Chapter 27: Things Gone Wrong Must Be Put Right
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The sun is a small bloody disk touching the horizon when movement is seen on a place of devastation. From one of several piles of rubble a rock tumbles to the ground, propelled by a hard shove from a scraped hand. That hand is quickly followed by an arm, then the rest of a body, revealing a dirty, battered Shampoo as she climbs through the hole she's made. Reaching back down, she helps first Mousse, then Kasumi, out from their rocky prison. Cologne pogos out next, followed by no less than a dozen Phoenix guards.
The moment the last of them emerges the rock pile shifts and settles, flattening out now that it no longer has people holding it up. Not far away, another pile shifts and allows the group consisting of Ukyo, Taro, Soun, Nabiki, Tofu and more guards to emerge relatively unscathed. A third pile, and out comes Rei, Masaya, Kohaku, Kalerian, and Ryoga, all coughing to clear their lungs of rock-dust. In Masaya's arms is Akane's body, wrapped in a cloak produced from Kohaku's pocket-space.
The last pile nearly explodes apart to reveal a sore Herb and his two minions, Lime and Mint, and Shen Ron supporting Li Shon. Behind them come Genma and Nodoka, the condition of their clothes telling everyone that the ex-panda had protected his wife with his own body. A random thought pops up in Kalerian's head and he restrains the urge to giggle in hysteria. A gallant Genma!
Kohaku, on the other hand, is thankful that they're alive. It had taken the rest of the Quartet's hoarded energy to shield everyone as much as they had, and the Air fighter had felt Rei flinging a thread of power out to her jewel to tap it. Even that had been barely enough to prevent any more deaths. For a brief moment the silver-haired girl is thankful that like calls to like even over a distance of thousands of miles.
Rei scrambles once again over rubble towards an enormous crater in the blasted ground, the cavern around them long gone thanks to the strength of Ranma's final assault. The entire mountain has been shattered into a rocky plain that stretches for miles around them, nothing but ruin for almost as far as dust-filled eyes can see. A slip on her injured ankle and she tumbles headlong, sliding to a halt just a few feet from the bottom. "Ow..." Shaking off her pain, she limps over to the crater's pitiful inhabitant.
Ranma lies there like one dead, bruised and scraped from the power of his own unleashing, clothes almost entirely gone. From the bulges under his skin Rei can see that he'd broken an arm and both bones of his lower left leg in the fall. The same test she'd performed on Akane is done on Ranma now, and to her relief the feather she'd somehow kept a grip on quivers from the shallow breaths he takes; his pulse is weak but steady under her questing fingertips. Looking upwards she finds Ryoga, Taro, and Herb standing on the crater's rim. The naked relief that must be on her face reassures them as she coughs again to clear her throat of the dust and rasps, "Help me with him."
Herb is the one who flies down and lifts the unconscious martial artist with all the care he would use on an egg-shell. The Dragon of the Musk clan carries him up to the waiting and gentle arms of the others before returning for Rei, now quite unable to walk on her ankle or the knee she'd twisted in her second spill. "Can you get yourselves home?" he queries gently on the flight up, Rei wrapping her arms around his neck. She hates flying!
"It might take us a few more hours to gather enough energy," Rei admits unhappily, relieved when they land. Taro sends her an uncertain look, helping Ryoga carry Ranma towards Dr. Tofu, and she smiles at him. As long as he doesn't start flying again, she's fine with Herb carrying her. Movement that doesn't involve their group makes her crane her head to see, and she taps on Herb's arm to get him to turn around.
Several yards away a thrashed Kiima has unburied a golden egg three times the size of an ostrich egg from a smaller pile of rocks and shards of the phoenix statue from the huge faucet, and turns to face them with troubled eyes.
"I am sorry for your loss," she says in a voice husky from dehydration. "I understand your pain, even if my emperor did not. I shall see that he is raised better, this time." And in a thunder of wingbeats, she and the gaggle of soldiers rise into the air, flying off in the direction of Phoenix Mountain.
"What does she mean, 'this time'?" Ryoga demands anxiously. Kalerian is the one who answers.
"He's a phoenix, remember? It's impossible for him to really die. Once all of his energy is expended, like it was protecting himself from Ranma's kamikaze attack, he reverts into an egg to be born again." At the Crew's stricken looks he hastens to add, "But don't worry! By the time Sa Fu Lon is prepared to repeat his transformation, at least three hundred years will have passed by." A collective sigh of relief from the others as they pick their way back towards the Guide's Hut.
