(A young man wearily walks on stage holding a handful of index cards.)

KAZUKI: Uhh, Hi. ... Um, *ahem* I'm supposed to read
these cards to you.

(He ruffles through the cards, then composes himself and starts reading.)

KAZUKI: Good morning.  This fanfic was supposed to be
reviewed by Adam, but he has found himself surprisingly
busy with his work in his senior year and needed someone
else to take over the job of review so he has delegated
the responsibility to me ... huh? Me?

(He looks over the cards again then sighs.)

KAZUKI: Where was I? Ah, um, delegated the responsibility to me
and another one of the characters from his mulititude of
stories who should be showing up any time now.

MINAKO: (bounces in) Hi hi!

(Kazuki put's his hand to his head.)

KAZUKI: (mutters) Oh god...

MINAKO: Heard you were doing some story about me and I
figured I might as well come see what it was about.

KAZUKI: It's not *about*, you're just in it.

MINAKO: Same difference. It's not as if that other girl
will mind if I take her place.

KAZUKI: What other girl?

MINAKO: No one.

(Cut to show of Kyri lying backstage wrapped up in duct tape.  She growls
at the camera through the tape.  Cut back to the theatre.)

MINAKO: So what IS it about if it isn't about me?

KAZUKI: It's about an alternate universe where Naru is
Beryl, reincarnated and in charge of the Sailor Senshi.

MINAKO: Eww...

KAZUKI: It's also about the Magical Knights Rayearth
and something about Hikaru being the child of Rei and
Usagi.

MINAKO: Cool!  How'd that happen?

KAZUKI: I dunno, I'm just reading what it says on the cards.

MINAKO: Well what else does it say?

KAZUKI: Not much, just that it was written by Chris Davies.

(Steam rises from Minako's head.)

MINAKO: HIM?!

KAZUKI: Not very fond of the bard?

MINAKO: Oh, I wouldn't say that, I'd say I HATE HIM.

KAZUKI: Why's that?

MINAKO: He portrays me as a total nutcase!

KAZUKI: ...

MINAKO: Thinks I'd destroy my beautiful body by replacing
it with mechanical implants.

KAZUKI: ...

MINAKO: And... and he makes me do ... EVIL THINGS!

KAZUKI: I won't even ask.  Lets just get on with it, I
rather be doing anything else than review fanfics.

From: Chris Davies <cdavies@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca>

MINAKO: Grrrr....

                            THE INFINITE FUTURE
                          An Alternate History of
                        The Together Again Universe

MINAKO: Hm.. so you mean all those nasty things that
happened to me in Together Again don't happen here? I
can deal with that.
 

                               Chapter Three

KAZUKI: I hate coming in on a project after it's begun.

MINAKO: Where are the earlier chapters?

KAZUKI: I guess he reviewed them himself.

MINAKO: He who?

KAZUKI: Adam.

MINAKO: Oh. (beat) Who?
 

	At the end, only a high pitched scream marked the youma's
passage.  No cards fell from a spectral body; no eggs cracked open to
release a brief shadow.  Only a scream, fading out slowly rather than
being cut short.

KAZUKI: Self cleaning demon, leaves only the fresh scream of death
 

	"Self-destruct feature," Beryl replied calmly.  "Set up to kill
the thing if it *believed* that it had given away any information to
jeopardize the master."

MINAKO: I can't get used to seeing her like that.
 

	Usagi shook her head.  "No it wasn't, Naru-chan," she stated with
quiet firmness.  "Now we know that whoever we're fighting against doesn't
care any more about the lives of its pawns than it does about its

victims.

Now we know that we don't have to hold back."

KAZUKI: And when has this been different?
 

	There was a knocking at the door.  Beryl flinched, and then made
an intricate gesture with her left hand.  At once, the dark walls and
ornate, ancient furniture of the sanctuary vanished and were replaced by

a

bed, desk, and wallpaper appropriate for a sixteen-year old Japanese girl
-- which Beryl herself became at the same time.  Osaka Naru's voice, very
different from that of Beryl, spoke up.  "Yes, mom?"

