Five Crossover Encounters During Anthy's Search - Part One
Among the Dead
When looking for someone, one must start among the dead. Anthy stands in a room filled with candles, each iridescent flame representing a human life. As long as the tiny wick so much as smoldered, someone in the human world would breathe and eat, fall in love and lash out in anger. She crouches, running her fingers through the fire, close enough that it burned, but not so close as to smother it. No. Not this one, and likely not the hundreds after it, either. She knows she’s got a momentous task ahead of her, but she’s got the patience for it. If there’s anything Himemiya Anthy learned in the thousands of years she’d hesitate to call life it’s how to wait.
She’s only been at it for a few minutes when a voice booms out from seemingly out of nowhere. “Who dares disturb my domain?”
She straightens, smoothing down her skirt. “I’d really appreciate it if you would forgo the melodrama.”
“Oh, fine.” A mask and a pair of gloves materialize in front of her. “Clearly, you are too jaded to be impressed by true grandeur. My question still stands, though. Who are you and what do you want?.” A pause, and she gets the impression of the mask squinting. “On second thought, I think I know who you are.”
“And you sound completely thrilled at the prospect.”
“No offense, milady Witch,” the Earl says, “but there are things I’d much rather be doing than waiting hand and foot on itinerant Incarnations.”
“Such as perusing inappropriate photos of one’s colleagues?” She’s heard stories.
The Earl looks vaguely offended, in a way only someone invisible can pull off. “Not colleague; subordinate. And come on. Look at this face and tell me you’re not tempted.”
She’s not, actually. Nothing much tempts Himemiya Anthy at this point in her life. She does note the young man’s smile: real in some pictures, forced in others, though most people would miss that, and his violet eyes. Not a color found in nature, Ohtori’s discrepant coding aside. Somehow, she doesn’t think he’s wearing contacts. “Interesting.”
“Isn’t he just. Take my advice, young lady, there’s nothing better than good-looking subordinates who owe you expensive favors.”
Anthy is fast tiring of this conversation. “Nevertheless, I’m short on time, and there’s someone I must locate.”
“Short on time? You?” The Earl’s gloves fold over his chest. “All right, all right. Give me a name.”
“Tenjou Utena.” Anyone else, she could have found on her own, but the Swords of Hate obscure the trail. She’d have thought she could track something she’d known so intimately for so many years, but… All she needs to know right now is that Utena is still alive. The rest can come later.
The Earl mutters to himself, and Anthy feels his magic tendriling through the castle, running a query. For the next several minutes, he shushes her whenever he thinks she’s about to say something, even if she’s not. Then, he abruptly materializes, full-stop.
“I’m afraid your lady is nowhere to be found.”
No. Like the Swords, despair’s been a longtime friend of Anthy’s, and now, she finds it ringing her doorbell again, bringing with it the dubious gift of numbness.
“Don’t get me wrong,” the Earl interrupts, before she can sink too far. “I’d remember snuffing that one, and I haven’t. Her file… it was here, once, but it’s been moved. Hell if I know where.”
So she’s back to where she started. Funny, how that’s a more comforting place than she would have thought. “So, now what?”
“She doesn’t expect a reply, but she gets one anyway. “You ask me, I think you should go see the Time-Space Witch. Lovely woman. Still owes me a bottle of Loch Dhu - remind her when you see her, will you?”
“Thank you,” Anthy says. “You’ve been most helpful.” She’s not just being polite, either. The Earl’s advice is surprisingly good. It’s been some time since she’s seen Ichihara Yuuko, and she would not mind renewing the acquaintance.
The candles flicker, marking her passage as she leaves.
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