+++++ Hikawa Shrine. (Saturday + 28)

Most of the day had flown past, the quintet of women growing more concerned as the sun travelled across the sky. Shinji remained unconscious, his breathing even and his heartrate elevated. Two at a time, they took turns sitting in Rei's apartment with him while the other three worked around the Shrine to organize and clean the entire area. Little was said, and only the increasing sense of unease was spoken of. It was after a lengthy period of silence that Sarah decided to break the monotony by attempting something she'd seen once.

"How often do you stop and think about the people you've lost?" The blonde American was fussing with Shinji's hand, addressing the question towards Mizore.

"The more recent ones, or those from before this insanity began?" Playing with a loop of yarn, deftly spinning it into various patterns with her fingers, the yuki-onna was far calmer than she had been earlier in the day though still showed moments of significant anger when certain topics were addressed.

"Yes?"

"Before I met Shinji, I hadn't really thought much about those that I'd lost in the Academy Wars for several years. Not that I had 'moved on', as it were, more that I just never had a reason to think on any of them. It's probably poor form, but I've actually been more focused on them now than anyone we've lost recently. If I were to take a wild guess, I'm probably looking for answers as to how to help our current situation by doing that." Stretching out a sipder's web she'd crafted, she eyed Sarah. "No one is expecting you to bounce right back from what has happened. Your relative youth and inexperience in coping with loss is yours to handle as you can, with help from us as you will."

She snorted out a laugh. "I know. I caught myself thinking about something my dad said yesterday, had to go find a closet to cry in for a while. Every time I think about him I just…have a wild mix of emotional responses. He alternated between ignoring me, babying me, and bullying me. I know what you said about what happened when time was frozen, and I get what he was trying to do, but he…." She scowled, fidgeting Shinji's ring finger in a small circle. "I would have told him I wanted to be tied to Shinji forever if dad had bothered to ask me! I mean, seriously! Does he have problems? Yeah. Do I? Fucking right I do. But his problems and my problems match up so well that it's like we were designed for one another. I'm much more extroverted than him, which allows him to be more analytical than I am. I'm more daring, which allows him to see what lies out there beyond his shell. He's all art and music, I'm much more focused on fixing things and breaking things. He needs someone to take care of him while he takes care of everyone, and god damn it I need someone to give my love to that won't take advantage of me, or expect that I'm just going to do what he asks, or demand that I make myself available at a moment's notice for whatever hare-brained bullshit he wants to go chasing after with zero notice."

"I suppose tying yourself to an Elder is better than becoming a stripper, like most young women with severe daddy issues do."

Sarah belly laughed. "Yes! Exactly!" Her demeanor remained warm as she kicked her legs back and forth. "I'll still get into the art of pole dancing, though. Have to make sure that Shinji stays interested in me, you know."

"He's interested," Mizore answered the unspoken concern. "I'm positive that if any one of us had approached him, without any of the others having been around, he would have done anything we asked him to do. He'd never look at another woman, never stray, never be anything less than completely devoted." Ripping the web she'd created into pieces with a single tug of her hands, she shrugged. "We're ruining him. We are pushing him to be something he's not."

"Which means that we are responsible for making sure that he's happy."

"…Yeah."

+++++ Hikawa Shrine. (Tuesday + 31)

Lunch had hardly been touched, as the five women had increasingly lost their appetites after the now three days of Shinji's unconsciousness. Thoughts trended towards dark paths, the apocalyptic happenings feeling as if they were finally reaching a horrible end. What would happen if an Angel showed up? Could they destroy it? What would happen if another contender for Chaos showed up? As stout-hearted as they were, they were uncertain of how strong the enemy might be as well.

It was Sarah, once again, that broke the silence that had loomed over them all. "You know, I never really thought of myself as someone who 'needs' someone else to be happy. After listening to that idiot Narusegawa go on about how women are supposed to be 'strong' and 'independent' and blah, blah, blah for years, I kind of…agreed, for the most part. A partner's nice. Someone to share your victories with, you know? But you had to be strong enough to stand on your own. Sitting here waiting for Shinji to wake the fuck up, I've come to realize that Narusegawa was full of shit. It's not women are supposed to be strong, or men are supposed to be strong, or whatever. It's not some…war that we have to fight to gain dominance over one another. I want Shinji to wake up because I want to hold him and tell him how I feel. I want to tell him that it will be ok, that we'll fight on. That we'll do whatever we have to do to win, and that whatever sacrifices we end up making will be honored and remembered. I'm not weak for wanting him around…I'm strong enough to recognize that I really, really want to ride his dick for a few days and then fall asleep in his arms sweaty and exhausted."

Daphne covered her mouth and laughed, prompting Mizore to do the same. Rei was puzzling at what had just happened, and Willow was blushing and looking down at her feet while biting on her lower lip. The Dryad fanned her hands to work away some of the tears that had built, and shook her head. "I wouldn't build up your expectations for the first time too high. Soreness, if not his own stamina, will be something of an issue I believe."

"See, that's why I'm going to find a way to build a nice big tub," Sarah leaned into the awkwardness she'd created. "Make it heated, make it easy to clean, easy to recycle the water, so that I'm already nice and limber in all my muscles when we go. Take some painkillers beforehand, and tell him he's not done until he's at least managed to get off three times."

"I was barely able to warm up before Suzuhara shot off the first time." Confiding in everyone, she followed Sarah's lead. "I'm fortunate, though. He was humiliated, because he was so attracted to me and had built up so much stress that he just bloop, done. He let me cuddle him, and we worked together to get him ready for round two. That time was much more fulfilling, personally, because he put everything he had into making me feel like the complete focus of his life. It was a wonderful eight minutes, and I do not begrudge him that it ended quickly the second time. He got better, with practice."

Mizore frowned with her eyes narrowed slightly, a gesture indicating both confusion and more than a little bit of gnawing worry.

"…How…quick is 'quick'?" Rei tentatively joined the discussion, seeking information from someone with experience in the act that she was hoping to engage in at some point herself. "The girls at school only ever said in the locker room that they 'did it', never for how long."

