Prologue

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and its characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon belongs to Takeuchi Naoko, Koudansha, TV Asahi, and Toei Douga, and DIC.

Rini— she still thought of herself as Rini, even though everyone, including her parents, now called her Black lady— let out a low cry of shock as she surveyed the results of the home pregnancy test she had snuck out to buy. How could she be pregnant?! She had just been curious, and Diamond had said that she didn't have to worry about protection her first time. But now… a baby?! She wasn't even ten years old, despite her appearance and personality; how could she possibly raise a child? And now, with the war raging, and the silence coming, she couldn't afford to be handicapped by a pregnancy.

Alone in her lavish quarters within the Black Fortress, Rini curled up on her huge pink and black satin sheeted bed and sobbed. She'd always dreamt of having bunches and bunches of little babies, all with cute little golden crescents on their brow, running around the palace. But what would her child look like now? With a mother infused to the brim with negative energy and a father exposed to that same energy for so long that he wasn't really even human, chances were that her first-born child would be a monster. No doubt hideous, it would most likely have great power, power that Wise Man would use as he used everything, to bring the silence. She couldn't bear the thought of her child, no matter how twisted, being turned to the darkness like she had. She wanted a better life for it.

Of course she could always abort the still-undeveloped fetus, with little trauma to herself. For someone with her power, she wouldn't even have to seek medical assistance. She could simply teleport, but leave the fetus behind. The thought made Rini sob harder. What that the kind of monster had she become, that she could destroy such a young life for no other reason than that it was inconvenient? No, she would keep her child. Her child. As she slowly repeated the phrase in her mind, Rini gradually calmed down. Her child. Yes, it was hers. Hers. No one could take it from her. Certainly not Diamond; his power was nothing compared to what she now had with access to the dark crystal, and if Wise Man wanted to test her, he would be in for an unpleasant surprise. Wise Man, unnatural being that he was, might have more power than her— it was too close to tell— but she had a few advantages. In giving her such complete access to the dark crystal, Wise Man had, in part, given her control over his life. He should never have linked his life force with the crystal. She couldn't kill him with that link, but she could serious damage and weaken him. Yes, she would keep her child, and raise it like she had always meant to. Rini could just imagine all the first moments she would share with her child. Girl or boy, it didn't matter. Its first steps, first word, first kill, all these she would cherish, even if her child were a monster.

Decision made, Rini dried her eyes and rushed to the house sized walk-in closet that housed her numerous pairs of black high-heeled shoes and black velvet dresses. They certainly wouldn't do. With a wave of her hand, dark energy flowed through a rack of dresses and shoes. When the shadows receded, there were several outfits, all in pink and black, and a pair of black sneakers. Much better. She summoned Luna-P with a thought and converted the little magical multi-purpose cat balloon into a cute little kitty backpack. Quickly she changed into one of the new outfits, a pair of short black shorts and a pink tank top, then stuffed all the extras into Luna-Pack, completely ignoring the fact that over three times more matter went into the pack than should have been possible. Regretfully, she used another dark energy construct to destroy nearly three feet of her hair. She let the odangos down out of her hair; they would only serve to draw unwanted attention. There was little that she could do about her hair color since the pigment was magical in nature, and unaffected by any type of dye or known spell.

When she was done, Rini surveyed herself in a large three-way mirror. Her bangs easily hid the Black Moon crescent that had replaced the golden one she had inherited from her mother. Her hot pink hair barely passed her shoulders, but Rini was surprised at just how much her appearance was altered by a simple new hair style. Donning her Luna-Pack, Rini slipped through the empty halls of the Black Fortress into the Time Chamber. The room was centered on the main energy nexus of the dark crystal in order to provide enough power for a time jump. If Rini's plan worked, no one would notice the sudden drain on the crystal's power. All she would have to do was return at the same moment she left and replace the used energy with her own. It would leave her mostly drained for weeks, but the price was worth it.

Rini punched both the temporal coordinates and destination into the holographic touch panel that appeared in front of her when she stepped into the cramped chamber. The obsidian crystal surrounded her on all sides, but there was no time to grow claustrophobic, for as soon as the proper instructions had been entered, a low humming buzz filled the room, and then with a flash of darkness, Rini no longer existed.

