Please, everyone.  C&C this.  Tear it apart.  MST it.  R&R it.  Do 
whatever you need to, but let me know what needs work.  Please!

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Awakenings and Journeys

Chapter One

        She stood at a fork in her life.  She could choose one of two 
paths.  One lead directly to power, but she was unsure of the price.  
The other was longer and harder, but would only cost her time and 
energy.  Power dangled enticinly infront of her, showing her images of 
wealth and servants, with her as ruler of all she surveyed.  Power was 
dangled infront of her, showing her pictures of people kneeling before 
her, prostrating themselves.  Living for her, working for her.  Killing 
for her.  Dying for her.

        A man appeared in the other doorway.  The woman looked at him, 
her gaze asking what he had to offer her.  The man reached behind 
himself and withdrew something.  It was small and cylindrical.  A 
flashlight.  The woman scoffed at him, and turned back to the images of 
Power.

        The man turned on the flashlight, getting the woman's attention. 
 He shone the light over to the images of Power.

        The woman was unimpressed.  She began walking towards the 
doorway of Power.

        The man raised the beam of light a little higher.  Strings 
appeared, connecting the images to something unknown in blackness above.

        The woman faltered for a second, but continued to Power.  There 
were always strings attached.  Everything had it's price.

        The man's light shone even higher, revealing who controlled the 
strings.

        The woman stopped dead in her tracks, horrified at what she saw.

        She saw herself, but not herself.  She saw the man that raped 
her laughing.  She saw Darkness smile and move to envelop her.

        Everything has it's price, the man said.

        The man flashed the light in her eyes.

        Are you willing to pay?

        A new scene played infront of her.  She saw herself being 
attacked by hundreds of people.  She saw herself laugh in contempt as 
she blasted them from the face of the earth.  In seconds, only two 
remained.  Her sister, and her sister's husband.

        The two stood defiantly against her, looking angry and sad.  She 
saw the husband speak, but could not make out the words.  She looked to 
his mouth, reading the words from there.

        You have to be stopped.  We can't let you continue.  Too many 
have died.  It ends here.

        The sister spoke as well.  The woman still could not hear the 
words, but concetrated on the mouth.

        I love you, Sister.  Forgive me.  The sister sprang forward to 
attack the woman.

        The woman screamed silently in pain as she saw herself lift an 
arm.  She mutely shouted at herself to stop as she watched herself point 
at the sister.

        She could not say anything when the fire leapt from her hands.

        She watched in horror as the flames melted the sister's flesh 
away.  She saw the blueblack hair fizzle and curl.  Tears of vitreous 
humor ran down her fleshless face, to be cooked on the superheated 
muscle of her cheeks.  Her chest was burned straight through to the 
bone, with all the organs apparently left unharmed.

        The woman closed her eyes, but the scene would not go away.  Are 
you willing to pay this price?

        What happened to the sister's body was only half of it.  The 
sister was still alive.  The woman looked down, and saw the still 
beating heart of her sister.  She looked over to see the husband staring 
down in morbid amazement, paralyzed by the sight of his wife.  The 
sisters melted eyes moved in their sockets to try and sight the husband. 
 Her mouth moved to try and form words, but her tounge was no longer 
there.

        The husband moved next to his wife, and cradled her head in his 
lap, and shut out the rest of the world.  He did not care anymore.

        The woman turned and ran away from the path of Power.  She ran 
to the man on the other path, and spoke to him, speaking as if she had 
never spoken before.

        "I don't want this power."

        The man smiled.  "You have always had this power.  Now, you will 
learn the responsibility to handle it correctly."

        The woman shook her head.  "I never want to see that again."

        "That, my dear child, is up to you."  The man handed the 
flashlight to the woman.

---------------------------------

        Nabiki woke from the dream, her mouth gaping open and sweat 
pouring down her exposed back.  She was still in the hospital.  Ranma 
was asleep in a chair not more then six feet away from her.  Ryoga fell 
asleep sitting on the window sill, his head resting on his knees.  A 
katana was leaning against the wall beneath him.  Nabiki glanced at the 
clock by her bed.  2:32 am.  She sighed and lay back on the bed.  She 
looked at the sword under Ryoga.  Dr. Black had given it to him, after 
he had come in earlier that night.  Nabiki leaned back and thought about 
the gift.  About what it signified.  About what it really was.

---------------------------------

	He asked Ranma to leave the room.  After much argument, the 
young pigtailed man left, and Nabiki was alone with Ryoga and Dr. Black. 
 The doctor stared for a moment at Ryoga, before whiping a katana out 
from under his coat.  Ryoga bounded back, taking up a ready posistion 
between the mage and Nabiki's bed, alert for any attacks against her.  
Nabiki, for her part, lay there, still as death, with a blank expression 
on her face.

