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Time Slip finale
Title: Time Slip
Fandom: The Dresden Files/Sailor Moon R(omance)
Rating: PG-13
Genre: General/Mahou Shoujo
Summary: When an experimenting time traveller arrives in Chicago, he brings with him allies and enemies alike. Can Harry get everything straightened out and Saffir back where he belongs without alerting the council?

Jaspis laughed, winked at the girls , and followed him outside.  “I have to say, Dresden, you have some pretty impressive wards.  I’ve never felt the like.”

I’ve never seen a veil like the one you were using on Lapis. I didn’t even know it was there.  Okay, so now that we’re done showering each-other in praise, where should we start looking? I don’t suppose you have something of Saffir’s on you?”

Jaspis grinned predatorily.  “Even better.  I know the shape of his mind.”

Harry had never heard of anything like that before, but didn’t mention as such. “Just point me in the right direction.”

The Nemesian nodded and closed his eyes, a faint green-purple glow surrounding his body.  “Got him,” he said after a few minutes.  “He went up.”

“Up?”

“Up.”  Jaspis’ mouth twitched as the glow died away.  “Always did like heights, our erbeprinz.”

“… uh-huh. Whereabouts is he ‘up’?

“Pretty far up.  We’re talking – verdammt.  He’s on top of the Sears Tower.”

Harry stopped in his tracks.

Jaspis turned to look back at him.  “What?”

Shiiit.”

“Teleportation is a wonderful thing.”

“I don’t suppose you can take a tagalong with that teleporty thing you do?”

Now the man laughed.  “Easily.  Hold on a second, I need to retie this thing.”  He stopped and undid the scraps of cloth around his middle, inspecting the long gash in his side as he did.  A stream of profanity in his original language passed his lips.

Harry winced upon noticing the wound. “That looks like it hurts like hell. What happened?”

“Forgot that the droid that wanted to open up your friend had two sword-arms.  Why hasn’t this stopped bleeding?”

“Might be infected or something. You’re probably going to have to get it looked at.”

“You got a healer – I’m sorry, a doctor – who won’t ask awkward questions?  I’d rather not explain why I’ve been carrying a sword around Chicago.”

“Think I can swing that.,” said Harry. It’d been awhile since he’d given Butters a ring, and hey, nothing says, “Hey, how’re you doing?” like an oozing wound. “But it’ll keep until we conclude tonight’s business. Need a hand with that?”

Nein, I’ve got it.”  He’d already folded the scraps over and was wrapping them around his abdomen with an efficiency that could only have come practice.

“If you say so. Shall we?”

The Verdant Lord finished tying the makeshift bandage and straightened up, his eyes glittering as he did so.  Suddenly he was a foot shorter, with close-cut black hair and pale blue eyes.  He was now a bit darker than Harry.  “Indeed we shall.  Take my hand.  Or shoulder, if you prefer.”

“… okay, seriously impressed,” said Harry, laying a hand on his shoulder.

The world around them went dark, and they were hit by a blast of sheer cold, and then they were standing on top of the Sears tower, facing Saffir as he finished whirling around towards them.

“Dresden!”

Harry felt like all of his organs were run through a Cuisinart. It was strange… one second, he was one place, next, he was another. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to teleporting like that, never mind wanting to.

“Heya, Saffy. Fancy meeting you here,” said Harry, smiling amiably and shivering a bit.

The Blue Prince’s eyes had zeroed in on Jaspis’ new face.  “Who’s your friend?”

“Never mind him. We need to talk a bit. Things are… strange.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” Saffir said dryly.  Jaspis hid a smile.

“I had another encounter with the people who followed you here,” said Harry, laying a land on Saffir’s shoulder. “I don’t think things are quite as you’d think they are.”

An expression of confusion crossed the Blue Prince’s face.  “What do you mean?”

“There are… things that need to be discussed. Things you may not like. Promise you won’t freak out?”

“I’m a scientist,” Saffir told him.  “I don’t get freaked out.”

Still holding onto Saffir’s shoulder, Harry shot his “new friend” a glance and nodded.

With a wave of his hand, Jaspis dispelled the illusion. 

If it hadn’t been for the strong hand on Saffir’s shoulder, the Blue Prince would have leapt back.  As it was, he hissed.  Jaspis!  You son of a—”

“Later, Heir Prince, later,” Jaspis interrupted lazily.

“He is just going to talk,” said Harry, squeezing a bit, “as are you. Understand?”

