[FFML] [Fanfic][Anime][X-over]Darkness Chronicles: Book I: Part I: Chapter VIII (Unfinished)

[Craig]

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"Come on! Come on!"

Angela shifted from foot to foot, her head turning desperately back and 
forth as she watched for the lights that would signal the ambulance's 
approach, while close at Crystal's side, Anna crouched, one hand clasping 
tightly to her own while the other played restlessly with the hilt of the 
fine blade tucked against her hip. A little further away, Liam, Karen and 
Elizabeth stood together, watching for trouble as they waited for Rianna 
and Michael to finish with Gema Renae's hit-man, and return. Pat and 
Mariane had gone to watch from the further end of the street, and Sonya 
would be a little longer; she would have to check each of the several 
haunts they knew the dealer-hit-girl frequented, to find out in which one 
Joanna had killed her.

"It'll be all right, Crystal; I promise," Anna kept repeating over and 
over again, as though somehow the mantra might will the infectious smile 
back into the agonised face, and the fire into the wildly-roving blue 
eyes.

For long desperate moments Crystal seemed unable to answer. Then her 
pain-racked gaze tracked to Anna's face, and she tried to force a smile 
through bruised and broken lips.

"Looks as though I might get away from this place after all," she tried to 
quip.

Then another spasm racked her small, compact form, and she gasped, unable 
to hold back the tears as she clutched with sudden desperation at Anna's 
hand.

"It hurts!" she whimpered softly at last. "Oh God Anna it hurts so much, 
and I'm frightened! I don't want to die! Not yet! Damn it Anna it's not 
fair! Joanna makes Dad stop, and then..."

"Oh Crystal! Oh God Crystal I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Anna choked, her own 
voice tight with emotion as she leaned close, her dark eyes frantic with 
terror and desperation as she stared helplessly into Crystal's own. "I 
should have come with you. I should have--"

"It's not your fault," The other girl tried to reassure her. "Harrison 
would just have waited until I was on my own, and we couldn't have known 
that sick bitch would try something like this again, not...not when she 
knew what would happen.

"Just...just don't leave me; all right? I don't want to die alone."

"You're not gunna die! Do you hear me? You're not gunna die!" Anna's voice 
shrilled with savage desperation as she tightened her grip and leaned 
still closer, her eyes fierce as they held Crystal's own. "The 
ambulance'll be here soon, and you'll be fine, you'll see. You'll be back 
in no time, and we'll be laughin' about this. And remember, we still have 
t' beat Karen and Liam at Gallforce ii."

Abruptly she choked off once more, fighting back the tears as she looked 
down helplessly at one of the best friends she had ever had.

Crystal tried to smile again, then her face twisted once more as her body 
jerked with another convulsive spasm.

"I'm cold," she whispered. "Anna I'm so cold, and she's not here, and I 
can't say goodbye. Oh God please no! Not like this! *Please*!"

She shivered suddenly, her grip tightening as a dreadful intensity of fear 
filled her face.

"Crystal!" Anna screamed, tears almost blinding her. "Oh God honey hold 
on; *please* hold on!

"Jesus, Angela; where the *fr***in'* hell are they!" she shrieked, 
whirling to glare malevolently up and down the street. "Bastards! They 
couldn't care less! Just so long as it only *fr***in'* happens here!

"And what the f***in' hell are you all staring at!" she blazed suddenly at 
the very top of her lungs, gesturing wildly in the direction of the few 
who had stopped to watch, while rage and hatred blazed with titanic 
intensity in her face, sudden frantic terror for Crystal making her slip 
back into habits she had abandoned since she had fled the deprivations of 
life in her mother's tiny flat in the Cross, to the catholic wellfair 
shelter, and the relative safety and stability Joanna and the others had 
given her.

Their leader had made it clear from the outset that there were certain 
lines one *never* crossed within her hearing, and that particular 
expletive was one of a handful she would not tolerate under any 
circumstances. Now however, staring at the growing crowd who were watching 
and doing nothing, Anna could not have cared less.

"Why don't one of you fr***in' bastards make yourselves f***in' useful, 
and call another *f***in'* ambulance?"

In the crowd, one of the Emerson boys made as though to shout something in 
return, but at that moment there came the sound of running feet, and a 
moment later Rianna and Michael were pulling to a halt, and he thought 
better of it, and shut his mouth. They were well known, and Rianna in 
particular was little more predictable and little less dangerous than 
Joanna herself, beneath her deceptive, terrifying shell of mild 
equanimity.

