[FFML] Homecomings, take 2....

Homecomings: A Tenchi Muyo/El Hazard crossover

By Kain the Seeker
AKA Andrew Graham (kaintskr@aol.com)
Co-authored/Plotted/Connived by Deunan (deunan@aol.com)

CMA Disclaimer: All characters are the respective property of the owners, Original characters are mine (or Deunan).
Actions of all characters are not by my hand/or fault. (Blame my MUSE! I do!) :-}

Afura Man floated up to the Eye of God and landed gently at the edge of the platform. She hadn't been up here since
that day, six months ago when the war with the Bugrom ended.

The day Ifurita had been banished across space and time. The day he started dying bit by bit without her.

Makoto didn't even notice as she landed, he was concentrating on a section of the book that he had taken from the
Royal Archives. Nearby was Ifurita's staff Key. He looked frustrated as she approached, tossing the book aside.

"I was so sure," he muttered as he picked up the Staff Key and walked over to pick the book, "I'm so close, I know it."
He noticed Afura Man as he turned. "You here to bring me back to the palace, Afura?"

"No, Makoto. The princesses' didn't send me, I came on my own. To see how you were doing. Everyone is worried
about you. You don't sleep, you don't eat and you've pulled back from everyone that cares for you."

He turned away and looked at the surface of the immense artificial moon that he stood on. Trying to put the feelings
into simple words was the hardest thing that he had ever done.

"Afura, have you ever loved someone so much you can't get out them out of your mind? I see her every time I close my
eyes, gliding down that shaft and knowing that she will waiting for me before I ever met her. 10,000 years worth of
waiting. She might not be able to survive past the time that she sends me back here." He closed his eyes and pushed the
pain back down deep before continuing "I'm afraid that she won't recognize me when I finally get back."

Afura sighed and turned him to face her. "You love her more than I have ever seen anyone love before Makoto. You
will find her." She took his hand and walked him away from the platform," If you don't kill yourself in the process.
Come on, when was the last time you ate?"

"I.... I can't remember." Makoto replied quietly, the fight and fire had gone out of him, exhausted if she was any judge
of things.

"Well, as a friend, I won't let you work another minute without some food and rest first."

Elsewhere, a world away...

Ayeka closed the large textbook startling the concentrating Tenchi. Sasami who was watching nearby giggled at
watching him jump.

"We're done already?" Tenchi asked. For the past couple of weeks, he was being tutored on his Jurai heritage. So far
the tutoring sessions only concentrated on the Royal Language. It was beginning to gnaw on him that nothing, so far,
ever delved into Jurai's history.

"I know it's been bothering you that we haven't gone into any of our history, Lord Tenchi. But I wanted you to learn
enough of the Royal language to at least understand part of this...," The princess trailed off trying to find the right
human words for it, "This...song?" Tenchi watched as a strange emotion flickered across her and Sasami's face. "It
embodies Jurai itself."

The song began softly in the royal language of Jurai seemingly penetrating and surrounding his very essence at the
same time. He was mesmerized like a siren's call, yet not understanding all of the words. So beautiful and yet very sad
at the same time, his heart seemed torn. Then he saw...

A world beautiful and at peace with a civilization that spread almost to the heavens. Then images of a brutal senseless
war encompassing all. Children turning to men on the battlefield. Bodies strewn across entire landscapes. Then a
man. His face hard and cold looking down upon a city. Tears mixed with blood as he thrust his clenched fists towards
the sky. Then ebony flames consuming all...

"Tenchi?" Sasami shook him gently breaking the trance.

"Oh, sorry." He whispered as Ayeka finished the song on one last mournful note. Sasami wiped a tear from her eye.
He wasn't far from one himself. "That was beautiful," he said. Ayeka gave him a wry smile.

"Thank you. I apologize for my lack of skill, but Funaho is the true singer of the family."

"What was the song about?" He asked even as the images of his vision seemed to slowly slip away, "I still don't
understand enough to make it out."

"It is about how the Lost Clans came to Jurai, over 10,000 years ago. We, our forebears, were at war with a great evil.
Finally, they were forced to use a weapon of the greatest power to turn the tide." Ayeka sat on the grass beside Tenchi,
"a few of those people stood their ground against the enemy, to buy the time that the others needed to make the Great
Weapon ready. When it was unleashed, they expected to die. Instead, they were banished from their homeworld and
found themselves stranded on what would one day be called the planet Jurai."

"Which means haven in our ancestor's native tongue." Sasami added as she unpacked the lunch that she had brought.

"Exactly, Sasami. We were given a second chance at life, on a world that was fertile and peaceful. Our ancestors
eventually lost hope at ever getting back home and instead set about making Juria our home. Very few reminders of the
Time of the Beginning remain. You have one of them. The Master Key. The other is our traditions and stories of that
time.

"What does the last bit mean, Ayeka?" He couldn't get that last mournful verse from his mind.

"The song ends like this... 'When will we return, when will the clans be reunited, when will our hearts again be whole."

Sheyla ran through the halls of the palace. -Afura, you little weasel bringing Makoto down and not even telling me.-
She finally arrived at the palace kitchen. Carefully, she put her ear to the door listening for anything. Nothing. She
opened the door to find Makoto sitting alone at a table staring into a goblet.

"Makoto?" She asked tentatively. He seemingly took no notice and downed the entire contents in one swift stroke.
Setting the goblet back down, he refilled it.

"Hey, Sheyla." He whispered. "Now I can see why you and Fuji-sensei drink this stuff." She went to his side and saw
four empty jugs of wine. -Oh lord-

"You'd better ease off the stuff, you're going to feel like hell in the morning." She tried to say it lightly only to choke.
It pained her to see him that way. A bitter chuckle worked its way to his lips.

"I don't care," he said slightly slurred. He held up the goblet to his eyes swishing around the red liquid. "I still see her
you know..." he said his voice trembling on the brink of choking in sobs, "in my dreams just like the day she left." He
rose suddenly and hurled the goblet against the stone wall. It shattered into a million shiny pieces. "And I couldn't save
her... and I can't save her now!"

Sheyla stepped back startled at the force of his words. "No, you can't believe that. YOU PROMISED TO FIND HER,"
She said almost in disbelief at Makoto's words. She had never seen him lose faith, even in the darkest hours of the war.
It scared her to see him like this. He took several breaths. He looked up at Sheyla tears coursing down his face.

"I know." He said hoarsely. His body was wracked by sobs, and he collapsed in a ball. Sheyla rushed to his side
holding him in her arms. He cried into her shoulder, and she held him gently rocking him and stroking his hair.

Sheyla looked down at the boy, no, man that slept fitfully in her lap. She wondered why he had started drinking. The
answer came to her easily, she had used alcohol for it enough times. -To keep the memories away, I'll bet. -

She wished she could talk to someone about this. Everyone had been out of the palace attending to some duties or
another. Afura, she flew back to Mount Muldoon to check the shrine. Miz and Fugisawa were off planning their
wedding, and Nanami had been hiding away in her room for a week now. Alliele was moping about the palace, while
Fatora was out on some royal tour.

-Not to long ago, I would have killed to hold you like this Makoto, - she silently told him as she ran a hand through his
hair, -Now, all I want is to see the pain leave your face for a second even if it had to become my own. It isn't fair, you
saved this world. You deserved a little peace of your own.- Tears ran down her face at the injustice of it. The pain that
was almost as bad her own pain when had she realized that Makoto could never love her.

"It's just not fair," She whispered to the night, not sure whether she was referring to her situation or Makoto's.

Makoto stirred restlessly trapped in the dreams of the past. Images of Ifurita, before and after her imprisonment,
flittered through his dream along with the Eye of God. He saw images of the Great War, memories he had taken from
Ifurita when they bonded last, the Time of the Makers as it had become to be called. An age of marvels before the end
of the war. The ebony fires of war parted and suddenly their was only one image left in his mind. A simple object, but
one of great power. -The Master Key- whispered a gentle voice in his mind. Then his dream faded as he fled into a
deeper sleep.

Fujisawa examined the door carefully. Sure, it'd be easy to break it down. When he got sober, of course. But he didn't
really want to intrude. Which he wasn't, meeting Miz's parents wasn't something that he hadn't wanted to do sober. He
had stopped by just to check on his student after a Miz commented on the fact that she had left her room much for over
a week.

"Nanami, we're getting kinda worried. You've been cooped up in that room for a couple days now. I've only seen you
come out to grab the odd bite to eat. Is something wrong?" He put his ear to the door hoping to hear something, a hint
of what his student was up to. "I'm going to break down this door! Clear out!" He rammed his shoulder against the
door hard. He bounced off the door and landed clumsily on his rear end. "Gotta lay off the wine," he mumbled rubbing
his shoulder.

"Don't come in...." Came Nanami's voice from inside.

"Why?! It's been two days since you came out for food," He shouted, concerned for his student. Makoto was the
obsessive one, wasting away while looking for a way to master the Eye of God. Nanami, on the other hand, was the
proverbial salt of the earth. This wasn't like her.

"Umm...CRAMPS!" Fujisawa slowly backed away from the door.

"If you need anything.... I'll be..." Losing the battle with what he wanted to say, Fujisawa did what any dedicated
bachelor would do in a situation like this. He cut his losses and ran. -Maybe, I should have Miz handle this. -

Nanami almost laughed at the sound of Fujisawa's frantic retreat, but the pain was too much. -Well, mom, you were
right. That's the perfect way of getting a man to leave you alone. - She had bolted to her room not too far ahead of her
teacher and it was only luck that he was slightly drunk this time, or her secret would be in the open. She shuddered as
the pain wracked her body.

"Not again, please, not again." she begged in the futile hope that someone out there would take pity and spare her the
pain. It was like her entire body was on fire, it was worse than the last time. Something that she had been sure was
impossible.

Then as quickly as it had come, the pain vanished. Like a dream in the morning. For long seconds, she lay on the bed
whimpering as the last remnants of the pain washed away. She struggled to sit up and ran her hand across her face to
brush her hair out of the way. Only to freeze in horror as her gaze rested on the lock of hair on her hand.

-No!no!no!no!no!no!no!no!no!no!no!no!no!no!no!no!no!no!no!no!no!no!no!no! It's not possible!, Please let this be a
dream!- She silently screamed to herself in shock. Reality refused to change for her, and she curled into a fetal position
in her bed.

"This can't be happening to me," she whispered to the reflection in the mirror across the room.

Elsewhere, a world away...

Tenchi stirred restlessly in his bed. The night was quiet, Kiyone and Mihoshi were out on patrol, and Washuu was
locked away in her lab meddling with the secrets of the universe. -Something that doesn't require the services of her
favorite guinea pig'- He smiled wryly, life had certainly not been dull since the day that he sneaked into the family
shrine. Even Ayeka and Ryoko had held off feuding today. -All in all, a very good day-

The only thing that kept him awake tonight was something he had heard this afternoon. Ayeka's voice kept ringing
through his head, a little bit of her song that wouldn't go away. -.. when will we see our homes again... when will our
hearts be made whole.-

"What does it mean?" He rolled over, pulled something out from under the sheets beneath him. He lifted the small
slender object into view. -The Master Key-, he looked over the sword, many people had hinted that it had greater power
than he had drawn from it yet. Ayeka, Grandfather, Washuu, Ryoko and Kagato to name a few. "What are you really
capable of?"

Afura coasted up to ledge outside the Shrine, as the priestess with mastery over air it was child's play for her to fly out
to check the mountain shrine periodically.

She looked back across the vast crags of Mount Muldoon, even here you could seen the Eye and the Stairway into the
Sky. Her thoughts were pulled back to Makoto. In a way, she was jealous of Ifurita.

The Demon had the love of a man willing to tear away the wall between worlds to save her. -What have I got?- She
asked as she walked into the entryway and checked the systems of the shrine. Artifacts that were centuries old hummed
at her command, displaying the entire status of the holy shrine. All clear, the images showed her. Her task finished she
walked back onto out onto the ledge.

She stopped short, troubled by questions that suddenly came to mind.-Why should I go back? There isn't anything for
me back there. Miz has her husband, and Sheyla is still trying to trip up Makoto, but I don't have anything to tie me
there.- She looked away from the royal city, and a determined look settled on her face. She pulled open a small device
on her belt and quickly typed a message on it, and then placed it on her belt again.

She stepped out of the concealing shadows of the shrine, and paused for a minute as she repositioned the pack on her
shoulders. Then she turned and head north into the mountains.

Elsewhere, a world away.......

Yosho gave his grandson an appraising look as he came down for breakfast. The boy was moving sluggishly and had
bags under his eyes. He put a gentle hand on Tenchi's shoulder and stopped him before he entered the dining area.

"Are you okay, Tenchi? You look like you haven't been sleeping well."

"I've .. had .. some dreams." Tenchi answered reluctantly, and Yosho waited patiently for him to continue, "I just can't
sort out what it was that I was dreaming, but it is just on the tip of my tongue." He looked up at his grandfather, "I'm
sorry, but it is a little bit frustrating you know. Not being able to explain it, I mean." Yosho patted him on the shoulder
and pushed him gently forward.

"You go ahead and get ready to eat, Tenchi. I have to talk to Sasami for a moment, and then I will be with you." He
smiled, "We have a lot of things to cover in your lessons today." Tenchi groaned as he shuffled over to the table.
Yosho stopped Sasami as she rushed by with breakfast, "Sasami? Could you fix a picnic lunch today? I think that we all
could use sometime away from the house." She nodded as she rushed to put the food on the table.

Makoto looked over the tome again, it had taken days to find the right tome. A half remembered fragment of a dream
wasn't much to go on. The forgotten diary of a historian that had lived centuries ago, his notes contained the needed
references to books and papers even older. Finally his paper chase led him deep into the palace archives, to sections
that hadn't been touched in decades.

"Finally," he whispered. He read the passage several times, consulting his translation notes at several points, and in
slow ponderous steps he coaxed the story from the yellowed pages of the book in front of him.

He read through the story of the last days of the War, told through the eyes of the aide of Lord Kaizen -one of the great
generals. He went cold at the last few pages of the story. -The Great Key-.

He rushed out the door at a run. -This time, I've got it. I'm coming Ifurita hold on just a little bit longer-

-
Sheyla's hair stood on end as she climbed out of the tub. The wind had picked quite severely and the sky was darkening
with ever passing second. -No, - she went cold as she realized what was going on, -he couldn't have- She was out the
door, dressing as she ran down the hall.
-
Makoto closed his eyes and concentrated on the image in his mind, ignoring the howling wind that was picking up. -
Reach for it,- the Eye of God shuddered as his mind tripped switches deep within, then he saw the object that he was
seeking in his mind's eye, -Bring it to me- He commanded the Eye. The wind suddenly ceased and he opened his eyes
as the sky exploded in rush of light.
-
Sheyla's mad rush to the Stairway to the Sky skidded to a halt as the Eye exploded in a rush of light. "Makoto, what
have you done?" She whispered as she stepped onto the transport disc.

She rose into the spire in a rush of speed that blurred the wall as the disc finally brought her to the top of the Stairway.
She gasped in surprise as she took in the wreckage and ruin around her. -One of the blasts must have gone off right
above us. - She finally found Makoto, unhurt to her relief. Then she saw the other body laying beside him.

A young girl, out cold like Makoto, dressed in an outlandish style of clothes. Her concern for the girl was cut short as
she realized what must have happened. She picked up the girl and Makoto.

"Oh, Makoto what have you done?"

