There was never anything that impressed him more than literature. 
Aside from his brash appearance and chauvinistic attitude, when it came
down to the more important things in life, books were at the top.  It
was the way words could take someone anywhere they wanted and back
without even moving a muscle, or the magic of finding new emotion in
the pages of an old book, that just couldn't compare to anything.

	Or perhaps it was the comfort they gave him when his parents died. 
Through the burning agony, the ice cold nights, or the unforgettable
nightmares that followed, the words on the page stayed the same. 
Hamlet still asked the same questions, Ahab still fought the whale, and
Darnay still was beheaded during the French Revolution.

	These were the things that drew him to St. George's Books in French
Quarter, that made him spend his inheritance purchasing the ancient
tomes of literature to line his shelves, that caused him to begin
writing his own stories.  In the end, it was what lead him to discover
his heritage and become the champion of justice his ancestors intended
him to.

	He still wondered if this was a good thing.

	As he walked the aisles of his library, his eyes drifted over the
hundreds of titles, some collected by him, some by his ancestors, and
remembered the many adventures of his youth, a golden age long since
past.  He saw the book he read to his first girlfriend, first of many
women to fall to his family's charm.  Ethan Frome.  In reflection, he
wondered if that was the best book to have chosen to read.  The novel
was about a romance, but in the end, the two had attempted to commit
suicide and failed, causing one to be paralyzed and the other to be
physically deformed.  Ah, youth. He was so eager to share, but ignorant
of the message he was sending.

	A few other memories passed him by until he came to a brief break in
the books where a section of shelves had been used to hold the
thousands of pages of notes and scribbles and other writings he had
collected over the years.  Those memories were less pleasant than his
younger ones, these were of life and death battles and close calls with
people he truly cared about.  One particular event still caused
reverberations in his soul every time he thought about it.

	He had been in her arms, but it was not a grasp of affection as it had
been the night before, she was holding him down with one arm and
holding a knife to his neck with the other.  The power she had over him
kept him from escaping, but he still tried with all his might to break
free of her grasp.  At his fingertips was the idol, the statue of her
power.  With a twitch of his index finger, the statue was on the ground
in pieces, then all hell broke loose.  The ground opened up beneath
them and she started to fall.  He grabbed her arm but the crazed demon
in her soul wouldn't let her be saved by a man of his heritage.  The
knife was still in her hand, so she raised it and...

	He turned away from the shelf and closed his eyes.  Subconsciously, he
rubbed the long scar running across his left arm, trying to soothe away
the phantom pain.  Opening his eyes, he gazed upon a smaller shelf with
only a handful of books on it.  These were very familiar, but brought
back both good and bad memories as well.  On this shelf was the
collection of books that he had written about his adventures.  They
were all bestsellers, all pulled in a modest sum, enough to support his
castle in Germany as well as his shop in New Orleans.

	One of the books had a black streak down it's binding.  He picked it
out and slid his hand across the cover.  It was one of the limited
edition hardcover printings of his first bestseller novel.  The signed
book used to reside behind the register at St. George's Books in New
Orleans, until the store, and most of the city, burned down one year
during Mardi Gras.  The cashier managed to save the copy of the book
with minimal damage, but everything else was ruined.  It was sad, the
store was very important to him, to see it go up in smoke was painful,
but he got over it, just like he got over everything in time.

	He slid the book back onto the shelf and turned to leave the library. 
He'd spend enough time reminiscing, he needed to get back to work,
someone had asked him for help and he'd be a traitor to his people if
declined.  He shouldn't have even taken the break to begin with, but
for some reason, he felt the need to walk through the library.  The
castle was very big, and even with Gerde around, he felt lonely while
he worked.  Perhaps things wouldn't have been so bad if Grace hadn't
left.

	He could only blame himself for that one.  His lust for women had gone
too far and Grace could no longer stand it.  Ever since that day
though, he couldn't even look at a woman without hearing the yells of
Grace as she stormed out the castle doors for the last time.  Now he no
longer lusted for women as he used to, but that didn't mean he didn't
yearn for companionship.  In the lonely years after Grace left, not a
day went by that he didn't wish he hadn't drove her away.

	The sudden noise of one of the larger books hitting the stone floor
drove him out of his digression.  Spinning on one foot, he glanced back
down the aisle until his eyes centered on the single book lying in the
center with a small cloud of dust surrounding it.  Curious, he
approached the tome and peered down at the title.  It was in German,
the first language he managed master in his ten years in Germany and as
a Schattenjager, and it read, "Collected Poetry of the 1920's."

	He remembered the book, it once sat on the top shelf of St. George's
Books before it burned down.  He reached down and opened the book,
skimming through the pages until he came to the poem he bought the book
because of.

	"Drei Drachen," he muttered to himself.  "The three dragons."

