Chapter Twelve: Explanations Are Never Easy

The airport was as crowded as it had been every time we'd gone there the week before, but we wanted to see my - and Ami's new - American friends off together. My mother and sister had discovered they liked the others as much as I did - well, almost as much, since I'd been in love with each of the others, and still loved all of them. Sarah was looking around sadly, with the gaze of someone who hopes they'll find something - or someone - before it's too late. Rusty and Becky were laughing at a joke Gwen had just told. The sounds of machinegun fire punctuated their laughter.

Ami and I looked at each other in surprise. Machinegun fire? There wasn't even a question about what we'd do. Ami transformed, right in the middle of our friends, while I leapt atop the nearest high object to scan for the enemy. Down the hall, near the El Al counter, were a group of eight people wearing bandanas over their faces and waving AK-47s. Sailor Mercury joined me on my perch and we plotted our course over the heads of the panicking crowd. I had to trust our friends to find a spot out of the crush and stick together; we had work to do.

Between my grapple and some convenient lockers and vending machines, we managed to make it close enough to the terrorists to make our attack. Mercury used her Shabon Spray to blind and confuse them, and I moved in to finish them off. I didn't kill any, despite the number of bodies they'd left behind the ticket counter, but I was sure the broken bones they received when I passed through would keep them out of trouble for enough time to allow the police to arrive.

When we got back to where we'd left our friends, we found they had done as I'd hoped and retreated to a maintenance alcove. Sailor Mercury transformed back to Ami, and was immediately besieged by questions. After letting the confusion go on for a minute, Ami raised her hand and got quiet from everyone.

"Yes, I'm Sailor Mercury. Yes, Bill knew it when he asked me to marry him. Yes, it has a lot to do with why he's so healthy now. Yes, I know how dangerous this is." She looked at me and smiled with all the love in her heart and a pleading look in her eyes. I wrapped my arms around her and held her close.

"Yes, I know how dangerous this is, too. But as Serenity said, I am a Demon Hunter, so it's no more dangerous than my destined work." I groaned softly as they looked at me expectantly. No escape now but to tell them the parts of my story I'd glossed over or omitted entirely. "Let's find a place we can sit while we talk. This is going to take a while...I'm not sure we'll be able to finish it before your flight."

"We will," Setsuna said as she joined us. "It's important for your friends to understand who and what you are. At least, as much as you understand it." She gave one of those knowing smiles of hers, revealing - in my opinion - that she knew a lot more about what was going on than I did.

Setsuna turned and opened the maintenance door. "If you will all come this way, I have a place waiting for you."

Setsuna walked through the door and vanished into the mist that completely obscured whatever lay beyond. The others looked at each other, then at the mist, then at Ami and me. She smiled and nodded, then walked into the mist. As soon as she'd done that, the others followed. Once the last of them was through, I stepped into the mist, closing the door behind me.

We were in a castle. That much I could tell. The light was soft enough that I could have tolerated it without pain before I died, and revealed a polished onyx floor that stretched into the darkness on all sides. A cluster of seats - several comfy-chairs (Ami always teases me about calling out the Spammish Repetition when I use that term), a couple sofas, and a love seat. Ami had already claimed the love seat and snuggled against me when I sat with her. Setsuna was sitting against one arm of one of the sofas, and drew Sarah down beside her. Once everyone was seated, Setsuna looked to me and nodded, smiling secretively.

"I'd have to say it started with the contest in Newtype magazine. It was a 'Name your favorite Senshi' contest, with a Japanese tour as its grand prize. I won." I shrugged, and looked down at Ami as I thought of just how much I'd won.

"I never found that contest, and I searched that issue from front to back six times when you told me about it," Rusty sounded annoyed and disappointed. He was as much an otaku as me, and when I'd mentioned the contest while we were talking online, he'd been rather - ok, extremely - excited.

"That's because it didn't exist," Setsuna said. "I inserted it into Bill's copy of the magazine, because I knew he wouldn't be able to resist it. And it was important for him to be in Japan."

I should have known she had something to do with it. It was the first time in my life I'd won anything more than a $2 lottery prize or honorable mention in a writing contest.

"And do you know how grateful I was that you didn't enter every contest that came along?" Setsuna asked, her eyes on me. "It wasn't easy, making sure you lost until it was time for you to win."

Wasn't easy? With her power, it should have been a snap. All she'd have to do is pick the probability that had what she wanted and make it the actuality. I looked at her and opened my mouth to ask what she meant - and closed it again when I saw the glistening in her eyes. She hadn't been talking about the mechanics of it...she'd been talking about her emotions. This was getting really weird. Did she feel the same strange connection that Ami and I felt to her?

