Yumi looked over their collection of crystal shards.  It 
was getting impressively large: they had seven of the total 
nine already, and were headed after the eighth.  After 
spending so long in this world, they would soon finally be 
able to go back home.  Except...

"Tsugiko, are you sure Wintergreen had a shard?" she asked 
her companion.

Tsugiko looked over from where she was sitting.  Well, 
glared over might be more appropriate.  "I didn't see it 
and I didn't have the rat to squeak at me, but it seemed 
that way.  At least, if you trust Krackel's sister."

"Of course we can trust Rollo!" replied the pink priestess 
without a second thought.

"Then Wintergreen's got a crystal shard," reasoned Tsugiko.  
"Look, are we going now or what?  I'm sure we've got lots 
of miles to cover before we find the last shard."

"He said he was coming back," said Kyouji.  "I'm sure he 
will be."

Tsugiko shifted her glare towards him.  "Well, obviously 
the great and mighty Krackel has better things to do.  We 
agreed to leave if he wasn't back by sunrise, and sunrise 
was practically an hour ago."

The other two exchanged uncomfortable glances.  "I guess 
you're right," admitted Yumi slowly.  "Well, let's go!" she 
said in a mostly vain attempt to cheer them up.  "Only one 
more shard to go, and..."

She trailed off, realizing just how bad trying to retrieve 
a crystal shard from inside of Wintergreen's castle would 
be.

"And trouble," finished Tsugiko succinctly.  "Alright, Kit-
Kat, lead the way."

The three walked off into the sunset, following the little 
white critter.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

The Starburst Crystal
Created by Ardweden

Chapter 43: Seven Happy Fun-Fun Days on the Road
By David Schwager

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

"And why do you think they wanted to rescue your sister?" 
Wintergreen asked in a way that could make frost form on 
fire.

"Maybe they wanted a medal," replied Krackel with badly 
disguised anger.

Wintergreen had to admit that this audience was not going 
well. Riesen had the swordsman so drugged up he couldn't 
even think straight, and his temper was making this 
conversation downright... unpleasant.

When Wintergreen finds something unpleasant, she deals with 
it.  Usually by blowing it up messily or, if it was 
extremely unpleasant, making it wish it had been blown up 
messily.

Unfortunately for her, neither of those methods were open 
to her here.  Curing Krackel would reveal to Riesen just 
how much she knew about his endeavors, and she found his 
petty backstabbing to be quite entertaining.  Watching him 
try to manipulate events to go his way without letting her 
know about it was one of the few pleasures she allowed 
herself.

Of course, while she couldn't cure the giant swordsman, 
neither could she blow him up messily.  Removing the object 
of Riesen's attention would be worse than curing him.

So, abandoning the (somewhat) subtle approach, she gave him 
a few dire threats, some of which could make rocks fear for 
their lives, and told him to get out.

Returning to her survey of her various armies, Wintergreen 
glared at the reports balefully.  People were going to have 
to be punished for this, and in a most messy way too.  If 
she didn't possess one of the shards, she might almost have 
to be worried about those three.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

Elsewhere, two plotted.

"This is the only way," one said.  "You know that."

"Yes, but if it doesn't work, we'll be killed," replied the 
other.

"Even if we don't try, we'll still be killed."

"But we'll be killed later."

"What difference does it make?"

"All the difference in the world.  The only reason to stay 
alive is to be killed later."

"You didn't used to be this pessimistic, sister.  Remember 
our dream.  This is the only way."

"I... I suppose you're right."

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

The three crystal warriors made a brief stop for supplies 
later that afternoon.  The village they stopped at was... 
small.

You couldn't really describe it any other way.  It was a 
tiny, ten-hut affair.  It didn't even have dirt roads, 
instead it made due with dirt paths.

Not only was it tiny, but it was also geographically 
isolated.  Completely surrounded with dense forest, it was 
bordered by a river that was more of a creek.  You could 
count on one hand the number of visitors they had every 
year, and you'd often have five fingers to spare.  It was 
the kind of place where you could try to strike up a 
conversation about how the war against Wintergreen was 
going and be asked, "Wintergreen started a war?"

Or just maybe, "Who's Wintergreen?"

For Tsugiko's purposes, it was perfect.

"You two wait here for a second, okay?" she said to her 
companions.  "I forgot to get something back at that store, 
and I want to go see if they have it."

"What're you looking for?" asked Yumi, the very picture of 
innocent concern.

Some people would have hemmed and hawed while trying to 
think of what to say.  Tsugiko just snapped.  "None of your 
business.  Stay here with the great Kyouji and do some 
lovebird stuff or something."

Kyouji watched as she stormed away.  "Do you think we 
should follow her?" he asked his girlfriend.

Yumi thought about it and shook her head.  "She'll be back 
in a few minutes.  We shouldn't intrude on her so much."

There was a long pause, as they both watched their 
retreating friend's back.  Then Kyouji spoke.

"So, about that lovebird stuff..."

Yumi spun around to face him and froze in terror.

Kyouji scratched his head.  "Oh c'mon, I was just joking.  
It's not that horrid a prospect, is it?"

Then he noticed she was staring at something behind him.  
He span around as well.

There are some conversations that you know right from the 
outset are going to go badly.

"Er, we aren't going to try to kill you again," said the 
female Twix.

This is one of them.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

Tsugiko tucked her purchase into her pack and emerged from 
the shop.  Then she saw the Twix twins and her companions 
staring each other down.

Well, she would put a stop to this.

Grinning a feral smile, Tsugiko unlatched her hammer and 
gave it a few practice swings.  The loud whooshing sounds 
announced her presence quite well.  Then she spoke as she 
walked slowly and deliberately forward.  "You two have ten 
seconds to run away or surrender before I start using this 
thing.  Ten, nine..."

"W-we just want to talk!" said the female Twix frantically.

"...eight..." Tsugiko paused.  "Darn, I guess that's close 
enough to surrender."  She walked the rest of the way to 
stand next to her fellow warriors before pointedly not 
putting her hammer away.  "So, got any new injuries you 
want the lovely Yumi to heal?"  She glared at both of them 
before her eyes focused on one new addition to the male 
twin's equipment.  "Oh, and I see you have a sword now, guy 
Twix.  You sure you don't want to try it out?"

"Tsugiko!" hissed Yumi under her breath.  "Be nice!"

"No, no, it's not necessary," the male Twix replied.  
"After what we've done, we probably deserve it.  But we do 
have a favor to ask."

"We want you to let us travel with you and help you," 
explained his sister.

Pause.  Wait for it.

"WHAT?" screamed Tsugiko.  "No way, impossible, won't do 
it, not a chance.  There is no way I'm letting you two tag 
along!"

"Tsugiko!" said Yumi angrily.  "Would you stop being so 
mean to them?"

"Oh come on, don't tell me you take these guys seriously?" 
Tsugiko yelled in return.  "Can you even remember how many 
times they tried to kill us?  They're just going to wait 
until we're asleep and stab us!"

"No we won't!" interrupted the Twix twins in unison.  "We 
need you to help us fight the soldiers Wintergreen is 
sending after us.  We thought that they would stop, or at 
least get weaker, but instead we're being attacked more and 
more often.  We've had to start sacrificing our monsters 
just to get away!"  Now the twins were alternating 
speaking, sometimes even switching in the middle of a 
sentence.  "You three are powerful enough to fight 
Wintergreen herself!  You're the only ones strong enough to 
help us.  This is the only way we have left!" they finished 
together.

Even Tsugiko had to admit it sounded a little reasonable.  
Well, she'd admit it to herself, anyway.  And while she'd 
like to trust the twins, a very loud voice was telling her 
that it was a bad idea to trust people who had repeatedly 
tried to kill her.

Yumi looked at the twins with eyes brimming full of trust 
and forgiveness.  "I think we-" 

"I know what you think," interrupted Tsugiko, "but look, 
it's a great sob story and all, but, and this is really key 
in my mind, THEY TRIED TO KILL US.  Many, many times.  
I..."  Tsugiko trailed off and looked at Yumi.  Then she 
looked at Kyouji, before turning back to Yumi briefly.  If 
you looked closely, her lips seemed to move.  Then she 
shrugged her shoulders and put away her hammer.  "Oh, 
whatever, I already know where this conversation is going.  
Yumi says forgive and forget, Kyouji seconds, I dissent.  
Welcome aboard, Twix and Twix.  Try to kill me and I'll 
crush your skulls."  With that last warning, the warrior 
priestess marched off into the forest to continue the 
journey.

"I-I'm sorry, did we come at a bad time?" asked the visibly 
shaken male Twix.

Kyouji sighed.  "Yes, but it's not your fault.  Let's 
follow before she yells at us and I'll try to explain."

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

"Well," said the female Twix thoughtfully, "it does seem 
like trouble, but I don't see any way out of it."

The male Twix gave Kyouji what might possibly have been a 
cheerful, encouraging smile.  "I think it's pretty much 
like my sister says," he said.  "You're screwed either 
way."

Kyouji hung his head dejectedly.  "Yeah, I figured as mu-"  
His head snapped upwards as he finally caught the double 
meaning in Twix's comment.

"What?" Twix said innocently as both Yumi and Kyouji glared 
holes into his skull.  His sister just sighed.

"You are so lucky that Tsugiko didn't hear that," said 
Kyouji.  "If she wasn't off ahead scouting-"

WHAM.

Tsugiko's glowing green hammer flew back to her hand after 
delivering a crushing blow to Twix's head.

"-she'd do something like that," Kyouji finished lamely.

Yumi rushed over to the fallen Twix, but he pushed her away 
as he rose shakily to his feet.  "Ow ow ow, that hurt!" he 
whined.  "What do you think you're doing?"

"The same thing I would do to Kyouji if he mouthed off like 
that," Tusgiko replied coldly.  "Now, if you're done 
whining, start walking again."  Turning around, she 
disappeared into the trees ahead.

The twins glared after her in perfect unison.  "Kyouji," 
they both said, "I think you made the right choice."

Kyouji didn't seem to hear them.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

They camped for the night in a small clearing with a nearby 
stream.  Dinner was the usual traveling fare of dried meat, 
and they ate around a fairly large fire for warmth and 
light.  Anyone could see that they were sitting in three 
distinct groups: the Twix twins, Kyouji and Yumi, and 
Tsugiko.  Their conversation was mostly unimportant fluff, 
mostly because any really important conversations might, as 
Tsugiko would put it, make people remember that the twins 
had tried to kill the priestesses so often that even they 
had lost count.