Drei Drachen Kriechen in meinen Schlaf
die Seele woll'n sie lebenden zum Frass
Feurigen Atems, gespaltener Zunge
geniessen sie jedes Mahl

	Still, he couldn't explain the attraction to this poem, despite the
fact that he knows now that it was written by Heinz Ritter, his
grandfather.  It seemed like magic, for all he knew, it could have been
magic that put these words on this paper.  He closed the book slowly.

	The last time he read this poem, was hours before he became involved
in an investigation of a series of voodoo related murders that led to,
ultimately, the discovery of his heritage and the death of a half a
dozen people.

	What would it bring this time?

***************

The Eyes Of Stone Faces

by
Adam Christopher Leigh

Based upon "Sailor Moon," "Ah! Megami Sama," and "Gabriel Knight"
created by Naoko Takeuchi, Fujishima Kousuke, and Jane Jensen
respectively.

"In the village, taxers and taxed were fast asleep.
Dreaming, perhaps, of banquets, as the starved 
usually do, and of ease and rest, as the driven 
slave and the yoked ox may, its lean inhabitants 
slept soundly, and were fed and freed."
          --Charles Dickens' "A Tale Of Two Cities"

***************
Part One: American Detective
***************

	She descended upon him, an angel riding on a shaft of light against
the total darkness.  He was broken, crying, bleeding from more places
than he knew, and the only thing he could ask was why.  He wouldn't
even lift his head to face her, he was either too terrified, or too
disgusted.

	"Why?!" he called into his hands.

	"Some things are meant to be," she responded.

	"Ridiculous!" he wept.  "Why must it always happen to me?  Not a
single man in a thousand has had so much death and so many grievances
as I."

	"One in a million," she corrected.

	He looked up from his hands, his eyes red from the strain, the
scraggly beard pleated to his skin with sweat, blood streaked across
his cheek, someone else's blood, someone he loved.  She looked down
into his eyes, to perchance glimpse his soul for a moment.  What she
saw was incredible, and it held her eyes like vice.

	Graphic violence, blood and death, screams of agony, screams of pain,
one atrocity after another and yet ... his hope and faith unbroken
until this day.  He had braved it all, a hundred wars, a thousand
deaths, and came through with the belief that god, his god, would never
allow anything to happen unless it must.  Until now.

	"Why are you here!" he cried out, breaking her from her trance.  "Doth
he hate me so much, are you to laugh in my face in his place?!  WHY!"

	There was so much disorder to him now, it bore little resemblance to
what she glimpsed in his soul.  It was painful to watch, and she shed a
single tear in sorrow.  It slid down her cheek and collected at her
chin before falling.

	He watched with fascination, seeing her looks of pain and sadness as
opposed to what he expected, of cynicism and conviction.  The tear fell
from her chin and he felt obligated to reach out and catch it, to hold
just a small part of the god he once believed in totally.

	She did not want to seem above the man, indeed, even her floating a
few inches above the ground felt wrong.  As she felt the tear leave her
chin, she reached out to catch it, so it wouldn't seem as if she were
degrading him, as if she meant to toss her refuse at him.

	Her arm extended towards the tear just as his did the same and before
they knew what they were doing, their hands were holding each others,
staring into each other's eyes with something akin to affection.

	And the tear fell to the ground.


***************


	Belldandy woke with a start.  Her heart was racing but she didn't know
why, perhaps in reaction to some intense dream.  She placed her hand to
her chest and breathed deeply, struggling to calm her system, trying to
return to the tranquil state she was used to.

	Beside her, Keiichi slept soundly, unaware of the tension Belldandy
was going through.  She placed a hand on his cheek and sighed,
beginning to calm herself down.  As long as Keiichi was by her side,
nothing could be that bad.  She leaned back on her pillow and looked up
at the ceiling, breathing steadily.

	Still, something lingered that gave her a slightly edgy feeling. 
Something was either wrong, or was going to be soon, her instincts were
never far off in this category.  She tried to remember what she had
dreamed about, but it was fleeting, she could only recall a glimmer of
what had made her so excited.  It had to do with something that she had
done many years ago, back in a time of great strife between humans and
the other races.

	She was called upon frequently during those ages.  People often fit
the guidelines for wish receiving back then, so she descended often to
change the course of events.  It was never a drastic change, those who
received wishes weren't narrow minded, but they knew that to wish for
one side of a war to win could mean a countless number of needless
deaths in the end.  Thus, many small things were saved, a church in
France, a temple in Syria, a few houses along a river, sentimental
things like that.

	Most of the time anyway.  There was a few times that the wishes got
out of hand but on the whole they had good intentions.

	"Bell?" came the voice from the door.

	She propped herself up and looked towards the door that had slid open
a tiny bit.  A long sliver of light from the hall shot across the
ground and pointed to Skuld, only her head showing through the doorway.

	"What's wrong, Skuld?" Belldandy said.

	"Did you have it too?" she asked so innocently.

	Belldandy smiled and nodded slowly.  "Yes, it was a nightmare.  Are
you okay?"

