A Very Sad Tale Part 8 - Final Battle
Tenchi opened his eyes and at first he thought he was dead or seeing things. Stretched out before him was a huge expanse of a field with hills and mountains off in the distance. The scene was so beautiful and perfect at this moment that he feared he might be dead. Beside him panting heavily was Ryoko. The fact that she was here made him think that they were dead, but since she seemed winded made him think otherwise.
"Ryoko, are you ok?"
"Yea, that was just… a little further than… I thought." In her arm was a small cabbit, as well that seemed to be out of breath as well.
'Tenchi, I saw a planet, so we jumped to it. It was a bit far so we're worn out.'
He gave Ryoko his arm for support, which she gladly took then he rushed them off to find some sort of shelter. If they had only teleported away from those ships then it would not take long for them to discover their location. Especially since they were out in the open. Ryoko told him that she was able to contact Washu briefly, but now she could not reach her, but she could still feel her.
They had not walked far when they came across a stream. Stopping for a moment they drank and were surprised to find it clean and unspoiled, so they drank enough to carry them on, but without a way to carry it with them they were not willing to really leave this spot. Ryoko had offered several times to allow her to carry him or to let Ryo-Ohki fly them somewhere, but Tenchi had told them no every time before.
"Why not?" She asked again for what seemed like the hundredth time. While he had been growing tired of her questions he had not really wanted to worry them about what he was thinking so he still tried to hold out. "Tenchi," she asked calmly and as he turned to her he could see it and he could feel her worry. "Please tell me. I, I'm scared." She looked at him and she then repeated the question to him mentally and he could sense her fears easily.
She had never really told him before that she had been scared like this. For her say it and to actually show her feelings he knew that it must really be affecting her more than he thought. Desperately he wanted to spare them the worry he felt, but for all of his wanting to not share it, unfortunately it was having the opposite effect. She was becoming more and more frightened. He wondered if he should tell her or not, but he decided he had better or else she will be consumed by it.
"Because," he paused then told her mentally, 'We need a place to hide. If you use your powers then it might be easy for them to find us.' Placing his hand on her cheek he looked her in the eyes as he conveyed his concerned to her. He could never find the right words to tell her anything before, but with his new link to her he hoped that he might be able to get her to understand his fears.
As he stood there with his hand on her face he was reminded of how smooth and soft her cheek felt when he had lost his sight. 'Even then she was there for me, she cared for me no matter what might have happened to me,' he told himself. Standing there by the water they stared into each other's eyes until she placed a hand on his holding his hand against her smooth skin, then she closed her eyes and just enjoyed the feel of him close to her. Ryo-Ohki hopped off a short distance away to look around so she would not disturb them.
Slowly a shadow passed over them but he did not notice at first, instead he continued to examine her face and memorize it in intricate detail. The past few days or hours that had past since running off to find her had left him with the knowledge that he should savor each moment as they are precious and in an instant he could loose it all.
All seemed perfect for the moment, as he held her. He contemplated telling her what was on his mind, but he was unsure if it really was what he thought. Before he could give this more thought he heard Ryo-Ohki screeching. 'Coming! They're coming!'
Turning his eyes away from her he looked back and saw that there were a number of soldiers marching towards them and what looked like thousands of ships in the air. He let go of Ryoko's face and took her hand pulling her after him. He tried to run away as fast as he could in hopes that they were not spotted, but by the time he got to the top of a small rise he realized his folly. He had run almost into the center of them.
A serene field of wild grass and flowers lay before them with gentle rolling hills dotting the landscape. To most this would be a perfect place to be, but for Tenchi and Ryoko who stood in the center of this field it was hardly noticed. The two of them were surrounded by thousands of soldiers, weapons drawn and ready to fight. Tenchi and her knew that against such odds they did not stand a chance of surviving. Ryo-Ohki, who now was hovered above them in her spaceship form, was prepared to fight but he found no comfort in it as there were enough other ships in the air to make it seem like the blue cloudless sky was actually a darkened sky ready for a torrential downpour.
Tenchi held the Master Key, Tenchi-Ken, in his hands ready for a fight. His only wish now was to last long enough to say goodbye to his friends. Ryoko looked about and she too knew that this was not going to be easy, and even she feared for her life. Her cabbit cried nervously in the air as she shared her mistress' sentiments over this battle. The three of them knew this was the last stand and even if they had all of Washu's machines there would be no escape.
