Kou was annoyed. Things were not going the way he had planned. He had not, for one thing, expected matters to take this long. He had imagined that as soon as Fate got the message that his brother had been taken from him, he would react fairly quickly. Surely he wanted his brother back, right? And surely it was not such a difficult thing to rearrange someone's fate. He did it all the time. That was his job. So why wasn't he doing anything?

And now there was this. Just a few minutes ago, someone had come pounding on Kou's door saying that everyone in the castle was going crazy. It had taken Kou a little while to sort out what the woman was on about, but after she'd dragged him downstairs and shown him a parlormaid and a valet openly fornicating in the lesser audience chamber and a guardsman who seemed convinced that he was a bat and was trying to hang upside-down in one of the closets, he'd started to get the idea.

And they expect me to do something about it. That was what was really bothering him. This was obviously magic at work. He was the magician. He should do something to put it right. Only... only this was big-time magic, and he was only a small-time conjurer. He'd gone out of his way to make sure that everyone knew he was only a small-time conjurer. He made fireworks and illusions to entertain the king; he didn't go in for wholesale enchantments. Only now it was obvious that someone else did, and someone needed to fix it, and he was the wizard so fixing it was his job. Saying that he didn't even begin to know how to do this would not get him anywhere. So now he was stomping through the halls of the castle, feeling his temper rising, trying to decide on a course of action that wouldn't end with the people of the castle tying him to the stake and burning him.

He was still unhappily considering the likelihood of this when he rounded a corner and walked straight into someone. He stumbled backwards, and his spectacles fell off his nose to clatter against the floor.

"What where you're going!" he snapped, dropping to all fours to scrabble for his missing glasses.

A foot came down on his hand. Not hard, but firmly enough to keep his hand pinned in place. Kou made a noise of outrage and tried to pull free.

"Hi there," said a too-cheerful voice. "You look like just the guy we wanted to see."

When Kou looked up in an instinctive urge to seek the source of the voice, someone shoved his glasses back on his nose. The blurs in front of him resolved themselves into a tall man in dusty blue robes and a smaller man with vivid pink hair. The redhead was grinning at him in a way that made him even more uncomfortable than the taller man's heavy-lidded stare.

"Who are you people?" he demanded. "Is all this chaos your fault?"

"Funny you should use that word," said the redhead. His smile was showing way too many teeth for Kou's comfort. He frowned.

"You two aren't wizards, are you?" he asked.

"Not as such," said the taller man.

"We're better than wizards," said his companion. "Nice to meet you, buddy. I'm Vesta, and this is Cerulean. We're gods."

Kou stared at them. For a moment, his brain told him, no, these weren't gods, these were just ordinary men - just look at them in their tattered clothes and muddy shoes. Then the world seemed to shimmer, and when it evened out, the people in front of him were... different. He couldn't have said exactly how. Their clothes were better, that was obvious - the one was wearing a sort of toga that just barely covered him decently, and the other was now dressed in a deep blue velvet robe that shimmered with something like stardust, but those were only superficial details. What caught his attention was something more ephemeral, something about the too-perfect texture of their skin, perhaps, or the way their eyes seemed to focus on him differently than human eyes did. Kou swallowed hard. This was not a possibility he had considered.

"Ah... can I help you?" he asked, trying to sound as if this were all terribly ordinary.

"Oh, yeah, you bet," said Vesta. "You can tell me where to find our friend Scarlet."

"I don't know what you're talking about." The words came out of his mouth before he had a chance to think about them. Most of his life experience told him that when in doubt, he should deny everything. It was only on reflection that it occurred to him that this tactic might not work with entities that could read minds.

"You do," said Cerulean. "We know he's in this castle somewhere."

"So either you can tell us where he is," said Vesta cheerfully, "or we can do this the hard way. Do you want to do this the hard way? Because I had to walk here in the snow and my consort is busy fighting a war and I don't even know if he's alive or not and I am just not having fun today. And did I mention that Cerulean gets cranky when he's not allowed to sleep? Because that's a thing that happens."

Kou made a sound rather like "erk". He wished this god would stop smiling at him.

"This doesn't concern you," he managed. "This is between me and Fate."

"Oh, you think so, huh?" said Vesta.

"Look, all I want is a different fate! Is that so much to ask?" Kou protested.

Cerulean gave him a look. "Can we take him outside?"

"Let's," Vesta agreed.

Kou looked from one to the other in surprise. "Huh? Why do you want to..."

Both of them grabbed him at the same time. He felt a surge of power, as he did when he summoned his small demons, but much stronger. It left his skin tingling and made his throat go tight, and for a moment, he was too busy trying to get his heart rate to settle to realize what was going on.

