"Otaru-kun!"

He staggered into the room, his tasteless pajamas covered in dirt and plasma burns. An arduous journey it had been, but now he was back from the brink of hell. Hanagata slumped to the floor of his apartment, the remainder of his energy spent from the long journey.

"You must do something about those marionettes of yours! They stole me from my bed last night and abandoned me in the middle of nowhere, and without reason! Sometimes I get the feeling they want to kill me! If not for our special attraction to one another, Otaru-kun, I would never have found my way back!"

He stood up as much as he could, his lower body plastered to the ground as he lifted up his head to peer ahead of him. "Are you even listening to me, Otrau-kun?"

Yumeji's face appeared on the other side of the table, his childish smile changing to a look of honest concern. "Welcome back, oniisama!"

Hana faltered. "Yu-Yumeji?" Gathering himself up, he peered back around at the address on the door to confirm that it was indeed his neighbor's abode. "What are you doing here?"

Yumeji looked almost hurt at his brother's inquiry. "I'm house-sitting for Otaru-niichan until he gets back."

Hana faltered again. "Gets back? Otaru-kun left without even telling me? I would've gone with him if I had known!"

Yumeji stared blankly at him. "Everybody left a while ago because some scary marionette showed up that took him away."

"Marionette?" Hana suddenly became. "Then my disappearing in the night was not a coincidence. They were attempting to get rid of me so that I wouldn't foil their plans. It will not work on me."

"You don't have to worry, Oniisama. Lime and everybody else went to bring him back."

"It is nothing to be so nonchalant about, my dear Yumeji! Fret not either, even though I, Mitsurugi Hanagata, have pledged to be far from violence. If we all sit idly by and do nothing, these machines will take the opportunity to do whatever they please, without concern for the people of this fair country! Thus, from this day forward, I am no longer Mitsurugi Hanagata - instead you may address me as 'The Commando'."

He leapt out the door calling out behind him. "Justice will be mine!"

Yumeji stared up at the ceiling and the many patched up hana-sized holes left from his brother's daily visits. "Does everybody else have a brother as strange as mine?"



SABER MARIONETTE J vs M

EPISODE 15

"MESOPOTAMIA'S LEGACY: THE ONES TO CARRY ON"



by Baka-Matt-Su



The buzzing was becoming more than she could bear, and as Lynx swatted away another volley of rushing BUGs she called up her interior maps. "It's a chained security system," she called out.

That had explained the problems they were having. Twenty seconds after the hatch that the BUGs had emerged from closed, all the other entrances had slid shut with thick steel doors. The lights had followed suit, powering down and leaving everything in absolute darkness. Without their infrared equipped viewing systems, they would have been completely lost.

Even so, the swarm of BUGs had been circling into several attack groups, rushing in with tenacious strikes. Each BUG was equipped with a small probe wire intended to connect to a subject terminal in original design, but in this case each of the tiny machines were using it to cut through whatever got in its way. At this speed, the room was slowly ripping into pieces as the marionettes dove out of each BUG's path only to have a nearby machine terminal or ceiling support beam receive the brunt of the blow.

Blood Berry turned to strike at a passing group, realizing all too soon how pointless the motion was. Already in flight, as her fist pushed in from behind, the BUGs only took it as a push forward, hardly receiving more than a little course charge. "Tell us something more useful than that!" she snapped at Lynx.

The other flinched angrily at first, but then lowered herself further to the floor, lying with her stomach pressed against the cold grating there. "I'm looking for an override. It may take some time."

"Which we don't have," Cherry prompted, narrowly evading three separate waves that rushed in a pincer formation. A fresh cloud of plaster rained down as the machines scraped against the ceiling. "Lime, look out!"

The fifth saber jumped at her name, slipping sideways in time to dodge her own barrage.

Panther slid herself over the edge of the chute to rest on the closed hatch. She tapped it, annoyed. "Thick stuff. Just like you Japones to over-engineer things so."

Blood Berry reached out and crushed a handful of BUGs before joining her. "This chamber looks a little more important than anything else down here we've seen with all these safeguards. I thought we were just going through maintenance bays."

