The Jean Genie
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any other manga, anime, or other pre-existing setting that may crop up..
Warning: There will be some OOC. It is an AU though, so that can almost be expected.
Everything has come full circle. I always knew this day would eventually arrive. Before me is the city of Crystal Tokyo. It's under attack from a vast army of monsters. The army is my fault, yet I had no choice to create it. It's with sadness that I watch the final battle. Already the ending is known to me. I lived through it once already after all. My latest master desired an unstoppable army as numerous as the grains of sand in a desert. He'd been careful too. Part of the wish was the army would only obey his commands.
Within the city I feel my grand daughter accepting her birthright. And it breaks my heart to know she's accepted eternal servitude to save her people. In the ether I can hear the queen's last act of freedom. She bargained for, and won the right to pick her first master. Soon the army will be defeated. Even I can see the tide turning against my master. He forgot something important. An army as a whole may be unstoppable, but not the individual soldiers.
Of course, he also forgot to specify which desert. I just happened to pick one that is the size of a very small island. Actually, the desert that was picked is an island. Thus there is a finite number of soldiers. Granted, the army is still unimaginably huge. Any other time it would probably have swept away all defenders easily. But not here and now. Instead there are four women who together are holding back my master's forces.
I have to wonder what the first wish made was. The result is clear as day. A wave of raw magic pulses out from the city in all directions. Where the wave strikes closest to the city, my master's army crumbles into piles of sand. Further out it seems to weaken. Instead of destroying the wave instead seems to just weaken. Even so it did reduce a seemingly endless foe to merely ten thousand. That alone tells me it also stopped reinforcements from arriving from the island desert.
"No! That's impossible!" Master cries out incredulously. "No no no no no! How is this possible?!"
With a smirk that I dimly remember hating when it was me standing there ranting I tell him. "The queen has become a djinn herself. And her first act looks to be stopping your attack."
Master glares at me. "Then stop her!"
"Ah," I tell him, "I can't fight her. I can only act to fulfill a wish made by you, not fight battles against my own kind. And you only have one wish left. So tell me Master, what is your final desire?"
After all this time I no longer can remember how it was exactly worded by me. This should be interesting. He's thinking hard even as the planetary princesses fight the remaining soldiers. Like I did when I was in his position Master can't think of anything until the army is almost entirely destroyed. The wheels visible are turning. But he's running out of time. Then he makes the single biggest mistake of this bid for power. He makes one last wish.
"I wish I was the most powerful djinn alive, capable of easily destroying all my enemies be they human or djinn!"
My power reacts instantly. Even if I wanted to twist this wish somehow, I can't. Fate has it's own plans for him. As my now former master fades from sight I know not what will happen to me next. Will I ever be free? Somehow I doubt it. I've been punished for my greed for so long already. Just as he'll be punished for it. Or is that as he has been? It's confusing to me. When he found my bottle, I wonder if he ever realized the djinn he would command is himself? That's a question I can't answer. I can't exactly remember that day too well anymore.
With the third wish granted I find myself being pulled back into my prison. Maybe I'll invite Ranko over tonight. It's been a few centuries since we last talked. And whatever the future may hold, I hope Usagi never becomes as jaded as I have. Wonder who her first master is anyway? Whoever it is, they obviously have a noble heart if their first desire was the safety of innocents. It'll be good to have someone else to talk to occasionally. Being the last of us got so lonely.
Ranma
Of all the things I've done in this long life, burying my wife was the second hardest. Before today I'd have said it was the worst thing I'd experienced. So what made today so bad? Today I had to watch most of my family die. Three generations taken before my eyes, and I wasn't allowed to help. The only real consolation is I still have a granddaughter left alive. She's only a few weeks old, but that child now carries my hopes and dreams.
It's funny, out of all the girls I first met three thousands of years ago only one kept her immortality. One by one they had families. In turn each of the girls sacrificed long life for future happiness. But not Moon, never her. Instead the most selfless person I ever met made just one selfish decision. Moon wished to never have to watch her firstborn grow old. I can't blame her. It was probably even an accident. But that's a long time to be stuck as an eight year old.
Such greed has a price, even if unintentionally acted upon. And this day had long been coming. I actually feel proud of Moon for her final choice. She knew hope was gone. She knew this was the cost of her multi-millennial of rule. Sure it was as a kind and fair queen, but Moon had broken the careful balance. But with one last sacrifice Moon has done what I thought impossible. She changed the fate of humanity for the better. As well as the fate of a dying race.
I wonder if Moon knew she was pregnant when she gave up her humanity and freedom?
Neo-Queen Serenity II
I miss you mommy. Why'd you have ta go? It's not fair, I still need you. Auntie Nabie says you left far away. Says you saved everyone. But I don't care, come back to me! Please? Was I bad? Is it my fault you left? I don't 'stand, why wont you come back? You always came back, why'd you go? Reni left, Suka too. Everyone leaves me. I just don't 'stand! Why's everyone leave me? Even daddy's gone now. Firs' wouldn't wake, now gone. It's not fair!
Nabiki
Hey there Akane, it's been a while I know. I don't visit as often as I should anymore. I'm sorry, it just hurts too much. Seeing your grave reminds me of the past. Of how much I screwed up. Sometimes it hurts to realize what all I've lost. But it's not your fault, it never was. It's mine and mine alone. But I think I'm almost ready to finally move on. I'd join you today but there's a little girl who still needs me.
Just hold on. I'll be there when I can. I promise.
XxXxX
The caretaker didn't know who the furred woman was. She'd come in the late afternoon, long after the royal funerals. She'd then gone to the oldest part of the cemetery and prayed for hours. When the man saw her leave he approached the grave she'd visited. He didn't know who the person who came was, but at least he could try figuring out who they visited. The inscription on the tombstone was old, but not faded. It was almost like someone came by to maintain it simi-regularly. He read it and wondered. He also wondered who would leave flowers for someone who died almost three thousand years ago.
Akane Tendo: daughter, sister, mother, she will be missed by many
Author Notes:
Sorry for the melodrama in this chapter. I'd intended things to go longer. But that's not the way the story wanted to go. I'd also thought I'd have explored the relationship between Ranma and Setsuna more. But I guess that wasn't a main theme in this tale. I hope people enjoyed this story. I know I enjoyed writing it. Thank you for reading.