Subject: [Ranma][Dark]Love&War: War - Chapter Eleven [UNREVISED]
From: "Mr. Otakki" <tsaie@Gridley.ACNS.Carleton.edu>
Date: 12/17/1997, 8:58 PM
To: Fanfiction Mailing List

Eleven.

I recommend listening to the album, Dahlia, from X-Japan - the Dahlia and
Crucify My Love tracks in particular.  Heck, just listen to Silent
Jealousy, Kurenai, X, and Dahlia by X-Japan when you read this if you can.
BIG difference, in my opinion...  Toss in Crucify My Love for mood right
at the end.  That or Tears...

Ranma and cast belong to Rumiko Takahashi.  This is a work of fiction by a
fan for fans.  No lawsuits please...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter Eleven

	Andrew and Darian stood side by side.  The stared down the street
that ran through the heart of one of the strip malls.  It used to be a
small center of commerce with all its small shops, quaint restaurants and
sidewalk vendors.  Now there was nothing but abandoned stores, broken
glass and broken vehicles.  Blood was everywhere, used like pain to scribe
aimless graffiti on the storefronts, running in streams in the gutter,
dripping like water to keep a sick time with the digital clock above the
local bank.  There was a metallic tang in the scent of the air, tainted by
the weapons of slaughter that spilt the blood.  Andrew looked about,
seeing mindless slaughter, death, and tortured souls a hundred times
amplified from what he saw in the mall.  There, Akane had died.  Who would
pay the price of peace now?
	There the two stood, staring into the fog from the blood in the
streets and tortured souls that flew aimlessly about like ghosts from old
TV shows.  A sink howl pierced the wretched silence.  Darian idly wiped a
bead of sweat from his brow, and readjusted his sunglasses.  A hand
wandered into the inside of his vest and produced five small discs.  
	"Just like old times, eh?"
	Andrew shot a glance out of the corner of his eye at his friend.
A ghost of a smile tugged at his lips.
	"Just like old times," he replied.
	"Only this time, we're not so young."
	"We aren't as foolish."
	"We're a hell of a lot better than we used to be," Darian said
with a chuckle.
	"And this time, you're going to lose," a voice called from a
rooftop.
	Darian looked up at the rooftops surrounding them.  Sin stood on
one of the local restaurants, her whip idly snaking about with a life of
its own.
	"Still looking like half the woman I see."
	"I'm more than the woman you're married to, Darian," she said as
she hopped onto one of the wrecked cars tossed on the curb.  "And I'm more
woman than you'll ever get," she added, "unless, of course, you'd like to
try to real thing."  Sin idly traced the line of the waistline of what
passed as the bottom half of her clothes.
	"And your sister?" Andrew asked.
	"I'm right here, punctual as always," a voice called from behind a
thick layer of mist.  It blew away to show Vice standing with her hair
flowing freely in the slight breeze that blew past her.  Mousse stood next
to her, a malicious grin on his face, and an arm wrapped around her.
	"We don't have time for your toys, Vice.  As you so fondly like to
put it, this is business.  Personal business," Andrew said sharply.
	"Mousse?  Don't worry, he is business, and quite personable, too,"
she said as Mousse took the hand that caressed his face, bringing it to
his lips for a kiss.
	"The challenge is between the Avatars and the Avatars only,"
Darian said sternly.  "The outsider goes."
	Vice waved Mousse away with a casual wave of her hand.  Mousse
stalked to stand in the shadow of one of the shops, glaring daggers at
Andrew and Darian.
	"So is this it?" Sin said casually.
	"This is more than it," Andrew said.
	"The challenge is issued!" Darian shouted.  "Do you two yield?"
	"Don't be ridiculous.  Why would we yield to a bunch of two-bit
Avatars like you?  We've been around from the beginning.  You've only had
a few centuries to master your arts.  We've had lifetimes to master ours.
The only people who are going to yield, are you two - that is, unless you
want to run like a pair of dogs," Vice offered.
	"The only people doing to running will be you two," Darian replied
with a chuckle.
	Sin rolled her eyes.
	"How cheesy can you get?" she said.
	"Cheese goes with bologna pretty well," he countered.
	"To men, meat's all the same.  You expect us women to put it in
our mouths or treat it like it's God," Vice said with disdain.
	"Best tell your sister to change her attitude then," Darian said
with a laugh.
	"Che - too much talk, no fighting.  Let's go," Sin said as she
hopped down from the car.  She cracked the whip once and winked at Darian.
	"I want the feisty one.  I can't stand stiffs like the skirt
wearer over there."
	Vice nodded, her hands opening around her, gathering energy.  Sin
sauntered towards Darian.
	"Let's dance, handsome," she said, licking her lips.
	Darian snorted derisively and shot a glance at the car Sin stood
next to.  The door flew open catching Sin by surprise.  Darian shot
forward, pressing his fleeting advantage.
	"That leaves the two of us then, doesn't it?" Andrew said as he
bowed slightly.  He extended a hand, his jo flashing into being in his
grip.  He twirled it once and stood in a ready position.  Sin simply shot
her hands forward, spears of rock shooting from the ground.
	Andrew danced about the flying spikes, shattering them as they
flew up from the ground and towards him.  He sent them back towards her in
a rain of rock.
	"Is that the best you have?" he asked.
	"I'm just getting warmed up," Vice said with a sneer.

