Disclaimer: I don't own Ronin Warriors. If I did The Legend of the Kikoutei never would have been made. Who would think it would be cool if our boys lost their armors?
Chapter 21
Breaking Free
A lot of days passed before there was a knock on the door. Amy, who had been reading a book in her living room, went to answer the door. In the hall a young man was waiting for her.
"Can I come in?" He asked.
The woman moved to the side to let him through. He entered the apartment and she closed the door. She turned to the only other person there.
"What is it, Gayle?" She asked.
"There are people asking for information about us," he answered. "They want to find us for some reason."
Amy's interest was piqued by his words. It wasn't often that people asked where to find them. "Will you come sit in the living room?" She asked Gayle. With his nod, she led him farther in.
She passed the loveseat where he sat with the question of what he wanted to drink. She disappeared into the kitchen and returned with the milk that he had asked for. The woman handed him one of the 2 glasses and kept the other as she sat across from him on the couch. Once she got comfortable she began the conversation.
"Can you explain what you said about people asking for us?"
"Seems there are 5 teenage boys and one young woman going through New York asking where they can find one of us. I don't know why they are, though."
"Tell me, Gayle. What do you think of them?"
"They don't seem like bad people. It's more like there is something odd about those teenagers."
"Why do you say 'odd'?"
The young man sat his glass on the coffee table between them. "There's something…different about those 5 teenagers. I get this feeling from them that I've never gotten from anyone else before. Amy, I can see something wrapped around each of them. I don't know what it is but it's as if there is an invisible light wrapped around those 5 teenagers. One of them has another light surrounding his red one that is a mix of all of the colored lights."
Silence spread between the 2 as the woman thought about the information that had been given to her. "Is there anything else that was different?" She finally asked.
"All 5 of them have a thick, black band wrapped around their neck which seems to eat away at the lights surrounding them. The only one that isn't is the multicolored one; that one almost seems to pass by it." Gayle leaned forward. "Do you know what that blackness around their necks is?"
Amy sifted through her mind for the information that he was wanting. After about a minute she finally said "have you heard of something called a Sealing Mark?" When he shook his head, she leaned over and gently patted his hand. "Don't worry about it," she told him. "Let me explain what it is. A Sealing Mark is like what the name suggests: it is a mark that seals something. It is able to cut off an ability or seal something inside of the one who has that mark. That blackness you were talking about, it's most likely suppressing whatever that light around them is."
"But then why isn't that single multicolored one affected by that blackness?"
"I don't know, Gayle. I've never come across a situation like that before."
"Will you help them, Amy?"
"I'd like you to watch them for now. I want to know what those lights are."
Gayle nodded and stood. He left the apartment and Amy went to another room. Inside there were many books on shelves throughout the room. The woman took one off a shelf and started flipping through the pages. She was looking for any information on those lights that she had been told about.
…
Gayle walked through New York City looking for 5 particular people. The lights surrounding them should have made it easier for him to find them but in a city swarming with people, it was almost impossible. He was about to give up when he caught sight what he was looking for. A teenage boy was walking close by with a red light surrounded by a multicolor one. The young man changed his direction and went after the teenager.
When he came within a certain distance from the 6 people he was looking for, Gayle stopped walking long enough to mutter some words under his breath. His vision and hearing became much sharper so that his targets wouldn't know that they were being followed. Even from his far distance from them, he could clearly hear and see the 5 teenage boys and the one young woman asking if anyone could tell them were to find someone with supernatural powers.
Gayle eventually followed them to a restaurant when the sun was going down. He had been following them for hours, listening to their conversations, and this was the first time they had taken a break. The particular place that his targets had chosen had outside seating. The young man chose an empty table near the door as the others went inside to eat. It wasn't long until a waitress came.
"What would you like to order?" She asked with a smile.
Gayle's hazel eyes scanned through the menu quickly. "I'll take a BLT and water," he answered. He handed the menu to her and she left. He settled in his chair and focused on his targets. Even though it was noisy outside of the restaurant, the young man didn't have any trouble listening to their conversation.
