Cye and Kento could still hear Zephyr screaming behind them but they did their best to ignore the blood-curdling cries. They had other things to take care of. For the past five minutes, they'd been trying to locate Ryo and Rowen but Wildfire and Strata seemed to have moved to another area during the battle.
"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM, YOU DAMN BASTARDS!!!"
They froze in their tracks. Kento looked at Cye. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"
Cye nodded. "If you're thinking: that must be Ryo, yup, I am."
Without another word, the two ran in the direction of the enraged scream's origin. It wasn't long before they heard the sounds of battle. Suddenly, they were standing in the middle of a charred, devastated landscape that had once been a heavily wooded area. Everything for a quarter of a mile before them within a twenty-yard radius was burned and hardly anything was left but blackened ground and ashes.
"Whoa…I mean, like, whoa."
"You said it, Kento. Now, tell me, where have we seen this before?"
"Ryo."
"Correct."
They continued running and started to shout frequently. There was a rise, with a three-foot cut through it, the sides of the cut also burned, a ways ahead of them and from beyond it came a clang and clash of metal against metal, accompanied by a strange hair-raising sound resembling the scream and growl of an animal.
"Ryo, Rowen! Where are you?!" Cye shouted.
"Yo, Ryo! Rowen! You guys okay?!" Kento bellowed with his hands cupped around his mouth.
"YOU'RE GONNA PAY! YOU HEAR ME?! THIS ISN'T OVER! YOU'LL PAY!!!"
They looked at each other and said as one, "Ryo."
"Definitely," Kento confirmed.
They topped the rise and nearly tripped over several empty husk-armors. Rowen's arrows were sunk in the chest-plates. Several pieces of debris from some destroyed miscellaneous object were scattered amidst the armors.
"Must've been some sort of weapon, I suppose," Cye assumed.
"Forget your supposing, Cye. I found Ryo," Kento said.
"Where?"
Kento pointed down into the woods where they could see a blur of red, black, and green. In one motion, Cye and Kento ran down the rise towards the blur. Cye's brain was reasoning out what had happened.
Okay. Obviously, Ryo used his flare up attack here. He must have been on the side of the rise we came out on. When he fired the attack it hit the rise, cut through it, and was concentrated in the trench made by the cut. That would explain why the burned area is down to a three-foot width. Question is, what's making Ryo so angry and where's Rowen?
"ROWEN!!!"
Cye looked up. Ryo stood with his back to them, looking up at the darkening sky. He screamed Rowen's name to the heavens over and over, oblivious to their presence.
Kento stepped in front of Ryo, grasped his shoulders, and gave him a good shake. "Ryo! Ryo, buddy, what's wrong? Where's Rowen?"
Ryo jerked away from him and whirled around, knocking into Cye. Cye kept his balance but Ryo lost his and he fell to the ground on his butt—an uncomfortable position in full Wildfire armor. Ryo sat there with a blank look for a moment, and then he reached up and yanked his helmet off and threw it aside, wrapped his arms around his legs, put his head down on his knees, and started crying. He rocked back and forth, allowing the painful, angry sobs to rack his body and be ripped from his throat.
Cye knelt beside him. He put his hand on Ryo's shoulder and asked gently, "Ryo, where's Rowen?"
Ryo didn't look up but, as he rocked back and forth, back and forth, he moaned, "They took him. First, they tricked me into nearly killing him and then they took him!"
"Whadda ya mean 'they took him'?" Kento asked. "Who? And whadda ya mean you nearly killed him?"
"Just that. They tricked me and I nearly killed Rowen. Then they took him."
"Who, Ryo? Who took him?" Cye questioned.
"Those soldiers and…"
"And?" Kento prodded.
"Dais."
* * * * *
Zephyr had stopped screaming. No more new wounds appeared and she'd regained control of her shape-shifting. She just lay there, curled into a tight fetal position, eyes shut tight, mumbling in ancient Greek. The soldiers had also vanished and so Sage had rejoined the others at her side. White Blaze had bounded off after Cye and Kento the moment the soldiers had disappeared, in search of Ryo.
Dice and Danji had given up trying to help the elemental and Mia wouldn't allow Sage to use Halo, fearing he'd overdo it again. So Zephyr remained in a fetal curl, mumbling her native language to herself, multiple wounds spread over her body, each one looking as if it should be fatal and none doing anything but causing her extreme suffering and pain. Occasionally, she moaned or let a small cry of pain escape her but mostly she made no sound beyond her mumbling.
"Zee? Can you still feel Rowen? Zephyr?" Sage asked, speaking quietly, close to her ear.
