Chapter 5

Borealis

"The Heavens burned, the stars cried out and under the ashes of infinity, hope, scarred and bleeding, breathed its last."

Nodoka was picking through the books on the shelf in their living room. The collection Ranma amassed in this short of time was slowly spilling to the other shelves. It was interesting to see her child grow intellectually.

When she first met Ranma after all those years, she couldn't help but think of him as an insensitive chauvinistic brat. The exact persona Genma used to be ramped up to eleven.

Ranko on the other hand, while rough around the edges, showed potential. Something that Ranma probably didn't dare to show in the birth form fearing Genma's disapproval.

The names of the books were mostly familiar to her. There was some heavy philosophical reading present. Books that dealt with identity and existentialism. 'Akane was right.' The woman sighed. There was much more to Ranma than she knew.

Ranma was composed of layers, like a Russian nesting doll. Layers that her child still seemed to be peeling off himself, or was it herself? She just couldn't shake the feeling like she was missing something major.

While Nodoka used to have a problem with Ranma being a daughter to her, this no longer applied. She grabbed the book from the shelf feeling the leather binding of it. Ranma had great taste. She herself marveled at the value of it and wondered where her daughter got it. The spine read "Beyond Good and Evil". Nodoka frowned. Nietzsche wasn't her favorite. His books, while classics, were a bit too bleak for her liking.

She had lot to think about. Putting the book back in its proper place she decided to do the only thing that she could to let her mind drift.

"Why Chizuko? Why did the Queen deny me?" Angwyn sunk her face into her palms in shame. "Am I not good enough?" She was so ashamed. She cried like when she was little. For all she'd done, all of her training. She was still the helpless little girl powerless to save her parents.

The fateful day weighed on her mind heavily. She was angry at herself. Her parents died thinking she hated them. A few hours before that tragedy she ran off after arguing with her mother. She needed to calm down. When she returned home… 'Ohh god why!' She gripped her knees hugging her legs bringing them closer. This hurt. Was this all she was good for? Was suffering her meaning in life?

"Mistress Angwyn…" The bird laid her wing over the sobbing redhead.

Angwyn hugged the bird back. "Why am I so useless Chizuko? Why is it that nothing in my life works out right. It's like some greater power keeps conspiring against me." Angwyn cried hugging the bird.

Chizuko caressed her back. If the bird could cry she would. "You are not useless mistress Angwyn, don't give up your dreams. Please.

Angwyn looked at Chizuko and the bird gently wiped tears from her eyes. In a sense the bird she saved was now the only family she had left. "You are right. l'll show them. If I have to figure it out all on my own, so be it."

In a bright white flash that hurt her eyes Ranma found herself floating in a white void. No up nor down, only white everywhere. Looking down at her hands she could see she wasn't in her senshi fuku anymore. Further inspection revealed that she indeed was still female. Dressed in her favorite red silk shirt and black pants.

"Hello there." Said strangely familiar voice from behind. Ranma turned around to see herself dressed as her senshi form gripping the staff she just grabbed moments ago. She looked somehow older.

"Who, what..? ...you.. are me…" Ranma stated. The shocked expression would be one to behold if someone could witness that.

Her senshi clad clone smirked looking down. "I believe you already know who we are." She looked up and bore her deep blue eyes onto Ranma. "Isn't that right, Angwyn?"

All Ranma could do was to perform her best impression of a fish out of water gasping for air as the words failed to come. She was stopped however by an index finger across her lips. "Calm down." The other redhead purred in a teasing manner.

The stranger tugged at Ranma's clothes, then circled around to examine the smaller girl. "Hmm… can't say I like this style but, ohh well."

Ranma used the opportunity to do the same. The senshi wore her usual uniform and looked like a few years older version of Ranma. Taller, more slender and her hair on the level of Setsuna long. Ranma could easily see herself looking this way in a few years. The staff in the strangers hand, looked almost the same as the one she found, still it looked different. It emitted a faint glow and the top part glowed brightly red.

The senshi made her way around Ranma, running her hand along the shorter hair tied in pigtail. "This has to be driving Victoria nuts." She flicked the pigtail to the side."

"Wha…." Ranma grabbed her hair, finding it strangely bound in a pigtail once more.

"I didn't expect anything quite like this to be honest. You should step up your game and not bum around in clothes like this." The senshi teased Ranma with a mischievous grin plastered over her face.

"What do you mean step up my game?" Ranma blinked.

The senshi clad redhead grinned. "Well, you never catch a decent guy looking like this."

"Who says I wanna!?" Ranma bit of indignantly. "I'm a guy. Why would I want to catch myself a guy?"

The senshi laughed… "Good one…" She wiped tears from her eyes. "Pardon me young one, but I would have to know if you were a guy, wouldn't I? I am you after all."

Ranma blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"Please tell me you're just playing dumb. I really hope you didn't hurt your head very badly during our current lifetime."

"What do you mean by that?!" The pigtailed redhead blushed.

Angwyn sighed. "I am you, you are me. Get it?" She grinned. "Angwyn?"

