Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Reflections of Ruin ❯ Wreckage ( Chapter 11 )

Still elated from the victory over Ithaqua, Ranma hopped up out of the ruined basement to join Usagi and her Senshi there in the Tomoe home's front yard. “Usagi, I don't know what'cha did, but I ain't gonna let up until you teach me that mov...” she trailed off, and her elation died instantly.

 

Minato lay in ruins.

 

Though the storm had been dispelled, what it had done remained. Not just the Tomoe home, but every building in all directions as far as they could see had been all but destroyed. A vast swath of still frozen ground stretched away into the distance towards Tokyo bay. The damage looked worse in that direction. Some of the buildings around them were still standing, but along the swath of frozen ground, it had all been completely leveled.

 

Ranma stared in shock, and she wasn't the only one. Close at hand, Usagi, Rei, Makoto, Minako, and Mamoru wore matching looks of horror.

 

“This is...” Usagi began, and then stopped as she let out a great, terrible sob. “This is awful!”

 

Mamoru put his arm around her comfortingly.

 

It's funny. In all of Ranma's fights, in all that went on in Nerima, all the chaos, all the random insanity, there had never been something like this. A wall destroyed here, a building smashed there, sure, but nothing on this level of sheer primal destruction. Ranma stared and stared and stared, and the others stared with her, totally unable to find the words to express their horror and grief. They'd saved the world, but Minato had paid the price for being the site of the battle.

 

Finally, Ranma shook her head. “Come on, guys. We got people waiting for us.”

 

“But... all those people who lived in those houses...” Usagi said, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

 

“Usagi-chan,” Minako said gently, “Pluto went off with Uranus and Neptune. Chibi-Usa is alone at the Shrine. She needs her mother.”

 

That shook Usagi out of her horror-induced stupor. She nodded. “Chibi-Usa-chan,” she whispered.

 

Ranma blinked. Chibi-Usa was Usagi's daughter? But she didn't look old enough to... how had that happened? She let it rest. It wasn't worth worrying about now. Not with all Minato in ruins around them, and who knew how much more of Tokyo.

 

“Does anyone know which way it is to the Shrine?” Rei asked suddenly, and there was fear in her voice.

 

Usagi, Minako, Makoto, Ami, and Mamoru exchanged panicked looks.

 

Ranma thought back. `Right. You go over the roof of the second mansion, then hop across the street onto the far side, then keep going six blocks until you reach the gas station....' She looked for familiar landmarks. There were none. Each of the landmarks she had hoped to guide herself by were gone, as near as she could tell. Her heart sank.

 

After a few moments of panic, Ami finally produced the Mercury computer and began scanning. “Ok,” she said after a moment. “This way.”

 

She walked off down the street, and the others followed.

 

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

 

Reflections of Ruin

by P.H. Wise

A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

 

Chapter 11 - Wreckage

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

 

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

 

Ranma walked slowly behind Mamoru and the other Senshi. They were detransformed now, but she wasn't yet. They were almost to the top of the long flight of steps leading up to the Hikawa Shrine. Usagi was being carried in Mamoru's arms, totally exhausted, though not from climbing steps. Even as they reached the top of the stairs, Ranma finally released her transformation.

 

That was the wrong word, really, “released.” It didn't feel like a release of anything. It felt more like... she was veiling herself. Putting on a disguise. As the uniform of Sailor Saturn faded away, Ranma had the most peculiar feeling, as if her normal self were the costume, and Sailor Saturn was who she really was.

 

She found that worrying.

 

As the Senshi reached the top of the stairs, the first welcome surprise they'd had since leaving the ruins of the Tomoe home greeted them: the Hikawa Shrine had survived the storm unscathed.

 

That pink-haired girl - Chibi-Usa - was there waiting for them on the doorstep to the shrine's living area, and when the six girls plus Mamoru came walking into view, with Usagi lying limp, held in Mamoru's arms, she rose to her feet and let out a cry of dismay. “Mamo-chan! Minna! What happened?”

 

The girls (and Mamoru) each exchanged weary glances.

