Haibane Renmei: C O R P O R A T I O N Chapter 11: Perigee, a haibane renmei fanfic

2011 REVISION

HAIBANE-RENMEI: CORPORATION

Chapter 11

Perigee

By R. A. Stott

Kinza sat up and stared at the main gate. Ptolemy cleaned his glasses and followed suit. Dr. McManus pulled out her scanning rod and began to take readings.

The woman stood with a shocked expression on her face as she looked about. As she did, wisps of light floated off her shoulders as if she were evaporating. She began to shrink as her features grew younger and younger. Her long golden hair retracted into a short bob-cut, and her robes became a simple shirt and shorts combination.

"I'm… I'm home!" she cried. "Why am I back at home?"

Above them on the balcony a baby squealed. Kinza's hearing picked up a barely audible gasp and looked up. He saw Hikari with a horrified expression on her face.

"Kuu?" he heard her nearly whisper. "KUU?!"

The little tom-boy girl at the gate shivered as she looked up at the balcony with tears streaming down her face. "Hikari? HIKARI?!"

"All systems alert!" Kinza pulled his shirt communicator patch from his pocket. "All systems alert!" it yelled in the voice of S.A.M. the computer. "Breech in progress! Breech in progress!"

Ptolemy's cell phone rang, making him jump in his seat. "Location 01-01," he said as he popped it open.

"Honey?" he heard his wife Janice ask. "Are you alright?" She sounded nervous.

"Other than seeing someone who had their day of flight long ago standing in front of me, I'm fine and dandy," he told her.

He heard her breath heavily. "Thank god," she said. "The readings here almost made it look like Glie had just exploded!"

He looked around. The sky was still there. The walls were still up. The child was still standing in front of them, though she was now being draped over by Nemu. He saw McManus looking at him as she showed him the business end of her scanner.

"I'm looking at readings now," he told Janice. "It looks like an upheaval from below. Whoa, wait a minute…"

The readings switched. A red shift from below became a blue wall from above.

"Nemu! What's happening?" the girl asked as she suddenly shot up in size and age.

"Oh, hang on, folks!" Kinza yelped as he stood up on his chair and looked around at the edge of the walls. Streamers of light were flying skywards from all around the area. He saw one or two become red. He whipped his own rod out and pointed at the nearest magenta-colored one.

"Oh scragg!" he grunted. "Ptolemy, we have a problem!"

McManus withdrew her scanner so she could see what the security officer was reading. She gasped and quickly returned the readout to the scientist.

The near red one started to withdraw back towards the ground.

"NO!" he shouted. "THEY CAN'T DO THAT!"

Nemu stood back as she watched the now adult Kuu launch a streamer of light towards the sky. At her feet though was an ominous red glow.

Kinza leaped over to Dr. McManus and ripped open her bag. He yanked out a necklace that had an odd looking pendant hanging from it. He gave it a hard twist and looked over his shoulder at the woman. The red was climbing up her quickly. He ran over and forced himself into her light field and draped the necklace over her.

Like an electric switch that had been dunked in water, both the streamer of upward light and the red glow sparked and vanished. The woman shivered and fell to her knees as Kinza gathered her into his arms.

He suddenly felt someone pummeling his back. He looked back to find Nemu crying and striking him.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" she screamed. "WHAT DID YOU DO?! YOU'VE KILLED HER! YOU'VE KILLED HER!"

"Tsk - he saved her," they heard from the top of the gate. Nemu looked up to see the leather-clad image of Gabrella standing there glaring down at them.

Ptolemy stood up and buttoned his shirt. "What is going on here, Gabby?" he groused. "This is a clear violation of the Treaty of Set. Why has the basement started this?"

She switched her glare from the Haibane to the old man. "Who said we started this?" she sneered. He saw him point at the scanning rod in the doctor's hand.

"It becomes rather easy to see when you have the right tools," he replied. "Your forces began a mass pull from below, removing the proper balance to this place. When the attic retaliated and began retrievals, your forces began to do selective kidnappings of souls!"