The Quartet had feared that they'd have to wait longer to return to Nerima and the relief of hot baths and things to take away physical pain, but Order has decided to step in. Waiting for them there are Kurama and Hiei, ready to key portals open for their trip home. Heedless of her injuries, Rei flings herself into Kurama's arms and weeps for all that should not be.
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Two weeks pass, and the Nerima Wrecking Crew slowly heals. It has taken this long for Ranma to be put back together enough for him to move around on his own, even with the help of the recovering Quartet, Tofu, and Yuki Ogawa. Akane's funeral has been held and her body rests in the Tendo crypt in the city cemetery, with wordless Rei and Ranma standing near the back. Had anyone been paying very close attention, they would have seen something otherworldly shining in Rei's eyes, colors that don't even have a name yet swirling beneath the dulled emerald. Kalerian, Kohaku, and Masaya returned with Ogawa-sensei to continue with their training, their work done for now.
Hiei has been watching over Rei ever since she and the rest had returned from China. After the funeral of Akane Tendo a week and a half ago, his friend's cousin has retreated to the high roof of the Kenobishi Dojo, eating nothing, drinking nothing, doing nothing but sitting in a curled ball of self-reproach. In all his long existence, he has never known anyone who has sunk so deep into a depressive trance for so long. Not even himself.
The fire apparition is hidden in a tree not far from the dojo, and he doubts Rei would sense him even if he unleashed the Dragon of Darkness Flame, occupied as her surface thoughts are with a maelstrom of grief, self-hatred, pain, and recrimination. The fact that he can read even that much warns him not to delve deeper, despite the fact that her shields are nonexistent. Kurama is worried, and for once in his life, Hiei is truly, deeply concerned for someone besides himself, his sister, and his best friend. Not that he'd be willing to admit it, mind you--he does have a reputation to keep.
Classes have been cancelled for now--no one can concentrate with her up there radiating such dark emotions, so the yard is empty when a mocking voice singsongs from thin air a familiar melody. "Why is Fate crying, what did she do? Thinks she killed a dear friend, the utter fool." The singer's voice makes the air throb painfully and Hiei's nonexistent hackles rise while the song makes his skin crawl. Rei stirs for the first time in many days, raising a tear-streaked face full of hatred and a weary anger.
"Go away, Chaos."
"She got too confident," the voice continues over her quiet demand, "so I had to--" A ginger-haired boy pops into existence, floating on thin air and brandishing a pair of silver scissors, "--do a little tweaking!"
With a roar that rattles her home's windows Rei goes from huddled ball to a fox of fire, leaping after the giggling, fleeing raven-haired boy. Wait, raven hair? "YOU!!" Rei howls, shifting down into her demonic form and brandishing a pair of flaming katanas. "I'm going to kill you this time, Chaos!!" Hiei follows after the pair as they leap rooftops, curious to know what the boy had done, exactly, to so piss off his friend. "I'm going to dice you to pieces! You're the one who tangled my Threads! How dare you??"
Apparently growing tired of the chase, the boy stops and Rei slams into an invisible wall five feet from him, bouncing back and sprawling in the air above the flat roof they now stand on. Hiei takes cover in one of the nearby trees and uses his Jagan to watch it all. "Now, now," the boy tsks, wagging an admonishing finger. "Remember what happened the last time you actually touched me?"
"Chaos touch be damned!" the red-head snarls from her sprawl.
"I'd hate to get in trouble with the Higher Ups because an extra arm or something was interfering with your work."
Rei staggers to her feet in the air, the katanas gone. Empty, hollow eyes gaze at the boy whose coloration keeps shifting in random patterns as understanding floods through her. All those things that had baffled her over the past three and a half months come together, and her eyes turn accusing. "You were the one who ruined all those threads," she says in a near whisper that Hiei strains to catch. Thank you, Jagan eye! "You were the one that switched Akane's Thread with my own. You caused the deaths of all those people with those Makai insects. All of it. Your doing."
"As you silly mortals say, 'duh'." Chaos shifts into a young man in his early twenties, sitting comfortably on nothing. Literally. Rei attempts to say something, mind whirling, and finally manages one word.
"Why??"
"Oh, come now, little Fate. You of all people should know that I will not allow you to interfere with my chosen Avatar. For the almost the past four months I have watched you undo all of my work here, allowing my brother to sweep through like he owns the damn place, and all thanks to you! I decided that that ever-so-pivotal battle would be a perfect place to remind you that you do not rule me yet."