"It's far more open than necessary to be just that, Blood Berry," Cherry agreed, pulling away the outer remnants of what was once a pillar. The BUGs swarming past had chipped it open, showing its true nature beneath. Inside ran a large glass tube from the roof, disappearing into the floor. A mess of wiring was twisted its full length. "We must be close to some kind of power grid."

"What?" Lynx turned her head towards Cherry's voice, her own words almost lost in the ever-present buzz around them. "My records don't show anything of the sort. These rooms are marked only as government storage."

Cherry scanned the floor, then quickly ripped up a section of it. Opening a connection in her chest, she wired herself to a run of cabling within. The system was a little archaic, but she still believed she had the ability to decipher it. "Whatever they were storing here must have been important. The system's about to launch a cleansing program."

"What's a 'cleansing program'?" Lime curiously prompted, ducking as BUGs toppled the support behind her.

"It means we're getting out of here," Blood Berry gritted her teeth, then turned to the saber beside her. "Panther?"

Panther, wide-eyed, finally understood and nodded.

The two let out war cries as they hammered their full strength onto the steel plating beneath them. It screeched under the pressure, a large impression left where they impacted. "One more," Panther huffed.

Once again they slammed full force, this time breaking the piece completely off. The two surprised marionettes began plummeting down the chute riding the gate for their way down.

Lynx got off the ground looking at the remaining others. "Let's go!"

Lime hopped in the chute, close behind her.

Cherry put her hand out to stop them far too late. "Wait! The security system's kicked in a routine on that disposal unit!"

It echoed down the tunnel, reaching the waiting ears of Blood Berry and Panther who exchanged glances.

"Disposal..."

"...Unit?"

They peered over the edge of the hatch they were riding and gasped.



"Do I amuse you?" Faust raised an objectionable eyebrow at his captor.

Kenji let the pieces of the rose slide to the floor unannounced. "Of course. You humans are such objectionable creatures. The ways you resist."

Faust felt himself looking down at the petals of the floor on the dirty floor. It was as if his entire life had just been acted out by that flower in Kenji's grip, starting in full bloom, then all too soon becoming snapped in two and discarded.

"It's just a flower, Gerhardt," Kenji followed his gaze. "You can pour all the symbolism you want into it, but it will never change what it is. It stands for nothing, unless you delude yourself to think so."

"And you are just a machine. A mindless being designed to make our lives easier."

"Quite the opposite. You've seen the results of Lorelei. The Mesopotamia. The marionettes with Otome circuits. Do not deny that they are far more human than some humans seem to be."

"And you possess a circuit as well, I take it?"

Kenji stifled what would almost have passed as a laugh, getting up his seat and standing up. He brushed his legs off. "I have no need for such things. I have a mind. And, I have little time for you anymore."

He headed for the doorway, Faust's next sentence stopping him momentarily.

"What are you going to do with the blood sample you took from me?"

"Ah, you noticed," Kenji peered over his shoulder. "I didn't think you would have. Apparently when I took it you were conscious after all."

Faust ran his hand over his arm again, resting his forefinger on the small imprint where the needle had taken its toll. "Not necessarily, but in my youth I was exposed to many injections and samplings. As such, your intrusion was far from unnoticed. My ancestor did his tests on me for what he thought was the greater good. Do you also claim what he did?"

For a moment their gazes locked again. This time, Kenji broke off suddenly, as if distracted by a sudden revelation coming to light in his mind. "I do what I feel. As amusing as you can be, Gerhardt, you can be equally annoying. Treasure your saber dolls while you still can. When I'm done with Mamiya's girls, I may need something else to fall back on."

Faust tightened his gaze, but the other refused to meet it, Kenji closing in the room behind him as he left. Shutting out the world from him. He was free to go. The marionette had not restrained him in any way. He may have claimed to have feelings, this machine that had overcome him on the Geltland outskirts, but the more it had to say to Faust, the more he was convinced just the opposite. Kenji was coldhearted and truthfully, a match for Faust himself less than a year ago. Oblivious to pain. His mind was focused on one goal, and he would do whatever possible to attain it.

