As Rumiko was being briefed of the situation, and as he and Megan were being driven from the Peaceland Jump Shuttle station to Peace Castle, he began to wonder at just what it was they were hoping to accomplish with the trap. It had been conceived by his genius wife, that was no mistake, but now Rumiko wondered if the plan had been developed fully before it had been placed in action. The baiting was simple enough, and had been the bulk of the plan, from what he could recall. But now, he wondered what the point had been. Did they really just want to know who it was? Rumiko thought the point had been to catch them, but, as he watched the flurry of people that swarmed the halls of Peace Castle, he wondered if such an idea had been in the original recipe for the actions that had taken place that day.

All through the trip, Megan had been nearly silent. Rumiko could not figure out why. He would have imagined she was worrying greatly over the girl that she had been more than acquainted with. However, Megan kept her mouth shut, her focus far away, and her mind churning. Rumiko silently wished he was Magus's Rage rather than Calm and able to read her mind and guide her back into the land of the living.

Rumiko was almost immediately approached by a man dressing in a blue golfing shirt and black jeans. He noticed Rumiko out of the corner of his large green eyes and interrupted his conversation with a technician to meet up with Rumiko. He brushed a loose and straight strand of blue hair behind his ear, and then bowed his head quickly before stretching a hand out. "Your Excellency. Jacob Shaw, Law Enforcement Sheriff here in Peaceland."

Rumiko took his outstretched hand as he recognized the high-pitched voice of a man that was clearly as young as he had sounded on the phone. "Yes, you called us to come as quickly as we could." He pointedly glanced at Megan, who merely nodded her head, not appearing to pay much attention to Sheriff Shaw. Rumiko twisted his mouth to the side, then drew his attention back to the man before him. "We're aware of the basics of what happened, but we need closer details. They came in..."

"They came in in the dining room; here, I'll take you there." Sheriff Shaw led them around a maze of news cameras and reporters, technicians, and crime scene investigators. They got from the hall to a large set of double doors, which were wide open, but blocked off by yellow police tape. Sheriff Shaw bent under the tape and held it up for both Rumiko and Megan to also crouch under. Rumiko dusted off his ubiquitous silver robes, and looked about the dining room. The three of them were hardly the only ones present; the room was buzzing with scientists armed with Bose particle sensors, investigators searching for any sign of physical evidence, and apparently also more than one person interrogating the silver-haired princess. Rumiko's lips parted. Ruri.

Megan's gaze found the source of his own with a gasp. She turned to the Peaceland sheriff and her husband in question. "I need to..." Rumiko knew what she meant. He cut her off with a nod. Her blue eyes welled up as she lifted her purple skirts and rushed over to the girl, sweeping her into a smothering hug. The embrace was held for nearly a full minute before Megan said something to Ruri, something Rumiko couldn't hear. The two of them then retreated from the dining room. Rumiko felt the corners of his mouth twitch. Megan had truly been worried about the girl they had set up as bait in her ingenious trap. It wasn't until Ruri was truly in danger that Megan realized what her plan entailed.

Sheriff Shaw cleared his throat. "Is she going to be all right?"

Rumiko nodded, focusing on the task at hand. "Yes. My wife can sometimes be emotional. She also looks to the princess as family." He shook his head. "Think not on it." Rumiko glanced around the room. "Where did they come in from?"

Sheriff Shaw raised a thin blue brow in question. "I thought you were aware... They Jumped into the room."

It took all of Rumiko's strength to keep from rolling his eyes. Did they think that because he was Ninlandish, he was an idiot? "I understand that. But the point in the room they were in when they Teleported in, where is it?"

Realization spread over Sheriff Shaw's tan face until it reached his widened eyes. "Oh. I... I didn't realize. I'm sorry." He smiled humorlessly and reached up to scratch his head. "I'm still not completely clear about how this Boson Jumping thing works."

Rumiko softened with a sigh. Not many did. "For obvious reasons, perhaps you should find out. That is the form of transportation those who took your queen employed."

Sheriff Shaw closed his eyes and nodded. "I know. I understand. I meant no disrespect, to neither you nor Her Majesty."

Rumiko only hummed a response as Peaceland's sheriff pulled himself together. He walked around a table and past a frighteningly large and dried puddle of a rusty, ruddy brown that bordered on red. Blood, Rumiko thought. He shook his head. He really wished that they would not come to regret the use of Megan's plan. "Was the queen unharmed when she was taken?"

Sheriff Shaw nodded his head quickly, almost too quickly. "As far as we know. Her Highness, the princess, only saw who the intruders were, but our camera recordings show only minimal discomfort applied to Her Majesty before she was spirited away." He sighed heavily, shakily. "You do not suppose the queen has been hurt, wherever she has been taken?"

Rumiko shook his head. "There is no way to tell, now. I do not believe so, as this is the first time they've taken a prisoner. They truly wanted the princess, not the queen." He sighed himself. "We must simply hope that they will not believe that Queen Gwynth is an acceptable substitute."

The sheriff swallowed harshly before gesturing with a wide swoop of his arm toward the area between the large and long oak dining table and the stone wall. "They came in somewhere over here. We're not exactly sure where-"

"I am," Rumiko interrupted. The room clearly sparkled in two very different colors, though both were beginning to fade: white, for Ruri's escaping Teleport; and silver. The white was centralized closer to the other side of the room, while the more opaque silver was in the area that the sheriff had indicated. "I hate to tell you how to perform your own profession, Sheriff Shaw..."

Sheriff Shaw waved a hand in front of his nose. "Apology isn't necessary, Your Excellency. As you said, it would be prudent of me to understand the Jumper's arts, if only to aid in apprehending them."

Rumiko hummed, then spoke. "Very well. You would do well to hire some with vision."

"Uh... with all due respect, most of our officers have the ability to see."

"Tch. I meant, the ability to see magic, Sheriff. Signatures denoting magical use or even Teleportation sites. Even if they cannot read them, being able to see them would be enough to know that a mage was involved in the crime, whatever it may be." Rumiko then knelt beside the silver patch in the wooden floor. Before he allowed the sheriff to reply, he held his hands over the silver that only he could currently see and closed his eyes. With his eyes shut, he felt every bit of left over magic used for Teleportation, every particle. He could turn them over in his hands and feel them, observe them, and look over them with his mind and power as he read what was there.

A darkened office room. A potted plant in the corner, a fancy desk with a simple laptop on the surface. No picture frames adorned the desk, but instead plants that reached across the surface of the desk to each other, like struggling lovers. The room smelled of soft pine and lemon: it had been recently cleaned. The darkness was so deep that it was not merely of a lack of light, but also of the lack of day shining between the blinds of the wide windows that covered the far wall.

It made no sense. There should not have been a signature here. Miss Won was no mage; instead, she would be dependent on the Teleportation powers of Onikirimaru Kaguya, former captain of the Gardenia and Erina's lover and accomplice. But Miss Onikirimaru was Magus's Calm, much like Rumiko: endowed with the ability to copy elemental magic, lacking in the ability to leave signatures. To speak truth, Rumiko felt as if he should have suspected a copy mage all along, if only because the signatures were inconclusive.

But they weren't inconclusive. Each one had pointed at Misumaru Yurika as the killer. It was her signature that claimed dominance in each Teleportation site. But she was dead.

Each was Yurika's, Rumiko considered, then moved away from trying to find the source of this particular Teleportation site, which was clearly where they had come in from. Instead, knowing full well who had created the site, he looked to who the site claimed was the creator. The question of "Who?" resonated throughout Rumiko as he queried the spot, not expecting an answer.

However, an answer came, albeit slowly. Blue-violet hair, aqua green eyes, a smile that barely ever quit, and a pathological fear of the cold. A genius strategist, an attractive young lady, and a hopeful future wife. Rumiko's eyes slid open slowly as he knit together his dark eyebrows. Yurika. It just wasn't possible. Yurika was dead. Undeniably, absolutely dead. For weeks. How could there still be Teleportation sites still claiming her creation?

"Your Excellency?" Sheriff Shaw had crouched down beside him and placed a hand on his silver robes. Rumiko was shocked out of his contemplation like a man woken up suddenly. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Rumiko winced at his own tone. The sheriff was simply trying to do his job. It wasn't his fault that things suddenly had stopped making sense. "Where did they leave from?"

Sheriff Shaw smiled; an odd expression for him, Rumiko decided. "That one we know for sure." He walked around the table to the head of it, beside what appeared to be an overturned chair. Rumiko couldn't tell. While the white on the other side of the room was fading, and the silver of the previous spot fading even faster, this one was fresh. Very fresh. So fresh that it was nearly blinding to look upon. Rumiko squinted his amber eyes as he nodded to the sheriff. Just like at the last site, he knelt beside it and held both hands over it.

This Teleportation site was much more important than the previous one. This one would tell the destination that they had Teleported to, so that they could send appropriate people to handle what Rumiko hoped would only be a hostage situation, rather than another killing. The other one was just to tell him where they had come from, which Rumiko could only assume was one of their own offices at Nergal Heavy Industries. It didn't really matter where they came from, to speak truth. His hands felt clammy. This would be the one that counted.

He brushed his thoughts away and instead focused on trying to read the destination of this particular site. He could feel the air thick with the magic, the things that Earthling science said were particles that allowed for Teleportation and magic use. Rumiko knew them only as the tell-tale signs that someone had, in fact, used this place in space as a launch site. He could nearly feel the individual particle trace over his pale skin. He curled his fingers, flexing them as he threaded them through the strands of invisible, but infinite power. His eyes slid closed as he beckoned with his mind. Come, and share what you know, he persuaded. Much like the pages of a book, the particles that he now cupped with both hands would tell him very much about the events that had taken place, but not with words or ink. Instead, with images.

And it was images that came to his mind, hitting all of his senses with the force of a hammer. The air was somewhat colder than he was used to, even for one from the distant Ninlan, but the air was nonetheless clear of moisture. It was a clear and bright day, with an orange sky that Rumiko could only assume meant that it was nearing sunset. Wind ruffled his black strands as the scent of rust made his nose cringe. All around him was a ground that was somehow even redder than the sky, and littered with debris. There were homes that were hollowed out and roofless. Metal machines of various sorts lay crumpled and half-buried in the deep red sands. In the distance, a large and colorless monolith with the top shaped much like a Ninlandish cup-flower towered over all and shed long shadows across the wide and barren expanse.

Rumiko's eyes flew open like someone had surprised him, and he allowed his hands to fall limply to his knees. He stared into the silver patch of particles and magic, unable to conceive of what he had seen. He had, after all, only ever been to Ninlan and Earth. And there was no place on either, to his knowledge, that looked so. Rumiko took a deep breath through his mouth, not able to remember the last time he had breathed. The air around his was crisp and clean, not dust-ridden, and it was slightly air-conditioned, but not so much that he shivered under his silver robes.

"...Your Excellency?" Sheriff Shaw's words broke through Rumiko's thoughtless concentration. Rumiko blinked and closed his lax mouth with indignation. He raised his face up to the young man that sought only to retrieve his queen. A fool, perhaps. There was no simple way to inform this man of the truth.

"I don't know where they took her, sheriff."

Shaw visibly drooped, his eyebrows the only thing on his person to stay absolutely clenched. He even worked to shut his mouth by swallowing, but there was no way to keep it so. Green eyes were disbelieving, and distrusting. "They said you would be able to determine where they went. They said that if no one else could read the signature, you could." Rumiko sighed and pulled off his glasses, closing his eyes as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. He reveled in sightlessness before he replaced them upon his nose. Shaw's voice took on a hint of a whine. "I have to save my queen, Emperor Adagio! What am I to do?"

Rumiko narrowed his eyes. "First off, you could quit your sniveling. It's unbecoming of an authoritative official to drop his resolve in front of his men." Rumiko gestured to all of the security and police professionals that still scurried about the room and palace. Some quickly turned away, to not let it be known that they were watching and listening, but only giving away their prior actions. "Next, you could listen to my words rather than your fears. Whoever told you I could read it, well, 'they' were right. I could read it. That's not the problem."

Shaw dropped all sense of respect as he crossed his arms and glared at the raising emperor. "Then what is the problem, Your Excellency?"

Rumiko sighed with a slight growl under his breath. He was not in the mood for a pissing contest with this spoiled child. "The problem, my dear sheriff, is comprehension. I've never seen nor been to the place that they have been. So, while I can see it, I do not know where it is."

"Well, isn't that just wonderful for us?"

Rumiko truly was beginning to dislike this man and his tone. "If you would like to rescue your queen," he hissed from behind clenched teeth, "you'll shut your flapping mouth and hide your wagging tongue. Your anger and worries will get us nowhere." Shaw blinked and took a step back, surprised. Noting that the officer was finally listening, Rumiko pulled himself to his feet. "Luckily for you all, I happen to know someone who has had extensive training in reading magical signatures, and has been to many more places than I have." Without another word to Shaw, Rumiko walked right out of the dining room with a slight stomp in his step, crouching underneath the yellow crime tape physically guarding the dining room from people who would do nothing more than get in the way of those that wanted to both capture the killers and rescue the Peaceland queen.

Rumiko found Megan and Ruri seated on a wooden bench very similar to the pews in the First Pentakami Church that he and Megan were married in. They were talking softly, but the conversation came to an abrupt stop as Rumiko approached. Ruri noticed him first, her amber eyes shifting from Megan's face to Rumiko. Megan noticed this change in attention and turned to see Rumiko standing almost directly behind her. She said nothing, but only twitched her purple brows in question. Her face was somewhat flushed, as were the white of her blue eyes. Rumiko felt sorrow at not being able to comfort his wife just now. Instead, there was something a touch more important than her emotions. Someone's life was, after all, in the balance.

"Megan," he began, and then stopped. How could he admit to not knowing the destination in question? "I... read the signature, but I don't know the location. Perhaps..."

Megan nodded wordlessly, cutting him off as she rose from her seat as gracefully as she could. She looked down to Ruri once more, patting Ruri's pale hands in her own. She offered her a small smile before turning away and heading into the dining room.