Ranma's eyes bulged out. "This is not possible. How can this be? I am a guy!" She said feeling obliged to do so but the conviction that used to be such a staple of the usual proclamation was not there. "This is not real, is it?" She looked at the other redhead present.

"Now you are catching on girl." The young woman in the senshi garb mused.

The scenery suddenly changed. "I know what happened, I know your past kid. Quite a mess to be honest." Angwyn said looking over a misty valley full of pools with bamboo poles sticking out of them. "Such an interesting place. The omega is creative indeed."

Ranma looked around them as once more the scenery changed. "This pool." Angwyn said reaching to the water getting down on her knee. "Can you imagine never being yourself again? Never being us?" The words rang in Ranma's head.

"But I never wanted this. I am not a g…"

Ranma was stopped by a finger over her lips. "You can't lie to me. Your life is an open book to me.

"I am Angwyn Weaver, and I am a part of you. You know that now don't you? As much as you would like to deny it, you know deep down who you were. Who you are. It doesn't matter what body you were born with this time around."

"I am not…" Ranma cursed under her breath her hands clenched.

"A girl? Then why are you here in this body? Why not your male one then?"

"I...I I don't know." Ranma managed to say after making her lips work right again.

"Never mind, You have to find your way on your own. You could save yourself some pain being honest with yourself instead of being so stubbornly holding onto the teachings of a foolish old man. Even if he is our current father." The scenery changed once more.

The two of them were now floating at the edge of a different valley looking over to the space as beams of light descended to the moons surface.

"Do you see? Can you see this madness? I desperately tried to get to the battle in time. To save the kingdom and our Queen." She hung her head. "I failed."

A single tear escaped her closed eyes. "I arrived too late. The surface of the moon was devastated. Huge patches of glassy bedrock littered the once lush landscape. The enemy glassed the surface. Nothing survived, almost. Huge clouds of dust encircled the lunar orbit, some of it drifting down to Earth, pulled by the gravity. The palace, a place of joy and the crowning jewel of the solar system gone. Replaced by a glowing patch of molten rock. Those still alive would soon be dead too. There was no escape from this hell. Powerless to save them, I was left to avenge them." Ranma could feel what Angwyn felt. Despair, regret and the rejection of her queen stung even more than it used to. If only she had listened.

"To buy some time for the rest that managed to escape to Earth. I knew what I had to do. I intercepted the fleet near lunar orbit in the hope they would be too occupied by destroying the, now offline, defense satellite network."

"My new weapon proved to be a double edged sword however. I destroyed the three dreadnoughts bombarding the surface with their energy beam weapons. The lance proved too powerful, I could feel it taking a toll on me.

"Too bad I didn't give a damn." The fuku wearing redhead grinned. "I lost everything. All that was left was vengeance and avenge I did."

The two once again changed location. They were now facing a fleet of ships. Huge ships that seemed to be firing upon some kind of satellite platforms. "The arc net was our defense system. These satellites were the impenetrable barrier that protected us. Somehow, those…. things." The senshi said in venom-laced voice. "Managed to turn them all off."

They watched the battle from a third person view. Ranma was amazed at Angwin as she took down the ships one by one. Then one of the ships fired at the not yet senshi and the two beams of power smashed into each other. Peeling off and arcing from the point where they met like a splitting banana peel.

Ranma could see Angwyn losing the battle as something nagged at her mind. She felt it. She could feel the heat of the glowing staff as if she held it herself. She knew that the battle was not going well.

Out of the blue, there was a huge beam of energy that joined Angwyn. Ranma turned around to see where it was coming from. It was the direction of the Sun. Turning to the senshi, she couldn't find her anywhere. Then she noticed she was actually holding the spear herself feeling the huge amount of energy backing her up. It felt like she could do anything, and she knew she would pay with everything. All she could see then was white.

"Ranma!" The blue haired girl shook the redhead. "Ranma!" Still no response. She switched the frequency on the headset to the one used by the station.

"Akane! Bring the drone to my coordinates. Quickly. Something happened." Ami sounded desperate. Akane had a bad feeling about it. Now she knew she was right. Her hands shook as she took control of the drone by remote thankful for the lessons in flying that thing Ranma gave her.

"What happened?" Akane asked trying to discern the two specks on her view screen.

"Ranma, she… she fell unconscious. Her vitals are… weird." Ami informed.

Cold sweat ran over Akane. The view screen focused on her beloved. Eyes closed, both her flaming red hair and skirt wildly flailing as Ami shook her. There was a golden spear hovering beside the pair. 'I should have gone with them.' Akane thought clenching her teeth.

"You are going to have to grab us and haul us back to the station. I don't think I can wake her up here." Ami informed the concerned wife, stashing the spear in the drone's storage compartment.

"Ami… I...It will take a while." Akane snapped out of her daze.

"Yeah, like half an hour." Mars offered her guess.

