A Duel for All the World: Epilogue – Endgame and Awakening
The world broke, and the arena collapsed; every facet of the rose splintered into thousands of tiny pieces that sparkled and spun into the emptiness, and the Sword of Dios glowed glimmering gold and faded away.
There, floating in the purple-black nothing, Kara found herself, and all the others, all the students of Ohtori, all the people she'd once called friends, all the duelists, all those who'd been captured by Desire.
No one said a word.
In the center of nothing, two faint white specks appeared, and grew larger, as though approaching from a great distance. As they grew closer, they took on humanoid shapes. One was a man clad entirely in white, black rings surrounding eyes equally black, a faceted green gem hanging from a silver chain around his neck. He wore a calm expression, as though very little in the universe could surprise or faze him.
The other was a young black-haired woman clad in black pants and a strap-topped black shirt, her skin perfectly pale, heavy black lines around both her eyes, a small spiral descending from the lines around her right eye. A silver ankh hung from a cord around her neck, and her smile was casual and friendly, as though she saw all the world as old friends she was so very glad to meet again.
The floating figures who had once been students at Ohtori slowly moved toward the newcomers, drawn by a will not their own. When everyone was close, the woman spoke.
"And that, as they say, is that." She looked over at the pale man. "Good timing on this one, little brother. Glad you could come along."
Kara pulled herself together, slowly realizing what had happened and who now floated before her. "Dream?" she asked. "Did I mess that up?"
"Nothing of the sort, I assure you," Dream said. "My sister here merely saw that she would be needed."
Marie floated next to Kara and took her hand. "I don't think it worked as you thought it would, my lord."
He shook his head. "Not all things do." He looked off to one side, as though seeing something the others could not. "I suppose it came as a surprise to you as well, Desire?"
Desire appeared next to him, still in the uniform of Ends of the World. It looked rather amused. "In a way," it said. "But it was fun." It glanced at Kara, and ran the tip of its tongue across its upper lip. "My offer still stands, if you ever change your mind."
Kara shook her head. "That'll never happen, Desire." She put an arm around Marie and pulled her close. "I just want Marie."
Desire only smiled. "'Never' is a word for the foolish." Then it was gone.
"It never really learns, does it?" the black-haired woman asked, and laughed, and Dream shook his head. "And now--"
"Hey, wait," Kara said. She floated closer to the woman, Marie beside her. "Do I know you? You seem really familiar."
The woman smiled at her. "I know you, Katherine. You too, Marie. I'm Death."
Kara leaned back, and tried to float away or something like that. She couldn't. All around her, everyone was floating slowly closer, until Kara could hardly see the blackness between them. Everyone looked surprised but calm, as though this was something that would be explained in time. Several of the other duelists, Juri and Miki among them, floated closer to Kara, gathering among those they knew.
"You're Death," Kara said slowly. She turned and glared at Dream. "You said we'd get to go home when we were done, not--"
"And so you will," Dream said. "You've done what I asked of you." He gave Kara a kind smile. "My sister is not here for either of you. She's here for almost everyone else."
"Almost?" Marie asked. "I'm sorry, my lord, but we never found out who your missing dream was."
"She is here." Dream held out his hand, and a girl floated out of the crowd, slowly moving toward him. "You," he said to the maroon-haired girl, "have been away far too long, and I'm sure you've caused no end of trouble."
"Shiori?" Juri whispered. "Shiori's a dream? How. . . ?"
"A dream of cruel innocence," Dream said. He reached out his hand, and when he touched Shiori, she shimmered and collapsed into a small, glowing cloud, leaving only the afterimage of a childlike, knowing smile. "I am sorry for whatever harm she's caused you. She escaped some time ago, and I did not know she was gone until Akio was slain."
Juri put a hand over her heart and bowed her head, and was quiet for a moment. Then, she turned to Death and asked, "What happens now?"
Miki floated forward. Redness rimmed his eyes, and when he spoke, he sounded like he'd been crying for a long, long time. "Are we dead?"
"Sort of," Death said. "Your world really shouldn't exist anymore, I'm just holding it here for now so I can collect everyone." She still smiled, and somehow, that made what she said sound all right. "But it's time for you to move on. All of you."
"But what happens to us?" Juri asked, frowning. "What happens when we die?"
Death said, "Now's when you find out," and opened her arms.
One by one, the students came to her, and one by one, she touched them and they disappeared. Not a single one looked back. When it was done, only four remained in the blackness – Death and her brother Dream, and Kara and Marie.
"You ready to send them home?" Death asked.
Dream nodded. "I'm sure you two are ready to leave."
Kara squeezed Marie's hand. "We are."
"It was good to see you again," Marie said, and bowed her head to Dream.
"It was." Dream held out his hand, and touched their clasped hands, and they disappeared. He nodded to Death, and disappeared as well.
With something less than a gesture and something more than a thought, Death closed the world behind her, and Ohtori was no more.
Kara awoke to the first few rays of sunlight peeking in through her window. She muttered, stretched, and felt Marie curled up next to her. The wavy-haired girl stirred and opened her green eyes, then smiled at Kara.
Kara pulled her close, squeezed her tight, as though making sure she was real. "Hell of a dream," she said, then grinned.
"It wasn't a dream," Marie said. She looked toward the window, toward the sunrise. "But it's over. We never have to go back, never have to worry that Ohtori's going to come back to haunt us." She slowly sat up, and turned to face the morning light.
Kara sat up and draped her arms around Marie. "Yeah," she said, then took a deep breath just so she could let it out in a relieved sigh. "It's over."
"That part is," Marie said. "We still have our lives ahead of us." She clasped her hands over her lover's. "Good morning, Katherine."
The End.
Author's Note
Kara has it right: it's over.
At the time of this posting, I've been living with this story for nearly a year. It was a joy to write, and I have to admit I enjoyed re-watching and re-reading to make sure I got everything right; definitely some of the best 'research' I've ever done. Though I have to recommend against watching the Utena movie and then staying up late reading "Endless Nights" to finish everything off. It tends to mess with your head.
I think that one of the great challenges of any fanfiction is trying to make the story seem like it could actually happen, not only following the rules that canon sets out but writing the story in such a way that it mimics the original work. Writing fanfic in this way is something I've always tried to do. This is even more difficult when the original work is something that relies on visuals to make it what it is. I knew I had a challenge ahead of me when I started this series, but I'd like to think it went pretty well. Gods know that trying to combine the work of Gaiman and Ikuhara sounds intimidating all on its own, let alone trying to write the story in a way that evokes the amazing art from both series. Oi.
As always, I'd like to thank you for reading this, whoever you are. Long works of fanfiction are far less common than short ones, Utena and Sandman don't seem to be particularly active fandoms anymore (not that I've done much searching to see if they are or not), and it's not easy to get into a crossover if you only know one of the series. I know that this last part has received fewer hits than the previous two parts; no real surprise considering the length of "By the Rose" and that this part features non-canon characters. In the end, though, I told the story the way I saw it, and that's what matters most to me. Many thanks to those who reviewed and let me know what you thought of the story.
Anyway. This is, indeed, the last we will see of Kara and Marie. My part in the telling of their story is done. What might happen next to them, I truly can't say; I'd like to think they'll stay in love and grow old together and all that, but it's hard to know. The real world can be stranger and harsher than any fiction, and happy endings are rare. But I think the past they share, all that they've done to be together, will keep them together.
Thank you and goodnight.
--Moose