Rumiko and Megan nearly ran into Shaw as he was lifting the crime tape to follow Rumiko into the great hall. A faint blush marred his cheeks almost instantly. "Your Excellencies, I..."

Rumiko narrowed his eyes at the childish man. "My wife, Empress Megan Adagio of Ninlan may be able to determine the location of your queen, or at least where her captors went from this room." Megan gave a very small bow of her head before she ducked in the tape, with Rumiko following. Shaw had learned his lesson; he stood out of the way and allowed for the rulers of Ninlan to make their entrance.

Megan looked to Rumiko again in question, and he pointed in the direction of the departing signature. Megan nodded and walked over there, swerving and weaving her way around others who were taking the more usual measurements and surveys. Rumiko took a moment to watch her progress, then followed her, reaching the signature patch just as she had knelt before it. Megan rolled her shoulders as she closed her eyes and tilted her head back, then held her hands over the silver patch, which was slowly fading, but still more sharply colored than its twin on the other side of the room.

Though Megan's own position was much like Rumiko's as he read the signature, there was a different look upon her face. Rumiko knew that when he read, he scrunched up his face in concentration. Megan, on the other hand, was the very image of serenity, looking much like she had gone to sleep, if it weren't for the fact that her hands were held rigidly and hovering over the signature. Rumiko could swear that it was growing darker by the second as she read it.

Finally, her eyes fluttered open and her hands came to rest upon the purple fabric of her dress. She looked up to both Rumiko and Sheriff Shaw, who had been standing by to hear her determination. With widened blue eyes, she shook her head. "You're not going to believe it."

Rumiko wet his lips with his tongue in anticipation. He cleared his throat. "Yes?"

Megan pulled herself slowly to her feet, brushing any dust out of her skirts. "They went to the ruins of the Utopia Colony. On Mars."

It was a pastime she hadn't truly indulged in since before she went to live with her grandmother, before her mother died and her father committed suicide.

Since then (or even before then, she couldn't quite remember so far back), she had retreated only to art. Art didn't require a fine hand and patience. It could, at times, but Hikaru never found herself lacking with a pencil, pen, or brush in her hand. Plus (if she was careful), it didn't make quite as much of a mess. Still, even though she hadn't quite played with her dominos since she was relatively young, she had always carried a pack or two with her, just in case. This was one of her special cases.

Hikaru was never one to worry about taking on too much on her plate, which was a cause for alarm and stress many times during her life. Even now, as she worried about Ruri and tried to keep an eye on Jun, she was also trying to get a magazine to run her manga. She was supposed to receive a call today from, actually, a major shoujo magazine that ran some of the most popular manga of her genre. It was something that Hikaru was really, truly hoping for. However, she knew that if she didn't busy herself in another way, she would be staring at the phone or worse yet, try to make "improvements" that would end up ruining her art and story ideas. She didn't want to disturb Jun, who was busy working away at some song lyrics in his house, and she didn't want to bother Izumi, who was doing... well, she had no idea what, but she hoped it was something therapeutic. Hikaru had Ruri to worry about, and Jun, but she knew she had to worry about her best friend, also. After all, her best friend's girlfriend was in jail for murder. Who wouldn't be worried about that?

Hikaru's room was one of the smallest, if not the smallest, in all of Yamada Manor, with little room to move, but she didn't mind. Everything she ever needed was in here, up to and including the little wooden box of little wooden and plastic blocks, which she was dutifully standing on their ends around her room: on the desk, across the two beds, even on the carpet, which had proven to be a bit of a challenge that she faced with a smile. She only wanted to worry about not knocking over her handiwork too early.

She heard a small "blip" sound that was muffled by walls and insulation, but she did not let it shake her hand as she placed yet another small tile on the wooden surface of her slanted easel/desk. The sound did not jar her hand, but it did jar her concentration somewhat; her mind stopped focusing on steadying and balancing the domino and started listening. Where did the sound come from?

It was followed by some muffled talking, and then something that sound distinctly like someone swearing. She tilted her ear up, but was not answered with more muffled words, but instead by another blip. She listened for a moment more, wondering if she had simply imagined it all; after all, if she closed her eyes, all she could see were white blocks with black dots. However, just as she was turning her attention back from the blocks behind her eyelids to the blocks in her hands, a series of three beeps from in her room perked her ears up for a second time. She turned her head quickly just as a much louder blip signified the opening of a relatively large communications window showing the less-than-pleased visage of her former magic teacher and current emperor, Rumiko Adagio.

To say that the resultant chain reaction of dominos was catastrophic was only a slight understatement. Over the sound of clacking wood and plastic, Hikaru could barely hear the black-haired mage speak to her. "Miss Amano, I regret disturbing you, but do you happen to know the whereabouts of Tenkawa Akito?"

Hikaru narrowed her eyes behind her glasses and tried to fight with her brain. She glanced over to her dresser; sure enough, her communicator from her old Nadesico days sat upon its surface, its blue light indicating a connection blinking brightly in the late afternoon light that streamed in from her windows that gave her both a view of the pool area and Yamada Manor's expansive and wooded backyard. "Wait... you were trying to connect up with Akito just now?"

Rumiko groaned and rolled his amber eyes. "Yes, Miss Amano. I am asking for him, aren't I? Where is he, and why can't I get a hold of him?"

Some loud yelling from outside drew Hikaru's attention back to the windows. She stood from her squatting position on her dark blue carpet and glanced out the window beside her artist's desk. Sure enough, the majority of Yamada Manor's residents were enjoying the pool on that hot and humid day: Ryoko was swimming with Itsuki, who was clearly making herself a nuisance by splashing Ryoko as she came up for air, Akito was busy splashing his boyfriend Gai, and Izumi was actually relaxing on a lounge chair with her guitar. Hikaru noted that her pale skin was already looking a bit pink and she wondered if Izumi had bothered to put on any sunscreen, or if she had intended to get ferociously sunburned. Hikaru turned back to the window and jerked a thumb outside. "Apparently, they're all out at the pool. Akito probably didn't want to get his communicator all wet. Or, you know, he may have forgotten about it. We don't use them much, you know."

Rumiko nodded, surprisingly understandedly. "I know. I just couldn't think of another way to get a hold of him quickly and securely... well, considering..."

All of a sudden, Hikaru's mental warning flags began to wave. She narrowed her eyes once more. "What is this about, Rumiko? You know, Gai's not going to take it very well if you want to accuse Akito again, especially after the thing with Ruri-"

"Look, Miss Amano. I just need to talk to him. Now. Or right away. Whatever. Can you take your communicator to him and let me speak with him? It may be a matter of life or death."

Those words didn't just freeze Hikaru; it chilled her to the bone. "What happened?" she whispered, her voice dropping to a dull, hoarse level. "Oh Aer, did something happen to Ruri?"

"No! Not Ruri." Rumiko rubbed his temples with one hand. "Hikaru, please. I'm begging you. Take me down to Mister Tenkawa and let me talk to him. Please."

Hikaru nodded quickly and Rumiko breathed out a large sigh of relief. Hikaru snatched her communicator off her dresser and rushed out of her room, down the stairs, into the dining room and out of the house faster than she ever imagined doing so.

As soon as she stepped outside, Hikaru regretted not changing out of her yellow sweatshirt (Gai always kept the air conditioning on full-blast now, it seemed) before heading out into the sweltering heat that was typical for late July in Japan, but not typical for the old Satsuki Midori colony at Lagrange Point 2. As soon as she shut the wooden-and-glass door that led outside from the dining room, just about every head above water turned to her and the large communications window that followed her. Sweat almost instantly beaded on her upper lip. She cleared her throat. "Akito, Rumiko wanted to talk to you, and your communicator is still in your bedroom."

As expected, Gai's thick brown eyebrows instantly knit together, but Akito merely cocked his head in interest. He paddled is way to the edge of the pool and pulled himself out. Hikaru blushed as she saw the particular style of Akito's bathing suit, then turned her face away and covered her eyes. "Akito, please. Put on a robe or towel or something. Aer! Who told you that it was a good idea to wear that?"

"Gai did." Akito said nothing more before wrapping a large, gray-blue towel around his waist. He sat down in a chair and waved Hikaru over.

"Seriously, zebras have done nothing to warrant such an insult."

"Har, har."

"If we could move on to more important matters!" Hikaru hadn't even considered how Rumiko would take the sight, nor the exchange, but whether his face was red from embarrassment or anger was hard to tell, as it often was with the Ninlandish emperor. Hikaru rolled her eyes and tossed her communicator over to Akito, who caught it and tilted his head up at Rumiko in question. Rumiko's color faded a bit as he coughed to regain his composure. "Akito, I really, truly need your help. Peaceland needs your help."

Akito's back straightened as if he was hit by lightning. "Ruri. Gods above, Rumiko, if Ruri is hurt-"

"Ruri is fine. Everything went according to plan in regards to the princess's safety."

"'Plan'?" Gai cried as he pulled himself out of the pool as well. Hikaru was pleased to note that Gai was at least a bit more conservative about how much skin he showed his roommates, even if his shorts could reflect the sun's rays back at it. "You have a bit more explaining to do that that, Rumiko."

Rumiko growled under his breath at the sight and words of Akito's lover. "Magus, we don't have time for this! She could die while I'm busy placating you inquisitive imbeciles!"

Hikaru knew that the others would be too shocked and insulted to hear Rumiko's fear in his voice, so she worked to ease the tension before someone exploded at someone else. Again. "Rumiko, just tell Akito and the others what's going on and why you need his help. I'm sure he'll be happy to lend a hand if he just knows what's going on."

"Not fucking likely," Akito muttered under his breath, but said nothing more as Hikaru's dark gaze glared a new hole for him to spill the stupidities of his brain from.

Rumiko took a deep breath, and let it out in a sigh. "It's a relatively long story, but the short version is that we decided to set a trap for the Teleporter Killers by using the knowledge that they have been hitting people from all of the major nations and only those who were in some way related to those who were accused, usually just being the one accused. Megan and I regretted that it had taken Captain Misumaru's death to realize what the pattern was, but once we did, we had discovered that we had no choice but to falsely accuse Princess Notsumote Hoshino Ruri of Peaceland in order to draw the killers to her."

"Wait," Izumi interrupted. Her pink bikini almost disappeared against her pinkened, burned skin. "Ruri and Inez weren't working together?"

"No. We only wanted someone who would be a long shot as a murder suspect and could be easily protected until the murderers struck. Which... well... they did, this morning."

Everyone listening started. It was already a surprise to find that they had been duped in an elaborate ruse that had even fooled the system media, but to find out that their little plan had already worked was also just as surprising. And scary.

"Ruri is fine, you said?" Akito shot out, leaping to his feet.

"Yes. Everything in regards to protecting the princess went as according to plan. When Miss Won and Miss Onikirimaru Teleported into Peace Castle, Ruri herself Teleported away from them."

"Erina and Kaguya?" Nearly everyone shrieked. A flock of birds vacated a nearby tree with frightened fervor.

Izumi looked as if her pink knees had turned to the water she could command. "Not Inez?"

Rumiko licked his lips. "We're not sure as if Lady Ai isn't involved, but no, she was not part of the pair that stormed Peace Castle."

Hikaru bit her lip. As much as she knew it was important for Izumi to come to terms with her girlfriend possibly being innocent, even though everyone thought she was a murderer, Rumiko's previous words tugged at her. "If Ruri is okay... you said someone's life was in the balance."

"I did." Rumiko turned his gaze back to Akito as his black brows met. "All went according to plan in protecting the princess, but the queen... she was taken."

Akito visibly swallowed. "Ruri's mother is dead?"

"Not dead. At least, we hope not. In the confusion of being denied their true target, they kidnapped the Queen of Peaceland. They then Teleported with her out of Peace Castle."

"Where did they go?"

Rumiko closed his eyes. "This is why I need your help, Tenkawa Akito. Megan says they went to the ruins of the Utopia Colony."

Hikaru could practically hear their heartbeats. Akito barely blinked. "And other than Inez, I'm the only other Jumper left who knows the place like the back of my hand."

"Precisely."

Akito closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath. Hikaru held hers as she watched Akito's Adam's apple, waiting for it to move. Finally, Akito opened his eyes, steeled himself before the Ninlandish emperor, and said softly, "All right. I'll go."

Rumiko seemed to sag in relief. "Of course, you can take anyone you think may help you. In fact, I recommend it. Anyone to help subdue Miss Won and Miss Onikirimaru and protect the queen. I'm not sure how you'd like to do this."

"Don't worry." Hikaru turned to see Ryoko running a hand through her two-colored hair. "I've got a few ideas."

Rumiko nodded slowly, knowing Ryoko's background. "Then I am entrusting this task and the fate of Peaceland's queen to you. Good luck." Rumiko's window then closed.

Akito sat back, ignoring the fact that his towel wasn't hiding his thighs anymore. "Well, Ryoko and I are definitely going, then."

Gai slapped a hand to his still-damp chest. "I am too."

Akito raised an eyebrow and Hikaru was sure she saw a bit of a glare haunt Akito's brown eyes, but he said nothing. He instead turned to Hikaru. "You?"

Hikaru nodded numbly. Ryoko was good at strategy and hand-to-hand. Akito was transportation, and Gai... well, who knew. She, on the other hand, was the strongest, magically. It made sense for her to go.

Itsuki bit her lip and looked to her lover. Ryoko, able to read the violet-haired violinist like a book, shook her head. "You don't have to come."

Itsuki smiled softly. "Thank you." Hikaru wanted to slap her in her perfect face. How come she was so ready to get out of helping out? Couldn't be bothered to break a nail? Hikaru felt a slight and welcome breeze drift through the air, until she realized she was the one causing it.

A warm hand touched her shoulder, though she could barely feel it through the thick material of the shirt. It was Izumi. Izumi looked away from her, ashamed by her words even as she said them. "If you're going to go..." Izumi glanced at the guest house. Jun's house.

Shit. Hikaru hadn't even thought of that. The redhead glanced back at her best friend. Izumi could command water, and while not as strong as Hikaru, she could easily douse any fire and calm the raging spirit that was the wronged Jun. Hikaru slowly nodded. "Take care of him for me." Izumi's lips curled ever so slightly into a rare smile, and she nodded.

