Apotheosis 2:
                           Dancing with Myself



News travels fast in a small desert town,
So it wasn't long at all before the word got around
That a killing bad car was headed their way,
So the sheriff and the boys were going to
Stop it out on the highway.
Right where it intersected Big Black Rock,
So it wasn't long at all
Before the whole town was out hanging round,
Hammering a nail and building up a pride in a roadblock.
Just hanging round the roadblock.

Stan Ridgway - The Roadblock



     High up on a mountain, above the pines and mist that surround the
bay of Inverness, there stands an incredible mansion. Its three towers
appear to pierce the sky. Its windows are like a thousand eyes turned
inward. And its doors, hinged on time, open into endless space.

     It was an impressive sight, especially if you were sensitive
enough to perceive the way the house extended into other realms. To
the knowledgeable, the house appeared more real and substantial than
the mountain itself. To Setsuna Meiou, as the Senshi known as Sailor
Pluto currently called herself, it was primarily an annoyance.

     "Come on, Setsuna, cheer up!" urged the small orange cat sitting
on her shoulder. "You act as if you're going to a funeral."

     "Frankly, Persephone, I can think of funerals I'd enjoy more,"
Setsuna grumbled as she walked up the road toward the great gray
Victorian house. She surveyed the structure looming before them with a
moue of distaste. "I much preferred the Tudor look."

     "Oh, pooh. You're just saying that because you got along so well
with Queen Elizabeth," Persephone sniffed. "I think it looks quite
nice. Besides, the house is no different from the rest of us - it has
to move with the times too."

     Setsuna disdained further reply, not least because she knew
exactly how the conversation would go. That was one of the principal
drawbacks, and occasional comforts, of being closely associated with
someone for over twenty-five thousand years - conversations tended to
fall into patterns. Instead she forged steadily up the path, through
the wrought iron gates, past the curiously designed garden maze, and
up to the front door. She knocked loudly, and waited with the inhuman
patience that comes with a life span measured in millennia.

     She knew full well that the fate of more than one world hung in
the balance, but the Guardian of Time had witnessed the retreat of the
glaciers as the last Ice Age ended. She had watched the heavens wheel
in their slow yet graceful dance - Thuban had been the northern pole
star when she was born, and she had seen the whole cycle through, to
Polaris and Vega and back again, and on to the next. Even if she were
successful here in gaining the knowledge to avert the catastrophe that
loomed over them, it would still take another thousand years before
she would get a chance to rest. So she waited, and eventually the door
was opened by an aged servitor, his palsied limbs trembling slightly
as he peered at her.

     "How may I help you, miss?" the old man asked in a gravelly
voice.

     "I wish to speak with the mistress of the house, Lady Jowls, I
believe."

     "Certainly, miss. This way please." If the old man was at all
surprised to find a stunning young woman dressed in a rather severe
black suit with a small cat perched demurely on her shoulder seeking
admittance to a house that received notably few visitors, he gave
no sign of it, but simply led the way through a somewhat gloomy
passageway to the sunlit parlor where Lady Jowls sat taking tea.

     "A young lady to see you, Lady Jowls."

     "Send her in, send her in, Jives" a hearty voice called out.
Setsuna delicately picked her way across a floor strewn with the
shattered remains of myriad teacups and teapots. Lady Jowls, a large,
bluff woman of late middle-age with a florid complexion, sat in an
over-stuffed wing-back chair sipping from a small china tea cup that
appeared positively miniscule in her hand.

     "Well, aren't you a pretty young thing? But who are you? Are you
one of my husband's relations, or perhaps a friend of my nephew Jack?"
she boomed genially.

     "My name is Meiou, Setsuna Meiou," her visitor said composedly.
"I have come to ask a favor of you."

     "Please sit down, Miss Meiou. I'll be glad to help if I can, my
dear," Lady Jowls beamed. Throwing her empty cup over her shoulder,
she called out, "Jives! Tea for our guest, please!"

     "You're very kind, but I have no wish to put you out. I've come
here to listen to a certain jukebox."

     Lady Jowls looked surprised. "You've heard of the Wurlitzer of
Wisdom, eh? We'll have to ask the Madonna Vampira, since it's located
where she dwells within the walls of the east tower, but I'm sure
there won't -"

     "Not that one," Setsuna interrupted. "I mean the jukebox within
the fourth tower."

     Now the dowager looked rattled. "The fourth tower? My dear, as
you must have seen on your way up here, Inverness has only three
towers."

     "Come, Lady Jowls, we both know better than that," Setsuna
replied coolly. "There may be only three towers visible at the moment,
but there are indeed four towers. Unless you truly believe your
husband, Sir Henry Jowls, vanished into thin air fourteen years ago."

     Paling, Lady Jowls said weakly, "How - how do you know so much?
You're not one of us."

     "For one thing, she's been here before, a few centuries ago,
although I think she was calling herself Tara Sanjo then. Really,
though, it's because she's Wisdom's Daughter, heir to Lord Enki,"
a voice interrupted her. A small girl with two blond pigtails had
just entered the room. The large, black Cuban cigar she was smoking
was the first odd thing one noticed about her; the fact that her
cornflower-blue eyes had no pupils was perhaps the most disconcerting.

     "Little Frieda!" Persephone cheered. She leaped from Setsuna's
shoulder to Frieda's arms and began rubbing her face against the
girl's chin.

     Lady Jowls looked at Setsuna with ill-concealed awe. "We're
honored, Lady Wisdom," she said gruffly.

     Setsuna frowned. "Frieda. You know perfectly well that I am no
relation to Lord Enki. He died and passed beyond with the rest of the
High Council in the final battle against the Shadow when Atlantis was
destroyed."

     "You wield the Garnet Orb and the Staff of Time, two of his
greatest creations," the little girl said with a slight smile. "You
guard the Gate of Time, his greatest discovery. If anyone is worthy of
being called his successor, it would have to be you." Her smile grew
infinitesimally broader. "After all, would the Ispano clan obey anyone
else?"

     With a grimace, Setsuna decided not to contest the matter. "At
all events, may I enter the fourth tower to consult the Bodhisattva
Jukebox?"

     Lady Jowls got herself under control with a visible effort. "In
view of who you are, I don't suppose there's any need to prepare you
for the rigors of the tower by running you through the maze. The
problem is that the fourth tower has not appeared yet. It hasn't, in
fact, been seen since Sir Henry entered it. As you may know, eight
people have entered it within the last two hundred years; none have
returned. No one, however, in the recorded history of the house has
ever found a way to make the fourth tower appear before its time."

     "That presents no difficulties," Setsuna said calmly. "I can find
a way inside, if someone can conduct me to the entrance. The house has
reconfigured itself since the last time I was here."

     "I'll take her, Lady Jowls," Fried volunteered, stroking the
loudly purring cat in her arms.

     The older woman looked relieved. "Thank you, little Frieda." She
hesitated a moment, then continued, "My lady, if you should chance to
encounter that wandering husband of mine..."

     Setsuna regarded her through narrowed eyes. "I will see what I
can do. I make no promises - you will probably have to wait for your
nephew Jack's arrival in any event."

     "Thank you, Lady Wisdom," her petitioner responded gratefully,
so much so that some of Setsuna's animosity abated. Meanwhile, Frieda
walked over to a large bookcase built into one wall and pressed what
must have been a hidden switch underneath one of the shelves. An oak
panel on the opposite wall swung silently open, revealing a dimly lit
passage. With a curt nod to her hostess, Setsuna followed the seeming
child through the hidden doorway.

     The door closed behind them as they walked down the narrow,
darkly paneled corridor, their way illumined by candelabra shaped like
human arms, each holding six long white candles. They proceeded for a
few minutes in silence before Frieda said, without turning to regard
her companion, "Still bearing a grudge against us humble seekers after
knowledge?"

     "Not at all," Setsuna said austerely.

     Persephone snorted. "Of course she is. She's not exactly the
'hail fellow, well met' type under the best of circumstances, but she
only gets this shirty when she's well and truly peeved." Ignoring
Setsuna's outraged look, the cat pondered a moment, then went on, in
a judicious tone, "You can't blame her much. Let's face it, most of
the problems we're fighting now are a direct result of the fact that
the Atlanteans, for all their knowledge and spiritual insights, were a
bunch of prats. Naturally she's not going to be terribly well disposed
toward any group trying to reclaim some of that lost wisdom."

     "Idiots," Setsuna muttered, the fresh reminder of her age-old
grievance overwhelming her determination to remain aloof. "Them and
their talk of 'making men into gods,' when they should have been
concentrating on making god-like men." She brooded darkly. "They paid
the price of their folly in the end, but the nemesis for their hubris
still hounds us today."

     Frieda regarded her pensively. "True enough, Lady Pluto, but
remember what Santayana said. You can't simply hide your head in the
sand. What will you do when the Crystal Millennium reaches a similar
point? Have your Neo-Queen Serenity order everyone to behave or face
condign punishment?"

     "You know perfectly well I'm not setting Serenity up as a
temporal monarch," Setsuna retorted scornfully.

     "I know," the girl said, glancing at her from half-lidded eyes.
"She'll serve as a shining example, a defender and protector, and a
guide to point the way. Almost," she said, with a smile that didn't
quite become a smirk, "like a Bodhisattva."

     Setsuna stopped, caught short, and finally barked a laugh. "Point
to you."

     "Then," Frieda followed up, "to press my momentary advantage,
will you tell me why you're here, seeking the Bodhisattva Jukebox?"

     "Ha. My adversaries would love that. The one thing that has
always stood between our worlds and those forces from without that
seek dominion over us is that none of them can see the timelines
clearly. I'm sure they'd be willing to reward someone greatly for that
knowledge, even to revealing the lost wisdom of the Ancients."

     "I'm not a Twilight Master," Frieda said quietly, "switching
allegiances from one side to the other to enhance my own power. I'm
a Time Suspender. My cause is the cause of individual enlightenment
and the Middle Path. Our goals have seldom, perhaps, been exactly
identical; they have never, that I can recall, been directly opposed."
She turned her uncanny gaze full upon Setsuna. "No unfriendly powers
can penetrate the protective barriers that surround this house. Will
you tell me what problem brings you here? I pledge to help you if I
can."

     Setsuna hesitated. Her natural impulse was towards silence,
an impulse engendered by twenty thousand years of keeping her own
counsel, of secrets shared only with her cat and her mother. The
fate of the world teetered in the balance as her ingrained reticence
warred with the worry that had never left her since her disquieting
conversation with the Lord of Folly. Without even realizing it, she
drifted to a stop in the shadowy corridor. Finally she spoke.

     "I don't know what the future looks like to a Time Suspender. I
can see the timelines fanning out from the present day, and follow
them forward, if I try, for some years at least, before the detail
gets lost. The important point is that I can tell at a glance the
difference between a timeline that leads to the end of the world, and
one that doesn't - there's a darkness surrounding the ones leading to
destruction that is unmistakable." She frowned in thought. "I'm not
sure how much you know about the future I'm working toward, the future
that will, I hope, result in the foundation of the Crystal Millennium.
The next few years are, of course, the turning point, but there is
also an especially crucial period at the end of the next century." She
paused for a moment, inviting a comment from her diminutive companion.

     Scratching Persephone under the chin, Frieda pondered. "I know
there is some sort of crisis coming. Some threat to the world that the
Sailor Senshi will avert, leading to the eventual establishment of
Sailor Moon as titular queen of a united world government based in the
newly rebuilt city of Crystal Tokyo. I've never tried to find out any
more, as it isn't particularly relevant to what I'm doing."

