Cye's head lolled back and his eyes snapped open, with a hiss through his nose he lifted his head. He must've dozed off for a moment.

"Thank the gods, you're awake."

Cye turned his head quickly to the speaker beside him.

Rowen had slung Cye's arm over his shoulders while he supported his friend the best he could. To Cye's surprise he seemed to be walking still, though his feet dragged beneath him. The position Rowen held him in was awkward but worked the best for the warrior to be able to hold a familiar dagger in his free hand to defend them in case of an attack.

Cye felt dumb as he looked to Rowen then forward. To his surprise the ocean was coming closer to them. The last thing he remembered was the Kaya in front of him ready to literally tear the heart out of his chest, and then Riska had suddenly landed in front of him like some kind of angel.

"Just stay with me a little longer so that I can get you to the water, ok buddy?" Rowen's voice cracked with what sounded like desperation, Cye didn't realize his head had nodded forward again. "Gods you're in bad shape, what did they do to you?" Rowen spoke softly before heaving Cye up a bit so he could keep his hold on him. Cye let out a gasp, "sorry."

Together they slowly kept trudging along to get to the water's edge.

"Where's your bow?" Cye managed to ask, finally noticing Strata's missing weapon.

A crooked smirk came to Rowen's face and he glanced down at Cye for a moment before lifting his head again, "Riska has it. She's nearly as good as I am with the thing."

Above them the familiar sound of a wyvern made both men stiffen. Rowen didn't stop, instead he picked up a little more speed as he continued to tug Cye forward.

"How'd you get here…" Cye tried to focus on the water in front of him instead of the flap of wings above them.

"Crap… I thought I lost it." Rowen sighed glancing up at the wyvern then answered Cye's question, "We jumped out of a plane." Before Cye could give Rowen a sarcastic laugh the flapping wings of the wyvern that had been following them came swooping down.

Rowen pulled Cye down to the ground just in time to dodge the creature. The blue-haired boy covered Cye as the wyvern scraped its talons across Rowen's armored back. Even though his vision was getting blurry again he could see Rowen wincing from the attack out of the corner of his eye. When the wyvern lifted itself up enough to reposition itself for another attack Rowen turned enough to swipe at the wyvern with Riska's dagger.

The wyvern let out a cry as Rowen cut through its wing with a precise hit and it came crashing to the ground. Rowen stayed close to Cye and wielded the dagger towards the wyvern daring it to attack him.

The wyvern lifted itself off the ground and hissed at Rowen. It began to raise itself from the ground using its good wing for leverage. Rowen's eyes narrowed as the creature bared its teeth at him. Cye watched his brother flip the dagger to hold it in a reverse grip then tighten his hold on it.

Then someone dropped in front of them. The figure was dressed to blend into the darkness and they attacked the wyvern in a fluid motion, leaving it dead on the ground moments later.

Rowen got closer to Cye in a protective move to keep him safe. Cye caught him glancing at the water of the ocean somberly.

"Who are you?" Rowen demanded.

"Where are you taking him?" The other person demanded making Cye turn his head to see the ninja crouching in front of them, they matched Rowen's defensive stance ready to attack.

"Ko… haku…" Cye was surprised he couldn't get his voice any louder than a raspy whisper, but the ninja heard him.

"You know him?" Rowen asked, not daring to look away from his opponent.

Cye nodded slowly, "he's part of the ancient clan." He winced and his chest felt like there was a hippo sitting on him.

Rowen looked hurriedly between Kohaku and Cye. "I'm Rowen of Strata, and I need you to help me get him to the water."

Kohaku immediately relaxed and let out a breath, "I thought I recognized your armor to be like the others. Where have you been?" He got up and rushed over to Rowen.

"It doesn't matter, we're here now." Rowen insisted on moving to get Cye up again.

"We?" Kohaku shook his head and then began to help Rowen.

Cye let out a moan as both men picked him up and placed each of his arms around their shoulders. Together they moved quicker towards the water than Rowen did on his own.

The sand made it harder for them to navigate but soon they slowly waded into the water. Rowen instructed Kohaku to lay Cye on his back and let him float. Once they were waist deep in the water they stopped.

Kohaku watched as Rowen dug Armor of Torrent kanji orb out of Cye's pocket then lifted one of Cye's hands and placed it in there. He curled Cye's fingers around the sphere and helped him hold it.

"Ok, buddy. You know the drill. Just call for your underarmor and it will do the rest." Rowen told Cye.

Cye looked to his brother tiredly, the cold water felt so wonderful lapping against his exhausted and aching body. "I'm so tired."

"I know." Rowen said, giving his hand a squeeze. "But I need you to do this."

Cye closed his eyes again the water lapping against where his skin was bare felt soothing. He had wanted this, to feel the ocean one more time. He could sink beneath the depths and join his father.

A deep voice that made Cye's nerves tingle with familiarization said, Cye.

"Cye!" Rowen called him back from the lull of the sea. "Please, we need to get you back in the fight, we need you to live. We can't lose you." Rowen's voice cracked, "I don't want to tell her that you're gone. Please, Riska can't lose you, you'll break her heart."

At the top of Mia's steps to her attic Cye easily caught sight of Riska. She was sitting on the old crate in the corner again looking out the window. Instead, snow and cold like the last time he found her up here it was now comfortable and the view outside offered buds growing on the trees as spring awakened the nature around the Koji home.

Riska watched sitting quietly gazing out the window to watch as Rowen, Kento, Ryo, and Yulie finished packing up Ryo's Jeep with the camping supplies the four would need for their annual trip.

This was normal for the group, the group of four would go off into the wilderness, based on whoever's turn it was that year (it was Rowen's) and camp for a three-day weekend.

