Eternal Heavens

Disclaimer:  I'm poor so don't bother suing.  I only own my original 
characters.  Hell, I don't even own some of them, heh.  I don't own any 
Tenchi characters.  To be honest I can't afford them, though I think I'm 
handling them better than AIC is. >_<

Authors Forward:  Greedo did not shoot first.

Now I'll beg for C&C; PLEASE OH PLEASE CORRECT ME!!! ^_^  I'm at 
kthardin@yahoo.com so feel free! ^_^

Gathering of the Children
  -Conversations in a Bar

<Opening Theme:  Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns and Roses>

	Doors of steel and tritanium swung wide with a creak, and swung 
shut with a slam as doors are generally wont to do.  Between these 
actions a man of some considerable bulk but not of considerable height 
walked through.  Accompanying him, was a quick, yet powerful, gust of 
wind and sand that blew in with him, and only had the effect of moving 
the air in the establishment around a bit.  Once it settled, the man 
pulled back the hood of his cloak to reveal a shock of white hair that 
spiked up in individual locks, going straight up and back in direction.  
Then, amidst the cheesy music that played in the background and the 
fragrant, opaque smoke that hung in the air, he made his way to the 
source of the cheesy music and kicked it.

	Once.

	The pink looking mass that had been masquerading as saxophone 
player oozed out of the indention he made into the wall and limped to the 
nearest exit.  The man who had kicked the musician turned his attention 
to the jukebox beside the large impression left by the artist formerly 
known to play there, and slid a few coins into it.  After paging through 
a few of the selections the man punched in a few numbers.  His choices 
made, he walked to one of the seats on the bench at the main bar.  
Strange, that in a place where there were more than a few beings 
standing, sliding, and going about their business; this one single stool 
was left untouched until he sat in it.

<Everybody Knows - Concrete Blond>

	He pointed in the spot directly before him on the bar when the 
hairy blob behind the table goggled its eyes in his direction.

	"The usual?" it burbled out.  It looked about itself at the vast 
lake of green bubbly liquid that encompassed the entirety of the cosmos, 
nearly drowning in its depths.  "Right," it affirmed in disgust, "All you 
want.  Don't see how you bipeds drink this stuff."

	"Thanks," the man muttered as the bartender slid away to get his 
order.  Sighing deeply, he pushed his sunglasses back up the bridge of 
his nose, and fished out a couple of golden metal strips from his pocket. 
He set them on the table, just as the bartender slithered back with a 
clear pitcher of the bubbling green liquid and a glass in its tentacles.

	The man pushed the strips toward it as it set the pitcher and glass 
down in front of the man.  A couple of other tentacles snaked out from 
its girth and picked up the proffered payment before it shuffled away to 
wait on another customer.

	Forgoing the glass, the man raised the pitcher to his lips and took 
a long drink, somehow not spilling a drop.  He wiped his lips on the cuff 
of his sleeve and turned in his chair letting his eyes rove the other 
patrons of the bar.

	Over in the far corner he watched a horned humanoid bargain with 
one of the local purveyors of the pleasures of the flesh.  Too bad that 
particular one was a predator, and would eat her meat after she was done 
screwing with it; t'was far more than that poor bastard was haggling for, 
in any event.  The spiked-haired one raised his drink in toast to the 
last night of that mans life.

	At his right, a green skinned...something...slumped over the light 
rod at his table; a burning laser wound smoking from his back only added 
to the rank smell and smoke within the bar.  The guy in the white shirt 
and black vest who had put that hole in him apologized to the bartender 
and tossed him a few coins to pay for the clean up.  Fortunately, lasers 
cauterize, so only thing that needed done was removal of the body.  Or 
maybe they'd let one of the locals eat it.

	A fight broke out to his right as he took another drink.  The glass 
and other debris that were kicked up flew over him, hardly disturbing his 
hair, even spiked up as it was.  The fight, however, moved a bit too 
close, which endangered the peaceful consumption of the bubbling green 
goodness he was currently slurping.  This, of course, could not be 
tolerated.  Thus, he slapped both of the combatants into the wall next to 
the impression left by the unfortunate musician.

	No one else in the establishment gave it a moment's notice.  Not 
even the humanoid that had just walked in, and was nearly hit by one of 
the flying bodies.

	The man with the spiked white hair at the bar pulled his glasses 
down a fraction of an inch to study the newcomer over the brim.  The eyes 
behind those tinted lenses revealed the flashing and swirling of the 
million million lights of a universe reflected back.  It was hard for him 
to tell a gender, or even a distinct profile for the newcomer, as the 
features shifted and changed without any rhyme or reason.  The only thing 
that seemed static were the eyes, which were colored in a solid rainbow 
pattern.  The newcomer walked directly toward the one at the main bar, 
the beings melting out of his way as he walked.

	"Fuck," the one with the spiked white hair moaned in resignation as 
he slid his glasses back up.  He twisted the bar stool around, buried his 
face in his arms on the bar table, and hoped the one with the rainbow 
colored eyes would go away.