Then the spots in his vision cleared, and he realized he was standing on the rampart of the castle. A cold wind slapped his face and made his wizardly robe flap around him until he thought he might have blown away like a kite if Vesta and Cerulean hadn't still been holding on to him. The sky was almost black with clouds, though it was still hours from sunset, and lightning danced across the horizon and filled the air with thunder.

"Do you know what this is?" Cerulean asked.

Kou managed to free an arm enough to adjust his glasses. "Um... a thunderstorm?"

"War," said Cerulean grimly. "This is war, and you caused it. Do you understand that?"

"You... you mean..." Kou stammered, "you mean that nonsense about a war among the gods was true? But why? I don't understand..."

"That's right, you don't," said Vesta. "You decided to play around with stuff you didn't understand, and this is what happened. Fate needs his brother. Without Chance to keep him on the straight and narrow, he's reverted to his primal state. Look."

He reached into a fold of his robe and took out a mirror. A small portion of Kou's mind gibbered at him that there was no way even a hand mirror could have fit under that gauzy bit of nothing that Vesta was wearing, but there it was, glinting in his hand. Vesta thrust it forward, and Kou could only stare as the surface rippled. It showed him a vision of someone he recognized as Fate, but only barely. Where had the smiling, good-humored man gone? This was a terror, and he was mowing his way through a flock of armed warriors as if they were no more dangerous than stalks of grass.

"What in the world...?" he blurted.

Vesta tucked the mirror out of sight again. "He's not Fate anymore, not without Chance to stop him from slipping. He's become Chaos. He's not in control of himself anymore, and he's destroying everything in his path. He can't give you what you want. The only thing he can think about right now is ripping the universe apart so he can start over from scratch. The other gods are trying to keep him contained, but they can't last but so long. If we don't get Chance back fast, well..."

"Assuming even getting him back will make things better," said Cerulean grimly. "We don't know if it will help. It's not like this has ever happened before. You might have caused the end of everything. Is that the fate you wanted?"

"No!" Kou protested. "I just didn't want to cause the end of the kingdom. I wanted this place to get better, not be destroyed because of me!"

There was a crash and a crunch somewhere off in the distance. Kou raised his eyes to the horizon. He couldn't see clearly through the gloom, but there was a definite flash of armor and the sound of distant fighting being carried on the wind.

"Better act fast, then," said Vesta. "Here comes the end of the world."


Atsushi was in pain. He was freezing and burning all at once, a bone-deep ache that shot up his arm and into his chest and sunk its claws into his heart. He could feel himself being unmade by it. In the face of this sensation, he knew that he had been deluding himself. He wasn't a god. He wasn't powerful. He wasn't anybody, and if he'd only admit that and stop trying to think of himself as a person, this pain would go away. It would be so easy to just melt back into the darkness, to let himself stop being a thing that could think and see and feel, and just subside gently into the minds of humanity where he belonged. "Epinard" had been a pleasant dream, but he was only a dream, and it was time for that dream to end. Already, those memories were slipping away: the Palace of the Gods, the Heavenly City, that strange sky full of eternally shifting lights, the hall where he'd sat in judgement, his cozy living quarters, the great hall where he and his fellow gods had enjoyed companionable breakfasts and elaborate feasts... all of it was fading, becoming unreal. The more he forgot, the less the pain bothered him. If he could just forget it all, he would be fine. He'd feel better if he forgot about the gods, about Arima, and En, and Kinshiro...

A vision floated up into his mind, of Kinshiro standing in the old Cloverleaf Inn, with a bucket at his side and a rag in his hand. He was cleaning the windows. The back of his shirt was damp with sweat and clinging to his skin, and Atsushi could see the way his muscles shifted as he scrubbed at the glass. Water trickled down the panes, and the sun cast rippling shadows on his skin and made his silver hair gleam. Atsushi had known in that moment that he wanted this man to be more than just a friend to him. That hadn't changed. He wanted to go home to Kinshiro - to his husband, his partner, his dear friend. And Arima and En - they had been his friends even before he'd become a god. That friendship was real, and he was not going to forget it. Epinard might or might not have been a dream, but Atsushi knew that he was real, and he was not letting some stupid puddle take everything away from him.

With a tremendous effort, he moved his hand. It felt like his fingers were a million miles away, as if they weighed fifty pounds each, but slowly, they moved. He was aware of something cold under his fingertips, and felt it smear across the rough stone of the floor.

There was a feeling as though a rope he'd been pulling with all his strength had suddenly broken, and Atsushi found himself falling over backwards on the floor. It hurt where his head struck the stones, but it was an ordinary sort of hurt and faded quickly, without any sense that he was in danger of losing himself. He sat up, blinking and pushing at his glasses. Silly, really - he didn't need them to see anymore, but he was used to having them so he wore them anyway. Well, unless he was doing something athletic...

His rather fuzzy thoughts were pulled into sharp focus as someone flung themselves against him and swept him into a vigorous hug.

