Chapter Six
"So Sasami sent you back here to annoy us because if you don't, the world is essentially going to come to an end?"
Ryoko dropped down onto the couch, stretching out on her front as she fixed Nozomi with a penetrating stare. "And because you're such a good little follower of the Goddess, you didn't stop to ask any questions about it, but jumped right on in and said you'd do it. But you don't know why she sent you to me, why Earth, or what exactly you have to change? Am I understanding all of this properly?"
Nozomi flushed red to the roots of her hair, sending the pirate a dark look as she did so.
"There wasn't exactly time." she snapped. "Tsunami was weakening. I don't know how much of her power it cost her to connect herself with Ryu Oh here on the Earth and send me so far back into the past. I don't know if she managed to hold out against Kagato, or if he took her too, while she was expending so much energy trying to save her world. She told me that it was a decision you made, and you blamed yourself for it when everything went wrong. That's about all she did say. You have to realise, Ryoko-san, I didn't know you. I saw you for the first time when you came to Tsunami-sama's Throne Room and demanded an interview with the Empress. How would I know what kind of decision it would be? I barely knew who you were."
"And you don't know if it's a decision she's already made, or one that she's about to make?" Tenchi asked quietly. Nozomi shook her head.
"No." She agreed. "Tsunami didn't say. Just that it was a decision made in the past. That somehow she'd failed where she should have succeeded, and everything had spiralled as a result."
"Maybe it was the decision to have you." Ryoko said flatly. "I can see how I'd live to regret that."
"That wasn't nice!" Hurt flooded Nozomi's expression at this. "You're not being fair to me, you know! I came here to help you!"
"So you say." Ryoko glared at her. "We've noone's word to back it up."
"I still think that our best course of action is to go to Jurai, and speak to Sasami." Tenchi said with a shrug. He sighed, leaning across the table and scooping up the Juraian sword that lay there, running his finger absently over the ornate carving on the hilt. "I hoped I wouldn't need this again so soon, but something tells me that I will."
"What is that?" Nozomi eyed it curiously. "It looks Juraian - but I never saw it before."
"It's the sword for which I'm named. Tenchi. Heaven and Earth." Tenchi explained, casting her a smile. "My grandfather gave it to me. Like you, Nozomi, I have Juraian ancestry. Although in some ways mine is buried far deeper than your own."
"I see." Nozomi pursed her lips. "So you have magic also?"
"When it decides to obey me, yes."
"Can we save the heirloom talk for another occasion?" Ryoko snapped. "It's all very interesting, but it doesn't get to the bottom of why this pipsqueak has invaded our privacy and our personal space."
"Ryoko-san is right." Nozomi sighed. "But there's not much more I can tell you. I've already told you everything Tsunami said to me - pretty much word for word. That's all I know. I swear."
"Maybe." Ryoko pursed her lips. "But you know what? I have a feeling I know exactly what the decision is. And you know something else? I don't regret making it. You won't change my mind. If the world dies, then there's not much point any of us living beyond it, is there? I'm not going to be anyone's pawn, Nozomi. You can take that to your Goddess and tell her what I think. All right?"
"Hang on a minute." Tenchi held up his hands. "We're getting off the track. Ryoko, what do you mean? What decision?"
"Tenchi, don't be dense." Ryoko shook her head. "Washu offered me the gems and I turned her down. What else would it be? It has to be tied into those devil crystals somewhere along the line. You must realise that."
"But it isn't the only decision you've made recently." Tenchi pointed out. "You decided to leave Jurai - that could have been it. You decided to stop pursuing your past. There's another. And then there's something else, also."
He faltered, then,
"Something you and I decided, after your battle with Haki." He added slowly. "If you know what I'm talking about."
Dismay flooded Ryoko's golden eyes and she shook her head.
"That's another decision I'd never go back on." She said firmly. "No matter if the world blew up a thousand times around me. I'm not letting you go, Tenchi - if that means I die in some horrific way, well, so be it. I'll take it. I'm not going back to being alone. Not now."
"All of those things could have been the decision Tsunami-sama meant." Nozomi gazed at her hands, absently rubbing at the fading blood stains that still tinged her nails red at the edges. "I don't know which one it would be. I don't know about any gems. Tsunami didn't mention jewels or anything like that. I know you're Kagato's daughter, Ryoko-san - so I thought it might be a decision you made regarding him. But it's difficult to know."
