I have a message from another time... Eyrie Productions, Unlimited presents UNDOCUMENTED FEATURES FUTURE IMPERFECT - SYMPHONY OF THE SWORD No. 2- Year's End Confrontation Blues Benjamin D. Hutchins (c) 2002 Eyrie Productions, Unlimited FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2405 12:17 PM 105 MORGAN LANE NEW AVALON, ZETA CYGNI Kaitlyn Hutchins was in the dojo behind her house, the place where she had spent countless hours learning the Asagiri Katsujinkenryuu from her father. With her parents at work and much of the vacationing Duelist contingent out exploring the city, she'd decided to put an edge on her appetite for lunch with a bit of a workout. This week, for the first time, she'd worked in this dojo as a master, rather than a student. Her father, who had taught her, looked in now and then, nodding and hmming with approval, but for the most part he stayed away. He knew being scrutinized by her own teacher could make Kate nervous, and this early into her teaching career, he was inclined to cut her a little slack. Still, he was impressed. She'd adapted well to the unaccustomed role of teacher, handling her first student with just the right mixture of firmness, harshness and kindness. She was helped somewhat by the fact that that student, Kyouichi Saionji, was -not- starting from scratch - he was an experienced kendoka, and his skills were making the transition from kendo to kenjutsu with relative ease. When they'd started, back in June, he'd tried to spout some silly nonsense about erasing the slate and starting over, abandoning what he felt was a "hopelessly compromised" kendo technique, but Kate would have none of it. The essence of Katsujinkenryuu, she insisted, was building on one's strengths, and Saionji's previous kendo experience was one of his greater ones. Abandoning it and starting over from scratch was both impossible and against his new form's philosophy. Faced with this pronouncement from his new sensei, Saionji had made no demur. He merely nodded, said, "As you say, Sensei," and they began. Now, six months later, Kaitlyn was mentally revising her estimate. She'd told him when she'd taken him on that his progress would necessarily be slowed by the fact that the two of them had far from the amount of time necessary for a proper apprenticeship. Her estimate at the time was that he wouldn't even progress to the journeyman stage before they graduated from high school in the spring of 2407. So adaptable had his old technique proven, though, once his mind was opened enough to admit the possibility of salvaging and integrating it, that Kate was now satisfied he would be ready to test for journeyman -this- spring, possibly before the end of the school year. That would have to be done by, or at least with the direct consent of, her father, the O-sensei; but she was confident now that Saionji could do it. She didn't share that with him, of course; part of the fun of being sensei was that you didn't have to tell the student anything. Sergei the tiger yawned, rested his head on his forepaws, and watched his mistress and her student spar. Saionji, in his usual dark blue gi and hakama, his long green hair drawn back into a ponytail, was wielding the intricately carved bokuto she'd given him for Christmas; Kate, in her orange and black, held her zatoichi, its blade still hidden within its covering of dark wood. The wooden surfaces clacked rhythmically; the only other sounds were their measured breathing and the shuffle-thump, shuffle-thump of their bare feet on the dojo's wooden floor. Then, in a quiet, matter-of-fact tone, Saionji spoke: "You're a little off today, Sensei." Kate blocked his counterstrike, whirled her weapon out of battery, and stepped off, bowing. "Y-you're r-r-right," she told him, nodding. "I'm d-distracted. M-maybe w-w-we should b-break for l-lunch... " Saionji nodded, bowed, and then went to the table along one wall. He wiped down his bokuto and racked it, then picked up a couple of towels, draping one around his neck and taking the other to Kaitlyn. "Worried about Tenjou and your brother?" he asked as they left the dojo. Kate nodded. "Th-they should've b-b-been h-home by n-now." She opened the door and stepped outside, Serge immediately springing to follow. Even in her current worried state, the sight of the juvenile neotiger following loyally at her side brought a little smile to Kate's face. Saionji shrugged. "Perhaps they ran out of time before they ran out of amusements yesterday, and decided to make -two- days of it." "They w-would've c-called," Kate replied. The trio entered the house through the back door, shutting it behind them. Kate and Saionji took off their shoes, then went down the hall and into the living room. No one seemed to be home yet. "I'm sure they would've called if they were in trouble, too," Saionji said reasonably. "If you want, though, I can call Wakaba and have her group start looking for them. The Museum of Science isn't far from the Monolith; they could start there and see what they can come up with." Kate shook her head. "N-no, you're r-right... I'm j-just f-f-fretting for n-no r-r-reason." Saionji frowned thoughtfully and didn't reply. He was thinking that Kate had a very -good- reason to fret, but he wasn't about to say that, so he remained silent. There was the sound of a key in a lock, and both Kate and Saionji turned expectantly toward the front door. Presently it opened, and in came Kate's half-brother, Corwin Ravenhair, and her roommate, Utena Tenjou. Kate's first reaction was relief, followed immediately by a surge of renewed concern as she got a good look at them. They looked -awful-, pale-faced and tired, with dark-rimmed eyes and an overall look of shell shock. Corwin had a bruise at the corner of his mouth and a black eye; nothing seemed to be physically wrong with Utena, but she looked so... so -weary-. And yet, they were both smiling, as if glad to be out in the daylight after a long, dark night. "We're home," said Corwin with a rather wan grin. Saionji made lunch, drawing upon his half-year's experience as a short-order cook at the old Worcester Preparatory Institute's snack bar, while Kaitlyn installed her two best friends in the den and fussed over them. Corwin seemed a bit embarrassed to be the focus of such concern, and repeatedly insisted that he was all right, that it looked much worse than it was. Presently, just to satisfy his sister's insistent worry, he said he would go down to his workshop and perform a medical scan to -prove- that he'd suffered no permanent harm. Kate and Utena both knew it was just an excuse to give them some time to themselves, and both were unspokenly grateful as he entered the elevator and disappeared. As soon as he was gone, Kate gave Utena a look of such concentrated concern that the pink-haired Duelist chuckled a little. Serge, who seemed to be picking up on his mistress's state of mind, climbed up onto the sofa, dropped his head in Utena's lap, and said, "Grmph." "I'm all right, Kate," Utena insisted, petting the tiger's head. "-We're- all right." Kate sat down opposite the tiger and took her roommate's hand, looking at her steadily. "A-are you s-s-sure?" she asked quietly. Utena nodded, her face serious. "Last night I... I had a