     With a grimace, Setsuna said, "I'm afraid it's going to become
relevant. What will happen, or rather should happen, is that a
Sun-Eater will enter our Solar System in a bit less than a century and
begin to drain power from the Sun. All the forces that the world's
governments can muster will prove hopelessly inadequate. Ultimately,
we Senshi will combine our powers to drive the Sun-Eater away. There
is a good chance that some of us will die in the process," she said
coolly, "but we will prevail. Unfortunately, the energy stolen from
the Sun will lead to the swift onset of another Ice Age, and only the
power of the ginzuishou will save most of the world's population from
death while we work toward healing the Sun. Those unwilling or unable
to accept the purification that is the price of the ginzuishou's
help will be forced to flee to the dead cities of the tenth planet
to avoid perishing from cold and hunger. Ultimately, of course, they
will end up encountering the Death Phantom and attacking Earth several
centuries later as the Black Moon Family."

     "The dead cities?" Frieda exclaimed, while Persephone growled
a protest at the cessation of her petting. "What will happen to the
millions of Adders living there now?"

     "I don't know all the details," Setsuna admitted. "I believe the
renewal of the civil war between the Lectroids and the Adders ends
up depopulating the planet, with the few survivors seeking refuge on
Earth."

     The little girl frowned. "So much death. This is the ideal future
you're working toward?"

     Setsuna sighed. "Ideal? No. It's simply the best alternative
I've been able to come up with. If you find that hard to believe,
let me tell you that it's the only future I've been able to foresee
that doesn't involve the death of everyone on Earth at some point
within the next few centuries." She stared off into the distance for a
moment before continuing, "For twenty thousand years I've been working
to ensure that future comes to pass. At times success has been so
improbable I nearly despaired, but for the last two thousand years
or so the Crystal Millennium has been the most probable of all the
possible outcomes." She shook her head. "Perhaps that was what led to
my carelessness. Eventually I got into the habit of simply scanning
the overall shape of the branching timelines, looking for any gross
deviations, without going to all the work of calculating the true
probabilities.

     "The trouble began almost four hundred years ago, as nearly as I
can tell. Apparently, someone or something diverted the Sun-Eater from
its course toward Earth - no small task with a life form massing as
much as a large planet. At the same time, another future catastrophe
was set into motion to take its place. It was done so neatly that not
even a ripple in the time stream was created."

     "What sort of catastrophe?"

     Setsuna looked unhappy. "That's the problem. I don't know.
Originally, the disaster, whatever it is to be, was no more probable
than the chances of the Senshi failing to stop the Sun-Eater. Over the
course of the last few centuries, it has become more and more likely.
I first noticed it after World War I, when I decided to rerun the
probability calculations. To my horror, I found that the chance of
saving the Earth at the end of the next century was now so small as to
be almost negligible. I tried everything I could to learn the nature
of the forthcoming disaster, with no success - something blocked my
sight of that entire region of time. Something will happen then that
will result in the death of all the Senshi, followed by the deaths of
everyone on Earth and the Hidden Worlds. Only a few timelines remain
which don't lead to complete destruction. I endeavored to follow
one of the successful timelines forward, to see if I could learn
what actions would lead to our survival, only to watch the timeline
disappear before me. When the same thing happened with another of
the few desirable timelines, I was forced to conclude that if I knew
exactly how to deal with the upcoming crisis, we would fail. Our
only chance lay in my remaining ignorant of the exact details of our
victory."

     Frieda looked puzzled. "But why? Why would your foreknowledge of
the way to avert the crisis help to bring it about?"

     "I don't know. I don't like some of the possible answers. The
least objectionable is that we're faced with an opponent at least as
capable at forecasting the future as I am. Only if matters are too
confused and chaotic to predict can we hope to triumph."

     "Can't you get help from somewhere else?"

     "Of course, I've considered it," Setsuna said, frowning. "The
obvious choice would be Jurai - unfortunately at that period in time
they're going to be facing off against the Thearchy of Zalgrin and the
Gr'ndig Alliance, so they'll have their hands full. There are other
possibilities, but I'm hampered by not knowing the exact nature of
the threat. I could summon the God Knights from Doki Doki Space, or
travel to the Guardian World to request assistance from the Throne of
Yold. I could seek aid of the forces of the Hidden Worlds, or even
from Zoom-Zammim, in a pinch, if only I knew what danger will present
itself, so that I can be sure I won't be making matters worse. The
point is, though, I can't know the danger, so I'm forced to make the
most general of plans. Therefore I began the task of creating a weapon
that could win the fight for us."

     "What sort of weapon?"

     "A group of beings powerful enough to challenge the Sailor
Senshi, spearheaded by a man so improbable and unpredictable that no
one, neither I nor anyone else, will be able to foresee the results of
his actions."

     Realizing that she had been nearly forgotten, Frieda kept silent
while Setsuna spoke on, her eyes fixed on vistas visible only to her.
"I found a child of extraordinary parents, a child who was doomed to
an early death. I saved him and arranged for him to be brought up and
appropriately trained by his adoptive parents and by an acquaintance
of mine, one of the foremost martial artists in our world. For his
mate, I took one of the greatest warriors of the Hidden Worlds from
the battlefield where she lay dying, and transported her through time
and space, suppressing her memories and leaving her, too, with foster
parents. With the help of my acquaintance, they met and fell in love.
Though she and her people are no longer precisely human, they're close
enough, and a most improbable child was born. That child, who should
never have been born to begin with, has undergone rigorous training,
as well as exposure to a wide variety of magic and the imposition
of several curses. He's already nearly impervious to many forms of
mystical perception, and that will only increase. When all my plans
come to fruition a century from now, the team that will form will be
able to deal with almost any contingency, and no one will be able to
prepare for them. At least, such was my intention."

     "What went wrong?"

     Startled from her reverie by the question, Setsuna took a moment
to focus on Frieda again. "That's the problem - I don't know. All I
can tell you is that I received a visit from the Lord of Folly." She
nodded at the astonished look on Frieda's face, and continued, "He
warned me that going on as I had been risked bringing the Awakening
upon us all."

     So great had the shock been to Frieda that she had actually
dropped her cigar. Murmuring a quiet apology to the cat in her arms,
she knelt down and retrieved it, then took a few puffs to steady her
nerves. "He said that there was a real danger of awakening Nimir?"

     "Yes, and I gathered that my 'protege', Ranma Saotome, was at the
root of the trouble. My usual sources of information are of no use in
this situation, so when Lord Tyddo mentioned the jukebox..." Setsuna
shrugged.

     "No wonder." Frieda frowned in concentration. "I wish I could
help you, but the best thing I can think of is to consult the
jukebox." Still, the frown on her face remained, as she cudgeled her
memory for something of use.

     "Thank you anyway." Setsuna looked at her curiously. "I'm a
little surprised you're not counseling me to take the larger view, and
not let myself get trapped in a dualistic mindset. It's what I usually
hear from you Time Suspenders."

     Frieda shook her head. "We've sought to transcend the artificial
divisions between such concepts as good and evil, order and chaos,
light and darkness, life and death. Nimir, though, is something
beyond all our experiences. If there is a duality involved, it's
the contrast between existence and non-existence, between something
and less-than-nothing, and no one I know has overcome that one. The
thought that Nimir might awaken is a terrifying one. One of Its
Shadows was enough to destroy Atlantis. The release of Nimir Itself
could set back the cause of enlightenment by uncounted kalpas."

     "According to Tyddo, Nimir wiped out most of the intelligent
life in the galaxy before his people managed to stop It, at what cost
we both know. All the powers in the galaxy today combined would be
hard-pressed to equal that - we would be forced to summon the Snake
Mother, with little chance of success, and the cost of failure the
possible destruction of sentient life in our universe. If the only
choices are between the death of our Solar System, and the release of
Nimir, I will have to choose to let our worlds be destroyed."

     The little girl frowned again. "It wouldn't really suit my
plans for the Earth to be destroyed. It would lead to a lot of
complications."

     "No kidding." Setsuna massaged her forehead. "Without the support
of Crystal Tokyo, Jurai will never be able to overcome the Thearchy.
In addition they'll be unable to restrain the Raalgon expansion under
Goza the Eighth towards Summa Nulla. That will involve the Auroreans,
and more than likely force the Bulldada to resume their warlike ways.
In a thousand years there'll be wars raging across this entire sector.
I hope that here I can find the way to win through to a better future
than that."

     "A better future," Frieda said. "That's it!"

     "What?"

     "This is something I was told many centuries ago. I can't vouch
for the truth of it - I can only tell you what I heard. As you know,
when the fourth tower appears in our world, it is possible to enter
it and gain access to the twelve levels of consciousness, including
the level where the Bodhisattva Jukebox may be found. When it is not
part of our world, it serves as a transit point for many realms. You
know all that, I'm sure, but you may not know this. I was told that it
was possible, when the tower lies between worlds, to gain access to
potential futures."

     "I can already travel in time," Setsuna said, puzzled. "I even
recently allowed the Senshi to travel to the future and back." That
excursion had, in fact, been the event that had convinced her it
was time to visit Inverness. The successful navigation of the time
loop, with Chibi-Usa coming to the present-day and the Senshi going
forward to Crystal Tokyo, should have boosted the probability of the
Crystal Millennium by a few orders of magnitude. Instead, allowing
their passages had taken nearly all the power she could muster, and
somehow the end result had been no increase in the viability of the
desired future. Her unknown foe had obviously take steps to negate the
effectiveness of the time loop maneuver in some as-yet-undetermined
fashion. Galling though it was to admit, she needed help.

     "It's not quite like that," Frieda explained. "You find the
appropriate door, then concentrate on the action you contemplate
taking. When you go through the door, you see what the results of
your action would be. It's not time travel - the world you see is not
actually real. It's more like a form of astral projection. That's all
I can tell you." She started walking again, Setsuna trailing behind as
she considered the girl's words. Finally, they arrived at an apparent
dead end in the corridor. The wall before them was covered with an
enormous rectangular mirror in a massive gilded frame. Frieda pulled
on one side of the frame, swinging the mirror noiselessly aside to
reveal - another mirror.

     "This is as far as I can take you," she said gravely. "From here
on, you're on your own." Chucking Persephone under the chin, she
asked, "Are you going along, or would you like to wait with me?"

     The cat stretched luxuriously. "I'd like to stay, but I'd better
go with Setsuna. She'd be lost without me, you know. Perhaps after
we're done here I could visit for a while."

     "You know you're always welcome," Frieda replied with a smile,
handing the cat back to Setsuna. "Do you need any change for the
jukebox?"

     Setsuna shook her head. One of the perks of being the Guardian of
Time was that you never lacked for pocket change, but she didn't feel
like explaining just then, as the actual mechanism was rather silly.

     "Good luck to both of you, then." With that Frieda turned and
headed back the way they had come.



The Mayor's wife sat in the shade
And talked her way through a few good lies,
While her husband practiced his acceptance speech
For a medal from the FBI.
And Granny rocked back in her chair and said,
"Just what did this man do?"
While some idiot kids from school ate dirty
Snow-cones colored red, white and blue at the roadblock.
Just hanging round the roadblock.

Ibid.