"You did it!" Yumoto caroled. "I knew you could do it! I just knew it!"

"I guess I did," said Atsushi fuzzily. "Are you okay?" And then, less urgently, "Am I okay? I mean, am I still...?"

Yumoto sat up and gave him a considering look.

"You look okay to me," he said. "That was really brave, what you did. I didn't actually know if it would work or not. I'm going to have to tell brother about this... Oh!" He got up suddenly, seeming to go from crouching to standing without passing any of the points in the middle, and looked around wildly. "Where is he? I need to find him!"

"En will know where he is," said Atsushi. "Come on, let's go."

They raced out of the room, with Yumoto in the lead and Atsushi following somewhat uncertainly behind him. He was still feeling shaky from his encounter with the Water of Life, and while he wasn't certain whether Yumoto knew where he was going or was just running randomly, he didn't feel up to making any decisions for himself. It was all he could do to keep up with Yumoto's considerable speed. They zigzagged around corners, along corridors, and up stairs, until at last they emerged on the castle ramparts. En and Ryuu were there, along with a small bespectacled man who Atsushi guessed was the wizard Kou. Such a small person to have caused so much trouble...

"I've got him!" Atsushi shouted. He had to raise his voice to be heard above the storm.

Three heads whipped around. The expressions on all of them showed relief, but one of them showed a definite overlay of despair. Whatever this wizard had been trying to accomplish, he must have realized it wasn't going to happen. He slumped dejectedly in his captors' grip. Yumoto ignored the wizard entirely, instead making a beeline towards En.

"Where's my brother?" he asked urgently. "I need to get back to him."

En pointed towards the horizon. "That way."

Yumoto nodded, his normally innocent face suffused with determination. "Come on, then."

"What about this?" asked Vesta, giving the wizard a little shake.

"Worry about him later," Atsushi advised. "Gora needs us now." At the looks his friends were giving him, he said, "Don't worry. He can't get away from me. One way or another, I'll get him."

The wizard gulped audibly. Ryuu grinned.

"And here I thought you were soft," he said. "All right, let's get outta this dump."

He released the wizard a little more forcefully than was necessary, making him stagger forwards and nearly fall over the edge of the wall. Kou gripped the wall with hands that were white and shaking and stared up at them in a panic, as if he expected Atsushi to strike him down where he stood. Everyone ignored him. They knew Atsushi was right: there were more important things to think about.

In a flash, all four of them were vaulting over the edge of the wall and vanishing in blurs of light and flame. There was no uncertainty now. The battle, at this point, was very hard to miss.

Atsushi rematerialized in a flash of green light and found Yumoto already there waiting for him - or rather, already there and barging his way through the crowds, ignoring gods, soldiers, and monsters alike. An instant later, En and Ryuu appeared, and all three ran after Yumoto.

It wasn't hard to guess where Chaos was, at this range. He was the figure at the center of the most intense fighting. Atsushi was forced to duck and dodge around both the monsters and his own confused allies, but somehow Yumoto managed to be everywhere a flung fist or a swung sword wasn't. He moved in a straight line, unmolested and unstoppable, for the heart of the chaos.

Yumoto's brother wasn't looking so well. His clothes were stained and tattered, his hair was disheveled and full of dust and gore, and while he didn't seem to be injured, his face had a strained expression that suggested he was on the verge of a why-won't-they-just-stop form of panic. He did not understand why the world was attacking him and couldn't figure out how to make it stop, and it was beginning to frighten him.

"Big brother!" Yumoto shouted, and flung himself into the fray.

Chaos swung his axe reflexively towards him, and... stopped. Stared. Swayed, a little drunkenly, on his feet. Yumoto smiled at him. Just that, but it was a smile so bright that it cut through the darkness of the clouds and stilled the wind. All around him, the battle slowed, becoming a slowly expanding ring of silence.

"It's okay," said Yumoto gently. "I know you're scared. I'm sorry I went away, but I'm back now, and it's all right. You don't have to fight anymore. I'll take care of you."

He held his arms wide. For a moment, all was perfect stillness. Then the axe slipped from Chaos's hand to clatter to the snowy ground. He took a few stumbling steps forward, and Yumoto enfolded him in a tight embrace. As Chaos put his arms around Yumoto in turn, the darkness leached from his clothes, becoming clean and white again, and a smile spread across his face.

All around them, there was the whisper of monsters falling away into dust, and a long drawn-out sigh of relief. Somehow, they had survived the day.

Chaos was gone.


Ryuu was usually the last person to object to a touching reunion - he was the god of love, after all, and familial love was still love - but right now he had more important things on his mind. The moment he'd been certain that everything was going to come out right, he'd broken away from his friends and gone to search the battlefield for someone a little more near and dear to him.