On Earth

Washuu typed out a command on her computer and read out the results of her last test cycle. -Very interesting- she
watched as the data scrolled by at an unbelievable rate. -Very close to the results that I wanted.-

Her train of thought was broken as the entire Subspace lab shuddered. -What is going on?- Nearby, a computer screen
exploded and alarms started sounding. Washuu grabbed her computer and with quick strokes called up the dimensional
controls of her workspace. -Massive subspace disruptions- She typed out a flurry of commands, trying to stabilize the
dimensional fields. Another, much heavier shock shook the lab. This time dozens of machines exploded. -Not good,
what ever it is that is doing it has resonances that are tearing down the stablizers faster than the systems can reconstruct
them- It was like trying to rebuild a small spider web when someone is dropping anvils through it.

She hit the door to the house at a full run, and was through it without a seconds hesitation. It was that very second that
the lab's field failed completely. One second she could see the lab, a variety of machines and holding cells exploding.
The next it was the small room underneath the stairs of the Masaki home. She took off her lab coat and looked at the
now missing tail of it.

"And with not a second to spare." she whispered. She had been literally a step away from being thrown across time and
space. She frowned in frustration, "Now what am I going to get those specimens again?"

Then it hit her, the emptiness in her mind and heart. Where Ryoko's thoughts had been. Washuu turned and ran out of
the house at a full run, fear driving her to greater speed.

"Ryoko! Ayeka! Tenchi! Anyone!" She came over the hill's top, to where the Masaki's picnics were held. She knew it
well enough, Sasami was always eager to take advantage of a spring time day to eat out of doors. -Please let them be
alright- She prayed , only to stop short at the ruin was left in the place of their favorite picnic spot.

"No!" Washuu screamed to the sky, as her heart broke into a million pieces. "Give her back, damn you!" her voice
dropped to a whisper as she slid to the ground, "please give her back to me."
-
Tenchi landed roughly, his fall barely broken by the undergrowth. For long minutes he lay senseless on the ground. He
returned slowly to his senses. Finally he was able to sit up and take in his surroundings.

"Where am I?" he asked as he took in the alien surroundings around him.

-
Yosho slid down the slope, acting more on instinct than anything else, pushing himself to the limits of his strength and
endurance. He managed to grab Ayeka's hand only by the smallest of margins.

With a grunt he pulled his half-sister up to safety. Her landing hadn't been as smooth as his, she had hit her head and
fallen down further down into the ravine. He eased her down gently, -I hope the others made their arrival a lot better
than we did,- he thought to himself as he looked the vast crystalline walls above him. -I've heard of this place
somewhere- He slid the key into his belt. It would come to him in time he was sure.

-
Ryoko shook her head to clear it, -What happened, the last thing I remember was arguing with Ayeka at the picnic.
Then..-

Ryoko's reply was interrupted by an explosion of light above
them. Several globes of darkness formed in the open sky and
shot down towards them. Ryoko dodged one, and shot towards Sasami.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Yosho grab for Ayeka.
-Got to get the kid clear of whatever that is- Her thought was cut
off as she hit the girl at almost full speed, and shot high into
the sky with her. One of the blasts landed where she had been only
a second before. Another engulfed Yosho and Ayeka.

"No!" she screamed as the blast left nothing behind but swirling dust.
Then another figure in the clearing drew her eye. Tenchi, sheltering
behind the Wings of the Light Hawk with five of the spheres burning
through. "Tenchi!", Ryoko dove towards him trying to reach him in
time. The distance, along with Sasami's weight, were too great.

The Wings collapsed and she saw Tenchi engulfed by the dark spheres. She
flew through the dust that was left in the wake of his disappearance,
and then she was overwhelmed by the sensation of falling as two spheres
engulfed her and Sasami.

Ryoko shook as the memory replayed itself in her mind's eye. The last few seconds before she blacked out felt familiar.
-Like when I teleport - She looked around her, taking in the ruined landscape all around her. -Where ever the hell I am,-
she told herself silently as she stood up and started down a conveint path, -it sure ain't earth.- She turned at the sound of
falling rocks behind her.

"Ah," she said as she popped her fingers ,and a dangerous glow formed in her hands, "You aren't what I expected out of
the welcome wagon, but I'm glad you're here anyway." she lashed out as she took to the air.

The explosions keyed her into the berserk mode that Washuu had designed in her for combat. The world turned red as
her blood roared with her rage. And as much as she had come to despise it in the last year, it felt so good.

---
Yosho helped Ayeka up, and looked her over. He had dressed the wound on her head, but he was still a little worried
that she might be concussed. He waved his hand in front of her.

"How many fingers?" Ayeka squinted for a moment and Yosho saw a little bit of the delicate sister that he had know on
Jurai all those years ago.

"Two."

"Good, you're most likely not concussed." Ayeka gasped in shock as he moved to oneside to help her up.

"Great Spirits of Juria," she whispered in shock with wide eyes, "Yosho, tell me that I'm not seeing things."

Yosho turned to look at the object that she was pointing at. Long seconds passed as what he saw registered, 700 years
of life on Earth had given Yosho the impression that nothing could surprise him. He was wrong, this was the first time
that he was left speechless in that time.

"It's the Eye of God, just like in the old legends," Ayeka whispered, "then that means....." Yosho finished for her.

"... the Enemy might not be far behind." He said as he took a grim look on his face. They looked at each other, the fear
was clear in Ayeka's face and Yosho couldn't be sure that he didn't show the same look on his. Suddenly the beautiful
scenery and sunny skies seemed a little darker to both of them.

On the ridge above them, shadows gathered and watched.

----
Afura knelt down and examine the signs on the ground in front of her. -Bugrom raiding party, over two dozen maybe
more.- More than she had seen since the end of the war. -What are they doing?-

Her thoughts were interrupted by a low rumble from further down the valley. She turned and glimpsed a column of dust
settle far down the valley as a crystalline bridge collapsed. -What was that?- She took off at a full run, reaching into her
sack for her activation pack. -I hope that I can get there before it's too late.-

----
Yosho blocked the claw that flashed down at him with uncanny ease, his shield flashing into existence a scant second
before it could connect. He followed up with a slash that tore a chunk of the beast's hard shell and rolled away from
another's attack. He risked a look over at Ayeka.
She fought with the fury of a true warrior, lashing out with a blast at the one beast that had faced off with her. Two
more lay close by, crushed by the force of her powers. -She is so like Tenchi -, Yosho thought to himself as he danced
through his enemies' attacks, -Gentle at heart but capable of such great fury and passion- A low rumble above him
broke his chain of thought and he looked upwards. An enormous shard of crystal had broken free and was falling with
deceptive slowness towards....

"Ayeka!" he heard the scream tear from him mouth, even as he bolted over and through the horde of creatures between
them. He hit her hard, and shoved her clear of the shard just as it landed nearby with thunderous impact.

Ayeka shook her head clear as she sat up. The last thing she could remember was hearing Yosho scream her name just
seconds before being shoved clear. She looked back where she had been, now covered by an enormous column of
crystal. Yosho lay beside it...

"Brother!" she ran to him, -Please let him be alive!-. Yosho opened his eyes and smiled at her as she held him in her
lap. He opened his eyes and looked up, not quite seeing her. "No, don't leave me. Yosho, please hold on." She
whispered as she tried to staunch the flow of blood. Yosho seemed to recognize her and then looked past her again.

"They're waiting for me, Ayeka. My wife, and Atchika..." he looked at her, a smile on his face, "they're all so beautiful,
I... wish.. you could see them." Then the life drained from him, one second he was there and then he was gone.

She eased his unseeing eyes shut, tears streaming from her eyes as she fought down the smothering despair that
threatened to consume her. "So passes Yosho, first Prince of Jurai," tears blurred his face as she fought down the
despair that surrounded her, and she was barely able to whisper the rest, "... and my first true love." Then her loss
overwhelmed her and she wailed helplessly.

----
Afura watched helplessly as the column fell in the middle of the conflict. She felt the shockwave that shook the vast
crystalline bridge loose. -Whoever it is, they aren't going down easily- She thought to herself as she redoubled her
speed, -but with that many Bugrom, they will still need all the help that they can get.- She flashed into the battle area
just in time, surprised with the level of destruction that had occurred on the small ridge. Bugrom corpses lay
everywhere, and she could see the survivors clustering cautiously around the column trying to muster the courage to
finish off their victims. -Well we won't have any of that- She swore grimly.

The Bugrom didn't notice the wind in the valley suddenly stop, and then return with a vengeance till it was too late. The
first blast of wind, bearing small shards of rock and crystal tore through the Bugrom like a hot knife, and then Afura
landed in front of the survivors and really let loose. The wind doubled and redoubled at her mental command, and soon
only the strongest and biggest of the bugs were left clinging to the ground in front of her. She looked behind her and
saw the girl and her companion. Rage burned coldly in her at the realization that she was too late to save the man. -I
failed again-, she swore to the man, -but you will be avenged- With a gesture, she blasted one after another from the
narrow ledge and into the abyss below. Finally there was no one left to fight and she forced herself to power down. She
looked back at the two warriors that she had saved, and the victory that she had just won turned to ashes in her mouth. -
Sheyla wouldn't have failed,- she told herself miserably, only to stop short as she looked at the girl's outfit and face.
"Ancestor's guard us." She whispered in shock, suddenly weak in the knees.

Ayeka looked up from Yosho's body, still crying, when a young woman bowed to her. She only caught half of what
was said as the dark hair woman spoke in a dialect that she had never heard. Finally she caught a word that she knew
for sure. Kaizen.

"Kaizen, he was the progenitor of our people. I am Ayeka, a princess of the planet Jurai. " The woman nodded and
replied.

"I am Afura Mann, priestess of Mount Muldoon, ... Ayeka," She looked at Ayeka's face closely taking in the war mask
that princess still wore, "Tell me, if you can, how long have your people lived on this ... Jurai, my lady?"

Ayeka looked back at her savior in shock, finally realizing what had happened. -It's not supposed to happen like this,
it's was supposed to be a time of happiness and joy.-

----
Sasami woke with a throbbing head and was surprised to discover that she in alien surroundings.
She sat up to get a better look around and instantly regretted. She fell back on the sheets with a groan. -I think...- she
told herself,-that this is what Ayeka and Ryoko call a hangover. I definitely don't want to go through this again- Gentle
hands eased her back on the bed and placed a damp cloth on her head.

"Shh.. little one, rest is what you need."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Miz Mistal, we'll answer all your questions later. Now sleep." Sasami started to reply but she was so tired.
Sleep rose up and swallowed her again, she heard a little more as she dozed off.

"How is Makoto?" a man's voice.

"He's okay, but the council wants to see him right now."

"Why?"

"Masamichi, he fired the Eye of God by himself. Needless...." Then sleep claimed her and nothing more was heard.
---

Afura ran interference for her companion as they entered the gate to the palace. -It wouldn't do for the wrong person to
recognize her before I can get her in front of the council.- It had taken her the best part of 2 days to get back from the
shrine at Mount Muldoon. Her companion had almost totally withdrawn into herself after her brother's death.

Ayeka's mental state made Afura reluctant to fly back, it wasn't too far a jump to see her pulling free and dropping from
the sky like a rock. Not something she wanted to happen to one of the Lost. Not to mention the problems that she had
been having herself. The last few days had been a constant battle for control.

-I won't fail her again.- Afura vowed, -hopefully I can get her in a secluded part of the palace till I have a chance to talk
with Rune and the others. Before someone sees the War Marks.- She had given a hooded cloak to Ayeka so as to hide
her face. -If the wrong people saw them, or the Master Key.- It had been 15 centuries since Kaizen's insane act had
taken the bloom of an entire generation, but he was still cursed by many. Afura, as a priestess, knew the truth of
Kaizen, but... The council would have to be informed immediately.

She looked at Ayeka and couldn't help but see the pain, despair and loss in those eyes. -Ancestors, I am only a mere
priestess pledged to protect the secrets of the past, and a poor excuse for a healer of souls,- she prayed -but grant me the
wisdom to keep this Lost Child whole.-

----
The loud shouts and angry voices echoed through the hall as he was escorted to the council chambers by two blank
faced guardsmen, they had delivered the 'request' to attend the council's meeting. Both stood aside and held a door open
for him when they finally reached the door way. The doors quietly shut behind him.

The shouting stopped almost instantly. He took his appointed seat in the smothering silence the filled the room. He
looked up only once, to meet the eyes of Rune Venus, only to turn his gaze back down to the floor at the pain and hurt
in her stoic gaze.

"Why?" Rune asked quietly. Makoto ran his hand through his hair, trying to rub the pain and weariness away.

"I was searching for an object, the Master Key. It was an artifact from the Age of Marvels....." One of the lords cut him
off abruptly.

"You risked the welfare of all El-Hazard on a whim? What if you had brought another monster like Jinnai or even
another Phantom Tribe!!"

"Varic, that is enough." Rune's look of disapproval stopped the lord dead in his tracks, his next comment stilled before
it began. Makoto resumed his survey of the floor, unwilling to meet anyone's gaze as he continued.

"Since the end of the war, I have been researching the Eye of God. Trying to understand the way it bridges between
worlds. Most of you think it is to find a way home for myself and the others. It isn't just for that." A murmur of voices
started to ripple through the council chamber. "I am trying to rescue the woman that I love, who was lost saving El-
Hazard, Ifurita." The council gasped in shock.

"I thought that was a rumor!!!"

"That demon!"

"How!?"

".... deserved..."

".. rot in the darkness."

Makoto pushed down the pain that threatened to consume him in the face of all the hatred that was being directed at his
lost love. -They will never understand-

"ENOUGHT!!", Rune shouted. "There will be silence in this chamber, and order as well, or I will dissolve this session
right now!" The entire chamber instantly went quiet as Rune looked back to Makoto, and he knew instantly that at least
one other in the chamber understood his shared pain with Ifurita. "Makoto, could you please continue?" It was
conforting to see the understanding and empathy in her eyes.

"The Great Key, I found a reference to it and it's creator -Kaizen the Maker- in a very old section of the palace archives.
It was designed to channel and control energies on an incredible scale, it was used to calibrate the Eye before it was
first fired. I knew that there would be a connection between the two that I could use to bring it across time and space
from wherever Kaizen's curse threw it. I didn't expect the Eye to surge like it did though, that was most likely a result
of Gallus' sabotage. I was knocked out by the backlash when the eye fired. The girl, Sasami, was brought over by the
blast also."

"Was there anyone else?" The council member, Varic, repeated again.

"I ... I don't know." Makoto answered, still looking at his feet. A hand touched his shoulder gently. He looked up a
Rune, who smiled gently at him. The room degenerated into a flurry of conversations.

"He can use the Eye. I think that it could solve a lot of problems."

"The Bugrom aren't going to stay at the dimished levels, you know that they breed faster than a Kev'n-Kel..."

".. raiding activities are already picking up along the river of God again.."

"... our forces are still too green and untrained to face the hordes that will be massing..."

"Your highness, we must find out if there are others. Surely someone can make this boy tell us more of what he did.
How many were brought across this time." Rune turned to Varic, her face darkening at the nobleman's presumption.

"I can answer that question," came a voice from the door. Makoto turned and was surprised to Afura Mann standing at
the entranceway with a cloaked figure, the two guards standing guard on her quest. "My lords, I know for a fact that
there were only five people brought across from Earth." -How did she know that- He started to ask, when Afura nodded
to her companion, who pulled her cloak back to reveal a face painted in a tiger striped-like pattern. The council, almost
to a man, paled at the sight of her. Varic scowled and spat. "Your Majesty, and Lords of the Council, I would like to
introduce you to Lady Ayeka, princess of the Royal house of Jurai and descendent of Kaizen the Maker. One of the
Lost."

-You could know them all over with a feather.- Makoto thought as he watched Rune stand and greet their visitor. She
spoke quietly to the girl, and then to the surprise of all hugged her. He looked over to the person sitting beside him,
Alliele. She was crying and it looked to be tears of joy.

