Subject: [FFML] {Tenchi/Castlevania} Blood Red Moon Part 10: A Feeling of Long Ago
From: "Platinum_Dragon" <Platinum_Dragon@usinternet.com>
Date: 3/11/1999, 2:49 PM
To: "Fanfic ML" <ffml@fanfic.com>

        Blood Red Moon Part 10: A Feeling of Long Ago

     This is a crossover fanfic including the characters from Tenchi Muyo, and
CastleVania, more specifically, the newest version out for the N64.  All
characters belong to their respective copyrights, and I take no credit for
them beyond their usage in this story.  Comments, quips, insults, flames, and
death threats can be sent to Platinum_Dragon@usinternet.com
     This is based on the OVA characters in the Tenchiverse - but don't be
surprised if you hear one or two TV references.  The original concept came
when I noticed that Carrie Fernandez sort of resembles Ryoko in powers and
looks, save that Carrie is only twelve.
     In the last chapter, Ryoko returned to Tenchi and the others.  They
worked their way up to the clock tower, battling Death, Actrise, and Renon.
After besting them all, they finally reached the uppermost chamber.  But an
invisible shield held them back from the coffin.  The bearded man rose, struck
by the moonlight.  They battled with him, and finally, Tenchi was able to cut
him down the middle.  The bearded man shattered, and the building began to
collapse.  Running back down the stairs, they saw Malus, riding a black,
winged horse.  He landed on the roof above them.  Tenchi found a lift, and
they rode it up to the roof top.  After a short speech, Malus finally took his
true form, that of Dracula.  Before Tenchi could attack him, though, he was
knocked down from behind.  He rolled over, to see Ryoko floating above him,
her sword in hand.

*****

     "Ryoko, what are you doing?" asked Tenchi.  Then he saw her eyes.  They
had changed.  No longer were they the deep, golden orbs that he knew so well.
He had only seen them that way once before, when Kagato had taken control of
her, and Tenchi understood.  Ryoko was the final trap, sent to put them off
guard their guard, and he had fallen for it, hook, line and sinker.  Tenchi
rolled back, as Ryoko slammed her sword down where he had been just a moment
before.
     "Tenchi!  What's wrong with Ryoko?  Why doesn't she attack?" called
Carrie, as she fended off a blast from Dracula.  She and Reinhart were facing
him, but not holding their own very well.  Dracula flung fireballs, and
lightning bolts danced down from the skies.  They were barely managing to stay
alive, much less able to attack him.
     "He's got control of her!  Keep fighting him, and let me worry about
Ryoko!" he shouted, as he drew Tenchi-ken.  Ryoko growled, and charged at him.
Tenchi parried and dodged, but although she was fighting in a berzerker rage
that left him dozens of openings to strike, he just couldn't, and so they
continued to battle.
     "Ryoko, wake up!  Damn it, it's me, Tenchi!"  She only screamed in rage,
and pressed her attack harder.  Even with Tenchi's skill, he knew that he'd
never have kept her from killing him this long when she was this mad without
the vampiric powers.  Even so, the longer that the battle went, the more
pressed Tenchi began to feel.  Ryoko had been fighting with swords for a lot
longer than Tenchi had.
     Suddenly, as he pivoted to press an opening that she had given him, more
to force her back a bit, he felt something grab a hold of his mind.  With a
growl, he was barely able to get Tenchi-ken up to block Ryoko's new attack.
He risked glancing over to Dracula, and knew that it was him.  Fewer bolts of
lightening were falling, and Dracula seemed to be looking at him.  The Vampire
King was trying to take control of him, long enough for Ryoko to finish him
off.  Struggling, he pushed Dracula's touch away, taking a touch of
satisfaction from the way the vampire's face screwed up in fury.
     Tenchi turned back to the battle in just enough time to see Ryoko leap
up, rage dancing on her face.  She flew up, and turned down, her blade aimed
to slice Tenchi in two.  Tenchi put up his blade to block the attack, but he
was badly off balance.  Ryoko's attack knocked Tenchi-ken out of his hands.
The blade flew away, off the roof.  Tenchi had time to gape at his empty
hands, and then Ryoko slammed into him.  Tenchi felt the air rushing against
him, as he fell off the roof, and knew that he wasn't going to survive the
fall, vampiric powers or not.  It suddenly occurred to him, as he fell, that
the circlet on Ryoko's head must have been what Dracula was using to control
her, as it was the only object that didn't fit Ryoko's personality.

