Susan's head was really starting to hurt. Patience was a virtue, and one she had always liked to think she'd been given in spades, so she had decided not to act upon her strange double vision regarding that nurse until she had a better idea of what was going on.
Only problem was it seemed like everywhere she turned she saw something that wasn't right. One of the police officers she saw on her way out of the hospital was a bugbear of all things. A next door neighbor Susan had known all her life turned out to be a dwarf - as in straight out of Tolkin's Hobbit and not a small human.
The worst thing of all this was she couldn't even go to the other senshi about it. Heather and Crystal might listen. The others however were different stories.
She'd called in sick to her boss this morning, trying very hard not to hear the almost reptilian hiss in his voice, and was now sitting in her darkened bedroom struggling to avoid having a nervous breakdown.
Crystal practically skipped as she made her way down the street. She could understand a lot about why the others were unhappy about their current situation. Most of them were older now and gainfully employed, which was a drastic change from the teenage years that had just recently been added to their memories. Some, like Mary and Ranma, had lost family, but most gained; Mamoru's-er, Mark's parents were still alive as were Mak-um, Michelle's, and Heather had parents and siblings. Even Susan had family now.
Yesterday before they left the hospital, they had decided to get together again today. All of them needed to recover from the change of not being senshi anymore (or a top notch, physics-defying martial artist, in Ranma's case), and the only ones who understood the problem were the others in their select group.
Crystal slowed as she approached her destination. Susan hadn't been told about yesterday; Bunny (Crystal couldn't help but smirk at Chibi-Usa's new name), and Harley both were still very resentful toward the former senshi of Pluto, but she was still part of the group. And Crystal wasn't about to let anyone push her away from them, not even Susan herself, especially not when they needed each other most.
Though Bunny and Harley had both had drastic changes happen to them, Crystal suspected those changes were nothing on Setsuna's change to Susan. How did one handle going from a nearly immortal ageless beauty with the ability to travel through time as easily as most people walked through a doorway to a normal human woman with normal senses? Judging from Rei / Rachelle's reaction to loosing her occasional precognitive abilities, Susan must be feeling like she'd been suddenly struck blind and paraplegic. Of all of them, Susan needed the others most, and that in and of itself would be a huge change for the woman who always seemed to operate alone before.
Crystal stopped and knocked on the door to Susan's flat, fully prepared to drag the woman to their meeting kicking and screaming if she had to.
It was a few minutes before the door opened. A chain to keep the door locked was still in place, ensuring that the solid door couldn't be opened all the way. Susan peeked out from the other side, just one eye visible in the darkness of the room beyond and it was bloodshot enough it almost made her newly brown eye seem as crimson as it had been before.
Crystal's heart went out to the woman, even as she realized Susan was taking everything harder than she'd thought. "Susan? Are you okay?"
"Usagi? No... Crystal, isn't it?"
Crystal nodded. "Yes, it's me. Can I come in?"
Susan shook her head. "I don't think that would be a good idea."
Now Crystal was really worried. "Please, Setsuna. I'm just trying to help. The rest of us are meeting at the Denny's, the one by the mall. I want to invite you there too. You're still one of us."
"The others don't seem to think so," came the morose response.
"Yeah, but you won't change their minds by sitting around here all day," Crystal countered. "Come on. It won't be the same without you."
"Crystal, I am not going just so I can be glared at. I failed. I failed you, I failed Little Lady, I failed everyone. Just leave me be." Susan shut the door quickly to avoid the argument.
Crystal snorted. 'Oh, yeah. A locked door is so going to stop me. I don't think so, Setsuna.' She immediately sought out Susan's neighbor, already trying to figure out how to get him to open Susan's door.
Susan had just returned to her darkened bedroom when something large slammed into her door. She jumped in surprise and shook and was just about to recover when it happened again. She turned back toward her door, terrified out of her mind. What in the heck was that?
The third time, the door popped open, the chain and lock being ripped from the frame. The light spilling in from outside highlighted the stocky figure of her dwarven neighbor, Thatcher Stout. "Ah, Susan lass. Are ya' alright?"
"Mr. Stout? Wha-?"
"Oh, good." Susan frowned as Crystal stepped in from behind the dwarf.
"You're okay!" Crystal continued and then turned to her helper. "Thanks, Mr. Stout. I was really worried about Susan." She turned back to Susan. "Come on, Susan, we're late enough as it is."
"Late?" Susan echoed, still shocked by what happened. It didn't really register to her yet.
Crystal rolled her eyes. "You remember, Susan. Our counseling session for attempted suicide. Come on, grab your purse, and let's go."
"Aye," Stout echoed, "You get goin' Susan-dear. I'll get yer door fixed while you're gone."
Still stunned, Susan obeyed, and left with Crystal. She didn't remember any suicide attempts, not as Setsuna and certainly not as Susan. And the thought that Usagi would have tried taking her life was just wrong on the face of it; Usagi was never one to get to the utter hopelessness that would lead to taking her own life.
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Brian Drozd
(Posted Fri, 23 Jan 2004 03:47)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.