Notes: Episode 164, "The Golden Crystal Appears! Nehellenia's Spell" (Or, "The one where the Quartet break free of Nehellenia.")
Episode 164
"Minako-chan's late!"
It wasn't a new thing. It should by now be considered an expected thing. And yet the tone in Ami's voice made it clear that not only was this unexpected, it was potentially the single worst thing to happen to them in their entire lives.
"She probably had an audition," Mako said. She put her hand on Ami's shoulder. This had the dual purpose of providing comfort and keeping Ami from beginning to fidget. It was important to keep Ami from fidgeting. That way led to madness, potentially for everyone.
"But studying!" Ami would've bounced, but encountered the Wall of Makoto and her butt stayed firmly glued to the tatami.
Rei snorted without looking up from her textbook. "If Minako were here, she wouldn't be studying anyway." She jabbed a thumb at Usagi. "Like this one."
"I'm studying!" Usagi protested. Very sneakily indeed, she slipped the manga she'd hidden in her book under the table.
None of this did anything to make Ami feel better. "We'll be seniors next year!" she said, like a sacred pronouncement. "We have to start getting ready for university entrance exams!"
"Minako-chan's not even sure she's going to university." Usagi said this casually (and while scrunching her neck in to read the manga now in her lap).
"Casually" was not a word that could be associated with Ami, and she drew in a ragged breath. Usagi hadn't just spoken a fact, she'd punched Ami in the face. Visions of Minako in all assortment of menial jobs danced through her brain. Minako would be doomed to a life without fulfillment, mired in misery and unrealized potential.
Minako would fail.
AMI would fail.
Was breathing suddenly hard for anyone else?
She felt a hand rubbing her back in soothing circles, and when she glanced over, Mako inhaled deeply and gestured with her hand for Ami to copy her. Ami did. Then a slow exhale, which Ami mirrored. They repeated this twice more, leaving Ami calm and centered. She smiled her thanks at Mako and felt ready to once again tackle the problem that was Minako Aino.
Which was convenient, as the door slid open, and there Minako was.
"Hi guys!" she said cheerfully and not at all like someone who was more than an hour late.
Despite having seen Minako at school earlier that day, Usagi's expression was one of pure delight. "Minako-chan! Did you have an audition? Did you get it? Will you be famous? Are you leaving us? DON'T GO!"
And then there were tears. So many tears. Endless tears. All funneled into Rei's shirt sleeve. Rei's disgust was infinite as she tried to extricate herself from Usagi. She failed.
Minako just laughed. "No, not yet, ABSOLUTELY, and never happen," she answered. "But something interesting did happen today. Look who I found."
With all the style and grace of a game show presenter, Minako pushed the door the rest of the way open, and delighted in the shocked gasps that filled the room.
Standing before them, in varying stages of contrite, were the Amazon Quartet.
"You guys!" Usagi said, scrambling to her feet. "We tried to find you!"
And they had. It had been difficult to discern dream from reality in the wake of the Dead Moon Circus, but that these four girls did exist and had turned over a new leaf was something all the Senshi could agree on. But they'd seemed to vanish without a trace, and no amount of searching on foot, by computer, or through the fire would divulge where they had gone.
And now here they were on Rei's doorstep, years later. Usagi felt a wave of relief surge through her. She'd wanted desperately to help them, and it had niggled at her that she never had the chance.
It was difficult to resist the urge to hug them, but the girls shied away at her approach, and so Usagi flung her arms around Minako instead, who was only too happy to accept this burden. "Where did you all go? What have you been doing?" Then Usagi seemed to really see them and gasped. "Look how much you've grown!"
This was not a well-received comment. The one with the pink hair groaned in agony while the little blue one's bottom lip began to tremble at a dangerous rate. Meanwhile the red one and the green one just looked angry, and Usagi glanced nervously at Minako, wondering what she'd done wrong.
Minako's answer was to change the subject. "I caught them stealing from some poor tourist."
"Stealing?" Mako said, crossing her arms. The warm concern she'd been showing to the girls gave way to stern disapproval, and the Quartet shrunk a little behind the one with red hair.