When Saffir said nothing, Jaspis rolled his eyes.  “Look.  Here.”  He unsheathed his sword and put it on the ground at Harry’s feet.  “I’m unarmed.  We’ll both of us abide by the Laws of Hospitality.  No magic, no weapons, no mind games.”   He paused.  “Somewhere not so close to heaven.  And warmer.”

“What he said. I talk best when I can feel my extremeties.”

Saffir arched a navy brow at Jaspis.  “It isn’t that cold.  Just how long have you been here?”

“…you really don’t want the answer to that.”

 

—‡—‡—‡—

 

Lapis watched her brother leave with Dresden, then sighed and leaned back against the couch.  “So why did you make them leave?”

“They were getting on my nerves,” Murphy said, bluntly. In a rather more gentle tone, she added, “You looked like you’d rather Jaspis was elsewhere, too.”

She smiled.  “He’s a scholar-turned-warrior-turned-construction-worker.  I think he’s enjoying a chance to let his power loose for a change.”  Another sigh.  “I wish he hadn’t brought the war up at all.”

“Touchy subject?”

“All he lost was his pride.  I lost my mentor, my husband, and my family.”  Both hands were on the swell of her pregnancy again.  “They offered to make him part of the Black Moon clan, you know.  Power.  Everything one of our people is raised to want.”

Murph silently got up, moved over to sit on the arm of Lapis’s chair, and put her arm around the other woman’s shoulders.

Lapis stiffened momentarily, then gratefully leaned into the offered support.  “He gave it up and risked everything to get us back here, somewhere we could be safe.”  She took a deep shuddering breath and went on as though she’d been keeping all this bottled inside her for awhile.  “I used to fear him as much as I loved Saffir.  And then Lord Onyx rebelled, and the Ayakashi Sisters came to keep me as a hostage, and Jaspis got me out of there before my husband could cave in to the Black Moon’s ransom demands.”  She shuddered.  “I… never knew how much he actually cared for me.  Not until he took us to the Time Gates and bargained with Sailor Pluto.”

She buried her face in her hands.

Murphy spent a confused moment trying to untangle the confession (she wasn’t sure whether several of the he’s referred to Jaspis, the unknown husband, or Saffir, for starters), then decided it didn’t matter terribly much, and just did her best to comfort the younger woman.

“He’s your brother,” she said, softly. “He loves you. I’m sure he thinks he did what was best for everyone. And in all fairness, what I’ve heard of… of where you came from doesn’t sound like the best of places to raise a child.”

“It isn’t.”  Lapis looked up and managed a wry smile.  “We’re actually hoping that my coming to term here will be enough to free him from the taint of Nemesis – that he won’t bear the Mark of our clan, that he won’t have our powers.”

“The taint?” she asked, a little cautiously. “I’m not quite sure what you mean by that.”

“The source of our powers – and of our Marks.  You see, Detective, Saffir, Jaspis and I, we’re all as human as you are.  However, our people were banished from Earth several centuries ago, and we found the tenth planet.  Nemesis itself is – well, it can’t be of this reality.  I’ve done research, nothing else gives off the magical equivalent of radiation like it does.”

Murph sat back, thoughtfully. “So if he’s born here, outside of that magic, he might just be… well, like me and Harry. And you can call me Karrin if you want.”

Lapis nodded.  “That’s why we walked back.  Jaspis is afraid that if I use the power that is my birthright, it might be enough to taint him.”

“Interesting.” She hesitated a moment, then said, “You know, if he does have some kind of talent, there are people here whose only job is to make sure those with magical talent get trained correctly.”

The young woman nodded again.  “That is my hope.  If there is nothing here, then surely one of the Shinto temples in Ni—in Japan will have something.”

“Oh, there’s plenty here,” Murphy muttered, with a flash of irritation. “Harry’s actually part of those people, though a very junior and disliked part, from what he says.”

Lapis Lazuli smiled.  “If the White Council comes anywhere near my child, they will sorely regret it.  I’d prefer to find someone with no agenda.”

Murphy grinned. “Glad to see you feel the same way as I do. In all seriousness, though, they aren’t all bad. Harry’s mentor in particular is fun to be around when he isn’t spouting cryptic bullshit.”

“We’ll see.  It’s far too early to tell if he’ll have magic or not, in any case.”

“Hah. Yeah.” Murph rested one of her ankles on the opposite knee. “I suppose you lot develop magic around puberty too.”