Daphne pursed her lips, musing on the question, then looked to Mizore and tilted her head questioningly. The yuki-onna snorted a laugh and shook her head. "I've never done it, myself. The only information I have to offer comes from books or off-hand comments from some of the other ladies in my village."

"R-really?" Willow was clearly surprised by that revelation. "To hear…uhm, people at Reliqui speak, you were something of a man-eater."

"I went on a lot of dates, turned down a lot of idiots who thought dates should end with sex, and never bothered exploring the few men who intrigued me enough to consider it because I would find something or another wrong with their personalities. They hated humans, they hated women, they were rabidly vegan, things of that sort. It was less a decision made out of a desire to remain 'pure' and more a decision to not burden myself with the memory of having shared something with someone that I couldn't respect." She wagged her finger with a teasing grin. "I also started most of those rumors to weed out the 'dude-bro-man-dog' macho assholes. If they didn't have the balls to come try their luck after hearing I wasn't easy to satisfy, then why would I bother with them to begin with?"

All five women jumped as one when Shinji sat bolt upright and cried out, "DON'T!" When his eyes focused, and confusion spread across his face, his head twitched awkwardly, his mind struggling to place himself amidst the currents of time and space. "Wh-where…." He scanned the features of each of the five women present, looking at Rei first and last. "Y-you…you can't."

Daphne had held everyone back, firmly latching onto them or blocking their progress with her arms. "What can we not do?"

"Y-you're…not?" His eyes drifted back to hers, blinking owlishly. "You can't either. You can't."

"Our favorite Shrine Maiden is going to approach you now, all right?" She released her hold on Rei, allowing her to slowly move to sit next to him. "All will be well, and all manner of things will be well. What is it that you fear so?"

Shinji started slightly when Rei carefully set one arm around his torso. "Y-you…you're not…."

"It was a misunderstanding." Rei believed that she understood the nature of his half-question, operating under the assumption that he was upset about how they'd last seen one another. "I think we both could have handled it differently, and it's just growing pains."

"N-no, y-you're…alive?" Reaching over with the hand further from her, he gingerly touched her on the leg. "She didn't…it hasn't happened yet?" His head whipped over to look at Mizore. "You…you did accept it…. Is it going to happen?"

"Hey, hey," Sarah clapped her hands softly, pulling his attention to her, "focus, big guy. What are we not supposed to do?"

"Stay. None of you." He shook his head fiercely. "You can't stay here. It's not safe. She'll kill you."

"She who?"

"She wants the Crystals. She'll use them to grow more powerful. They called to me because they wanted to fight her, they convinced the fifth to tie itself to me. I need to get you out of here. I-" A snowball smacked into his forehead with just enough force to cause his head to rock back slightly. When his head regained its original position, his eyes were clear and attentive, though still displaying signs of serious confusion. "What…wait, how…huh?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" Mizore held another snowball at the ready, idly bouncing it in her palm.

"I was kneeling before the woman who was planning to save me from my suffering." He frowned slightly. "She was…covered in blood." He looked over to Rei. "You were…."

"Anything else?"

"Green. A really bright green. Like the sky before a tornado." Scrunching his face up, he tried to drag the events rollicking in his mind into some semblance of order. "I…Clare." All of the stiffness of his body drained out at once, and he fell back into a supine position. "She died again, didn't she." His eyes drifted closed, and he set the back of one hand over them. "None of you are safe around me."

"Well, we're not going anywhere," Rei scooted back further on the bed, lifting his head up and laying it in her lap, "so don't go getting any weird ideas about getting rid of us."

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I was…I'm not going to make excuses for myself. I hurt you, I'm sorry for that."

Any anger she might have held onto in her heart vanished at the simple honesty of the apology. "I'm sorry too." After his hand slid down slightly to expose one eye that looked at her in confusion, she smiled. "I assumed the worst, instead of trying to understand why you said what you did. I pushed you away, instead of pulling you closer like I should have. We both could have handled it better, and I'm sorry that we missed out on an opportunity to grow closer."

"I'm…uhm, I'm sorry for interrupting." Willow half-lifted one hand to motion for attention. "But who wants the Crystals?"

"I don't really know. She seemed to be a bunch of things at once, the only reason I know it was 'she' is because her voice sounded feminine." Shinji went to sit up again, and was hit with another snowball, forcing him back into Rei's lap.

"Lay down," Mizore ordered. "Anything else to go on? Colors? General size?"

He wiped away the snow, frowning at Mizore until Rei began to smooth her hand along his head, prompting him to relax a bit. "Nothing really specific. Like I said, she was a bunch of people all at the same time…but was actually only one person at the…same time." He lifted one arm, tapping the hand attached with his opposite hand. "I remember that she had a bright red fist, like it was dripping with blood."

Rei felt everyone look towards her, and shook her head. "Not ringing any bells, sorry. We never fought anyone like that."

Sitting up again, he caught the snowball thrown at him and pointed at Mizore. "Stop. I feel disgusting, and I'm going to go take a shower. Then I'm going to wash Rei's bedding, because I made a mess of it. How long was I out?"

Sarah held up a few fingers. "Three days, give or take."

"No wonder I have a headache…." Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he slowly stood up to avoid losing blood flow to his head. "Does their apartment still have running water?"

Daphne recalled her branches and vines. "Let's go find out."

"I can walk fine on my own," he waved her off.

"And I want to take a shower with you, so I'll walk with you anyway." She placed herself in his path, her chin lifted and her expression challenging. "Anyone else who wants to should come join us. I've made some adjustments to that bathroom that I believe everyone will enjoy, and I think we could all use some time bonding."

"I'll go get some clean clothes for everyone!" Sarah hopped out of her chair, fully healed after several days of rest. "C'mon," she tugged on Willow's hand to get her moving too, "let's go!"

Mizore stood up and stretched cutely. "I like the idea, and think that it's overdue. Let's use the elevator, though. I'm tired, you're hurt, and both of us leave a mess behind when we use our little tricks."

