Disclaimer: I do not own Cage of Eden/Eden no Ori.

Note: Sentences in ' ' are being said in Japanese and sentences in " " are being said in English.

A/N: I would like to thank BlindSeer0 for beta reading the fic like usual.

Please Read and Review, your feedback helps me write better stories.

Chapter 9: War Games

Ayumi groaned as she came to. She felt like she had been hit over the head with something very, very solid. Not too much unlike the time she had been reading a store sign across the street and walked straight into a metal poll. The girl decided not to move and just wait for the throbbing in her head to subside, her eyes shut tightly in an attempt to block out the pain.

Ug, did I walk into a tree again? She wondered to herself. What was I doing again? Oh right, going after Erika-san. Why was that again? She tried to get her thoughts straight, thinking things through slowly.

Let's see, what did I do today again? First, I woke up as soon as the sun rose, Hayasaka-san is such a slave driver. I like Miho-san much better, she's much nicer. Has a great voice also. Then we finished up the last of the food we had collected, drank the last of our water and started walking. Why couldn't we just find a nice area by the river and stay there? Oh wait, I remember, Hayasaka-san and Erika-san thought that if we stayed still too long the monsters would be more likely to gather so we needed to stay on the move. Plus, if we didn't start cultivating a slice of land we'd very likely need to go searching for food anyways, so might as well just keep moving.

The throbbing in Ayumi's head seemed to increase as she tried to keep her thoughts from derailing. She had always been chastised for going off on tangents by her teachers and other students. It made the times when she was actually willing to talk to people very difficult to understand her. But not Grandpa, she thought, he always enjoyed my tangents, said he found the random trivia and my lines of thought interesting.

She shook her head in an attempt to physically get her mind back on track, but just made the throbbing worse. Well, that was a bad idea. I'm glad no one is here to see me make a fool of myself; they'd just think I was an idiot. Something occurred to her suddenly. Wait, I'm not alone, I was following Erika-san into the forest. She had found out Nanasawa-san's travelling companion was a murderer from America. Miho-san helped Nanasawa-san to convince her that the man wasn't a threat. Then Erika-san stormed out of the cave and I followed.

This line of thought seemed to be getting her the answers she needed, so Ayumi continued following it, trying not to distract herself. I confronted her and convinced her to give the man a chance. What was his name again? Max Samson, right? Wait, is his first name Max, or is it Samson? What order do they say them in America again? Would his name be Max Samson in Japan, or Samson Max? I should ask Erika-San that. Wait, Erika-san! Ayumi suddenly remembered why she had the headache. She opened her eyes and sat up, yelling as she did so.

'Erika-San!' Due to the speed of her sitting up, the pain increased in her head, but she ignored it. Ayumi looked around and saw several splotches of blood on the ground. Turning around to look behind, she saw her friend lying behind her. The girl tried to stand up but collapsed in a wave of pain again. She reflexively brought her hand to her head due to the pain and was surprised to feel something wet. Bringing her hand down she saw that it was covered in blood; her blood.

'Oh, that's not good…" Now that she was aware of the wound, it started hurting more and more, her vision seeming to blur for a second. In one of the brief moments of focus, she saw Erika's still unmoving body and was brought suddenly back to reality. She slowly crawled over the Air Marshal, calling out as she did so. 'Erika-san, are you okay? Please, answer me. Tell me you're fine, please," she pleaded.

Ayumi made it to the body and, checked the pulse as she had been instructed by her grandfather. She moved her fingers all over the still warm neck, desperately searching, but found nothing. The girl put her head on the woman's chest, hoping for a heart beat there, but still there was nothing.

'Erika-san, wake up, please, you can't be dead, you can't be….' She pleaded; refusing to accept the situation as she gently shook the body in an attempt to wake up the Air Marshal. Erika just stared up at her with empty eyes. Her head showed signs of blunt force trauma and blood was plastered in her hair and on the ground.

At that moment Ayumi gave up in fighting back the tears and just cried, burying her face in the chest of her trusted companion and friend for the last several harrowing months. She didn't know how long she kneeled there crying, but eventually the tears slowly stopped coming out, leaving Ayumi feeling hollow inside.