Rini appeared within a secluded copse of trees, deep inside of Juuban Park. It was also eighteen years into the past. Rini hadn't really planned much past this point. She had no fear of going hungry or living in anything but the most comfortable of conditions. Luna-P could easily produce however much yen she needed, not to mention that she could just steal whatever she needed, but Rini didn't want to draw any kind of attention that could possibly leave records of her time spent in the past.

The following months were trouble-free, and Rini found that her pregnancy was far from ordinary. No other child had ever grown to full term in three months; at least none that she knew off. She never left her small apartment, so no one could see her rapidly advancing pregnancy. She was sitting in front of the TV watching a cheesy robot anime and eating a plate of peanut butter and pickles, when her water broke. Rini had prepared for this moment so she didn't panic, much

She made her way into the bathroom and ran a tub full of warm water. This was going to be tricky. To make sure that little Serenity or Endymion— her magic couldn't tell what the gender of her child was so she had chosen a name for each possible outcome— didn't hit the hard ceramic bottom of the tub, she padded it with several soft towels. Rini stripped off the bathrobe she had been wearing and climbed into the water. Once Rini was seated comfortably, she carefully began to manipulate strands of dark energy within her womb. She destroyed the umbilical cord only a moment before teleporting onto the floor outside the tub. She ignored the wrenching pain in her abdomen and hurriedly pulled her little boy, her little Endymion from beneath the slightly pinkened water. Crying tears of joy, Rini cleared the mucus from the baby's throat and slapped his bottom, forcing him to take his first breath of air as he let loose with an earsplitting howl of a cry.

Rini clutched the crying baby to her chest and let herself cry.

Rini pushed back the midnight black bangs of her son from his face revealing the black crescent they had hidden. He was so beautiful, so perfect. Oh Kami-sama, how was she going to leave him?! As much as it would hurt her to do it, Rini had to return to the future and complete her mission. Endymion would be in terrible danger in the Black Fortress. Emerald would surely take out her anger on the child when she learned that Diamond was the father.

She snugged the soft baby blanket around Endymion and made sure for the fifth time that the small crystal pendant of condensed negative energy hung around his neck. It would be her only way to track Endymion when she returned to the past to reclaim him. Sobbing once again, Rini laid her son down on the doorstep of the Mission and knocked loudly. Unlike the return trip, where she could choose the exact time of her arrival within the Time Chamber, Rini would only be able to jump back in time with an accuracy of a month before or month after the designated date.

Racked with sobs, Rini ran from down the steps and jumped into a portal of swirling darkness.

Genma knew that he was in serious trouble now. This was the kind of trouble that he expected Nodoka to castrate him for getting himself into. He didn't want to die!!!

"Where are they?" he demanded of the clerk at the desk.

"I'm sorry sir, but they left no forwarding address," the old man answered.

"But… but… I must know where to find them! They have my son!" Genma exclaimed.

The old man looked concerned, but kept calm. "Do you mean that they kidnapped your son?"

Of course Genma couldn't tell the man the truth, that he had traded his son for a bag of peanuts, but he also couldn't tell the man that Ranma had been kidnapped. There would be inquiries, and eventually the truth would come to light, then he would die. "No, no, never mind. False alarm, heh heh."

Genma nervously left the hotel's office. He was sinking further and further into despair. Sure he had used his infant son for food a few dozen times, but a ten-month-old child doesn't really care about things like that. He had always managed to steal his boy back from his benefactors, but this time he had failed. They were gone. His life was forfeit. Maybe if he just ran away and never returned… nah, Nodoka would find him, and then it would be even worse.

Walking dejectedly down the sidewalk, Genma's attention was drawn by the cry of a baby. He allowed himself to hope. Maybe the couple had decided they didn't want Ranma after all. Suddenly full of energy, Genma jumped over the iron bar fence and ran over to the steps of a large, old stone building. He reached down and grabbed the baby without actually looking at him.

He ran for ten blocks before stopping on the roof of a small bakery. Genma's stomach produced a roar almost like a clap of thunder when he caught a whiff of the wonderful aroma of baking bread, but he controlled himself and unwrapped the blanket from the now quiet child.