KAZUKI: Better than the holodeck.
 

	"I'm sorry!" Usagi interrupted.  "It's just these math problems!"
She gestured at the papers that were strewn across the bed.  "They're
*soooo* tough, and, well ..."

MINAKO: Typical Usagi...
 

	"Minako-chan said that something about the name -- Cefiro --
sounded familiar to her," Usagi commented.  "She wanted to know if it was
okay to consult with --"

MINAKO: Cefiro... cefiro..

KAZUKI: Anything?

MINAKO: Nope doesn't ring a bell.

	"Oh, tell her to do as she pleases," she sighed with disgust.  "In
the meanwhile, I'm going to start doing some more divinations.  Unless
you'd care to watch me read entrails --"

KAZUKI: Ugh.
 

	The tall girl nodded ... and her eyes narrowed.  "Just one
question, Naru:  did the youma really have a self-destruct feature?"

	"No."

MINAKO: See? She isn't trustworthy!

				*    *    *

	Ami's response was cut off by Minako's lusty sigh.  "I've always
wanted to see Paris in the summer ... when it fizzles."

MINAKO: Ahh.. me too.
 

	"Sizzles," Ami corrected.

	"That too."

MINAKO: Ahem.
 

	Minako giggled.  "Calm down, Umi-chan.  We'll probably put it in
a bank for college or something.  After all, the only real cure for `the
syndrome' is for us to deal with the monsters once and for all -- so by
doing what we do, we've technically earned that money."

MINAKO: Sounds reasonable.

KAZUKI: Sounds like a scam.

MINAKO: Who asked you?
 

	Umi whirled around, and looked up.  Her heart caught in her
throat.  For a westerner, the guy was gorgeous.  His gleaming green eyes,
the light-brown shine of his hair, the quiet smile --

MINAKO: *drool* Wow...
 

	-- the way he staggered back when Minako grabbed him around the
waist and cried "Aethan!"

MINAKO: Yes! (gives victory sign) Another conquest. I could
get to like this Davies guy.

KAZUKI: So Aethan exists in this universe as well? I wonder if
he met Minako the same way he did in Together Again.
 

	Of course, that probably meant he was taken.

	Bummer.

MINAKO: Darn right!
 

	"I'm glad to see you too," he said in a full voice -- which Umi
found remarkable, considering the hold in which Minako had seized him,
which would have made it difficult to breathe.

MINAKO: I'm not that bad.

KAZUKI: ...
 

	Umi found what followed very embarassing:  for nearly half an
hour, Minako babbled about her life since she'd last seen this Aethan
person, and essentially ignored both Umi and Ami, while he smiled and
nodded at her monologue.  Ami didn't seem to mind -- she pulled out a

book

and started reading.

MINAKO: Hey! It's not babbling, it's.. well, you can't
recognize a good story that's all.
 
KAZUKI: You who despises Chris Davies.

	Aethan nodded, his eyes half-closed.  "Three elements of this
story seem familiar to me.  I should warn you," he added quickly, "that
none of them matches exactly with your experiences, Ryuuzaki-san, but

they

may give the lot of you more information to go on.

KAZUKI: Fellow dimensional traveller I see...

	"The first is the name of the mysterious world into which you were
drawn -- Cefiro.  A similar word exists in the Hebrew language, as part

of

the magical tradition of the Kabbalah.  As far as I understand it, this
*sephiroth* is the tree of life which supports the many `worlds' of the
Kabbalistic cosmology."

MINAKO: Eh?

KAZUKI: Cefiro... Sephiroth... um... I guess they're similar.

	Aethan held up a hand.  "Patience.  These worlds are not actually
`planets' like our Earth.  Instead, they are ... perhaps the best term is
states of mind.  By concentrating on the idea of the world in question,
the magician allows his mind --"

	"Ahem.  His?"  Minako asked with a sweet and dangerous smile.