"Alliele, why are you crying? Who are the Lost?" She looked at him, surprised by his question for a second.

"Oh, I forgot, you're not from El Hazard. This girl, she's from a group of people that were lost in the Great War. The
first time the Eye of God was fired. To see someone from the Lost after all these centuries is a miracle." Makoto looked
around the council chamber as Rune led Ayeka away.

"Then why are you, Rune and the priestesses the only ones that look happy to see her."

"I'm.. I'm not sure." Alliele said with a confused look on her face.

----

Nanami eased the door open, most of the guards didn't pay much attention to the prisoner in this wing and the council's
state of agitation made it easy to slip through most of the ones that remained. Gossip, not guarding, was far more
enjoyable.

She slipped from shadow to shadow with practiced ease, born of many visits. She eased open the cell, taking care not to
make too much noise as she pulled the door closed behind her. Most of the guards had as much as said that there was
no real reason to keep the door locked.

This prisoner didn't want to leave. He had voluntarily accepted his imprisonment. Nanami had heard of him in the
course of palace gossip and felt compelled to seek him out. Fauric looked up from the scrap of paper that he was
drawing on with a piece of charcoal. His normal intense look of concentration broke into a sincere smile.

"Ah, k'Chara, you came to visit again." He put down the paper and pulled out another one, gesturing to one spot in the
cell. "Sit please, I am almost done."

He started drawing rapidly, occasionally looking up to motion for her to move in some slight manner. He spoke as he
drew.

"Rumors usually don't make it down here till they are long past interest, but I have heard that one of the Lost have
returned." Nanami nodded, then realized that he was still looking at his drawing and started to tell her friend what had
occurred.

"...and that is pretty much it," she finished, looking out at the window of the cell and realizing how much time had
passed. Time with Fauric never really seemed to matter, she didn't feel any of the weight or guilt with him. She stood
and reluctantly walked to the door, "well I had better get going...."

"k'Chara?" Nanami looked back into the cell, "Don't think you are a monster because of what you are, it's what you do
that matters." She took that with her as she left.

Fauric looked up at the sky, his gaze resting on the Eye. It was painted blood red by the setting sun. On nights like this,
he couldn't help but be reminded of his son. Gallus.

"Yes indeed, what you do is more important that what you are..." he said quietly to himself as he relived the past again.
------

Rune hugged the girl, and smiled at her. She could tell that Ayeka was tired and more than a little heartbroken.

"Welcome, Ayeka, we're your family. Kaizen was a member of the royal family. I need to know something, are there
any others in your group who are descendents of Kaizen?"

"Just Sasami, myself .. and Tenchi. Why?" Rune sighed and gestured for a guard. She turned quickly back to Ayeka.

"This boy, Tenchi, have you told anyone what he looks like?"

"Just Afura Mann." Rune turned back to the guard.

"Find Afura Mann and get the description of the boy and make sure that he is brought to the palace immediately." She
looked back to Ayeka and smiled to put her at ease, "I think that there is someone that will want to see you."

---
"Nanami?" Nanami started at the voice, and for a second she couldn't remember where she was. She had felt what
seemed to be another of her 'attacks' coming on. -Oh, yeah the royal quarters- Fujisawa-sensei had threatened to tear the
door down if she didn't come out. Miz wanted someone to watch after the girl while the others attended the council
meeting with Makoto. -Their worried that Makoto might have brought another monster across like Katsuhiko, or me.-
"Nanami? Are you alright?" A hand on her shoulder brought her out of her daydreaming. She looked at the young girl
beside her.

"What is it, Sasami?"

"Why are you so sad?", the younger girl asked with an innocent look that tore at Nanami's heart. She started to reply,
but stopped as Rune walked in with another girl closer to her own age. Sasami lit up at the sight of her. "Ayeka!" The
other girl rushed to the bed and wrapped her arms around the little girl.

Nanami slipped out the door as the two sisters were reunited and vanished into the shadows of the hallway. No one
noticed her disappearance in the room.

---
Ryoko dropped straight down the cliff face, gliding silently to her target. The sentry spotted her only seconds before
she struck. The explosion of her blast made any alert that it might have given moot.

-Ryoko! Stop this before it gets out of hand!- Yosho's voice rang through her mind.

"Shut up old man!" She screamed as she summoned her sword and lashed out at a massive creature that emerged from
the hole. It went down under her attack and didn't rise. Her blood sang with glee as she moved in to enter the complex,
the promise of destruction to come set her heart racing.

-I can't let you continue this destruction!- She laughed before replying.

"What are you going to do? You're just a figment of my imagination!" She moved forward into the shadows that she
knew concealed the enemy. She felt the power within her rise and shift unbidden as Yosho replied.

-This!- came Yosho's reply as she vanished away from the carnage that she had made.

---
Sasami hugged her sister as Ayeka wept. She knew part of it was the same relief and joy to be together again, but
another part of her knew there was more to it than that. She pushed out of the hug and looked at her sister's face, still
covered in her War Mask. And knew without a single word from her sister. Yosho, son of Funaho and the crown prince
of the planet Jurai, was dead.

"Yosho?", she asked Ayeka with tears in her eyes now. Ayeka merely nodded and Sasami held her as she wept again.
No one else truly knew how much Ayeka had felt for their half brother. She patted her sister's shoulder and whispered
as her sobs shook her body. "I know.. ", she said as she looked to Rune. The older woman retreated out the door, this
was clearly a private moment that she wouldn't want to intrude upon. -Oh, Yosho, my brother; why did you have to
leave us now?- she asked his departed spirit.

----
"Who is this woman? Why is she single-handedly tearing apart my plans for the new campaign to conquer El Hazard?"
Katsuhiko Jinnai looked to his Bugrom followers and listened to their mumbled replies. The yellow eyed demoness had
been tearing through his forces for days now. He drew in a breath to continue his rant but was interrupted as one of the
smaller Bugrom, one not much bigger than a hummingbird flew up and whispered something in his ear.

"What?" He screamed in suprise and listened as his scout repeated his report. -So, there is another way to fire the Eye
of God.- "Return to your post and bring me news of when and where this ... Master Key is located." -Soon, Makoto, I
will finally be able to tear away all the impediments that you have thrown up. Nothing will stand in the way of my
destiny.- Jinnai raised a hand in the air, "I won't be denied this time, Mizuhara!"

----

Nahto looked at his spy, leaning forward in the seat. For the first time in months, something had come up that could be
of use. Hope, long thought dead with his master, now flared again. With it came purpose and the drive that had so long
been denied him.

"Tell me again what your sources have told you." And the spymaster obediently retold the information that his spies
had passed on to him. Nahto waved him away as he finished, and the phantom spy withdrew obediently.

"How could such a thing be?" Nahto asked as he sat back on his throne. This was totally unexpected, "I thought that
only two princesses of royal blood could fire the eye?"

"Not so, Shadow of Gallus." Nahto jumped at the voice to one side of him.

"Who is it?" A knife appeared in his hand as he conjured a light to fill the darkened room. A woman, tall and pale with
dark hair, stood nearby. Nahto stepped back and forced himself to relax. She would never notice his attack, it would be
like attacking a mountain with a spoon. Or so the legends said. "Harbinger, what do you want?"

"Why little shadow, are you afraid that I have come to usurp your hold on the phantom tribe?" She said with a little
smile. Nahto forced himself to remain calm.

"No, you could have done that when you aided Gallus in his uprising. What do you know of these latest events?" He
asked as he returned to the throne and took a seat.

"The boy, Makoto, fired the Eye in an attempt to recover a lost artifact from the Age of Glory. The Master Key."
Harbinger stepped back into the shadows, fading away as she spoke, " I think that you will find that it has an interesting
history little shadow, maybe you should look into it."

Nahto looked out onto the floor of the darkend throne room, his visitor gone in her usual mysterious manner. He wasn't
concerned with her appearence or disappearence, but a vision of what would come soon.

The Eye glowing darkly in the sky above, lashing out death and destruction at his command.. it was a very satifying

----
Afura Mann shot up in the bed, a scream rushing out of her. She lay in the bed gasping for air as the nightmare
vanished back into the night. All around her the rooms contents dropped to the floor, no longer held aloft by her
powers. The windows were open to the night air now, the glass in them blown out by the winds that had come with her
screams. She huddled miserably on the empty mattress, her sheets having been blown all around the room.

-Just a dream! It's just a dream! get a hold of yourself Afura!- She looked around the room taking in the devastation left
from her nightmare inspired blasts. _That was without my amplifier rig,... if I had- Her thoughts were cut off by the
realization that she was not alone in the room. She looked up at the visitor.

"So, have you come to gloat?" She asked, surprising herself at the amount of bitterness in her voice.

Sheyla sat down on the mattress and looked at her. Concern showed in her eyes as she handed Afura a cover. Afura
took it and gratefully wrapped it around herself.

"You've never lost it like this before Afura. I came down here to tear into you over this," She waved the note that she
had left at the shrine, "and I find you with less control than a base novice. What is going on?"

"I... I've lost my Focus," Sheyla looked at her in shock and Afura pushed on with her explanation. "Doubts best me at
every turn. Everywhere I look and see things that should be within my power, things that I should be able to do as a
priestess. I just can't seem able to do what is needed of me anymore." Sheyla looked at her in shock, it was long
seconds before she had recovered enough to reply.

"Focus? What are you talking about Afura? You've always had that extra edge, the drive that Miz lacks. And you sure
as hell have more willpower and control than I do. You don't let things distract you from your duties.

Afura sighed and rose off the bed, draping the cover over her shoulders as she stood up. Sheyla tried to ignore the wind
that was whispering through the room, but it was hard when she knew that the wrong word or situation could literally
tear apart the room.

"That's just it, isn't it? All I have is my duty. Miz has Fujisawa and you flit from one thing to another, except when you
are chasing Makoto."

"Aw, come off of it. Look, love isn't all that is cracked up to be. Look at the fool that I have made of myself." She
smiled wryly, but Afura could see the pain that lurked underneath the brittle surface.

"It's not that, .. I liked being a priestess even during all the grooming and training. The idea of being a keeper of ancient
lore was appealing to me, and then there was the challenge of pushing myself to the limits. Honing the razor-sharp edge
of my powers to the utmost. All that drove me was the need.. the drive to improve. Now I see this road, no forks or
turns, just leading forward with no end to it. I'm not happy or sad or anything anymore. Just this constant cycle of
moving day to day trying to keep that edge, even with that I have my doubts. Maybe I'm not cut out to be a priestess
anymore."

Sheyla was shocked by the revaluation that her friend was revealing. This was going far beyond the funk that she had
expected, deeper than she could have imagined.

"Bullshit, we're heroes. The order hasn't had this many eager recruits in centuries. All of them trying to see if they have
the gift like us." Afura turned her back and eased the cover down to her waist, leaving her front and back bare. The
wind picked up just enough to make Sheyla nervous, she tried to break the mood with a little humor. "You haven't been
hanging around with Alliele again have.." Then she saw it and the rest of her sentence died on her lips.

The interlacing web of scar tissue across her back, vivid red strips across the bare white skin. Marks that would last a
lifetime, reminding Afura of her loss. Afura held up an arm, it was covered in a similar web of scars.

"Ifurita..." Afura nodded, " I never knew that it was that bad...."

"I was the indomitable one, remember? The one that couldn't be stopped in all our trials. Ifurita beat all of us, but she
didn't finish me cleanly. She toyed with me. And I couldn't do a thing to stop her." Afura closed her eyes, and Sheyla
could hear the howl of the growing wind outside, "I failed to stop her, and I failed to save Ayeka's kinsman....."

"So what are you going to do about it Afura?" Sheyla snapped at her in anger, "Give up, let your powers rot in some
seaport or a freak show?" Afura slid the cover back on and turned to face Sheyla.

"I am going on retreat. Into the Mountains of God and there I will seek the Cave of Demons. I am going to regain my
Focus, or make sure that I don't become a threat."

Sheyla looked at her friend in shock, suprised at the turn of events.

----
"She What!," Miz screamed upon hearing Sheyla's news. Mr. Fujisawa stuck his head up from the couch where he had
been reclining, recovering from his meeting with Miz's family. Sheyla locked eyes with her senior priestess and
repeated her announcement.

"She is going on Retreat, and is taking a quest to regain her Focus." Miz paled and sat down, suddenly weak in the
knees.

"She's going to get herself killed," Miz moaned. Fujisawa sat down beside his bethrowed and looked at Sheyla.

"What do you mean, what is a Retreat?" Sheyla waved him into silent as she sat down.

"A retreat is a time for reflection and self discipline. The priestess' powers require great amounts of willpower to
control. Without that control, our emotional states can trigger massive amounts of damage. These," she tapped the
crystal rig wore most of the time, "amplify our powers but a priestess without Focus can achieve levels of power that
can't be matched by an amplifier. Afura is the most skilled of the three of us in her powers, she made the study of them
a focus in her life. Without a doubt she is the most powerful of the three of us. She couldn't stay in the city any longer
without her Focus. If something had set her off, she could have easily have destroyed the palace or even the city."
Fujisawa paled at the level of destruction that was being casually described.

"My goodness, that is terrible. Is there anyway for her to recover this Focus?"

"Yes there is," Sheyla replied, " She must face the fears and inner demons that destroyed her Focus."

"That means..." Fujisawa's question was cut off by his fiancT's reply.

"She will have to face Ifurita again, without any of us to help her." Miz, Fujisawa realized, had already given up on her
friend.
-----

Ayeka wandered the massive floor of the hall, flitting from one group to another, never really paying attention to what
is going on. She used to love the massive ceremonies and galas back on Juria, but now it seemed all a great waste of
time and energy. She was alone, Rune had some situation to take care of and it would be several days yet before Sasami
was strong enough to be allowed out of bed.

She grabbed a glass off of a passing platter, and sipped it as she walked around the room. She had been drinking
steadily all night and as a result was fairly numb.

It helped to make the alien surroundings seem more familiar. She kept seeing something familiar from Juria, only to
find that the meaning or appearance of something she had known twisted out of context.

She turned to move closer to the open doorways, hoping to get some air to clear her head.
-Before I let the wine go to my head- She told herself, though she really wanted to be alone. In avoiding one group of
courtiers that she stepped into another one. She turned to apologize, even as the courtier did the same.

"Milady, I am so sorry, I wasn't looking..." then there was only silence as Ayeka looked at the courtier, who was only a
little more drunk than herself. He glared at her, and she could feel the hatred that seethed underneath his quiet
demeanor. "Oh, it is you, Lady Ayeka." The title was one that she was used to, Tenchi and his father used it, but this
time it was meant as an insult. Ayeka murmured a hurried apology and turned to leave, not wishing to have a
confrontation, but the nobleman wouldn't have any of it.

"Hold on, I've something for you," he spun her around and threw his glass in her face, Ayeka fell back a step stunned at
his actions. The rage on his face grew darker and for a moment, she thought that he was going to strike her. That was
when she acted, more on instinct than thought.

One moment she was in the ornate gown that Rune had given her, there was a flash of light and then she was garbed in
the battle garb she had arrived in. The nobleman's slap stopped short of her face and she stuck a palm outwards. There
was a small flash of light and then the man was gone. Blasted far across the room and into a table laden with food.

Ayeka looked at her hand as if it was an alien thing and then at the stunned crowds in the hall with her. Then she fled
the room at a full run.

----
Rune rushed down the hall at nearly a run, but not quite. Her companion kept pace with her as he explained the
situation, and she got the feeling that it was going to only get worse. Lond's story did get worse as he finished up and
she stopped just short of the doorway.