"Haven't those bastards come yet!" Michael exploded furiously.

"It's all right; they're on their way."

Sonya's Dublin-accented voice had barely reached them when they caught the 
first sing-song sounds of the approaching ambulance. Then she was racing 
towards them from the street's further end, Pat and Mariane close on her 
heels, and any thoughts of heckling from the Emerson gang and their 
hold-ons were put to rest at the group's collective glare in their 
direction.

"Looks like that bitch was at Fagen's" she continued. "but I couldn't get 
in. There're dominion patrols everywhere! God knows what Joanna did, but 
there were at least three bodies in the street, and the front window's 
smashed to the Jesus."

"You didn't see her?" Karen demanded tensely.

"Well she'd be hardly likely to be hangin' around, would she?" sonya 
pointed out. "I thought she'd be coming back here."

"Jesus H.!" Rianna began anxiously. "Then where--"

But at that moment Angela gestured frantically, and a moment later the 
flashing ambulance lights were racing towards them.

It had barely pulled to a halt when she was beside it and wrenching the 
door ajar.

Moments later two paramedics were out, shouting at the group to keep back 
as they raced to kneel at Crystal's side.

"How bad is it?" Rianna demanded after a tense minute, one hand keeping a 
death-grip on Anna's shoulder to stop the impulsive younger girl from 
getting in the way. She had held on desperately to Crystal's hand, and had 
only released it when Rianna and Angela had pulled her forcibly back.

"It's bad enough," One answered shortly, not bothering to ask what had 
happened. He knew he would get nothing but hostile glares for his trouble.

He looked little older than Michael's eighteen years, and Rianna watched 
him and his older companion with savage attention as they continued 
frantically to work.

"Come on; come on!" the older man snapped urgently at last; "get the 
soddin' stretcher out here, damn it! What the hell are you waiting for! 
Christmas?"

But before he could move, Pat and Michael had already clambered inside, 
emerging a moment later carrying it between them. They set it down and 
stepped back.

Carefully, the two men lifted Crystal's small form to the stretcher, and 
the watching group gasped in collective shock at the suddenly pooling 
blood.

"Holy Mother'a Jesus!" Liam gasped softly, not fully comprehending until 
that moment just how badly she was hurt.

"All right; keep the hell out of the way!" the older paramedic snapped 
urgently as they moved towards the ambulance.

"I'm going with her!" Anna cried, struggling savagely against Rianna's 
iron grip.

"The hell you are!" the man returned furiously. "She's bad enough without 
you getting in the--"

"I have to go!" Anna continued desperately, sudden tears of rage and 
frustration filling her eyes as she whirled to glare helplessly at Rianna. 
"It was my fault; I should have stayed with her. Let me go!" she ended in 
a choking scream.

These were the only family she had, and she was not going to leave Crystal 
on her own.

"We haven't time for this toss," said the younger paramedic urgently.

Anna turned her head, ready to scream something suitably abusive in his 
direction. But she never had the chance.

"Does she have any family?" the elder man demanded of Rianna, who seemed 
to be in charge.

"Oh yeah!" Rianna snarled venomously. "A mother in porridge for hooking, 
and a father who beats the Jesus out of her, whenever he gets a skin-full, 
or thinks he can get away with it. They really give a Yank's backside!

"Angela, keep a hold on her, while I sort this out. Anna, I swear: if you 
move, I'll break your neck!"

For a moment, Anna continued her futile struggles against the much taller 
girl. Then abruptly the fight seemed to leave her, and she turned, 
collapsing in helpless, frustrated tears against Angela's suddenly gently 
supporting arm, while Rianna and Michael moved to wait for the paramedics 
to finish.

Quickly the two men moved Crystal to the ambulance, the elder pausing 
after settling her, only long enough to take down the scant details he 
needed from Rianna, before the doors slammed behind him.

"Where--" Rianna shouted, realising suddenly that she had no idea where 
they would be taking her.

"St. Vincents," he snapped as the ambulance began to move. "You can ring 
when--"

"Not a chance!" she snarled fiercely before he could get any further. 
"We'll be there as soon as we can."

Then the urgent sing-song of the siren began once more, and a moment later 
the vehicle sped away, the mournful sound fading swiftly into the growing 
gloom of early evening.

                                      * * *

It hurt! It hurt so much!

