DISCLAIMER: Relatively standard stuff. Existing characters are properties of the people who made them up. Mitsuki, and several other characters are mine, and so's the story, hence ownership and copyright of them belongs to me. Contact me at [email protected] if you want permission to use anything I've written for whatnot purposes.
TRUTH
by
Raymond Cooper
Chapter 21
** The Truth **
Ranma stood in the middle of pitch-black monsters, piled up in a small mountain under his feet. He felt a soft breeze flutter his fuku... ahh. He'd been helping the senshi again. It was fun. But they required him to wear that damned fuku... rather, Hotaru did, and she didn't want anyone knowing that Ranma could help them, almost on their level.
If anything, that could cause more problems than were already being caused. Or something. Sailor Saturn wasn't the easiest person to fathom. Ranma knew she was hiding something, about her school, he felt, but wasn't going to pry. There hadn't been any problems there, but every so often, while they were training or watching TV, eating dinner or any of a million other things... he felt her eyes turn to him, gauge him, deep and unreadable.
She had him in his girl form, as usual when fighting monsters. And that was why he was wearing the fuku.
Although, behind him, Sailor Moon snickered.
Ranma turned, frowning. What was she laughing at? Then he realised the other senshi were stifling giggles as well, and Venus was straight-out pointing. Mercury had a digital camera and was taking pictures.
Ranma looked down.
He wasn't in his female form.
Oh dear.
******
Nice way to wake up from a completely restless night.
******
Ranma opened the fridge door, squinting at the onslaught of light on his eyes. What could he eat? What could he drink? What could he do to get back to sleep? Something had to be done. Or needed doing. Or something.
Ranma couldn't sleep. And after that last dream... well, that was one of the worst of the night, but it wasn't as bad in some ways as others. He'd already seen Akane rip Hotaru apart... and then in the next dream, watch Hotaru tear Akane limb from limb. Ouch.
Maybe his talk with Kasumi hadn't gone as well as he'd thought. Maybe there was some underlying threat, some curse, that the eldest Tendo sister had placed on him with him unawares, when he'd confronted her the day before, paying off his engagement.
Okay. Maybe it was a reflection of the fact Ranma was now broke. All the money he'd received and would receive from managing the dorm for the year was now gone. He couldn't afford anything. Would not be able to afford anything for a while.
What ways were there around that?
He had made a lot of money from this job - although it was now all gone. He needed to think of ways to bolster his cash reserves. And quickly.
That still didn't make him feel any better, didn't make him feel safe and secure enough to go back to sleep.
And when the pair of arms wrapped around his waist from behind, he jumped.
******
After guiding the sleep-walking Usagi back to her room, and reassuring her once more that he wasn't her Mamo-chan, he found himself on the roof. It would be dawn in a few hours. Time for a training session. And Ranma needed to know what was going on in his mind.
Perhaps it was whatever powder Nabiki had blown at him? It was very likely that was from Cologne, and that meant trouble. Ranma felt he might have to go on a quick retreat, find out if he was about to start growing a new set of arms, or lose his curse - or gain it permanently. Find out what the powder would do, anyway. He wasn't sure what it did, and that was worrying.
Maybe it was responsible for his bad dreams.
He crossed his legs, leaned back, tried his best to clear his mind. Meditated for a time. He sucked in a breath -
******
- and found himself in darkness.
There was a woman here. Well, a teenaged girl, anyway. She looked familiar.
It only took Ranma an instant to recognise her as one of the generals of whatever monster was behind the recent attacks. They'd seen each other several times by now. Ranma stared for but a moment, then flipped up into a combat stance.
The girl eyed him curiously.
"You know I'm dead," she said, conversationally.
"Dead?"
"I'm just an idea. A memory in the back of the ether," the girl continued.
"What... what... huh?"
The girl smiled, stood up herself. "You don't know how long I've waited for someone to arrive."
"You're an evil monster," Ranma countered, not dropping his stance.
"We're all evil monsters down here... Ranma." The girl closed her eyes as she spoke his name. She'd paused, as if looking into his head. That was curious. She was curious. And unafraid of him.
"How do you know my name?" he demanded.
"Don't you know? You're still sitting cross-legged on that roof, Ranma. You're walking free with your mind. You're in what used to be my mind." Natsumi's eyes opened. "That's why I'm just an idea now. I'm a figment of memory. Something evil stole my body. Consumed my soul."
"I... I didn't know."
"Of course you wouldn't! You're not even fighting a war of your own. You're fighting... Hotaru's war. For her. Because you think she's right."
"She is. I know her. She's honest. Pure. Right."
"This is true. And so am I."
"You're a monster." Ranma felt a curious sense of unreality wash over him. Natsumi chuckled.
"I'm not a monster. I wanted help in my life. Someone to watch over me. But my sister couldn't always be there. So someone else gave me power to look after my life. I didn't have a choice. And it didn't give me power. I was given to the power. I could never control it. It controlled me."
"Power does that."
"As yours does."
"My power doesn't control me!" he retorted hotly.
"But it does. Power corrupts. It corrupts us all, Ranma." She walked around him, watching him curiously. "Did I want it? No. Can I now live without it? No."
"That's your problem."
Her eyes flashed. "It's your problem, too."
"How do you figure that?"
"This war won't be over until no one wants power. But everyone wants power of some kind. To be smarter, stronger, faster, funnier, sexier. We all want something. What do you want?"
"I want to go back to my body and live my life!"
"You can do that already. But the power of your mind isn't ready to let you go yet. Do you know why you're not sleeping yet?"
"No!"
"Interesting. The answer is right in front of you. Yet you refuse to see it."
"Your power is evil!"
"And so is yours. You hurt people with it, as do I."
"I do not!"
"Tatewaki Kuno never felt the impact of your fists? Ryoga Hibiki never died of a thousand broken hearts whenever you spoke with Akane Tendo? Nabiki Tendo never cried herself to sleep on the few occasions you saw through her money-making efforts? Really, Ranma Saotome, you really should stop with this self-delusion."
"This whole place is a self-delusion! I'm not seeing this! You're not really here! I'm just sleep deprived!"
"Maybe so, but until you recognise a few home truths, Ranma, you will never be able to go home again."
"I'm not going home!"
Natsumi sighed, and shook her head. "No. How silly of me. Of course you're not. Because you don't know where home really is, Ranma."
"I live -"
"No, you don't." She paused, turned large, sad eyes up towards Ranma. "Find the truth of the situation. Become a real person, not just a shadow of one. Please. Don't let the power consume you like it did me and so many others."
