Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Reflections of Ruin ❯ Awakening ( Chapter 1 )

MODERN DAY

 

The world was lit only by a terrible red light.

 

Sailor Mars stood in the midst of Tokyo, but it seemed as though the whole world, red-lit as it was, had been turned to stone. Even her friends: Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Venus, Sailor Jupiter: all stone. “The Silence is closing in...” she heard herself say.

 

A hundred black tornados were tearing through Tokyo, rending building, street, flesh, and bone. People shrieked silently as their stone bodies were torn to bits. Fires were burning uncontrolled, and soon, all Mars could see was rubble, save only for herself and her friends.

 

A light shone from behind her, and she turned towards it.

 

A girl was standing there, silhouetted against the darkness. Her outline looked like a Sailor Senshi, and she held a glaive before her. As Mars looked at the weapon, the chill of the grave passed over her soul, and she shivered. “Who are you?” she asked.

 

The figure seemed to see Rei for the first time, and gave a start; she stepped forward, and though she spoke, there was no sound.

 

*Sorry about this.*

 

Rei caught a brief glimpse of dark red hair just before one of the black tornados swept over her, and the world faded into darkness.

 

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

 

Reflections of Ruin

by P.H. Wise

A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

 

Chapter 1 - Awakening

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit. The teaser part of this chapter is heavily based on episode 90 of Sailor Moon (Chikyuu houkai no yokan? Nazono shinsenshi shutsugen).

 

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Ranma awoke to an unfamiliar ceiling. His head hurt. Everything hurt, actually. For a moment, he stared up at that unfamiliar ceiling, trying to figure out where he could possibly be. He raised his hand in front of his eyes and opened and closed his hand. Scratch that. Her hand. Female form, then. She sat up. “Akane!” she yelled suddenly, and vertigo threatened to overwhelm her. Strong but gentle hands guided her shoulders back down to the bed, and she heard a familiar voice.

 

Doctor Tofu's voice.

 

“Easy, Ranma,” the Doctor said, “You've had a rough time.”

 

“Doctor Tofu?” Ranma asked, confused. She couldn't see him. Where was he? She hadn't seen any sign of the man since... she wasn't sure when. The good Doctor's clinic had closed up almost overnight one day, it seemed like. “Where am I?” she asked.

 

Tofu stepped into Ranma's field of vision, leaning down so Ranma could see him without craning her neck. “You're in Tokyo General Hospital, Ranma. You've been here for about a week. How much do you remember?”

 

*FLASH*

Fire. Pain. Saffron.

*FLASH*

 

Ranma puts a hand to her head. “Ugh...”

 

Doctor Tofu smiled sympathetically. “It's OK if you can't remember it all right now. It will come back to you. For now, just concentrate on healing.”

 

Ranma nodded faintly, adjusted her ki flows to speed her recovery, and then drifted off into a deep, deep sleep.

 

*FLASH*

Akane. The Dragon Tap. Saffron.

*FLASH*

 

She wasn't sure how much time had passed before she came to again. It was a voice that brought her to wakefulness. Doctor Tofu's voice. “Ranma,” he said, “there's someone here to see you.”

 

Ranma opened her eyes.

 

Akane was there, holding back tears. At the sight of her, Ranma's heart leapt within her chest. She was alive! Thank Kami-sama! It had worked. It was worth it. She was alive, and it was all going to be OK. “Hey,” she whispered at the pig-tailed martial artist.

 

Ranma smiled beatifically. “You're OK,” she said, with wonder in her voice.

 

Akane snorted. “Thanks to you, you big dummy.” She was looking at Ranma with pity in her eyes. That bothered Ranma. It bothered her a lot. She didn't want Akane to look at her with such eyes.

 

“Least I'm not a kawaikunee otenba,” (1) she managed after a moment.

 

There. A spark of the old fire. There it was. There and... gone. Faded before it could even take shape. The pity snapped back into place like the jaws of a trap.

 

“Ranma,” she said, “What you did for me...” she trailed off, looking at him uncertainly.

 

“I'd a done it for anyone,” the pig-tailed girl replied as casually as she could manage, trying to sit up but failing.

 

“Liar,” Akane whispered.

 

Ranma didn't reply to that, but finally did manage to prop herself up in a sitting position on the bed.

 

“What you said when you thought I was dead...”

 

What she had said? Ranma didn't remember... oh. Oh. That.

 

“Did you mean it?”

 

She looked into Akane's eyes for a long, long time, afraid of how Akane would respond. Then she nodded, ever so faintly.