	Hoping in vain.  "This seat taken?"  The newcomer looked at the gun 
he was holding to the head of the white haired man, and shook his head as 
he tossed it away.  The white haired man picked up the discarded firearm 
and pasted the glasses of drink behind them with his brains.

	"You realize, if one were to stop to consider the ramifications of 
your dislike of me, there could be all sorts of questions concerning both 
our sanities."

	The white haired one flipped his unwanted companion off as he bled 
on the ground from the hole that most of his grey matter had been 
forcibly pushed out of.  "Fuck off."  He took a drink from his refilled 
pitcher of the bubbly green liquid and studiously tried to ignore the 
woman sitting next to him.

	"Is that what you want?"  She asked huskily as she put her arms 
around the man who refused to acknowledge her nubile form around his.  
"Is that what you need?"  The wind whipped through her hair as she pulled 
the man around to face her.  Her hands began to burn through the man as 
they sensually caressed his white beard, moving down his chest, and...

	"That's enough!"  He held the woman at bay; his baleful stare quite 
literally sparkling with red energy behind his dark glasses.  Quite the 
contrast that the man he was holding looked at him only in amusement.  
"Say what you have to, then leave!"

	The dark-haired man adjusted his cloak around him when the breeze 
moved it out of place when he looked over the side large cliff, and had 
to fight a wave of vertigo, when looking down.  Its darkness was 
impregnable...impenetrable.  Suddenly two eyes opened in that baleful 
darkness glowing a sooty red color.  The white haired one took a sip of 
his bubbly green stuff and gave the other man a look that said, "Yeah.  
So what?"

	"Just thought you needed a reminder."

	The white haired one glared at her,  "I thought you of all beings, 
would be beyond something so simple," the woman looked around at the 
darkness that flew from the void at the bottom of the cliff.  The 
darkness that spoke to her in such a voice that would shatter whole 
worlds in fear, "After all, this is as valid a way to be as any other," 
the darkness laughed.  The woman could only smile back.

	She ordered the same thing he was drinking.  Taking a sip, she 
gasped, "Gaa, how do you drink this stuff?"

	"Mountain Dew?" he looked at her puzzled, "Can't go wrong with 
Dew."

	"I suppose I should really modify the body I use accordingly."  She 
raised her glass in toast, "To your future."

<Book of Days - Enya>

	The one with the spiked white hair looked at the other sideways 
before having the bartender fill his pitcher.  He sighed as he traveled 
the road he had been on for so long.  Behind him laid his life in all its 
ugly glory, but before him lay a road that branched off into an infinite 
number of forks into the spiraling abyss of the cosmos.  Even gods would 
look upon this and see just how small they really were in comparison.  He 
took a step forward onto one of the paths, and the roads shifted and 
changed; yet they remained infinite.

	"That's true," he said, rainbow colored eyes flashing, "Where are 
you going?"

	"Me?"  The white haired one considered it for at least a minute, 
"Shit, I figured I'd go over there and torture myself with an N'sync 
song.  With you talking, and it playing, that might be the most 
excruciating thing which could be imagined."

	She hefted her coiled whip and licked its edge slowly down its 
length.  She savored the fear she felt from her captive who was held by 
thick chains and manacles in her dungeon.  His severely muscled body 
strained taught in his futile efforts to break free.  Sweat dripped from 
every pore, and she paused to savor its taste on his body.  Then she 
stepped back, and let the whip uncoil to the floor.

	"Amateur."

	She looked at her caged submissive, whose rock hard gaze of fury 
honestly didn't look all that submissive, and frowned at his shear 
audacity to speak.

	"Didn't I tell you to make your point?  There is no way that could 
be all of it."

	She slammed her mug down hard.  "No.  That was not it," she huffed.  
"You are neglecting your responsibilities!"

	He picked up a can of Dew from his six-pack chilling in the 
seawater on the beach.  He hummed to himself in a tuneless, yet rhythmic 
melody as the sun began to sink in the waves of the sea; casting colors 
of pink and gold across the sky and beyond into the seas of eternity.  A 
deep base note spoke across the universe as the sun finally disappeared 
from the horizon; so ended another day, and so began another night.  
"It's a big universe, and there are plenty of us." He leaned back on the 
bar and pulled a cigarette from nowhere and popped it in his mouth.  
"Find someone else," he muttered and flicked the end of the smoke with 
his finger, lighting it.

	"I know SHE did," the rainbow eyed one said offhandedly.  The white 
haired one simply continued to smoke, the only reaction to her statement 
being a slight tightening around his eyes.  "Can't say as I blame her 
either.  After all, you left her, didn't you?"  He turned away from the 
white haired one in the void of darkness about them.  "Business as usual 
for her though.  Everyone she's ever known has left her at one point or 
another.  Hell, even her first son has finally died."

	"You mean her only son," he corrected.

	The one with the rainbow eyes only shook his head, "No, I mean her 
first son.  Oh," she paused, "but you didn't know that, did you?"

