Ever After

Crystal Tokyo Two

"Why are we doing the various time jumps, though?" Hazuki wondered, the three having finished a snack and drinking good coffee.

"I'm just following Eve," Lilith mused.

"Hatsumi," Hazuki corrected.

"Whichever," Lilith sighed. "I don't know why time is now a factor."

"Time can pass at different rates between dimensions," Quill Fiat offered.

Lilith looked sheepish, "I kind of forgot that..."

"Really?" Hazuki asked.

"It's normally not a huge amount," Quill noted, "but there are universes with serious time discontinuities. Remember that universe we met Miss Tanya?"

"Yeah, it was kind of WW One but with magic," Hazuki nodded.

"And when we were first looking for Eve and ended up on a colony ship out in deep space," Lilith recalled.

"That's interesting, You'll have to tell me about it," Quill mused as she smiled a bit flirtatiously at Hazuki.

"ANYWAY," Lilith continued, "we might be time jumping more often too."

"Is everything all right?" Alpha asked them, the pretty green haired woman smiling politely.

"Yes, thank you," Hazuki said. She hesitated, "Uhm, it occurs to me I don't have local money. How do I pay?"

Alpha looked amused, "We no longer use money in this era, and you three have 'credit' here for past actions."

"Huh?" Quill blinked.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find out, eventually," Alpha said cheerfully. "Can I get you a refill?" she asked.

The three exchanged a look, then Hazuki decided, "I think we'll head out. Thank you for the drinks." Both Lilith and Quill also thanked her.

"Thank you for visiting," Alpha waved as they left.

"So, let's go to the Great Library and see if there's information there on Hatsumi," Hazuki said, checking the map.

The three walked off, unaware they were being followed...

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

One of the (many) powerful beings that Quill and Lilith detected was also aware of them. In fact, there was an ongoing discussion...

"I can confirm it's Lilith," Lady Mercury, formerly Sailor Mercury, said.

"The question, of course, is which Lilith, or more accurately when is this Lilith from," Lady Venus asked, the blonde former Sailor Venus frowning.

"Okay, I'm confused," Utena Tenjou noted wryly. The pink haired woman wasn't as powerful as the Sailor Soldiers, but was respectfully strong.

Queen Serenity smiled wryly, "At one point in the past, Lilith, Hazuki and Quill will assist us in saving Japan, basically. Which leaves us in their debt."

"Right," Utena nodded.

"But because they're time travelling, we don't know if that has happened for these three yet," Serenity noted, "and telling them about their future actions might disrupt the timeline."

"I thought that you couldn't change history?" Anthy Himemiya asked, The mystic and Utena's wife was frowning.

"It's complicated," Lady Mercury looked over at Setsuna.

Setsuna, Lady Pluto, and the guardian of time, smiled wryly. "It's certain that you can't deliberately change the past," she said, "paradox prevents that."

"Okay," Anthy nodded.

"That doesn't, however, prevent accidental changes to the timeline," Setsuna admitted. "A alternate version of myself changed the Fall of the Moon Kingdom, as a example. The only reason the timeline wasn't seriously damaged was due to how far in the past it was."

"So if we tell the three of them the wrong thing," Utena realized, "we might change how events played out later."

"Exactly," Setsuna said.

"Actually I think we're safe," the figure said over a holographic link. "I have an agent following them... they clearly do not know the city. And the versions of them that assisted you knew that Crystal Tokyo existed."

"So we'd best leave them alone?" Serenity asked.

"I think that would be wise."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"OH WOW," Quill breathed out.

"Hmph. I don't like it," Lilith frowned.

They had arrived at the Great Library, another of the tall crystal towers. It was absolutely huge, ascending dozens of floors and filled with data. Sadly there weren't THAT many physical books, which apparently annoyed Lilith.

"May I be of assistance?" the male librarian asked.

"Let me," Quill stepped up, giving a fairly dry summary of Eve's universe jumping and how it appeared to work.

'I sometimes forget she's a research scientist,' Hazuki mused.

"So is she dimension jumping, time jumping or space travelling?" the librarian asked.

"All of the above," Hazuki noted.

"That's going to be interesting," the man admitted.

They had a immense amount of data, Hazuki found out, but on the other hand, a planetary war had gutted earlier records. But they did find several times it looked like Eve had popped up.

Hazuki felt a twinge as she looked at a image of Hatsumi, nearly 500 years in the past. It was just... weird and eerie.

"Are you all right," Lilith asked, putting a hand on her arm.

"Just odd feeling," Hazuki admitted.

"Can we bring the information with us?" Quill asked.

Hazuki's phone, sadly, lacked the capacity, though the staffer was ASTOUNDED she had a antique like that. Quill's device, though again 'old' by their standards, could save the data.

"Thank you for your help," Hazuki bowed.

The three then left, emerging out on the busy street. "Can you make another attempt to scan for Hatsumi?" Hazuki asked Lilith.

"There's too much background magic here," Lilith shook her head, "the other mystical beings here drown everything out."

"Quill?" Hazuki asked as they walked.

"Same," Quill said, "I'm trying to find readings like Lilith... but there's several."

"Really?" Lilith looked surprised.

As they turned a corner Hazuki noted quietly, "We're being followed. They're keeping same distance and followed us through two turns."

"I wondered why we were aimlessly walking," Lilith noted.

"Duck into that doorway," Quill ordered, then used her device. "I'm making us functionally invisible."

They watched, silently, as the woman emerged from the small crowd, looking about wildly. She neared their doorway, frowning as she looked for something.

Lilith, being Lilith, waited until her back was turned then grabbed her.

"Eep!" the girl yelped.

"Why are you following us?" Lilith demanded.

"I mean you no harm," the girl (a redhead, dressed in shorts, a blouse, with gloves and boots) said quickly.

"She's armed," Hazuki noted, "throwing knives in her gloves."

"No harm?" Lilith asked dryly.

"My mistress ordered me to keep a eye on you," the woman quickly explained, "the knives are to help me protect you."

"Mistress?" Quill asked.

"I am sworn not to reveal her name," she sounded very ninja-like as she said, "but I can take you to her."

"It's probably a trap," Lilith noted.

"Still, I kind of want to know," Hazuki said thoughtfully. She added, "And we've fought our way out of traps before."

"This could be the time our luck runs out," Quill frowned.

"I have to admit, I want to know who's having us followed too," Lilith said.

"Oh hell, lead the way, miss," Quill sighed.

To be continued...

Notes: the other characters are the 1000 year old Sailor Moon cast, and Anthy and Utena from Revolutionary Girl Utena.