I can't believe I actually managed to write the next chapter ;-; but hey, apparently inspiration strikes when there's no stress! So that's good. And because my inspiration decided to drink some Redbull or something, I even managed to write another one-shot for Tales of Ransei! I'll be uploading it right after this one (also bless my dad for agreeing to drive me to the city again to get free internet and upload my stuff. Anyway).

So, this is mostly an... exposition chapter? As well as a development chapter for Aya and Kanetsugu.

I don't think I've got anything else to add? Anyway, enjoy this chapter~


Chapter 4:

The sudden stillness of the forest felt unnatural; almost as threatening as the sounds of the ninjas previously pursuing them had been.

Kanetsugu lay on his back, stones and thick roots of the ancient trees digging into his spine, but he made no move to shift at all. Breathing was difficult enough that he contemplated just closing his eyes and slipping into the oblivion that had been beckoning to him ever since he fell.

He clung to consciousness with every last ounce of his strength, though he had lost feeling in most of his body. The darkness was suffocating, and the heat that had been generated by Aya's raging flames had already faded off into the freezing cold of the oncoming storm; something he had just been reminded off by the not-so-distant echo of thunder.

Strangely enough, their predicament reminded Kanetsugu of the calm, faraway nights he'd sometimes spend with Aya on the castle's crystal roof. She'd frequently drag him out of bed and out there in the middle of the night to watch the stars that soared endlessly above. They'd lie down on the smooth surface for hours, and Aya would point out the constellations and cite their meanings and the legends behind them, as if all of these stories had been ingrained into her from birth. And that wild excitement that gleamed behind her clear blue eyes as she spoke of old legends and dragons and magic... Kanetsugu could feel whatever thrill was unfurling beneath her chest tug at his own heart as well, urging him to listen; to learn from her. To learn with her.

Yet that was all in a distant past, where Nobunaga's threat wasn't there, hanging like a well-polished blade over their heads. They weren't lying safely on the roof of Illusio's castle, and there were no stars tonight. Even if Kanetsugu could have been able to peer through the thick canopy of the trees above, there would be nothing but heavy, looming clouds to gaze at.

"Kanetsugu..." Aya's voice was quiet, fainter than a fleeting whisper, and Kanetsugu couldn't even be sure it wasn't just his imagination, or the pain playing tricks at him. Yet Aya moved her arm - it had been resting across his chest as they'd both collapsed to the ground again - twitched slightly as she tried to pull herself up. The dull thud that followed was enough for him to know that she'd failed.

"M-M'Lady..." He gasped, turning his head - the only part of his body that didn't hurt to much for him to move - though it was impossible to make out little more than a silhouette.

"Are you... Are you unharmed?" Kanetsugu figured she was referring to any damage that could have been caused by the fire she'd ignited, so he nodded slightly, then he forced his mouth to open, recalling belatedly that she could not see him either.

"I think so... How about you, my Lady?" Even if he had not been able to recall one of their pursuers' shuriken finding its mark on her, her voice was weak enough for him to be aware that something had gone horribly wrong.

Aya remained quiet for a few lingering moments, trying yet again to push herself off the ground. When her body failed her once more, she resigned and just directed whatever of her strength she could manage to flipping on her back. A few shaking, eager breaths of air of followed, and then Aya graced him with an answer.

"I'm not... I'm not hurt," a few more panting huffs followed. Oh, she'd definitely overdone it. Yet, she reasoned, it hadn't been entirely under her control. "I've barely got a scratch on my arm."

And yet she couldn't move. Not with all her mana depleted, at least. A few moments of deafening silence followed again, but Aya anticipated it to break at any second.

"My Lady... What -What was that? The flames...?" Kanetsugu sounded almost scared, and she contemplated telling him it had just been a very intense exploitation of her sorcery. Yet he had been her student for years. Aya knew he was perceptive enough to know she'd never used any kind of fire-based sorcery to the extent of tonight's display. Besides, another quiet voice whispered inside her head, he'd known they were too far away from Illusio's Core for her to be able to use such powerful spells without a catalyst. Said catalyst - her staff - had been left in the castle. Her naginata could only act as means of restraining her mana, but that wouldn't have made any difference. And after all, she had no idea where it currently lay -it had slipped from her grip when she and Kanetsugu had tumbled to the ground.

