Interlude: Su
"Do you think she'll be fine?" I asked.
Miki didn't immediately answer. We were flying at high speed through the park, zig-zagging between trees that I felt were planted far too closely together, and it was taking most of our attention to avoid ramming into something solid while still searching for Mom. When she eventually did, she spoke slowly, sounding uncharacteristically unsure of herself.
"Maybe? Well… hopefully, but you know…" She took a deep, shuddering breath. "I don't know what happened to her. To us. What we saw, that star, and… Amu was glowing, and that 'open heart' hit the demon with a lot more power than I've ever seen from it. Still…"
She paused for a second, as we negotiated a particularly tricky thicket. I managed to catch a glimpse of her face; she looked drawn, deeply worried about Ran and Amu. I definitely understood, but it hurt to see her like that. I wanted to reassure her.
"Don't worry," I blurted out. "Ran's strong, you know she is, and Amu's…" I hesitated. I remembered being Amu, right up until we'd split off, and every time we transformed with her the memories got a little clearer. I couldn't honestly say she was - that we were the sort of person to fight demons. It's not like we were the same person, exactly, but I knew everything about her… maybe like very close siblings, or twins?
Quadruplets, more like. Either way, I wouldn't be able to fool Miki.
"She'll rise to the occasion," I finally decided. "Amu doesn't always know what to do, but she always tries. For something like this… we'll just have to trust her. Not that she knows what she's doing, but that she'll pull through anyway. And you heard that voice. Even if Amu doesn't know what she's doing, someone else does."
Miki gave me an aggrieved look. "That "voice", as you put it, worries me almost as much as the demon. Amu's almost as caring as you, Su, but does the way we were running into a riot really strike you as normal? Would we have done that yesterday? No, don't answer that. Would Amu have done that yesterday?"
"Of co…"
I stopped. Would we have done that yesterday? The obvious, immediate answer was "yes", but if I asked myself whether Amu would have, I didn't get the same answer. She wouldn't have, she'd think it was too dangerous. She would have woken Mommy, we would have let her decide what to do, and we'd probably have left the park before calling for help. Miki would have done the same, if she'd had the chance to decide. So would Ran. I…
"No," I said, feeling even smaller than usual. "What does that mean?"
"It means we have some questions to ask." She sighed. "Let's just find Mom, we need to stop her from wandering into this."
"Sure, but how?" I muttered, not really wanting her to hear.
Asking her nicely to wait?
Except I was a fairy-like creature whom most people could neither see nor hear. I treasured the rare times I transformed with Amu, because for those few minutes I could feel like a real person. Most of the time I was still okay with that, but sometimes, like this… what would we do to stop Mom, trip her?
We flew in silence for a while, both of us concentrating on searching. She couldn't have gotten this close yet; I remembered running circles around her the one time we'd gone hiking… well, that was Amu's memory, from when we were eight, but there wasn't much of a difference. Still, we couldn't risk…
"Ah -" I braked to a stop, pointing. "Miki, stop! There she is!"
About a hundred meters away, give or take, and scrambling through the underbrush fast enough that as I was watching she fell to her knees twice. I winced; that couldn't be comfortable, though almost instantly she got back up to keep running. I took off at top speed, beelining straight for her, and Miki followed a moment later.
"What do we do?" I shouted back at her. "You've thought of something, right?"
"I don't know, would she even notice if we trip her? She's heading straight for the fight!" After nine or ten seconds, we'd already crossed well over half the distance between us. Miki shouted as loudly as she could, even though we both knew it wouldn't work. "Mom, stop!"
She stopped. Sharply, on the spot, and looking like she'd seen a ghost. We finally reached her, hovering in mid-air in front of her, and she -
Focused -
On each of us, in turn -
My heart was suddenly hammering hard enough to be heard in Osaka, for all that I didn't have one. She was looking at us. What… What was happening?
"Amu?" She gasped. "No. Who… what are you?"
