Miyuki was lonely. Tower wasn't much of a conversationalist, and none of the
other Arcana came here anymore. Hotaru was the last person to come, and she
had begged for help with a reading. Without Hanako, the powerless Fortune
had been unable to even give advice on interpretation; with Hanako having
stolen her power, she certainly couldn't provide guidance as an Arcana.

There were other problems, as well. It was painful not to know what was
happening to her friends in the outside world. She, who had once seen things
before they happened, from any distance away, was now unable to even leave
the Tower Reversed. It was in some ways even more painful to know, as she
couldn't do anything about it. She, who had once twisted the strands of Fate
with her will, was now powerless to even speak to anyone other than her
fellow prisoner, Tower, and the now vanished Hanako.

When Hotaru was here, she had mentioned that Natsu was in jail. Was she
still there? Had it been long enough for the trial to be over? Was she
imprisoned or released? Not that it truly mattered. She couldn't do anything
about it either way.

Yet the fact remained, she could do even less if she were gone completely.
As long as she could wait in the Tower Reversed, there was a chance that
Hanako would come here, and her advice could be useful. Or she could serve
as a mouthpiece for Tower, who must be even lonelier than she. It was hard
not to be bitter, though. It often felt like they had just forgotten her,
abandoned her now that her usefulness was at an end. They hadn't even
removed her body from the room wherein she had died. Tower's power over the
contents of the Tower Reversed mercifully kept it from decaying, but it was
still creepy to see herself lying there, dead. It had become one of two
places where she spent her endless time: here with her body, and sitting in
Fortune's chair in the Council room. This was what she was doing now:
staring apathetically at her body.

This is what she was doing, and this is why she saw it when it happened. She
fled the room, searching for Tower to get him to explain how such an
occurrence could be possible. She would have been screaming if she still had
lungs with which to make sound.

As she had watched, her body had sat itself up and looked at her.

****************************************************************************
******
Arcana
Started by: Scott Schimmel
This Chapter by: Segev
Chapter 40: Enter Death
****************************************************************************
******

What was it with this family? Sergeant Nakamura shook his head. First that
Forrester girl is attacked, then she is accused of murder. Now, a young lady
who claims to have witnessed the hit-and-run on the Shirosawa boy names the
girl's uncle as the culprit. Nakamura had to admit, that jeep of his looked
like it could have done it, and the girl had described it perfectly. Where
was his partner? It would have been nice to have Sagara here with him, in
case it turned ugly.

It would probably be best to pick him up as he left the store, before he got
back to his car. No telling what a crazy gaijin like him would do, even if
he wasn't guilty. No sense in giving him a chance to get away or try to use
that monstrosity of a vehicle as a weapon.

As the middle-aged man stepped out with his arms full of packages, Nakamura
walked up to him. "William Forrester?"

The man looked surprised to be stopped in the middle of the street. "Yes?
Can I help you?" he asked, peaking out from between the two grocery bags.

"I have a few questions I'd like to ask you about an accident involving a
young man several days ago," said Nakamura, flashing his badge. "I need you
to come down to the station with me, please."

"Let me just put these things in my car, and I'll follow you there, okay?"
His tone was all helpful politeness.

"It would be faster to just go in my car. We can bring you back for yours
when we're done talking."

"But my groceries--" he protested, indicating the bags in his arms.

"--will be just fine in my car. We have a refrigerator at the station. Now,
I'm afraid that I really must insist that you come with me," said the police
officer, taking one of Forrester's arms in his hand and leading him towards
his vehicle. The gaijin allowed himself to be led away, acting jovially
confused.

===

Hanako was hungry. The police officer had taken away Maki's Uncle Will, and
Hanako had hidden herself to avoid being taken in. She didn't want to have
to answer uncomfortable questions about her family. Her Queen may have been
able to protect her, but years of living on the street had taught her not to
take unnecessary chances. She still had to find her way back home, though.
Perhaps she should stop by the Tower Reversed? Maybe Miyuki would have
something to tell her. But there wouldn't be any food there. That decided
her. She would find one of her friends' houses and get some food. The only
problem was getting there. Tetsuya's house was closest, but it was still a
long walk. Sooner started, sooner there.

She was just past Hotaru's school-almost to Tetsuya's home. It had been a
while since she had seen him. Then a slightly disturbing thought occurred to
her: what if he wasn't home? Oh, well. She would just have to go somewhere
else, then.

Suddenly, she shivered; she felt as if someone had walked over her grave. A
premonitory urge of he type she was beginning to recognize as belonging to
Fortune made her turn around.

