The Armor of the Soul

By Dixxy

Chapter Forty-One: Splitting the Jewel

(Cye)

I know that all three of us could feel the power of our armors struggling to free my armor from the talisman, but the power just wasn't enough. Kento and Sage kept trying even after most of the Senshi left (Sara stuck around), but they eventually gave up. I felt insecure about the whole thing, but I understood why they gave up. They must have been straining their powers to get what little progress they were getting done. So we all headed to bed and Sara left.

I couldn't sleep.

Mike had given me a room (as you probably know, his house is huge) with a small balcony on it- a lot of the rooms in his mansion did- and I sat on the banister looking out at the stars. It felt good to be back in the Mortal World, with my friends, and at the start of a somewhat shaky relationship with my father.

Sara had guessed that because of the rather large time lapse since my birth and actually knowing who he was, that we would probably be more like brothers or cousins rather than father and son. That made sense; despite how old he really was, he looked and acted about twenty-one or so, making it look like only five years separated us.

I smiled at the thought of Sara. After everyone else left and Kento and Sage took a break, she stayed behind and the two of us talked for a while. She told me a little about herself and asked me about stuff I liked. We shared a few stories and laughs before she said she had to leave. I hated to see her go.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think it was one of those "love at first sight" things. I think it was more that I enjoyed her company as a friend. And it was nice someone was sharing their feelings on the subject. She was obviously worried about me. I know the other Senshi were as well, but she was more open about it. I just wasn't sure if it was just her personality, her armor, or something else that brought about that.

"Hey, Cye, what's on your mind?"

I turned to see Kento had joined me out the balcony. He looked like he hadn't got much sleep, either. Maybe he sensed my troubles. I smiled as he pulled himself up on the railing. "Nothing much, just. . . you know."

"Yeah, I can't believe Trulpa would stoop THIS low. No, actually I can, scratch that lost thought," said Kento. I laughed. "I was kinda thinking, and I got an idea. My armor, Sage's armor, and your armor are connected, but the pull between those three armors wasn't enough, now was it?"

"No," I said.

"What about Sara's armor?" said Kento.

My eyes widened. "Sara?"

"Torrent of the Senshi. The Ancient did put little links between the armors. So it might be enough to push it over the edge and free you from the spell," said Kento. "Heck, I bet even what's left of Anubis' old powers could help."

I looked down towards the ground. "Yeah, maybe."

"You're still not sure what to think about him being your dad, do you?"

"No, I don't," I said. I looked back at my best friend. "You need to understand I never had any sort of a father figure until I stayed with your family. And you know your dad and I weren't really close."

"He liked you, you just weren't buddy-buddy like I was with him," said Kento. "He did notice you seemed to have a weird disposition around him, though. He knew what you were feeling, growing up fatherless. He didn't have the slightest idea what the hell it was like, but he knew it was there."

"I talked to Sara, and she said that if it were her, she thought that maybe it would feel weird trying to have a parent child relationship," I said. "It's just. . . Trulpa blew all of this on me on my last birthday. I've been so confused since then."

"It'll end up being more of a brotherly thing, I know, but that'll be cool!" said Kento. "If he's more like an older brother, you can talk about getting laid and stuff. I could never go up to my dad and say stuff like that."

My eyes widened. "That had better be an extreme example."

"Well, yeah," said Kento shrugging. "Look, try to get some sleep, okay, dude?"

"Okay," I said. "G'night, Kento."

"Night, Cye. Sweet dreams. Don't go sneaking into mine or else I'll give you hell to pay," said Kento.

I grinned. "Why? Keisha in your dreams?"

Kento blushed at the comment. "Uh. . . whatever gave you that idea?"

"Don't tell me you think I didn't see you two giving each other little looks this afternoon. You like her, don't you?" I said, grinning. "Just admit it, Kento. You think she's cute."

"Well. . . yeah, I guess so," said Kento. "But. . . would it work?"

"Why not?" I said. "This is America. In most western civilizations they try to put racial differences behind them. Just because she's black and you're not shouldn't mean a rat's ass. Now go get some sleep."

