Here we go again.  Getting better at the whole Word-ASCII conversion
process...nice and fast now...

http://bloodgod.res.cmu.edu/smgray/index.html=20

Am I bringing these out too fast?  I figured nobody would mind...ah
well.

[] is character thought.  ** is emphasis.  As usual, any and all
commentary, particularly negative commentary, is appreciated. =3D)

Chapter Eleven
     In which Resh stops playing around and Ami, version up!


     "Waffles?"

     Usagi nodded, mouth full, and Rei handed the dripping plate across
the table.  The blonde was making a pig of herself, as usual, but even
Rei had to admit that Setsuna's breakfast-making skills were top-notch.
[Unless Haruka or Michiru cooked all this after they got back.]  Either
way, the table was full and the pair of them were wasting no time.

     "Usagi!"  Rei shook her head as she noticed her friend attempting
to unhinge her jaw like a snake and fit a dozen waffles into her mouth
at once.  "Leave some for the others."

     "Sohwy." =20

     "'Morning."  Minako pushed the kitchen door aside and let it swing
closed behind her, rubbing at her eyes with back of one hand. =20

     "Hi, Mina.  How are you feeling?"

     She pulled up a seat and started filling up her plate.  "Not bad.
A bit woozy.  You?"

     "Sore.  And my side still hurts.  Where's Makoto?"

     "Still sleeping, I think.  She was hurting pretty badly last
night."

     "Setsuna said she'd be all right, though."

     Minako nodded.  "Yup."

     Rei sighed.  "And that leaves one."

     The mood at the table darkened.  Minako tried to be cheerful.  "It
could be nothing.  Maybe her parents called her suddenly and she went
out of town without telling anyone..."

     "Without leaving a message or a note or something?"

     "People forget things when they're in a hurry."

     "Minako, this is *Ami*."

     "Right."  She shook her head.  "I guess not.  But we can't just
assume something bad happened."

     "I still think Haruka should have forced the door."  The two Outers
had returned from Ami's apartment reporting everything dark inside and
no answer, and Setsuna had told them to wait before breaking in.

     "Why?  If she was in there, she would have answered.  She didn't
answer, so she has to be somewhere else."  The blonde looked very
satisfied with this chain of logic.

     "Unless she's..."  Rei looked down at the table as the two other
girls stared at her.  She finished the sentence in a mumble.  "Hurt, or
something."

     "Honestly, Rei, what could have happened?"  Minako looked away
after a moment and started pouring syrup.  "Resh was with us, remember?"

     "I'm not going to forget that in a hurry.  But I hadn't talked to
Ami all day.  He could have--"

     "That was the *day*.  He's a vampire, remember?  He can't go
walking around in the sunshine."

     Rei rolled her eyes.  "He *looks* like a vampire.  We have no idea
what his real strengths or weaknesses are.  Plus, it's not just today.
I haven't seen much of Ami for a week now, and every time I talk to her
she seems distracted."

     "She could be working on some project for school."

     "All I'm saying"--Rei gritted her teeth--"is that I'm a bit
worried."

     "And I'm saying you're jumping to conclusions."  She took a bite,
and closed her eyes for a moment in silent ecstasy.  Rei surveyed her
friend's mountain of syrup, chocolate, and whip cream dismally. =20

     "Isn't that kind of bad for your figure?"

     "I make an exception when we're nearly killed."  She took another
bite and licked her lips.

     "That's starting to seem less and less the exception."  Rei looked
up as the door opened again.  "Mako!  How are you doing?"

     Makoto looked disheveled, her long brown hair in frizzy disarray
and thrown over one shoulder.  One of her hands was wrapped in a thick
bandage, and she moved with a slight limp.  For all that, though, she
sounded cheerful.

     "Pretty good, actually."  She made it to another chair and took her
seat.  "Usagi was right about that lightning.  It hurts a lot for a
while, but goes away pretty quick."

     "What about the hand?"

     She flexed it under the bandage and winced.  "Still a bit cracked.
It should heal okay, though.  Give me a few days."

     "Luckily Senshi are difficult to damage permanently."  Rei returned
her attention to the food and took a bite from her own neglected plate.
Behind her, Usagi reached for thirds, and Minako sat up as though a new
thought had just occurred to her. =20

     "Rei..."  Her voice had a slight crafty tone that Rei had learned
to dread.

     "What?"

     "Usagi told me that Shard rescued us last night."

     [If by that you mean I rescued him.]  "Not exactly."

     "But he did save you from the fire downstairs, right?"  She leaned
closer.  "I think you should tell him how you feel."

     "How you feel?"  Usagi's jaw dropped.  "What exactly does *that*
mean, Rei?"

     Rei blushed.  "Nothing!"  The odd looks on the faces of the other
three made her realize she'd almost shouted the word, and her blush
spread.  "First of all, he did *not* rescue me.  I was on my way out
anyway, and I'd already killed that...thing, whatever it was.  Second of
all, there is absolutely *nothing* between me and that gun-toting
hair-trigger lunatic!"

     Usagi and Minako exchanged knowing glances, and Rei felt her
fingers curl on the tabletop.  "Would you two quit it!"

     Even Makoto smiled a little.  "You've got to admit he's
good-looking, Rei."

     "I admit that!  So what?  That's hardly the major qualification you
look for in a guy!"

     Minako blinked.  "Where exactly have [you] been looking for guys?"

     Rei stood up and let out a screech of frustration, to the general
laughter of the table.  "I'm going for a walk."  Her voice was a growl.

     Makoto stood up behind her.  "No, you're not."

     "No?"

     "Have you looked outside lately?"

     Rei ducked into the next room and peeked past the shades, only to
find that she could see basically nothing.  At--she checked her
watch--close to eleven o'clock, the sky was still as black as full dark.
The rain was pounding down so hard the street was covered in a kind of
mist of ankle height from ricochets, and both gutters had moved beyond
streams and were rapidly qualifying for river status. =20

     She stared, mesmerized, then let the curtain fall.  "Oh."

     "Right."  Makoto put a hand on her shoulder.  "Sit down and eat
your breakfast.  We'll stop, I promise."

     "I don't promise!"  Minako piped up from the other room.  "I want
to know!"  Rei rolled her eyes.

     "I take it nobody's going in to school today."

     "Doesn't look like it."  Makoto walked back to the kitchen with
her.  "My parents are getting curious about all the absences.  My dad
thinks I've gotten into something unsavory like prostitution or
doujinshi or something."

     Rei chuckled.  "Maybe you should take up prostitution to spite
him."

     "Or writing doujinshi."  Makoto smiled.

     "Or fan fiction."

     "Yuck."  She made a face.  "Let's not go too far."

     Rei shook her head.  "So what *are* we going to do today?  I'm
still worried about Ami."

     The pair took their seats around the table again, and breakfast
resumed.  After eating for a bit, Usagi ventured a suggestion.  "We
could go down to her college and ask around, see if anyone's seen her."

     "Not a bad idea."  Rei glanced at the window again.  "I really
don't want to go walking around in that, though."

     "It's not far to the bus stop."

     "Still..."

     "Setsuna has enough umbrellas for all of us, I think."  Makoto
gestured to the hall closet.  "It shouldn't be too bad."

