Hello again, the characters are not mine they are property of some one
else's mind ^-^
I hope you enjoy. Thanks to BobR, be cool and read his stuff. Notes at end. Happy Reading!!!
^_^ ^_^
Yosho knelt next to the distraught pirate. "Ryoko what's wrong?" he asked gently, moving slowly he detangle Ryoko's fingers from her hair. Ryoko gave no response to his inquiry. Yosho held Ryoko's arms away for a moment before she suddenly began to feebly struggle. He could hear her muttering but he could make out what she was saying. Just as suddenly as she had started struggling, she stopped, but she did continue to whisper. She had gone limp against him her face hidden. Looking up Yosho met his sister's concerned and frightened gaze.
"Ayeka would you go get a blanket for me?" the priest asked.
Ayeka nodded, grateful for something even minimally constructive to do instead of standing there watching. Yosho didn't look to see if Ayeka did as he asked, instead he focused back on Ryoko. Seeing that she wasn't moving, he looked at his grandson.
"I'll get Little Washu," Tenchi said before turning towards Washu's lab.
Yosho smiled. When needed, Tenchi could be a very decisive young man, except where females were concerned. Yosho looked down at the pirate in his arms. At one point he had wanted her dead. Now he had learned the importance of knowledge, knowledge of what and whom you fight. He prayed that he had helped his hodgepodge family learn that lesson sooner than it had taken him to. Sometimes he felt as if nothing he said or did was getting through to his family. His talk with Ryoko shown him differently, his advice was heard and even practiced at times for Ryoko had told him that Ayeka and Tenchi both had suggested that she should talk to him.
"Washu? Washu where are you?"
Washu looked up at the sound of Tenchi's voice echoing in the lab.
"What is it Tenchi?" she asked as her chair appeared in front of him.
Tenchi stared in open-mouthed shock at the guan, pale, blood–shot eyed woman with an aura of utter desolation that sat in the chair. He is a little unnerved by the sight. Washu crying was one thing this was completely different, somehow this image just did not sit right. He snapped his mouth closed and swallowed, he was wasting time. Grabbing her hands he pulled her and her chair towards the door.
"Tenchi where are you taking me?" Washu asked allowing Tenchi to pull her along.
"To the front room. Something is wrong with Ryoko."
The chair stopped and Tenchi stumbled. "What are you talking about?"
"I don't know, I just know that there is something wrong with Ryoko."
The chair disappeared, Washu was rushing towards the door, "What happened?"
"She was pacing when I came into the room, then she dropped to the floor sweating and muttering to herself. Grandpa is with her. He sent Ayeka to get a blanket."
Washu's mind raced through the things and possibilities that could have resulted in this. Washu is stilled in horror at the sight before her. Tenchi stood silent at her shoulder. Both Yosho and Ayeka were holding Ryoko. Ryoko laid between the two wrapped in a blanket shivering. Her eyes were glazed, drool gathered in the crease of her lips and her head was facing Washu's lab.
Washu felt as if her heart had stopped, what had happened to her child? Should feel her breathing increase until she felt as if she was hyperventilating. She wanted to go to her child but her body was rooted to where she stood. She had to go to her daughter. All she had to do was to take one step. Then she'd be free of this sudden paralization. Her hand went to her mouth as she stepped forward. Washu was unsure of how she had gotten there but her step she was kneeling next to Ryoko.
Ayeka had moved to Yosho's side. Ayeka was startled by the changes in Washu. She had seen her parents' wear an expression almost identical to the one Washu wore now. It had been when Yosho had left. Her parents had changed; her world had been altered beyond her comphrension.
Washu had taken Ryoko's face in her hands and ignored the other in the room. She held Ryoko's face and was staring into Ryoko's eyes when Ayeka had shook off her own memories. Tears had begun to trickle down Washu's face. Ayeka watched as Washu laid Ryoko's head back onto Yosho shoulder and closed Ryoko's eyes with a trembling hand. Washu sat back on her heels and closed her eyes, "I can't find it."
"What can't you find?" Yosho asked looking at Washu. None notice the portal that opened at Washu's hip.
