The Moment of Truth.
By: HopePoe26
Disclaimer: This song belongs to the group called Survivor. I don't own Revolutionary Girl Utena and it's my first fanfic with this anime, so be gentle with me, ok?
Part IV.
/ This is the place
This is the time /
Dream sequenceIt was the end of their fight. And she couldn't believe it. Was this Tenshi Sakura? Was this her friend? Her enemy? Or someone completely unknown to her? Because as she had watched as Sakura slid her sword (a different one that she had never seen before in her whole life), in its sheath, she knew that this time she was off-limits. That perhaps... there was more of Tenshi Sakura than met the eye at first glance.
She had walked over to her and said "Thanks for making the fight worth it." And then she had walked out of the duelist platform and away. And now she was at a loss, because when she had battled her friend Wakaba in the duelist platform with the brilliant almost like a chandelier castle – upside down – in the sky (she remembered it so suddenly) thought that perhaps things were changing too much and too fast for her to understand; everything had gone back to normal.
But now she didn't know what was happening. She didn't know what part she was supposed to play. In fact... all the players wore the ring with the rose seal and her too. But... what the hell was going on now?
She looked at Anthy and saw that she was also wondering what was going on too. It was as if the battle had been rigged. Because Sakura was an admirable swords-woman and she had taught her a few tricks, but even though she was a hard person to battle, she defeated her almost too soon. It was as if it wasn't her who had challenged her to duel.
Besides... what was her motive? What did she want Anthy for? Or the sword of Dios for that matter?
Scene shifting
She turned around. She was not in the duelist grounds anymore. It was dark and she was in a street. It appeared to be in a city – London?! – that she had never been in before. But as she saw, there was no eccentricities that she knew there were in Europe. No cars, just horse carriages??!!
Perhaps she had travel to the past... but why? Everything was so unclear now. She walked over to a restaurant that was in front of her and saw... to her amazement Anthy's older brother Akio!! Next to him was two redheads: Touga?! Who was the other one in a dashing soldier uniform then? She put her hands to the wide window and found to her amazement that she could go thru it without problem... as if she were a ghost.
She stepped thru it and saw Sakura in the dashing soldier uniform, although her uniform was different. The dress shirt inside of the coat was white with frilly cuffs whilst the coat and the pants were of a dark blue color, with black lapels. Her shirt was buttoned up giving an air of sobriety and sly intelligence. Her violet eyes were guarded and Utena had to come closer to look at both Touga and Sakura to get their expressions right.
Then she noticed that it was a big round table. Nine cards were pointed to each nine seats faced down. She saw two blue haired – twins?!? – persons seated side by side. Their mannerisms were the same and she realized – although mistakenly – that it was Miki and Kozue. At Kozue's right side sat another redhead, this one with gray eyes (James?!). Besides James there were two empty seats. Then after those a green haired tall young man was seated looking bored with his surroundings: Saonji?!
What was going on?! She just shook her head knowing this was just a very twisted dream.
Then the last two remaining people came about. She gasped. It was her! Though much older in a very similar uniform to the one she wears everyday but this one was black and it wasn't shorts she was wearing, they were black pants as well with gold trimmings on the lapels and the cuffs. Next to her, in the same dress uniform that Anthy would wear in a duel was her bride! Only Anthy wore a much longer hairdo than the one she usually wears.
She looked magnificent and refined. They sat in their assigned seats looking regal. Akio looked about and decided it was high time to start the meeting.
"It has come to my attention that there is someone who wants to finish our little group one by one and keep all the gold for himself."
Miki raised his glass – which Utena hadn't noticed until now – silently asking for more... to drink? She couldn't distinguish what type of beverage it was, but its color was of dark red and it was a bit thick. Seemed like wine? Perhaps not.
"Well then we should probably do something about it, don't you think?" – said Kozue, she too was dressed in what seemed a soldier's uniform, but hers was blue.
All their suits looked different because of the different colors and ornaments, but there was something that all of them had... a ring with a rose seal on it and a white rose on their right chest lapel.
"If we act fast maybe we can then figure out why would he try to take our prize by force."
To this her older self said: "I disagree. We should be careful and inquire about this person before we get into it too deep." Wise words that were agreed by a nod from both Saonji and Anthy.
Miki turned to them and said: "I agree with both my wife Kozue and my oldest friend Utena. But I have to say that perhaps it is best we see what the future holds for us first."
Utena was shocked at the words. Surely it was a mistake, right? They looked alike and she and Miki were not the best of friends. They all turned their cards to themselves. No one gasped in sadness or surprise. It was as if they expected it.
She looked behind every person's card, but could only see it blank. She scratched her head in puzzlement.
"What do yours say Akio?" – Touga asked.
"I'll be meeting this person last."
"And yours Kiryuu?" – Saonji asked.
"My true love is right in front of me." – Saonji looked mildly angry as he and Utena (the younger one) realized that it was her oldest self that was right in front of him. Though Utena didn't exactly see Saonji's troubled expression.
"Mine's easy. Guard yourself for trouble may come forth when you least expect it." – James said and he looked a bit bored at that.
Miki's and his dearest wife's explained that betrayal ran amuck turning their clasp hands out of reach. Anthy's was saying that her prince would never leave her for another. Saonji's only said to beware of those around him. And her oldest self's said that there would be a lot of hard decisions to make and that she'd better prepare herself.
They all looked expectantly at Sakura, but her eyes were blank.
"What?"
"What does yours say?" – Utena's oldest self asked.
"It says I die tonight."
End of Dream Sequence
Utena woke up drenched up in sweat. Her pajamas were so wet anyone could've said that she had taken a midnight swim with her clothes on.
She relived every single part of her dream and came up with nothing. She didn't understand. What did all this have to do with Tenshi-san and the members of the Rose seal. Or what did Akio know of the Rose Seal himself. Why wasn't Jury-sempai there in the first place? Wasn't she part of the Student Council and a member of the 'team' as well?
Her head felt like it would explode in a minute if she didn't go back to sleep. So she did. No more dreams attacked her later on.
/ Waited forever, it's now or it's never
Nothing can stop you now /
In class, Sakura was mildly distracted. Her dream last night was but an echo of someone else's dream. But the words that stuck to her the most were: "It says I die tonight" and she knew that was her voice. What did that reminded her of?
Surely she should be able to remember, but her past was such a big blank space. Except when she met Anne. But that too was a blank space in her life. It was as if much had happened before she met Anne. It was as if there were other reasons as to why she had met her. But those reasons kept eluding her. That dream... she hadn't had a dream that was an echo of someone else's dream in a long while.
But that dream, though an echo... it seemed like a long lost memory as well. She shook her head and raised her hand to ask permission to go to the restroom.
-
"Utena-sama! Utena-sama!" – Anthy yelled at her while she ran after her.
Lately her prince had been a bit aloof around her. She was still cordial to her and all, but lately she behaved as if her mind was preoccupied with things she couldn't very well understand. Or things that she seemed afraid to spell out to her in confidence, either way as she struggled to catch up to her princes' long stride, she couldn't help but feel afraid that her prince wouldn't want to be her prince anymore. That would be bad.
"Gomen nasai Anthy. I was dwelling of the blue sky and didn't hear you calling. You were saying?" – Anthy smiled then. She felt so much better when her princes' blue eyes dwelled on hers. Having her sole attention meant so much to her.
"We got a letter from the rose seal." – she said and Utena's heart stopped for two agonizing seconds before she smiled and said...
"Ok... I'm ready."