Yes. He is alive, but he is in so much pain, Zephyr answered him telepathically.
He was surprised at first, then remembered the night on the balcony, when Rowen had explained that she'd done something to his and Sage's link. Therefore, she could speak to him through telepathy, apparently.
Still in a
gentle voice, but mentally now, he asked, Are you gonna be okay?
I am not
sure, Lord Korin—
It's
Sage, he insisted. Call me Sage.
Sage. My injuries are reflections of my Lord
Tenku's—
Rowen. You might as well call us by our names. We're not superior to you, he told her. In fact, you're superior to us in a lotta
ways. Besides, we wanna be your friends
and it's a little hard when you keep calling us lords.
Rowen,
then, is obviously injured grievously. The wounds of my form appear fatal. That would mean—
That
Rowen may die soon.
Unfortunately, that is correct.
"Oh, man," he said aloud.
"What?" Mia asked. She no longer thought it strange when the Ronins said something out of place. There seemed to be a lot of telepathy going around. She knew, now, that an inapt comment was probably associated with a telepathic conversation.
"Zee says that since her injuries appear fatal…" he trailed off.
"That Rowen's are, too?"
"Yeah."
The girl stood up and spoke. "Hey, who's this Rowen you keep talkin' about, who's Zee, and who the hell are all of you? And more importantly, why does that tiger hang around here?"
Mia looked at the girl. "Well, for a starters, I'm Mia Koji, and the tiger's name is White Blaze. He's Ryo's pet."
"Ryo?"
"You'll meet him later."
"Fine by me. Who're the rest of ya?"
Sage, busy trying to make Zephyr as comfortable as possible, muttered absently, "Sage Date."
The girl motioned at Zephyr. "Who's she?"
Sage answered for her. "This is Zephyr. She has no last name, and we call her Zee."
Danji said, "I'm Danji Kajtim."
The girl looked at his white doctor's jacket, which by now was so ripped and stained there was no way it could be used again, and said, "You're a doctor, right?"
"Yup."
"Whadda 'bout you?" the girl asked Dice, who was sitting quietly beside Danji, her fingers fidgeting in her lap. She looked up, startled.
"Me?"
"Yes, you. Who else?"
"I'm Dice. Well, actually, my name's Gaea…but, please, don't call me that. Everyone calls me Dice. Dice Salem. I work at the hospital, too."
"Dice? That's a cool name," the girl commented. "Where'd ya get it?"
"Uh…I'm really not sure."
"According to a man known as Hesiod, who knew much of the Greek culture but renamed many of the native Greek gods and goddesses, Dice was the name of Justice," Zephyr said. She'd opened her eyes but was still in that fetal curl. Her head was in Sage's lap and he'd armored down for her comfort.
"It was?" Dice asked with a surprised, pleased expression.
"Yes. It is, indeed, a beautiful name. Appropriate, too."
Sage looked down at Zephyr, brushed a silvery lock away from her face, and asked, "What do you mean 'appropriate'?"
"Also, Gaea was the name of the goddess of earth, also known as 'Mother Earth' in my ancient homeland's religion," Zephyr said, elusively.
"So?"
"Do you recall when I mentioned that there was a third elemental in the area?"
"Yeeesss," Sage said suspiciously.
"Well, it appears that Gaea "Dice" Salem may be the elemental sister of Lord Kon—Kento."
"You mean—?"
"She is the earth elemental."
* * * * *
"You did well, Lumen."
"Thank you, sir."
Lumen stood before the dark, black, inky pool of oil-like liquid. He kept his eyes downcast, not daring to look directly at the liquid.
Cautiously, he asked, "Sir?"
"What?"
"May I please leave this body, sir?" Lumen shifted uncomfortably.
"You might as well. Make sure it is locked away before you return. We have matters, important matters, to discuss."
"Yes, sir." Lumen continued to stand there uncertainly.
"Well? Go!"
"Yes, sir!" Giving a low bow to the liquid, Lumen quickly left the room. He carefully closed the massive black obsidian double doors behind him and then ran down the black stone-masonry corridor.
"These human bodies are disgusting! If I never use one ever again, it'll be too soon," he complained as he rounded a corner and flew down a flight of stairs.
At the bottom of the stairs was a heavy cast iron door with a metal grate covering the porthole. Lumen rapped at the door.
The guard on the other side of the door said, "Authorization required."
"Lumen. 4762. Open the door before I have you executed."
"Y-yes, sir," the guard stuttered as he unlocked the door and held it open for his superior. "I-I'm sorry, sir."