"What do we do if we can't find someone to take off our Sealing Marks and bracelets?" The black-haired teenager said.
"Don't worry, Ryo," the young woman sitting next to him said, "we'll find someone to help us."
"It's been days, Mia," the purple-haired teenager pointed out.
"We can't just give up, though," the brunette teenager said.
Gayle stopped listening long enough to thank his waiter for the food before turning his attention back to his targets as he ate.
"Kento, this is a big city," the blonde said, "it'll be impossible to not find one."
"Hey, we don't even know how many there are in America, let alone in New York City, Sage," Kento shot back.
"The only ones we met were the 2 in Los Angeles," the brunette said.
Gayle was probably the only one at the restaurant besides his targets that saw the shiver go up Ryo's spine. The reason he knew that Sage and the others had was because of Mia patting Ryo's hand and the sympathetic looks that were given to the black-haired teenager.
What could have happened to cause that reaction? It must have only happened to one of them from the looks that Ryo is receiving, Gayle thought as he chewed.
"We'll find someone – I'm sure of it," Mia stated as she looked at those seated around the table.
"But how long will that take?" The blue-haired teenager asked.
Sage shrugged. "Don't really now, Rowen," he answered.
"Hey, Cye, are you gonna eat your biscuit?" Kento suddenly asked.
The brunette handed the biscuit over. "Go ahead, Kento," he answered, "I'm almost full."
The purple-haired teenager happily plucked the food out of the other's hand. He didn't waste time stuffing it into his mouth. How does he eat that much? Gayle wondered. He hadn't failed to notice that Kento had many more plates in front of him than the rest.
The young man spent more time eating than he normally did. He didn't want to miss anything that was said by those he was eavesdropping on. So far he had gotten some of the information that his mentor had wanted. By the time Mia paid for her group's food, Gayle was almost finished with his. He left his own money for his dinner by his plate and left to follow Ryo and the others. He kept far back from the 6 as he wasn't worried about losing them. Sharpening his eyes and ears had guaranteed that it would be almost impossible to do so.
He followed them to a nice-looking hotel and watched them go inside before returning to Amy. He knocked on the woman's apartment door and waited to be let in again. Once he was seated on her loveseat once more, he began retelling what he had heard at dinner.
"Those 5 teenagers know about the Sealing Mark," he told the woman. "I did learn something interesting though. They seem to have a bracelet that they cannot remove themselves for some reason."
"I see," Amy slowly replied.
"Do you know why they can't take them off?"
"They might be made of the metal only we can make."
"You mean the one that only we can break?"
"That is correct." She leaned forward, placing her elbows on her knees. "Is there anything else you have learned about them?"
"Well, all 6 of them seem desperate to get the Sealing Marks and bracelets off for some reason," he answered.
"I wonder why," the woman muttered.
"Do you think they have done something wrong?" Gayle asked. "That's the only explanation I can think of."
"Well, do they seem like bad people?" She asked.
The young man shook his head. "I haven't seen any indication that they are," he admitted. "But why would they have the Sealing Marks if they aren't bad people?"
"Not all sorcerers and sorceresses are good people, Gayle. There is a rumor of one who is only known as the Sorceress."
"Is she a bad person?" He had never heard of a person who went by that name. In all the time he had been learning how to use his supernatural powers he had never come across someone who wasn't good.
"She uses her supernatural abilities to aid anyone who pays her whether that person is good or evil. There is a rumor that she's basically enslaved 5 young people for a mercenary in Los Angeles."
"Were they ever able to escape?"
Amy shook her head. "I don't know," she replied.
The woman's fingers entwined and she looked at the ceiling as if thinking. When her brown eyes went back to meet Gayle's own eyes, the young man could see she had made up her mind on something.
"I want you to return to watching them tomorrow," she told her student, "I want to know more about them before I make a decision on whether to help them or not."
