*Joker...*  

	Ishido Usono stirred awake.  It was a pitch black night in 
the hospital where he was confined, and only the low steady hum of 
the air conditioning unit filled the silence and the inky darkness 
surrounding him.  "W-who..?"  

	*How quickly it is for you to have forgotten me already...*  

	Joker sat up and looked around the sterile room.  As his eyes 
adjusted to the dim light, he could barely make out in one corner a 
tall dark shadow with gleaming red eyes staring back at him.  

	"Joker..."  The figure repeated in a low, coarse and familiar 
voice. 

	He gasped.  "You?  How?..."  

	"The Queen came and went as she pleased.  How much easier 
would it be for one of Us?"  As the figure spoke, he stepped forward, 
the darkness slowly melting away to reveal the newcomer.  

	The speaker was about average height, with a build that was 
not all that impressive.  However, he was also garbed in a dark 
billowy cloak that obliterated any other features in the shadows, 
save for the occasional wisp of red hair that poked out of the dark 
hood.  The cloak itself seemed to have a life of its own, flapping 
around in its own volition.  

	The most unnerving thing about the figure was the eyes.  
They were fiercely glowing red eyes, the sort that seemed to pierce 
through any armor, and dissect the very soul.  

	"The Harlequin," Joker breathed.  "This can't be.  You can't 
be alive..." 

	The figure called Harlequin laughed.  It was a coarse, 
mocking laugh.  "I am The Fool, and you are The Fool.  There's no 
reason The Fool can be anywhere and nowhere at once.  The Other 
'voices in your head' s also speak to you, after all..."  

	"What is it you want?!?"  Joker demanded.  

	Harlequin continued laughing for a while.  When he finally 
stopped, he turned a sneer towards the young man on the bed.  "I was 
thinking of taking a visit to the 'Firefly'.  After all, 'Il Bagatto' 
should be finished with the investiture by now."  

	Joker frowned.  "You will not harm her."  

	The other person held up a hand, two fingers upraised.  As 
he did so, the red sleeve of a high school uniform could be seen.  
"Twice you failed in your attempt to eliminate the Trump.  Twice you 
were humiliated by the feeble members of the Council."  

	The Harlequin swung his upraised arm in a wide arc to 
emphasize his point.  "There will not be a third time."  

	"It was a mistake...  A misunderstanding," Joker quickly 
explained.  "The Queen ordered me to destroy the Empress, which the 
Firefly was not." 

	Harlequin flicked his wrist, and Joker's signature knife 
snapped out into his hand.  "Does it matter?  The Magician is of the 
Council, and should be dealt with, as what the Queen wished on her 
and the rest of those weak-willed dreamers." 

	"You will not touch her!  The Firefly is mine!  Mine to deal 
with!  Mine to destroy!"  Joker screamed.  "You will not harm her!  
Maki will not harm her!  No one will harm her!  No one but me!  Me!"  

	"You really hate her?  Or is it... something else?"  

	"..."  Joker stopped.  

	Harlequin chuckled.  "Get well soon, Fool.  And maybe you can 
fulfill what we really wanted."  

	"The cards..."  Joker insisted.  "The cards say that only I 
am the one.  Predestination.  I have the right..."  

	In response, Harlequin pulled back the hood of his cloak, 
revealing fiery red hair topping an angular face covered in white 
paint, save for the area around the eyes which was painted black.  
But even with the make-up, Joker could still recognize the face.  

	His face.  

	*Then who am I?*  He taunted.  


* * *


	Natsu Forrester bolted awake to the sound of a scream.  
"What was that?" 

	After a moment, the scream died out.  Natsu wiped the sweat 
from her forehead.  "That...  that was from down the hall.  I wonder 
what it was?"  

	Finally dismissing it as nothing particularly important, she 
shrugged and went back to sleep, and returned to her dreams of 
curly-haired sorcerer brides and their blonde princess grooms.  


* * *


	Ishido Usono woke up screaming.  

	The door swung open, and a stocky policeman barged in.  "The 
hell?!?  What's wrong?  Hey!  You!  Speak up!"  He shook the occupant 
of the bed forcibly.  

