SMV - Post-Summer Quests, Reprieve

“Alma, please?”

“Alexis, no.”

“Please?”

“For the last time, NO.”

“But, Alma…” Alexis whined, just a little. They’d been arguing over the phone on and off since he was released from the healing center yesterday. The head librarian had accidentally let it slip that she and some of the other Luna Tower staff were working on analyzing footage from the Projection Room. “We can trade. Just let me look at it for an hour, and my signed copy of Oryx and Crake is all yours.”

The offer gave Alma pause, though not for very long. “You’re not allowed to see it, I’ve told you--”

“But I was there!” Alexis’s voice grew sharp with anger. “I almost died, and you’re telling me--”

“I’m telling you that you have to wait for the analysis to be finished, like everyone else!”

Alexis scowled, trying to think of something he could tell his boss. “I’ll work weekends.”

“Get some rest, Alexis,” Alma said, and ended the call.

He closed his communicator and flopped on the couch with a sigh, picking up a small bottle of pain medication from the endtable. He’d received it not long after he’d awoken from surgery. The healers said it had been a painstaking procedure, medics carefully extracting the crystal shards that had buried themselves in his body.

He stared down at the sutured and bandaged wounds, an unwelcome reminder that he’d almost died. That he’d had two major surgeries before the age of twenty-six, and there had been a time when he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to walk again. That he’d been forced to relive the car crash again and again, until he finally decided saving ChibiMoon was more important than being scared.

And, ultimately, that everything he’d been through seemed to have made no difference.

After a moment of hesitation,  he twisted off the cap and swallowed an oblong pill. With a sigh, he sank into the couch. These things always made him feel so drowsy once they kicked in…

In the hallway, Teruko shuffled toward Alexis's door, holding a pot by its side handles. She eyed it for a moment before kicking his door lightly a few times with booted toes, the smell of miso wafting around her.

Alexis pried his eyes open. There were only one person he could think of who would come knocking on his door while the rest of the Village recuperated. "It's open."

Teruko stood for a moment, waffling. Steam drifted up from the pot and she decided against holding it against her hip.

"Eh...my hands are full of soup..." she called softly.

Taking a moment to stretch, Alexis got to his feet and opened the door.

He knew that it would be Teruko standing on the other side, but it was still a relief to see her standing there, safe. Only the pot of soup in her hands kept him from embracing her. "Come in."

She smiled at him in thanks and stepped inside and kicked off her ankle high-boots as she entered his suite, then headed for the kitchen.

"I like to make miso soup when feeling badly, so I made us some," she called back to him. After setting the pot down on one of the pot holders she'd carried with her, she went straight to him to gently wrap her arms around him.

Alexis returned the smile and hugged her as well, closing his eyes again and just enjoying Teruko's presence, her closeness. "You're okay, right?"

"Some bruises, confusion, nightmares. I managed to get strangled repeatedly." She moved away from him, fast enough to carefully pull her turtleneck away from her throat. Yellowing bruises were just visible around her throat. "Some stab wounds, that are closing. I'm mostly just exhausted."

Alexis's smile faded as she revealed her injuries. He took her hand, grasping it a little too tightly. "Is there anything I can do?"

She shook her head.  "Just letting me in so I could see you and see that you're alive helps." She took in his chest, his shoulders, scanning his body with her eyes. "I can't believe this all happened. You had to have *surgery*. How did this happen?" Her voice tailed off to a whisper. "I was so afraid."

"I..." For a moment Alexis faltered. "When crystals start exploding, and everything around you is made of crystal..." The faux levity did nothing to hide the faint tremor in his voice. His eyes flicked to the bathroom, where he'd discarded his shirt. He wanted to put it back on, just so she would stop looking at him with such worry. "It could've been a lot worse." He cupped her cheek with one hand. "I was worried about you. I didn't know where you had gone or what happened to you."

She sighed. "I had finished my shift at work when the announcement came. I got a notice with a time that my 'team' was scheduled to enter." She shook her head and rolled her eyes heavenward. "Anscom had registered in the system as being from the same group as me, under Astral Plane. Can you believe it?

"He insisted we go together since I, and I quote, 'have an expectation that he will assist in our dilemma involving the Irish sprite, but do not even know if I can stand working with him without throwing produce at his face'." She sighed and lightly ran her fingertips on his skin near one of the injuries. "I should have called you, but I didn't expect... none of us knew...." she closed her eyes. "I'm sorry."

A smirk lifted the corners of Alexis's lips. "And did you manage to hold off on chucking carrots at his head?" He moved his hand to the back of Teruko's neck and kissed her forehead. "I was just scared that--" His vision blurred for a moment, and cleared. "Looks like the pain meds are starting to kick in."

"Oh, I'm sorry! I woke you up, didn't I? I can leave the pot in the fridge after it cools, and you can have soup later." She tilted her head to look at his face. Her brows were knit, eyes searching his face. "You're a little pale. I can tuck you into bed."

