Lady Kayura grunted in pain as more and more of Fiian's blows began to land, and less and less of hers.
"Giving it up, Lady?" He smirked as he danced back, the long blade of his sword making almost a screaming sound as he swiped it through the air.
"Never!"
No longer concerned with damage to the room- from the sounds coming from outside the room, the entire house was being demolished and there was no time to worry about it- Kayura knocked over a bookshelf, sending the heavy furniture towards her attacker.
"Getting desperate, are we?" Fiian shouted, moving forward once more, and slicing the obstacle clean in half. "Eat my steel, Lady!"
Kayura dodged, neatly, and the young warrior stumbled. He'd underestimated her speed, and that gave Kayura the space she needed.
"QUAKE WITH FEAR!!"
Fiian was ready to counter before Kayura's attack ever reached him.
"BURNING BETRAYAL!!!" He held his sword aloft over his head, glowing bright with red energy.
"...What?" Kayura stepped back, mouth open in surprise, as all of the power from her attack was drawn to the sword. "How?!"
"Meet your doom in the form of a fireball, Lady Kayura!" Fiian turned the blade in his hands down, so it was pointing at Kayura. He had used his sword to transform Kayura's earth attack into a fire-element counter strike.
"No!" Kayura's hands shot out, as she called up energy from her mind, attempting to shield from the blast...
"Mia!! Yulie! Where are you guys? Answer me!" Ryo shouted, as he practically plowed through the soldiers in his path, stabbing and shoving them over the banister to fall to the first floor. "MIA!"
At that moment, the wall between Ryo and the library exploded, and he barely had time to register the fire rushing out at him. It didn't burn him, naturally, but the sheer force of the explosion did throw him back, crashing right through the railing nearby. He just barely managed to catch his hand on the edge of the second floor, before he could fall back down to the first.
~ Where did that come from?! ~ He thought, as he reached up to stab his sword into the floor and pull himself up.
"Ryo!"
"Mia?" He had to squint, to catch a glimpse of her face through the fire and smoke that was quickly spreading over the second level of the mansion. She had made it out of her study in time, but now the floor before her was being eaten away by flames. The young woman was frozen in place, clutching Yulie's arm with one hand and her laptop with the other.
"Stay there! I'll come and get you!" Ryo yelled, but as he stepped forward he felt the floor shake.
"Don't, Ryo, it's too dangerous!" Mia cried, stepping back. "I know the fire won't hurt you, but you could fall, or make the whole floor collapse!"
"Mia!! I'm not gonna leave you!" Ryo shouted. He looked around, desperately. "There has to be another way!"
"Ryo, I'm scared!" Yulie's thin whine penetrated the dark smoke that was beginning to fill the house.
Meanwhile, on the first floor, the warriors there remained relatively unharmed by the hordes of attacking soldiers- most of them fell under the steady stream of Rowen's arrows before getting anywhere near the fighters with short range weapons.
"We have to... get out of here," Xanthe coughed, as the smoke spread throughout the house, beating the flames, but just barely. "This whole place... will come down on top of us."
"Not if I can help it," Junichi replied. "You guys get out of here... I'll try to fight the fire."
"It's too big!" Sage protested. "There's no way!"
"He has to try, though!" Kento snapped. "Come on, the soldiers have quit comin'..."
"I'm not leaving until I know everyone is all right!" Rowen half shouted, his voice hoarse from the smoke. "Come on, we can fight this thing, Junichi and I... Kento, Xanthe, Sage, Kawai... haul butt!"
But before any of the males could stop her, Kawai bolted deeper into the house, away from the large, broken windows and the busted down doors the enemies had entered through. She ignored the calls of her male companions to come back, and soon the roaring of the flames were such that she couldn't hear them anyway.
~ I have to see to it that everyone gets out... I have to! I won't see anyone I care about die this way... not again. ~
Even through her armor's protections, the smoke was making it hard to breathe, and the heat was suffocating...
"Reia," Cye whispered in her ear, causing the blue haired girl to break away from her transfixed, pain stare at her ravaged friend. "...There's a department store, across the street and down the block a little ways... we ought to go get something to cover Lys with... she shouldn't stay like that."