******
And just like that, Ranma blinked, opened his eyes. He was still on the roof, and the distant horizon started glowing, showing the efforts of the sun trying to climb into the skies above for the day ahead.
That dream - if that was what it was - was disturbing. But what was she referring to? If she was indeed referring to anything. Maybe it would come. Maybe it was a sign of his own subconscious thoughts. Who knows?
Below him, the front door slid open, and Hotaru stepped out in her training gi, followed by Minako, Rei, and Makoto. They chatted lightly, tiredly for a moment, as they found places to lay towels and kick off slippers, then moved into position as Ranma jumped down from the roof, ready to teach for the morning.
******
Inside, at the kitchen table, Mitsuki sighed, pouring spoon after spoon of sugar onto a bowl of rice bubbles. Oh yeah, exciting times. She felt she should be out there, but still felt a huge burning shame deep down inside for what she'd done to one of her sensei's former friends.
Never mind that said former friend would have tried to do the same thing to her, given half a chance.
She looked up as Usagi walked into the kitchen, frowning. "Morning," she said to the Way Outer senshi sitting at the table already. "I had the strangest dream last night," Usagi continued, without waiting for a response. Typical Usagi.
"I dreamt that Mamo-chan was here, poking around in our fridge, during the night. Then he took me back to bed, got all embarrassed when I kissed him and tried to rip his clothes off." Usagi stared at a spot on the fridge door for a moment. "He ran screaming he wasn't Mamoru when I took my shirt off."
"Sure you weren't sleep-walking?"
"Oh, I never sleep walk," Usagi said.
"And if you did start sleep-walking," Mitsuki continued blithely, a smirk beginning to form on her face, "which man in this dorm would you have confused with Mamoru?"
The smirk grew wilder as Usagi considered that and blushed. "ItwasadreamandIdon'tsleepwalk," she hurried out, then ran out of the kitchen, redder than a beetroot.
That was fun. It put Mitsuki in a slightly happie frame of mind, anyway.
And now she was alone again, Mitsuki pulled out two bottles from a pocket, and looked at them. Take one of each at mealtimes. This was a mealtime. So she uncapped the bottle, and shook out one of each into the palm of her hand.
The voices weren't as bad today. They hadn't been bad for a while. In fact, they'd gone very, very quiet when she'd hurt Ranma's friend. And the only one that didn't go very quiet told her how much of a bad person she was and just how much work she'd have to do to make it up to him.
That voice was her conscience. At least, that was how she thought of it. It was always morally right - some personality other than herself that appeared to have her best interests (and the interests of others) at heart.
Right now it was telling her, no matter how quiet her brain was, TAKE. THE. DAMN. PILLS.
She popped them, washed them down right away. A few minutes, and her brain would calm down a little.
Meanwhile, she'd continue piling the sugar on to her breakfast.
******
The girls had gone. Ranma was left alone, and was now working on some maintenance around the dorm. Hmm. That had been a weird dream - or vision, though he doubted it was one - that he'd had earlier. And even if it wasn't a vision, well, it could have been his subconscious trying to tell him something. But what?
It was weird, anyway. He couldn't think what it spoke of, so lost himself in hammering down shingles.
******
He wasn't going to be a monster. That was final.
******
Therefore, power couldn't consume him. That was final.
******
But what kind of power was she referring to? Whatever made the monsters in the first place? Or something else? Ranma shook his head. He didn't know. But his dream seemed fairly insistant that he give this all some thought.
He could do that while having lunch, he realised, seeing the time. Time had gotten away from him. He'd shingled half the roof.
Lunch was easy. Half a dozen sandwiches, in front of the television. But try as hard as he might, no amount of Car Robots reruns would jolt his mind into gear. Oh well. Maybe it would make sense some other time.
******
The monster Natsumi woke from a deep but restless slumber, irritated at something that had been gnawing at her for a while now. She couldn't place it, all she knew was that she often had the feeling of being watched. Maybe something inside. Maybe something still existed of the host body that her core energy inhabited. Several maybes. Natsumi didn't like maybes. They were anathema to her. She liked absolutes, things she could grab in her hands, hold, twist its neck if need be. She hadn't always been like that, to that extent, but now she had the capabilities to do as she pleased, she was.
Time was everything. Time was important. Especially to the Master.
Even as she thought his title, she felt his call. His urge.
She was satisfied he'd called her instead of Umiko. He wouldn't need a nurse much longer. His time was fast approaching.
As she stepped into his room, she could tell it would be sooner than she had originally thought. Umiko was nowhere to be seen, strangely enough. She usually never strayed further than a few steps from the Master's side. The Master was looking slightly larger than usual, blacker, if possible. His gloss was beginning to lose its shine, and his eyes were dimmed.
If Natsumi didn't know better, she would say he was sick, dying. And yet, the Master was sick, and was dying.
She knelt before him. His need was communicated to her, and she looked up through her VR goggles. "Yes, Master. It is time. I will assemble the troops."
Natsumi left the room. Behind her, the Master ambled slowly towards a window, looking out. Soon.
Soon it would be time.
******
Mitsuki looked down at her books. Gah. She knew at least one horrible thing about the pills - they stopped her brain from being able to process information as fast as it used to. Even with the voices quiet, and the occasional shifts in personalities, she'd been able to at least keep a coherent train of thought going at some speed. But with her brain tied down by the medication... Well, things just went a little slower than usual.
The university library was quiet. But what did one expect when librarians were shushing everyone in sight?
Still, surely it shouldn't be this quiet?
Something prickled on the back of her neck. She knew what that sensation was. Monsters. Dark Kingdom creatures, prowling nearby.
Ice ran down her spine. Getting closer. None of the other senshi around. But then, they hadn't been asking for her help of late, or if they did, they had her guarded by Saturn and Jupiter in case she followed her voices again, or let one out. But there were no other senshi around. And there was a loud crash, the sounds of splintering wood impacting on soft fleshy bodies, and a low growl, from the end of one of the rows. She watched, silently, as one of the massive university bookcases started falling to one side, and hit the wall. Two people ran screaming from the next row over, although one was cut down by a blast of purple energy from behind him. His legs continued to run for a few moments, his head watching from his torso several metres back with stupid amazement.
Conscience spoke up. Mitsuki pushed the chair she was sitting in back, but it was Sailor Nemesis who stood up, fists curling. She leapt for the aisle, and at the other end, saw four monsters. Definitely Dark Kingdom. Three were black scaly things that looked more like giant, extremely mobile iguanas than anything else, and the fourth looked like a slightly decomposing corpse, flesh tearing off to reveal a skeleton underneath. Nemesis noted the power burning in that one's eyes, and realised that the flesh and blood was all that was left of the original person - this monster *was* a skeleton.