"That's okay. You're just doing your job, and a fine one you're doing, too," Lumen said and gave the guard a hurried pat on the back.
"Th-thank you, sir."
Lumen continued down the dreary corridor, unaware that behind him the guard breathed a heavy sigh of relief and let his shoulders sag. Lumen ran around a corner and stood in a pitch-dark hall. More heavy cast iron doors with metal grates for windows were lined up along both walls and the corridor came to a dead end. He finally slowed to a walk and came to the fifth door on the left.
Stepping inside, he stood in the center of the dark cell, closed his eyes, and murmured a quick incantation. A few seconds later, an ice-white vapor seeped out of his body and the body crumpled to the floor. The vapor solidified into a being resembling a human but with glistening, ebony skin, similar to obsidian, glass-like black hair, and vivid, neon purple eyes.
Lumen, back in his own form, looked down at the human body and gave it a half-hearted kick in the side. The human had long grayish-white hair and wore a black eye-patch. Lumen hadn't enjoyed his stay in it at all. He would have preferred to carry out his mission using his own form but his master had ordered him to use this disgusting specimen.
"You're a truly nauseating creature, y'know that?" Lumen said and gave the human another kick. Then he picked it up, threw it into the far wall where the shackles were chained to the wall, and a few seconds later, he left the cell corridor and headed back to the pool room. A guard looked in and smirked at the battered human prisoner, shackled to the wall.
The human's response was to spit at the metal grate and the guard's face and say, "Bastard."
The guard's response was to unlock the door and step inside. Another guard down the hall looked up at the sounds of a beating, a heavy barrage of merciless pounding, and smirked. "You go, man!" he called to his comrade. "Show that human who's boss 'round here."
"Whadda ya think I'm doin'?" the other guard called back with a laugh. The sounds of the beating continued.
After a good ten minutes, the guard exited the human's cell and joined his fellow sentry where he was drinking a bottle of whiskey and eating something that resembled food. It wasn't long before they were immersed in dumb jokes and stories and whiskey.
* * * * *
"How long did you say we've been here?"
"Twelve days, eleven hours, forty-seven minutes, and…twenty-one seconds."
"You're kidding, right, Sek?"
"Sorry, Kayura, but no."
She exploded. "That's ridiculous!! Why, in the name of hell, are we being held here?! What's going on?!"
"Oh, boy. Here we go again," Cale said and buried his face in his hands with a groan.
"Yeah, well, she's not half as bad as you were," Sekhmet said.
"I know, I know. You've already told me. Besides you're the worst."
Kayura lunged at a wall and set to pummeling her fists into it with screams of complete rage. At the sight of this, Cale and Sekhmet jumped forward to hold her back and keep her from hurting herself.
Events such as this had been occurring more and more frequently over the past seven days. Just yesterday, Cale had been the one to go ballistic. It had taken nearly an hour of keeping him pinned to the floor for Sekhmet and Kayura to calm him. Two days before that, Sekhmet had blown up and he'd been rather psychotic for nearly five hours.
Basically, the three of them were suffering a serious case of cabin fever, confusion, pent-up anger, and today another crisis had been added to their mounting stock-pile of problems. That morning there had been not three of them but four. Dais had been taken away and they hadn't seen or heard from him or anything of him since then.
Kayura continued to scream and try to rip the walls down. After five minutes of struggling against her companions, she gave up and slumped against them. She was still furious but realized the pointlessness of beating up a wall. She should conserve her energy and wrath for better uses.
"How long's Dais been gone now?" she asked Sekhmet. He had a remarkable sense of time and memory of the precise time of events. Plus, he was the only one out of them whose timepiece was still working.
"Uh…" he glanced at his new watch. "Nine hours, seventeen minutes, and eleven seconds."
"Wonder what they did with him," Cale speculated, rubbing his forehead. He had a seriously bad headache. "Does anyone know what I did to my head?"
Sekhmet snickered and Kayura smirked. "Well, Cale," she said. "Yesterday, you decided to practice for a punk rock try-out and so you used the wall for a prop, and welllll…"
"No wonder my head's ringing like somebody rang a church bell two inches from my ear."
"Yeah, and you got quite a large bruise painting your forehead, buddy," Sekhmet said with a laugh.
"Thanks for telling me."
"Sure thing. Anytime, bud."
"You can shut up now," Cale told the green-haired Warlord.
"Sure thing. Anytime, bud."
"Shut up, Sek."
"Sure thing. Anytime, bud."
