XStylus wrote:
Trinity face vaulted. How could anyone move that fast?!
She face vaulted again when Genma emerged from his pond as a
panda.
"That is one MAJOR glitch..." Trinity silently muttered.
Heh!
"A-a-akane... where are you...?" Ranma quietly muttered,
staring up at a ceiling with a rather bright medical light looming
above, lying on an operating table, impaled with several
acupuncture needles.
"She's resting. She had quite a shock. Are you... Ranma?"
a vaguely familiar voice inquired. His vision blurred, he was unable
to make out a face.
"Yea..." Ranma struggled an answer with weak and raspy
vocal cords.
"Jesus..." the familiar voice muttered.
"What?" Ranma weakly inquired.
"I just thought... uhm... that you were a guy."
Ho boy!
"Miracles really do happen!" Ryoga ecstatically concluded.
"Then we have a deal."
"When do we start?" Ryoga inquired.
"We're already done." the lab-coated agent said.
I can't say that it's Ranma's fault that he's in this, or Ryoga's for that
matter. Damn machine...
"My friends... my family..." Akane muttered.
"They're not your real family, Akane."
"HOW DARE YOU!" Akane fumed.
"It's the truth, Akane! If I were to free them out of the
matrix right now and do a DNA test it would show that you're
totally unrelated to them. They're all random souls grouped to form
a family. It's all part of the illusion. None of it is real, Akane.
NONE of it." Trinity elaborated.
"None of it... none of it... not even my fiance..."
"Fiance?"
"Ranma's my... my fiance." Akane tearfully muttered.
"Oh my god..."
"AND ALL THIS TIME HE WAS A GIRL DAMNIT!
Why couldn't the damn machine have gotten THAT right?!"
~~~
"I don't care if I'm -actually- a girl or not! I was raised a
guy and I'm gonna BE a guy! I ain't gonna act like no damned girl!"
Ranma shouted.
"Have I missed something? Trinity's a woman... does she
act any differently than anyone else?" Morpheus asked.
"Huh? Uhh... no, I don't think so..."
"Then I don't understand."
"Picking flowers, acting cute, wearing dresses..."
"Picking flowers...? What are you... OH!" Morpheus bursted
a roaring laugh. "Ranma, (chuckle) I just look forward to the day
when we can -grow- flowers. I'm sorry for misunderstanding.
There's a few things I forgot about life in the matrix."
"Uhh... now -I'm- lost." Ranma muttered.
"We're a little too busy fighting for humanity to be worried
about things like flowers or dresses, young man... or should I say
lady?"
Ranma shot a very cold glare.
"You've got nothing to worry about. As far as everyone's
concerned, those stereotypes are as fake as the matrix."
Indeed.
"But still...! I was raised a guy and... uhm..."
"You still don't you get it. There is no real difference. Here when
a person looks at you, they see -you-. The rest is details." Morpheus
explained.
"I... I don't want guys coming on to me."
"Oh... so that's it." Morpheus mused. "Then when they
ask, you politely tell them no."
"No-one I've ever met took no for an answer."
"Then you politely -deck- them until they do."
"Geez..." Ranma muttered. "Why couldn't -you- have been
my father?"
"Well, we can't all be like Star Wars, y'know."
"Akane?" Morpheus inquired.
Ranma nodded.
"I see. That changes everything."
"I grew up in the matrix, and I remember how strange a
woman in love with another woman was, but here in the real world
love is rare, too rare to let 'details' spoil it." Trinity explained.
"But... if Ranma and I still... I mean... what will everyone
think?"
"They'll think that you two are the luckiest people alive."
~~~
"You mean that?" Ranma inquired.
"Every word. I envy you, Ranma. When you left the matrix
you were able to take with you the only real thing you had. Your
love."
A tear trickled down Ranma's cheek.
"Are you ready to let go?"
~~~
"Yes." Akane answered.
"Are you ready to tell her that you still love her?" Trinity
asked.
~~~
"Yes!" Ranma and Akane both shouted as they awoke
from the construct.
*sniff* it's so beautiful! If I were Soun, I would've burst into tears!
Can't wait to see more.
--
Wyrm