“Hell no.  No child would live so long.  Children develop teleportation around the age of five or so.  Specialties, however, do tend to emerge at puberty.”  She smiled slightly.  “As well as a certain talent that seems to be restricted solely to women.”

Murphy arched an eyebrow, and got a faint quirk at the corner of her mouth that might have become a smile. “Dare I ask?”

“Nemesis is a harsh world, but she has seen fit to bestow upon her daughters a way to defend themselves against those men who do not understand the word ‘no’.”  Lapis’ eyes flashed with amusement.

“I like her already.”

“I will, of course, see fit to inform you if any men on this planet run afoul of me in such a manner.”   Lapis smiled.  “I doubt the situation would devolve to that point, however.”

“The men in this city generally know better,” Murphy said, smiling full-out this time. “Watch out for the White Court, though.”

Lapis blinked.  “The White Court?  What are they?”

Hooboy. How to explain this… “They’re vampires,” she said, “to start. They feed off raw life force, instead of blood. Generally, they get said life force through sex.”

“That makes sense,” the Nemesian said.  “Do you know if they have any physical identifiers?”

“Pretty,” Murphy said, dryly. “Very pretty. Generally very charismatic, too. If you come across someone who looks too pretty to be real and doesn’t really look like it’s made of plastic, don’t let them touch you and you should be all right.”

“I’ll warn my brother.  And thank you, Karrin.”

The door opened as Lapis sat up, and they could hear Jaspis and Saffir talking as they entered with Harry.  “How about that nasty dark spot coming from the east?” the Blue Prince asked.

“Ignore that,” Jaspis replied.  “Residue from a set of spectral incidents in the late 80s and early 90s.”

After materializing, Harry paused briefly to vomit into a nearby bush before shambling in after them.  “I… am never doing that again.”

Saffir snickered, then stopped dead on spotting Lapis on the couch with Murphy.  “Wh- when did that happen!?” he demanded, pointing at Lapis’ gravid belly.

“Six months ago,” Lapis replied in English.

Saffir took the hint.  “…is it mine?”

“No.”

“WHAT?!” Jaspis demanded.

“Nothing,” said Saffir and Lapis simultaneously.

From behind them, Harry was currently trying very hard not to snigger. “I can see you three have a lot of catching up to do. Beers? And, er, Coke?”

“No,” Saffir replied, eyeing the older Nemesian.  “We need to get me home.”

“So I’ve heard. Well, you got yourself here, didn’t you?”

“Yes.  Unfortunately, someone who shall rename nameless drained me of the energy I needed for the jump back, and I’m still under the mark.”

Jaspis eyed the ceiling innocently.

“Can’t you… like… do whatever you did to him, but… like… backwards?” said Harry, scratching his head a bit.

“He said, eloquently,” Murphy murmured.

You weren’t having every atom of your being sucked through time and space in a split-second,” murmured Harry, shooting Murphy a glare.

She smiled innocently and leaned back against the chair.

“Doesn’t work that way,” Lapis Lazuli told Harry kindly.  “It’s… complicated.  The energy should have naturally restored itself.  I don’t know why it hasn’t.”

Harry shrugged in response.. “Not my department.”

Jaspis rolled his eyes and paced around the Blue Prince.  “It’s almost like his power’s been capped – that he can’t restore himself beyond a certain point.  I can’t for the life of me figure out how.”

“This Guardian,” Murph said, thoughtfully. “Could she have anything to do with that?”

“Actually, no,” said an amused female voice that caused all three Nemesians to pale considerably – quite a feat with Saffir.  “I had nothing to do with it.”

Just then, Harry felt an internal twinge as all his wards went off at once and winced.  He turned around and looked at the source of the voice.

Murph barely restrained an involuntary twitch towards her gun.

A tall woman stood in Harry’s door, wearing a form-fitting sailor suit with a black miniskirt attached, holding a staff that resembled a long, thin key.  Her long, green-black hair fell nearly to her ankles; her red eyes glinted with humour. 

“Who… are you?” Harry asked, rubbing his head.  “And how did you get past all my wards?”

“I am the Guardian of Time,” the woman replied simply, her eyes on a distinctly uncomfortable-looking Saffir.

“…oh.” There were many things Harry could have said that would have helped the situation. What he did say was “Care for a beer?”

Murphy relaxed a bit, but kept a wary eye on the woman. If Harry’s wards didn’t affect her, it was unlikely bullets would, but you never knew.

Sailor Pluto politely declined the beer.  “In answer to your question – oh, do relax, Verdant Lord, I gave you leave to come here – the reason Saffir’s power has not restored itself fully is because he is on Earth, not on Nemesis.  Your world boosts your power by a great deal.”  She smiled vaguely.

