Exert from "Flame Dancer and Shadowkiller",
A novel by Alondre Saotome,
Scholar of the history of the "Two Earths,
In the year 2214 A.D.(After Death - Christian Calendar)
Year 206 A.M. (After Merge - Calendar of the Two Earths)
Chapter 5: Whole Again
"Why? Why do I live SO long? So long alone?" Ranma asked herself. Today was special. It was a day that more than likely had only occurred possibly four or five times to any human in all of eternity.
"My birthday." She thought. "It's my birthday."
She wondered often why she kept on living. A normal human, she knew, would die in about seventy years. So SOMETHING must be keeping her alive, without food, water, or any nourishment of any kind. And now she was certain that it was indeed her birthday. She had been anticipating this one… it wasn't just ANY birthday. And if whoever was ruling her life were to let her out, it would be on THIS day.
The normal and sleepy temperature of the ways caressed her as she walked on… never knowing where… never caring. She found a spiral at the end of one of the bridges and took it upward. Then she slowly made her way to another bridge. Endlessly she followed new bridges ever hoping she would, someday, find an exit.
She looked into her book and into the life of Setuma Ayo. Dreaming, waiting, hoping, that one day she could feel his kind of pain. A pain that involve being with another instead of being with no one.
"Come on." She demanded. "Come on! Get up! Go out! Look around in the shops! Show me someone! Anyone! Please!" She now begged of the book.
The man rolled over on his couch trying to find a more comfortable position for sleeping. His eyes now faced the yellow couch, instead of his large front room window with people walking by, as if spitting in Ranma's face.
She began to snivel. She didn't cry often but the hell she had been subjected to for the past nearly six hundred years had begun to build up on her again. So alone. So very alone. She remembered a time when she did not have to protect herself from the demon of the ways. A time when she found lost people instead of lost carcasses. A time when.. She was almost… happy. Now that was gone.
"Sniff." Came another snivel. She didn't want to cry. But here she sat. On her twenty thousandth birthday. And she spent it… alone.
"WHY DO YOU HATE ME?" She shouted toward the sky, then, in her anger, she slammed her body into the bridge floor, compressing the stone on top of itself almost three feet deep. It was a weak hit but her anger was conveyed.
Her tears flowed freely as lay on her stomach and buried her face in her arms, soaking the old and worn, green leather shirt. But she could not help herself. She wanted this torture to end.
"Twenty thousand years! What have I done to deserve this? I AM THROUGH!" She cried. "I want no more of your games, Time Senshi, God, Creator… whoever you are keeping me here. I don't remember you… but if you can hear me… I'm… done. I'm going to end it all now!" She exclaimed, with her head thrown back, defiantly facing the darkened sky.
Suddenly a sound touched her ears. It was voices. Live ones. Something she had heard few times. And every time she tried to protect them she ended up almost dead, waking to the pleasant sight of their corpses.
She strayed toward the voices. Upon finding their users, she was no less then astounded.
"… Thank you…. Thank you so much… For another chance…" She whispered. She didn't know who she was thanking but whoever it was that sent these people here, she was glad for them.
"People. I have to save them from Machin. These ones WILL NOT DIE!" She assured herself. This was no chance encounter. Someone was forgiving her. This wasn't a coincidence. It was a chance for redemption…
The people seemed oblivious to the girl two bridges away.
"Akane. Why are you home so early?" Kasumi asked as Akane guided herself to the stairway, edgily. "Akane?" Kasumi questioned.
Upon closer a closer inspection Kasumi realized there were tears in Akane's eyes. That was easy to figure out when suddenly the girl collapse against her shoulder.
"Akane? Come on… I thought you were over this?" Kasumi asked in her peaceful manner. "Ranma… you did the best you-"
"Something… different has happened." Interrupted a voice Kasumi barely recognized from behind Akane. But she recalled it enough from her days in high school to connect the face with the name.
"Ayoka Sensei." She said quickly. "What has happened to my sister?" She asked as Akane still cried into her shoulder.
"She… found out something… odd today." Ayoka replied.
"Odd? How so?" Kasumi asked, trying to pry the story from the tall teacher.
"I'm pre…!" Akane shouted but suddenly backed down. "I'm… Kasumi I'm… preg.. pregnant." She finished in almost a whisper.
Kasumi gasped. "Akane! You… I.. I thought you knew better than…!" Kasumi scolded in a motherly way but was interrupted. "I DIDN'T!" Akane cried. "What… do you mean?" Kasumi asked.
"I'm saying… I've… never… done… that before. I'm a… I've never done that." She said.
"She says she is a virgin. She fervently demanded that I believe her that she has never done it with anyone." Mrs. Ayoka told her.
Kasumi paused for a moment, trying to absorb all the information being put in front of her. Then, she re-embraced the girl whom she had practically raised.
"Akane, Akane, Akane. This is just the type of thing I should've expect to happen to you." She almost sighed.
"Kasumi! Don't… I… didn't. You believe me don't you?" She asked, with a tone on the edge of desperation.
Kasumi let her go and walked toward a large rock nearby the pond. She sat down and looked towards Akane. "Oh yes I believe it. Perhaps it's like the virgin Mary. Hmm. If Kami-sama were to choose anyone to bear a son or daughter again for him he would choose you." Akane blanched and almost face faulted. "Your.. Your kidding me, right?" She asked skeptically. Her desperation had been replaced by shock at the stupidity of her older sister. She had been raped and then Shampoo had erased her memory so she would seem less attractive to Ranma… while… Ranma was kidnapped…?
No that couldn't be right. It had to be SOMETHING involving Shampoo! This was right up her alley!
But Kasumi's idea?
That was just plain retarded.
"Kasumi… are you… serious?" Akane asked.
Kasumi looked at her and said, "Knowing you and Ranma? I'll believe anything."
Neither of them noticed Mrs. Ayoka stagger away from the dojo grounds clutching her mouth in an effort not to laugh out loud at the stupidity of Akane's elder sister. What in her right mind led her to THAT conclusion?
Akane woke early, even for her. Normally she was up before dawn jogging. Today she woke up simply from the sheer length of time she had been aloud to sleep. She recalled the events of the previous night perfectly. She had just walked out of the bathroom. The pregnancy test she had just taken had read positive… just as she had expected.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY BABY IS PREGNANT!" Soun cried.
"Just what I said father. Your daughter has somehow become pregnant. Yet she insists that she has never done anything with a man." Kasumi said to her father though her eyes were on Akane, as if daring her to prove her story.
"It's true." Akane sighed ignoring her sister.
"Well, who is the father?" Soun demanded. Soun never was one for tact or for brains in general and he showed it often.
