This occurs after the entire 39-episode run of Shojo Kakumei Utena, so
spoilers are everywhere (but hidden really well) in this fic. C&C is not
only welcome, it is wanted.
Disclaimer: Utena and its characters are the property of Be-PaPas, Chiho
Saito, Shogakukan, Shokaku Iinkai and TV Tokyo. I make no claim of
ownership on them, I'm not making money out of this, I'm just having my
fun with them. ^^;
- Second Interlude -
"Inside, the world goes on as it always has, night and day, day
and night," Shiori began, taking her place beside us in the elevator.
"Outside lies the power to bring the world revolution," Kozue
said, her hand lightly touching the elevator walls.
"Between transience and eternity lies the fragile shell of this
world," I intoned, crossing my arms in front my chest.
"Break the world's shell," Keiko finished, standing upright in the
center, "for the power to revolutionize the world."
--- In the Shadow of Revolution ---
=====
ACT I
=====
- Twelve -
"You won," Keiko said, standing in the middle of the meeting
place, staring at me.
"So I did," I said, answering the question that her statement was
not.
"The letters said you wouldn't win," Shiori said. She frowned as
she held her chin in her hand, as she rested her elbows on the coffee
table.
"The letters said," Kozue repeated, writing everything down in her
now-ubiquitous logbook.
"So they did," I replied.
"Don't be flippant," Keiko said, brushing her hair away from her
face with her fingers. "Remember that these duels exist to determine who
has the chance to bring the world revolution. You should have lost."
"I didn't. That ought to tell you something, shouldn't it?" I
said, shrugging.
"Tell us, then, what it's supposed to mean," Keiko said.
"Tell us," Kozue repeated.
"Simple," Mikage said as he exited the elevator. "The power to
bring the world revolution is dead."
"What are you doing here? This place is for Student Council use
only!" Shiori said, rising to her feet.
"By whose authority?" Mikage asked.
"By the authority of the End of the World," was Keiko's response.
"That last duel just proved to all of you what the authority of
the End of the World is worth these days," Mikage said, chuckling. "Or
what the duels are worth, for that matter."
"Silence!" cried Keiko, and indeed, for a few moments there was no
sound but that of the high winds. "For all I know, this slip in the plan
is all your fault. I will not stand by and listen to you tell us that
the duels are worthless, especially when you yourself lost a duel you
were supposed to win."
"And especially," I said, "when the duels aren't useless at all."
Even Mikage gave a start at this, and stared at me. "What do you
mean? You saw what happened. The Sword of Dios did not materialize. The
written plan of the End of the World was not carried out. How can you
say that the duels still mean anything?"
"Because," I said, picking up my green rose from my table, "by
defeating you and by proving the End of the World wrong, I realized that
the power to bring the world revolution is not dead, nor does it lie
outside the shell of this world." I looked at my rose and I smiled.
Suddenly I realized how strange it was, a green rose. I touched it
lightly, brushing my fingers over its soft green petals. "There is no
more need to bring this world revolution." I gestured, using the flower
to point at something beyond the confines of the balcony.
There stood the tower, still towering above the rest of Ohtori
Academy, as it always had. There it gleamed, pure white in the light of
the morning sun. And beyond that, the forest, the gateway to the arena,
silent in the absence of any duels, for revolution or otherwise. And
beyond that...
"I see nothing," Keiko said, squinting to see past the vast
grounds of Ohtori.
"No," I said. "Look harder."
"I don't see what you mean," Shiori said.
"No, wait... what's that dark shape?" Kozue asked, having put down
her logbook and joined us.
There it was, a dark silhouette on the horizon itself, easily
mistaken for a low cloud, its ruins easily confused with a passing,
sunlight playing over water's surface like--
"A trick of the light..." Mikage breathed, finally comprehending.
I smiled, placed the rose under my nose, and took a deep breath.
"The revolution has already taken place. The duels will continue. I bid
all of you to try your hand at winning the Rose Bride from me."
"To bring the world revolution?" Keiko asked.
"No," I replied, gazing at the ruins of the castle in the sky. "To
bring it realization."
- Thirteen -
What did I mean? What was the power to realize the revolution? I
suspected that Mamiya knew not the slightest thing about this new power,
this new purpose of the duels their creator did not intend. Nor, I
mused, was it necessary that he did.
What was the End of the World? I asked myself as I drank the tea I
had prepared for myself. I had been sitting alone in the dining room of
the East Dormitory, as I had every now and then for the past few days
since I had defeated Mikage.
Mamiya no longer joined me for meals. He had tried to move his
belongings to a different room in the building, but I stopped him. He
was my Bride, after all. I knew I didn't fully understand what that
meant, but it didn't really matter. Understanding is not a requirement
for knowing.
He had grown sicklier as the days went by, and soon he never left
the room for anything. I had to bring his food up to the room, and even
then it was a chore trying to get him to eat anything.
It would not do to have him die on me just yet, I thought, with a
hint of morbidity that I never thought I had in me.
Someone had robbed me of my script, it seemed, but not of my role.
I was still Vice-President of the Student Council; I was still the
center of attention wherever I went (unless Keiko was around -- but then
it didn't really bother me); I still received love letters in my foot
locker.
But since my invisible benefactor had left me to ad lib my part of
the story from that point on, I decided to make the most of it.
