My pre-readers, Mark Engelbert and Slacker, have my thanks
for plugging plot holes and pointing out my grammer
mistakes.

Complete story is avalible at
http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/KasumiandRanma/ and
http://tannim.anifics.com/

-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: rbane18.txt

Another one bites the dust.  Another fic completed.  Another entry for the CCC (but that's been going on for a few chapters now, and neither of them are anywhere close to being canon).

Disclaimer: The characters contained within belong to their original creators, no money has been made because of this writing.  Hmm, what's with that warm tingly feeling?  Oh yeah! That means my @$$ is covered.  On with the show!

Chapter 18: Reckoning

Consciousness was slow in coming for Ranma.  While that wasn't too unusual (he did enjoy sleeping in every now and then) the amount of pain accompanying it was more than a bit out of place.  Ranma managed to crack his eyes open, and was greeted with a burst of bright light.  Squeezing his eyes shut, Ranma sat up with a groan, new pains shooting through every muscle in his body.

"Did anyone get the number of that truck?" he muttered.  Silence was his only answer.  Hoping his eyes had adjusted to the light, Ranma opened them again and tried to look around through fuzzy vision.

When his eyes cleared, Ranma saw that he was in a large cavern.  Looking around, it became obvious that he was not alone, and his family and friends were trapped in the room as well, and were also unconscious.  A second look confined that the smooth rock walls contained no doors or windows.  Several vents were located in the ceiling, along with so many banks of lights that no shadows existed in the room.

"This is bad," he mumbled.

"You don't know the half of it."

Ranma nearly jumped out of his skin when Setsuna's voice came from behind him.  The woman was leaning against the wall, feigning sleep.

"Good," she continued, "you're alive.  I think they'd prefer otherwise, but we're all in relatively good shape."

"Relative to what?" Ranma was forced to ask.

Setsuna finally opened her eyes, and looked at Ranma. "To how a person normally would be after being at ground zero of a gigantic explosion."

Ranma though back to his last conscious moments before waking up in pain. "How long were we out?"

Setsuna shrugged. "I can't tell."

"You can't tell?" Normally Setsuna was able to figure out something as trivial as the date and time instantly.  Whether that ability was natural or a side effect of her exposure to the Time Staff was unknown.

"I can't use my powers."

"WHAT!" Ranma's startled shout caused Kasumi and Alita to shoot to their feet, then immediately sink to their knees with groans of pain.

Ignoring Setsuna for the moment, Ranma rushed over to his family.

"I'm fine, Dad," Alita mumbled.

"As am I," Kasumi agreed.

"I'll believe that," Ranma said, "when you each stop holding your heads like they were going to explode.

"It worse than that," Setsuna commented.

"What do you mean?"  Ranma asked.

"Ask yourself this.  You were wearing your Morphus during the fight, and when that explosion hit us.  So why are you human now?"

Kasumi looked thoughtful for a moment, then a look of shock crossed her face. "We're locked like this."

After so many years, switching back and forth had become instinctive to Ranma, but now he reached inward and found a wall blocking his power. "I might have been happy never having to shift forms again," Ranma said, "but the situation we're in requires more power than any of us is normally capable of.  Care to take a guess at where we are?"

"One of Ahriman's fortresses," Kasumi said.

"And all the minions to go with it," Setsuna surmised. "And no powers, no weapons, and no magic to get us out."

"Magic?" Ranma mused, then moved over to Zelgadis. "Wake up, Zel."

Shaking the other man's shoulder, Ranma noticed something significant.  Namely, Zelgadis' skin was no longer stone.

"Holy shit!" Ranma exclaimed as Zelgadis opened his bleary eyes.

Zelgadis looked at confusion at Ranma, then down at his own hands. "YES!" he shouted in triumph. "I'm cured!  No, wait, nothing this good ever happens to me.  It has to be a dream.  I need to wake up."  A blast of pain through his head caused Zelgadis to crumple to the ground. "That'll do."

