A/N: This was a very difficult chapter to write, for various reasons. Some of these scenes aren't exactly my forte, so please, let me know if something seems off. I've gotten some useful feedback so far, and I really appreciate it.

Onward to chapter three. I hope you enjoy it.

We were in closed space.

I'd just realized that fact when something shifted behind me. I glanced back and saw Haruhi slumped over in Miss Asahina's arms.

"I'm sorry. I thought... It might be best if she's asleep for now. Just in case she starts tampering with reality again."

Good idea. If we're lucky, she might think the whole thing was just a dream when she wakes up. And to be honest, I'm not ready to explain everything to her just yet.

As the others got to their feet, I instinctively checked the window. Nothing but solid brick. "So she just happened to create a closed space right where we needed it?"

"Limited spatial rendering," Nagato said.

Uh huh. And that would mean...?

"Emiri Kimidori created a data jurisdiction to prevent us from escaping. Because the dimensional boundaries were limited when Haruhi Suzumiya's frustration created this space, this was the only place it could appear."

So this is a closed space inside of a data jurisdiction, then? What happens when Kimidori shuts down her alternate version of your apartment?

"This space exists independently. However, it will not remain stable for long."

That's probably her way of saying we should hurry up and do whatever it is we're going to do.

After hoisting Haruhi up onto my back, I followed the others into the living room. The balcony was still blocked off by a brick wall, and the front door was still missing. Great. What's to stop Kimidori from just waiting around until this closed space collapses?

Nagato stepped out onto the balcony and placed a hand on the wall. "I can remove the spatial restrictions. It will take some time."

Koizumi followed her onto the balcony. "Oh, really? That's a relief."

Says the guy who's not lugging a girl around on his back. Just how far am I going to have to carry her?

He shrugged. "Under normal circumstances, intentionally expanding a closed space would go against everything I've learned so far. But if we can restore this one to a normal size, we can exit far away from Miss Nagato's apartment. One thing is bothering me, though." He turned to look at Nagato. "Normally, it'd be extremely difficult to bring this many people with me into closed space, but this time, it was surprisingly easy. Do you have any idea why that might be?"

"A narrow inter-dimensional gap. Emiri Kimidori's data jurisdiction lies slightly closer to this space than the dimension you normally travel from. Therefore, travel between the two takes less effort."

Wait, does that mean Kimidori––

"Our ability to travel between dimensions is limited. This gap is too great for an interface such as myself or Emiri Kimidori to cross. In these situations, only small amounts of data can be transmitted."

Huh. I didn't really get all that, but it didn't seem like we were in any danger of Kimidori suddenly appearing and attacking us again. That was a relief, at least. Although I had to wonder, did that "small amount of data" mean Kimidori could send messages to computers here, like Nagato had done for me?

"It is done."

As I looked up, the brick wall cracked and dissolved into light, not unlike what had happened to Asakura. The city skyline returned, shrouded in a familiar dreary gray.

"Impressive," Koizumi said. "It's about one kilometer in diameter now. That's still small, but it should be enough to get us a safe distance away from this apartment."

"Um, but, w-what happens if Miss Kimidori tracks us down again?"

We all went quiet. Miss Asahina was right. It wouldn't take long for them to find us, and then we'd be right back where we started. A lot of good that would do. "If we tell Haruhi everything, and she doesn't end up turning the world into a dream, we could have her get rid of the Data Integration Thought Entity for good."

I could see a hint of sadness in Nagato's expression when I said that, but she didn't say anything. Now that I think about it, I've never actually asked her how she feels about the thought entity or the other interfaces. Ever since the incident last December, I'd just assumed she wanted to live in a world without them, but they're technically the only family she has. Could she actually feel some attachment to them?

"It looks like the front door's back as well," Koizumi said. "Regardless of what we decide to do, we're wasting time by staying here. Let's get moving. We can figure things out on the way."