It was a disaster, in no small part due to the fact that 
Tsugiko seemed to take delight in throwing in almost casual 
reminders of the twins past deeds.  A casual talk about 
food had brought up spaghetti, which Tsugiko said looked a 
lot like the Britecrawler.  A talk about how nice the 
beaches were back home was killed when Tsugiko threw in 
about how crabs lived in the sea, and wasn't the 
Watchamacallit just a giant crab?  Every time she did it 
there was a round of nervous gazes and a quick change of 
subject, but no one seemed to want to call her on it.

By the time it was late enough to go to bed, everyone 
seemed eager for it.  Which only left one thing.

Tsugiko yawned exaggeratedly, but her eyes were clear and 
wide awake.  She was obviously well aware of the trouble 
her words would spark.  "I'll take the third watch," she 
said, and then followed up with a comment that seemed 
casual but was obviously not.  "I feel like watching the 
sunrise for some reason."

The other four stiffened, but Yumi stiffened the most.  
Tsugiko's implication was clear: the last person to keep 
watch during the night would see the sunrise, and wake 
everyone up.  If that last person was the third watch, then 
out of their group of five two wouldn't get a turn.  There 
was no doubt which two Tsugiko didn't want guarding her 
during the night, and to keep them off the nightly rotation 
would be as good as to say outright that the Twix twins 
weren't trustworthy.

Yumi, obviously, was having none of that.

"If you want to see the sunrise," she said, "then you 
should take the fifth watch.  After all, there are five of 
us now-"

"Tsugiko's right," interrupted Kyouji.

Everyone, twins included, seemed surprised by that.  He 
turned to them and continued before the shock wore off.  
"I'm sorry, and we don't mean to offend you, but you have 
to understand that it's too risky for us to trust you so 
completely so quickly."

The female Twix laughed.  "Oh, I don't blame you.  We 
wouldn't trust you that much if the situation were 
reversed."

The male Twix also laughed.  "It just means more sleep for 
us.  Hardly a terrible punishment," he said as if he were 
confiding something to them.

Yumi was frowning slightly, but didn't say anything else.  
Tsugiko, however, was smirking.  "Careful there, Kyouji.  
You might make your girlfriend mad at you."

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

                 Tsugiko's Journal, Day 1:

This is a stupid idea.  I don't know why I'm doing it.  
Well, that's a lie, I know exactly why I'm doing it.  It's 
because of bloody spineless Kyouji and bloody perky Yumi 
and this whole bloody stupid planet.  Well, mostly the 
first two.  As if once wasn't enough, that bastard has to 
go rip my heart out a second time in as many weeks and then 
has the nerve to say it's my fault for yelling at him.  
Like he never says anything without thinking about it or...

This is a journal.  Not a diary.  The difference is that a 
diary is something kept by annoying little girls who really 
like pink to speculate on which boys like or don't like 
them and dissect the behavior of their crushes down to the 
tiniest word they say, and a journal is something kept by 
rugged explorers who quest into the unknown, like that pair 
of Americans who went to the rocky mountains and California 
after they bought half the continent from some Europeans... 
what were their names?  Bonnie and Clyde?  No, that's not 
it.  Anyway, it doesn't matter.  Point is, I'm exploring 
the unknown (it doesn't get much more unknown than Mars), 
and I want to keep a record.

Well, I guess I can be honest with myself about it.  I 
really just want someone to talk to about this whole 
romance mess with, and I don't trust the Twixes and I don't 
want to start confessing to Kit-Kat, so paper and pen and 
as good as it gets.  Well, paper and ink and something that 
might bear a close resemblance to a feather (to be honest, 
I didn't even listen to what that shopkeeper back in the 
tiny village said about it).  If that makes it a diary, 
then... I just won't admit it to anyone.  Problem mostly 
solved.  One down, infinity to go.  Well, maybe it only 
seems that way.  I hope.

Infinity to go... That nightmare I just had... I can't stop 
thinking about it.  I don't want to, even though I know it 
wasn't real.  I sure as hell don't want to write about it.  
When she woke me up for my shift, Yumi took one look at my 
face and turned white as a ghost before practically running 
away.  I wonder if I could get that kind of face on 
command?  It might be useful to be able to scare people 
like that.

No, nevermind, I think I know what kind of face it was.  I 
don't want to make a face like that again, whether by 
command or not.  Especially not to Yumi.

Yumi.  My god, I don't even know what I feel about her 
anymore.  Jealousy?  Friendship?  Anger?  What a mess.  I-

... Shit, I'm so pathetic.  Writing in a diary about my 
crushes?  I make fun of girls like that!  I wouldn't have 
even considered the idea before I came to this damn planet!  
The hell is wrong with me?  When did...

I'm going to burn this journal.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

It was almost sundown the next day when Kyouji finally 
decided that his suspicions were certainties.  Of course, 
it had been fairly obvious since the night before, but now 
he was not only completely certain, but also knew, more or 
less, how he was going to deal with it.

It wasn't that he was indecisive.  He just wanted to be 
sure.

"Yumi, can we talk for a minute?" he said, putting his 
daring (conservative) plan (idea to ask Yumi to make a 
plan) into action.

"Sure," she said cheerfully, coming closer to walk at 
boyfriend-girlfriend distance.

Kyouji coughed slightly and nodded towards the Twix twins.  
"I mean, privately," he said.  "Could you two yell back if 
Tsugiko returns from up ahead?  I don't want her thinking 
you dumped our bodies into a ditch or something."

The male Twix laughed nervously.  "I know you're only 
joking, but I think your idea of how she'll react is quite 
accurate."

The female Twix smiled just as nervously.  "In other words, 
if she get back before you do, there'll be screaming one 
way or another."

The two crystal warriors dropped back until the twins were 
barely visible up ahead before Kyouji even dared to begin 
talking.

Taking a deep breath, he turned to his girlfriend.  "I 
think something's wrong with Tsugiko," he said.

Yumi refused to meet his gaze, instead looking down in 
shame at the ground in front of her.  "I know," she said.  
"What were your clues?"

Kyouji smiled.  "Well, she's been walking almost twice as 
far as us so she can 'scout' ahead constantly just to be 
able to avoid us.  And while I admit she's always been a 
bit hotheaded, over the past day or two she's taken it to a 
whole new level.  She's been trying to pick a fight every 
time she opens her mouth."

Yumi nodded unconsciously at each of his points.  "Also," 
she said hesitantly, "when I woke her up last night, she 
was having a... really bad nightmare.  Sweating, twisting, 
mumbling in her sleep... really bad.  And her face, when 
she woke up..."  Yumi shuddered at the memory.  "She looked 
like she either wanted to cry or kill something.  Maybe 
both, I'm not sure."

Kyouji scratched his head in puzzlement.  "How can you look 
like you want to cry and kill someone at the same time?" he 
asked.

Yumi shuddered again.  "You don't want to know.  Just 
seeing that look gave ME nightmares.  I don't want to know 
what she was dreaming about."  Yumi paused before 
continuing.  "Do... do you think it's about us?" she asked 
hurriedly.  "Do you think we should... should..."

"Break up?" Kyouji finished for her.  She nodded miserably.  
"I don't know, but I don't think that would help much.  
Remember how she felt the last time we broke up."

Yumi nodded.  "And then when we get back together again... 
you're right, that would be bad.  So, what should we do?"

Kyouji gave her a lopsided grin.  "I haven't a clue.  
That's why I wanted to talk to you.  You are her best 
friend, right?"

Again, Yumi chose to stare at the dirt.  "Maybe not 
anymore," she said, almost too softly for her boyfriend to 
hear.

In response to that, Kyouji opted for his usual deer-in-
headlights approach, trying desperately to figure out if he 
should say anything, and if so, what.  Thankfully, he was 
spared further deliberation when Yumi spoke again.

"I think we should be as kind and supportive to her as 
possible," she said firmly, with a fair approximation of 
her usual pep.  "We're her friends, and we can still help 
her through whatever's wrong.  If she stays like this for 
too long, or gets worse... then we do more."

"I guess that's all we can do," said Kyouji regretfully.  
"One more thing, though.  Do you think her problems are 
because of more than just us?"

Yumi's answer was cut short by yelling up ahead from one of 
the Twix twins.

"HEY!  Yumi and Kyouji!  Yell back before Tsugiko pounds 
our heads in!  She thinks we killed you and dumped your 
bodies in a ditch!"

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

Dinner was similar in tone to the previous night.  Tsugiko 
sat quietly without saying much of anything, until her 
friends would attempt to cajole her out of her shell, 
whereupon she would snap at them and try to pick a fight 
before returning to silence.  The only positive note was 
that the twins and crystal warriors were becoming fairly 
used to each other, and had started to loosen up and 
converse fairly naturally.

When everyone else went to sleep, Kyouji spent a little 
time of his watch practicing with his sword.  By this 
point, he was unsure how much of his skill was natural and 
how much a byproduct of his powers, but practicing did seem 
to help him get better, so he kept at it.  When he finished 
a particularly intricate series of moves, he learned that 
he had an audience thanks to a small amount of applause.  
He sheathed his sword as he looked frantically for the 
source, and found the female Twix sitting nearby.

A good observer, and the female Twix was a good observer, 
would notice that, even as panicked as he had been, Kyouji 
had sheathed his sword perfectly, without looking at or 
even touching the sheath.  That was no mean feat even for 
someone who was calm and thinking about it, but Kyouji 
hadn't even noticed he was doing it.

"That's very impressive," she said.  "I bet you could teach 
my brother a thing or two."

Kyouji gave her a wry smile as he thought about Teru.  "I'm 
too busy teaching myself, actually.  Besides, I don't think 
I'd be very good at formal swordsmanship.  I barely know 
what I'm doing half the time."

"I think you know more than you realize, but you'd do him 
good if you were only a sparring partner."  She sighed.  
"Unfortunately, my daggers aren't really dueling weapons."

"You're carrying daggers?" Kyouji asked.

"What, you didn't notice?" she responded, shocked.  
Twirling back her coat, she displayed the hilts of two 
daggers sticking out of her belt.  They were mostly the 
same color as her clothing and blending in well, but Kyouji 
still felt ashamed for not seeing them before.  The other 
two probably had.  Well, Tsugiko probably had, anyway.

"No, sorry, I didn't see."  Kyouji wasn't quite sure why he 
was apologizing, but he had been in the habit of doing so 
when women around him were mad whether he knew why or not, 
and he wasn't about to stop now.  "I guess I can't get used 
to seeing everyone around me as a threat.  But, at least 
that's almost over."

Twix stayed silent for a few moments.  "I'm sorry," she 
finally said, "it must have been hard for you.  Being taken 
away from home, I mean.  I know what it feels like."

