A/N: Here's the next chapter, same disclaimer applies. I figured I'd post the first few chapters today, to see if this story builds an interest before I sit and type out the rest of it since the story is rather long. Please, read and review. I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 2.
It wasn't easy being a Senshi. Not even for one as calm and collected as Setsuna. Her job was rather simple, watch the gates, over see the universe, and over all, make sure everything went according to plan. She knew there were bigger and larger forces at work, and one of them, sadly, gave her a persistent migraine. If it was because she had been condemned into her own breed of hell, or had been forgiven by the gods to piss off the devils, she was unsure. It didn't matter either way. Everything had a flow, a right way, and a wrong way. She just so happened to be such a person, that she had access to confidential information.
"The little brat doesn't known when to quit, and let me tell you, she isn't going to buy the excuses for much longer. What importance Belldandy see's in training her, I've no idea. I mean, don't get me wrong, Skuld is my sister, and I love her, but she can be so annoying. Wanting to grant wishes at her age! Does she know what she could get into?" Setsuna hadn't expected such a phone call, even with the gift of sight at her disposal. She could merely ask a question, and an answer would come forth in crystal clear images. She needed not anything accept the willpower, and a wish to know.
"Urd..." Yet, with such a gift, came great suffering.
"I mean, you don't go around letting that little devil girl swing her glaive around just because she wishes it, right?" And not all laws on this earth, were created equal.
"Urd, not everyone-" The same could be said for the universe.
"Granting wishes requires more than just-" And, subsequently, the other dimensions.
"Urd!" Setsuna was one of the few who knew everything she wished.
"Yes?" She was also one of many, who had no power to stop it.
"Calm down." Setsuna's voice mirrored that statement. She was cool and collected, her voice an annoyed monotone. "Firstly, you're half demon yourself, so I'll warn you in advanced, watch your tongue. Hotaru isn't any more a devil than you are." Then as if she had been listening to the rant beforehand, she offered her expertise in the matter. "There is a reason our mother allowed me the job that she did." She sighed, serving the Almighty was a rather daunting task. "You are my sister, and I understand the plight you carry. I truly do, but it is my job to watch over fate, and like it or not, Skuld has her own path she must follow."
"Come on Sets, I need your help here!" The woman of time and space licked her lips, exasperation nearly tangible, as if she could pluck it from the air, and eat it like a fruit. She closed her eyes for a moment, a wish both silent, and nearly deadly whispered in the wind. Any normal person would have never heard it. Those with the powers of a goddess, and those of demons, they could not only hear the phrase, they bathed themselves in the voice of one as welcoming as this. It was both for good intentions, and a horrid sin. Shares on both sides would be doubled, perhaps even tripled, purely because of such a request.
Finally, Setsuna spoke. "Urd, I can't. You know that." Only she had received the answers she wanted. "The time line is fragile, and ever changing. This is the same for both heaven and hell. You can't possibly expect both to find complete and total perfection. Something simply must falter. Times of glory, and those of ruin come in waves, and cycles. As of now, everything is as it should be, and nothing of extreme detriment will come from the current path in life. I would advise that you consider yourself lucky."
Urd thought on that. Setsuna was right. Nothing was wrong with the universe. That was a rarity. Normally, calamity struck somewhere. "Almighty isn't going to punish you for this." Setsuna was a rare case, and one Urd didn't completely understand. Much like herself, Urd found that Setsuna attracted attention of most unsavory lights, and often because of such power Setsuna had, and the weight of her tasks, she was not only an oddity, but a potentially dangerous one at that. "He kinda likes you, ya know."
A sound of disapproval spilled through Setsuna's lips. "That doesn't mean there wouldn't be other repercussions." A sense of duty was a deeply seeded value. "I wouldn't be able to help you even if you wanted it. I can't simply adjust her fate because you wish for it." That's why Setsuna was most trusted by both factions. She was an impartial servant for many. It was because of this, that her true powers were often gifts from those even stronger than her, and it was no secret that Setsuna had been awarded many pardons for breaking laws of both logic, and spiritual natures. "The blasphemy aside would have me chained into hell for quite a few years. I'm needed in my own endeavors, so for that reason alone, it is an impossible request."
"What do you mean?" Urd knew the balance, laws, and rulers well, but she also knew that this woman, both a mage of time, and a warrior fearless in battle was not a woman easy to be toyed with. "You've done more spontaneous crimes than me, if I so recall." Urd could hear a sigh after that, followed by a small curse. She laughed at that, family ties ran deep after all. "You know, Mother won't always let you off the hook, and I am the chosen daughter..."
It was only after she composed herself that Setsuna explained. "Urd, you are a special child. Your father is a wonderful god. He can control time at a whim, and your sisters can also garner a fraction of that power. Belldandy has the gifts of the present. You have been bestowed with the past, and Skuld has been gifted the future. However, the issue is simple. You, like every other goddess with such power, lack the understanding of the actions you cause. Each false step makes fate change, and that is my job. Reporting the changes, serving under The Almighty, and finally, living at the post my father left me the day he passed on. We are both demonic in one way, Urd. Do not forget the power our mother can unleash."
