The next day, Kara woke up and went to school.
Finale: Ramble On
The old bat was bitching her out again, but Kara found it difficult to care. She thought about getting up and leaving, but somehow, it didn't seem like it would do any good. So she tried to pay attention, tried to do the school thing, but it seemed so hard to focus.
Something was missing.
Next class, she had with Doug; he didn't sit near her, but he smiled at her when she walked in late. Then he gave her kind of a strange look, but she just shrugged; nothing new there. She looked over at him at some point during class.
He had a keychain hanging from his backpack, one of the ones made to hold a picture. The picture was of him and Amelia at winter formal. Kara grinned.
Some things, it seemed, hadn't changed.
The break between classes came, and Kara walked slow. She let everyone else move around her, watched them, looking for familiar faces. A lot of people gave her weird looks, and a few of the more annoying girls scoffed at her. She flipped them off on principle. Just the usual, really, but it was enough to make her wonder.
"Kara!"
She looked, and saw Amelia across the hall, hurrying to her next class. Kara grinned at the shorter girl, who smiled back.
"I love your hair!" Amelia called. "See you at lunch!"
Kara nodded, then noticed her bangs, still bright pink. Maybe that was it; that would explain a lot. She wondered how much things had changed, how much time had gone by, and what everyone else had forgotten.
Lunch came quickly, and Kara headed over to the usual room for the anime club. She somehow knew what they were watching today – the second half of some really weird anime movie, the ending of a series they'd watched a while back and, when it was over, still didn't know everything that was going on. She walked into the room, and grinned.
They were still here.
"Heya, Kara," Amelia said, sitting in the corner with Doug. She looked over at Henry, and said, "See, I told you she dyed her hair!"
"That's weird, but it works for you," Henry said. He ran his hands through his tousled hair, and leaned back. He was sitting in the same desk as always.
"What he said," Chris said. He sat in one of the other desks, his head down, his hair unbound. Kara looked at him, wary for a moment, then he looked up at her. "Funny," Chris said. "I always thought pink and black weren't supposed to work together."
"You know me, I'll make it work," Kara said, trying to sound casual. Then she wondered. "Remind you of anyone?"
Henry and Chris just looked confused, while Amelia and Doug glanced at each other, then Doug shrugged.
"Not really," Doug said. "But we've seen enough anime, there's really no such thing as a non-natural hair color anymore."
Kara chuckled. It was just as she'd thought. Maybe this was what it'd been like for Anthy, at the end of the anime. All the same, she still wondered how much had really changed.
She got her answer a moment later, when Sean and Sharon walked in, his arm around her and she looking somehow both happy and like she wanted to punch him at the same time.
"What, no standing ovation for the king and queen?" Sean asked.
"You're a queen?" Henry asked. "Shouldn't you have told Sharon that by now?"
Eric came in next, fortunately before Sean got a chance to fire back at Henry. They put on the last part of the movie, and a little more than twenty minutes later, Kara's confusion was complete. Then again, that was entirely the fault of the movie itself.
Sean spoke as soon as Eric turned the lights back on. "What the hell was that?"
"The ending," Sharon said. "You were paying attention, right?"
No one said anything. Sean just gave a stupid grin, and Sharon rolled her eyes.
"You mean you didn't understand?" she asked. "I thought it was clear in its own bizarre way."
Sean blinked at her a few times. "Oh, really? Enlighten me, o wise one."
Kara joined in as everyone laughed. Yeah, this felt like old times. Or at least, it would have if the two of them hadn't spent the entire club meeting looking like they were just short of making out. She had to admit, that was a little disturbing.
"Oh, shut up," Sharon said. "I know it was abstract, but I also know you're not that dense. The souls of the world were released. Ayanami, or whatever she became, collected them. And as the song was saying, it all returned to nothing."
"Figures," Chris said. "First time we get lyrics in English, and they're actually important."
Henry snorted. "And we were supposed to figure that out?"
