In Time, Death

By Alesyira

Summary: Time is circular. What happened before will actually happen later so that what happened next can happen ... wait. Yesterday? Next week. Eventually.

The Well

- 1501 -

Her slide through time was almost normal, but as the rift began to close around her, instead of the pale blue-black sparkles fading gradually back into the between, the power ominously sputtered out as her feet touched dirt once more. She frowned and looked up to see the dim outline of a wooden ceiling overhead. At first, she thought she hadn't gone anywhere, but then she realized the structure wasn't quite right. The wooden slats overhead seemed very new, and there was a definite freshness to the air, even within the dry well's interior. She blinked in the dim light at a very new ladder fastened to the stone wall.

"Helpful," she muttered, pulling herself up the sturdy addition.

She eased herself up and onto the lip of the well, shaking out her sleeves and adjusting the strap of her pouch before standing to walk toward the bright light spilling through the entrance. She guessed they hadn't installed the sliding doors, yet.

"You're shorter than I thought you'd be."

Kagome whirled with a gasp, squinting into the darkness.

"What the… why would you just sit in the dark to startle someone like that?"

"If I'd said something earlier, I expect you'd have fallen off that ladder, but this is turning into a terrible introduction."

Despite him calling her short, a little human that couldn't be more than a few inches taller than her stood a short distance away with a ridiculous grin on his deeply tanned face. "I am Biraat-Mahmati Tek. You may call me Tek." His hand flipped in an elegant twirl as he bowed deeply, and little metallic adornments on his collar tinkled with the motion. "It's heartening to see that things happen correctly despite being completely out of order."

She nodded slowly, looking at him in curiosity. "So, you … haven't met Shippo yet to give him his message."

He shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not. But things will work out. You did come here for a very important purpose, even if today is not the day I will be able to go home."

"Where's home, and how am I supposed to be able to help you?"

He laughed. "My home is not far from this place, but I'm about 780 years too early."

She stared at him, then glanced at the well. "Do you need a spell to get through, like I did?"

He shook his head with a smile Kagome might have categorized as patronizing, but this little man seemed weird enough that it was probably not meant that way. "A spell, how quaint."

He sighed and indicated that they sit. "Go ahead and bring out that breakfast you neglected to eat. This might take some time to explain."

Kagome stared at him, her brain refusing to catch up to the oddity of this…human? She tilted her head and squinted, searching for any indication that he was anything but human. A tickle of weird energy brushed her senses, and he seemed to buzz with a very subtle electric hum. She sat and pulled out her breakfast and offered him a piece.

He accepted it with a bright smile. "You'll understand this a bit better than the people 'round here can, but that thing you've got going on there?" he gestured at her vaguely. "It's a natural occurrence of something scientists develop in the late 21st century." He took a bite and chewed, nodding to himself.

"That thing? My… magic?"

He laughed. "Magic? Girl, you know just as well as I do that everything that has been considered magic throughout the ages has eventually been explained by science." He looked her over with a critical gaze. A vaguely noticeable flash of green briefly appeared in his right eye. "But no, I speak of the other thing. The source of power that has been insulated with some primitive coding." He huffed and chuckled. "No wonder it only lasts such a short period of time. Ingenious for the lack of resources, though," he muttered, rubbing his chin. "I'm a little impressed."

"You mean the jewel? I wouldn't really call that a natural occurrence, because it required some really bad stuff to happen…"

He waved his hand dismissively. "Sure, sure, but what I mean is this: what you have wasn't made in a lab. It wasn't mass-produced for general use. And the future variety didn't require anyone to die during manufacturing." He paused, a hand on his chin as he stared off into the distance. "I think."

He brought his attention back to her and folded his hands in his lap. "Eventually, the interaction between positive and negative energy that occurs naturally in what you people call magical beings is going to power everything from comms to hovers. Normally these things regenerate on their own, but I busted mine during my very first trip, and I've been stuck here for a while."

Her mouth fell open. Magic. Being used like electricity? She pushed that from her thoughts. If she could only barely comprehend how much had been accomplished with technology between this era and her time after a decade of education, she would never be able to fully grasp whatever ingenuity had been developed in the hundreds of years after her normal.

