Subject: [FFML] <Fanfic><Tenchi>What Might Have Been Chapter Three: Message in a Crystal
From: "Platinum Dragon" <Platinum_Dragon@usinternet.com>
Date: 3/27/2000, 9:39 PM
To: "FFML" <ffml@fanfic.com>

     What Might Have Been Chapter Three:  Message in a Crystal

     Disclaimer: This fanfiction is not written with the consent of
Pioneer/AIC.  I do NOT own the characters, with the exception of Kei.
Please do not sue me.
     Comments, criticism, flames, and death threats may be sent to
Platinum_Dragon@usinternet.com.
     !!WARNING!! This is NOT mainline Tenchi.  It is an alternate universe,
and the characters at times will be VERY ooc, compared to those in the
series.     Please remember that the versions in this story line had very
different experiences.

*****

     Kei smiled as Nobuyuki turned into the drive, and pulled to a stop.
Washu had made arrangements with her foster parents for her to stay with
Tenchi's family for a few weeks, so that Washu could keep a close monitor on
her.  On the drive back from the hospital, she had asked Tenchi if he would
walk her up the steps so that she could begin to find out what she'd been
missing.  Tenchi pulled the door open, and then got out of the mini-van with
her.  Nobuyuki stuck his head out the window, grinning, and said, "Enjoy
your walk up the steps, Kei, Tenchi.  We'll see you when you reach the
house," before driving the rest of the way up the hillside.  Kei smiled
again, and then started looking around herself - it still seemed slightly
unreal to her...  She was LOOKING around herself, instead of hearing, or
feeling, or smelling.  She was seeing what was there, and it wasn't in a
dream.
      She couldn't decide what to see first, and for every new sight - and
every sight was new, to her - a thousand questions came to mind.  Like, what
were those things on the trees, that swayed gently in the wind and made a
rustling sound - and what color were they?  What was color?  She had never
known anything except for the cold darkness, and now everything sprang at
her in thousands of different shades; she had no names for them.  And what
about those flowers over there?  She knew what they smelled like, but now
she could see that there were many different kinds of them, and that they
had different shapes and sizes.  She turned to Tenchi, laughing.
      "I never imagined it would really be this beautiful, Tenchi," she
said, walking up to a tree and lightly touching it.  "How can I possibly try
to explain what it's like?  I knew what a tree felt like, what it sounded
and smelled like.  I knew that some were covered in something rough, and
others were somewhat smoother.  I knew that if the day was hot, if I sat
under one, it would be cooler, but never what it looked like until now.  I
could guess, I could imagine, but what I can see isn't what I pictured."
She looked up at the sky, and laughed again.  "The moon is so bright, it
seems strange that I really couldn't see it; it looks bright enough to
pierce any darkness, even that of blindness.  And the stars!  They're so far
off, so free, so...  I never understood what people meant when they said
that something had to be seen to be believed."  She looked back at him, and
smiled.  "Everything is so new now...  It's as though I were touching
something for the first time, only now I'm touching it with my eyes, instead
of my hands."  Tenchi smiled at her.
     "I'm happy for you Kei.  I'm glad that Aunt was able to do it," he said
softly.  She laughed, and hugged him tightly.
     "It wouldn't have happened, if not for you.  I don't know how to thank
you," she said, and Tenchi blinked.
     "Huh?"  he asked.  Kei smiled at him softly.  He could be so naive at
times that it was almost painful.  Then again, she was already starting to
get an idea of just how much she had to learn now that she had her sight.
     "Think about it Tenchi.  Would I have ever met Dr. Washu if I hadn't
met you?" she asked.  Tenchi looked at her.
     "Of course you would have," he said, and Kei smiled again.  If nothing
else, he never ran out of optimism.
     "Maybe.  But when?  And would she have helped me?  When it comes down
to it, I am just a foster child.  Yes, my foster parents care for me, but
they care just the same for every child that come through their home, and
even you have to admit that they are the exception, not the rule.  If not
for you, would it have ever happened, Tenchi?  Maybe, but we both know
probably not," she said quietly, embracing him and looking back up at the
stars.  Tenchi opened his mouth to speak, and she lightly laid two fingers
over his lips to stop him.  He sighed quietly, and remained silent.