	"I'm fine," she said softly.  "But you have to look at something."

	"I'm sure I can see it in the morning, Skuld, go to bed."

	"No," she insisted. "You have to see it now."

	The smile faded from Belldandy's face as she nodded knowingly.  She
slipped out from under the sheets and stood before she felt his grasp.

	"Bell-chan?" Keiichi said.  "What's wrong?"

	"It's nothing, Kei," Bell said reassuringly.  "Go back to sleep."


***************


	Elsewhere, a uniformed figure stood before a glowing ball of yellow
energy, held aloft by a purplish stone pedestal.  She had her hands at
her hips as she watched the sphere with a greedy intent.  The power was
to be hers and hers alone, and she wanted everyone to know about it.

	After she completed her task, that was.  Until then, she would make
like everything is fine and do her duty to her fullest, waiting for the
perfect moment to snatch the orb from the one who she has been forced
to call Master.  She knew the Master was powerful, but she doubted
anyone could stand up to the one who welded the power before her
correctly.

	Her reign, unlike her Master's, would be known by all and command the
unwitting forces of hundreds of planets and stars.  Everyone would
worship her for forgiveness and those that didn't would be destroyed by
her might.  Much better than the sneaking around and shadow dancing
she's been forced to do on earth for the Master.

	And the waiting.  Everything had to be perfect for the Master, down to
the second of the plan or else she would suffer.  She was suffering
already though, patience not being one of her virtues.  She was nearly
on the verge of continuing the plan herself when she felt the presence,
the overwhelming power of her Master.

	"Getting anxious?" the unidentifiable voice of her Master said.  She
turned slowly and gazed upon the shadowy silhouette.  The Master never
appeared directly before her, she was used to it, but she often
wondered what the silhouette was hiding, why the Master was too ashamed
to show it's face.

	"Of course not, my lord," said she.

	"Good," the voice responded.  "Impatience once cost me everything I
had and more.  Nothing is to be gained from jumping into things
prematurely."

	"I understand, my lord," she said even though she didn't.

	"Then, what is your progress report so far?"

	"The plan is progressing admirably, almost all segments have been
carried out to their full conclusion, there has only be one anomalous
element."

	"I don't like to hear such things," said the Master.  "What is the
cause of these interference's?"

	"A man has been attempting to head up all of my youmas' attempts. 
While he isn't often successful, he has done considerable damage to
some."

	"His name?"

	"A nobody, he calls himself Gabriel Knight, some holy crusader from
Germany."

	"Gabriel ... *Knight*?" the Master scornfully spat.

	"Yes, my lord. Do you know him?"

	The silhouette wavered and raised a clutched hand.  It shook for a few
seconds before it fell back to the Master's side.  "No," said the
Master. "Continue with the plans, and report any continued resistance
from this Knight person."

	"Yes, my�"

	And the shadow was gone.


***************


	"JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!"

	The lightning leapt from Jupiter's fingers and snaked around the large
youma causing it to writhe in pain for a few seconds then begin to
smolder.  Mercury, Mars, and Sailor Moon stood to the side as Venus
rose her hands up and pointed them at the youma and chanting her spell
before firing off a beam of yellow light causing it to fall from the
particular section of building it was clinging to.

	It landed with a loud clang as the medal parts of it hit the pile of
I-beams lying on the ground.  Again it rose, smoldering, leaning on one
of it's long metal arms and looking at the Senshi through it's last
remaining eye.

	In the background, the screams of many frightened people and
construction workers created a blanket of white noise that made it
difficult for the Senshi to talk to each other without screaming.  As
the youma leaned against the metal infrastructure of the building that
was being erected on this corner, the sounds of metal creaking and
swaying could be heard from above along with the few workers still
trapped at the top of the structure.

	"Tough little demon isn't he?" Venus commented as the gang stood on
one end of the yard and the youma stood on the other.

	"Sailor Moon" Mercury yelled while still staring at the youma through
her visor.  "I think there's a weak spot in it's upper torso!"

	"Right!" she replied with a wink and a smile.  She rushed forward
ahead of the rest of the Senshi and braced herself with her legs apart.
 "All right you yucky demon-head, this party is over!"

	She reached for her tiara and it glowed with power.  Pulling it from
her brow she flung it towards the youma with intensity.  It spun into a
disc and struck with amazing accuracy, turning the construction menace
into a lot of sparkly dust.

	Sailor Moon turned towards the bulk of the crowd and posed with her
fingers in a 'V' formation.  "Victory!" she called out and the crowd
responded accordingly.

	"Sailor Moon," Mars called out.  "You better come over here."

	She turned towards Mars and saw her, with the rest of the Senshi,
standing around something.  She ran over to see what she was missing
and they parted to give her a better view.  She stopped in her tracks
when she saw it, or more precisely who, they were standing around.

