2301/He Didn't Do Anything

He Didn't Do Anything
Date of Scene:	06 February 2025
Location:	Mamoru's Apartment
Synopsis:	Following 2281/Murder, She Wrote and all the other aftermath, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask wake up their alternate future daughter at one in the morning to give her distressing news and also cuddle her a lot.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Chibiusa Tsukino, Usagi Tsukino
Tinyplot:	Black Moon Clan
Tinyplot2:	BMC: Rabbit Hunt

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Mamoru Chiba has posed:
After getting out of the hospital, it was a one in the morning bus ride to the school. At school, it was quietly bundling Chibiusa up in blankets with kisses, some whispered words to Naru, a couple of very tired henshins, and then out the windows.

The Black Moon probably knows Koan is dead by now, so the crisp cold night air is holding its breath, and the city is startlingly quiet below them. They silently -- but for the tap tap of running feet, and their fogging breath in trails behind them -- make their way across the rooftops, across the ward again, back to Azabu-Juban.

At the hospital, Mamoru let Kazuo know they were planning to bring Chibiusa to the apartment, so he could set up to man battlestations on heightened alert. Now? Now they just aim for the balcony outside Mamoru's room and the walkthrough closet, the room with the ballpit and Chibiusa's little bed.

When they get in, there are already snacks out, and there are drinks, and Mamoru ignores them all to shrug gingerly out of his henshin, leaving the sling on but tossing his jacket on his desk chair and stepping out of his shoes.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Chibiusa was fast asleep when they came to the dorm, and while she may have mumbled one or two incomprehensible things to the couple when they arrived to take her away, it would be a huge stretch to say that she was anything resembling awake. Luna-P, ever devoted, became a hairpin of its own accord and attached itself to Small Lady, not wanting to let the girl go too far out of its sight.

    It was only during the trip to the apartment, in the arms of Sailor Moon, that Chibiusa was really cognizant of what was going on around her. The chill of the crisp air rushing past her meant that she clung to Usagi a little more tightly. Small bodies get cold more quickly.

    Even though she's awake and aware, she doesn't say a word, though the general mood and timing of the scene fills her with a quiet concern. Did something happen? Do they have to flee again?

    As they get inside the apartment, Chibiusa yawns, then looks at Usagi and then Mamoru. She finally notices the sling and she gets a sinking feeling in her gut.

    Sure enough, something happened.

    She doesn't pay attention to the snacks. She's aware that they are there, they are probably tasty, and she'd probably be allowed to have one; it's just that mom and dad don't act this way unless something serious is happening. So now she's worried.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's been a long night, and likely to be even longer. Getting onto campus stings, a reminder of the taint lingering in her heart, but Usagi barely pays it any mind - the conversations she'd had with Mr. and Mrs. Nomura had drained her, and the following conversations, with her own parents - with Shingo, who had demanded the phone tearfully and then demanded that Usagi tell 'Mamoru-nii' that he was the coolest, for saving Junichi's life - had been enough to wipe her out.

She promises Naru that she'll explain later. She cradles Chibiusa in her arms, strong and reliable with her henshin, unshaking despite how wiped she is, and they travel across the city with all the stealth they can manage between the two of them, on the look out for threats - and when Chibiusa clings, she clings back, protective, and frightened inspite of herself, because the Black Moon Clan -

It's only when they're securely in Mamoru's home that she can relax even the tiniest bit, dropping her henshin and carrying the yawning, quietly still Chibiusa to he couch.

You know it's serious when she doesn't even give the snacks a glance.

"Chibiusa-chan," she says quietly, "Something happened today. We're all safe -"

She wouldn't put it past Chibiusa to have heard the whispers about Molly, even if they haven't told her, exactly, not wanting to frighten her with the mortality of the heroes of this time. Reassurance should help.

"But one of - one of Shingo's friends was attacked. We saved him, but putting Koan down took a lot out of us."

The best thing to do is be honest, right?

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru gets himself some kind of electrolyte sports drink off the table and smiles a little at the security camera after noticing it's open, and then he drinks some while Usagi begins the explanation. He comes over to the couch with it and sets it down on the coffee table, then carefully sits down next to Usagi and Chibiusa.