 

The storm of emotion she had been holding back since she arrived grew beyond her ability to restrain. Akane burst into tears, and swept Ranma up into a fierce hug, crying into her red hair. “You dummy. You big dummy. You dummy.”

 

Ranma sat there in shock, letting Akane hug her and cry, totally unused to this side to her fiancée. “Akane, I...” But there was nothing to say. Akane had been saved, but a heavy price had been paid. Even now, she could sense it, waiting there at the edge of her awareness.

 

The Silence Glaive.

 

She held Akane there in her arms until she drifted off into another fitful sleep.

 

*FLASH*

 

He needed more power. For all his skill and training as a martial artist, Ranma Saotome simply did not have enough power. Saffron was winning. The dragon tap was burning. It was all burning. Flame and heat and smoke filled the air, and nothing human would survive it for long. The battle was lost. Ranma Saotome's fight to save the life of the one girl he had ever really loved was about to end in death. His death, and hers. He needed more power.

 

Desperately, he clawed at his inner reserves, draining them dry and clawing at them still, seeking, searching for some last scrap of power that might let him save Akane's life.

 

There.

 

There. A familiar power rested there, deep within. He had never felt it before in his life, and yet it was familiar. So familiar. A name came to him, and he shook his head in wonder. Hotaru Tomoe. The name of his previous incarnation, dead before she even had a chance to be born. The knowledge was there and gone before he could grasp it.

 

He floated, suspended in a vast darkness lit only by a glowing something that floated a few meters in front of him. Ranma shielded his eyes, trying to catch a glimpse at this familiar whatever it was. This thing that he might use to save Akane.

 

A terrible, many-spiked glowing crystal hung suspended in the dark, giving off a deadly purple light.

 

He reached for it, and a silhouetted female figure appeared before him, between him and the crystal. Her hair was long and dark, and she carried a wicked glaive. She did not speak: she looked, and he understood.

 

*There is a price.*

 

He was willing to pay it.

 

*Are you?*

 

*FLASH*

An horrific *thing* descended upon the city, globular yet writhing. Vast tentacles flailed about its body, and a great single eye bathed the whole area in a malevolent red glow; yet its gaze was fixed on her.

 

On her alone.

*FLASH

 

Flopping, hybrid humanoid fish-frog things swarmed through the streets of Tokyo, leaving death and chaos in their wake. Armed with glowing tridents, they struck down all who stood before them. A contingent of female humanoid monsters that looked like they had been grown from whatever happened to be lying around (basketballs, cars, video games, purses, and on and on) burst up from the ground and tore into the fish-frog things, and the streets echoed with the sound of their combat. To fight these monsters would become her responsibility.

 

*FLASH*

 

Life. Immortality. Life unending, unless she should be killed. But not life as a man. Would she accept this price? THIS price?

 

*FLASH*

 

Another image. Another. Another. Another. Another responsibility. Another price. Another burden. Hundreds of images flashed through his mind, each one weighing down on Ranma's soul like a mountain, yet still he moved forward. Only one thing mattered now, and that was Akane. To save her, he would pay any price.

 

He was willing to pay it.

 

*So be it.*

 

In that moment, high atop Mount Phoenix, Ranma Saotome drew upon the power that had been dormant within him all his life. He drew upon the power of Saturn. Instantly, he felt the familiar tingle of his transformation to female form, but this time, something was different. It felt... intense. Strong. Like fire racing across his skin. A deadly purple light shone around her. Her hair darkened several shades, and the sigil of Saturn glowed like a brand upon her forehead.

 

Ranma opened her eyes.

 

Energy pulsed out from the sigil on her forehead, and with the pulse, another change came over the pig-tailed girl. Her hair burst free of its pigtail, flowing free and loose. A gemmed tiara faded into being on her forehead, and her Chinese silk clothing was swiftly replaced by what looked something like a white seifuku variant with a dark purple skirt, a dark, dark red bow, and dark purple boots. In her hands she held the Silence Glaive, and death was upon its edge.

 

Saffron stared in shock at the transformation he had witnessed. “Impossible!”

 

With one smooth motion, Sailor Saturn brought the Silence Glaive back, and then thrust it forward, stabbing its deadly blade through the Phoenix king's chest.

 

The sound of the blade piercing flesh echoed loudly upon Phoenix Mountain. For a long moment, Saffron stared down at the weapon that had impaled him.

 

“But I can't die,” he whispered. “A Phoenix will always rise from the ashes...”

 

He disintegrated in a flash of purple light, and was gone.

 

There were no ashes to rise from.

