STARS ABOVE SIDE STORY: Pioneer, part 2

STARS ABOVE SIDE STORY

Pioneer

By BHS and AshenDream

For Rare and Enthryn, who have been beyond patient. I hope it's worth the wait.

PART 2: LIFTOFF

December 2013

Mitakihara

"Need help with the wiring?"

"No."

"Need help with calibrating the fins?"

"No."

"Need help with anything?"

"No," said Nico for the third time. Flipping up her welding goggles, she glared back at her younger duplicate, who sat atop an upturned car, grinning happily and kicking her legs.

Nico still refused to believe that this was really Kanna Hijiri. In the extraordinarily unlikely event that the clone of herself created by her wish was still alive, she would be the same age as Nico was. Not this girl. The child claiming to be Kanna was roughly seven years old… a prime age for getting on people's nerves. Worryingly, she seemed to know exactly which of Nico's buttons to push to get a reaction. And she knew other things… things she couldn't possibly know. Like Nico's history with the Pleiades Saints, for one. Like the strategies she had used during the war with Vittoria, which she had only shared with the Saints and Oriko. Like her most private doubts and fears, which Kanna was prone to blabbing out loud without warning.

There were times that Nico still thought she might be a ghost, sent from beyond to torment her for her sins. However many times she grabbed little Kanna by the shoulder to prevent her from rushing off somewhere and breaking her neck, and felt the warm flesh and steady pulse underneath... nothing could completely convince her that that wasn't the case. Ghosts could fool the senses, couldn't they? She wasn't sure. Nico had never been much for scary stories or supernatural stuff. Science was much more her forte.

So who was she, then? And how on Earth did she know so much about her?

At night, while the little girl lay asleep next to her, Nico would mentally rattle off the possibilities of who and what Kanna might be: a particularly vivid hallucination, an unconscious extension of her magic, a rogue clone that had somehow escaped her notice, a skilled metamorphic and telepathic Puella Magi shapeshifted into her younger self and masking her Soul Gem signature, or just an uncanny coincidence. Each possibility seemed less likely than the last.

On one such night, Nico found herself staring up at the constant ceiling of grey clouds, unable to sleep. Such a problem could usually be remedied with a bit of properly applied magic, but now, near the end of her project, she needed all the power she could spare. So she closed her eyes, slowed her breathing, and willed herself to sink into a meditative trance. Perhaps from there, sleep would take over. Empty your mind. That was easy enough; there was little to worry about apart from the project and Kanna. Relax. That one was a little harder. One could never relax too completely these days. If a Demon didn't catch you off guard and finish you off, a piece of falling rubble from a crumbling building might easily do the same job. Messy way to die, and not the way Nico wanted to go out. Tune out all distractions… Nico focused on her breathing, in and out, in and out. Her limbs grew heavy, weighted down. She drifted, sliding away from herself, away from the ruined world, from all of the-

A hideous noise next to her snapped her out of her trance. Nico bolted upright and seized her crowbar, already forming a spell in her mind to blast whatever it was into its component atoms…

At her side, Kanna rolled over onto her back in her sleep and let out a second rumbling snore, even louder than the first, a sound rather like a malfunctioning chainsaw.

Stupid kid, thought Nico with a sigh, rubbing cold sweat from her brow. What did I do to deserve this?

Apart from the obvious.

From long ago, the flash-bang of a gunshot echoed through the years. Nico could still feel the kick of the weapon's recoil in her palms. She could still hear the bullet pinging off the vase as it split, the fragments ricocheting in all directions, quick and deadly as knives. Then the smell, the smell she hated: oily smoke mixed with a coppery metallic tang. Hot blood trickling down her arm, and spreading in a pool under her bare feet, thick and dark and sticky...

Though she was many years removed from that day, Nico shuddered and pulled her sleeping bag tighter around herself. This was the first time in a long time she had thought about it… the moment her childhood ended. What came after it was largely a blur: It was an accident, she remembered her mother and father saying over and over. An accident. She didn't mean to hurt anyone. Her friends' parents screaming. Red and blue lights, a piercing siren. Two small coffins slowly lowering into the ground, never to be seen again…

The frigid December night grew colder. Nico huddled up inside her sleeping bag and shivered, a deep shiver that started at her toes, worked its way up her spine and back down again. Stop. I've got to stop. Stop thinking about it, stop remembering, stop-

Someone felt for her through the fabric and down of her sleeping bag, found her knee, and patted it gently. Their touch nearly set her off again; her crowbar rattled, ready to be summoned-

"It wasn't your fault." Wide awake next to her, Kanna stared at Nico with bright blue eyes. Her expression was unreadable.

