A/N: Will Ryo live, or will he die? I can't be that cruel, can I? You'll just have to wait and see. Here's your two chapter update! Enjoy

-LG

Chapter Thirty-Six

"A Shred of Hope"

Kayura let her eyes linger on the window, wincing as lightning flashed in the distance. The wind was whipping through the trees, and she was certain the earth itself was trembling.

Now, more than ever before, the elements were close to the ones that bore them. No longer was it just the armors feeding off the wearers emotions, now it was the elements that reacted to the warriors' current states.

It was concerning, yet at the same time Neo-Universe said that was a good sign…They were going to need to be able to feel through the elements, or so she had said. Kayura gave a soft sigh, knowing that this storm was only a fraction of what the four young men were feeling.

With that thought in mind, she wouldn't have wanted to be Kali for all the world.

"We were expecting something to happen," Sekhmet grumbled out, annoyance showed prominently in his features, "But nothing like this. We planned for everything, but this."

Anubis gave a slight nod, "We knew it would be bad, but I fear we greatly underestimated just how far they were willing to go. We did know it would be a harsh blow."

"Oh it was harsh? More like a crippling blow," Kayura murmured turning to face her companions as she spoke. "Thanos has left Ryo's life hanging in the balance. He and Kali did this right under the other fours noses, right under our own, and the two of them have left us helpless to do a thing."

"At least we're not completely helpless," the bearer of Fall pointed out, trying to reassure her, "Dais and Cale will find out how to fix the issue, and then we'll fix it."

"What if they don't, Sekhmet? What if there is no solution?" she inquired softly, eyes lowered to the floor. "If Ryo does die, the other four will be as good as lost to us."

"If those two can come up with nothing," Elayne brought in, stepping into the room, "Then we'll just have to try something else. I'm not one for giving up, and I so blame that on them." She pointed up the stairs as if to motion to the Ronin, and then added, "All of them, actually."

Anubis let out a light chuckle, "I take it you are here because the other three finally fell asleep?"

She gave a brisk nod, "Cye and Kento were easy. Rowen, I had to con into passing out."

Dais and Cale took that moment to reappear in the middle of the room, arms laden with scrolls and books. They proceeded to unceremoniously deposit the objects on the coffee table.

"We decided to do the rest of our searching here," Cale announced picking up a scroll to read. "The floor there was getting very uncomfortable to sit on. I think I'll just stand here though."

Dais let out a sigh, "We did look through the Forbidden book, but could find nothing. We have been searching through other things, yet have had no luck."

"I checked the inventory list we used last time, and it was not helpful," Cale brought in, tossing another piece of parchment aside, letting out a low growl. Both he and Dais were getting frustrated, they knew what they needed…Or, they thought they knew what they needed, they just couldn't find it.

Elayne looked through the inventory list herself, eyebrows sharply going up, "Elemental control…Elemental strengthening…Elemental duplication… Geez, what didn't Talpa keep in his library?"

"One Thousand Ways to Cook Ramen Noodles?" Dais offered with a slight shrug of his shoulders, slamming the book he had opened shut…This wasn't the right one either.

"Actually," Cale bit back a small chuckle, "I stumbled across that one day."

"You're kidding!" Kayura gaped at the man, who merely smirked in response.

Elayne sniggered in amusement, "Cale, you're horrible."

"Why thank you for noticing," He took a mock bow, and then went back to reading the book in his hand, "Finally! I found it. Elemental Obstruction spells."

"Bout time, that only took us an hour-and-a-half," Dais grumbled in annoyance, falling silent allowing the other man to read it over.

Cale put it down and scowled, "It says there isn't a counter spell, but the rest is so worn I can barely read it."

"Let me have a look," Elayne was on her tip-toes, reading over his shoulder.

Cale rolled his eyes, "Didn't your parents teach you that it's rude to look over a person's shoulder?" He handed the book to her, with a sigh.

