Part 3- Darkness Rises
Sage's musses about his dreams were normally cut short by one thing or another. Pretty soon all of them had fallen into the rut of schoolwork. Over the week the Ronins started to spend more and more time with both Angels and Ki. By the end of the week they were all becoming close friends with the two girls and even Angels seemed to be opening up a little more each day. Slowly the walls she'd built long ago to shut others out started to fade and she found herself to start thinking the five crazy guys as friends. For a while Angels and Ki found it easy to take their minds off of the huge problem hanging over their heads. But every couple of nights one of them would grow silent in thought about SunStar and the war with DarkSide. It was easy to keep the Ronins oblivious to these thoughts but Sage was starting to suspect something. His dream kept reoccurring and it was growing clearer. But Sage wasn't the only one plagued by dreams. For the first week in the Mortal Realm nothing had happened but Angels's dreams started to resurface. It was like they were trying to tell her something, but as to what she couldn't understand and many details kept fading soon after she woke up. In an attempt to remember them she'd resorted to writing them down. Another thing that worried her was that MoonStriker hadn't shown up at all and there was no word from SunStar. The wolf was never very far behind Angels and it even worried Ki that he hadn't been sent through the gates by the Elemental Masters of SunStar.
It was in the middle of their third week that the peaceful life Angels and Ki finally had gotten seemed to fall completely apart.
" Aww man," Angels groaned while looking outside the window. She'd stayed after school to do some work up in the library. Mainly her mission was to find another book because she'd already finished her latest one and she also wanted to see if she could come up with anything on her dreams. It was down pouring outside, still going from when it started that afternoon. Angels had lent her jacket to Ki figuring it'd probrobly stop by the time she'd head out for home. But as usual, she had no such luck. With a heavy sigh she gathered her things and headed out of the school library. For a few moments her mind was bent on calculating on just how to run all the way home but she decided just to forget it. With another heavy sigh she walked out the doors and into the pouring rain. Within two minuets both her hair and clothes were soaked which added more to her already miserable mood.
" Angels! Hey Angels wait up!" Angels stopped and looked back to see who was calling her name. She turned around completely when she recognized Ryo running towards her. An equipment/gym bag hung off his shoulder and she guessed he had soccer practice that day after all. She'd heard that the teams sometimes used the gym indoors. She'd assumed most of the practices were cancelled because of the rain but Angels seemed to have guessed wrong. The girl waited as Ryo caught up. " Aren't you cold?" he asked from under his jacket's hood after taking a moment to catch his breath before they both continued on. Angels just shrugged, rain never really bothered her much and until he'd asked she hadn't realized that she WAS cold. " I thought you had a jacket this morning?"
" I lent it to Ki."
" Oh." They continued in silence. He cast Angels a worried look when she sneezed loudly but she just waved off his concern. " You can barrow my jacket if you want."
" That's okay," She told him while pushing her wet bangs out of her eyes. " We're almost to our street anyways."
Ryo wasn't surprised. In the short amount of time they all had to have gotten to know the two girls he'd learned a couple of things about them. Angels didn't bother or inconvience anyone close to her if she could avoid it. Whenever she stayed after she told them to go ahead but always waited for them if they stayed behind. She didn't show it easily or express it but she seemed to care deeply for anyone she considered a friend. Ryo guessed that something in the girl's past might have something to do with it. It took time but eventually she dropped her attempts to push people away when it was clear they weren't going anywhere. The Ronin of Wildfire wondered just what had happened to make the girl known as Angels push people away like that. They paused in front of Ryo's house.
" See ya," Angels said before turning to go.
" Wait." Angels stopped and turned to face him. Ryo's mind blanked for a moment but he quickly recovered what he'd wanted to ask. " You know that four day weekend coming up?" Angels nodded. Everybody knew that the next weekend was a four-day one. Many kids wouldn't shut up about it. " The guys and I were gonna spend it up at that house belonging to our friend Mia, you know the one that moved to America." Again she nodded so Ryo continued, " We were wondering if you and Ki would like to come up with us?"
There was a slight pause but it passed quickly. Angels smiled and nodded again. " We'd love to," she replied and turned to go. Ryo gave one last wave before heading inside, frowning when he heard Angels sneeze again.