"Didn't
you hear a word Kasumi just said?" Akane asked angrily. "I don't know
who the father is! For all I know the IS no father!" Akane cried.
"No… father?" Soun asked as he tried to comprehend.
"But my guess…" Akane went on. "Is that Shampoo did this and use that shampoo of hers to make me forget I was raped."
Soun turned into a blazing demon of rage, anger, and hatred. "Shampoo will pay!" he cried and suddenly blasted a hole through the wall as he dashed off toward the Nekohaunten.
Akane sighed. "Daddy… I don't KNOW if it was them!" Akane said to no one in particular.
"Baka Daddy." Nabiki said condescendingly as she walked down the stairs.
"Hmm." She said suddenly. She approached Akane and put a hand on her stomach but Akane quickly flinched away.
"Nabiki!" She shouted. She seemed like she had been about to continue but Nabiki interrupted.
"What are you gonna name it, Akane-chan?" Nabiki asked.
"I… uh… I, I… uh." Akane suddenly stammered. She hadn't thought about that at all. At some point she wandered up to her room and into her bed, even though it was three in the afternoon. She felt tired and no one dared disturb her.
Now it was four in the morning. Almost before Kasumi awoke in the mornings but not quite. "Kasumi…" Akane said as she wandered into the kitchen scanning it for her apron-clad elder sister. "So Father returned yesterday." Kasumi said upon hearing her name. Akane swiveled her head around to find Kasumi on her knees looking into a small cabinet.
"He said that the Nekohaunten was closed. The amazons are gone.
"Gone?" Akane exclaimed. "Just… gone? That's it? They've given up on Ranma and just left without a word?"
"Seems so." Kasumi replied, her voice, muffled by the cabinet her head resided in. "Here it is!" She suddenly exclaimed.
She pulled forth her face, both her arms, and a tiny book.
"Baby pictures Akane." She said. She flipped the book open and show-cased a few. "Here's Nabiki." She said pointing. "And here is you and… hmm. That looks like Ranma. Here is me." She kept flipping through the pages until she finally reached the end of it where many more blank pages were left to be filled.
"Here you go Akane. I bet you will need it more than me…" Kasumi said.
"But… I… Kasumi…" Akane protested.
"Take it Akane. It's a gift. Please take it." Kasumi interrupted, shoving the photo album into her hands.
"I… Thank you." She replied, noting the tears in Kasumi's eyes. "Kasumi, are you-"
"I'm fine!" Kasumi snapped, scaring Akane speechless, then dashing away from the kitchen into the laundry room. Kasumi never snapped.
Akane left the kitchen. She didn't know what to do… so she decided. "It's time for a jog." And with that she left the house running.
Akane walked toward the school with an awkward set of strides and runs. She found herself tiring more easily. Not to mention purposely. She wasn't going to let a baby die because she was reckless with her running. Her jog had lasted as long and far as usual but somehow, knowing that being pregnant was what was making her so tired comforted her. She was more tired then usual and had been having a harder time making the run each day.
She was thankful for a good reason why.
As she reached the gate she found a not-so-peculiar sight.
"Akane Tendo…" Kuno said as she walked forward.
"I'm not in the mood Ku-" But he interrupted as usual.
"Akane Tendo! I hear rumor of your impending Motherhood and I do beseech you to tell me who hath laid their hand upon your person?" Kuno said in the most civilized tone he had ever used.
"I… I… you… you WHAT!" she cried.
"Fairest Akane. Please tell me who the ruffian is who laid their seed within you!" Kuno demanded more impatiently. "Was it Saotome? That wretched cur! I thought even he had more honor than this. First sending the green haired witch to spirit away the pigtailed girl and now this… If it was I will-!" Kuno's speech was halted when Akane's fist collided into his head. She had been so sickened by his comment that she could not even let him come close to finishing THAT speech.
Then she quickly walked toward him and picked up the dazed and confused man by his collar. "How do you know about that!" She exclaimed holding his head at her own eye level.
"Akane-sama… surely you know about the rumors. They have been talking since yesterday and I couldn't help but overhear. I'm… sorry I was not present to protect you." He said sullenly. "But I am afraid I cannot give my love to… even someone as beautiful as you, you have been… spoiled."
Kuno turned, snatching his collar away from her and walked away.
Akane glowered…. Burned… heated with a rage that she had never felt before.
Suddenly her entire body was engulfed in a bon fire. Her senses were enhanced like never before. She could see Kuno, the way his downcast eyes hid a few tears. Could hear his small pouts. Could hear people gathering to her back and left. Could hear whispering, about her and her bulging stomach… about her being pregnant and Ranma being the father or someone else. Rumors spreading like wild fire. Whispers, all loud as train horns on her ears. Whatever this sensation… this overpowering feeling was, it was overwhelming her. It tantalized her. It made her wish to grab more of it than she already had.
She felt deeper. There was more of it. More of…
"Saidar." The word floated to her lips.
And suddenly an enormous ball of fire leapt from her finger tips, flew towards Kuno, and exploded. He flew through the sky.
"I'M SORRY AKANE TENDOOOO!" was the cry he faded into the distance with.
Akane turned and faced the crowd.
"STOP TALKING ABOUT ME!" She cried, her voice, echoing through the courtyard.
They stopped instantly, all silent. All eyes on her. "I… I didn't do anything with anyone!" She cried, and dashed for the school entrance.
She didn't know how.. But as she ran, she felt her newfound awareness slip away. Suddenly the entire world felt grey and silent.
Sailor Pluto was not in the best of moods. She didn't know what had gone wrong but she knew that it had started with Akane's pregnancy.
She had erased Akane's memory of her… "alone time" with Ranma. So she was simply, or at least had simply been, a pregnant, virgin. To afraid of what she would find to check on the "virgin" part of her description. Among other things. So many plot holes Pluto knew she had forgotten to cover. Now that Akane's memory had been wiped of her recent love for Ranma, she still somehow considered him a jerk. Odd considering who her child was proven to be.
Now she had a child. A daughter, clinically proven to be Ranma's.
Pluto looked in on Ranma's prison. Of course, Ranma was gone now. She had escaped at about the same time Akane's baby had been born. Yet of course, Ranma would know nothing of her daughter. The timeline Pluto had showed to Ranma in the book had been the most probable one. But unfortunately the most probable had not been the outcome…
The next bad thing that happened... Pluto thought for a moment on all that had gone wrong. She supposed the next bad thing to happen to her was the fact that one of the future Crystal Tokyo's Viceroy's who would later rule the Northern half of the America's, had simply dissappeared from her timelines...
No matter what she did Pluto couldn't fathom the reason for his dissappearance. She could find no trace of his death anywhere and had not expected this in any of the timelines. However this was no more than a minor detail. Future Viceroy's could be replaced.
