Rhapsody Theorem
Disclaimers: Revolutionary Girl Utena belongs to Be-papas and Chiho Saitoh.
Warnings: Everybody will be OOC, drug-addicts, and raving lunatics. Lots of rambling and surreal-ness, half of the fanfic might not make any sense…
Rants: This takes place after Utena 'escapes' from the TV-series Ohtori. What exactly happened after the million-sword-stabbing-her-body incident that Kunihiko Ikuhara effectively blacks out upon? Well... this is one (really random) take. There is a parallel universe, separated by dark matter, connected by a portal called the focal point of a Mobius strip…
Summary: Utena has a(nother) dream, realizes something, and Mikage pays a(nother) visit.
10
A castle was burning.
There was a prince, and a princess, and the princess was trapped in the uppermost tower of the castle, and it was burning. The prince knew what to do, he had to save the princess.
Utena remembered that if she caught on fire, the method was to stop, drop, and roll until the flames were extinguished. She started across the marble floor of the castle entrance, and the flames were clustered into different colors, leering at her, and she threw herself on top of them to get rid of them, and before the hiss of their death, she distinguished the screams from the laughter, and faces appeared out of the flames.
The red fire was hard to put out, and Utena's clothes were scorched as she threw herself on it over and over again, feeling the burn marks where the tendrils of flame had gripped her, where the mouth of fire had whispered into her ear, you can't defeat me, you know that, just let me be what you are, let me save you, fall into me.
She thought, a Red Dwarf is a kind of star, it's the kind of star that's ready to go out, ready to die, and she thought about this as she ground the coals to dust beneath her feet.
Utena ignored the fires as they struggled to keep her from reaching the doors to the stairs, as they tried to pull her back. An orange flame gripped at her neck, a blue one reached for her arm, and a green one tried to throw her down completely, and the red flame kept coming back, whispering things into her ear, lightly tickling it, gently burning the skin away there.
Just come back, just give up.
By the time she reached the tower, she was burnt and charred all over, but she thought, rescuing the princess will be worth it.
She averted her eyes as she opened the last door, paying her respects to the princess, and Utena kneeled down and bent to kiss her shoes, before drawing back immediately.
The princess was surrounded by an impenetrable white flame, and she stood there, her hand outstretched. Her hair cascaded down her shoulders, her dress was white as well, and she had blue eyes.
Me?
Utena's hand reached out on its own accord, and the white flame jumped enticingly, started to laugh. A deep voice seemed to whisper in her ear now, different from that of the red flame, more gentle, more coaxing, and the smoke seemed to turn into a pair of hands that grasped her face and started to pull her in, and the princess was smiling, and Utena knew that if she let herself into the white flame as well, she could escape with the princess, unharmed.
But then she saw a girl standing outside the window, and it was day outside, and the girl had dark skin, had green eyes, tears pouring down her face, and she was wearing a red cloak, tattered, and her hand held a torch, a torch that gleamed different colors, and the curtains were enveloping her as they caught on fire.
No. Utena thought, and drew back from the tendrils of white smoke, her eyes widening, focusing on the girl by the window. No, wait--
She started the fire, something was telling her, frantic. She's the one that deserves to die, she's the one who began it all--
The tears were dripping down Anthy's face, and they were putting out the fire on the torch, but the flames kept springing back to life, and there was no water, and Utena pulled out of the princess's hands and felt it as the white fire left her, as she fell, as she crawled over to the window, managing to grab onto Anthy's legs before she jumped out.
"Don't do it." She said, and she was crying as well, and she couldn't see anything. The princess was gone now, the white flame was gone, and they were alone in the tower, darkness around them, coffins everywhere, ready to catch them once they died.
Anthy's eyes were still unfocused, struggling to look somewhere, as if she couldn't see. "Utena?"
"Anthy." Utena was saying, crying, her hands fumbling as she raised herself up, made herself look in her eyes, made herself look into those green eyes. "Anthy, we'll jump. Don't let go of my hand, don't let go--"
"But I started the fire, Utena." Anthy was saying, her voice stuck in her throat, and she had to force them past her teeth, grit them out as her body shook. "You have to leave me here, I deserve to be burned--"
"I don't care." Utena said, a broken smile on her face, and she grasped Anthy's hand, the one that held the torch, and she held it tightly, as if trying to reassure herself, trying to tell herself that they could jump and land somewhere, land in the same place. Liquid fire rolled down the flames and burned her hands, but she didn't care.
The castle was shaking around them, the foundations were breaking, the structure was going to collapse, and Utena threw herself out the window, her hand secure in Anthy's.
"Let go, Utena--" Anthy was saying, the wind rushing past them.
"No--"
But the flames were licking Anthy's arm, and she was crying again, silently, tears falling up as they fell down, and Utena felt Anthy's hand crumble into ashes, and then she had nothing left to hold onto.
Utena was falling with her back facing the ground, with her face up, and she saw Anthy's body burn away, the torch falling as the flames finally were extinguished, and she saw the form of Anthy's body in the ashes, as they seemed to hang there, suspended, and Utena kept falling, and falling, and the ground beneath her seemed to shift, as the earth turned into a star of white fire and it seemed to pull her into it, as she kept fighting it, kept fighting this force of gravity, her heart felt dry as the wind flew at her.
But I didn't tell you.
Utena looked up, and the ashes were still suspended there, but then--
I have a second chance, and you don't, because...
