"That's it!" Ranma stood up. "I've had enough of all these mysteries. I'm going to the old man's house and talk to him. And I hope he better has some answers for me, or else..."
She stuffed the photocopy and the book back into the bag and angrily stormed out of the café. Shampoo hurried after her.
When they were back on the street, she asked her: "But what do you plan to ask him? 'Hello, dear grandfather, can you please tell me if you're 130 years old?'? Or are you just going to tell him that you're from a different reality?"
"I'm sure I will think of something," Ranma grumbled. "Come on, we have to catch the next train."
----
When they were back in Juuban, they still had to walk a few minutes from the train stop to the house. Shampoo still thought that it wasn't a good idea just to go in there and show Grandpa the book, but Ranma wouldn't listen.
It was getting late, and rain clouds were starting to cover the sky. Ranma was lost in thought and was walking much slower than before. She wondered if her strange dreams would give her some answers, if she would remember what they were about. And would she ever be able to return home?
While they were walking, her mind slowly started to take a break...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The girls talked a lot after Rei's and Ranma's shocking revelation. All of them tried to remember important things, to find out just HOW LONG every one of them has been staying inside The House.
They weren't really making any progress, but it was pretty clear that they had been here for many years, and no one of them didn't age one bit. Shortly after that, all of them were pretty tired, and Ami suggested that they should sleep for a while.
Ranma was the first of them to wake up. She had a strange dream about a man in some dirty rags, a talking cat and trains. It didn't make much sense, but she couldn't remember very much of the dream.
When everyone was up, they once again talked about The House.
"You all lived here for years and didn't find it kinda... strange?" Ranma asked. "Rei! You practically spent your whole life in this House, and you didn't realize it?"
"I knew I have been here for a very long time," Rei muttered. "But 50 years... No, I don't think it was that long!"
"Perhaps time has a different meaning in here," Minako suggested.
Ranma shook her head. "That's ridiculous. 50 years are 50 years, even in a house with demons and endless corridors!"
"And what if we're all dead?" Michiru asked with a small voice. Everyone looked at her. She nervously smiled. "I mean, why not? If everything we heard about it is true, this could easily be hell, don't you think?"
Makoto shook her head. "Well, I didn't do anything that I deserved to be send to hell," she said.
"It has to be something else," Ranma said. "But I think, most important is not where this place is, but how we are going to get out of here."
Rei sighed. "Ranma, we already talked about that."
"Yes, we did! And I won't force anyone to help me, but I'm gonna find a way out of here, I swear!"
"Don't make promises you cannot keep," a squeaky voice told her. Swoop was hanging upside down at the big chandelier on the ceiling and was slowly dangling back and forth.
"Oh yes, talking about you..." Ranma stood up. "It seems to me that you know much more about this place than you wanna tell us. Care to share your secrets with us?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Swoop said nervously.
"Oh yeah? You're sure? You don't know ANY way out of here?"
"Of course not," Swoop answered.
"And how do you explain the fact that I SAW you? At the airport, remember? When you attacked that man with the knife."
That totally took Swoop by surprise, and she almost lost her grip on the chandelier. "That... that was different! It was a way you couldn't go!"
"And what about that man?" Ranma asked.
Rei nodded. "Yeah, I think all of us would like to have an answer to that."
"He... he was a special case," Swoops stuttered. "He is one of THEM!"
"Who do you mean?" Rei asked.
"Them! The THIRTEEN!"
Ranma froze. "Wh... what did you say?"
"The Thirteen Disciples! They can freely enter and exit The House! Its rules do not apply for them. But for you, they do. And that's all I know! And I'm not going to say more."
"That... that little beast..." Rei's hands were shaking. "She knew it... she knew it all the time..." And then, angrily, she shouted: "CATCH HER!"
Makoto jumped up and tried to snatch the little batrat, but Swoop slipped out of her fingers and flew through the room, while everyone else was trying to catch her.
"The door," Rei shouted. "Don't let her escape!"
Minako, who was standing next to the door, tried to close it in time, but Swoop was too fast for her. She zoomed past her right in the moment when she was going to shut it.
"After her," Ranma yelled. The seven girls stormed out into the corridor and ran after Swoop, who was flying towards the stairs.
"She's going to go up," Rei said. "Quick, when she reaches the attic, we'll never be able to get her."
Ranma grit her teeth and sped up. She almost caught up with the batrat, but suddenly, she made a sharp turn, and Ranma's hands grasped empty air. And then she reached the stairs and flew up.
Out of their breath, the girls climbed up to the attic. Above them, Swoop flew in circles and laughed at them.
Rei was in tears and pounded the floor. "She knew it! All the time she knew it, and we wasted our lives while rotting away in this... hellish house!"
Ranma walked next to her. "Don't worry, Rei! We still can search for a way out. And I'm pretty sure I know a way that no one of you has thought of before."
"What do you mean?" Hotaru asked.
Ranma looked up to the giant roof, that so much looked like an artificial sky.
"Up there!"
See other episodes by Shritistrang
(Posted Fri, 11 Aug 2006 21:03)
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