 

*FLASH*

 

When Ranma woke, Akane was gone. But then, she hadn't really expected her fiancée to stay with her through the night. The sun was shining through the windows, and she sat up easily, rubbing her eyes.

 

“Feeling better?” Doctor Tofu asked.

 

Ranma nodded.

 

Tofu smiled. “Good. We were starting to get worried about you.”

 

“Thanks for the help, Doc. How long till I can get outta here?”

 

“I'd like to observe you at least until noon. Ordinarily, I'd say another two days, but you heal remarkably quickly.” Tofu reached over to Ranma and removed a bandage from her cheek and looked at the skin beneath. “No scarring, even. This was a third degree burn, Ranma.”

 

“I've always healed fast.”

 

Tofu shook his head. “Not this fast.”

 

There was silence between them for a few minutes as Tofu removed numerous bandages from Ranma and examined what was left of the injuries.

 

“What will you do now?” Tofu asked when he had finished.

 

Ranma looked at Tofu, opening her mouth to reply. Her response died on her lips. For a moment, the reality of her situation nearly overcame her. Sure, she was used to her girl body now, and had come to accept it as another part of him. He'd come that far, at least. But that's the thing. He'd come to accept it as another part of *him*. To lose his male body entirely? To be a girl for good? He felt a horrible, horrible sense of loss, and in that moment, he wondered if he would have felt the same had his curse finally been cured: if he had become trapped with only a male body to live in. Ranma shuddered. Either alternative was almost too terrible to contemplate; though she still considered herself male, she had become used to being both male and female in body, and to now be stuck as one or the other for the rest of her life felt ... stifling.

 

“I don't know,” she said at last.

 

Doctor Tofu nodded. “Fair enough.”

 

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

 

It had been an eventful day for the Sailor Senshi. A new enemy had arrived, for one thing, and despite making use of monsters that seemed more ridiculous than frightening, the power of those monsters could not be denied. Even Sailor Moon's `Moon Princess Halation' wasn't effective against them, and that was the strongest attack they had access to. Rei had had her heart crystal stolen and then returned by two mysterious new Senshi, and she'd barely had any time at all to think about the dream she'd had. Now, however... she decided she needed to talk to Luna and Artemis about it.

 

She found them in the courtyard of the temple. The other girls were inside, studying for their exams. Exams. There was another thing to worry about. They were going into high school soon, but they wouldn't get into good ones if they didn't pass their exams. Although Rei herself would simply continue at her Catholic school, the thought of Usagi or Makoto or Minako ending up at a place like, say, Furinkan High, was not a pleasant one.

 

She told Luna and Artemis about the dream, and the two moon-cats looked thoughtful for a long moment. Then they started talk between the two of them. Rei waited, trying to make out what they were saying, but found herself unable to do so.

 

“Well?” she asked after a few minutes.

 

Luna looked at Rei. “Our memories of the Silver Millennium aren't very good,” the Moon-cat admitted. “Being in stasis for ten thousand years has a detrimental effect on a being's memory even under the best conditions. But we've been remembering some things.”

 

Artemis took over. “We think it's possible that the girl you saw in your dream might be another Senshi. Just like the two others who intervened against the new enemy today.”

 

Rei frowned. “But I thought we were all the Senshi? I remember a little bit from back then, and I don't remember any others...”

 

Artemis shook his head. “We just don't know. None of us have completely reliable memories from that time except for Sailor Pluto, but she's not here to ask.”

 

Rei looked thoughtful. “Why don't we ask her, then?”

 

“It's not that simple,” Luna said. “There's no way to get to her without Chibi-Usa's key. Unless you were to physically travel to the Gates of Time, that is.”

 

“Where are they?” Rei asked.

 

“Pluto.”

 

Rei's face fell. “That could be difficult. I guess we could try a Sailor Teleport, but it would be dangerous...”

 

Artemis nodded definitively. “Very. Your magic protects you from space, but Sailor Pluto's castle was notorious for its automated defenses. And even if you did manage to find the Gates of Time, Pluto has never looked kindly on people who enter the time-tunnel. Chibi-Usa is the only one I've ever heard of that she didn't kill.”

 

“So we'll just have to wait for her to contact us?” Rei asked.

 

“I'm afraid so, Rei-san,” Luna said.

 

Rei was irritated; she was irritated by their inability to *do* anything at this point save wait for the next attack. Still, she hid her irritation as best she could, and managed to keep the eye-twitching to a minimum. “Well, thanks for the help,” she said.

 

Luna and Artemis both nodded, and then followed Rei inside to join the others.

 

As Rei and the moon-cats entered the living room, Usagi laughed at the top of her lungs, and the sound of it echoed into the surrounding area.