"Alright," he said as he nodded. He stood. "Good night, Amy."
Gayle left the apartment and returned home. Even after the front door had shut, the woman continued to sit as she thought.
…
The next morning saw Ryo and the others eating at a restaurant. Like before, Kento had at least twice as much food as the others that he was hurriedly stuffing into his mouth.
"What are we going to try to do today?" Sage asked once everyone but Hardrock had finished eating. "We haven't been able to get any of the information that we are looking for."
"Do you think we won't ever find someone to help us?" Cye worriedly asked.
"Hey, hey, don't think like that, Cye!" Kento cheerfully said as he waved his fork with a piece of ham still on it. "I'm sure we'll find someone eventually."
"We've been here for a while, Kento, and we haven't met anyone with supernatural powers yet," Sage pointed out.
The purple-haired teenager shrugged. He put the ham in his mouth and quickly chewed. "Something will happen," he said once his mouth was empty.
"I wish it was that easy, Kento," Ryo told him. "We've had these for over a year now."
"It's been that long, huh?" Rowen mused.
"Sometimes it still feels like I'll open my eyes one day and find that this was all just a dream and we're still at Mason's."
All 6 of them were silent as their minds went back to the time that Mason had all 5 Ronin Warriors in his hand. Mia remembered well the despair that had come over time when she couldn't find her boys. It was something she didn't want to live through again.
…
Gayle was sitting on the opposite side of the restaurant as he watched Mia pay for everyone's meal. The young man had already paid for his own breakfast and had been waiting for a while for the purple-haired teenager to finish eating. When Kento finally ate the last bite, the young man followed Ryo and the others out of the restaurant.
Since the hazel-eyed man had already sharpened his hearing and sight, he didn't have a hard time following them when they reached the street. Like before, he kept far back from the group so they would not know they were being followed. He listened as they resumed asking for information on his people.
As Gayle followed them he noticed that the 5 teenagers were starting to become a little edgy. It was as if they were expecting something to happen from how close of an eye they were keeping on the people around them. It was as if they were expecting someone to attack them. Mia eventually took the 5 of them to a small alley. Gayle stayed close by around the corner, just close enough to hear what they were saying.
"Why are you so edgy?" Mia asked.
"I'm starting to feel as if Mason and the Sorceress are going to try to kidnap us again," Ryo answered.
Gayle's curiosity spiked.
"I also have the same feeling," Rowen admitted.
"So I'm not the only one," Sage said.
"I guess we are all feeling that if we ever let our guard down, we'll be kidnapped again," Cye added.
Kento nodded. "It's hard to ignore when you've been almost kidnapped a second time," he agreed.
The hazel-eyed man remembered what Amy had said about the person named the Sorceress. He couldn't help but wonder if those 5 teenagers were the 5 young people that the Sorceress was rumored to have enslaved.
"It's almost impossible for Mason and the Sorceress to have found you again," Mia explained to them.
"They've already found us before, Mia. We were almost kidnapped back then," Ryo reminded her. "Toyama is a big city and they had been able to find us using the signals from the tracking chips inside our bracelets."
"I don't want to be forced to fight again, Mia," Cye told the brunette woman.
How are they able to fight with no weapons? Gayle wondered. I don't see any on them.
"But you're not helpless," Mia tried to reassure.
Rowen shook his head. "The Sealing Marks won't let us wear our armors, Mia," he reminded her.
"But you 5 have abilities which it hasn't taken from you," she pointed out.
Those lights surrounding them must be the armors that they are talking about, Gayle realized. Those lights are being eaten by the blackness of the Sealing Mark.
"At least try to not be so edgy when we leave this alley," Mia suggested.
The young man now had enough information for his mentor; there was no longer any reason for him to continue following his targets. It was time he went back to Amy to give her what she had asked for.
He returned to Amy's apartment and knocked on her door. The door opened and he was waved inside. The young man went back to the same loveseat as before and sat down.