     "You know, I used to dream about what it might be like to see, when I
was very, very young.  I had kind of an idea from what people described and
from what I could feel.  I mean, I didn't know what the colors were, or that
the sky could possibly be so...  huge!  But I had something of an idea.
Yet, when I finally got my eyes open all the way, and they finally came into
focus for the first time, I realized that never in my wildest dreams had I
ever come close to the truth.  Because, in my dreams, I... never saw..."
She trailed off, as her throat started to choke up on her, and she began to
feel some tears on her cheeks.  She couldn't say it aloud.  In her dreams,
she'd never seen him.  And as sorry as he'd looked, with that IV in his arm
and his head wound in bandages almost as heavily as hers had been, it'd been
all she could do not to burst into tears right that moment.  He had given
her a greater gift than she could have ever hoped for.
     Tenchi lightly touched her cheek, catching one of the tears, and smiled
at her.  "I know, Kei.  Maybe I can't imagine what it was like, to not be
able to see, but I know what you're feeling.  It's on your face, and in your
eyes...  I know," he told her quietly.  She looked at him, smiling and
hugging him again.  He didn't understand what had her almost bawling, not
entirely, anyway, but for now that was fine with her.  It was more important
that he was with her to listen.  He smiled, and lightly put his arm around
her waist; they began to walk up the path.
     "It feels... weird to walk.  I'm used to sensing steps and things, not
seeing them," she said, leaning against him slightly so that she didn't lose
her balance.  He grinned, and looked at her.
     "It will take a little practice.  Remember?  Aunt Washu told you that
your equilibrium might be off for a couple of days as you readjust.  Don't
worry, I won't let you fall," he told her, and she laughed.
     "Oh, now I really feel safe!" she said, grinning.  And snuggling a
little closer.  They worked their way up the hill, Tenchi answering the
questions that poured out of her in a torrent.  They were about half-way up
when she heard a rustle to the side, and blinked.  "Hey, what was that?" she
asked?  Tenchi looked around.
     "What?  I didn't hear anything," he told her.  She pointed at some
bushes that were a little off the path.
     "Some rustling."  She cocked her head to listen as it she heard it
again, and nodded.  "There it is again, it's definitely coming from those
bushes," she told him.  Tenchi grinned, and moved toward the bushes.
     "Hello?  Anybody here?  Anybody making rustling noises and planning on
jumping out and attacking us?" he called.  Kei stifled a laugh as he looked
at her.  "See, Kei?  There's nothing here!" he said, as he turned back
toward the bushes.  Then he abruptly shouted in surprise, and stumbled
backwards to land flat on his back.  Kei gave up, and started laughing.
     "Nothing, eh?" she said, before blinking.  Sitting on his chest, and
looking surprised to be there, was a fuzzy little creature with two huge
golden eyes and what looked like a thin red gem set in her forehead.  She
carefully bent down, laughing in delight, and picked her up - in a rear
corner of her mind, she wondered how she knew the creature was a she.  It
looked at her for a moment.
     "Miya?"  Tenchi blinked, as he sat up, looking at her and the furball.
     "She's so cute, but what is she?" she asked him, and the little critter
miyaed again.
     "I don't know, I've never seen anything like it.  At first I thought it
was a cat, but it looks like it's half-rabbit," he told her.  She grinned.
     "She's a cabbit!" she exclaimed, as she scratched her between the ears.
The tiny creature purred in contentment, and she laughed in delight.  "What
do you suppose we should name her?"  Tenchi blinked at her.
     "You're going to keep her - how do you know that it's even a her?" he
asked her.  Kei grinned at him wryly, and set the cabbit on her shoulder.
The furball squirmed for a moment, and then settled in, miyaing happily.
     "Women's intuition," she told him.  "And why not keep her, she doesn't
belong to anybody."  Tenchi grinned.
     "Now THAT is a prime example of female logic," he laughed.  Kei gave
him a flat look, and he grinned.  "Not that male logic has a chance of ever
out showing female logic," he said, before his eyes turned inward briefly.