     Rei nodded, and eating resumed.  After a minute or so of silence,
Makoto spoke up again.  "Do you think Resh will come back tonight?"

     Minako flinched at little, and Rei had to admit that the question
had been preying on her mind.  "He might.  I think he got beat up pretty
good last night, though."

     "We got beat up pretty good last night, too."

     "True."  She shifted a bit, then sighed.  "If he does, we know what
to do.  Get Setsuna and the others, stick together.  We know his tricks
now."

     "I hope so."  Makoto set her fork down on the now-empty plate and
stretched her arms.  "That was good.  Where is Setsuna, anyway?"

     "She was going to see if she could find something out about this
Resh stuff."

     "How?"

     Rei shrugged.  "Like she tells me how she finds stuff out."

     "Right."  Makoto finished the last of her drink and started
cleaning up.  Usagi hovered over her own plate protectively when she
made a grab for it, so Makoto left her alone.  "You want to head down to
the college when she's done?"

     "Sounds good."

=20

     Ami became aware only gradually that she was still alive.

     It was like waking up, except that she was already awake, watching
it happen.  Her body lay where she'd left it on the couch, now covered
by the metaphorical cobwebs of disuse.  It had been hours, after all.

     She settled back in with the air of someone returning to a bed
they'd long been absent from, twisting and turning to find that
effortlessly comfortable spot she remembered.  Her heart started again,
and sensation started to return; her arms and legs felt like cold, dead
weights.  Ami took her first breath and smiled internally as liquid fire
coursed through her lungs.  Her eyes slid closed like rusty bolts
sliding home.

     [Give it a minute.]  It was painful, certainly, but since the pain
was a reminder that her body still worked at all, it was welcome.
[Still hurts.]  She didn't try to move, to do anything but breathe.
[Ow.]

     [This had better not have been some kind of elaborate
hallucination.]  She kept her eyes closed, just in case.  [When I open
them, I'll have to find out.  Either I'll be in the hospital because I
had a stroke or something, or I'll be in my room, with Eridu.  And
then...]

     Once the pain had subsided a bit she risked pulling her arm back
onto the couch, the muscles burning with fatigue for even such a small
effort.  Her joints ached--everything ached, but breathing was getting
easier by the minute and her heart no longer felt like it would burst
with each beat.  Ami took a long breath, then blew it out and opened her
eyes.

     Her vision was blurred, and the objects she saw barely
distinguishable.  She gave it time, though, and gradually they started
to distinguish themselves, her sight returning at least to the point
where she could tell things apart.  The ceiling of the apartment looked
like it always did, cracked and peeling where the last tenants had left
it and she'd never bothered to fix.  She turned her head, and the blank
eye of the television stared at her from across the room.  Ami managed
to smile through cracked lips.

     [I guess I'm not insane after all.]  Another deep breath.  [Now
let's see if this works in real life.]

     She looked down into the plane of magic.  [To be honest, I'm not
sure what it is that I actually do.  A change of perspective, or
something.]  It was like a focusing trick or an optical illusion, where
you stare at a meaningless scene for minutes before it suddenly
resolves, like magic, into something that makes sense.  There was the
same feeling that the elements of the new had always been there, as part
of the old, like the old woman who is also the young girl; a flick of
the eye, and it was like having a new sense.

     [Oh.  Wow.]

     The room burned with colored fire.  Or liquid smoke, or something.
The sensation was impossible to describe, but Ami resolved the confusion
of inputs effortlessly.  [Underlayer.  Reality.  Overlayer.]  Terms and
meanings clicked into place as though she'd used them all her life.

     [And how did I never notice *that* before?]

     *That* was the regular pulsing wave of magic that flowed through
the room like a heartbeat, the rhythm of the supernexus.  It dominated
the world of magic in approximately the same way the sun dominates the
sky, coming very close to drowning everything else in its awful
brilliance.  Like the sun, it was difficult to look at directly before
the eye recoiled and blinked or turned away.  Even with her eyes shut,
she could feel it, thudding away at the back of her mind like some
massive pump throwing out subsonics, as regular and immutable as the
tides.

     Ami raised her hand and stared at the colored trails that ran
through, crackling and sparking and crossing and recombining.  Something
inside her felt giddy, euphoric, wanting to run through the suddenly
colorful apartment with arms outstretched and laugh at the world.
Another part wanted to test it--reach out and prod the streams.  She
glared at one of the trails that crisscrossed the room and nearly jumped
when it twitched in response.=20

     Eridu's voice sounded right by her ear.

     "How do you feel, Miss Mizuno?"

     Ami couldn't help smiling even wider.

     "I know kung fu."

    =20

     It was a few minutes later, and Ami was sitting up on the couch,
wrapped in a heavy down blanket in an effort to dispel a little bit of
the chill from her limbs.  Eridu sat across from her, grinning like a
predatory jack-o-lantern that had had an unfortunate accident with a
barrel of bleach.  Even behind his impenetrable black glasses, she could
tell he was excited.  [And that makes me a bit uncomfortable.]

     Still, the euphoria had hardly faded.  She kept flipping back and
forth, staring in awe into the realm of auras and sparkling powers, then
returning briefly to the mundane world to find out what she was really
looking at.  Some things glowed more brightly then others.  She was
surprised to find her computer, for example, looked like a kaleidoscope,
spraying brilliant colors in an ever-changing matrix in all directions.
She said as much to Eridu, who nodded gravely.

     "Some things attract magic by their nature, but anything really
complex picks up more then its fair share.  Machines like that are
natural manasinks."

     "That explains a lot."

     He smiled.  "But are you sure you feel all right, Miss Mizuno?"

     It took Ami a moment to come down from her cloud and return to
reality.  "Hmm?  I feel pretty good.  Kind of stiff and cold, I guess."

     "I'm not surprised.  You were under a long time."

     "All night, I guess.  Assuming this is just tomorrow and not next
week?"

     "It is.  Do you remember what happened?"

     She sat for a moment, quietly.  "A little.  I remember looking at a
city, and...light.  And I remember a lot of other things I have no right
to remember."

     "Things?"

     "Words.  Facts.  All about this sort of thing."

     "It is difficult to extricate the raw experience of working with
sorcery from the associated framework.  I'm afraid I gave you rather a
lot."

     "What exactly did you *do*?"

     "I altered your memory and your reflex states."

     She sighed.  "You didn't give me enough vocabulary, apparently."
Ami probed her new memories as though probing a broken tooth with her
tongue, gingerly.  It was a sensation vaguely akin to d=E9j=E0 vu, the
feeling of remembering something without being able to actually place
it.  "Still..."  She sat back on the couch.  "Wow."  A thought struck
her.  "This isn't temporary, is it?"

     "No.  The transfer of memory is permanent, although it will fade a
bit like any memory with disuse."

     "Wow."

     "I take it you're satisfied."

     She chuckled, then turned serious.  "Eridu, I--"

     "Let me show you something."

     "Okay."

     "I want you to close your eyes and look down at yourself."

     She complied, staring at the colored lights that bloomed even in
the dark of shut eyelids.  Her body was a weltering confusion of colors,
jumping and dancing and combining with one another.  Certain regular
rhythms were evident: breathing, heartbeat.  Eridu continued.

