33: Crooked
*CLANG!*
And with that, the door shut behind us.
I am still not sure whether fortune or fate was on our side that night, but instead of being immediately brought to harsher interrogation, they simply threw us both into a holding cell while they decided what type of punishment was sufficient for us. Their threats to kill us immediately were emptier than I thought, for, as I mentioned, they could do everything short of murder without getting in some kind of trouble.
Personally, however, I think they were really afraid of us, especially of Tsukino Usagi. They had never seen such a power before from a sailor soldier. Their tactics would only serve to create the conduit to activate her power, and who knew? It could only have been a fraction of her true power that she had shown to them. The light was stronger than it had been when I had been its victim, and it destroyed one of their more efficient machines of torture. Thus, looking back, it was not in the Kastalle police's best interest to continue further in their original line of corporal offense.
-.....Uuuuh......
I still felt quite weak from the exchange that had happened before. I certainly wasn't looking forward to anything else that was to happen to us in the dreadful place we were in, any time soon. At the moment, all I wanted was to go home and eat coocor. I felt that I had deserved it. What I would have given!
Still, our holding cell was better than the interrogation room we had just been in. Granted, it wasn't very comfortable. It was small, only about my height one way and half that the other. It only had one bench for both of us to sit on. We were surrounded by a hard stone wall. There were no windows, and the door itself had no opening to let outside light in. The light inside the cell was so dim that everything just looked gray.
But it was still better than being poked and prodded.
-.....Stupid jerks!
I wobbled my way over to the bench and half-heartedly sat down on it. It was hard and cold, and I ached as I settled in.
As I tried to get comfortable, I examined the wounds on my body. The places where they had stuck the needles in had stopped bleeding, replaced by mounded scabs of dried blood. Those did not hurt. The small burn patches on the tips of my tentacles from where the electric currents had entered were still painful, as was my forehead.
-Wait until I get out of here. They'll be sorry! I was very angry. -Electrocution! Needles! Threats of death! How can these stupid Kastallian people let such things happen?! This is a disgrace and uncivilized! I'll have Koogairu know about this and she'll help me get a case up! These civilians don't know wh-
-They don't care.
I turned my head around in surprise at these words. Tsukino Usagi was sitting next to me, and her head was down, almost in shame.
-...What?
-We deserve it.
-What?!
-They...don't really care about us. The tone of Tsukino Usagi's voice was slightly bitter. -They won't stop the Astramort. They wouldn't help either one of us if it made them look bad. They'll just ignore us. That's all they care about, how good they look. Not about the bad things. But the civilians know the truth.
-WHAT?!
-That Seemarin...those judges....they're just overglorified bullies.
-WHAT?!! I started to get angry at this. -What gives you the right.....to....
I stopped myself. I saw the look in her eyes, that strange spark of clearness that had been within them when I confronted her, when she had tried to talk to the murderer, Galaxia. I never would have admitted it at all, as I was a part of the system she decried, and I certainly had not seen the bad things in the ways that she had seen them. But the moment I saw the look in her eyes, I knew - knew - she was speaking the truth. I hung my head down in shame.
-.......I'm.......sorry.
We were both silent for some time. The only sounds that could be heard were the very faint screams of others who were subjected to interrogation. It appeared that they had fixed the controls, or had brought in new ones. I knew it could only be a matter of time before it was our turn again.
-....No. Tsukino Usagi finally spoke. -I'm not mad at you for the Seemarin. You are not the Seemarin. You are not like those judges.
-What? I was certainly shocked by her response. -But I-
-You're just a sailor soldier, the same as I am, with strength....and...weakness. Nothing more than that. Tsukino Usagi looked down. -That's not a crime. That shouldn't be a real crime.
Several more screams came through. I gave a shudder at the sound.
-Fighting the only way you know how to fight......that shouldn't be a crime. With that, she gave a sigh. -These are disgraceful looking things...
-....Eh?
I looked down to what she was looking at. The object of consternation were her hands, what she called her hands. She was looking at them with sadness in her eyes, and she drew in a deep breath.
-....What is disgraceful?
-My nails. She shook her head. -I.....They're crooked.
-Crooked?
I was confused. After all, Themisians don't have hands, or nails, or fingers. I suppose she sensed my confusion on the topic, since she pointed to the top of her fingers, where, it occurred, the so-called nails were. She was right. They were not very long at all - they only barely came out of the little white ridge thing that, according to Tsukino Usagi, is where the nail originates*. Also according to her, the bottom of the nails were supposed to be light pink, and at a certain point, the nail turns white.
Tsukino Usagi's nails, however, were little dark pink things, pushing onto the skin of the fingers. This was causing the tip of the fingernail look slightly bloated and a little redder than the rest of the skin. The little white ridge, also, was not white, but rather a darker brown color that went all along that shape ridge of where the rest of the nail would have been.
-Wh.... I was curious. I shouldn't have been, but I was. -Why are they like that?
-....They aren't growing back in right. She kept staring at her nails. -They're just starting to grow back, so right now I'm thankful that I have nails at all. My fingertips keep getting inflamed and infected, though.
-Oh? I stared. -You lost your fingernails?
-Yes.
-They fell out?
-No. A long pause before a slightly shaky voice returned. -They were ripped out in front of my eyes.
At this, she suddenly burst into tears. I gave a gulp at this, because I wasn't quite sure what to do. I didn't know if she'd turn on me and blast me with her power, as she had blasted the machine during the interrogation. So, I simply sat and said nothing.
