Chapter 28: Trading Places
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Our favorite pig-tailed boy sits down on a convenient stone bench, hard. "No."
"I'm afraid so, Ranma, and as much as it would have made things easier the elimination of your girl side was not a viable option. A female had to die at that battle, or else there was going to be some serious repercussions down the line. Elder Ku Lon still has a few techniques she hasn't taught you yet and which you'll need in a decade or so, things that your father certainly can't teach you. Would you rather I have sacrificed Shampoo? Ukyo? By all that's holy, Ranma, your mother was there! Would you rather I have had her be the one??"
He fervently shakes his head in negation, and the frown Rei wears softens. "I couldn't bring you that kind of pain anyway, and it's my fault you're feeling such pain now. Fate isn't perfect, Ranma, because she's human. Something similar to this has happened once before, but no lives were lost. Remember what I said of the violence around Sarayashiki High School in the next prefecture over? The one where many people went temporarily insane?"
"Yeah, it was on the news. About fifty people were beaten to death."
"That's right. That wasn't supposed to happen, either. That was the result of Chaos sneaking into my work-space and breaking fifty Threads when he tried to steal my Weavings. When a Thread is broken, events change to accommodate some form of fatal occurrence for each. The insanity a few days ago revolving around a hospital in another city was a repeat. Both were from Chaos' meddling."
"He does that a lot, doesn't he?" Ranma asks, finally seeing someone who has grieved as hard as he has.
"Yes, he does, but he won't anymore. I got his confession that he screwed in my realm more than once, including replacing my Thread with Akane's, and blackmailed him into signing a contract. With godlings a contract is binding. You just have to watch for loop-holes."
"What about you?"
A wry smile, a curious tilt of her head. "What about me, Ranma?"
"What are you going to do now?"
"I told you. I'm going to bringing Akane back to life. She hasn't had her full allotted time to live, and she's crucial when the next major fight of your life occurs. And it will," she adds at his stricken look, the thought of another Saffron flashing through his mind, "because you're a martial artist, possibly the best martial artist in this world."
"And the others?"
"Yusuke, Goku, and his friends?" Nod. "They died because circumstances dictated it. Things that they needed to learn or do that couldn't be done while living. Yusuke learned about demons and such and fights them on a regular basis. Goku and the rest of the 'Z-fighters' needed training from people that were only available in Spirit World. They'll all live for a while yet."
"And you?" Rei smiles, finally understanding what he's getting at.
"I, Ranma, have had my fill of this existence. I am a very old soul indeed, and I jumped back into life a little sooner than I meant to. In this life, I have seen people die and be reborn. I have been cursed, blessed, thanked, hated. I'm tired. I couldn't do anything before because I didn't have a successor. I have one now.
"I want to go home, Ranma. Back to my quiet meadow and my peaceful cottage. When I die, my reward is the uninterrupted stay in the small dimension that is my work-space. Did you know that many dimensions are formed from a Fate's work-space?" Ranma shakes his head no. "The more time a Fate spends there, the larger it gets. After a couple centuries of peace and quiet, it's big enough to introduce people, and the cycle of choosing an active Fate and watching that world begins. But that's off topic," she sighs. "So. Are you going to try and stop me?"
When Ranma shakes his head, he is rewarded with one of the most brilliant smiles he's ever seen from Rei and a quiet thanks.
"Ranma, I have one other gift for you, if you want it," she says in a soft voice as he turns to go. He turns back, eyes questioning. "You can spend the next three days asleep in my work-space, where Time is malleable, with a magical alarm clock to wake you when it's time. It's the only thing I can think of that would get you through this any faster."
For a moment, he seriously considers. The thought is incredibly tempting, but… "Nah. Someone's gotta stop anyone who does find out about this."
She smiles faintly, the brilliance wiped away by duty. "And they keep telling me that you have no brain in that hard skull of yours." Then she leads him out with a warning of, "Do not tell anyone what I'm doing. I need your silence about this more than anything else. Understand?" He nods solemnly.
And then she is gently shooing him out of the crypt and closing the door. "Remember, my friend. Three days, at sunset. Remember, or they'll be mourning two girls instead of one." Ranma blinks as the door is shut almost on his nose and does a quick estimation of the weight of the heavy stone, marveling for a moment at the strength Rei must possess to have shut it effortlessly. Hope singing in his heart, Ranma walks away to begin his task.
Inside, Rei walks to the wood encasing the body of her friend and intones in a soft voice, "From gentle Sleep's sister shall ye wake, when Forlorn Hope mirror my life shall take." With an expansive gesture, the forest meadow that is Rei's workspace unfolds and she begins her final workings.
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Three days later, early sunset...