"I remember, trust me." Then, she sighed at something happening on her end. "Little Skuld is at it again."
"You should go take care of her." Setsuna was the motherly type, she always had been. "As I should be watching over Hotaru."
"We should do lunch some time." Urd, always trying to break laws.
"You know we can't." Setsuna, forever the responsible one.
"It's been a long time since we saw each other." Still, family was family, and Urd believed in that.
"Urd...I'm lucky enough I can hear your voice. Not all of us are goddesses you know."
"I know..."
"Good, then go watch over your family, as I watch over mine."
They bid their farewell and hung up the phone. Setsuna stretched, her head bothering her as she meandered into the kitchen for some much needed painkiller. "Hades, save me now." It was true, Setsuna did hold powers of the underworld. "Here's to a moment of peace." Sipping from her water glass, and taking two small, white pills, she gazed out the window at a teen she considered her daughter. "She's more of a saint than I am. Always has been, always will be." She spoke it in passing, an amused smirk on her face. "If only Urd could see that."
Family they were. Half sisters by nature. A demonic mother gave Setsuna extremely strong powers, but it was a king of living flesh that gave her the path before her. "Then again, perhaps it was father who was more of a demon, seeking out mistresses at whim like that." She shrugged, it didn't honestly matter. She stepped into the gates, it was time to watch her post. For some reason, she didn't much like the idea of leaving her home, but thought very little of it. After all, what ever it was, she couldn't very well stop it while being a potato on the sofa, now could she?
She thought not.
Her life was complicated at the least.
At the most, it became inexplicable.
Not even she could recall every detail,
every breath,
or every moment.
She could, however, look it up.
For her, life was a living, breathing document.
A movie unending.
"I call upon my task, my duties, and my faith, that you may open heaven and show me the gate. It is my truest wish that I step foot on holy ground, please, grant me my request." Her call was as good as picking up a phone here, and often, it was her only way to communicate with other sides of the universe. The amount of time it took varied, and sometimes she would not receive an answer for days, sometimes even weeks. However, that was Setsuna's personal dismay for her personal situation.
She was not a goddess, not even a being close. She wasn't fully a demon either, although her ties were such that they were both forbidden, and greatly feared. Here at the gates, in the utter nothingness shrouded in mist, she found herself home. Well, as close as she could ever become. She could see heaven, it's white purity and lands of beauty. Hell was but a glance away, a second portal, a different path. The gates of time and space held the windows of the universe, and in vivid technicolor, they played out the lives of everyone. Those mortal, and those of higher callings. Her role, one of many, was total and complete servitude for the gods.
Namely, her god...the god of time itself.
Chronos was a man in heaven well known, but also perhaps a little flighty. Often called Aeon, his role was that of eternal time. He looked after it, governed it, but he also respected it. Time was like an infant in a womb. It was something needing to be nurtured, and also something that instilled great anticipation along with worry. It was because of this, the man was called Father Time. However, that was not the vernacular used by Setsuna. She called him Grandfather.
Although, truth be told, she was not related by blood with such a man. She was not a goddess, and the gods were her masters. Still, such a man as he, the god of time, often felt like a father, and treated those as if he were a man with the burdensome role. He fathered many, those who were indebted to the gods found that he was a gracious man. That was why he was loved by those he commanded. Setsuna was not alone in the heartfelt sentiment, there were many who still felt that way. Running to him came as easily for Setsuna, as a bee flies for a flower.
It was then Setsuna heard a loud beep, followed by a voice. "Your request must be accepted by the system force, please state who it is that you are, so you may be placed upon record." Standard protocol was another wonderful, if not paranoia induced ritual used by those in both heaven and hell. The rules seemed not enough, and their world ran by the force of a powerful computer, run equally, and separately, by any and all factions.
A loud clicking receiver told Setsuna that a microphone had been turned on, a recording device likely cataloging her voice, and her reasons for summoning the System Force in the first place."I am Setsuna, the mage of time and space. I am called Sailor Pluto, the guardian of these time gates, and a Sailor Senshi for the Princess Usagi. In service to Chronos and into the light of the Almighty, I bring news of the mortal world, as directed of me from the pacts left behind, and my chain with fate."
A pregnant pause left left a deafening silence for quite a few minuets.
"I am sorry, we must deny the request at this time." The female voice spoke. "No mortal shall be issued passage as of this moment. If you wish, leave a message, or return later." Whilst she seemed pleasant, Setsuna could tell that likely, yet another barrage of wishes had protruded the system. If that happened, it would have easily caused another virus outbreak, quite the common oddity as of late. The little rabbit creatures would spring and multiply by the dozens, and when they did, both heaven and hell fell into complete pandemonium for weeks on end.
"I have no need for a message as of yet. I shall return when summoned. Until then, I shall retire back home. During this time I shall be assuming my second duty, that for my princess, and my post as a both a parent and Sailor Senshi." With a short, but respectful bow, Setsuna turned away from the voice and marched a few steps away, opening the gates again, and returning back into her humbled house where her family life resumed inside. It was a small game for her, but a joy none the less.
To Be Continued...