	"Oh no," she whispered as she started walking over solemnly again.  As
she got near, Mercury bent down and scanned Naru's body with her visor.
 She was lying on a pile of cement bags, very unconscious and obviously
drained of her energy.  "Why does it always have to be her?  Can't they
find someone else's life to mess with!?"

	"I remember this place," Venus said contemplatively, looking around.

	"So do I," Mars agreed.  "This is the where Osa-P used to be.  Before
that big corporation bought out the whole block."  She looked down to
Naru.  "She was probably just watching, a person in the crowd."

	In the distance, the sounds of authorities could be heard approaching.
 Mars kicked a rock in frustration.  "What crummy luck she has..."

	"It's going to get pretty busy here, Sailor Moon," Jupiter warned.

	Sailor Moon nodded in response.  "Ami?"

	"She's resilient," Mercury responded.  "I'll say that much.  She'll be
all right in a few hours, the local hospital should be able to
adequately take care of her until then."

	The sounds of sirens going off stopped as several police cars pulled
up and officers ran out to see what they had been called down for and
hope that whatever youma was around had been taken care of by Sailor
Moon already.  They rather quickly came across Naru's body, one of the
officers feeling her pulse and getting a rough estimate of her
temperature by instinct.

	"Better call an ambulance," the officer called into the crowd of
uniformed men.  One of them responded and ran back to his car.  The
officer stood up and moved over to the group officers and barked out a
few orders and asked some questions.  They told him that the area was
clear, no demons or robots or anything to speak of.  He sighed openly
and wiped his brow.  Thank goodness, he thought to himself.

	"Something upsetting you, Usagi?" Rei asked as they watched the
construction site from atop a neighboring building.

	"Oh, nothing," Usgai said, mustering a small smile.  "Another attack
means we gotta get back to work, *AGAIN*, so I'll have even less fun
for the next month."

	"You're not the ONLY one who has a busy schedule you know!" Rei
quipped.

	Minako sighed.  "Anyone recognize that one?"

	"The youma or the start of an argument?" Makoto asked.

	"The youma."

	"Nope."

	"Seemed pretty usual actually," Ami offered.  "Nothing particularly
outstanding about it.  I'll try to set up a scan nonetheless, let
anyone know if something weird happens."

	"Well, then, that taken care of.  I left so early I haven't had a
chance for breakfast yet.  Anyone hungry?" Makoto asked.

	"I am if you're cooking," Minako replied.

	"I guess I am then," Makoto smiled and turned to leave the rooftop. 
"Anyone else?"

	"Coming," Usagi said, slowly turning from the edge of the roof to
follow Makoto.  Rei and Ami followed soon after.


***************


	Keiichi held Belldandy close as they watched Skuld work on her
computer uplink to the Yggdrasil.  They were kneeling next to each
other at the table drinking tea while Skuld tapped away in the corner. 
Urd was up... sort of, she was at the table with a cup of tea in front
of her, but she hadn't looked at it nor drunken any of since she sat
down, which led Kei to believe that she was still half asleep.

	That and the bit of drool at the side of her mouth.  Kei was a master
deductionist.

	"Here it is, Bell!" Skuld announced, still tapping away at her
computer.

	Belldandy looked to Keiichi with a slight pang of fear in her face
before standing and moving over to Skuld.  Keiichi followed closely
behind.

	Skuld's screen displayed a geometric graph showing a funnel-like
curvature in bright blue and green colors.  She tapped a few keys and a
row of red dots appeared on the graph.  Belldandy gasped as she saw it,
Keiichi struggled to get a grasp on what he saw.

	"That isn't ..." Bell started.

	"No," Skuld said and hit a few more keys.  A spinning picture of Earth
replaced the graph then slowed to a stop and split along one side to
flatten out like a map.  The graph superimposed itself over the map and
the funnel centered itself over Europe.

	"Something is rapidly drawing energy from the Yggdrasil while at the
same time attempting to drastically change the order of space-time."

	"But, what could cause such a thing?" Bell asked.

	"I don't know, but from the way it's drawing it's power, I can only
assume it is the result of conflicting powers of the Ultimate Force."

	"The Ultimate Force?" Keiichi asked, trying to enter the conversation.
 "You mean that's what happens when someone tries to interfere with a
wish?"

	"No!" Skuld yelled at Keiichi. "What a mess there would be if that
happened every time the Ultimate Force was employed!  Silly, this sort
of kickback could only happen if two WISHES were interfering with each
other!"

	"What?!" Urd called out suddenly.  She tried to stand suddenly but as
she got up she tripped on the table right in front of her and pitched
forward head first into her cup of tea, shattering the mug and covering
herself in herbs and water.

	Belldandy blinked.

	Keiichi blinked.

	Skuld yawned.

	"That's MY method of transportation, Urd, not yours!" she said.

	The sudden flash of light from Skuld's monitor brought their attention
back to the matter at hand.  The graph began twisting as all sorts of
klaxons went off on the computer.  The funnel suddenly got larger and
ripples began coursing through the other areas of the graph until the
whole thing looked like a tidal pool.

