[Episode 210721] [Episode 210721]A couple of years later, Ranma was still on the road with his father. He had learned quite a few things, but was still a student.
One day, while father and son were sparring, Genma noticed how unusually cheerful his son was today. Even the most harsh training methods weren't enough to take a certain smile off his face.
"Boy, you make the impression that you are looking forward to something," Genma spoke up during one of their breaks. "We're having no special lunch today, and there is no prize for winning against me, you know that, don't you?"
"Yeah, Pops," Ranma said. "But that isn't why I'm so excited today."
"So?" the elder Saotome asked while raising his eyebrows. "What is the reason then?"
Ranma grinned. "I'm going to see Sylvanas again today?"
Genma sweatdropped. "You... you're still talking about that girl? Ranma, you're 13 now... don't you think you're a bit old for such games?"
"It's not a game!" Ranma frowned. "Up to now, I've met Sylvanas every year, and it was always the same day of the year... and that's today!" He smirked. "Don't be surprised when I'll disappear some time during training... cause that's when I'm gonna go to Sylvanas!"
Genma shook his head. "You have a weird imagination, boy... the only reason I'm not telling you to stop talking such nonsense is that it doesn't seem to affect your battle skills. But I am still worried about you, son..."
"No need to, Pops," Ranma said. "I'll be fine. Sylvanas has become a true ranger the last time I met her. That was one year ago... but for her, I guess it must have been a few more years..."
Genma didn't understand a word. "If he keeps this up, I'm going to have to send him to a doctor..." he grumbled.
The day passed by without Ranma disappearing. But since it had quite often happened that he appeared in Quel'Thalas while going to bed, he wasn't too worried. When he lay down on his sleeping bag, he was very excited.
"Just a few minutes now..." he whispered. "And then I'm going to see Sylvanas again..."
He didn't know that Genma was watching him from his own sleeping place. He wanted to keep a close eye on his son this night. These absurd stories his son kept telling him about elves and a magical forest were getting out of hand. He still didn't believe they were true, but if his son disappeared during the night, he would know there was something going on.
'I'm going to stay awake at least until midnight,' Genma thought. 'Ranma will have to stop this nonsense when I can prove that he stayed with me all day long.'
So the two Saotomes waited.
Meanwhile, in her bed in Nerima, Akane Tendo was nervously awaiting her own return to Prince Arthas. The last time she had seen him, he had told her of his plans to become a paladin. She was itching to find out if he had become one in the time of her absence.
They didn't know that right now, a horrible scene was taking place in the forests of Quel'Thalas...
Sylvanas Windrunner was lying on the ground, grasping a deep wound on her chest. All around her, the air was filled with the stench of death, while the undead scourge was rampaging through her beloved homeland, leaving a trail of decay and horror behind.
She was dying. She knew it. The last blow her opponent had landed on her was a mortal one. She would accept her fate. After all, she had failed to do her duty... Quel'Thalas and the capital of Silvermoon would fall under the ferocity of the scourge.
The young Ranger General looked up at the dark, looming figure in the black armor that was standing above her.
"Finish it!" she hissed. "I deserve a clean death!"
The Death Knight smirked. "After all you've put me through, woman... the last thing I'll give you is the peace of death."
He approached her with slow steps. After all, his victim was helpless and wouldn't escape. He was going to enjoy this. His corrupted soul would savor the moment. He raised his rune blade...
Sylvanas gasped when she realized what he was about to do.
"No! You wouldn't dare!"
But the Death Knight knew no mercy. Chanting dark words, he used the new powers his pact with evil had given him. Ghostly wisps danced around his glowing blade, while the fallen paladin reached out with his left hand.
Sylvanas' body twitched. Her tormentor's face took on a diabolic sneer as he twisted his hand around... and pulled it backwards.
Sylvanas let out a shrill scream while her soul was pulled out of her body... taking on the cursed form of a damned spirit, a banshee. And the scream of the dying high elf turned into the tormented wail of the undead.