Kyouji remembered the story the Twix twins had told last 
time, about being kicked out of town after town.  "No, it's 
not that bad.  At least I'll get to go back.  It's not as 
bad as it was for you."

Twix laughed a little.  "I see why you three are called 
priestesses.  Your best weapon is your heart."  She sighed.  
"A home you can go back to, huh... that's all I ever really 
wanted, you know.  Just a home.  Somewhere to live and 
belong and be with the people I care about, even if that's 
only my brother."  She sighed again, more heavily.  "My 
brother... I don't even know what he wants anymore.  Not a 
home, I think.  I don't know what's happened to us.  I 
remember back when Wintergreen gave us a home that no one 
else would... I remember thinking, 'if she's giving us a 
home, she can't be that bad.'  What an idiot I was."  
Kyouji felt like he should say something, try to encourage 
the despondent woman, but he couldn't find anything 
appropriate to say, and she just kept speaking.  "I just 
wanted a home, and now look at me... I don't even know what 
I want to do.  Fight you three, fight Wintergreen, run off 
into some forgotten corner of the world and hope no one 
finds us... well, that's not true, I know I want to fight 
Wintergreen, but I don't know if I can without getting 
killed.  I doubt it.  I wonder if this is really the only 
way for us..."

This, at least, Kyouji could say something about.  "Don't 
worry, I'll make sure you don't get killed!  Once we get 
the completed crystal, we can win once and for all, and 
we're already about to get the eight shard.  With your 
help, it'll be easy!"

"Except," said Twix softly but strongly, "Wintergreen has 
the ninth."

"We can get it back.  There's always a way."

Twix laughed again, but bitterly.  "How optimistic," she 
said.  "I guess it's only natural."  She paused for a 
while.  "I... I just want you to know why I've been 
fighting.  Whatever happens, just... I want there to be at 
least one person who believes I just wanted a home!"  She 
was almost yelling, and there was desperation in her voice.  
"One person who believes that I'm not totally evil!  That 
there's some good in me!  That... That... That I never 
wanted things to turn out like this..."  She broke down, 
almost crying into her knees.

"I believe you," said Kyouji firmly.  "I do.  It's not your 
fault, it's Wintergreen's.  We will beat her, and you'll be 
there to share that victory with us!  I'm sure of it."

Twix smiled again, but faintly.  "Just what I'd expect from 
a crystal warrior.  Thank you.  I... I'd better get to bed.  
Sorry to have troubled you with all this, but... nevermind.  
Goodnight."

An hour or so later, Kyouji woke Yumi and went to bed 
feeling tired, but satisfied with himself.  All in all, he 
was doing pretty well.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

"You stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, idiot!" yelled 
Teru, punctuating each word with a blow from a mallet large 
enough to make Tsugiko jealous.  Panting, she looked 
critically at her weapon.  "Wow, Mia was onto something 
here.  That was really therapeutic."

Kyouji replied with a few pained moans from the small 
crater in the floor.  If this wasn't a dream, those blows 
would have killed him.

"Oh get up, it's only a dream," said Teru without sympathy.  
They were once again standing (well, she was standing and 
he was lying in a painful lump) in the observation level of 
the Tokyo Tower, and she was wearing the same boys uniform 
as before.  After a few more painful moments, Kyouji 
managed to drag himself to his feet and look around enough 
to notice that.

"That was very painful," he said reproachfully.

"Yeah, well, after this latest screw-up I figured that even 
the bluntest, well explained symbolism doesn't work as well 
with you as even a mildly blunt hammer."

"Talk about a blow to my self-esteem," Kyouji quipped. "So, 
do I get to know what I did wrong this time?"

"You'd better believe it," she replied, "but I think you 
can figure it out for yourself."

Kyouji winced.  "I'm guessing it has something to do with 
Yumi and Tsugiko."

Teru frowned slightly.  "Right as far as it goes.  Well, 
considering how well my symbolisms worked last time, I'd 
better just lay it on you bluntly."

"Like with that hammer?" Kyouji joked.

Teru raised the weapon threateningly.  "It can be 
arranged."

"No no, that's okay, you can just explain it to me."

Teru tossed the mallet to the side, where it disappeared 
when no one was looking at it.  "Alright, wise guy.  Why do 
you think I'm pissed with you?"

Kyouji shrugged.  "I dunno.  I finally chose one of them 
like you wanted, right?"

"You... finally... chose?" yelled Teru as she loomed 
angrily over the boy.  "What part about that was choosing?  
When Tsugiko told you off, you were scared that you'd end 
up losing everything and ran off to go salvage something 
from the wreckage!  You weren't even thinking about which 
one you wanted, you were just afraid you'd end up without 
either of them!"

"But Tsugiko said she didn't want anything more to do with 
me!" babbled Kyouji.  "She said I had lost all my chances!"

"Oh come on!  Even if she wasn't as prone to hotheaded 
declarations she later regrets, even if you had reason to 
think she actually meant that... if Yumi wasn't in the 
picture, would you let one stupid argument like that stand 
in your way, or would you chase after her as long as you 
thought she might possibly share your feelings?"

Kyouji sighed as he spoke.  "Of course I would chase after 
her.  Hey, I made this decision a few days ago.  Why didn't 
you talk to me that night?"

"Because I'm not Ann Landers.  Dreams of former 
incarnations who offer important romantic advice don't just 
happen whenever they're most convenient.  I had a hell of a 
time trying to push this one through for the past few days, 
but this is this is the start of a good week for it."

"A good week?" Kyouji asked.

"Never mind, it doesn't matter.  To be honest, I'm a little 
shaky on it myself."

Kyouji shrugged, then straightened up as much as possible 
and looked hard right at Teru.  "I know who you chose," he 
said.

"Yeah, right, you don't even know who you'd choose," she 
said, but she was obviously on the defensive now.

"With that flashback you showed me and that speech just 
now, it's pretty obvious.  Even I can figure it out."  He 
paused and smiled.  "You chose Akie."

Teru fidgeted around nervously.  "And what makes you think 
that?"

"In those flashbacks, you loved her more.  You were just 
afraid to commit to her because you weren't sure if she 
would ever return your feelings, and you thought that maybe 
you should hedge your bets with Mia, who was a sure thing.  
That speech about not letting anything stand in your way 
just makes it sure."

Teru sighed heavily.  "The problem is that if I confirm or 
deny that, you'll use it as crutch to avoid choosing for 
yourself."

"Well, isn't it?" replied Kyouji.  "I mean, we're the same 
people.  Akie is Yumi, and you are me."

"No!" said Teru angrily.  "We're not the same people, 
damnit!  We're just... close.  Similar.  Like the Twixes."

"We're not twins, we're reincarnations.  The same person in 
a new body, right?"

"No, we're more different than that."  Teru frowned as she 
tried to explain.  "I mean... you're a guy, right?  That's 
changed some of the ways you think.  There's other 
differences, and even at the most basic level, we're not 
quite the same.  I mean, I'm me and I'm stuck inside you, 
yeah, but we're talking so we're obviously different 
people, and..."  Teru brightened as she thought of a new 
argument.  "Look, can you honestly say that you care more 
for Yumi than for Tsugiko?"

"Y-" Kyouji stopped and thought for a minute before hanging 
his head.  "No," he finished finally.  "I guess I see what 
you mean."

"Yes!  You finally got it!  Which one I chose makes no 
difference, and if you ever think it does, I'm gonna bring 
you back here and break that skull of yours with a hammer.  
Now, what are-"

The world around them flickered and darkened, almost like 
it was dissolving around them.  There weren't any 
earthquakes, but it was a lot like the kind of drug scenes 
you see on television, where the whole world gets wavy and 
you have trouble standing upright.  After a few seconds, 
everything righted itself.

"What was that?" panicked Kyouji.

"Don't worry, it's nothing," said Teru as she tried to calm 
him down.  "You just tried to wake up for a second.  
Someone yelled something."

"Yelled... there's trouble out there!  I have to go check 
it out!"

"No, don't worry, it was just Tsugiko waking up, there's no 
trouble.  Trust me, I won't let you die.  Then all my 
coaching will go to waste."

Kyouji looked at his past life suspiciously.  "Are you sure 
there's no trouble out there?"

Teru rolled her eyes.  "Yes, I'm sure.  Now, as I was 
saying, what are you going to do when you wake up?"

"I'm... I'm..."  Suddenly Kyouji realized how hard it can 
be to put a romantic revelation into practice when there's 
already been dozens of mistakes and sitcom-like errors.  He 
couldn't break up with Yumi again without putting Tsugiko 
through more emotional hell, even if getting together with 
Yumi this early was a mistake...

"Yeah, it's a tough one, isn't it?" said Teru.  "Here's my 
suggestion: don't break up with Yumi, but take things as 
slowly with her as possible.  Try to make up your mind, but 
do it for the right reasons this time, and..."

"And what?" asked Kyouji impatiently.

"And really hope you decide on Yumi, because if you don't 
you'll have one hell of a time explaining yourself," she 
said.

Kyouji shook his head.  "How come you're so much better 
than me at this stuff?" he asked.

Teru smiled benevolently.  "To be honest, I was just as 
stupid as you are.  But I've had a really long time to 
think about my mistakes."

Then the dream ended.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

                 Tsugiko's Journal, Day 2:

Well, obviously I didn't end up burning this thing.  I 
should have, stupid journal.  I guess I just really am 
pathetic.  Maybe that dream was right.  Striking out at my 
friends, just because I can't stop thinking about her and 
what's happening to her... and god, what will they make of 
my yelling that out?  No, I don't want to write about it.  
I don't even want to think about it.  Every time I see them 
they're chatting with those Twixes like they haven't got a 
care in the world, and...

Those damn twins!  Why the hell does Yumi love them so 
much?  They did terrible things!  I trust them about as far 
as I could throw one of the stupid giant monsters they keep 
trying to kill us with.  I mean, I don't want to just kill 
them or anything, but it's a bit too dangerous to let them 
travel alongside us where they can put a knife in our backs 
anytime.

The worst part is, I knew how it would go as soon as they 
asked to help us.  I knew Yumi would just ignore the past 
like it never existed and be all happy and cheerful that 
they want to help, and then Kyouji would chime in to help 
her.  He always does.  Damn Kyouji and his cute little 
girlfriend.  I talked the whole conversation out to myself, 
exactly how it would have gone.  "Oh, Tsugiko, they want to 
help us and we have to bring them along!  They just want to 
be our friends!" "Yeah, that's right Yumi.  Heaven forbid 
that I show a little spine and disagree with my perky 
girlfriend." "Oh, Kyouji-"

Well, alright, so that's not exactly how it would have 
gone.  But close enough.  He never-

Wait, he did though, didn't he.  When I didn't want them 
being on the night watch rotation, he agreed with me even 
after Yumi protested.  Was he just seeing reason, or did he 
do it to throw me a bone when he thought I was depressed or 
does he actually care about me a little?  Could he...