	"A dream...  a dream..." Joker mumbled.  "Yeah, that's what 
it all was.  A..." his voice faltered as he looked down, and nearly 
choked at the sight.  "...dream..."  

	Scattered over the blanket covering Joker was his deck of 
tarot cards.  How it got there he had no idea.  At first glance they 
seemd like they were randomly placed, but he could tell that they 
were arranged in a sort of haphazard reading.  Seven cards were the 
most prominent.  

	The Six of Clubs.  

	The Nine of Clubs, reversed.  

	The Magician.  

	The Seven of Cups.  

	The King of Swords, reversed.  

	The Seven of Swords, reversed. 

	And The Fool, reversed.  

	But whatever the reading was, he could not tell.  


* * *


ARCANA
Created by Scott Schimmel

Chapter Seven: 
One Less to Infinity, The Number of The Sabbath 

written by Signus Megido 


* * *


	The phone rang.  It took a while for Sergeant Sagara of the 
Shinjuku Police Department to reach the study table and answer it.  
"You had better have a good reason for calling me at this damned 
unholy time..."  

	 "Sagara," his partner Sergeant Nakamura was at the other 
end of the line.  "You better come down to the station, quick."  

	Immedately Sagara was wide awake.  "Something happened?"  

	"We're going to the hospital to take a statement.  I'm 
sure you'll be interested in this one."  

	Sagara's brows furrowed.  "The Joker?"  

	"Yes, it's the Usono kid.  The guard on duty just called 
in to report that he just woke up."  

	"I'll be there in five," Sagara replied as he hung up the 
phone, then started to change clothes.  

	"Dear..." his wife called out to him.  

	He quickly rushed to their bedside.  "What is it, honey?  
You shouldn't be awake."  
 
	She weakly looked up at his worried face.  "You're going 
out tonight?"  

	"Yes.  Something's come up at the precinct," He explained.  
"I don't have to go if you don't feel so good..."  

	She smiled back.  "No...  It's all right.  I'll be fine.  
Just... take care."  

	"I will."  He bent down to kiss her forehead.  "You take 
care too."  


* * *

	Hotaru looked around, confused.  

	For the past three nights, while she slept, her dream self 
would be in another realm, and The Magician would show her new ways 
of looking at reality.  Right now, she found herself sitting under 
the shade of an old flame blossom tree on a hillside, surrounded by 
a vast grassland.  As she watched, a family of huge yellow-feathered 
chickens passed by, warking loudly to themselves.  It was a clear 
day, without a cloud in the sky.  Hotaru recalled a rote to summon 
a breeze to cool her, and as the soothing wind passed through her, 
she marveled at the ease of her casting, and of her new-found 
powers.  She can't wait to learn some more magic, and perhaps even 
create her own.  

	The learning process itself wasn't like any of the things 
she expected to face, from all those fantasy paperbacks and comics 
that she read.  She was expecting the training to be hard and 
torturous, with a huge cost to be paid for every bit of new 
information learned.  Instead, once she started paying attention 
to the lessons, the magical education was really easy, and rather 
fun.  She was taught how to create the elements, and she learned 
how to control them as well as more complex forms of matter.  
At the accelerated rate she was going, she could probably be able 
to fly in the boundless skies, or pull rabbits and other mudane 
animals out of her hat, or run swiftly like the wind, or any of 
those other cool sort-of superheroic powers by the end of the 
week.  A part of her even wondered if she should start dyeing her 
hair red like that sorceress in that one cartoon show.  

	Tonight was different, though.  Usually, when she would 
begin her nighttime tutorials The Magician would already be there 
waiting for her.  Then the lesson would begin almost immediately.  
But now she had been waiting under the tree for hours without 
seeing him already.  

	Just when she decided to look for The Magician herself, 
she saw someone walking towards her.  She waved to the figure, 
who was garbed in a dark cloak.  "Hey!"  

	It took her a moment to realize that the person who was 
approaching the hill where she waited was not The Magician.  "Hello, 
Firefly," the newcomer sneered in greeting.  

	Her eyes narrowed.  "YOU!"  

	Joker made a mocking bow, then discarded his cloak in one 
smooth motion.  Something was different about Joker.  He was wearing 
a strange patchwork suit of many colors, including a jester's cap 
with tiny golden bells made up of the same material.  His face was 
painted black and white, like that of a street mime that she once 
saw pictures of in Natsu's family album during their vacation trip 
in France.  