	"What's happening?" Keiichi asked.

	"I �- I don't know!" Skuld said, worrying.  She hit all of the keys on
her keyboard but nothing changed.  The graph continued to twist and
contort until the entire grid exploded outward and vanished completely
from the screen.  The map of earth then curved itself back into a globe
as portions of the sphere began to crack and yellow light began to
flash outwards.  Finally, the whole earth shattered in a flash of
yellow light and turned into a drifting asteroid belt.

	The Norns, even the drenched Urd, stared in disbelief.

	"How can--" Keiichi began to ask before the screen flashed pink and
the entire scene that just played out, reversed at three times the
speed until Skuld's screen showed the map of the Earth with the
funnel-like graph again.

	"Bell!" Skuld said, her voice trembling.  "What can we do?  What's
going on?"  She leaped forward and grabbed onto Belldandy and cried
into her arms.

	Bell looked down at Skuld then up at Urd.  "We need to take a trip."

	"Where?" Urd asked, dumbfounded.

	"Germany," she replied softly.  "Rittersburg, Germany."


***************


	Gabriel stared down at the body on the ground before him, outlined in
chalk, just behind a police line.  It wasn't like any of the cases he
had been asked to investigate in his time.  The body wasn't mutilated,
wasn't severed, not even badly bruised.  Just lying in the gutter,
looking up at the sky with blank, dead eyes.

	He swallowed as memories returned to him of the first person he'd ever
seen die.  A young police informant named Crash, dying of some Voodoo
curse sitting on a cathedral pew.  His eyes were staring up at the
ceiling as well when he died.  He wondered if anyone even bothered to
close Crash's eyes when the police picked up the body.  Gabriel reached
down and closed the eyes of the young woman lying in the street before
him.

	"Please, Herr Knight," some officer called out to him.  "Don't touch
the bodies."

	"Right, I was just looking at something," he said.  "Sorry."

	"It's okay, Herr Knight."

	That was strange.  Well, not as much now as it used to be.  Back when
he was younger, the police were always on his case, trying to arrest
him as much as the bad guys.  Now a days, the cops knew about Knight,
and what he did for most people who had problems, and they would leave
him alone for the most part.  But the younger kids would always shoot
of their mouth at him, not knowing of his history with the police, and
later get shouted at by their superiors.

	Gabriel didn't particularly like the treatment he was getting, he had
reservations about being treated with respect when he didn't feel he
deserved it, but he did enjoy having one less group after his head.  He
only wished Mosely was around, those hair and weight jokes worked so
much better in person than over the phone.

	"So, Gabriel Knight, eh?" a civilian voice called out.

	Gabriel turned around and looked around the crowd until he found the
voice who had called him.

	"Yeah, that's me," he said.

	"I hear you're some big detective author," the burly, bearded man said
to Gabriel.  "Always trying to do the police's job for them."

	"Heh heh, it's that way really, I just help out every now and then." 
More now than then, he thought to himself.

	"Bah!  More snooty Americans who think they're so much better than the
lot."

	"Really, now, I really don't feel that way."  Who is this guy? Gabriel
thought.

	"So, tell us big American detective," the man continued, despite
Gabriel's prayers.  "What do you think is wrong with these people?" The
man gestured to the many unconscious civilians lying about looking
exactly like the woman Gabriel had just looked at.

	"I think they are all ... very ... dead," Gabriel cunningly concluded.

	"Bah!  There's nothing here but a snooty American," the man said
dismissively and turned his head away from Gabriel.

	Had he actually been a 'snooty American,' Gabriel would have walked
away, but feeling an injustice done to his, as well as his family's
honor, he tried to continue his conversation with the man.

	"Now, look here now," Gabriel started.

	"More to say, American detective?" the man asked in his hoarse voice.

	"I don't see what you have against me, sir, I do a very unusual
service for the people, and I don't do it unless I'm asked to.  I don't
butt myself into other people's business unless I'm asked."

	"Bah! American justification, all business is German man's business."

	"Now I think you've said enough, sir," Gabriel finally said, getting
frustrated.

	"Come to threaten me, have you?" the man asked and thumped his
stomach.  "I premiere wrestler from around Germany.  No man threatens
me!"

	"I'm not threatening you, but I do say you've�"

	The man reached forward suddenly and Gabriel instinctively moved to
dodge the punch, until he realized that it wasn't a punch.  The man
craftily darted his hand out and grasped Gabriel's talisman that had
been dangling in and out of his jacket ever since he started yelling at
the man.  The next bit happened too fast for Gabriel to realize.

	The talisman seemed to glow as the man's hand got closer, as if
reacting to some unknown energy.  Just before the hand touched the
rough metal surface of the pendant shots of electricity leaped up from
around the talisman and assaulted the man's hand.  As the man's large
fingers clasped around the metal, a white light shot out from the
center of the image on the talisman and struck the man square in the
chest.  He screamed out in pain, causing his voice to crack and reach
levels higher than emitted by any man, before letting go and being shot
back into the crowd.

