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"Autumn and Spring"
by Angus MacSpon

Based on "Ranma 1/2" created by Rumiko Takahashi.

C&C Welcome!

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- 14 -

_Akane_.  Ranma simply stared at her for several seconds, eyes wide,
unable to breathe, unable to take in what she was seeing.  She felt
unsteady, and there was a pain deep in her chest that she'd thought was
finally over. This was impossible.  Akane could not be here.  She could
not.  She

[Akane.]

could not.  And oh, she looked so young.  Young, and innocent.  She
looked the way she had when Ranma had first met her.  The way she had on
the day Ranma finally told her he loved her.  The way she had on their
wedding day.  Ranma thought her heart would break.

But it could not be; she was dead, Ranma had seen her die.  The memories
were all too vivid.  He had been by her side, throughout her final
illness.  He had held her hand and smiled for her, stroked her brow and
comforted her when the pain was too intense, and he had never ever let a
hint of his own pain show.  And later he had kissed her lips as the last
light faded from her eyes, there in the hospital bed; and he had wept as
he held her cooling hand.  Oh, Akane.  [Oh, Akane.]

The spatula slipped from Ranma's hand, unheeded.  Tears were pouring
down her cheeks.  She did not notice.  Her mouth worked soundlessly for
a moment.

Too much.  Too, too much.  This, this she could not deny.

"No," she whispered.  "Oh."  Oh.

[Akane.]  It was just one more illusion, she knew somewhere inside; just
another lie.  She knew, but it hardly mattered.  Nothing mattered except
that Akane was back, Akane, her wife, the one she'd loved with all her
heart and all her soul, mother of her children, life-long companion,
friend and lover [oh, Akane], and what else could matter except that she
was back?

She stood.  Her legs were unsteady, not wanting to take her weight, but
somehow she walked to Akane's side.  Behind her Ukyou was saying
something, shouting, but the words were distant, unimportant.  Ranma
touched her wife's cheek, stroked her face.  Then took her in her arms,
held her close, and cried like a baby.

Akane's body was stiff in her arms.  Lifeless.

And so.

Ranma turned back to Cologne.  Here at last, at the end, there was a
terrible kind of peace.  An inevitability.  When she spoke, her voice
was calm and steady.

"All right.  What do you want?"

Cologne smiled.  "A trifle.  A nothing.  The merest touch to your back.
You'll never notice a thing."

[Akane.]

And so.  This, at the last, she could not deny.  Could not refuse.

Ranma drew a deep, shuddering breath.  This was defeat, then.  After so
long, and so much, it came surprisingly easily.  She opened her mouth to
speak the words, the irrevocable surrender.  To give her soul for what
she could not bear to lose again.

"Ranma, no!"  Ukyou was shouting again.  What did the silly girl want?
Couldn't she see that Cologne had won?  A meaningless victory.  Akane
was coming back, and everything else was unimportant.

"Ranma, she's not real!  She's just another illusion!"

Ranma looked at Ukyou, and tried to smile.  It came out horribly wrong,
she could tell.  Like a rictus.

"I know," she said.  "But I can't, Ucchan.  I can't do it.  I can't lose
her again.  I can't.  I'm sorry."

"Ranma, she's not here.  She's dead.  If you do this, it'll be a lie.  A
lie, and you'll be living the rest of your life enslaved to that damned
ghoul!  She can't bring Akane back!  This isn't Akane!"

"But look at her," Ranma whispered.  As she spoke, Akane moved; she
turned her head, and smiled at Ranma, and held out her hand.  It was
flawless.  It was Akane.  Ranma remembered.  Oh, she remembered.

"Damn you, you witch!" Ukyou shouted.  "Ranma, it's a fake!  Cologne is
reading your memory and bringing it to life!  It's not real!"

"I know," whispered Ranma.  She could not take her eyes off Akane.  A
living, breathing Akane.  Smiling at her in welcome.  Like the way she
had smiled on their wedding day.  "I know.  It's not real.  But I --"

"She _is_ real," said Cologne softly.  "As real as you want her to be.
Touch her, Ranma.  Touch her hair.  Hold her hand.  Feel her heart-beat.
She can be yours again."

"Ranma."  Ukyou was pleading now.  "You can't.  As soon as she has you,
she'll take Akane away again.  You'll be giving it all up for nothing."

"No," Ranma said.  "I can -- Shampoo could control her, make her give
her what she wanted.  I can do it too.  I can ..."

"She's deluding you!  No, she's helping you delude yourself!  You can't
even think straight right now, but you're going to try and control a
demon?  Ranma, you can't!  You're throwing it all away for _nothing_!"

"Ucchan ..."  Ranma's voice was very soft.  "Remember when I married
Akane.  How you felt.  If Cologne had come to you then, and offered you
_me_, could you have said no?  Even knowing that it was an illusion?
Could you?"

"I --"  Ukyou's eyes opened wide.  She suddenly looked very vulnerable.
"Ran-chan, I -- I don't --"  She could not finish the sentence.

"I can be with her again, Ucchan.  I'm sorry."

"Don't leave me again," Ukyou whispered.