"I can make it in 20, just strap her tight." Akane called seeing the senshi of the Mercury already at it via the external camera on the drone. She placed several sensors at the redhead's body and strapped herself to the drone. "Ready to go."

Akane didn't wait for the words and slowly eased the drone towards home. The acceleration and deceleration had to be slow not to mush the two senshi by into jello by inertia.

"Usagi, can't you teleport?" Mamoru asked.

"Yeah, I could, but she would have to be conscious for me to be able to transport us all." Usagi said sadly holding onto her silver crystal brooch.

"That sucks." Grumbled Makoto.

"Ranchan…" Ukyo whispered her eyes glued to the screen, feeling Konatsu grab her hand and squeeze.

"Angie…" Minako shed a tear for her redheaded friend of old and put her hand on Akane's shoulder to support her.

Akane didn't care about any of that. She was too focused on flying the drone. Adrenaline rising in her system. Her mind was a blank slate focused on one thing and one thing only. To get her Ranma back and then slap her silly for doing something so dangerous.

Nodoka tightened her obi and picked up the family sword that was recently moved to the new dojo. The sword that loomed over her child for so long still held a special place for her if tainted slightly by the fact that she unknowingly hurt Ranma with its implied use.

The sound of the blade pulling out its sheath was perfectly clean, and it echoed in the empty training hall. She read the family record from the blade. Hoping that one day Ranma's name would be inscribed there. Whichever one her child might choose. The sword was a gift from her mother. It signified the fact that while her father forsaken her, she never did.

The few lessons showed her that Ranma possessed a natural talent for the weapon. The form her child used was sloppy and untrained, but that made the blade no less deadly. Ranma had proven to be an adept fighter and while her child seemed to prefer unarmed combat, she also took note of a strange affinity Ranma developed towards staff weapons. It was always a special moment when she caught the young adult practicing, especially in female form. The elegance her child displayed reminded her of a carefully choreographed ballet.

Nodoka was no slouch in the art herself, she had to admit as she performed her kata with the sword. The blade silently sliced through the air as she executed the complex moves of her own art style. She wished her pride of Ranma's art extended to her own family, but made peace with that longing long ago. It used to be a lot worse when she used to be alone. Now she had her family, now she had her kids back. She silently remembered her friend Yui and her tragic passing. 'You would have liked what became of your daughter.' She thought.

Nodoka swiftly swung her sword 180 degrees as the tip of her blade poked a very sensitive piece of skin right under the chin of a certain shriveled up martial artist. "What are you doing here you letch!" Nodoka hissed, pressing the sword more firmly onto Hapossai's neck. Rage present in her eyes.

"Hello dear." The gnome grinned looking at Nodoka. "You are as formidable as ever." The gnome suddenly vanished from her sight.

"I came here to greet your daughter." Nodoka sighed and turned towards the source of the voice to find Hapossai sitting at the porch puffing his pipe. She relaxed a bit, failing to detect any indication that Hapossai was interested in her.

As if the old coot sensed her relaxed state he smiled. "You know, I never understood what you saw in that failed disciple of mine." He sent a ring of smoke towards the evening sky.

"Ranma is not here." The woman said taking a step closer. "You better leave my child alone, or you will live to regret it."

"Yes, yes…" He grinned. "I know she is a formidable martial artist, maybe the best in her generation." He turned towards Nodoka. "And you are no slouch yourself." Snuffing out his pipe he continued. "Believe me, I have her best interests at heart."

"I know which ones, you sick old pervert. Haven't you done enough to her? You can't imagine what that little stunt of yours with the fake Nanichuan did to her." Nodoka hissed, not liking the constant molestation of her daughter, of both of her daughters, and the trauma caused even less. Ranma always managed to shake the old master, but still…

"Nodoka…"

"You will leave my daughter alone!" The fierce woman interrupted the master of the perverted arts mid sentence. Her grip of the sword tightened.

"So, it is daughter now? It took you long enough." He smiled. "Tell me, when did you notice?"

Stunned, Nodoka glared at the midget.

"She is my disciple, I should know." Hapossai answered the unasked question hanging in the air as the fierce woman drilled holes to his skull with mere stare.

Nodoka sneered. "Don't make me laugh, you never cared for anyone. She is just a warm thing for you to grab. Like I was at one point until I beat you up so bad that you couldn't do so anymore.

"I stopped out of respect for Genma." Happosai said pocketing his pipe.

Nodoka laughed. "Yeah and pigs fly."

"Believe what you will my dear. I have utmost respect for your daughter. That being said, there is no harm in having a little fun from time to time." He turned to leave.

"I won't let you. If you wrong her in any way, I will hunt you down. I swear on my blood that you will pay for your transgressions, letch." She yelled after the retreating midget.

"Nice to see you again Noo-Chan. Tell Ranma I said hi." The shriveled up grand master said, disappearing out of sight as quickly as he appeared.

"Damn you!" Nodoka hissed as the weapon she held shook in her hand. This wasn't the way she imagined her relaxing exercise. It was about time to make some phone calls.

Akane rushed to the hangar bay. She could see her wife on the ground with Ami hovering over her with her laptop and her visor engaged.