"Hello, Hanako," said Miyuki in a voice that should never come from a young
girl's throat. It was ancient, deep, and slightly masculine. The dead girl
stood straight, her eyes ironically seeming less blind than they had in
life, her right arm crossed over her chest with her hand ending in a fist
with the index and middle fingers pointing at her left shoulder. Hanako
would have screamed if she hadn't been rooted to the spot. It wasn't just
that this girl was dead; enough weird stuff happened that she could deal
with seeing a ghost. Nor was it that one of those strange fields that
stopped time surrounded them; they were Arcana, that was to be expected.
What froze Hanako's blood in her veins and her voice in her throat was the
image floating behind her dead friend's body. A figure in a dark cloak, the
face shrouded in shadow, was holding a scythe.

Hanako recognized this Arcana that possessed Miyuki's body. "Y- you're
Death," she stated, tremulously.

"You know this through powers that are not your own," intoned the ancient
yet resonating whisper. The shade raised its scythe, preparing to swing.
Miyuki raised her right arm from its position across her chest in imitation
of the shade, a puppet on a string. A card flashed in the hand, mirroring
the flash of light on the scythe blade. The arm and the scythe came down in
a sweeping motion towards Hanako. The scythe cut straight through her. She
screamed as she fell, landing on her bottom.

Then she realized that she was unhurt. Looking up at Miyuki, she almost felt
reassured. She looked like her friend from before, when she had lived in the
Tower Reversed; the shade of Death was gone. Then it spoke again.

"It is done," came the sepulchral voice. "That which was stolen has been
returned." The small girl turned and walked away, leaving the stunned Page
of Pentacles sitting on the pavement as time reasserted itself around her.

===

"Natsu!" called Hotaru. Her friend was just a little ahead of her. At least,
she hoped she was still her friend. "Wait up!"

Reluctantly, Natsu turned and waited. Hotaru stopped to catch her breath
when she caught up with her. "What do you want, Hotaru?"

Disappointed by Natsu's cold tone, but unwilling to just give up on their
friendship, Hotaru forced a smile and a friendly laugh. "I just wanted to
talk to you. I haven't seen much of you since you're not going to school
again until next year. How's it going?"

"Fine," was her curt answer.

"C'mon, Natsu! We've been friends for years! Why are you shutting me out of
your life?"

"I told you. There's no reason for us to be friends anymore. You have your
new group: your Arcana. I just keep getting in the way. Just leave me
alone!" she cried as she stormed off, leaving a hurt Hotaru behind.

Hotaru didn't know what to do. She didn't want to lose her best friend now!
First Miyuki died, then Hanako disappeared. She hadn't heard from Ishido in
a long time; she wasn't even sure how she felt about him, except that he
seemed to be a friend now--or was he something more? Not that it mattered,
he seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth. Now, it seemed that she
was losing her best friend! She just couldn't take any more. If one more
thing went wrong, she didn't know what she would do.

===

The Page of Cups materialized in the hospital room. The room was dark and
empty of personnel at this time of night. The only sound was that of the
quiet monitoring equipment. Walking over to the comatose Knight, the Healer
was startled to find that the room was not as empty as he had thought. On
the other side of the bed stood a small girl, somewhere between twelve and
fourteen years of age. She stood perfectly still, staring up at him. One arm
was held diagonally across her chest, the index and middle fingers pointing
to the opposite shoulder. The Page recognized the tingling feeling of
another Arcana resonating from her. "Hello," he spoke softly, "which Arcana
are you that stand so lonely a vigil over the Knight of Cups?"
 In answer, the girl turned her hand, revealing that the two pointing
fingers held a Tarot card between them: Death.

"So, you have finally found a body to borrow. Are you here to take him? My
King has ordered me to obtain him, so I will fight you if I must."

The voice of Death sounded somehow more terrifying than usual when spoken
through a small girl's mouth. "I have come to take him, if you will not
perform a service for me."

The Healer was surprised; never had he heard of Death bargaining before.
"What would you have me do? I cannot disobey my King."

"Take this card to the body of the last Arcana you sent to me."

The Page of Cups considered, then remembered to whom Death was referring.
"This body is not to your liking?"

"It has served its purpose."

Nodding once, the Page agreed, "Very well. I will do this on my way back to
my King." He extended his hand to accept the Death card, which the child's
body was offering across the bed. When the fingers released it, the body
collapsed onto the floor, as dead as it had been before.

The Page put the card in his robes, and pulled out a vial. Placing it to the
prone Knight of Cups' lips, he intoned: "Rise, Keisuke, Knight of Cups. Your
King has need of you." As he poured the contents of the vial down the young
man's throat, he erected a time-stopping field. There was no sense in
exciting the hospital staff with the Knight's resumed motion.

Keisuke sat up, and held his head groggily. The potion would take time to
have full effect, as it wasn't as powerful as his previous ones--the Knight
wouldn't even be able to form a coherent sentence for hours. The Page helped
the Knight stand up, then supported him as they walked into the dream plane.
Letting the time-stopping field close behind him, the Page remarked, "Come,
Knight. You have time to regain your strength. I have a stop to make before
returning to our King; I must keep a promise." He fingered the card inside
his robe.