Kayura joined Cale, this time. In unison they shouted at their comrade, "SHUT UP, SEKHMET!!!"
"Sorry. I'm just so bored. And they're doing who knows what to Dais."
They relented at his sincere expression of concern. "We know," Cale said. "I'd love to know just what's going on, too. Like: who's in charge around here, why we've been captured, what's happening outside this cage."
"There is a little detail we haven't considered, yet," Kayura mentioned.
"What?" her companions asked.
"The Ronins."
"Whadda ya mean?" Sekhmet asked.
"Well, either, one: this has to do with them. And/or two: we could try to get their help."
"How would we do that?" Cale asked sarcastically. "They took any means of communication possible from us, including your staff."
"Don't remind me," she said with a dejected sigh. She really missed the feel of the staff's shaft in her hand. Every morning since she'd been here, she'd woken up and automatically reached out for it, only to find herself grasping thin air.
"So, now what?" Sekhmet asked.
Kayura asked the only questions that always had a new answer and the ones that had become the most popular amongst them. "What time is it? How long have we been here?"
"Umm…it is 8:13 p.m. mortal time and we have now been in this miserable hellhole for thirteen days, seven minutes, and two seconds."
"Thirteen days…" Cale trailed off.
"Nearly two weeks…" said Kayura, also trailing off.
"Seems like it's been years…" Sekhmet commented and let the statement hang.
Cale and Kayura spoke together, each knowing what the other was about to say, for it had been said every night for eleven days. "Or eternity."
Kayura sighed and said, "C'mon, guys. Let's get some shut-eye."
She picked up a raggedy excuse for a blanket off the floor and curled up in the corner of the shelf-like thing that was supposed to be a bed. The others did the same but, since there was only one shelf/bed in the cell, they sat propped against the wall, wrapping themselves in their cloaks. Kayura could hear them moving, trying vainly to find a comfortable position. She sighed in sympathy.
"Hey, guys?"
"Yeah?"
"Wha'?"
"You wanna come up here with me? Our combined body heat would probably make it a little less miserable tonight."
They jumped at the offer. A few seconds later, the three of them were curled up side by side in the cramped space. Despite the confined quarters, they were far more comfortable with the shared body heat and each other's companionship than their previous sleeping arrangements.
Only three and a half minutes after the last time update, the three were sound asleep.
* * * * *
"C'mon, Ryo, let's get back to the others." Cye helped Ryo stand up and patted his friend's back. "Don't worry. We'll get Rowen back."
Ryo didn't answer but came along with them. Kento and Cye exchanged worried, uncertain glances. Both wanted to truly reassure their unofficial leader of the certainty of Rowen's safety and return, but both knew any statement along those lines would likely be a lie and would encourage false hope.
At times, especially after the time he and Rowen had been the only Ronins left, Rowen had been Ryo's best friend. Often, Ryo thought of Rowen as his second-in-command. Ryo could remember several times the two of them had sat up late into the night just talking, neither wanting to go to bed, thanks to nightmares. When Ryo wanted to run headfirst into something or got a spur-of-the-moment idea, Rowen forced him to think things through with his cool logic, something that kept Ryo out of trouble and often consequently saved Rowen's butt in the long run. When Ryo thought of Rowen, the first word that came to mind was: Sacrifices. He was always sacrificing himself for me or someone else. That's what Ro lives for. Sacrifices.
Cye couldn't help thinking of Rowen's last cooking attempt. The kitchen had been a hazard zone for two weeks. Cye had promised to give him cooking lessons on some of the simplest, most basic recipes possible and Rowen had thanked him but neither ever mentioned it, both believing that everyone was better off if Rowen stayed out of the kitchen. Rowen didn't mind the teasing over his failed cooking and even laughed sometimes over it. Cye already missed that laugh and the sheepish crooked grin.
Kento took off his helmet and pretended to be wiping sweat from his brow. In reality, he was removing his headband, careful to keep it out of his comrades' sight. He looked at it and traced the imprinted design on the front. The thin, gold band had been a gift…from Rowen.
Unlike the other Ronins, Kento and Rowen had grown up together. Rowen's grandfather owned a shrine Kento had been staying at as a foreign student when they were both very young. They'd become very good friends. Kento probably knew more things about Rowen than Sage did. The two still shared mischief and secrets.
When Rowen had given him the headband, Kento had nearly crushed the smaller boy in a bear hug. He knew Rowen couldn't afford things like that. He'd found out that Rowen had been working at his father's lab for more than a year to earn the money for the gift. Kento never took it off, not even when he slept. Rowen was his second best friend, after Cye, and they often felt like brothers. "We're brains and brawn," Rowen joked. With Rowen's wits and Kento's muscle, the two were an unbeatable duo through childhood. I miss him already. He's been gone no more than five minutes and I miss him like hell.
