Happily Ever After

“And that's the whole story, Papa?”

“That's what happily ever after means, honeybee.”

Michiru opened the door. “Haruka, are you quite finished with that story? She should be sleeping already, you know.”

The little girl, brown eyes sparkling, chestnut hair tied into a loose French braid before bed, pouted over at Michiru. “Mama, I LIKE this story. I want more.”

Michiru smiled. “Well then, my dear, you will have to write it yourself. Haruka, let her sleep.”

The little girl looked back over at Haruka, who gave a sideways grin and kissed her on the forehead. “Your Mama's right.” She gave a sly whisper. “But don't tell her I said so.”

Michiru looked happily on as her daughter snuggled into bed and closed her eyes. Haruka put her hand on the back of the chair, and pushed herself to her feet, leaning on her cane.

Michiru took her hand as she made her way slowly to the door. “I trust Ruka Hood saved the day again?”

“No, not at all.” She leaned against the doorframe cheekily, propped on her good leg. “Maid Michiru saved Ruka Hood.”

And they lived happily ever after.  

Bad at hospitals

“Can you tell me your name please?”

“Haruka Tenno.” She sighed grumpily and crossed her arms. She had been difficult the whole time,, barking at the nurse for making her take off her sweater so she could get a heart rate, and now this poor young resident was at her mercy.

“Haruka, sort of an unusual name. How'd your folks come up with it?”

“Why my mother does anything is a mystery to us all.” She pulled her legs up onto the table and laid her head against her knees, closing her eyes.

He quietly put a cover on the otoscope, and leaned over the table, looking into Haruka's ear. The second he touched it, she batted him away and nearly fell off the table. “Warn me before you do that!”

“I-I'm sorry..” he flipped through her chart “Ah, it uh, says you have a ruptured eardrum, but I don't see a record of the incident..”

“I got into a fight.”

“You didn't seek medical attention.”

“Sure didn't. Moving on.”

He wrote something down in the chart, and Michiru touched his arm gently. He looked up at her, and she smiled kindly. “Would you mind terribly if I had a moment alone with her?”

He nodded assent, and picked up his chart, leaving them alone.

Michiru walked over to Haruka and put a hand on her knee.“Haruka. I know you do not like hospitals. I know you are exhausted and hungry. I know you are on edge. I know you do not particularly like having your ear touched. I know you would like to go home. Please bear in mind that I know all of these things, and love you very much, and listen to me very carefully.” She took Haruka's face into her hands and looked her in the eye. “Stop. Fighting. You are being a combative toddler, and if you don't stop acting like one this instant, I will tell them this is completely out of character for my docile, gentle lamb, and they will keep you overnight.”

“Michi!”

“ I will do, whatever it is I have to, to keep you safe.” She face softened, and she rested Haruka's head on her shoulder. “Ruka, just do what they tell you, and I will take you home. I'll even stop and get you some chicken nuggets and a milkshake.”  

Haruka nodded into her shoulder.

But sometimes, the cards come up wrong

And suddenly, they were surrounded. Mina and Haruka stood back to back, Mina making a quick calculation of how they were going to do this. It wasn't going to be easy, for sure, but it was possible-

Haruka interrupted her planning. “I'm gonna hit the one on the right, and you run.”

“Oh fuck you, Haruka. I'm not leaving you here.”

“Great, we'll both die.”

They swung out, and to their surprise, the enemies fell faster than they'd imagined. They moved in perfect harmony, cutting through the enemy, Mina making a metal note that she would need to polish the hell out of the Holy Sword when she got home. Mina finished off one of the last footsoldiers, and looked over at Haruka, currently being held by the jaw, her eyes misting over in a haze. Mina leapt across the room. She didn't want to try the sword, if she killed the woman while she was inside Haruka's head, she wasn't sure what would happen, but if she could break the connection...she looked at the orange spark licking the end of her fingertips and smiled. She loved his part.

