AN: This is a rewrite of The Merger, as I have decided to kill all my fics as they are now to rewrite all of them. I explained it very well on my author's profile page, so I'm putting that message up here, so that you don't have to go looking for it right now
Start quote made by me
Hi Deathgeonous here with a rather important announcement. After looking at all my fics and going over them with a fine tooth comb, I feel that I could have done so much better.
I've always felt that the thing that limited me the most as a writer was not ideas or technique or even the number of fics I worked on, but my execution of my ideas.
After finally deciding that Ranma Dark Moon just had to be rewritten, I looked at my other fics and just felt awful, for most of them I did not execute as I should have. For some examples, I skipped a whole chapter on The Eternal Sun because I could not write it right, and in The Merger the therapy scene was not at all what I had originally intended to have it be. And there are other things in all my stories that now just make me want to cringe that I did.
So I am going to be taking a long hard look at all my fics and deciding on how to improve them, and then rewrite them to do so. When I re-put them up I will be doing so a few at a time and then focusing on the few that are up before putting up any others.
I am sorry to my readers that enjoyed my stories that I'm doing this to you, and if I lose you as a reader because of this, I will be saddened, but for me to actually continue to grow as an writer and for me to keep writing, and for me to stay sane while writing, this has to be done.
Some stories will not change much if at all beyond the spelling and grammar mistakes corrected and the addition of a few new scenes. Others will change so much that they will not be recognizable as the same story beyond the original idea for the plot. Most will fall somewhere in-between those two extremes however.
And I shall not be just rewriting my old fics, but also I will occasionally release new ones as well. But from now on the most in unfinished stories I will be currently working on is three.
Hopefully those who enjoyed my stories will stick with me and read the new versions when I have them ready, and hopefully you will enjoy the new versions better then the old.
Again I'm sorry to do this to those of you who were enjoying my fics, but I feel this must be done for me to grow as a writer and get better. This will be a long progress and I appreciate any reader I have that sticks with me through it.
End quote made by me
As The Merger was the first fic I wrote in the Ranma category, as well as one of my favorite plot ideas, I felt it deserved to be the first one rewritten. I will have two other Rewrites coming up soon, one being a rewrite of Ranma Dark Moon called Dark Moon Rising, and the other I'm not sure on, it will either be a rewrite of Hells One True Love, What Was Once Forgotten, or a fic in a series of fics called Absolute Power Leads to Absolute Loneliness, a fic series that I have not put up here yet, but was getting good feed back from on the Temple of Ranma Senshi Seifuku. Regardless, Dark Moon Rising will be my next thing I will put up after I've completely rewritten The Merger and then get some continuation on it.
I am truly sorry to do this to my readers, but I feel I must for me to grow as a writer.
Summery: Hild was drowned at Jusenkyo, and had many regrets about her life, mostly concerning her daughters. She gets a second chance through a mortal named Ranma Saotome at not only Motherhood, but also vengeance upon the mastermind behind her fall. A tale of love, vengeance, and why you should never piss off a Mother.
Disclaimer: I do not own the intellectual property that is Ranma One Half or any of its associated characters, locations, items, ideas, or anything else that may be associated with it. Those belong to each of its respective copyright owners. I do not own the intellectual property that is Ah, My Goddess or any of its associated characters, locations, items, ideas, or anything else that may be associated with it. Those belong to each of its respective copyright owners. I do not own any of the intellectual properties that are other fictional persons, places or things. Those belong to each of their own copyright owners. I do not own any real person, place or thing. Those belong to either themselves, in the case of a person, or their real life current true owners in case of a place or object. What I do own is any and every original person, place or thing, used in here as well as the story its self. Those very few things are mine. And that's all that ever will be mine.
THE REBIRTH OF THE DAIMAKAICHO
CHAPTER ONE
THINGS ARE JUST GOING TO HELL AROUND HERE
Niflheim: over fifteen thousand years ago
Hild lay back on her bed while basking in the afterglow of having just given birth, while her first born child, her daughter, was laying in her arms. "Urd." She cooed the name softly. "My baby." She sighed happily. "Some day you'll be a strong and powerful Demoness serving under me until I retire and then you'll be taking over this place. But for now, I don't think I could ever be happier than this." Hild said looking at her daughter Urd with an expression rarely if ever seen on her face, that of utter compassion and pure love.
Niflheim: over twelve thousand years ago
"Damn that Kami-Sama" Hild shrieked as she throw the next nearest thing to throw, a vase in this case. "How dare he!?! Three thousand years with her! Just three thousand! And then, just when she hits the age that she can be taught, he comes and convinces her to be a Goddess! A fucking Goddess! He hardly ever even visits her, and now he just comes down here and sweet talks her away from me! ARGGGHHH!!!!!!" Hild growls, then she was blasting a hole in her chamber's wall with a bolt of lightning, one that traveled all the way through the castle until it left out the outer wall and then it traveled across the breath of Niflheim for quite some distance.
Finally spent, at least emotionally that is, she traveled across her destroyed chambers to her ruined bed and then plopped down upon it while wailing loudly. As Hild cried herself to sleep, she muttered "I'll get her back. Somehow, someday, she'll be my little girl again." And with that proclamation, Hild then fell into a fitful sleep.
Niflheim: over nine thousand years ago
Hild lay in her bed with her second born child. Another little Demoness named Marller. "Marller." Hild whispered in a slightly sad and soft voice. "Nobody's going to take you away from me. No one will ever separate us. I took care that your father will never even know he was the one to sire you, and I will let nothing and nobody take you away from me. And then, when you're older, you can help me get your older sister back." Then Hild hugged Marller to herself and said fiercely "You will never be taken from me. I won't allow it."
Niflheim: over fifteen hundred years ago
"My Queen, the rebel forces are just outside the castle walls." Hild's main general told her with a slightly worried expression.
