The Bonds of Time
Chapter 11
Andrew Joshua Talon, with many thanks to Kanako Urashima
DISCLAIMER: Love Hina is not mine. I'm not making any profit off this fanwork, and the authors used own themselves. "The Love Hina Fan Boy War!" is the property of Kanako Himekazi-Urashima, which she gave me permission a while ago back to write a prequel to.
Therefore...
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Written by Kebinu, my esteemed colleague and friend. I would have asked my little brother, Ben, to write it himself, but he's more of a poet. And he likes to concentrate on writing for money, rather than fun. (sighs) Oi...
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"And Riam... He was another champion?"
"The champion of Lady Suu, actually. He was Seta and Sarah's bodyguard for a long time, and was involved with Sarah, too. But, his is a story best left for later."
"Later? Why later?"
"Well, you did inquire about my brother, did you not?"
"Can't blame a girl for asking, professor. The man was a total enigma. Even in your books, I never really got a sense of what made him tick."
"To be honest, I didn't have much of one either, Miss Arney," Talon sighed. "Like I said, my brother and I were never particularly close, even for family. After the Cataclysm, it was like he wasn't even my brother any more. And frankly, I don't think he even thought of himself as a human being--more like a human cog."
"Cog, sir?"
"Yes, a cog in the gears of fate. Ben saw himself as more of a means to an end than an individual, if you will. He essentially traded his own destiny for being able to see and guide the destinies of others. That's why I think it's a bit easier to define his life in terms of the lives he touched. And so the scene shifts again."
"Where to?"
"To the Great Lakes. One of Ben's most important, and fondest memories... his first meeting with the woman he would come to serve..."
***~''~***
"A good evening to you, Miss Kanako Urashima."
A black-haired girl paused at those words, and slowly turned to look over her shoulder at a young man standing slightly behind her. Said young man scratched his head, slightly ruffling his curly brown hair, and stepped out from the shadow of an abandoned elevated-train track on what was once upper Wacker Drive, Chicago. Her light brown, almost feline eyes narrowed in thinly veiled suspicion as she regarded him, analyzing him. No major aura of power, physically unthreatening… but she could sense something very peculiar about him.
"Telepath," she said casually. "Am I right? That's how you knew my name."
"As sharp as I expected," the young man smiled. "My name is Benjamin Talon, and I'm quite pleased to meet you. Honored, even. Welcome to Precogg, my town." He offered his hand to her.
"Sarcasm?" the girl shot back, looking at his hand warily. "I'm hardly the type that should be welcomed with open arms. Quite the opposite, really."
"No," replied Ben, shaking his head and looking gravely into her eyes. "If I held any intention of being sarcastic, I would have had my entire city gathered when you arrived, with a brass band and confetti. I truly am glad to meet you. You're the proof of the truth of my visions."
"Well, I'm glad you didn't go to all that trouble for me," she responded curtly, "Because I don't intend to stay long."
"Yes, I'm aware of that," Ben answered. "It's enough, though, just to be able to meet you. I must say, you're every bit as stunning as I expected."
"I don't take well to flattery," Kanako growled. "There's always an ulterior motive behind it."
"As cold as rumored," Ben sighed. "Miss Kanako, please do not be so suspicious. I know only snips of information about you, but I've been waiting for you for years. At the least, accept my hospitality."
Kanako regarded him again. She sensed no malicious intent in his words nor any evil in his ki. For now, she would trust him. "Well, Benjamin the telepath… I assume you know why I am here?"
"Not yet," Ben replied, smiling slightly, and offering his hand to her once again. "However, if you would indulge me for just a second…"
She nodded in understanding and grasped his hand, shaking it firmly. Abruptly a flood of people, places and events poured into Ben's brain. He had long grown accustomed to this unnatural sensation, which formed the base of his powers, and had learned to decipher and process it at near computer-like speed. He let his brain connect the dots, make order from chaos.
The future was revealed.
"Goddess of darkness, from the land of the rising sun. How ironic," Ben spoke quietly. "Miss Kanako, would you humor me and join me for dinner? I have much to discuss with you, and I would prefer not to do it in the middle of the street."
