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Zoicite stopped in the hallway and let the library door close behind him. Something had just begun to nag at him, making him anxious and jumpy. He looked down at the ice-blue mask he still held in his hands and the feeling grew just a bit. His eyebrows knit for the second time that night, and for similar reasons, he struggled between an almost paranoid worry and a rational denouncement of that fear. * * * * The Princess Mars was chatting pleasantly with General Jadeite. He had been most shy and awkward when he had asked her to dance, but after a few dances and some conversation with Rei, he was looking quite at ease. Rei was laughing at a joke that Jadeite had made when she suddenly gasped and nearly choked. She bent over the table they sat at, holding her hand to her chest. "What’s the matter?!" Her companion saw her sudden distress. When she didn’t answer, he began to get scared. "Rei, what’s wrong?!?" Gasping for breath a bit, she answered as well as she could. "I – I don’t know," she stammered. "It’s – I don’t know – I have such a strong feeling –" "A feeling of what?" he demanded. "I –" Rei looked at Jadeite with a grim expression. "It’s Ami-chan. She’s in trouble." * * * * Usagi’s eyes went wide as terror hit her heart. "Usa-chan?!" Mamoru called worriedly. "Mamo-chan," Usagi said as she gripped his arm. "Ami-chan’s in trouble!" She turned to the rest of the ballroom to look for her other friends. She found Rei immediately, who wasn’t taking it well. She rushed over to her, finding that Makoto and Minako were doing the same. Upon reaching the table, the four girls looked at each other and knew what they had to do. * * * * They found her half on the bank and half in the waters, which looked to be more calm then they had been when they caused all of the trauma. Usagi reached her first and reached down to pull her all the way on shore. As she got a hold of her friend, she cried out, "Oh! She’s COLD!" Everyone else got to her and helped her pull the girl out, trying not to shiver as they did so. "Get an area cleared!" The Prince directed, upon which his four generals, who had come along, jumped up to obey. As soon as they had, Zoicite rushed to Ami’s side and never took his eyes off her. They laid her carefully on the space and the girls looked her over. "It should have been one of us!" Makoto cried. "Ami-chan would have known how to take care of this!" To this the other girls heartily agreed. "Then we’ll ask someone else who will know what to do," Mamoru offered. "Let’s get her back to the palace as quickly as we can!" * * * * Queen Serenity came shut the doors of Princess Mercury’s chambers behind her as she walked into the hallway. All the princesses, the Prince, and his generals crowded around her to hear her news. The Queen faced her anxious crowd with a gentle smile. "Ami will be just fine." A collective sigh of relief was heard. "My doctor will have her warmed up in no time. However, we don’t know how long she will remain unconscious." Hugs went all around and everyone exchanged expressions of joy and relief. Zoicite, however, remained upset. When Nephrite asked him what the matter was, he replied with distress. "It’s all my fault!" he cried, looking down. He had said it loud enough for everyone else to hear and his words brought the attention of all the girls. They crowded about him and questioned him as to how he could have caused their friend’s recent experience. "I upset her at the ball and she disappeared. She must have run straight out into that storm, and ended up in that river!" "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!?!?!??" Makoto demanded quite forcibly, shaking Zoicite by the shoulders. She didn’t know who she wanted to kill more, Zoicite for upsetting her, Nephrite for enlisting in his aid, or herself for trusting them both. Her anger, fueled by her recent anxiety, practically bounced off the walls with no purposeful target. Zoicite, quite scared of Ami’s distraught friend, stammered his reply, "I – I – I only danced with her!" Heaving a sigh, Makoto released her grip on him and turned away. "Unfortunately, that is probably enough to send that poor girl out into the storm." She paused and pondered this. "But that alone never has before…" Luckily for Zoicite, Makoto’s conclusion of this thought didn’t involve the endangerment of the general. * * * * Ami turned her head from the light of the sunny window as she woke. The soft familiar site of her bed’s blue canopy greeted her tired eyes. She smiled softly and began to sit up – -- and promptly laid back down again, as a striking pain shot through her head and down her body. "Oh…" she let out softly. Minako’s head jerked up at this quiet word. "Ami-chan!!!" she called ecstatically. Ami blinked at this and turned to the chair by her bed in which Minako was seated. "Mina-chan?" she said in confusion. "Oh, Ami-chan!!" Minako exclaimed with tears of joy and ran over to the bed to hold Ami’s hand. "We weren’t sure if you’d ever wake up!!" Ami’s eyes went wide. "Why?? What happened?" Minako’s