MINAKO: You show him, girl!

	Aethan paused, and smiled nervously.  "Traditionally, Kabbalah is
studied only by students of the Hebrew religion -- who are traditionally
exclusively male, Minako.  It's not *my* fault --"

MINAKO: Oh...
 

	"Um, getting back to what we were *talking* about?" Umi asked.
<God, if I ever fall in love -- *Hah*!  What an unlikely event! -- I hope
I don't act as silly as those two do.>

KAZUKI: You always think it's unlikely until it happens.  Then
you wonder how you could have ever lived without it. (beat) And
silly is reletive, it certainly doesn't feel silly when you're
in the relationship.

MINAKO: That's right!  Love is ashamed before nothing!

KAZUKI: *sweatdrop*
 

	"Sorry.  The magician can, by focusing on the idea of another
world, more easily draw certain spirits to do his will.  I think.  I

don't

actually know very much about the Kabbalah, Ryuuzaki-san.  As I said
earlier, it is studied by students of the Hebrew religion, and they learn
their holy books backwards, forewards, and sideways before beginning any
such explorations.  Even then, they don't *use* the magic very often."

KAZUKI: Interesting, I think I saw a reference to these ways
in Solomon's Key once.

	Aethan let out a long sigh.  "Lloyd Alexander has much to answer
for," he muttered, then continued.  "No.  The story of Pryderi and Arawn 
lacks a major feature of the mythic account of any journey into the land

of 

the dead -- at no time does Pryderi meet a deceased cultural figure

during 

his sojourn in Arawn's kingdom.  No, Arawn is only a powerful lord among

the 

sidhe.  In any event, what is significant is that Pryderi winds up 
destroying Arawn's enemy -- something which Arawn could not himself 
accomplish -- and returns from the Otherworld with great boons for his

own 

people.  Do you see the resemblance?"

KAZUKI: Rather knowledgable in these areas.  I wonder if this
knowledge comes from his Shadows days...
 

	Umi opened her mouth to give an angry retort ... and swallowed it.  
The annoying guy had a point.

MINAKO: Oh! Annoying?! I'll get her!

KAZUKI: Calm down, it's not even your boyfriend, this is a
different you.

MINAKO: Well, she doesn't have the right to call us silly
and annoying.
 	

	"Sigh.  Very well.  Don't blame me when you have nightmares.  In 
many cultures, there is a belief that the king and the land which he

rules 

are one.  In more contemporary eras, this has become scarcely more than a

justification for the continuation of monarchy ... but in ancient times, 
there was a darker side.  If the land failed, it was because the king had

failed in some way.  He had offended the gods.  And there was only one

way 

that he could make restitution."  Aethan paused.  "The king would have to

die.  He would be sacrificed, his blood offered as a libation to the

gods, 

and it was usually a very bloody death."  

MINAKO: (shifts in her chair)
 	

	His voice grew suddenly speculative.  "It was just recently that the 
preserved corpse of one such `prince' was discovered in England.  The 
forensics experts who examined the cadaver believed that it was a more
recent murder, until they examined the contents of his stomach, and found
that his most recent meal had been --"
	
	"I'm gonna go get those drinks now," Minako interrupted, and jumped 
up and ran off.

MINAKO: Hah! I'm not nearly that weak.
 	

	Aethan smiled thinly.  "-- deliberately burnt bread.  So you see, 
Ryuuzaki-san, while the specific instances of your recent adventure elude

me, there are many parallels to things with which I am familiar.  That

leads 

me to my theory."

KAZUKI: All that buildup for burnt bread. (beat) Relieved, Minako?

MINAKO: I was never nervious.

KAZUKI: I bet.
 	

	"Which is?" Umi asked faintly.
	
