Of all the substances favored in old women's tales, silver has
pride of place. Some folk whisper that when pure silver is forged into
a weapon, the wielder can slay that which is dead yet still
walks. Others say that a rose carved of silver can discern whether a
love is true. Still others say that when silver burns, the flames will
not consume ashwood, though all else be destroyed in the pyre. Perhaps
all of them are right, perhaps none. Perhaps, what matters is strength
of will, and strength of heart. Perhaps.
Seeing Past Tomorrow
by Jonathan Rosebaugh
BSSM is the property of Naoko Takeuchi. AMG is the property of Kousuke
Fujishima.
Usagi skidded to a halt in front of her home, suddenly
apprehensive. She'd failed a test again. Mother wouldn't be too
pleased. She paused, listening for signs of activity indoors. If she
were lucky, maybe she could dash up to her room before Mother could
intercept her.
Sneaking up to an open window, she heard voices inside. "What
news from my sisters, Huginn?" That was Mother's voice, she recognized
immediately.
"My Lady Urd and my Lady Verdandi salute you and charge me to
give you this message: 'To Our dear sister Skuld Ravenhair, She Who
Builds Tomorrow, Captain of the Valkyrior, and Lady of the Dawn,
greetings.'" The voice was raspy and small, and heavily accented. It
was about to continue, but Mother interrupted.
"Come off it, Huginn. Urd wouldn't bother with a message at all,
and Belldandy would never be so formal." A bit of dry humor combined
itself with wistfulness in Mother's voice. Usagi didn't think she'd
ever heard Mother speak like that before. "Father isn't here right
now, so just forget the formal courtesies."
"Very well. The gist is this: 'Skuld, everything's ready. Bring
your kids too; we haven't seen them in a while. Good luck and
Godspeed.' It was actually my Lady Verdandi's consort who composed the
message, but your sisters subscribed to it their names."
"I might have guessed. By the way, you can come in now, Usagi."
Caught. Darn. Usagi opened the door and stepped inside, hiding
the test paper behind her back. "Hello, Mother. Who's here?"
Hopefully, Mother had forgotten about the test today, even though
she'd helped her study for it.
Mother sighed. "Show me the test, Usagi."
Usagi handed it over, bowed her head, and prepared to dash to her
room and safety. Then she remembered her unanswered question and
looked up - in time to see a large raven land on Mother's shoulder. It
peered its head at the paper, as if it were actually reading her
score. "56 out of 92? My Lady, were it not for the obvious resemblance
I would wonder if she were your child!"
Usagi's mouth gaped. "Y-You talk?"
"Of course I do. And apparently I know Japanese better than you
do, if this test is any judge. Really, I'd expect better from the
daughter of a Norn."
"Calm down, Huginn. If you'll remember, I was much the same
before... circumstances required me to make full use of my
abilities."
Things were really confusing Usagi now. "What's going on here?"
she said.
Mother smiled. "We're going to go visit my sisters and
brother-in-law. Oh, hello, Chibi-Usa," she said, waving to the
pink-haired girl who had just come home from school.
Chibi-Usa smiled. "We're finally going to go see Auntie Urd?
Hurray!" She started upstairs, presumably to pack.
Usagi was beyond confused by now. "Auntie Urd? Who's that? What's
happening?"
Chibi-Usa paused on her way up the stairs, turning on her
heel. "Well, actually she's Great-Aunt Urd to me, 'cause she's *your*
aunt, but she told me she doesn't want to feel any older than she has
to, which is a lot 'cause she's Goddess of the Past, but I don't think
she pays much attention to that, 'cause there's a lot less past than
there is future, which is why everyone in Heaven got so upset when
Ikuko-mama came here for a while, but anyway she's said she'll find me
someone who's lots less annoying than Elios, and anyway I gotta pack,"
she said, and scampered breathlessly up to her room.
Usagi decided to fall down for a while.
