The Outcasts

Chapter 2

"Cye…." Cye turned to the blonde who had just called out his name.

"Yes?" Sage turned to the Brit and smiled faintly.

"I'm sorry my past got you into this mess. It's my fault you're here. I killed your mother, I let you and Rowen go off alone when I felt that something was wrong, and it all comes to my faulting in following my instincts." Cye shook his head rapidly.

"Sage, err, Seiji if that is your real name, you know that it's not your fault."

"But it is."

"Shh. you're tired, no exhausted, and you didn't sleep at all last night, and you need to rest and eat too. You didn't do that either."

"I feel to weak to move." Sage muttered softly. And he wasn't lying. He felt frail and weak from his earlier work. The scientists had never been so cruel before. Not that they weren't cruel before, but this was overkill.

"Well, I guess I can go get them to let you have food. They know that you need it or you wont perform well. And your performance is all that they care about." He nodded limply to Cye. After Cye got more food by begging the scientists via their minds, he turned to Sage.

"Sage, come here."

"I would if I could." He replied as Cye moved closer to him, sitting behind him and pulling his golden head on his lap.

"What are you…."

"Shut up and eat." Sage sighed as Cye brought the soup to his lips. It tasted bitter on its way down, and he struggled to swallow it.

"It tastes like crap." He stated in distaste as Cye rolled his eyes.

"Just eat it. You need your energy, and this is the only way that you'll get it." Sage groaned as Cye brought the spoon to his lips. He groaned and swallowed the rancid smelling meal, pure hatred on his face. This was annoying, and tasted nasty, but Cye's sweet instincts could not be ignored. It was actually quite nice to not be alone in this place, and especially nice that Cye wasn't being hurt in any way. He'd already caused enough pain in the poor boys life, and any more was simply not acceptable, and mostly not because he was dragged into Sage's horrid past. After downing about half the soup, his stomach began to feel a little less then normal, leaving him light-headed and sore.

"Why is my stomach hurting so much? Wait, with the crap that they give us to eat, I'm probably having troubles downing the un-natural food." Cye smiled.

"Oh well, now go to sleep."

"But I'm still on your lap."

"And it will stay that way till you go to sleep."

"Aww man!" Sage exclaimed as he forced himself to attempt to rest. Cye laughed at the boy's complaint, giving him a soft slap on the arm. Finally, they settled down, and Sage allowed sleep so succumb him, nestled safely in the warmth of Cye's body. But the calmness would not last. Nothing lasts forever.

~~~~~

"Rowen, we can't believe that you did that, you little spas! You should know better then to mess with magic that you're not strong enough to handle without screwing it up!" Rowen rolled his eyes.

"Well sorry! But we have important things to do! Such as save the others!" With groans, the two nodded.

"You're right, but when we are done saving them, we get to kill you, OK?" With a gulp, Rowen nodded.

"I'm not really sure where their building is."

"You were just there!" Ryo pointed out from within Kento's body.

"Well, I forgot, ok? I was trying to find you guys, not remember where I was." Ryo sighed, along with Kento.

"Ok, maybe Mia can tell us where it is." Rowen laughed at the notion.

"Mia? Remember enough to tell us the location of a hidden place where young children are taken and tested on? Yeah right!" With hung heads, the other two nodded in agreement, Mia wouldn't be able to know anything about that. They loved her like a sister, but she was not the brightest. How she had even gotten the job at Green Peace, none of them really knew.

"OK, Ryo, Kento has a really good nose because of the part of him that is werewolf, so we need you to help us. Try to smell where they went." Ryo laughed at the idea.

"I can't use this body. I've been raised as a vampire, with Sage's help, I don't know the first thing about being a werewolf." Rowen sighed.

"This isn't turning out right. Ok, we have to figure out a way to do this. I guess that we split up." Ryo shook his head.

"No, that doesn't work. We don't one of us going there alone. We stick together." Rowen sighed in agreement.

"Ok, lets start downtown, I know that I was there at least once today." The other two nodded.

"That works. Let's go."

~~~~~

"Umm, news flash. He's HURT. He can't do your little testing." Cye said with agitation, pulling Sage closer.

"I think it was that food that you gave him." The scientist cursed aloud.

"Then the aphrodisiac didn't work."

