Atria and Stella stood by the crater at the edge of the perimeter.  Construction equipment had begun to arrive, men picking their way around the rubble.  A day after the battle, the smoke from burning tanks still hung in the air, but the bodies of the dead had been removed.

    “If Cap...I mean, Matt were here, he’d be chiding me right now,” Atria said in English, leaning on a cane.

    “Why?”

    Atria smiled sadly.  “I’m making somebody else replace my divot.  It’s a golf thing.  He liked golf.”

    “Do we have the casualty figures yet?” Stella asked.

    “Over six hundred dead,” Atria said.  She started limping back, Stella following.  “According to Jenny Calhoun, Jack Death was killed the day before the attack on Samurai Filmworks.  They’re looking for his body now, but nothing yet.  About all Calhoun can tell us about where they were was that it was a warehouse in the industrial side of town.”

    “Tokyo’s a big city,” Stella said.

    “That it is,” Atria said.

    “What about Alice and Daiki Yamato?”

    “Alice should be out of the hospital in a couple of days,” Atria said, wincing.  The medics told her that she had sprained her leg when Volandpanzer crashed, and the swelling was getting bad again.  “Same with Daiki.  He lost a lot of blood, but he apparently heals very fast.  Maybe it’s that magic sword of his.”

    “And what about you?”

    “I’ve had worse.”

    “I’m not just talking about that.”

    Atria stopped.  “You mean, am I going back when he opens the portal?”

    Stella nodded.

    “I don’t know,” Atria said.  “I just don’t know.”

Alice took a deep breath in her hospital bed.  The broken rib hurt less now, which was something.  The nightmares were a different matter.

    She could never unsee what she had seen.  Mitsubi weeping beside the body of Akari Soto, which had been pinned to the wall with a spike of masonry.  Blood spatters several feet long on the pavement.  And then there was Jenny Calhoun, her back bent at an unnatural angle around the corner of a building.

    She took a more shallow breath.  The painkiller was kicking in.

    Mark Gable was probably gone by now.  The last she had seen him was while she was being taken out on a stretcher.  The only thing she had said as she passed by was, “Matt deserved better than you.”

    He hadn’t answered.  Just the thought of Matt – the man known for decades as Captain Infinite – made her want to start crying all over again.

    Alice sat up in her hospital bed as Colonel Sato entered.  “Forgive my English,” he said in a heavy accent, “but we need to talk about Jenny Calhoun.”

    Alice nodded.

    “She was involved in two incidents that the Ministry has classified as terrorist attacks,” Sato said.  “That is what the public is being told.  Under normal circumstances, she would be arrested and handed over to the criminal justice system for trial.”

    Alice sighed.  “How many people did she kill?”

    “At this point, the estimate is over a hundred and fifty,” Sato replied.  “Normally, this would carry the death penalty.”

    “But these are not normal circumstances,” Alice said.

    Sato nodded.  “That is correct.  There is no court in this country that would believe the evidence if we attempted to bring this to trial.  Even if there was, there is no precedent for fictional characters coming to life and waging a war against their creators.  The Ministry and Japanese Self-Defence Force are both in agreement in this matter – the legal and administrative problems that this situation would create is not desirable.”

    “So you’re not putting her on trial,” Alice said.

    “That is correct,” Sato said.  “We are working with the American government to issue her the documentation she will require to return to the United States and deporting her.  I understand that she has been permanently paralyzed from the waist down.”

    “That’s what I heard,” Alice stated.

    “That will have to be punishment enough.  Will you take responsibility for your creation?”

    Alice nodded.  “Of course I will.”

    “Good,” Sato said.  “As soon as she is able to travel, you are to take her back with you to the United States, and she will never be permitted to return to this country.”

Four days after the battle and one day after the funeral, during which Alice, just out of the hospital, had received condolence after condolence for her loss and Atria had told Stella that she had decided to stay, the barracks where they had once been confined and later lived seemed empty.  Stella walked around, looking to see if there was anything she and Adam had left behind.  It was their last day there.