Dimly through the haze, she was aware of the man and a woman who had 
remained inside working urgently close to her, but she could do nothing 
but cling desperately to consciousness, certain that should she lose the 
fight and surrender to the clawing, hungry darkness, there would be no 
returning.

"Jesus! The sick bastard's beaten the hell out of her!"

The man's words seemed to come from somewhere very far away, and Crystal 
struggled desperately to focus and to hold on.

"Dave; she's fading; we're losing her!"

She was aware of more movement close beside her, and the warm, fierce grip 
of a hand about her own.

"Crystal? Crystal, can you hear me? Come on; stay with us, honey!"

The woman's voice was warm and close, but in her agony and growing 
confusion, Crystal thought it was Joanna, and she gasped, fighting with a 
last hopeless desperation to turn her head: to see one last time before 
the blackness came, and she lost the chance for ever.

"Jo...Joanna?"

The word was a tiny whimper of sound, and it seemed suddenly to her that 
her call was answered.

"Shh. I'm here." The voice seemed to be that of her friend, low and warm, 
yet with a strange, purring intensity that set her failing senses to 
trembling, yet with what emotion she could not tell. "Don't be frightened. 
You're perfectly safe, little Crystal; my darling. I'm here, and waiting, 
and soon you'll never fear again."

But something was terribly wrong. Even through the confusion and the pain, 
Crystal felt the beginnings of a new and closer terror. The purring, 
almost hungry tone could not be that of her friend. Joanna's caring was in 
her fierce protectiveness and determination, and the sudden unlooked-for 
warmth and smile that could crack if but for a moment, the cold, watchful 
mask that hid all too often anything that might lie beneath.

And suddenly the horror came, leaping to engulf her with terrible speed, a 
blind, numbing terror that clawed savagely at the very fabric of her 
reason, and robbed her of all power to resist; and in the sudden terrible 
nothingness that seemed to yawn wide before her appeared a writhing, 
snarling something, a something that was pain and hate, and all the 
nightmare that had ever been and would be until the uttermost end of for 
ever.

"Home!" The word keened horribly, wild and primal and laced with an unholy 
triumph, and Crystal writhed, trying in vain to scream or turn away. "And 
so soon!"

"You're not...!" she tried to scream, but no sound came. "you're not...! 
No! Oh God, please no!"

Desperate, she fought with all she had for life and reality, knowing 
somehow in that terrible moment that it was her nearness, her teetering 
upon the very brink of death that had opened the gate: that had made this 
horror possible, while dimly she could still hear the fading cries of the 
paramedics, calling and calling her name.

Then the low, dreadful laughter surged about her, and suddenly she stepped 
from the horror of the maelstrom and stood before her, tall and terrible, 
cloaked and hooded in deepest night, her long hair swirling about her as 
though she were clothed in living fire, her eyes like emerald chips, 
filled with hatred and contempt and a hideous, hungry delight as they 
fixed upon her own; and Crystal screamed at last, a rending scream of 
silent, primal terror as she glimpsed with a certainty beyond mortal 
sight, and but for a moment, the smallest shadow of the dreadful, ruinous 
truth.

"Oh but there you are mistaken," said the figure quietly, and now her 
voice was a thing of nightmare, a writhing corruption of sound to flay the 
mind and turn one's every thought to broken shards of madness and 
gibbering despair. (Poor, broken, pitiful little Crystal! So trusting, and 
so perfectly, beautifully naive!

"I really must thank you my darling, for opening in a moment a gate of 
thought that it would have taken me days to build alone, and for so much. 
You're complements will be worth so much more than the others. So much 
perfect hatred!

"But time is limited still, and you understand, enough, enough at least to 
reach her, and to scream."

And with that, the long slender arms flowed from beneath the cloak, and 
Crystal keened, her mind reeling upon the knife-edge of madness as the 
horror reached to claim her.

For one last moment it seemed to her that she hovered, frozen upon the 
knife-edge of oblivion, watching in helpless nightmare terror as the thing 
of damnation appeared at her side, the sudden, primal screaming of the 
paramedics as they beheld but for a fleeting instant the unmasked horror 
of her eyes, keening wild and witless in her ears. Then the nightmare 
raised her hand, something flickering for an instant upon the tip of one 
slender finger, a quivering, blood-red corruption to twist the soul and 
set the very fabric of reality to gibbering, before it leaped needle-thin 
from her hand, and through the left eye of the driver of the ambulance. 
Even as it struck, she turned, spearing another through its petrol tank, 
even as his eye blossomed into fire, and he began to scream.