Emerald eyes wore a sheen of wetness and fear, "Our link. I can't find our Link," she answered in a whisper.
Suddenly Ryoko's eyes flew open and her head snapped towards Washu then they closed slowly.
The rest of the room's occupants spotted what Washu held in her hand.
"Ms. Washu what are you doing?"
Removing the syringe from Ryoko's arm she threw it into a sub dimensional portal before answering. She prayed that what she had done would ease the chaos she had met when she had tried to re-establish the link. "It was the only way to calm her down. Her mind," Washu touched Ryoko's cheek gently, "is working overtime and she needs the rest, thus the mild sedative."
"Washu why, what caused this? Why was Ryoko so upset?" Ayeka asked staring at Washu and her rival.
"Yosho would you mind bringing her into the lab.
* * *
Washu tentatively reached out and push her daughter's hair away from her face. Such innocence in sleep, she thought. Washu had spent the last two days upgrading a machine she never had wanted to use or even make. She snorted before leaning back in her seat. Long ago she had created a reputation for herself that was hard to change. Washu the scientist would take and create anything that anyone could come up with a plausible theory to support. It started with dares, which she soon developed a habit of not refusing. Washu had seen it as a challenge to her intellect and her skills to occupy her time when she was not actively with Ryoko.
Washu looked at the machine on the opposite side of Ryoko's bed. When she had taken the dare to create it, most of her colleagues and her students hadn't known about Ryoko. Washu smiled, having such a large lab had its advantages.
It had taken the words of a child for her to realize that making the machine wasn't one the smartest things she had done.
######
"What's that?"
"It's another one of mommy's machines." Washu had answered absently. Washu knew that the child would come no closer than the three feet. She had done her best to get the child to understand that she shouldn't mess with any of Mommy's Machines. Smiling she continued to adjust the numbers that appeared on the screen in front of her.
"What's it do?"
"It can alter the way someone remembers something, it also allows others to enter the mind of someone else. It put two minds onto the same wavelength."
"Why?"
"Someone said that Mommy couldn't create a machine that would be capable of doing something like this."
"Why?"
"They don't think it possible."
"Why?"
Washu laughed and looked at the grinning child. "I think that's a little too complicated to explain that to you right now dear, ask me again in a few years, all right."
The child nodded. "Will you use it?"
"Not likely. I don't like the idea of playing with people's minds."
"Why build it then?"
######
Many times in the years since then Washu had wondered exactly the same thing. But now she had a need for such a device. She uttered a small prayer of thanks to the long forgotten colleague that had theorized the principle behind it. She was also glad she had never destroyed the prototype after proving that it could work. Soon the machine would be put to the use it was intended for; it would allow a person to enter the mind of another. Someone would use this machine to enter her daughter's mind and try to fix whatever had gone wrong. The question was who?
There were three possibilities: she could do it herself; after all, she was familiar with the operation of the machine and certainly familiar with the structure of Ryoko's mind. At least her mind before Kagato. But given the feelings Ryoko had for her right now, she might do more harm than good.
Then there was Ayeka. Ryoko surely trusted the princess on some basic level. She certainly hadn't killed her yet, although she'd always had the power to do it. And Ayeka'd proven her willingness to help Ryoko on more than one occasion too. However, the two were exact opposites personality- wise and tended to incite one another to violence. No, perhaps Ayeka wouldn't be the best choice, but she'd keep an open mind where the princess was concerned.
Tenchi. Yes, Tenchi was the perfect choice. Washu knew that Ryoko loved him with all her heart and she was pretty sure that Tenchi felt the same about her daughter. The problem was, he also felt the same about the princess and that's where the conflict was. Tenchi's conflict, Ryoko's conflict, Ayeka's conflict and now Washu's conflict too.
She looked down at her daughter and gently smiled. Parents were supposed to help their children, not hurt them. It'd been so long since she'd tried to be a parent that she'd forgotten what it was like; she'd hurt her daughter unintentionally. Not physically, not at first; but emotionally. And the physical hurt, also unintentional, came afterwards.
