I can't believe I actually started writing this again.

Ugh, and this fic is so damn embarrassing, especially at the beginning.

Well, if you folks enjoy itI hope you don't get disappointed after so much anticipation

Ummm I stole the lounge from Pixar and I made it creepier.

Oh, and I really don't know much about shame and rituals and suchbut this is an alternate universe, so there.

I had all these problems with Word, so I wrote the latter half in HTML form, so there might be a lotta typos I missed.

Chapter 20:

Something In The Air

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Once more, the lab had become a place of play for the prince. It was perhaps the environment least fit for royalty, and making it into one was most likely the only way to cope. Prince Cronos adapted well. His innate knowledge that he was inherently above all others, combined with his immunity to most of the horrors of Tylon's labs, allowed him to distance himself from gruesome reality the way many princes do. Added to this was a new experience of not being the boss and being out of control of certain ways, along with limits and certain horrors to which he was not immune. This gave labs an air of excitement he could not resist when he managed to sneak in, which was quite often after he had taught himself the basics of stealth. Of course, he would have loved to pick up some tips from a certain someone, but he was so shamed that he did not even want to hint that he used to be ninja. It was a pity, since he probably would not have been seeing him and interacting with him so much if he had not been shamed and put into a kind of exile. That child was easiest to bend with his status, but he could not ever get him to perform what he felt was a betrayal to his own clan.

However, one particularly pugnacious child never treated him like the royalty he was. Then again, he probably did not even know what royalty was (or care, for that matter). Ever since their first meeting, since his "birth," even, there was an obvious mean streak in him, one that made him irresistible to tease, no matter how many times he bit him.

And now, he was teasing him again, and unknowingly teasing the glaring imprisoned experiments as well as he ran past them. In one hand he held a little orange and black puff of polyester up high above his head while another child ran on him on four white paws while a striped tail fluttered behind him.

His feet screeched against the floor as he made a sharp turn towards the stairs to a lower level, but the lead he held was cut short as he slipped on something liquid and warm and tumbled down the steps, rolling in more of the stuff.

Something smelled foul and he ached all over. He looked at himself. It was blood. He panicked. "Ga GANESHA! I'm bleeding!" he shrieked and he broke into a crying fit. The feline peered at him from the top of the steps and curiously sniffed at the red pools. "Ryu?" he voiced. He pounced down the stairs and bat Cronos on the head. "Ryu's hurt!" he told him. The shamed boy had unofficially become the red-eyed child's caretaker and, as far as he was concerned, it was impossible for his caretaker to die. He would not allow it, despite the fact that he himself bit the hand that fed him repeatedly.

"I hit my head!"

"Ryu's in trouble," was all he said with a very straight face.

Before either of them could say anything, they heard a panicked, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" from behind the darkness of the corridor. The barefoot experiment ran up with a mop and bucket in hand. Blood from his mouth was all over his chin and face, and it was soaked all over the front of his bright white slip. It dripped onto the floor and left little red footprints behind him as he ran.

"I'm so sorry!" he apologized again, and immediately got to work mopping up the mess he had made.

"What happened?" Shen voiced.

"I... I got a little sick" he whispered, "I'm sorry. Are you hurt?"

"I hit my elbow!" the prince sobbed.

"Shut up!" Shen yelled, batting him in the head again.

