[Episode 29460] [Episode 29460]The twin moons waxed full over the Masaki household, their pale luminescence bathing the surrounding landscape in a soft glow, setting shifting shadows to dancing and playing. In a small room on the upper floor, a certain pigtailed young man shifted back and forth on his futon, his restless form twitching erratically as phantom images haunted his dreams.
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"No...no...go away!"
"GO AWAY!" Ranma screamed, charging forward.
Arms lashed out, clawing ineffectually at the apparitions that surrounded him. Hands passed smoothly through immaterial bodies, their passage trailing naught but cold in their wake. Here there was no finesse, no style, no form. There was no Art here, only survival, only instinct.
"STAY BACK!" Ranma screamed again, leaping back and stumbling in his retreat to escape the advancing forms. Splayed out on the ground, Ranma attempted to rise raggedly to his feet, stopping abruptly as a chill hand came to rest on his shoulder.
"It's your fault..."
Whirling rapidly, Ranma turned to face his accoster, fighting down a wave of nausea as he got a good look at the hand's owner. It was a little girl of about six or so, clad only in a nightgown, her face sallow and pale, her body immaterial, her eyes weak and sunken, their hallowed depths staring forward without truly seeing.
"Why....why are you doing this..?!" Ranma breathed raggedly, shifting backwards and shivering as her hand passed through his shoulder. "What....what are you?!"
The girl stared up at him, her soulless eyes boring into his own, her expression growing forlorn, whistful, questioning.
"You killed us...." she replied slowly.
"Wh...what...?!" Ranma whispered, trembling violently as the girl once again approached him.
"Why did you kill us?" she asked softly, her youthful face turning upwards to meet his own.
"I don't know what the heck you're talking about!" Ranma screamed "I didn't kill nobody!!!"
The girl seemed to consider him for a second before replying, a small frown creasing her childish face.
"It's not nice to lie," she chided, "You did kill us. Tell me....why did you kill us? All of us? Why did you take my brother away? My mother, my father, my family, my friends? Why did you have to kill me?"
Ranma shuddered as he met those eyes. The eyes of an innocent.
"I TOLD YA', I DIDN'T KILL ANYONE!!" Ranma screamed again, stepping back.
"Yes you did," the girl repeated, her immature features twisting into an impropabably vicious scowl. It was not the sort of expression one would expect to find on a small child. "You killed them all. You and all those like you. I wonder, did you even give them any thought? Any thought to the lives you stole? I wonder, did you laugh when they died? Did you rejoice? Or did you just stand there and do nothing?"
"I....I...." Ranma faltered.
"You are a murderer, Ranma Saotome. A temporal assassin. You, the Pillars, and that woman, all the same. You have stricken God from his heaven and brought death to countless billions. You are a greater monster than many, and a greater fool than most," she continued relentlessly, her once-childish eyes now crafted into hard agates.
"I've never....I mean I didn't...."
"You didn't?!" she cried, her voice rising imperiously, gaining in timbre and volume until it reached an almost banshee-like wail, no longer the voice of a child but the voice of a full-grown woman. "YOU DIDN'T?!" she hissed, "How DARE you make such a declaration!! Look around you, murderer, see the results of your work! All of these people, all of them, YOU HAVE STOLEN THEIR LIVES!!!"
Trembling violently, Ranma nonetheless obeyed, turning slowly around to face the encroaching hoarde.
Except the hoarde was no longer there.
No, in their place, there were only bodies. Lifeless bodies, spread out on the ground. But these were no immaterial shades, no, these were real. True flesh and bone, rotting under the absence of a heartbeat, lifeless eyes staring upwards, limbs spread out around them as if in supplication. They came in many different shapes, in many different sizes, in many different forms, all bearing but one constant characteristic. Death.
"N...no...." Ranma whispered hoarsely, his eyes shifting ceaselessly from corpse to corpse, taking in their still forms with equal parts horror and disbelief.
"You see?" the girl sneered, walking around him to meet him face to face. Ranma shuddered as he realized that she was now the same as the rest of them, no longer immaterial, but all too real. "These are the faces of every single person that you obliterated in the Time Crash. You and the other Pillars. You and that WOMAN!" she spat, her voice changing to a snarl.
"I...I didn't...." Ranma muttered, gripping his head, and whirling around.
