Chronological Epoch

Chapter 3

No Time Left for You

Setsuna started muttering about annoying observants after they moved from being with the Inner Senshi.

"Clearly you weren't expecting this, were you?" She glanced at Clockwork.

"No. I was not." he said as they found themselves inside a small bar.

Right in the middle having appeared from nowhere, there were several colonial men staring down at them. At first Clockwork was going to try and talk their way out of it, but he noticed he was back in his normal form and Setsuna was un transformed.

"Salem. Just great." he muttered.

The men looked past Clockwork and at Setsuna. One man stood.

"Looks as though thy spell did not work correctly, Witch." the man spoke.

He pulled an old gun from his belt and pointing it at Setsuna.

"You should have been more careful. There will be a witch hanging this day."

Clockwork got upright, no legs since he was in ghost form, so he simply floated, and held his staff in a combative stance. It was strange though, the staff felt heavy. Like it were made out of something like iron. He felt no power from it at all. It was ok. He'd use his other abilities then and his staff could do some damage if wielded like a club.

"Stand back. All of you. I don't want to hurt you." Clockwork, like always, sounded very calm although right now he was unsure of what was going to happen.

Setsuna would find that she couldn't transform nor could she wield magic from her staff either.

She heard Clockwork and her eye twitched.

"Somehow, I don't believe they'll listen."

"So it would seem." he said as the man approached them.

Other men stood and soon they were surrounded.

"I will give you one last chance to return to your business, Gentlemen, and we will leave. We mean you no harm. We have come here by accident and only wish to leave." Clockwork spoke again, still sounding calm.

"The creature speaks well. Did you teach him, Witch?" a man asked as he reached down and grabbed Setsuna by the hair to pull her to her feet and causing her to hiss in pain.

"And now you have crossed the line."

Clockwork swung the now heavy staff out to slam it against the side of the nearest man's face. The crunch of broken bone and teeth caused the room to grow silent for a few seconds. Setsuna couldn't resist smirking when she heard the crunch of bones and teeth. Now that she was standing, she had a better grip on her own staff and held it in a position ready to swing if needed.

"Anyone else want to be stupid enough?"

At her words, the whole room full of men attacked. Although many were taken down by well placed swings from the two staves, Clockwork and Setsuna found themselves overwhelmed and taken down. Clockwork tried to go intangible, but found that that and his ability to make plasma blasts were unusable. He was pushed hard against the floor and held there with a hand on his head while Setsuna was held with an arm tightly around her neck as both the staves were wrestled away from their respective wielders.

"Let us just destroy the monster and hang the witch!" one man cried out as he held a hand to a particularly nasty bruise on the side of his face.

"No. She may be wicked, but we are going to give her a fair trial." came a man's voice from behind. Some time during the fighting a well dressed man had walked into the tavern. "Lock her up and her trial will begin tomorrow."

"And the creature?" another man asked.

"Interrogate it. Someone said it could speak well." the well dressed man said. He walked over to look at Setsuna.

"An exotic beauty from another land it seems. Obviously she is a woman sent by the devil to tempt us. God was able to make her spells backfire and land her here. Good job in apprehending them."

Setsuna glared at the well dressed man.

"Trust me, if I was meant to tempt you, it would be too easy."

"Sadly I must agree wholeheartedly with you." the man spoke.

He then turned around and left. The men grumbled among themselves as they drug Setsuna and Clockwork from the bar.

Clockwork was still trying to get free. Being manhandled wasn't something he or Setsuna were use to and they didn't like it one bit. Clockwork's injured shoulder kept getting grabbed, causing him to grunt or hiss in pain. He caught a glance of Setsuna just before they were pulled in different directions.

"Ugh! Let her go! She's not a witch!" he yelled out, but his words were ignored.

Setsuna was taken to a building that looked like a jail and taken inside. Once there she was pushed into a cell and the door was slammed shut behind her. Setsuna glared at the men after she was tossed into the cell.

"So...another probably falsely accused." a voice said from her left.

At hearing the voice, Setsuna looked towards the source. "You have no idea."

"I am Abigail Faulkner, one of the many accused here in Salem Town." a pregnant woman said as she sat on a bench with her hand protectively on her stomach. "You should sit and rest. You will have an ordeal tomorrow I am sure."

