Chapter 1: Given a Second Chance
The irony of the situation had not escaped Ranma. A year before he'd probably have thought his old man would have to force him to read the eulogy. But the circumstances being as they are now, he actually volunteered to do it whole-heartedly. The cliché concept of not knowing what one has until it's gone so depressingly applied to him. If only…
Akane had died a week ago from a progressive lung disease that is very easily cured in its early stages where symptoms are mild and nearly undetectable. Due to this, the disease had been allowed to progress too far, and although the doctors had tried their best, it simply wasn't enough to save her.
In the aftermath of this event, Ranma nearly killed Shampoo in a rage when she tried to take advantage of the fact that there was one less person to compete against. She got beaten up so bad they had to take her to the hospital, and Ranma wished he HAD killed her-the bitch…Fortunately, Ukyo was much more sympathetic, and mourned with Ranma for Akane's death, primarily because it made Ranma so depressed and she didn't like seeing him like that. She offered him support, which he at first refused with suspicion, but once he was certain enough that she wasn't just trying to win him over, he gave in. Nonetheless, it still didn't help him recover that much, it had only been a week, after all.
What truly depressed him, however, was that he screwed everything up since the moment he meet her. He never gave her the honesty, the respect, the love she truly deserved. He just wished there were some way he could go back and do everything right.
At the funeral reception, Ranma was sitting by himself, slowly sipping from his glass of fruit punch. Everyone else had already left, with the exception of an old man sitting at the table across from him. He looked familiar, but Ranma couldn't quite place the resemblance.
Ranma: Excuse me, are you on the guest list?
Old Man: My name's on there.
Ranma: And that name would be-?
Old Man: Unimportant.
Ranma: Okay…so why are you here? How do you know Akane?
Old Man: Old friends…you could say.
Ranma: Ah.
Old Man: As far as WHY I'm here, it's for your welfare…and Akane's.
Ranma: What do you mean?
Old Man: What would you say if I told you I could send your subconscious back through time to correct all the mistakes you made…probably you'd call me a delusional old man.
Ranma: That is EXACTLY what I was about to call you.
Old Man: Hmmm…then perhaps we need a change of scenery.
Everything around them turns to a void filled with various stars and nebula.
Ranma: Wow! How the hell'd you do that?!
Old Man: Magic.
Ranma: Alright, so what if I believer you.
Old Man: That would make things run much more smoothly, without a doubt.
Ranma: What about that whole subconscious thing you were talking about?
Old Man: It makes paradoxes less likely because you'll be operating subliminally. It will be like an instinct, an intuition. It will be enough to change your attitude in the past, believe me, but it won't be any more suspicious than a simple change of attitude. I may draw suspicion, mostly from your father, but the thing is you won't be able to explain it any more than he can.
Ranma: So you're telling me that I'm going to go through all this crap again?
Old Man: You'll only have a mild sense of déjà vu, which will decrease as more and more things change. Of course, some things are simply destined to occur.
Ranma: What is in this for you?
Old Man: More than you can fathom.
Ranma: Alright, you just go ahead and keep on being mysterious.
Old Man: Are you read?
Ranma: Yeah, sure.
Old Man: Alright then.
Everything around Ranma blurs until...
The irony of the situation had not escaped Ranma. A year before he'd probably have thought his old man would have to force him to read the eulogy. But the circumstances being as they are now, he actually volunteered to do it whole-heartedly. The cliché concept of not knowing what one has until it's gone so depressingly applied to him. If only…
Akane had died a week ago from a progressive lung disease that is very easily cured in its early stages where symptoms are mild and nearly undetectable. Due to this, the disease had been allowed to progress too far, and although the doctors had tried their best, it simply wasn't enough to save her.
In the aftermath of this event, Ranma nearly killed Shampoo in a rage when she tried to take advantage of the fact that there was one less person to compete against. She got beaten up so bad they had to take her to the hospital, and Ranma wished he HAD killed her-the bitch…Fortunately, Ukyo was much more sympathetic, and mourned with Ranma for Akane's death, primarily because it made Ranma so depressed and she didn't like seeing him like that. She offered him support, which he at first refused with suspicion, but once he was certain enough that she wasn't just trying to win him over, he gave in. Nonetheless, it still didn't help him recover that much, it had only been a week, after all.
What truly depressed him, however, was that he screwed everything up since the moment he meet her. He never gave her the honesty, the respect, the love she truly deserved. He just wished there were some way he could go back and do everything right.
At the funeral reception, Ranma was sitting by himself, slowly sipping from his glass of fruit punch. Everyone else had already left, with the exception of an old man sitting at the table across from him. He looked familiar, but Ranma couldn't quite place the resemblance.
Ranma: Excuse me, are you on the guest list?
Old Man: My name's on there.
Ranma: And that name would be-?
Old Man: Unimportant.
Ranma: Okay…so why are you here? How do you know Akane?
Old Man: Old friends…you could say.
Ranma: Ah.
Old Man: As far as WHY I'm here, it's for your welfare…and Akane's.
Ranma: What do you mean?
Old Man: What would you say if I told you I could send your subconscious back through time to correct all the mistakes you made…probably you'd call me a delusional old man.
Ranma: That is EXACTLY what I was about to call you.
Old Man: Hmmm…then perhaps we need a change of scenery.
Everything around them turns to a void filled with various stars and nebula.
Ranma: Wow! How the hell'd you do that?!
Old Man: Magic.
Ranma: Alright, so what if I believer you.
Old Man: That would make things run much more smoothly, without a doubt.
Ranma: What about that whole subconscious thing you were talking about?
Old Man: It makes paradoxes less likely because you'll be operating subliminally. It will be like an instinct, an intuition. It will be enough to change your attitude in the past, believe me, but it won't be any more suspicious than a simple change of attitude. I may draw suspicion, mostly from your father, but the thing is you won't be able to explain it any more than he can.
Ranma: So you're telling me that I'm going to go through all this crap again?
Old Man: You'll only have a mild sense of déjà vu, which will decrease as more and more things change. Of course, some things are simply destined to occur.
Ranma: What is in this for you?
Old Man: More than you can fathom.
Ranma: Alright, you just go ahead and keep on being mysterious.
Old Man: Are you read?
Ranma: Yeah, sure.
Old Man: Alright then.
Everything around Ranma blurs until...