The former fuhrer bent down to gently scoop up the crushed rose petals in his hand. In his cupped grip, they created a new arrangement. While not as beautiful as they were in their natural form, in his palms they still held on fast to their true identity.

There was truth in what Kenji had said. In the end, a flower was nothing more than a flower. Still, holding the breed of plant Faust had named after Lorelei affected him in a way he could never truly describe. A small surge of emotion swept over him as he opened his hands and let the petals fly from his care.

"Lorelei," he whispered aloud, watching the rose petals flutter and lie still. "It was difficult for me, but in the end I realized it was better this way."

His eyes were throbbing, and he could feel himself on the verge of tears. Fighting them back, he took in a big breath and turned away from the room. "I realized it was never meant to be."



Panther's grunts echoed up the chute as Blood Berry's body slammed on top of her, and once again as more bodies followed.

She had managed to outstretch herself and slow her fall just in time. Only forty meters more and she would have been ready for the scrap market. Forty meters more and the group would be into those rotor blades fastened and swinging full force below them. The cover they had moments before ridden fell in their place, ripping into shards at the mercy of the spinning blades of death.

And then more weight made matters worse, making her grip slip slightly, and pushing her ten meters more towards it as it hit her from above.

"This is fun," she snarled, her long hair running down over her face, blocking her eyes. Her back was contorted almost to a ninety-degree angle under all the pressure.

"I hate to admit it, but you actually came in handy this time, Panther," Blood Berry answered back from somewhere above her.

Lime just made a sound of agreement, caught upside down with her legs spread in the air, one arm stuck down beside Blood Berry, the other half free.

"She won't be able to hold us all for long," Lynx's distinctive voice echoed from further up. She was awkwardly crammed up against one side of the chute, her faced mashed up against Lime's left leg. "Cherry! Do something!"

Cherry was already performing the search queries, nervously looking over the edge. "I can't find anything! The system's too limited here. The security must be ported over from the main computer...Where is that Lynx?"

Lynx squirmed to try and relieve her face. It only resulted in pushing Blood Berry back into Lime's free arm. The other squealed in pain as it stretched back, and consequently, the whole group slid down further again. "It's hard to tell. The systems are set up almost token-style."

"Someone better hurry up and damn well think of something!" Panther hollered, feeling the hot breeze on her face from the blades swinging less than 20 meters downwards.

"I'm trying," Lynx uselessly retorted.

All of them knew it to be true. After all, Lynx wanted to get out of this situation just as badly as any of them did. Still, even being driven by desire was not enough. They needed something a little more solid. Something helpful to lend them a way out.

Cherry traced the wires along the ceiling, each strand taking up into the large column before her and disappearing somewhere from view. They no doubt made their way around to the main computer through a main trunk cable. From here, though, she didn't have anywhere to even start a trace such as that.

She shielded her eyes with her long sleeve as a cascade of fresh debris hammered down around her. The BUGs had stopped circling about the room and were now burrowing methodically up into the roof. Slow as they were working, the ceiling was putting up little resistance, giving way easily to the tiny machines.

Panther felt her arms sagging from complete exhaustion. The quad slowly slid down dangerously close to the fan. "I guess this is where I check out," she slowly gritted her teeth, her eyes spreading slightly open at the rushing air blasting her forehead. "Forgive me for being so weak, Faust-Sama."

Her eyes closed as she prepared to meet her end. Panther could feel her face lower as it neared the blade.

And then they snapped open. The constant current, the blowing breeze, had slowed to a halt. Feeling her spirits lift, she saw that the blades had stopped moving. She breathed a short sigh of relief.

"You did it, Cherry!" Blood Berry called up the tunnel, trying to free herself from being pressed into everyone else.

Cherry didn't answer at first. The cabling she was connected to had gone dead, and she was just realizing the BUGs were at fault. On their way up through the ceiling above, they must have cut through the main computer's power line. That also explained how they were now safe below. "The systems should all be down," she softly informed them.