Spinning out of control, the vehicle slammed head-on into the petrol 
tanker that had been about to pass in the opposite direction, and in the 
next instant, the evening erupted in a titanic detonation, burning cars 
and blazing people hurtled headlong, as all turned to horror and writhing, 
screaming flame.

Then the arms closed about Crystal's broken, gibbering form, the seductive 
nightmare touch a corruption beyond the darkest madness of the lord of 
deepest hell, and blackness rose to take her, swift and absolute, 
swallowing thought and reason, and leaving nothing but oblivion to take 
its place.

                                    ** ** **

Darkness Chronicles

Book I:

Part I: The Gathering

Chapter VIII:

                                    ** ** **

"I think he's beginning to come out of it."

Johnathan groaned, for a moment only dimly aware of the spinning world 
about him.

"Oy! You in there, Hentai?

"What an idiot! Fainting just because he saw someone!"

For a moment, he could not understand what was happening. Then a splash of 
cold, foul-tasting water hit him full in the face, and everything returned 
to him with a vengeance.

"Aplbbb!" he bubbled then gasped, his eyes flying wide, even as he bolted 
wildly into a sitting position and doubled over, coughing and choking as 
he tried desperately to catch his breath.

"Baka!" Akane's voice exploded, although there was a hint of mirth in her 
tone. "What are you trying to do; drown him?"

"Serves him right," Ranma responded, although it seemed without any real 
malice.

"He looks much funnier like that," Another voice chirruped. "I should have 
done that to Kei; that would have taught him to go trying to steal my 
friends!"

Then, as Johnathan coughed one last time and lifted his head, the tall 
figure of a girl loomed over him, and he found himself looking up once 
more into the impossibility of the realisation of a dream become reality.

"Oh my God!" he whispered faintly, his staring eyes growing still wider as 
the world threatened for a moment to disappear into stupefied 
insensibility once more. "It is! It truly is! You're real and alive and 
here, and I'm not dreaming this!"

"When you've *quite* finished staring!" Her voice was low and frigid with 
just the right complement of biting acid, while emerald eyes flashed 
dangerously as she glared down at him with feral intensity. "I don't 
particularly care to be gawked at; it tends to result in my encouraging 
the gawker not to do it again, usually by means of extreme and prolonged 
suffering. I assume you understand?"

Still half dazed as he was, Johnathan nodded frantically nevertheless, and 
withdrew his gaze with some considerable speed.

"Right," she continued, her tone unnervingly reasonable whilst not losing 
any of its underlying ice and warning. "Let's try again. Perhaps first, 
you'd care to enlighten me as to who you are, and just what you're 
babbling about? How you know my name might also be a very good start.

"Unless, of course," she added, the ice still more biting, "there's a 
particular talent to being dead with which I've yet to become acquainted?"

"Wha'! Dead?" Johnathan gasped inanely, still too stupefied to make much 
sense of his chaotic thoughts.

Akane and Ranma-chan stared in bewilderment for a moment, then their own 
eyes widened as the full import of the strange girl's statement, coupled 
with what had happened to them what must only be hours before, hit home.

Ranma-chan opened her mouth as though to speak, but whatever she might 
have said was drowned out by C-ko's sudden piercing: "I'm not dead, am I! 
I can't be deeeeaaaad! If I'm dead I won't see Eiko again! You never told 
me I was dead; and you promised! EiKOOOOOOO!" she finished in a 
particularly ear-splitting scream.

"Oh geez!" Ranma-chan exclaimed, her hands flying to cover her ears. "What 
a noise! What's the matter with her?"

Then abruptly the full import of what the girl was wailing hit both her 
and Akane at the same moment.

"Eiko!" Akane demanded incredulously.

"Shiko!" Ranma-chan added a moment later, her eyes if possible growing 
still wider. "Nope! No way! We're into weird again! Nope! Absolutely not! 
This ain't happening!"

"C-ko!" Johnathan gaped, forcing his wildly-reeling mind to focus, and his 
eyes away from the girl who was now glaring at him with murderous 
ferocity. "Oh saints in heaven, it is! You're right! This isn't happening! 
It--"

"You know," she said to him almost pleasantly, while her emerald eyes 
flashed, "I wouldn't keep saying that. It's very annoying, and I'll become 
angry if you do, and you'll become hurt. I'm sure you wouldn't want to 
become hurt, would you?"

Then, turning suddenly to Akane and Ranma-chan: "Are you?" she inquired, 
her words suddenly deadly calm. "You are, aren't you."

