Kishi: The end of the battle doesn't equate to the end of the story. Whether that is a source of joy or detriment is up to the readers.
***
Jikoken'o Muyo!
Chapter 15
***
The light cleared into darkness. But it wasn't the supernatural darkness of evil or of Hell. Rather, it was a darkness pierced by soft pinpricks of light. Two crescent slivers shone, a small green and a marginally larger red. The clouds were conspicuously absent, leaving one part of the planet Jurai awash in uninhibited moonlight.
When Nobuyuki awoke, he initially saw more stars than were present in the sky. He sat up, shaking his head, then put his hand to it regretfully when he felt the dizziness increase. He took a few deep breaths, then looked around. Everything was very quiet, daemon corpses littering the landscape. But there was no sign of Kain. The wind blew over the plain, the grass shining with reflected starlight.
"Okay," said Nobuyuki. "I feel too dizzy to be dead, so I'm alive. I think. Where's everybody else?" He looked around, slowly, gently rotating his head, taking in everything he could. He peered out into the gentle darkness, eyes piercing until they caught sight of a pure, beautiful – familiar? – form.
The wind was playing with her long black hair, stirring her long white kimono. Her back was to him, her arms were held wide open, as if she could somehow embrace all of existence. Nobuyuki knew of one person who had elicited such an emotional response from him. But she was dead… wasn't she?
Off to his left, he saw Tenchi struggling to his feet. He had lost the white battle armor, and Nobuyuki had trouble seeing him with the drab colors blending slightly with the darkness. He was weaponless, and was watching this newcomer with an apparent sense of apprehension. "Who are you?" he asked.
She turned her head slightly, her silhouette made just a little clearer. "You know who I am," she said. With that simple sequence of action and speech, she had made herself so much more familiar. Tenchi's eyes widened, and Nobuyuki began to step forward. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be.
"Oh, I believe this is yours," she said, tossing the Tenchiken. Tenchi caught it with what seemed, to Nobuyuki, to be a degree of numbness.
"M… mom?"
"Yes, Tenchi," she said, her voice quiet, tranquil, joyful. And quite suddenly, Masaki Achika was enveloped in the arms of her family.
*
Out in space, there was no more flying, no more dying, no more plasma bursts or gem beams. If anything, there was a sense of exhausted peace. The carcasses of Daemon and Jenshin ships floated in space. The battle was over.
Sasami sat up on the 'floor' of the Tsunami computer core. Her head ached terribly, and everything was totally dark. As her mind cleared, light seemed to spread out from around her, illuminating the core. A screen folded out of thin air in front of her, and Shino's face appeared before her. "Sasami! Thank God! We thought you were dead!"
"Why would you think that?"
"After the battle, the Tsunami's systems went totally dead. We figured since it was dead, you were…" He left the sentence unfinished.
"Well, I'm just fine! What's happened? Are there any enemies left?"
"Nope. It turns out my hunch was right. As soon as we took out that ship, there was this huge amount of inter-dimensional turbulence. Ships started disappearing or exploding under the sudden stress. And when it was over, they were all gone."
Sasami sighed. It's over. It's finally over! "Wait. What happened to our ships?"
"I'm afraid we lost a lot of good men today, Sasami," said Shino. "270 ships lost, and the rest of us are pretty much totaled. I don't even want to hazard a guess at how many – Sasami?"
Sasami looked up, wiping tears from her eyes. "Oh Shino… oh, I'm so sorry…."
"Hey. Hey! Snap out of it! You've got nothing to be sorry for!"
"I wasn't strong enough…."
"Sasami, if it wasn't for you, we couldn't have won."
"But so many dead…."
"Better that they should die for a good cause as opposed to organized thievery," said Shino.
Sasami was silent for a moment, as she regained her composure. "It's over, isn't it?
"Yes it is."
"And I don't have to fight anymore?"
"No, you don't."
"Good. Because, really, I think all I wanna do is just go home…."
*
In a higher plane, Washyuu sat up, rubbing her head. "Oh wow," she groaned. "That hurt. Why do the bad guys always gotta be such a pain?"
"I hear," said Tsunami, who was kneeling, panting slightly. She looked at Washyuu and suddenly gasped.