It pointed at her, and the three iguanas leapt for her.
She crossed her hands.
"NEMESIS BREAKUP PATTERN!"
******
Even Usagi knew something was up when the library exploded.
Well, to be fair to Nemesis, only part of it exploded, and the people who were in that part were dead already - but neither of them knew that.
Usagi's modern history class vacated their seats immediately for good positions at the windows - which shattered as the shockwave from the blast hit, glass lacerating exposed pieces of flesh on the students and lecturer.
That was when Usagi decided it best to make a run for the library. No one was watching, so she transformed into Sailor Moon in the corridor, and headed for the devastation.
******
She was met moments later by the other senshi, apart from Saturn. Sailor Moon eyed them with caution. "I think our older friend has gone crazy again," she said, gesturing at the hole, and the shouted attacks and occasional pulse of light and shower of debris from another energy blast.
Venus pouted. "I don't think we should count that possibility as a certainty just yet," she remarked a little acidly.
Jupiter looked ready to say something else, but Sailor Moon cut her off. "We've got a senshi to find, and find out what the heck she's doing in there."
There was a voice from behind them. "Check the rubble for survivors."
Sailor Moon turned; it was the red-haired girl in the fuku who Saturn seemed to bring along with her half the time when fighting monsters. Sailor Moon had come to the conclusion there was no way she was a senshi, but seeing as her powers seemed very similar to Ranma's (or so she was told) she suspected they'd had a shared teacher at some point in their past or something. And the advice was sound. Combined, both thoughts led Sailor Moon to nod. "Do that, too," she said to the senshi. The others nodded, and bounded into the rubble, pulling huge wooden beams up to check under them as they moved closer to Nemesis' point.
******
'Why the heck am I wearing this thing again?' Ranma thought to himself as he bounded towards the multiple points of energy he could feel. As he passed through the wreckage, he felt fading points of ki, mixed with the almost tangible ectoplasmic stench he associated with these Dark Kingdom monsters. They'd killed a lot of people. Nemesis hadn't, yet, as far as he could tell.
He was ahead of the senshi when he arrived over the point of Nemesis' energy signature, he found he couldn't see them. They were under the rubble.
With a quick blast of ki channelled through his fingers, he blasted a person-sized hole, and dropped through. He landed lightly on the ground, disconcerted that the fuku's skirt flew up around his stomach. 'Note to self,' he reminded himself, 'sew that damned thing down.' At least he wasn't in Nerima anymore... he'd have had half the district trying to peer up it.
He noted four monsters taking turns at attacking Nemesis. She fought aggressively, energy blasts flying from her hands, snap punches and kicks with enough force to shatter reinforced armour. No effect. Everything bounced off their armour. Except for one monster, that kind of looked similar to a zombie. That dodged everything that Nemesis was throwing at him. He also noted she wasn't using half the skills he'd taught her for the months she'd trained under him. her speed wasn't what it should be - she was concentrating on kicks and punches fast enough that she could make use of her senshi super-human strength and yet move into position in time to counter the next.
She could be doing that much faster if she didn't rely on that factor of her biology. Ranma had noted that about all the senshi, although Rei and Hotaru seemed to be catching on slowly.
Nemesis gave him a quick glance as he landed, and nodded. She hadn't noted the red-haired girl give her much attention the last month or so, since her 'accident' with Ranma's friend, but didn't attach any signifigance to that. She also didn't know Ranma was cursed, for which Ranma felt eternally grateful - knowing *one* of the senshi knew he spent some of his time in women's clothing was more than enough. Kami knew Hotaru gave him enough teasing over that in private.
While he still felt uneasy around Nemesis, he no longer felt the anger towards her he once did. And Hotaru hadn't even had to try and work her subtle manipulations on him - in fact, she'd left him to come to terms with it himself, and had made sure the other girls had, too. Which was good. He wouldn't feel safe around Mitsuki for a long time, but he could work with her now.
He nodded at the zombie-monster. "He's mine," he said out loud. Nemesis nodded briefly, all the attention she could spare him before the monsters came at her again.
The zombie seemed to note Ranma's interest in him, and turned to face the new arrival. There was a moment's hesitation, then the zombie leaped at him, throwing a reverse spinning roundhouse kick at Ranma's midsection. Ranma flared his battle aura to life, and blasted ki energy out through it, clenching fists and blocking at speeds Nemesis wasn't able to match. The kick impacted, then bounced off, and Ranma followed through with a spinning crescent moon, taking a huge chunk of flesh out of the monster's neck.
It responded with a flurry of punches aimed to disable Ranma, but which the martial artist matched with blocks and the occasional jab of his own. He was still evaluating the threat posed by the zombie and the moves it was capable of. When he'd tired of this, he cut lose with a katsu tenshin amagurriken, shaking flesh off the zombie's torso in huge amounts. Several of the monster's ribs also cracked under the onslaught. The zombie was seemingly left open, but gave Ranma a devsastating kick to the stomach which got partially through Ranma's guard. He was winded, but had faced worse than this before.
He noticed Nemesis finally dispatch one of the monsters with a richter wave right down it's throat. Summoning reserves of energy, Ranma began laying into the zombie's skull with another katsu tenshin amagurriken, finally feeling the thing start to give way under his blows. But while he was concentrating on putting this beast down fast, Ranma was still being attacked. Certainly, the attacks were slower now, weaker, but they still took their toll on him.
This thing... it didn't look it, but it was stronger than most of the foes he usually faced. He'd been finding that more and more of late, when assisting the senshi. These monsters, Hotaru had said, got stronger and stronger the longer they existed. Perhaps, if one was strong enough to begin with, and lived long enough, it could become a god, Ranma had suggested, if their power grew like that. Hotaru had said nothing, but the dark look in her suddenly hooded eyes had suggested that he was right.
His attention was narrowing now, consciousness tunneling. The zombie was weakened considerably now, but he was about to lose consciousness, and would then be open to anything. If he was going to finish this, he had to finish it now.
He dredged up his last store of ki, focussing it into his fists. He brought both up, and ramed them down into the creature's skull. Bone splintered under his knuckles, soft tissue splattered up and coated his face. He opened his mouth.
"Mouko Takabisha!"
