Previously in The Wedding Night 2…

 

 

            She touched the picture on her table with fondness and murmured, "I'll be back soon, I promise."

Then Yuuki left with Loki in tow. The door closed. The light turned off. The picture was left all alone.

But she didn't leave, not at all.

We never do.

 

            The picture stands alone on the desk, but not forgotten.

It is of Sheo Darren.

                                                                                *         *         *

            Lost in the depths of eternity, she stirs for a moment. Awoken for a fleeting second, she remembers her life and her duty, one and the same, dedicated to one young man. Her world and existence revolved around him. She had eyes and ears and heart and mind and soul only for him.

"My Master… Sheo Darren…"

But for a while longer, she sleeps.

Sigil Armitage sleeps.

                                                                                *         *         *

            "Arise, ye beloved who sleeps. A new world awaits you. A new saga beckons.

"The eternal journey begins once more.

"Awaken, Journeyman."

Sylphe Phenomena Eternal opens her eyes.

"Awaken, Sheo Darren."

                                                                                *         *         *

            So far away, a heart beats.

Eyes open into the light.

He awakes.

The End… But Also A Beginning…

Chapter Double Zero: The Prologue

 

The Way Things Shouldn't Start…

           Yuuki Darren –this world's version of Guilty Gear's That Man, reformed former semi-evil anti-hero who messed up The Wedding Night 2 pretty bad until she realized the meaning in her life and thus fought on the side of good, official 'daughter' of the author who conceived and wrote this story, and current overseer of this world– sighed cutely as she tipped her glasses up her nose.

"I hate paperwork."

Yes. Paperwork: The unexpected by-product of the well-intentioned ideas behind bureaucracy by the long-dead Ottoman Empire. Where there was bureaucracy, there was paperwork, just as there were rabid fan girls for every bishounen who existed in the world. It was as natural and expected as to see bumblebees and dragons flying, the way paperwork would insidiously rise out of nowhere to suddenly engulf you in its maw of doom. Adults with jobs fear it. Adults without jobs thank the stars that they need not worry about it– until the next IRS receipt arrives. Students graduating from college have nightmares about it.

A great evil, indeed, it had kept Yuuki busy trying to keep it to a minimum. You could never truly eliminate paperwork; you could only tune it down to a bearable level as much as you can.

The last few months had seen her very busy indeed. Only a short time after she had died in battle with Sho Tsuzuku and been brought back to life, That Girl had led efforts towards the renewal of the world. Backed up by the Guilty Gear fighters and the harem of her creator, Yuuki had worked tirelessly in order to right all the wrongs wrought by The Wedding Night, not to mention during the twenty episodes of The Wedding Night 2. At first feared and rejected by many due her previous reputation as a villain, she had finally achieved acceptance through her unceasing pursuit of her new life and objectives.

Barely three months into reconstruction, Zofeah's Revolution landed upon them like the biblical guest who arrives at the time least expected and with the force of a Florida typhoon. Yuuki had at first observed the tournament with distant interest, preoccupied with work as she was. But when NESTS and likewise terrorist/crime groups resurfaced and the Bureau of Management's agents and armies appeared, and especially after disturbing reports during Revolution –disruptions in Timespace due to forbidden Chrono magic courtesy Kokurabuji Hikki, new arrivals from cyberspare like Zero, and research upon the nature of Zofeah and Lone Wolf SIX– That Girl personally investigated and fought in the tournament itself. With the aid of Lone Wolf, Loki, the harem girls, and a little piece of her creator named Rheo Farren, Yuuki had averted the impending Armageddon and saved the world again.

To top it all off, she actually had fun during Revolution. Not everyday did she get to kick ass as royally as she did during her battles there.

Unfortunately, the paperwork had increased in her absence.

It was as if the damned thing was alive, capable of multiplying like rabbits, knew that multiplying itself would annoy her, and thus did so in order to spite her. Yuuki sometimes wondered if the P4 or Sho Tsuzuku or a similar evil lingered within the world through the guise of paperwork, its evil presence was so prevalent in her life. Probably not, she seriously thought, since the villains in question wouldn't have stuck to mere annoying trifles, preferring disruption/domination/destruction on a worldwide scale instead of being confined to just one single office room.

At least the air conditioning here works now.

