View source for 1156/The Point of No Return

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2016/03/07
|Location=Japan
|Synopsis=Takashi and Ami have a talk before the invasion of D-point begins.
|Cast of Characters=54,47
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Ami Mizuno never really thought of herself as a leader, before this evening. If you asked her, she still wouldn't call herself that; she's just a Sailor Senshi who has a Plan. Nothing more.<br /><br />But honestly, she's spent the last hour sending so many messages, uploads to bulletin boards, and communications both verbal and textual to inform her friends and allies of the plan to take on Metallia at the North Pole.<br /><br />It's not a terribly complicated plan, but it does involve 'how to get there', and 'what to expect' and 'win conditions' and an explanation of what 'losing' means, along with a rough psychological profile of Queens Beryl and Metallia.<br /><br />More than six months of being a Senshi, combined with all the information she has been able to glean out of the Eternity MAIN system, combine to make Sailor Mercury one of the most knowledgeable figures on the planet on just what Beryl and Metallia are, and how to defeat them.<br /><br />And Tokyo's many magical defenders, both Virtuous and otherwise, may live or die by the completeness and accuracy of her information. <br /><br />No Pressure, Ami.<br /><br />Mercury's instructions involved everyone coordinating meeting at Mount Takao approximately four hours after Kunzite's defeat. That leaves her three more hours to go, but she hasn't stopped messaging the whole time; hasn't even stopped staring at the screen. She ''did'' manage to teleport herself up to Mount Takao, where she's presently sitting on a hilloc with a commanding view of Tokyo by night.<br /><br />But the need for her messages is slowly wearing thin, and Sailor Mercury finally lets out a sigh of worry. She's three hours ahead of schedule, which means no one's really ''here'', yet. The perfect time for the bluenette to have a little bit of alone time to wonder whether she's made the right decisions over the past six months.<br /><br />Reaching up, Mercury rubs the back of her neck as she stares out over the city. "So much risk," she mumbles to herself quietly. "But there really wasn't any other way to do this."

:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Alone time isn't something that Ami's getting apparently, because there's a familiar presence that walks up beside her. Takashi Agera - in his Frost Knight Iceni henshin - gets there just after, playing around with the process of juggling two different phones - his civilan phone where he recieved some of that information from Ami, and his Eclipse phone, where Riventon put into place various disaster protocols at UMBRA, and even scheduled a few little adventures for the Retrivers - can't let a good Apocalypse go to waste.<br /><br />He leans over a little bit. "Well, the alternative is a lot more risky." he says, and depending on how aware she is, that might be the first notification of his intrusion she gets. He starts to walk around, tapping his halberd against his lightly armored boots occasionally like there's ice to shake free of one or the other. He seems in much better shape than he did earlier.<br /><br />"You know, you've done better than anyone could expect of anyone in this position, I think. A lot more people would be lost without you. Sometimes you can't measure against some sort of perfection, as strange as that is to say. You have to measure against... what would it be like without this thing, versus how is it now? Your contribution has been pretty big, I'm sure of that." he says, before flipping the halberd and resting the unbladed end in the grass of the hill and leaning on it while looking at her with those green eyes.

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Sailor Mercury turns to look up at Frost Knight. From her vantage point on the ground, facing away from him, this involves a lot of twisting and turning to peer up at the much taller boy. She listens, then shrugs noncomittally as she turns her head back to looking out over Tokyo. "I know that," she says to him honestly. "But that doesn't stop me wondering if I could have done better," she explains.<br /><br />"A lot of people got hurt today, Takashi-kun," she reminds him quietly; secure enough in her sensors to know that they're alone, and she can use his name safely. "If I'd spoken against the plan to get to Kunzite a little louder, maybe we could have prevented it. If I'd convinced Sailor Moon to go straight to the North Pole, we could have drawn him back. Or maybe if I'd been watching the weather reports instead of buried in ancient pre-history, I could have contained it before he was able to use it to kill. Things I could have done better. Those people are dead because I failed them."

:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Takashi leans down. "Ami..." he says quietly, chucking any honorifics out the window. And he walks over much closer and leans down a bit. "I know that. And maybe the you that knows all of this now... would've been able to protect everyone utterly. Or... maybe still not. Maybe she'd only have protected a few more people from getting hurt. But you couldn't be that person in that moment. For months now - as long as I've known you - you've been working on these grand problems."<br /><br />"And they're not going to give you infinite time. That's the thing you're missing here, I think. You only get one shot, you only get one moment. You have to make a decision, in the moment. On the whole? I think your decisions have been quite good. I don't even think I could've done any better." he says, honestly. While there might be pride and hubris in his words, he's not meaning it that way - it's just part of who he is - and it doesn't come out in his tone.<br /><br />"Thousands, millions even, of people were saved. The city was protected from destruction. The world was. You took the information you had, made the best judgements, and you did everything you could. It's not right to saddle yourself with the entire, unique role of stopping every bad thing in the context of what is really a war of phenomenal scale. You have no idea what would've happened if you'd done things differently. Maybe it would've been better... maybe not. Maybe worse. We don't know. But I do know what happened this way. I know what I saw. I saw your plan and your power saving a city from destruction. I saw you and your friends and your allies stop a world-ending threat. Don't undersell that."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"I'm not underselling it," Ami protests, a little pout in her tone. "I'm just not going to let myself sit on my laurels while people are down there recovering from a tsunami, a power outage ..." she trails off and sighs. "I get it," she says. "I played the chess board well. And it's impossible to win a game of chess and not sacrifice at least one piece. But ... I only get better at chess by analyzing the games I've won and lost to see what I could have done better. The same applies."

:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"That's fine." Takashi says, finally slipping from his spot to sit down next to her. "We don't improve by not looking at our mistakes, of course. But you just have to also recognize that the person you are now is not the person you were before this happened. You have new knowledge, new experiences. And it's fair to expect better from yourself NOW. But not from yourself THEN." he says with a smile. "And I know you will. But there's a difference between looking at your past and learning from it... and looking at it in regret. Your tone sounded closer to regret. That's not constructive." he says, quietly.<br /><br />"You're really not sitting on your laurels. You're about to go fight a... sun demon, you called it. That's pretty much the complete opposite of that."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Ami sighs and reaches up to rub at the back of her neck. "I'm just tired," she admits quietly. "I didn't sleep well last night, and I still haven't fully purged all of these spores. I used a lot of energy holding back the tidal wave before Jupiter came along, and then Sailor Planet Attack ...<br /><br />"And it's not over," Mercury says softly. "Not even close. I don't know if I'm going to have the energy to see this through to the end. But I have to, so I'll find it somewhere."

:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Takashi smirks a bit and looks over at Ami. "Well, if you don't have enough energy, you can always borrow some of mine again." he says, looking over at her. "Metaphorically or literally, as need be." His hand comes up like it's about to settle on her shoulder, but instead it finds the spot back in his lap, for now. "Obviously, I'm coming with you." he says. "Not an ideal second date, and a little crowded with others, but hey."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Referring to the trip to the North Pole as a 'date' draws a small chuckle from Ami; gallows humour, perhaps, but she accepts it nonetheless. "I dunno, it sounds about right, for us," she notes softly. "Pizza and subspace, followed by world-ending Sun Demon fights?"

:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Takashi shrugs a bit. "Hey, if this is how it's gotta be." he says with a laugh afterwords, and a bit of a side-eyed look at her, with the now all-too-common smirk on his face. "But I do have a really important, serious question."<br /><br />There's a pause, and he continues. "Am I gonna have to get between you and some sort of surge of strange killer energy every time I want to kiss you, or is there some sort of less painful shortcut I can take?"

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Ami looks to Takashi curiously at his promise of a serious question, fully prepared for it to be exactly that. The one he does ask, though, doesn't draw a feverish blush and a run for cover. Just a faint smirk, a little bit of pink cheeks, and a duck of her head. She looks away, back towards Tokyo again. No words are offered in reply, but maybe he'll find answer in the sudden touch of her hand atop his, seeking some sort of physical connection even though she doesn't do anything else to lessen the gap between them.

:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>One of her hands atop his, and his other hand moves to rest atop hers, squeezing it softly. Takashi, for the moment, accepts her non-answer to the kiss question. He just makes an approving noise, for the time being. He, however, is not looking out at Tokyo, but at the girl next to him. "There are things worth protecting." he says, quietly. Mostly to himself, but she can hear it. It's a moment, for him, a kind of strange epiphany made on the side of this hill. A connection he couldn't make before, perhaps.<br /><br />"Even for me." he continues, looking out at Tokyo finally. Looking at the warehouse district where UMBRAs lab is stuffed. And perhaps in the largest indictment of his last relationship, there isn't any desire to be anywhere than here. For a moment, he wants to believe that she's right, that this is the first step to stopping all of the horrible things he's seen and witnessed in the Dusk Zone.<br /><br />He can't find that within himself, no matter how hard he looks. But he can find the fact that the 'sun demon' is a theat that needs to be stopped, and he can help her stop it just as well as he can do anything else. "I'll be with you." he says again.

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"It's all worth protecting," Ami counters quietly as she studies the world. "Even in the darkest heart, there's still light. There's still a chance for salvation." She sighs, then shakes her head. "Sorry, I'm getting heavy with all of this. I'm really glad you're here," she notes. "And not just because I'll probably need to steal your energy to carry on, at some point. But ... just in general. I thought I wanted to be alone, but I think that's just because it's what I got used to over the years. I wish Jupiter and Mars were here. But they're probably down with Mamoru and the Shitennou ... enjoying these few hours before we're probably going to all die, again. I can't blame them. But I don't think I really wanted to be alone, up here."

:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Takashi looks over at Ami. "You know, I used to think I wanted to be alone too. I spent a lot of time alone. Foster families, all that jazz." he says, waving a hand casually. "Learned to handle myself well. But..." he looks over at her. "I think what I really needed was someone like me. A kindred spirit, I guess. You're not exactly like me - nobody is - or you'd have reacted better to my energy." he adds with a little laugh.<br /><br />"But you think like I do, in a lot of ways. You're brilliant, like I am. And you're beautiful which doesn't hurt at all."<br /><br />"So... you don't ever have to be alone. Not as long as you don't mind being not-alone with me." he says, squeezing her hand a little bit. "I don't think you're going to die again, either. They already tried twice and I stopped em both times. I'll keep stopping them." he adds with a self assured grin.

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"They've also succeeded, once," Ami notes quietly to Takashi. "I know you're going to say you weren't there to stop them, and maybe you're right: maybe that ''will'' make all the difference. But this isn't the first time I've lived this story, Takashi. I'm just fairly certain it's the last time I'm going to get to."

:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Takashi shrugs. "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't." Takashi says. "But as long as you're doing your absolute best, it's nothing to be worried about. I'm sure with our combined intelligence, and the strength your friends showed tonight - if anybody can win, it'll be the group you've assembled." He smiles. "Have at least half as much faith in yourself as I do."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"I don't have faith, Frost Knight," Sailor Mercury says, suddenly very mock-formal. "I have mathematics. Last time we faced this battle, the odds were two hundred seventy two trillion to one. This time ... they're considerably better. But it's still a long shot. She's so much more powerful than I've let anyone know. I don't want to dishearten them, but I compared a reading from the Crystal to the power readings I took from Metallia ''last'' time we faced her. Back then. When I was a different me."<br /><br />"And it is really weird saying those words," Ami notes with a sigh. "I don't think I'm ever going to get used to being the reincarnated Guardian of Mercury. Anyways," she says softly, "if I understand my old notes correctly, well ... the Crystal's very powerful. But so is Metallia. This isn't going to be a sure win."

:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"No, I mean I want you to have faith in your calculations and your knowledge. Not some sort of nebulous feel-good thing. Have understanding, maybe. Know that you're doing the best you can. You are, after all, right?" Takashi says, scooting closer suddenly. "As long as that's true, you're giving everyone the best chance to succeed."<br /><br />Takashi looks at her. "There's a lot of evil out there. This is a huge chunk of it though. The world is going to be a lot safer once we put it down. I'm sure we will, too."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>It is, perhaps, very noticeable that Ami ''doesn't'' try to scoot away when Takashi comes closer. In fact, she closes the gap further, and leans against Takashi until her head is resting lightly on his shoulder. It's almost too natural, the way her hand slides up his arm from his hand. With her other she crosses her body until she's very gently hugging his bicep. <br /><br />"I hope I've done all that I can," she tells him softly. "I hope I haven't missed anything. Kunzite's dead," she reminds him quietly. "And I only ever reached an eighty-five percent certainty on this plan. What if he doesn't come back?" she asks softly. "What if I was wrong? In less than three hours, I'm going to lead a whole lot of people north to take on a demon whose power literally rivals the sun itself. I don't ..." Ami trails off, and then buries her eyes agains this shoulder. "How can I be confident in my calculations when the stakes are so high?"

:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>He lets her stay there, lets the bluenette move at her own pace to get up next to him, and has the decency to not make a lot of comments on it. "Kunzite has to die for your plan to work. Eighty-five percent is a lot better than the zero percent chance he had before you got involved, you know." he reminds her. "Look, if the fifteen-percent happens... then he's as dead as he was gonna be if I got ahold of him without knowing you." he says with a smile. "You certainly haven't made anything worse. But you have an eighty-five percent chance to make things better. Take that and run with it."<br /><br />"We live in a word of probability. Nothing is ever certain. Strange things work, planned things don't. It's the way the world works. If that's all the chance you can get, you take that chance and run with it." he says, leaning his head on hers for a moment.<br /><br />"You should be as confident in your calculations now as you ever are. The underlying math is as true when the stakes are one injury as a billion lives, Ami." he says.<br /><br />"You're worried about the risk, and that's fair. But not one little bit of the math, of the science, has changed." he says, calmly. "But if you can't show confidence in your work, nobody else around you will be. And that's when things /stop/ going according to plans. That's why it pays to be confident. Because if people around you worry, and they stop going according to plan, then all hell breaks loose and the plan isn't worth squat and now you're at a much lower chance of success."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The reply Iceni receives isn't so much agreement as silence. But maybe that's a good thing, given thus far her reply to his attempts at boosting her confidence has been ''argument''. This time, she's clearly thinking, dwelling on his words carefully.<br /><br />It's not too long before Sailor Mercury rewards the speech with an actual indicator that it was spot on the mark: a subtle squeeze of his bicep, and a slight relaxation of the tense muscles in her body. Ami rocks just a little, left to right, as she leans against him. But now, rather than looking down on the city, she looks up to the heavens, and the slim crescent moon that hangs in the sky. <br /><br />"So many stars," Mercury whispers softly, after a few more moments of silence. "So many worlds. So many possibilities. Tonight's a good night for this," she says softly.

:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Takashi smiles, and relases a big breath. He feels like on some level he's finally gotten through to her. "Look, Ami." he says, though he doesn't point at anything for her to look at, and finally he finishes his comment. "This a really awful time to be talking about it all, with the whole sun demon apocalypse thing coming." he admits. "But I feel like to a certain extent sometimes we're both at our best working on a big problem, or getting ready to deal with one."<br /><br />"Plus, I don't intend for you to die, but there's still the chance I might, and I'm not sure you can bring me back to life, like you are the other white-haired shadowdude. Less time researching me." he says, with a soft laugh. "So I just want to say that right now, with you here - impending apocalypse be damned - I'm as happy as I can ever remember being. And given all of the other circumstances, that has to be because you're here with me." he says, leaning back and looking at that same sky. "I hope that doesn't seem insensitive." he adds after a moment. "I mean, I'm worried too - I'm no fool. It just matters less right now."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"There is a tiny part of me," Ami replies quietly, "that wishes I was just a fourteen year old girl working her way through her second year of middle school. It's a very small part of me," Ami admits to him, "but it's there, begging me to want to be a doctor or a teacher or a statistician."<br /><br />"The rest of me," Ami replies, "is very glad that I am Sailor Mercury. That I met Sailor Moon, Jupiter, Mars, and even Venus. That I am given the chance to save the world from minor evils and great. That I can save those evils from greater evils still, and help them become Good again. And," she admits softly, "that through all of this, I became close to you. Tonight could be our last night on Earth," she explains. "And although I wish I was with the other Senshi ... well, other than ''them'' there's no one else I'd rather be with, right now, than you. And even with them, I'd want you there. Oh, peanuts, I'm terrible at words."

:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Takashi shrugs a little bit - which is a motion he probably shouldn't be doing so much with the much smaller girl attached to him. "I guess I envy you, though. You got to know what it's like to be normal - I never did. But I usually explain that away by deciding it must be terribly boring. You know - those grapes must be sour anyways." he says with a smirk.<br /><br />"I think I understand anyways." he says, after she trips over her words a bit. "I'm glad you managed to get close to me, all things considered. There are a lot of people in your position who wouldn't risk it, not after what I showed you." he admits. "I'm glad I took the risk, though." And yet there are still so many greater secrets left, and there is too much risk attached to those for Takashi's liking. So he leaves that subject.<br /><br />"I'm sure you'd make a great doctor, statistican, scientist... you know, if anyone could juggle it with this whole magical business, it would be you..." and then, surprisingly, as an afterthought "or me."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Maybe someday," Ami replies thoughtfully of her future as a doctorstatiscientist. "For now, I'm just dealing with finals and the end of the world. You know, manageable problems." She grins a little. <br /><br />"I'm not sure I got normal, either," she explains. "I guess maybe when I was six, before my parents divorced. After that I mostly wound up raising myself. I mean, I love my mom and I know she loves me, but she's so busy all the time. I don't see her much. I haven't seen my father since then, although he still sends me a postcard every year for my birthday."<br /><br />Here, though, she pauses, then sighs. "I'm sorry, I'm being insensitive. Your family history is much worse than mine. I didn't mean to compare them as if I could understand what it's like to grow up in that environment. But ... the things I learned about you aren't that big of a risk. Everyone else I know is dating a guy who was filled with Dark Energy for a while. I don't see why I should have to avoid it when I'm the one who figured out how to cure most of them."

:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"It's okay. My hardships don't invalidate yours." Takashi reassures her. "I'm sure you had your own difficulties. I'm just saying you weren't involved with all of this magical stuff, as far as I know." he says, nodding a bit. "Still, maybe that's why we connect so much. My father's alive, too." he admits, quietly. "Just... not as much a part of my life."<br /><br />"But I don't really like talking about him." he says, and changes the subject. "Well, I never said you had to avoid me because of my energy! Just that I've gotten some problems on account of it before." he says, and then pauses. The things she doesn't know - those are the risks. But there's one thing he can say. "Dark energy or not, I wouldn't hurt you ever." he says, quietly. He hopes that's a promise he can keep, though - remembering the rampage he went on after losing Ayana.<br /><br />Then, after a pause. "...do you like white chocolate?"

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"I like green tea chocolate," Ami replies, and then gently tells him, "Yes you would hurt me." Oddly, she doesn't pull away from the hug she's giving his arm. "Just never intentionally," she amends for him. "And when it happens, I'll forgive you. Just don't expect me not to kick your butt in return and cleanse you of that nonsense." She nods her head.

:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Takashi shifts uncomfortably for a moment. "I think you underestimate me." he says, quietly. But it's more like he hopes that she does. The thought of hurting her, even accidentally, sits sour in his stomach.<br /><br />"We should really do this again sometime. You know. Without the impending apocalypse. Like... maybe sometime next weekend. After we go out and make sure that next weekend is a thing that's going to happen. Just come out to the stars at night and talk."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Ami sniffs amusedly at him. Gently, she punches his arm--not hard, just enough to show that she's onto his attempted sneakery! "It's a deal," she tells him. "If we're still alive, and there's still an earth and stars to come out to, we'll come out here next weekend. Same place. Only I mihgt bring a blanket because I'm pretty sure out of henshin I'd be pretty cold tonight."

:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Takashi laughs and comments. "Oh, you drive a hard bargain. Not only do I have to make sure we save the earth, but the stars too." he says, amusingly. "Yeah, it might be chilly. Not exactly midsummer yet." he says, quietly.<br /><br />Then, after a moment, he adds. "So does that mean I ought to bring my own blanket, or are you inviting me to snuggle with you under yours?" he asks, a wry grin on his face now.

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Ami blushes and finally lets him go, though she doesn't stop leaning on him. "Maybe!" she replies haughtily. "We'll see what you manage to earn! There's a whole lot of Earth and Stars to save between now and then, buster!" Then she grins and puts her head back on his shoulder. A soft sigh escapes, then she mumbles, "Thanks for coming up here to keep me company until the others arrive."

:'''{{#var:47|Takashi Agera| (47)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>He sneaks his recently-freed arm around her and gives her a squeeze now that she's relinquished it. "You should be careful about that sort of thing with me. I'm a big fan of challenges." he says with a laugh. "Psh, I was glad to keep you company. I was half worried you'd have pushed me off the hill by now..." he admits, holding her as much as she'll let him, which might last up until right before everyone else shows up.
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