Just a short time later, the troops of the scourge invaded the elven capital, Silvermoon... and corrupted their ancient source of magic, the Sunwell.
Arthas and his personal servant watched as the powerful energies of the Sunwell discharged themselves in a spectacular explosion of light and magic... and became infested by the dark powers the undead were controlling. Sylvanas was forced to watch the destruction of her homeland and the future of her people, as she was bound to the will of the man who killed her, the most loyal follower to the Lich King...
The Death Knight called Arthas.
The powerful eruptions of magic broke even through the ether, interrupting all interdimensional passageways and destroying the corridor the Dimensional Seal had created.
Ranma's eyes widened as he abruptly sat up. "S-sylvanas!" he gasped.
Genma frowned. "What's wrong, boy?" he grumbled, pretending to be half-asleep.
"P-pops..." Ranma stuttered. "What... what time is it?"
"Time to sleep, Ranma!" Genma grumbled. "Past midnight, at least."
"I... I couldn't go to her..." Ranma murmured. "I wasn't able to visit her. Why, Pops? Why?"
"Because that was all just a stupid dream!" Genma insisted. "Go back to sleep, boy! A martial artist needs to rest, too."
Genma was very satisfied. Now his son would believe that this elf woman was nothing but a figment of his imagination.
But Ranma could feel that something was wrong. He had been sure that he would be brought back to Quel'Thalas today. He could feel how his body was pulled away from this place... but then, it was abruptly dropped back. He couldn't understand it. Didn't Sylvanas want to see him anymore? Did her family find out about this? Or did something worse happen?
He wrapped himself in his sleeping bag. "Sylvanas..." he muttered. "Please be okay..."
And at the same time, all the children that had been visiting their friends on Azeroth were dismayed when they found out that were forced to stay at home this night.
In the Tendo home, two sisters were as worried as Ranma was.
"Sensei Gazlowe..." Nabiki murmured.
At the same time, her sister Akane felt an unexplainable chill running down her spine. "Arthas..." she whispered. "What happened to you?"
And similar scenes happened in other places of Japan and China.
"Drek'Thar..."
"Master Cairne..."
"Illidan-sama..."
Ranma winced when the softball hit his head.
"Yo, Ranma! Are you sleeping, buddy?" Hiroshi asked.
The tall, pig-tailed martial artist shook his head. "Sorry, I must have zoned out there..." he muttered.
He tried to concentrate back on the game, but he couldn't quite focus on what he was doing. When P.E. was over, the teacher asked him if he had slept well.
But there was certain reason why Ranma was deep in thought. On this day, six years ago, he had last seen an old childhood friend of his... a person his father had always believed to be the dream of a child.
But Ranma had never been able to forget Sylvanas. During all these years, he had hoped to be able to return to her some day. It wasn't love he felt for her... that was reserved for Akane, even before he had saved her from Saffron and the phoenix people. No, Sylvanas was a very special, very close friend, much like Ukyo, but at the same time, totally different, and yet, even more special than his friendship with Ukyo, his love to Akane, his rivalry to Ryoga and his antipathy to Kuno could ever be.
As he did every year on this special day, he wondered how he had been able to visit Sylvanas in Quel'Thalas and why that wasn't the case anymore. He also realized that he had never asked Sylvanas more about her home world. He had mentioned a few human kingdoms at times, and a war the elves had with a tribe of trolls... but since Ranma was a child back then, he had never really tried to remember everything.
Last year, Ranma had been tempted to ask the only person he knew that knew enough about magic and might have an idea how all of this had happened... but his memories of Sylvanas were just too special, and he wasn't going to make Cologne the first person to tell her his secret. He hadn't even shared it with Akane...
Speaking about Akane... when the two of them were walking back home, Ranma noticed that she seemed to be as deep in thought as he was. Come to think about it, she hadn't even been upset when Ukyo came up to him during today's lunch break, a big smile on her face, with a big okonomiyaki ready for her Ranchan. Normally, this was enough for his fiancee to send him on a trip via Akane Airlines, but not this time. She just looked up, frowned at Ukyo and looked back into her lap, leaving her lunch untouched.
