Heir of Morpheus 7
This is the chapter I've been promising for literally years and that has been sitting on my hard drive for nearly 12 months. It hasn't had a beta go through it, so my apologies for that. Morpheus has, since it was last updated, changed more than a little. Considering how long it's been, reading from the start is probably recommended. A pdf of all chapters to date is here: Chapters 1-6+ 7 Otherwise, you can just read the new one. Thank you to those who have been so patient.
Heir of Morpheus
Chapter 7
Usagi's lead was diminishing, moment by moment, instant by instant, Galaxia was gaining on her. She was tiring rapidly and any hopes for assistance she might have held, faded as more time passed with no sign of it appearing. Though she had sustained no injury yet, the chase had worn at her endurance until only her desperation continued to drive her. She knew what awaited her should she falter but, without rest and soon, she would not be able to continue.
She needed to gain herself some time. No trick she had tried in this hunt had gained her that in the past. Galaxia bore down on her like some hell-born bloodhound fixated on her scent. Usagi could not suppress her own essence enough to render herself invisible to the traitor's superior senses. The solution then, was to find an environment that was loud enough to drown her out. Say a world where a fire elemental was raging...
She fixed on the reverbrations of power that she could sense and pulled herself into what amounted to a warzone.
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It was the chaos that drew her to her current sanctuary. Power such as to make even Galaxia pause churned in a maelstrom of the most primal of emotions.
Fear.
Hunger.
Rage.
In the wildly fluctuating energies, even such as she could move unseen. In the deafening roar, even she could risk a moment for much needed rest. It was ironic that only in such danger could she find safety.
So she arrived in a war zone in which an enraged elemental was wreaking havoc.
At first, so thankful for the respite, she did not truly register what was happening around her. After fleeing so hard for so long, always terrified that one slip would see her fall to a fate worse than death, heart aching for the worlds left in the wake of their chase, all Usagi could do was sink into the morass of tangled energy fields around her. She used their disarray as her concealment even as they buffeted her with their violence. Refuge she might have found, but peace was still denied her.
Her mind, so focused on hiding and listening for Galaxia’s presence in this new Realm, Usagi did not notice the battle fought by very mortal warriors around her. The energy fields were torn and rewoven ceaselessly by a being whose powers rivaled that of a star steeped in the strength of the ages. It was perhaps understandable that a child of such powers, born to power herself, did not take notice of the lesser strengths about her. So she was unprepared for concealment to be ripped from her, not by divine power but instead by unwelcome mortal hands.
Her physical presence, by necessity, was entirely within the realm in which she was concealed. Only her hiding spot, curled in the roots of a great tree, cloaked her presence from physical eyes for she spared not a drop of power for it. When the tree was destroyed around her, she was caught unprepared by the attack from an unexpected quarter. Attention locked outward, she did not track that which was around her and Usagi found herself vulnerable to a new threat.
Dark, empty eyes set in a pale face dismissed her even as the being that possessed them prepared to casually end her life. Usagi saw into the soul of the man with that one glance and found nothing of compassion or empathy, only a cold lust for greater power. Strong as he was, the man could hurt her in her unwary state.
He was not given the chance.
There was a flash of orange cloth and sun-bright hair, of brilliant eyes and fierce grin, of an elemental’s power bound to a human’s will and she was falling but unharmed. Instants later there was another explosion and strong arms in an orange jacket held her close as a man, a ninja named Uzumaki, caught and carried her away.
Screams and explosions followed them, telling her that the battle was not yet over but the arms around her, the firm chest and abdomen she was cradled against and the, not one, but two minds behind them told her that she was safe.
She succumbed to exhaustion.
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The very fabric of the Realm that he had arrived in was strangely fragile. Perhaps it was overstressed by the malignant entity that had invaded what had been a peaceful world but the blue-green planet that Endymion looked down upon was freshly scarred from a mortal war of a scale long since unknown on his own Earth. The odd, echoing resonance that the realm possessed was not caused by its unwelcome visitor. The growing dissonance audible alongside the echo, however, was.
Its presence akin to a disease attacking and destroying the invaded host, the invader itself could be only Galaxia herself. Or such was what Endymion hoped for two reasons. First that he did not wish to imagine that somewhere, anywhere, there might be another mortal with such a fould and overwhelming aura. Second was that any sense of Usagi’s own trail was faint and fading quickly, like a fresh breeze fleeing the edge of a rotting miasma.
Certain that Usagi was, for the moment, free of her pursuer, Endymion took a moment to examine the situation. The Earth below him bore similarities to his own but Endymion could also feel the differences that reached as deep as his bones. Not lease were the multiple foci of humanity in the space surrounding the planet that his own Earth had never seen.
The greatest force of Galaxia’s influence came from one of these foci, a small, self contained colony encapsulated by metal as if floated through the cold reaches of space. On that small colony was also, most likely, the point of Usagi’s departure. A point in space that Galaxia could use to follow her prey like some unrelenting bloodhound. It was a mystery to Endymion that she had not already done so.