"Very well," Kanako responded, letting the faintest ghost of a smile cross her lips. "Just know that I may take off and leave at any time, if I feel like it."
"You are welcome to," Ben responded smoothly, as he walked down the street and gestured for her to follow. "This is a free community."
* * *
"It must have been difficult."
"Hmm?" Kanako paused, looking up from her dinner. She was eating conservatively, rice with wasabi sauce and some grilled salmon. It had been a long time since she had been able to indulge herself in the foodstuffs of her homeland, and did not wish for her stomach to take a shock to it.
"What you have been through, I mean," Ben responded, across the table from her. "You seem to leave a trail of blood in your wake."
"What choice did I have?" she responded sourly, looking out the window of the restaurant towards the darkened waters of Lake Michigan. "I've had to fight my whole life. From the time I was a little girl…"
"Being put up for adoption, growing up with no friends, being separated from your beloved brother, and finding out that his heart belonged to another. Quite a tragic existence. And then, with the Cataclysm."
"For a while I thought I was a changed person, after that day so many years ago," Kanako frowned. "I felt like, after that day, I didn't want to be alone any more. I didn't have onii-chan at my side, but… they were enough, for a while."
"The girls you once called your enemies. Rivals, then friends… finally, even a lover."
"I don't know why they cared about me," Kanako said blankly, staring at her food. "I was nothing special. But for five years we fought for our lives in the land of our birth, and we were as tight as the threads in a kimono. And they kept me at their sides, even though I didn't have any powers. I couldn't control fire like Naru could, I wasn't a mechanical genius like Su, I couldn't heal the sick like Shinobu… all I had were these hands."
"The hands that have taken the lives of over a thousand men," Ben spoke softly. "The hands that protected the very same girls you once accused of stealing your brother from you. The hands that comforted them when they were unable to carry on."
"Once again, I don't understand why they came to me," Kanako sighed. "But Motoko and Naru both cried on my shoulder when they lost their sisters. Motoko's died on that first horrible day, and Naru's was killed in the civil war in Japan. At a time like that, I didn't know how to comfort, didn't know what to say to them. But I think… maybe I came to understand that others were feeling the pain of loss just as I did."
"And you opened your heart to Aoyama."
"In retrospect, it couldn't have lasted long, but it made enough sense to me. Neither of us were graced with any special powers; we simply fought the way we had been trained to do. We came to rely on each other, and eventually… eventually, trust turned to lust."
"And she made you happy. You had found your glimmer of light amidst the darkness. Something snuffed that light out, however, and your relationship with Miss Motoko fell apart. That wedge that had always existed between you and the other girls was driven back in anew. You and I both know what, or perhaps I should say who, it was…"
Kanako sipped her red wine delicately and sighed. "Onii-chan…"
"And he is now the reason you wound up alone again, wandering a foreign land halfway around the world from your home, searching vainly for his whereabouts. It's a fate I would wish on no one. My condolences go out to you, from the bottom of my heart," Ben concluded, bowing his head.
"Please, I don't require anyone's sympathy," Kanako responded, holding up a hand. "I'm a woman who invites misfortune. It is my nature…"
"If that is how you feel," Ben nodded in deference, and resumed his steak dinner.
"Tell me, telepath," the Japanese girl said evenly, "What do you see in my future?"
Ben looked up, and a wry smile crossed his features. "Are you truly sure you want to know?" he queried. "More importantly, if I did tell you, and the events were not desirable to you, would you try to change them? And even if you did try, could the future really be changed?"
"You speak in riddles, American," Kanako growled, narrowing her eyes. "I hate it when people do that."
"Forgive me," Ben laughed lightly. "I only wished to give you some idea of the paradoxes that my clairvoyance entails. It's a burden I'm quite glad you don't have to bear."
"Tell me what you saw," Urashima insisted. "I can handle it."
