Up Against The Sky

It was something of a surprise to discover that he could open a plothole into the Library Arcanium. Then again, Zero supposed it shouldn't have been—if the safeguards on the portals were coded to DNA, it would have been impossible to make the distinction. Save for some minor differences in appearance, for all that computers (and, in fact, most magical energies) knew, he was the Librarian. It kind of made him wonder if he could also pull cool tricks around the Library, like opening up rooms or levitating books.

On a whim he faced a nearby shelf and lifted his hand, not sure what else to do. Predictably, nothing happened. Maybe book-levitating had more to do with being a mage than being Librarian? Zero didn't feel like digging through his memories to find out. Coming here was a bad idea to begin with, for more reasons than just the risk of getting caught, but... curiosity is a powerful thing.

He strode lightly down the deserted corridor, half exploring for the sake of exploring and half wondering where Valerie's room was. Not that he wanted to snoop, of course. Just for future reference. Hell, the entire layout of the Library would be useful if he was able to just pop in like this, although he wasn't quite willing to go that far just yet. He still had his suspicions about a lot of things, primarily Runoa's intentions. It kinda seemed preposterous that she didn't know he could do this, so why had she never mentioned it?

There was a pop sound and a small draft across his skin, and Zero turned from idly staring at book titles and thinking to notice, whaddaya know, he did have company. Fantastic.

Hovering before him was a tiny, golden dragon with the bluest of blue eyes. She hissed warningly at him, and he took half a step back.

But before he could do anything else, she lunged, and their eyes locked, and—

__________________________________________________

The first thing he sees is the face of his creator, the face of Creation itself. Herself, he realizes after a moment. He registers a veritable mountain of tumbling brown waves and curls that perfectly framed a delicate, elfin face and sparkling emerald eyes, light, ethereal clothing that sways in the breeze, and the overall demeanor of a beautiful, enviromental, fun-loving yet health-conscious genki girl (as physically fit as any Mary Sue could expect to be, but otherwise entirely reliant on the powers her sketchpad enables her; deprive her of that and knocking her out would be simple). She looked like every starving artist wannabe's irrational fantasy of what a real Bohemian was supposed to look like, what they dreamed that they could someday be if they could only get out of this damn flat and get recognized, and for a moment all he can think of is how cliche the whole scenario is.

He has just literally been drawn to life by the combined result of a pre-teen girl's fantasy and a deal with the devil, and not even an original idea at that. The knockoff creation of an unrealistic cliche, who in turn was the pawn of an even bigger cliche, if one of the tyrannical kind.

The juxtaposition of such polarizing ideas might have struck him as funny, but his strict policy of always finding things to laugh about wouldn't come until later. Much later.

Creation looks upward at Runoa for approval (clingy and dependent, and constantly seeking external verification for her work, as artists tend to do), and after a long moment of examing him up and down, Runoa nods.

"Not precisely what I had in mind, but I suppose he'll do."

Creation practically sags in relief, and he sort of wonders what it is that these women imagine he'll "do" (a weapon is fine, a puzzle piece is fine, but this is how she'll make that bastard hurt—), until his thought process is interrupted as Runoa speaks once again to her subordinate.

"You may erase the other attempts. They're of no use to me."

A shiver passes through him, but it will be a long time before he understands why.

-o-

I'm holding onto white balloons
Up against a sky of doom.
Tell me you see them.

-o-

She has been following the girl for some time now, on and off, for years. She never does anything but watch, or occasionally pull some antics to amuse. The child is only nine, but the follower knows the girl can feel her presence, even see her sometimes, though what she sees varies considerably from day to day.

As the girl grows older and her abilities begin to develop, a rudimentary form of communication becomes possible. The follower sends out emotions for the girl to pick up and interpret, and the girl sends her images and ideas in turn.

The first day the girl begins to understand actual words in her mind, the follower asks her something she had been waiting many, many years to ask.

What is my name?

The girl is puzzled. "You know what your name is. You've just never told me it."

Yes. But what is my name?

The girl thinks. Considers. Mulls it over on and off for days and days. It is a good sign, the follower thinks, that she does not immediately dismiss the question. She understands that this is not something she is supposed to guess, but to remember. She understands this without ever having been told of the true significance of remembering, without ever having been taught the true nature of the world around her and her place in it. Yes, the follower thinks, It is a very good sign.

It is almost two weeks later before the girl returns with her answer.

"I don't know your name," she says, "but would it be alright if I just called you Ari?"

Ari sends the feeling of a smile, but inwardly, in her true self beyond the stars that is not this tiny projection to a child's mind, she is celebrating.

She has finally found the one to whom she owes her life.

-o-

'Cause what's inside of me
Is invisible to most,
Even in clear view.

-o-

The first day is primarily one of confusion. There were people around, but almost none of them spoke to him unless it was a cursory greeting or an order - and orders were always spoken very slowly and clearly, as if they were just as unsure of what to do with him as he was of them (a new element in their midst; where does he fit in their pitiful little hierarchy and what threat does he pose if the social order changes?) (what they don't understand is that nothing changes; stagnancy is part of the very definition of their being).

Passion leads him to a room in one of the below-ground floors. The walls are stone, and there is no door, only a number next to the doorframe.

The Sovereign catches him staring. "Hm?" he says, still sounding bored (easily driven to mental instability when bored, combined with high creativity; approach with caution, and cater to his whims whenever possible), "Oh, the number? Yeah, you were actually the first one Creation made for your job, but then she started making a bunch of different versions and put them all in rooms with numbers. You took so long to wake up, we all thought you were broken or something." Passion laughs a little. "Turns out she got it right the first time, because those other ones were way defective. Sorta like... this!"

Passion throws a sucker punch, and he reacts instantly, simultaneously sidestepping the blow and twisting Passion's arm behind his back and digging his fingers into a nerve bundle at the shoulder. Then his eyes bulge out slightly (caution, dammit, caution!) as Passion elbows him hard in the gut, harder than one would have thought possible with his slight physique, and twists out of his grip.

"See?" the Sovereign cheers, "None of the others could pull that off even after days and days of training." Passion grins broadly at him. "Patient Zero my ass. You're no zero, man, you'll fit in great here. Maybe we could play some games together, hey?"

He blinks once, then steps into the room marked with a "0", lays down on the bed, and waits until he hears retreating footsteps before closing his eyes.

The next morning, when he asks the others to refer to him as Zero, it raises a few eyebrows (who would want to be known as nothing?), but everyone complies. Most of them assume it is simply some kind of in-joke. They are half-right.

-o-

I'm sending out a signal to
The possibility of you,
'Cause right at this moment...

-o-

It has been years and years and lifetimes since the death of a friend, a very dear friend, and Ari is no longer sure what to do with herself. The war is over, though the scars on the land and the people remain. Keeping day-to-day affairs running smoothly takes up her time, but recovery is primarily a secretarial job, easily delegated to subordinates. More often than not she finds herself wondering what will come next.

Later, new intelligence comes in: the war has not ended, it has simply moved.

Many of those who are politicians by trade rather than soldiers panic. Others argue about the proper course of action. Is this evil truly their responsibility anymore? Might they be left to recover from their battle scars in peace, or is their fight not over yet? Do they have the right to give aide to a world so deep in the spiritual dark ages, or should they put forth the effort and finish what they started?

Ari does none of these things. She simply goes where she always goes for answers: home.

Eadoin meets her there, ever-willing to help. With his band of friends and their combined talents, it isn't long before they find what they're looking for.

"Domhain Dorcha," she breaths, and it's all she can do to keep the fear out of her voice. The dark world, the world the elders always spoke about in hushed, disquieted voices. The one they actually knew so little about, that was really full of such potential and light, hidden away beneath the surface. They would be easy pickings.

Easy pickings, but also firm and numerous allies, if the right messengers could be reached.

-o-

...I know you are connected to a part of me
That I don't even know myself.

-o-

His dreams are immediate and profound—

a narrow cliff jutting out over the sea against a setting sun, and planted blade-first at the tip of cliff is hoshikuzu, adrian's pendant dangling and swaying off the crossguard in the wind while the pages of the codex of index, which is leaning against the blade, flutter back and forth 

standing in darkness and his eyes widen as the darkness lashes and twines around him, threatening to drag him deeper as he struggles vainly against it, his hand reaches out in desperation and a hand reaches down, grasping his tightly and the darkness recedes

the healer leans forwards and gently blows on the sphere in her hands and it flares with light, growing larger and the librarian mimics her actions and he watches with a surprised, happy smile on his face as the two spheres grow in size and launch into the sky, dancing and spinning around one another as their combined light drives the darkness away

—and he has no idea what to make of them. So he simply watches, and takes every new piece of information like a puzzle piece and coolly analyzes them with a mind programmed to do exactly that. Zero rebuilds the idea of the person he was based on and wonders if being like him should be a goal of his.

Even after months of consideration—

a bubbling laugh that is both horrifying and joyful in all the worst ways, there has been so much, too much for memory to hold, and when he breaks, as all know he will someday, the explosion will be a truly spectacular sight to behold for as long as he lets you live to see it

—he is still not certain. And the more he sees, the less certain he is.

Then again, you could never have said Zero to be sure of anything that wasn't a total impulse. If he wants to do something, he does it, and if Runoa or Creation or practically anyone else wants him to do something, he does that too. And that strikes Zero as being altogether too similar to how Adrian functions in relation to the Powers That Be, and look where that got him. Did he never once just do something he wanted to do? (or worse, was everything exactly what he wanted, death and all?)

Zero doesn't know what he wants, but there is a curious freedom in ambivalence that he decides he likes.

-o-

The changes in me
Are likely to be like the weather:
Stormy and clear,
Strength into fear, bound together.

-o-

It is the No-thing that holds the Every-thing, the dragon teaches her. The All and the Parts, the Beginning and End, all wrapped together in a pure, shining singularity. That is the nature of the Soul.

Ari's wanderings go on for years, sometimes in the dragon's company, but most often not. Like the elders of Ari's homeland, the dragon is very set in his ways in addition to being very, very old, and he prefers not to travel very far from his cliffside cavern home. Ari is always saddened to have to part with her new friend and mentor, but each time they meet again is a new joy. (This too, is one of his lessons, as she will realize in the years to come.)

"To travel a circle is to traverse the same ground over and over," Ari intones softly, almost as though thinking aloud the experiences that led her to finally understand this lesson, like so many lessons before it (and her elders would be proud, for what else is an adolescent journey for?). "To travel a circle wisely is to traverse the same ground for the first time."

And when you realize at last that you have circled back to the starting point, the dragon prompts her, you understand...

In only a few short years, Ari has circled the globe. She has come to love this world, with all its expanses, all its variety, and always more to learn or explore or understand. Even with the chosen ones missing and a war brewing, she cannot help but feel a sense of childlike giddiness and wonder, in such contrast to the solemnity of her youth. But she is still a youth yet, she knows, and though introspection and exploration were two very different paths to wisdom, both were paths indeed. If she had wanted to, she could have learned everything she needed to without moving at all. The power, the memory, the experience was always with her. It merely needed to be brought to the surface, just as the elders always said.

Ari's eyes light up. "You understand that your only destination is where you have already been!"

The dragon smiles at her. And always were.

-o-

But I'll break my silence
If I believe that you and me
Could ever be more than just
What's been behind us.

-o-

He meets Death only once. It is a very short meeting (if bone and sinew grow continually from nothing, then nothing is what he shall be, and zero told him so), punctuated by harsh words, sucker punches, and one brief, hastily bitten off scream in the voice of the man they were both imitating. Acknowledgement, Zero thinks angrily, is what marks the difference between them. Acknowledgement of truth and lies, of grounded fact and baseless desire, and the strength of character to understand what your place in the world is. This will shape Zero's personality and outlook far more than either of them initially realize.

He meets the legendary Willowe Foxblade only twice, and the second time is because she asks to see him personally. She tells him what she knows of the man she killed (as his killer, she likely knows him better than anyone, better than even his lover), and he tells her of his dreams, a little. Before she leaves for the Real World, she warns him of the dangers of complacency, warns him with a kind of desperation in her soul (he looks like him, acts like him, and maybe it would all be worth it if she could save just one more), so he nods, and she smiles her very last smile.

A misused comment at Order quickly earns him an enemy, and Zero learns to keep interactions with Sovereigns to a minimum after that. Passion and Harmony are kind, Wisdom and Elegance seem to find him entertaining, and Creation looks upon him with a kind of prideful ownership, similarly to how a craftsman may look upon a fine table she has made. When Zero thinks about it, he understands, and does not hold it against her, but it does grind against him sometimes.

