Athena looked down, and then rallied.
"Alright, enough of the negative stuff. Shall we try to go looking for the positive stuff, now?"
Ami nodded, conjuring up cards of the Asuka siblings. Haruka and Michiru sighed.Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip...dripdrip. Drip, drip, drip...
**Timeline branching A-1**
Three people in a hastily thrown-together cell. Right in the medical section, to boot.
Well, a man, a boy and a girl in a medibed, to be precise...
The figure in the next cell - if "cell" was the right word for such jury-rigged accommodations - tossed and turned, restlessly.
"Coordinator kid. ...Will you never get tired of listening to the water drip?"
The dark-haired boy grimaced.
"I can't figure out where it's coming from, and it's driving me nuts. ...Do you think that can be on purpose?"
The man in the next "cell" shrugged beneath his covers.
"Pretty low-key for a interrogation technique, kid. - Could you take a look at Steller, if you're up already?"
The boy shrugged, and complied.
**Timeline branching A-2**
Sneezing, splashing, and a glimpse of orange hair...
"C - Commander Westenfluss - Heine! You're alive? How?"
More splashing and sneezing.
"I have no idea. Now could you just pull me up?
Several weeks later, the Minerva rocked with the sound of low-pitched but virulent arguing.
Lunamaria sighed. Westenfluss vs Zala, round nobody-could-keep-track-any-more.
... Men.
**Timeline branching A-3**
The gunshot spun the pink-haired girl around, over and over....
"Damn!"
"No, wait, it went through her arm - Meer, hold on, it's just a flesh wound - Neo-san, hurry!"
"Coming right up, kid. Hold on tight!"
Almost a year later, Andy Waltfeld reverently patted a brand new spanking album, with a grey-haired smiling girl on the cover, sipping his ever-present coffee.
"Meer Campbell's first album - with sig. Yippy!"
**Timeline branching A-4**
Gilbert Dullindal turned. And looked back.
They could have children, they could have children, they had the tech already, all it would need was a minor change of law and custom and it was clear as space that a war was coming with the Naturals anyway and why should they worry about their laws, it's not like most of them weren't a product of lawbreaking on part of their grandparents part if not their parents -
Or... Or they could just go off for a "trip" and say, hey look, there was a miracle and we conceived naturally! He had the connections, he had the skills - So what if people would talk?
" - Talia - Wait!"
**Timeline branching A-5**
Rau Le Kluze and Gilbert Dullindal faced each other over the chessboard. For the last time, perhaps.
They looked at each other, innerly sighing.
I'm much too far gone, but he....maybe not.
Maybe knocking him out and dragging him to - someplace or somebody that might get him fixed - might be a good idea?
Rey giggled happily at his piano. His most important people seemed to be having fun, for a change.
They never really knew how similar they were in some fashions, to the end.
Athena, Ami, Haruka and Michiru looked at each other, in the room-that-wasn't. Ami added a Rau card and a Gilbert card to the mix, and added a Talia card. Haruka added a Steller and a Neo/Mwu card, also adding a Murrue card.
"So those were the turning points that lead to -"
Athena mumbled.
"Well, not a guranteed "good outcome" by any means, but there do seem to be less Dark timelines in which those choices were taken, yes."
"Ahh."
"OK, so the bioborg - whoops, not quite - OK, the Steller girl lives in the first one, good, the body double girl - Meer? - lives in the other one, the third one is Gilbert Dullindal Decides to Break The Law, and the last - well, getting good help is important, of course. But..."
Haruka muttered.
"From what I've seen up to now - there doesn't seem to be much overt tampering, does it?"
Michiru nodded at that.
"Just something that - encourages bad choices, maybe?"
Hmmmmmmm.
It was Haruka that broke the silence.
"You know? I see the symptoms of the dreaded Overthinking-Beings-R-Us, here - What we need now is something silly. Very, very silly."
The Mirror glinted.
"... Whoops?"
**Timeline A**
The Supreme Commander of the OZ Special Forces looked at his brand new Second in Command.