Hild sighed and asked rhetorically "How did they get accesses to the power they're using? It's neither divine nor demonic in origin."
"I do not know Ma'am!" The general replied.
"That was a rhetorical question you twit." Hild snapped back at her general. "Your new orders are to clear the castle." She then told the general in a more calm tone of voice.
"Pardon me Mam?" the general asked in some confusion.
"I said clear the castle! I want everyone out of here!" Hild shouted at him.
"But what of you Mam?" The general dumbly asked.
"Just get out of here with everyone else before I vaporize you!" Hild yelled at the general. He finally wisely nodded and left the room after everyone else.
After the room was cleared, Hild called out "Marller, stop hiding and come over here."
Marller slowly came over from behind the pillar she was hiding behind and then came to stand before her mother, who looked at her with tears in her eyes. Marller was now extremely frightened, for she had never seen her mother cry, ever.
"Marller. I had such plans for you, for the both of us. But I ruined them. All of them. I just couldn't be the Mother you needed and I wanted to be. But I will not let them get you as well. I'm sending you to your sister. I may not have shown it very well, but I do love you. And tell your sister that no matter how much she has ignored me, I have always loved her and missed her." Hild started when there was a crash that signified the breaching of the castle's outer walls.
As Marller cried "Mother!" Hild raised her hands sent Marller through a portal that would send her directly to where ever her sister was, no matter where she was. Then Hild sat down in her throne and waited for the rebels to come to her.
As she waited she wondered who was backing these rebels, for they were using a power that neither Niflheim nor Asgard produced. And that was how these unruly rebels were able to successfully stage such a rebellion, and why Hild was not sure of her survival after meeting these rebels.
Well actually, if she was truly honest with herself, she really did not expect to survive, which was why she had cleared the castle of all her still loyal subjects and sent Marller to her wayward sister. She expected to die because she did not think even she, with all her vast power, could stand up to the army of rebels with their new power. Sure one on one, or even one on a few she could handle, but in the numbers coming for her, and with all of them boosted by this new power, she knew, if she would just be honest with herself about it, that she was toast.
So she sat on her throne, and waited for the rebels to arrive, and was determined to take as many of them into the maw of oblivion with her as possible, and damn the doublet system. It probably wouldn't even matter after she died at their hands if her guess was right on what would happen when the one who she was linked to followed her into oblivion's embrace.
Niflheim: a few hours later
Hagrad, the leader of the rebel forces stood over Hild's prone body ready to deliver the final and fatal strike. She had put up a good fight, true, which was evident by the mountain of his forces corpses, but with the power their benefactor had bestowed upon them along with their numbers, the outcome was clear from the moment they got near the castle. Hild's sending every one away like she did just made thing easier, for both of their sides, but especially his. As he knelt beside her to give her the killing death blow, Hagrad heard Hild mutter out before she finally fainted form her pain "Now Kami-Sama, as you follow me into oblivion's embrace, you shall finally pay for all your crimes as well. Urd…" Was the last word she said as she slipped into unconsciousness.
That statement stopped the rebel leaders death strike cold. 'Killing Hild would lead to the death of Kami-Sama? The creator of all things? What would happen if he died?' Hagrad thought quickly. 'I don't know, and sure I don't want to find out!' Hagrad thought. 'But what to do with Hild? We've got to take care of her permanently before she awakens. But how to do that with out killing her?' Hagrad asked himself. Thinking furiously, he remembered his last trip to Midgard, and the cursed springs of Jusenkyo that had been created then in an epic fight between the armies of Niflheim and Asgard. That was the battle that had led to the doublet system being enacted by both Hild and Kami-Sama, such were the lives lost then.
Standing up Hagrad said aloud to his troops "Death is just way too good for her. I've decided that she should suffer for all eternity by being drowned at Jusenkyo!"
His troops blinked for a moment as they processed his statement, then they cheered as their response.
Midgard: Jusenkyo, China: about a half hour later
As Hagrad stood up from the pool in which he had drowned Hild, he said "There, it is done, she is gone forever into her own personal prison, from which she will never return, while we she rule in her stead."
As he said that, an empty voice sounded through all the present rebels' heads. "You have failed me." And with that, the powers they had received from their mysterious benefactor swelled within them and then caused them all to explode in a burst of power, blood and gore. While at the same time, all the rebels that were left behind in hell suddenly lost their recently given powers.
Asgard: Urd's apartment, a few hours earlier
Marller popped into existence in Urd's bedroom as she lay in bed studying a book on how to run the new system just installed into the section of the Yggdrasil where she was working, while still screaming "Mother!!!"
Urd looked up and saw her sister. While she did not get along very well if at all with her Mother now a day's, she and her sister were quite close. Closer then anyone liked them to be. "What wrong Marller?" Urd said, going over to grab her sister and steady her.
"There's a rebellion going on in Niflheim. A large group of Demons suddenly got access to a type of power never seen before and then they started killing everyone on a path to the castle. Mother sent everyone out of the castle and then sent me to you while she decided to face them alone." Marller told Urd in a panic.
"Don't worry Marller. You know how strong Mother is, she'll beat them all down then she'll summon you home." Urd said hoping to calm her panicked sister down.
"I don't think she thinks she'll survive. She told me how she didn't think she was a very good mother to me, and that she loved me. And then she told me to tell you that she had always loved you and missed you. She's going to die and she knows it!" Marller screamed in Urd's face.
Urd slightly paled at hearing that her Mother was going to die and what her final message to her daughters was. Grabbing Marller's hand she pulled on her yelling "Come on Marller!"
"Where are we going?" Marller asked while being pulled along behind Urd like a streamer.
"To see my Father! He'll send help!" Urd yelled while praying that was true.
Asgard: Kami-Sama's office: A few hours later
"Uh, sir?" A minor deity spoke over the intercom.
"Yes?" Kami-Sama, lord of the gods asked in reply, putting his work down in response to his hearing the nervousness and urgency in the voice speaking to him.
