A portal opened.
        TimeRunner stepped out, followed by Takezo.
        For long moments, they stared at the scene unfolding before them, a
pool of red forming underneath Ranma's lifeless body.
        TimeRunner waved a hand, and the scene froze, the expression of
sheer horror freezing on Akane's face.
        "So it's true, then..." said TimeRunner, finally.
        "Yes...I saw this reality and...I had to tell you." Takezo said.
        They were silent for a moment, then Takezo sid something that
TimeRunner could not understand. "What was that?"
        "I said it's not fair!" screamed Takezo. "Is this it, then?! Is this
what's to become of them? You always told me that they loved each other! I
always said that Akane was too irrational to be with Ranma...I knew she was
violent, but not like this..."
        "I did," said TimeRunner. "I always believed that they both loved
each other."
        "Then tell me," Takezo demanded, "why this happened? Tell me why
they always fought? If they loved each other, would they fight so damn often?"
        "You have to understand," said TimeRunner, "that these are two of
the proudest people I have ever had the chance to observe."
        "What has that got to do with anything?!"
        "Calm down, Takezo," said TimeRunner. "You have to understand that,
while each of them loves the other, neither of them are sure that their
feelings are mirrored by the other. And so, they can't show their
weakness...that they have feelings for each other, simply because they're
afraid to be rejected. You know that."
        "S...So?", Takezo sobbed.
        "So," TimeRunner continued, "they have to hide their feelings.
Unfortunately, they overcompensate for their own feelings. Ranma does it by
insulting Akane, Akane by getting angry."
        "So...why did this happen? If what you say is true, this should
never havew happened..."
        TimeRunner sighed. "I...don't know. Perhaps in this reality, their
motivations differ...I don't know. I don't pretend to know everything."
        "You could have stopped this from happening..."
        "No. I am bound to non-intervention to some realities...those
realities that belong to different Chroniclers...I have no power over them."
        "You have power over mine," Takezo retorted.
        "That's because I have been chosen to Chronicle your reality. Not
this one. There is nothing more we can do here."
        "Then Ranma is truly dead."
        "Only in this reality," said TimeRunner as he opened another
Corridor. "There are other realities, Takezo. Other worlds. All we can do in
this one is watch."
        As they entered the Corridor, Takezo nodded.
        "And grieve over the loss."