"Very well," Talon intoned, taking a swig of water from a glass and then resting his hands on the table, peering over them at Kanako, his hazel eyes seeming to bore right into her. Kanako was impressed with his quiet intensity, having long sought to develop such an air about herself.
"Be as specific or general as you want," she responded, fixing him with an intense glare of her own. "But I expect you to be honest with me."
"In time," Ben began, closing his eyes, "You will become a goddess. While you walk the world as an ordinary immortal now, in a century's time you will receive the power of darkness from someone close to you."
"Could it by my aunt, Haruka?" Kanako responded intently. "If I remember correctly, darkness is one of her powers."
"Indeed," Ben nodded. "You and Aoyama will become the heirs to Haruka of the storm, her powers divided between the two of you. After that… centuries of war and bloodshed. Ambition, jealousy, greed and hatred, all revolving around that boy…"
"That boy… onii-chan?!" Kanako exclaimed, startled.
"Keitaro Urashima," Ben confirmed. "The subject of a blood feud between a cadre of women who had once been friends, the catalyst for not one but two world wars. I see the rise and fall of an empire… a second empire rising to take its place and that falling as well. I see genocide… the land bathed in blood. Kanako, you will play an important part in these conflicts in the centuries to come. Your fate will not be a happy one, nor an easy one. But…"
"But?" Kanako prodded impatiently.
"If it is any consolation, you will find love. This news at least, I can comfort you with," Ben concluded, smiling slightly. "Of course, this is all relative."
"Relative to what?" Kanako asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.
"Relative to whether you decide to accept this destiny. There are certain rules of fate that cannot be broken, even when the future is known, but anything that cannot be broken can surely be bent."
"What choice do I have?" Kanako responded with a cold laugh. "From what you say, each of us immortals has a part to play in the coming centuries. And if there's one thing I'm renowned for, it's my acting skills."
"Well spoken, Miss Urashima," Ben chuckled. "Your reputation as a master of disguise precedes you, of course. I daresay none could play the part of the goddess of darkness better."
"What did I tell you about flattering me, boy?" Kanako shot back, smirking, as she dabbed her face with a silk napkin. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll need to be arranging myself some lodging. And before you offer to put me up for the night," she added, noting his opening mouth, "I decline. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
"Well then, madam," Ben replied smoothly, standing up, "May I at least see you to the door?"
"You may," Kanako replied, sliding out of her chair and affixing the hem of her traveling cloak around her neck.
* * *
"Miss Kanako, I would like to call your attention to our hotel district. It's half a mile south of here," Ben announced as they stepped out of the restaurant, pointing down the darkened street. "Make a right at the ruins of the Sears Tower."
"Thank you, I think," Kanako responded. "Was that a little shameless self-promotion I detected?"
"What can I say?" the precognitive American laughed. "This is my town, after all. I have to do everything I can to help it grow."
"Your dedication to your town is admirable. I will remember that. Tell me one last thing, prophet Benjamin…" she drawled. "Do you know where my brother is right now?"
Ben shook his head. "Even I don't know. But I certainly know he is alive. And in time, your paths will cross, though under what circumstances, I cannot promise you. If you choose to walk the destiny I have seen for you, you will surely meet your brother, Keitaro, again."
"That's enough for me," Kanako replied, nodding, as she turned away and began to walk down the street. "I thank you for your hospitality and your kindness, Benjamin Talon, but I must be on my way for now. The reaper is always a step behind me…"
"And a lovely evening to you too, Miss Urashima," Ben replied, bowing towards her retreating form, which seemed to melt into the darkness like a living shadow. "Until we meet again…"
***~''~***
"Peas in a pod." Talon fixed Arney with a quizzical expression.
"Mm?"
"Well," said Arney, her words careful and precise, " nearly everyone else Lady Kanako has met she either burned or just didn't get along with them. In this way, she and Ben seemed to have a closer connection than some of Lady Kanako's other associates. Aside from Kana, of course." Arney met the professor's gaze, a smile on the edge of her lips.