'I really don't want to be the one to break this to him. Please let him be merciful.' The minor deity thought. Then reflecting on his news, he thought 'Be Very, VERY merciful' "There's been a rebellion in hell sir." The minor deity stated flatly, hoping if he showed no emotion he'd be safer.
"What!?!" Kami-Sama yelled in his shock and anger.
"That's not all sir. Your ex-wife Hild has been drowned in a Jusenkyo spring. Her soul is now trapped in one of them." The minor deity softly said. He really did not want to have to say that.
"What!?! They will pay!!!" Kami-Sama, lord of the Gods screamed in the first true anger, no true rage, he had felt in several millennia.
'At least he didn't shoot the messenger.' The minor deity thought with some relief as the intercom suddenly went dead.
As Kami-Sama stood up, forcing his chair to go crashing into the wall behind him, his eldest daughter Urd then came bursting into the room with her half sister Marller and behind them were a host of over fifty angry Valkyries hot on their heels.
"Father! Mother's…'" Urd shouted breathlessly, when Kami-Sama interrupted his daughter with his response "I already know. I'm going to go there to help personally." He said reassuring his daughter. "But we'll need to talk later. For now I want both of you to stay here, in my office." He said, making his daughter and her half sister look worried again.
"And you!" Kami-Sama shouted at the hoard of Valkyries that had been chasing his daughter. "I want all of you to form a protective detail around these two. Except for you and you and you." He said pointing out three of them at random. "You" he said to the left most one "Get Belldandy in this room with them. You," He shouted addressing the middle one "Get Skuld in here as well. And you" he said addressing the rightmost one "Get me my Alpha, Beta and Delta squads ready to leave on my mark with my Gamma and Lambda squads in reserve. And then prepare my Omega squad on the off chance we will need them as well."
The chosen Valkyrie gulped in the realization that whatever was happing, Kami-Sama was thinking he might even need the Omega squad. Nodding she went to complete her orders, as the other Valkyries went to fulfill theirs.
Turning around, Kami-Sama said to Urd and Marller "Now I don't want you to leave this room until I get back, do you understand?"
They nodded and he then left to go to his war room to find out just what was going on before he went down to Niflheim to clean up this mess.
Asgard: Kami-Sama's office: few days latter
After crushing the rebellion in hell, Kami-sama had four very special guests in his office. His three daughters, Belldandy, Urd and Skuld, and the Demoness Marller as well.
"Girls," Kami-Sama started off with, "I need to tell you what has happened to Hild."
Urd, his and Hild's Goddess daughter said through her tears "She's dead, right?"
"Yes…, and no." Was Kami-Sama's confusing response. "The rebels drowned her at Jusenkyo, trapping her soul in one of the springs. I've worked it out so the proper person to fall in her spring will," Kami-Sama paused for a moment, seeming to be looking for the right word or phrase to use here "absorb her soul, if you will. That person will probably never notice it's presence within them until he or she dies, but there is always that chance. When that special someone dies, then Hild's soul will separate from theirs and be free, enabling her to live again." Kami-Sama started to explain.
"Urd," Kami-Sama said while looking at his oldest and most rebellious daughter, hoping that this task would finally force her to finally mature, or to at the least follow orders. "Your new job is to watch that Jusenkyo spring until that special someone falls into it, and then to watch their life until they die. Do not interfere with it, in any way. That will be your only job. You will be getting a temporary upgrade to Goddess first class category two limited for this. Do it well and it may become be permanent. The reason for this is, if this person ever awakens Hild, as unlikely as that is, you plus you other three must drop every thing and go help this person adjust. Marller, you've got the temporary ruler-ship of Niflheim, until Hild comes back, and then you'll help Hild get back into the swing of running things. Belldandy, you'll be on Goddess relief hot line, and Skuld you'll be a debugger, until you two are needed to help Urd and Marller with Hild."
"What do they call the spring?" Urd asked softly through her falling tears.
"The spring of drowned girl." Was Kami-Sama's reply.
Jusenkyo, China: over fifteen hundred years later
Hild had been stewing in her prison spring for so long she had lost count, when yet another being fell into it. "Great, another idiotic mortal has fallen into my spring and I get to turn it into a female. Oh how the mighty have fallen." Hild thought as she felt the magic of the spring start working it's magic on the mortal being, starting the quick and painless process of changing the base DNA of the mortal being from male to female, while at the same time using it's magic to keep the original male body of the newly made female body intact and ready to be brought back into being at a later time. There was no way it could copy what she truly was and the power she could command, so the spring did the best it could with her in it by turning anything and everything that fell into it in to a female humanoid.
But as she felt the spring working its magic, she quickly noticed something was strange. She was being pulled into the being that the spring was changing! Then she was inside this mortal who had just jumped out of the spring.
At first Hild was ecstatic. She could see, hear, smell, taste, and even feel again. She was free! But when she tried to move herself, she found out that she could not do it. Then the body she was in moved it's self while it screamed "POP'S! NOW YOU'RE GOING TO GET IT!!!" and that was when she realized she had just traded one prison for another. Though as her prison chased a panda, she decided that this prison was the far more enjoyable one.
A temple on a hill in Japan: about two years later
Over fifteen hundred years after her mothers imprisonment in a Jusenkyo spring, Urd had been patiently, ok, ok, not so patiently, been watching the boy who fell in her Mother's spring's life. She had seen his past, and then she had watched his entire life since, and it had taken every inch of her will power not to interfere with any of it. Now she has paused time, and has called all of her sisters to her.
Handing out Ranma's file she told them "I think he's about to die. He's fighting Saffron at this moment. Read his file, and then I'll unpause time and we can watch him get killed." Urd said with a touch of sadness and regret.
"Why's he fighting that asshole? He was kicked out of Heaven, and even we wouldn't take him in. He should be laying low. He's fair game for anyone with a grudge, which is a whole lot of beings in his case." Marller asked in some shock.
