***Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters! I only own story! No bite me! If I had the characters, I'd keep them in my closet! Mwa ha ha!!***

A/N: This story is set at random, and doesn't pay much attention to the series or ova plot lines. It's an original, slightly depressing story from my lil head. Please review!

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The Dynasty minion was standing behind him. He had this, this spear, this god-awful looking spear, that was glistening in the silent night, with it's seven-spike head completely drenched in some sort of…oh hell, it was drenched in blood. Blood.

Shin's blood.

And that's where he fell. He just…fell. There were no sounds; nothing of any kind, and then the clunk of his armor hit the ground. His face had the look of total bewilderment; surprise, sadness.

…Straight through the heart…

And then I lost it.

Sit Beside Me

Chapter 2: The Halo is Broken

By genmasho

If I felt any sort of regret by leaving our post trying to find Ryo, what I did next topped that ten fold.

I charged. I charged straight at the brute. My face had become hot with rage; my vision was blurred. But I charged at that evil bastard with all my might. He killed my best friend, and he wasn't going to get away with it.

I ran past the dead corpse that was once my friend. I left any sort of feelings behind me as I ran. I just ran. But when I was about to clamp my arms around the Dynasty villain, they just clamped together. I don't know what happened to the bastard, but he just vanished, leaving some sort of mirror image of him that I ran into. I confess, though, I didn't stop running. When I did, finally realizing that no one was there for me to rip apart, I started to yell. I yelled at everything.

"DAMNIT!! What are you so afraid of, you dirty little bastard?! You killed my friend, and you don't even have the guts to confront me about it?! COME BACK HERE!!!"

As I yelled that, I remember, my eyes started to fill with tears. I looked over at Shin; blood leaking all around him. His armor was still on, but the magnificent aura of its spirit was gone. Just a hunk of metal protecting a dead body. Oh Shin…If only I could have done something. You don't realize how much I miss you.

I then walked over to Shin, looking at his beautiful lifeless face. I picked him up off of the blood-soiled ground and cradled him in my arms. Tears kept on falling from my face and onto his; but I didn't care.

Wow…you know, the more I think about it, the more I think I do the stupidest things when I'm upset. When I rocked Shin back and forth, I started talking to him. I mean, talking to a dead body. How nice. I didn't really have any topic or anything; I was just spilling out whatever was in my head at the time. Expecting Shin to answer, of course.

"Heh…Hey Shin…Remember a couple weeks ago when we went surfing together? With all the guys? It was so fun. You knew I couldn't swim, much less surf, but you tried to teach me anyway. And…and…remember how Seiji and Ryo bet that I couldn't surf by the end of the trip? And how surprised their faces looked when I finally rode that wave? It was so funny! So…so funny…"

I shook him.

"…But…how come you're not laughing? Come on Shin, laugh with me."

I shook him harder.

"…Come on…laugh…please…please laugh…"

I shook him so hard his helmet rolled off his head. Then I pushed him off of me.

I think I must have gone made for a split second. I looked at Shin the same way I had done before, but it had finally registered in my brain that Shin would never laugh with me again. And I couldn't accept it.

"SHIN! What's wrong with you?!?! Why did you die?!?! Why couldn't I have protected you?! ? WHY WON'T YOU ANSWER-"

"Shuu!!"

I was so upset I didn't even realize that Seiji had walked up beside me. I could tell he had been there awhile. He probably had heard my screaming. But the expression on his face was one I would never have thought the warrior of Light could have possessed. The expression was sort of a combination of fear, sadness, and utter confusion.

"Shuu...What…" He looked down at Shin. His violet eyes were so full of confusion. I was never comfortable with looking at both of Seiji's eyes when he was in his armor – it always made me feel uneasy. So you can probably guess what I did next.

"Seiji! Don't look at me like that! I didn't mean to kill Shin! It…it just happened!!"

I turned away from him. I didn't want to look at him anymore. I heard him draw in a deep breath, like it was some sort of meditation. God I hated when he did that. I hated when he was always calmer than I was. How he was always better than I was. But I suppose I can't ever hate him anymore, seeing as I killed him too.

"Shuu, you can't possibly think that I would blame you for what happened…what happened to Shin, would you?"

I felt his hand on my shoulder. Trying to comfort me. But I could feel his hand shaking as he did it.