*****

     Carrie was looking when Ryoko slammed into Tenchi, flinging him off the
rooftop.
     "TENCHI!" she shouted.  But it was already too late.  Tenchi was already
gone, and Ryoko was approaching them.  Carrie jumped back as another lightning
bolt blasted down, and rolled.  As she came up,  Carrie turned, and fired a
blast at Dracula.  It impacted, and he laughed as the energy washed over him.
Carrie began to feel the depression that the Prince of Evil radiated around
him.  It drank her in, and she slowed.  Nothing could stop Dracula.  She had
been wrong, she didn't have the power to kill him.  She couldn't even save her
own family.
     The farther that the depression took her, the faster it grew, and as it
grew, her body began to change.  It was her legs first.  They started turning
to stone, slowly.  When she found that she couldn't move anymore, she looked
down, and was surprised to find that she had become stone nearly to the waist.
Understanding what was happening, she tried to raise her hands to attack
Dracula, but she found that she just didn't care anymore.  She looked around
herself, and began to wonder why she had come there.  Looking at the tall man,
a memory tickled her mind, but she just didn't care enough to reach out and
look at it anymore.
     A calm, peaceful feeling spread through her, as the stone worked it's way
up her body.
     Across from her, Reinhart looked over, and saw that Carrie was slowly
turning to stone.  He hadn't seen Tenchi go over the edge, but he had heard
Carrie's shout, and saw that only Ryoko was left on the rooftop.  He turned to
Dracula, and dove to avoid another fireball.  Rolling up, he lashed out with
his whip, tugging it so that it stripped across Dracula's face three times.
Twice, it found its mark, and the vampire actually staggered back, but on the
third time, the ancient vampire caught it.  With a great yank, he pulled the
whip from Reinhart's hands, and tossed it over the edge.
     Wordlessly, Reinhart pulled out his short sword, and rushed Dracula with
it.  He actually managed to surprise the ancient vampire, and forced the two
and a half feet of silver into his stomach.  Dracula's eyes opened wide for a
moment, and the bombardment stopped.  Even Ryoko stopped her steady advance,
and looked a little unsure of herself for but a moment.  Then, Dracula looked
down, with a cruel smile, and wrapped his hand around Reinhart's throat.  He
lifted the young man up off the ground, and reached down with his other hand.
Grasping the hilt of the sword, he pulled it out, and tossed it aside.  The
hole in his stomach sealed up, ending flawless as before.  Dracula crushed
down on Reinhart's throat, and brought him close to his mouth.
     "You are no Belmont.  I shall enjoy your blood, and the girl's, and then
the world shall fall into Hell, and the damned light shall never shine on us
again!"  Tossing him down with contempt, Reinhart tried to stand, but found
that he too was now stone to his waist.   Dracula stood back a little, and
laughed.
     "At last!  There are none left to oppose me!  None left who can stop me!
The world is mine, and darkness will rule!  Chaos will reign nigh over the
shattered corpse of the earth, and-"
     "And what!"
     Reinhart twisted his head, and was absolutely amazed.  On the edge of the
roof stood Tenchi.  Once again, his armor had changed.  It was a dazzling
white, long streamers flapping out behind him in the wind.  A little trimming
was done in a pale blue. And then he noticed something else.  The color in
Tenchi's skin had returned, a pale golden.
     Could it be?  Tenchi had somehow been cured of his vampirism.  He looked
back up at Dracula, and, for the first time, the Lord of the Night seemed to
be worried.
     "Go, my slave!  Destroy that whelp!"  Ryoko turned toward Tenchi, and
that strange red sword appeared again.  She screamed in rage, and flew at
Tenchi.