When she woke up, she saw Chibi-Usa and Mother leaning over
her. "You okay, Mom?" Chibi-Usa asked.
Usagi groaned. "Ixnay on the ommay, remember?"
"Oh, Ikuko-mama knows all about *that*. She's known ever since I
got here. It's 'cause she's Skuld. Why shouldn't she know about the
future?"
Usagi looked at Mother. "And you're not angry?" She'd dreaded
this sort of revelation for some time.
"Well, no. Though I am disappointed that you haven't tapped your
full potential when you fight out there."
"Full potential? Mother, I haven't understood anything since I
came home."
Mother smiled ironically. "Well, to explain, or rather, to sum
up, I'm a Norn, one of the three goddesses responsible for time and
fate. Since I'm the youngest, I'm the goddess of the future. You're my
daughter, so that makes you a goddess as well, which is the 'full
potential' I was talking about. Your daughter," she said, pausing at
Usagi's shudder. "Oh, stop that. I know you love her. Your daughter
normally would be a fairly ordinary human, since you're only
half-divine, but circumstances have, hrm, intervened." She stood up,
helping Usagi to her feet. "Is that any clearer?"
"As mud. But that's not too unusual." Usagi shook her head,
trying to take it all in.
"No, I don't suppose it is. Go pack, dear. I'll send Chibi-Usa in
to help when she's done with her things."
"Okay."
As Skuld watched her daughter ascend the stairs, she suppressed a
giggle. 'Oh, sisters, you have no idea what you're getting yourselves
into.'
Usagi sighed and slumped in her seat. The train ride was taking
forever and Chibi-Usa's oblique hints that Mother could have chosen a
faster method of transportation were infuriating. Mother herself
seemed to almost be communing with the train, perhaps taking solace in
the regular click-clack noises. Usagi didn't take that much stock in
the traditional Shinto belief in spirits residing in everyday objects,
and given Mother's newly-revealed nature, she didn't see any reason
for Mother to believe anything similar, but that's what it looked like
to her. Mother was always hard to understand.
Somewhere around halfway through the trip, a brown-haired girl
got on the train, surveyed the mostly empty compartment, and decided
to sit right next to Usagi, on the other side from Chibi-Usa. The
latter girl's eyes lit up as if she recognized the newcomer, but she
said nothing. Usagi, who by now could notice when her daughter
recognized someone she knew from the future, decided to introduce
herself. "Hey," she began, offering her hand. "I'm Usagi. What's your
name?"
The brown-haired girl smiled and shook hands. "Good to meet you,
Usagi. I'm Sakura Morisato." She dug around in her pockets and
eventually pulled out a small paper bag. "Would you like a jelly
baby?" she asked, opening the bag and handing it over. Usagi smiled
delightedly-Setsuna was very secretive about where she got those
peculiar candies, and Usagi wasn't about to miss an opportunity to
find out. She took two, handing one to Chibi-Usa, and handed the bag
back.
"So whrm dghfrnd." Usagi realized that conversation would be
futile until she'd finished the treat, and quickly swallowed. "Where
do you find those things? I've never found a store that sells them."
Sakura laughed. "Oh, that's easy. There's this tiny shop in
Azabu; it's really easy to miss it, but once you find it, you're a
customer for life." Usagi allowed that she could see as how that might
be so, and the two girls continued chatting in that and similar veins,
occasionally including Chibi-Usa (whom Usagi introduced as her cousin
from out of town, as usual), until the train drew near to the
Tsukinos' destination.
Usagi lost sight of her new friend in the crowds as the three of
them exited the station. For a moment, she wanted to go look for her,
but both Mother and Chibi-Usa were urging her to hurry. "Your uncle
Keiichi's probably waiting for us," Mother explained.
Indeed, he was, in an antique car that had been lovingly restored
to what Usagi suspected was higher than the manufacturer's usual
standards. "Just one more minute," he said, once they'd all climbed
inside. "My daughter should be here any second."