"That's good enough for me," Panther let go, sending the quartet spiralling down the chute once again.

Cherry nervously looked up at the ceiling as more dust and pieces spat out from above. A whole new set of BUGs, like the army Death had lead. And while they were down here to save Otaru, those machines were free to do whatever they were sent for. At their speed of burrowing, they would surely reach the surface of Japoness in a few minutes.

For a moment, Cherry thought of breaking off to follow the machines. The four below were plenty enough for a rescue team. A sharp pain from her Otome circuit convinced her otherwise. With one final look above, she hopped into the chute after them.



The door whipped open, causing both Genta and Taro to squint at the natural light pouring into the bar. Both men weren't used to afternoon visitors, and as such, both grumbled as this one came in.

Taro didn't know what to make of him. Of fair skin, and light hair, the newcomer was as skinny as they came. But he was dressed to kill. Fastened around his head was a blood red bandana, and over each shoulder of his white tank top, the stranger had strapped a few sets of handheld automatics as well as enough ammo to take on a platoon of marionettes. Large, black army boots adorned his feet, and camoflauge pants covered his long legs. But the expression on his face was what hit Taro the most. A cold, vice-like, anger frozen in place. It certainly fit the bill of his usual kin.

Genta was similarly stunned at first, but soon recognized the newcomer. "Hey, I know you. You're that idiot Joshuya boy...Mitsu- Mitsu- Something. What's with the getup?"

The door swung back on its spring, whacking the newcomer in the face. Hanagata grunted and slapped the door open again, resulting in it springing back and knocking him off his feet. Finally fed up, he jerked past the entrance and took a seat next to Taro, remaining silent.

Genta moved in front in him, baring his teeth. "Hey, Hanagata! We don't serve milk and cookies here, so spoiled kids like you should go run off and play!"

Hana summoned up strength uncharacteristic to him, grabbing hold of the other's ear and pulling him close. "It's not Hanagata. It's 'The Commando'. And I want you to serve me up your hardest liquor, now."

Taro backed off a little as Genta broke free, sneering. "Suit yourself, 'Commando'." He fixed up a mixed drink and presented it to the other.

Hana swirled the inside of the glass with his finger, narrowing his eyes, and trying his utmost to look serious. "I'm not here by coincidence."

Taro chuckled. "Well, isn't that a surprise. And here I thought you were in here by mistake."

Hana remained calm, refusing to look at Taro. "Do you know anything about a marionette?"

"Could you be a little more specific than that?" Genta stared back, stupidly. "I see tons of marionettes daily. I don't own one, but I know well enough all the advantages that come with such an ownership!"

Taro toasted to Genta's comment, laughing in mid-chug and spurting out a large portion of his beer.

"This one stormed the castle, and caused quite a commotion. He took a friend of mine...no, more than that...he took my dearest friend from me! For that reason, I have set aside my emotions to become what I am now. To become the killing machine known far and wide as 'The Commando'!"

Both of the others stared at him like he just fell off a turnip truck. Then they burst out laughing.

"You really had me going for a moment there, Hanagata!" Genta snorted. "I almost believed that whole story..."

Hanagata simply glared at him, turning abruptly and heading for the exit. "I should have known that 'The Commando' can rely on no one but himself for achieving his goals."

As he swung the door open, he looked back. "I will not forget this act of disgrace! When it is your turn to ask for my help, I will make sure you get a similar response!"

He paused for dramatic effect, and the door slammed into his face again.



"These rooms couldn't be more cluttered," Panther growled after peering into the fifth entrance they had come across.

Cherry and Lynx each pciked through the piles of equipment as they had the four previous ones.

"There's no doubt about it now," Cherry affirmed, joining the rest of the group.

"Government storage, alright," Lynx tightly forced a smile.

The two filed in behind Lime, the groups' leading marionettes turning back to them.

"So what's the deal?" Blood Berry finally broke the marching silence, still scanning the area for any possible surprise attack. "Why the large power supply, and tight security?"

"Cloning," Panther stopped walking, causing Lime to bump into her from behind.