The zombie collapsed, but Ranma didn't notice, having passed out already. Its body decorated the walls, and caused a fatal distraction for another monster, who fell to an arctic ice wave that Nemesis, also injured in a number of places, rammed down its throat. She collapsed to her knees, just as the other senshi dropped in.
The final monster was finished off quickly.
Leaving the senshi standing around the unconscious girl in the fuku.
"What do we do with her?" Mars asked.
"Take her back to the dorm?" Mercury suggested. "Her energy levels are very low. She's recovering faster than a normal person, but she will be unconscious for some time. Perhaps Hotaru can do something for her?"
Sailor Moon nodded. "We'll take her back to the dormitory. And... Nemesis... the people up there -"
Ranma's eyes swam open for a moment. "Not... her." Mercury blinked in surprise, and went to make a comment, but the girl was out again. Jupiter made to pick her up, but Nemesis placed a hand on her arm.
"Let me. I... I think I owe him this. And more."
Jupiter eyed Sailor Moon, but the luna senshi just nodded silently. They departed, leaving the university authorities to explain the massed amounts of explosions, dozens dead, the library ruined, and teenaged girls in fukus flying about.
******
Ranma opened his eyes.
"The power is consuming you."
"I had to do that," he conceeded.
Natsumi smiled. "We all did. At some point in our lives. There is always a point where we say, no more, this is where we draw the line. And we act then. But we ignore everything that came before. We ignore what made it a problem in the beginning. It's learning not to do that, not to make the problems, to fix them so everyone is happy before they begin, this is the strength of power that you should attain. Only a real person can do that. You've got some growing up to do."
"I'm already grown up!"
"That statement proves you haven't."
"..."
"Ranma. Find your own way in life. Don't let the power consume you. It's not the use of the power that's important. It's not the application. It's the not using it."
"For a hallucination, you're being very forthcoming this time."
Natsumi smiled again. "I want you to make sure you know there's a decision to be made."
******
He awoke again, in his female body this time. It was dark. Hotaru sat beside him, legs folded under her, hands in her lap. She looked worried. And while her voice was low, calm, collected, it also betrayed her worry and nervousness.
"I wasn't sure you'd be all right."
"You brought Shampoo back from the dead." Ranma's voice was raspy. He realised he was lying on his futon, in his normal clothing.
Hotaru looked apologetic. "I had to tell the others, Ranma, about your curse. I'm sorry, but I needed to change your clothes, and explain where you were. I couldn't think of any other way. I had to tell the truth. Mitsuki... she knew, I think. I think she realised."
"I think... the truth is the best thing anyone could have said."
"They don't believe me."
"If you hadn't seen me in that fountain, would you have believed me?"
Hotaru shook her head.
"So why would they?" Ranma struggled into an upright position. "If you told them, why am I still in my girl-form?"
Hotaru shrugged. "Your strength is still low, sempai. You've been unconscious for a week... despite my best efforts. I didn't want to chance any more problems."
"I must really have drained myself," he muttered to himself. Hotaru leaned over and kissed his cheek lightly.
"I'll go let the others know you're awake." With that, Hotaru stood, and left the room.
A moment later, Mitsuki crept inside the doorway, slid the door shut behind her. She stood there for a minute, just watching Ranma nervously. When Ranma didn't bite at her, she stepped forward a step or two, then halted. "Ranma..."
"Mitsuki."
"It is you. I... I thought your attacks weren't just similar." She hung her head, violet hair spilling over her eyes. "I know you probably won't believe me, but... I am very, *very* sorry about your friend." Ranma went to say something, but she waved him quiet. "Please. I've thought about this for a couple of months now. I've had time to think. To brood. I don't want to go off my pills, and to combat being able to shake off the effects, I'm taking higher doses. It might not be safe, but it's a lot safer than... than some of the personalities in my mind being let out. I can't make up for what I did, Ranma, but I want you to know, I'll do whatever I can to -"
Ranma held up a hand. It shook from the effort, so weakened was he. "Mitsuki... I understand. Really. Your problem... must be great. I... haven't been a good... sensei by not... trying to help. I'll do my best." He wheezed, sucking in breath for saying so much.
Mitsuki just stared, her mouth open. "Sen... sei?"
"I promise... to try... and help... you." With that, his eyes closed, and he fell asleep again.
Mitsuki continued to stare. Then she crossed the floor, bent down and hesitantly kissed his forehead, running a hand over Ranma's red hair. "Sensei. I'll make you proud." She turned and exited the room, leaving Ranma to his restful sleep.
******
Umiko sat off the Master's room. She knew Natsumi was scheming to replace her, as did the Master. She also knew things that Natsumi would never know. Like just who the stronger General was.
She heard a noise from the Master's room, and hurried in. His form was now more paper-thin than ever. He almost looked as if he was badly-painted rice paper that had been outside for too long. His life was nearly over... and yet, it would begin.
This was his crysalis stage. The next would be his adult form, as it were.
Something from inside the Master punched at the drying skin, weakly, trying to tear it.
Natsumi had been called to assemble the troops. Why? Because the Master needed protection. Protection through distraction. The only way. While Natsumi planned and plotted her attacks and schemed her backstabbing, the Master could mature.
As he apparently had just finished. His form shuddered, and something within burst forth.
"Umiko, my mother," the Master said, "How good it is to finally see you with my own two eyes."
TO BE CONTINUED IN THE FOLLOW-UP SERIES "Love".
SAILOR MOON SAYS:
Gah. TAFE sucks. And not having work completed at the end of term sucks even more. Double gah. All that effort, for a fail. But it was my fault. I shouldn't get so stressed over things... when I get stressed, I can't do anything :P
Like writing.
Like writing this fic :)
I am truly sorry to those of you who have emailed me, to be told, yeah, a week or so until the new chapter goes up! Well, I last said that two weeks ago. I actually started this chapter then, finished it tonight in a marathon effort (gotta love the flu, cancels writer's block from stress) and tied up everything for this section of the arc.
Ranma and Mitsuki are talking again. The senshi will come back together a little. The Master's new form has been revealed (oh damn, you'll have to wait til the next chapter to see that;). Other things have been worked in and expanded upon.
And the ultimate journey of the series as a whole has just been plotted, more so in the covert manner than the obvious. Heh.
Anyway, this fic is finished now... so look for the follow-up series, Love, which should start hopefully in the next few days. It will be under the title Love, so look for it in the section you found Truth in :)
As always, I'd love to hear comments on how you've liked or disliked this arc of the story. I've changed the email address in the disclaimer to [email protected], cause I check that more often than I do my linksnet addy... just a note to those who like to email me :)
I hope you enjoyed this arc... I've certainly enjoyed writing it, that's for sure.
