Interlude 2 – Across the Sea



"Hey, Akane, are you up?"

Akane's eyes fluttered open. The gentle rocking and the complete darkness made it seem like she was in a cradle. But the gentle knocking by her head, reminded her of her real location.

With a yawn, she pulled at the curtain until she could see who was waking her up. They alarms weren't ringing so it wasn't an emergency. It could only mean that…

"It's your turn for watch."

Akane nodded at the crewman and let the curtain drop. Judging from the way she felt, it was probably the middle of the night again. She leaned forward, careful not to hit her head and grabbed the hefty jacket the Shinnosuke had lent her. She could have just used warmth but over the past two weeks at sea, she had learned that she needed to have all her mana at full capacity all the time.

Slipping out of the bunk, she carefully landed on the floor. Looking up and down the berth, she saw a half dozen other sailors getting up from their sleep. The gimbaled tables were steady as they all sat down for a small breakfast.

Akane was careful not to put her elbows on the table, something she had learned her first day there. Her weight had pushed the table one way sending flatware flying. No one had gotten upset. They just kind of laughed for a bit and picked the stuff up. Shinnosuke had told her that they all did at one some point in their lives.

Speak of the devil, Akane thought, there he is.

"Morning, Shinnosuke," she said with a smile. She got a half-yawn, half- nod in return.

"Damn but she's always so perky when she gets up."

"Natural coffee flowing through her veins."

"Nah, just fire boys. A little fire-spark over there."

Akane smiled. The gentle jibbing of her crewmates had bothered her at first but back then she had still been unsure of how she was going to fit in as the only girl on a ship of men. But strangely they had behaved themselves. She wanted to believe it was from her power as a sorceress but more than likely it was because Shinnosuke's grandfather had given them all a strong warning.

With breakfast done, the watch went up on deck to relieve their comrades. Akane grabbed the rigging and climbed up the crow's nest.

"Time to sleep," she said to the sailor there. He grunted, apparently half asleep already and climbed down. She nestled in her watch position and looked to the stern of the ship to see if she catch a glimpse at the ship that had been following them since they left Lut Gholein. No one seemed to worried about it but something about it made Akane always look to make sure it was directly behind them.

Maybe they had come after her… maybe… maybe she was just dreaming. With a sigh, she realized it was too dark to see anything. She turned to the bow and opened her ears to the sea and watched the darkness.

* * *

"This is the life," Mousse said as he sat back on the cushioned seat. "All I need is a few harem girls to feed me." He looked over at Shampoo who was enjoying some lunch.

"No even think about it," she said and turned away.

"Well I don't like it," Ryoga said as he sat on the wooden floor.

"You wouldn't," Ukyo said walking up to them. "You can't be anywhere but the middle of ship without risking getting wet."

Ryoga grunted. "That's not what I meant."

Ukyo smiled. "Oh, you mean the fact that Akane has ignored you since she got on board?"

"That's not it…"

"Ryoga no feel bad," Shampoo interjected. "Akane no talk to no one, not Ryoga, not Mousse, not Ukyo, not Shampoo, not Genma, not father…"

"Not Ranma," Ukyo finished.

"Like you mind that," Ryoga said.

Ukyo's eyes flashed mischievously. "Jealous, sugar?"

Ryoga grunted. "Not even close," he said.

She leaned close. "Oh, and I was going to play harem girl and feed you grapes and…"

"I'll take his place!" Mousse said from his seat. Shampoo shot a look over at him that would have killed if he could have seen it.

"Well maybe time Shampoo go find Ranma," she said.

"Ah, I was just on my way to see him," Ukyo said suddenly standing up, leaving Ryoga gawking.

They looked at each other. Then a second later the two took off.

"Okay," Mousse said with a sigh. "I give up. What do they see in him?"

Ryoga shook his head and stood up. "I haven't got the faintest idea. But I'm going to go find Akane."

With a sigh, Mousse sat back into the seat, waited for a few moments, and then got up to find Shampoo.