Ignoring for the moment the impossibility that this false Kanna knew exactly what memories she dwelt on, Nico glared at her. "What do you know about it?"

"I know it wasn't your fault." Such conviction in her words… it was out of place, coming from such a small body. "You were a kid. A stupid little kid who made a mistake," said Kanna.

"My mistake killed two of my friends," retorted Nico, her voice flat. "They're dead because of me."

"How could you have known?" Kanna shifted closer, drawing her sleeping bag tighter around herself. "You just wanted to play. Cowboys and Indians, right? How could you have known the gun was real, or that it was loaded?"

"That doesn't matter, I still-"

"It's not like you wanted to kill them, right?"

"Of course not, don't be stupid. I didn't-"

"So why do you still blame yourself?"

"Because-" Nico blinked. Her lips curled into a frown. "Wait a minute. Listen, you, I may have to look after you, but there's no way in hell I'm going to argue with my-" She stopped. Careful, Nico.

All of a sudden, Kanna's face split into a triumphant grin. "So you admit it!"

"Admit what? I didn't admit anything."

"Oh yes you di~id," chanted Kanna in sing-song. "You were about to say 'with myself', right? I heard it!"

"You heard nothing. You didn't even let me finish, how could you know what I was going to say?"

"'Cuz I heard it."

"You did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too!"

Nico put her head in her hands and rubbed her temples. "This is pointless," she moaned.

"What is?"

"Everything. Arguing with you, finishing the probe, hanging on, all of it… I should just-"

"Jump off a bridge?" The little girl's tone was entirely too cheerful. "Run yourself through? Stand under a falling piano? Bash your own brains in with your crowbar?"

"You've got a really sick mind, you know that?" said Nico, rolling one eye in her direction.

"It's your mind too…" Kanna put on a smile that was smug bordering on infuriating.

"Like hell. I was never this obnoxious."

"Maybe you were and you just don't remember it?"

"Look…" Here Nico faltered, stalling while she tried to think of a good counter for that.

"Doesn't matter. You're not gonna do any of that stuff," said Kanna. "'Cuz you've still got to finish the probe. Until you see it fly, you won't be satisfied. Right?"

Nico stared. The kid didn't know how right she was… but there was no need to tell her that. Doing so would only make her more insufferable to be around.

Naturally, Kanna took her silence as a confirmation anyway. "Knew it. Besides, you'd be too chicken to throw yourself off a bridge, anyway."

On a sudden impulse, Nico seized her in a choke hold, but a gentle one, and noogied her mercilessly. "Not myself, but I'd consider throwing you off a bridge, you little monster…"

"Agh! Hey, leggo! That hurts! Knock it off, meanie!"

"Not so smart now, are you, huh?"

"Leggo, I said!"

Several minutes of frenzied roughhousing followed, at the end of which the two girls lay side by side, red-faced and gasping for breath, steam rising from them in visible clouds. For a while, all was quiet.

"Look," said Kanna, pointing a tiny finger up at the dark ceiling above.

"Hmm?" Nico looked; a dusting of tiny flakes was descending on them. Ashes, she thought automatically. There must be another electrical fire nearby. Probably some half-wrecked building's wiring going bad. "Hey," she said to Kanna. "We should go somewhere else. It's not safe for you to breathe-"

One of the flakes landed on the tip of her nose. It was cold, and when she reached up to wipe it away, it didn't leave the usual grey smear on her glove.

"What are you talking about, stupid?" said Kanna, again with that smug smile. "It's snow. Duh!"

"Snow…" Nico relaxed and turned her eyes upward, watching it fall. "Huh." Can't remember the last time it snowed. Shouldn't be possible, with the climate going bad…

Again they sat in silence. The flakes thickened, and soon formed into piles around them, gathering on the upturned pavement and the husks of cars. It blanketed the ruined city, white and serene, muffling everything, a deeper peace than the poor, dying world deserved…

Smiling genuinely for once, Kanna crossed her small arms and nodded in a matter-of-fact way. "Of course. It makes sense, you know. You've got to have snow."

