(And now back to Rob Bob's Last Call and "Her"...)
You know...it's always amazing when you take a look at the early
works of some of the more well-known authors, and you wonder, "What
the *hell* was this person on?"
Well, at least that's how I feel when I take a look back at one of
my earlier works. Yes friends, I'm talkin' about that long,
incredibly twisted, and incredibly OOC little fic, "Her".
Now, the strange thing is, I get a lot of people telling me that
they actually liked this thing. I mean...yeah, it's maybe a little
better than your average newbie fic, but come on, people! It doesn't
*get* much more OOC without being a lemon!
Still though, it's passable enough for me to show it here.
I wrote this sucker in September of 1996, and back then I didn't
know what the hell I was doing when it came to the Internet, so it
took forever for this to finally get posted to RAAC. Back then I
didn't even know about the FFML...so how this achieved the level of
popularity it did, I have no idea. Anyways, before we get started,
let's have those Drive-In Totals. We've got:
-Two really old souls
-Two really tragic deaths
-One raving violent maniac
-One aquatranssexual having an identity crisis
-One sadistic housewife figure
-One concrete koi pond
-One lime scene
-Weird psycho wet dreams
-Bestial love
-Kung fu
-Chi blast fu
-Mallet fu
-Okonomiyaki fu
-Exorcism fu
One and a half stars. And now, because we've gone to all the trouble,
here it is:
"HER"
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P A R T O N E : N E W F O U N D K N O W L E D G E
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Darkness, all around. The air seemed thick and dense, almost liquid,
tendrils of pale mist swirling, suspended in the oppressive
atmosphere.
The dark-haired teenager took all this in, and moved cautiously
forward
in a randomly chosen direction. It was incredibly hard to move in
this
swirling air, like trying to walk on the floor of an ocean or...
Or the bottom of a lake. That's what was going on here. This wasn't
air,
it was water.
Instinct and human nature told him to panic, told him to flail
about,
try to lift himself off the basin of this body of water. However, to
his
own amazement, he was somehow able to breathe in this water as though
it
were actually air. Satisfied that he wasn't going to drown, he
continued
his slow hike across the level rock floor.
He saw a number of large, pearl-like spheres scattered across the
ground
at various points, shedding a soft, eerie luminescence. There was no
heat
from the glow, naturally the water would prevent him from feeling the
heat. He noticed something that looked like a wall farther ahead, and
went in that direction, trying to pick up his pace.
He had covered about half the distance when he heard the most
agonizing
thing he could remember ever hearing in his life. A female voice,
soprano
in tone, somehow seeming to be shrill and soft at the same time,
unless
that was a trick of the water on his hearing, screamed out in pure
terror
and agony over and over again. No words emerged from the incoherent
scream. Immediately he began to run through the water, using his
hands to
chop through it as though trying to swim, yet not able to actually
swim
in it. He had to find her, save her, whoever she was, whatever was
going
on, he couldn't just ignore her cries. The sound of her voice told
him
she had to be around his age. The thought that someone might be doing
something unspeakably cruel to a poor defenseless young girl enraged
him,
and his speed increased. The water ahead of him was now illuminated
by
more than just the glowing pearls; his chi had flickered into the
visible
spectrum, and he now glowed with a thin, faint blue aura, which
brightened as he ran.
He finally was within sight of her. He stopped cold and all the
blood
rushed out of his face. His aura abruptly vanished and he sank to his
knees, not only having dispersed the chi he had summoned in
preparation
for a fight, but also the chi that was propelling his charge through
the
water.
Before him, in a vast cavern, he saw two spheres floating serenly in
the
water. The smaller of the two spheres had a reddish tint to it.
Inside
the sphere, suspended in its center by a thick gel of some sort, was
the
girl he heard screaming. He realized her mouth was not opening to
scream,
and there was no air for her to fill her lungs with. The screaming he
heard was inside his mind. But there was no doubt that is was HER
screaming.
He took his first good look at the outer of the two spheres. A faint
bluish glow seemed to flow around the inside of the sphere like a
river
or a waterfall. A figure floated from behind the red sphere, and
smiled
down at him, almost wickedly. In his mind, he heard the voice of this
figure. "You should never have seen this. It's just going to haunt
you
from now on, and you'll never be able to do a damn thing about it." A
dark laugh echoed in his mind, along with the continued screams of
the
imprisoned girl.