A mystery that may have been solved when Endymion felt another’s will flare and Galaxia’s foul aura depart with a howl that shook reality.
Her presence no longer an oppressive clanked that numbed his perception of this environment, his senses sharpened. He ghosted through the colony toward the point he had sensed Galaxia’s physical presence as he sought clues to explain exactly what had happened in this Realm. The humans around him were panicked. The light brushes against their minds told Endymion that something had happened, he presumed Galaxia, and that the majority were ignorant as to exactly what that something was.
They also confirmed that Usagi had been there.
It was the first time since his desperate chase had commenced that Endymion had gained such definitive evidence of the fleeing Guardian. He had found faint traces on and in places her power had touched previously but, here, in each and every mind he brushed against, could he feel a true imprint of her will. She must have reached out to every single soul on the colony, if not further, from lowest worm to the most ignorant human, to deliver her message.
Perhaps he was still too mired in mortal manners of thinking or perhaps he just did not possess the knowledge needed to parse the reasons that she would do such a thing. The meaning of her message escaped him, though he gathered that the gist of it had been some kind of imperative. Still, what command could be so critical that she would announce her location at a time when she must have been able to sense Galaxia nipping at her heels?
As he approached the point in which Galaxia had lingered longest, another individual came to his attention. A clearly divine being, a Star, mingled among mortals. A star whose mind was like a sharply cut diamond; strong, brilliant and clear. And watchful.
In the lingering disruption of Galaxia’s leave-taking, the Star picked out Endymion’s presence with a precision that belied the absence of Awareness in this realm. Despite his haste, Endymion obeyed the implied command cum challenge the Star projected at him. He materialised in a devasted park where the gardens and lawns had been ripped apart and Galaxia’s foul stench hovered almost visibly. Waiting for him were three figures. Two were mortal men, soldiers both, and the third a very compact and lethal Star.
The mortals were not harmless and both had aimed firearms at him but Endymion’s attention was for their companion. The Star appeared to be a short man of similar age to the younger of the two humans with him. His hair was a shock of dark brown spikes and his face blank even as his blue eyes blazed with a strength of mind that could reshape reality to his will.
“Who are you and why are you here?”
The demand was backed by that same force of will, a will that was the equal of Endymion’s own. “I mean no harm to any here,” he answered, unable to do otherwise. He considered fighting the geas that had been laid upon him but saw no point as it only demanded information he would have given anyway. “I come in search of my lady who is being pursued by the abomination you just faced.”
“Pretty blonde about yay high with hair down to her ankles?” the younger human asked, holding his hand at about shoulder level.
Endymion smiled wistfully at the description of one of the Guardian’s favourite forms. “Beautiful, not merely pretty,” he corrected mildly.
“Perhaps,” allowed the older human, a platinum blond with an aura or aristocracy; a sharp contrast to the younger human’s feel of street-wise survivor. “But does your paragon of virtue have a name?”
As tests went, it was a simple one but not so simple as the man might think. The strange Star allowed the question, justly cautious after his encounter with the world destroyer and willing to wait for some kind of proof that Endymion was not another threat to the slip of a goddess in peril. Usagi and he could have only spoken for moments, or perhaps they were old acquaintances, but the Star was willing to protect her over rescuing his crumbling realm. Endymion could only respect that.
“She has many names. To some, she is the Guardian of Selene or the princess Serenity. To those who once exiled Galaxia, she is the Speaker’s heir or the light of hope.” The humans looked unimpressed and the braided brunette even yawned. Endymion took no offence for it was the Star and not the humans whose concerns he needed to allay. “To her family and friends, she is Usagi.” Endymion’s Usagi.
The forceful blue eyes bore into him. “And you? What do you know her as?”
If the situation were not so dire, Endymion would have laughed. In the course of the association, he nevere seemed to call her by the same name twice. Bunny, Sailor Moon, Serenity, Serena...
No matter the name, she would always be his. However he was not prepared to allow the depths of his heart to be displayed for the edification of these mortals so easily.
“Meatball head.”
Duo snorted. “Seriously?”
He smirked reminiscently. “Oh, yes. Our first meeting was not what one could call peaceful.”
“I’m sure that went down really well.” Duo’s sharp eyes were still suspicious but glinted with amusement.
“Like a lead balloon,” Endymion admitted easily. “But her names for me at the time were not any better.”
“And now?” the Star persisted, “What do you call her now?” Blue eyes back by an adamant will demanded he answer openly and honestly and paid no heed to his reluctance to bare his soul.
“Usako.” Even as the name left his unwilling lips, the shades of meaning given to the syllables by the old tongue hung in the air. Her name meant life, his life, his meaning, his everything.
The two humans appeared confused, baffled by a language that communicated in ways they had no frame of reference for. The Star understood each nuance of the name given and his concern was allayed.
“She left and left safely,” the Star assured him. “Her pursuer came late and delayed to toy with us.”
“I felt Galaxia’s departure as I arrived,” Endymion offered, “she did much damage to your realm but the instabilities are not increasing. You should be able to restabilise the essential foundations Galaxia damaged.”