The three trudged along dejectedly until they reached the clearing. The soldiers were all gone without a trace. Kento mumbled absently, "Must've gotten what they came for."
Ryo just hung his head in misery. Forget all his past feelings of guilt; he was currently on a guilt trip to top them all. Cye and Kento guided him over to the others, where Sage was seated with Zephyr's head cradled in his lap. The strange, blue-haired girl was standing over the group, and everyone was looking at Dice.
As the three of them armored down and seated themselves on the ground with the rest, Cye asked, "Hey, what's up?"
Sage smirked and turned to Kento, "Well, Kento, you have a large family, right?"
"Yeah. So?"
"It just got a little bigger."
"Huh?" Kento looked around in total confusion.
Dice gave him a nervous grin. "She," she pointed at Zephyr, "says that I'm your elemental sister, the earth elemental."
Kento just scrunched up his face in perplexity and then laughed. "I knew that I knew you somehow!"
She gave him an odd look and then started laughing, too. "You know what else? My hair matches your armor. See?" She pulled at her orangish lock of hair.
Kento scratched his head. "Huh! Whadda ya know? It does!"
Zephyr was looking at Dice's lock with a thoughtful expression. "That is something I had not noticed before," she said.
"What?" asked Sage.
In reply, she pulled a lock of hair out from behind her ear, where it was kept tucked away. It was as long as the rest of her hair, but it was braided and a deep, dark blue, the same color as Rowen's armor of Strata.
"Oh," was the only thing Sage could think of to say.
"Guys?" Ryo began tensely.
Cye and Kento exchanged looks again and hung their heads, knowing what was about to be said. Cye said, "We have some bad news."
Sage noticed something and had a sudden feeling of dread in his gut. "Where's Rowen?" he asked slowly, afraid to hear the answer.
Ryo looked at his hands in his lap. "Dais and the soldiers got him."
Zephyr wasn't looking at him—she couldn't since she was still curled up on the ground and he was seated behind her—but said with a wavering voice, "It was not your fault, Lord Rek—Ryo. Rowen knows that. He wants you to be strong for him, not to feel guilty."
"How do you know that?"
"I am his soul-sister, remember? Sometimes, I feel what he feels. He will not stop fighting. You must not, either." Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and allowed a solitary tear to slip down her cheek. Even immortals, spirits in earthly guise, could cry.
Sage saw the tear and wiped it
away, pretending to be brushing some of the forever dancing silver hair away
from the wind elemental's eyes. It'll
be okay, Zee, he thought to her. It's
gonna be okay. Everything'll be
alright.
I am going to lose him. I can feel him fading even now, she cried to Sage mentally. They do not care about what happens to him. They wish to be rid of me. They know that if they kill him, I will become inexistent. Why can they not just leave him be? He is in so much pain. Why must they do this to him? Why? Even telepathically, he could hear her crying.
The tears trekked silently down her face now. No one else had noticed, thankfully. She made no sound so no one would realize she was crying unless they looked at her face. Her hair made that an unlikely scenario, as it was dancing about her face as if to knowingly conceal the tears. Sage was the only one who knew she was crying and had the feeling she didn't wish anyone else to.
Who, Zee? Who's doing this? Who's 'they'? he asked gently.
I do not know. Rowen does not know of a specific identity and I am drawing from his knowledge. So, I do not know. If I did,…I would kill them. It would be a slow, painful death, too. Her mental voice was filled with deadly intent.
She was smiling. Agreed, as long as Ryo gets to go right after me. He deserves it.
Okay. Hey, do you think you can sit up, now? I'm getting a cramp in my leg, he said sheepishly.
She laughed telepathically. I will try.
She slowly uncurled herself and began to rise into a sitting position. She was doing okay, until she put some weight on the calves of her legs. She gave a small cry and fell back. Sage caught her and said, "Maybe standing's not such a good idea. Can you shape-shift?"
"I am afraid not. As long as Rowen is injured so, my abilities are limited unless I make contact with him again."
"How 'bout Kento carries you?" Sage suggested.
"Sure," Kento said. "I can do that. But…uh…where're we gonna go, tonight. It's already dark and Mia says we can't go home."
