Once in a Lifetime
See disclaimer in Part 1
Lisa couldn't stop trembling.
Although she had been waiting for the appearance of this mysterious woman for a month, she couldn't help being terrified. She'd known that Makenshi and Aura had been dead, but it had never quite sunken in just how truly powerful the one who had sent them was.
Now she was beginning to realize.
Powerful enough to hold back the dead from their final resting place, possibly powerful enough to call them from that resting place, in Aura's case. Powerful enough to create an entire reality out of a collapsed future, a paradox. Powerful enough to freeze time. Powerful enough to see the future.
Far, far more powerful than Chaos could ever have been.
Maybe Lisa was getting in over her head, trying to deal with someone like that...
In the absolute silence, there was no way she could have missed even such a minute sound--the slow drag of fabric against the cement of the sidewalk.
With it came the faint sound of waves...
Neither could Lisa mistake that immensity of that spirit. Whatever it was, it wasn't human.
Still shivering, she turned towards the source of the sound.
And instantly recognized the figure she saw.
It was the woman from her dreams.
She'd been right to think that when not as distraught as she'd seemed in that one fragmented image, the woman would be graceful. She moved with slow, deliberate steps that, taken by another, might've been considered wooden; her long dress and cloak trailed on the ground behind her. From beneath the cloak's cowl, she stared at Lisa, and the look in her eyes was distinctly unfriendly. Her hands were clenched at her sides, and cold waves of power rolled off her like chilly tides.
Lisa's mind went blank. She couldn't think of what to say or do; she didn't know what she was supposed to feel. She'd been awaiting this woman's coming for so long, and yet she seemed so hostile now... what could she do against someone of such immense strength?
The woman was closer now; all that Lisa was able to pay attention to were her eyes. They were altogether bizarre--though this strange person was clearly glaring at Lisa with all her fury, it didn't seem like she was really looking at Lisa at all... more like she was staring through her. And the gaze didn't come from the eyes directly, but from behind them. They were of an odd shade, too... Lisa couldn't decide whether they were the blue of the sea or the deep green of uncut emeralds. The pupils were contracted, but weren't circular like a human's. Instead, they formed tall, narrow ovals, as if the woman had the eyes of a cat.
"Lisa Pacifist."
Lisa flinched at the judgemental tone.
"You think you know the gravity of what you have done... but as yet you have no idea."
She couldn't think of anything to say.
"My name is Fabula Kronos, and I am your Guide... your Guide to what pitiful future this world has left..."
Faster than Lisa could react, Fabula grabbed her upper arms, preventing her from moving. Although Lisa struggled, the Guide's grip seemed to be made of steel--her hands wouldn't budge. Her nails were digging into Lisa's flesh, and her demanding gaze was starting to make Lisa feel as queasy as looking into the crystal in the dream...
And yet, she couldn't look away...
"You must understand what you've done, so that you may choose when it is asked of you...!"
Lisa's vision blurred and hazed, and she felt her knees buckle beneath her just before everything went black.
---
Where was she...? She felt so awful... as though her head was about to split apart...
Yes... she was just watching, as always...
The images took form before her eyes, hard, fast, and brutal as always.
Herself, standing defeated with Colin Byrne, who looked angry, scowling, and triumphant.
Another flash of herself--alone this time, lying half-naked in the bathtub, crying and breathing hard... giving birth.
Her little girl--hollow-cheeked and solemn, but bright-eyed: The same girl she'd seen with Makenshi, but mistreated, suffering from malnutrition. And more visibly Kaze's daughter than ever.
The same beautiful little baby, only three years old, dead in an alley, herself clinging to the corpse and wailing with grief.
She saw the bloodstains on her daughter's worn little shorts, and knew exactly what had happened to her.
The images swirled and changed, becoming less distinct: Dolwa, his eyes oddly blank even though his face was twisted in evil rage, what seemed like a glowing piece of paper held between his first two fingers. His clothes and hair were in disarray; around him were strange beasts that snarled and slavered at the surrounding people, who cowered in fear.
On Dolwa's index finger was a strange, heavy gold ring with a familiar-looking symbol on it. Lisa had never seen him wearing a ring before...
Herba, alive... but changed; the flowerbud on her head erupted in lurid bloom. Laughing in wicked pleasure, caressing the shoulder of a boy in similar clothing to the Earl...
A boy who looked far too much like Yu...
Oscha's laughter, dark and mocking, in the background against the stormy sky...
In a dark corner of the Hayakawa laboratory, Ai, scratched and bleeding, huddled in fear with the purple-haired boy Touya beside her, staring warily into the shadows. In her hands, she held one of the iridescent crystals that made up Omega...
The Pillar of Darkness extending, branching out, reaching up into the roiling clouds...