"I've got the information you asked for," he told her.
She sat across from him and folded her hands in her lap. "What did you learn?"
Gayle sat back. "I think those 5 teenagers are the ones who the Sorceress had enslaved. Those lights I saw – they are what they refer to as their armors. I also found out that the reason that they are trying to remove the Sealing Marks is because it is somehow preventing them from being able to wear their armor. It also turns out those bracelets have a tracking chip inside them that the Sorceress and a man named Mason are using to kidnap them again."
"I see," Amy said. Her index finger went to her bottom lip as she thought. After a few minutes she removed it and looked at her student. "Bring them to me," she told him. "I will remove their Sealing Marks and bracelets." After all, she thought, they are nothing more than innocent victims.
…
Ryo was the last to walk into the hotel of the group. He shut the door behind himself but had to grab onto Sage's arms so he wouldn't fall when he tried to walk. Mia and the rest were in front of a lone young man with hazel eyes and red hair. His face screamed I'm interested in you guys to the black-haired teenager. There was something about him that reminded Wildfire of the few hazy memories he had of Jason from when he and his friends had been rescued.
"Is there somewhere private we can talk?" The young man asked.
"We can talk in my friends' hotel room," Mia graciously answered. She smiled and waved her hand at the stairs. "Why don't you come with us to it?"
Ryo was about to make an objection about letting an unknown person into their room when Sage gave him the it'll be alright look. The blonde patted his arm in reminder of the conversation that they had recently had with Mia.
Their female friend led their guest through the hotel to the teenager's room. Rowen took out the keycard in his jeans pocket and opened the door. All 7 stepped in and settled inside.
"What do you want to talk about?" Mia finally asked once all were settled.
"My name is Gayle. I heard you are looking for someone with supernatural powers," the young man answered.
Gayle wasn't ready for the 5 guarded looks he received from the others in the room. The only one who wasn't wearing one of those expressions was Mia. Instead, she looked between the 5 teenagers and silently sighed.
"It's okay, guys," she told Ryo and the others. "I'm sure he's not connected with either of them."
Gayle ignored his confusion in light of completing his task. He had heard enough to know that whatever she had hinted at must be the reason for the unnatural reaction to his words. In his kind of life, it was almost natural for one to keep secrets.
"I can take you to someone with supernatural powers," he offered instead. "If you'd like, we can leave go to meet that person."
The brunette woman turned to her boys. "What do you say?" She asked them with a small, excited smile. They had spent a long time waiting for this moment and now the answer had been brought to them.
Ryo stood from leaning against the wall. "I want to meet the person," He said to the room. He looked at the other Ronin Warriors and held out his hands slightly. "Don't you also want to meet that person?" When he received the nods from the others, he turned back to the stranger. "When can we see them?" He asked Gayle.
The young man smiled slightly. "Follow me," was his only reply.
The hazel-eyed man left the room followed by Mia and her boys. He walked through the hotel and back onto the streets. Even as he continued down the street, Mia noticed that he wasn't turning down any streets that she and the others had tried asking down since they had arrived. No wonder, she thought as she walked alongside Ryo, we thought we were looking for something like a business. Gayle is going by all of the streets that don't have any apartments.
They eventually reached the skyscraper that the young man had been heading towards. Mia fell in step behind everyone else. They went inside the building and into an empty elevator. Gayle pushed a button towards the top of the group of buttons beside the elevator door. Rowen sidled up to a wall and leaned against it. Sage stood beside the black-haired teenager and closed his arms as he leaned against the wall beside the other.
At first everything was silent as if waiting for something to happen. No one kept eye contact as they rode the elevator until Strata changing positions caught his neighbor's attention. The blonde saw the blue-haired teenager lean further into the wall and brace himself better against it.
"Feeling a little lighter than normal," Rowen whispered under his breath. "We're getting too high for my liking."