"Ok, a name...  How about Ryo-Ohki?" he suggested suddenly.  The little
furball miyaed loudly at that.  Kei blinked, and looked at her, grinning.
     "Do you like that name?" she asked, tickling her on the chin.
     "MIYA!"
     "Ryo-Ohki it is, then!" laughed Kei, as Tenchi stood up, dusting
himself off.  He looked at the cabbit, and grinned.
     "Cute little thing.  But where do you come from, huh?"  Ryo-Ohki just
looked at him, and Kei smiled.  Tenchi laughed, looking at the two of them.
"Well, you two look like you were made for each other, Kei."  She laughed,
and her new pet miyaed happily.
     "Now I've gotten my sight, and a new friend.  This really is the best
day of my life, Tenchi.  Come on, we better get up to your house before your
parents think that we've eloped or something," she told him, taking hold of
his arm.  Tenchi grinned, and they started walking again.
     "So, what do you suppose she eats?"

     As they heard a vehicle pull up, Ayeka and Kiyone looked at each other.
As they had been talking, they'd begun to notice an almost disturbing
tendency to know things about each other.  Like when Mihoshi had abruptly
asked Sasami for a cup of tea, and without thinking both Ayeka and Kiyone
had asked her for some too.  Sasami had made the tea, and it hadn't been
until she had set down the tray before them and started to pass out the cups
that they had blinked, and stared at each other.  What had really caught
Ayeka off guard a couple minutes later was, how did Sasami even know where
to find the tea and tea pot in the first place?
     "That must be them now," said Kiyone, smiling slightly and standing.
She gave the softly snoring Mihoshi a push as Ayeka nodded, and shook Sasami
awake.  Both woke up, looking around and rubbing the sleep from their eyes.
     "What's going on?" asked Sasami sleepily.  Ayeka smiled at her
slightly, as she picked up the silver broach from the table, and refastened
it around her neck.  She'd taken it off a few hours ago;  seeing that Kiyone
had been embarrassed, she had tried to relax her by telling her she didn't
mind if she asked about the scar.  She explained that  she only wore the
broach among people that didn't know her very well, so that they wouldn't be
uncomfortable seeing it.  She herself had long since come to terms with it.
     As the hallway light came on, Ayeka and Kiyone turned to it.  The first
to come through the doorway was the young woman from the message - Achika.
She broke into a wide smile as she saw the two princesses, and walked over.
"Ayeka, Sasami, you really did arrive!  And Kiyone and Mihoshi, I really
must apologize again for not being here in person - to all of you!  With
Tenchi and Kei...  Gah!"  Ayeka made a calming gesture.
     "Do not be concerned; I believe that Miss Kiyone mentioned that your
son had been injured?  I do not mind waiting when there are more important
matters in concern.  However, I must confess a bit of confusion as to how
you seem to know Sasami and myself," she said, smiling slightly.  Achika
winced.
     "As I said on the message, I can explain everything once we're all
here - Tenchi is walking Kei up here, this is only the first day that she's
been able to see, and..."  Abruptly she laughed.  "I must sound like a mad
woman.  Kei was born blind, you see.  Washu performed an operation on her
two days ago to restore her vision, and the bandages were just taken off
tonight - Kei wanted to wait for Tenchi to wake up.  He injured himself a
couple days ago as well, and only just came around.  Kei asked him to walk
her up the steps to the shrine so that she could start to see what she'd
been missing," explained the woman, and Ayeka nodded.  She thought that
she'd understood all that.  Beside her, Sasami giggled.
     "How romantic!" she exclaimed, and Achika grinned.
     "He takes after his father," she said, before laughing.  "I know that
this is confusing, but it's good to see you all again," she told them,
smiling.  Behind her, two men came into the room, one an elderly gentleman,
and the other a man of like age with Achika.  Achika nodded to them, saying,
"My husband, Nobuyuki, and my father, Katsuhito...  Or Yosho, as he was
named on Jurai."  Ayeka felt her jaw drop; beside her, Kiyone blinked and
nodded slightly.  The wrinkled, weathered-faced old man bowed.
