A Very Sad Tale Part 5 - A Light at the end of the darkness
"Mihoshi! Get us to earth now!" The scientist was screaming as she approached the ditz. Taking over Washu was able to get them home in half the time but it still took over ten hours to get back to Earth. Along the way Washu tried to establish a connection to her daughter or Ryo-Ohki, but there was no answer. From what Tsunami had said Tokimi possibly wanted them alive, but she possibly would have blocked off any communication to them. Curses and other unintelligible words poured from her mouth as she thought about loosing them. Once before she had lost a husband and a child but she was not going to allow anyone to take her daughter from her again.
Sasami tried to console Ayeka but the recent events were taking a toll on them both. Ayeka was not handling the news very well that not only had he left with that woman, but he has been hurt, lost his sight and now was taken prisoner in the worst place. Mihoshi babbled on about this zone saying that the Galaxy Police will not cross it's borders and even the most hardened criminals dared not cross them either. The blonde even told them that in all of the thousands of worlds destroyed by Kagato he never entered this area. With this knowledge both princesses knew that even with the combined forces of the Galaxy Police and the Jurai Military there was nothing that they could do.
For the ten hours back to Earth there was not much talking and everyone was feeling down. Even Mihoshi was not her usual cheery self. Everyone took time to think about what had happened and what to do from here, but no one could come up with a way to get them out safely and even then what about his eyesight? Washu had said that if she could have operated right away she might have been able to restore his sight partially, but now that so much time has past he may never see again. Even the idea to transfer Ryoko's gem to him had seemingly failed.
This trip back home in silence gave Washu some time to think about what had happened and why it had happened as well. While in the security office she had been told many things by the security team and Ayeka. According to the video's when the ride ended Ryoko remained in the tram and seemingly unable to move. From the feelings she was receiving from her daughter at the time and from what Ayeka had seen later, she believed that Ryoko was upset and distraught at seeing her likeness in a ride intended to scare people. But what did not make sense was after Ryoko left without doing any damage Tenchi stood there and began destroying the ride.
According to the ride operators she had shouted that she was not a demon and also that she was a demon and then left. It was not until after they talked to him that he destroyed it. He had told them that the ride will be closed permanently then began his assault. To the scientist that in itself was a mystery that she wanted to solve, why did he take it upon himself to do that, and how did he teleport to her? He had never showed having that ability before and he did not have one of the gems so it should have been impossible.
Ayeka also was wrestling with why had he destroyed the ride, why did he do that? It made no sense and he had never done such a thing in the past. For hours she sat looking out the window into space trying to understand the impossible. She would not have even given it a second thought if Ryoko had destroyed anything, but the pirate just cried and left without doing any damage. 'She did not even activate her sword, instead she flew away,' thought the princess. To her that was a mystery as well, as she had known Ryoko to destroy things just for the hack of it before, but why not now? 'She's taken every opportunity before to destroy something. She destroyed his school, my ship, his house and many other things. Even on the way here she… she….' Her thoughts stopped there as she realized that for the past several days she has not destroyed anything. The princess realized that while she had insulted Ryoko and provoked her several times in their usual banter back and forth the pirate did not retaliate or even say anything back.
Carefully she worked the past few days over in her mind and made the startling realization that Ryoko had in fact not destroyed anything much less got into a fight for some time. Even when insulted the pirate did not fight, 'but why?' She thought about that and why would he go on that ride with her, it was no secret that they had ridden the 'Tunnel of Love' together, and then Tenchi destroyed it afterwards. They had never really asked what ride it was as that did not seem important before, but just a short time ago Mihoshi had been watching the galactic news and they had announced the rides name there. The last but not the least important question running through her mind was that he was not called a demon and been classified a threat to propel just like Ryoko had been. But he was the prince of Jurai and certainly not a demon. But now that he was an outlaw even if he could regain his sight could he rule Jurai with her?
As Washu and Ayeka thought of the past few hours and what to do from here Sasami entered the room sadly. "Ayeka, Washu, I have to go."
"Go! Go where?" Washu looked at Sasami as Ayeka spoke.
"Tsunami says that Tokimi contacted her and said that she has Tenchi, Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki. If we want them back then Tsunami and I have to go see her."
Washu could tell that something was not being said, but Ayeka spoke up, "What do you mean? Why do you have to go too?"
