Dual Shadows
A Ranma ½ and Sailor Moon Crossover
By Tomas Megarson
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Disclaimer: The characters, settings, and places of "Ranma ½" belong to Rumiko Takahashi. The characters, settings, and places of "Sailor Moon"
belong to Naoko Takeuchi. The events, situations, and words of this particular piece of Fanfiction belong to me and are in no way part of the original stories created by the two very talented people mentioned before. There is no profit being made off of this story, so if you would be so good as to not sue me, I'd be very grateful.
Chapter 1 Loose Minds
"Fast Break!"
With his back to Ryoga Hibiki, Ranma Saotome spring forward and off into the woods, his mind hoping that as his father taught him,
the surprise would by him a bit of time. Putting a number of trees between himself and his opponent, Ranma took to the air, his powerful legs carrying him to a branch of a nearby tree before he crouched down to watch and think. With his head slightly bowed, his black bangs fluffed into his startling blue eyes, and the short pigtail he had in back draped down his neck.
The Saotome Secret Technique was one of the more challenging ones his father had taught him. It was hard for him to swallow his pride enough to actually run away from his opponents, but on top of that he had to start coming up with a plan on how to defeat them. Or rather, how to defeat Ryoga after the training the Old Ghoul Cologne had given him.
"Damn it," Ranma muttered under his breath as Ryoga ran into view. "What to do?" As Ryoga continued to run, Ranma trailed the other boy from the trees, coming to a stop and Ryoga did. "How do I beat this guy?" He continued in a whisper.
'I can show you how, since you're having trouble.'
"Wha.." Ranma barely managed to keep his voice down, his head whipping around trying to find whoever it was that spoke to him.
"Where the hell are ya?" His voice was still quiet, though now it had also turned harsh.
'Great, not only can't you fight, but you've got memory problems too.'
"What the hell's that suppose to mean!"
'Forget it,' the voice replied, still rather calm about the whole thing. 'Do you want to win or not?'
Ranma was starting to grow tired of the whole mess. "Of course I wanna!"
'Well then...do so...'
As the voice trailed off, Ranma was forced to blink and his eyes widened as a black figure suddenly seemed to cover Ryoga. The black figure was faded, though, like an image from a school projector on one of the multi-stained walls in Furinkan. But as his eyes took in the scene, another feeling took over him, as though he was being guided.
Slowly he stood up in the tree, his right arm rising slightly so that his open palm was facing Ryoga. As he did so, he felt a blackness begin to surround him. It wasn't something tangible, just a terrible feeling that what he was doing was wrong. Even as the feeling grew worse, Ranma found himself somehow forced to reach into the depths of his soul, and what he found there scared him. It was a darkness far worse then what the Neko-ken had done to him, but as this darkness touched him, the fear faded and a sense of strength grew. As his sense of strength continued to increase, the internal darkness slowly became a tangible ball of energy resting against his out stretched hand.
As the dark power slowly grew to the size of a tennis ball,
the image of the forest seemed to change before his eyes. While he could still see the trees and rocks of the forest, vague images of walls began to appear, seeming to pass harmlessly through them. While the sun was shining down into the forest, swirling, dark red clouds seemed to cover up the source of light. The strange sites, however,
were unable to shake Ranma from the path he had chosen.
As he stared at Ryoga, the lost boy suddenly spun around his gaze moving up to the tree and lock onto Ranma. His face was a blank mask to Ranma's eyes, however, as the ghostly image that covered the other boy blocked out his face. And then a name entered Ranma's mind,
not a name for the boy, but a name for what he was doing. "Kokuei Nagarebosshi!"
The dark ball of energy ripped from Ranma's hand, traveling at a blinding speed and slamming into the fanged young man before he had time to react. Ryoga stiffened almost immediately, a scream tearing from his throat and echoing through the woods as Ranma's attack did damage to his muscles and organs. Then, all at once, Ryoga collapsed to the ground, his eyes rolling up to the back of his head and a small trickle of blood coming from his mouth.
Ranma managed to remain standing on the branch for a few moments longer, his mind and heart screaming in fear and rage over what had just happened while the energy kept him cold, calm, and still. The battle of dual personalities lasted only a moment longer before Ranma's body gave in to the pain it had felt in unleashing the attack, and collapsed from the stress, letting the boy drift into unconsciousness even as he fell from the tree.
His back pressed against a brick wall, Keikan swallowed hard as he tried to see through his swollen eye. The little he could see did nothing to improve his situation. The small truth he could admit to himself was that he really wished he couldn't see at all. At least then he wouldn't know when he was about to get pounded into the ground. Again.
He hated Japan. He really, really hated his mother's home country. All he ever got were racist comments, whispers behind his back, and baseball bats in his face. It was the last one that he was experiencing today.
"Get up you damn half breed! At least show some honor, you piece of garbage!"
Since the first problem always came with the other two, Keikan had stopped counting it alone long ago. Again through his nearly closed eyes, he took in the scene. Four large boys, probably college students he thought, had him backed into an ally. The softest weapon that they were carrying was the wooden two by four one toward the back had. While the situation was familiar, it wasn't any more pleasant then any of the other times.
"You can kill them," a voice whispered to him.
"What?" Keikan muttered to himself, looking around but seeing no one but his tormentors.
"You can kill them, if you'll take the power."
"Kill them?" Keikan whispered to himself. "I can't do that."
One of the boys facing him began to laugh. "Oh, he's going to kill us? How funny! I think he's lost his mind."
"I guess we should put the fool out of his misery. Its for the best," replied the one on the right.
"They'll kill you if you don't get them first, and you have someone to find."
"Someone to find?" Keikan asked, almost in a daze. He saw the other boys approach him, and his fear began growing.
"Do you want to live or die?" the voice asked him.
"To live..." came the trembling reply from the young man sure he was about to die.
"Well then...do so..."
An image seemed to form over the boys. No longer were they some punks dressed in street clothes, but now they were shadowy figures screaming death to him. The knowledge seemed to hit him like a bullet, and his hands came up instantly, the flat of his palms facing the four boys cloaked in darkness. Even as his fear grew, a power seemed to swell in him, pushing that fear aside and bringing out a feeling of strength.
Rippling black flames formed along his hands, quickly condensing into a floating ball of fire. The four boys had stopped in shock and fear as Keikan's face went from one of fear to one of rage.
"Black Fireball!"
The name of the attack tore from his throat, and the attack shot forward, slamming into the lead boy. The flames quickly exploded outward, engulfing the rest of the gang and shooting out of the ally,
never once moving in Keikan's direction.
As the flames cleared, Keikan finally got a good look at his attackers, their bodies black, charred, and clearly dead. The sight was slow to register in his mind, but as soon as it had, he began throwing up. That lasted only a few moments, however, as the strain the event had put on his mind caused him to black out.
Sitting in the living room with a book on her lap, Hotaru Tomoe gave a slight smile. The windows were open and a gentle summer breeze was drifting through the living room in the home she shared with her 'parents', Michiru and Haruka. The two older girls were sitting on the couch just enjoying the family time and relaxing quiet in the world. Things had been peaceful for the past few months since Galaxia had been dealt with. Everything seemed to be moving smoothly toward the creation of Crystal Tokyo, and now the Sailor Senshi could just spend their time enjoying life.
A peace like this was something that none of the Senshi had had since before they had gained their powers and been tasked with protecting the Earth. Most of the Senshi were enjoying the break from one major crisis to the next by shopping, studying, or boy hunting.
One, however, had taken to the peace in a way none of them had expected.
Turning her head, Hotaru glanced toward the kitchen where the soft sound of classical music coming from the radio was drifting through the house from. She could make out the long green hair that drifted down the back of the Sailor Pluto, or rather Setsuna Meio as she wasn't in her Senshi guise. Since that incident, she had taken to staying with the other 'Outer' Senshi rather then watching over the Gates of Time. She smiled, she laughed, and she stopped being so mysterious. She was acting like a normal twenty year old woman would,
which fit with how she looked. No one had been brave enough to ask Setsuna what had caused the change in her. Everyone was afraid that if they asked she might revert to her old self, and then they'd never know.
Turning back to her book, Hotaru smiled in content. Life was good.
As is common in the universe, when someone of importance thinks that, everything starts to go wrong. The first sign of trouble was when the handle of Setsuna's tea cup broke, dropping the rest of the cup into her lap, causing her to swear for a brief moment in pain.