*****

     Tenchi kept falling, but suddenly, he felt something stir inside of him,
something that had only come twice before.  The power raced from deep within
his soul, and spread out, through his veins, and expanded, taking his whole
body over.  The three Wings of the Light Hawk that he could control spread
themselves out, and suddenly he wasn't falling anymore, he was rising.  He saw
Reinhart's whip falling toward him, and grabbed it.  As the power began to
fill him, more and more, he felt something else changing.  He looked at his
hand, and realized that it had regained its normal, healthy color.  Slowly, he
brought his hand to his mouth, and gingerly touched his lip.  The fangs were
gone.
     With his mind spinning as he realized that he had regained his humanity,
he reached the roof, and landed quietly, closing the wings.  Quickly, he
looked at the battle field.  Ryoko's back was to him, Carrie looked to be made
of stone to her chest, and Dracula had Reinhart by the throat.  As he watched,
Dracula dropped him down, and Reinhart too became stone to his chest.  The
evil vampire stepped back a little, and laughed insanely, into the night air.
     "At last!  There are none left to oppose me!  None left who can stop me!
The world is mine, and darkness will rule!  Chaos will reign nigh over the
shattered corpse of the earth, and-"  Tenchi shouted out.
     "And what!"  Dracula turned to him, and looked shocked by Tenchi's
rebirth.  He flung his hand toward him, and ordered Ryoko to attack.
     Tenchi unfolded his Wings, and grabbed hold of one, changing it into the
Light Hawk sword, as Ryoko turned, charging him.  Tenchi too ran forward, and
they both shouted.  Ryoko's was a wild battle cry, wordless, and filled with
rage.
     "Ryoko!  WAKE UP!!!" shouted Tenchi. He slashed down, slicing her hand
off, and his blade hit its mark.  For a moment, they both stood there, staring
at each other.
     Then, the circlet fell off, sliced cleanly off, Tenchi's Light Hawk Sword
resting on Ryoko's forehead.  Tenchi let the sword disappear.  Her hand grew
back, and her eyes changed back to normal, bright and beautifully golden.  And
then, she fell to her knees, and started screaming shrilly.  Ryoko would
scream until she ran out of breath, and then stop only as long as it took to
fill her lungs again.  Tenchi took her by the shoulders, and shook her.
     "Ryoko!  It's me!  Wake up, it's me, Tenchi!"  But she kept screaming on,
trying to scramble backwards and away from him, but somehow Tenchi managed to
hold her there.  Tenchi understood what had happened.  Locked away by the
circlet, she had been trapped in her own mind, locked away in the darkness,
forced to watch as her own body attacked them, attacked him.  Now that she was
freed from the control of Dracula, she was still under the control of the
sheer terror she had been in all the time, and was letting it pour out now,
the only way that she could.
     "Ryoko, listen to me!  You're safe!  He doesn't have you anymore.  He
doesn't have you anymore!"  Still no change, and she kept screaming in
absolute terror.  What could he do that would reach her in this state?  Tenchi
thought of what she wanted more than anything, and it suddenly came to him
what he had to do.  Tenchi gripped her shoulders, and when she paused to draw
breath, pulled her toward him, and kissed her.  He held it for as long as he
could, and when they finally separated, she stared at him as if she had never
seen him before.  Tears stood unshed in her eyes, but she didn't start to
scream again.
     "You're safe now.  I love you Ryoko, and I swear that I won't let him
hurt you anymore.  I won't let you go again."  She stared at him, and Tenchi
wondered how he could have ever kept it from her for so long.  If Dracula had
done nothing else good in his life, than perhaps it was because of him that
Tenchi finally forced himself to admit that he loved her, to both himself, and
to Ryoko.
     "Tenchi..." she breathed, and then buried her face into his shoulder,
sobbing loudly.  He let her cry for a moment, hugging her to him, and then
gently lifted her face.
     "Take care of Reinhart and Carrie.  I have unfinished business with
Dracula," he said, and then kissed her on the forehead.  Ryoko nodded, and
with a small smile, stood up.  Tenchi stood as well, and began walking towards
Dracula.  The Master of Evil faced him, a sneer on his face.
     "So, it comes down to you and I.  Somehow, I knew that it would.  My
servant was a fool.  He should have killed you when he first found you," said
the ancient vampire.  Tenchi stared at him coldly.
     "You've attacked me, hurt my friends, and tried to take Ryoko away from
me.  You stand there and taunt us, yet I haven't seen you do any real fighting
yet.  Can you only attack with pawns?  Can you only steal a person's life, and
use them as a shield?"  Dracula snarled in rage, and sent a flurry of
fireballs at Tenchi.  Without a thought, he unfolded his Wings, and the
fireballs splashed against them without even slowing Tenchi's steady advance.
The vampire king called lightning down from the skies, but they simply curved
off to the sides, throwing up great chunks of the roof, but not even stirring
one of Tenchi's hairs.  Tenchi reached forward, and grabbed one of the Wings,