 

At last, Ranma replied in a tired voice, “We won.”

 

Chibi-Usa wasn't sure how to respond to that. After a moment, she asked, “What happened to Usagi?”

 

Mamoru led the way into the living area, and gently lowered Usagi onto a futon in the main room. “On our way back,” he began, and his expression was both loving and worried at the same time, “There was a man and a woman, frozen, in the middle of the road...”

 

*FLASH*

 

“Sailor Moon,” Rei said, “What are you doing?”

 

With compassion in her eyes, Sailor Moon looked upon the dead couple, their faces frozen in expressions of terror. “It's all right. I said I'd protect everybody. So...” She held out her hands, and the Ginzuishou appeared, cupped between her palms.

 

“Sailor Moon!” Jupiter said, holding up a hand to stop her. “You could die! You shouldn't use the Ginzuishou on something so...” she trailed off.

 

Moon turned and met Jupiter's gaze for one terrible moment, and Jupiter seemed to shrink into herself, ashamed. “Trivial?” Sailor Moon asked, her mouth twisting slightly around the word, as if it had an unpleasant taste. “Their lives aren't any less important than ours, Jupiter.”

 

The Ginzuishou began to glow...

 

*FLASH*

 

“How many times did she do it?” Chibi-Usa asked, her voice quiet.

 

Mamoru sighed, looking down at the almost lifeless Princess. “Nine times,” he said. “We came across people who had been killed in the storm nine times on the way back.” And he loved her for it.

 

Ranma walked into the room and glanced about. After a moment, she frowned and glanced at Chibi-Usa. “Hey kid,” she said, “Where's Akane?”

 

All eyes went to Chibi-Usa, and she paled.

 

Ranma's heart sank at that, and though she didn't know what had happened exactly, she knew that it was something bad.

 

“Ranma-obasan,” Chibi-Usa began, and then winced. She clearly hadn't meant to say that, and if the surprised looks of the others were any indication, it had given away more than she meant to, but Ranma was at a loss as to exactly what that meant, or what was going on here.

 

“I'm waiting,” Ranma said.

 

Chibi-Usa sniffled, on the verge of tears. “I told her not to follow you, but she didn't listen! She went out into the storm a minute after you'd left.”

 

Ranma's world seemed to shrink around her, and a deep, quivering horror rose up in her belly. “WHAT?” she yelled at the top of her lungs.

 

“She said she could take care of herself. That she was a martial artist too, and... and...” Chibi-Usa burst into tears. “I told her not to do it!”

 

“Damnit, tomboy,” Ranma whispered fiercely, turned, and dashed out of the shrine.

 

Mamoru sighed, scooping Chibi-Usa into a comforting hug. “It's ok, Small Lady,” he said. “You couldn't have known.”

 

Chibi-Usa only wailed louder, tears flowing freely. “I did know! I knew, but I couldn't tell you! Puu and I, we could have stopped her, but Puu said if we did anything more than tell Akane-san not to go, it would create a time paradox, and... and...” her sobbing became too loud and too intense to continue.

 

“Shhh,” Mamoru whispered, holding his daughter as she wept. “It's ok. Shhh.”

 

After nearly five minutes of sobbing, Chibi-Usa wiped her eyes and looked up. “Arigatou, Mamo-chan,” she managed. She looked at Usagi on the futon, then at the others in the room. “I, I can't tell you much. But what's coming, it's bad. Especially for Aunt Ranma.”

 

“Can't we change it?” Rei asked. “Do something to change it? Make things happen differently?”

 

“Not if it would create a paradox,” Makoto replied. “We can't wipe out Crystal Tokyo just because Ranma is going to suffer for it.”

 

“It would help if we knew exactly what it is that we can't change,” Ami said. “Unless we know that, we'll be second guessing ourselves until it's too late to do anything at all.”

 

“Can't you tell us just a little bit, Chibi-Usa-chan?” Makoto asked, leaning down to bring her face level with Chibi-Usa's.