A hand seemed to come out of the ashes, and then a pair of butterfly's wings seemed to rise out of the ashes, and they were silver and green, and then Anthy seemed to unfurl from the wings, and she pulled into a dive, her hand outstretched.
Your second chance is somewhere else--
"I told you."
Utena turned her head, and Mikage was leaning out of a castle window as the castle crumbled around him, his arms crossed, and he was looking at her, and he was shaking his head, and he said,
"I told you."
The white light of the star gleamed under her, and Anthy's hand was stretched out, and Mikage was leaning against the window, Utena felt the last of her tears evaporate and she knew that it was too late.
Anthy, you're late. She remembered thinking. Where have you been?
The other girl had gone out, because it was a Saturday night, and she had gone to visit her brother. Utena had stayed up that night, studying, and had fallen asleep at the table, Chu Chu dozing next to her. The lights had been on when she had fallen asleep over her books, but when she opened her eyes, the room was dark, and Anthy was there next to her.
The dark head was curled up on one shoulder, and Anthy's hand had been covering hers.
She had thought, Anthy, you're late. She had thought, we should go to bed.
But a feeling of contentment, because she's home, had seemed to filter through her, and she had turned her hand so that her palms were touching with Anthy's, and between them, even though Anthy didn't know it, the world seemed quiet, it seemed peaceful, here in the solitude of their dormitory.
When she thought about it, it was the eye of the storm, the center of the hurricane.
You will eventually understand it.
What?
Your world, your psyche.
It's my mind. There isn't anything I don't know about it.
A common misconception.
Who are you?
I'm another extension of you, and I was here before you.
When Utena woke up, she was in her own room, there was a damp towel on her head, and the African violet on her windowsill wasn't wilting anymore. There was another vase there, a single pink rose stemming from it.
She struggled to get up, her head spinning, and she swung her feet over the side of the bed, taking the towel off her head. The sun was just setting, and the room was a warm shade of orange and red, and the bed next to hers was neatly made, a white rat curled up on the pillow.
"Chu Chu." She called, putting a hand up to her head, as if that could stop the spinning. "Hey, Chu Chu."
The thing on the pillow stirred a little, and went back to sleep.
"Is Mikage outside?" She asked, and looked to the door, and it opened.
"Utena." Anthy stood there, bathed in the light of the setting sun. "Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah." Utena said, pushing all the confusion and the misery to the back of her head, and she grinned. "God, what a bitch."
Anthy raised an eyebrow. "Who?"
"The professor." She said. "We had a fight."
"At Doug's party?" Anthy asked.
"Yeah." Utena scratched her head. "I met him outside, and we had a disagreement."
"He's outside right now." Anthy said quietly. "He wants to apologize."
"Why?" Utena told her heart to stop hammering in her chest, tried to stop the bead of sweat from rolling down the side of her face. "He doesn't need to. I started it."
"He wants to apologize for hitting you." Anthy said, her eyes betraying the tiniest bit of worry. "Doug was going to call the authorities, but Syle talked him out of it. Doug was furious."
"With who?" Utena laughed. "I didn't mean to insult his idol."
"He's angry with the professor." Anthy said.
"Anthy." Utena said, shaking her head, getting to her feet, feeling how cold the floor was, and she walked to the door, and reached out for the dark-skinned girl, brought her into an embrace, held her close, and Anthy smelled like violets and Utena let go and stepped back, embarrassed.
"I'm sorry." She said.
"Hello, Utena."
"Mikage." She nodded. "How are you?"
"I wanted to apologize." He said.
"Apology accepted."
"Utena."
"What?"
"Do you know why you're here?"
"Because I escaped."
"We both did."
"And we did it for them."
"We didn't want to revolutionize the world for ourselves."
"That's what makes us different."
"Different from who?"
"From everybody else."
"But you know you were supposed to stay there."
"What?"
"I came before you. When I realized it, this revolution, I escaped. But you weren't supposed to escape. You were supposed to stay in that universe, the one with the school, and the Rose Bride."
"Why?"
"You're the other half of the Mobius strip, Utena. You crossed over into this universe, and you've disturbed this balance. By revolutionizing the world, you demonstrated the fact that you wanted a way out. But we're the opposing halves of a singular world, Utena, we're two different things, but we're the same thing. Utena, that world from before is a stable one, one with a structure. I created the system to save someone I loved."
"I did it for her." Utena said. "I did it for Anthy."
"Everybody has their counterparts, Utena." Mikage said. "You're not supposed to be here. Anthy's not supposed to be here. We're supposed to exist in two different spheres, we're supposed to be a separate entity. With you here, you're corrupting the stability of this world."
"You want me to go back?" She said, shaking. "You want me to go back to that?"
"Utena." Mikage was saying, shaking his head. "I told you."
"Utena?" Anthy said, looking out into the kitchen. "I think he left."
The room was empty, except for them, and Utena clenched her jaw.
"Yeah." She turned on her heel, stormed back into her bedroom. "All the better."
You're not going to make her go back there.
I can't do anything. But if we keep going like this...
I won't let you take her away.
I told you that if matter meets its counterpart, they eliminate each other.
All I wanted was for her to be happy.
How did she find you?
She has a life here.
I wonder how she found you, over such distances--
Mikage--!
Space, and time... it's irrelevant now.
Smooj. _ I know this doesn't make much sense when you read it, but reviews are still appreciated (ehe). I know that when I'm done with this fic, I'm going to add a really long author's notes section explaining everything. It sounds coherent when it's in my head, anyway.