flashback. To that time by the amusement park. It was nobody's fault. Just one of those things. Corwin... helped me through it. I'm OK. I'll be OK." Kate, who knew just what time Utena meant, nodded gravely, squeezing her hand. Serge, who didn't, leaned a little closer anyway, making her smile and ruffle his ears. "W-w-w-what h-happ-p-pened to C-Corwin's f-face?" Kate wondered. "Oh, uh... I hit him." Utena put her free hand behind her head and looked a bit sheepish. "Like I said, though, it wasn't anyone's fault. We're OK. In fact... I think... in a way, I think we're better than we were before." There were obviously a lot of further questions Kate would have liked to have asked, and Utena intended to give her the answers - but not here, not right now, and Kate somehow understood that. With the initial worry out of the way, she could let it rest until her roommate was prepared to give her the full story. She gave Utena's hand one last gratefully returned squeeze, then let it go and smiled at Serge. "You're a g-good boy," she told him, petting him. "W-watching out f-f-for your f-friends, hm?" "Grm," replied Serge, closing his eyes contentedly. Utena laughed. "What a ham," she said. "Reminds me of Nall. Where -is- the little snowball, anyway?" "He w-went to the M-M-Museum of Science with W-Wakaba," said Kate. "He's t-t-taken k-kind of a sh-shine to her l-lately." Utena snorted with mock disgust. "Disloyal little weenie," she observed. The elevator came, and Corwin emerged, having dabbed a bit of disinfectant on his cut lip and rebandaged his finger (Kate just noticed the dressing, and added it to her list of things to wonder about). He gave them a querying look, got a bright smile from Utena in response, and nodded; nothing more need be said. Saionji entered the den from the hall door, looking slightly amused. "I've been relieved," he announced. "Aunt Belldandy has just arrived, heard my report, and deemed my own lunch efforts unworthy of the occasion - even though I have no idea what the occasion actually -is-, and, as far as I can tell, neither has she," he added dryly. "Aw, poor guy," said Utena, grinning. "If it makes you feel any better, I'd have eaten whatever you were cooking gladly. I mean, it isn't Aunt Bell's, sure, but I -like- your cooking." Saionji smiled. "Well, thank you," he said. After lunch, Kate and Saionji returned to the dojo. Utena, Corwin and Bell went down to one of the big hangar-like rooms in Corwin's underground workshop complex, where Bell and her favorite (only) nephew were, off and on, working on the restoration of an antique car. Belldandy Wishbringer hadn't always been a car fan. When she'd first come to Midgard, back in the mid-2100s, she'd been pretty much ignorant of them. Oh, they -had- them in Asgard, her homeland, but there they were mainly toys, not necessary for transportation, and Bell had never had much interest in them. That all changed when she met and started living with Keiichi Morisato, who at the time was an undergraduate student at the Nekomi Institute of Technology on Tomodachi. Keiichi, a sophomore at the time of their meeting, was a key member of the NIT Motor Club, a gearhead of the first order, and in his company, Bell had been faced with the choice of learning to love cars, motorcycles, and other powered contraptions the way he did, or resigning herself to being an outsider in that major, important part of his life forever. She'd chosen the first option and never regretted it; in addition to bringing her closer to Keiichi and his friends, making her more a part of his life, it had also brought her closer to her younger sister Skuld, who loved automobiles (and all other mecha) with a passion. Today, Bell's collection of racing and vintage motor vehicles was almost as large, and a good deal more eclectic, than her husband's. She had a special fondness for the cars and motorcycles of twentieth-century Earth, one which she shared with Skuld, and the two sisters were always on the lookout for some new piece of history to augment one of their collections with. Skuld had found this particular one, a 1966 Austin Mini Cooper, moldering in a junkheap on a planet without a name, only the interstellar cartography descriptor "Outer Rim 03F8" - a planet which was covered with very little but junkheaps - in 2296. Thinking that it was just the sort of thing her elder sister would like to have, she'd tagged it and sent it to her workshop in Asgard, where its slow decay would be arrested by the shop's mecha-stasis field... ... and then forgotten about it for over a century. Recently, she'd stumbled over it again, much to her chagrin, and sheepishly presented it, rather belatedly, to Bell. Bell had brushed off the delay in an instant, enchanted with the boxy little rally racer. She'd brought it to New Avalon as an excuse to spend more time with her nephew, and since they'd all come here from Titan four days before, she'd been coming by every day to do a little work on it. Utena Tenjou had never had much interest in cars for their own sake before, either. They were fairly rare where she came from, playthings of the rich and powerful. Her family had been well-off, when she'd had one; she had faint memories of chauffeured limousines, before her parents had been killed. When she'd inherited their fortune, though, she'd dispensed with the cars - dispensed with almost all the trappings of wealth. She often forgot that she -was- wealthy; aside from her entrance into exclusive Ohtori Academy, it didn't do much for her. Earlier in the past year, though, Corwin (with help from his uncle) had taught her to drive, and along with those skills he'd infected her with his appreciation of automobiles, inherited from his parents and aunt. So, during this vacation, she'd been down there too, helping out, passing tools, hunting for parts. The work didn't interest her all that much - she preferred driving cars to working on them - but it was a nice way to spend time with Corwin and Aunt Bell, and she didn't mind getting her hands dirty. They'd been at work for an hour or two when the sound of the elevator arriving at their workspace surprised all three of them. Who was looking for them that wouldn't just use the intercom? They were surprised to see the little redheaded form of Vigdis Brightblade emerge from the elevator car, looking determined. Corwin glanced up from the Mini's engine compartment, blinked, and murmured under his breath, "(Uh-oh.)" "Oh, hello, Vigdis," said Belldandy brightly. "I didn't know you were in New Avalon for the holidays." "I'm staying with my friend Clarissa," Vigdis told her. "Her parents live not far from here." "Oh, well, that's nice," said Bell. "Were you looking for me?" "Actually, no," said Vigdis. "I have two errands. One - " She reached into the bomber jacket she was wearing, took out an envelope, and said, "This is a message for Clarissa's sister Liza from her father. I understand she's staying here?" Utena, whose hands were cleanest, wiped them for good measure on a rag before holding out a hand for the letter. "Yup. She's out right now - she and a bunch of the others are at the Museum of Science, or maybe they're at the movies by now. Making a day of it, you know." She was determined to be civil, even