	Timothy drew back the sword, and swung it in a simple overhead 
arc at Ryoga.  Ryoga didn't even think as he clapped his hands together, 
catching the blade mere inches from his face.  With a flick of the 
wrist, the blade was sent flying out of Black's grasp.  Ryoga raised his 
right hand, and plucked the katana out of the air, bringing it to bear 
on the doctor.

	Timothy blinked once, and then smiled.  "You have chosen an 
adequate protector, Nabiki Tendo.  He is worthy to wield Yomakirimaru." 
 The doctor bowed to Ryoga, then turned to Nabiki.  "As for yourself, 
you understand that this is a journey, not just to get from point A to 
point B, but also to teach you.  You must never forget that, Nabiki 
Tendo.  This is going to be long, and hard.  And you will face 
challenges that you never thought you would have to face, but I have 
faith that you will succeed."

	Nabiki shook herself out of her daze.  Her mind digested every 
word Timothy had just spoken.  She raised the head of her bed to get a 
better look at the older man.  "Gee, not overly dramatic, are we?  And 
of course there isn't any pressure." Nabiki stated wryly.  She folded 
her arms against her chest.

	Timothy smiled mysteriously.  "Oh, Aaron is just going to adore 
you."  And with that sentiment, he turned and made his way to the door.

	"Wait.  What is this about the sword?  You weren't kidding about 
this magick thing earlier, were you?" Nabiki said.  Even though she did 
not raise her voice, it seemed to carry across the room.

	Everything was still.  It was as if the moment was frozen in 
time.  Then the slight rustling of Dr. Black's overcoat shattered the 
illusion, and time resumed.  "Nabiki, you are no longer in the world you 
knew.  This is a harsh world where you shouldn't believe anything you 
see, because it might be true.  The sword is nothing more then a mere 
magickal talisman to aid you in the days to come.  The real power will 
come from within you, gods willing."

	With that, Timothy Black, doctor, and mage of the Euthanatos 
tradition, walked out of the room.

---------------------------------

	The guard at the hospital entrance looked down at the package he 
had purchased before beginning his shift that night.  The new DragonBall 
Z character for his son.  The guard thought how his son's face would 
light up when he saw this toy.  He stared at the plastic face looking 
out from the packaging.  The toy's face was locked in a perpetual scowl. 
 The guard mimiced the scowl for a moment, then chuckled to himself.  
His son would be ecstatic.

	A knock on the door alerted the guard.  There was a lone woman 
standing outside in a nurse's uniform.  The guard rushed over, not even 
stopping to drop the toy, to let the woman in.

	"May I help you?" the guard asked politely as the woman entered 
the hospital.

	"No, thank you.  You already have."  With that, the woman 
reached into her purse and withdrew a knife.  She did it so smoothly 
that the guard didn't even know she had it out until is was halfway 
across his throat.  The woman finished the cut, and let the man fall to 
the floor.  She squinted her eyes and concentrated on the blood pooling 
underneath the man.  The blood started to make numbers on the floor.  
When the woman had memerized the number, she released her hold on the 
blood, and let it pool normally.

	Before she left, she kissed the first two fingers on her left 
hand, and touched them to the man's forehead.  She walked away, leaving 
only the toy as a mute witness to her heinous act.

---------------------------------

	Nabiki stared at her clock.  2:33 am.  She watched the seconds 
tick away, like the life she used to lead.  Slowly, she began to drift 
off to sleep.

	A small noise, a soft tick, shot her eyes open.  They darted 
around for a moment, then settled down.  Must have been the clock, 
Nabiki rationalized.  She heard it again.  She reached over to her clock 
to see if she could silence it, either with her finger or her fist, when 
it dawned on her.  She had a digital clock.  Digital clocks don't tick.

----------------------------------

	The woman walked slowly down the hall, her high heels making a 
soft ticking noise on the lineolium tiles.  She reached into her purse 
and withdrew a syringe as she pushed open the door to Room 1304.  Her 
target's room.  And final resting place.

---------------------------------

	Nabiki heard the door open, and turned her head to see who it 
was.  Only a nurse, Nabiki thought to herself.  A nurse with a rather 
large needle.

	Nabiki felt very sick all of the sudden.  She felt bile rise in 
her throat as a wave of evil washed over her.  Powerful evil.  Inhuman 
evil.

	The nurse smiled.  It was the same grin Nabiki had acid etched 
into her memory from that afternoon.  From the time she lost her 
innocence.

	The same smile as the man that raped her.

	Nabiki screamed, long and loud.  She screamed with her heart, 
her mind, and her soul.

---------------------------------
-- 
JD Farber
email: sabreb@erols.com
ICQ: 3378089
Phone#: Like I'm gonna give _THAT_ to you perverts...

Scream 'Love' to someone
In your own way
Swear 'Peace' to someone
This is Bravery

-Akuma to Tenshi no Kiss