After a few minutes of frantic searching and worrying, he'd sighted Akoya leaning against the remains of a wall. Even Ryuu, who'd known Akoya intimately for several human lifetimes, almost didn't recognize him. His formerly long hair had been hacked roughly away, his gorgeous clothes were in tatters, and he was thoroughly begrimed with mud and dried ichor. Nevertheless, he raised his head and smiled when he saw Ryuu approaching.

"Took you long enough," he croaked.

Ryuu grinned back, feeling the weight of the world fall from his shoulders.

"You know me," he said. "Sometimes I like to play hard to get."

"Liar," said Akoya fondly. "You're the easiest mark in the universe." He ran a hand through his chopped-off locks. "I'm sorry you had to see me like this. I must look frightful."

"Trust me," said Ryuu,"I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life. The only way you could look better is if Io was with you."

"I'm here." Io scrambled over a heap of debris and came to join him. He looked almost as battered as Akoya did; he'd managed to lose his helmet and one shoulder plate during the battle, and the rest of his armor was badly scuffed and dented. There was a cut over one eyebrow still trickling golden ichor. He didn't seem to have noticed it.

Ryuu blinked. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be underground protecting people?"

"I decided I would better serve the cause if I was up here protecting people," Io replied.

Akoya smiled. "He was very heroic."

"Sorry I missed it," said Ryuu. "You'll have to show me in the mirror, now that everything's settled down." He looked at them both in sudden concern. "You are okay, aren't you?"

"Cut and bruised, but I'll live," said Io.

"Just tired," said Akoya.

He leaned against Ryuu's shoulder, letting himself slump. He really must be tired, Ryuu thought fondly. It was very rare that Akoya let himself be anything but graceful. Ryuu tucked one arm around him and held out his other, inviting Io to copy Akoya's example. Io smiled and let himself be included in the embrace.

"Oh!" said Ryuu, remembering suddenly. "Here, Io. I got you something while I was out."

He fished in his pockets and came up with the handful of silver and copper coins he'd collected in the pub, and dutifully passed them to Io. Io's tired eyes lit at the sight.

"You're the best husband," he said contentedly.

"You didn't bring me anything," Akoya said.

"Next time, I promise," said Ryuu.

"I'll hold you to that," said Akoya, and settled himself more comfortably into Ryuu's embrace.

Ryuu closed his eyes and smiled contentedly. Now everything was just as it should be.

He didn't know how long he just stood there, luxuriating in the closeness of his consorts and the knowledge that everything was back to normal, when he was brought back to reality by the arrival of Atsushi. He'd apparently had his own reunion, and was now half-carrying an exhausted Kinshiro, who still held his head up proudly despite his obvious tiredness and pain. Arima and En followed at a respectful distance.

"Are you three done fooling around?" was Kinshiro's typically acerbic comment.

Ryuu grinned. "Glad to see you're not dead either. Come on, what's the problem? We're allowed to celebrate a little."

"It's not over," said Kinshiro grimly. "Atsushi says that wizard is still out there. He needs dealing with."

Akoya gave Ryuu an irritated look. "You let the little weasel responsible for this get away?"

"Well, excuse me if we thought it was more important to stop this mess first," said Ryuu, gesturing at the wreckage of what had previously been a small town.

"Point granted," said Io, "but I think now Kinshiro is probably right - we should be giving some thought to tracking him down."

"I can find him," said Kinshiro grimly. "I have a good nose for people who have eluded their just punishment."

There was a stir nearby, and Ryuu looked past Kinshiro to see Gora walking slowly towards them, with Yumoto tagging along at his side.

"If you're going, I'm going too," he said. His voice was tired but calm, underscored with grim determination. "Thank you for all you've done today. Now it's my turn to do something useful."

Ryuu gave him an interested look. "You planning on changing this guy's fate, then?"

"Something like that," said Gora.

Ryuu grinned. "Well, all right, then. Let's go and catch ourselves a wizard."


Kou was somewhere beyond thinking. He'd spent the last few minutes running around in a blind panic, one second convinced that he had no choice but to flee for his life, the next minute certain that he had no other option than to stand and take his punishment. He'd turned his room upside-down trying to pack things for a trip he wasn't sure he was really going to take. Where could he go when the gods themselves were against him? That was, of course, assuming that the world wasn't coming to an end anyway, in which case hadn't he better stay here? Part of him was saying that if he was going to die anyway, he might as well do it in his familiar, comfortable rooms, possibly while he was in the process of getting too drunk to notice if the world was ending or not. He could invite Tazawa up to join him. He could say they were drowning their sorrows after their plans had failed to come to fruition. Tazawa would believe it. He wouldn't have to know they were about to die.