"It's all in the file." Was all Urd would say in reply.
After everyone in the room was finished with the file, well to say they were not happy was an understatement of universe shattering proportions. To say they were possessed with righteous fury was still an understatement, closer to galaxy shattering proportions. To say they wanted to kill one Genma Saotome, and deliver the wrath of the Heavens and the Hells upon the residents of the Nerima district of Tokyo Japan was only an understatement of world shattering proportions. They were livid, pissed, insert your own word for angry here.
Crying, Belldandy asked very softly, "How did this poor boy stay sane?"
Skull yelled in her confused fury "Why is he throwing his life away for someone who abuses him so."
"He's never seen love, so he assumes that is how she shows it to him." Urd explained softly with some regret.
"The only one of that group not guaranteed a place in the darkest pits of Niflheim's torture chambers is Kasumi, and she's up for grabs." Marller said coldly.
"So, shall we watch the poor boy die?" Urd asked sadly.
"Yes. Let's watch the death of a great human being." Belldandy said with tears in her eyes.
As they watched the fight, they realized something, he would do anything to win, even that, even bring Hild out before his death.
"Oh, Shit!!! Let's get over there NOW!!!" Urd screamed as it was becoming apparent that Hild was going to be coming out to play. Skuld then led them through her transport, water, and then they were there in person to see the rebirth of Hild, or at least her power, for they did not know what the mind or the body would be like.
Mt. Phoenix, Jusenkyo, China, at the same time
Hild had been having more fun observing things from the body of this mortal named Ranma Saotome then she had ever had in her life, period. His antics and escapades had brought her a vast amount of enjoyment, and she knew that when he died her enjoyment would then be at and end. As well as her existence, or so she had thought.
Hild honestly thought that when Ranma Saotome died, she would then cease to exist, for she'd then be truly dead, and while there is an afterlife for mortals, there is none for beings such as her self. And if she went, so did Kami-Sama, and then all of reality would probably follow as well, if she was correct in her assumption on what would happen when her doublet partner ceased to be. And that truly scared her, not because that rat bastard would end up nonexistent as well, but that her daughters might then follow afterwards.
And it looked like this was when Ranma Saotome would finally lose. Even he, with his 'I never lose' mentality, was starting to think that this might be the case, for he, well right now it was she, thought to her self while Hild listened in
'I can't win!!! But I can't lose ether. If I die, Akane will stay dead, and all the others will die!'
Hild then knew what she had to do. She had to pass on her power to this mortal. She and he had to become a single being. That was the only way that she, thus Kami-Sama, thus and more importantly to her, her two precious daughters, the only things in all of reality she really truly cared for, would be safe. Besides, she had grown to like this boy, and thought it was a shame he would die at the hands of an egocentric ex-God. And since she was dead, with no chance to live again, to her knowledge at least, she thought it was fitting to have some part of her live on. Maybe this new being they would create would be the Mother to her children she never was and could never be. She could only hope.
So she then spoke to her host Ranma Saotome for the first time ever. 'Why do you even care? After all that they've done to you, after all they've put you through why do you even care?'
'You.' Ranma thought at her darkly. She always had known that her cursed form had a soul, and that she really never, Ever, EVER wanted to meet it, and yet now she just has. With those thoughts going through her head and into Hild's thoughts, Hild sighed and said in an exhausted metal voice
'Yes me. Look, I'm going to make you a deal. Probably the best one I've ever made for the other person. If I merge with you, my soul with yours, we can crush Saffron like an ant. You, as a mortal, are simply incapable of killing Saffron. Asshole he may be, but he is a God, and it just is impossible for a mortal to kill one. It would take another God or a Demon to do so. So if I merge with you I will give you the power needed to kill Saffron.'
'What's the down side to this? I mean their must be a down side to this. Because there always is a down side to things like this.' Ranma said with true weariness in her thoughts. She just hated things like this.
'And they say you can't be taught.' The mental voice of Hild said with some pride in it. 'The down side is, I won't be me, you won't be you, we will be a mix of the two of us. And finally, you'll be stuck in you cursed form, for eternity. Your normal form just can't take the power, only my form can.'
'And just who are you? I'd like to know the name of the person I'm going to become one with at least.' Ranma asked wearily, knowing she had no choice but to take the offer in order to save everyone.
'Hild, the former Daimakaicho of Niflheim.' Hild's mental voice told her. After getting a blank puzzled response from Ranma's thoughts she sighed and told Ranma "Those the proper names for Hell and its ruler."
'Great, just great.' Ranma thought while sighing mentally. 'Well it's time to make a deal with the Devil. I accept. We can join together. I'd do anything to save every one.' Ranma told Hild.
'As you wish.' Hild's metal voice told her.
To every one watching, it seemed that Ranma was suddenly covered in a ball of pure darkness. All present could feel the power radiating off it. At first the power felt pure evil, but as time went on, and the seconds then passed on into minutes, the power felt neutral and then good even.
"I never thought that I'd feel such good energy coming from mother." Marller said in awe.
"Don't you get it?" Urd yelled at Marller. "That is now neither mother nor Ranma! They merged their souls together to get her to come out before his death!"
"What!?!" Marller yelled back in her shock at that statement.
"Urd is correct." Belldandy stated calmly. "And what is more, and what I have a hard time believing, is that it seems that Ranma's personality is the dominate one in this merger."
"No way!" Skuld whispered in some fear. "How could a mortal's personality and will possibly be greater than Hild's?"
"I truly don't know" Belldandy said while shaking her head as she watched Ranma's female form, now adorned with Hild's markings, appear while at the same time the ball of pure darkness dissipated into nothingness.
The power that the three Goddesses and the Demoness felt was even greater then Hild's was when she died. "Oh my! She might even be a mach for Kami-sama now." Marller whispered in some wonder.
"You may be right." Urd whispered in equal wonderment.
