A/N: If you want you can completely ignore the side B part as the dialogue will mostly be things you've already read if you actually read up to this point... but you should probably read the part before it at least.
-._.-._.-
We stayed at the library for three months. In that time many things happened. We were able to meet the other residents of the library, the friends that Akira had been so intent to save. Akira tutored me, apparently she had realized I was in need of the help. I did miss Haruhi, Nagato, my sister, my parents, even Koizumi, (you get the point); but it's not as if we only had lazy days.
During that time Akira had also explained what she had planned in great detail, and I understood just how risky it was going to be. It was an all or nothing bet, if it didn't work we wouldn't be able to realize in time to fix it; because what we were about to do would either strengthen the infection or destroy it.
That would be my job. I was the center point of the plan.
We were about to return to Asahina and my dimension, but if I had to guess... We were about to leave the eye of the storm.
"Are you ready?" Akira asked the unnecessary question, when Asahina and I nodded she continued, "It may hurt a bit, I remind you your dimension lies in a location that I can't reach through a direct gate, to get there we'll have to be split in two and travel to the two worlds on opposite sides of yours, we'll recombine at the central point - that being your world. You don't have very much experience with this sort of travel to begin with so I'm sorry that your second time is going to be so difficult. You're sure you're willing to go through with this?"
It's stupid for her to ask that sort of question now, after coming this far it would be pointless to stop.
We nodded again and she took both our hands. Akira's expression in the moment before I closed my eyes seemed to say 'I'm sorry', but it didn't register because as soon as my eyes were closed I knew why she was worried it would hurt... Because it did. The nauseating blow of familiar sickness was welcome compared to the feeling that my entire being was slowly being torn apart molecule by molecule. All sense of anything around me blurred as the world
was broken down as well, the only remaining sensations were Akira's firm grip on my right hand and Asahina's on my left. Time didn't seem to flow normally, had it been long or short... I didn't know. Finally, the world seemed to return, and it felt myself being reconstructed in much the same way a baby builds a lopsided tower out of blocks. For the most part it seemed everything was over, I still had a splitting headache (no pun intended), and I didn't open my eyes until Akira let go of my hand.
"We're here..." She said showing no signs of discomfort, "All in one piece. I assume both of you are fine?"
"Yeah, I have a bit of a headache though..." I reported. At least the landing was better this time.
"I... I'm okay..." Asahina stammered.
"Oh good, I was partly worried that something weird would happen; like you two would be body-swapped, or that one of you might not be put together the right way when we were recombined."
Note to self: later make sure I'm not missing any body parts.
"Well it would have been pretty simple to fix either of those problems, but we are rather short on time."
Akira had explained earlier that when she enters another world she can only stay -without consequences- there for the amount of time covered by the gateway, in this case the novel covers a time span of about six months (give or take). However for each person she takes with her the amount of time she can stay is cut down. After factoring in that the three of us had gone through two gates (because of the split) Akira had calculated that we probably would only have a week. That's not very much time.
The first part of the plan alone would take three days, that would leave us with only another four rest. Well I'm sure things will work out, they always do around Haruhi.
"Isn't it about time we start?" I asked, not wanting to dwell on the idea of anything going wrong.
Akira nodded without saying anything and looked over at Asahina.
"Right..." the adorable time traveler said, "I'll see you later... Kyon."
Asahina and Akira grasped each others hands and disappeared into the future in the time it took me to blink.
-._.-._.-
SIDE B:
Mikuru and I arrived in the empty hallway that we had been in before we'd left this world before.
"Now I'll handle everything from here, you return to the time Kyon and you left from."
Before we could destroy the infection -thus changing the future again- the future had to be corrected in order to put in place the events that brought us to where we now are. That could only be my job. I would live through the events in this world for the next three days until I had caught up to when Kyon agrees to help me.
Meanwhile Mikuru had no other part in the plan besides returning to her usual duties that had been interrupted.
Mikuru and I exchanged farewells and see-you-agains before she left for a time a few days further in the future.
I began to walk down the hallway to the SOS Brigade (or technically literature club) clubroom. I made sure to remember to change my appearance to avoid inconsistencies. I even took the extra precaution of disguising my presence so that wouldn't realize I wasn't the same as before, though Yuki was the only one likely to notice.
The earlier me would have already found a way to distract Haruhi so all I needed to do was wait by the door of the clubroom until the right moment. Minutes dragged on like hours.
And then I finally heard my cue: "Is it possible that Akira and Suzumiya are alone together right now?"
The door creaked, ruining my entrance, "I am not, I simply wished to give you lot some time to talk amongst yourselves about what I had told Kyon earlier. Although I did speak to Haruhi. I told her that I had seen a Zashiki Warashi near the bamboo thicket on the other side of the grounds, needless to say she raced off in that direction with a hopeful expression. She'll likely spend another hour searching in vain, so you have about that long to ask me whatever you please."