	Hotaru felt uneasy.  "Why are you here?  What happened to 
The Magician?"  

	Joker slowly waved his hands in reply.  Hotaru could see a 
glint of metal nestled at the palm of his left hand.  

	"Tell me!"  

	"Does it matter?"  Joker shrugged, then grinned madly.  
"You are the one I want, not him."  

	"What do you want?"  Hotaru demanded, her fear slowly being 
replaced with indignation.  "What do you want with me?!?"  

	With only a sudden jerk from his shoulder as a warning, 
Joker sprang to life, lunging towards her.  Hotaru reflexively 
stumbled back, but was too slow, and a tearing sound could be heard 
as the slender blade found its mark.  Hotaru shut her eyes tightly 
as she fell to the the ground with an unceremonious thump.  

	"My, how cute..." Joker chuckled.  

	Hotaru opened her eyes angrily.  She quickly covered her 
front when she realized that the front of her blouse was ripped open 
by the slash.  "You pervert!" 

	Joker shrugged.  "Hey, so it was an accident.  I won't miss 
next time..." 

	Hotaru rolled away as Joker continued slashing down at her.  
With every thrust, a little bit of her outfit was cut away until she 
was left with tatters of her clothes when she finally stood up, 
breathing heavily from the exertion.  

	"Nice dodge, Firefly," Joker commented absently.  "But you 
can't evade me forever.  Your friend Natsu was more entertaining 
than you.  Perhaps I should go to her instead...  and finish what 
I've started."  

	Hotaru's eyes widened.  "You wouldn't dare!"  

	Joker smirked.  "Will you try to stop me?  Or is this all 
just a form of desperation from a frightened little girl?  I 
wouldn't be surprised."  

	"If you harm her..."  Hotaru growled, grasping the power 
from the air while her feet pulled at the power under the ground as 
she gathered the energy for the impending battle.  "I will never 
forgive you..."  

	"Finally," Joker sneered, his knife tracing a silvery arc in 
the air.  "Let's see how much you've learned, Firefly."  

	Calling forth the elements of the world, Hotaru lashed them 
out to strike down Joker where he stood.  Gouts of flame, bursts of  
wind, streams of water, and jagged spikes of earth rushed at her 
command, surging forth with a vengeance at the laughing figure 
standing against The Magician.  Onward they charged, a seemingly 
endless wave of matter and energy and light and darkness and form 
and spirit.  

	And they missed.  

	Hotaru blinked.  "How... how come?!?" 

	Joker grinned back at her in reply, tapping his knife on his 
chin.  "Would you believe Blind Luck?"  

	He charged.  


* * *


	Miyuki woke up to the sound of a knock on her door.  "Yes?  
Who is it?"  She already knew who it is, but she still asked out of 
formality.  

	"It's me, Hanako.  May I come in?"  The muffled voice on the 
other side of the door replied.  

	"Please do.  The door is unlocked."  

	The door creaked open, and Hanako slowly shuffled inside.  
"Umm..."  

	"You had a bad dream?"  Miyuki asked.  

	Hanako nodded.  "Uh-huh.  It was really strange...  But I 
could feel Hotaru...  She's in danger."  

	"I know.  She'll be all right.  Just believe in her and 
everything will be fine."  

	"I believe you..." Hanako spoke uncertainly.  "But I still 
feel scared."  

	"We all are,"  Miyuki assured her.  "But we can't do 
anything else... but hope and pray."  

	The two girls hugged each other for comfort.  It was a bit 
ackward, the taller girl leaning on the dimunitive one sitting on 
the bed, even though they are both physically close in age.  

	Even without eyes, Miyuki could plainly see Hanako relaxing 
in her arms, Hanako's eyes starting to dart around and check out 
every piece of furniture in her room  -- 'casing the joint', as how 
Hanako would have called it -- for anything valuable, and the slow 
grumbling of Hanako's tummy.  

	"You hungry?"  

	"Sorry..." Hanako blushed.  

	Miyuki smiled.  "I have some avocados and milk in the 
kitchen.  We could make some slush with them, for a midnight snack."  