"I know it's rude; annoys the hell out of Rowen and Cye. My parents weren't around long enough to teach me anything," she bluntly retorted, taking the book and scrutinizing it carefully.

Sekhmet let out a chuckle in amusement, and covered up a yawn with his hand.

'All right,' Elayne looked over the text; if Cale couldn't read this then she couldn't either. But she needed to make it look like she could read it, 'Tell me how to go about fixing this.' She waited for the voice; she had quickly become used to, to speak and then relayed the information aloud to the warriors.

"In order for the spell to be undone, it has to be overpowered," she said, as though she was reading it straight from the book, she closed it up and handed it back to Cale.

"How do you over power a spell?" Sekhmet arched a fine-green eyebrow at this.

Kayura frowned in thought, "The spell prevents the victim's element, and an outside one from healing them. Therefore, two elements have to be used in the healing process. As far as reestablishing the connection between Ryo and Wildfire…"

'Leave that to me,' Universe broke in, obviously the Scout had been closely monitoring the situation. 'You're just going to need another source in addition to yourself, Lady Kayura.'

"I can always wake up Sage. Thankfully, he's easier to deal with on little sleep than Rowen is." Elayne put in, "And you have the Cimmerian Crystal, for all it's worth."

"Thank-you both," Kayura breathed out a small sigh of relief, she turned to her four companions, "And for your efforts as well, of course. Please get some rest, there is little more you can do but save your strength in case the enemy tries anything foolish in the days to come."

The four men bowed their heads, mumbling words of good luck before disappearing up the stairs and to their own room. Left alone with silence, Kayura and Elayne exchanged weary glances before giving nods and climbing the stairs themselves.

"Is Yayoi-san, still here?" Kayura queried in a soft tone.

Elayne gave a nod, "Un. I didn't think she should be driving out in that mess. Since the Senshi are gone, their rooms are free. She's in that one," the girl pointed to a door, "If we need her, we're supposed to wake her up. But, I didn't tell her she could be of no further help. Can't be insulting my older siblings like that."

Kayura gave a gentle laugh, saying with a sigh, "I hope this works."

"You and me both," Elayne's hand rested on the doorknob, and she quickly opened the door, stepping into the room

Elayne took a brief glance around noting with satisfaction that its occupants were in deep sleep…Meaning, not even Talpa banging on the door would've woken them up. Luckily, out of them all the Ronin of Halo was a light sleeper…It wouldn't take that much prodding to wake him up. Or, so she was hoping anyway.

She strode over to where Sage lay sleeping, and gently shook him by his shoulders, "Nii-chan, hey Nii-chan! Come on Sage, wake up."

One violet-eye slowly opened, and regarded the girl with a non-too pleased look.

"What?" He groggily demanded, the note in his voice stating he could kill.

Kayura couldn't help but giggle at the expression, and the blond swordsman slowly sat up, a puzzled look creeping onto his face.

"And here I was telling the Seasonals, you were much nicer to wake up. Heh, oh well," She gave a small sigh of disappointment. Then inquired, "You feeling any better?"

"My strength is back, but my right arm still hurts," He rubbed it thoughtfully, looking around the room, "You managed to get the others to rest?"

"Cye and Kento were not an issue, Rowen was his normal-painish self," the girl commented, "After physical and verbal threats I took the easy way out and slipped something into his drink."

Sage opened his mouth, and then closed it just as quickly, shaking his head, "Not going to even go there. What are you two doing here now that requires me to be awake?"

"Dais and Cale went back to the Dynasty to look for information," Kayura explained softly, so as not to disturb the others. "We found what the problem is, and in order to fix it we are in need of your assistance. It is a form of healing, but it's different from what you were doing earlier."

"Why me?" the Ronin of Halo inquired, "Is not Sekhmet capable of healing others?"

"In certain ways yes," Kayura admitted, "Even Cye could learn to heal, if trained properly. You've the most experience, and technically speaking you are the closest to Wildfire."

