Revenance
By S. Arallion
Based on "Ronin Warriors"
(the English version of the anime series "Yoroiden Samurai Troopers")
Disclaimer: All characters in this story are owned by their respective copyright holders—namely, not myself. Anything you don't recognize is my fault. I make absolutely no profit from my use of these characters. ~~Arallion
Part 5: Darkness~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anubis awoke at last to the dimly lit stone room, feeling as if he hadn't slept at all. His limbs were heavy, his eyes stung, and the headache hadn't diminished in the slightest. With an involuntary groan, he pushed himself up to a sitting position.
The pain behind his eyes shouted at him to lie back down, but he stubbornly ignored it. Worriedly, he looked at his gauntleted hands. The armor had returned as he slept, it seemed, and its constant presence was draining his energy. How is it doing this? he growled to himself. It didn't make sense. Unless it had something to do with those new plates and engravings…
He examined the plate on his arm carefully. The original armor was still there, underneath the carved and gilded overlay, but it seemed odd. The carving was beautiful; a stylized bird that appeared to be trailing flames from its wings. A phoenix, he realized suddenly.
Kayura wouldn't have altered this armor. The phoenix was definitely lovely enough for her, but it wouldn't have occurred to her to adapt the Armor of Loyalty—she had always considered it his, and herself a mere caretaker. It had to have been Talpa's doing.
The blue-green eyes closed for a moment as Anubis tried to force the headache aside long enough to think. What do I know about the Phoenix legend? Of course… it "rises from the ashes"—it resurrects itself! His eyes widened. Talpa must have used the symbol as a focus to bring him back to life. Could it be that I now require the Armor in order to live? Does that mean that he now owns my soul?
Suddenly angry, the former Warlord again tried to dismiss the armor. It reverted unwillingly to sub-armor, but he continued to concentrate on it. The stabbing pain in his head increased as he struggled to dismiss it completely.
The pain suddenly lessened. Anubis opened his eyes to find himself kneeling, doubled over, on the stone floor. The sub-armor was gone. Thankfully he noted that the blue and white monk's robes had taken its place. He hadn't thought about what he would have done if his clothing hadn't materialized.
Touching his head gingerly with his fingers, he was almost surprised to find it intact. He got to his feet somewhat unsteadily, and pulled the small golden orb that was the heart of his armor from his pocket.
It seemed completely normal, but then, he hadn't bothered to look at the thing for quite some time.
He was about to set the jewel on the edge of the bed and walk away from it, testing the theory that he couldn't survive without the armor's presence, when he heard the outer door open. Tucking the orb away, he peered around the corner.
A thin, familiar voice floated through the room. "Anubis? Are you awake?"
Badamon. His day was not improving, it appeared. He pressed himself against the wall, cursing the lingering weakness.
"Anubis?" The voice was getting closer.
"I'm awake," he muttered, cringing away from the nasal tones that seemed to intensify his headache. He stepped away from the door, back into the room.
The apparition of the Ankoku High Priest glided through the door, holding a steaming bowl of amber liquid. "Ah, good. Good. Are you feeling any better?"
"I'm fine," Anubis said in a flat tone, looking hard at the bowl.
Badamon chuckled, a thin, scratchy sound that reminded Anubis of a nest of annoyed spiders. "Always the stoic, you were. Come, now. I can do something for your pain. It will not abate on its own." He held out the bowl to Anubis.
Anubis ignored it, turning his sharp glare on the priest. "This pain is caused by whatever you did to bring me here? Then why, priest, should I trust you?"
"Yes, not I alone of course, but yes," Badamon waved a clawlike hand dismissively, ignoring the second question. "Come, drink it. You will not find it distasteful, I assure you."
"I find everything about this situation distasteful," Anubis muttered, taking the bowl as it seemed he wasn't being given a choice.
The former Warlord sniffed the vapors warily, thin nostrils flaring. The liquid appeared to be a rich tea, dark golden amber at the top deepening subtly to red in the bottom of the bowl—but that could have been the color of the mottled clay. It smelled innocuous enough—slightly floral, a brisk sharpness of mint.