"Ben's powers worked both ways, in a sense, whish helped other to trust him," Talon explained after a pause, looking thoughtful. "He could know virtually everything about a person with a single touch, but the person he was scanning could also pick up glimpses of my brother's past... Present... Future..." Talon heaved a great sigh, looking up at the ceiling.
"This... From personal experience?"
"Nope," Talon said, a sardonic smile meeting Arney's vision when the professor looked back down at her, "Aside from Lady Mutsumi, I've never let any telepaths near my mind if I could help it." Arney raised an eyebrow.
"Couldn't trust them?" The immortal shrugged.
"Well, my esper sense told me if anyone had hostile intentions toward me, so I did trust most people... However, even ESP can be deceived. First mention of psychic powers and I was battle-ready, to be completely honest."
"That didn't seem to help you much against the forces attacking Queen Lye of Atlanta, now did it?"
"Oh, you had to bring that up..."
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Atlanta: city, capital of Georgia, U.S., and seat (1853) of Fulton county (but also partly in De Kalb county). It lies in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, just south of the Chattahoochee River. Atlanta is Georgia's largest city and the principal trade and transportation centre of the southeastern United States.
The city owes its existence to the railroads, the routes of which were determined by geography. Lying as it does at the southern extremity of the Appalachian Mountains, it became the gateway through which most overland traffic had to pass between the southern seaboard and the region to the west. In 1837 a spot near what is now Five Points, in the centre of the present-day city, was selected for the southern terminus of a railroad to be built northward to Chattanooga,Tenn. The location was first known as Terminus and then as Marthasville; at its incorporation as a city in 1845, it was named Atlanta for the Western and Atlantic Railroad. Several other rail lines had converged on the city by 1860.
Atlanta still occupies a position of strategic importance at the focal point of a network of rail lines and interstate highways. Hartsfield-Atlanta International Airport, 8 miles (13 km) southwest of downtown Atlanta, opened in 1980 and has become one of the nation's busiest airports. Atlanta remains the financial and commercial capital of the Southeast and is its most important distribution centre. Printing and publishing, government services, and banking and insurance are supplemented by industries producing automobiles, electronics and electrical equipment, chemicals, processed foods, and pulp and paper products. Atlanta is also the focus of federal government activity in the Southeast and is the headquarters of the Sixth Federal Reserve District. The city itself is relatively small but is surrounded by a sprawl of low-density suburbs.
"Encyclopaedia Britannica. You have any idea how long it's been since I saw one of these?"
"Twelve years at least, I'm guessing." Lucia Tanaka took the dusty, worn book from Talon and tossed it onto the center table. It was nearly-literally littered with numerous atlases, schematics, and other material that would have fit right into a garage sale only a decade ago. In the small conference room, in the Lockheed Martin Production Plant in Marietta, Georgia, they were some of the best logistical planning tools available.
Tanaka strode to the head of the room, a number of other well-armed troopers sitting or standing around the wooden staff table. Mutsumi was sitting in one chair near the front, a chair Talon stood behind protectively. Lucia turned, sighed, and pulled down a map of Atlanta. She pulled a slim twig, and pointed at the center of the map.
"As most of you know, Queen Lady Lye united the various factions and gangs in Atlanta, in order to build a better Georgia. She chose the old Capital Building as her base of operations, and for the last four years, things have been going quite smoothly." Mutsumi felt Lucia's stare intensify on herself and Talon, and knew that her suspicion that this meeting was simply for their benefit, not Lucia's troops, had been confirmed. Tanaka continued.
"However, in the last four months, a rival gang known as the Bulldogs, outside of the city, here," Lucia said, indicating the campus of the University of Georgia, "has begun attacks and large raids against us. They have access to the old Army Base between Athens and Atlanta, Fort McPherson, and thus have a sizable force of guns, tanks, and armored vehicles." Lucia rubbed her eyes, and Mutsumi did not need to be a telepath to know that the silver-haired girl was exhausted underneath her prim, military exterior. Her fatigue came and went, as Lucia fixed her troops with a serious gaze.