Halo made a slight nod of acknowledgement. He knew that his blue-haired friend didn't like heights. He wasn't scared of them seeing as he could drop stories and still come out fine. No, it was the fact that if he was standing on the roof of a skyscraper, he would most likely be blown over the side by a little bit of wind. Having your armor's element as air doesn't have the handiness that some would think, Sage thought with a slight smile.
Gayle walked through the open elevator doors and continued down the hall. Sage quietly linked his arm around Rowen's and followed behind their guide. Strata gave the blonde a grateful look but said nothing.
The young man didn't stop until almost the end of the hall. He knocked on a plain, wooden door and waited. Mia was standing beside him again at this point as they waited for the person to open the door. At first it was as if time had frozen as each teenager had different ideas of who this mysterious person they were going to see was. Since they had only met the Sorceress and Jason, they couldn't help but wonder just what the person looked like.
There was a click from behind the door and it swung open to show a middle-aged woman. Mia's first thought was what are we going to do now? All 5 of her boys had suddenly gone on high alert again with Kento standing in front of Ryo.
Amy stood at her front door to find that her student was back. The words that she had been building inside her head as she had waited died when she saw the instantly-cautious looks that all 5 teenage boys were giving her. It was as if they thought she was going to do something that she shouldn't. Instead of asking, she mentally shoved those thoughts to the back of her mind. She turned to the side and extended her arm inside.
"Will you come in?" She asked.
Much to her surprise, the 5 teenagers didn't move. She could see their reluctance clearly written on their faces. It was as if they already didn't trust her. The one female with them was the only one who came inside with Gayle. Amy stood holding the door as she watched the 5 teenagers' faces as they looked from her to their female companion. Eventually, it was the brunette who took the initiative and walked inside pulling the black-haired one behind him. Once the 2 were inside, the other 3 came. Amy closed the door behind the purple-haired teenager and showed all 7 into the living room. They sat with Gayle sitting beside Amy on the loveseat.
"I was the one who asked Gayle to bring you here," Amy told her guests. "I am a sorceress and I will help you."
Ryo moved closer to Sage on the couch. Halo patted his friend's knee in comfort.
The woman continued talking as if she hadn't seen Ryo's reaction. "Before I start, I want to say that I have nothing to do with the one who calls herself the Sorceress."
Ryo didn't really believe that the one who had asked Gayle to bring them wasn't connected to the Sorceress. He was sure that none of the others – well, except Mia, that is – completely believed her as well. Jason had been a different story as from the beginning he had gone against the Sorceress.
Amy could tell that the teenagers didn't believe her. She had thought that helping them would be a simple thing but the way that they were acting wasn't what she had been expecting. "I can tell you have your doubts. Why do you no believe me?" She asked.
Mia realized that explanations had to be given. "Well, you see, my friends have only met 2 people with supernatural powers until today," she explained. "The whole experience wasn't very pleasant for them."
The woman's eyes flashed with sadness as she nodded to show that she understood. "I didn't know," she said as her own explanation. "But I want you to remember that I am not like the Sorceress. I will only remove your Sealing Marks and bracelets."
Sage frowned. "How do you know about them?" He asked suspiciously.
Amy winked slightly. "I have my ways of finding out things."
Mia quickly noticed the guilty look that Gayle was directing at his lap.
"You were following us?" She asked him.
"Since yesterday," the young man admitted.
A distinct uneasy feeling fell on the Ronin Warriors; they had been followed without knowing?
Amy had the distinct impression that things were about to get complicated if she didn't do something. She sat straighter. "Would you like me to remove your Sealing Marks and bracelets?" She asked. "Gayle doesn't know enough yet to help you people."
The brunette woman sitting by Cye smiled. "Could you remove them now?" She asked for her friends.
The other female nodded. "But do you trust me enough to do so?" She asked the 5 teenagers. She saw the uneasy looks on their faces. Surprisingly enough, it was Ryo, himself, who answered for everyone. The black-haired teenager nodded his head. The woman turned to Gayle. "You remember the tool needed to cut the metal, right?" She asked him.
