Notes: Episode 165, "Time for the Crystal to Shine! Beautiful Power of Dreams" (Or, "The one where there's a 5000 foot sky Chibi-Usa.")
Episode 165
Ikuko poured the tea with a trembling hand and bit back a curse when it sloshed over the side. She felt a pang of guilt, which was silly because she was alone. Everyone knew some things didn't count when you were alone, like the aforementioned swearing, or having an extra sliver of cake.
She placed a towel over the spill and watched as the liquid slowly began to spread through the fabric. There was something comforting about how the light brown colour materialized through the white. Comforting, but unnatural.
Nothing felt real.
Those swear words weren't the only ones that felt strange to her today, and Ikuko's lips moved with the memory of those she'd spoken earlier.
Moon Crisis Power.
Had it been minutes? Hours? Ikuko couldn't be sure. Ikuko couldn't be sure of anything. Her memories were indistinct, only just beginning to seep through like the spilled tea through her towel.
She remembered standing in front of her house, looking up at the sky and waiting for the eclipse. Usagi and had already left to meet her friends at the park. Ikuko felt sure that was less than an hour ago.
But the other things she remembered would fill days and weeks. Months. The strange man who thought she was his mother, the little girl who was so good at chopping vegetables, an emergency visit to the dentist. Snippets and traces of events she couldn't quite place, until she was again in front of her house, looking up at the sky, and the eclipse was passing.
Moon Crisis Power.
She had said it with her voice. She had screamed it with her heart.
Hadn't she?
With a final wipe, the table was once again clean, and Ikuko rinsed the towel in the sink. Water ran over her hands as she stared through the window. Outside, birds flittered from branch to branch. A spider rested in a web that was only visible when the warm breeze blew it into the sunlight.
But wasn't it winter? Wasn't it the wrong season for spiders? Ikuko was certain it was, but the world outside her window disagreed.
She wanted Usagi to come home, with Chibi-Usa in tow. She wanted Rei and Ami, and all of her girls to come home. She couldn't be sure when she'd seen any of them last, and the worry was beginning to eat away at her.
Worry, as it turned out, still counted, even when you were alone.
Ikuko poured the tea again, this time successfully. She sat on the couch, watching the door intently, and let the cup warm her hands. The words still made no sense to her, but they were all she had, and as the tea grew cold and untouched, she clung to them.
Moon Crisis Power.