	Ranma fought to keep his emotions in check as he countered a kick.
His fist shot towards Ryouga, connecting solidly with his stomach.  Ryouga
simply grunted and kept moving.  Ranma growled in frustration.  Ryouga was
slower than usual, but wouldn't stop for anything.  Even the Katchuu
Tenshin Amiguriken had no effect.
	"This time you pay for what you've done!" Ryouga bellowed.
	"I didn't do nothin' to you!" Ranma yelled back, as another giant
blast of ki energy and fire rushed past, missing him only by enough to get
by.
	Ryouga would have none of it.  He was fighting without a mind to
tactics, but completely with emotion and raw power.  Ranma felt his
confidence draining as wave after wave of frustration hit him.  Ryouga
wouldn't stop.  Ryouga couldn't be stopped as far as Ranma was concerned.
Ranma shouldered Ryouga in the stomach and ducked to sweep his feet out
from under him.  As Ryouga fell, Ranma flipped backwards, his hands
snapping forward.  A roar escaped his lips as a beam of energy shot
forward from his hands.  Ranma watched as it connected with Ryouga
solidly.  Ranma lost him in the flash and thunder of the attack.
	A fist reminded him of where he was.  Ranma flew backwards in a
daze and collided with a concrete lamppost.  Ranma threw his arms up in a
block as he saw Ryouga blurred form charge through the stars flashing in
front of his eyes.  He felt the force of each blow through his arms.  He
could feel the cold concrete beginning to crack behind him.  He could feel
the pain, the pain from every pore of his body as the flames started to
consume his clothes.
	Ryouga watched with morbid satisfaction as he pounded Ranma
relentlessly, the surge of strength and raw power running through his
veins.  He watched with a smile as the concrete post behind Ranma cracked
and shattered.  Ryouga kept beating Ranma in to the stump of concrete as
the post fell to the ground.  
	"Where's the martial artist that used to taunt me now?" he said
mockingly.
	Ranma grimaced and clamped his hands on Ryouga's fists.  He
headbutted Ryouga's face, sending him stumbling backwards in pain.  A kick
to the inside of a knee put him in a crouch.  A kick to the temple sent
him sprawling.  As Ryouga tried to get up again, Ranma channeled all his
power into another kick that sent Ryouga through a wall and two buildings.
As Ryouga painfully tried to get to his feet, he felt Ranma's punch under
his jaw lift him off the ground.
	"Here's where he is!" Ranma shouted.  A fist and blinding speed
hit Ryouga's chest.  "And here!" he shouted as another fist hit, "And
here!" and another followed, and another and another.  Lightning seared
skin and flooded Ryouga's sense with unbelievable pain.  Fear started to
encroach upon Ryouga's thoughts.
	"I won't lose this time!" Ryouga forced through grit teeth.  He
surged forward and his hands shot forward, grabbing Ranma around the
waist.  He crushed Ranma with all his strength.  He ignored the pain from
the blows pelting him like so much rain.  Ryouga blindly charged forward,
crashing through walls, feeling Ranma's body jerk in pain with each
impact.
	Through the haze of pain and red that Ryouga saw, one thought
remained clear, Akane and the vengeance he would exact for her lost soul.