"Don't worry Akane, she seems mostly fine, Like I said, she is just unconscious. Probably knocked out cold by the energy spike I registered.

The cobalt haired bluenette was at the redhead's side in a flash. Caressing the cheek that bore a bit of a frosted perspiration which was quickly melting again in the warm interior of the station.

"You Idiot." Akane cursed under her breath squeezing her eyes shut to prevent tears from coming out.

"Ranma honey is not going to be happy about that." Said Ukyo inspecting the skid marks at the hangar bay entrance.

"Here get her on." Venus exclaimed dragging in a hovering bed, apparently a kind of emergency stretcher. Akane looked at Mercury questioningly. Ami nodded to Akane.

"It's ok Mina. I can carry her myself. She's not heavy." Akane grabbed her unconscious wife and lifted her up, carrying her to their room.

"What is this anyway?" Makoto asked, holding the staff that caused Ranma to black out like it was just an ordinary staff.

Mercury's eyes bugged out. "Put it down Mako. Slowly and carefully. That thing might be dangerous.

Jupiter did so, looking at her white gloves that were now dirty. She smudged over them some kind of black residue from the staff. "What is this stuff anyway?"

"If I had to guess, that is what is left from Sun's past incarnation." Ami informed.

Jupiters face paled. "You mean?" She looked at the blackened gloves. "You could have said something. How do you know that anyway?"

"Like you gave her a chance." Rei patted Makoto on her back. "Just dust them off. It's not like its anything other than burned carbon now." Jupiter looked sick thinking about what… who she had on her gloves.

"Just a guess. the staff seems to respond to Sun and none other. I saw it glow in her hand." Ami explained.

Akane placed the redhead on the bed all the while the stressed out bird hovered around examining her wife. Minako had to drag Akane out of the room even when Chizuko assured them that Ranma was ok and just needed to rest for a while.

"Mina-san, tell me she will be alright." Akane hugged the blond girl like a lifeline.

"She will, I know her, she's a fighter."

"I know, but… I mean is she ever?..."

"What do you mean?" The orange clad senshi asked puzzled.

"She keeps fighting, herself even. Fighting who she was, who she is. Is she ever?..."

Minako looked stunned at the cobalt haired girl. What was Akane asking her about. Was it possible she noticed how Ranma acted too?

Akane grabbed the blonds hands. "What's it like?" Akane looked her in the eyes. "I mean, having a past life. How does it affect you? Do you think she…" Akane's hands fell limp to her sides.

Minako put a hand on the girl's shoulder, smiling. She knew exactly what she was asking. "She is who she is Akane. She is Ranma. She used to be the same in her past life. Just slightly different and less unsure." Minako looked Akane in the eyes. "I doubt Ranma will change much. Getting your memories back is like remembering something you thought you forgot. But that's in the past.. We live for the future now." The blond had to restrain herself from spilling too much information and choking on her words.

Akane wiped her eyes free of the moisture that threatened to spill out into tears. "Thanks Minako, I better get to Ranma now."

"Any time Akane," The senshi of love smiled.

Chizuko was nervous. The current state of the redhead could only mean one thing. She scanned the unconscious figure laying on the bed.

"Chizuko, we need to act fast." A voice interrupted her from behind. A voice that belonged to none other. The bird almost thought Ranma woke up. She looked back to see the holographic projection of the redhead clad in a simple cloth dress composed of layered segments of brown and beige. The outfit was purely functional with leather for parts which required durability. The neck of the uniform lined with red fuzzy fabric that held a golden insignia of the special research division of the silver millennium.

"Mistress…" Chizuko croaked stunned and unsure of what to do. Sure, she knew what her mistress wanted, but it felt wrong.

"The doors are locked. Hurry." The red haired woman ordered.

Chizuko looked back towards the door and then on the unconscious redhead. Reluctantly she retrieved a pair of metal button like devices from the shelf.

"This feels wrong, She should remember by herself. It will hurt her." Chizuko tried to reason with her mistress.

"It will be alright. You just need to link her and I will take care of the rest. That is why this personality backup exists in the first place. We knew this might happen when I left." The hologram of Angwyn insisted.

Chizuko looked at the unconscious redhead. "I am sorry Miss Ranma." The bird said placing the devices at her temples.

"You are doing the right thing."

Akane bumped into the sliding door that failed to open before her like every time before now. "What gives?" She looked at the door in suspicion.

Minako shrugged. "Maybe the door failed?" She ran her hand over the panel that held the lock which flashed red.

"I don't think so." Akane looked through the ornate glass seeing Chizuko talking to…. Ranma…? No it wasn't Ranma. Ranma was on the bed.

"What is happening here?" She stepped away from the glass trying the door again as Minako replaced her at the window wearing the same confused stare.

"Step away Mina san." Akane said towards the blond.

Minako had little time to jump away as a glob of molten rock hit the door, slowly eating away at it. She pulled out her chain and yanked the damaged door out of the way.

