Chapter 9

Wildfire In The Sky

When I get to the campsite, it's dark, a bit cold, and everyone's awake and sitting around a campfire.

"Look, there she is!" Yuli shouts out around mouth full of something.

"Whoa, Yuli, say it, don't SPRAY it." Ryo laughs.

"You scared me to DEATH! I SAID, hurry back!" Mia stands up like she has something to be upset about.

"It's alright, Mia, she's back now." Cye stands, trying to calm Mia. "Finish your soup, I'll talk to her." Cye walks over.

So help me god, if he lectures me...I have a demon horse and a crossbow, and VERY good aim.

Cye stands right up against the demon horse's saddle before he talks. "Alright then?" He asks.

I shake my head.

"Were you attacked again?" Cye looks worried.

I smile just enough to assure him and shake my head again.

Cye leans further against the saddle. "Are you in pain, Emma?"

Psychological, Emotional, Physical...I nod a bit.

Kento jogs over.

Cye's voice is barely above a whisper and he's basically mouthing. "Is it Kento?"

I smile and shake my head.

"Hey pretty girl." Kento points at himself with both thumbs. "I got 'im."

I know my eyes are wider. I'm in such a state of shock, I almost can't believe what Kento's saying. I scramble down from the demon horse. Kento freezes up when I hug him.

"Uhh...Cye, dude? What's happening?" I hear the Englishman sigh. "The demon Dais beat Emma within an inch of her life." So he DID see...

"What?!" Sage and Ryo stand up.

"Wait, but, she's standin' right here." Kento says.

"That's because someone saved her, and had gone, by the time Ryo and I found Emma at the temple." Cye explained.

"Wait a sec, if the pretty girl can't talk then how'd she tell you what happened?" Kento. I can see he'll be a friend.

"Well, she made an utterly terrified face and pointed at Dais when he appeared at the temple." Cye says.

"Oh..." One of Kento's arms kind of hesitates. I'm still hugging him. "So...why's she still hugging me?"

Cye chuckles. "Well, she can't speak, so how else is she supposed to thank you?"

Having conveyed that, I step away from Kento. He's blushing. It's kinda cute.

"This happened because we left you, didn't it?" Sage frowns.

Ryo suddenly super guilty. "Dude..."

I smile and shake my head. I blame Mia, guys, don't sweat it. She had control and was driving.

"Oh!" Cye claps his hands once. "Sorry, but I raided your backpack for food, and found dehydrated soup." Cye winces.

I take the canteens off the saddlehorn, smiling, and give Cye's arm a pat as I pass him.

"Hey wait! Lemme get that." Kento takes the canteens and walks them down to the campfire with me.

"You're pretty popular." Mia snarks.

I don't even want to acknowledge it. I walk past the campfire, step over White Blaze's tail, and head down toward the water. It's pretty here, in the moonlight, the dark water wishy-washing its way along the solid beach. I'm not very good company right now. As resolved as I am to help the Ronins, I feel like I'm just kidding myself. I'm injured, I can't talk, and I can barely pantomime what I'm feeling.

"You're doing all right." Sage says, behind me.

I turn to look at him; please not someone else who can read my mind, or aura, or whatever.

"Besides the getting beat up part, but I'll take some of the blame for that." Sage sits down next to me. "I told Mia to turn around."

I snort. Well good, at least THAT'S working.

"Really, I did, but Mia was the one driving - oh forget it."

Sage stands up, turns, and takes a step to walk away. He's got these nifty handles on his heels. Will it trip him if I do THAT? I do it. I grab the handle on his heel, but he doesn't fall flat on his face, he just stops a step, and looks at me.

How do I apologize, thank him, and indicate he can sit down, all in one look, before he walks away?

I close my eyes, bow my head, and lift it again.

Sage stares at me, turns, and sits back down next to me. He looks like he wants to say something, but is visibly hesitating.

I look down at the sand, and dig out a rock. Between us, I write in the sand: How are you?

Sage watches me write it then nods. "I'm alright."

I rise my eyebrows, and hope my face conveys something like 'are you sure?'.

Sage just looks out at the water. I do the same, and a minute later, Sage asks, with some amount of embarrassment. "Did I upset you at some point?"

Only when you gave me orders to stay with Mia. I frown, but for the most part no. I shake my head.

Sage kind of squints and quirks his mouth up. "Nah, I don't buy it. Something's bugging you, and it's not just Mia."

I stare back at him, briefly enraptured by his mystic-blue gaze. I shake my head, shaking loose the captive feeling from his stare, and tap my throat.

Sage is quiet for a moment then says. "I remember the cave."

I turn and look at him, actually sort of surprised.

"What you said, about your step-mother being evil; I'm sorry you have to put up with that." Sage sounds awkward saying that, but I wish I could tell him that I appreciate the attempted sentiment.

"Hey you two!" Ryo calls out. "Make out later! Get up here!"

Mia's scolding him about something and shushing him.

