Author's Note: As this story comes to an end, I feel a certain sorrow at its conclusion. Afterwards I'm hoping to produce a sequel, since saying goodbye to my characters is not really an option for me. Alright well keep reading and reviewing; I appreciate everything you readers do!
The Space Pirate Tales
Chapter 12: Live and Let Die
Rio averted her gaze from her grandmother and kept it to the floor. Her teeth grinded as the information in her head rolled uncomfortably. It didn't matter that she had been drilled on the conversation she was about to have, her heart dropped as she realized what she would be asking of her family.
"Rio…what's wrong?" Washu looked at her forlorn granddaughter.
"You of all people will understand why I was sent back," Her voice trailed, as if she was addressing no one at all. "Why I was created…"
"Created, but you're the child of Ryoko and Tenchi; I'm sure they didn't have you because—"Rio looked up at her with a sudden fierceness that bade Washu to become silent.
"No, I wasn't. Ryoko and Tenchi never had me the way normal couples would have." Rio shook as she realized the truth she had been told many times since she had returned to the future for the last time. "You created me…as you created Ryoko." She raised her head. "Except this time you used DNA from Ryoko and Tenchi…the two most powerful beings you could fathom."
"That can't be." Washu's knees buckled as she fell to the floor. "Ryoko…Tenchi…they never…"
"I wouldn't know anything about that." Rio sighed as she bent over to help Washu back up. "You never let me in on what kind of relationship they had…all my memories from my childhood, you implanted—all of them except the ones I formed here." Her words filled with more sorrow than anger; she leaned into her grandmother's embrace.
"But why?" Washu couldn't compute what Rio was telling her.
"You needed them to love me; to have something worth fighting for, just as I did." Rio looked around her. "She really did die…everyone did, but I was never there to see it." Her gaze returned to her hands. "However there was something more to my creation than I originally thought. Before I was sent here for the finally time, I was disclosed with the last bit of information. It's not just my genetics that make me special…look here." Rio opened her jacket and revealed the upper section of her chest.
Washu watched in fascination and horror at the device implanted on the girl. Her fingers raked over it, not sure where flesh and metal started, and was dazed at the bright blue light that faintly glowed.
"What is this?" Her eyes widened in disgust as she hypothesized its purpose.
She took her grandmother's hand in hers and placed it right above the device.
"The only way to kill our enemy is to imprison him; I will serve as his vessel." Her voice was level and emotionless. "And when I become that vessel…" Her lips turned into a sadistic smile. "Ryoko and Tenchi must perish this body."
"No!" Washu shouted out loud as she held Rio tightly in her arms. How could that have been her plan all along? What darkness had penetrated her heart, so that she would sacrifice her only grandchild? She felt her heart coil inside as her eyes moistened; she had brought life into this world only to end it.
"It's ok…I've been trained to do this." Rio took her grandmother in her arms. "The future is a cold and lonely place, but you did love me—I wouldn't be here, willing to die, if I didn't think there was anything worth dying for." She wiped Washu's tears and kept her smile on. "I love you, grams."
Washu felt her heart uncoil and she looked into her granddaughter's golden eyes and found warmth she had not been expecting. If anything she had thought Rio would hate her, despise her for the fate she was entitled to. She looked at the mechanism once more and then back to Rio's smiling face—Hakubi women were indeed a force to be reckoned with.
"I promised to save her; I promised to save all of you, and I will." The determination in her eyes did not for one second waver.
"Your mother will not like this…her heart will break."
"She only needs to know her part to play; she doesn't need to know about my birth—" the words became stuck in her throat. "I'd still like her to believe I'm truly her daughter and that I was a product of love."
"You ARE her daughter…and I believe you were a product of love." Washu kissed her on the forehead. "I created my daughter because my heart was empty…she made it whole; I can only guess that I created you because my heart was once more empty, broken even—you were probably the only person that saved me from being empty."
"I believe you; you made my life memorable grams." Rio winked and patted her on the back; her walls of fortitude had returned, and her pain was concealed.
Washu felt the block on Rio's mind and heart, frowned slightly, but knew it wasn't her place to break through. Her frown withdrew and was replaced with a smile—telling Ryoko sure wasn't going to be easy.
The two women returned from the lab to a very eager crowd. Ryoko peered at her mother relentlessly—Washu had slipped a terrible emotion to her through their link by accident, and they both knew it. Such a dark, sorrowful emotion… Ryoko feared the worst.