"No you shut up!" Cronos sobbed back, lashing a fist out at him. The did not even notice in their fight that Ryu's breathing was becoming harsh and raspy, and that he eventually used his mop as a support before finally fainting.

~~~~~~~~

"PsstRyu!" The prince later hissed into the only experiment's cage whose door was wide open, as a physical prison was never necessary for its tenant. A sleeping beast's eyes peeked from a furry brown face. The mole creature inhaled a surprised hissed breath. "You okay?" Cronos whispered." The mole glowed and transformed back into a sickly youth. "Cronos It's night-"

"I know what time it is, but after that whole blood thing I couldn't get past Ganesha while he was awake. I had to risk it."

"I'm sorry about earlier today."

"Hey, I'm worried about you! One minute you were standing, and then you were just lying in the blood you barfed up. We thought you died. Shen seriously freaked!"

"You were worried about me"

"Umm yeah. I mean, we're friends, right?"

The shamed ninja stared at him with wide and almost scary eyes. "F-Friends?!"

"Yes?"

He stood up and took a few unsure steps towards him. "Then," he began to stutter, "T-then it would be okay if I asked you to" He looked down, embarrassed. "To"

He gave a forced smile and laughed, "Hey, I don't care about this stupid shame crap! Come on! Ask me!"

The young dragon stayed quiet for a few seconds, and then he slowly and deliberately stepped out of his cell, the guilt of breaking that rule obviously affecting him. He grabbed Cronos' hand and told him to come with him.

They crept down the hall and peered into the dark corridor where the two had experienced their brush with Tylon's resident ghost. The former Young Dragon bowed to the nothingness and quietly promised that they were not going to meddle in anything. He stared into the dark, and Cronos was just about to ask how long he was going to stand there when the mysterious youth turned and grabbed his hand once more and ran into the abyss. Somehow, he navigated perfectly in the dark. They stopped, and Ryu felt the wall for a false wall to a little crawl space. He directed Cronos to crawl through to a small room there was a enough headspace for a child to touch the ceiling. Ryu flipped a little switch and Cronos could see little couches with wild patterns, writing on the wall, and nearly empty liquor bottles from who knows when, lying amongst sharp glass shards and ominous brown splotches on the floor.

"What is this place?" he whispered.

Neither of them could figure the place out. In reality, it was a long forgotten space that a scientist discovered one day and used for illegal get-togethers and playing hooky with his fellow coworkers. Some of the debris from their parties in "The Love Lounge" were still scattered about the space, and most of the room was still caked in dust and filth.

"I don't know. I found it a while back" the other whispered back. He moved a beanbag chair and retrieved two long items that made a metallic sound when they clinked together. They were short swords. He held one out for Cronos to take.

"Please be my second."

His face, normally unsure and afraid, was now uncomfortably serious.

"Y-your what?"

"I'm sorry," he then sighed, regaining his lower-than-dirt mentality, "I know I am to live my life in shame and it is even more improper to want a second"

"H-hold on!" Cronos interrupted, "I don't even know what you're talking about!"

He blinked curiously, as if it was the most obvious thing. "I'd like you to cut off my head."

"What?"

"After I make the incision."

"I-Incision?!"

"In my belly?"

Cronos took a step back and stared at him, completely distraught. "Y-you're going to cut your belly open?"

"Well, I guess it wouldn't be right to do it that way, since I don't even have permission and-"

"You're joking, right? You're not really gonna"

"I'm sorry," the boy whispered, dejected, "I know I have no right to try and take the shame away I shouldn't have even thought of this."

He lowered his head and looked away. Cronos reluctantly touched his shoulder. Ryu trembled.

"I want to die."

"Huh?"

The dark haired boy pushed himself away and dropped to the floor. He stiffly took out his own sword and unsheathed it. "I'm selfish," he whispered, "I want to be dead." He gripped the short sword by the blade. Small jets of blood escaped from between his fingers. "I'm sorry. I'm only doing this for me, so I'll do it by myself." Very deliberately, he positioned the blade to insert it into the left side of his abdomen and he began to thrust

The blade was awkwardly yanked out of his body's reach, slashing deeper into already wounded hands.

"Cut it out! You're scaring me!" Cronos yelped. His breath was frantic and he panicked at the blood pouring from Ryu's hands.

The two panted and stared into each other's eyes, waiting for something, anything to happen. Cronos watched Ryu's face reflect just how hopeless he had become.

"I I want to die I want to be dead!"

Cronos was taken aback. He had never experienced these feelings or being around somebody with them. He had barely even known they existed. He was completely confounded, and he had no idea what to do or say. He uncomfortably watched his strange companion curl up on the floor in a show of emotion he had never thought he would see from him.

"Ryu"

"Today," he sniffled, "I think I gave myself an overdose of that drug and I think I did it on purpose, too And I didn't die. I hurt you, instead."

"Hey, it's not your fault you barfed blood all over the stairs."

"I want to die. I want to die. I want to die"

Cronos searched himself for something to say. After cycling through other possible useless comments, he settled with, "I'm sure whatever you lost will turn up eventually"

But the younger wept the mantra, "No, it wontit won't it won't"

Cronos' conscience and paranoia now ate at him with record intensity. His insides boiled, and he himself wanted to be dead. "Don't worry," he told him when he made a decision to himself, "It will turn up eventually."