Doesn't really matter. Moment's gone, Sage is embarrassed and storming up the hill, and I'm a bit annoyed, too.

I get up, and walk up the hill. The demon horse is standing next to the jeep, head ducked, a snort bubble inflating and deflating on its right nostril.

Sage in on the hood of the jeep, leaning his chin on his hand, and looks pouty-angry.

"Here." A metal cup holds up in front of me. It's Cye with a tin cup of soup. "I rescued the last bit from Kento."

I take the cup and sit down next to Cye. It's cold tomato bisque, but it's SOMETHING.

Silence falls around the campfire. I see Yuli sleeping against White Blaze, and niw I know why Mia was scolding him when he shouted at Sage and I.

"Well." Speaking of Ryo. "At least now we know where Rowen is."

I beg their pardon? I give Cye a look.

"Yeah, a lotta good that does us." Kento mutters, and throw a dirt clod into the fire.

Mia picks up the conversation jovially. "Unmoored in the stream of the sky; it was right there in front of our faces the whole time, wasn't it?"

Ryo's giving her this intense look that I really wish she would see, because it's THAT LOOK - the one SHE was giving HIM nit so long ago, but the boy version.

I elbow Cye.

"I see it." Cye murmurs close to me that even I can barely hear.

Ryo snaps out of it before Mia looks at him, and both Cye and I slump.

Giving Cye and I a sideways stare, Ryo carries the conversation on. "That's right. Now we know that Rowen is in space-" I'm sorry, WHAT?! "But how do we save 'im?"

With a rocket ship? I look at Cye and shrug.

Cye points up at the sky with this straight face.

I look up at the sky, tilt my head, and mouth, 'the sky?'.

Cye mouths back. 'space'.

Oh GREAT. Rowen's floating…oh, of course – the eyes of the ages. STARS. Now it seems so obvious. Rowen's in…space..IN space? I get up from the campfire, and walk over to the demon horse. I have no idea what everyone's talking about; I don't care anymore. I'm never going to see my friend ever again, unless one of the Ronin Warriors has a rocket ship hidden in his armor.

The demon horse has this snot bubble inflating and deflating as it breathes steadily; sleeping I guess. The bubble suddenly pops when I walk up, and the demon horse looks at me.

What now, Buddo? I reach up, and touch the horse's head, pulling a few strands of his mane a bit until they're straight. I glance back to the group around the campfire. They're gathering sleeping bags and looking like it's time for bed. I couldn't sleep; like I was telling Sage, I've rested enough.

I sort of have a plan – it's kind of a stupid plan – to maybe figure some stuff out on my own, and take what time I can to heal. Granted, I'd be safer with them, but I feel more like a distraction.

After they fall asleep, the demon horse and I leave. Granted, the horse's hooves clip-clop, but I don't think anyone woke up or followed us.

The city is dark, still, but quiet. I have no idea what I'm doing here, so I focus.

Need clean things. I spy a boutique, and collect some clean underwear and a bra. With the horse guarding outside, I feel a little bit safe. The quiet glow of my gas lantern helps too.

Something creaks outside the fitting room. Crap. It's not enough that there are DEMONS in the city, but now there are PERVERT demons.

Picking up the crossbow, I prepare for whomever (or what) is out there. I grab the curtain, push it aside, and aim!

"Does this color make me look fat?" Cye is holding up a purple tank top and I don't mind the hoarse cough that comes out even as I'm trying to laugh. The cough just gets worse as my lungs and voice desperately try to laugh harder.

"Steady on then." Cye kneels next to me, having discarded the tank top. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cough." He's still chuckling a bit.

Oh, bless his heart, I wish I could tell him how much I love him for his little joke. I can only pat his worrying hands, nod, and smile.

"I was concerned." Cye offers kind of awkwardly, but in a sweet way, too.

I nod and brush invisible lint off my hoodie. I straighten up and Cye is still kinda staring at me, but pretending not to. I smile, make sure Cye sees it then grab my stuff and walk past him as Cye chuckles, scratches his head, and looks away before following after me.

"Wait, wait, Emma." Cye gently takes my arm. "What happened to your hair?"

I turn and look at what he's touching. Oh…my hair.

"Did Dais do this?" Cye's brow furrows.

I nod. I mean, it's true, but probably the only accidental thing that warlord did. I hold up my fingers in a scissor gesture.

"Scissors? Sorry, fresh out but, I saw a drug store not far from here. I bet there's SOME kind of scissors there." His gaze lowers a bit. "I'm more concerned about maybe some ointment for your neck. Does it hurt?" He pouts.

I move my neck a bit then holdup a hand, palm down, wiggling it back and forth.

Cye nods. "That's that then. We'll get you fixed up yet, love, don't worry." He tilts my chin to examine some of my scars, but he's a little closer than I would expect he needs to get. After a few seconds, he notices it too, and backs away with an embarrassed little smile.

Outside is Mia, White Blaze, and Sage. Well…I can guess what happened here. I've decided what they do is none of my business. I'm not going to go running after rogue Ronins just to make myself feel useful.