Runoa visits Zero daily, to ask him questions or for demonstrations of what he's learned that day. Eventually he points out that he has not technically "learned" a single thing since he got here; everything he knows is merely something he has remembered. Remembered from Adrian? she asks. Remembered from me, he replies, not sure why she hasn't yet picked up on something so obvious. She asks him if there is yet more to remember. He says he doesn't know, but that he would be disappointed if there wasn't.

(it is interesting, he thinks, to watch the expressions that trail across her face as they converse: surprise, disagreement, the barest flicker of tightly-controlled malice, finally smoothing over into smugness and pride—

"Excellent work, Zero. You may just be exactly what I've been looking for."

—but it is not him that she has pride in.)

-o-

I tried and left.
I came and went.
I got rejected out again.
No one believes me.

-o-

Exploration is encouraged in all Eiran children. A boy called Eadoin is her most loyal partner in these endeavors - he is curious, like her, though not so bold as to directly defy the elders' edicts. (Not by himself, anyway.)

They are at their most dangerous during those precious few moments at the waterfall, as far down the chute as they could go before they risked falling into the ocean miles and miles below. It is freezing, nothing like the ensorcelled warmth of the valleys above them, but they reach as close as they dare to touch the rushing icy water. They have both been taught that this waterfall, which plummets from the bottommost tip of the Eire into Gaeya's northern ocean, is the endless fount of wisdom for those who choose to live below, giving life to the land and giving love and wonder to the people. But the water is hard and bitingly cold, and Ari can't help but wonder what would happen to a poor soul caught directly beneath the force of all of this "wisdom".

Not long afterward, she requests to go on her adolescent journey. The elders comply to her request as is custom, and outfit her with everything she will need, that she might return home safely.

Her adventure begins, as many do, on the night of a storm.

Many days later, when she is huddled in the cave that is the home of the dragon who rescued her and listening to his story, Ari will realize with all the subtlety of a roar that nothing will ever be the same.

-o-

I've worn a hundred faces
Of the character replacements and now
Nobody sees me.

-o-

He is hiding in one of the castle's service corridors, grinning at the fact that the heretofore unmentioned service corridors actually existed and became accessible as soon as he had need of them, almost as though they had been conjured into being just for him. Being a Stu, dangerous though it is, is actually quite fun, but only as long as there is some way to give his abilities direction; he wants none of the stagnant complacency that plagues all but the most insane in Runoa's castle (runoa herself knows this to be true).

He discovers a highly convenient hole in the wall that is camouflaged by a highly convenient portrait on the other side. It is difficult to see through it, but Zero can make out Creation scribbling furiously on her sketchpad, frequently crossing things out or even tearing out entire pages. He cannot see Runoa from this position, but it's not difficult to deduce who Creation is talking to.

"Why can't I find him?!" she finally shouts, moving over to the area of the room that Zero cannot clearly see. He hears a loud thwap sound and thinks that Creation has probably thrown her sketchbook to the ground, or against a wall. "He is my drawing!" the Sovereign screams (desperate and raving, beyond even her need for approval now, because runoa cannot give her what is already gone), "My creation! I should be able to find him anywhere and do whatever I like with him! Even erase him from existence if I want! So why can't I? What's blocking me?!?"

The loud smack of a slap to the face can be clearly heard, followed by pregnant silence.

"Because he is a Gary-Stu, you nitwit," Runoa finally says. "Of course he isn't going to react normally." (runoa herself knows this to be true, programmed the urge into him—)

Creation cannot keep a small whine out of her voice. "But he's mine," she says softly, almost accusingly (but never rebelliously). "He was made with my power, and I'm supposed to be able to unmake anything that's mine if I want to. You said—"

"I gave you your powers and I know their full extent," Runoa interrupts sharply. "Believe me when I say, Sovereign, that Zero is acting exactly the way I programmed him to."

(runoa herself knows this to be true, programmed the urge into him, understands him, and knows exactly what zero is seeking when zero himself does not, and yet does not tell creation this because—)

"...Yes, Lieutenant."

Zero backs away, turns, and starts running. As far away as he can.

-o-

The changes in me
Are likely to be like the weather:
...Cloudy at best.

-o-

It is after the third time they caught her peering through keyholes and sneaking into council meetings that they bestowed upon her a name: Ari.

The word itself has no meaning, but there is a similar name, Aari, that is supposedly the name of one of the Goddess' feline companions, one rumored to have an abnormally keen interest in the affairs of mortals.

Many, many years later, when she meets her namesake for the first time, Ari will be proud of the legacy she inherited. She will understand that the elders meant it as a symbol of elevation, of acknowledgement that she was destined for greater things than they, though her true destiny would turn out to be much smaller than they imagined - a critical but nonetheless minor role in the proceedings, and perhaps that's appropriate, for what curious cat draws attention to herself as she hunts for new places to explore?

Now, though, right at this moment, to Ari's wise but nevertheless childish mind, the name feels like a gesture of rejection. You are not one of us. You are otherworldly. Take your difficult questions elsewhere, child, for we refuse to answer them.

That night, when she returns to her dwelling, Ari chooses to sleep on the roof rather than in her bed. Under the stars, she dreams of cat whiskers and dragon wings, and worlds far beyond her own.

-o-

Angels lift me.
Are you with me?
I'm holding onto you
Like I'm holding onto white balloons...

-o-

He had not thought before he left that dodging Silri would be an issue - she never once paid him any mind at the castle, and he saw no reason for that to change - but apparently it is (insanity is not a good look for her, and he does not even agree with her quest or the one who assigned it anymore—), and it is more difficult than he originally thought. Calming her down is even moreso (—but he can't help but empathize in a way nonetheless), but worth it, even if the alliance is temporary by its very definition.

Neither of them has a side to be fully loyal to, so why not?

After their little rescue operation, they part ways. She attacks him twice more in subsequent weeks. Both times Zero has to remind her that he is not, in fact, Adrian, and both times it takes him pinning her to the ground before she would open her eyes and look at the clear difference in his. The second time, she slashes at his side anyway, and as she leaps away once again, Zero decides that he'll keep the scar.

He is therefore surprised when he does not hear from Silri at all after Adrian's return. In a way, he is surprised that he is surprised, because there is no confusion now. She was the only one who couldn't tell the difference, and perhaps it's for the best—

But then another portal opens, and another familiar girl steps into view (long brunette hair billowing in the breeze, and he can see why adrian felt attraction to her once, but she never made a move, never reciprocated in that way, and adrian moved on to other things), and Zero can't help the broad grin that appears on his face.

-o-

Carry me away!
I hope that you don't break.

-o-

The first thing she sees is the people of her homeland, this misty paradise in the sky. The other children of the Rite - actually a large group this year, all born of the largest and most diversely populated Beltanne festival to date, and all therefore special in ways not yet determined - play in the green meadows dotted here and there with stone fences and wildflowers, but she sits in a treetop by herself. She can hear a few adults below her, watching her, wondering to themselves why she is so introspective at such a young age (not even twenty, barely finished being a toddler). They whisper of strange events foretold in their Telling Pools, of dark times ahead in both the Land Below and in the opposite world. The Domhain Dorcha, they called it. She listens to them, and they continue to speak as though she is not there, and she wonders how to describe the feeling of frustration that wells in her heart.

Later, she will find a good word for it: hypocrisy.

The Eire is stagnant, lifeless, frozen in time as its people become more and more convinced that they have cultivated the perfect lifestyle. The wars and petty arguments of the different nations in the land below do not interest them; they are emissaries to the gods, come straight down from the Palace of Stars itself. They are not privy to the farcical yoke that binds surface-dwellers of Gaeya and those ridiculously short-lived, short-sighted excuses for humans of Domhain Dorcha alike. They are above. They are different. They are better.

Do something! she will cry one day, tears in her eyes as she cradles an egg that will never hatch. Our ancestors came down from the stars because they wanted to live in this world, within the bounds of time, where each moment can be experienced and cherished! What is there to experience if everything is beneath you? What is there to learn if you already know all?

(Three times she will make this plea. The first time, they will give her a name. The second time, they will give her a quest. The third time, they will listen, but by then, it is almost too late.)

She will throw the egg she holds at her elders, frustrated and heartbroken, in a display of impulsivity completely unknown to the peace of the Eire. But the shell is hollow, empty inside, and will shatter in the first hand that catches it.

Now, though, right at this moment, she sits in her treetop while a particularly strong wind blows, and is grateful for the sturdiness of her perch.

-o-

I hope that you don't break...
Don't break...

-o-

Nothing changes, while Everything stays the same. It is a dichotomy that is invisible to most; only one soul in a thousand could ever understand Nothing to be a proper noun on the same level as its opposite partner. Nothing exists. Nothing has form. Nothing is exactly what it needs to be in order for Everything to continue in the way it always has.

Yes, Valerie, I know who you are.

I remember you quite well, actually, although you don't remember me. 

And maybe that's for the best.

Though I've no doubt you could remember me if you tried.

I've always followed orders, but now I'm kind of at a loss.

I spent my life wandering, but with you I found purpose.

I'm not afraid of what the future holds, because

I can handle myself, don't worry,

but what about you? What will you do in the times to come?

but Runoa is more dangerous than any of you realize. No matter how much you prepare, you're not ready.

Runoa is practice compared to what's next. I've watched you prepare, but still I fear for the future.

Runoa's promise

Monika's visions

will happen, and there's nothing any of us can do to stop it.

So no matter what happens, 

I think

I know that

I want to help you.

I don't know why, but

Our previous connection makes it so that

we understand each other.

And that's all anyone ever needs.

__________________________________________________

The connection broke. Snapped, really, and the little dragon reeled back before regaining herself and regarding Zero with a glare and a soft hiss. Zero, for his part, almost wanted to apologize. The more he thought about it, the more he realized Ari's little intrusion was probably a test of some sort, and reacting instinctively when you have such highly exaggerated abilities and resilience is almost never what you'd call safe.

He noticed her trembling slightly, as though having difficulty concentrating, and his eyes widened. "Oh shit, I'm sorry!" he exclaimed. He hoped he hadn't done any permanent damage; that would not be good for his standing with Valerie. "I've never spent much time around people who weren't, like, level 8 or better, and they all shrug off whatever anyone does like it's nothing, accidental or otherwise. Shit, are you alright?"

Ari stretched and shook herself as a dog might - for a brief moment she was a dog, actually, before returning to her preferred fire-lizard form - and regarded the Stu with a critical eye.

Zero didn't move.

It would be difficult to explain what transpired between the two on that morning, in that place where "morning" has no more meaning than the one you give it. One who was the hero of another story, the other who didn't really expect his story to go much further than it had. Neither of them were active participants in the battle against perfection, though both had rejected it in their own way. Both understood the dangers of complacency better than most. And both had found themselves, either suddenly or over a period of years and years and lifetimes, in full and unwavering support of the one girl who understood that, in order to achieve true perfection, you didn't have to change a thing.

Ari moved faster than the eye could blink, gliding past Zero's ear before vanishing. But it was not with the pop of displaced air that accompanied travel between. It was a relatively slow fade-out, visible and almost frightening if you didn't know she was vanishing from this world on purpose. The fire-lizard form, for all its versatility and astonishing parallels with her own abilities, was still nothing more than a guise, after all. Ari had places to be, things to prepare before time was up.

Zero gasped as she passed, eyes widening in astonishment as two words entered his mind, words laced with feelings of approval, understanding, and perhaps the beginnings of trust.

-o-

Don't break.

Insert Fixed and Pointless Talent Show Here (part 5 of 5)

“This is so bad...” Valerie was muttering as she tapped hastily at the computers. Still the screen remained blank. She turned hopefully to the head chef. “Anything?”

“Not a thing,” Rhia was hanging up and trying another number. “Come on guys, where are you?!”

“Something wrong?” Ben appeared, hovering in the doorway in curiosity. He frowned as he registered the fuzzy camera on the monitor screen. “Which fandom is that?”

“The Talent Show fandom,” Valerie reported, still tapping away at the keyboard. “The fandom has been blocked from our system.”

“How?” Ben asked, pushing his way into the room to get a better view of the screen.

“From the inside,” Valerie said. “Some kind of spell...”

“Shh!” Rhia waved a hand at them both as she listened to the automated voice. “It has not been possible to connect your call...our phones are blocked too...”