"I would like to speak with Tenchi and Ryoko…alone." She looked apologetic to the various other members of her family. "I'm sorry you guys, but I was given specific instructions on how to relay my information." She placed her hand behind her head and lightly scratched—a gesture that had been her father's nervous habit, but on her it looked slightly more graceful.
Ayeka recognized the gesture right away and she took Sasami's hand to walk away—she trusted Rio and knew she would reveal everything in time. Sasami nodded in agreement and followed without question. Kiyone made her way to leave but stopped in annoyance as she realized Mihoshi had no intention of moving.
"Come on!" She grabbed her partner by the ear and dragged her out as she bawled in pain.
"I guess I'll—" Washu made her way towards her lab but a slender hand stopped her from retreating.
"Wait!" Rio's eyes looked panicked for a second. "Will you stay with me?" Her eyes pleaded.
Washu nodded and stood beside her.
"Grandpa and gramps will be out at the shrine for the moment. Let's go Nobuyuki. You will come by later won't you?" Yosho looked kindly upon his great granddaughter.
"Of course grandfather." Rio smiled back at him and waved them goodbye.
"What's wrong?" Ryoko stood directly in front of Rio—at this age Rio stood right at her eye level.
"I promised to save you and father, and I know how." Rio smirked as Ryoko's eyes brightened a little, but Rio knew her mother wasn't easily fooled; Tenchi watched in silence.
"How?" Ryoko asked looking warily as Rio began to unzip her jacket and drop the strap on her left shoulder.
"With this device, I'll be able to trap Kronos… and once he's trapped you will pierce this device, as will Tenchi." Rio spoke with a straight face, even as Ryoko's pupils shrunk in horror as did Tenchi's.
"What kind of plan is that?" Ryoko shouted as she took Rio's collar in her hands, scrunching up the cloth about her neck, hiding the hideous device that Rio had revealed. "You're saying we have to kill you, correct?" The darkness reeled in as she realized why Washu had transmitted such a tragic emotion.
"Correct." Rio stood calm, but she kept her gaze away from her mothers or fathers. "Kronos is a being entirely of dark matter; he has no other purpose than to consume and destroy—I have the potential to become a vessel for him. It must be both of you that destroy that vessel."
Ryoko's body began to tremble as she overhead her daughter speak—months ago she had been reluctant to let a small toddler into her life, but she had, and now she was being forced to slay her happiness.
"There must be another way…" Tenchi butted in as he realized how shaken up Ryoko had become.
"There is no other way; we have looked." Her gaze fell upon Washu.
Ryoko snarled as she looked towards Washu—how could this have been her plan all along?
"It's not her fault." Rio forced her mother to look at her. "I agreed to this."
"When?" Ryoko looked into her daughter's golden eyes, hoping to find a spark of hope.
"Since I was old enough to make a decision; if you do not kill me, I will roam the stars, destroying everything I've ever held close to my heart—you should know how painful that can be, Ryoko."
Ryoko snapped as her past flooded in, and her heart slightly cracked—Rio had called her by her name. Without thinking, Ryoko raised her hand and met with her daughter's cheek. The slap resonated as complete silence overtook the gang. Rio looked up at her mother, briefly showing a pained expression, but quickly reformed her emotions to appear nonchalant.
"Stop that!" Ryoko looked at her. "Stop masking your emotions."
"So will you do it?" Rio completely ignored her mother's request.
"Not until you let me in." Ryoko grunted as she let go of Rio's collar and withdrew. "You know where to find me." Ryoko phased away.
"You can't be childish!" Rio shook her fist as she watched her mother disappear. Pain, fury, fear—it all boiled within her. "Dad, you understand, don't you?" Rio looked to him with hope.
"Rio… what you're asking… it's a lot." He paused every so often as pangs of pain washed over him. "You've brought us closer together; you've given me the family I've always dreamed of without even realizing that's what I wanted; you're in our hearts." He sighed and took the girl in his arms. "If you're going to sacrifice yourself, I want you to do it because that's what your heart tells you to do; not because you're trained or because it's been expected of you your whole life." He smiled at her and found that she was not so much older than him—the innocence in her eyes was still there. "That being said, you should take it easy on your mother—she's tough like you, but you taught her to open up; remember what it was like when you could tell her anything. It wasn't too long ago, was it?"
Rio smiled and nodded—she understood what had to be done. "No it wasn't; I'll be back." Rio phased away as she smiled back at her grandmother—perhaps she didn't have to be so heartless to follow through with this. Washu let a deep breath of air out as she peered sideways at Tenchi—since when had he been so mature?
