Fight Makes Right
by Trisha L. Sebastian


Disclaimer:  This story takes place in the "Through a Mirror Darkly" Amber
DRPG campaign designed by John Biles.  Juri and Wakaba are based upon
characters by the same name from the "Revolutionary Girl Utena" TV series.
Corrine is an original character created by Phil J. Moyer and Hiko is an
original character created by Trisha L. Sebastian.  No money is being made
from this story.  It is copyrighted to Trisha L. Sebastian, 2000.




Outside, the sun began to sink low in the sky, signaling that another day in
the One True City was at an end.  Juri, former Marshal of Amber, gazed at
the sunset and breathed a long heartfelt sigh.  She was finally free.

She let the drapes fall shut and crossing the room, reached over and
smoothed the thin blanket over the sleeping child on the bed.  Child!  The
woman with the dark black hair and shadowed eyes was no more a child than
her half-sister Nanami was.  Soberly, Juri carefully sat next to Hiko and
watched her sleep.

When Juri returned to Amber after her exile, after she was initiated into
the higher arts of the Pattern, she would think about Nanami, imaging her as
the child she'd lost.  The two would have been the same age.  Because of the
bad blood between Juri and Nanami's mother Sakura, the two had never been
close and would never be close, but over the decades, Juri watched Nanami
with a casual eye as she went about her day and duties.  Even Juri's studies
in the arts or her fencing studies couldn't distract her from the thought
that if she wanted to, she could walk the Pattern and find her lost child.
But she never did, for the pain and fear of knowing that her child was no
longer hers overwhelmed her completely.  Seeing her, and knowing that she
had been taken from her deliberately was too hard for her to bear.  Juri
snorted to herself.  It was her one cowardice.

Looking down at the child sleeping on the bed, she felt a twinge in her
heart.  She was so still.  Hiko lay as straight as a spear, and only if she
watched for a long time could she even have been able to tell if the child
was breathing.  Her chest rose slowly and Juri held her own breath until she
saw Hiko exhale.  As she watched her child sleep, Juri felt her nails
digging into her palms and it wasn't until she saw Hiko's chest rise and
felt her own rise in response that she realized why the girl's movements
seemed so familiar.

Not long after Corrine was named Warden of Arden, she invited her blood
sister out for a hunt.  The air was crisp in that autumnal day, and Juri
laughed as she spurred Shiori ahead of Corrine's horse, the baying of the
hounds signaling that they'd cornered the fox.  Corrine's hounds were so
well trained that they would not move without her say so, but would nip and
menace the fox until it had no choice but to surrender.

Juri and Corrine came upon the hounds encircling the fox, who was lying
prone in a ditch.  Its body was shaking with fear, but its limbs were held
steady in front of its body, its head perfectly poised on the forepaws, as
if it were awaiting some momentous judgement.

Corrine swung her leg over her horse and jumped off.  "Not a bad chase," she
said, her lips spread out in an eager grin.  "I wonder what kind of prey we
have here?"  She bent down, careful to keep a safe distance away from the
cornered animal.  "Why, it's female..." she breathed, "and it's already
wounded."

Juri dismounted as well, coming around to her sister's side.  She looked
down at the animal, seeing that indeed there was some kind of scarred mass
on its right shoulder blade and the leg was twisted at some odd angle.  Juri
looked into the animal's eyes.  "I don't think we should kill her.  That's
not very fair to claim her as a hunt prize."

"I'm not too sure about that."  Corrine extended her hand out, and a green
nimbus formed around it briefly.  "There's something that I've wanted to
test out--" Corrine closed her eyes and the wind rustled through the trees
overhead, blowing Juri's locks against her face.  A long sigh issued up from
the fox's muzzle and she closed her eyes.

"Return home, little one.  The forest reclaims you."  The vixen's body
twitched once, and then it died.

All of a sudden, Juri felt very offended.  "Why did you do that?"

