It had been so long. It hadn't changed much, this pristine
world of contrasts. Fitting, perhaps, that this time the
Cliffs of Fortarn felt different, though they hadn't changed
much at all. As always in situations like these, it was not
the long unvisited scenery that had changed, but the viewer.
This time, tie Traveler was alone in seeing this vista,
from this vantage point. A vantage point that had been shared
with another that last time. Perhaps that was why the view
seemed so reduced; without the company and shared awe of his
companion, it seemed empty rather than vast.

The last time, the first time, this view hadn't held any meaning
whatsoever - neither the awe that would be introduced by the
other, nor the vague disappointment that it now engendered because
its meaning had been lost, cheapened, killed but what the lone
Traveler now knew. The accursed knowledge that permeated his soul,
soaking it in what others, unenlightened, would call darkness.

The wind roared past in a constant stream of mournful cries,
whipping his long, unbound, hair out to his right like a blackened,
tattered banner. This was where the promise was made. This is
where it must be broken. All ties must be severed. What he now sought,
what he now knew, could not be shared. Not even with her. Most
especially not with her. Ignorance is bliss, and a mercy. For
ignorance of this spares one the need for the chase.

He held his right hand before his eyes, examining the small,
coin-like object he held. A simple enough toy from Hetticus,
one that would hardly create a stir even on this primitive
world, normally. But, already, the change was upon him.
He could use this in a way never intended by its makers,
amplify it, warp it. The promise site will be no more.

So wrapped up in his own thoughts, and the magnitude of what
he was about to do, that he failed to notice the arrival of...


*************************************
One of Those Shops

Started by Farsan de Arnibia
This Chapter by Segev

Chapter 8, Branch A
-----------------------------
I Can Not Return, I Can't Start Again

**************************************


The door beeped shut behind yet another browser who didn't want anything.
Reia sighed, "That's the third person to come in as many days, and none
of them have bought anything."

"Yeah," agreed Miro, "I guess there's no real reason to stay here any
longer. Mise, are there any Requests?"

"No, Master, there aren't. We have plenty of time and energy for you
to go visit your Mother."

"Um, yeah." Miro grabbed the back of his neck and just stood there for
a few moments.

Reia flinched internally at Mise's reference to Miro as "Master". It
was their relationship, it did _not_ carry _that_ implication. She
wasn't even real. No need to be jealous. Not that she was jealous.
Why would she be? "You almost sound like you don't want to see your
mother, Miro." Well, maybe she was being a bit snippy.

Miro winced. "N-no, it's not that, it's just, well... never mind."
He trailed off into mumbles for a moment, then turned to the winged
girl. "Can you take us back to where I first met you, Mise?"

The black head bobbed, and there was a very brief, slight disorientation.
Miro, who had been holding onto the counter in anticipation, let go,
looking relieved. "That wasn't so--" he began, suddenly cutting off as
another lurch shook the store and threw the two human occupants to the
floor. When they picked themselves back up, Mise and the rest of the Shop
seemed not to have experienced any such shock.

"What was that?" demanded Miro as he dusted himself off and helped Reia
to her feet.

Mise looked confused. "The transition to your home universe, Master."

"Then, what was the first little jerk?"

Mise looked sheepish as she explained, "We were only partially in the
crossroads of the universes, and had to finish the shift there, first.
It was only a small jump. The one to your world was much bigger, by two
orders of magnitude. Though, you can make it feel smoother, if you just
concentrate, Master." Her tones had shifted from apologetic to lecturing
somewhere in there, but Miro chose not to pursue the issue any further.

He looked around the shop, and looked out the window, then looked at the
shop again. Definite mismatch. "Hm...better redecorate. Again. Coming up
with new stuff for the shop in each location is tiring." He began walking
around the shop, dragging his fingers along the smooth polymer shelves,
vanishing the futuristic toys arrayed upon them. "Well, first thing is
to make the setting more native. At least I have a fairly good idea what
shops look like here."