What the hell am I doing now?  Dissecting his behavior... 
Damnit, what the hell is WRONG WITH ME?  WHAT

(the rest of this page is filled with angry scribbles and a 
few spots that might, just possibly, be places where a tear 
had fallen)

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

The next day, Tsugiko walked with the other four.  It might 
have seemed like a positive step for her, but in reality 
she was just as withdrawn as the previous night.  She just 
didn't seem to feel like making the extra effort to avoid 
them.

Kyouji found himself oddly thankful that she was still 
sniping at people whenever they tried to talk to her.  He 
would be horribly worried when she couldn't even rouse 
herself enough to do that.

Dinner was almost exactly the same as last night.  The only 
real difference was that Yumi remembered to ask the Twixes 
if they knew anything about this forest or the direction 
Kit-Kat was leading them.  Unfortunately, neither did.  
They hadn't been in this area before, and had traveled much 
the same route as the crystal warriors to get where they 
were now.  This reminded Kyouji to ask the twins how they 
had found the three warriors.  The answer was surprisingly 
obvious: the twins had looked for a big battle in that 
area, assumed the warriors had taken a part in it, and then 
summoned an animal with an exceptional sense of smell to 
track them.

Before they went to bed, Kyouji convinced Yumi that she was 
the better one to talk to Tsugiko about whatever was wrong.  
It was fairly easy, and mostly involved him talking about 
all the ways Tsugiko could and probably would physically 
mangle him.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

                 Tsugiko's Journal, Day 3:

I scared Yumi again tonight.  That damn dream.  It's been 
the same dream for the past four nights, ever since... 
then.  The same dream, but it's affecting me worse every 
time I have it.  I don't even know what I looked like to 
scare her that much.  At least I didn't scream out like 
last night.  God, this time I might have yelled "I hate 
you" or "I'll kill you!"  Who knows what she would have 
made of that, and she definitely doesn't deserve it.

I... just read what I wrote.  "She doesn't deserve it."  I 
wasn't even thinking about it, but... it's true, she 
doesn't deserve it.  I don't even think I do hate her, not 
anymore.  Jealous, probably, but I don't hate her.  She 
just wants what I want, and is better at getting it.

No, that's not true.  She's nice and happy and perky and 
never thinks bad thoughts about anything.  She's not better 
at getting it, she's just better.  She deserves him more.  
She

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

"What're you doing?" asked the male Twix.  "Are you writing 
something?"

Tsugiko panicked and shoved her journal and writing 
implements back into her pack.  "Of course not, don't be 
stupid.  I'm just sitting here bored and scribbling a 
little."

"Oh, you're drawing?  I've always wanted to try.  Can I 
take a look?"

"No," Tsugiko said coldly.

"I know you've been having some problems lately," he said 
hesitantly, "and I want you to know that your friends do 
care about you."

"The only problem I've been having lately," the priestess 
said sweetly, "is having to deal with you."

"Ouch, you wound me."

"Unfortunately, I never have.  Want to go a few rounds and 
try to fix that?"

Twix tilted his head thoughtfully.  "That's almost like the 
Tsugiko I used to know and fight.  Not at all like the 
moping girl I've seen recently.  I mean, really, yelling 
out in your sleep?  'I'm sorry,' right?  Sorry about what?"

Once, she would have glared at him, or yelled at him, or 
possibly (well, more than possibly) even hit him.  But 
instead she turned away.  "What do you want?" she asked.

"Respect," he replied without hesitation.  "I want respect.  
I want people to look at me and think that I'm important.  
I don't want to be a nobody that gets kicked around and 
looked down on."

"I meant 'what do you want with me right here and now,' but 
I guess we can get metaphysical if you want," replied 
Tsugiko.  "I'm important and respected, and look where it's 
gotten me."

"On the contrary, the respect you earn just by being who 
you are is what has kept you alive this long.  Without it, 
you wouldn't find random strangers willing to risk their 
own wellbeing to help you."

"What about altruism and wanting to make the world a better 
place?"

"It doesn't exist.  Me and my sister are proof of that."  
Twix leaned forward, grinning.  "You understand that, 
right?  The other two wouldn't, but I'm sure you do.  In 
their hearts, everyone is selfish, only looking out for 
themselves.  If you don't have their respect, they'll treat 
you like dirt."

Tsugiko stared at the dirt.  "Everyone's just a selfish 
bastard, huh?"  She paused for a few seconds as if thinking 
about it.  "No, sorry, can't say I agree with you there.  
Well, not about everyone, anyway.  Besides, what does it 
matter how much respect you have if the only person you 
want it from isn't giving?"

"I... I see," said the male Twix.  "I guess I'll go back to 
sleep, huh?  Goodnight."

For the rest of her watch, Tsugiko stared sadly into the 
sunrise.  If you had very good hearing, however, you could 
have heard her murmur three words under her breath as Twix 
left.

"Not everyone's selfish..."

After saying that, her lips kept moving, as if she was 
mouthing a few other words.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

The next day, Kyouji was horribly worried.

Tsugiko stopped sniping at them.

It was like someone had doused her inner fire with a 
spiritual bucket of water.  She walked next to the other 
four, head down, and refused to say more than two or three 
words at once, and that only when specifically addressed.  
The only time she seemed even the slightest bit angry was 
when Yumi asked her if anything was wrong.

"Everything's fine," she said vehemently.  "Why wouldn't it 
be?"

Unsurprisingly, no one pressed the issue.

Kyouji and Yumi thought desperately for an excuse to go 
somewhere alone to talk about Tsugiko's problems, but 
neither wanted to make it look like they were going off to 
do boyfriend-girlfriend stuff.  Finally, Kyouji managed to 
whisper "During the watch change" to Yumi when Tsugiko 
couldn't hear, and they had a time.

The priestess and knight protector found an unexpected ally 
in the female Twix, who was surprisingly understanding and 
adept at shifting the conversations into safe, cheerful 
topics.  Not to mention elbowing her brother whenever he 
accidentally messed things up.  Now that they were really 
getting to know the twins, Kyouji and Yumi began to see 
real differences in their personalities for the first time.  
The brother had fire and passion and provided most of their 
plans and ideas, while the sister was more subtle and 
gentle and proved to be more clever and adaptable.

Kyouji had decided that, as a last ditch plan, he could 
always rouse Tsugiko by commenting within her hearing that 
maybe he should ditch Yumi for the female Twix.  He also 
wisely decided to keep that option in reserve and not tell 
Yumi about it.  No need to get more misunderstandings than 
there already were, after all.

By night, the trees were beginning to thin out, marking the 
beginning of the end to the forest they had been traveling 
in for so long.  They hadn't found any more villages along 
the way, and food supplies were running a tad low, but they 
still had a few more days before things became scarce, and 
if they got out of the forest they could probably find a 
road without much trouble.  As they had learned early on, 
roads led to villages, and villages sold food.

Kyouji spent his watch trying to think of what to do about 
Tsugiko.  Other than outright pressuring her to let her 
problems out, he didn't have any ideas.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

Yumi awoke to find herself back in her old bed in her old 
room in Tokyo.

Then she remembered, and realized that "awoke" wasn't quite 
the right word.

Sitting up, she saw a girl who looked just like her sitting 
on the Tsugiko's bed and staring into infinity.  "Hi," Yumi 
said with forced cheerfulness.

"Oh, hi!" bubbled Akie.  "I was hoping you'd come here 
again.  I had a feeling you would."

"Why's that?"

"Why's what?"

Yumi sighed as she remembered Akie's tendency to forget 
what she had just said.  "Why did you think I would come 
here?"

"Oh, because it's a good week for it.  I don't really know 
why, it's like an eclipse or something.  Maybe it's 
periodic changes in the magical field, but who knows for 
sure?"

Yumi thought about it.  "So it's like Halloween?  A week 
where the dead can talk to the living?"

Akie shrugged.  "Something like that, maybe.  It's actually 
only about five days.  I'm a little shaky on it myself."

Yumi looked around the pink-infused room doubtfully.  Her 
conversation skills were not really tuned for talking to 
dead people.  For instance, it would almost certainly be a 
bad idea to ask Akie what she had done yesterday.

"Oh, I remember!  We can play a game!"  Yumi rummaged 
hopefully around her closet.  She was sure she had a go 
board in there, although she almost never used it.

Akie brightened at the thought.  "Oh, goodie!  Do you play 
go?"

"Yeah, but not very well.  I barely know the basics."

"Great, so you're about my level!  Do you wanna be black or 
white?"

Yumi continued her rummaging, but was losing hope fast.  
Her closet didn't seem much like she had left it.  "I don't 
care, but it won't matter if I can't find the board."

"You haven't had sex with him yet, have you?"

"WHAT?" yelled Yumi as she spun around so fast she hit her 
head on the side of her closet.  Rubbing her new bruise and 
blushing furiously, stared at her former self.  "W-why do 
you ask something like that?"

Akie shrugged.  "You shouldn't waste any time.  You only 
have so long."  She giggled.  "Except when you're dead.  
Then you have all the time in the world."

Yumi sat back on her bed.  "We have other problems then 
whether I've..." she paused as her blush returned full-
force.  "You know, with Kyouji yet."

"Oh, tell me about them!  Maybe I can help."  Akie shifted 
forward eagerly.

Yumi smiled.  Maybe she could get some good advice from the 
older priestess!  "It's about Tsugiko," she began.

"Oh, you think Kyouji's going to hook up with her, right?" 
interrupted Akie.  "That's a tough one.  Do you think you 
can get him alone for a few hours?"

"That's not it!  Besides, Kyouji is already my boyfriend!"

"Oh, congratulations!" Akie shouted as she bounced out of 
her seat and gave Yumi a big hug.  "That's the best news 
I've heard since I died!  I'm sooooooooo happy for you!"

"Ack- can't... breathe... " wheezed Yumi from inside Akie's 
bear hug of joy.

"C'mon, you have to tell me everything!" Akie coerced.  "Is 
he very affectionate?  Or is he too embarrassed to do 
anything in public?  Is he a good kisser?  C'mon, tell me, 
tell me!"

"Er- He- I... don't know, exactly..."  Yumi retreated under 
the hail of questions.  A small part of her brain wondered 
if this was how Tsugiko felt sometimes when dealing with 
her.