Akito clapped his hands together. "Well then, kids, I suppose we should go and dress; Martian weather is a bit less roasting than Japanese summers." He then tossed Hikaru her communicator.

Hikaru caught it, and then held out her arms comically. "Thanks to Gai's romance with the AC, I'm good to go."

"Seriously, Hikaru, you can bite me."

"I don't think Akito would like that..."

"Hikaru." The soft voice caught Hikaru's attention more than a blow horn would. She spun on her heel and faced the doors to Jun's house, where the blue-haired songwriter stood with a cordless phone in his hand. He looked confused, but Hikaru couldn't help but notice the haunted look in his eyes. It was a look she had been fighting for weeks to expel. "There's someone on the phone for you."

Hikaru's heart caught in her throat. The call she was waiting for before Rumiko broke her concentration. The call that would determine her future as a manga artist. Half of her, okay, more than half of her wanted to run for that phone call and take it. But Rumiko's voice still rang in her head. "It may be a matter of life or death." Hikaru glanced at Akito, Ryoko, and Gai as they headed quickly into the house to bundle up for the chilly Martian atmosphere. She then looked to Izumi, who knew what the phone call was for. Izumi licked her lips and held her crimson eyes wide, but said nothing. Instead, Hikaru knew she was silently asking her, "What are you going to do?"

Hikaru knew what she wanted to do. But she also knew what she needed to do. She knew what was important. "Junny," she called out. "Ask them to call back later. I'm a bit busy now."

The fine, silver hairs on the back of Ariko's neck had risen about midafternoon and never quite relaxed, even as the afternoon had faded into nearly evening. Not that he could tell what time it was by the sun, of course. Yukina had drawn her lavender curtains closed and turned out all of the lights before the two of them settled on her bed to watch the "scary" movie that Minato had been kind enough to rent for them. Ariko was supposed to go home the day before, but the whole house-arrest thing kept him in Tokyo, and both Uribatake and Minato had agreed that keeping Ariko and Yukina together, if only so they could each have some company, was probably for the best. Ariko had, as a result, taken to sleeping on a spare futon on Yukina's floor.

The movie they were watching wasn't really that scary at all. It was just about some serial killer chasing around young girls that appeared to only be in danger when dressed in their underwear. Yukina hadn't restricted her vocal displeasure at this, and often covered her face, stuck out her tongue, or made disgusted noises whenever some girl was running away from her eminent death. She would also laugh gleefully when the girl got what she described as "what she deserved". Ariko wasn't really focused on the movie himself, really. He thought it was mildly boring and far too predictable. Instead, he couldn't help but think that the movie hit a little too close to home.

After all, the only reason he couldn't go home is because Ruri was accused-no, she admitted to doing those things-of murder. His big sister. Peaceland's heir.

To be sure, he could understand why they thought she may have done it. Ruri was close to Doctor Fressange, and they all thought she was involved. Also, Ruri was never really someone to just follow the rules. But murder seemed a bit too far. Still, Ariko didn't want to just blindly adhere to supporting his sister if it was even somewhat likely that she may have had something to do with those people's deaths. Which, as much as it pained Ariko to admit, even he could see was very likely.

Yukina paused the movie and then pulled herself up from lying on her belly. Her big and poofy white shirt stuck a bit under her knees, but as she pulled herself up to her feet and stepped over Ariko, it righted itself. She stepped onto the floor with a sigh and shook her head, her small ponytail held by a powder-pink bow just barely reaching her cheeks. "I'm going to head to the bathroom. Don't let the movie start up again without me." Before Ariko could nod in response, Yukina was bounding out of her room, her black house slippers nearly flying off her feet.

Ariko sighed. Yukina was definitely his best friend, and though he felt a bit pent up about his guilt and how he felt about this turn of events with his sister, he wasn't sure he could talk to Yukina about it. She was more into action or putting things into words. Usually hurtful ones. Yukina would probably want him to leave his life as a prince on account of the Peaceland heir being "corrupt" or something like that. Yukina just wasn't like him. She would say he thought too much, but he would probably say that she didn't think enough. He sighed again. Great. Now he felt guilty for looking at his best friend in such a way. He was certainly batting a thousand in the emotional stadium.

A soft blip sound drew his attention to the watch-like accessory at his wrist. It did indeed tell the time, to be sure, but it did much more than that. A small blue light flashed on it, signaling that someone was trying to make a connection. It wasn't an odd occurrence, at least nowadays. Even Uribatake and Minato had taken to speaking to each other through their communicators rather than bother with the telephone. The light blinked a few more times, accompanied by a series of beeps that told Ariko something a bit different. It was not going to tell him who was trying to connect with him before allowing him to choose whether or not accept them connection. This was the emergency line.

Not a moment later, the projector turned on and made a small window appear before Ariko's face, Ariko's silver brows drew together as he recognized the face in the little rectangle of light before him. "Ruri?" he whispered.

Ruri's form nodded once, and then licked her lips. "Ariko. I have some bad news to give you, and I don't have much time. Father is contacting Alfred and our brothers now."

"Oh, God, Ruri, have they decided to arrest you outright?" It meant a great deal to Ariko. It meant that he was going to have to begrudgingly become the heir again. It meant that he was going to lose his sister. And, probably the worst of them all, it meant that he was right to distrust his sister.

"What?" His assumption took her off-guard as she leaned back a bit, and then make a small O with her mouth as she realized what she meant. "Oh, no, Ariko. I was never a real suspect. This was all a trap. I was just the decoy, the bait to draw out the killers. It's a long story, but you have to believe me."

Ariko wanted to. Oh, how he wanted to. But could he? Really? "I don't understand."

"You don't have to." Ruri took a deep breath. "I was never really a suspect, and I'm not sure that Miss Fressange was either. But they know who the real killers are now."

That piqued Ariko's interest much more than everything else she had said. "What? Are you serious? Who are they?"

Ruri shook her head. "I don't have time to explain, Ariko. I just wanted to make sure that you knew: they didn't get to attack me, but they took Mother as a hostage."

It felt as if someone had rammed a freezing ice pick into his spine. His mother? Their mother? She was in the killer's hands, Ruri was saying. Oh, God. Ruri may not have ever gotten along with her or considered her a mother, but that was because Ruri was rich in mothers. Ariko only had one. And that one was in danger of being hurt. Or worse. God, Ariko didn't want to think about it. Instead, he swallowed. "What happens now?"

"The rest of the family is staying right where we are. Rumiko said that he got in touch with some people who could get where the killers went quickly and save Mother, and not lose the killers. It's all up in the air, right now."

Ariko reached for the remote, fumbling a bit, before turning the movie off entirely and searching frantically for a news station. "Thank you for telling me, Ruri. She... well... you never liked her but..."

"I know. Don't start talking about her in past tense yet, Ariko."

Ariko could help but smile, even as tears formed at the corners of his eyes. He was always the positive one that brought up others' spirits. Now Ruri was trying to do the same for him. How could he have ever thought her capable of murder? "Thank you, Ruri."

Ruri nodded her head, looked away for a moment, and then turned back. "I have to go." Just like that, her window was closed before Ariko could say goodbye.

As he was able to focus on finding the right channel on the television, he finally found a news station. He didn't recognize it for the logo, reportings of different time zones, or for the ticker of other news on the bottom. He recognized it for the sight of Peace Castle they were giving.

"-Kinjo Won, Chairwoman of Nergal Heavy Industries and Onikirimaru Kaguya, Chairwoman for Asuka Industries have both been identified by the heroic princess and all of her security as the killers here, and we have received reports that-"

"Hey, I said don't turn the movie on until I came back!" Yukina cried as she came in and plopped down on her bed again. She twisted her mouth to the side.

"I didn't. This is the news." Ariko swallowed. "Ruri just contacted me. She said they know who the real killers are now."

"Really? Neat! Who is it?" Yukina took the remote from Ariko's hands and turned the volume up even higher.

"-Queen of Peaceland to the Utopia Colony on Mars, which had been destroyed during the First Battle of Mars by a falling Chulip-"

"Your mom?" Yukina shrieked, staring at Ariko.

He shook his head. He pointed at the television. "They said it was Miss Won and Miss Onikirimaru. Remember them? From the Gardenia?" Ariko felt his heart beat faster as he considered the possibilities. "They went to go and kill Ruri, but Ruri was able to escape. Instead... they... they took my mother." Ariko swallowed once more.

Yukina's eyes widened. "Are... are you serious?"

Ariko nodded his head, but said nothing more. If he did, he was sure he would start to sob.

Yukina didn't need his words, however; she used her own. "Minato!" she cried out, not leaving the room this time.

Ariko was somewhat glad. He didn't think he wanted to be alone to worry about both his sister and his mother. Still, it would make him much happier if he just understood what was going on. What trap was Ruri talking about?

The first thought that entered Gwynth's head as she came back to consciousness was a complaint about how much her head throbbed. There were some traces of it stinging near the back of her skull, but mostly it was just a dull pain that radiated from the back of her head and back around to between her silver brows. Her second thought wasn't of the other small pains that plagued her, such as her shoulder that felt a bit like it had been wrenched out of its socket or her knees seemingly permanently bent and aching to be stretched out. Instead, her second thought was of why her head hurt so much, and why it was only now that she made the slow ascent into consciousness.

With a slight flutter of previously mascaraed eyelashes and a sharp intake of breath through the nose, Gwynth fought to pry open her mouth and lick her lips, but she could not. She opened her eyes as she realized what had happened: her mouth had been taped shut. Her wide blue eyes rolled all around her as she tried to relax her aching shoulder. She couldn't, of course; after all, her arms were also tied above her head with metal cord that bit into her skin as she struggled. The same cord was not only around her feet inside her long, black, and now somewhat ripped and dirtied skirt, but also at the opening of her dress. Gwynth tried to stretch her legs out, but with the cord tying off the end of the skirt, it was impossible.

She was able to determine from, looking around her, she was sitting on a steel floor that had been laden with red dust over a long period of time. It was a bit colder than expected, even compared to Peaceland's recent rainy and chilly summer weather it was suffering from. The whole area appeared to be a storehouse of some sort, with crates upon crates of... well, unimaginable merchandise, as the wind and flying dust over time had apparently rubbed away any markings as to the contents of the crates.

It was here that her eyes slid over one of her captors.

Erina Kinjo Won, dressed in a small black dress with a pink sweater, was seated upon one of the crates, her legs elegantly crossed at the knees. Despite the red dust and the slight wind, her appearance was immaculate, from her lengthened black hair down to her painted lips, which turned up. She patted the crate she sat upon. "Dried pork," she announced, hopping down and landing on her black heels. "It's amazing, the Martians' methods of preserving food. Most of this will last for years, if not decades. Of course, Mars is no place to be raising any sort of crops or cattle; at least, not yet. They would need to ship in food from Earth and stockpile it like a bunch of squirrels."

Mars. No wonder this felt so much more different from Peaceland; they had taken Gwynth to another planet entirely. She narrowed her blue eyes at Erina. This woman had come into her country, her castle, and told her that she had no say over what her own daughter was to do, even if she wasn't quite the age of majority yet. It was a ridiculous notion that, simply because there was one day left of Ruri being in Nergal's custody, she was able to put Ruri in danger.

Gwynth's mind froze. In danger of being killed by Erina herself. Gwynth's narrowed eyes lost their rage as she knit her brows together in confusion. Erina knew it was a trap. Why did she agree to have the trap be set up if she would be the one to trip it? Unless she didn't want it to look suspicious. It didn't make sense.

Gwynth remembered her capture. The bright flash followed by another, and where once was Ruri and her robotic friend were now Erina and a stranger. At their frustration at missing Ruri, they had taken her instead, clubbing her over the head with a handle of... something. Gwynth wasn't sure she wanted to know.

But here was Erina. Where was the other woman? Gwynth's eyes had trouble focusing in the low light, but eventually, on a far wall, she saw a woman collapsed on the ground, sitting in a heap with her limbs curled around her protectively. A cord much like the ones at Gwynth's hands, feet, and skirt circled her neck and bound her to a ring on the wall. Gwynth knew she couldn't make words, and grunting was far below her, but grunt she did, trying to get the other woman's attention. It was clear to the Queen of Peaceland that this woman was no accomplice. Instead, she was a prisoner.

The woman's ears seemed to perk up, and she lifted her head. Gwynth was horrified to find that, under that curtain of violet hair, the aqua green eyes underneath appeared to be very much dead.

"Kaguya!" Erina snapped. The woman jumped, as if being brought to attention against her will. "Kaguya" must be the woman's name. "Are they coming yet?"

Kaguya paused with an ear to the air, as if listening for something. "They come as we speak."

Erina's painted lips curved tightly. "Good. Perhaps then, the time is at hand."

Gwynth felt sweat bead on her pale brow, even in the chilly wind that seemed to make her shiver all the way down to her bones. She didn't know who was coming, or what was going to happen, but she would not predict it to be a pleasant experience.

The familiar pull at his bones and guts stopped, which Akito knew was the sign to open his eyes. His palms were sweaty in Ryoko's and Gai's hands, but had more to do with the nervousness of what was to take place than the Jump itself.

Akito was the first person on record to achieve a manned Boson Jump. Previously to that, Jumping was deemed unsafe for life to travel through. Of course, Akito knew that he wasn't the first. Jumping was an art achieved by Martians deep in the past, achievable by recent Martians, and achievable by some Ninlanders and most, if not all, Jupiterians. Inez Jumped a few times as a girl, and Genichiro and Tsukumo both Jumped to Japan from Jupiter in the first Jovian experiment. Still, Akito was considered an expert when it came to Jumping, for some strange reason. He really wasn't. He hadn't been trained like Yurika and Kaguya. He simply knew how to do it.