While one sign alone could be dramatic, though not as much as Setsuna swearing, the Silent Glaive suddenly appearing before Hotaru and rippling with black energy caught the attention of everyone. The weapon floated in mid air for no more the a few seconds before the energy suddenly winked out of existence and it dropped to the ground with a dull clang, the blade falling away from everyone.
Hotaru's voice was trembling slightly as she gazed at the weapon. "What...what was that?" Getting off of the chair she was in,
she bent down and reached out a hand to her weapon.
"Hotaru! Don't touch it!" Haruka's cry filled the house, her body moving to push her daughter away from the weapon of Silence.
Haruka was too late, though, as Hotaru's hand brushed against the long grip of the weapon. She ignored the intake a breath from Michiru and picked up the glave, holding the weapon that towered over her in both hands. "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong, Haruka-
papa."
Gazing down at her daughter, Haruka's worried face said all that needed to be said. "Hotaru-chan, do not do stuff like that. It could have hurt you."
"No it couldn't," came Setsuna's reply as she walked into the room. The jeans and lower part of the t-shirt she was wearing were stained with her tea as she moved from the kitchen to her room. "The Glaive will never harm her, it needs her to fulfill its destiny. The rest of us aren't so secure, though."
"What's that supposed to mean, Setsuna? And what the hell is going on?" By the stress in her voice, it was clear that the Senshi of Uranus was far more upset then the volume of her voice would have led others to believe.
"Despite what you think, Haruka," Setsuna's calm reply came as she disappeared from view, "I do not know everything."
Looking at the Glaive for a moment, Hotaru frowned in concentration and the weapon disappeared. At the look Michiru was giving her, Hotaru gave a small, almost timid shrug. "I couldn't leave it out, and Setsuna-mama said it wouldn't hurt me."
Giving an almost tired sigh, Michiru nodded and sat back down on the couch. "Despite what Setsuna said, I have a bad feeling."
Haruka gave a short nod as she returned to her lover. "Yeah,
I know what you mean."
Setsuna stood quietly in her room, her eyes gazing distantly into the closet that she was digging though for a clean shirt, her mind not anywhere near the task at hand. Her hands rifled past various dress shirts taking in their style even as she thought of the events downstairs. Despite what most people claimed about superstitions, a breaking teacup wasn't important. It meant nothing more then the material that was used to make it was finally deteriorating. The Silent Glaive was far more important then a teacup.
Never had she heard of the weapon reacting in the way it had.
Not during Karinna's lifetime, not in any of the history books she had read, and never in the teachings of her predecessor. It was yet another sign that things were changing beyond what she had planned.
She only hoped that the changes weren't going to harm those around her. Perhaps, she thought as she moved to look out her window with her shirt now on, it was time to see if she could find her old friends. She had yet bothered to take the time it would be needed to find her Knights, as events moved too fast for her spare the energy.
With the need for Sailor Moon so low at this point, perhaps a true vacation from being the Guardian of Time would be good for her.
Besides, she thought as she continued to gaze outside, it would do her good to find out how they had dealt with a new life.
There was a blackness surrounding him, darkness not too unlike what he drew upon to go into battle with. Most people when confronted with a darkness such as he was would let their minds call upon fear,
trying to do whatever was possible to pull the person out of the blackness. He, however, reveled in it, it was safety; it was sanctuary. Yet, he knew he couldn't remain there. To do so would be to loose himself to the darkness, to fall to a point where he wouldn't control it, but it would control he. He let his mind rise, going above the darkness that was his safety and back to the light of the world, where he would have to face true demons once more. The work of a Knight was never done.
The sapphire irises of his eyes peaked ever so slightly through his now only mostly closed eyes as he took in his situation.
He was on his back, staring at some ceiling made of what seemed to be a rather fragile substance. His body ached all over, and there was the dull throbbing of a headache caused by exhaustion. He hadn't felt like this since he had gone solo against those demonic assassins Queen Serenity had raised while he had been pretending to be a student and watching over the Saturn Royal Family. That at least explained what had happened to him. He'd drawn upon more strength from the Void then his body was capable of handling. Briefly, as he heard someone speaking a strange language he didn't understand, he wondered what army he'd had to fight to end up in his current state.
"Ranma!"
With the call of his name and more words in that unknown language coming after, Ranma finally opened his eyes all the way and sat up, turning his body so he could take in who was in the room with him. None of the faces were familiar to his cold eyes, and he kept a weary gaze as they continued to babble in their own language, the only recognizable word being his own name occasionally spoken.
Taking in more of the room as he let his situation slowly sink in, Ranma worked to keep his face expressionless. Nothing in the room seemed to be magical in any nature, and the science level of what he saw was very low tech. There were a few charts displaying the muscle and bone structure of the body, and he could see a skeleton in one corner. "Great," he muttered to himself, "some backwater village on one of Jupiter's moons, probably. How the hell did I get here?"
At some more excited words from the various people around him,
Ranma let out a tired sigh. "Look, I don't understand what the hell you're saying. Would you go get someone who speaks common?"
A girl with short hair pushed her way towards him and practically screamed in his face. Raising an eyebrow at the girl,
Ranma replied, "Look, I don't understand what you're saying."
Reaching out with an arm, he pushed the girl aside and stood up,
ignoring the slight wobble in his legs. Look at everyone in the room,
he continued, "We're not getting anywhere with this. I'm going to go find someone who speaks common. I'll get back to you for payment later, not that you understand what I'm saying anyway."
As he moved to the one door in the room, the girl with short,
blue black hair stepped in front of him, screaming again. Ranma gave the girl an annoyed look as he reached out to push her aside. "Get out of my way."
Even as he began to move the girl aside, her fist lashed out for his head. Not even thinking about the actions he was taking,
Ranma dropped to on knee letting the fist pass over him. Just as it had passed his head, he came up again, this time not speaking but instead stepping forward and driving his clenched fist into the girl's stomach. His eyes held a touch of anger in his otherwise emotionless face, as the female seemed to ball around his punch before he let her drop off his fist and to the ground. He frowned as he looked at the girl for a moment longer before heading for the door. That punch had been weaker then he thought it would be.
Deciding not to give it anymore thought, he pulled open the door and walked out into the night air. Stretching his arms over his head, he glanced around the street he found himself on as he turned to his left and started walking. Like the inside of the building he had found himself in, the street was likewise old tech. As he slid into the shadows of an ally, he took a look at the construction of the wall and frowned a bit. It wasn't like anything he'd really seen before.
Hearing his name called again from the direction of the building he'd just left, Ranma turned around and frowned. He really didn't want to get into a fight at the moment, and the people inside were probably upset at what he did to the screaming bitch. Even as the old woman on the walking stick bounced around the corner, Ranma reached out to the darkness that surrounded him. "Death's Shadow," he whispered, as the shadows jumped to life and swallowed him whole,
leaving the old woman where she was in shock.
To Ranma's senses, the world became nothing more but shadows contrasted against pure white where in the real world the darkness was absent. In this shadow form of reality, the strength of his legs wouldn't let him take even the smallest step. Instead, it was his force of will and the powers he drew from the Void that allowed him to streak from one patch of darkness to the next.
This wasn't to say that he was safe in any measure. Every time he passed through the points of white, searing pain racked both his mind and his body, as though he was running through a raging fire.
The threads of black were no safer, as every moment he entered them,
they reached out with grips of ice, trying to drag him away into the darkness, to devour him and leave nothing left.
Though it felt like an eternity to Ranma, it was no more then a few seconds when he entered another patch of darkness, and forced himself back to the world. Both his will and his powers reached out to reality and gripped it, and pulled himself back from the darkness.
He stumbled his way out of a shadow blocks from where he had started and collapsed, his legs drained of strength and his chest heaving.
What, he wondered to himself, did he do to end up like this?
With a groan and what effort he could muster, Ranma pushed against the ground he was on and managed to roll himself over so that he could turn his gaze to the sky. Upon seeing a small, quarter moon in the sky, Ranma blinked twice and painfully raised one of his arms to rub at his eyes for a moment before taking another look at the sky.
Despite what he had perhaps hoped in the back of his mind, the moon continued to hang against the stars.
As he gave a tired sigh and allowed himself to drift off to sleep, he could only wonder just what the hell had happened to Earth.
And as he dropped into a restful sleep, he dreamt of battles gone by,
of friends lost, and of a new hope he had tried to help create.
