed to draw me in without a second thought. I never stood a chance.

"I'm so glad you came with us, Mako! We're gonna have so much fun!"

Cute, tiny girls! My one weakness! And there were two of them! It just wasn't fair.

The redhead on Usagi's other side, trapped by the blonde's looped arm just as snugly as I, gave me a sympathetic look. "Sorry 'bout this, Dresden. Usagi insisted."

Naru Osaka was a plain-looking girl compared to Usagi's other friends - not a shy wallflower like Ami, or a cool beauty like Rei, or even a bubbly cutie pie like Usagi herself. She was average in looks and flat in stature, but her Osakan accent gave her words a twang I found adorable and the smattering of freckles around her nose that she tried to hide with the shade from her wide-brimmed hat made my heart go 'hngh!'

She got my 'cute girl' seal of approval.

She would've been even cuter if her eyes weren't slightly puffy and red. Considering we'd only just met, I wasn't going to be tactless and ask why she'd been crying... even though I really, really wanted to. Hey, you have a papa like mine and see how hard it is not to be nosy when someone was obviously bothered.

I must've been staring, because she suddenly ducked her head so that her hat hid her face from view. Great, now I'd upset her. Good job, me.

Things might've gotten more awkward had Usagi not then shouted out, "Naru, don't be so stiff! Call her Mako! She doesn't mind, do you, Mako?"

Naru was in clear discomfort. "Usagi, I don't really think that Dresden would-"

"S'okay," I interrupted. I scratched my nose and averted my eyes when she looked at me from underneath her hat. "I lived in America long enough that being called by either my first or last name won't bother me. You can call me Makoto, I don't mind." I shrugged and smiled crookedly. "Really."

"It's fine. I don't-"

Usagi bonked her head against Naru's. "C'mon! Even Mako says it's okay! We're all friends, right?"

I sighed internally. From anyone else, I'd find the way Usagi acted to be pushy and kinda annoying, but from her I found it oddly endearing. Her being cute probably had something to do with it.

Naru must've felt the same way because her body language relaxed perceptively and she full-on looked at me. "Yeah... Sorry 'bout that... Makoto."

"No problem, Naru."

"See? We're all great friends!" Usagi crowed triumphantly. "Now, let's go!" She yanked on both of us, giggling like an idiot as she dragged us behind her.

Naru and I met each other's eyes behind Usagi's back before we slipped into muffled giggling.

It was almost unnatural how Usagi could defuse a tense situation or make friends with just about anyone. It was like she could induce emotions in people like Uncle Tom did, but instead of NSFW feelings, she just made people happy. If it weren't for my electro-sense, I'd almost think it was some form of magical ability.

It did surprise me that papa would let me go out with her right after my latest episode, but maybe he could sense that Usagi's empathy would do me good. Also, I'm pretty sure he wanted me to do some undercover reconnaissance to determine what she could do and what she was aiming for. He had told me to 'watch out for myself' and given me a look.

Or maybe that was just his stock warning that I'd better not get into a fight because of my chronic hero disorder. It could go either way.

Though considering Naru was here with us and I was fairly certain she wasn't aware of Usagi's alter-ego (she definitely didn't have that kernel of power like the other senshi did), there wasn't much I could talk to Usagi about on that subject without alerting the redhead to her friend's after-school activities. Like I said, I wasn't subtle.

By the time Usagi had stopped dragging us behind her long enough to let us catch our breath (the girl had the energy of the Energizer Bunny), we were in downtown Azabu-Juuban. It wasn't any Akihabara (which I really wanted to visit) or Shinjuku, but it had a nice collection of shops, eateries, and entertainment venues. It almost made me feel like I was back home in Chicago.

Usagi unhooked herself from Naru and I and turned to face both of us. "All right," she said energetically, putting her fists on either hip. "It's Golden Week, I have my two friends with me, and we're going to have fun! I know you two have been feeling down lately, so I'm gonna do my best to put a smile on your faces." She stuck out a finger, reminiscent of her Moon pose, and frowned imperiously. "So you better get ready!"

...Wait, that's why she invited me to go out together? Just because I went all murdery then weepy yesterday and- ok, that was a good reason. Usagi did this just for that? Aww... that was so sweet! I tried really badly to hold back the gooey smile forming, but I think I failed utterly.

Naru had a fond if exasperated smile herself and said, "That sounds great, Usagi. Thank you. So..." She scanned the nearby shops. "What should we do?"

"Everything!" Usagi yelped. "We can go to the arcade or do karaoke or maybe see the new Sailor V movie that just came out..."

Close proximity to complex electronics? Nope, nope, and, unless I felt like getting arthritis in my neck from sitting in the front row, nope!

"How about we walk around?" I suggested. I gestured around us, the signs of spring prominent. "It's a beautiful day. We can go window shopping, maybe get some food..."

Usagi immediately latched on. "That's a great idea," she said with delight, eyes sparkling. "And while we're at it, we can get you some new clothes!"

I looked down at what I was wearing: denim jacket, ripped jeans, slightly scuffed sneakers, and a t-shirt that read, "My Other Starship is the Millenium Falcon" with a picture of said starship behind the English lettering. Pretty standard fare.

"What's wrong with what I got?"

"But Mako!" she said, an almost scandalized look on her face. "You're a girl!"

I glanced down at the two large, shapely lumps on my chest that were drawing the gazes of several male passersby even as we spoke and then back at her, an eyebrow cocked. "Pretty sure I knew that already, Usagi."

"But you're a girl," she insisted.

"Usagi," Naru said, putting her hands up in a placating motion. "You aren't helping by restatin' somethin' obvious."

"But Mako's a girl!" she tried again, pointing at me frantically. "She should be wearing girlier clothes!"

"These are pretty girly enough for me," I offered.

"But you're so cute!" If she wasn't scandalized before, she was now. "If you wore girlier clothes, you'd be even cuter!"

"Usagi, I am not cute. You are cute. Naru is cute." The girl blushed at that. "I am..." I faltered, looking for a word to describe myself. "...tall," I finished lamely. I mean, papa called me cute, but he was my papa; I had to take his praise as the requisite 'papa gushing.'

"Exactly!" Usagi beamed. "You're cute and cool. If you got some girlier clothes, you'd look even better."

"Ya have good style," Naru added. "With a little careful matchin' and accessorizin'... We really wouldn't haveta do much." She smiled at my blank look. "My momma runs a jewelry store. I've had ta learn how to match the wares to the customers."

