IN MEMORIAM
What would you do for the woman you loved?
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Disclaimer:
Ranma 1/2 is not mine to do with as I please, et cetera
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-PART THREE: TRUTH-
"Here you go, miss," the waitress said as she set down the biggest sundae Akane had ever seen in front of her daughter. "Enjoy your ice cream."
"You can't possibly eat all of that," Ukyo said.
Omi had an almost predatory gleam in her eye as she attacked the sundae. "Yes I can," she said between bites.
"Slow down, Omi," Akane admonished. "Act like a lady."
"Yes momma," Omi said, though she didn't seem to appreciably slow down her assault on the sundae. Akane shook her head in exasperation.
"Just like your father," she said.
Omi stopped and looked up. "But daddy says that guys don't eat this stuff. He says it's too girlie."
Akane heard Ukyo chuckle at Omi's objection, and she couldn't help but smile herself. Even after he had finally gotten his curse cured, Ranma could never really give up chocolate sundaes, but he was just too embarrassed to eat one in public, or apparently even admit to his daughter that he ate them. She had lost count of all the times she'd gone out to an ice cream shop late after Omi had gone to bed and brought home a sundae for each of them. It was silly of him to be so self concious, but Akane didn't mind one bit. The quiet, romantic moments, just the two of them, were worth it.
She wished he was here now.
"Akane," Ukyo said, "you aren't eating your sundae."
Akane looked down at her ice cream, as yet untouched. Somehow it just didn't seem apetizing to her.
"Can I have it?" Omi asked, her face already covered with chocolate syrup.
"You haven't even finished your own, Omi," Akane said.
"I meant after I finished it," Omi said.
Akane shook her head. Honestly...
A searing pain shot through her skull, shooting straight through from her temple to the base of her neck like a bullet before fading in an instant. She couldn't help but wince at the pain.
"Akane," Ukyo's voice was full of concern. "Are you okay?"
Even as the pain subsided images flashed though Akane's mind, images she couldn't understand. And somewhere, deep inside she felt... no... that wasn't right. Somehow she felt... but didn't feel it, like she was watching someone else and seeing their emotions...
Hurt, pain, betrayal, sadness.
Then, as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone.
"I... I'm fine," she said. What had happened? What did it all mean?
Ukyo didn't believe it. "We should take you home," she said.
"But I'm not done!" Omi whined.
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He supposed there was no way he'd forget where they were.
Three stones, seemingly natural but clearly out of place, clearly placed by human hands, sat in a line in the field. Two of them marked graves, a friend he'd lost and an enemy he'd killed, buried together in this soil, one far from home, another within sight of the home, family and friends that she had known.
And the third stone... It marked ground empty save for two small, innocent looking items.
"This is where you hid it?" his travelling companion asked.
"I didn't hide it," Ranma said. "I just... there's nothing left of her."
His travelling companion didn't say a word. Ranma wondered if the man understood. After everything... she should have something, some proof that she existed.
But now he was taking that away. He got on his hands and knees and started digging into the cold earth. He didn't dare use a shovel. If he were to damage what he was looking for, if something were to happen to it...
His companion watched dispassionately. Finally he spoke again.
"Why did you do it, Saotome?" he asked.
"It was the only way," Ranma said. "It was the only way we could be together again. She died because of me, because of my pride. She didn't deserve it. I owe her a chance to live."
But that wasn't enough, was it? Everything he had done to bring Akane back, the blood that was on his hands, there was no way he could atone for that. Now she was dying again, being ripped from this world, and there was only one thing he could do to stop it, one way left to save her.
"You're a fool," his companion said.
"Then why are you helping me?" Ranma asked.
The man scoffed. "My wife asked it of me. If it were my choice I'd boil you alive."
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Where was she? What was this place?
Akane had found herself in a cave, a place she didn't know, one she couldn't recognize. The pain was gone, the disturbing emotions that had lurked at the back of her mind vanished. Somehow the absence of those feelings, the ones that had haunted her for days, now filled her with terror.
"Get out of here," a voice, a terrifyingly familiar voice said.
Akane turned to see the cave populated with children. They were her children, Omi, others she didn't know but instinctively knew were hers. Visions of what would come. She saw herself comforting them, holding them as babies when they cried, seeing them off to school, watching them grow and mature.
"This isn't yours," the voice said, full of bitterness and hatred. "You have no right to it!"