"Aww, what do you mean you don't know?" whined Akie.  "I'm 
you!  Well, close enough.  You can trust me, I won't tell 
anyone.  I wouldn't even if I ever saw anyone else to tell.  
Promise."

"Well, we haven't really done anything," said Yumi weakly.  
"We've been worried about Tsugiko so much lately, and we 
can't get much time to ourselves..."

Akie sighed disappointedly before returning to her bed.  
"Well, that's no good.  If you're not doing anything 
together, then he's not really your boyfriend, is he?"

Yumi refused to listen to the little doubting voice in her 
head.  "Of course he is!  He said so himself!"

"What did he say?" asked Akie in her normal unfocused 
manner.

"About being my-"

Yumi woke up in the middle of her sentence.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

"C'mon, Yumi, wake up.  I know you're tired and all, but 
it's your turn for watch duty."  Kyouji shook his sleeping 
girlfriend lightly.  To tell the truth, it had been her 
turn for watch duty about forty-five minutes ago, but he 
had taken to letting her sleep a little later.

Yumi yawned, sat up, and stretched.  "I'm up, I'm up.  I 
was just... having a weird dream."  She briefly panicked 
and decided not to let on that she was dreaming about dead 
people.  Even if there were extenuating circumstances.

"Tell me about it," Kyouji muttered under his breath.  
Before Yumi could ask what he meant, he plowed on.  "Look, 
about Tsugiko..."

"We confront her," said Yumi without hesitation.  
"Separately first, but if she doesn't improve after 
tomorrow, we go Together.  And we don't let her go before 
she talks about her problem."  She had decided that 
yesterday at dinner.  If neither of them had had any 
success getting something out of Tsugiko alone, going 
together would be the only option they had left.

"When you say 'go together,' you don't mean, like, 
'together' together, do you?" asked Kyouji.  "Because I 
think that would be a pretty bad idea."

Yumi's smile perpetual froze for just a moment second 
before she responded.  "Yes, of course.  That would be 
sending the wrong message, wouldn't it?"

"Oh, good," said a relieved Kyouji.  "I don't think I'd be 
able to get out of that without a hammer to the skull," he 
joked, and they both laughed a little.

At least, that was his intention.  Unfortunately, he only 
got as far as "Oh, good.  I don't-" before Yumi mumbled 
something about needing to get outside and dodged through 
the doorway.

If he had been forty-five minutes less tired, he might have 
noticed what was wrong with Yumi.  Of course, he probably 
wouldn't have.  After all, he was still Kyouji.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

                 Tsugiko's Journal, Day 4:

We're going to die against Wintergreen.  I just know it.  I 
remember how I used to be confident.  I mean, I always knew 
there was a possibility we'd lose, unlike super-girl Yumi, 
but I've also thought that it's not a sure thing, and if we 
fight our best we have a chance to win.

How stupid.

Maybe only I'll die, leaving them alone and together.  
Wouldn't that be perfect for them, right?  No more green to 
feel guilty over and they can just go on their merry little 
way.  Maybe it would be for the best.  Maybe I should just 
get it over with ahead of time.

Well, that's morbid.  I don't think I'm really going to 
kill myself though.  I mean, I'm depressed and all, even I 
can see that, but suicide is a whole other step.  If I die, 
that's the end.  Nothing's worse than that, right?

(The next paragraph is written in a shaky hand, as if the 
writer couldn't quite control it)

Oh, that's funny!  I just realized that if there's anything 
worse than death, it's being captured by Wintergreen!  HA 
HA HA!  With no way out, too!  Isn't that funny?  Isn't it 
just hilar

(The rest of the paper is crumpled and dotted with marks of 
dried tears)

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

Both Kyouji and Yumi tried several times to force Tsugiko 
out of her shell, but neither were successful.  Each time 
they were rebuffed by the hammer-wielding priestess, who 
would simply ignore or brush by her friends while saying 
"nothing's wrong" in a tone of voice that made it clear she 
was lying.  Dinner that night was a depressing affair, and 
the five went to bed early as if to try and hurry the 
following day.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

                 Tsugiko's Journal, Day 5:

I'm going to try and describe my nightmare.  Maybe putting 
it to paper will work.  I can't burden those two with my 
problems anymore, even if I wanted to.  I know they're 
worried, but I just don't want to talk to them about this.  
Their fake sympathy isn't going to help.  Anyway...

The dream.  It's always the same.  This damn nightmare 
that's haunted me the whole week.

It starts off with Krackel.  I don't know where I am, it's 
like I'm in some sort of black void and the only things 
there are people but I don't notice that.  I'm running 
towards someone, chasing someone, but I don't know who.  
I'm carrying my hammer and then I see him.

There's a gaping would in his chest like he was impaled by 
a spear.  He's standing upright, leaning on that massive 
sword, and it's clear he isn't going to be upright much 
longer.

"She tried to get away," he says in between coughing up his 
own blood.  "Hah!  When I found out what she did to my dear 
Rollo, I chased after her, but she tried to just send me 
away!  She was afraid!  Afraid of the great Krackel!"

"Who did something to Rollo?" I ask breathlessly.  
"Wintergreen?  It was Wintergreen, right?  What did she 
do?"

The giant warrior laughed.  "I can't believe I trusted her 
not to hurt my sister!  I got to her though.  I tried to 
kill her.  And... look what it got me..."  He trails off 
and collapses into the puddle of blood at his feet.

Shaking my head, I run on after Wintergreen.  I'm sure 
that's who I'm chasing now.

The next people I meet are... them.  Kyouji and Yumi.  
Kyouji is... he's... his head is

I don't want to write about this anymore.  

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

"Tsugiko," Yumi began, "we need to talk."

The Twix twins looked around briefly before hastily coming 
to a conclusion.  "We'll be up ahead if anyone needs us," 
they said together, and practically ran off into the 
distance.  They had finally cleared the last of the forest 
early that morning, so they had a long way to go across the 
rolling green plains before they were out of sight.

When they finally were, Kyouji continued.  "We know you're 
having some problems, and we want to help."

"I'm fine," mumbled Tsugiko just loud enough for them to 
hear.

"No you're not!" said Yumi earnestly.  "I've known you for 
years, and you've never acted like this."

Tsugiko kept her gaze fixed firmly on the ground as she 
tried to walk around Yumi.  "We'd better keep moving or 
we'll fall behind.  Gotta get that shard, right?"

She stopped as she found her path blocked by Kyouji.  
"We're not leaving here until you tell us what's been 
bothering you."

"Yeah!  We're friends, right?" said Yumi with all the 
confidence she didn't quite feel anymore about that 
statement.

"The only thing wrong with me is you two," Tsugiko lied.  
"Always together, and-"

"Damnit, Tsugiko!" interrupted Kyouji.  "We haven't even 
touched each other since we left the battlefield!  Why 
can't you just tell us what's really wrong?"

"It's... in Wintergreen's palace, I left... she..."  
Tsugiko looked into the hopeful faces of her friends.  
"Wintergreen beat me," she lied for the second time.  
"Totally kicked my ass.  Now can we move on?"  Putting on a 
convincing façade of anger, she shouldered past Yumi and 
started to run down the field.

"Do you believe her?" asked Kyouji softly.  "She's been 
beaten before, and I don't think that's it."

Yumi nodded in agreement.  "Should we pressure her more?"

"Tomorrow," said Kyouji confidently.  "We do it the same 
way as today.  Y'know, let her think about talking to us 
for a while.  She's getting a little more talkative, but we 
still don't want to press her too hard about it."

"Yeah," said Yumi sadly.  "Listen, Kyouji..."

"Hmm?" Kyouji shifted his gaze to his girlfriend.

"I need..." Yumi trailed off.  "Nevermind, let's go catch 
up."  She took off without waiting for him.

Kyouji shook his head.  His head hurt too much to even try 
to figure out what was wrong with Yumi.  One girl's 
problems were more than enough to give him migraines.

He really wished he was as confident as he sounded.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

                 Tsugiko's Journal, Day 6:

I'm going to finish writing about my dream.

Kyouji is lying on the ground with his head missing.  His 
uniform is soaked with the blood he's lying in, so soaked 
it's barely recognizable.  Yumi is kneeling over him, blood 
coming out of dozens of wounds, pouring healing magic into 
Kyouji's corpse through glowing pink hands, seemingly 
oblivious to her own injuries.  Of course, nothing's 
happening, because Kyouji's already dead.  Not even she can 
heal death.

That wasn't so bad, I think.  It's just bloody.  It gets 
much worse later on.

"Yumi!" I yell.  "What happened here?"

"I thought we weren't going to die," Yumi replied dreamily.  
"I thought we'd be okay.  It's all her fault."

"Wintergreen?  Wintergreen did this too, didn't she?"

"It feels like she's been hammering us every day since 
coming here.  And just when I thought we would finally be 
happy together..."  Yumi's magic stops as she collapses 
onto Kyouji's corpse.

"Wintergreen!  Where are you?  I'll get you for this!" I 
yell, and run off again.

The next person I see is... Rollo.  She's held up in the 
middle of the blackness by a chain attached to each hand 
and stretching into infinity like a giant "Y."  Her 
clothing is in tatters, and she is covered in lashes and 
blood.

"I thought I would be okay," she says.  "I thought it would 
all work out.  My brother said I would be okay, but... but 
she... Brother, where are you?"  The light fades from her 
eyes and her head falls forward bonelessly.

"No, Rollo!  Hang in there!  Damn.  Wintergreen, you'll pay 
for this!" I scream as I charge off into the darkness.

I can see two figures in the distance.  Somehow, I know one 
of them is my quarry.  I run faster, trying to get closer.  
As I draw near, I see that one of them is Wintergreen, 
standing with her back to me, and the other is Twizzler.  
Twizzler is on one knee like she's swearing fealty.

"Mistress," Twizzler says, "I thank you for everything 
you've done for me.  Without you, I'd still be-"

"Wintergreen!" I yell, interrupting the psychotic 
sorceress.  "You bitch!  I hate you!  I'll kill you!  I'LL 
KILL YOU!"

I go into a battle stance, hammer at ready.  For a second, 
there's a silent pause.  And then she turns around.

Her face is the same as mine.

"Wintergreen?" the evil queen with my face says 
questioningly.  "What made you think I'm her?"

And then I'm falling into the blackness, and there's faces 
staring at me all around, glaring and accusing.

"You betrayed my trust," accuses Krackel.  "You let my 
sister die because of your temper."

"You kept striking at us," accuses Yumi.  "We just wanted 
to be happy, but you were jealous and couldn't stand that."