    Cap’s belongings had been removed, as had Akari Soto’s.  Mark Gable had returned to the United States, and Alice Matson’s belongings were now back at her hotel room, where she was resting and waiting for Jenny Calhoun’s discharge from the hospital.  Then she would be leaving, taking Jenny with her.  Kaguyama and Mitsubi had returned to their homes as well.

    That just left her, Adam, and Atria.  They had a lot to thank Ichiro Takahashi and Worldsoft Games for – Worldsoft had arranged an apartment in Tokyo for her and Adam to use while he recovered once he got out of the hospital.  Atria would be joining them to help Stella take care of Adam for a couple of weeks while she figured out what to do next.  Stella wasn’t sure how they would pay for it, but Takahashi had told her it wouldn’t be a problem.

    And that just left finishing their packing and moving in.

    She heard Atria clear her throat from the door.

    “Daiki’s about to open the portal,” she said, her uniform jacket open to reveal the blouse underneath.  “He and Colonel Sato are waiting for us.”

    Stella nodded.  There was nothing they had left behind anyway.  She joined Atria and left the empty barracks behind.

    “You asked me a question, back when we first met,” Sato said to her in Japanese.  “You wanted to know how many unidentified cosplayers had died of exposure in the last ten years.”

    “I remember,” Stella said.

    “I received the answer yesterday,” Sato stated.  “It’s seventeen.  Now that we know this is an issue, we are going to ensure that in the future this number drops to zero.  We will help the children of the creators of Japan call this nation their home.”

    Stella smiled.  “On behalf of all of us, thank you.”

    “There’s a place for you in this effort, if you want it,” Sato said.

    “Thank you, but I have plans of my own,” Stella said.  “I have marriage, a degree in quantum physics, and a career decoding the secrets of the universe ahead.  And I can’t wait to get started.”

    “And what about you, Major Silversword?” Sato said.  “General Yoshida wanted you to know that there is place for you in the Japanese Self-Defence Force, at your current rank, if you would like it.”

    Atria smiled.  “As tempting as that is, I think I’m ready to spend some time enjoying civilian life.  So, I’ll pass, for now.”

    They turned the corner to find Daiki Yamato waiting for them in the square, his sword in hand and leather armour hidden under his cloak.

    Sato bowed to Daiki.  “Before you leave, I just wanted to express our gratitude for your assistance during these recent events.”

    Daiki smiled.  “You’re very welcome.”

    Atria nodded.  “You saved everybody.  You should be proud.”

    “So, it’s just me going back?” Daiki asked.

    “I spent the last ten years of my life fighting a war to save my world,” Atria said.  “Now that I know there’s a replacement me back there, I think it’s time for my war to end.  Besides, I’ve been talking with Kaguyama, and I’m going to help him finish my story.  As Matt said, Kaguyama needs me – and I can do more to make sure my story has a happy ending by staying here than I can if I go back.”

    “My life has been here in this world for years,” Stella said.  “This is my home.”

    Daiki nodded to both of them.  “I can respect that.”

    “What about you?” Stella said.  “Your creator is dead.  There’s nobody to finish your story now.  Are you sure you want to go back?”

    “Oh yes,” Daiki said.  “Athena is waiting for me, and she must be very worried.  And, besides, now I know I’ve been living in a story written by somebody else for all these years.  I think it’s time to go home and make my story my own.”

    “Good luck!” Atria said.

    “Good luck!” Stella said.

    “And you,” Daiki said, swinging his sword.  A glowing portal appeared.  He stepped through, and it disappeared behind him.

    Atria and Stella stood looking at where Daiki had been standing for a moment.  Behind them, Sato made his apologies and left.

    “I’m going to the hospital,” Stella said.  “Meet you back at the apartment?”

    “Sure,” Atria replied.  “I’ve got to finish cleaning out my office anyway.  It turns out that they’re happy to issue me the documentation I need to live in this world for free, but if I want to keep using my office, I have to either join the JSDF or pay rent.  Go figure.”

    Stella spent the taxi ride to the hospital in silence.  Once she got up to Adam’s hospital room, she found him sitting up in his bed, watching anime.

    “Well,” she said, giving him a kiss, “it’s done.”

NEXT: “Six Months Later”