Mia admitted desolately, "We can't go to any of you guys' houses either; the reporters have probably found out your addresses already. We can't go to Danji's house; they know he was one of the doctors in attendance during White Blaze's entrance. We can't even go to Dice's place for the same reasons. And I don't want to go to Yuli's. We can't entreat on his parents and I don't want to bring that amount of chaos into their lives. All in all, we pretty much have no place to go tonight."
The girl frowned and began, "Umm…I'm not sure what exactly you're all talkin' 'bout but…uh…I guess you can come with me."
Cye smiled at her. "That's nice of you. Thanks."
She grinned at him. "Sure. Glad to help, bro."
Kento burst out, "But we don't even know your name!"
She blinked at him. "Oh, yeah! I'm Rip."
"Do ya have a last name?" Kento pried.
"Umm…it's kinda a mouthful."
"Try me."
"Well…my real and full name's Marina Kahanamoku. But don't ya dare call me Marina. I hate that; it's so…girly. I go by Rip. Got it?"
"Got it. Why Rip?" Kento asked.
"Cuz I'm a surfer. I'm always goin' out to sea, like the rip tide, so my friends call me Rip." Saying this reminded her of something. "Oh, man, where's my board?!"
"What board?"
Cye answered for her. "The surfboard she had back there. I left it when I carried her."
She looked a little panicky. "I gotta get it. Now!"
Cye gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry, I was in a bit of a hurry. I didn't know exactly where I was or which way the clearing was so I can't go back to where the board is."
"But I have to get it!"
Ryo stood up and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, chill. I saw something back there and I just bet it was your board. I can take you back for it."
She gave him a look of extreme gratefulness. "Thank you sooo much, man! Who're you?" she asked bluntly.
"Ryo Sanada."
"The tiger boy, right?" He nodded. " 'Kay, Ryo. Let's go get my board!" She grabbed his forearm and yanked him away from the group.
Looking over his shoulder, he called to the others, "Uh…guess I'll be back in a sec." Then he guided her in the direction of where he'd seen her surfboard.
Everyone looked at Cye now. He braced himself for the onslaught of questions he knew had to be coming. He started to open his mouth to say something, but…
"Where'd you meet her?"
"Where'd she come from?"
"Where'd you go earlier?"
"What happened to her shoulder?"
"How—"
He brought a halt to the questions by clamping his hands over his ears. They took the cue for silence and shut up. "Okay," he said. "Mia, I met her back there in the woods when she jumped out of a tree and she took a spear in her shoulder for me, Sage. Dice, I don't know where she came from. Kento, I left to find whatever was giving me that feeling I told you about and it just so happened to be her."
Mia decided to bring things to a more serious topic. "Alright, we now have three elementals. We've got Zee, Rowen's elemental sister, Dice, Kento's, and Rip, Cye's. I'm assuming that Sage and Ryo probably have elemental sisters, too. Am I right, Zee?"
"You are correct."
"Now, is it important that we find these other two or what?"
Zephyr took a deep breath. "I believe that it may be vital. I have learned that only yesterday, a husk soldier was responsible for the abrupt return of Rowen's disease. This was an attempt to kill him without the event seeming unnatural so that you would not suspect anything. That way, you would be unprepared for their first attack. If he had died, I would not exist any longer. They cannot capture me due to the fact that I am a soul, not mortal. They did not wish me to join you as an ally since I am the most powerful of the five elementals as a pure elemental. I believe that the sooner we have all five elementals in our midst, the better."
Ryo and Rip had just returned, Rip with her surfboard safely under her arm. Now, Ryo leapt forward with a question. "You mean, they tricked me into nearly killing Rowen to try and get rid of you? That's why they took him?"
Zephyr looked at him sadly. "Yes."
Ryo seemed to notice her legs for the first time. "Oh, man! Is that…is that—"
"It is a reflection of the wounds inflicted upon my brother."
"Aw, jeez, Zee. I'm so sorry," he said, feeling guilty all over again.
"Do not fear for me. I fear for Rowen. He is not in good hands."
Mia had been thinking since Zephyr's earlier statement about the elementals. Abruptly, she jumped up. "Zee, you said you were a soul, not mortal, right?" she asked excitedly.
"Correct."
Mia clapped her hands together. "I remember that poem! The one about the elementals that I wanted to look for in Grandfather's files!"
"Okay," Kento said. "So? Ya gonna tell it to us or not?"
Mia beamed at them and began to recite.
"Four in
flesh, one in soul,
Elements
of spirit hold.
One,
wild and untamed,
Afraid
to trust, riding waves.
Another,
strong and kind,
Working
for the young, tilling earth in spare time.