Moments later, Sakura emerged from the crowd, carrying shopping
bags in both hands. She quickly put them in the trunk and joined the
two Tsukino girls in the back seat. She didn't seem very surprised to
see them. "Bet you didn't know I was your cousin, did you?"
Chibi-Usa piped up with an "I did!", but was drowned out by
Usagi's emphatic "You could have told me!" Not to be silenced, she
re-introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Usagi Tsukino the second."
"Girls don't use 'the second'," Usagi pointed out to her
precocious daughter.
"Yeah, but royalty does!"
"Excuse me? 'Royalty'?" Sakura broke in.
Up in the front passenger seat, Mother sighed and said, "It's a
long story, Sakura, so we'll explain it to everyone at the same time,
okay?"
Sakura nodded, satisfied.
The trip was a quick one, and before long, they'd pulled up in
front of an honest-to-Serenity TEMPLE! Chibi-Usa looked strangely
approving of this development. Usagi merely added it to the list of
things she didn't comprehend, a list that as yet showed no signs of
shrinking. As they piled out of the car, a moderately young woman with
white hair dashed out of the main building. "Skuld!" she yelled,
waving a piece of paper. "Father wants to see us - all three of us,
plus your kid - in his office, yesterday. Get ready for some fast
talking!"
Mother looked at Usagi. "I guess that full explanation will have to
wait a bit. You get to help us save the world. Feel up to it?"
Usagi gulped.
Author's Notes and Omake:
I don't know exactly when I got the idea for this fic. It was, I
think, sometime in the early spring of '03. At first, it was intended
to take place before Usagi ever met up with Luna, and would take Usagi
into an entirely separate set of adventures. Here's a scene from that,
the first scene I wrote:
The raven circled overhead, black against the red, setting
sun. She ran quickly down to the edge of the water, following
him. A sword lay there, bare, just inches from the edge of the
water.
She knelt there on the sand, her blonde hair pooling around her
knees, and lifted up the sword. Experimentally, she turned it this
way and that. The raven circled lower and landed upon her
shoulder, cawing. She silenced him with a gentle tap on the beak.
Holding the sword level with her head, she stared at the way her
blue eyes were reflected in the rippling water-pattern of the
metal. It was called Damascene steel, she suddenly knew, and, as
if that were a key, memories came flooding into her. She danced
there, taunting the lapping waves, glorying in the feel of the
weapon as it sang its way through a hundred forms.
Just as quickly, though, she snapped to a standstill. She didn't
know why; it felt as if she had just completed some ancient
ritual, though she had no idea what. A small strand of her hair
slipped loose and fell against the blade. The edge was incredibly
sharp, she saw, for it sliced the strand in two. She absently
brushed the hair back behind her ear and picked up the other part,
marveling at the fineness of the cut.
Tucking it into her pocket, she turned back towards her
brother. "Are you ready?" she asked.
"Ready for what?" His voice seemed to fill the air; the high,
clear voice of a young boy.
"I don't know," she replied. "But whatever comes, we must face
it."
Then, on May 20, 2003, I discovered Undocumented Features. I quickly
devoured the series; reading consumed most of my spare time. I
especially liked the nomenclature for the Aesir, nomenclature which
I've borrowed (among other minor things) for this fic. On May 23, I
believe it was, I pulled this idea out of mothballs and started into
it. I quickly shifted the time-frame to sometime after the Black Moon
arc (but before Galaxia), since I wanted to have Chibi-Usa in it. (I
do wonder how Usagi's going to be Queen in a world with the Aesir
around.) It was finished on June 2, which is 1,556 words in a little
over a week. This is the first fic I wrote almost entirely in
Microsoft Word. It will also be the last, as Word is vastly inferior
to EMACS. I don't exactly know how, if at all, I'll continue this. I
wouldn't mind giving it up to a good home, if anyone's interested in
pursuing it, but here's a snippet from a possible future:
*Thump*
Ami looked up from her calculus textbook to see what the noise
was. The cause was immediately obvious; a manga volume, one Usagi
had given her at the beginning of summer break, had fallen to the
floor and was now lying open. She stood and walked over to pick it
up, but before she reached it, the page began to glow
brightly. The light level quickly shot up to a near-blinding
glare, and when it faded, Usagi was standing in front of her.