 

“No!” Chibi-Usa insisted. “Puu said you have to be free to make your own decisions, or else they won't mean anything. If I tell you what's going to happen, and you...” she shook her head. “You wouldn't be you. You'd be what I told you, and you'd hate me for it because you couldn't change it. I would never do that to you.”

 

“What do we do, then?” Minako asked.

 

“What we always do,” Usagi said faintly, sitting up at last, though the act of doing so clearly fatigued her. “We fight for what we believe in. We protect this world, and each other. And that includes Ranma-san.” She looked at each Senshi in turn, then at Mamoru, and then at Chibi-Usa. “She shouldn't be out there all alone. Minna...”

 

“I'll go,” Mamoru said.

 

“Me too,” Rei said.

 

Minako jumped in. “Me three!”

 

“Ami-san, Makoto-san,” Mamoru said, “Will you stay here with Usagi?”

 

Ami and Makoto both nodded.

 

“Ja ne!” Minako called as she headed out the door.

“We'll call if we find her,” Rei said.

 

Mamoru looked at Ami and Makoto each in turn. “Keep her safe,” he said, and pulled a red rose from his pocket and focused on it. A faint glow ran across his form; he became Tuxedo Kamen, cape flaring briefly in the wind of his transformation. And he was gone.

 

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

 

It's a sad truth about the world: sometimes, people pursuing the best they know the best they know how bring only ruin upon themselves. As they two had brought ruin upon themselves. It was only thanks to the intervention of others that Haruka and Michiru were alive at all, now, and they both knew it.

 

Haruka stared. Their apartment lay in ruins around them: between the attack and the storm, the whole thing was almost totally destroyed. She met Michiru's shocked gaze and sighed heavily.

 

“What?” Michiru asked.

 

“So many pieces to pick up,” Haruka mused. “So much wreckage left behind...” She wasn't talking about the apartment. Or at least, she wasn't only talking about the apartment.

 

“I know,” Michiru said, and rested her head on Haruka's shoulder.

 

Haruka wrapped her arms around Michiru, and silence hung in the apartment for a long minute as they simply stayed like that. At last, Haruka asked, “What do we do?”

 

Michiru gave Haruka a serious look. “Pick up the pieces. Together.”

 

Haruka smiled, and it was a real, genuine smile. “I knew there was a reason I loved you.”

 

They kissed.

 

Much as they might have wished to, they couldn't stay like that forever. There was work to be done, and no other hands but theirs to do it. Reluctantly, Haruka let go of the other woman and turned to look upon what was left of their apartment.

 

And what was left of it, after all? Nothing. Everything. A little bit of this. A little bit of that. Here a scorched, stainless steel pot lay against a pile of rubble that had once been their fireplace. There, an undamaged pan lay amidst the smashed tiles of the kitchen floor. One of Michiru's hats, covered in snow, sat at ease atop the frozen swimming pool. A charred violin case had been slightly too close to what was left of Mimete (which wasn't much - really just a vaguely human-shaped carbon mass) - the solitary member of Witches 5 that the Outer Senshi had killed during the attack on their apartment.

 

They went to work.

 

Her fingers soot-streaked, ashes mixed with melted snow, Haruka shivered faintly as she glanced sidelong at Michiru. “Were we wrong? About Saturn?”

 

Michiru compressed her lips to a thin line. “I don't know. I hope so.”

 

“She seems to be getting along with Sailor Moon well enough...” Haruka shook her head incredulously. “I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself.”

 

Michiru opened the violin case and surveyed the instrument within. She'd need new strings, but the instrument itself didn't appear to be damaged. “Which?” she asked. “That Sailor Saturn would get along with Sailor Moon, or that Sailor Moon would turn out to be...”

 

“Odango Atama?”

 

“It suits her,” Michiru said. “But she's silly, naive, trusting...” She trailed off. “I hope all this won't kill that innocence.”

 

So they passed the time, talking, cleaning up, salvaging what they could from the wreckage of their lives. Even as they packed away the last of their undamaged (or repairable) things into a pair of suitcases, the sound of a woman's approaching footsteps announced Setsuna's presence. She walked through the door a moment later.