Ranma took her face in both hands and kissed her softly on the lips.
Then she released her and turned to Cologne.

"I'm ready," she said.  She took one last glance at Akane --

And she heard Cologne shout in sudden anger --

And Akane turned her head and said clearly, "This is the biggest crock
of bullshit I've ever heard."

                **********

For an instant, there was total silence.  Nobody moved.  Nobody could
speak; nobody could even breathe.  It was a cusp, a turning point, a
moment so pregnant and so impossible that it was timeless.

Ranma fell back, stunned.  "What --" she began.

Somewhere behind her, Cologne roared, "Shampoo!  Damn you!"

Ukyou said something incoherent.

Akane paid no attention to any of them.  As if she could not see them at
all.  She strode toward Cologne, and reached out with a familiar gesture
and pulled her giant mallet out of nowhere, and swung it.  There was a
heavy, meaty sound of impact, and once again Cologne flew through the
air.  She landed heavily on the floor, rolled over twice, and came to a
stop.

There was complete silence for a moment.  Then Akane vanished.

A moment later, so did Cologne.

Slowly, the light in the cavern began to fade.

Ranma stood, staring in total incomprehension at the spot where Akane
had stood, and then at the place where Cologne had vanished, and back
again.  Her thoughts were awhirl, as if a great load had suddenly
vanished from her mind.  None of this made any sense at all.

Then Ukyou sprang forward, as if galvanised.  "Yes!" she shouted.  "Come
on!"  She leaped toward the hollow at the back of the chamber, where
Shampoo lay.

She always had been quicker on the uptake than Ranma.  She had evidently
worked it out.  Ranma shook her head and followed her.

Shampoo's eyes were open again.  Her face -- what was visible under the
decades of filth that covered her -- was pale and beaded with sweat, as
if from some gigantic effort; her breathing was quick and shallow.  She
looked like she was dying, Ranma thought sickly.

But as they knelt at her side, she looked up at them and said, in a weak
and thready voice, "What stupid spatula girl doing with Ranma?"  And
Ranma almost laughed.

"Turn her over," said Ukyou flatly.

Ranma obeyed, trying not to cringe.  Shampoo's hair was a great, matted,
tangled mass, almost solid, and so thick with grease and muck that it
made her head and shoulders look distorted, misshapen.  There were
insects living in it: lice, and worse things.  Ranma had to reach under
it, lift it away, _touch_ it to turn Shampoo over.  She did it quickly,
without complaint.

"Quickly, pull up her dress."

"What?"  Suddenly Ranma realised what Ukyou was doing.  She fumbled at
Shampoo's clothing for a moment, then snorted and simply tore the dress
apart.  The ancient, filthy fabric ripped easily, leaving Shampoo's back
bare.  And they saw the true enemy at last.

It was small and grey and wrinkled and _alive_, about the size of
Ranma's fist.  It nestled at the base of Shampoo's spine, looking for
all the world like a giant, misshapen wart.  [No, not a wart,] Ranma
thought.  [Like a growth.  Like a cancer.]

Ukyou stared at it for a moment, revulsion clearly showing on her face.
Then she reached out, took hold of it carefully, and pulled it off
Shampoo's back.

Shampoo gasped, a thin, high-pitched sound.  Her body spasmed once, then
went limp.  At the same moment, Ukyou cried out in fear and disgust as
the thing in her hand came alive.  It stirred, twisted, and pulled free
of her grasp and began to slither up her arm, shockingly quickly.  Ranma
lashed out without thinking and knocked it off just as it reached her
shoulder. It fell to the ground, twisting and undulating, and seemed to
orient itself, gathering itself as if to spring --

Ukyou stamped on it.  It splattered, with the sound of an overripe fruit
bursting --

And suddenly they were elsewhere.

                **********

It was a void, vast and grey and formless.  Timeless.  Endless.  With the
three of them there, it seemed quite crowded.

[What the hell --]

<Where are we?>

{It's another trick.  She always has more tricks.}

[Shampoo?]

{Ranma? ... Beloved.  You came for me.  I heard you.}

[What's happened to the way you talk?]

{This is the way I always talk.  When did you learn Chinese?}

<Wait a moment.  I don't think this is a trick at all.>

{Stupid spatula girl.  What else could it be?  She -- it -- always has
tricks.  I know.}

<Can we leave the insults for later?  This 'stupid spatula girl' just
killed the enemy for you, remember.>

{She's not dead.  Sometimes she makes me think she is.  To play with me
for a bit.  But it's always a trick.  She always comes back.  Always,
always, always.}

[Wait a moment.  If it's not a trick, where are we?]

<That thing was telepathic, remember.  I think, when it died, something
was released.  Some kind of mental outburst, or shock-wave, maybe.  It's
pulled our minds together.  I'd guess it probably won't last very long.>

[That's why Shampoo speaks perfect Japanese?  I'm hearing her thoughts?]

<It'll do for a working hypothesis ...>

{I'm not speaking Japanese.  You're speaking Chinese.  And I still think
it's a trick.}

<Shampoo -->

{But even if it is ... I'm glad you're here, Ranma.  Even you, Ukyou.}

[Careful.  You used her name.]