Ranma's friends were all shaking in their boots at the sheer power that radiated off Ranma. All were thinking the same thoughts, 'That can't be Ranma can it?'
Ranma however was in shock. He, no now she, had managed to stay in control during their merger, but all of Hild's memories and personality were heavily influencing her. In fact Ranma felt that she was no longer completely Ranma. She was mostly Ranma, that was true, and still defiantly thought of herself as him in the broad sense of things, but she was also being so heavily influenced by this Hild being she just had merged with that she felt at a loss as to how much Ranma she still truly was.
'I can figure that out later. Right now I have a rogue Deities ass to kick." Ranma thought, continuing the thought process with 'And since he's a rogue, I don't have to worry about the doublet system at all. Wait a minute, what's the doublet system?' Ranma asked her self in confusion. Shaking her head to clear it she thought 'Ah, who cares. Kick ass first, ask questions later." Ranma then decided.
Aloud Ranma spoke "So Saffron. You went rogue? Too bad. Now you die. Sorry but I just hate rogue Deities"
"Who are you?" the rogue Deity Saffron asked in obvious fear. He had not felt power like this since he last saw Kami-sama.
"I used to be Ranma, but am now no longer truly him. But I think the answer to your main question was, I used to be, and am no, longer Hild." She said. As Saffron's face fell, Ranma continued with "Go into oblivion's embrace you bastard!" Ranma then fired a large bolt of pure hell powered energy into and through Saffron, instantly killing him.
As his smoking corpse fell to the ground, Ranma, with out turning around said "Pathetically easy. Now you four come on out." She said, addressing the strong presences, much stronger than Saffron was, that she had been feeing behind her. As she turned around while the four came out from their hiding spots, her face fell as something powerful came over her. She recognized two of these women. They were her Daughters! Never mind that that made utterly no sense to Ranma, and never mind she never even has had sex, in either form, let alone given birth, she knew as surly as she knew anything that these were her daughters, and she had failed them miserably in the past, but she would fail them no more. "Urd! Marller!" She screamed while running over to and then hugging the surprised Goddess and Demoness in a death grip of a double bear hug.
"I so sorry!" she exclaimed while weeping uncontrollably. "I was a bad Mother. And now I'm not truly your Mother, not completely any more! Hell, I'm more Ranma than Hild, but the part of me that's still Hild really wants to be your Mother. I'm so sorry!!!" she cried, breaking down in tears on her daughters shoulders.
"Shush, shush. It's all right Mom. I understand. I was assigned to watch over whom ever entered your pool's life. I'm just sorry I couldn't interfere with your life. It was Kami-Sama's orders." Urd said while patting the being that was claiming to be her Mother while sobbing uncontrollably, on her back.
"His orders are absolute for you. I know. How is your father?" Ranma asked with a scowl on her face as she stopped sobbing.
"Fine. I think we should all go see him though." Urd told Ranma.
"But what about them?" Ranma asked sweeping her hands over her friends.
"Think about that." Marller told Ranma with a disapproving frown.
"They're my friends." Ranma cried out. "They might not be much, and others might think it's strange, but they really are my friends. Akane! We have to help her!" Ranma screamed in utter panic, running over to her body.
Akane was in very bad shape. Ranma could tell that true death was only moments away. She looked at the Goddesses and asked, "Can you bring her back?"
Belldandy looked over the prone form of Akane while examining her and said to Ranma "Yes I could, if you truly want me to. Are you sure that is what you want?" Belldandy asked Ranma with sincerity in her voice.
"Yes, I, I love her." She stated honestly, shocking all of them, including herself. "I can finally admit it. Even if this new me drives her away, I want to tell her that at least once while she's alive. She doesn't deserve to die on some ego-manic ex-God's whim either." Ranma said with tears clouding her eyes.
Belldandy knew that Ranma hardly ever cried, and had only heard of Hild crying once, at the very end. 'This must be very important to Ranma', for that's who was in charge at the moment, she assumed, 'for her to cry like that.'
"Ok. I'll bring her back." Belldandy told Ranma, and then she went to do just that. Kneeling over Akane's prone and inert body, Belldandy placed her left had on Akane's head and her right was placed on her solar plexus, and then she opened a channel from herself directly into the Yggdrasil's main core, an extremely reckless and dangerous thing to do, but the only thing that could save Akane with the time she had left and with the resources available to Belldandy at that moment, and then she flooded that power into herself, letting her body act as a combined reservoir and dam that slowly leaked the power into Akane's dying form, healing it from the brink of death she was at.
It was at this time that a worried Ryoga and Mousse made their way over. "Ranma? Is she ok?" Ryoga asked extremely worried. After meeting Akari, Akane was now the little sister he never had. He just wished he wasn't so helpless in that fight.
"Yeah, I think she'll be fine. She's just resting now." Ranma said, petting Akane's head with love and tenderness.
"Um, what was that about you used to being Ranma, and used to being a Hild? And what was with that that final attack?" Ryoga asked in his puzzlement.
"Um, I'm not sure. My girl side's," she paused to think about that. "soul if you will, was a being named Hild. She was the old Daimakaicho of Niflheim." Seeing the puzzled looks on Ryoga's and Mousse's faces Ranma clarified that by saying "That's the proper name and title for the ruler of Hell." Their eye's got wide and they nodded to show their understanding. "Hild then told me that a mortal can't kill a Deity, and she offered to, um, merge with me to so that I could kill him. And I accepted her offer. So now I am Ranma with a lot of influence form Hild, I think." Ranma said. "It's so confusing to me right now." Ranma said honestly.
"Ha, Ha, Ha! Only you Ranma! Only you could possibly tame the Devil." Ryoga said while laughing hard.
"Uh, thanks. I think." Ranma said in some slight confusion.