I tried to switch to a different tack. "I like my clothes. I'm more function than form, anyway."

"C'mon, Mako, you can do it!" Usagi cheered. She clasped her hands if front of her chest and gasped. "Oh, oh! You can show your dad your clothes afterward! I'm sure he'd be delighted to see you looking so cute!"

Oh, that was dirty pool. Between Usagi's pleading and potential papa praise, my resistance crumbled like a sand castle at high tide. "Fine," I relented. "But no skirts or dresses!" I said before Usagi got too zealous. "I don't like the way the breeze feels between my legs." Bad enough the school uniform required it. Not to mention that... ugghh... outfit.

Usagi seemed disappointed at my conditions but rallied forth. "Yay! You won't regret this. We'll have so much fun getting you all dolled up." She squealed as she jumped up and down, fists to her chin.

I took a step back at the manic look on her face. Turning to Naru, who was laughing awkwardly, I asked, "I've just made a horrible mistake, haven't I?"

"Don't worry, it won't be too painful," she consoled.

"Really?"

"Nope!"

Naru, you jerk!

Before I could climb out of the hole I'd dug myself into, Usagi grabbed my hand and pulled, leading me to my doom. I looked to Naru for salvation but all I got was a look that was sympathetic and yet said, "Better you than me." I would receive no help from that backstabber.

What followed were several long hours of Usagi dragging me to every clothing store in the shopping district while trying to shove me into any outfit she could find. Naru was at least merciful enough to veto any outfits that just didn't suit me. I was extremely grateful - Usagi's taste in clothing was much too frilly for me. But even with that tiny reprieve, it was not exactly an enjoyable experience.

I was not the kind of girl that enjoyed shopping trips. Even my friends back home, what few I had, understood that I was not the person to ask for fashion advice when we went to the mall. Blame a papa who bought clothes for their capacity to hide blood and burn marks, a big sis that smelled of sweat and gunpowder, and an aunt that kept a full set of medieval armor in her bedroom closet. I guess I could've asked Moll, but this was the girl who had started to change her hair color biweekly and was actively trying to jab enough metal into her body to set off any metal detector in a three-block radius.

None of them were exactly 'girly.'

Luckily for me, Usagi began to wind down after it became clear that I wasn't going to budge on my style. Compared to the couple of bags she and Naru had gotten my bounty was almost pitiful, with the few print shirts, pair of jeans, and new shoelaces I'd bought. It was a good thing I hadn't relented, too; Usagi had been scarily intent on getting me into a skirt.

"Please, Mako?" she whined again. "You have such pretty legs. A skirt would show them off so well!"

"I already said this, Usagi," I ground out. "No. Skirts."

"Ya do have the legs for a skirt," Naru offered. I shot her a burning glare for her interference, but the effect was greatly diminished. I think watching Usagi lead me around by the nose for most of the morning had destroyed her initial image of me being the 'big, scary foreigner.' "Yer pretty well-toned, so I think puttin' focus on that would work."

"Not helping!" I groaned lightly. "Look, I don't like skirts. They're easy to grab, and if I try to fight in them I'll end up flashing my panties at everyone." Not that I cared much about it happening; I'd lost most of my modesty during big sis's training, and the time I'd witnessed papa fight that water sprite in a speedo had finished the rest of it off. But it was the principle of the matter, damn it!

"Um, fight?" Naru asked nervously.

"Yeah! Didn't I tell you?" Naru shook her head. Usagi gasped. "Oh, it was so cool! There were these thugs and they were like, 'We're mean and jerks!' But then Mako jumped in and was like, 'You mean jerks stop being mean to the cute girl, jerks!' And they were like, 'No way!' And she was like, 'Yes way!' And they were like, 'Make us!' And so Mako went like, "Wa-ta!' and 'Blam!' and..."

Usagi continued making sound effects as she sloppily pantomimed my fight with the bozos the week before. Naru's face grew more and more red as we gained a crowd of curious and amused onlookers. All I got was a rising urge to facepalm. Weren't Japanese people supposed to ignore things that went against the social grain? Though, I guess watching a petite schoolgirl acting out a really crappy kung-fu flick would easily overcome social etiquette.

Eventually Usagi finished up acting the scene, slightly out of breath as her eyes shined. She looked inordinately proud of herself. I chose not to tell her that she'd inevitably flashed the crowd a couple times during her rendition (see, what'd I say about short skirts?). By the look on Naru's face, she was debating whether or not to tell her friend. Choosing to not further make a scene won, and she grabbed Usagi by the wrist and dragged her away. I followed, but not before shooting venom-filled glares at the couple people who suspiciously had their phones out.

Really wished I could just fry them, but a magic user's techbane was not a precise instrument, and I didn't want to risk killing off every piece of electronics for ten meters around me.

When I caught up to them, Usagi whined, "Hey, what'd you pull me off for?"

"Usagi, did you even..." She sighed heavily. "No, course ya didn't. Ya never do." She fell silent and began walking ahead. We looked at each other and chased after her.

The tension from earlier returned, thicker and gloomier than before. Naru wasn't even trying to make polite conversation anymore, and the mood was souring fast. Usagi glanced anxiously between Naru and me, trying to look for something to lighten the situation but obviously failing.

I didn't even know where to begin. I'd only met Naru that morning and hadn't been around her long enough to know what to do. I didn't even know what was bothering her in the first place.

As the redhead's brooding worsened, Usagi, in a fit of desperation, said loudly, "I know! Shorts! Let's get Mako some shorts! They'll show off her legs and they're not skirts!" She grabbed Naru by the shoulders. "Naru, where can we find shorts?"

Naru listlessly looked up and pointed further down the street. "There's a shop that sells sportier clothes a little-"

"Got it!" Usagi slid behind her and pushed her forward. "C'mon, lead the way!"

"Hey, Usagi, what are you-" Naru tried to ask, but Usagi shook her head vigorously.

"Nope! You're our fashion guru! We need you to show us where the choicest clothes are. Now, c'mon, we're wasting time."

Naru sighed at the sad puppy-dog eyes Usagi was shooting at her. "If I do this, will ya promise to calm down?" Usagi furiously nodded. Naru looked at me, some unknown emotion in her eyes. I wisely kept my big mouth shut. Her shoulders slumped a bit. "Fine... if you're so insistent."

"Yay!" The blonde wrapped her arms around Naru's neck, pecking her on the cheek. "I love you, Naru! Chu chu!"