 

“Do you have it all?” Setsuna asked.

 

Haruka looked regretfully over the ruins of the apartment. “Everything we could salvage,” she replied.

 

Setsuna nodded, and smoothly turned and began to walk out. “Come,” she called over her shoulder. “The house I've acquired should be enough for the three of us.”

 

With one last look over their former home, Haruka and Michiru turned and followed Setsuna out. Out of the ruins, and back into the open air.

 

Beams of light streamed through what clouds remained, pinpoint spots of daylight in the gloom. The breeze picked up ever so slightly, and snow fell from the branches of two tree that had survived the storm in twin rains of slush.

 

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

 

Tuxedo Kamen strode calmly across the ruined landscape, holding off grief and horror with an impenetrable shield of Necessity. As he walked, he considered where he would have gone had he been in Ranma's place, and his course was set: the Tomoe home. Over rubble and across smashed foundations he traveled. Here a dead child. There a man, frozen solid by the storm. His eyes became as flint. He couldn't save them, but what he could do, he would do.

 

“Akane? AKANE!” For all their desperation, Ranma's yells floated lightly on the breeze. “AKANE!”

 

Tuxedo Kamen lighted on a large concrete slab jutting out over the smashed foundations of the Tomoe home and looked down upon the young woman who, even now searched desperately through the rubble for some sign of her lover.

 

He hopped down from his perch, the wind whistling around him as he descended through the cool air to land easily some twenty feet to Ranma's left.

 

Ranma whirled around, dropping immediately into a combat stance. “WHO... Oh.” She relaxed slightly. “It's you.”

 

Mamoru considered the young woman before he replied. She was beautiful, it was true. Her red hair hung in a gentle ponytail now, and her masculine clothes did absolutely nothing to hide her womanly curves. And yet... she clearly self-identified as male. Gender studies hadn't been his focus by any means, but he knew the basics. The path that she walked wasn't an easy one, but he had already decided to honour it. “Any sign of her?” he asked at last.

 

Ranma let out a long, slow breath. “Yeah. Her ki-signature's here. It's pretty faded, but she was here... I don't know. About the same time we were, I guess, before people started ta fall into that... other space. Then it...” Ranma clenched his fist. “There's the energy of one of those `daimos' things, and it vanishes.”

 

Mamoru didn't bother to correct Ranma about Daimons, but instead nodded. “What will you do now?” he asked.

 

Ranma laughed bitterly. “I dunno. Look for her, I guess. Ya know, without her, I ain't got no reason ta...” she shook her head. “I love her more than anything, ya know? It took a long time before I could admit that, but now that I have, I'll be damned before I lose her.”

 

Mamoru nodded. “I understand.”

 

Ranma looked at him, and Mamoru felt a momentary, uncomfortable sense of being weighed and measured. Then Ranma nodded her head. “I guess ya do.”

 

Then, gathering his resolve, Mamoru placed a hand on Ranma's shoulder and looked her directly in the eye. “If you need anything, we'll be there. The others are all worried about you.” He glanced up at the concrete slab overlooking the ruined basement. They hadn't come yet, then. “Usagi sent Mars and Venus are out looking for you. And me.”

 

Ranma brushed Mamoru's hand off of her shoulder and cast her eyes across the rubble.

 

Mamoru sighed. “Saotome-kun, I don't know the details of your situation, and I understand that you think you have to act `like a man,' but that doesn't mean you can't let your friends support and help you. We might not have known you for very long, but we're all here for you. Especially Usagi.”

 

Ranma's expression softened ever so slightly. “I know,” she whispered, and even though the whisper was clearly to minimize the risk of it happening, her voice cracked. “But this is something... I need to be alone, Chiba-san. For now.”

 

Mamoru nodded. A breeze swirled around him, and then he was gone, leaving only a handful of rose petals in his wake. They drifted down through the air and settled at Ranma's feet.

