Chap 25 Lernean to the Rescue

Date 2 Dec 2299 Saturday

AN—For a little background on Lernean check out "Ever Us – A Slice of Life" Ryuu in Greece Chap 26

Ryuu had never had such a bad day in his life!

He couldn't get hold of his sister Suzy.

His Father's phone was busy.

And now his Dad sent that text.

He looked at it again.

Tears continued to pour as he sat at the water's edge at the tip of Greece.

"Lernean, I hope you can hear me," Ryuu whispered and then changing into his dog form he bayed woefully to the sea. While he waited he gathered his wits.

In just nine short years he would celebrate his half millennial birthday. In those five hundred years he had really never had a bad day.

'Was that possible,' he sighed. 'Have I been so blessed?! Maybe I'm just clueless, just a big old dumb lug.' Self-depreciative thoughts entered his mind, but were quickly chased away by the image of his Dad.

'Dad said never talk to yourself like that.' Ryuu stated. Ryuu reflected. Images of Inuyasha teaching, healing and caring for him raced through his head. Ryuu fully appreciated that his Dad meant the world to him.

'Dad, I need you, now more than ever. You promised you wouldn't jump to conclusions again. Please Dad, hear me,' Ryuu plead, tears beginning to well again. 'I can't bear it if you stop talking to me.'

Ryuu thought about Lernean Hydra. It had been two hundred years since they last met. Would she remember him?

Ryuu howled again, the anguish, sadness, and frustration rolling from his body and voice.

A distance away Sesshomaru heard the call. He pointed to the searchers around him to fill in his position on the grid and then he raced toward the direction of the voice.

The howl had carried underwater as well. Lernean had been napping.

-#-

Her sea had been restless for the last 24 hours and it had disturbed her regenerative sleep. In the first one hundred years after her friend Ryuu had saved her she had slept and regenerated one of her other eight heads. It had taken a lot of power but Our Sea had given it to her. She had found an undersea cave off the tip of Greece and settled there. But Her Sea woke her and told her she had to move. The waters were receding.

Lernean moved a bit deeper into Her Sea and fell back to rest. She had started regenerating a second head when Her Sea cried out to her.

"Something has fallen and is polluting my depths," the Sea cried.

Lernean swam to the area. A debris field filled her sight. Floating on the oily mess lay a crumpled being with hair as white as her friend Ryuu. Lernean rushed to rescue the unconscious broken being.

She wrapped the being carefully in her heads and swam to a remote island where she placed the being. Lernean didn't know what else to do for the being but hoped that other beings would come along to assist it. Gently she pushed the white hair away from the face to see.

'Beautiful,' Lernean thought. 'This being is like my friend Ryuu. But I don't know how to find him.' Lernean slipped back into the water and kept watch over the beautiful broken creature. Eventually she fell asleep. Ryuu's first howl awoke her from her nap. It awoke the beautiful being too. The being started crying. She was in pain.

Lernean started for the being but the being cried even worse. Lernean couldn't understand the being. It wasn't her language.

'Should I try and take the being to Ryuu. Friend Ryuu is a physician of animals. Maybe he can help.'

Lernean took a step out of the water toward the being.

The being shrunk away and pulled into a small ball.

'The being is scared and hurt. I will go get friend Ryuu.' No sooner had Lernean determined her path than Ryuu howled a second time, only this time the sound was so full of anguish Lernean was worried that Ryuu would need a physician too. Lernean swam toward the desperate sound as fast as her short legs could move.

Sesshomaru arrived moments before Lernean. In that time Ryuu had shared his tale. Sesshomaru had listened quietly, matching it up to what Rin had relayed to him. He pulled his son to his feet and then wrapped his arms around the boy and offered him the comfort he needed.

Lernean watched.

"Love must be amazing," she said as she stepped onto the shoreline.

The men broke apart and stared at the great dragon.

Not only had Lernean regrown one head but her body had increased in girth as well.

"Oh Lernean," Ryuu cried out. "My sister, my sister….Have you seen or heard where she might be?"

-#-

The sea monster swam away.

Yuki shuttered. Her shoulder was shattered. Both legs were broken. She would have never been able to run away from the monster.

She looked around her. "How did I get here?" But as she spoke she felt pain in her throat. She touched her throat with her good hand. Nothing but a bruise. She began a systematic check of her body.

'Well, at least my head is on straight,' she attempted to chuckle. That was a diagnostic test her Dad used to tease them about when they were young and got hurt playing in the castle garden. A tear started but Yuki shook it away. 'Survival training, Yuki. Assess for injuries.'

Yuki determined that the pain in her chest was another bruise, the black and blue marks went around her chest. She took several deep breaths. 'My lungs appear to work,' she focused on a meditative kata and practiced deep breathing.

'My lower legs are broken. They must have gotten caught under the cockpit panels. My shoulder must have hit the bulkhead…'

Yuki tried to remember what had happened.

'The meteor, the meteor hit us. I banked to the left to try and dodge it but it was larger than I anticipated and it took off the right wing….. Oh no, where is the debris? Did anyone else survive? KYO! I'm so glad Kyo didn't fly today. I would have lost him too. Kami—thank you. Grandfather—thank you.'

Yuki stared at the ocean.

'At least the sea monster is gone.'

As she thought that thought she noticed a glimmer on the horizon.

'Please tell me that's not the sea monster.' Yuki tried to scoot further away from the water's edge but cried out in pain as her bones moved.

-#-