She grabbed the woman's arm, and it her hit her full force. She withdrew from Haruka, who fell to her knees. Mina focused, thinking harder and harder, trying to go deeper down, and then, the woman looked up at her, here eyes still filled with pain, but a rage there, too. And then Mina felt cold steel go through her. She dropped to the floor, surprised as much as she was anything. The woman stumbled away- Mina had made a mark, at least.

Haruka was at her side in an instant, as the blood pooled around her. “Kiddo, it's gonna be fine.”

Mina looked up at her and managed a half-smile. “I guess I should have slept with Rei when I had the chance, huh?” She faltered, and Haruka held her.

“It's gonna be okay, It's gonna be okay.”

“Ruka...I don't want you to get, how you get, okay?” She tried to take a deep breath.

“Mina, please, please.”

Mina summoned up the last of her strength, and touched Haruka on the arm, a small spark going off.

A thousand happy memories of Mina flashed through Haruka's mind. Birthdays and nights out, every reassuring chat they'd ever had out on the back patio, buying Haruka's suit for the wedding together, Mina tearing up on the day of their wedding, the lunch they'd shared not 30 minutes ago.Haruka opened her eyes, still alight in the pleasantness of the memory, and looked down to see Mina was gone.

"Oh, Kiddo."

**

“You were supposed to be WITH THEM!!” Michiru was screaming at her. Actually screaming. It was something Rei had never seen, and never cared to see again. She felt guilty enough. She had canceled on Haruka and Mina at the last moment, and they had gone on without her. The rule had been not being alone, though, not a requirement of three. Michiru was crying now, and Rei's felt the full flavor of her guilt blossom.

“I know, Michiru.”

Michiru braced herself against the chair, still standing. “What do I do? What do I do? Oh God, Haruka...”

“Haruka'll be okay, it'll just take awhile.”

Michiru hung her head. “No, you don't understand...Mina was supposed to live. She had to.”

The aftermath

Rei knocked on the door of the house and took a deep breath when Haruka answered.

“I owe you an apology.”

Haruka nodded . “I accept.”

“You’re not gonna make me talk about it?”

“Return the favor someday.”

“Done.” They shook hands, satisfied, and Rei turned and left. Another excellent talk

Epilogue

Mina loved the feel of the crackle on her fingers. Pluto was always lecturing her about the necessity of using her gifts for good, but Mina didn't really think you could do much more good than taking out the trash that God had oh so negligently left on the world. Pluto could focus on more important things, as far as she was concerned, like maybe figuring out how to get Usagi to use her powers or understanding flirting between humans.

Frank was curled up in the corner, crying. Maggie lay on the floor, eyes wide with sadness, as Mina gathered up the two small boxes and lay them by the door. She went and sat by Maggie, crosslegged against the couch, and lay her hand on her chin thoughtfully.

“Okay, so, here's the thing.” Her voice was bright and peppy, even as Maggie gave a whimper of pain. “I need you to like, never contact Haruka again, kay? Becaaaaaaaaause,” She was, admittedly, enjoying the silence for her moment of dramatic flair. “when you upset Haruka I have to deal with it for like 3 weeks. And she is, you know, already a grumpy asshole, which is also mostly thanks to you. And THEN, it also makes fucking MICHIRU grump as fuck, and, lady, I just don't have the patience. Please stop breaking my lesbians.” She grabbed Maggie's purse and rifled through the wallet. “Fuck, you already spent most of the money.” She took out the forty dollars left from Haruka's payoff. “Okay, so, this is mine. I am treating the fuck out of myself.” Maggie made a grab at the cash and Mina licked her index finger and shocked Maggie again, smaller this time, but it was enough to down her.. “No no no. Wrong idea.” She stood up. “In conclusion. Let's not forget what we talked about today, okay?” Her voice was singsong, like a children's recess game, and mocking as she continued. “If you can find Haruka, I can find you.”

She picked up the boxes and slammed the door behind her, skipping away as she dialed Michiru's number on her cell phone.

“I got them! No, no, big deal Michi, it was actually pretty fun.”  

Rei's promise

Rei walked into the house, already knowing what she was going to see. Sometimes, when things got broken, they didn't get fixed. And all you could do was let life happen. She had decided to let life happen.