It wasn't his "expertise" in Jumping that brought them all to Mars that day, anyway. It was the fact that, out of all those alive today, Akito was one of the few that could easily Jump to the Utopia Colony. He'd grown up there and lived there most of his life. He'd never forget the place. As he glanced around himself, he could tell that, while he had arrived at the right place and time, his mental image of the Utopia Colony was much different from the current one. The last time he was here, the place had appeared devastated from Jovian attacks, not to mention the leftovers from the First Battle of Mars. Battered machinery had littered the red, dusty ground, and a large crater had covered the area from the Nadesico's distortion fields and from the impact of the Chulip.

Well, that at least was still in the distance. It was the only recognizable thing, it appeared. Now, buildings had been erected: warehouses, factories, laboratories, government buildings, and even homes. Akito felt it pluck his heartstrings and he narrowed his eyes. He knew that people were trying to repopulate Mars after it had been laid to waste during the war but... they didn't have to start here.

"'Kito?" Akito was thrown out of his thoughts as he looked over his shoulder. Gai was staring at him, his arms crossed.

Akito licked his lips. "Yeah?"

Gai looked to the side and shifted from foot to foot. He had something to say, but didn't want to say it. Akito didn't understand why. Gai was never a closed-lip person. He faced Ryoko and Hikaru, who were looking around and trying to look inconspicuous. Gai turned his gaze from the girls to the ground under his blue sandals. Gai's feet would have been freezing if not for the orange socks that made Akito wrinkle his nose in disgust. "So... this is where you grew up."

Akito nodded. Of course; Gai was thought to be dead when they finally reached Mars during the Lizard War. Even so, though the Nadesico had come to just outside the Utopia Colony, Akito, Megumi, and Inez were the last living people to come to the Utopia Colony before this new collection of colonists. Akito knew it was irrational, but he hated them for it. Mars was a sacred place to him. "Yeah. Me and Yurika..." Akito narrowed his eyes and kept his gaze fixed on the red-and-pink horizon. It was sunset soon. Then it would be even colder. Akito shivered at the thought, and didn't know why. He grew up in this place, with this air and dirt and weather. He didn't grow up with these specific people, but with those very much like them. After all, even his own parents were colonists, even if it was for science. Yurika had been born on Mars, but both of her parents had been Earth-born.

Gai swallowed. "And Kaguya."

Akito closed his eyes. They were here to "take care of" Erina and Kaguya. They had been the ones causing all of this trouble. They killed Yurika. They tried to kill Ruri. Gai was right; Akito had grown up with, not just Yurika, but Kaguya as well. It was so easy to forget, since Kaguya left long before even Yurika had, and Yurika had left when the two of them were both still very young. Not to mention that it had been, of course, subject to the Memory Glitch. All of his time with Kaguya on Mars had been accidentally replaced with a memory of an afternoon bike ride with Yurika. A memory that had been fake, and all because he was an avid Jumper. It made Akito wary of Jumping, even though it came to him as easy as breathing. What would he forget with this latest Jump?

Still, though he couldn't remember much of Kaguya, he did remember her telling him to take care of Yurika. Or... she had reminded him of that, when they first met up with her again. She had to leave and go back to Earth, even though she had been born on the red planet. Kaguya and Yurika had been best friends, even though they always seemed to fight. That was just their way. When it came down to it, they were friends, and very close.

Time had separated them, of course, but from all of this, Akito could not believe that Kaguya had killed Yurika. He believed it just as much as he believed Ruri capable of the same act. But he also knew that Erina was involved, and he didn't doubt for a second that Erina was in fact behind Yurika's death. She was, after all, a raging bitch in Akito's eyes.

A hand on his arm startled him, and he found himself staring into a pair of blue eyes curtained with two-colored hair. Ryoko narrowed her dark brows at him. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just... nostalgic."

Ryoko nodded. "I don't blame you, but now isn't really the time." When Akito began to glare at her, she held up a hand. "We're here to capture those who killed our captain and to save Ruri's mother."

Akito bit his lip. Ryoko was right, of course, but it still hurt. Akito shook his head. Ryoko was right. There was someone's life on the line. Memories about his home and his childhood friends shouldn't have let him forget that. "Right. So what's the plan?"

"Hikaru's already searching for signatures, but I'd like to keep us close to her. It's possible that she may get herself in big trouble going alone. Besides, you can help."

"I can?" Akito had never seen a signature in his life, let alone read one.

"Yeah, can't you Martians, like, sense the use of Bose particles in an area?"

Akito wrinkled his nose. "Isn't that stereotyping us a bit?"

"Maybe, but I remember Yurika doing it once." Ryoko coughed; Akito was about to instinctively explain about nanomachines in the air, but she interrupted him before he could open his mouth. "Just try, okay?"

Akito rolled his eyes. This was about as likely as being able to throw a rock onto Ninlan from here. Sense Bose particles? Was he some kind of superhero, now?

For the last week-nearly two weeks, really-Hikaru had been questioning the usefulness of that one morning she had offered her extra set of hands to Rumiko and Megumi. It had caused more unpleasantness than she was normally willing to handle, what with having to confront and effectively push away Itsuki, her best friend's girlfriend, and possibly anger or endanger her other male friends. But as Hikaru had seen now, it had been a necessary lesson in seeing and reading signatures, something that, now, she would never give up to anyone.

After all, it was what led her to the warehouse.

Not entirely, of course. Rumiko and even Megumi were far more skilled when it came to dealing with the leftover residue from Jumping or using magic, even to the point of being able to recognize one from a very far distance. Hikaru, on the other hand, simple looked for what she knew may signify a signature: large, sparkly patches of condensed particles (which, being far smaller than microscopic, were nearly impossible to find anyway). Hikaru had expected that Mars would be full of such things, but it was not. The only shine she saw were small clumps of particles that she supposed came from Jumps from long ago. As her eyes passed over what appeared to be a light blue speck against the reddened sky, she wondered if it was a remnant from when Akito Jumped from Mars to Earth just as the Lizard War was starting. It was possible, she considered, but not entirely likely. Akito was only one of many, many Martians throughout history that had the power to Jump, even if they didn't quite understand the ability. It could have come from any of them, from the first Ninlandish settlers that built the computer that made Boson Jumping possible, to the last Martians that had been killed during the Lizard War.

For being the descendants of Earthling colonists, Hikaru had to admit that Martians had a glorious culture that she doubted even Jupiterians could compete with. Hikaru would have never found the warehouse without Akito tapping into that glorious culture, in any case. After some loud complaining on his part and a bit of bickering between him and Hikaru's best friend Ryoko, he started to lead the way to where Erina and Kaguya may have been keeping the Peaceland queen. As he began to flare his nostrils and tilt his head to the strong Martian winds, his complaining changed subject from how ridiculous this was to how this was nearly impossible with the Chulip so close by. Still, he led the way, with Hikaru trailing behind him closely so that she wouldn't miss anything he looked at or noticed, just in case he didn't quite know what to look for.

And, good Lady, he didn't. He almost walked right past the warehouse and would have headed straight for the Chulip if Hikaru hadn't stopped him. She couldn't sense Bose particles like Ryoko had suspected that Akito could, but she had had enough time to recognize what was not considered a signature on Mars. On Earth, a signature could be any sparking of magical residue. On this planet, the air was simply rife with magical residue from centuries-no, millennia-of magic use or Boson Jumping. So when she saw that the large, gun-metal building was practically shining silver, Hikaru knew that it was much more than those puny, quick-to-fade signatures of Earth. Without a word, she pointed in its direction.

Gai's eyebrows knit as his forehead muscles clenched. "What is that?" He glanced to Akito, who had been shaking his head to clear it.

"It's a storage building. We usually kept things in there that we couldn't make or grow here ourselves. Products usually, but sometimes some food. Not everyone could handle the taste of Martian-grown foods in the wrong hands, so some paid extra to have preserved food shipped. Of course, things like cardboard boxes, paper, or toilet paper and paper towels could be in there. We don't exactly have trees, you know."

"'We', Akito? You'd think you lived back here for the past couple of years." Ryoko's smile was fake, Hikaru knew. If it was one thing that Ryoko's time with Izumi and Hikaru had taught the tomboy, it was that pain and worries were best hidden behind smiles and talents.

Akito rolled his eyes. "I could live on the Nadesico or at Yamada Manor, but my home will always be my dear red planet."

Ryoko nodded, the false smile fading. "Well, are we ready to take care of this?" Ryoko was answered with silence. This wasn't just helping Rumiko and Megumi out like Hikaru had offered, even begged to do. This was... everything. Justice for those who may not have deserved it, such as Kusakabe Haruki, the mastermind behind the Jupiterian forces during the Lizard War. Justice for those who most definitely deserved it: Aqua Crimson, the foolish girl that had been Gai and Itsuki's childhood friend; Mythos Entrada, former emperor of Ninlan and one of Rumiko's closest advisors; Yurika, who meant more to all of them, and even more to Jun, than anyone had ever thought. It was the final act to help and give relief to Jun, who had lost the one person he loved more than anything in the world to these monsters. It was for Izumi, who had worried and fretted over her girlfriend Inez's safety as people were convinced of her guilt in this act. It was to save the woman that hated them for not who they were, but what they could do, but was mother to one of their own. It was for Ruri, who had, according to Rumiko, selflessly offered herself up for bait. It was for Rumiko and Megumi, who had done almost nothing else but chase these elusive, phantom killers.

It was for all of them, and more.

Hikaru met Ryoko's blue eyes with her own dark brown ones. She slowly slid them closed as she nodded, just once. She reopened them to Ryoko's smile. It wasn't fake, but neither was it in humor; instead, it was a grim grin of the battlefield. While she was not clothed in a giant robot, Ryoko was just as ready as anyone could possibly be to face danger, the possibility of having another's blood on her hands, and the slight chance that they may win in the face of adversity.

It was a face that had led Hikaru into the fight many times before, and the redhead knew it would do it again.

"All right. Akito and I go in first. Hikaru, get yourself charged up. Yamada, you're all distraction until Akito can get to the queen. Everything clear?"

Gai's part in the attempt to subdue and capture those that the entire world now believed had killed the Jupiterian vice admiral, the Australian businesswoman, the former Ninlandish emperor, and the Martian captain had been, in his eyes, miniscule at the most when it had been decided. Since he had only decided to come to make sure that Akito would be safe, and he was only a mediocre magic-user (and, he assumed, Jumper), he didn't really think about how he might be any sort of hindrance. Akito was needed for transportation, as the only natural Jumper among them and the only one who could easily Jump to the Utopia Colony. Ryoko was needed as she was excellent in hand-to-hand combat, a tactic she often used and presented in her Aestivalis during the Lizard War. Hikaru was, clearly, the only one of them with any training in recognizing signatures and the magically strongest of them all. It made sense for all of them to be here, doing this. Gai? Not so much. But he knew that he couldn't just stay home and wait while he let Akito go off and put himself in danger. Gai was obsessive, possessive, and highly protective, but he couldn't help it. Akito was his treasure, and he didn't want to lose him.

As it turned out, Gai wasn't completely useless, to his surprise. The doors to the warehouse that Hikaru had insisted was where Erina and Kaguya had been hiding out with their capture were, of course, bolted and locked tight. They didn't even bend to a kick from Ryoko's booted foot. Gai cringed at the sound which he was sure would make Erina and Kaguya Jump right out of the warehouse. Ryoko glanced at her right hand and Gai could have sworn he saw her nanocontroller flash the green of her patron God of Earth.

He must not have been imagining things, as Akito's hand slapped over her own. "No. Mars hasn't shaken in ages; who knows what a marsquake would do." Akito licked his lips. "I don't know what it looks like in there, but I can try to Jump us in there..." Akito's unspoken worries were clear; he could accidentally Jump them anywhere in the universe, and at any time. Gai clenched his hands. It wasn't a fate he wanted to fall victim to, or one he would wish on Akito or any of his friends.

A shiver climbed from the back of Gai's neck and down his spine. He raised his right fist and slowly opened it. He was surprised to find that the nanocontroller was shining the light orange color that was specific to him. Between his fingers, the small bolts of the lightning he had found he could control traced up and down the phalanges. If he were to reclench his hand into a fist, the energy would be reabsorbed into himself and would reawaken his senses. Instead, he held all of his fingers together, flattening his hand. As he held it palm up, the lightning danced up and around the skin of his palm, tickling it and awakening it in a way that he hadn't thought of using before.

Hikaru was the first to notice his experiments. As she had taken on the role of Gai's magic teacher when Rumiko fell ill during the Nadesico's stay on Ninlan, she caught Gai's gray-brown eyes with her own and nodded him on, moving Ryoko and Akito out of the way of the door. Gai walked carefully towards the door, his sandals crunching the sand beneath his soles. As he stood as close to the door as he dare, he slowly turned his hand toward the door, extending the touch of his hand, mentally, to the crease in the doors.

To his expectation, and yet prideful surprise, the bolt he had formed in his hand reached slowly but surely toward the crease. Once it had made contact, the doors shuddered with the sudden introduction of electricity to their conductive surfaces. The bolt reached between the locked doors and began to travel down, the heat melting the edges of the doors. Finally, it came down to a thicker piece of metal on the inside. Gai gritted his teeth and sent forth a few more pulses to shock, heat, and eventually melt his way through the barricade. As he felt the end of his bolt, almost an extension of himself now, reach open air instead of being encased in hot and melting metal, he let the bolt escape his grip, thanking it for its help. Once free of its master, the bolt flung the doors open. They clanged loudly as they crashed against the inside walls of the warehouse.

Gai had not forgotten his dealt-out duty to provide distraction and chaos while the true plan was carried out. He simply hoped that his blowing open of the doors had aided him in that goal. As soon as he let go of the bolt that had helped him open the barricaded doors, he began calling up more of the inherent electricity around him: from the static that traveled through the air constantly, to the energized particles from his friends' and his own clothing. Once he had all that he was sure he needed, he was more than prepared to let them all loose in a lightning storm that would be calculated enough to not harm the Peaceland queen, but chaotic enough to hopefully confuse the two Jumper murderers enough to make everyone else's job easier.

While the pressure building within him to let loose all of his collected static made all of his muscles twitch and all of the hair on his body stand up on end, he didn't dare let it loose. For, as the dust began to clear, they all saw a sight that stopped them in their tracks.