Lynx and Cherry grimly nodded, and Blood Berry finally made the connection herself. "They cloned here?"

The whole line had stopped moving, forming a semi-circle as well as they could manage in the crowded hallway.

"Yes," Cherry started. "Sometime in the past, this area served that purpose. The equipment is a little old, but it still would have done the trick a few hundred years ago."

Blood Berry suddenly felt a prickly feeling along her back. Underground cloning was performed here, away from the view of the above world. What sorts of experiments were done here, that it was hidden from the public?

"From your right!" Cherry called out in warning.

Drawing their attention around to where Cherry pointed, the group made way as a dark, shadowy figure turned the corner.

"I got 'im!" Blood Berry swung her fist around behind her, the figure ducking out of the way. Her fist continued on its course, slamming solidly into the wall.

"Faust-Sama!" Panther rushed forward as he came into the light.

Blood Berry pulled back her fist with a sheepish expression on her face. "Sorry 'bout that Faustie. Can never be too careful, you know."

He barely acknowledged her, allowing Panther to support him from the right.

Lynx now rushed past her to flank his other side. "Faust-Sama, you've been injured!"

He smiled. "It's nothing, Lynx. It is good to see both of you."

A short-lived pause before he spoke again. "Where's Tiger?"

"She's safe," Panther assured him. "We made sure of that before we came after you."

A bit of relief added into the little emotion he showed. "We can bet these two marionettes that we've crossed paths with need to be dealt with. You three-"

He directed his speech to Lime, Cherry, and Blood Berry with inflection he was unused to. Here were the marionettes to which he owed his life, and Lorelei's. Yet, despite his best efforts, he couldn't see that within them. They looked more like pets mourning the passing of their owner. This caused his tone to soften out of sympathy.

"-if you hurry, you can catch him. Mamiya...that marionette Kenji was taking him away somewhere."

"Otaru?" Lime repeated, her eyes throbbing softly.

He nodded.

The three hurried past the former ruler of Geltland, but not before Lynx stopped them. "Thank you, you three. Good luck with everything..."

"Thanks are due for you two as well," Cherry beamed.

"Well, Cherry?" Blood Berry prompted her from up the hallway.

She quickly ran to catch up. "If I remember the plans correctly, there's only one place I could think of that Kenji would be heading...the emergency lift at the end of this hall."

Panther spoke up immediately after they disappeared from sight. "It felt strange to be helping them this time. All that's happened in the past seems so unreal now."

Faust wrapped an arm around her, stroking her hair gently. "I know exactly what you mean. Things have so drasticly changed. In the end, I've decided it is best to leave the past behind."

"Faust-Sama, what did this Kenji want with you...and Mamiya as well?" Lynx looked up at him curiously.

"I can't say for sure. All I can say is that if they don't hurry, Mamiya may be in grave danger."



He saw them rushing down the corridor just as the lift doors began to slide shut. Pushing his prisoner back against the edge of the cage, he leaned as a large projectile narrowly fired in through the opening. The small metal plate screeched along the bars in front of him, causing a mess of sparks to fire into his face. A hand pulling up to his burning face, Kenji stumbled back, his other hand still holding onto his Katana.

As Lime, Cherry, and Blood Berry raced for the lift, the doors finished clamping shut. Blood Berry sternly kicked the metal coverings. "We're too slow!"

Cherry carried a worried expression. "Quick, Blood Berry! Pry open the doors!"

Following the other's instructions she forced it open, all three looking up above. The lift was making progress upwards, but they were able to jump with enough force to grab hold of the bottom. From her hanging point, Blood Berry smashed a dent in the underside until it was apparant she wouldn't be able to make a hole.

Within moments, shards of afternoon light shone through the cracks, and the lift came to a stop. The three squeezed around the side and to the door. It was already empty.

"Looking for me?" Kenji's distinct voice drew them around to face him.

He was about fifty meters from where they stood, directly between them and the wall that marked the Japones border, his head down, and his hair covering his face. An inanimate Otaru lay in his grasp, Kenji's katana held in front of his neck.