transforming it into the Light Hawk Sword.  The second, he changed into the
Light Hawk Shield.* (see the end if you don't know what I'm talking about)
Dracula stared at him as if he held a live viper in his hands.
     "You are the one foretold," he breathed.  The vampire then reached to the
sky, and a blast of lighting crashed down onto him. When Tenchi blinked, to
clear his vision, he saw that Dracula's now held a sword and shield to match
his own, save that where Tenchi's Light Hawk Sword and Shield where a pure
white, Dracula's were a black deep as death.
     "Long ago, when the curse first touched me and damned me to this eternal
existence, a legend was born.  That one day, a man would appear from a new
land, bringing with him one of Hell's Children, and a sword that was not a
true sword.  That man would be the my final death."  Dracula pointed his dread
black blade at Tenchi, and lightning flashed.
     "Come then.  If this is to be the end of my accursed existence, than so
be it.  Let us battle."  The two charged each other, and the battle was
joined.  Where the two blades met, a blinding blast of light flashed, when
blade met shield, a great rumble rolled through the air.  Tenchi slashed
across, and Dracula caught the attack with his blade.  Pulling back, Tenchi
leapt up as Dracula slashed low, and then ducked beneath the higher backswing.
He swept his leg out, and Dracula tumbled down.  Tenchi reared up for the
killing stroke, but Dracula rolled away, and Tenchi merely sank his blade into
the stone.  It was Dracula's turn to rally, and he pushed Tenchi across the
roof top.  At one straight strike, Tenchi leapt up, and landed on Dracula's
hand.  He somersaulted forward and over the vampire, landing and pivoting to
slice across, but Dracula got his shield into place in just enough time.
     They battled on, pushing each other back and forth across the rooftop,
while Ryoko, Reinhart, and Carrie looked on.  The combatants seemed to dance
as they moved, Dracula with the sinuous grace of a viper, Tenchi with the
speed and elegance of a ferret.  It was almost mesmerizing, the way that they
turned and spun, blocking and counterattacking as the other attacked.
     "How can they possibly keep going?  Neither has even broke a sweat yet,
and neither has scored blood!" exclaimed Carrie.  Ryoko, who was squatting
down between the two of them, looked at her.
     "Tenchi was trained by the best on our world.  When he has a goal,
nothing can stop him, not fire or traps, not eternal evil or unbeatable odds.
Tenchi always finds a way to make it through."
     On and on they went, until Tenchi suddenly noticed that the sky was
brightening.  Dracula noticed it too, and began to press his attack harder,
but still neither could do more than come close to a hit.  Tenchi fought back
with every bit of skill that he had, used every single trick that his
grandfather had taught him, but he had been fighting all the night, and he
could feel fatigue starting to creep over him.  Dracula was beginning to gain
an upper hand.
     And then a miracle happened.  The sun rose in the eastern skies, cresting
the tower.  It caught Dracula squarely in the eyes, and he shouted in pain.
His hands came up, to shield his eyes from the blinding light.  Tenchi saw his
chance.  Squaring himself to the King of Evil, Tenchi charged forward, his
blade straight before him.  Dracula pulled his hands down, and tried to get
his shield up to block, but Tenchi drove his blade into Dracula's breast, to
the hilt, the blade emerging on the other side.  The blade blazed to life, and
a light so bright that it hurt to look at shone forth.  Dracula screamed in
pain as it washed over him.
     Slowly, the dimmed back, and Tenchi was left, holding the blade in, nose
to nose with the ancient vampire.  Dracula looked him in the eyes, a lone
emotion deep within his eyes.  Joy.  He opened his mouth, and spoke.
     "Thank you...  I am freed from my eternal torment."  With that, Dracula
slid back, off the blade, and onto the ground.  The body stayed there for a
moment, and then it became dust, which blew away in the breeze.  The ancient
castle began to rumble and shake again.
     Tenchi rushed over to Ryoko, and touched Reinhart and Carrie with the tip
of the sword.  The stone returned to flesh.
     "We have to hurry!" exclaimed Tenchi.  Reinhart grabbed his collar.
     "Rosa!  I have to find Rosa!"  Tenchi nodded, and handed him back his
whip, which he had caught seemingly ages ago when he had fallen off the tower.
Tenchi turned to Ryoko.
     "Get her out of here, Ryoko!"  She nodded, and grabbed Carrie, taking
off.  Ryo-Ohki bounded up from somewhere, and leapt forward, catching onto
Ryoko's dress as she flew off.  Tenchi and Reinhart dashed over to the lift,
and took it back down.  The steps that they had used were gone, but they were
able to jump into the room, Tenchi slashing the door out of their way.
Inside, Rosa was still waiting for them, shouting in terror as the room
started to crash down around them.
     "Cover her with your cloak, Reinhart, else she'll be killed when we leave
here!"  Reinhart threw his cloak over her, and Tenchi began to spread his
Wings.  Above them, a large section of the roof fell in.