"No dream, Zel," Ranma said.

"I know, even a nightmare doesn't hurt this much.  What's going on?"

"Well, everyone here seems to have lost their powers, including our abilities to shift forms.  Can you still use your magic?"

"Hold on." Zelgadis took several deep breaths before straightening up.  His size hadn't changed during the de-transformation, he was still just below six feet tall, but his pale skin and black hair made a startling contrast to the greenish-blue and purple combination the others were used to.

A very familiar voice came from above the lights. "That was an unexpected side effect."

The group as a whole looked up to see Xelloss waving from one of the gaps between lights.

Xelloss' smile was firmly in place as he continued. "I never expected throwing you in here would end up countering that little lock I gave you."

"Where are we?" Ranma demanded.

"Haven't you guessed?" Xelloss asked. "You are in Lord Ahriman's prize prison.  Nothing has ever escaped.  Alive anyway."

"So you came by to taunt us?" Zelgadis growled.

"Not exclusively, though it is fun to.  What I'm really here to do is inform you of your execution date.  Is tomorrow good for you?"

"And if it isn't?" Setsuna asked.

"We'll kill you anyway.  Customer service only goes so far."  With a final wave Xelloss disappeared, and a hatch slammed shut, sealing the room once again.

"What now?" Zelgadis asked.

Ranma smiled. "We break out."

"Are you aware of how screwed we are?"

"Yes," Kasumi replied, "and it isn't as bad as you might think."

"And why is it not, pray tell?" Zelgadis managed to ask the question with more patience than he thought he had at the moment.

Ranma's smile grew, then he ran up the wall.  It was an easy task for someone with his training, and before the rest of the room could blink he was hanging from one of the grates in the ceiling.

"As cliche as moving through the ventilation shafts is," he observed, "I don't think we have a choice in the matter." A twist of his arm left a section of the grating hanging, allowing him to squeeze into the ducts.

Zelgadis stared for a while. "I forgot he could do that."

"So did I," Setsuna agreed.

"What if the shafts are too small?" Alita asked.

"Don't worry," Kasumi replied, "a room this large would need several relatively large ducts for the air flow to be adequate."

"You got it," Ranma called from the vent. "I think we can get out this way.  Come on up."

"Ranma," Zelgadis replied, "we can't jump that high."

Ranma dropped to the ground. "Oh, yeah.  I forgot about that.  Kasumi, give me a hand over here.  Just try to relax, Zel, and catch the grating when you get up there."

"What are you talking abou-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Zelgadis was barely able to follow Ranma's instruction as the elder two Saotomes hurled him into the air.  He managed to get into the vent in time to catch Setsuna on her way up.  Kasumi was next, and was able to make it up without assistance.  Once everyone was in the ducts (said ducts being quite large, allowing them to move around with ease) Alita and Ranma took the latter's route up the walls and through the vent.

"That was easy," Ranma commented once he was in the duct.

"Says you," Zelgadis replied.

*Don't argue, just be glad we're out of there.*

All eyes shot to a smiling Setsuna. "I think the restraint applies only to that room," she said aloud.

"Nice," Ranma commented. "Think you can blow us out of here, Zel?"

"Let's get a little further away from the cell," Zelgadis replied. "We don't know what kind of guards are out there."

*******

While Hounds (and, by relation, Hound Masters and Hunters) are generally considered to be faceless minions of less than impressive intellects, they do have rather good senses.  In this case, a quartet of Hound Masters guarding a very important room were attracted to a particular wall, due to sounds of conversation coming from said wall.  Given the vault-like security on the room itself, hearing voices was suspicious.  One Hound Master rushed out of the room to relay a report while the others moved closer to the wall to investigate.

Once they were closer to the wall, words could be made out.

"I think this is far enough."

"We've just walked through half the fortress, and only *now* you say it's far enough."

"I just have a feeling about exiting there."

"Kasumi, unless your feelings are going to lead us to a fully stocked arsenal, we just need to get out of here, screw feelings."