	Hanako's mood quickly brightened.  "Could we?" she asked, 
her eyes sparkling.  

	"Of course..."  Holding Hanako's hand in hers, Miyuki led 
her towards the kitchen in the Tower Reversed, while sending a quick 
prayer for Hotaru's safety.  


* * *


	"What's the matter, Firefly?" Joker taunted the injured 
Hotaru.  "Can't make the cut?  Is a little slice of reality just 
simply overwhelming?  Or you just can't handle skirting the edge 
of danger?"  

	Hotaru winced, more from Joker's lame puns than from her 
wound.  She cluched her arm, feeling the blood soaking through the 
remains of her tattered blouse.  "You bastard..."  

	"You're no fun anymore..." Joker grinned humorlessly.  "I 
guess I'll have to kill you now."  

	Hotaru's eyes stung from the tears falling down her cheeks.  
Was all her lessons for naught?  Will she die here, in her own 
dream?  Already, she was feeling weaker aand weaker...

	"What's the matter?  Cat got your tongue?  I haven't even 
cut it out of you yet."  

	Hotaru wonders why she haven't collapsed from the pain and 
the exhaustion.  Then she recalled it.  A half-forgotten song ran 
through her head...  

	Blood, heal me; fear, change me.  Belief will always save 
me...

	"You know, Maki really wanted to meet you so badly...  I 
wonder if she'll be upset when news of your sudden death reach her." 

	"Maki...  who's Maki?"  Hotaru stalled for time.  

	Blood, heal me...  

	Joker smirked.  "She's the Queen, who else?"  

	Slowly, the wound on her shoulder closed, and Hotaru could 
feel her strength returning.  "The Queen of Pentacles?"  

	"Who do you think am I referring to?" 

	"Why does Maki want me dead so badly?"  She asked, her fears 
slowly disappearing.  Her enemy has a name; then her enemy is human.  
An Arcana, but still human...

	Fear, change me...

	"She thinks you're The Empress, Firefly."  

	"The Emperess?"  

	Belief will always save me...  

	Images of her friends appeared in front of her:  Natsu, 
Hanako, Sumire, Keisuke, Tetsuya, Miyuki...  

	"You ask too much questions, Firefly."  Joker pulled her up 
to her feet.  "Time to die."  

	"No..." Hotaru spat out.  "You die..."  

	Joker was immediately slammed with a sudden burst of liquid, 
throwing him away from Hotaru.  Hotaru watched his body skid several 
meters away, then summoned the elements around her.  

	Joker struggled to stand up.  He watched an uninjured Hotaru 
as a new set of clothes gathered around her.  They comprised mainly 
of red and purple robes with arcane symbols written on the cloth.  

	"The heat too much for you, Fool?" Hotaru asked, with power 
and authority in her voice like never before.  "Then stop playing 
with fire."  

	Joker bitterly laughed back, seeing the reddish liquid 
covering him.  "Blood, Firefly?  Getting morbid, I see."  

	It was Hotaru's turn to smirk.  "Tell your Queen to stay 
away from me and my friends.  Or I will make you all regret it."  

	Joker laughed.  "What are you going to do?  Burn me?"  

	Hotaru snapped her fingers.  "Why not?  An excellent idea."  

	And Joker burst into flames.


* * *


	"It was the strangest thing..." the beat cop on guard duty 
at the time remarked to the two officers in uniform.  "First the nut 
starts screaming like he saw Death itself, then mumbled that he's 
all right now, and that he'll cooperate.  Right after that, he went 
right back to sleep, then a little while ago, he started throwing a 
fit or something.  About a minute before you two arrived, *this* 
started popping out..."  

	"Anything else?"  Sagara asked the policeman.  "What did 
the suspect say when he first woke up?"  

	The cop scratched his head.  "Well, it was really strange...  
He asked me, 'How can I face my problem, if my problem was my face?'  
Or something like that."  	

	"So how is the patient, Doctor..."  Nakamura turned to the 
petite brunette woman wearing thick horn-rimmed glasses standing 
beside them.

	"Doctor Takasakura," the young woman replied, briefly 
flashing a pretty little smile.  

	Nakamura managed not to blush.  "Will he live...?"  

