The moment of happiness had done a lot of good for Setsuna.
Like all good things however it had come to an end. After the gathering had broken up, she had found a place of comfortable quiet behind Pooh' House. There she had been coming to terms with what had happened while trying not to dwell on the sad parts too much.
That was why she was startled to hear a masculine voice that she was sure didn't belong to any of the characters in this storybook setting. She almost convinced herself that it was a figment of her imagination until Pooh replied. "Oh well yes, we have had a visitor. How very good of you to visit us today Ranma. Did you by any chance, happen to bring along a smackeral of hunny?"
Leaning around the wide tree that Pooh called home, a distraught time guardian spied on her nemesis. As he was currently kneeling down to Pooh's level with the rotund little bear blocking her view, she wasn't quite willing to believe it was him just yet. "Well of course Pooh Bear." For one thing, he sounded far to kind to be Ranma. "Here, two jars of Blueberry honey, one Orange Blossom, and one Buckwheat. Just try to enjoy them while they last."
Spying her out of the corner of his eye, he stood up and greeted her, leaving himself perfectly open to both attack and inspection. He was Ranma alright, but one she'd never seen before. The most jarring part was his expression, which was openly kind and comforting. His hair was similar, but somehow spikier and fuller at the bangs. The outfit was completely new, some sort of loose neo-modern looking short pants and vest decked out with a variety of small chains and tasteful trinkets. Instead of a red top, the entire outfit was black with silver tribal designs.
Most importantly however, she was reasonably sure this was Ranma which made all of this his fault.
"This is all your fault!"
Seeing his greeting get ignored in favor of a screaming assault, Ranma slid back before sidestepping, leading the strange woman out into the clearing. Casually dodging her wild follow up, Ranma did his best to work things out, "My fault? I'm sorry." At which point he caught her roundhouse kick in an attempt to slow things down, "but I really have no idea who you are."
This was answered by a scream of rage, and after falling down to escape his hold, she leapt back at him. He in turn leapt backwards and after hanging in the air for too long, did a few flips before landing away from the enraged woman. "Look, I can't help if you don't tell me what's wrong."
It was at that point that she fell to her knees in shock, clutching her chest.
Clutching her heart, the world seemed to stop as pain wracked her body. The whole world seemed to pulse in time with her heart as she had what felt like a heart attack. She could feel the telltale signs as conscious thought and senses tried to slip from her grasp.
Looking up in an attempt to focus, she saw the world blurring into black and white, as everything seemed to be burning in a strange monochromatic haze. That is, everything except Ranma, who was completely unaffected. Looking concerned at first, he put on an encouraging smile and held a hand out to her as if to help her up.
Setsuna has long since had her fill of the world tearing apart only to have her clinging to Ranma at the last moment. It was how things had gotten so bad after all, with him time and again becoming entangled with her fate and that of the senshi. This time if the world was going to rip itself apart around her, he was the last person she was going to cling upon.
Except there in the background, walking up to Ranma in his own strange way was the little silly bear, tugging on Ranma's pants leg to ask what was wrong. Surely the silly little bear had to feel it, she could even see it as him and the entire world was ripping apart, everything except Ranma...
...Or...
Ranma continued to smile comfortingly as he held the strange woman's hand, letting the woman get her breathing back under control. "There you go. If something important is broken, I'll help you fix it."
...Or she herself was being ripped apart.
As soon as she grabbed his hand, the world returned to normal. With the roar of a thousand eternal oceans now absent, she could hear Pooh asking Ranma to help her. Her own heart gradually resumed a normal if frantic pace.
Once her breathing was actually under control, she allowed Ranma to pull her up. Despite being filled with many questions, she didn't release his hand, understanding that he had somehow anchored her existence.
Seeing that she had questions, through a display of empathy that surprised Setsuna, he answered what was likely to be her most pressing question. "You heart was closing. If that had happened, you would have been lost."
Looking around in thought, the young man suddenly knelt down to Pooh, still holding her hand. "I'm sorry Pooh, but it seems like I have to go already."
Pooh nodded absently, apparently satisfied Ranma had everything in hand; "Oh bother, and you just came to visit. Why I haven't even thanked you for the hunny. Oh, I haven't even tasted the hunny. Do try to remember, every now and again, you must stop and enjoy the hunny."
To which Ranma smiled and hugged the silly bear, "Of course, don't you worry. I'll be sure to bring you some more honey."
Cocking his head aside in deep thought, Pooh replied, "Well, yes, but if you were to visit sooner with no hunny, rather than later with more hunny, I would rather like that. Hunny is after all, best with dear friends."
Nodding once, Ranma led a confused time guardian down the path, turning to wave once at the top of the hill before vanishing from sight.
Startled, Setsuna found herself standing with Ranma before a desolate rock bridge, with violent glowing winds of pure energy howling over it.
Smiling at her, Ranma continued to try and be comforting, though Setsuna was beginning to realize he was only acting natural, at least to his current self. "Don't worry. Just don't let go and everything will be alright."
Hesitantly continuing forward to keep pace with Ranma, Setsuna was surprised to see a spherical shield keep the wind at bay. It seemed the shield itself was invisible, but the stronger the energy-laden winds howled against it, the more they made it visible. There was still an almost magical pressure that carried through the shield, making her worry that if she were to let go of Ranma she would be swept away despite the protection.
Despite her pressing worries, she really needed some answers to just what was going on. It was difficult to speak due to the pressure however, forcing her to shout a bit. "What is this?"
Seemingly unaffected by the pressure, Ranma responded quietly, "This is a border between worlds, a type of aether stream. As long as you're with me though, there's nothing to fear."
Despite how uncomforting it was, Setsuna realized she didn't really have a choice but to trust him. Together the walked forward, Setsuna finding the magical gale moved in multi-dimensional streams across the bare rock. In the denser streams she was forced to hold on tightly to his hand to prevent herself from being swept away. She also discovered that the tighter she held on to him, the less the pressure affected her.
Before she knew it, they were in a new world.
Looking apologetically at Setsuna, Ranma finally explained the need for their exit, "Sorry about that, but I had to get you out of there. That's a pure world, so while the inhabitants might lighten your soul, the darkness you bring in will weigh heavier. It was just too dangerous to leave you there."
Frowning but accepting that for now at least Ranma knew what he was talking about, Setsuna looked around at this new world he had brought her to.
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(Posted Mon, 19 Jun 2006 11:47)
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