* * *
"Ms. Washu what am I supposed to be looking for?"
"Missing pieces," she answered as she set up different monitors around Ryoko.
"Huh?" Tenchi stood in the middle of the lab in a squared off area.
"Missing pieces Tenchi."
"Ms. Washu what are you talking about? I'm confused."
Pausing Washu turned to look at Tenchi, she sighed. "I'm sorry Tenchi I'm a little stressed at the moment." Standing she went and stood next to him and stared at Ryoko's still form. "Her mind; no, her memory has become a puzzle I think. I know things are missing or misplaced but there's nothing I can do about it or how to tell you to fix it just try…"
* * *
Tenchi lay on the gurney next to Ryoko, holding her hand while Washu made some last-minute adjustments to her machine. He looked over at the princess who stood anxiously looking on a few feet away, outside the area Washu had marked off as a safety zone. She gave him a weak smile.
"Ok, I'm about ready here," Washu called. "Ayeka, make sure you're well back, we don't want you to be sent too." The diminutive scientist turned to Tenchi. "Remember, you can't come back until the process is complete. Then I'll bring you and Ryoko back together. And also remember that her memories will seem real to you. It's possible to you to get hurt in there and if you die in there… Well, let's just say that the part of you that remains out here won't survive either."
Tenchi swallowed nervously. "I understand Washu. I'll be careful."
"I know you will. Just bring my daughter back." Washu gave him a wink and turned back to the control panel. "Here we go…"
She flipped a switch and the lights dimmed. A glow descended from the ceiling and covered the two. It extended until it encompassed everything within the marked circle. But it didn't stop there. Ayeka's eyes widened as the glow rapidly approached her. She tried to take a step back but it was too late. Washu whirled as she heard the princess' unconscious body hit the floor with a thud. Damn it. I should have tested the extent of the field first. Now they're both in there. I hope they all make it back out all right.
* * *
Tenchi opened his eyes and looked around. In the semi-darkness he had to wait for his eyes to adjust before he could make out any details. He heard someone calling his name. "Ryoko?" he called back. It didn't sound like her; it sounded more like "Ayeka!" he yelled as the princess' figure materialized from the gloom. "Why would Ryoko be thinking about you?" he asked as she drew near.
"She's not, it is me. Washu was a few feet off in her safety estimate, I got drawn in as well." The princess sighed heavily and her shoulders drooped. "I should have expected something like this to happen. Oh well, at least you won't have to face this alone."
Tenchi held out his hand for the princess to take. "We might as well get started," he said, looking around. "The light seems brighter over that way, let's go."
* * *
"Her mind's become a puzzle, Tenchi, you must put the pieces back together." Washu's words danced around in Tenchi's head as he and Ayeka looked around in fascination. Everywhere there were puzzle pieces, all shapes and sizes. "Ms. Washu you don't know how right you were."
"My goddess what is this?" Ayeka whispered.
"It was easier to hide this way," both Tenchi and Ayeka turned at the sound of another voice. They looked at the voice's owner in shock. She was identical to Washu in her 12-year-old form in everyway possible except for having golden colored eyes instead of emerald and cyan locks were in the place of the dark magenta. The Little Washu they knew could be this child's twin, but she wasn't.
"Ryoko?" Ayeka looked at the little girl in confusion.
"For a while I was," she smiled sadly, "maybe someday I will be again."
The look of sadness she wore had no right being on a child, Tenchi thought as he started at Little Ryoko. She slowly started to fade away.
"Wait how can we help," he asked gesturing to the puzzle pieces surrounding them.
The child smiled and pointed to Ayeka," Hold up your hand."
Ayeka did as the child asked. In her hand lay a puzzle piece with the child's face on it slightly faded.
"Put me back together. The more you have the more you learn. At least that's what momma says," with a shrug the child faded away completely. Both Tenchi and Ayeka looked at the puzzle piece in her hand. The image of Little Ryoko had brightened.