Gayle nodded. He left to grab it from the room next door.
Amy stood after her student left. She motioned to the kitchen. "Follow me," she said before she started walking. "I'm going to need something to work on."
Mia stood and, with her boys following behind her, entered the kitchen behind the woman. Once they were all inside, Amy pointed at Sage. "Sit at the table," she commanded. The blonde took one of the 4 kitchen chairs and pulled it out from the table. He sat down and looked to her for instructions. "Put the wrist with your bracelet on, on the table."
A pale wrist with the silver-looking bracelet was laid bare on the table. Gayle returned to Amy and gave her what she had asked for: a knife with unfamiliar script on its sides. The woman put the sharp edge of it on the blonde's bracelet.
Rowen saw Ryo's strange reaction to the sight from beside him. The black-haired teenager's eyes closed as if he was too scared to look at the knife in Amy's hands. Wildfire's left hand massaged his right side where the blue-haired teenager was sure one of his scars was. Did the Sorceress use something similar to that knife? Rowen thought.
"It's okay," Rowen whispered into Ryo's ear. "She won't hurt you with it like the Sorceress did."
Wildfire didn't open his eyes. The memories of the times the Sorceress had tried to take control of the Inferno were threatening to overwhelm him. It had been a long time since his last nightmare from that time and he had begun to think that he was doing better now.
The blue-haired teenager grabbed Ryo's shoulders. "Ryo," he whispered again. "It's okay."
Amy's knife pressed into the metal as Strata continued to talk. Almost like butter, it went through until the bracelet was completely cut. The woman put down the knife and grabbed the piece. With a few unknown words, the metal bent and was slipped over Sage's wrist.
"Sage, come here," Rowen said once the blonde stood. Sage, not sure what his blue-haired friend wanted, came to them. When the blonde stood in front of them, Strata said "show Ryo where the bracelet used to be."
Halo could see that his black-haired friend was having a difficult time for some reason. Is he remembering something? He thought before moving his right wrist in front of him. Ryo didn't open his eyes.
"Ryo, look at Sage's wrist," Rowen all but commanded.
Blue eyes slowly showed behind Ryo's eyelashes. The black-haired teenager saw his friend's unblemished wrist.
"She didn't even scratch my skin, Ryo," Sage told his friend.
At this point, both Kento and Cye's attention had been grabbed by the other 3 teenagers in the room. Cye turned to Ryo and said "watch her cut off my bracelet." He sat in Sage's place and set his right wrist on the table.
Rowen took Ryo's hand and dragged him closer. Feeling ridiculous, Amy waited a few seconds before cutting the second bracelet. Once the bracelet was gone, Kento took his brunette friend's place at the table. Torrent went to Wildfire and showed him his wrist.
"See?" The brunette said as he moved his wrist in the light, "no harm done."
The black-haired teenager didn't say anything but Rowen could tell that he was calming down a little. I'm glad he's doing better, Strata thought as Kento's bracelet was cut off. He motioned for Hardrock to come closer when the teenager stood.
"Ryo, look at Kento's wrist," he said once the other was close enough.
Kento moved his now-bare wrist up and pointed at it. "Not a scratch," he verified with a smile.
Rowen sat in the just-vacated chair. He put his own bracelet on the table and waited. I'm finally getting it off, he thought as he watched the knife going through the metal, I'm almost free. Amy set the knife down beside her and spoke the same words from before. The bracelet was bent and slipped off his wrist. Now only Ryo's is left, he thought as he massaged his now-bare wrist before standing. Only this time, I don't think this will be as simple; Ryo seems to be scared of that knife.
Ryo quietly took the same seat as the others and put his right wrist on the table. He closed his eyes as if he didn't want to see what was coming.
"Can you put something like a towel around his wrist before you cut his bracelet off?" Rowen asked Amy when he saw Ryo's action.