As the moon was rising over the world and a soft wind blew through the sky, a young woman knelt within her grandfather's shrine before the sacred flame that was contained within. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was even as she meditated before the center of her spirituality. "Sacred Fire," Rei spoke quietly as she came away from her center, "what can you show me tonight?"
She had been asking the Fire this question for years, and it had only very rarely responded to it. When it wished to show her something, it did so without her request, or only when she asked for something specific. It seemed to her, however, that the Fire would remain quiet when asked of the future in general.
It was for this reason that her eyes snapped open the moment her ears heard the fire before her suddenly roar. She gazed deep into the depths of the fire as slowly images began to flash before her eyes. Dark figures slaughtering dozens of people at a party, Queen Serenity, whom she had only seen briefly in past memories before,
pacing and her face in a rage, a party and the face of a handsome man near her own, and lastly, the image of a child on an alter that looked much like the one the Flame was burning in, with her chest cut apart and the blood running toward her hands.
At the last sight, Rei couldn't keep back the scream that came to her throat. She tried to push herself to her feet, only to fall back on her rear as her sock covered feet pushed at the wooden floor to slide her away from the flame. She squeezed her eyes shut as hard as she could, but even in the darkness behind her lids, the image of the child's mutilated body was visible.
By the time her grandfather reached her, Rei had her face buried in her hands and she was a sobbing wreck. He tried what he could to get her to respond to him, or to do anything more then hold her own legs and cry. He tried soothing words, holding her, patting her back, and everything else he could think of to get his raven-hair granddaughter to come around. Finally, he shook his head and left the room.
Rei, for her part, had never even noticed her grandfather's presence. She felt trapped by the image she saw, every detail of it flowing into her mind and seemingly assaulting every fiber of her being. What was worse, however, was that she could feel some small part of her mind, something locked deep away, take some form of joy out of the image. It was from that feeling that she had blocked out the world as the tears streamed down her face.
His emerald eyes blinked open as he came to, the bright lights above him causing them to water as they battled to focus. His head felt like it had been split open so that fire ants could be allowed to run around inside, and his hands were in searing pain. As he fought to filter out the light a voice from one side asked him something he couldn't understand.
Turning his head to where the voice had come from, he gazed at an older woman, perhaps, he thought, in her two hundreds and from Venus, dressed in a white uniform of some sort. He focused on her lips as she spoke strange words again, but even in trying to read them he failed to make any sense out of what was coming out of her mouth.
"I'm afraid I don't understand you."
Some more words of gibberish came from the woman, and he let out a tired sigh. Wherever he was, this person apparently didn't understand Royal Common. That, he felt, was strange given how Serenity's grandmother had insisted that everyone in the system be able to at least speak a enough to get by anywhere else. Closing his eyes for a moment, he spoke again. "I speak Royal Common," changing languages, he continued. "Plutonian Standard," changing for the third and final time he finished with "and Terran Standard."
The woman continued to stare at him blankly before turning and leaving the room. Shaking his head, he turned his gaze to take in his surroundings. He was lying on a bed with white sheets within a white room with a single decent sized window. There were a couple of needles stuck in his arm attached to a machine by his bed. He didn't feel drowsy or drugged up, so he ignored them for the moment, taking the time instead to try to see something outside the window. However,
except for the fact that it seemed to be dark out, he couldn't tell one way or another about where he was.
Grabbing the sheets of his bed, the young man tossed them aside and stood up on slightly wobbling legs. Looking again at the needles in his arm, he quickly pulled them out, ignoring the bit of blood that dripped down his arm. He'd been hurt far worse plenty of times before; a few needle holes weren't going to effect him. Moving himself to the window, he turned his gaze out of it and to the sky,
leaning against the wall to help support himself.
His eyes took in the constellations that covered the night sky, but for the life of him, he couldn't make any out. None of the stars seemed to be in the right place for the Sol system, and that started to worry him. Glancing back toward the wooden door that sealed him from the rest of the building, he made a quick decision.
As he felt his body slowly mend, he grabbed the bed he had been sleeping on and used all of his strength to move it to block the door.
Rubbing his arms for a moment as he heard excited voice suddenly sound on the other side of the door, he turned back to the window. He wasn't sure how long he had been out, but he was certainly weaker and more lethargic then he had been in his entire life. As the door began to shake and rattle as those on the other side attempted to open it, the young man frowned at the light green gown he was wearing.
While it was quite a humiliation to be dressed in such, he wasn't going to let that alone stop him.
Moving back to the window, he quickly began searching over it,
and after a few moments of failing to find a latch to allow him to open it, he simply grabbed the machine that he had been attached to,
and used it to shatter the glass. There was a pause at the door as those on the other side stopped their attempts to force it. He ignored that, however, as he grabbed the edge of the window and jumped out, allowing himself to fall into the darkness.
Even as he felt his feet slam into the concrete of the street below him, he allowed his legs to collapse and threw himself into a roll, spreading the impact over his body. While he ended up standing up with cuts and bruises over a large portion of his body, none of his joints felt sprained, and he hadn't heard any bones break. With his escape made, he used the years of training he had to vanish into the city night.
"Rei-chan! Rei-chan, stop crying!"
The cries from the slightly high-pitched voice slowly began to pierce the veil of horror that was surrounding her. As Rei slowly struggled to gain control of her self, to raise her head away from the image of the dead girl she kept seeing before her eyes, and return to the real world. More cries came and she could now feel arms on her shoulders shaking her, moving the image, distorting it and clearing it from her mind. Finally, her tear streaked and horror filled face rose from her arms to look at the face of Usagi Tsukino.
"Rei-chan, what's wrong? What happened to you?" The concern was obvious on Usagi's face as she did her best to try to comfort her friend with a hug now that Rei was responding slightly.
"It..." Rei was hesitant to speak of what she saw, not wanting to disturb Usagi with what it was. The pause in her speech continued as she continued to fight against the urge to speak and share her fear, but eventually, the comfort that Usagi's presence alone was bringing her quickly melting her resistance. This was the person she had fought for, had died for. "It was a vision, Usagi-
chan. Something...horrible."
Usagi let go of Rei, though she took up the other girl's hands as she looked imploringly into her eyes. "What did you see?" Her face was filled with trust, concern, and a deep desire to help her friend get through this.
Rei took a moment, knowing that Usagi at times like this could be as solid as anyone in the world, and rather start with the horror;
she started from the beginning of her vision. "I saw a party and these dark shapes killing the people there."
"Oh no, that's not good. What do you think it was? Is it something that's going to attack us again? I don't want to fight!"
Usagi, now looking on the verge of tears, the mature look she'd had when comforting Rei now gone and replaced by the ever-visible crybaby.
"That wasn't it, Usagi-chan."
"There's more?"
Sighing at the look that came over her friend's face, Rei looked down at the floor again. "Yes, there's more. I saw Serenity,"
Rei paused and corrected herself, "Queen Serenity, and she looked very pissed. Then there was this guy I saw dancing with me."
"Was he cute?" The question came before Usagi could think better of it. And, after a brief second she shrugged that bit of thought off as well. A cute guy was definitely better then some black thing killing people.
"Yes, no, he was wearing a mask, I couldn't tell." Rei answered the question before she could find it in her to stop.
"A mask? It better not have been my Mamo-chan!" At the thought that her friend was having visions of HER boyfriend with her at a party, Usagi instantly became jealous over the fact.
"It wasn't Mamoru, Usagi. I would have recognized him if it was. For one thing, the mask was completely wrong."
"Huh, not Mamo-chan?" Usagi thought this over for a moment and then shrugged. "What was the mask then?"
"I don't know. It was black and like some kind of bird." Rei shrugged as she continued. "I didn't get to see it all that long.
Then the bad vision came." Before Usagi could interrupt, Rei continued, "There was this child on this alter, and it was bleeding...all over the place."
"Oh Rei, that's so horrible. What do you think it means?"
"I...don't know." Rei shook her head. "It felt...old,
though. Like it had already happened." Sighing again, the young woman finally raised her head to look at her friend. "What are you doing here, though? Its late, isn't it?"
"Oh, that, your grandfather called and said you were crying.
I came over as fast as I could." Dropping her head and shrugging slightly, she pointed off to the side. "I told my parents I was spending the night. I hope you don't mind."