"H...Hai," Reia murmured, allowing Cye to lead her away by the hand. By now, Lys and Kasukio didn't even know they were there. The red haired boy was bent over Lys protectively, trembling with barely suppressed fury and pain, but making no sound as Lys recounted her story to him in a shaking, cracked voice.
Reia didn't even notice how the broken chunks of concrete from the demolished street cut at her shoeless feet, or how the now downright chilling breeze cut through her tank top like a knife. Cye wisely remained silent as he led her across the empty street, away from the parking lot.
It didn't take long to reach the large store. The automatic doors still worked, and they slid open as the couple approached them.
"...Everyone's... gone," Cye whispered, as they stepped in, looking around. He knew his statement was true, but, nevertheless, he raised his voice for an experimental call of "Hello? Is anyone here?"
Reia didn't say anything, but walked into the store, looking for something Lys could wear.
"We need... like a coat or something," She said quietly.
"Maybe a sweater?" Cye asked.
Reia shook her head. "Something she can slip on."
"Trench coat?" Cye walked to a nearby sign with a store directory posted on it. "...This way." He pointed down one aisle of the store.
"I guess... price isn't an issue," Reia said quietly, shaking her head. "Everyone really is gone. We're the only people left in the city."
"It's just like when Talpa first invaded," Cye replied, with a solemn nod.
"It looks almost like Arcane is imitating Talpa," Reia pointed out. "But... I'm afraid... Arcane may have the power to succeed where Talpa didn't."
Cye didn't reply, only continued to go forward.
On their way to the outerwear section of the store, they passed through a small display of bridal wear.
Reia paused at a glass display case, full of happy looking mannequins in full-length white wedding gowns. Another case nearby showcased mannequins in tuxedos of various makes and styles. She closed her eyes, and a memory came to her of three girls, all 12 or 13, sitting on one girl's bed, looking at an old catalog.
"Well if you won't tell me yours, I'll tell you my dream, Reia... my dream is to someday walk down the aisle, in a dress just like this," The thirteen year old with silver pigtails giggled, as she whispered.
"Why would you want to wear something so frilly and doofy looking?" Reia whispered, hearing her twelve-year-old voice in her mind, remembering how she shook her head with disgust at the idea, her then shoulder length hair swishing against her shoulders.
"Because, silly, that's the whole point," The other twelve year old sighed and shrugged, her red ponytail bobbing with the movement, and sipped at the diet soda in her hand. "Weddings are like, the most romantic thing ever."
"My dream is to walk down the aisle," Lys had repeated. "I'm going to marry the boy of my dreams..."
"Who, my dorky cousin?!" Red-headed Kawai squealed.
"Kasu-chan isn't dorky! And I'm gonna marry him someday, I'll walk down that aisle on my daddy's arm as a lovely virgin bride in a white gown, you'll see!" Lys cried.
Reia stared at the wedding gowns, the sappily happy, grinning mugs of the mannequins, and her best friend's words of four years ago echoed in her mind.
Cye, meanwhile, had made it all the way to the coats before realizing he'd lost Reia somewhere. He backtracked, carrying a few candidates in his arms, to find Reia, and see what her opinion was on them.
Just as he caught sight of her, staring at the wedding dresses, Reia let out a shriek that seemed nigh inhuman. The blue haired girl screamed incoherently as she drove her fist through the glass display in one punch.
"Reia!" Cye gasped, dropping the coats and running towards her.
Broken glass flew, slicing at her as she continued to hit the display case, intent on breaking all the glass she could, ignoring the pain.
"Too little-" She hissed, as she kicked the nearest mannequin, knocking it's head off. The head and the veil flew to the floor, bouncing on the carpet of broken glass. "Too slow!" Reia grabbed the arm of the nearest mannequin and hurled it blindly from the case, ignoring the crash it made when it knocked over several racks of clothing. "TOO LATE!!!" She moved to punch the mirror behind the mannequins, but Cye finally caught up to her.
"REIA! STOP!!" Cye shouted, grabbing her from behind with all his strength, pinning her arms to her sides. She thrashed against him, still trying to kick the remaining items in the case. "Please, you're going to HURT YOURSELF!" The auburn haired boy in blue and white sub armor threw his weight against the slender girl to yank her out of the case, and nearly throw her to the floor (away from the broken glass, which was no small feat, considering Reia had scattered it about pretty thoroughly). Cye pushed her against the floor, pinning her with his own weight. "Reia! REIA!"
