Viral Hearts
Chapter 1: A Broken Mirror
AN: yes this is another story, but this plot bunny wouldn't leave me alone.
AN2: The Dragons Path, is on hold until I get evidence that enough people are actually reading it to put it higher on the priority list, since it only has around 300 hits for four chapters.
Weddings, they are supposed to be the happiest time in a persons life. Usually they are a time of joy for all involved. Usually. This wedding however, was punctuated by explosions, insults, and swords. During most time-lines it would simply end in a ruined and canceled wedding with hard feelings all around. This time was different. This time something went wrong that would change people of two worlds.
*Clack* was the sound made when a broken magic mirror hit the ground, fallen from the ninja suit of an old man.
*Crack* was the sound of the mirror breaking further, and making some of the glass fragments stick up like small knives.
*Kaboom* went a explosive thrown by a puny petty pervert.
Ranma, distracted by the boy in a keno outfit wielding live steel was hit by the explosion and sent flying back, right on top of the shattered mirror.
The first law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed from one form to another, so despite the physical mirror being broken, its power was still there since it hadn't been used since it was broken. When Ranma hit the Nanban Mirror, and his blood, blood being considered a powerful magic catalyst, getting on the mirror shards, and a sound like, "Murrf," escaping his lips, the magic was expelled from the artifact in a single burst, sending him to a person close enough in name to the sound that had left his lips. The magic dissipating into the background after it's last use.
All that was left was some slightly bloody clothes.
The binary field, is a field running through a tower that was a marvel of engineering, over five kilometers tall, and nearly seven hundred years old. Most beings cannot enter, much less survive there, without special precautions, and in a particular section of the field is a girl with red eyes, pale skin, long thigh length black hair, and wearing her birthday suit, whom is normally kept asleep by a reyvateil singing a song named Chronicle key.
Looking around the binary field the girl felt something intrude in her section of the field. She then spotted the anomaly, a nude young man whom looked like he had seen better days by the scorch marks and blood, who was floating in the field. What drew her eyes to him most was that he was radiating a mixture of emotions much like her own, pain, sadness, anger, depression, and deep betrayal, all clearly felt with the fading multicolored light coming off of his body. He was also seeming to be fading, and small pieces of him disappearing slowly. Curiously there was another image super imposed on him, that of a shorter girl.
Moved by a slight bit of pity, empathy, and curiosity, she moved to save him. The damage was severe more so to the female form than the male. Using her ability to craft viruses, as well as the mutible nature of the binary field, the girl went to work. She started on the more severely damaged female form, separating it and melding a bit of her own DNA, as well as a bit of a specially created virus to patch up the damage. The male form just needed the virus. She wouldn't normally have done it that way, but it was necessary to not only save them, but so that they could survive as long as it takes to help them escape, especially since viruses could escape easier than she could, and perhaps they could in turn help her escape.
"Let's hope this works," she whispered as she moved away. A smile quirked her lips as she started to wait and watch the two figures integrating the new parts of themselves. "even if they're trapped here until I get out, at least I won't be alone anymore."
Hours passed slowly as the two figures' bodies tried to adapt to the additions. The bodies fluctuated from being normal, to completely hideous monsters. After half a day the two started being in the more human side of the spectrum more than the monstrous side. A day after the alterations the fluctuations had died down a bit, focusing more on the human form than any other. A day later the two were in their apparently human forms and not changing.
Half a day later the male groaned and sat up, when he opened his eyes and looked at the waiting girl who saved his life, the girl saw that he had evidence that he wasn't completely human. His eyes were wrong looking. The whites of his eyes were now silver, and the pupil had a red slit, kid of like a cat eye, while the rest of the pupil, as well as the blue of his eyes remained the same.
On his part he noticed three things first off about the person he set his eyes on. The three things were:
1: Person in front of him was female.
2: She was naked.
3: She was cute.
He turned around instantly as one and two clicked, and blushed wen he realized three, and said, "Sorry I didn't mean to look!"
"What are you apologizing for? Unless you think I'm ugly," she said while narrowing her eyes.
"No, no, no, your cute, it's just, well most girls I know would get violent if I looked at them without clothes," the boy explained hurriedly.
"I see, no problem I have no issues with looking, because I'm not ashamed of my looks, and the name's Mir, and you can turn around. I will not get mad, well unless you try something, besides, you have no clothes yourself," Mir said.
When he stayed where he was so Mir bit out sharply, "Please turn around, I want to see the face of whom I'm dealing with."
He looked down, and covered his privets, before turning around, actually shocked that she was more angry at him for not looking than if he was staring. Slowly turning around he once agin got a eye full of the sixteen year old looking girl in front of him, as well as the annoyed face she had. "I'm Ranma Saotome sorry bout this."