“Not increasing?” the brunette human repeated incredulously.
It was impossible for Endymion to miss his rising sense of hysteria. Endymion regarded him blankly. Without invading one of the humans’ minds, there was no way for Endymion to know what distressed them so. From what he could sense, the fabric of their realm was not under threat of unravelling. It was, however, oddly friable, as if overstressing any single point would make it crumble into nothing. Having dealt with Dream, though, nothing Endymion could sense was irreparable by the Will of the Star before him.
“Not increasing?” the brunette repeated shrilly. The Star reached to him only to snatch his hand back as the human flinched away from him.
“Duo...”
“No!” the human interrupted angrily. “Don’t you dare ‘Duo’ me! She told you not to touch each other!” Duo turned to the blond. “Didn’t she tell them not to touch each other Zechs?!” The other human didn’t even get a chance to nod before Duo turned on the Star again, striding up to him until they were almost nose to nose. “Usagi told you not to touch each other and what do you do? You touch each other! And is it by accident?! Oh no! Not Heero Yuy! Not the ‘perfect soldier’! No, not Mr Self-Destruct! Are you still suicidal?!”
“Duo...”
“No!!” Duo shouted, shoving at the Star. “No! You touched him and now there’s only one of you! You could have died! There was no reason to think that doing that would help!”
Endymion considered the rant as Duo descended into vitriolic epithets as he turned away from the impassive Star to argue with a suddenly vocal Zechs. A few pertinent facts had been revealed that made things far more difficult for Endymion. “You were a mortal before Galaxia came?” he asked the Star, interrupting Duo and Zechs’ argument.
“Aa,” the Star admitted, eyes intent on Endymion.
Endymion winced. He had hoped that the Star could direct him to Usagi’s trail as the nature of what Galaxia had done to this realm made finding Usagi’s trail almost impossible. That was an advantage for Usagi but not such a good thing for a would-be rescuer. If the Star had only just become that...
“You can’t tell me where Usagi went, can you?” he asked, almost rhetorically.
The Star did not have to speak, Endymion felt his negative. The humans did not react to Endymion’s questions so calmly.
“What?!”
“You are just going to leave?!”
“But what about fixing everything?!”
“What about Odin?!”
The two were shouting over the top of each other. Endymion flinched. The passionate and enraged emotions were broadcast with power but little clarity. He could understand that they were upset but not why. His dilemma was understood by the Star who silenced his companions with a burst of Will. That the small act of power surprised the Star as much as the two humans only emphasised to Endymion how new to divinity he was.
He refrained from spitting a few choice phrases of his own and started sending out mental feelers, hoping to pick up a trace of his absent soulmate that might serve as the start of a trail. It was unfortunate that, reality spanning damage aside, Usagi had touched every living mind on the space colony. With that mental print left behind on so many disparate being, any trace of her quiet and careful departure would be overwhelmed. At that discovery, he did spit a particular foul oath. Said in the old tongue, it shocked the two humans blank and made the not yet named Star frown.
“I can’t track her,” Endymion explained, though probably needlessly as he could almost see the gears moving behind those strange blue eyes. “Galaxia I could follow but she wasn’t exactly trying to hide her path. Why would she? There’s nothing she needs to hide from!”
“Not even you?” Duo asked, subdued enough not to comment on his returned voice.
“Hardly!” Endymion scoffed. “If I was a match for her then she wouldn’t even make Usagi blink. No, I had simply hoped to make it to Usagi first and help her however she needed.” Damn Morpheus for leaving him no other choice. “But there’s no way to find Usagi’s trail with the way things are now...” He turned on Duo, making the human’s unique violet eyes blink at him. “You said there were two of them and they touched?”
The human nodded, glancing briefly at the silent and observing Star. “Aa. My Heero and his,” he gave a dismissive nod at the blond, “Odin. Your girlfriend said they were the same person and soul but whose lives had taken different paths.”
The blond took up the explanation. “She said that they should not touch and that she did not know what would happen if they did but others that we’ve seen it happen to have died - both of them.” Even without touch as a conduit, Endymion caught the psychic image of Galaxia causing more than one such set of deaths.
It had not been pretty. Two closely related alternate realities being forcibly amalgamated. It was only a wonder this reality had not already imploded under the strain. “And you, the two original yous, still deliberately tried it? Why?”
Duo’s eyes narrowed, a large portion of his former ire returning as he echoed, “Yes, Heero, why?”
The Star did not flinch from the raw anger directed at him. In a monotone he recited, “’They would become one person with two memories? Would they be a new person? Would they even still be human?’ She did not know. We took the chance that it would make us something more.”
Which it had.
Endymion shook his head in admiration. “Both of your former selves must have been extraordinary,” he told them, almost in awe as realization of just how impossible their situation was.
“He was,” Zechs agreed quietly.
Duo nodded in reluctant agreement. “He saved the world.”
“And so he did again,” Endymion informed them. “Galaxia left only because of him. She would have destroyed everything first if not for your Heero.”