"We're not thieves!" the green one snapped from around the red one's arm.
"Certainly not with those skills," scoffed Minako.
The red one balled her hands into fists. "We were just trying to get enough money to eat today!"
"PallaPalla's hungry!" wailed the little blue one from somewhere behind the others.
"Circus life isn't quite what it once was," the pink one admitted with sad resignation.
And then, angry or not, awkward or not, the Quartet were enveloped in a special Usagi Brand Hug, and ushered inside for a hot meal and explanations.
... ... ...
Usagi drug her foot up another stone step and glanced wearily at the mountain still to climb. Somehow – she didn't know how, but SOMEhow – she knew that Rei added new steps daily. Just to make her suffer.
That only made Usagi more determined to not give up. Even if stopping by Crown after school and having an entire pizza plus three sundaes wasn't exactly the smartest idea. Still, the pizza HAD been delicious. Mm, maybe she could talk the others into ordering another pizza.
Buoyed by thoughts of more food in her immediate future, Usagi scaled the remaining steps with relative ease, and finally she was in the stone courtyard and only slightly out of breath.
Which helped, as it meant there was less of it to get knocked out of her when she was tackled and driven to the ground.
Before Usagi could figure out what was going on, JunJun's face consumed her vision. "HELP US!" she begged.
VesVes and CereCere appeared as well, nodding their heads in emphatic support of JunJun's plea.
"What's wrong?" Usagi asked, pushing JunJun back enough to sit up.
"Rei-san!" the three girls replied in perfect harmony.
Duh. Usagi scrunched up her face. "Can you be more specific?"
Yes. Yes they could.
"She's making us work all the time!"
"How are there so many leaves in one place?"
"Look at these hands! These are not hands meant for brooms!"
And then the Quartet (Threetet? Usagi scrunched her face again.) were all talking at the same time, each keen to list in exhaustive detail the many crimes Rei had committed against them. After several minutes of Usagi mentally agreeing with pretty much everything she could make out, the girls turned to her like their saviour.
VesVes pawed at Usagi's arm. "You have to do something!"
"Please!" implored CereCere. "I'm beginning to think it was better when we were homeless!"
"She's your best friend, she'll listen to you!" JunJun said with every confidence.
... ... ...
"That's ridiculous, I'm not listening to you," Rei told Usagi, who visibly deflated. "PallaPalla, make sure you get in the corners!"
"Okay!" PallaPalla called back happily before attacking the floor with her scrub brush.
"But Rei-chan …"
"No buts, Usagi. They can stay here, but they're working. That's final."
"But—"
Rei rolled her eyes and turned to Ami, seated between Mako and Minako on the walkway. "Ami-chan, please explain to Usagi the meaning of 'final'."
Ami opened her mouth to recite the definition, but Minako cut her off. "I get what you're saying, Rei, but they're only little kids."
"Teenagers," corrected Mako.
"BARELY teenagers," Minako compromised. "Maybe not have them working every second of every day?"
"So they can do what, exactly?" Rei asked. Behind her, PallaPalla was running, bent in half and pushing the scrub brush ahead of her. A stream of giggles was left in her wake.
"Rei-chan has a point," said Ami, earning a grateful nod. "They aren't currently enrolled in school and have no appreciable skills outside of performing in the circus. Which they've discovered is, quite understandably, no longer a welcoming career path."
Mako rubbed her neck in thought. "We're kind of out of options. Rei-chan's the only place where there's enough room for them. My apartment's barely big enough for ME."
Ami shook her head regretfully. "My mother would have too many questions."
"Even mine might wonder at four new kids," Usagi said, tapping her chin. "One or two, sure, but four?"
"And I like these girls too much to subject them to MY parents," added Minako.
Rei shrugged, the matter settled in her mind. "So they work."
"But Rei-chan," Usagi tried again, this time pressing on despite Rei's exasperated huffing, "they're really not happy. I don't want them to run away again before we can help them. Do you?"