though the little redhead had gone out of her way to snub Utena every time they'd met. Now, Vigdis looked a bit reluctant to entrust her errand to the pink-haired Duelist, but looking at Corwin's hands and those of Belldandy, she decided she didn't have much choice, and handed the envelope over. "What's the second one?" Corwin wondered. Vigdis turned to answer him, then seemed to notice his face for the first time. Her green eyes widened in surprise and shock as she took a good, hard look at him. Like Utena, he'd been given the option of sitting out this afternoon's work session, but he'd insisted that he was fine, and getting back into the regular swing of things was exactly what he needed; but he still looked shell-shocked and battered, and the grease on one cheek emphasized the fact that he was still quite pale where he wasn't bruised. The Valkyrie's eyes flicked from him to Utena and back again several times, taking in the similarity of their dark-rimmed eyes and subdued looks, and cold dread stilled her heart momentarily. No, oh no, she thought. There must be some other explanation. Calm, Vigdis, calm. There must be... "I... I'm looking for Skuld," she said, trying to sound natural and mostly failing. "She wanted to meet with me tomorrow, but since I was in the neighborhood, I thought I'd take care of it today." "Oh, dear, that's too bad," said Bell. "She's gone out with the others, I'm afraid. They won't be back until late tonight - past your bedtime, I'm sure." "With all respect, Lady Verthandi, I haven't a -bedtime-," Vigdis replied archly. "I'm not a child." "Of course," Bell replied mildly. "Forgive me." "She does want to talk to you pretty bad," Corwin noted. "She was fretting about it the other day. What'd you do?" "How should I know?" Vigdis snapped. "So far as I know, nothing. Oh, well. If she's not here, I'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out, I suppose." "Well, hang on," said Corwin, wiping his hands. "Let me go see if I can get her on her cellphone. She really does want to talk to you." He turned and handed the wrench he was holding to Utena; their hands brushed slightly as he did so, and at the same moment they made eye contact and exchanged a brief smile. She watched him most of the way to the door before turning her attention back to what she'd been doing before. Vigdis fought to keep her composure. That clinched it! That little touch, that look - she'd finally done it. The last step, the ultimate seal on the wicked spell she'd woven on Corwin's soul; that's why he looked so wrung out and drained. Oh, All-Father, it was too -late-! No... not too late, not quite. Too late to preserve his cruelly-stolen purity, but not, perhaps, quite too late to rescue his soul from her web of evil. "I want to talk to you for a moment," Vigdis said to Utena, her voice tight with indignation. "In private." Utena gave her a funny look, then put the wrench down and followed her across the workbay. Bell looked curiously after them, then shrugged and went back to working on the left front brakes. "What is it?" Utena asked, trying to be patient. "You won't get away with this," Vigdis hissed, keeping her voice down for Belldandy's sake. The Norn of Today was notoriously sensitive to interpersonal conflict; there was no need to stress her if it could be avoided. Confusion overlaid annoyance on Utena's face. "... What?" "You may have snared poor Corwin," said Vigdis angrily, "but you won't keep him. I'll set him free from the spell you have him under. How did you do it? Did Urd teach you her alchemist's ways? Or was it the forbidden sorceries of Svartalfheim that you used to place his heart under lock and key?" Utena shook her head, too exasperated for words. "Look, kid," she said, "I don't know what your problem really is, but I'd appreciate it if you'd leave me out of it. I'm not going to tell you again: Corwin makes his own choices. I'm not involved. Got it?" The little redhead suddenly lashed out, her open hand cracking across Utena's face with a sound like a pistol shot, all thought of discretion for Belldandy's sake abandoned. Utena was so surprised by this that she forgot to be angry for a moment, blinking in amazement at the Valkyrie's ire-reddened face. "Don't you -presume- to pretend that you don't know what you've done!" Vigdis snapped. "Maybe you can fool the others, but not me, not Vigdis Brightblade! Hear me now, witch, and understand: you may have violated Corwin's body, but you will -never- own his soul! I -challenge- you, Utena Tenjou!" Utena's expression lost all its surprise and puzzlement; there was no room in it for anything now but her steadily darkening anger as the Valkyrie's accusation sank in. "Challenge me?" she echoed, her voice dangerously tight. Vigdis nodded firmly, her Norse accent becoming more pronounced and her speech pattern more formal as she got angrier: "If you will not release your wicked grasp upon my beloved's heart by choice, then I will -make- you do it by force! I challenge you to a duel of honor - for the HEART of CORWIN RAVENHAIR!" Like lightning, Utena's hand flashed out. Forehand, then backhand, she reddened both of Vigdis's cheeks in the space of half a second, sending the little Valkyrie reeling back, more in shock than pain. Her own face flushed with anger, Utena stared Vigdis hard in the eyes and snarled at her, "Don't -ever- play those games with me. EVER. You understand?" Then she turned on her heel and started stalking away. Vigdis blinked, then regrouped herself. "You -dare-?" she squeaked, then caught herself and forced her voice into a more threatening register. "You -dare- to -strike- a VALKYRIE? You turn your BACK on a VALKYRIE'S CHALLENGE?!" She thrust her open hand into the air. >VORNIGARD!< she shrilled, and a splinter of light resolved itself into a glittering silver saber in her hand. With a snarling howl of challenge, the enraged young demigoddess launched herself at her departing "foe". Utena, realizing that she was being attacked, whirled, her Duelist's finery replacing her oily coverall in a shower of golden sparks, the Thorn of the Rose almost leaping into her hand - - but Vornigard's edge met not the Thorn, but a far different weapon, stopping with a ringing CLANG. Standing between Vigdis and Utena, the torque wrench in her hand easily blocking the Valkyrie's blade, was Belldandy Morisato, and she did not look amused. In fact, with that much outrage in her normally benevolent eyes, she managed to look downright intimidating, even in a grease-stained Motor Club coverall. >VIGDIS!< she barked, her voice crackling with anger. >What is the MEANING of this?< Vigdis stumbled back, appalled that she had just, however inadvertently, raised her weapon to the Norn of Today. Falling to one knee, she laid her saber across at Bell's feet, bent her head, and replied, >Mistress of the World-Tree, hear my plea!< >Go on,< Bell replied. >Lady Verthandi, the witch Tenjou has laid a foul enchantment on the heart of my true beloved. She refuses to admit this treacherous deed, and so I must force the truth from her with my blade!< The redhead raised tear-filled green eyes imploringly to Bell and went on, >As a Chooser of the Slain, I -have- that right!