She gasped, and gave one more token struggle, although her eyes regained a sense of focus. She stared up at Cye, her eyes full of pain, breathing heavily.
"What was that all about?" Cye whispered, his eyes wide with concern and fear for her.
"It's my fault... It's all my fault," Reia whispered back, tears washing away the small spots of blood on her cheeks.
"Reia..." Cye slowly released his grip on her wrists, and tried to ignore the blood from her glass cuts on his hands. "What on Earth are you talking about?"
"What good am I to anyone... what good is my power?! I can't save anybody, only kill! I... I could've killed that monster Trox, but I didn't, and... and I couldn't save my best friend, one of the most important people to me in the whole world!!" She was coming out of her hysterics, now, and she winced with pain.
"Well slicing your arms up by punching a display case isn't exactly the way to go about improving yourself," Cye remarked, not without a touch of sarcasm. "Reia, you know what happened to Lys isn't your fault!"
"But it is..."
He shook his head, and pressed two fingers against her lips to silence her. "Reia. It's me. Would I lie to you?" By now, the sarcasm had left his voice, and it had taken on a tone of utter sincerity. "Listen to me, girl... All of us undertake harsh risks every time we put that armor on... We're all prepared to deal with the pain that comes... I'm certain Lys is no different..."
"How can you just write it off like that?!" Reia gasped. Her hand came up, to slap him, but it paused in mid-air. She looked at her own hand, still blood-streaked, her mouth open and eyes wide with horror.
"I'm not writing it off, far from it! I'm just trying to tell you that I know how much Lys loves you, and I know she'll never blame you for this! So, don't you go blaming yourself, either! You have GOT to be strong for her, understand? You. Have. To!" Cye grabbed her chin, to make sure she didn't look away from him as he spoke, keeping his voice soft, but packing much power behind it. Shouting now would do no good, only more harm. "It will be very painful for a little while... for both of you, in different ways." He flinched, remembering the nights not so long ago when he would wake up screaming from the dreams about things that happened to him when the Dynasty had him prisoner.
How Sage couldn't bear to even leave the house for several weeks, after the wind from the final battle and the ensuing baseball game wore off.
How Kento cried... big, strong Kento, cried-actually cried!-in his sleep...
Cye shook his head, dismissing the painful memories. Many of them were firmly behind some kind of shield that the five of them used their armor powers to create. Cye and his fellow captives could only remember a few things about their imprisonment now, but... he still remembered the painful recovery.
Reia stared at his eyes, as if she could sense the emotion and meaning behind his words... Perhaps she could. In any case, she sniffled, and nodded, slowly. "I just... don't know if I can do it."
"I'll help you," He replied, and kissed her gently on the forehead.
She looked down, at the forgotten coat, tossed on the floor a few feet away. "That'll work fine for Lys... come on... let's bring it to her."
The fire spread through the house at an insanely fast pace. Before Kawai could make it from the living room, through the kitchen to the stairs, everything was awash in a blazing, hot orange light.
She looked up, squinting against the glare and the smoke, trying to make anyone out on the second floor. She spotted Ryo, who was desperately trying to find a way to retrieve Mia and Yulie without getting them hurt.
~ The Wildfire armor protects him from the flames, but it gets so hot that no one can get near him! ~ That was one of the first lessons Kawai had ever learned.
"Ryo!! Please, don't worry about me, just save Yulie!" Mia cried.
"I'm not leaving without either of you, there's got to be a way!!" Ryo shouted back. He sounded like he would become hysterical soon.
Kawai gasped, as the flames seemed to spring to life all around her, under her feet, over her head... the fire seemed to take on a sentient quality, as at came for her... just for her...
~...Flames...fire...smoke... No, please! Not again!!! ~ "MAMA!!!" She screamed, but her voice was lost in the roaring of the fire. ~ Mama and... my little brother... Daddy died fighting that one fire when Tetsuro was just born...~ She doubled over, coughing from the smoke. ~ I have to protect Mama and Tetsuro... I have to! I'll be all alone if they die! ~
She screamed again, as the flames pressed closer around her, heating her armor and burning her. "NO!" Kawai was moving then, by her armor's power alone, it seemed. The fire tried to snatch at her as she leaped towards the second level, her teeth gritted in determination and her hands outstretched. Through the flames, she could see Mia and Yulie-only, to her eyes, it was a woman in her thirties, with long, straight red hair, clutching a young boy with wavey brown hair.