Raymond Cooper
10:10PM, 28.11.01
TRUTH
by
Raymond Cooper
Chapter 21
** The Truth **
Ranma stood in the middle of pitch-black monsters, piled up in a small mountain under his feet. He felt a soft breeze flutter his fuku... ahh. He'd been helping the senshi again. It was fun. But they required him to wear that damned fuku... rather, Hotaru did, and she didn't want anyone knowing that Ranma could help them, almost on their level.
If anything, that could cause more problems than were already being caused. Or something. Sailor Saturn wasn't the easiest person to fathom. Ranma knew she was hiding something, about her school, he felt, but wasn't going to pry. There hadn't been any problems there, but every so often, while they were training or watching TV, eating dinner or any of a million other things... he felt her eyes turn to him, gauge him, deep and unreadable.
She had him in his girl form, as usual when fighting monsters. And that was why he was wearing the fuku.
Although, behind him, Sailor Moon snickered.
Ranma turned, frowning. What was she laughing at? Then he realised the other senshi were stifling giggles as well, and Venus was straight-out pointing. Mercury had a digital camera and was taking pictures.
Ranma looked down.
He wasn't in his female form.
Oh dear.
******
Nice way to wake up from a completely restless night.
******
Ranma opened the fridge door, squinting at the onslaught of light on his eyes. What could he eat? What could he drink? What could he do to get back to sleep? Something had to be done. Or needed doing. Or something.
Ranma couldn't sleep. And after that last dream... well, that was one of the worst of the night, but it wasn't as bad in some ways as others. He'd already seen Akane rip Hotaru apart... and then in the next dream, watch Hotaru tear Akane limb from limb. Ouch.
Maybe his talk with Kasumi hadn't gone as well as he'd thought. Maybe there was some underlying threat, some curse, that the eldest Tendo sister had placed on him with him unawares, when he'd confronted her the day before, paying off his engagement.
Okay. Maybe it was a reflection of the fact Ranma was now broke. All the money he'd received and would receive from managing the dorm for the year was now gone. He couldn't afford anything. Would not be able to afford anything for a while.
What ways were there around that?
He had made a lot of money from this job - although it was now all gone. He needed to think of ways to bolster his cash reserves. And quickly.
That still didn't make him feel any better, didn't make him feel safe and secure enough to go back to sleep.
And when the pair of arms wrapped around his waist from behind, he jumped.
******
After guiding the sleep-walking Usagi back to her room, and reassuring her once more that he wasn't her Mamo-chan, he found himself on the roof. It would be dawn in a few hours. Time for a training session. And Ranma needed to know what was going on in his mind.
Perhaps it was whatever powder Nabiki had blown at him? It was very likely that was from Cologne, and that meant trouble. Ranma felt he might have to go on a quick retreat, find out if he was about to start growing a new set of arms, or lose his curse - or gain it permanently. Find out what the powder would do, anyway. He wasn't sure what it did, and that was worrying.
Maybe it was responsible for his bad dreams.
He crossed his legs, leaned back, tried his best to clear his mind. Meditated for a time. He sucked in a breath -
******
- and found himself in darkness.
There was a woman here. Well, a teenaged girl, anyway. She looked familiar.
It only took Ranma an instant to recognise her as one of the generals of whatever monster was behind the recent attacks. They'd seen each other several times by now. Ranma stared for but a moment, then flipped up into a combat stance.
The girl eyed him curiously.
"You know I'm dead," she said, conversationally.
"Dead?"
"I'm just an idea. A memory in the back of the ether," the girl continued.
"What... what... huh?"
The girl smiled, stood up herself. "You don't know how long I've waited for someone to arrive."
"You're an evil monster," Ranma countered, not dropping his stance.
"We're all evil monsters down here... Ranma." The girl closed her eyes as she spoke his name. She'd paused, as if looking into his head. That was curious. She was curious. And unafraid of him.
"How do you know my name?" he demanded.
"Don't you know? You're still sitting cross-legged on that roof, Ranma. You're walking free with your mind. You're in what used to be my mind." Natsumi's eyes opened. "That's why I'm just an idea now. I'm a figment of memory. Something evil stole my body. Consumed my soul."
"I... I didn't know."
"Of course you wouldn't! You're not even fighting a war of your own. You're fighting... Hotaru's war. For her. Because you think she's right."
"She is. I know her. She's honest. Pure. Right."
"This is true. And so am I."
"You're a monster." Ranma felt a curious sense of unreality wash over him. Natsumi chuckled.
"I'm not a monster. I wanted help in my life. Someone to watch over me. But my sister couldn't always be there. So someone else gave me power to look after my life. I didn't have a choice. And it didn't give me power. I was given to the power. I could never control it. It controlled me."
"Power does that."
"As yours does."
"My power doesn't control me!" he retorted hotly.
"But it does. Power corrupts. It corrupts us all, Ranma." She walked around him, watching him curiously. "Did I want it? No. Can I now live without it? No."
"That's your problem."
Her eyes flashed. "It's your problem, too."
"How do you figure that?"
"This war won't be over until no one wants power. But everyone wants power of some kind. To be smarter, stronger, faster, funnier, sexier. We all want something. What do you want?"
"I want to go back to my body and live my life!"
"You can do that already. But the power of your mind isn't ready to let you go yet. Do you know why you're not sleeping yet?"
"No!"
"Interesting. The answer is right in front of you. Yet you refuse to see it."
"Your power is evil!"
"And so is yours. You hurt people with it, as do I."
"I do not!"
"Tatewaki Kuno never felt the impact of your fists? Ryoga Hibiki never died of a thousand broken hearts whenever you spoke with Akane Tendo? Nabiki Tendo never cried herself to sleep on the few occasions you saw through her money-making efforts? Really, Ranma Saotome, you really should stop with this self-delusion."
"This whole place is a self-delusion! I'm not seeing this! You're not really here! I'm just sleep deprived!"
"Maybe so, but until you recognise a few home truths, Ranma, you will never be able to go home again."
"I'm not going home!"
Natsumi sighed, and shook her head. "No. How silly of me. Of course you're not. Because you don't know where home really is, Ranma."
"I live -"
"No, you don't." She paused, turned large, sad eyes up towards Ranma. "Find the truth of the situation. Become a real person, not just a shadow of one. Please. Don't let the power consume you like it did me and so many others."
******
And just like that, Ranma blinked, opened his eyes. He was still on the roof, and the distant horizon started glowing, showing the efforts of the sun trying to climb into the skies above for the day ahead.