"What is it?" asked Washyuu. Turning to look back at her, she gasped in similar fashion. Both of them had lost their tired, faded looks. Their clothes were now completely white. Every single aspect of themselves was purified, made somehow more complete than they had been before.
"How did this happen?" whispered Tsunami.
"Ah! You're awake!" The megami turned to the source of this new voice and were shocked to see a young man standing nearby. He was tall, dark and strong looking, with white hair and white eyes. He was clad in a pair of white leggings and a white tunic. He wore no shoes or sandals. Most intriguing about this being, though, were the holes in his hands and feet, and the strange cut marks showing on his forehead.
He was familiar, yet strange; old, yet new; feared, yet loved. Contradictory emotions ran through the megami, and they suddenly felt weak in the knees, unable to stand.
He smiled slightly and walked over to them, helping them each up to their feet. "Who are You?" asked Washyuu.
"You called for Me," He said. "I answered."
"So you're God?"
"Who do you think I am?"
"I must admit," said Tsunami slowly, "that I've never seen you before, ever, and I am one of the three Elder megami."
"I am older than even you," He replied. "Your memories go back to 3 billion years ago. I have memories going back to 3 trillion years and beyond."
"But not even this universe is that old!" said Washyuu.
"I existed before this universe, before the whole Big Bang that you scientists speak so highly of," replied the Being. "And I existed through dimensions and universes that existed before this one. Do not be so prideful to assume that this is the only universe I could create."
"You?" Washyuu's eyes widened just a little. "Who are You really?"
"Who do you think I am?"
Assuming He has no reason to lie, He can only be… Washyuu gasped. "… God?"
"I am Yeshiva, His Son," He replied.
"Was it You who answered us?" asked Tsunami wonderingly.
"I am."
"But why now?" Tsunami asked. "Why didn't You say anything before?"
"You're a free being," He replied. "I made you with the ability to see whatever you wished to see. You didn't wish to see Me, so you didn't."
As she gazed at Him, Tsunami felt an increasing sense of familiarity. To look upon this Being – Yeshiva, she corrected herself – was to feel a sense of belonging unlike anything she'd ever felt before. Quite suddenly she realized that, for the first time, she felt less like a megami, and more like… like a child….
Taking one trembling step forward, then another, she reached out her arms and touched His face. He smiled in return. "Don't fear," He said softly. Finally, unable to restrain herself, she embraced Him and began to weep joyfully.
He returned the embrace, at once crushing and gentle, as He said to her, "I missed you."
"I missed you too," she said, sniffling in the most un-megami-like manner.
"And what of you, Washyuu?" asked Yeshiva.
"I just don't get it," she said. "I just don't see how I missed you. I mean, me of all people! I'm the one who sees this stuff coming!"
"You aren't omniscient," He replied gently.
"But why didn't You show up sooner?"
"Would you have believed Me if I did?"
Washyuu sighed. "Probably not."
"You wanted proof of Me," said Yeshiva. "Faith wasn't enough. You had to have some sort of evidence."
"I could've believed on my own!"
"Could you?" Washyuu opened her mouth to respond, but He continued, "You placed your faith in people and things that turned around and betrayed you. That's why you became such a great scientist. Faith was the traitor, but proof was the savior, in your eyes."
"But in the end, it took faith anyway," finished Washyuu.
"Blessed are those who believe without seeing," He said.
She sighed. "You win."
Yeshiva grinned good-naturedly. "I always do."
*
Lying in the green grass, two people with blue hair were recovering from the flight of their lives. Ryoko, propped up on one hand, had scratches all over her body, some of which were still bleeding a little, and she was panting tiredly. Kyrin was lying on his back, staring up into the star-strewn sky, his armor battered and his skin burned.
Smirking lustily, she looked over at him and asked, "Was it good for you?"
He stared at her for a split second before they both broke out laughing. Then, sighing contentedly, he said, "I can't believe Kain's finally gone."
"How does it feel to have all the voices gone now?" she asked, teasingly.
"The only thing that is deafening now is the silence," he replied. "It's a nice change."
"I bet."
"How about the voices in your head?" he asked back.
She frowned in concentration, then relaxed. "Looks like they're all right," she said, smiling just a little.
