To say the story had surprised Ryoga would be something like saying Delirium of the Endless was a bit on the spacey side. “So,” summarized the lost boy, “you’re like a god, then?”
"Something like one,” replied the Harukyon. “We are a consciousness gestalt. A collection of the various iterations of two omnipotent beings, each pair of whom fell in love and became one in the most literal sense. When we find another pair who have transcended, they are welcomed and added to us.”
“Huh.” Ryoga realized he was probably intruding. Of course, the barely less than hostile environment and headache-inducing nature of the local reality had been something of a tipoff. “Er, I guess I should probably get going.”
“Do not feel unwelcome, Erhibikiryoga,” the presence said comfortingly. “It is rare that we receive visitors who are not us. Besides, we may be able to help you with your wanderings.”
“I don’t want to impose,” the bandana wearing boy said hesitantly.
“At the very least, allow us to restore your quantum stability,” insisted the Harukyon. “You have been lucky so far. It is entirely possible that your next dimensional transit will place you in the heart of a star, or in the vacuum of intergalactic space.”
Ryoga blanched. “Well, when you put it that way…”
“Hey,” Ranma said as he reentered the main room. “I miss anything?”
There was a pause. The three females all looked at one another. Each began to say something, then stopped, the sarcastic retorts, exposition, and other possible responses jamming against one another in an endemic case of verbal Three Stooges Syndrome.
Ranma, while not famed for his deductive reasoning, could tell what was going on. “I missed something.”
“Oh yeah,” said Nabiki. The pigtailed boy noticed she had apparently dropped Zodiac Crystal and was keeping well away from it.
“Another Senshi has been found,” Setsuna said with some small amount of annoyance. “Once again, within the same lodgings as one already located.” She sighed. “Given all the million-to-one chances I’ve been running into lately, I just may buy a lottery ticket to top things off.”
“Wasn’t it you who said million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten?” noted Carmellia.
“That was Lachesis” replied the Time Senshi. “I never agreed with her on that.”
“Oh my,” said Kasumi as she came in with the tea. “I hope this won’t intrude too heavily on your studies, Nabiki.”
The middle Tendo waved this off. “Hey, if even Saotome can get passing grades while rescuing Akane twice a month, I should be fine.”
Ranma ignored the backhanded compliment. “So, where is it?”
“Europe,” the mercenary girl replied flatly.
“Specifically, Romania,” added Setsuna. She sampled her tea and paused. “This is exquisite.”
“Why thank you!” Kasumi was most pleased. She noted the dropped gemstone. “Really, Nabiki, you should be more respectful of other people’s things.” She picked up the Crystal, intent on finding a place for it. Once she took hold of the stone, a beam of light shot out from it, projected towards the dojo. The girl seemed not to notice. “I’ll be taking this up to your room, Ranma,” she announced.
“Uh, Kasumi?” said the boy. “There’s a beam o’ magic energy pointing; out of th’ thing. Y’know, if you didn’t notice.”
“Thank you, Ranma. I had, but I didn’t want to make a scene.”
“Tendo-san, while your sense of propriety is admirable, it’s frankly…alarming.” Setsuna said worriedly. “You do realize this means you are a Sailor Senshi, don’t you?”
“Oh, I was more or less aware of that already,” Kasumi said off-handedly.
The others stared at the girl in shock. Gazes turned to Nabiki. “I’m as surprised as the rest of you,” she admitted. “Sis, why didn’t you ever mention this?”
Kasumi expression turned rather serious. “Mother told me soon before she died. She asked me not to mention to anyone else. I’m sorry, Nabiki, but, well, you understand.”
“Well, that cat’s pretty much out of the bag,” replied her sister, ignoring Ranma’s involuntary twitch at the idiom. “Tell us about this, Kasumi.”
The eldest sister looked at the gem still in her arms, then sighed and nodded. “Very well. This was only a bit before Mother passed on…”
The diagnosis had come only a few days before, when her mother had collapsed without warning while hanging the wash. Cancer. Inoperable, terminal, already progressed to a surprising point. If she knew, Mrs. Tendo had been hiding it for some time.
Since the diagnosis, the mother had been kept to her bed, at her husband’s insistence. He and Kasumi were inexpertly taking up her work, more the girl than her father, even though he had dismissed his students. The daughter now stood by her mother’s bedside. Mrs. Tendo had asked her here. “Kasumi,” she said lovingly.
The girl was fighting her sobs as best she could. She finally gave in and held her mother desperately. “Don’t go, Mommy! Please don’t! I can’t do anything right, and Daddy’s too sad, and Nabiki won’t come out of her room, and Akane’s just punching things, and—”
“Shh…” Mrs. Tendo held her child. “You’ll be fine, dear. You all will be. I know you will.”
“But—”
“You’ve improved more in the chores in a few days than I did in my first few years of marriage.” The woman laughed lightly. “If you could have seen me then. It was a miracle I never burnt this house down.” Her expression became more serious. “But that’s not why I asked to see you. I need to tell you a story, Kasumi.”