That dream - if that was what it was - was disturbing. But what was she referring to? If she was indeed referring to anything. Maybe it would come. Maybe it was a sign of his own subconscious thoughts. Who knows?
Below him, the front door slid open, and Hotaru stepped out in her training gi, followed by Minako, Rei, and Makoto. They chatted lightly, tiredly for a moment, as they found places to lay towels and kick off slippers, then moved into position as Ranma jumped down from the roof, ready to teach for the morning.
******
Inside, at the kitchen table, Mitsuki sighed, pouring spoon after spoon of sugar onto a bowl of rice bubbles. Oh yeah, exciting times. She felt she should be out there, but still felt a huge burning shame deep down inside for what she'd done to one of her sensei's former friends.
Never mind that said former friend would have tried to do the same thing to her, given half a chance.
She looked up as Usagi walked into the kitchen, frowning. "Morning," she said to the Way Outer senshi sitting at the table already. "I had the strangest dream last night," Usagi continued, without waiting for a response. Typical Usagi.
"I dreamt that Mamo-chan was here, poking around in our fridge, during the night. Then he took me back to bed, got all embarrassed when I kissed him and tried to rip his clothes off." Usagi stared at a spot on the fridge door for a moment. "He ran screaming he wasn't Mamoru when I took my shirt off."
"Sure you weren't sleep-walking?"
"Oh, I never sleep walk," Usagi said.
"And if you did start sleep-walking," Mitsuki continued blithely, a smirk beginning to form on her face, "which man in this dorm would you have confused with Mamoru?"
The smirk grew wilder as Usagi considered that and blushed. "ItwasadreamandIdon'tsleepwalk," she hurried out, then ran out of the kitchen, redder than a beetroot.
That was fun. It put Mitsuki in a slightly happie frame of mind, anyway.
And now she was alone again, Mitsuki pulled out two bottles from a pocket, and looked at them. Take one of each at mealtimes. This was a mealtime. So she uncapped the bottle, and shook out one of each into the palm of her hand.
The voices weren't as bad today. They hadn't been bad for a while. In fact, they'd gone very, very quiet when she'd hurt Ranma's friend. And the only one that didn't go very quiet told her how much of a bad person she was and just how much work she'd have to do to make it up to him.
That voice was her conscience. At least, that was how she thought of it. It was always morally right - some personality other than herself that appeared to have her best interests (and the interests of others) at heart.
Right now it was telling her, no matter how quiet her brain was, TAKE. THE. DAMN. PILLS.
She popped them, washed them down right away. A few minutes, and her brain would calm down a little.
Meanwhile, she'd continue piling the sugar on to her breakfast.
******
The girls had gone. Ranma was left alone, and was now working on some maintenance around the dorm. Hmm. That had been a weird dream - or vision, though he doubted it was one - that he'd had earlier. And even if it wasn't a vision, well, it could have been his subconscious trying to tell him something. But what?
It was weird, anyway. He couldn't think what it spoke of, so lost himself in hammering down shingles.
******
He wasn't going to be a monster. That was final.
******
Therefore, power couldn't consume him. That was final.
******
But what kind of power was she referring to? Whatever made the monsters in the first place? Or something else? Ranma shook his head. He didn't know. But his dream seemed fairly insistant that he give this all some thought.
He could do that while having lunch, he realised, seeing the time. Time had gotten away from him. He'd shingled half the roof.
Lunch was easy. Half a dozen sandwiches, in front of the television. But try as hard as he might, no amount of Car Robots reruns would jolt his mind into gear. Oh well. Maybe it would make sense some other time.
******
The monster Natsumi woke from a deep but restless slumber, irritated at something that had been gnawing at her for a while now. She couldn't place it, all she knew was that she often had the feeling of being watched. Maybe something inside. Maybe something still existed of the host body that her core energy inhabited. Several maybes. Natsumi didn't like maybes. They were anathema to her. She liked absolutes, things she could grab in her hands, hold, twist its neck if need be. She hadn't always been like that, to that extent, but now she had the capabilities to do as she pleased, she was.
Time was everything. Time was important. Especially to the Master.
Even as she thought his title, she felt his call. His urge.
She was satisfied he'd called her instead of Umiko. He wouldn't need a nurse much longer. His time was fast approaching.
As she stepped into his room, she could tell it would be sooner than she had originally thought. Umiko was nowhere to be seen, strangely enough. She usually never strayed further than a few steps from the Master's side. The Master was looking slightly larger than usual, blacker, if possible. His gloss was beginning to lose its shine, and his eyes were dimmed.
If Natsumi didn't know better, she would say he was sick, dying. And yet, the Master was sick, and was dying.
She knelt before him. His need was communicated to her, and she looked up through her VR goggles. "Yes, Master. It is time. I will assemble the troops."
Natsumi left the room. Behind her, the Master ambled slowly towards a window, looking out. Soon.
Soon it would be time.
******
Mitsuki looked down at her books. Gah. She knew at least one horrible thing about the pills - they stopped her brain from being able to process information as fast as it used to. Even with the voices quiet, and the occasional shifts in personalities, she'd been able to at least keep a coherent train of thought going at some speed. But with her brain tied down by the medication... Well, things just went a little slower than usual.
The university library was quiet. But what did one expect when librarians were shushing everyone in sight?
Still, surely it shouldn't be this quiet?
Something prickled on the back of her neck. She knew what that sensation was. Monsters. Dark Kingdom creatures, prowling nearby.
Ice ran down her spine. Getting closer. None of the other senshi around. But then, they hadn't been asking for her help of late, or if they did, they had her guarded by Saturn and Jupiter in case she followed her voices again, or let one out. But there were no other senshi around. And there was a loud crash, the sounds of splintering wood impacting on soft fleshy bodies, and a low growl, from the end of one of the rows. She watched, silently, as one of the massive university bookcases started falling to one side, and hit the wall. Two people ran screaming from the next row over, although one was cut down by a blast of purple energy from behind him. His legs continued to run for a few moments, his head watching from his torso several metres back with stupid amazement.
Conscience spoke up. Mitsuki pushed the chair she was sitting in back, but it was Sailor Nemesis who stood up, fists curling. She leapt for the aisle, and at the other end, saw four monsters. Definitely Dark Kingdom. Three were black scaly things that looked more like giant, extremely mobile iguanas than anything else, and the fourth looked like a slightly decomposing corpse, flesh tearing off to reveal a skeleton underneath. Nemesis noted the power burning in that one's eyes, and realised that the flesh and blood was all that was left of the original person - this monster *was* a skeleton.