When Yuuki had first bought and brought it here, the place had been very incomplete. Among its lack of amenities were comfortable furniture, hot water, air conditioning, cable TV and internet, pest control –the swarms of rats were gone, but the hideous memories they engendered still lingered in a few places– and many other facilities and services that made life comfortable for its occupants. She'd had only a short time to tend it before events had overwhelmed and forced her to set home repairs aside in order to fight for her very life. The Ultrasaurus' bombardment attack had not helped at all, either, but 16-inch high explosive artillery shells and homesteads had never ever reached an agreement.

But one year had passed since it first came, and lots of things had been done about its shortcomings. Refitted for luxuriantly comfy human habitation, its formidable installment of defensive weapons and sensor suites now fully upgraded and online, it was much changed from both its original conception as the greatest superweapon in the universe and its previous incarnation as a "second-hand last-minute closing time 50%-off sales bargain shopping item' from Virra Mall while a fire was merrily burning down the entire place" which happened to actually be a swindle of sorts. It was, to the multitude of girls and the single Filipino action hero madman who inhabited it, 'home'.

Now, when people looked up at the sky now, there were two moons.

One of them was good old Luna, the moon of old.

The other was the Death Star, which watched over the world within and without...

                                                                                *         *         *

           Ky Kiske reverently laid the bouquet of flowers at Kuradoberi Jam's grave. A hand reached out to gently caress the smooth marble of the tombstone, as if recapturing the feel of the late Chinese waitres/cook with this action.

Behind him was Son Goku of Saiyuki, suppressing his tears but not his sadness. As promised, he had done his part to avenge his friend's death through fighting in the Revolution tournament. Now he paid his respects once more to her.

Aside, Dizzy had already done the same for Testament. Hotaru was with her; Rock was a respectful distance from them, knowing their need for privacy, generously giving it to them.

The cemetery garden was quiet. It was at peace, just as the souls of those two beloved within were also at peace.

Ky smiled faintly as he stood up to go. "I'll see you again some day, Miss Jam. Until then, my prayers –and my heart– go with you wherever you are. Always…"

                                                                                *         *         *

           Anji Mito was nervous.

Beside him, the nerves of Chipp Zanuff –no one was calling him Zanuff Chipp despite his best efforts at persuasion–had been so frayed the past two hours or so that he tended to jump whenever there was the slightest noise or movement around him. Since he had triple jump ability, that usually meant that his head smacked into the ceiling, knocking him out for a few blessed minutes before Chii would wake him up and unwittingly return him to their horror.

In addition there was Higashi Joe with his girlfriend Lilly Kane– and Lilly's overprotective big brother, feared stick fighter Billy Kane, glowering at the Muay Thai fighter with good reason. That is, when they weren't cringing.

The two Japanese, one Brit and one American wannabe-Japanese had been cringing all the while throughout the entire length of the operation. The screams of pain from within the room –not to mention the curse words in both Japanese and English, various death threats, and sounds of violence and scuffling from within the delivery room– scared the three hardened fighters like nothing had ever scared them before. In marked difference to them, Lily was very calm and serene.

As for Chii? She was asking in her innocent way, "Why is Baiken-nee-san screaming like that?"

Finally, the horror ended as the doctor came out of the delivery room.

Then again, considering that Faust was the doctor in question…

Okay: The horror might not be over yet.

"Congratulations, Mister Mito– or is it Mister Seishino, considering that some Japanese men take the last names of their wives as their last name per tradition?" Anyway, Faust flashed a V-sign with two fingers; if it weren't for his paper bag mask, they'd have all seen the grotesque but well-meaning smile plastered all across his face. "You are now a father!"

Anji fainted.

                                                                                *         *         *

           Sol Badguy lit a Marlboro with Fuenken and took in one long deep breath, faintly smiling in a rough handsome way with pleasure as he enjoyed the deliciously addictive taste of his smoke–

–Before a smiling energetic brunette swatted the cigarette out of his mouth with a kitty backpack and into oblivion.

"Sol-kun! Smoking is bad for your health!"

The greatest fan of Queen suppressed his usual protest consisting of a swear word and the word 'you' and settled for letting his breath and what remained of the smoke in his guts out of his gritted teeth. Instead, he looked at the girl who was the greatest fan of Queen's greatest fan (displacing both Justine Harrier and Asamiya Athena for possession that title) and said:

"I wanted a smoke, that's all."

"But it's bad for your health!"

"I'm a Gear. I'm immune to disease, poison, age, any kind of degeneration of my body, fire, very resistant to radiation and injury, and can regenerate faster than Wolverine can. Smoking won't harm me."