"Let him go!" Blood Berry ordered gruffly. "You don't want to see me angry!"

"Otaru," Lime managed, the whole scene slowly playing before her.

"Let him go?" Kenji rolled the words on his tongue, pulling his captive close enough that a small trickle of blood dripped down around the blade before him. "After all the trouble it's taken me to get to this point? I'd have to be stupid to surrender him to you now."

Blood Berry kept herself from charging straight at him. As long as his hostage was at knifepoint it would be fruitless, possibly tragic to try and struggle him free. "I don't suppose you'd care to share the purpose of all this?"

He looked up, and now they could distinctly see that his face had taken a blow from Blood Berry's attempt minutes past. The flesh around his eyes had been torn away, and underneath lay two glowing embers in the dark, round holes of his skull. They swirled in a calm storm, in a familiar pattern.

"His eyes..." Cherry gasped. "Like the Mesopotamia's core."

"Mesopotamia?" Lime choked timidly.

"Precisely," he returned, in all seriousness. "It has taken me too long to realize this, to understand the true purpose of why I was built. Yet, it makes complete sense."

Blood Berry arched a single brow in irritation.

"I pondered my existence," he went on, never relaxing his grip on Otaru. "I tried my utmost to be what I believed I was - an emotionless robot, here to serve whoever would take me. Mesopotamia took me under his wing. I served him without question, as he shared much of my opinions.

"Man," he voiced with utter digust, shaking as the word came. "Man, and his insistence on what he calls survival, but what I call ignorance and destruction. Man cares only for himself, and lives only to feed on emotions. But what is feeling, but a name man gives in excuse of himself? I learned that I too carried this so-called emotion...and I loathe it.

"So to destroy man, the first step was to stop his 'naturalization'. Lorelei must have been held back not out of love, but because she was the only thing that could create this 'natural' state."

Lime shook her head. "That's not true. Mesopotamia loved Lorelei! We know that! We know because it's the same for us with Otaru!"

"Nonetheless, she was forced from his grasp," Kenji spat. "And as he was bound to her, it put a terrible strain on his mind."

"Yer talking nonsense," Blood Berry shifted her stance. "But, I'll humor you for now...where do you come into the picture?"

"That was something I just recently realized myself. I was one of three personalities made to pick up where the Mesopotamia left off."

The three became wide-eyed.

Kenji seemed to stare off into space, his gaze locked as if he were having an out-of-body experience. "Yes, a backup, if you will. Mesopotamia was unstable, and in no way fit to finish the task set before it. Lorelei stood in his way. In no way could the Mesopotamia harm man without harming his only love in the process."

The far-off look faded, and the male marionette focused his gaze towards each of them in turn. "Do you think that's a heart beating within your chest? Are you all foolish enough to believe you can cater to feelings as a human can? It's all a lie. Nothing you feel is real. Everything is only as it has been set to be."

Lime had to struggle to maintain her balance. The words were a blow to her whole system, and no matter how hard she tried to block them out, they hammered through, coinciding with words spoken earlier to her. "No. Otaru...Otaru loves me, and that isn't a lie."

The sudden realization brought her back to her feet, and her voice strengthened not only herself, but also Cherry and Blood Berry as well as she opposed the claims of the enemy before them. "It isn't! If it's real...or not, it doesn't matter. Yes, it doesn't matter - since Otaru loves me!"

If it were possible, Kenji's face would have darkened even more. Yet, the fiery embers of his eyes raged in a calm circular path, emitting a faint glow from a bloody red. He seemed to consider Lime's proposal momentarily, weighing it in his mind. Abruptly, he tossed any notions he may have had aside, instead channeling it into a controlled rage. His grip on the katana quivering, he backed up a few steps to place his back to the security gate behind him, the three marionettes following in pace.

"What then if he had no love to give?" he challenged. "If this man were not, would your heart be empty as well?"

"The only one with an empty heart would be you, Kenji." Cherry angrily came to Lime's defense. "You're wrong about us, just as you are with the Mesopotamia. Emotions are more real to us than anything else that we've come to know. More natural than a summer's breeze, completely in-place as mist settling on our skin from an early morning's rainfall. We are not about to forsake our feelings just because you think otherwise."