"I'll be alright. Used to standing for long periods of time." She nodded. "I'm Setsuna Meioh." She sighed. "The paranoia is frustrating."

"I know how you feel. It is nice to meet you. Why were you accused? Is it because of your clothing? People have been accused because of less I am afraid." Abigail said.

"Most likely. They saw myself and my friend and accused me right away. Some well dressed guy claimed I was likely sent by the devil to tempt them."

"I see. I am sorry you had to come to this town during these trying times, but..." Abigail was unable to finish as a blood curdling male scream could be heard from almost the other side of town.

Setsuna almost didn't recognize the voice. Her eyes widened as she realized who was screaming. She'd never heard him scream before.

"Clockwork..." In her concern for him, she didn't realize she'd let his actual name slip from her lips.

Abigail kept her hands on her stomach protectively until the screaming finally died down. "Wh...what was that about a clock?" she asked.

It was then Setsuna realized her slip on Clockwork's name. "A nickname cause of all the clocks he wears and cause he goes tic tock like a clock when he's impatient. Wh...what the hell could they do to cause someone to scream like that?"

Abigail shrugged her shoulders. "They do many terrible things in the name of interrogation. They were very very lenient with me for I am with child. If that was your friend, I fear he is ether not long for the world of the living or badly mutilated."

Never was Setsuna so happy that Clockwork was a ghost but it didn't make her any less concerned.

"Is he a dear friend?" Abigail asked with a kind smile.

"Hush, girl! I think it will only make this all worse if you speak of the man who is probably now dead." an older woman said. She looked to be in her late 40s early 50s.

Setsuna smiled at Abigail and answered her first."Very dear. Feels like I've known him forever. I could always depend on him."

Setsuna then looked at the older woman who had spoken. "Tell me then what do you do when you've lost someone? Do you never speak of them again as if they had never existed to begin with? Do you make yourself forget them?"

"Of course not, Child. If you speak too much of the dead they have a harder time of crossing over. Give it at least a day or so." the older woman said. She gave Setsuna a kind smile. "I'm sure your man was a good one."

"I am curious as to how that belief came about. Quite sure if they don't cross over, it has nothing to do with whether or not they're spoken of but that they have unfinished business. And he's not my..."

Setsuna's words were cut off as the door to their cell was opened and Clockwork was shoved in. He hit the floor in the center of the room and lay there unmoving.

"Good lord they have taken his legs." Abigail said paling and looking as if she may throw up.

The could only see his back because he hand landed on his stomach so his cloak was concealing him.

Setsuna ran to his side, kneeling over him and whispering apologies to him. The older woman watched as Setsuna moved to Clockwork's side. She couldn't really make out the apologies being whispered. "

Stop...apologizing." Clockwork groaned a bit as he pushed to roll over onto his back.

Abigail saw his face and red eyes and let out a small shocked scream as she moved back further against the wall.

"Wha...what is that?!" she exclaimed.

Others in the cell moved further back away from Setsuna and Clockwork.

There was a strange red mist rising off of him and he looked down at his chest. The normal ticking noise was gone, but a clicking, like gears trying to turn replaced it. The inside of his clock case was filled with strange almost blood red roses. They were stuffed in so much that his pendulum couldn't swing.

"Blood Blossoms." the older woman said as she stood and walked over unafraid. "A painful way to exercise a spirit. Especially if they are put into the spirits body. No wonder you didn't seem all too upset. Your man is already among the dead. He wont last too long like that though. You will have to remove them." she spoke calmly. "I can assist if you like."

Tares in Clockwork's clothes and skin were starting to appear and ooze out ecto. His tail was melting into a mess on the floor.

Setsuna unknowingly blushed when the older woman called Clockwork her man again.

"Yes please. It would be appreciated."

The older woman opened Clockwork's case and started helping Setsuna pull the blossoms out. She took hold of the pendulum to keep it from swinging once they had enough blossoms moved to allow it to swing again. Clockwork let out a small grunt of pain from having the pendulum once more restricted, but he didn't move too much. He watched as the two women worked together to get the blossoms out. Setsuna frowned at hearing his grunt of pain but continued working, doing her best to ensure they got each piece of blood blossom from his they were all out, the woman started to gather them up in her arms. She looked at Abigail who still seemed scared.