"Please, Armor of Eros!! Give me the strength so I can save them!!" She cried. "CUPID'S WING!!!"
A fiery, burning pain raged through Kawai's body, and she wondered distantly if she'd fallen into the fire. Her vision swam and she nearly blacked out, as the world seemed to pitch upside down and turn around. She clutched at her head, feeling her heartbeat pounding in it, each beat like the blow of a sledgehammer.
And then, all of a sudden, she hit the second floor, at Mia and Yulie's feet. She rolled a little ways and hit a wall, and that seemed to snap her out of her delusions.
"Kawai!" Mia shouted.
Without wasting any time, Kawai gestured with her hands, as a ball of pink energy spread to them. "Teleportation!" She commanded, shooting the energy towards the helpless duo. In a flash of pink light, they were gone.
"Kawai?" Ryo called.
"I teleported them out, Ryo! Now we have to escape!"
It was at that moment the floor underneath their feet finally collapsed. Ryo let out a cry of surprise as he tumbled into the flames below. Kawai just barely managed to teleport herself away from the certain death.
However, she soon discovered she didn't have the strength to get herself all the way outside, and ended up collapsed in the middle of the living room, with the flames very close at her heels.
"Kawai!!"
A figure in light blue armor that shone an eerie shade of green in the fire's light leaped through the flames blocking the doorway. "Kawai!"
Junichi knelt beside the unconscious girl. ~ Thank God, she's alive...~ He easily picked her up, and then raised his trident. The fire had raged too far, too fast, and had an air of magic around it... he knew that despite their best efforts, they wouldn't be able to put this out.
~ But, I have to at least try to get out, ~ He thought, as he pointed the head of the spear at the flames blocking their escape. "SUPER WAVE-"
"It won't do you any good, silly Ronin," A voice taunted.
"Who's there?" Junichi shouted, then ended up coughing. The smoke was getting to him now.
"Tis I, Fiian, of course..." The voice laughed, as a man materialized before Junichi. Slung over his shoulder, unconscious, and wrapped in her own chains, was Lady Kayura.
"Lady Kayura!"
"Where, I can't find her!" Rowen's voice came from off to the side, and the warrior in darker blue appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.
"You guys are probably clever enough to escape this inferno," Fiian laughed, "But there's no way you'll ever put it out until it's satisfied it's hunger. Ta-ta, dear boys, I'm sure we'll be seeing you at Arcane's table very shortly!"
"Kayura!!" Rowen yelled, and tried to move towards Fiian, but at that moment a large section of the ceiling fell, landing with a deafening crash and a great roar of newly bred flames that swallowed up the laughing Dark Ronin and his prize.
In a burst of water and wind, Rowen and Junichi broke through (what used to be) a wall, limping to safety on the cool grass away from the house.
Xanthe, Kento, and Sage were busy keeping the fire from spreading to the trees, and Ryo was seen running from the other end of the house. Mia sat beside Yulie, who laid unconscious on the ground, staring at her burning house with blank eyes. Junichi laid Kawai beside them before sinking to his knees in defeat himself. Rowen joined the effort in keeping the fire from spreading to the forest, doing his best to keep any wind from blowing.
With a sickening groan and a final roar of the flames, the entire house collapsed on itself. Mia shrieked and covered her eyes, just as Ryo reached her, abandoning his armor as he ran so as not to burn anyone.
"Mia..." He began, but paused, uncertain what to say or do.
"My Grandfather's house!!" Mia cried, burying her face in her hands. "My family's legacy!! Everything we had was in there!"
"...Mia..." Ryo whispered, deciding that words weren't the best thing right now, as he folded his arms around her, silently.
The sky above unleashed a torrent of rain, and the flames finally died in an unceremonious hiss. Soon, only steam and smoke came from a pile of black rubble.
The entire group was sprawled or seated on the grass, several yards away, everyone at a loss for words. All was silent but for the hiss and occasional pop from what used to be the house, and Mia's nigh hysterical sobbing.
Finally, Rowen spoke.