"Got to have it for what?" said Nico, turning her eyes away from the hypnotic spirals from above.

"For Christmas, stupid." The little girl leaned back and snuggled down into her sleeping bag. "Don't tell me you forgot."

"You're the one who's stupid," grumbled Nico as she pulled her battered smartphone out of one of her many pockets. "It can't be Christmas already, I started the probe in October and it's only-" The phone's screen flickered to life, displaying the date in white letters: Tuesday, December 24, 2013.

"Lost track of time?" The smugness returned to her smile in force. "That's not like you, Nico."

"Oh, shut up and go to sleep."

"But we should celebrate!"

"Yeah, we'll throw a big party with lots of carols. We can have cider and roasted chestnuts with the hungry Demons that show up, wondering what all the racket is about."

"Scrooge," said Kanna, sticking out her tongue. A fat snowflake landed on it, and she giggled.

"Scrooge yourself. Go to sleep."

With great reluctance, Kanna laid back and closed her eyes.

Nico watched her for a few moments. The sleeping bags were rugged and waterproof, but the kid's face was still exposed. Even if she actually managed to sleep, she'd likely catch a cold from the snow falling on her face all night. The last thing Nico needed was her charge dripping and sniffling and sneezing in her ear while she worked on sensitive equipment. Sighing, Nico fished into her bag and withdrew a box holding the collapsible tent she had stolen from an outdoor supply store some months back. "Come on, get up." She elbowed Kanna's bag for emphasis. "Let's get this set up, then you can go back to sleep."

Actually setting up the tent involved a process that might as well have been written in Greek for all the enclosed manual helped, but whoever wrote the garbled instructions obviously never figured on the mind of Nico Kanna. And with a smaller duplicate of herself lending a hand, the shelter was assembled in mere minutes. The manual served a far more useful purpose moments thereafter, and soon they had a small but cheery fire going.

The two huddled together inside the tent, a small sleeping bag nestled against a larger one. The fire outside threw a dancing glow on the nylon walls, and the world grew quieter still as snow began to cover their shelter.

"Now go to sleep," said Nico again, nudging the little girl.

"Fine. Christmas in the morning?"

"Sure, whatever. Christmas in the morning."

Silence.

Despite herself, Nico felt warm… safe. Truly safe, for the first time that she could remember. Whoever her little clone really was, wherever she had come from… I guess she's not so bad to have around, really.

The stillness of the tent was broken. Through the layers of fabric between them, Nico felt Kanna breathe as she closed her eyes and began to sing in a soft voice:

"Have yourself a merry little Christmas

May your heart be light

From now on, our troubles will be out of sight…"

Part of Nico wanted to nudge her to shut up, but… She lay back and closed her eyes. The kid wasn't a bad singer.

"Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Make the Yuletide gay

From now on, our troubles will be miles away…"

CHRISTMAS DAY

"... but as for me and Grandma, we believe!" bellowed Kanna at the top of her lungs as she tore through the fresh powder like a three-foot hurricane and generally made a nuisance of herself.

Nico lowered herself closer to the circuit board she was currently soldering and tried very hard to resist the temptation. Every iota of magic counted now. It would be a miracle if the probe even broke atmo successfully, let alone made it to deep space… it would need all the enhancement it could get. There was none to spare, not even on a "bubble of silence" spell for the little terror, much as one was needed at the moment…

"GRANDMA GOT RUN OVER BY A REINDEER…" Kanna began again for perhaps the forty-seventh time, somehow even louder than before.

Just ignore it. The tip of Nico's nose was less than an inch away from the hot beads of solder. Just ignore it. Pay her any attention, and she'll only act worse. Just ignore it…

"... WALKING HOME FROM OUR HOUSE, CHRISTMAS EVE…!"