Naru let out a small, helpless chuckle and lightly pushed Usagi off, the smaller girl still making smoochy faces. "Alright, alright," she said. She entwined her hand with Usagi's. "Let's get going." She looked at me. "Well? Can't really shop for ya if yer not there."

"Um, sure," I said uncertainly.

"Ok! Let's go!" Usagi crowed, raising her and Naru's held hands up high.

As we walked down the street, I stayed back a bit to observe as the two talked. Usagi was still as peppy as ever, but while Naru was a bit livelier now, she was still rather subdued. Every time Usagi tried to bring me into the conversation, I gave an evasive, lackluster answer and let them get caught up in each other again. It felt... awkward for me to hop in now. Not that either of them made me feel unwelcome, but I felt like I was intruding on something private between them.

By the time we arrived at the shop, Naru had regained enough energy to actively search for clothes rather than needing to be prodded into it by Usagi. She briefly took my proportions and disappeared into the sea of racks and shelves while Usagi gleefully pointed out 'cute' pieces. I restlessly stood by the changing rooms, forbidden to try and run off. It felt like I was awaiting my own execution.

I nearly jumped when someone latched onto my arm. Looking down, I saw Usagi beaming back up at me. I held back a sigh. Normally I was a lot better with people sneaking up on me, but I must've been distracted because of the tense atmosphere. I mentally chastised myself for getting sloppy.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Nothing," she giggled. "Just thought I'd check up on you. You look like you're sweating bullets! Are you really that nervous?"

I shrugged, my lips crooked. "That obvious?"

She pouted, hands forming into fists. "Rei may sometimes be right when she calls me a ditz, but I can always tell when something's bothering my friends."

Cute girl empathy therapy - it's super-effective.

"Like with me and Naru." It wasn't a question.

Usagi looked down. "I guess." She sounded almost embarrassed. "I am worried about you, Mako. After yesterday..."

"It won't happen again."

"But you-"

"It won't."

She looked back up at me. I held her gaze, refusing to look away. She bit her lips and broke eye contact first, looking like she wanted to say something but couldn't bring herself to.

I wasn't embarrassed by what happened the day before - I was completely and utterly ashamed. That was a side of me that hadn't been seen by anyone other than my family or psychiatrist. A weak side, a brutal side, a side I didn't want to show anyone. That was not a side that heroes had... and I was going to be a hero.

Usagi made to speak again, but I beat her to it. "And Naru? What about her?"

"Naru is... Naru is..." Usagi seemed to deflate upon herself. "I don't really want to say, but I guess you're involved, so it's only right to tell you." I waited for her to continue. "Naru, well... someone she had feelings for died recently."

Um... wow. I did not expect that. Now I felt like even more of an ass for butting in on what should've been friend time between the two. Idly, I wondered why Usagi even invited me then if this was obviously meant for Naru to try and heal her wounds. "I'm... really sorry to hear that. It's terrible. But... why would it have anything to do with me?"

"The person that died... he was Nephrite, one of the Dark Kingdom generals."

My mind stopped.

"...What?"

She blinked. "Um... did I not explain well enough? Sorry, Naru-"

"No, no, I get it. I get it, just..." I put my hands to my face, trying to parse what I was hearing. "Did you say she fell in love with a bloodthirsty warlock? Should I be worried here?"

"She didn't know he was a bad guy!" Usagi exclaimed passionately. "He was someone that she kept running across and eventually she just sorta fell for him. She didn't do anything bad!"

"I'm not... I'm not saying that she..." I stumbled at the tears that were beginning to form in her eyes. "Look, all I'm saying is that something strange happened. He was a dark general, right? So he wasn't exactly a nice person."

"Yeah, but... Love is weird like that, isn't it?"

"I wouldn't know. I've never really liked anyone like that before." No one could beat out my papa, after all. "But that's beside the point. Why would she fall for someone obviously evil like a Dark Kingdom general? She doesn't seem like the type to like bad boys."

"Well, I mean, it isn't like she really likes his type. I mean, he was kinda handsome, and..."

I watched as Usagi grew increasingly desperate trying to explain just what made Naru go all gaga over this Nephrite. As far as I could tell (given what I'd seen from Zoicite) the generals were rather handsome, but I didn't think Naru would go crazy over a pretty face.

"I mean, he did make her think he was someone else, and that's a bad thing, sure, but haven't all of us made ourselves-"

"Wait, back up," I interrupted. "He got to know her under false pretenses? So the two didn't just meet and hit it off?"

"Not... exactly. I mean, I tried to warn her off him without actually telling her who he was - Naru doesn't know I'm Moon, right - but she was really super serious about him and I couldn't just hurt her like that, so-"

"Wait, so you knew about this ahead of time? What the hell, Usagi? She could've been really hurt!" What the hell's bells what the girl thinking? She knew that her best friend was mooning after some evil asshole known for sucking people's souls out and she didn't do her utmost to stop her?

"I tried!" she cried. "But she just wouldn't believe me when I said he was dangerous. And then he convinced her to find some special crystal and it was like she wouldn't believe anyone but him and I..."

She kept going on and on, but I wasn't listening. No, I was too busy boiling at the situation while a core of ice began to grow in the pit of my gut. The situation sounded way too familiar to me, at least from the way papa explained it.

Someone who suddenly acted differently from the way they normally did, getting unnaturally attached to a person they'd only just met, ignoring those who'd always been close - all of them were signs of... well, mental tampering.

Papa called it the mental whammy. It wasn't pretty, and the ugly results had long-lasting consequences.

And now I was being told that Usagi's oldest friend had been a victim of that, and Usagi wasn't aware of what it meant? I... I didn't know what to say!

"But, I mean, he did save her in the end!" Usagi hastily spouted out, bringing me back to reality. "He sacrificed himself to protect her from Zoicite!"

"Oh good," I snarled. "He saved the girl that he bloody mind-raped."

Usagi sucked in her breath. "...What?"

"He messed with her brain, Usagi!" I spat with disgust. "He took her mind and made it a play-thing and then he used her!"

"But.. no! I mean, Naru, she isn't-!"

"It's not obvious, Usagi," I said. "But if you know what to look for, it becomes easy to see. And the result's always bad." I looked at her. "Didn't you ever wonder why she became smitten with some guy she'd only just met, to the extent that she would just do whatever he said?"

"Well, I mean, we do strange things for love." Great, now she was just grasping at straws.

"Not like this, Usagi. Not like this."

"But he died to protect her! Surely that means something!"