     "Y... Yosho?!?  But he can't!" exclaimed Ayeka, before a bit of anger
flared in her.  Was THIS what she'd been brought here for?  This... sham?!?
"How dare you mock us with -" Ayeka abruptly cut off as Katsuhito withdrew a
short, wooden rod from his robes, and held it out before him.  She stared at
it in shock.  "That is sword Tenchi, Yosho's sword.  How did you..."  The
man was silent a moment, and then spoke.
     "It is said that this sword was made three times, once for each point
of the leaves of the holy tree Tsunami.  The first was carved by a priest,
and dipped in the tears of a phoenix.  The second was carved by a beggar,
and dipped in the blood of a dragon that died saving Jurai.  The third, and
last, was found, sealed in a crystal of amber made of Tsunami's sap.  When
the three swords were placed on one of her leaves, they joined, and became
one," he said.  Abruptly, the blade flared to life, and Ayeka bowed her
head.  There could be no doubt.  Only the royal family knew that story, and
only Yosho had had the strength in the Jurai Power to use the sword.
     "Yes.  You are Yosho," she said reluctantly.  "I humbly ask forgiveness
for -" She paused, as Achika and Yosho shook their heads.
     "You couldn't have been expected to believe us without proof," said
Achika, and her father nodded, as the blade vanished.  Another thought
occurred to Ayeka.
     "Are you then going to return to Jurai, Lord Yosho, to claim the
throne?" she asked quietly.  He laughed, and Ayeka frowned, thinking he was
mocking her.  He shook his head.
     "No, Princess Ayeka - I have no wish to rule," he said, smiling warmly.
She let out a breath that she hadn't been aware she was holding.
     "Still, then, the question remains - why were we... err, summoned here,
so to speak," she said after a moment.
     "Or how we all seem so... familiar to each other," added Kiyone, and
Ayeka nodded her agreement.  Achika sighed briefly.
     "Washu could explain it better than me, but the short version of it is
that you are picking up a sort of...  For lack of a better description,
experience leakage.  Washu called it multi-dimensional temporal residue,"
she said.  Achika looked around, and then picked up two crystals that were
sitting on the table.  "Think of it like this.  Each of these is the exact
same universe, except for one thing.  In fact, they are so much alike that
the Ayeka from this universe -" she lifted one crystal higher "- can sense
some of what is happening to the Ayeka in this universe," she finished,
lifting the other.
     "Essentially correct, except that I called - rather, my double called
it multi-temporal dimensional residue, not the other way around," said a
short, young-seeming girl with a wild mane of spiky, hot pink hair, as she
entered the room.  She was carrying a small black box in one hand, and a
crystal in the other.  "Where are those two Ach?  A constipated Talorian
snail would have been up here by now!" Achika laughed softly.
     "Give them their time, Washu.  We may take sight for granted, but for
Kei, everything will be new.  And they both will face some difficult news
once they arrive," she soothed.  Ayeka smiled slightly.  She was already, to
her surprise, finding herself quite liking the other woman.  There was - as
Sasami had pointed out - something about her that was simply trustable.  "Is
there anything that we could get you while you wait, or any other
questions?" she asked.  Kiyone frowned a moment, and then slowly spoke.
     "Ayeka and Sasami seemed... familiar.  So do Nobuyuki... and Yosho and
Washu.  But this entire time, I haven't sensed that about you, and I'm too
much of a detective to think that's a coincidence, not as well as you seem
to know us."  Achika nodded slightly, sighing.
     "You're right, I..." She paused, as they heard the door slide open,
followed a moment later by, "We're home!"  Achika sighed again.  "I'll
answer that in just a moment," she said, before raising her voice slightly.
"Can you two come into the living room?"  There were a few soft sounds of
shoes being removed; some feminine laughter followed by a somewhat deeper
man's laugh.  Achika's momentary agitation vanished, and she smiled warmly
as a tall young man with bandages wrapped around his head came in, his arm
around the waist of a shorter young woman.  Ayeka blinked slightly as the
light flashed off her eyes; they were a bright golden, and deep in the back
of her mind a memory tickled slightly.  On the girl's shoulder - much to
Ayeka's surprise - was a cabbit, and a fairly young one at that.  But she
was drawn back to the girl's eyes.  Why did those golden eyes gnaw at her so
strongly all of a sudden?  Where had she seen them before?