I am calm. I am in control. I am a rock amid a raging stream. I am…

"YOU CAN SAY THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS SANTA…"

I am calm…

"BUT AS FOR ME AND GRANDMA-"

Whack. Flump. Kanna's song abruptly halted as she fell face-first into a drift, struck from behind in the back of the head by a densely-packed snowball. Coughing, sputtering, and red-faced, she picked herself up and shot a ferocious glare in Nico's direction. "Hey! What's the big-" Her words trailed off. A half-dozen more snowballs hovered close to Nico, wrapped in her signature cyan aura…

Without even looking up from her work, Nico launched the volley, one after the other with pinpoint accuracy, taking far too much pleasure in the high-pitched cries of not-quite-distress that followed. A much smaller snowball went splat on the concrete, centimeters from her. The corner of Nico's lip twitched upward, and she raised a low-power shield spell around herself. Other answering attacks struck the shield wall harmlessly, followed by a shrieking accusation of "That's no fair!" from a hastily-constructed snow fort a few meters back and to her left.

Grudgingly, Nico had to agree… so she shut the access panel and let her have it the old fashioned way, scooping up snowballs and hurling them at her duplicate whenever she showed her cocky little face. If she wanted, she could calculate the angle, vector, and velocity of each throw, ensuring a perfect delivery each time, but that would be cheating too, in a way. So some of the shots went wildly off-course, while others scored hits on Kanna's winter coat. The kid wasn't too bad a shot either; more than once during the course of the battle, an unexpected snowball caught Nico square in the face. The first time this happened, she did something she hadn't done for longer than she could remember, something that felt so foreign that it took her a few moments to realize how strange it felt: Nico laughed.

When the war was finished, capped off by Nico's grabbing hold of Kanna and dunking her upside-down and head-first into the deepest snowbank she could find, the two lay together, panting with exertion, watching the steam from their mouths dissipate… happy.

It was quite a while before Kanna spoke again. "Sorry for interrupting you, I guess," she muttered. "You just looked so gloomy, hunched over that probe thing. You shouldn't be like that on Christmas."

"It's okay," said Nico with a shrug. "That was actually pretty fun. Besides, the probe's almost finished."

"What's it for, anyway?"

Nico told her, a little surprised that she didn't somehow know already.

By the time she finished, the little girl's eyes were wide with awe. "So it's gonna have data on everything? Plants and animals and people too?"

"Plants and animals and people too. Everything I can fit on it."

"And you and me?"

"I suppose."

"What about the Puellae Magi?"

Nico paused, feeling a sudden chill that had nothing to do with the winter. She really needed to stop being surprised by this kid. "... Yeah. I put in data about us. Records of who we are… were… and the war, the kinds of Demons we fought."

"So that means the Pleiades, too, right?" Once more, her face was unreadable.

It took several seconds for Nico to answer. "Yeah."

"Isn't that hard, though? You were so close to them all… how can you write about them? They're gone, right? Doesn't it hurt?"

"No, it's okay." That was a lie, but it was a lie Nico was used to telling herself with a straight face. "I was alone for a long time before I met them, and I dealt with it. I can deal with it now."

For the first time, Kanna's face fell with genuine sadness. "But being alone is so sad…"

Nico shrugged again. "It's okay." Another lie… a lie that cut deeper than it should have. You are not alone, said the last line of the prayer that every Puella Magi somehow learned upon contracting, but after six long months of only soulless clones of the other Pleiades for company, Nico had long since stopped believing it.

"I don't want you to be alone."

A small, bitter chuckle left Nico's lips. "Don't worry, I'm not. You're here, aren't you? I doubt I could get rid of you if I tried."

Just like that, Kanna's grin was back. "Nope. I'm superglue."

"More like a parasite." With that, Nico sat up, brushing snow from her coat. "Anyway. Like I said, it's almost finished. All I have to do now is record the message and put the tablet inside."

Kanna tailed her like a shadow as she made her way back to the probe. "A message for who?"

"Someone. Anybody who'll listen. If there's anyone out there, I want them to know… about us. About Earth. I want them to know that we were here…"

Kanna looked up at her and edged closer to her side. "So they'll remember us, even if we're gone. Even if the planet falls apart or blows up, if someone finds the probe..."

"Yeah."

"I like that. Can I help?"

"With what, the message?" Nico scratched her head. "I guess so. As long as you keep it short."

"I will."