The Goddesses and the Demoness were a little confused as well. 'Ryoga? Supportive?' they all thought in their surprise. What they did not understand, and what no one truly understood but Ranma and Ryoga, was that they were still friends, and that they always had been. It was just that Ryoga used to have two very bad habits. One was blaming Ranma for everything bad in his life and two was wanting Akane for himself. Well number two had been taken care of by meeting Akari, and Akari helped him realize that number one was a very bad thing. So they get along very well now.
Mousse on the other hand, had still feared that Ranma would take Shampoo away, but he now no longer feared it, for Demoness meant girl. Ridiculously powerful, yes. Evil, maybe. But it was still a girl. And Shampoo wouldn't want to marry a girl, so he could now make friends with Ranma. Something that he knew he should have tried much, much earlier, but his own love for Shampoo and his fear of losing her had prevented it. "So you're stuck as a female again? How are you holding up? The last few times this happened you didn't take it so well. And this time it sounds permanent." Mousse asked while holding an unconscious Shampoo tenderly in his arms.
"Thanks Mousse, it is this time. I'm holding up ok, for now, I guess." Ranma stated glumly. "How's Shampoo?" she then asked in some worry.
"She's fine. She was just knocked unconscious." Mousse told Ranma, easing her concern.
As the Goddesses and the Demoness thought in their shock 'Mousse? Supportive too?' Akane chose that moment to wake up.
"Ranma I…" She began when she awoke.
"Shh. I'm sorry Akane." Ranma whispered softly to her.
"Why are you sorry? And why are you a girl? And what's with those tattoos?" Akane asked puzzled, while struggling to sit up.
Ranma just pushed her down gently, and then told the story of what had happed during the fight with Saffron. As three Goddess, three humans and one Demoness listened to the story, they suddenly all realized that Saffron's followers had all fled. After Ranma finished her story Akane asked with worry.
"Do you have to leave now?"
"I, I don't know." Ranma honestly told her. "But I suspect that they can tell me." She said glancing at the trio of Goddess and the single Demoness. "I really hope I don't have to. I mean I just realized how much I love you, you uncute tomboy you. I don't want to lose you now, not after all I went through to get you back." She said with honest feeling.
"And I finally realized how much I love you too, you idiot." Akane admitted. "We were both idiots, too determined to defy our fathers to realize what we truly felt for one another. Truly idiotic." She said shaking her head in disgust with both herself and with Ranma. "I don't want to lose you now either." She said with a lot of fear in her voice.
"But I'm a girl now." Ranma said with some worry.
"So what? I love you, the person, the being you truly are, not your body. I guess the long standing bet of me becoming a lesbian has finally been won though." Akane said while laughing a little hysterically.
Ranma turned to the Norns and Marller. "I don't have to leave, do I?" she asked them with some worry.
Belldandy sighed in response to that question. 'I obviously had misunderstood, some, no make that a lot, of the aspects of Ranma's life.' Belldandy thought somewhat sadly. She then replied to Ranma's spoken question with "No you don't have to leave. In fact, the three of us are stationed here on earth. We live in Japan with my fiancée Keiichi. He's a mortal as well. We will just have to stay with you for a while. I don't know how long that will be though, any where from months to years is a safe bet. And with it more likely it being years."
"I'm coming too!" Marller yelled out "I just got my Mom back, even if she has been through a lot of changes. Some of her is still my mother. I need to get to know the new her." Marller told them, showing that she was absolutely not taking no for an answer.
"Um, if you want you can move in with us. We can make room." Akane offered nervously from her position on the ground. 'Living with three Goddesses and a Demoness? Having a relationship with another Demoness? The head ruler, the Queen if you will, of all Demons and Demonesses? Life around Ranma is never and will never be boring, that's for sure.' Akane thought, then continued speaking aloud with "I don't think it would be wise for us to move in with you. So much trouble follows Ranma around." 'And that's the God's honest truth.' She thought.
"Ok. Can we take you home now then?" Belldandy asked politely.
"Um, how?" Ryoga asked nervously.
"Teleportation Silly! We'll just go through the water…." Urd started when she was interrupted with.
"We'll be cursed! Again!" Came the reply from everyone, the again coming from the cursed ones.
Akane looked at Ryoga strangely, yet she said nothing.
"Hey, we came through the water, and we're just fine! Water is my medium, it will not affect you! I promise!" Skuld told the group earnestly.
"Alright, but if I get cursed again, I going to kick your little ass so hard…" Ranma said, semi-threatening Skuld.
"Hey Mom, relax, nothing's going to happen." Marller said joyfully.
And so they went through the water, and surprisingly, nothing did happen to them.
Tendo house and dojo: Nerima Japan: moments later
They appeared in the middle of the living room of the Tendo house. Through a cup of tea no less. Kasumi, Nabiki, Soun, Genma, Nodoka and Cologne were all sitting around the table eating dinner when they emerged. "BOY!!!" Genma shouted. "What happened!?! Who are they? How did you?"
"Shut up pop!" Ranma shouted in response.
The Norns and Marller nodded to each other. This one, this one they knew had not changed. 'Vengeance shall be sweet and justified!' went through all three of the Norns and Marller's minds.
"Would you like some hot water Ranma?" Kasumi asked with kindness.
"I'm kinda stuck this way now." Ranma said glumly.
"Oh my." Was Kasumi's response.
Soun's was typical of him too. "Whaaa!!! Now the schools will never be joined!" he screamed, turning on the waterworks.
"Daddy, I've decided to marry him, her, whatever." Akane said from her back on the floor, while waving her right arm in the air.
Another typical Soun response soon followed. "Whaaaa!!! My baby is marrying another girl!"
"BOY!!!!!! What is the meaning of this!?!?!" Genma shouted. Nodoka hit him on the back of the head with the sheathed katana that she always carries. He then characteristically and wisely shut the hell up.
"Be quiet and listen husband. I'm sure Ranma can tell us how she became our daughter." Nodoka said with steel in her voice.