	"Well," she answered, "his vital functions flunctuated 
wildly for the past few minutes.  We've managed to stabilize his 
condition, and despite what he looks like right now, he'll be all 
right...  but he'll be out for a few more hours, days at the most."  

	"That is odd..."  Sagara mused.  

	"That's not all.  I've never seen it happening before, but 
I can imagine what the young man is feeling right now." 

	They all turned to the unconscious form of Joker, who was now 
lying peacefully in a intensive care unit.  Huge blisters dotted his 
entire body.  Both police officers felt uneasy, but didn't voice them 
out to the other.  

	"Right now," Doctor Takasakura elaborated, "Mister Osuno is 
experiencing sensations of extreme pain.  The vital signs indicate 
that he's been subjected to intense heat, like his entire body was 
thrown into a burning furnace..."  

	"Oh, yeah..."  The beat cop pulled out a clear plastic bag.  
"These were on the bed when he woke up.  I had no idea he had them on 
him all this time..."  

	Sagara held the bag up, and went pale at the sight of the 
tarot cards inside.  

	"Curious..."  Nakamura opened the bag and looked inside.  He 
wasn't surprised that the first card he drew was the one with the 
weird-looking picture of a regal-looking guy holding a sword and a 
pair of weighing scales.  

	"Again," he shrugged, idly wondering why he bothered to look 
at the cards in the first place.  He started to replace them when one 
of the cards slipped out and down to the floor.  "Whoops, clumsy me."  

	"Here, you..."  Sagara bent down to pick the card up.  "Next 
time, watch it when you're handling evidence," he admonished, handing 
the card to his partner before wiping the sweat from his palms on his 
trousers.  "We need to dust these for prints when we get back to the 
station."  

	Nakamura sheepishly nodded, taking the card.  Curious, he 
turned it face-up.  He was holding it upside-down, but he could read 
the words "Page of Cups" written in English script.  


* * *


	Hotaru knelt on the grass as the rest of Joker's ashes 
scattered into the four winds.  "I...  did it..."  She looked down 
at her hands.  "I killed someone..."  

	"No, you did not."  

	Hotaru looked up at the sight of the Magician clapping.  
"Congratulations.  You have defeated your enemy with your own power." 

	"You knew this was happening all along?  And you didn't do 
anything to stop that maniac.  I could have been killed!"  

	"You were in no danger," The Magician replied.  "I would 
have intervened otherwise.  It makes for good practice."  

	"...Practice?!?"  

	The Magician nodded sagely.  "However, this is not an end, 
only a beginning.  You will face The Fool again, along with the 
allies of the Queen of Pentacles.  And you must be ready for them, 
whenever they may come, for the next time will not be like this, 
for the power you displayed here is not the power you can wield yet 
in the waking world."  

	"Then...  What can I do?"  Hotaru asked.  

	"The same thing you always do every night...  Learn."  The 
Magician motioned for Hotaru to follow him.  "Tonight, you have seen 
that dreams are not limited to your own.  You can enter the dreams 
of others as well, as others can enter your own..."  


* * * 


AUTHOR'S SKRIBULOUS:  

	I am soo screwed.  

	Well, then again, I am the Surreal Author, after all.  

	Harlequin is one of Joker's many "voices in his head." (#4)  
Is he real?  An alternate-world Joker?  Joker's teacher and the 
previous Fool?  Take it as you will.  

	Joker's reading?  I'm not sure, myself.  I think it means, 
"An Illness inflicts a loved one;  A divining dream and a sage 
visits and gives false advice;  A lucky incident turns sour;  A 
last-ditch effort."  But I forgot how the cards should be arranged, 
or which cards are supposed to be in which place.  

	Who is Doctor Takasakura?  Just a friend, and an Impro 
lurker.  You know who you are.  ^_^

	Oh, well...  Hope you enjoy this.  

	Thanks go to Scott Schimmel for last-second prereading and 
trying to convince me to change my mind.  Sorry.  ^_^



-Mark Ranel M. Lambo, 
aka. Signus Megido/Skribulous, aka. MaRaMaLa, D' Fat Dragon Scribe 
http://hello.to/MaRaMaLa
June 2, 2000