By the time we'd made it out of the building and started walking down the empty street, Haruhi was really starting to weigh me down. I'll be the first to admit, she's pretty tolerable when she's unconscious, and I couldn't ignore the silky feel of her pajamas, but even pretty girls start to get heavy after a while.

"Oh? Would you like me to carry her for a bit?"

No thanks, Koizumi. "How far did you say it was to the other side?"

He looked up at the sky. "It's about a kilometer in diameter, and we started out at the very edge. That means we can get a maximum of one kilometer away from Miss Nagato's apartment before we go back to the normal world." He crossed his arms. "However... This closed space isn't particularly stable, and we'll be lucky if it doesn't collapse before then."

"Alright, so how long do you think we have?"

"It's hard to say. Worst case scenario, we should have at least ten more minutes before the whole thing falls apart."

That isn't very long.

"Which is why we need to come up with a plan before that happens."

We already said that. What if... "Hold on. Nagato, do you think you could take Haruhi's powers like you did before? If you're in control, we wouldn't have to worry about what she might accidentally do."

She didn't reply right away, and with her hair hiding her face, I couldn't really read her expression. "...It is possible. But it is not something I wish to experience a second time."

Oh, right. I guess even Nagato has painful memories she doesn't want brought up. It might have been insensitive to ask her to reenact her 'defective' behavior, but given the circumstances... No. I told myself I'd stop relying on Nagato to fix everything. If it's possible to do this without pushing everything on her, then we owe it to her to at least try. "What about you, Miss Asahina? You've been pretty quiet. Do you think you could use your TPDD to help us out?"

"It's possible, but I can't just use it whenever I want. I have to get permission, and it can't communicate from inside this... closed... space?"

Oh, that's right. As far as I knew, this was her first time inside closed space. Nagato's, too, though she had enough experience with alternate dimensions that it probably didn't faze her. If her TPDD couldn't communicate in here, we might be better off waking Haruhi up and proceeding with Operation Bad Idea.

Koizumi stopped, nearly causing me to bump into him. "Hey, what's up? Is something wrong?"

He stared off to the left, then resumed walking at a faster pace. "Come on. We need to get indoors."

Easy for you to say. I ran after him as best I could without dropping Haruhi. "What's going on?"

My answer came in the form of a thunderous crash in the distance. A plume of smoke rose up into the sky, and I could vaguely make out a hint of a blue glow between a couple of buildings. Crap! Now that this was just a normal closed space, I guess I should have expected celestials to show up. But why are we running? If it's just one, can't you handle it, Koizumi?

"It's not that easy," he said. "We're not running from the celestial. Other espers are about to converge on this location. Do you remember what happens when the celestial is destroyed?"

Oh. Oh. The urgency of the situation was starting to hit me. It had only taken a matter of seconds for them to defeat the blue giant when Koizumi first showed me closed space, so we probably didn't have long before we'd be forced back into the regular world. "Can't you tell them to wait? We do have precious cargo here."

Another crash, this time closer than before. "I'm sorry to say it, but ever since Miss Nagato showed us that the world can survive without Haruhi at the wheel, there are some within the Organization who think the best option would be to eliminate her and save ourselves a lot of trouble. It's gotten especially heated now that the TFEIs are after her powers. I'd rather not give them the opportunity to do anything rash."

Oh great, so they might be willing to kill Haruhi to keep her powers out of the wrong hands? If there's anyone left who's still on our side, now would be a really good time to come help us out.

Koizumi led us into an alley, where we'd be harder to spot. Miss Asahina yelped and clung to me as another boom echoed through the closed space, but I didn't really have time to enjoy it.

Koizumi looked off into the distance again before turning back to me. "If we tell her, can you make her believe us?"

Don't you worry about that. I've been saving my trump card for just such an occasion.

A bright red crack tore through the sky, and a second later, the sounds of the world returned. It was still the middle of the night, and without the dim glow of closed space to light the alley, it was pitch black.

