Chapter 7

The Passage of Time

What do you think of our handiwork, Nemo? You refused to take the seal, now all will be denied to you. Your hopes, your dreams, who you are, they are all dead. You who refused the Rose Seal, are damned from Eternity.

Saionji looked up from the letter at his friend. Nemo's eyes were slim, squinted in rage. He had refused to be a part of End of the World's game, and now they were taking him apart for it. Saionji tossed the letter aside and, reaching for his left hand, drew the Rose Seal from it. Holding it out to Nemo, he offered the ring.

"Nemo, I want you to take this, and find out who is toying with you." His face was deadly earnest. "Vengeance is yours to claim, so take it and use it."

Reaching out, Nemo drew the ring from Saionji with a nod. Saionji gave a grim smile of approval, ready to stand with his new friend to help Utena and defeat those responsible for hurting her.

Outside, a small bird watched through the window at the exchange. It flitted quickly away, leaving no sign of its presence, save the soft waving of the branch that once held it, along with a single black feather.

***

"Haha, you've grown so much more clever since I seen you last, my dear Anthy. I'm never quite sure which part I'm talking to." Akio's eyes trailed down his alleged sister, to a small prism that hung from her neck. As the light of the artificial stars caught it, they threw rainbows of soft light all around. Two beams in particular shone across her soft dark face, painting one side like the sea, the other crimson as her passion.

She was entirely different than he remembered her. She had become so double natured, he almost feared that she would destroy him by her presence alone. It shouldn't be strange, after all, she was what she was. It still made him nervous to not know who she might be underneath her soft eyes and warm smile.

"I haven't changed that much, brother. I'm just free to be myself now." Her pleasant, level voice replied, like the ringing of a bell.

"That's what I was afraid of. The last time you were this free, the prince within me became trapped, and now it may be all we can do to get him back. So, what did you learn out in the great wide world without a prince to look after you?" He noted the paused glance away from him. She may be more, he thought, but she's still just a girl.

***

Utena was up, and had been moving about quietly, but that was all. Nanami was so concerned, she could hardly sleep. She didn't want to let Touga know about this, but sooner or later he would find out, as he always did.

What Nanami was most worried about was Utena's lack of eating habits. She wouldn't touch food unless fed, and even then mostly just ignored it, that sad look still filling her eyes. She was getting slimmer and slimmer, and it was all Nanami could do to keep her clean and in order. Exhausted, she walked to school, her book bag in Mitsuru's hand as he walked with her.

"So on today's lesson schedule, we have blah blah blah blah." Mitsuru read from his notebook, but Nanami hardly cared. She was under too much stress for a girl her age, and it was starting to show. Aiko, Keiko and Yuuko almost never bothered showing up anymore, leaving her to be attended by the faithful boy at her side.

"Mitsuru."

"Yes miss Nanami?" His reply was as sprightly as hers was haggard.

"I-I need some help."

"Help with what miss Nanami? If you have extra homework that needs done-"

"No, its nothing like that. I, well, I have this problem, and I just can't trust it to anybody."

"Yes, I know, something has been keeping you up at night. You've been coming later and later to school, and your hair was starting to scare me a bit."

"Well thanks for the help, Mitsuru!" Nanami snapped at him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that!" Mitsuru tried to apologize. "I was only concerned for you."

"It's okay, but what I'm telling you must stay secret, understand?"

"Of course, miss Nanami."

"You know about Utena Tenjou, right?"

"Yes, I know her."

"She's been staying at my house, and she's very sick." Nanami tried to keep her tears in, her body beginning to shiver.

"Why don't you take her to a doctor?"

"She's not sick that way, Mitsuru." Mitsuru's face grew more concerned as she spoke. "Something's wrong with her mind, like the way Touga was when he left the Student Body Council. I'm afraid she might not be able to get better by herself, but I don't know what's wrong with her."

His face growing resolute, Mitsuru rose to his full height, placing his right fist over his heart. "Don't worry, miss Nanami! I pledge that I shall do all that I can to help miss Utena for you!"

"Oh thank you, Mitsuru!" Nanami hugged him, drawing a blush. I'll do whatever it takes, thought Mitsuru. I'll be as good a big brother as Touga!

***

"Everything is going according to plan, miss Venetia." Edric reported, kneeling upon the rail of the balcony overlooking a massive rose garden growing up the walls of the inner court yard of the Fuera Estate.

"Nemo has gained a ring from Saionji, and Laverne took up the ring offered to him by Miranda Alchevsky. The duels for the Rose Bride have also gone favorably, since Leander has killed another opponent to keep her for himself."

"Hehehaha, yes! Soon his greed will turn him into a Black Knight, and he will lose his place in Eternity. The darkness that falls upon his heart with each murder draw him closer to his destiny, and then he will become as depraved as the former First Prince!" Venetia giggled to herself maliciously.

"That is what I told you, is it not?" Edric asked.

The silence that followed was suddenly drowned out by a train whistle as the massive machine raced by. "What was that, Edric? I couldn't hear you."