* * *

Shampoo quickly ran below deck, reaching the first underground level of the luxury ship. Looking around, she only saw the empty ornate hallways. With a sigh she was about to head upstairs when she came face to face with Akane.

Shampoo tried not to jump but the other girl had taken her completely by surprise. Akane's face began to smile.

"Are you okay?" doll-Akane asked pleasantly. "You look… pale."

Shampoo's brow furrowed. "Shampoo fine."

Doll-Akane nodded and pushed her way past Shampoo. "Well, I'm just taking a walk."

Shampoo watched her start to walk off. "Wait!" she called. "Akane see Ranma?"

Doll-Akane turned and smiled. "You want to see Ranma?"

Shampoo bristled. "No want to see Ranma, just need to know where Ranma is."

Doll-Akane nodded. "Of course… it's funny though. Just when I started to see your game, that you would want to change it."

"Game?"

"Hard to get," Doll-Akane said. "Ignore him half the time to make him want you more. It's such an elegant strategy, not really normal though. I guess I expected you to do the opposite."

Shampoo didn't move a muscle. "What you mean?"

"Well, it's just I thought you'd put up more of a fight."

"No need to put up fight. Ranma say he marry Shampoo. Ranma will marry Shampoo."

"That's what he told me too," Doll-Akane said sadly. "But then he goes on and on about Ukyo. How they were great friends growing up. How good a cook she was. So I realized, I should try playing it your way. Cool and collected. But I don't think its working. I guess I'll go back to doting fiancée again." With a shrug, she started to walk away.

"Akane never doting fiancée," Shampoo said as Akane disappeared. She paused and let the words sink in. And then she decided to go find Ukyo.

* * *

Ukyo looked into the kitchen. She took a chance by skipping the first level on the ship but hope Ranma would follow his stomach here. Unfortunately, the place was completely empty.

She turned to leave and suddenly came face to face with Akane. With a little cry, she fell back.

"I'm having quite an effect on people today," Doll-Akane said.

"You scared me," Ukyo said unhappily. "What are you doing here?"

Doll-Akane sighed. "Looking for Ranma. Have you seen him?"

"Funny I was going to ask you the same question."

Doll-Akane pouted. "Great, he must have gone off to find Shampoo."

"Why would he want to talk to Shampoo?"

"I don't know, something about how much he respects her for her fighting skills and how he realizes she's the perfect woman. I was so upset when he told me that, I haven't spoken to him since we got on board."

"He said that about Shampoo?"

"Yeah, who knew the Amazon had it in her. She was quiet about it the whole time but then suddenly it hit him." Akane shrugged. "Well, I'm going to keep looking for him. You want to come?"

"Me?" Ukyo asked. "No way, I'm going to find that purple-haired bimbo and have a talk with her."

* * *

Ryoga stumbled around the stern of the ship. Well… this looked familiar. Could it be the fact that he had already passed by this place twelve times?

"Ryoga-man, just stop. You're making me dizzy."

Turning around, Ryoga saw Ranma crouched in the shadows. "What are you doing here?"

"Sitting here," Ranma said. "Watching you make an ass out of yourself."

Ryoga glared at him. "So where's Akane?"

That apparently hit him harder than it should have. "I don't know. Wandering around." Ranma paused. "Ryoga, can I ask you a serious question?" Ryoga looked at his rival and shifted from foot to foot before he finally nodded. "Do you notice anything different about Akane?"

Ryoga started to answer but a sweet voice called him from nearby. "Ryoga!!" He watched as a smiling Akane came towards him.

"There you are!" she said, running up and grabbing his arm affectionately. "Come on, I want to talk to you." His face split into a happy smile.

"Akane?" Ranma said standing up and facing her.

Doll-Akane looked over at him with no emotion. "Yes?"

"I… I…"

Doll-Akane sighed. "See Ryoga, this is exactly what I'm talking about. He's too wishy-washy for me. No sense of duty or honor. So unlike you." Ryoga looked a bit perplexed and then pretty happy. "I'm so glad that you decided to protect me from him."

Ryoga was still grinning like a fool when he felt Ranma's aura go dark. "You BASTARD!" Ranma cried.

