A Paradise Built for Two an El-Hazard fanfiction by Vince Seifert (seifertv@csus.edu) El-Hazard characters and situations are copyright 1995, 2001 by AIC / Pioneer LDC, Inc. This work is not intended to infringe those rights. This story follows "Caryatid", but is not dependent on it: http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seifertv/toth/other.htm#caryatid ~~~~~ Blue sea, white sand; blue sky, white clouds... yet Ifurita's eyes were bluer than the sea, and her skin was whiter than the sand. She noticed Makoto's glance and smiled back at him, and her hand tightened on his for a moment. Makoto blushed and examined his feet as they continued to make impressions in the sand. "A pretty place," Ifurita said. "I came here with a class trip a couple of years ago-- I mean, a couple of years before I left Earth," Makoto explained. "I went back a few times afterwards, with friends or with family." "I see. Thank you for bringing me here." "My pleasure," Makoto said gallantly. "I don't see the point of these 'bathing suits', though." Ifurita tapped the fabric of her demure black, blue, and silver one-piece where it was stretched tight across her cleavage. Makoto's eyes followed her gesture and his capillaries got another workout. "It's just what we're supposed to wear, that's all!" "Ah, another Earth custom," said Ifurita archly. "Oh, don't give me that! You know all about Earth customs! Well, as much as I know, anyway. You're just teasing me." "No," said Ifurita, releasing his hand and taking a couple of steps away. "This is teasing you." Her posture and expression altered, just a little, and suddenly her supernal beauty became a weapon aimed right at Makoto's libido -- but not to destroy it. Makoto swallowed hard against the urge to lunge at the Demon Goddess, tear her swimsuit off with his teeth, and.... "Be my guest," Ifurita breathed. Her look brought "come- hither" to vivid life. "Not here," Makoto managed. "People will notice." Ifurita looked around. "Oh, I think they're all occupied with their own business," she remarked. Makoto looked for himself; that certainly appeared to be the case. The swimmers and sunbathers swam and sunbathed; the food- stand owners called out their wares; an octopus pot hopped along farther up the beach, pursued hotly by an angry girl and luke- warmly by a panda; but no one was near them, and no one was looking in their direction. "I guess not, but still...." "Perhaps later, then." "Definitely later," Makoto croaked. "How do you DO that, anyway?" "Feedback loop." Ifurita came back and took his hand again. They resumed their stroll along the beach. The sand was hot, but not hot enough to hurt Makoto's feet; the sun blazed down, but a cool sea breeze kept it pleasant. However.... "Aren't you going to sunburn?" Makoto asked, eyeing Ifurita's pale, perfect skin with concern. "Maybe we should...." "I don't burn," Ifurita said carelessly. She glanced at Makoto and her expression changed. "Excuse me, let me rephrase that. Oh, how thoughtful you are, Makoto! By all means, let's stop and obtain some oil so you can rub it all... over... my... body. And then I'll do yours!" "You're teasing me again," Makoto grumped, starting to walk a little oddly. "Well, just a little. But that doesn't mean it wasn't a genuine suggestion." "I know... but right now, this is fine." They proceeded in silence, each enjoying the day, the scenery, and the company. "Urk." Makoto stopped suddenly and looked puzzled. "What's the matter, Makoto?" Ifurita asked, worried. "I don't know." His head snapped to one side, then the other. "I-- think someone--" Makoto vanished. An instant later, so did Ifurita, the beachgoers, the beach, the sea, the sun, and the sky. ~~~~~ "Makoto!" A face hovering over him swam into focus in the dimness of the palace room: a young woman's face, with short hair. "Nanami?" His voice came as a surprise to him; it was dry and rusty, and hurt his throat. "Yes, of course Nanami, you idiot!" The face was leaking. The water fell on his own face. It felt good. Then the stench smote his nostrils. "Urgh." "What the HELL is the MATTER with you? You're laying in your own filth!" The face receded slightly, and the bed shifted. "Open the window," Nanami's voice commanded someone else. "Let's get some fresh air in here." Makoto tried to rise to one elbow, but his body failed him... strange, it was working fine a moment ago. Daylight spilled into the room, and he blinked. His empty right hand groped blindly on the