When the doctors and nurses came to check on the patient because of the
screaming monitoring equipment, all they found was a small girl dead on the
floor.

===

Joker smiled viciously. There she was. His Firefly. She was talking with her
little friend, the Paradox. Laughing. Such a selfish child she was. She had
already forgotten about him; forgotten what she had done to him. He would
remind her before he killed her.

There, the Paradox was far enough away. Jumping lightly to the ground, he
set up a time-stopping field. The Firefly had gained skill; she recognized
the field almost instantly and turned around to see who had created it. "I-
Ishido? Is that you?"

"Surprised to see me? I'm sorry to disappoint you," sneered the Joker, his
hands casually in his pockets. He leaned against a conveniently placed
lamppost.

"I'm not disappointed," said Hotaru, "just...surprised. I haven't seen you
in a while." She seemed a little nervous.

Joker laughed. "Of course you are! How rude of me, not to die. I tried,
Firefly; but I just couldn't seem to drown. It is your turn to try now!" he
exclaimed, pulling out his signature knife and lunging at her.

She barely succeeded in dodging, a look of shock and hurt crossing her face.
"What do you mean? Why are you trying to kill me again?"

"To kill you? You killed me!" He attacked again, while she was still off
balance. Her dodge was slower, and his knife slashed her uniform.

"I never-- Eep!" Joker cut off the Magician by pressing his attack, his
twisted knife flashing as he stabbed repeatedly. The girl jumped back and
back, until she ran into the wall of the field. Looking briefly panicked,
she pushed against the wall.

As he brought his knife back for a fatal strike, her demeanor changed. A
look of sorrowful decision briefly crossed her face, followed by a calm
determination. She brought up her hands in a gesture of invocation, and
Joker's strike was halted by a gust of air that issued from the Magician's
hands. The wind continued past his attacking hand to swirl around him,
lifting him from the ground and pushing him away from its master,
effectively binding him in a small tornado. "Back to this old game, are we,
Joker?" she asked. "Have you changed sides again? Was your flirting just
another act? Very well, I can accept that. Natsu doesn't want to be my
friend anymore, either. But I'm not going to let you kill me. As you can
see, I have learned something about my power. I don't want to kill you; let
the field down."

Joker found that he could hear her quiet proclamations even over the dull
roar of the wind, which drowned out all other sound. He laughed mirthlessly
at the end of her declaration. She had chosen her power, and had left him
for it--left him to die. Now she shrank from killing him? "What's the
matter, Firefly? Afraid to do the deed yourself? Well, I am not so
squeamish." He twisted, and, slipping from the grip of her cage of air like
the mercurial creature he was, he again charged her with his knife
extended.only to be tripped by the ground that obligingly rose at the
Magician's call. The whirlwind then moved to recapture him, this time
lifting him upside down; the bands of air held his arms firmly at his sides.
"I don't want to hurt you, Ishido, but if you keep this up, the next element
I'll use will be fire. Let down your field. Now."

"You have already hurt me, Firefly; you have already betrayed me, when you
left me to die! I would have died had he not rescued me!" Joker shouted,
struggling futilely at the bonds of air that held him.

The Magician's face suddenly registered a look of shock, and then her eyes
slid shut as her body slumped into the grasp of a masked figure. Joker's
excellent reflexes allowed him to right himself as he fell when the
whirlwind cage vanished with the Magician's unconsciousness. Landing
gracefully in a crouched position with his left hand on the ground for
balance and his right raised to attack with his knife, he studied the latest
arrival.

He knew this man. Hotaru was held up against the newcomer's body by the
right arm, the hand of which seemed to be pointing to the left shoulder with
two fingers. Her head was hanging over the man's arm like a rag doll. This
whole scene was impossible; but the mask was unmistakable. "Harlequin!? How
are you here?" demanded the Joker.

"I am here to kill the Firefly, Joker. I thought you knew that. After all,
isn't that why you're here?" came the voice from behind the mask. It was
strangely doubled, both Harlequin's voice and something else: a resonating
sound that echoed from the grave. Joker was too shocked and focused on his
goal to notice.

"No!" screamed Joker, "She's mine! I get to kill her! She betrayed me! She
left me to die!" Harlequin had abandoned him, too. He had no right to take
the Firefly from him; she was his to kill. She had been from the beginning.
No one else had the right! The High Priestess had given him the honor. He
owed the man for his kindness, and this girl for her cruelty. After what she
had done to him, vengeance would belong to him, not to this shadow of a dead
Fool!