"Aphrodisiac? You gave him THAT? Why?" Cye demanded as the scientist laughed.

"You got rather annoying. And since we can't hurt you, we thought that maybe he could do it for us. I guess that it backfired. Must be something in his blood. The shape shifter within!" Cye let out a throaty growl.

"That was evil! You torture him enough! And you have tortured him enough in his past! How did you even get him? When did you get him? How young was he?" The scientist smiled.

"Yes, an interesting specimen, isn't he?" Cye couldn't help but nod. Cye's curiosity was much higher then it should be, and he knew that he was too curious for his own good.

"Yes, I vividly remember the day that we found him. He was a tiny infant. 8 months at the oldest. And he could already walk, much to our amazement. He hadn't meant to scare his family, but he was playing with a stuffed cat, and our only guess is that he was thinking about it, because the next thing his mother knew, he was a cat himself. She was a teenager when she had him, only about 15, and got so scared that she abandoned him. Somehow he managed to change back, all except his tail and ears, and we found him, shivering in an alley. We took him in, and raised him to know about his abilities. It was amusing. Until he was able to talk and understand things, he was stuck with the tail and ears."

"You tortured him as a child!" Cye exclaimed, anger flowing through his body.

"No. Torture is not the word. If that is the environment he is raised in, then to him it's not torture. It's life." Cye shook his head. This was wrong.

"What you did to him was wrong. He was a child and you hurt him! No child should be hurt as a child. They're too young to understand what is happening."

"Yes, but he was forced to be mature for his age. He knew exactly what was going on."

"You could have driven him to insanity! He spent 14 years in a cell, only leaving to be testing on! That is enough to drive anyone of any age insane!" The scientist shrugged.

"But it didn't." Cye shook his head.

"That is besides the point!"

"Is it?" Cye groaned in annoyance.

"Yes it is! You ruined his life!"

"Well, he seemed to be doing fine before we got him this time."

"Yes he was! A reason that you shouldn't have taken him!" With a shake of his head, the scientist took his leave. With much annoyance, Cye turned back to the sickly figure next to him.

"Sage?" Cye asked softly as Sage groaned in response.

"Are you OK?" Sage didn't grace Cye with a response.

"Sage, please, talk to me." Cye asked desperately as Sage turned his head slightly, allowing himself to speak.

"Please, Cye, go away." Cye looked on in bewilderment.

"But Sage, I can't. We're stuck in a cell, remember?" again Sage groaned.

"Cye, I could hurt you. There are drugs that make me do… bad things. I don't want to do anything. I come near you, you stop me with mind, ok?" Cye nodded slowly. He didn't really know what aphrodisiacs did, but obviously Sage knew, and what they did was not good.

"The only reason I can stop myself is my blood." Sage stated, answering the questions running through Cye's mind.

"Sage, what exactly does and aphrodisiac do?" Sage hung his head.

"An aphrodisiac makes it so that you cannot control your hormones." Cye's eyes went wide, and Sage stifled his laughter.

"I can though, sort of. It's only because I'm not human though."

"You aren't human?" Sage shrugged.

"Maybe I was once human, but after everything the scientists did to me as a child, I am no longer sure of what I truly am." Cye's faced shifted to one that was filled with shock.

"What exactly did they do to you?"

"You've seen."

"Yes, but I thought they made you shift a lot, hit you a few dozen times, and took blood. That was all."

"No. They didn't only take blood, they gave blood." Cye shrugged.

"I don't understand. They gave you blood because they took so much, correct?" Again, Sage shook his head.

"No. They gave me blood from the other children. I was their prize and joy. They mixed my blood. I was their main experiment, because I was the youngest and they could watch exactly what happened through the entire time I was growing up. They gave me all different blood. Vampire, werewolf, witch, everything." Sage hung his head.

"Is that why drugs don't effect you?" Cye asked in concern as Sage shrugged.

"I just don't know. I don't know what I am. I am a shape shifter. I am… everything I guess. Though I don't become a werewolf, so I can't be that. And I don't need blood, so I am not a vampire. And I can't cast spells, so I guess I'm not a witch either, huh?" Cye nodded.

"I know what you are!" Cye finally stated as Sage turned to him.

"What?"