Akane was now certain someone had wiped her memory. She did not remember doing anything with Ranma but it had been clinically proven that she HAD. Therefore, she fortunately assumed amazons. But since Pluto had made the deal with Shampoo that Ranma was gone, the Amazon's had returned to China.
Leaving Akane to puzzle over what was going on. Wonder why the Amazon's would wipe her memory and leave. It was only a matter of time before Akane began to puzzle out what had truly happened. She was impressed the girl had not suspected the Senshi yet.
Then there was always the impending return of Ranma. Looking back through his life, Pluto realized that it was quite possible she had meddled with someone a little bit out of her league. He had succeeded, constantly, where hundreds, thousands of others, failed, constantly. And if he was still sane after all the time she had left him inside that voided realm, then he would return.
And it would be a return of vengeance. She HAD to prepare herself better. She HAD to begin to train the Senshi. It appeared there would be one more great enemy left to cope with…
She suddenly did something that she had not in quite a long time.
She sensed Saidar.
"Saidar." She murmured. "Now you return to me… in what will surely be the darkest hour the creation of Crystal Tokyo has ever known."
She smiled. It had been a very long time since she had been in so much need that Saidar would appear to her. It was a bar she supposed. She was only capable of embracing that tantalizing light, or even sensing it, when she was in dire need. Saidar knew when to come and go…
It also told her how much of a horrible mistake she had made, that it was coming to her now.
She remembered Queen Serenity could channel Saidar, whenever she chose, at will. That was why her line had become queen in the first place.
She
wondered why she had never embraced it with Galaxia. Or Pharoh 90 or
anyone else the Senshi had faced recently. Apparently she had not
needed it enough then. If it was returning to her now that something
must be going horribly wrong.
"The Senshi WILL be ready. Thank you
Saidar." She murmured again and then surrendered to it's power and let
it's flows of boundless light envelop her.
A shout occurred.
Moiraine Sedai, Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah, had good ears and she knew it. As such did her warder Lan al' Mandragoran.
Two of the farm boys behind her had not heard it. She didn't expect them to in all honesty… they were only farm boys. Yet it appeared the third one, Perrin Aybara had heard it. And she supposed that Nynaeve and Egwene might have.
Rand, Mat, and Loial did not.
Though at this point it didn't matter, especially considering that, whether they had heard it or not, they weren't doing anything about it.
Someone was here, with them. Though who, and how, Moiraine had no idea. But they were definitely being followed.
"Watched." She muttered. Watched was the word she needed. The shout came from far away, however a shout, of any type, could attract the Black Wind. If she wanted anything it was not that.
"Be silent." She ordered. The babble of the two boys and ogier ended quickly though they seemed annoyed.
Perrin Aybara. The boy was rather large and burly, hefting around that axe with a decent ease for the look of him, when needed. His eyes had recently taken a shade of golden though why, Moiraine was still not certain. He had been a blacksmith, or at least an apprentice blacksmith before she had come to the Two Rivers region and taken them. Now he was simply trying to survive.
Matrim Cauthon. Skinny and somewhat of a coward. Though she could see he had become more brave during their recent time apart he still seemed like a cat. Curious but easily frightened. Though if backed into a corner, Moiraine assumed that he would be down right powerful as far as men went. That cursed dagger from the wretched castle Shadar Logath, would also aid him. Even so, he was a blundering fool.
Rand Al' Thor. He was inconceivably tall for a Two Rivers farm boy, especially when compared with her own short, lithe frame, but he had been raised there, as he claimed. He now held a certain poise that he had not held when she first met him in his small backwater village, though he would not dare admit it and nor would she. Among all of these people that she was responsible for, he was the one who had changed the most since leaving home.
And even that was still quite little. Two Rivers folk were as stubborn as the worst of mules.
It was true though, that all of them had changed, however slightly, with their departure from their home. And now here they were, traveling to Fal Dara through the ways. And she was spooked.
She did not become frightened often. Yet she knew the terror that walked the Ways, and anything that could draw it's attention should be immediately silenced.
"Quickly Loial! We must hurry!" She cried, while making her voice hushed, now somewhat frantic. Lan, her warder, noticed the edginess in her voice. Though the rest thought she seemed as calm as normal. They were practically children in any case and she could hardly expect more of them save for Loial.
The ninety year old ogier should have been considering her a child. However he seemed to have not heard the shout, or caught the urgency in her voice, any more than her childish companions had.
"Yes Moiraine Sedai. I am going as fast as I can." Loial murmured for what must have been the ten or eleventh time. They walked on, ever faster. Ever more wary of the danger that could come upon them instantly.
Or at least Moiraine did.
Rand was downright bored. The Ways and everything that involved them, including their making which Loial, the ogier, had insisted on babbling about for the first day of the two day trip, was as boring as things came. He had heard time and time again of the terror of the Ways. Yet nothing he had seen so far had made him believe that something so incredibly horrible walked this dank and shady set of bridges and stairways.
They were coming up on the end of their journey through the ways. Soon they would reach Fal Dara. A disappointment to Rand all in all. He had wanted to see the White Tower. The great city of Tar Valon, only paralleled in greatness by Caemlyn; the city from whence they had entered the Ways.
Caemlyn was the Capital city of the realm of Andor. And, in the words of an Andorman, Caemlyn paralleled the White Tower in beauty.
Just about any person from most other nations would have laughed and said that the White Tower was hundreds of times more great. But Rand had never seen the Tower. He only went by what he had heard.
Rand realized his thoughts had been drifting when he noticed Mat was tapping his arm.
"Hmm? What, Mat?" He asked as he suddenly flittered back into the conversation.
"Does something seem… off to you? Kind of like… like we're being watched?" He asked.
Rand didn't feel like he was being watched. He figured Mat was just being paranoid. Either that or Mat was just trying to start a good joke by get Rand riled up. That was his way. Jokes… trouble… mischief… things of that nature.
Plus, usually Rand had a sense about being
watched. If he was he felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle.
And they definitely were not.
Mat wouldn't coax him into fearful paranoia.
"No. I feel just fine." He said in a calm manner. "You're just being paranoid." He said sarcastically.
"Light Rand, I'm being serious! Something is definitely wrong here!" Mat exclaimed.
"Be quiet!" Moiraine ordered harshly. Though her tone was a whisper, it managed to hold enough authority to keep them silent. Also, she was Aes Sedai. Who wouldn't do as told by a White Tower, Aes Sedai witch?
Though after a few minutes of silence, from their pursuer and themselves, Mat couldn't help himself any more.
"What about you Perrin?" He asked cautiously, twitching his head to look to the left and behind him where Perrin rode.