"Stop complaining, Zel, and blast the wall."

"Right."

The Hound Masters were exchanging looks when an large section of the wall was consumed in a fiery explosion.  Said Hound Masters were, unfortunately for them, destroyed by the blast.

Zelgadis dusted off his hands as he stepped into the room.

"Alright, we're out.  Now, Kasumi, do you have any idea where we go...from...here?"

Zelgadis' speech slowed as he noticed the room they had stepped into.  Arranged artistically throughout the room were numerous glass cases.  In the glass cases were a variety of items, but to Zelgadis' magic-trained eyes all were glowing brightly.

Ranma stepped up beside Zelgadis an elbowed him in the ribs. "Told ya so, always listen to Kasumi's hunches.  Ladies and gentleman, this is our own personal shopping spree."

*******

Ahriman's eyes narrowed in anger. "They are *where*?"

The Hound Master bowed even lower, a note of fear entering it's hollow-sounding voice. "In the collection room, Master."

While Ahriman normally subscribed to the 'don't shoot the messenger' philosophy, he made an exception in this case.  The Hound was quickly disintegrated.

"Please, my master," Xelloss actually bowed before his creators throne, "it's not as bad as you might think."

Ahriman simply glared at Xelloss. "You will find them, and kill them.  Is that understood?"

"Yes, sire."

"Go!  And take that new weapon of yours while you're at it.  Might as well get some use out of it."

Xelloss smirked as he left the throne room.  Tofu was waiting outside.

"Well?" Tofu asked.

"Everything is going according to plan," Xelloss replied.

"And of course, the plan is..." Tofu trailed off for a moment.

"A secret!" Both men (though that was a debatable title) finished.

*******

Ranma tested the balance for a pair of katanas before smiling.  Whatever else Ahriman might be (including a evil-as-sin-formerly-human-demon-from-the-bowels-of-Hell), he had good taste in weapons.

"What did you find?" Setsuna asked.  She had found her staff hanging in a glass case.  Her own guess was that was where the Timestaff had originally come from before she found it years before.

Ranma examined the sheaths for the blades. "Pair of nice swords.  Let's see this one's name is...*ulp*...Masamune.  A-a-and this one is...*urk*...Murasame."

Setsuna's eyes widened a fraction. "Interesting."

"Not as interesting as these," Kasumi commented.  She was strapping a pair of sheaths to her forearms.  In each sheath was a large, heavy-bladed dagger.

"What's so special about those?" Ranma asked.

Kasumi pulled a dagger out of its sheath, revealing a silver blade.  In a blur, her arms pumped a dozen times in a second, and a equal number of daggers appeared in the wall across the room.  Holding up her arm, Kasumi gestured to the sheath, which still contained a large dagger.

"Endless supply," Alita commented, "neat."  Alita was carrying an odd weapon.  It's blade appeared to be a cross between a Roman short sword and a scimitar.  Ranma hesitated calling it a sword due to the odd hilt, which was as long as the blade, and appeared to have a set of hinges.

Alita noticed the scrutiny. "It folds up," she explained as she demonstrated. The hilt split in two, swinging around to form a type of case for the blade, similar to butterfly knives carried by the punks of Ranma's youth.

"Nice," Ranma commented. "Where's Zel?"

Zelgadis was standing before a case on the far side of the room, staring in rapture at the contents.  The object he was staring at was the sword in the case. Actually, like Alita's blade (for lack of a better term), the object in the case couldn't really be called a sword.  Most swords are made of some kind of metal, not crystal.

"What is it?" Setsuna asked as she walked across the room.

"An amplifier," Zelgadis whispered reverently. "Like your staff's ability, but more powerful by several orders of magnitude."  He reached down for the case lock, intent on removing the glass top...

...When the door blew open, and a painfully familiar figure in black and purple walked in, carrying her glaive.

Abandoning subtlety, Zelgadis summoned his Morphus, smashed a stone hand though the glass and grabbed the crystal sword, which immediately began glowing with an inner light.