"You killed me," accuses Kyouji.  "I finally chose, just 
like you wanted, and then you killed me because it wasn't 
the choice you hoped for.

"You left me with her," accuses Rollo.  "You let HER go 
free, but left me to be tortured and killed because you 
couldn't control your impulses."

"I'm sorry!" I yell.  "I'm sorry!  I'M SORRY!"  I keep 
yelling over and over, but the accusations keep coming.  
"I'M SORRY!"

Then I wake up.

...

That didn't help at all.  Now I'm just angry and tired.  
Maybe I should just go to sleep now and forget about watch 
duty.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

Tsugiko frowned slightly.  She had just closed her eyes for 
a second, and now she wasn't tired at all.  She opened them 
again, then jumped to her feet and gasped.

Instead of the rock she had been sitting against while 
writing her journal in the nearly endless grass plain, she 
was now sitting in the middle of a blasted wasteland, with 
nothing but hard red earth as far as the eye could see.  
Not even a dried out bush broke up the view.  The only 
piece of vegetation she could see was the dead, leafless 
tree with pitch-black bark she was sitting against.

"Sucks pretty bad, huh?" said a voice that wasn't terribly 
dissimilar to her own.  Tsugiko whirled around to find 
another girl sitting against the tree who looked so similar 
to her she might as well be looking in a mirror.  "Yo," she 
said emotionlessly.  "Welcome to my world."

"I remember you!  You're me!"

"Mia, actually.  But yeah, I'm you too, I guess."

"You guess?" asked Tsugiko.

Mia shrugged.  "Close enough, anyway.  I never really 
bothered to find out."

Something began to tug at Tsugiko's mind.  "You seem a lot 
different from the last time I saw you," she said.  "You 
were more..."

"Energetic?  Caring?  Non-depressed?"

"Yeah," said Tsugiko as she wracked her memory for the 
actual conversation they had had.  "You gave me a talk 
about getting over Kyouji and not breaking up the team."

"That was a pretty good pep talk, wasn't it?  I really 
worked on it for a while."  Tsugiko was starting to get 
worried that everything her former incarnation said was in 
an emotionless monotone.  "It didn't work though, did it?  
I didn't really think it would.  You should have followed 
my words and forgotten about Kyouji, you know.  Now you've 
ended up like me."

"Like... you?" asked Tsugiko hesitantly.  The way Mia said 
it made it sound like something that was very bad.

"I wanted better for you.  I thought maybe if I roused 
myself you'd listen and do what I said.  I should have 
known better though.  I never would have listened either.  
I probably couldn't have even if I wanted to."

"What do you mean like you?" asked Tsugiko more 
insistently.

"Aware that the one you love will never love you back.  
That you're nothing but a third wheel.  That you'll never 
be able to escape Yumi's shadow.  That your temper only 
hurts those around you even when you try to help.  That 
your friends would be better off without you."  Tsugiko 
didn't know what was scarier: the endless parade of 
accusations or the way Mia delivered each one in a perfect 
monotone as if they didn't matter.

"That's not true!" Tsugiko protested weakly.

"Isn't it?  The fact that you found me here is proof 
enough.  To come here without me reaching out means you're 
starting to think like me."

"They're still my friends!  Besides, they need me."

"What do they need you for, to die against Wintergreen like 
we did?"

"We're not going to die," said Tsugiko, but obviously even 
she didn't believe it.

"If you were gone, they would give up the fight.  They 
would go somewhere far away and hide.  They'd be happy 
together.  They don't really want you, they just aren't 
cruel enough to send you away."

"Not everyone's selfish!" Tsugiko yelled.

"Just you, right?" replied Mia.

Tears welled up in the younger warrior priestess.  "Just 
me," she agreed and fell back against the tree, drawing her 
knees up to rest her head between them.

For the first time, Mia moved more than her head.  Raising 
her hand, she made a horizontal swipe along the horizon.  
The earth didn't tremble or shake in the slightest, but a 
clean cut formed and drew apart, creating a wide but 
perfectly straight fissure in the ground.  Tsugiko gaped in 
astonishment and stood up shakily before peering down it.  
The crack disappeared into darkness, but from what she 
could see it didn't look like it had a bottom.

"If you have the courage to end it, jump," said Mia.

"You mean, if I jump in there, I'll die?" asked Tsugiko 
shakily.  "But isn't this just a dream?"

"Even in dreams, some things can be real," replied Mia 
mysteriously.  "This pit can erase your mind painlessly.  
You'll just never wake up."

For several minutes, Tsugiko bent over and stared down into 
the endless void as if contemplating what the depths 
contained.

And then, she made a decision and straightened up.

"No," she said firmly.

"I didn't think you would," said Mia in a voice that just 
might have held some hints of sadness.  Might.  "After all, 
there's always a chance-"

"No," said Tsugiko again.

"What do you mean?"

"I reject it."  She turned around, and for the first time 
in a while, she was smiling happily.  "Everything you said, 
I reject.  You're not me."

"Of course I'm you," said Mia tonelessly, as if repeating a 
boring fact for the hundredth time.  "You are my 
reincarnation.  You are me."

"No.  I'm not you.  You're a depressed little ghost sitting 
under a dead tree, and I'm alive.  I won't become you!"  
Tsugiko yelled as she grabbed her hammer and brought it 
around, cracking the lone tree right above Mia's head and 
breaking it cleanly in two.

Putting away her hammer, she took a deep breath.  "Thank 
you for showing me this, Mia.  I think I needed to see 
this, the depths I've sunk to and what I'll be if I 
continue like this.  Well, I refuse to follow this path any 
longer!  So my best friend stole the boy I like most in the 
whole world and who might even have had feelings for me 
too.  It's not the end of the world, it just feels like it.  
Besides, it just means she won't be around to steal the 
next one.

Tsugiko paused for breath before continuing.  "So I screwed 
up in Wintergreen's palace by letting loose Twizzler and 
losing Rollo.  Shit happens, and I can't let it rule me 
forever.  I made a mistake and I'll learn from it.  
Besides, it probably would have happened the same way even 
if I hadn't set that crazy magician free.  Really, trying 
to steal a crystal shard from under Wintergreen's nose?  I 
should've just run with Rollo when I had the chance."

Mia stared at her incredulously.  For the first time in 
this meeting, her detachment had been shattered.  "You 
can't just stop being depressed because you want to!" she 
almost yelled.

"Sure I can!  I am Tsugiko, warrior priestess!  No one is 
stronger or more volatile!  My soul and temper burn like 
fire!  My hammer brings swift justice to all those who 
annoy me!  If you see my green aura, you'd better run, 
sucker, 'cause I might be after you."

"You can't just erase all that hurt you feel because you 
don't want to feel it," said Mia weakly.

For a few moments, Tsugiko looked sad.  "No, I can't," she 
said.  Then she leaned close to the dead priestess and 
smiled again.

"But I'm working on it."

Then the dream dissolved around her.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

Tsugiko awoke to face the first day of the rest of her 
life.  It was late, long after the sunrise.  She should 
have been worried about sleeping during watch duty, and she 
was a little, but it seemed that nothing bad happened and 
she couldn't help smiling a bit.

She was back.

Grinning widely, she twirled her hammer over her head a few 
times in celebration before getting up and stretching.  She 
happily walked over to where the two other crystal warriors 
were sleeping and saw Yumi and Kyouji in a very deep kiss.

Her face darkened instantly and her hammer-hand twitched, 
but she carefully restrained it.  "Hey lovebirds," she 
growled, "I'm going on ahead.  Catch up when you're done 
here, okay?"

It was a really lousy start to the first day of the rest of 
her life.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

"Now's our chance," one male figure said.  "She's running 
off alone!  We can cut her off and ambush her."

"They'll look for her," a female figure thought.  "One of 
them will come after her.  Even if that doesn't happen, 
she'll escape and run back to them.  Or her cries for help 
will be heard.  Something will go wrong.  It won't work."

She could have voiced any of her reasons, and they would be 
listened to.  The other figure was better at making plans, 
but she was better at implementing them.  She was 
adaptable.  He would listen to her.

But the only thing she said was "Yes, brother."

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

Rewind to about five minutes ago...

Kyouji opened his eyes slowly.  He was used to being woken 
up by a person, but the sun was awfully bright this 
morning.  Shielding his eyes, he rose slowly and looked to 
where Yumi was sleeping several feet away.  Going over to 
her, he gently shook her awake.

"Alright, Tsugiko, I'm getting up.  Wait, Kyouji?  Where's 
Tsugiko?"

The boy yawned before answering.  "I dunno.  She probably 
fell asleep on watch or something.  I'll go wake her up."

Before he could go, Yumi reached around him and brought him 
in closer for a kiss.

"What was that for?" asked Kyouji when it was finished.

"Do I need a reason to kiss my boyfriend?" responded Yumi 
cheerfully.  "Tsugiko could use some extra sleep anyway.  
Now, do that again."

They kissed for the second time, which is how Tsugiko found 
them.

"Hey lovebirds," she growled, "I'm going on ahead.  Catch 
up when you're done here, okay?"  So saying, she ran off 
across the fields.

"Oh damn," groaned Kyouji.  "We'd better go after her."

"Can't it wait for a little while?" asked Yumi.  "Just stay 
here with me for a few minutes.  Please?"

Kyouji looked at his girlfriend.  "But what about-"

"Forget about Tsugiko!  Just hold me, okay?"

Kyouji stopped and thought for a few seconds.  "Uh, Yumi, 
as pleasant as this is, we really need to make sure 
Tsugiko's alright."

Yumi sighed and released her grip on the boy.  "I know, I 
know.  I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."  She 
looked around cautiously.  "You stay here and pack up while 
I go bring Tsugiko back, okay?"

"Alright, but shouldn't we go look for her together?  
There's not that much stuff here."

"Well, maybe, but Tsugiko ran off that way."  Yumi pointed 
to illustrate.

"Uh... so?"

Yumi spun one hundred and eight degrees to point in the 
opposite direction.  "So the crystal shard is that way."

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

Tsugiko stopped running and fell into a crouch.  Seeing 
them like that... well, she had known it was going to 
happen, but seeing it first thing after her recovery was 
not the best of times.  It had hurt.  A lot.  She still 
wasn't over it yet.

But... she was working on it.  At least she wasn't moping 
around like an idiot about it and thinking how great Yumi 
was and how much they deserved each other.

"You've gotten a lot stronger since you came to this 
planet," a voice said from behind her.  A male voice.  A 
Twix voice.

Tsugiko rose to her feet and spun around.

