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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: elhazep.txt
-- Desc: elhazep.txt

El-Hazard
World of Endings Promised

	A story is for the readers, and the ending is for the author. 

	The beginning is merely an idea, a "what if this and that..." 
and a story is born. The fun in writing comes between the beginning of 
the story and the ending, where the author shares what he envisions 
with the reader.

	The ending, though...

	The ending is like a secret pact between the author and the
characters. No author should create a character without knowing how
his story will end, for the ending is perhaps the most important part
of the story, where the final impression is made. The ending makes
the difference between a reader saying "Gosh, that was a good yarn"
and "Wow, I want to read more! I wish I could read something else of
his..."

	To jot down a story for the sake of a story is fun, but without 
knowing how it will end, it can never be a true work of art: the art
of the writer.

	This has been my tip for the month, to all prospective writers.

	I give you the epilogues to the ending I have crafted for the
tale of El-Hazard, for even though a book can stop having pages to 
turn, it does not mean that there is less of the tale to tell.



Epilogue One: The End

	When recounting the legend of the Sleeping Guardian, it is 
traditional for storytellers to stop and wait at this point, because 
someone, even if they have heard the story before, will always bring up 
the fact that what happened to the Demon God just wasn't fair. 

	Whether a child's petulant whine or a philosopher's eloquent 
proof, the storyteller will invariably snort and say, "Fair? Who said 
anything about life being fair? Can you imagine anything less fair than 
life? We are born ignorant, spend most of our life cursing that 
ignorance, and just when we start to figure it all out, we die!

	"And if there's anything less fair than life, it's love! 
Offering your heart to someone without reservation, trusting them with 
all that you are, _without ever knowing if they do the same..._"

	The storyteller will pause for a moment, letting that sink in, 
then add nonchalantly, "Of course, without any real way of knowing, it 
is held that this is how the story truly ends."

				****

	Makoto runs his fingers down my cheek. "I've missed you so 
much," he says softly, then embraces me with welcome force.

	Is this another of my dreams?

	Is this an afterlife I never believed in?

	Whatever it is, I don't care, for he is here and I am here.

	And he is beautiful.


				The End




Epilogue Two: Should old Aquaintance be Forgot


	Nakamura leans a bit closer to me from across the desk,
leering. "Ms. Jinnai, I'll take the payment in money or on... other 
terms, of course." I feel his eyes crawling all over me and I have 
trouble resisting the urge to pull my suit jacket just a bit tighter 
over my breasts.

	I suppose it's a good thing that the little toad is coming on
to me so blatantly: It means he can't tell how much I detest him.

	I can't remember where I first read the concept, but if ever
there was a man whose soul was six sizes smaller than his body and 
twelve sizes smaller than his ego, Akira Nakamura is he. He's the 
sort of man who thinks his position is the most important in the 
world, and, sadly, he's just close enough to right to make him very,
very aggravating. It won't be a personal thing to have him fired when
I have the power, though; he's been embezzling for almost as long as
he's worked here. Call it... job satisfaction.

	I act as though I don't quite get what he's referring to as I
lean back in my chair. "The money will be in the usual account... once
I get the information, of course."

	It's hard not to laugh at his obvious disappointment; he just
looks so stupid. I manage somehow, and he recovers quickly. "You know,
there's a new French restaurant opening downtown. I could get 
reservations easily, if you're..."

	I'm saved from having to reply as the intercom beeps. I press
the button, and my secretary says, "There's a woman here who insists on
seeing you, but she doesn't have an appointment. Her name's... 
Ifurita."

	I try to mask my irritation from Nakamura. I _know_ that I told
that idiot to let anyone named Jinnai, Mizuhara, or Ifurita in with no
delay! "Let her in, you moron, before she gets angry!" Then, I stand
up. "I suppose this means our interview is at an end. I'll see you...
again."

	Nakamura stands up reluctantly and turns around just as the
door opens. And she is standing in the door. 

	I can actually feel his eyes and mind leave my flesh as he
blatantly looks Ifurita up and down. She pays no mind to him, though,
and he walks past her, wearing a comedic look of disappointment once 
again. 