The next morning Ki glanced at the clock on her nightstand. It was about 45 minuets before school started and she didn't hear any sounds that would have told that Angels was up. Normally the StarLight ronin was up before her. Something wasn't right. Ki walked through the bathroom that connected her room with Angels's and poked her head in. " Hey wakeup sleepy head or you're gonna be late."
Angels groaned rolled onto her stomach before pushing herself up with her arms. She glanced at the clock nearby and cursed while getting up and out of bed.
" You okay Angels? You don't look to good." Angels just waved off her concern and ushered the other girl out of the bathroom. Twenty minuets later Ki was downstairs in her uniform waiting for Angels. Her head snapped up when she heard a yelp and a thud from upstairs. * What's going on?* she mentally asked Angels while running up the stairs.
* It's okay. It's just MoonStriker.* Ki reached Angels's door and stared. Sure enough Angels was on the floor in her gold colored T-shirt and blue spandex shorts that she wore under her uniform. On her stomach as a large with artic wolf with small hints of gray in certain areas. On his forehead was a gray shape of a crescent moon, hence where he got part of his name. Angels looked up at Ki when she heard her burst out into laughter. " Not funny Ki. MoonStriker get offa me," Angels lightly shouted while trying to push the wolf off of her. He complied and just sat by as Ki helped Angels to her feet.
" Where'd he come from?"
" I'm guessing either the Elemental Masters or Chronos sent him through the gates," Angels replied while dusting as much wolf hair off her as she could. She finished putting on her uniform while Ki petted and scratched MoonStriker behind the ears. The doorbell rang and Ki rushed off downstairs to answer it, knowing it was Sage. Angels scratched MoonStriker's back once she was finished getting dressed. " I gotta go to school now but I promise I'll come home and catch up with you as soon as I can." She placed one of her hands against the floor from where she knelt. MoonStriker whined and butted her free hand, which was on his back. Angels looked at him and gave him a tired smile, " I'm okay. Just a little fever that's making me a little dizzy." Ki called her name from downstairs and Angels shouted that she was coming. She gave the wolf one final scratch before grabbing her backpack and bolting for the stairs.
Sage noticed that something seemed off but didn't mention it as he watched Angels rush down the stairs. If he said anything he knew she'd just wave it off and say she was fine. As they headed down the street Sage noticed Angels rubbed her back. " What happened?"
" She got a surprising greeting this morning," Ki answered with a grin.
Angels looked at him before explaining, " MoonStriker pounced on me this morning. He caught me off guard and I ended up on my backside."
" I thought you said he was in quarantine at the airport?" Sage asked. Angels and Ki had told him and the others that as an explanation for the wolf's absence.
" He was," Ki said while waving to Ryo whom was waiting at the corner, " Master Seyia left a message on the answering machine last night saying that MoonStriker was free to go. He must have dropped him off this morning before going to work." It made sense. Master Seyia was also a cop and sometimes worked really early in the morning. Plus the guy had his own key. They met up with Ryo and the others as they continued on their way to school. Cye asked Angels is she was all right and, as Sage suspected she would, told him that she was fine. Despite being half awake like Rowen in the morning she seemed to have less energy than usual. Angels waved off their concern by telling them it was just a small fever, a cold a nothing more. They finally caught the hint and dropped the subject. Instead Ki entertained them by telling how she found Angels that morning with MoonStriker sitting on her stomach.
" KI!" Ki took off at a run still laughing. They reached the school gates just as the bell for homeroom rang and they went their separate ways.
Rowen gathered his things as the bell rang, signaling the end of fourth period. He looked over at the seat next to him. Throughout the day Angels kept looking worse and worse. She started to get up but stopped when a strong dizzy spell hit her. It seemed like the whole room had set on a spin cycle. Her knees gave out and she thought her heard someone call her name. Angels blacked out as her body collapsed to the floor.
" ANGELS!" Rowen shouted while jumping over the desks and kneeling beside the fallen girl. The few students left in the classroom were starting to gather around. He called Angels's name again and gently shook her by the shoulder but got no response. He looked up at the students gathering and whispering. " Someone go get the nurse!" Two students near the back of the small crowd bolted out of the room to retrieve the school nurse.
" It's just a bad fever."
" Well DUH," Ki shouted angrily at the nurse. Sage covered her mouth with his hand before she could say anything else while Kento grabbed her arm to hold her back.