Gabrella smirked and sat down on the tiles. "Are you finished?" she asked. "Because if you are, I'd like to note that we aren't attacking, and we haven't stolen any souls. Besides, if we were into such a disgusting method, why would we want souls that ascended? They're too… clean." She looked down at the Tomassamassa and at the woman in his arms. "You seemed to have blocked that one," she stated.

He grunted as he looked at the pendant he had placed over Kuu. "This is a Doorknob," he noted as he adjusted the device. "It is a shield generator meant to block mental intrusions. At its maximum setting though, it pretty much blocks everything." As he turned it down a bit, the woman relaxed and looked less shocked and more like she had an all-time headache pounding through her head.

"Very well," the Demon-Goddess said as she stood up again. "I wouldn't leave that on her too long then. She requires contact with the attic to remain intact, since she is down here without a vessel. If I were you, I'd find that goddess who stops by here regularly. And by the way…"

She vanished and reappeared beside Kinza. "Keep close tabs on that baby you found," she told him while tweaking his goatee. "She's quite a little bargaining chip. Both sides want her, and personally…"

She looked over at the gateway and saw Katherine standing there.

"…neither side should get her," she finished. She made a quick jump and vanished.

Kinza looked over at the Goddess. She was still glaring at where the demon had disappeared to. When she looked down at him, she first smiled then looked away almost as if embarrassed.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to have to deal with you two a lot from now on?" he sighed. He then found Kuu becoming quite heavy as she collapsed the rest of the way over him.

Rakka stood and stared at the figure in the doorway to this nightmare that she and Koi were in. The artist who had made it was there.

"Crap." Reki looked at her clothes. They were the same ones she had been wearing when she had her day of flight, right down to the worn and tattered jacket.

"This was her dream, wasn't it?" Koi asked. "The pain… the loneliness…"

"Personally, I could use a little alone-time these days," Reki stated as she felt around herself. "Being in charge of all those proto-angels will drive you nuts! Huh… no halo…"

Rakka had been in a half-stupor as she stared at her old friend until that last simple statement was said. She blinked and scrutinized her harder.

"Reki, turn around, would you?" she asked her.

She blinked. "You haven't seen me in nearly two years, and the first thing you ask me is to turn around?" she blurted but obeyed.

When she returned to facing her, she saw that Rakka's eyes were wide as saucers.

"No wings!" Rakka chirped as she pointed. "You've got no wings!"

Reki instinctively reached back. There did not seem to be anything there to grab. She could feel the slits in her shirt's back slip up and down against her skin. It was unnerving.

She stepped out of the room into her old bedroom.

"Where's my mirror?" Rakka heard her yell. "Damn it… someone took my mirror? I leave here and someone took my floor mirror? Oh, never mind…"

Rakka looked out the door at her. She found Reki looking over her shoulders at a small hand mirror she was trying to hold behind her head.

"Where did they go? Where did they go?" she heard her ask to herself. "They shouldn't just vanish! I'm only a spirit… Rakka! Rakka, come here, quick!"

Rakka walked over to her friend's side. The mirror was thrust into her hands as Reki stepped away to look at it.

Koi stepped into the room with a slight stagger. He almost seemed drunk. "Voices… so many…" he mumbled.

"What's that Koi?" Rakka asked, distracted by his rambling.

Reki almost spun around in a fit attempting to see properly what had become of her wings. First her jacket was flung off - Then her vest. Finally her shirt flew until she could see her bare back.

"Naked…"

Rakka's hair stood on end. She scampered back to turn the boy away to the complaints of Reki that the mirror had just left her view. She raised the mirror again and held it out.

She then began to stare at Reki's bare back. There were no signs that wings had ever protruded from her shoulders. All that was there was a smooth thin frame of her body.

Reki sighed and pulled her shirt back over her head. She looked over at her shocked friend and the boy in the background and snickered.

"Well now, did you go and get yourself a boyfriend, Rakka?" she asked with a bit of a wicked grin.

Rakka turned scarlet. "Rekiiiiii!" she whined.

"Rekiiiiii!" Koi copied.

"Rakka?" they heard from down the hallway. "Rakka, are you up there?!"

