Jasper sat in the center of his yard, listening to the sound of the nearby stream trickle past his house on Eryx. Neko had made sure to set him up with some housing near a form of water. She knew how much he loved that element, and he was grateful for it. The sound was so relaxing, just what he needed for these evening meditations.
For an entire month and a half, Jasper had been plagued with nightmares every time he closed his eyes. After years of pleasant dreams sent by Amethyst, the horror that met him at night now was almost unbearable. Several times he had thought about just ending it all, but he always remembered Neko's efforts to keep him from doing just that. He wouldn't kill himself when his new princess had so wished for him to live.
But he knew he couldn't continue facing the terrible dreams he had been having night after night. Dreams of his lover Amethyst's death and of his sister Amber's death, his inability to save them, and other horrors that terrified him just as much. So a couple of weeks ago, he had gone to the village's temple and talked to a wise monk who resided there. It was the monk who had taught him how to defeat the nightmares. With this meditation before bedtime, he almost could control his dreams as well as Amethyst used to. It had been a week since his last nightmare.
He heard his vidphone beep and wondered if it was worth the effort to answer it. Nobody ever called him except the people from work. But he was waiting on some results from testing a nearby lake yesterday, so he decided to answer it in case the results were important. He just prayed he'd done enough meditation to sleep easily that night.
But there was no chance of that once he had answered the phone.
"Oh, you're there! Thank god," cried Tenshi on the other side of the vidscreen.
Jasper stared at the girl who was meant to someday be his prince� or something, wondering why she had called him, especially looking so urgent.
He soon got his answer. "I need your help. Koneko needs your help." She quickly explained the situation. "Will you come?" she begged him.
Jasper didn't know why he even really hesitated. Maybe because it had been Neko who had killed Amethyst. But there was really no decision to make. At some point during the past two months, he had adopted Neko as his princess, just as everyone else on Eryx did. And she was more or less his savior. Without her, he would have killed himself, or let Mi-chan do so. But she had given him a new life, and therefore, he would always cherish it and his memory of her.
So he found himself telling Tenshi he'd be there, as soon as he could get to a transporter and to the Mizuno household.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mi-chan held strong to Neko's hand, as her twin began to toss and turn in her sleep. "Shh, shh, it's okay," she said soothingly, not knowing whether Neko could understand her or not. Gradually, Neko began to settle down, and Mi-chan relaxed a little.
She made Neko sit up and forced her to drink a little water, then laid her back down. Then she took a big gulp of the cold liquid herself. She considered splashing some on her face to keep her awake, but decided not to waste it. In the last hour, she had already given most of what Ami had brought up to Neko and herself, and she didn't know when her mom would be back. If she was as weary as Mi-chan was getting, Mi-chan knew she might not have the strength to come back up the stairs.
Mi-chan could fight off the pain while she was still keeping focused on Neko, but she couldn't fight the dizziness or the fatigue for long, and she knew it. But she promised Neko she'd stay by her side, and she wasn't going to back down from that promise. If she died holding Neko's hand� well, that just seemed like a natural way to go anyway.
"I'm sorry, Neko-chan," she whispered, hoping her sister would forgive her for not being able to save her this time.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tenshi paced outside, wondering how long it would take for Jasper to get there. She knew he had to get to the transporter station, and she wasn't sure if he could go straight from Eryx to Earth or if he had to stop at the Moon's transporter station first. She wondered if they'd be able to fix him right in on the Mizuno's house since it was an emergency, or if he'd have to travel here from Crystal Tokyo's transporter station. She prayed he'd get here in time, but every moment was one less that Neko was alive.
She sat down on the front step and waited some more.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ami had been studying the information she had gotten from her examination of Neko all day, but still hadn't come up with any answers. She turned off the scanner and laid her head down on the kitchen table. As tired as she was, she knew Mi-chan had to be twice as bad. Her scans had suggested that only from direct contact with Neko did the disease pass, and Mi-chan had been with her for most of the day.
She wondered how the girls were doing on supplies. Even if there was still water, it was likely the ice had all melted, and it was certain that the washcloth Mi-chan had been using to try and keep Neko's forehead cool was warm by now.
She pushed her chair back from the table, and stood up to go get some more ice water for the twins. But no sooner had she taken a step than she collapsed onto her knees. "Girls," she whispered, clutching her hand over her heart. She forced herself to get up, but a few steps later she collapsed again.
Her only hope was that Ryo could find something at the hospital using the information she had sent him. And soon.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