For a brief flash of a second, Rei wanted to lash out at her friend, claiming that she wasn't afraid of anything, but that response fled almost as soon as it arrived. "No, its fine. I'm not sure I want to be alone."
It was with a groan that Ranma forced his eyes to open. He could feel his head pounding right behind his eyes as though a heavy metal band had decided to take up residence inside his head. Pushing himself up off the ground, the pigtail young man shook his head and looked around trying to figure out where exactly he was.
"Boy! There you are! What do you think you're doing, boy!"
Groaning again, Ranma turned around in time to see his father land on the rooftop he was sitting on. "What the hell are you talking about, Old Man? And how the hell'd I end up here? Where's the forest?" Blinking for a moment as that thought came to him, Ranma couldn't keep the grimace that was forming off his face. "Damn it,
don't tell me Ryoga beat me, Old Man."
Genma blinked at his son for a moment as a frown appeared on his face. "What are you going on about, boy?"
"Where's the forest, Pop? Why the hell are we back in Nerima?"
"You don't remember, son?" The frown on Genma's face deepened as he thought over what the boy had been saying.
Ranma was quickly growing both tired of the conversation and of vague implications that Genma kept referring to. "Remember what,
Pop?"
"That you were spouting gibberish and hit Akane, boy."
"What!" Ranma's face was almost aghast at that very thought.
"I wouldn't hit the tomboy! It's not like she's a real martial artist. She couldn't handle it if I hit her."
"Son in law, there you are!"
Both Genma and Ranma turned at the cackling voice of Cologne,
both frowning as the old woman hopped toward them on her stick. "What do you want, old ghoul?" Ranma's question snapped out, his annoyance that she had taught Ryoga a technique as dangerous as the breaking point still running through him.
"You are in grave danger, Son in Law. We need to speak."
"What the hell are you going on about, you old bat?" Ranma grimaced, the pain in his head swelling as Cologne hit him with her stick. "What'd you do that for!?"
"Respect your elders, boy. Especially when they could save your life."
Genma then moved, placing himself between Cologne and his son.
While not normally one to place himself in harms way, something about everything that was going on was making his normally lazy brain work.
"What are you talking about, old woman? What danger is my son in?"
"I followed Son in Law after he fled the good doctor's place,
while the rest of you were crying over the Tendo daughter. Son in Law here used a technique to escape me, one that I seemed slightly familiar to me." Hopping around Genma so that she could see Ranma,
Cologne continued, "After doing some research in some of my scrolls, I came across a brief mention of the technique, one that allows shadows to be used for transportation. It is a demonic technique." Turning her gaze from Ranma back to Genma, Cologne concluded with, "Son in Law seems to be possessed."
"Possessed!?" If he had been standing, Ranma would have stumbled back in shock. As it was he simply sat there, thinking about what had happened to him during the fight with Ryoga. "Hey, old ghoul, when I was fighting Ryoga, I heard someone talking to me."
Looking at the young martial artist for a moment, Cologne blinked once and peered hard at him. "What were you told, Son in Law?"
"It told me how to beat him, and showed me how. And I saw something, and then I just started doing some kinda technique. But it felt...wrong."
Gazing at Ranma for a few more moments, Cologne finally replied, "This is not good, Son in Law. This demon has much control over you if it is able to act this way. In the morning we will have to make a journey."
"What are you talking about, Old Woman? The boy isn't going anywhere!" Placing himself once more between his son and Cologne,
Genma glared at the suggestion. "The boy must marry Akane! You will not take him anywhere."
Shaking her head, Cologne, replied tiredly, "Son in Law cannot improve my village if he is possessed, and I can do nothing for him but set some wards that may help." Thinking for a moment, Cologne shook her head. "Come with us if you want. Bring the Tendo girl as well if you wish. We must travel to the temples of this land and find someone who can exorcise this demon from Son in Law. Just know that no one who comes with us is safe if the demon gains control once more."
He waited quietly in the shadows as his prey stumbled toward him. He'd been waiting hours for someone of his rough size and build to pass by this night, to give him a set of clothes that wouldn't stand out in a crowd. He could have attempted to break into a store and steal a set of clothes, but with how low tech everything around him was, he wasn't sure that he could actually bypass any alarms.
And so he dropped back into his childhood job, that of a petty criminal. Sure he wasn't going to pick the guy's pocket, but it was close enough it brought back memories. Pick a mark, watch it for any type of set up. Let the mark approach, let him pass, and move behind and take what you want.
Only this time, what he wanted he couldn't get without a fight. The only real question was whether or not he would let it be a fair fight. The answer to that became obvious, as the drunk walked past his ally, and was casually brained with an old, metal pipe.
Quickly dragging the man back into the ally, he began to strip his target, leaving the poor man only his underwear. That was something even he wasn't desperate to take. Within moments, he was dressed in a pair of black pants and a white shirt, and walked calmly out of the ally. He traveled for a few blocks down the street,
observing the reactions he was getting to the few people he passed,
and noticing no alarm, he assumed he had chosen a decent target.
Moving into yet another ally, he sighed and attempted to stretch out his senses, to feel the only other person in the solar system who was like him. It was hard, and the feeling was extremely faint, but he eventually gained a vague sense of direction to travel in. Turning in the direction and opening his eyes, he quickly lost his sense of where his brother was. But it didn't matter too much.
He had a direction to start with.
"Okay, Tomas, lets see if you've still got it."
Setsuna walked quietly down the stairs, her long legs automatically seeking out the points on the stair case that wouldn't creek under her weight. She'd just looked in on Hotaru, who was sound asleep and apparently dreaming something happy by the slight smile that had been on her face. She had been slightly worried at placing the Senshi of Saturn into the care of Neptune and Uranus, given it had been Haruka's past incarnation that had killed Karrina.
Things had turned out well, however. The Senshi didn't know what the past was really like, and the vast majority of their old hatreds were completely gone, and the few that remained had been reduced to the occasional petty insult. Things, it seemed, were good,
and from what she had learned from her potential future self, things there would be all right as well.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Setsuna turned through a small doorway on her left and walked into the living room of the Senshi's home. She shook her head slightly at the sight of Haruka and Michiru huddled together on the couch, enjoying a bit of private time.
The relationship they had didn't bother Setsuna any, she just wished that they would do such things in the privacy of their bedroom.
Walking up behind the pair, Setsuna coughed into her hand.
The pair didn't exactly jump away, but they did separate fairly quickly and turned to look at their roommate. "What do you want, Setsuna?" Haruka questioned her friend.
"A favor, actually."
"Oh?" Raising an eyebrow, Haruka gave a fast grin. "Do you finally want to join in?"
Setsuna's replied in a deadpan voice, "No, I don't. This is something else entirely."
Haruka gave a mock frown as Michiru asked, "What is it?"
"I need a ride in the morning into Ginza."
Haruka blinked at her friend for a moment and then shrugged.
"Sure, that's not a problem. Why do you need to go there, though?"
Setsuna gave the pair a slightly mysterious smile. "There's some research I need to do there. There are a couple of people I want to see if I can find."
Michiru blinked at that for a moment before asking, "Can't you just use the Time Gates for that?"
"As a matter of fact, no I can't."
"Really?" Haruka suddenly perked up at the sight of Setsuna stumped in something. "Wow, why not? Is there some chaos thing that keeps you from seeing these people? Or maybe it has some kind of destiny thing where they're so tied to you that you can't see them.
Come on, tell me why!"
"Nothing so dramatic or pathetic as that, Haruka. Its simply that the Gates are not as strong as they used to be. Why else would I have to go through Chibi-Usa and her Luna ball to speak to Usagi? Why didn't I get to Hotaru and protect her from Mistress Nine? Because I couldn't use the Gates to aid them."
Haruka and Michiru simply blinked at that and thought it over for a few moments. Finally, Haruka replied, "Oh."
"Right. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow." With that, Setsuna turned and headed for her room.
Author's Notes: Man, this was a long time in coming. Glad to finally get it done. The real problem with it was getting one of the scenes in the middle written. It took me forever to figure out how I wanted to do it. Next chapter, stuff happens. ;
Anyway, below are the two attacks from TBP that were used in this chapter:
Death's Shadow: Ranma pulls shadows around him to swallow him up and take him into the void. From there he can emerge from any shadow. He must do so quickly, however, because extended time in the void will cause him to go insane.
Black Fireball: Tomas gathers black flames from the Void and uses them to create a fireball. Much more powerful than those created with red flames from the astral plain.