 

Ranma looked down at the rose petals thoughtfully, and then resumed her search. In spite of it all. In spite of her fear, and the terror that gripped her thought at the thought of losing Akane. In spite of the anger she felt at herself for not noticing that the tomboy had followed them. In spite of it all, she smiled ever so faintly.

 

It was nice to have friends.

 

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

 

The world grew brighter as a great beam of sunlight fell upon the shrine's living space; Usagi sat up on her futon and smiled. There, for a moment, basking in the light of the setting sun as it slipped below what clouds remained, she was able to forget the grief and the horror of what lay outside.

 

She could deal with this. She could. One step at a time.

 

“I hope I didn't wake you,” Makoto said.

 

Usagi looked up. Makoto was there, setting an oil lamp on the table in the center of the room.

 

“No, you didn't wake me. I was just...” Usagi's smile faded, and she looked out the window onto the world beyond and sighed. “I wonder what momma would say about all this.”

 

Makoto smiled. “Queen Serenity would probably say you did your best. That you saved the world. I'm sure she would be proud of you.”

 

Usagi fell backwards onto the futon and looked up at the ceiling. “You think so?” she asked.

 

Makoto nodded, and her ponytail bobbed in time to it. “I'm sure of it. We met her, in that other space.”

 

Usagi struggled for a second and then sat up, doing what amounted to a sit-up from lying prone, and stared at Jupiter. “Really?” she asked.

 

“Really.”

 

“How? Where? What was she like?”

 

The door slid open, and Ami walked in, drawn by the sound of their conversation.

 

“Well,” Makoto began, “After we fell through into the other place, we ended up on the Moon in a place called the Dreamlands.”

 

“You mean like in Little Nemo?” Usagi asked.

 

“Something like that. Anyways, Rei, Minako, Ranma and I ended up at the Moon Kingdom, and it looked...” she smiled wistfully. “Just like I remembered it. The city of Eternity, on the shores of Mare Serenitatis...”

 

Usagi saw it. There it was in her mind's eye, shining like a jewel on the seashore. She remembered playing in the gardens as a child, growing up in the court of Serenity, and the privileged life she had led. “I remember,” she said.

 

“So the Moon Kingdom lives on there, in these `dreamlands?'” Ami asked.

 

Makoto nodded. “We met with Queen Serenity and everything. You'd like her, Usagi. She's...” she trailed off. “Not what you'd expect. When we walked in, she was wearing a blouse and blue-jeans, and was playing pool.”

 

Usagi laughed out loud. “No way!”

 

They all giggled, and when the giggles faded, Usagi asked, “Did she help you to get home? How did you get home?”

 

“Not...” Makoto looked guilty for a moment, and then smiled, though her smile was ever so slightly pained. “In a way, yes,” she said. “I'm sure you'd love her, Usagi-chan.”

 

For a moment, the faintest bit of suspicion arose within Usagi's heart. Was Makoto keeping something from her? ... But no. Mako-chan would never do that. Usagi smiled. “Maybe when everything calms down, we can all go visit her!”

 

“We don't know how. I don't think we can use the Tomoe house for that again...”

 

Usagi's face fell.

 

Ami smiled. “I'll try to figure something out. I'm sure there must be something on these `Dreamlands' in the Mercury computer.”

 

Usagi's face immediately brightened, and she called happily, “Ami-chan is the best!”

 

Ami blushed.

 

“But...” Usagi said more seriously.

 

“But?” Makoto asked.

 

“I was actually asking about Ikuko-mama.”

 

Makoto laughed.

 

The door opened, and Mamoru entered, dismissing his Tuxedo Kamen persona even as he arrived.

 

“Mamo-chan!” Usagi called.

 

“Mamoru-kun,” Makoto and Ami both said, with the `hello' left unsaid.

 

Mamoru smiled. “Hello,” he said. “Feeling better, Usako?”

 

Usagi nodded. “Un! Ne, Mamo-chan, did you find Ranma?”

 

“I did.”

 

Usagi glanced at the door, but after a moment, when it became obvious that the red-head wasn't about to walk in through the door, she frowned. “Where is she?”

 

“Alone.”