"Don't be frightened. This is a benevolent spirit. We must help him quickly. Gather these blossoms and throw them through the bars. Quickly now. They wont hurt you. They only hurt spirits."

Abigail slowly made her way over and gathered blossoms. Then the two women through them out through the bars of their cell. Soon the room was cleared of the plant. Clockwork lay panting some as his gears finally moved without restriction as did his pendulum. He looked at Setsuna, then the other two women.

"Thank you." he said before closing his eyes to rest.

Though the blossoms were gone, the effects remained, though were not continuing to get worse. Setsuna sighed in relief now that the blossoms were all gone and watched as he closed his eyes. She then looked to Abigail and the other woman.

"Again, thank you both."

"It was nothing. Let him rest now unless you have a way of sending him back to the void he come from. He's n need of the green substance that is the ghost blood." the older woman said.

"I heard you say your name was Setsuna and your ghostly friend here is Clockwork, am I right? Well I am Mary Bradbury. It's a pleasure to meet you both." she said as she sat back on the bench, wiping ecto onto her dress.

Setsuna sighed and nodded.

"A pleasure to meet you as well Mary. Sadly I don't have a way to send him back. If something hadn't been blocking him...he would've likely gone back and taken me with him before we got caught."

Mary nodded as she looked at the two sympathetically.

"Setsuna...I need you to concentrate real hard. I want you to concentrate on not feeling anything tangible. If you can do that, you can get out of here and get our staves. I don't know if you can do intangibility or not, but if you can, then do that too. We might can get out if you do that." Clockwork managed, but didn't open his eyes to look at her as he spoke.

"Some sort of spell?" Mary asked.

"I'll try," Setsuna looked at Mary. "Not exactly."

She closed her eyes and concentrated on trying to go intangible. She would smile as she was able to go intangible and with a little concentration on not being visible, she could go invisible as well. Now she could go find their staves and bring it back. She did it a couple of times to get the hang of it then, going intangible once more, she walked through the door of the cell and started her way to search for the staves. Being careful as she went and becoming invisible when needed as she left the room. The staves were leaning against a wall in a room where there was a desk and a chair. Seemed the sheriff or whatever they called the head police man in this era had stepped out. She hurried to the staves and used a mix of the two abilities to head back to the cell, switching between them when needed until she was finally back. Clockwork was still laying where he had been when Setsuna returned. As soon as she was close she saw his brow furrow as if in concentration. The staves lit up and there was a flash. They could hear gasps and screams before everything went silent. A few moments later they would find themselves in the floor in the middle of an old abandoned cabin. There was dust and spider webs all over and it was dreadfully cold. Outside the wind howled bitterly.

"I could...for a moment, feel my power. I couldn't get us far. Maybe...a couple of decades. Old cabin in the woods I think. Far from people. Can rest a bit." his speech was starting to come out a little slurred and sentences not fitting together.

His eyes closed and he was unconscious again. Setsuna sat next to him, un-trusting of the time period enough to believe that they would go undisturbed so that she too could rest. She watched as Clockwork's went from it's child, to adult, to elder modes steadily while he lay unconscious. His wounds seemed to be slowly healing, the colder weather of the season helping him regenerate. There being no heat in the cabin was helping also. By a few hours later, most of the wounds were gone, and his tail had reformed. Even the wound from the fight with the monster in Setsuna's time had even almost healed up. The temperature was steadily dropping in the room. By now, Setsuna would be able to see her own breath. She had slightly curled to herself due to the cold but she was glad to see he was healing. After a while Clockwork stirred. He slowly sat up and looked at Setsuna. Seeing her curled up, he unfastened his cloak and pulled it off and laid it over her like a blanket. No yet having the strength to float or really get himself off the floor, he then scooted away from her. His cold body would only make her that much colder if he lay close to her. He finally lay back down and curled up almost cat like to sleep for the rest of the night. Not fully asleep herself, she blushed when she realized he'd laid his cloak over her. She smiled softly before finally settling in, and closing her eyes to get some sleep. Her dreams were interrupted though. It was obvious that she was sleeping and dreaming, but she would also know that by some strange power, the well dressed man from before had entered her dreams. His green eyes gave off a slightly ghostly glow.