Disclaimer: The characters, settings, and places of "Ranma ½" belong to Rumiko Takahashi. The characters, settings, and places of "Sailor Moon"
belong to Naoko Takeuchi. The events, situations, and words of this particular piece of Fanfiction belong to me and are in no way part of the original stories created by the two very talented people mentioned before. There is no profit being made off of this story, so if you would be so good as to not sue me, I'd be very grateful.
Chapter 1 Loose Minds
"Fast Break!"
With his back to Ryoga Hibiki, Ranma Saotome spring forward and off into the woods, his mind hoping that as his father taught him,
the surprise would by him a bit of time. Putting a number of trees between himself and his opponent, Ranma took to the air, his powerful legs carrying him to a branch of a nearby tree before he crouched down to watch and think. With his head slightly bowed, his black bangs fluffed into his startling blue eyes, and the short pigtail he had in back draped down his neck.
The Saotome Secret Technique was one of the more challenging ones his father had taught him. It was hard for him to swallow his pride enough to actually run away from his opponents, but on top of that he had to start coming up with a plan on how to defeat them. Or rather, how to defeat Ryoga after the training the Old Ghoul Cologne had given him.
"Damn it," Ranma muttered under his breath as Ryoga ran into view. "What to do?" As Ryoga continued to run, Ranma trailed the other boy from the trees, coming to a stop and Ryoga did. "How do I beat this guy?" He continued in a whisper.
'I can show you how, since you're having trouble.'
"Wha.." Ranma barely managed to keep his voice down, his head whipping around trying to find whoever it was that spoke to him.
"Where the hell are ya?" His voice was still quiet, though now it had also turned harsh.
'Great, not only can't you fight, but you've got memory problems too.'
"What the hell's that suppose to mean!"
'Forget it,' the voice replied, still rather calm about the whole thing. 'Do you want to win or not?'
Ranma was starting to grow tired of the whole mess. "Of course I wanna!"
'Well then...do so...'
As the voice trailed off, Ranma was forced to blink and his eyes widened as a black figure suddenly seemed to cover Ryoga. The black figure was faded, though, like an image from a school projector on one of the multi-stained walls in Furinkan. But as his eyes took in the scene, another feeling took over him, as though he was being guided.
Slowly he stood up in the tree, his right arm rising slightly so that his open palm was facing Ryoga. As he did so, he felt a blackness begin to surround him. It wasn't something tangible, just a terrible feeling that what he was doing was wrong. Even as the feeling grew worse, Ranma found himself somehow forced to reach into the depths of his soul, and what he found there scared him. It was a darkness far worse then what the Neko-ken had done to him, but as this darkness touched him, the fear faded and a sense of strength grew. As his sense of strength continued to increase, the internal darkness slowly became a tangible ball of energy resting against his out stretched hand.
As the dark power slowly grew to the size of a tennis ball,
the image of the forest seemed to change before his eyes. While he could still see the trees and rocks of the forest, vague images of walls began to appear, seeming to pass harmlessly through them. While the sun was shining down into the forest, swirling, dark red clouds seemed to cover up the source of light. The strange sites, however,
were unable to shake Ranma from the path he had chosen.
As he stared at Ryoga, the lost boy suddenly spun around his gaze moving up to the tree and lock onto Ranma. His face was a blank mask to Ranma's eyes, however, as the ghostly image that covered the other boy blocked out his face. And then a name entered Ranma's mind,
not a name for the boy, but a name for what he was doing. "Kokuei Nagarebosshi!"
The dark ball of energy ripped from Ranma's hand, traveling at a blinding speed and slamming into the fanged young man before he had time to react. Ryoga stiffened almost immediately, a scream tearing from his throat and echoing through the woods as Ranma's attack did damage to his muscles and organs. Then, all at once, Ryoga collapsed to the ground, his eyes rolling up to the back of his head and a small trickle of blood coming from his mouth.
Ranma managed to remain standing on the branch for a few moments longer, his mind and heart screaming in fear and rage over what had just happened while the energy kept him cold, calm, and still. The battle of dual personalities lasted only a moment longer before Ranma's body gave in to the pain it had felt in unleashing the attack, and collapsed from the stress, letting the boy drift into unconsciousness even as he fell from the tree.
His back pressed against a brick wall, Keikan swallowed hard as he tried to see through his swollen eye. The little he could see did nothing to improve his situation. The small truth he could admit to himself was that he really wished he couldn't see at all. At least then he wouldn't know when he was about to get pounded into the ground. Again.
He hated Japan. He really, really hated his mother's home country. All he ever got were racist comments, whispers behind his back, and baseball bats in his face. It was the last one that he was experiencing today.
"Get up you damn half breed! At least show some honor, you piece of garbage!"
Since the first problem always came with the other two, Keikan had stopped counting it alone long ago. Again through his nearly closed eyes, he took in the scene. Four large boys, probably college students he thought, had him backed into an ally. The softest weapon that they were carrying was the wooden two by four one toward the back had. While the situation was familiar, it wasn't any more pleasant then any of the other times.
"You can kill them," a voice whispered to him.
"What?" Keikan muttered to himself, looking around but seeing no one but his tormentors.
"You can kill them, if you'll take the power."
"Kill them?" Keikan whispered to himself. "I can't do that."
One of the boys facing him began to laugh. "Oh, he's going to kill us? How funny! I think he's lost his mind."
"I guess we should put the fool out of his misery. Its for the best," replied the one on the right.
"They'll kill you if you don't get them first, and you have someone to find."
"Someone to find?" Keikan asked, almost in a daze. He saw the other boys approach him, and his fear began growing.
"Do you want to live or die?" the voice asked him.
"To live..." came the trembling reply from the young man sure he was about to die.
"Well then...do so..."
An image seemed to form over the boys. No longer were they some punks dressed in street clothes, but now they were shadowy figures screaming death to him. The knowledge seemed to hit him like a bullet, and his hands came up instantly, the flat of his palms facing the four boys cloaked in darkness. Even as his fear grew, a power seemed to swell in him, pushing that fear aside and bringing out a feeling of strength.
Rippling black flames formed along his hands, quickly condensing into a floating ball of fire. The four boys had stopped in shock and fear as Keikan's face went from one of fear to one of rage.
"Black Fireball!"
The name of the attack tore from his throat, and the attack shot forward, slamming into the lead boy. The flames quickly exploded outward, engulfing the rest of the gang and shooting out of the ally,
never once moving in Keikan's direction.
As the flames cleared, Keikan finally got a good look at his attackers, their bodies black, charred, and clearly dead. The sight was slow to register in his mind, but as soon as it had, he began throwing up. That lasted only a few moments, however, as the strain the event had put on his mind caused him to black out.
Sitting in the living room with a book on her lap, Hotaru Tomoe gave a slight smile. The windows were open and a gentle summer breeze was drifting through the living room in the home she shared with her 'parents', Michiru and Haruka. The two older girls were sitting on the couch just enjoying the family time and relaxing quiet in the world. Things had been peaceful for the past few months since Galaxia had been dealt with. Everything seemed to be moving smoothly toward the creation of Crystal Tokyo, and now the Sailor Senshi could just spend their time enjoying life.
A peace like this was something that none of the Senshi had had since before they had gained their powers and been tasked with protecting the Earth. Most of the Senshi were enjoying the break from one major crisis to the next by shopping, studying, or boy hunting.
One, however, had taken to the peace in a way none of them had expected.
Turning her head, Hotaru glanced toward the kitchen where the soft sound of classical music coming from the radio was drifting through the house from. She could make out the long green hair that drifted down the back of the Sailor Pluto, or rather Setsuna Meio as she wasn't in her Senshi guise. Since that incident, she had taken to staying with the other 'Outer' Senshi rather then watching over the Gates of Time. She smiled, she laughed, and she stopped being so mysterious. She was acting like a normal twenty year old woman would,
which fit with how she looked. No one had been brave enough to ask Setsuna what had caused the change in her. Everyone was afraid that if they asked she might revert to her old self, and then they'd never know.
Turning back to her book, Hotaru smiled in content. Life was good.
As is common in the universe, when someone of importance thinks that, everything starts to go wrong. The first sign of trouble was when the handle of Setsuna's tea cup broke, dropping the rest of the cup into her lap, causing her to swear for a brief moment in pain.
