Ranma's psych was essentially a house of cards built by moderately slow-minded twelve year old and set upon a table that was missing half a leg and sitting on a sandy beach a little below the high tide mark.
That psych had remained standing this long only do to a strong spirit and a rather frenetic pace of "encouragement" and "reinforcement" on the part of his father.
Now, however, that house of cards was coming down. It had started to fall again, and this time Ranma's will made no move to hold it together. This time, Ranma was tired of having to spend so much energy holding the flimsy illusions together. It was time to build a new self, and that meant tearing away the old self.
Right now, Ranma didn't know whether the new self would be male, female or what. Whether she was even still Ranma or not.
Ranma came back to consciousness to see a sea of concerned faces.
"That shot must have taken more out of you than we thought," Nabiki said.
"Are you alright to stand, Ranma?" Kasumi asked. Ranma nodded morosely.
"He's probably faking," Akane said, in a bitter humor, perhaps she was a little jealous.
"He's not faking," Nabiki insisted angrily. She gently lifted Ranma's body off the ground when it became apparent that Ranma wasn't going to move on her own. "Ranma are you there, are you awake?"
"Yes," Ranma said with a sigh.
Nabiki paused, there was a bit of dragon in her now, culled from Filia's own essence though Nabiki did not know that, and she found her usual instincts for what people were thinking and feeling felt somehow more accurate. And that told her that there was something different about Ranma. It was like Ranma was a blank slate, not as far as memories went, no it was like Ranma's personality and attitude were blank.
"Okay," Nabiki said. "I'm going to take you to my room and you can lay down, okay?"
"Alright," Ranma said, as if experimenting with an emotional tone. "Thanks Nabiki." She let herself grip onto the other girl like a tired and scared child and be carried upstairs, leaning against Nabiki's shoulder.
"No problem," Nabiki said encourageingly. "And don't worry Ranma, we can still try Jusenkyo, maybe a new curse will work even if an already in place curse won't."
"Okay," Ranma said, with a distinct lack of emotion. Nabiki was getting worried, Ranma's emotions and fiery spirit were there, but there was no definition to it anylonger and she was too tired apparently to bring it to the surface without that definition.
"And we'll get that cheerleader, Ranma," Nabiki said as she reached her room and cautiously tucked Ranma in, taking care of the wings. "You can count on that." Ranma nodded and curled up into sleep.
"And where are you going to sleep, Nabiki?" Akane asked.
"I'll find a place," Nabiki said. "And don't look at me like that. You're the one that wants to be a furry, not me, so don't get jealous."
"I am not jealous," Akane said.
****
Ranma woke up feeling much better later that night. She got up and walked to the window and opened it, staring out into the night sky for several minutes before coming to a decision.
****
"Ranma," Nabiki said softly. "Are you feeling...damn...I should have known he'd do something like this." She walked to the desk and picked up the note, which was in slightly better handwriting than Ranma's usual attempts.
"I don't know who I am anymore. Let me find that out. - Hikage Ranma."
"Hikage Ranma," Nabiki repeated. "Darkfire Ranma. Great. Mariko pays for this."
See other episodes by Thrythlind
(Posted Thu, 21 Nov 2002 11:21)
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