"That's part of it, I think," Eric said. He looked like he'd actually been contemplating the whole bizarre thing. "The whole series was like that, though. There was a lot it didn't explain, you had to figure it out."
Amelia nodded. "I just know I'm going to have nightmares about the giant Rei angel. I mean, that'd freak out anyone!"
"Pretty much," Doug said. "I didn't know what the hell was going on, but that was pretty damn cool."
Sean nodded, but he didn't really look convinced. "Yeah, but what happened to the purple Eva? It just got all Jesus-like and went off into space."
"We watched the whole series and you didn't notice the Christian symbolism?" Sharon gave him a stern look. Kara started wondering if Sean was going to get a lecture.
Sean just grinned. "Sorry, too busy watching you instead."
"Typical," Sharon said, rolling her eyes.
"Like you don't like it. . . ."
Kara turned and looked at Eric. "Hey, what're we watching next?"
The room went oddly silent for a moment, then Eric scratched his head. "I don't know," he said. "It's Friday, and we'd planned to finish the movie today, but we didn't really talk about what we're going to start next week."
"Knights of--" Sean began, but Sharon clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Rayearth?" Amelia said. "I've got it all at home."
"Oh, c'mon," Henry said, rolling his eyes. "No. Very no. All magical-girl stuff turns out the same, you know that." Amelia stuck her tongue out at him.
"All I know is we're not watching Tenchi," Chris said. "God, that guy bugs me." No one argued.
"Ever heard of Utena?" Kara asked, looking around the room. Blank looks from everybody but one.
"Oh, I think so," Amelia said. "That's the one about the girl who wants to be a prince, isn't it?"
"Not more cross-dressing," Sean said, then put his head down on the desk. "Gender confusion makes my head go boom."
"Oh, that wasn't so bad," Sharon said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "No one's going to make you cosplay, at any rate."
He lifted his head. "Can I go as Kintaro Oe?" he asked.
"No," both Sharon and Amelia said at once.
The bells started to ring, and Kara muttered. Figures. Just when she'd started to figure out what they knew and what they didn't. If she'd just gotten a chance to ask about letters, that could have brought everything back. But no.
Eric started talking over the last of the bells. "Okay, we'll talk over the weekend, and we'll have something for next week," he said. "If we can't find a series, bring some OVAs, okay?"
Kara headed to the locker room. Next was PE with Amelia and Sharon, but she needed a moment to think.
They didn't remember, not everything. It was like it had all happened, but it still hadn't – they'd been to winter formal, they'd hung out; hell, they'd probably played paintball. Sharon and Chris had broken up. But no one knew what had happened, no one remembered the duels. They didn't remember that Kara had dyed her hair.
Kara slammed shut her locker after changing, and put her hands over her face. How the hell was this happening? How could almost two months of their lives just get glossed over, like they were no big deal? How could they all have forgotten what had happened? How could everyone just forget Marie?
She paused. Everyone but her.
"Kara? You okay?"
She looked up; Amelia was standing there, changed for PE. Kara nodded. "Yeah, I''m all right," she said. "Just – I dunno."
Amelia frowned; it didn't look right on her. "You don't know?" she asked. "How do you have something go wrong and you don't know what it is?"
Kara forced a smile. "Why you think something's wrong with me?"
"Not everyone," Sharon said as she walked up, "gives such an obvious cry for help." She reached out and flicked Kara's pink bangs out of her face. "You can talk to us, you know."
Kara tilted her head, looking back and forth at the two of them. Would they believe her? It wasn't like she had any proof – wait. She reached into her locker, and fished around in her skirt pocket.
It was there. The motorcycle key. Not much proof, but it'd do. She pulled out the key, and showed it to the other girls. "You recognize this, Amelia?"
"Of course," Amelia said. "That's the key from Doug's bike, he gave it to you after the crash." She smiled, though there was some sadness there. "He really misses riding it, but his parents won't let him get another one yet."