She sighed.
"I wondered if it did involve me, actually." She admitted carefully. "Since my father was so involved in the cult of Kagato. And since he used me...and my blood link to the Prince - to awaken Kagato's spirit in the first place. It would explain why you came to Jurai when you did. It did occur to me..."
She frowned, halting in mid-speech as she registered the pirate's expression. Ryoko had gone very white, and a strange look had entered her amber gold eyes.
"What did you just say?" Her voice was low, edged with danger, and Nozomi could see flickers of orange light dancing around the woman's fingertips. Despite herself, she bit her lip.
"Tenchi-san said you weren't going to attack me again!" She protested. "I'm only trying to tell you what happened in my world, if you'd just stop and listen to me for a moment!"
"I asked you a question." Ryoko stood, standing a foot or so away from the younger girl and glaring down at her, her words like drops of ice falling from her lips. "Answer me."
"I don't know what you mean." Nozomi glanced at Tenchi for help, but Tenchi's brows were drawn together in confusion also.
"Ryoko, what's wrong?" He murmured, reaching out a hand to take hers, but Ryoko pulled it out of his reach, putting her hands on her hips.
"You said...your father...used you to wake Kagato." she said forbodingly. "Is that right? Is that what you said?"
"Yes...but I was just a child. I didn't know what he was going to do until he did it, and that's the truth." Nozomi responded. "They took blood from me and sprinkled it on the tree, then the sky went dark. I know it's my fault - I don't pretend that it isn't - but I didn't do it on purpose! I didn't mean to bring him back alive - it's just what happened!"
"That's not what I mean." Ryoko's eyes glinted dangerously and with one sweeping movement she had pulled the girl to her feet, pushing her back against the door. "I meant the other bit. About your father."
"I don't understand?"
"Oh, don't you?" Light shimmered around Ryoko's hand, flickering and strengthening into her sabre as she glared at the hapless girl. "I came here prepared to listen to some rubbish, but I won't take that from you. How dare you suggest I'd betray Tenchi in that way? It's bad enough that you keep insisting you're my daughter, when I'm pretty damn sure that you're not. But that someone else would be your father...some worshipper of Kagato...how dare you imply such a thing!"
"But I..." Nozomi's eyes opened wide with fear, taken completely off-guard by the suddeness of Ryoko's temperament change. Dimly she was aware of Tenchi's voice in the background, urging the angry pirate to calm down, but it was to no avail. He reached for his sword, but a deft, glancing blow from Ryoko's free hand knocked it from his grip, sending it skidding across the floor where it came to a rest not far from the wall.
"Tenchi, keep out of this." Ryoko said darkly. "She's questioning my honour...I'm not going to stand for that!"
"Ryoko, please!" Tenchi exclaimed. "This isn't helping anything! Who knows what the circumstances were? It's not Nozomi's fault if things turned out that way, so don't take it out on her! That's not why Tsunami sent her to find you, you know!"
"I don't care." Ryoko lifted her blade to Nozomi's throat, pinning her back against the wood panelling as she did so. "Now you're going to tell me the truth, you little worm. Tell me you're lying."
"I can only tell you what I know!" Nozomi fought to retain her composure, meeting her companion's angry gold eyes with identical troubled ones. "He raised me. He called me Moriko and he knew I was Kagato's grandchild. I have no memories of anyone else. He was my father. That's all I know. And if Tsunami hadn't told me that you were my mother, I would never have known that either. But I know you are, Ryoko-san. Even if you don't believe me. You can kill me if you want to, it won't make it any less true. My father used me to raise Kagato's spirit because I had the Prince's blood running through my veins. And so do you."
Ryoko faltered for a second, and Nozomi took her chance to escape, teleporting out of the pirate's grip and re-materialising on the other side of the room.
"Stop fighting me, when I came here to help you!" She exclaimed. "Tenchi-san is right! I'm not responsible for mistakes you do or don't make in your future life! I'm only here to try and save the past, not to create a war in this time instead!"
"I don't care what you came here to do." Ryoko was in high temper now, and as Tenchi tried to intervene once more, she pushed him aside, sending him a dark glare.
"No, Tenchi. I told you. This is between me...and her. If she's any bit my daughter, she must be able to put up at least some kind of a fight. Let's see it, shall we? Let's see what she's really made of."