     "Look for a single thread that doesn't change, a kind of
centerpiece.  It runs through all the others, affecting them but not
altered in return, and it keeps going and going..."

     Ami scanned and found the thread he was talking about, a brilliant
cobalt blue so bright it was difficult to focus on.  It ran into her,
getting close enough that it was impossible to focus on, and it also
twisted the other way, going somehow *deeper* in a way that wasn't any
of the cardinal directions.

     "I see it."

     "Follow it."

     "How?"

     "Just start following it with your eyes and keep going.  You'll get
there."

     She nodded, eyes still closed tightly, and tried to follow the blue
thread to its destination.  After passing through the loops and whorls
of her physical form, it twisted out and down, intermingling the huge
mass of gray threads that comprised most of the physical world.  A
little farther, and it dove underneath them to the underlayer, and then
a little farther--

     "Do you see it?"

     Ami's mouth was dry.  "I see it."

     The blue thread joined with a river of blue, pulsing and beating,
flowing underneath the fabric of the physical world.  It was brilliant,
but not in the same blinding way as the supernexus; more like heat,
where a touch felt good and too much burned.  Ami stared at it in awe. =20

     "What is it?

     "One of the guardians.  Yours, in fact."

     "What?"

     "It's the source from which you draw your powers.  Before you could
only access whatever you could draw down that thread, but now that you
are more aware, it's all yours."

     "This is..."

     "It's the natural progression of guardian forces.  As they became
stronger, they often become able to see their own driving force.  You
can dip into it, take the power you need.  You can do *anything*."

     He was right--she could feel it.  The power of that river was
awe-inspiring, but she could feel it react just from being looked at.
It was power that resonated with her, within her.  [I would never have
found it without him guiding me, but it's just a matter of reaching
out...]

     "Take it."

     She opened her eyes, just a crack.  Eridu was hunched forward in
his chair, staring, his expression eager.  "Take it!"

     "I..."

     [He's right!  I can just reach for it.  I can...]

     "I can't."

     "Just--"

     "I can't reach it.  I feel like there's something in the way."  She
let the vision drop and opened her eyes back to normal space, surprised
to find her hands shaking with the effort.  Eridu sat forward a moment,
staring at her with something that might be construed as suspicion, then
settled back in his chair.  His expression was if anything disappointed.

     "Of course."  Eridu sighed.  "I've been most impolite.  I'm afraid
the implications of great magic often get the better of me; I can be a
bit...excitable."

     Ami leaned back against the sofa.  "Sorry.  I'm just a bit
overwhelmed by all this."

     "Understandably.  We can try again, later.  There's a little trick
to it that I can show you."  He smiled, thinly.  "Then I think my
service will be just about complete."

     She closed her eyes for a moment, letting tired muscles relax.  Her
new senses felt him leave, almost imperceptibly.  Ami contemplated going
back to sleep, but despite the ache in her muscles her body was still
fizzing with energy.  [I need something to *do*.]  Her thoughts shied
away from Eridu and his gifts, almost on instinct; as she settled back
into the familiar computer chair, she flipped into her other vision for
a moment, just to make sure that she still could.  Magic burned bright
and unfamiliar, and Ami wriggled into the leather with a feeling of
contentment she hadn't had in a long time.

     [It was a gamble, I guess, but it worked out.  Eridu delivered as
promised.]  The deal still made her a bit uncomfortable.  [A little bit
of hacking in exchange for something like this?  It doesn't seem normal.
Maybe for him, this isn't such a big deal.  Just a little adjustment...]

     She sighed.  [Speculation is getting me nowhere.  I can play with
new toys later.  First things first: time to catch up on the world.]

     Screens clicked into life as she touched the mouse, the main one
covered with blinking alerts.

     [What the hell?]

     She found the offending message, a mail that had come in during the
night.  [I don't see what's so bad about it...]  The address seemed
vaguely familiar, but it didn't immediately click, and the code for the
cipher was odd.  [That's a local code, so it's one of the routines I
wrote myself...wait a minute...]

     [This is one of Eridu's messages.  He must have left what channel
he was using to intercept them open.  But that doesn't...]  She scanned
the contents of the message.  [That doesn't make any sense.]

     [Oh, shit.]  Ami jumped up from the table and started running.

=20

     The view out the window had if possible understated the nastiness
of the weather.  The rain turned the air into soup and covered the
sidewalks with mud, so that at every step you were in danger of losing a
shoe and every breath came with an effort, like living in a sauna. =20

     Usagi was complaining bitterly, not an unexpected development.

     "This was a waste of time."  She leaned against Mamoru's shoulder.
"Mostly."

     Rei rolled her eyes.  Running into Mamoru had been a fortuitous
accident and helped keep Usagi quiet, but there was only so much sugar
one could handle.  [If she keeps up this lovey-dovey stuff I'm going to
be sick.]

     The rain had dampened everyone's mood, even Minako's.  Makoto
forged ahead bravely in front as the little party fought their way from
Ami's school to the nearest bus stop, which unfortunately was at the top
of a hill.  As the rain continued, dodging the streams of water coming
down from the top had become a serious issue.  Rei fell back to talk to
Minako as Mamoru patted Usagi vaguely on the head and hunched down under
their shared umbrella.

     Minako threw Rei a glance and shook her head.  "Still worried?"

     "Yeah.  This is Ami we're talking about.  If she hasn't been to
*school* in days, something fishy is going on."

     The blonde sighed.  "It's looking that way.  You think it's Resh?"

     "I don't know what else to think."  Rei tried not to sound grim.
"I'm sure Ami can handle herself, though.  She did okay against Resh the
first time."

     "As well as any of us, I guess."

     "She'll be fine."  Rei patted Minako on the shoulder.  [Me trying
to cheer *her* up.  How often does that happen?]  "We just need to find
her."

     "Yeah."  Minako twirled her umbrella a little, letting a steady
stream of rain drip off the back and patter onto the ground just behind
her stride.  Rei's own umbrella was starting to sag on one side under
the onslaught, and she looked up at it worriedly.  [I hope that thing
holds up until we get on the bus at least.]  There was a warm bath
waiting for her a home, and the very thought made her skin rise into
goosebumps.  [That is going to feel so good.]  Rei shook her head.
[What a nasty day to be outside.]

     "First Resh, now Ami.  I hate worrying."  Minako smiled a little.
"This job isn't as fun as it used to be."

     Rei snorted.  "Would this *fun* you speak of be the time we all got
killed up in the frozen wastes, or the time Galaxia trapped our souls
into little crystals?"

     "Well, there's that too."  She laughed.  "You have a bleak outlook,
don't you?"

     "Sometimes.  You're the one complaining you're not having any fun."

     "It's the rain."   She gestured at the gray, waterlogged world.
"It kind of gets me down, you know?"

     "Rei."  Makoto's quiet voice nonetheless cut over the roar of the
storm.  "Look up ahead."

     Rei glanced up, past the oblivious Mamoru and his girlfriend.  The
intersection where the bus stopped was up ahead, the street on either
side lined with apartments.  Between the time of day and the storm,
there wasn't much traffic; in fact, the only car in the intersection
seemed to be practically stopped there.

