T: Hurt
Song: Hurt
By: Johnny Cash
A/N: AU, set right after Ryo encased Talpa in the Inferno and the Ronins attacked Talpa afraid they would hurt Ryo. It's the last eppy of Ronin Warriors.
Warning: Deathfic Song removed due to new rule, it can be found on: Fan Fiction Now .com
(song)
Ryo of Wildfire watched as his friends and brothers in arms attacked Talpa. They were afraid they would kill him when they attacked, but he knew this would be the only way that Talpa could be taken down, and if his life had to be given in exchange for the safety of earth, then so be it. As they came closer the armor seemed to dissolve around them and they were surrounded by the colors of their armor. Then one by one they attacked Talpa and as the last one hit Ryo passed out, his last view of his friends saw them in tears.
(song)
"Ryo? Ryo come on wake up!" Drifted to his ears. He opened his eyes and realized he was lying on the ground, not in his armor. Glancing over he saw Mia and Ully, who both had tears in their eyed. White Blaze was lying next to him; sadness seemed to surround the tiger. Glancing around Ryo didn't see the others.
"Mia where?" he began.
(song)
It was as if his question broke a dam and Mia began to let tears flow freely. The woman collapsed to the ground and lowered her head. The sudden dawning of what that overflowing of emotion meant hit Ryo harder than any hit he had ever taken in battle.
"They're dead aren't they?" He asked, unable to believe he was asking such a thing.
Mia's sobbing answered his question.
(song)
"Why am I alive!" Ryo suddenly shouted and pulled his tired body up so he was standing.
"Ryo?" Mia asked, the teens shouting breaking her out of her little world of pain, and forcing her to face what was going on in the real world. While she hadn't known the teens as long as they had no doubt known one another, she had still grown close to the boys while they had stayed with her.
"Why!" Ryo cried out, his face now covered in tears. Glancing past White Blaze he suddenly saw a flash of Orange, the Hardrock armor. Walking toward it he saw his friends' bodies, still in their armors.
(song)
Mia and Ully silently followed the teen as made his way to the bodies. White Blaze walked next to his young charge.
Ryo reached Sage first, the blond swordsman's normally clean and beautiful face was now covered in blood. Ryo kneeled down next to him and took off the Halo helmet and gently cleaned the blood from Sage's face. Sage seemed so relaxed, there was no pain in his expression at all. Ryo finished with his face then glanced once at Sage's hair, which was normally kept clean, now it was matted with blood and sweat. Ryo would have liked to get it clean, however he knew he wouldn't be able to, and with a sigh he gently set Sage's head down on the ground next to the Halo helmet.
Moving on he came to Kento next. He would have done the same thing he did for Sage but stopped himself. One of the horns on the Hardrock armor had pushed in and had crushed his skull. Yet there was no pain in Kento's face. Ryo did the only thing he could and closed Kento's eyes.
Glancing up Ryo noticed Mia and Ully where at the edge of the bodies, they had not followed him past Sage, seeming to sense that this was something that should go on only with the Ronins. White Blaze had also stayed behind. The tiger knew that this was something his charge needed to do on his own, without any help. And as Ryo stared at him, it seemed to the Ronin leader that the tiger held some other knowledge that would break him if he shared it.
(song)
Moving on Ryo came to Rowen. The Strata bearer was on his stomach and Ryo forced himself to flip Rowen over. He had prepared himself for the worse and found himself wrong. Rowen's face wasn't messed up in anyway. The only thing that seemed different about the blue haired teen was there was a new sense of peace on his face. Ryo would have been confused as to why Rowen had died had he not flipped him over. Rowen's back was broken, the teen's body could now be bent in half if one so desired.
Biting back the bile that seemed to rise to the back of Ryo's throat he moved on to Cye, his last Ronin. Cye hadn't really wanted to fight, yet had because it was his responsibility. Ryo had promised the Torrent bearer that once Talpa was taken down Cye could stop using the armor he so hated. Ryo hadn't meant to lie to him. New tears sprang to Ryo's eyes as he reached the light blue armor. Cye's helmet had come off and was near his body. Due to the loss of protection Cye's head had been left exposed. As a result the left side of his face was ripped off. Ryo knew he had felt no pain, yet he couldn't help but cry out. Moving to Cye he covered the young man's head so no one could see what had happened to him.
(song)
"Ryo?" Mia asked, breaking the silence that had settled after Ryo's cry of anguish.
"I'm going to give them a proper funeral pyre." He said and began to move his friends' bodies.
No one helped him but then again had they he would have stopped them.
Once they were moved he called his armor and preformed 'Flare up Now!' a final time and watched as his friends burned.
(song)
With the task of seeing his friends off, he turned to Mia and Ully.
"I'm sorry."
"Ryo what are you going to do?" Mia asked, concerned for the grief ridden teen.
"I let them die." He told them. "I'm going to join them."
Mia knew what he intended and didn't stop him as he took off his helmet and slit his jugular.
Ryo of the Wildfire fell to the ground and let the sword fall from his hand. He closed his eyes and joined his friends in death.
White Blaze had known this was going to happen and watched as Mia and Ully both collapsed with new tears of grief. He would stay with them till they were able to move on, then he would leave and go back to the mountains he had come from.
(song)