“Odin!” the blond Zechs muttered but did not press the issue.
Endymion turned to the Star. “When the two of your past selves merged to create you, you did become more than human.”
The Star’s head tipped forward so that the thick hair shadowed the blank face. It was Duo who asked what they all must have wanted to know.
“What did he become?”
“As corny as it may sound,” Endymion answered with a slight shrug, “a god.”
“A god,” Duo repeated as if waiting for a punch line. “What the Hell?!”
Endymion shrugged again and probably looked odd doing so in full armour. “To all intents and purposes, yes, a god. I may not be able to fix your reality, but he can.”
Both humans regarded the Star with disbelief for a few silent moments before the Star, himself, broke the impasse. “How?”
Endymion wondered how to explain because, though the other was the one that needed to do the actual work, he would require Endymion’s assistance. In some ways, it was like the old adage about explaining colours to a blind man. “Your strength is Will. Whatever else came of your joining, your Will is where your true strength lies. Before, each of you individually must have been strong minded...”
“Understated,” Zechs murmured to himself.
Endymion ignored him. “But that will power didn’t just add together. Your strength of mind is orders more Powerful than it must have been before, no matter how unusual you may have been.” He sought an example and found it in the two humans. “A few minutes ago, you quietened both of your companions without a word, a gesture or even a look. They were unable to speak because you Willed them silent.” Just as the Star had commanded Endymion to go to him. “And just as you commanded Galaxia to leave.”
“He did?” Duo’s voice was a combination of outrage and intrigue. Zechs’ expression was as closed and unreadable as his mind. The Star seemed unaffected, possessing a self-control that was as supernatural as his Will. It was something that could only help him in his new life.
Endymion took a moment to re-examine the park and the colony around him. The damage to the realm wasn’t all that far reaching really. Most of it existed in empty space. Of humanity, only this colony and a few lone space stations were caught in the affected area. Very fortunately, Galaxia’s malign influence had not been spread all the way to the planet below. There had been deaths, too many, and all of them ugly ones, but not on the scale they could have been.
“The deaths cannot be undone,” he informed the Star soberly. “The god of death is not one to cross.” Although Endymion would dearly love to know why he wasn’t helping his daughter. “The area of damage is not that great in the scheme of things. No planets are affected,” he explained to stem the rising argument in the younger human.
Endymion shook his head as a sudden epiphany came to him. Endymion imbued as much respect as he was able into his gaze when he met the Star’s eyes. “You’ve kept it limited. At the moment, your realms are like two stacked pieces of paper. They’re separate except for one little spot where they’ve been glued together. You need to peel them apart again without ripping either realm.”
“Easier said than done, I should think,” Duo commented sardonically as he slung an arm over the Star’s shoulders.
“For most, yes,” Endymion admitted easily. “However, while I may not be a god, I do have experience mending realms. You... what do I call you anyway?” he asked. He had been given more than one name for the Star’s former selves but none for his current state. Endymion wondered if the Star even had one yet.
It took a moment for the answer to come. “01.”
Endymion waited a moment for elaboration but, as there was none coming, left it. He realised that he had yet to give his own name. “I am...” he had his own moment of uncertatnty as he struggled to choose which of his many names was appropriate. In the end it was his armou that decided him. “Endymion. Call me Endymion.” He ignored Duo’s snigger. He’d had worse names, after all.
“However, back to the point. 01, these are your realms. You know them. It’s just your perceptions aren’t what you remember them being so you are not fully aware of exactly what you know. I, on the other hand, am a telepath with a considerable set of my own senses. I can lend you my rather formidable array of perceptive abilities and you can use that to make your own sensory input relevant. Then, using your remarkable Power of Will, you can fix your realms.”
“That easily,” Duo retorted snidely. Endymion had the impression that at least one of 01’s past selves had habitually let Duo speak for the both of them and the Star that he’d become was doing the same. That was fair enough but Endymion could have done without the attitude.
“No,” he replied back just as testily, “It won’t be that easy. In fact, it will be hellaciously difficult and demanding for 01 and invasive and painful for myself! He’s going to be using my brain as an extension of his, not the other way around!”
Both human and Star were startled by that and Zechs used the opportunity to strike out, himself. “And you’re going to do this invasive and painful procedure out of the goodness of your heart?” His voice dripped disdain as he parroted Endymion’s words back at him.
The petty ignorance that mocked the magnitude of Endymion’s offer rankled. “Of course not! Although repairing your realities will be a marvellous by-product, my priority remains finding Usagi. The only way I will ever be able to do so in time to prevent her demise and, thus, the destruction of the entire universe is if things in this reality are put back in order so I may actually find the path she used to leave and use that to follow her. For such a reason, yes, I will do this and more fool you all if you refuse!”
The blond was so preoccupied by his offended sense of righteousness that he didn’t notice 01’s glance his way. Endymion did and he also saw the manner in which the young Star turned to Duo. Endymion admittedly didn’t understand the dynamics between the three but even he could sense the tension building around the blond who was not reacting well to the situation.
