“Shhh!” a woman’s voice whispered into Ranma’s ear. A thousand thoughts raced through her head. Why no pain, what was that thing and where was the sound. More importantly why was that thing holding a transparent copy of her girl half. Before the questions could be asked she felt her self being pulled away and thrown over a shoulder. Ranma twisted her neck and looked in the direction they were traveling.
“Ah damn not another Amazon.” she thought as they charged at the half open window. Instead of the crash and minor wounds he expected from diving through a swirl of color enveloped the two. The swirl of colors faded and the two exited through another half open window. The cloaked figure unceremoniously dropped the soul onto the ground.
Ranma’s non-corporeal form landed square on her tail bone, “Ouch, careful how you drop people on the ground.”
The naked soul stood up and looked around. She thought to herself, “Definitely not the dojo.”
“Too easy. Too, too easy.” Mild laughter escaped from the woman, “For such a prize you were surprisingly easy soul to take.”
Ranma blinked several times, “Who are you?”
“Who am I? I suppose you have a right to know the name and title of your own personal Jesus.” The cloaked woman threw back the garments concealing her identity, “I am Laverna, Goddess of Thieves, Mistress of the Darkness, the snatching hand that liberates all.” She struck a pose and cackled in victory. While grateful that she was not in the clutches of that thing being rescued by a crazy goddess may not be any safer. The non-corporeal martial artist pondered the woman’s assessment for a moment. Before she could ponder said declarations in depth a blue haired girl in a pink kimono appeared several meters away riding an oar.
The rider cheerfully commented, “Only you could have stolen her from so many demons. So many had claims to his soul.”
“I am the greatest thief across twenty six planes of existence. Would you expect any less? Seriously Botan, next time come up with a real challenge.”
Then it slowly settled in, she is a ferry girl. Ranma knew only passing bits of mythology but with a woman floating on an oar and another proclaiming herself to be a goddess, she realized that she was dead. With a bit of melancholy Ranma whispered, “So this is it?”
The boastful one spoke up first, “Dunno, you done? Ya ready to move on to the happy hunting grounds?”
All color drained from the ferry girl’s face leaving her nearly monochromatic, “No, no, no. The rules are clear. She is dead, stabbed in the heart and bashed in the head. The only reason you were sent here was because.” Botan quickly shut her mouth she was not getting in the middle of this. The ferry girl did not just take pity on a lost soul no, she was fulfilling a request, paying back a favor.
Despite the blue haired one’s insistence the mirthful smile only seemed to grow, “Oh ho, this one must truly be a diamond in the rough. Perhaps I should get a second opinion.”
“No, you can’t he’s dead.” Botan insisted most adamantly, “The rules are clear. All divine beings must turn over all souls for swift judgment and reincarnation.”
Laverna turned slowly and squared her self to the death goddess, “Only a goddess of the future truly knows when the string of fate is severed.”
Botan hung her head in resignation. She didn’t even want to try to steal from a goddess of thieves even if her primary domain was being interfered with.
The Roman goddess smirked, “Well, where are we going to find a goddess of fate? Oh wait, look where we are.”
The fairy girl slid off her oar and placed her feet on the ground. She started muttering to her self, “Not again.”
Despite her dark trappings the European woman gave a bright smile, “So kid you up for bargaining with a Norn?”
The currently female martial artist snapped to attention. Her thoughts spun up removing her from the stupor she was in, “Was he being offered another chance? Did he want another chance? What would he live for? The art had only gotten him a messy death at the hands of his fiancée and a jealous stalker. Surly you needed to have a reason to live if you were to ask for a second chance.” Revenge briefly crossed her thoughts but why waste a pass at salvation just for something so well, petty. The last thought was perhaps the most important one. One that she verbalized quite bluntly, “What do you get out of it? Seems pretty obvious that doing this is going to cause trouble.”
Laverna laughed and smiled, “I have defied gods and demons for most of creation. It’s what I do. Today I have an opportunity to steal from both heaven and hell, if only for a time. You are just another notch on my belt should I be successful. It would really grind Loki’s gears to hear about this one. I wonder who your mysterious benefactor is. Oh it’d be really, really funny if it was Loki or Coyote that had me bail you out. Oh I can’t wait to see the look on their faces.”
The frown deepened across Ranma’s face as she thought, “His savior was, well a female version of him. She seemed so full of pride, ego and confidence.”
Her thoughts turned inward again, “Was that it? Did he not even have a moment that was his own? Even his death was somebody else’s story. Was his entire existence just to be some trophy or a notch in a belt?” Ranma’s thoughts spun into high gear and then she screamed at the top of her lungs, “Argh! I am not some play thing!”
Three voices called out from different directions in response to the commotion.
“You really shouldn’t walk around naked like that miss.”
“He can walk around like that all day.”
“Put some clothes on pervert!”
Ranma squeaked as she realized she was completely naked in front of five women. The goddesses that see what is, what was and what could be all gave each other quizzical looks. Well it was mostly the younger two looking at the eldest, “He?”
“He was quite the cutie.” Urd frankly replied.
Belldandy handed the girl a towel that just materialized and looked at the soul in front of her. Currently, Ranma wasn’t a fulfilled soul but it held the desire to be more.
While Skuld saw what it could be she pondered him. An obnoxious voice called out, “So what’s the verdict fate weaver, is the thread severed?”
All eyes turned to Skuld who simply smiled, “The world has little use for tragedies right now. What do you have to live for? Tell me why I should not cut the thread now?”
Ranma turned to his obnoxious savior. She laughed, “Don’t look at me kiddo.”
“Then why did you save me?” The pigtailed girl asked thoroughly perturbed.
The obsidian haired thief goddess shrugged, “That really isn’t the issue here. Why do you want to live?”
Skuld came closer and added, “Even if I do not sever your thread here and now it will not be an easy path. A bright future isn’t an easy thing to find, especially when you begin your search in the darkest of nights. Petty vengeance isn’t enough to stay my hand.”
“Damn it, I don’t care about pops, the fiancées or any of that other crap. I couldn’t do half the crap they did to me so it really don’t matter.” Ranma paused. She could feel the answer was just outside of his grasp.
“I want.” She paused again words and concepts he never really explored drowned his perception, “Damn it, I just want a chance. I want a life. Not some side-show attraction. I wanna get up in the morning and decide to go practice not get thrown out of a second story window into a running brawl.”
A cruel smile crossed Skuld’s face. It contained the kind of sorrow and hope only a goddess could personify, “Good, because for you to have any future at all you can no longer be Ranma Saotome. Laverna will not protect you from every demon looking to collect that soul. You would have to become something else, someone else.”
The thieving goddess smirked, “I dunno, that snatch and grab was kinda fun. Wish I could have seen the fiend’s reaction once it got back to what ever pit it crawled out of.”
Urd coyly replied, “So are you taking him under your protection? Making him one of yours?”
She shrugged, “Could be fun. I doubt that it is what he wants.”
Belldandy gave the Roman goddess a soft smile, “We cannot protect this one indefinitely either. His body is gone. She is all that remains. Perhaps you have a plan?”
“I wouldn’t call it a plan so much as a”:
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(Posted Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:19)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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