"There you are. I'm glad Nocturne owed me one." he almost purred. He looked around their surroundings and shook his head. "Do you always dream of work." he asked indicating that they were standing at the Time Gates.

Setsuna glared at him.

"Even if I did dream of somewhere else, as an intruder to my dreams, this is all you'll see."

"It's fine for atmosphere. Kind of romantic really. Too bad that stupid monster had shot both you and Clockwork. You getting even just a temporary ability to go intangible and invisible kind of messed things up for me. I had planned to get you out. Just you mind you. But I would have saved you and taken you back to your senshi. The Time Meddler there having outlived his usefulness and all could have faded away." the man said as he walked around Setsuna looking her up and down predator like.

Eyes narrowed, she turned as he circled her.

"You sent that thing...You're an observant, aren't you? The others clearly didn't agree with you or they would've removed him from the post."

"They would have had to replace him if you would have just left the Blood Blossoms alone. He would have dissolved and faded out. Then I'd have rescued you and taken you back to your senshi and everything would have been fine. I might have even had a chance with you. I would mention on how it's nice to know the great all knowing Clockwork could be brought down by a woman. Though you are an exceptional woman. I made the right choice when I introduced you two. At first I just wanted his job and to get rid of him, but then after observing things, I saw that I wanted everything. I want his job so I can make things go as they should without his meddling. I want him gone because he's the type to not give up. He'd keep trying to stop me. And I want you because well...look at you. Em...I am babbling. You have that effect on people though." he said smiling and chuckling.

She shuddered in disgust at the knowledge he believed he'd had a chance with her.

"So what, you thought that I would've left him to fade away because of those blossoms?! That if you'd 'saved' me and returned me to the senshi that it would've made things right?! That you would've been able to sweep me off my feet because you were my 'hero'? Pfft. If you really believed all of that then something is seriously wrong with you."

"There is something wrong with me. I think it's love." he said with a wink. "Besides, you think I have problems? Hah! Your friend there...he has problems. Old pervert. He's ancient and figures he has a chance with you. He's watched you, you know. On his mirrors. He watched you while you were guarding the gate. He watched you after you were reborn. He watched you as you grew up. That old, creepy ghost just watching your every move." he shivered as if in disgust. "Now there's a someone with issues."

Shuddering again after he winked at her, she spoke again, "You're wrong. He doesn't think of me that way. He just was looking out for me, making sure I was happy...and after my rebirth, he missed me. Nothing wrong with that...But if he did think of me that way...he has a better chance with me than you do." She gasped after her words, covering her mouth and feeling her cheeks heat up.

The man's eyes flashed as a look of anger crossed his face.

"You...you will have plenty of time to think things over. You wont see your senshi again until I take you back there and that wont happen until you learn to appreciate me. Learn to love me." he warned. "You can think about it." he said nodding as if to himself. "You'll come crawling back to me when the Time Meddler fades and your left alone in that old cold cabin. See you around, Beautiful." the man said before disappearing and causing Setsuna to wake up.

Upon waking up, she first glanced to Clockwork to make sure he was still alright. He was still there. His wounds weren't any worse, but it was going to be a slow healing process without being able to get proper care. He didn't breath, so there was no way of knowing that he was still alright except the continuous ticking from his clock. That and it was the only noise in the place. He was still curled up a few feet away. Setsuna looked away with a sigh, then pulled her knees to her chest, fighting back the tears at the idea of never seeing the other senshi again. She'd be damned though if she would force herself to love a man so evil or to leave Clockwork behind. She'd prefer to freeze to death rather than crawling to the observant in the event that Clockwork did indeed fade. She stayed where she was and rested her arms on her knees before burying her face in them to let the tears fall...

TO BE CONTINUED...

Thanks for reading so far! I hope you've enjoyed it. Please leave us some reviews. We don't know how we're doing if you don't. By we I mean me and my partner in crime Usako. She writes all the parts for Setsuna and I do the other stuff. We're having fun reading it and hope you're having fun reading it. And yes, if you're wondering, all the chapters are named after songs that have to do with time. The first one was named after the song "Who Wants to Live forever" by Queen, a personal favorite of mine. The second was "Time After Time" by Cindi Lauper. And this one was named after "No Time Left for You" or simply "No Time" by the Guess Who. Alright, I'll quit babbling now. Hope you continue to read and enjoy!