     Both of them blinked in surprise as they saw Ayeka and the others, and
then blushed.  Tenchi - uneasily she realized that she hadn't matched his
face to the picture on the wall, she'd just known - dropping his arm from
the girl's - Kei, Ayeka surmised - waist.  The two bowed deeply in unison.
     "I didn't realize that we had guests, mother, father, or we wouldn't
have taken so long in getting back," said Tenchi, and right on top of him,
Kei said, "I must look like I've just stepped in out of a windstorm," while
she made an attempt to straighten her shirt.  The cabbit miyaed in
curiosity, as Sasami laughed.
     "So Ryo-Ohki did come to Kei," murmured Achika.  Ayeka glanced at her;
she was smiling in a slightly relieved way, before nodding slightly.  Then
Ayeka noticed Tenchi looking at them, something akin to recognition  in his
eyes.  He knows us too, she thought to herself.  That's why we had to wait
for them.  Her suspicion was confirmed a moment later as Sasami tugged on
her sleeve and whispered, "That really is the boy in the dream."  Achika
cleared her throat.
     "Tenchi, Kei, these are Ayeka, Sasami, Kiyone and Mihoshi.  They are...
old friends," she said.  Ayeka wondered if she had deliberately left out
their titles and ranks.  Achika turned to them.  "And this is Tenchi, my
son, and Kei, who Washu performed the operation on.  She and Tenchi," she
said, with a sudden, slightly mischievous grin, "are... close."  Tenchi
blushed.
     "Mom!" he groaned, and then grunted as Kei elbowed him in the ribs,
grinning.
     "Are you saying that it's not a good thing to be close to me?" she
asked, with mock indignation.  Tenchi grinned slightly.
     "It depends on how hard you intend to hit me with your elbow," he
deadpanned.  Ayeka laughed softly along with the others, as Kei gave him a
malevolent little smirk.
     "Just you wait, Tenchi, just you wait," she said, only spoiling the
threat by laughing.  Achika chuckled, before sighing.
     "Now that we're all here, if you could all sit down, I'll... try, at
least, to explain," she said.  Tenchi and Kei exchanged confused looks, but
sat down on the couch with Ayeka and Sasami.  Her sister grinned, and waved
at the cabbit; the little furball miyaed and hopped over to her shoulder.
Washu set the box down on the ground, and stood the crystal on end.  It
began to float, spinning slowly in thin air.
     "The projector is all set up Achika.  I'll start it when you're ready,"
said the scientist, raising her hands.  Tenchi and Kei's eyes nearly popped
out of their heads as a keyboard suddenly appeared in thin air before her;
Ayeka filed that away mentally.  Whatever they were about to find out,
Tenchi and Kei had never been given any hints of it before now.  Achika
nodded, and sighed again.
     "I... guess that the best place to start is nearly twenty years ago,
while Nobuyuki and I were still in school.  The week before our school trip
to Tokyo, two girls transferred in to all of my classes."  She nodded to
Washu, and she typed on the keyboard for a moment.  The crystal began to
spin faster, and suddenly above it a hologram appeared.  Ayeka started, as
she saw herself, in a black dress with white trimming step into it.  Yet,
that in itself wasn't all that had her eyes popping; it was the absence of
the thick, slashing scar that caught her off guard, because that Ayeka's
chin and neck was pale, pure and unbroken skin.  On the hologram she stepped
the rest of the way into the room it depicted, to be followed by a second
woman of like age, but with golden eyes and spiky cyan-silver hair.  Memory
stirred deep within, but she pushed it down for now.
     "We also gained a new teacher -" Mihoshi followed the golden eyed girl,
"- and a new janitor's assistant that was assigned to the section of the
school where our classes were."  Kiyone made a strangled sound as, on the
hologram, she appeared in overalls and glasses, and mopping the floor.  "And
outside the school, a little girl and a young man started appearing during
gym class."  On the hologram, Sasami tossed a volley ball to somebody behind
the viewpoint, while Tenchi peeked out from behind some bushes.  Achika
sighed, as Washu shut down the hologram.