Kagura pouted. "What about me?" she petulantly asked.

'What about– oh, fine." Sol shook his head and gave up. He'd learnt a year ago that the girl from Fruit's Basket could be very bulldog-like in determination and had a way of getting what she wanted from him despite his best efforts. "I'll stop smoking when you're around."

"That's better." She smiled at him in her shy happy way, and he felt somewhat compensated for his 'sacrifice', though he'd never admit it.

"I can't even get a cigarette break when I want to." Grumbling, Sol Badguy walked off into the sunset, Kagura in devoted tow.

                                                                                *         *         *

            "Hey, 'Tine?"

"Yeah, 'Thena?"

"Can you explain again what got us into this situation?"

"We were just looking for fun, right?"

"Right."

"Hey, it isn't my fault we got into this mess…"

"Are you implying I got us into this mess?"

"No."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

The two girls who were not really girls were surrounded by an army of Teletubbies, Barneys, Blues (from Blue's Clues), Muppets from 'Sesame Street' and 'Muppets Tonight!', South Park characters, Beanie Babies, a talking moon, a bear who lived in a big blue house, the big blue house itself (the last three from Bear In The Big Blue House), and the fearsome stuffed keychain toy of Kiel Granada that was called 'Poopy' who held them all under its evil smelly aura's sway.

"Poopy?" Asamiya Athena wondered aloud, even as she wrinkled her nose at Poopy's smell.

"Spelled as 'puppy', pronounced way wrong," advised Justine Harrier, who quietly agreed with her friend that the monster deserved its owner's moniker.

"I wonder if they can spell the word 'trouble'?"

"Let's see, shall we?"

Both girls grinned.

"ANGEL LASER: GAMMA RAY MOD ONE!"

"HYPER PSYCO-BALL!"

                                                                                *         *         *

           Two figures stood out in the moonlight, holding hands like newly-met dates, their hearts beating as one, their souls linked inexplicably and inextricably by Fate who had bound them together by way of Her Handmaidens' mysteriously wondrous tapestries. Upon one lays a sword. Upon the other lays a staff.

Upon both of them lay love.

Cloud Strife would never leave her side again.

Aeris Gainsborough would stay with him forever.

                                                                                *         *         *

           Bridget landed on his butt pretty hard, Roger spilling away from him, his yoyos out of reach and useless in any case. The business end of a monster anchor was leveled right at his face. If this was a real fight, he'd be dead.

But it wasn't.

"Pow, you're dead," cheerfully announced his opponent.

He grinned. "Okay, this round goes to you," conceded Bridget.

May grinned back at him. "Loser."

"Careless, more like it," commented Malin from the sidelines. "I count five mistakes that cost you, Bridget-kun."

"You're too critical," another voice countered, gruff and sarcastic, the last person you'd expect such words to come from. The audience thus falls into a hushed silence full of apprehension.

Yagami Iori glared at the audience. "Hey, I might have gotten reformed, but don't think I'm a softie pushover now. And quit that," he added.

The audience is still apprehensive, which annoys the Riot Blood fighter to no end.

"Assholes: EIGHT–"

"Yagami-nii-san!" scolded May.

Iori rolled his eyes to heaven, a gesture he'd gotten from a certain bad-ass American. But he kept his peace and restrained himself from kicking serious ass due his adopted kid sister's plea. He had a pretty good idea that Sol Badguy was having the same problems with Kagura as he was, but decided that pointing out that similarity to the half Gear would result in reintroduction to exquisite pain by fire and Fuenken and Volcanic Viper and Dust Move chain link combos and Napalm Death. Iori might have been a fire user, but the fire in question was red, was someone else's, was tons more powerful than his, and burned him bad.

"I give…"

                                                                                *         *         *

           The view from atop the mountain was awesome, and the two could have enjoyed it a lot– if they weren't chatting so nervously about their state of safety and legality.

"Jack, are you sure we're safe and alone here? I mean, I seem to remember this place was supposed to be off-limits."

"The Philippine government is notoriously adept at making pronouncements of command– and just as notoriously inept at enforcing the law. They might order the Makiling-Banahaw area closed off to hikers for at least five years, but the hikers will still make it through the cordon. Just as we did, and so far, no one has caught us yet, right?"

"I hope not. The place needs to be left alone for a while. Did you see all the mess we passed by? People mess this nice place up and then sulk when they're reasonably told to pick up their trash and keep the area clean."