"And so...?" Rusty prodded gently.

"Oh. Right. Well, on my second day in Tokyo, I decided to take in the Tokyo Tower. I mean, it's as famous as the Eiffel Tower, and a lot easier to get to when you're not in Paris." I grinned. The others laughed. Good. That difficult spot past.

"So anyway, I was waiting in line for an elevator to the observation deck, when the Senshi arrived, fighting with something that looked like it came out of Urotsukidöji. You know how flexible I was then; I just kind of had to brace myself and hope I didn't get run over in the panic. Well, one of them got knocked back and almost killed right next to me, so I did the only thing I could think of and stood over her. The demon killed me, but that distracted it long enough for the Senshi to kill it before it could kill her."

Several of them gasped. I'm not sure if it was at my death, or at the way I was so unconcerned about it.

"Ienpw asked me to come back. Well, He asked me in such a way that I couldn't say no - not without betraying myself. He can be as manipulative as certain princesses we know...." Setsuna smiled warmly - and unrepentantly - at me.

"He also revealed the name of the Senshi whose life I'd saved by dying, so when I woke, I used it without thinking when I tried to convince her to let the others heal her. Well, that got a strong reaction. None of them trusted me. Not that I could blame them; after all, I was a stranger, and I knew the name of at least one of them. They took me to someplace private so I could tell them my story, and that's when I discovered that Sailor Mercury was the same Ami who I'd been obsessing over online for a couple years. After Ami revealed herself to me, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune decided to trust me. Then Sailor Moon..." I held out my hands and shrugged, "did this to me, so that I wouldn't feel like a fat old pervert because of my love for Ami. After that, they all decided they trusted me, and took me into their hearts."

I looked down at Ami with a happy smile and kissed her forehead before looking at all the others and continuing.

"I learned I was a Demon Hunter...the next day, wasn't it, Ami?" She nodded, purring contentedly. "Things have just kept snowballing since then, and now..." I looked at Setsuna thoughtfully before continuing, "I think we're going to see Serenity finally begin to take her proper place."

"It's not going to be quite so fast," Setsuna said gently. "She believes she has to learn how to govern before she can reign, and will not make the attempt to exert herself in more than smaller matters, like the wedding, until she feels more sure of herself." She chuckled softly. "Perhaps she could use the guidance of a fictional prince. The dream of Laputa is not so different from the dream of the Crystal Kingdom."

"Fred's about as regal as I am," I snorted. "The only guidance he'd give her is to trust her people and treat them as mature adults, not untrustworthy peasants."

"I think you sell yourself short," Setsuna replied gently. "If you were what you feel yourself to be, would you have captured the heart of your princess?"

"She's right," Ami growled softly, swatting my arm as she looked up at me with devotion in her eyes. "You're a lot more than you imagine. And you'll make a great prince."

I looked at the others with a resigned smile. "I give up. How can I argue with the two most important women in my life?"

"So why didn't you tell me - why didn't you tell us - any of this before?" my mother demanded. It was pretty obvious she was trying her hardest to not let her worry overwhelm her. There was a general chorus of agreement from all the others.

"How would you have taken it if, the one time I phoned, I'd said 'Hi, Mom, I'm getting married and I want you to come to the wedding and by the way I'm a Demon Hunter now and I've already been killed once so don't worry about it I'll be ok'?"

She opened her mouth to speak, couldn't find any appropriate words, and shook her finger at me in that gesture I knew so well - the one that said she wasn't sure whether to be angry, proud, or worried. Ami shifted so I could stand, and I moved over to give her a hug. That broke the dam, and she began crying. I hate making my mother cry, so I tried to sooth her, only to have her push away and shake her head as she took my handkerchief.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't want you to be upset. I wanted you to enjoy the wedding and go home proud of me."

"I am proud of you, Bill. I'm scared for you, too. And it's hard to realize that you'll be doing things I can't help you with or protect you from, any more than I could protect you from that bitch."

"Mom, you can help me," I said, taking a deep breath. Somehow, I knew what I had to do, and it gave me strength. "All of you can help me. Since I'm going to be a prince now, I'm going to need advisors. People I can trust to tell me when I'm being an ass, people to remind me of things I may forget with all the time I spend in my lab or fighting at my princess' side. I'm going to need friends who aren't Senshi, to remind me of the things we're likely to forget amid our duties." I looked around at the others, then back to my mother. "I'd like you to think about it when you get home, and tell me what you decide, one way or another. You are my closest friends; you're the ones I know I can trust as much as I trust the Senshi."