	Gabriel fell backwards next to the woman's body on the ground as he
looked up to see what had happened to the man.  He didn't look, but
could still feel the pressure of the talisman against his chest.

	The man looked different than before, somewhat smaller, as if his
clothes had grown several sizes during the event.  When he went to get
up, Gabriel realized why.  The man suddenly had long dark red hair
instead of a short brown, dazzling green eyes instead of a deep black,
and a pair of breasts instead of ... well, you can guess.

	"A woman?" Gabriel muttered, confused.

	She pushed herself up and threw her hair back behind her to look down
at Gabriel with contempt for only a second before she turned and ran. 
Gabriel jumped up as if he was sitting on a spring and sped off after
the woman.  She ran down the nearest street towards the center of the
city.

	She glanced back once or twice and smiled as if taunting Gabriel from
afar.  Coming to a small intersection, she took a final look over her
shoulder and sharply turned down a small alley.  Gabriel ran after her
shortly later, coming to the corner and turning to slip into the only
five foot wide alley.  As soon as he took his first step into the
alley, he knew he had made a mistake.

	The sharp blow to his chest confirmed his suspicion as he was thrown
back into the street from the alley.  He quickly propped himself up to
see the large hulking form lumber out of the alley to loom over
Gabriel.  It was sort of humanoid, it had two arms, two legs, and a
head with eyes, a nose, and a mouth, but it was much bigger than any
man, and a dark shade of green.  Attached to it's shoulder was a big
spool on which a chain was wound upon, and around it's neck was a chain
attached to a spiked ball hanging on it's chest.

	"Oh, shit," Gabriel muttered as he slowly backed away from the beast. 
It let out a resounding roar and grabbed the end of the chain from the
spool and pulled a portion out to hold between it's muscular arms.

	He barely had time to react as the beast swung down the chain with
enough force to crack the pavement.  Gabriel rolled away and pushed
himself up to a standing stance, pulling his knife out of it's sheath
and holding it pointed towards the beast.  It didn't seem very
intimidated since it swung again at Gabriel, causing him to dive to the
side.

	Now he found himself against a wall, and the beast was still lumbering
towards him.  He looked around frantically for something to help him
fight this daemonic creature.  He looked around for too long for when
he looked back down at the beast, it already was swinging it's chain
and it was too late to dodge.  Gabriel closed his eyes and awaited the
pain.

	Instead of smiting him on the spot, the chain struck Gabriel on the
side and wrapped around him, encasing him in six wraps of chain.  The
beast yanked forward and drug Gabriel though the street, over to it. 
He struggled against the chains but whatever strength he might have
had, was vastly overwhelmed by the deformed beast.  It picked him up
with one hand and brought him face to face.

	The beast roared at Gabriel, dowsing him in terrible breath and heat
at the same time.  The next sound was a high pitched laugh that
couldn't possibly have come from the creature.  Gabriel looked up to
see the woman who tried to grab his talisman standing on the shoulders
of the beast.

	She had changed her clothes, no longer wearing the loose man's
clothing, but a dark red uniform with a long cape affixed to her
shoulders colored midnight blue on the exterior and maroon in the
interior.  She laughed again with a condescending look down at Gabriel.

	"Hah hah hah hah ha!  Pitiful morsel, you can't lift a finger against
my youma," she called out.  Stamping her foot, she looked down at the
beast.  "Get the talisman for your master."

	The beast slowly brought up it's other hand and reached for Gabriel
... at the same time he twisted in the chains and his knife fell from
the tangle metal into his open palm.  Swinging forward just as the
beast was about to touch the talisman, he jabbed the knife deep into
the thing's gut causing it to let out an ear shattering roar that
caused Gabriel to fall through several waves of vertigo and make the
woman atop the beast's shoulders to fall to the ground.

	He continued to push on the dagger, forcing it deeper into the
monster's body, until the talisman suddenly let out a flash of light
and the knife glowed with a yellow light.  The beast dropped Gabriel
and he rolled away as it clutched it's stomach in pain and fell to the
ground in a heap.  When it finally stopped moving, a light shown out
the back of the monster that quickly spread, causing it to disintegrate
into a fine dust that blew away with the wind, leaving only Gabriel's
blood stained dagger behind.

	The woman stood silently and looked at Gabriel with daggers in her
eyes, and turned to walk away, but vanished in a cloud of black smoke.

	The sounds of police sirens firing back up at the other crime scene
filled Gabriel's ears.  He looked around and struggled a bit against
his chains futilely before resting his head against the pavement and
waiting.

	The sky was quite overcast that day, offering little variety for his
eyes.

	"At least it's not raining," he commented.

	Then he felt the first drop on his forehead.  Then the second.  The
third.  Fourth.