     She blinked.  [It *is* stopped there.]  The big black sedan was
idling in the middle of road, blocking the street at the top of the
hill.  Something about it screamed a warning, even aside from its odd
behavior, and Rei found herself frantically waiting around for somewhere
to hide.  [Too many people around.]  Even with the rain, there were a
few pedestrians hurrying on their way and policeman standing on one
corner.  [We can't transform here, they might see us even with the
rain.]  The buildings on either side of the street were apartments,
packed tight against each other with locked doors.  [Nowhere to run but
back down the hill--this is a trap.]

     This process of reasoning took perhaps half a second, with Makoto
looking at her anxiously and Minako, Usagi, and Mamoru still blithely
walking towards the hilltop and the black car.  Rei started to shout a
warning just as the car door opened.

     [Resh].  Part of her just didn't believe it when the vampire
stepped out of the passenger-side door.  [In broad daylight.  Well]--she
glanced at the towering stormclouds--[maybe not broad daylight, but in
public.]  Three other men stepped out of the car, the rain instantly
ruining cheap black suits.  The vampire smiled.=20

     Another realization hit her, too late.  [He knows who we are...]

     "I tried to do this the easy way."  Resh leaned back against the
car behind him, ignoring the rain that splattered off the metal and ran
down his face in streams.  The red gleams behind his eyes had been
reduced to a tiny, smoldering light.  "How hard could it be to gather up
a gang of little girls?"  The vampire rolled his eyes.  "Hard.  Fucking
guardians.  Why couldn't you just roll over and die?  Now it's too late,
and I have to hide like a *fucking* cockroach."  His hands tensed into
fists.  "No magic, no happy little spells to get you to come quietly,
nothing at *all* or Jahara descends on me like the wrath of fucking
God."

     Resh wiped the rain off of his face and shook his head at his prey,
who could only stare back.  Rei slipped one hand into her pocket and
moved closer to Usagi and the others, watched Makoto doing the same.
[If he starts in with the lightning again, we're going to *have* to
transform, policeman or not.]  The cop, for his part, looked extremely
perplexed and had started over to the vampire, flashlight raised.

     "I hate this fucking planet."  The red in his eyes flared.  "I hate
guardians, I hate Iylitrio, I hate hiding in the gutter.  So this is
goodbye, my little friends.  I'm done playing games with you.  When you
get to hell, wait up for me; I'm sure there's a line forming by now."

     The policeman had been close enough to hear the end of this speech,
and his free hand dropped to the automatic at his side.  Resh reached
behind his back for a weapon of his own, drawing and firing with inhuman
speed, his hands a blur.  Without missing a beat, he opened the car door
again and ducked in before the policeman had hit the floor.

     "Just fucking kill them all."

     Rei was running before the car's engine roared to life, before the
black-suited goons reached under their jackets.  The problem is that
there was nowhere to run--the street was devoid of anything that could
potentially offer cover.  No parked cars or open doorways--[not even a
damn mailbox when you need one.  Transformation time.]

     "Mars Crystal Power Make Up!"

     She heard the others shout as she barreled past them, towards the
gunmen.  Lights crackled and sparked around her as she called out.

     "Mako, get them out of the way!"  She drew a bead on the car as the
lights of the transformation faded, diving desperately.  [It's not going
to be in time.]  Behind her, more transformation lights lit up the
driving rain.

     "Venus Crystal Power--"

     "Jupiter Crystal--"

     Rei aimed.  "Mars Flame--"

     The world erupted in a roar of flame and noise, the growl of the
sub-machineguns drowning the rain and their flashes filling her vision.
The three men had taken a moment to drop to cover behind their vehicle
and the opened fire, and the concrete sparked and crack and spat.  Rei
finished the attack, desperately.

     "Sniper!"  She aimed the blast right at the car, towards the center
gunman.  It struck the metal and superheated rain flashed outward
instantly in a blast of steam, rocking the car backwards.  The gunfire
continued with barely a break, and Rei hit the ground cursing herself.

     [Full power!]  Full power would have punched a hole in the car, the
gunman, and probably the street behind him.  [I was shooting at a human,
so I automatically--]

     "Jupiter Oak Evolution!"

     Three crackling balls of electrical power stabbed outwards.  The
men in black reacted appropriately, dropping behind the still-steaming
car, but putting a block of wet metal between themselves and the
lightning bolt helped not at all.  The blast from the impact lit up the
gloomy, cloud-covered street and a few more bullets fired as guns
skittered across the wet asphalt.  Then the roar of the rain,
temporarily banished, returned in force as though resenting the other
sounds.  This time it was backed by thunder, and a blast of lightning
slashed the sky in answer to Jupiter's.

     Rei lay absolutely still for a moment, unable to even think.  Her
eyes were focused on an inch-long score in the road, about six inches to
the left of her head.  Bits of asphalt clung to her hair as she slowly
pushed herself up on shaking arms.

     [Luck.]  She couldn't stop staring at the bullet hole.  [God damned
luck.]

     "Mars!"  Makoto's voice jogged her out of her state of shock, and
Rei sat back onto her knees and raised a hand weakly.  Jupiter stumbled
up to her and a put one hand on her shoulder, leaning close and
whispering.  "Rei, are you all right?  Are you hurt?  Rei?"

     She shook her head.  "I'm okay.  Not a scratch."  Rei turned around
so she could look at Jupiter, who was kneeling in the rain with a pained
expression.  The right side of her white-and-green uniform was stained a
deep, arterial red, and Rei's eyes widened.  "Mako--"

     "Not me."  Jupiter pointed down the hill a bit, and Rei stumbled to
her feet and broke into a clumsy run.  The other three figures were
huddled together at the side of the road, nearly invisible under the
mist of the rain.  Rei skidded to a halt next to them, heedless of the
damage to her knees, with Makoto close behind her.

     Mamoru, now in the black suit and mask of Tuxedo Kamen, leaned
against the wall.  One hand was clasped to his bicep, and a slow trickle
of blood seeped from between his fingers.  He nodded grim-faced towards
the other two.

     Usagi looked up at her as Rei knelt, tears on her face wiped out by
the streaming rain.  Her uniform was splattered with blood, and her
gloves were soaked with the stuff; the blonde pressed her palms
desperately against Minako's chest.

     Rei sank to her knees again, Usagi's tearful pleas barely
registering.  Minako was sprawled across the sidewalk, her head lifted
slightly into Usagi's lap, her eyes closed.  She was still in street
clothes, her transformation wand lying where it had fallen, a few inches
from her hand.  Usagi was bent over her, screaming something lost in the
rain and the wail of the approaching sirens.  Rei sat back on her heels
and stared dully, watching the thick stream of bright red trail onto the
sidewalk, pooling and thinning in the water and washing downstream.  She
sat there, unable to move, as more cars screeched up to the intersection
and booted feet once again drowned out the storm.

     [Luck.]

Chapter Twelve
     In which Rei comes to certain conclusions.  =20
=20

     "Anything?"

     It felt odd to have Jahara's hand on her shoulder.  His grip was
like that of a statue's, not shifting in the slightest if she twisted a
little.  His skin was warm, warmer then it had any right to be.

     In her current state, Hotaru was intensely aware of the power of
her companion, burning behind her like an actinic green torch.  She had
her eyes closed tightly, mind questing out over the city in search of
another power.  Her sensing power had rarely come when bidden, but this
time it had posed no problems.  She wondered idly if it was the
Unforgiven's presence.