Rei stood as well, her face projecting what her statement was about to be, "I think I-"

"You're coming too." Daphne was taking control of the situation, gesturing Mizore towards Shinji and moving to take Rei in hand. "Either we'll all have a good time relaxing in the water, or we'll be attacked and we'll need you there to help us defend everyone. Either way, your adorable little tush is going to be in the water where I can see it."

"I. You. I don't…. My 'tush' is none of your concern, thank you very much!"

In one of those rare moments where Shinji's knack for brutal honesty and tendency when he does speak to speak his mind without thinking it through combined together to produce a more positive result than normal, he opined, "She's right, though. You do have a remarkably pleasant rear view."

Rei went bright pink from hairline to chinline, then turned away from everyone and moved towards her chest of drawers. "…Fine. If it means protecting everyone, I'll go."

+++++ Hikawa Shrine. (Tuesday + 31)

Shinji had bargained everyone into allowing him to wear a blindfold, though he immediately lost the follow-up debate about him going through the showers first so that everyone else could go behind him. He was blindfolded, naked, and standing in the showering area being scrubbed down lingeringly by no fewer than six hands, none of which he was able to identify by touch. When he'd opened his mouth to complain that he really didn't need other people to do this, as he could find his own body even blindfolded, he was silenced by means of a toothbrush being shoved into his mouth to scrub at his teeth, followed by floss working between each pair of teeth to thoroughly cleanse his mouth.

So frustrated was he that by the time he remembered that he could speak to them with his mind, he was being hauled through another doorway, only to be tossed into a body of water far too wide and deep to be just a tub. The brief, and reflexive, panic that ensued owing to his inability to swim was relieved by yet more hands lifting him up and settling him on a soft bench against the inner wall that put the waterline across his chest. The blindfold was soaked, warm, and pasted tightly against his face. With one less sense to go by, he found that the others had heightened tremendously.

He could hear, clearly, Sarah and Rei discussing several scars and bruises the blonde American had acquired over her life and her time with them. He could smell Daphne's handiwork, with gentle, lingering, floral scents washing away even his brief bout of drowning anxiety. He could taste the salts that had been used in the water, the way they mixed with the toothpaste that had been used. Most importantly, however, he could feel who he knew was Mizore pressing against his side and sliding under his arm. The overwhelming insanity of the situation paradoxically rendered the situation 'normal', allowing him to murmur, "Are you going to be ok in the warm water?"

"Mmm," Mizore's purr matched with her fingertips lightly exploring his body, "if I was younger, no. But I'm far too powerful now to be bothered by anything that wouldn't kill me." The direction of her voice changed slightly as he felt another woman's approach, the water shifting with her. "He came up with a nickname for you, you know. I didn't mention anything about it, because I wanted him to be the first to give it to you."

Willow came to a halt at a socially acceptable distance, not yet comfortable enough with her place in the hierarchy to join Mizore in caressing Shinji's body. "R-really?"

"It's…it's nothing creative, really. Feel free to tell me that it sucks, and we'll think of something else." Shinji's first instinct was, as always, to denigrate anything he was personally responsible for in an effort to lower expectations and avoid disappointment. "You just remind me of a willow tree, and so I decided to call you 'Willow', instead of 'Kodama-san'. It avoids your 'true name', and shows that as a part of me you deserve better than 'hey you'."

Time and space lurched. The cosmos itself reacting to a violation of the natural order, the Laws mandating enforcement of rules far older than even the shard of reality that they resided within. The difference between a nickname, which is what Mizore saw the sobriquet 'Willow' as, and a name, which is what Shinji viewed it as, meant the difference between the Kodama existing as she had existed since she was born and what was now happening.

Few humans, whether they were born human and became something else later in life or they were born and died as human, understand the true power that names hold over everything around them. Something as simple as a rock can become 'the' rock if enough people perceive it to be atypical or special. Something as complex as a weather system can be rendered into nothing more than 'the weather', effecting little more than the afternoon's plans. Shinji, unfortunately for everyone involved, was far more than human. His subconscious decision to change the status of Willow from 'Kodama-san' to a discrete, known, entity with boundaries and expectations was expressed by his desire to change her from a stranger to a part of his core identity…which was not a burden she was capable of bearing.

In an instant, the very concept of a Kodama named 'Willow' no longer existed. The information that formed her, gone. The particles that had bound together in a specific formation to create what she was, gone. The knowledge that the 'her' that others knew possessed, gone. The scarring that had occurred when she had healed Shinji, gone. Nearly all traces of her, from smallest to greatest, gone. The Laws had been broken; Order was now restored. All that was left, were dim memories of a youkai that had died at Khlorya's hands.

+++++ Japan. (Tuesday + 31)

"I warned you." Justice stood, his arms folded before him, clearly uncomfortable with what he was now being forced to do. "I warned you, and you didn't listen to me. Now what are we going to do, hmm? Both women you resurrected have been killed. Both. And for what? What did you gain by doing this? I mean, I may be somewhat impulsive, and I may not pay attention all the time, but even I know that it's a terrible idea to mess around with a species' understanding of mortality! What happens now if he is actually supposed to resurrect someone, hmm? Does he hesitate? Does he make a mistake? By fouling up the order of events, you've potentially ruined everything he might have accomplished!"

Yukiko had spent the past several days crying silently, sitting where she'd first met Shinji in the ruins of a small store on a street of no significant importance. She had never acted so recklessly in the past, never been so impulsive. The day she'd met him she had begun to change into what she was now. The mere act of being near him had caused her to absorb the Chaos that now formed the most powerful creature in existence. Now, with the foreign Hope in the hands of The Wanderer, she had been granted the chance to steer Shinji towards using his strength for better purposes…and she'd wasted that chance by misusing her own strength. "I know."

"Which is what makes it even worse, Big Sis." Justice flopped down, sitting heavily on the ground. "I went back and used the Oracle to watch everything that's happened. It was obvious from the beginning that there was no chance of him being anything but Chaos. You were supposed to guide him, and yes, we accepted that you might also fall in love with him. That other version of him gets along with the women around him rather well, and it was only sensible that this version might also. He's only going to be harder to steer in the right direction now. You know all this, so why?"