"He did what!" She knew that Varic was a little impulsive and reckless when drunk, but to do something of this level
was hard to believe.

"After he threw the glass of wine in her face, it looked like he had intended to strike her. She ... changed, into the outfit
and War Marks that she had wore into the council meeting, and then struck Varic."

"And how is Lord Varic?" Rune asked coolly, Lond's didn't give good odds on Varic's welcome at court anytime soon.

"He is shaken, but otherwise unharmed. Princess, you do realize that Varic is one of your sister's favorites."

"I'm aware of that, Lon." She stepped into the room and took in the confusion and devastation that was left in the wake
of the incident. She scanned the room quietly, her eyes running from one group to another, but she didn't find the
person she was looking for. She turned to Londs. "Where is Lady Ayeka?"

"I don't know, Princess, she ran off after the incident and I have several others out looking for her." Rune turned and
headed out of the room, she still had much to do.

"Londs, make sure that the men that find her understand that I will be very upset if there are any other more of these
incidents."

"Yes, Princess."
----

She finally stopped running, unsure of where in the palace she was. All she had known was that she wanted away from
the hatred that she had seen. She looked down at the sword in her hand.
-It's all I have left of you, Yosho. It and Tenchi- She sat down and looked around her, she was in some sort of garden. -
How could they hate me so much for something that happened so long ago. Kaizen paid for his sins, why blame us?-

Her gaze came to rest on one particular flower in the bed beside her. -A Royal Teardrop- she picked one and looked at
it, trapped in the recollection of a time long ago on Jurai. The last time she had truly been at peace.

[flashback]
Ayeka looked up. Yosho was calling her. She gathered up the wreath she had been making and ran to him.

"For you, Yosho." She said as she placed wreath on his head.

"Ayeka, why are you out here?"

"Because you went out, leaving me behind." Yosho laughed gently as he scooped her up. Ayeka looked at him with a
smile, blushing.

"One day, I will be a bride, won't I Yosho?"

"When you grow up."

"It is the color of your eyes." Ayeka said as she slid the flower into the wreath. Yosho set her down and pulled it out to
look at it.

"A royal teardrop", somehow it disturbed him.

"What's wrong?", Ayeka was confused by her brothers reaction. He looked in her eyes, suddenly sad and aged beyond
his years.

"This flower shouldn't be used for a happy occasion."
[end flashback]

-He knew,- Ayeka realized as she snapped back to the present,-even then he knew that he wouldn't be allowed to marry
me. That the clans wouldn't allow a half-breed to take the throne.- Someday, you will understand he had told her after
Kagato's attack, when she realized that he was Tenchi's grandfather. She though back to his dying words and the happy
expression on his face.
-I will take you home brother- she swore grimly, -that much I can do.-

Then she heard a noise to her left, and quickly retreated into the shadows, she wasn't ready to face anyone yet. A lone
figure sat down on nearby bench and looked up at the Eye of God above. She made out the figure as a cloud moved
away from the huge artificial moon.

-Makoto- She moved closer to see what he was doing. She hadn't had a chance to meet the young man that was
responsible for her coming to El Hazard. He seemed so sad and tired for someone so young, like the weight of the
world was on his shoulders.

"Makoto, Makoto.", she was startled by the sudden voice near the boy. Unbelievably, it was a cat that spoke to him.
Makoto looked down at the cat and picked it up.

"Hello Ura," he said as he stroked the cat's belly. It purred loudly and make it clear that more of the same was expected.
It looked up at him, and she could see that it had a very expressive face.

"Makoto miss 'furita?", it asked with a sad voice. Ayeka suddenly understood why there was so much weight on the
young man's shoulders. -She must be some kind of woman for him to risk so much to get her back.-

"Yeah, Ura, I do. I... I miss her a lot." The pain was so clear in his voice, Ayeka knew the level of despair behind that.
She had felt the same way before, when she had gone looking for Yosho. Before she had found Tenchi. "I did
something bad, Ura, and got someone killed in the process. Will I be able to look her in the eye when I find her,
knowing that I killed someone to get her back?"

Ayeka found herself walking forward and before she knew it she was beside him. Makoto looked up in surprise, and
moved quickly to set aside the cat and stand.

"Lady Ayeka, I'm sorry. I didn't know that you where there." Ayeka waved the rest of his explanation away and sat
beside him.

"Makoto, tell me about Ifurita."

Makoto met the princess' eyes and saw her pain and loss. All of it due to him. Suddenly the pain and guilt were too
much, and all the months of pain and doubt overwhelmed him. He collapsed in heap and couldn't stop crying.

"I'm so sorry, so sorry..." he wept as he curled into a fetal position on the ground. All that he had left was the pain and
loss, and all the he did brought more..

Ayeka knelt beside him and pulled the weeping boy into her lap. All she could do was hold him and help him through
his pain by being there.

Finally Makoto cried himself out. He looked up at the tearful face of Ayeka, and reached up to wipe away the tear on
her face. As he reached up his hand brushed up against her headband.

"I'm sorry...." Contact was all that was needed, his power did the rest.

Ayeka and Makoto were frozen in place for long seconds as memories were exchanged between the two.

For Ayeka, she got to see the last few minutes that Makoto and Ifurita shared together. She shared his sorrow and
despair like it was her own. She understood exactly what they shared, something that Makoto never tried to explain. It
was beyond simple words. It was too painful to think that the woman you love might die after centuries of waiting.

Makoto saw the battle between the Bugrom and the Jurian nobles. He felt Ayeka's bloodlust in the battle and Yosho's
death. He understood what exactly she had lost. He knew that she never had the chance to say goodbye or fully resolve
the feelings that she had for her half brother.

Then, as quickly as it had started, the bond was gone and they were on the ground looking at each other. Makoto sat
back and looked at Ayeka in shock.

"How?"

"Your power," she tapped the headband, "it reacted with this and allowed us to share one another's memories for a
time."

"Oh," it was a little much for Makoto, the emotional rollercoaster of the last few days. Ayeka stood and held out her
hand, knowing instinctively what they both needed. Ayeka smiled as she pulled him into the waiting gala.

"I think that we have both brooded far too long. What is needed now is something more cheerful."

----
Afura looked up at the peak from her campfire as she cleaned up her night time meal. It had taken several days without
her powers to reach this point in the mountains. The whole time she had followed the old traditions, refusing to use her
powers or outside help. She was sore and tired, it had been a long climb and she wasn't as used to the thin air of the
higher altitudes as she had been months earlier.

"Tomorrow" She whispered as she looked up at the peak. -Tomorrow I face the Demons in the cave and....- She dozed
off before she could complete the thought. She wasn't sure that she wanted to consider the possible outcomes.
----

Ryoko blinked into existence, and could feel the passage of time from her teleport to the moment that she had just come
to. Her surroundings were alien and that confused her even more. As had the rage and bloodlust that she had seemingly
just felt and now didn't.

"Yosho, what did you do to me?" She asked aloud, only to hear her voice echo around her.

-What needed to be done. You were reverting to what Kagato had made you, and I couldn't allow that. Tsunami and I
spent far too long to let that happen.-

"What are you talking about. What did you do to me?" She asked, scared that she might already know the answers.

-Eliminated Kagato's programming nothing more. I had to enlist the aid of 'others' to do it in my current state, and they
have a price for such things-

"State? What are you talking about? Where are you?"

-I'm dead, held to this plane of existence only for a short time by my link with you and your gems. Ryoko, we don't
have time for an explanation. Look around you with your spirit sight, what do you see?- She looked as she was told and
gasped at the sight.

"Spirits, thousands of them! All around me. Yosho, what do you want me to do?" She felt the spirit shift with her gems
as he quickly explained what was needed of her.
----

Afura pulled herself up onto the ledge and stood. It had been a long hike up the peak, but now she was here. The cave
of Demons. It was with a reluctant step that she entered the cave. She could hear her footfalls echo through the
passageways as she walked further into the crystalline passages.

-Okay, I'm here, now what?- she asked herself as she rounded a corner. Any further questions or doubts were
interrupted by the explosion of the wall in front of her.

The blast shattered the wall and threw her backwards. She grunted in pain as she hit the wall behind her. A shock of
pain ran down her back and hips as she hit the wall. She fell to her knees and looked up at the new hole in the wall in
front of her.

A figure emerged from the dust and smoke. For a moment it wavered as it calmly walked forward. Afura could make
out the glimpse of Cyan hair and golden cat's eyes for a moment before the smoke curled back around it again.

It shimmered and changed shape as it emerged. She looked on stunned by what greeted her as the figured resolved into
a woman. She looked at the tall white haired woman and met her deep blues eyes.

"You!" She yelled in disbelief, "it can't be you!"

"What else did you expect to find in the Cave of Demons, Afura" the woman asked, "other than the Demon god?"
Ifurita raised her powerstaff and pointed it at the astonished priestess.
----

"Hey you!" Tenchi was roused to full wakefulness by a rough prod. He looked up to see a guardsman on the other end
of the staff that was jostling him. "This ain't an inn kid! Move on!"

Tenchi staggered forward across the bridge, covering his mouth as he yawn. For a week or more, he had done odd jobs
with a caravan to get to the city. The night before he had gotten what little funds the caravan master had owed him and
walked to the gate. Tired and without a clue on how to enter the city, he had fallen asleep waiting for the city gates to
open. He looked over the bridge at the city beyond.

"So this is Floristica," he said to himself. The city had the elaborate nature like that of an Arabic story. -I wonder if the
others are there? I hope at least that there is some word on them.- Karse, the caravan master, had been certain that his
kin would be there.

He soon found himself in a bazaar, bustling with business and stalls of all sort. He looked at one stall, a food stall, as
his stomach issued a massive growl. The merchant heard and held up a bag of fruit. He rubbed thumb and finger
together. Tenchi sighed and pulled out his small purse of coins as he set about the task of bartering for his breakfast. He
finally settled on a small bag of fruit for several of his meager supply of coins.

As he walked away, months of living with Ayeka and Ryoko made him look back. Some instinct told him that
something bad was happening behind him. He saw several guardsmen making their way through the crowds. Towards
him. One of them was talking to the merchant that he had bought his breakfast from.

Suddenly the sweet taste of the fruit didn't sit with him so well as the merchant answered the guard's question by
pointing through the crowds right at him. -That tears it- he told himself as the guards all starting moving towards him, -
I'm out of here!-

He bolted down the crowded street at a full run, with sounds of running feet behind him. Dodging down one street then
another, he weaved randomly through the crowds trying to get away. As he came around one corner, he skidded to a
halt as another squad of guards came into sight. -Great, now what?-

A pair of tanned arms emerged from the shadows behind him and pulled him into the half concealed alley behind him.
One hand came across his mouth as a voice whispered in his ear.

"Don't move!"
----

Afura stepped back a pace, still half in shock at the sight of Ifurita. Her heart was in her throat. The wind in the cave
started to build as she staggered backwards towards the entrance.

"Don't you think that it is a little too late to get away Afura?" Ifurita asked in a taunting tone. "You only have one thing
left to do. And that is to die!"

"NO!" Afura screamed and called for the wind, desperation and fear lending strength to her call. The wind rushed
forward to fill her world, wild and savage. Uncontrolled.

The cave shook under the passage of the air, and Ifurita was pushed back under the rush of wind. The wind picked up
speed, bringing all the small debris in the cave.

-No! Not like this!- She screamed to herself as she fought for control. The control she sought slipped out of her grasp
and the winds grew in intensity. The objects lifted by the wind were growing in size and the gap between her and the
objects diminished.

Present and past blended together into a melange of images.

"I'll stop you!" screamed Sheyla as she blasted out with a fire bolt that melted the rock of the cave at Ifurita's feet. The
demon god stood firm, untouched by the attack. Then she retaliated with a fiery blast that blinded Afura for a second.
Sheyla's scream of pain was thankfully brief. Her vision cleared to reveal the crisped corpse lying at the entrance of the
cave.

"Sheyla." Afura whispered in shock. To one side, Miz screamed in outrage and lashed out with the force of a tidal
wave. To no avail. Ifurita stood unfazed by the wall of water that crashed over her and with a simple hand motion
reversed the flow of the water with such force that Miz hardly had time to scream before being washed away.

The last of her that Afura saw was as she impacted with the cave wall with thunderous force. She cringed at the sound
of the senior priestess' neck snapping. Then Miz was gone, washed away by the wall of water that she created. Ifurita
turned back to face her.

"And then there was only you little priestess, all by yourself.." All the fear and repressed rage exploded as her fragile
control shattered. Ifurita fell back under the hail of rock. Afura snarled in fury and lashed out at her, all pretense of
control gone. The cave shook under the onslaught of the wind.

It came with the force of a hurricane rippling items from the ground and hurling them down the cave. Afura reached
deeper within, desperate for control and more power.

Ifurita staggered backwards a step and the wind grew more intense. The ground shook at the passage of the wind, and
still more came. Ifurita was forced back again.

Afura fought within herself to bring the power under control. Fear and desperation tore away the center that she needed
for control. Afura tried to pull all her power back within and the fear twisted and warped it. Wind came and more came
with every passing second.

The whole world shock under the passage of the wind. The cave creaked and moaned like a beast in pain, while Afura
fought with herself. Buffeted by the wind and the rocks that it brought, it was all that she could do to remain standing.

Suddenly, the realization hit her in a rush of serendipity. Afura shook at the simplicity of it and smiled. She gestured
with a hand. The wind died to nothingness and she stood in the cave with her enemy.

The silence was deafening as she stood there gasping for breath in the wake of her exertions. She hurt all over, her
injuries just now making themselves known. Ifurita walked forward out of the smoke.

"What's the matter, Afura? Aren't you afraid of me?"

"Yes, I am."

"Then what are you waiting for?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"What will happen, will happen. I was wrong to be afraid of fighting you, but I will never let that fear poison me again.
All that can happen if that I will fail or succeed."

Ifurita smiled and for a second her image wavered and then vanished entirely. To be replaced by the hawk faced
stranger that she had seen. Who promptly sat down beside her. The stranger smiled and patted her on the shoulder in a
comradely sort of way.

"Not a bad little rumble, I'm called Ryoko. I assume that you are Afura Mann?" Afura started to reply, but the pain rose
up and washed away all reality before she could.
----

"They can't see us as long as you remain quiet!" Hissed a voice by Tenchi's ear. The hand over his mouth slowly
withdrew, "if you want to avoid capture, follow me." The shape retreated further into the shadowy alleys, and Tenchi
reluctantly followed her.

Through back alleys, and side streets, Tenchi followed the slim figure and up onto the rooftops of the city, finally
arriving at an empty street plaza. The figure turned and pointed to a small building as she pulled back her hood to
reveal a pretty face, if she had bothered to wash it.

"I couldn't let you get taken by the guards, you don't look like a dangerous type of criminal to me."

"I haven't done anything!" Tenchi answered as she pulled aside a curtain and stepped into the decripid building.

"Yeah, that is what they all say..." He heard her drop to the floor with a crash and a groan. Turning quickly he
discovered a haggard looking guard standing over the body of his savior. She was out cold.

Tenchi looked at the woman who had befriended him. The guard had laid her out for sometime from look of it. It must
have been a really hard blow. The guard stepped over her, swinging his staff as he did so.

Years of training under his grandfather had honed reflexes and instincts that most people would never conceive of. He
ducked under the extended staff and grabbed the wrist that was holding the staff. Then all it took was a slight jerk
forward to pull the guard off balance and channel his momentum into a wall.

He impacted with the stucco wall with a wet smack and went down hard. He didn't get up. Tenchi pulled the small
purse of coins that he had left with him and tossed it down the to woman. The sound of approaching feet told him that
he didn't have much time.