Kurama shivers as a feeling of danger raises nonexistent hackles and he quickly runs his awareness through the energy signatures of his family and friends, shocked when he finds a familiar taint surrounding a certain cousin...Abruptly he stands and asks to be excused from the table, striding outside before his new step-father can finish saying 'yes'.
With all the protections that had been put around it after Yusuke had gotten it back, Kurama had seriously doubted anyone would have ever touched it again. The security, when Koenma had had him test it, had given even his Yoko side a run for the money, and in the end the new defenses had proved effective. So how...? And…why?
Outside, Hiei melts from the shadow of the front yard's tree and leaps down to the sidewalk, staring up at the nearly frantic red-haired fox. "Well?" he smirks, "What's the hurry? Don't like your mother's cooking?" Ignoring the joke that the most serious apparition he knows has just made, Kurama orients himself and takes off running.
"Rei has the Forlorn Hope, Hiei!"
Before following after, Hiei's face is puzzled, as a forgotten memory tries to emerge. "Why does she have it?" he wonders aloud as he blurs off.
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Meanwhile, in Akane's crypt, Rei steps from her work-room, feeling rather proud of the amount of work she'd gotten done in the last three (relative) days she'd been working. In the other-space, she'd actually been working for over two weeks almost straight, taking advantage of the fact that she needed to neither sleep nor eat while there to get a year's worth of work done. New Threads had been woven and prepared for her successor, patterns had been laid for the next three years so that said successor would have a chance to get used to their new task before handling anything major. Although it would be a while before her successor would actually assume the work of Fate.
Now she stands in the crypt under the rising moon, lingering sun lying dust-thick on every reachable place, and takes one last moment to reconsider.
As she steps towards Akane's coffin, her clothes mist into a simple green gown. No embroidery, no jewelry. Just a sleeveless dress that hugs her body before flaring into a circle skirt in soft velvet, with matching ankle boots of leather. Her long hair flows loose down her back, glimmering copper in the candle-light. Her footfalls are silent as she walks, reaching the coffin and opening the lid.
Akane lies there, a soft golden glow burning from within, showing that Koenma had made good on his promise to keep Akane's body on the brink of life until the girl's soul could return. All the damage has been healed--Akane would return to a body as healthy as she hadn't left it. With a smile, Rei scoops up the roses that had fallen when the lid had been opened and piles them artfully around the 'sleeping' girl.
"Wouldn't want you to suffocate before Ranma comes, now would we?" she whispers in a conspiratorial tone, brushing an errant lock back into place. "Just do me a favor and we'll call it even; don't be so closed up around Ranma, okay? And let him explain first before you pound him." With a wistful smile she sets several envelopes before the coffin and goes to the center of the large room, dropping into a tailor's seat and pulling a round, cracked mirror in a simple frame from her sleeve's pocket space. Looking at it, she recalls the conversation she'd had when Koenma had lent it to her.
"Are you certain this is the only way, Rei-sama?"
"Unfortunately, yes. The dragonballs won't work when it's Chaos' meddling, and the deadline to get Akane back is dwindling fast." She'd accepted the mirror from reluctant Koenma, and blinked when a thought occurred to her. "Koenma, I need one more favor."
"What's that?"
"Ranma is already on his guard, but another will be useful. He can't fight off Kurama, Hiei, and probably Taro all at once. Someone would get in a sucker punch. If anyone from Yusuke's group tries to interfere, I ask that you send Yusuke to prevent them. I know it isn't fair to him, though," she'd added miserably.
Koenma had sighed, and nodded. "I won't tell him why, though. That might help. Don't worry. If the kid can handle the death of his teacher and one of the most solid people in his life, he can handle this. Good luck, and I'll see you soon."
"You will, at that."
Letting her awareness pour through the Threads, a small, proud smile curves her lips. Ranma had given the performance of his life for the past three days, telling no one and somehow convincing everyone that it would be better to go to visit Akane the day after tonight, just like she'd known he would. At least it's possible to predict him, if not the events around him. But...Her smile turns resigned. Besides Ranma, she can feel at least three--no, four--familiar ki-signatures approaching fast.
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Hiei goes where Kurama goes, and he and Taro always seem to know when I'm doing something dangerous. Good thing I've got Yusuke on my 'side'."
Setting the Forlorn Hope on the floor before her, she makes the same gesture as before and all the candles she'd brought once more alight, shining off the moon-silver threads set to ensnare anyone who walks through the door. These aren't the rainbow Threads used for recording lives, only for use such as Rei's now-useless water-proofing bracelet. Despite the candles' brilliance, the light of the full moon shines through the stained glass onto the magical item, awakening it.