	Just after he walks out the door, though, he turns around and 
asks, "I've always wondered, Nanami. Why do you wear so many rings?" 
His expression implies more than a simple question.

	Suddenly fed up with his odious habits, I say in a sweet tone,
"Because my mother taught me that it isn't ladylike to wear brass
knuckles." I firmly shut the door in his face, then turn around with
a broad smile on my face. "It's been a long time, Ifurita." I gather
her into a hug that she doesn't respond to at first, but, after a few
moments, her arms come up and she grips me tightly. 

	"Nanami..." 

	For a moment, I wonder what could possibly be soaking the 
shoulder of my almost-Armani suit, staining the silk, then I realize
that Ifurita, Demon God of legend, is shedding hot tears of grief all
over my shoulders. 

	My left hand comes up to where her head rests on my shoulders
and I stroke her platinum hair comfortingly. "Shh... it'll be all 
right." I try to remember how one of my friends with a little girl
acted when she started crying at a company picnic last week, and
I apparently succeed, because after a few moments Ifurita quiets.

	I guide her to my couch and seat her. She simply sits there
for a moment, looking at her hands, until I say in a brisk manner, 
"So are you going to tell me what this is all about, or are you going
to sit there so long I miss lunch? I'm hungry."

	She doesn't look up from her hands as she says, "Fujisawa-
sensei... is dead. So is your brother. I'm sorry."

	"Wha..." I draw back a bit from her in surprise, then, as she
starts telling her tale of the last few weeks, I move closer and 
closer, and by the time she's sobbing again, words barely intelligible,
I'm holding her once more.

	To my deep shame, I can't stop from exulting while she weeps.
But... but... it is so gratifying to some dark part of myself I 
thought long dead, to watch her _suffer_.

	With a start, I realize that she's finished. She looks at me
and says pleadingly, "You're the only one that can help us!"

	I slide a bit further away on the couch and say disbelievingly,
"What do you mean, me?" I point at myself. "I've got no powers over
El-Hazard!"

	"But... but..." She almost starts crying again, then draws a
deep breath and takes a visible hold on herself. "The only reason that 
Masamichi and your brother died is because their connection to this 
world is fading. That connection comes from the people that knew them. 
Those same people believed that our two friends were dead, so their 
connections faded away. You're the only one who knows, _knows_, that 
Makoto is still alive. Please, you have to..."

	"Have to what?" I hear myself ask, somehow... distant... from
this scene, as though I'm subconsciously recoiling from the cruelty I'm 
about to inflict. "Start loving him again? Let my life be drawn into 
his again? Lose myself and what I've managed to do _on_ _my_ _own_ just 
to save his life?" I shake my head slowly. "No."

	I watch as that word shatters her world. As I continue, I feel
like I'm receding, farther and farther away. "I think that I may hate 
you. Isn't that horrible? I watch you as you sit on my couch, reddened 
eyes dripping tears, and think, 'this is what you get!'" I clench one 
fist and snap the illusion of distance. "I don't _want_ to feel 
this way! I hate this part of me! Why should I enjoy watching you 
suffer? You didn't do anything to me except take a man that I had a 
silly high school crush on. Why should that make me so angry? And 
yet..."

	I shake my head quickly, then stand up and hold out my hand. 
"Can I offer you lunch before you leave? There's a French restaurant 
that just opened up, and I'm personal friends with the manager."

	She stands up, disdaining my hand, and almost falls over. "I
always wanted to know something. Why did you leave?"

	I slip one arm under her shoulder and half-carry her to the
door. I say, softly, "I couldn't stand watching you two, so happy, so 
powerful, and not having anything of my own that you didn't suffer me 
to have. I wanted to stand on my own two feet." 

	I scowl at my idiot secretary as she stands up from her desk. 
"Stay here and take any calls. Make appointments if you must."

	The moron nods and sits back down, and I ask the platinum- 
haired Demon God, who cannot even stand on her own two feet because of
what I have done to her, "Was that so wrong of me?"