The figure laughing....the girl screaming...he knew them all too
well.
Especially the laughing one. He hoped that he would never in his
life
laugh the way this mirror image of himself was laughing, in his own
voice.
The laughter continued. The screaming continued.
His mind finally gave up, and joined in the screaming, but his voice
held one coherent word:
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO........................!!!"
********
"NOOOOOOO!!!!!!" The scream was cut off by a loud splash, followed by
a
crashing sound.
Saotome Ranma peeled the bucket off his...actually, her...head and
glared at the dark-haired girl who'd thrown it at her. "HEY! Whatcha
do
that for!?"
"You were yelling in your sleep, baka!" Tendou Akane glared at her
iinazuke...ugh, sometimes it really made her sick that she was
engaged to
this walking sexual identity crisis.
"Yeah well you didn't hafta bean me with the bucket! Bad enough ya
splashed me, ya violent, kawaiikune tomboy..." Ranma-chan was
silenced by
a mighty blow from Mallet-sama. That damn mallet has to go,
Ranma-chan
thought to herself. Definitely has GOT to go.
Mallet-sama vanished to wherever it went to without Akane even
moving
her hands. To this day, not even Cologne had figured out where the
thing
came from or how Akane could make it appear and disappear without
anyone
ever seeing it. Not even Mousse, who specialized in hidden weapons,
could
figure it out. Recently they'd begun applying the nickname
Mallet-sama to
it. One time Nabiki used the nickname in front of Akane, and Akane
asked
what she meant by "Mallet-sama." Nabiki smiled and said, "Hey, gotta
show
that thing some respect. It's called playing it safe." Akane had just
blinked at that, and decided to accept the weird nickname.
Presently, Ranma was picking herself up off the floor and stumbling
toward the door shakily. She paused in front of Akane, seemed to be
about
to make some remark, then just sighed wearily and stomped heavily
toward
the bathroom.
Akane stared after her for a minute. Ranma not picking a fight?
Something's got to be bothering him. And he looked pretty worn out,
too.
It nagged at her all through her morning routine.
At breakfast, everyone became very concerned about Ranma. He looked
awful. He barely even touched his breakfast, shoving it in front of
his
father. Kasumi took the plate away just as Genma was about to dig
into it,
and offered it to Ranma again. "Come on Ranma-kun, you need to eat!"
The
others around the table murmured agreements, along with comments of
concern. Ranma mumbled "Leemealone" and passed the plate back to his
father without bothering to look at it.
After breakfast, which Ranma didn't eat, Akane, Ranma, and Nabiki
grabbed their bookbags and headed off to school. They barely got
outside
the dojo walls when another figure leaped off the fence to join them.
The
new arrival smirked when he saw Ranma. "Heya Saotome, you look like
hell."
"Get lost Ryouga."
"Whassa matter, Ranma, go twenty rounds with Mallet-sama this
morning?"
Akane smirked at that, she couldn't believe the nickname had gotten
so
far that even Ryouga was using it now.
"Leave me alone, you jerk."
Ryouga's attitude changed almost immediately. He did not like what
he
saw. Usually any taunt about Akane pounding Ranma into the ground all
the
time would be the same as a bell for the start of a fight. The fact
that
Ranma hadn't attacked him or even made a pig joke yet set off all
kinds
of warning indicators in Ryouga's mind. His smirk replaced itself
with a
worried frown. He moved to walk beside Ranma, and placed his hand on
his
arch enemy/best friend's shoulder. "Ranma, what's wrong?"
Ranma shrugged off the hand. "Why do you care?" Their unsteady
friendship/rivalry was not lost on Ranma. Both he and Ryouga knew
that on
some level, even though they fought all the time and loved to insult
each
other, if either one of them was ever in a jam, the other would
definitely show up to help out. That's just the way things worked
around
here. Among all of them, the rivalries and bickering would always be
put
aside whenever something was seriously wrong.
And something was SERIOUSLY wrong now.
Ryouga never got a chance to reply. A bicycle descended upon them,
missing Ranma and knocking Ryouga down. "Nihao!" Shampoo called
happily
as she hopped off the bike and glomped Ranma, otherwise known as
Patented
Shampoo Entrance #2. (#1 always annoys the people Shampoo is visiting
since it leaves holes in their walls, but that never bothers her.)As
usual when Shampoo did this, Akane glared, twitching one eye and
starting
to glow blue. Nabiki just smirked. Ryouga lie twitching underneath
the
bike.
