Yes, I know that there isn't a lot here. I have several responsibilities that are getting in the way of my story-writing, plus I hit writer's block. I did say that my muses had an attention span of approximately 5 nanoseconds, didn't I?

moonypadfoot: Thank you. That particular part of the fic comes of my frustration with how Harry handles things in OotP. Really, anyone can see that you shouldn't say things like that to someone's face! (it might be worth mentioning that if I went to Hogwarts, I would be in Slytherin) And thank you, but I would really like some proof! (sniff) Review, please, everybody!

I was going to put this part in later, but I had a friend beta-read this, and she made some slightly erroneous conclusions, so I needed to clear that up. I can't have people figuring out the plot, now can I? This may be added on to later, or I may just write another chapter.

Fifth Scene: Interlude of Light

The goddess smiled, relaxing on her chair. Everything was going splendidly. She had managed to throw smoke over the entire issue, making the mortals think that there was a choice to be made between two destinies, and that the Children only needed to be kept on the path of righteousness. She fought the urge to laugh.

The new students were wild cards. She had assumed that the civilizations of the magical plane would disregard the brewing war, viewing mortals, or ningen, as a lost cause. She had not expected them to send spies to report on the situation, although in hindsight she should have. In the magical plane, a species did not rise to prominence by focusing only on the here-and-now.

She shrugged, dismissing the thought. Unless Chaos had managed to convince Kaguya to break the rules, the Harbingers would always be reborn in human bodies. Humans had been chosen because they were mortals with short lifetimes, the ultimate punishment.

A frown marred her beautiful features for a moment as she considered the possibility; but no. Kaguya would have been more than willing to help her young cousins, as would most of the dark gods, but she was carefully observed in this particular matter. Every time a Harbinger's soul found its way into the realm of Annuvin, one of the light gods was there to monitor the process of reincarnation, making sure that the laws were followed. She would certainly have heard if the Harbingers had been reborn into immortal bodies.

All of the pieces were moving into place. So what if the dark gods knew her plan, if they confronted her, they would be the ones to lose. They had power that she could never hope to match, but she had the near-fanatical loyalty of all of the minor light gods, and several of the major ones as well. The Almighty could not interfere, the Mother had long since abandoned the realms of the gods to hide herself among mortals, and Chaos was long banished to eternal torment in the mortal plane, along with the rest of the Harbingers. They were the only beings who could kill gods, even indirectly. She had proved that herself long ago.

It had taken her many millennia, but she had finally managed to get her hands on the blood of Death. And it had all been worth it, for she had had to kill the God of Truth. He could have exposed her far too easily.

She still had to be careful. It would be very difficult to find the Harbingers without their knowledge. She needed them, all of them, for her plan. It would be breaking the ancient laws in several ways, but it would all be worth it if she could just eliminate those awful dark gods! Why the Mother Universe had created them was beyond her. She knew that the dark gods were maneuvering to stop her, but she wasn't worried. She knew that she would win this little power game.

She smiled, a smile tainted with the corruption of absolute power. And she laughed. Everything was going perfectly.

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Review, please! I want to know what people think of this!