Nozomi narrowed her eyes, eying the other woman carefully. Light glittered from Ryoko's fingers, and she knew that a swipe of the orange sword would be as lethal as a blade of silver. But then, she wasn't entirely helpless herself. She nodded her head.
"All right, if that's what you want." She said at length, bringing her hands together and sending up a shower of golden sparks. "If it will make you listen to me, I'm not a coward."
"Will you both stop it?" Tenchi begged. "This is my home, you know - I'd like to have some of it left standing before we leave for Jurai!"
"Then you'll have to hope her aim is as good as mine and that she's at least half as swift." Ryoko said simply. She launched herself into the air, sending a barrage of energy bolts in Nozomi's direction, which the young girl parried with her own blasts, flickering out of view and then reappearing on the other side of the coffee table. With a cry of rage, Ryoko launched herself at her adversary, sabre drawn, but Nozomi was fast, and she hovered upwards, avoiding Ryoko's charge by mere milimetres. Ryoko wheeled around, sending another round of flares at the other girl, who parried them just as quickly. She drew on her own magic, sending out a barrage of her own, but Ryoko threw up a forcefield around herself and they glanced harmlessly off her, one singing the edge of the rug on the floor.
"You see, I'm not so easy to beat as all of that." Nozomi touched down gently onto the wooden slats of the floor. "Are you finished with your show of temper, Ryoko-san? I was tired the other night, but you shouldn't assume so quickly that you have me beaten. Just because I'm younger than you doesn't mean I'm not strong."
"You're okay. Nothing special." Ryoko descended to the ground opposite her, rubbing her hands together absently. "But I'm only warming up, yet. Don't relax too soon. I'm not done with you yet."
With that the pirate dropped through the floorboards, and Nozomi glanced around her in alarm, unable to find any trace of the other woman.
"Where did she go?" She exclaimed. "How did she...where is she?"
"Boo."
The voice echoed in her ear and she started, swinging around as she felt strong hands grip her around the ankles, pulling her downwards. She struggled, but it was to no avail and she stared down in horror, watching as her feet disappeared beneath the floor.
"What are you doing!" She exclaimed. "Stop it! Stop it!"
"I told you not to rest easy too soon, Nozomi." Ryoko flickered and appeared at her side, her face lit up in a triumphant smile. "Did I find a magic trick you didn't inherit from me? Well. I guess you're not so perfect as Tsunami thinks you are, are you!"
Nozomi glanced down at her legs once more, finding them submerged to the knee and she took a deep breath, gathering all her reserves of strength as she brought her hands together for a final burst of energy.
"You can blast yourself free, but your legs don't know they're not part of the wood right now." Ryoko said with a shrug. "So unless you like the wooden veneer look, I'd be very careful what you're doing with that energy."
"I thought my mother was brave and selfless and someone who sacrificed herself to protect me!" Nozomi exclaimed, aiming the bolt at Ryoko's head but it missed, careening out of the hole left by the previous night's disturbances and blowing a branch off a nearby cherry tree instead. "And now I'm here, I find you're nothing but a monster with anger management issues! I can't see why Tsunami wanted me to come to you. I don't see how you could possibly be of use to Jurai!"
"You and most of your Tsunami's stuck up family, little girl." With a tug, Ryoko pulled her up from the floor, tossing her down hard onto the wooden panels below. "Do you concede?"
"No way!"
Nozomi struggled to get up, her hand brushing against Tenchi's Juraian sword hilt as she did so. For a moment she hesitated, then she grabbed it up, swinging around to face the pirate with determination in her eyes. Ryoko stared at her for a moment. Then she laughed.
"What are you going to do with that?" She asked incredulously. "Hit me over the head with it? I've news for you, Nozomi. I can't bring a blade to that thing, so you've some hope of doing it. It's Tenchi's sword. It only responds to Tenchi. In your hands it's useless. You might as well give up, if you've burnt out all of your own magic. You can't beat me this way, you know."
Nozomi stared at her for a moment. Then her eyes narrowed.
"Stop talking to me like I'm a little kid!" she exclaimed. "I'm not a child, so don't treat me as if I was one! I'm fed up with it!"
Ryoko pursed her lips, her sabre flickering and glowing once more in her grip.
"Don't fight like one, then." She said softly.
