Sidestory:
Phoenix Falling
by Emi and Tami
He was so cold. His fingers, lifeless and stiff, were frozen in place. The slight curvature to them looked so natural, as if they were just resting on the table and would rise and stroke her soft fur at any moment. As Timocharis nuzzled against Tibby's palm she pretended that the movement of his fingers was more than just her nudging.
If only he weren't so cold.
Timocharis refrained from crying only because there were no more tears left to cry. She hadn't the energy to sob any more. She felt worn and empty, exhausted from so many weeks of missing his warm touch, missing the little treats he used to leave on the shelf in his room, missing the way he always gave her confidence, missing him.
There were no words left to say. Everything she could say had already been said twice or three times or more, a torrent of choking words unleashed during the many nights at the hospital and the many nights secretly spent in the den of the enemy. When everything was said and done, what was there left? Why did she keep returning, night after night, if there was nothing left to say or do?
Because she couldn't let him go, even after all that. She wanted him to come back, and she wasn't alone in that desire.
Voices in the hallway sent Timocharis leaping to the floor and huddling down between the creaky boards for cover. Someone was coming.
Three someones, to be more exact. As the voices grew more distinct, Timocharis recognized Jace, Talos, and the Dark Universe alien designated Henry. Her tiny heart went into a flurry of fear as she realized they were heading straight for her location.
"...Just thought that perhaps you might be able to think of something," Talos was saying. There seemed to be a subtext to his words.
"Ah, yes, well, we do have some methods in our universe that have been used before, but there's a limit to what we could do in this universe, based on your science," responded Henry, hesitating at each word.
"Let's not go with the science of this world." That was Jace's voice, harsh and cold. "Let's go with yours. I've seen what your people can do. I'm hard-pressed to believe there's nothing you can do for him."
"And you're right there," confirmed Henry. "We don't have the same resources, but it might be possible to arrange something. How much do you know about life energy and senshi?"
"Nothing."
"Er, explain?" stammered Talos, forced to admit that even though he was a guardian, he wasn't sure what Henry was talking about.
The alien seemed to take pleasure in explaining, his earlier hesitation disappearing as he took on the role of teacher. "Over many years, scientists noticed a trend in the senshi population of the universe. It was roughly proportional to the total population of living beings. When there was a population increase, new families of senshi appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and with no relation to existing families. Certain planets remained inaccessible by portal until a critical mass of intelligent life was reached. Then portals and senshi appeared. This naturally led to speculation as to the connection between the existence of intelligent life and the existence of senshi. Numerous studies began, and eventually the most accepted studies proposed the notion of an energy associated with intelligent lie. In your terms, it might be considered a psychic energy. When enough of this life energy appeared in one place, it focused inside a single entity, and that entity became a senshi."
There was a pause, Henry waiting for dumb assertions from Jace and Talos. He must have gotten them, for he continued.
"Now, this life energy is something that can be measured, using the right instruments, and it was found that beings with a great deal of life energy in them, even non-senshi, left a sort of shadow behind them after death. I won't bore you with the specifics of the many experiments, but ways have been found to restore the connection between this energy and what could be termed as reality, not all of them entirely technological. But there are ways, and it has been done before."
Jace put her arms behind her head momentarily. "Big words aside. Can we do that?"
The hesitation quickly returned. "It's possible. There are a number of unknowns involved. Attempting to do something on a human, and on a senshi of the Light Universe... I would have to be very cautious in recommending anything."
"But it can be done," pressed Talos.
"Possibly," Henry admitted. "I am keeping him in a state of preservation."
"A little hope, that's still better than none," pointed out Talos. "I told you the DU would be able to do something, Jace." He sounded almost excited, but there was such a sense of desperation in his voice.
"Look. He's dead, okay? He can't get any deader, no matter what you do. So try -everything-." Her voice was stony.
"I understand. I can certainly do that," said Henry seriously.
"If you'll excuse me, can the dead body and I have some privacy?"
"Certainly." Henry moved outside, presumably taking Talos with him.
Jace wheeled herself into the room, slipping down from her seat and brushing her two newly black spikes from her eyes as she sat down next to the cold, very dead body of Theodore Parfett. She sat quietly for a few moments, playing with her fingers.
"They're trying to get you alive again," she said conversationally. "Namely so I can kill you once you come back."
A squeak came from the floorboards, sounding suspiciously like a gasp of surprise and fright.
Jace's head snapped up, grey eyes narrowing. She looked around, looking around for the offender wildly.
"There's someone in here," she announced. "They better get the fuck where I can see them right -now-."