Rakka stuck her head out of the bedroom. She could see the glint of a flashlight at the far end of the corridor.

"I'm up here Kana!" she called out.

"Come quick!" Kana called back. "Kuu's back!"

Rakka looked back into the room. "She's here too?" she asked no one in particular. But it was loud enough for Kana to hear her, as she made a mad dash for where Rakka was.

"What do you mean she's here too?" Kana asked her out of breath. She then caught sight of what she meant.

" Hi-eee!" Reki grinned and waved her hand.

"Oh crap, what's going on?!" Kana yelped as she staggered back against the open door. "First I see everyone's halo start to fade out then everyone I know who had their day of flight is back!"

"So many voices," Koi moaned as he stumbled back into the sanctum room.

"And what's with him all of a sudden?" Kana did not get an answer to that question as she was suddenly shaken by Rakka.

"What was that about halos fading out?" she asked her.

Kana shook her head. "Well, yea, it was just as Doc McManus was dragging his sorry butt into the hospital for decking Jester, I saw Nemu's halo fade out for a moment. But then so did everyone else's. Why?"

Rakka looked back at Reki. She seemed confused.

"The last time I saw that happen," she whispered, "was when Kuu, then Reki's day of flight was approaching.

"Hey," Kana noticed, "she doesn't have a halo!"

She turned around and showed Kana her back. "No wings either!" she said in an almost giddy way. "Ooh, I know what I need now!"

They both blinked at her. "Huh?" they asked.

"A cigarette! They don't let me smoke up there!"

Reki rummaged through a drawer and found a stale pack of some foul burning weed. She yanked one out and stuck it in her mouth. This was followed by an almost frantic patting down of her body, then a further rummaging through the drawers.

"Lighter… lighter… lighter…" she was mumbling to herself. She heard a flick and saw a glow behind her.

"You gave it to me when you left," Rakka told her as she held up the flame. "I use it to light the lantern I use down in the canals."

Reki stared at the hand holding out the light and the face beyond.

"Damn, I never thought…" she said with a slight smile.

"Never thought what?" Kana asked from behind Rakka.

Reki laughed. "I never thought I'd miss this dump!" She reached down and touched the end of the cigarette to the flame and drew in. It nearly caught fire because of how dried out it was. She managed only a few short draws on it before it was gone, and she gagged on those. She saw the hand with the lighter now handing it to her.

"You keep it," she lightly coughed. "Obviously, I quit smoking for a reason…"

"Yea, not to turn green," Kana kidded her as the cigarette had obviously not gone down well.

"So what is going on here?" she finally asked. "Why am I here? And you said Kuu was here too?"

"Sort of," Kana said as she scratched the back of her head. "For a minute she looked like Kuu, all short and kid-like, but she looks like a grownup woman now."

Reki nodded. "That would explain why I showed up in these clothes then. I certainly don't wear these up there."

There was a thump from the next room. Then another. Then another. Rakka looked in.

"Make - it - stop!" Koi was saying as he stood before the white spot on the far wall as he smacked his head against it.

Rakka ran in and grabbed him and held him away from doing more damage to himself. Kana grabbed his other shoulder and they dragged him towards the center of the room. His forehead was all bloody.

"What is his problem?" Reki asked as she pulled some clean rags out of a short artist's table.

"Doctor McManus said he's a sensitive," Rakka stated as she cradled him in her lap. "We've got to get him to her!"

"Wouldn't it be easier to bring her here to him?" Reki asked.

"She's out front helping Kuu," Kana pointed out. "Kinza had to rescue her before she got dragged away by whatever all this is about!"

"Well then, we'll just have to get him to her!" Reki stated as she leaned over the boy. She placed her fingers on the side of his head and quietly said to him "settle."

Koi gasped some air then went limp. Kana and Rakka stared at Reki as she stood up.

"I'll take his legs," she said.

"Wait a minute!" Kana harped. "How did you do that?"

Reki shrugged as she reached down to lift the boy up. "I have to do that to the proto-angels sometimes. They get a bit feisty at times, and you just need to tell them to settle. I figured it might work on a boy as well!"