It was a statement rather than a question.

"I'm Tendo Akane" she said, trying to smile, although everything about the 
tall, flame-haired girl radiated an edgy menace and barely restrained 
savagery that set her every sense to screaming unease. "and this is my 
baka fiance--"

"Saotome Ranma; I thought so," said the other, still in the same terribly 
calm tone. "O'Reilly Joanna," she continued, her expression hinting for a 
moment at wry amusement, as though the universe had played some 
particularly absurd and convoluted joke at her expense, and she too was 
laughing, before her face resumed the ice of a moment before; "at least, 
following your conventions.

"Although," she added, her voice suddenly frigid again, "*he* at least 
seems to have known that already." She turned once more to glare balefully 
at Johnathan. "Just how, he's going to explain. *Now*!"

Her tone was abruptly a whip-crack of savage warning, and despite himself, 
Johnathan felt a start of fear shiver slowly down his spine.

He made as though to answer, but at that moment C-ko set up a particularly 
painful shriek, and Ranma-chan whirled to glare in her direction.

"Oh man! I just can't deal with this at the moment!" she muttered in 
growing unease.

It was bad enough that her every sense was screaming at her at the 
proximity of the strange gaijin girl, without the additional distraction 
of the other girl's incredibly painful screaming, whoever she really was. 
Ranma-chan did not believe for a minute that she could truly be Kotobuki 
Shiko, not now that she had had a chance to at least begin to think about 
what was happening; the very idea was absurd.

Ignoring her for the moment, she turned her attention once more to the 
frigid gaijin, while C-ko continued undaunted: "I'm not dead! Please I'm 
not dead! I'm breathing and talking and crying and I want A-ko, so I can't 
be dead! I'm *not deeeeeeeaaaaaaad*!" she ended now in another 
ear-splitting scream, if possible, even more agonising than the last.

"Shiko! Shut up!"

At Joanna's sudden whip-crack explosion, C-ko lifted tear-streaming eyes 
to stare at her for a moment in panic. Then abruptly she whirled away.

"I-won't-I-won't-I-won't-I-won't-I-*won't*!" she screamed at the very top 
of her lungs, the volume astounding utterly beyond all reason for someone 
so small. "And I'm not dead; so there! I'm noooooooot!"

Then just as suddenly she flung herself on the ground, pulled the soaked 
blanket as tight around her as she could, and disappearing beneath it, she 
dissolved into soft and suddenly hopeless crying.

Johnathan looked from her to the tight, implacable face of the girl who 
meant more to him than anything he could imagine, and shivered 
uncomfortably. Despite all he was sure he knew, he was suddenly uncertain 
as to how Joanna might react should C-ko continue to be difficult. And in 
any case he was freezing, and he was sure everyone else felt just as 
miserable.

"Look; I say," he tried uncertainly in an attempt to defuse the situation 
before things grew any worse. Both Akane and Ranma-chan were taut as 
bowstrings at Joanna's naked tension, and she herself was glaring, her 
expression growing more ice-cold by the second, although Johnathan knew 
that the look might be only a mask to hide some far more complex emotion. 
"not meaning to be impolite, but do you think we could possibly go 
somewhere a little warmer, and get cleaned up? We're not getting anywhere 
out here, and it's perishing."

Joanna had turned away from C-ko in disgust. Now she turned her cold 
emerald gaze to regard Johnathan once more, while Akane nodded 
emphatically, and Ranma-chan turned abruptly towards the house, shrugging 
as though to shake off her own unease.

For a moment the others remained unmoving. Then Akane, Joanna and 
Johnathan turned to follow the martial artist's example as she began to 
wring the worst of the water from her clothes.

C-ko had not moved, and at last Joanna, having finished, turned to her 
once more.

"You're planning to stay there, I presume?" she said simply.

"Yes!" C-ko sniffled mutinously.

"M'hmm," she said, turning dismissively away. "Suit yourself."

Immediately, C-ko began another wail, this one no less painful than the 
others.

"Jeez! If someone doesn't shut her up!" Ranma-chan erupted with 
uncharacteristic venom.

"Shiko!" said Joanna icily, whirling back to her once more. Then abruptly: 
"Shiko," she said again very slowly and clearly, the sudden deadly calm in 
her voice sending a sudden thrill of fear curling slowly down Johnathan's 
spine, "do you want me to help you find A-ko, and get you back to her in 
one piece?"