"Well... guess we'd better...go get a hotel or something."
"Giving it up, Lady?" He smirked as he danced back, the long blade of his sword making almost a screaming sound as he swiped it through the air.
"Never!"
No longer concerned with damage to the room- from the sounds coming from outside the room, the entire house was being demolished and there was no time to worry about it- Kayura knocked over a bookshelf, sending the heavy furniture towards her attacker.
"Getting desperate, are we?" Fiian shouted, moving forward once more, and slicing the obstacle clean in half. "Eat my steel, Lady!"
Kayura dodged, neatly, and the young warrior stumbled. He'd underestimated her speed, and that gave Kayura the space she needed.
"QUAKE WITH FEAR!!"
Fiian was ready to counter before Kayura's attack ever reached him.
"BURNING BETRAYAL!!!" He held his sword aloft over his head, glowing bright with red energy.
"...What?" Kayura stepped back, mouth open in surprise, as all of the power from her attack was drawn to the sword. "How?!"
"Meet your doom in the form of a fireball, Lady Kayura!" Fiian turned the blade in his hands down, so it was pointing at Kayura. He had used his sword to transform Kayura's earth attack into a fire-element counter strike.
"No!" Kayura's hands shot out, as she called up energy from her mind, attempting to shield from the blast...
"Mia!! Yulie! Where are you guys? Answer me!" Ryo shouted, as he practically plowed through the soldiers in his path, stabbing and shoving them over the banister to fall to the first floor. "MIA!"
At that moment, the wall between Ryo and the library exploded, and he barely had time to register the fire rushing out at him. It didn't burn him, naturally, but the sheer force of the explosion did throw him back, crashing right through the railing nearby. He just barely managed to catch his hand on the edge of the second floor, before he could fall back down to the first.
~ Where did that come from?! ~ He thought, as he reached up to stab his sword into the floor and pull himself up.
"Ryo!"
"Mia?" He had to squint, to catch a glimpse of her face through the fire and smoke that was quickly spreading over the second level of the mansion. She had made it out of her study in time, but now the floor before her was being eaten away by flames. The young woman was frozen in place, clutching Yulie's arm with one hand and her laptop with the other.
"Stay there! I'll come and get you!" Ryo yelled, but as he stepped forward he felt the floor shake.
"Don't, Ryo, it's too dangerous!" Mia cried, stepping back. "I know the fire won't hurt you, but you could fall, or make the whole floor collapse!"
"Mia!! I'm not gonna leave you!" Ryo shouted. He looked around, desperately. "There has to be another way!"
"Ryo, I'm scared!" Yulie's thin whine penetrated the dark smoke that was beginning to fill the house.
Meanwhile, on the first floor, the warriors there remained relatively unharmed by the hordes of attacking soldiers- most of them fell under the steady stream of Rowen's arrows before getting anywhere near the fighters with short range weapons.
"We have to... get out of here," Xanthe coughed, as the smoke spread throughout the house, beating the flames, but just barely. "This whole place... will come down on top of us."
"Not if I can help it," Junichi replied. "You guys get out of here... I'll try to fight the fire."
"It's too big!" Sage protested. "There's no way!"
"He has to try, though!" Kento snapped. "Come on, the soldiers have quit comin'..."
"I'm not leaving until I know everyone is all right!" Rowen half shouted, his voice hoarse from the smoke. "Come on, we can fight this thing, Junichi and I... Kento, Xanthe, Sage, Kawai... haul butt!"
But before any of the males could stop her, Kawai bolted deeper into the house, away from the large, broken windows and the busted down doors the enemies had entered through. She ignored the calls of her male companions to come back, and soon the roaring of the flames were such that she couldn't hear them anyway.
~ I have to see to it that everyone gets out... I have to! I won't see anyone I care about die this way... not again. ~
Even through her armor's protections, the smoke was making it hard to breathe, and the heat was suffocating...
"Reia," Cye whispered in her ear, causing the blue haired girl to break away from her transfixed, pain stare at her ravaged friend. "...There's a department store, across the street and down the block a little ways... we ought to go get something to cover Lys with... she shouldn't stay like that."
"H...Hai," Reia murmured, allowing Cye to lead her away by the hand. By now, Lys and Kasukio didn't even know they were there. The red haired boy was bent over Lys protectively, trembling with barely suppressed fury and pain, but making no sound as Lys recounted her story to him in a shaking, cracked voice.