Kara nodded, and put the key away. She was wrong. They didn't know, they wouldn't remember. There was no real reason to tell them. The last thing she needed was her friends thinking she was crazy.
After school, Amelia and Sharon found her again, along with Doug this time. They met her at her locker as she was putting her books away, and Kara noticed Doug was limping a little. They invited her to come hang out with them.
"Sean says his parents got a new big-screen TV," Sharon said. "He still has them convinced that it simply fell over, and hasn't told them a thing about that party."
Kara chuckled. "Would you?" she asked.
"You should have been there," Amelia said. "It was really cool, even if it was really loud. Hopefully next time."
"I don't know if there's going to be a next time," Doug said. He had one arm around Amelia, which looked pretty funny, considering the height difference. But Kara could see . . . they were glad to be together. "He says his parents probably think something's up, and won't go out of town again anytime soon."
"More's the pity," Sharon said. "He had some good drinks there."
"He try to get you to drink a Lesbian Slumber Party?" Kara asked. She grinned at the confused looks. "Don't ask," she said.
"That's probably best," Sharon said, though she was starting to smile. "And I would join you all, but I've got to get to the Mock Trial meeting."
"Mock Trial?" Kara asked. Sure, it made sense, but she'd never heard Sharon mention it. "When did you start that?"
"And is it worth giving up anime?" Amelia asked.
"Yes, in some ways," Sharon said. She looked at Kara, seeming confused. "And I've been part of the club for over a month. I thought I'd told you."
Kara shrugged. "Maybe," she said. "No big deal. And . . . and thanks, but I gotta go." She took a deep breath. One last try.
"I think someone's waiting for me."
Surprised looks from the others, but she just shook her head when they asked her what she meant. Kara said her goodbyes and headed for the student parking lot.
Once she was outside, Kara started walking slow. Her mind filled with dozens of 'what if' questions, each one worse than the last. She forced herself to stop thinking like that. With everything that had happened, there was no way this was a dream. It couldn't be. It just couldn't.
Sure, she might have imagined everything that happened. But there was no way she'd imagine her friends getting together like that. Enough had happened, even if they didn't remember the catalyst for all of this.
Marie.
Kara strolled into the student lot, and headed for the parking places for motorcycles. Once she got close, she paused, and swallowed hard. Her heart was beating so hard it hurt, and she had to take a moment to catch her breath.
"Hey," she said, "that's my bike."
The girl leaning against her bike had long, wavy brown hair down to her waist, and when she turned, her bright green eyes caught the afternoon light, almost seeming to glow. She looked at Kara, who looked back, and didn't say anything more. Finally, the girl spoke.
"I am no longer the Rose Bride. But from this day forth, I want to belong to you."
Kara gave her a grin that felt like it might split her face. "Hey, Marie," she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking.
"Hello, Katherine." Marie's smile hadn't changed at all.
They stepped forward and hugged, holding it for a long, long time. Kara felt tears running down her face, and tried to blink them away, though she knew Marie would be crying too. And no matter if everyone else had somehow forgotten her, Kara knew she didn't want to let go.
Yeah. This was how it was supposed to be. Didn't matter if anyone else remembered her or not. They knew each other.
Kara pulled back and kissed her on both cheeks, taking away the tears. Marie did the same to her, kissing just beneath her eyes, as her tears hadn't fallen far. They kissed then, salty-sweet with tears and relief and love, above all things love.
When they finally separated, Marie gave her a curious smile, a question Kara already knew the answer to. Kara slid onto the bike, and Marie got on behind her, holding on tight. "So," Kara asked. "Where you want to go?"
"Wherever you're going," Marie said.
Kara had to laugh. It was so cheesy, but at the same time, it was great to hear. "Think my parents remember you?" she asked. "Dunno if they will, but . . . yeah, I'd be okay with you living at my place again."