     [Something's different.  I feel like I'm thinking clearly for the
first time in days.]  She cast back and forth over, ignoring the
pounding rain and trying to see through the ever-present background
glare.  After a minute or so, Hotaru shook her head in defeat.

     "No."  She shrugged his hand off and turned around.  "Sorry.  That
glare gets in the way.  I can barely see anything."

     "Unsurprising.  The power of the supernexus tends to drown
everything else in the vicinity."

     "Do you mind explaining that a bit?"

     He smiled.  "The supernexus is a natural conflux of magical power.
There are usually only two or three on a world, even a world as
magically charged as this one.  It tends to attract...things, magic
among them."  The Unforgiven's smile faded.  "It also puts out a field
strong enough to swamp Resh's natural aura, as long as he doesn't do
anything stupid.  Which is of course why he's here."

     She sighed.  "So, in other words, we can't find him."

     "Not unless he uses a lot of power."

     "Is he likely to do that?"

     "I'm not sure."  He looked pensive.  "He knows I'm here, so logic
would dictate that he stay quiet.  But Resh has always been
overconfident.  There is a chance..."  Jahara shrugged.

     Hotaru turned around again and looked out over the city.  They had
picked the roof of a relatively tall apartment complex to scout from,
and so she could see a fairly long way; the rain made everything look
odd, though, moving across the city in sheets and temporarily hiding
other buildings in the fog.  The whole scene had an unreal quality, like
Tokyo had vanished and all that remained were shifting ghosts.

     "Now what?"

     "I will admit I do not know.  I doubt Resh picked this world on
purpose, but he has certainly gotten lucky.  There are few places where
the magic is strong enough to hide a being of his power."

     "Can he still turn people into vampires, or does that take enough
power that you'd feel it?"

"He can.  No doubt he already has."

"Then we can't just let him wander around loose."  She looked up at him.
"Maybe we should get the others in on this."

"No."  It was emphatic.  "Besides, what could they accomplish?  If you
and I are unable to find Resh, they won't be able to either.  And I can
fight him myself, if it comes to that."

     "So what do we *do*?"  Staying focused on the task at hand had
become her priority.  [Thinking too much would be a bad thing right
about now.]

     "Nothing."  The Unforgiven looked out into the rain.  "We wait."

     "You seem awfully content with that."

     "I'm good at waiting."

     Hotaru shook her head and sat down.  The roof of the apartment was
bone-dry, she noted with relief.  Above them, rain poured down and the
stopped as though it had hit a glass wall, sizzling into steam and
hissing away.  [Convenient.]  [Though I doubt he would have bothered if
not for my sake.]

     A few moments passed before she spoke again.  Jahara seemed to just
freeze, again like a statue. =20

     "So what do you do while you're waiting?"

     He looked back at her.  "Usually nothing."

     "Don't you get bored?"

     "Yes."  He turned back to the view.  "It's something I've learned
to deal with."

     Another pause.  Hotaru stood up and leaned against the rail at the
edge of the building, staring thirty stories down, briefly, before
vertigo threatened to overwhelm her.

     "So what else do you do?"

     He turned to her again, questioning.  "Do?"

     "Besides this, besides following vampires around.  What do you do
when you have free time?"

     The question seemed to take him by surprise.  "Not..."  He paused.
"I've been chasing Resh for a long time now."

     "What did you do before that?"

     "I was fighting a race of mechanical insects when Naria met Resh."

     "Oh."  She shook her head.  "What about before that?"

     "Dealing with the followers of a maniacal godhead."

     "I see."  Hotaru smiled, slightly.  "Has anyone ever told you you
have a bit of a one track mind?"

     "Yes."  His expression turned thoughtful.  "Quite often, actually."

     There was another long pause before he turned back to her.  "I am
curious.  What about you?"

     "Me?"  She was startled.  [It's not the kind of expression you
expect from a guy like him.]  "I don't know--normal things."  She
remembered who she was talking to and decided to explain.  "I go to
school, meet with my friends, go to movies.  Things like that."  [Sort
of.]  [It's been a while since my life could really be described as
normal.]

     "I see."  He stopped for a second, as though casting about for
something else to say, and finally hit on something.  "I have a ship."

     "A ship?  I assume you don't mean a boat-type ship."

     "A starship.  It's called the Aegis."

     "Cool.  Where is it?"

     "I left it in orbit around the last world Resh fled from.  After
briefly surveying this one I did not wish to attract undue attention, or
precipitate a thermonuclear war."

     "Oh."  She chuckled.  "It's not a little starship, then."

     He shook his head.  "Aegis is approximately four kilometers from
end to end.  I've had it expanded and rebuilt quite a few times over the
years."

     "Sounds impressive."

     "Indeed."  Jahara straightened up, as though suddenly reaching a
decision, and Hotaru stood with him. =20

     "Are we moving?"

     "Yes.  I have been thinking on something an old acquaintance of
mine once told me.  It was your comment about having a one-track mind
that reminded me; he often told me that as well."

     "And?"

     "' Only a fool hunts by chasing.  The elegant hunter knows where
his prey is going to be beforehand.'"  He smiled grimly.  "Resh's
biggest flaw is a penchant for the dramatic.  He's the kind of person
who likes to pose in front of a backlit window, to stand up at the top
of the stairs and make dramatic pronouncements punctuated by a roll of
thunder."

     "So you know where he's going?"

     Jahara stared out across the city.  Tokyo tower poked its way into
the absolute center of the storm, so that the clouds rotated around it
like a spinning top, and its skeletal bulk was almost constantly
outlined by the forking sprays of lightning.  Under the mere physical
world, the power of the supernexus flared like a nova, sending its
steady pulses of magic out into the city.

     "I think I can hazard a guess."

    =20

     The waiting room had the feel of all such waiting rooms,
everywhere.  The walls were painted in mind-numbing industrial light
blue, and a couple of rows of chairs clustered around a potted plant in
the center of the place as though eager to stay close to the real color.
No windows, of course--the rainstorms torrent was reduced to a distant
mocking cackle, and the flat fluorescent lighting seemed to go in
through the eyes and reduce the brain to mush.

     [Or maybe it's just me.]

     Rei sat in one of the semi-comfortable chairs, chin in her hands,
staring at a pattern of random dots on the wall.  It had been two hours
since she'd moved, and finally she had to lean back in the chair and
stretch tired joints with a sigh.  The clock across from the big double
doors said it was nearly seven, which meant they'd been there for six
hours in total.  Rei was starting to feel like it had been forever, that
there was no life outside the plaster walls and away from the endless
buzz.

     The police had come, asked questions in a perfunctory way, and gone
again.  She'd barely paid them any heed.

     The double doors swung open, and Rei felt her heart catch in her
chest.  Instead of a doctor, though, Makoto came up, her movements
displaying a supreme weariness as she took the seat next to Rei.  For a
moment, Rei didn't want to start the conversation, the same one they'd
had roughly every hour.

     Finally she sighed.  "Well?"

     "Not good."  Makoto squeezed her eyes shut.  "The doctor said--"

     "Spare me the details, please."

     "Fifty-fifty at best."

     Rei looked around carefully, but none of the hospital staff were
within earshot.  "They don't know she's a Senshi, though."

