Chapter 11a
Greg was watching her with a sickly smile on his face as the much-awaited witnesses entered the church, and Ami felt faint. She was gripping the carved wood of the first row of pews tightly, and when she met Zoite's shocked eyes, her face drained of all color.
"Ami!"
"Are you all right? We were so worried about you!"
"What are you doing here?"
The girls' questions were stopped suddenly as they rushed towards her, but Ami stepped back from them, looking as if she was near tears. But she knew she had to go through with it...she saw Greg's hand twitch warning near his pocket, where she knew his firearm was.
The old priest, who was becoming a bit near-sighted, peered at them inquisitively. "You must be Miss Bliss's family. Good, good. We can begin, then."
"Ami," Zoite said softly, keeping his eyes on hers, "what's going on?"
His tone of voice and the confused hurt lurking in his eyes pained the most, but when Greg wrenched her closer to him and away from Zoite, she closed her eyes and somehow regained her resolve. "Rei–Mina–Lita...I'm sorry I couldn't tell you before. We're getting married, Greg and I."
Janus stepped forward, his eyes flashing. "What are you talking about, Ami? What are you doing?"
"I know what I'm doing. You can't stop me–you can't stop this from happening. Please, Father, start the ceremony," she said to the pastor, turning to face him again. Greg had a pleased smile on his face; he was enjoying the spectacle, and she wanted to kill him.
Zoite interrupted the old man heedlessly. "Why are you doing this, Ami? I thought–I thought you loved me."
She whirled around, also disregarding the words of the ceremony. "I never said so, did I?" Her voice was going higher than usual in fright and alarm, and when pain shadowed his face, she exclaimed, "You don't understand!" Greg's hold on her wrist became tighter. "You've never understood," she went on more softly.
"You're making a mistake, Ami," Kunshan warned, his voice low and angry.
"I know what I'm doing! Don't you dare tell me I'm making a mistake," Ami cried, her heart rate escalating as she began to feel feverish. Her palms were cold and clammy, and Greg's ceaseless grip on her hand felt like it cutting off her circulation. "You're the one who can't recognize happiness when it's right in front of your face, Kunshan! You keep saying you're going to leave, but you want to stay–and you can't even understand why! Go back East, Kunshan, and find out what your heart cries out for that remains behind."
Greg was looking puzzled, so he didn't say anything. Mina's eyes were very bright as she looked at her sister, and her heart raged in turmoil. "Don't go through with this, Ami," she begged. "Come home. We need you back with us."
Rei's tone was sharp was she asked, "Are you forgetting what he did to you, Ami? He's evil. He's a criminal. He kidnaped you. Why are you marrying him?"
She was wishing that Rei wouldn't keep reminding her about what had already run through her thoughts endlessly, but she knew the answer to the last question. Her lips were white as she turned back to the priest, who was still droning on in spite of their heated arguments.
"Ami. I want you to tell me why you're marrying him."
Her heart was breaking as she slowly revolved to look at him and only him. Gregory's hold on her was the tightest it had been all afternoon, and she knew what she had to say. "You're a sheriff," she said emotionlessly, "you'll never be around for me when I need you. Any day, any day at all, you could die on the job, and what would I be left with? I couldn't live with that knowledge every single day...I wouldn't even be willing to make the effort unless I loved you."
Ami knew Greg wanted her to say she didn't love him, but she couldn't. This was the very subject they had been arguing about before Greg had captured her, and Zoite felt as though his heart had been shattered into millions of little pieces.
But he still couldn't understand. This wasn't the Ami he knew or comprehended, and there was something in her eyes, in her entire manner, that was calling out to him–and he would not let her go.
Taking a deep breath, as if she was reaffirming her courage, Ami went on. "You told me you loved me since the time we first met, but you never stepped forward until now. How could I love someone like you?" Her heart cried out in denial inside her, but she closed her lips tightly to keep the dangerous words from escaping. It was killing her to hurt Zoite, but she felt that there was no other way.
"Very good, Ami. You see, Zoite Skylab? She's mine now. And you're going to tell him you don't love him and that you never have, aren't you, my sweet?"
Zoite, who had almost forgotten his nemesis's presence, rounded on him furiously. There had been something not right with the entire situation...and he hadn't been able to put his finger on it until Greg had slipped up. His brilliant green eyes narrowed accusingly. "You're the one that's making her do this, aren't you? Well, what is it you have on her? What's forcing you to do this, Ami?"