Ryoga blinked out of his fantasy. "What? Wait a minute, I never…"

Doll-Akane smiled. "No need to lie, Ryoga-chan," she said with a smile. "We can tell him the truth now."

Ryoga pushed Akane away. "Now, hang on a sec…"

The first blow landed in his ribs. By the time the second blow made contact he realized he was really in trouble. But Ryoga refused to lose the Ranma. He would win this fight.

* * *

Shampoo and Ukyo met each other mid-ship. "Well, if it's my dear Amazon friend," Ukyo said with a harsh tone. "I take it Ranma found you."

"How Ranma find Shampoo when he running after half-naked Assassin!"

"Don't play that with me! I should known what you were up to! Your lack of interest in Ranma was just a ploy. You've been seducing him the whole time."

"Assassin talk funny for girl who do exact thing!"

"God, you can't even talk decently! Did you use that as a ploy too?"

"Ukyo making fun of Shampoo talk?"

"Damn straight I am!"

There was a clash of steel that threatened to drown up the noises of the restless sea and almost masked the terrified yell that came out of Ryoga's mouth as he landed next to the two girls. They didn't bother to stop fighting as he landed. A second later, Ranma showed up but even that did not deter the battle.

Mousse ran up onto the deck, attracted by the noise and was surprised to see most of his companions trying to rip each other shreds. Even Genma and Soun left their go game to see what the commotion is.

"Akane!" Soun called out seeing his daughter standing near the fighting crowd. "What's going on?"

Doll-Akane turned towards the adults and started to cry. "Oh daddy, it was horrible. Ranma went crazy and tried to force himself on me."

"WHAT?" Soun cried.

"Impossible!" Genma retorted. "My son would never do that!"

"Are you calling my daughter a liar!"

Doll-Akane's tears vanished and a smile slowly crept up on her face as Genma and Soun came to blows. This was going all too well.

But there was one thing that Akane had forgotten to factor in, mainly because he should have never been a threat. He was weak, he was blind and he should have never been able to…

The air around her started to get very cold. Looking around, she frantically searched for the necromancer. She saw him kneeling on the ground, meditating and sending his spell out like snakes slithering through the grass.

Mousse knew something was wrong but he couldn't see it. The only thing he could do was cast a search spell to find the evil. Suddenly he realized it was coming right for him. His vision was horrible but he could make a figure that looked like a young woman with brown hair and…

Suddenly she had him in a strangle hold. His air supply slowly started to run out. It was a good thing that Shampoo had taught him a few self defense moves during their travels.

Turning his head quickly to the side he let the rest of the air out of his pipe to avoid chocking. He brought his arm around hers and pushed them until she leaned to the side. Then he slammed his elbow into her face.

Doll-Akane tripped backwards and fell to the ground. Mousse gasped for air for several moments and then searched for her fuzzy figure. Locking on, he began to chant again, trying to feel what curse had been inflicted on Akane. But what he realized what even more shocking.

Doll-Akane regained her balance and looked towards Mousse. She saw him chanting something new and realized that she was in a lot of trouble.

"Pritacti fordari Golem imari. Pritacti fordari Golem imari. Pritacti fordari Golem imari."

Doll-Akane's visage began to flicker and fade as she reverted back to her Golem form. The clay doll looked over at Mousse with pure hatred. Oh, this was going to hurt…

Mousse started backwards, trying to cast a few Bone Spears but kept missing. The Golem was moving with a speed that Mousse could not match with his back pedaling. She was going to catch him, or probably kill him, in a matter of seconds.

Just as the Golem reared its arms up to strike, a glint of steel pierced its chest. The Golem screamed as the sword pulled upward and almost split him in two. The sword came down again on the opposite side, slicing through the clay. Then a strong foot landed a blow on its ribs, sending the Golem over the side and into the water. After few seconds of struggling, the Golem dissolved.

Kuno looked over the side at his handiwork and then back at Mousse. "By the Gods," he cried, "does trouble follow you people everywhere?"