"But it's too late now. It's all your fault," she repeated, reaching out one hand and tilting his face upward to meet his own, "It's all your fault. All your fault. All your FAULT!!" she screamed, her voice once again rising from it's monosyllabic hiss into a soul-piercing scream.
"ALL YOUR FAULT!"
Ranma staggered backwards, clutching at his head.
"ALL YOUR FAULT!"
Footsteps rang out in the vastness of the encroaching darkness.
"ALL YOUR FAULT! ALL YOUR FAULT!! ALL YOUR FAULT! ALL YOUR FAULT! ALL YOUR FAULT! ALL YOUR FAULT! ALL YOUR FAULT! ALL YOUR FAULT! ALL YOUR FAULT! ALL YOUR FAULT! ALL YOUR FAULT! ALL YOUR FAULT! ALLYOURFAULT! ALLYOURFAULT! ALLYOURFAULTALLYOURFAULTALLYOURFAULT!!!!!!!!!"
"That's enough, Isis!" a harsh voice suddenly rang out, abruptly cutting off the rising cry.
Breathing raggedly, Ranma wrenched his head up wearily, fighting down the spinning waves of pain and disorientation, gasping as his eyes alighted on the newcomer. Standing directly behind his accuser was an older woman, her willowy form towering over that of the younger girl's, her full lips arched slightly in an expression of mild disapproval.
"YOU!!" the girl hissed, spinning to face the newcomer, her eyes burning with fiery rage and an almost tangible sense of loathing.
"Do you wish to challenge me?" the woman asked calmly, one eyebrow arching up into a sea of green hair.
Isis stared back at her for a few moments before finally turning away, scowling irritably.
"That's what I thought," the woman replied, letting out a put-upon sigh. "This is not his fault alone, Isis," she chided gently, reaching up and idly brushing a long strand of hair away from her flawless face.
"But-!" Isis protested, her voice dropping back into a more youthful register.
"No," the woman interrupted, her crimson eyes hardening, "He is not to blame. If anything, I am. I won't let you take it out on him. Not now. Maybe not ever."
"But-" Isis whined, stamping her foot fitfully on the nonexistant ground.
"I said no. Now run along. I'm sure you can find better things to do than terrorizing the Pillars."
Isis scowled for a second and glared at the older woman before stomping off and fading away.
"Th...thanks..." Ranma breathed, forcing himself to a standing position.
The older woman turned to give him an appraising glance, then looked behind him, her elegant features twisting up into a slightly distasteful expression as she took in the sea of corpses.
"Hmm...I would like to talk with you Ranma, but this is hardly the place. Perhaps we should retire to someplace more comfortable?"
Ranma stared at her for a moment, then nodded wordlessly. He didn't know why, but he felt that he could trust this woman. She felt...familiar, somehow. The woman smiled, and Ranma gasped as he felt the world suddenly twist around him, colors blurring and shapes amalgamating into a chaotic mix of light and color.
Then as suddenly as it began, it was over.
Ranma blinked once, then twice, then three times.
"Where....where are we?" Ranma stuttered, taking in the lush furnishings of the small dining room he suddenly found himself in. All around him, ornate sculptures, expensive wall-hangings, and assorted curious decorated walls and shelves, ornate oaken furniture scattered around the room, soft music wafting in through an open shoji door. To his left, a large grandfather clock dominated one wall, two halves of what appeared to be a broken key propped up negligently against it.
"This is my private study," the woman replied calmly, picking up a cup of tea from the low table in front of her and blowing on it gently, an amused smile crossing her face as she took in his dumbfounded expression. Ranma blinked as she handed him another teacup that he was sure hadn't been there two seconds ago.
"Um...okay...." Ranma mumbled, a little overwhelmed. "Er...it's....nice....I guess..."
"Thank you," she answered, raising her cup in thanks to the compliment.
"Um...listen, what's this all about, er...." Ranma floundered, wincing as he realized that he didn't know this woman's name. Strange. He felt like he should know it.
The woman looked hurt for a second, but quickly recovered, her small frown slipping back into the almost-nonexistant smile that seemed to be defining charactistic.
"Of course, we haven't been introduced," she murmured, taking another sip of her tea.
"You can call me...Setsuna."
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(Posted Fri, 14 Mar 2003 09:58)
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