	His hands stretched out in the void to touch a being of luminous 
blue energy, whose own hands reached out for him.  They moved closer, and 
closer as a strange symphony that seemed to communicate the longing of 
their souls resonated between them and across all things.  He could 
almost see the definitions of the being, almost that of a woman when they 
finally touched.  Yet then her hands slid from his before he could grasp 
their radiant warmth; and she vanished from his sight, the orchestra 
falling silent.

	He could only ask, "Why?"

	"Ask her yourself.  Find out yourself.  It doesn't work that 
easily; you know that."  He drank the final dregs of her drink, and rose 
from her seat.  "Oh well, places to go, things to see, people to confuse, 
and that sort of thing."  Smiling, she ruffled the white haired one's 
tresses on his way out.

	If one could have seen behind the white haired one's sunglasses, 
one could have seen his eyes clenched together as something unfathomable; 
but regardless, quite painful, raged through him.  He ground out his 
cigarette on the bar.

	"I'm leaving now," he told the bartender, "Make sure my change is 
credited back to my account this time or I'll tie you up and make you 
listen to Barney songs for a year."

	"Of course." it agreed quickly,  "But if I might ask..?"  He turned 
toward the bartender, "Well, umm...who was that you were talking to?"  
Its only answer was a laugh; a laugh that continued on his way out of the 
cantina, and well into the night.

---------------------------

	"If that doesn't do it, nothing will," she pronounced.

	The rainbow-eyed one's companion gazed at him with his one good eye 
for some time.  He knew that what had just been said to the white haired 
one had needed said, but...

	"He won't stop what he's doing."

	The one with the rainbow colored eyes looked about at the stars 
around her, "Stopping him is not the point.  Nothing can stop him now.  
Only uniting him with the other do we stand a chance of survival.  
Together, they are our last hope."

	"No."  He answered quickly, "There is another."

	"She is but a child; her time has not yet come." He reminded the 
one-eyed man, "She will have her own hands full with what is approaching.  
A different part to play.  You know we can't rely on her for that."  She 
sighed in regret, casually plucking a comet out of the sky, "If only 
there were more time."

	"Heh, strange that you would talk of Time." The one-eyed ones 
amusement seemed not to break the somber mood surrounding them, however.  
"Too bad we can't just...no, that's not the kind of time we need."

	He twisted the comet back and forth in her hands before finally 
letting it go back on its way.  Its delay was enough so that hundreds of 
astrophysicists of the surrounding systems to wonder why their time 
tables for its orbit was so off for that year and all following.  "I must 
continue now.  There are other matters to attend to."

	The one-eyed one nodded his head in agreement, "And those that I 
must attend to as well," he watched his companion fade away into the 
background and thought to himself, he'll do what needs done.

	As must we all.

----------

	The man with the white spiked hair seemed to flow from the air as 
he appeared on the bridge of his starship.  Glancing about its exterior, 
his eyes finally settled on the view screen before him.  He barely noted 
the presence that had flown down from ceiling and settled on his 
shoulder.  At least not until its long serpentine neck craned around into 
his field of vision.

	"Drakhenn," he addressed the creature, which cocked its head to 
listen, "I need you to contact the Youma.  Finalize the deal with them 
immediately.  We'll make delivery at the end of the galactic standard 
week."  The little drake opened his wings, and gracefully dove from his 
perch to glide over to a computer terminal that seemed specifically 
designed to handle his small frame.  It started punching the buttons on 
the console as soon as it settled down in its seat.

	The man sank down heavily into a chair that had flowed from the 
floor, and fit itself perfectly to the contours of his body; the Sealy 
Posturpedic sales sticker had not yet been removed from its left side.  
His eyes had never wavered from the screen at the forward part of the 
room.

	"Ranger," the screen blinked on, "It's time to end it."

	<<And then what, oh high and mighty lord and master?>> the ship 
printed out on the screen.

	His hands stretched forth and grasped the perfect sphere of his 
ship, and crushed it.  Its explosion could be seen for light-years in 
every direction; its fiery death serving to light the party that was 
being held over the universe in celebration over the death of a truly 
annoying individual.  "We go find a few people."

	<<I take it we are returning to work?>>

	With a defeated sigh, he pulled out an already lit cigarette and 
took a long, slow, and sad drag from it.  "Just when I thought I was 
finally out, they pull me back in."

<Ending theme - Dreams - Van Halen>

To any and all who have just read this fic: given that most of you will 
have been confused with how it is written in the first two or three 
seconds of reading, I will attempt to explain what is going on.  The 
method of communication between the two main characters above, as well as 
a few thoughts and actions, are the results of them being creatures 
beyond a few of our limitations.  In this case, they use reality itself 
to communicate thoughts, ideas, and expound on others that were stated in 
a more conventional way.  If you pay attention, you'll note how reality 
shifts and changes.  This is business as usual for them, and is no cause 
for alarm as far as the fic is concerned.  On the other hand, any 
problems with reality you have are yours and yours alone. ^_^