Well, it seemed that she would have to explain herself...

"I suppose... I suppose you've heard of the Seals, Kanetsugu?" she mouthed, resisting the urge to rub the charred skin on the back of her right hand. "You've heard of what they are to be used for, besides activating a Guardian's Blessing?"

A short silence, which Aya presumed originated from either shock or ignorance - the latter of which would be inexcusable, since the Seals had been the core of one of Kanetsugu's first lessons under her tutelage.

"Of course, my Lady..." came Kanetsugu's reply at last, voice shaking even more than it had beforehand. "They're to be used as tethers. Tethers that tie the Warlords' auras to the Power Veins flowing through the kingdom's Core..."

He slowed down, and Aya could almost hear the cogs in his head turning as he figured out the answer to his own question.

"You... You activated the Seal to ehance your mana. To be able to conjure such a powerful spell, despite being so far from Illusio's Core... You could only achieve that by using the Seal to borrow the energy of the Power Veins... Is that so, my Lady?"

Aya felt a weak smile tug at the corners of her lips as she sighed.

"I see my dear student takes our lessons very seriously,"she made a futile attempt at a joke, but her smile faded away shortly after. "Yes, this is what I did. It was... There was nothing else I could think of. You couldn't stand up and, besides, we wouldn't have been able to run forever."

She lifted up her right hand, and Kanetsugu caught glimpse of the faint glow the Seal still emitted, looking as if molten sapphire light was pulsing beneath her skin and through the scar-like marks that formed the Seal of Diancie.

"Does it hurt, m'Lady...?"

"It's nothing I cannot endure," Aya sighed. "We've got more pressing matters to deal with. And the downside of the strength granted by the Guardians is that activating the Seal drains up most of a Warlord's mana. Even if we can walk ourselves far enough, there's no way I'll be able to teleport us now... We'll have to make it to the castle on our own."

Easier said than done, she realised as Kanetsugu tried to sit up, barely stifling a cry of pain.

"How bad do you think your leg is?" Aya dared to ask, her hand already reaching out to feel herself. She couldn't see a damn thing, yet her fingers traced Kanetsugu's leather armor, tied right below the joint of his knee. She supposed it would make whatever damage he had sustained even more painful than it already was.

"I... I don't think it's broken," he muttered through gritted teeth. That wasn't exactly a comforting answer, Aya thought to herself, but she guessed it was better than nothing. "But it hurts to move."

It would probably hurt all the more to walk on, but Aya said nothing. In fact, she was fairly certain it hurt all the same whether he moved or not.

"I'm afraid you'll have to try and stand. All I can do is help you walk." She wished, she really wished she could do more. Yet she wasn't sure she could do even that, given the fact that she herself might be unable to support her own weight, let alone Kanetsugu's.

But Kanetsugu didn't complain. He didn't whine, he didn't ask her to go off on her own. He just pushed himself off the ground, using one of the nearby trees to support himself. He managed to stand up, only a soft whimper leaving his lips as he threw most of his weight on his other leg. Aya said nothing, pretending to not hear. She knew better than to make him feel even more humiliated than he already was.

Instead, she concentrated into getting up herself. This time she got a little further than before, and didn't give up even as white spots started flashing in front of her eyes. She blinked one, two, three times, finally forcing herself up on her feet. Her stomach tightened and she bit on her lips, bracing herself against the same tree as Kanetsugu had, even as her whole body screamed for her to lie back down. She just held on, praying to the Guardians that she wouldn't pass out.

Two minutes passed. Three. Four. She counted five, and yet all she and Kanetsugu were able to do was slump against the fir, as if it would somehow give them some of its ancient, lingering strength.

Aya was suddenly alerted by the rustling of bushes somewhere to their backs, yet she didn't feel the well-known rush of adrenaling shooting across her veins like wildfire. Instead a calm, reassuring warmth, envelopped her, letting her heartbeat fall to a steadier pace.

"Froslass," she let out a breath as her partner's mind brushed against hers, and she heard Kanetsugu mutter 'Kirlia' in an equally relieved voice. She felt a fragment of her strength returning, as Froslass' veiled hand touched her forehead, soothingly cool against her burning skin. "Thank Diancie..."