"Tokimi, is another goddess like Tsunami. This is an old feud and since I am partly Tsunami I have to go as well."
"No! You can't go, I forbid it!" She cried as she stamped her foot emphasizing her point.
Sasami, near tears told her, "But if I don't go then they might die!"
Washu broke into the conversation, "Sasami, does Tsunami have a plan?"
"That doesn't matter. Sasami, You can't go, I promised to take care of you. I've…" she started crying, "I've already lost too may from my family. I can't loose you too."
Her sister approached and placed a hand on Ayeka's cheek, "Ayeka, she say's that they are not dead, and we have to trust her so we can get them back."
"But…"
"Sister, I have to. I can't just sit around and let them die. Tsunami says to trust her, so I am willing to." Ayeka finally broke down and cried for a time as Sasami held her gently. The little scientist knew there was more being said though but she did not want to press it with the way Ayeka was acting.
"Sasami, it is time." They all looked to see Tsunami behind the little princess. She took a step back and the goddess put her hands on the girls' shoulders and the two of them disappeared. At once the elder princess latched onto Washu and began crying again and this time harder.
Slowly Tenchi regained his consciousness. Still everything was in blackness, but at least the throbbing in his head had gone away. He pushed himself up off the floor and he leaned against the wall. When his back made contact with the wall he flinched slightly as it was still a little tender, but not near as sore as he would have expected it to be after the beating he took. Suddenly he came to be fully awake as he realized the floor was different. His hands searched around trying to discover his location and a great weariness filled him as he discovered that he was no longer aboard the Ryo-Ohki and he was alone.
He collapsed on the floor crying softly as he started to let himself drift into despair. 'Damn it I should have been there for her, I should have been able to fight them off better. I should have….' The accusations were destroying what remained of his sanity and he would have lost himself to it had it not been for one thing. A voice was nagging at the back of his mind for attention.
'Tenchi.' The voice called to him. He sat up and moved to a meditating stance. The voice was not alien to him, but it was not is voice. As he calmed himself and listened he determined that it was Ryo-Ohki. 'Tenchi?'
Clearing his thoughts he answered the voice and was surprised to discover that he had a link to the cabbit. 'Yes Ryo-Ohki?'
'Yay! Tenchi, I can't reach Washu and Ryoko's hurt.'
'Is she with you?'
'No, I am alone. I'm scared, she's scared. I just wanna go home.'
'I know. I'll get us out of here.' Though he did not know how he knew that it was up to him to find a way. In talking to her more he found that they were in a cell that canceled their powers, but they could still talk. Tenchi decided finally that it was the gem that allowed him to talk to her, but he wondered why he could not hear Ryoko since they both had a gem. Ryo-Ohki did not know and so she remained locked up unable to get to her mistress who was in pain.
For some time Washu held Ayeka as she cried until Mihoshi's voice came over the intercom, "We're almost there, Miss Washu didn't you say you wanted to um, do something?" The normal blankness was gone in her voice but she still sounded unsure of herself. Washu just detached herself from Ayeka and summoning her floating computer she opened a doorway directly to her lab. Being this close she could do that now, but earlier she was just a little too far away. Had she been in her lab she could have created a gate to nearly anywhere, but with her lab being so far away she had to wait until she was closer. When the three remaining girls disembarked from the ship Mihoshi escorted Ayeka out of the lab and positioned her on the couch. Mihoshi then went to tell Katsuhito and Nobuyuki about what had happened.
Seconds, minutes, hours or days seemed to pass all the same to him as he sat in darkness. Just sitting around was not what he wanted to do, but he could not think of anything else at the moment. He had tried to summon his Light Hawk powers but they were being canceled by something. In darkness such as he was Tenchi was unable to tell what direction was what, but turning his attention to hearing he strained his ears as if listening for any thing that might provide a clue. To his delight he was granted a clue, in the form of a snore. Directly ahead of him there seemed to be the sound of a light snoring, but it was muffled as if through a door or a wall.
Through the blackness came a memory, back many years ago when Ryoko had attacked him at his school. It was then that he remembered how he had discovered her secret then somehow defeated her. "The gems," he whispered and he reached for the gem on his wrist. 'Maybe they did not notice it.' Settling himself and calming his mind and body he began to concentrate on the gem and discovering its power. It did not surprise him that it did not want its secrets discovered so he sought out how to create the energy ball that she used so often. His hand began to itch then burn so he hoped that it was working, then concentrating on the snoring he flung the ball in that direction.