Perfect. They were all glaring at me. I could almost swear I sensed a killing intent coming from the smiley yes-man... almost.
Kyon did his usual task as the straight-man by asking a pointless question, "and was there a Zashiki Warashi?"
I laughed and answered with a joke, "Of course not, as much as my lot doesn't particularly care about Haruhi in normal circumstances it would be foolish of me to expose her to certain paranormal things and get even further on this lot's bad side. Though if you're interested in Zashiki Warashi I could help you find one. God knows you could use the blessing."
I tried to suppress my urge to smile.
"Why haven't you already began to do what you came to this place for?" Asahina asked, she seemed a bit out of character.
"Because for certain reasons that will remain undisclosed I will be taking no action until tomorrow afternoon," I replied dully to retain my mysterious appearance, "You can relax, I will not go back on my word."
"Just to be clear," Koizumi began, "You plan to seal off the portion of Suzumiya's powers that is affecting the world that you came from?"
"That is indeed my plan," I replied, then decided to get a bit of revenge for that killing intent, "Do you intend to attempt to talk me out of doing so? Or perhaps you think there's a better way for me to achieve the same goal? I don't see any reason that some one like you should be upset as my plan will have little or no affect on your life, Itsuki Koizumi. In fact, if I were to have my way the workload of your Organization would likely be less."
It's really fun to lie to liars... they all probably thought I was completely serious, but of course given the situation they had no reason to think it was all an act.
Smiley's facade broke. He was clearly angry, having pushed me up against the nearest wall and breathing face that he was making was one that would normally be intimidating, but on him it was funny after seeing his perpetual demon smile. Though I'm sure he thought I was scared and merely hiding my fear.
"That power is something that Suzumiya was born with! You shouldn't be trying to limit it!" the tension in his voice had such a pressure that it could have flattened a truck in much the same way a steamroller would, "Someone like you should be able to come up with a better way to solve this!"
Admittedly I was a bit caught up in the moment when I replied without wavering, "I understand what you're saying. Normally your eyes are like mirrors that keep anyone from being able to see your true nature, but as you are now I can see right through you. You're nothing more than a coward and a hypocrite. You're afraid that if the amount of power Haruhi holds decreases then the Organization will have less need of subordinates watching her and that you'll be cast from her side. You say that I shouldn't limit her power but is that not exactly what your pathetic organization is doing by keeping her monitored constantly? Furthermore, how can you be sure that Haruhi was born with the power she currently holds, that's what you were told by that organization which holds more liars than only you, there are plenty of other explanations for the current scenario, however whatever the true case maybe I don't have enough time left to create a plan that will keep everyone happy."
His grip slackened, and he began to stutter as he fell to his knees, "...I...I."
I ignored the obvious rising tension in the room and began to fix my uniform where it had been messed up by his violent grip.
Kyon stepped forward blocking Smiley as if he expected me to attack with more than just words.
"Akira," he said, I watched a shiver run down his spine as he continued, "I will never be on your side, I don't care about your stupid dimension, but the members of this club are my friends and I won't let you hurt them like this."
I looked at him and smiled softly, "You'll regret this choice... Kyon."
"...What's going on?"
It's Haruhi. What horrible timing, seems the previous me didn't do a very good job distracting her.
"Oh, while we were waiting for you we thought we'd partake in a bit of role play," I made up a quick lie, trying to sound convincing, "I must say these two most certainly get into their characters very well."
Haruhi didn't seem convinced but she shrugged it off, "That's perfect, I was thinking it was about time the SOS Brigade made a second movie. This time Yuki, the alien mage, and Mikuru, the combat waitress from the future, will join forces to defeat a common enemy, that's Akira, she'll be an evil girl from another dimension. Koizumi is of course still a powerful esper that has fallen for Mikuru. Oh, Kyon you can be in it too, we'll just get your idiot friends to do your old job, let's see... you'll be Akira's sidekick or something like that."
"I'm the villain? I'd be honored, and you're even giving me a sidekick, well it's nice to have someone on my side."
I felt as if I'd already been playing the role before it had been assigned.
Naturally you know what happens next. We go out to shoot some of the movie and I had my not-so epic battle with Yuki- we had both been holding back so it really wasn't a very good fight. Then we went to the usual cafe and I went along with what the other me had mentioned, formulating an appropriate lie to keep the time line consistent.
And then I went to Kyon's house and waited for him to arrive. When he appeared he was tired and seemed to be ignoring me as though I were a hallucination brought on by stress.
"A lie." I said, breaking the fragile silence.
"What...?"Kyon murmured. Darn it, he's confused.