Queen Gwynth Notsumote of Peaceland was held in front of Erina Kinjo Won by her shoulders, with an obscenely large knife at her throat. It was then that Gai knew that all of their plans had gone up in smoke.

Gai wondered how much of their dismay was written on their faces as Erina's own painted lips twisted into a horrific smile. A soft chuckle vibrated from her throat, a grotesque sound that grated on Gai's ears and nerves. The chuckles turned into laughter as Erina's smile cracked and she nearly broke her neck in throwing her head back. Her laughing finally slowed as words came laced with the gleeful explosions. "Isn't it amazing... how when you think everything will turn out right... it doesn't?"

Ryoko was the first to put her hands up to show her surrender. Gai was surprised; defeat wasn't something that came naturally to the competitive tomboy. But, then again, lives weren't normally on the line. Ryoko swallowed harshly and licked her lips. "Okay, Erina. You've clearly outsmarted us. I suppose then that you and Kaguya will be off to find another place to hide out until someone offers up Ruri in exchange?"

Gai felt a shiver that came from his pressurized electricity, but he didn't let it go. The slightly chilly air swirled around them with a tight ferocity that Gai had only imagined would plague the Martian countryside. It whipped through their hair and rustled Gwynth's extravagant skirts.

Erina smirked. "Oh, Ryoko. You had almost impressed me. You're right; because of you idiots coming here, I've sent Kaguya out to find a new place and time that is convenient to wait out the manhunt. And yes, we originally had no intent of taking, or even harming, the poor queen of Peaceland." Gai caught her words and slowly brought his hands together, focusing on trickling out the restrained power within him into his hands. Erina caught the movement and held the knife ever closer to Gwynth's throat. Sweat began to bead on the pale skin of the queen face as she squeaked out against her gag in terror. She narrowed her eyes at Gai. "But don't think for a moment that we won't do it."

Gai lowered his hands to his sides and absorbed the power back within him, feeling the adrenaline rush that followed such an act. It made his senses all the more aware of his surroundings. He could smell the slightly iron tang of the Martian air, the expensive perfume fading quickly from the queen's skin. He could see the individual hairs blowing in the fierce winds, feel it draw away his own sweat that was inspired by anxiety rather than by temperature. Most importantly, he noticed the slight movement to his right. He turned his head slowly and looked out the corner of his eye.

Mars had always been famous for its winds. Even with the nanomachines in the atmosphere to stabilize it, the windstorms on Earth were nothing to compare them to. He didn't just know this from learning it in school; he had Akito to remind them at length, whenever they complained about the weather, that at least it wasn't a Martian dust storm. So when the winds had blown into the warehouse and struggled to rip the hairs from their scalps and the clothes from their bodies, he had no idea that it was, in fact, Hikaru's doing until he saw her eyes squint and widen rhythmically and the fingers of her right hand twiddle in the air.

"Then what is it that you want?" Akito asked. He had caught on to Ryoko's lead and was trying to talk his way through it. Perhaps they had both realized what was happening with Hikaru's winds before Gai had and were trying to buy time. Maybe they had been hoping to get a story out of her before they were to abandon the rescue altogether. Gai had no idea, as he didn't have Yurika's power of mind-reading and -control. He wished he did, at this point.

"Funny you ask that, Akito. Ryoko was right; I do want someone in exchange for this royal bitch. Could you possibly guess who?"

"Ruri," Gai blurted out, determined to help Hikaru out by drawing attention away from her and help her get as much time to do... whatever it was she was doing.

Erina rolled her dark eyes. "No. Ryoko already guessed that, and she was dead wrong. Instead, I wanted you, Akito." She pointed her chin at the Martian, who merely narrowed his eyes. Gai couldn't help it; as soon as Erina's voice cracked out his name, his heart began to beat so hard he thought it would burst. He placed his hands on Akito's shoulders. He had no idea that he was still so very statically charged, and when his hands clapped onto Akito's shoulders, the cook shivered, drawing Erina's eyes to them. Her knife quickly left Gwynth's throat and the queen of Peaceland promptly shuddered and then went limp in Erina's arms. While Erina struggled to hold up the passed-out woman and point her thirsty knife in Akito's direction, a slight silver flash erupted in the room. "Don't touch him! Only I may touch him!" Erina shrieked, her voice taking on a shrill tone that Gai hadn't imagined Erina's voice to be capable of, even in distress.

Everything that happened after Erina's cry happened so quickly, Gai was hardly sure what had happened first. He was somewhat certain that it was Hikaru's workings finally coming to a head. With a calculated and barely noticeable flick of her wrist, the knife flew out of Erina's hand, embedding itself deeply into a nearby crate marked "Smoked Chicken". Gai was so surprised by the act that he couldn't help but let his jaw sag and his head turn towards Hikaru, whose hands trembled with the effort she had just exerted. Gai's gaping at the redhead artist nearly made him miss the emergence of the second half of the murdering team; Kaguya wrung her hands as she walked around a large stack of crates. "Erina..." her voice was far whinier than it had been when he last saw the girl, at Rumiko and Megumi's wedding. "I don't think we can go anywhere else- Oh!" Her hands flew to her mouth and her aqua green eyes widened. It was odd; she had been childhood friends with Yurika and somehow had the same eye color. "They... they're here already!"

"Yes, they are, you stupid Jumper!" Erina spat at the girl, her grip on the fainted queen slipping as she slid to the floor of the warehouse along with the seemingly heavy woman. "It took you long enough. Now either get us out of here, or do something about this!"

Kaguya looked at her hands helplessly. "But I... I can't..."

Gai took advantage of the situation to finally release the built-up pressure within. With a sharp pulse of energy, he ripped his hands from Akito's shoulders and raised them up to the ceiling, palms up and fingers spread. From his digits erupted bolt after bolt of his electric powers, shooting for the ceiling, tracing the metal panels and then streaking through the warehouse by reaching for the floor. Gai made sure that the bolts separated the two partners in crime. Kaguya cried out in fright or pain and covered her head with her arms. Erina snarled at the bolts, not letting go of Gwynth for anything.

Ryoko was the first to take care of that, dodging the twining lightning strikes that rained from the warehouse ceiling as she ran up to the dark-haired businesswoman and punched her precisely in the face, just at the cheekbone. A loud crack did not knock the older woman unconscious, but it certainly shocked her enough to loosen her grip on the Peaceland queen.

Gai could have sworn he saw four yellow walls box in Erina from grabbing hold of Gwynth once again. Hikaru took a few shaky steps forward and held her hands as still as she could. "Now, Akito!" she whispered under her breath. Gai was shocked. If those walls were Hikaru's doing, she was much stronger than he had ever imagined, especially since she was in control over such a flimsy power as the wind.

Akito was not one to delay, especially if he knew someone needed saving. He rushed over to the queen's side as soon as Gai had marked a path for him by keeping his lightning far from the area between the fry cook and the queen. He took her hand in his hands, holding it as he bowed his head and knit his brows, concentrating on taking the queen back to Peaceland.

"Wait! No! Take me with you!" Kaguya stood up on shuddering legs and sprinted over to the queen's side as well. She barely reached Akito's side before he Jumped out of the warehouse, but make it she did, her hands gripping his shoulders in the exact same way Gai's hands had been just a moment before. In a flash of light blue, Akito, Gwynth, and Kaguya were gone.

Gai roared in anger, though he wasn't sure what made him more upset: the fact that they had lost one of the people they were supposed to catch or his jealousy of Kaguya touching Akito in such an intimate way. Either way, his lightning struck the floor from the ceiling with an increased fervor until he felt a feminine hand on his arm. Hikaru. He could barely hear her words over the growling and grumbling thunder that accompanied his lightning, but her words were the wind in his ear. "No good will come from this. Leash it, before you fry us all."

Gai bit his lip. Hikaru was not one to argue with when it came to this; she was their resident expert. Thanking all of the residual electricity, he bade it farewell, instructing it to either dissipate or make itself useful to the new settlers of Mars. It took only a mere moment for the roaring and cracking to cease entirely, and for the room to be empty of his mad lightning. The iron-infused air of Mars was lacking in its natural smell; instead, the scent of ozone turned Gai's nose wrinkled.

Erina lay subdued on the floor, her arms held down by the sheer strength of Ryoko's muscles. Erina gasped and arched her back, fighting Ryoko, but it was halfhearted. It did not appear that Erina wanted to get away; it simply looked as if she wanted free from Ryoko's grip. With tears in her voice and running down her cheeks, the businesswoman pleaded with the green-and-black-haired tomboy. "Please, let me up. I won't run off, I promise. I just want up. I've been restrained for so long, don't do it to me again. Please."

Ryoko's dark brows were knit as Hikaru and Gai came over and crouched beside her. Ryoko glanced between the two of them. "Any idea what the hell this broad is talking about?"

Gai had to shake his head. Hikaru copied his motion, also shrugging. Erina still pleaded, now looking to both Gai and Hikaru. "Please, you don't understand. As long as she's free, no one is safe. I'm begging you, just listen to me. I can help you. I know what she does, and how she does it. Oh god, just listen to me!"

Hikaru frowned. "Do you think she's gone nuts?"

Ryoko shrugged curtly. "I have no idea. I don't think it's a good idea to let her up until Akito gets back though."

Gai nodded. "I agree with that." Gai bit his lip. He didn't voice his worries about Akito going alone. Or, rather, his worries about Akito not going alone. He had accidentally taken Kaguya with him, after all. Kaguya, who had been transportation for this woman underneath his sister's girlfriend. Kaguya, who had helped in the killing of Kusakabe Haruki, Aqua Crimson, Mythos Entrada, and Yurika.

Hikaru smiled at Gai. "Gai-chan, I'm proud of you! You did a great job today."

Gai's worries were not so quickly swept away, but he let them sit on the back burner as he grinned sheepishly at his friend. "You think so?"

"Yeah! Much better than I expected!"

Ryoko grunted. "Yeah, way to outdo yourself, Yamada." She grunted again. "Seriously, Erina's getting antsy. Could you guys sit on her legs or something to make her not kick and squirm?"

Hikaru nodded and leisurely walked over, straddling Erina's ankles before plopping on them. Gai winced; it was a good thing Hikaru hadn't been skimping on the ice cream lately, otherwise, Erina's legs would have hurt a lot worse. Gai had been the victim of Hikaru's bony ass more than he would have liked in his lifetime.

Gai jumped when an unrecognizable male voice called out from behind the crates to his right. "You know, if I didn't know the circumstances surrounding this little pose of yours, girls, I would think it was very hot indeed."

It had been quite a long time since Akito had been in Peaceland, let alone Peace Castle. At least, it felt like a long time for him. It had been long enough that he could barely remember what any of the rooms looked like, which was, as he would be the first to admit, dangerous for him to Jump to under those circumstances. Nonetheless, he did his best to prove his worth as a naturally-born Jumper while carrying not one, but a surprise two people back across the system from Mars to Earth, without a drastic change in time. And as the colorful and colorless expanse of the fabric of time's underside faded back into the inappropriately gaudily colored entrance hall of Peace Castle, Akito finally took a greedy breath. He always held his breath during Jumps; he was never quite sure what would happen if he sought air while coursing through the paths underneath the physical world.

He also took a breath because what happened just before the Jump hit him like a speeding cement truck. The hands still gripped his shoulders tightly, as if afraid to let go. Akito let the queen's hand slip from his fingers and slowly reached up to touch them, to grip them, to pull them off of him.

These were the hands that aided in Yurika's death.

He never got a chance for such an action, as he was immediately swarmed with people, including quite a few policemen and policewomen who descended upon Kaguya and yanked her away, quickly restraining her. Frederick was one of the first to rush over and fall to his knees at the sight of his prone wife. His face was red as he took her frail hands into his own enormous ones. He looked at Akito with tear-filled eyes, and it took Akito a moment to realize that he wanted to know if his wife was still among the land of the living. Akito opened and closed his mouth a few times before he wordlessly nodded. He swallowed. "She just fainted."

Frederick's eyes overspilled and Akito was afraid he was going to hug him, which even he had to admit was an incredibly inappropriate thing to be afraid of after facing down two murderers and having one cling to his back as he traveled millions of miles across time and space instantaneously. Frederick sniffed and simply placed a hand on Akito's shoulder, however. "If you were born here in Peaceland rather than Mars, I would knight you right this minute."

Akito smiled, but it was humorless. "If I had been born in Peaceland, Your Majesty, I wouldn't have been able to save your wife." Frederick smiled back, and then scooped up his far-too-thin wife into his great arms and took her away, clearly happy to have her back with him, and safe. Akito sighed, his emotions conflicted. He was glad to have been able to stop Erina and Kaguya from one act of violence against another, but while he had been able to save Gwynth, who hated Jumpers, he hadn't been able to help Aqua, who was only a little crazy, or Yurika, who he had once harbored feelings for. He was glad, and proud of himself and his friends, but-

His friends. His heart pattered a little faster in his chest.

A pale hand reached down, offering to help him up. Akito gratefully took it and pulled himself to his feet. His mouth slackened and his eyebrows knitted together when he found himself face to face with his former magic teacher. Rumiko pushed his glasses up his nose and hooked a loose strand of raven-black hair behind a fair ear. He narrowed his amber eyes and licked his lips, clearly struggling with what to say, and how. Finally, he steeled his face stiff and clapped a hand on Akito's shoulder. "You did good today, Tenkawa."

Akito knew that. He didn't want to be narcissistic, but he knew that. What about Ryoko, Hikaru, Gai? "Kaguya?" he asked, swallowing the rising lump back down into his chest.

"Properly restrained, under constant watch, and currently going through preliminary questioning. 'How long have you been aiding Erina Kinjo Won?' and so on and so forth." A relatively tall man with long blonde hair stepped up beside Rumiko and nodded his head quickly at both the Ninlandish emperor and Akito (a pathetic excuse of a bow if Akito had ever seen one) before sticking his hand out to Akito. "Takasugi Saburota. I don't believe I've had the honor of your acquaintance as of yet."