"We're out of time!" Koizumi said. "Wake her up!"

"Okay, I—... W-What?! I just got authorization—no, a command—to use my TPDD! But why do we have to..."

That's even better! If you got instructions from the future, that means they're going to bail us out, right? "Whatever it is, hurry up and do it!"

Without so much as a warning to close my eyes, I felt the increasingly familiar sensation of being pulled through time.

If you've never experienced time travel first-hand, let me tell you, it's not exactly pleasant. According to Miss Asahina, the nauseous feeling associated with it is called timesickness. It's enough to make any man want to vomit, but luckily, that feeling passes pretty fast once you arrive.

When I opened my eyes, I was looking down at the edge of a pier. It was still dark, but I could see water splashing up against the concrete a few feet below. Where are we?

Nagato started talking in fast-motion again, and a faintly glowing wall appeared a few feet away. It stretched out into the water, and rose up to form a giant dome over...

We were on the remote island, the one we'd visited last summer. The dome gave off enough light for me to make out the mansion at the top of the hill, but none of its lights were on. Why would Miss Asahina's superiors tell us to come here?

"I don't really know," she said. "I just got an order to come to this island, so I did. I'm sorry... I wish I knew more."

Oh Miss Asahina, you don't have anything to apologize for. I'm sure you're just as much a victim in all this as the rest of us! But if the older Miss Asahina is behind this detour, I wonder if she's planning on making an appearance. It seems like every time I see her, I trust her a little less.

Koizumi was the first one to ask the obvious question. "Are we allowed to know what time we've traveled to, or is that classified?"

"We haven't actually traveled in time, just space. It's still the same night it was when we left."

Whoa, whoa, wait. You can do that?

Actually, yeah. Every time I've traveled back in time with Miss Asahina, we've ended up in a completely different location. When we went back to the Tanabata of four years ago, we'd left from the school and appeared on a park bench. And last year, when I traveled back to December 18th with the older Miss Asahina, we'd gone from Nagato's apartment to a back alley near the school. I should have realized she could probably travel one second into the past, and appear wherever she wanted. If that's the case, maybe she's more capable of protecting Haruhi than I thought.

"Well, I still need permission to use it," she said. "I can't actually activate it on my own."

I looked up at the glowing dome. "Is this some kind of barrier, Nagato?"

"Data jurisdiction," she said. "An imperfect solution. It will prevent us from being easily detected, but it will not stop other interfaces from eventually gaining access."

"Then we'd better get moving," Koizumi said. "If Miss Asahina got orders to bring us here, we'll have to assume there's a reason for it."

Great. Guess who's going to have to carry Haruhi up this damn hill?

Inside, the mansion was uncomfortably stuffy. Since no one was technically supposed to be here, the air conditioning hadn't been running, making it even warmer than it was outside. Thankfully, Nagato was in control of this space; she was able to cool the mansion and turn on the lights for us. Personally, I just wanted to get Haruhi off my back.

After locking the door—I'm not sure why, but it felt wrong not to—we headed to the lounge, and I was finally able to lay Haruhi down on the couch. I took a moment to rub my shoulders. She was going to owe me big after this was all over.

For the next few moments, we all stood there in silence. Everyone knew what was going to have to happen, but no one wanted to be the one to talk to her. Well, I guess it was more like everyone else looking at me, expecting for me to do it. I'm not Haruhi's ambassador! Why do I have to be the one to have this talk with her?

Miss Asahina glanced to the door. "I-I think I'll go make some tea."

"Hold it," I said. "Let's not go wandering off on our own, okay?"

Koizumi nodded. "He's right. I'll come with you."

That's not what I meant! Koizumi, you bastard, if you try anything...

He just smiled. "We'll be back shortly."

With the two of them gone, I was left with Nagato and Haruhi. Seeing her sleeping like that reminded me just how vulnerable she really was. Underneath all her crazy powers and mysterious origins, she was just a girl. She never asked for any of this. At least, I don't think she did.