"Just calm down, Shuu, and then we'll find the others and give that Dynasty bastard what he deserves. Ok?"

But Seiji's voice deceived him. He knew that if a Dynasty warrior had killed one of the Samurai Troopers so easily, with the physically strongest Trooper there to protect him, that there wasn't a good chance at beating him at all. And with one Trooper down, the power of the armors would never be in sync again.

"F-fine, Seiji. Let's go find the others." I had calmed down a little. It takes quite a bit of strength to cry and scream and hate the world in general, so I really had no other choice but to calm down. I turned to Seiji and gave him a bleak smile, which he returned. We then set off into the dark fog in search of the others.

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I can tell you that it took a lot of guts to just walk away from Shin like Seiji and me did. But we had to find Ryo and Touma no matter what. But I suppose the heroes can't go anywhere without having a sudden plot change. That's the reason the Dynasty existed, right?

Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to make a joke while telling you this. I guess I really can't be serious while doing anything, even when I'm telling such a depressing story like this. Well, anyway…

Seiji and I weren't even ten yards away from shin when we were attacked. The Dynasty warrior, who I still don't know the name of, did the same old "poof-out-of-nowhere" trick. But this time, he didn't kill anybody. He just threw some sort of small energy ball at us. We both dodged it, Seiji going one way, and me in the direction of Shin. Then he spoke.

"My, my. It looks as if you two fine gentlemen were planning to attack me, eh? Such a silly plan, if I do say so myself, since the mere two of you can hardly keep up with my superior power." His voice had a deep, scratchy sound that reminded me of sand paper.

Hearing his awful voice made my strength return to me.

"Feh. You're a sick, demented freak, and we're not gonna let you get away with killing Shin!" I intelligently retorted at him.

"Heh heh. Feeling a little depressed now that your fish boy is sadly deceased? How precious."

"Don't you dare talk about Shin like that! The two of us will find the others and then we will be able to defeat you!" Seiji had yelled back.

"Hnmm…I see that you have some sense in you, unlike your friend here. When I beautifully stabbed this "Shin" of yours, this orange brute here actually thought he could defeat me by himself. But I suppose I'll take pity on you for your poor friend and offer you a little…compensation game. The rules are quite simple."

If there is anything I hate, it's a bad guy who takes pity on someone. And it's never a real pity, it's only a pity to make whomever he "pities" even madder. Which, if I had thought about what I just said right now at the time, I would have realized what the bastard was doing to us. But as I've said before, I'm not big on thinking ahead of things.

"A game?! You think we'd stoop so low as to play some 'game' of yours?! How could you expect me-" I yelled.

"Now, there's where you're wrong. I don't expect you to do anything. Your friend here is who I want to play with."

Then I started to float. It wasn't a good floaty feeling either. It was sort of like someone reaching into your chest, grabbing your heart and pulling you up to lift you off of the ground. I was then flung to the ground again, but then this sort of severe electric shock zapped me. Twice. Three times. Again and again. I had to keep my eyes shut because the pain was too much. Finally the shocks died down, and I was able to open my eyes. When I did, I looked directly into a reddish sort of power-field around me. I looked up and around me, confirming my cage. I pounded against the walls, but to no avail. Great. I had let myself fall into another trap where I couldn't help my friend. Damn me.

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All I could do then was just stare out of my shield. I wasn't so far away from them, but just enough to not hear what they were saying. I could tell that Seiji and the Dynasty warrior were talking about something. Well, I think it was Dynasty warrior whom was doing all the talking, and Seiji just standing there taking the heat. Then there was this big "poof" sound and the Dynasty henchman was gone. Seiji instantly took up battle stance and was ready and alert. It had begun – the end of Korin no Seiji.

He had such elegance in the way he fought. He always had a straight back; both arms grasping the huge no-dachi with ease; a calm, unemotional face. I can't describe how much I envied Seiji. He never knew it – no one did. I wasn't very close with him or anything, but I always admired him.

