A/N: hooray for another stupid authors note! This chapter is pretty short... but it had to be! The next chapter stuff will be happening again I promise! If you don't get some of the time travel stuff I mention in this chapter then just message me... or go Google it.

Please R and R

...

"Take as long as you need to prepare yourselves mentally," Akira said calmly, "but I'd like to get this taken care of as soon as possible."

How do I mentally prepare myself to possibly erase the existence of my world.

She gave me a 'not what I meant'-look and said, "I meant for the time travel, but if you're interested it's actually very unlikely that we will fail or that your world will cease to exist."

I'd like to know what's changed since she had failed after our conversation in my room, "How do you figure?"

"That world's time travel theory runs on a pre-destiny system, I don't know all of the details, but in that world the future is actually quite hard to change from its set path, especially because of time travelers like Mikuru-chan. Isn't that right?"

"Th...That's right..." Asahina replied quietly.

Well, I can't argue with that. I'd occasionally been dragged around town with no clue what I was doing just to help Mikuru fulfill missions that probably kept the future in order.

Not that I really understood exactly what we did.

"After all of this there would be reason for me to return to your world... but both of you have seen me after the point in time we left. There are only two possible conclusions: one, you two changed the future, and two I returned after our success to set this event in motion. The first option is -as we discussed- difficult, but we can't rule it out completely. The second option would be more plausible, it's confirmed in the letter that you received from 'me', one of the things I'd written in English was 'I never failed, The message reached in time.'" Akira explained, "Naturally a hint that even after we went back to this time it would still be necessary to go back further."

Wait... So she never actually failed? Then what's the point in all this? Never mind I don't want to know. Aside from Asahina I hate everything about time travel, it hurts my head.

In fact Asahina should just stay in the past and she and I can get married and live happily ever after without any of the complications of time travel. Of course all of that's impossible, I've already met the older Asahina so I know she continues being a time traveler.

"Her little brother would never let you get away with it anyway," Akira suddenly whispered to me.

"She has a brother?" I asked quietly.

"Maybe, maybe not... I can't say for sure. It's complicated."

Whatever.

"Wait... How did you know what I was thinking?"

"I still have some tricks up my sleeves."

OK, she's creeping me out a bit.

"Mikuru, are you ready to take us back fifty years?"

Asahina stuttered a little bit, "But I haven't gotten permission to yet..."

"This dimension is not connected to your future, permission would be impossible to get."

"Huh... Oh... I'm ready."

You know the drill, right? This has been happening a lot lately. We all held hands, closed our eyes, I felt sick but was pretty used to it by now, and we open our eyes in the past as we let go of each others hands.

There aren't any immediate changes to our surroundings. So either the time travel didn't work or nothing had changed at all in this library in the past fifty years... well there was no circle of Haruhi books on the floor.

All is quiet, but the silence is soon broken by a now familiar voice:

"I knew someone was coming, but I never expected it'd be you... or should I say me?"

Looking up I see Akira, she's dressed in the same odd blue jacket-thing she wore the day we were shooting for the second movie, and her fluffy blond hair was instead a waterfall of shining midnight black. There was an aura around her I hadn't noticed before, an air of strength that couldn't be beaten by even the toughest foes.

"The paradox would deepen if you'd known we were coming," replied the blond Akira who was now standing beside me still in her North high uniform, "Because I didn't know when it was me rather than you, and if I'd known I would have stopped the problem, though then I wouldn't need to travel to this point in the first place."

I swear she's trying to confuse me now.

I hope whoever is reading this still knows what's going on, it'll make more sense later... probably.

"So what's the situation?" The black haired Akira asked, "I assume you wouldn't have come if it weren't important... paradox can be dangerous, you should know that better than I do."

"An infection in a world that seems to have an infinite possibility of expansion. It's ruined the balance of the world... the distortion has weakened me, as I am I can do nothing to stop it but you should be able to," The blond Akira stopped for a breath, "The future of the world(s) is in your hands."

The blond Akira then held out her hand as if preparing for a handshake. The black-haired Akira seemed reluctant, "Are you sure?"

"I'm passing the baton to the generation. You know now what will happen next, with just that the world line should change... I have no 'reading stiener' and I have no place in the new future. If I am to disappear I'd rather it be by my own hand."

"Brave words," she replied taking the other's hand, "I hope they aren't for vanity."

I didn't quiet get what they were talking about, it sounded interesting, but there was obviously something missing.

For a moment nothing happened, then the blond Akira vanished without a trace.

I was startled, stuttering as I searched for something to say, something like 'what just happened?' or 'what did you do?' but I didn't manage to get anything useful out.

"Mikuru-chan and Kyon, I believe? Sorry for not greeting you up to this point. Though you already know 'me', and I already know a good deal about you both, this is technically the first time I've met you," the remaining Akira said bowing the slightest bit, "Allow me to introduce myself; I am Akira Mitsuki, Head Librarian and keeper of the books of this library, slider, master of many things, and Guardian of whatever appears to be right by my judgment."

Those titles sound made up, but I'm smart enough to know better than to say that out loud. Anyway after being around Haruhi a year I'm used to going along with stupid made-up titles.

"Well, we can rest here for now, or we we could go on..."

I interrupted her, "What about Akira... I mean the other one... where'd she go?"

"Present and future aren't meant to meet, we crossed the line and one of us had to disappear... that much should be obvious. Besides even had we not shook hands she'd have disappeared anyway, the future changed so that incarnation of me would have ceased to exist soon, because this world follows the world-line time travel theory. Some of her memories were transferred to me before she vanished; so I now have a complete understanding of the situation. You don't have to feel sad for our sake, she will live on in her memory inside me. From this time there's a year before the infection begins to affect this world, you two have had a long day... you can rest here as long as you'd like."

Transferred memories? Is that like Nagato's synchronization thing? It's not like I mind but it'd be nice if she would give a clear, understandable answer from time to time.

I guess I could go for a bit of downtime. Maybe I'll even be able to understand what's going on.