He looks more tired than hurting, he looks almost grey with tiredness. He takes his glasses off and puts them on the table too, then scrubs at his face and sighs. "It was Junichi-kun. He'll... he'll be in the hospital for a while. You warned me... and I've never been so happy we got voluntold to do something by Ikuko-mama, we were walking him home. But yeah -- Koan is extremely dead."

Possibly Usagi is better at tact.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    It probably says something about Chibiusa's general apprehension that she doesn't even sass her mother when she starts to explain. The circumstances around Molly were tragic, but this wasn't the first time that Chibiusa had been told that a friend or ally wasn't going to be around anymore. Still, it's reassuring to hear that they haven't lost yet another person.

    Yet from the sound of it, they came close.

    Koan had been taken down. One member of the spectre sisters is now past tense, and while Chibiusa feels a little safer knowing that, the story is also a grim reminder of just how utterly brutal the Black Moon Clan is.

    One of Shingo's friends was attacked, and Small Lady doesn't need to take very long to guess which one it was. Mamoru confirms her suspicions before she can even voice them. Chibiusa had concerns about this, but... to realize... to know... that they would actually go that far? To specifically strike at key people just to... what, exactly? Ensure that humanity didn't survive the end?

    Tears gather at the corner of her eyes, and her nose gets a bit stuffy. Her arm wipes away the dampness from her face, but more keeps coming. "Why him? He didn't do anything!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Mamoru's honest and blunt about it, which honestly might be more what Chibiusa needs. Koan is dead. She's dead. She's never coming back, not after the way they'd killed her, and the way Amy had literally blown off her head, and the way Hope's Labyrinth had eaten her -

She's dead. One less threat.

Usagi feels good about that, in a way both natural and decidedly not, and decides she's going to have to text Wako-chan tonight, not tomorrow.

She sits on the couch beside Chibiusa and wraps an arm around her, bringing the little girl to her side, offering comfort -

"She said something about the role he'd have in the future," she admits, "But we don't really know what that means. But we'll be keeping an eye on him, to make sure no one tries again, and we'll - we'll... honestly, Chibiusa-chan... I hate to ask this, but do you know why Junichi-kun would be someone they'd want to hurt?"

She can't bring herself to say kill and maintain her composure.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Baby," Mamoru says, voice full of affection and compassion. He puts his good hand atop Chibiusa's head, his hand warm and solid and full of deep dark caves and rainbows in waterfalls, full of home, full of familiarity and comfort. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry we woke you up with bad news in the middle of the night, but-- we-- we wanted to be together, with you, after that."

He glances at Usagi, then admits, "I wasn't paying attention to anything she said, I tuned her out. But..." His attention turns to Chibiusa again. "Please, Small Lady. We need to know, and if there's anyone else you can warn us about..."

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Chibiusa releases Usagi, crosses her arms and scowls through her tears. The actual literal answer to her alt-mother's question would be 'no', because this whole thing in her mind is comparable to travelling back in time to kill someone like Mother Teresa or Ghandi while they're still children. An act of such incomprehensible evil that it really doesn't even begin make sense to her. But that answer isn't helpful and right now Chibiusa isn't in the mood to play head games with Usagi for the sake of it.

    So Small Lady provides the answer that she thinks is actually wanted. She frowns and says, "In the future, in my world, Junichi grows up to be a big important man. When the cataclysm hit and everything went bad, food became really scarce and people were starving everywhere. Junichi was... the one who fixed all of that. He managed the food supply, made sure farms and factories got working again... his leadership and charity helped a lot of people."

    The small pink is as angry as she is sad, and that's very plain on her face as she says, "So no. I can't imagine why anyone would want to hurt him. Not unless they were specifically trying to end the world." After a pause, she adds, "He's also an important political figure, a part of Neo Queen Serenity's diet. That might also be why..."

    As she explains, all sorts of images cross her mind. Moments in time, memories in fragments, some of specific events and some of repeated patterns of behavior. All of them about Junichi, or at least a version of him who is a lot older and more mature than the child they just saved. The general impression that Chibiusa has of him, and especially of the person he grows into, is warm and positive.