Then, something unusual happened. Ranma pried Shampoo off of him,
and
threw her at the fence HARD. Shampoo collapsed in a heap on her butt,
and
stared at Ranma in shock. Akane stopped glowing and glaring, and also
stared in shock. Nabiki was hard to read, she seemed rather amused,
but
one never knows what's going on in her head. Ryouga had managed to
unbury
himself, and was looking back and forth between Ranma and Shampoo as
if
not sure he'd really seen what just happened.
Shampoo said quietly, "Ranma, why you do that?"
Ranma closed his eyes for a minute, and when he opened them again
his
tone was unusually cold. "Stay the hell off of me, you stupid, crazy,
horny Chinese airhead. Don't make me have to tell you again."
Ryouga winced.
Nabiki flinched.
Akane fainted.
Shampoo blinked a couple times, then quietly said, "That really how
you
feel Ranma...then I go...sayo...sayona...sayo..." She couldn't get
the
word out. All coherent speech robbed by a wave of racking sobs,
Shampoo
picked up her bike and took off for the Nekohanten as fast as she
could
pedal, crying all the way.
Akane sat up, still staring at Ranma in shock. Even Nabiki's face
now
carried the message that there was something wrong here. Ryouga
looked
right into Ranma's eyes, and he saw something there that looked very
familiar to him: depression. And something else, like terror, or
horror.
Something was definitely feasting on Ranma's mind.
Akane finally snapped into some form of conscious thinking capacity.
"R..
Ranma...maybe you better go home and take it easy, okay? Come on,
I'll
walk you back."
Ranma shook his head. "You go on, you're gonna be late. I'll take
Ryouga
with me. I gotta talk to him anyway."
Akane's eyes were shimmering slightly. "Al...alright. I'll be home
as
soon as school's over. Ryouga, help Kasumi take care of him okay?"
Ryouga nodded. For once he was too deep in thought to register more
than
Akane's question. None of the usual daydreaming and trances had a
chance
of breaking through the concern Ryouga had developed. "Hai,
Akane-san."
The girls headed off to the school, Akane casting worried glances
over
her shoulder every few seconds until Ranma and Ryouga were out of
sight,
already going back inside the dojo walls.
********
"Oh my, Ranma-kun! Ryouga-kun!" Kasumi was a bit surprised to see
them
enter the house.
"Ranma's not feeling well. Akane asked me to help you look after him
today," Ryouga said. He turned to Ranma and said, "Come on, better
get
upstairs."
Ranma nodded. He said, "Hai, I gotta lie down or I'm gonna pass
out."
Ryouga nodded, Kasumi appraised Ranma with a deeply concerned and
almost
maternal gaze. She finally turned and re-entered the kitchen. Ryouga
started helping Ranma upstairs. As they walked toward the stairs,
Ryouga
said, "You said you wanted to talk to me about something..."
Ranma nodded. He spoke, but his voice was strained. Whatever had him
down was physically fatiguing him. "Yeah...wait...till I've had a
chance
to rest a few minutes."
They got up to Ranma's room, and without even thinking about it,
Ryouga
picked Ranma up and laid him gently on his futon. Ranma didn't
protest or
make any noise about it. That especially worried Ryouga. He and Ranma
had
one thing in common, they were both pretty stubborn and very proud.
Ranma
would never show such weakness in front of a friend or a rival.
Ryouga
was silently thankful that Ranma was not in his girl form right now.
If
he had been, Ryouga would probably have stroked her forehead or
something
similar that he might do to soothe an upset girl...if that were to
happen,
and Ranma remembered it when he got back to normal...it would
embarrass
him to the point that he wouldn't be able to look at anyone. As much
as
he may hate Ranma at times, Ryouga didn't think he could ever bear to
see
him like that. That would be even worse than what lay before him
right
now.
A moment later, the door opened. Kasumi stepped in, and set a tray
with
a couple glasses, a small ice container, and a six pack of sodas
beside
Ryouga, who thanked her, and then she withdrew silently from the
room,
closing the door.
Ryouga set about filling the glasses with ice and soda, and placing
a
straw in each one, he handed one to Ranma. Ranma took it, sipped it,
and
set it down between the futon and Ryouga. Ryouga took a long sip of
his
soda and set it down on the tray.