"Something like that," Mousse said, straightening his robe. "Do me a favor, lead me towards the rest of the group. I think it's time to separate them."

* * *

From inside their Bone Wall cages, the former enemies listened as Mousse filled them in on what happened. Kuno had returned to guiding the ship towards Kurast, a goal which had suddenly become much more important.

"So it was never the real Akane, just a Golem doll that replicated her. They probably used the things they saw through our Akane's eyes to train the Golem how to act."

"The amulet," Ranma said with a sigh. "I should have realized when she… it didn't recognize the amulet Akane had given me. Akane was wearing the blindfold when she gave it to me."

"Yes well," Mousse said, "I think we all had some inkling that something was wrong. But what does not make sense is why you all went after each other."

"I think I know," Ukyo said with a heavy sigh. "The Assassins have a toxin that induces a rage like this. And from the sounds of it, Akane came in contact with each of us. Then she planted the idea of who we should go after."

"How can you be so sure?" Soun asked from behind his wall.

Ukyo was silent for a moment. "They've already used Assassin methods. Akane was trapped in the Shadow world by one of our high level spells. It's not hard to believe they got a hand on this toxin. And I think I might know how they got it…"

"How?" Mousse asked.

Ukyo was silent again. "There was an incident involving a traitor in the Assassins guild. She swapped normal poison for this rage inducing toxin causing… causing the guild large problems."

The group was silent, knowing that Ukyo wasn't telling the whole truth but at the same too exhausted to really push the matter.

"Saotome," Soun said finally. "I'm sorry about…"

"No Tendo it was my fault."

"Ryoga…"

"Don't even say it Ranma, I would have done the same."

"Shampoo I…"

"Not say anything. Shampoo know. Doll-Akane was not real but she show all of us real selves." It was true, they realized. The Doll-Akane had acted based on what their enemies had seen through the real Akane's eyes. Doll- Akane knew exactly what their true fears were.

Soun realized it was that he was going to lose his daughter to Ranma. She had always been his innocent daughter, the youngest one. Because she had not known her mother, Akane had and would always be daddy's little girl. The mere thought that Ranma had somehow changed her innocence…

For Genma, it was that his son would act without the honor he had worked so hard to instill in him. It wasn't as selfish as it sounded. In the end, Genma had truly believed he was doing this for his son's future. Or maybe as penance for his less than honorable life so far.

Ukyo was afraid of losing Ranma because every since the day he had left her, he was all she had searched for. Her life, her profession, everything tied someway back to him. And never had she considered the she might even lose him.

Shampoo feared betraying her Amazon tradition by not successfully marrying a strong male chosen out by her grandmother. But it occurred to her, it was never about him, it was always about her and what she felt was her duty to do. But in the end, was it even what she wanted?

Finally, Ryoga was afraid that Ranma would eventually beat him. For Akane, in this quest, somehow Ranma would better him. And in trying to always catch up, he had already lost. The man who follows the path of another will never be a leader.

But all their internal reflections were nothing compared to what Ranma was feeling. He wasn't afraid of losing to Ryoga, that's not what had spurned his anger. He was truly afraid of losing Akane. Why, he had no idea. All they did was fight. She tended to cast fireballs at him all the time. Sure they had been through a lot and he worried about her but…

Somehow it became clear that the prison of Bone Wall was nothing compared to the prison of their own weaknesses. The faceless enemy had done this to weaken them, to tear them apart and they almost succeeded. No spell, no weapon, no armor could have saved them. It was only luck that Mousse and Kuno had escaped the Golem's spell.

"So," Mousse said, breaking the silence, "now only one question remains. Where is the real Akane?"

* * *

"AKANE! Port side!!"

Akane ran up from the crew quarters and onto the deck. She saw it almost immediately, a long serpentine creature rising from the depth of the ocean. She cursed as she saw it approaching to ram the ship. A smile curled her lip, she was really developing a sailors mouth.

She waited until it got close and then began to cast her spell. An Inferno sprang from her hands and rammed into the beast's chest, tearing through it. It reared backwards and quickly disappeared into the water.