An obstinate expression crossed Nozomi's face and from somewhere deep inside her she felt something flare up, racing through her senses and overriding all of her usual instincts as it took gentle control of her body. She let out a gasp as the energy surged through her fingers, connecting with the sword in her hand. With a flicker, a thin, translucent beam of blue light began to swell out from the hilt's tip, glowing and solidifying as she held it aloft. Despite herself, Ryoko stopped dead in her tracks, the sabre dying in her hand as she stared at her foe in utter disbelief. Nozomi gazed at the sword, unable to comprehend what was happening. For a moment, her whole body was lit up with electricity. And then, as soon as it had come, the blade faltered and died. She loosed her grip, and the hilt fell to the floor with a clatter as she sank back against the wall of the house.
"Sword Tenchi." Ryoko's words were barely more than a murmur as the pirate touched down on the ground, moving over to glance at the fallen sword. "I don't believe it."
"Will you stop this stupid fight now, both of you?" Tenchi retrieved his sword, setting it down on the table. "Nozomi, that's not something you play with. I mean it. It's powerful magic and you shouldn't be dabbling with something you don't understand."
"I feel like all the energy has been sucked out of me." Nozomi admitted weakly, dropping down onto the floor and holding her head in her hands. "What was that? What happened to me?"
"How did you do that?" Ryoko stood over her, her earlier anger quashed by bewilderment as she tried to work out what was going on. "That sword is tuned to Tenchi. You shouldn't have been able to..."
"But she did and we both saw it." Tenchi said quietly. "Ryoko, you have to control your temper and stop jumping to conclusions. I mean it. You haven't reacted this way for a long time - not since you and Ayeka first began to spat when you arrived on the Earth. I'm not going to live around that all the time, so cut it out, will you?"
Ryoko bit her lip, dropping her hands to her sides.
"But..." She faltered, falling silent. She shook her head.
"I don't understand." She admitted.
"Nozomi, are you all right?" Nozomi raised her gaze, meeting Tenchi's concerned face as he crouched at her side, and she nodded, offering him a faint smile.
"Yes. Just exhausted. Like Ryoko-san said, I burned out my energy. She threw me, when she pulled me through the floor. I've never felt anything like that before - or known anyone who could do it. It startled me. I thought...I thought our magic was pretty much the same."
"It seemed that way." Tenchi nodded. "But I guess even mothers and daughters have some differences. Can you stand up? There'll be no more fighting, I promise."
"I think so." Nozomi agreed, allowing him to assist her to her feet. "Thank you, Tenchi-san. But I'm sorry...about your sword. I didn't know it was special. I mean...I didn't mean to touch it."
"Touch it?" Ryoko seemed to stir from her daze at this, fixing the girl with an incredulous stare. "You did more than touch it! You woke it up, Nozomi! How in hell did you do that? Tell me!"
"I have no idea." Nozomi admitted weakly. "It just happened. Like it flooded through me. That's all."
Ryoko closed her eyes, as if digesting this. Then she opened them again.
"Perhaps I'm wrong, then." She said unwillingly, holding up her hands in an uncharacteristic show of submission. "And perhaps you were too, Nozomi. Only Tenchi's daughter could wield Sword Tenchi, even if just for a few seconds. I can't do it. I told you. You didn't inherit that magic from me. So you must have inherited it from your father. And that must mean you're Tenchi's daughter. Mustn't it?"
"Sure looks that way." Tenchi admitted, as Nozomi settled herself back on the couch, relaxing against the cushions. "Grandfather has always said that it's tuned to his line. Him. My mother...me. And you too, I suppose. Even if it's just a trace, it's there inside of you."
"I'm confused." Nozomi admitted. "I never even heard your name before I came here, Tenchi-san. How can I be your daughter, when I grew up calling another man father?"
"I don't know." Tenchi shrugged his shoulders. "But Ryoko is right, Nozomi. You wouldn't have been able to do that if you weren't somehow connected to me."
Ryoko chewed down on her lip, and, glancing at her, Nozomi could see the woman was battling with her pride. At length she sighed, shaking her head.
"I won't fight you again." She said softly. "And...I'm sorry I called you...what I did."
A flicker of hope flared in Nozomi's heart, and she offered a faint smile.
"I'm sorry I made you think that you'd done something to betray someone you care about." She said softly. "I didn't know...I mean, if you say it's that way, then it must be true. But I didn't grow up that way. Tsunami said I had a connection to the Jurai trees - that's how she could send me back so easily. But when she told me who you were, I assumed my connection was you, Okaa-san. Not with my father."