< Belldandy folded her arms and said in Standard, "Get -up-, Vigdis Altheana Brightblade, this -instant-. That is the most ridiculous thing I have -ever- heard. I thought you had more sense than to make a wild accusation like that, and to -me-, no less. Clearly, you're not sufficiently mature to be embarking on a course of Surface World training just yet." Vigdis's lip trembled. >But... but... Lady Verthandi... < "Enough!" Bell snapped. "No, Vigdis. You just attacked a blameless individual, from behind, with the intent of harming her - possibly even killing her! It's inexcusable behavior and it will -not- be tolerated. You will return to the Heavens immediately and inform the Assignment Office that Goddess First Class, Unlimited, Verthandi Wishbringer-Morisato has revoked your Surface World training license for conduct unbecoming a divinity, effective immediately." >But - < "And," said Bell as if Vigdis hadn't spoken, "you will then report to the All-Father, inform him of your crime, and submit yourself to whatever further punishment he may deem appropriate. Now GO, before you get yourself into FURTHER trouble." Vigdis drew herself to her feet, her weapon vanishing in a flicker of light, composed her dignity as best she could, bowed, and said in an only-slightly-grudging tone, >As you command, my lady.< Then her green eyes flicked to Bell's right and shot a dagger at Utena before she closed them, concentrated, and herself vanished in a play of golden and silvery light. Belldandy sighed, unfolding her arms, and turned to Utena. "Are you all right, dear?" she asked. "I'm fine," Utena replied. "Physically, anyway." She clenched her fists, almost quivering with anger. Bell made a dismissive gesture. "It's all nonsense," she said. Then, looking concerned for the girl she'd just so effectively chewed out, she went on sadly, "Vigdis is a very highly-strung girl. Hopefully, she'll grow out of it in time, as she gains maturity and perspective, but right now she was too young to be sent to the Surface World. I must be certain to have a word with the Assignment Office about it." She sighed again. "And now I'll have to tell Skuld that I've just revoked one of her Valkyrie's training license. Technically she should have been the one to do that, but as a First Class Unlimited goddess, I have that latitude, and there wasn't time." She shook her head. "It's all really very sad. She's usually such a nice girl... but as I said... very highly-strung." Utena looked at the spot where Vigdis had been, then turned to Bell. "Send me after her." "I beg your pardon?" "Send me after her!" Utena snapped. "This isn't over. Maybe I'll fight her and maybe I won't, but what she accused me of - I can't let that rest. If I leave it, then I'll just get angrier every time I think of it, and wherever she is, she'll just nurse her grudge. This has to -end-. Send me after her." The fact that she was speaking harshly to -Bell-, of all people, seemed to penetrate Utena's indignant haze then; she stepped back a little, lowered her eyes, and added, "... Please." Bell didn't remonstrate; she just gazed thoughtfully at the Duelist for a moment, then nodded. "All right," she said. "I'll send you. But be careful; she may attack you again when she sees you've followed, and I don't know if there will be anyone around to help you. Don't let her appearance fool you; Vigdis is a very capable warrior, a fully qualified Valkyrie." Utena nodded, sheathing the Thorn of the Rose. "I understand," she said. "I have to do this. Please explain it to Corwin when he comes back." Bell nodded. "I will. Hold on - this may be a bit disorienting." Utena had made the transit from one dimension to another, without the aid of a ship, once before; but she'd been unconscious at the time, and so had missed it. It wasn't as traumatic as she'd been half-expecting. Except for the color of the light, it was more or less the same as being beamed somewhere. One moment she was in the workshop; the next, she was standing in a long, vault-ceilinged room, almost like a cathedral. At the far end, Vigdis Brightblade heard the shimmering sound of the transition and whirled. "You!" she snapped, and her sword flashed into her hand again. "You should have taken advantage of Lady Verthandi's naivete in rescuing you, witch!" snarled the Valkyrie, advancing. "Now you'll feel the sting of justice!" Utena had just enough time to sigh as she drew her sword and prepared to defend herself. Some days, it just seemed like she couldn't -buy- her way out of having to fight some stupid duel. Oh, well - at least this one was for a good cause. Not for Corwin's heart, of course; that was stupid. But of all the reasons one could have to take up arms against another, keeping that other from skewering one was pretty high on Utena's "worthwhile" list. /* Shinkichi Mitsumune "Densetsu: Kami no Na wa Abraxas" _Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Zettai Shinka Kakumei Zenya_ */ Bell's warning had not been in vain; Vigdis -was- good, -very- good, with her silvery blade. But Utena Tenjou was no slouch either, and right now she was good and mad, a state of mind which, any of her Duelist opponents from the Ohtori Academy days could tell you, made her the most dangerous foe she could be. The scarlet runes on the Thorn's black blade crackled with light as she clashed with the littlest Valkyrie, back and forth up the long stone room. Vigdis noticed them after one particularly close cross-in block, and hissed with outrage, thrusting her opponent back. "You dare wear the creed of the Valkyrie on your sword?" she snarled. "You -dare- claim your shadowy blade was cast in the name of God?! How can this be?" Utena laughed mirthlessly. "My 'shadowy blade' was forged by the hands of Corwin Ravenhair, its enchantments laid with the help of the Master Weaponsmith of Asgard," she replied. "-You- figure it out." Vigdis blinked, almost dropping her guard, and stumbled back against Utena's furious assault. "That's impossible," she said. "Lady Skuld would not have... " Then her eyes narrowed and she riposted viciously. "A trick!" she cried, and black runes - the same inscription - appeared on the flat of Vornigard. The blade's black aura slashed and crashed again and again with the scarlet one growing around the Thorn. Utena had started this little dance angry - now she advanced to downright wrathful. It really got on her nerves the way Vigdis kept dismissing everything that didn't fit into her whacked little worldview as a trick, evil sorcery, or some kind of foul plot on her part. And that accusation the little Valkyrie had laid - that ate at what little remained of her patience too. After the night she'd had, Utena was in no mood to suffer this kind of foolishness. Raw power snapped around the combatants as they grew more and more furious. It bled from the collisions of their blades like shrapnel, scoring charred divots in the stone floor and walls of their arena, the crash of each meeting of weapons cracking or shattering panes in the nearest mullioned windows. They drove against each other's guard without pause, without hesitation, and without fear. It occurred suddenly to Utena that this was for real - there was no rose on her chest or her opponent's. This wasn't for a mysterious prize, the