He yawned. "Only if you read me a bedtime story."

She smiled at that. "I'm not a storyteller. I can sing you a lullaby?"

"It'd have to be a pretty lullaby. And not about buying mockingbirds." He lightly stroked her cheek with his thumb. "And you have to make sure I don't get loose and start telling everyone I'm an American Girl."

"I know a pretty lullaby," she replied with a wistful smile. " Nennen korori yo, Okorori yo.
Bōya wa yoi ko da, Nenne shina~"

Alexis relaxed, listening to Teruko's sweet soprano. "You're a much better singer than my mom," he said quietly, before a wave of dizziness passed over him. "Damn pills..."

Teruko took his elbow and propelled him to the couch, demanding that he sit.

"Ah..." Alexis flopped down on the couch, and grasping Teruko's hand, pulled her along with him. "I'm glad you're here."

Teruko flopped onto the couch next to him, sitting so the line of her body was against his own. She laced her fingers with his. "I am, too."

Alexis raised Teruko's hand to his lips. "I didn't think I'd see you again." The statement surprised him; he hadn't meant to tell her that.

Teruko felt herself still. She looked down at the floor before murmuring, "I wasn't sure I was going to make it out of there alive. I thought, 'how could I not tell him I was coming here? How could I have underestimated something that had managed to capture the queen?'"

He ran his thumb along her hand and leaned slightly into Teruko. "I was just...alone." He tilted his head back for a moment. "And started out reckless, and..." Lightly, he touched one of the bandaged injuries on his abdomen.

"We both made it out. But..." He lowered his gaze to watch her profile. The woman seemed tired, sad, a heavier weight than normal on her shoulders. "If something like that happens again, I just...I want to have you with me."

She glanced over at him, then nodded. "I...would like that. I wish I'd been in there with you. I wish you hadn't had to face that horrible place alone." She squeezed his hand again. "No one should be alone." After a pause, she blurted her next words as if unsure they would be welcome. "If you ever needed me, you know I would come, right? I would be there in an instant if I had to be. If I had known what danger you were in, how hurt you'd been, I would have found a way to blast a hole in the wall if I had to."

Alexis felt a lump in his throat. "I know. Teruko, I..."

Something itched in the back of his mind, something that he needed to tell her.

"I can't say that I'll always be able to protect you, but I want to. I just..." His voice faded for a moment as he struggled to find the right thing to say.

Teruko leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Alexis..."

He didn't say anything right away, but closed his eyes fit his arm between her back and the couch.

"At one point, I knew, just knew I was going to die." Everything in his head seemed to come spilling out of his mouth, regardless of whether he wanted it to or not.  "I don't think he--it--wanted me dead, just gone." He furrowed his brow. "And I kept thinking of everything I hadn't been able to do."

"What was it like, to you?" She snuggled against him. "What did it manifest as?"

Alexis yawned again and rested his head on top of hers. "It was alive...it shouldn't've been, but it was." He forced his eyes open, fighting to stay awake. "I really thought I could save him. He just wanted to live."

There was something hot in his eyes.

"I guess that sounds pretty stupid now." He sighed. "What about you? I hope things weren't as bad for you."

"It said it was something that lost its children in the Sailor Wars. It was stealing star seeds to turn into new life." She shuddered. "I destroyed it, but now they're telling me I didn't. But I used an ability I didn't have, and forced Anscom to use an ability be didn't have. If that part wasn't real, why do I still feel different?"

Teruko sighed. "Other than that, the usual stuff. Black crystals everywhere, mocking voices, creepy mirrors with a deranged Maeve coming out of it to kill me." She laughed, but it sounded hollow. "The weird part was seeing how distraught Anscom was when he thought I was dying."

Alexis’s hand on her waist tightened slightly. "It kept making me relive the crash." Alexis dully noted that his voice wasn't shaking, like it normally was when he managed to talk about it. "And the mirrors...I saw..." he cleared his throat. "Things that could have been different. And my family. I think--" he frowned, watching Teruko's expression. "I think I've been here too long."

She rested a hand on his knee.

"Are you okay? You can talk to me about it, Alexis."

He placed his hand over hers. "No. I'm not okay." His eyelids drooped as he spoke. His chin tilted downward and he sat motionless for a few seconds, apparently asleep.

Teruko watched him for a brief time before shifting slowly, trying to stand without waking him.

Alexis's eyes fluttered open. He blinked, clearing the haze from his vision, and ran a hand through his hair, messier than usual. "Sorry about that," he mumbled.

"Don't be. You're tired and still recovering. I was going to get you a blanket." She twisted a curl of her thick hair around her finger. "I was going to stay a bit longer and make sure you were sleeping well."

"I..."

Alexis got to his feet. There was a lump in his throat he couldn't seem to swallow.