Erika-san's dead, what should I do now? She wondered to herself. Is there a point to continuing? Ayumi could feel herself getting more and more depressed. Erika-san was there for me when we crashed on this island. If it wasn't for her I would never have survived this long. She was my support, when I was with her I felt like I could live. She did so much for me and I never did anything for her….

Unable to manage any more tears, Ayumi just sat there staring at Erika, an occasional sob breaking out every so often.


'There we go,' said Miho, putting all of her supplies back into her bag. 'That's about all I can do with just this first aid kit, I hope it's enough.' In front of her sat Max, covered in bandages and gauze. He smiled weakly at Miho and then looked at Sekai who was sitting to Miho's left.

"Tell her thank you, I feel much better already. I'm feeling sleepy from the medication though." Before Sekai could relay the thanks though, Miho returned the smile and spoke up in English.

"There is no need for Sekai-san to repeat your words. I can understand English well," she responded in stilted English. She was much slower at speaking than Sekai, but actually had less of an accent.

"Wow, that's pretty good. You don't have much of an accent either," responded Max. "I had kinda assumed that Sekai was an oddity when it came to understanding and speaking English."

Miho took a little while to respond, as Max's very casual way of speaking seemed to confuse her for a minute.

"Oddity?" she asked.

"Strange. Singular. Not common."

"Ah. I am very interested in singing. I like singing and listening to Japanese songs, but I have an interest in English songs. I spent time studying English trying to figure out what the words meant. I also practiced singing the songs, so I would have less of an accent."

Sekai sat watching the conversation unfold, her hand tangled up in Clifford's fur as the pup slept. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Yuuki watching the conversation with displeasure. She doubted that he liked not being able to understand what was being said, though he probably disliked his sister talking to a supposed rapist and murderer even more.

Sekai thought about what she knew about the Hayasaka siblings. Even though she had never been in a class with either of them, they were well known, or infamous in Yuuki's case. Miho was known to be extremely friendly and outgoing to anyone she met. She also had a great singing voice and could be found randomly bursting into song all over campus. Everyone liked her and Sekai had never heard anyone bad mouth her, she treated everyone too nicely for even the meanest to think badly of her, at least out loud.

Her brother Yuuki on the other hand was a completely different matter. No one held back on bad mouthing him. Behind his back of course, since most were too afraid to do so to his face. He was two years older than his sister, and it was rumored he had been held back due to fighting. Sekai didn't usually pay that much attention to her classmates, so most of what she knew had come from Kimiko, who had been more outgoing.

"And the medicine?" asked Max. "I know basic first aid, but you seem to have taken some classes, plus your bag and equipment look well used."

"My brother gets into fights all of the time, so I have had plenty of practice patching him up."

There was a lull in the conversation after that. Max seemed to be falling asleep due to the pain killers, and Sekai was starting to feel sleepy herself. It had been a stressful day and she felt drained. Beside her Miho finished packing up all of her supplies and stood up, stretching. Sekai leaned against the wall, her eyelids closing as she was about to fall asleep but the sound of voices kept her awake.

'Yuuki, I'm worried about Ayumi-chan and Phelps-san, it's been a while and they still haven't returned.'

'And you want me to go look for them,' said Yuuki, finishing the thought and not seeming pleased with it.

'Please, they could be in danger or injured.'

'You want me to leave you alone with two people that we hardly know, one of which is a criminal, and the other armed with knives, to go searching for a liar with a gun and a girl who never says more than five words?'

'Yes.' Miho's tone had gathered an edge of steel to it, the one word carrying more weight behind it than any argument could. Deciding this was more important than sleep; Sekai opened her eyes and looked at the siblings who were busy staring down each other.

'If it makes you feel any better, I'll go with you to search. That way there will only be one person who you don't know with Miho-san,' said Sekai, standing up and slinging her backpack over her shoulder. Miho seemed grateful, but her brother still seemed displeased, though Sekai didn't think she had ever seen him smile or look happy, so maybe it was just his default setting. After a moment of contemplation, Yuuki spoke up.

'Fine, I'll go searching with her, but on one condition; you leave one of the knives with Miho.'