"One good deed does not excuse a lifetime of bad ones, Usagi! Just because he did something right doesn't mean he's instantly forgiven for all the people he hurt and killed."

She shook her head. "I'm not saying that! But doesn't that one good deed mean he has the right to atone for his sins? I'm sure if he'd survived, he could've become a force for good! Naru even said he was willing to fight alongside us."

I doubted it. People like that were simply a ticking time-bomb waiting to happen. I'm not saying that breaking one of the laws automatically made you a monster, but people like the dark generals - villains who murdered, twisted, sucked dry, and corrupted blindly - certainly were. It was something that was engraved onto their very souls, a punishment for misusing magic and then having that dark taint use them in return.

Maybe Nephrite honestly did want to help, but it was in his very nature to hurt and betray those around him. I was certain that, had he survived and joined the group, it would only be a matter of time before he stabbed them all in the back.

Some love story that was.

Usagi had grown more and more red as we argued, tears brimming in her eyes. In contrast, my face had grown stonier and stonier, my eyes as cold as a winter fae. It was this standoff that Naru came wandering back into, a few different styles of shorts hung over her arms.

She stopped as Usagi and I stared each other down. "Um, is something the matter?"

Usagi scrunched up her mouth and rubbed her eyes clear with her arm. She smiled brightly. "Nope, nothing's wrong!"

Naru looked at me. I looked back, wondering just how much of her had been hurt. I tore my gaze away and stared at the floor. "Yeah, nothing." I kicked at the floor with my toe.

"Well, okay then... I... got these for ya. Think they might look good?"

"Oh, they're adorable!" Usagi cooed a bit too forcefully. "Mako, Mako, come look!" she waved me over, her movements a bit sharper than usual.

I hesitated for a moment but, not wanting to make things worse again, walked over to check out what Naru had picked out for me. This was just something I'd have to look more into and consult papa about later.

For now, I would just try to enjoy the rest of this beautiful spring day, even if it did feel like I was walking the razor's edge.

Emerging from the masterful illusion Lasciel had put me under was the same as waking up. I simply opened my eyes, and there I was, back in the apartment like nothing had ever happened. Well, except for the fallen angel bent over and staring me in the face with the most delighted expression.

"Good morning, my host."

"Pretty sure it's not morning anymore," I waved off.

"Point, but you woke up all the same, and it would only be polite to greet you."

"Uh huh, whatever you say."

I sat up to a cross-legged position and rested my chin in my palm. Lasciel took the opportunity to latch onto me again, but I was too tired and too deep in thought to try and knock her off. After everything I'd seen, there were so many more questions that I'd had. Sure, I had a better understanding of the background of the senshis' and Dark Kingdom's fight, but what did that mean for me now?

The only thing that was clear was that, as weak as the Dark Kingdom had become over the millennia, they were still ridiculously overpowered compared to the senshi's current forms. Not to mention what Metallia could do; she had to be at least partially asleep again, or else the entire Earth would already be overrun by youma, let alone Azuba-Juuban. Which meant that one-off Usagi had mentioned about the generals stealing life energy was disturbingly true.

So what could I do about matters? Killing the generals seemed like a good start, but in the end, they were mere peanuts compared to Beryl and Metallia themselves. So... reapply the seal? Two problems with that - one, I had no idea how to do that; two, I didn't have the reality hacking uber artifact to do it with.

Which meant that I was pretty much-ah, damn it!

I turned to Lasciel, who was doing her best 'nice girl' impression, head gently resting on my shoulder. Internally sighing, I put my chin to my palm. "Say…"

"Hmm?" she hummed. Stop that! It was cute and creepy all at the same time!

"I don't know why I didn't ask this before…" Probably because I was reeling over the planetary destruction of our solar system back when we thought agriculture was the next big thing. "But what's up with the senshi being here now?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, how did they arrive here? The moon cat said something about reincarnation, and I don't even want to think about that bucket of magical worms, but what made them wake up right now, when the DK is getting active again? It just seems too…"

"Convenient?" she finished. I grumbled at her preening look. "Yes, it does seem to all be falling into place a little too easily, doesn't it?"

"You have any idea on the matter?"

"Narrative causality?" She giggled slightly as my face feel in annoyance. "Do not look at me like that, my host. The nature of their resurrection is just as much a mystery to me as it is to you."

"The big, bad fallen angel doesn't know something?"

Lasciel harrumphed. "I know as much about the workings of the human soul as you do about mine. The only ones who would have any idea are Him or the Silver Empress." She tilted her head to look at me out of the corner of her eyes. "And what are your chances of talking to either of them?"

I sighed. That's about what as I thought. Great. So I had an awesome history lesson, but wasn't sure how to use it. I think I was gonna have to have a talk with the moon cat sooner rather than later. But then that meant that I'd have to…

Shaking myself from my thoughts, I slowly got to my feet and put my hands to my back, stretching out the kinks. Lasciel looked a bit put off from my sudden movement but composed herself, smiling genially. "Is something wrong?"

"Gonna take a little walk," I said. "Need to get some fresh air and stretch my legs after staying still for so long." I blinked at the tug on my arm and then nonchalantly shook off Lasciel's hold on me. I caught a brief pout on her face that looked a lot like Makoto's. It was scary how she could so easily alter her demeanor to push all my buttons. "Guess that means you'll have to get going now. Really too bad," I said dramatically. "I was really enjoying storytime."

"You're a terrible liar," she said airily. "Very well, I will take my leave of your now. Think long and hard on what I've shown you, my host. I'll always be close-by in case you need further clarification."

"Yeah, yeah," I waved her off. "Go occupy yourself with whatever creepy things you do when I'm not looking." I paused. "Actually, no, don't do that. Go sit in the corner and about what you've done, young lady."

"Since the beginning of time?"

"Should give you plenty to think about."

She smirked silkily. "I so look forward to this new arrangement, my host. Call upon me when you have need, I will always be available."

With that, she blinked out of sight again, leaving me in an empty room. I pulled back on my shoulder blades again, feeling a satisfying 'crack,' and then walked over to the door. I pulled it open sharply and heard a girlish yelp of surprise and someone taking a step backwards.

At my doorstep was a very petite and nervous-looking girl. She had dark black hair that almost looked blue in the right light, and was wearing a plain skirt and blouse with a pair of rounded glasses perched on her button-like nose. She also looked like she'd rather be anywhere else at the moment. In reaction to my sudden appearance, she averted her eyes to the ground, her hands nervously playing with themselves.