But no. There were some depths even he wasn't going to sink to, and if the gods were about to come and turn him into a stinkbug for interfering with them, he wasn't going to let Tazawa get caught in the middle of it. He wouldn't have any idea what was going on, and Kou wasn't willing to take his chances on whether or not the gods would be so irritated that they would take out their feelings on anyone who happened to be standing nearby.

So he had done what came naturally to him: he'd run. Even now, he was stumbling through the wilderness beyond the city, carrying a bag from which the occasional scrap of paper or stray sock slipped free. He didn't know where he was going. Odds were good that he would get lost in the mountains and freeze to death. At the moment, he was too far gone to really care.

Maybe I should have just let those gods-damned dogs get me and been done with it. A hysterical laugh bubbled up inside of him. He stumbled on a root, fell face-down in a thin patch of snow, hauled himself to his feet, and kept going.

He'd been going just long enough to wonder if maybe the gods had decided that he wasn't worth punishing, or whether they were all tired from their war and had gone home, or if he'd just inhaled too many potion fumes and had a strange hallucination, when a tree suddenly fell across his path. He yelped and jumped backwards.

Strong hands closed on his shoulders.

"I've got him," said a cheerful and unfamiliar voice.

"Good," said someone else coldly. "Just hold on to him."

Kou twisted and looked up. He was no expert on gods, but he had been around enough to recognize most of the major ones, at least when they weren't trying to disguise themselves. This one had a deceptively gentle face, and wore the pale gray and olive green robes that he associated with Argent, god of duty and right hand man to Aurite. Which would, he guessed, make that cold voice...

A slender, fair-haired man dressed in somber black, with only a hint of gold trim to show his rank, stepped out of a shadow that couldn't have possibly hidden him. Kou swallowed hard. Aurite was looking a bit scuffed around the edges, from which Kou divined that he was probably not in the best of moods, and he was notoriously short-tempered to begin with.

Close behind Aurite came someone who was presumably his consort Epinard - Kou had a vague recollection of seeing him on the castle wall. Just how many people had he managed to set off today? Too many, apparently. One by one, other figures began to surround him: Vesta, now flanked by his two consorts, then Cerulean, Chance, and then Fate himself, carrying his golden axe and looking unutterably weary. Kou's first thought on seeing him was, I guess the world isn't coming to an end after all. Then he looked more closely, and he felt a peculiar pang. When he'd first seen Fate, the man had been happy, relaxed, laughing, full of love for his brother and joy in being alive. Now he looked tired and haunted. Something terrible had happened to him - something he hadn't known could happen and had never hoped would happen, and now he would have to live the rest of eternity knowing it might happen again, and might not end so happily next time.

And it was me. I did that to him. All this time, Kou had been telling himself that his actions were justified. He hadn't really been doing anything wrong, his intentions were good, and it would all turn out all right in the end, so where was the harm? Now he was seeing it, and for the first time, he felt real regret. He couldn't take away that unsettling knowledge. Not even Fate could make all this un-happen to himself.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I really am. Please don't hurt me."

Fate regarded him gravely. "Do you know what you've done?"

"I... think so," he said weakly. "I really screwed up, didn't I?"

"You most certainly did," said Pearlite from the sidelines. "For one thing, just look at the state of my hair."

"Shh!" Vesta hissed.

Kou stared, distracted momentarily from his own problems by this brief glimpse into divine domestic life. Fate cleared his throat.

"There's been a lot of damage done because of you," he said. "More importantly, you know things you have no business knowing. You're too determined and too lacking in morals to be allowed to go on existing."

Kou blanched. "But I didn't mean for it to happen like this! I just wanted to change my fate! I wanted things to get better!"

"Then you should have found another way," said Cerulean. "That's why I send the new year dreams - so people know what they're doing wrong and they can change things."

"You didn't want to change your fate," said Fate sternly. "What you wanted was to do the same actions and get a different outcome. That's not how this world works."

"You could have found another way," said Epinard softly. There was regret in his voice, and Kou read the message in it: I'm sorry, but I can't get you out of this one.

What Kou wanted to say was, You don't understand! I had good reasons! I thought I was doing the right thing!, but he knew it was no use. His fate was, quite literally, staring him in the eye.

"Get it over with, then," he said sullenly.

He drew himself up to his fullest height, which unfortunately wasn't very impressive, since both Fate himself and the god holding Kou in place were both significantly taller than him. As Fate stepped closer to him, hefting his axe in both hands, Kou's last thought was, At least Tazawa isn't here to see this. Sorry, Tazawa. Looks like you're on your own now...

There was a commotion in the underbrush. Various deities exclaimed in surprise and consternation as a gangly figure blundered into the clearing carrying a sword. He'd clearly taken it from someone else - it was too heavy for him, and he was having trouble holding it up - but he still bravely took an awkward stance between Kou and Fate.

"Hey!" Kou exclaimed in outrage. "What are you doing? Get out of the way!"