'Fine,' said Sekai grudgingly. She took Max's knife off her belt and handed it slowly to Miho. Yuuki watched her the whole time, ready to move at the slightest sign of trouble. Sekai wondered if there was ever a time that he wasn't tightly wound or ready to fight someone. Miho carefully took the knife, looking unsure as she held it.

'I'll take good care of it for you,' she said, smiling at Sekai. Yuuki interrupted any response Sekai could make.

'If that man makes any sudden movements, run or use the knife on him.' Before Miho could complain about his order, Yuuki turned around and walked out of the cave. 'Let's go and find them before it gets dark.'

The two walked together through the jungle, Yuuki in the lead and Sekai slightly behind, neither saying a word. Sekai looked around trying to find clues on where Erika and Ayumi had gone, but was having no luck. Without any clues, they decided to just go straight from the cave entrance, since that would seem to make the most sensible direction for them to go. After the cave entrance wasn't in view anymore, Yuuki stopped walking and turned to face Sekai.

'I want you to tell me what's up with that man in the cave,' he demanded. Sekai stopped walking and stared at him, refusing to let herself be intimidated by him.

'His name is Max Samson; he's from America and was on the plane from Guam to Japan, just like us.'

'What was with what Phelps was saying about him in the cave?'

'He's a wanted fugitive in America,' Sekai admitted, knowing that Yuuki wouldn't buy anything less than what he wanted to hear. 'But those charges are false; the real murderer is his father.'

Yuuki stared intently at her, looking straight into her eyes as if he could see the truth in them. Sekai willed herself to return the stare. She wasn't lying, and she would prove it.

'Are you sure of that?' he pressed.

'Yes.'

The stare down continued for a few more minutes until Yuuki finally broke contact and turned around. He started walking through the jungle again.

'Come on, we need to find those two idiotic girls before anything happens to them,' he said, signaling that the conversation was over. Sekai let loose a silent sigh, the tension from the previous moments leaving her briefly. The tension returned when Yuuki spoke up again though. 'Remember, I still don't fully believe your trust is correctly placed in that man. He's dangerous, I can feel it. I won't let him or anyone else hurt Miho in any way. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt only because Miho wants me too. At the first sign of danger from him, or even you, I will NOT hesitate to kill you.' Sekai felt a shiver run down her back at the conviction and emotion he said the words with.

They continued walking for a few more minutes in silence until Sekai heard a noise coming from her right. She stopped and cocked her head, trying to figure out what the sound was. Yuuki stopped also and looked back at her, somehow also noticing her halting.

'What is it?' he asked impatiently.

'Do you hear that?' she asked, walking slowly towards the sound.

'Hear what?' he asked.

'It's a sound.'

'Well that's descriptive,' he replied sarcastically. Sekai ignored him as she finally recognized the sound.

'Someone's crying over there!' she said, running towards the sound.

'Hey! Wait you moron!' exclaimed Yuuki, rushing after her.

Sekai broke through some bushes into a clearing and saw Ayumi kneeling on the ground.

'Ayumi!' she exclaimed, forgetting to use honorifics at the sight in front of her. The small girl was huddled on the ground by the still body of Erika, sobbing into the Air Marshall's chest. Sekai hurried over to the girl and crouched down next to her. 'Ayumi, what happened?'

The girl continued to sob for a moment, then she looked up at Sekai and Sekai felt her heart break at seeing Ayumi's face. Tracks of dried tears ran from puffy red eyes. Snot dripped from her nose. Sekai had never seen anyone this sad before and had no idea what she should do to cheer her up. Before she could think of an idea, Yuuki chimed up from next to her.

'She's dead,' he stated simply. Sekai saw him standing up from where he had been crouching by Erika's body. He pointed to her head and Sekai saw blood. 'I'm going to go out on a limb her and guess from a blow to the head.'

Sekai fought the brief urge to strangle him for his lack of tact. Ayumi didn't seem to notice his words and just stared blankly at Sekai. Sekai knew needed to do something, so she made a quick decision.

'Come on Ayumi,' she said as friendly, gently and soothingly as she could muster. 'Let's get you back to the cave. Yuuki-san, please grab Erika-san's body.'

