Pawns

by Quicksilver


Part Twelve

"Maron!"

To her surprise, Maron slept better than she had in months. When Fin woke her up the next morning, she rolled over, prepared to swat the pesky jun tenshi away so she could go back to sleep. To her surprise, her hand was caught in a light grasp.

"Maron, that's really not nice!" an amused voice said. "And you have to get up."

Something about Fin's voice sounded wrong. Maron's fuzzy mind didn't quite grasp what the thing was, so she opened her eyes. "Fin?" she whispered, wondering if the stranger in front of her really was her angelic friend

Beside her bed knelt the most gorgeous woman she had ever seen. She looked like a full-sized version of Fin Fish, with hair that would reach to her ankles were she to stand up. Her gown of white and green floated around her like a pool of quicksilver, accented by gold ribbons and jewelry, and the face had been honed into perfect beauty. She wasn't cute - she was breathtakingly beautiful. Looking upon her would cause sinners to repent, and atheists to believe. Such a marvel could only be sculpted by God's own hands, and Maron was taken aback.

This was Fin Fish?

Right now she was holding Maron's hand in hers. "Maron, we need to talk," she said. "You've slept long enough." Her voice had deepened from its high-pitched squeak into a deeper soprano, one that sounded like a well-tuned harp. Bright green eyes regarded Maron as she jerked upright, roused from her surprise enough to move.

"Fin?" she whispered in shock. Part of her mind knew that it was, but another part couldn't believe it.

The angel dropped Maron's hand and folded both of her own against her breasts in a praying position. "I am the True Angel Fin Fish." She smiled at her confused charge, and it was full of love. "The time for concealment is past. There is no more confusion among heaven's ranks, and enlightenment has been bestowed. It's time that you and Sindbad work together."

Maron looked at her and blinked again, wondering if this was trick. "What?" Her mind was still reeling from the shock of seeing Fin larger than she was and beautiful. Fin was cute; Fin was her friend. This new Fin was someone who inspired awe and worship, not teasing and bickering.

Fin's eyes were deep with sorrow and concern. "It's time, Maron. It's time to shuck aside the lies, and embrace the truth. It's time to for you to speak to Sinbad, and understand why he has acted as he has." Fin reached out to touch her, and Maron flinched away instinctively.

The angel appeared wounded.

"I-" Maron said, trying to express the confusion in her heart, but unable to find the words.

"Maron... are you afraid?" the angel asked, her eyes concerned. She raised her folded wings, and spread her arms wide. "You must trust in yourself, and embrace the world... Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, the chosen wind of God, has nothing to fear!"

"I am not afraid! I am Jeanne! I am courageous!" Maron pronounced, throwing the covers off her bed. She went over to her dresser and yanked her clothes out, and raced to the bathroom, ready to take a quick shower and get ready for the day. "You go tell Chiaki to be over here in an hour, I know he can see you. I'll make breakfast then. We're going to settle this right now." Her eyes flashed dangerously as Fin rose to her feet. "And he's free to bring Access, too! I feel like hitting something right now!"

Fin blinked, and starting giggling. "Hitting Access is my job!" she protested.

Maron looked at the beautiful angel, and saw the jun tenshi inside the beautiful true angel who appeared before her now. "Fin, I don't care who I hit! Someone is going to get it! I have to miss school again!" Math tests didn't matter, compared to saving the world. Still, she doubted the teachers would be understanding.

Fifty minutes later, she was setting the table, wondering why she was acting like nothing had changed, and she was merely inviting Chiaki over the breakfast he had always trying to worm out of her. It was sadly ironic that he was finally getting what he wanted.

The doorbell rang, but she made no move to answer it. It buzzed again, and she sighed. "Fin, get the door! If it's not Chiaki, I'm not home!" she called. It was so weird to be able to send Fin to get the door, but it was nice to be able to rely on someone else.

There was the sound of the door opening and the quiet murmur of voices, but Maron forced herself to tune them out. She grabbed the pan out of the stove and set it on the stove, waiting for it to cool. Grabbing a spatula, she spun toward the door, waiting for her guests to arrive.

Chiaki stood in the doorway, and he was staring at her with carefully shrouded eyes. She nodded to him, and pointed to a seat, the one furthest from her. "Sit," she commanded. "Breakfast will be ready in a second. Orange juice all right?"

He murmured an affirmative and took his place. She grabbed the pitcher of freshly mixed juice placed it on the table, set the dish on the table, and cut four neat pieces before spooning it out. "This is something that I don't know the name of, but Fin likes it as much as I do," she stated.

"What's in it?" he asked as he poured himself a large glass of juice.

"Bread, eggs, milk, cheese and ham, and then you bake. I assume Access eats?"