A third,
pure and wise,
Flying
everywhere at once, starlight dancing in her eyes.
The
next, radiant and loud,
Loving
life down under, shining proud.
The
last, a leader, singing-prone,
Stays out West, running home."
Silence engulfed the group. Dice spoke first. "Well, I know the matches for three parts of the poem. Rip's the first, since she's a surfer, 'riding waves'. The second is me. I work in the children's wing at the hospital, 'working for the young', and I like to do gardening when I have spare time. The third would be Zee. She is a pure elemental, she's wise, that's obvious, and when she's in wind form, she can fly everywhere at once."
"And, it seems as if there is starlight dancing in her eyes," added Sage. He honestly thought her eyes were completely captivating in their beauty.
Mia was still beaming, practically giddy with herself for remembering the poem. "Now, we simply need to find the light/spirit elemental and the fire elemental."
"How do we do that?" Kento asked.
"Hey, hate to break up the party," Rip interrupted, "but it'd probably be smarter if we continued this little pow-wow back at my place. It looks like it's gonna rain. So let's get going, 'kay?" Without waiting for an answer, she stood and started walking.
Everyone followed. Kento picked up Zephyr to carry her. To his surprise, and everyone else's, she fell asleep within a few seconds. "Maybe Rowen decided to take a nap," he joked with a laugh. Danji, Cye, and Dice laughed too, and Mia, Sage, and Ryo smiled. To Ryo, a little smile felt good, if not futile, at the moment. However, with Rowen's crooked grin missing from the picture, Ryo found his own smile rather short-lived.
Rip led them out of the park, headed towards downtown. Not wanting to attract too much attention, the group decided to hail a couple taxis. Rip, Cye, Mia, and Danji took the first one and Sage, Zephyr, Kento, and Dice took the second one, ordering it to follow the one Rip was in. Ryo boarded White Blaze's back and they took to the rooftops, not wanting to cause a commotion over Blaze. A quarter of an hour later, the group was standing in the lobby of one of the ritziest hotels in the area. Ryo had told White Blaze to wait outside and he'd whistle for him once they were inside so the tiger could come in through a window.
Rip was talking to the maître d'hôtel and explaining the presence of the eight people standing uncertainly behind her. He must have complained because she turned to them and said, "Just a sec."
Then she spoke to the maître d' and the two went into a side office. Some yelling was heard and a while later, Rip returned with a now sheepish looking maître d' in tow. She spoke, with an official voice edged with annoyance, to him.
"Now, if you have any further protests about my friends staying with me, either this will cover it," she produced a slip of paper and handed it to the man, "or you may further consult the matter with me. Moreover, to tell the truth, should you choose to complain any more, I will be very unhappy and most likely take my business elsewhere. Understood?"
The man nodded, eager to please.
"Oh, and another thing," Rip said. "I don't want room service cleaning up until after I've left. Is that clear?"
The poor fellow just nodded again and swallowed. Rip gave him a saccharine sweet smile and said to the others, "C'mon guys. Let's go up to my suite."
Kento, still carrying Zee, who was now covered in Cye's new blue suede jacket, to avoid questions over her appearance, stammered, "S-s-suite?!"
Rip, with an arm resting on Cye's shoulders, turned to him with a mischievous smile. "Yup. I've got the Royalty Suite on the third floor. I call it the Sweet Suite. Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a Jacuzzi, hot tub, balcony, and big screen TV. Oh, and of course, the Playstation, Dreamcast, and the N64."
Ryo's eyes lit up at the thought of video games.
"No wonder ya call it Sweet. Does it have a kitchen?" Kento asked.
"Fully stocked. You hungry?"
"Uh…um…yeah."
"Me too," she said. "I feel like five scoops of chocolate ice cream, three vanilla, and seven rocky road, with the works. How 'bout you?" She was very serious.
Kento's grin was wide enough to stretch off his face, having possibly found a fellow bottomless pit. "Oh, yeah!"
Rip's smile was just as big. "Great! C'mon! What kinda pizza do you like? I can order up to ten pizzas a night."
"Rip, I think you might be my new best friend," Kento said. He let Sage take Zephyr and rested his arm on Rip's shoulders, forming a three-man chain with her and Cye.
"Hey!" Cye protested at Kento's comment. "I thought you said that I'm you're best friend!"
"Ooops. Sorry, Cye. Guess I got two best friends then, huh?"
"Suits me," Rip said.
"Hey, Rip, what was that paper you gave that guy?" Ryo asked.
"Oh, just a check for two-thousand dollars."
"What?!"