“We have to get in there,” Ben declared firmly. “They may need help.”

Despite his words, he still looked at Valerie – with all three Society leaders inside the fandom, she was the most senior member around. She glanced at the blank screen again, before nodding.

“Do it. Take Bahamut, and be careful.”

As Ben turned to leave, Rhia had a sudden thought. “Ben! Is everything okay downstairs?”

“Yeah, I left Shirley and Willie in charge.”

Rhia’s phone slid from her grasp.

“You left Willie in charge downstairs with the Sues? Are you high?!”

She bolted from the room, with Valerie right behind her, and both of them stumbled down to the basement. It was deathly silent in the room below.

Shirley stood quietly in the corner, still filing her claws, and testing them against the wall. Willie was nowhere to be seen, but the reason for the silence was quickly understandable. Aster was hovering above the Sue’s heads, and appeared to be lecturing them on the brilliance of Lucky Star. When one of them appeared to be nodding off, she would pull out her staff and bonk them painfully on the head with it.

“Where Willie?” Valerie demanded, her hands on her hips. Dave, who alone appeared unperturbed by Aster’s lecture, reached into the huddle of fearful looking Sues, and plucked an unconscious Willie up by the scruff of his neck. “He objected to the impromptu class.” He explained.

“Well... alright then,” Rhia shrugged, ducking as Aster jabbed her staff in her direction. “Aster, Sue Factor is about to start again, so save your lesson for later.”

Huffing, the fae resumed her hovering position above the Sue’s heads, as they all scrambled eagerly for their seats once more.

“We need to keep quiet about this,” Rhia muttered to Valerie, as Cristoph and Dave slid to their sides. “If the Sues know something is wrong, we could have a prison riot on our hands.”

“I wish Emily or Adrian was here,” Valerie admitted. “They might know why we can’t see the fandom...”

“Which fandom is this?” Cristoph asked curiously. Before anyone could answer, Ben clattered noisily down the stairs and hurried over to them, Bahamut strapped to his back.

“I can’t get through,” he reported, dropping his voice so as not to raise alarm. “Whatever that thing is blocking our plotholes from the Talent Show fandom.”

“Is that possible?” Rhia asked, not bothering to disguise the worry on her face.

“Not normally,” Valerie explained. “But the Talent Show fandom isn’t a fandom like the others. Other fandoms have plotholes left in them by their authors, which anyone can exploit. Talent Shows aren’t stories though, so its easy to seal them off entirely from the outside world.”

“So what you are saying,” Cristoph summarised the situation quickly. “Is that they’re stuck in the fandom, and cannot get out?”

Nodding grimly, Valerie glanced in the direction of the television screen, where the news was winding up. “At this point, they’re on their own...”

OOO

“Still nothing?” Michael asked hopefully. Phoenixia shook her head, as she and Tash slid back into their seats.

“We waited until there was no one around,” Phoenixia said. “Then we tried our plothole generators and Tash’s doors. Nothing works. We’re still stuck.”

They had reluctantly agreed to return to their seats. No one was that bothered about the contest any longer, since their leaders had almost died and Phoenixia had been forced to confront the man of her nightmares. Back in kitty form, Adrian was staying low in his seat, ears flat against his head, less Runoa appear and resume their fight. Everyone was twice as paranoid, just waiting for their cover to be blown, despite the fact that the SEP fields protected them from any wandering gazes.

“We’ll just have to wait until the contest is over,” Harriet declared firmly, much to everyone’s dismay. “They have to open the fandom to let people leave. We’ll just leave with the rest of the audience.”

“But we want to leave now...” Emily said, fingering her handbag nervously, her supersoaker and Incandescent Silverreign safely stowed once more.

“I know!” Harriet huffed irritably. “But that’s the way this is going. So we’re just going to have to deal.”

“You’re just grumpy because you haven’t shaved, and we can all see your thighs,” Jess commented.

“Oh shut up!” the leader wished she had something to throw, but given that her handbag and clothing were still in Ardelisa’s room, drying over the radiator, she lacked anything to hand.

The cause of Jess’s comment was the short dress she had been forced to wear in lieu of spending the last fifteen minutes of show time in damp clothing. Still she reckoned she was better off than Tash, who was wearing one of Ardelisa’s full length black dresses from one of the previous weeks performances. Unfortunately for both girls, Ardelisa was only five foot two, and thus the black dress was swinging gaily about Tash’s shins instead of the floor, and Harriet’s mini dress was leaving very little of the leaders legs to the imagination.

“I can’t wait to get out of this thing,” Tash commented, apparently on the same line of thought as her friend. “She’s got bigger boobs than me.”

“Everyone has bigger boobs than you Tash,” Emily muttered, and Harriet gave her a poke for being so rude.

“We’ll go get our stuff from Ardelisa after the show...”

“Providing she doesn’t win,” Michael pointed out. “If she’s won she’ll be swamped with fans and people trying to congratulate her.”

“...dodging the fanbase...” Harriet added. “Get our stuff, and go.”

“LIVE IN FIVE, FOUR, THREE...” Magdalena was shouting once more, and as the countdown finished, the credits began to roll and the audience cheered. No one in the back row joined in.

“Welcome back to Sue Factor 2010!” Sparrow had reappeared, and looked overly excited to be live once more. “Our final two acts have both sung one final time. You have voted in your thousands, and I can declare that the phone lines are now...closed!”

The audience gave an ‘ooo!’ of anticipation, and Sparrow continued to speak.

“That’s it! You can’t change the outcome any longer. Please don’t call now, your vote will not count and you may still be charged!”

She twirled to face another camera, this time meandering her way off the main stage, and onto the section where the judges table sat.

“While the votes are being counted, we have a very special tribute tonight. Two years ago, we met a woman on this competition who was one of the most talented individuals we have ever seen. In January of this year, she passed away in her struggle to make the multiverse a better place for Mary-Sues.”

Any hint of a smile on Harriet’s face immediately slid off.

“Tonight we remember her, and her victory from Sue Factor 2008. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Willowe.”

“...what?!” Jess, Michael and Claire all exclaimed in unison, but they were drowned out by the audience, who cheered as Willowe’s name flashed on the screen, and the video clips began to roll. In the middle of the row, Emily had frozen to her seat.

“You never told us Willowe went on Sue Factor!” Phoenixia turned accusingly to Harriet.

“I didn’t know!” the leader protested, as a bright eyed, rosy cheeked Willowe appeared on stage, before an unfamiliar panel of judges.

“What’s your name?” Surprisingly, the figure in the head judges seat, was Cassie Anora.

“Willowe Diamond Honeysuckle Allisonette Frankincense Ravenne Hyacinth Aurelia Sakurelle Dewdrop Arwennia Heliotrope Appleflower Kristellia Sandriline Delilah Aphrodite Emyntrude Bob Yuffiana Swainsona Vipertooth Foxblade the Third,” the Sue replied with a winning smile.

“Bloody hell...” one of the male judges snickered.

The screen wiped to Willowe singing beautifully to an enraptured audience. It was as though a choir of angels had descended from heaven. Her voice spoke of pain, suffering and inner strength.

“Maybe tonight, we’ll fly so far away... we’ll be lost before the dawn...”

“Bloody hell!” the male judge from before repeated, only this time his voice was faint and awe inspired. Everyone had to laugh at him, as Willowe smiled prettily to her supportive audience.

“The biggest yes I have ever given anyone!” Cassie declared, beaming at her. Willowe’s thanks were drowned out by the audience, and as she got backstage, her face broke into the widest grin anyone had ever seen.

“I can’t believe they liked me!” she was saying, trying to be modest despite how much joy she showed. “But they did! That was the best feeling ever!”

The image faded away to the live performances, with Willowe up on stage under dim lights, a background of rippling white and silver across the screens behind her.

“There will be no white flag above my door... I’m in love and always will be...”

Everyone was silent as she sang, and the judges seemed barely able to string their responses together.

“You really are something special,” the judge beside Cassie was saying. “And I really want to see you make it to the final.”

The screen wiped, but it was not focused on the stage this time. It was taken backstage. Tucked just behind a sliding screen was Willowe, dressed in casual clothes, curled up with her knees under her chin. Her fingers were gripping her wildly tangled auburn hair, and even from a distance the tears on her cheeks were clearly visible.

“We’ve just heard,” the screen cut to a shot of the male judge who was speaking directly to the camera, “that one of Willowe’s sisters has been captured by the Anti-Cliche and Mary-Sue Elimination Society.”

Everyone in the back row felt a nasty chill go down their spines, as the screen cut back to Willowe, still sitting on the floor backstage, but with her head resting on Cassie’s shoulder, as the Lieutenant knelt to comfort her.

“She’s refusing to practise,” now it was Cassie, standing to address the camera outside the dressing rooms. “She won’t sing. She won’t even move. She’s devastated.”

In her seat, Emily was fighting back her own tears. She knew that this must have been when Holly was captured. She had not cared much at the time. She had been sad for her, but was bitter too. All she had seen was Holly and Juniper abandoning them to go and find Willowe... their wonderful and perfect sister who was fighting back against the Society and going to make the world better for Sues. Now she knew better about Willowe, and she felt horrible for all the times she had ever believed that her sister had not cared.

Cutting back to the image of Willowe, still being embraced by Cassie, the woman who would one day attempt to take over real life, spoke in a choked whisper. It was impossible to hear, but the image was subtitled, and still managed to cut like a knife into the hearts of everyone watching.

“I can’t do it... I can’t...”

“Yes you can,” Cassie said gently, pulling back and wiping tears from her cheeks. “You can do it for them...”

Apparently she could, for the next shot was Willowe back on stage, dark blue and green lights sweeping back and forth across the stage as she sang.

“There’s no other way when it comes to the truth, so keep holding on... cause you know we’ll make it through, we’ll make it through...”

Something in her voice was different. Instead of the strength she had shown in the previous weeks, she sounded as though she might break. But the pain only seemed to give her voice more depth, and several of the judges joined the audience in floods of tears.

“I know this song was for your sister,” the second male judge was saying. “And you’ve done her and your whole family proud tonight. You’ve come up to the stage, and gone on, even though you’re hurting. You’re so brave to do that.”

From the scream of the audience, it was clear that they all agreed. There was not a single person in the studio who was against Willowe that night.

The next image was Willowe in her dressing room, casually dressed once more, but still managing to look gorgeous. She wore a face of powerful determination, and Tash could not help but shiver. The last time she had seen that expression was when she had fought the Sue herself in the Sahara.

“I’ve made it to the final,” Willowe was saying. “I have to win now. I have to do this for my fans. For myself. But most of all, I want to do this for my sisters.”

Images of Willowe rehearsing to an empty studio were flashing up as she continued to speak.

“The power can go out. The world can end tonight. My own author can show up and try to interfere. But none of that is going to stop me from winning.”

The screen wiped once more, back to the stage, which was dark, shrouded in smoke, and had stars swirling across the screens at the back.

“Touch me! Its so easy to leave me... all alone with my memory... of my days in the sun...”

“You are an incredible singer,” Cassie was saying. “But tonight you went to a whole new level. That was perfect, in every sense.”

Now the stage was bright, with all the colours of the rainbow weaving their way across the screens, as Willowe sang her final song, and her last hope for her victory, her voice reaching every corner of the studio. The audience were on their feet screaming, but Willowe did not seem to notice. She was smiling, her heart and soul in every single word that passed her lips.

“Somewhere over the rainbow... bluebirds fly...”

As the music continued on, the screen shifted to a dark stage, with Willowe and another Sue, both stood in spotlights with their judges on their arms, looking ready to snap from the tension.

“Willowe!”

The audience were beside themselves, but it was nothing to the shock on Willowe’s face, or the delight that quickly replaced it as her judge hugged her tightly.

The sounds of the former audience died off as the screen faded into the stage once more. Everyone else had cleared off stage, leaving just the winner, who was still wiping tears of happiness from her cheeks as the music began to play. She drew a deep breath, and raised her head to look at the audience, her smile radiant.

In the present day audience, several people began to applaud softly as they realised they were being treated to the Sue’s best performance that evening.

“Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high...”

There was no nervousness in her voice. Only pure joy for her victory and surety of her own skill. The audiences, past and present, fell willingly under her spell.

“There’s a land that I’ve heard of, once in a lullaby...”

She hit every note perfectly. Harriet found herself torn. However much she wanted to punch her satanic offspring for everything she had put her through, she had to admit Willowe was good. And she was still completely stunned. Just how many more times was Willowe going to continue to surprise her, even after death?

“Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue... and the dreams that you dare to dream, really do come true...”

The Sue brushed another tear from her porcelain cheek, and Emily felt herself hiccup as the lump in her throat seemed to swell. She touched the hairclip in her fringe, and felt tears trickle from her eyes.

“Someday I’ll wish upon a star, and wake up where the clouds are far behind me...”

She had wanted that for all of them, Emily recalled the letter her sister had given her during the Battle of the Library. She had wanted a perfect world, so that she could look back and all of her problems would be a distant memory.

“Where trouble melts like lemon drops, way up above the chimney tops, that’s where you’ll find me!”

The dramatic volume of her voice did not diminish the quality, and the studio lights spun across the stage like dancers, red, yellow, green, blue shimmering past the singer. Willowe herself was giving the finale of the song, and indeed, the finale of the show, her all, as confetti began to rain down from the ceiling onto the winner of Sue Factor.

“Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly... birds fly over the rainbow. Why, then oh why can’t I?”

Never had Emily missed her sister so much. There was so much she had never asked her, and so much she wanted to know about her now. How had she felt when she had stood on that stage and been pronounced the winner? Had she really been thinking of her sisters?

“If happy little blue birds fly... beyond the rainbow, why, oh why can’t I...?”

Looking at her face, joyous and yet entirely peaceful at the same time, Emily decided yes. She had been thinking of them.

The cheers from the audience of the past were picked up by the present day people in the studio, who got to their feet applauding. Emily found herself joining them, to the surprise of the rest of the Society. Harriet’s eyebrows arched into her hairline, and Tash’s scowl redoubled. Emily supposed she could not blame her – Willowe would always be Harriet’s biggest shame, and Tash would always remember her as the Sue who had killed her boyfriend and almost taken over Real Life.

Sparrow came back onto the stage with no bounce, wiping tears from her eyes as she went.

“A beautiful performance that we will always remember,” she declared. “But now, its time. You’ve voted in your thousands. And now the waiting is over. I give you the Sue Factor 2010 top two finalists!”

She stepped backwards as the centre screen rolled up once more. Dramatic music blasted into the studio, creating an effective contrast from the gentle recording of Willowe’s voice. Stepping out onto the left side of the stage were Bella and Ardelisa. The protagonist of Twilight had her arm around Ardelisa’s shoulders and was hugging her as though afraid she might pass out from nerves. Ardelisa showed no hint of what had transpired during the intermission, and her hair and clothes were as immaculate as ever. There was not even a drop of water that betrayed that she had had to save the Society leaders from drowning earlier.

As they moved to a stop, Harriet saw Ardelisa straighten suddenly in her judges hug, and her eyes gave the tiniest hint of a scowl. From the way her face was angled, the Society leader could tell she was glaring at Runoa, who sat with Merle at the judges desk. Remembering the events from not half an hour ago, Harriet wondered if Runoa knew yet that she and Tash had escaped her little trap.

On the right side of the stage, Edward Cullen had his arm around Harmony, who looked calm and unflustered by the impending results. She looked at the audience with a smile, and the volume of the screaming fans seemed to double.

Finally they fell quiet enough for Sparrow to speak. The stage lights dimmed to black, leaving both Sues and their judges in brightly lit spotlights. Sparrow could no longer be seen, but her voice carried to the whole room.

“Ardelisa. The judges called you absolutely stunning, and said that all bets were off tonight after your performance.”

The centuries old Sue blushed magnificently, and looked at her shoes, as though trying to deflect the admiring words.

“Harmony,” Sparrow continued. “Tonight the judges said that your voice was unbelievable, and that there were no words to describe your performance.”

Beaming, Harmony embraced the comments, leaning slightly into her judge, and clasping both hands neatly in front of her.

“But there can be only one winner here tonight,” Sparrow declared. “I can tell you that we have had a record breaking number of votes from across the multiverse tonight, and not a single member of the studio audience failed to raise their keypad tonight.”

She paused, and the audience seemed to pick up their cheering again.

“The winner of Sue Factor 2010 is...”

She could barely be heard over the noise. The audience were on their feet, cheering and yelling for their favourite act, as though they could change the result with their enthusiasm. The Society got up too to see over the heads of the fans. Harmony stood perfectly still like a statue, and Ardelisa’s hands had crept under her chin in prayer. The stillness on stage was completely at odds with the audience, who were beside themselves.

“...Harmony!”

The noise from the fans was deafening. On stage Harmony’s overjoyed face was hidden from view as Edward swept her up into a hug that lifted her off her feet. Ardelisa looked crushed, but was slowly pulled into an embrace by Bella, who tucked a strand of her contestant’s hair back and smiled at her encouragingly. Ardelisa nodded in response to whatever was said, and quickly hurried over to the other side of the stage to hug Harmony. The winner could not stop smiling.

OOO

In the basement of the Library, a smaller, but no less forceful cheer had erupted from the Sues, who had sat on the edge of their seats throughout the entire results. Temporarily deafened, and disappointed by the outcome, the Society agents just sighed and shrugged, as around them, Harmony’s fans hugged each other in happiness. The ones that had supported Ardelisa, slumped in their seats and began to pick at the remaining tortilla chips and popcorn with little enthusiasm.

“Ah well, that’s that,” Ben shrugged.

“Mmm...” Rhia was nodding vaguely. “Now we’ve just got to get everyone home...”

OOO

“Ardelisa,” Sparrow was trying to extract the runner up from the hug that was now in danger of squashing Harmony to death. “Ardelisa... commiserations...”

She pulled the Sue from the hug, and patted her comfortingly on the shoulder. Ardelisa was clearly disappointed, but it was the gracious disappointment of someone who understood that the better contestant had won.

“You must be devastated,” Sparrow declared, and Ardelisa shook her head prettily.

“No. It a shame not to have won, but Harmony really deserves it. I’m really glad for her.”

There was a round of approving applause at this statement. In the back row, Harriet was pouting at the outcome.

“Fix...” Tash muttered. “I’ll bet you anything Runoa pulled some strings.”

She was glaring down at the judges panel, where Merle and Runoa were on their feet applauding. Merle’s clapping was unenthusiastic, but Runoa looked more alert than she had at any point that evening, and she could not stop the pride radiating from her face.

“I don’t think so,” Alice shook her head. “Runoa might be the most powerful Sue here, but the Sues are too damn perfect and honourable to want to fix the competition. And look at her face? She wouldn’t be that proud of her Sovereign if she had needed to fix the results.”

“Let’s give it up for our runner up, Ardelisa!” Sparrow was applauding, and the rest of the audience cheered for the contestant. Smiling sadly, Ardelisa backed away so that Sparrow could get to Harmony.

"Harmony! Congratulations! How do you feel?"

The Sovereign was smiling widely, more emotion on her face than there had been all evening.

"Brilliant. I'm so happy."

"You look it," Sparrow said earnestly, before turning to the judge. "Edward, what do you have to say to your winner?"

The Twilight protagonist looked as though Christmas and his birthday had come at once. He gave Harmony another one armed hug as he replied.

"She's such a wonderful person, and it has been a real privilege to be her judge."

"Highlight of the competition?" Sparrow leaned back towards the winner.

"Too many things," Harmony said. "Its all been wonderful. I'd just like to thank everyone who voted. I couldn't have done it without their support."

Harriet was sure that everyone's hands must have been numb by that point, but they clapped and screamed anyway. Now that it was over, she was fidgety and very eager to be out of her seat and back in the Library... maybe with that Chinese food that she had suggested earlier.

"Now the most important question," Sparrow said. "Can you perform for us once more?"

"Yeah, I think so," Harmony nodded eagerly, as the stage hands appeared and began guiding everyone off stage and back to their allocated seats or backstage area.

"Good. Get yourself ready," Sparrow waved a hand at the Sue, before drifting quickly off towards the cameras again.

"Well there you have it. Our winner for Sue Factor 2010. Don't forget, you can order the official album from our website, as well as download all the performances from tonight. Thank you so much for watching. One more time now, its your Sue Factor champion, Harmony!"

The roar of the audience did not cease, even as the music began to play, and Harmony was left alone on the stage with her microphone.

"We'll do it all... everything. On our own..."

“Right...” Harriet whispered down the row. “Now that’s over with, let’s go find a way out of this fandom...”

“Can’t we just stay and listen?” Emily begged, already swaying to the Sue’s hypnotic voice. She was not the only one. Claire’s head was resting on Michael’s shoulder, and Jess was swaying in a manner which made her look not entirely sober.

“No,” was Harriet’s firm answer. “Or we might not get out at all. Now stop swaying and follow me!”

OOO

Wondering who on Earth was knocking at her door this time, Ardelisa pulled it open and smiled sadly.

“You have to stop doing that,” she said, as Harriet and Tash appeared in the doorway. Harriet gave the Sue a quick hug.

“Sorry you lost, Lisa,” she said sympathetically, while Tash strode straight for the clothes on the radiator and felt them. They were still damp, but they would have to do, so she stripped off the dress and began to pull them on.

“Its okay,” Ardelisa shook her head sadly. “I was not fated to win. I will retire to my home fandom, happy that I have come this far.”

The rest of the Society peered in cautiously, some covering their eyes as Harriet stripped her own short dress off.

“Thanks for the loan by the way,” she passed it back to the Sue. “But I think it looked better on you.”

As Ardelisa blushed fairly, Michael had a sudden thought.

“You wouldn’t know a way we can get out without being spotted?” he asked hopefully.

“No, I’m afraid not...” Ardelisa shrugged. “The staff entrance around the back requires a security key to get in through, so that only leaves the front entrance, where all the guests will be heading.”

Even as she spoke, there was a thunderous rumble from above their heads, as thousands of people got to their feet and began to exit the stadium.

“All of the staff are going to the after party too,” Ardelisa added.

“We won’t get to any of them without causing a scene,” Harriet summarised. “We’ll have to go through the front door.”

“How is it guarded?” Michael asked, sitting on the sofa. Ardelisa began to pace as she thought.

“There are usually three men manning the door,” she admitted. “But since Runoa announced to us earlier that you’re here, it might have been beefed up.”

“We’ll never get through it,” Phoenixia sighed. “They’ll know to look out for us now.”

She sank into the sofa heavily, and Emily reached deep into her handbag and pulled out a bottle of water for her friend.

“If there’s only three men,” Alice was thinking hard. “We could fight our way past them?”

“Mrow!” on Emily’s shoulder Adrian was shaking his fluffy head hard so hard that he overbalanced and fell into Emily’s open handbag. She reached in to fish him out.

“Adrian is right,” Tash admitted. “Even if there’s only three guards, there are thousands of Sues trying to leave the same way right now. They aren’t going to just let us go.”

She shivered from her clammy clothes, and bounced from foot to foot trying to get warm.

“I have an idea...” Emily said suddenly. Everyone turned to look at her. She had frozen in the act of pulling Adrian out of her bag by the scruff of his neck, and he was wriggling to get free. For an explanation, she dropped him straight back in, where the sounds of his meowing were lost in the cavernous depths.

Harriet got it first.

“No way.”

OOO

“I can’t believe I agreed to this...”

“Louise, I’ve asked you three times. Get your butt out of my face.”

“I can’t! Jess is sitting on my hand!”

“Well pinch her then!”

“I think I just knocked something over...”

“MROW!”

“Meep! Sorry Adrian! I’m sorry!”

“Would all of you just shut up?!” Emily hissed through the tiny opening she had left at the top of her handbag. Instantly everyone inside fell silent. She clutched it tight against her body, and was rejoining the throng of people heading for the main exit. Her eyes flicked anxiously back and forth. Ardelisa had escorted her out of the backstage areas and had wished them all a safe trip back. Somehow, this did not make Emily any more confident.

“Okay, here we go,” she whispered as she headed into the crowd of Sues, who were gently pushing their way toward the exit. Her finger tips were cold, gripping the strap of her bag tightly, and she took a few deep breaths and tried not to look nervous.

“Well the others can say what they like,” came a voice from within the bag. “I think you’re a genius Emily.”

“Thanks Nixie,” Emily muttered, knowing full well that Phoenixia was only glad of an opportunity to feel everyone up inside the dark pocket dimension of the handbag.

“I can’t believe I’m in a girl’s handbag...” Michael muttered. “This is dangerous territory for a man...”

Although Emily couldn’t see, she just knew that Adrian was nodding his fluffy head in agreement with that statement.