     As Persephone resumed her customary perch on Setsuna's shoulder,
the Senshi focused her attention on the newly revealed mirror before
her. "In times past, you have served as a gateway," she murmured.
"In times to come, you will serve as such again. What was, will be.
The memory of the past is within you. The potential of the future
is within you." To an observer, she would have seemed to blur as
she extended her consciousness through time. Finally, having spread
herself through both past and future to such an extent that it would
have been hard to decide what time frame she now existed in, she
stepped/steps/will step through the mirror, which parted/parts/will
part before her like a dense fog, and found herself standing on a
narrow ledge overlooking an immense chasm. Below her, as far as she
could see, stars glittered in the blackness. Across a twelve-foot gap
hung another narrow ledge, at the bottom of a spiral staircase that
rose into the air for some distance before vanishing into obscurity.
Not for the first time, she stared into the starry abyss, wondering
if there was in truth any bottom, or if one slip would send her
plummeting forever through the void. The Lord of Folly might know, if
he could be relied upon for a straight answer; no one else she had
ever met would.

     "Ouch!" She was recalled from her thoughts by the sensation of
Persephone digging her claws into her shoulder.

     "Sorry," Persephone said blandly. "I just wanted to get a good
grip before you jumped."

     Setsuna snorted, but didn't challenge the statement. One of
the unspoken rules of their long association was that face-saving
explanations shouldn't be questioned unless absolutely necessary.
Mindful of the dangers that could lurk within the tower, Setsuna
changed to her Senshi form, and leaped lightly across to the bottom
step. She began climbing, and within a few steps the walls of the
fourth tower faded into being around her. Endlessly burning torches
cast a flickering, wavering glow over the space within. She came to
the first landing, and looked briefly at the heavy oaken door before
her. It was not the one she wanted, so she continued her ascent.

     Now she encountered other creatures also using the steps, some
going up, though more slowly than her, and others going down. Few of
them were even remotely human, and some she avoided looking at, for
even a glimpse was enough to cause her head to begin aching. Suddenly,
one of the beings stepped directly in front of her, forcing her to
stop. She looked up with a frown.

     It resembled nothing she could immediately recall. She could
have described it as a bundle of Tinker Toys tangled in a ball of
yarn, but that wouldn't have conveyed the air of squirming, writhing
malevolence. The thing rubbed several of its spindly limbs together,
producing a screeching stridulation that somehow formed words she
could understand. "You should not be here, human. Vermin like yourself
are only permitted to wander the Unseen Paths when they inhabit your
world-space."

     A second creature, looking for all the world like a small horse
turned inside out (and Setsuna could testify to this, having been
witness long ago to the unfortunate results when her daughter's powers
had begun to manifest themselves), spoke to the first in what seemed
to be an urgent, if somewhat gelatinous, tone. "Don't do this! If it
could find the Unseen Paths here between the realms, and even bring
its body along, it is no mere human."

     "Enough of your pusillanimous counsel!" The chirruping noises
rose to a crescendo. "Die, fleshling!"

     Two thin tubes - perhaps some sort of feeding apparatus, Setsuna
surmised - lashed out at her. Before they could touch her, she
whispered two words. "Dead Scream."

     Afterwards, she picked her way daintily through the
still-bubbling remains of her attacker. The inverted equine, she
noticed, had fled, and the remaining creatures, though seeming to
pay her no more heed than before, pressed very closely to the walls
on either side as she walked past. Persephone, she was mildly amused
to note, had been so little troubled by the encounter that she had
wrapped herself around Setsuna's neck and apparently gone to sleep.

     She passed a second landing, then stopped on the third. This door
felt right. She lifted the latch and swung the door open, stepping
through.

     She found herself on a high cliff above a barren red desert.
There was no sign of any way down, but then she wasn't looking for
one. Anyone seeking to travel on foot through the Desert of Burning
Desires would have a remarkably short trip. Instead, she focused her
mind and sent her thoughts winging out across the desert. Off in
the distance, two dots appeared, dots that came steadily closer and
closer. Presently, two gleaming silver swans of her desiring hovered
on either side of her, staring at her from cool, jade-colored eyes,
wings flapping lazily in the still air. She inclined her head, then
leaped lightly up and seized the birds by the neck, one in each hand.
The swans, in no way discommoded by her weight, rose smoothly into
the air and flew off across the scarlet sands, heading toward the
mountains rising sheer and stark in the distance.

     She hung quietly between the two birds, letting her mind drift
unfocused. This high above the desert, there was little danger, as
long as she kept her mind free from strong desires. Below, the sands
swirled and heaved restlessly. A dull, smoke-colored light hung over
the ground, shaping itself into the restless forms of the moaning,
tormented spirits trapped in that desolate region. Now, reacting
to the nearness of a thinking being, the shapes began to assume
more varied forms, appearing one instant only to be gone the next,
reflecting the inchoate wishes of her unconscious mind. Ignoring the
display below, the travelers proceeded apace, the mountains growing
ever larger before them, until it could be seen clearly that the rocky
peaks had been hewn into enormous stone faces. As they approached the
end of their flight, disaster struck. For some minutes, the sands
ahead had been flowing together, forming a great mound directly in
their path, while Persephone slept and Setsuna gazed off into the
distance, unseeing. Now the mound began to mold itself into a gigantic
figure of a man. He appeared tall and slim; the corners of his mouth
quirked into a smile, while his hooded gaze hinted at a burden of
dangerous secrets, and a solitary sorrow. The colossus raised a hand
to intercept them.

     Persephone woke from her doze, troubled by a nagging feeling of
wrongness. She opened her eyes to see the enormous hand preparing to
snatch them from the sky. She yowled in alarm and dug her claws into
Setsuna's shoulder. "Setsuna! Open your eyes, now!"

     The Senshi opened her eyes hastily. For a moment, she had lost
track of where she was, and her eyes widened as she caught sight of
the figure before her. "Rheandor," she whispered happily. Then the
full awareness of their situation caught up with her, and, forcing
down her panic, she concentrated on making the swans climb higher. For
a few desperate moments, she thought she had left it too late, but the
grasping fingers missed her dangling feet by mere inches.

     The effort of the sudden ascent had taken a great deal out of her
winged bearers, and they began slanting back down toward the ground.
Fortunately, they were near the end of the desert, and she saw that
they would make it safely into the tumbled boulders at the foothills
of the great mountain range.

     Setsuna hit the ground rolling, while Persephone managed to leap
clear and land neatly on a nearby rock, whereupon she immediately
began to groom herself. Free of their charges, the swans flew off,
honking angrily in a manner that Persephone, for one, thought was
entirely uncalled for. She broke off washing herself when the sounds
of Setsuna's sobs reached her. She jumped down and padded over to her
longtime companion, then curled up against her huddled form.

     "It's all right," she said gently.

     "Twenty thousand years." Setsuna raised her tear-streaked face.
"It's been twenty thousand years and I'm still not over it, to the
point that I nearly got us killed, and our souls trapped."

     The cat merely rubbed her face against Setsuna's, until the woman
obeyed her unspoken imperative and picked her up. "You were married
for seven thousand years," Persephone pointed out mildly. One of their
rules had long been not to discuss this topic, but this was obviously
not the time to quibble. "Frankly, I'd have been disappointed in
you if you had managed to get over it, especially not knowing what
happened there at the end."

     Setsuna hugged the cat to her, a mild indignity that Persephone
put up with. "Where could he be?" she asked forlornly. "If he'd
died, or gone beyond, the Lords of Death would have told me. My
monitoring spells have checked every birth in the Solar System for
twenty thousand years; if he had gone straight into rebirth, I would
have found him. He hasn't used the Gate, or even accessed his powers
anywhere in the galaxy. Where did he go? And why did he leave at such
a crucial point, with just one obscure message?"

     "I don't know. I just know that he did what he thought was
necessary," the cat said steadily. "He loved you and your daughter too
well to have done this unless he had no other choice."

     "I know. It still leaves me, here and now, without him, or my
only child." She stood up, fighting back a fatigue more mental and
spiritual than physical. "If he did what he had to do, how can I do
any less?" And the two began the wearisome trek up into the mountains
in the Land of the Stone-Faced Gods.

     Eventually, they came to the base of one of the great faces. Not
even Setsuna knew how old these carvings were, yet they showed no sign
of weathering. "You see who that looks like?"

     "Yes, I do, Persephone. It's odd - I don't recall Tyddo being one
of the faces here before. I suppose we should take that as a sign?"

     "Probably. Is there a tunnel between the lips there?"

     "Of course. Well - shall we go?" With that, Setsuna leaped into
the tunnel and began the long slide downward. She lay on her back with
her legs drawn up, trusting to the fuku to protect her from abrasion,
while Persephone crouched on her chest. It wasn't quite the least
dignified position she'd ever found herself in, but it wasn't far off,
and she was glad the other Senshi weren't around.

     Eventually the tunnel debouched onto the floor of the valley
guarded by the mountain range they had just slid through. "The Valley
of the Ten Thousand Oms Unfolded," Setsuna murmured, brushing herself
off. Despite the importance of their mission, she took a moment to
breathe in the heady fragrance of the air. At their feet, a path
wound its way through a meadow of emerald green, past a still lake
reflecting the deep cloudless blue of the sky, and on to the temple in
the center of the valley. The scene was one of the utmost tranquility;
not even a breath of wind disturbed the glassy surface of the water.
They walked along the path as the sun started to sink below the
horizon, and the very soil around began to glow with a clear white
luminescence, while ahead of them the temple shone in the twilight.

     They entered the temple, and Persephone jumped down from
Setsuna's shoulder. Together they paced through the quiet halls,
Setsuna's footsteps echoing in the stillness, while around them the
walls and pillars of the temple seemed to vibrate at a single steady
frequency. Setsuna kept her eyes straight ahead, refusing to be
distracted - though the temple seemed solid enough, she knew it was in
fact a single thought-form. In the world she had come from few would
have been able to sense such a thing, no matter how powerful it was,
but here in this realm it was the most real and tangible thing for
many miles around. She came to the great hall and stopped, for there
on a dais rested the softly glowing Bodhisattva Jukebox, looking for
all the world like an old Wurlitzer carved from a single immense piece
of clear jade.



Then the local paper jumped the gun,
And printed a big headline,
"Town is saved from killer car
With roadblock at state line!"

Ibid.



     "Well, shall we begin?" Persephone asked, with what would
certainly have been a smirk on a human face.

     "All right, all right," Setsuna said, a bit testily. Reaching
into a subspace pocket, she pulled out the Change Purse of Time.

     Enki, Lord of Wisdom, second most powerful member of the High
Council of Atlantis, had been a man of great perspicacity and
foresight. He had also had an odd sense of humor. He had discovered
the Gate of Time, and crafted the Staff of Time for its Guardian. He
had forged the Silence Glaive, the Space Sword, the Deep Aqua Mirror,
and the Garnet Orb, and inspired the creation of the ginzuishou.
Perhaps most notably, he had discovered the first two Hidden Worlds,
and spearheaded the effort to create Gaea, the third and greatest, in
the waning days of Atlantis, before the Shadow brought about its end.

     He had also, for reasons best known to himself, created the
Change Purse of Time.

     The artifact in question was, on the outside, at least, a small,
black leather purse. Inside was a small, highly specialized version
of the original Time Gate. By concentrating, Setsuna could reach into
the purse and take out any coin that had ever been irretrievably lost
(this proviso ensuring that its removal wouldn't disturb the time
stream).

     She could pull out Atlantean elets, the chiming, crystalline
seteks of the Moon Kingdom, or the weighty aramanels of Hyperborea,
forged of the red gold they loved so well. She could pull out oboloi
or tetradrachms, denarii or sestertii, karshapana or zhu or staters
by the score. She could have had all the Susan B. Anthony dollars she
could ever want, had she actually ever wanted any. She could even have
pulled out a few of the great multi-ton stone coins carved by the
inhabitants of the island of Yap, though they would have been even
less useful than the Susan B. Anthony dollars, at least after the Yap
culture was nearly wiped out in a horrific accident involving the
world's largest vending machine. As it was, she simply reached in and
pulled out an American buffalo head nickel. Setsuna dropped the nickel
into the slot, and pressed the first selection.

