Part Four
Minds Over Easy
Tami began to recognize where the twists and turns through the dark corridors were taking them. "You're going to do it now?" she asked.
Malachite was too far gone into the throes of his plan to answer her. "We're almost there..." he whispered. Suddenly he stopped abruptly. "Wait here, Tami. This I'll do alone."
She shrugged.
The door to Darien's chamber was open, staring out into the dank hall, dull, whitish- yellow light coursing through its mouth. Malachite cursed under his breath as he entered the dimly lit room. That could only mean one thing...
A smug voice came from farther within the dark area. "Admiring Queen Beryl's handiwork, Malachite?"
He spun around to see the silhouette of Prince Darien, replete in his regalia, leaning against the sickly light of the doorway back into the hall. "What is it your business?" he growled. *Keep to the plan,* he told himself, and stashed the small kuroshinju in his pocket.
"I'm sure you're ecstatic to see me up and running again," Darien continued unhurriedly, and began walking toward the general. "Can't wait to work with you again."
"Cut the crap," Malachite threatened. "You've picked up too many human tendencies."
"You mean sarcasm?" Darien was now directly in front of Malachite. Unseen by both of them, the swift, silent head of Tami peeked through the opening into the hallway, intently watching the proceedings.
"Telethaumic psycheportation? That can't be right."
"Look at this. Come here, look."
"That's so odd. I haven't seen this in - "
"Shh. Something's going on."
"Can't talk straightforward?" Malachite egged him.
Darien's smirk faded. "Can't act straightforward, Malachite? Why are you here?"
Malachite decided with a fair amount of irony to adopt his adversary's tactic. "I came to see if you were all right, of course. I haven't left your side since the big battle. Which you lost."
"Which battle would this be?" Darien's smile returned. "I think I've won my share of battles, Malachite. Can you say the same?"
*Soon. Must act soon. Any longer and Queen Beryl might pick up the fact that I'm here.* Malachite assumed the most sincere expression he could muster, which wasn't all tha great. "I came to offer a truce," he admitted. 'We can't hope to beat the Sailor Scouts and get the Silver Crystal if we're fighting among ourselves. It's illogical. Why not work together?"
"You're putting me on."
Malachite shook his head vehemently. "I've never been more serious in my life."
"Okay," Darien agreed. "Deal."
"Shake?" Malachite asked, thrusting his left hand out.
Darien's smirk widened as he put out his right hand. "If you're going to use human customs, at least get it right. It's the *right* ha - "
Malachite's right hand, hiding inside his pocket, whipped out and sandwiched the kuroshinju between their two palms. Darien stared at it in complete confusion.
And it was Malachite's turn to smile. "Enjoy your trip," he said.
Then he let it happen.
"Oh, crap."
Toby Proctor glared at the open hood of the car. "Now it has to happen. I go one one forty-five minute trip and NOW the thing has to die. Damn!"
He surveyed his suroundings. He was in the middle of nowhere. There didn't seem to be any fellow motorists on the road, and it was beginning to get dark.
And he *would* have forgotten his cell phone at home...
He looked back under the hood one more time, hoping and praying that he might find something to restart the faulty machine.
He saw something that had escaped his eye before. "What the - ?"
He picked up a small black ball that seemed to have made an eventful journey through the carboretor. It was covered in oil, but it looked like a clear marble or something. "Was this it?" he asked nobody in particular.
"How in the hell did this get in the hood?"
He bent over to inspect it more closely...
It dropped out of his clutches as a spasm of pain racked his diaphragm and head. His back arched backwards as his hands flew to his cranium, which subsequently banged on the car hood.
He felt a horrible, tearing sensation, as if someone had decided that he was a bit of paper that had been whole too long.
He let a loud shout out, closed his eyes, and lost consciousness.
Subconsciously, his essence, his soul, left his body and travelled at speeds ridiculously unknown towards an equally enigmatic destination.
He was vaguely aware of a similar force screaming back in the opposite direction, and then all the interesting, multi-hued images which were invading his mind faded to black.
Darien's eyes bulged. The kuroshinju glowed happily in Malachite's hand, and it seemed to burn his flesh. He stared at him for a single second, and the only thought which pervaded his mind was, what a fool I was for trusting him...
He let out a small, strange sound, and fell to the floor.
The eyes which opened up a few minutes later were confused, disoriented - and did not belong to Darien, though the body proclaimed it to be his.