"Not again," Ranma groaned.

"Should we just blast her?" Zelgadis asked, and was promptly slapped by Setsuna (Kasumi would have, but she was still across the room).

"Keep her busy for a few minutes," Setsuna said. "I want to try something."

"Right," Ranma said, shifting to his Morphus. "Parrrty time."

'Keep her busy' isn't normally an action associated with beings that can turn cities to rubble with hardly a second though.  Ranma was quickly discovering that it was even more difficult than that.  Somehow, Hotaru's physical abilities had been enhanced.  While before she had been somewhat frail (despite the workouts Ranma often put her and Alita through), and had not been a good fighter, she now possessed speed and reflexes that came close to (and in the case of strength, surpassed) Ranma's Morphus.

With both Ranma and Alita circling her, Hotaru should have been defeated easily.  Unfortunately, life doesn't work that way.  The oddly shaped glaive countered every strike sent toward its wielder.  A dangerous gleam in the girl's eyes told Ranma she was being played with.  Over Hotaru's shoulder, Ranma saw Setsuna standing calmly.

"Whateverrr you'rrre planning," Ranma growled, "do it now."

"Okay," Setsuna said.  The globe on the end of her staff flashed once, and a matching flash came from under Hotaru's turtleneck as she stiffened.  Ranma rushed over and pulled down the girl's collar, revealing a black choker that fell to the floor in several pieces.

Kasumi turned to Setsuna. "Why did you wait?"

Setsuna shrugged. "I didn't, Ranma just has that kind of timing."

"Uncle Ranma?" Hotaru whispered as the odd gleam in her eyes dissolved into uncertainty. "Is that you?"

Ranma quickly shifted forms. "It's me, kiddo.  Your mom's worried about you."

The glaive clattered to the floor as Hotaru buried her face in Ranma's shirt, sobs shaking her small body.

"I'm sorry," she cried, over and over again.

*******

Xelloss watched the scene with a smirk.

"How touching.  Now will you people just get on with it?"

Of course, no one could hear him.  But talking to oneself has been proven to have therapeutic value.

*******

It took several minutes to calm Hotaru down.  Even then, tears rimmed the girl's eyes.  Ranma anticipated many months, or even years, or nightmares in future. *With Alita too, maybe we can get a group rate with a psychologist.*

"It said everything was alright," she sniffled. "It was alright to do what they said, and to blow you up."

"The collar?" Ranma's question was directed at Setsuna.

Setsuna nodded. "It changed her viewpoint, removed her inhibitions, morals, and anything else that might get in the way.  It's very similar to what they tried on me.  A little more refined, though."

"Nice people," Ranma muttered.

"It's okay," Alita said, giving her cousin a hug. "Dad says that all his friends tried to hurt him sometimes."

"Especially after that shapeshifter incident," Kasumi whispered to Ranma.  Ranma groaned at the memory.  It happened when Alita was still a baby.  Some species of changeling had decided to have some fun at Ranma's expense.  By the time everything was said and done, only Setsuna's pychic powers had been able to keep Ranma and Zelgadis from killing each other.  The two friends worked out their frustration by killing the shapeshifter instead.

"Really?" Hotaru asked, her voice finally clearing.

"Don't sweat it," Ranma replied, then pointed toward the glaive. "You remember how to use that thing?"

Hotaru nodded. "Why?"

Ranma smiled. "Because I know how you're feeling, and the best way to make you feel better."

"How?"

Kasumi looked very nervous. "Are you sure, Ranma?  After all, Nabiki will be rather upset, and she's only eleven."

"I'm sure," Ranma replied. "You know what Pops did to me by the time I was her age.  This'll be a walk in the park."  Turning back to Hotaru, he smiled again. "You want to help us stop the bad men from hurting people?"

Hotaru looked uncertain, until Alita placed a hand on her shoulder, lending support.  A look that was beyond her years came over Hotaru's face as she held her hand out to the side.  With a slight pop of displaced air, the glaive was back in her hand.