"See, your voices are nice," he said. "They don't seek you out in the night to kill you, or possess you, like mine did. I know you haven't exactly had an easy life, but you've got to admit you're a bit better off than you thought."
"I guess so," she replied. She lay down next to him. "So what are you going to do now?"
"Now that I'm not running away, I don't know. Maybe it's time to go say hi to my family back home. Maybe go back to the monastery, even."
"Why can't you stay with us?"
Kyrin's eyebrows rose a little. "Excuse me?"
"Well, I'm sure Washyuu could set up a portal system of some kind, so you could visit home whenever you wanted, and you could stay and live with us, or…."
"You want me to stay."
"Wha--?" Flustered, Ryoko shook her head. "No, it's not me, it's everyone else. I mean, Sasami likes you, and you taught the Disastrous Duo a few tricks, the old man likes training with you, did I mention Sasami likes you?"
"What about you?" he asked.
"Well…." Ryoko paused. What about her? She had developed some amount of affection for this man who claimed to love her, but did that mean she was in love? "Well," she finally said, "I think it'd certainly be interesting to keep you around."
"Heh." He looked back up to the stars. "Maybe…."
*
Sighing, Katsuhito sat down, leaning against a wall. Heaps of daemon corpses lay about him. The only testament to his involvement on his person was a stiff right shoulder when a daemon had smacked him. The bokken lying at his side was a bit more worn, but otherwise it looked no different.
"Well, well, well," came a familiar, gruff voice. Katsuhito looked up to see Azusa, a bit more worn with stab and cut marks all over his armor. "It's been a while since I've seen you Yosho."
"Long enough," said Katsuhito. "I don't like the politics, but this place is home."
"Indeed. Home is where the heart is, as your chosen people say."
Katsuhito shrugged. "Perhaps. I have a hard time differentiating between peoples anyway. It's only in the leadership."
"Come now," said Azusa. "I haven't done that badly, have I? Surely my mistakes and mishaps haven't alienated you have they?"
"No more than those of any other leader."
"But why didn't you ever come back?"
"I had my duties guarding Ryoko."
"There's more to it than that, Yosho," said Azusa, speaking his son's true name in calm even tones. "I know the wanderer's gleam when I see it. You were planning on leaving sooner or later anyway."
Yosho sighed softly. "I left," he said finally, "because my people looked less and less like real people and more and more like machines. They always catered to my will, never complaining for they feared me like a god." Pushing up his glasses, he continued, "I became more apathetic as time passed. But when I realized my arrogance, I was terrified and ashamed. I couldn't bear to rule if such was to happen to me. So I looked for a chance to run away, and along came Ryoko…."
"I see what you mean," said Azusa, walking over and sitting down beside him. Yosho made no move to get away. "It's tempting to think of people as less than they are, especially from the view of a leader."
"How is it possible to avoid that?"
Azusa shrugged. "I have two wonderful women to remind me." Yosho grinned a little at that. "But I walk among the people when I can. I go out, see what's going on in their lives. And by seeing like they do, I come to understand and love them. It helps me stay where I need to be."
"Or you could be like Tenchi," said Yosho thoughtfully.
"That boy is perhaps the most frustratingly indecisive youth I've ever seen," Azusa declared, chuckling just a little.
"He has a big heart," replied Yosho. "He's always slow to reach a decision, but he manages to hit on a fair and equitable solution every time. He'll make a fine leader."
"Even in this carnage."
"Yes."
Azusa sighed. "I'm not done yet. If I'm going to give him a planet, I'm going to give him a clean slate."
Yosho didn't say anything. He just mhm'ed and contemplated the stillness.
*
Kiyone sighed, running a hand through her hair. Flying through waves and waves of maneuverable humanoid attackers hadn't been fun to deal with. It had been really bad when they actually overwhelmed the hatch and tried to storm the control room. Though, she reflected, fighting daemons in a crashing ship – not to mention living through it – had to merit some sort of promotion.
Still, if it hadn't been for her Knight in Shining Armor, she wouldn't have made it. Azaka leaned against a control console, staff held loosely in the crook of his arm while he tried to staunch the bleeding of his left forearm.