“So, uh,” said Harry, really unsure of how to go on, “what now? Is Saffy just boned, or can you help him?”

“I warned you about swimming through the stream of Time, did I not, Blue Prince?”  Saffir squirmed until she added, “Fortunately for you, it is not my place to interfere with what has happened.  I will send you home, Blue Prince – and you will never repeat this experiment.  Do we have an accord?”

Saffir nodded, and the senshi of Time whirled her staff, barely missing Harry’s head and a lamp.

“Wait!” said Harry, holding up a hand.  “One question?”

The Greek woman arched an eyebrow.  “Yes?”

“I can understand that it’s probably in your nature to be kinda tight-lipped about things, and I don’t blame you, really, but indulge me for one moment.  Do you, by chance, know a fellow by the name of Rashid?”

Sailor Pluto smiled warmly.  “The Gatekeeper.  One of your Senior Council.  Yes, I do know him – quite well.”

Harry grinned a bit back. “Kinda figured as much. Alright, carry on.”

Turning to Saffir, Harry extended a hand. “It’s been… well, it’s been weird is what it’s been. But you’re an okay guy. Watch your back.”

“Always,” Saffir replied, shaking Harry’s hand.  He looked at Murph and added, “Nice meeting you as well.  You might want to ask Jaspis to remove that tracking spell now.”

“That what?” Murph yelped as Lapis smacked her brother. 

“You jerk!  Take that off!  Now!” 

Harry shot Jaspis a rather nasty look but said nothing.

Sailor Pluto laughed and ushered Saffir through the portal she had created.  Before walking through herself, she turned back to Harry.  “Let Rashid know that I look forward to his next visit.”  She closed the portal as Jaspis hastily removed the tracking spell.

Murph glared at Jaspis and crossed her arms. “Just what the hell was that for?”

The Verdant Lord cringed.  “I wanted to keep track of you, and I still tend to lose people in the crowds of Chicago.”

“Don’t do that again.”

“Really don’t,” she added. “Or else.”

“I won’t,” Jaspis promised.

“So,” said Harry, looking Jaspis up and down, “if I may restate my off-quoted litany… what now?’

Jaspis shrugged.  “Lapis rests up, we go home, and hopefully never darken your doorstep again.”

“So where exactly is ‘home’ now?”

“Here.  Chicago.”  Lapis smiled.  “Across the city from you.”

Harry heaved a sigh. “I figured as much. It’d be just the way for this kind of day to end.” Returning to the task of looking Jaspis over, he added “I don’t think I like you. I do not think I would be unkind to say that you were more than a bit of a bastard. But that doesn’t make you an entirely bad person.”

He turned to look at Lapis for a moment, then back to Jaspis.

After fishing around in a pocket briefly, he pressed a business card into his hand. “Just in case. Reasonable rates, y’know.” 

The Nemesian smiled.  “Thanks.  Hopefully you’ll never hear from us again. For now, I should probably get my sister home.”

“Take care of yourself. And of her. Now get out.”

Jaspis took his sister by the hand and got.  The long way.

 

—‡—‡—‡—

 

Sailor Pluto closed the Time Portal after Saffir passed through it and sighed in regret.  She had briefly toyed with the idea of simply leaving him on Earth, but had discarded it immediately.  “A pity to lose someone of his intellect,” she murmured.

“And what of the Outsider?” a male voice asked. 

Pluto turned to the Gatekeeper and smiled.  “Gone with the Prince.  Earth won’t see him again for a millennium – and he met his fate fifteen years ago.”

“The Council will not like what you have done here,” he warned.

“I don’t particularly care what the Council likes,” she replied.  “I do not answer to them.”

The Gatekeeper shook his head.  “Setsuna, there is just one thing I don’t understand about this.  Why did you allow the Dark Star siblings to traverse Time?”

Pluto’s gaze became distant.  “The people of Nemesis will need a new leader after the death of their royal family, someone with a claim to the throne.  Lapis Lazuli carries that leader now.  With the blood of both the Dark Star and the Black Moon clans in his veins, he will wield the power that will lead to the truce between Earth and Nemesis.”

“I thought you weren’t supposed to interfere,” the Gatekeeper said wryly.

“Every rule has its exceptions, Rashid.”

He laughed and took the Guardian’s hand in his, content in the silence between them.

Current Location: my bed
Current Mood: cold
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