"Of course." Edric replied, straightening up the collar of his uniform, then pressing his glasses further up his nose. "Utena Tenjou is also absent, and apparently has fallen afoul with the former Rose Bride, Anthy Himemia. She as well has not been seen since taking the elevator up to the chairman's residence."

"Very good, you have done well, Edric." She waved him off, then turned and headed indoors, followed by a fat, long furred cat. "Soon, Eternity shall be open to me, and I alone will use its power to revolutionize the world."

Edric smiled as he dropped backwards off the side of the balcony. Venetia was so full of herself she would never be aware of whom was the real master behind the veil. By the time she did understand the full scope of her foolishness, it would be too late.

***

Touga watched the water as he had been shown to. He watched it ripple, flow, and lap as it touched all sides of the pond that he sat watching from his chair a few feet away. His eyes squinted, twitched, and focused as each change came over the water, trying to decipher its place of origin.

The webs were getting more complex, and harder to follow. He knew what many of the ripples were, where many of the waves were from, and where they were going, but some he couldn't quite grasp. They defied him to read them, predict them, and follow them. They changed the rules for all who surrounded them and broke even the most solid flows.

Utena had been one, Anthy another, and even his sister had caused changes that made it hard to see the destiny that was unfolding. But there was another, something much bigger, that made not only ripples, but waves. That was unsettling for him. Waves that came from nowhere and yet disrupted all that he read in the ripples. If he could not find this powerful source of change, that change might overtake him and all his plans, putting to ruin even his best laid schemes.

Then he saw it, something he had never noticed before. He had been so intent on the pond, that he had failed to notice another stream, a new stream that had been redirected, was now flowing into the pond from behind a bed of reeds upon the far side. Touga realized he had been an utter fool to miss it, and yet, there it was, the answer to all his questions.

Some outside force had discovered Eternity here, and was now trying to move into Ohtori to take it from those dwelling there. Knowing he had to act fast, Touga rose, heading home to begin finding this new stream before it was too late, and all was for loss.

***

It was all Utena could do to keep from breaking under the strain of her emotions. The threads of her heart had been flung far, offered to many, but none as many as Anthy. She had wanted to be her friend so badly, but something had gone wrong. The girl she had tried to befriend suddenly turned on her!

She couldn't be sure if she blamed Anthy or not, but the hurt was so great that she could barely rise and walk. Utena tried to reason with herself, that Anthy had done it for Akio, her beloved brother, but she couldn't settle on that.

"Listen to you, explaining your troubles away!" The dark voice within her had not left once since Anthy had returned, always shouting, taunting, laughing, mocking. She tried to ignore it, but the voice only got stronger, refusing to go away.

"Isn't it pitiable, that for all your strength, you can't escape your own emotions!"

"Go away..." Utena's voice sounded so small that Nanami's vast bedroom threatened to swallow it up. She wanted so badly to be free of everything, to escape this torment, but right now, it was like when her parents died, and she was alone again.

"You can't hide anymore, you're trapped within your own mind. There is no prince to rescue you, no white knight to come and save you. You were never good enough, a girl of the dirt, like all the shadows around you. You tried to be a prince, tried to break every rule, and instead of a happy ending, you ended up even more wretched than when you lay in that coffin. There is no hope for you, only the grave."

Desperately, Utena squeezed her hands over her ears, trying to shut out the terrible noise, but it was no good. She couldn't escape it, no more than she could escape the haunting image of Anthy, the real Anthy, plunging to her doom in the depth of eternal skies under the castle, still encased in the coffin Utena had failed to rescue her from.

A gentle hand rested upon her shoulder. She jerked violently, slipping from her seat, and falling to the floor. Before she hit it, however, the young man caught her, lifting her as easily as if she were made of feathers.

Utena didn't know him, but he felt familiar, as if she had known his presence many times in her life. He didn't look like her prince, but his strong arms and warm smile felt like him. She felt no desire to resist as he carried her over to the bed, setting her gently atop it.

"Don't worry Utena, I won't let the voices trouble you any more." He brushed his hand through her hair, his soft, inviting grin calming her. She opened her mouth to speak, but he put his finger over it. "Shh, save your strength, you need to get better."

Utena's face grew pink, her sea blue eyes slimmed, shining like stars. Her breath came in short, heavy sighs, her heart throbbing. He may not look like her Prince, but she wanted to believe he was, that somehow, he could fill the place that had been vacant since finding out Akio's true nature.

He rose slowly, letting her hair slide from his hand. He whirled slowly about, his long red cape flapping behind him. She watched, completely entranced as he walked purposefully to the door.

As he opened the door, his head turned, and he smiled to her once again. "I am going to the dueling arena to finish all that has been started. When you have your strength back, I hope you will come, I'll be waiting for you, Utena."

For hours she lay there, staring at the half opened door, her heart still racing from her encounter with the newcomer. She couldn't really explain it, but she wanted to believe him, longed for him to be a prince. Then maybe, just maybe, she could finally be happy.