 

Usagi gasped. “Mamo-chan! Why did you leave her by herself? She shouldn't be alone right now. Not with Akane-san missing and everything!”

 

Mamoru gave Usagi a serious look. “She'll come to us when she's ready, but right now, she needs to be alone. To come to terms with everything, and to... grieve, if she has to. She asked to be left alone, Usako. For now.”

 

Usagi didn't like that. It seemed strange to her. When she was grieving, she went to her friends for support, and her friends went to her, didn't they? Even the Outer Senshi... well, actually, she didn't know if things were like that for the Outer Senshi, but still. She shook her head. “I don't understand,” she said. “But when she's ready, we'll be here.”

 

Mamoru smiled, and said nothing.

 

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

 

There was no power, but they had oil lamps, at least. It was night, the day after the passing of the storm, and the occupants of the Hikawa shrine were only now readying themselves for bed. It was cramped, but it was all that they had available at the moment. They'd spent the better part of the day looking for their families and homes without much luck.

 

Usagi's house was smashed, and there was no sign of her family. She hadn't taken it well. Minako's house was likewise destroyed, her family missing. In fact, of all the Senshi, the only ones whose homes had survived the storm intact were Rei and Ami. Grandpa Hino and Yuichiro were uninjured, having been in a government shelter during the storm. They had returned about mid-day, and hadn't said much. The girls had found Ami's mother organizing a relief effort at the hospital, but the woman hadn't said much to her daughter, or to the others: she'd simply treated them as if they were any other group of shell-shocked survivors.

 

Now, here they were, all in sleeping bags and futons laid out on the floor in Rei's living room, the room lit only by the moonlight coming in through the window and by the fitful glow of the three oil lamps scattered across the room. Most of them were asleep, but Mamoru sat at the table in the center of the room, fiddling with an old short-wave radio.

 

“Mamo-chan,” Usagi called irritably. “Go to bed. It's late.”

 

Mamoru scratched his head and picked up the screwdriver again. “I've almost got it, Usako. If we can get this working, maybe we'll be able to contact someone in charge. Or at least get a news bulletin.” He fiddled with the interior of the radio, and a burst of static came from the speaker. Another adjustment, and...

 

#Tshhhhhhht ... Scientists at a loss to explain the phenomena. Reports are coming in from across Tokyo in the wake of the ice-typhoon...#

 

“There!” Mamoru said proudly.

 

“You did it!” Usagi exclaimed.

 

Ami sat up on her futon. “Well done, Mamoru-kun,” she said, and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

 

#... Minato was the hardest hit, with widespread devastation throughout the ward. Chuo, Koto, and Shinagawa are the next worse. Although, as we reported earlier, the Imperial Palace was damaged in the storm, the Emperor and his family are unharmed. The death toll is unknown at this time, but it is expected to be high. The Emperor has issued a statement saying: “We must all remain calm in this time of trial as the relief effort gets under way. I know I can count on each of you to give your all to help Japan recover from this disaster.”# There was a brief silence. Then the reporter's voice went on. #Officials with the electric company expect that power and water may be restored to the worst hit areas of Minato, Chuo, Koto, and Shinagawa within a month, but in the meantime, stay calm, and conserve water as much as possible until bottled supplies can be brought to the shelters.#

 

“It's really bad, isn't it,” Usagi said. It was more a statement than a question.

 

Mamoru nodded. “It's bad.”

 

Usagi looked downcast. “Do you think we'll...” A sudden knock at the door interrupted her.

 

Usagi glanced at Mamoru, and Mamoru glanced at Rei's sleeping form. He waited a moment.

 

The knock came again, louder this time. More insistent.

 

There came the sound of a door sliding open, and then the footsteps of a man wearing wooden sandals. Another door slid open, and then...

 

“You poor dear. You're one of Rei's friends, aren't you? Come in! Come in!” It was Grandpa Hino's voice. “They're in the living room. I'm sure there's an extra futon for you, at least.”

 

“Arigatou, Ojisan.”

 

Was that...?

