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.