"Ah, but Joker, you haven't yet succeeded at killing her, have you? Here,
let me. It is so much easier this way." As he finished speaking, he rotated
his right hand, briefly revealing a card in it that quickly flashed.
Suddenly, Harlequin was holding a sickle, and bringing it to the Firefly's
throat. He held it there, gently, not quite breaking the skin. "Just watch,
Joker. Killing her is merely a pleasure for me. Maybe it is one you can
appreciate now." The sickle nicked her neck ever so slightly, and a small
but bright trickle of blood welled up from the cut.

No! He couldn't kill her! She was his Firefly, his! Joker leaped towards
Harlequin with his knife extended, not sure for which figure he was aiming:
Hotaru or Harlequin. He never found out, either. Before he got to them,
Harlequin took the sickle away from Hotaru's neck and raised it as if to
swing it at the onrushing Fool. As he brought it down, it again became a
card, which he swept in front of Joker in a swift cutting motion. There was
a bright flash in Joker's mind.

Ishido dropped his knife and continued forward, catching Hotaru as she fell
towards him. Gently laying her on the ground, he didn't even notice that
Harlequin was gone. "I'm so sorry, Firefly," he whispered. "His will was
just too strong for me. I forgot who I was.what really happened. What have I
done? I almost killed you!" He cried softly for a few minutes, then wiped
the blood from her neck. It was a shallow wound, she would be fine. Lifting
her in his arms, he let his field drop and carried her to her house.
-----------------------------------------------
Author's Notes:

Well, that was harder than I thought it would be. It is rather short, but
that's how things go. Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to introduce
an Arcana that actually was a card, and Death lent himself to that. Death
obviously represents the cessation of life in some way or another, but it
also represents change. It also tends to be one of the most frightening
cards to draw (the Tower being worse, but only if you know anything about
the Tarot.I know very little).

I know it seemed that he was helping our heroes out an awful lot, but that
was merely because I couldn't think of anything that the bad guys needed
help with at this point. He could just as easily help out any of the others.
Succeeding authors can do what they like.

About Miyuki. I felt sorry for the girl. She had almost been written out of
this story completely, as she is dead, powerless, and no one ever goes to
the Tower Reversed anymore. With Hanako not using the powers of Fortune-not
to mention being under Maki's wing now, it essentially removed one of the
most powerful cards from play. I thought I'd allow someone to give her some
more ability to affect the world.

I couldn't bear to leave Ishido under someone else's control-the Fool should
be beyond anyone's attempt to dominate. He is the ultimate manipulator, the
will-o-wisp. I also though Harlequin needed some face time, even if it wasn'
t really him. Death may keep this body for a while, or change again if his
needs change. That's up to future authors.

Thanks to anyone I asked to preread, I didn't give them enough notice. Any
problems in here are mine, and mine alone. I don't think its that bad,
though, if I do say so myself. I wasn't sure how to characterize Hanako or
Natsu, though. Hanako was easy; she's just always hungry. Well, I hope you
enjoyed my first improfanfic; let's see someone else get on this queue so we
can finish this thing. I want to see what happens next!

  --Segev
------------------------------------------------

Miyuki had finally calmed down. Tower was relieved. He hadn't known what to
do to console her. Though he had his suspicions as to what had happened to
her body, he didn't want to tell her. She was having enough trouble coping
with her situation as it was. She wasn't anything like the strong Fortune
she had been when she had her powers. She was getting more and more fragile
every day. He needed her, though. He couldn't let her go. She was his only
possible link with the others.

"Tower, why did this have to happen, too? What have I done to deserve this-
this- non-life?" she asked, her voice quaking. She hadn't been able to even
pretend an icy arrogance or calm since her body got up and left.

"I don't know. You, as Fortune, should know that nothing ever happens
without a reason, though." As he said it, he knew it had been a mistake to
remind her of her now empty title.

She looked at him angrily, but still without any real spirit. "Nothing ever
happens without a reason? What about my loss of my powers? What about my
death? If there was a reason behind that thing with my body, I beg to know
what it was! Where is my body?"

Tower was about to answer when a change came over her. She first looked
shocked, then amazed. Her countenance shifted to one of ecstatic awe and her
bearing showed more spirit than she had had since Hanako had stolen her
powers. She gestured with her left hand, and the Tarot deck that the
Magician had been using slid along the table to fan out in front of her. She
touched several of the cards with her spectral hand, and the ones touched
floated up to hover in an arc before her. "It's back. Tower, it's back!" she
exclaimed. "I can see again!"

She studied the cards before her. Three other cards floated up to join them,
making a pattern. "I can See myself! My body, it is elsewhere now. I have an
opportunity to get it back, but the cost to my friends, to myself." She
looked at Tower, and what he saw reflected in her eyes made him shiver.
"Tower, we are all in terrible trouble." The three cards that had floated up
on their own now turned so he could see them: Justice, Judgment, and Death.