Reia didn't even notice how the broken chunks of concrete from the demolished street cut at her shoeless feet, or how the now downright chilling breeze cut through her tank top like a knife. Cye wisely remained silent as he led her across the empty street, away from the parking lot.
It didn't take long to reach the large store. The automatic doors still worked, and they slid open as the couple approached them.
"...Everyone's... gone," Cye whispered, as they stepped in, looking around. He knew his statement was true, but, nevertheless, he raised his voice for an experimental call of "Hello? Is anyone here?"
Reia didn't say anything, but walked into the store, looking for something Lys could wear.
"We need... like a coat or something," She said quietly.
"Maybe a sweater?" Cye asked.
Reia shook her head. "Something she can slip on."
"Trench coat?" Cye walked to a nearby sign with a store directory posted on it. "...This way." He pointed down one aisle of the store.
"I guess... price isn't an issue," Reia said quietly, shaking her head. "Everyone really is gone. We're the only people left in the city."
"It's just like when Talpa first invaded," Cye replied, with a solemn nod.
"It looks almost like Arcane is imitating Talpa," Reia pointed out. "But... I'm afraid... Arcane may have the power to succeed where Talpa didn't."
Cye didn't reply, only continued to go forward.
On their way to the outerwear section of the store, they passed through a small display of bridal wear.
Reia paused at a glass display case, full of happy looking mannequins in full-length white wedding gowns. Another case nearby showcased mannequins in tuxedos of various makes and styles. She closed her eyes, and a memory came to her of three girls, all 12 or 13, sitting on one girl's bed, looking at an old catalog.
"Well if you won't tell me yours, I'll tell you my dream, Reia... my dream is to someday walk down the aisle, in a dress just like this," The thirteen year old with silver pigtails giggled, as she whispered.
"Why would you want to wear something so frilly and doofy looking?" Reia whispered, hearing her twelve-year-old voice in her mind, remembering how she shook her head with disgust at the idea, her then shoulder length hair swishing against her shoulders.
"Because, silly, that's the whole point," The other twelve year old sighed and shrugged, her red ponytail bobbing with the movement, and sipped at the diet soda in her hand. "Weddings are like, the most romantic thing ever."
"My dream is to walk down the aisle," Lys had repeated. "I'm going to marry the boy of my dreams..."
"Who, my dorky cousin?!" Red-headed Kawai squealed.
"Kasu-chan isn't dorky! And I'm gonna marry him someday, I'll walk down that aisle on my daddy's arm as a lovely virgin bride in a white gown, you'll see!" Lys cried.
Reia stared at the wedding gowns, the sappily happy, grinning mugs of the mannequins, and her best friend's words of four years ago echoed in her mind.
Cye, meanwhile, had made it all the way to the coats before realizing he'd lost Reia somewhere. He backtracked, carrying a few candidates in his arms, to find Reia, and see what her opinion was on them.
Just as he caught sight of her, staring at the wedding dresses, Reia let out a shriek that seemed nigh inhuman. The blue haired girl screamed incoherently as she drove her fist through the glass display in one punch.
"Reia!" Cye gasped, dropping the coats and running towards her.
Broken glass flew, slicing at her as she continued to hit the display case, intent on breaking all the glass she could, ignoring the pain.
"Too little-" She hissed, as she kicked the nearest mannequin, knocking it's head off. The head and the veil flew to the floor, bouncing on the carpet of broken glass. "Too slow!" Reia grabbed the arm of the nearest mannequin and hurled it blindly from the case, ignoring the crash it made when it knocked over several racks of clothing. "TOO LATE!!!" She moved to punch the mirror behind the mannequins, but Cye finally caught up to her.
"REIA! STOP!!" Cye shouted, grabbing her from behind with all his strength, pinning her arms to her sides. She thrashed against him, still trying to kick the remaining items in the case. "Please, you're going to HURT YOURSELF!" The auburn haired boy in blue and white sub armor threw his weight against the slender girl to yank her out of the case, and nearly throw her to the floor (away from the broken glass, which was no small feat, considering Reia had scattered it about pretty thoroughly). Cye pushed her against the floor, pinning her with his own weight. "Reia! REIA!"