"Twice as much as I do, even when he's in kuro tenshi form," Chiaki replied with a weak smile.

"Where are they?" she asked.

"We're here," came a deeper voice than she had been expecting, and Access Time walked in, in the form of a true angel. Maron dropped the spatula.

His midnight wings swept the floor as he walked, and his golden eyes looked like two miniature suns burning in his pale face. He, too, had lost the cuteness he once had, and had been sculpted into a figure of pure beauty. He wasn't handsome; he transcended it. His body was draped in clothing unlike anything she had ever seen and his sharp-features promised heaven if only you believed. There was a sense of danger to him, though, that Fin Fish lacked, and Maron glanced at Chiaki, and realized that Access and Fin held the same contrast Sinbad and Jeanne did.

Still, they were complements. Seeing the two angels together was like seeing a jigsaw puzzle fall into place. Fin and Access took the seats on either side of Chiaki, and picked up forks, murmuring prayers over food before digging in. Maron picked up the spatula, set it in the sink, and then turned to Chiaki. "Fin says that the demon is Named."

Chiaki took a bite of his breakfast. "I suggest you eat-you're going to need your strength," he stated calmly, before taking a sip of juice.

Maron's temper flared. "I'm sick of being told what to do! I want to know what's going on! I want to know how long you knew I was Jeanne! I want to know exactly how dangerous this demon is, and how to Seal it! I want to know why you were playing with me, and whose side you're on!"

"I've always been on God's side and your own," he said.

Maron ate a little, though she had no appetite. "Why are you Sindbad?"

"Because magic has always been my gift and the demons steal magic from the earth. There are two paths the world has been fighting between," he lowered his eyes, "magic and science. My family has been the only thing, sometimes, that's kept magic alive."

Access glanced over at Fin as he finished his first piece, and grabbed a second. "Not all the angels in heaven agree on the best path. I serve Uriel-sama. Fin-el serves Gabriel-sama and Michael-sama." He turned his eyes to Maron. "Still, we all oppose the devil in our own way."

Maron's head throbbed, and she gave up all pretense of eating. "Fin talked about combining our powers. What does that mean exactly?

Fin answered. "You'll make your final transformation. We'll set up the conduit but you and Chiaki will be the ones who have to change on your own and once you change..." Fin's voice broke off, and Access dropped his fork, so he could take her hands in his own.

"We're like the safeties," Access Time said, even as he looked at the angel seated across from him. "Fin and I allow you to use power from God, but keep your human bodies from being overwhelmed by it. This time you and Sindbad are going to ask for the power directly and it will consume you."

"What does that mean exactly?" Maron repeated.

Fin Fish looked at her charge. "It means that you can never be Maron again. There will be no way to transform back."

She blinked, trying to process that knowledge. "Couldn't I just dye my hair and wear contacts?" she asked.

Chiaki shook his head. "Jeanne and Maron are two distinct people. Everything about you will change. No one will recognize you even if you physically look the same as Maron, your fingerprints will be different, and even your aura will change. Haven't you noticed?"

"Huh? Aura?" Maron asked.

"It's the sum of your being. You don't think the same way when you're Jeanne, and I don't think like Chiaki. Sindbad is much more serious and less prone to laughter. Jeanne is much more confident and more likely to take chances. It will be like Maron and Chiaki died." Chiaki's voice was soft, and she heard that dread that laced it.

"I've been helping you tap into your future self, Maron," Fin admitted. "I knew that this was a likely outcome, but we really didn't have a choice. The demons needed to be sealed, and you have the same soul as Joan of Arc. You are the one God trusts with the task. Access is part of the other faction of angels who tries to give the humans more and more freewill but that's what caused Lucifer to fall in the first place. I was part of the group that didn't like what he was trying to get Sindbad to do, so Michael-sama sent me to reawaken you. You were the only one who could go against the scion of Merlin and win. Jeanne is the only one with that much power. You're not the first reincarnation of Jeanne, but you will be the last."

"Last?" Maron asked, trying to assimilate what the three were trying to tell her.

"If you succeed, you're going to become the Kamikaze. Joan of Arc didn't - if she had, she would have lived. The Kamikaze is immortal."

Chiaki watched her, seeing the realization of what immortality mean dawn on her. Her eyes wavered in fear, and she shivered slightly, even though the room was warm. "It won't be an easy path, Maron, but we have no choice."

"We?" Maron said, lashing out. "I hear no 'we' in this! I transform, and get stuck! You transform, change back, and lead a normal life!" She rose to her feet and leaned into his face wanted to claw his expressionless face.