"Um." For once, Ami was speechless, briefly. "Did I just see you
climb out of a shoujo manga, Usagi?"
"Yep! Sorry I'm late, I mixed up the volume I gave you with the
volume I gave Naru, so when I popped out in her room I just had to
explain everything and that took a while, but I'm here now. So,
what do you want?"
"'Late'? 'What do I want'? Usagi, I don't know what you're talking
about. And how'd you do that, anyway?" Ami picked up the book and
peered at it. It seemed to be a perfectly ordinary manga volume to
her.
Usagi giggled. "Oh, that's right, you didn't know what my summer
job is." She cleared her throat and struck a pose vaguely
reminiscent of one of her "Sailor Moon fighting for love and
justice" poses. "I'm Usagi Tsukino, Goddess Fourth Class, with the
Goddess Relief Office. You, Ami Mizuno, have been selected to
receive one wish."
"Goddess? What, did the others help you teleport here to play a
practical joke on me?" Ami had never really believed in gods or
magic or anything supernatural before her, ah, recruitment for the
Senshi, but she'd never really ruled it out either. Either way,
though, this was more than a little bit strange.
Usagi, smiling still, began to explain. "No, see, one day... and
then Aunt Bell... and we really have to introduce Aunt Urd to Mina
some day, they'd get along like a house on fire... and then
Grandpa Odin agreed, and... Mother decided that I should have a
summer job to teach me responsibility, and the Goddess Relief
Office had an opening, and here I am. So, what do you want to wish
for?"
Ami sat back down. "I ... don't know. So you're a goddess now? I
don't have to worship you or anything, do I?"
"Don't be silly!" Usagi waved it off. "I'm still your friend, and
very few gods go into that sort of thing. Aphrodite over in
Olympus does still, but she's the exception, not the rule."
"Hm. I wonder what it's like up there. I'd kinda like to visit
someday, see everything, meet your aunts, and all that." Ami
turned to look out the window at the stars. "I guess I never
really imagined anything like that. I just pictured the
supernatural as a giant machine or computer or something, ticking
away, keeping the universe running. I sometimes wish I could work
with a computer like that, you know- huh?" She looked over at her
friend, to see Usagi with her face tilted towards heaven, a look
of intense concentration on her features.
For a long moment, she stood there, and then a pillar of light
shot out of her forehead up to the sky. It was accompanied by a
gust of wind, which curiously avoided blowing any of Ami's piles
of paper around the room. After about thirty seconds of this
phenomenon, Usagi lowered her head and blinked her
eyes. "Wow. That felt... incredible. Okay, Ami, you now sometimes
work with a computer like that." She handed the blue-headed girl a
large envelope.
"Sometimes?"
"It's all in the envelope," Usagi said, nodding. "I'm going to lie
down for a bit, okay? That was a bit tiring."
Ami nodded distractedly and opened the envelope, spreading the
contents out on the desk. There was a letter from Skuld Ravenhair,
welcoming her to her internship at Yggdrasil Engineering
Solutions, Ltd. and telling her a bit about the company, the pay
scale, and under what circumstances she could look forward to
having a permanent job once she graduated from school, a letter
from Charles Babbage, welcoming her to the Yggdrasil team and
explaining a little about the Computer itself, a revised schedule
for the next school term, noting her internship in place of the
usual required English course (Ami spoke it like a native), and a
hand-written note from Odin Himself, notifying her that her first
four months of pay would be withheld to cover the legal costs of
starting up a company in Japan for her cover story. "Wow," Ami
breathed. She couldn't wait!
.---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
| Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
| Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
| Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject |
`---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'