"Lock and load, Uncle Ranma."

Kasumi stared at her husband. "She's been spending too much time around you."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Ranma said.

*******

"Unacceptable," Ahriman said to the face on the other side of the scrying device.

"My lord?"

Ahriman sighed. "Phoenix Mountain is long gone, and the Musk didn't take much effort after that.  So why are the Amazons still alive?"

The minion on the other end of the communications device shrugged. "They have kept out of affairs for the past two decades.  I thought-"

"That's your problem," Ahriman interrupted, "you thought.  Didn't we purge you of that worthless habit a few centuries ago?  Now, I don't care how much a waste of resources it would be-"

The Nightlord's orders were interrupted by the door to his throne room being blown open.  Standing in the smoking hole were a group of meddlers that Ahriman had learned to hate over the years.

"You!" he shouted.

"Yes," Ranma replied, her katanas out and ready, "us."

Ahriman snapped his fingers.  It was a useless gesture, but looked good.  Instantly, a flood of Hounds rushed into the room, including eight Great Hounds.

"Like we planned," Ranma said. "Go!"

It is said that no plan survives contact with the enemy.  Unfortunately, Ranma had forgotten that particular application of Murphy's Law.  Originally, the plan consisted of a full assault, bypassing as many Hounds as possible while striking directly at the Nightlord.  Several on the fly revisions were needed when a wall of Hounds came between the group and their target.

Ranma swore as she parried six blades at one. "This isn't working out well!"

"No kidding," Zelgadis shot back.  His sword flared like the sun as he focused a spell through it, turning a group of Hounds to ash.

"Any ideas?" Kasumi asked from behind the pair.  She was turning the Hounds into not-so-living pincushions, while Setsuna sent waves of energy into the crowd, frying many Hounds where they stood.

Hotaru and Alita were back to back, with a pile of dead Hounds around them that nearly obscured the two girls from view.

"Uncle Zel," Alita called, "get ready to blast the guy in the suit!"

"What?" Zelgadis asked.  After sidestepping to avoid getting skewered, he beheaded the Hound attacking him before turning to the pile of Hound parts off to the side.

"Do it," Setsuna said as two Great Hounds in front of her were smashed together.  Zelgadis immediately changed his stance so he could fight off the Hounds and be ready to blast Ahriman when the time was right.

Alita and Hotaru were in a bit of a lull, mostly because the Hounds were having trouble climbing over the bodies of their former companions in order to attack the two girls.  Hotaru touched her glaive's blade to the ground, and instantly everything between her and Ahriman, including the floor itself, was violently reduced to chunks and thrown around the room.

Setsuna sent two walls of force down the newly made gap.  Ahriman glanced at her before gathering a ball of black energy in his hands.

Zelgadis fell back from the fighting, and began to chant. "Source of all souls, which dwells in the eternal and the infinite..."

The two girls rushed down Setsuna's corridor, a flurry of Kasumi's knives flying over their heads.

"Everlasting flame of blue..."

Ahriman ignored the knives as they bounced off his suit, and let the bolt of energy loose, but Hotaru snapped her glaive up in time to block the black stream.

"Let all power hidden deep within be called forth here and now..."

Alita used the forcefield as a springboard to launch into the air.  Ahriman scoffed at her blade, not even bothering to raise a protective shield.

Once again, Zelgadis' new sword was glowing with power.  Taking aim at Ariman, he let loose the power he controlled. "RA TILT!"

The gray-suited Nightlord was enveloped in a pillar of blue flame.  The flame itself lasted an instant before vanishing, but an instant was all it needed.  When it cleared, Ahriman's suit was smoldering but he was otherwise unharmed, and the tiles under his feet weren't even singed.

Then Alita came in.

Her blade hit Ahriman square in the chest, driving the disoriented Nightlord back and spinning him around.  With a grunt he knocked Alita away, leaving the oddly shaped blade in his chest.

"It will take far more than that to kill me," he sneered.

