Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ The Revolution ❯ Chapter Eight ( Chapter 9 )

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from any anime series found within this Ranma 1/2 - Utena crossover. Ranma and Utena both are licensed by Viz Media in America and are copyright their respective owners.

 

The Revolution

Chapter Eight

By Dr. Suekeiichi Kaiton

 

The trio left Ranma's house in the morning with nothing in their stomachs and too many things whirling in their minds. Anthy led the group to the curb where an older convertible sat idling in the street, with Utena and Ranma following close behind with an assortment of baggage. The previous night had proven uncomfortable because, no matter how angry Utena seemed at the mysterious purple-haired girl, the two seemed to act out a strange bedtime ritual before falling asleep in Nodoka's bed. He'd slept beside Utena, spooning her to him while she in turn spooned against Anthy. At several times during the night he'd mistaken Anthy for Utena and fondled her chest before realizing his mistake. While the dark-skinned girl gave no sign of discomfort it still bothered him how she just lay there and accepted the actions on her body.

 

Packing the suitcases into the truck, Ranma sat in the back seat while Utena took shotgun and Anthy drove. He hadn't noticed that the car was marked `NODOKA' on the bumper and license plate. It was probably better he not know that the mode of transportation was fashioned from the flesh and blood of his mother, in Anthy's opinion. There was very little to hold him to the house save his mother, he had very few material possessions and hadn't lived in the house long enough to have any strong memories. He bid farewell to his one-time domicile silently and watched as they pulled away onto the street.

 

“So tell me, Anthy, what are the duels about? How are they fought?” He was interested in thinking up strategies to help him in his first challenge. With all the things he knew from Cologne and Happosai the Duels would be nothing more than a formality.

 

“The duels are fought one-on-one with swords. Each duelist is given a rose to pin to their breast, the winner is the individual who retains his rose throughout the match.”

 

“So all I have to do is slice a rose from my opponent's shirt?”

 

“Yes.” Anthy pulled the car into a darkened tunnel between roads and the car began to hum strangely. Tall lights began to pass by as they sped through the dark. “However, the duels must be fought fairly…no killing or special moves allowed.”

 

“So you can't use any of your special moves, Ranma, there are magical barriers in place to prevent a lopsided fight.” Utena chimed in from her seat. She may have been presenting a strong façade for Ranma but inside she was petrified at what was about to happen. She'd left after failing to bring the Revolution, would anyone remember who she was at all? How much time had passed at the mystical campus of Ohtori? One? Two? Ten? How many of them would still be there?

 

“I'm afraid that your abilities will be useless once we reach Ohtori, Ranma.”

 

“What do you mean `useless'? Are they going to suddenly disappear from my mind?” He was wary of her using any magic on him again, who knew how two types of magic would react to one another? So far he'd stayed male all last night and this morning, he didn't relish the idea of being introduced as a female.

 

“I'm afraid that we all must leave something behind when we enter the Ends of the World, Ranma; we lose that which we most hate to lose in order to make ourselves stronger.” Anthy pressed the gas and watched the yellow lines of the road pass under the hood in a blur.

 

Ranma rolled his eyes. “And what exactly do you lose, Anthy?”

 

“Everything,” she responded as the warning began rushing by on the tarmac; they had almost reached the threshold of eternity on the road that leads to the End of the World. “I lost everything that matters to me and gain everything that will matter to me.”

 

Utena shifted uncomfortably in her seat as the road lights began whizzing by faster and faster, it all reminded her too much of riding with Akio along the winds of eternity late at night. “Are you sure you don't want to turn back, Ranma? It still isn't too late…”

 

“I'm afraid it is, Utena-sama, we're approaching Ohtori now.” Anthy smiled as she swiftly spun the wheel, causing it to spin into the darkness. Ranma felt the momentum of the spin wash over him before realizing that it had already passed. “We are here.”

 

Ranma opened his eyes, he'd closed them once they entered the suicidal spin, and beheld an ornate rose carved into what looked like marble or concrete. All around was darkness, pitch-black voids stretching on all sides of the small circular disk the car stood upon. He could detect no sound save Utena's rapid breathing and Anthy's sedate respiration. The chamber they were in was a void.

 

“Where is here?” The trio stepped out of the silent car and took their luggage from the trunk. “I don't see much of anything.”

 

“This is the Rose Gate of Ohtori, Ranma, the portal into the campus, and the End of the World.” The purple-haired girl waved a hand and the car disappeared. “Here we pass through into a world of pure will, a world in which the power of miracles, everything that shines, and true friendship exist.”

 

“That's all well and good, Anthy, but how do we get inside? There doesn't seem to be any door.” He watched as Utena and Anthy took opposite places beside the solid stone gateway. “Do we knock?” The void was beginning to get to him, as though thousands of hateful words lurked below sight in the darkness.

 

The air grew thick and murky, coiling like fog around their ankles, yet still the two girls did not move from their places. Ranma looked around warily, just knowing that something was going to pop out of the blackness and strike him in the back. A chittering, clattering sound arose from all around them and flashes of steel glinted far below. He walked uneasily towards the two and shook Utena's shoulder. No response.

 

“Let go of those things that hold you back, Ranma, you must sacrifice that which you hold most dear to wager for your freedom.” Anthy turned to him but her eyes were blank, white holes from which something ancient peered. He fell back and gave into the irrational fear swelling in his heart, dashing back towards where the car stood in to get as far away from the couple as possible.

 

Clashing and clanging arose in the air around him, faint; sharp pricks of reflected light scintillating off the marble ground with a horrendous chittering of insects and steel. He couldn't see what spun in the air around him but felt waves of displaced air zip and cut behind him, taking slices of his clothing with them. Why wasn't anyone doing anything? Why were the two of them just standing idly by while he was attacked? He spun and looked behind just in time to catch the barest glimpse of razor-sharp metal shooting straight towards his eyes. Ducking, he rolled back to the two comatose girls and tried to pull Utena away, instead, all his hand clutched was the hard glass of an invisible pane. Swearing at the pain coursing through his fingers from contact with the unseen barrier, he fell back on his ass and drew an arm up to protect his face from the threat he knew weaved patterns of evisceration all around him.

 

Suddenly he felt a stinging pain in his stomach and another surging through his forehead. Before he could even scream in pain they were upon him, thousands it seemed penetrating every square inch of his body, every bit of exposed flesh, every molecule of his being felt like forty thousand dull blades were skewering it.

 

“Open your eyes, Ranma, and see the truth.” Light flashed before his closed lids and Anthy's soft, warm voice coaxed his mind to awaken, warmth was all around him and there was no pain. Even his breasts didn't hurt…his breasts didn't hurt…something seemed strange to her about that but she supposed it didn't matter. Opening her eyes to the dying rays of the sun dipping under the churning waves of the harbor, Ranma beheld the Rose Wall surrounding the campus proper.

 

“So this is Ohtori Academy? I didn't expect it to be so big!” Adjusting the red collar of her garnet boy's jacket, Ranma turned to her roommate-cum-lover Utena and eyed the sinuous curves of her woman, belonging body and soul to her love. Anthy stepped in line with them, dressed in the normal girl's uniform of blue skirt, white shirt, and red scarf, before gesturing for them to continue inside.

 

“It's big alright,” Utena agreed. “Just big enough to lose yourself.”