revolution of the world, or bragging rights; it was for keeps. "If you don't put up your sword now," Akio Ohtori had told her, sneering, "you'll find out how terrifying real duels are." But this wasn't terror - this was exultation! A tremendous, primal thrill raced through her body, blending with the righteous fury that had driven her to engage in this battle to form something new, something almost intoxicating in its power. The Thorn of the Rose sang in her hand, its power crackling back along the nerves in her arm and setting her whole body afire. Here, here was a worthy opponent, the worthiest since Akio; for all his soullessness and venal cruelty, the man -was- the greatest swordsman in Cephiro, and facing him had been her greatest challenge. Vigdis Brightblade, on a good day, might have been better. But any of Utena's old opponents, with the exception of Akio himself, would readily assert that, when she really got going, Utena Tenjou was all but unstoppable. Properly motivated, she was an inferno, an elemental force that swept down all before it. The Power awoke within her, its white light highlighting the Thorn's scarlet fire rather than blending with it, shining from the Prince's accents on her black and red uniform. All the windows in the hall which had only cracked, or remained unharmed altogether, exploded outward in a silent blaze of white. Vigdis Brightblade recoiled in astonishment and horror as the transfigured Grand Duelist swept in for the kill. Vornigard flew in a high arc, black lightning still crackling over its surface; where it touched the floor, it blasted out a crater, then remained embedded in the surface below, standing upright in the center of the smoking dish of stone. Utena Tenjou seized a fistful of the disarmed Valkyrie's tunic in her right hand, the Thorn of the Rose drawn back. Vigdis gritted her teeth, her green eyes staying defiantly open, as she prepared to spit her dying curse at the witch who had defeated her. Then, to her amazement, Utena sheathed the Thorn of the Rose, seized Vigdis's tunic in -both- hands, hoisted her off the floor, and plunked her roughly down on one of the stone benches that flanked the hall in which they'd dueled. Then she dropped into a catcher's crouch, leaning forward with her nose almost touching Vigdis's, and bored into the Valkyrie with her furious azure eyes. "LISTEN," snapped the Prince of Cephiro, "because I am only going to tell you this ONCE." Vigdis Brightblade's instinctive reaction was that it had to be a lie. It simply -had- to. It was such a wild story, it simply could not be true. The witch was just trying to confuse her, making up this long, complicated yarn. Did she seriously expect Vigdis (who was after all a Valkyrie, not some common, stupid schoolgirl) to believe that she was from the forbidden and mysterious Tenth World, whose existence the Aesir Council would not even officially confirm? It was like a human claiming to be from lost Atlantis. And a -prince-? And all that stuff about the previous prince not quite being dead, and... ... but, well, liches were not unheard-of in worlds as magically active as this account made Cephiro out to be... ... and so he'd manipulated her... ... and he'd decieved her... ... and he'd... he'd... ... and so Vigdis had unknowingly accused her of doing the very same to Corwin. The rage in those blue eyes... ... that couldn't be fake. Vigdis could tell herself it had to be, she could sniff derisively and try to look away, but if she looked into those eyes, really looked, then she knew. -Knew-, and all her bravado melted away and left her shivering with the knowledge of how wrong she had been. "... saved me from all that and taught me how to -enjoy- life again," she was saying; Vigdis had gotten so lost in contemplation that she'd lost the thread of the pink-haired girl's dissertation for a moment. She picked it up again immediately, though, as Utena went on in a voice filled with quiet intensity, "THAT'S what Corwin Ravenhair means to me. Do you understand? So don't you ever, EVER say that I've bewitched him, or that I'm using him, or that I don't love him. EVER! Got it?" Utena paused, ran her hand through her thick pink hair, and shook her head disgustedly. "You're lucky," she told Vigdis. "You don't know how lucky you are. If Corwin were less of a man, if he were willing to have taken what you've been so eager to give him, you'd understand what I mean. Because sometimes what we think we want really isn't, and by the time we find out how wrong we are it's TOO - FUCKING - LATE." She punctuated each of these words with a jab of her index finger into Vigdis's shoulder. Then, her wrath apparently spent, she straightened, tugged down on the hem of her jacket, and said flatly, "Now you stay away from Corwin, and you stay away from me, until you're ready to treat us both with some respect and some maturity." Vigdis looked up at the tall, slim Duelist and tried to form words - an apology, perhaps, or a concession, or - or SOMETHING, but what could she say, what response could she give to all she'd just heard? It would take her days to even sort it out! By the time she'd even made a start at finding her voice, Utena turned and strode away, and as Vigdis opened her mouth to call out to her, the Duelist vanished in a corona of white light. Vigdis Brightblade slowly got up and crossed the room to where her sword stood embedded in the floor. She took hold of it and, with a grunt of effort, wrenched it from the stone; then she looked around at the ruin she and her opponent had made of the Valkyrie Hall. The door at the far end opened and in stepped a tall, gorgeous woman with a lot of wavy chestnut hair, a heavy spiked black-iron mace hung from the belt of her Valkyrie duty uniform. She paused on the threshold and looked around, her bright brown eyes going wide with astonishment. "Boy howdy, Vee," said Gudrun Truemace. "When you pitch a tantrum, you don't mess around." The adrenaline was crashing as Utena made the transition back to Midgard, and she was almost shaking as she emerged from the light back into the workbay. As she'd said to Kaitlyn after relating the story to Wakaba Shinohara, it never got any easier to talk about, and now, all unexpectedly, she'd had to tell it -twice- in as many days, once to her unintended second love, once to a self-declared enemy! She hadn't intended to say any of that when she chased after the Valkyrie, but at the end of their battle it was the only thing TO say. Now that the adrenaline was gone, she was feeling very brittle, perhaps already broken - not back in the horrible, raw-edged turmoil of the night before, but profoundly hurting, all the same. Bell, looking worried, and Corwin, looking almost stricken, glanced up from where they had been desultorily working on the Mini when they heard the sound, and an instant later they were at her side. It hurt her heart to turn Corwin away right now, but with their newly voiced commitment to total honesty, she had to. She'd put so much of her burden on him over the last twenty-four hours, she wouldn't make him shoulder this too, not in the condition he was in now. She tried to explain all this, her voice shaking, and he made her proud to know him once again with the way he