Akito narrowed his eyes at him, looking him up and down to find out just who this guy was (Aqua forbid that he be a reporter of some sort). "Tenkawa Akito."

"As if I didn't know!" Saburota said with a slight sarcastic chuckle. He scratched the back of his head and shifted his weight from foot to foot. "Look, Tenkawa-san, I'm sorry about turning up all of that Martian suspicion a couple months back."

Akito narrowed his eyes once more and searched the broad face, wondering just what in the name of hell he was taking about. Finally, it clicked. The statement Inez had to make about how narrowing the killers' Jumper down to Mars-born didn't narrow it down at all. The immediate blaming of Yurika for Mythos Entrada's murder. The suspicion of Akito and Inez when Yurika herself turned up dead. His teeth set themselves together as his lips turned up into a snarl. "You-"

"Save your anger for later. Right now, we have to find out where Erina is. Kaguya isn't talking about that, though she is blathering on and on about how Erina forced her to Jump her where she asked."

Akito's mind could barely focus. There was the worry about his friends, who he had left with Erina (who Kaguya was claiming was the violent one of the pair); the anger at this... this... this guy who had made it difficult to live as a Martian in a frightened world; and the relief at saving one life from the hands of those who had taken so many others. He looked at the shiny wooden floor beneath his feet as he felt a shiver creep up his spine: a shiver of chills. He was jolted out of his mental confusion by Takasugi grasping him and holding him still and looking at him in his dark brown eyes. He did not grasp his shoulders, as everyone else that day had been, but instead he wrapped his large hands around his arms. Although smaller than Akito's, Saburota's eyes were just as intense, especially as he narrowed them and knit his oddly dark eyebrows. "Tenkawa, we need Erina. If Kaguya is right, she's the one who wanted to kill all of those people. We need to find her. Where is she?"

"O-o-on Mars. Utopia Colony. Aqua, my friends-"

Saburota shook his head. "Don't worry about that now. I need you to take me there so we can get a hold of her. I would go myself," Akito looked down to notice a spring-green nanocontroller at his right hand, "but I've never been there."

Akito licked his lips and nodded quickly. His hands rose up to grip the sleeves of Saburota's red raincoat and he squeezed his eyes shut tightly. Picturing the cold, windy, dusty landscape of Mars, the warehouse full of food for the latest wave of Martian settlers that did not have the correct palettes for Mars's bitter fruits and vegetables and other such odd cuisine choices. His friends. He needed to save them now. He had stupidly, stupidly left them alone with the most violent person alive in their world.

"It all ended rather uneventfully. Tenkawa Leapt us to the right place, but certainly not the right time. We were there a good three-and-a-half hours too early. I swear to Terra, it was because he was so worried about his friends. We had to hide behind some crates and I practically had to hold my breath. You know how my nose tends to run when it's cold out, Mari?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, Mars is more than cold. I've never been at the Utopia Colony, and I knew that the North Pole was cold, but I had no idea the whole planet was like that. Not to mention that I had discovered that Tenkawa wasn't helping with his breaking out from nervousness. So my nose started running and dripping all nasty-like, and every time my sniffing made any noise at all, Tenkawa looked like he was going to gut me himself. It's not like I could help it."

"You should have just let your nose drip. God, what were you thinking?"

"That I didn't want snot all over my face. Anyway, I was sure we were had when I thought I saw Kaguya look our way, but I remembered what she said about being forced into this, and I held my finger to my mouth, and she nodded. I guess she understood, since she didn't rat us out or anything, thank Terra."

"So if you were so early, what happened?"

Saburota smiled and proceeded to preen, literally picking up white threads from his shirt off of his black vest. Mari was always a sucker for a good story, and while he would never, ever admit it to her, he had sat there with Tenkawa, waiting for the right moment in time, thinking to himself the best way to dramatize the whole experience into a grand story to tell his girlfriend. It wasn't to trick her or anything; he just simply wanted to entertain her while he told her about how he had lent a hand into the capture of two of the bloodiest killers of the century.

"I told you, we just sat around and waited." Of course, that didn't mean that what he came up with was any good. "We noticed that Kaguya kept Leaping in and out of the warehouse, but where she was going, we hadn't the slightest. But after the time passed, we finally heard Past Tenkawa and his friends bust in and wreak all sorts of havoc. We waited until we were sure that Past Tenkawa had taken the queen and Kaguya with him back to Peaceland, and then popped out from behind the crates and helped to restrain Erina and Leap her back to Peaceland as well."

"That's it?" Mari crossed her arms across her purple tank top. The middle of summer was a good time to see baseball in Japan, Saburota had come to find during his stay on Earth, and Mari was a big fan of the Yomiuri Giants, which was scrawled across her top. "You make history and that's all there is to the story?"

"Hey, we had to practically hold our breaths for three hours! And survive Yamada's out-of-control lightning storm that he used to disorient Erina. It would have been better if Tenkawa had actually warned me about that in the first place, now that I think of it..."

"He probably didn't because of the Martian thing. You shouldn't have told him about it."

"I didn't! Not really. I mean, I figured he was quick enough to see me there to help out, and hear my name, and put two and two together. I apologized in advance so that if he came at me, he would look like the jerk."

Mari rolled her dark brown eyes and pulled herself from her couch, grabbing her purple bucket hat in the process. Placing it on her head to protect her eyes from the sun, she opened the doors to the balcony and stepped out onto it. She shielded her eyes with a hand and looked out into the bright blue sky that was her Earthling home. They only time she had ever left the planet was when she was on the Gardenia, an experience that was rapidly fading into just memories. She wondered if that was how it was for the Nadesico crew.

No. It was different for them. Most of them had stayed in touch with each other, while she was only really in touch with Saburota. She never saw Lapis or Hari anymore. And Erina and Kaguya... They were apparently too busy killing people to get together with her. She shook her head. Their captain and helmswoman. Who would have thought that they would have been the ones that were causing such tension between... well... many of the peoples of the system, now, she supposed? It may have been obvious to some, she assumed. Like the Nadesico crew. Erina was not loved on that ship after the revelation about the Jupiterians had come to pass. But it was not obvious to Mari. Mari had trusted them, and she was sure that Saburota had as well. Kaguya was the one that got them out of pinches, and Erina was the one that kept them on course. Why should she have looked to those that she trusted?

Who else couldn't she trust?

Mari blinked as a purple... something snuck under her nose. She bent her head down to see that it was a perfectly blooming rose, still slowly opening. She traced the stem all the way down to the hand that held it: Saburota's. Mari smiled at his attempts to look like a sad, kicked puppy-dog that wanted forgiveness. She brushed her fingertips on his face before kissing him. It was a chaste kiss, but it was not short. She pulled away and his eyes remained closed, his wide mouth turning into a slow smile of its own. She looked at the rose once more to discover why it was there. Her eyebrows knit together as she realized that her boyfriend had grown it himself, in his hands. Was growing it still, as she watched his spring-green nanocontroller pulse in bright light every few moments.

It killed her to contemplate it, but she couldn't help it. The same power that allowed for her boyfriend to grow her a delicate flower out of nothing was the same that allowed for him, the rest of the Jupiterians, some of the Ninlanders, the former pilots, and all of the Martians to Boson Jump. Kaguya was Martian. This pure, untainted power that her boyfriend wielded was also able to be wielded by those that were evil, even if she hadn't known it at the time. Kaguya was her captain. Kaguya was a killer. Kaguya was a Martian, and by definition, a Jumper.

She grabbed Saburota's right hand abruptly and made him drop the rose. It fell at her feet and began to die almost instantly. Saburota narrowed his eyes as he watched it fall, and then watched Mari's face. It was pinched and scrunched up, with slight tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. He brushed once away with his thumb and she let out a sob. She threw her arms around her neck and buried her face into his shoulder, openly crying. He narrowed his dark brown eyes, sympathetically patted her back, and secretly wondered what the hell was wrong. "What's the matter?" he asked calmly, trying to not worry.

"What's going to happen to you?" Mari squeaked out before dissolving back into tears. Saburota didn't ask her what she meant, at least, not right away. Instead, he let her cry and work out all of her sadness before he gave her the tough interrogation.

It took some time, but Saburota was able to lead her back inside, sit her back down on the couch, and get her to drink a glass of water. She cradled the empty glass in her hands before he took it from her and set it on the table before them. She sniffed as Saburota lifted her chin up with a finger. "Nothing's going to happen to me, Mari. We got them. Nobody else is going to die by their hands."

Mari shook her head, knocking her purple hat askew. Saburota removed it for her, smoothing her straight brown hair back down. "That's not what I meant! People... they aren't going to look at Erina and Kaguya as just bad people. They're going to look at how Kaguya is a Jumper, and then hate all of the Jumpers. I... I don't know what will happen." She sniffed again. She wanted, needed to cry some more, but she didn't have it in her.

Saburota sighed. She was worried about him. Terra, he loved this girl. "Listen, Mari. I sat around in the same room as two brutal murderers today, and nearly got electrocuted in the process. I've been a pilot since the Lizard War, during which I was a soldier. I'm not going to get into the sort of trouble you're worried about so easily. You don't need to worry about me."

"I can't help it."

"I know." Saburota smiled. "I worry about you all the time. Crazy, irrational worries. But I get through it anyway. And you will too." He hugged her close, actively ignoring how nice it felt to have her breasts press against his chest. "Nothing like that will happen. I promise. It will all be fine."

Mari sniffed and gave a weak smile. "I hope so. For both our sake's."

Peaceland did not have many courthouses, though they did have various jails. The reason for this was because, while crime was no lower than it was anywhere else, the Peaceland crimes were often settled out of court and the sentences carried out without too much concern or need for appeal. The reasons for this were unknown, but widely speculated upon. Some said that those who would be so brash as to commit such a high caliber crime in a place of entertainment must have had worse criminal trouble back wherever they came from, and were thus extradited back home. Others said that it had to do with the Peace Bank; the bank was in constant competition with tourism in being the leading source of income to the country, but was popular because of its money-laundering and ability to avoid income taxation. These people were right about one thing: the reason many issues were settled out of court or plead guilty to was because people wanted their bank accounts to be left unmolested.

Whatever the reason, it was part of the Peaceland judicial system to only use one of their own judges to handle anything that took place in Peaceland. The Peaceland verdict and sentences were often sent with the defendant where they got sent, since ninety percent of all arrested in Peaceland had to be extradited out of the neutral country.

It was partially because of Peaceland's neutrality (and partially because of Peaceland's undeniable aid in capturing them) that the first preliminary hearing for Erina Kinjo Won and Onikirimaru Kaguya took place there. The Jumper Murders had touched many people and more nations than a single assassination would. If Peaceland had simply extradited Erina and Kaguya to Jupiter, or Australia, or Ninlan, or Japan, then the two would probably never feel the bite of justice. Besides, Peaceland wanted a morsel for herself; they had attempted to kill both her queen and princess.

At first, there did not appear to be a reason to have a preliminary hearing when Akito and Saburota brought back both Kaguya and Erina. For the remainder of the week, attempts were made to make progress in making either one make a statement. But rather unlike Inez, they were both willing to give a statement; the problem was that Kaguya was claiming that Erina made her participate on pain of as brutal a death as their victims, and, surprise surprise, Erina was claiming that Kaguya did the same, only she was "in her head." Interrogators were becoming quite irritated. It was not a shocker, then, when one of them suggested questioning them in the same room to let them talk their way to the truth. This was not able to come to pass, however, as the lawyer for the Akatsuki family (of which Erina was a member) and for Nergal Heavy Industries (which had absorbed both Asuka Incorporated and the Crimson Group) had gotten involved.

Jitinder Munkir was the personal family lawyer of the Akatsuki family, which founded Nergal, and the head lawyer of the company, and thus was a very busy man, albeit a legal genius. He had simply arrived into the sheriff's office and all interrogation in regards to the murders came to a grinding halt. It wasn't quite clear how he did it, but eavesdroppers gossiped about how there had been no official announcement of charges, and thus, Erina and Kaguya couldn't be held as such by System Alliance law. There were some heated words about how Peaceland was not in the System Alliance and, by Peaceland law, could not officially announce charges without judges from all of the affected districts assembled. The earliest that could happen wouldn't be until the following week, since judges from Jupiter, Australia, Ninlan, Japan, and Peaceland would have to convene.

"Well," Jitinder was reported to have said, "assemble them."

That's precisely what happened. The Peaceland Jump Shuttle had to be temporarily reopened so that those from the further nations and planets could quickly arrive, but, just as Sheriff Jacob Shaw had predicted, it had taken until that Monday, July twenty-ninth, for all five judges to arrive.

But the judges, the accused, and their counsel were not the only ones to arrive at the highest of Peaceland's courts. News crews for not just the system itself, but local reporters from each of the locales of the deaths were there as well. More than that, the closest friends and family of each of those killed were present, along with those that had helped at their own risk to apprehend those accused. Anyone well-versed in the course of events during the Lizard War would have been shocked at how many Nadesico crew members were present, but considering that Misumaru Yurika, one of the most recognizable and well-loved ship captains in recent history, was among those counted dead, it would not have been much of a surprise.

The only judge familiar with the courthouse was Chief Justice Inge Lindgaard. While Peaceland's Supreme Court was, predictably, reserved almost entirely for appeals, since Queen Gwynth Notsumote of Peaceland and Princess Notsumote Hoshino Ruri of Peaceland were among victims (though they had survived), it had been deemed appropriate to leap to the highest court for the judge that would represent Peaceland.

Flanking Chief Justice Lindgaard were Judge Elaniel Kyoo of Ninlan and Judge Kon'no Masami of Earth. Judge Kyoo had been contacted by the emperor of Ninlan himself to represent Ninlan's need for justice in the name of her former emperor. Judge Kon'no was actually a district judge from where Yurika and Jun had lived before Yurika was killed. To say the least, she was a bit star-struck being on the other side of the planet with all of these huge names, but she was also willing to do her job.