"You've got to teach me that," Kana grunted as she and Rakka lifted by his shoulders. "I'd love to try that on my boss!"

Kuu was now seated on one of the Adirondack chairs sipping on some hot tea as Dr. McManus and Katherine examined her. Nemu was rubbing her back above her wings.

"INCOMING!" Kana shouted as the three girls carrying the boy came bounding out of the building. "Man down!"

Kinza came over and hauled Koi up from the ladies and brought him over to another chair where he laid him out. He looked over his shoulder at the slight surprised stare he was getting from yet another new face.

"Well, I haven't seen you here before," he said as he ran his scanner over Koi. "Wow, Doc, we have a serious convergence going on here."

Reki stared and pointed at the alien. She was going to ask Rakka who that was until a gasp beside her caught her attention.

Nemu stood lock-kneed beside her.

"Oh, hi Reki," Kuu said as she noticed the soothing shoulder rub had stopped.

Nemu stared for almost a minute before her eyes rolled up into her head and she collapsed at Reki's feet. The doctor shook her head.

"One disaster at a time, please!" she said. "Could someone get her to that chair please?"

A crying wail now wafted over the crowd. Kinza looked up at the balcony.

"You okay up there kiddo?" he called up.

"We need diapers!" Hikari called down. She then froze at the sight of Reki lifting Nemu off the ground with Rakka and Kana's help.

"You're kidding!" she finally yelped. "You too?"

"Yes, me three!" Reki replied as she laid Nemu into the last chair displacing an old man who seemed to be chatting to himself, but was actually barking orders into a cell phone.

"Reki," she heard, "where are your wings?" She looked back to find Katherine looking at her back. "Are you able to hide them?" she asked.

"Not that I know of," Reki replied. "When I arrived, both they and my halo were gone."

Kinza cleared his throat. "Guys, I think I can answer that," he said as he held Koi forward. On his back were two sets of wings, one set overlapping the other.

Bloodeagle squirmed as she sat on Sinner's Rock. What had just happened had struck her hard as well. She swore she was in an enclosed and fully packed stadium and everyone had shouted all at once. She adjusted her mask and dove into the stone.

"What the hell…" she said to herself. Miho's house was not there, but Miho was. She was seated before a throng of people, who were all sitting cross legged. And to add to the surrealism of the scene, everyone was talking - not to anyone in particular, and not with much cohesiveness of consciousness. Some were simply droning tones. Some were speaking nonsense. She found one speaking about stocks, while another was reciting 'The Grapes of Wrath' for no apparent reason.

"This was such a quiet place," she told Miho as she sat beside her.

The small girl raised her hand and the mass of souls fell silent.

"Why are they here?" she asked Bloodeagle.

"Good question," the fallen Haibane replied. "They certainly do not seem in control of themselves, and if they were not in here, I seriously doubt that they would be able to survive out there by themselves."

"You are correct," a man in the center said as he stood up. He turned and bowed to them.

"Phoenix, are you responsible for this?" she asked the man.

He looked about. "More to the point, this was an accident waiting to happen?" he questioned.

"That wasn't what I asked," Bloodeagle barked, causing Miho to flinch and those in the front to drop their heads to the ground. "DID - YOU - DO - THIS?!"

He spun about. "And if I did?" he asked.

"DAMN YOU BIRD," she screamed as she flung her mask at him and struck him behind his ear. "ANSWER ME!"

He reached up and dabbed a small trickle of blood. "And if I did?" he asked again, though this time in a more hostile voice.

"If you did, why?" she shot back unimpressed.

The man abruptly sat down. "Ask them," he said. "If I was responsible for bringing them here, they would know. Ask them."

Bloodeagle stood up and looked at all the people surrounding her. She was about to point out one when she found her mask skipping into her feet.

"You might want that," the man stated with a harrumph.

Rather than put it on, Bloodeagle only raised it to her face as if it were a magnifying glass. What she saw was blue-white blobs with streamers of energy rising off them. She stepped over to the nearest person and tapped her on the head with it.

"Why are you here?" she asked the spirit.