"Sorry about this," he said before turning and running away. The guards caught sight of him just as he turned the far
corner of the street and took up the chase once more.
---

Rune looked up as the messenger ran up to her and quickly bowed. Something about his desperate manner told her that
this wasn't going to be something that she wanted to hear.

"Your highness, we have spotted the fugitive that you wanted captured. The Fifth company of the city guard is
mobilizing as we speak. We should have him within the hour."

"Fugitive? What fugitive?" The slight headache that she had been having all day long now threatened to blossom into a
full migraine.

"The one that you told Captain Merric to capture and bring to the palace." She shook her head and cut him off.

"The Captain was supposed to find and ESCORT Tenchi Masaski to the palace. He's to be considered a Diplomat of the
first order and nobility."

"Oh crap.. I mean... that is, with your permission, highness." The messenger took off at a full run when she nodded.
Rune wondered if the situation could get any worse as she watched the man run away.

She didn't know Tenchi's luck. Tenchi Masaki wasn't know for making good impressions. Ryoko, Ayeka and Kagoto
for example. Sheyla Sheyla was about to make that list.
----

Tenchi came around the corner at a full run, only just keeping his balance as he did. He barreled through a group of
people and pushed through at full speed. Just as he made it through crowd, he tripped and reeled forward.

He crashed into a tall athletic woman, and together they tumbled to the ground. Tenchi landed on top, and for long
seconds was frozen in place. His hands flexed reflexively as he straddled her. The redhead glared up at him and spoke
through clenched teeth.

"Would you mind getting off of me?" Tenchi suddenly became aware of the sound of approaching guards and moved
quickly got up and dashed off.

"Sorry about that!" he yelled to her as he dodged between the people on the street.
-----

Sheyla lay on the ground, angry and embarrassed beyond words as the guards pelted by. She had snuck out of the
palace the night before to get a good drink alone without Miz or Rune interfering.

The last thing that she had expected was to knocked down and fondled. Sheyla lay there and replayed the whole
incident in her mind, clouded by her hangover, and got angrier. The gems flared to life as she sat up.

The crowd on the street parted unbidden as she stood and looked down the street at the back of the fleeing teen. Her
hand rose and a ball of flame formed in it. She gestured towards him.

"Die!"
----

Sasami settled down in the mound of pillows that the servants had put out for her in the garden. Ayeka and Makoto
helped the servants to setup of the picnic meal that Sasami had organized. The little girl had enough of indoors and
solitary meals, and had insisted on a little company. Ura curled up in her lap as the servants finished assembling the
meal and retreated.

They had just settled down to eat and had been joined by Miz when it happened. All of them looked at the cloud of
smoke that followed the thunderous roar and watched in disbelief as a small building collapsed.

The two groups looked at each other. Ayeka and Sasami on one side and Makoto and Miz on the other.

"Tenchi" the two sisters said together, with an air of certainly that had come from long experience.

"Sheyla." Miz and Makoto said with same amount of experience to judge from. Each of the twosome looked to the
other group in surprise.

Then Ayeka, Miz and Makoto bolted from the room at a full run, leaving Sasami alone with the remains of lunch and
Ura. She settled back into the mount again and rubbed Ura absentmindedly. The cat purred, happy for the attention and
snacks that were forthcoming.
-----

Some deep down survival instinct told Tenchi to get out of the way at the last moment. He half hopped, half jumped out
of the way just a second before the blast tore through the empty building.

-Why does this type of thing always happen to me?- he asked himself as he took a quick look back down the now clear
street. The tall redhead that he had run into stood in the middle of the street alone. The bustling crowds that he had such
trouble getting through were gone. The reason why was immediately evident by the fiery aura around her.

-Why me?- He thought to himself as he dodged another of the fiery blasts and bolted down a nearby street. A wash of
heat at his back announced that his latest pursuer was gaining. He risked a quick look back and wished that he hadn't.
The redhead was gaining, wreathed in flames, and Tenchi didn't like the look in her eyes.

Turning back around, he was stopped short by what he saw. What he had hoped was a backstreet had turned into a dead
end alley. The woman slowly stepped into sight, haloed in a blinding aura of flame. Tenchi took an involuntary step
back, only to be stopped short by the wall at his back.

"I don't suppose that an apology would do?" he asked weakly.
----

Ayeka followed the others at a full run. Makoto had the lead with Miz close behind. They all hurried towards the
burning building in the bazaar district and it was child's play to follow the devastation from there.

Makoto disappeared into the fleeing crowds and the two women were hard put to keep up with him. As all three of
them came around the turn, they saw Sheyla scream out and throw a monstrous wave of fire down the alley.

"Sheyla don't! That's Ayeka's kinsman." Miz screamed as the blast detonated in the alley. Sheyla snapped out of the
rage and looked down the alley in shock.

"Oh no! I didn't mean to go so far," she said to Miz. Ayeka glanced down the smoking alley and saw something in the
wreckage and ruin that lifted the horrible weight that had lain on her shoulders.

-The Wings of the Light Hawk!- She gave a small cry and bolted past Miz before the priestess could stop her.

"Tenchi!" she yelled as the wings vanished and he staggered out of the smoke and haze. She caught him as he
collapsed, and she quickly checked him over. Aside from a few minor scrapes and burns he was fine. She looked up to
the approaching trio with a smile. "Makoto, Miz and Sheyla, I would like to introduce my kinsman, Tenchi Masaki."

"Charmed, I'm sure." Sheyla growled.

"Sheyla behave!" Miz snapped.

"What did I do?"

"We've met before." Makoto said as he helped Ayeka. The others looked at him with wide eyes.
----

Afura awoke to find her wounds bound and a nice fire burning nearby. Her gear was laid out neatly and a small pot of
stew bubbled nearby. The stranger looked up from the fire and smiled.

"Ryoko, right?" Afura asked as she sat up. Ryoko nodded and brought over a bowl for her.

"Sorry about the cave, I couldn't help it. There were so many spirits in the cave, and I got lost in the rush." Afura waved
her apology away as she reached for the spoon.

"It was what was needed to be done. For us both, if I am right." She looked up at the mountain. "I definitely gained
something out of my experience. Didn't you?" Ryoko looked up at the mountain and shook her head.

"No, I didn't. I lost something that I never really needed." The rest of the meal lapsed into uncomfortable silence as the
two women ate and contemplated what had happened in the cave hours before.

----

Tenchi awoke to find Ayeka resting in a chair beside his bed, her face lined with pain even in sleep. He looked at her
for long minutes. -What happened to you?- He asked the sleeping woman who had evidently stood watch over him for
most of the day. As he watched her, she stirred and awoke.

She immediately looked to the bed, and smiled when she saw him awake. The smile sent a chill down his back, and a
thrill in his gut. She jumped into the bed and wrapped her arms around him, holding him with a desperate strength that
surprised Tenchi.

Her back shook as he returned the hug, and it took him a few seconds to realize that she was crying. Finally she looked
up at him and he knew instantly why she was crying.

"Grandfather." he asked in a trembling voice. Ayeka merely nodded, still to shaken to speak. He held her for a while
she cried herself out. Finally she looked up at him, and he saw the need in those deep purple eyes for the first time.
Ayeka swallowed nervously and seemed uncertain of what to say for a few seconds.

"Tenchi, ... I .. love you." and before he could reply she impulsively kissed him. From there, not much had to be said,
he reflected later.

Sometime later, Tenchi found himself holding a sleeping Ayeka. This time, the pain was gone, and he had to admit that
the weight on his shoulders was a lot lighter. He ran his hand through her hair and savored the scent that she wore.
Ayeka stirred in her sleep and murmured his name. She looked up at him, still half asleep as he swallowed nervously
trying to find the right words.

"Ayeka, I love you." She placed a gentle hand on his lips and smiled.

"I know Tenchi, I've always known."
-----

Ryoko phased into existence on the ledge, and gently landed. She took great care on where she stepped, Afura had been
quite clear in the fact that the entire ridge was unstable following Yosho's last battle.

Finally she found a suitable piece of crystal in an nearby column. She conjured a blade and set to work. Several well
placed slashes had were all it took to bring it into a suitable shape.

Then she stepped into the cave and brought out Yosho's crystallized form out. With great care, she shattered the crystal
that held him. The crystal winds had perfectly preserved him, she was glad to see. She picked up his body with
reverence that was due to a fallen comrade and laid it on the column.

A quick flash of her power, and Yosho was forever entombed in a column of crystal. She looked at the face of a warrior
at peace and smiled.

-It's not much Yosho, but it's the best that I can do. Rest in peace old warrior.- Then she phased back out of sight,
returning to the campsite she shared with Afura.
-----

Tenchi slipped out of the bed and left Ayeka sleeping soundly alone in it. He pulled the covers up over her and smiled
at the sight of her face. The pain and guilt were gone. He stepped out onto the terrace and relished the warmth of the
morning sun.

It was good to be alive, he thought to himself. Then an image appeared in his mind, Ryoko in one of her rare gentle
moods. -What am I going to tell her?- He thought. Suddenly life had become more complex again.

"Hello, Tenchi." A voice from his past said, pulling him out of his thoughts. He turned and looked at the slender young
man in sitting on a nearby bench.

"You look like hell Makoto." He said simply to his old friend, and smiled as he held out a hand. Makoto gripped the
hand and shook it.

"It hasn't been easy for me over the last 6 months. I've had a lot on my mind." Makoto looked over Tenchi, hungrily it
seemed. -What do you want, Makoto.- Tenchi was surprised at the changes that he saw in his childhood friend. Makoto
fidgeted nervously under his scrutiny. "I never intended to bring anyone across, I only wanted to bring the Key over.
Do you have it?"

"No, it must be with Ryoko." Tenchi said, surprised with the ease that he had just lied to an old friend. -I can't trust you
yet,-he thought as he watched Makoto stagger off, bent under the weight of another failure, -you aren't the Makoto that
I knew.-

Ayeka wrapped her arms around him as he watched Makoto walk away. He rubbed his hand across her clasped hands,
savoring the smooth gentle hands.

"Why didn't you tell him that I had the key?" She asked quietly as Tenchi walked back into the bedroom and sat on the
bed. Ayeka settled back a nearby chair.

"I want to help him, but I don't know if I can trust him. Grandfather told me that key holds great power, but till I saw
the ruins left from six months ago I didn't believe it. Makoto can fire the Eye, and he is trying to bring back this Demon
god. That is a lot of power for one person to wield." He sighed, his mind was awhirl with a thousand questions, "I see
him, and one moment I see the friend that I grew up with before Mother died. Then the next moment, I see this wild-
eyed stranger. It's his eyes, they scare me, Ayeka."

Ayeka pulled out the Key from the concealed place she had carried it since Yosho's death and ran her hand across it.
Feeling every ridge and ripple on it's surface. She could feel that vast power within it, sleeping, merely awaiting Tenchi
or another suitable owner to call it forth. She brought her hand up and ran it across her headpiece, recalling the
experience that she shared with Makoto.

"He's sincere," she said quietly, "I know that much, but I have to agree with your assessment. He's unstable, torn up
with grief and guilt." Ayeka felt like she had betrayed the gentle youth who had befriended her in the garden that night.
She understood what Makoto was going through, having lived through it as she had. But she was still able to judge him
and find him wanting. -I wonder if it would be so easy to do so if Tenchi had been lost to me?- She asked herself as
Tenchi dozed off again. "I guess we will have to just wait and see."
-----

She slipped from shadow to shadow with practiced ease, born of many visits. She opened the cell door, taking care not
to make too much noise as she pulled the door closed behind her. Most of the guards had as much as said that there was
no real reason to keep the door locked, but they were still expected to keep it lock and the key wasn't too easy to get
ahold of.

This prisoner didn't want to leave. He had voluntarily accepted his imprisonment. Nanami had heard of him in the
course of palace gossip and felt compelled to seek him out.

Fauric looked up from the scrap of paper that he was drawing on with a piece of charcoal. His normal intense look of
concentration broke into a sincere smile. The smile banished the few wrinkles that showed on his bearded face. He
brushed a stand of silvered hair back as he turned around to face her.

"Ah, Chara, you came to visit again." He put down the paper and pulled out another one, gesturing to one spot in the
cell. "Sit please, I am almost done." She pushed away the clenching feeling in her stomach and sat down to pose for
him.

He started drawing rapidly, occasionally looking up to motion for her to move in some slight manner. He spoke as he
drew, taking care never to move from his post. She still was wary of him and ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.

"k'Chara?" Nanami looked back into the cell, both at ease and uncomfortable with his name for her.

"Please don't call me that, don't make me into something that I'm not." she said in a husky whisper from the doorway.
Fauric looked at her for a moment with that intense gaze of his that sent shivers through her. It was like he saw her true
self, and wasn't fooled by the facade she had put up.

"Don't think you are a monster because of what you are, it's what you do that matters." She took that with her as she
left.

Fauric looked up at the sky, his gaze resting on the Eye. It was painted blood red by the setting sun. On nights like this,
he couldn't help but be reminded of the past.

"Yes indeed, what you do is more important that what you are..." he said silently to himself as he relived the past again.
He looked down at his hand and regarded the pale blue skin with a strange amount of curiosity. "Far more imporant is
the deeds than the doer." he whispered as his mind conjured memories of the past.

------

The wall exploded inward, scattering guards everywhere, and Ryoko glided inside the palace through the hole that she
had just made. Afura's pale form on her shoulder, Ryoko looked around before deciding on a direction.

-Got to find help quickly.- She thought desperately as she dashed away. She flashed through a crowd of guards, flitting
from one vast chamber to another, looking for someone who might be able to help. Ryoko came out of a vast hallway
and into a garden. -Is there anything but gardens in this place?- She saw a couple in robes in the garden. -A likely
candidate for someone in authority.- She flew up and landed in front of the couple, gently placing Afura on the ground.

"I need help.." she said as she turned, "Tenchi? ... Ayeka?" Ryoko said with disbelief.

Before she could react to the new circumstances, the ground beside her exploded as a blast went off near her. She
turned and saw two women standing nearby, a tall slender redhead and a blue haired woman as well.

"Freeze!" yelled the redhead as she brought a flaming hand to bear on her. Ryoko was surprised as Tenchi and Ayeka
rushed up beside her.

"Sheyla, she's a friend!" Tenchi yelled.

"I got a hurt woman here." Ryoko said as she picked up Afura and brought her into sight. Both the women cried out as
the injured priestess came into sight. The older one dashed forward and took Afura from her, dashing out of the room
quickly. Calling for help the whole time. The redhead looked at Ryoko as Ayeka and Tenchi started asking her all
manners of questions.

"I won't forget this.." Sheyla whispered as the golden eyed stranger slowly explained what happened to her since
coming to El Hazard.

-----

Ryoko eased the door shut quietly, and slowly slipped into the hallway. There was only one thought in her mind, so it
wasn't much of a surprise that didn't notice her watcher till she spoke aloud.

"Nice night out wouldn't you agree?" Ryoko spun around, a crimson sphere of plasma forming in her hands as she did.
Sheyla Sheyla's eyes had a feral glow in them under the light. Ryoko relaxed and the light vanished as quickly as it had
appeared, and the two of them were left with only the fitful moonlight to see by.

"What do you want?" Ryoko asked hesitantly, surprised with the speed at which she had reacted.

"Just to let you know that you are on notice." Sheyla said with a smile, "She didn't say it, but I know that you are the
one that is responsible for Afura's injuries. You like hurting people don't you? I see it in your eyes, you've done it
before. I'll be watching you from now on."

"Fine, I think that your friend recovering her focus would have been more important that hassling a new person, but
then from what Tenchi and Makoto told me, you like starting fights." She walked by the priestess as she continued,
intent on her destination, "I'm not like that anymore. It has too high a cost, Sheyla, remember that."