Blood Berry cracked her knuckles. "Like they said, tough guy. Otaru's mine, and nobody - not Mesopotamia, not you, is gonna take him away without a fight."

He relaxed his grip with a sigh. "I was hoping you wouldn't see things that way. I came here today to prove exactly what I said. Everything you or I feel is unreal. That strong attraction, that "love" of which you speak, is nothing but a function that has been forced upon us. Fortunately, there is a way out of that function."

His grip tightened to answer to the skeptical looks he received. "The way out has never before been tested, so no one can truly tell what the results would be."

"To destroy the human race might mean to destroy Lorelei. But what if she was destroyed? How would I cope with this happening to me, so attracted to her? And how will you?"

Alarm bells went off in the mind of the three, as they knew the danger Otaru was in. It was far from just a hostage situation.

"You Bastard!" Blood Berry's scream rang as she leaped forward. It echoed loudly against the country's fortified walls.

The remainder of it came in one slow agonizing scene. Before she could reach him, Kenji ripped his blade against his captive's throat. Otaru's eyes went wide as his body went limp, a gush of red splashing out into the air. Kenji made no move to stop his descent, releasing the body as it slumped down, nothing fighting to hold it up any more.

The sounds around them blocked out to only their beating hearts, the marionettes were forced wide-eyed to watch as Otaru breathed his last.


_______________________________________________________________________________

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Hoo-ey, was that long overdue! Between work and school and other excuses, I've slowly been trying to get this sucker together. Now with a little more quiet time I hope to get things moving again. This one was long overdue, and I'm sorry again. But who cares about that kind of thing when I spout it every time some one asks "How's the fic going?" So then, "how *is* the fic going?" I ask myself every time someone passes that question my way. That could argueably be a bad thing when you're so off schedule that you need to give a few seconds thought just to remember you did indeed have a fic going. I'm a horrible procrastinator by nature, so when I give myself a week to do something, chances are that I'll get to work on it by the time I'm sixty (:p). On the serious side, I'm starting to re-evaluate my position on the SMJ field. I certainly don't have the plethora of choosable fics that many avid writers out there have, and a lot of my time has been spent on J vs M here, which could again, be argueably bad. But let's take the off-chance it's a good thing - here's my very own chapter the the SMJ saga that I've tried to work my best into capturing everything SMJ first did for me - my emotions, my attentions, (my life :p)...and in that respect maybe its better in some ways to have one large fic than several one-shots. Maybe a good thing that I do indeed have to sit and think, "how is it going?" After all, if I bring it out forced in weekly segments, it may taste bitter, but when written with feeling and tender care it may be delicious. I know I'm not cooking, but I think you'll understand me when I say that I hope this recipe works.


*NEXT EPISODE*


Greetings, this is Lynx. Otaru Mamiya dead? It seems so unreal, and yet it has truly taken place. His reception takes place tommorow, and there will no doubt be many in attendence. Though unthinkable, we can't let this weigh us down. Faust-Sama, what would you have us do now? Track down this Kenji? No? Then...what? Next time on Saber Marionette J vs M, "Refusing to Let Go: I Won't Say Goodbye" See you there!


*NOTES REGARDING THE SERIAL*


This series is a Fan-fiction serial. Serial is how some books used to be written, or radio programs were broadcast. That is, they were released chapter by chapter, much like some on-going television series. The benefit for a serial over a regular novel is the allowance for change from the original plot line. In a serial, readers can write in to the author with ideas and requests in order for the story to go in the direction they would like it to go. So what am I blubbering about? If you enjoyed what you read, let me know, and tell me what you'd like to see in an upcoming episode. Mail me at emmaworshiper@hotmail.com, and put SMJ somewhere in your subject... Oh, and SMJvsM takes place after the original 25 episodes, but prior to 26 (J Again)... I'd love to hear from ya, so drop me a line. See you next time!



Copyright (c) 2002, Baka-Matt-Su
Last Updated: October 19th, 2002