In the subspace lab that Washu called home, she cried triumphantly "Ah-Ha!" She had finally been able to locate them after much searching. She had been having the nagging feeling that she would not see them again, but she refused to believe it. "They have started using their powers again and I located them."
"That's wonderful Miss Washu! Can you bring them back?" Ayeka looked at the small scientist, as did the two other Masaki males and Mihoshi.
"I am created a portal to them right now, but I am feeling fear from Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki, they might be in trouble." She began furiously typing on her console in an attempt to create a portal to bring them back here, but all she could do was create a one-way portal to where they were. All of them gasped as they saw the multitudes of soldiers around them. "This doesn't look good."
As she typed faster an image appeared before her of Sasami. "Um, Little Washu, you… you can't help them."
"What do ya mean I can't! I'm Washu, I can save them."
"I'm sorry, Tsunami says that even she cannot help them here."
"Sasami!" Both Washu and the little princess looked at Ayeka as she called to her little sister. "You are not telling us something." The little princess only nodded. "Very well if you say Washu cannot help then that must mean that I can." She turned to the portal that Washu had created to the planet and stepped through it as everyone in the room yelled for her to stop.
As a number of soldiers approached Ryoko the seemingly impossible happened. Ayeka appeared before them in front of Ryoko to bar their approach. "As First Princess of Jurai and daughter of Emperor Azusa I command you to stop!" She had not held much hope that it would work, but with at least one more person there it might help them. She knew that Ryoko and Tenchi had fought Kagato and Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki had nearly brought Jurai to its knees so this could not be much worse.
"Out of the way princess," one of the soldiers commanded.
She stood defiantly before them, "Never!"
Ryoko's attention was divided between Ayeka and the soldiers so she did not see the impending attack. However, Ayeka did see it and she moved between the pirate and the soldier just as he was about to thrust his energy saber at Ryoko. Her body absorbed the attack and she felt the horrible sting of the weapon thrusting threw her. For Tenchi, Ryoko, Ryo-Ohki and Ayeka time seemed to slow. The soldier withdrew his weapon but it was too late, the hole had been made and the princess was slain.
Despair, anger, hate, and finally rage built up in both Tenchi and Ryoko until each loosed a deafening roar akin to a legion of demons screaming. The soldier barely had time to blink as two energy swords clashed together in his mid-section. Before his body even hit the ground the life was gone from him. Tenchi and Ryoko were lost to the rage burning in them and they no longer cared what happened. Swords clashed and many screams were heard as the two embattled demons destroyed everything that stood. Some were granted a quick death while others lived long enough to see themselves get torn apart. Slowly others bled waiting for the blackness of death to overtake them.
Ryo-Ohki fed off her mistresses rage and she released her own rage and attacked the nearest ship. Some she blasted while others she ripped to shreds with the sharp spikes emanating from her form. The three of them became the demons of old with death and destruction following them like close friends. None of the three were aware of time passing or even if it passed at all, for to them as quickly as the rage had seized them it had passed.
Tenchi and Ryoko stood now in a vast wasteland of smoldering pits and mangled bodies. Some were missing just an arm or a leg, some had a hole or a number of holes in them while others it was hard to tell they were ever a full body. But that did not matter to them. They converged on the same spot, with not a sound being uttered by either of them. Tenchi held Tenchi-Ken in one hand and a Light Hawk Sword in the other, while Ryoko held two energy swords. The spot they met at was the only spot left for miles that still had some green grass. That spot was where Ayeka lay, still, and lifeless.
Ryo-Ohki moved above them and let out a mournful cry that echoed across the land reverberating off the remnants of proud ships that once covered the sky. As he and her looked at their friend they fell to her side crying over her still body. For a second time, time itself ceased to be meaningful. How long they cried was unknown but it could have been mere minutes, or hours or even weeks, but they remained knelt at her side weeping over their loss.
Washu had not had a chance to react much less help, but she now lay on the floor convulsing over what she had seen. While her daughter may not ever remember what happened she was able to see and hear it all and feel everything her daughter felt. She shivered as she knew that just from the feelings alone she would have nightmares for the next millennium, not taking into account actually seeing the death and the faces of the men before they were torn apart. So shaken was she that she could barely register that it was over or that Ayeka was truly gone. Katsuhito and Nobuyuki were unaware of the battle that had just taken place as the portal had closed up just as Ayeka stepped completely through. Mihoshi had wanted to go with her, but before she could even move towards it the portal was gone.