“Do you want to get out and walk?” she asked testily.

“No ma’am.”

“Good.”

As the crowd rounded the corner, Emily saw the three glass doors that were the exit to the building. Sure enough, there was a security guard on each one. To her horror however, they were not alone. Beside each guard was a Sue Factor judge.

She cursed under her breath.

“Emily Smith!” Harriet’s offended voice appeared from inside her handbag.

“Shut up!” Emily hissed back, slowing her pace as much as she could against the tide of people. “The judges are here!”

“Stay calm,” Phoenixia soothed from inside. “Take deep breaths and try not to look worried or anxious.”

“Easy for you to say!” Emily could feel the crowd pushing against her, closer and closer to the exit...and the dangerous figures.

“Go for one of the Cullens!” Tash suggested.

“But they’re both guarding the same door!” Emily said, privately terrified that they would both recognise her - her sister had lived in Twilight for a long time after all, and it was entirely probable that they would realise who she was.

“Go for Merle,” Phoenixia urged. “She’s never seen you or your sister before. She won’t know who you are.”

“No!” Louise sounded terrified. “Don’t go near her! She’s dangerous!”

“Oh, so do you want her to go to Runoa instead?” Jess asked sarcastically. “Because that’s going to go so well...”

Emily elbowed her bag to shut everyone up, but it was too late to change her path. She was swept with the rest of the audience toward the centre door, where Runoa and a ginger haired security guard stood like soldiers in sentry boxes. Runoa’s eyes were passing over every face that left the building, and Emily felt her body break out into a fearful sweat, and she wrenched her gaze away from the Lieutenant and focused on the door and the freedom that lay beyond it. She kept her head straight and walked with the throng of people out of the door...

A beefy hand fell on her shoulder and wrenched her back into the warm entrance.

“Excuse me young lady,” the ginger haired security guard was frowning at her (though it was difficult to tell from behind his sunglasses). “Are you here on your own? Where are your parents?”

Her elation was gone, and Emily’s eyes flicked nervously to Runoa, who had only just appeared to have noticed her presence. As her emerald eyes fell on Emily’s face, they narrowed into a puzzled expression, and Emily knew she did not have long before the Sue recognised the resemblance.

“Think!” she thought urgently. “What would Willowe do...?”

The answer was simple. Willowe would never have got into this situation in the first place. She wouldn’t have helped the Society if her life had depended on it. Still...Emily put her best impatient expression on her face, and lifted her chin defiantly as she wriggled free of the man’s hand.

“I’m a Mary-Sue,” she declared in her haughtiest tone. “I don’t have parents, you idiot.”

She realised almost immediately that she should not have insulted him. The crowd seemed to sense that something was going on, and they had started deterring to the other exits instead, giving the confrontation a wide berth. Runoa stepped forward, and Emily felt her heart threaten to beat itself right out of her chest. She had never seen the Lieutenant up close before, and she understood immediately why the woman had once been Librarian. She had the same kind of presence that Adrian and the rest of the Counter Guardians had.

“A young Sue travelling without parents or her guardians...” Runoa’s voice was laced with suspicion. She did not seem to recognise Emily yet, but there was something calculating in her gaze that the girl did not like.

“She looks suspicious,” the guard agreed, taking a hold of Emily again and pushing her towards the judge and away from the glass doors. Emily could feel her escape slipping like water out of her hands. This was not like being caught messing with the school computer system. This was dangerous, and she did not think she could bluff her way out of this one...

That still did not mean she could not try though. She straightened her back and tried to remember how Willowe had always done it...looking untouchable and in control of the situation. She felt urgent shuffling in her handbag, and she subtly elbowed it again.

“Do you have a problem with the way I look?” she demanded of the security guard. She did not dare look at Runoa, and it would probably be easier to fool the man – he did not look too bright.

“Yes,” the guard objected. “You were walking quickly and looking all shifty.”

Allowing her impatience to shine through, Emily folded her arms and gave the man her most condescending glare. “Well while we’re exchanging insults, you could stand to lose a little weight, Tubby.”

Angry red patches appearing in his cheeks, the man made a swipe for her cheek. Emily ducked, and managed to turn the movement into a swift stride back towards the glass doors. Two more steps and she would have evaded the security and be through, and free to find a safe place to let the others out to plothole them back to the Library...

“YOU!”

Emily barely had time to turn around, before she was seized and thrown like a rag doll backwards into the wall. Pain ripped down her body, and she felt the breath burst from her lungs. She crumpled to the floor, vaguely aware that the other Sues were screaming and clearing the area. She lifted her head slowly, feeling her vision swim hazily.

Edward Casanova stood before her, his sword in hand, a murderous look on his features as he advanced. The audience and judges seemed to have frozen in their spots at this unexpected outburst.

“Where is she?!” the Stu demanded, as Emily struggled to push herself up right. She did not know how she had managed to hold onto her bag, but it was wriggling against her side, as the agents struggled to get out and see what was happening.

“Who?” she croaked out defiantly, knowing that she would probably pay later for this attitude.

“Phoenixia! Where is she?!” Edward roared. The Sues and Stus who were still standing, paralyzed in shock, started to whisper back and forth, and beyond Edward, Emily could see the pieces finally falling into place in Runoa’s mind.

“Staying away from the likes of you!” she snarled, getting back to her feet. The Stu gave a primal scream and threw himself toward her, sword raised, even as Runoa’s whip leaped into her hand, and was pulled back to lash at her...

The entrance went black, as with a crack, the lights went out.

Emily did not stop to feel the pain from her injuries, or to find out what had happened. She ran blindly, as hard as she could, pushing people aside as she went. A soft hand slipped into hers and pulled her away from the panicking people, and she let herself be dragged out of the entrance and towards the backstage area.

“You are a lucky girl!” Ardelisa’s voice congratulated, and Emily felt relieved that she was not being tugged around by a stranger, even as the chaos of the entrance hall faded away behind them. She heard the frantic sounds of the Society in her bag, as they struggled to stay upright as she ran.

“Tashy, you have wings! Get out and help her!”

“I’d love to, but Phoenixia’s tits are in my face!”

“What else is new?”

Harriet’s voice broke through the chaos.

“Emily! Are you okay?!”

“I’m alright,” Emily was well aware that her shaking voice betrayed the lie. Her back, neck, shoulders and head ached from impacting with the wall, and she was trembling all over. Only Ardelisa’s hand was keeping her from falling over.

“Let us out! We’ll have to fight our way free!”

“No!” Emily snapped, angry all of a sudden. She was tired of everyone wanting to fight – the Society and the Sues. “We’ll find another way out! You all stay in there! Ardelisa will get me out!”

She muffled their protests by stuffing her scarf in her bag.

“We have to hide!” Ardelisa was saying. “They can flash step. They’ll have caught up with us soon.”

Emily skidded to a sudden halt, yanking her hand free of Ardelisa’s. Her eyes were fixed on a ventilation shaft in the wall.

“Lisa,” she said, taking out the scarf and fishing around in her bag, this time for her supersoaker. “Get back to your dressing room.”

“Excuse me?!” the Sue was incredulous. “I’m not leaving you here!”

“If they know you helped me, they’ll kill you,” Emily said. “Besides, you can’t follow me where I’m going.”

The Sue followed her gaze to the vent, and understanding dawned.

“Even so,” she objected. “How will you get out?”

“I’ve got a plan!” Emily assured her. “Just go! And thank you for your help!”

She was already extracting a screwdriver from her bag and getting to work on the bolts on the vent cover. There was an angry explosion from down the corridor, and Ardelisa jumped at the noise, before picking her dress up.

“...good luck Emily...” she said, before running as fast as her legs would carry her. Emily tossed the last bolt away and yanked the cover off, as Runoa, Merle and Edward appeared around the corner.

“Good luck fitting down here with those tits,” she dared, before throwing herself headfirst into the vent and sliding away from the whip that lashed out at the spot she had been standing.

“Emily, we must discuss your manners!” Harriet huffed from inside the bag, as the girl scrambled to the end of the shaft and pulled herself up to the next level, before her pursuers could drag her back out. The vent was barely big enough for her to kneel in, and her back bumped painfully against the roof as she crawled frantically, ignoring the dust that was building up on her palms.

OOO

“She’s a resourceful little brat,” Merle muttered, peering down the vent shaft. Runoa was tracing the wall with contemplating eyes.

“She is Willowe’s sister,” she muttered. “I did not think she had survived the invasion...”

“I will tear my way through that vent to get her!” Edward was hissing, peering in though the shaft as far as his muscular body would allow.

“And how will you do that with shoulders that size?” Merle asked cynically.

“The roof,” Runoa declared. “She’s heading upwards. You two get up there. I’ll try from this end.”

“You’re not the boss of us!” Merle objected.

“DO AS I SAY!” Runoa shouted, and both Sue and Stu jumped, rattled to their core. Runoa’s power had exploded violently from her with her outburst, and even as she regained control of her temper, they could not help but shiver as they were reminded just how much more powerful she was. Quickly, but still glaring at the Lieutenant, they ran for the nearest stairwell.

Peering critically at the vent, Runoa fingered Hellbinder.

“Evade this, little Palm Tree...”

OOO

“Ow!” Emily yelped as she banged her head against the roof again. She had clambered up three levels, and appeared to have joined the main vent shaft out of the building. She was not as cramped as she had been on the lower level, but it was still a tight fit. Her limbs were aching. It was worse than the two hour work out session that Ms Farmer had put her and Miki through as detention when she had caught them skipping PE.

“Mind your head,” Jess supplied helpfully.

Emily ignored this and carried on with her marathon shuffle, pausing when she heard something below her...it was a slithery sort of sound like a snake on the metal...

Abruptly cold, she turned her head and saw the serrated edged Hellbinder rising up from the vent behind her like an entranced cobra from a basket.

Emily screamed and scrambled as fast as she could away from the whip as it lunged for her. She threw herself to the side, banging her head against the wall as it coiled where her ankle had been. Struggling to keep moving, the girl pulled herself along the vent, screeching as the whip made another lash towards her. She collapsed backwards, missing the strike by a millimetre. Pushing herself backwards, away from the weapon, she saw more of the black whip rise from the shaft and snake its way towards her.

She kicked out, and the whip flew back like an angry serpent recoiling from the blow. She gained a few precious feet, feeling cold air buffet her from behind. Turning her head, she saw the exit to the air vent, and the star filled night’s sky beyond it. She was almost there...

She shrieked as the whip lashed around her ankle and the serrated edges dug into her skin, drawing blood and another scream. The pain was unbearable, and she felt her foot go numb. Lashing out desperately she kicked at the whip, but as her good foot caught it, it just dug the weapon into her flesh deeper. She felt tears trickling down the side of her face, and screamed again as the black length began to pull her slowly back the way she had come. Behind her head, the vent exit slid away from her head.

Desperate, she plunged her hand back into her handbag, and felt for something, anything that would help... supersoaker... water bottle... Incandescent Silverreign... Michael’s sword...

She grasped tightly and pulled. The blade appeared in her hand and she swung as best she could in her confined space as the whip. It severed neatly, and the remainder slithered back down the vent shaft and out of sight.

Not wasting a second, Emily scrambled for the end of the vent and threw her weight at the rusted cover. It snapped open and she tumbled ungracefully onto the tarpaper.

The freezing air stung at her skin, but she barely felt it. She was shaking, and bile rose in her throat as she replaced Michael’s sword in her bag, and looked down at her ankle. Wincing, she peeled the end of the whip off her leg. It did not hurt any more, it just burned, and she knew she was probably going into shock, but she didn’t care. She tossed the whip away as hard as she could and wiped the tears out of her eyes.

“Emily? What happened?!” Harriet sounded frantic.

“Hellbinder...” she could hear her voice shaking. “My ankle...”

“Listen to me Emily,” her guardian’s voice was suddenly calm and rational, but Emily could feel something in the bag trembling...or maybe that was just her. “Take deep breaths...”

Deep breathing made Emily want to throw up, especially as she continued to look at her injury. But she did as she was told.

“Take your scarf out of your bag,” Harriet was saying slowly and clearly. “And wrap it around your ankle. Tie it firmly, but not too tight. Do you understand me?”

“Yes...” the girl nodded, and dipped her shaking hands into the bag. Her scarf, blue cashmere and soft to the touch was like a gentle friend as she pulled it out. She wrapped it around her limb twice and tied as tightly as she dared. It made her look like she was wearing a peculiar looking leg warmer as she got to her feet, still shaking.