Tazawa didn't say anything. He had never been the kind to waste words. He simply stood, staring defiantly at Fate. He didn't even look scared. He clearly had no idea what on earth was going on, but he knew that a big man with an axe was coming at his friend, and he wasn't going to stand for it. Kou braced himself, not wanting to see his only friend in the world be cut down for getting in the way but unable to turn his gaze.

He didn't expect to see Fate stop in his tracks, slowly lower his axe to his side, and say, "Well. This is interesting."

Behind him, Vesta brightened, like a man who had just found a gold coin in the street.

"Well, I'll be switched," he said. "So that's what I was picking up."

Fate regarded Tazawa thoughtfully.

"So," he said, "you'll stand up for this man, even after all he's done?"

"I don't know what he's done," said Tazawa simply. "But he's my friend and I won't let you hurt him."

"Is he, I wonder?" said Fate. "He's not a good man. He's caused a lot of trouble and damage that could have been avoided if he'd been a little less selfish."

"I wasn't being selfish!" Kou objected. Then, when he received several withering glares for that statement, he amended, "Okay, I was, but I did it for Tazawa, too."

"Oh, really?" asked Aurite. "And what exactly did you do?"

"I was going to make him king!" said Kou. "He deserves it more than any of the others do. All of them just wanted to leave the kingdom and go find somewhere more interesting to be, but he actually loves this kingdom. He'd be a good king."

"Especially because you'd be here telling him what to do," said Aurite shrewdly.

"Yes!" said Kou. "He's not good at thinking for himself. He needs someone to take care of him. He could be king and I'd handle all the hard stuff and everything would be okay!"

"And you'd be enjoying the perks of shared kingship, yes?" Aurite persisted.

"Well, yes," said Kou, "but that's fair, isn't it? He'd want me to share."

"I get it now," said Epinard softly. "The story of the wishing fish, and the fisherman who kept wishing for things for his wife, things she didn't even want..."

Kou turned to stare at him. "What? Fisherman? What are you talking about?"

"So what I'm getting," said Fate, with the air of someone hauling a strayed conversation back on track by brute strength alone, "is that you did all this because you wanted to make you friend happy. Did you ever ask him if this is what he wanted?"

Kou blinked. "Who wouldn't want to be king?"

"Well, let's ask him," said Fate. He turned to Tazawa. "Tell me, do you have any interest in being king?"

"Not really," Tazawa admitted. "But if he wants to be king, I wouldn't really mind. He'd be better at it anyway."

"What are you talking about?" Kou said. "With just a little help, you could be a great king! A whole lot better than your grandfather, that's for sure."

Fate turned to give Kou a thoughtful look. "You think so, do you?"

Kou saw a hint of something that looked almost like approval, or at least interest, in the god's eyes. He nodded eagerly.

"He would be," said Kou. "He's a good guy. He's never angry or jealous or greedy or cruel or anything. He just wants everyone to be happy. He's the nicest person I know..."

Fate turned to Tazawa. "And you? Are you willing to stand by him and share his fate, whatever I decide it's going to be?"

Tazawa nodded. "I told you, he's my friend. He always looks out for me. He's smart and always knows what to do. I wouldn't know what to do with myself without him around."

"I see," said Fate. He looked, oddly enough, at Vesta. "And what do you think?"

"I think there's potential," he said. "Be a shame to waste it."

"That's what I thought you'd say," said Fate. He turned back to Kou and Tazawa. "You two stand next to each other."

Tazawa obediently moved. Kou just stood there, feeling apprehensive.

"Uh... what are you going to do?" he asked.

"I told you," he said. "You know too much. You can't be allowed to go on as you are. I'm going to do what you wanted me to do: I'm going to change your fate."

Kou blinked. "You're going to what?"

"Change your fate," the god repeated, "by reweaving your past. I'm going to make it so he was never a prince and you were never a wizard. You won't remember any of this because it will never have happened to you. What you make of yourselves after that... well, we'll just have to find out, won't we?"

Tazawa looked slightly panicked. "But what about...?"

"Don't worry. Vesta will help me make sure you two stay together," said Fate.

He hadn't consulted Vesta about this, Kou noticed, but Vesta didn't seem to mind. He stepped forward and stood beside Fate. Fate glanced around the clearing.

"I'm going to need a few more hands," he said. "Yumoto, you take that corner. Akoya, I want you over there. That's good. All right, now watch carefully and follow my lead..."

He moved his hand, and Kou saw the world change. Suddenly, everything he'd taken to be real looked somehow insubstantial, a veneer over what was actually real, and what was actually real was... strings. There were millions of them, as fine as spider webs, connecting him to everything else in the world. He watched as Fate reached up and gently, so very gently, began cutting a few. Some of them he passed to his helpers, some he reattached somewhere else, and a few he simply cut free to float away on the wind. With every cut, he felt a little lighter, a little less there. He knew he was being remade into something else. He wondered if he would like whatever it was going to be. He was sorry he was going to be forgetting so many things, but at least he wouldn't be going to wherever he was going alone. He cast a wan smile towards Tazawa.