“We’ll do it,” Duo told him, bringing Endymion out of his musings.
Endymion nodded and turned his attention to the task ahead, forgetting his observations and leaving the blond human to find his own place in 01’s new life.
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next
Heir of Morpheus
Chapter 7
Usagi's lead was diminishing, moment by moment, instant by instant, Galaxia was gaining on her. She was tiring rapidly and any hopes for assistance she might have held, faded as more time passed with no sign of it appearing. Though she had sustained no injury yet, the chase had worn at her endurance until only her desperation continued to drive her. She knew what awaited her should she falter but, without rest and soon, she would not be able to continue.
She needed to gain herself some time. No trick she had tried in this hunt had gained her that in the past. Galaxia bore down on her like some hell-born bloodhound fixated on her scent. Usagi could not suppress her own essence enough to render herself invisible to the traitor's superior senses. The solution then, was to find an environment that was loud enough to drown her out. Say a world where a fire elemental was raging...
She fixed on the reverbrations of power that she could sense and pulled herself into what amounted to a warzone.
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It was the chaos that drew her to her current sanctuary. Power such as to make even Galaxia pause churned in a maelstrom of the most primal of emotions.
Fear.
Hunger.
Rage.
In the wildly fluctuating energies, even such as she could move unseen. In the deafening roar, even she could risk a moment for much needed rest. It was ironic that only in such danger could she find safety.
So she arrived in a war zone in which an enraged elemental was wreaking havoc.
At first, so thankful for the respite, she did not truly register what was happening around her. After fleeing so hard for so long, always terrified that one slip would see her fall to a fate worse than death, heart aching for the worlds left in the wake of their chase, all Usagi could do was sink into the morass of tangled energy fields around her. She used their disarray as her concealment even as they buffeted her with their violence. Refuge she might have found, but peace was still denied her.
Her mind, so focused on hiding and listening for Galaxia’s presence in this new Realm, Usagi did not notice the battle fought by very mortal warriors around her. The energy fields were torn and rewoven ceaselessly by a being whose powers rivaled that of a star steeped in the strength of the ages. It was perhaps understandable that a child of such powers, born to power herself, did not take notice of the lesser strengths about her. So she was unprepared for concealment to be ripped from her, not by divine power but instead by unwelcome mortal hands.
Her physical presence, by necessity, was entirely within the realm in which she was concealed. Only her hiding spot, curled in the roots of a great tree, cloaked her presence from physical eyes for she spared not a drop of power for it. When the tree was destroyed around her, she was caught unprepared by the attack from an unexpected quarter. Attention locked outward, she did not track that which was around her and Usagi found herself vulnerable to a new threat.
Dark, empty eyes set in a pale face dismissed her even as the being that possessed them prepared to casually end her life. Usagi saw into the soul of the man with that one glance and found nothing of compassion or empathy, only a cold lust for greater power. Strong as he was, the man could hurt her in her unwary state.
He was not given the chance.
There was a flash of orange cloth and sun-bright hair, of brilliant eyes and fierce grin, of an elemental’s power bound to a human’s will and she was falling but unharmed. Instants later there was another explosion and strong arms in an orange jacket held her close as a man, a ninja named Uzumaki, caught and carried her away.
Screams and explosions followed them, telling her that the battle was not yet over but the arms around her, the firm chest and abdomen she was cradled against and the, not one, but two minds behind them told her that she was safe.
She succumbed to exhaustion.
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The very fabric of the Realm that he had arrived in was strangely fragile. Perhaps it was overstressed by the malignant entity that had invaded what had been a peaceful world but the blue-green planet that Endymion looked down upon was freshly scarred from a mortal war of a scale long since unknown on his own Earth. The odd, echoing resonance that the realm possessed was not caused by its unwelcome visitor. The growing dissonance audible alongside the echo, however, was.
Its presence akin to a disease attacking and destroying the invaded host, the invader itself could be only Galaxia herself. Or such was what Endymion hoped for two reasons. First that he did not wish to imagine that somewhere, anywhere, there might be another mortal with such a fould and overwhelming aura. Second was that any sense of Usagi’s own trail was faint and fading quickly, like a fresh breeze fleeing the edge of a rotting miasma.
Certain that Usagi was, for the moment, free of her pursuer, Endymion took a moment to examine the situation. The Earth below him bore similarities to his own but Endymion could also feel the differences that reached as deep as his bones. Not lease were the multiple foci of humanity in the space surrounding the planet that his own Earth had never seen.
The greatest force of Galaxia’s influence came from one of these foci, a small, self contained colony encapsulated by metal as if floated through the cold reaches of space. On that small colony was also, most likely, the point of Usagi’s departure. A point in space that Galaxia could use to follow her prey like some unrelenting bloodhound. It was a mystery to Endymion that she had not already done so.
A mystery that may have been solved when Endymion felt another’s will flare and Galaxia’s foul aura depart with a howl that shook reality.