Oh, who am I kidding? She'd swim across the Pacific with both hands tied behind her back if she thought it would summon aliens. If it weren't for the fact that Nagato would end up being decommissioned, I'd almost think it'd be best if we did give Haruhi's powers up. For her sake.

"Action must be taken immediately."

While I had been lost in thought, Nagato had moved to stand next to me. What sort of action, though? Are you okay with wiping the Data Integration Thought Entity out completely, or is there some kind of middle ground where you and it can both live?

"Listen, Nagato. I'm sorry to bring this up again, but I really do think it would be best if you were the one with Haruhi's powers right now. For everyone's safety. It doesn't matter to me what you do about the other interfaces, just as long as you and Haruhi are safe."

She stared at me for a minute, as if trying to come to a decision, before giving me a slow nod. "Understood."

I felt bad for pushing this on her, but we didn't have any other choice, right? If we'd had more time to prepare, maybe things would have been different. I needed a chance to explain everything to Haruhi without being rushed, in a situation where I could make sure she believed me. Maybe if I'd had more warning...

No, I should have seen this coming a long time ago. Threatening an omnipotent alien entity... The only reason we'd even made it this far was because of Nagato. Despite all those things I'd said, I was still relying on her. But this was for the best, right? Nagato was a much more reliable deity than Haruhi.

She moved to stand next to our sleeping brigade leader, and knelt down so that they were almost face-to-face. To be honest, I was actually kind of curious how this process worked. Did she have to do her whole speed-talking thing, or...?

"Physical contact is required."

Oh, I see. Kimidori had tried to touch Haruhi back at Nagato's apartment. A shiver ran down my spine. That meant we came pretty close to losing everything back there.

Nagato reached out, but she was hesitant. I placed a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be okay. We'll all laugh at this at the club room tomorrow."

She looked up at me for a few seconds before slowly turning and leaning in toward Haruhi.

I'm not entirely sure what happened next. One second, her hand was moving toward Haruhi's arm, and the next, I was flying through the air. Something slammed into the back of my head, and by the time the fireworks had faded, I was lying on the floor. My entire body felt like it was on fire. What the hell was that? I managed to turn my head to look for Nagato, but my view was clouded by dust and debris.

There was a low thud, and Nagato was sent flying out of the haze like a bullet. She crashed into the opposite wall, almost breaking through to the other side, but not quite.

"You failed because you hesitated."

I stared in horror as the cloud of dust began to settle. No way. They'd said this place wouldn't be safe for long, but how had she found us so fast?

As Kimidori came into view, she turned to smile at me. "Don't worry, you're safe now. It's finally over."

Does that mean...? Haruhi was still on the couch, apparently still under the effects of Miss Asahina's sleep-inducing technology. She was completely covered in dust, minus one hand-shaped area on her arm that wasn't as dirty as the rest of her.

"Aren't you glad you don't have to worry about the world being destroyed anymore? I know this isn't exactly what you wanted, and I'm very sorry about that, but every cloud has a silver lining, right?"

Cringing through the pain, I struggled to my feet. Come on, Nagato. Pull yourself out of the wall. I've seen you take half a dozen spears to the chest and still keep talking. There's no way one hit like that could stop you.

I gritted my teeth. "That's fine," I said. "I don't care. Do whatever you want with Haruhi's powers. She's probably better off without them. Just leave Nagato out of this."

Kimidori's smile faded. "I honestly wish that I could, but I have orders to follow. Miss Nagato never received punishment for her defection last December, and I'm afraid her actions yesterday made things even worse."

She raised a hand, materializing a long, metal spear in the air. Rather than aiming at Nagato, it was pointed at me. "You know you can't fight back anymore. If you don't want him to get hurt, you should just give up."