     For a long moment they heard nothing. Yet while they stood and
listened to nothing, something was happening. There suddenly sprang,
from the body of the jukebox, a thousand arms and hands, bursting out
like an aura of dazzling rays. Setsuna's breath caught in her throat.
In the palm of each hand, an eye appeared, and looked at them. The
whole jukebox became an all-penetrating eye of wisdom, looking down
upon the suffering in this world of ours. And Setsuna became filled
with such profound compassion, that in a sudden overwhelming desire to
help beings toward liberation her head burst into innumerable heads.
And the tears streamed down from her eyes. And the arms of the jukebox
moved slowly, and the hands opened and closed, and the eye in the palm
of each hand watched them. And Setsuna understood.

     She finally dragged herself back from that timeless moment, and
forced herself to concentrate on the task at hand. She looked down
at Persephone beside her as she tried to steady herself, and noted
without surprise that the cat seemed completely unaffected. She had
asked Persephone about that once, and the cat had declared it was
because she was a cat, and, like most cats, naturally an enlightened
being. Setsuna had never been quite sure whether to believe her or
not.

     She brought her eyes back up to return the gaze of the jukebox
and inserted a dime, asking, "Is what Lord Tyddo hinted at correct? Is
Ranma Saotome the key to the Awakening of Nimir?"

     For a few moments, nothing happened. Then the music started
playing, and the song began.

          He went away and you hung around
          And bothered me every night;
          And, when I wouldn't go out with you,
          You said things that weren't very nice.

          My boyfriend's back and you're gonna be in trouble.
          (Hey-la, hey-la, my boyfriend's back)
          When you see him comin', better cut out on the double.
          (Hey-la, hey-la, my boyfriend's back)

     The song played through to the end while Setsuna and Persephone
started at each other in growing perplexity. When it finished,
Persephone asked hesitantly, "Was that a yes or a no?"

     "I'm - not sure," Setsuna admitted. "This is why I hate oracles."
When the song began, her mind had immediately flashed to Rheandor,
but how could that be? She had been present at Ranma's birth, and
had verified what she had suspected would be the case - Ranma's was
a newly created soul in its first incarnation. He was not Rheandor
reborn. Nor was there any other sign of Rheandor's return. "Let's
think it through. The 'boyfriend' could certainly refer to Ranma,
given his tangled love life. The fact that there's going to be trouble
could be confirming that he might help bring about the Awakening."

     "It says 'he's awful strong,'" Persephone mused. "That would
fit. But the whole point is that his coming back is treated as a good
thing; that doesn't fit in with the Awakening."

     "That must mean that he's the key to the whole thing," Setsuna
said with growing sureness. "He can either help bring about Crystal
Tokyo, if we handle things correctly, or the Awakening, if we misstep.
It confirms what Tyddo said."

     Persephone looked dubious, but held her peace.

     "What do we need to do to set events on the course for the
Crystal Millennium, and to avoid the Awakening?" Setsuna addressed the
jukebox once more.

          Earth Angel, Earth Angel,     
          Will you be mine?
          My darling dear,
          Love you all the time.
          I'm just a fool,
          A fool in love with you.

          Earth Angel, Earth Angel,
          The one I adore.
          Love you forever,
          And ever more.
          I'm just a fool,
          A fool in love with you.

     "That wasn't much help."

     "I know." Setsuna frowned. "That was either obvious to the point
of uselessness, or so obscure it's gone completely over my head."

     "You've got one more play for your dime."

     "Right. Maybe I need to narrow it down a little. Should I send
Ranma to the Masakis to make the Jurai connection?"

          If you have the time, would you keep me in mind?
          Mind you, I only want to treat you kind.
          If you're all alone, would you pick up the phone,
          And dial the number that you know
          Will bring back the glow
          That's been gone for such a long, long time?

          I feel like I'm just acting like a fool,
          Talking to my pillow, once a happy fellow was I.
          I know that I'll get over you if I have to,
          But do I have to?
          I don't want to spend another day being so far away
          From the girl that I love.

     "That has to be yes, right?" Setsuna said uncertainly. "Having
the time could refer to closing the time loop, just as we were
planning."

     "Unless the singer is supposed to be Ranma, in which case the bit
about being far away from the girl he loves would argue against the
whole Jurai business," the cat pointed out. "What bothers me is that
the jukebox just played the Monkees. I thought it was only supposed to
be Fifties tunes?"

     "It is," Setsuna said, "at least in this time period. I don't
know what that means."

     "Try another dime."

     Setsuna complied dubiously. "Could you be a little clearer?
Should we involve Ranma with Jurai?"

          If I could turn back time,
          If I could find a way,
          I'd take back those words that hurt you and you'd stay.

          I don't know why I did the things I did.
          I don't know why I said the things I said.
          Love's like a knife it can cut deep inside.
          Words are like weapons, they wound sometimes.

     "This isn't helping any."

     "I know." Setsuna grimaced. "It seems to relate, especially the
bit about turning back time, but does it refer to the time loop, or
to the fact that we'll regret it and want to take it back if we go
ahead?"

     "Let's keep going."

          If I only knew what I know
          I would not have done what I did.
          You said all along I was wrong,
          But I went and did it anyway.
          Yes, I went and did it anyway.

          But if only... (you should listen)
          But if only... (stop and think)

          I was in control (so I thought)
          With a foolproof plan - what a joke!
          Proving what a fool I can be
          As it all exploded in my face.
          Whatever made me do it anyway?

          But if only... (time's a-wasting)
          But if only... (Just move on)
          But if only... (No use chasing)
          But if only... (What is gone)

     Persephone nearly yowled in frustration. "It's certainly warning
us about something, but what?"

     Setsuna's mouth twisted. "We definitely either should or
shouldn't go ahead with our plans, that seems clear. I'll try the last
one."

          If only we could turn our heads
          Into melons,
          Then we could squeeze them
          And they would produce
          Delicious juice.

          If only we could turn our heads
          Into breads
          Then we could slice ourselves up
          And make sandwiches.

          If only we could turn our heads
          Into cheeses
          We could jump into a mushroom omelet
          And make it taste
          Oh so much better.

          If only we could turn our heads
          Into leaves of lettuce
          Hanging out in the salad bowl
          With tomatoes and carrots
          Some blue cheese dressing on top
          That would be quite fine, I think,
          If only we could do that.

          But we can not.
          We can not turn our heads
          Into any kind of food at all.
          It simply cannot be done.
          We must look elsewhere for answers.

     Setsuna turned on her heel and stalked out of the temple. "That
was clear enough, at least. We won't find any answers here. I don't
know why Tyddo suggested it."

     Persephone trailed behind at a more leisurely pace. "I'm not so
sure. Remember what Frieda told us?"

     "That business about the alternate futures?"

     "Exactly," Persephone said sedately. "It struck me that the last
four selections all had one element in common - the word 'if'. I think
there's a connection."

     Outside the temple, the sun had set, and the stars glittered
overhead in patterns unfamiliar to the inhabitants of Earth. Setsuna
stopped to consider the cat's words. "You think the jukebox is telling
us Ranma has been infused with so much chaos it can offer no useful
advice, and that we should consider another way of looking ahead?"

     "I think it's worth a try."

     With a pensive expression, Setsuna raised her hand and focused
her will once more. Before her appeared the great oaken door through
which they had entered this world. Picking up Persephone, she pushed
the door open and stepped through, back into the interior of the
fourth tower. She began ascending the stairs once more, heading
upwards. She passed several landings, looking for the door that had
the correct feel. She had never been this high in the tower before,
and she was mildly interested to note that she was now the only one on
the stairs. Finally, she came to a door that seemed to call out to her
as she neared it.

     She stopped in front of the great oaken door, recalling Frieda's
words. "What will happen if I cut short my plans for Ranma Saotome?"
she murmured. She pushed the door open and stepped through - into
blackness.



Three miles down the highway
In a Chevy '69,
Were a pair of crazy eyeballs
Jumping left and right in time
To an eight-track tape playing Foghat and Jethro Tull,
And a gasoline-soaked hand shifting a little plastic skull,
And on the arm a blue tattoo that read,
"I'm a son of a bitch,"
A map open on the front seat,
Leather, black as pitch,
One foot slammed on the gas, no shoe,
Just an argyle sock,
And that car was screaming wild down the highway,
Like lightning toward the roadblock.
Right towards the roadblock.

Ibid.



     The sudden change disoriented her. For a moment, she didn't
realize what had happened. Air rushed from her lungs as she became
conscious of a sensation of extreme cold.

     Had Setsuna needed to direct her powers, she might well have
died then and there. As it was, a field of retrograde time popped
into existence around her, protecting her and Persephone from the
encroaching vacuum with a thin layer of warm atmosphere.

     After a few seconds, her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and she
looked around. They were standing on a street corner in an unknown
city, surrounded by buildings of a design she didn't recognize.
Many of the structures appeared to have been shattered by some
great explosive force, but it was hard to glean many details, since
everything in sight was covered by a foot-thick blanket of snow. This
sight was immediately eclipsed by her first glimpse of the sky.

     It was black, a deeper black than she had seen in thousands of
years. Even the clearest, darkest night sky on Earth was somewhat
softened by the atmosphere. This sky was a harsh, almost glittering
black, in sharp contrast to the thousands upon thousands of stars
gleaming steadily above her. A full moon rode high in the sky; though
its surface could be seen much more clearly than normal, it was,
curiously, rather dimmer than in bygone days, in contrast to the
increased brilliance of the stars.

     Save for the odd dimness of the moon, it was a sight that only a
few people on Earth had seen, but she knew it instantly - the sky of
an airless planet. Somehow, the Earth had lost its atmosphere, and as
she glanced down at her feet, she understood why. Heat leakage from
her shield was causing the snow around her to boil away into gas and
disappear, for what looked like ordinary snow was in fact the oxygen,
nitrogen, and trace gases that normally made up the planet's air
supply. She and Persephone stood staring dumbly at the ground for some
moments. She roused herself and looked around, her eyes falling on the
featureless mounds on the sidewalk around her. She crouched down and
held out a hand to one of the hummocks, to confirm what she already
knew. The frozen air boiled away, and she found herself looking at
a small girl, still clutched in her mother's arms, as the woman had
striven to shield her daughter from the death that had overtaken them.
She rose to her feet, stoically ignoring the pinprick pains where
Persephone's claws dug into her shoulder as the cat struggled to
retain her balance and her composure.

     "Is there anyone left alive?" the cat asked, trembling with an
inward chill reflecting the harsh conditions just a few inches away.

     Setsuna closed her eyes and concentrated. All living things
caused ripples and eddies in the time stream, sentient beings more
than most. Normally the sheer amount of life on the Earth made this
fact but a bit of useless trivia. Now though.... She extended her
senses as widely as she could, and came up with an answer more quickly
than she had expected. "Besides the two of us, I can sense only
one living being in the entire Solar System. I suspect it is not a
coincidence that we are only a short distance from that single life
form," she said grayly.

     Setsuna turned and plodded numbly away in the direction of that
solitary reading, leaving behind a trail of steaming footprints. She
was no stranger to scenes of horror and devastation; she could still
vividly recall walking in much the same manner through the ruins of
the Moon Kingdom. In similar fashion had she skirted the bodies of the
fallen in the aftermath of Tamerlane, Genghis Khan, and Hitler. The
scale of this catastrophe, though, was so much beyond anything she had
ever seen that she couldn't manage to take it in.