Yuuki looked like he was going to complain for a minute, but seemed to decide it wasn't worth the effort, so with a grunt he lifted up the Air Marshall in his arms and started walking back towards the cave. Sekai gently guided the still catatonic Ayumi through the jungle, the smaller girl leaning heavily against her.

As they neared the area the cave was located in, Sekai suddenly heard voices.

'Don't try to resist or this will end up being more painful than it needs to be,' said an unfamiliar voice from the direction of the cave. Sekai stopped walking and Ayumi halted as well, following her lead. The smaller girl seemed to recognize the voice and started shivering. Yuuki stopped also, but only to quietly drop Erika's body to the ground. He started to edge slowly and silently to the tree line to enter the clearing around the cave.

Sekai motioned for Ayumi to stay where she was and followed after Yuuki. She peeked through the bushed and saw Miho running out of the cave holding her shoulder. A wooden club with a chunk of rock on the end went flying from the cave and pegged her square in the back, knocking her down. A person wearing the male uniform of their school and a creepy white mask walked out of the cave holding Max's knife, which was covered in blood, in his left hand. It was as he was about to approach Miho that Yuuki finally lost control and charged out of the bushes with a yell.

'Get away from her you bastard!' he screamed, running at the masked man. Before Yuuki could make it to his target though, he was brought up short by his worst nightmare.

'You move any further Hayasaka and I shoot your sister,' threatened the masked man, pointing a gun at the still stunned Miho. Yuuki stopped moving and the man edged closer to Miho, the gun always pointed at her and an eye on Yuuki.

Sekai stayed behind the bushes and watched the scene in horror. The man made it to Miho and forced her into a kneeling position, the knife at her throat. He pointed the gun at the scowling Yuuki and spoke up.

'That's a good boy,' he said, his voice full of sick amusement. 'You probably don't know me, but I know you. You care about your sister more than your own life, so I promise you, one move that I don't like, and she dies.'

'Who are you?' asked Yuuki.

'My name is Hades, lord of this island. All of you puny mortals trapped on this island struggling to survive are my play things.'

'What do you want?'

'To watch you squirm.' Due to the mask Sekai couldn't be sure, but she felt that Hades was smiling, taking pleasure in his sick game. 'I also want Nanasawa Sekai to come out from hiding behind those bushes. Miho here yelled both of your names when she heard me approaching, thinking I was you. If you do anything I find threatening, I'll kill Miho, and you wouldn't want that now, would you Nanasawa?'

Hades kept the gun pointed at Yuuki. Sekai was worried about Max and Clifford who hadn't seemed to have moved from the cave, but at this point she had more immediate problems to deal with. Not wanting to antagonize Hades, Sekai unclipped her knife and put it and her backpack down on the ground. She then walked out of the bushes, her hands held up to show she was unarmed.

'Good girl,' sneered Hades. Sekai walked over to stand by Yuuki, who looked positively furious at the situation.

'Are you the one you killed Phelps-san and Ayumi-san?' Sekai asked with as much anger as she could manage, hoping to make it seem like Ayumi had been killed. Hopefully that way Hades wouldn't think to force her out into danger also.'

'If you're talking about the woman who had this gun, then yeah, that was me. Last I checked though, Tohya wasn't dead, just unconscious. Guess she was too weak for the island and died anyways,' he said, letting out a cold hearted laugh.

'What did you do to the other occupants in the cave?'

'You mean the American and the dog? The pup tried to bite me so I kicked the thing against the wall, no clue if it's still alive. The American though, he's currently bleeding out from a stab wound from this knife. He woke up as I was taking the knife from Miho here. Actually tried to stop me, so I punished him. He's not going anywhere for a while.'

Sekai tried to think of a plan to get them out of this, but her thoughts were interrupted by a gun shot zipping by next to her and shooting the area right next to where she had been.

'Hmph. Guess Tohya wasn't with you. Oh well, that just makes this easier,' said Hades, moving the pistol back the face the cave, his knife still firmly against Miho's throat. 'Although, it would be so much better with a third contestant.'

'What do you mean contestant?' asked Sekai, her mind going blank instead of obeying her command to think of something, anything to get them all out to safety.

