Alright, here's the next chapter. I can't wait to see some of your reactions to it. So, now that I've updated(again...), I expect to see a certain someone update theirs soon. You know who you are, or at least you should. lol Now stop reading this, and read the story, that's what you came here for.


~~Chapter 11

Sage's eyes widened in surprise as they made it through the wall of black energy. It was just as dark on the inside as the wall was on the outside. They could barely make out the buildings that they knew were in the area since it was so dark. Any light from the moon and stars outside the wall failed to penetrate the dark energy that now surrounded them. The air was much cooler inside as well and even though they could feel the gust of icy wind, the leaves and random debris on the ground never moved. It was almost like a black hole, no light, no sound, nothing. And what made it worse was they didn't see Ryo anywhere.

"I can't believe someone has this much power," Dais spoke and he looked around in wonder. "I didn't think it was possible to create as illusion this large, and on this many people. It shouldn't be possible."

"Maybe it's more than one person…" Rowen suggested as he looked around.

"Don't kid about something like that," Sekhmet scolded.

"Who said I was kidding?" Rowen asked. "I mean if you think about it, if it was just one person, wouldn't they have made a mistake by now? Pretending to be Ryo when he was already gone? Killing off a fake Ryo to fool us? Keeping us from finding out what happened that day, and whatever it is he's doing to Ryo to make him ignore us… If it was just one person, he would have slipped up by now." Rowen explained.

"Or he's been planning this for a very long time," Cye spoke quietly as he continued to watch the shadows before him. He thought he saw something moving, but he couldn't be sure without moving closer. "He could have been watching us for years, planning everything out. Kayura said someone had been asking questions about all of us, in both realms. Maybe he was asking questions for longer than we originally thought."

"He has a point, until we find this guy or Wildfire, we really don't know much," Cale replied then looked over at Dais who'd grown just as quiet as Halo. "What is it Dais?"

"I'm trying to break part of the illusion," he mumbled, eyes closed in concentration. He was quiet for a moment before he started mumbling again, this time low enough that no one could understand what was said. After a few minutes they were able to hear a bird chirping in the distance and the trees blowing in the wind, some sound had broken through the illusion barrier. Another couple minutes passed before they were able to clearly see the buildings ahead of them and White Blaze running towards them. Shortly after, the wall behind them fell and the darkness faded away to reveal a slightly lighter sky signaling that it was close to dawn. Dais sighed as he finally shattered the illusion that had been surrounding them, now if only they knew where Wildfire was so he could break the one that he was sure would be on him.

"White Blaze!" Kento yelled as he met the tiger halfway. "Where's Ryo, buddy? We know he's here."


White Blaze looked around in relief as the darkness melted away, he knew that the others had finally arrived to help his boy. He hadn't figured out how to show his charge what was wrong and had become frustrated. He saw Ryo fighting with the monster cloaked in pitch black and blood red and couldn't get Ryo away no matter what he tried. He could tell that his boy's strength was fading fast, as was his will to fight, if he didn't do something soon, he'd lose his charge. He had to find his human's friends, they would help him. They could help him, even if Ryo himself didn't think they could.

White Blaze took off running towards where he knew the other Ronins would be standing, trying not to look back at Ryo. If he had seen Ryo fall to the ground, he would have gone to him rather than seek out his friends for the help he couldn't give. He ran as fast as he could, knowing that he didn't have any time to waste. When the Ronin in orange came to him and asked where Ryo was, he pushed him in the direction he just came from, then took off running once again. This time he was going to Ryo, only pausing for a moment to see that the others were in deed following him. He'd heard Ryo cry out in pain and knew he had to hurry.


The Ronins and Warlords followed an almost frantic White Blaze further down the street, toward the dock that the Ronins knew Ryo hated since his run in with Saranbo. Something had to be wrong with Ryo, White Blaze never acted like this. They'd never seen that gleam of worry and fear in the tiger's brown eyes.

As they got closer they could hear the sounds of laughter, and metal on metal. A sword fight. That meant Ryo was still fighting, or at the very least, blocking some attacks. The laughter worried them though, the hollowness of it made them shiver as they hairs on the backs of their necks stood on end. Whoever Ryo was fighting was truly evil if the laugh was anything to go by. As they rounded the next corner, the warriors all stopped as White Blaze darted forward, jumping in between a fairly beaten up Ryo and his unharmed opponent.


To put it simply, Ryo was worn out. He could barely fight now, all his energy gone. He could barely hold up his katanas to block Malachite's attacks, much less attack back. The force behind Malachite's last attack had sent him to the ground and he just didn't have the strength to get back on his feet, and to make matters worse, Malachite laughed at him, laughed at his defeat. And he knew he'd been defeated, he had nothing left to fight with.