Immediately, C-ko's eyes shot to her face.

"Y-yes," she whimpered, her look desperate and imploring, while her lower 
lip trembled.

"M'hmm." Joanna finished just as calmly, but with a sudden malevolent edge 
to every word. "Then I suggest you stop that noise right this instant, 
because if you don't I will become very, *very* upset. Am I making myself 
clear?"

For a moment, C-ko stared at her, preparing to let loose yet another 
mutinous wail. Then something about the implacable ice in Joanna's frigid 
emerald glare seemed at last to penetrate, and she choked back the shriek, 
keeping it to a soft tight sound which collapsed swiftly to tiny whimpers 
and sniffles of despair.

"A-ko! A-ko!" she cried softly. "I want to go home! I'm so cold and so 
frightened, and I want you back! A-ko pleeeeeeeease!"

"Um...look, perhaps if I were to try?" Johnathan suggested uncomfortably, 
a sudden unlooked-for surge of pity for the terrified girl clutching at 
his heart as he looked down at her small, shivering form.

But C-ko had already struggled to her feet, and despite the almost 
palpable anger Joanna seemed to be directing towards her, it was to her 
she moved. It may have been something as simple as the red hair, coupled 
with the promise to find A-ko, or it may have been some deep-seated sense 
that despite the ice, Joanna would not truly let anything do her harm.

Whatever it was, C-ko stumbled to her side and stood, shivering violently 
as she turned pleading eyes to look up at her once more.

"I'm cold!" she said again very softly, the petulance evaporating at last, 
and her voice little more than a choked whimper.

"Yeah, let's get inside," Ranma-chan agreed. "It's freezing out here, and 
I'm not stayin' a girl any longer than I have to."

Moments later the company were making their way to the porch, while trying 
to wring the last of the water from their damp clothing.

"Ranma... Ranma, do you think that's a good idea?" Akane said uneasily as 
she dumped her shoes. They were soaked, and she did not intend to take 
them inside. Her eldest sister would have enough to do with the sudden 
additional house-guests, assuming the usual happened and they stayed. "I 
mean..." she broke off, her face tight with anxiety and remembered fear.

Abruptly, Ranma-chan paled, the memory of what had happened coming back 
with savage intensity.

"Oh man!" she muttered.

"Well," she said at last, shaking off the horror of her last terrible 
transformation, "my ki's back to how it should be, and my arm ain't cold 
any more, so I think whatever happened, it's fixed as much as it's goin' 
to be. Besides, this curse attracts water to me like some kind of magnet, 
and I got'a find out what's gunna happen sooner or later. Might as well be 
sooner."

And with that, she kicked off her own shoes, and sliding back the door, 
she moved quickly into the house, the others only a moment behind her.

The Tendo-ke was not exactly what Johnathan had expected. There was a 
tremendous difference, he realised quickly, between what one could imagine 
from the manga and anime, and the reality before his eyes. For one thing, 
although spacious, he had expected the house to be larger. For another, 
the strange lack of almost-looked-for activity gave it an empty, surreal 
quality that did nothing to settle his still-reeling thoughts.

Following the others into the hallway, he halted, having suddenly no idea 
of what to do or where to go, or even exactly of the proper etiquette 
expected of a guest about to use the bath. The others it seemed were 
suddenly equally at a loss as to what to do, until at last Akane broke the 
increasingly uncomfortable silence.

"Mm; perhaps...Jo-ana-san, if you, Shiko-chan and I cleaned up first--?"

"No, I don't think so!" The words were quiet, but they seemed suddenly to 
fill the surreal stillness, and Joanna's emerald eyes flashed icy warning 
for a moment as she stood taut and watchful by the stairs, the wild, edgy 
menace growing palpably about her as her gaze flashed between Akane and 
Ranma-chan.

"I'm sorry Tendo-san," she continued a moment later in a less frigid tone 
as Akane glanced at her, her own temper beginning to fray at the girl's 
increasingly icy disposition and the perceived insult to her offered 
hospitality. "I had no intention of insulting you, but I like my privacy. 
I'm quite happy to wait until you and Shiko are finished; Saotome-san also 
if necessary. Perhaps you could take Shiko first."

Again, it was not a question.

"All right," Akane answered carefully, not much mollified, but too cold 
and wet to argue. "And don't worry about Ranma; he can go last."

"Gee, thanks," Ranma-chan muttered, tensing still more as the strange 
gaijin girl shot a look in her direction that might almost have been 
amusement, had it not remained so icily chill.