"Because he's never known hope…and I wanted him to."

"He doesn't need to hope that things will go well if you help him make them go well."

"That's not the point!" Slapping the table she sat on, she glared at her brother through her tears. "He has never, ever, known what it's like to wake up in the morning and think, 'Today is going to be different!' Not once! I wanted him to hold those two in his arms, to thank providence that they had been returned to him, and to wake up the next day thinking to himself, 'Things have gone terribly…but I can fix it. I can stop people from suffering. I can stop myself from suffering!' That Kodama was just like him, that's why her family left her with him! She was supposed to show him that despite being naturally timid, you could still improve your life. The Redfield girl managed to talk him down from a storm! She managed to get him to understand that love, sex, and friendship are all a big glob of actions and reactions! Even with that miserable wretch we sent with The Wanderer gone, Shinji still radiates…anti-hope! It's maddening!"

"Some creatures are born specifically to suffer. You know that, I know that, and I'm pretty sure he knows that." Justice leaned his elbow on his knee, then rested his chin on his fist. "But none of that matters now. I've moved the Adamspawn and the Blackspawn. The contest is over, the final non-Earth-based lifeform has officially declared herself vanquished, and now Chaos is going to have to figure out how to win against whatever he is yet to face by himself. You and I are going home."

"What?!" Hope was repulsed by the very notion of leaving. "No, I'm-"

"Being punished for a long list of crimes that I've witnessed. You took advantage of my lack of oversight. Resurrecting the dead is not the only crime you've committed while I've been preoccupied, and I'm starting to wonder whether or not that war a couple galaxies over is your doing as well." With his free hand, he pointed at her. "Fighting me on this is only going to prove that you should not be trusted. We are going to go home, you are going to explain your actions, and then you are going to accept the judgement of your siblings. If you can convince enough of us that what's happened isn't as bad as it looks, then I'll help you come back here and help explain your absence."

"But…but I can't leave him, he'll-"

"Be under far less pressure, now that I've removed his few remaining enemies on this planet. Further interference will only make everything worse, until we can determine what he's doing that's making you…not you." Setting his hand down on his leg, he looked at her with sympathy. "Come on, Hope. This is me talking. You know I'm not going to let them treat you unjustly."

"…No, just unfairly."

+++++ Hikawa Shrine. (Tuesday + 31)

Shinji laid in his bed, alone. The more he let his mind relax, the more he remembered that he'd forgotten something. His hand idly ran across his sternum, feeling for something that he knew was there but couldn't find. After the incident in the bath, where his perception of the world went wrong, he'd excused himself firmly and entered The Tree to soak in the quiet solitude. He'd heard four voices call out for him to not leave. He'd seen four sets of clothes in the changing area. Four sets of shoes on the mud step. The number was correct…the number was wrong.

The portraits on the wall reminded him of the lives lost. The newest portraits surrounding the oldest in a spiral of sadness, leading one to examine each in turn, tracing the pain back to the first sting. He could remember, with perfect clarity, what he was doing the moment each of them died. What he was feeling. What he could have done differently. He had heard what 'his brother' had told him about responsibility, though, and he'd begun to contemplate what other people were doing. What other people were feeling. It was, and was not, focused on him.

"They're all dead…well, not all of them." Speaking aloud helped him pull out of the depressive loop of remembering. "Maria…. I guess she'll return when she can heal. I don't know where Yukiko went. Rei, Sarah, Daphne, Mizore. Then that Angel…Ireul, I think?" A throb in his left arm brought a frown. Rolling out of his bed, he didn't bother with shirt or shoes and just walked out of The Tree with his comfortable slacks on. A few steps towards the main gate that led out into the now empty village, and he heard a polite knock. Crossing the distance of the courtyard via portal, he opened the man-gate and looked out to see the woman he'd just mentioned. Alone, with two bags. "Ireul-san?"

"I realized as I was shutting down my research laboratory in Antarctica that I couldn't quite fulfill my promise." Her face quirked into an apologetic grin. "You see, you have a few of my siblings trapped in a dimension that is technically within the boundaries of our agreement. I can't bring you proof of their not being here, as they are both here and not here at the same time." The grin became a pleasant smile. "I do thank you for remembering my name, though."

A trillion thoughts crossed his mind as he looked upon her. She was, without question, the largest mass murderer on the planet. She was the last representative of an entire branch of life. She had slaughtered men, women, and children. She had done so because humanity and Angels could not co-exist. He himself had murdered, percentagewise, a more than equal share of her kin in comparison to her having killed those of his. She was the last chance for some life to be restored. "Are you able to infect me?"

"No." She shook her head, not questioning the question. "You, and any you have tied to you, are protected by…magic is such an unscientific term, but it's the best word I have to hand. You see, your physical structure is being kept intact by several competing forms of magical energies. One, the type formed by what we would have considered Greek Myths in our reality, is structured so that it keeps your general physical form intact. It's attached itself to your DNA and RNA in such a way that prevents significant harmful mutations or adaptations. Another is the type formed by the youkai magics, which seeks to circumvent the Greek magics by constantly rewriting your DNA and RNA to adapt to both a changing environment and growing capabilities. A third is through those…well, they look like crystals but they really are not simple silicate structures. They're doing something to you, but that's kind of new to me. Regardless, the long and short of it is no. Your cognition and that magic prevent me from doing so."

He nodded slowly, following along despite lacking specifics. "I'm going to have a difficult time stopping them from harming you."

"I will not hold that against you. It is not in your nature to command, not even those who would eagerly follow. You will ask that they not, which is enough for me. I will not defend myself, nor will I hold it against them. I am responsible for the deaths of far too many, and my crimes are far too numerous, to expect simple forgiveness."

Stepping out, he picked up her bags. "Come in. I'll make you something to eat while you explain how we're going to do this."