The roof was deserted, though cluttered with air conditioners and huge hulking extractor fans for the whole building. In the street below, she could hear the anxious audience still leaving. She limped as quickly as she dared to the edge of the roof, seeing plotholes along the pathway blinking into life and out again, as the Sues and Stus vanished back to the places they called home. Emily guessed that the spell only extended around the perimeter of the building...the question was, how far away from the edge of the building was the perimeter?

The door behind her exploded outwards, and she barely had enough time to throw herself to the side to dodge Merle’s strike. Edward advanced, sword raised, and Emily shakily got back to her feet. She was crouched on the edge of the roof. One good push would send her over the edge, and plummeting four stories down to her death.

“I’ll ask you again girl,” Edward picked her up by the scruff of her neck and pulled her face close to his. “Where. Is. Phoenixia?!”

His sword was pressed into her throat, and Emily felt her teeth chatter.

“Don’t kill her, you idiot!” Merle barked angrily. “If she’s dead, she can’t tell us where the Society are!”

Edward’s momentary pause was all Emily needed. Just as she had done earlier that night, she brought her good foot up as hard as she could, and slammed it into his crotch. She was weak from shock, but Edward was still bruised, and roared in agony, dropping her to clutch at his injury. Emily fell and almost overbalanced off the edge of the roof.

As the door burst open again, and Runoa appeared with a broken Hellbinder in her hand, Emily got shakily to her feet again. The air buffeted her bruised back as though to welcome her.

If she was honest, she had guessed that it might come to this...that did not make the task any less daunting. But if this did not work, nothing would...

“What would Willowe do?”

Smirking through the pain, she blew the Sues and Stu a kiss, before throwing herself off the roof.

She heard Hellbinder strike again, but it could not touch her now. Wind was whistling in her ears, accompanied by the petrified screams of the Sues on the ground below as they saw the tiny figure plummeting towards them like a stone. As the power that she ruthlessly denied surged through her, she wondered if this was what it was like to fly...

The rainbow swirling portal ripped into existence below her, and she fell into its embrace.

OOO

The bed was nice and fluffy... she didn’t want to move...

“Come on Em. You can’t feign unconsciousness forever.”

“Can so,” she retorted, wrapping her arms tightly around her pillow and burying her head into it. It smelt of rose water beneath the sharp tang of disinfectant.

“You are a very lucky girl,” Valerie was telling her sternly, and Emily smiled as she remembered that was exactly what Ardelisa had said to her. “That whip went deep, but it didn’t break anything. I’ve bandaged you up. You’ll have a nasty bruise on your back, but otherwise you’re alright.”

“Tired...” Emily moaned.

“Shock and blood loss,” Valerie explained. “You’ll be fine in a little while.”

“What exactly did you do?” Harriet’s voice was asking, not quite rid of the worry that she had been feeling ever since her adopted daughter had been brought to the hospital wing, dazed and bleeding from her misadventures.

“Got to the roof...” Emily mumbled into the pillow, and she felt both women lean closer to listen properly. “Jumped... plotholed mid fall... must have come back to the Library...”

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she hoped that they would forget that she had not pulled out her generator to summon the plothole...she was not quite ready to share her talent for them yet...

“You jumped off a four story building?!” Harriet sounded livid. “What were you thinking?!”

“...was thinking ‘what would big sis do?’.” Emily muttered truthfully in response. “...so I blew 'em all a kiss before I jumped...”

Valerie snorted. “You blew Runoa a kiss?!”

The girl shrugged. “She seemed to appreciate it...”

She could hear the healer chuckling, and Harriet huffed in an unamused manner. Nevertheless the leader ruffled her charge’s hair. Emily moaned again and wriggled further into the pillow.

“Come on,” Valerie urged. “Sit up and you can have some hot tea.”

Hot tea did sound appealing... but so did staying in the bed.

“We’re having our own after party when you get up,” Harriet’s informed her. As if on cue, Emily’s eyes snapped open and she raised her head to look at her guardian.

“...really? Cheesy club music and oddly coloured drinks?”

“We even managed to rig up some disco lights,” Harriet smiled. “Though I would take it easy on the dancing with your ankle. Everyone is there already...even the Sues and Stus from the basement are coming.”

Energised, the girl threw back the covers and swept up the cup of tea.

“Wait!” Harriet yelled, as her charge downed the tea and shot towards the door as fast as she could on a busted ankle. “We still have to discuss your manners, young lady! Where did you learn that swear word?!”

OOO

Suebook News Feed:

The ACMSES: Had a lovely time at Sue Factor tonight, and thought all the acts were wonderful. Now for our own after party – photographs will be up soon! Merry Christmas everyone!

23:05pm.

The Eneny Of My Enemy Is My... Date?

Hell, Adrian decided, lived up to its well-deserved reputation.

Granted, it wasn't eternal fires, brimstone, a looming Devil and little winged demons armed with pitchforks prodding him, but considering that there was probably hundred upon thousands of demons, living nightmares, eldritch monsters, murderers, rapists, killers, all manners of sorcerers, a few fallen gods and lots of lawyers, there were a lot of interesting and colorful characters to meet, all of them on the dark side of the rainbow.
Sadly, the group Adrian was currently with was not filled with any new faces. He knew them all.

He had put them all here, after all. And considering how long-lived the Librarian was and how many few million grunts and whatnot he had cut down and how many villainous schemes and power ploys and 'end of the universe' scenarios he had foiled during his career, Adrian would have been surprised if he hadn't run into any he knew.

It was a small comfort, since everyone in the group was very much looking like they all wanted to kill him. Again.

Oddly enough, Adrian was currently seated in a chair behind the defendant's table of the courtroom, shackled by his ankles and his wrists cuffed together. Behind him, the courtroom seats were full people he had killed-soldiers dressed in futuristic armor, swordsmen, assassins, monsters, a few fallen angels and in far back of the room, he thought he could make out the form of a giant spider. All of them were silent, but either sneered at him or smirked darkly at him.

Across the way, the prosecuting attorney was shuffling through a stack of papers in his briefcase. He looked human, with neatly cropped brown hair, spectacles and wearing a fancy black suit and tie. Adrian knew him as Monty Marlain, a lawyer who had made it big by making deals with demons to win every case he ever took and often sealed his demonic bargains with witnesses who could ruin his cases. Not a big threat in and of himself, but Monty had been working to summon one of the big boys of Hell, Asmodeus and Adrian put him down before the demon could be freed.

The jury was, unsurprisingly, also comprised of people whom he had killed and were now shooting him death glares. Unlike the crowd behind him, who were the rank and file of most villain's armies, Adrian knew the twelve jurors personally, all of them having been a Big Bad in their own right. A black-winged archangel named Yydal, who had tried to summon raw incarnations of the Multiverse power in order to conquer it. A massive, hulking dark-skinned man with burning red eyes and dressed in cameo named Patriarch, a gun runner who had actually be one of the beings employed by the Powers That Be, but a few steps lower than a Counter Guardians. A soccer-ball sphere of light that was Eragis the Devourer, who made it a habit to eat immortal and divine beings so he could then consume their universes unchallenged. And several more big names and monsters whom had required a Counter Guardian's touch.

But it was the judge who held Adrian's attention. He was tall and lean, with pale skin and dressed in an ornate black robe with the collar flipped up. Gold rings decorated each of his fingers and his narrow, hawkish face was completely blade. He smiled as Adrian caught his eye and pressed his fingers together as he looked down up the silver-haired man. "It's been a long time, hasn't it, Adrian?"

"Valentine Temnas…" Adrian smirked back. "Necromancer extraordinaire who nearly succeeded in becoming an actual god. You were my first assignment as a Counter Guardian. A shame that Hell hasn't improved your looks. Or turned you into a wasted pitiful shell. To be honest, that girly scream of 'No' you gave when I threw you into that black hole was rather amusing…"

Valentine didn't appear bothered by Adrian's jib, though he did frown a little. "Oh, Hell did try and break me, Adrian. It tried very hard. Years and years of torture that I can't even possibly begin to surmise. But my will is strong… it kept me sane, in control of my mind. That…and my hatred for you." He grinned again. "And it looks my - excuse me, our - patience has been rewarded."

"Well, kudos to you for keeping what little sanity you had to begin with while in eternal damnation and torment." Adrian rolled his eyes. "Not that any of you were sane to begin with."

"We're quite sane, Adrian. I did tell you our hatred for you is strong-strong enough to keep our minds from slipping into madness." Valentine waved a hand, encompassing all of the courtroom and its occupants. "All of us, you killed and sent us here. We banded together for survival and swore eternal vengeance on you." He leered at Adrian. "And believe me when I say eternity gives you a long, long time to plan many, many interesting ways of extracting revenge on someone."

One of Adrian's kitty ears twitched in annoyance. "All of you together for all that time and the best you could come up with is a trial? Seriously? What are you going to do, give me the death penalty? In case you hadn't noticed, I'm just as dead as you are!" The ear twitched again.

"We know, but your death-besides delivering you into our hands-has left us with a unique opportunity, my dear boy." The bald man replied, the corner of his lips twitching into a smirk. "You have a chance at being resurrected. So anyone of us, if we get rid of you like you are now in Hell, one of us may have a chance of getting resurrected ourselves."

Violet eyes narrowed slightly. "And how do you do that? Even if you get rid of me like this, you'll be able to have one of you summoned in my place? Any ritual used to summon me would only target me."

"It's really quite simple-we'll kill you and eat you like you are now. You see, all you are right now is your spirit. And one can become stronger in hell by eating their competitors. So one of us eats you, becomes infused with your unique spirit signature and viola-it's back to the world of the living." Valentine said, as if explaining the process to a very small child.

"Uh… huh…" He quirked an eyebrow questioningly. "So, disregarding the fact that any attempt by any of you to eat me will result in me ripping off your heads and seeing if I can't kill you twice over, how does this little trial factor into things?"

"Why, my dear Librarian." Valentine gave him a big toothy grin. "It's only proper, don't you think, since it was your judgments of us that prompted you to kill us and send us here. And as the saying goes, 'Even the damned deserve their testament.'"

"And I don't get a lawyer because…?"

"We couldn't find anyone who was unbiased enough to provide you with an adequate defense. So you're representing yourself."

"Okay - I move to dismiss the case against me as there is no way in this Hell that I am going to get twelve jurors who would be unbiased and thus this whole façade of a trial violates my right to a fair trial by my peers-which I doubt I will find in this place, either."

"You're right-we're all your betters here. And the move to dismiss is denied." Valentine banged his gavel. "Anything else?"

A sigh escaped Adrian's lips. "Let it formally be known that I strongly disagree with the fact that any of you consider yourself my better, since, you know, I killed each and every one of you. I also strongly object to the fact that this trial is even happening." He leaned back his chair as best his could. "Now let's hurry up and get this over with - I want to see if I can't find the chief executive of 4Kids down here and have some words with him about what he did to my anime."

Valentine banged his gravel again. "Alright then, court is now in session. The United Alliance of Evil V. Adrian the Librarian. Bailiff, read the charges against the defendant."

A red-skinned demon in a pinstripe suit stepped forwards and pulled out a manila folder. Putting on a pair of spectacles made out of fire, he flipped it open and began to read. "Defendant is charged with 4231 counts of murder in the first degree and countless counts in murder-second degree, Treason, Conspiracy to overthrow a legal government, conspiracy to commit murder, Grant Theft Auto, Genocide, Regicide, Plotting to destroy government property, resisting arrest, Kidnapping in the first-degree, Unlawful use of a bladed weapon-"

"Hold on just a minute!" Adrian interrupted, shooting a glare at Valentine. "What kinds of charges are these? I'm not warlord or wannabe god like you bastards. These charges should be filed against you, not me."

"Oh really?" Valentine smirked as the court chuckled at Adrian's words. "I do suppose you deserve to know why we're charging you like we are. Let's see…" He held up a hand and then lifted a finger. "First, you can claim that we were warmongers and mass murderers, but you did the same thing against our soldiers and minions and slaves. They were only doing their jobs and going about their lives and in our rush to get to us, you killed very, very many of them."

"Second," Another finger rose. "Many of us ruled empires, kingdoms and what-have-you, which were the accepted and lawfully established governments of their words. Yet you oftentimes invaded them without provocation, an act of war and many a time tried to incite rebellion against said lawful government, smuggling arms, provisions and more illegal items into said government's domain."

