The Bitter End: Difference between revisions

'''''The Bitter End''''' is a ''[[Ranma ½]]'' [[Continuation]] and [[Dark Fic]] written by James A. Bateman (under the name "Zen") in 1996 and 1997. After Ranma finally confesses to Akane that he loves her and resolves matters with the Amazons and Ryoga, he and Akane are wed, with Akane receiving the Saotome family sword as a wedding gift from Ranma's mother Nodoka. Their honeymoon is idyllic, but on their return to Nerima their relationship seems to revert to their earlier bickering and casual violence. Indeed, it grows ''worse'' --— Akane's anger and willingness to take it out physically on Ranma grows more extreme than it had ever been before the wedding.

A confused Ranma has no idea what to do. Unwilling to either leave Akane or return her escalating violence in kind, he resigns himself to simply ''accepting'' what she does to him in the hope that he can still somehow make their relationship work out. And despite advice from Ukyo, Ryoga and Akari, this hope, along with Ranma's innate pride and stubbornness, keeps him from taking ''any'' action --— even when Akane brutalizes him so badly he ends up in the hospital. Desperate for any way to help him, Ukyo eventually convinces Ranma to join a support group for domestic abuse victims.

As the only male in the group, Ranma's time with them does not start off easily, but eventually he is accepted. He begins teaching the group members self-defense, and takes an active role in helping some of them escape their abuse. In turn, the group eventually deduces that Akane is suffering from "rage syndrome", a mental disorder that causes her to suffer unpredictable bursts of intense fury. This elates Ranma, as he believes that this can be used to help cure Akane. Unfortunately, when Akane finds out Ranma is attending a support group for abused spouses, she flies into an indignant rage -— being told that she is mentally ill and needs psychiatric help only infuriates her. She hospitalizes Ranma again, and when he wakes up, tells him he is never to go back to the support group. By this time, both Ranma's father and his sisters-in-law have noticed how wrong Ranma and Akane's relationship is going, but none of them can bring themselves to help.

* [[All There Is to Know About "The Crying Game"]]/[[It Was His Sled]]: If you've been a member of the ''Ranma'' fanfiction community --— indeed, of the greater anime fanfiction community --— for ''any'' amount of time (however short) since the late 1990s you likely know all about this story and how it ends: In a fit of literally insane rage, Akane kills Ranma and Ukyo with the Saotome honor blade, and ends up in a mental institution unable to acknowledge or understand what she did.