"You think you'll be able to do it?" She asked uncertain if she really wanted to know the answer.
"You know Little Washu…" Tenchi closed his eyes, "I'm not sure. I can't do it without Ryoko, that's for sure."
Washu nodded and for once in her life wished that she believed in miracles.
Rio flew past various trees as she made her way to the cave; there was nowhere else her mother would go to burrow in her emotions. She had visited this place almost as much when her grandmother made a virtual reality version of this world. It was just as beautiful, but completely empty—no memories, no people, no connection. Her eyes scanned over the area but her mother was nowhere in sight. She raised an eyebrow and let out a small 'hmmm' as she let her feet touch the ground. As she stood before the darkness of the cave a pair of arms encircled her from behind. Her body relaxed as she let the arms pull her close, and let her head rest on the provided shoulder.
"I'm sorry Mama…" She whispered the words, trying her best to let her shields down.
Ryoko took her in her arms and gently whirled her around. Rio's eyes failed to meet hers as she gazed at her daughter's features. She had aged magnificently, her hair was just as beautifully baby blue and smooth; her eyes just as golden and sharp. Ryoko counted Rio as her most valuable treasure—all her time being a space pirate never gave her anything this lovely. She put her hand under Rio's chin and raised it so that their eyes were parallel.
"Look at me Rio." Ryoko's voice was sincerely gentle. "Look…" Rio's eyes slowly rotated to match Ryoko's; Ryoko smiled but her eyes betrayed a look of sorrow. "You're just like me, ya know—one, big pain in the ass." Ryoko chuckled. "I want you to talk to me."
Rio looked into her mother's eyes, tracing the signs of worry and love that were embedded within. The warmth that Ryoko's molten golden eyes gave her, set her at ease. There was a time when she craved her mother's eyes to be upon her, but as time passed by all that craving brought her an emptiness that plagued her endlessly. As a child she had fantasized of the days she would spend with her family once everything was changed; she held a naïve hope within her foolish heart that she would one day have a complete family and everything would be ok. Rio had let that hope flourish and thrive, until her childish fantasies and naivety began to fade away—reality had begun to set in as her training came to an end. Now she realized that she would die… so that another 'her' may live, or have the chance to live. Who knew if her father would naturally fall in love with her mother…
Ryoko could tell Rio was entertaining thoughts of her own as she held her gaze. "Are you really ok with dying?" Ryoko spoke evenly with an emotionless face.
Rio snapped out of her thoughts, completely caught off guard by her mother's direct question.
"Of course I am." She retorted with an equally emotionless visage. "I promised I would save you…" Ryoko caught sight of the child within her.
"Yeah, save me, not die for me." She brushed Rio's bangs from her eyes. "There's a difference."
"I have to die so that you live, so that I have the chance to grow up with a father and a mother!" Rio shouted, finally looked her mother in the eye.
"You don't HAVE to do anything!" Ryoko matched her temper. "As your mother, I never agreed to any of this!" Her eyes sparked with energy.
"You weren't there! I don't have a mother where I come from!" Rio snapped, but felt guilt wash over her as her words set in. "It's my choice…" She lowered her voice as she studied her mother's forlorn expression.
"I'd rather die than kill you."
"In dying, you kill us both." Rio muttered as she realized her mother would be able to connect the pieces.
Ryoko's eyes opened wide as that tiny bit of information shed light on a whole new subject—when was Rio born? Had she been born after Kronos decimated earth or before? She knew they escaped on a ship before they could be killed—actually Rio had only shown her images of her dying, and Washu in the ship. No one else had been recorded. Tenchi must've survived too, right? Ryoko's head whirled as she tried to paint a picture that would bring her peace, but she was missing the proper colors to do so.
"Do you want the truth?" Rio whimpered as she pulled away from Ryoko's embrace.
Ryoko nodded, unsure if she still had the power to speak.
Rio sighed, knowing this wasn't part of her grandmother's plans, but she couldn't fight Kronos with this weight on her heart; with this façade she had been keeping up.