"I am n-…"

"Don't lie," Elayne yawned out, "You called to check on him every week, so don't give me that. I don't care if it was after Sanada-san's little episode. Don't try and kid a kidder, Nii-chan. You'd bind Ryo up in bubble wrap to keep him safe."

"How do you know?" the swordsman asked incredulously, the girl merely gave an impish grin in response. He gave a shake of his blond head, and crawled out of the bed, grabbing the two marble orbs laying on the nightstand.

Kayura cleared her throat, "I'd be more than amused to listen to this sibling squabble, but we do have work to do."

"You're such a spoil-sport, Kayura," Elayne teased before walking over, and plopping down next to White Blaze.

The white tiger opened his eye a crack, rumbling out, 'Do I even want to know?'

"Probably not," she admitted, affectionately running a hand over his head, "Kayura and Sage are going to try and dissolve the spell; I get to play cheerleader."

The Ronin of Halo gave a snort at the remark, yet did not comment on it. He merely placed the Wildfire orb in Ryo's palm, while holding onto his own.

He let out a slightly nervous breath, "Now what? Concentrate?"

"Pretty much, really original, don't you think?" the Lady Ancient inquired rolling her blue eyes, "'Close your eyes and concentrate,' yeah they couldn't come up with a better way to do these things?"

"Rant mode," Elayne coughed under her breath, White Blaze sniggered.

Sage let out a breath, before letting his eyes slip shut, instinctively curling his hand around the sphere that held Halo. Silence reigned over the room, save for gentle snores and breathing of the occupants. Not like you could term Rowen's snores gentle, but Sage was sure he didn't have any room to talk.

"What is that?" he whispered aloud.

It was dark at first, but the darkness faded away to reveal nine strands of what looked to be thread. Upon closer inspection they were revealed to be strands of energy, each colored slightly different from the other.

"I think it might be the links to the armors…They're coming across visibly," Kayura whispered, her mind's eye revealing to her the same thing Sage was seeing.

'You would be correct, Lady Kayura,' a female voice softly chuckled.

Sage tensed, before relaxing recognizing the presence, and teased, "Interfering when you're not supposed to be?"

'Aren't I always?' the Scout whimsically inquired.

Kayura might've laughed, but she was trying to keep hold of the task hand; "Universe? Are you having any luck? And where…"

"Still here, Kayura," Elayne broke in, her eyes were open and she was warily watching the scene before her. She was prepared to jump in the moment their strength started to fade; she had been told it would be best to do it that way.

'More than you, I think,' Universe responded after a moment or two of hesitation, 'But, I'm going to need you to get rid of the spell before I can permanently resolve this.'

"All right, it's just a matter of finding Wildfire among these strands," Kayura responded, her face was drawn up into a frown.

A few moments pass, and Sage came across the thinnest one, "Found it."

"All right, cross Halo's line with it," Kayura directed, while doing something similar herself.

White Blaze watched the proceedings, warily, he remembered this spell from a time not so long ago, it had worked…But, the cost had almost been too dear.

'You worry too much my old friend,' a voice whispered in his mind softly.

The tiger gave an indignant snort, 'I remember what happened the last time this spell was used. It almost killed all three of you, Lady Universe. My memory is still intact, thank you very much.'

'My my Byakuen, you're starting to sound like your master, with that wit of yours,' She teased gently. 'Have a little faith in me, boy. When this was tried the last time, it was the first time I had ever used it. I have much more power and knowledge now than I did then.'

'I have plenty of faith in you. But it will still drain the two of them to a hazardous point…'

'No it won't, I put the blocks in place. It will only take what is necessary from them; the rest will come from the crystal and myself. I've learned much in the past millennia…How to control this spell, as well.'

'Hmm…' White Blaze frowned as a soft green glow became visible around Sage, 'Looks like they've started.'