She gasped, and gave one more token struggle, although her eyes regained a sense of focus. She stared up at Cye, her eyes full of pain, breathing heavily.
"What was that all about?" Cye whispered, his eyes wide with concern and fear for her.
"It's my fault... It's all my fault," Reia whispered back, tears washing away the small spots of blood on her cheeks.
"Reia..." Cye slowly released his grip on her wrists, and tried to ignore the blood from her glass cuts on his hands. "What on Earth are you talking about?"
"What good am I to anyone... what good is my power?! I can't save anybody, only kill! I... I could've killed that monster Trox, but I didn't, and... and I couldn't save my best friend, one of the most important people to me in the whole world!!" She was coming out of her hysterics, now, and she winced with pain.
"Well slicing your arms up by punching a display case isn't exactly the way to go about improving yourself," Cye remarked, not without a touch of sarcasm. "Reia, you know what happened to Lys isn't your fault!"
"But it is..."
He shook his head, and pressed two fingers against her lips to silence her. "Reia. It's me. Would I lie to you?" By now, the sarcasm had left his voice, and it had taken on a tone of utter sincerity. "Listen to me, girl... All of us undertake harsh risks every time we put that armor on... We're all prepared to deal with the pain that comes... I'm certain Lys is no different..."
"How can you just write it off like that?!" Reia gasped. Her hand came up, to slap him, but it paused in mid-air. She looked at her own hand, still blood-streaked, her mouth open and eyes wide with horror.
"I'm not writing it off, far from it! I'm just trying to tell you that I know how much Lys loves you, and I know she'll never blame you for this! So, don't you go blaming yourself, either! You have GOT to be strong for her, understand? You. Have. To!" Cye grabbed her chin, to make sure she didn't look away from him as he spoke, keeping his voice soft, but packing much power behind it. Shouting now would do no good, only more harm. "It will be very painful for a little while... for both of you, in different ways." He flinched, remembering the nights not so long ago when he would wake up screaming from the dreams about things that happened to him when the Dynasty had him prisoner.
How Sage couldn't bear to even leave the house for several weeks, after the wind from the final battle and the ensuing baseball game wore off.
How Kento cried... big, strong Kento, cried-actually cried!-in his sleep...
Cye shook his head, dismissing the painful memories. Many of them were firmly behind some kind of shield that the five of them used their armor powers to create. Cye and his fellow captives could only remember a few things about their imprisonment now, but... he still remembered the painful recovery.
Reia stared at his eyes, as if she could sense the emotion and meaning behind his words... Perhaps she could. In any case, she sniffled, and nodded, slowly. "I just... don't know if I can do it."
"I'll help you," He replied, and kissed her gently on the forehead.
She looked down, at the forgotten coat, tossed on the floor a few feet away. "That'll work fine for Lys... come on... let's bring it to her."
The fire spread through the house at an insanely fast pace. Before Kawai could make it from the living room, through the kitchen to the stairs, everything was awash in a blazing, hot orange light.
She looked up, squinting against the glare and the smoke, trying to make anyone out on the second floor. She spotted Ryo, who was desperately trying to find a way to retrieve Mia and Yulie without getting them hurt.
~ The Wildfire armor protects him from the flames, but it gets so hot that no one can get near him! ~ That was one of the first lessons Kawai had ever learned.
"Ryo!! Please, don't worry about me, just save Yulie!" Mia cried.
"I'm not leaving without either of you, there's got to be a way!!" Ryo shouted back. He sounded like he would become hysterical soon.
Kawai gasped, as the flames seemed to spring to life all around her, under her feet, over her head... the fire seemed to take on a sentient quality, as at came for her... just for her...
~...Flames...fire...smoke... No, please! Not again!!! ~ "MAMA!!!" She screamed, but her voice was lost in the roaring of the fire. ~ Mama and... my little brother... Daddy died fighting that one fire when Tetsuro was just born...~ She doubled over, coughing from the smoke. ~ I have to protect Mama and Tetsuro... I have to! I'll be all alone if they die! ~
She screamed again, as the flames pressed closer around her, heating her armor and burning her. "NO!" Kawai was moving then, by her armor's power alone, it seemed. The fire tried to snatch at her as she leaped towards the second level, her teeth gritted in determination and her hands outstretched. Through the flames, she could see Mia and Yulie-only, to her eyes, it was a woman in her thirties, with long, straight red hair, clutching a young boy with wavey brown hair.
