Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ The Revolution ❯ Chapter Five-Point-Nine ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from any anime series found within this Ranma 1/2 - Mystery crossover. Ranma and the other series (you'll find out what it is in the next chapter) both are licensed by Viz Media in America and are copyright their respective owners.

 

AN: A short chapter to set up the next arc.

 

The Revolution

Chapter Five Point Nine

By Dr. Suekeiichi Kaiton

 

Night fell upon him and he saw the heavens rise at his call. The celestial orbs spun in gossamer webs across his domed domain, planets orbiting his central gravity, moons pulled into tidal rotations by his sheer pull, and the black void illuminated by his very presence. He felt that something was different tonight, as if the fundamental laws of the universe were loose in their sockets, spreading subtle discord through his pantheon.

 

Such things could not be allowed to stand. Bad enough that he lost the single greatest bargaining chip and been denied the treasure that was rightfully his for the fifth time in eternity, but the wellspring of power and flux in his surroundings was muted as if the flow was ebbing off to nothingness. Damn her for leaving him like that to chase after a failure! He would bring her back, if not in person than in political maneuverings - he knew she would return, knew that she would bring Tenjou with her, but was not expecting an interloper. Surely the stars were wrong, Tenjou would never give her heart to any save himself and Anthy was incapable of strong affection. The `feelings' his sister held for the failure would sputter and die like the embers of a white dwarf before imploding into her heart and returning the void he could exploit.

 

A new stage was beginning.

 

He was Sol, the Student Council his wanderers, and their swords his cosmic meteors of divine justice. Vengeance would rain down from his lofty peak like Zeus' mighty thunderbolt and smite those small creatures thinking themselves big enough to touch his shoes. Things proceeded as normal at Ohtori; none remembered the failure or her duels thanks to his meddling and the power of the Rose Gate. Yet what was the feeling he had deep in the core of his soul, the gnawing sense that something was moving against his will? It shouldn't matter, even if Anthy found the failure she would have no more strength of will or power than before, even if she defeated the duels again her sword would not break the seal on Dios' power. The next generation of duelists was gathering on campus, some returning players from the previous performance, others enlisted from the limitless supply of raw talent in the outside world.

 

New blood meant new power.

 

Akio sat in the planetarium and wondered just what prompted Anthy to resist him, defy his will and set out into the sea of uncertainty for a single lone failure. There had been five since the Duels began, all unusable in the end, but never had Anthy disobeyed his rule as End of the World to begin again. Something changed in her during the Tenjou duels, something that Akio knew, or thought he knew, to be a petty, false emotion. The Bride did not have feelings, she simulated them for the betterment of the performance and to obtain the situations he needed to stimulate the characters to conflict.

 

Cygnus moved overhead and he fitfully followed its path, suddenly unsure in his rotation. Looking in a mirror lately caused him no end of concern as his perpetually youthful appearance had begun to show signs of age for the first time in forever. The Prince of Lies mask crackled under the internal pressures of stress and fear. Ha! How could one such as he feel mortal emotions like fear? He could not, he was the Rose Prince and he would be again, even if it took eons.

 

On the red couch between the projector and the elevator, Kanae Ohtori sat regarding her husband in a trance.

 

Five floors down from the observatory, Touga Kiryu's head perked up and he closed the flap on his cell phone. Something was changing in the nature of the air. A pink balloon drifted by, sailing far up over the covered dome of the dueling arena. He stood up with the awful rasping scrape of the wrought-iron chair against the pristine white concrete of the floating prow of the Student Council Offices.

 

Miki Kaoru clicked his stopwatch at 00:05:46 and scribbled a note in his little brown book. A small bird egg rolled off the facing page of the journal and shattered on the floor beside his feet, spilling yoke and white across the floor. He too stood up and watched the pink balloon drift on the breeze, free like only a mindless object can be - free from desire, agency, and coercion.

 

Juri Arisugawa simply watched her fellow council members rise with a haughty smirk. Dressed as she was in the Student Council whites the shape of her gold locket was not visible between her breasts. Well-manicured nails tapped impatiently against the glass top of their table as she waited for something interesting to happen. She was the first to see the dark purple balloon emerge from beneath the edge of the prow and join the pink in a lazy dance into the heavens.

 

Twenty floors down from the Council chambers, in the main courtyard, Nanami Kiryu paused with a slice of fried chicken halfway to her dainty lips as the balloon couple passed overhead. Something familiar tickled in the back of her mind…she couldn't put her finger on it but the image boded ill for the future. Beside her, Mitsuru Tsuwabuki followed his mistress's glance up into the sky and watched the rubber ovals continue their migration towards the Dueling Forest.

 

In a hidden culvert between the art building and the gym, Kozue Kaoru stopped urging a male student's head between her legs and glanced up as the inflated couple passed. She felt a chill of fear start at the top of her head and work its way down to her bare toes. Any sexual desire in her body froze at the sensation and she casually kicked the enthusiastic boy under the chin and into a patch of nettles.

 

Wakaba Shinohara paused on her way across the bridge between the North and East dormitories to look up. Her companion, a green-haired boy with curious spiral shapes on either side of his head like enormous snail shells stopped in mid sentence and followed her gaze. Deep inside her breast something stirred, a memory suppressed returned ablaze. Himemiya…that was a girl's name, wasn't it? Who was she?

 

Locked inside the prison of her room, Shiori curled her legs up to her chin and locked her elbows beneath her kneecaps. The only illumination in her dark cavern of the self was the blue sky seeping through her window. The balloons drifted by but she did not notice. Shivers ran up her spine as they passed.

 

Saionji Kyoichi paused in mid-strike and turned to the barred basement window of the Kendo Team practice room. Two orbs of color passed between the slats of the grate and he felt a fire ignite within his heart. Nothing normal could so such a thing, no normal girl satisfy his love, he knew that the girl of his dreams lay beyond the campus, perhaps beyond the world. A flash of pink hair galvanized his mind like a lightning bolt. He smiled although he knew not what was about to occur and resumed his practice.

 

Far above, in the mystical space inside the Castle of Eternity, the ghost of what was once before moved his head. A promise? No, a gesture. Things were shifting out of control in ways never considered possible.

 

Back in the darkened observatory, Akio smirked and watched the heavens spin backwards.