"You ruin your Cards for normal life, whatever the hell that is."
"Admitted, most do get so used to me that they are unhappy when I eventually leave. But that isn't my fault, is it? And you were messing in my bailiwick." A glare from Rei is all the answer he gets. "Promise you're not going to try and kill me? You can't anyway, you know." A reluctant nod and Rei is set gently on her feet.
One of most wicked, positively evil smiles Hiei's ever seen blooms on the girl's face as she straightens. "I demand a boon from thee, Chaos, king of confusion, Master Meddler."
"And what would that be?" The godling's face is amused, Hiei notes. He shouldn't be. That smile means Rei has just closed a trap, and a doozy at that.
"I want a written agreement signed in your blood that you will never again meddle in my bailiwick, nor with any Fates that follow after me. And," that smile takes on a shading of pleasure, "you will not interfere with the resurrection of Akane Tendo."
"And if I refuse?" Blunt, cold.
"I show this to the Higher Ups and let them decide a much worse punishment than a simple Oath, Chaos." Rei holds up a small voice recorder. Hitting the play button, Chaos listens to Rei's accusation and his own confession played back in crystal clear definition. The godling pales.
"You wouldn't!"
"Another human phrase, Chaos: watch me." He's trapped. And he knows it. "You messed with my realm, Chaos. There is a price for every action; this is yours."
"Fine!" he snarls, a piece of parchment already covered in elegant script appearing in the air before him along with a small but wickedly sharp knife. With a savage gesture the man slices the pad of his left thumb and swipes the bloody digit across the bottom of the page. The knife disappears and the man licks away the extra blood, wound already sealed. As the parchment floats to Rei the hidden fire apparition can see that most of the blood on it has been absorbed, leaving a signature so over-flourished that he can barely read the name 'Chaos'. "Happy now?"
Rei carefully scans the page, searching for loop-holes before answering. "Yes. And if it makes you feel any better, Order has already signed a similar contract." And she tucks the page into the pocket-space of her gi's long sleeve.
"Hmph." But the man stays, curiosity stealing over his features. "Mind telling me how you plan on doing this, clever vixen? Raising the dead is beyond any of your quartet's bailiwick."
"Oh," Rei replies lightly, "I'm sure Koenma wouldn't mind lending me the Forlorn Hope." Hiei's crimson eyes widen and he attempts to mind-call Kurama to tell him Rei's about to do something incredibly stupid, only to smack into a shining barrier not of his own making that enshrouds his mind.
"Ah, ah," he hears in his head, "no tattling. This is between her and I." On the rooftop, Chaos finally smiles again and bows to Rei. "You're really willing to go that far?" he asks aloud to Rei, and sighs at her solemn nod. "Then not all of the Higher Powers can stop you, I fear." Rei smiles, but there is no triumph in that smile, and none in Chaos' either. "You've out-played me quite neatly, little Fate. I wish you luck." And he vanishes.
Hiei begins to think he might be safe when Rei turns emerald eyes towards him, a glittering purple-black length of something in her hands. A feeling of déjà vu sweeps over him as her fingers run over it, and he has one second to think 'shit' before darkness overtakes him.
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In the far corner of a darkened room at the Tendo Dojo a bandaged pig-tailed boy huddles, the scene replaying itself over and over in his mind. A gentle knock before the door slides open enough for cautious Nabiki to poke her head in. "Ranma?" Her voice is gentle, soothing, so as not to startle the tightly-wound boy. "You've got a letter."
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'Meet me at Akane's crypt by sundown. There are some things I need to tell you. Come alone.' Ranma rereads the letter as he walks and growls to himself. Whoever has the gall to send him a challenge letter now is going to get a piece of his god-damned mind when he gets to a place he never wanted to go to again.
Walking in through the open stone doors, he stops and stares. Where there had been dusty coffins and spiderwebs, now there is gleaming stone and wood shining in the light of hundreds of candles. Someone is standing in front of Akane's coffin, a flute raised to their lips that gleams in the light of the stained glass window before them. Fragrant red roses are piled on the wooden surface, filling the air with their sweet scent.
Entwining with the scent is the flute's melody, a poignant, sorrowful song that lances Ranma's own pain as he listens, letting some of it drain away to leave clean grief behind instead of the choking despair that has cloaked him for two weeks.