Epilogue Three: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

	Queen Deva sat on her throne, staring blankly at the 
empty hall that had once buzzed with her courtiers. She couldn't
remember what Jinnai had said to her about them leaving, it had
made so much sense at the time...

	Deva knew that she wasn't the first Deva, and had vague
memories from all the others of her self stretching back to the 
Creator. But this... constant fog... was something new, something 
none of her previous selves had ever dealt with. Did it have 
something to do with Jinnai, her Warlord? 

	Suddenly, an explosion boomed. Deva leapt to her feet,
looking around wildly. That had sounded like it had come from
the outer walls! Was someone attacking? Why weren't her 
courtiers...

	Oh, yes. Jinnai had sent them to do something. Probably,
he had already anticipated this attack, and they had been 
dispatched to deal with it. Deva laid back down on her couch,
content in the knowledge that after nearly a century, she was
safe in the hands of her Warlord.

	"Deva?"

	Deva looked over her shoulder, heart beating quickly in
anticipation as she saw Jinnai standing there, one hand behind
his back. "Yes, Jinnai?"

	"Do you love me?"

	Deva blinked. "What?"

	"Do you love me? It's a simple question, and it makes a
little sense. After all, we live much more closely than most 
married couples." Jinnai chuckled nastily. "How many married
couples can say that they've almost conquered the world four
times?"

	Deva sat up slowly. "I don't... understand... what
you're talking about."

	Jinnai shrugged. "That figures. It seems that I've 
worn away too much of what you were for you to understand. But
I know you could answer a simple question. Do you love me?"

	Deva smiled. "Of course not. I'm just using you as my
tool until you conquer the world for me, then I'll dispose 
of you."

	"That's good." Jinnai raised the weapon that he'd
had hidden behind his back. "I didn't want to kill someone
that loved me. It would seem... wrong, somehow."


****

	Jinnai's faithful were waiting where he had asked
them to. This once, he hadn't ordered them, and he was 
secretly grateful for their loyalty, which had lasted nearly
a century.

	One of them asked a question. Jinnai dropped the
weapon that he had been clenching in one hand and rubbed
that hand on his pants. "Yes, yes, I did do it, Gummo." He 
stared down at the weapon lying, seemingly innocent, on the 
cold ground. "God has a very... unique... sense of humor. To
deliver into my hands the one weapon capable of destroying
or neutralizing Ifurita, allow me to raise up an army that 
could conquer the world, then to start killing me..."

	He brought one heel down on the weapon, crushing it
to an unrecognizable mishmash of components and wiring.
"Funny, isn't it?"	

	Much to the concern of Jinnai's faithful, he didn't
laugh, even though he _had_ said it was funny.




Epilogue Four: Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

	The woman's slap knocked the man from his feet. "Why
are you doing this?! Are you suicidal?"

	The man rubbed his cheek but made no attempt to get
up. He said calmly, as though this was nothing out of the
ordinary, "Why? Because the Goddess Reborn asked me Herself
to do this. Could you deny Her, Toni?"

	Toni crossed her arms across her chest. "I suppose
not." Then, a note that would have been mistaken for plaintive
from anyone else crept in her voice. "Why does it have to be
you? We have so many assassins..."

	Now, the man did get to his feet as he shook his 
head slowly. "We've tried sending assassins against
this woman many times, but she has a strange ability to see
through the illusions they weave. Not a one has succeeded."
He clenched his fist. "But now, we finally have a chance to 
get someone close to her. I don't know why she chose _me_,
of all the people there, but we cannot afford to pass up
such an opportunity!"

	Toni spat, "I won't let you go off on some suicide
mission!"

	The man stayed silent for a moment, then said softly,
"Even if it is a suicide mission, wouldn't it be worth it?
This woman, this one woman, has managed to wreak havoc in 
all our sanctuaries, has blunted or outright devastated all 
attempts we make at opening the war beyond the shadows we
fight in now, and has killed the Goddess Reborn once! My 
life would be worth hers a thousand times over. 