accepted it. She embraced him, kissed him - it seemed so natural to do that now, after what had passed between them at the Monolith - to show him that it wasn't a rejection. He made her promise that, if she needed him, she would call on him, regardless of what worries she might have for his strength; and she swore that she would, and then rode the elevator up to the house, praying. Her prayers were answered, or maybe it was just luck. Either way, the doors opened and there was Wakaba, sitting on the couch with Saionji. Thank the gods, they weren't necking; even on a good day, Utena didn't think she'd ever get used to seeing that. They were just talking, and they stopped the instant Utena appeared, adopting near-identical looks of shock that would probably have been cute on any other day. "Wakaba," said Utena softly, "I need your help." Wakaba was on her feet instantly. Saionji quietly excused himself - earning a grateful look from Utena and a thoughtful nod from Wakaba - and returned to the dojo. Perhaps there was something out there that needed sweeping. With Corwin out of the running, there were basically two choices for Utena, two other people who she knew had the full story of her experiences during the Rose Tournament in all their terrible glory: Kaitlyn and Wakaba. Under the circumstances, though, for right now, it had to be Wakaba; only Wakaba had -known- Akio Ohtori. Known him almost, but not quite, as well as Utena. This was a shorter, simpler breakdown than the day before; it had at its core a combination of fatigue and raw nerves, rather than the shattering deja vu and the horrible vividness of memory that had assaulted Utena then. Wakaba said nothing, just held her while she got the worst of it out, then took her upstairs and put her to bed. Kaitlyn knocked at the door at six - it was her room, after all - to inquire if everything was all right; she was informed honestly that it was not, but that things were improving, improving enough that she was admitted along with Serge. "Just like last year," Utena observed with wan wryness to her roommate, whose tiger immediately volunteered for cuddling duty. "Guess it's your turn... " "Y-you've had a b-b-bad c-couple of d-days," Kate told her, patting her hand. "The N-N-New Year will t-t-turn it all ar-r-round." "I hope so," said Utena. "I don't like being this way... it's not like me." She chuckled. "Remember the time you smacked me, Wakaba, and told me that not normal was normal for me?" Wakaba laughed. "Well, wasn't I right?" she said. "Yeah... you were." Utena sat up. "I wonder... if maybe I should tell the others. The ones who were there, I mean. Saionji, Miki, Juri. Maybe it has so much power over me because it's a secret. After the Tournament... I've really learned to -hate- secrets." "I... well... that's your choice," Wakaba said, thoughtful. "Only... I think Saionji already knows. Or at least suspects. He was part of Akio's inner circle back then, remember. And I guess in private, Akio and Touga liked to gloat." She sighed. "Maybe I shouldn't have told you that." Utena smiled and put her arm around her oldest friend. "'sOK," she said. "Nothing new I learn about him can hurt me any more," she added. "It's the one benefit of having been broken." "What was that line from that book we had to read last year?" Wakaba asked. "'The world breaks everyone... '" "'... and afterw-w-ward m-many are s-strong in the b-b-broken p-places,'" said Kaitlyn, nodding. "H-H-Hemingway." She sighed. "I h-hate H-Hemingw-way, b-but he had a p-p-point there." There was another gentle knock at the door. Kate looked at Utena, received a nod, and went to answer it. There stood Kyouichi Saionji, wearing an expression of such concern that Utena didn't know whether to choke up again, touched, or crack up laughing at the incongruity of that look on his lean, hard face. "If you're interested," he said quietly, "dinner tonight is Szechuan chicken and the house mock fried rice." "When?" asked Wakaba. "Half an hour, or thereabouts." "Maybe... maybe I'll be down," said Utena. "Thanks." Saionji nodded and turned to go. "Saionji... " said Utena. "Mm?" asked the green-haired Duelist, pausing and turning back. "Did you know already?" asked Utena. She didn't have to form the whole question; if he did, he would understand it; if he didn't, he wouldn't. He did; he nodded, his face grave. "Why didn't you say anything?" Utena wondered. "You know - when I told you about the end of the Tournament, in Toronto... " "You didn't mention it," Saionji replied. "It wasn't -my- place to bring it up, a thing like that... " Utena thought about, then smiled. "Thanks," she said again, softer this time. "You're welcome," Saionji replied. "Would you tell them I'll be down, but I might be a little late?" Saionji nodded again. "And... would you ask Juri and Miki to come up here for a minute?" "Certainly." "And Corwin and Nall," she added after a moment's thought. "And... come back yourself if you want." "Certainly," Saionji repeated; then he closed the door softly behind him. "What a guy," said Wakaba sentimentally. Half an hour later, Utena came down to dinner, surrounded by her friends, looking something like her old self again. Kate's parents, who hadn't the faintest idea what was going on, were heartened to see it; her brave smile dispelled the cold breath of apprehension that had permeated the house since word of her confrontation with Vigdis had made its way up from the basement with Bell. Liza Shustal wisely identified a subtext in which she had no part and kept her conversation light and funny, telling them all a side-splitting story from her summer of adventure (it involved two drunken Malons, a missile launcher, fifteen t'skrang, a river, and about a hundred troutlike fish). R. Dorothy, the rest of Kate's siblings, and Sylvie Daniels similarly kept their own counsel; Utena noticed a meaningful question-and-answer look pass between Sylvie and Miki, and in that moment she understood with whom Miki had been having the private conversation Dorothy had told her about on Christmas night. In retrospect, she should have realized it sooner. Sylvie had been on her best behavior since Christmas, much to Guy Morgan's visible relief. Utena wondered what she and Miki had discussed, never dreaming that it had been much the same warning that she had given Vigdis at the end of her rant. Feeling subdued and thoughtful, they all went to bed early that night, and with Kate beside her, Serge draped across them both, and Nall in her arms, Utena felt almost as secure as she had the night before - and a good deal less tempest-tossed. Meanwhile, R. Dorothy Wayneright experienced a very pleasant sense of deja vu as, shortly after midnight, she found Corwin Ravenhair asleep in his workshop and carried him to his bed. Utena woke the next morning feeling like herself again, her natural resilience and the healing power of a good night's sleep and a beautiful sunny morning erasing the cares from her face. She extricated herself carefully from the living tangle that was Kate's bed, brushed her teeth, showered, and dressed, then came back to find Kate sitting up in bed, playing a tug-of-war game with Serge. Animals playing tug-of-war games always tended to sound as fierce and