The last sunbeams fade away as the sun sets, leaving the west-facing window and the figure in shadow except for the candle-light, the melody trailing off at the same time. Ranma takes a step forward, all the anger at himself finding a new target in this inconsiderate challenger. "Look, I don't know who--"
"Actually, Ranma, you do." The tirade stops before it even gets started, the pig-tailed boy staring as the person turns around to reveal emerald eyes that--for just a moment--reflect fox amber in the candle-light. The female standing there is not who he had expected--in fact, he'd expected anyone but her.
"Rei??" His brain reboots and all of a sudden the outfit she's wearing actually registers. The base design is simple, a bodice and flowing skirt of green velvet the same shade as her eyes, a hint of satin peeking out here and there from cunning little cutouts that makes the whole pattern into leaves. The long sleeves are slit at the curve of shoulder, bicep, and forearm, gold roses holding the fabric shut at elbow and wrist. The modest neck of the bodice is trimmed with gold threads in the pattern of a stylized spider's web, repeated at wrist and the bottom of the skirt. Tiny gold roses glitter in her earlobes, a clip of them holds the hair out of her face while allowing it to pour down her back in a scarlet curtain. "Um...wow."
"Call it a uniform and leave it at that," Rei sighs, the flute vanishing into thin air. "I'm glad you came. I have a favor to ask of you."
"What's that?"
"I need three days of your silence, Ranma. Three days, that's all, and on the twilight of the third day, you will have Akane back. I swear it on everything that I am." Ranma's mind feels like it's wrapped in cotton thicker than the stuff wrapping thirty-percent of his body.
"The dead can't come back to life, Rei," he whispers brokenly, staring down at the floor as he wills the tears away. "Don't joke about this."
"I'm not." The utter seriousness, the factual tone in which she states those two little words, jerks his head up and he stares. A thin cord gleaming bright electric blue floats in the air above her palm, broken by a small strip of white. "This is the Thread of a boy named Yusuke Urameshi--you've met him before, remember?" She waits for his nod before continuing. "Yusuke's been dead before as well, that's something I doubt you knew. In a selfless act totally unlike his normal character, he saved a child from a speeding car and lost his life for it. You might have heard about this a few months back in the news. What wasn't in the news is that approximately three weeks after he died, he managed to come back to life. The white part is his time spent as a ghost."
The Thread disappears. "Yusuke is and was a punk, Ranma. He smokes, his gambles, he used to shop-lift and he drinks. His favorite past-time is beating Kuwabara to a bloody pulp. He's also the second Chaos card and he fights demons capable of tearing this world apart on a regular basis." Another Thread appears, this one shining gold.
"This is a man named Goku, the first Chaos card and a ki-master. He's been dead several times, as has a number of his friends." So Ranma can see--the length is littered with varying sizes of white bands. The Thread disappears and Rei lowers her hand. "Bringing one good-hearted girl back from the land of the dead isn't such an impossible task as you think, Ranma. All I'm asking is for three days."
"Who are you, Rei?" Ranma asks as a feeling of the room filling with ancient energy grows, pulsing against him but not suffocating like Saffron's power did. "What are you?"
A small smile, like he'd just given her the straight-line to a joke. A Tarot card appears in the air in front of him, one he's seen before: a woman with crimson hair sitting at a loom, being watched by a spider. "I am the Weaver, Ranma. In my care are the Threads of life."
"Fate," Ranma whispers in awe as that flooded feeling dissipates.
"Exactly." With a heavy sigh, the last of that ancient power vanishes from Ranma's senses, leaving the room feeling hollow as Rei dwindles back to a teenaged girl dressed like some mythic goddess. "Now you know why all of those childish fortunes were correct. Fate cannot be wrong about a person's destiny."
"Then what about Akane?"
"I didn't say Fate was perfect, Ranma. I left my workroom unsealed just once, and returned to find it in chaos." Her mouth twists as if in some ironic joke. "Fifty people died as a result of that: the manifestation of it the insanity around Sarayashiki High due to an invasion of controlled Makai insects, with demons known as Saint Beasts behind it all. And in case you have forgotten, little--if anything--goes as planned around Chaos Cards. I'm correcting an event that should not have happened."
Hope blooms in Ranma's heart at the same time a premonition ices its way down his spine. "So Akane wasn't supposed to die?"
A mirthless laugh. "No, Ranma, she wasn't. I was."
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