"Can we please not discuss this? I don't like the subject," she said, putting an end to that topic.
The group boarded a huge elevator. "Going up!" said Rip and Kento in unison.
* * * * *
He rolled over with a groan. The floor was hard, cold, and unforgiving. His whole body ached and screamed with pain. He didn't want to look at himself, knowing he wouldn't be happy with what he saw. He wanted to go back to sleep and fall back into the void of darkness that seemed to be a much better reprieve. He wanted to go to sleep and just not wake up again. He found himself seriously considering that option. Death actually didn't sound too bad right now.
In the dark, a faint blue light gleamed for a moment, forbidding him to die and have relief. He tried to ignore it but it pushed itself forward and shone brightly, slowly pulling him back into consciousness against his will.
No. Lemme sleep. I don' wanna do this anymore, he thought and tried to pull away from it.
He was almost free of the bright deep blue light's hold when a familiar, calming voice, melodic in quality, broke through the almost unbearable silence he'd buried himself in. No, brother, do not give up the fight. Not yet. It is not your destiny to die now. Everything will get better, it soothed. Fight. I am here with you. Now, wake up and fight!
He woke up. The blue light beamed steadily from above his eyes. He reached up and traced the kanji he knew was there. It had forced him to live, as life was its meaning. Unless he was killed instantly, he couldn't die of anything other than natural cause. His arm burned with pain so he stopped fingering the Life kanji and let his arm return to lying on the floor at his side.
He lay there with the blue light showing him some of where he was. A dark, stone made chamber with a heavy cast iron. Everything was black and odd looking.
And he was alone.
So alone.
Again.
Fight, he remembered.
Okay, sis. I'll fight, he thought to himself, knowing she wasn't with him physically or even telepathically. She'd woken him up with their soul-link, or perhaps it had been his own subconscious. I won' give up, Zee. Not yet.
Rowen slowly raised himself to a sitting position. Slowly, the kanji faded away and blinked out. He moaned and nearly collapsed again. Reaching out, he grabbed for something to steady himself. His hand grasped the rough edge of a shelf-like projection from the wall. With another moan, he pulled himself up to stand but as he tried to rise to his knees, a look of stunned surprise came to his face.
"My legs…" he whispered in shock.
He couldn't feel them at all. Swallowing his momentary fear, he looked down ever so slowly, anticipation tugging nauseously at his gut.
He was still in full armor so his legs were supposed to be covered in the white and dark blue guards. They were there still, but the armor was black from the thighs down, burnt and charred.
"Oh gods," he whispered. The memories poured in quickly.
He and Ryo, fighting soldiers in the woods. Him, going after a group of archers. A sudden wave of fiery pain engulfing his legs. Shooting some soldiers behind him. Seeing soldiers coming to attack him, helpless. Collapsing to the ground. Looking up at the sky but unable to think coherently. Soldiers plunging weapons into his body repeatedly. Realizing where the fire had come from. Hearing Ryo screaming at the soldiers and then hacking them down in a blood-lust rage. Then, Dais came. And darkness followed.
And here he was.
He put his weight on his arms and pushed himself up and onto the shelf. His legs hung uselessly over the edge. He stared at them, not sure what to think. He decided against banishing his armor, not wanting to see the damage to his legs yet, but he allowed it to return to subarmor.
Then he heard the voices.
"You're a truly nauseating creature, y'know that?" said one voice. It sounded like a man but there was a slithery undercurrent to it.
A sound like a body colliding with something forcefully reached his ears. Then it sounded like metal clicks, something snapping together and locking. Then a heavy metal door closing and locking.
"Bastard," a familiar voice said.
Dais!
The door sounds came again. Then, the sounds of a heavy beating echoed through the cell.
"You go, man! Show that human who's boss 'round here." That voice sounded like the first one, slithery. It also sounded slightly drunk.
"Whadda ya think I'm doin'?" another slithery voice replied with a laugh.
The sounds of the beating continued until finally, the door sounds were repeated and then the last two slithery voices began a conversation that held no interest for Rowen. His brain was busily piecing together the puzzle of what he'd heard and his memories.
He gasped at the conclusion he came to. Dais hadn't captured him. He remembered a detail from back in the woods. When he'd looked up at Dais, the Warlord of Illusion's one good eye had been a startling, vivid, neon purple. Possession, he thought. It was possible. Kayura had been possessed by Badamon before. Question was, who'd possessed Dais?
Time to make a plan, he decided. He set to thinking. And he had a lot to think about.
Author's Notes:
1) The poem about the elementals belongs to me. If you wanna use it, ask.