Silence...

That was all that greeted her in this brand new day. Not chirping of 
birds. Not the low hum of electricity. Not the muffled rumbling of 
engines. Not the insistent noise of an alarm clock. Nothing greeted 
her but the gentle whistling of... wind? Wait, that wasn't it... It 
was more like the sound of someone's breathing. Wasn't She alone? That 
made her wake faster. She felt the cold touch of fear crept up her 
spine.  Her heart quickened as adrenaline began to course through her 
veins.

She looked around the room. Everything was wrecked. The walls were 
cracked. The floor looked like it hadn't been swept in years and even 
missed some boards. The furniture was ruined. There was debris 
everywhere.  Simply put, everything was in shambles. {Where am I?} she 
asked herself, not recognizing the room. {What is this place?) It 
looked like it was made if wood. {Bare wood? I thought the room was 
pearl white.} But she dismissed it as a part of the night's dreams... 

Although she didn't know were she was, there was still a sense of 
familiarity. Suddenly she realized where she was: the Tendos' house, 
right in the middle of the sitting room.  Near her were the Tendos' 
middle daughter, Nabiki, and her own son, Ranma. A flash of gold came 
through her mind for a second, but that too was dismissed as part of 
the night's dreams.

The three of them were all sprawled around the sitting table... or 
what was left of it.  Now fully awake, she noted that the room itself 
had seen better days. {Looks like my son's girlfriends visited again.} 
She mused.

She managed to get up, after freeing herself of her son's arm that 
pressed on her. A quick glance at the garden told her that the problem 
was much more that she first thought. It was ravaged. The pond was 
empty, the little tree siding it was not there, and the grass was 
replaced by mud. Even the wall surrounding the Tendo estate was just a 
pile of pebbles.

Trembling a little, she walked outside, not caring about the fact that 
she wore no shoes. What stood not that far away triggered something in 
the back of her mind. With eyes not of her own, she looked through 
distant memories and saw a royal court with sublime dresses, an 
imposing palace pearl-white, and peace all around. She saw people she 
knew and yet didn't recognize.

Troubled by all these mental pictures, she shook her head to clear it, 
and then looked back at the structure that confused her so.

What she saw was a magnificent pale-white palace, looking a lot like 
the one she saw in her little spell. And yet this one was different...

It was made of crystal...

---

{...}

{...Morning already ? How come nobody waked me up ? Let's see... 
clothes dry, no smell of panda fur, legs tangled with someone else's, 
no smell of Kasumi's wonderful cooking... wait-a-minute, legs tangled 
with someone else's ???} His eyes shot open in a split second, looking 
frantically all around him.

{Pfff, what a relief, it was just Nabiki's legs from where she sit... 
makes that lay, in front of me at the sitting table. Hmm... how come I 
don't remember how I came to sleep here? Must be that tomboy's toxic 
cooking again.} The pigtailed boy then took a general glance to the 
room he was in.

{Darn... what the hell happened here? Not even Mom's house was that 
badly destroyed when the fiancee brigade ravaged it.} He stood up and 
walked toward Nabiki to check her.

{Ok, she's not injured or nothing... Let's see if I can wake her up.}

"Hey, Nabiki, wake up, will ya?" He said aloud, gently shaking her 
shoulder.

"Hmm... five more minutes..." she mumbled in her sleep.

"Darn, and they say that I'm the one that could sleep through an 
earthquake? Hey, Nabiki, wake up, there is something fishy here. Wake 
up damnit!" the last he nearly shouted in frustration.

"Huu... wha?" she opened slightly one eye to see who was interrupting 
her beauty sleep. "Ranma? You ought to have a very good explanation to 
why you are in my room, Saotome. Or it'll cost you." She said while 
waking up, against her wishes mind you.

"Yeah? I got news for ya Nabiki. Ya ain't in your room. I'm not even 
sure you still got a room in fact." He told her.

"Hu?" She blinked while sitting up, seeing where she was and the 
current state of the room. "What the hell happened here?" she shouted 
while standing up.

"That's what I wanna know. I don't even remember why we were sleeping 
here in the first place." Ranma explained while scratching his head.

"Something is not adding up, Saotome. The furniture don't look like it 
was trashed..." she pointed.

"Whadda ya mean?" Ranma asked her, not understanding.

"Look..." she told him while pressing gently with a hand on a remain 
of the sitting table. With no effort of her part, the wood cracked.

"How did the wood became that fragile?" Ranma wondered aloud.

"I can't explain it, Ranma. Did you find anyone else?" she asked, 
turning her attention back to him.

"Nah, seems we are the only one in here. I wonder where they can be."

"Let's take a look around the house, maybe we'll find something 
useful." She said.

"Okay, I'll start with the dojo." He told her, starting his way toward 
the garden. "Huu... Nabiki? Take a loot at that."

"You found something already?" 

"Depend on what you call 'something' I suppose." He said, pointing the 
white crystal palace standing proud not that far from here. "Dunno 
what you think, but I'm sure that wasn't there before."

"Perhaps we should take a closer look at that thing. It may be what 
caused all this." She told him, gesturing to the remains of what was 
once the Tendo household.

"It may be dangerous, but I don't think we got the choice. Let's go."

---



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