Sarah looked up at Setsuna, who returned her smile with one of her own. I suspected she already knew her answer. I looked around at the others; Becky's inner turmoil was plain on her face. I wished I could offer her an easy way to decide, but she had to do it the same way I did - the hard way. Gwen, unlike the rest, had a boyfriend and girlfriend to think of. I knew it would be hard for her, too - but I hoped that her time with us had helped her clarify in her own heart how much she loved them and whether her love would stand being apart from them. Of course, she also didn't have to be in Tokyo to accept the invitation. None of them did, but I hoped they'd choose to join us in person.

Rusty just grinned at me. He, like Sarah, had no commitments holding him in place. No relationships, no fears, no long-term contracts...and I knew that he hated being forced to work in a dead-end job just to pay the rent when he had a degree in chemistry that should have been his ticket to something better. If he could learn hyperdimensional physics, I could use his chemical knowledge....

"You know Ami and Hotaru," I said to my sister. "They're both planning to be doctors. Doctors need nurses to keep them in line." Ami punched me gently in the ribs with an embarrassed laugh. "And this would be your chance to put together the best features of every place you've ever worked at and help make the best hospital we can have."

I looked around at everyone and smiled quietly, holding Ami close. It was up to them to make their choices; I couldn't do it for them.

"But what you're doing is so dangerous!" my mother objected. "You could get killed!"

"Mom, I've already died once. It's no big deal." I mentally kicked myself as my mother reacted to that exactly as I should have foreseen. "Here, let me demonstrate how much safer I am now. Setsuna, can you get a gun from somewhere?" Setsuna nodded, reached behind the sofa she and Sarah were sitting on, and pulled out a rather large pistol.

"Will a Grizzly do?" she asked in her most innocent tone. I made a mental note to have a word with her about that tone sometime later. A Grizzly would do just fine. It was only one of the most powerful handguns in the world - more powerful than some hunting rifles. And almost as hard to get as a Gyrojet.

"I think so. Assuming you ever bothered to learn how to use a gun." Take that, princess! I grinned teasingly at her.

Setsuna didn't say anything; she just smiled and aimed at me, then squeezed off three quick shots. The shadows absorbed the sound as thoroughly as they absorbed the light, so it only sounded as loud as a truck backfiring, instead of the earth-shaking roar it should have generated. The first shot knocked my hat off; the second and third hit me in the chest. The bullets flattened against my shirt and fell to the floor. I looked down thoughtfully.

"Hmm. I guess the hyperspatial extensions help it absorb the kinetic energy, too. I hadn't thought of that." I looked up with a smile - at a collection of shocked faces. Even Ami looked surprised - although not as shocked as the others.

"You hadn't thought of that?" My mother's voice was shrill in her shock, fear, and relief. "What had you thought of?"

"I'd thought I'd get a nasty bruise, knocked on my ass...maybe a cracked rib or two, after I saw the pistol Setsuna brought out. I should have realized this would happen." I tried to glare at Setsuna, but just couldn't bring myself to do it. "It seems someone else knew it would."

"Don't you care what happens to you? Don't you know what a cracked rib can do to you?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. I saw a graphic demonstration just before I died. If the other Senshi hadn't healed her, the Senshi whose life I saved would have died anyway, because her ribs had not just been cracked, they'd been shattered and were shredding her lungs." I sighed and tried a different tack. "I do care about what happens to me, Mom. But I have faith in my work. I know it'll do what I create it to do. And I have faith in my family. What we're doing will make the world a paradise again, and isn't that worth giving your life for?"

"This doesn't have anything to do with your mission. You could have been killed, just to prove a point to us!"

"No. Not with Setsuna handling the gun." I thought a moment before continuing. "I think this does have something to do with our mission. Each one of us is going to have to choose friends and advisors - people we can trust as much as we trust each other, and who trust us enough to speak their minds to us. If I can't trust my own mother to do that, who can I trust?" I grinned as she faltered and stared at me in surprise. "Becky, you did a good job of telling me what an asshole I was last summer, when I started raving about part of my political philosophy. Sarah, you've been a lot gentler about it - maybe because you know I'm still in love with you despite knowing that what I wish will never be. Rusty, you're another one of those quiet ones - but you've always listened to me and nudged me when I needed direction. Gwen, you've helped me see parts of myself I'd forgotten, and you've reminded me of things that should be important to me but I hadn't noticed. Every one of you is important to me, and...I need you."

Sarah opened her mouth to speak - and Setsuna silenced her with a kiss before she could get a word out. I waited, cuddling Ami, while the others digested my latest plea. There was only so much I could say, and I felt as if I'd said it all. After several minutes when nobody spoke, I kissed Ami and went to rescue my hat. Since it, like the rest of my outfit, was MacManusite, it was undamaged. Once I had it on my head, I grinned at the others and tried my Bogie impersonation. As usual, it was so bad it could suck-start a B52.