Her presence no longer an oppressive clanked that numbed his perception of this environment, his senses sharpened. He ghosted through the colony toward the point he had sensed Galaxia’s physical presence as he sought clues to explain exactly what had happened in this Realm. The humans around him were panicked. The light brushes against their minds told Endymion that something had happened, he presumed Galaxia, and that the majority were ignorant as to exactly what that something was.
They also confirmed that Usagi had been there.
It was the first time since his desperate chase had commenced that Endymion had gained such definitive evidence of the fleeing Guardian. He had found faint traces on and in places her power had touched previously but, here, in each and every mind he brushed against, could he feel a true imprint of her will. She must have reached out to every single soul on the colony, if not further, from lowest worm to the most ignorant human, to deliver her message.
Perhaps he was still too mired in mortal manners of thinking or perhaps he just did not possess the knowledge needed to parse the reasons that she would do such a thing. The meaning of her message escaped him, though he gathered that the gist of it had been some kind of imperative. Still, what command could be so critical that she would announce her location at a time when she must have been able to sense Galaxia nipping at her heels?
As he approached the point in which Galaxia had lingered longest, another individual came to his attention. A clearly divine being, a Star, mingled among mortals. A star whose mind was like a sharply cut diamond; strong, brilliant and clear. And watchful.
In the lingering disruption of Galaxia’s leave-taking, the Star picked out Endymion’s presence with a precision that belied the absence of Awareness in this realm. Despite his haste, Endymion obeyed the implied command cum challenge the Star projected at him. He materialised in a devasted park where the gardens and lawns had been ripped apart and Galaxia’s foul stench hovered almost visibly. Waiting for him were three figures. Two were mortal men, soldiers both, and the third a very compact and lethal Star.
The mortals were not harmless and both had aimed firearms at him but Endymion’s attention was for their companion. The Star appeared to be a short man of similar age to the younger of the two humans with him. His hair was a shock of dark brown spikes and his face blank even as his blue eyes blazed with a strength of mind that could reshape reality to his will.
“Who are you and why are you here?”
The demand was backed by that same force of will, a will that was the equal of Endymion’s own. “I mean no harm to any here,” he answered, unable to do otherwise. He considered fighting the geas that had been laid upon him but saw no point as it only demanded information he would have given anyway. “I come in search of my lady who is being pursued by the abomination you just faced.”
“Pretty blonde about yay high with hair down to her ankles?” the younger human asked, holding his hand at about shoulder level.
Endymion smiled wistfully at the description of one of the Guardian’s favourite forms. “Beautiful, not merely pretty,” he corrected mildly.
“Perhaps,” allowed the older human, a platinum blond with an aura or aristocracy; a sharp contrast to the younger human’s feel of street-wise survivor. “But does your paragon of virtue have a name?”
As tests went, it was a simple one but not so simple as the man might think. The strange Star allowed the question, justly cautious after his encounter with the world destroyer and willing to wait for some kind of proof that Endymion was not another threat to the slip of a goddess in peril. Usagi and he could have only spoken for moments, or perhaps they were old acquaintances, but the Star was willing to protect her over rescuing his crumbling realm. Endymion could only respect that.
“She has many names. To some, she is the Guardian of Selene or the princess Serenity. To those who once exiled Galaxia, she is the Speaker’s heir or the light of hope.” The humans looked unimpressed and the braided brunette even yawned. Endymion took no offence for it was the Star and not the humans whose concerns he needed to allay. “To her family and friends, she is Usagi.” Endymion’s Usagi.
The forceful blue eyes bore into him. “And you? What do you know her as?”
If the situation were not so dire, Endymion would have laughed. In the course of the association, he nevere seemed to call her by the same name twice. Bunny, Sailor Moon, Serenity, Serena...
No matter the name, she would always be his. However he was not prepared to allow the depths of his heart to be displayed for the edification of these mortals so easily.
“Meatball head.”
Duo snorted. “Seriously?”
He smirked reminiscently. “Oh, yes. Our first meeting was not what one could call peaceful.”
“I’m sure that went down really well.” Duo’s sharp eyes were still suspicious but glinted with amusement.
“Like a lead balloon,” Endymion admitted easily. “But her names for me at the time were not any better.”
“And now?” the Star persisted, “What do you call her now?” Blue eyes back by an adamant will demanded he answer openly and honestly and paid no heed to his reluctance to bare his soul.
“Usako.” Even as the name left his unwilling lips, the shades of meaning given to the syllables by the old tongue hung in the air. Her name meant life, his life, his meaning, his everything.
The two humans appeared confused, baffled by a language that communicated in ways they had no frame of reference for. The Star understood each nuance of the name given and his concern was allayed.
“She left and left safely,” the Star assured him. “Her pursuer came late and delayed to toy with us.”
“I felt Galaxia’s departure as I arrived,” Endymion offered, “she did much damage to your realm but the instabilities are not increasing. You should be able to restabilise the essential foundations Galaxia damaged.”
“Not increasing?” the brunette human repeated incredulously.