Alita pointed behind him. "Would that do?"

The Nightlord laughed. "You expect me to fall for-" Ahriman's statement was cut off with a gurgle as Hotaru's polearm impaled him.

Alita leaped up and rushed to the Nightlord, pulling her blade out with a twist.  While Hotaru held him steady, Alita took careful aim at her enemy's neck.

The blow was an inch away from connecting when time stopped.

*******

Ahriman looked in awe at the frozen figures. "You've been planning this all along, haven't you?"

"It appears that not only does God have a sense of humor," Xelloss commented as he stepped out of the air, "but He is also fond of plot twists.  And so am I."  Xelloss glanced over, and Ahriman could see Setsuna slowly moving towards them out of the corner of this eye. "Hmm, that staff still has a few tricks left to it.  Negating a temporal spell, even to that limited degree, is impressive."

"You won't get away with this," Ahriman spat.  Try as he might, the Nightlord was immobile, except for his voice and eyes.

"I already have," Xelloss shot back.  He then pointed to the sharp blade about to behead his former master. "You are dying, there is nothing that can be done."

"Then you will die as well."

"Hardly," Xelloss said in a dry voice. Holding his hand above the wound in Ahriman's chest, he caused a dark, glowing mass to emerge.  The glow was immediately sucked into Xelloss' hand, leaving behind a crystalline object, faintly glowing with a white light.

"And that is that," Xelloss said, dusting his hands off. "Your power is now mine.  All the links keeping your avatars alive belong to me, along with the power that makes you such a 'god-like' figure."

Xelloss snorted. "As if His power could be measured in such a limited way.  All you have left is that little link that keeps your soul, your consciousness in your body.  And even that is fading.  I guess the appropriate term is 'I'll see you in hell', since that's where we will meet again."

With that, the eternal trickster vanished.

Time resumed.

Ahriman could not even scream defiance before death took him.

*******

Hotaru and Alita were getting more used to combat.  It only took them five minutes to get over the shock of having to kill a living being.  Ranma didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.  He knew, though, that it was the next few days that would tell the most.

"The body is still here," Zelgadis observed.

"Huh?" came the collective reply.

Zelgadis pointed to the headless corpse. "Remember Magog?  His body dissolved because of what he had become.  Ahriman was of the same breed, yet his body is still here."

"Weirrrd," Ranma observed. "Was it rrreally him?"

"Of course," Zelgadis replied. "I checked.  It's still him now, too."

"His powers were taken away," Setsuna replied.

"How?" Ranma asked. "And by who?"

"Xelloss.  He used something to stop time in this area.  The Timestaff allowed me to partially counter the stop, but I couldn't stop him."

"Exactly," Xelloss said, hovering near the ceiling.

"Why am I not surrrprrrised," Ranma sighed.

"Oh don't worry," Xelloss said, "I'm not going to do anything to you."

Zelgadis snorted. "Yeah right."

"It's true.  If not for you, I would still be the underdog in this little organization."

"Now you'rrre one of the head honchos on the planet," Ranma surmised.

"Yes.  And in exchange, I'm giving you your lives.  You are also no longer welcome in my home."

Xelloss waved a hand.  Ranma didn't even have time to object before the world dissolved in a flash of light.

*******

When the flash faded, Ranma found himself (warning bell number one) on the roof of a large, modern building (warning bell number 2), illuminated by moonlight (warning bell number 3).

"We have got to stop doing this," Ranma grumbled as he looked for his family and friends.

"Doing what?" Zelgadis groaned from a few feet away.

"Getting dumped into these kinds of situations.  Maybe it's time to retire."

"And miss all the fun?" Kasumi asked dryly.

Ranma glanced over at Alita and Hotaru, who were shaking off the effects of the magical transportation. "What ever happened to the philosophy of fighting so your children don't have to."

"Never going to happen," Zelgadis replied. "The war's been going on for ten thousand years.  It's not going to stop anytime soon."