"I agree with Mat, Rand." Perrin said, ignoring Mat while still acknowledging him. "I think someone is watching us…"
Rand looked at Perrin curiously when he put his nose into the air. Quickly he lowered his nose back to normal eye level and looked slightly embarrassed about the entire issue.
"Two more bridges." Loial said cheerfully. "We are almost there."
Mat, Perrin, Egwene, and Rand all let out a sigh of relief. Moiraine seemed displeased and still a little rushed while Lan was as much an imitation of a stone as ever.
Nynaeve snorted. "It's about time. This is the most boring journey I've ever been on!"
If anything Moiraine simply ignored her.
Nynaeve hated Moiraine as much as she hated leaving the Two Rivers. She had left to retrieve Rand, Mat, Perrin, and Egwene, catching up with them in Baerlon, yet somehow she had ended up going along with them.
"Probably due to her silk Aes Sedai tongue." She muttered angrily.
Mat felt something, though what he could not be sure. He was certain it involved the Dagger he held. Somehow he felt some dark sinister power. And he felt it through the dagger. Perhaps this thing was more of an aid then he thought?
Considering he had been as close to a raving lunatic as one could get before Moiraine arrived due to the cursed dagger, he figured it was probably not true. But either way, he felt something dark coming closer. Something… as dark as his dagger.
Perrin swiveled his sharp golden eyes from left to right, warily. They had not seen it of course, but he had. A quick flash was all the image had been, and he didn't want to scare his friends, but two bridges to the left he had seen a girl. She had jumped out of view quickly however, and he had only caught a glimpse.
The large bulge in the green leather shirt she wore had told him of her gender. But the only scents he could smell on her were two things. Fire was the first. "The smell was easily discernable, even for 'humans'." He thought and then forcefully pushed the thought into the back of his mind. "I'm a human!" He thought strongly.
He didn't know how the wolves were affecting him here as well. But they were, beyond any doubt.
The other scent was that of tears mixed with sweat. An odd combination, and even more odd that he could pick out the scent. She moved quickly, more quickly than should be possible for a human. She jumped across the bridges, swinging herself around far in front of them so she would intercept them in their current path.
He moved his horse up to Moiraine. "Moiraine. Someone is watching us. It's a girl… she's about two bridges ahead." He whispered.
"I know." Was her quick reply.
He didn't know how she could possibly know. That shout had been faint even to his somehow enhanced ears. Nevertheless, he let Mat and Rand catch up to him. He could see the exit almost two bridges away but they couldn't even see the nearest bridge.
Suddenly something odd occurred.
"Loial?" Perrin asked. "Didn't you say there was no wind in the ways?"
Loial's face became a mixture of paleness and fear. "Machin Shin…" He whispered hoarsely, "The Black Wind is coming. The Light Illumine and protect us, it's coming."
"We must hurry. Move!" Moiraine said now not disguising her urgency.
They began to move at nigh on a gallop. Perrin saw the girl hop out of their way as they charged through the spot she had occupied but didn't mention it.
They came to a quick halt as the wind picked up more along with Loial's moans.
"The Avendesora leaf is not here!" He cried. "The key is gone!"
"Light." Mat shouted. "Bloody Light!"
Loial let loose a blood curdling howl… a howl of hopelessness and fear, like a howl of dying.
Rand, while terrified in his own right, held onto his composure. Or at least he hoped he did. Egwene had touched his arm and, feeling the need to protect her, he let his hand fall onto hers.
The wind howled muttering voices, voices screaming vileness that, even half understood, brought bile up in his throat.
Suddenly Moiraine brought up her staff and held the end towards the door, releasing a lance of flame to the top of it. A yellow, thin, hot bar of light blazing into the doorway. But it appeared pointless.
"Something is wrong. I cannot open the door." Moiraine shouted. It bore into the door way, inching itself along, yet not appearing to make a true cut.
Rand frantically glared at the door, wishing it to open. He turned looking back to where the sickly voices were coming from and saw it.
A great mass of darkness, blacker then the ways themselves, hurtling towards them.
"Moi… Moi… Moiraine…" he quivered.
Moiraine set down her staff and turned. "Light Illumine us… I was wrong." Moiraine muttered as she faced the black monstrosity.
It came even closer and Rand felt a tug at his inner self. As if his blood and veins were being pulled right out of him. Voices now drifted into his ear, just outside of understanding. Sickening words of venom and evil.
Flesh so fine, so fine to tear, to gash the skin; skin to strip, to plait, so nice to plait the strips, so nice, so red the drops that fall; blood so red, so red, so sweet; sweet screams, pretty screams, singing screams, scream your song, sing your screams….
As he toppled onto himself, Egwene with him, and landed on the rocky ground, he was dimly aware of Lan and Moiraine, still standing in grim defiance, while Loial lay face down along with Mat, Perrin, and Nynaeve.
"I WON'T LET YOU!" Came the feminine shout.
Rand didn't know how but his eyes darted toward her. Suddenly the cruel sickening voices of the Black Wind were less… there. Rand stood and helped Egwene to her feet, as his… soul regenerated itself. He embraced the void. The blackness along with the flame, that he learned to use when Tam al'Thor his father, taught him to use the bow. He felt alive, powerful, within the void.
Moiraine and Lan stood in shock. A red-headed girl stood between them and the Black Wind. Yellow white light erupted from her fingertips, creating an enormous barrier. "MACHIN STOP! YOU WILL GO THIS TIME!" The girl cried.
Rand didn't understand a word. She spoke it in a fluid language, that she appeared to know well.
The luminous black breeze ate at the barrier. But the girl pushed onward stepping forward against it.
"YOU WILL TURN BACK!" She demanded.
"Moiraine!" Lan shouted suddenly, snapping the Aes Sedai out of her amazement. "Open the Door!"
Moiraine, having no time to puzzle over the girls peculiar language, got to her work as fast as she could. This time she was even more vigorous. The yellow bar of fire seemed more powerful this time. It's acrid scent touched Perrin's nose making him want to sneezed as he regained his footing.
The wind began to hurl itself bodily at the golden barrier erected by the girl. She sunk to her knees, with her face downcast holding the barrier up against the hammering of Machin.
"Machin…" She whispered. "It's my birthday… don't you remember at all?" She asked it.
The wind appeared to hesitate but only for a moment before slamming into her barrier again. All the while the light seemed to drain from the barrier into the darkness that was Machin Shin.