Author Notes- Thanks to Bobr again, We did goood ^_^ Collaboration is fuuuunnn ^_^
Thanks to you reviewers, I'll try to answer next chapter ^_^
I hope you enjoy. Thanks to BobR, be cool and read his stuff. Notes at end. Happy Reading!!!
^_^ ^_^
Yosho knelt next to the distraught pirate. "Ryoko what's wrong?" he asked gently, moving slowly he detangle Ryoko's fingers from her hair. Ryoko gave no response to his inquiry. Yosho held Ryoko's arms away for a moment before she suddenly began to feebly struggle. He could hear her muttering but he could make out what she was saying. Just as suddenly as she had started struggling, she stopped, but she did continue to whisper. She had gone limp against him her face hidden. Looking up Yosho met his sister's concerned and frightened gaze.
"Ayeka would you go get a blanket for me?" the priest asked.
Ayeka nodded, grateful for something even minimally constructive to do instead of standing there watching. Yosho didn't look to see if Ayeka did as he asked, instead he focused back on Ryoko. Seeing that she wasn't moving, he looked at his grandson.
"I'll get Little Washu," Tenchi said before turning towards Washu's lab.
Yosho smiled. When needed, Tenchi could be a very decisive young man, except where females were concerned. Yosho looked down at the pirate in his arms. At one point he had wanted her dead. Now he had learned the importance of knowledge, knowledge of what and whom you fight. He prayed that he had helped his hodgepodge family learn that lesson sooner than it had taken him to. Sometimes he felt as if nothing he said or did was getting through to his family. His talk with Ryoko shown him differently, his advice was heard and even practiced at times for Ryoko had told him that Ayeka and Tenchi both had suggested that she should talk to him.
"Washu? Washu where are you?"
Washu looked up at the sound of Tenchi's voice echoing in the lab.
"What is it Tenchi?" she asked as her chair appeared in front of him.
Tenchi stared in open-mouthed shock at the guan, pale, blood–shot eyed woman with an aura of utter desolation that sat in the chair. He is a little unnerved by the sight. Washu crying was one thing this was completely different, somehow this image just did not sit right. He snapped his mouth closed and swallowed, he was wasting time. Grabbing her hands he pulled her and her chair towards the door.
"Tenchi where are you taking me?" Washu asked allowing Tenchi to pull her along.
"To the front room. Something is wrong with Ryoko."
The chair stopped and Tenchi stumbled. "What are you talking about?"
"I don't know, I just know that there is something wrong with Ryoko."
The chair disappeared, Washu was rushing towards the door, "What happened?"
"She was pacing when I came into the room, then she dropped to the floor sweating and muttering to herself. Grandpa is with her. He sent Ayeka to get a blanket."
Washu's mind raced through the things and possibilities that could have resulted in this. Washu is stilled in horror at the sight before her. Tenchi stood silent at her shoulder. Both Yosho and Ayeka were holding Ryoko. Ryoko laid between the two wrapped in a blanket shivering. Her eyes were glazed, drool gathered in the crease of her lips and her head was facing Washu's lab.
Washu felt as if her heart had stopped, what had happened to her child? Should feel her breathing increase until she felt as if she was hyperventilating. She wanted to go to her child but her body was rooted to where she stood. She had to go to her daughter. All she had to do was to take one step. Then she'd be free of this sudden paralization. Her hand went to her mouth as she stepped forward. Washu was unsure of how she had gotten there but her step she was kneeling next to Ryoko.
Ayeka had moved to Yosho's side. Ayeka was startled by the changes in Washu. She had seen her parents' wear an expression almost identical to the one Washu wore now. It had been when Yosho had left. Her parents had changed; her world had been altered beyond her comphrension.
Washu had taken Ryoko's face in her hands and ignored the other in the room. She held Ryoko's face and was staring into Ryoko's eyes when Ayeka had shook off her own memories. Tears had begun to trickle down Washu's face. Ayeka watched as Washu laid Ryoko's head back onto Yosho shoulder and closed Ryoko's eyes with a trembling hand. Washu sat back on her heels and closed her eyes, "I can't find it."
"What can't you find?" Yosho asked looking at Washu. None notice the portal that opened at Washu's hip.