Reia watched, fascinated as the items vanished, and the shelves transformed
from something she couldn't identify into polished wood, following his
trailing finger. After about ten minutes of this, the entire shop was empty,
with the counter faced in glass with shelves inside, and the floor tiled
in some sort of very smooth stone. The transformation complete, Miro stood
in the middle of the main room and studied his handiwork.

A pensive look stole over his face. "Hm...I think I'll try a different
approach this time." He held his hand, palm up, before his mouth, and
blew. Dust streamed from his palm, swirling about the shop. Everything
was covered in it, coated a centimeter thick. Cobwebs filled the corners
of shelves, and the old-fashioned cash register on the glass counter.
"There, that should do it."

Miro turned to see Mise and Reia's reactions, only to find Reia suffering
from a sneezing fit. Which quickly proved to be contagious, as Miro 
succumbed
as well. Mise smiled, and snapped her delicate fingers. All of the dust
settled out of the air, instantly, allowing Miro and Reia to clear their
noses. "Impressive, Master. You're getting better at redecorating. But,
why a bare, dusty shop?"

"Ah..." smiled Miro, "This is my attempt at being mysterious. That, and
people are less likely to try to break into a shop that appears to have
nothing. We don't want to draw attention, except from customers. Who will
be drawn in by curiosity."

"Right. But we're going to be closed for a bit, at least, right, Miro?"

The Shopkeeper turned to his familiar. "Huh?"

Reia's gaze turned hard. "We're going to see your mother, remember? The
reason we're here in this world?"

"oh," replied Miro. "Oh. Oh! Right. To see my mother. Um...well, I think
everything's in order here." He looked around nervously again, then
walked over to the front window to hang a suddenly extant "Closed" sign
up. Suddenly, Reia took his arm and opened the door, pulling him out. He
quickly turned to the bemused winged girl. "Um, don't let anyone in, and
try to hide your wings, okay!" he called out through the quickly closing
door as he was dragged away.

******

Smart business coat thrown carelessly on the bed. Scattered next to it,
bobby pins. Yukiri Masa sat by the phone in her room, eyes staring into
space vaguely near the muted television. The telephone is on the bed, as
well, moved closer to hand than its normal position on the night stand.

*ring* *ring*

Her hand shoots out, grabbing the phone and moving it to her ear faster
than most eyes can follow. "Hello!?"

A pause while someone speaks. Another pause while the woman's face calms
from worried excitement to detached annoyance. "No. No, Mark, I don't want
to go out tonight. Don't call and tie up the line. What if the police
called? ... ... no ... no, I am sure. Stop it. DON'T CALL ME AGAIN!" The
phone slams down on the hook with a pained *bing!*.

"Miro, where did you go? Even if you have failed again, that's no reason
not to come home. Not to tell me what happened to you..."

The front door opened an closed. Yukiri froze. An intruder. Well, she'd
been waiting for someone to rip into. This would do well enough.

******

Miro stood outside the door to his house. Reia prodded him. "Go on, what
are you waiting for?"

Shaking his head, Miro nodded. "Right. It just feels so strange, like this
was someone else's life. Things have changed so much."

"Tell me about it," muttered his companion.

He reached for the knob, and paused. "Reia, can you wait out here for a
few minutes? This whole story is going to be a lot for Mother to absorb,
and I'd like to prepare her before introducing you. She barely accepted
Rikura," he said, smiling as if it were a joke.

Reia nodded, hesitantly. "O... kay. I can wait a bit."

Taking a deep breath, Miro opened the door and stepped inside.

It really hadn't changed much. Though it did seem a bit cleaner. And there
wasn't any odor of tobacco - she got rid of that boyfriend, then. He 
suddenly
wondered just how long it had been, since it would have taken a while for
that smell to have gone so completely. He was interrupted in these musings
as he came to a T in the hall, and a swishing something descended right in
front of his face. The bat smashed into the floor. He followed the bat up
to the arm holding it, then up to the frighteningly familiar, yet mad, face
of the bearer of the ineptly wielded weapon. "M-mother!?"