	"What you experienced, child, was not *real*.  It was the creation 
of a powerful magician -- of *this* world.   He awakened your powers

within 

you, for what reason I am not prepared to speculate ... but much of what

you 

saw and did in that place was no more yielding than a dream."

KAZUKI: Oh that'll go over well.

MINAKO: Do you know, someone once suggested to me that the whole
first confrontation with Beryl was nothing but a hallucination
which is why time turned back a year after it was over.  Can
you believe, the NERVE!

KAZUKI: It it indeed more plausible than turning back time to
return someone to their original point of divergence.  Your
guardian cats, Luna and Artemis, could have created the whole
first year of your Senshihood in order to get the five most
powerful Senshi to bond together.

MINAKO: Luna... maybe. But Artemis?  He wouldn't, I've known
him too long.

KAZUKI: But don't you... *sigh* okay, if you say so.
	

	Ami watched the younger girl lower her face into her hands ... and 
then started back as Umi rose up again.  "No!  I refuse to believe that

this 

is an illusion!  Nobody could make my parents act as goofily they do in

some 

illusion!"

KAZUKI: It's always the crazy ones people believe can't
be replicated.
 	

	At that, Ami couldn't help but smile.  "Umi-san, trust me.  They're 
*all* illusionary boys, in one way or another."

KAZUKI: Huh?
 

	"Huh?"

MINAKO: Heh heh.

				*   *   *

	His name was Umino Gurio, and he'd never been in so much trouble in 
all his life.

MINAKO: I find that hard to imagine.
 	

	The rain and thunder in Umino's life arose from the fact that his 
girlfriend was a Sailor Senshi, and so he was expected to help her out in

her battles against the forces of darkness whenever he could.  Happily,

that 

usually didn't mean actually *fighting* said forces.  Only once so far. 

And 

he'd only been *mildly* fried, clawed, and energy-drained that time.

MINAKO: Are we to believe that Umino is MAKOTO'S boyfriend?

KAZUKI: From the way the last scene ended, I would gather...
 	

	The train pulled into another stop, and Umino let out a discrete 
sigh of relief as he saw Mako-chan and Naru step on.  Mako-chan favored

him 

with one of her dazzling smiles and sat down beside him, while Naru cast

a 

quick look in Huouji-san's direction and then look away while standing up

in 

front of the two of them.  Aside from the four of them, the train 
compartment had been emptied of all its other passengers.

KAZUKI: 'looked' away, and repeated 'them' seemed awkward.

MINAKO: Hm... I wouldn't have through Umino had it in him.

KAZUKI: Neither would I.

	"`Furai Mii tu da Muun', by Frank Sinatra," Naru informed him.  "A 
fairly recent recording, call it mid-eighties.  Imported tape."

KAZUKI: Psycic?
 	

	"-- and you want to get on with your date with Mako-chan," Naru
finished his sentence, looking at Huouji with an appraising expression.
	
	Umino laughed nervously.  "You read my mind."

	"Yes."

KAZUKI: Apparently so.

MINAKO: I doubt it hard to read his mind, all internet and
wierd science projects and stuff.

	"The breeze," Naru muttered.  "The ... oh shit, GET DOWN!"

	Obeying two years worth of training, Makoto flung herself to the
floor and pulled Umino with her.

	In the instant after, the windows of the train exploded inwards,
filling the compartment with glassy shrapnel.

KAZUKI: Future sight as well.

MINAKO: Nah, standard reaction to a sudden change in
environmental conditions.

KAZUKI: (boggles) How...

MINAKO: Ami-chan's been tutoring me.

KAZUKI: (blinks ... twice)

				*   *   *

	Fuu blinked a second time.  <Wait.  If the windows blew inward ...
why was she not cut to ribbons?  For that matter, why was *I* not cut to
ribbons?>

	And *then* Fuu noticed the strange red glow in the air around her.
Her eyes suddenly jerked back to the girl.  <It's her,> she realized.
<Somehow, *she's* doing this.>

KAZUKI: Brilliant deduction, being the only other person 
beside herself that she mentioned seeing.
 