'Man I'm glad that she ripped up that stupid seppuku contract.' Ranma thought as she helped Akane to her seat. Then she, after the others were seated told what had happened since they left to save Akane.
Genma was in catatonic shock. In other words the lights were on but no one was home. Not too different from the usual standard operating procedure for Genma in all honest truth, but he was being quiet. Blessedly so. Soun, on the other hand, was making his usual lake in the middle of the living room, but everyone just ignored him like always as well. Cologne and Mousse had left the house to care for Shampoo back at the Neko Hanten. Kasumi was serving the newcomers food. Nabiki was currently staring into space while trying to calculate the odds of what kind of chaos this will bring upon her family now. Ryoga was just happily eating Kasumi's wonderful cooking. It was Nodoka who spoke for the intelligent ones. IE not the fathers.
"So my son has turned into my daughter, and my daughter is now the ruler of Hell, or the Daimakaicho of Niflheim as you refer to it. And what's with this 'class, category, limited, unlimited' thing?" Nodoka asked, while being completely calm. In her mind, if her son could not be her son and a man among men, but had to be her daughter, then her daughter would be a woman among women. But her daughter, she knew, even in her warped little mind, would need a lot help being feminine. Even just tomboy feminine, which was all she could possibly hope to shoot for. And she knew that very well. She may have strange ideas about men and women, but she was not stupid. No Siree Bob. There was no slow intelligence in this here woman. Just a lot of strange ideal gender related ideas.
"It's kind of like martial arts belt ranking." Ranma started to explain, using an example anyone in Nerima could get. Martial arts. She continued with "Class one is the highest class. Category one is the highest you can get in the class. It's like having a level ten dan blackbelt. Now Gods, Goddesses, Demons and Demonesses come in two versions, limited, which means that the usage of their power is that, limited, and unlimited, which means just that, they have no limits put on the usage of how they use their power. Understand now?" Ranma asked them, making sure they understood.
"I see." Nodoka said while smiling and nodding. 'All the better. My daughter may be a Demoness, but at least she was a Demoness among Demonesses' Nodoka thought to herself. "And so you are staying here, to help my daughter adjust? And she is the your" She said pointing to Marller and Urd, "Mother? Then that would make me your Grandmother?" Nodoka asked of the Norns and Marller, and Urd and Marller in particular, while she was daydreaming about the possibility of having Great Grandbabies before she even hit forty. All the while the Norns and Marller were slightly put off by this very accepting Nodoka. They really just don't understand how people in Nerima think. Skewed logic is the average Neriman's best friend. Especially those that are close to Ranma.
"Um, I hate to bring this up," Nabiki started. Nabiki was nervous. For the first time in her life she was hesitant to charge someone for anything, but these were honest to God Goddesses! And a fucking Demoness to boot! Who knows what they could and would do to her! But Nabiki was Nabiki. And she really and truly needed the money to pay for all the shit that happened to the Dojo. "Um how do you plan on paying to live here?" She asked nervously.
Four sub arctic glares were then shot directly at her. She shivered in some slight fear and then she said while sighing "Look I just can't have freeloaders in this house." She started to explain, hoping they would listen and not smite her or something like that. "Ranma letting me take those pictures of her," Ranma was surprised she knew, and it showed, so Nabiki yelled at her "Yes I know you let me take them, for Gods sake you're posing in them!" she shouted at her, seeing the surprised look on her face continue into a even more surprised look, Nabiki continued with "I am not stupid Ranma. Well Ranma letting me take those pictures and letting me have time to set up bets on most of her fights, the one's that she can that is, and yes I know you do that too! It's so fucking obvious Ranma!" She shouted at a Ranma whose surprise was showing even more. "Well that is paying for her and her father, and her mother when she stays over for extended periods, but how do you plan on paying for yourselves, and your friend?" she asked them, still hoping to not get smited.
"You let her take those pictures of you?" Urd asked in her supreme shock.
"Sure. They're just pictures." Ranma shrugged, finally over her own shock. She really didn't know she was being that obvious. "I don't want to be a free loader like my old man is." She told them honestly. "Besides the house and the dojo need constant repair with all the fights that happen around here." She finished with. And that was very true too.
The three Goddesses and the one Demoness reevaluated Nabiki too. The only one who had met their expectations so far was Genma. "I can help Kasumi with the house work." Belldandy told them. "And Keiichi is very good with motorized vehicles, he could keep up your car, or if you don't have one he could build you all bikes, given enough time." Belldandy then told them.
"I can fix up all your electronics. I bet I can make them even better then ever!" Skuld exclaimed. "How'd you like the best computer you can get on this planet, so good you can't get one in any store, better then any government has even?" Skuld said excitedly, thinking on the prospect building things.
"I'm good with potions and the like. I could get a job at a clinic." Urd told them. "If the doctor doesn't mind weird fix me up potions with no explanation on how or why they work." Urd then added on.
"Do you take a personal Check?" Marller asked pulling out a check book from nowhere, and then writing a truly insane amount on it. "That should cover the four of us plus Mother, Grandpa, Grandma and Keiichi for a year. If we stay longer I will just write you another one." Marller told Nabiki as she handed her the slip of payment.
After looking at the amount on the check, and then gathering all her brain cells back from the vacation they went on, Nabiki said "Welcome home girls."
"Well it's time to meet father." Urd then said, changing the subject.
"Yes, I suppose you're right. Then we'll pick Keiichi up, and come back here." Belldandy replied.
"Oh boy, a meeting the great Kami-Sama. I am so NOT looking forward to this." Marller exclaimed with noticeable disgust.
And then they all disappeared form the others sight.
Asgard: Kami-Sama's office: moments later
The five of them stood before Kami-Sama, and Ranma was visibly nervous.
"Welcome, I must say this was a surprise. Hild's merging with you I mean. Even I didn't see that one coming!" Kami-Sama said while laughing.
