Author's Note: I've been really busy, getting ready for Memorial Day Weekend here at the hotel. So I'm sorry if the updating is a little sporadic.
(By the way, I only just realized that Back to the Future is set right around where I am! Fairfax, Placerville, Route 395 (road to Reno, I drive it all the time), and the weather patterns are this area down to a T! Wow, I totally never knew that before.)
Enjoy!
The Tenth Seo now sat inside her cell.
Holding her head in her hands.
Squeezing her eyes shut.
"We know your plan," Destruction told her. "You wanted to be exiled. To gain some new power over us, bring it back here — and take your revenge."
"But Glory didn't," the Tenth Seo said. "She just wanted to get back. Desperately. She was a complete wreck, by the end — even you two morons could have defeated her."
They didn't listen.
They never did.
"You weakened us before you left," said Chaos. "Temporally froze our strongholds. Made sure we couldn't draw upon enough energy to stop your forces from continuing to fight in your name."
"You wanted us weak," Destruction agreed. "You wanted us to cave the moment you returned for your revenge. The moment you fulfilled your plan."
"Tell us what you brought back," Chaos demanded. "Tell us the details of your plan."
"There was no plan!" Seo shouted. Glaring at them. "Glory was trapped inside a boy named Ben. It drove her insane. She tried to destroy the multiverse to get back here. Get that? No plans! No strategy! Just a stupid, crazy obsession!"
They took this in.
For a few moments, the Tenth Seo thought they might actually have believed her.
"You came here once before," Destruction said. "You used the girl Peri to weaken our powers even more. By destroying parts of the Garden. Then you, yourself, tried to insight revolution within our minions."
The Tenth Seo blinked.
"What are you talking about?" Seo demanded. "What Garden? I've never been here, before! And the only Peri I know is a warrior queen on Krontep!"
Chaos raised up the form of a long-dead, mummified minion, his eyes still wide with fear and horror. Perfectly preserved in that moment of betrayal and death — presumably so they could show him to her, at this moment.
"We discovered your ally," said Chaos. "We drained his new ability and his knowledge of you from his mind. You had wanted to use him to overthrow us. Give our minions… what were the words he used?"
"'Freedom and independence'," Destruction supplied.
Chaos wrinkled his nose at the very idea.
"That's what they deserve," the Tenth Seo replied. "Back in my universe, there's a whole planet populated by a race that used to be Glory's minions. They're now free and happy, building their own future and their own culture." She gave a soft grin, at the memory. "I always visit on the anniversary… of Mom's death. They have a ceremony, there. It helps me remember her."
"Your words are meaningless," said Destruction.
Which Seo translated to mean that neither hell god actually cared enough to figure out what she was talking about.
"The minions have no purpose to exist beyond us," said Chaos. "We are the only reason for them to be alive. Without us, they would simply… cease."
"Yet you gave this one thoughts of an 'independent existence'," said Destruction, raising the dead minion up higher. "Just as you attempted with the one we sent to you, this time. You tried to subvert us, weaken us so that you could destroy us upon your return. But we gained the knowledge from his mind."
Seo stared.
And then she remembered.
Like a slap in the face, all at once, it came to her. Overwhelming her. Swamping her. The memories of being here before, in her Ninth Incarnation. The memories of the Garden.
"Ixit," the Tenth Seo said. Recognizing him, even if her memories were still in a swirl. "You killed Ixit. You… you…" All color drained from her face. "You absorbed what I did to his mind. Modified yourselves and the others so that you could see me."
"Which only proves, Glorificus," said Destruction, "that any ally you have — we can destroy. Any advantage — we can overcome. Any perceived strength you've obtained — we will turn against you."
The Tenth Seo felt her head spinning. "What… what are you doing to me?" she asked. Tried to stop herself from hyperventilating, once more. As she began to remember things she knew she couldn't possibly be remembering. Wars and battles and people from worlds she'd never been to, in a universe where she didn't belong.