He had to tell her just how felt about her, now, while they were still safe, together. "There's something I've been thinking about a lot."

She blinked once, tilting her head just slightly. She brushed her hair behind her shoulder. "What is it?"

"About you and me." He took her hands. "When I was in there, I was afraid I'd never..." Alexis bit his lip.

She took one of his hands on hers, encouraging.

"Get to tell you..."

Alexis could feel his heart beat faster.

He tried to speak, but a memory interrupted him. One of a scared, furious young woman, lashing out against his open admission of feelings...a young woman that, if the mirrors in the Projection Room had been showing the truth,  he would have been happy with.

"Never mind. I'm just rambling."

Teruko eyed him, eyebrows slightly raised. "Is it about the car accident? You mentioned it earlier. Did you want to talk?"

The corners of Alexis's mouth twitched. "I don't suppose...it made you relive your worst moments, too?"

Her hand in his convulsed, but she managed a weak smile.

"I still want to know how it saw so much of me. And why not everyone got the same treatment." She laughed, a harsh expression of sound. "Maybe we are just lucky. Either way, I know it is hard to have to see those things again. To feel them." She stepped closer to him, wrapped her arms around him. Resting her head on his shoulder, she shivered.

"I want to go back." Alexis likewise put his arms around her, his hands meeting at the small of her back. "Not right now, obviously, but later...I can see what really happened."

She nodded. "I'm the same way. I need to SEE that the last events before I passed out weren't real."

"I'll go with you. It just..." He wrinkled his brow. "Reminded me that I can't save...anyone. Not you, not the Queen, I couldn't even unplug a computer."

"It's not that you can't save anyone. Look at the lesson as, you're meant to be part of a team." She shrugged slightly. "I'm not that useful in offense by myself, not against anything strong. If we worked together though, we would be stronger."

"That's what my teammates always told me, that I can't just run in. But I still do. I just stop thinking. And when I wasn't with my team, it took three nights of hell for Sailor Alpheratz and me to kill one thing."

"Sailor Alpheratz?" Teruko thought she remembered sing the name on the registry, but dismissed it.

"Met her not long before I came here." He shrugged one shoulder. "Good to know there's someone watching out for my old stomping ground."

Teruko leaned back to look up at him. "From now on, while we're in the village together, we'll fight whatever comes at us side by side. Is that okay?"

Alexis gave her a quick kiss, something he had been wanting to do since she'd first walked in."Together," he agreed. He teetered for a second, and righted himself. "I think I need to get to bed."

"I'll tuck you into bed,” Teruko offered.

He gave her a wan smile. "Stay with me for a bit?"

"Of course." She grinned. "I'll sing you that lullaby."

"My mom used to sing this one when I was sick, about a Russian boy growing up to be a soldier, and how his mom misses him when he's away..." He took her hand, sluggishly walking towards the bedroom.

"Maybe you can teach me to sing it someday."

Alexis let out a quick snort. "Only if I wanted to prove Freud right." He lay down on his bed, eyes half-lidded.

She tilted her head at that, looking very confused. "If you say so."

“C'mere." He tugged at Teruko's hand, trying to pull her alongside him.

Teruko let him pull her down, laying down next to him on her side. She propped her head on her hand, draping her free arm over him.

Alexis smiled at her, and let out a soft sigh. "So this is what it takes to get you in my bed."

Instantly, her face was bright red, the flush turning her skin hot. “H-hey!”

A coy smile crossed Alexis's lips and he threw one arm around her waist. "Ah...if I wasn't so tired..."

Teruko shook her head. "You are loopy on painkillers."

Alexis played with a strand of her hair. "You can't tell me you never thought about it."

Teruko didn't meet his eyes, focusing instead on his lips. Her body felt warm at the memory of the night Evangelion had interrupted them. How much she had wanted him. A chill crept along her as her own desire to be with him before anything happened to either of them rose in the back of her mind. Something nearly did happen. She swallowed, huskiness in her voice as she replied.

"I certainly would be lying if I said I didn't think about it. I admit there is a sense of relief with seeing you whole, though injured, and with that relief..." She cleared her throat again. "But you are still hurt, and you are also under the influence of painkillers. So I am content to simply lay with you in a more chaste sense." She ran her hand down his side. "I'm just happy to be able to be here with you right now."

Alexis closed his eyes. "Teruko...I keeping thinking about if things had been worse, and I never got to tell you..."

She brushed his hair back from his forehead, then continued the motion, gently stroking his hair. "Tell me what?"

He closed his eyes at her light touch. "That I l..." he fell quiet, asleep once again.

Teruko sighed softly, feeling like something important was lost to his slumber. Still, she smiled, and began singing again, the Edo Lullaby. The only lullaby she could remember her mother singing to her as a child.

"Bōya no omori wa, Doko e itta?
Ano yama koete, Sato e itta."