"Quarter teaspoon of lemon extract," it replied. "One cup of sugar, two cups of all purpose flour…"

Bloodeagle snorted and tapped a man beside the woman on the shoulder.

"Hello, what can I do for you today?" he asked in a jovial way, belying his rather blank stare. "What type of cartridge are you looking for? Black or color? Would you like a protection plan with that? Remember that the manufacturer's warranty does not cover that…"

Bloodeagle looked back at Miho. The little girl raised her hand to silence the retail banter.

"Why do I get the feeling that not everyone here came through Glie?" Bloodeagle asked.

"They didn't," Miho replied, "at least not all of them. But why are they here at all?"

Bloodeagle turned her stare back on the man seated in the middle of the crowd. "Well?" she demanded.

He stood up and stamped his foot on the ground.

"I!" he shouted.

"I!" thundered all the people. Bloodeagle staggered back and Miho covered her ears.

"I! I! I!" Phoenix repeated.

"I! I! I!" Bloodeagle wilted from the cacophony. Miho raised her hands.

"I AM!" Phoenix continued, but the people did not. He looked back at the girl.

"I do not care how powerful you are, Mr. bird man," she said quite angrily, "but while you are in here, you follow MY rules!"

He looked around at the faces that now looked at him. "How?" he asked. "How are you able to do this?"

"You are not a spirit!" Miho stated, now as an older woman.

"But I do govern them!" he hissed. "I AM!"

"I AM!" they all shouted at him, causing him to rise into the air. He flipped and fluttered, changing into the fiery bird as he streaked off into the white void.

"That is one seriously deranged bird," Bloodeagle said. She looked down at the woman beside her and found the small child there instead.

"What is she doing?" Miho quietly asked. "What is she doing?"

The small girl stood up and raised her arms. In rings spreading out from herself, the spirits rose into the white above them.

The Doorknob necklace dropped to the ground. Kuu lifted off the chair. She looked down at the gawking expressions as she found herself once again making the trip she had done before in a less-than-graceful tumble and roll.

Reki stared.

"Umm… am I supposed to be following her or something?" she asked.

"Hey! Somebody help me here!" they heard. Reki looked over and saw the small furry alien holding onto the boy's legs as he was being lifted into the air like a limp rag doll.

"Koi!" Rakka yelped as she grabbed his arms. Reki followed behind her and tried to grab to closest one to her. But when she touched his skin, her hand nearly fell into his body. The extra set of wings on the boy's back fluttered and grew slightly. They also took on a whiter sheen.

Reki looked at her hand startled. She looked behind her and found Katherine there.

"Get into him," the goddess told her. "It is not his time."

"It might not be his time, but he's sure determined to try!" Kinza remarked as Ptolemy and McManus now tried to hold him down. "HURRY!"

Reki stepped up to the boy. She reached out to touch him again, but paused a moment to smile at Rakka.

"Are you doing well here?" she asked her.

Rakka cocked her head towards the boy. "We've had a few adventures since you've been gone. It certainly hasn't been boring!"

Reki shook her head and snorted. "That's certainly an understatement!" She bent over and grabbed Koi's arm.

"Reki?" she heard as she felt herself start to be drawn within the boy's body. She turned to fall into him and saw that Nemu had awoken.

"Asleep at the wheel as usual, Nemu?" she asked as she vanished into Koi. The wing on his back burst wide and white, sending those who were holding him down falling back. They then separated from his own pair as the robed vision of Reki pulled away from him, now complete with a halo that separated from the boy's.

"You keep these guys in line, Nemu!" Reki said as she began her second flight. She looked over at Hikari and the baby.

"And you!" she shouted. "Keep her safe!"

The baby giggled and fluttered her wings, much to the surprise of Hikari. She had to hold her out as to not get a face full of them.

As the twilight was settling, the bright spots that had been Kuu and Reki settled into the star field that was starting to become visible.

Kinza stood up and read his scanning rod once more. He snorted and looked at the scientist, who was busy examining the boy in his chair.

"Over is it?" he heard. He looked at the doorway to the building and saw Jester and Sol there.

"Not by a long shot, kiddo," he said. "Where is you sister?"

