The Armor of the Soul

By Dixxy

Chapter Thirty-Seven: An Unexpected Visit

(Sara)

I couldn't believe it. Trulpa had control over the Child of Destiny. Why hadn't I made the connection when he said "Destiny"? That should've been a dead giveaway! I mean, c'mon, all the insignia from the other armor. . . I felt like such an idiot for not seeing it.

We went back to tell Mike and Cara the latest development. Anubis went straight to his room and refused to see anyone. "He's depressed," said Cara. "He must be going through some incredible guilt."

"When he was still a Warlord, he fought us. At the very beginning he helped strike some very powerful blows against us. He must feel absolutely awful about trying to kill his own son," said Sage. He looked down at his lap and shook his head.

"I still can't believe Cye and Anubis are related like that," said Kento. The young seer had a somber look of shock on his face as he spoke the words. Keisha sat next to him, quietly taking his hand and squeezing it. Whether or not he acknowledged it is something I don't know. "I mean, wow."

Ria looked towards the stairs. "It looks like Anubis is going to be out of action until he gets himself together. It's too dangerous to have him out on the field in his current state. He could get hurt or something," she said.

"How could he get hurt?" I asked.

"He's going to refuse to defend against or attack Cye," said Kento, immediately understanding what Ria was talking about. . "I agree with Ria's statement. Give him a few days, then we'll get him back into it."

Sam sighed, crossing her legs. "So, how are we going to free him?" she said. "It can't be as simple as Kaze, that's for sure."

"That was SIMPLE!?" said Keisha. "We nearly got killed!"

"Okay, well, it might end up being simple compared to what we'll end up doing," said Rona. She leaned back into the couch, taking on a thoughtful look. "I'm going to guess that we try a similar strategy. I have one in mind."

"Well let it loose!" said Kento. He smiled. "We're all nose."

"You mean all ears," said Sage. A few of us giggled as Kento turned bright red. Sage seemed mildly embarrassed as well. "Sorry, as you might've guessed his English isn't that great. . ."

Kento sighed. "It's not like I don't try!"

"Well, why doesn't Sara try sending Cye some of her powers so he could get a grip on it and try to take control back? Something like that could possibly blow up the Jewel of Death, destroying it," said Rona, changing the subject.

"Maybe, but we don't know what Trulpa did with that thing. She could have done some sort of a weird soul-mixing thing, so we can't do something that abrupt," said Sage. "First we need to figure out how she's controlling him."

Ria sighed. "Let's all sleep on it. Go home, get a good nights sleep and get back here tomorrow morning," she said. We all nodded and said our good nights before about half of us actually left.

~

That night I was almost scared to go to sleep. I was bothered by what had happened, and I wasn't sure how I was going to sleep. We were up against something very, very dangerous that none of us understood.

"Sara?"

I looked over to see my little sister, Emily, had come into my room. She crawled up onto my bed and sat at the foot. I stared at her almost emptily. "Emily, it's late, you should be in bed."

"You're bothered by what happened to your partner in arms," she said. Emily smiled, her young naiveté reminding me of what I once was . "Don't worry, you'll rescue him and then you'll both fall in love with each other like Sam and Keisha did with their partners in arms. And then you'll all go and get married and have lots of kids and-"

I blushed, holding my hands up and laughing slightly. "Emily, we don't know that happened, and we don't know that WILL happen," I said. "I know that Sam and Keisha both have very nice friendships with Sage and Kento but I don't know about love." Then again, Kento and Keisha DID kiss. . .

"I know they did. They way they act around each other is obvious," she said (Emily had seen Sage and Kento when she and Trevor had gone to tell me something at one of our meetings). "It's little flirting."

I lowered my eyes and head. "Well, whatever, I gotta sleep."

"Got you some steamy milk," said Emily. I smiled. Steamy milk was a favorite of mine and Emily's. We put milk in the microwave for a few minutes and it comes out really hot. Mom always got mad because she thought we'd burn ourselves, but we never did, and besides, it worked better than warm milk.

"Thanks," I said. "G'night."

"G'night."

~

Once I was asleep, I found myself in a dream. But it wasn't like any dream I'd ever had before. In my dream, I wore a short blue kimono that barely reached my knees. My feet were bare, but it didn't matter since the ground was soft sand without any rocks or cracked shells. Off to one side was a lush tropical forest, a raging ocean on the other side. Where was I?

"Sara."

I turned and gasped. There, standing before me was Cye of the Torrent. I took a defensive position, then relaxed as I realized he was. . . normal. His hair didn't have the blue and yellow streaks in it, nor were his eyes red. Instead, he had just soft, auburn locks and deep aquamarine eyes. Wow. . . he is gorgeous. . . I thought. I shook my head. Time to ask some questions. "Where are we?"

"I, I'm sorry, I'm not sure how I got here, either," he said shyly.

"I think we're in my dream."

Cye blushed. "Oh." He cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "But, but how is that possible?"

"Does that really matter? Your friends, your. . . father. . . they're all worried about you. Anubis is a wreck!" I said, waving my arms around. "He won't even come out of his room he feels so awful over this.

Cye lowered his head and began to draw circles in the sand with his food. He sighed heavily, looking rather somber and sad. "I, I know, but I can't even struggle against it," he said. "Nothing's worked."

"But why?" I asked, folding my arms as I walked closer to him. Cye looked up at me, blinking his eyes in slight confusion. "I thought the Child of Destiny was supposed to have a lot of power."

Cye sighed heavily. "I know, but I don't know how to work it, plus, Trulpa did something and had the Jewel of Death absorb my armor orbe. Even when she takes the Jewel of Death off and I'm in control of my body, I'm still cursed," he said. Then he looked at me, laughing lightly. "Uh, I guess we never met properly."

"I'm Sara, Torrent of the Senshi," I said, smiling.

"I'm Cye of the Torrent," he said, blushing. I giggled and placed a hand on his cheek. "I feel awful about this."

"It's not your fault," I said. "You can't choose your parents and you can't choose to be born. And about being controlled, Trulpa's a manipulating witch."

"Tell me about it," he said.

I frowned. "Look, what else can you tell me about how Trulpa's controlling you? The more we know the better of a chance we'll have of freeing you."

Cye told me he didn't know anymore. "Why are you all so determined to free me?" he asked.

"Well, we accept you as allies," I said. "Kento and Sage are both really nice guys, and since you're their friend, that makes you our friend, too."

"Right now I'm not," he said miserably.

"You're not the enemy. The Jewel of Death is, and that's what we're fighting. Once we figure out how to separate your armor from that wretched talisman, we'll destroy it or hide it someplace where Trulpa will never find it again. Get it beyond her reaches," I said. "I'm glad you came to me. Now I know what the real Cye is like."

He blushed shyly. "I don't know. . ."

I laughed. "Just try to stay strong. We don't want to free an empty shell," I said. Cye's face paled. "Don't worry, we won't let that happen."

"How do I know that?" he said.

"This is a promise," I said, giving him a small kiss on the cheek. Cye turned bright red and I laughed before I felt myself slip away-

~

"Senshi or not, you got chores, Sara," said the voice of my ever irritating brother, Trevor. I poked my head out of the covers, glared at him, and smacked him with my pillow. "Hey!"

"Trust me," I said, standing up. "You SOOO deserved that."

"What did I do!?" he said.

"I was having a conversation with my partner in arms and YOU woke me up! He was CUTE!" I said. "You're SOOOOO dead, Trevor!"