"Well we have some important matters to discuss. Like Hild's old realm. I was expecting to just give it back to you, but that not possible right now is it?" Kami-sama then asked Ranma, changing the subject.
"Not really, no. I'm not ready, and don't even know if I really want it. You won't force me into it will you?" she asked thinking that the answer was 'Yes. You have no choice.'
"No, no I won't." Kami-Sama said surprising Ranma. "You've been forced to do too much in your life, and it always backfires on both you and the forcer. I will not risk having this backfire on all of us just to put a being that is not even ready for the job into the role."
"Sorry." Ranma said surprised.
"I'm the one who should be sorry. Your life was the pits." Kami-Sama stated as a soft apology.
"Well it's not like you wanted my life like that. I always thought I was a Kami's amusement, but in reality I was off limits. Still did you have fun watching my screwed up life?" Ranma asked them all in her self deprecating mirth.
"NO! It was all I could do not to fry the bastards." Urd loudly exclaimed.
"I was, tempted, to do the same on more then one occasion. Really, no one should be put through what you were." Kami-sama said, surprising everyone present.
"The great Kami-Sama, tempted to fry some of his own pet project the mortals? Unbelievable." Marller said in her shock and wonder at that statement for Kami-Sama.
"Just because I gave them the freedom of choice, doesn't mean I never get angry or disappointed in them and their choices. And those in Ranma's life have angered me greatly. Ranma is a type a person who comes around once in a billion years. There never has been some one like him, now her, and there won't be another for a long time, if ever again. A treasure they know they have, and yet they treat it like garbage." Kami-Sama said while shaking his head.
"Um, ok." Ranma said in response. She was getting very confused at the moment. "What are you going to do with me now?" She then asked, switching the subject to a hopefully less confusing one.
"Well I would suggest, that until you know what you want to do with the rest of your eternity, that you live with my three daughters. Just what you already have planed." Kami-Sama suggested in his infinite wisdom. "But I do hope some day you'll take back the ruler-ship of Niflheim. It IS yours by right." He then stated.
"Hey I'm going to be living with them too! I want to get to know my new Mother and her family!" Marller stated loudly.
"Well if it's ok with the others, but what about Niflheim? You're running it for now." Kami-sama asked, like he new her answer. Which in all probability, he probably did.
"Hey! I can run it just as well from their place. Video conferencing is great. Plus, other then harassing those three on business," Marller said waving an arm at the Norns "I haven't been out of hell in over fifteen hundred years. And the times I harassed them were so short I didn't have time to do any thing else. And I was always getting badly hurt during them. I need a fucking break from Niflheim Kami-Sama! I can run it from Mom's place and have a lot of long overdue fun." Marller exclaimed.
"Well its fine with me. You two must get to know the person your Mother has become. Right Skuld?" Belldandy said and then asked warmly.
"Huh? Oh yeah, right. Welcome to the household Marller. Just watch out for Urd's potions." Skuld said lazily.
"And your machines." Urd shot back angrily.
"Humph." Skuld humped in reply to that accusation.
"Oh? So you're still making all those love potions Urd? Wait how did I know that?" Ranma said shaking her head while holding it. "This is so confusing, all these new memories that are assaulting me. And my two wonderful daughters, who until an hour ago weren't even mine." She said, and then she began laughing a little hysterically. "I think I'm going to need a lot of help." She said wisely.
"It's ok Mom. We'll all help you." Urd said.
"Thanks honey. Gah." Ranma said while shaking her head violently. "Memories can flash by at the most inopportune moments." She told them.
"What was it?" Urd ask concerned for her mother.
"Well, if you must know, it was me, or me as Hild that is, covered in honey as Kami-Sama was slowly licking it off." Ranma said slyly.
Everyone blushed at this. "Oh my." Came from Belldandy.
"Yeah, and the worse thing is, that memory really grosses me out now, because since Ranma's personality is more dominate in me, and since I see myself as mainly him, well, I, I prefer woman in that way." Ranma told them. "Although I do wonder if Akane would be willing to do that though?" Ranma then mused to herself.
Everyone then just stared at her.
Kami-Sama, getting embarrassed by the way this conversation is going, and just wanting them out of his office if they were going to talk like this, said "Well girls, I do think you're going to have to get going now. My work is piling up out there." When women talk romance and sex, no man wants to be around.
"Yes father." Belldandy replied. And with that all five were at the temple.
A temple on a hill in Japan: in the temple courtyard: moments later
As Keiichi saw the flash he came running, only to stop when he saw Marller and another woman were with Belldandy and her sisters. 'Marller. Bad. Another woman. Goddess or Demoness? Does even it matter? Bad. This is very bad.' This was going through is mind with the last sentence 'This is very bad.' looping in is mind as he stood there frozen in his utter shock.
"Hi Keiichi. We're going to be moving in with my mother and my sister for awhile, ok? Mom lives in Nerima right now." Urd told him excitedly.
'Marller. Moving in with her. Bad. Their mother. Moving in with her. Very bad. This is very bad.' Were his thoughts at this news while looping the last sentence in his mind again.
"Hi, I'm Ranma Saotome, sorry about this." The woman identified as Urd and Marller's Mother told him in a truly apologetic tone of voice.
This then snapped Keiichi out of his looping thoughts of self pity, for, "I thought your mother's name was Hild?" he asked aloud truly puzzled.
"Um, I was Hild, and I was a guy named Ranma. I've kinda been carrying Hild's soul around for awhile and we just merged. We're mostly Ranma now though. I mean I still think of myself as mainly him." She said very embarrassed.
That was the final spark needed to fry poor Keiichi's brain. "I'll explain everything dear." Belldandy said taking a shocked Keiichi by the arm leading him away towards the temple. "Skuld, why don't you help me explain things to Keiichi in the kitchen while they catch up with each other in the living room."
"Yes Belldandy." Skuld said following her sister into to the shrine, while she in turn was followed by the trio of Urd, Marller and Ranma.