"See you on the other side, old pal," he said.

Tazawa didn't say anything - he rarely did - but the smile he flashed back wasn't wan at all. It occurred to Kou all of a sudden that Vesta had said there was potential between them. If the god of love said something like that, what did it mean? It wasn't an idea he'd ever really considered before, but...

Yeah. Wherever we're going, things are going to be all right.

Then the last cord was cut, and that was all he knew.


It had taken a while to get everything else sorted out after that. After the dust had settled, nearly everyone who had participated in the battle with Chaos had more or less collapsed from exhaustion, and Atsushi had found himself running the Heavenly City himself while Kinshiro rested from his exertions. When he had a moment to think about it, Atsushi felt that this was probably for the best. Kinshiro short of rest was not always the easiest person to deal with, and everyone was still a little skittish. Entities who accepted their immortality as a matter of course did not adjust well to learning how close to death they had come. He'd spent the better part of three days checking on people, smoothing ruffled feathers, and reassuring everyone that everything was all right now.

One of the calls he'd made was on Ryuu, who was currently staying in Akoya's apartment, his own rooms having been damaged in the fight to restrain Chaos. Ryuu had come through the situation better than most, but he'd been kept very busy trying to look after his two consorts. They'd been exhausted by their efforts at fighting, and had slept the better part of a day afterwards. Once Akoya woke up and Ryuu judged him well enough for company, he'd been installed in his sitting room to be fussed over by a few of his favorite attendants. Io, though, was not well suited to idleness, and Ryuu had been forced to do everything short of sit on him to keep him in bed and resting. The parade of visitors who had finally started showing up had been a relief to Ryuu, because they kept Io from getting bored and trying to sneak off to do things.

And there were visitors. Atsushi had been both impressed and pleased by the number of people who seemed to want to drop in and pay their respects. In the past, he'd gotten the impression that other gods didn't take these three very seriously. After all, Akoya was only the god of beauty, and spent most of his free time primping and preening, or pursuing what some would call rather effete hobbies like needlepoint. Ryuu seemed to be considered rather crass in his interests - after all, they seemed to think, how could they take someone seriously when all he seemed to think about was sex? As for Io, he had long been looked down upon for his materialistic mindset. What did gods care about money?

But all that had changed now. Ryuu had been one of the ones who'd rescued Chance, which made him a hero. Akoya, who'd always looked so soft and delicate, had fought the most powerful being in the universe and stood up to him like a hardened warrior. Io had impressed everyone, both with his generosity in granting shelter to those who couldn't fight, and in his bravery and foresight in rallying his army. The three of them were getting real respect now, and they were clearly thriving on it.

As for En, he was being spoken well of, too. Atsushi had heard people talking about him. They weren't paying visits, though. En had told Atsushi in confidence that he didn't feel like dealing with a lot of accolades, and had slipped off to hide in the bathhouse with Gora and Yumoto. Atsushi thought it was probably best that way. If En had been forced to deal with a constant stream of well-wishers when he was trying to get some well-earned rest, he'd probably do something that would cost him all his newfound respect. Atsushi was usually the most easygoing of people, and even he had felt the need to accept an invitation to come join En and the others for a long relaxing soak a few times, during those few days.

One of the other errands he'd run while he was visiting Earth was to check in on the towns that had been damaged while the battle with Chaos had raged over them. Unfortunately, the gods hadn't been able to prevent a lot of property damage. Fortunately, humanity had seen what was coming and ducked for cover, so there hadn't been any human casualties, but a lot of buildings had been damaged or leveled outright. Atsushi had felt bad about this, but one afternoon when he'd been at the bathhouse unwinding, he'd seen Gora go out for a while carrying his axe and acting secretive. On a hunch, Atsushi had stopped by one of the damaged towns, and had been interested to see that quite a lot of freshly-hewn stone and prime lumber had been piled neatly in what remained of the village square, ready to be worked into new houses and shops. The villagers had been very pleased about this.

In particular, Atsushi noticed two young men buzzing around the crowd, asking excited questions. Wanting a better view of this interesting development, Atsushi had taken on mortal guise and sidled over to chat with them.

"Hey, what are you two up to?" he asked.

The young man who had once been a wizard turned and smiled brilliantly at him.

"Ah, I see you hadn't heard of my new innovation!" he said.

"No, I haven't," Atsushi agreed. "Tell me about it."