"Fine, fine, I will, I will," said Kento. "G'night."

"Night."

~

The following day, Sara came over early so Kento could explain his idea to her, Sage, and my dad. "I say it's worth a try. I'd love to help out in any way I can," said Sara.

"Good, because I don't think Cye likes this much more than we do," said Kento.

"What makes you think I'm pleased with this at all?" I said. I expressively waved my hands over myself. "I look a tornado ran through a really bad costume shop! I can't go out like this or anything!"

"I was trying to make a point, now let's go see if this works!" said Kento, cocking his head to one side. "And don't make me toss you over my shoulder and carry you out there."

I frowned. "I hate it when you do that!" I stood up and followed an already on her way out Sara to the backyard door. Sage and my father were at my heels, Kento standing dumbly in the living room for several seconds before he took off after us.

Once we were in the backyard, Sara closed my hands around the Jewel of Death. She then placed her palms gently around my hands. Sara smiled sweetly at me, secretly making me melt. Sage followed suit, followed by Kento, then Anubis.

"Now, aside from having a big stack of hands, what else do we do?" asked Sage.

"Concentrate?" suggested Kento. "Concentrate on any links that might connect you, your armor, or your soul to Cye. Anything, and try to pry it free from the Jewel of Death." I felt the other begin to concentrate and suddenly, I could feel it begin to happen.

Kento and Sage. I could feel their souls trying to pull my soul free of the Jewel of Death. The three of us were closed because we were all Ronin Warriors. We were also close because of our captivities in both Trulpa and Talpa's complexes. Our souls had been brought closer together by Talpa and linked by Trulpa with the Kaze experiment.

Anubis. Anubis had unknowingly created me one drunken night at a bar. It was his blood running through my veins, his hair growing on my head, my eyes that allowed me to see. Even though there wasn't much between us, I could see a very, very weak parental look of affection coming from him as time wore on. The one whose body mine had come from was trying to free it.

Sara. The Torrent of the Senshi was desperately trying to free its compliment, my Armor of the Torrent. The two armors shared a power source, and in a way, "knew" each other. I could feel Sara's own power trying to help her armor free mine. For someone so small, her power was making quite the difference.

I continued to struggle to pull myself free from its binds, and I could feel it happening. The hot, warm glow between my hands, my friends and father flooding their powers into my, trying to overpower the evil talisman. "It's. . . working. . ." Kento said through gritted teeth. "I. . . can. . . feel. . . it. . ."

BOOM!

"WAHHHHHHH!!!!!"

"AHHHHH!!!!"

"EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"
"SON OF A-"

CRASH! SMACK!

The sudden explosion of power from the Jewel of Death was overwhelming. It sent us all flying in different directions. I saw Sage was in a tree, Anubis was in Mike's tool shed, Sara in Sue Lee's wading pool, and Kento in a wheelbarrow. I was under a tree, looking around to figure out if it worked.

Sara stood up, shaking her head to try and dry off a bit. She walked over to the now blackened grass where we once stood, and reached down. I stood up and walked over. "Did it-"

"Work?" asked Sara. She smiled. "If I had a mirror I'd show you."

"It, it worked?" I asked. Sara took my hand and placed my armor orbe in my palm, the Jewel of Death in her other palm. "And-"

"You have really gorgeous sea green eyes," she said. Sara grinned. "Ya know, you're pretty good looking when you aren't under evil curses."

"Sara, have you been hanging out with Rona too much?" asked Kento. The small Hawaiian turned to look at Kento. "Oh yeah, you should talk, you eavesdropper."

Anubis laughed. "That was your own doing, Kento."

"You saw too?!"

Sage snorted. "Anubis told me about you and Keisha on first base. You'd make a cute couple!"

Kento turned away. "Well, whatever my relationship with Keisha is does not matter. What DOES matter is kicking Trulpa's hide so hard she won't EVER come back."

"Amen to that!" said Sara, just as a blast arose from the distance. "Oh no! Something's happening! We've got to check it out!"