 

The door to the living room slid open, and a very bedraggled, cold, shivering Ranma Saotome stood on the other side. Her blue eyes darted from Mamoru, to Usagi and back, and she asked, with just the tiniest note of desperation in her voice, “Do... do ya think I could stay here for a while?”

 

Usagi was on her feet and gathered Ranma up into a hug almost before anyone could blink. “Of course you can,” she murmured, all but willing warmth and comfort into the girl's shivering body.

 

Ranma collapsed almost immediately, as if willpower alone had sustained her, and Usagi caught the other girl's slight form with little difficulty.

 

“I couldn't find her,” Ranma whispered into Usagi's golden hair, and her voice caught. She struggled to suppress it, but a single tear made its way down her face. “I looked, but I couldn't find her.”

 

Akane. She must mean Akane. Usagi thought of how she would have felt if she had lost Mamoru, and compassion welled up in her heart so powerfully that she nearly started crying herself. “It's ok,” she said as warmly as she could. “We'll find her. Together.”

 

Ranma let Usagi guide her to a spare futon with a sleeping bag on it. There she curled up, warm and comfortable for the first time since before the storm. Even as she whispered a heartfelt, `thank you,' her resolve cracked. Her pride cracked. Silent tears began to flow down her face. She buried her face in the pillow, and as silently as she could manage, cried herself to sleep.

 

Usagi sat by Ranma's side until she dozed off. It was funny, but lying there like she was, her face streaked with tears, her red hair matted beneath her, Ranma looked almost... peaceful. As if she had found whatever release in sleep that she could not find in wakefulness. And tomorrow... tomorrow they would confront whatever came. Find Akane. Repair the damage that had been done. Find a way to save everyone. Everyone. Even Akane.

 

Usagi looked up at Mamoru, smiled hopefully and said, “Goodnight, Mamo-chan.”

 

Mamoru nodded in acknowledgement. “Good night, Usako.” He opened the sliding door, and left the room.

 

The sound of his footsteps echoed in the hallway. A door slid open in the other room, where Grandpa Hino and Yuichiro were sleeping, and then, silence.

 

Well, silence except for one thing: Ranma snored.

 

Usagi grimaced. This might be harder than she thought.

 

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

 

Hope springs eternal in the human heart, it's said. And so it does - especially when Usagi Tsukino was involved. But for Akane, hope was a far distant thing. Deep within Mugen Gakuen, she sat bound to a chair in a dark room. She felt weak and tired, and an Elder Sign was inscribed on the floor beneath the chair, glowing with an horrible, malevolent green light. But more than that something about this place was simply wrong. The shadows seemed to shift when you weren't looking. The angles bent in strange directions. There was a Presence in the room. A lurking fear.

 

She glared angrily about, looking for something, anything to attack. Something she could lash out at. Something to keep her from blaming herself.

 

`Damnit,' she thought bitterly. `I should have...' but no. She wouldn't let that thought take shape within her mind. That she shouldn't have followed Ranma. That she should have stayed at the Hikawa Shrine.

 

“Why didn't you contact us, Mistress 9?” a male voice asked again. It was the Professor's voice. The man who had spoken when the monster had brought her into that car.

 

“I'm not Mistress 9!” she snapped.

 

Laughter. Insane laughter. It died away after about a minute. “Do you really believe that, my dear?” the Professor asked, his voice suddenly calm.

 

No. She knew that name. Mistress 9. It called to her in a way that she couldn't deny. “Yes! My name is Akane Tendo! If you don't let me go, so help me, I'll... I'll smash you all to bits!” She could still lie to herself, however. She'd always been good at that.

 

“Very well. If you're going to be difficult, we can make this considerably less pleasant.”

 

The glow of the Elder Sign intensified, and a horrible wave of weakness mingled with pain tore through her body.

 

Akane screamed.

 

And even as the procedures began, even as the Death Busters began their attempts to bring forth Mistress 9, Akane asked desperately, “Ranma, where are you?”

 

The only answer was the Professor's maniacal laughter.

 

END CHAPTER 11