     She had traversed five blocks before she saw the huddled shape
slumped on the curb, the only human figure not shrouded in white. As
she came closer, the figure looked up, and Setsuna saw, with no real
surprise, that the face it wore was her own.

     "Begone, phantom," the other Setsuna said wearily. "I'll end this
miserable existence soon enough - there is no point in tormenting me
further."

     "I am no phantom," Setsuna responded, "nor am I here to torment
you. I came here to have a question answered."

     Now the other Setsuna looked agitated. "You fool," she said in a
tone freighted with despair. "My only hope was some alternate choice
might replace this timeline. Now you've established this line, and
trapped yourself as well, so you can never return to change things."
Her gaze went to the cat on Setsuna's shoulder. "Persephone?" her
voice trembled. "Oh, Persephone. I miss you so much." The cat simply
pulled herself into a smaller ball on Setsuna's shoulder, seriously
shaken by all that she had seen.

     Her brow wrinkling, Setsuna asked, "What do you mean I'm
trapped?"

     "Try to access the Time Gate, or the sanctum, or anything outside
this point in space and time."

     Setsuna cast her mind out and located the Gate, the source of
much of her power. She triggered the reflex that created a portal and
felt - nothing. She blinked and tried again. Nothing. She tried to
transport herself to her sanctum, the home she kept for herself just
outside normal reality, and failed. Her concern mounting, she tried to
send herself to any of the major loci she knew - Tsunami's chamber on
Jurai, the Ultimate Game on Summa Nulla, the imperial necropolis on
Raalgon - to no avail.

     "No good, is it?" her counterpart said with an air almost of
gloomy satisfaction. "Only to be expected, of course," as she held out
a handful of dully glinting shards.

     It was all Setsuna could do to stare open-mouthed at the display,
so it was left to Persephone to voice their common shock. "Th- th-
that's the ginzuishou!"

     "Got it in one."

     "But - but - what happened, Setsuna? Or whatever you've been
calling yourself most recently?"

     "I came out of stasis and found it lying on Usagi's body," the
other Setsuna said distantly.

     Setsuna pressed her fingers against her temples, half-afraid
that her head would choose to burst into tiny fragments if she didn't
hold it together. "Could you please start from the beginning and
explain what's happened? Preferably before I go stark staring mad? In
particular, what did you end up doing about Ranma?"

     "Eh? Oh, certainly, certainly." Her counterpart looked around
vaguely before dropping the crystal fragments into a pocket. "What
time period are you from?"

     "We're from 1997. The Senshi just defeated the Death Phantom, and
sent Chibi-Usa back to Crystal Tokyo."

     "So you are indeed Setsuna. My current name is Remi, Remi
Sakamoto." Remi paused, trying to collect her scattered thoughts.
"This is the year 2096, a century after your time. You asked about
Ranma. Let me think - if I recall correctly, it was about your time
when Lord Tyddo warned me about bringing on the Awakening." Noting
Setsuna's nod, she continued. "After I consulted the Bodhisattva
Jukebox, I decided to ease up on Ranma. I chose not to complete the
Juraian connection, and ended up letting Ranma have a more or less
normal life - normal for him. I even allowed him to get married and
have children."

     Her voice began to take on some life as she seemed to gather
herself together. "He and his wife raised quite a little troop of
martial artists, and they were all there to support their father
when it came time. I hoped that their sheer numbers could make the
difference in the final confrontation." She glanced at the desolation
around them. "Obviously I was wrong."

     "But what happened?"

     "Of course, I don't know exactly." Remi correctly interpreted
Setsuna's expression and explained. "It was a number of years
after your time when Persephone - my Persephone - pointed out
that I couldn't actually be present for the finale. It had become
increasingly clear from the fragments our psychics could glean that
the crisis was connected to our enemies gaining at least some measure
of control over the ginzuishou, and therefore the Senshi themselves.
What we were building towards was a team that could defeat the Senshi
and their unknown masters. If I were in this universe when the battle
began, the chances were great that I would be taken over too, and
the enemy would then know everything I had done to fight them, and
perhaps even gain control over the Gate of Time to undo what I had
accomplished. I remained in my sanctum, and went so far as to put
myself in stasis so as to take no chances.

     "Persephone wanted to stay behind. She said one of us needed
to know what was going on, and that she would be safe enough since
she was not a Senshi, and hence was at least somewhat immune to the
ginzuishou's control. I shouldn't have let her, but...." She fell
silent and looked at Persephone. "You always could talk me into
anything you wished.

     "I can only conjecture as to what happened. The battle took place
here in Tokyo, and was apparently quite violent, though short-lived.
At some point, the enemy, whoever or whatever they might be, made use
of the ginzuishou, which emitted a field of pure killing force. I
don't know," she said parenthetically, "if it was their intent or
not - it may even have been some hidden safeguard of the crystal
itself - you know Serenity and Usagi never tapped more than a fraction
of its power. In any event, everyone in the Solar System died instantly,
including the inhabitants of the Hidden Worlds. Even I, lying in
stasis in the sanctum, felt its power. I survived, but was gravely
wounded, so that it was quite some time before I could leave stasis
and come here to find out what had happened. I transported myself
here, a much more difficult feat than I had expected, and found -
this," she said, encompassing the scene around her with a sweeping
gesture. "When I arrived, I found that the destruction of the
ginzuishou had eliminated much of my abilities to control time and
space. Briefly, I'm trapped here, and so are you."

     "But what happened to the atmosphere?" Setsuna asked in
puzzlement.

     "Something, perhaps the ginzuishou, has damaged the Sun. If it
were up now, you'd see that it's only about as bright as the Moon used
to be. I'm not sure how long I was in stasis, but it was long enough
for the Earth to cool off to the point that most of the atmosphere has
frozen out." Remi frowned slightly. "It has occurred to me that this
effect might have been caused by someone trying to use the Sunstone to
amplify the ginzuishou's power."

     "It can't be," Setsuna protested. "The Sunstone's locked up in
the Vault, and Mother would have told me, er, you, if anyone had
managed to break in."

     "Mother's dead," Remi informed her bleakly. "She died some years
back."

     Setsuna was growing more and more agitated. "What! How could she
die? Didn't you check the Vault? If someone killed her and gained
access -"

     "Of course I checked it!" Remi snapped. "If you thought of it,
why would you think I wouldn't? Everything seemed fine; I saw no
indication that anything had been disturbed, and I still don't know
for sure that anything had been. As for Mother's death - gods, she's
been half-dead for centuries. Is it so surprising that she should
finally give up and go to be with Father again?"

     "Setsuna! Remi! Stop it!" Persephone said sharply. "This
bickering is pointless."

     Setsuna tried to calm herself. She couldn't argue with what her
future self was saying, but she was startled to realize how much the
news of her mother's death had shaken her. "Have you found out what
happened to her?"

     Remi shook her head. "She hasn't been reborn, and the Lords of
Death have refused to let me communicate with her. You know how they
can be."

     Setsuna stood silent for a few minutes, trying to digest all
she had seen and heard. Obviously her initial impulse to cut back on
her plans for Ranma were badly mistaken, yet the alternative of just
going ahead and risking the Awakening was unthinkable. What did that
leave? She was roused from her brooding by the voice of the cat on her
shoulder.

     "What will you do now?"

     "I don't know. I had rather expected Tsunami or one of the other
deities in the area to come around checking things out. It's a bit
worrying, really. It makes me wonder just how far the power of the
ginzuishou extended."

     "You don't mean -" Setsuna boggled, "you don't think that it
might have wiped out all life in this sector? Or even in the whole
galaxy?"

     Remi shrugged. "I don't know, and I don't know how to find out."
She drew her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around her
legs. "It doesn't really matter. You may do as you please. As for
myself - I've failed my queen. I've failed everyone who was depending
on me. There is nothing left for me."

     "Well, I'm not giving up," Setsuna declared firmly. "This outcome
may be almost as bad as the Awakening, but there's a way to beat it.
All I have to do is go back and keep looking."

     "Didn't you hear me?" asked her future self grimly. "You're
trapped here, with no access to the Gate."

     "But I didn't come here through the Gate."

     "What?" She looked up quickly, hope openly warring with disbelief
on her countenance.

     "I came here through the fourth tower, at Frieda's suggestion,"
Setsuna began. Seeing the obvious perplexity on the familiar face
across from her, she explained how she had come to this dead city
seeking an answer to her dilemma.

     "I never unburdened myself to Frieda, so she never told me
anything." Remi shot to her feet in growing excitement. "Can you still
get back to the tower?"

     "I think so," Setsuna said, infected in spite of herself by her
counterpart's enthusiasm. "I can still feel the doorway's presence."
She started to concentrate, then stopped. "I'd better not take a
chance on moving it; it might be safer to go back to it."

     They walked back along the trail of Setsuna's footprints. Remi
had conquered her initial giddiness and now seemed to be mulling the
situation over. Setsuna struggled to suppress her worries over their
possible return, while Persephone practiced looking inscrutable.

     They stopped before the great wooden door that stood, alone and
unsupported, in the darkened street. Setsuna turned to her other self,
searching for the words to express the things she felt, yet knowing
all the while that no words were necessary. Before she could say
anything, Remi spoke.

     "There's one thing I'd like you to do for me." She hesitated,
then went on, "If this were a normal case of going back to your own
time to set things right, I wouldn't worry about myself - I'd know
that this timeline would simply be reset. If this experience really is
akin to astral travel, then perhaps this whole world will never have
existed. In case neither of those things comes to pass, I want you to
take my starseed."

     "What? That would kill you!"

     "I was going to kill myself anyway," Remi pointed out gravely.
"My primary concern, however, is to help you avoid this outcome. I
propose to imprint all of my memories of what led us to this pass on
my starseed. If you take it and absorb it, you may be able to use them
to figure out what to do."

     While Setsuna tried to formulate a response, Persephone fixed
Remi with a glittering eye, saying, "And have you considered what will
happen to this world if the starseed of its Time Guardian is actually
removed from the timeline?"

     "It may well cease to exist," she replied calmly. "That's what
I want. If this world is in any sense real, I don't want to take the
slightest risk that it might affect your chances at avoiding this
catastrophe. I've already copied my memories over. Please," she said,
her voice dropping almost to a whisper, "end this, then go back and
prevent it from ever happening."

     Biting her lower lip, Setsuna studied the woman who was in many
ways herself for some moments before nodding abruptly. "Very well."
Her hand flashed out and plunged into Remi's chest, eliciting a
startled gasp from the other woman. As her hand emerged holding the
glowing starseed, Remi's knees buckled.

     The dying woman managed to gasp out her thanks before collapsing
to the frozen pavement. Averting her eyes from the sight of what
decompression and instant freezing were doing to the body, Setsuna
placed the starseed over her heart and pressed it into her chest. For
a brief moment her vision doubled, and she heard a great multitude of
voices, some human, some otherwise, whispering to her. The whispering
rose in a mighty crescendo to a deafening roar, then fell away to
silence.

     "Are you all right?" she heard Persephone anxiously inquire.

     "Yes - yes, I'm fine," she said, a little shakily. Putting out
her hand, she pushed the door open and stepped through into the fourth
tower.