Nico sat in front of the probe's cargo hold and dug through her backpack until she found it: a battered and pockmarked tablet, her last one. It had been through a thousand Demon skirmishes and countless natural disasters at her side, and it showed. Even Nico's skills and magic shouldn't have been able to keep it running this long in this condition… but somehow, it still worked. It was her battle-scarred war horse, her favorite of the many she had owned. It took a few moments to boot up and load the camera software, but soon the faded red LED light turned on, and the camera aperture opened, bathing both her and Kanna in cool blue light as the holographic scanner did its work.

She opened her mouth to speak… and nothing came out. Nico frowned, furious with herself. This was a problem she should have anticipated; why didn't she write something down, prepare a message in advance? Because just building the probe took up so much of her time, she answered herself. Besides, she was no good with flowery speeches or poetry. Straight and to the point was far more her style. How could she-

A small hand patted her shoulder. "It's okay. You can do it. Go ahead."

Strange, how just those few words gave her confidence. "Thanks, kid," she said, looking up at Kanna with a smile. Turning back to the camera, she took a few deep breaths, then began to speak, the words flowing out of her as if from some hidden well inside her…

"My name is Nico Kanna," she said. Her voice trembled a little. "It's December 25th, 2013 CE… Christmas Day. I'm sitting in what was once a city called Mitakihara, in a country called Japan, on a planet called Earth. I am… or was… part of the dominant species of this planet, Homo sapiens… humans.

"If you're seeing this message…" She paused to swallow. Her throat felt tight. "... it means that I'm dead. As far as I know, I'm one of the last people on Earth… the last of my kind, the Puellae Magi, girls that were given a special power to- well, never mind. It's all in the data.

"The point is… I don't have much time left. Neither does the Earth. We… we messed it up. We let a monster loose, and it destroyed us… By the time we finally beat it, it was too late to save anything. My home, my city, my friends… they're all gone now.

"Whoever you are, if you find this message…" Nico swallowed again. "I want you to know that it wasn't all bad. We fought, and we killed each other, and we suffered, and we hurt our world… but we weren't all bad. We created things… music. Paintings. Books. Cities… I've gathered data on as many things about us and about Earth as I can, and put it on this tablet. Good things and bad things. So that you can see… who we were. So that you'll remember us. You may not understand us, or even like us, but… but at least you'll know."

Nico thought for a while, but couldn't come up with anything else to say. Time to finish up, she supposed. "This is Nico Kanna, from Earth. Good luck, and goodbye…" And on a sudden impulse: "Merry Christmas."

An eerie silence settled over her as she tapped the tablet's screen, saving the recording. A cold and final silence, as if she were already gone from the world...

"You did well, Nico," said Kanna, patting her shoulder again.

Nico started; the little girl had been so quiet, she had forgotten she was there. "Th-thanks. Sorry you didn't get to say much."

"It's all right. You said enough."

"Now, I just want to check it over… make sure it recorded right." Nico hit the button to play it back… and froze.

There she was, a tiny, transparent image of herself, kneeling down, huddled in her layers of snow-dusted coats. She saw herself open her mouth, a funny expression on her face as no words emerged… and she turned to her side, smiled upward...

"Thanks, kid," the holographic Nico said… to nothing but air. There was no one at her side.

"My name is Nico Kanna…" the recording began. Hurriedly, Nico jabbed the stop command, and the image winked out. There's an explanation, she thought. There's got to be an explanation. Maybe the camera didn't pick her up… she was standing there so still, after all. That's got to be it, the camera just missed her. That's all.

"Nico?" She jumped again at the sound of her voice. "What's up? Something wrong?"

She didn't see, thank heaven. "Nothing," Nico said aloud. "It looks good. I just have to hook it up inside, then we can get ready for launch."

It was done. The tablet lay ensconced in the probe's innards, connected to the probe's own systems so that it would hopefully run even if its own malfunctioned. The probe sat in a bulky, ungainly heap atop a makeshift launch platform, constructed of steel girders clumsily welded together. Not the most ideal set-up, but according to Nico's calculations, it would do.

There was one other preparation she had made… one that for some reason she felt Kanna didn't need to know about. While the little girl wasn't looking, Nico summoned her tarnished Soul Gem and placed it in a hidden groove inside the launch platform, directly beneath the probe's engines. Why the secrecy? Damned if she knew. Kanna would realize what happened pretty quick when the rockets ignited and blasted the gem to ashes. By that time, she would be beyond caring.