"You are you!" Cye exclaimed with a giggle.

"Well, thank you for classifying exactly what I am Cye. I guess I'm a breed of my own." Sage stated with a slight smile. He laughed softly as Cye continued ranting about how he was superman with all his different abilities. Cye was so sweet. And kind. And actually quite funny when you got passed the corny joke stage where he was trying to impress you and failing miserably.

Though that time was quite amusing. He couldn't help but be attracted to the compassion of the younger male, but he knew that it would and could never work out. He was older by 2 years, he was the exact opposite of the other boy, and he wasn't human. Looks can be deceiving, he mused as he glanced at his hands. His human like ones. Looks could be very deceiving indeed, as he remembered Cye's attitude the moment Sage had a knife to his throat. The boy had gone from kind and shy, to venomous and temperamental in the blink of an eye.

"Sage, I think that you should get some rest. Try to sleep off the drugs." Sage nodded. That sounded reasonable enough.

"OK, I'll do that. I want you to try to talk to the others in your mind. Tell them where we are, OK?" Cye nodded as he watched Sage curl up and fall into an immediate sleep. He felt sorry for the other boy. Cye himself had lost both parents, one due to the boy in front of him, yet he couldn't be mad. It was an accident, and, well, he couldn't bring himself to stay mad at the beautiful creature before him. Who cares what the scientists did to him? A pure soul can never be tainted. With a yawn, Cye decided that he would take a quick nap before trying to contact the others. Though he hated to admit it, he was enjoying his time alone with the blonde. With a full mind, he allowed himself to drift off into sleep.

~~~~~

"Ok, he's not here. What do we do?" Rowen asked as Ryo shrugged.

"I still say we kill you for switching us. Don't you agree Kento?" The other boy nodded. Rowen slowly stepped backwards.

"Now, come on. First we save our friends, and then you can kill me. How does that sound?" with sighs, the two nodded.

"Rowen?" Rowen jumped at the voice in his head.

"Cye? What are you doing in my head?" Rowen asked, as he suddenly realized that that was not the right question to ask.

"Wait! I mean, where are you and Sage? I can't remember my way back!"

"Well, neither can I." Cye responded.

"I can only tell you that we are near a really tall building. It's the tallest for as far as I can see. There's a really small hole, and it's the only light in the room."

"Why can't you get Sage to tell you where it is?" Rowen asked out of sheer curiosity.

"He's asleep."

"Then wake him up!"

"He's drugged." Rowen silenced. Kento and Ryo were looking on in confusion, wondering who Rowen was talking out loud to, but they decided not to interrupt Rowen's talk to himself.

"Ok, well, Cye, we'll go into town and look for the building. Thank you for helping us."

"No problem, Sage told me to before he fell asleep." Rowen nodded.

"Bye Cye."

"Bye mate." And then the presence within Rowen's mind faded into nothingness.

"They're in the city. We're going to go there, and then search for the tallest building we can find. They're right next to it. And when we get there, I can tell you where to go. I know my way around there." The other two nodded.

"And after we save them, I can try to change you back." The other two glared at him, but nodded once more.

"OK, let's go."

~~~~~

Cye stroked the golden tresses of the blonde boy, but froze the moment his fingers brushed against the boy's neck. Carefully, he brushed aside the gold, and looked at the pale neck of the blonde. Gingerly, he ran his finger over the skin, and could have sworn he felt a bump on the boy's flesh. It was actually the back of his neck, and thought it wasn't visible, something was there. With question and concern in his eyes, he continued applying pressure to the area.

Sage moaned slightly, his head pounding, a soft feeling on his neck confusing him greatly. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and came face to face with Cye.

"What are you doing?" Sage asked as Cye blushed.

"There's something on your neck. Well, in the skin of your neck. Do you know what it is?" Sage shrugged.

"I don't know what it is, but it must not be important. They put it in me 14 years ago, when they began to infuse me with the blood of others. If it had any use, they would have used it when I escaped." Cye nodded.

"I was just worried. I didn't know what it was, and it seemed out of place." Sage nodded.

"I think the drugs have worn off. I'm still tired, but with the way they've been working me, I can easily tell you that it is not the drugs that are making me tired." Cye nodded slightly.

"Take it easy. I talked to the others, and I think that they may be arriving soon." Sage sighed in relief.