The voices were rising and falling with the battering of the wall of light. Becoming louder in Mat's head. His dagger reverberated in it's pocket with every word, begging him to slice at the wall of light. He stumbled towards it, knowing full well what destroying that wall would do, yet he couldn't stop. The voices.. So… evil…
Blood for light. Bring the light that spawned my birth. Bring me light, light for dark, light for blood. Sweet blood, Sweet light, girl with light so sweet, so bright, give light…
Rand couldn't help but feel that the black monster was looking directly at him in it's own, wind like way.
"FINE! YOU WANT THE LIGHT? HAVE IT!" The girl cried. The barrier sprung to life, transforming from gold to white in the blink of an eye. It erected itself fully, barring the path. The wind slammed into it and instantly the voices stopped, and became agonizing screams.
Rand jumped. Suddenly and instantaneously he felt a great force erupt from the girl. He stepped back slowly. Apparently none of the others had noticed it but somehow she had entered the void like himself. He hadn't known others could really do this…
"IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! I WILL WIN THIS TIME!" She screamed. She stood and walked forward slowly, forcing the light onto the Wind.
The light wrapped itself around Machin, encasing him.
It's screams grew louder and more distressed.
Suddenly, it fled and lightning speeds, blazing away from the girl and her light.
"Eheh… I… finally… won." She said aloud. She sunk to her knees… tears in her eyes. And then, fell face down into the stone floor.
Rand understood these words from the girl, unlike any of her previous words which seemed to be in a different language, and was quick to jump toward the girl. But Egwene was faster.
Suddenly a loud bang and an eruption of light signaled the opening of the door. Rand turned quickly to see Moiraine motioning to Perrin, Mat, and Nynaeve, who were closer, to go through. Lan's horse stood, twitching as if it had just pushed the stone over itself.
It had for all Rand knew.
"Come on Rand. We have to bring her." Egwene whispered.
Rand nodded and bent, picking the girl up with one hand behind her neck, and one in the crook of her legs. She moaned and looked at him, glancing at his face. "Arigato." She muttered, confusing Rand even more. Then her eyes shut completely.
"Hurry!" Loial said as he walked through the gate to the outside. Egwene ran forward and suddenly stopped and looked back to where the girl had lay. A small book lay there, apparently dropped by the girl.
She went back and grabbed it quickly and then ran forward, grabbing the horses. Suddenly the voices crept into her head again.
Pain.
Pain from her. Girl who made light… light made wind, light bite wind,
wind bite back. Bite bloody light. Take blood. Not like light. Blood so
sweet, blood no bite. Find blood and flesh, tear bones, break backs.
Crack necks…
She ran quickly and Jumped through the gateway behind Rand, followed closely by Moiraine and finally Lan.
Loial sat against a tree. Suddenly he kissed it. "The Light preserve us." He said. "Light… I'll never use the ways again. Elder Haman says Loial is a fool and he is right. Never again." He went on to begin muttering to the tree. It was… odd to see such a large creature muttering.
Rand set the girl down on the grass.
She was unconscious but that did not hinder the fact that she was beautiful. Quite possibly the most attractive woman… no… girl Rand had ever seen. Extremely short, with wild, uncouth, blood red hair. A smooth face like that of a lord or lady yet she wore nothing but a plain green tunic and brown pants. Both of which were shattered and sheered almost everywhere that a piece of cloth could be ripped.
"She's a bloody Goddess cept' for the scars." Mat commented from over Rand's shoulder.
"She is beautiful," Egwene commented eyeing her breasts and the few random rips in the shirt that showed her bare skin, along with a few scratch marks and old gaping wounds, long since healed.
"She saved our
lives, with a power I do not understand. Either way, we should be
grateful. We will take her with us to Fal Dara"
"You may not understand it… but I do." Lan said suddenly. "And it was impossible."
Moiraine looked at her warder questioningly. "What do you mean?" She asked.
"Exactly as I said. What that girl did, up until the light turned white, was use her own soul as a barrier. It should not have been possible." He said.
Suddenly Egwene gasped and an audible "THUMP" echoed throughout the mid morning light.
"What happened Egwene?" Rand asked, looking upon her terrified form.
She sat on the ground, scooting away from the book she had dropped onto the ground.
"The… the book… it's…" She muttered.
"What? It's just a book." Mat said. He walked up to it and picked it up.
"You see? Just a book." he said waving it around.
"Open it!" Egwene shouted.
Mat shrugged and opened it. A light spewed forth along with a picture of scenery flying by.
"What in the!" He cried flinging the book away from himself.
It landed face up and open. "Moiraine… what… what is it?" She asked. "A… book with… living pictures." She answered for herself.
Moiraine looked at it but sensed none of the One Power from it at all. "I… don't know." She said.
"Is it an item from the Age of Legends?" Nynaeve asked curiously.
"I don't know." Moiraine repeated. "Come we have no time for this. We will bring her with us to Fal Dara." She began striding towards the north yet stopped and turned toward the way gate. "This is dangerous. The thing can't get out but anyone could unknowingly walk in. We must have Lord Agelmar wall it up once we arrive at Fal Dara."
The others nodded but none seemed to care much. They were far more interested in the book.
"What do we do with the book?" Nynaeve asked. She flung her long braid back behind her shoulder and stood up from where she had lay down upon exiting the Waygate, letting the sun shine upon her darkened frame.
Moiraine strode to the book, snapped it shut, cutting off the fluid, incomprehensible voices flowing from it, and then tucked it neatly into a large pocket in her cloak. "Come on." She ordered. And with that she mounted her white horse. "Lan, you carry the girl."
Lan, who had never left his own black stallion, Mandarb, trotted back to the girl. Without leaving his horse, he bent over and lifted the girl with his left hand, placing her gently across his own back. He rode on as if she weighed less then a feather. "I guess we'd better follow them…" Egwene muttered to no one in particular, as soon as Moiraine and Lan were out of earshot.
"I suppose." Mat replied, also seemingly more to himself then to anyone else. He fingered the dagger within his shirt pocket but didn't think anyone noticed.
Rand watch Mat warily. "Mat… what is that dagger doing to you?" He thought.
Meanwhile, Moiraine was ahead whispering to Lan.
"What do you mean impossible? What did she do?" Moiraine asked.
"People… all people, have a soul. Their soul allows them to live… to feel. And especially to fight. When one trains the body it makes the body stronger. More capable of running long distances or any other number of physical things." Lan lectured.
"And?" Moiraine asked.
"Soul," Lan continued. "Is the training of the mind. It is started with heavy meditation. When one has entered a perfect state of calm they embrace their soul and it will enhance them. It is how my vision compares to yours with your Saidar. My vision is enhanced by my soul." Lan said.
"I do not understand how this is related to the girl." Moiraine said.
"That girl." Lan continued once again. "Used her soul to create a barrier or light. She has so much soul. I can feel it radiating off her. She is… she. Well, if I fought her she would soundly defeat me without lifting a finger. All she would have to do is radiate that light around her and I couldn't come near her." Lan finished.