"That's not my concern," is what Rei was going to say. "They need rules and discipline," she wanted to insist. But between Usagi's huge eyes, PallaPalla's easy laughter, and the way her stomach was clenching at the thought that she'd wake up one day and the Quartet would've vanished in the night, she said none of these things.
But she did get an idea.
... ... ...
"It's so good to see you ladies again! It's been too long!" Petz nodded her thanks as Mako poured her tea.
"Yes, you're all looking so well!" said Calaveras, then she leaned toward Minako and squinted. "You're getting bags under your eyes, though, Minako-chan. You should come by one of our shops and try our new cream."
"What did you—!" Minako began, only to find an elbow in each side courtesy of Rei and Usagi. "That sounds fantastic, I'd love to!" she ground out instead through a smile made of clenched teeth and venom.
Ami laughed nervously. "So Rei-chan told us you have a new location opening soon?"
"Yes!" Rei agreed with a beaming expression that refused to waver, even as she continued to dig her elbow into Minako. "Koan was telling me all about it!"
"It's very exciting!" Berthier said as she munched on a delicate cake. "This will be our third shop!"
"We might have a fourth by now if someone didn't keep using up all the product," Koan said far too agreeably.
"Well someone has to look their best for our customers!" replied Berthier, her musical voice light and bitingly pleasant.
Petz's eyebrow began to twitch at an uncontrollable rate. "As you can see, good help is incredibly difficult to find." All three of her sisters glared at that, but at least it stopped their squabbling.
"That's what we wanted to talk to you about!" Usagi said. "We have some girls we really want to help. They used to do kind of bad things, but they don't want to do that anymore."
Rei smiled at Koan. "We thought you might know what that was like." All four of the Ayakashi Sisters nodded, and the seriousness of the meeting rose perceptibly.
Mako leaned forward and clasped her hands on the table. "They're good kids who've had a rough time and need a fresh start."
"And we were hoping that perhaps you could give it to them?" Ami asked hopefully.
The sisters said nothing, but exchanged a look. After a moment, they turned back to the Senshi. "Can we meet them?" Petz asked.
Minako was already on her feet and sliding the door open. "Come on in," she said, and the Quartet shuffled inside. They were each presenting their bravest face (all except PallaPalla, who held CereCere's hand tight and openly wore her anxiety), but the way they clustered near to each other said everything.
For a long, silent moment, the Ayakashi Sisters and the Amazon Quartet took stock of each other. Between them, the Senshi held their breath.
It was Petz who broke the silence. "I understand you're looking for a second chance."
"Maybe," VesVes replied cautiously.
"But we done being used by old hags!" exclaimed JunJun.
"So if that's what you're offering, we're rather take our chances elsewhere, thank you," said CereCere.
"PallaPalla hates not having a home!"
At that, the rest of the Quartet had the bravado sucked out of them. They slumped, and huddled even closer together.
Seated at the table, Koan chewed her lip and blinked back the tears. She felt Berthier's hand slip into hers and squeezed it gratefully.
Petz and Calaveras shared another look. "Well you are an old hag," Calaveras pointed out, though her voice was gentle as she said it. "You can't fault them for stating the obvious."
Petz shot her an obligatory glare, then turned to the Quartet. "You'll have to work, you realize."
The Quartet were once again suspicious. JunJun peered at Petz through narrowed eyes. "What time would we start?"
"Well our shops open at ten but I like everyone to be setting up for the day a bit early, so we usually come in around 9:30 to—"
"We'd get to sleep in!" JunJun all but screamed at the others.
"PallaPalla won't have to wait to say hello to Sun-san!"
CereCere clasped her hands and sighed. "Beauty rest! Oh sweet beauty rest, how I've missed you!"
"We'll take it!" VeVes said to Petz, and then the Quartet dissolved into a mass of excited chatter seemingly only intelligible to each other.
"That was easy," Petz said, sipping her tea. "What have you been doing to these poor children, Rei-san?"
Which of course prompted Rei to retort, which sucked in the Ayakashi and the Senshi both. The room was an utter chaos of voices. Usagi stole an extra cake and sat back to enjoy the sound.
Finding new good guys and making new friends was the best.