Disclaimer: I make no claim on any character depicted in this story. They are the propery of their respective owners. No cabbits were harmed in the making of this film.
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Drip. Drip. Drip. A soft moan of agony covers the sound of falling liquid. The sound of a breath being taken then a quiet whisper, "No more. Have I not paid long enough?" A shake of an arm brings the sound of manacles clinking against a rock wall.
The voice is answered by a flash of light making the man's eyes wince at the brightness for a moment. Squinting his eyes against both the light and the liquid which is falling onto his forehead the man is able to make out of shape of a woman arriving carrying a torch and a large bowl. As the woman places her torch into a holder on the rock wall of what seems to be a natural cave she shakes her head, and moves to hold the bowl above the man's head to collect the drips.
"Husband, why do ye ask what ye know the answer to? Not yet is it thine appointed time. Seek ye to bend thy wyrd?" She gives a small shake of her head in sad resignation before adding, "Ye know the length of thine skien of Fate. It was measured of olden time of a length passing beyond that of mortal man. Not yet however does thine end near."
Upon hearing this the man gives a mighty roar and shakes his head so that his long, fiery red hair whips about his face. "My fate? Speak not so! I will find a way to break free! I swear it by Yggdresil itself!" Shaking his fist at the roof of the cave, and the unseen heavens beyond, Loki, god of chaos and fire made his oath.
In places as distant as possible from that dark and lonely cave, in both Heaven and Hell, two rulers paused for a moment as they felt the System Force shift in some subtle way. And in Japan, in a small temple that three godesses shared with a young mortal boy, the youngest of them shuddered as she felt her area of influence, the future, change radically.
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Nerima-ku is a ward of the city of Tokyo. With a population density of just over fourteen thousand people per square kilometer, it is roughly as crowded as San Francisco in the United States. It holds such various things as farms, factories, anime studios and even a base for the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force.(1) With all of these things you'd think the average citizen might be fairly used to big city life. And for the most part you'd be right. The sight however of a large panda being chased by a small schoolgirl with a large hammer did make many pause for a moment in curosity.
On a rooftop nearby, observing the panda run for his life, was a young redheaded girl who happened to be currently laughing her head off.
"Stupid oyaji. That'll teach him to try something like that again." Oh sure, the idea of something even more frightening than c-ca..those felines made a kind of sense. After all, as much as he hated the Neko-ken, it did at least give him a sort of impressive technique. But diging a pit and attempting to throw him in with Akane's cooking was just cruel. There's no way he wanted to learn the...Ranma paused considering what to call the inhuman technique. "Cooking-fu? Blob-ken?" He giggled for a moment before shuddering at how close he came to being covered by the stuff that had crawled out of the pit before Genma could throw him into it.
Thoughts of the escaped meal faded as Ranma sighed softly and sat up, glancing briefly at the sky. "Might as well stay as a girl for now. Looks like it's gonna rain." Bunching his, or rather her, legs under her she began slowly jumping from roof to roof, headed back towards the Tendo compound. One last bound brought her down inside the stone wall beside the house where she'd been living for the last several months just as the sky opened up and a cold rain came pouring down. Making a quick dash for the door Ranma slipped inside. Once safely within the home, she turned to gaze out at the weather and shake her head. "Weather's been ugly lately. Hope that typhoon they been talkin 'bout don't hit us." Her musings were cut off as a towel was thrown over her head blocking her vision.
"With your luck, Saotome-kun, you'll draw it right on top of us." Removing the towel revealed Nabiki standing there in a light blue sweater and bluejeans, arms folded and smirking at her.
"Gee, thanks Nabiki", Ranma offered sarcastically as she began to dry her hair with the towel. "It's not my fault water seems to chase after me." Pausing to wring out her pigtail she looked at Nabiki. "Whatcha doin with a towel anyway? I doubt you were waiting here just for me to come in like this."
Unfolding her arms and giving the smaller redhead a smirk, the Tendo girl gently brushed her fingers across Ranma's cheek, "Oh, but I was." As Ranma began to stutter and back away Nabiki grinned and turned to walk away. "This way, you owe me one. And I always collect Ranma-kun. Remember that."
Her eyes glued to the back of the retreating brunette, Ranma shook her head. "Never understand girls. Especially her." Closing the door, Ranma headed towards the kitchen. "Wonder if there's any of that takeout from last night left?" Giving a brief smile to Kasumi, Ranma poked her head into the fridge for a moment. "Ah ha! One left." Pulling a small paper bag with 'Ninja Burger' on the side of it out of the fridge, Ranma began munching on the tasty snack.
Kasumi glanced up briefly from where she was preparing the evening meal. "Ranma-kun, you'll spoil your appitite." A slight frown creased her brow for a moment as her eyes landed on the bag in Ranma's hand. "Oh dear, I wish that nice delivery ninja had managed to make it here faster last night."(2)
Stepping over to the sink Ranma turned on the hot water and placed one hand under the tap, waiting until the water warmed up enough to change her back into him. After his hair had turned from red to black Ranma finished off his snack and turned off the hot water. Just then, the father of the Tendo sisters walked into the kitchen.
"Ah, son, just the person I was looking for. With Genma currently out...for a run, I need some help putting up the storm boards over the windows. Just in case. The weather seems to be taking a turn for the worse."