-Oh....oh.... she wiped her eyes. -It's ok. I'm fine with crying. I cry a lot more now than I used to.
-Yes. You do seem to do it a lot.
-I can't help it right now. She kept wiping her eyes. -I....I am just in a lot of pain.
-Pain? I became worried. -What kind of pain?
-.....Sadness.
Sadness?
-...That's not pain. I paused. -Pain is what happened to us just now. Right?
-....Sadness can be pain. She looked away from me. -Sadness when you think about terrible things. When you think of all the times that you've been hurt. When you think of when others have been hurt. When you think of that, and....you know you are powerless to stop it from happening. That your friends are powerless as well. That you will never see your friends again That is true pain, pain from sadness.
There was another pause at this. I saw her bring her fingers up once more, to look at her nails. This time, they were in better light, and they looked much more disgusting than before. I also noticed the pale scars
-Physical pain hurts, she slowly spoke again. This time, she seemed more dazed, her voice a squeak above a whisper -But....physical pain doesn't last forever. Physical pain fades from memory as time goes by. No matter what they do. Whether they....they rip your nails out....or put out their smokes on your heels and on your nipples....stick pins into your palms.....whip you until the flesh on your back is gone....rip out the hair on your neck and claw at your face.....punch you in the stomach and chest until you're all black and blue........to make you wonder why the day is not night, and why the prisons are so gray and dark that you begin to think that monsters had drained the color out of the world-
The new screams from the interrogation room, faint as they were, still brought her out of her trance. She looked at me, somewhat embarrassed. I myself was quite stunned at what I had just heard.
-I.....It's my turn to be sorry. She turned away. -I got carried away.
For one to survive something like that, one had to have something so strong within them that nothing could touch it. An inner strength that was more powerful than any force in the civilized universe. She had almost been broken by us, but not quite. Something had kept her intact, at least to a degree.
I didn't know what it was that let Tsukino Usagi forgive me. I didn't know what had allowed her to survive such brutality. But there was one thing I could draw from all of it, from what she had told me, from what I had seen, even from the things I could not grasp about her.
So I decided then and there that Tsukino Usagi was the bravest person I'd ever met.
-ON YOUR FEET!!
They came in so quickly that we weren't even expecting it. We both jumped to our feet, tensing up as three officers - one obviously the leader, two following to be the ones to carry us - came in, lining up in front of us.
-Floritiuse, planet Themis. The voice of the officer who spoke echoed through the cell. -Tsukinousagi, planet Earth.
We looked at one another, aware of what was to come next. To my surprise, again - I shouldn't have been surprised by now of this girl, for she was full of them, but I digress - she grabbed one of my appendages, wound it around her arm, and held onto it very tightly. I could tell she was afraid; I certainly can't say that I wasn't. I held my breath for what they would say.
-....There has been a misunderstanding. He suddenly took out two pieces of paper. -An analysis of the Sailor Sentinel found the murder weapon belonging to a Lei Ozwara.
My chest tightened at this. I hoped that what he was to say next would be what I was now hoping to hear.
-I have the papers done for your release. He held the papers out to us. -You have been cleared of murder, arson and malicious intent, and we are currently looking for our new suspect. Your are both free to go.
Both of us let out our breaths at the same time. Free! We were free! Never mind that they would never find him, as he had been burned to nothing! We were vindicated!
-And...we got a call from a Sailor Dyka. Before we could celebrate, the officer suddenly spoke again.-She was informed of your confinement and has arranged a shuttle to being you back to Mehsheh immediately.
This, of course, was not such comforting news.
-
It was very cold by the time we finally got to leave. It was practically the middle of the night, when I would have normally been asleep. But I could not sleep. I was wide awake. The thoughts of all that I had seen would not let me rest even if I wished to, so I sat down at one of the tables inside the shuttle's lounge and had some coocor.
-Opening throttles. The pilot of the private shuttle opened up his communications. -We have both of them. Leaving Kastalle now.
The initial upward thrust made my head spin, as I was not use to a completely vertical takeoff into space. However, that feeling was temporary.
-We'll be back on Mehsheh in a few hours. The pilot turned and winked at me. -Get sleep now. You won't get any when Dyka gets her hands on you, that's for sure, huh?
I ignored the pilot. At the moment, I could care less what the pilot was saying, or what Dyka would do to me.
All that I really cared about then was Tsukino Usagi. She was leaning on me, her eyes closed, and a warm blanket was draped upon her. She was still shaking in her sleep, though, as the ship was freezing.
-....mmmmmmmmb..........mamo.......chan......
I winced as a line of saliva dripped onto my appendage. It was the same one that she had wrapped around her arm. It was still wound that way. We had not separated. She had almost refused to unwrap me from her when we were boarding the ship.
What, I wondered, was she thinking of? Was she thinking of her lover? She surely missed him.
-.........noooooo.................
She gave another shudder, and a moan. The blanket began to fall off of her. She started to shiver harder. I didn't even think twice with what I did next.
You're just a sailor soldier, the same as I am.
As best as I could so I wouldn't wake her up, I wrapped several of my appendages around her and pulled her close to me. I then used my appendages to cover the parts of her body that were not covered by the blanket. Her head was resting on my chest, and her hair was draped over my body. I felt almost like I was a mother nesting with a child, even though I knew that such a role was physically impossible for me.
Yet, having her like that, for some reason, let my body relax. I started to feel my eyes slowly droop as all of the exhaustion of the past several days finally caught up with me. Soon, still cradling Tsukino Usagi, I too was dreaming within the soundest sleep I'd possibly ever had.
*Cuticles.