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The Spirit Detective is not having a good time. Obeying the obscure order of Koenma to keep Hiei and Kurama away from some cemetery until after twilight today is proving just as hard as he thought it would be. Restrained by not wanting to use his stronger weapons against them (such as his Spirit Gun) he is reduced to regular old street-brawling. Which would be peachy if I wasn't fighting a couple of demons who know how to take people apart!! He suspects the only reason he ain't out yet is because neither of his friends want to hurt him either, and so are refraining from using weapons like the Rose Whip or Hiei's katana. But that's not going to save him long.
Two battle auras from somewhere behind him register, but he doesn't dare take his attention from the two currently in front of him for an instant. He's read too many fanfictions of people who get knocked out if they do and doesn't care to repeat the embarrassing cliché in real life.
Ranma isn't having it much easier. Taro has all of the physical strength of Ryoga and none of the Lost Boy's convenient hang-ups with which he usually stops him, and so keeps getting punched by someone with an arm like a pile-driver. Damn, when did Pantyhose-boy get so damned fast??
Taro knows something isn't right, and Rei's at the heart of it. His intuition tells him he's got until the sun is completely gone before it's too late. So he keeps fighting the person he's come to respect over the time they've been acquainted like one possessed, desperate to reach his beloved and stop her from doing...whatever.
A few blocks away, a depressed Ryoga wanders aimlessly, unaware of Rei's doings or the fights that are going to intersect in the next minute or so. Of all of them, he's the closest to the crypt and heading straight for it. Chaos cards and their lesser brethren at work, what a mess.
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Within the crypt, the mirror glows a soft grass green color, reflecting the full moon through the stained glass. "Fate, what is your wish?" the Mirror intones in a male voice. In sight of the crypt now, Kurama and Taro break free of their respective battles and sprint for the doors in unison. Ryoga has already gotten there and has decided he will pay his respects to his beloved Akane one last time.
Ranma and Yusuke get there first and stomp his head into the pavement. They join him a moment later thanks to the distraction the Lost Boy had provided and sucker-punches from both Hiei and Taro. Rei ignores everything and lets her fingers lightly touch the simple frame. "You know my wish, Soul of the Mirror. Don't play games with me, I have no time."
Something that resembles a sigh before a moving picture of Akane's face appears in the mirror's depths. "The restoration of the life of Akane Tendo and the repair of the weaving you had planned. This is your wish?"
Gentler. "You know it is."
"Has your successor been chosen?"
"They have."
"And you know my price?"
"Yes, Soul of the Mirror. I know your price."
That same sigh-like sound. "Very well, then. I wish you good fortune in your next life."
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Ranma and Yusuke are just rising to their with Kurama and Taro nearly ripping the heavy stone doors off their hinges, when a faint electric-blue light shines under the threshold and through the windows. The two boys wrench open the doors and rush inonly to be entangled in Rei's guarding web.
Hiei tries slashing through the threads but they hold firm, snapping back into place without a scratch from his katana. All of them stare as Rei half-turns towards the sound of their entrance, wrapped in the power of the Forlorn Hope with the light in her eyes already fading. A whisper of thought brushes against their minds--'Sayonara.'
Forever goodbye.
Soundlessly, the boys watching in horror, she slips sideways with a grace she shouldn't have and lies there, motionless. Ranma and Yusuke are stunnedthe pig-tailed martial artist had no idea this is what his friend had meant to doand Ryoga, finally free from the embrace of cold concrete, is the first to make a sound: a heart-broken howl as he leaps over the tangle and gathers Rei into his arms.
The silver binding threads vanish, dropping Kurama and Taro to the floor with separate thuds. Taro manages to rise to his feet and stares blankly into thin air.
Kurama stops in mid-motion on his knees and crumbles, bent until his forehead touches the cold stone floor, his arms wrapped around himself, crimson hair spilling forward to form a curtain to hide his grief. Too late. He's too late. Hiei stands beside his friend, uncertain as to how to comfort the grieving fox-human that has been his companion for over a year. The fire apparition has been too long alone to know how to cope with such emotional pain…
But he wishes he knew how.
Taro stands there, doesn't speak, doesn't move. He could be a statue for all intents and purposes, except for the tears rolling down his face. Ranma is shocked. Is this what Rei had intended to do all along? Why? Why?? And then he remembers, and hope once again fights its way past sorrow to spread out in his chest.
With silent steps he walks to the open coffin and looks down into the face of a sleeping angel. His eyes devour the sight of her rosy cheeks and her chest rising and falling as though it is food for a starving man. A hesitant hand reaches out and brushes her cheek, heart thudding against his ribs. Warm, giving flesh had met his touch.