 

“Gee, you're loud,” Rei said, mock-glaring at Usagi.

 

“Rei! Rei! Look at this! Look at what Shiko did to poor Eiko!” Usagi pointed enthusiastically to the manga she was holding up.

 

Rei smiled fondly, and then screwed up her face in an angry expression. “U-SA-GI! Leave the manga alone! It's time for studying!”

 

Usagi grinned cheekily. “I was studying! See, look, the manga used a really hard word!” she pointed at a particularly difficult kanji that Biiko had yelled at Eiko in one of the panels.

 

“It's time to be serious, Usagi-chan,” Ami said scoldingly, though her eyes were gentle. We're in 3rd year junior high now. It's less then a year until the high school entrance exams.”

 

Usagi nodded fiercely, putting the manga down. “In order to go on more dates with my Mamo-chan, I, Tsukino Usagi, will do my best!” She rolled up an invisible sleeve. “Gambatte yo!”

 

Minako, Ami, and Makoto all laughed.

 

It went on like that for a while, their studying being interrupted intermittently by jokes, fits of giggles, squabbles, and gossip. Ami pretended not to be interested in the latter, and continually brought the discussion back to their homework. Then she'd begin to explain some esoteric concept related to what they were learning, and the others would get funny looks on their faces as they waited for her to finish. It was more than friendship; it was family, and the love that bound the five girls together filled their hearts with warmth.

 

Yet as the study session went on, Rei couldn't help but think back to her dream, and to wonder what the future held in store.

 

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

 

 

“Ranma-chan!” Kasumi said cheerfully as Ranma entered the Tendo home. “Welcome home!”

 

“Welcome back, Saotome,” Nabiki said, the normal greedy, calculating look on her face replaced (at least for the moment) with something approaching genuine human warmth.

 

“Okaeri,” Ranma announced quietly.

 

The table was set, and everyone was gathered around it - Akane, Nabiki, Kasumi, Genma, and Soun.

 

“We were just sitting down for some lunch,” Kasumi said. “But I made plenty. Have a seat, Ranma. Would you like some hot water?”

 

Ranma sat down at her traditional seat, and though her heart was warmed by Kasumi's cheerful greeting, the offer of hot water countered it nicely. With a sigh, Ranma shook his head. “No thanks, Kasumi-san. But this food sure looks good!”

 

Kasumi and Nabiki both looked at him strangely at the declination of hot water. The two Tendo daughters glanced around the table. Akane looked distressed, and Genma was unreadable.

 

They ate in silence for a while, and then, unable to bear it any longer, Nabiki spoke up. “So spill, Saotome. Why haven't you changed back, and what happened in China?” Her voice sounded loud in her own ears.

 

Ranma, Akane, and Genma all looked at Nabiki silently, their gazes intense but hard to read, and Nabiki shrank visible beneath the force of their combined stare. “Sorry I asked,” she muttered, and went back to her food.

 

After a bit, Ranma looked up, and decided to answer. “First bit is easier to explain than the second,” she said, holding up her teacup, now half full of hot green tea. “I don't change anymore, Nabiki,” she said, and dumped it over her head.

 

No change. At all.

 

Nabiki's eyes widened. “The curse was locked again?”

 

Ranma shook her head. “There is no curse anymore.”

 

“What do you mean, Ranma-chan?” Kasumi asked.

 

Ranma met Kasumi's gaze. “That was part of the price I paid. To save Akane.” There was much that went unsaid in that look. A sadness that went almost beyond words. A hopeless kind of longing. The kind of love that would willingly pay the same price all over again in a heartbeat.

 

Kasumi's expression softened visibly, though it wasn't a particularly hard expression to begin with. She gathered Ranma up into a fierce hug. “Thank you,” she said, and meant it.

 

Ranma looked at her wonderingly, amazed that her spirits could be lifted by two such small words, but lifted all the same. She smiled. “You're welcome.”

 

“You can stop flirting with my sister any time now, Ranma,” Akane said crossly, though there was no real fire behind her words.

 

Ranma smiled a cocky smile, though it was barely a shadow of her former self. “What's the matter?” she asked as she polished off the last of her lunch. “Are ya jealous or somethin', Tomboy?”

 

Akane mock-glared at Ranma; Ranma made a face at her (biiiidah!) and darted away.

 

“Get back here, Ranma!” Akane laughed, running into the yard after the other girl.

 

Kasumi watched the two leave with a gentle smile on her face.

