Prolouge

Short, happy ending. Actually, I'm working on a sequel if anyone cares, and the main focus is Ro-chan. And for once, Sage is barely in it until the end! (Sage is my fav. Character. He's almost always my main guy) Anyways, I don't own them, wish I did, but I don't. Anyways, This is what I dub "Cye on a rampage", and if you read the chapter, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about! Well, enjoy the oddity of things ibn my head!

Through Thick and Thin

Epilogue

Three months later

Two figures lay in bed, body's entwined, both in the depths of slumber. Slowly, one awoke and glanced down at the slim figure beneath him, that of a 17-year-old boy with silken, soft skin, the sliver of light peaking through the windows let off by the stars forming a halo around him. The waking boy sighed in contentment towards his lover, detaching his arms and pulling himself away from the warmth of the blonde. Slowly, he sat up, trying to keep the blonde from waking as well. Carefully, he slid his body out from under the covers, and padded over to the window, glancing at the stars that had lit Sage's face only moments before. For moments on end, he stood, gazing out at his element, heart longing to be among the stars once more. Strong arms wrapped themselves around his waist, as the person placed their chin on Rowen's head.

"Sage..." Rowen murmured as he turned to face the blonde. A faint smile graced the boy's lips.

"Rowen, you must miss... being up there." Sage pointed out, as Rowen nodded faintly.

"Its hard not to. I can't help but wish that I was up there as well, up with the stars. Feeling their warmth, absorbing their light." He felt the blonde nod against him, and sigh slightly.

"Rowen, why can't you? I mean, go up there? With your armour or something? Is it possible? I mean, at all? To do something like that?" Rowen shook his head slightly, in a miserable gesture.

"No, I really can't do anything like that. I wish I could." Sage's lean arms tightened around the midnight blue boy. Slowly, he whispered into the other's ear.

"Then I guess all that you have is my light. Sorry, its no strata, but it'll have to do." A calming sensation washed over Rowen, as Halos warmth filled his body. He slowly turned to face Sage, gripping Sage's arm and shaking him softly. Violet eyes slowly slid open.

"Does that work Rowen?" Sage murmured in question as Rowen grinned.

"It's no Strata, but it's good enough for me." Sage said nothing as Rowen led him back to the bed, gently laying the golden boy down across it. Rowen crawled a top of Sage, kissing the blonde feverishly. Sage moaned, not used to the extra, yet pleasurable, sensations.

"Yes, I do believe Halo's light will be quite satisfactory."

~~~~~

"And I thought that Sage was afraid to do anything after what the warlords did to him. Could have fooled me." Kento muttered to Cye who laughed.

"Let them have their fun. Anyway, if you'd talk to them, you'd know that they fool around, but Sage can't take going all the way. And he has to see Rowen. And sometimes that's not enough." Kento looked at Cye oddly.

"What are you, the expert on their relationship?" Cye grinned.

"Maybe I am." Kento rolled his eyes and tightened his grip around Cye's slender waist.

"Now if only you were the expert on OUR relationship." Cye sighed.

"Well, our relationship has ME in it. And I am the wuss that is scared of everything. Now, that's no fun when there's a wuss in the relationship." Kento laughed, running strong, callused hands through the soft auburn hair.

"Well, maybe if you had higher self esteem, then you might not be such a wuss. And if you're a wuss, then what is Sage?" Cye thought for a moment.

"Um.... Confused? Scared? A rape victim?" Kento shrugged.

"Yeah, good point. It must be hard on Rowen. I don't know what I'd do if that happened to you. If they had chosen you, not Sage."

"They wouldn't have chosen me. I'm not the dashing blonde everyone wants a piece of." Kento smiled.

"But only Rowen gets. And anyway, I like you...." Cye blushed as Kento kissed his forehead.

"Sage is hot, but I don't think I could stand someone with so little emotions." Cye nodded, he took the gold in the emotions category.

"Sage has emotions, but he chooses to show them around Rowen, and that's it. If that had happened to me, I certainly wouldn't be a chatterbox."

"Yeah, the difference, is Sage never was. And he's even worse now. I mean, he's better in the he can now train with Ryo, and he can stand being touched, but he now totally lacks any urge to talk. Or eat. Which is almost as bad." Cye nodded in sadness.

"Rowen says that Sage's lost a lot of weight. I'm worried about him. I mean, he's tiny in waist wise. How much more weight can he lose?" Kento shrugged. He couldn't take the fact that Sage was depriving himself of the most wonderful thing in the world. Food, the essence of life.

"By the way, Ryo commented on his lack of food as well. They were training a lot, I mean really hard, shirtless and all, and Sage just collapsed in exhaustion." Kento winced. No matter how little Sage ate, he had never collapsed before.

"Either Rowen starts forcing Sage to eat, or I'm going to." Cye warned as Kento kissed Cye once more.

"Wouldn't want to be Sage. Cye on a mission is not a good one." Cye slapped Kento playfully on the arm.

"I am not that bad!" Kento snorted.

"Yeah right! Cye, when Mia said you cared about us too much, she meant to say "you become a real bitch when it comes to someone's health."" Cye hung his head.

"Is it really that bad of a thing?" Kento shook his head rapidly.

"Who would feed me if not you?" Kento rubbed his stomach in emphasis. Cye laughed, resting his hand on top of Kento's.

"That's good to know."

~~~~~'

Cye stood in the kitchen during breakfast, waiting for Sage to come downstairs. He was tired of Rowen never doing anything to help the blonde's health. When Sage made an appearance, Cye immediately went to him.