Yusuke moves, stamping forward and snatching up the Forlorn Hope, brandishing it towards the sky with furious tears running down his face. "This was your mission for me, toddler??" he screams. "To let her die?? I'm gonna pound you into the pavement when I get back!"
"There was nothin' you could've done," Ranma says softly. All noises except for Ryoga's broken sobs cease. Yusuke pauses in his description of the pain he's going to visit on Koenma. Kurama looks up sharply with his hair in his face, trying to keep himself from ripping everything apart. "Fate don't like her work to be messed with."
"Fate??" the fox-human question is as sharp as his gaze, but Ranma never turns.
"Yeah, Fate. Yanno, ruler of destiny? She was Fate. This is what she wanted. And if it hadn't been me'n Yusuke over there, then it would've been someone else that would've stopped you."
A snatch of a conversation they had had at school springs into his mind: Rei smiling at him in bright sunlight after a class. "Fate doesn't try to control everyone's entire destiny, Ranma. She just sets the destination and lets people muddle their own ways through with a bit of help now and again. If she did otherwise, I doubt she'd have any time to herself!"
Shaking his head at the obvious hint, Ranma bends down and brushes Akane's forehead in a gentle kiss, feeling her warm breath tickle his throat. "Wake up, sleepyhead. Time to go home."
The soft sigh that comes from the girl in the coffin makes everybody stare. It even breaks into Ryoga's mourning and silences his sobs, though tears are still flowing. The thick, blue-tinted black lashes flutter and part to reveal the vivid blue-gray orbs behind them, which quickly fill with confusion. Ranma gently pulls her from the coffin and sets her on her feet as she stares around her, wondering why she's a stone room full of candles and tears.
"Ranma? What's--" A squeak as he wraps her in a hug, burying his face on her shoulder. "Ranma, what's going on? Where am I?" She falls silent at a dampness soaking her shoulder, one hand hesitantly curling around his waist while the other comes to rest in his messy hair. "Ranma, why are you crying?" Faint mumblings along the line of 'you scared me to death, I'd thought I'd lost you forever' can be barely heard by the confused girl, spoken as they are into the fabric of her kimono. Kimono? Hadn't she been wearing shorts and a t-shirt?
"Rei just brought you back from the dead," Ryoga manages in a voice barely above a whisper, a tiny smile on his face between the tracks of tears from shattered eyes. "By trading her life for yours." Akane stares at the still form cradled in Ryoga's lap as memory supplies her with the 'video-clip' of her grabbing the kinjakan and the world abruptly turning large--and the ki-blast that turned everything dark. Ranma pulls back long enough to pick up the envelopes at their feet, then her attention turns to him and the fact that he scoops her off her feet without hesitation.
Taro takes advantage of the boy torn between rejoicing that Akane is alive and mourning the sister he'd so recently found, lifting Rei into his own arms and carrying her towards the door, past Yusuke getting scolded by Botan--who had popped out of nowhere and now has a firm grip on his ear. Kurama stops him, standing in the way with a steely glare totally unlike the even-tempered ex-thief. "Where are you taking her?"
"I'm taking her to her parents," is the soft reply. Face softening, Kurama reaches into his mane and produces a familiar scarlet rose, tucking it under the hand lying limp on her stomach. Hiei hands his friend the letters addressed to Taro and Rei's adoptive parents (he'd taken them from the oblivious Ranma), and the emerald-eyed male tucks those under the rose.
Bending down, Kurama whispers something into her ear, tears dropping onto her pale cheek. And then he silently walks into the night, head down, shoulders stiff. Hiei follows after his friend, but sends once last glance at the still form resting against the taller boy's muscular chest. A flash of sorrow breaks through his mask, and a single tear-gem pings to the ground. Soundlessly, the black shadow flits off into the darkness, carrying his letter and that of Kurama's. After another moment, Taro leaves, heading in the direction of the Kenobishi Dojo--but he picks up the cloudy indigo gem as he goes.
Ranma pauses long enough to collect a numb Ryoga before they, too, leave, with Akane held safely in his arms.
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On another island, two men are cleaning up after having finished the day's work on their roof. One is much younger than the other and bears a striking resemblance despite the glasses perched on the end of his nose. Abruptly, the elder of the two looks up with distress furrowing his brow.
"What's up, Dad?" the younger asks, glancing up from picking bits of tar off his palm.
"Rei's gone. I can't feel her energy anywhere."
"What?? Why??"
The older man, dressed in an orange martial-arts jumpsuit, lifts into the air with his eyes trained on the horizon. So this is Goku, the ki-master! Placing the first two fingers of his left hand on his forehead, Goku mutters, "I don't know. But I bet I know someone who does." And he vanishes into thin air, leaving Gohan behind to finish cleaning up alone.
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