covers, seeking something. Someone screamed from near the door, and several other people drew in their breaths sharply; one coughed, as though he'd regretted it. "Oh my god," Nanami said slowly. Her head whipped around. "Get a doctor," she snapped. "Not a scholar, a physician. Right now!" For the second time in a few minutes, Makoto's world went away, but this time by spinning and shrinking into the dark of unconsciousness. ~~~~~ Nanami stared in horror at Makoto's sunken features and wasted body. There was food and drink nearby, apparently untouched, and that was certainly consistent with Makoto's condition. "How could this happen?" she muttered. She glanced at Rune Venus, slumped in the arms of a couple of her handmaidens by the door; there wasn't a whole lot of point in chastising the ruling princess until she recovered from her faint, and maybe not even then. Her attention was diverted by the other figure on the bed. Ifurita stirred and opened her eyes. Her expression stayed neutral as she glanced at Makoto, then looked up at Nanami. "Is there some problem?" she inquired in a low voice. "Damn right there's a problem!" Nanami shouted, and suddenly words weren't enough. She lunged at Ifurita, not with the rousing slaps she'd dealt to Makoto, but to punch the Demon Goddess' lights out. One steely hand seized her wrist and another her waistband as Ifurita levitated off the bed. Dangling Nanami like snared prey, she pivoted in midair and slid sideways to set the struggling woman neatly on her feet on the floor. "Desist," she said sternly, swooping aside and landing beside the bed. "He's DYING!" "Everyone dies," Ifurita murmured absently, but her hands were already reaching for Makoto. She lifted him carefully from the bed, cradling him in her arms, and turned toward the bathroom. "Don't touch that," she warned everyone in the room as she left, nodding to her Key staff where it lay on the bed beside the depression she'd made. Nanami followed, then watched in bemusement as Ifurita expertly started a luke-warm bath and carefully began stripping Makoto of his soiled clothing. "Um... can I help?" she asked, a little ashamed of her outburst, a little bashful about bathing Makoto, and very concerned. "If you wish. Please bring the washcloths and the soap." Between them, it wasn't long before they had Makoto cleaned up and floating in the bath, Ifurita gently supporting his head to keep his face above water. "How could you let this happen?" Nanami asked finally. Ifurita didn't look up. "It was his wish." "To starve to death?" "Actually, it's mostly dehydration--" "Never mind that! What were you DOING?" Ifurita's lips quirked, but she still didn't look away from Makoto. "Anything we wanted to." "You mean...." Nanami blushed. "Yes. Everything we couldn't do here... and lots of other things, too." "But how--" Ifurita finally looked up. "Nanami, haven't you ever experienced a moment so joyful that you wished it would last forever?" "No...." "I see." Ifurita lowered her head again. "A pity. Well, try to imagine it, then... and try to imagine being able to make a whole life of such moments." "And that's what you and Makoto were doing?" "More or less. He can't do it alone, and I can't do it alone, but together we can make memories and live in them. Anything we can imagine, we can live." "Wow," Nanami said slowly. "And he wouldn't come out even to eat and drink or use the toilet...." "I'm afraid not." "Stupid maids should have said something earlier," Nanami muttered. "Is that what brought you? Well, they're trained to respect the privacy of their charges... and beyond that, they fear me, and even Makoto a little." A commotion in the other room announced the arrival of the physicians. They confirmed Ifurita's diagnosis of acute dehydration and less acute malnutrition, approved her warm bath but added salts to the water, prescribed broth and bed rest for after the patient awoke, and retired, muttering in their beards about Demon Gods pretending to be doctors. The palace staff changed the bed linens, then decided to change the whole bed. This done, they retired as well, conspicuously not muttering; they'd seen the look Ifurita had directed at the departing doctors. "So now what?" Nanami challenged Ifurita. She glanced at Rune Venus, hovering anxiously outside the bathroom's doorway to preserve Makoto's modesty, but close enough to participate in the conversation. "Now I nurse him back to health," Ifurita replied. "No, I mean are you two going to disappear into