	"Aww, shit."


***************


	Gerde sat at her desk near the entrance to the castle.  Outside she
could hear the storm getting worse and by her watch it was already very
late.  Gabriel had said he was taking a train back to Rittersburg
today, but he didn't specify when and she was starting to get very
worried.

	Often the Schattenjager would get caught up in something suddenly and
be delayed returning to the castle, but more often than not, he would
call or say something to the effect that he would be very late.  Today,
he had left no word or called.

	She was relieved more than surprised when she heard the loud pounding
on the door.  Leaping out of her seat she ran to the door and pulled
the giant oak aside just in time for Gabriel to stumble through the
door with a blanket over his head, sopping wet from head to toe.  A few
leaves and a branch blew in from outside and Gerde closed the door
quickly to keep any other debris from flying in.

	"Goddamn it!" Gabriel cursed as he threw off the blanket and shook his
head, throwing his wet hair back.

	"Gabriel," said Gerde. "What happened?"

	"The fucking police, that's what happened," he said pulling off his
leather jacket and throwing it on the floor.  "I swear I made more
commotion in that square then was ever made at Mardi Gras in New
Orleans and it took the police twenty minutes, TWENTY MINUTES, to show
up!  I was practically swimming by the time they got me out of those
chains." He pulled off his shirt and threw it on top of his jacket
while Gerde got him a dry blanket to wrap around him.

	"Why were you wrapped in chains?" she asked as she gave him the
blanket.

	"Well, I found out whose been zapping people and she didn't like it
very much."  He moved out of the foyer and upstairs to his room where a
fire was already burning.  "She sent some big goon after me," he
started again after sitting down on his bed.  "Nearly twice my size,
and he tried to wrap me up like a piece of meat.  Thankfully I'm at
least six times as smart, so I managed to make a jab at it.  But then
it did some special effects light show and turned into a pile of sand!"

	"Sand?" Gerde asked handing Gabriel a new shirt from his closet.

	"Well, it was like sand, maybe more fine ... like flour.  Definitely
some magic that I've never encounter..." he trailed off.

	"What is it?"

	Gabriel frowned and looked into the fire.  Have I seen it before? he
thought.

	"Gerde," he said suddenly, turning to her.  "Go to the library and
find the DK91 series of files.  I think something in there is
relevant."

	She tilted her head in confusion but acknowledged him.  She left the
room as Gabriel slipped the shirt over his head and pulled his talisman
on top.  Some of the old files that Wolfgang had kept while he tried to
keep up fighting the shadows were very comprehensive, and others had
barely enough information in them to know what he was talking about. 
Gabriel had looked through the DK91 files a few years back when someone
reminded him of them, but he couldn't remember whether they were of the
descriptive kind or of the general.

	When Gerde returned with a thin manila folder, Gabriel knew he was
going to need a lot more help on this one than he planned.  There was
only one person he knew would be able to help.

	"Gerde," Gabriel said after looking through the few sheets of written
paper.  "Call Harry at the Ubergrau's, tell him to pull some funds and
get him to wire... uh," he stammered and held up his hand and started
slowly counting off on his fingers.

	"Five... five first class tickets to..." he leafed through the papers
in the folder.


***************


	"Who?" Usagi asked.  She leaned forward on the table in order to hear
every little tidbit about this new person.  The rest of the Senshi,
sitting around the long rectangular table at Rei's shrine, simply
listened normally while Mamoru stood in the corner with his arms
crossed.

	"His name is Gabriel Knight," Ami explained.  "I met him while I was
studying in Germany to get my medical degree."

	"That's all nice," Rei commented.  "But how does he know who you
are... who WE are?!"

	"Well, it's kind of a long story," Ami began.  "And I'm pretty sure he
doesn't know you, he just knows of you all.  These tickets don't have
names, they're just generic passes."

	"He certainly knew where to send them," Makoto added.

	"He knows *me*," Ami said.  "I'm the one who met him."

	"Fine, fine," said Minako.  "So who is this guy really, and why does
he need our help?"

	"Well," Ami mused as she held up a typed letter.  "He didn't say
specifically why he needed our help, just that it's 'imperative that we
meet and discuss a matter that threatens the world.'  As for Gabriel
himself, he's the last in a long line of supernatural hunters.  His
family has been known as 'Schattenjagers' for many centuries now,
dating back even farther than the twelfth century."

	"Shot-an�- what?" Usagi asked.

	"Schattenjagers.  It's a German term that means 'The Shadow Hunter,'
which is basically what an uninformed land would call someone who
fights witches and vampires and other forms of supernatural
aberrations.  His family has become quite famous for it in Germany."

	"Then why is this experienced fighter asking for our help?" Rei
quizzed.

	"Like I said I don't know," Ami admitted.  "It must be important if he
asked us to come all the way to Germany from Tokyo."

	"And paid for our trip," Minako said, looking at the tickets.  "This
certainly isn't cheap."