"Oh, uh, sorry," I said lamely, not expecting any visitors. I looked her over. Not anyone I knew. "Can I help you?" She mumbled something incoherent, her feet sporadically shuffling back and forth. "Sorry, say again?"

She raised her head a bit, this time her eyes level at just below my chest but still darting back and forth. "Um, uh, s-sorry to bother you, b-but is… is Makoto here?"

Oh great, I scared a little girl. She was probably a schoolmate Makoto had become acquainted with and I'd inadvertently spooked her. My 'chauvinism' (as Murphy put it) demanded I do something, but the most I could think of was to just answer her question and try not to terrify her any further. "Sorry, she's out with some friends right now. Did you want to leave a message for when she gets back?"

"N-no!" she shouted a little too quickly. "U-uh, I mean, it's… it's fine. I'll probably see, see her at school. I-I'll ask her then." I noted her grabbing her wrist a little tighter than she'd probably intended to, the fingers on her grasping hand turning red from exertion. She suddenly bowed, squeaking softly, "Sorry to b-bother you again! I'll… I'll go now…"

I awkwardly scratched my cheek. "If you're sure…"

"Yes… yes! I'm… I'm sure." She straightened. "Please h-have a nice day." She quickly turned around and walked away, hands tightly clutching her messenger bag.

I watched her for a bit then shrugged and went to lock my door behind me. A bit odd, but my large, foreigner self tended to curdle proper Japanese sensibilities, so it wasn't too out of the ordinary. I did wonder how she knew Makoto, though, as my daughter could be more than a bit rambunctious and was a little unlikely to be friends with such a wallflower-type.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw the girl stop at the top of the stairs. She was still for a moment before she balled her hands into fists and pushed her chin up. With a jerky yet forceful movement, she turned around and marched back up to me. It was pretty impressive; I could tell it took her a lot of courage and nerve to do so.

I pretended not to notice her internal battle, instead only paying attention when I heard her lightly pad to close to me. "Hmm?" I hummed distractedly. "Oh, did you change your mi-"

Suddenly I had a face full of young, Japanese girl. I had been slightly bent over while locking the door, and I when I turned to face her, my head was on a somewhat more equal level with hers. So imagine my surprise when she unexpectedly shot up on her toes, shoving her face into mine. It was only because I was so used to focusing on just below people's noses that a Soulgaze didn't occur.

I jerked back. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Any signs of determination immediately fled the girl's face as she realized what she'd done. Her face flushed brightly, and her mouth clamped shut. She didn't even try to defend what she did. The only sounds coming from her were muted whimpers and squeaks. It was like dealing with a very large, haphazardly aggressive titmouse.

However, I wasn't in the mood right now. I had to make plans regarding how to combat the Dark Kingdom and keeping Makoto out of trouble, not deal with strange girls making half-hearted 'attacks' on me. So instead of taking things slowly, I bluntly asked, "Who are you and why are you really here?"

She fidgeted with her fingers, a few more aborted whimpers coming out. I asked her again, a little more force in my tone, and she actually managed to blurt something out. "My… my n-name is Ami Mizuno," she said so softly it was barely audible.

I paused. Wait, Ami? Didn't that make her…?

She completed my thought. "I'm a… a sailor senshi."

Oh, well, that made things a bit more interesting. Who would've thought I'd have the senshi just appearing on my doorstep? Of course, that led to the question of 'why?'

"So…" I began slowly. "What brings the senshi to my humble abode?"

"Uh, um, a-actually, I came to ask Makoto a few questions."

"About what?"

Ami didn't look up from the ground. "…Magic."

Curiouser and curiouser. From what I'd gleaned from my tests with Makoto and her quick description of the others, the senshi were already confident in their ability to use magic (well, Mars definitely was at least). On the other hand, their magic mentor was a cat whose advice boiled down to 'point and shoot,' so maybe not all of them were satisfied with their 'training.'

Still, this did give me a foothold to work off of. A little extra knowledge about the risk involved never hurt. Besides, after what Lasciel had shown me, if I could find a way to discourage even one of them from risking her life, I'd dive for it.

"If you'd like, I could probably answer them for you."

Her head shot up, eyes hopeful. "Really?"

"Sure. I am Makoto's teacher in magic, after all. I would probably be able to answer any question better than she could. Besides…" I gave the small girl a meaningful look. "There's some things I want to ask you, as well."

She eeped and then composed herself. "I… I supposed that's only f-fair."

"Well then, shall we?" I sighed internally as I realized I had to unlock my door again. I dug into my pocket to fish for the key.

"Um, you mean, in… in your apartment?"

I looked at her wryly. "Where else?"

She glanced over her shoulder, her feet unconsciously shifting back. "W-well, maybe…"

"You really want to be in a public space while I give you a basic magical tutorial and you tell me what it's like to be a senshi?" I chuckled. "Why don't we just sell tickets? It's sure to be a blast." And when the Dark Kingdom showed up, it'd be a literal one!

She paled slightly. "N-no! That's fine! Here is good!"

I smiled kindly. "Sorry, bad joke." I let out a small noise of satisfaction as I found the key and unlocked the door. "But really, don't worry. I'll be on my best behavior. Besides, Makoto would kick my shins off if I was rude."

That got a little giggle out of her. With the atmosphere between us still tense but not as strained as before, Ami cautiously followed me into the apartment. Even with the not-so-pleasant beginning, hopefully it would end on a nicer note than the one with Usagi and Luna.

As I walked over to the small kitchenette, Ami took a seat on the floor, tucking her skirt underneath her legs. She pulled a notebook and pen from her bag and opened the notebook to a fresh page. Eager to learn, huh? That would make things much smoother.

I opened up the icebox. "Want anything to drink? Water, coke… coke?" That was pretty much it. I didn't figure her to be a coffee person, and I couldn't brew a decent cup of 'proper' green tea to save my life (something Makoto mercilessly teased me about).

"I'm, I'm good," she mumbled.

"Suit yourself." I pulled out a can and popped the tab, sweet fizz of the gods bubbling out. Sipping on the fizz so it wouldn't spill, I sat down and observed Ami glancing around the room, detailing everything in her vision. She was so engrossed, she jumped when I asked, "See anything interesting?"

"N-no! Just that, well…" She fidgeted in her seat as she struggled on what to say. "The room seems rather S-Spartan." I raised an eyebrow at that odd description. "I-I mean," she pushed ahead anxiously, "it's most likely a wizard thing, right? Traditions against m-modern technology?"