Had he been looking at her, instead of turning abruptly and carrying her bags towards The Tree, he would have seen a look of immense pain cross Ireul's face.

+++++ Runic Throne. (Tuesday + 2,964)

"Iri," The Wanderer paused the mirror's display, looking to his increasingly gravid wife, "how angry am I about to be?"

"Your words were, and I quote, 'Do not, under any circumstances, set foot through this portal.' I did not set foot through the portal. I, instead, encouraged her to visit the mirror where I had a lovely conversation with myself. What she did not already know by being a part of me, or what she inferred by my speaking to myself, may or may not impact anything she does." Ireul was perched on her husband's knee, looking up at him with calm, dispassionate, poise. She knew she was in no danger of anything but a tongue-lashing. She also knew that he knew that she'd enjoy it.

"Damn it, Iri…." He closed his eyes and blew out a sigh.

"You did not want to risk the baby. I did not want to risk the baby. This pregnancy has gone on for-fucking-ever, and I do not want to have suffered through this for nothing." She tapped his nose, making him look at her again. "And by 'this' I mean everything we've gone through. Standing there, holding my distant sibling's bags, is a fantastic representative of Shinji-kind. Strong, passionate, thoughtful, and willing to sacrifice. She knows what is at stake, realizes what has happened, and will do what she can to make it right without giving away the full truth. Who better than someone with a completely alien point of view to help guide someone responsible for Chaos? His morality will have to change if he is to avoid becoming an existential threat, moving from black and white, or right and wrong, to something more akin to green and thong."

He frowned, in the way that he tended to when thinking. "I'm surprised you're wearing a thong. That's usually not your thing."

"Who said I'm wearing anything at all?"

"…I see."

"Not yet you haven't. Do you want to yell at me for something you can't impact, or did you want to go take a peek at something you can?"

+++++ Hikawa Shrine. (Tuesday + 31)

Ireul had begun to appreciate the differences in the various cuisines of Earth, having spent time analyzing the memories of the creatures she'd incorporated into her biomass. From ostentatious displays of extravagant wealth to prepackaged meals with far too much sodium chloride, she honestly believed that she had managed to taste all there had been to taste. The overwhelming simplicity of the meal she now had before her, with subtle flavors that cooperated harmoniously with the light amount of seasoning applied, proved her wrong about yet another thing. After swallowing her fifth bite, she looked upon a man she had completely misunderstood with a brilliant smile filled with praise. "This is fantastic! Thank you, thank you very much for making this for me."

'Praise', as a concept, was honestly something both foreign to Shinji as well as incredibly addictive. He blushed slightly, and looked down to where his hands rested in his lap. "It's nothing. Just what I could make with what I had in here."

"Then I look forward to our success, so that we can provide you with ingredients worthy of your skill." She knew that she couldn't push him too hard in any one direction, the information she'd received from her counterpart had filled in many of the incongruities that she'd picked up on. She wanted to succeed, not just for the world…but for the man who had suffered so much to save it. Motioning with her chopsticks, she indicated a section of fish. "I was thinking, while I walked here, that maybe we could start by cleaning out the water of the various contaminants that have been put there by humanity. Petroleum products, radioactive materials, general garbage. There is an enormous patch of floating plastic in a gyre somewhere south and east of us, even cleaning that alone would give us a higher likelihood of restoring aquatic life to the world."

He pursed his lips in thought. "I'm not sure how much…control? I've never tried to move a large mass of water before. I've been working with stones and metals, more. Although…." His head bobbed side to side. "I remember reading about a scientist from Berlin that had made a breakthrough in developing a form of artificial proteobacteria that turned petroleum products, like plastic and oil, into carbon dioxide and water. The bacteria were already doing that, but his discovery was a way to make the process far more rapid. Something about controlling the heat output so that they bacteria didn't boil itself alive."

"A natural heatsink?"

"Biological nanomachines. They used the energy created by the proteobacteria to create duplicates of themselves, then self-destructed. The nanomachine was made of some form of plankton, which sank to the bottom of the body of water and was consumed by crustaceans, and the proteobacteria continued to consume the oil without overheating. He'd developed this after a terrorist polluted the aquarium waters of some of the last known sharks on Earth. He was desperate to find a way to save the biodiversity of the planet, without killing humanity in the process."

Ireul slowly chewed through more of her meal. "I think I can replicate that more easily, with natural proteobacteria. I'm a virus, which means I can control the way RNA and DNA cooperate. With a little help from you, we might be able to make this-"

The door into the dining area swung open, interrupting the conversation. Standing in the doorway, frowning at a woman she didn't recognize, was Sarah. "Shinji…where did she come from?"

"Antarctica." He knew he'd have to explain this eventually, but like usual he didn't want to do it more than once. "Where's everyone else?"

"Eating up in the apartment. Discussing how to cheer you up. I got bored and came down to try and cheer you up directly." Crossing the floor towards him, she kept her body positioned to best defend him. "Did some of the researchers on Antarctica survive?"

"No." Calmly reaching over, he took her by the arm and pulled her towards him without much force to show that she needed to remain calm. "Could you please go get everyone else? I am safe, she couldn't hurt me if she wanted to. I don't want to have to go over this a hundred times, and I trust you to not panic them by making this out to be what it's not."

She considered him, and his request, for a moment. "In exchange for a kiss."

He blushed, again.

Bending down, she placed her lips against his and worked him into a warm exchange of affections. Breaking it off, she quietly whispered, "Are you lying?"

"Do I ever?"

"…Good." Another quick kiss and she stood back up to look at Ireul. "Are we going to have a problem?"

"Not if I can avoid it, no. I'd much rather being allowed to enjoy well-made meals, engaging conversations regarding scientific issues, and exposure to other pleasant stimuli." Ireul kept her face neutral, knowing all too well that mammals tended to view smiles as an act of aggression if their territory was threatened. "I swear, under the Laws, that I have no plans or intentions to become a threat to the peace or tranquility of this planet."