She would be free. After six long months of solitude.

Almost solitude, a tiny, nagging voice in the back of her mind said.

It didn't make sense. This was what she wanted, what she planned for. It would be a good death, instantaneous and painless. Better than she could ask for. Certainly better than Kazumi or any of the other Pleiades had-

Stop. Don't think about it. Whatever happens, happens…

What about Kanna, though? When she fell dead to the snowy ground, her Soul Gem nothing but dust, what would she do? Where would she go? She was just a little kid, and without Nico to watch over her…

Stop, she told herself again. It's too late for what-ifs now.

Standing exactly ninety-nine meters from the launch site and already feeling the effects of the distance, Nico took a deep breath. Everything was set up. All she had to do was push the button on her smartphone… and then, liftoff. Freedom.

So why couldn't she press it?

A small hand tugged at her arm from below. "Nico?" Her voice was tinged with concern.

"I'm fine," Nico lied.

"Want me to do the countdown with you?" Concern gone, now the smile was back. Stupid kid.

Nico smirked. "I would've asked, but I wasn't sure you could count."

"Ha ha. Real funny. Are we gonna do this or not?"

Nico sat down next to her. Oh well. I would've liked to die standing up… but this way, maybe she'll just think I've gone to sleep. That would be better. "Yeah, we're gonna do it." Tapping through the final safety checks and automated procedures one more time, Nico finally came to the screen that she both dreaded and anticipated: nothing but a large red square button, emblazoned with black letters reading LAUNCH.

"Can we press it together?"

"Sure."

Kanna huddled closer as Nico lowered her phone. "Ready?"

"When you are."

Their thumbs hovered over the screen. Ninety-nine meters away, in the steel belly of the probe, propellant began to flow.

"Ten," said Kanna, eager as ever. "Nine."

"Eight," said Nico with her. "Seven."

The probe rumbled, waking from its slumber. Its internal guidance systems winked on, preparing for the moment it would break from the Earth's orbit.

"Six. Five. Four."

The rumbling built to a mighty growl. Smoke and steam built in billowing clouds that escaped from the gaps in the platform's latticework…

Any second now, thought Nico. She was actually rather surprised that the rising temperature hadn't done the job already. Perhaps Soul Gems were more heat-resistant than she thought… but no matter. She smiled down at Kanna, suddenly tempted to lean down and plant a quick goodbye kiss atop her head… but no, that would only alert her that something was wrong. Oh well. Too late now, anyway. Goodbye, Kanna. Sorry about this…

"Three. Two. One. Ignition!"

Both thumbs pressed the button. Nico braced herself for oblivion…

A deafening roar and flash of blinding light… the probe shuddered, stalled for a moment… and began to rise, tongues of blue and orange flame leaping from its underside, borne on a column of smoke. Higher and higher, it became a new star ascending to the heavens, shrinking in size until only its blazing tail could be seen. In a matter of seconds, it approached the ceiling of grey clouds that had not been breached in almost a year… and tore through, marking its presence to any below that were still alive to see. For a few fleeting moments, a patch of clear blue sky was visible once more.

And Nico sat perfectly still, in contrast to the small girl jumping up and down and whooping for joy next to her.

Alive. She was still alive.

How?

Had she been wrong all along? Were Soul Gems invulnerable to heat, even that of burning fuel and propellant? Could they only be broken in battle, or spirited away by the Law of Cycles? Was this a message from the universe, intent on denying her her rest? If so, why?

How...?

Numb… she was so numb with shock that it took her far too long to notice that the racket next to her had stopped. Kanna stood next to her on the bench, her hand on her shoulder, eyes shining with concern. "Nico? What's the matter?"

Very slowly, Nico turned her head. Her cheeks were wet, how had that happened? She looked at Kanna, at the younger mirror of her own face, this girl that came out of nowhere and-

And what? What was she? For that matter, what was Nico? She felt lost, disconnected… the world just didn't make sense, it had come unhinged from the world Nico thought she knew.

"Oh," said Kanna suddenly, with a hint of sadness. "Your Soul Gem, right? You were hoping that the probes engines would- you know."

Somehow, the words penetrated the veneer of Nico's shock. "You… you knew?"

Kanna sighed. "'Course I did, stupid. I'm you. You think I wouldn't know myself?"

