[Episode 201494] [Episode 201494]"Hello."
Ran blinked at the simple greeting. After that huge light show and the subsequent dramatic moment, it was rather anticlimactic.
"I take it you're the one who broke the binding spell?" she asked.
"Um... yeah," he answered, still slightly bewildered; really, what was he supposed to do in a situation like this?
"Cool! Thanks a bunch!" a pony-tailed brunette chirped as she bounced off her throne of amethyst. She was clad in a rather revealing pair of cargo short-shorts and a black, floral-patterned tank-top.
"Yes, thank you," another pony-tailed brunette, this still seated on the throne of topaz across from the first, added. She wore a pink dress with a short, red vest over it. Her hair was tied back with a pink bow, and she radiated a sense of peace and innocence even his own sister would be hard pressed to match.
The words of gratitude continued coming, and Ran, despite trying his best not to, blushed. He cleared his throat in an attempt to collect himself and changed the subject. "So, what happened?" he asked, "Why were all of you here?"
"If I may, Mister...?" began a blonde on a throne of sapphire. She wore a green leotard, a white cloak held in place by archaic shoulder armor, and a blue headband to hold back her hair.
"Name's Ran. Ran Serenity," he supplied. He had momentarily debated on revealing his name, but there wasn't really a point in hiding it in the first place; they'd been stuck in the temple for what looked to be quite a while, so his name wouldn't mean anything to them.
Of course, much like his reincarnation, Ran had the rather dubious honor of being fate's whipping boy (Some could even say Ranma had INHERITED the honor from Ran), and as such was prone to events of such low probability that they weren't even funny. This just so happened to be one of them.
There was a shocked silence as all the girls seem to suddenly look at him in a new light. And it was not a good light, either. A feeling of imminent doom sent shivers down his back.
"What?" he asked, a little creeped out.
"You... wouldn't happen to be related to a ruler of some kind of supposed utopia, would you?" asked the third brunette of the group. Her outfit reminded him of a cleric's, all white and sleeves, with a big yellow bow that held her blue dress to her white top. She sat upon a throne of diamond, with a grace that rivaled his mother's.
"I'm the First Prince of the Moon Kingdom, if that's what you're asking..." This was soooo not looking good.
"And your mother?" A black-haired girl asked. She wore a dress that looked like it composed entirely of belts, buckles, and fur, held together with some kind of robe that looked more like a corset with a train. It was entirely black, and screamed sensuality... something that wasn't helped by the way she lounged in the throne of obsidian, or the fact that her dress' neckline started just below her shoulders.
Ran gulped; he was beginning to get an idea of just what might have happened to them. "Er... Queen Serenity the Fourth," he answered hesitantly.
"I see... tell me, do you know much about the founding of your kingdom?" the girl who had first greeted him, who he got the feeling was the leader of the group, asked.
"Not much," he shrugged; he never did care much for history. "My great-great-great grandmother defeated an ancient evil with the Ginzuisho and founded the Serenity dynasty, building her main palace on Earth's moon."
"'History is written by the victors,'" the blonde quoted. Ran nodded to that; it was something he had learned a long time ago, when his search for techniques led him to some of the places the Moon Kingdom had made war with in the past. They'd almost always had a completely different version from that which he was taught.
"I take it that you girls are this 'great evil' that my ancestor defeated?"
"Oooo... you're a smart one," the bouncy brunette from earlier cooed, but her face fell as she continued, "Yeah, we're probably the big bad your great-to-the-nth-power grandmother faced."
"And this is the part where you tell me your side of the story, right?"
"Yes, though there is a good chance that you won't believe us," the leader said, "For you see, though your ancestor had the best intentions at heart, the truth of the matter is that she defied the will of the Almighty to create your kingdom."
"Um... what?" Ran asked after a moment of confused silence.
The leader sighed. It wasn't in annoyance, though, but rather... resignation? "For everything ever created, there is an exact opposite. Oh, they may not inhabit the same world, but they're there, somewhere, and you'll find it if you look hard enough.
"The same can be said about forces: up and down, light and darkness... order and chaos. Everything is balanced by something else. So it was ordained by the Almighty, and so it will always be.
"But it wasn't always like that. In the beginning, when Midgard- you would call it the Multiverse- was still finite, there was only Order, and so the Almighty created worlds with only Order in them. Though He succeeded, they were barren things, completely void of what could be considered the spark of life that makes humans what they are: free will.
"This brought to His attention that Order had no balancing force, making the worlds he had created unbalanced. In answer to this dilemma, He created a force that would be the antithesis of Order.
"He created Chaos. He created... me."
Ran blinked. Then he blinked again. Then his eyes bugged as he finally processed what he'd just been told: this little girl, who couldn't have been more then fifteen, was Chaos incarnate?!?
She giggled on seeing his bewildered face. "Yes, you heard that right: I am Chaos... or rather, the Goddess of Chaos. My name is Eris." She graced him with a warm smile, then gestured to the girls around her and said, "And these six girls with me are my counterparts, the Scions of Order.
"You see, before my creation, Order was in the realm of the Almighty's direct control, making Him it's embodiment. I obviously can't compete with that, which meant that there was still an imbalance. This problem was solved with the creation of the six girls you see before you.