" Look," the nurse said in a stern voice while ignoring Ki's shout, " I can't the six of you in here like this. Go back to class. Miss Draco will be sent home once she wakes up."
Kento nearly dragged Ki out of the nurse's office, ignoring her squeaks of protest. Sage thanked the nurse and followed the rest of them out. Once out in the hall Kento let go of Ki's arm while trying to avoid the girl's glare. Ryo put his hand on her shoulder. " Don't worry. Angels will be fine," he said in an attempt to reassure the girl," Sage and I have a study hall for lunch and then English after that. We'll talk to the teacher and then come back here to take Angels home alright?"
Ki looked at him and then Sage before sighing. Her shoulders slumped as she hung her head forward but reluctantly nodded in agreement. " Just make sure you tell us what happens in class okay?" Sage said in an attempt to cheer her up. Ki looked up at him and nodded.
" Fine. But I'm not doing your homework for you." This caused a small bit of laughter. It was about ten minuets into the period before lunch by the time each of them got to their classes. More than one of them found it hard to really concentrate on their classes. Ki felt bad, mainly because she'd asked to barrow Angels's coat yesterday and walking home in the rain couldn't have helped. Also they hadn't been in the Mortal Realm for some time now so they weren't immune to the normal colds and such that the people here were. Her armor's power helped mainly because it had a strong healing element to it. The SunFire ronin sighed and rested her head on one of her hands while looking out the window. This was turning out to be a disastrous week. The fact that it was only Thursday didn't help.
Angels awoke about twenty minuets before first lunch started. She blinked and slowly sat up, resting her head in her head as another dizzy spell hit. She looked up when a middle-aged woman with light brown hair in a bowl cut walked in. Angels recognized the school nurse, who wouldn't. The woman told her what had happened and informed her that she was to go home immediately. She ignored all protests from Angels and finally the girl gave up trying. Within ten minuets she was at her locker switching the books she didn't need for the ones that she would need from the classes she'd managed to go to that day. The locker shut with a soft click and Angels rested her forehead against it for a moment. God, she thought, I can't even remember the last time I got sick. Stupid cold. She pushed away from the locker but stopped. Her vision blurred and the girl swayed before starting to collapse backwards.
Someone grabbed her shoulders and caught her from behind. Angels blinked and looked up to see tiger blue eyes filled with concern. " Ryo?"
" When you weren't in the nurses office we got worried. She told us we'd just missed you and we decided to stop by here first before trying to catch up," Sage said while coming up behind Ryo. He frowned upon seeing the girl's condition. He was right, her fever had been worse than she'd lead them to believe. He took Ryo's backpack from him and picked up Angels's from the floor. " It's a good thing our math class finished early."
Angels squeaked in protest when Ryo lifted her up onto his back, like he was giving her a piggyback ride. " Ryo put me down! I can get home on my own. You two don't have to baby sit me!"
Ryo just shook his head and started for the doors. " I doubt that," he told her in a stern voice, " Besides, what are friends for? We're the only ones that live close to your house besides Ki and it took us about five minuets to convince her to stay here." Man, she's lighter than I would have thought, the boy said to himself. He glanced back at her over his shoulder. Angels sighed and gave up. She was too tired from putting up her front earlier to care anymore. All she wanted to do now was go back to sleep. She turned her head to the side and rested it against Ryo's shoulder and back before closing her eyes.
Sage shivered when they got outside and zipped up his coat. It was slowly getting colder as the days entered the fall and drew ever closer to winter. Both he and Ryo had on the jackets they'd gotten after the final battle with Tulpa. He wasn't surprised to see that Ryo's was left open, the boy was never cold. Angels actually had her own jacket today since she'd made sure Ki brought her own that morning. It was black and reached down to the top of her thighs, angling in around the waist and going back out again. It also had a big hood and a picture of small angel wings on the back of it like those seen in many animes. She'd laughed when they said it matched her name. If only they knew the half of it. They arrived at Angels and Ki's house in no time but were forced to pause at the front door. It was locked but neither one of them had much heart to wake up the sleeping girl. Sage looked in the front pocket of her backpack and came out with a small pair of keys. After a couple of tries he found the right key and opened the front door. Ryo walked in but froze on the spot when he heard a deep and threatening growl. Sage came up behind him and froze as well upon seeing the white wolf in front of them. The wolf did not look happy.