     "Right."  The other's brief smile faded quickly.  "I don't know,
Rei.  There was so much blood when they got her in there, and she looks
so pale.  And Luna looks worried."

     "Luna always looks worried."  Usagi and the black cat were still in
the observation room.  The blonde hadn't left her friend's side since
they'd arrived.

     Makoto leaned back in the chair.  "Maybe.  Maybe."

     There was a long pause.  "How's Mamoru?"

     Makoto shrugged.  "Fine.  He only had a scratch, really."

     "That's good."

     "Yeah."

     Again the conversation dried up, and the two girls were left
sitting next to each other in awkward silence.  Rei could *feel* the
subject Makoto wanted to bring up, desperately, but couldn't.  [I don't
*want* her to.  I really, really don't.]

     "Rei..."

     "What?"

     "Those guys with Resh."

     Rei nodded, unable to look at Makoto.

     "They looked like Yakuza types."

     "I know."  She closed her eyes.  "Resh works for a boss named
Iylitrio."

     "You knew?"

     "That vampire let it slip."  The lie rolled easily off the tongue,
now.

     "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

     "Would it have mattered?"

     "Maybe."

     Rei put her head in her hands.  "I must have pissed him off, or
something.  I thought..."  She swallowed.  "It doesn't matter what I
thought."

     "Rei..."

     The double doors slammed open again, revealing Usagi.  She'd looked
better--her hair was a mess, slowly escaping from its dumpling-braids,
and her eyes were red and sore.  She'd obviously been listening for the
last few moments, and now she advanced on Rei, tight-lipped.  Rei opened
her eyes and looked up, not sure what to expect.

     Whatever it was she did expect, it wasn't to get slapped.  Usagi's
hand came around with a sound like the crack of doom, the blonde staring
at her hand afterwards as though she didn't believe her own actions.
Rei raised one hand to her cheek, carefully, and felt the bloom of heat.

     "I..."  [I deserve that.]

     Usagi cut her off.  "You couldn't leave it alone.  You couldn't!"

     Makoto put a hand on Usagi's shoulder, but the blonde shook her off
and continued, on the verge of more tears.  "All we wanted was a normal
life.  Normal things.  I mean, we saved the world like six times.  Isn't
that enough?"  She shook her head, and Rei couldn't help staring at her.
"Apparently not.  It wasn't enough for you, being normal.  You had to do
something more, had to be a *fucking* hero.  And now..."  The tears
finally escaped, running unhindered down her cheeks.

     "Usagi."  Rei couldn't help reaching, but her friend slapped her
hand away.

     "Don't touch me!  It's your fucking fault.  All of this.  You and
your crusade.  We *warned* you...I warned you..."  She took a deep
breath.  "Except you didn't get hurt, she did.  All Minako wanted was a
normal life, and now she's going to bleed to death in some hospital bed
because you couldn't leave well enough alone."  Usagi fell to her knees,
looking at the ground. =20

     [It's worth it.  That's what I have to believe, right?  Helping
people is worth my life, her life, all of our lives.  It has to be.]
But looking down at Usagi, she couldn't say it.

     "Rei..."  The blonde had lost her self-righteous tone.  Now her
voice was small, lost, afraid, almost a whisper.  "She's really going to
die, Rei.  For real, this time.  We're going to wake up tomorrow and
she's just not going to be there."

     "Usagi."  This time the blonde let Makoto put an arm around her
shoulder.  "You don't know that.  The doctors here are very good, and
there's a good chance."

     "She's going to die."  Usagi shook her head.  "I can feel it."

     "Usagi..."

     Rei stood up from her chair, suddenly, one hand still fingering her
stinging cheek.  The other two looked up at her, Usagi with her eyes
full of tears.

     "Rei--"

     "You're right."  Rei let out a deep breath.  "About everything."

     "Rei, I didn't mean--"

     Rei turned on her heel and headed for the exit door.  Usagi hastily
scrambled to her feet, with Makoto following.=20

     "Rei, come back.  I didn't mean it--"

     Rei pushed the door open without looking back.

     "I'm sorry!  Rei--"

    =20

     "Ami!"

     The blue-haired girl was leaning against the wall in the corridor,
breathing hard.  Rei put her head on one side.  "Ami, are you okay?"

     "Fine."  She nodded, gulping air.  "I ran practically...all the
way...here."

     "We were worried about you, Ami--"

     "Listen...for a second."  She took a deep breath.  "Whoever Eridu
is spying on knows everything about us.  I intercepted a message,
decrypted it.  Our real names, addresses, family, everything."

     Rei shrugged.  "I don't know who Eridu is, but that sounds like
Iylitrio."

     "How can you be so calm?  We could be in more danger.  They could
come back..."

     She shook her head.  "Don't worry about it."

     "But--"

     "I said don't worry about it."

     Ami seemed to realize for the first time that Rei had been heading
out of the hospital and quickly jumped to a conclusion.  "Oh."

     Rei nodded, grimly, and there was a brief pause.  Ami finally broke
the silence.

     "How's she doing?"

     "Not very well."

     "How about Usagi?"

     "Also not very well."

     Ami nodded, her expression distracted, as though thinking about
something else.  "Rei..."

     "Don't try to stop me."

     "I wouldn't bother.  Just be careful."

     Rei felt an overwhelming sense of relief.  "Thank you, Ami."

     The blue-haired girl shrugged and smiled; Rei wrapped her in a hug
that seemed to surprise both of them.  When she stood back, it was like
a weight had been lifted.  Or half a weight, maybe.

     "Can you do me a favor?"

     "Anything."

     "Don't let Mako or Usagi come after me."

     "Mako's not going with you?"

     "No."

     "You can't go *alone*, Rei!  Let me come with you, at least."

     "No."  She chuckled slightly.  "I don't think you're quite suited."

     "You'd be surprised.  And you can't go alone."

     Rei's smiled faded.  "I'm not going alone, don't worry."

     Ami stared uncomprehending, but finally nodded.  "I'll keep them
here."

     "Thanks.  I don't need another thing to worry about."

     "Good luck."  Her eyes brightened, as though an idea had just
occurred to her.  "I may be able to help a little, later."

     "Just don't put yourself in danger."

     "Don't worry about it."

     Rei nodded.  "I'll see you tomorrow."  [Maybe.]

     "Tomorrow."

     Rei continued her quick walk down the hallway towards the
elevators, while Ami, deep in thought, made her way towards the waiting
room.  She waved a hand, absent-mindedly, and hospital doors slammed
back on their hinges and opened before her.

=20

     No one stopped her on the way out of the hospital.  As she stood in
the storm-darkened street, watching the cascades of rain from the
overhang that protected the hospital entrance, she realized she'd been
hoping someone would.

     [Where the hell are Pluto and the others, anyway?]

     Her umbrella had been left at the crime scene, and she looked up at
the sky with distaste.  [Nothing for it but to get wet, I guess.  My
clothes are already basically ruined.]  With a deep breath, Rei stepped
out from under the overhang and felt the rain soak her instantly, her
hair hanging in bedraggled clumps.  The wind cut through the slim
protection of her jacket without any real effort, and she was shivering
before she'd turned the first corner.

     [Good thing for my sake that it's not that far.]