"You're right on that. Anyway, elections are in full swing this coming May 10. Just like in America, they won't get anything important done these next three weeks of election period and vote counting."

"That's not the point, Jack."

"Plus, we're foreigners. The local authorities are soft on foreigners. And they don't have anything to threaten their neighbors with. That's why the Chinese and Vietnamese and Malaysians and Indonesians can illegally fish in Philippine waters and make fun of Philippine Coast Guardsmen while they're at it. Why do you think Communist China have illegal military installations on the Spratly Islands?"

"Jack, I mention the safety of this place, you give me a lecture on local and regional politics of the Philippines and Southeast Asia."

"What is your problem, then?"

"They said this mountain had a witch."

"Oh, you mean Mariang Makiling. She's not a witch of the sort you are thinking of. She's an enchantress or faerie being who supposedly roams this place. Don't worry, as long as we don't mess up the environment or the wildlife, she should leave us alone. Anyway, she's a myth. And the myth also says that she doesn't want to have anything to do with humans anymore, so if she's real –which she's not– we don't have anything to fear from her."

"Somehow, you fail to reassure me with your windy speeches, Jack."

"If words don't work, I still have my shotgun. A couple of twelve-gauge steel buckshot should do in anything nasty we encounter quite quickly."

"I hope your faith in modern weapons proves true. 'The Blair Witch Project' scared the hell out of me real good. I don't want to have a real life version after us, much more something we can't kill."

"Relax, April. I'll take care of us both, no need to be afraid of mountain myths."

"That's what I'm more afraid of, Jack: You."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence, April. You inspire me like no one can."

"I'll take that as a compliment, too, Jack."

April and Jack went down from the mountain top, talking as they went.

They had no idea they were being watched.

                                                                                *         *         *

           Yuuki sighed to herself again, even as her memories and emotions swept around her again at that action, one trait she had inherited from her creator, the youth who gave her life and meaning and existence, the young man who'd loved her as his own daughter of flesh and blood, the one who brought her into life the first time and returned her again when death claimed her all too early and unwillingly.

He would always be the first man in her life, even now that he was gone.

Sheo…

Just as she'd taken off her glasses to wearily rub the bridge of her nose, a pair of hands slipped around her eyes.

"Guess who?" asked a smiling voice.

She smiled back.

"Loki-kun."

The smile of the handsome demon detective grew wider. "And how is my beloved Yuuki?"

"Quite fine despite the paperwork monster," she just as teasingly replied.

She had long dropped her ten year old guise, preferring her teenager form as Magical That Girl. This way, she could be both youngish cute and mature. Likewise, Loki had kept to his true form as the Norse night god of mischief, his twenty-something identity. Normally he could only assume that form when he had collected enough 'dark aura', and only temporarily.

But his fiancée was, after all, Yuuki Darren. The Will and The Word held for her and those she loved.

His hands slipped away from her eyes and around her neck. She held them with her own, swiveled her chair around to face him even as she stood up and walked right into his embrace, returning the hug with one of her own.

"Tadaima," she affectionately told him.

"Haii."

They were going to kiss when the door banged open not too subtly.

A girl stood there. Ten years old or so, cute expressive face which was right now dominated by huge black-brown eyes which were especially huge right now, staring at Yuuki and Loki in absolute unhappiness at the way the two were so loving together… when it should be her and Loki.

To quote Iron Maiden and Dowser Knight, the cacophony of reactions was interesting to observe.

"R-Reiya?"

"Loki-kun… hidoi…hidoi desu… Waaah!"

"Uh, oh."

There was a blinding flash of light.

Trouble in paradise…

                                                                                *         *         *

           Deep within the darkness, separated by an unimaginable distance, two hearts stir for a fleeting moment.

"Sheo… My Master…"

"Sheo-nii-san… wait for us…"

Sigil Armitage and Elle Shoshone sleep for awhile longer.

                                                                                *         *         *

            One year after the events chronicled in Guilty Gear: The Wedding Night 2, several months after the end of Revolution: It's Not What It Seems…

            The story of a world continues…

            A world within and without…

            Even without him…

Guilty Gear

The World Within And Without

Original Conception By: Sheo Darren

Overseen By: Yuuki Darren

 "The world will go on, even without Sheo Darren."

Sheo Darren

 "No. The world is the Word. The Word is Sheo Darren."

Sylphe Alita