You know, I never thought Seiji liked me very much either. I mean, he was my fellow warrior on the battlefield, but whenever we were just being normal he would never talk to me. I mean, sometimes, yeah, I suppose he did, but it was only polite things any conversationalist could have made. But as I stood trapped in my cage of death, I realized that none of that was true. Seiji was fighting for me. He was fighting for my life. Like any friend –good friend- would have done. I didn't know it then, but the Dynasty bastard had made some sort of deal with Seiji. If Seiji beat him two out of three rounds of battle, then I would be let free with no harm done to me. This was his "game" the warlord had spoken of. So I stood, staring intently on the battle that was in front of my caged eyes. The Dynasty warlord had appeared again, and struck a fearful blow at Seiji, who artfully dodged him and replied with his own deadly attack. This repeated throughout the battle. However, it was obvious that Seiji had the upper hand. The fog had deluded any sort of light the last few hours of the sun was giving, thus making the Korin Armor only lust further for light, and become more powerful. Out of the depths of the fog the Dark Warrior leaped from, drawing his sword straight at Seiji's chest. Seiji blocked the huge piece of metal easily, and reflected with a powerful blast of his Rai Ko Zan. Korin had won the first round.

I was happy, obviously, because Seiji had won against the warlord. Even though I had no idea what they were fighting for at the time, I pretty much figured that whatever was good for Seiji, was good for me. Lucky for me, Seiji had the upper hand in this battle…

The fight resumed again as the Dynasty minion regained his position. Strike after blow after hit, the battle was once again turning in Seiji's favor. Most of what happened is kind of blurred right now, but I remember a particular attack that really stuck out. Seiji had become trapped in some sort of webbing – I'm not quite sure how to describe it – and couldn't get free. The more he struggled, the more he was stuck. This strangely reminded me of Rajura, the Demon General I had fought so long ago. It looked to me like the same dirty trick of "stick-and-hit." But Seiji was able to free himself from a blast of light that liquefied the webbing and was able to become free. He looked pretty fed up, from what I could see where I was standing, and was ready for another go at his Rai Ko Zan. He lifted his arms, elegant and strong, with the aura of his armor gearing up for the raging attack ahead. I suppose he only got the first word out, because the next thing I knew the Dynasty warrior had sped up his movements and smacked Seiji straight in the face with his bloodied spear.

Ugh, I can still see it now. Seiji just went flying…flying. He smacked himself straight into the firm, hard ground and didn't get up. I yelled and screamed from inside my cage, but I knew that he couldn't hear me. I started to feel angry with myself again, for not being there to protect my friend. I pounded and pounded; convincing myself that just a little harder…and I could get myself out. It's funny how you can convince yourself of anything when you've lost your mind.

After a while, Seiji had started to stir himself up again. He moved slowly and sluggishly, not quite entirely sure what had happened. The Dynasty henchman was floating in the air, waiting for Seiji to recover. Once he had been satisfied that Seiji had some clue where he was, he decided to attack. He yelled something at him, and then darted straight at him. Seiji had lifted his head up just in time to see the cursed spear being shot directly at his face.

I stopped pounding when I saw what was going to happen. I just stared. My eyes were wide open with shock. I was so afraid…so afraid that that spear was going to go straight through Seiji's head. However, it didn't.

In fact, the spear stopped literally a couple inches away from Seiji's head. Then something incredibly odd happened – it started to glow. It was a sort of yellow-greenish color, and then Seiji started to turn that same awful glow. Seiji had become under the trance of the spear's mystical spell.

"Seiji…SEIJI!! What's going on?? Why are you just standing there?! Hurry up and attack him!"

But Seiji didn't move. He stood straight and dropped his no-dachi. The warlord floated down from the sky and stood in front of his spear, clenching it in his dirty, armored hands. He then started to speak, and surprisingly enough I could hear his voice.

"Heh heh…Korin no Seiji. Yes, you are quite powerful indeed." The Dynasty minion turned his head in my direction.

"You can hear me now, can't you, Kongo no Shuu? Heh heh…yes, good. I want you to hear this." With that, he turned to Seiji again and slapped him straight across his face.

You wouldn't think that someone could slap you very hard if you were wearing a helmet, but in fact, you can. Especially if you're not putting up any sort of resistance. That's exactly what Seiji was doing. I couldn't figure out why Seiji had stopped fighting all of the sudden. But it dawned on me, ever so slowly, that the fighting spirit of his yoroi was gone now, and would never come back. Whatever that wretched spear of that Dynasty bastard had done, it was permanent.

Back on the ground, Seiji slowly but surely stood up again and stood in front of his foe. There was definitely something missing from his spirit. No signs of emotion, no signs of anything. I thought that if I could hear the Dynasty's voice, maybe Seiji could hear mine.

