Neither had meant for it to come to this, she didn't think they had anyway, but it was too late at this point. She had a hard time remembering exactly what event had sparked the disgust of her counterpart and her own resentment into the hatred that existed between them now, but events had come too far to turn back. He might have stripped her of her family, her friends, and all that she had held dear, but she had survived...had found solace in the arms of one who _hadn't_ rejected her.
Perhaps Ranma had actually been naive enough to think she would just meekly accept her banishment. Never bother him again and let him and that damned bitch Akane live happily ever after. He had certainly been surprised when she turned up with her new family--one that knew all about vengeance, and had as much of a bone to pick with Ranma and his precious family as she did.
That vengeance was going to be finished today--one way or another. One of them would survive to carry the name of Ranma Saotome, one of them would carry on the Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts... and only one of them would live through this day.
She spat on the ground and turned her attention back to the confident young man standing before her, then narrowed her eyes as she glanced over the allies arrayed behind him--a number perhaps slightly less than those she had gathered for herself, but no less strong for all that.
Somewhat worried, Ranma glanced at a building off to one side of the newly emptied lots that had been chosen for this final showdown. Her children were hidden there, and she knew that if for no other reason than the two tiny miracles she and her wife had been granted she would win today.
Unfortunately, that moment of distraction was enough to grant the male Ranma the opening shot, one strong enough to knock her back and away from all but her and his wife. The battle after that was far more even, but that distance set the tone for the battle between the two couples. Raging far beyond the confines of the arena they had decided upon in a rare moment of agreement, it was nearly an hour and a half later that she and her wife finally stood triumphant.
Nearly two miles from the site of the larger battle, she and her wife immediately set out to return, moving as fast as their battered bodies would allow. Later they would feel this, but it would be subsumed in their grief... for upon reaching the site of the battle, all they found were statues. Dozens, ranging all about the remanants of the buildings that--
The realization--the sight of one of those statues nearly on top of the building where her children were hidden made Ranma take off like lightning, her wounds forgotten as she leaped from the rubble directly into a second story window. Taking only moments to orient herself, she dashed up a flight of stairs and burst through a door and past an unnoticed statue guarding it to peer into the cradle sitting near the window.
Her breath catching in her throat, Ranma slumped to her knees, the elation she had felt upon finally finishing her hated foe once and for all flowing away through the cracks that had just developed within her soul.
For sitting within the cradle were two tiny statues, one boy and one girl.
Shaking off the memories, Ranma continued to stare at her children, wondering for the thousandth time if they were truly dead or merely waiting to be released.
See other episodes by James M. Zema
(Posted Fri, 22 Aug 2003 02:26)
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