	"I say we go see what he wants," Makoto stated.  "He's certainly gone
to a lot of trouble and money on our behalf, we should at least hear
him out."

	"I don't know," said Rei.  "It's a long way to Germany."

	"Aww, come on, Rei," Usagi started.  "It sounds like it'll be fun!"

	"FUN?!" Rei nearly blew a gasket.  "This guy has called for us from
the other side of the planet to talk about the end of the world!  Fun
isn't the word.  Did you ever think who's going to watch for these new
attacks, huh?  We can't all just go traipsing off to Europe."

	"I'll stay," Mamoru said, moving away from the corner.  "There's only
five tickets after all.  If there's trouble I can't handle, I'll call
you all to come back."

	"Mamo-chan?" Usagi muttered.

	"I'll talk to Haruka and Michiru so I can get help from them if I need
it."

	"Are you sure?" Usagi whimpered.

	"There's not much to be sure of," he replied.  "Like I said, there's
only five tickets after all."  He turned and started walking out of the
room.  Usagi watched him leave like a sad puppy and Mamoru knew better
than to look back into that face.

	"When are those tickets for?" Makoto asked.

	"Looks like..." Minako read the tickets in her hand.  "Early tomorrow
morning.  Man, this guy wastes no time."

	"So are we all going to go?" Makoto posed.  "Anyone who thinks we
shouldn't, say so now."

	She looked to each of them and received no objections.


***************


	Again, the loud pounding on the door echoed through the halls of
Ritter castle.  Gerde looked over her shoulder curiously and glanced at
her watch.  It was quite late, and a day early for the five guests
Gabriel told her to be ready for, she wondered who could be at the door
at this time.

	The pounding was heard again so she got up from her desk and moved to
the front door.  She opened a small peep hole and looked out to see a
young man with short brown hair and holding an umbrella over a
beautiful young woman with long brownish hair and the oddest marks on
her face.  They looked like triangles on her cheeks and an ellipse on
her forehead.

	Not wanting to make the two wait any longer, she pulled open on the
door and waved the two into the foyer and out of the beating rain. 
They acknowledged and stomped into the house, shaking out their
umbrella in the process.  The young man looked up to Gerde and ran a
hand through his hair.

	He opened his mouth and spoke, but it all came out jibberish, at least
that's what Gerde heard.  Jibberish was all she could ever make out of
foreign languages.  The man must have noticed her confusion and looked
to his female companion and muttered something in the same jibberish. 
The woman looked to Gerde with a smile.

	"You speak German, correct?" the woman asked in perfect German.

	"Yes," Gerde said, wondering exactly how far these two had traveled
from.

	"We're looking for the senior Ritter in this house," the woman said. 
"Can we talk to him?"

	"I'm afraid there are no more Ritters," Gerde said sorrowfully. 
Whoever these two were, they were several years too late to speak to
Wolfgang... her Wolfgang.  "They all have died."

	"Then, who is the owner of this castle?  Is it you?"

	"No," Gerde told them.  "The resident of this house is currently
Gabriel."

	"Gabriel ... Ritter?" the woman struggled.

	"Knight." Gerde corrected then added,  "But by blood he is a Ritter. 
Why do you need him?"

	"It is very important that I speak to him," the woman said urgently. 
"If he is the current holder of the Schattenjager Talisman, that is."

	"How do you know about the Talisman?" Gerde asked surprised.

	"My name is Belldandy," she introduced herself.  "I'm the one who gave
it to him."



***************
Authors Notes:

	Uhh.  Where to begin?

	Please excuse my grammatical and spelling mistakes, I am not an
English major although I wish I was.  If something seems drastically
wrong, just bring it to my attention and I'll clarify.

	You may have noticed a bit of a mix of tone in this piece which is for
the reason that I had originally planned on making this a dark, serious
fic, but I realized that hardly anything serious or dark goes on in AMS
and SM, so I had to lighten the scenes they were in.

	There is a proficient amount of Gabriel Knight in this part, and if
you're wondering if future parts are going to feature as much of him as
this part does ... they will.  Gabriel Knight is a key figure in this
story and will become very important as the story moves on.  He's a
nice, deep, dark character though so even if you haven't experienced
him before, I'm sure you'll get to like him now.

	Where does this fit in AWWAF?  This fic takes place roughly in 2005
AD, about 3 years before the fall of Ragnarok.  So don't expect any
large stones to be appearing in the sky in this series, it's way before
that.

	Who is the Master? Heh, yeah, right.  The copyright agencies, those
people are the Masters...

	"Sailor Moon" was created by Naoko Takeuchi and is distributed in
North America by DiC and Mixx Entertainment Inc.  "Ah! Megamisama" was
created by Fujishima Kousuke and is distributed in North America by
AnimEigo.  "Gabriel Knight" was created by Jane Jensen and is owned and
distributed by Sierra On-Line and Roc Books.