threatening as possible, and Utena noted that even at the tender age of six months, nowhere near his full growth, Serge already sounded pretty darn dangerous. Of course, it was all an act, as the tiger immediately demonstrated by getting into a comically underplayed wrestling match with Nall, who was perhaps a third his size. "Just to make things sporting," Nall informed his sparring partner, "I won't use my wings." That night, of course, was New Avalon's galactically famous New Year's Eve celebration. This year -all- the Hutchins and Morgan kids were going to take in the Symphony Orchestra concert on the Grand Common, with their parents' blessing. They dolled themselves up in their best and warmest - it was supposed to snow tonight - and headed out at seven to catch the N to the downtown area. At the station, they met up with the Shannon twins and the Utonium sisters, and one station down the line they were joined by Fuu Hououji and her elder sister Kuu. (Jaunty Kuu was a bit of a shock to those whose impressions of the family Hououji had been formed entirely through association with polite, proper Fuu, but neither sister lacked in friendliness.) As they stood amid the throngs on the Common, ate hot sausages, drank cocoa, and listened to Jerry Walker's New Avalon Symphony Orchestra rock the city center, Corwin - black eye gone, mouth bruise fading fast - smiled to himself. He, too, felt pretty much like himself again, but with one important difference. Their situation hadn't changed much - there was still the unfinished business of the Tournament hanging over Utena, still the spectre of Anthy Himemiya separating them - but she'd said she loved him. -Whatever- form it took, it was more than he had dared hope for, and he would take it into the new year and rejoice. A thought suddenly struck him, apropos of nothing related to that line of rumination, and he leaned over and whispered to Liza Shustal, "Say, what was in that envelope Vee brought from your father?" Liza laughed, a high, clear sound of pure merriment. "Oh," she said over the sound of the 1812 Overture's cannon fire, "that was Daddy demanding that I relinquish my shares in the Company, or at least give him my proxy for the next shareholders' meeting." "Are you going to do it?" Liza laughed again - she had, he was astonished to realize, a really nice laugh - and said, "I can't! I gave them all to Kaitlyn for Christmas." He stared at her, amazed, and then broke up laughing. Then he broke up -again- as he noticed that Clarissa Broadbank was standing, with a couple of her old gang from Crescent Heights Middle School the year before, a just-less-than-discreet distance off in the crowd, staring balefully at her elder sister with sullen eyes. The concert went on; midnight approached. As the crowd cheered out the count, Liza edged past Corwin and Juri to stand next to Kaitlyn - - and then, as the jubilant crowd cried, "ZERO! HAPPY 2406!" she seized the extremely startled Duelist leader in her arms and, right there in front of God and everybody - but especially in front of the formerly-sullen, suddenly-popping eyes of her sister Clarissa - kissed her hard. Then Liza released her, turned to Juri, and said with a grin, "Keep your shirt on, Red, that's all I plan to do." Barely audible through the cheering of the crowd as the orchestra struck up "Sing, Sing, Sing", Juri replied with a little smile, "Your loss." Liza blinked at her, then threw back her head and laughed as Kaitlyn's face went bright crimson. As an unrelated aside, until that moment, Corwin Ravenhair had not known that Fuu Hououji could dance the Lindy Hop; but she could, and damned well, as a matter of fact. They got back to the house at 105 Morgan Lane at one-thirty. The younger trio, tuckered out, packed themselves off to bed. Everyone else went down to the basement den to have the traditional (well, this was the second time, that made it a tradition) hot cocoa and make their New Year's resolutions known. "I'm not going to let another year go by without finding Anthy," said Utena firmly; then she cracked a wry grin and went on, "I've kept her waiting unforgivably long as it is, she'll probably never speak to me again." Corwin smiled. "I'm going to pass my Trial," he declared, "and then help you with that." "And I'm going to have really good seats for the whole thing!" announced Nall. "Well, -you're- ambitious," said Wakaba wryly. "What do you say, everybody? Akio Ohtori's head on a pike by next Christmas?" Miki stopped his watch. "Sounds good to me." "Amen," said Juri. "I'll drink to that," Saionji added, raising his mug. "Who?" said Leonard. "Jerk from our old school," Wakaba replied breezily. "You don't know him." "Thank God for that when you say your prayers tonight," Saionji advised him dryly. Len nodded. "I'm going to make Journeyman this year," he said. "It's not as ambitious as yours, but then, I like a quiet life," he added with a grin. "Journeyman by the end of the year... that sounds like an admirable goal," Saionji mused. "Indeed. I'll strive for that too. Who knows? If we all work hard, we may yet find our dreams." "Well, -one- of us has got to have a mundane goal," Wakaba said wryly. "I resolve to stop eating so much junk food." "That'll be the day," said Utena, earning herself a punch in the arm. "I just want to go on vindicating the faith of the friends who made my Turing certification possible," Dorothy observed. "I don't need much more." "I'm trying to be a more social creature," Juri Arisugawa deadpanned, making Miki Kaoru almost spray Corwin with hot cocoa. When he'd recovered, the blue-haired Duelist said soberly, "Maybe it's riding the coattails of Utena's dream, but I want to see my sister again, and make sure she's all right." Utena smiled at him, nodding. "You will. We'll get there. All of us, one way or another." "I... " Kate trailed off. "I d-d-don't kn-know," she finally said, after almost a full minute's thought. "I'll d-do my b-b-best to h-help my f-f-friends... b-be a g-g-good m-master for Serge... b-bring honor to m-m-my f-f-father's house." She grinned. "And m-m-maybe f-f-f-finish that d-d-damn org-organ f-f-fugue... " Miki chuckled. "I've had a couple of ideas about that, actually," he said. "I've been meaning to discuss them with you, but we've both been so busy - perhaps tomorrow?" Kate nodded. "Let's m-make time," she said. "I've m-m-missed w-working with you. W-we h-haven't d-d-done it as m-much lately." "Another resolution!" declared Liza. "As for me, I intend to look into opening that resort on Jezebel, and in the meantime I'll go on making up for being such an insufferable... " She caught herself, didn't say whatever she'd been planning to say, and said instead, "creature... all my life. And making Clarissa's life as miserable as she tries to make ours," she added with a grin. "Thanks for taking her off our hands, by the way," Leonard put in with a grin. "It's been -so- peaceful at Koopman High this year. Bubbles hasn't had a single psychotic episode since Clarissa's been gone." "Well, don't get -too- comfortable," Liza warned him, "because I suspect we'll be sending her back to you midterm." "Oh well," said Len philosophically, raising his mug. "It was fun while it lasted." "Also," Liza added, looking