*****

     Ryoko set Carrie down, across the sea from the isle Castlevania rested
on, and then settled down to the ground herself, turning to look at
Castlevania.  The whole castle was shaking, its spires falling down and
raising great clouds of dust as the crashed to the ground.  She bent to pick
up Ryo-Ohki, hugging the cabbit to her.  Gods how she had missed the creature,
when she had found that even her mental link to her had been severed by the
circlet.  Ryoko pushed her mind away from the thought of that time, shivering
at even the thought of it.  Tenchi had told her she was safe, and she wouldn't
let herself think of it again.
     Looking back up at the castle, which was now almost half sunk, she began
to wonder where he was.  When he had first destroyed the circlet, all that she
could see was the terror she had been wrapped in, and he had seemed like a
giant demon to her.  She had heard what he was saying, but thought that it was
just a trick...  After all, she had just seen herself throw him off the tower.
But when he had kissed her, the terror had been blown aside as if it was
merely dust, and she had seen him, recognizing who he was.  And then he told
her that he loved her, and she had almost fainted again.
     "Where are they, Ryoko?" asked Carrie.  Ryoko looked again, and saw that
the castle was now nearly submerged, only the clock tower left.  She opened
her mouth to speak, but paused, as a great rumbling filled the air.  With a
blinding suddenness, the great clock tower exploded, a pillar of fire
stretching itself far into the air, blasting away the few clouds in the sky.
Ryoko ran forward, in shock, as a few stones from it landed near them.
     "TEENCHIII!!!" she screamed.  She felt her knees go out from under her,
and found herself on the ground.  The explosion faded, and she watched in numb
disbelief as what was left of the clock tower slid under the waves.
     No. He couldn't be gone, not now, not when he had finally told her he
loved her.  Ryoko stared at the waveless sea, where the castle had just been,
and the tears welled up from deep within, held back from falling by only sheer
willpower.  She screamed her rage into the sky.  NO!  Not now!  To finally get
what she wanted, and then to have it ripped from her.
     She thought back, to when she had suddenly felt the seal lifted from her,
as she laid in the cave.  She hadn't sensed anybody coming to the cave, and
Tenchi hadn't come for what seemed a long, long time.  That was what had hurt
her most, when she had seen the young boy walk away from the cave one day,
after saying good bye to it.  She had wanted to sob in pain, but her body had
long since lost that ability, so she once again waited, alone.  But she felt
the seal lifted, and quickly began to pull in as much of the small amount of
energy that she still had left.
     It had been a shock, when the young man had slipped down into the cave.
She had stared at him, with her astral form, as she waited for the energy to
collect, as it slowly was.  He was older, more handsome, but it was Tenchi,
whom she had watched grow up, and felt something she had never felt before, as
her body slept, sealed within this cave.  He had approached the center of the
cave, and she had expended a little of her precious energy to tug the sword
out of his hands, so that he bent to pick it up, and then rejoined her body,
which had collected just enough power.
     She had slowly sat up, her mummified muscles screaming in torment, and
grabbed his arm.  Slowly, as he watched in shock, she had reached forward,
touched his cheek, and would have been in tears to feel another person's
warmth if her body could have been.  She had begun to draw herself forward, to
kiss him, and then the sword had shocked her, pushing her away with a searing
blast.  Tenchi had turned and ran, as fast as he could, and Ryoko had had no
choice but to stay where she was, slowly collecting the energy she would need
to reflesh her body and leave the confines of the cave.
     She came back to the present, as her eyes fell on a glowing object.  Her
eyes widened as she recognized it. Tenchi-ken was stuck into the ground, up to
its hilt.  She scrambled over to it, and, gingerly, touched it.  There were no
painful shocks, no burning to sear her, and that could only mean on thing, and
as she accepted what had to be the truth, and her tears began to fall.
     When she heard Carrie gasp in surprise, and Ryo-Ohki miya in joy, she
didn't look up, certain that it was just her mind trying to play a last few
jokes on her before driving her mad, which she surely must become after this
final, greatest hurt in her life.
     When she heard Reinhart ask if Carrie had missed him, she turned,
clutching Tenchi-ken to her breast.  She saw Tenchi, with his Light Hawk armor
just changing back into his normal clothing.  He was full of dust, bleeding
from the forehead and looked like he had been through an avalanche, but he was
there.  A little off to his side, a tall, pretty young woman, in a red dress,
was looking up at the sun with her arms spread, as if to take in as much of it
as she could.
     Tenchi looked at her, and smiled, and the flood gates broke within her.
Ryoko scrambled up, and toward him.  With a long-suffering sob, she latched
onto him, locking onto him in a death grip, and proceeded to bury her head
into his shoulder, crying.  She felt his arms go around her, and heard him
whisper softly into her ear, one hand stroking her hair, the other holding her
close to him.
     "I'm sorry Ryoko.  I didn't mean to keep you waiting for so long," he
said.  She looked at him, her cheeks puffy and eyes red.
     "Don't you ever do that to me again Tenchi.  I thought for certain that
you were gone this time.  I don't know what I would have done then, if...
if..."  She couldn't finish the thought, and placed her head back onto his
shoulder.  He just held her, murmuring soft, soothing sounds into her ear, and
slowly, she felt her whole body relax.  In his arms, she felt like nothing
could touch her, and she knew that he never would let anything touch her
again.