"So why is this impossible?" Moiraine asked. She did not like not understanding.
"It is impossible because it is impossible. I've have trained my mind along with my body all my life and I cannot do a fourth of what this girl can, and she appears younger than me. If she sent her soul into her arms they would be stronger than armored walls. She… makes me uneasy. It should not be possible." Lan said.
"There is… a possibility that she was… given these powers. The Dark One has many resources… but this… be wary around her Moiraine."
Moiraine did not see Lan shiver often. But shiver he did. He glanced back at the girl, draped over the back of his horse, face down.
Silence reigned for a small while. Moiraine heard the rest of her party catching up. They were not walking very fast anyways.
"She is Ta'veren isn't she?" Lan asked suddenly.
Ta'veren. A Ta'veren was a person who the Wheel wrapped people's lives around. It was a center thread in the great pattern of the ages, weaved by the Wheel of Time. Rand, Perrin, and Matrim were all Ta'veren.
In the pattern, each person had a thread. And the wheel weaved the pattern around, threads intertwining and disconnecting, as it had since the beginning of time.
Moiraine stayed silent for a few moments and watched the red-haired girl's swaying arms. "No. No she is not."
"Hmm. That is odd. She is so strong… the number of lives she could change by accident…" "The wheel weaves as the wheel wills, Lan. If she was meant to be Ta'veren, she would be." Moiraine said a little too quickly.
She never let Lan see how terrified the girl made her. The girl, unlike anyone she had ever seen, did not appear to have a thread in the wheel at all. She seemed to be… exempt.
"I suppose." Lan replied. The others voices suddenly entered earshot for Moiraine and Lan and they halted their conversation.
"Where is Fal Dara?" Nynaeve asked suddenly.
Moiraine pointed toward the foggy morning sky.
"Do you see the towers?" She asked.
They all looked but the only ones who saw it were Perrin and Rand. And they only caught the slightest glimpses of them, for the fog blanketed them well.
"Come." Moiraine said. "We will arrive by midday."
Akane had shoved the random scraps of paper underneath her textbook. There were thirty seven. No wait, thirty eight now.
Odd considering there were only twenty four people in her current class. Akane's embarrassment had reigned as the governing emotion in her throughout the first four classes as the notes on her desk from other students began to pile up.
The teacher droned on without a care in the world.
But now the dreaded time was coming. The time when she would have to tell her friends the… good?… news.
And as if taunting her, the bell rang.
"AKANE!" someone cried. Akane wasn't sure who. Her friends voices were all very similar.
She turned and was greeted by Sayuri, Kurisu, and Natsuumo.
"Akane!" Sayuri cried again. "Is it true? Are you… are you really pregnant!" She asked excitedly.
Akane sighed. "I… didn't want this to spread you know. Yeah, it… seems so." Suddenly Akane found herself on the receiving end of a very… Shampoo-like, hug.
"Congratulations Akane! Who's the father! What are you gonna name it?" Came all three statements at once.
"Thanks, I don't know, and I don't know." Akane replied quickly. She was suddenly downright annoyed. What right did these people have asking her questions like this?
Then she questioned her own thought. "These… people? Jeez, these are my friends! What's wrong with me."
"I bet it's Ranma's, isn't it Akane-chan!" Kurisu asked giddily.
"I… honestly don't know. I don't even remember doing anything. I think Shampoo drugged me to forget the whole thing... Drugged or… whatever it is she does to make people forget things." Akane said sullenly.
"Oh, Akane that's so horrible!" Sayuri cried. "How could Shampoo be so cruel?"
"I don't know… but I plan to find out." Akane said determined. She didn't really notice her fist clench as she was suddenly enveloped in that illuminating awareness she recently come in contact with. She loved it. It made her feel… invincible.
"And what about Ranma?" Natsuumo asked suddenly. "Has he come back yet?"
Akane jumped. They didn't know? OH! That's right… they… they all believe Ranma was… kidnapped. "I… Ranma was taken by Sailor Pluto because… he was starting an evil revolution, and tried to begin a hostile takeover of the earth." Akane said. She hated every word of it. She had killed Ranma. "That's why I returned crying. I couldn't believe it… but she showed me the truth."
In all honesty, Pluto had showed Nabiki the way out of her actions and Nabiki had told Akane what to say, if Ranma's expectant return was questioned.
To Akane, it was amazing how quickly they believe, yet how little they cared. They seemed to care much more about how she FELT about him being gone.
"So… he's… gone for good?" Sayuri asked tentatively.
Even within the all powerful presence of Saidar, she felt the tear drip down her cheek. She merely nodded. Her friends looked sullen.
"I'm… really sorry, Akane." Natsuumo said suddenly. And again, Akane was hugged.
She put her defiant face back on. "Don't mention it! It's no big deal! He was a jerk anyways, and if he was planning to take over the planet he deserved it!"
"… Alright Akane… whatever you say." Akane was looking down. She didn't noticed which one of her friends had said it.
"Oh come on! Lets go get some food!" She said half angrily and half happily.
"Ok, Akane!" Sayuri cheered.
They walked away towards the cafeteria. As her anger and sadness drifted away, due to her friends and their congratulations, she felt Saidar slip away from her once again. She almost cursed. That precious light had felt so… wonderful.
Throughout the rest of the day, Akane had to endure repeating the same answer for hundreds of people, nonstop. "Oh… this is gonna be a long five months." She thought vainly.
Ranma awoke slowly. She peeked one eye open and instantly shut it tight. "LIGHT!" She cried. She heard footsteps nearby and they were right beside her instantly.
"Are you alright miss?" The voice came, in heavy accent compared to Machin Shin's but the same language all the same.
"It's… so bright! I can't open my… eyes. Who are you? Did they live? Are they free?" Ranma asked as she frantically covered her eyes trying to keep out the simple daylight that pained her eyes so very much.
"They? Oh you mean the Aes Sedai and her companions? I suppose they are. They were seen to their rooms not long ago. Lord Agelmar had them set up with a fine set of beds. If anyone is "alright" it would be them." The person said almost angrily.
Ranma squinted and let a pinch of light into her eye. It still stung after so many years with only dim firelight as a guide.
"Now miss they are wondering what your name is?" The voice asked. Suddenly Ranma recognized the accent. It was much like her own. Feminine. This was a woman.
"I'm… ah… stings.. I'm Ranma." She said slowly.
"Ranma? What an odd name. Where do you come from?"
Ranma ignored her as her eyes began to adjust. She blinked back tears simply from the light before she realized… and here eyes opened wide.