Ranma-chan shivered, tensing still more as she tried unsuccessfully to 
shake off her growing unease. The girl was dangerous, of that she was 
increasingly certain, dangerous and unpredictable; an extremely unsettling 
combination. Not even Cologne could trigger such palpable tension, even 
though she might in herself be far more overtly dangerous than this 
stranger. Only in the musk prince had Ranma sensed something akin to the 
savage, edgy menace that seemed to ripple from her like heat from a barely 
contained inferno.

The girl was an accomplished martial artist in her own right: of that also 
she was sure; one only had to observe the fluid grace of her every 
movement, and the way she carried herself. Yet there was a coldness and 
deadly intensity to her that made Ranma very uncomfortable. She had 
killed: probably more than once, Ranma would have bet almost anything on 
that, and the gaijin witch was a guest in the Tendo home. What was more, 
it was obvious that the strange boy knew something about her, even though 
it seemed they had never met before today.

Ranma-chan promised herself that she would question him at the first 
opportunity, and keep a *very* close watch on the girl if they intended to 
stay. She hoped at least that she would not, but knowing her luck, it was 
likely that that hope would prove as futile as usual.

"Come on, Shiko-chan," Akane said kindly, moving to lay a comforting arm 
around the other girl's slender shoulders, and breaking Ranma-chan from 
her dark introspection. "Let's get you cleaned up, and out of those wet 
clothes."

"M'hmm," C-ko chirruped, seeming to have abandoned her tears for the 
moment, a sudden full smile lighting her small face. "Are you really Tendo 
Akane?" she continued suddenly. "I mean *really*?" she had fallen silent 
as soon as they had entered the house, and had remained by Joanna, despite 
the other girl's obvious irritation. "Eiko's got every Ranma manga and 
anime you know, and I've watched every last one of them at her place, and 
at home of course since they still show the Anime sometimes; and I think 
they're really great; and I mean *really* great! Especially the fights; oh 
and of course when you're cooking.

"You know I'm sure you must be so much better than Ranma says. I think 
he's like Eiko, and sometimes just doesn't appreciate good food.

"Hey! you know, I bet we could really make something great together in the 
kitchen; and I really just can't wait and--"

"Oh *Kami* no!" Ranma-chan groaned desperately under her breath, turning 
pale and shuddering at the thought. "Oh Jeez! anything but that!"

Undawnted, C-ko continued: "and is Ryoga real too? Because I'd *really* 
like to meet him, and Ukyou and Shampoo and Mousse and Cologne and--"

"Nani? Um, of course they're real... Oh, do you mean we're really manga 
and anime where you come from? Well I suppose that makes sense, since your 
world's Anime here."

"Yeah; according to Johnath...Johna...whatever, we're drawn by that jerk 
who does Urusei Yatsura," Muttered Ranma-chan with very poor grace. "Can 
you believe it!"

"And what's wrong with Urusei Yatsura?" Akane demanded angrily. "and stop 
being so insulting!"

Ranma had made his feelings on the Anime (and by extension, its creator) 
clear on more than one occasion, usually when Akane was trying to watch 
it.

"I don't see why you're so upset with the idea in any case," she continued 
in growing fury. "After all, it makes perfect sense to me. You and 
Moroboshi have so much in common. You're both insensitive hentai."

"Yeah?" Ranma-chan retorted hotly. "Well what about you and Lum then? Or 
better still, you and Ryunazuke?"

"What about me and Lum, and me and Ryunazuke!" Akane flared dangerously, 
her mallet appearing suddenly in her hand. Unnoticed, Joanna started, her 
glance seeming for a moment to lock with almost hypnotic intensity upon 
Akane's fingers as the mallet grew solid, and Akane hefted it 
threateningly. "Well?"

"Well," Ranma-chan rejoined obliviously, "I'd say you have a lot more in 
common with them than me and Moroboshi. After all, you're macho and 
violent and can't cook and have a temper like a dragon with toothache. The 
only difference is that Lum's not kawaikunee, Ryunazuke was actually 
raised as a boy, so she has an excuse, and Moroboshi actually deserves 
most of what happens to him."

"And you don't?!" Akane shrieked, winding up. "Ranma no *baka*!"

A moment later Ranma-chan was nearly driven through the floor as the 
mallet came crashing down on her head.

"See what I mean?" she muttered, slumping dazed to the hallway as C-ko 
began to giggle. "Crazy Kawaikunee... Wha'd'ya do that for?"