"So have we," Twix said.

He and his sister were walking forward briskly, but leaning 
together to touch palms.  Yellow lightning crackled between 
their hands and the ground.

"For instance," said the female Twix, "our stamina is much 
greater now.  And do you know how hard it is to perform a 
summoning while moving?"

"Not as hard as you'd think," answered her brother.

Tsugiko desperately tried to remember why this particular 
form of summoning seemed so familiar.  There was something 
about it...

"Sorry, but this is the only way for us," the female Twix 
said.  Then they both took a deep, deep breath.  

"WINTERGREEN!" they shouted.

"Oh yeah, now I remember," thought Tsugiko.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

Yumi panted as she ran.  How far did Tsugiko run, anyway?

A flickering yellow light caught her attention slightly to 
her left.  Peering closer, it looked like there were people 
over there.  Two people holding hands, with yellow 
lightning running from their hands to the ground.

Yumi began to jog over to them.  It looked so familiar 
somehow...  She got close enough to see they were the Twix 
twins, and to see that they were talking with Tsugiko.  
Well, that was a relief, anyway.

Then she heard them shout the dark queen's name, and 
remembered.  Then she sprinted, wand ready and aimed.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

The creature was ugly as sin, Tsugiko thought as she stared 
down the beast.  It certainly wasn't Wintergreen herself, 
although it did bear a resemblance to her.  If you looked 
hard.

This... thing... had been altered completely.  Its skin was 
grey and hard as steel.  It now sported a mouth full of 
seemingly randomly placed fangs three inches long, all of 
which looked very deadly.  Of course, it couldn't close its 
mouth completely because if it did it would lacerate 
itself.  But it could mash those teeth together close 
enough so as to make no real difference.  Spittle dribbled 
through her mouth and made disturbing hissing noises when 
it hit the ground, leaving blackened patches of burnt 
grass.  Similar drops were falling off of the two-inch long 
fingernails that could more accurately be called claws.  
The Spear of Mint was already in two halves, and glowed 
with a blue light.  Tsugiko could see crackling lightning 
or something where the acid from the claws hit the glowing 
weapons.  The legs and arms were distended by about a foot 
each, just enough to give a definite sense of wrongness to 
the proportions.

And to top it all of, it had the eyes of a lizard.

"I remember you," said Tsugiko softly.  "You broke my 
crystal gem."

The beast hissed something that definitely wasn't words.  
Perhaps all those modifications had ended up removing some 
of its brainpower.

Tsugiko smiled.  A weeks worth of anger and frustration 
boiled over.  This was just what she needed: a chance to 
put all her depression and self-doubt behind her in a big 
explosion of satisfying violence against someone who had 
seriously ticked her off.

She wasn't better.

But she was working on it.

Two giant green wings unfurled from Tsugiko's back, and her 
hammer glowed even brighter green than her battle aura.

"Let's dance," she said, and struck.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

Kyouji realized the Twix twins were missing just before the 
knight protector danger sense flared up hard enough to give 
him an instant migraine.  He grabbed his sword 
instinctively and ran to where he knew his charges would 
be.

He was their protector.  He would not fail them.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

When she first got close enough, Yumi had fired a burst 
from her wand with as much power as she could muster.  It 
had burnt the creature's arm, but it didn't even seem to 
notice.  To make things worse, it had started healing the 
wound immediately, and it was gone in under thirty seconds.  
After that, Yumi watched the fight and concentrated all her 
powers on aiding Tsugiko.

It was a surprisingly close battle.  The creature had 
super-human speed and agility, more than anything the 
priestesses had seen before, but Tsugiko had wings and she 
used the mercilessly, bobbing around the sky and swooping 
down for an attack before retreating out of reach.  Of 
course, 'out of reach' didn't mean that much for a monster 
capable of jumping fifty feet in the air, and Tsugiko got a 
large wound in her side for not seeing that jump coming.

Yumi had healed it instantly, and the battle resumed like 
it had never stopped.

In general, Tsugiko was losing slightly.  Her hammer had 
massive strength, but the creature's strength was more than 
enough to block it, and it was hideously fast as well, 
often countering or attacking with both spears.  Tsugiko 
only suffered the one major wound, but dozens of smaller 
ones were made before they were be healed by Yumi.  Tsugiko 
got in a few hits as well, often by using her hammer's 
handle like a quarterstaff, but that damage was also healed 
quickly.

It was looking like this battle would be won by whoever had 
more endurance, and while Yumi wasn't being worked terribly 
hard and the monster didn't seem to know the meaning of the 
word "exhaustion," Tsugiko didn't look like she was going 
to last much longer.

This was turning out to be a really crappy first day of the 
rest of her life.

For one thing, it might also be the last one.

Then Tsugiko made a mistake.  Dropping low for an attack, 
she swung her hammer like an avenging angel, trying to 
break the creature's guard, or hopefully even arm.  
Instead, the thing dodged to the side and deflected the 
weapon away, leaving Tsugiko badly overcommitted.  She 
desperately tried to use her hammer's handle to attack and 
push her enemy back, but the assault was casually brushed 
aside as the monster tore through one of Tsugiko's wings 
with her spear.

Tumbling to the ground, the warrior priestess somehow 
managed to stay on her feet as her remaining wing 
dispelled.  Uncoiling like a spring, she swung her hammer 
around and smashed into the creature's guard, pushing her 
back several inches along the ground.

In the instant that followed, both combatants knew exactly 
what was going to happen.  Tsugiko in her mind, and the 
creature in the instinctive way that wolves know how 
helpless a deer is when you bite through the tendons in its 
legs.

Tsugiko had lost her wings.  Without those wings, she 
couldn't match the speed of the Wintergreen clone.

And that meant she couldn't evade the counter.

Giving a gross mockery of a smile, the creature threw 
Tsugiko's hammer away and slammed the halves of its Spear 
of Mint together before stabbed at the priestess hard 
enough to punch through a castle wall.

It came as a big surprise to Tsugiko when she realized she 
wasn't dead.

Instead, the spear rested point-first on a pink wall of 
energy.

"Tsugiko, run and get Kyouji!" yelled Yumi from where she 
was creating the shield.

"What about you?" yelled Tsugiko back.  Then she looked at 
what her enemy was doing.

The creature seemed like it was trying to figure out what 
had happened.  To Tsugiko, it seemed fairly obvious: Yumi 
had saved her with a wall of power.  The monster, however, 
didn't seem to be able to come to this conclusion.

After a few moments, it seemed to give up, and struck the 
shield again.  And again.  And again.

A plan began to form in Tsugiko's mind.  Stupidity could 
always be exploited, after all.

"Ghh... I can use the Argh! shield to protect myself Ugh!" 
yelled Yumi in between strikes against her wall.  She was 
clearly straining to keep it up, and it was already 
beginning to fade.

"Nevermind that, just keep this wall up as long as you 
can!" yelled back Tsugiko.  Setting her feet apart, she 
drew her hammer back behind her head into the classic pre-
attack stance.  All she needed to do was bring the hammer 
forward.

The hammer that was starting to glow very, very bright.

"I can't Guh! keep this up Ugh! forever!" screamed Yumi.

"Just a little longer!" yelled back Tsugiko.  Her hammer 
was now glowing brilliantly, so brightly you could barely 
tell it was also green.  It hurt the eyes to look at it.

The monster didn't seem to notice, and just kept pounding 
on the wall.  It was either very stupid, or very blind.  Or 
maybe it had special eyes that could easily tolerate 
extremely bright and dark light, so it couldn't be blinded 
either way.  Tsugiko thought a modification like that would 
fit in with the going theme of this creature, which seemed 
to be "everything as big and nasty as you can make it, 
whether it matters or not."

"I hope Argh! this works!" yelled Yumi.

"It will!" yelled back Tsugiko.  The shield was so faded it 
almost wasn't there, and her hammer was so bright you 
couldn't even look at it without sunglasses.  Really good 
sunglasses.

Three things happened in quick succession.  First, the 
monster broke the shield.  It just disappeared.  Second, 
the trail of pink light that had been connecting the shield 
to Yumi's wand snapped back and hit the girl like a mental 
rubber band, snapping her head back and sending her to the 
ground.

Third, Tsugiko swung her super-powered hammer down at the 
monster's head.  It barely managed to raise its spear up to 
defend against the blow.

It might as well have not bothered.

Tsugiko's hammer smashed the Spear of Mint into pieces 
before continuing downward into the spear's owner.  The 
monster's grey skin did nothing to stop the hammer from 
turning its head and body into mush before continuing into 
the ground, where it finally stopped.

But not before releasing enough energy to make a large 
crater and blow pieces of the monster thousands of feet 
through the air.

It would not be healing itself from that.

Tsugiko lay panting on the ground, hammer lying beside her.  
Yumi was in slightly better condition, once she recovered 
from the backlash, and was sitting up with her wand in her 
lap.

Tsugiko was the first one to speak.  She did so slowly and 
with great reverence.  "I... am... so... incredibly... 
good."

"Yeah, thanks to my shield."  Yumi smiled to make it clear 
it was a joke.  "Are you alright?"

"Never been better," said Tsugiko between pants.  "Just let 
me catch my breath."

"I meant mentally," said Yumi without even thinking about 
whether it was a good idea to ask that.

"Oh.  I'm okay."

"Oh, thank god."  Then Yumi paused and thought about it.  " 
This isn't another of those 'nothing's wrong' things, is 
it?  Are you really okay?"

Tsugiko thought about it for a second.  "No, not really.  
But I'm getting better.  Soon as Kyouji gets here, I... 
guess I should tell you guys what happened at 
Wintergreen's."

"She beat you, right?"

"Hah, you kidding?  Wintergreen's got nothing on me.  
Weren't you watching just n- YUMI LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!"

Yumi eeped and spun around as fast as she could to look up 
at an angry male Twix.  An angry male Twix with his sword 
drawn and raised over her head.

A pink bubble appeared around her just milliseconds before 
the sword would have cleaved her head.  Yumi fell backwards 
in shock as Twix began desperately hacking at the shield 
with very little effect.  His eyes didn't seem to be 
focusing right, and while Yumi did not have much contact 
with crazy people (or, as she called them, the mentally 
challenged) she was very sure she was looking at one right 
now.

"Damn you, die!  You have to die!" he yelled.  "It's the 
only way!  Wintergreen will have to reward us for that.  
She'll give us everything we ever wanted!  If we don't kill 
you, she'll hunt us down like animals!"

"But... you could join us..." said Yumi weakly.