She took a deep breath, focusing on the now. "Okay, so how am I supposed to help you?"

"You're the only one that has access to this naturally occurring source of power for the next few centuries. I'd like to propose a trade. If you can recharge me, I'll be able to get home again."

"Wouldn't another person from your time be able to come back and get you?"

Tek laughed nervously. "Well, it would probably help my case if I'd not taken the only prototype for a quick spin."

"You brought… the only device that does this traveling?" Her suspicion jumped through the roof. Had he stolen a prototype? She bit her lip and watched him carefully. "Is it something you made?"

He nodded, beaming with pride. "My team worked on this iteration for years." Kagome relaxed marginally. This reaction oozed genuine affection for the people he'd worked with. "I was only supposed to go forward a few minutes, but I sneezed and fell and…" he seemed completely flabbergasted. "No one sneezes anymore. Genetic modifications wiped out histamine reactions like that to help avoid spreading newly mutating diseases..." he trailed off. "I digress. Something absolutely unheard of happened, and I fell. I ended up traveling in the wrong direction, my power source broke, and I got stuck with no way for my team to fetch me. The last iteration we built had a special component that we weren't sure would work, and I'm certain they aren't going to risk trying the same thing over again with me gone."

He grimaced. "If anything, they probably think I'm dead."

She thought back to the first time she'd fallen through the well. Vanishing without a trace, and no one knowing where she'd gone or if she'd come back… She knew exactly how it must have felt for this little man. "How long have you been stuck here?"

He tapped a fingertip to his chin. "Hummmm… Almost thirty years, now." He sighed heavily. "I really miss home."

Kagome blinked in surprise. This guy couldn't be that old. She shook her head with a sympathetic smile. She couldn't fathom being stuck here away from her home and those she loved for that many years. "Why didn't you come see me earlier? I've been in and out of this era for the last few years."

He laughed. "My dear young lady, you wouldn't have been able to help me until after that dark friend of yours broke open the power, which was…" he paused, and another flash of green light appeared in his eye. "For you, twenty-two days ago."

Her mouth fell open. Dark friend… Hiei? She pressed a hand to her side where the empty shell of the jewel still rested, feeling a bit numb. Hiei had been the one to break open the seal on the jewel? She turned her gaze back to the well.

Their minds had been connected during her possession. She'd felt his shock when she'd given him the details of their dire situation. But was that his truth?

Could he lie with his thoughts?

Feign surprise at the secrets she'd revealed as she'd begged for his help?

A small motion to her side caught her attention, and she remembered she had an audience. She blinked rapidly, unsure of herself and worried about what she may have gotten herself into. But then she remembered, "You mentioned some kind of trade?"

"Oh, right! Ok here's the deal, it's not so much of a trade as it is that you need an upgrade, and it's written in the stars," he paused here to giggle at the phrasing, "that you've got to get it from somewhere, and I'm assuming it's from me, unless you're somehow…" he trailed off. "Immortal?" He shrugged, looking her up and down. "Hmm, scans aren't showing anything weird going on with your bio-signature, so I don't know if that's the case."

"An upgrade? Of what?" She glanced down at herself. "Scans?"

"Your vesper from Corporate. It's an old model, but I can transfer an updated OS. You just need to tap the OK button to accept."

She pressed a hand to her forehead as she stared at him in confusion and disbelief, wishing she had her brother here to translate. She hadn't had hardly any time to work with the electronic toys that Souta loved so much.

"I mean, you did get a comms unit, right?" He paused, staring off into the distance. "Yeah, you did, I see you pulling it out of your pocket."

She reached into her pocket and looked down at the shiny silver thing.

-9:37am, 04/28/1501-

'Oh, wow. This shows today's actual date.' She turned it over in her hand, examining its strange appearance and smooth structure. "I'm not even sure what this is supposed to be for, or how to use it. No one gave me any instructions."

Tek shrugged. "They usually have the manual built in, but you have to know how to get to it. Anyways, trade. Upgrade in exchange for a recharge?"

She didn't really have much to lose. If whatever upgrade he did broke the device, all she'd really lose out on would be some magic, and that seemed to regenerate unbelievably fast nowadays. She nodded, and he held out his arm. "I don't mean to be weird, but the newer models are embedded so they're harder to lose. Just put your hand on my arm for a minute or two and I think that'll be it."