Toby stared at the visage of a triumphantly beaming man with long, light-colored hair, struck with the overwhelming notion that he had seen him before.
The man said, "Welcome, Prince Darien," and Toby fainted.
"Did you just see that?"
"I hope I didn't. I want to think I'm still sane."
"Don't be foolish. This could be serious!"
"I think we'd better get a hold of Partentus, quick."
"Agreed. Let's see what he's got to say."
The guardians of time and space don't really look like much more than normal humans, but that's intentional. Suffice to say that they can look like whatever the hell they want to.
Partentus looked like an old man, bright blue eyes and craggy wrinkles gracing the upper part of his face, and a small white goatee furnishing the lower part. He also didn't look like one of the key figures in charge of making sure time and space stayed as a steady continuum.
So when the messengers came with a summons, he took his sweet time about it.
An hour later, Partentus was standing in front of a five-dimensional model of the universe, staring in perplexity at a shining beam which stretched from one dot indicating one of the myriad worlds dotting space/time to a different one.
He pointed to the first dot. "That's Merlin's world. The Gem Master's world."
"That's right. Someone transported something to there - and took something in exchange."
He squinted at the next one. "But this is the Silver Millenium world. Hmmm... Telethaumic pyscheportation, eh? Call Rhea. The Silver Millenim world is her little specialty."
A few minutes later, an almost disheveled person who looked like a young woman walked in. There was dirt on her hands, which she surreptitiously knocked off onto the ground before stepping into the ornate room.
"What's all this about telethaumic psycheportation screwing things up?" she asked bluntly. "It better be good - my moonflowers are half-exposed."
"Why don't we see for ourselves?" Partentus replied. He touched the pink dot representing the Silver Millenium world. Funny, if it was the Silver Millenium, shouldn't they have colored it silver? Some Creators just didn't think.
The scene zeroed in through galaxies, solar systems, and planets, and stopped at the third planet from the sun - usually the planet chosen for habitation. Partentus had no idea why.
The magnification continued, following the rainbow-colored beam through continents and countries, cities, buildings, and then suddenly twisted in on itself and entered a dark space which led to black, evil cities and buildings, hallways, and a room -
"Isn't that young Malachite?" Rhea asked. "Who's he standing in front of?"
"Should be Prince Darien," Partentus answered evenly. "What's going on?"
"Darien looks a bit confused," Rhea continued, intent on the image before her. "What has he done? Telethaumic psycheportation - that can only mean the kuroshinju."
Partentus nodded. "Why don't we see what's on the other side of this Pathway?" he suggested, touching the blue dot representing the alternate Earth.
The sequence repeated itself, whizzing through time, space, planets, stopping at a small roadside where a quietly broken car was smoking to itself, and a young man with blond hair -
- and eyes which didn't quite fit the bill -
- was looking around at his surroundings with mixed apprehension and unbridled rage.
"Toby Proctor," Partentus said loudly. "If Malachite has done what I think he has - "
"No way," Rhea interposed, and her face was white. "He can't have switched two people's souls. It's just not possible for mortals."
"Really?" Partentus asked, not taking his eyes off of Toby/Darien's image. "If two people have had lives which followed a certain crossing path, isn't it possible to use Malachite's kuroshinju to manipulate the Pathway to juxtapose and then switch their minds?"
"This is sickening," Rhea interjected. "He's twisted. What does he want to gain by this?"
"Queen Beryl forbade him to harm Darien. He didn't want to kill him, he didn't want to send his soul into oblivion. So he switched Darien's mind, dangerous to him, with that of a stranger who would be confused and have no idea of Malachite's intentions or powers. One that he could easily manipulate."
"We've got to change them back," Rhea exclaimed. "You know the rules. Mortals can't manipulate the fifth dimension - "
" - Without the express help of a Creator or guardian. I know."
"What do we do?"
Partentus looked back at Toby/Darien's blond visage. "We can't go there ourselves. Unless we're Missioned, of course, which wouldn't happen within the next few centuries once the red tape is done with. We've got to send other mortals."
"Like what? How?" Rhea blustered.
"I have a plan. And it might prove interesting. Come on."
And with that he dragged her out of the room, leaving the projection on behind him, which showed two faces, as different as they possibly could be, and yet the expression which was on both their faces at that moment was exactly the same.
The feeling of lonely separation.
Please note that the characters in the last section were from The Gem Master. They are not essential to the story - they only fill a void which could easily be filled with original characters, but I was too lazy to think up some.