"Yo, Akane!" Ranma asked, walking up next to her. "Something on your mind?"
"Hmm? Oh, Ranma! I was just... thinking..." she said.
"Thinking, huh? Yeah, I've seen that. But that's okay, I guess... I mean, I have been pretty out of it for most of the day, too..."
"You too?" Akane wondered. "What were you thinking about?"
Ranma hesitated. This was a pretty big secret, and except for his father, he had told nobody about it. To tell the truth, he was a bit worried that others wouldn't believe him.
"Akane... we're engaged, right?"
Akane blinked. "Uh, yeah, we knew that ever since you and your father arrived at our dojo. But what...?"
"We really do wanna marry some day, right?" Ranma asked. "I mean, on that day when I saved you from Saffron... I sorta realized that you really are serious about this."
Akane blushed. "W-well, I guess you're not quite the pervert I always thought you were..."
"Um, decent of ya to say so..."
"And you're not that big of a jerk, most of the time..."
"Okay... thanks, I guess..."
"And while you are as stubborn as all boys are at times, I've pretty much learned to live with it..."
Ranma sweatdropped. "Okay, that's a bit too much honesty for my tastes..."
"So, to answer your question: Yes, I am serious about this! Why do you ask?"
Ranma scratched the back of his head as he stopped all of a sudden. Akane stopped as well and looked at him in confusion.
"Well, this is kind of a big secret I'm about to tell ya... I've kept it a secret for many years, and never told anyone... so, it'd be decent of ya if you'd keep this a secret, ya know?"
Now Akane was intrigued. She had her own secret, but Ranma? She never knew he could be this secretive. And he had rarely acted as hesitant as he did right now.
Still, she didn't think he'd have a secret as big as hers...
"Ranma, what are you talking about?" she wondered.
"Um, y'know... can we continue this in private? I really don't wanna anyone to hear us... and, y'know, someone almost jumps on us every day, and I'd never tell this to Shampoo, or Kodachi, or Ryoga..."
"Okay, um... let's go to the bridge."
A few minutes later, they were sitting next to the bridge, at the edge of the Nerima canal.
"So, Ranma," Akane said with an amused smile. "What is this 'big secret' of yours?"
Ranma took a deep breath. "Akane... when I was a little kid, eight years old, I guess... I disappeared from my daily training with Pops and vanished to a big forest."
Akane blinked. "You ran away, you mean?"
"Um, no, I actually disappeared right in front of Pops' eyes... he actually believed I had mastered the Umisenken." He chuckled. "But in fact, I wasn't really in Japan anymore, or in China, for that matter... to tell ya the truth, I don't think I was even on Earth..."
Akane shuddered. Ranma couldn't be telling him what she thought he was... was he?
"Well, and in this forest, I met this girl... she was just as little as me back then... but the most amazing thing is, she wasn't really a human girl. She had these long ears, ya know... And I know this sounds crazy, but she was an actual elf, Akane! Like in Tolkien, y'know?"
"Ranma..." she muttered. "This... elf girl... did she tell you... how her home was called?"
"Of course!" Ranma said. "After all, I've visited her a couple of times afterwards, once a year, to be exact. So I learned much about her home land. It's called Quel'Thalas, and she and her family lived close to a big town... 'Silvermoon' it was called, I guess..."
Akane gasped. Quel'Thalas... the boy she knew from her childhood had told her quite a few things about that land and the mysterious elves that lived there.
Under normal circumstances, she would have never believed Ranma. But since she had her own memories of a boy that was from a faraway kingdom, a fairy tale prince...
"Ranma... I have something similar to tell you," she finally spoke up. "I... also met someone when I was that age."
"What?" Ranma shouted. "You too?"
"Yes," she nodded. "A boy... a young prince from a kingdom called... Lordaeron."