On the end next to the Ninlandish judge was Justice Miyazaki Mari of the Holy Jupiterian Empire. Like all Jupiterians, Justice Miyazaki was a Jumper, and one that could cause earthquakes with the snap of her fingers. It was not surprising that she had been seated next to Judge Kyoo, as she too was a Jumper, and a Copy mage at that. Chief Justice Lindgaard would later claim that it was a help to have the experience of two Jumpers involved in the deciding of the case, but everyone present was more than aware that the Peaceland government, which was less than kind to Jumpers, had their hands tied in this respect.

The last judge came to represent not Tenician Island, where Aqua Crimson was killed, as it was a private island, but instead Aqua's heritage as an Australian. Judge Paul Stevens of Earth was young, but not inexperienced when it came to such criminal matters. The seating of this man next to Judge Kon'no would leave the Jumpers and non-Jumpers separated by the judge from Peaceland, a supposedly neutral country. The symbolism was not lost on the reporters, who took great lengths to dramatize the whole event.

Although, they would be pleased to discover, they did not need to dramatize it any more than it already would be.

Of the two of them, Kaguya was the calmer. Every attempt to interrogate Erina resulted in her flailing about and trying to break free of her bonds, screaming at the top of her lungs. Kaguya, on the other hand, would sit still, and only showed her fright for the consequences of her actions with her shuddering breath and tears rolling down her cheeks. Therefore, Kaguya was the first to be brought before the court.

Kaguya entered the courtroom without as much as a word. The dark green jumpsuit made her obscenely pale skin look even paler. Her purple hair was tied loosely back at the nape of her neck, and bags that matched it in color dragged her lower eyelids down, showing her nearly dead dark brown eyes to the sketch artists in the room. She was led to her seat before all five judges, most of which glared down at her with disdain. Chief Justice Lindgaard rustled some papers while Jitinder whispered some last minute advice to one of his most important clients. Finally, Chief Justice Lindgaard put on his translator headphones, a motion that prompted the rest of the room to do the same. While the majority of the room was fluent in Japanese, Chief Justice Lindgaard was not, and any manner of language could have been used with such a variety of ethnicities and nationalities present. Jitinder helped Kaguya put her own headphones over her ears as her wrists were chained to her waist. Almost immediately after, Chief Justice Lindgaard began to speak.

"Onikirimaru Kaguya of Mars, former captain of the Gardenia and chairwoman of Asuka Incorporated prior to its absorption by Nergal Heavy Industries. You stand before the courts of the Holy Jupiterian Empire, the Empire of Ninlan, the Kingdom of Peaceland, and the System-Allied nations of Australia and Japan on this twenty-ninth day of July in this year of 2199. Are you prepared to hear the charges against you?"

"Yes, Your Honor." While her exterior showed her to be frightened, her hands clenching and unclenching, her voice was steady and perceptively calm.

"Your charges, Miss Onikirimaru, are numerous and grievous in nature, the worst of which include one count of assassination, three counts of premeditated murder, two counts of attempted assassination, and one count of abduction of a monarch of the country of Peaceland. All of these crimes are considered as such in all of the allied nations or empires in which they were committed. Do you understand these charges against you?"

"Yes, Your Honor."

"You have been caught in the act of attempting to kill Princess Notsumote Hoshino Ruri of Peaceland, aided in the abduction of Queen Gwynth Notsumote of Peaceland, and were present in the attemptive murder of the Peaceland queen. Of these charges, you have been found undeniably guilty in the eyes of Peaceland justice. However, your sentences may be affected by your explanation today. Do you and your counsel understand this?"

This time, Kaguya's answer took a moment, as she had to sit down and confer with Jitinder. However, she stood back up and said, quite confidently, "Yes, Your Honor, we both understand."

Chief Justice Lindgaard moved more papers around, and then passed copies of one to each of the other four judges. "This is not a regular trial or hearing; in fact, the organization of this gathering is quite unprecedented to be sure. Therefore, for each of these charges, we cannot ask for a plea from you at this time. Instead, we have heard of both you and your partner being uncooperative in regards to your sides of the story. Could you please for the sake of the court, tell what you have to say about this mess?"

"I would love to, Your Honor." Jitinder's dark brows knit and he reached over to tug on the dark green jumpsuit, but Kaguya gracefully moved out of range. She cleared her throat and licked her lips before looking up into Chief Justice Lindgaard's round black eyes with her bloodshot ones. "You see, I didn't kill anyone."

The courtroom erupted in loud shouts, the loudest of which seemed to come from a woman whose red hair now whipped around her face with the sudden fierce blowing of the air conditioner, "Like hell you didn't, you Aer-damned bitch!" Chief Justice Lindgaard pounded his gavel, his previously soft voice rising up into a roar. "Order! Order! I will have order in this court or I will turn you out myself!" As most, if not all of those present were merely there to find out how this all came to a head, their shouting slowed and quieted to a murmur before falling entirely silent. Chief Justice Lindgaard threaded his fingers together, then steepled them at his lips. "Please, Miss Onikirimaru: continue."

Kaguya bowed her head, loose strands of her purple hair sliding in front of her. She took a deep breath, and appeared to be fighting to keep her voice steady. "I, personally, have not killed anyone. But I know that it was through my actions that many people did die." She let out a humorless snort. "There would be those that would consider that to be murder on its own. But all I have ever done was Boson Jump with the true killer in tow." She shook her head. "Jump, Leap, Teleport, whatever you call it, it is an ability given to us by our ancestors. To use it is not a crime. But, even I would admit, it is a crime to abuse it so, using it to travel anywhere, to harm others. But... I had no choice." She swallowed and sniffed, and then licked her lips as a pair of tears tracked down her cheeks. "You... you don't know what she would have done to me!" She fell silent, sitting down and allowing Jitinder to mop up her face, which was steadily reddening.

Once her face was clean of tears and mucus, she stood again, and faced her condemners with a tightened jaw. "Erina Kinjo Won is a merciless killer from a long line of merciless killers. She did not want the Lizard War to end. So she killed Vice Admiral Kusakabe Haruki of Jupiter. The war did not begin again. She looked to increase her own holdings in the corporate world, and to start the war again. So she killed Aqua Crimson of Earth. She gained the power and influence of the Crimson Group, but the war did not begin again. She looked to pull Ninlan into the conflict, so she killed the former emperor, Lord Mythos Entrada of Ninlan. The war did not begin again. She looked to antagonize the military, and specifically the crew of the Nadesico, so she killed the former captain of the Nadesico, Misumaru Yurika. And still, the war did not begin."

Chief Justice Lindgaard silenced the girl by lifting a nut-brown hand. "Why include Peaceland, then, Miss Onikirimaru? Peaceland is a neutral country, and will remain that way."

"Your Honor, I believe she had hoped to pull Peaceland out of its neutrality. A last attempt for her war, I suppose."

Chief Justice Lindgaard nodded as he wrote something down on a pad before him. Judge Kon'no, a very short woman, turned to the chief justice. "If I may?"

Chief Justice Lindgaard held out a hand in front of him. "Please."

Judge Kon'no nodded curtly at him and then turned her slitted eyes toward the Martian woman. "You say you were forced into providing, dare I say it, transportation to Erina Kinjo Won, whom you claim was the one who performed the actual murders. How was it that you were forced?"

Kaguya pursed her lips together and seemed to stare off into the distance. After a few moments of this, Jitinder stood up and began to speak. "Your Honor-"

"No!" Kaguya suddenly interrupted, startling her lawyer. Jitinder sat back down, dumbfounded. "No. I... I can tell them." She took a deep breath. "She threatened to kill me. Not just kill me... she threatened to torture me, and then only kill me when she had finished having her fun with me. She threatened to rip out my eyeballs if I did not Jump her where she wanted to go. She said she would cut off my legs if I told anyone. She said... She threatened..." Kaguya swallowed. "She said that Nergal was studying space pneumonia, and that she had access to their deadliest strain." She looked Judge Kon'no right in her plum-colored eyes. "She said she would infect me, run tests on me, and then leave me to rot in a cell." Kaguya snorted once more. "I still think that one was just to scare me, since my parents were lost to the disease."

Judge Kyoo held up a white hand. "Wait. Let me see if I understand this. You didn't believe her threats?"

Kaguya shook her head. "Not at first. Not until she killed Kusakabe Haruki."

"Then... why did you help her with the first murder?"

Kaguya sighed, and looked to the side. "Because I love her. Even now, after she's frightened me and after I've seen what she can do... I still love her."

The judges began to murmur amongst themselves, to the great agitation of both the court recorders and the news reporters, but after nearly ten minutes, Chief Justice Lindgaard addressed Kaguya once more. "This is off the record, unofficially, and due to be under a great deal of review, but at this time, it is our collective preliminary opinion that all charges save for that of being an accessory to the assassination of Vice Admiral Kusakabe Haruki of Jupiter. However," he said, looking over his spectacles at the slightly relieved face of the former Gardenia captain, "this is prior to our analysis of the one you claim was key in the deaths we have discussed." He stared down the Martian woman until she sat back down. "Bailiff! Send in Miss Won."

From a side door entered two guards that held down Erina Kinjo Won's arms. She was dressed in a dark green jumpsuit identical to Kaguya's, and the long trail of black hair was loosely tied, just like her accomplice's. However, her hair was more disheveled, and the short hair from the tips of her ears to the peak of her forehead was distressed by her thrashing her head from side to side. That was why she had guards leading her to her seat at the same long table as Kaguya and Jitinder. Her dark brown eyes widened as she saw Kaguya, and she fought the guards as best she could with her hands chained to her waist like Kaguya's. She kicked and thrashed her legs, losing one of the white sneakers she was wearing. She grunted and gritted her teeth, trying to make herself heavy and make the guards have to drag her along the wood floor of the Peaceland courtroom. She cried out incoherent babbles. "No! I don't want to be near- Oh God, why won't you listen? It was Kaguya! She Jumped us there and killed them all!" She carried on for a moment more, and just as Chief Justice Lindgaard was reaching for his gavel, she suddenly quieted. She sat up straight and silent with a slight smile on her eerily pale lips, her shoulders back and her hands folded in her lap. The transformation was so sudden that Chief Justice Lindgaard had narrowed his black eyes in alarm and puzzlement. "M-Miss Won?"

"Yes, You Honor?" Her voice was hoarse with her previous screaming, but now it was very steady and calm. Her eyes reflected the light from the fluorescent lamps hanging from the high ceiling of the courtroom. The courtroom was more silent than the open and empty ocean. No one seemed to know how to take in this drastic change in attitude. Emperor Rumiko Adagio of Ninlan's nostrils flared, searching for a scent of some sort of sorcery, but all he could smell was the scent of explosives, a scent that he couldn't help but attribute to Amano Hikaru. She had once explained that it was her art supplies that smelled like spent gunpowder, but it was a smell that not only permeated her, but also her power. Rumiko could not smell anything else. He pursed his lips and turned his attention back to the judges and the accused. He was probably just paranoid.

Chief Justice Lindgaard visibly swallowed. "Erina Kinjo Won of Earth, former cohelmswoman of the Nadesico and former helmswoman of the Gardenia, and chairwoman of Nergal Heavy Industries. You stand before the courts of the Holy Jupiterian Empire, the Empire of Ninlan, the Kingdom of Peaceland, and the System-Allied nations of Australia and Japan on this twenty-ninth day of July in this year of 2199. Are you prepared to hear the charges against you?"

"Yes, Your Honor." While Kaguya had only attempted to keep her voice steady and without emotion, Erina actually mastered it, the only expression of her feelings within that humorless, almost malicious smile. Even Chief Justice Lindgaard appeared to be taken aback by this tone of hers as he began to speak the same words as he did to Kaguya.

"Miss Won, your charges are numerous and grievous in nature, the worst of which include one count of assassination, three counts of premeditated murder, two counts of attempted assassination, and one count of abduction of a monarch of the country of Peaceland. All of these crimes are considered as such in all of the allied nations or empires in which they were committed. Do you understand these charges against you, Miss Won?"

"Most certainly, Your Honor."

"You have been caught in the act of attempting to kill Princess Notsumote Hoshino Ruri of Peaceland, abducting Queen Gwynth Notsumote of Peaceland, and then attempting to kill the Peaceland queen. Of these charges, you have been found undeniably guilty in the eyes of Peaceland justice. However, your sentences may be affected by your explanation today. Do you and your counsel understand this?"

"Yes, Your Honor." Surprising especially Jitinder, Erina immediately answered the question without even conferring with her lawyer. Anyone seated near the front would have been able to hear Jitinder squeak out, "What are you doing?" to Erina, but she did not respond.

"Good." Chief Justice Lindgaard licked his lips. "Now, Miss Won-"

"Call me Erina," she interrupted, tossing her head to the side to shake her black bangs out of her face.

"Miss Won," emphasized Chief Justice Lindgaard, pushing his spectacles back up his nose, "I certainly hope you understand the gravity of your actions and of the crimes of which you have been accused."

"I do, Your Honor."

"Then you will interrupt me no longer." His voice remained soft, but in the quiet, echoing room, it seemed to bounce off every piece of furniture, every wall, and into every ear as much louder than it began. He waited a moment more, and then opened a folder on the surface before him. "Now, Miss Won. I have already explained to your partner and the court how this hearing is preliminary and the decisions made today may or may not have any bearing on your official trials or any sentences. Is this clear, Miss Won?"

"Perfectly, Your Honor."

"Then, if you please, explain to the court, the judges seated with me, and those who have been antagonized by these actions you and your partner may or may not have performed why you are here."

Erina's smile turned into more of a smirk as she began to shake her shoulders. Her shuddering shoulders soon were upstaged by her soft giggling, which themselves were swallowed by roaring, shrieking laughter. No one spoke, but most shifted in their seats uncomfortably. She spoke in between her chortles. "'May or may not'? Your Honor, you speak as if Kaguya and I have not already been found 'undeniably guilty' in your eyes of all named crimes!"

This time, as he reached over for a fistful of green jumpsuit, Jitinder's voice was clearly audible. "Erina, for the love of God, what are you doing?"