    She filters none of that out when Mamoru touches her. In fact, she's pulling those thoughts to the surface on purpose, because it's part of the way she communicates with someone who has her dad's powerset.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Chibiusa scowls with her arms crossed, and it's obvious she can't really imagine it, anymore than her parents could, why someone would kill try to kill a child -

And then she explains about the Junichi she knows, and the surprise is obvious in Usagi's face, because - really? Little Junichi-kun, who thinks maybe he wants to be a professional football player or astronaut, grew up to - to solve food shortages and be a member of her own court?

Little Junichi who she walked home from school?

It's astounding. Astonishing. And -

"They hate the future so much, they'd - try to kill Junichi-kun for saving lives? For being important to us?" It's disbelieving, but also, a little bit angry.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"They want to burn it all down, and they want it to hurt every step of the way," Mamoru says with a quiet finality. "They just hate. They hate a post-scarcity future, but their ghost-memories don't match one at all. They want to make a ruin of *our* future with their-- their bare hands."

Chibiusa's giving him images; Mamoru concentrates on those, neatly avoiding thinking about pink elephants or Junichi's neck, and Koan's bare hands on it, and instead here's adult Junichi, a warm and giving person, just like the little boy they barely saved-- but saved--

Mamoru's hand slips off Chibiusa's head, and she can tell it's because he's having trouble quieting his thoughts. Given the topic at hand it's probably not hard to imagine why. "I hope you don't think anything you would build could be what they're trying to say Small Lady's world is like," he says to Usagi, though. "I'm sure they believe what they say, and they're high out of their minds on dark energy. They also kind of sound like cultists..."

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Small Lady glances up at Mamoru as he pulls away, but doesn't try to stop him. It's a pretty intense form of communication at times, efficient but not always controllable. The last thought he gets from her before the contact breaks is something along the lines of, 'I understand...'.

    Her arms still crossed, she leans against Usagi more. She's alone in her thoughts now, in her quiet contemplation, as she tries to come to terms with the news she's getting while also trying to give helpful info. It doesn't make sense... it really does not make sense to her.

    "Maybe... because they lived in Nemesis for so long... maybe they came to resent the Earth and all it has. That's all I can think. That and the dark energy. I wonder if that's just what happens to those who live on a planet that darkness has already taken over."

    She curls up a little tighter, wrapping her arms around her knees. "So... Koan is dead? And Junichi isn't?" Small Lady isn't sure what to think about that, because it's been a very long time since someone has needed to die, but then again... considering the crime? She can't say it was undeserved. "That's... probably for the best. If they had their way, they'd probably drop a big black crystal on this world's Tokyo, too."

    Another tear rolls down her cheek. She winces to try and hold it in, but that only pushes more out, so she wipes her face again. This is so monumentally unfair, so terrifyingly wrong.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Maybe," Usagi says, quietly, "Mamochan's right about their hate. All they want - is for us to suffer. To ruin everything the us that are your birth parents made. And we can't let them."

They can't. They won't. For Chibiusa's sake, for the sake of everyone they love, and even for themselves, because they don't deserve this either.

"And - maybe it's because of living in Nemesis. Maybe it's because they hate me, personally. Who knows, maybe it's about taxes -" She doesn't actually think that, but at the same time, who knows what it could be. I promise, I don't think what we built, is like that. But I wonder... never mind, it doesn't matter. They're - crazy."

She's not going to say in front of Chibiusa, that she wonders if this is their fault, just for the fact that Junichi knows them. Chibiusa doesn't need that on her conscious.

And as tears roll down Chibiusa's face, she's scooped up into a hug, Usagi shuffling to lean against Mamoru's uninjured side. Family hug!

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Funny, he was sitting with his uninjured side toward the two of them! Coincidences, right? And by now, Mamoru has calmed his thoughts again; he leans a little, too, his arm long enough to squish Usagi and Chibiusa to him. And he kisses the side of Usagi's head, and then the top of Chibiusa's, and then he lets out a sigh that's truly just tiredness.

He's silent for a moment, just being warm and connected with them, breathing with them. Finally he murmurs, "Do you two want to sleep in the big bed tonight? We still have to go to school tomorrow, I think." 'Wake up Chibiusa! Now go back to bed you have school in the morning!' Mamoru may be slightly rueful.

With the two different pitches of confirmation, he extracts himself from the hug to get up and go find stuff for Usagi to use as pajamas because did they think of that? No they did not.

Fortunately, even if Anko is giant, she still can't take up the football field of a bed.