"Lordaeron! But that was one of the human kingdoms Sylvanas told me about..."
Akane smiled. "Sylvanas... is that her name?"
"Y-yeah..." Ranma stuttered. "S-so... you've met a prince, huh? I thought you didn't like arrogant nobles..."
"Arthas wasn't like that, Ranma," Akane sighed. "He was the most charming young man I've ever met. And... to tell you the truth, he was my first childhood crush. I know we could have never had a future, but just like you, I was a young child and I was certain that Arthas and I would marry some day." She giggled and hid her face in her hands. "So silly... but yeah, I remember him as a good friend right now, nothing more. Too bad I wasn't able to see him anymore ever since..."
"Ever since that day we never saw them again..." Ranma muttered.
They looked at each other.
"Looks like we had a similar secret from each other, huh?" Akane asked.
Ranma nodded. "Yeah... did you ever tell anyone?"
"Um... Daddy and Kasumi, but nobody else. Not even Nabiki... and Mom was already dead at the time."
"Oh... I see. So... ya think the reason for why we can't see them again might be the same?"
"Possibly," Akane shrugged. "I really don't know how we could have gotten there in the first place..."
"Magic," Ranma muttered. "Only explanation I have. I wish I knew more about this... but I don't think I'd ever be ready to tell the old ghoul about this."
Akane snickered. "No, I didn't think so." She smirked. "So... about Sylvanas... how was she?" She grinned. "Was she cute?"
Ranma went red. "No no, you're just gonna punt me into orbit again!"
"I'm just kidding!" she giggled. "I wouldn't even be upset if you told me you had a crush on her... after all, I had acted pretty silly around Arthas."
"She was nuthin' but a friend," Ranma proclaimed. "A very good friend. And she could fight, too. She was pretty good for a girl... that is, for a girl of her age," he quickly corrected himself when he saw the deep frown on his fiancee's face.
"Good save, buddy!" Akane smirked playfully. "So she was training to be a warrior?"
"An elven ranger," Ranma nodded. He smiled when he thought back to how he and Sylvanas had strolled through the forest. "And when she was getting older, she became pretty good with the bow... she shot a bird right out of the sky."
"Well, Arthas was training to be a good warrior, in addition to the duties a prince and future king has," Akane said. "He also told me of his plans of becoming a paladin after growing up..."
"What's a paladin?" Ranma wondered.
"A holy warrior that fights for justice and defends the weak," Akane said. "I don't know much more... now that I think about it, I wonder if they are some sort of crusaders or something like that."
"Yeah, we've been pretty innocent as kids, I guess," Ranma smirked. "I've never questioned how or why I appeared in Quel'Thalas every year..."
He was surprised when Akane suddenly leaned against his shoulder.
"I am glad we both have a secret like this, a secret we can share with each other..." she sighed. "It's good to have someone to share this with, you know?"
"Yeah, I agree," Ranma smiled. For a while, they just sat there and looked at the water.
"So... you ready to go home yet?"
"Hmmm... just a little while..." she murmured, snuggling closer to him.
Ranma grinned. That was a nice change for a change.
From a nearby tree, a bandana-clad boy was watching them.
'Damn you, Ranma...' Ryoga thought. 'You just can't keep your hands off Akane.' He then sighed and sat down on a branch. 'Why do I even bother?' he mentally sighed. 'I have Akari, haven't I? And besides, I really don't feel like fighting Ranma today...'
He had other thinks to think about. Since on this day, six years ago, he had met his old friend, the aged Chieftain Cairne of the Bloodhoof clan, for the last time.
Cairne was a Tauren, one of the big, minotaur-like people that were living a life of nomads on the barren plains of Kalimdor. Cairne had been a wise teacher for many years, even though Ryoga had only been able to see him once a year.
'No one knows about him, not even Akari...' Ryoga thought as he leaned back against the tree's trunk. 'Sometimes... I wish there was someone I could share this secret with...'
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(Posted Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:58)
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