"Yuffie, Scion of Wind." The bouncy brunette gave a wave and a happy "hi!"
"Aerith, Scion of Earth." The brunette in pink gave him a serene smile and waved.
"Celes, Scion of Water." The only blonde in the group gave him a dignified nod of greeting.
"Terra, Scion of Fire." A green-haired girl he hadn't even noticed until now gave a shy wave and blushed. She was clothed in an almost indecently short, red, sleeveless dress, with a purple sash wrapped around her waist like a belt. She sat upon a throne of ruby.
"Yuna, Scion of Light." The last brunette, the one that resembled a cleric, smiled and gave a small bow.
"And Lulu, Scion of Darkness." The black-haired girl gave him a saucy smirk.
"Unto them was given the mantle of Order, and so they became the counterbalance to me, and I, them. We seven became the Maintainers of the Balance.
"But we weren't the only things created during the process. When we were created, there were... leftovers: bits of Order and Chaos that wouldn't fit in us. Of course, having fundamental forces just lying around is not a good situation to be in, so they were used to create two artifacts: the leftover Order was used to create a flawless crystal that would eventually be called the Ginzuisho, while the leftover Chaos was used to create..." Here Eris held up the dagger that had been on her lap the whole time. "...This: the Discordia. They are talisman of great and equal power, one of Order, and the other of Chaos.
"Now, somehow, someway, a young woman came upon both of these artifacts. Upon discovering their powers, she immediately decided to have nothing to do with Discordia, while the Ginzuisho would be used to build a paradise for mankind."
"Serenity the First..." Ran whispered. He could see where this was going.
Eris nodded. "Yes, the young woman was your ancestor. She had a good heart, but was stubborn to a fault, and more then a little self-righteous. We warned her of the danger she was getting into, since a society that would literally be built on and by Order would upset the Balance, but she would not listen, convinced her dream would be for the greater good of mankind.
"And so, we tried to stop her by force. We attacked, but by some strange fluke, she discovered a way to use the Ginzuisho to bind us to Discordia, before binding Discordia, and so us, here, in what would eventually be called the Temple of Discord. I can only assume from the fact that you're a Prince and her descendent that she eventually went on and succeeded in building her perfect paradise."
"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions..." Ran quoted, trying to take all that was told to him in.
"Yes, and the time may soon come when that goal is reached."
"What?"
"How long has it been since the founding of your kingdom?"
Ran drudged up his childhood memories of being taught by the palace governess. "A millennium, I think, give or take. Why? What is going to happen to the Moon Kingdom?"
Eris gave him a look of sadness, yet determination. "The Balance must be maintained, Prince Ran. Your kingdom causes an imbalance, and so something must happen to correct it. That something is proportional to the amount of time the imbalance has existed."
"If your kingdom had only been around for a century or two, then there might have been a war which, though it would still be won my your side, would causes enough changes in the government that the Balance is restored," Aerith told him, looking at him with sorrow.
"Unfortunately, your kingdom has been around for far longer then that. The only thing that can fix the balance now is its complete and total destruction," Celes continued, also sorrowful.
Ran could only gape as he heard the words. "T-the Moon Kingdom's destruction...?" he repeated, trying to comprehend what they were saying. When he finally did, he automatically denied it. "No! You can't!"
"I'm sorry, Prince Ran." Eris gave him a look of pity. "but the will of the Almighty must be upheld."
"I-isn't there anything else that can be done? There must be some other alternative!"
"None, I'm afraid. One thousand years is too long. This is the only way."
"What if whatever happens is stopped?"
"Then something else will happen, something bigger, and it'll only get bigger and bigger until the Balance is finally restored," Yuna answered.
"No..." Ran suddenly felt the floor give out from under him, and only barely noticed that he had fallen to his knees. "No..." he whispered again.
He had first gone in search of fighting techniques because he wanted to protect his mother, his sister, and his kingdom. Now he was finding out that, no matter how powerful he was, there was going to be nothing he could do to stop the kingdom's destruction. His family's legacy was doomed. For the first time ever, Ran felt helpless.
He was so deep in depression that he didn't notice when the most quiet of the Scions, Terra, suddenly got up from her throne and walked over to him. He did notice, though, when she hugged him and spoke in a soft, gentle voice, "Sometimes I hate this job, this burden that I have- that we all have. We've had to do some bad things. We've had to destroy- or cause the destruction of, whole planets- whole systems... even whole galaxies. We've committed genocide, infanticide... we've wiped out whole species of sentient beings. Many times I wished that I didn't have to, that there was another alternative... but there never is. I hate doing this, having to do this for all eternity... but the Balance must be maintained for the good of Midgard, for the good of creation.
"Please, Ran, don't hate us for doing what we must do. Rather, forgive us, for we have no choice..."
Ran looked into her eyes then, into the eyes of the others, who had gathered around them, and in them he saw something he hadn't noticed before: pain. Pain the likes of which he could never comprehend. It was the pain of someone who committed monstrosities because they had to, and knew it, but still the memories tortured them. Even now, he could see the memories tearing at them, slowly eating away at them.
Faced with such a reality, Ran...
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by The Fanfic Stealer
(Posted Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:29)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.