Gravity
by Lerris
Chapter 3 - Heroes Afterward
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. This piece of work is purely for enjoyment purposes. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Note: This is a continuation of the previous side story pending a bit more inspiration for the main story. I apologize for this not being a R N chapter as I previously stated. The next chapter will be.
"Send them in" came from somewhere in the vicinity of a plain, yet elegant desk. The desk was mostly empty except for a very odd, almost transparent keyboard and a screen of sorts hanging in mid air appeared in front of the reader, seemingly made out of nothing. A middle aged woman dressed in a conservative suit took her fingers off the keyboard which suddenly vanished and looked over at the other occupants sitting in the room.
Ranma Saotome, Akane Tendo, and Peorth were sitting there. Well Ranma and Akane were having one of their usual mental conversations, having given up getting much more out of Peorth than they had bought the Earth time. Unfortunately it was still coming. Akane hating failing. She thought for sure that Ranma and her could stop it, yet they had not.
Neither Ranma nor Akane had any idea who they were going to meet. Peorth had simply found them after they arrived in heaven and asked them to come with her. She said, "Someone is waiting to see you, and it is important that we not be late." Lacking any better ideas, and not sensing any danger they shrugged and followed. Besides they were dead right? I mean they had to be. No one could have survived what they did.
Ranma extended his hand to Akane and graciously helped her up. She of course didn't need the help but now appreciated it for what it was, a token of his care for her. The secretary opened the antique oak door before them and they stepped through to the shore of an island. It was a perfect spring day with the air blowing their hair around their heads as if in play. What was really weird was when the door, that was suspended in the middle of nowhere, vanished a few seconds after it was closed.
Ranma took hold of his wife's hand again. With this much strangeness happening he wanted, no he needed to know she was there.
"There is no need to be concerned. Come, it is not far." Peorth led them around the beach to a round finely crafted picnic table complete with simple white umbrella. Sitting at the table was an older man with a graying beard that looked dignified, even if he was wearing little more than a white cotton button up shirt and a pair of blue shorts that came about half way to his knees.
"Now that we are finally here, I suppose full introductions are finally in order. My name is Peorth. I am a goddess first class on special assignment to watch over you two. This is my father."
Now Ranma's first reaction would normally have been incredulity, but well he knew, somehow, that she was telling the complete truth. Immediately Ranma and Akane bowed deeply.
"Kami-sama" came from them both.
"Relax, my children. I have not called you here to punish you. Quite the contrary in fact. You have once again proven my faith in humanity. Thank you."
Ranma and Akane were stunned. They were being thanked by the lord of creation? This didn't make any sense.
"But we failed." said Ranma.
"You did not fail. A mistake was made. It wasn't even your mistake. Do not worry. While the fate of humanity is largely humanities own, other plans have already been made. Other souls will take up the burden you were unable to finish. It has been that way since the beginning. No you have earned your rest. When you leave here you are free to enjoy all heaven has to offer. Have fun, enjoy yourselves. When you are ready, come back here. I have a job for you two. A very long term job.
Akane asked, "What kind of job?"
Peorth wondered if her hunch was correct. She dearly hoped it was. They had lost so many over the millenia.
"You will become the first new god and goddess in over a thousand years." Kami-sama grinned and continued with, "Or perhaps in Ranma's case it will depend on the temperature of the water, until he learns enough to choose for himself."
Ranma and Akane were stunned. Gods? Them?
Ranma asked, "Why?"
"Because you are needed. However, the choice is ultimately yours. In the past few thousand years our numbers have shrunk from several hundred to less than a hundred in total."
Akane, "They died?" How could a god die? Ranma had seemed a bit lost in thought yet kept his hand in Akane's.
"Died? Actually some did, but not many. It is very hard to kill a true kami. You are familiar with Saffron, yet he was not a true kami and you were able to cause him great harm. Death for a kami is different than that for a mortal. A mortal's spirit passes to heaven for a time, and is eventually reborn. A kami can be so weakened as to be scattered throughout much of the universe if he or she is damaged badly enough. In time, however, they will recover though it may take a thousand years."