~~~~~~

It was early in the morning, but still at the hours that could be considered late at night. The prince nervously glanced back at the little pools of water he left behind him. He could not help it, as he was completely soaked from swimming to the bottom of an unusually deep fish pond. He tried to make himself unheard, but as skilled at sneaking he was, he was still about as detectable as the average child. He peered around the corner to where the cages were. No, it would be a bad idea to go there. It would be best to leave it where he found it

He turned, bumped into the young ninja and figured he was about dead. His expression was completely unreadable and he stuttered, trying to come up with his last words. He did not have to, though.

" You found it" he said, as though in awe.

"Uh uh"

"You found it. You found the heirloom."

"Um yeah! Yeah, I did"

Slowly, and carefully, as though it might be a ghost's illusion on front of him, he reached out and touched the slick armor. He was fascinating to watch. It was as if he was unsure of what to do with his life now that his precious heirloom was no longer missing. He gently put his fingers around the edges of the metal, and Cronos figured out that he was silently asking if he could take it. He slowly shifted the weight into Ryu's arms. The boy became completely breathless and speechless. He was almost in awe of the damp and now dingy item he held. Finally, he managed to breathe a "Thank You" before running away.

Cronos watched him leave.

"I wanna die"

~~~~~~~~

What to do? What to do? True, he now obtained the item that had changed his life. How was he going to return it? How was he going to make it presentable? How was he going to explain himself?

Things had become so much worse and so much more painful. What was he to do? How could he even present himself to his master? Could there have even been redemption for him? What if this only made matters worse?

He fingered the damp cloth. How was he going to fix this?

"Well, Young Dragon" a voice called to him from the darkness.

He froze upon hearing what used to be his title and and refused to insult the voice's source by turning to it.

"I am talking to you We have not gotten a new heir just yet."

The master of the Clan of the Soil bent down and took the armor in one large hand. "You've gotten it wet, dirty, tarnished, moldy"

The boy cringed with each description. The old master turned away from him and began to walk in the direction of his clan's quarters.

"You're going to have a lot of work to do to make it fit for the day you wear it."

Once the meaning of what he had just said had registered in the heir's mind, he leapt to his feet and quickly ran to catch up with his master.

"M-master?"

"What are you doing in those clothes," the master voiced while he kept his head up high, "They're dirty and unfit for our kind."

"You-you mean?"

"I mean what?"

The two stopped and the older ninja finally looked at him sternly. The younger squirmed a little.

"You don't hate me anymore?"

He finally looked at him and said nothing. Then he quickly looked at the labs. It was time to get out of these surroundings.

"Come on. We have to go home."

~*~*~*~*~*~

"He took her He took her!"

"Yes, I know!" Marvel snapped, "There are more important things to worry about!"

"Fuck the important things!" he roared suddenly into the miniscule screen. Even Marvel was taken aback. The prince tried to calm himself with slow breaths when he realized he had lost his temper on front of a lady. "I'm terribly sorry, Miss Marvel"

"What's gotten into you?" she asked, not sounding like she was forgiving him, "You're normally jaded and lovestupid, but this is ridiculous!"

Cronos leaned against the wall and ran his fingers through his hair. He sighed. "I'm not sure, myself" He then decided to change the subject. "So, who are these guests of yours?" he asked, obviously referring to the two she currently held at gunpoint.

"These boneheads (Hey!') are our new allies," Marvel explained with a grunt. Using a quick jerk of her head, she motioned to the people off-camera to come into view. "They've got people over there they wanna save. This is Alice."

"And this," she then continued in a derogatory nasal voice, "thick-headed muscle-packed weirdo is Yugo."

"I don't like being called stupid," the man objected.

"I didn't call you stupid; I called you thick-headed muscle-packed weirdo.' Now shaddup." The pigtailed woman then decided to interrupt. "Excuse me," she questioned in a mock-polite voice, "but if the walls have ears, then what are you doing introducing us over a video phone?"

Cronos almost snickered at the look he saw on a silent Marvel's face. Finally, she replied in her own mock-polite voice, "Excuse me, but I think lead is bad for your make-up," and she lifted up her weapon to remind her that she still held it. "Sit down and shut up."

