Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ nor do I own the Legacy of Kain series but that will change after I built my own Chronoplast room and travel back in time.

((Thoughts))

"Dialogue"

/Telepathy/

'Panda signs'

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>>>>>>>>>>> Dream >>>>>>>>>>>>

In a void of swirling black-red nothingness a single form drifted, an attractive man of eighteen years with a lean, muscular body and ebony hair done in a pig-tail. He only wore black pants and boots. On his stomach a long scar was visible.

"Where the hell am I?" asked Ranma himself

He looked around, taking in his surroundings. He looked up, down and to the sides, everything was the same.

"Am I dead?" questioned the boy no one in particular

"You aren't dead." came a deep vibrant voice from everywhere around him

"Where are you?!?" yelled Ranma and after a short thought, "And who are you?!"

"Ranma, you already see me."

"Yeah right, all I see is a vacant space with black and red whirls!"

"Exactly"

"What?"

"I am everything you see. I am a part of your soul, the bigger part."

"Does that mean I don't have a whole soul?" asked Ranma confused

"Sadly no, not anymore." answered the voice.

"What the hell do you mean by 'not anymore'?!" shouted Ranma

"To explain that I must also describe why I am with you in your body." explained the voice

"Then explain." demanded Ranma

"As you wish... a long time ago, in another dimension, I fought an enemy of mine. It was only known under the name 'Elder God'. Our fight waged for hours and no one could gain the upper hand. After a long drawn out battle I prepared for the final blow that would destroy it but that never happened because the citadel we fought in began to collapse. The roof fell on the Elder God, protecting him from me. I had to flee so I wouldn't be buried too.

I went back to a device called the Chronoplast, a time machine, to bring back the weapon I fought with to where it belonged. After I activated the machine and went through the portal something terrible happened I hadn't counted with. You must know that in my world, Nosgoth, nine pillars are standing which guard the land, the Pillars of Mind, Dimension, Conflict, Nature, Energy, Time, States, Death and Balance.

The Chronoplast concentrates the power of the Time-Pillar so that it can send you through the ages. What I didn't know is that the pillars went straight through the Elder God and that it can manipulate them to a small extent. It connected the Pillar of Time and the Pillar of Dimension for a short moment. This changed the properties of the Chronoplast and the gate I went through. I was flung through the barriers that keep the different worlds apart.

After hundreds of worlds and hundreds of barriers my body couldn't keep up with the strain and slowly began to dissolve. When I arrived in your world only my soul and the weapons and armors remained. The dimensional torrents stopped and I had to find a body before the rest of me began to fade too.

That is how I met you, Ranma. You were just born, an infant, and at the moment of your first cry I moved into your body."

Ranma was shocked after the voice ended with his story, but then a thought came to his mind.

"That still doesn't explain why I don't have a whole soul." said Ranma more to himself than to the voice but it heard him

"Ranma, the way your life went is the reason that your soul is in pieces."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It all started when the fool you call father started with the 'neko-ken training'. Till this moment I was dormant, I could do nothing except watch but this twisted 'technique' awoke me. I recognized what happened to you, I've read enough about it in my world."

"The neko-ken existed in your world?" asked Ranma surprised

"Almost, but we call it 'a ritual to summon demons'"

Ranma's eyes widened as this fact reached his mind, "D- does that mean that I'm…"

"No, if the ritual is successful the child becomes a host for the demons. Its body would become deformed, an insult to the creation itself."

"Then why have I still a human form?"

"Because I was there to protect you, my soul battled the demons but almost half of your soul was lost before I could defeat them." replied the voice

"If you defeated the demons then why do I act like a cat when my fear overtakes me?"

"That was my fault. You almost died so I had to act quickly, luckily for you a kitten died in the pit. I saw its soul and drew it into you. Your broken soul clutched to the cat-soul and merged with it partially. So every time after that when your fear got too high you switched with the kitten."

"Great, I was almost possessed by demons; have only half a soul and am part cat." muttered Ranma, "Can my day get any better?"

"Ranma?"

"What?!" snapped the boy

"You have even less then half of your soul." stated the voice not at least bothered by Ranma's anger.

"WHAT?!?!"

"As I said earlier, it only started with the 'neko-ken'. You lost a great part in the time you were in Nerima."

"Just how?" asked Ranma now in a calmer voice but it sounded slightly desperate

"One reason is the Jusenkyo curse. It took a part of your soul to create your girl-form. Other reasons are the techniques you learned, like the Moko Takabisha and the Hiryuu Shoten Ha."

"How can they be the reasons for my lost soul? Cologne and Ryoga are using them too."