She flushed, putting a hand to her mouth as she realised what she'd said.
"I'm sorry. I meant...I meant Ryoko-san." She said hurriedly. "It slipped out...I forgot."
"No." Ryoko dropped down on the couch with a heavy sigh. "It's all right. I mean, I guess it is. It still sounds weird, though. I'm not sure I'm ready to hear it all that much."
"I'll try and remember." Nozomi promised. She glanced across at Tenchi. "And you? Will you let me call you Father?"
"Gee, I don't know." Tenchi looked taken aback. "I hadn't really thought about it from that perspective, I mean..."
He faltered, exchanging glances with Ryoko across the table, and Nozomi smiled.
"Neither of you quite expected to be so deeply intertwined, did you?" She asked softly. "Tsunami's sent me back to a time when all this is new for you, so neither one of you know where it's going or if it will work out. Am I right?"
"Not far wrong." Tenchi agreed sheepishly. "But the truth is, Nozomi, if we do manage to do as you want us to and somehow change the future so that your world doesn't turn out the way it did - well, it might change everything else. Including you...there's no guarantee that you'll exist in that world. You do know that, right? Even if Ryoko and I are...well...your parents."
"Yes, I know." Nozomi nodded her head. "But at the end of the day, there's nothing left for me in my world. If this means I don't exist any more, well, it won't matter so much in the end. I was prepared for that when Tsunami sent me. In fact, I thought it was pretty much a certainty. You see, I understood my father to be one of Kagato's followers, and that being the case, in a world without Kagato's followers...I might not have happened at all."
"And you're all right with that?" Ryoko cast her a surprised look, and Nozomi was aware of new respect burning in the pirate's eyes. Despite herself, and despite the harsh battle she had just fought, she felt a glow of pride, and she nodded her head.
"More people's lives are at stake than just mine." She said simply. "It was my blood that woke Kagato. I have to do something to redress the balance."
"Well said, kid." There was grudging approval in Ryoko's tone. "Hey...maybe you are my daughter, after all."
"Maybe I just am." Nozomi dimpled. "Guess we'll see, won't we?"
"Meantime, we should think about making tracks to Jurai." Tenchi put in. "Ryoko, where's Ryo Ohki? Have you told her what's going on?"
"Yes." Ryoko nodded her head. "She's not happy about flying again so soon, but she'll do it. She's waiting out front...if we're going, we might as well go now."
--------------------------
So, at last she was alone.
Washu stared up at the ceiling, watching half-dazed as it span and bent before her line of vision. She groaned, shutting her eyes as she struggled to bring the bedroom back under her control. The truth serum still buzzed through her veins, making her both dizzy and claustrophobic, and she struggled into a sitting position, pulling herself to her feet and stumbling awkwardly to the balcony in search of some fresh air.
Clinging tightly to the rail, she gazed out across Jurai. The landscape seemed peaceful now, shrouded in the usual calm of a sunshiny day. But she knew that it was only a facade - that beneath the surface lurked something dark and dangerous. She put a hand to her head as the world swam again, cursing Prince Haru in the most colourful language her native tongue could supply. Though she did not know the exact chemical compound of the truth formula, she knew that it was potentially a hallucinogen, driving her brain to the edges of sanity in it's attempts to break down her defences and elicit honest answers. One dose would have been bad enough, but with three times the normal amount still flooding her system, she did not trust herself to leave her room even if there hadn't been a sentry on duty outside her door.
She glanced back across the room, trying to piece together the interrogation in her head. It was bitty, she realised, and blurred by the potent effect of the drug on her recall. She muttered more expletives, turning back towards her bed in the hope that if she lay still, perhaps eventually the room around her would consent to remain still also.
"Washu-chan?"
A voice startled her and she almost lost her balance, reaching out a hand for the wall to steady herself as she brought the younger Princess of Jurai into focus. Despite herself, a faint smile came to her lips as she met the mixture of horror and concern in Sasami's pretty eyes.
"Washu! Oh, are you all right?"
"I've been spending some quality time with your father and your honoured uncle." Washu said frankly, finally managing to reach her bed and sinking down onto the covers with a sigh of relief. "They can be very persuasive when they want to know something. Persistant, too."