your navels again?" "That's up to him." Ifurita nodded at Makoto. "So he's going to starve to death. Great plan." "I will see to it that he doesn't go this long without maintenance again," Ifurita assured her. "You should understand that I don't want him to die either. If I'd realized he was this fragile, I'd have warned him. I thought he knew his own limitations." "You're just going to dream away your lives in here with servants bringing food in once in a while? I know the palace is famous for its hospitality, but really!" "He has earned that, and more," Rune Venus put in from the doorway. Nanami shot her a you're-NOT-helping look. Ifurita sighed impatiently. "I said, this won't happen again. Makoto will live a normal lifespan, if I have anything to say about it." Nanami gritted her teeth. "You're missing the point! While he's with you in this dream world, he's not doing anything real! He's not bettering himself, he's not seeing his friends--" "Listen to me," Ifurita cut her off. "This is what Makoto wants. This was his choice. I'm not forcing it on him." "Well, I don't see you stopping it, either!" Ifurita's remaining patience snapped. "Why would I stop him? I'm a genie of destruction! Burn a city to ashes? Simple! Abduct a princess? Yes, Master, at once! But HIS wish was for me to accompany him to Paradise! After lifetimes of blood and dust, I am allowed to experience joy and beauty, to be loved and pleasured!" Both Nanami and Rune Venus were taken aback by her vehemence. "Ifurita..." the princess murmured, misty-eyed. "So you're just going to go along with this?" Nanami demanded. "For as long as he holds out?" Ifurita looked down at the man in the bathtub and her expression softened. "If that continues to be his wish." She looked up. "Everyone dies. What matters is how we live." Nanami's face twitched. "I don't call that living, you--" "Nanami!" Rune Venus interrupted firmly. "What?" "Let us go for now, shall we? I think we can safely leave Makoto in her care." "But--!" "Nanami, please." Nanami reflected on a ruling princess who would say "please" to a commoner, and reflected further on the possible consequences of not assenting. "Oh, all right," she said without grace, getting up. Rune Venus led Nanami out of Makoto's rooms. The maids closed the door and fell in behind them, but at a slight gesture from the princess, they bowed and retired out of earshot as Nanami and Rune Venus proceeded down the hall. "You were about to start making demands," Rune Venus said before Nanami could ask. "It seemed you might even call upon my authority and my guards to separate Makoto from Ifurita." "And if I was?" The princess smiled ruefully. "I don't want my palace demolished and my guards slain to no purpose. I think perhaps you forget who she is and what she can do, sometimes." "Do you really think she would?" "To stay with Makoto? Oh, yes, no question about it. And she is likely to still be here when Makoto is gone... so, for the sake of my successors and my people, I would very much like her to think kindly of us." Nanami's blood chilled. "So you'll just let her...." Rune Venus stopped and turned, looking very serious. "Nanami, it's not a question of letting her. No power I command can prevent her, not even the Eye of God. I really don't see why you can't grasp that." "I can." Nanami sighed and slumped. "I just don't want to." "Well, I don't think Ifurita is lying; this really was Makoto's wish, and may continue to be, whatever we think of it. We can only imagine what it's like... perhaps, if we were offered the chance, we'd lose ourselves in a dream world too." ~~~~~ Makoto groaned and his eyes opened. "Ifurita?" "I'm here, love," she assured him gently. "How do you feel?" "Lousy." His hand lifted from the water and reached out. "I want to go back...." Ifurita sighed. "All right, but just for a little while." Her hand met his, their fingers interlacing. Just before the link took her, she fixed her mind on her ultimate goal. "You will live on within me," she whispered. ~~~~~ Blue trees, red rocks; blue sky, red clouds.... "Wow, what a sunset. Where is this?" "It's not far from here, actually, but it no longer exists. It was destroyed in the wars. Fortunately, I got to see it first...." ~~~~~ end A Paradise Built for Two ~~~~~ Thanks to Dave Roeder and Darniil Entroth for prereading above and beyond the call of duty. Thanks also to all the people on FFML who contributed to one of the most inspiring rounds of C&C I've ever been involved in.