"Hmph. Fair enough." Gesturing with her index and middle fingers to her own eyes, she then flicked them towards Ireul before turning and walking away to be about her task.

Once the door closed again, she increased the pace of her meal consumption. "I get the feeling I'm about to have to embrace a form of masochism. Possibly religiously."

Shinji blew out a sigh. "I'll do what I can to get them to see reason. I'm not happy with you, or what you've done." His eyes demonstrated easily how tired he was of everything. "But violence is just going to be a waste of time."

With her eyes focused on her food, she hesitated to say anything. It wasn't that she was afraid of it being a lie, as she truly felt what it was that she wanted to say. She just didn't believe that he'd believe her, not after everything she'd done. "…I'm sorry."

All his life, he had been the one to say those words. Only recently had he begun to hear others say them to him, and not once that he could remember had anyone said them unprompted. "A sane man probably wouldn't believe you…I guess it's a good thing I'm fucking nuts."

The doors exploded inwards, tearing free of their hinges, both panels swallowed up by portals that Shinji reflexively opened to keep them from striking anyone. Eyeing the woman that had done the destruction, as well as those that came with her, he focused on the former, "Mizore, I would not be sitting here calmly if I was in danger."

"Yes you would, because you're a fucking idiot sometimes," the yuki-onna countered with a scowl at him. Marching towards the table, she leaned against the foot of the latest iteration of the piece of furniture that had been destroyed repeatedly already, threatening to continue the trend. Glaring death at Ireul, she raised one eyebrow. "Who the fuck are you?"

Lamenting that she had not been allowed to finish her dinner, the Angel of Terror carefully pushed her plate away, then her chair back, and stood to greet the women of the household with a deep, and polite, bow. "My name, as you would know it, is Ireul. I am here to do whatever I can to help restore what I destroyed in my ignorance."

Rei sucked in a sharp breath, her time at the private religious academy bringing forth concepts to go along with the name. "You…you're an Angel?"

"Fear, I want to say." Daphne had cautiously moved to stand next to Shinji, intent on keeping him safe. "My Ancient Hebrew is weak, but I want to say that your name would translate as 'Fear of God'."

"Terror, or fear if you'd prefer, would have been my area of expertise, had I not been both misled and betrayed." Once more, Ireul stood back up from the bow with cautious slowness. "I come from the same reality as the Angelslayer. I, and my siblings, believed this world to be a chance to rebuild what had been taken from us. That is, of course, until I met this reality's version of my father. Here, he represented the branch of life that is antithetical to my own…and yet he still sought to destroy the life that had already flourished on this world. Each version of him, since the very first, has always sought to destroy what Lilith of Eden created. We were told that she was the thief. That she was the one who killed our ancestors. That she was, from our perspective, evil." Interweaving her fingers together, she let her arms hang before her. "Like any child who knows no better…we believed our father. By the time we learned of his deception, we…I had already committed atrocities."

Frost crept along the table from where Mizore was leaning harder into it. "You and your siblings murdered billions."

"A shame that I shall never be able to wipe clean."

Shinji watched the situation developing, a strange form of apathy growing in his heart. He felt that it was to Ireul's credit that she was not defending herself, physically or verbally. She had done something terrible, something incomprehensibly vile, and instead of fleeing to another world or standing here and insisting that all she had done was 'follow orders', she admitted her guilt and prepared to accept whatever fate awaited her. "But she's going to try." His statement brought everyone's eyes to him. "I can't undo what I've done, either. The women that were killed because I allowed them to be near me. The people that died during the battles I fought. The hurtful things I've said to people."

"I think the scale might be a little different, big guy," Sarah had crept over to flank him on the side opposite Daphne, "just slightly."

"It's pointless to waste time comparing them, and it's pointless to take revenge for people that aren't going to come back." He looked over to the blonde American, sensing that she was looking to him for a clue as to what they should do. "You heard her swear an oath. She swore an oath to not lie or be misleading to me as well. If she can't tell the truth, she's just not going to speak. That's so that she has some dignity, and I can respect the need for some small measure of privacy. She and I, and anyone else that can set aside their anger long enough to try and fix things, are going to work together to restore life to this planet. We're starting with aquatic life. One, because she likes the way I make Blue-fish. Two, because back on the planet we're from there wasn't any aquatic life. And three, and this is really the most important point, because if we fuck it up at least it's not going to look like a beloved pet with its skin on backwards and its eyes stuck inside its ass." He idly gestured towards where the Angel was standing. "I'm not asking you to like her. I'm not asking you to trust her. I'm not even asking you to speak to her. If you have to beat the shit out of her to get it out of your system, that's between you and her. She's not going to fight back. She's not going to defend herself. You're going to be physically assaulting a prisoner of conscience that is intent on doing whatever she can to bring life back to this shithole of a planet. I'm not going to judge what anybody does. It's not my fucking place to." Slowly standing up, he spread his hands in disgusted surrender. "Do whatever you want. I'm going to go back and lay down. If I can remember what I forgot, I'll go to sleep. If I can't, I won't. She and I are going to start tomorrow morning, so whatever you do…be done by then."

When Shinji turned to walk away, Sarah moved ahead of him to open the door to his room. "I'm laying down with you tonight. I've been sleeping better with you next to me, and I'm tired of having nightmares." She looked to Ireul, contempt clear in her eyes. "I hate you," she paused, "but he's right. It's not right to beat someone up who has no intention of defending themselves, regardless of what they did. I'm not an animal."

The door closing behind them was enough of a warning to Shinji that he was about to lose his balance. Just as he'd anticipated, Sarah jumped up and latched onto his neck from behind. He felt her wrap her legs around his waist, felt the strength on display in such a small package, and felt like he was being asked to be a rock for a few minutes. "Thank you."

"I disagree with you. I lied, out there, because I wanted to support you. I want to go out there and beat her until my fists are broken and tattered. I want to go out there and tear her fucking hair out and choke her to death with it. I want to hurt her like nobody's ever been hurt before…." She found a way to hug him tighter. "She killed my family. She killed Urashima-san. I don't care that she was misguided, or lied to, or betrayed…."