Ignoring her, Akane turned once more to the other girl, beckoning her to 
follow her as she moved towards the bathroom.

For a moment C-ko hesitated. Then at Joanna's none-too-gentle push, she 
moved to hurry after her.

"You deserved that, you know."

The comment startled a still recovering Ranma-chan, and she looked up just 
in time to catch a fleeting genuine smile flicker for an instant across 
the gaijin girl's face, the sudden warmth seeming to transform her for one 
fleeting moment into a stunningly beautiful mirror-image of herself who 
left Ranma-chan gaping and hopelessly bewildered, before it vanished once 
more beneath the frigid mask.

For a moment Ranma-chan remained unmoving, seeming suddenly utterly unable 
to reconcile the two extremes.

"Kawaikunee otemba," she complained at last, probing her head with some 
trepidation. Yet an answering smile seemed to catch her own face, and a 
little of the cloying tension lifted from her as Joanna seemed to relax 
just a little and she got quickly to her feet.

"Um...maybe you'd like to wait in the sittin' room?" she suggested, 
glancing at Johnathan, then uncertainly back to Joanna. "Would ya like a 
drink or something? Help yourselves."

That said, she turned as though to move towards the kitchen; and froze as 
a sudden piercing scream tore from the bathroom.

"Akane!"

Ranma-chan was passed the kitchen and flying towards the bathroom almost 
before Johnathan had registered the scream. Then he was sprawling headlong 
as a tall blur exploded passed him in the martial artist's wake.

Ranma-chan slammed the door aside and barrelled into the room only a step 
ahead of Joanna, skidding to a halt to stare in stunned stupefaction at 
the sight before her. Both C-ko and Akane stood rooted just beyond the 
door to the furo, seeming utterly oblivious of their state of undress, 
staring numbly at what lay before them, their faces cast in lurid relief 
by the blazing, spitting fire that seemed to swirl and roil in the depths 
of the impossibly churning water.

"What in the--" Ranma-chan gaped, staring dazedly down.

Then a gasp from the gaijin girl made her whip about to glance passed 
Akane, and she froze again as what she had at first taken for a 
discolouration caused by the lurid light of the surging flames was 
suddenly clear. The floor was awash with blood, most not yet dried, and in 
the corner, slumped and broken against the wall half lay, half sat where 
it had collapsed, a twisted, shattered parody of a human form.

Horribly distorted, its left side hideously compressed as though some 
deranged artist had taken the mirrored halves of two incompatible human 
bodies, and grafted them seemlessly together to form some twisted, macabre 
work of nightmare sculture, the ruined face was nevertheless appallingly 
familiar. And Ranma-chan gagged, whirling away with a cry of nausea and 
primal revulsion, choking and retching as she fought desperately not to be 
sick, or pass out.

"Oh Kami-sama!" she heard her own voice moan. "Oh Kami-sama it's me! 
That's what happened! It's...it's me!"

As though galvanised at last by her words, C-ko tore free of her frozen 
trance, and with a sudden lurch, she reeled, whirled, and dived screaming 
from the room.

"Johnathan!" Joanna's voice was a sudden whip-crack that seemed to slash 
their collective terror like a knife. "Make yourself useful and keep Shiko 
out of here.

"Saotome! Ramna, snap out of it, and get Akane out of here, now!"

"Wha'!" Ranma-chan gaped.

"*Now*!"

The whip-crack scream nearly stunned her, and in the next instant Akane 
was in her arms, and she was being shoved violently towards the door.

Then a sudden roar surged from behind her, and she turned her head in time 
to see something shapeless and horrible come writhing and surging from the 
furo: a blazing hungry something that reached out, snatching the gaijin 
girl and the hideous remains from the floor as though they weighed 
nothing, to catapult them down into the suddenly yawning maelstrom that 
should have been the bath.

Joanna's half-scream, half-snarl of rage was abruptly cut off. Then a 
cataclysmic wave of scalding, hissing water smashed into her, and he was 
hurled across the room to smash into, then through the door, barely aware 
of Akane's desperate cry as she was torn from his arms, or the sudden 
scream of pain as Johnathan's slight figure was slammed, still screaming 
Joanna's name, into and through the wall at his side.

For one last instant, the roaring surged and screamed in cacophonous 
thunder. Then something smashed down on him from above, and stars exploded 
wildly in his vision as he was driven face first into the floor of the 
hallway.