"A portion of what I've told you up until now was a lie. Also, I left out a few things," I tried to be as clear as possible in explaining, even though some of what I'm saying would still be a lie, "Even if you aren't working with me, you still deserve to know the full truth, or at least the full extent of what i know and believe to be the truth. I'm sorry for coming at this hour but my time in this world is limited, and with certain circumstances I can't be sure that I'll be able to stay as long as was originally predicted."
I paused. He didn't seem to have anything to say so I continued to speak.
"I'll start this at the beginning of my real situation. It didn't take long for me to notice there was a distorted world affecting the dimensional balance, I knew as soon as strange things began happening in my world, but it took me a while to locate the distortion. By that time my power alone wasn't enough to enter this world, but I wasn't alone, my two... apprentices lent me their power and with that I was able to arrive here three days ago, it took a lot more energy than dimensional travel normally does, because this world is special."
"Special? How?" He asked with the most confused face I'd seen on him yet.
"It shouldn't exist," I looked downward as I tried to find appropriate words to describe what I needed to convey, "It's has been recreated so many times that it's beginning to detach from the worlds original settings. Allow me to explain: The original version of this world to me is a series of light novels with several events in a somewhat mixed up order, it was later adapted to a manga that differed greatly from the novel and was canceled after it's first volume, next there was an anime with 14 episodes that skipped over several events and played a great deal of the remaining ones out of order, not long after that came the second manga adaption which held all the events in order and is still ongoing now, the anime was rebroadcast in chronological order with an additional 14 episodes to fill the gaps skipped by the first broadcast, several video games were released many being 're-dos' of some of the better arcs or visual novels with branching scenarios, two gag animes were created, a gag manga version was published, then a spin-off/parallel storyline manga was published, and a movie has been made. That makes at least eleven deviations not counting dijoshi and fan fiction. There are so many places they overlap, and many more where they don't, because of this all versions of this world are highly unstable. This particular one... shouldn't exist, it exists on the dimensional plane in exact center of all versions of this world I mentioned before, that said it isn't any of them but rather the space where they overlap. There was no gateway that I could have used to arrive in this variation of your world. Do you understand?"
He doesn't understand, the question was just polite. I didn't really expect him to understand it anyway.
"A little bit," was his answer.
"I had calculated that this variation of the world was the source of the twists in the dimensional plane affecting my world and several others, and I was able to notice that the 'infection' (so to speak) was spreading itself. Haruhi's immense power has been said to to include the ability to create and destroy worlds, the infection took advantage of this and thus made many variations of itself come into existence, those being many of the same ones I mentioned before. Having noticed a dimensional infection on this scale, despite my own power being lessened by it, I knew I had to correct it while I was still able to do so as I was one of the few who could. The only issue was that the infection existed in a place that no gateways led, using my gateways I could only get close to it, I needed a way to 'bridge' a gateway that I had and the infected point on the dimensional plane. Luckily I had the limited edition English version of the first light novel and the English version of the first volume of the second manga, those two worlds are across from each other in the plane around which all the aforementioned variations of this world are circling the single point that is the infected world, these particular books (the ones I said I was lucky to have) just so happen to contain previews of each other a weak link between the two passing directly through the infected point."
I paused again, allowing time for him to mentally catch up, once he appeared to be ready I continued again.
"I had to divide myself and enter the two gates simultaneously to reach the midpoint -the bridge. Doing so cut all my capabilities in half, and left me nearly powerless upon arrival. Additionally because of the distortions in the time space continuum caused me to overshoot my temporal destination. The infection has probably spread more in the time between when I'd meant to arrive and now. I'm sorry, if I hadn't..."
"Wait!" He interrupted and I immediately stopped, he began to fire off questions at random, "You're going way too fast! What do you mean you 'split' yourself? You came late, by how much? Why are you apologizing to me?"
Does he even understand what he's asking for? It was difficult enough to summarize, but explaining in detail would be an impossible feat at this time period.
"A year," I decided to at least answer one of the questions, after all my purpose in this time plane was to get him interested in helping me so that we wouldn't alter the time stream.
"Excuse me?"
"I was a year late."
He was lost in thought for a moment, but then the realization seemed to hit him,"...but last year was..."
"The infection began on your first day of high school, it activated the day you started to talk to Haruhi, it began spreading the day the SOS Brigade was created, and has continued to spread ever since by . If I hadn't come so late, then I wouldn't have had so much trouble with something like this... I wouldn't be looked at as an enemy by the SOS Brigade because you all wouldn't have already been so set against me as an outsider changing the flow of events, I could have even changed things without getting directly involved... but because I'm late the situation's escalated to the degree that I can't stop it on my own anymore... I need your help. Please."
"And... All of this is because of Haruhi?"
There can be other culprits than Haruhi, Kyon, didn't you learn that on December 18th? I thought to myself, but didn't dare say it out loud, this is too fragle of a matter to take risks.
"No, that's the part I'd lied about before. The infection... isn't Haruhi's fault, it's yours," I said what needed to be said, the honest truth.