"Thank god!" Mia gasps.

Oh, I'm SO sure.

"You're okay!" Yuli grins.

THAT, I believe.

"We thought you had STUPIDLY gone with Kento and Ryo." Sage didn't have to say it like THAT.

I fold my arms, and give Sage's stupid, blonde, head a good long glare.

Sage stares back, like, 'what'd I do?'.

"Be a tad nicer, Sage." Cye whispers as he leads me down the street. "And here I thought he was warming up to you." The Englishman shrugs.

Me too. I want to say. I put a hand to my neck. At this point, I wish I could say ANYTHING – hello, I'm sorry, thank you, ANYTHING…anything…

We get to the drug store – it's deserted and dark, of course – and Cye walks me around to find scissors.

Aisle 4, by the way.

"Ah. Here we are." Cye opens a package. "I'm no hairdresser, but just straight across, you think? Get rid of those nasty, uneven bits, yeah?"

No, no, no! Not on his life! I'm NOT letting a TEENAGE BOY cut my hair! I glare, I snatch the scissors, and keep glaring as I seek out Mia. Cye's really confused, but is smiling as I walk away.

Back outside, Mia can't mistake me coming toward her. I think the scissors unnerved her a bit but, she stands still.

I hold the scissors out with a really serious 'I need you to do this, like, for serious' face.

Mia takes the scissors.

Please don't stab me. I can TOTALLY see her stabbing me.

Mia smiles.

OH GOD, SHE'S GONNA STAB ME!

"Of course. I'd be happy to help." Mia indicates for me to turn around. I do so but, I give the horse a nod.

The demon horse nods, squinting, like, 'If she stabs, I'll trample her'.

Or I'm just making shit up in my head to make myself feel better about giving Mia a sharp object.

"The rip is here." Mia's finger touches a high part of my neck. "It's completely ragged and uneven. It'll be short if I straighten out the edges."

I nod.

The first snip makes me twitch, so on, and so forth..

"Okay." Mia sighs. "It looks all right." She moves to the side.

Great. I slump, preparing for a reflective surface. What does THIS look like? I turn to the nearest window of the jeep, and MY. JAW. DROPS. Just DROPS.

"That's no so bad." Sage says.

I. Look. Like. Shirley. Temple. DAMN MY CURLY HAIR!

"Seriously, it could be worse." Sage leans closer, whispering. "You could be a boy, and your sister could've done this to you in your sleep."

I give him sad, mean, eyes.

I see Cye approaching behind me, and pause.

For the love of saints, please don't anybody start laughing. It's happened before. My dignity can't take much more of this apocalypse.

"Sorry." Mia actually looks remorseful. "Your hair is so curly – I had no idea, but it's really very pretty cute. Don't you think?"

No. No I don't. She's obviously never seen a Shirley Temple movie.

"Nice haircut." Cye says as he passes me by in the window.

I look at the demon horse. It shrugs.

I shrug back. It's not the end of the world (my hair, that is). So what? Better than LOOKING like I was attacked and narrowly escaped. Climbing onto the demon horse, I start to lead it away when the ground shakes and light flashes ahead.

"Oh no!" Mia shouts.

"Emma!" Sage calls out, but I'm already heading in the direction of the light – it's sort of pinkish in this eerie Hello-Kitty-zombie sort of way. Some blocks already traversed, the demon horse stops.

Ahead is a tall, wire-frame building – the source of the light. It's sinking into the ground, but a huge, pink, gross, brain-ball-thing is coming out of the top of the building.

The demon horse backs up a few steps making this roaring sound. The red jeep pulls up and everyone piles out.

"What's going on?" Mia gasps.

I turn, still atop the demon horse, and shake my head. It makes me nauseous to look at the energy ball; like it's just MADE out of BAD, y'know?

"Ryo…I guess they didn't make it." Sage says.

I frown in the blonde's direction. Way to keep a positive attitude, dude

The brain-ball flies up into the air, soaring higher and higher. Ewww.

There's all kinds of dust from the collapsed building – the kind of aftermath I wouldn't expect anyone to survive. Then a shadow flickers across the dust. Was it my imagination? I haven't had to shoot anything with my crossbow lately, so maybe this is my chance?

Nah. It's Kento. Kento?! OMIGAWD, was he IN that collapsed building? AND White Blaze is WITH him? Are you SHITTING me?

Kento, thank heaven! But I can't talk…

"Kento?" Mia gasps. "Where's Ryo?"

Sage stands forward with this intense look on his face.

Kento pauses, glancing at everyone. "Sorry, I…" His voice wavers. I couldn't stop 'im."

Hold on…what? Who?!

"So what did he do?" Sage practically read my mind.

Without really giving an answer, Kento looks over his shoulder.

Sage and Mia look up.

The brain-ball is a blip in the sky.

Cye walks up next to the demon horse, looking up. "You're shitting me."

Took the words right out of my mouth…