As he did not like any lady being in distress, Cronos decided to change the subject to one of the preferred more important things. "Any luck with your father?"

"As if I'd actually have any? Daddy's such a dope!"

"Alright! Alright! I'm sorry for asking"

Yugo, not knowing when to stop, teased, "'Daddy?'"

"Shut up."

"Papa's girl!" Yugo and Alice both teased in unison.

"You wanna die?" Shina growled, raising the gun and thus shutting them up once more.

"That reminds me" she started to say with a grin, which made Cronos ,Yugo, and Alice all gulp uneasily, "These two are our kind I say we attack the place head-on and you get the place from the inside."

The prince let out an exasperated grunt. "What's new?"

The look on Marvel's face was eager and dangerous. "But don't you see? We have two more on our side now! I can whip some shape into them an' then with your help and a little fake message to the police and daddy's apartment We'll make a reason for them to break into and convict Tylon!"

Cronos was starting to get annoyed again. His head began to hurt. "Oh, for the love ofMarvel! Can't we come up with any new plans?!"

"Nope. Sorry."

Cronos buried his face in one hand and grumbled inaudible expletives in frustration. As well as Marvel knew him, she had rarely seen him lose his posture on front of a young lady he had just met.

"Cronos"

"I'm fine!" he snapped, "It's just my head" His breathing was now shallow and audible, and his forehead was shiny with sweat.

"Has Busuzima-"

"No! In fact, he hasn't given me anything in a while. I It kinda feels like there's something in the air, you know?"

Marvel glared at him very grimly. She did not say anything, though. Even if she was going to say something, the sound of feet from the other line alerted her to an intruder, someone who could hear their plans. She immediately cut the video end of the phone. The audio was still connected. Marvel told the others to hush while she listened closely for any hints from whoever this might be. She moaned when she heard Cronos exclaim "Kitten!"

She made a mental note to block out any of the sweet gooey sickness that she might hear, but that was soon changed when she heard the sound of a body collapse and a young girl yell the prince's name.

"That sounded like-"

"Hush!" Marvel hissed to Alice. She leaned in to listen to the commotion. A girl's voice was frantic, trying to figure out whatever had happened. Finally, she called his guard for help, but he seemed just as clueless.

"I don't know what happened. I just touched him and"

She heard raspy panting and pained groaning.

"What's going on?" the female voice asked.

There was a little silence before a much lower voice said, "He's burning up."

"I think he's trying to say something"

"Get off of me!"

There was a thud and a yelp.

"Cronos!" Two voices yelled.

"I'm fine! What are you doing walking in on me like that?"

"I"

"You what?"

"Umm"

There was the sound of flesh hitting flesh, a short feminine shriek, and a surprised interjection of an older man.

"Quit playing innocent like that!"

"He's certainly wolf in sheep's clothing')" Alice grumbled.

Marvel whispered, very absorbed in the matter, "But I thought that was his new girl. He's normally never like this to any young woman, especially if she's his girl"

"Cronos?"

There was more panting, and then a voice straining itself to tell her to leave before finally yelling an order to leave him alone. Then there were footsteps, then silence, before Cronos went pack to the phone.

Cronos looked worse than before. He could not hide the fact that something was wrong with him; it was clear in his face and dilated eyes. He was hunched over, using the table as a support while his free arm clutched at his chest.

"Look, Cronos"

"I'm fine," he growled threateningly.

Marvel was through being sarcastic. She now sounded like a concerned parent. "Look. If anything starts happening, don't be afraid to call me, okay? We'll send help right over. Don't worry- I'll come up with a good excuse."

"I said I'm fine," he wheezed. "I'll call you back."

Without even saying goodbye properly, he cut the transmission. Upon turning around, the big task it now was, he saw Uriko watching him nervously. Had she heard anything? He wanted to give her a piece of his mind, but had neither the strength nor the coordination to do so. In fact, his sudden burst of energy was already fading into the still tense mood from before.

Uriko cautiously stepped up to him to offer him help. He acknowledged for once that he did need it now, but he was reluctant to touch her again. She moved right up and put his arm over her shoulder without any words or warning. Nothing happened now, and Cronos let himself relax and be led away by his kitten.