Recognition crossed her face, followed by several emotions that Miro 
couldn't
follow fast enough to identify. She was still dressed in her work suit, 
though
it was a bit disheveled, as if she were trying to get comfortable, but 
hadn't
yet decided to get into her pajamas for the evening, as was her wont. "Miro?
Is that you?"

He nodded, dumbstruck for a moment. "I- "

"Where have you been, you moron!? It's been nearly two weeks! Not calling!
Not coming home! Not even writing! A letter could have arrived by now, not
that you would think of such a thing. What's the matter, got tired of being
a failure and admitting it to me? Where's that loser friend of yours, that
Rikaru? She's run away too, I hear. You to go get shacked up? I bet you
still don't have a job, do you? You're a failure, just like your father,
and you'll always be one! You should have come home after failing, but, no,
you weren't smart enough to realize that. You couldn't admit your failure,
your weakness anymore, could you, stupid? And those clothes! Where did you
get such a ridiculous outfit? Dressing up like some anime character! Just
the sort of thing I'd expect from an idiot like you!"

Miro stood there, shocked. He expected a tirade, and had been ready to let
it wash over him, but the sheer venom and violence of this was more than
he was expecting. He didn't even know where to begin to interrupt, to
explain. She wasn't giving him a moment to cut in. It was all he could do to
hold his ground while the gale force of her invectives swirled around him.

Reia stood outside, getting a bit chilled in the cooling evening air. This
world of Miro's was every bit as strange as the last one they were in, in
its own way. Those beasts that carried people on the inside were 
fascinating,
but moved at speeds that terrified her. And it looked enough like her own
world that she did not wish to be out in the open, alone, when night fell.
It had been long enough, Miro should have had time by now.

She opened the door and stepped inside. Immediately, she was assaulted by
a loud, angry voice shouting words she could not understand. She ran to
see what was wrong, and skidded to a stop right beside Miro, who was
standing flabbergasted in the face of a woman who looked much to small to
be doing the imitation of a bar keeper, and doing it that well. Heck, she'd
seen _men_ who weren't this frightening. Like poor Miro, here.

Yukiri noticed the girl who suddenly appeared behind her prodigal son, and
expanded her fury to include her, as well. "Oh! I see now! This is the 
trollop
you've been out gallivanting around with! She's hardly dressed at all! how
indecent! Hanging around with girls like this - she's even more worthless
than that Rikaru friend of yours! Women of loose morals like this have led
much better men than you down paths to ruin! You pathetic, sad, foolish boy!
I can't believe that I could give birth to someone stupid enough to fall for
a slut like this." All of her worry, all of her pent up fears for her son
were pouring out in this hideous mockery of what she felt for him, but, 
caught
up in it, Yukiri couldn't stop herself. All of her anger at the man who had
left her and her boy came bubbling to the surface, buoyed by the sorrow of
the last couple weeks. And now, it boiled over to scald her and her son.
"You will never amount to anything! ANYTHING! And you, you WORTHLESS whore!
Latching onto my idiot son. Well, I know your type, you'll try to suck him 
dry.
But you've outsmarted yourself - not that that's probably very difficult - 
he's
as much of a failure as you are, and won't ever be anything more!"

Reia put a supportive hand on Miro's shoulder, and moved her gaze back and
forth between this woman - she supposed she must be his mother - and him,
watching their faces. She couldn't understand what the woman was saying;
she didn't seem to be speaking the same language. When her scorn seemed to
expand to include her, however, Miro's face became still more shocked. His
eyes shot to her, then back to his mother, and his expression slowly
altered. The resigned shock became first more hurt, than, offended.
Suddenly, the hand away from Reia darted up and slapped the woman across
the face hard enough to leave a mark, cutting her off mid-rant. The sudden
silence was deafening, as Miro held his hand loosely between himself and the
woman. They both stared at it as at some alien thing.