"Yes, you do." He used his superior size and threw her off his back, sending her over his shoulder, onto the bed. While she righted herself, frowning at him, he crouched down so that he was looking at her eye to eye. "Because you were misguided. You were lied to. You were betrayed. You see, through her actions, what you did to Urashima-san, only a million times worse. You see the abuse that you engaged in, believing it was the right thing to do because it's what the people you should have been able to trust had been doing. I mean what I said out there. I'm not going to judge you, it's not my place. I've done more than enough terrible shit in my life, I don't need to pretend that somehow makes me qualified to berate others for their misdeeds."

Sarah reached one hand out to him. Not grasping, not demanding, not insisting, just reaching out for him. It was the clearest offer he'd ever received. What she needed, what she wanted, and what she offered, all distilled down to a single, tiny, hand. There was nothing more worth saying, in her opinion. Nothing worth wasting time over. She had chosen her path, and she wanted to walk along it with him.

"You know…I should thank you, as well." Taking her hand between his thumb and forefinger, he pulled it to his lips and gently kissed the knuckles. "You could have done what you wanted to do. You chose to support me instead." Resting her knuckles against his forehead, he let a sad smile cross his lips. "I'm so terrified of losing everyone…and you've never once thought to do anything but support me."

"That's because all you've done is support me." Sarah reached out her other hand, and pulled him up towards the bed…and her. "You've been smacked around, beaten down, torn to ribbons, and each time it's happened, you've come back. Yes, you left because you were angry. You left to clear your head. But even when you could have stayed away, you didn't." Soon, she was laying in his arms, curled into his chest. "Life overwhelmed us. That doesn't mean it gets to control us."

+++++ Hikawa Shrine. (Tuesday + 31)

Silence reigned in the dining room as three very different opinions were weighed against the continued inaction of the Angel standing there with shame hanging from her. Unexpectedly, it was Ireul that broke that silence after five sustained minutes of it, "He has a way about him, doesn't he?"

"It's a product of who he is, and what's happened to him." Rei moved closer to the stranger in their strange land, analyzing her features. "So, you can assume the form of anyone you want?"

"Anyone I've absorbed, without imperfections. I could make myself look similar to you, but there would be some guesswork involved that someone who knows you well would see through."

"I always hated this weatherlady. She was always parading her tits around, relying on physical appeal rather than any actual meteorological knowledge." Rei rolled her hand sluggishly. "Can you find someone else?"

Ireul shifted her appearance to one of the Polish scientists that had died running away from their fate. Bright red hair, broad shoulders and hips, she wore the same sweatpants and sweatshirt combination the woman had died in. "Is this more to your liking?"

"Why do you think we're going to allow you anywhere near him?" Mizore fought for calm, her pride stung by Shinji's blistering retort. "You have murdered nearly nine billion sentient beings, what right do you have to be here?"

"The same right you do," Daphne sighed out. "If we're going to start comparing the morality of our positions, I believe we're just going to come away disillusioned with the entire adventure." Gesturing to the seat that Ireul had previously occupied, she took the seat Shinji had left behind. "Sit down, finish your food. No reason to waste it."

Rei moved around Ireul to sit at the head of the table, guarding the only path available to Shinji. "As someone who has murdered one of her best friends, I'm inclined to agree with Daphne…to a point. You swore an oath not to lie, or be misleading?"

"I did." Ireul slowly took her own seat, keeping her motions well-projected to avoid any misinterpretations. "I also swore to not harm anyone living here, and to do everything I could reasonably be expected to do to keep you safe." Picking up her chopsticks again, she shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "I'm here because I chose to be here. I could have left with the others. Could have taken the Judge's offer and been far away from everyone here." Carefully sectioning of a piece of fish, she looked to Mizore. "Justice was his name. The brother of Hope."

"You said what, now?" The yuki-onna took in both Rei's thoughtful frown and Daphne's perplexed expression. "Her brother offered you a lift somewhere?"

"Yes. He said that he was trying to help Hope by removing those of us that were willing to accept defeat without trial by combat. Hope was then supposed to offer that as a form of dowry to Shinji, to encourage him to tie his fortunes to hers."

Daphne watched as Mizore stormed back outside, clearly intent upon swearing at a greater volume than was socially acceptable directly next to the bedchamber of someone trying to rest. "His…remit has begun to manifest itself in increasingly awkward ways."

"Remit?" Rei tilted her head. "You mean the Chaos thing?"

"He controls the space between, yes. The void where nothing can reside. He does, however, also have authority over the chaotic happenings of reality. The intensely improbable has every chance of becoming actualized in his presence, and the stronger he grows…."

Ireul swallowed another mouthful. "The farther away 'in his presence' is going to be."

+++++ Tokyo Harbor. (Wednesday + 32)

The day was, by Shinji's standards, very pleasant. The weather was cold enough to warrant a coat for Sarah, overcast enough that the sun wasn't blasting down on them, and dry enough that they could work without worrying over their footing. He hadn't had much sleep the night before, though it wasn't for the reasons he believed Sarah would have preferred. She'd insisted on taking off her pants and shirt, and then removing his pants, but hadn't pushed him further than that. Laying in his arms, she took her opportunity to improve their skills at kissing, and luxuriated in the heat he provided under his covers. Ultimately, though, she accepted the compromise of turning about and laying with her back to his front. For Shinji, that was a decidedly comfortable position. She 'fit' against him pleasantly, and once she was asleep she didn't fidget at all. He was almost reluctant to move when day broke.

Lifting up another wall for their experimental pool, using the metal from the mess of shipping containers available, he held it in place for Rei to use her newfound abilities to weld it together. "Thanks for coming out today. I'm…sorry I was so…short, last night."