That answer wasn't good enough, not this time. Nico grasped the girl's shoulders hard and looked right into those familiar blue eyes. "Who are you?! Tell me! Tell me why I can't… why I didn't-"

A smile spread across Kanna's face… a gentle smile, warm, without a trace of her usual smugness. "I told you, I'm Kanna Hijiri. I was sent here to get you… so that you wouldn't be alone. At the end, I mean."

"Sent? By who?!"

"You'll see." Small hands grasped Nico's own and squeezed… her touch was warm, warmer than it should have been. "The truth is, Nico… you only think you put your Soul Gem under the engines."

"I- Th-that doesn't make sense. How-"

"It was what you wanted to see," said Kanna. There was a strange maturity in her voice that wasn't there moments ago. "Your Soul Gem was already gone… it was taken away by the Law of Cycles during the night."

"Bullshit," Nico spat. "That's impossible. I was here… I am here! I can still feel the cold, smell the smoke…!"

Kanna nodded. "Yeah. The rules were… bent a bit. She made a special exception for you."

The world spun in crazed circles around Nico. Dead, she was already dead… and yet she was here, talking to a phantom of herself, still perfectly aware. It made no sense, no sense at all…

"See," said Kanna gently, "she knew you wouldn't want to go before you launched the probe. She's a big fan of yours, actually… and she loves this world so much, she wanted to make sure… that people out there really would know about it, even after it's gone. And like I said… she didn't want you to be alone."

Her shoulders slumped. Nico felt so tired all of a sudden… dealing with this nonsense was exhausting beyond belief. "I was alone," she said bitterly. "After Yuma died, I was alone all that time… if whoever it was didn't want that, why didn't she send you sooner?!"

"Because you had a mission." Not just maturity but patience now… as if someone were speaking through her. "You had a mission to keep you going, and you had the clones of the Pleiades with you, watching over you."

"Bullshit," Nico said again. "They were just clones, they weren't really alive. They couldn't even speak, how were they supposed to-"

"They were more alive than you think, Nico. They never would have lasted so long or been able to help you so much if they weren't. Like I said, the rules were… bent. But she wanted me to help you, to give you the last push… to see you through to the end."

"I-"

"You didn't even notice, did you?" Just a little of that familiar smugness returned to her smile. "After you met me, the clones disappeared. They were able to go because I was there for you."

Stunned, Nico raised her head. She reached into her mind for the particular trickles that told her of the status of each clone… and found that Kanna was exactly right. They were all gone, and she never noticed. Turning back to the little girl, Nico noticed something in her, a warmth, a light that was beyond anything phsyical… a light that even she, with all her science, couldn't begin to explain. "So…" She swallowed. "So whoever this was… she sent you. So I could finish. And she let me stay, even longer than I should have… but why?"

Kanna's face broke into a smile like a summer's day. "She knew you'd want to watch the launch. Really, Nico, you didn't think it through, did you? If it had gone the way you planned, you'd have been dead before you ever saw if it made it or not."

Nico looked up at the place where her probe broke through, already filling back over with grey clouds. She could still see the vapor trail made by the rockets… "But it did make it."

Kanna nodded. "It did. It's going to be all right… you built it well. It'll take a while for someone to find it, but when they do… they'll know. And they'll share it… so that even when the Earth is gone, there will still be people who remember."

Nico thought about it… but not for too long. It was enough, really. It was what she wanted. Climbing to her feet, she brushed the snow off her coat and smiled… Now that she was aware, she could feel the bitter winter falling away. The world was still as real as ever around her, but she was beyond cold… inside herself, she felt a little of the same inexplicable warm light that shone from within Kanna. Reaching down, she took the little girl's hand. "One thing I still don't understand. Why you?"

That sent Kanna into a fit of giggles. "It's simple, stupid. Who knows you better than yourself? Now c'mon. Christmas dinner's ready, and she's waiting."

"She…" Nico mused. The two of them turned away from the launch site and started to walk. "You keep saying that. Who is 'she', anyway?"

A tiny finger pointed forward, where someone now stood patiently, welcoming them… someone at once both familiar and a stranger. Kanna smiled up at her older self. "You'll find out."

Kanna Hijiri and Kanna Hijiri stepped together into a new frontier.

THE END