     As she crossed the threshold, the silent city behind her suddenly
vanished, and she was nearly blown back through the door into oblivion
by the fierce wind that sprang up, blowing through into the void
beyond the doorway. Persephone yowled in fright and leaped down to
take shelter behind the door itself. Exerting her not inconsiderable
strength, Setsuna forced the heavy wooden slab closed. She stood
there, head bowed, one hand resting on the door, shaken by what
she had seen. It was one thing to contemplate the prospect of the
wholesale destruction that might result from her failure, quite
another to see the horrific result. Realizing that she had been
holding her breath for some time, she exhaled, her shoulders sagging
with the release of the tension that had gripped her.

     The question she faced now was - had it been worth it? Had she
gained anything in exchange for the risk she had taken? She reached
within herself, probing for the memories that should have come with
her.

     To her surprise, she found something else. Where she had expected
to find the memories of the other Pluto, she found - another mind.
Before her mental gaze, she sensed it begin to stir, and sent a probe
lancing toward it, demanding its identity.

     "It's - it's me," the other being sent back weakly, though the
strength of the thoughts increased steadily. "Remi Sakamoto."

     Setsuna blinked. "But why? Galaxia's running around taking
starseeds right and left, and nothing like this has ever happened."

     "I don't know," her alternate self confessed. "Perhaps because
I tried to make sure all my memories of the last century were
imprinted on the starseed. Perhaps because this all took place within
the confines of the fourth tower. Nevertheless, here I am." Remi
hesitated. "I'm sorry. I really didn't intend this."

     "I know," Setsuna thought with a sigh. "Who better? Well, I tried
to kill you once, and I won't pretend I'm not glad I failed - I'm
certainly not going to try again. The important point is that we have
what we wanted - the knowledge that might help prevent the world you
came from." She smiled slightly. "You might as well make yourself at
home. After all, if Brookite and Adamite can manage to co-exist with
their human counterparts, I see no reason we can't do likewise. We do
have a lot in common."

     "Setsuna! What is going on?" Persephone demanded imperiously.
"Why are you just standing here?"

     "I guess you could say I've picked up a hitchhiker," Setsuna said
wryly, before going on to explain the curious turn of events.

     "Oh, wonderful," the cat groaned. "As if riding herd on one of
you wasn't hard enough!"

     Setsuna smiled briefly, then turned serious. "We need to decide
what we're going to do to forestall Remi's future."

     "Since our original plan wouldn't work, and Remi's idea of
cutting back didn't work either, I assume we need to create an even
more powerful team to oppose the Senshi," Persephone said, yawning.

     "No. Remember, we know that if I involve myself too closely
in the details, all chance of a favorable outcome disappears. If
the answer were as simple as lining up as many friendly deities and
demigods as we could manage to enlist in order to overpower the
Senshi, it wouldn't matter if I knew or not. I think we need to make
our response more chaotic and less predictable." Setsuna frowned.
"Which is a problem, since we are, by nature, servants of Order."

     Borrowing Setsuna's voice, Remi completed her thought.
"Therefore, for best results, we should go to an expert in Chaos."

     Persephone's eyes widened. "You don't mean - but she threatened
to kill you if she ever saw you again!"

     "Yes, well, that was twenty-five thousand years ago," Setsuna
said brightly. "I'm sure she's gotten over it by now." She looked down
at the small orange tabby sitting in front of her. "You don't have to
come along. I know you have a problem with her."

     The cat shivered slightly. "A problem. That's one way to put it.
No, someone has to take care of you two, and that's my job."

     "Then let's be off to the Realm of Chaos." Setsuna gestured,
and the Time Staff appeared in her hand. "Hear me, Nycteris, Lady of
Chaos," she intoned, in a clear, strong voice. "We come before you
as humble supplicants, to beseech your aid." Another gesture, and a
glowing vortex manifested itself. The Senshi and the cat leaped in,
and the vortex vanished.



Then all eyes turned down the highway
To a big cloud of smoke,
And Granny went into a mild state of shock,
And started to choke.
And a boy in a tree yelled out, "Here it comes!"
And twenty men strong aimed and fired point-blank
Nineteen shotguns.

Ibid.



     They found themselves standing in Nycteris' throne room, a
surprisingly small, almost cozy room that seemed to have decorated by
Salvador Dali. It was the most stable spot in all of Chaos, though that
wasn't saying much. Some of the curious objects around her seemed to be
furniture, although in Setsuna's experience chairs and tables didn't
normally melt and flow from one form to another before one's eyes,
changing color as they did so. It was rather like being inside a large
lava lamp, she thought. And while Setsuna was quite fond of looking
at lava lamps - indeed, her sanctum boasted the world's largest
collection of lava lamps - she found it somewhat disconcerting to be
inside one.

     While Setsuna and Persephone didn't change shape, they were
both affected by the tides of color that swept the room unceasingly.
A blue-skinned Senshi turned to the only stable object in the room,
a woman sitting on what she assumed, for lack of information to the
contrary, to be a throne, although it currently resembled a loaf of
bread that had been heavily trodden on. The woman seated on said
object was tall and lean, with hair and skin as white as bleached
bone. She was clad in simple black robes, and the only part of her
that possessed any color was her eyes, which changed as the room did.
Currently they burned blood red as she smiled coldly upon her two
visitors.

     "My dear Selamanra," she said with seeming delight. "And you've
brought your darling little pet. After the contretemps that marred our
last visit I was afraid I might not get to see you again. You didn't
seem very pleased with me at the time. How's the Moon Kingdom, then?
Still flourishing, is it?"

     Persephone huddled at Setsuna's feet, unwilling to draw any
notice to herself. Setsuna gazed back fearlessly at the ruler of
Chaos. "The Moon Kingdom fell long ago, as we both knew it would. I
apologize for trying to involve you in its affairs. I know now that we
were too solidly entrenched on the side of Order to have lasted in any
event."

     "So, wisdom comes at last, even to the Daughter of Wisdom,"
said Nycteris, almost snarling the title. She quickly regained her
composure, continuing with an air of apparent bewilderment, "And
yet I thought I heard you asking for my help just now. I liked the
invocation, by the way," she digressed, "especially the part about
being humble supplicants. Gave me quite a chuckle, that did."

     "Yes, I have come to ask for your help," Setsuna responded
quietly. "It's more than just Crystal Tokyo at stake here, though. The
lives of everyone on Earth, in the whole Solar System, perhaps even in
the entire galaxy, hang in the balance."

     "And that matters to me - how?" Nycteris asked, eyebrows raised.
"The human race is admittedly a valuable source of diversions, but
there are other races almost as amusing."

     "You were human once, if the stories are true."

     "Once. Fifty thousand years ago. Now?" She shrugged. "Still, I
might be inclined to assist, if -" her eyes narrowed, "if you can come
up with a reason why I should assist you, of all people, O blessed
Selamanra, heir to Lord Enki," her voice dropped to a hiss, "and Lord
Nergal!"

     Setsuna started. That Nycteris knew her birth name, something
known to only a handful of people these days, was to be expected -
she had still been using her original name when she had gone to ask
for aid in saving the Moon Kingdom. That Nycteris knew she was the
inheritor of the power of Lord Enki was not too surprising - anyone
who knew much of the history of Atlantis could have figured that out.
But Nycteris had referred to her as heir to Lord Nergal, so-called
Lord of Death - only Setsuna's parents, her husband, Persephone, and
Queen Serenity had known that. Could Nycteris have had contact with
Rheandor?

     "You seem surprised," Nycteris noted. "Apparently you haven't
done your research. I said I was fifty thousand years old."

     Of course, Setsuna realized. That would mean she had actually
been born in the heyday of Atlantis. But why would the mention of Lord
Nergal's name evoke such hostility? Unless - "Who were your parents?"

     "Very good," the mistress of Chaos said approvingly. "I'm glad
to see you're not TOO slow. My parents were Nergal, Lord of Death,
and Ereshkigal, Lady of Night." She noticed Setsuna's face paling
and bared her teeth in what might have passed for a smile with an
uncritical audience. "That's right, Lord Nergal, whom Enki conspired
to send to his death so that the bitch queen, Inanna, could steal
his power in order to destroy my mother. And you dare to come here,
bearing Enki's power and the power you stole from my father, the power
that should have been mine, to ask for my help for your precious
Neo-Queen Serenity, heir to Inanna! I should strike you down here and
now!"

     She had nearly shouted those last words. Now she leaned back
on her throne and gentled her voice. "But I'm being an ungracious
hostess. I haven't even heard your request yet," Nycteris purred. "Let
us be fair about this. You are, after all, both Lady Wisdom and Lady
Death. I shouldn't just reject your plea out of hand. And yet," she
said, with a troubled look that seemed almost sincere, "do you deserve
those high and lofty titles? I wonder. I really need to assure myself
that you are worthy. Not that there's any real doubt, of course," she
hastened to add, "but these things should be done properly.

     "Let's see." She pretended to ponder her problem. "Ah, I have it.
Perhaps a simple demonstration of your worthiness is in order. If you
can pass two simple tests, I will consider helping you."

     Setsuna knew she had little choice but to agree, even though her
chances were likely to be slim. She nodded silently.

     "The first test," the Lady of Chaos announced, "will examine your
fitness to be Lord Enki's successor." Her eyes narrowed. "Now what
would be appropriate? Ah, I have it. Since we both love a mystery,
I'll give you an easy one. In your capacity as the Lady of Wisdom,"
she leaned forward to look intently at Setsuna, "I charge you to give
me the answer I seek. Name the seven dwarfs."

     Setsuna stared at her in disbelief. "What?"

     "You heard me," Nycteris said gravely. "What is your answer?"

     Setsuna's thoughts whirled. Could it really be as simple as
reciting a piece of movie trivia? There had to be some trick involved.

     "There is," Remi's mental voice informed her. "You notice she
named you in your capacity as the Lady of Wisdom, and she told you to
give her the answer she sought - not necessarily the correct one."

     "So am I supposed to read her mind?" Setsuna responded in
frustration.

     "I don't know. The only points that might help are these:
remember that she is the Lady of Chaos; and remember her sense of
humor."

     Setsuna noticed Nycteris staring at her intently, her eyes
seeming to glow in the pulsating light. So much was riding on this
answer. She thought she might have it, but the consequences if she
were wrong! She shook herself abruptly. Now she was falling into
Nycteris' trap. There were times when caution was the enemy of wisdom,
and this was likely one of them. "Very well," she said aloud. "Sleepy,
Bashful, Sneezy, Grumpy...." She hesitated as a cruel smile began to
twist Nycteris' lips, then realized that it was the best indication
she could have that her supposition was correct. She took a breath,
and concluded, "Jack, Doc, and Reggie."

     The predatory smile vanished from Nycteris' face, as she stared
at the Guardian of Time blankly. After a few moments, a real smile
appeared, and she chuckled in evident pleasure. "Very good, Selamanra.
I thought I had you there." Now the smile turned cold again, as she
fixed her supplicant with a minatory gaze. "The second and final part
of your test concerns your fitness to serve in my father's stead.
In your capacity as Lady of Death, I charge you - give me back my
father!" Despite her best efforts, a trace of real pain could be heard
in her words.

     Now Setsuna knew she was in trouble. If he had simply died, she
could have interceded with the Lords of Death. Instead, Lord Nergal
had passed beyond with the rest of the High Council. As part of the
effort to defeat the Shadow, he had sacrificed his very soul to help
create the ginzuishou, the weapon Inanna had wielded in fighting
the Shadow. If Lord Nergal still existed in any meaningful way, he
was forever beyond the reach of this universe. The only real way to
reunite the two would be to kill Nycteris, and then destroy her soul,
a feat that might, perhaps, be possible for the Guardian of Time, but
would obviously eliminate her chances to gain any substantive help
from the Lady of Chaos.