The resemblance was amazing. His hair was practically the same length and color, and his little cherub-like features only differed slightly from Ranma's. The kami were surely smiling on him this day. He noticed a strange black mark on his forehead, but that could be easily explained away. Even the slight difference in appearance could be passed off to Nodoka as her son growing older. All he had to do was stay away from home a few months longer than he had planned.

Genma held the child up in the air, just to make sure that he had all the proper appendages. Indeed he did. He also had a small gold chain around his neck holding a small chunk of black glass. Hmmm, maybe the day hadn't been a waste after all.

"Damn it, Oyaji, when I get my hands on you…" Ranma left the threat hanging since his father wasn't present to hear it. Somehow the bastard had found his stash of yen he'd saved from working at the Nekohanten on weekends. He needed that money to finance his training trip this summer.

Ranma continued digging through his father's belongings, but didn't find so much as a one-yen coin. Finally, near the point of hunting the man down, Ranma spied his Genma's old backpack in the closet in their room. He shrugged. It was worth a try. He carried the old canvas bag over to his futon and emptied its contents onto the floor. It was mostly a pile of tattered gi that the man had grown too fat for over the years, but near the bottom, Ranma came across a small wooden box. It wasn't locked, so Ranma had no trouble getting it open. Inside, there were a few unused post cards, a nub of a pencil and a little black teardrop-shaped crystal.

Damn, no money. It looked like there would be one seriously injured panda in a few short minutes. Curiously, Ranma picked up the small crystal. He felt almost drawn to it. Holding it in his hand, it felt much heavier than it should have been with its small size. He stood up and was about to pocket the oddity, but before he could even close his hand on it, the crystal melted into a small, shimmering black puddle in the palm of his hand.

Ranma stared at his hand in shock. What in hell was it? He was furthered troubled when the puddle instantly evaporated into a small black cloud that floated above his palm. This was getting really freaky. Before Ranma could destroy it with a burst of hastily gathered chi, the cloud dispersed. Oh, well, just another thing to add to the weird list.

Still having not found his money, Ranma descended the stairs in search of his father. "Hey, Oyaji," he called out once he reached the bottom, "where are you at?"

Ranma didn't wait for an answer. He had a pretty good idea where to find the man. He passed Kasumi in the hall, but paid her no immediate attention besides a simple greeting. His attention was too focused on the unpleasant things he could do to his father in order to get the stolen yen back to notice Kasumi gasp and say, "Oh, my."

Sure enough, Genma and Soun were in the parlor playing a game of shogi. "Oyaji, where's my money?" Ranma demanded harshly.

Genma looked up at his son, a lie already formulating in his mind, but when he actually saw Ranma's face, and the black crescent on his forehead, all color drained from his own face and he began stammering in shock. That thing had faded away only a few weeks after he had found Ranma’s replacement Ranma! Why was it back?! Oh, Kami-sama, Nodoka was going to be pissed!

Across Tokyo, in a small ice cream shop, Usagi Tsukino and her friends were gorging themselves on ice cream when Rini, Usagi's energetic daughter from the future, clutched her head in pain and screamed. Needless to say, she had a half dozen girls very upset and worried when she stopped screaming. She was crying now. She sometimes remembered fragments of her life as Black Lady when she had been brainwashed by Wise Man, but never had she experienced one with such clarity.

"Little Endymion, I'm so sorry. I forgot all about you," she whispered.

Unfortunately she whispered too loud. Everyone at the table heard her. "You mean Mamo-chan?" Usagi asked around a spoonful of ice cream. She was assuming that Rini was talking about her father. There weren't that many other Endymions in the future.

Rini looked around at the other girls. She shook her head and said, "No, Endymion, my son."

Both Usagi and Minako chose this time to faint. All the other girls yelled, "What?!" in unison.

To be continued.

Author's Notes: Yeah, yeah, I know I have way too many fics going, but when I get an idea I have to put it in words or it bothers me and interferes with writing my other fics. Anyway, tell me what you think of this. Chances are that I'm gonna continue this, along with most of my other fics, since I've been getting a lot of encouraging e-mails about all the fics I released last week. I had no idea that people would like them as much as they did. It's kinda overwhelming, but I do have some ideas for them, so I'm gonna give them a chance.

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Last revision: May 21, 2007