Dammit, I'm not going to be used as a hostage! Judging from the handprint on Haruhi's arm, Kimidori had already taken her powers away. If that's the case, we've already lost the battle, but I might still be able to reason with her. Nagato rebelled against the Data Integration Thought Entity, so Kimidori can, too.

"Listen. Please. If Nagato can't steal Haruhi's powers anymore, then what's the risk of another malfunction? It's not like she can recreate the world again. If you have to punish her, take away her data-manipulating ability or something. You don't have to hurt her."

Kimidori didn't respond. She took a step toward Nagato, who simply stared back as if she'd given up.

"Stop!"

I turned just in time to see a red streak whiz across the room, followed by an explosion. It's about damn time, Koizumi. And Miss Asahina, you should get out of here. Go back in time or something. Stop this whole thing before it starts.

Kimidori's voice spoke from behind the veil of smoke. "Oh, I suppose she could, couldn't she? That won't do. These time travel devices are far too dangerous for me to let them continue to exist."

Wait, what? I hadn't said anything out loud. Was she a mind reader?

She snapped her fingers, and a shockwave erupted from her body. It rushed past me, but oddly enough, it didn't actually seem to do anything. Not that I could see, anyway.

Koizumi readied another shot, but something made him hesitate. It took me a second to realize it, since I was already in too much pain to move, but my body was paralyzed. It was just like before, when Asakura had immobilized me right before attempting to stab me. I wanted to shout, to say something that would convince Kimidori to stop this, but nothing came out.

It wasn't until Kimidori took another step forward, and I saw Nagato's outstretched hand, that I realized what was going on. Kimidori wasn't the one behind this. Nagato was. She was actually stopping us from interfering. But why? Stop kidding around, Nagato! Let us go!

"I'm glad to see you've decided to cooperate. Your friends will thank you for it later." She put a hand on Nagato's shoulder, and with a voice full of regret, said, "Goodbye."

No!

A few seconds later, Kimidori turned and walked out of the room, bowing slightly to us before closing the door behind her.

Nagato... your legs...

The hold on my body finally released as she lowered her arm, and I staggered forward. Koizumi beat me to her, and Miss Asahina was too horrified to even move.

"Don't worry."

I couldn't tear my eyes away from the light emanating from her dissolving legs. It was just like what had happened to Asakura.

"What can we do to help?" Koizumi asked.

"Nothing. My data link has been terminated. You will be safe."

She was looking at me when she said that. I made it to her side, but I had no idea what to do after that. "Don't give up, Nagato. Can't you fight it? There has to be something we can do."

The light had already reached her waist. Slowly, she reached out and gripped my shirt, and I looked up at her face.

For the first time, I saw fear in Nagato's eyes.

She could hardly show it, but she was terrified. Asakura had been almost nonchalant about the whole thing, but Nagato... Nagato was really, truly afraid to die.

"I am sorry."

She wasn't holding on to my shirt anymore, and I realized her arms had mostly dissolved. What do I say? What could I possibly tell her in this situation? I was helpless to stop it. I was just as useless now as I'd always been.

"Hey, what do you have to be sorry for?" I said, trying my best to sound confident. "Don't talk like this is goodbye. I'm..."

At that moment, something snapped inside me. All of the emotions I was feeling shifted into pure, blinding anger. It wasn't over. I wouldn't let things end this way. Not after everything she'd done for me. I don't care how bad things get. I'm going to save Nagato.

I locked eyes with her. "I'm going to find a way to get you back. I swear it. You got that? So you don't have to be afraid." I wiped my cheek on my sleeve. "You can count on me."

She didn't say anything, but the fear in her eyes seemed to have subsided, at least a little bit. As her head dissolved into light, I vaguely heard her whisper.

"Understood."

I'm not sure how long I stood there, staring at where she'd been. Koizumi didn't show any signs of moving, and Miss Asahina's sobbing quickly escalated to bawling. I probably would have stayed there all night if someone hadn't broken the silence.

"...Hnn... Huh? Mikuru, what's wrong?"