Nodding his head Ranma figured he had managed to remain male for at least one minute in the last hour. So of course he would have to go out in the rain. Go figure. Still, it was a resonable request.
"Sure thing Mr. Tendo, let's get it done before the wind gets any worse." Sigh, It was going to be a long night.
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Few beings can alter the course of a storm as powerful as a Typhoon, and later that night the edge of the storm touched an isolated, windswept beach on the Island of Hokkaido, Japan's northern most island. As the waves pounded the beach a lone figure made it's way along the rocks heading towards a small cave in the side of a cliff. As the warmly dressed figure finally made it's way into the entrance of the cave it stomped it's feet to get some feeling back into them.
"Damn fool errand to come all the way out here and get me feet wet. Ye'd think I had nothing better to do than to leave my forge and walk halfway across the world." A loud snort followed as the figure, short and male, ran his fingers through his long red braided beard. "If whoever I'm meeting isn't here I'm not waiting," the dwarf muttered half to himself.
A deep growl came from further within the cave. "Who's there?" Nervous now, the dwarf squinted into the darkness of the cave. Used to living underground as he was, this cave seemed to be dark even to his eyes. Frightened? No, not him. Not Firson Firewalker. And...was that a wild animal he smelt?
The growling was much closer now, and from the darkness emerged a huge wolf, its fur dark as a moonless sky at midnight. Firson cursed aloud and pulled his axe from his back and gripped it tightly in his gnarled hands as he watched the wolf carefully.
From the wolf came what sounded at first to be a gurgling snarl, but then slowly Firson distinguished words. "Set aside your axe, son of stone. A meeting you were sent to, as was I."
At this, the dwarf calmed somewhat, but couldn't help loosing one hand from his axe to rub nervously along his leg. Sweaty palms, no, not him. "Who speaks? What manner of wolf is it that..." Firson's blood ran cold. He could only think of one wolf who had the power of speach, and who was large and dangerous. "Fe...Fenris?"
A growl and a narrowing of canine eyes was his responce. "No, eater of earth. I am not he. My brother still is bound."
Genealogy never being his strong suit, Firson blinked in confusion. "Then, who are ye?"
"Vali, son of Loki, am I." A brief hesitation in the wolf's voice could be noticed before he added, "Or, I was. Cursed to this form by the gods, was I." Shaking his shagy head, the wolf growled, "Come, one more awaits for our meeting." With that he turned and walked deeper into the cave, leaving Firson with little choice but to follow him into the darkness.
After several minutes of climbing over cold and wet stones Firson could hear the sound of water splashing violently. "A sea pool, it must be," he mumbled to himself. Shortly afterwords he was proven right as both dwarf and wolf stood before what was apparently an opening into the nearby storm wracked ocean. Looking around the dwarf could see no one else there.
"So, where's this other per..." He fell silent as out of the pool rose the gigantic head of a sea-serpent. "Jormungandr." Fear gripped his stomach as he now understood the cause of the storm. The lengendary beast nodded it's head slowly, and with a voice that rivaled the storm outside stated "Indeed, tasty morsel." The serpant turned its gaze to the wolf and it inclined it's head again. "I greet you, son of my father."
The wolf stood there with its yellow eyes watching the two others for a moment, then it spoke. "Well, I was told to meet here, and I have come. What did you wish to speak of?"
The serpent narrowed it's eyes at the wolf, then turned to the dwarf. "It was not I who called you here. Spirits of sailors lost to the waves spoke to me, and told me of this meeting, and that I would find it to my advantage to come." Licking it's lips hungerly, it looked at the dwarf. "You better have had a good reason to call us, little meal."
Firson shook his head voilently, "I only speak for one who could not attend. Sleipnir, child of Loki bid me attend in his place, so that he would not be missed. But..." He looked from one to another, "It was not he who called this meeting."
The sound of a footstep crunching a wayward seacreature underfoot was shockingly loud. All three turned to look to the direction the noise had come from. From out of the darkness stepped a tall woman with dark skin, almost white hair, and a symbol that looked something like a six sided star on her forehead. "I called you."
All of them, even the gigantic sea-serpent staggered back, able to sense the enormous power rolling off this woman. The serpent hissed it's recognition. "Hild."
Pouting slightly before giving them a wickedly cute smile the leader of the underworld nodded. "Yes, many call me that. But never forget that I am also, Hel, daughter of Loki." Stepping closer to the hissing serpent, the nervous wolf, and the terrified dwarf, she added, "It's time to set father free, and I know just how, and who can do it."
Back in Nerima, a shivering cold and wet redhead sneezed as she finally came in from the rain. "Hope I'm not getting a cold."
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(1) - See? Fanfiction can be educational as well as entertaining. Plus I'm tired of seeing Nerina constantly described as a small town in many fanfics.
(2) - Ninja Burger! Guaranteed delivery in 30 minutes or less, or we commit Seppuku! While not a real fast food delivery company, if you do a search for the name you'll find some suprisingly humorous results.
I'm twisting names and family trees a little bit, but for the most part, I've kept it accurate. The Norse legends do make note of two sons of Loki, one of which was Vali. He was cursed to turn into a rabid wolf who killed his brother Narfi.
Also, just because I'm making Hild Loki's daughter doesn't mean that he's more powerful than her. Even in the old Norse legends, Hel held a lot more power than Loki. At least in her area of influence.
Future chapters will follow slowly. I write as the muse hits me.