While one sign alone could be dramatic, though not as much as Setsuna swearing, the Silent Glaive suddenly appearing before Hotaru and rippling with black energy caught the attention of everyone. The weapon floated in mid air for no more the a few seconds before the energy suddenly winked out of existence and it dropped to the ground with a dull clang, the blade falling away from everyone.
Hotaru's voice was trembling slightly as she gazed at the weapon. "What...what was that?" Getting off of the chair she was in,
she bent down and reached out a hand to her weapon.
"Hotaru! Don't touch it!" Haruka's cry filled the house, her body moving to push her daughter away from the weapon of Silence.
Haruka was too late, though, as Hotaru's hand brushed against the long grip of the weapon. She ignored the intake a breath from Michiru and picked up the glave, holding the weapon that towered over her in both hands. "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong, Haruka-
papa."
Gazing down at her daughter, Haruka's worried face said all that needed to be said. "Hotaru-chan, do not do stuff like that. It could have hurt you."
"No it couldn't," came Setsuna's reply as she walked into the room. The jeans and lower part of the t-shirt she was wearing were stained with her tea as she moved from the kitchen to her room. "The Glaive will never harm her, it needs her to fulfill its destiny. The rest of us aren't so secure, though."
"What's that supposed to mean, Setsuna? And what the hell is going on?" By the stress in her voice, it was clear that the Senshi of Uranus was far more upset then the volume of her voice would have led others to believe.
"Despite what you think, Haruka," Setsuna's calm reply came as she disappeared from view, "I do not know everything."
Looking at the Glaive for a moment, Hotaru frowned in concentration and the weapon disappeared. At the look Michiru was giving her, Hotaru gave a small, almost timid shrug. "I couldn't leave it out, and Setsuna-mama said it wouldn't hurt me."
Giving an almost tired sigh, Michiru nodded and sat back down on the couch. "Despite what Setsuna said, I have a bad feeling."
Haruka gave a short nod as she returned to her lover. "Yeah,
I know what you mean."
Setsuna stood quietly in her room, her eyes gazing distantly into the closet that she was digging though for a clean shirt, her mind not anywhere near the task at hand. Her hands rifled past various dress shirts taking in their style even as she thought of the events downstairs. Despite what most people claimed about superstitions, a breaking teacup wasn't important. It meant nothing more then the material that was used to make it was finally deteriorating. The Silent Glaive was far more important then a teacup.
Never had she heard of the weapon reacting in the way it had.
Not during Karinna's lifetime, not in any of the history books she had read, and never in the teachings of her predecessor. It was yet another sign that things were changing beyond what she had planned.
She only hoped that the changes weren't going to harm those around her. Perhaps, she thought as she moved to look out her window with her shirt now on, it was time to see if she could find her old friends. She had yet bothered to take the time it would be needed to find her Knights, as events moved too fast for her spare the energy.
With the need for Sailor Moon so low at this point, perhaps a true vacation from being the Guardian of Time would be good for her.
Besides, she thought as she continued to gaze outside, it would do her good to find out how they had dealt with a new life.
There was a blackness surrounding him, darkness not too unlike what he drew upon to go into battle with. Most people when confronted with a darkness such as he was would let their minds call upon fear,
trying to do whatever was possible to pull the person out of the blackness. He, however, reveled in it, it was safety; it was sanctuary. Yet, he knew he couldn't remain there. To do so would be to loose himself to the darkness, to fall to a point where he wouldn't control it, but it would control he. He let his mind rise, going above the darkness that was his safety and back to the light of the world, where he would have to face true demons once more. The work of a Knight was never done.
The sapphire irises of his eyes peaked ever so slightly through his now only mostly closed eyes as he took in his situation.
He was on his back, staring at some ceiling made of what seemed to be a rather fragile substance. His body ached all over, and there was the dull throbbing of a headache caused by exhaustion. He hadn't felt like this since he had gone solo against those demonic assassins Queen Serenity had raised while he had been pretending to be a student and watching over the Saturn Royal Family. That at least explained what had happened to him. He'd drawn upon more strength from the Void then his body was capable of handling. Briefly, as he heard someone speaking a strange language he didn't understand, he wondered what army he'd had to fight to end up in his current state.
"Ranma!"
With the call of his name and more words in that unknown language coming after, Ranma finally opened his eyes all the way and sat up, turning his body so he could take in who was in the room with him. None of the faces were familiar to his cold eyes, and he kept a weary gaze as they continued to babble in their own language, the only recognizable word being his own name occasionally spoken.
Taking in more of the room as he let his situation slowly sink in, Ranma worked to keep his face expressionless. Nothing in the room seemed to be magical in any nature, and the science level of what he saw was very low tech. There were a few charts displaying the muscle and bone structure of the body, and he could see a skeleton in one corner. "Great," he muttered to himself, "some backwater village on one of Jupiter's moons, probably. How the hell did I get here?"
At some more excited words from the various people around him,
Ranma let out a tired sigh. "Look, I don't understand what the hell you're saying. Would you go get someone who speaks common?"
A girl with short hair pushed her way towards him and practically screamed in his face. Raising an eyebrow at the girl,
Ranma replied, "Look, I don't understand what you're saying."
Reaching out with an arm, he pushed the girl aside and stood up,
ignoring the slight wobble in his legs. Look at everyone in the room,
he continued, "We're not getting anywhere with this. I'm going to go find someone who speaks common. I'll get back to you for payment later, not that you understand what I'm saying anyway."
As he moved to the one door in the room, the girl with short,
blue black hair stepped in front of him, screaming again. Ranma gave the girl an annoyed look as he reached out to push her aside. "Get out of my way."
Even as he began to move the girl aside, her fist lashed out for his head. Not even thinking about the actions he was taking,
Ranma dropped to on knee letting the fist pass over him. Just as it had passed his head, he came up again, this time not speaking but instead stepping forward and driving his clenched fist into the girl's stomach. His eyes held a touch of anger in his otherwise emotionless face, as the female seemed to ball around his punch before he let her drop off his fist and to the ground. He frowned as he looked at the girl for a moment longer before heading for the door. That punch had been weaker then he thought it would be.
Deciding not to give it anymore thought, he pulled open the door and walked out into the night air. Stretching his arms over his head, he glanced around the street he found himself on as he turned to his left and started walking. Like the inside of the building he had found himself in, the street was likewise old tech. As he slid into the shadows of an ally, he took a look at the construction of the wall and frowned a bit. It wasn't like anything he'd really seen before.
Hearing his name called again from the direction of the building he'd just left, Ranma turned around and frowned. He really didn't want to get into a fight at the moment, and the people inside were probably upset at what he did to the screaming bitch. Even as the old woman on the walking stick bounced around the corner, Ranma reached out to the darkness that surrounded him. "Death's Shadow," he whispered, as the shadows jumped to life and swallowed him whole,
leaving the old woman where she was in shock.
To Ranma's senses, the world became nothing more but shadows contrasted against pure white where in the real world the darkness was absent. In this shadow form of reality, the strength of his legs wouldn't let him take even the smallest step. Instead, it was his force of will and the powers he drew from the Void that allowed him to streak from one patch of darkness to the next.
This wasn't to say that he was safe in any measure. Every time he passed through the points of white, searing pain racked both his mind and his body, as though he was running through a raging fire.
The threads of black were no safer, as every moment he entered them,
they reached out with grips of ice, trying to drag him away into the darkness, to devour him and leave nothing left.
Though it felt like an eternity to Ranma, it was no more then a few seconds when he entered another patch of darkness, and forced himself back to the world. Both his will and his powers reached out to reality and gripped it, and pulled himself back from the darkness.
He stumbled his way out of a shadow blocks from where he had started and collapsed, his legs drained of strength and his chest heaving.
What, he wondered to himself, did he do to end up like this?
With a groan and what effort he could muster, Ranma pushed against the ground he was on and managed to roll himself over so that he could turn his gaze to the sky. Upon seeing a small, quarter moon in the sky, Ranma blinked twice and painfully raised one of his arms to rub at his eyes for a moment before taking another look at the sky.
Despite what he had perhaps hoped in the back of his mind, the moon continued to hang against the stars.
As he gave a tired sigh and allowed himself to drift off to sleep, he could only wonder just what the hell had happened to Earth.
And as he dropped into a restful sleep, he dreamt of battles gone by,
of friends lost, and of a new hope he had tried to help create.