Jester fidgeted a bit as he saw Katherine and Koi. The boy was holding his head, shaking loose the ruckus that was banging around in it. "Know not Gabrella is where," he said in his nonsense way.

"She would not be here, if I am around," Katherine stated. She found the Tomassamassa glaring at her.

"Since when did either side follow that rule?" he asked. "Personally, I would appreciate it if both of you stuck around for the duration of all this." He then snapped a look up at the clock tower. "DID YOU HEAR ME MISS GABRELLA?!" he roared.

A wisp of smoke trailed out of the high window of the tower. It reformed behind the goddess.

"You are very perceptive," she coyly said as she slinked around Katherine. "And why should we be breaking this rule made within the Treaty?"

Katherine angrily pushed the demon's wings aside. "Yes, why should either of us stay?" she demanded. "The rules state…"

"The rules are being broken," Kinza barked at them both. "Even a novice security agent can see that!"

Ptolemy nodded in agreement. "True, if your side did not create that downward pull, causing the attic to react as they did, then someone else did. We need to find out who that was, and why they did it."

"How much time have you got left before you need to get back to base?" Dr. McManus asked Ptolemy. He pulled out a fob watch and looked at it.

"Fairly soon, I'm afraid," he said. "All of this coming to the Holy Sites so often is giving me pains all over. I think I'm going to have to have Hipp look me over."

"Have him stop by here soon as well," the doctor added. "I would like him to look over Koi, since he is the resident Haibane expert here."

Ptolemy looked over his glasses at her. "I thought you were brought in as that."

"I was brought in by Hipp to stabilize and get under control that hospital they have here," she told him.

"I bet that pleases the Phoenix Guild no end," Gabrella laughed. "You're with that Denivan group your Captain belongs to, aren't you?"

The doctor gave the demon a confused look. "The who?" she asked. "My service is with the World Federation United Nations Space Fleet - Observers Corps, as is the Captain's."

"Gabby," Ptolemy sternly growled at the Demon-Goddess, "there are some things that are on a need-to-know basis, even on board a ship like Forrestal."

She laughed loud. "Their captain can transform himself into a giant Battle Phoenix! I doubt that is something they keep from his crew!"

"Actually, I haven't seen him do that yet," Kinza calmly said. "Tell me though, why would the Phoenix Guild be put out by this Denivan group that my captain seems to be part of?"

Ptolemy swatted Kinza in the shoulder. "Did you not just hear me?" he scolded him. "That is a need-to-know situation!"

Kinza glared at him then looked at the doctor. "Code One - One - Zero - One," he growled at her while rubbing his shoulder.

"And that gives him the right to ask such a question," she replied. "To the Observers, it is an order that allows the barer of such the power to ask what they deem needs to be asked. It is also best for those who are asked to tell the truth, since lying to an Observer can cause repercussions."

Kinza sighed as a strange look crossed his face. "Or it can cause what is coming through the gate right now," he said as he gestured over towards it.

Rakka looked at him then at the figures walking past the bulletin board. Two were bickering with each other while the third was just looking at the sky trying to ignore the others.

"That's - YOU!" she yiped at the three Tomassamassas walking into the courtyard. "But… but how can that be?"

Two were in uniform. The third was in the white Haibane shirt that the Kinza beside her was wearing. The two uniformed ones seemed nearly ready to go to blows, while the third one was looking more and more disgusted in both of them.

There was a piercing whistle. Rakka peeked over at her Kinza, and found him blowing between two fingers to make that disturbing sound.

"YO! Fuzz-for-brains!" Kinza barked. "I'm obviously the 0-0 for this little incursion! I need time relevances and I need them NOW!"

"Who are these three?" Kana asked. "Are they really you?"

"From different time lines, yes," he grumbled. "This happens sometimes when crucial moments happen, and different options are available… the Observers will sometimes actually try the other options, then pick the best results, but it sometimes is left up to the breakpoint where the timeline diverges to make the decision. And I'm the breakpoint."

"Umm, not exactly," the Kinza wearing the same shirt as he announced. He held a finger up for everyone to wait a moment.

There was a scream from above them.