'You'll excuse me then? My absence must've been noticed by now.'

'I'm sure it has,' he gave a slight purr; 'It was good hearing from you again, Lady.'

'And you, Byakuen. Till our next talk, my friend.'

"Blaze?" Elayne asked quietly, blinking when he rubbed into her. "What's up?"

He shook his mane, and rumbled out, 'Nothing, merely talking to an old friend.'

Sage paused for breath, eyes still closed, "Universe, where'd you vanish to?"

"Still here," she responded, "How are you two doing?"

"It was going all right, up until now," the swordsman sighed heavily through his nose, "I can't do anything more though, Halo's refusing to let me."

"I'm done too," Kayura commented.

"Hmm, then leave the rest to me. If you are unable to do anything more it is because you are coming close to depleting your normal energy."

"That only happens during healing spells, if someone employs a restriction spell, even I know that," Sage told her bluntly.

"Well then, consider it employed," she sharply returned, adding, "The last time I used this avenue of healing, it almost cost me two charges because I didn't know the restriction spell."

Kayura's eyes slowly fluttered open, and she held still until the wave of dizziness had passed. White Blaze was regarding her with a worried expression on his face.

"I'm fine Blaze, just a little light-headed," the young woman paused a minute, regarding Elayne with a soft frown. Had she been sitting there in a meditative pose the entire time?

"You sure Kayura?" the girl inquired as she looked up and got to her feet; eyeing the woman carefully.

"Positive," she shook her head as she looked at Sage, noting his eyes were still closed, "Are you two bickering?"

Instead of returning Universe's witty comment with one of his own, Sage answered Kayura instead, "No, we're arguing."

"Sage, let her alone so she can finish this," Kayura moaned out, "She's able to help us, so let her." She closed her eyes, wanting nothing more than the safety of her bed at this moment.

'You should get her to the Elemental's room,' Sailor Universe whispered to the Ronin mentally, 'I don't think she's going to be able to stay awake much longer, I also don't think she'll be able to make it down the hall without help.'

'I agree, but…'

The Scout chuckled, 'Don't worry, Seiji. I'll be done before you make it to the room.'

The Ronin of Wisdom gave a sigh of defeat, but warned, 'All right, but if you need help you better ask for it!'

Sage slowly came back to awareness, and then carefully looked around himself.

This permitted his eyes to re-adjust to the dimly lit room; the moon had moved since they had first started…It was extremely late now.

He carefully stood up from the position he had been kneeling in, taking special care not to rise too fast, so as to avoid incurring a dizzy spell.

"Nii-chan?" Elayne queried curiously as she watched him, having just removed the empty package of blood. She had covered the place where the needle had been inserted into Ryo's arm with a small bandage…The transfusion was done.

He smiled at her to re-assure her that her was fine, then said to the Lady Ancient, "Come on, Kayura let me escort you to your room."

The woman opened her mouth to voice a protest, but in mid-thought changed her mind, "You're right, I'm too tired for this."

Elayne stifled a chuckle, and let out a sigh once the door closed firmly behind them; she looked around the room, double-checked its occupants and then got to her feet.

'Elayne, what are you up to?' White Blaze inquired in a low whine.

"Sh, be quiet," the girl urged, walking over to the window and unlatching it, before pushing it open, "Come on."

Neo-Universe slipped into the room, a smirk adorning her features at the glowering look the tiger leveled at her, "Come come, Yaku. Don't look at me like that. My past-self can't do anything because of the seal, remember?"

'You are cheating,' he huffed out, curling and uncurling his tail though his eyes shone in amusement.

"We know," Elayne chuckled, "But, if it keeps them alive does it really matter?"

'No, I suppose not,' the tiger admitted, asking of the Senshi, 'What about the whole, can't be in two places at once deal?'