"So let's get your luggage and get you all home, eh?" Another area of light appeared nearby, with everyone's luggage neatly stacked in it.

"Unless anyone is looking forward to being cooped up in an airplane for far too many hours, I can deliver you from here," Setsuna said. The expressions of distaste on every face made it clear which their preference was. Nobody likes being cooped up on an airplane for over twelve hours - even if it's in first class.

Sarah was the last to be delivered to her home; she looked back at us wistfully before turning to walk through the door. Setsuna sighed and collapsed on the sofa as soon as Sarah was gone.

"I understand now why you love her. It's going to be hard..." Setsuna looked at the floor, tears welling in her eyes. She shook her head and her mask of inhuman indifference clamped down over the emotion we'd seen. "I'll be doing things that are harder. Since you're here, would you like to tour my home?"

**I wish we could ease her pain, beloved.**

**So do I, Angel. All we can do is love her and make her understand that we believe in her.**

Ami and I nodded and moved to flank Setsuna; we took her hands and smiled at her.

"We'd love to," Ami answered for both of us. "I don't remember my castle on Mercury. I barely remember that it existed."

"It was a beautiful place. Light, airy, with a surprise around every corner. You and Serenity were the only ones who could ever hide things from me, you know. That was something all of the Serenities could do - but you were the only Mercury who could. I'd never understood why before...." Setsuna's voice trailed off into what sounded almost like a sob.

"Do you understand why now?" Ami asked gently, stopping to face Setsuna and touch her cheek with her fingertips.

"Please...please don't ask me," Setsuna whispered. "I can't tell you. Not...not yet."

Ami hugged her tightly and nodded, murmuring gently, "We won't ask. We promise."

"Thank you," Setsuna whispered, returning the hug and holding onto Ami as if she were afraid to lose her. I placed my hands on her shoulders, and she broke, sobbing bitterly into Ami's hair. I moved closer, wrapped my arms around both of them, and held Setsuna in the space between us as she cried.

After some time, the sobs ended and Setsuna took my handkerchief to wipe her face. We gave her all the time she needed to compose herself, and were rewarded with a weak, but grateful and loving, smile. She took our hands and led us on a tour of her castle, showing us everything from the Time Gate, which Ami gazed at with some trepidation, to the observation rooms at the top of the castle's towers, which showed just how far from the sun we were. At that distance, the sun is just the brightest star in the sky - barely enough to turn the darkness into twilight shadows.

Only one room was closed to us; she said it wasn't yet time for us to see it, but that we would, soon enough. We accepted that without question. We trusted Setsuna as implicitly as we trusted Serenity, and that was good enough for us. Sooner than we liked, it was time to go, and Setsuna returned to our house with us.

"Back so soon? You just-," David stopped in mid-sentence, then started up again, complaining loudly. "Setsuna! If you're going to do that, the least you could do is warn me! Burning six hours in five minutes is going to play havoc with our timestamps when we synchronize data. I swear, just because they can play with time, they think...."

David's complaints faded into disgruntled grumbling as Ami and I laughed in unison.

"He'll always be like that, too," Setsuna sighed, with a much put-upon expression. Then she smiled teasingly and raised her voice so David couldn't pretend he hadn't heard it. "You'd think he'd acquired Luna's soul."

"Why would you be comparing me to a self-righteous, nagging, overbearing scold who thinks she knows what's best for the whole universe?"

"Gee, I don't know why," Setsuna answered sweetly. Ami blinked in surprise and looked at her, then at me with a puzzled expression. I didn't understand the problem. Setsuna's answer had seemed perfectly appropriate to me.

"Dad, you've got email." David seemed to be doing his best to pretend he hadn't heard Setsuna's answer to his complaint. "Rusty wants to know how Setsuna expects him to pack up and move in six weeks, and how she managed to get him a resident visa."

"I have many skills," Setsuna murmured with a smile. I snorted as I imagined our Setsuna wearing Xena's armor. It just didn't fit. She grinned at me and tried that yell, causing both of us to break into laughter. Ami looked between us with an aura of confusion about her, so obvious that I shared an image of Setsuna as Xena with her, and she joined in. The three of us held each other as we laughed, clearing away quite a bit of the shadow that had come upon us with Setsuna's tears.

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Disclaimer: Sailor Moon, Sailor Senshi, and all terms, names, etc. associated with the series are copyrighted by Naoko Takeuchi and Kodansha. I make no claim to them and this work of fanfiction should not be seen as making a claim.