Chris Davies An Inevitable Outcome Production In Association With Naoko Takeuchi and CLAMP Tomaranai mirai o mezashite Having the infinite future in mind Yuzurenai negai o dakishimete Embracing the dream that I will never surrender THE INFINITE FUTURE An Alternate History of The Together Again Universe Chapter Two April, 1994 Whenever Mizuno Ami was called on to do this sort of thing, she always made a mental note that she should really ask Minako where exactly she had gotten her hands on her set of bugging equipment. Unfortunately, things usually wound up going haywire between her note-making and her next meeting with Minako, which caused her to put asking off. As a result, she had a large stack of mental notes which would probably have been taller than she was, if they were actual instead of virtual. She added a mark to the bottom of *this* mental note, saying `I *mean* it,' and underlined it. "Minako?" Ami whispered through her wrist communicator. "Approaching the doors, now," Minako's subvocalized response came. A moment later, the sound of a doorbell was heard, and then the low squeal of hinges. "Yes?" came a polite female voice. "Hello and good morning!" Minako said loudly. "My name is Aino Minako, sixteen years old, ninth grade, Juuban High School. I'm collecting for the Azabu-Juuban Syndrome Relief Fund." "The what?" "As you may know from reading the newspapers, for the last two years, there have been a rash of unexplained mass hallucinations and cases of people losing consciousness in the Azabu-Juuban district. A number of local businesses, concerned for their customers, have started a Relief Fund to pay for the medical expenses of anyone who suffers from Azabu- Juuban Syndrome, in hopes that a cure can be found. But of course, they are also very happy to accept private donations." Minako and Ami had tried this particular scam on several homes that they'd had to bug over the years. It usually let them get a bug into the main foyer of the house, which in turn let them know when it was empty and thus safe to bug more completely. "Azabu-Juuban syndrome? Oh my! My best friend's daughter suffered an attack of that last year! Please, please, come in! I'd like to do anything I can to help people find a cure for that perverse malady!" "Uh, gee, thanks!" Minako said. The next sound was that of the door closing behind her. "Well, I'm in," she subvocalized. "Anata, this is ... Aimo Nimako, wasn't it? She's collecting for people who are trying to cure Azabu-Juuban syndrome." "Azabu-Juuban syndrome?" a startled male voice exclaimed. "Yes, do you remember how I told you about Azashi's daughter?" "The one who said she was attacked by a giant ping-pong ball?" Ami blinked. That didn't sound like anything *she'd* ever fought ... "Frankly, I think the whole thing is more a matter for psychologists than physicians," the male voice continued, and Ami could hear the sound of a newspaper's pages turning. "Well, some of the people involved in the project *are* working from that angle, sir," Minako improvised. "Really? Good. That's the place all the *real* monsters come from, you know, from the mind. Not from mysterious demon-worlds like in bad anime. Oh, good morning, Umi-chan!" A feminine voice that was too soft for Ami to hear clearly murmured, "Good morning, father. Good morning, mother." "This is our daughter, Umi," Ms. Ryuuzaki introduced. "Umi-chan, this is Namigo Aema-san. She's collecting to help out all the people in Azabu- Juuban who think they've been attacked by monsters." No sound came through the link. After a moment, there was the sound of cereal crunching. "So ... I'm so sorry! I completely forgot to introduce myself! I am Ryuuzaki Eiko, and this is my husband Shin. Anata, do you think we can afford to make a donation to Anima-san's cause?" "Hmm. Well ... there really are psychologists trying to work on this problem, Anima-san?" "Yes, there are a few, Ryuuzaki-san. There *are* more physicians than psychologists, but there's a goodly number of both." "Then I think we can afford to make a small donation to the cause. Would 2,500,000 yen be a help?" Ami heard Minako make a squeaking noise, which she covered with a burst of coughing. Ami wasn't much less shocked; from all appearances, the Ryuuzaki family was fairly well-off, but to be throwing that kind of money around -- without even confirming their bona fides! There was a clattering noise, and the sound of a chair being pushed away from a table. "May I be excused?" Ryuuzaki Umi asked softly. "Of course, Umi-chan," Ms. Ryuuzaki replied. "Pleased to meet you, Aema-san," Umi continued. After a moment, Ms. Ryuuzaki said, with an apologetic note in her tone, "I'm sorry, Manila-san. Umi-chan has been very ... abstracted these last few weeks." "What do you mean? Has she been wandering around in a daze or something?" "Exactly that," Mr. Ryuuzaki replied. "You know ... that's not that disimilar to the symptoms of --" "Oh, we have a fairly good idea of what's wrong with her," Ms. Ryuuzaki interrupted. "We think ... SHE'S IN LOVE!" they chorused. Ami thought. * * * As she approached the front door of her home, she heard her parents exclaim "SHE'S IN LOVE!" behind her, and flinched. she thought, self-pityingly. Umi wandered aimlessly, until at last she came to a bridge over a flood drainage channel, and paused to stare at the water flowing it. she thought as she watched the water flowing lazily along. She flinched as she remembered it. They had triumphed. Evil had been vanquished, and now good would flourish. But first they had to kill the one they had thought they were rescuing, because that had always been their true purpose. And Umi, cradled within the gigantic robot formed from the three Mashin, had felt Princess Emeraude's body flinch once as it hung, impaled on its terrible sword. The horror had not been in the difference between this death and that of the dozens of monsters she'd slain. It had been in the *absence* of difference. And that was what had broken her heart, that at the end, she wasn't just a murderer. She was a mass murderer. A vague memory passed through her mind, inspired by some movie her parents had watched, and she had tricked them into letting her stay up late to watch with them. She had fallen asleep midway through it, and hadn't understood much, but she'd woken up briefly to watch one scene. The hero -- perhaps -- was about to slay the villain -- perhaps -- when their mutual love interest -- perhaps -- threw herself between them, and the hero's energy blade disintegrated her body instead. There followed a surreal scene where the woman raved about humanity would one day breach the limits of time itself. And then, the hero murmured, "I've done something that I can't take back ..." And Umi, six-year old Umi, thought to herself, And slept, secure in her knowledge that she would never be that dumb. "Baka," she muttered to herself. "Indeed," hissed a voice whose source she couldn't identify. Umi looked up, and stared at the thousands of spiky, almost icy teeth that glimmered in the grinning mouth of the water-formed monster that had grown out of the river flowing beneath her. "Majiku ... Neitou ..." it hissed again. Umi, understandably, panicked. * * * Minako flinched involuntarily as the high-pitched scream echoed through the earplug communicator. "Ami, what was that?!" she subvocalized. Ms. Ryuuzaki blinked. "Is something wrong, Okanimu-san?" she asked. "Well, no ... it's just that, while I really do appreciate you giving me a tour of your house --" "-- I have a few other houses that I'm supposed to visit --" "Mina," Amy's terse voice broke in, "the target is running back to the house -- pursued by a water monster of some kind, GET READY!" "-- but I suppose they can wait for tomorrow," Minako concluded. The door slammed open, then shut quickly after. Minako and Ms. Ryuuzaki turned from where they stood in the front foyer to see Umi leaning against the door, her eyes wide and her breathing ragged. "Umi-chan," Ms. Ryuuzaki said severely, "didn't I ask you to stop slamming the door? Whatever is the matter?" "Youma," Umi whispered. And then a high pressure column of water exploded through the door just above her head. The column flowed onto the floor, and began to assume the form of a vaguely reptillian humanoid from the feet up -- and then began to walk towards where Umi had crumpled to the floor of the foyer. Minako risked a quick glimpse at Ms. Ryuuzaki, and was startled to realize that the woman had fainted dead away. Minako thought. And then Umi's wimpering pleas reached Minako's ears. "I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry --" It was a litany that Minako knew very well indeed. There had been weeks when she had pushed herself to her limits of body and mind alike to keep awake ... to keep away from the nightmares where all the youma and daimons and androids and mimets and everything else that she'd slain down through the years returned to exact restitution. No one should have to suffer like that. Especially not when they were awake. The pen was in her hand before she realized it, and the words burst from her throat. "VENUS COSMIC POWER -- MAKE-UP!" The brief shining of molten gold drew the creature's attention away from Umi, who in her own turn stared at the shining figure in a different level of panic. "You have terrorized this girl and her strange-yet-basically-nice parents! For this, even if Wes Craven forgives you, I won't! The pretty soldier of love and passion, Sailor Venus -- is here!" "Sensshi," the creature hissed. "Bingo," Venus said cheerfully, and smacked the first two fingers of her right hand to her lips. "Venus Love and Beauty -- SHOCK!" she cried, and a stream of golden hearts slammed into monster, making it howl -- and turn completely away from Umi, and launch itself towards her. Minako grinned, and met the beast's charge with a spin kick -- -- that went right through its midsection without seeming to inconvenience it at all. Minako realized as the creature descended on her. * * * Umi thought confusedly,