{Whoops ...}

[So where is this place, anyway?]

<What, am I an expert on telepathy?  I don't know!  Some kind of mental
plane, or something.  Your guess is as good as mine.>

{Half-way between death and life ...}

<Let's not be melodramatic.  Hey, that was quite a trick you pulled,
Shampoo.  Taking control of the illusion of Akane like that.>

{Yes, it was, wasn't it?  Wait a moment, I didn't mean to say that.
Damn this telepathy!  I wanted to sound modest.}

[What?  Is _that_ what happened?]

{Ranma, you dummy!}

<Of course it was.  Hope defeats despair.  I wasn't the only one who
could cast off her 'influence.'  But Shampoo wasn't exactly in fighting
condition -->

{I can hardly move these days.  Not that I get the chance to try very
often.}

[*Pain*  Yes, I remember now.  Cologne said she'd linked herself to you
too closely.  So _you_ were able to override _her_.]

{Not for long.  But just long enough.}

<Long enough to give a knockout blow to Cologne that stunned the
creature as well.  It couldn't keep the illusions up any longer.>

[Yeah.  Nice work.  I guess.]

<Oh, poor Ranma.  Your pride is injured.  Shampoo and Ukyou had to
win your battle for you, is that it?>

{Don't be silly, Ranma.  We couldn't have done anything without you.}

<It really was a team effort.>

[Well --]

<Wait.  I think it's starting to fade again -->

                **********

The other two voices seemed to drift away.  The void was beginning to
break up; the dull, endless background shimmered and roiled.  Ranma
thought she heard phantom voices, odd fragmentary sounds.  The greyness
was shot with hazy images and blurred scenes.  Most of them were too
fast, too disjointed to make any sense of.  But a few lasted long enough
to recognise.  She saw:

-- Ranma-chan chased after her father, shouting in rage, and never even
noticed as she knocked Ryouga into the springs far below --

-- In the cave, the giant egg cracked open and Saffron emerged, fully
adult, his wings resplendent --

-- Ranma ran away from the yatai, okonomiyaki in hand, and Ukyou gave
chase --

-- Akane cried out again and gripped Ranma's hand as another contraction
hit her --

-- Azusa Shiratori let go of Ranma's legs, and he and Akane spun free
over the skating rink --

-- Ranma stood by a pool in Jyusenkyo and watched as Ukyou carefully
dropped something into the water --

-- Herb shouted in triumph as the crack slammed shut on Ranma's last
chance of becoming male again --

The scenes followed one after another, seemingly at random.  They were
beginning to slow now, taking longer and longer.  It was almost over,
Ranma realised; soon she would be back in the cavern.  Then another
scene came, and she gasped inwardly as she saw --

-- The old man stood by the flitter, staring at the note in his hand.
Ranma could hear "his" thoughts clearly: (What does that boy think I'm
doing with Ukyou?  Having an affair?  Oh, man, I bet he does ...)

She could not resist "speaking" to him.  [Is he wrong, though?]  And
somehow, from his startlement, she knew he had heard.  [I mean it,] she
added.  [You always did like her.  Are you sure that an affair isn't
exactly what this is turning into?]

The scene played itself out exactly as she remembered it from -- had it
only been a few hours ago?  Giving herself advice.  And as it proceeded
she tried to contain her disgust at what she was saying. It had to be
said, to close the circle that led to Cologne's defeat.  But she no
longer believed her own words.

At last it was finished, and the scene faded back to the void.  [What
arrogance,] she thought morosely.  [Advising myself to chase Ukyou --
but just a few hours later, I betray her again at the sight of a mere
_illusion_ of Akane!]

"Ranma no baka ..."  Akane's voice was affectionate.

There was nothing visible.  Just the greyness of the void, now fading
slowly to blackness.  But her presence was unmistakable.

[Oh, great.  Shampoo was right.  This _is_ just a trick of Cologne's.]

"Ukyou will forgive you," Akane said.  "You know that perfectly well."

[Akane?]

"She understands.  Probably better than you deserve.  The only one
blaming you for what you did is yourself."

[Who are you?]

"Baka!"  Ranma almost thought she could see Akane's smile.

[Akane, you're dead.  You can't be here.]

"Where do you think 'here' is?  Half-way between death and life, Shampoo
called it.  That's close enough.  But yes, I'm dead.  And you're not.
And Ranma, I don't mind."

[I don't understand ...]

"When did you ever?"  She sounded amused.  "Ranma, I'm saying it's all
right.  Nothing is forever.  We'll be together again, in the end.  In
the meantime, you still have a life to live.  And ..."  She sighed.  "I
do owe Ukyou."

[So do I.  Maybe more than I can ever --]  Ranma hesitated.  [Wait a
moment.  Are you saying --]

"Baka."  Ranma felt her smile again.  "It's time for you to go now."

The pressure of Akane's lips on hers.  The warmth of her love, like a
benediction.

Then the void was gone, and she found herself in total darkness.

- End of Part 14 -

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Angus MacSpon                                                Allen Gainsford
http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~macspon/          http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~macspon/