Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Key to my Heart ❯ Chp 2: And When the Nightmares Start... ( Chapter 2 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

"That has to be it... The cursed locket of Desire..."

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Key to my Heart
Chp 2: "And when the nightmares start..."
By: Ling Mao

4/18/2001

< > = Thought
[ ] = Panda signs
" " = Spoken
> < = Sound
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"The what?" a worried Ranma replied to Dr. Tofu.

"The cursed locket has been around for almost 3000 years. The locket has brought
many tragic deaths. Legend says that the wearer of the locket will suffer immense depression
through constant nightmares until the person wills themselves to die."

"So why don't we just take off this stupid locket." Ranma leaned towards the locket,
about to grab it when Dr. Tofu stopped him.

"Stop, don't do that. Right now that locket is Akane's mind so to speak. Breaking it
or getting rid of it while she is in this state could do irreversible damage." Ranma dropped
his arms down to his side in temporary defeat.

"So, what can we do then?"

"For the time being, nothing. I will do some research on the locket. For now, you
should go home and explain this to her family..." Ranma opened his mouth in attempt to
refuse, but stopped in his tracks. He reluctantly agreed. He glanced over at Akane, then
left for home.

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"WHAT!" screamed a snake headed father.

"Please daddy, calm down." Kasumi rubbed gently on Soun's back in attempt to calm
him. But it was to no effect, his tongue still snaked out as he yelled incomprehensible
words.

"What happened to my daughter!" He cried. A panda behind his tried to calm him down.

[There there] the panda signed.

"Now daddy, how is Akane going to get better with you acting like that?" Nabiki
calmly stepped over to Ranma who was sitting rather distant from the rest.

"So, is there a cure?" Ranma looked at Nabiki disappointedly.

"Not right now... Dr. Tofu is doing research right now... but besides that..."

"...we don't know anything..." Nabiki finished. She sighed as she rested her hands
behind her head. "So I guess there's nothing we can do about it." Ranma nodded then looked
back at his hands. <Nothing we can do...>

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When she opened her eyes, she was surrounded by darkness. She rubbed her eyes a bit,
then saw her school. Slowly she walked in, not quite sure what she was doing there. <Where
am I?> As she walked deeper in the school, people began to appear.

"Akane... What happened to you?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" She looked at herself trying to find what the other girl
was talking about.

"Your face... It looks like you just had you face busted in... And it looks like
you've gotten bigger since the last time I saw you..."

"Huh... what do you mean?"

"Here look." The girl handed Akane a full-length mirror. She gazed in to the mirror.
At first she only saw odd shades of dark green, but then her figure began to appear. She
touched her face, noticing how it felt like she had stubble. She looked closer and found
that her figure had become more square and ridge. She turned to the side and found she had
lost a lot, if not all of she girlish figure. <If I didn't know any better... I'd think... I
was a guy... or something>

"Akane... What are you talking about? You are a guy?"

"What? What are you talking about... I'm a..." The world became black, and Akane was
the only one there. She searched for something anything. But nothing was there, nothing but
endless darkness. So she began to roam, through the black.
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Ranma had woken up early that morning and rushed to Dr. Tofu's office. The door
quickly opened after Ranma rapped at the entrance.

"Ranma, come in. I've found some information."

Dr. Tofu led him into the room where he had kept most of his files and other
assorted information. He sat down at the table where he laid a book out. Ranma sat down
opposite from him occasionally altering his eyes from the book and Dr. Tofu.

"So... what does it say?"

"Well I've been looking all night for something to help Akane. I haven't found much
on it. According to this book, there is a legend that there was one person who survived the
locket's wrath. It says that about a century ago, a young girl was given the locket by a
strange woman. Not to long after the girl put the locket on, she went into a deep sleep. It
was virtually impossible to wake her up. Not only that, but as the days went on, she would
thrash around in her sleep. She was like that for about a week, until she suddenly woke up.
When she did wake up, she seemed to have had very little memory of what happened and also
seemed different, changed..."

"But how did they wake her up?"

"Well, supposedly, the girl, after waking up, continued to talk about a wish of some
sort."

"A wish?" Dr. Tofu nodded his head.

"That's correct. I believe that they only way to wake her up, is to grant her wish."

"That's it?" Ranma stretched in relief. "Ahh, this will be easy. Just have to grant
the Tomboy's wish." He smiled a bit as Dr. Tofu continued.

"Well, it may be easy, but we have to figure out what she wished for in the first
place." Ranma's smiled had not yet creased. He pointed his index finger up and began to talk
in a "matter-of-fact" tone.

"This will be easy. I bet she wished for something stupid like being more sexy or
something." He leaned back into a relaxed position. Dr. Tofu frowned.

"So if that was her wish, how would you grant it?" Ranma looked up, then down, then
to the left, then the right. His eyes finally stopped at Dr. Tofu. He shrugged and question
marks piled up above him. Dr. Tofu frowned again.

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2 shadowy figures stood in the dojo discussing something that seemed to be of
importance.

"We just don't have enough room. I really don't see another possibility." The 2nd
person agreed by nodding their head.

"Yes. We'll just have to get rid of her. The others can stay. Besides, she just a
nuisance." Another figure appeared from the shadows. She had been eavesdropping on the 2.

"Mommy... Daddy..."

"Akane..." the 2 simultaneously said. Hidden tears began to build up in the girl's
eyes. She stepped forward, walking closer to the 2.

"Your, your only joking right? You'd never do that... You love me right?" The two
looked at each other. The girl who had at first looked 16 now shrunk to about 6. The girl
rubbed her eyes and spoke again. "Right?"

"Akane... I... we... just can't. We don't have room for you anymore. Not in our
home, not in our family, not in our hearts. No, there is no room for you." The child looked
up at the two. Her expression was mixed, filled with emotion. Shock, Sadness, Hate, Denial,
Fear...

"Mommy... Daddy..." The 2 turned and walked away, leaving Akane on an island of
shattered emotions. There she stood. She murmured something into the dead sky.

"Don't leave me..." No one could hear.

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Notes:
Ok, well I'd love someone to send me feedback on this. Still draft, but
about everything I write is... Oh I'm so lazy. Anyways, I bet some of you may be
confused. Well let me explain. I assume some of you are asking, what the hell is
Akane doing, right? Well the parts that start with the ------- (2 of them) means
that it is part of Akane's dreams, Did you guys understand that when you read? If
not, do any of you have suggestions on what to do with out putting the words "Dream
sequence" or something of that sort. I know this was a little short, and not much
to hang on, but there is more to the story. Also, some of you may be questioning my
use of Akane's mother. I know that she died in all, but Akane is seeing dreams...
I'll probably add more to this chapter later. I'd love to here suggestions.
Anyways, Thanks a bunch for reading... Bye now