" NANI!?"
" Easy boy," Ryo said in an attempt to calm the wolf and try to show they meant no harm.
Angels stirred and opened her eyes upon hearing the small commotion. She lifted her head up to look over Ryo's shoulder when the wolf's growl reached through her cloudy mind and registered in it. " MoonStriker knock it off," she scolded in a half awake voice. The wolf stopped and whined while bowing his head. Sage looked from the wolf to Angels and then back again.
" THAT'S," he exclaimed while pointing at the white wolf, " MoonStriker?"
Angels looked over at Sage before replying, " What? Never seen a wolf before?"
" Not as a pet. I thought you had a dog," Ryo said while setting Angels down on her feet. He steadied the girl but she waved him off within a few seconds.
" Ki likes to call him 'mutt' because she knows it annoys him," she pointed to the stairs and told Sage he could put her backpack on one of the first few steps. Ryo cast a glance at the wolf. It did look different from your average animal. MoonStriker kinda reminded him of WhiteBlaze in which both of them had a look to them that said they were smarter than they seemed. The wolf's actions also showed that it seemed to understand humans, or at least it understood what Angels said. She looked at Ryo and Sage when they didn't make any move to leave. " Aren't you guys gonna go home?"
" You kidding?" Sage asked while putting on a look of mock freight, " Ki said she'd kill us if she found out we left you here alone."
Angels rolled her eyes and remained silent. Her head was too fuzzy and it hurt too much to start arguing about this now. Ki had probrobly counted on that. Angels silently cursed the other girl for knowing her so well. Instead Angels looked down at MoonStriker. " They're friends, so no pranks got that?" she ordered him. To their surprise the wolf actually nodded in reply. " Go ahead and make yourselves at home them. Living room and TV are over there and the kitchen is through that archway right there," she told the other two while pointing. She trudged up the stairs and into her room, closing the door with a small bang. She took off her jacket, skirt, and vest and tossed them near her closet leaving her in her shorts and an untucked gold color T-shirt. Angels flopped down onto her bed and immediately went back to sleep.
Downstairs Ryo and Sage exchanged a glance and started to make themselves at home. It would still be about two hours until the others got out of school. MoonStriker followed them into the living room, wagging his tail when Sage scratched him along his spine.
It was a half an hour later until both their stomachs protested loudly to being starved. They both gave a nervous laugh. " I guess we might as well raid the fridge," Ryo suggested. Ki had told them as long as they stuck around they could eat anything they wanted since they were skipping their lunch period. Sage nodded and went upstairs. He knocked lightly on the door to Angels's bedroom and called her name but got no answer. Carefully and slowly he opened the door and peeked inside. The layout of the room kinda reminded him of Rowen's; dark blue walls with glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. In the center of the ceiling a large circle was clear of stars except for a couple that made a familiar constellation, Draco the dragon. A small bookcase packed with books and a few more on a small desk were the only other pieces of furniture besides a bed and a small nightstand next to it. Sage walked over to it and looked down at the girl that was curled up on her side still fast asleep. As he covered her with one of the sheets Sage couldn't shake the thought that Angels looked familiar somehow. But from where or what he couldn't place it. He shrugged off his current train of thoughts and quietly left the room, closing the door behind him.
Ryo and Sage looked up from the homework they were doing when they heard the front door open. Four people could be heard coming in and a female voice called both their names. The two boys got up and MoonStriker ran out ahead of them. There where three surprised gasps and yelp quickly followed by a thud. Ryo and Sage entered the front hallway to see Ki on the floor, obviously after being tackled by the wolf. She was glaring at him and trying to push him off of her. " MoonStriker," she scolded in obvious annoyment, " Angels has got to talk to you about how you greet people."
MoonStriker snorted and hopped off. He looked up at Cye and Rowen, both of who were staring, and Kento who looked like he was scared of being eaten. " Yes he's a wolf," Ryo said causing the four to look up at him and Sage. Ki got to her feet with a little help from Sage and dusted herself off. " He caught us by surprise too."
" He didn't attack you did he?" Ki asked worried. She looked a little relived when the two ronins shook their heads. " How's Angels?"
