"And I'd give up forever to touch you
'Cause I know that you'd feel me somhow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now."

	-- from "Iris", by The Goo Goo Dolls


	"So.  You wanna travel into a dimension based on one of your 
favorite anime, and fix things that went wrong there, huh?  Well, your 
intentions seem noble enough, and I think you can make a good show of it --
so I'm gonna help you out.  Yep.  Just a little poof and you'll be where you
wanna be.

	"Oh, the price?  Smart cookie!  You've obviously paid attention, to
know that nothing comes without a price.  Well, it's nothing much.

	"Just your soul.

	"Oh, and incidentally, in the event that you thought that you didn't
*have* a soul:  take it from me, you do.  I've done this a lot, and I've
collected quite a few of your ilk.  Maybe you've heard of them.

	"No, no!  That's just propaganda.  Well, maybe not *just* ...  But
anyway, when you give up your soul like this, you don't end up in hell for
us to torment for all eternity.  Do you have any idea how much work that
would be?  Sheesh!  You just stop *existing* when you die.

	"Yep.  All you have to do is forsake *any* possibility of continuing
after you die -- whether in any afterlife, or in a reincarnation -- and I'll
be more than happy to take you into your world of choice for the remainder
of your life.

	"What?  *Her*?  Oh, come on!  Look, that might happen by accident,
but do you seriously think that *I'd* mess up and take you to a world that
just looked a bit like your show on the surface?  Of course not.  Sheesh.
That woman nearly *ruined* my job, I'll have you know.

	"Look, I *promise*.  No worlds where Kasumi's an axe-murderess.  No
sick worlds where the Moon Kingdom was part of a thinly veilled attack on
British colonialism.  Just the straight, dare I say `canonical', version of
your show.  I'll swear by You Know Who if it will make you happy.

	"So?  Do we have a bargain?"

	Well?  Do we?

-------

	If you think about it, the recent film "City of Angels" can be seen
as a look at self-insertion.  An angel -- a being from a higher level of
reality, who can normally only *observe* our lower level -- falls in love
with a human, and in order to truly be with her, must "fall" from grace.
Other things that went into the thought process of this fic include the
music video of Ah-Ha's "Take On Me" (My, aren't I dating myself.) and the
song that we opened with.

	Well?  Would you take the bargain?

Chris Davies, Advocate for Darkness, Part-Time Champion of Light.
"People need vampires.  They helps 'em remember what stakes and garlic are
for." -- Granny Weatherwax, "Carpe Jugulum", by Terry Pratchett
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