Kirlia couldn't teleport them to the castle without risking them ending up in pieces. Her training had not yet gone that far, and with her partner's pain already ditressing her, it would be too risky a move to ask her to teleport even the injured Kanetsugu back home.

Yet Froslass knew how to ration some of her aura towards Aya, their shared bond tying their very souls in a way that they could sustain one another in such times. Aya felt this deep, calming sensation again as Froslass urged her gently, encouraging her to let go of the tree.

Slowly, Aya attempted to stand straight. It worked -she no longer felt as if her knees would give way under her.

"Kanetsugu, you have to let go too." she was sure he already knew, as she held his hand gently, and she lifted his arm, passing it over her shoulders. "Come on. I won't let you fall."

She knew this was mostly an assurance to herself; an assurance that she could drag them both back to the castle without passing out in the middle of the way. Yet Kanetsugu trusted her, and the sudden realisation of it made eased her heart a little. He trusted her, and he let go of the tree. A choked cry left his mouth again, and Kirlia cried back in response, anguished to feel her partner being in such pain. But Kanetsugu only comforted her through their Link, pleading her to remain calm, and asking her to illuminate the way for them.

Kirlia's slender arms were raised forward, and her eyes glowed a piercing blue hue. A small, flickering sphere of light formed between her small palms, illuminating the path ahead of them.

The path towards home.


Gallade's unblinking, rose-coloured eyes followed his partner's every move, as Kenshin paced back and forth in the castle's main hall, barely restraining himself for punching a hole through the crystal wall. Gallade purred, tilting his head in an equally worried manner, and Kenshin eventually stopped.

"What am I going to do, Gallade?" Kenshin muttered, pinching his nose as he fought the headache that had been plaguing him for the past few hours - since the last rays of whatever sunlight the clouds had allowed slipped behind the jagged spine of the mountains, his sister and retainer having yet to return. Gallade let out a soft huff, his thoughts merging with these of his partner in an attempt to calm him. Kenshin only shook his head like a caged Tauros.

"Yes, I know Aya's not dead. I know I would have felt it if she was. But..." he sighed, willing his heart to stop squirming like a captured Magikarp. "I cannot reach her. It's... It's as if she's blocking me. As if she doesn't want to let me reach her."

This worried him more than anything else. Aya rarely did this; only when she wanted to hide her feelings. When she didn't want him to see something. What could she have to hide this time? The possible answers to this question sent chills down Kenshin's spine. Gallade tried to reassure him again, but Kenshin knew that all these events could mean nothing pleasant. Aya and Kanetsugu were late. Well beyond late. It must have been around midnight by now, and he was fairly sure they couldn't have been training still. And the fact that she wasn't allowing him to reach her...

What brought him out of these thoughts were, firstly, Gallade's alerting cry, as he must have sensed something in the great room shifting. Then the sudden pulsing of the central crystal's steady, soft rose glow. Kenshin's head snapped up, his heart jumping to his throat, not daring to hope...

The air rippled and light itself seemed to seep out of it. Kenshin blinked involuntarily, trying to shield his eyes against the sudden brightness. When he oppened them again...

"By Diancie's name, there you are!"

And then he was striding towards the pile that had become Aya, Kanetsugu and their partners as they all crashed onto the polished crystal floor, his eyes ablaze with anger and relief at the same time, mind racing over how to scold the two of them.

That was when the screams reached his ears.

The two warriors had managed to untangle themselves from one another, and Froslass had slipped away and up into the air, while Kirlia was anxiously twirling around Kanetsugu. Kanetsugu himself was clutching his knee, his eyes wide with pain, as he struggled to keep in cries of agony. By the look - or rather by the sound of it - he was failing miserably. Aya just glanced at him before her eyes closed, her chest heaving as she struggled to breathe. Kenshin felt his eyes widen involuntarily, in what later he could only describe as pure horror.

What on all the Guardians' names had happened to them?!

[TO BE CONTINUED]


I had to cut it again because it got too long (pity, because I have so much more on this scene! I guess it'll have to wait until the next update ^^; ).

I know there's a couple of unexplained things in this one, but worry not. Everything will be covered.

Anyway, the next chapter was one of my favorites to come up with, so I look forward to writing it! Maybe that means I'll be able to write it faster, idk. At this point my update schedule isn't at all steady. Oh well! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! ^3^

'till next time!