Emerald eyes wore a sheen of wetness and fear, "Our link. I can't find our Link," she answered in a whisper.
Suddenly Ryoko's eyes flew open and her head snapped towards Washu then they closed slowly.
The rest of the room's occupants spotted what Washu held in her hand.
"Ms. Washu what are you doing?"
Removing the syringe from Ryoko's arm she threw it into a sub dimensional portal before answering. She prayed that what she had done would ease the chaos she had met when she had tried to re-establish the link. "It was the only way to calm her down. Her mind," Washu touched Ryoko's cheek gently, "is working overtime and she needs the rest, thus the mild sedative."
"Washu why, what caused this? Why was Ryoko so upset?" Ayeka asked staring at Washu and her rival.
"Yosho would you mind bringing her into the lab.
* * *
Washu tentatively reached out and push her daughter's hair away from her face. Such innocence in sleep, she thought. Washu had spent the last two days upgrading a machine she never had wanted to use or even make. She snorted before leaning back in her seat. Long ago she had created a reputation for herself that was hard to change. Washu the scientist would take and create anything that anyone could come up with a plausible theory to support. It started with dares, which she soon developed a habit of not refusing. Washu had seen it as a challenge to her intellect and her skills to occupy her time when she was not actively with Ryoko.
Washu looked at the machine on the opposite side of Ryoko's bed. When she had taken the dare to create it, most of her colleagues and her students hadn't known about Ryoko. Washu smiled, having such a large lab had its advantages.
It had taken the words of a child for her to realize that making the machine wasn't one the smartest things she had done.
######
"What's that?"
"It's another one of mommy's machines." Washu had answered absently. Washu knew that the child would come no closer than the three feet. She had done her best to get the child to understand that she shouldn't mess with any of Mommy's Machines. Smiling she continued to adjust the numbers that appeared on the screen in front of her.
"What's it do?"
"It can alter the way someone remembers something, it also allows others to enter the mind of someone else. It put two minds onto the same wavelength."
"Why?"
"Someone said that Mommy couldn't create a machine that would be capable of doing something like this."
"Why?"
"They don't think it possible."
"Why?"
Washu laughed and looked at the grinning child. "I think that's a little too complicated to explain that to you right now dear, ask me again in a few years, all right."
The child nodded. "Will you use it?"
"Not likely. I don't like the idea of playing with people's minds."
"Why build it then?"
######
Many times in the years since then Washu had wondered exactly the same thing. But now she had a need for such a device. She uttered a small prayer of thanks to the long forgotten colleague that had theorized the principle behind it. She was also glad she had never destroyed the prototype after proving that it could work. Soon the machine would be put to the use it was intended for; it would allow a person to enter the mind of another. Someone would use this machine to enter her daughter's mind and try to fix whatever had gone wrong. The question was who?
There were three possibilities: she could do it herself; after all, she was familiar with the operation of the machine and certainly familiar with the structure of Ryoko's mind. At least her mind before Kagato. But given the feelings Ryoko had for her right now, she might do more harm than good.
Then there was Ayeka. Ryoko surely trusted the princess on some basic level. She certainly hadn't killed her yet, although she'd always had the power to do it. And Ayeka'd proven her willingness to help Ryoko on more than one occasion too. However, the two were exact opposites personality- wise and tended to incite one another to violence. No, perhaps Ayeka wouldn't be the best choice, but she'd keep an open mind where the princess was concerned.
Tenchi. Yes, Tenchi was the perfect choice. Washu knew that Ryoko loved him with all her heart and she was pretty sure that Tenchi felt the same about her daughter. The problem was, he also felt the same about the princess and that's where the conflict was. Tenchi's conflict, Ryoko's conflict, Ayeka's conflict and now Washu's conflict too.
She looked down at her daughter and gently smiled. Parents were supposed to help their children, not hurt them. It'd been so long since she'd tried to be a parent that she'd forgotten what it was like; she'd hurt her daughter unintentionally. Not physically, not at first; but emotionally. And the physical hurt, also unintentional, came afterwards.