Akane saw her grandchildren, her great grand children. She saw a life filed with love and happiness. She saw her and Ranma growing old together, surrounded by loved ones.
"You stole it from us!" the voice shouted. "You and Ranma took it from us! Give it back!"
She knew the voice, knew who was speaking, but she didn't dare to look.
"You don't belong here!" the voice cried in rage. "Give me back my life!"
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Then she awoke, finding herself in the bed her and Ranma had shared for so many years. The pain in her head was beyond comprehension, but she barely noticed it, paralyzed with terror.
"No..." she whispered quietly, "please... no..."
She remembered everything.
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The past. The cave.
"Man is a pathetic creature stumbling through the twilight of this world," the voice said, "a creature trying to find its way and fearing the falling darkness of night. Man is a fool that cannot accept what must be, and will fight against it with all its strength. For it, night must fall so that the sun may dawn again, but it is afraid."
"Long ago, there was a nothing man, a creature for which there is no name, which sought to escape its nightfall. It drew upon its powers to create magical waters which flowed to the springs that it calls cursed. It sought to anchor its soul to this world, so that it could be recalled and live again forever. And so it created the springs, to create a vessel to harbor its returned soul."
"Each spring serves to create the vessels to allow the return of souls, but few such souls have the strength of will needed to create the vessel, and few of the springs can create vessels which can house a returned soul. The Scarlet Divinity is one of the few, the strongest willed creature in centuries. The strength of its soul is such that it leaves an imprint on this world of twilight. The horse has seen this, how those bathed in the spring are the twin of that which it seeks. To achieve what it seeks, a vessel must be prepared in the spring, then it is ready to receive the soul of the lost... but only if it is empty."
"The souls of this world and the next must remain in balance, and two souls cannot exist for long within the same vessel. To bring back the soul it seeks, another must be given in its place. This was the cost that the nothing man had not understood. It's quest to avoid the darkness cost it the soul of the woman it loved in this world, gone to the next world so that its body could become a vessel for the nothing man. This is the price the horse must face, if it wishes to bring back the lost scarlet divinity."
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Ukyo was awakened by Akane's piercing scream of pain. Without hesitation she rushed into the hall, where she found the door to Akane's room open and the room itself deserted. From downstairs came the crash of breaking glass.
Omi poked her head out of her doorway. "What's goin on?" she asked.
"Just go back to bed, Omi," Ukyo said. "Everything is fine."
"Momma sounded like she's hurting," Omi said, her voiced carried a tone of concern.
"Don't worry," Ukyo said, though inside she was on the edge of panic. "It's probably just another headache. I'll go get her some aspirin and everything will be fine."
Omi nodded and disappeared back into her room, though Ukyo could see how afraid she was. She shared that fear. Somehow she knew that this illness that plagued Akane was something terrible, something that was slowly destroying her. She'd prayed that Ranma would return with a cure soon, but...
What if he was too late?
Ukyo hurried to the kitchen, and there she found Akane, slumped on the floor sobbing, a small hand mirror lay broken on the floor next to a kettle.
"Why didn't I change?" Akane whispered. "Why?"
Ukyo looked around the room, trying to understand what had happened. The burner on the stove was still on, steam wafted from water spilt on the floor.
Boiling water. Akane had doused herself with boiling water.
"What are you doing, Akane?" Ukyo asked. Boiling water... why? What was happening to her?
"It's a lie, all a lie," Akane whispered.
"Akane, please, talk to me," Ukyo pled. "Tell me what's wrong."
"No matter how hot the water is I can't change back," Akane said. Then she finally seemed to realize that Ukyo was there. She looked up and the tears flooded into her eyes. "Oh god Ukyo, I remember everything..."
Ukyo didn't say anything at all.
"I don't belong here," Akane said in a hushed whisper, "I'm not Akane. It's all a lie..."
Then she collapsed.
"Akane!" Ukyo rushed to her side. "Wake up, please!" she pled, but nothing she could do would rouse Akane.
The back door opened, and the winds whistled through as someone else entered the kitchen. As she felt the breeze and heard the footsteps, Ukyo prayed it was Ranma come home with a cure.
But it wasn't. "It's started already," the visitor said, her voice full of regret. "I'm too late."
Though the new arrival's Japanese had improved in the years since Ukyo had known her, her accent long vanished, Ukyo still recognized the voice. None the less, she paid it no heed.
"There's nothing you can do for her, Ukyo," the visitor said.