As the moon was rising over the world and a soft wind blew through the sky, a young woman knelt within her grandfather's shrine before the sacred flame that was contained within. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was even as she meditated before the center of her spirituality. "Sacred Fire," Rei spoke quietly as she came away from her center, "what can you show me tonight?"
She had been asking the Fire this question for years, and it had only very rarely responded to it. When it wished to show her something, it did so without her request, or only when she asked for something specific. It seemed to her, however, that the Fire would remain quiet when asked of the future in general.
It was for this reason that her eyes snapped open the moment her ears heard the fire before her suddenly roar. She gazed deep into the depths of the fire as slowly images began to flash before her eyes. Dark figures slaughtering dozens of people at a party, Queen Serenity, whom she had only seen briefly in past memories before,
pacing and her face in a rage, a party and the face of a handsome man near her own, and lastly, the image of a child on an alter that looked much like the one the Flame was burning in, with her chest cut apart and the blood running toward her hands.
At the last sight, Rei couldn't keep back the scream that came to her throat. She tried to push herself to her feet, only to fall back on her rear as her sock covered feet pushed at the wooden floor to slide her away from the flame. She squeezed her eyes shut as hard as she could, but even in the darkness behind her lids, the image of the child's mutilated body was visible.
By the time her grandfather reached her, Rei had her face buried in her hands and she was a sobbing wreck. He tried what he could to get her to respond to him, or to do anything more then hold her own legs and cry. He tried soothing words, holding her, patting her back, and everything else he could think of to get his raven-hair granddaughter to come around. Finally, he shook his head and left the room.
Rei, for her part, had never even noticed her grandfather's presence. She felt trapped by the image she saw, every detail of it flowing into her mind and seemingly assaulting every fiber of her being. What was worse, however, was that she could feel some small part of her mind, something locked deep away, take some form of joy out of the image. It was from that feeling that she had blocked out the world as the tears streamed down her face.
His emerald eyes blinked open as he came to, the bright lights above him causing them to water as they battled to focus. His head felt like it had been split open so that fire ants could be allowed to run around inside, and his hands were in searing pain. As he fought to filter out the light a voice from one side asked him something he couldn't understand.
Turning his head to where the voice had come from, he gazed at an older woman, perhaps, he thought, in her two hundreds and from Venus, dressed in a white uniform of some sort. He focused on her lips as she spoke strange words again, but even in trying to read them he failed to make any sense out of what was coming out of her mouth.
"I'm afraid I don't understand you."
Some more words of gibberish came from the woman, and he let out a tired sigh. Wherever he was, this person apparently didn't understand Royal Common. That, he felt, was strange given how Serenity's grandmother had insisted that everyone in the system be able to at least speak a enough to get by anywhere else. Closing his eyes for a moment, he spoke again. "I speak Royal Common," changing languages, he continued. "Plutonian Standard," changing for the third and final time he finished with "and Terran Standard."
The woman continued to stare at him blankly before turning and leaving the room. Shaking his head, he turned his gaze to take in his surroundings. He was lying on a bed with white sheets within a white room with a single decent sized window. There were a couple of needles stuck in his arm attached to a machine by his bed. He didn't feel drowsy or drugged up, so he ignored them for the moment, taking the time instead to try to see something outside the window. However,
except for the fact that it seemed to be dark out, he couldn't tell one way or another about where he was.
Grabbing the sheets of his bed, the young man tossed them aside and stood up on slightly wobbling legs. Looking again at the needles in his arm, he quickly pulled them out, ignoring the bit of blood that dripped down his arm. He'd been hurt far worse plenty of times before; a few needle holes weren't going to effect him. Moving himself to the window, he turned his gaze out of it and to the sky,
leaning against the wall to help support himself.
His eyes took in the constellations that covered the night sky, but for the life of him, he couldn't make any out. None of the stars seemed to be in the right place for the Sol system, and that started to worry him. Glancing back toward the wooden door that sealed him from the rest of the building, he made a quick decision.
As he felt his body slowly mend, he grabbed the bed he had been sleeping on and used all of his strength to move it to block the door.
Rubbing his arms for a moment as he heard excited voice suddenly sound on the other side of the door, he turned back to the window. He wasn't sure how long he had been out, but he was certainly weaker and more lethargic then he had been in his entire life. As the door began to shake and rattle as those on the other side attempted to open it, the young man frowned at the light green gown he was wearing.
While it was quite a humiliation to be dressed in such, he wasn't going to let that alone stop him.
Moving back to the window, he quickly began searching over it,
and after a few moments of failing to find a latch to allow him to open it, he simply grabbed the machine that he had been attached to,
and used it to shatter the glass. There was a pause at the door as those on the other side stopped their attempts to force it. He ignored that, however, as he grabbed the edge of the window and jumped out, allowing himself to fall into the darkness.
Even as he felt his feet slam into the concrete of the street below him, he allowed his legs to collapse and threw himself into a roll, spreading the impact over his body. While he ended up standing up with cuts and bruises over a large portion of his body, none of his joints felt sprained, and he hadn't heard any bones break. With his escape made, he used the years of training he had to vanish into the city night.
"Rei-chan! Rei-chan, stop crying!"
The cries from the slightly high-pitched voice slowly began to pierce the veil of horror that was surrounding her. As Rei slowly struggled to gain control of her self, to raise her head away from the image of the dead girl she kept seeing before her eyes, and return to the real world. More cries came and she could now feel arms on her shoulders shaking her, moving the image, distorting it and clearing it from her mind. Finally, her tear streaked and horror filled face rose from her arms to look at the face of Usagi Tsukino.
"Rei-chan, what's wrong? What happened to you?" The concern was obvious on Usagi's face as she did her best to try to comfort her friend with a hug now that Rei was responding slightly.
"It..." Rei was hesitant to speak of what she saw, not wanting to disturb Usagi with what it was. The pause in her speech continued as she continued to fight against the urge to speak and share her fear, but eventually, the comfort that Usagi's presence alone was bringing her quickly melting her resistance. This was the person she had fought for, had died for. "It was a vision, Usagi-
chan. Something...horrible."
Usagi let go of Rei, though she took up the other girl's hands as she looked imploringly into her eyes. "What did you see?" Her face was filled with trust, concern, and a deep desire to help her friend get through this.
Rei took a moment, knowing that Usagi at times like this could be as solid as anyone in the world, and rather start with the horror;
she started from the beginning of her vision. "I saw a party and these dark shapes killing the people there."
"Oh no, that's not good. What do you think it was? Is it something that's going to attack us again? I don't want to fight!"
Usagi, now looking on the verge of tears, the mature look she'd had when comforting Rei now gone and replaced by the ever-visible crybaby.
"That wasn't it, Usagi-chan."
"There's more?"
Sighing at the look that came over her friend's face, Rei looked down at the floor again. "Yes, there's more. I saw Serenity,"
Rei paused and corrected herself, "Queen Serenity, and she looked very pissed. Then there was this guy I saw dancing with me."
"Was he cute?" The question came before Usagi could think better of it. And, after a brief second she shrugged that bit of thought off as well. A cute guy was definitely better then some black thing killing people.
"Yes, no, he was wearing a mask, I couldn't tell." Rei answered the question before she could find it in her to stop.
"A mask? It better not have been my Mamo-chan!" At the thought that her friend was having visions of HER boyfriend with her at a party, Usagi instantly became jealous over the fact.
"It wasn't Mamoru, Usagi. I would have recognized him if it was. For one thing, the mask was completely wrong."
"Huh, not Mamo-chan?" Usagi thought this over for a moment and then shrugged. "What was the mask then?"
"I don't know. It was black and like some kind of bird." Rei shrugged as she continued. "I didn't get to see it all that long.
Then the bad vision came." Before Usagi could interrupt, Rei continued, "There was this child on this alter, and it was bleeding...all over the place."
"Oh Rei, that's so horrible. What do you think it means?"
"I...don't know." Rei shook her head. "It felt...old,
though. Like it had already happened." Sighing again, the young woman finally raised her head to look at her friend. "What are you doing here, though? Its late, isn't it?"
"Oh, that, your grandfather called and said you were crying.
I came over as fast as I could." Dropping her head and shrugging slightly, she pointed off to the side. "I told my parents I was spending the night. I hope you don't mind."
For a brief flash of a second, Rei wanted to lash out at her friend, claiming that she wasn't afraid of anything, but that response fled almost as soon as it arrived. "No, its fine. I'm not sure I want to be alone."