I 'ahhed' in realization. "Not intentionally." She tilted her head in confusion. "I'm guessing Sparky didn't tell you much about modern magic." Ami shook her head hesitantly. I sighed. Figured. Makoto meant well, but she was notoriously bad at explaining the nitty-gritty details. I wouldn't be surprised if she just explained in broad strokes and expected everyone to know what she was talking about.

"What my darling daughter forgot to explain was that a side-effect of modern magic is that mortal magic users have a love-hate relationship with complex technology. We'd love to walk by it without it blowing up; it'd hate not to . The more complex it is, the more likely we are to break it just by being in close proximity."

Her eyes lit up in an 'a-ha!' moment right before they narrowed in befuddlement. "But… but I don't have any problems. I used the c-computers at school all the time."

"But not in your senshi suit, right?" I said cheekily.

"N-no!" she squeaked. Slowly, though, her eyes widened, and her mouth formed into an 'o' as she connected the dots.

"See?" I took another sip. "Besides, your magic probably works different in that suit anyway."

"What do y-you mean?"

"Your suit and its powers work off Silver Millennium magic, right?" She opened her mouth. "Luna told me." Sort of the truth. Ami closed her mouth. "That's really old magic. Like, super old. Magic has changed over time and so has its side-effects. This tech-bane is only a recent thing. Magic a couple hundred years ago made dairy products go bad." I grinned toothily. "Magic's weird like that."

Ami giggled, and my smile widened. However, now that things had lightened a bit, it was time to move onto serious matters. My face settled into a more somber expression. Ami swallowed. "But I'm pretty sure you didn't come to ask me about my lifestyle as a modern Luddite. So let's get down to brass tacks." I put my hands on my knees. "What is it you wanted to know?"

Her grip on the pen tightened. "The Seven Laws of Magic."

Why was I not surprised? If Makoto mentioned anything, of course it would've been the Laws. With how justice-manic she was, a black-and-white concept like that would be forefront on her mind. "What do you know about them already?"

"M-Makoto said that the laws are there for people who… who hurt people with magic. That the more they hurt people, the more likely they are to do it again."

Simple, but accurate. It barely scratched the surface of what breaking a law truly meant, but at least it was something that she could work off of. "Okay, so it's a start. Think of it like this:" I brought up my hands and pantomimed holding a mirror in front of me. "Magic is a part of the world and an aspect of life, but it's also a reflection of who you are. What you can do with magic is limited only to what you're willing to do with it. Are you the type of person who would only use magic to help people? If so, then you're probably going to do just that."

"And if you hurt people?" she asked quietly.

I grimaced. "That's when things turn nasty." I took hold of the imaginary mirror and twisted it. "When you break a Law, you've become the sort of person who would break that Law, and start to see it as something acceptable. You're effectively changing both who you are and how you view yourself and the world around you."

I rolled my shoulders, the soreness heaving crept back in. "Most violators only break one Law at first, but break it enough times and you're probably going to start breaking the others with impunity. After all, if you don't mind doing one horrible thing, it's not going to matter if you do all of them, right?"

Even though she looked paler than when she'd come in, it didn't seem to affect her academic spirit. All the while I talked, Ami's hand flew across the page, jotting down everything I said as well as writing in the margins. Despite her rapid writing skills, her notes were very orderly and neat.

She looked up, a determined expression on her face. "And the Laws themselves?" I noted that he stutter was gone. Intense study focus was an amazing thing.

"There are seven," I started. "I'll go into each of them a little in-depth, but most of them are pretty self-explanatory." I held up a finger. "The First Law – never take a life. It pretty much speaks for itself."

"Makoto was very adamant about that one," Ami said. "She said that we might be unintentionally breaking that law if someone accidentally gets caught in our fights." She swallowed, her eyes suddenly frightened and anxious. "Is that true? I mean, it would be horrible, but surely, if it was only an accident…" she trailed off.

I sighed and shook my head. "This isn't like a court of law. Mundane courts want to know why you hurt someone, and whether or not it was intentional can be a huge factor in your trial. But the Seven Laws don't care about that – all they care about is that you hurt someone, regardless of reason or intent. Sure, killing someone by accident like that won't make you into some sort of rampaging monster, but you'll probably find you won't care quite so much about civilian casualties in the future. You'll start to think that the results justify more and more extreme measures, until eventually you'll be more interested in killing monsters than protecting people, a rampaging loose cannon who needs to be put down for everyone's safety."

I chewed my lip, noting her disturbed expression at that last part. "It's why it's so important to try and just avoid situations like that in the first place." At her confused look, I shook my head. "Let's just move on to the others. Unlike the First, these can't exactly be explained away as 'I didn't mean to'. It takes a definite conscious effort to break them."

Ami fiddled with her pen. "Are you afraid we might break them, too?"

I looked at her, trying to keep down the amused look that wanted to rise to my face. An aquamancer, pyromancer, electromancer, and… purifier, I guess? ...breaking the other six laws? I didn't think I had much to worry about (okay, maybe Usagi until I could figure out what her power set actually was).

I must've been silent too long, as Ami became more and more fidgety while I looked at her, so I quickly said, "Not really. Maybe you could break the Seventh if you tried really hard, but the other five take abilities that I very much doubt you girls possess.

"But anyway, the Second Law." I held up two fingers. "Never transform another."

She perked up. "Like the tales of witches turning men into newts?"

"That or your classic 'Baleful Polymorph' spell." She tilted her head at the reference. Gah, Billy was totally turning me into a huge nerd with all of those Arcanos sessions (not that I wasn't one already, but still). I smiled awkwardly. "But yeah, those stories are actually fairly rooted in fact. Rogue magic users turning people into small animals as revenge was a big problem back in the dark ages."

Ami nodded energetically while writing down notes before she paused mid-scrawl. "What about that man who was changed? Is he… is he going to be okay?"

"From what I saw, he should be. An eye's going to be kept on him and the cat just in case." Arashimaru's connections with the local police force were much better (and less arresty) than mine. He'd already put a tail on the first crystal victim shortly after learning of him.

"But it could have been worse?"

"Much worse."

"Why?" She kept writing down notes even while looking at me. "I mean, they're... they're still them. Shouldn't they be fine once they're changed back?"

"That's the main reason the Second Law is on the list. Transformations like that aren't merely physical, they change a person down to their core. Turn someone into a frog, and they'll start to think and act more and more like a frog, until the very essence of 'them' is destroyed – and you've effectively murdered them. Someone with a strong enough mind and will might last a day or two, but most people would be gone in a matter of hours, if not minutes."