Then, without saying a word, Miro grabbed Reia's arm and ran from the house.
The former barmaid swore she saw a single droplet of water fly from Miro's
face and back into hers as he pulled her along and out of the house as
quickly as he could.

Yukiri watched her son leave, too shocked to even form a coherent thought,
let alone acknowledge the dawning pain of having driven her son away again.

******

Alea held up one hand, signaling Rikura to stop.

Rikura complied, leaning down. Alea reached out, bending a branch

slightly, to give her and Rikura a good view of the oncoming terrain.
The wind was loud, bending everything beneath it, except for the lone figure
visible, standing on the edge of a protruding cliff.

Who was unaware of the two watching him.

"That's Reill, right?", whispered Rikura.

Alea nodded silently. "I'm going."

That said, Alea stood up. The high winds took hold of her unbound hair
as she approached the cliff, whipping it about wildly.

Rikura stared starry-eyed at the dramatic moment before standing to follow.

Though the noise of the wind must have drowned out even the sounds
of Rikura's heavy armor, let alone the cat-like approach of the leaf-
clad Alea, the black-haired figure turned away from the cliff, holding
his hands in the air in the manner of invocation. He paused when his
eyes locked on the two approaching girls.

"Reill!" called Alea, "What are you doing, Reill!? We promised each
other here! Don't you remember?" She had to shout over the sounds of
the environment, but the man seemed to have understood.

His voice, rather than being drowned by the wind, seemed carried on it,
amplified, so that his simply speaking was carried to Rikura's waiting
ears. "Alea. I told you, we never were. The promise we made...I don't
want to break it. So it will never have been made. You cannot know
what it is I seek. Not truly. Nor would you want to. Really, leave me,
Alea. I do this to sever our ties, to spare you. Do not follow any more.
What we had was a lie. You mustn't be destroyed along with it."

"No!" cried Alea, still fighting the wind and rushing towards the beautiful
man. "We promised, Reill! Right here, on this cliff!"

Reill smiled, and leapt backwards off the cliff. Rather than fall, the
wind caught him, bearing him up, swirling his black hair about him. The
light of the sun shone through it in radiant beams, lending him an
almost angelic air. "No, Alea. The promise, this place, you and me...
never were." He threw his head back and released a terrible cry that
shook the winds, bade the land to tremble, and smote reality itself with
its fury. Something in his right hand gleamed, pulsed in time to the
cry, unleashing a glorious light that blinded the young women.

Rikura reached the stunned Alea just as the light reached the two of them,
and activated her armor's Really Fancy Force Field (tm). The light flared
around them for an instant that seemed like an eternity - and yet was
literally over before it began. When it cleared, the scenery was largely
unchanged, save for two things: Reill was gone; and so was the cliff.
The land was smooth and seamless.

Rikura let her Really Fancy Force Field (tm) drop, and Alea fell to her
knees. "Why, Reill? Why did you do it?"

"Ano...Alea?" Rikura hesitantly asked. It was obvious that the Traveler
was in emotional pain, but this did seem like something that needed to
be known. "What did he _do_? I mean, was he a Traveler, too? Can you
all do things like that?"

The blond stared, broken-eyed, at the pristine scenery of the grassland
surrounding them. "I don't know how he did it, but he altered time itself.
The Cliffs of Fortarn, the place of our promise, never existed. If you
hadn't protected us...we wouldn't remember them. I wouldn't remember the
promise. He unmade it! Breaking it wasn't enough! Why did you do it,
Reill? Why did you become a Mad One? Why won't you..." she broke down
into incoherent sobs.

Rikura knelt beside her distraught friend, and put a comforting arm over
her shoulder. "It will be okay. Honest. It will. I'm still your friend.
What promise did you guys make, anyway?"