She reached out for his skin with a little trepidation. Here was the moment of truth. Hopefully he hadn't just given her a sad story just to get her to let her guard down so he could do something nefarious.

The dancing energies caused a breeze to pick up around them, ruffling clothes and hair. She watched, fascinated, as his right eye started to flicker with that dim light she'd noticed earlier before it began to glow a bright electric green. Her interest in the light was broken by a weird crawling sensation tickling up her palm where it rested against his skin. "Ok! That should be plenty." He extricated his arm from her hold and smiled broadly. "This is perfect! It worked better than I expected it to. Fascinating!"

She turned her hand up to stare at the unblemished skin, rubbing her palm with her thumb as the twitching sensation drifted up her arm and faded into nothingness. That was weird. "So… are you going to be sticking around for the next… what, fifteen-something years? Until you meet my friend?"

He nodded with a grimace. "It'll actually be twenty-five years."

Kagome flinched. Yikes.

"I've looked ahead. I have enough power to get home right now, but that's not how things are meant to happen." He sighed in regret. "I'll have to wait it out to make sure he gets the message at the right time. I've seen I'll be leaving after that's done. I didn't expect to have to rough it this long without automatic transportation and air conditioning." He sighed in exasperation. "So much walking. Small price to pay for getting to be the first to do this kind of stuff, though."

He glanced at her with a short laugh. "I mean, the first to do it with technology; you're the first to get to wing it with magic." He shook his head, muttering, "Magic. Hah."

He stood and stretched with a sigh of relief. "Brilliant. Anyways, I really can't thank you enough. Can I hold your vesper? I'll upload the software." She handed it over and watched as he rotated it in his hands, flicking fingers over the screen as he skimmed lines of rapidly moving text. He held it up to his face for a few moments, his right eye wide open and glowing. She heard a very tiny beep just before he finally blinked.

A significant spark of power zipped into her fingertips as he handed the small device back to her, and she gasped as her heart skipped a beat. That was either the largest burst of static electricity she'd ever experienced, or it had been something else.

He didn't seem to notice the weird punch of energy nor her reaction to it. "That should be it. Just tap the button when it asks if you want to install the upgrade."

Rubbing her chest in confusion, she peered down at the brightly lit screen and tapped it to start the update. A progress bar popped up, hovering an inch over the interface like a shining ribbon of dancing light that shimmered with a rainbow of colors.

They heard the clatter of a broom and a small gasp, "Kagome-sama?"

She turned to see one of the new apprentice girls she had met shortly before she'd returned to her own time just a year prior. "Noriko-chan? Oh my gosh, you've gotten so much taller!" She smiled warmly at her, excited to see someone she remembered. "Is anyone else around?"

"No, Kagome-sama, there was a disturbance to the north. Kaede-sama is in the village helping a mother with her labor."

Tek looked sheepish. "Sorry about this, but the futures show that your old team does not see you this visit, and I don't think we'll want to try to break the cycle of events. You'll need to go again, soon, anyways."

Kagome nodded, not really understanding. "Is there anything about this," she held up her device, "that I should know?"

Tek shrugged and smiled a little crookedly. "Meh, probably. It's not for me to say, today. We'll meet again, I'm sure." He paused, staring off into the distance as that tiny green light shimmered in his eye. "Oh, flak. Yes, we'll definitely meet again. I'll need another visit with you before I can actually leave." He sighed and gave her a little bow. "Until we meet again, young lady!"

Her little device made a soft trilling sound, and she glanced down at the notification that appeared.

-Upcoming meeting, 5pm, Location: [REDACTED]. Would you like to join meeting in progress? [YES] [NO]-

Confused and a little curious, she tapped the 'yes' button and sucked in a startled breath when a tendril of energy reached from the device through her hand and into her chest to grasp at something deep within her and yanked her through the void. Her body suffused with bright light and her surroundings dissolved. She felt as though she were floating for a moment before her feet touched a solid surface and her hair fluttered down around her shoulders. Her weight suddenly came back and she barely caught herself from collapsing.

'Whoa.'