"Seiji! Come on! Fight back! You can win if you try again! Come on, Seiji! Snap out of it!"

I felt my cheeks dampen; the drops of sweat dripping down from my helmet. I clenched my eyes and fists as tight as I could. I had to think of something. Anything to help my friend. I thought that maybe if I had used my GanTessai, I could break the power field surrounding me. But I was too enclosed, and would only end up hurting myself. Well, at least I'm grateful for myself for thinking then, as opposed to any other battle I've fought.

I finally decided that I'd give the field one last pound of my fists, using all the power I could. I lashed out at the field, letting go of all my strength. I screamed as I did it; all the pain and agony of Shin's death and Seiji's pain flowing out of my heart through my lungs. Then it shattered, like a mirror when hit with a hammer. I was free, finally free, and now I was going to go and help my friend.

I ran as fast as I could to where Seiji and the Dynasty bastard were, but as I kept running, I realized I wasn't getting any closer. The warlord just laughed at my sad attempts with triumph, knowing that I'd never reach my friend in time.

"Look at your friend, Korin no Seiji. See how he runs to save you? It's quite pathetic, really," the warlord said as he took Seiji's chin with his hand. Seiji's face was utterly emotionless. He didn't even notice that he was being touched.

"Why Seiji, don't give me that look. You knew that I couldn't let you win my little game. For you see, there was one rule I forgot to mention, which is: I never lose."

I ran and ran and ran with everything that I had left, but still I was no closer to Seiji than I was before. I was so damn pissed. When I had broken the barrier around me, it let out some spell that enclosed me to that particular spot of land. Damnit, I had broken out of my cage only to be let into a bigger one.

"Kongo no Shuu! I see you have found out that running is futile. So please, I beg you to watch your little friend here perform a special dance! It's called 'The Halo is Broken,' performed just for you!" He then jumped up into the air, attaching some sort of string to Seiji's limbs.

A giant puppet. That's what he had turned Seiji into. Nothing more than a mere puppet. Lightning had started to crackle in the clouds above, only adding to the evil that was lurking above. The Dynasty warlord lifted his hands around and above his heads, gracefully moving the arms and legs of Seiji below him.

It was so painfully humiliating, seeing Seiji reduced to that. The warlord was dance-walking Seiji closer to me. When I started to make out what Seiji's features looked like, well, I stepped back, trying to get away from him. His face had no emotion, no nothing. His eyes were paler than normal, and his mouth slightly hung open. This once graceful warrior, Korin no Seiji, was no more than a shell of his former self.

"Kongo! What is the matter with you? I bring your friend closer to you and you back away! Shame on you! He only wants to dance for you. He only wants to show you how much he appreciates what you've done for him."

"N-no…No…Stop…Stop it! Stop doing this to him! Ahh…make it stop!!"

Seiji was directly in front of me now. He was right in front of the barrier that separated me from him. He swung back and forth; his limbs were limp and his head bobbed as if it were on a spring. I gulped back my fear, my shame, and walked up to him. I leveled my head with his, staring into his blank eyes. He had tried to protect me and I had backed away from him like he was some freak on strings. I still hate myself for it, even after his death.

"And now, Kongo no Shuu, Korin would like to end with his grand finale! Watch and be amazed!"

The warlord then teleported directly in back of Seiji and wound up his arm. In one fatal blow, he bashed his armored arm into Seiji's back, breaking his spine and neck. I stood silently, as I stared at Seiji. His head had turned upwards from his spinal injury, but it slowly tilted downward.

I couldn't handle Shin's expression on his face when he was killed. But at least he had the joy of not knowing he was going to die. Seiji…oh Seiji. His eyes were widened with anticipation. At that moment, I knew that the real Seiji was there all along. He had no control over his body, but his mind was still intact. He knew what was coming to him, and there was nothing neither he, nor I could have done about it. A single tear had leaked itself onto his fair skin, slowly tracing itself down his defined features. That was the last emotion ever expressed by Korin no Seiji.

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A/N: Wahh…I had a hard time writing this chapter. Total writers block. But I hope you all liked it! I find that I like writing this morbid first person story. Is that a good thing? -_-;; Next chapter coming soon! (if you find anything confusing, more things will be explained next chapter)

-genmasho