Greg's brown eyes widened in outrage, but just at that moment, the priest was asking for their mutual agreement. Quickly, he replied in the affirmative and turned to Ami. "Say yes, Ami," he commanded, a menacing look in his eyes.
Her voice was frozen in her throat, and she looked at Zoite, who was passionately angry but helpless at the moment. Her eyes traveled to meet those of her sisters and their loves... Nestor, who had not said a word to her in the church, had his eyes fixed upon her. Something about their hypnotic, dark blue depths gave her a gift of remembrance.
Images flashed before her eyes of the times she and Zoite had spent together...their long walks in the woods...and his face was so precious to her in those scenes as she remembered them. She thought about the life she had wanted to have with him, the one she had been too afraid to admit could come to be. She compared that life to the one she would lead with Greg: one of fear, obedience, and lies. Looking back at Zoite gave her courage this time, and she stepped away from the man she had been about to marry. "No."
"No?" The elderly pastor looked bewilderedly between the couple who had arrived only half an hour before to be married.
"NO?" Greg shouted.
"No," Zoite replied softly, his eyes fastened on Ami joyously.
She backed away from him slowly, her words ringing out in the silent church. Everyone was motionless now, watching her, and she had never been more sure of herself in her life. "I don't care if you kill me now, but I will never marry you."
She was very close to Zoite now, and he reached out to her wonderingly. His movements as quick as an infuriated serpent's, Greg whipped the gun from its hiding place and pointed it at Ami, whose back was to him. A split second later, the trigger was pulled; the sound of the shot reverberated in the church...but the body that jerked in pain and fell to the ground was not Ami's.
She, who had been pushed out of the way at the last second by Zoite's quick reflexes, screamed and dropped to the ground next to him. "Zoi, please–no!!"
Janus, hands and azure blue eyes steady and sure, drew out his own gun and shot Greg directly in the chest. His look of mad fury changed to one of surprise, and his hands moved helplessly to cover the wound through which his lifeblood was streaming out furiously.
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Ami sat stubbornly in the doctor's office; he had banned her from the room when he'd noticed her shocked state, but she refused to go home. Lita and Mina had retrieved Xander from Hotaru's care and gone back to the house when the doctor had refused to allow all of them to stay, saying he needed peace and quiet for the delicate work; Nestor had gone with them. Although he had wanted to stay, Janus had been forced to go see his superior at the sheriffs' office to give him the details of the incident and file a report. It was by default that Kunshan was sitting with Rei and Ami now, stiff and silent, mulling over the angry words the latter had directed towards him in the little chapel...it seemed so long ago now.
Ami's head had drooped onto Rei's shoulder heavily, and her sister's fingers moved over her dark hair comfortingly. "Why did he have to do it, Rei? Why didn't he just let it happen??"
"You know why," she said. Although her words were stern, her voice was soft and reassuring. "He would never have let you die, Ami." She winced at that. Zoite wasn't going to die...he wasn't going to die...surely the bullet had missed his heart and lungs. "He loved you," she finished firmly.
"Everything is my fault. Why did I have to make so many mistakes?"
"You did what you could, Ami. Stop thinking about it. There was nothing else you could possibly have done. Had I been in your position, I would've done the same thing."
Ami closed her eyes, but several minutes later, she asked, "Why did you realize that you loved Janus so suddenly?"
Rei closed her eyes as well, letting the rhythmic movements of her own fingers lull her into a more relaxed state. "I think it was when I knew that I could lose him. Ever since we were friends, I always thought he would be there for me. When he told me he loved me, I thought he would always love me. When he found out, I could sense his disappointment in me, and it was that moment that I knew he could leave me and never come back...and I realized that if he'd done that, I would have made the worst mistake of my life by not telling him I really did love him."
"And it won't make a difference whether he's a sheriff or not?"
"Is this what you two were arguing about before?" Ami looked down guiltily and said nothing, but Rei had always been able to draw her own accurate conclusions. "You can't ask him to give up something like that, Ami, because no matter how much he loves you, he won't do it. Janus is exactly the same way, and Zoite's been doing it even longer than he has–this business of saving others. There's this integral part of their characters that won't let them sit by passively if they're needed. Nestor and Kunshan have similar aspects of their personality but to a lesser extreme; it's expressed in a different manner."
"But I just kept thinking...he could die, and I wouldn't be able to live though losing him. And now...he may be lost anyway." The tears threatened to come again, but Ami held them back.