Ranma closed his eyes for a moment. Ryouga steeled himself, then
asked,
"Ranma, what on earth happened to you? I've seen you come out of
battles
that you should have been killed in still cracking jokes and insults
as
if it was just another usual day. I've never seen you rattled this
badly.
What the hell did this to you?"
Ranma took a deep breath, let it out in a soft sigh. He opened his
eyes,
and looked up at the ceiling. He spoke softly. "Ryouga...y'ever think
about...y'know...him?"
Ryouga blinked. "Who?"
"Y'know, P-chan."
"Huh?" Ryouga was beginning to wonder if Ranma was even sane enough
to
carry on a conversation right about now.
"The original P-chan. The pig that drowned in that spring over 1000
years ago in Jusenkyo."
Ryouga blinked. "I never really gave it much thought...I mean, I
guess
I've wondered just how much I look like that little pig when I'm
P-chan...
other than that, I don't really think about it that much."
Ranma swallowed. "I do," he said quietly.
"You think about the pig?" Ryouga was feeling a little lost here.
Ranma blew out another sighing breath. "That's not what I meant."
Swallowing again, he said, "Sometimes I just wonder. Who was she?
What
kind of girl was she? Did she have a iinazuke or a boyfriend or
anything
like that?" He let out another of those sighing breaths.
Ryouga nodded, understanding at last. "I probably would too if it
was me
who fell in there. I mean, you don't give much thought to a pig, it's
just an animal...but that girl who drowned there..."
"She was a person, she had a life, and whatever she was doing at
Jusenkyo, however she wound up getting drowned, it was too soon.
Nobody
should ever have to die that young."
Ryouga nodded, closing his eyes for a moment, trains of thought
about
the poor unfortunate girl forming in his mind now as well. "It's like
the
guide always says. Terrible tragedy."
Ranma opened his eyes, and turned to look at Ryouga, who met his
gaze.
"Ryouga, I'm beginning to think that...well..."
Ryouga urged him on with a nod.
"Did you ever wonder if maybe the springs carry more than the form
of
whatever drowned there?"
Ryouga was confused again. "I don't follow."
Ranma sighed yet again. "I suspect there's something that maybe even
the
guide doesn't know about those springs. I think...I think that the
souls
of the things that drowned there are in those springs."
Ryouga wasn't sure what to make of this. "What makes you think
that?"
Ranma swallowed again. He closed his eyes. "I've...I've been having
a
dream. It always stopped short before, but last night...last
night...."
The water, the spheres, the screaming, the laughing, his face, her
face,
all of it ran through his mind over and over again. His eyes opened,
and
Ryouga saw in them sadness, anger, grief, agony, fear, terror, shock,
pain...the amount of negative emotion reflected in Ranma's eyes was
actually enough to scare Ryouga. He knew more than anyone else about
suffering and misery, it became his greatest weapon through the use
of
the shishihoukoudan technique. He'd become a good judge of these
emotions.
He figured that from what he saw in Ranma's eyes, if Ranma were to
throw
one of those right now, he'd blow up half the district. Seeing that
kind
of agony in anyone other than himself, especially in Ranma,
threatened to
numb his mind.
"She's alive, Ryouga."
Ryouga blinked. "What!?"
"The girl. She's alive. The pig, the duck, the cat, the panda,
the...
well you get the picture. They're all alive."
Ryouga was now pretty sure Ranma's mind had gone fishing and didn't
intend to come back for quite some time. "That's crazy!"
Ranma shook his head. "No, it makes perfect sense. I can't believe
what
it took for me to realize it. There are very old souls trapped in
those
springs, Ryouga. And I think when we got cursed..." he swallowed. "I
think we got more than their bodies."
Ryouga shook his head. "Ranma, you're saying that we all have the
spirits of the things we turn into and we carry them around with
us!?"
Ranma nodded. "Where the hell did you come up with that!?"
Ranma took a deep breath, and told Ryouga everything about the
dream.
When he was done, Ryouga believed.
(To be continued...)
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"Try to control yourself..."
"Hey, I'm 20. I'm male. I'm single. I'm not
getting any. What do you expect?"
"...I stand corrected. And you...just...stand."
-Conversation between Lurker and an
anonymous AOL user
---
The Eternal Lost Lurker
...gettin' ficcy wit' it...
EternalLostLurker@worldnet.att.net
http://www.geocities.com/~etlostlurker
"Heeere leezard, leezard, leezard..."
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