Marie lay her head on Kara's shoulder. "Let's go home," she whispered.
Kara nodded. "Damn right." She started the bike, and headed for home.
No matter what happened, now, they would shine together.
Epilogue: The Show Must Go On
(SCENE: a blank black screen. As the music plays, images of the cast appear, fading from one to the other.)
your love – is better than ice cream
better than anything else that I've tried
(Image: the anime club, Eric at the podium at the front, Amelia standing next to the white board. On the board, 'Initial D' and 'The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya' are written. There is one vote under the first title, and eight votes under the second. Eric is hanging his head, Amelia is doing some kind of dance move.)
and your love – is better than ice cream
everyone here knows how to fight
(Image: in the hallway at school. Kara is leaning against the lockers with her arm around a laughing Marie. Next to them, Sharon is elbowing Sean in the stomach.)
and it's a long way down
(Image: Chris waxing a car, a sleek black convertible.)
it's a long way down
(Image: most of the anime club piled onto a large couch, watching a very large TV. An animated explosion of some kind is visible on the TV; expressions of shock and horror on the friends' faces.)
it's a long way –
(Image: Eric diving to make a catch in a baseball game.)
down to the place where we started from
(Image: Sharon in mock trial, wearing a very serious blue suit. She's clearly about to make a distinct point. Somewhere behind her, Sean is holding up a sign that reads 'OBJECTION!')
your love – is better than chocolate
better than anything else that I've tried
(Image: Henry on stage in drama class, looking nervous but seeming to be doing all right.)
and oh, love – is better than chocolate
everyone here knows how to cry
(Image: some of the group at a karaoke place. Kara is on stage with the microphone, just short of screaming, while those of the anime club we can see are laughing and cheering. Behind Kara, a digital sign reads 'Now Playing: Pink – You And Your Hand.'
and it's a long way down
(Image: Doug leaning against a new motorcycle. Amelia sits on the bike behind him, her arms around his shoulders.)
it's a long way down
(Image: the entire club at an anime convention, dressed as the cast of Revolutionary Girl Utena. Eric is Saionji, and looks rather put out. Henry and his girlfriend are Touga and Nanami, in a pose that suggests far too much. Chris, somewhat in the background, is Mikage. Sharon is Juri, and Sean is Ruka; they pose back-to-back. Amelia is Wakaba, and Doug is Dios; they pose as any couple would. Kara and Marie sit back-to-back in front of the whole group, facing the camera. Kara is dressed as the short-haired Movie Utena, while Marie is dressed as the long-haired Movie Utena.
it's a long way –
(Image: Kara and Marie in Kara's bed, asleep. Kara is somewhat sprawled, but Marie is curled up against her; Kara's arm is around Marie. Through a partly open window, the sun is just beginning to rise.)
down to the place where we started from
(Image: fade to black.)
Author's Note Addendum: When I first wrote 'By the Rose,' I hadn't read much of Sandman, only the first volume or two. Like the note below says, I had no idea how things had happened in this story. When I started getting ideas for 'Objects of Desire,' I came to realize where the story was going, and why, and that it would mean expanding upon something I'd already written, something I'd never done before. But I think everything works. At its heart, 'By the Rose' is a story about otherworldly things happening to ordinary (or not entirely ordinary) people, and if nothing else, that makes it a Sandman story.
The third part of the trilogy, 'A Duel for All the World,' can be found in my profile. This story's author's note as I originally wrote it now follows:
Author's Note: I Am The Walrus
I have no idea what to say. Okay, that's not completely true: thank you, whomever you are, for reading this story.
Of all the anime I've watched, Utena is easily the one that means the most to me, for more reasons than I have the time or words to get into here. I'd wanted to write an Utena fanfic for a long time, but there was always something stopping me – mostly, I didn't feel like I could do the series justice. I'd like to think that the more you like something, the better you'd want a fan-based project to be, to better show your love for the series. That, and there was the small problem of not having any idea of what to write. While the series' ending is ambiguous in its way, it's a definite ending; when it's over, I didn't know what could or should happen next, and I wasn't having any ideas for things to happen during or before the series.