"So, where do you think you are going?" Sheyla said with an evil smile, "Do you think that Tenchi is eagerly awaiting
for you." Ryoko glanced back, a flash of anger and hurt in her heart.

"I'm not the only one chasing a dream from what I saw between you and the boy Makoto." Ryoko turned and walked
around the corner, leaving behind a speechless Sheyla behind. As soon as she was out of sight, Ryoko leaned against a
wall and fought down the pain that threatened to overwhelm her.

She stopped just short of Tenchi's door, afraid to go any further. She started to move towards the door, only to stop as it
clicked open. Quickly she stepped back into the shadows of the hall as someone stepped out into the hallway.

Ayeka giggled and kissed Tenchi before rushing off to the room that she shared with Sasami. Tenchi stepped back into
the room with a smile. Ryoko leaned against the column and didn't even try to fight the tears.

-Too late.- She thought to herself. -Oh Tenchi, why couldn't I have said something sooner?-

-----
Tenchi tossed restlessly, Ryoko smiled as she watched him sleep. She sat down on the bed and ran her hand through his
hair. -I never get bored with watching you sleep Tenchi.- He stirred at her touch on his cheek. She smiled at his
confused look.

"Ryoko?" She placed a finger on his mouth.

"Shh..." Tenchi looked at her, and was surprised at the changes that she had gone through. The teasing and picking
were gone, as well as the flashes of anger, replaced by nothing but need. She placed a hand on his shoulder, pulling him
up as she wrapped the other around his waist.
"Let me show you something..."

Then they were gone, whisked away by her power, leaving an empty room behind them.

------
Tenchi shook off the sensation of vertigo with a shiver as Ryoko's teleport placed them far outside the city. They had
reappeared on a small hillside. Ryoko released him from her warm grip and took a few steps forward reaching the crest
of the hill.

"Ryoko, where are we?" He asked carefully, he didn't want to hurt her. She looked up into the night sky towards the
perfect stars above for long seconds before replying.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Her voice seemed almost distant, so peaceful, "I saw it from the Muldoon cliffs." He stepped up
beside her. -It is beautiful.- he could see the whole city from the point. A slight breeze blew across the hilltop.

"Why did you bring me here?" He pressed again, cautiously. Ryoko paused, composing herself, before she turned to
face him. He could see the tears gathering in her eyes, glittering in the moonlight. She never looked more beautiful, or
so sad, in all the time that he had known her. It was too much to bear.

"Tenchi.. I ...well..." She stumbled, trying to put her motions into words. She averted her gaze quickly. -Why can't I say
it? You never showed me how to do this Yosho..-

"Ryoko, are you okay?" He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She kissed him, pressing herself against him,
putting all her hurt all her loss, need, and love into the kiss. A deeply buried part of Tenchi responded, and he pulled
her into an embrace. Almost desperately, Ryoko ran her hands through his hair and down his back, trying to savor the
contact that she had at that moment. Tenchi could feel the hammering beat of her heart, in time with his own.

Suddenly, he felt weak in the knees. He sat down, Ryoko falling down beside him, trying to hold the moment for as
long as she could.

"Ryoko...." Tenchi stammered, "This isn't .. right." He finished breathlessly, afraid to continue as part of him wanted to
return to the moment of the kiss. His hands trembled with the inner conflict.

"Please," She whispered huskily, holding back a sob, "just this once, this one night, let me be yours..." She took his
hand into hers. The warmth taking the edge off the nighttime chill. "Give me something of you to remember in the
centuries to come." She kissed him tenderly, he returned it with deepening passion, taking her into his arms.

She was so warm, so beautiful. His whole world became the feeling of her skin, the ice-fire touch of her kiss. He
lowered her to the ground. It would be so easy to let herself go, to yield to that side that so desperately wanted her.

An image slowly formed in his mind. Ryoko gasped at the feeling of his hands running down her back. -Ayeka.- he
pulled out of the embrace suddenly, the moment's mood broken.

" I.. I can't do this," He choked, "It's .. I.. I.." He could feel the tears gathering in his eyes. He feared hurting her,
Ayeka, himself. ""I'm sorry..." It was all too confusing, as the feelings of guilt ran over him. She closed her eyes, her
face set in a look of understanding and love.

"I understand," Her voice was low as she continued, "let me hold you a little while longer." She wrapped her arms
around him, laying her head onto his chest. The rhythm of his heart was the most beautiful song that she had heard.
Tenchi merely nodded, afraid to break the moment with words, and held her. They fell asleep holding each other,
savoring the warmth of one another.

----

Tenchi woke slowly, not quite sure of where he was. The night's events gradually coming back slowly. -Ryoko!- he
remembered as he bolted upright, only to be stopped by a bayonet pointed at his chest. On the other end of the rifle was
a tall slender man with blue skin. -Phantom tribe!- he identified the man. Another pair stood nearby covering Ryoko in
a simular manner, she looked over at him shaking with helpless rage. A spokesman stepped out of the crowd that stood
around them.

"We've come for the Key." He told Tenchi quietly, with an almost arrogant manner about him, "now, we can be
civilized about it or not, it is your choice."

Tenchi looked at him, helpless anger coursing through him. Evidently, they didn't know what they were looking for,
since the Key was stuck in his belt and visible to anyone that looked. -Maybe a bluff will work.-

"I don't have it here, it's back at the palace." The phantom sighed and shook his head.

"Then, I would have to save your usefullness has ended, earthman." The phantom who held him at bay smirked, and
racheted the action of his long rifle. The two covering Ryoko did likewise. "I am afraid that we no longer have any
need for you then."

Ryoko didn't say a thing, she just blinked out from where she lay on the grass. The gunman covering him gasped in
shock as she appeared beside him, a beam of crimson light in her hand impaled him before he could shift to the new
threat. He convulsed as the plasma beam killed him, his gun discharging as he died.

Tenchi felt a sharp pain along his side as the bullet grazed him, he gritted his teeth and rolled upright quickly. He stood
with one hand on the bullet wound and drew out the Key with the other as he took a covering position behind Ryoko.
They stood back to back, taking in the numbers of their foes. A blade of white light snapped into existance as he
brought up the Key into a guard position. Ryoko shifted nervously behind him.

"Sorry Tenchi, when I awoke, they were already here and had you covered. I... I .. couldn't do anything without risking
you." Something seemed odd about her, but Tenchi didn't have time to concentrate on it. The phantom's were gathering,
getting ready to attack.

"Ryoko, got your bearings enough to leave yet?" She went stiff, and then laughed as she realized what he meant. She
turned and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close as she made ready.

"Sorry Tenchi, old habits die hard." she said with a musical laugh before they both faded from sight.

----

"Tenchi!" Ayeka screamed as they blinked into existance. Tenchi dropped to the ground holding his side, Ryoko's
teleport had brought them into the main dining hall. The Key clattered to the ground. Ryoko was instantly at his side,
pulling off a sash-belt to make an impromtu bandage, and Ayeka was beside him instantly.

The next few minutes flashed by quickly as help was summoned, and Tenchi was bandaged up as he told what had
happened. He looked at Ayeka, guilt on his face, as the story progressed. Finally, she turned to leave, Tenchi reached
over and grabbed her hand.

"Ayeka..." he started, only to be stopped by the impact of her hand across his face. He looked at her, stunned by what
had just happened as she blew up at him.

"How .. could you do this to me, .. us, Tenchi.. " she asked, tears in her eyes before running from the room. Tenchi
started to follow, but the group of medics around him would not have it. He sat back and let them take care of his
injuries.

----

"Enough!" Afura screamed at Sheyla. "My pillow is fine! I have enough to drink! I don't need anything!" She looked at
the red haired priestess with iron determination. "If you are going to stay, you... will.. sit... down!"

"Okay," Sheyla whined as she pulled up a seat beside her friend's bed. Afura looked like a mummy for the most part,
her arms and one leg wrapped to the point of immobility. "I just wanted to make sure that you were okay.. you know,
confortable and taken care of." She wouldn't look Afura in the eye though.

"What did you do?" Afura asked with an exasperated sigh.

"Well I kinda...." The rest of it was lost in an indistinct murmur from Sheyla's downturned head. Afura barely made out
what was said, and couldn't believe it.

"You did what!" she asked incredously.

"I sorta threatened threatened Tenchi's freind , Ryoko. " She looked away as she continued, "and Rune found out."

"And.. what did she do?" Afura pressed.

"She , ahh... she banned me from the main section of the palace till I could learn to get along with Ryoko. Ayeka told
her that Ryoko was supposed to be some type of really powerful person. I don't believe it though."

"I would if I were you. I fought her remember?"

"Don't think that I've forgotten that.."

"Is that why you are after her..."

"Yeah, we take care of our own."

Ryoko paced the room, trying to find a way to fix the bind that she had cuased this morning, and failed. Tenchi was in
his room recovering from his injuries, and however much she wanted to go to, she knew it would be a bad thing to do
that. Ayeka had retreated to her rooms, and most of the others had been trying to find some trace of how the phantoms
had discovered them.

There was a noise at the door. Ryoko caught a flash of lavender in the corner of her eye, and didn't even bother to turn
around. -I was wondering how long it would be before this arguement started.-, she told herself as Ayeka walked up to
her.

"How dare you!" Ayeka screamed at her, she had come looking for Ryoko as soon as she was sure that Tenchi was
okay. "What were you thinking? Or where you thinking at all?"

"You've won, Ayeka, Tenchi..."Ryoko swallowed nervously, suddenly unable to continue, "...Tenchi ..loves you, and
I've lost, so why don't you just leave me alone." her voice dropped to a barely audible whisper, "I'm going to always be
alone."

"You slept with him! Do you think that I can forget that." Ryoko turned and looked at Ayeka, the pain and loss in her
eyes.

"Ayeka, I'm older than you by quite a few centuries, and if Washuu is right I will outlive your grandchildren. Is it so
wrong to try and get the memory of one night alone with the man that I love to keep with me for the thousands of years
to come. I'm tired of our arguments, Ayeka. I don't want to talk anymore." Ryoko stepped off the ledge and floated into
the night, leaving a speachless Ayeka behind.

-Would I have done any differently,- Ayeka asked herself, -If Tenchi had chosen Ryoko?- She couldn't answer herself.
There were too many doubts.

Tenchi rolled over in his bed, unable to sleep. His arm throbbed from the wound and his stomach churned from the
confusion that was storming through him. Two faces kept coming to mind. Ayeka, tears streaming from her eyes as she
dashed from the room. Ryoko, the hurt and need in her eyes, as she lay on his chest last night.

He rolled over, too tired to get up but to upset to sleep. The Eye of God glowed palely in the night time sky.

"Why can't things ever be easy." He whispered as he rolled onto his back and stared at the cealing of his room.

Ryoko looked up at the sky, taking in the sight of the Eye as it set on the distant horizon. Trying to not feel sorry for
herself, and failing. -I just made things worse now.- She told herself as the memory of Ayeka's hurt face rose in her
mind. -Why can't things ever be easy?-

Ayeka paced the room nervously, trying to sort through the feelings of hurt and betrayal. It was so confusing, to feel
betrayed on one hand and wanting to rush to her love's side and care for his wounds.

"Why can't things ever be simple?" she muttered as she paced the room.

Sasami lay on her bed, a pillow over her ears as her sister paced the room, mumbling to herself and generally making
just enough racket to ensure that she couldn't sleep. -Gods of Jurai, it is enough to try the patience of a saint!- she swore
as she sat up and glared at Ayeka.

Who froze in her glare like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. Sasami walked up to her and looked her
straight in the eyes.

"If you must pace and mutter, please do it elsewhere. You've been doing this since this morning, when you aren't
stalking Tenchi or trying to argue with Ryoko. I am tired, and still a little sick. I need to get some sleep and your
confused love life isn't helping me." Sasami turned away muttering under her breath and flounched back on the bed.
Long seconds passed as Ayeka watched her fluff the pillows and resettle in the sheets.

"Sasami, what did you just say? The last bit?"

"I don't understand why you and Ryoko can't just bond with Tenchi like mother and Funaho did with father. I mean,
why do both of you refuse to accept the fact that he loves you both." Sasami heard her sister swear an oath as she bolted
from the room at a run. She smiled and relaxed a little, sleep was not far away now. -There, I did it. She finally got the
hint, Tsunami. Do you really think that it will be possible for them to do the Bond without a Royal Tree available?- The
quicksilver essence of Sassami's otherself rose up in her mind and replied.

-I think that they will find a way, sister. Now rest and let us heal.- Sasammi smiled as Tsunami's presense enfolded her
in a warm glow. It was a conforting feeling to know that her otherself was returning. It had been a strange feeling to be
only one being again, she had missed her otherself more than anyone could have ever known.

-I've been a prideful and thick headed child!- Ayeka told herself as she ran through the palace.
-Worse yet, I nearly destroyed the three of us by sticking to the outdated Terran traditions that Yosho had told me of.
How could I have been such a fool?- She came to the door and rushed in impulsively.

"We need to talk." she said to the occupant as she slammed the door behind her.

Tenchi rolled over, his sleep disturbed by the shifting of weight on his bed. The first sight that he saw was Ayeka's
lavender eyes as she settled on the mattress beside him.

"You love me don't you?" She said with a touch of fear in her voice.

"Yes!" He said with as emotion as he could muster, to assure her of his sincerity.

"But you love Ryoko as well." She said before he could explain. "I know Tenchi, and I am sorry that I have hurt you
over all this time. I was wrong to force you to choose."

"I can't help it, I..." he looked at her helplessly, "it's just the way I am."

Ayeka nodded and smiled at him as another set of arms encircled him. Royko leaned over his shoulder and kissed him
lightly on the cheek. He gasped in surprise and shock, as Ayeka did the same on the other cheek.

"If there is enough room in your heart for both of us Tenchi, then we need to understand and accpet that." Ryoko said
as she sat down beside Ayeka. The princess nodded in agreement and something about the two women's manner told
him that this wasn't subject to arguement.

"So, where do we go from here?" He asked quietly, trying to find some way to ensure that this temporary truce would
remain between the two women. Ayeka looked at Ryoko, who nodded to her, before standing to explain what she had
in mind.

"What I propose, and Ryoko agreed to, is something that my people call the Great Bond.."

Tenchi pace the halls, hoping that Ryoko and Ayeka wouldn't worry. It was just that he needed a little space, time alone
without either of them pressuring him. He was so confused, it was all so alien to him. The Terran in him rebelled at the
thought of what they were offering him. -One. It has to be only one, that is the way things have been.- Not to mention
that he wasn't sure of this.. bond, there was still both of their pride involved. It was just so confusing. There was so
many things wandering though his mind. Would pride and temperment tear apart the delicate trust that existed between
the threesome.

"It's a beautiful evening." A soft voice said softly behind him. Tenchi glanced behind him.

"Yes, yes it is." He smiled, for the first time in hours, "Good evening Lady Miz." She laughed.

"It's just Miz, Lord Tenchi." she corrected. Her own smile faded somewhat seeing the lovelorn expression on his face.
"Is everything alright?" He sighed, and she could see the pain in the expression on his face.

His heart began to pound rapidly, both in fear and anticipation. He never really talked to a woman about women before,
mother had died when he was very young. "Yes.. No. It's all so confusing. Do you believe that someone could love two
people just as strongly as one?"

"Miz's eyes opened wide in surpirse. she had heard about the love triangle from Sasami but had never really considered
something like this. She coughed and blushed rapidly. "You would seem to be fulfilling the dream of most men."

Tenchi relaxed a little, and smiled wanly. "Or nightmare. I don't know what to do. I can say it, but I don't think they are
really hearing it. I'm scared that they will see the other trying to take me for herself."