The second in command looked back.
She was a very beautiful young woman, he did have to admit. Even more then...
And what a beautiful name, too.
"Welcome to OZ, then, Col. Marianna Suzanne Une."
He didn't quite notice Lucrezia Noin choking in the corner of the room.
Well, he tried not to, anyway.
Later that evening, Zechs was looking at his not-quite-girlfriend, who was chortling over her coffee and cake.
"Une is a Mary Sue, a Mary Sue, a Mary Sueeee...."
On the tune of "Mary had a little lamb", to boot.
He'd never understand girls.
" No wonder she almost never uses her first name... or her middle one, for that matter..."
Ever.
**Timeline B**
Col. Neo Roannork, Commander of the Phantom Pain, looked at the black fluffy cat.
The black fluffy cat looked back, golden eyes glowing.
"Just what am I supposed to do with you?"
The cat did not deign to answer, but then, it didn't have to.
"The Boss" - And Lord Djibril was his superior, now, whatever it said the the charts - would go nuclear if anything happened to the meowing thing is his absence. He knew that much about the man, at least.
If he survived whatever it was that was happening at LOGOS HQ now that had been the direct reason of the cat ending up with Phantom Pain in the first place, that is...
Ahh, well, there was no use thinking about that. Cat, cat...did anybody know anything about taking care of cats in the entire ship?
And just what was the thing's name, anyway?
He picked it up then, trying to see under it's little chin.
"Now, now, stop that, I'm just trying to see your collar..."
He blinked, then.
Lr. Garrion Stewert Djibril's Cat?
And a contact number. With a small blue, green and white Blue Cosmos emblem.
Garrion Stewert?
Neo almost choked. Oh, dear, how...unfortunate.
He wouldn't be calling his "Boss" by his given name any time soon, even if the opportunity was offered, that was for sure...
**Timeline C**
Tsukino Usagi, Yuuki Miaka, and Lacus Clyne all looked at each other over a round table.
It was a nice day, not too hot nor too cold, the food was good and the company was lovely. What was not to like?
On a neighboring table, Kira Yamato, Saotome Ranma, and Luffy D Monkey were all stuffing their faces, though Kira seemed to be somewhat in awe at the rate his tablemates were packing the food away...
The place was packing with people, eating, talking and listening to the music. A perfect get-together.
"Say, um, Yamato?"
"... Ah, yes, Saotome-san?"
" - Just what does "The Annual Canon Mary Sue / Gary Stu Convention" mean, anyway?"
**Timeline D**
She had purple hair, and pointed ears, and was the most beautiful girl anybody here had every seen in their lives.
He had dark hair, glittering dark eyes, and was the most handsome man anybody here had ever seen in the world.
They fell for each other instantly, and the world breathed a sigh of relief.
"See? All that had to be done is to let them see each other..."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it, alright?"
And there would be peace, for a while.
... Till the next generation arrived, that is...
Ami stared. And stared. And stared some more.
As did, Haruka and Michiru, and even Athena.
"That... That third one... Was that..."
"It's the Koneko-chan. In the flesh."
"- The Annual Canon Mary Sue / Gary Stu Convention?"
She-Who-Had-Been-Mizono-Ami-Once-Upon-A-Time cracked up, completely, then. She couldn't help it.
So did Haruka and Michiru. Even Athena was smiling much more brightly the usual.
"Oh my dear, it's really her - Tsukino Usagi."
Not Cosmos, not Neo-Queen Serenity, not even really Sailor Moon, just Usagi.
"... Oh, dear."
"Well... It does look like she's having fun..."
Usagi in the Mirror was stuffing a whole ice cream in her mouth, while Miaka poked her.
"If only...Ahh, well."
Ami sighed.
"Eh? Well, why not?"
" - Harukaa..."
Michiru mumbled, though she didn't really sound upset.
"C'mon, we all need a break, even Athena the Wise."
Haruka grinned at Athena then, who sighed, and smiled back.
"So... Why not?"
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(Posted Sat, 03 Jun 2006 08:45)
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