I'm not entirely sure where the idea for this story came from, but it's something I kept in the back of my mind for more than five years before I finally started writing it. Some of the reason it took so long to get started was that I knew that it was a tangential story, and thus would have trouble finding an audience – I mean, who reads fanfic to read about a bunch of characters you've never heard of before? But once I'd written the story, I knew it was good enough to put out there, so . . . you know the rest.
So how did all this happen? How did Marie become partly Anthy, and how did Ends of the World reach into the real world? Simple answer: I don't know. This is merely something that happened. As shown in the last chapter, there's a great deal that those involved in the story don't understand, and it's not something that I understand either.
There's a lot that happened in this story that I'd never planned for. Most of that is in the character interaction. I'd planned on Doug and Amelia going to the winter formal as friends, and it wasn't until I was writing the scene where she asks him and she was embarrassed about it that I realized she really did feel something for him. I have no idea where Sean and Sharon getting together comes from either, but it's something that seemed to come naturally over the course of the series, so I was glad to see it happen.
Kara and Marie, of course, were always written to be together, and that's the core of the story. I'm sure someone will ask, or wonder, or debate about their sexuality. That's something I deliberately didn't clarify. Sexuality is a strange and fascinating thing, and sometimes. . . . Sometimes, people just come together, regardless of gender or preference or anything, and when it works, it's a beautiful thing. I felt that saying one way or another would, in a way, cheapen what there is between the two of them. They're together in the end, and that's what matters the most.
As for the songs, well, there's no way I could have had the story without them. I made a point to choose songs that had something to do with the duels, who was fighting in them, and what was happening that led to that fight. At least, most of the time – sometimes I just went with a song because it seemed like a good idea. This is why Chris has older songs for both his duels. I'm not entirely sure why I chose to have every chapter title be a song title as well, but I think it works for the story. For some of those, the song has something to do with the story – it reflects the mood or the events – and other times, it's simply the song's name that works. All I know is that the music is always an integral part of things Utena-based, and that was something I couldn't leave out.
The title of chapter 9, however, is entirely the fault of my friend Mandy.
Anyway, that's more than enough from me. Those of you who stuck with this the whole way, thank you again; I know it must have been odd at times and confusing at the start, but I hope you found the story as a whole worth reading. I doubt there'll be any further stories with this group; after all that's happened, I do believe they're done. Thanks also to those who left reviews; it helped a lot to know that there were people out there enjoying this thing.
Until next time. This is Moose, signing off.
By the Rose: The Soundtrack
Chapter 1: "Boys Wanna Fight," by Garbage
Chapter 2: "Age of Aquarius," from the musical 'Hair'
Chapter 3: "Hana no Nai Bara," from the Utena Musical
Chapter 4: "The Fly," by U2
Chapter 5: "No Sugar Tonight," by The Guess Who
Chapter 6: "Knights of Cydonia," by Muse
Chapter 7: "She's A Rebel," by Green Day
Chapter 8: "God's Gonna Cut You Down," by Johnny Cash
Chapter 9: "Hips Don't Lie," by Shakira
Chapter 11: "Secret Game," from the 'Noir' soundtrack
Chapter 13: "Suddenly I See," by K. T. Tunstall
Chapter 14: "Miss Independent," by Kelly Clarkson
Chapter 15: "Crazy Train," by Ozzy Osbourne
Chapter 16: "In the End," by Linkin Park
Chapter 18: "Everything Louder than Everything Else," by Meat Loaf
Chapter 19: "Through the Fire and Flames," by Dragon Force
Chapter 22: "Come Together," by the Beatles
Chapter 24: "Whispers in the Dark," by Skillet
Epilogue: "Ice Cream," by Sarah McLachlan