Miz wasn't sure how to reat to his words. She never really dealth with anything like thiis. If he was just a typical boy, it
would be easy to seperate his homrones from his mind.

"Then maybe you need a way to show them the way you feel about them,.. think about them. Show them your heart
more deeply." Miz said quickly, improvising. -Why me? Sheyla is better at this than I am. I hope that this doesn't screw
the relationship even more.- Tenchi's eyes lit up.

"That's it! Thank you!!" He shouted only to shouted down by the nearby guards.

"HEY! PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!!"

"Sure! Don't mention it..." Miz trailed off as Tenchi vanished in the direction of the library at a full run.

Makoto ran his hand through his hair, it was pasty from the sweat that ran down his face. He was so close. Somehow,
he knew the Key was on El Hazard, but he couldn't lock onto it with any precision. He needed a picture of it, something
to give it a tangible feel to focus on.

"Makoto." Tenchi called out from the door as he entered. Makoto looked up from the book he was flipping through. -
He must really love her to do this to himself.- Tenchi thought as he took in the bags under the eyes and the strain on his
face. "Ayeka told me about her experience with you."

"The bonding." Makoto said despondantly.

"Could you set that bound up between Ryoko, Ayeka and myself? I need this badly."

"No." Makoto replied fiercely slamming his book shut and turning to leave. Tenchi stepped in his way.

"Why?" Tenchi asked, the need was so clear on his face.

"Because you don't understand what you are asking." Makoto said. "It not just a sharing of thoughts and memories. It...
it is like becoming them, and they become you. No walls, no barriers, nothing stands in your path. They are all swept
away. A part of you that should never be shared." Makoto's voice cracked under the strain of memory, as tears started.
"...because when you lose them.. when they are gone... it's gone as well. Forever."

Tenchi ran his hand over his face. -That explains a lot. Like why you are so driven, so full of pain.- "What you and
Ifurita share is more than love, isn't it?" Makoto nodded, to emotional to risk words. "Yet you would deny me the same,
when it is the only thing that could possibly save the two women I love?"

He wanted to refuse, Makoto knew the pain of loss would be intense. All it would was a single 'no', and Tenchi would
never have to suffer his pain.

"What do you want from me?" He asked his childhood friend.

"The one thing that you can do to help me show the two women I love how I feel." Tenchi swallowed nervously as he
continued, "I need them to understand, Makoto, truly UNDERSTAND how I feel."

Makoto nodded, there wasn't anything he could say to deny Tenchi in the light of his need.
---

They all met in the massive palace garden before dawn. It would be quiet for hours to come and all knew what they
were doing was a private thing. Ryoko and Ayeka stood ready as Makoto paced nervously.

"So, you build the bond with Ayeka and then I join in though my gems, and once the bond between the two of us is
complete you bring in Tenchi and withdraw right?" Ryoko asked as he ended his description of the bond with Ifurita.

"Yes, I am not sure that it will work though." Makoto said, trying to believe it himself.

"Makoto." Tenchi said as he put his hand on his shoulder, Makoto turned to face him. "It's time."

Ayeka held still as Makoto reached for her headpiece with one hand and the gem on Ryoko's hand with the other. An
aura surronded the two as Makoto's power rose to his call. Long seconds passed as the two women adjusted to the new
experience. Together they reached out and clasped hands, and then extended them out to Tenchi.

"Take your sword and clasp hands with them Tenchi." Makoto said through clenched teeth.

The sword's gems lit up as he brought it into the shared handclasp and the world disapeared in an explosion of white.
--
Tenchi gasped as his gems flashed and he fell to the ground as his strength was leached away by Kagato. Despair
washed over him as Ryoko tried to fight Kagato, but he knew from bitter experience that his master was invincible in
battle.
--
Ryoko looked up. Ayeka was calling her. She gathered up the wreath she had been making and ran to her.

"For you, Ayeka." She said as she placed wreath on her head.

"Ryoko, why are you out here?"

"Because you went out, leaving me behind." Ayeka laughed gently as she scooped her up. Ryoko looked at him with a
smile, blushing.

"One day, I will be a bride, won't I Ayeka?"

"When you grow up."

"It is the color of your eyes." Ryoko said as she slid the flower into the wreath. Ayeka set her down and pulled it out to
look at it.

"A royal teardrop", somehow it disturbed her.

"What's wrong?", Ryoko was confused by her reaction. She looked in her eyes, suddenly sad and aged beyond her
years.

"This flower shouldn't be used for a happy occasion."
--
Ryoko and Ayeka watched helplessly as Tenchi wept at the Demon's Gate, unable to hold or confort him as the misery
of his mother's death. He was alone, father and grandfather were unable to fill the hole in his life that she had left.
--
Ayeka felt something in the water change, and saw a form slide down the ramp to her tomb. The first such visitor that
she had in centuries. Since the day that Yosho defeated her and sealed her away forever.

The disturbance of her sleep had given enough energy to rise up and hold the hand of her savior.
-Such a beautiful face- She thought as she rose from her watery prison.
--

Makoto nearly weapt as he watched the three relive each other's lives through a mixed viewpoint. -I told you that this
was wrong.- He said silently as three lifetimes worth of experience was replayed, one pain and loss after another. He
leaned on the Staff Key and cursed himself for a fool. -Now, my loss has been redone threefold. Oh, Ifurita what have I
done?- The light rose up and formed into a familar form beside him.

"Ifurita!" She smiled and touched him gently, and with that touch he knew. -A phantasm!-

-Not quite my love. But not quite real either.- She said with a sad look in her eye. -You carry a part of my soul with you
always Makoto, as I carry a piece of yours.- She gestured to the trio. -How can the man that saved my soul and set me
free be so wrong? Darkness is needed for the Light to exist- He glanced back and gasped at what he saw.
--
Ryoko lounged in the tree, smiling in the sunlight. Cherishing every momemnt that she lived. Becuase she was finally
free.

Ayeka looked at the small sapling and smiled as her senses told her of the gradual growth of power within it. Tenchi
and the others couldn't understand yet what special bond she shared with the Royal trees, it was impossible to explain
such a connection with mere words.

Tenchi watched as the two women had a rare moment of carefree picking. -It is so much nicer when they don't bicker.-
he told himself.

Ayeka rushed into her mothers arms, for a short moment she was six again and the pain of her short childhood had yet
to come.

Ryoko nuzzled Ryo-oki and listed to the chaotic noise of her ship's mond. Cherishing it for the one thing that she knew
for certain. The little cat-rabbit loved her and she loved it back.

Tenchi sat hunched in the bushes and watched as Ayeka and Ryoko walked with his mother. Happy to have had this
one opportunity to see her alive and well again. To know that his last memory of his mother was a happy healthy
woman, and not the sick one that she would later become.

Ryoko watched as Tenchi and Ayeka consoled one another over Yosho's death. Watching as the two held each other
and took confort in their simple presence..

Ayeka watched Ryoko and Tenchi lay together on the grass and desperately took what confort they could in that one
night together

--
"See my love? Light and Darkness, without one the other is meaningless." She reached over and kissed him, "Watch
and Remember, least the Dark consume you."

Makoto gasped in shock as he relived the day he freed her, feeling the raw power of her joy as the shackles on her soul
were broken. Feeling the mixture of regret and hope as she flew down the shaft to a far distant past that help the
promise of hope. Of seeing Makoto at least one more time.

Makoto closed his eyes and pulled in all the good things and felt the weight on his shoulder lighten as something
returned to his soul. Hope.
---

Makoto opened his eyes as the power faded away, it's task done. he looked at the Staff Key that he had brough with
him. Ifurita's presense was tangible in it and deep within himself. He leaned on the staff and closed his eyes again,
pulling forth the images of Ifurita that it and he carried. Cherishing the light and remembering it.

-I'm trying Ifurita, but is so hard. We had so little time.-

Tenchi pushed himself up to one knee and was suprised to see both women there to help him. He could feel their
presense in his mind, and he knew without asking that they knew the same of him and each other. He felt their love for
him through the bond, and something new towards each other. Not love, he knew that would take time, but respect and
empathy for one another.

He pulled both of them into his arms and weapt, an enormous weight on his shoulder was now gone.
He no longer had to fear hurting one of them for the other's love.
---

Ryoko awoke with a small gasp, only to freeze in place before she woke Tenchi. He had taken the brunt of the
bonding's drain, something about his terran/jurain heritage that magnified the bonding beyond anything that Ayeka had
led her to expect.

-I'm not sure that I am ready to share my mind with Ayeka for the rest of our long lives.- she thought to herself as she
looked at the woman who lay on the other side of Tenchi.

-I have simular reservations, Ryoko; but I think that we don't really have much choice now.- Ayeka's voice whispered
in her mind as the princess' eyes opened. The was a hint of amber amusement as Ayeka smiled at Ryoko's suprised
face. "If you don't want me hearing your thoughts, you have to get better at hiding them. I think that we have to talk
about that later. Now," her gaze rested on the man sleeping between them, "we should talk of other things."

"Agreed. First thing on the list is what the 'boys' back home will say when they here about the arrangement." Both
women knew of the teasing that Tenchi got from his class mates concerning the 'harem' in his house, to say nothing of
Tenchi's father. Long seconds passed as they considered the influence of all those hentai minds on their fiance.

-No Trios- Ayeka and Ryoko thought to other at the same time.

"Though, I think it could be kind of fun." Ryoko teased, just to raise a little sense of outrage in Ayeka.

Ayeka's reply was the mental equivalent of a rasberry as she stuck out her tongue, and Ryoko found it hard not to laugh
at the rediculous picture. The two women sat in the bed, looking at one another trying to find someway to continue.
Finally Ayeka broke the mood.

"I think I understand you a little better Ryoko." She said as the image of Ryoko's time in the cave flashed between
them. Compassion from Ayeka was something that she would never had expected. "I hope that we can learn to put the
past behind us, and become friends."

Ryoko thought about it for a moment, it was a big step that the prideful Jurian was taking. She recalled a scene in an
earth movie. -It seems appropiate.- She thought to herself as she held out a hand.

"Ryoko." Ayeka took her hand and smiled as they shook it.

"Ayeka, and I am pleased to meet you Ryoko." It wasn't much, they both knew. But it was a start.
----
Makoto was about to go insane. He could hear it in his mind, roaring with barely restrained power. The Great Key. He
had been 'banned' from the library for a period of 48 hours by Rune's orders. 'For his own good' she had told him.

He sat down on the bench with a sigh. It had been the first full night of sleep that he had gotten in quite some time.
Much longer than he cared to recall if he was willing to be honest with himself. Even with visions of Ifurita and the
Key he had slept well.

The only problem was that since the moment that he had gotten out of bed the Key practically roared in his mind. His
power was raging out of control, and he had retreated to the garden where there was little old technology besides the
statues for him to inadvertently activate.

Surprisingly though, the 'ban' and his troubled dreams hadn't hurt his mood much. The memories of Ifurita he had
reawakened with the bonding had lifted some of the weight from his shoulders. It made it seem that the world was not
out to get him anymore.
---

Tenchi stretched as he slid out of the bed and pulled on his shirt, Ayeka and Ryoko were still asleep. Seeing the two of
them on the bed, asleep and not at each other's throats was a great thing.

-I'll let them sleep a while longer.- he told himself as he pulled on his shirt and stuffed the Key in his belt and zipped
his jacket up. He wanted to get a little practice in before breakfast.

Tenchi went through one form to another, trying to move with the ease and grace that he had seen in Yosho's
movements. Grandfather. He stopped, it was so easy to forget that grandfather was gone.

Suddenly the morning wasn't so bright or cheerful. He looked out at the morning sky and tried to figure how he was
going to tell his family. Father would be easy, but what about Funanho and the rest of the Jurian Royal family.

One worry led to another, like it usually did when Tenchi started to think about things. Like what to do about Makoto.
He couldn't lie to his childhood friend forever. Sooner or later, he would realize that the 'sword' was the Great Key.

"Then there will be hell to pay." The sound of rustling bushes made him turn. A large cat eased it's way out of the
bushes and walked up to him, sniffing him curiously.

-A cat with a mohawk- Tenchi thought for a second, -but who am I to criticize? I live with a Cabbit/spaceship.- He
knelt down to pet the weird feline.

"Hey little guy? What's your name I wonder?" The cat moved in close and sat in his lap as he sat down, not paying as
much attention to his attempts to rub it as to sniff him. "Hey fella, what are you doing?" He asked as the cat dove into
his jacket.

The next thing he knew, the cat was off and running. With the Great Key in it's mouth.

"Hey! Come back here!" He screamed as he followed in hot pursuit, but the cat didn't make it easy for him. It dodged
and weaved through the underbrush of the palace gardens with him close in behind.

-I can see it now, I keep powerful beings like Kagato , the Phantom tribe and such only to lose it to a palace cat. I
would never live it down. -

Ura paid no mind to the boy behind her, instead heading deeper into garden

Makoto looked up from balcony edge at the sound of Tenchi yelling at something close by. -I wonder what that is all
about?-

His curiousity wouldn't have to wait long as Ura bolted from the bushes with a frantic Tenchi in close pursuit. Ura
skidded to a halt in front of him a dropped something at his feet.

"'Smells like `Furita!" Ura said as he stopped to pick it up. -Ifurita, what do she mean?- He wondered as he picked up
the sword hilt.

Tenchi came through the bushes just as he made contact with the sword. The power rushed up and washed over him for
a second before a shock blasted him up and away from it. He sat up, cradling his burnt hand against his chest and
throwing his coat over the Key and picked it up. He looked at his old frend with a angry fire in his eyes that defied all
description.

"You LIED to me! You said that you didn't have it. Why?" He stalked towards Tenchi. Tenchi stopped for a moment,
concufused by the turn of events that had just occurred. He shook his head agrily.

"You don't understand.it isn't just a sword."

"I FELT that Tenchi, before your blocks broke the link! I need this to get you and the others home. To save Ifurita."

"No." Tenchi said quietly. Makoto's rage vanished under the calm tone of his voice "I can't allow it. You are already
too powerful Makoto. Ifurita and you are bonded, you have the Eye of God under your contol, would you allow
someone with that much power get more? Give me the Key, Makoto."

"You went through everything that I did and still don't undersand what I lost?" Makoto felt all the pain and despair
come back in a rush, he stepped back as Tenchi's hand shot out to grab the coat. Not quite making it, as Tenchi snagged
the other end of the bundle.

Sheyla yawned as she stepped into the garden. It had been quite sometime since she had gotten up this early. -Haven't
been an early riser since I was a novice. Maybe greeting the dawn is what I need to set me back in balance.- And she
knew exactly where to do the greeting.

Ahead in the clearing that she was looking to go to, voices could be heard. -Who could be up at this time of day.- She
asked as she cleared the bushes surrounding the grove.

"Makoto? Tenchi?" She gasped as she watched the two boys struggled, unable to move as the two wrestled over a
bundle. Tenchi managed to get the upper hand finally shoving Makoto backwards. -What the hell is going on?- Sheyla
asked as she ran to her friend's side.

Only to stop short as she saw Makoto blasted backwards in a flash of light. There was a strong smell of ozone.She ran
to his side, worried about the condition he was in. "Makoto!" Sheyla spun to face the Jurian noble, "What did you do to
him." She growled as the flames rose from her power gems. Tenchi backed up under her wrathful gaze, bringing the
Key up in a guard postion as he did. Sheyla barely registered the glow of the energy blade, her instict for combat taking
over instantly.

Ryoko yawned as she walked out the bedroom and into the massive garden. -I wonder where Tenchi.- Her thoughts
were cut short by a massive explosion "Tenchi!" Ryoko screamed as she took to the air, instantly knowing that he was
at that place, and that she was needed there.