"Everyone died on earth when Kronos first came; everyone except for you and…Washu. You wouldn't have left, if you hadn't been knocked out—Washu knew Kronos was too powerful to be defeated at the time, so she fled in fear. Grams relays the time after that as a dark period—you were both furious and depressed by her actions. In time you became a shell without a spirit: you wouldn't talk, eat or sleep. It broke her heart to see you like that, so she began to devise a way to change history as it had played out." Rio stopped as she realized her mother was showing signs of tearing; without really even thinking she took her hand and held it as she continued with her story. "As she made progress, she became sidetracked and Kronos eventually located Washu's ship. That night you were murdered before Washu could do anything—I was born a year after that." Rio checked Ryoko's eyes as they wavered in tears. "With both your DNA and Tenchi's I was able to exist—it was Washu that created me; just as you were created. So you see it's not like I'm your real daughter; you'll be killing a science experiment." Rio tried her best at a smirk, but her heart felt too heavy for the attempt.
She suddenly felt her body being pulled forward into an embrace and Ryoko's arms wrapped tight around her.
"You ARE my daughter!" She held her close, "To hell if you were raised in a test tube; you are still a part of me." She brought Rio's head down on her chest, and Rio felt the pulse of Ryoko's heart. "Washu created me, but that doesn't make me any less of her daughter. Hakubi women are just brought into this world a little differently."
Rio kept her head in place so that she could hear and fell her mother's heartbeat. "You still love me?" Her voice cracked as she spoke. "You're not angry that I…"
Ryoko laughed as Rio looked up at her with a teary face; her eyes innocent and her expression completely dumbstruck: how could her mother laugh at a time like this?
"You could do nothing that would make me love you less, much less not love you at all." She ran her hand through Rio's locks of hair. "You will always be my Little Rio, even if you are fully grown out."
"But I lied." Her heart skipped a beat as she realized the potential harm she could bring her mother's heart once she realized the future hadn't exactly played out as they all had thought—Tenchi had never made up his mind in time.
"You did, but…" Ryoko couldn't find the right words the emotions she was feeling. Sure, thinking Tenchi had picked her from all the girls really boosted her self-esteem and brought her a certain peace, but it wasn't really him who did all that. Having Rio by her gave her more self-worth than any boy could; Ryoko chuckled as she took into consideration that she needed Tenchi's help in conceiving Rio, so he was important to some degree. "You taught me what it meant to truly love another, and I'm not going to punish you for that." She sighed. "I love Tenchi and it would be great if he loved me too, but the only thing that can shatter me now is if you don't love me—my own flesh and blood." She pinched Rio's cheek as blood flushed to her cheeks.
"Then can you promise to carry out the task I've been given…" Rio's voice began to shake again, "I…I can't do it alone."
"I will look for every other solution before I resort to that." Ryoko calmly stated as she placed her hand on the device that lay embedded in Rio's chest. It glowed eerily, as if it knew that it would one day consume the girl it had become a part of—in that moment Ryoko began to harbor a hatred for it. The green glow swirled as Ryoko continued to stare into its abyss of whirls: would this be her only option? She didn't want Tenchi to die…and she didn't want Rio to die.
"Look at it this way, if Tenchi dies, I die too." Rio had tapped into their mind link, which Ryoko had not even bothered to block. "Technically you're both my parents, so I need both of you alive so that I can have a complete family." Rio smiled and this time it was genuine.
Ryoko let Rio's smile settle in her mind as she tried to come to term with the role she had to play. Rio felt a renewed sense of self as she looked away from the dark cave and up into the clear, blue sky. She would live after all. It may not be the woman who she had become, but her spirit would continue to spread its wings and soar in the same direction she had always been heading. She looked at her mother with a gentle gaze—she would be able to do this every day of her life once Kronos was eliminated. Death suddenly became a welcomed guest instead of a murderous thief. She embraced the idea, knowing that by embracing death, she would also be embracing life.
"You'll keep me alive, I trust you." Rio sounded confident as she took her mother's hand and flew up towards the sky. Ryoko followed with a certain delight—an understanding had been reached.
Like two birds basking in morning sunlight, they dashed and glided on the air, savoring the freedom of the open sky. Rio dipped through a cloud and relished the cold dew that clung to her as she passed through. This is what it meant to be alive; she dropped out of the cloud soaking wet and grinned as her mother followed suit. They both laughed as they continued to dive and dip through clouds. Rio wanted this to be her future and looked down at the device on her chest— this sacrifice was her choice.
End Note: I am SO sorry! This took forever to get posted, and I have no good reason for procrastinating…I don't think there's ever a good reason to procrastinate but that's beside the point. Alright well at least it's out now and I'm working on the next chap! REVIEW PLEASE ^_^. Were you disappointed, shocked, revolted, what? Haha.