"I don't know if I would have made it without your help," she said.
"Always glad to be of help," replied Azaka, grinning.
Kiyone nodded, looking around the ruined technological splendor that surrounded her. A couple of her consoles were sparking, lights were dead, and the monitors were out. The only thing that even looked like it was working was the lighting system, flickering at a speed that would give most fireflies a heart attack if they tried to match it. Through it, she could see that Azaka's arm wasn't ceasing to bleed.
"I think I've got something for that," she finally said, turning to rummage through the ruins of her consoles.
"No, that's all right," said Azaka. "I really don't think that's necessary."
"It wouldn't be, except your arm isn't mending. Now where is it…?" Kiyone pulled a white box out of one of the compartments beneath the console. Opening it, she took out a roll of bandage and, after getting Azaka to remove his hand, applied it to his arm. After pinning the bandage in place, she smiled.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" she asked.
Azaka snorted at the barb, but said "Thank you" just the same. That done, they began to make the somewhat difficult trip out of the Yagami. The difficulty stemmed from the fact that the trip was more of a climb, since the ship had crashed at a near vertical angle during the fight. It wasn't entirely impossible though, and they soon found themselves standing outside the aft opening of the Yagami.
The scene was one of craters and debris, with the capital Tsunami a smoking ruin. Yet, in the moon and starlight there were signs of survival – medical corps personnel flying their transports all over the battlefield to pick up the critically wounded, soldiers wandering the field calling their comrade's names, shouts of joy upon finding the living. Kiyone took a long breath of the cool night air. Looking up, she saw Yukinojo fly by, then land nearby. She could have sworn that Mihoshi would have crashed into a body of water if there were any. Hopping down, she could see Kamidake hobbling toward them.
Mihoshi leapt from the Yukinojo and ran toward them, waving. "Hi Kiyone!!! Hi A—" she smacked into Kamidake, who collapsed on the ground. "Eek!!" Mihoshi was up in an instant, and was propping Kamidake on her shoulder.
"Thank you," wheezed Kamidake, coughing a little.
"By the Divine, lad," Azaka ran to them, Kiyone just slightly behind. "What happened to you?"
"Let's just say I have a knack for ending up in situations that are less than advantageous to my health," said Kamidake, smiling wryly.
"C'mon," said Mihoshi, shouldering the greater portion of his weight, "let's get you to one of those ambulance-type thingies!"
In spite of it all, Kiyone smiled to herself. At last, it was over.
***
The recently reunited family held each other for what seemed to be an eternity. Tenchi and Nobuyuki had always felt the pain that comes only from the absence of something most dear. Holding her in their embrace, they both felt years of pain undoing as they stood.
Finally, they broke apart, looking at each other with tear-stained faces. Tenchi was the first to speak – "I… I don't understand. The dead don't come back."
Achika smiled at him. "The answer's simple, silly. I never died."
"What? But I remember… we had a funeral and everything," said Nobuyuki, his voice bewildered.
"A ceremony without a body," she said. "Let me tell you what happened."
Achika was sitting in the garden, considering fate. She'd always had an unnatural frailty about her that announced itself at the oddest possible times. The doctors had all said it was probably some sort of cancer, one that they couldn't diagnose.
She'd gone through every sort of purification ritual in Shinto, even made up a few, but nothing changed. She'd done her level best just to ignore it, but much as she tried to hide it from her family, the spells were stronger and more frequent as the months passed by.
Sometimes, they would cause her to hallucinate. She'd imagine that she was dressed in some sort of dress, facing a palpable darkness with a laughing face. Sometimes there was a disturbingly familiar boy there too, other times there were strange women dressed in fantastic unfamiliar garb.
"Why?" she asked, shivering in spite of the spring warmth. She crossed her arms as if she were embracing herself. "Why is this happening to me?"
"Because you have lost a part of yourself," said a voice to her left. She turned to see a middle-aged man seated next to her, dark, dressed in a plain white t-shirt and blue jeans. His white hair was long and he had a white scraggly goatee.
"A part of myself?" she asked.
"A part of you," He said, "that wants to return. You had it sealed off because you knew what would happen if you remembered."
"What will happen?"
"Your son will cease to be."