Ryo lowered his head and closed his eyes, waiting for the next swing of his opponent's sword, but it never came. After a moment he couldn't help but get curious, he had to look. He slowly raised his head as blue eyes widened in disbelief. White Blaze and the Warlords stood around him, protecting him. Sekhmet and Cale rushed forward to attack Malachite as Dais knelt beside Ryo, a curious expression upon his face.

"What are you guys doing here?" Ryo couldn't help asking.

"We came to help you guys," Dais replied, glancing at the two Ronins that stood beside him. He noticed that Hardrock and Torrent had followed Sekhmet and Cale into battle as the mastermind behind the illusions had summoned some Dynasty warriors to his aid. "Tell me Wildfire, what do you see?"

Ryo looked up in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Take a look around and tell me what you can see. That 'creature' over there has cast an illusion of sorts on you, I need to know what you're seeing," Dais explained. He had noticed that Wildfire had yet to look at his friends, could he not see them? Surely he saw the tiger, why not the Ronins too?

"Okay," Ryo said, somewhat unsure. "You, obviously. The warehouses, a pile of rubble from what used to be a warehouse, the docks, Sekhmet and Cale, White Blaze, Malachite, some dynasty warriors… What are they doing?" Ryo questioned, watching the Dynasty warriors running around swinging at what could only be invisible opponents.

"They're fighting two of the Ronins," Dais replied, this time looking at Strata as he gasped in understanding. "You don't see them, do you?"

"Why would I see them?" Ryo asked defensively.

"Do you see anything or anyone next to me?" Dais asked.

"No," Ryo muttered. "Should I be able to see something next to you?"

"Yes, you should… Wildfire… Ryo," Dais started, "Why would you not see your friends, the Ronins?"

Sage knew something was definitely wrong. Why would Ryo get so defensive when they were mentioned? "Because they're dead. They're dead because I killed them," Ryo said quietly. Sage only heard Ryo's reply because Rowen had nudged him when Ryo looked like he was finally going to answer the question. Rowen has gasped in surprise with Ryo's answer, as did Sage and Dais.

"What do you mean, you killed them? When?" Dais asked, seeing the shocked expressions on the two Ronin's faces.

"Hey, we could use a little help over here!" Kento hollered as more soldiers appeared. Sage started to go over, but Rowen stopped him.

"You stay here with Ryo, I'll go help them," Rowen said as he walked off leaving Sage to stare at Ryo in confusion.

"Three and a half years ago…" Ryo mumbled quietly, staring at the ground. "I… I don't want to talk about it." Ryo struggled to stand, wanting to get away from the conversation. He really didn't want to talk about that, not with anyone.

"Ryo, no, don't move," Sage spoke, grabbing Ryo's arm as he tried to move away. "That's what you meant before, when you were surprised to see us still with you. You thought we were ghosts."

Ryo stopped when he felt someone grab his arm, but he didn't see anyone. After a moment though, he could have sworn he heard Sage speaking to him. Ryo blinked a few times before Sage came into focus saying something about not being a ghost.

"Yes, you are. You're not really here, and it's because of me. Hell, you were talking with Raye up on that mountain and she's been dead almost as long. I killed my friends, I lost control and killed my friends," Ryo said sadly as a lone tear made it's way down his cheek. Sage had released Ryo's arm in shock as Ryo spoke. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Sage, I never meant to hurt you guys." With that he turned away once more and slowly walked away from Sage and towards Malachite.

Rowen and Kento made their way to Sage and Dais after Ryo had rejoined the fight, oblivious to the other Ronins. "What the hell was that about? Why'd you let him go back in there?" Kento demanded angrily.

"He thinks we're dead…" Sage trailed off, watching Ryo carefully. Ryo truly believed what he'd told Sage. "We're just ghosts to him."

"He seems to think he killed all of you, three and a half years ago. He said he lost control and killed all of you," Dais spoke when Sage fell silent once again.

"But, I don't understand," Kento said, looking back over at Ryo who was once again fighting against Malachite. He turned back to his friends, face pale and asked, "What do you mean by lost control?"

Sage remained silent as he watched his dark haired friend closely. He took in every move Ryo made, every swing of his swords, every block he attempted. He watched as Ryo dropped to a knee as he blocked a particularly strong attack before he realised what he was truly seeing. "He's not using the armour's power to help him fight. He's only using his own strength to fight this time. The only part of the armour he's really using is the katanas."

"What? But, why?" Kento demanded, spinning around to look at Ryo once again, this time he was truly worried about his friend. "Why wouldn't he use the armour's power? I don't understand!"

"I think I do," Rowen stated gloomily. "He lost control of his amour, that's how he killed us, or at least that's what he believes."


Remember, no killing me, I can't continue the story if I'm dead, now can I? lol

*runs away before things are thrown*