"We're here to refit and reactive the Raptor program. Our basic mission is to get every aircraft we can put together and find, fly them to Hartfield airport, where they'll be fitted with air-to-ground munitions that aren't available here, and essentially waste the Bulldog forces." Lucia turned a severe eye to her subordinates, who all stood at attention.
"You know your duties. Now, back on patrol! Dismissed!" As a single entity, the men and women in camouflage cloaks marched out of the room, leaving the telepath, the boy, and the lightening wielder alone. Lucia took a deep breath, collapsing in the chair at the head of the table. Talon tentatively moved his hand over hers.
"I wondered... About you..." Lucia murmured quietly, her harsh command dropped away. "Whether you were still alive, still living..."
"As... Did I," Talon replied in a slim whisper, squeezing Lucia's delicate hand to reinforce his sincerity. Tanaka looked up into his eyes, piercing and icy blue.
"I've... I never had anyone else, like you..." Lucia trailed off, closing her eyes against some moisture, as she pulled close to the Coloradoan and held him in a warm embrace. Slightly awkwardly, Talon rubbed the girl's back, fully aware of Mutsumi watching them. Lucia pulled back after a few more minutes, smiling with shining eyes, as she stood up and walked out the door.
She cares for you, Mutsumi said telepathically. Talon nodded, an unnecessary action.
Yes... I know. Is that a problem?
No, no... I was just mentioning it. Mutsumi's "sense" seemed to indicate she was smiling.
I think it's rather cute, actually. Talon sighed.
If it helps her... What do have on their minds here?
They've nearly finished twenty Raptors, Mutsumi began, and have outfitted each of them with two Sidewinder missiles each. Lucia made some modifications to their radar systems, engines, and cockpits, to improve stealth and speed. She's also managed to turn them into two seater strike fighters, albeit cramped ones.
Yeah, I saw an article in "Popular Science" magazine along those lines...
Lucia's powers of directing electricity have allowed her to be a kind of human welder/grafter/electronics expert all rolled into one. She's the main reason they've progressed so quickly.
The munitions at Hartfield?
GBU-117, laser-guided bombs. Lucia built them herself.
And they launch... When?
Later tonight. Ara...
Hm... And on the Bulldogs?
The one called Thompson recalled seeing a girl throwing blasts of light from her hands on a recon mission two weeks ago. Ara... I suspect another demi-goddess is abusing her powers.
And, unfortunately, I suspect we're going to have to deal with her.
Ara...
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"So, did you fight her?"
"The demi-goddess Nicole, leader of the Bulldogs? Yep. Mutsumi absorbed the information from another pilot's mind and gave it to me, so that we could both fly the F-22s. But, I'd rather not touch on that... Right now, anyway."
"Fair enough. So..."
"So?" Arney rolled her eyes.
"So, while you were doing all this, what were Kebinu and Naru up to?"
"They returned to Denver, and began taking over territory, building alliances and sowing the seeds of what, years later, would become a full-fledged empire. That's the short version. Empires, as you know, are not built overnight…" he trailed off.
"…but?"
"But what?" Talon frowned.
"I assumed from that pause, you were going to go on?"
"Tsk, tsk," Talon scolded, cracking a grin. "Miss Arney, what happens when you assume?"
"You make an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me,'" she replied smoothly. "Come on, sir, that was an old joke even in your time. So what happened that you were leaving out?"
"Well, it's nothing truly important in the scope of things," he admitted, "But before they could get back, they had to figure out how to open that door… and that, incidentally, explains how Kebinu came by his weapon…"
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Mwahahaha! Behold my awesome, evil cliff-hanger powers!
NEXT TIME: Kebinu and Naru find the Fire axe in the mountains, while Kitsune meets her champions in the most unlikely of ways...
Same rules in last chapter apply here. Write and send it in! R&R!
News: I'm not sure whether or not I should go into the era between the formation of the Dual Empires and the LHFBW. Lady Kanako originally gave the challenge of writing THAT prequel to Silver Raye Adams. What about it, Silver-chan? Would you like to start work on your prequel, at the same time I'm working on mine? That'd be kind of cool, actually...