Not to mention that even if their mind did survive the transformation, they probably wouldn't live long anyway. Trying to move like a frog when your original movement was bipedal locomotion or eat flies when it went against everything you thought did not a happy person make.

And then there was the likelihood that all your organs would fail because they were riddled with anatomical flaws. Most warlocks didn't have a degree in biology, after all.

"How would a frog's brain even support a human mind…" she mused to herself, then her eyes lit up. "Wait, could you use magic to… 'protect' someone's mind, so they could stay themselves, or at least come back to themselves once the spell ends?"

"Potentially, yes." I said, but then continued. "Practically, not so much. It's pretty much impossible to know someone else as intimately and completely as that would require; you're bound to lop off some important bits if you try it, or else inject some of your own biases into them."

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "You said 'someone else'…"

"Got it," I said, and she beamed. "Transforming others is a violation of the Law, but transforming yourself is A-OK… and insanely dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Protecting a consciousness like that is actually pretty simple, so long as you're protecting your own." You could also remain yourself – mostly – with the help of some magical item or powerful entity, but I didn't really feel like alerting the insatiably curious teenager to that possibility at the moment.

"So it's an inner sense of self thing," she murmured. "Maybe something to do with the neurological impulses of the brain or the hormones released by…." I think that was more for herself than for me, as I barely understood a thing, but I found it impressive nonetheless.

"You're pretty quick on the uptake," I noted in bemusement. "You got a PhD in psychology or something?"

"My… my mother's a pediatrician," Ami said quietly. "I really look up to her, so I… k-kind of read medical articles. I'm really into neurology right now."

Huh, a super educated bookworm with a doctor's pedigree. This might just be as easy as I first thought.

Back on topic, I flashed three and four fingers in rapid succession. "The Third and Fourth Law are similar enough that I'll just stick both of the together – never invade the mind of another, and never enthrall another." I tapped my temple before making a screwing motion with the finger. "Don't take anything out, don't put anything extra in. You can already guess that messing directly with someone's mind can only lead to bad things. It's been proven well enough using completely mundane means to alter someone's thoughts; magic just makes it more efficient and devastating. And it goes beyond merely altering who they are - both of them require fighting your way through their natural mental defenses, and that can drive a person crazy even if that's all you do."

Ami flinched slightly. I think I knew why, but I wasn't going to push the issue. I'd already learned from years raising a girl that was a dumb thing to do if you ever wanted to find something out from them.

Her eyes were back on the notebook. "The next one?" she asked softly.

I moved on, all fingers outspread. "Fifth Law – never reach beyond the borders of life." At her uncertain look, I clarified, "Necromancy."

"That's real?" she squeaked.

"There's real power in death, and unscrupulous people try to take advantage of that. The stronger the being was in life and the longer it's been dead, the more powerful the result. This leads to a whole gamut of problems, not least of which is a raging god-complex over controlling life and death."

"So, those necromancers Makoto mentioned?"

I winced, not exactly wanting to recount it, especially as I'd had to seriously bend the rules to save the day - not exactly solid ground for someone trying to convince another not to get into trouble fighting with magic. "Those were some of the worst ones. When you look at a ritual that requires sacrificing a major city to power it and decide it's a good idea, you haven't so much jumped into the deep-end of evil as swan-dived into it."

While she wrote more margins with lots of question marks, I continued. "The Sixth Law is to never swim against the current of time."

"Time travel?"

"Exactly," I agreed. "Setting aside the risk of creating temporal paradoxes – and we have no idea what sort of trouble that could cause – you've still got to worry about the whole 'raging god complex' thing, except now it's about control over time. But you shouldn't have to worry about that; pretty sure no one has the knowledge or power to attempt something so ludicrous." Then again, would anyone even know if it did happen? Temporal mechanics were wonky like that.

"Um, um… what about elder gods?" I cocked an eyebrow. She squirmed in her seat. "Makoto said something about Cthulhu."

"A Lovecraft fan?" I grinned. The man got some things right and a lot of them wrong.

She blushed. "I've… I've read some of his work."

She read advanced medical texts and cosmic horror stories? Quite the eclectic bookworm I had here. "That has to do with the Seventh Law – never seek knowledge and power from beyond the Outer Gates."

"The 'Outer Gates'? What are…" She stopped herself with a quiet meep when she realized what she was asking.

I snorted. "So far as I know, they're a metaphor. But yeah, the less we discuss this one, the happier we'll all be. Just know that the things that live beyond them would dearly love to do Very Bad Things to reality, and just knowing anything specific about them tends to have nasty effects, never mind the temptation to actually use that knowledge."

"So, that's all seven Laws…" Ami silently contemplated something for a moment. "But, if you do break them, what's the punishment? Surely they're enforced somehow?"

Hells bells, had Sparky really not bothered to tell them? As horrible as it was, they deserved to know. "That's where Wardens like me come in," I said, grimly. "And there's really only one punishment for breaking any of them: death."

From her sudden gasp and the expressions of shock, horror, and outrage warring for dominance on her face, I could tell that she'd taken the revelation about as well as I'd expected. "But… but… You can't just kill a person like that!" she finally managed. "What about imprisonment, or… or…"

I sighed. "Look, I don't like it either, but the Laws aren't just some arbitrary rules thought up by a bunch of bearded old men in pointy hats. It's called black magic for a reason." I gestured at my heart, making a squeezing motion.

"Breaking a Law leaves a stain on your soul, gradually twisting you into a magical psychopath. Break a Law once, and it becomes that much easier – and more tempting – to break it again. Keep breaking it, and it starts to become your go-to plan. Then you start to enjoy it. Then you become addicted to it. And that's to say nothing of all the other Laws you'll start breaking just because, 'why not?'"

I looked her as close to straight in the eye as I was willing to risk. "And the journey from mistake to monster is rarely long. Sometimes, all it takes is a single spell."

Ami hesitated a moment before speaking. "But… But surely, people can be rehabilitated…"

"In some cases, yes." I conceded, then continued before she could break in. "So long as you catch them early enough and they truly want to stop using black magic, you might be able to convince the Council to give them a second chance. Like I said, at first it's just a temptation, and temptations can be resisted." My eyes instinctively moved down, refusing to even look at her face.

"But… it never goes away. The urge to hurt people, to bend them to your will, to force the world to be what you think it should be will always be there in the back of your mind, waiting to ambush you. And all it takes is one moment of weakness to put you right back on the path to the Dark Side, probably for good this time – and the Council doesn't believe in third chances."