Taken aback, she stuttered, "Do-do-do you mean that I'll kill—"
"Oh no," He said, smiling, and Achika suddenly felt just a bit better. "See, you are one who is not of this world. You have traveled outside of this dimension's space and time, and lost a piece of yourself in the process. Quite simply, you are an incomplete alien paradox that is deteriorating in relation to the deterioration of your very soul."
"Are you saying I'm going to die?"
"Beings of this Plane have a tendency to do that," He answered. "But you will cease to exist."
Achika was stunned silent. She suddenly couldn't breathe.
The man continued, "I can save you, though."
"Why would you save me?"
"Because there is a time coming when great battles will be fought, and you are needed."
"So I'm a tool?"
"There's also the fact that I love you," said the man. "I have loved you since you first took breath, and I am eager to see you back to Me."
Looking at this man, Achika somehow knew that He wasn't lying to her – He really did have the power to save her. "What must I do?"
"You must give up all that is evil within you. Every evil thing you've ever done must be renounced in My name."
Achika was taken by a sense of shock. "Who are you to make such a request!"
"My name is Elohim. You may have heard of My Son, Yeshiva. I believe you call Him Kirisuto in this country."
Suddenly, the man was aflame with glory, and the rest of the world seemed somehow less real in His presence. Achika collapsed, bowing in worship of the Father, repenting and begging His forgiveness. The words streamed forth from her mouth until all that were left were dry sobs as she wept for shame and feelings of unworthiness.
She felt a hand touch her head. She looked up, and saw that the hand was being offered to her. She took it, and it helped her up.
"Let's take a walk," He said. They began to walk, talking to each other as they went. As they walked, the glory of God fell upon Achika, and suddenly, they were gone from this realm.
"You assumed I was dead because I disappeared without a trace," she finished.
"Dad, is that true?" asked Tenchi, incredulously.
"We… I… that is, well…." Finally, Nobuyuki sighed in defeat, dropping his arms to his sides. "We searched for her for days, but we couldn't find her. I told you she'd gone to the hospital, to stall you while we searched. But, when we found nothing…." He sighed again.
"Don't blame him, Tenchi," said Achika. "Either way, you both thought I was dead. It's nobody's fault."
Tenchi shook his head. "There is no fault. Dad was just trying to do his best under those circumstances. Who am I to say anything?"
Nobuyuki smiled in gratitude just as a figure stood in the grass. She wobbled a bit on her feet before sticking out a staff to catch her.
"Aeka?" Tenchi called.
"Tenchi? Is that you? I can't see you at all…."
Tenchi left the embrace of his parents, running toward her. She was a poor sight, her armor cracked, ripped in the cloth sections, her face burned horribly. She breathed with a wounded rasp, coughing slightly when he arrived.
"Is it over?" she asked softly. "Did I do well? Is it over?"
"Yes Aeka, it's over," said Tenchi. "And if you say anything about being weak I—I'll…." He sighed, finally saying, "I'll make you regret it, or something…."
Achika smiled as she watched. "He never was very good at frightening people, was he?"
"Never picked up a knack for it," replied Nobuyuki, grinning. "Not like this old bear."
Achika snickered softly. "Like that Christmas prank you played on your Architecture firm?"
"The one where Santa-san was revealed to be an alien and was sending an army of deranged elves to perform a corporate take-over?"
"Exactly! How many board meetings did they call over that one?"
"If I remember right, I think it was about 14 or so."
Achika shook with suppressed laughter. A slight flush rose in her cheeks. Slowly, Nobuyuki reached out and touched her cheek. She looked at him. He stroked her cheek, caressing her down the curve of her face from cheek to chin, and repeating.
Smiling, she said, "I'm not going anywhere."
"I know," he said. "But to know and then to live are two separate things…." He continued for a second more, then said, in an odd voice, "I missed you so much."
"I missed you too," she said, softly. "It hurt so much to watch when I felt I should have been there. Whenever you needed someone, you never had me." She took the hand and held it. "I prayed and prayed that you would find the Father, but it didn't happen."
"He has His ways, I guess," said Nobuyuki.