It pointed at her, and the three iguanas leapt for her.
She crossed her hands.
"NEMESIS BREAKUP PATTERN!"
******
Even Usagi knew something was up when the library exploded.
Well, to be fair to Nemesis, only part of it exploded, and the people who were in that part were dead already - but neither of them knew that.
Usagi's modern history class vacated their seats immediately for good positions at the windows - which shattered as the shockwave from the blast hit, glass lacerating exposed pieces of flesh on the students and lecturer.
That was when Usagi decided it best to make a run for the library. No one was watching, so she transformed into Sailor Moon in the corridor, and headed for the devastation.
******
She was met moments later by the other senshi, apart from Saturn. Sailor Moon eyed them with caution. "I think our older friend has gone crazy again," she said, gesturing at the hole, and the shouted attacks and occasional pulse of light and shower of debris from another energy blast.
Venus pouted. "I don't think we should count that possibility as a certainty just yet," she remarked a little acidly.
Jupiter looked ready to say something else, but Sailor Moon cut her off. "We've got a senshi to find, and find out what the heck she's doing in there."
There was a voice from behind them. "Check the rubble for survivors."
Sailor Moon turned; it was the red-haired girl in the fuku who Saturn seemed to bring along with her half the time when fighting monsters. Sailor Moon had come to the conclusion there was no way she was a senshi, but seeing as her powers seemed very similar to Ranma's (or so she was told) she suspected they'd had a shared teacher at some point in their past or something. And the advice was sound. Combined, both thoughts led Sailor Moon to nod. "Do that, too," she said to the senshi. The others nodded, and bounded into the rubble, pulling huge wooden beams up to check under them as they moved closer to Nemesis' point.
******
'Why the heck am I wearing this thing again?' Ranma thought to himself as he bounded towards the multiple points of energy he could feel. As he passed through the wreckage, he felt fading points of ki, mixed with the almost tangible ectoplasmic stench he associated with these Dark Kingdom monsters. They'd killed a lot of people. Nemesis hadn't, yet, as far as he could tell.
He was ahead of the senshi when he arrived over the point of Nemesis' energy signature, he found he couldn't see them. They were under the rubble.
With a quick blast of ki channelled through his fingers, he blasted a person-sized hole, and dropped through. He landed lightly on the ground, disconcerted that the fuku's skirt flew up around his stomach. 'Note to self,' he reminded himself, 'sew that damned thing down.' At least he wasn't in Nerima anymore... he'd have had half the district trying to peer up it.
He noted four monsters taking turns at attacking Nemesis. She fought aggressively, energy blasts flying from her hands, snap punches and kicks with enough force to shatter reinforced armour. No effect. Everything bounced off their armour. Except for one monster, that kind of looked similar to a zombie. That dodged everything that Nemesis was throwing at him. He also noted she wasn't using half the skills he'd taught her for the months she'd trained under him. her speed wasn't what it should be - she was concentrating on kicks and punches fast enough that she could make use of her senshi super-human strength and yet move into position in time to counter the next.
She could be doing that much faster if she didn't rely on that factor of her biology. Ranma had noted that about all the senshi, although Rei and Hotaru seemed to be catching on slowly.
Nemesis gave him a quick glance as he landed, and nodded. She hadn't noted the red-haired girl give her much attention the last month or so, since her 'accident' with Ranma's friend, but didn't attach any signifigance to that. She also didn't know Ranma was cursed, for which Ranma felt eternally grateful - knowing *one* of the senshi knew he spent some of his time in women's clothing was more than enough. Kami knew Hotaru gave him enough teasing over that in private.
While he still felt uneasy around Nemesis, he no longer felt the anger towards her he once did. And Hotaru hadn't even had to try and work her subtle manipulations on him - in fact, she'd left him to come to terms with it himself, and had made sure the other girls had, too. Which was good. He wouldn't feel safe around Mitsuki for a long time, but he could work with her now.
He nodded at the zombie-monster. "He's mine," he said out loud. Nemesis nodded briefly, all the attention she could spare him before the monsters came at her again.
The zombie seemed to note Ranma's interest in him, and turned to face the new arrival. There was a moment's hesitation, then the zombie leaped at him, throwing a reverse spinning roundhouse kick at Ranma's midsection. Ranma flared his battle aura to life, and blasted ki energy out through it, clenching fists and blocking at speeds Nemesis wasn't able to match. The kick impacted, then bounced off, and Ranma followed through with a spinning crescent moon, taking a huge chunk of flesh out of the monster's neck.
It responded with a flurry of punches aimed to disable Ranma, but which the martial artist matched with blocks and the occasional jab of his own. He was still evaluating the threat posed by the zombie and the moves it was capable of. When he'd tired of this, he cut lose with a katsu tenshin amagurriken, shaking flesh off the zombie's torso in huge amounts. Several of the monster's ribs also cracked under the onslaught. The zombie was seemingly left open, but gave Ranma a devsastating kick to the stomach which got partially through Ranma's guard. He was winded, but had faced worse than this before.
He noticed Nemesis finally dispatch one of the monsters with a richter wave right down it's throat. Summoning reserves of energy, Ranma began laying into the zombie's skull with another katsu tenshin amagurriken, finally feeling the thing start to give way under his blows. But while he was concentrating on putting this beast down fast, Ranma was still being attacked. Certainly, the attacks were slower now, weaker, but they still took their toll on him.
This thing... it didn't look it, but it was stronger than most of the foes he usually faced. He'd been finding that more and more of late, when assisting the senshi. These monsters, Hotaru had said, got stronger and stronger the longer they existed. Perhaps, if one was strong enough to begin with, and lived long enough, it could become a god, Ranma had suggested, if their power grew like that. Hotaru had said nothing, but the dark look in her suddenly hooded eyes had suggested that he was right.
His attention was narrowing now, consciousness tunneling. The zombie was weakened considerably now, but he was about to lose consciousness, and would then be open to anything. If he was going to finish this, he had to finish it now.
He dredged up his last store of ki, focussing it into his fists. He brought both up, and ramed them down into the creature's skull. Bone splintered under his knuckles, soft tissue splattered up and coated his face. He opened his mouth.
"Mouko Takabisha!"
The zombie collapsed, but Ranma didn't notice, having passed out already. Its body decorated the walls, and caused a fatal distraction for another monster, who fell to an arctic ice wave that Nemesis, also injured in a number of places, rammed down its throat. She collapsed to her knees, just as the other senshi dropped in.