The two senshi stepped into the room looking quite angry.

"What is happening here? What are you doing to my wife!" Akane yelled at Chizuko and hurried over to Ranma.

Minako stepped in the way of the bird and the hologram vanished.

"What have you done to her? What are these?" Chizuko was starting to sweat. Well, if that was possible for the biomechanical bird.

Akane tried to take of the devices but failed they wouldn't budge. "Take them off NOW!" The angry girl yelled at the bird who reluctantly complied, not wanting to further anger them.

"Don't do it Chizuko!" Yelled the reappeared hologram of a redhead.

"I am sorry mistress Angwyn, but this is wrong." The bird replied, reducing any hope the redheaded hologram had to none.

"What is happening? Why are you all yelling?" Ranma woke up massaging her temples. "Can someone explain to me what happened? How did I get here?" She rubbed both her eyes to clear them from forced slumber, then dropped her arms to prop herself up, preparing to swing her legs over the edge of the bed.

Akane was quickly at her side holding the redhead in a tight grip.

"Hey! What's the big idea tomboy?" Ranma said as the daylights got squeezed out of her. She felt so tiny and weak held like this by the bigger girl, now that Akane actually had a physique of a martial artist. She almost gave in to that feeling of comfort, but confusion won in the end. Still, it was hard to give up that feeling of being safe, just for once to be the one being saved. Saving everyone got tiring after ohh so many times. The reverse was… pleasant. 'What the hell am I thinking, like I'm some damsel in distress!' The redhead thought.

"Careful Ranma, I thought I'd lost you." Akane sobbed.

"Can someone explain to me what happened, ...please?" The redhead on the bed asked.

Minako was about to explain when Akane interrupted her. "Minako, could you please escort Chizuko out of here?" The blond nodded and the bird, not wanting to make things worse, nodded and complied, still feeling really guilty. Minako was confused, she wanted to know what was happening as much as Ranma. Who was that hologram? Was it...can't be!

As they left the hologram of Angwyn looked in utter shock at the two hugging girls. She blushed as a thought of herself being involved in a romantic relationship with another girl popped in her mind. She had never considered this possibility.

Ranma switched her gaze from the departing blond to the spitting image of her self dressed in a weird looking dress. This was the second time today that she got a bad feeling about seeing herself outside the mirror. "So this is one of those crazy events all over again right? And I thought we are over this."

Akane nodded. "Looks like we are not going to have normal lives any time soon dear. Not even by senshi standard."

The redhead kissed Akane on the forehead and touched her forehead to her wife's slowly freeing herself from the bear hug. It was hard to shake the feeling that her life was going to get a lot more complicated once more.

Leaving Akane sitting on the bed, she stood up and walked toward the hologram who by now scowled at the spitting image of herself.

"So, who are you? Me? My other me that is?" Ranma asked, running her hand over the light projection passing right through.

"More like you are me." The hologram spat out crossing her arms.

"What exactly did you try to pull off here?" Ranma spat back in hostile tone.

Akane could only look in awe seeing the two almost identical redheads verbally spar.

"Nothing you wouldn't be grateful for if it worked. It was the plan all along, remember?" Angwyn said.

"Ohh I remember well. I also remember that it would wipe my mind clean before restoring the original backup. I can't let that happen. We were wrong and I will fight it." Ranma argued.

"Then you leave me no choice." Angwyn said.

"If you insist on disobeying me, it leaves me no choice but wipe the mainframe and flush the memory shards to the Sun's corona. Do you want that to happen?" Ranma replied in cold tone of voice.

"If you get the chance that is." Angwin said as the lights flashed out and emergency lighting kicked in.

"You leave me no choice then!" Ranma looked at Akane who stood up and walked to the door with Ranma passing through the hologram of Angwyn who flickered.

"What is this all about?" The cobalt haired Senshi asked.

"Trouble, Akane. One of the past sins that I need to make amends for." Ranma said, trying to brush the black soot from her gloves and uniform, but not succeeding in the slightest.

As Akane before, Ranma bumped into the door that refused to open before her. This time it was a door leading to the corridor. "What!?" Ranma yelped, surprised.

The hologram crossed her hands. Scowling at a surprised Ranma.

"Release the door, you are making it only harder on yourself." The redhead in fuku sneered.

"Who do you take me for? I will do no such thing. You will lay down and activate the link or I will reduce the atmosphere of the station to vacuum killing all your friends."

"As if! You know full well who we are. You can't harm us in any way." Ranma argued.

"I can kill your pets…" Angwyn turned on a screen with the two Mau walking a corridor. "I can switch on internal defenses and kill your friends too."

Ranma looked mad. "Computer, disable the AI and disconnect the CPU. Authorization Angwyn alfa black."

"Unable to comply" An artificial computer voice replied, followed by a tone of denial was the response Sun got, punctuated by a sneer from the hologram.

"You know much more than I gave you credit for Sailor Sun." The hologram grinned. "However, it doesn't change a thing."