     "Small pieces, and not even a puzzle to me, then.  The only two things
that I recall thinking of as odd was Sasami being at the school, and not in
class, and that Ryoko and Ayeka came to stay with father and I - they said
that their home were too far from the school.  But my home was almost
outside the school's range.  It's a long bus trip, as Tenchi and I both
know," she said, grinning slightly.  Tenchi gave a confused nod.  "Small
pieces, but sometimes I still wonder how I could have been so blind..."
Kiyone frowned.
     "Ok, assuming that we were all there...  Why?  And how?  Twenty years
ago, I was still fighting with my sisters for space at home on Taras Seven,"
she said.  Achika nodded, and Washu activated the hologram again.  This
time, the Galaxy Police Head Quarters appeared.
     "Jump ahead twenty years, to the GP HQ.  A... creature that had been
imprisoned one hundred years before escapes, destroying the headquarters in
the process.  Kiyone, what do you know about the criminal known as 'Kain?'"
she asked.  Kiyone started.
     "Class A Criminal codenamed Kain.  Destroyed planets, several armadas,
and I'm not entirely sure of what all else.  He was captured through a joint
effort of the Galaxy Police and the Juraian Emperor, and permanently
imprisoned in the Galaxy Police subspace net.  At least, the imprisonment is
supposed to be permanent," she said, as the station was...  All that Ayeka
could say was that it was unmade.  A huge black blob appeared, with some
strange sort of three-eyed mask for a face.  It streaked away, as Achika
nodded.
     "Kain escaped, and came to Earth - Earth of the past, his goal to kill
my father and I.  His kind, you see, hate the Jurai Power, and at the time,
the most powerful sources of it were father and myself."  Kain streaked past
a Galaxy Police patrol ship - Ayeka would have wagered the throne that it
was Kiyone and Mihoshi's - and splashed into Earth's atmosphere, vanishing.
"This is where things get a little hard to understand," said Achika, picking
up the crystals again.  "Remember what I was saying about the two, almost
identical universes?"  Except for Tenchi and Kei, they nodded.  Achika set
one crystal on the table.
     "In this universe, our universe, you all came here because you were...
drawn here, for lack of a better description.  You felt an instinct that, in
the end, drew you here, to this house," she said, before hiding the crystal,
and setting down the other.  "But in this universe, one by one, you each
came here because of an almost unbelievable set of circumstances."  The
hologram was started again, with an image of the golden eyed woman.  "This
is Ryoko.  She is...  would have been a Space Pirate.  Mihoshi stumbled
across her while out on patrol, and after a short fight, their ships
collided, and fell here, to Earth.  Tenchi, on his way to school, saw the
crash, and went to see what happened."  The image changed, and Tenchi sucked
in a startled breath.
     "No way!  But... That's what I was drawing when..."  He lightly touched
the bandages around his head, and Achika nodded, producing a sketch book and
flipping it open.  Ayeka blinked.  The hologram and the drawing were
identical, save for a few splatters of blood on the drawing.
     "Of all of us, Tenchi will pick up the strongest...  feelings, because
he was at the center of all that happened.  After Ryoko and Mihoshi, Ayeka
came, when Mihoshi activated her emergency beacon.  Sasami came looking for
Ayeka, then Washu was released from her prison, and last but not least,
Kiyone was sent after Mihoshi.  One by one, you each came, and ended up
staying here," Achika told them.  Ayeka blinked, as something fell into
place.
     "There's no Ryoko here.  When Kain went back, he changed something, and
so here she...  This is a split timeline, isn't it?  That's what you're
trying to tell us," she said.  There was an answer, glimmering just out of
sight now, if only she could reach out and grab it.  Achika smiled sadly.
     "Kain went back to kill my father and I, but Washu - their Washu - was
able to send them back in time, and together, they stopped him.  Ryoko,
Ayeka, and Tenchi were able to get Nobuyuki and I away from Kain, and Kiyone
used the Dimensional Cannon to deal the final blow," she said, before
sighing. "But Kain understood that, with even one string cut, they would
have failed."