There was a confused look on his face, if I continued to explain in such a serious tone he'd never realize that I'm really not a bad person. I switched to a false flustered tone, "Ah, Sorry! I don't mean you caused it... It's just... It has more relation to you than anyone else! Even if you had known, you couldn't have...! Forgive me, even after all these years of experience, I'm still no good at explaining things of an inhuman nature to normal humans."
"Umm..." Kyon started but trailed off, he continued a moment later, "Why did you lie in the first place?"
"I didn't want you all to be involved with my affairs, I was trying to make sure that you would want nothing to do with me and would be trying to fight a lie while I handled the real problem behind the scenes," I continued to pretend to be flustered by acting as though I couldn't look him in the eyes, "It's back fired, earlier I though I'd still be able to fix this on my own even though I'm like this, but I can't there's only one way to fix this now and I need your help. I'll still be doing most of the work, but I need some help from Mikuru... or if that's not okay... then I'd like to barrow your library card."
He could understand that I was now telling the truth (even though he didn't realize that a good bit of what I'd said just now was made up on the spot) and was trying to decide whether or not to help me.
"What'll happen if the 'infection' isn't stopped?"He asks.
It's most likely a test. All the time he spends hanging out with the virtual psychiatrist of the SOS brigade (aka Mr. Smiley guy) seems to have caused him to have a reasonable understanding of basic psychology. If I say nothing will happen then there's no reason for him to help, if I say something horrible will happen he will become suspicious of me again, so any clear answer is defiantly out of the question.
Once again the truth becomes a handy weapon. "I don't know."
"I haven't had the chance to witness a world line where that happens, because the infection is draining my powers I only get one chance to do this and all the clairvoyance abilities were cut of near the beginning of this problem, the only way I would be able to know how this ends would be to live through it and then use time travel to arrive back at this point in time or an earlier one," it was becoming more and more difficult for me to explain the situation, "although if you want a prediction, I guarantee that something will happen. Possibly simple chaos, possible normalization, possibly total reversal, or the world may even simply collapse in on itself; but those are just theories, at this point anything can happen except nothing. This world should be the last one the effects become evident in but after the infection has spread to cover all other worlds it'll defiantly take an effect in this one as well as all the others."
With the events that had occurred so far I've used up about two days of our one week time period, because the important thing isn't the actual passage of time but the events that take place during that time, or at least in this case it seems to be like that. How inconvenient, that would mean we can only initiate about ten more events. Perhaps that wasn't the case and rather the time was shortened because the two I'd brought with me were so far away from me both physically and temporally. It's also possible that the time was shorter than I'd calculated to begin with. I could only hope that what we had would be enough.
He asked another unnecessary question, "what happens if you can't fix this infection-thing?"
"If I fail? It's possible that this world could fall apart. Often I'm seen as an unpredictable element world line record, It's likely that I shouldn't exist... but I've prevented chaos in the world so many times that If I were to disappear it would be a disaster, anyway the point is; I'm basically an incomprehensible variable and when I'm thrown into a situation if I change things to much from how they were meant to be then the world is likely to collapse upon itself. My Failing this mission would likely push this world over it's edge and cause it to collapse causing a chain reaction resulting in the destruction of all infected worlds because to cure the infection I need to fix the problem here. No matter where a person goes there will always be a certain protocol to follow, that's why I need your help. That's why... Please, help me change the future."
"What's in it for me?"
Hmmm, another test? In that case I'll test him as well.
"Is the knowledge that you'd helped save all worlds from either absolute destruction or true chaos sound good enough? You're more of a pessimist than I thought. But if that's not enough... I'll grant a wish for you, as long as it's something I can do," I would do it if I had to, but anything he wishes for is likely to mess up the balance of this world, it could be troublesome.
He looked a bit puzzled, thinking seriously, trying to decide if I was really capable of such a thing.
Two days worth of time was gone in the course of only eight or so hours, meaning I only had a short amount of time left for the truly difficult part. I need to hurry, I can't waste anymore time in this frame, "Think about it. Okay? I'll talk to you at school in the morning. On the off chance that you choose to help me and I'm not there... use this."
I handed him the parcel that had previously been handed to him by 'me', though the only things in it were the note and a necklace with a crystal which I had stored enough power in for the other me to use it and return to the library along with Kyon and Mikuru. I left as soon as I finished handing it to him, vanishing out the window.
"Crap... there's not much time left... we need to hurry, Kyon had better be ready when I get there..." I said as I transported myself to the time Mikuru and I had left from, fully completing the circle.
Kyon was waiting just as I'd left him, though suffice to say I'd only left him for about a minute or so.
Out of courtesy I asked anyway, "Have you been waiting long."
In a familiar sarcastic tone he answered my useless question, "No, I just got here myself."