She was talking to me…
"I'm Su. I'm Amu's guardian character," I said. "Her would-be self. I'm…" I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, and wiped them with both hands, but I couldn't stop my face from scrunching in on itself, or the corners of my mouth from twisting. "I'm one of her hopes for the future, but I… Can you really see me?" She nodded, still looking shell-shocked. "I… I missed you so much, Mom. I saw you every day, but I never…"
I saw her every day, but I could never touch her. Never talk to her, never tell her about my day or just relax with her, and I'd wanted to, so, so much. All of that was Amu's, and I was never jealous, but even as I watched Amu grow, every day became just a little harder than the last. I don't know when it started, but I didn't want to just be her dream! I wanted my own life!
I couldn't help myself anymore, and threw myself at Mommy's chest, burying my face in her sweater. "I missed you so much." I sniffled. "Please don't go away?"
I didn't notice when Miki joined me, even when she took my hand. I did notice, maybe ten seconds later, when Mommy slowly, hesitantly brought an arm up to embrace us, and we both started crying.
=======
It felt like an eternity, with my mind overwhelmed by emotions, but it was probably only a minute that she held us before getting to her feet. She didn't let us go, but…
"So, where's Amu?" She asked. "I'm guessing you two have an idea." There was a kind of quiet intensity in her voice.
We exchanged glances.
"Well, about that," Miki started. "She actually -"
"Sent us to make sure you wouldn't go after her," I hurriedly explained, not trusting Miki not to say she was fighting a demon. She glared at me for a second, until I took my hand off her mouth.
"I see. Why?"
Her speech was short, clipped. She was angry. She was definitely angry, though she hadn't decided who to be angry at yet. I caved, not wanting it to be me.
"Well, there was this sound of fighting, and she decided to go because she might be able to help someone, or she'd be able to with my help, but then there turned out to be this demon and it was killing people and something happened that let her fight it but then she asked us to go away to stop you from being hurt and I think to stop us from being hurt and -" I gasped, gulping for air. Miki groaned.
Mom was silent for a long time, thinking. I couldn't tell what, though her grip tightened slightly.
"…so what you're saying is, she's some kind of magical girl." I could hear the disbelief and horror in her voice. "With enemies who kill people? And she's kept this secret from me? And from her father? You said you were her dreams, what kind of dreams…" She trailed off.
"No!" I shouted desperately. "We're not… this is the first time anything like this has happened! I can heal people, with her help, but usually all we do is help children recover their dreams! This is the first time we've seen anything worse than a particularly bad case of nightmares!" Please don't reject me, Mom. "There was… there was something else, some other power she found when she saw what was happening."
"And she's using that to fight. A demon."
I nodded, shuddering.
She sighed. "This is a lot to take in. I can't just believe everything you say without talking to her, you know, but I feel like I should trust you. You sound a lot like Amu…"
Miki spoke up, sounding hopeful. "That's because… we are her, Mom. Or we were her, with slight changes. I'm better at drawing and writing than her, but worse at sports… though I prefer drawing…"
"Identical in every respect except personality and size," I half-sobbed, half-laughed. "Though I don't think Amu can fly."
Mom laughed shortly. "No, she can't, but I can see why she'd want to. All right. The fighting seems to be dying down, so let's go find her."
I shifted uncomfortably. It was getting quieter, but I didn't feel safe letting her get close yet - what if Amu had lost? It didn't sound like she'd take no for an answer, though.
"It might not be safe," Miki quietly said. "There's no guarantee she won, and even if she did, the situation is more complex than just a one-on-one fight. You should let me go see what's happening."
"On your own?" She asked. "If you're telling the truth, then -" She paused for a second, and continued in a serious voice. "That means I'm your mother just as much as Amu's. I wasn't expecting two new daughters, but you can't seriously think I'll let you go alone. I'm half-tempted to ask you to stay here."
She started walking while I was absorbing that statement. We didn't try stopping her again; really, it was probably fine. Amu was still there, moving slightly back and forth; if she hadn't won, she probably wouldn't be. Besides, Mom's declaration made me feel warm inside. There was something wrong with it, but…
Miki and I exchanged glances. "Ran?" She mouthed. I shook my head; we'd only have one shot at this, and it'd be funnier if she didn't know.
A/N: And that's it for today. :X)
Tomorrow, back to Amu.