"Well, permit me to introduce myself," said the young man grandly. "I am Kou, and this is my partner, Tazawa. We're the new breed of town crier! My idea is, I have a small printing press, and every day, I go out and collect all the news, and then I print it up and distribute it! Tazawa here, he helps me out by making the illustrations and working the machinery. It will change the way people get information. No more relying on gossip and hearsay - just good solid facts, carefully recorded by yours truly! It's brilliant, don't you think?"

Atsushi smiled. "I think it sounds like a fabulous idea."

He'd left the townspeople to their rebuilding, setting out instead to have a look at something a little more immediately relevant to him: the rebuilding of the Heavenly City. Once everyone was more or less up and about again, Gora and Yumoto had gathered a selection of helpers and led them in repairing the damage done to the palace and its environs. Together, Gora and Yumoto pulled together the raw material needed to patch the rift in the city's foundations and begin piecing the buildings back together. Kinshiro followed behind them, organizing and arranging until everything was in its proper place. Akoya came last, polishing everything and adding his own special touch, until everything was even more beautiful than it had been when the city was new. Atsushi got the feeling that this was the most fun Akoya had had in years.

But now all the hard work was over, and there was nothing left to do but celebrate. Atsushi sat at his place near the head of the table, admiring the preparations for the party. The city's largest park had been hung with lights and lined with tables, tables, and yet more tables, all of them piled high with food. They actually overflowed the park and spilled out into the street. The center of the park was just now filled with gods, all of them dressed in their best. Everyone, in fact, from the lowest attendant to the most powerful deity, was gathered there - all but the handful who were seated as guests of honor: Gora, Yumoto, Ryuu, En, Atsushi, and Kinshiro as master of ceremonies. When everyone seemed to be there and waiting for their signal, Kinshiro stood and regarded the crowd.

"Friends," he said, "we gather tonight to honor acts of heroism on the part of many of our fellows. We gather to celebrate our survival. We gather in hope that nothing like this will ever happen to us again. On this occasion, I would like to make some announcements. First, I would like to honor in particular the bravery of our fellows of the underworld. In the past, the gods of the underworld and the gods of the heavens have kept their affairs separate. I would like this to change. From this day forward, let it be known that any of the gods of the underworld are welcome in the Heavenly City whenever they care to honor us with their presence."

The audience applauded heartily.

"Secondly, I would like to particularly draw attention to the three who were responsible for rescuing Chance and restoring peace to the world," Kinshiro continued. "Tonight, we formally recognize En, god of dreams, Ryuu, god of love, and Atsushi, god of mercy for their courage and resourcefulness."

This time there was even more applause. Atsushi felt himself blushing.

"I didn't do anything much," said Atsushi, when Kinshiro had finally finished his speech and sat down. "You all did most of the hard work."

"You put your hand in the Water of Life, knowing it could kill you, to save all of us," said Kinshiro. "That's heroic enough for me. But Atsushi, if you ever do anything that stupid again..."

"I won't, I won't!" Atsushi promised, laughing.

The party had begun, suddenly and earnestly, as soon as Kinshiro had finished speaking. The city rang with music, and everyone was having a good time eating, drinking, and dancing with all the enthusiasm of people who'd had a good fright and come through it, and who didn't need to fear having hangovers in the morning. Ryuu and a few of the other gods who were handy with flames had collaborated to create a fireworks display, and the sky overhead was filled with blossoms of colored fire. At ground level, Atsushi could see Gora chatting happily with the god of woodcutters about proper swing technique, while Yumoto alternated between dancing and raiding the buffet tables for refreshments. Akoya, restored to his proper appearance - even his hair was back to normal - caught Io's hand, and the two of them produced pairs of white wings and went to dance among the twinkling fireworks. Off in a corner, En was being offered a plate of his favorite onsen manjuu by the goddess of historians, while the god of artists poured him a glass of wine. He was currently in the midst of one of his lectures on nothing in particular and apparently enjoying himself immensely. Not far away, Atsushi could see Arima sipping carefully at a glass of white wine, as if he thought it would explode. He hadn't touched alcohol since the day he'd gone into Kinshiro's service as a priest, but he was a god now, and he was beginning to learn that meant he could make his own rules. Even Kinshiro had agreed that there was a time and a place for everything, and if ever there was a night to cut loose, this was it.

"Everyone looks like they're having a good time," Atsushi observed, as he watched the dancing couples wheel by.

"Yes," said Kinshiro, with a notable lack of interest. "You know, I really was afraid you weren't going to come back."

"I was afraid for you too," said Atsushi quietly. "Let's not do anything like this again, all right?"

"Agreed," said Kinshiro. He looked speculatively at his consort. "Atsushi, forgive me for saying this, but... do we really need to be at this party?"

Atsushi laughed. He reached out to take Kinshiro by the hand and begin leading him towards one of the exits to the park, back towards the safety of the palace and their own comfortable, private bedroom.

"You know," he said, "I think we can afford to sit this one out."