" Dead asleep. Has been ever since we got here," Sage told her. She thanked them and asked if they wanted to stay for dinner. Kento whooped with joy before being shushed by the rest of them. Ki took that as a yes.
It was dark by the time Angels finally woke up. She yawned and stretched while sitting up. Her fever hadn't gone down at all and she still felt icky, for lack of a better word. Despite that she got up and dug around in her closet for a moment before pulling out a pair of jean shorts and a dark blue tank top that had spaghetti straps. She changed out of the last of her school uniform, put her hair into a braid to keep it out of her way, and left her room. Voices floated up from downstairs and Angels immediately recognized them. She slowly made her way down the stairs and into the living room. She leaned against the doorframe and smirked at the scene. Kento and Rowen were stuck in a small wrestling match with Cye and Ryo cheering them on. Ki sat nearby praying they didn't break anything though the living room was pretty large with a big clear space in the middle and Sage sat with her. He looked towards the door when he saw MoonStriker get up and run over to it. Angels gave him a small wave before kneeling down to pet MoonStriker.
" Well someone's awake." Sage's comment made the wrestling match pause in mid fight and their gazes all glanced at Sage before concentrating on the doorway.
" Hey! Long time no see!" Ki shouted happily.
Angels looked up at her with a small smile. " What have I told you about bringing home strays?"
" Hey, you brought two home yourself. And besides, they followed me on their own accord," Ki answered. She broke out into a fit of giggles at the guys' faces until one by one it dawned on them what the two were talking about.
Kento whooped as he took the chance of Rowen being distracted and pinned him. Cye cheered and Ryo groaned while Rowen just squirmed. Ki finally got up to break up the match and get Kento to release Rowen. Angels walked over to the couch and flopped down. Sage looked over at her. " How's you fever?"
" Still here," she said while leaning forward the rest her head in her hand. The Halo ronin noticed the strange tattoo on her back as well as the small scar on her shoulder. The tatto was a pair of silver-white angel wings. Well that exlpains a couple of their inside jokes. Now Sage had been raised to be courteous and he wouldn't be as rude as to ask about it. Unfortunately Kento's mind didn't work that way.
" Hey what's with your back?"
" Kento!" the four boys other boys immediately scolded. Angels laughed at his bluntness.
" I'd tell you but I'm not sure where the tattoo came from," she told him while looking over the back of the couch, " I've had it since I was little."
" Oh," came the reply. Cye announced it was time they got going and the five boys said goodnight. Ki stood at the door and waved to them as they went their way down the street. When she got back to the living room she stopped when she saw the evil grin on Angels's face.
" So," she said with an amused tone, " Which one do you have the crush on?"
Ki stuttered before shouting her reply in an indignant voice, " I don't have any crush!"
" Oh yes you do," Angels laughed.
" I do not!"
" Do to!"
" Do not!"
" Do to!"
" Do not!"
" Do to!"
" Do not!" Ki threw her hands up in defeat. " ALRIGHT! I'll confess!" Angels grinned in triumph. " ….. it's Sage," Ki whispered.
" HA!" Angels exclaimed. " I knew it!"
" Oh be quiet!"
Unknown to any of them; a dark, ominous cloud started to cover the sky of the Nether Realm and former home of the Dynasty. Kayura and the three warlords sprang into action but they were too late. Black lightning crashed and caused the ground to explode. Their screams of pain were drowned out by a cold and evil laughter. A large dark shadow with glowing red eyes formed within Tulpa's former throne room. Within minuets two teenage boys appeared kneeling in front of the form on the throne room.
" Master Shadow," the one on the right said without lifting his head. " The former Warlord's of Tulpa have been thrown into the dungeons as you commanded."
" Shall we proceed to try and turn them to our cause?" The second one asked.
" Yes," hissed a voice that seemed to echo from the shadows itself. The large from on the throne condensed into a more solid shape and a heavily cloaked person. The only thing that could be seen within the hood was a pair of glowing red eyes. Shadow, the leader and master of the realm known as DarkSide, let lose another peal of evil laughter. The former Dynasty was theirs and soon the Mortal Realm would crumble at their feet and leave SunStar weakened. All he had to do was defeat the Gemini Warriors and he already had a plan for that. They would not stand in his way again.