	"How you like them apples now?" Darian said as he watched Sin
topple backwards, flipping over the hood of a car.  She staggered to her
feet, trying vainly to pull the flashing disc from her chest, her whip
lashing about blindly.
	"Damn your tricks.  You're a fucking coward, Darian!  You hear me!
You're a coward!"
	"And I'm about to kick your sorry ass into next week!" Darian
shouted, punctuating it with a haymaker.
	Sin flailed wildly with her whip, fighting the vertigo and the
nausea from the flashing lights, dancing about her, obscuring her vision.
The rapid-fire colors and disorientation didn't help the pain in her face
and stomach.  She felt the whip connect, and pulled.  She lashed out with
her knee and heard a satisfying whoosh of breath leave Darian's lungs.
	"You're pathetic as a warrior.  Are you this bad in bed?"
	Darian rammed a shoulder into her gut and charged, crushing her
against a stone wall.
	"Wouldn't you like to know," he said through clenched teeth.
	"I think I do," Sin hissed as she kicked out, knocking Darian
backwards into a van.  She heard a grunt as Darian's back connected with
the door.  She lashed out with the whip blindly.  She found nothing.  She
felt a fist pound her kidney instead.
	Darian watched Sin crumple to the ground.
	"And they complain about men not having stamina," Darian taunted.
He spat a gob of blood onto the sidewalk and wiped the blood from his
lips.  Sin staggered to her feet.  Darian clenched a fist and the disc on
Sin's chest erupted in light and blazing heat.  She screamed in pain as
she recoiled, hitting the storefront again.  As her vision cleared, she
saw Darian charging.
	"You wouldn't hit a lady, would you?" she asked pathetically.
	"I never hit women," he said frankly as his fist connected solidly
with her face.  There was a loud crack as her head flew back into the
wall.  Darian watched with satisfaction as Sin crumpled to the ground.
	"Where the hell is Andrew?" he asked rhetorically.
	The store next to him blew out into the street as a giant pillar
of pavement crashed through, Andrew on the business end.
	"Jesus H. Christ!" Darian yelped as he rolled for cover.
	Electric wires fell to the ground arcing and spitting death as
Andrew painfully picked himself off the ground.  His eyes darted from
place to place, scanning for her.  A shower of glass shards flew through
the air at him.  Andrew rolled, striking at them with his jo, shattering
them.  He heard a whistle as a blade flew towards him.  Andrew rolled to
see six daggers embed themselves into the pavement next to him.  He cursed
silently, looking for Darian.  Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted
his friend getting to his feet behind a van.
	"Mousse has interfered!" Andrew shouted.
	Darian's eyes went wide.  He had little time to think, as a
shuriken planted itself in his left shoulder.  He cursed as he hit the
ground, rolling behind the front of the van.  He pulled the throwing star
from his shoulder painfully, throwing it away.
	"Sin is down!" he screamed out at Andrew.
	Darian saw Andrew whirling the staff about.  Vice was reeling back
from the chained strikes.  He didn't envy her being on the business end of
the jo.  Andrew let out a loud ki-yai and struck vice in the chest.  A
flash of light came from the tip as Vice flew backwards into a store.
Darian saw Mousse leap over the van at Andrew, showering the Avatar with a
barrage of knives.  Andrew rolled backwards as the knives hit the ground.
Mousse immediately pressed forwards, lashing out with a pair of swords.
Andrew deftly blacked each and struck home.  Mousse flew backwards with a
cry of pain.  Darian took painful steps forwards towards Andrew as he
crouched, panting heavily.
	The sound of grinding metal brought Darian back to attention.  He
whirled around to see Sin about to throw one of Mousse's daggers.
	"Down!" Andrew shouted as his jo sailed out, striking Sin in the
head.  She crumpled to the ground in pain.  Darian saw a flash of light in
a wrecked store.  Vice was there.  He jumped to the side as a spear of
rock shot up from the ground grazing his leg and side.  Darian crumpled to
the ground in pain.  He saw Andrew running for him.
	"Get the hell out of here!" Darian screamed.
	Mousse lunged from his hiding place, tackling Andrew to the
ground.  A dagger flashed in the light.  Andrew's hand shot out, gripping
Mousse's wrist.  Darian threw a disc out at Andrew.  Before Mousse could
react, Andrew slapped the disc on his forehead.  Mousse screamed in pain
as electricity surged out from the disc through his body.  Darian
painfully got to his knees, only to have Sin's whip lash around his
throat.
	Andrew saw the flash of light and tackled Darian out of the way.
Darian watched in horror as a spear of pavement shout through Andrew's
midsection.  Darian's vision blurred and turned red and blood sprayed
everywhere.
	"No!" he screamed.  Darian grabbed the whip heaving with all his
might.  Sin lurched forward in front of the van.
	"You and bitch sister will pay for this!" he screamed.
	Sins stared in horror as the van started to life, lurching
forward.  The car on her other side choked to life and backed into her,
shoving her to her knees.  She felt a sudden calm pass through her as the
grate of the van crushed her head.  Darian felt his rage ebb only slightly
as blood poured like cheap wine between the two vehicles.
	"Get out," Andrew choked out, blood flowing from the hole below
his ribs.  Blood frothed in his mouth and trickled out his nose in small
rivulets.  Darian threw out three more discs, and ripped off his vest.  He
shoved the bunched cloth onto Andrew's gaping midsection, and ripped a
flask from his belt.
	"Drink this," Darian commanded as a burst of lights and illusions
flared to life from the discs.
	"Healing potion?" Andrew murmured.
	"Jack Daniels," Darian replied tersely.
	Darian painfully picked up Andrew's body, trying to keep the
compress in place.
	"You gotta hold on, man.  You have to hold on."
	"I'm fading fast.  Run while you can," Andrew gasped.
	"Where's that fucking teleport spell of yours?" Darian grunted as
he half carried, half dragged Andrew behind two cars.
	"Too weak," Andrew whispered.
	Darian watched in horror, as the pavement seemed to rumble and
shake, opening in a giant crevasse.  As the earth was rent asunder, Darian
prayed for the first time in one hundred years, the fear of death slowly
possessing him as it did so long ago.
	"Ranma, wherever you are, good luck kid," Darian murmured as he
gazed at the gaping maw opening wider and wider, threatening to swallow
them whole.