Haruka lay on the couch, pale and weak. Her breathing was troubled and harsh, and it made Rei wince just a little. What was right was never what was easy, that had been a fact for Rei's life from the first day she set foot on the ranch as a child. But she had always been able to choose the right, and now was no different. She pulled the covers up over onto Haruka's shoulder, trying to keep her warm, and Haruka stirred.

She looked up and Rei and sadness replaced the confusion in her eyes, and she struggled to sit up. “I don't want to go to the hospital, Rei, I'm so tired, please, just leave me alone.” Haruka whispered painfully.

“I'm not going to make you go anywhere.” She sat down next to the couch. “But I'm not leaving you alone either.” Rei looked at Haruka, and an understanding passed between them, even as feverish and delirious as Haruka was. Rei pulled some pills out of her purse. “I figure these will make it a little easier on you. Don't ask how I got them. I don't even want to know how I got them.”

Haruka, her hand shaking, took one gratefully and dry-swallowed it. She was already fading, the promise of the pain and struggle being relieved enough to put her at more ease than she'd been since Michiru took her last breath in Haruka's arms.

Rei looked out the window. “Never let it be said I didn't love your wife, yeah?”

Haruka lay back down on the couch, her eyelids heavy with exhaustion and the gently tapering availability of oxygen. “You don't...have to stay.”

“I do though.” She lay her hand on Haruka's shoulder, trying to be reassuring. “I made a promise.” She did not mention that the promise had been to Mina instead of Michiru. The distinction seemed irrelevant at this point, and Rei figured, if there was any sort of afterlife, Mina would be the first to point it out the second Haruka crossed over.

Haruka closed her eyes, and the pneumonia continued its terrible work. Rei's hand never left Haruka's shoulder, even when it became clear that Haruka was beyond regaining consciousness, as her breaths started to grow shallower and further apart.

Rei buried her face in her hand, more out of frustration than anything. “I am so fucking sorry that this is the biggest kindness I can do you, Ruka. I'm not Michiru. I'm not Mina. I can't make you want to live. I can't make living worth it for you.”

The room took on a special property, then, in the early morning hours. Rei looked up from her bedside vigil, to see Michiru, or at the very least an incredibly good adaptation of her, aglow in front of her. She knelt down by Rei's knee and gently stroked Haruka's hair.

“Michi, you gotta take her.” Rei was direct, but not unkind. “She's miserable. It's a question of goddamn mercy now.”

Michiru did not say anything, but nodded at Rei beatifically and continued to softly pet the girl she'd been apart from for far too much time. It wouldn't be long now, and they'd be together again. It gave Rei comfort to know that Michiru didn't seem upset with her, didn't seem to argue Rei's choice. She could never tell Usagi, of course- in general, Rei assumed this was something she'd take to her grave. She felt for Haruka's pulse. Weak and uneven. But she seemed comfortable, and grateful, and that was all Rei figured she could ask for in this lifetime.

A light caught the corner of her eye, and she turned to to the doorway. There they were. Mako. Ami. Hotaru. Pluto. And there, in the front, leaned up against the doorway. Mina. Rei's eyes filled with tears as Mina's spirit stepped toward her. In an instant, there was barely any space between them, and Rei wished she could kiss her again, as she had those handful of times, only now with abandon, not caring about her duties or promises or oaths except to her own heart. Mina just stood in front of her, and mouthed, thank you.

“I kept my promise to you, Mina. I did the best I could.”

Mina smiled and winked, and Rei's heart was set at ease. She looked up from the spirit next to her, and saw Michiru, kissing the spirit that had only recently been in Haruka's body, and what was left of Haruka lay cold and grey on the couch. Mina stood up next to her and gave her sassy little salute. The other girls filed out, and Mina just stared at Rei, even as she walked to the door. Mina turned to Haruka and gave her a tight hug before she crossed over the threshold, but then turned back to look at Rei one last time.

It was the first time Rei could ever remember feeling even vaguely jealous of Haruka.