It was impossible for Endymion to miss his rising sense of hysteria. Endymion regarded him blankly. Without invading one of the humans’ minds, there was no way for Endymion to know what distressed them so. From what he could sense, the fabric of their realm was not under threat of unravelling. It was, however, oddly friable, as if overstressing any single point would make it crumble into nothing. Having dealt with Dream, though, nothing Endymion could sense was irreparable by the Will of the Star before him.
“Not increasing?” the brunette repeated shrilly. The Star reached to him only to snatch his hand back as the human flinched away from him.
“Duo...”
“No!” the human interrupted angrily. “Don’t you dare ‘Duo’ me! She told you not to touch each other!” Duo turned to the blond. “Didn’t she tell them not to touch each other Zechs?!” The other human didn’t even get a chance to nod before Duo turned on the Star again, striding up to him until they were almost nose to nose. “Usagi told you not to touch each other and what do you do? You touch each other! And is it by accident?! Oh no! Not Heero Yuy! Not the ‘perfect soldier’! No, not Mr Self-Destruct! Are you still suicidal?!”
“Duo...”
“No!!” Duo shouted, shoving at the Star. “No! You touched him and now there’s only one of you! You could have died! There was no reason to think that doing that would help!”
Endymion considered the rant as Duo descended into vitriolic epithets as he turned away from the impassive Star to argue with a suddenly vocal Zechs. A few pertinent facts had been revealed that made things far more difficult for Endymion. “You were a mortal before Galaxia came?” he asked the Star, interrupting Duo and Zechs’ argument.
“Aa,” the Star admitted, eyes intent on Endymion.
Endymion winced. He had hoped that the Star could direct him to Usagi’s trail as the nature of what Galaxia had done to this realm made finding Usagi’s trail almost impossible. That was an advantage for Usagi but not such a good thing for a would-be rescuer. If the Star had only just become that...
“You can’t tell me where Usagi went, can you?” he asked, almost rhetorically.
The Star did not have to speak, Endymion felt his negative. The humans did not react to Endymion’s questions so calmly.
“What?!”
“You are just going to leave?!”
“But what about fixing everything?!”
“What about Odin?!”
The two were shouting over the top of each other. Endymion flinched. The passionate and enraged emotions were broadcast with power but little clarity. He could understand that they were upset but not why. His dilemma was understood by the Star who silenced his companions with a burst of Will. That the small act of power surprised the Star as much as the two humans only emphasised to Endymion how new to divinity he was.
He refrained from spitting a few choice phrases of his own and started sending out mental feelers, hoping to pick up a trace of his absent soulmate that might serve as the start of a trail. It was unfortunate that, reality spanning damage aside, Usagi had touched every living mind on the space colony. With that mental print left behind on so many disparate being, any trace of her quiet and careful departure would be overwhelmed. At that discovery, he did spit a particular foul oath. Said in the old tongue, it shocked the two humans blank and made the not yet named Star frown.
“I can’t track her,” Endymion explained, though probably needlessly as he could almost see the gears moving behind those strange blue eyes. “Galaxia I could follow but she wasn’t exactly trying to hide her path. Why would she? There’s nothing she needs to hide from!”
“Not even you?” Duo asked, subdued enough not to comment on his returned voice.
“Hardly!” Endymion scoffed. “If I was a match for her then she wouldn’t even make Usagi blink. No, I had simply hoped to make it to Usagi first and help her however she needed.” Damn Morpheus for leaving him no other choice. “But there’s no way to find Usagi’s trail with the way things are now...” He turned on Duo, making the human’s unique violet eyes blink at him. “You said there were two of them and they touched?”
The human nodded, glancing briefly at the silent and observing Star. “Aa. My Heero and his,” he gave a dismissive nod at the blond, “Odin. Your girlfriend said they were the same person and soul but whose lives had taken different paths.”
The blond took up the explanation. “She said that they should not touch and that she did not know what would happen if they did but others that we’ve seen it happen to have died - both of them.” Even without touch as a conduit, Endymion caught the psychic image of Galaxia causing more than one such set of deaths.
It had not been pretty. Two closely related alternate realities being forcibly amalgamated. It was only a wonder this reality had not already imploded under the strain. “And you, the two original yous, still deliberately tried it? Why?”
Duo’s eyes narrowed, a large portion of his former ire returning as he echoed, “Yes, Heero, why?”
The Star did not flinch from the raw anger directed at him. In a monotone he recited, “’They would become one person with two memories? Would they be a new person? Would they even still be human?’ She did not know. We took the chance that it would make us something more.”
Which it had.
Endymion shook his head in admiration. “Both of your former selves must have been extraordinary,” he told them, almost in awe as realization of just how impossible their situation was.
“He was,” Zechs agreed quietly.
Duo nodded in reluctant agreement. “He saved the world.”
“And so he did again,” Endymion informed them. “Galaxia left only because of him. She would have destroyed everything first if not for your Heero.”
“Odin!” the blond Zechs muttered but did not press the issue.
Endymion turned to the Star. “When the two of your past selves merged to create you, you did become more than human.”
