Los Angeles
The
rosary wasn’t hers. She had never owned one and was now wishing she had.
This one was gold and it caught the faint light that came through the confession
box. The tiny cross on the end revolved on the chain forward, then backward,
then forward again. The chain was wrapped tightly around Amy’s right fist
as she knelt in the darkness-- her hands clasped before her bowed head.
She was breathing rather heavily, as she was nervous. It had been a long, long time. Finally, she summoned the courage to speak.
“Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.” the words came out in a ragged succession empasized by her accent.
“How many days has it been since your last confession?”
“I do not know.” Amy said, ashamed, “I can not remember.”
“What is that which you would confess?”
“I have done many terrible things, father.” the blue-haired girl admitted, “I have killed and I have stolen and, oh, father I know not what to do. I have put aside the very needs and cares of my friends for my own survival. I have taken the Lord’s name in vain and curse him with my mouth and my actions. I am now sexually impure father, and I believe I may be pregnant.”
“Was it by choice?”
“No, father, it wasn’t.” and Amy began to cry again, “I was forced and may carry the criminal’s child now. Father, I am not strong enough to bring a child into this devistated world. I can’t take care of a baby, not by myself. I’m too young. It’s work enough for me to survive, let alone take care of an infant.”
“Child, your sexual impurity was no sin of yours.”
“But the skirt I wore was...suggestive and...”
“That does not make it your fault.” Rawling cut her off softly. “It was once said ‘it does not matter whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.’ This is a test, not a curse.”
“But how do I deal with it?”
“As with all things, according to your gifts and talents.”
Amy mulled over this for a moment. She could not deny his logic or his advice. And he did not earn his doctorate in theology by sneezing in his textbooks.
Rawling noted her quiet and spoke up. “Consider this: we are always were we are supposed to be. Everything that happens is supposed to happen. You must have faith that God has a purpose for you.”
Amy though back for a moment. His words reminded her of something. Darien had spoken on this same subject back in...God, it had been February. When Lita had though the disaster was to lead to the rise of Neo-Queen Serenity. The facts hadn’t fit. It made sense!
“The other sins, however, are yours.” Rawling admonished softly. His tone changed once again. “Amy I’ve known you since you were born here. I know how strong you can be and how stubborn. This is a tough time for all of us. You have to do what you must.”
“Perhaps the one that disturbs me most is what I’ve been keeping from my mum.” Amy recounted the story of how she’d lied about the last few months to her mother.
“Well, you can solve that easily. Tell her.”
“I’m not sure I can.” Amy said, “Which is more important? A vow to keep this secret or tell her about it.”
“Amy, no one should keep anything from her parents. No matter how much she believes it important to do so and no matter how much trouble she will get into.”
“Then I will tell her.”
“God bless you, child. And good luck.”
“Thank you, father.” Amy quickly exited the confessions box and gathered Serena, who was waiting outside the small Chapel. “Come on. I need to talk to my mum.”
“Here they are.” she produced them. Diane took them and began to look them over.
“Oh, my God.” she said after reading the pregnancy test results. She flipped to the blood test and her eyes went wide. Then a more emphatic “oh, my God.”
“Amy, I want to tell you first that I’ll always love you.” Dr. Anderson said, “And if you need anything, just let me know, okay?”
“Okay.” Amy agreed.
“The test results were positive for HCG, or human chorionic gondadotropin, in your urine.” the woman smiled wryly, “Under any other circumstances I would be saying congratulations.”
Amy hung her head and sighed raggedly. “Alright. Anything else?”
“Unfortunately,” Amy’s mother was reluctant to say. “Yes. There were some... abnormal antibodies in your blood and an abnormally high number of t-cells. A stained electron micrograph showed strange budding on your white cells.”
“What does that mean?”
“You’re HIV posative.” she answered after a moment. Seeing the look in her daughter’s eyes, she began a panicked attempt to comfort her. “Now, the test results may be wrong. It happens all the time. We’ll know better after long-term tests. The budding on the t-cells could just have been caused by the electromagnetic dye.”
