Destiny
(Ronin/Witchblade Crossover)
By: Yin-Yang & JanimeLee
~Chapter Four~
It was late in the afternoon before the four families were at the nearly empty park with a large fountain and couple of benches. It was a nice day out and for the moment the families could enjoy it and were sitting at the cool fountain, quietly talking about what was going on in their lives.
Dini was dressed in simple white shorts with a pale red shirt, her neon pink hair in a braid down her back as she sat o the rim of the fountain. Megumi was standing as she looked at the clear sky, holding her white-blonde hair away from her face and dressed in a simple blouse, patterned vest and slacks. Naomi sat in the grass, dressed in her jeans and tank top as she plucked at the grass, talking with her parents some. Abigail was sitting nearby in a dress/overalls of pale gray and white shirt with her purse sitting at her side, switching her pale green gaze to look at her daughter and ex-husband time to time and brushed her brownish hair back. Lupia opted for a brown, sleeveless shirt and black jeans with a banana clip in her hair. She smiled some as she watched her parents talked and talked with her friends. Liana was in similar attire as her daughter except her shirt was a maroon with an orange moon on the shoulder and Cale as usually was wearing all black with his jeans, muscle shirt and jacket. Zenida decided to wear her long khaki skirt with the big pockets on both side and hooded shirt with racing greenish stripes down the sleeves, her hair pulled ponytail. Delia was still wearing her stretched jeans from the plane ride but changed her shirt with a baby blue button down with the sleeves rolled back and deep black hair loose about her back. Anubis was dressed in simple slacks and teal colored shirt and nodded to the others before he cleared his throat.
"Last night the girls had the misfortunate to witness a nightmare that, in a way, showed them a past that we hoped none of you would ever have to know about. But there was nothing we could do to stop it so we thought it was about time to let you all know just how this is all connected. Girls, may we see your bracelets for a moment?" The teenagers looked at each other and one by one handed the bracelets to their fathers who looked hesitant in holding them.
"These may look like ordinary jewelry but these hold a special power to them. That day at the mall you all witnessed a suspect a fraction of it," Cale explained.
"You mean that stupid think may turn around and bite me like it did that guy?" Naomi asked, not looking too thrilled about the idea of being attacked by a piece of metal.
"It has before," her father answered. "And it is painful." Sekhmet tossed the bracelet up and caught when it came down. "We wanted the power--so stupid the four of us were and naive to think we could handle it."
Dais picked up. "That's why after so long, we wanted to be free of these things. So we buried then and started over. We wanted a new life and to forget what we had done in the past. With a little help, we did."
"So then you four weren't adopted?" Abigail spoke.
"We were," Cale said. "But not until we were teenagers. Our parent's were long since dead."
"I could only assume," Sekhmet said bitterly.
"I don't understand. Just why would you want to bury them? Are they cursed or something?" Megumi spoke up, finding it all hard to believe.
"They were to us," Dais said truthfully as she looked at the spider.
"But what are they?" Zenida spoke up.
The four men silently looked at each other and hesitantly put the bracelets on their own wrists. That's when the area around them began to shift and they found themselves in the same area but it was like a wall was around them. The ladies looked around and were shocked when they found their husbands/fathers/ dressed in slim looking armors of different colors.
"What the hell is that?!" Dini blurted out.
Her father looked at her. "It's called sub-armor," said Dais. "Stronger than steel but it's light as regular clothing." He held out his hand towards Dini and Megumi. Dini reached out to touch it but her mother grabbed her hand.
"Why didn't you ever tell us about these things?" Megumi turned accusing eyes on Dais.
"Two reasons really. To protect you all and we weren't sure if you would believe us or not." he said as he took his hand back.
"Does that mean what we say in the nightmare... is like the rest of it?" Lupia asked a she walked around her dad. It looked so strange.
"Yes but it's more... what's the word I'm looking for."
"Frightening?"
"That in reality."