She gazed at the sun through the tower window…
"I'm…I…"
She had dreamed of the sun. Of seeing it with her own eyes instead of through another's. And now here it stood before her, rising. The window gave her a perfect view of the Eastern Sky. She adored every minute of it, and suddenly she was at the window, staring at the sun.
The brightness still stung her eyes but the tears were of relief and joy, not pain. She was free. So many thousands of years of waiting. "Happy… twenty thousand…" She muttered to herself.
"Are… you alright miss?" The woman asked.
Ranma was startled. It had seemed natural to speak to this woman when she had awoken but now that she was fully aware that it was a PERSON she was talking to. Not just a figment of her imagination, or a person in her book that could neither see nor hear her.
She grasped the woman and shed tears on her shoulder, all the while murmuring the word "Free" over and over again into the woman's ear.
The woman jumped at first but then slowly relaxed. She also seemed to take her murmuring as babbling.
"It's ok child, what's wrong?" She asked.
"Nothing… nothing will ever be wrong again." She said removing herself from the woman's shoulder. "I'm… free."
"Free…?" The woman asked. The child, was extremely beautiful, though it was quite obvious she was still a child. But… why was she smiling… and walking… backwards toward the window… and…
"NO STOP!" She cried.
But too late, Ranma had blasted out of the three-story-high window into the sky laughing as she had never laughed before, her eyes, shining in the morning sunlight.
She landed on another tower far away from the one she had leapt from. The exhilaration she received from jumping through the wind and air rushed through her. She did not think she had ever felt happier.
She landed on the street far below after a time, hopping from person to thing, examining all of them, staring at simple pots, people's faces, wagons, horses, and anything else her curious eyes could feast on. She felt like a giddy child. And in all honesty, she could care less.
It had been so long since she had seen these sorts of things. She would NEVER let them go. She would never be imprisoned again, she swore to herself.
She continued leaping all over the city, scaring many, many people with her frightening and unexpected appearances.
"Where are the people I saved?" She pondered, after she had settled down from her exhilaration. "I should at least thank them…"
Seluda Grintole was a healer working in one of the towers of Fal Dara. It had been almost nightfall when she had received her patient. The red-haired girl, just barely fifteen by the look of her, had arrived draped over the back of Lan al'Mandragoran's horse, Mandarb. Upon first glance, any man would be undoubtedly attracted to her no matter her age or the few scars across her neck and the one large one across her left cheek.
That one in particular might even RAISE her attractiveness.
But a glance underneath her clothing would probably raise bile in their throats.
Well… that was actually VERY doubtful. But it was a little disturbing.
Scars covered the girl's body. Hundred's of them. Most were quite small. A few of them had reached her face, but the number of scars on the parts of her body that were visible was quite low. Most of them were on her back, abdomen and upper legs, though no part of her body was completely spared.
This girl had lived a horrid life, no doubt. She must have been beaten by an abusive… person for prolonged periods of time or something like that.
She had slept through the night. She was alright, Seluda had confirmed, yet she was very tired and needed rest.
Yet the look on the child's eyes when she finally opened them the next morning was simply heartbreaking. She looked at everything like it was new, like she had never seen this place she had been brought to. Like she had never seen… anything. The way she looked at the sky…
Then when the girl, Ranma she called herself, hugged her, Seluda felt as if she were being cracked in half but couldn't help but feel pity for the girl as joyful tears leaked onto her shoulders.
Whatever the prison this girl had resided in was, it must have been… horrible. She muttered free over and over again into her ear as she soaked Seluda's shoulder in tears.
And then, just as suddenly, she backed up toward the window and actually LEAPT out of it! Seluda almost had a heart attack when it happened but then she realized that somehow the girl was actually Jumping to and fro on the towers!
Jumping…! Across… light.. TOWERS! Laughing like mad all the while!
Last time she had checked that wasn't possible even for Aes Sedai… or if it was for them they did not do it for one reason or another.
She ran down the tower and directly to Lord Agelmar's home as fast as she could. He saw her in and she told him that her patient was awake and had named herself, Ranma. She told of how the girl had leapt from the window and was now jumping from tower to tower.
Lord Agelmar's jaw dropped upon seeing the girl gleefully laughing as she enjoyed the breeze generated from jumping hundreds of feet in the air.
Seluda, done with informing Agelmar, ran out of his home, barely noticing the Aes Sedai entering as she left, and followed her patient as closely, throughout the streets of Fal Dara as she could. Unfortunately she simply couldn't catch the excited girl, who seemed to act very much like a child recently freed from chores.
After almost an hour of trying to stop her, however, she found the girl. Or rather, the girl found her.
"Hey! You're the lady that was with me when I woke up!" She exclaimed joyously, as she popped up in front of her with almost no sound whatsoever.
"I… well yes. And what were you thinking? I worked all night to bring you back to health and you JUMP out of a tower window! Do you know how high that is?" She asked.
Her reply was awkward. She acted as a berated child in tone and in words but all the while she held that joyous smile… she could lift even the darkest spirit with that heartwarming childish smile on her scared face. "I'm sorry… I was just so glad… to be… free." "Your going to have to tell me more about yourself. Where are you from? What are you "Free" of?" Seluda asked expectantly. The girl's accent was that of an Andorman but the more she spoke the more she felt like it was possible she was from Saldaea.
"Well… uh… I don't think you would know the place. But… I have… had… a friend who lived in a place called Andor." Ranma replied in a hesitant tone.
"I… see… friend. Was… this friend the one who gave you all the scars?" She asked.
Ranma jumped over her and landed on the opposite side making her gasp in awe at the girls amazing ability. Fortunately, she didn't have much time to gape at the girl as she continued right on with her answer.
"Oh no! These scars are all training accidents!" She exclaimed.
Training… accidents? Training in what? Seluda was becoming more interested in her new patient. "No… Machin was a good friend up until… well… he went insane a few years back and ever since people have called him Black Wind. But oh well. I'm free now right?"
Machin? No parent in their right mind would name a child Machin! Had the stories truly faded so much that people did not even recall the Black Wind of the ways? Wait… called him the Black Wind…?
"Ranma… could you come with me back to the nursing hall? I need to… find out if your going… well. If your well!" She saved quickly.
"Ok!" Ranma happily complied.
Suddenly she stopped. "Oh… Where's my book?" She asked.
"Book? What book?" Ranma's eyes narrowed. "I want my book." She said darkly. "NOW!" She barked.
The final word echoed throughout the city. Seluda was suddenly afraid. This was no child! She was suddenly ten years older and twenty times more frightening.
"Uh.. I.. .You didn't… have a book when you arrived!" She said shakily. Ranma, who had had thousands of years to look at and learn to read people through her book, saw no lie in the woman's eyes.
