Waters Under Earth

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by Alan Harnum 
-harnums@thekeep.org
-harnums@hotmail.com (old/backup)

All Ranma characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, first
published by Shogakukan in Japan and brought over to North
America by Viz Communications.

Waters Under Earth at Transpacific Fanfiction:  
http://www.humbug.org.au/~wendigo/transp.html
http://users.ev1.net/~adina/shrines2/fanfics.html

Prelude : King of Ashes

     "You cannot do this to me," the king said.

     The eldest sister looked upon him.  "We can and must."

     "No more evil shall you do," the middle sister said.

     And third now spoke the youngest sister.  "We defy you in
this."

     "You will suffer for this," the king said, struggling
futilely with that which bound him.  "You and all that you have
made.  I shall cast my shadow across all that is, and slay and
slay and slay until that which you would protect is gone."

     He laughed, a laughter tinged with madness, because for all
his power he was a mad king.  "They shall come to me.  I shall
make them my slaves."

     "From the moment their spark first burns they shall be
free," the eldest sister intoned.  "So says I, and that is my
gift."

     "From the brightest burning of their life's flame to its
dimming, they shall be free," the middle sister intoned.  "So
says I, and that is my gift."

     "From the final fading of their fire to ash and beyond they
shall be free," the youngest sister said.  "So says I, and that
is my gift."

     The king laughed again, and in the endless sky above the
new-burning stars trembled in their orbits.  "And this is my
gift, that I give for your betrayal."

     The three sisters paused, and stricken speechless were they
by horror as the king stretched out his hand, only a hand, for
that was all that even he could break from his binding.

     "From the the moment of their spark's conception until it
dies to ash, they shall slay each other," the king said.  "They
shall slay all that lives in the heavens above, or on the earth
beneath, or in the waters under the earth.  They shall feel my
dreams, and they shall make them theirs."

     "NO!" the middle sister cried.  The king howled with
laughter, and existence trembled at his merriment.

     He began to clasp his hand closed, to make his gift final,
to complete his vengeance.

     "I SHALL NOT ALLOW IT!" the middle sister said.  She
raised her arms to the endless sky.  "THIS GIFT I GIVE, MY SECOND
ONE!  MY LIFE FOR HIS LIFE, MY PAIN FOR HIS RAGE!"

     "Sister-" said the eldest one.

     "No-" began the youngest.

     "BY MY BINDING ARE YOU BOUND!" the middle sister screamed,
a scream that echoed through all that was.  "BY MY IMPRISONMENT
ARE THEY MADE FREE!"

     And then it was done.  The king screamed and vanished.

     "Oh, my sister, what have you done?" said the eldest.  "What
have you done?"

     "I have made them free," the middle sister whispered.  "We
must complete it.  We must finish it, before I grow too weak."

     "Sister," the youngest said.  "Oh, sister."

     "Shh... it's alright," the middle one said from where she
lay upon the ground.  "It is done.  I have chosen my fate.  It is
only up to you now to seal it, little one."

     The youngest looked upon her sister, and nodded.

     She stood up, voice calm and steady.  "It is done, so says
I.  We cast you and your evil out beyond the brink of time,
beyond all things.  Until the last spark is extinguished, never
shall you do your evil.  So say I, and my sisters, and that is our
last gift."

     The eldest and the youngest sister knelt by the middle,
and the eldest held her right hand and the youngest held her
left.

     "So be it," the three said together, their voice becoming
one.

     "He has still sent his shadows," the eldest said after a
moment.

     "Then we shall give them the means to fight him," the middle
said.

     "It was not supposed to be like this," the youngest said.

     The eldest smiled ruefully.  "There is a great difference
between the way we want things to be and the way they will end up
being, little sister."

     So the three sisters held hands for a while longer, taking
what comfort they could in each other, and then the eldest and
the youngest left their middle sister where she lay, because of
the sacrifice she'd given that all that they had made would be
free.

     Ages passed, stars burned out in their cradles and new ones
were born, worlds crumbled to dust and new worlds formed
themselves from that dust.  The king's shadows were as endless as
stars in the sky, and some of the children the three sisters had
made served his shadows, because they had made them free to
choose.

     But others fought the king's shadows with all they had.
Sometimes the shadows won, and sometimes those who fought them
won.  The sisters gave what aid they could, but loath were they
to interfere, for fear they would become as the king and wish to
make slaves of all that was and destroy all that would not be
their slaves.

     And the river of time flowed on, carrying upon its waters
the destinies of the lowest and the highest, the brightest and
the darkest, the most foully evil and the most beneficiently
good.

     And one traveller upon that river was at one time named
Ranma Saotome.  He had other names before, and would have other
names after, but he was named at this one time Ranma Saotome.

     And the river of time flowed on...