*****

     The triumphant heroes returned to the village, and a great celebration
was held.  For a week, there was feasting, and everywhere they went, shouts of
victory followed.  Reinhart and Carrie were proclaimed saints, and they seemed
to bask in the attention.  With a great following, Reinhart and Carrie led
Tenchi, Ryoko, and Ryo-Ohki to the Belmont's tomb, and there, laid the holy
whip to its final rest.
     A week passed, and then another.  Tenchi and Ryoko, with much help from
Reinhart and Carrie, were married.  What a strange processions it was, at
that.  Reinhart on Tenchi's left, holding the ring, Carrie and Rosa as Ryoko's
maidens of honor, and Ryo-Ohki in furry human form, bringing up the rear,
holding Ryoko's dress up.  They spoke their vows to a priest who seemed truly
confused at the whole mess, and exchanged the ring over a bowl of holy water.
A ribbon was wrapped around their hands, and the priest spoke.
     "Let this ribbon be a symbol of their love, never breaking, never
failing."  After the wedding was over, everything was set up again, and
Reinhart and Rosa were married, with Tenchi and Ryoko as best man and maiden
of honor.  The new couple invited Tenchi and Ryoko to stay with them as long
as need be, and Reinhart arranged with the orphanage to let Carrie live with
them.  It was a happy time, and Tenchi spent as much time with his new wife as
he could.
     As more weeks went by, though, Tenchi became anxious.  Ryoko asked him
what the trouble was, and he told her.
     "I wonder why Washu hasn't come for us yet.  We've been here almost three
months.  Who knows what's been happening while we've been gone?"  Ryoko
nodded, but could offer no words to soothe him.
     "I know.  Tell you the truth, I kinda miss home."
     But they weren't all happy times.  Many nights, Tenchi would wake to find
Ryoko tossing and turning, her arms wrapped about herself, tears streaming
down her face.  Tenchi would wake her, and gently rock her until the morning
came, as she sobbed and whimpered in fright.
     Nearly a year and a half after they had appeared in the new world, she
fell deathly ill.  Doctors came from far and wide, but none could offer a
solution.  For nearly two weeks, Tenchi stayed at her side, watching over her.
At times, she would begin hallucinating, screaming in terror at things only
she could see, at others, she would fall into a deep, deep sleep, from which
Tenchi feared she might never awake.
     When the morning dawned, and Tenchi awoke to find her looking around, her
fever cleared, he thanked the gods for not taking her away from him again.
Weeks past, and she slowly regained her strength.
     In the weeks after, Tenchi slowly began to pry into her, talking with her
and trying to help her tortured soul finally heal.  Gradually, she began to
tell him the dark secrets that she had kept bottled inside since escaping from
Castlevania.  As she told him the terrors she had gone through, a chill passed
through him, and he wondered how she could have ever kept her sanity.
     One night, nearly three years after they had first come to Transylvania,
as Tenchi laid awake in his bed with Ryoko, Ryo-Ohki curled up at their feet,
he saw Tenchi-ken begin to glow.  Slowly, he rose, and Ryoko awoke.  She sat
up, her slightly swollen stomach standing out under the sheet.  He looked at
her, and shrugged.  As Tenchi stepped closer, the sword glowed brighter,
beginning to pulse on and off.  A stiff breeze blew up, and things started to