     Her future self could offer no help in this impasse. The only
chance Setsuna could see was to show Nycteris why her father had done
what he had. She wasn't sure she could convince her opponent, but
there seemed to be nothing else for it. With a sweeping gesture, she
opened a viewing portal to the Gate of Time. Before them now hung a
black rift in the very fabric of this curious reality. "Show us the
last meeting of the High Council of Atlantis!"

     The blackness dispersed to reveal a large room, with a great
table in the center, surrounded by eight chairs. To Setsuna's
surprise, instead of the eight Lords of the Council that she had
expected from her previous viewings of that pivotal final meeting,
only one man was seated at the table, a man whose ghost-white skin and
hair clearly showed his relationship to the startled Lady of Chaos. He
looked up at them with colorless eyes as a slight, sad smile crossed
his patrician features. "Hello, my dearest Nycteris."

     "This is some sort of trickery," Nycteris gasped, whirling to
confront Setsuna, but the startled look on the Senshi's face convinced
her that she, at least, was no party to any deception.

     "I cannot really see or hear you," Nergal continued. "Enki has
told me that he will arrange things somehow so that you may, at some
point, be able to see this message, and so that you will be the first
person to do so. I hope he is correct, for there are some things I
wish to tell you, and I shall not get another chance, I know.

     "It may occur to you to suspect that you are the victim of some
form of deception, but this is not so. Do you remember the stories we
told you of your childhood? Your mother always called you, 'our little
crawling chaos,' you were such a handful."

     Setsuna heard a gasp, quickly suppressed. When she glanced at
Nycteris, she saw the face of a woman so rigidly focused on what she
was seeing and hearing that she wouldn't have noticed if the room had
been invaded by demons, which, in the arbitrary realm they currently
inhabited, was not impossible.

     "I have to go soon, to help prepare the weapon that Inanna can
use to combat the Shadow. I don't know," Nergal said reflectively,
"what you have learned about what happened to your mother. Yes, it is
true that the group she led woke the Shadow, but it was strictly an
accident. They were looking for a way to overcome death." He shook
his head. "I tried to tell her that death was nothing to be feared,
and indeed, she didn't fear it for her own sake, but for yours. It
had been foretold that we would both die while you were still young,
and that our deaths would have a devastating effect upon you, and she
wished to prevent that from coming to pass. So she and some of her
like-minded friends strove to find a way to finally overcome death.
Instead, they released the Shadow, and found their own deaths. Make no
mistake about that," he said sternly, "though I have heard the Shadow
whispering to me in the night with her voice, though I have heard
the tales of those who say that Ereshkigal joined with the Shadow in
pursuit of her own dark ends, it is not true. The Shadow stole her
memories alone; her soul is not there.

     "Struggling to forestall fate, she brought that fate upon us all.
If I could change that, bring her back, and all the millions that have
died, I would do so. I had at first thought that Enki's Time Gate
might prove the answer, but not so. Indeed, as he tells it, it was a
previous attempt to circumvent this battle that led us to this pass."
He sighed. "At this point, there is no choice left but Enki's plan,
though it seems a faint hope indeed. The seven of us will give up our
lives and our souls to create a weapon that Inanna can wield, not to
destroy the Shadow, such a deed being beyond our power, but merely to
weaken and disperse it, in the hopes that those who come after us will
have the strength to finish the task we have left for them. We have
sent as many of our people off to the Hidden Worlds as we can, though
I fear we will be but postponing their doom if we fail here today. I
could wish you here with me, that I might bid you farewell, yet I am
glad you are gone, exploring your newly discovered realms. Perhaps you
will be safe there, even if all our efforts go for naught.

     "I daresay you have realized that I have asked Enki to ensure
that suzerainty over Death, mine own dominion, does not pass to you,
but seeks out another. This is no slight to you, my child - it is
rather that Enki and I have seen that in times to come which I would
spare you." The pale face clouded. "The gods know that this is no
light burden, and I fear your life will be difficult enow in the ages
yet unborn."

     He paused for a moment. "Men call me the Lord of Death. You, of
all people, know that this is inaccurate, that I am in sooth a mere
intermediary between our worlds and the true Lords of Death. Still,
as such, I have learned much that is hidden from most beings, mortal
or otherwise, and I can assure you of this: just as I know full well
that I shall meet your mother again, so too shall we meet again, this
I promise you.

     "Goodbye, my dear one. Know that your mother and I will be
thinking of you always, and go with our love, until such time as the
cycle is completed and the three of us are together once more."

     The scene disappeared as the rift closed. Looking at Nycteris to
catch her reaction, Setsuna found herself unable to read anything at
all on the woman's face. The Lady of Chaos sat stone still for some
time, then rose gracefully to her feet and paced forward slowly to
stand before Setsuna. She gazed at Setsuna for a long moment, as her
eyes changed color from yellow to blue, before bowing her head and
sinking to her knees.

     "I returned from Chaos," she began quietly, "to a near-desolate
world, teetering on the edge of disintegration, and was told that my
mother was the one responsible. My mother, the woman who had nursed
my hurts and dried my tears and tucked me in at night, responsible
for the deaths of millions of people. And my father, the man who
had pursued her, and married her, and loved her well for a thousand
years, had given up his life and even his soul, at the request of
Lord Enki, to destroy her. I retreated in shock to my realm and hid
myself for many years. When I finally returned, I learned of the final
abandonment, that my father's power had not been destroyed as I had
thought, but given to another." She wiped away the tears running down
her cheeks and lifted her eyes toward Setsuna.

     "I asked you for my father," she said, "and you have given me
back both my father and my mother. Ask of me what you will, Lady
Selamanra, and it is yours, even should it be to forsake Chaos and
pledge myself to Order."

     Setsuna's shoulders sagged with relief as Remi gave vent to a
long mental sigh. "There's no need to kneel to me, Nycteris," she said
gently. "Nor would I ask you to forsake your dominion. I was sincere
when I said that the Silver Millennium had fallen, in part, from a
surfeit of Order. I have need of some insight into the ways of Chaos
to implement my plans for the future."

     Her words brought a smile and a look of interest to the upturned
face of Nycteris. "Then let us seat ourselves in comfort, while you
tell me of your desire." She turned her smile to the hitherto silent
cat. "Shall I have anything fetched for you, dear one?"

     "N-no thanks, I'm fine," Persephone said in a small voice.

     Setsuna marveled at Persephone's diffidence as she followed
Nycteris back to her throne. She knew the power of Chaos called to the
cat in ways she could only dimly perceive. She had asked once what it
was like. Persephone had thought for a time before shaking her head.
"You humans are too far removed from your animal roots to understand.
We were created from our base species fairly recently, as these things
go, and sometimes we still hear the call." And she had refused to say
any more.

     Initially Setsuna could only bring herself to perch rather
gingerly on the slowly pulsating blob Nycteris called a chair, but
it proved surprisingly comfortable, and she gradually relaxed as she
told Nycteris of the puzzle that the Lord of Folly and the Bodhisattva
Jukebox had set before her.

     "Do you believe that your opponent is another follower of Order,
based on its apparent difficulty at dealing with the increasing levels
of Chaos in your plans?"

     "The thought has occurred to me," Setsuna admitted. "Of course,
in back of everything is bound to be another fragment of the Shadow,
like Metallia or the Death Phantom, or the creature that calls itself
Chaos currently possessing Galaxia. The original Shadow disdained the
use of any allies, and was dispersed; so far, all the remnants we
have encountered have learned from that mistake and worked through
intermediaries, mortal or immortal. It does seem as if its current
allies are at their weakest facing a Chaotic adversary. It's not yet
enough, considering that the probabilities still favor a victory by
our enemies, so I've come to you."

     Nycteris rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "It's an intriguing
notion," she said, "and I will admit the prospect of gaining some
revenge, however belated, on the entity that was responsible for
the deaths of my father and mother is an enticing one. Let us take
a look at the linchpin of your little operation," she proposed, and
immediately a picture of a sleeping Ranma Saotome hung in the air
before her.

     Nycteris studied the young man, her eyes alight with interest.
"So this is the weapon you've been forging. I'm impressed. He's
rather more chaotic than I would have expected from you. Trying to
improve upon that will not be a simple matter. I can still follow the
probabilities forward, though, so...." Her voice trailed off, as her
eyes grew wide. She bent all of her senses upon Ranma. Finally she
slumped back on her throne and turned to look at Setsuna.

     The Guardian of Time was rather unnerved by the gaze now studying
her as though through a microscope. There was surprise there, and
respect, and even, it seemed, a little shock. "I underestimated you,
Selamanra. I knew you could be ruthless, but this exceeds anything I
could have dreamed of."

     "What are you talking about?" Setsuna demanded.

     Now the predominant expression on Nycteris' face was one of
surprise. "You mean you don't know? It wasn't any of your doing?"

     "Know what? I don't understand!" Things seemed to be spinning out
of control, and Setsuna was quite unhappy about it.

     "You don't. You really don't." Nycteris considered this gravely.
"Then all I can assume is that the unseen and unknowable forces that
guide our destinies have a rather nasty sense of humor - not that I
didn't know that already." She ruminated some more. "Forget that I
said anything, Selamanra. It wouldn't help you to know, and besides,"
her smile, though genuine, had an edge to it sharp enough to shave
with, "it'll make a lovely surprise for you later. Tell me. What are
your current plans for the dear boy?"

     Setsuna fretted, but knew there was little chance of getting the
Lady of Chaos to reveal anything she didn't care to. "I was going
to arrange a visit to the Masaki household to cement the Juraian
connection. After that, it'll be time for his mother's people to
finally locate him."

     "Visiting the Masakis, eh?" Nycteris chuckled. "That might be
amusing. It's one of my favorite places on Earth these days, since
Mihoshi is there. She's one of my Chosen Ones, you know," she added
parenthetically.

     "I didn't know, but it makes sense," Setsuna said dryly.

     "Yes, I find it very handy having a foothold inside the Galaxy
Police," began Nycteris. "It -" she broke off suddenly. "Wait a
minute." She frowned in concentration for a minute, then her lips
twitched. "You know, I think I've got just the thing."

     "You can increase his chaotic index sufficiently?"

     Nycteris laughed. "Dear one, with what I have in mind, I could
make him such a focus for chaos he'd be eligible to take over for me.
I won't go quite that far, but it will serve your purposes, believe
me. Whether it will be enough to affect the final outcome, I can't
predict, but then, that's the whole point, isn't it?" She held up a
hand as Setsuna began to question her. "That's all I'll say for now.
Given what you've told me, I think it's much safer if you don't know
what I'm planning until you see it for yourself."

     Setsuna couldn't argue with that, so she sighed and acquiesced.
"Then I'll be getting back to Inverness. If you need me for anything,
you know how to get in touch with me. I'd just like to thank you on my
own behalf, and on behalf of Neo-Queen Serenity."

     "No thanks are necessary. Truthfully, I suppose I'd rather the
Earth didn't die, and the help I'll give you is nothing compared to
what you've given me." She regarded Setsuna with unnerving intensity.
"I owe you much, Selamanra. I hereby vow that, given the chance, I
shall repay you. Go now. If you wish to visit me again, merely focus
your will. I have created a permanent portal for you."

     A permanent portal into the domain of Chaos! Setsuna couldn't
even imagine the amount of power that would require - it was
antithetical to the very nature of the place. And Nycteris still felt
she owed her a debt! Before Setsuna could say anything, Nycteris
gestured, and the amorphous realm vanished. Once more Sailor Pluto
found herself standing inside the fourth tower.