"Drink before it cools," urged the High Priest, staring intently at the hesitant Anubis.
The pain suddenly lanced through Anubis' head, nearly forcing him to his knees. He nearly dropped the bowl of tea, but Badamon's hand darted forward and rescued it before it fell.
"You see, now? You had best take my advice, young one."
Anubis staggered to the bed and sat down before his balance gave out, stifling the whimper of pain that was trying to escape. He gritted his teeth and managed to glare at Badamon for an entire second before having to close his eyes.
Badamon looked at his handiwork for a moment and smirked. He placed the warm bowl in Anubis' white, trembling hands, and lifted it to the warrior's lips. The blue-green eyes flared open for a moment, but the pain was overcoming any shred of resistance. Shaking now, the former Warlord swallowed some of the infusion. After a moment, he was drinking slowly without Badamon's assistance.
"Drink it all," the soft, nasal voice urged, when Anubis hesitated upon encountering the deep red dregs of the infusion. They were duly swallowed, and Badamon rescued his clay bowl again before the Warlord's hand relaxed in unconsciousness.
The Ankoku High Priest looked down with amusement at his success. He rested a hand on the smooth, red hair, noting with satisfaction the renewed color in the Warlord's face, the emotionless mask of his features. "Perfect," he murmured.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kayura felt her control over their travel weakening, and set them all down gently before they were unceremoniously dropped. The three Warlords looked at her curiously as their armored feet settled to the rocks with a clattering sound.
"What is it, Lady?" Cale asked.
A strong, lazy wind pushed incessantly at them, glacially cold. They stood on a sheer rock formation, looking across a wide chasm dotted with huge, grey boulders and unsteady looking slabs of rock. Piles of snow could be seen here and there in the shadows of the jagged terrain.
"Talpa's influence over this place is strong," Kayura answered worriedly. "I cannot bring us any closer without alerting him to our presence."
"Well, let's get hiking, then," Sekhmet responded matter-of-factly. The Warlord of Venom began to climb down the rock face with ease, finding invisible hand and footholds. Dais looked at him, eyebrow raised, and sighed.
"Get going," Kayura said in a warning tone. The white-haired Warlord glanced at her with a sour look, then hopped off the edge, using a narrow band of his armor's power to descend on a magical filament. Kayura noted with approval that Dais was using only a fraction of his power, knowing that Talpa could sense the use of their armors.
Cale gestured to her. "Your turn, Lady," he said grimly. "Will you be all right?"
"I'm sure it's not as bad as it looks," she replied, but couldn't help a doubtful look over the edge. It was a long climb down. Shrugging, she clambered off the edge and began following Sekhmet's "path".
Dais glided to a halt next to her as she came to a resting point on the climb. "Doing all right?"
"I'm sweating," she growled, half-seriously. "All right so far, though. Go on down."
He looked up briefly at Cale before replying. "If it's all right with you, I'll just hang out. Just in case, you understand."
Kayura rolled her eyes at both the pun and the concern. "Since when did you become a gentleman?"
The Warlord grinned at her. "Since Cale told me he'd rearrange my plating if I didn't…"
They both looked up at Cale, who glared back at them. "Stop looking up my skirt," he yelled down at them. Kayura's mouth dropped open and she started to giggle.
"Now look what you did," Dais hollered up at the Warlord of Corruption, and grabbed onto Kayura's hand as she continued to laugh. "Stop that, you'll fall."
Dutifully, the Ancient's girlish descendant choked back her laughter and turned to the serious business of getting to the bottom of the cliff without any broken bones.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Arise, Warlord. It is time to see the Master.
The sibilant voice echoed faintly in Anubis' ears. He opened his eyes abruptly, but there was no one else in the room. Something deep inside him said he should be wary, but his conscious mind couldn't quite be stirred to think about it. Meanwhile, he was getting up from the bed and leaving his chambers, already clad in his gray sub-armor.