What was different this time was that it was the first time Rowen and Riska were going to be apart more than a room since they had all come back and recovered from the incident with Hariel.

As Cye neared Riska he watched her fiddle with the cherry blossom charm on her necklace.

"Hey." He greeted as he sat on the floor next to the window and glanced outside as well.

"Hey." Riska responded softly, before going back to biting her lip unconsciously.

Below Rowen looked up at the window and waved when he spotted Cye and Riska watching them. Cye waved back and he could see Riska did the same from the corner of his eye.

"He'll be fine, you know." Cye told Riska as Rowen climbed into the Jeep. He was the last one to get into the vehicle and as soon as the door clicked shut Ryo was pulling away.

"I know…" Riska breathed.

Cye glanced over at her, "you know logically, but what about here." He tapped his chest where his heart was.

Riska looked between Cye and the receding Jeep. "We can feel when we get physically further from each other. It doesn't hurt, but it's a weight that can be felt deeply. Down to our toes some would say."

"Or in your soul." Cye offered.

Riska nodded.

"Must be a side-effect of you know." He replied thoughtfully.

Riska nodded, "I don't either of us mind… it just makes it harder to be apart. The further we get the more we get a sense of doom."

"That sounds more like anxiety, Riska." Cye reached out and took her free hand. She looked at him with her full attention. "He's going to be ok."

"Rowen asked if I'd like to go on a trip with him. Backpacking. Anywhere and everywhere we want to go. He said he'd put in a request for leave at work, and we could go for as long as we want."

Cye's eyes widened, "that's great. Everything here has calmed down, there's no foreseeable problems..." He was counting off his fingers on his free hand all the positives when he realized that Riska hadn't said anything. "Riska?" He looked up and saw that she was looking out the window again. "Tell me why you don't want to go." He gave her hand a gentle squeeze when he saw tears in her eyes before she looked away from him. "You don't have to stay here anymore, Riska. You're finally free to make your own decisions and go where you want."

"It's not that I don't want to go." Riska bowed her head and took a deep breath. Cye stayed quiet waiting for her to go on. "It's about all of you." She looked up at Cye. "What if something does happen while we're gone? And what if Rowen and I are too far away to get back to you all? I almost lost Rowen…"

"Ris-."

"I almost lost him, Cye." She looked at her friend now, "Another person I love was almost lost. We got lucky, but there's not going to be another scenario like that again. If there is a next time there's a real chance I'll lose him or anyone else I love and I can't save any of you this time, I don't have any other way to keep you, Ryo, Kento, Sage, Mia, Yulie, anyone safe."

Cye could see that Riska's chest was beginning to move quicker with each breath as her thoughts spiraled through every worst case scenario in her head. Without hesitating he knelt straight up and pulled her into a hug.

Riska cried and Cye let her.

After a few minutes and a couple dozen hiccups she calmed down and sank to kneel on her knees on the floor with Cye. The front of Cye's shirt was wet, but he didn't mind.

"Are you going to be okay?"

Riska nodded into his chest, "yes... just not right now."

"Do you want to talk about it more?"

Riska shook her head and squeezed his hand.

"Cool. I'll just sit here then for a while if you need anything." He slowly let her go then sat against the wall next to the window. He closed his eyes and rested the back of his head against the wall behind him.

After a moment he heard Riska shift and moved to sit on the floor beside him. Eventually she rested her head on his shoulder and he placed an arm over her shoulder protectively. She wasn't the only Ronin that wanted to protect her loved ones.

"Cye" The familiar deep voice said again, Cye looked up and was confused when he saw his father standing across from them in Mia's attic. He wasn't there that day…

Cye moaned.

An image, no, it had to be a memory, came to him of Riska blasting Kaya away with her Soul Riser then turning to face Cye. She knelt in front of him shaking his shoulder to wake him after he had shut his eyes. He had looked at her and smiled but she frowned as worry creased her eyebrows as her eyes reflected the image of Cye broken against the wall. Her mouth moved saying something to him but he couldn't hear her and it made her eyes glazed over with tears. She cupped his cheek and he had turned his face into it as it offered him support for his heavy head. He closed his eyes again, just to rest them.

A thump made Cye open his eyes again and saw that Rowen had jumped down from the hole in the roof to join Riska. He spoke quickly to her as he looked at Cye hurriedly. He then thrust his bow and a set of arrows into her hands and she gave him her dagger and Cye had closed his eyes again.

"Cye." Cye's father said again. This time Cye looked to his father expectantly. "It is not yet your time, Cye-kun." Cye's memories faded around his father leaving them standing in ankle keep water and an endless light grey sky.

"Papa." Cye tried to get up but he hurt everywhere.

"I'm proud of you Cye-kun." Cye's father faded.

Tears pricked at Cye's eyes, "help me." Cye looked up at Rowen.

Rowen nodded, he tightened his hands around Cye's and closed his eyes. Strata's kanji of life glowed on his forehead underneath his helmet. The kanji's blue light slowly encompassed Rowen and spread to his hand and Cye's.

Cye felt the warmth of it, the little bit of power that Rowen gave him from his own armor. It was what Cye needed to call upon his own kanji of trust that would summon his armor of Torrent to him.

Rowen let go of Cye's hand as Cye felt his own power of his armor encompass him. His friend took a step back in the water and quickly turned to hold Kohaku back as Cye sank into the water.

Cye let his Ronin armor sink him deep into the water feeling as the liquid poured into his wounds. The light blue glow of his power wrapped around him as he called his armor to him.

"Armor of Torrent." Cye thought as he felt his strength return to him.