"It's that way." Ranma thought as she felt around. The hunger that she STILL felt from leaving the presence of the book eased as she walked West.
"Ran.. Ma?" The woman asked. Suddenly Ranma's tone changed again back to her childish form.
"I don't know your name yet!" She said bubbly.
"It.. Um… is Seluda." She said quickly.
"Well… thank you Seluda!" Ranma replied. "Nice to meet you!"
And with that, Ranma leapt into the air. After a few jumps, Seluda saw her sail into a window about three hundred feet into the air.
Two girls within the room were startled at Ranma's entrance. Especially through the window… it was… rather impossible.
Egwene
and Nynaeve had been staring into the book at the magnificent square
buildings and clear walls and… things that the book had showed them.
They had been deeply entranced with the things in the world of the
moving picture book. The soft clothing the people wore… the candle
lights the turned on and off when the people flipped little switches on
walls. Everything about this place they saw was amazing.
"My Book!" Ranma cried. She snatched it quickly and tucked it away under her arm protectively. "You stole my book!" "We didn't steal it!" Egwene cried as soon as she got over the fact that this girl had just entered through the window. "We were just looking at it!" She held her hands up in protest, trying to calm the angry girl who had saved her life.
Ranma didn't' recognize them. She actually had never truly gotten a good look at the ones she had saved from Machin. But now seemed a good time to ask. "Were you the ones with me in the Ways? The ones I saved?" She asked randomly.
Both girls, unready for the random question, fought their awe with the girls speed and apparently, wall scaling abilities, and tried to come up with a good answer. Egwene, once again, was first.
"I… yes! We were in the ways when you saved us." She said quickly.
"So… you brought me out of there?" Ranma asked tentatively.
"Well.. Yes. Actually it was Rand who carried you out and I stopped to get that book." She said pointing. "It's… so beautiful. What is it?"
Ranma didn't listen after she heard the word yes. She ran to the girl and embraced her, mimicking her earlier embrace of Seluda.
"Thank you…" She whispered, "Thank you so much.. For letting me free."
"Letting you… free?" Egwene asked.
"Who are you?" Nynaeve demanded standing up to her full height, towering above Ranma glaring down at the her.
"I'm Ranma." Ranma replied glaring back up, not the least bit intimidated.
"Well Ranma," Egwene said interrupting, "Your welcome Ranma. But… could you tell us… how you got into the ways in the first place?"
Ranma, seeing no reason not to tell them said, "If I remember right… I used my ki to blow up a pedestal which created a portal that I went through to get to the Ways… It think that's how it happened." Then she turned and walked towards the window. "I've got a lot more things to see! I can't stay and talk. I'm sorry. I'll never waste another minute of precious free life!" Egwene and Nynaeve, thinking that she was just being evasive, screamed for her to halt. But she leapt from the window once again, back into the Sun.
She sailed toward the ground, falling like a meteorite toward the Earth below her. She slowed her decent and prepared her feet to land on the dirt road.
Clop!
And she landed. And suddenly…
"Oops!" came the shout. Ranma saw it coming miles away but welcomed it. It was just a little water. It splashed across her and she realized that it was hot water. Suddenly she felt an overwhelming sense of wholeness and perfection wash over her. A sensation that rivaled that of embracing the light of Saidin, but she could not for the life of her, understand why hot water would produce such a reaction.
Sure it was comfortable but… she was feeling pure elation almost to the point of… ecstasy.
"Oh damn!" Someone shouted. "Now I'm going to have to re-heat… re… heat… Da…Dark… Darkfriend!"
Suddenly hundreds of blades were drawn along with hundreds of faces and people appearing all around Ranma facing her. Raising blades and pointing them at her.
"What did I do?" She asked. But something was wrong with her voice. It was… deep… harder… lower pitched.
She looked down and saw that the extensions she had worn on her chest for nigh on twenty thousand years were not present.
And she couldn't have felt happier.
"I'm a man." He said aloud.
"Darkfriend! She changed her form! She was a girl and now she's a man! It's the Dark One's own work!" Came a cry.
Ranma barely heard. "I'm a Man." He repeated.
The crowd looked at him, confused. "You're a Darkfriend aren't you?" The same voice cried.
"I'm… I'm"
He
had never felt so… complete in his life. Memories of curses… of
Springs… Springs of Sorrow. Memories.. Hundreds of forgotten memories,
resurfacing. Memories.
This was why he had hated the idea of loving Machin so much. This was why… inside he was always…
"I'm a man." This time it was in his head.
"Akane." He murmured. He had always remembered her… but suddenly, she seemed just as much important as she had seemed when her life had faded from the page of his book.
"I'm a man… and I have to go home." He said aloud.
It was only just then that he realized he had been speaking in Japanese. And they had been calling him a Darkfriend. An accusation, Machin had told him, that was punishable by death.
Suddenly a blade flashed right where his neck had been. But he caught it within his palm, bursting it into shards of metal. "I'm no Darkfriend. I've been cursed." He said in the language they could understand. "I'm a man… I'd just… forgotten. I'm Ranma… Sa… Saotome. Sorry about this…"
The phrase had felt right on his tongue. Somehow he knew that this had once been his usual first-time-meeting, greeting. Somehow he knew… Saotome. That was his name.
He stared over the crowd. It didn't matter. They may want to kill him but none of it mattered. He was free. Dealing with problems that NORMAL people dealt with. Problems, that involved anything… other than loneliness.
As they held they blades firmly pointed at him, he felt that he couldn't be happier. And his smile showed it…
End Chapter
Whew! Sorry bout the long time since the last update. Vacations, Cds, cool games, and finally letting my girlfriend read my fics (Love ya Chels!) have all been a part of the delay of this fic. Not to mention the rewrites… damn I hate rewriting fics so much! But I have to do it right and right I shall do it whether I have to rewrite the entire chapter five times. It's so hard to do though lol! Ok lesse lesse what else was important. Oh yeah. I figure you guys would want to see the map of my proclaimed: Second Earth, where Ranma is now. What's the point of knowing about places like Andor and Fal Dara if you don't know where they are and such? So I have provided this handy little link here.
H t t p / w w w . sevenspokes . Com / images / wallpaper / map-1600-8 . Bmp
There. Handy eh? Well anyways. I hope you enjoyed this chapter of So Be It. The next is already in progress. Once again. Thank you for reading and thank you even more for reviewing. Happily accept any and all criticism, praise, and flames. Can't wait to see your reviews.
One last thing. This fic is now my longest fic. Thank you all who helped and gave ideas. Credit of Inspiration goes to Hearts of Ice, Aftermath: A Story of Blended Cliches, and the Iris Tales, amoung many others. Till next!