Liana crossed her arms over her chest and just looked at them. "The time for secrets is over. Show us."
Cale sighed and looked at the other three. This was the part they didn't want to do but had no choice. They raised their left hands up. A dark shadowy glow engulfed them, barely visible to the ladies. Then something seemed to jump out of the sub-armor itself, growing around them, covering so that the four men weren't recognizable.
When the shadow disappeared, all the women could do was stare in shock. Zenida, Dini, Lupia, and Naomi felt their hearts slam in their chests. They were looking at the same Armor that their fathers' had been wearing in their dream.
Anubis' faceplate opened. "This is what you saw in the dream, isn't it?" he asked and was answered with nodding.
"Great Buddha..." Delia put her hand over her mouth as she stared at her husband. "How long did you have this?"
"A very long time, more years then we cared for," he said in a weary sort of tone. Silently Zenida reached out with a shaking hand to rest her hand on his chest. "It's real."
Dini looked at the sharp blades on her father's back and titled her head to the side. "You're armor look like a giant, pink spider." The other men seemed to giggle but were silence as Dais glared in their direction.
"They were created like that. More intimidating." He saw as his daughter nearly jumped when he spoke to her behind the faceplate and took the helmet off. "Gomen. Been a while I forgot how this distorts my voice."
Abigail wasn't sure what to say or do but Dini had a point. Three of the armors looked like animals in a way. But to actually fight in them? "You can move easily in them? They don't hamper your movements any?" she asked.
"None at all," Sekhmet took his helmet off.
Naomi walked over to his and took the helmet from him. She stared at it for a while, wondering how her father came into possession of this Armor; she also found herself being rather curious about it. Naomi turned the helmet around so that the back was facing her, raising it up and started to lower it over her head.
Sekhmet immediately grabbed it from her, giving his daughter a stern and frightful look of even considering putting it on.
"What's the down side to having them?" asked Lupia.
"Being in control," Cale said. "It's hard to distinguish what are your thoughts and the ones from the Armors."
"Wait a minute," said Megumi. "Are you saying that those things have a conscience? That they know what they're doing?"
"Yes and no," Dais answered. "In a way it finds the darkest part of yourself and forces you to battle with it." He paused for a moment, sensing something close by yet not threatening. "Sometimes it's not easy... and you submit to it."
"And that happened to you? Delia asked softly. Anubis nodded and she wordlessly took his hand in her own, finding the armor unusually but smiled some as he squeezed her hand back comfortly.
"So um, what else do these armors do beside scare everyone outta their skin?" Dini went back to looking at the blades, thinking they did look like spider legs. ~Creepy.~
"They have certain powers. Mine it mainly illusions. The more my opponent's mind relies on reality the stronger and confusing my illusions are. Cale can twist the darkness to his bidding."
"I always knew you were a night owl and this is the proof," Liana spoke in a dry tone but meant it in a humorous was. She told her daughter not to cut herself with the set of claws on his arm.
"Mine seeks out the cruelty in the hearts and minds of people and uses it to my advantage," Anubis said. "Sekhmet is immune to venom and he uses it on his swords as well."
The ladies were silently looking at he armors and asking more about it but something literal invaded the private moment. The illusion broke yet what awaited them were these dark shadows that were literally alive.
Dais took the spider legs off his back and they shot out hitting the fours shadows that had sprung from the trees, shrieking as they faded away. Then it was quiet. Too quiet for anyone's liking. The four men knew more was to come.
Clapping started; it seemed to come from all around them. Father pushed mother and daughter together in the middle and they stood around them in a protective circle.
"I applaud your quick move," a voice said. "Nice to see that you haven't lost it, Dais, Warlord of Illusion."
"Come out and show yourself!" he demanded as he put the helmet back on. Everyone seemed to be expecting some sort of fancy entrance but what they got was a young man making his way towards them as a leisure pace. He was dressed sharply in slacks, button-down shirt and jacket over it with his black hair was slicked back holding a streak of white and dark red eyes that seemed to glow time to time.