The crew began to cheer around her and she gave them a small bow. This was a good life. She was respected and needed and no one called her names or…

"Akane-san," Shinnosuke said, grabbing her shoulder. "That was really good."

She smiled a bit but wavered on her feet. "Sorry, I think I…"

"I'll go get you some mana potions," Shinnosuke said. Akane nodded and watched him go.

So yeah, there was also Shinnosuke to make her life happy too. He took care of her, he made her laugh but… Akane sighed. He was nothing more than a friend to her. Stupid Ranma, why didn't he just get out of her mind?

"Storm! There's a storm brewing to the East!" Akane's head whipped around and she started at the darkening sky. That was odd.

Shinnosuke returned and gave her the potions. "That's not natural," he said watching the storm. "I'm going to get my grandfather. Go get your storm gear on."

Akane nodded and headed below. She pulled the gear from her bunk and strapped it on before running back up. The entire crew was up bringing down the sails of the ship. Shinnosuke was talking with his grandfather. He saw her and motioned for her to join them.

"It's not natural," his grandfather was saying. "Akane can you…"

"There's magic in the area," she said. "I can feel it. But it's not like my magic…"

"A druid could conjure this up," Shinnosuke said. Akane's heart stopped. Genma?

But his grandfather shook his head. "No, not a druid. Something darker. And it's heading straight for us."

As if the answer him the sky suddenly turned dark and rain burst forth, drenching them in a matter of seconds. Akane could barely see in front of her but she felt something wrap around her. Looking down, she realized that Shinnosuke had just harnessed her to the side of the ship.

"Stay here," he said firmly before he took off. Akane looked over at his grandfather but the old man was concentrated on steering his ship.

Looking forward, she realized she couldn't even see the bow of the ship. There was a lot of movement in between the stern and the ship but she couldn't see what they doing. It looked frantic and she realized that they were having trouble with the sails.

A gust of wind grabbed the sail and threw it upward, causing several crewmen to go sprawling at the deck. It seemed to go on forever, this battle between the crew and the sails but they finally managed to get them under control.

The storm seemed aggravated at their success. Thunder boomed around them, shaking the ship itself. The waves began to grow, tossing the ship from side to side. Akane slipped and fell the ground. A wave grabbed her and threatened to pull her over the side. But the harness caught and pulled her back, slamming her into the side of the steering wheel.

"Are you okay?" grandfather asked.

Akane nodded. "I think…" She paused as the sky lit up with a lightning strike. It danced among the dark clouds before disappearing. But there was one cloud that seemed a bit odd.

"Akane?"

She waited until the next lightning to confirm her fears. As soon as it struck, she turned pale. "Land!" she screamed and pointed. He looked where she was pointing. He was about to disagree when the sky lit up again.

He cursed. "Help me," he said. Akane looked at him with a puzzled expression. "HELP ME!" He screamed and then started ringing the bell next to him. Akane jumped up and grabbed part of the wheel. They began to turn it to one side as Shinnosuke came up next to them and helped.

He never said a word, just grabbed the wheel and kept turning. He crushed her hands several times but neither of them said anything. The wheel finally locked in place but it seemed like the ship wasn't moving at all.

Suddenly the ground underneath them shook. There was the sound of tearing wood and the floor suddenly shifted.

"The rudder! It's caught on the shoals!" Shinnosuke cried. The wheel suddenly left their hands as the floor cracked in too.

"Abandon ship!!" his grandfather cried. "Abandon ship!!"

Akane tried to get away but her harness held her fast. She hit the ground hard and watched with terror as the ship split in two, one side taking her with it and away from the two men.

It quickly began to sank and Akane' struggled with the harness but couldn't get it off. She felt the water lapping at her feet and her struggles intensified. Desperate, she tried spells but they were all extinguished immediately.

Suddenly she was under the water. It was strange how peaceful it was under here. There was no thunder, no rain, no chaos. As the boat began to pull her down, everything started to get dark and Akane found herself being welcomed into the peaceful embrace of the sea.