Sasami had felt the tremendous loss of her sister and had turned to Tsunami, she begged the goddess to restore the life of her sister. But Tsunami told her again that whoever died on this field could not be recovered. The grief and separation was something that Sasami had never felt before. Not even when her half-brother Yosho had left she had not felt so terrible. Tsunami knew that she might not be able to easy Sasami's pain yet she might be able to help Tenchi & Ryoko.
As the two warriors cried over their friend they felt a presence appear beside them. Tenchi could not even open his eyes to look as they burned and hurt more than anytime before in his life. Even the movement of his eyes behind the lids was pain. He just waited for whomever it was to speak or strike, as he no longer cared.
"My friends," the female voice spoke and he recognized it as Tsunami. "Sasami has asked me to restore her sisters life, which I cannot do…" Both of them forced open their eyes as she spoke to look at her. The complete sadness they had written on their faces even affected the goddess. "I would like to bring her back if I could but she doesn't wish to return."
"What? Why?" The both said at once.
"She has asked to not be returned, but I will allow her to say why." The goddess lifted up her left arm allowing the robe to hang loose from her arm to the ground. Then dropping her arm Ayeka stood just behind her to left. Tenchi could see that she was the exact same as the Ayeka that lay on the ground save the hole in her chest was no longer there.
"My friends, I learned today that I have always ordered people around and have never been the princess I should have been. I had never had any real friends to learn how to act properly." She shrugged her shoulders as they continued to look at her. "Up to today I never would have done anything for anyone but when you were attacked I knew that I had to act. Ryoko, you have been the best friend I have ever had, and I could not allow you to be hurt. Even now I would not take back that one selfless act. Please remember me not for what I have been, but what I have become." She pointed to her body that lay on the ground, "See even now I smile at being able to protect you."
Tenchi and Ryoko looked at the Ayeka that lay on the ground and she bore a smile and her face was happy and did not mirror any sort of pain. "Now look at each other." They followed her commands and looked at the other. "I have loved you both. Ryoko as a friend and Tenchi I had hoped to be more. But I know you love each other and I have been getting in the way of that and…"
"But Ayeka..." Tenchi began only to be cut off.
"Look at her Tenchi, tell me, no tell her that you don't love her?" He looked at Ryoko and he could not say that. "You love her don't you?" As he looked it seemed that a part of him that he hid from himself became clear and he knew that she was right. "I want you two to live for each other and for me. Love her more then any of us deserved. Take care of Sasami."
The two warriors continued to look at each other and it seemed that the veil of confusion that Tenchi had lived with for so long was torn down. He knew that he loved Ryoko so he spoke to his lost friend, "You're right Ayeka, I do love Ryoko. Thank you." When he turned to look at Ayeka again she as well as Tsunami was gone. The body that lay still on the ground still bore the smile that she had pointed out before. "Ryoko, I love you, I will miss Ayeka though." She nodded her head and slowly they both stood. Even Though death and destruction surrounded them their eyes and minds did not even register that it was there, as all that mattered was that they fulfill their friends' wishes, "To live and to love each other."
Ryo-Ohki brought the two of them and Ayeka's body aboard and they departed for Earth. That was the place that Ayeka had called home and where she was happy, so it seemed the best place to lay her body to rest.
Tokimi had watched everything with Sasami and Tsunami and she marveled at the destructive capabilities that they carried. "Impressive sisters. I did not think that they could win." The two turned to regard the visage of Tokimi. "I had warned D3 to not fight him and I see it was for good cause. But I see your grief is still too near. It is strange though that before she gave her life it would have been them that died, then they would not have won. With her sacrifice you have saved this dimension."
"She… she did not know what this battle meant. She only went to help her friends." Tsunami was near tears herself over what had happened. It did not seem right for it to happen but without it then there would be no one else. Sasami was on her knees crying for her sister and being connected to her the goddess also felt her sorrow. But she had heard Ayeka's last words to her friends, although Sasami did not. Kneeling beside Sasami the goddess wrapped her arms around the crying girl and tried to comfort her as both cried.
This touched Tokimi, as she had never been before. She could not change the past or bring back the girl to this dimension physically, but she could allow this to take place. Then and there she decided that Ayeka would be able to at least watch over her friends until she felt they could go on without her.