"I can reduce this station into a pile of ash in an instant. Do you really want me to do that?" Ranma was getting mad. 'How could I have missed that?! Damn it! I should have wiped the mainframe to be sure.'

"Stalemate then?" Angwyn smiled. Akane could only watch in awe as the two redheads argued back and forth. They seemed like two sisters arguing over their favorite brush. A thing she herself experienced ohh so many times with Nabiki. These two however looked more like identical twins.

"While it might look that way, not even close." The senshi of the Sun snapped her fingers and released a localized electromagnetic burst that shut down all the tech in the room leaving Akane quite stunned. It wasn't fair that Ranma got to have all those cool skills and powers while hers were so uncool.

The darkness enveloped the pair of senshi for a brief time until Ranma lit up a ball of plasma in her hand. "What was that all about?"

"There is no time now, I will tell you latter. Quick Akane, we need to move, can you get this hatch open?" Ranma called leaning over the wall. She was obviously winded from whatever the ability she used was. It was true that Ranma got all the cool attacks, but they drained her wife a lot.

The senshi of Io was stunned but soon snapped to action. "What happened Ranma?" She asked, tearing open the hatch in the hallway.

"I should have known she will not go down without a fight. We need to move before the computers reboot. Please, hurry." Ranma gestured for Akane to enter the tube exposed behind the hatch.

She got in right behind Akane, sealing the hatch back again. After a moment of crawling in the dark, they felt the area affected by the EM blast and the lights were slowly turning on.

"Where are we anyway? I never saw this part of the station."

Ranma turned her head up to reply but got an eyeful of her wife's white pantie bottom of the senshi uniform that was barely covered by the short skirt. "Utility access tunnels. Not used until there is something seriously wrong with the station." Ranma averted her eyes this was no time for fooling around. "Get a move on tomboy."

Akane, hearing her old nickname, grunted. Ranma was going to get it this time.

Ranma slowly crawled into a junction feeling a sweat break out on her forehead a bit by the long crawl and the whole situation they were in. Suddenly she felt someone tugging her up.

Akane grabbed the redhead by her sailor collar and smashed her against the bulkhead of the smallish room.

Ranma could feel being pulled up by her collar feeling helpless for a moment because she didn't expect this in the slightest. Next thing she knew was the pain of being slammed against a duranium wall panel by her wife who looked like she was about to blow her fuse. 'Maybe I teased her too much.'

"Now start talking." Akane eyed the pinned redhead. She really hated herself for doing this, but Ranma needed a wake up call.

"What do you mean, talk? We need to stop that nutty AI from blowing us into the Sun." Ranma tried to resist the grip but their senshi powers leveled the field and she was actually weaker than Akane at the moment due to the smaller build. The strain of the EMP blast didn't help any. 'It's not fair she got all the strength.' The redhead pondered while feeling like a paper bag against the stronger girl. A position she despised.

Akane pushed her even harder against the wall. "AI? That AI is you. Why are you keeping secrets from me?" Akane asked the hurt in her eyes evident.

Ranma couldn't stand looking at her eye to eye. It reminded her the short stature of her own form. That got her thinking, if brute strength wasn't enough, skill would do the trick. She snaked her leg around Akane's and flipped her to the wall. The position reversed and yet, the redhead still refused to look Akane in the eye. "What you don't know can't hurt you."

"That is where you are wrong. Damn it Ranma! All I wanted was to be treated as an equal! Just when I thought we had that, you had to start keeping secrets again. It seems like you fell back to your old ways again."

Ranma looked at her wife pondering her words. Akane used the distraction of hitting the point home and pushed the redhead away from her.

"You wouldn't understand, Akane." Ranma looked at her feet the fringe obscuring much of her face "Now is not the time. We must go." She tried to push by Akane who stood in her way.

Akane shoved her back. "Not until you tell me." Akane yelled.

"What do you want me to say? I love you Akane, I just can't let you get harmed. Not you, not anyone." Ranma pleaded.

"Just talk to me dammit. Talk to me Ranma. Tell me what is wrong. Is it your past life? Is that what is bothering you?

The redhead froze instantly at the mention of the past life.

"So that is it huh? The great Ranma Saotome, man among men, a scared little girl. Exactly like the day we met." Akane ripped into Ranma.

Ranma clenched her hands. "You don't want to do this Akane." The redhead looked at her wife with steely eyes. "Not you. I can take it from the others, but not from you."

"Then talk to me, open up to me. Be the Ranma I got to know in that filthy cave." Akane reached towards her wife.

Ranma stepped back. The gesture was more than a hundred words worth to Akane. "So it is back to the macho jerk again is it?" She looked Ranma in the eyes. "If I didn't know any better, I could say that the hologram back there scrambled your brain, but it was already scrambled enough, wasn't it? Is that what scares you so much that you have to lash out at everyone around you?"