"Ranma, have you never wondered that you didn't end like Ryoga after you learned the Moko Takabisha?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Ranma, as you know, the Shi Shi Hokodan and the Moko Takabisha are emotionally based. If someone uses them too often the feelings that are used for these techniques take the upper hand, in Ryoga's case depression. If he uses the Hokodan too much his soul gets lost, it fades away in the darkness of his depression."

"But I'm not using depression." responded Ranma

"Exactly, you are using the opposite, your confidence and the opposite happens to your soul. Your confidence burns so strong that it eats away at your soul."

Ranma looked dumbfounded, "Does that mean I'm slowly burning out?"

"Yes." answered the voice, "The process is even faster since your soul is already damaged."

"Great, just great!" said Ranma defeated, "Then how is the Hiryuu Shoten Ha manipulating my soul? I don't use my feelings to create it and the old ghoul who thought it to me is around 300 years old."

"It's not the Hiryuu Shoten Ha itself but the revisions you made, like the Hiryuu Korin Dan. When you focused the energy of the half-dragon through you, you used your soul to channel it. The foreign ki had an even worse effect on your soul then your confidence. Your soul was almost ripped apart if I hadn't held onto it."

Ranma who was now expecting almost everything asked another question, "I know I will regret the answer but did I loose more of my soul after that or not?"

"I think you know the answer to that already, when you fought the phoenix he almost destroyed you. His power was one of the greatest I have ever felt before. You almost destroyed all of your soul with the Hiryuu Hyou Toppa."

"Okay, then I have to be more careful in the future in what techniques I use."

"It's not that easy Ranma. Normally you should have died a long time ago when you first went into that pit; the only thing that kept you alive was me. That's why you see some of my memories."

"Does that mean I'm internally dead?"

"No Ranma, not yet but I can't prevent it much longer."

"How much time do I have left?" asked Ranma with a resigned voice

"Most probably you have two months left before your life ends."

"Two months? Much less then I thought." said Ranma, "What will happen to you when I die? Do you get my body?"

"It's not that easy Ranma. If that would happen I would have let those demons kill you all those years ago. No Ranma, I will vanish with you."

"Is there a way to prevent this?"

"Maybe but I don't know if it would work."

"What is it?"

"We could merge our souls to one and become a single being."

Ranma thought about this, ((I could live on but I won't be Ranma anymore… On the other hand we would become one of the most powerful warriors in existence… I mean his soul is so big compar… Wait a minute.))

"Hey, what will happen to me if I combine with you? There's a pretty huge size-difference between my soul and yours."

"That was what I meant with 'I don't know if it would work'. It can go in three different ways. First we both merge equally and become a whole new person, secondly I absorb your soul and will be slightly influenced by you or the third is that I absorb your soul and won't be affected by it at all."

"That's great!!" replied Ranma in a sarcastic tone "Is there any chance for my soul to be dominant?"

"No." answered the voice

Ranma sweat dropped, ((He didn't have to say it that bluntly…))

"Do I have to decide now?" asked Ranma

"No you don't. We have two months before we die." responded the voice

((That's really a great choice… die, merge or being absorbed by a large red-black being.)) thought Ranma

"Hey you, I bet you didn't look always like bloody shadow. Can you take on some other form? It is really hard to talk to such a large room. Also could you tell me your name?" said the teenager ((I'm not going to unite with someone whose name I don't even know…))

"That's not a problem." answered the voice and Ranma could almost feel it smirking

The room began to swirl stronger and stronger, it transformed into a giant torrent around Ranma. It pulled at him and he could feel the very power emanating from the soul. It started to gather in front of the boy and a black figure was shaped by it. Before it was fully formed the man began to talk.

"My name is …"

But those words were lost on Ranma. He was feeling a stinging pain in his chest and when he looked at himself, he noticed that he was fading. He fell to his knees no longer having the strength to stand. A moment later he was completely vanished.

Only one figure remained in the now black space, he was standing tall with long white hair cascading down his back. He had talons instead of hands and green-yellow skin. He was similarly dressed as Ranma only seconds ago, black pants and no shirt; the only difference was that he wasn't wearing boots. There was also a long scar visible on his abdomen.

>>>>>>>>>>>> End Dream >>>>>>>>>>>>

Ranma shot up from where he was lying. He panted a little and was covered in sweat. The cursed boy looked around the room, trying to find out where he was. He was sitting in a bed, in what looked like a doctor's office.

"I'm at Tofu's place… Was it only a dream?" whispered Ranma perplexed

He leaned back a bit and thought about what occurred to him. Ranma tried to call the man with his mind but it didn't work. That was when he heard slight breathing noises from his side. The teen turned his head to see someone sleeping in a chair next to his bed who he didn't expect.

"Nabiki…"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------