Nightelf presents...

                          Darkness

     November 5, 1998  11:30 pm

     Nicholas Leifker pulled into the parking lot of her apartment, 
bone-weary from the battles, both physical and emotional, over the past 
few days.  First had come telling her parents about the curse and the war 
that was looming on the horizon.  That was bad enough; her mom had 
fainted when he poured the water over him-herself, triggering the 
all-too-familiar change.  Then, faced with the revenge she sought for so 
long, she found herself unable to do it.  Ranma and Ukyou had suffered 
enough, she had decided, and pulled back from the dark path, instead 
giving them what they'd always wanted: their freedom.  She cried for an 
hour after it was done, a part of her angry she hadn't done more, another 
tired from the emotional draining of the episode, and the rest of her 
just grateful her own vengeance was done.  After that had come helping 
out in other battles, her position dangerously powerful in some cases, 
frighteningly calming in others.  Her personal confrontation had given her 
a wisdom:  Some of these people deserved every ounce of vengeance handed 
to them, while others should be left alone.  She only prayed she could 
recognize the difference.  Right now, all she wanted was a hot shower, to 
feel like _him_self again, to wipe the grime of her travels away.

     She stopped.  Something...someone was here, she knew it, could taste 
its evil like a bitter medicine in her throat, feel its icy grip start to 
surround her.  

     "Hello...Nicholas.  Or is it Nicole?  Names are so confusing with 
you creators..."  The voice was deep, sonorous, inhuman.

     She looked around, staring at the dark fog surrounding her.  "Who 
are you?  What do you want?"

     All that came from the dark void was a chuckle.  "I am here...to 
administer your punishment."

     "My punishment?  You're a couple of years to late for that, baka, in 
case you hadn't noticed."  Despite her acted confidence, the Nightelf was 
extremely frightened.  Normally she could at least sense the mind of 
whoever was near her.  Now, she felt...nothing.  

     "Oh, really?"  A picture unfolded before her, formed from the night 
surrounding her, a picture from her recent past.  Her past self stood at 
Jusenkyo, serious, in front of a nearly-helpless Ranma, as she tried to make 
her peace.  Her own words from then echoed through the mist, sending a 
sinking chill through her.  

     "I'll be honest: I deserved my punishment.  To be honest, I probably 
deserved to be cursed, stuck in the form, raped by Ryouga, and forced to 
have a kid who inherited my curse." 

     The mists coalesced, to form a dark figure, still hazy, but all in 
black.  "By your own judgement, you deserved worse than what you got.  
Therefore, I am here to give it to you."  A sphere of energy formed in 
a...hand?, sending tendrils of eldritch fire into the poor woman.  

     "AAuugh!!"  The pain that went through her as the streams of energy 
passed through her was beyond description, as though a part of her soul 
were being wrenched from her grasp, the cutting made all the worse by the 
hideous laughter echoing in her ears, along with her own damning words.  
She reached out with her soul...tried to focus...to try to find some way 
out of there....

     "YEEEAUGH!!!"  An energy wave, similar to the Dragon's Fire but far 
more intense, rippled through the tainted air as she took what was left 
of herself and blasted at the nothingness, somehow breaking the spell.  
The fog around her vanished, revealing the apartment complex once more.  
Stumbling into her apartment, she closed the door, hit an emergency 
signal, and passed out, hoping that her friends would come to her before 
it would...

****************************************************************************

     I was busy typing in "Happi-ness" for my early list, when my mind 
said to stop.  So, I started writing this.  I know I said that I wouldn't 
do any more revengefics, but I felt that someone had to do a bit with 
this "enemy" in it that we've been talking about.  Ergo, this.  I know 
it's a bit rough, but I'm not exactly awake at the moment. 

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Nicholas (Nicole?) Leifker, aka "Nightelf"
nwl9354@tam2000.tamu.edu
"He's so beautiful when he's unconscious."
-Kodachi Kuno, "Kurobara"
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