"You think that's the case?" he asked, and this time, there was a sense of rising anger in his voice. "I am your compliment, Maron! How do you think I am going to make this transformation? Do you think that I will be able to help you without paying a price myself?"

"Chiaki," she whispered, pulling back from him slightly.

His brown eyes flashed, and he grabbed her arm tightly. "Maron, I am not happy about this! I wanted to be a doctor! I wanted to do something with my life, but when you become the Kamikaze, I'll become the Tsunami! There have been prophecies in my family about me for a millennium - do you know what that's like, growing up with people expecting that of you? You had a normal childhood - I never did."

Access placed a calming hand on Chiaki's shoulder, and the angel's touch seemed to take the anger away from the teen. "Chiaki, you've had your entire life to adjust to this possibility. Be a little kinder, okay?" Then his amber eyes shifter over to Maron. "Still, he does has a point. Being the heir of Merlin is not an easy burden to bear."

"Merlin?" she said, recognizing the name. She, like most girls, had gone through a phase where she had been obsessed by Camelot and the Arthurian mythology.

Chiaki blushed and for once seemed embarrassed, but Access fluttered his wings and puffed out his chest. "I have been the guardian of the heirs of Merlin! Chiaki's family is of Merlin and Nimue's direct line, and Chiaki is the culmination!" Access pronounced.

Maron blinked. "You mean... Chiaki is..."

Chiaki seemed to be considering how to phrase it. "The earth is, in her own way, sentient. She has chosen a champion to match the Kamikaze, and I'm it. When you make your transformation, I'll make mine-and there's no going back for me, either."

She knew she shouldn't rejoice, but a small, selfish part of her did. She was supposed to be pure; she was supposed to be God's representative on earth, but the knowledge that someone would be sharing her fate gave her strength. She wasn't going to be alone.

"Access, I want to talk to Maron alone. You and Fin can start the prayers you'll need," Chiaki said suddenly, and she shivered slightly, wondering if he had seen the selfish part of her. "Come," he ordered, holding out his hand.

She took it, and was surprised at how gentle his touch was. He led her to her bedroom and shut the door, before releasing her grip so he could produce his rosary. Compared to her elaborate gold one, his simple wooden one was almost laughable, but she could feel its power. "Maron, do you really understand what this means? Did Fin ever tell you what becoming Jeanne would do to you?"

Her eyes filled with tears and she sank to the floor. "It means... it means that I'll never be Kusakabe Maron again. It means that I'll never go to school, or have a normal life. It means that I'll always being fighting a cosmic battle, that no side will ever truly win. It means I'll never reconcile with my parents and I'll never see my friends." She placed her head in her hands and allowed herself to mourn, for the first time, the loss of everything she cherished.

Chiaki let her cry for a few minutes before bending down and cupping her chin between his fingers. "You also will have the chance to change the world. People's lives will be better because of you and I will help you," he promised, brushing her tears away with his thumb.

She gave him a weak smile, but it came from the heart. "I know, and thank you. I'm just, Chiaki, it's selfish of me, but I'm glad I'm not alone. I'm glad it's you who'll follow this path."

He helped her to her feet. "And only for you would I accept this destiny."

They looked at each other, clutching their rosaries. "It's odd to think this will be our last transformation." She looked at Chiaki, memorizing his face as it was. Even if they survived this battle, only their alter egos would remain. Maron and Chiaki would be gone-only Jeanne and Sinbad would remain. "I'm afraid," she confessed.

His chocolate eyes met hers. "I'm scared as well," he said, brushing her bands back from her forehead. "Are you going to leave a note for Miyako?"

Maron looked down at the ground. "I was thinking of it, but I just can't. How can I tell her that I'm Jeanne?"

"Can you live with never seeing her again?" Chiaki asked. "Can you live with her not knowing what became of you?"

She winced. "I'll have to, won't I? Her friendship is one of the most important things to me, but what is our friendship compared to the lives of thousands of people?" She paused and raised her eyes, meeting Chiaki's gaze squarely. "If Miyako knew what the circumstances were, she would encourage me. She believes in protecting the weak."

"Even at such a cost?"

"There is no cost," Maron said firmly. "I may not seem her the way I used to, but I'll always love her, and know that she once loved me. That's the precious thing about friendship, real friendship. Our hearts are always together."

They nodded, and he leaned over and kissed her quickly. "I admire you."

"I love you," she confessed in return. She held her breath, waiting for his answer.

Chiaki seemed to expand, and fill the room. His eyes became deeper. Suddenly she was in his arms and her head was pillowed against his chest. "No matter who you are, I love you, too," he replied.

They stayed like that for an eternal moment, before she forced herself to withdraw from his arms; it was one of the hardest things she had ever had to do. "Come. Fin and Access are waiting for us."