Erina stopped laughing as Jitinder clutched her clothing. She twisted and slapped his hand away. "Keep quiet, Jitinder; I know exactly what I'm doing." She turned back to the quintet of judges from all around the system. "The thing is, you pompous asses are more than content to assume we are guilty, to lock us away and throw away the key. And do you know what? You wouldn't be wrong." Possibly proving her point, Jitinder was the only one to gasp. "You see, Your Honors, I did kill them all. Vice Admiral Kusakabe Haruki of Jupiter. Aqua Crimson of Earth. Lord Mythos Entrada of Ninlan. Captain Misumaru Yurika of Mars. And I wanted to kill your precious Peaceland princess, who used to be my-mind you, my-property." She shrugged. "The only reason I didn't kill the queen was because I didn't need her. I needed Ruri."

"You awful snake of a woman," came from the heavily accent lilt of Judge Stevens. "All it takes is an awful accident or even a fit of rage for one to kill once. It takes a certain type of cruelty to be able to not kill once or twice, but four times, and to attempt to kill a child as well."

Erina's teeth were white, and the sight of them blended with the skin of her pale lips. "Why, Your Honor, what a pleasant compliment." She gasped suddenly and deeply, her eyes rolling back in her head as she sank into her seat. Jitinder rose to his feet, but now it was Erina clutching the light blue fabric of his dress shirt. "Jitinder, I'm so sorry." He had no chance to respond before she pulled herself shakily to her feet. "Your Honors, I didn't kill anyone," she wheezed out, her face growing red as she began to sob. Her head suddenly jerked sharply to the right, and then the smile came back. "Of course I did. I killed them all, and in some of the most brutal ways I could imagine."

"Miss Won?" Chief Justice Lindgaard asked tentatively. "Are you all right?"

"Yes. I'm fine." Her head twitched once more and her loud, racking sobs filled the courtroom. "No! Don't believe... me! Don't believe what I say! Oh God, get out of my head!"

The judges all looked amongst each other, and then Chief Justice Lindgaard adjusted his spectacles again. "I propose that we reschedule our examination of Miss Won until a later date; at least until she can get a hold of herself, mentally. Is there any opposition?"

"There most definitely is," spoke up the judge representing Jupiter, Justice Miyazaki. She narrowed her beady brown eyes to the nearly convulsing Nergal chairwoman. "My people have long felt anger and a desire for revenge on Earth for her actions during the War for Lunar Autonomy. For a century we emboldened our anger, embraced it. Finally, Jupiter can rest and feel peace. According to Miss Onikirimaru," Justice Miyazaki spat out the name of the Martian woman like a fruit seed, "the reason, the motive for all of this heartless killing was to embroil our world in bitter war again. Tell me, Miss Won, is this true?"

"No! It isn't-" Erina's words stopped as her throat constricted and felt strangled. She clenched and unclenched her fists to fight against the chains holding them there, to reach her neck, but suddenly it was gone and she was wheezing for breath. She sank slowly into her chair and did not look Justice Miyazaki in the eye as she spoke. "Yes," she whispered. Then she repeated it louder. "Yes. I wanted the Lizard War to go on for as long as I could make it. And who wouldn't, in my position? Nergal was making tons of money because of the war. It would be a fool to call himself a businessman and to want peace instead of profits." She looked up at her again, her eyes shining. "And you know what? The only reason I killed Yurika is because she was the one who ended my lovely little war."

Justice Miyazaki leaned back in her seat and shook her head slowly. Chief Justice Lindgaard spoke the words she was too stunned to say. "Get her out of my sight."

The guards and bailiffs seized her arms, and she jumped up and down and kicked her legs. "No! Oh please! Listen to me! Oh God! I didn't kill anyone!" She shook her head violently as she screamed, so when she spasmed once more, it went unnoticed by those that had all of her limbs in their grip, carrying her slowly out of the courtroom. She began to laugh harshly and humorlessly before she was pulled out of the courtroom. "I'm the one who has caused all of this craziness! Me! And I would kill them all again! I'm the madness that lies in the hearts of men! I'm your madness!"

Chief Justice Lindgaard kept his thin white eyebrows together as he made his final notes. He gathered his pages into one pile, and then slammed down the gavel once. "This court is adjourned." He straightened his papers and files by picking them up and hitting the ends on the table.

After the seemingly too-short hearing (or perhaps it was an honest plea trial, he wasn't sure; Rumiko never really understood even his own country's judicial system) Rumiko found himself wandering the gardens outside of Peaceland's few and far between courthouses. He had left his wife to converse with the friends she had made long before they had met, choosing instead to admire the elaborate floral arrangements outside the building in which more than one fate had been decided over the years, and would be decided for certain as time went on.

At least, that's what he told Megan.

While he did allow himself to contemplate the largely leafed plants and flowers nearing the end of their days, it was not Peaceland's carefully cultivated and universal beauty that drew him outside and away from those he would call-dare he say it-friends. Instead, it was the completion of the task that had been set before him for so many months, since the day he married Megan.

The only reason he had begun the chase for what system-wide news reporters called the "Jumper Murderers", despite the fact that they also killed Aqua Crimson, who was no mage or Teleporter, was because of the death of Mythos Entrada on the day of his marriage.

Mythos Entrada had, at first, been someone Rumiko could not help but hate. As the former emperor of Ninlan, Mythos had been chosen by Magus to rule the planet, not by all five gods as previous tradition had required. More than that, he had set up the magical tests and slaughter of Elemental mages, including Rumiko's own twin sister. But it did not take Rumiko long to see the wisdom in thinking not with his emotions but instead with his logic; Mythos would have made an invaluable advisor with his experience as the previous emperor.

It was through these exchanges that Rumiko had come to learn that Mythos was not an evil, inconsiderate, or even rude man. He simply had believed in his god and what his god told him. And Rumiko was not much different, subject to the whims of all five rather than just one. They did not take long to put the Magus-dominated past behind them for a brighter tomorrow.

He had presided over Rumiko's wedding, dammit. And now he had been killed. It still made Rumiko angry to think about it. Not just sad at the loss of an invaluable friend, but angry that someone would do such an insulting act, on his wedding day.

But now... those he had once trusted had been captured, and awaited the long and arduous process toward what he hoped was a just punishment for what trouble they had caused those they used to consider friends. And for what? To make a silly war that had been over for a long time now continue? Ninlan was not discovered at the time of the Lizard War, but Rumiko was more than aware of the tensions that plagued Earthling and Jupiterian relations. More than that, Rumiko felt that, although no one had blatantly said it, they were wishing for Ninlan to choose a side, which he was not sure he could do.

Still, it was this sort of thinking that really hit home with Rumiko. He was no longer focused on satisfying his pride and avenging Mythos. Instead, he was thinking like an emperor. The leader of a nation. It was something Megan had been lecturing him about since they were married. But instead, he looked to satisfy his own bruised pride. But no more. Now, Rumiko could finally rest and do what he was meant to: lead his empire into the modern age.

Rumiko smiled at the sight of the only instance of a certain fringed pink flower he had seen. He recognized it simply because Megan always kept some growing in the Ecclesiastical Palace's greenhouses. Dianthus superbus, he thought to himself. Nadesicos. He bent down to take in the sweet scent of the lilac pink flowers when a slight movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He looked up to see a young, pale man with dark blue hair dressed in all black. He was looking up into the mostly cloudy sky. Rumiko was not entirely clear about how weather on Earth worked, but if that sky was on Ninlan, he would assume it was threatening to rain. Still, the way that the man leaned against a bit of the wrought iron fencing that circled the gardens made it very clear who he was: Aoi Jun of Earth, one of his former students, and, as Rumiko considered, possibly the one to have lost the most with the actions of Erina and Kaguya.

Rumiko pulled himself up and walked slowly up to Jun. The crunch of the pathway's gravel under his gray shoes attracted the attention of the Earthling fire mage, and he turned quickly to see who it was, his eyes widened and blue brows knit. Once he recognized Rumiko, however, his face relaxed and he turned back to looking over the landscape.

Rumiko brought his own black brows together. The view wasn't very riveting: it was mostly green with landmarks even the foreign emperor knew were stolen from other places. Instead, he supposed that Jun was simply staring off into space. Not that Rumiko could blame him. For what it was worth, Rumiko couldn't help but understand why Jun was so silent and closed. Rumiko knew that if Megan had been amongst those killed, he would... probably just be angrier than he was about Mythos's death. Rumiko wet his lips with his tongue. Perhaps he didn't truly understand how Jun felt. Jun wasn't angry, or at least he didn't appear to be. Rumiko didn't know why he wasn't.

Rumiko took a deep breath, and then joined Jun at the fence, unceremoniously resting his arms on it. He pointed out of the garden with his chin. "On Ninlan, those skies usually mean that it's going to rain. I believe it's humid enough for it."

Jun hummed and nodded. He hooked a strand of dark blue hair behind an ear. "It doesn't rain very long in Peaceland." A humorless smile marred his almost feminine face. "Small talk does not become you, Your Excellency."

Rumiko rolled his amber eyes. "We have more history than that. Your friends call me by my first name; I don't see why you cannot." Jun didn't respond, instead choosing to study the horizon. Rumiko wondered if he had said the wrong thing, but then decided that it wasn't worth worrying about. From what he remembered when he taught Jun and the rest of his close friends how to master and control their magic, Jun was always a somewhat serious person. He could laugh, of course; even Rumiko could barely hold in his chuckles at some of his students' antics, but Jun was not really someone to go out of his way to make a joke.

"I have to thank you," Jun suddenly intoned softly, breaking the silence. He looked over at Rumiko. "For tracking them down."

Rumiko was taken aback, but let a small smile tug at his lips. "Your friends did more than I, I think."

Jun shook his head. "Perhaps. And I'll be thanking them for a long time to come, I'm sure. But..." He sighed. "You put in a lot of effort. Thank you."

Rumiko narrowed his eyes. "I... I didn't do it for Miss Misumaru."

"I know." The reply was short, and Rumiko hoped he hadn't offended the man who was a widower in all but marital status. "I know," he repeated. "You thought she was one of the killers herself."

"Jun, I-"

Jun shook his head. "It doesn't matter anymore. Don't worry about it. She... she's in a better place now."

Rumiko shut his eyes, feeling shame creep into his pale cheeks in the form of redness. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for accusing her. If I hadn't... she might be here today. I hope that one day you can forgive me."

"I do." Rumiko reopened his eyes and narrowed them as he stared at Jun in surprise. "I do forgive you." Jun sighed again. "This... isn't the time to be angry. At anyone." Jun paused, and then smiled a tiny bit, almost unnoticeable. Rumiko would have missed it if he wasn't closely watching all of Jun's expressions to help in interpreting his words. "I'm not even angry with Kaguya and Erina."

"What?" More than a few pigeons vacated a nearby tree, frightened by Rumiko's shout. Rumiko winced himself at how his words echoed across the overglamourized tourist attraction of a countryside. "How can you not be angry with them?"

"Because I'm not. I'm just... not. In fact..." Jun turned away from Rumiko, "I'm just beginning to stop being angry with myself."

Rumiko narrowed his eyes and shifted his weight on his feet. "Yourself?"

Jun nodded. "I'm not very angry with them because... all they did was take away something that I had only so recently before gained, but had already begun to take for granted." Jun looked Rumiko in the eye. "That's why I am madder at myself. I... I took Yurika for granted. And then she was stolen from me, never to be recovered. I wonder, at night. What if I hadn't gone to be in my band? What if I had stayed? What if she had never broken up with Erina? But... such questions don't lead to anything but regret. And I have enough regrets. I've only begun to... let go of them."

For as crazy as it sounded, Rumiko couldn't help but think that Jun was absolutely right. He hadn't really mourned Mythos's death; instead, he was angry that he hadn't had a chance to really become very good friends with the former emperor. He wasn't angry because of the insult at his own wedding, he was angry because he hadn't had the chance to really be able to enjoy his time that he had with the deceased advisor. Now, for the first time, Rumiko felt a deep sorrow that he didn't think he was capable of feeling again, a sorrow he thought was reserved only for his dead twin sister. Rumiko left the fence as he felt his eyes begin to tear up and his nose congest, finding a nearby stone bench and sitting upon it. Already, there were little wet spots on the surface of the bench, denoting the present sprinkling. Jun watched him go, and Rumiko was surprised to see him still watching him as Rumiko looked up. The emperor of Ninlan sniffed and quickly wiped his eyes. "How can you forgive yourself for that? For... taking those around you for granted?"

Jun smiled, for real this time. It was a nice smile, and unlike all of his previous ones, it actually reached his eyes, lighting them up with a mirth that Rumiko was surprised someone like him could feel after such an awful ordeal. "By taking this opportunity to enjoy those who are still standing. By not taking any of them or their kindnesses for granted. By learning from this curveball life threw us." Jun turned away, leaning against the fence once more.

The silence between them was drowned out by the sudden downpour of rain, which soaked them both. Rumiko did not take any motions to run for shelter; a bit of rain never hurt anyone. Besides, he was starting to look at things a bit differently, starting with this rain. Mythos would never feel the rain again. It was only right that he take the chance to feel it, taste it, and smell it, because it could be taken away from him at any time. Rumiko felt a bit dizzy with this new look on life. It was so sudden that he wanted to run off and tell Megan all about it, but he also wanted to just sit and contemplate it, give it the more time and thought it deserved.

If it had not been raining, Rumiko would have been able to hear Jun humming. He didn't even Jun whisper the last line of his little song to himself. "Going your days, grow up."

THE END

Author's Note: So. I'm your Madness is over, clocking in at 773 pages. I've been writing it for over four years now, and it's finally finished. Many may have had their speculations proven from the start, but let me tell you, you may still be wrong. After all, although this book may have taken a very long time to be completed, the story is not over yet. The Broken Reasons series isn't over by a longshot. The next book will be going by the name Unstable Balance, but it may not be started for a while. I think I may need to take a break from this world that I've made mostly my own. I'd like to thank the creators of Nadesico for making such a wonderful series and character, my friends for supporting me all throughout my writing projects, and particularly my readers, because without you... I would probably still write the story, but it would be at a much lower quality. Thank you for sticking with me all these years while I wrote this story, and I hope you'll read more from me in the future.

February 27, 2003 - June 17, 2007