 

Soun, on the other hand, bursts into tears. “We live in a cruel, cruel world, Saotome! Just when our children finally admit their love for each other, that love has become impossible to realize!” He shook his head sorrowfully. Oh, Saotome, what will we do now?”

 

Genma pushed his glasses up onto his face and looked thoughtful. He didn't answer for a long moment, and the sound of Soun's sobs filled the room. “I think it's time the boy and I went home, Tendo,” Genma said at last.

 

Nabiki and Kasumi looked up in surprise, as did Soun. That had not been what they'd expected out of Genma.

 

“But the schools...!”

 

“Will be united, old friend. But after what I saw at Mount Phoenix...” Genma shook his head. “The boy loves Akane, Tendo. The schools will be joined, sooner or later.” With that, he rose to his feet and walked outside.

 

“Ranma!” he called. ”Come here, boy.”

 

Ranma hopped over the wall of the Tendo home, landing easily on the grass on the house-side. “Whaddya want, Oyaji?”

 

“We're leaving.”

 

The world seemed to fall out from under her. “What?”

 

Akane, who had had to come around the long way through the gate, stopped short as she heard that. “What?” she asked, fear evident in her voice.

 

“It's for the best, boy,” Genma said gruffly. “We can't stay here at the Tendo's forever.”

 

“Don't give me that `abusing their hospitality' crap. You never cared about that before. What gives?”

 

Genma glared at his son. “Ranma, your father, out of the goodness of his heart, has decided to take you home to see your mother, and you can do nothing but question his motives?” he asked dramatically. Tears leaked from his eyes. “You break your father's heart!”

 

Ranma didn't look particularly impressed. “What's the real reason, oyaji?”

 

Thoroughly irritated with his boy, Genma finally resorted to the truth: “I have it on good authority that your mother considers sacrificing your manhood to save your fiancée to be very, very manly.”

 

Akane blinked. She remembered Auntie Saotome calling, and that Uncle Genma had spoken to her for a long time, but she didn't think they were talking about *that*. She exchanged a sad look with Ranma, then took him by the hand and led him off to the dojo.

 

“Saotome, you can't!” Soun wailed. “The schools will never be joined if you leave now!”

 

Genma looked at Soun, tears leaking from his own eyes. “Tendo, there comes a time in every man's life when he must weigh his wife's offer of forgiveness, her excellent cooking, and her unexpected willingness to perform her wifely duties against the dream of uniting the schools.”

 

Nabiki facepalmed.

 

Soun, on the other hand, nodded sagely. “Indeed, Saotome. Indeed. The schools can surely be united on another day. And perhaps I might stop by and sample your wife's delicious cooking? On a day that Akane is cooking here, maybe.”

Genma grinned conspiratorially at his friend. “Indeed, Tendo.”

 

Without further debate, Genma went upstairs and quickly packed away both his and the boy's things. By the time he came back down, Ranma was waiting for him, looking sad, but hopeful. “Are you ready to go, boy?”

 

Ranma turned towards Akane, who stood in the doorway to the dojo. “I'll see you on Sunday, Akane,” she said.

 

Akane nodded. “Don't be late!”

 

And just before she departed, Ranma turned to Kasumi and Nabiki. “I... ain't the best with words, ya know?”

 

Kasumi smiled, though she was still getting over her shock at the suddenness of Ranma's departure. “Take care, little brother,” she said, and hugged the pig-tailed girl. A moment later, Nabiki joined in the hug, and Ranma's face lit up with happiness: for a moment, she knew what it was to have a family who loved her.

 

The moment ended.

 

Ten minutes later, Genma and Ranma were walking down the street, their packs on their backs, heading for Nodoka's house in Juuban, and the words Akane had spoken in the dojo rang heavily in Ranma's ears.

 

*FLASH*

 

Akane was looking at her fondly again, and it made her heart skip to see that look in her fiancée's eyes. “I'm going to miss you, you jerk,” she said.

 

“Me too,” Ranma said. She tried to think of something profound to say. Something to leave Akane with a lasting memory of her. Something to make Akane love her more. She fumbled for words, and she came up empty. Eloquence had never been Ranma's strong suit.

 

“It doesn't have to be the end, Ranma,” Akane said.

 

*FLASH*

 

And despite her sense of displacement, and despite the fact that her old man had given her barely half an hour to say her goodbyes, and that most of her goodbyes (the ones to the Amazons, for example, and Ukyou, and Ryouga) had not actually been said, Ranma smiled.

 

No, no matter what happened next, Ranma knew, this was only the beginning.

 

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Author's Notes:

(1) - Kawaikunee otenba: uncute tomboy