fly around in the room.  There was a flash of light, and a vertical line
appeared, which grew and rotated, opening to form a portal.
     Reinhart and Carrie came in, awakened by the noise, and were just in time
to see the portal become fully open.  Through it, Tenchi could see one of the
rooms in Washu's lab.  The pink haired scientist was typing madly at a
console.  Behind her, Ayeka, Sasami,  Mihoshi, Nobuyuki and Katsuhito, and
Mayuka were waving to them, signaling them to hurry.  They all seemed...
Older, was the only word Tenchi could put to it.  Sasami was now nearly as
tall as Ayeka, with Tsunami's features even now beginning to come out, and
Mayuka, who had been just a baby when they left, was now a toddler.
     "What is this magic?" shouted Carrie over the noise.  Tenchi looked at
her.  Reinhart shielded his eyes against the gale.
     "I think that's our ride home!"  He touched Ryoko on the shoulder, and
she wrapped a robe around herself.  It flapped in the wildly in the wind.
Carrie looked at Reinhart.  In the past three years, she had grown, into a
child with all the worldly knowledge of a fifteen year old.  Reinhart and Rosa
watched over the young girl like a kid sister, and now the two had a baby of
their own on the way.  Tenchi and Ryoko looked at each other, and then at
their friends.
     "Thank you, Tenchi, Ryoko!  We couldn't have beaten Dracula without you!"
shouted Carrie, over the noise.  Tenchi glanced at the portal.  The others
seemed to be more frantic, and Washu seemed to be in two places at once, she
was typing so fast.  Considering that it was Washu, she probably was.
     "Rosa will be sad that you can't see the baby, but we've decided on
names.  Tenchi if it's a boy, Ryoko if it's a girl," called Reinhart.  He put
out his hand, and Tenchi took it.
     "Good luck, Reinhart, Carrie.  Say good bye to Rosa for us!"  With that,
Tenchi let go, and turned to Ryoko.  She scooped up Ryo-Ohki and jumped
through the portal.  Tenchi took one last look back, grabbed Tenchi-ken, and
leapt through.  As he got through, the portal snapped shut, catching the tail
end of his shirt.  It was sliced clean through, and Tenchi shuddered to think
what might have happened if he had been caught there.
     "Lord Tenchi!"  The inevitable wave of girls crashed down on him, and he
looked apologetically at Ryoko.  She just shrugged, and grinned, mouthing,
"Who's going tell them?"  Tenchi had a sinking feeling that it would be him.
Maybe they should have just stayed in that world?

*****

     Here is a preview from the epilogue:

     Just over three years past their disappearance, Tenchi, Ryoko, and
Ryo-Ohki were all back.  Ayeka stalked across the house, looking for Ryoko.
She didn't know how she could have missed it, the swell to Ryoko's belly.  How
could that... monster woman just go and take Tenchi like that?
     Earlier in this chapter, I said that Tenchi changed one of the Wings into
'The Light Hawk Shield'  Now, what I mean by that is that he used one of the
wings as an old style 'strap it to your arm' shield.  Check out OVA episode
six, and you'll know what I'm talking about.

---
The Platinum Dragon
"The rising sun will eventually set,
  a newborn's life will fade.
  From sun to moon, moon to sun,
  Give peaceful rest to the living dead." - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of
Time
http://dragonsanime.dreamhost.com - Dragon's Masaki Shrine of Tenchi Muyo
Proud Member of the Ryoko Forever Fan Club