The haunted gaze that Alea turned on her sent shivers down the
Shopkeeper's spine. "To never forsake each other, never abandon each
other, no matter the cost. To always include the other, and share our
risks and triumphs. And now, he has abandoned me. Unmade our sacred
oath. What could he have found that would cause him to do that?"

******

The door to Miro's Shop opened as they approached. Miro had released her
once they had left his mother's house, but had kept running, wiping his
eyes furiously. Reia followed as best she could. It wasn't too difficult,
she was more physically fit than he.

When they got inside, he slamed the door shut behind him with a furious
gesture. He collapsed to the floor, where he shook. Reia tried to put
a comforting hand on his back, but Mise shook her head warningly. "He's
furious," she mouthed.

After a moment, he calmed and pulled himself to his feet. "I'm so sorry,"
he said, his back still to the other two occupants of the room. "Reia,
I'm so sorry she said those things to you. You don't deserve them.
She's...well, she is usually like that, but not normally so bad. And then
I couldn't speak up against her. I- I don't know how to..."

"Miro, don't," she interupted. "No, don't appologize. It's not your fault.
I couldn't understand her anyway. What she said doesn't matter, because I
couldn't be offended by something I don't understand, right?"

Mise nodded knowingly. "She doesn't have the Shopkeeper's Tongue," she
whispered, not intending that anyone should hear her.

Miro turned finally, and regarded Reia. His eyes were still a bit cloudy,
and evidence of wiped tears was clear on his face. But his voice was steady
now. "Still, I'm sorry, Reia. Mise, get us out of here. I don't care where,
just away from this universe. Now."

******

Author's Notes: Whoo! I did it! Most of this was written today. So, I
appologize for the brevity, but it does contain everything I could think
of to do.

Deal with Jex's cliffhanger: Check.

Deal with Miro's mother: Check.

His mother was an interesting excercise for me, as I am not good at that
sort of psychology. She really doesn't mean those terrible things she
says to her son, but rather can't help but spew them at him when she is
reminded of his father - as she is whenever she looks at him and sees him
without a job, without a future. Combine that with being almost crazy with
worry, and you get the tirade from this chapter. Whether she ever shows up
again is entirely up to future authors, but she's really done it now. Miro
has no real reason to ever come back, and she still doesn't actually know
where he's been or what he's been doing. The time spent away I arbitrarilly
determined because the time differential of Hetticus was never established.
So there.

The title of the chapter is actually a line from a VNV Nation song: Rubicon.

I also had a little fun with the Traveler plot, and Rikura, even though 
Rikura
seemed to be more of a spectator in that, this time. Oh, well. Next author 
up!

Good luck, Smlee.

Thanks to Chamaeleon for the extension, Smlee and Jex for advice/feedback, 
and
Smlee for prereading.

On to the Epilogue!

******

The Crossroads. A place without a real name, because it didn't really
exist. But both Shops and Travelers had to come here eventually, as
they traversed the planes. It was a small place, infinitely vast
but without dimension. Even so, chance encounters were rare. Reill
should, perhaps, then, been surprised to find a platinum blond man
standing in the middle of the way. And he would have been, had this
encounter been chance. "Do you have it?"

The blond nodded.

"Give it to me. Now."

The green-eyed figure tossed a bag that landed heavily at the Traveler’s
feet. He stooped, and took it, examining its contents.

"Good. You have kept your part of the bargain."

The man in the archaic garb held out his hand expectantly. Reill drew
his weapon, pointing it at the figure. With a swift underhand motion,
he threw it at the other man, who caught it one-handed. Placing it
somewhere in his clothing, the green-eyed blond smiled, his eyes flashing
red for a moment. With a gesture, he tore open a Gate, and was gone.

The Traveler collected his package, and began his long journey through
no space, trying to forget what it was that had changed him so much.

The gleaming reflected light in the Red shadow...