AN: Yes yes this is the rewrite I promised for this story, It may not be much better but I hope it meets your approval
Prologue:
Phoenix Mountain rang with the sobs of the 17-year-old Martial artist. He cradled the body of his fiancé in his arms. "Please...please wake up... I'm sorry I'm sorry.... please Akane open your eyes!" He rocked her back and forth, he had failed her, he swore he would protect her and he failed her. He flinched as he felt a hand rest on his shoulder.
"She is gone Ranma...." Ryoga stood at his rivals back sick with pain anger and grief but he knew that what he felt was shallow in comparison to Ranma's pain. "Let her go Ranma..."
"NO!" He gathered her tightly against him his tears sliding down his face to land softly on Akanes cooling skin "AKANE!" He soul wrenching cry reverberated around what remained of the chamber slowly gather in strength time the chamber rocked with the sound and the ceiling started to crack. Around Ranma his aura began to glow as the air seemed to crackle as Ranma's shout grew louder and louder, over in the crater where Ranma defeated Saffrom a golden light began to shine, filling the cavern till everyone had to turn away and screw their eyes shut so they wouldn't go blind. Through All this Ranma still cradled Akanes body to himself screaming and screaming till he felt like his throat was being torn out till suddenlt he stopped and his eyes flew wide and the golden light filling the room was sucked from the air till it surrounding the two teenagers in a swirling cloud of energy. Ranma's eyes burned and fire seemed to crackle across his bare skin and his eyes vanished in orbs of fire and tears of gold trickled down his cheeks spilling softly onto Akane's still form.
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She was dead, Akane knew it in a cold kind of distant way. She seemed to float in a haze of white and grey, staring around her trying to figure out what exactly she was supposed to do now, it wasn't like she had any training at being dead, so she just stood there wondering what was going to happen next, maybe now she would see her mother again and she could stop being the angry young girl all the time. The only thing that seemed to worry her was Ranma, she loved that insensitve and perverted baka and now she would never get the chance to let him know. A giggle seemed to to draw her out of her thoughts as she turned and yelped insuprise as she came face to face with another girl who seemed to be the same age as her, dressed in a formal Kimono with aquamarine hair and a bright sunny smile.
"Hi!" The girl cheerfully yelled at her causing Akane to take a stepo back in suprise. "My name is Botan, your Akane right?"
"Um, Hi." Akane frowned, how did this girl know who she was. "Yeah I'm Akane Tendo, why are you here Botan, are you dead as well?"
Botan giggled and shook her head. "No Silly, I'm here to ferry you to the other side!" Before Akane could respond to such a dumb statement, her world of white and grey exploded into colour, the haze begain to swirl in red and golds the colours forming into something Akane recognised, the Hiryou Shoten Ha, but something was different, the aura of cold was gone and so was the Ki image of the great dragon was gone and in it's place rising through the spirit world rose the firebird, a phoenix and with it came the anguished cry of her name uttered by the one person she knew would move heaven and earth to get her. Ranma.
She looked at Botan for answers and found the girl staring at the firebird as it soared higher and higher till it finally exploded high in the what she supposed sky and showered Akane in red and gold sparks that seemed to crackle and spark as the touched her. Slowly her form began to lose definition fading to a insubstantial mist before Botan reacted. "Hey thats not allowed!" Botan made a grab for the fading Akane and fell flat on her face as she passed straight through her, Akane would have laughed if she could before she finally faded completely.
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The first thing she felt was pain, it felt like molten fire was burning through her viens racing it's way from her heart through her body, her eyes fluttered open her gasp of breath echoing throughout the ruined cavern and she stared up into the face that she knew now with out any uncertainty that she loved and she began to weep at the pain she saw etched on his handsome face. Gently she reached up and she softly rested her palm on his cheek. The gold light that surrounded them slowly faded and the egg that contained the body of Saffron grew dim once more.
Ranma flinched at the soft touch of her fingers and willing himself to look down he started to cry when his artic blue eyes met warm chocolate brown, he whispered her name almost as if he were to speak to loud this dream would be shattered and he would awaken to find himself once more holding her lifeless corpse. "A-Akane..."
She snuggled against his damp body not caring at the moment, she was weary, tired beyond anything she had ever expierenced, but she knew she was safe he would never let anything hurt her intentionally, her small but deceptively strong hands curled clutching the remains of his red silk shirt as she felt herself falling into peaceful slumber finding time to whisper to him before she lost consiousness. "R-ranma no baka..."
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In a fantastical office in a castle almost straight from a fairy tale, one of the most power wizards in history found himself lost in thought reflecting on his mistakes and everything they had cost him, he was almost sure all the years he had put into gaining a small lonely childs trust and respect were gone. His fingers were steepled before his long crooked nose and he was unprepared for what happened next, Fawkes his long time companion and phoenix suddenly without cause burst into song, the joyous notes filling the small office and washing away for the moment some of Albus Dumbledores doubts.