'I'm glad you asked!' responded Hades, sounding like some sick game show host. 'You and Yuuki here will have a face off to the death. You win, the American goes free and Miho dies. Yuuki wins, the American dies and Miho lives. Oh, and don't think about making any moves. You do anything I don't like, and they both die. No matter what happens, two of you will die; it's up to you two to decide who.'

Sekai just stood there in stunned horror at Hades' insane game. Did he really expect them to kill each other? Sekai noticed movement to her right and barely managed to get out of the way as Yuuki's fist came at her. Sadly, she wasn't fast enough to dodge the kick that came after and was knocked over a few feet away from where she had been standing.

'Wonderful,' said Hades, sounding pleased with the turn of events.

Sekai attempted to get off the ground as fast as possible as she saw that Yuuki was moving forward to press his attack. She got to her feet and took what she felt was a fighting stance. Yuuki continued forward, his face devoid of emotion.

'Sorry about this Nanasawa, but Miho's life is more important to me than yours is.'

He lashed out with a straight right punch that Sekai barely managed to stop with her arms in a guard position like she had seen in action movies. Before she had anytime to react though his left foot came out of nowhere and swept out her legs from underneath her. As Sekai was in mid fall, Yuuki's elbow came down on her stomach, knocking her violently to the ground.

Reacting again on instinct, Sekai rolled as soon as she hit the ground, managing to buy some relief from his attacks. She fought to get on her feet as Yuuki moved towards her again. He lashed out with a furious barrage of attacks that Sekai barely managed to avoid, giving up on any hope of being able to stop his attacks.

'Amazing attacks Hayasaka. I guess the rumors and stories about your fighting skills were true,' remarked Hades, enjoying the show. He continued speaking, taunting the combatants. 'Trained in several forms of martial arts, a master of unarmed combat and street fighting. I heard you even got in a fight and took on the monster of class 3-4, Yarai Koichi. You lost of course, but I heard the fight you put up was amazing.'

Yuuki let out a roundhouse kick, but Sekai managed to dodge it by moving back. She tried to take advantage of the opening to take him down, but as she moved forward he lashed out with a spinning back kick with the other foot, catching her square in the stomach and flying back.

'You shouldn't bother attacking Nanasawa, you're much better at running away,' taunted Hades.

As Sekai got back up on her feet she thought about his words. It's true. I'm not made to attack, plus Yuuki's too skilled of a fighter. There's no way I'm going to take him down on his own terms. Maybe if I had the knife, but I don't, and it's very likely he knows how to counter knife attacks anyways, I'd probably end up dead quicker. She dodged another punch and blocked an elbow swinging to her face.

Max taught me a lot, but he never taught me how to fight. A sudden epiphany hit her. That's it! Max didn't teach me how to fight; he taught me how to survive. If fighting Yuuki straight on isn't working, then I just need to change the terms.

Yuuki let loose another powerful roundhouse kick, but instead of dodging or blocking, Sekai moved forward into it, taking the blow to the side. She thought she might have felt something break, but ignored the pain and instead tackled Yuuki, taking him off guard. Continuing with her surprise momentum, she head butted him in the face. She thought she heard a crunching sound, but that might have just been the ringing in her head.

Yuuki recovered quickly and lashed out with a counter attack to her close up assault, but was surprised to find that she was running towards the tree line. He rushed after her, but before he could catch up she was already climbing up a tree as skillfully as any monkey. The young man attempted to grab her but she lashed out with a kick.

The kick hit his side, and taking a page from her book he took the blow full on, wrapping his arm around her leg and yanking. Sekai didn't even bother holding onto the tree. Instead she pushed herself out and onto Yuuki, throwing the fighter off balance. They both tumbled to the ground in a mass of flailing arms and legs; biting, kicking and striking with any part of their bodies they could.

Sekai was on top, but was forced to use every ounce of her strength to keep the advantageous position. She wished she could try to talk to Yuuki and make a plan, but she was too busy using all of her strength to survive. The girl didn't want anyone to die, but her own self preservation was something she couldn't ignore.