"Sage, do you want anything to eat?" sage shook his head and walked past the auburn haired boy. Cye turned towards Sage in frustration.

"Damn it! Rowen isn't doing anything, and I'll be damned if I'll let you starve! Sage, you sit your ass down at the table, I will give you food, and you will eat it, got it!?" sage looked on in shock at Cye, and slowly slid into a seat at the table. Cye took a deep breath, as he handed Sage a plate of food.

"Now, eat." Sage looked up at Cye, violet eyes still slightly wide in surprise. Slowly he ate the food presented to him, and sipped at the tea. Cye watched Sage with hands crossed across his chest. He hadn't given the blonde a lot, well aware that Sage's stomach couldn't handle it.

" What? Who is that blonde that's actually eating, and what has he done with my anorexic Sage!" Rowen exclaimed from the staircase, as Sage glanced up.

"He's making me eat." Sage murmured as he shuffled the eggs back and forth on his plate. Cye suddenly grabbed the fork.

"Don't play with your food Date!" Sage winced at the use of his family name as Cye re handed him his fork. Rowen walked down the stairs, then over to his lover.

"Come on babe, just eat the food, and then the Mother Hen will leave you alone." Sage stood up from the seat.

"I'm full." Cye turned to him, anger flaring. Sage shook his head at Cye before the boy could speak.

"Leave me alone Mouri, I can take care of myself." And with those words, Sage silently left the room.

"Umm... Cye, I'll go talk to him." Rowen said as he scampered off after Sage.

~~~~~

Rowen walked over to the waterfall, well aware that that was where his lover would be.

"Sage?" Rowen asked quietly as he watched Sage gracefully move across the rocks, never losing footing, or stumbling on the stones. Sage ignored him at first, then finished his movements, and finally turned to his lover.

"What is it Rowen. If this is about breakfast, don't say anything." Rowen stood silently for a moment, eyes locked with deep violet.

"Sage, Cye is right. You need to eat. I don't want you to suffer from this lack of food. Ryo told us about how you collapsed. I don't want that to happen. You need food! You need it for energy! Especially from how many activities you do.' Sage turned away from Rowen.

" Sage, why are you starving yourself? What are you trying to prove, to do?" It was then an idea hit Rowen.

"Sage, you aren't..." Rowen couldn't bear to finish his thoughts, his sentence. No. Sage wouldn't do that. Sage was to honorable, to smart, to... perfect to do that. To take his own life. To starve himself to death, push his body to his limits before it could bear no more. No, that wasn't his Sage. But then he realized something. This wasn't his Sage. This wasn't his calm, cool, fearless warrior. This, this boy was scared, silent, and fearful.

"Sage, you wouldn't think about taking your own life, would you?" Sage gave an odd look to Rowen, who blushed faintly.

" I didn't think so. I'm sorry for asking. It was foolish of me to think that you would do..."

"Yes." Rowen stumbled for words as he turned to Sage.

"What?" Sage's eyes met Rowen's. Rowen couldn't help but notice that the blonde's eyes were pale and almost gray. No longer intense, more sad and subdued.

"Yes. So dishonorable. But I... I can't take it. What they did, they stripped me of my glory, my honor, and my clothing. I, I'm useless. I can't face my own pains, I can't let what happened go, and I figured if I could just end this life, then I'd end the pain as well. But, I tried to do it myself, I tried to make the process fast, and be dead only a few days after it happened, but, I couldn't." Sage presented his hands to Rowen, small scars crossing both wrists in thin lines.

"I couldn't face the dishonor. I couldn't handle the fact that whatever semblance of honor was still preserved in me would be shattered. So I didn't do it. I couldn't. And that left me with only this option. A long, slow death. I'm surprised that I got away with it this far. Sure, I'd eat a little, but only to hid the fact of what I was doing. You, you surprised me. I thought you'd be the first to figure it out, since you are the one who sees me nude everyday." Rowen stood, dumbfound and speechless. His Sage. The one with strength, and the will to fight on against unbeatable odds. The one who would help them all, risk his own life to save his comrades. The one who made love to him with such heated passion, had shattered like so? And then it happened. Sage collapsed. Not from lack of energy, not from anything of that such, he collapsed in tears, curling into a tight ball on the cold stones beneath him. Sage sat, sobbing, face pressed against his knees, trembling slightly. Rowen couldn't take it. He quickly walked over to the blonde, pulling him in a tight, yet gentle embrace.

"Sage..." Was just about all Rowen could say, as he held the blonde to him. Sage pressed his face into Rowen's chest, soaking the blue shirt with tears.

"Shh..... just let it out Sage. We thought you were healed, and you put on a mask that fooled us all, but we were wrong. You aren't healed. And my guess is that only love and affection will change that." Rowen gently kissed Sage's forehead, as the blonde looked up at him, eyes red and watery.

"I'm sorry Rowen..." He murmured as Rowen pulled sage into his lap.

"I shouldn't have done this...." Rowen shook his head.

"It's OK Sage. Were going to help you through this, and I guarantee Cye will be more then happy to make you vegetarian meals." Sage nodded against Rowen.

"Now why don't you dry your eyes, we can go home, and we can start getting you back to your normal habits of eating, drinking tea, and later, you can train with Ryo again. After you get more energy back." Again Sage nodded as Rowen rose to his feet, and extended his hand to Sage. With a slight smile across his face, Sage took Rowen's hand, and excepted Rowen's help, love, and affection.

The End