I thought I'd managed to keep the emotion from my face, I really did, but my poker face sucks and apparently some of it leaked through. Ami's expression changed to one of shocked realization, and from there to a mix of determination and… sympathy?

And with no more warning than that, she launched herself at me, managed to grab ahold of my head while I was too stunned to react, pressed her face to mine, and looked me in the eyes once more. At that range, in that state, I couldn't fend her off in time, and her eyes began to draw me in…

I found myself standing outside of… well…

A year or so ago, Makoto and a few of her friends had introduced me to the term 'book fort'. I'm still not sure what they were talking about, but it seems like the best way to describe what I was seeing - though it was really more of a house than a fort.

It was a simple, two-story building, large for Japan but not enough that it would stand out – or it wouldn't, if not for the fact that it seemed to be made completely out of books, even the door. Surrounding it was a wall, also made of books, which seemed far sturdier than its building material should really allow and was broken only by a single gate in the front.

Making my way through the gate (which was unlocked, but surprisingly hard to open), I stopped and took a closer look at the reading/building material making up the house. The lowest ones that served as the foundation looked like the kind of picture books you'd give a small child, with the grade level increasing as you went higher up the house. Craning my neck, I saw that the highest books had titles that sounded like college textbooks and professional journals, with medical stuff making up the majority.

I also got a decent glimpse of the sky, and realized that it wasn't the sun hanging overhead, but the planet Mercury. It seemed… familiar, somehow. I strained my memory and felt like I had almost put my finger on it, that I should be able to remember something, but then it slipped away.

Something to look into later.

Putting it out of my mind for now, I returned my attention to the house, and more specifically the door. I debated exploring further for a moment, then shrugged and tried to open it, finding the door unlocked just as the gate had been. I went in and started exploring the rest of the house.

The first floor was populated with the sorts of rooms you'd expect to find in any house: a kitchen, a bathroom, a reading room (of course), and the like, all decorated with furniture that was (surprise) made of books. The familiar scent of paper and ink pervaded the entire place, which I suppose only made sense. Finding a staircase, I made my way upstairs and saw that the second floor seemed devoted to a series of bedrooms… and here's where things got interesting.

There were four of them, one larger than the others. I peeked inside that one, and saw furnishings that I at first assumed to be like all the others, until I took a closer look. They were made of books, all right, but these books were different from the rest. The medical texts and journals were far more advanced than any of the others in the house, and seemed to be predominantly about pediatrics. Scattered among them were books on child-care and raising children, as well as a handful of other books on several other topics.

All in all, the room was well-maintained, almost religiously so, but at the same time I got the impression that it wasn't used very often; it was too neat and orderly, and had that too-clean scent of a room that simply wasn't lived in. Looking around, I spied an open book – the first one I'd seen in the entire house, in fact – on an otherwise empty table which had an almost shrine-like feel to it. I moved over to it, careful not to disturb anything, and took a look at the revealed pages.

They didn't have words or diagrams, but rather a handful of photos, all of the same pair of a young, dark-haired girl and a woman who could only be her mother. It only took me a moment to realize who the girl was, and then I turned and left the room.

Soulgaze or no, some things are just too private to go poking into.

Peering into one of the smaller bedrooms proved to be just as interesting, though in a very different way. The books making up the furniture in here weren't at all like the ones in the rest of the house: books on cats, on baking, candy and confectionary, and on video games, interspersed with teen magazines and even a number of those moon books featuring disturbingly feminine men that Makoto swears she doesn't read. The furniture somehow looked newer, too, like it had just been put together within the past few months – but this room had clearly been used quite often since then, to the point that it was impossible to keep everything neat and tidy.

The next one was much the same as the second, except this time the books were on things like archery, Shinto history and customs, and Japanese folklore, though there were still teen magazines mixed in with the lot.

The final bedroom had no furnishings, but instead had stacks of seemingly random books lined up against the wall, like the builder hadn't decided what she should use yet… or even if she was going to build anything at all. Textbooks on electrical physics and engineering, books and magazines on martial arts, books about Western culture, about firearms, about psychology, about fairies and monsters, superhero comics from both hemispheres, books on the occult and paranormal, all sorts of things. I think I even saw a few gaming sourcebooks in there.

It wasn't hard to figure out what the rooms meant, especially given that Ami was such a meticulous girl. Soon, the feeling of me getting pulled away signaled the end of the Soulgaze, and I found myself back in the real world, that same slip of a girl holding me down.

Who immediately passed out as her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

I caught her out of instinct and held still for a moment, frantically thinking about the damning situation I had been thrust into and thanking whatever gods I hadn't pissed off yet that nobody would see me.

So it had to be at that exact moment that I heard light rapping at the door to the outside balcony and the high-pitched, cultured screaming of a very angry moon cat.

I turned my head, still holding on to the unconscious teenage girl, and saw Luna yowling her head off as she swatted furiously on the glass door. My expression turned into something between pained and panicked.

"This isn't what it looks li-" I cut myself off, gave a deep sigh of resignation, and used the arm not supporting Ami to cover my face. "Never mind, it's exactly what it looks like."

Stars and stones, when had my life turned into a comedy? If Thomas ever found out, I would never stop hearing about it 'til my dying day.

And for a wizard, that was a long, long time. Great.

A/N (Irritus): And there's the second-part chapter. Yes, this was originally going to be one chapter with the flashback scene, but once it started reaching 50 pages, we decided to cut it in half. More talking next chapter and lots of revelations! Also, it'll show that a lot more has changed in this timeline than you'd think.

Also, for Makoto's scene, this is what happens when a nearly thirty-year-old male tries to write in the POV of a girl half his age. I think I did well enough without completely failing the Bechdel test (sort of).

A/N (Raithe): Some of you may be wondering why we didn't cover the whole 'reincarnation' thing during the previous chapter. The answer is that we thought we had, but it somehow never made it into the final draft. Enjoy the discount bootleg version, instead!

Behind-The-Scenes Trivia Time! In our original plan for the scene, Ami would show up dressed as a police officer using Usagi's Disguise Pen, and start to try to dig information out of Harry. Harry would have eventually figure out that she wasn't a cop* and called her out on it, leading to the more open discussion you see here. Obviously that idea got scrapped, for multiple reasons.

*He wouldn't see through the glamour, he'd just note that she wasn't acting normal and assume she'd stolen a uniform or something.