The Star’s head tipped forward so that the thick hair shadowed the blank face. It was Duo who asked what they all must have wanted to know.
“What did he become?”
“As corny as it may sound,” Endymion answered with a slight shrug, “a god.”
“A god,” Duo repeated as if waiting for a punch line. “What the Hell?!”
Endymion shrugged again and probably looked odd doing so in full armour. “To all intents and purposes, yes, a god. I may not be able to fix your reality, but he can.”
Both humans regarded the Star with disbelief for a few silent moments before the Star, himself, broke the impasse. “How?”
Endymion wondered how to explain because, though the other was the one that needed to do the actual work, he would require Endymion’s assistance. In some ways, it was like the old adage about explaining colours to a blind man. “Your strength is Will. Whatever else came of your joining, your Will is where your true strength lies. Before, each of you individually must have been strong minded...”
“Understated,” Zechs murmured to himself.
Endymion ignored him. “But that will power didn’t just add together. Your strength of mind is orders more Powerful than it must have been before, no matter how unusual you may have been.” He sought an example and found it in the two humans. “A few minutes ago, you quietened both of your companions without a word, a gesture or even a look. They were unable to speak because you Willed them silent.” Just as the Star had commanded Endymion to go to him. “And just as you commanded Galaxia to leave.”
“He did?” Duo’s voice was a combination of outrage and intrigue. Zechs’ expression was as closed and unreadable as his mind. The Star seemed unaffected, possessing a self-control that was as supernatural as his Will. It was something that could only help him in his new life.
Endymion took a moment to re-examine the park and the colony around him. The damage to the realm wasn’t all that far reaching really. Most of it existed in empty space. Of humanity, only this colony and a few lone space stations were caught in the affected area. Very fortunately, Galaxia’s malign influence had not been spread all the way to the planet below. There had been deaths, too many, and all of them ugly ones, but not on the scale they could have been.
“The deaths cannot be undone,” he informed the Star soberly. “The god of death is not one to cross.” Although Endymion would dearly love to know why he wasn’t helping his daughter. “The area of damage is not that great in the scheme of things. No planets are affected,” he explained to stem the rising argument in the younger human.
Endymion shook his head as a sudden epiphany came to him. Endymion imbued as much respect as he was able into his gaze when he met the Star’s eyes. “You’ve kept it limited. At the moment, your realms are like two stacked pieces of paper. They’re separate except for one little spot where they’ve been glued together. You need to peel them apart again without ripping either realm.”
“Easier said than done, I should think,” Duo commented sardonically as he slung an arm over the Star’s shoulders.
“For most, yes,” Endymion admitted easily. “However, while I may not be a god, I do have experience mending realms. You... what do I call you anyway?” he asked. He had been given more than one name for the Star’s former selves but none for his current state. Endymion wondered if the Star even had one yet.
It took a moment for the answer to come. “01.”
Endymion waited a moment for elaboration but, as there was none coming, left it. He realised that he had yet to give his own name. “I am...” he had his own moment of uncertatnty as he struggled to choose which of his many names was appropriate. In the end it was his armou that decided him. “Endymion. Call me Endymion.” He ignored Duo’s snigger. He’d had worse names, after all.
“However, back to the point. 01, these are your realms. You know them. It’s just your perceptions aren’t what you remember them being so you are not fully aware of exactly what you know. I, on the other hand, am a telepath with a considerable set of my own senses. I can lend you my rather formidable array of perceptive abilities and you can use that to make your own sensory input relevant. Then, using your remarkable Power of Will, you can fix your realms.”
“That easily,” Duo retorted snidely. Endymion had the impression that at least one of 01’s past selves had habitually let Duo speak for the both of them and the Star that he’d become was doing the same. That was fair enough but Endymion could have done without the attitude.
“No,” he replied back just as testily, “It won’t be that easy. In fact, it will be hellaciously difficult and demanding for 01 and invasive and painful for myself! He’s going to be using my brain as an extension of his, not the other way around!”
Both human and Star were startled by that and Zechs used the opportunity to strike out, himself. “And you’re going to do this invasive and painful procedure out of the goodness of your heart?” His voice dripped disdain as he parroted Endymion’s words back at him.
The petty ignorance that mocked the magnitude of Endymion’s offer rankled. “Of course not! Although repairing your realities will be a marvellous by-product, my priority remains finding Usagi. The only way I will ever be able to do so in time to prevent her demise and, thus, the destruction of the entire universe is if things in this reality are put back in order so I may actually find the path she used to leave and use that to follow her. For such a reason, yes, I will do this and more fool you all if you refuse!”
The blond was so preoccupied by his offended sense of righteousness that he didn’t notice 01’s glance his way. Endymion did and he also saw the manner in which the young Star turned to Duo. Endymion admittedly didn’t understand the dynamics between the three but even he could sense the tension building around the blond who was not reacting well to the situation.
“We’ll do it,” Duo told him, bringing Endymion out of his musings.
Endymion nodded and turned his attention to the task ahead, forgetting his observations and leaving the blond human to find his own place in 01’s new life.
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