Ranma glared daggers at Akane. "I made many mistakes Akane." The redhead closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I am so tired of it all. It's nuts. This, that, everything. I am no princess. I never was." She sighed. "I love you, from the moment I met you. Your kind heart… " She choked on the words. "You were the first person to accept me and offer me unconditional friendship." She looked down. "Then it all fell apart, it always does. I can never have anything good without life kicking me twice over for it. I just want to go back to being simple Ranma, back to the dojo with you, before all of this.

Akane hugged the redhead. "I love you Ranma. I don't care about how hard things are or will be, we will face it together. If you can find it in yourself to trust me." She ran a hand over the red locks of hair. "Together forever or never right?" She looked at the redhead sliding her hand over her face wiping the tears marring the flawless face scrunched up in pain.

"I don't deserve you." Ranma smiled.

"Now, lets go before the station burns up." Akane smiled spoiling the moment.

Ranma nodded. "Riightt." She said hesitantly.

The redhead looked around and spotted the inspection hatch. "This should be the access point I was looking for." She opened the cover placing it to the side.

Akane leaned over her wife's shoulder as a hum assaulted their ears. It was the humming of computer node relays. Ranma started pulling out numbered glass sticks out of the sockets, placing some into empty slots and discarding others. "Since when you became a tech expert Ranma? You did so poorly at school just a year ago."

The redhead slowed her movements but didn't stop. "Well, Ami is a great teacher. I also like to keep people thinking I am dumb. Then they underestimate me. It is kind of similar to keeping our senshi lives hidden from most. That and I kind of remember some of this stuff from the past too. It is really weird."

"I wish I had a past life." Akane mused again.

"No you don't. It's really confusing. No fun at all. It's like rolling down hill in a barrel. You don't know which side is up most of the time." The redhead replaced some crystals and the hum of the station subsided. "That should do it." She turned around to face a puzzled looking Akane.

"Tell me Ranma, since you were full a girl back then. Did you have a boyfriend?"

The redhead's cheeks turned rosy. "What? What gave you that Idea? Hey! What do you mean by full girl huh?" Ranma asked indignantly.

"Nothing." Akane acted casual. "Now, ladies first." The cobalt haired girl gestured towards the access tunnel.

Ranma grunted feeling her nails digging into the flesh of her palms. "Tomboy!" She retaliated swiftly disappearing into the access tunnel dragging out the word playfully.

"Just you wait!" Akane called after Ranma.

"Yeah, like you can catch me." Ranma mocked Akane turning to face her while sliding along the tunnel backwards.

This however couldn't last. The redhead could feel the ground under her give way and a loose panel along with Ranma fell to the floor of a corridor on unsuspecting Makoto.

Laughter could be heard from the tunnel echoing and shortly the cobalt haired head of Akane peeked out laughing like there was no tomorrow. She almost fell herself seeing the senshi of Jupiter trying to stand up while slightly dazed Ranma lay sprawled over her.

"Mind getting off me Ranma?" Makoto grunted.

Minako giggled seeing the mayhem that happened behind her. Akane took the moment to perform a gymnastic flip from the vent to land next to the still struggling Makoto. "Need a hand?" She asked reaching for the redhead's hand.

"Why does this always happen to me!" Ranma took the hand and stood up while Minako helped the senshi of Jupiter.

"What is happening Ranma?" The blond girl asked ignoring the redhead's rant.

"It is kind of complicated." The redhead said dusting off her skirt.

"What isn't?" Makoto quipped, doing the same.

"The station decided to either scramble Ranma's brain or kill us all." Akane crossed her arms.

"Where is Chizuko anyway? I have a few select words for her!" Ranma cracked her knuckles.

"Hmm… I seem to have lost her." Minako mused with thoughtful expression and finger over her lips.

"Yeah, we were just looking for her." Makoto joined.

Ami was typing on her computer, her fingers flying over her laptop placed on the service hatch of the crashed drone.

"What happened?" Mars asked earning a brief glance from the blue haired genius who swiftly returned to the task at hand.

Not slowing her dance over the keyboard, Mercury responded. "There is trouble. As you discovered, we are locked in here. Not only that. There is some kind of… its almost like a virus. And a sentient one at that." Drops of sweat slowly condensed on the avatar of Mercury.

"How is that possible." Asked Usagi. Mars and Ganymede looked at each other and shrugged.

"Damn it!" Ami cursed as the warning lights lit up in the hanger. "That thing is going to flush us into the space." Horrifying everyone. She quickly switched on her visor.

"Ami, what do we do?" Mamoru asked, holding to Usagi.

"Get a grip on something." She ordered linking directly to her computer via the visor.

"I see." Usagi glanced at the hangar door, showing uncharacteristic calm pulling out her scepter.

Mercury nodded. "Alright all of you, gather around the drone. Get a grip and someone hold onto Artemis and Luna just in case.

None too soon the assembled got covered by the shield from the moon scepter. Ami grit her teeth as the hanger door opened and the contents of the hangar got jumbled around them. Some crates even flew out of the hangar after slamming into the field created by the scepter. The barrier held however.

"Well that is that I guess." Ami shook her head. "At least I managed to get control of the door by letting the thing flush the air. I guess it thought me a fool for unlocking the door for none to walk through."