The explosion left him startled and deaf for a moment then he was able to hear a buzzing, or alarms going off. 'Well I guess that worked,' he thought to himself as he made his way forward through the hold in the wall. Once outside his cell he felt his strength returning and he knew he could summon his power if he needed. He found though that he needed them faster than he would have liked. Before he had made it very far a number of men had knocked him to the ground and were beating him.
Ryoko was in her cell holding her side and wincing in pain. She had never been hit with a weapon she could not heal from, but whatever hit her in the side she found was still causing pain and she felt herself slowly bleeding to death. She tried to hold on, she wanted to see him one more time before she died, and she had to tell him just once that she loved him. If only she could tell him. Ryo-Ohki had told her that she could talk to him and it made her somewhat jealous but it did lighten her spirits to know that he was still alive. One thing that surprised her though was that she missed hearing Washu's annoying voice in her head. Suddenly the pain increased and she felt a burning in her side. Shucking in a gasp of air she called out, "Tenchi!"
Some distance away he was being beaten down and he was about to give up when he heard someone call his name. His mind instantly remembered when that had happened to him before. He took a huge breath of air and said to himself, 'I will not abandon her. I will not.' He could feel the burning on his forehead like before and suddenly the clubs that were hitting him seemed to stop. He could still hear them hitting something but he was not feeling it. From how close it was he guessed that a wing was around him like a shield protecting him.
'I will not… abandon… her….' He said again as he felt the wings converge on him and flow through him. He hissed in pain as he felt the outer layers of his skin burning off. His eyes became scorched and burned hotter then they had in the past. And suddenly everything went from darkness to a bright white.
He screamed in pain as the wings converged on him, and then enveloped his body in a glowing light. His attackers backed off a ways as this was happening. Tenchi felt the ground beneath him suddenly and placed his hands on the floor, which felt cold to his touch. Slowly the white faded away to a dull gray. At first he thought he was going back into darkness but the dull gray suddenly started becoming clearer and he could make out lines in the floor. To the edge of his vision he say a pale white thing slowly come into focus which he recognized as his hand. Sitting up he laughed as he held his hands before his face seeing them, actually seeing them.
As he rotated his hands he caught sight of the red gem imbedded in his wrist and he thought of Ryoko. Moving to his feet he turned around to regard his attackers. There appeared to be just men but larger and stronger than most. All four of them had dark hair and nearly black eyes, cold and menacing. He took a step closer to them and two took of running away while two advanced on him. Without even a second though he brought up a Light Hawk Sword in one hand and an energy saber like Ryoko's in his left.
His attackers charged him, so Tenchi ran at them slicing them both with his swords. As he passed them they collapsed on the ground dead. 'Ryo-Ohki, tell her I am on my way.' He then looked again at his wrist and looking at the gem he commanded it, 'Take me to her.' Just like before he appeared close to her. And upon appearing in the room he felt his strength weaken slightly but he paid it not attention as he heard her moaning.
Racing to her side he lifted her up to him so he could look at her face. When she opened her eyes and he saw her looking at him he felt like shouting for joy. 'She is so beautiful, why didn't I notice it before?' He thought of how many times he has looked at her and never had she looked so good. Maybe it was because he could see again of maybe it was something else but he lost that thought as she gasped in pain.
Ryoko felt him gather her up and she looked up at his face, and she expected to see two lifeless eyes staring back at her. However she found two soft brown eyes looking at her with affection and care. Her spirits soared and she was happy that he looked normal again. In her weakened state she lifted her hand to his face and before it made contact she saw the blood on her hand just as the pain shot through her again. She wanted to tell him she loved him she wanted to tell him she was sorry too, but she could not say a word. Her own vision was getting dark and she knew that she did not have much longer till the wound in her side finally killed her.
"Ryoko! Don't die on me… don't leave me…." He began to cry as her movements slowed and were coming to a stop. He knew he had to do something but just what he did not know. He thought about giving her back the last gem, but his sword was not with him and he could not sense it anywhere close to him. Instead he cradled her in his arms and began to weep as her movements and heart rate slowed.