ruefully at the blank spot on her wrist, "I've got to get a new watch." Utena came out of Kate's bathroom dressed in her pajamas and ready for sleep, filled with the warm conviviality of a well-spent day in the company of good friends. Kate was down the hall saying goodnight to Juri, and Utena kind of wondered if she'd be coming back. Probably, she decided. Kate and Juri had slept together - in the strictest possible sense - a couple of times, but their relationship wasn't at the fully physical stage yet. They were being very slow, deliberate and careful about it, Kate because of her past experiences, and Juri (Utena realized with a sudden urge to giggle) because she had, for all her sophistication and poise, no idea whatsoever what to do. The realization that Juri could be -in- that position tickled Utena as pink as her hair; she was still chuckling about it when there came a knock at the door. She went to answer it, and there was Corwin in his black and silver pajamas, one hand behind his back. "Hi," he said softly. "Listen... I was just on my way to bed, Nall's already crashed out on his quarters, but I have a late birthday present for you first." Utena cocked her head. "Another birthday present?" she said with cheerful mock puzzlement. "You're going to spoil me," she added, grinning. "Well... it's late because I thought of it late, only yesterday afternoon... but Aunt Bell really came through for me," he added with a fond smile. "Anyway... I promised I'd help you find the real one, but until then... I thought this might cheer you up." He removed his hand from behind his back and handed her what it held; for a few moments, she stood there, staring at it in amazement. It was a rag doll, plump, soft, and very huggable, dressed in a meticulous miniature reproduction of the Rose Bride's scarlet gown, as she'd described it to Aunt Bell way back when. The doll's soft velvet 'skin' was a rich chocolate brown; it had translucent green buttons for eyes, a sweet little embroidered smile, and a neatly curled halo of purple yarn for hair. Utena blinked away sudden happy tears and hugged the doll, then the one who'd brought it for her. "Aunt Bell calls her 'Raggedy Anthy'," Corwin explained. "I think it's some kind of joke, but I don't get it. I don't think she's so raggedy... " Utena laughed. "Oh, Corwin, that's sweet. Though," she added, grinning, "I wonder what the real Anthy will think of her." Then she laughed again. "She'll probably think it's unbearably cute and want one of me." Corwin looked slightly abashed and admitted, "Um... Bell's working on that already." "Well, maybe we'll give her one of you then," said Utena with a wink. "Corwin, thank you. It's sweet," she repeated. "Weird," she added with a wry grin, "but sweet." "Well... good. I'm glad you like her. And I'm glad you're feeling better... and everything," he added, making a little gesture that encompassed the inadequate futility of spoken language past two in the morning. "And... I'm glad I was able to help." Utena smiled a fond smile, leaned, and kissed him, softly and chastely, on the lips. "I'm glad we're -both- feeling better," she said. "Good night, Sir Corwin." "Good night, Prince Tenjou," Corwin replied with a smile, and then he turned and went off to bed. Utena carried the doll back to bed, and sat looking at the framed photo of Anthy she'd set up on Kate's bookshelf (Tiny Robo and Lesser Mazinger standing guard on either side, as they usually did here). Corwin must have borrowed Miki's copy for his aunt to use as a reference, and then Bell had winged it on the costume from her memory of a verbal description rather than put her creation in the rather silly-looking Ohtori Academy girl's uniform. She hadn't done too bad a job, either, given that she didn't have any actual references; but then Bell was Bell, all but clairvoyant. She'd only missed out the weird furry things on the epaulets, of which Utena had never seen the point anyway. The little chain and brooch were just darling. Raggedy Anthy didn't have glasses, but then, that would have seriously diminished her huggability - and anyway, Anthy always had looked better on the rare occasions when she took her glasses off. Kate returned shortly thereafter, a little pink and smiling, with Serge padding at her heels. She saw the doll and spent a moment fighting not to laugh before she realized from Utena's expression that it wouldn't offend her roommate if she did. "Th-that's ad-d-dorable," Kate said. "M-maybe w-w-we should g-get Aunt B-Bell to m-make a whole s-set of D-Duelists to g-go with." Utena chuckled. "She wouldn't be able to keep Miki in stock." "T-true, true." Kate turned out the lights, and they climbed into bed, suffering only momentary discomfort while Serge sorted himself out (momentarily choosing a tail position that was somewhat inconvenient for Utena's continued breathing, but luckily amenable to a request for change). Then, warm and content, they settled down and drifted off, dreaming of the bright promise of a new year. /* Boston "Can'tcha Say/Still in Love" _Third Stage_ */ Eyrie Productions, Unlimited Can'tcha say you believe in me? presents Can'tcha see what you mean to me? UNDOCUMENTED FEATURES FUTURE IMPERFECT Every day I think of you - Symphony of the Sword No. 2 - You're on my mind Year's End Confrontation Blues Some things in the past Are better left behind The Cast Every night I dream of you (in order of appearance) The images as clear as day Kaitlyn Hutchins Sergei Can'tcha say you believe in me? Kyouichi Saionji Can'tcha say you believe in me? Corwin Ravenhair You know that where there's a will Utena Tenjou there's a way Verthandi Wishbringer Morisato Can'tcha say you believe in me? Vigdis Brightblade Can'tcha see what it means to me? Gudrun Truemace Don't leave me alone tonight Wakaba Shinohara 'Cause I still love you Benjamin D. Hutchins Kei Morgan We've had our time apart Juri Arisugawa And I knew right from the start Miki Kaoru I could never change Nall Silverclaw The way I feel about you baby Elizabeth R'tas Shustal We can sit here all night long R. Dorothy Wayneright And separate the right from the wrong Leonard W. Hutchins III But love won't wait Priss Morgan Sylvie Daniels Can'tcha say you believe in me? Gai "Guy" Morgan Can'tcha say you believe in me? Tenchi Shannon You know that where there's a will Achika Shannon there's a way Blossom Utonium Can'tcha say you believe in me? Theresa Utonium Can'tcha see what you mean to me? Theodora Utonium Don't leave me alone tonight Fuu Hououji 'Cause I still love you Kuu Hououji Clarissa Broadbank Ooh, ooh, still in love with you You know I need you baby and featuring To stand by me The New Avalon Symphony Orchestra Can'tcha see I need you baby? Mr. Arthur J. Walker, director I'm still in love with you Up Way, WAY Too Late (another ass-kicking Boston Benjamin D. Hutchins guitar solo) Prudently Unconscious Throughout Can'tcha say you believe in me? John Trussell Can'tcha say you believe in me? You know that where there's a will Unfortunately Ill there's a way Anne Cross Can'tcha say you believe in me? Can'tcha see what you mean to me? Usually Suspicious Don't leave me alone tonight The Usual Suspects 'Cause I still love you I love you The Symphony will return