	Ryouga felt a wall break behind Ranma once more before he fell
unceremoniously onto the ground.  Ranma cried out in pain as he fell
backwards, striking his head against a cement wall.
	"It ends here, Ranma!  It's all ends here!" Ryouga cried as he
savagely beat Ranma's body.  Ranma felt the sudden blazing inferno erupt
around him as Ryouga pounded his stomach and chest.  Ranma let loose with
all the pain he felt, arcing lightning into Ryouga.  Ryouga screamed in
pain and latched his hands around Ranma's throat.  Ranma could see an
inhuman fire burning in Ryouga's eyes.  Lights started to dance in Ranma's
vision as Ryouga slowly choked the life from Ranma's body.
	With an animal scream Ranma put everything he had into on final
surge of power.  Ryouga, feeling the power building, copied his enemy,
matching him level for level.  Every ounce of Ranma's body screamed in
pain as the lighting and ki erupted outwards.  It clashed with the fire
and brimstone that Ryouga summoned from the depths of his soul.  The
energy waged war and finally exploded in a giant rush of ki and rock.
	Ranma could feel his skin burning in the unholy flames.  Black
spots danced in his vision as the blackness slowly crept up around his
sight.  A numbness started to fill his arms and legs as the inferno blazed
around him.  As he felt his consciousness fleeing him, his thoughts turned
back to Akane.  I'm so sorry, Akane, he thought.  I'm sorry for
everything.


*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Ethan Tsai
1 N. College Street
Northfield, MN 55057

TSAIE@Gridley.ACNS.Carleton.edu
http://public.carleton.edu/~tsaie/ethan.html