Ayeka force a smile to the who minor nobles bowed as she passed. Her eyes were half closed as she savored the
memory of Tenchi's warmth in the bed the lnight before. -Even Ryoko's presnece in the bed with us, can't spoil that. -
Despite the link and their newly founded understanding, there was many things to be resolved.

The mental shock that tore through her was sudden and unexpected, and she didn't have Ryoko's experience in
sheilding herself psionically. +The wall of flames erupted around him, reaching out to consume him. The sounds of
serenity enveloped him as the wings formed at his call and held the plasma at a distance. The fires dipped and faded to
reveal Ryoko and Sheyla fighting as he staggered and fell to the ground, drained by his sudden demand for the power
within.+

Ayeka fell to her knees, clutching her head to keep from being overwelmed in the images washing through her mind.
"The garden." she cried.

Makoto shook his head, trying to clear it from the impact of his fall. His hand throbbed with pain, and it gave him
something to focus on. He pushed himself up to his hands and knees. He looked up as he heard Sheyla's scream.

"Sheyla! Don't!" he yelled as she lashed out with a trio of fireballs. They hit within a foot of Tenchi and he closed his
eyes as the inferno consumed the boy.

Ryoko screamed as she saw the blast consume Tenchi. -NO!- She spun in the air and saw the cause of the attack.

"You!" She screamed as she dropped from the sky, plasma sphere flashing from her hands in rapid succession.

-What have I done?- Sheyla thought as she saw the explosions swallow Tenchi. Her stomach twisted at the thought of
her causual act of murder, the pain lessened as she saw the glow of what Ayeka called `the wings of the light hawk' in
the smoke.

Then next second the world exploded in a fury of fire and noise as Ryoko dropped from the sky like a shooting star and
Sheyla's beserker instincts came to the fore. The two womem met with a thunderous clash that shook then entire
palace.

Fujisawa shot upright at the shock. -What the hell is going on?- He asked as he ran out of his room, pulling on his shirt
as he ran down the hallway.

The plasma bolt struck the ground a scant second after she rolled out of the way. Missing it's target by a hairs distance.
"I knew you couldn't be trusted, you bitch." Sheyla shouted as she lashed out with three glodes of energy towards the
space pirate. Growling like a massive cat, Ryoko closed the distance by phasing through the fireaballs as she threw 3
more bolts. "What the." Sheyla only barely dodged them, surprised by the sight she had just seen."Nice aim!" Sheyla
taunted. She caught the fourth bolt in the chest with such force that it knocked her across the grove and into the bushes.

"Bulleye, I've been wanting to do that to you from the day that we met!" Ryoko crowed truimphantly.

Sheyla staggered to her feet, surprised at the sheer force of the blast she had just taken. -If I hadn't had my plasma
screens up, that one would have blown a hole in me.- She saw the follow up volley coming and quickly leapt away as
she lashed out with a return volley.

Ryoko landed and looked over at where Tenchi was getting up, concern clear on her face. "Tenchi, are you okay?" she
called.

"Ryoko, look out!" Tenchi said as Sheyla's tackle hit full in the stomach.The two women's momentum and Sheyla's
energy screens made it easy to go through the wall behind her. Ryoko smiled grimly as the two of them wrestled in the
rubble.

"So, you want to play rough, eh?" Ryoko growled as she spulled herself out of the rubble, "I can do rough." She
popped her fingers with an evil smile, "In fact I like it."

Fuji stopped short as he surveyed the ruin that was all that remained of the garden. -If I didn't' know better I would say
that someone had fought a war here.- A tree to his right exploded, knocking him flat. He watched as Sheyla bounced
off the brush, just steps ahead of Ryoko's blast. The ex-pirate was closing in rapidly, with a look that promised that
there would be hell to pay when she caught the redhead.

"Great.", he said with a sick twisting in his gut, "just what I need first thing in the morning, the mother of all catfights."

Sheyla gathered herself and leapt at Ryoko. "I won't let you get away with that, you little tramp!" Ryoko blinked out of
the way with a laugh.

"You and what army?" she asked as she caught the red head in an armlock. "Forget it girl, you're not strong enough to
match me."

The next thing she know, it was Ryoko that was caught in the unbreakeable grip. She felt herself being lifted up as she
struggled. Sheyla quickly slid away as her arm was released. Fuji grunted as Ryoko struggled in his grip.

"Let go of me!" Ryoko screamed angrily.

"Not till you two back off and cool down." Fuji said through gritted teeth. Sheyla spun around and took advantage of
the situation to slam an elbow into Ryoko's gut. "Sheyla, back off!!" -Damn, I hate breaking up cat fights.-

"Ryoko!" Ayeka's voice cut from across the grove, and Fuji tuned to face her. Something in the tone of her voice set
his insticts off. He got to see her gesture seconds before the blast hit him.

"Great." He said as he was blasted through the trees, loosing his hold on Ryoko as the went deep into the woods. -I
should have taken the job with Himoki-chan at Furiakan High.-

Sheyla moved the instant that she saw Ayeka's attention to her, bobbing and weaving as the blasts came one after the
other. Only to freeze in place as Ayeka's force field caught her. She hung in the air motionless, waiting for Ayeka's
followup attack.

"Stop!" Miz screamed as she and Sasami entered the garden.

"Ayeka! Sheyla! Stop fighting" Sasami said. Ryoko and Fuji exploded from the the bushes, locked in combat with one
another. "Stop it!" Sasami's voice cut through the violence, like nothing else. Forseveral long sconds the combatants
froze in place embarrased by the fact that a 10 year old was the most mature of them. "I thought we were all friends.."
she said with tears in her eyes.

"Oh my god!" Miz's surprised gasp broke the the spell and everyone trurned to look at what she was pointing at. A
bugrom flier leapt into the air and vanished into the trees.

"The Key!" Ryoko yelled as she pulled free of Fuji and Sheyla fell into sep behind her as they gave chase.

The flier was smal and fleet, normally it would have been long gone by this time. But it's burden slowed it too much to
make escape easy. It folled the song of it's motherqueen loyally. Only to have the confroting warmth of the have falter
and fade away for amoment, before returning again from another direction. Closer.

::Mother??:: It askes as it leapt into the waiting arms in the shadows.

" Come on! It came this way." Ryoko yelled as she flew into the open edge of the garden, Sheyla follow a few seconds
later.

"Where is that oversized misquito?" She asked as she tried to catch her breath.

"I lost it." Ryoko said quietly as her eyes scanned the sky. -Where the hell did it go?-

"It.. it had the key." Sheyla said.

"Yea, tell me something I don't know."

The flier shivered as the two hunters turned and walked away How was it possible for them to miss it's presence so
nearby? Peace and conforting warmth washed over it as it's misstress stepped out of the shadows. "Sh.. little one,
you'll be away in a moment." A wind rose up and stripped the now empty tree line, the stranger and her small cargo
gone.

"Did you catch it?" Miz asked as the two women entered the clearing.

"No," Sheyla said with a shake of her head. Anger coursed through her. -I can't believe it..-

"That means that.." Fuji said as he pulled of the remains of his shirt on.

"The bugrom, and Jinaai, have the great key." Makoto finished for him, from where he and Tenchi sat as Alliele and
Sasami bandaged their injuries. Tenchi looked up, an determined look in his eye.

"Not for long." He said calmy.
"All I request is four attack pods and at least two full platoons of men. This is less than a standard patrol." Rune
repressed the urge to clench her fists. Despite her anger, she couldn't disagree with Commander Absvin's logic. -Can't
you understand what is at stake here?-

"Rune," he replied, " you know the losses we took during the war. I've got lieutenants running regiments. We're at 25%
of what we had six months ago, that including the regional militias. Also, there is the fact that the council isn't
convinced that the Key is that much of a danger, or that the bugrom can even make it work."

"I believe what the princess told me," Rune said intensely, " I see it in her eyes, when she talks of the destructive
potential the Great Key posesses." Absvin sighed, and broke eye contact.

"I can give you for scout pods with bare crews. The troops.. I'm sorry princess, I just can't spare them." Rune nodded in
apprecaition and walked over to Ayeka.

"He refused!" Ayeka said, stunned at the outcome, "I can't believe that.. that.. treasonous dog.. said no!"

"He's doing his duty. His oath is not to the royal family. It is to the people of Roshataira and the council. I can't order
him to do anything unless he yeilds his authority to me , like he did during the war." Rune replied.

"The we'll go it alone in those.. ships. Thank you for your aid." Ayeka couldn't get over the feeling that she had been
betrayed by her 'cousin'.

"Take my Royal Guard. I have no need of the them."

"But...."

"You see," Rune smiled, "I have my own army to command..."

"But, your safety will be at risk, I couldn't possibly..."

"My sister's men will be enough for the both of us, while we are in the palace. She won't have any objections."

"I thank you." Ayeka replied with a deep bow to her kinsman.
-----

"Whatever, I'm not just going to wait around doing north, just to hear the bad news. There is no way we're etting any
help from the arm," Sheyla said to the others, her voice echoing through the vast open space of the council chamber.

"She's right," Ryoko chimed in to the surprise of others, "We should be preparing to to do this alone. We need
weapons, armor, equipment, gear, transport," A sly glint came to her eye. "Explosives, you know.. the fun stuff." A
ripple of chuckles echoed through the group, breaking some of the tension that had been brought on by the waiting.
Makoto stood, and looked over the assembled group.

"I think that it is safe to say that we can't all go along on this little trip."

"Sorry Sassami, but you and Alliele are going to sit this one out." Ryoko said as she place a hand on both of them, the
look in her eye cutting off any protest that they might have offered before they could speak.

"It jsut isn't reasonable for you two to risk yourselves in this," Tenchi added as he and Nanami walked in. -At least this
way, some of us have a good chance of coming out of this alive.- He added to himself.

"Ayeka just left the war room," Nanami added, "and she doesn't look she got what she wanted from the army."

The group waited patiently as the princess walked in and took a seat beside Tenchi and Ryoko.

"Four scout pods with a skeleton crew for each, and the small contigent of guards, Rune's own royal guards. That's it."
Ayeka continued on by telling the assembled group of the entire meeting. Hours went past as they discussed the variety
of plans for the search. All plans were killed at the table, one factor made them all untenable.

"I hate the idea of going in without a clue about what to expect." Sheyla muttered as they shelved another plan.

"They'll be waiting for us," Ryoko added. "They have to know that we won't sit back and wait for them to figure out the
Key. If only we knew what the hell is on the other side of the River of God." The debate continued on, with only
Nanami remaining silent.

"No Way! Going in seperate will only leave us open to attack without the full power of our group to get up out."
Makoto said.

"But, it will allow us to cover more territory in the same about of time!" Tenchi countered. "It's a chance we will have
to take." The discussion seemed ready to disintergrate back into another arguement.

"I wish there was something that we could do, like find a map or.. a guide..." Sasami sighed, trying not to imagine how
dangerous things would be for her friends and family. Allliele put a conforting on her shoulder, she could emphasize
with the younger girl. Nanami started at the words, suddenly aware of an option that no one else in the room knew.

Nanami looked from one face to another, taking in the grim expressions. -They know that we'll probably make it
without a guide or map. We have to know what is waiting for us. Fauric will understand.. but can I risk it? Will they
understand?-

"I know a way.." Nanami whispered, just short of stammering the words out. Her heart was pounding and she could
feel hands go moist as all the eyes on the room came to rest on her. "I know someone that that could be of help..."

-----
Fatora brushed a lock of hair from her face, as she rolled over in their bed. "Alliele," she wined playfully, . "come on,
your not going to stand there all night are you?" The princess adjusted her nightgown to be a bit more reveling,with the
sexy pout that normally turned Alliele's knees to jelly. Alliele took a sip from her wine glass and continued to stare out
past beyond the palace walls.

"Is that all you think about," the girl mused darkly as she placed the glass back onto the nightstand. Fatora flushed
covering herself up in a surge of modestly. A strange gleamed in Alliele's eyes, one that seemed out of place in her
lover's eyes. It sent a shiver through her spine.

"Alliele?" Fatora quivered. Her lover led her from the bed to the open window. The princess could see the four scout
pods being prepped. "So.." The girl ran a finger down her back sending the ripples of warmth through her spine. "In
the mood?" Alliele embraced her lover from behind closing her eyes. A single tear ran down her cheek, then an idea hit
her.

"Maybe, down there in the ships." Fatora's eyes went wide with shock.

"We can't..they'll..what if?" She stuttered.

"Why? Does Varic exhausts you?" Alliele pressed bitterly. The princess didn't hear the bitterness in her voice. Fatora
blushed furiously.

"No, never, he's never...ummm, ya know." Alliele laughed in relief.

"Think about it, the cool night air, the stars shinning above our hearts beating in unison. The danger of getting caught."
Fatora shook her head in disbelief. -So bold, I wonder why she has changed so suddenly?- She laughed.

"Lead on, love."
----

Alliele held her close breathing deeply. A pang of regret shook her. It was the only way. She couldn't let them leave her
behind on this adventure. It was too important, she knew that there was something more to it that the rush that she had
longed for over the last few months. She stroked the sleeping Fatora's hair as she felt the pod shift slightly changing
course leading them towards Bugrom territory. -I have to be there, I know it.-
----

"The main hive is four days travel at flank speed, southeast along this ridge. By the second day the terrain gets rcok and
then there is a maze of canyons that lead to the valley where the hive itself is." Fauric pointed to the makeshift map that
he had scetched out, as it lay on the Navigator's desk. The Helmsman looked to Aykea and Makoto for confirmation.
They nodded and he immediately set his course up for the hive.

"I don't like this, going in blind is folly. There is no indication of what we could be going into." Ayeka told Makoto. He
nodded, too concerned to take his eyes off the horizon for a moment.

"No resistance, no sign of the Bugrom at all. Hell, there's no animals around at all. Not even a bird,... it's unerving.
Those canyons he described sound like a made to order ambush spot."

"I don't trust him." Makoto followed Ayeka's gaze. She was watching him and Nanami talk quietly at the edge of the
bridge.

"We haven't got much of a choice." Makoto replied.

----

Sheyla looked up into the sky, her instincts were humming. The tension was tangible in the air. The canyon that had
been a shadowy line on the horizon hours before, now loomed before them. -I don't like this.- She charged up a glode
of energy. -We should've waited till morning to enter.-
Her eyes darted across the cliff faces, alert for any sign of danger. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ryoko do the
same on the other side.

The pod in front of them was sliced in half by a hail of bolders from the cliffs above them.

"Tenchi!!!!"
"Makoto!!!!"

They both screamed in horror. It didn't help that Ayeka and Nanami were in the pod too.

"Battlestations! Dive, hug the ground!" Afura shouted quickly to the helmsman. The space pirate and Sheyla lashed out
volley after volley at their attackers. Their blasts lit up the night-time sky, making it easy for the guards to see their
heretofore hidden attackers.

Another rapid succession of boulders dropped onto the pods behind them. The crushed pods exploded in a hail of steel
splinters. Afura's winds deflected most of them, but still enough came through her screens to scythe through the guards
on the aft section of the craft.

Screames erupted all around her as the wounded screamed in agony. Blood stained the entire deck. The pod slid to the
left, Afura glanced to the helm. The helmsman was on the deck, a large shard sticking out of his neck. -No!- Then the
pod hit something and everything went black.

The next thing she knew Alliele and Fatora were pulling her out of the burning wreakage. Afura tried to stand, but
couldn't, her injuries combined with the just healed ones were to much. The last thing she saw was Ryoko and Sheyla
fighting hand in hand with a growing horde of Bugrom.