     Thunder growled overhead, and off to her left lightning slashed and
stabbed at the barely-visible form of Tokyo Tower.  Rei continued to
walk, staring at the ground, trying to clear her mind of all thought and
failing.

     [No miracles this time.  There's nothing left.]

     "Rei."

     She stopped and looked around for the speaker, but didn't see
anything at first until Artemis' voice guided her.

     "Down here."

     The white cat looked miserable, crouched under a public planter
that held rapidly drowning flowers, its soil gone past mud to a kind of
dirty soup.  His fur was stained brown in places, and completely matted
to his sides.

     "Artemis."  Rei knelt and reached down to pick him up, but the cat
shook his head.

     "Luna called me."

     "So you know--"

     "I could feel it.  Rei..."  He appeared to be on the point of
breaking down.  Rei reached out again, and this time he suffered to be
petted a little, further disarraying his already wet fur.  "I was on my
way to the hospital, but I figured I'd find you here."

     "Don't try to stop me."

     "It's not your fault, Rei."

     "Artemis..."  Her tone was warning; Rei got back to her feet,
slowly.

     The cat sighed.  "I'm not going to stop you."

     "Good."  She turned to leave.  "Keep an eye on everyone for me.
Don't let them do anything silly."

     "Not like you, you mean?"

     "You know what I mean."  Rei started down the street, but stopped
after a step as he called from behind her.

     "Rei!"

     She half-turned.  "What?"

     "Listen..."  He paused, unsure of whether or not to continue.  "I
can give you something that might help.  If you want it."

     "What?"

     He sighed.  "You Senshi are approaching the power of your Silver
Millennium counterparts.  But you're still so young.  We were going to
wait until you grew up a little bit."

     Rei could feel herself losing patience.  "What is it, Artemis?"

     He closed his eyes and looked down.  "You have another attack,
another power.  'Mars Plasma Lance' should invoke it."

     Lightning slashed overhead, as though in punctuation.
"Mars...Plasma...Lance?"

     The cat nodded.  "But--"

     "What's the catch?  Why didn't you tell me this before?"

     "It's a killing attack, worse then anything else you have."

     "Flame Sniper can damage people pretty badly."

     "Not like this.  We didn't want you to have to face the choice of
using it until you were ready.  But now..."  He shrugged.  "If you fire
it, just make sure whoever you point it at is someone the world would be
better without."

     [Someone the world would be better without.  I can think of a few.]

     "I'm not sure whether to thank you or not."

     "Just come back alive."

     "I'll do my best."  She paused.  "Artemis.  If I...don't, can
you--"

     "I'm not doing you any favors.  If you're that concerned, don't go.
We can all work this out together."

     Rei shook her head.  "I can't let the rest of them risk themselves
like that.  This is my problem.  Just tell Usagi and Minako,
w...when"--*if*--"she wakes up.  Tell them I'm sorry."

     "Rei..."  Artemis looked as though he were about to continue his
protest, then dropped his head.  "Fine.  But you *are* coming back."

     She nodded.  "I am."

=20

     Iylitrio turned his chair to face one of the dark corners of his
study.  He could feel the presence there, quite apart from knowing what
was coming; the burned-metal tang in the air slowly made itself known as
his visitor's power bled into the room.

     "My friend."  The crimelord gave his guest his widest smile,
setting his heavy jowls jiggling.  "Your concerns are unnecessary.  My
men--"

     "Your *men* are now the custody of the police."

     "They will not say a word.  I have certain arrangements--"

     "I do not trust your arrangements.  I've reduced the station to a
patch of molten stone and burning metal, is that arrangement enough for
you?"

     "That was unnecessary."  Iylitrio sighed.  "My men are highly
trained, and I am loath to waste them."

     "Your vampire has gotten out of control.  Shooting people in broad
daylight, grabbing his food right off the street.  It's only a matter of
time before her gets tracked down."

     "His usefulness to me is almost at an end.  The Unforgiven has
obtained the help of one of these...guardians, and is proving more
trouble then we expected."

     "Ah."  The voice from the shadow paused.  "So you'll throw him to
the dogs?"

     "Figuratively speaking."

     "What about the rest of the guardians?  And that bounty hunter?"

     "The guardians will be too shocked by the death of one of their own
to take action for the moment.  And Shard has gone to ground, rightly
fearing my displeasure.  He's had long experience in matters like this;
I doubt we'll see him again."

     There was a long pause.  "You had better be right."  The figure in
the shadows leaned forward, his head sliding out of the darkness.  What
light there was glinted on dark shades, his skin and hair the color of
parchment.  Eridu smiled, behind his glasses.  "Matters are coming to a
head.  She's almost ready, and I want the rest of them not to interfere.
Understand?"

     Iylitrio smiled again.  "Of course.  And you understand that my
payment--"

     "You will be paid in full, fear not."

     "Of course."  The Yakuza boss waited until his visitor had
vanished, leaving as imperceptibly as he'd arrived.  Only then did he
take a towel from under his desk and wipe away a few trailing drops of
sweat. =20

=20

     The Happiness Hotel looked like the kind of building that loved the
rain.  The neon sign at the entrance proclaimed it the Ha--i-e-s Hotel,
actually, and the left half of the heart that remained looked vaguely
snake-like and menacing.  The other letters sparked every now and then
as the water poured down.

     It was built as a square building around a parking lot, with an
office on one side and the doors to rooms on the other three, facing
inward.  The lot had a gentle slope to it, towards the center, so by the
time Rei arrived it had become a giant cesspool.  Empty beer cans
floated aimlessly, bobbing and twisting under the driving rain like
living things trying to escape.  Little torn-plastic wrappers and less
savory things floated in the murk, flashing their faded colors for a
moment and then disappearing under the muddy surface, driven down by the
rain.

     Rei found her path more and more difficult as she approached, and
after passing through the archway into the parking lot she skirted the
pool and the few vehicles present and made it up onto the concrete
walkway that fronted the rooms before stopping.

     [Can I really do this?]  She closed her eyes and let out a deep
breath, the chill of the rain running in little rivers down her hair and
the back of her neck, trying to muster the white-hot determination she'd
felt at the hospital.  [Usagi was right.  And if I don't take care of
this, we're all going to end up dead someday.]

     "Lost?"

     She opened her eyes with a start to find the clerk--or at least
someone wearing a uniform with a grubby "Happiness Hotel" logo on
it--openly leering at her from the cover of the office doorway.  He had
to be younger then she was, all gawky limbs, pimples, and openly
admiring gaze.  Rei was suddenly aware of the way her sodden clothes
clung to the skin; she suppressed an urge to reduce the teenager and his
whole sordid operation to flaming dust.

     "Sort of."

     "Why don't you come into the office?  I've got a heater we could
dry your clothes on..."  He wagged his eyebrows in what he probably
thought was a suggestive fashion.  "You don't want to show up for a
client looking like that."

     Rei counted to herself, silently.  [It's not his fault, he doesn't
deserve to end up spread all over the landscape.]  "Just tell me where
room one-eleven is."

     "Him?  Listen, little girl, you don't want to go in there.  He's a
bit of a weird one.  Much safer to stay here with me.  In this storm,
who could blame you for not showing up?"  He waved a hand in the air as
though to indicate the reasonableness of this plan.