~~~~

After realizing Cronos had hung up on her, Marvel stood back and placed her hands on her waist. Things were certainly different this phone call.

"This is serious," was all she said while she thought this situation.

"Miss Marvel?" Alice asked timidly.

Marvel dismissed her; she was thinking.

"What about that superstition' stuff? You know, that parchment I was reading?"

"Don't be stupid," the blonde spat, "There's no such thing as magic or those kinds of creatures"

"But there are zoanthropes" Yugo reminded her.

Alice backed him up with, "Yugo is a werewolf' of sorts"

Marvel stared at the floor. Her face hardened into a grim frown. All she had to say now was, "This is very serious."

Finally, she turned to Alice and told her they were not going to wait much longer; they could not afford to do so. And then she remembered something: Alice's mother worked for Tylon. That could prove to be hazardous to their cause.

"We're going to have to do something about that," she muttered, eying her pigtails. Without any other word, she took Alice by the hand, dragged her into the bathroom, and shut the door behind her.

~~~~~~

So, tell me Who are you?

Shut up, shut up, shut up!

Is that all you have to say?

Get out of my head!

You ask the impossible.

"You think you know everything," the youth grumbled.

I have reason to do so

"Shut up!" You sound like that stupid old man sometimes

How so? I'd like you to put it into words for me.

You "You're always messing around with every little thing I do and feel."

It's not that unusual when coming from the inside, you know. If we weren't so messed up, we wouldn't even be in this situation, having arguments like this

So Why is your Master suddenly "That stupid old man?"

Why so silent?

"I hate him. And he's not my master!"

The teenaged ninja kicked a broken beaker across the metallic floor of an unused lab. "I'm not subordinate to anyone," he growled.

Speaking of such things,"subordinate" seems to include "equal" with you, which reminds me You can't tell me that back there you didn't like being "subordinate" to that girl.

"I'm nobody's! You got that?" I'm especially not that geezer's little pet!" he yelled, before walking right into "that geezer." Actually, it was not quite the old man he had in mind. It was a statue?

"The resemblance is eerie, no?"

"I told you to shut-" he started to say, but then he realized that it was the deep voice of Bakuryu of the Clan of the Soil. He had not even been aware that he was being followed.

Our senses are becoming dull, aren't they

"Your senses are becoming dull," the old master said as a greeting.

No, he is not reading your mind.

"What do you want?" the new Bakuryu grumbled.

The elder approached what the younger thought was himself and motioned toward it. "Have I ever told you about this?" he asked him. It was a rhetorical question, of course.

"This was a 'gift' to us," he explained, "'The Iron Mole' is, quite obviously, not a statue, nor is it a 'helper.' Clearly, it is a replacement. The clan unanimously refused it and requested its building be haulted. Later, we found it, near completion, down here. We've been meddling with it, making sure it would never activate, and it has always been fixed, but in the past year or so all the repairs stopped, even after we reduced it to a mere shell."

To tell the truth, the younger found himself awed by the tale and the creation, though he hated to admit it. When Bakuru turnd to him, he had already molded his face into a snotty expression just for him to show he did not care.

"So?" He asked with the diverted gaze, crossed arms, and bored tone of a spoiled child.

"'So?' Can't you see where this is leading, Young Dragon?"

"My name is Bakuryu, and I really don't give a damn."

In his haughtiness, he did not keep up his guard, thus leaving him wide open for the blow to the face that was dealt to him.

"If you are going to take that name, you must take the responsibilities that go with it as well!" he barked. He then lowered his tone, "Besides, even if you do renounce your origins, this will ultimately affect you as well. Our clan has been exclusively and loyally serving the Tylon family for generations. If anything odd is going to happen to the people in charge, we would need to be eliminated."

"Good"

"Listen to me!" Bakuryu pointed to the metal soldier on the pedestal and made sure he heard him say, "If 'The Iron Mole' isn't good enough to defeat us, what is? There's something worse in store for us and for the rest of Tylon. Haven't you felt it?"

The teenager bent backwards, obviously annoyed by Bakuryu's sudden advance as he talked. He was certainly getting touchy lately."Felt what?"

"The energy that's surrounding us now: that vexed, violent kind of energy that's building itself up in anticipation. Can't you feel it?"

The brunette stared at him oddly.

"It's like there's something in the air"