"Two Nightlords are a good start, though," Kasumi replied.

"Enough talk," Ranma said, "let's just find where we are and our way home."

"I don't think we need to look far," Setsuna said, pointing off the roof.

Ranma followed the indicated direction.  Several blocks away, there was a tall building with a large, charred hole in the side that was being worked on by workers attached to safety lines.  Ranma recognized the building, the hole, and because of that knew that the building they were standing on was where Nabiki had moved after the explosion ruined her old penthouse.

"I guess that means we should be nicer to Xelloss next time we see him," Zelgadis grumbled.

"Why is that, Zel?" Ranma asked.

Zelgadis ran a hand over his jaw, as if savoring the feel of true skin. "He saved us a lot of trouble.  I guess we should reward him by giving him a lollipop while slowly killing him."

*******

The light of dawn streaming through the eastern window slowly crept down the bedroom wall.  When it reached her face, Nabiki tried her best to ignore it, to roll over and go back to sleep.  She couldn't, though, and gazed at the newly-risen sun through squinting eyes.

It had been over two weeks since the incident, and was quickly shaping up to be the worst month in Nabiki's life.  She had cried herself to sleep every night since Hotaru's disappearance, and faced each new day with bloodshot eyes.  Today was looking no different, and Nabiki fought against the usual surge of helplessness that told her to just lay down and die.  But she wouldn't do that, she would not give up, no matter what.

It wasn't until Nabiki tried to sit up that she noticed another form on the bed, weighing down the blankets.  Cautious of any trouble, she slowly looked over to the sleeping form.

Hotaru.

Without thinking, and not bothering to hold in her tears, Nabiki scooped her daughter off the bed and nearly crushed her in a bear hug.

"It's really you," she whispered between sobs. "It's not a dream."

"Uncle Ranma brought me home, Mommy," Hoatru replied sleepily.

Nabiki didn't know how long she sat there, her tears soaking Hotaru's hair.  After a while, though, she decided that she really did need to get up.  Belting on a robe, Nabiki allowed her daughter to lead her to the suite's family room.

What was waiting there was a shock.  Two trench coats and a suit jacket hung on the coat rack near the door, while the rest of the available space around it was packed with weapons.  The smallest were a pair of large daggers hanging in their sheaths.  Next came a pair of katanas, along with a western broadsword that looked to be made of crystal.  A large box that reminded Nabiki of a folding knife sat beside the swords.  The largest items, leaning against the wall, were Setsuna's crystal-tipped staff, and a large, slim polearm.

Then her attention drifted to the assorted shapes sprawled over the furniture.  Her sister and brother-in-law were at one end of the couch, snuggled together while asleep.  Setsuna and someone else were in a similar position on the other end, while Alita was curled up in a chair.  Of Zelgadis, Nabiki couldn't see any sign...

*Is that him?* she asked herself, looking at the figure who's shoulder Setsuna was using as a pillow.  The features were recognizable, once she got past the fact that he had a normal complexion with black hair, as opposed to blueish stone and purple hair.

Setsuna cracked an eye open when she sensed Nabiki was near, and smiled.  Within seconds, the other's followed her mental prodding and were in the process of waking up.

Nabiki quickly reestablished her cool exterior, which was utterly ruined by her red eyes and tear-streaked face.

"Alright, Ranma," she said, "I want details."

"You sure?" Ranma mumbled. "Last time you asked for details, you also said it was too much information."

"That was then, this is now."

Ranma chuckled. "Breakfast, then story."

"Make that lunch, too," Kasumi commented. "It will take a while."

End chapter 18

End Ranma's Bane

With the way this thing was going for a while, I never thought it would be finished.  Yes, I still have some sequel fodder floating around, but that's the point.  And that's for another time, anyway.  Now I can concentrate on a few other projects that have been nagging me for a while now, the vast majority of which (*gasp*) have nothing to do with Ranma 1/2, and half are (*bigger gasp*) not crossovers.

You haven't heard the last of me.  MUHUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA


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