"Hikari?" Kinza called out. He looked back at his doppelganger. He was shooing him along.

"Actually, I'm the new 0-0," he told him.

"Scragg!" Kinza growled with a wild look on his face. "I hate this type even MORE!" He then ran for the building with a completely confused Rakka close behind.

Kana was about to follow when the new Kinza grabbed her arm.

"You're not part of what is about to happen," he told her. He then turned his attention to the Demon-Goddess beside them. "But you might want to follow, Miss Gabrella."

"Umm, what about Miss Katherine?" one of the uniformed Kinzas suggested.

Shirt Kinza looked at the other uniform. "What do you say?" he asked.

"Oh yes, she should go as well," he agreed. "Though that's pretty much where we finish agreeing."

"Understood," Shirt Kinza said. He gestured for them to follow. Seeing how far behind they were, they both chose to leap up to the balcony rather than the long stairwell approach their Kinza and Rakka were taking.

"I don't get it," Kana complained. "What's it mean that you're this 0-0?"

"It means that I'm the actual Kinza from this actual moment in time," the Tomassamassa said as he waved over towards the archway. "I am the breakpoint where these two are directed towards."

"Then who was that who just ran up the stairs?" a perplexed Nemu asked.

"That was my former self to whom I have become," the now first Kinza said with an almost eerie voice.

"How metaphysical," Ptolemy snorted.

"Actually, it's temporal physics," Kinza laughed as he waved towards the archway again. "I hate the stuff."

"Who are you waving at?" Kana asked. She looked over at the arch.

Katherine and Gabrella were walking out of it. They seemed oddly quiet, and were both - smiling?

"You see? I already knew she was going to go," Kinza told Kana with a wink.

Behind them, Rakka and Hikari were warily looking around and up at the balcony. Between them was a little girl that they were helping walk.

Shirt Kinza clapped his paws together and bent down. "There's my little Koni! There's my little Koni!"

The child giggled and chirped as she separated from the older girls' grasp and trundled on wobbly legs towards the Tomassamassa. He scooped her up and held her on his shoulder.

A tall dark man with long black hair stood behind Rakka and Hikari. He nodded at Kinza.

"Any problems getting them back here, Nightwatch?" Kinza asked.

"A slight problem at the gate… Torval's Lock I believe you would call it," the man said. "But otherwise, no."

Kana and Nemu stared at the little girl on this Kinza's shoulder. "Is that the baby?" they asked as Doctor McManus started to scan her.

Jester started to sniff.

"That's my little Koni," Kinza said with a silly smile on his face.

Sol watched as Jester started to spin around sniffing.

"How did she get so big?" Nemu asked.

Jester approached Rakka and Hikari. He sniffed at them. They looked at him with a bit of weariness on their faces.

"Chicken, smell you like!" he exclaimed.

"Fried," Rakka said in a drowsy tone.

"Crispy," Hikari agreed.

It was then that Kana and Nemu noticed that their fellow Haibane seemed a bit mussed up and dirty.

"What's up with you two?" Kana asked. "Where have you been?"

Rakka blearily looked up at her.

"Hell," she said.

"Well, the outskirts," Kinza grinned.

Nemu and Kana looked at him then back at the two who did seem to have faint wisps of smoke trailing off them.

"Rakka went to hell?" Kana asked.

"I did too!" Hikari added in a tired complaining way.

"When did that happen?" Nemu asked in a near panic as she went to assist the two weary Haibane.

"In about five - four - three - two - one," the Kinzas chorused. Above them they heard the sound of an alien swear followed by a green arc of light that flashed and lit up the face of the building. Then they could hear the two deities arguing. Another flash, this time white nearly blinded everyone. For a finale, there was a smaller green blink with a resounding POP as a crescendo, leaving everyone in the now dark courtyard and the chirping of crickets. A newly installed set of lights flickered on nearby.

"I do believe we have perigee," shirt Kinza stated. "I know you guys have apogee readings, do you have any for perigees?" he asked Ptolemy.

He flipped open his cell phone. "I believe we're about to find out," he stated.

oOo

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Edit & Remastered 1106.30

Edited 1805.03

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