It was in the middle of one particular date -- with Tatsuya, in
fact -- that I began to wonder how I ever grew weary of the attention I
found myself showered with. I sat next to him in one of the school's
cherry tree groves near the end of spring, and as I held his hand and
listened to him sing to me, slightly out of tune (but I didn't mind one
bit), that I realized how different he looked from everyone else.
Or how different everyone else looked from everyone else.
Am I making any sense? I suppose not.
But what does it matter?
The duels started to become the farthest things from my mind.
Schoolwork suddenly (and inconveniently) became very, very real to me.
Fortunately, Kozue was a big help especially with math (which I must
admit is one of my weak points). We'd meet in the music room to study
together every now and then.
I'd never known Kozue to be as friendly as she was being to me
then. I could not detect even a hint of her earlier cunning, and I had
begun to think I had made a new friend.
Shiori had become distant after our last meeting, and although she
would still fence with Kozue during regular practice, she seemed to
withdraw into herself more and more as spring slowly turned into summer,
though not in the was Mamiya did. She simply grew more distant, more
preoccupied with something she would not share with anyone, not even
Kozue.
Tsuwabuki, who was oblivious of everything that had transpired,
still showered his attentions on his 'sister', Keiko, and I felt a
little hostility from him now and then, although I think it was more due
to his loyalty to Keiko than anything else. Keiko, on her part, carried
on with her men, often going out (and most probably doing things I would
rather not think of) with multiple men at once. It seemed almost
desperate to me, as if she was trying to drown something out of her mind
with all her distractions.
And Mikage? Distant as always. But although he and I did not
exchange a word with each other since after the meeting, I knew, and
seeing him always reminded me, that always weighing on his mind was the
offer I gave to everyone present, the thing that had subdued us even as
it liberated us.
A duel, for the power to awaken the world.
- Fourteen -
"Mamiya," I said, whispering into his ear as I tried to wake him.
He stirred, and as he opened his eyes he focused them on me. Then
he shut them tightly. "Leave me alone."
"Mamiya," I said softly, "I know I've been harsh with you all this
time. I'm sorry. I don't know what I was doing." Or why I was doing it,
for that matter.
He sighed, letting out a slow, shuddering breath. "I know."
I gave a start. "You do?"
He nodded, even as he kept his eyes closed. "It was all part of
the promise... You all acted the way you did because of the promise."
Tears seeped out of the corners of his eyelids, squeezed out because of
how forcefully he kept them closed. "And now the promise is broken.
You're all free to act and speak and do as you please." He laughed
softly, weakly, painfully and it was a terrible thing to hear, terrible
for its lack of any mirth or joy. "And now I have no more reason to
live. If you can call this living, that is."
I looked out the window, at the early morning sky. "I've always
thought that looking for a reason to live is a pretty pointless
exercise."
"That's easy for you to say. You're not bedridden."
"Neither were you," I replied.
"That's because of the promise from the End of the World." He
coughed, quietly. "And now the promise is broken."
"You keep saying that," I said, running my fingers through his
damp hair. "Did you ever stop to think that maybe the End of the World
didn't have the power to make that promise in the first place?" His
forehead was cold with sweat. I stood up to get a towel to wipe his
perspiration with.
"What... what do you mean?" he asked as he tried to sit up.
"Lie back. Don't strain yourself," I said, sitting down next to
him and wiping his forehead and neck with the towel. "What I mean is
that since the End of the World seems to lack the power to do anything
in this world anymore, or at least the power you and Mikage have been
hinting at since the day I met you," and I said that last part with a
smirk, "then maybe you got well on your own."
He paused, closing his eyes slowly this time. "Maybe," he finally
said. "But then I had a reason to keep living. I thought Mikage would
beat you..."
I chuckled. "That's your reason for living?"
He laughed, too, and this time it showed in his eyes. "You make it
sound ridiculous."
"I tell it like I hear it."
He shook his head. "If he had beat you, and had carried out the
plan to the letter, like he should have, then he would have brought the
world revolution. That was my reason."
"I still think it's a pretty flimsy reason," I said, stroking his
cheek lightly.
He snorted. "Then tell me, what makes for a good reason to live?"
I thought about this for a moment.
Then I kissed him.
It was a soft kiss, a light touching of the lips, ever-so-slightly
parted. I closed my eyes as I kissed him, and I felt him doing the same,
after his initial shock. Then I slowly drew back, and opened my eyes. I
smiled as I saw him, eyes still closed, chin slightly forward, lips
still slightly parted. Then he opened his eyes and blushed. "What..." he
began, but I put a finger to his lips.
"Now, now," I said, "you're not healthy enough. I'm afraid your
frail constitution simply can't take it." I shook my head teasingly.
"There's nothing more I can do for you now. A shame, really. Goodbye." I
stood up and headed for the door.
"Wakaba?" he called out, and I paused at the doorway.
"Yes?"
He faced me, and he smiled. The face of eternity was gone, it
seemed, replaced by something more immediate, more fleeting... and the
oddest thing occurred to me. I felt his smile was all the more sweeter
because of its transience. "I'll just have to get better, then, won't
I?"
And I felt myself smiling back.
to be continued...
=====
w.o.m
TimeRunner's Web Page:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/7482
=====
"The story grew in the most convoluted way, as many people will be
surprised to learn. Writing episodically meant that when I finished one
episode I had no idea about what the next one would contain. When, in
the twists and turns of the plot, some event suddenly seemed to
illuminate things that had gone before, I was as surprised as anyone
else."--- Douglas Adams, "A Guide to the Guide"