	"Besides," he added, drawing her into his arms, 
"I'll be back. And then we'll get married for sure, once 
this is all over."

	For a moment, Toni stood there and let herself be
comforted. Her fist caught the man in the pit of the stomach.
As he slumped to the ground, she said sweetly, "You liar."
Then, she spiraled on one foot and stalked away.

	Once she was a safe distance, she whispered as 
if her lover was still close enough to hear, "You forget
that I 'know' these sorts of things. I'd rather have you
remember me as a bitch and hate me, then die knowing that I
still love you."

	The only thing that heard her was the wind whistling
through the burned-out tenements and deserted hovels, the
same wind that taunted her with visions of what only the
Fates should see. It seemed to be chuckling faintly...




Epilogue Five: Excerpted from the _Journals of my Life_ by
 Karylis Yuli, published three years after her retirement
 from the position of Commander.


	Why did she do it?

	Despite her having shared a vision with me, it 
took me years to figure out why she chose to destroy herself
along with Nanami. There's no doubt that she could have 
survived...

	But, finally, reading an ancient history on the
Demon Gods, an inspiration came to me. Perhaps, after living
almost her entire life for others (first as a slave to 
whomever held the Power Key Staff, then, after Makoto's 
death, only waking when someone needed her and called for her
aide, and even then living in the constant agony of feeling 
her husband as a part of her but not being able to touch him) 
she decided to make a decision for herself. 

	It's the sort of decision that only a few of us have
to truly face, which is good, because it's all too easy to 
decide the wrong way. It's a decision that we make for different 
reasons, some of them selfish, some of them noble, and I must 
say that hers was selfish. But...

	But maybe it's a woman's prerogative to be selfish...
sometimes.





Author's Notes

First off, I must say that this project was an monkeyload of
fun, thanks to the people that preread for me. In no order,
their names are:

Angus MacSpon
Jenny-Chan
Larry F
Derek Sherman

A hearty domo arigoto gozaimasu to them all!

Now, the only complaint I've heard about this fic (that I 
feel needs to be addressed) is that, while it is good, it's 
just too short. Upon rereading it, I plead no contest. Yeah, 
it is short, but it's also the only length that it could be. 
I could've stretched it out more (and was planning to do so, 
when I first conceived the fic a long time ago) but it was 
just... this long and no longer. Sorry.

This story is all about the ending that I promised Ifurita.
How could I keep such a pretty lady waiting?

You want epilogue explanations too? Fine.

The first epilogue is self-explanatory. 'Nuff said. I just
couldn't leave Ifurita without _some_ kind of a happy 
ending. That's the ending I promised in my story. Ifurita's
story has always seemed a true tragedy to me (created a 
slave, freed by a man she fell in love with who was going
to die eventually, and herself cursed with eternal life) and I 
can never leave a tragedy alone. 

The second epilogue is a scene that I was planning on
putting in the actual fic, but just didn't fit anywhere. 
Mostly because it is a flashback, but it isn't a flashback
_about_ Ifurita, but about Nanami. It just wasn't in the format
of the main part of the story. It is part of the story, though, 
so in this collection it goes. 

The third actually didn't get created until one of my 
prereaders said that I dissed Deva by not giving her any
story. I considered it, decided not to do anything about
it, and ended up writing that epilogue anyway. 

The fourth, though...

It's actually part of another story, a rather longstanding
one that nobody will read until I consider it ready to be
published. Yeah, I hold delusions of being published someday 
myself. I put it in here mostly because I was pissed off
at misquoting myself. I _hate_ it when I do that.

The fifth was created when I saw a quote in Xenogears (I'm
going through the game again) that I really, really wanted
to use in this story. It was too late, though, but I 
managed to squeeze it in anyway! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

The quote was:
"Maybe it's a woman's prerogative to be selfish... 
 sometimes."
 -Elhaym Van Houten 

Another quote that didn't make the cut was:

"If you always fear sorrow... you'll never be able
 to love at all."
 -Belldandy


Until our paths cross once more...

Aaron Bergman
iamfanboy@hotmail.com

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