Chapter 12 Cye coughed as he looked around the clearing fog that surrounded him. He had long ago sheaded his armor and was now in his light blue and white sub- armor. * Where is everyone? * He asked himself as he looked around again. Cupping his hands to his mouth, he yelled, "Hello?! Rowen? Sage? Mina!? Where are you?! Kento? Anubis!!" All that he got as an answer in return to his cries was this own British voice bouncing off of the hollow space around him. With a heavy sigh, he began to walk on again. But then a noise in a near by tree stopped him. In a defensive stance, he called out, "Who goes there?! Show yourself ya smegger!" "Cye-chan? Is that you?" A soft voice asked, followed by the figure of a longhaired blonde coming from the shadows. Cye gritted his teeth, thinking it was Zoisite. But then he noticed that the hair was longer than the Empress' of the Dynasty and that the figure slowly coming out of the fog towards him was in sub-armor. And that was something that Zoisite was not wearing. As he looked harder, he thought he recognized the figure. "Mina? Is that you, dear?" He squinted his eyes to see her through the fog as she walked towards him; not letting his stance down until he saw it was she. "What's wrong? You looked like you were gonna kill me there for a second...." She giggled as he smiled. "Sorry, Mimi...." Then he gasped. "I am so sorry... I know you hate to be called that..." "It's ok, Cye-chan.... You can call me that if you want... but only you...." When he smiled at her, she smiled back. "I don't need all of the guys calling me that, now do I?" Cye nodded, now standing regularly with one hand on his hip, but still keeping himself defensive. The worst thing for him to do in the Dynasty was to let his guard down. Anything could happen when a person least expected it. He had learned that one the hard way a few years ago. The scar that Sekhmet had given him was still on his hip other. "I agree to that one." "Well.... Find anything?" Mina asked, sitting down. "Nothing. And no one for that matter." He sighed and looked about them. Then he let his eyes rest on her. Her golden sub-armor looked wonderful with her blonde hair. Not to mention that both put together brought out the blue of her eyes that were set back in her pale face. Smiling he sat beside her. "Think we should look for them?" Mina looked at him, hugging her knees. Nodding she answered, "But can we rest for a little while?" Cye nodded, causing his auburn hair to shift around his face. Mina looked him over. The light blue sub-armor he wore was a great color to tone down the waves of the ocean that seemed to crash in his eyes. Blushing, Mina lied back into the grass and looked at the sky. Cye caught her blush and smiled to himself. "Not much of a dance was it?" "Huh?" Mina looked at him quizzically. "The homecoming dance, Mimi.... Not much of one was it?" Cye sighed; wishing that Kale had not attacked that night. He had planned to tell her all of his feelings. But, after the battle, he lost all of his courage to do so. "It was great. And I never knew that you were such a good dancer." Cye smiled as she did so too and sat up. "Well I never knew you were either. You were amazing out there that night." He went to lean back on his hands and their fingers brushed against the others. They both froze and blushed before slowly looking at each other. Mina looked down at their hands as he slid his over hers and blushed more. She knew he was the nervous and shy one in his group of friend's but around her, he could never hide that feeling. Sighing, she squeezed his hand softly, telling him it was okay. Cye then looked at the sky and frowned. Mina then asked him, "Why the frown?" "Hm? Oh I was just wondering what the past was really like.... Was I in love? If so with who...." He lied back in the grass like she had a few moments ago. His ocean colored eyes looked at the sky. With his hands behind his head, he started to daydream in the back of his mind. Mina looked down on him, a smirk pulling up the corners of her lips softly. "Comfy there on cloud nine are you, Mr. Mouri?" "Hm?" Cye had begun to say dream more then he wanted too as he lazily shifted his dazed gaze to her. Giggling, Mina lied beside him. "You were in La-La land... you even looked like that even moment that you were gonna go to sleep." She smiled and looked at him as she heard his head shift against the grass her way. "And that ain't a good idea to do here in the Dynasty... even tho you would look, no doubt, amazingly cute. But hey, what am I saying? You look amazingly cute all of the time." Cye found it hard to hide the blush that came to his face as he heard her. * Did she just call me cute? WOW! * Cye sat up some and smiled. "Minako..... You're cute too..." As those words left his lips, the two of them grabbed the sides of their heads as pictures ran into their minds. * Memories of the past? Why do you haunt us now? What have I said? * Cye blinked his eyes open and closed over and over, but the pain became to great to him and he had trouble forcing them open. Giving up, he let them pass into his mind. Mina clenched at the grass beside her on the ground, not wanting more memories then she had already had. She began to shake and shudder, as they became more and more painful to see. Grabbing her head again, she clenched at her hair tightly, mentally begging the memories to go away. Cye kept his eyes closed as he focused on one memory of a girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes. She was dressed in a golden and silver gown, a princess's air about her. The diamond-jeweled crown on her head noted the air about her to be true. Concentrating harder, he recognized her to be Mina. Cye gasped and opened his eyes to see Mina holding her head and her eyes clenched tightly. "Are you okay?" Mina shook her head no and almost doubled over in pain. Reaching out to her, Cye pulled her into a hug. "It's okay... the pain will pass." "It's not the pain... it's the memories... There are too many." She let one tear fall as she saw memories of Cye, or rather Lord Suiko, standing on the balcony of her bedroom the last night that the planet Venus was bustling with life forms of any kind. She could not make out words, just the pictures of who seemed to be her fighting with him not to do something. Then, he turned around, and because he was shirtless, a scar on his side could be seen. She could see him mouth the words 'I love you.' Opening her eyes after seeing that, she realized she had begun to cry in Cye's arms. "Shh... it's okay...." Cye whispered to her over and over soft, calming words as he patted her hair. "It's okay..." He was having trouble hiding that he too was regaining a few memories, but he had to help her right now. As memories of his own began to slow, he held her tighter. "Shh.... It's okay Princess Minako.... I am here..." Mina looked up and smiled faintly. She knew what he was speaking of and where he had gotten the name now. She hugged him tightly and smiled. "You remember...." Cye nodded. "Now I do.... My angel...." As he lifted her chin, coldness filled the air. As he kissed her softly, they both heard the clash of, what sounded like, an arrow hitting a sword of some sort. Cye then whispered, "What in the world?" "I dunno.... But I'm scared..." Mina clung to him tighter. Cye looked at her then heard the clash get louder. He looked to his right, pulling her closer protectively. Then he thought that he saw light reflect off of a sword, followed by the echoing of clashes in the woods. "I don't like the sound of that..." Cye went to stand and Mina tried to keep him down beside her. As Cye looked away, he caught a glimpse of a warrior in green run across the outskirts of the woods.