"Good, I can't wait to get out of here." Cye nodded in agreement. It was that moment that a loud siren began to blow. Sage covered his extremely sensitive ears, and knew what that meant.

"They're here." Cye stated as Sage nodded.

"Let the fun begin."

~~~~~

Rowen laughed as he reached out with his arms. He watched as a ball of fire formed at his fingertips, and grinned as he released the energy that went flying towards one of the guards.

"Take that! Teach you to take my friends prisoner!" He smiled as he turned and watched Ryo lunge at a man, and Kento bite into one with his newfound fangs.

"OK, you guys take care of them, I'll go get the others." They nodded as Rowen dashed towards the room that he knew very well housed his companions. Slowly, he yanked open the door and saw Sage and Cye inside the room.

"Come on you two, your knights in shinning armor have come to rescue you!" Sage smiled faintly as Cye grinned.

"Nice entry line. I give it a 8." Cye stated as he helped Sage to his feet. Rowen smirked at the other two, as they made their way out of the room. Running down the hallway, they ran strait into Ryo and Kento.

"Ryo! It's good to see you!" Cye exclaimed as he hugged Kento.

"Umm, I'm not Ryo." Cye looked on in confusion.

"No time to explain, we have to get out of here!" Rowen exclaimed as his friends nodded in agreement. Sage couldn't help but worry about what was to come. This getaway was too easy. There was no way that this was all that his captors would give in resistance to their escape. Sage himself had been shot 4 times escaping the first time, and had a tranquilizer used on him, among other things. Had he been human, he would have easily died. Given, he had been buying time, and that was why he was shot. He had broken everyone of the test subjects out of the hellhole, and he himself had sustained the only injuries amongst them all. But at least they had escaped.

"Ahh, already making a getaway Seiji. I am impressed." With a sigh of annoyance, Sage turned his face to the one and only, Dr. Jennesan.

"This take's me back. Though before you never had friends before. We never let you near the others, and you were so much younger then the others."

"You just have to rub my shitty past in my face, now don't you?" The man laughed.

"Of course I do! It's part of my job in making your life a living hell." Sage shifted his body so that he was further away from Dr. Jennesan and closer to Cye. With a sly smile, the man pulled out a small remote.

"What is that?" Cye asked.

"We have wished to try this out for a long time, but there was never a time where he was skilled enough with his powers." Sage looked on in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" Sage asked quietly as the man once again smiled, grin never leaving his face.

"That small chip in your neck contains a medicine that will inject into your blood stream. When injected, it will activate the different bloods that you have within you. What will happen you may wonder? Well, let's fund out shall we?" Sage gasped in horror as he watched the slim finger press on the button. Suddenly, his head filled with pain, as he collapsed to the floor, cradling his head in his arms.

"Make is stop… make it stop… make it stop…" Sage whispered over and over again in a chant, his words fading into racking sobs of agony.

"Sage!" Immediately four bodies surrounded him, each one checking for his health and well-being.

"Sage, are you ok?" Sage's eyes were sealed shut, and he was panting slightly, almost hyperventilating. Sage cried out as his body began to flash. He could feel the bloods battling within him, fighting for dominance inside of him. All four of the boys pulled away from him, as the glowing grew brighter. Sage screamed as the light grew too intense to continue looking at it, then suddenly it went dark, and Sage's body lay strewn on the floor like a rag doll.

"Sage!" Cye exclaimed as he raced over to the other boy, and knelt beside the body. The last thing he expected though was for Sage's violet eye's to shoot open, and for strong teeth to imbed into his neck. He yelped as his felt the prick in his neck.

"Sage!" the others exclaimed as they rushed over, pulling Sage off of Cye. Sage blinked, then gasped at what he had just done. He covered his mouth in shame, but couldn't help but run his tongue over the foreign objects in his mouth.

"I'm so sorry Cye!" He exclaimed, hanging his head.

"I guess that the blood… that I…. I'm… I'm everything!" And promptly, Sage fainted.

To be continued…

I know that it was VERY short compared to the other chapter, but I thought that would be a nice place to send the chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. Sage has a little adjusting I believe. Well, I will try to get the next chapter out soon! Bye bye and hope you enjoyed!