Corrine straightened up.  "I could tell it wanted to die.  Don't ask me how.
The Elves wouldn't tell me much about the forest."  There was a sad
expression on her face.  "It's much better off this way."

"But you could have healed her, couldn't you?  It could have lived."

"Yes, I could have done that."  Corrine called her hounds to her, and
rewarded them for a good hunt.  She patted the lead dog's head and gesturing
sharply, sent them streaking off in search of other prey.  "But when I
looked into its soul, I could tell that it was tired of life."  At Juri's
quick look, Corrine laughed, just a tad bitterly.  "Like I said, there's a
lot about that I don't know.  Trust me on this one.  It was better off
dead."

Recalling her sister's words, she looked down at her child again.  When Juri
first saw her, standing next to Fuyutsuki in the fencing room entryway, she
looked as skittish as a deer.  Her movements were sharp, her eyes darting
everywhere, like a cornered animal looking for escape.  When Hiko fixed her
eyes on Juri, a sharp jolt of recognition flooded through her.  She barely
even heard Saionji or Fuyutsuki's words, feeling only the love she thought
she'd buried with her stillborn child.  Hesitantly, she traced the sigil on
her forehead, feeling the imprint of the Pattern burn between her fingertips
and Hiko's skin.  

It was then that she knew, that she was sure that this woman with the darkly
violet eyes was indeed her child.  A great joy leapt into her heart, and
even as Juri sought to embrace her daughter, she felt a slight pang as she
realized that her daughter did not share her joy.  Hiko was defensive,
shying away from her touch, almost antagonistic.  Juri suggested that they
retire to her quarters, and as they walked, she noticed the girl's wary,
militant march through the thick carpeted hallways.

There, in her room, Juri learned of exactly how her daughter was taken from
her and by whom, how he manipulated her into walking a Broken Pattern and
his intention to use her later on.  Wakaba related the events as her
daughter slept in her bed, and the pure fury in Hiko's eyes as she awoke was
a delight to see.  Anything was preferable to the dead look in her eyes.

Juri was a fighter.  Ever since she was young, she knew that it was better
to stand on your own feet, rather than to give up.  Even when she was being
beaten and raped by Ludovicus, she fought with all the strength within her.
It earned her several broken bones and concussions, and once she found
herself on the brink of death.  A curse was on her lips, for she knew that
the Unicorn was surely coming for her and she wished to be able to use her
dying breath to ensure that Ludovicus would not outlive her by very long.
But the pain her sides and back proved to her that she yet lived, and Juri
resolved that while she was still alive, no one would ever master her.

She saw that fighter in her own daughter, and was overjoyed.  It was not too
late for her child, her poor sweet lost daughter.

Juri would teach her everything she knew.  As her daughter lay sleeping,
Juri vowed that no one would ever take her child away from her ever again.
Hiko would be strong, and she would be a fighter.

Smiling, Juri caressed her daughter's cheek one last time, then rising,
returned to her own quarters to sleep.


^_^


Hiko opened her eyes when she heard the outer door close.  She had been
awake the whole time, from the time she heard that first small hesitant step
in the outer room to the time she felt Juri sit next to her on the bed.  Her
heart was beating quickly, but she knew that she mustn't move.

She continued to breathe slowly, feigning sleep, as her mind whirled.  What
did she want?  Why was she here?  Hiko already told her everything she
wanted to tell her.  She felt Juri's hand on her face again, and she
inwardly cringed.

It felt so soft and smooth.  It reminded her of fresh roses in the
springtime or the gentle summer rain.  Tears pricked behind her eyelids, but
she did not weep.

This was a dream.  It had to be.  She was not in a soft bed, she was not in
a sturdy castle.  She was not warm or comfortable.  She was not Juri's
daughter.

This was another one of Batousai-san's tricks.  He was playing with her
again, teasing her with the promise of safety and security, even as he
starved and beat her.

Then, Juri left, taking with her the smells of jasmine and the feeling of
home.  Hiko was alone again in the dark.  She smiled, relieved, and settled
down into sleep.



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