"What was that all about?" Peter asked. "Your twin sister come to pay a visit?"
"In a manner of speaking," Kodachi said anxiously. "But that isn't quite the truth of the matter."
"Then who was that?" Peter asked.
"My greatest fear," Kodachi said.
"Come again?" Peter asked.
"That was me, before I was bitten by the spider," Kodachi explained.
"Are you saying she was a clone," Peter asked. "Or are you the clone?"
"She's the result of a spell," Kodachi said. "A magical spell."
Peter stared at her for a long moment.
"You want me to buy that?" Peter asked.
"Magic is quite real," Kodachi said. "I suspect it operates on natural laws that we have not discovered yet, myself. Regardless, it does exist. And my...sister is living proof of that."
"Explain from the beginning," Peter said.
"A petty, would-be sorcerer in my old neighborhood found a tome that detailed a way to give life to an enemy's greatest fear," Kodachi said. "Whatever was created would be allowed to keep that life, if, and only if, the target of the spell were to die within three days. The magician in question decided to test the spell on me before moving on to his real target, the strongest resident martial artist of my generation."
"And she was the result?" Peter asked.
"Yes," Kodachi said. "My greatest fear was apparently falling back into being that girl. The spell translated that into creating the girl, creating me."
"And what is wrong with her?" Peter asked, though he had his own guess.
"Schizophrenia, or something similar," Kodachi said. "I was never diagnosed so I can only guess. She's potentially dangerous, and, given what she said to me today, I think she's about to realize that potential."
"Hold on a moment," Peter said. "You've been in New York for a lot longer than three days. Why are both of you still breathing?"
"I circumvented the spell's requirements for her survival," Kodachi said without a hint of regret.
"How'd you do that?" Peter asked.
"As to the how, that was easy," Kodachi explained. "The spell required that I die in order for her to survive. It said nothing about staying dead. With a little help I managed to achieve a state of clinical death for approximately thirty seconds."
Peter remained silent for a moment, staring at the other spider.
"I'd do it again," Kodachi said at last. "She's a free-willed, sentient, human being, not a construct. To call her into existence for three days and hinge her survival on the death of another, that is the epitomy of cruelty."
"And would you regret it if she ends up killing other people?" Peter asked firmly.
"Yes," Kodachi said. "But I'd still do it. She isn't evil, not yet. Right now, she's just blind. If she could get some help..."
"If she's an incarnation of your fear of being insane again," Peter said. "How do you know that she isn't a magnified version of you, or she could be incurable."
"I have to hope that she can be cured," Kodachi said. "She's my responsibility. I don't want to just abandon her to fate. Though she seems to think I did just that when I came here to research my mutation. I'm not so certain she's wrong."
"What's her name?" Peter asked.
"Same as mine," Kodachi said. "Neither of us is willing to part with that."
"Man, I hate to think what kind of monster the real target produced," Peter said.
"It was a housecat," Kodachi said.
"A what?" Peter asked.
"A housecat, about two feet long," Kodachi said. "The martial artist in question has an acute fear of cats."
Peter thought about that for a moment, staring at Kodachi, who merely shrugged helplessly.
"What did you need to do for this spell?" Peter asked finally.
"I believe you need to bleed an ounce of your own blood and mix it with ruby dust, obsidian dust and an ounce of mercury," Kodachi said. "I believe that casting the spell was physically draining as well. The boy involved spent two weeks in the hospital recovery from just the spell casting."
"He spent all that money and went through all of that," Peter said disbelievingly. "For a housecat he could have purchased at any pet store?"
"Yes," Kodachi said. "I don't understand how Ranma can attract such idiots as enemies either."
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(Posted Mon, 28 Jun 2004 17:21)
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