~~~~~~

Uriko paced madly around her bed. First, on royal orders, she was forbidden to leave Cronos' quarters, second, the prince had suddenly become paricularly possessive and irritable. Ganesha was just as confused as she was. As strange as the eccentric Cronos could get, he was never quite so violent, expecially around someone like Uriko. Not only was Uriko worried, but she was becoming so tense. She had always despised anything remotely close to boredom. Not only that, but for some reason everything had started to feel so tense. The very air was full of static. Something was not right. Something bad was getting ready to strike. She could feel it in her body and in her soul. She was becoming so antsy, she could not stand it anymore. Uriko had to strain to disobey the urge to hit something.

Expecially after her experience in the labs, with whatever it was that had just seemed to call to her, she had felt so antsy and tense. It was what had made her run as if home was at the other end of the labs. After he had gotten back to Cronos' quarters, it had kind of worn off, but the feeling was not completely gone. In a way, it felt somewhat natural to her.

To distract herself, she tried thinking about what used to be on her mind all the time: escape and trust. Cronos was always a bit creepy, and now she felt particularly unsafe around him, even if she were to do her cute act. She had seen a little glimmer of hope in the situation of trusting Kenji, but that was also dangerous.

She flung herself onto the bed and puched at the pillows in frustration. Now the both of them were possessive creeps!

If they happened to get into a fight, all heck would surely break loose But they probably wouldn't get into an all-out duel, would they?

~~~~~~

The new Bakuryu sat brooding in the mess of pipes in the shadows the ceiling cast. How dare that old man still bother him? How dare the voices torment him so? He was Bakuryu, master of The Dark, and nobody was his master. With enough hate, he could block anything out. With enough hate, the fossil's ramblings, the voices' words, and the taunting slivers of memories that danced just out of reach faded into the abyss. He knew what he wanted, and he was going to get it. No rule, "master," or stupid little voice was going to stop him. New voices were coming now. Faint little whispers danced the war dance like a growing flame within him, chanting the mantra to fight and kill and take what was his.

~~~~~~

Nothing could quench the bonfire that scorched him from within. The feeling of something from inside trying to emerge had returned stronger than before. Like before, he burned up and could feel energy agitate his body to painful measures. However, now a kind of knowledge was coming with it. He knew very well he was a prince, but now he vaguely knew he was more. He had pride, heritage, divinity. It was still lost inside, and still tantalizing him with this agony, but it was there, and it would escape somehow.

He had the knowledge that a great battle was coming, one of hundreds of pathetic and worthless against one superior being. How glorious it would be! He had been cooped up in a small cage for so long; it was time to get out, stretch, and see if he had lost his touch after so long.

That was odd, he thought, but it was just fine. Such strength would suffice for the only battle he counted on fighting.