"Whats to be sorry about? I'm more curious on how you got into my prison, why you had two forms, and who is that," Mir replied pointing to the other body which was just starting to stir.
Ranma looked at where she was pointing and blinked. "That's my cursed form, how is it there?"
"Cursed form?" the black haired girl said curiously.
"Ummm, couple years ago pops took me to a training ground Jesenkyo. It had many small pools, and a person that falls into into it takes form of what drowned there when hit by cold water, hot water reverses the change," Ranma explained tiredly for what seemed like the hundredth time since he acquired his curse while assuming a sitting potion in the ether. "as to why she's over there, I have no clue.
"That was me, you two were dieing, so I took desperate measures to save you, and in the process split you and her up, not knowing what the double form meant. Now, how did you get here?" Mir asked.
"Don't know I was at the wedding that my father conned me and Akane into, it degenerated in a fight, got hit by an explosion, next thing I know I was here looking at a cute naked girl," Ranma then flinched and covered his head waiting for a blow.
I see, well your stuck here with me for a bit, so lets wake up the sleeper and find out what she knows. As well as what splitting you two apart did," Mir said after a moments contemplation. She then moved over to the cringing Ranma, which caused him to cringe further, and pecked him on the cheek. Leaving the shocked boy touching his cheek, as that was one of the first kisses he had received from a girl not determined to drag him to the alter, she walked to the red head, and grabbed her nose and mouth. Now, while Ranma had the ability to fight in his sleep, it was limited to those that had hostile intent, and since Mir wasn't radiating anything but curiosity, she succeeded in capturing her target. The fact that her air was cut off made Ranma-chan wake up.
Ranma-chan's first reaction gave the black haired girl a serious case of deja-vu.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to look," the red haired girl said as she presented her back to Mir.
Mir sighed and rubbed her temples, she knew that if she was in a physical body she would've had one hell of a headache. She quickly summarized the conversation she had had with Ranma. And while waiting for the red haired girl to process the information, caught a glimpse of the girls eyes. They were the same as the male Ranma's. She paled as she saw something unexpected on the mall of the red heads back, an installer port.
"So, now I'm a girl permanently because you saved my life without knowing my situation, right?" Ranma-chan said nearly in hysterics.
"Yes, isnt that better than dead? And I'm afraid that's not all..." Mir started somewhat nervously, since she would have to be with these two for a while antagonizing them wouldn't be good.
Ranma-chan slowly calmed down as she had realized the point that had just been made. "What do you mean that's not all?" she asked semi calmly.
"You were worse off than him," Mir started while jerking her thumb at the male Ranma. "So I used some of my own DNA as a template for the repair. It accidentally changed you into a reyvateil which I didn't mean to do."
"What's a reyvateil?" Male Ranma asked.
"How could you not know Ranma?" the black haired girl asked archly.
"I don't know," Ranma-chan said.
"Stop, I'll explain, but first," Mir stopped and pointed at Ranma-chan. "You need a new name so that when we get out you're not going to confuse everybody you come across if you stick with him," she finished by pointing at Male Ranma.
"Umm, okay, what name though?" Ranma-chan asked.
"How about Ranko?" Male Ranma asked then winced as the memories of why they used that name flooded his mind.
"No, I don't think we want to be overly reminded of that particular set of incidents," Ranma-chan said wincing herself.
"Raizna?" the black haired girl said remembering a redheaded friend from before she was sealed away.
Ranma-chan nodded slowly at the name, and replied, "That'll do I guess."
"Now a reyvateil is a artificial human with the ability to use song magic. All reyvateils are female, and have to have a specific genetic sequence. Having the Y-chromosome deactivates the reyvateil genes. In general, reyvateils tend to be weaker physically than humans, so they require someone to defend them in combat. There are three types of reyvateils origins which tend to be considered the strongest, betas like myself, and presumably Raizna, which are next down in power, although in some ways I exceed the origins. Lastly the third generations which are born from union of a reyvateil and a human male. Third generations have short lives unless they receive a life extender every three months," Mir lectured all the while thinking that she finally had someone to talk to after nearly 400 years.
The two looked at the bane of her towers existence blankly, causing the black haired one to sigh, and say, "I'll explain in greater detail later, trust me we have plenty of time. Now I think we should get to know each other."
And so ended the solitary confinement of Mir, and a few great headaches for everybody involved.
End Chapter
End Note: yes I know there are physically capable reyvateils in Ar tonelico 2, but most if not all of them are IPDs which don't exist in the first tower.
End Note 2: Link to rough sketch of Ranma's and Raizna's new eyes on bottom of profile.