“A story?”
“Yes. It starts long ago, in a magical kingdom with a beautiful queen, attacked by a woman who jealously wanted the fiancé of the heiress to the throne. The queen and her army fought hard, but the jealous woman had help from evil beings. They were monsters that overpowered the noble soldiers and turned the most trusted generals in the land against their own people.
“The mightiest of the queen’s knights gathered together to fight these monsters, but many of them were tricked and greatly weakened. They were magicians as well as warriors, but they had their magic stolen from them. They could do little without it, and there was not time to recover it before the final battle.
“That battle saw the end of many on both sides, including the queen herself. The queen was an even stronger magician than her mightiest, and she had cast a spell that had won the battle and the war, but at a terrible price: Her own life. But it was to ensure that her daughter and her friends would live once more.
“The war had left the kingdom and its lands devastated. Little remained and much was forgotten. But not all. There were those who made it their duty to remember the war, and those who had fought it. They passed down the memories and what few relics they had kept or found. They helped rebuild, helped to return some small amount of the glory that once had been.”
“Mommy?” Kasumi knew this was more than her bedtime stories.
“From generation to generation, they continued, in secret, to remember and to preserve. More was lost, as it sadly so often is. I do not know how much, or what it was.” The Tendo matriarch smiled ruefully. “But then, it was lost. I suppose that’s the point. Still, names were chief among the lost knowledge. We do not know the name of the kingdom, the queen, not even the jealous woman who brought its ruin. What we do know, what I do know, is that this was a part of it.”
“Your necklace,” Kasumi said breathlessly. She had had never seen her mother without it. The thin chain held a small charm, slightly curved. On the convex side was an engraving like a squashed yin-yang, or a sideways 69.
“This was found long ago, by those who sought to remember the ancient kingdom. It is said to be part of the magic that was stolen from the knights. My family has been passing it from mother to daughter for centuries.” She looked to her daughter sadly. “I had hoped it would be a few more years before I would give it to you, Kasumi. I was going to give it to you on your wedding day.”
“I’m sorry, Mommy.”
“No need to be sorry, my love. Just remember. Remember what I’ve told you, and keep this close to your heart.”
“I will.” Hesitantly, she took the necklace. “I always will.”
“I know you will, dear.” She embraced her daughter. “I love you, Kasumi. I love you, and your sisters, and your silly, silly father. Please, keep them safe.” Tears from both mingled on their cheeks. “I know you’ll be fine, Kasumi. I’ll always be with you.” Both knew that this was true on some level, but horribly false where it would matter most. “Now please, call in your father. I have some things I’d like to tell him as well.”
“Okay, Mommy.” Kasumi waited a moment, not letting go. “I’ll miss you, Mommy. I really will.”
“I know. I’m going to miss you to. But you’ll be needed here.” She gave her daughter a final squeeze and let her go.
As Kasumi left the room, her mother whispered, “I’m sorry you have to do this, my poor little girl. I’m so sorry. I wish it didn’t have to be this way. I wish you could live your life as you liked. I wish I could watch as you had your first crush. I wish I could see you grow into a surly teenager and curse my name. I wish so much that you did not have so much on your shoulders. But I know you can do it. You’re strong, Kasumi. You have an inner strength, more than your sisters, more even than your father. More than me.”
“You’re right.” Mrs. Tendo turned to see who spoke. It was a young woman, with pale skin and dark hair. Though her clothes were all black, their styles were far too jaunty for such a somber atmosphere. She smiled in a self-deprecating manner, apparently aware of this. “Hello, Kimiko.”
The mother recognized who this was. “I don’t suppose I can say goodbye to Soun?”
The woman shook her head sadly. “I’m sorry. I waited for your daughter to leave the room. We can’t drag this out any more.”
“I see.” She shut her eyes. “Thank you for that, at least.”
“It’s what I do,” said Death. She reached out her hand.
There was a sound of great wings.
A silence followed, out of respect for the passing of the Tendos’ mother. “You stopped wearing that necklace when you graduated from Furinkan,” recalled Nabiki. “What did you do with it?”
“It’s on Mother’s shrine, in the dojo.” Kasumi seemed to be maintaining her normal serenity, but there were tears in her eyes.
Setsuna sympathized. Nigh-immortality often meant seeing those one cared for waste away. “I understand if you wish to not join us—”
Kasumi smiled softly. “Thank you, but I feel this is what Mother would have wanted most.” She turned to her younger sister’s body. “Carmellia, for how much longer will Father and Saotome-san be unconscious?”
She shrugged. “Not too sure, but judging from the heft of their heads, I’d guess the better part of an hour.”
“Very good. I’ll go get the…Amulet, I suppose?”
Setsuna nodded. “Yes. The Cancer Amulet, judging from how you described the symbol.” The grim irony went unspoken.
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(Posted Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:53)
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