The final monster was finished off quickly.
Leaving the senshi standing around the unconscious girl in the fuku.
"What do we do with her?" Mars asked.
"Take her back to the dorm?" Mercury suggested. "Her energy levels are very low. She's recovering faster than a normal person, but she will be unconscious for some time. Perhaps Hotaru can do something for her?"
Sailor Moon nodded. "We'll take her back to the dormitory. And... Nemesis... the people up there -"
Ranma's eyes swam open for a moment. "Not... her." Mercury blinked in surprise, and went to make a comment, but the girl was out again. Jupiter made to pick her up, but Nemesis placed a hand on her arm.
"Let me. I... I think I owe him this. And more."
Jupiter eyed Sailor Moon, but the luna senshi just nodded silently. They departed, leaving the university authorities to explain the massed amounts of explosions, dozens dead, the library ruined, and teenaged girls in fukus flying about.
******
Ranma opened his eyes.
"The power is consuming you."
"I had to do that," he conceeded.
Natsumi smiled. "We all did. At some point in our lives. There is always a point where we say, no more, this is where we draw the line. And we act then. But we ignore everything that came before. We ignore what made it a problem in the beginning. It's learning not to do that, not to make the problems, to fix them so everyone is happy before they begin, this is the strength of power that you should attain. Only a real person can do that. You've got some growing up to do."
"I'm already grown up!"
"That statement proves you haven't."
"..."
"Ranma. Find your own way in life. Don't let the power consume you. It's not the use of the power that's important. It's not the application. It's the not using it."
"For a hallucination, you're being very forthcoming this time."
Natsumi smiled again. "I want you to make sure you know there's a decision to be made."
******
He awoke again, in his female body this time. It was dark. Hotaru sat beside him, legs folded under her, hands in her lap. She looked worried. And while her voice was low, calm, collected, it also betrayed her worry and nervousness.
"I wasn't sure you'd be all right."
"You brought Shampoo back from the dead." Ranma's voice was raspy. He realised he was lying on his futon, in his normal clothing.
Hotaru looked apologetic. "I had to tell the others, Ranma, about your curse. I'm sorry, but I needed to change your clothes, and explain where you were. I couldn't think of any other way. I had to tell the truth. Mitsuki... she knew, I think. I think she realised."
"I think... the truth is the best thing anyone could have said."
"They don't believe me."
"If you hadn't seen me in that fountain, would you have believed me?"
Hotaru shook her head.
"So why would they?" Ranma struggled into an upright position. "If you told them, why am I still in my girl-form?"
Hotaru shrugged. "Your strength is still low, sempai. You've been unconscious for a week... despite my best efforts. I didn't want to chance any more problems."
"I must really have drained myself," he muttered to himself. Hotaru leaned over and kissed his cheek lightly.
"I'll go let the others know you're awake." With that, Hotaru stood, and left the room.
A moment later, Mitsuki crept inside the doorway, slid the door shut behind her. She stood there for a minute, just watching Ranma nervously. When Ranma didn't bite at her, she stepped forward a step or two, then halted. "Ranma..."
"Mitsuki."
"It is you. I... I thought your attacks weren't just similar." She hung her head, violet hair spilling over her eyes. "I know you probably won't believe me, but... I am very, *very* sorry about your friend." Ranma went to say something, but she waved him quiet. "Please. I've thought about this for a couple of months now. I've had time to think. To brood. I don't want to go off my pills, and to combat being able to shake off the effects, I'm taking higher doses. It might not be safe, but it's a lot safer than... than some of the personalities in my mind being let out. I can't make up for what I did, Ranma, but I want you to know, I'll do whatever I can to -"
Ranma held up a hand. It shook from the effort, so weakened was he. "Mitsuki... I understand. Really. Your problem... must be great. I... haven't been a good... sensei by not... trying to help. I'll do my best." He wheezed, sucking in breath for saying so much.
Mitsuki just stared, her mouth open. "Sen... sei?"
"I promise... to try... and help... you." With that, his eyes closed, and he fell asleep again.
Mitsuki continued to stare. Then she crossed the floor, bent down and hesitantly kissed his forehead, running a hand over Ranma's red hair. "Sensei. I'll make you proud." She turned and exited the room, leaving Ranma to his restful sleep.
******
Umiko sat off the Master's room. She knew Natsumi was scheming to replace her, as did the Master. She also knew things that Natsumi would never know. Like just who the stronger General was.
She heard a noise from the Master's room, and hurried in. His form was now more paper-thin than ever. He almost looked as if he was badly-painted rice paper that had been outside for too long. His life was nearly over... and yet, it would begin.
This was his crysalis stage. The next would be his adult form, as it were.
Something from inside the Master punched at the drying skin, weakly, trying to tear it.
Natsumi had been called to assemble the troops. Why? Because the Master needed protection. Protection through distraction. The only way. While Natsumi planned and plotted her attacks and schemed her backstabbing, the Master could mature.
As he apparently had just finished. His form shuddered, and something within burst forth.
"Umiko, my mother," the Master said, "How good it is to finally see you with my own two eyes."
TO BE CONTINUED IN THE FOLLOW-UP SERIES "Love".
SAILOR MOON SAYS:
Gah. TAFE sucks. And not having work completed at the end of term sucks even more. Double gah. All that effort, for a fail. But it was my fault. I shouldn't get so stressed over things... when I get stressed, I can't do anything :P
Like writing.
Like writing this fic :)
I am truly sorry to those of you who have emailed me, to be told, yeah, a week or so until the new chapter goes up! Well, I last said that two weeks ago. I actually started this chapter then, finished it tonight in a marathon effort (gotta love the flu, cancels writer's block from stress) and tied up everything for this section of the arc.
Ranma and Mitsuki are talking again. The senshi will come back together a little. The Master's new form has been revealed (oh damn, you'll have to wait til the next chapter to see that;). Other things have been worked in and expanded upon.
And the ultimate journey of the series as a whole has just been plotted, more so in the covert manner than the obvious. Heh.
Anyway, this fic is finished now... so look for the follow-up series, Love, which should start hopefully in the next few days. It will be under the title Love, so look for it in the section you found Truth in :)
As always, I'd love to hear comments on how you've liked or disliked this arc of the story. I've changed the email address in the disclaimer to [email protected], cause I check that more often than I do my linksnet addy... just a note to those who like to email me :)
I hope you enjoyed this arc... I've certainly enjoyed writing it, that's for sure.
Raymond Cooper
10:10PM, 28.11.01