"And they are wonderful," said Achika. She returned the gesture of affection, stroking Nobuyuki's face. Suddenly, she was pulled into a bone-crushing embrace. She returned the favor as best she could, and all was peaceful for the first time in what felt like years.
***
In another dimension known as the abyss, Tokimi and Asrael appeared. They were burned, broken versions of themselves, 'bleeding' from dozens of wounds. But those would heal, in time. There was just one other thing to worry about.
He approached out of the darkness, a being that seemed of the void completely. He was dressed in black robes with a dark purple sash across his chest. His black hair hung down past his shoulders, unbound. His pale skin was a sharp contrast to the six black graceful wings that seemed to have sprouted from his shoulders. His black eyes looked them over.
"My-my lord," stammered Tokimi, fear quickening her heart. "Please, let me try to explain-"
At the same time, Asrael exclaimed, "We were tricked! Tricked! If you were to give us just one more-"
"Silence," said the being, his voice soft, cold, emotionless. He watched as Tokimi and Asrael lowered their heads to the ground.
"You had every advantage," he said, after a period of silence. "More soldiers, more ships, more power. You even had the privilege of Leviathan's vanguard, and you still didn't triumph."
Tokimi felt herself trembling. Please, please, she begged in her mind, please, don't burn me with your light. Spare me, oh Son of Morning, please, please….
"Therefore, it is good I didn't expect a victory."
Tokimi felt her heart stop.
"Now I know exactly what these people can do, will do. They have shown themselves like a book to me. They will not survive when we come for them next."
He patted them both on their shoulders. "Stand. You are at no fault."
Tokimi and Asrael rose, albeit somewhat unsteadily, to their feet. "What would you have us do, lord?" asked Tokimi.
"Gather your armies back together. Bring unto yourselves all the deceivers you can find. And this is what you shall tell them…."
***
All over the planet Jurai, celebrations were in full swing. The air was full of flower petals, people danced in the streets, and music filled the air. Tenchi was standing on a balcony, watching the festivities when Ryoko appeared beside him.
He looked over and asked, "How does it feel to be back here?"
She shrugged. "It's easier to enjoy without being on the run from countermeasures."
He smiled slightly at that. "We really haven't talked to each other very much throughout this whole time, have we?"
"We each had our own things to do," she said. "I had to reacquaint myself with my mother, you had to train, we all had to keep our eyes on Kyrin…."
They both lapsed into silence for a time, until Ryoko said, "I'd die for him."
"Excuse me?" asked Tenchi.
"For Kyrin, I mean," she elaborated. "I think I went to Hell and back for him. I know I care about him… but," she shook her head, "I'd do the same for you in a heartbeat."
"And I for you," he affirmed.
"What do these feelings mean, anyway?" she asked.
"It just means that you care," he replied. "It may be love, it may not be. All you can do, when it comes to these things, is your best."
"That sounds so Disneyish," she sighed. Then she slammed fist to palm. "All right. I'm gonna go get plastered. Wanna come?"
Tenchi looked down at the crowds below. Finally, he grinned. "Ah, what the heck."
Meanwhile, above them all, He watched. And He smiled. He extended His hand, and throughout the entire world, there was joy.
***
Kishi: And that, my friends, is it. It's over. Done. Fin. Finale. End.
::is sitting at a table on a corner café in Tsunami::
Kishi: I have to admit, it feels weird to sit here, typing up the end to this story that I have devoted so much of my time and creative energy to, but this is it. I didn't start writing this with the idea of going so heavily into theology and religion, and yet it happened. I can think of having brought it into the story in a more - perhaps natural is the word? – way. But I tried.
::takes a pull on the contents of the bottle which, until now, is conspicuously un-described::
Kishi: And I also have to admit, that I'm glad people actually read this. I had chapters of it on my hard drive for years, and nobody ever saw it. So to those of you who read it, regardless of whether you review or not – thank you very much.
::pauses in thought::
Kishi: And who knows? Maybe there's a sequel, somewhere down the line….
Tenchi Muyo and all related paraphernalia are copyrighted to AIC and Pioneer.
The only things that are mine are those things that I perceive as original, and thusly are mine. If you recognize an idea that you came up with first, all credit goes to you.
You can contact me at: Kirisutono_Kishi@robofan.com