Ukyo felt a flash of anger run through her. "You know what's happening to Akane, don't you Shampoo?" she snapped. "You have to help her!"
"There's nothing I can do to help," Shampoo said. "Ranma sent me to ease her suffering, but it's too late. There's nothing I can do to prevent what's happening now."
"What's happening to her?"
"That body's soul is re-emerging," Shampoo said. "It's forcing Akane's soul out, pushing her back to the land of the dead."
"What are you talking about?"
Shampoo said nothing. She only stepped forward and held an ornate, ancient looking kettle over Akane.
"What are you doing?" Ukyo demanded. Then she saw Shampoo's eyes. They held a terrible anguish as Shampoo began pouring the contents of the kettle onto Akane.
And in Ukyo's arms, Akane changed.
"Oh god no..." Ukyo whispered. It couldn't be. It was impossible! "Akari..."
Shampoo nodded gravely. "Yes, Akari. She..." Shampoo had to visibly compose herself, "...she gave up her life to become a vessel to contain Akane's soul, drowning herself in the Akanenichuan. But... Akari's soul wasn't separated from the body, it only went into dormancy for a time, and now it is re-emerging, forcing Akane's soul out."
"She killed herself..." Ukyo whispered. It was too incredible, too terrible to believe. "No... it can't be. It's all just a trick."
Shampoo didn't say anything.
"It's all just a lie," Ukyo declared, desperate, "You're doing this, aren't you, Shampoo? This is all one of your schemes!"
She so wanted to believe it. So desperately... she wanted to believe that this nightmare unfolding around her was nothing but a lie... but she saw Shampoo's eyes... saw the grief in them... and she knew it was true... she knew the woman lying in her arms was Akari, that Akari had died to bring Akane back from the dead.
And in a flash of terrible insight, she knew Shampoo was lying.
"Please... no..."
Akane's nightmares... the specters that had haunted her for all this time... the anger and grief of a woman torn from this world... not one who had given up her life... one who had had it taken from her...
"They'd never let it happen," she whispered, though she knew it wasn't true.
"For love," Shampoo said, "sometimes nothing is too terrible."
A cold, terrible silence hung between them. Ukyo understood it all now. The price that had been paid to bring Akane back, the crimes the man that was still precious to her had committed... She should hate him for this... for all of this... but she couldn't. She only felt numb.
"Is there nothing that can be done for Akane?" Ukyo finally asked in a sad whisper.
"There is only one way to save her from returning to the land of the dead," Shampoo said softly. She didn't say any more, she didn't have to. Ukyo knew what price would be paid. She understood why Ranma wasn't here now...
There came the sound of footsteps, the light footsteps that a young girl makes when she's trying not to be noticed.
Ukyo felt a rush of terror as Omi slipped into the kitchen.
"Where's momma?" the girl asked. "Who are these ladies?"
Oh god... Ukyo didn't know what to say. What could she tell Omi? She could feel the sobs building in her throat and she fought against them with all her might. She couldn't let Omi see her cry...
"Your mother is at the doctor's right now," Shampoo said softly with a polite smile. "She's a little sick, but she'll be fine. I'm afraid my friend had a little accident though while she was making some tea for miss Ukyo."
"Is she okay?" Omi asked.
"She'll be just fine," Shampoo said, the smile never left her face.
"What about momma?" Omi asked.
"She should be back in a few days," Shampoo said. "She just needs some rest and time to heal. Now little girls like you should be in bed at this time of night."
"Are you a doctor?" Omi asked.
"Yes, dear," Shampoo said.
Ukyo laid Akari, the woman she had known as Akane for so long, down on the floor, having finally composed herself. "Let's get you back to bed," she said to Omi.
"I wanna see momma," Omi protested.
"Not tonight," Ukyo said. "She needs to rest, and so do you."
She led the girl back upstairs, tucked her into bed and gave her a goodnight hug and a kiss on the forehead.
"Will momma really be home soon?" Omi asked.
"Yes, Omi," Ukyo said. "Momma will be home soon."
She turned off all but a night light, and left the room. With no sign of emotion she went down the stairs and back into the kitchen, where Shampoo now sat tending to Akari, tears running down her cheeks. She passed her by without a word, leaving the kitchen and passing through the main room into the garden.
Once outside, she dropped to her knees and began to cry.