It was with a groan that Ranma forced his eyes to open. He could feel his head pounding right behind his eyes as though a heavy metal band had decided to take up residence inside his head. Pushing himself up off the ground, the pigtail young man shook his head and looked around trying to figure out where exactly he was.
"Boy! There you are! What do you think you're doing, boy!"
Groaning again, Ranma turned around in time to see his father land on the rooftop he was sitting on. "What the hell are you talking about, Old Man? And how the hell'd I end up here? Where's the forest?" Blinking for a moment as that thought came to him, Ranma couldn't keep the grimace that was forming off his face. "Damn it,
don't tell me Ryoga beat me, Old Man."
Genma blinked at his son for a moment as a frown appeared on his face. "What are you going on about, boy?"
"Where's the forest, Pop? Why the hell are we back in Nerima?"
"You don't remember, son?" The frown on Genma's face deepened as he thought over what the boy had been saying.
Ranma was quickly growing both tired of the conversation and of vague implications that Genma kept referring to. "Remember what,
Pop?"
"That you were spouting gibberish and hit Akane, boy."
"What!" Ranma's face was almost aghast at that very thought.
"I wouldn't hit the tomboy! It's not like she's a real martial artist. She couldn't handle it if I hit her."
"Son in law, there you are!"
Both Genma and Ranma turned at the cackling voice of Cologne,
both frowning as the old woman hopped toward them on her stick. "What do you want, old ghoul?" Ranma's question snapped out, his annoyance that she had taught Ryoga a technique as dangerous as the breaking point still running through him.
"You are in grave danger, Son in Law. We need to speak."
"What the hell are you going on about, you old bat?" Ranma grimaced, the pain in his head swelling as Cologne hit him with her stick. "What'd you do that for!?"
"Respect your elders, boy. Especially when they could save your life."
Genma then moved, placing himself between Cologne and his son.
While not normally one to place himself in harms way, something about everything that was going on was making his normally lazy brain work.
"What are you talking about, old woman? What danger is my son in?"
"I followed Son in Law after he fled the good doctor's place,
while the rest of you were crying over the Tendo daughter. Son in Law here used a technique to escape me, one that I seemed slightly familiar to me." Hopping around Genma so that she could see Ranma,
Cologne continued, "After doing some research in some of my scrolls, I came across a brief mention of the technique, one that allows shadows to be used for transportation. It is a demonic technique." Turning her gaze from Ranma back to Genma, Cologne concluded with, "Son in Law seems to be possessed."
"Possessed!?" If he had been standing, Ranma would have stumbled back in shock. As it was he simply sat there, thinking about what had happened to him during the fight with Ryoga. "Hey, old ghoul, when I was fighting Ryoga, I heard someone talking to me."
Looking at the young martial artist for a moment, Cologne blinked once and peered hard at him. "What were you told, Son in Law?"
"It told me how to beat him, and showed me how. And I saw something, and then I just started doing some kinda technique. But it felt...wrong."
Gazing at Ranma for a few more moments, Cologne finally replied, "This is not good, Son in Law. This demon has much control over you if it is able to act this way. In the morning we will have to make a journey."
"What are you talking about, Old Woman? The boy isn't going anywhere!" Placing himself once more between his son and Cologne,
Genma glared at the suggestion. "The boy must marry Akane! You will not take him anywhere."
Shaking her head, Cologne, replied tiredly, "Son in Law cannot improve my village if he is possessed, and I can do nothing for him but set some wards that may help." Thinking for a moment, Cologne shook her head. "Come with us if you want. Bring the Tendo girl as well if you wish. We must travel to the temples of this land and find someone who can exorcise this demon from Son in Law. Just know that no one who comes with us is safe if the demon gains control once more."
He waited quietly in the shadows as his prey stumbled toward him. He'd been waiting hours for someone of his rough size and build to pass by this night, to give him a set of clothes that wouldn't stand out in a crowd. He could have attempted to break into a store and steal a set of clothes, but with how low tech everything around him was, he wasn't sure that he could actually bypass any alarms.
And so he dropped back into his childhood job, that of a petty criminal. Sure he wasn't going to pick the guy's pocket, but it was close enough it brought back memories. Pick a mark, watch it for any type of set up. Let the mark approach, let him pass, and move behind and take what you want.
Only this time, what he wanted he couldn't get without a fight. The only real question was whether or not he would let it be a fair fight. The answer to that became obvious, as the drunk walked past his ally, and was casually brained with an old, metal pipe.
Quickly dragging the man back into the ally, he began to strip his target, leaving the poor man only his underwear. That was something even he wasn't desperate to take. Within moments, he was dressed in a pair of black pants and a white shirt, and walked calmly out of the ally. He traveled for a few blocks down the street,
observing the reactions he was getting to the few people he passed,
and noticing no alarm, he assumed he had chosen a decent target.
Moving into yet another ally, he sighed and attempted to stretch out his senses, to feel the only other person in the solar system who was like him. It was hard, and the feeling was extremely faint, but he eventually gained a vague sense of direction to travel in. Turning in the direction and opening his eyes, he quickly lost his sense of where his brother was. But it didn't matter too much.
He had a direction to start with.
"Okay, Tomas, lets see if you've still got it."
Setsuna walked quietly down the stairs, her long legs automatically seeking out the points on the stair case that wouldn't creek under her weight. She'd just looked in on Hotaru, who was sound asleep and apparently dreaming something happy by the slight smile that had been on her face. She had been slightly worried at placing the Senshi of Saturn into the care of Neptune and Uranus, given it had been Haruka's past incarnation that had killed Karrina.
Things had turned out well, however. The Senshi didn't know what the past was really like, and the vast majority of their old hatreds were completely gone, and the few that remained had been reduced to the occasional petty insult. Things, it seemed, were good,
and from what she had learned from her potential future self, things there would be all right as well.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Setsuna turned through a small doorway on her left and walked into the living room of the Senshi's home. She shook her head slightly at the sight of Haruka and Michiru huddled together on the couch, enjoying a bit of private time.
The relationship they had didn't bother Setsuna any, she just wished that they would do such things in the privacy of their bedroom.
Walking up behind the pair, Setsuna coughed into her hand.
The pair didn't exactly jump away, but they did separate fairly quickly and turned to look at their roommate. "What do you want, Setsuna?" Haruka questioned her friend.
"A favor, actually."
"Oh?" Raising an eyebrow, Haruka gave a fast grin. "Do you finally want to join in?"
Setsuna's replied in a deadpan voice, "No, I don't. This is something else entirely."
Haruka gave a mock frown as Michiru asked, "What is it?"
"I need a ride in the morning into Ginza."
Haruka blinked at her friend for a moment and then shrugged.
"Sure, that's not a problem. Why do you need to go there, though?"
Setsuna gave the pair a slightly mysterious smile. "There's some research I need to do there. There are a couple of people I want to see if I can find."
Michiru blinked at that for a moment before asking, "Can't you just use the Time Gates for that?"
"As a matter of fact, no I can't."
"Really?" Haruka suddenly perked up at the sight of Setsuna stumped in something. "Wow, why not? Is there some chaos thing that keeps you from seeing these people? Or maybe it has some kind of destiny thing where they're so tied to you that you can't see them.
Come on, tell me why!"
"Nothing so dramatic or pathetic as that, Haruka. Its simply that the Gates are not as strong as they used to be. Why else would I have to go through Chibi-Usa and her Luna ball to speak to Usagi? Why didn't I get to Hotaru and protect her from Mistress Nine? Because I couldn't use the Gates to aid them."
Haruka and Michiru simply blinked at that and thought it over for a few moments. Finally, Haruka replied, "Oh."
"Right. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow." With that, Setsuna turned and headed for her room.
Author's Notes: Man, this was a long time in coming. Glad to finally get it done. The real problem with it was getting one of the scenes in the middle written. It took me forever to figure out how I wanted to do it. Next chapter, stuff happens. ;
Anyway, below are the two attacks from TBP that were used in this chapter:
Death's Shadow: Ranma pulls shadows around him to swallow him up and take him into the void. From there he can emerge from any shadow. He must do so quickly, however, because extended time in the void will cause him to go insane.
Black Fireball: Tomas gathers black flames from the Void and uses them to create a fireball. Much more powerful than those created with red flames from the astral plain.