"Please, Armor of Eros!! Give me the strength so I can save them!!" She cried. "CUPID'S WING!!!"
A fiery, burning pain raged through Kawai's body, and she wondered distantly if she'd fallen into the fire. Her vision swam and she nearly blacked out, as the world seemed to pitch upside down and turn around. She clutched at her head, feeling her heartbeat pounding in it, each beat like the blow of a sledgehammer.
And then, all of a sudden, she hit the second floor, at Mia and Yulie's feet. She rolled a little ways and hit a wall, and that seemed to snap her out of her delusions.
"Kawai!" Mia shouted.
Without wasting any time, Kawai gestured with her hands, as a ball of pink energy spread to them. "Teleportation!" She commanded, shooting the energy towards the helpless duo. In a flash of pink light, they were gone.
"Kawai?" Ryo called.
"I teleported them out, Ryo! Now we have to escape!"
It was at that moment the floor underneath their feet finally collapsed. Ryo let out a cry of surprise as he tumbled into the flames below. Kawai just barely managed to teleport herself away from the certain death.
However, she soon discovered she didn't have the strength to get herself all the way outside, and ended up collapsed in the middle of the living room, with the flames very close at her heels.
"Kawai!!"
A figure in light blue armor that shone an eerie shade of green in the fire's light leaped through the flames blocking the doorway. "Kawai!"
Junichi knelt beside the unconscious girl. ~ Thank God, she's alive...~ He easily picked her up, and then raised his trident. The fire had raged too far, too fast, and had an air of magic around it... he knew that despite their best efforts, they wouldn't be able to put this out.
~ But, I have to at least try to get out, ~ He thought, as he pointed the head of the spear at the flames blocking their escape. "SUPER WAVE-"
"It won't do you any good, silly Ronin," A voice taunted.
"Who's there?" Junichi shouted, then ended up coughing. The smoke was getting to him now.
"Tis I, Fiian, of course..." The voice laughed, as a man materialized before Junichi. Slung over his shoulder, unconscious, and wrapped in her own chains, was Lady Kayura.
"Lady Kayura!"
"Where, I can't find her!" Rowen's voice came from off to the side, and the warrior in darker blue appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.
"You guys are probably clever enough to escape this inferno," Fiian laughed, "But there's no way you'll ever put it out until it's satisfied it's hunger. Ta-ta, dear boys, I'm sure we'll be seeing you at Arcane's table very shortly!"
"Kayura!!" Rowen yelled, and tried to move towards Fiian, but at that moment a large section of the ceiling fell, landing with a deafening crash and a great roar of newly bred flames that swallowed up the laughing Dark Ronin and his prize.
In a burst of water and wind, Rowen and Junichi broke through (what used to be) a wall, limping to safety on the cool grass away from the house.
Xanthe, Kento, and Sage were busy keeping the fire from spreading to the trees, and Ryo was seen running from the other end of the house. Mia sat beside Yulie, who laid unconscious on the ground, staring at her burning house with blank eyes. Junichi laid Kawai beside them before sinking to his knees in defeat himself. Rowen joined the effort in keeping the fire from spreading to the forest, doing his best to keep any wind from blowing.
With a sickening groan and a final roar of the flames, the entire house collapsed on itself. Mia shrieked and covered her eyes, just as Ryo reached her, abandoning his armor as he ran so as not to burn anyone.
"Mia..." He began, but paused, uncertain what to say or do.
"My Grandfather's house!!" Mia cried, burying her face in her hands. "My family's legacy!! Everything we had was in there!"
"...Mia..." Ryo whispered, deciding that words weren't the best thing right now, as he folded his arms around her, silently.
The sky above unleashed a torrent of rain, and the flames finally died in an unceremonious hiss. Soon, only steam and smoke came from a pile of black rubble.
The entire group was sprawled or seated on the grass, several yards away, everyone at a loss for words. All was silent but for the hiss and occasional pop from what used to be the house, and Mia's nigh hysterical sobbing.
Finally, Rowen spoke.
"Well... guess we'd better...go get a hotel or something."