"Don't worry about it," she replied with a genuine smile. Rei enjoyed seeing him happy, for a change. The way he enjoyed the activity, that he was eager to do things instead of just talk about them, played well off of the conversation she'd had with Sarah where the blonde admitted they hadn't really done anything. It was a silly wish, on Rei's part, but she truly wanted to be 'the first' to cross that boundary with him. To give him something special, so that he would have it to hold onto in times of darkness. "It's been aggravatingly stressful lately, and we're all just…wound up. If you want to make it up to me, you can come to my room when we get back and let me make you something to eat."

With the final jointing done, he leaned back and stretched out his body some. "Ok…yeah." Standing back upright, he looked around to see if anyone was standing nearby, then leaned in closer to Rei. "Would you mind…uhm, talking about…the other day? I know you said you forgive me, but…."

Her heart was nearly bursting with joy, and she had to fight to restrain it. "Absolutely. If you think we need to clear the air, then we'll clear the air. I can cook and talk at the same time."

His smile was relieved. "Great. I…." He hesitated, visibly.

"Go ahead and say it, whatever it is." She, visibly, encouraged him to push through that hesitation.

"I'm really a very lucky man, to…you know…have someone like you willing to overlook the idiocy of someone like me." His left shoulder shifted uncomfortably. "Thank you…for being who you are."

She wasn't able to restrain herself any longer. Springing towards him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tight while laughing brightly. Beyond the joy of being told by someone that they enjoyed you for you, there was the relief of hearing even a minor strain of happiness after nothing but weeks of misery. When his arms encircled her, supporting her with her feet off the ground and cradling her as if she were the finest prize in the universe, she swallowed a squeal of giddy pleasure. "We may fight, we may get mad at one another…but I'd never trade you for anyone else. Never."

The sound of water assaulting the walls of the makeshift pool startled them both, driving Shinji to pull Rei away from him and place her behind him where she'd be safer. Standing up on one of the walls they'd built, Mizore lifted one eyebrow challengingly. "Are we, or are we not, supposed to be working?"

Shinji relaxed, seeing the intricate loop that Mizore had crafted from ice to deliver seawater into the container. "I apologize. I…think I'm becoming addicted to having someone hug me."

Adorned in her green plugsuit, the yuki-onna dropped down beside both Rei and Shinji, then pulled them into a group hug. "I'm teasing. Probably with a little more force than I ought to, but I'm just teasing. I'm glad you're not angry with each other, and I'm glad that you're laughing, even if it is through tears."

Rei let go of her irritation at having had the moment ruined, accepting the truth of the matter that they were actually supposed to be working. "Keep that in mind when you wake up with your bed on fire, yeah?"

"No pranks," Shinji stated with a surge of forcefulness. "I…I can take teasing…but no pranks."

"Fair enough," Mizore acquiesced without a fight. "I'll limit myself to playful banter and sudden loud noises."

The appearance of Ireul atop the water tank brought Shinji out of the hug, where he hefted himself up to join the Angel and escape the slightly embarrassing situation below. "How do you want to run the experiment?" Compared to the tone he used with the women he'd just fled from, his voice was coated in frost colder than the air around them. "I can probably find some oil in one of these ships."

If the tone bothered Ireul, she didn't show it. "That might be best. We can't be certain what has mixed in with this water, and having a visible change will help us know if I'm having any impact." Ireul looked around, then gestured to an overturned trawler lying half on and half off one of the cement piers. "That shouldn't be running on any form of bio-diesel. Let's take what we can from that, since it likely wasn't well-maintained even before everything."

He followed her arm, then nodded. "Right. I'll be back in a second."

Rei noticed the change in demeanor that Ireul underwent, going from calm and professional to pained and sad. Jumping up to where the Angel stood, she quietly asked, "Any particular reason you're not showing him how remorseful you are?"

"Because he knows, and the constant reminder won't help him get this done." She shook her head, anticipating the next question. "I have never before felt guilt for the things I have done. I have certainly never apologized to another sentient being for the doing of them. I am in uncharted territory, and am doing the best I can to not make this seem as if it is about me. The best, and perhaps only, apology I can offer is this attempt at restoring a functional biosphere. If I can help him create life beyond the few extremophiles that I did not bring into my gestalt, then I will see if there is any chance of my being worthy of a pardon. Otherwise, what point is there in wasting his time with my personal failings?"

"Found a barrel." Shinji grunted as he hefted the container up onto the ledge of the test pool. When he saw that Rei and Ireul were speaking to one another without apparent rancor developing, he frowned, then nodded. "Good. Thank you for not tearing into each other. We've got a job to do, and it isn't going to get done if we're at each other's throats." Tapping the top of the barrel, he looked at Ireul. "Whole thing? Just a bit?"

"Perhaps half of a liter, if you could." Ireul motioned to the center of the pool. "The closer to the middle, the easier this will be to see without microscopic assistance."

Punching a hole in the top of the metal barrel with his fist, he then used his hand to scoop out several handfuls of the semi-thick liquid. "I think it began to freeze." Dumping what he had into the center as best as possible, he then swished his hand about in the water to clean it off some before holding it up and away from both barrel and pool. "Rei, could you burn the rest of this off, please?"

The Sailor gave him an incredulous look. "You want me to set your hand on fire?"

"No, I want you to set the diesel on fire. My hand probably won't feel it." With the hand not coated in flammable liquids, he gestured to her target. "I've had my upper torso blown to atoms. I'll survive a little flame."

"No." She rolled her eyes heavenward. "No, I am not going to light my boyfriend on fire simply because it's more expedient than him using soap and water."

Mizore appeared behind him, and began soaping up his hand firmly. "Our ladylove is quite correct. There will be no setting of flame to the boyfriend without me murdering the person responsible. They have chemical spill stations with what we need for just this very situation. Let's use the less extreme methods first, ok?"

With the debate settled, Ireul crouched down and set one finger to the surface of the water. That finger disfigured as segments fell off into the pool, moving slowly towards the oil slick from where the diesel and water refused to mix with one another. "To set expectations, my hope is that these lifeforms adapt quickly to the saltwater environment. I've given them RNA markers that will lead them to prefer petroleum-based products, but life has a tendency not to listen to even the most well-laid plan. We should see in…ten or so minutes, if there has been any success."