     "They returned to their time, but almost before she had landed, Ryoko
fell extremely ill," said Washu.  "My counterpart discovered, with a little
bit of backtracking, that it was because she no longer existed in that world
before that point in time.  Kain sent... a miasma of himself to kill her in
that time.  And to kill Ayeka and Kiyone too, if it could before it
dissipated.  But because Ryoko was in the past when it killed her younger
self, and thus, outside of the time stream, she wasn't annihilated.
However, as soon as she returned to her own time, she became a paradox - she
existed, but couldn't exist, because she technically had never been."
Ayeka's eyes suddenly widened.  Technically had never been... the other
Ayeka had never had the scar, either.
     "I know where she was killed - where the miasma killed her!" she
exclaimed.  Achika and Washu blinked at her.
     "Where? How?" asked Achika.  "Washu could never figure out where."
     "Can you bring up the picture of Ayeka... Err, me...  Oh drat, this is
going to be confusing.  Can you please bring up the image of their me?" she
asked.  Washu nodded, and a moment later there was a simple image of herself
floating there.   Ayeka unclasped the broach; Tenchi and Kei both winced,
and Achika gasped softly.  Ayeka lightly touched the scar.  "She does not
have this - it never happened to her."  Ayeka shivered as she made herself
remember.  "I was playing - I was very young - and met a young girl my age.
She had cyan hair-" the blob appeared, falling on the little girl "- golden
eyes -" the girl's eyes screamed in pain as it attacked her "- and a
something... tore... her apart.  And after it finished with her, it came
after me, and did this," she finished, as she lightly traced the scar's
path.  Ayeka abruptly realized that she was shaking, and forced herself to
calm down.  That was long ago, and she... she was with friends, she knew,
even if she wasn't entirely sure how she knew.
     Achika smiled at her comfortingly, and then looked at Washu.  The
scientist nodded at her.  "It's likely; their Ayeka had already met Ryoko a
number of times before they came to Earth, and the miasma would have been
drawn to the pair of them even more strongly than just one alone," she said.
     "Then that's where we have to search," answered Achika.  Kiyone cleared
her throat.
     "Ahh... Search for what?" she asked.  Achika sighed.
     "When Ryoko went back to her time, she became a paradox.  A very
powerful paradox, and between her and the alternate timeline - us - reality
is slowly being torn apart.  It's like a black hole - the longer it exists,
the bigger and stronger it becomes, and the faster it grows," she said.
     "The Darkspace - maybe that's what she means, Ayeka!" said Sasami.
Ayeka nodded as Achika looked at her.
     "Darkspace?" she asked.  Ayeka nodded.
     "It's a region of space where things are simply... being unmade.  My
mother said that it first became apparent a few months after I was attacked.
Attempts have been made to study it, but anything that enters it simply
vanishes.  Energy, ships, it is the same, as if they had never existed.  At
first, it only grew a few hundred, and then a few thousand kilometers a
year, but now it's almost grown big enough to threaten Jurai itself," she
said.
     "That would be the most likely manifestation," agreed Washu.  "And I'd
bet my last study sample that it's exact origin was on the point where Ryoko
died," she finished.  Achika nodded.
     "So in other words, we're going to prevent this paradox from unmaking
the universe?" said Kiyone.
     "Partly.  But we also have to stop Kain from escaping in this
timeline," answered Washu, as she produced a small black cube.  "My
counterpart studied the data from his escape in their world.  This will
create a field that will neutralize his power.  It needs to be installed on
his prison lock within the next five days," she told Kiyone, handing it to
her.
     "That's what you and Mihoshi need to do.  The rest of us will be going
back to where Ayeka was describing, and prevent Ryoko from dying," said
Achika.  "And you two, by far, have the easier job..."

-----
The Platinum Dragon
"Through early morning fog I see visions of the things to be
the pains that are withheld for me. I realize and I can see...
That suicide is painless...  it brings on many changes...
and I can take or leave it if I please." M*A*S*H*
Proud Member of the Ryoko Forever Fan Club



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