"You could be walking down the street and have some horrible accident happen to you. Does Zoite insist that you never go into town and just stay in the house? The house could burn down at any time, too, Ami. Life is about taking risks–and knowing which ones you should and shouldn't take. It may hurt, but everything is about hope."
Weakly, she argued, "But it's not the same, Rei."
She shrugged. "To me, it looks the same. This is how I see it, Ami. I've lost enough people in my life, but I'm not going to lose Janus now–if he forgives me–just because I'm afraid that he'll leave me in death. If he dies tomorrow, it's fate. I mean, I hope he doesn't, but I'm just using this as an example. If he does go, I'll feel better having given him as much love and happiness that I could. I've been stupid enough, Ami, and I love Janus too much to make any more mistakes."
"You're so much stronger than me, Rei. You know the risk involved, but you'll still act the same way every day, and you never break down. You'd let him walk out the door without holding him back."
"You say this because you don't see how I feel. I'd like to hold him back. I'd like to keep him in my line of sight always, but it's just not possible. I can't do it to him, even if he'd let me. Every morning, say goodbye to Zoite, making sure that you've kept nothing back. Live every day as though it's your last together, and when that last day really does come, you'll know you have nothing to regret, Ami." Suddenly, Rei's voice, which had been strong and steady throughout her conversation with Ami, became tremulous, and her breath caught.
Ami lifted her head, turned it to look in the direction she was staring, and saw Janus looking at Rei with a hopeful, yearning expression. Ami moved away slightly and smiled encouragingly as Rei looked at her, getting to her feet shakily. She walked to Janus, who caught her tightly in his arms. "We're going to have a long talk, you and I," he told her firmly, "but I want you to know how much I love you."
Kunshan and Ami averted their eyes, feeling slightly pained that they couldn't experience a similar happiness, despite their elation for Rei and Janus. The couple, sensing this, smiled at them sadly and left to take a walk around the building. He wouldn't ask her to marry him until he knew Zoite was going to be all right, but they knew that somehow, one day, they would be together.
Meanwhile, the doctor beckoned to Ami and Kunshan. In a low voice, he told them, "He's going to be fine, but it'll be a long recovery. Knowing Sheriff Skylab, I don't think he'll appreciate it. He's still unconscious, and if he wakes soon, he'll be a little drowsy and disoriented from the painkillers."
Ami's eyes were alight, her hands clasped together tightly, and Kunshan asked the unvoiced question for her. "Can we go see him?"
The physician's face was stern, but it softened somewhat when he looked at Ami. "Only for a few minutes," he relented.
Kunshan and Ami went in together, and they looked at his sleeping figure. Zoite looked pale and haggard, but he seemed to know they were nearby and stirred restlessly. The doctor peeped over their shoulders at his patient in a concerned manner while the silvery-haired man smiled at his friend, his features softening in his relief. "Good to know you're still with us, Zoi," he informed the sleeping blond.
He nodded curtly to the doctor, put his hand on Ami's shoulder for a minute, and then departed to give her some peace and exalt in private, which he was more used to doing. But Kunshan could admit to himself how devastated he would have been if his best friend had died.
Ami felt like crying and smiling as she looked at Zoite, and she touched his face gently, hesitantly, to reassure herself that he was indeed whole and breathing. Even the doctor left her alone and didn't bother them, withdrawing to his desk outside to smile to himself. ‘Young love. What a beautiful thing to see.'
Her hand drifted down to rest on his, and she gasped, startled, as his hand suddenly gripped hers tightly. He didn't awake, but to Ami, it seemed that his lips curved upwards. The world seemed somehow bathed in light again, and she sunk silently into the chair next to him, letting the tears stream down her face uninhibited.
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AN: I realized I had a tiny hole in the plot from last chapter...of course Rei couldn't want to take Xander anywhere near Greg (and they couldn't leave him alone in the house), so on their way to the church, they dropped him off at Haruka and Michiru's.
The story is winding down, and I felt that this was a better ending place than to go on. So Chapter 11 has been divided into two parts to fit the demand for longer chapters, and both pieces have been posted together. Chapter 12 will be the last chapter of this story, and it'll probably be a shorter chapter than the rest. See you then! ^^
~Ice
P.S. Ah...and if we must be nitpicky, I don't believe guns were around this time–at least not the kind I've used. But if I wanted to be historically accurate, it'd be a little hard for me to have Greg hiding a rifle (here...let me pull this long gun out of my back pocket...it's perfectly concealed, isn't it? ^.~), and I don't think the scene would have been as effective with a knife. So, please forgive this spot of inaccuracy!!
The House of Bliss