A scream cut through the sounds of Yuuki and Sekai's struggle, causing them both to stop and look at Hades. The masked psycho was falling forward, pushed by the small girl who was driving a knife straight into his back. Miho finally moved and got free from Hades grip, ripping the knife from his hands as he fell next to her. The gun went off and the bullet went wide, slamming into the rock wall of the cave entrance.

Yuuki and Sekai disengaged from each other, their struggle forgotten as they rushed forward to disarm Hades and in Yuuki's case, probably punish him. They made it to the psycho who was trying to get Ayumi and her knife off of him. He raised his right arm, trying to bend it to shoot her, but Yuuki grabbed his wrist and broke Hades arm, forcing him to drop the gun.

Hades let loose another scream of pain. Miho backed up away from Hades, holding the knife that had recently been held to her throat. Sekai picked up the gun and held it at Hades, incase he made a wrong move. Yuuki towered over the masked man, a vicious smile finally breaking on his face.

'Good job Tohya-san.,' he said. Ayumi didn't respond, seemingly frozen gripping the knife still stuck in Hades back. Yuuki looked down at Hades, his smile never breaking. 'Now, I wonder what we should about you. For all the shit you've pulled I should just kill you to get this over with.'

Before they could make any more moves or decide what to do with Hades, a large form came rushing out of the jungle at them. It charged Yuuki from behind before anyone could say a word and threw him at Sekai who dropped the gun when he slammed into her. As she struggled to her feet the intruder knocked Ayumi off of Hades, the knife going with her. The masked man let out another scream of pain when the knife left at a rough angle, ripping his wound open even wider.

The large form lifted Hades to his feet and looked at Miho, who was standing frozen in horror.

'It can't be,' said Miho in disbelief. 'What are you doing helping him?'

Sekai and Yuuki managed to stand up, and the intruder turned to face them. Sekai hadn't been the best at paying attention to her classmates, but even she knew who this person was.

'Arita-san,' said Sekai, her voice coming out as a whisper due to surprise. Arita Kohei was the volleyball club's ace and all around popular nice guy at the school. Everyone liked and respected him; they all wanted to be him. It seemed to defy logic that he would be helping a murder, but here he was, saving Hades.

'You bastard!' yelled Yuuki, taking a fighting stance. 'What the hell do you think you're doing? This guy's a murder who just tried to kill my sister!'

Kohei just looked at Yuuki and gave a sad smile.

'I'm also a murderer; I killed the pilot on the plane.' He looked reflective as he spoke. 'I've probably killed near a dozen of our classmates, maybe even more. They put their trust in me, but sadly it was misplaced. I can't even remember what their faces are. I can't see your faces either. I know your expressions are there, I can even imagine what they must be like, but I just can't connect them in my head….'

Yuuki charged forward as Kohei rambled on. He tried to punch Kohei, but the volleyball star just stopped it easily with his hand and returned the favor with a punch of his own that Yuuki barely blocked. He retreated a step, accessing his options. Kohei just smirked.

'Amazing isn't it? Soon after landing on this island I hit my head, now I seem to have increased strength. You might be a famed fighter, but I bet I could even take Yarai on like this. I don't even feel pain.' He gave a demented smile. 'It's a blessing really. I know I killed people, but I can't see their faces. Makes disassociating with the guilt so much easier.'

As they all stood there in shock trying to figure out what to do, Kohei made the first move and lifted Hades into his arms.

'Would love to stay and chat, but I just came here to save Hades. He rescued me from drowning in a river a few days ago; figure I should return the favor.'

As suddenly as he had come, Kohei took the injured Hades into the jungle, disappearing from their sight. Sekai collapsed to the ground in relief, the fight was over. She looked around at her companions though and realized that the danger still hadn't passed.

Ayumi was huddled on the ground still clutching the knife. Miho had collapsed to her knees and was crying into her hands, finally releasing all the stress that had built up with her life being on the line. Yuuki's face was filled with a stone cold fury. Sekai looked into the cave and saw Max, walking carefully outside, his side freshly bandaged up and showing fresh blood. Clifford was limping by his side, unsteady on his feet but trying to return to his mistress's side.

The damage had been done and it would take a lot of time and effort for them to even return to the uneasy truce they had had before the fight.