Sailor Moon nodded. "Right. Let's get out of here." She said pointing towards the door as others followed her covered by the shield that held a limited supply of air. Now that the air was all gone, there was no danger of taking any one of them for the ride.

Ami closed her computer, showing it in the subspace pocket and grabbed the spear they recovered.

"Ohh here you are." Said a hologram that came into being behind the assembled senshi.

"What?! We turned you off." Akane said pointing at the ethereal redhead.

"I knew that wouldn't be enough." Ranma rubbed her temples.

"Precisely. Although, I have to admit, it was a neat trick you pulled there."

"Look, we can be civil about this." Ranma said. "You know I am a senshi now. A real senshi, no cheating required like before."

The hologram of Angwyn scrunched up her face. "Yes, and still, you are not who you are suppose to be."

Ranma threw her hands. "Who is it really? Don't you get it? If you wipe my mind, you will also remove that unique spark. The unique spark that makes us senshi in the first place. The mental equivalent to the magical, Ranma detransformed and showed the henshin wand to the hologram. "This is what we wanted. Are you ready to throw that away for a second chance at life?" Ranma's expression darkened. The truth was… she would gladly shed that responsibility for a simpler life, a normal life. "I will not allow you to kill me. If you do that, then all was for naught. The Sun will reject you. Of that I am sure." Then again, there was no denying it, this burden was hers and hers alone. She finally understood why Serenity rejected her plea all those millennia ago. There was much pain in being guardian of love and justice. To be honest with herself, she wasn't all that sure about getting back to the way things used to be. That brief episode when she lost the Sun after Happosai doused her in the fake Nanichuan was the worst thing that ever happened to her. Even worse than the Chiisuiton incident. She felt… violated, lost and torn apart. A very important part of her, gone.

"Neither will I." Angwyn mirrored the gaze as the two redheads snarled at each other.

"Is it really you Angie?" Minako smiled at the hologram girl.

"Victoria. I…" The incorporeal redhead said taken a back. Her cheeks turned slightly pink.

"Please Angwyn. Stop this madness. You will be killing a human being if you go ahead with what I think you are trying to do. Not to mention, you will be killing part of yourself."

The girls were stunned by what Minako said. "B...b...but…" The hologram tried to argue, clearly at a disadvantage.

"Listen Angie. I know how it feels to be born again. I am not the same person either." Minako paused, seeing Ranma flinch. She probably thought she was talking to her, so she turned more towards the hologram. "I am a better person now. The experience of this new life made me see things somewhat differently. To take in angles I never even considered before. To experience things I never thought possible." She paused, looking directly at the hologram. "Everything wasn't good of course, but that is life. What I mean to say is, things change, and it would be best to leave things as they are rather than force the issue." Minako pinched the bridge of her nose. "Or did you forget what happened last time you meddled in things better left alone?"

The hologram froze. "I…" Ranma wondered how it was possible for the AI to clearly show emotions like that. She was also touched by her friends words. "I… am sorry." Angwyn looked at the ground. "I never thought the thing I was created to do might be wrong." The hologram hung her head.

"Well, it is wrong." Makoto crossed her arms.

Ranma massaged her temples again. If her first incarnation was just a bit more careful, this wouldn't have happened. She was to blame for this too.

"Let go of this madness Angie and be the friend I knew." Minako pressed on.

The hologram sighed, clearly thinking about it. Then shame replaced the thoughtful look. "Even if I wanted to, I already attacked your friends. I killed the princess." The senshi froze and the hologram pinched the bridge of her nose. " Flushed the hangar bay with your friends in there.

"You did what?!" Akane yelled being stopped by Ranma.

The horrified look on their faces was replaced by a smirk on the face of Venus. "You would have to do better than that. They are still alive I am sure of that."

"Even if that was the truth, I attacked the princess and her senshi. I crossed the line." She hung her head.

Ranma broke into laughter, getting confused looks from all present. It looked like the redhead finally snapped. "Like that was ever any kind of problem. I did the same when I needed my senshi wand."

Akane shook her head and stomped on the hysterical redhead's foot. "Get a grip will you."

"Ouch, you uncute, Un se…" She felt herself being slammed against the wall again. This time gently, almost playfully.

"So what if I am? You're the cute one anyway." The blue haired senshi fully used her advantage over her redheaded wife who was currently in her human form.

Angwyn laughed at the theater. "Times do change don't they?" She looked at snickering Venus. "I guess I could have done much worse." she smiled. Suddenly lights dimmed a little and Angwyn looked around. "Somebody…" She flickered a bit. "...is...core.." The lights switched to red.

Ranma's expression got serious. "Sorry Akane." She pushed her wife away and transformed, blinking away.

Sorry it took so long. I found this part of the fanfic especially hard to write. I dont like too many characters in one place. It makes it hard to use them all. The next chapter, conclusion to the station arc. Hopefully.

Special thanks to one of the original authors Kevin D. Hammel. I couldnt do this without you. Your help is much appreciated.