__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam
http://mail.yahoo.com

-- Attached file included as plaintext by Ecartis --
-- File: poerdraft.txt
-- Desc: poerdraft.txt

Disclaimer: "This story is written with the permission of Brian Randall 
(that pretentious sot), and is in keeping with, but not 
part 	of the PoE continuity.  Fnord."
(He told me to, mammy!)

Real Disclaimer:  PoE and all it's assoiated plot are written by Brian 
Randall.  All other disclaimers apply to Rumiko Takahashi/Viz

Process of Elimination: Recovery

	It had taken nearly thirty long years to reach down through the 
ice, and the cold to reach the core.  It had taken skill, and long 
suffering, and technology -- but now, through the ultra-clear ice, they 
could see two shapes, both men, one, gravely beautiful in his 
magnificence and power.  With his eyes closed in slumber, and an aura 
of peace and contentment slowly pulsing around round him, they could 
see why some called him a god.  He was in a state of deep hibernation, 
unable to die, he rested until the world thawed, and lived again.  
Technicians would take him to a specialized orbital array, and from 
there he would be transported to the Terra II where his people would 
take custody of his care. 

	The body of the other man, the primary focus of coming to this 
place, was sitting, arms held across his chest, eyes closed, perfected 
preserved from the extreme sudden cold that the body was subjected to.  
His jet-black bodysuit had protected him from the worst of the ice, but 
his face had been deeply lined by the   Everyone knew he would not 
awaken, no matter how much the people who loved him wished it.  The ice 
had made his death quick and painless, but it was a comfort born with 
the understanding that it had to be this way.  All knew what
he had given for their safety. His Father, his family, his very 
humanity, and in the end, he had to given his very life for this world.  
Perhaps the cruelest of all, outside of the people who were there on 
that dark day, was that no one outside of the court and a few that had 
been there to see the Freeze, of his sacrifice.  

	Some had argued against removing him from here, stating that 
doing so was to remove something vital from the soul of the sleeping 
planet, and to demean his sacrifice for it.  They were very convincing 
arguments, yes, but the vast majority of the people, the children who 
he had saved, the adults and people who had loved him, giving him the 
burial he deserved was more important.  In the end, it was three young 
women's impassioned statements that had changed the vote.  So now, here 
they were again, on their home planet, twenty-five miles of ice above 
their heads, slowly cutting with specialized plasma lasers a chunk of 
ice ten meters tall, five meters wide, and five meters thick to remove 
the body.  A fine patina of crystal could be seen around the body, the 
remains of crystals that had been used to spark off the Freeze 
surrounding the body.  The block, once free from the confines of the 
ice, was teleported to a waiting ship, the first ship that had been 
built on Terra II by human hands, and lowered into a special magnetic 
bottle that kept the body and the ice at the proper temperature to 
prevent any thawing.  The ship then began the trip back to, for now, 
was 
home.  

*****

	The ship landed with a quiet whoosh on the bare field near the 
Crypt.  From here, four men, all middle aged, slowly brought the small
maglev sled down the ramp.  It was a quiet moment, to see the great icy 
block touch the sunlight of a strange world.  The few people who were 
there, some bearing children on their hips, others running hands 
through hair that was starting to show the first traces of gray, wept 
silently.  As the procession moved down the short distance to the large 
gray building, roses, the first versions that could survive in this 
strange soil, were tossed ahead of the men.

	The men stopped for just a moment in front of three women, 
pausing for a moment, each of them laid a single rose below the block 
of ice. red, blue, and purple, each signified something different.  
Some saw the passion that burned, the friendship that yearned, and the 
love that was forever.  Filing in behind the procession, the small band 
followed the icy tomb into the darkened doors of the Crypt.

*****

	The redhead moved through the darkness at the edge of the 
tomb.  She had not arrived with the ship, nor had she wanted to.  She 
had arrived later, on his ship.  She had not wanted to see the people 
that were part of his life before her.  They were not a part of what 
she had made him into.  They had not prodded him into the fate that had 
befallen him.  Her sin was great.  She could not seek forgivness from 
anyone, not even her sisters.  She was the cause of so much pain, so 
much death, and she was atoning the only way she knew.  Moving from 
place to place, finding the darkness that infected worlds, she stamped 
it out, one at a time�

She was interuptted by a glow near closed door.  The glow 
manifested itself into a young woman, perhaps twenty, with a long 
blonde ponytail that reached near the end of her knees.  She was 
beatiful in her own right, her ruby eyes scanning the room until they 
rested on the redhead.

"Wash�" she began, pleased to see her sister

"Stop there, Tsunami�  I don't need your grief.  I have more than 
enough of my own."  Washuu responded shortly.

"I did not come to console you, I just sensed your presense, and 
thought this would be the only reason for you to be here�"

"You thought wrong.  Please, let me be.  I just need some time�"

"As you wish, Washuu.  You know how to find me, if you need me�"

"Goodbye, Sasami�"

As Tsunami/Sasami left the room, Washuu walked up to the ice that 
seperated her and Ranma, and for just a moment touched her forehead to 
the ice.  A small flash, a memory perhaps, flashed for a moment before 
her eyes.  Without another word, Washuu turned and walked out the door, 
without looking back.



             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'