grin faltered a bit. "Uh…. the river…..?" A look of understanding dawned on Ami’s face and she leaned back. "Oh, yes. Now I recall….." Minako was still hesitant. "Um… Speaking of you recalling…." Ami’s attention returned to her friend. "Yes?" "WHAT do you recall??" Minako requested with curiosity. "I mean, what happened?!?" "Oh…" Ami said. "Well…." "Oh, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to." Minako said reluctantly. "It must be terribly traumatic for you…" Ami sighed. "It’s all right. At least you can relate it so I won’t have to say it in front of everyone. And you, I’m sure, would tell it better and would like to better than I." Minako agreed, and Ami nodded. "Well, I…. Decided to leave the ball early, and headed for the library…" * * * * "…and her last thoughts were of us!!" Minako finished through misty eyes. A collective "Aw…." went through the three girls and Minako sighed dramatically. "Well, we have to go see her!" Makoto declared, but Minako shook her head. "No. She wants to have a little time alone to clear her mind before we all hover around her – and you know we will!" The others nodded. "When can we see her?" Zoicite asked anxiously. The girls turned toward the voice and remembered that he was there. "Uh … I’m not sure. She’ll probably find some way to tell us," Minako replied. Zoicite nodded and looked down worriedly as the other girls stared at him with wonder. * * * * Ami sat in her bed, thinking. She remembered her thoughts before the rain came. And then the rain that had washed all of her conviction behind those thoughts away. And then the amazing factors that had kept her alive through the entire onslaught. And the fact that she had come out of it with a bit of new understanding and a new confidence in herself. Maybe she was wrong about love… Maybe it was something more than keeping your loved ones out of all dangers, untouched by anything wrong or harmful. Maybe it involved a certain willingness to allow your loved ones to experience those things, to let them struggle through it themselves and use that experience to further their personal growth and become better. And if all that was so, maybe she should love herself a little bit more… * * * * The next morning, Makoto woke to a soft knock on her door. Groaning, she rolled out of bed and moaned groggily, "Just a moment!" She shuffled around her room a bit, putting on her robe and running a brush through her hair quickly. Sparing a fast glance at the mirror, she found herself to be presentable – or presentable enough for that time of the morning -- and opened the door. "Ami-chan!" she let out with surprise. Ami shushed her and glanced about the hallway to see if she had disturbed anyone. At Makoto’s motion, she entered the room. "Ami-chan, what are you doing up?! And so early in the morning!" Makoto demanded. "Mako-chan." Ami began quietly. "I need to talk to you." The tall girl sighed and protested, "At this hour?" Ami nodded softly, and Makoto nodded in relent. "Talk away, my sweet friend." "I need to know what you said to Nephrite about me." Makoto was jerked fully awake. She eyed her friend with a caught-red-handed look on her face. "You know about that?" At Ami’s sober nod, Makoto sighed. "Well, all I did was tell him how worried I was that you weren’t having any fun." Ami looked relieved. "And then he said that he had a friend who could help." The relief vanished. "Who?" she asked hesitantly. Makoto wouldn’t look at her. "Zoicite." Ami sighed and looked down. She had known it, it was the reality. Nothing could be done about it. It was what it was, no matter what the events might give false hope to. Makoto looked up at her friend with guilt all over her face. "Ami-chan, I’m so sorry! If I hadn’t said anything, this wouldn’t have happened! And it was even worse yet of me to let them do it! I thought – I thought that if you really experienced some of the things that scared you so … you might…." She let her voice trail off, overcome with remorse. Ami looked up sharply, her eyebrows drawn together. Makoto thought it was her fault?!? "Oh, no!!" Ami said quickly. "Don’t blame yourself at all!! No, Mako-chan, you were right." Makoto’s gaze left her slippers and she focused on Ami, her eyes showing her confusion. "You were right about me, Mako-chan! I needed to let myself experience those things sometimes, I needed to stop holding myself back! Mako-chan, I just realized it too late…" "Oh, Ami-chan!" The relief that filled Makoto was quickly replaced with sympathy, and she ran over to her friend and threw her arms around her. Ami gratefully hugged back, and they spent a few moments in each other’s hold, shedding tears of mixed joy and sadness. Sadness at the need to experience past events, joy at their ending. After a bit Makoto leaned back, holding Ami at arms length, and addressed her through watery eyes and a joyous smile. "Ami-chan, let me cook you something!" Ami nodded happily with similar features and ran behind her friend as Makoto dragged her, holding her hand, down to the kitchens.
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