Naomi looked at her father's back as she heard him mumbled under his breath "Not again." Did they know this guy?
"You're suppose to be dead," Cale growled at him angrily, much like a wolf guarding what was his.
The man laughed and it made everyone's blood run cold. "You kill me? Don't make me laugh! Let's not make this difficult just give me the bracelets and you and your families will leave him in one piece. Refuse… let's just say you get to watch as these lovely ladies die before your eyes."
"Our eyes will be watching you die, Reficul," Anubis said darkly, scaring Zenida for she had never heard her father speak in such a malevolent tone.
Reficul chuckled with a dark grin. "You of all people should know about dying, Anubis. But you seemed to have recovered from that." He started to walk back and forth. "And you seemed to have avoided death for a very long time. Why don't you tell them exactly how old you really are?"
The girls looked at their fathers and saw the stressed look in their eyes. "Daddy?" Dini said almost quietly.
"We're over four hundred years old," said Dais.
"Over four hundred year old?" Lupia repeated in a strain voice, obviously get a bit nervous by all of this. Just went you think you really know your parents.
Naomi looked at her father but said nothing. Everything was getting so weird but she didn't as fazed as her friends. The ladies al held onto their daughters, to keep them away from harm as their fathers got ready to fight.
"Enough of this talking! We know why you came here for and you're not getting them," Cale growled, narrowing his eyes as he swore to himself to protect his family at all costs. He loved them all so much and he knew that the others were thinking the same thing about their own families.
"Oh really?" Reficul tilted his head slightly. "Then I'll just take a consolation prize." He snapped his fingers. Four dark shadows shot up from the center of their circle, grabbing the four girls from their mothers.
"NAOMI!!" Sekhmet screamed.
Dais quickly took the flail off his arm, swinging it at the shadows. It struck one and Dini cried out as blood started to drip from the puncture marks that had suddenly appeared on her right arm.
Reficul clicked his tongue and waged his finger. "Now, now, you should know better than to attack one of my sprites when they take a captive. Any harm done to them will reflect on your daughters."
"Dini!!" Megumi cried out in alarm, reaching for her daughter. She fell to her knees when the shadow thing seemed to backhand her in the face. The ladies tried to get to their daughters as well but as before the shadows disappeared with them only to appear outside the circle now.
"Let us go!" Zenida yelled as she struggled to get free but the thing wasn't listening and seem to tighten its hold on her. Dini held onto her arm tightly, trying to stop the bleeding as she looked at her father. Lupia was trying to escape as well and Naomi was putting up a strong fight.
"I can very well see that each of you has sired very strong children in their own right," he said with a smile, looking at the girls each in turn. "Very nice."
Cale and Sekhmet didn't like the way his eyes seemed to glow, especially at their girls and went running at him, intending to run him through with their swords even as the other two yelled at them to stop.
"Naomi!!" Abigail cried out in fear for both her family members, not wanting to see either get hurt but there was nothing she or the other ladies could do except maybe pray.
Reficul seemed a little surprised as the two charged at him. Holding up his left hand and muttering a few words, Reficul cast a shockwave that sent the two flying backwards, skidding past the others. Abigail and Liana ran to them.
"I admire your valiance," Reficul said. Anubis and Dais started towards him. "I'd stop there if I were you." He waved his right hand and the shadows around the girls began to tighten, making it hard for them to breath. Dais and Anubis backed off.
"Good boys," Reficul said in a mocking tone. He snapped his fingers again, and a large red door appeared. The door opened and the sprites flew through it with the girls. "You have until sunset tomorrow," Reficul said walking through the door. "I trust you will reach your decision by then." The door closed and vanished.
They could do nothing as they stood there, defeated and with a tough choice to make. Give up their armors to their most hated enemy and get their daughters back, or refused and... They didn't want to think what could happen to them, Delia and Megumi both went before their husbands and were comforted each other. They wanted their daughters back at all costs from that mad man.