And her own corpse, just one more among the many, trampled by Chaos' monsters in the streets...
---
Lisa blinked and was back, tears tracing down her cheeks, Fabula's glare as insistent as ever, although her grip was no longer quite so tight.
"Do you understand now? Without the aid of Kuroki Kaze and Shiroi Kumo to suppress the advance of Chaos, there is no future for Chikyu. Oscha and Herba could sustain no lasting damage from a fall into Chaos, because they themselves are elements of it. They have already sustained contact with your world through the Pillar of Darkness and will come for the new body for Chaos. Without the Unlimited to resist them, they will succeed. Worlds will again be consumed... and yours only the first.
"Kaze can no longer resurrect, now that his blood is already being carried forward. The line of the Unlimited must survive in some way or another. And without Kaze as an anchor... when Kumo was rescued by the doll Crux after Gaudium's collapse, he succumbed quickly to his wounds and died, alone and afraid. Their destinies are forever interlinked. Where Kaze goes, Kumo must follow." Fabula shook her head. "All I was able to do was retrieve his soul, once it had left his body."
Lisa, unable to control her sobs, shook her head. "I don't understand why! Why do all of this to me...? Why send Aura and Makenshi to me, if I may not be able to choose?"
"Because there is always some point where I must draw the line," Fabula said firmly, still glaring. "Even if it requires my direct interference. I am no user of Magun or Maken--my abilities have their limits. Even if it's only by supplying your party with Poshepocket or snatching you from the jaws of Omega in the dimensional tunnel, I have always done what I can. But although our meeting here--if this future is allowed to continue--will cost me my life, it doesn't matter anymore. Why should I have a future, if no free being in the many worlds will?"
Lisa had gone very white. Of course--she remembered now; she had heard of Fabula before... if only from Ai's description of how she'd gotten Poshepocket. And Fabula was powerful enough to have saved them from certain death before...? And what did she mean about their meeting costing her life? Her thoughts were hopelessly scattered.
"Where you went wrong--a simple enough question to answer. Think. What is it that causes Kaze's bloodline to continue at this time?"
Lisa blinked, then answered, hesitantly. "M..my pregnancy..."
"Exactly. For Kaze's bloodline to end with him, what would need to happen in the past?"
"I would... have to... not get pregnant..."
"Yes. You know what you must do, don't you? Your daughter was conceived on the first night you spent together, on Jane's decks. That makes the answer... rather clear."
Lisa was silent, not wanting to think too much.
"If you had the chance to change it, would you--now that, Lisa Pacifist, is up to you. Some things truly must wait, but can you bear the journey through Wonderland without taking Kuroki Kaze as your lover? If not, you may always try to alter the future through some other means. But I warn you, second chances only come once in a lifetime."
"But--" Lisa began, looking down at her own pregnant belly desperately. She did not want to lose her daughter.
"You have seen two possible futures," Fabula told her. "Think about what you've seen."
Lisa was silent, pondering. Then, she nodded. "I... think I understand..."
"And now, the final question... Will you take the chance I am willing to give you?"
"I have something to ask you first," Lisa admitted. "Why are you doing this... giving me the chance to go back, and... and do it over. Besides the whole thing with Chaos, I mean."
At last, Fabula released her grip on Lisa's arms. "Because I love those two children," she said softly, "more than anyone can ever know. And Akai Kiri, the Madoushi... Shiroi Kumo, the Makenshi. Kuroki Kaze, for all his faults. Lou Lupus and Clear Omega and Crux. Cid, Knave, Miles, Fungo; all the Comodeen... Aura Hougekiju, who so few of you met in life. Fungus, the unfortunate, fallen and deceived Lord of Gaudium. And you, Lisa Pacifist... you, who were willing to open your heart and love the unlovable." Lisa noticed with a shock that there were tears in those cat's eyes, which Fabula allowed to fall, not reaching to brush them away. "Dolwa and Touya, as yet unaware of the roles they are to play. Because I love you all so much, I'm willing to throw my life away in hopes that you can make things right again."
Lisa was silent, deeply touched by the other woman's honesty.
"Who are you, really?" she asked, curious.
That got a smile.
"I... am simply Fabula... nothing more."
Stepping back, she held out her hand.
"Lisa Pacifist, will you go back and do it all over?"
The black-haired woman smiled as well.
"...Yes."
Taking Fabula's hand, Lisa felt a soft, warm white light welling up in her chest. Closing her eyes, she sighed and let the light fill her. Seeing the ecstasy filling Lisa's face, Fabula closed the distance between them and pulled the young woman into her arms.
She spoke a few words in a strange, unrecognizable tongue.
And both of them vanished, as if they'd never stood on the walk at all, as time began again.
(TBC)