“Mom, I...” Amy began breathing hard.
“What do you mean?” Serena asked from the corner, “HIV? does that mean she has AIDS?”
“Oh, God..!”
“No, they’re not the same thing.” Diane corrected, drawing her sobbing daughter close. “She’s HIV posative but that doesn’t mean it will develope into full-blown AIDS.” She returned her attention to her child. “Amy, sweetheart, listen. If you stay here we can treat you. Dr. Albert had an experimental treatment come across his desk in February. It might be possible to prevent the virus from chemically attaching to your leukocytes so that the particles can be phagocytized. You could be rid of it in just a few months, but you have to stay here.”
“No!” Amy protested, “I can’t. I can’t stay here.”
“What? Why not?” Diane’s mouth dropped open, “Amy, I’m your mother and I’m a doctor. I can help you.”
“I can’t stay. I have a very important job to do.”
“What can you do? Save the world?”
“Yes.” the look in Amy’s midnight eyes told Diane that her daughter was serious. Amy blew at her bangs before starting, “Mom, I’ve been hiding something from you for a long time. It’s something I need to tell you now. The reason that I can’t stay is that I’m sworn to defend this planet at all costs. I am Sailor Mercury.”
“Sailor Mercury?”
“Yes.” Amy reached into her pocket, “Here. See this.” and she showed her mother the blue stick with the gold star. “It’s my star wand. I use it to transform.”
“Did you know?” Dr. Anderson asked Serena, who seemed just as surprised.
“Oh, uh, yeah.” the blond responded as she pulled out her locket, “Matter of fact, I’m Sailor Moon.” The look on the doctor’s face almost made Serena smile as she gawked at the Imperium Silver Crystal.
“Look, mum,” Amy contiued, “We can solve this. This whole situation is a fluke. If we fix it, my having HIV won’t matter.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“It’s complicated, but you must trust me.” the diminuative genious said.
“Okay.” Diane Anderson agreed after a heavy silence. “I trust you.”
“But master, your weapon...” the evil pile of puzzle pieces mentioned the wand-like device that amplified the Pluto Star Crystal’s power.
“The Star Crystal is not very effective or wieldy at close range.” Flute shook his head and jabbed. “I must master this one as well.” He rotated 270 degrees on the ball of his foot, spinning the staff as he did so. “I hear my army has almost completed the training.”
“Yes, sir. And the scouters have found an appropriate place to serve as your fortress.”
Flute acknoledged this and continued with his excercise. After a moment, he realized that the Jigsaw Man hadn’t moved. “Is there more?”
“There is still a hospital operating in the Sailor Scouts’ home city. I was wondering if it should be destroyed.”
“No.” Flute shook his head, “Our new slaves will need a place were they can be healed.”
“I understand, master.” creature bowed his head and turned to go. Flute continued his excercise, impatient to begin his invasion.
She watched now as a 757 painted in unfinished Continenntal livery landed and taxied to a parking space, making way for what would have been a JAL 747-400. Engines whining, the giant jet with the red crane painted on it lifted skyward.
“How often are these flights made?” the raven-haired teenager couldn’t help but ask.
“We make a series of a hundred flights twice a week.” Minoru Hino replied.
“Why haven’t you sent any to LA?”
“Los Angeles is a dead city, Reiko-chan.” Minoru shook his head, “The last flight we sent there never returned.”
“That doesn’t mean...” Reiko began to protest, but she stopped before finishing. “So what do you do here?”
“I am the administator of this whole process. I assign planes to flights and then greet the new arrivals.”
“Oh.” Rei watched as he approached the boarding ramp to the 757 and began shaking hands as bewildered and relieved passengers came off. He then directed them to one of the hangers.
As she watched, that feeling came back again that there was something wrong with her friends. Something very bad had happened, especially to Amy, she could feel it. The girl in the dream the past few nights must have been her. What was that strange light growing slowly brighter in her belly? Rei wanted to go back home and find out.
The noisy scream of a 737, half painted in United colors, called her attention and she watched the jet take off to find more survivors.