Chapter one: Eternity is Perpetual

Disclaimer: I do not own Revolutionary Girl Utena, and I am not making any money off of this. Please don't sue.

Perpetual: the state or quality of lasting forever.

Sometimes he would think about her. Never really understanding what it was he was really thinking about. His life was a perpetual motion machine, never having to look back, but never moving forwards, either. Perpetual motion machine... Machine was the perfect word to describe him, a machine can't feel, and a machine can't care. But he wasn't a machine, because he could, and he did...

He used to only admire her, seeing her as an object of great beauty he would like to someday posses. He saw her walk with confidence, and look at him with such sincere determination, that he had to continually remind himself that the things she spoke of were never really possible.

"Can an hourglass run slow?" She had asked him once. All he could do was stare at her and smile after that comment. It amazed him so, the sincerity and innocence in her voice, the fact that she still questioned him, even though, really, she always knew the answer. That sentence, as trivial as it may have seemed to him then, bear significant importance later, because he found he was trying to do the same thing she had questioned, and that he knew was impossible. He tried to make the hourglass completely stop, but it was never really possible, and of course he failed...

"I am an imaginary living body..." He really did care about Mamiya, it wasn't just a feeling of loss over Tokiko that made him become so attached to that dying boy. It wasn't his idea to get involved the way he had, he was manipulated into. But it was just as much his fault as the manipulators, because he didn't fight back. When he saw Tokiko with him , he simply decided to burn down that building. He tried so hard to blame it on Mamiya, and after spending so much time trying to tell Mamiya it was all his fault, he actually began to believe it.

"From this day forward, the path before you has not been prepared..." Oh, what irony...For he had once said the opposite. But His quest was not over yet, and the ending to his book had not yet been written, for having never really existed in the academy, he could never really leave.

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Creation: The action or process of creating.

He still had her picture. Even though she had left him for that girl, that girl that wanted to be a prince, he still had her picture. He would gaze at it from time to time, and ponder the reasons that she had to leave. He could never really think of an answer.

"You don't know what happened, do you?" Yes, she had said that to him, but he was unable to understand her words. What had she meant by that? What had happened... As much as he hated to admit it, he was just as lost as everyone else. He knew, he knew the second the sword broke that he might as well give up hope. But for some reason, he was unable to...

"It's alright now. Please go on playing make-believe "Prince" in the this comfortable little coffin forever." Those words had struck him to the core. Because not matter how much he tried to deny them, he knew that they were true... He was supposed to be her prince, but he had failed. He used to love her, but over time that love became twisted and warped. Coffin... She was the one supposed to be in the coffin, but he finally realized that he was the one trapped all along.

"No..." He stood up suddenly and walked over to his desk, pulling open one of the drawers to reveal a small pile of rose signets. He gently reached down and picked one up, cradling softly between his fingers, before slipping it on his engagement finger and looking at it reminiscently. But suddenly a feeling of such tremendous loss overcame him that he quickly took it of and threw it in the garbage. "It shouldn't have turned out this way..."

He sat at his desk and put his head in his hands. What was he supposed to do now? The Rose bride was gone... He couldn't start a new game without a Rose Bride. He suddenly lifted his head, and began searching feverishly through files. He finally lifted up one paper. Akio Ohtori gazed at it and smiled. "Maybe I can rebuild this game, and regain my lost power."

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Transcendent: (of God) existing apart from and not subject to the limitations of the material universe.

He would always wonder why. Why he was sealed away in that castle in the sky. He knew that she never really loved him, because in the end, she chose that girl. He knew a lot of things...

He knew that there was more to being a prince than the horse and the sword. There was chivalry. Courage, honor, courtesy, justice, and a readiness to help the weak. Those were the laws he lived by, and he always tried his best to follow them.

He also knew that deep inside, Utena never really loved her prince, never really loved him. No one did.

He knew that his power would be fought for again. And he knew that Akio would never give up until he gained it. But the fact of the matter was, no matter how hard Akio tried, he would never gain eternity. It wasn't that he was doing it wrong, it wasn't even that he wasn't strong enough. There was one thing, simple really, that prevented anyone from ever obtaining it. And that simple thing was, there is no such thing as eternity.

Authors Note: Ok people, I PROMISE that this is all going somewhere, but you know what they say, gotta lay the base before you can build on it! Remember everyone, if you want to see more, REVIEW!