	The girl lifted her left hand up and extended it before her.  "By
the Friends of Man, come forth."  An black iron staff appeared just
beneath her hand, and she seized hold of it, whirled it so that it stood
lengthwise for a moment, then slammed it into the ground.  "By my True
Name, let the True Form be revealed!"

KAZUKI: I've heard that spell before in a different context...
 

	And in an instant, the girl became a woman.  Her hair streamed out
to a greater length, and the sailor uniform she wore disintegrated into
shreds of fabric -- which reformed into a dark blue gown.  A glowing form
around her brow gained solidity, becoming an iron crown. 

	"I AM BERYL!  FIRST MAGE OF THE KINGDOM OF EARTH!  WHO IS THIS DOG
SHIT THAT COMES BEFORE ME?"

MINAKO: Naru becomes rather vulgar when she transforms.

KAZUKI: Quite different than her normal attitude. I wonder if
some of the 'evil' Beryl takes over when she transforms.
 

	Behind her, another girl -- this one as tall as the woman -- rose
up from the floor.  She cast a quick look down at a boy on the floor, but
he seemed unharmed, only very still.  Angrily she glared at the demon.
"Right," she snarled.  "Jupiter Cosmic Power ... MAKE-UP!"

KAZUKI: Quite an influental circumstance.
 

	Fuu nodded once.  "I hope that I can be of some assistance to you.
I have heard stories of the Sailor Senshi, of course, though they don't
mention --"

	"There's a reason for that," Beryl interrupted.  "Look, Jupiter
here can probably fill you in on the details just as well as I can, but I
have to get this spirit back to our headquarters.  Jupiter, will you be
needing to get him to a hospital?"

KAZUKI: I would like to hear this reason as well...
 

	"Yeah, that's one word for it," Makoto agreed ruefully, shifting
back to Sailor Jupiter.  "So, Huouji Fuu ... what exactly did the three

of

you call yourselves, anyway?  Knight Water, and so forth, or --"

	Fuu blinked.  "Actually, Sailor Jupiter-san --"

	"Kino Makoto."

	"-- Makoto-san, we never had any need for names of those sorts.
And in any event, even if we had, I am not at this moment a Magic Knight,
and so --"

KAZUKI: Indeed, there are no need for names unless you wish to
hide your original identity.
 

	"Actually, you are," Makoto interrupted again.  "Ryuuzaki was able
to call up her powers, so there's probably no reason that you couldn't."

	Fuu stared at the Sailor Senshi for a moment, then closed her
eyes.  She reached down into the windswept plains of her heart ...

	... and found nothing.

                              TO BE CONTINUED

KAZUKI: Gee wouldn't... I would.... Nope. I don't have any idea
why this might be.  Maybe because she believes that she isn't
a knight and as has been discussed before, the MKR power depends
on the strength of will to a much higher degree than the Sailor
Senshi.

Chris Davies, Advocate for Darkness, Part-Time Champion of Light.
"People need vampires.  They helps 'em remember what stakes and garlic

are

for." -- Granny Weatherwax, "Carpe Jugulum", by Terry Pratchett
http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/banks/277/index.html

MINAKO: You keep those stakes and garlic away from MY BOYFRIEND.

KAZUKI: Minako, he's not *your* boyfriend he's.. oh forget it.

MINAKO: What?

KAZUKI: Just forget it.  *sigh* Lets see what's left in these
cards. (shuffles through the stack) Ah, here we go. (reads)
Well, that's all the review we've got ... (looks up) yeah, and
it was so in depth. (reads) we'll rejoin for the ... NEXT PART?!

MINAKO: Cool! More reading about my boyfriend.

KAZUKI: Damned contract obligations.  Anyway, goodbye everyone.

MINAKO: (gives her patented Sailor V sign) See ya!

	-fin-

Adam Christopher Leigh
Omicron@sprynet.com