* * *
"Ms. Washu what am I supposed to be looking for?"
"Missing pieces," she answered as she set up different monitors around Ryoko.
"Huh?" Tenchi stood in the middle of the lab in a squared off area.
"Missing pieces Tenchi."
"Ms. Washu what are you talking about? I'm confused."
Pausing Washu turned to look at Tenchi, she sighed. "I'm sorry Tenchi I'm a little stressed at the moment." Standing she went and stood next to him and stared at Ryoko's still form. "Her mind; no, her memory has become a puzzle I think. I know things are missing or misplaced but there's nothing I can do about it or how to tell you to fix it just try…"
* * *
Tenchi lay on the gurney next to Ryoko, holding her hand while Washu made some last-minute adjustments to her machine. He looked over at the princess who stood anxiously looking on a few feet away, outside the area Washu had marked off as a safety zone. She gave him a weak smile.
"Ok, I'm about ready here," Washu called. "Ayeka, make sure you're well back, we don't want you to be sent too." The diminutive scientist turned to Tenchi. "Remember, you can't come back until the process is complete. Then I'll bring you and Ryoko back together. And also remember that her memories will seem real to you. It's possible to you to get hurt in there and if you die in there… Well, let's just say that the part of you that remains out here won't survive either."
Tenchi swallowed nervously. "I understand Washu. I'll be careful."
"I know you will. Just bring my daughter back." Washu gave him a wink and turned back to the control panel. "Here we go…"
She flipped a switch and the lights dimmed. A glow descended from the ceiling and covered the two. It extended until it encompassed everything within the marked circle. But it didn't stop there. Ayeka's eyes widened as the glow rapidly approached her. She tried to take a step back but it was too late. Washu whirled as she heard the princess' unconscious body hit the floor with a thud. Damn it. I should have tested the extent of the field first. Now they're both in there. I hope they all make it back out all right.
* * *
Tenchi opened his eyes and looked around. In the semi-darkness he had to wait for his eyes to adjust before he could make out any details. He heard someone calling his name. "Ryoko?" he called back. It didn't sound like her; it sounded more like "Ayeka!" he yelled as the princess' figure materialized from the gloom. "Why would Ryoko be thinking about you?" he asked as she drew near.
"She's not, it is me. Washu was a few feet off in her safety estimate, I got drawn in as well." The princess sighed heavily and her shoulders drooped. "I should have expected something like this to happen. Oh well, at least you won't have to face this alone."
Tenchi held out his hand for the princess to take. "We might as well get started," he said, looking around. "The light seems brighter over that way, let's go."
* * *
"Her mind's become a puzzle, Tenchi, you must put the pieces back together." Washu's words danced around in Tenchi's head as he and Ayeka looked around in fascination. Everywhere there were puzzle pieces, all shapes and sizes. "Ms. Washu you don't know how right you were."
"My goddess what is this?" Ayeka whispered.
"It was easier to hide this way," both Tenchi and Ayeka turned at the sound of another voice. They looked at the voice's owner in shock. She was identical to Washu in her 12-year-old form in everyway possible except for having golden colored eyes instead of emerald and cyan locks were in the place of the dark magenta. The Little Washu they knew could be this child's twin, but she wasn't.
"Ryoko?" Ayeka looked at the little girl in confusion.
"For a while I was," she smiled sadly, "maybe someday I will be again."
The look of sadness she wore had no right being on a child, Tenchi thought as he started at Little Ryoko. She slowly started to fade away.
"Wait how can we help," he asked gesturing to the puzzle pieces surrounding them.
The child smiled and pointed to Ayeka," Hold up your hand."
Ayeka did as the child asked. In her hand lay a puzzle piece with the child's face on it slightly faded.
"Put me back together. The more you have the more you learn. At least that's what momma says," with a shrug the child faded away completely. Both Tenchi and Ayeka looked at the puzzle piece in her hand. The image of Little Ryoko had brightened.
Author Notes- Thanks to Bobr again, We did goood ^_^ Collaboration is fuuuunnn ^_^
Thanks to you reviewers, I'll try to answer next chapter ^_^