"I can," she replied as she looked at the blue-haired teenager, "but why when none of you asked for it till now?"
"The Sorceress most likely used a knife like yours to cut Ryo's sides while we were her prisoners," Strata explained. He didn't miss the surprised look she quickly tried to hide.
"Did any of you others also get hurt?"
"No," Rowen answered for everyone, "only Ryo was hurt."
Amy set down her knife and went to a drawer near the sink. She pulled out a dishtowel and brought it to the table. After padding Ryo's wrist, she took back the tool and set it on the bracelet. Carefully, she cut through the metal. Speaking the same words as before, the woman bent the bracelet and slipped it off.
Ryo quickly took off the towel and pulled his sleeve down to his wrist before she could see the scars above it. He stood and left the table, choosing to stand beside Rowen again.
"How will you remove the Sealing Marks?" Ryo asked.
"The same way it was put on," Amy explained after sending Gayle to put the knife back.
As Sage as the closest to Amy, he was the first she went to. Her hand cupped the blonde's neck – eerily similar to how the Sorceress had done – and she spoke another unknown phrase. There was a feeling of something being freed from inside him before her hand was taken away. She went to Rowen next and repeated the process before moving on to do the same for Kento. When she came to Ryo, the black-haired teenager forced himself to stay still as the process was repeated again.
A familiar feeling welled inside Ryo's body as if to say I'm back. The one thing he had missed the most had finally come back. Inside Ryo, the teenager could feel the Wildfire's soul settling beside his own.
Cye was the last to be freed. Once Amy finished, she stepped back.
"Why don't you take off the handkerchiefs?" Mia suggested with a smile. "There's no reason to wear them anymore."
One by one, Ryo and the others did as their friend suggested. Bare, unblemished skin was the only thing where the Sealing Mark had been. It was as if it had never been there.
Ryo's fingers traced his neck. I'm finally free, he thought. She can't get me again.
Amy took a few steps away from the brunette. "You're free now," she stated with a smile as if reading the black-haired teenager's mind.
"Thank you," Mia said for her boys. She knew that all of them were grateful for her help but none would have voiced it.
"Come see me if you ever need my help again," Amy told the young woman.
"What will you do with the bracelets, Amy?" Gayle asked from behind her.
"Technically, they're not ours," the woman replied. "It's up to them to decide what will be done with them."
"We'll take them with us," Sage replied. "There's someplace we want to take them to."
Kento snickered behind his hand and Cye glared at him. Not funny his eyes said. The purple-haired teenager just grinned. The image of handing the cut bracelets back to a surprised Mason was funny somehow.
"Shall we go?" Mia asked her boys.
Ryo nodded. He grabbed a bracelet and walked out behind his female friend. Sage grabbed another and handed a third to Cye. Rowen and Kento each took one and left behind the others. Amy and Gayle followed them to the front door. Waving behind themselves, the 6 of them left Amy and Gayle inside the apartment. The woman shut the door.
"Do you think they'll be okay now?" Gayle asked as they returned to the living room.
"I hope so," she replied as she settled on the couch, "the Sorceress must have sealed their armor for some sort of reason. Since the Sealing Mark is no longer there, they shouldn't be easily taken back."
"But why did you help them so easily?" Gayle had been curious since this had begun. Amy wasn't one who went out of her way to help people.
"I don't wish for those boys to be enslaved again. That's all."
"Same here," he agreed, "after all, I kind of liked them." There was a pause. "What do you think they will do with those bracelets now that they're cut off?"
Amy shrugged. "Don't know but if they're smart they'll find a way to convince the Sorceress to leave them alone."
RME: I think this chapter needs some explanations. For those who aren't too happy with how Ryo behaved in Amy's apartment, you must remember that trauma has a funny way of affecting a person's life and that is basically what happened to Ryo at Mason's estate. Something that is as simple as knocking on a door can sound like someone trying to break it down to a half-asleep person who has been traumatized. For some of you, it might sound crazy but it's the truth.