"I don't know about you but I'd do anything to get Dini back," Dais spoke up as he held his ex-wife close. He knew she was trying to be brave but she was still crying silently.
Anubis silently nodded as he looked at where the door stood standing, as if expecting it to come back. "I'd do that same thing for both my ladies." He looked down as Delia held his arm tightly around his shoulders, silently praying that her daughter and the others girls were safe. Abigail and Lupia helped their ex-husbands where the others were and they didn't seem too happy at the results.
"Now what?" asked Liana.
Cale looked at her. "Pack your bags, take only what you really need and get out of town." He looked at the other three women. "All of you."
"You can't be serious!" Liana gaped at him. "My baby girl-"
"He's right," said Anubis. "Reficul is dangerous--he makes up his own rules. He's taken our daughters, and it's most likely he'll come after you as well. You have to go somewhere safe."
"I know a place," said Megumi. "The four of us can stay at-"
"Don't say it," Dais cut her off. "The less we know, the safer you'll be."
"Where did he take the girls?" Abigail looked at Sekhmet.
"It's called the Dynasty," he answered and took his helmet off, running his hand through his dark green hair. "We used to live there."
"Anubis," Delia looked at her husband. "You died once?"
"Yes," he answered. "I'll tell you some other time. Right now, I want my daughter back."
"Let's go," said Cale.
Abigail turned to Sekhmet. "Don't you dare come home without her."
"Never was my intention," he said, then she caught his face with her hands and kissed him. Sekhmet felt the shock at first but then the old feelings started to rise. He wanted more, but he knew he had to wait until after the girls were safe.
The kiss broke off naturally but she was looking at him in the same way she sued to when they were married. She knew he would bring their daughter back one way or another. "Be careful." Silently he nodded, caressing her face and watched as she and the other ladies left to find a place to hide.
Dais reached up and rested her hand on his shoulder, nodding to him. This time they were going to destroy Reficul so he would stay good and dead. Permanently. "Let's go get our girls back." He just nodded and put the helmet back on.
"Okay gentlemen, let's do this," Anubis said as he and other stood in a rough circle and began to concentrate. They handed down this in a long time but they still remembered how to bring themselves to the Dynasty. As a fierce wind picked up and they slowly began to fade from view they could only hope they weren't too late.
The first thing the girls saw when they opened their eyes that they were in a large room that was very dark and unnerving. Zenida helped wrap Dini's arm with her handkerchief she kept in her pocket, asking if it hurt anymore.
"Only when I make a fist... and anything else," she tired to say with a smile but whimpered in pain as she shifted her arm.
"Hey don't move that arm okay? We gotta stick together," Lupia said as she tried to keep a brave face. Man she hated this she did like the dark yes but this darkness was unlike anything she ever felt. She glanced over at the silent girl and went over to sit next to her.
"How ya holding out, Naomi?" she asked quietly.
"I'm okay," the green-haired girl replied. For the first time since Naomi could remember, she was very afraid and wanted her father and mother very badly. "Where are we?"
"Your fathers' should have told you," a voice said above them. The four looked up and saw Reficul standing at the edge of a square opening high above in the ceiling. "Since they haven't," he continued, "I guess that obligation has fallen to me. "You're in the Dynasty--a separate dimension from yours. Your fathers lived here for more than four hundred years."
"I still don't understand how that's possible," said Dini, flinching as she moved her arm.
"Hold still now," Zenida said to her as she held her arm in her hands.
"The flow of time here is very different. Time flows much slower than in your world, that and their armors have prolonged their life spans," he said with a small chuckle.
"What's so funny?" the dark girl asked as she glared up at him with blue-green eyes.
"Your fathers buried the bracelets to escape their destinies and yet here you four are, picking the gauntlet back up so to speak." he laughed again. "Oh the sweet irony of it all!!"