Well, the next day the sheriff just tried to stall
While they buried the body out behind a wall.
The newspaper said, "Killer still on the lam."
Seems the boys at the roadblock shot the wrong man.
Nobody really knew just who he was;
He was driving a Camaro with dashboard fuzz.
They all burned the car right there at Big Black Rock,
and no one ever said a word at all again about a roadblock.
Not about a roadblock.

Ibid.



     Ranma Saotome sat bolt upright, shivering violently. He'd had
that dream again, only this time it had gone farther. He strove to
quiet his breathing and slow down the racing of his heart. Once again
he'd found himself in a large room, whose walls and ceiling seemed
to recede into the distance. The room was empty save for the people
gathered together near him. He drifted closer, and saw that they were
all clustered around a figure lying on the floor. Several women were
kneeling by the figure, sobbing in a heartbroken fashion. Impelled
by a vague curiosity, he came up behind them to stare at the object
of their concern. It was a man, a well-built man in a red and black
bodysuit of some sort. As he moved his eyes up the body, his gaze
was arrested by something glinting on the man's left hand. At first
sight it appeared to be a silver glove with six fingers, until he
looked closer and saw the fine lines crossing it, the calluses on
the knuckles, the fine hairs growing on the back. Somehow, the man's
hand was made out of a silvery metal. Always before, the dream had
ended at that point. This time, however, he looked up at the man's
face. Initially, all he could see was the ornately jeweled black patch
covering the man's right eye. Only after a few moments was he able to
take in the rest of the face. It was a handsome face, though drawn and
gaunt with long suffering, fine lines of pain surrounding the eyes,
and a familiar one, he felt immediately, though for some time he could
not put a name to it. Suddenly it came to him. It was his own face. He
was the one lying dead upon the floor, mourned by those around him.
With that realization, he had come awake.

     He shook his head and tried to figure out why he was trembling so
badly. It wasn't as if he'd dreamt of a cat, after all. He had simply
seen his own dead body, a little the worse for wear. It couldn't hold
a candle to some of the really disturbing dreams he'd had, like the
one about the Orochi, for example, but for some reason he could still
feel the chill that had swept over him as he recognized his own face.
He lay awake for quite some time before his father's snoring lulled
him back to sleep.

     Meanwhile, back within the walls of Inverness, the mirror that
guarded the entrance to the fourth tower rippled as Setsuna stepped
back through. She exhaled sharply, releasing a breath she only now
realized she had been holding since her exit from Chaos. Persephone
leaped down from her shoulder and stretched, affecting an air of utter
unconcern. "That went fairly well."

     Setsuna regarded her, one eyebrow raised. "Oh, quite." She
considered reminding the cat of her behavior in the realm of Chaos,
but charitably refrained. "I'm returning to the sanctum - will you
accompany me?"

     "No, I think I'll stay here and visit Frieda for a while. I'll
catch up later." She began washing herself, pausing only to fix
Setsuna briefly with an enigmatic gaze. "I don't want to interfere
with your little reunion, in any event."

     "Eh? What are you talking about?"

     Before the cat could elaborate - assuming she had been so
inclined - they were interrupted. "Lady Pluto! Did things go all
right?"

     Setsuna turned to regard the diminutive girl, a warmer smile upon
her face than any she had been wont to gift her with heretofore. "Yes,
I believe it did. Thank you, Frieda. You were a great help."

     Frieda looked rather nonplused, but recovered quickly. "Uh, sure,
my pleasure." Turning to Persephone, she said with a smile, "Did I
hear you say you planned on visiting for a while?"

     "If you don't mind," the cat said, in just the right off-handed
manner to express her serene assurance that, of course, no sensible
person could possibly mind acceding to her wishes in almost any
circumstances.

     Neither Setsuna nor Frieda missed the overtones, and shared a
look of such perfect accord that they were hard pressed to suppress
their laughter.

     "Then I shall see you later," Setsuna said, as she created a
portal and stepped through, disappearing from their view.

     After a moment's disorientation, during which she seemed to exist
in many places at one and the same time, she found herself standing
in a large clearing, surrounded by the mighty trees of an immense
forest. Even she had no real idea where this forest was - she could
travel to it, and that was enough for her purposes. In the middle of
the clearing stood an ash tree so huge it dwarfed even the greatest of
the trees in the forest. Taller than the tallest redwoods on Earth, it
housed her sanctum, the one place in all the worlds where she could
truly relax. As she had done many times before, she simply stood for a
few minutes, taking in the astonishing sight of Yggdrasil, the World
Tree, and the closest thing to a home she had had in a very long time.

     She walked through the soft grass, feeling the warmth of the Sun
enfolding her. Ahead of her, growing larger with every step, were the
great twin doors of her sanctum, forged of meteoritic iron plated with
pure electrum, guarding the entrance to the rooms beyond, which had
been created long before her birth from natural hollows in the living
wood of the tree itself. To the left side of the doorway, on a small
stone bench, sat her mother, as she had for the last twenty thousand
years, since assuming her role as guardian of the sanctum.

     As she approached, she felt an unfamiliar pang at the sight of
the motionless figure, and studied it more closely than usual. The
face that looked blankly back at her was almost a mirror image of her
own. Her mother's eyes were gray, and her hair jet black; those were
the primary distinguishing physical characteristics. Overshadowing
these details was the horribly empty look on those familiar features.
Setsuna steeled herself for the timeworn ritual that greeting her
mother had become.

     "Hello, mother, I'm back."

     "Selamanra. It's about time. Did you find your father?" The voice
was querulous, but the face never changed expression.

     "No, mother. He's still dead, waiting for you." At first, when
her mother's faculties had begun to ossify, Setsuna had tried to
engage her interest in the work she was doing, or the odd antics of
the beings she had met, anything to halt her deteriorating condition.
With the passing centuries those tactics had become progressively less
effective. Now she rarely even tried, letting the conversation follow
its accustomed track.

     "Any sign of that worthless husband of yours?"

     "Not yet, mother." She thought of mentioning her vision of
Rheandor in the fourth tower, but to what end?

     "Have you made up with my grand-daughter yet?"

     Another pang. "No, mother." The customary catechism concluded,
she began to enter the sanctum but stopped abruptly as a wave of
sorrow swept over her. She had just enough time to realize it was
coming from Remi when she found herself down on her knees with her
head in her mother's lap crying uncontrollably.

     Remi cried like a child, with great, racking sobs. Her grief
over her mother's slow decline and death, her long, futile search for
Rheandor, the heartache of her long separation from her daughter,
the terrible guilt over her failure to save her world - all these
pent-up feelings now sought release, and for a long time she could do
nothing but weep. She had nearly gotten herself under control when
she felt a feather-light touch on the back of her head. She looked
up, startled, to see her mother gazing down at her with the vaguely
confused expression of one who has awakened from a long sleep.

     "What - what's wrong, dear?"

     "Mother!" And a fresh storm of tears, exultant this time, swept
over her as she hugged her mother fiercely. "I'm so glad you're back!"

     Explanations took quite a long time, but no one cared. With her
mother's revival, Setsuna had been fully caught up in the tumultuous
emotions raging through her twin, as a burden she was no longer aware
she had been carrying was lifted.

     "I hadn't really expected to have another child at my age,"
Setsuna's mother said with a tremulous smile. "At least we don't have
to go through teething again."

     "Thank you for accepting me, mother," Remi said humbly. "I know
I'm not really your daughter. I'm not even sure I really exist...."

     "Don't worry about it too much," their mother interrupted her.
"I think we're all wise enough here not to get enmeshed in pointless
debates. You're my daughter, and I'm glad, so very glad, to have the
opportunity to get to know you."

     "About that opportunity," Setsuna said with a frown. "I'm not
complaining, mind you, but I am puzzled. It's been over a thousand
years since you've said anything but your three standard questions,
and suddenly you're back the way you used to be. Why?"

     "Because I heard my daughters weeping," her mother answered with
a fond look as she stroked Setsuna's hair. "I don't really regret
giving up my life to become the sanctum's guardian, but, except on
those rare occasions when someone actually tries to get inside, it's
extraordinarily boring. As the years went by I retreated farther and
farther into my role, until I was nearly one with the tree itself. The
depth of your combined grief, however, was great enough to reach me
and bring me back."

     "Will you be going back into the tree?"

     "I don't think so, Remi." Interestingly, their mother seemed to
have no difficulty telling which of the two was speaking at any time.
"From what you've said, my term is nearly at an end. I daresay I'll be
joining your father soon, one way or another."

     "Mother, no!" Setsuna protested. "Now that we know about it, we
can stop it!"

     "We can try if you like, dear," she replied gently, "but I have
long known that I would not live to see the foundation of the new
kingdom. Your father and I both agreed to seek rebirth together after
my work here was over."

     "Then - you knew he'd die, and that you would become the
sanctum's guardian?"

     "Of course. It's something that rather runs in the family,
you know," her mother said with a whimsical smile. "We all know
more about the future than we should, and speak of it as little as
possible - sometimes," she sighed, "to the extent of causing ourselves
unnecessary hardships."

     The three sat in pensive silence until Setsuna finally roused
herself. "I think Remi and I will ready ourselves to pay a visit to
the Nekohanten. And Mother," she hesitated a moment, "I've decided to
try to patch things up with our daughter."

     Her mother blinked, but it was Remi who first found voice to
question her decision. "Are you sure? We still don't know where
Rheandor is."

     "I'm sure. Mother's right - we've gotten too used to hoarding our
knowledge. Perhaps we can't answer all of her questions, but we can at
least tell her the truth for once. And if she ends up hating us even
more," Setsuna shrugged, "at least we've been honest with her."

     "It's your call. I admit it would be nice to see her again," said
Remi wistfully.

     "Be sure to bring her by to see me," their mother said, giving
her daughters a peck on their joint cheek as they rose to enter the
sanctum. She watched after them as they disappeared inside. "And be
careful," she whispered. "I fear you will see yet more sorrow before
all is said and done." And she composed herself once more for her long
(though not, it seemed, unending) vigil.

                           The End

**********************************


     Be with us next time, as Setsuna drops in at the Nekohanten to
renew some old friendships, in "Apotheosis 3: Nighthawks at the Diner."

     "Ranma 1/2" was created by Rumiko Takahashi, and is copyrighted by
Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, Fuji TV, and Viz Communications (USA).
"Sailor Moon" was created by Naoko Takeuchi, and is copyrighted by
Naoko Takeuchi, Kodansha, and Toei Animation. "Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-oh-ki!"
was created by Kajishima Masaki, and is copyrighted by AIC/Pioneer LDC, Inc.
Tyddo and the Snake Mother are taken from "The Face in the Abyss" by
A. Merritt. Inverness and the inhabitants thereof, as well as Summa Nulla,
the Auroreans, and the Bulldada were created by Thomas M. Lopez and are
owned by the ZBS Foundation. Rights belong to their respective holders.

     Songs quoted: "The Roadblock" written by Stan Ridgway.  "My Boyfriend's
Back" written by Robert Feldman, Gerald Goldstein, and Richard Gottehrer.
"Earth Angel" written by Gaynel Hodge and Jessie Belvin. "If You Have the
Time" written by Davy Jones and Bill Chadwick. "If I Could Turn Back Time"
written by Diane Warren. "If Only" written by Dave Faulkner of the Hoodoo
Gurus. "If Only" written by John S. Hall of "King Missile."

Reid Carson
rcarson@rcarson.com
http://www.rcarson.com/rcarson/



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