"Third," A third finger rose. "You stole government secrets-plans, weapons, devices, vehicles and more, hacked into and diverted money that belonged to our loyal citizen's accounts into your own, money that had legally earned by their respective government's laws. You also impersonated several high-ranking officials on various worlds, often times by assassinating them first. You also committed terroristic acts against several governments, including bombings and poisonings."

"Fourth," A fourth finger joined the other three. "You endangered the lives millions upon millions of innocent sentients with your actions by destabilizing the lawful governments of their worlds, destroying shipyards, space stations and more and leaving them vulnerable and without the support of a government.

"And lastly," Valentine held up all five fingers. "You arrogantly proclaimed your authority over us and our worlds and the so-called sovereignty of the Powers That Be, a governing body that none of us here recognize as such. Yet, you still removed lawful governments from power or destabilized them or killed their leaders and by doing so, subjugated our peoples to the so-called Powers That Be whims and authority and obviously, as this was done against their will, this is slavery."

Adrian remained silent, his eyes still on Valentine. "…"

"So you see, Adrian that these charges very much apply to you. You claim that we are the ones who should be charged and yet, we have been already by you and the Powers That Be. You created charges and crimes that we committed through a governing body that none recognized as having an authority over us. You call us evil and murderers and warlords and more, but it's obvious that you have yet to realize that you are using the very same tactics that you accuse us of using. If you claim we are evil that are just as evil as all the people here." The bald man smirked and crossed his hands in front of him as the courtroom cheered at the judge's declaration. "So…what do you have to say to that, Librarian?"

There was a long silence and Adrian just kept his eyes on Valentine as the cheers died down. Several minutes passed and occasionally one of the villains would shift uncomfortably or glance away from Adrian, who hadn't even batted an eye.

Finally, he spoke. "Any action or word can be considered 'good' or 'evil' depending on the viewpoint. A surfer is attacked by a shark and he tries to beat the shark off, thinking the shark is evil for trying to eat him. Yet the shark tells him to stop fighting and let him enjoy his meal and continue to live. So I'm not going to sit and argue semantics and viewpoints and perceptions with you. In the end, those things are left to the individual."

"However," H\his eyes hardened slightly. "To find the answers to such questions as what is right and what is wrong, there must be life that exists to determine them and find those answers. It is for that reason and that reason only, that I did what I did. My duty is to the whole and to that end, I committed the acts I felt were necessary to preserve the whole of life and thus, the future. You can judge me and taunt me all you want, but all of you know in your hearts your actions were not of benefit to the majority and only beneficial to the few at extreme expense to the majority. For costing the unborn innocents their future, you committed the ultimate crime in denying life itself of existence. And if my orders had not been to kill you all…" His eyes darkened and his voice became low, quiet… dangerous. "I would have made you all scream till doomsday. And reveled in it."

A chill silence hung over the courtroom and everyone present felt a shiver travel down their spines as they remembered what made Adrian so dangerous. Adrian didn't get mad  -he got even tenfold over.

"Ummm… Monty, why don't you call your first witness?" Valentine said after a moment and the lawyer got up, shuffling his papers and adjusting his collar.

"I call Tim Quasar to the stand."

A thin man with spiky blue horns instead of hair, razor-sharp teeth and one hand replaced with what looked like a buzz-saw detached himself from the crowd and entered the witness box. He glanced around, blinking confusion slightly. "Aren't ya gonna swear me in?"

Valentine rolled his eyes. "This is Hell; there isn't a Bible to be found here! And if we did try to swear you in, you'd probably explode for swearing to God or something. But we trust Tim; we know you'll tell the truth."

"Thank you, your honor."

"Now, Mr. Quasar." Monty adjusted his glasses. "You said in your report that defendant committed several crimes against you."

"Yes, sir."

"Could you list them for the court, please?"

"That man killed my lover, my pet lizard, destroyed my home and killed me." Tim looked about ready to cry. "Lizzie was the best pet ever…."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me…" A few anger tics popped into existence on Adrian's forehead. "Your 'pet lizard' was an eight-mile long Star Dragon was eating planet's moons because it could! Your home was a super-weapon capable of causing a star to go supernova! And your lover was a demonic space goddess who wanted to eat the souls of everyone in existence!"

"She was still a good lover and you killed her!"

"The hell she was your lover! She had two sets of teeth and one of them would have made that act a one-time only deal, because by the time you got done, you'd be singing soprano!"

Tim growled and his buzz-saw whirred to life. "You still killed me!"

"Me! You're the one who blew out the view port to try and suck me into deep space and forgot to bolt down the command chair to the deck! It's not my fault you're an idiot!"

"Grrrrr! I'll kill you! Then I'll bring ya back and kill you again! Kill you dead!"

"I'm already dead, nitwit! The only way could kill me more is if you started singing your horrible version of 'Without You' again!"

"Hey! I got a great singing voice! My lover said so!"

"Your lover could plug her own ears when you sang!'

"You shut your mouth or I'll gut you!"

Adrian rolled his eyes. "Your mother!"

Tim blinked. "Huh… what about my mother?"

(Well that was a bust…) Adrian sighed to himself. (I was hoping to goad him into attacking me so I could get these handcuffs off. Better start thinking of plan B…)

"Enough!" Valentine banged his gavel. "Order in my courtroom! Adrian, another outburst and we'll eat you!"

"You're going to do it, anyway." Adrian reminded him.

"Nnnnnnn…" The bald man rested his head in a hand. "Tim, don't' overreact so much and just give your testimony so we can convict him!"

"I am afraid you won't be convicting anyone today." A feminine voice spoke up from the rear of the courtroom and everyone turned their heads to see as the sound of heel-wearing feet thudded against the courtroom's wood floor.

Adrian's eyes widened at the woman he saw walking up the center aisle. She was dressed in a forest green skirt and suit and her auburn hair trailed after her as she walked. The tightness of her clothes showed she had curves aplenty and violet eyes were cool and calm. "No way…"

Willowe Foxblade gave Adrian a smile as she walked past him and up to the judge's bench, fishing a piece of paper out her briefcase and holding up. "Willowe Foxblade. Lawyer for the defense. And this is a motion to dismiss the case and let my client go free."

"Pfft." Valentine ignored the piece of paper and shot her a look. "Go away, Foxblade. He may have killed you too, but we've been waiting a lot longer to get a piece him. So you're gonna have to wait."

"Oh, no I'm not. " Willowe waggled the paper at him. "This is straight from Purgatory. You are dropping this case."

Valentine grabbed the piece of paper and looked at it before holding it at arm's length and squinting. "This writing is so bad it's nothing but scribbles. I can't read a word of it. And there's no Purgatory seal on it."

"Oh, there is. Let me point it out." The woman took the piece of paper back, set her briefcase down…then grabbed Valentine by the collar, hauled out of his seat and pinned him to the floor. Grabbing his arm, she wrenched it painfully behind his back and held the form in front him. "Do you see it now?"

"No, you stupid bitch, I don't!" Then Valentine howled in pain as Willowe pulled his arm back harder, nearly ripping it out of its socket. "I see it, I see it!"

"Good." Releasing him, she grabbed her briefcase and returned the paper to it before snapping it shut and walking over to Adrian. "You ready to go?"

"What about…" Then Adrian heard a clacking noise and felt cuffs fall over. Rubbing his sore wrists, he gave the woman who had killed him a look. "And why the heck should I go with you? In case you haven't noticed, we're both dead and you're the one who killed me!"

"Well, yeah…" Willowe gestured around to the courtroom and leaned close to him to whisper. "But you can stay in the company of all these people who have been hundreds of hundreds years learning how to make dead people scream forever and have spent every waking minute in Hell waiting for a chance to get revenge on you…"

"Or?"

"Or, you can come with me, as I'm going to take you Purgatory and then explain some things to you that you're gonna need to know if you get resurrected so you beat Runoa."

Adrian glanced around at the courtroom. Since he was dead, he obviously had no sword and he couldn't feel the little hum that was the reminder of his magical power as a Librarian and Counter Guardian. "You know what, I never like disappointing a pretty lady, so why don't I escort you out of here?"

"You are a smart man." Willowe grabbed his arm and dragged Adrian down the aisle, ignoring any of the bad guys who shot glares and nasty looks at her and only paused to cuff one on the side of the head when he tried to play grab-ass. "Come on, this way."

Adrian blinked as she pulled him through the door. "How are we supposed to get out of Hell, anyway…" Then he broke off as the moment they stepped through the door, they were standing a vast expanse of… black. "Huh…" A glance behind him revealed that door was gone. "That was rather anti-climatic…"

"Yeah, well, did you really think that even I could win a trial when everyone in that room hates you?" Willowe told him and then held up a hand as he opened his mouth. "I'll answer your questions in a bit. But first I need to get changed. You go wait over there."

"Over where? We're standing in nothingness…" Adrian blinked as he turned around and saw what looked like a table and two chairs. "Hmmm… that's convenient."

Striding over the table, he frowned slightly at what he saw. It was covered in a white, linen tablecloth and there was a vase of red roses in the center, a pair of candles on either side of it that flickered a bit despite the fact there was no wind. The place settings had fancy blue plates and the silverware looked like real silver, though Adrian wasn't quite sure as they were wrapped up in a napkin. "This looks like…"

"A dinner date."

"HOLY HELL!" Adrian yowled and leapt three feet in the air, his tail sticking straight out and the fur standing on end. Landing a tense crouch, he growled and whirled, pointing his finger at Willowe, who was giggling at him. "Don't do that-" His voice vanished on him.

"What do you think?" Willowe smiled at him, still snickering slightly. She was dressed in sky-blue strapless dress that revealed her unblemished skin and that was edged with black and revealed a fair amount of her cleavage and her hair was brushed to a shine and done neatly in curls on her bangs while a pair of sapphire earrings dangled from her lobes. "Do I look good?"

"Uh… ummm. yeah…" Despite himself, Adrian felting himself blushing and attempted to chalk it up his embarrassment at her sneaking up on him. "How did you get changed so fast?"

"When you're dead, you find a lot of things are easier." Willowe's smile turned sweet. "You don't look so bad yourself, Adrian."

"What…?" The silver-haired man glanced down at himself and found he was dressed in a white trenchcoat with gold detailing along the edges and a ruffled black silk shirt and silk pants. A pair of ruby cufflinks glinted on his wrist and judging from the feeling he got from his tail, it had been brushed to silky-softness. A quick pat of his hair and ears revealed the same thing to them. He fixed Willowe with a look. "This is your doing, I presume?"

"Yes. When I died, I didn't go straight to anywhere. I was offered a choice - reveal you some information and get one thing I wanted and then go to Purgatory or go to hell for my crimes. It wasn't a hard choice to make."

"So you choose a dinner date? With me? Why?"

"Because you're cute, Librarian. Strong, smart, powerful, clever and such a nice sexy voice. All qualities I find attractive. Plus, you are probably the only person who would have a date with me and actually be nice about it and enjoy it." Willowe walked over to the table and stood expectantly by the chair.

"And why's that?" Adrian followed over and pulled out her chair for her, partly because it was just in his nature and partly because playing along couldn't hurt and might net him some more information.

"Well, you forgave me before you died, if you recall." The auburn-haired woman scooted closer to the table as Adrian sat down across from her, moving the roses out of the way so they could see one another.

"I did." He replied calmly and as he sat down, a basket of rolls and some tabs of butter appeared on the table. Grabbing a roll, he pulled it apart and then reached for his knife and a butter tab.

"Why?" Willowe asked softly, reaching for a glass of water that magically appeared as she reached for it. "I invaded your Library, attacked your friends, threatened the Multiverse and you knew that I was going to kill you… how could you forgive me of all that?"

Adrian took a bit of his roll and chewed slowly so he could find the right words. Failing to locate them, he decided to just be honest and swallowed. "I forgave you… because… if I were in the same situation, I'd have probably done the same thing you did. And I've come very close doing it, too…" He managed a small smile. "And besides, it was one hell of fight. After something like that, it's hard to be angry at people."

To his surprise, Willowe chuckled as she prepared her own roll. "Getting so happy because of a fight…that's just like you…" Taking a dainty bite, she chewed and swallowed. "Well..I know this does not mean much now nor does it fix things… but… I'm sorry… and thank you for forgiving me."

"You're welcome." Adrian took a drink of water. "Now, can you tell me how I ended up in Hell? Last I checked, I was one of the good guys and you were the bad person."