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Ranma looked over the myriad of springs of Jusenkyo. This was it. This was how it would end. He'd come to China to find a way to save Akane, a way for the two of them to be together in this world, but... That was impossible. There was only one way to save her.
"I should kill you and leave you where you fall," Herb said. "You used the treasures of the Musk Dynasty to commit unspeakable crimes, Saotome."
"Then why don't you?" Ranma asked.
"I owe you my life," Herb said. "At the very least I can give you this chance at absolution." He drew a vial from the pouch on his belt, offering it to Ranma.
Ranma took the vial and handed Herb the pail and ladle he had taken from Akari's grave. "As soon as it's done," he said.
Herb nodded his understanding, the hard look he wore slipping ever so slightly, letting the sadness beneath show through.
Ranma took a breath, and stepped towards the springs.
For you, Akane.
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This place, this riverbank bathed in light, covered with flowers. Akane knew this place. She had been here before. This was the crossing place between this world and the next.
The nightmare of her soul being ripped from the body it had called its own for so long had been terrible, the full weight of Akari's hatred, of her pain, and betrayal, her overwhelming sadness, had been like fire and ice, burning her away and freezing her soul. And then there were her own feelings of shame, shame that she couldn't help but fight against being driven from this world, that though she knew she didn't belong here, she couldn't help but want to stay, for her daughter, for Ranma...
Ranma... who had committed terrible crimes, who had let Akari die.
Ranma... who she loved with all her heart.
But this could not be. There was no place for her in this world anymore. This was how it had to end...
"Hello Akane."
Akane turned at the sound of the voice through the mists that surrounded them. No... it couldn't be. "Ranma..."
"Yeah," Ranma said, "it's me."
"But it can't be!" Akane said, "you can't be here! This is the place where..." The realization hit her. "No... please no..."
"I'm sorry Akane," Ranma said. "This is the only way. You have to go back."
"You can't do this..." Akane pled. "You have to let me go. You can't give up your life for me!"
"I've done terrible things," Ranma said. "You don't deserve this, I do. I killed..."
"You didn't kill Akari!" Akane protested. "Ryoga did... It wasn't your fault!"
"I killed Kiima," Ranma said softly. "After the sage told us what we needed to do to bring you back, that night I snuck out and went to Phoenix mountain. I told myself that she didn't deserve to live, that she was just some thug and monster who'd kill us all in a heartbeat, anything I could to justify what I wanted to do to her. And I killed her. I just strangled the life out of her. I thought it was the only way I could bring you back to me."
Akane didn't say anything. She hadn't known, she'd had no idea.
"But it didn't work," Ranma said. "I messed something up and I lost my chance. I thought I'd lost you forever, I told myself there was no hope anymore. Ryoga and me, we went back to Jusenkyo, we told ourselves it was just to say goodbye to you in the only place where we still could, but... I think even then I knew what was going to happen. Somewhere deep down I knew that was why Ryoga had brought Akari along. When it happened... I could have stopped him. It would have been so easy to stop him and save her, but I didn't. Ryoga killed Akari and I... I let him do it. And I did that terrible thing to her. I... I knew what we were doing was wrong, but it didn't matter. I told myself she was already dead and it wouldn't make a difference. All that mattered was that I would have you back."
"I've done unspeakable things, Akane," he said. "I killed Kiima. I let Akari die. After that... Ryoga realized what he had done, and he killed himself... and I let that happen too. You... yours isn't the life that should end."
He turned and started walking to the river's edge and the waiting ferryman. On the other shore, he could see Kiima and Ryoga and Akane's father waiting for him. He suddenly realized that Akari wasn't among them, and for a moment he paused. It had worked. For a moment, the briefest moment of mad desperation, he wanted to tell himself that he wasn't a killer, that Akari was alive now, that it was all okay, and he could go back. He wanted to believe that he didn't have to leave Akane, that they could find a way to be together in this world.
But he knew it wasn't true.
"Ranma!" Akane cried, "don't do this!"
Ranma didn't look back, didn't stop, he just kept walking to the crossing. "Omi is the only good that I have brought to this world," he said. "I wanted to be there to see her grow up, but..."
Akane felt herself being pulled away from this place, back to the land of the living. The crossing, Ranma, it all began to fade into an ethereal fog . The only thing she could see was a thread, a strand of red, reaching into the haze. She knew it stretched from her to Ranma, that it always would...
"I love you Akane," Ranma's faint voice came from the fog. "Someday..."
And then darkness.
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