Timocharis could feel her tiny heart pounding so fast in her chest it formed a single, unbroken sound. Her hiding place was hardly concealing, she had given herself away, and a brief inspection would reveal her... "Don't hurt me!" she blurted out.
The girl sighed tiredly. "Why would I? So long as you're not... I don't know... doing things to Tibby's body, I don't give a shit. Get out here."
Slowly, Timocharis crept out of her hiding place, quivering. She looked up at Jace, uncertainty on her face, and as bravely as she could, stammered out, "I w-won't let you hurt Tibby!"
Shock immediately registered over the girl's face, recognition. "Hey, you're his fuckin' guardian!"
Timocharis completely froze up, reduced to spitting useless syllables and trembling in place.
"I remember you! You were on his shoulder when he knocked me over the building. And you were with him when he was with his project. He used to feed you bits of cracker and things." Jace shook her head. "Hickory dickory dock."
Charis started to say something bold, but ended up bawling instead, unable to pull herself back to a state of composure.
"... Oh, god." A crying mouse. Jace reached forward to take the soft little thing into her hands, tremulously. "Look... I'm sorry, all right? I know... I know how it feels."
"It's not f-f-fair!" she squeaked out. "He wasn't supposed to d-d-d-d-"
"No, he wasn't." Jace's voice was almost gentle. "I was."
Charis merely trembled, knowing that feeling all too well. "Are... Are you g-going to b-bring him back?"
"Yes."
Swallowing her fears, Charis managed, "Th-there's a way, a way I know of."
That got Jace's attention. Her grey eyes went huge in her face, skin ashen beneath her tan. "What?!"
"A w-way in- in the Astruh-Astronomia." She swallowed. "Sailor Phoenix."
"Who the fuck is Sailor Phoenix?"
"She's the senshi of Resurrection. Her blood can bring p-people back."
"What, we prick her finger and drip it over Theodore?"
"N-n-n-no... S-s-sac-sacrifice," she stammered, and in one giant gasp, recited, "`And her blood shall restore him!'"
"Oh. Okay."
Timocharis returned to her stuttering. "Once Tibby come b-back, ev-everything w-will be o-o-okay," she asserted weakly.
"Sure will be."
The mouse nodded, squirmed, and finally asked, "Th-then you'll help me?"
"Damn straight I will." Jace raised her voice to a bellow. "HENRY! TALOS!"
"YEEEEE!" went Timocharis, nearly jumping out of Jace's hand. "No, I don't, they—"
"Hey, I can't catch these damn things all by myself, can I? Senshi are dangerous bitches. TALOS!"
"JACE! JACE! What is it!?" yelled Talos, sliding into the doorframe as he scurried desperately in. Henry was just behind him, gliding serenely. Talos quickly spotted the mouse. "What the hell are you doing here?" Timocharis could not answer.
Jace pointed. "She says that if we bleed some crazy Astronomia bitch, it'll bring Tibby back."
"And who is this?" rumbled Henry.
Talos was quick to explain. "Timocharis. She's one of the Astronomia guardians."
"Astronomia, I see."
"P-p-please don't hurt m-me," begged Timocharis, brushing her paws over her head.
Bemused, Henry told her, "Perhaps some of my associates would, but you have nothing to fear from me. You're a mouse, are you not?"
"Y-yes."
A glassy tendril reached forward tentatively. "May I?"
"Ummm," shivered Timocharis, not seeing much a choice. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut as the blobby appendage arced towards her.
She need not have been scared, for the touch was feather light. It almost seemed as if finger were caressing her, cool fingers cupping her small form and lifting her upwards...
Timocharis opened her eyes. What awaited her was not the site of a large, alien life form, but a gentle human face, smiling ever so slightly. "Genus Apodemus, family Muridae, order Rodentia," he noted. "And a senshi yourself. Now, tell me what this is about? You possess some knowledge concerning a means of reanimating Mr. Parfett?"
"Y-yes. I-it's an ancient lore, a p-piece of S-sailor Ph-Ph-Phoenix-nix's powers. H-her sacrifice, it c-can b-bring back a fallen com-comrade."
"I see," said Henry. "This intrigues me. We should pursue it." He handed the mouse back to Jace.
"Th-that's it?"
"As a scientist, it is my duty to determine the validity of this claim. It could provide an interesting new angle on senshi research. If you'll excuse me, I must retire for rehydration." He made a bit of an awkward bow and turned transparent, sliding back into slug form and gliding away.
"What a shit," Jace said cheerfully. "Scientists. Right. Where's Phoenix?"
"Ida- don't know. We'd have to find her."
"No problem," said Talos. "We'll do it. But you've made a mistake. You shouldn't have come here. You can't go back, you know."
"I could never go anywhere without him," came the soft reply.