"Join you?  Ha!  We know what happens to people who join 
you!  They die!  Like Winnis, right?  We won't go down like 
that!  We'll kill you and get the respect we deserve from 
everyone!"

With both priestess exhausted and distracted, it's 
completely understandable that they both missed the female 
Twix rising slowly behind Tsugiko, a knife held gleaming in 
her hand.  Aiming carefully, she stabbed Tsugiko in the 
heart.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

Kyouji looked around frantically.  His danger sense was 
going harder than ever before, so hard he couldn't even 
tell direction anymore.  Whatever was going on, it was near 
him, but he couldn't tell where.  He was practically 
running in circles trying to figure out where the other 
three were.

Suddenly, an explosion sounded off to his left.  Whirling 
to face it, he picked up speed.  It had come from behind 
one of the small rolling hills that covered this plain.

Somehow, it seemed fairly obvious that his friends were at 
ground zero.

When he crested the hill, his eyes were drawn immediately 
to two figures about five hundred feet away.  The female 
Twix, with her dagger halfway to Tsugiko's back.

In hindsight, Kyouji was never sure how much was him and 
how much was an effect of his knight protector powers.  But 
right then, all his confusion vanished and his mind focused 
on a single thought.  It was quite simple, really.

Tsugiko would have a dagger in her heart in about a quarter 
of a second.

He just had to be faster.

Taking off like a rocket, a blue aura exploded around 
Kyouji.  To his eyes, the entire world ahead of him took on 
a faint blue tint and slowed down like it was in molasses.  
Clods of earth were torn out of the ground and sent flying 
with each step.  He flicked a poppy into his hand and 
hurled it with all his might.

It took off like a streak of blue lightning, but then it 
too slowed down until it seemed to be moving no faster than 
him.  With a detached part of his mind, Kyouji realized he 
was still accelerating.  He turned his head and watched as 
the poppy fell behind him.  Interestingly enough, 
everything behind him was tinted red.

The knight protector didn't allow himself to think about 
that, though.  Swinging his head back forward, he saw Twix 
with her dagger already almost touching Tsugiko's back, and 
him still several hundred feet away.  Two more inches and 
Tsugiko would be dead, or at least too injured for even 
Yumi to heal.  At this rate, he wouldn't be in time.

So he speeded up.

He could feel the power seeping into his body, speeding him 
further.  He was already exhausted, but forced himself to 
move faster anyway.  The dagger had already entered 
Tsugiko's back, and he could see a few drops of blood 
leaving the wound.  Fifty feet left, and maybe only a few 
hundredths of a second left.

Kyouji exploded with a speed that surprised even himself, 
drawing his sword as he closed the distance.  Everything 
was moving slow, but maybe not quite slow enough.  He took 
one final leap and swung praying.

He had intended to use the flat of his blade to push Twix 
away from Tsugiko, and in that he was successful.  
Unfortunately, he forgot that he was moving hundreds of 
times faster than her at the moment, and his blade tore her 
body in half where it hit, throwing both pieces away, 
including the one with the blade still gripped in rigid 
fingers.

The power flowed out of Kyouji as he tumbled to the ground 
feeling like he had just run a marathon.  His body didn't 
want to move, but he forced his mouth to work.

"Tsugiko... are you... alright?"

Tsugiko stumbled forward and back onto her knees.  "People 
keep asking me that lately."  She winced and reached around 
to her back.  "Ow, my back hurts like hell.  Did you do 
that?"  She turned around and saw the two broken pieces of 
the female Twix, including the bloody dagger that somehow 
hadn't been shaken loose.  "What the hell just happened?"

A lone poppy shot overhead like blue lightning and 
disappeared into the distance.

"Kyouji!  Tsugiko!  What happened?" yelled Yumi from her 
pink bubble.  "What was that poppy?  Are you two alright?"

"Oh, Yumi, you're here too?" said Kyouji.  He lifted his 
head and looked at her.  "Why are you in a shield?"

"Because Twix is..."  Yumi looked around, and found the 
male Twix had disappeared, probably after seeing the death 
of his sister.  "No reason anymore, I guess," she said 
before deactivating her shield.  "Oh, Tsugiko, you're 
bleeding!" she realized before running over to heal her 
friend.  "What happened?" she asked as she poured pink 
healing light into the wound.

"That's what I want to know," grumbled Tsugiko.  "Well, 
Kyouji?  Got an explanation?"

"I... she... with a dagger..."  Kyouji stopped and took 
stock of the situation.  On the one hand, he was really 
tired.  On the other hand, he was REALLY tired.

"I'll tell you when I wake up," he said, before passing 
out.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

"So," said Tsugiko, "that's the whole thing that happened 
at Wintergreen's.  I let Twizzler out and got her 
reinstated, and because of that I lost my chance to get 
either Rollo or the shard.  It's why I wanted to leave 
before Krackle had a chance to get back, so I wouldn't have 
to tell him about my failure."

"Don't worry, we'll have another chance!" said Yumi.  "But 
are you really okay again?  We've been worried so much."

"I'm not exactly happy about it," Tsugiko replied.  "But 
I'm getting over it.  I just won't make the mistake again.  
Once we get that last shard, we'll kick Wintergreen's butt 
all over Mars, and I'll personally take anything she's done 
to Rollo out of her hide.  Nothing else we can do, really.  
Now it's your turn, Kyouji."

"Oh, I don't have much to say," Kyouji said humbly.  "I 
just followed my danger sense and used my powers to get to 
you in time."  He hung his head and looked sad.  "I think 
she knew it would end like this.  No, I'm sure she knew.  
She just didn't think there was any way out."  Yumi put a 
comforting hand on his shoulder, and he smiled back at her 
weakly.

Tsugiko smiled and turned to Yumi.  "So, now that we're 
done confessing, is there anything you'd like to share with 
us?"

Yumi was not normally a doubting person.  Even after coming 
to Mars, she had rarely doubted anything.  They were going 
to win and live and go home.  Nothing is unsolvable.  Deep 
inside, everyone is a nice person.

But now, in her mind...

"If you're not doing anything together, then he's not 
really your boyfriend, is he?" Akie had said.

"Oh, good," Kyouji had said, relieved he didn't have to go 
to Tsugiko as her boyfriend.

"Oh, Yumi, you're here too?" Kyouji had said, not even 
noticing she had been in danger too.

Kyouji had only been thinking about Tsugiko this whole 
week.  Even when they had been kissing this morning, he 
only wanted to check on her.

Hadn't he said the only reason he chose Yumi was because he 
lost the chance to be with Tsugiko?

"Maybe I fell in love with her," Kyouji had said to the 
Nestlings.

Was he really her boyfriend?  Did he even want her?  Was he 
just too scared to break up with her and chase Tsugiko 
instead?

"Nothing at all!" said Yumi cheerfully.  "I'm perfectly 
fine!"

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

                 Tsugiko's Journal, Day 7:

What's written here... it isn't me.  Whining and doubting 
and thinking about killing myself.  Torturing myself about 
my faults and mistakes.  It just isn't me.

I have a bit of a temper.  I get jealous sometimes.  I'm 
not as perfect as Yumi.  But I'm sure as hell not going to 
kill myself over it.  I'm not going to give up and become 
some crying ghost who sulks under a tree and stares into 
pits.

This journal was a mistake, and I'm going to burn it now.

>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<

That night, the ashes of Tsugiko's journal wafted into the 
sky as a small green flame consumed the paper.


>o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o< >o<


                   Author's Notes, Day 9:

That was an... interesting experience.  Notes come as I 
think of them.

I really only had one purpose: chart Tsugiko's decent into 
depression.  Why?  She just had Kyouji and Yumi hook up for 
real, tearing her heart out for the second time.  Then she 
went into Wintergreen's castle and couldn't have screwed up 
more if she had tried.  I think she's hit just about rock 
bottom there.

As for the Twix twins, I thought they should be brought 
back to do something useful, even if that something useful 
is getting killed.  Notice that I left the second one free 
to do whatever, which will probably be a suicide assault on 
the warriors for killing his sister, but who knows? 
(answer: future authors)

I did change a lot of things here.  I gave Mia a character, 
heavily implied who Teru chose (I happen to agree with 
Kyouji, but Teru hasn't actually confirmed or denied yet), 
killed off an important character, shook up Yumi and 
Kyouji's relationship... and that's just off the top of my 
head.  My justification is that SC will probably end in 
seven parts or less, so plot should be happening as quickly 
as they can before time runs out.

As for the power, Kyouji got a serious boost here, 
considering I gave him a slight Doppler shift (although if 
you do the math, you find out that Kyouji wasn't actually 
moving fast enough to deserve one).  For the record, 
Kyouji's ultra-speed can only be done over short distances 
and leaves him very drained.  Tsugiko fighting the uber-
clone almost evenly is probably less impressive than 
Kyouji's 500 m/s dash, but still pretty good.  Yumi's 
really been shafted as far as power goes, as she's mostly 
only good for healing and shielding the others and maybe 
taking out a few wimpy soldiers.  Such is the fate of the 
cleric, I guess.  I did let her heal Tsugiko's wounds from 
a fair distance (although most of them were just shallow 
cuts), so that helps a bit.

Krackel's meeting with Wintergreen prevented him from 
meeting back up with the crystal warriors to find out how 
things went.  I'm sorry if I didn't make that clearer.

Events went through several drafts, and there might be 
artifacts still remaining I didn't find.  If you find 
something that's blatantly contradicted later on... whoops.  
My bad.  The less important event is probably the wrong 
one.

I went out of my way to avoid saying where the next shard 
is.  I hope the next author appreciates the freedom, and 
doesn't want to lynch me for not giving a clear setting.

A lot of the conversations needed some tweaking, but I'm 
out of time here.  Sorry.  Teru and Akie especially didn't 
get the treatment they deserved in my opinion (although I 
hope others don't share it).

Tsugiko's journal was a pathetic plot device I used to get 
inside her head and chronicle her downward spiral without 
resulting to "Tsugiko thought" every other sentence.  I 
tried for subtlety and might possibly have succeeded.

This chapter name was inspired by the Boogiepop Phantom 
episode titled "The World Can be So Nice."  Anyone familiar 
with the show knows that, while it is possible for the 
world to be very nice, that particular episode certainly 
wouldn't be.

The last part of this was written after my wisdom teeth 
removal.  Ow.  If there's any typos (or, more accurately, 
when you find what typos there are), blame that and not me.  
Please.

That's all I can think of, so I hope it's everything I 
wanted to say.  Good night, Improfanfic.  I'm gonna go get 
hopped up on painkillers now.  

David Schwager, bemoaning the pain in his mouth.  My poor, 
poor teeth.