Guilt flooded Sasami's expression, and she hurried to join her friend, sitting down on the end of the bed. She reached out a delicate hand to take Washu's, apprehension on her face.
"They interrogated you?" She asked softly. "Oh, Washu, I'm sorry! It's my fault...I said things to Mother, and then I spoke to Uncle Azusa and the next thing I knew..."
She faltered, dropping her gaze, and Washu shook her head gingerly, gripping the girl's hand tightly.
"No, Sasami. It's all right. This isn't your fault." She assured her. "Your father and your uncle have ways and means beneath any other decent human being to extract information that is really none of their business. I don't blame you for this. You don't need to worry about that."
"Are you sure?" Sasami looked doubtful. Washu nodded.
"Right now I couldn't lie to you even if I wanted to." She said grimly. "So you can trust what I say is the truth. Just forgive me if I'm unguarded in my opinion of your family. At the moment, I'm very angry. Angry and extremely unsteady on my feet."
Sasami's eyes became wide with horror as she put Washu's words together, reading between the lines.
"They used truth serum, didn't they?" She whispered. "Oh Washu!" As the scientist nodded her head. "Are you sure that you're okay? That stuff is strong - Mother has never liked how much Father uses it when he interrogates suspects and I don't like it either! You're my friend and Ayeka's friend and you've done nothing wrong! He had no right to do that to you and I'm going to tell him so!"
She got up to leave, but Washu pulled her back down.
"No, Sasami-chan. Leave it be." She said softly. "Your father and the Emperor have discovered many things this afternoon that will keep their brains more than busy for a while. They know everything, and I've yet to discover whether or not that's a good thing. But one thing I did convince them of is that they should take notice of your dreams and your links to Tsunami. I think, at last, they believe that it's not a game you are playing."
She paused, then pulled the gem capsule from her clothing, setting it down on the covers.
"They know I have these," She added. "And your uncle decided to let me keep hold of them, because you'd decided that was where they should be. Maybe if they are beginning to listen to Tsunami, there might yet be a way to stop Kagato and whatever it is he's going to do to Jurai."
"He's going to destroy it completely." Sasami's face was very white as she remembered her dream. "Washu, I've had such horrible pictures in my head these last few nights. One...one in particular. I was me, only I wasn't me. I was two people - Tsunami and Sasami, at crossed purposes, struggling to hold things together in a crumbling world. The planet exploded into nothing but rock - and there was a girl, a girl I don't know."
She bit her lip, tears glinting in her eyes.
"And Ryoko." She whispered. "Only she was dead, Washu. Ryoko was dead...and so was Jurai. And somehow, when I was in the dream, I knew that everyone else I loved was dead too. That there was just me left...Empress of Jurai only without a Jurai to call home."
She buried her head in her hands.
"I didn't like it."
Washu looked grave.
"And you're sure this was a message from Tsunami?" She asked softly. "A picture from the future and not just a nightmare brought on by all the stress you've been under?"
"I'm sure, Washu-chan." Sasami raised her head, nodding. "It was like I was looking through Tsunami's eyes. I was still Sasami, but somehow I wasn't...like I was trapped inside Tsunami and I couldn't get out."
Washu rubbed her temples.
"I wish my head was clearer." She admitted at length. "Right now I feel how Ryoko must when she's drunk too much sake and passed out on the floor again. My brain is fogged and confused and I'm not much help to you right now. All I can tell you is that I definitively matched Kagato's life energy to Souja's tree and I know that he is the enemy we're dealing with, just like we suspected. But more than that..."
She sighed, dropping back on her pillows.
"I need to sleep off the effects of this serum." She admitted. "They gave me way more than they needed to and it's taking a while to work it's way through. But I'm not likely to be leaving Jurai for the time being, Sasami. They brought me here and even though I'm not locked up, I'm still a prisoner of sorts. You probably saw the guard outside my door."
"Yes, I did." Sasami nodded soberly. "I'm sorry I brought you into this, Washu-chan. I feel bad."
"Believe me, I was already in it - from the moment I took the gems from Kagato and created Ryoko." Washu assured her. "Like I said before, you have nothing to feel bad about. It's not your fault."
She bit her lip.
"I just hope there's something we can find in all of this to stop things." She said grimly. "Because if you're right and that's the future mapped out for this world - what hope have any of us of surviving Kagato's return?"