Anubis' footsteps clicked down the stone corridor in a steady rhythm, the echo merely reinforcing his trance-like state. Although he had never been in these corridors before, his path led him directly to Talpa's throne room. He noted this as strange, but again, was not inclined to question. Striding through the huge doors he knelt before the stone steps, folding his hands on one knee patiently.
The thick wax column candles flickered, guttered, and then flared a blinding blue, as Talpa's avatar appeared in the smoky air. "Anubis."
"I am here, Master Talpa," the Warlord answered without hesitation.
Talpa's tone was thoughtful. "How are you feeling, Anubis?"
The Warlord's head raised, a confused expression on his face. "Master?" He had been ill? Injured? Strangely, he couldn't seem to remember anything of that nature.
Talpa's glowing eyes focused on his minion with interest. It seemed that Badamon's plan had worked. He chuckled in pleasure, a deep, gravelly sound. "Rise, Anubis. Now that you are feeling more yourself, I have a small task for you."
The glossy red hair fell forward as Anubis lowered his head respectfully. "It is my honor to serve, Master Talpa."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Wait," Kayura hissed as Sekhmet began to round one of the huge outcroppings left by the glacial ice. She had a strange sensation, as if someone was watching them, and in Talpa's domain, that certainly meant no good.
"What is it?" The Warlord of Venom turned to look at her curiously.
"I think we're about to find out," Dais commented dryly as a rank-smelling gust of wind blew past them.
"I'm not sure I want to find out," muttered Cale, almost to himself.
Cautiously, they all peeked around the curve of the rock face. Nothing was obviously out of place in the barren, rock-studded landscape. Sekhmet shrugged and began to stride forward.
A shower of pebbles pelted their armor and the ground nearby. Kayura ducked and protected her head. "Scatter!" she yelled piercingly.
The four warriors scrambled and dove in opposite directions, just in time to miss being landed on by twenty Dynasty soldiers, the armored goons of Talpa.
"Hah! A fight!" Cale crowed, drawing his swords.
"There are probably more where those came from," Kayura warned, but the other Warlords were busy making short work of their opponents. Leaving them to it, she trotted out to the other side of the outcropping so that she could see more of the area. No other enemies were presenting themselves.
"What is going on?" she whispered to herself.
Her three companions jogged up to her, eyes bright with excitement. "Lady Kayura, you didn't join us," Cale jibed. "Why ever not?"
"It was strange, wasn't it?"
Kayura looked sharply at Dais. The white-haired Warlord was noted for his observational abilities. If he was troubled, there was probably good reason for it. "What do you mean, Dais?"
The Warlord of Illusion pursed his thin lips in thought. "Guerrilla tactics. Ambush, so few men. It's not like Talpa at all. You remember how he usually sent in a mess of soldiers to soften the enemies up a bit, before we arrived?"
It was true. They looked at each other warily.
"This seems like it's designed to wear us down, get us to make mistakes… perhaps even separate us." Dais folded his arms and glowered out at the ice-burnt land, as if it was the landscape's fault.
Cale snorted and shrugged. "Or, it could just be that we ran into a scouting party, and no one's looking for us at all," he pointed out. The other Warlord shot him a dangerous look.
Kayura grimaced. "I'd rather be alive and paranoid than dead and complacent," she retorted. "Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that Talpa's expecting us. What's going to be next?"
"More soldiers," Sekhmet murmured from behind them.
"That's quite likely," Kayura agreed. "Then—"
"No, really," the Warlord of Venom interrupted, grabbing her by the shoulder and turning her around to face the other direction. "More soldiers!"
They gaped at the sea of steel blue armor that was charging towards them.
"Kayura, tell me again why you didn't bring those kids from the Mortal Realm with you…"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Note: Whose romance will it be? Well, I originally designed it as a Mia x Anubis—sort of a Florence Nightingale thing. But, I've not written the story completely yet so I'm open to well-reasoned arguments as to why a young woman like Mia would be interested in any one of the other boys. (Yes, I've read other Ronin fanfic, and some of them do a good job with the Mia x random Ronin pairing—but that doesn't mean I buy into it completely. They're so… young-acting!) ;)
Thanks to all who reviewed!
~~ S. Arallion