"I'd like to see you keep laughing after I rearrange your face!" Naomi yelled up at him with a scowl.
"Naomi!" Zenida hissed through her teeth.
Reficul just smiled. "So much anger," he said, "just like your father. I guess that means it will be easier to turn-" He stopped and looked behind him. "I'm afraid that we'll have to end this amusing conversation, Reficul turned back down to them. "My guests have arrived. Please behave, ladies." He left
"Let us out of here!" Naomi screamed, but she didn't receive an answer. "Just wait till I get my hands on you!" she growled.
"And how are we gonna get out? Look around!" Lupia spread her arms to the side to show there were four slick walls around them, no door or windows unless you counted the large opening in the ceiling but it looked to be a couple of dozen feet high up. "We're sitting ducks!"
"But he said he had guests. We'll just have to wait for our dads to come," Dini said softly, leaning her head back and closed her eyes. But she bit her lip as she tried hard not to cry. Zenida wrapped her arm around her shoulders and let her rest her head on her shoulder.
"I don't want to wait!! You heard what he said the flow of time is different!" the green haired girl cried out. She was getting frustrated fast. "I want outta here now!!" She turned around and angrily slapped her fist into the wall behind her.
"Never thought we'd be here again," said Cale, his eyes scanning the area before him.
The four Warlords looked out at the golden sky and peaceful landscape, which held too many secrets, stories, and dangers. All of which the four knew.
"Never wanted to be here again," Dais said. "Where do you think Reficul has them? The palace?"
"Probably," Anubis said. "It seems logical, knowing the way he thinks. Sometimes he's predictable."
"But where
inside the palace?" Sekhmet asked. "There's so many dungeons and
there's a few places we have not seen at all." He sighed, mind rolling
with so many thoughts but one was the clearest among them. Naomi...
Naomi rubbed her knuckles, and then the strangest feeling came over her. Daddy?
His head jerked back and for a strange moment felt something so very familiar. Naomi? You... can hear me?
Yeah. Why?
... The bracelets. It's the only way I can explain it since we both wore them.
Zenida choose that time to polite make herself known to her own parent. Dad?
Zenida... are you alright?
Yes but Dini needs to see a doctor.
Dais closed his eye tightly and kicked at himself. I can't believe I was that reckless...
The young girl rubbed her arm some and opened pale blue eyes some. Not your fault...
Well this is nice since the girls are alive. Can you tell us where you are? Cale smirked some, glad to know that his little one and the others were alright.
Lupia looked around, narrowing her eyes. Four walls, high ceiling with a large opening up there. No light. Help any? This felt so weird. It was almost like they were in the room with them.
You're in the third dungeon level, Sekhmet sent. We're coming for you.
Dad, be careful, Naomi sent. Reficul said something about 'guests arriving.'
He knows we're here. Sit tight, we'll be there shortly.
The connection ended. Sekhmet looked at the other three. "Well?"
"He's expecting us," said Cale. "And using the girls as bait."
"When I get
my hands on him..." the words trailed off but they all knew what to
expect. "let's get going." The others just nodded and headed out.
Nothing would keep them from getting their daughters out of this place and back
to their mothers.
Reficul watched from two screens, one viewing the girls in the dungeon and the other viewing the Warlords as they made their way through. Soldiers appeared as did his shadows but they were going through them rather quickly. He would have to make this a bit tougher. holding his hand out a long, sharp, ebony nail grew and he cut his wrist and watched as black blood dribbled out and onto the floor. On contact the drops began to take shape and many 4 feet tall demons with razor teeth and claws stood before him with thick, leather skin and gleaming red eyes.
"Go and keep the Warlords busy. If you can kill them but do not damage the bracelets. Go." A wave of his hand and the demons vanished in a black swirl of smoke that smell of rotten flesh. He sat back and watched. "Let the games begin."
~End of Chapter Four~