"I'm secondary time guardian, Yaku," Neo-Universe responded rolling her eyes, walking over to Ryo, grasping his closed hand in hers, "I don't have that restriction. But to be honest, I'm not the same person I was almost nine-hundred-years ago."

Neo-Universe whispered something under her breath, and the Cimmerian Crystal hummed lowly in response. What Blaze's ears swerved back and forth as he identified another sound following it.

This sound greatly resembled a droplet of water falling to meet a lake below; he first tried to dismiss it as he was hearing things, but he heard it again.

Then the thickness in the air that had suddenly rose dissipated, and all sound stopped…The spell was complete, now it was just a matter of seeing whether or not the armor's connection had been reestablished.

Not even a minute later, Ryo's subarmor covered him; the Wildfire armor would finish the healing process from here on in. Elayne did her best not to whoop aloud, and she could see the Neo-Scout trying hard not to do the same.

'That's a relief,' White Blaze murmured out, looking to the door, 'Halo is on his way back.'

"I must be going then, I'll be hanging around this time for a bit. I might leave when the seal is dissolved, but not a moment before then," Neo-Universe grinned wryly, saying to the girl and tiger, "Don't let Ryo be the death of either of you, okay?"

Elayne gave a derisive snort, "Somehow, I don't think I have to worry about that." She and the Scout shared a look, and she added, "Thanks for explaining everything to me yesterday, it helped."

"Not an issue," Neo-Universe grinned, "Later!" She then leapt out the window, vanishing the moment her foot touched a shadow.

The girl quickly closed and re-latched the window, avoiding the questioning look in the tiger's eyes, saying, "This time, you really don't want to know."

'Very well,' Blaze mumbled, curling up prepared to go back to sleep.

Elayne turned her attention from the tiger to the door after Sage walked in, his breath having come in sharply. She glanced at him curiously, eyes blinking in slight confusion.

"I guess," he murmured slowly, having been surprised at seeing Ryo in subarmor, "It worked?"

Elayne gave a nod to the affirmative, "Universe seemed pretty pleased." She struggled to fight down a yawn, but ended up losing the battle.

"Want me to guide you to your room, little miss?" He gently chided her, knowing that she had to be tired by now.

"Let me put it to you this way," the girl said, settling onto the floor, "Whether you want one or not you've got another roomie."

Sage gave a rather smug grin at this, knowing he had a chance to try and ruffle her feathers here, "Oh, I don't know if that's such a good idea."

"Hate to bring this to you," she paused a smirk on her face, "But I've seen you guys in, hm, shall we say "less than appropriate attire," before?"

Once his face fell in defeat her smirk widened, so she added "Uhuh, and lets not leave out the most recent occasion in your case. Which happens to be right now."

The poor Halo Ronin turned near crimson, struggling to get out a sentence, "I didn't…Even realize…"

Elayne was close to laughing, but she held it in, saying smugly, "Sure you didn't."

Sage hastily withdrew to the safety of his bed, yanking the covers over-top of him; trying to block out the sound of her voice.

"By the way Nii-chan," the girl drawled out, loving the fact he had made himself such an easy target for her. "You shouldn't wear such baggy clothes; you're too nicely built for that."

"Shut-up Elayne!" He hissed to her, the embarrassment clearly present in his voice. White Blaze rumbled in amusement at this, poor Halo.

"I love you too, Sage," she sniggered as she snuggled up to the tiger, who let out a purr in response to the action.

"I'd love you more if you weren't such a pain in my…"

"What have I said about swearing in my house?" She sharply inquired.

"Shut-up and go to sleep Elayne!" Sage bellowed at her. He was even more annoyed than he had been five minutes ago; if that was possible.

The girl and tiger laughed at the man's growing irritation. But in the end, Elayne decided not to provoke the irate swordsman any further. His mood was lighter than it had been, so her task was accomplished. The other three Ronin continued to sleep on completely oblivious. They truly were worn out; it really would have taken a Nether Realm invasion to get them to stir.