He watched as his friends beautiful golden and red plumage burst into flames, but unlike one of Fawke's burning days he was not returning to his infant state, it was almost as though he were heralding something wonderful into the world, and soon, far too soon for the spirit weary headmaster, the fires died, the song ended and Fawkes settled back onto his perch in silence
Albus watched his old friend for a time to see if anything else were to occur and after fifteen minutes of silence he rose from his seat and walked to his exstensive library and withdrew from the shelves a single slim volume, `The fire within` it's title, settling himself once more into his chair he bagan to read nd after an hour he muttered a single sentence heard by most of the paintings on his office. "The phoenix soul has been reborn."
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Like most nights since the confrontation in the Department on Mysteries Harry Potter found himself unable to sleep, plagued by memories and nightmares of his friends being hurt, of Voldemort getting the prophesy, but most of all of Sirius falling through the viel and of Lestrange's mad laughter as he did so. And so even though Harry was staying at number 12 Grimauld place away from his less than caring relatives, he found himself drawing away from the people who claimed to care for him. In the back garden he found himself before the jury rigged punching bag he had whipped up from an old mattres and some chain and was pounding away trying to make the pain go away with each punch.
Standing in the shadows of the doorway a pair of chocolate brown eyes watched him feeling her pain, sharing it, wanting to reach out and comfort her best friend in ways that were far from friendly. "Harry?"
Harry filnched when he heard her say his name, she was the last person he wanted to be around, besides his dream of Sirius she was the one who filled his nightmares the most, of her falling from the Death Eater spell and his sudden terror that she was dead. "Go back to sleep Mione, I'm fine."
"No Harry you're not fine, everynight your out here beating up that mattress, you don't sleep you barely eat, I'm....we're worried about you." Hermione stepped out of the shadows and walked out into the over grown garden heading towards Harry.
"I told you I was fine, why don't you just leave me alone Hermione, being friends with me will get you killed." Harry's fist slammed into the mattress hard scraping his knuckles across the course fibres and springs leaving a splash of blood in it's wake.
Hermione watched the bloody mattress and sighed as she reached out to touch his shoulder, shivering as she felt the familiar spark that came from touching him. "You're hurt Harry, lets go inside and take care of it."
Harry shivered and stepped away from her and turned to face her green eyes meeting browm. "Why don't you just go Hermione, go before you get hurt worse than you did, go before it's too late." Tears began to well in the corner sof his eyes and he angrily swiped at them with his forearm as he turned away from her.
She couldn't stand it anymore, she knew how bad he was feeling, how his guilt was eating him alive inside but she would never abandon him so she made a choice in that instant and she stepped up behind him and slipped her arms around his waist and hugged him as hard as she could. She felt the sobs rip through his body and could barely make out his whispered apollogies and his grief stricken words as he apollogiesed for getting her hurt and most of all for getting Sirius killed.
"God Mione, please, please make it stop hurting, please you always know what to do help me find him please, help me say I'm sorry." He spun in her arms his own latching onto her in a death grip as if she were the only thing in this world keeping him anchored.
Herminione felt her own tears sliding down her cheeks at the pain she heard in Harry's voice. Her small arms pulling him tighter against her rocking him gently, making gentle shushing noises. She might not have the nerve to tell him to his face but she just couldn't deny she loved the boy who lived and seeing him in such pain was breaking her heart. "I'm here Harry...it's going to be ok."
From his bedroom window, Ron stared down at the two outside in the back garden clinging to each other, he couldn't hear their words but he could imagine what was being said, he stifled a groan as pain flared along his wrists and he pulled back his shirt sleeves as the greenish welts left over from his brain attack glowed a sickly yellow green and slowly a shadow seemed to descend over his face and it began to reflect a look of pure hatred and jealousy, it was just like Harry to take what was his, five years he had been doing it, well this time he wasn't going to let it slide, with an evil little laugh he climbed back into his bed and closed his eyes, sure let them have their moment out in the garden, but soon it would be his moment, letting sleep overtake him, Ron settled into his dreams where he would be the famous one and not the boy who lived.
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It was a week after their return fromPhoenix mountain and the insanity was slowly starting to take of Ranma's life once more, the loss of his cure to the stupidity of his own father, Soun and all the rivals pissed him off no end, but it was the actions of the fiance brigade that really upset him and even after they had bombed, beat up and generally destroyed his wedding to the girl he loved, they still acted like nothing had changed, Akane had stopped talking to him again, and the old letch had decided to take a vacation somewhere far away from Japan, because once he learned of Saffron's fate decided he didn't want to upset the annoyed martial artists more than he already had. Hell even Colonge had backed off him and this was how Ranma found himself sitting on the Tendo roof above Akane's bedroom wishing for something to change his life. Suddenly his training was triggered as in the distance a small speck was heading steadily towards him, so rising up into a defensive stance he waited and was suprised when an owl came into view and soared above him and dropped a yellowing evelope into his hands before flying off into the sunset.
Confused and a little wary Ranma studied the envelope carefully.
`Ranma Saotome`
`Tendo Roof`
`Nerima`
`Japan`
Probably yet another challenge letter he thought as he broke the red wax sealed and pulled the letter out to read it.
`Dear Mr. Saotome,
We are pleased to inform you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry.`
TBC......
An: So people like I promised here is the offical rewrite of Return of the phoenix, so lemme know if it's an improvement or not
Lata
Kai Lun Mau