The room grew quiet for a moment as if in anticipation. Peorth knew her father was waiting for her to continue, but hoped that she would not have to. She sighed, "But that is not why there are so few of us. Battles that fierce, while they do occur, are rare since they cause as much damage for the other side as they do us. No the true reason there are so few of us is we grow bored and chose to become mortal spirits again and be reborn."
"Bored?" questioned Ranma.
Peorth said, "Yes, is it so surprising that after thousands of years of existence to be bored and want change? I have considered it many times myself, save for the rare times like your own circumstances when things get interesting."
Kami-sama continued, "Take as much time as you need to make a decision. For now, I need to talk with my daughter."
The door that before appeared on the other side of the island, appeared before them and opened. Ranma and Akane stepped through.
"You didn't tell them."
"It would do no good. Their daughter has her own destiny. Make sure Xian Pu knows how precious she is when you transfer the child to her womb. I hope they will forgive me in time."
Peorth put a hand on her father's shoulder as if in sympathy. She seemed hesitant. "It will take several months for her spiritual matrix to stabilize..."
"Yes but it will stabilize. She will be a special child. Life born of mortal spirit, and the touch of a goddess. If their was any other way..." Somewhere in England there was a sudden completely unpredicted rainstorm. Rain being a common occurrence there, no one thought anything of it. Kami-sama regained control of his emotions and the storm began to lose focus.
Peorth seemed to visibly take hold of herself. On an intellectual level she knew some of it was simply her body adapting to carrying the child. Still, it had been so very long since she had someone to care about so much. Now a twist of fate allowed her to be a mother, if only for a little time. She touched her stomach gently as if to feel the life growing inside.
Kami-sama continued, "She is a true miracle. It would have been trivial for any of us to allow them to bear a child, but for mortals to do such a thing on their own in their condition... Yes it was a true miracle..." He paused in thought for a long moment staring blankly at his hands in his lap and then turned back to Peorth. "Please watch over her Peorth. She has a difficult destiny ahead of her. I will tell them of her after they receive their certifications. It is better this way. They wouldn't be allowed back in the mortal realm until then anyway." He said the last almost as if attempting to convince himself.
Peorth continued in a soft tone. "Of course, in a way, I am her mother as well." The fastest any of us has gotten their certifications has been twenty years. I hope they forgive us. Regardless Ranma and Akane will be busy for quite a long time. Its just as well I suppose. Having more than one Ranma on Earth at a time is something the world is just not ready for.
Somehow neither of them ever questioned that Ranma and Akane would accept.
Peorth mused out loud, "I wonder how Ranma will react when he finds out he has a twin, or for that matter Nabiki."
"If all goes according to my plan that will not be an issue."
"Since when does anything concerning that group go according to plan?"
Kami-sama smiled slightly as the scene faded out.
Peorth was walking back to her home. Walking may seem mundane to most, but Peorth preferred it when time permitted. She pondered her fathers last words. The use of 'my' rather than 'the' may be important. It was hard to tell. She looked forward to helping to train Ranma and Akane. Family was a very precious thing and having them as part of hers was the best thing that had happened to her in a very long time. Their daughter was even more precious. Shampoo was a good leader, much to the surprise of many, yet Yggdrasil predicted their tribe would die out within a generation. That was before though. Now, well, to say Athena would be pleased is a great understatement. To think, a child born of three mothers. She will definitely be something special. Not even Yggdrasil could entirely predict how true that statement was.
Author's Notes:
Well its another chapter, and yet still not really my main story I intended to write. All I can say is while I have most of a chapter done there, I still do not really like how that part of the story is going. I have a new idea, but well time will tell. The problem with the new idea is its not completely compatible with what I've allready written. Right now my current plan is for that idea to be after the main story I had intended to write. Time will tell. Reviews are somewhat motivational.
I truly hadn't intended to carry forth the Ranma and Akane ark this far. Right now their time line is in advance of the rest of the story, although I have left off essentially all of the details for that, since I haven't wrote them yet. If anyones expecting two super powerful gods to go save the day anywhere, well its not very likely. In general I do not expect them to have a significant part in the rest of the story. Time will tell.