     It was probably the 'little girl' that pushed her a bit too far.
Rei was on top of him in two steps, one hand under his collar as she
pinned him against the cheap aluminum siding of the office.  She kept
her tone conversational.  "Tell me where the room is, or we'll see who's
safe."  Her cheerful smile only seemed to enhance the effect, and the
kid pointed shakily.

     "O...O...Over there."

     "Thank you."  She let him drop, still smiling.  "Now get lost.  If
I find you slinking around tonight..."  She let the threat hang
unfinished, which seemed to be effective; he ran for it.  Rei turned in
the direction he'd indicated and made her way to the door.  Three yellow
plastic ones adorned it, the last one leaning drunkenly towards the
other two.  She shook her head and let out a long breath.

     [Here we go.]  Rei felt uncomfortably aware of her thoughts.  [I
could easily be about to die.  But here we go...]

     She raised a hand to knock, and the door swung inward of its own
accord.  Beyond was a short hallway opening out into a bedroom, lit only
by the fitful glare of the lightning through the windows.

     "Shard?"  Rei took a tentative step forward.  The love hotel
smelled like cheap disinfectant and cheaper perfume, and the shadows
flickered and changed with every slashing bolt.  She took another step,
forcefully quelling her shaking knees.  "Are you there?"  [If he's not
here...]  She'd never even considered the possibility that the bounty
hunter might not keep his word.  [He's dishonest, untrustworthy,
violent.  Why should he?]  Another thought flickered.  [Maybe he's been
taken.  Iylitrio's men found us, they could find him.]  "Shard..."

     The door creaked and it swung shut behind her, and Rei spun around,
hand going to the pocket holding her transformation wand, heart racing.
She realized her mistake almost immediately and turned around again to
find a dark shape in front of her.  Rei opened her mouth to shout and
stopped, feeling the cold metal pressing against her forehead.

     Lightning flashed again, lighting the motel room and gleaming off
the bounty hunter's dark green glasses.  Her eyes struggled to focus on
the barrel of the pistol, pressed against her skin; his thumb reached
out slowly to click the safety off.

     "So that's how it is."  Rei closed her eyes.  [A trap.]  "Go
ahead."

     There was a pause, another roll of thunder.  Twin green circles
were all that was visible of his face, eyes impassive and hidden behind
opaque glass.  Rei could feel tears welling up, and she was powerless to
stop them.

     "Do it!"  She was shouting now, unable to help herself.  "Fucking
shoot me!  That's what you've wanted all along, isn't it?  You wanted to
get to my friends, and now you've got them.  Now you've got me too."
She brought a hand up to wipe her eyes, and Shard's finger trembled on
the trigger.  "Come on.  What do you want me to do?  Just do it!"  [I
deserve it.  Minako--it should have been me.]  "Pull the god-damn
trigger!"  They locked eyes, Rei's big and filled with tears, Shard's
invisible behind his glasses.  "Shard!"

     The bounty hunter--

     --pulled the trigger with a quick jerk, looking away.  The love
motel door, painted a cheery pink, suddenly ran crimson with a spray of
blood as her body jerked backwards.  Rei took a single tottering step
back, staggering against the door.  She sank slowly to the ground as he
watched, impassive, eyes open and staring, fading as life fled.  Finally
her head lolled back into the corner, and--

     --clicked the safety back on and lowered the weapon, shaking his
head.  Rei blinked and trembled violently, sagging against one of the
walls.  The gruesome image her mind had created for an instant still
clung at the corners of her vision.

     "Do you have any idea how much money I just turned down?"  Shard
holstered his gun, still shaking his head, and pulled off his green
glasses.  "Honestly, Rei..."

     Rei was unable to reply for a moment, her attention focused on
remaining upright and breathing.  Shard swept off his glasses, suddenly
filled with concern as he took in her soaked condition and her tears.

     "Rei?  Are you all right?"

     She mustered the energy to speak, softly.  "Shard."

     "What?"

     "You're going to put an arm around my waist and help me to that
bed.  And if you make one sarcastic quip or have one perverted thought,
I swear all that's left will be your boots and a little curl of smoke
coming out.  Got it?"

     Shard nodded mutely and did as he was told, holding her carefully
until they made it to the central piece of furniture in the room.  The
bed was of course large and soft, and Rei sat down with a sigh, sinking
a few inches in.  After a moment, the bounty hunter sat down next to
her, a safe distance away.

     There was a long pause.  Then Rei shook her head and pulled him a
bit closer, resting her head against him.  Shard seemed more surprised
then anything else, keeping his arms at his sides as though he didn't
know what to do with them.

     "Rei?"  He spoke hesitantly, after a moment's pause.  "You want to
tell me what happened?"

     "Resh."  Her voice was muffled.  "We were walking down the
goddamned street, and Resh pulls up.  Him and his goons"  She...
stopped. =20

     "Are you okay?"

     "I'm fucking fine."  Rei reached an arm up and held her thumb and
forefinger apart.  "Missed me by that much.  Right next to my head."
She grabbed one of Shard's hands and pulled his arm around her
shoulders.  "They shot Minako."

     Shard left his arm where she'd put it, shaking his head.  "Christ.
Is she...okay?"

     "I don't know.  Probably not.  She was in the hospital when I left.
She didn't even *do* anything.  She just happened to be walking next to
me.  And now she's going to...to fucking die for that?"

     "Rei..."  The bounty hunter looked at a loss for something to say,
which was just as well.  Rei continued.

     "It's my fault, Shard.  I went to hunt down the gangsters like I
was some kind of fucking anime hero.  And I got her killed, and now
*I'm* still alive.  How is that fair?  She didn't do anything..."

     He shook his head.  "Listen, Rei.  Iylitrio sold you and your
friends to somebody from another dimension.  He couldn't care less what
you did to people like Kyara, trust me."

     "So you say."  She pulled her head back to look up at him.  "It was
bound to happen sooner or later anyway."

     The bounty hunter shook his head.  "It's not your fault, Rei."

     "Whatever."  Rei pulled away from him entirely, hugging her knees.
"She's still going to die."

     "Rei..."  Shard reached out, gently, and turned her head towards
him.  He leaned forward, eyes only a few inches from hers; she could
feel his hand brush her wet, bedraggled hair carefully back behind her
ear.  It was one of those moments that stretched like taffy.  Rei
watched almost dispassionately, wondering absently if he was going to
kiss her again.  [He can do what he likes.  It'll only make him a bit
more likely to help.  This is a love hotel, after all.  It doesn't
matter.  She's still dead.]

     He blinked, and Rei tensed, ready for him to reach towards her.  It
seemed to break the moment, though, and he let his hand fall to the
side.  Rei felt strangely disappointed; Shard's expression was
unreadable.

     "Rei."

     "What."  She spat the word, letting her head once again come to
rest on top of her knees.

     "What are you doing here?"

     [This is it].  The moment she'd been dreading all this time.  "I'm
waiting for you to say 'I told you so.'"

     He shook his head, and she let out a long sigh.

     "Then I'm ready.  Let's do it your way."


Django Wexler (khaine)
khaine@mindless.com

"I know God moves in mysterious ways, but he must go through O'Hare=20
at some point.=20

Everyone does. It is part of God's plan."
	-Jon Carroll=20


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