"It's because you have no soul currently, dear. I destroyed your body and then your Reality Marble, which is your soul, so your soul didn't know where to go. You can't get into Heaven or Purgatory without a soul and so you bounced around for a while and then ended up in Brimstone Town." She took another bite. "You're here now because the people upstairs finally got their asses in gear when they realized what happened."

"But it worked out for the best, didn't it?" The kitty-eared man smirked. "Because my soul didn't know where to go, it remained on the Mortal Plane. And because I'm guessing the Library is restoring my body, all the others have to do is find my soul and reunite with my body to bring me back to life."

"You are smart." Willowe told him honestly, smiling a bit.

"When you live alone in the Library, there's not a whole lot to do besides read." Adrian leaned back in his chair and smirked, finding he was enjoying their little date. "And don't underestimate a man who has a few hundred years to prepare for things. I have tricks I probably don't even remember creating anymore."

"That doesn't surprise me in the least…you were always like that, forgetting where you set your coins down a second after you did or losing your medallion… I always thought that you'd lose yourself if gravity didn't keep you pinned to the ground." The auburn-haired woman chuckled and smiled happily, as if remembering a very fond memory.

"You keep talking as if you know me and know me well…" Adrian frowned at her as the rolls disappeared and a bowl of soup appeared in front of him while a salad did the same for Willowe. "But you and I never met much before we died. The fighting in the Library was the longest interaction we had."

He narrowed his eyes. "When you died, you got some memories, didn't you? From a past life?"

"Yes…" The woman replied slowly, grinding some pepper over her salad before reaching for a container of Dorothy-Lynch dressing. "I… it was disorienting at first… I couldn't tell who I was or who's life I was living… but eventually, it straightened itself out… and I learned a lot of things that I never thought were possible." She drizzled the dressing atop her salad before taking a bite.

"Like you and I knowing each other well in past lives…" Adrian took a sip of his soup and found it was a very delicious potato soup. "When was that? And what else did you learn? It must have been something that would help me defeat Runoa if the Powers gave you this chance."

Willowe gave him a look as she took another bite of her salad. "Adrian, I'd tell you everything if I could, but you know better than I that it just doesn't work that way. There are some things that you have to learn on your own."

He sighed and had some more soup. "I figured as much. Never hurts to ask, though." Stirring his entrée with his spoon to aerate it, he kept going. "Can you at least tell me what in my past I need to look up? I've lived a long time and my memory isn't exactly perfect."

"You need to look into the past before you became a Counter Guardian."

"That time?" The violet-eyed man frowned again."But I know what happened…I was a hero and I made a deal with the Powers to save a group of people I couldn't save on my own..and one of those people ended up betraying me…"

"That's Archer's story, not yours, Adrian." Her violet eyes stared at him. "Most Counter Guardians share a similar background, it's true, but you know deep in your heart that it never really rang true…"

"No, that's not the case." He said firmly. " I may not remember everything about the past few centuries, but I do know what happened before I became a Counter Guardian!"

"Do you, now?" Willowe finished off her salad and returned her fork to her plate before looking him the eye. "Me tu swori ty'dala, yinki y yankia."

"What?" Adrian's brow furrowed in a frown. "'I am your blade sister, now and forever' But how could you know that…that language is just something Chrys and I made up…" Then he jerked straight and his eyes widened as a barrage of sounds and images hit, too fast to make distinctions except for battle cries and swords flashing against one another and what might have been a long, pained scream.

Then he was over and he collapsed back against the chair, panting like he just run a mile. "What…how did…what did you…" He caught himself and forced himself to relax, his breathing evening out. "Those were memories..but why couldn't I see them? And if you got memories of the same thing when you died, why didn't I?"

His eyes widened. "I wouldn't get them back… if there weren't any memories to get back… all I have are traces of what's left in my head…"

"That's correct." Willowe explained as Adrian ate some more of his soup to steady himself. "You didn't get those memories back because they weren't there to get back. Someone removed them from you after you became a Counter Guardian for some reason and sealed them somewhere." She shook her head at the questioning looking in his eyes. "No, I don't know why there were removed. My memories stop some time before that, so I don't know where they are, either. The only clue I can give you is that your memories lie in the same past does."

"Okay, I can get that…" Adrian watched as their entrees disappeared to be replaced by steak and their water replaced by wine glasses. "But why do I need these memories to defeat Runoa? What do they hold?"

"I don't know that…" Willowe cut off a piece of her steak and popped it in her mouth, moaning slightly. "Oh, this is so good…" Swallowing, she continued. "All I know is that memories hold the key to you getting all your power back. Not your Librarian or Counter Guardian powers, your powers- the powers you had before you become a Guardian."

"So they'll make me stronger…" Adrian mused as he started in on his steak. "But I guess its how I use them or what I learn that may make a difference in beating Runoa."

"That's about the gist of it." Willowe replied, taking a sip of her wine.

For several long minutes, there were no sounds save for the two of them eating and drinking. It was an odd silence, at the same tense and yet companionable. Adrian didn't know what Willowe felt like, but he was eating dinner with the woman who had killed him and yet, he found he didn't really mind it.

It kinda creeped him out.

He was nearly finished with his rather delicious steak and glass of wine when Willowe spoke up. "Tell me about Palm Tree."

"Uh, yeah, sure." Finishing another bite, he thought for a moment. "Well, she's Hati's ward now, her name is Emily Smith. she's really inclined towards technology-probably going to be quite the inventor some day. She's struck a good relationship with Phoenixia… and oh yeah." He flushed in the cheeks slightly. "She's a real good artist… day of your attack, she drew this really nice, but really racy picture of Tash on my office wall."

"I know. I saw it. It was very impressive." A smile graced Willowe's lips."It sounds like she's growing up in a good family, now… after everything, that's all I wanted… for her to grow up and be happy and not wind up like some kind of monster… like me…"

"Hey." Her auburn curls bounced as she looked up at him and to her surprise, he was smiling. "You did the best you could, Willowe and a lot of other people in your situation wouldn't have done near as well as you did. You sacrificed everything so that Emily would have a chance at a life that so few get. There's a lot of love in that. And despite what you may think, I know in my heart that Emily loves you just as much."

"Heh." Willowe smiled faintly. "You were always like that… always supporting and encouraging and ready to dash at a moment's notice to help us… even in the darkest moments, you made it seem like the sun was shining…"

"Uhhh, thank you…" Adrian felt himself blushing slightly and glanced down at his empty plate in an attempt to hide. "While we're on the subject, will you tell me what I was like in the past? I want to know…" Then he frowned as the plates vanished to be replaced by bowls that contained a single scoop of plain vanilla ice cream. "This is dessert? Who picked the menu?"

"Me." Willowe grabbed her spoon and started in on her ice cream. "Girl needs to watch her figure."

"But we're dead!"

"Are you saying that I can eat as much as I want because I'm dead and fat?"

"What! No! Where would you get an idea like that!"

"You're complaining that the portions are small."

"I'm a growing man!"

"You're dead, remember? You aren't growing."

"Neither are you! So portion sizes shouldn't matter!"

"I'm a woman. Things matter at whatever moment I decide they matter."

"But… I… you… the… why…" Adrian spluttered for a moment and sighed, also digging into his ice cream. "Will you please answer my question?"

"Okay…" Licking her spoon clean, she looked thoughtful for a moment and then smiled. "You were a lot like you are now… Reckless. Dashing. Elegant in combat. Never saying die. Passionate about fighting and being a hero." A wicked grin crossed her face. "And you were so good in bed... I wonder if that's carried over to today…"

Adrian's face burned bright red and he spluttered again. "You have to be joking!"

"Maybe, maybe not… you'll have to get your memories back to find out." Willowe snickered at his discomfort. "No matter how much time passes, you'll always be so easy to tease…"

"Oh, hush, you!" The Librarian felt his face burn as he finished his ice cream and then watched as the bowls disappeared, followed by roses and candles and then table itself. "Guess that means dinner is over…"

"Yes…" She dabbed at her lips with her napkin as they both were forced stand due to the chairs fading away and then she flicked her napkin away, which faded into the darkness. "I was kinda hoping for some after dinner mints… I didn't want it to end…"

"Honestly?" Adrian smiled a bit. "Me neither. You're a good dinner companion when you're not trying to kill me." He grinned as her cheeks pinked. "Yes, score one for me!"

"Yeah, one compared to the ten or so I have on you." But she was smiling a bit and stepped closer to him. "Hold one, you've got some ice cream on the corner of your mouth…"

"Oh, I do? Which side is it-" Then Adrian no longer had to worry about the ice cream on his face as Willowe pressed her lips firmly to his own and wrapped her arms around his waist to hold him tight to her body, pressing against him so tight it was like she was trying to fuse them together.

After a breathless, eternal minute, they pulled about, the Librarian flushing like crazy as Willowe just stepped back and smiled at him, her own cheeks faintly pink. 'I'm sorry… I just… look, it's hard to explain, but I just needed to do that.."

"Yeah, I get yeah…" Adrian's hand brushed his cheek slightly. "Willowe… that was good, great even, but there as a lot of sadness in that kiss, too… why?"

She glanced to the side. "Your memories will return your full power and your past to you, Adrian and perhaps will even give you an edge against Runoa somehow. But it's all or nothing with memories..and I know that there are going to be some you will not like and some that will be downright horrible…" She looked at him, a semi-desperate look in her eyes. "So if I can stave off some of that… give you some good memories to counteract them…"

"It's okay…" He grabbed her shoulders and smiled comfortingly."I understand. I don't know what we were like in the past, but I can't change it… so no matter what I see when I get my memories back, it won't change my opinion of you… you'll still be the same tragic big sister bitch of a Sue who killed me."

"Thank you… and speaking of bitchy…" Willowe stepped close, one hand grabbing his chin and the other grabbing between his legs. "You are going to take good care of my sister, Adrian the Librarian, or so help me god, I will claw my way back from wherever I end up, track you down and rip these off with my bare hands! Are we clear?"

"V-very…" Adrian nodded furiously, already a shade whiter at the mere thought of it. "Crystal c-clear."

"Good!" Releasing him, she patted him on the cheek. "In a bit, a door is going to show up. Go through it to take to the place where you can wait till you're resurrected-if it happens." With that, she moved past him and started to walk away.

She had only gotten a half-dozen steps when Adrian's voice stopped, though he hadn't turned around. "Hey. Where are you going to go from here?"

"I'll probably just go back into the creative ether, like all finished or discarded ideas do…who knows. I could really wind up anywhere." She didn't bother to turn around, either.

"Well…" Adrian readjusted his coat. "If you get reincarnated, come look me up. I may have a job for you."

"I'd like that…" Willowe smiled. "Good-bye, Adrian. Tell Hati hello from me and tell Tash I'm sorry…"

He gave her a thumbs-up. "They probably already know, but I'll tell them anyway."

"Thank you." Then she continued to walk away and then she was just gone a few steps later, dissolving into sparkles of light.

Adrian blinked a large white door materialized in front of him. "Well, this is easy." He grabbed the handle, opened it and stepped inside.

The room was pure white, as were the chairs, though both were just enough off white that it wasn't incredibly blinding. There were no doors or windows or even a visible light source, though he could still see. No one else was in the room.

He figured the door he had come through was already gone and glanced around. "This is gonna be boring if they expect me to wait in this place…" Then he blinked as he saw of splash of black color. Another blink got rid of the headache and blurry vision caused by it and realized that it was stack of books on the table that reached his chin. "Ahhh, reading material. This should last me about two hours."

Slipping into a chair, he grabbed the top pick and got read to open the cover… then frowned when he saw the title. Setting it aside, he grabbed the next book… then set it aside and grabbed the next one… only to set it aside.

Desperately, he dug through the entire stack of books and moaned he realized they were all from the same series. "Why the heck would Purgatory's waiting room be stacked with Twilight books!"

He stared at the stack of books, wondering if he'd something horrible to deserve this. Not only was he not much a fan of the series in general, but he'd already read them and he hated reading something he'd read before.

Finally, he grabbed the nearest book….

TTTTTTTT

Ten minutes later…

A snow-white kitten poked it's head up from a fort compiled of the books, standing on its legs and glancing this way and that like a prarie dog. "Super-Kitty observes his surroundings carefully, as a mysterious enemy as disabled the power to his Bookcase of Solitude. It must be the dreaded zombie killer snowman, seeking to draw our hero into their territory where the snow will help them hide. But Super-Kitty has eyes of awesomeness and with a battle cry, he pounces on the nearest zombie killer snowman…."