Seo shoved the thoughts away.
No.
She'd met Glory. Glory was dead.
"What is this, an interrogation tactic?" Seo demanded of them. "You're so sure I'm Glory, you plant fake memories inside my head until I confess?"
Chaos and Destruction looked at each other.
Confused.
"It won't work!" the Tenth Seo screamed. Hands against her head. "I know the truth! You won't break me that easily!"
"You will tell us what you've been planning, in the end," said Chaos. "Even if we have to begin your torture once more."
Dawn didn't make eye contact with Boe, when she re-entered the room. Just stood off to the side, looking on at Jenny. Not sure what to do.
Should Dawn tell Jenny that Boe was planning to leave Seo behind?
If Jenny knew what Boe was planning, she'd stop him. Hands down. But… what right did Dawn have to interfere? She'd interfered before, and look what had happened!
She could still remember what Boe had said—
Either I let Seo go. Or I lose both Seo and Jenny, forever.
Hearing Jack's voice, no matter how old, saying those words… made something inside Dawn crumble. What was right, in this situation, and what was wrong?
"He told you, didn't he?" Jenny asked, without looking up from her work. "About what happened to me."
Dawn jumped.
Wasn't sure how to answer.
"I'm not doing this out of gratitude," Jenny said, turning her chair around. "I'm helping her because she's my sister. You know what that's like."
Dawn nodded.
Yeah.
She did.
"Seo likes to call me selfish," said Jenny, "for saving her life." She gave a grim laugh. "I suppose I am, sometimes. But I can't give up on her."
"But you have to let her feel some pain, right?" said Dawn. "I mean, just going behind her back and fixing things without confronting her — it's enabling her bad behavior. You have to let her face the consequences of her actions."
"Without confronting her?" Jenny cried. "Are you joking?" She walked over to a chair bolted down to the ground. Put her hands around its back. "I built this for her. It looks like a normal chair, but if someone activates this…" She pulled a little button out of her pocket. Pressed it.
The chair immediately sprouted a huge amount of restraints.
"They're dwarf star alloy," said Jenny. "Too strong for even her to break. This one time, I actually managed to trap her in this chair. Tried to convince her to stop."
"It didn't work?" Dawn guessed.
Jenny sighed. "Seo," she said, "always able to escape from any trap." Reset the controls, and put the button down. "I fixed the loophole she used to escape, last time. Made the chair look different. When she comes back here… I'll secure her, again. Take her into my ship. Lock her up until she's better."
Boe, from not far away, arched an eyebrow at Jenny. Looking on at her, warily.
Dawn was starting understand Boe's concerns.
Jenny turned back to the displays. Trying to do something complicated looking. Her brow knit.
"I'm going to fix her," Jenny said, stubbornly. "I have to. She's my sister." She rewired a device. Then checked the readings again. "But first, I have to get her back to this universe."
"And if you can't?" said Dawn.
"Then I'm taking you up on your offer." Jenny's eyes darted over to Dawn. "You're going to send me there, too."
Dawn stared.
"I'm not leaving her," Jenny insisted. "She needs me."
Okay. And that must be why… Boe had spoken to Dawn, specifically. Why Boe had been annoyed that Dawn was here at all. And why Jenny had agreed to bring Dawn here in the first place.
Dawn opened her mouth to protest.
But Jenny's face erupted into an enormous smile. "Got it!" As she connected the last wire in, and sat down in the chair. Getting a better angle on the microphone. "Hello? Hello? Can you hear me? Am I getting through?"
The image on one of the monitors began to clear. Showing a very fuzzy view of… a white-looking room with round ovals on the wall. A guy wearing a really ugly-looking patchwork coat. And a ghostly image of a girl who looked in her late twenties, with long black hair and blue, intelligent eyes.
The girl responded to Jenny's voice, as if instinctively.
And Dawn realized who this had to be.