Once again… sorry for the long update… We had a flood in my basement where we keep the computers… -_-" Almost lost the computers with everything else that was down here… So if things start sounding depressed… I'm sorry… I'm sitting in an empty basement with sewer stench coming threw the floor… Oh well… Thanks to all the reviewers! You rock!!!

Max: You know… your side stories are really lacking lately…

Shadow-Assassin: I know I know… but I just don't have anything left to say… I have no ideas for a side story anymore…

Tyson: Ya… well at least you still have a bit of a… well… something…

Shadow-Assassin: it's mainly just to give me a place to put the silly disclaimer… you know… the I DON'T OWN ANYTHING SO DON'T SUE ME I HAVE NO MONEY ANYWAYS thing…

Kenny: That was one of the biggest run on sentences I've ever seen…

Shadow-Assassin: Why thank you! =^-^=

Ray & Mariah: Don't forget to review!

Shadow-Assassin: Wait! I'm not done! I want to ask people who their favorite couple is or who their favorite made up character is in this fic… That way I'll put the most popular ones in a bit more… =^-^=

Great War Of The Bitbeasts

Chapter 5 - Premonitions

Ray awoke with a killer headache. He groaned as he slowly opened his eyes and looked around.

"Ray! You're ok! You scared us!" a blurry figure said with glee as it hugged him.

"M… Mariah?" Ray asked shaking his head to clear it. His eyesight soon cleared and he looked at the figure, which he soon confirmed as being Mariah. As he looked around he realised that he was not outside where he last remembered being.

"Ya Ray… I got worried after you didn't come back into the dance so I went out to look for you. I found you unconscious… What happened?" Mariah asked in a concerned voice.

"I can't remember…" Ray lied as to avoid worrying them all more, "But I just have one question… Where are we?"

"Oh… That's easy… We're in the nurse's office… We're still at the school," Max piped up.

"Ya… Thankfully the nurse volunteered to come just in case something happened," Tyson added.

"I seem to be accident prone today," Ray said sitting up as he recalled the events of the day.

"Don't you be moving too far young man. I want to be sure that you don't have a concussion," the nurse, Mrs. Madison, said as she walked into the room. Mrs. Madison then began to ask Ray questions like, "Any dizziness?" and "Can you see straight." Ray answered the questions and the nurse let him leave, though she made sure that someone was going to be there to watch him.

Ray was now living with Kai in his family's mansion. Kai wasn't exactly the easiest person to live with but it was nice to have someone to talk to… even if they didn't talk back. The two took Kai's car back to the mansion and headed to bed. The others had been a bit nervous about leaving Ray in Kai's care after the day's adventures but Ray insisted that he would be fine and that he'd rather just go home and go to bed.

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Ray lay in bed looking out the window wondering to himself why this person would just up and attack him like that. Why would he knock Ray out then just leave? Ray still had all his belongings that he'd brought with him… It just didn't make any sense.

He eventually let the thought slide and closed his eyes letting sleep take hold of him.

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"You betrayed your kind. You left the home land and even dared to fall in love with one of the disgusting humans," A shadowy figure said.

Ray was lying on the ground with a pool of blood forming around him from a large gash in his chest. He glared weakly at the figure as it spoke in its loud booming voice.

"How can you do something like this? He trusted you and you've betrayed him. So what if he fell in love with me?" Mariah shouted from the corner of the blackness. She seemed to be in a dream of some sort. She remembered this dream though the last time Ray had been in his dragon form and things were a bit different. This time they were no longer in the cave but in complete darkness. The man who had been in the other dream was now just a blurry shadow. She also remembered being in pain in the other dream where in this one she felt nothing. It was like she was watching her mouth speak even though she did not command it to.

"As I trusted him. He betrayed my trust and in turn I betray his. He deserves this for his crimes," the figure growled.

"You disgust me!" Mariah shouted.

"That would be a compliment coming from human filth like you," the shadow hissed. A long shimmering sword then appeared in his hands and he examined it for several seconds.

"This is the end of all of it. No more betrayals, no more chasing him to the ends of this pathetic planet," the shadow said seething with hatred.

"DON'T YOU DARE! LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Mariah shouted anxiously as fear seemed to well up inside of her. She tried to stand but found that she could not move her body. She was no longer in control of her limbs. She tried to cry but no tears came. She tried to scream again but could not.

She watched helplessly as the shadow seemed to float up to Ray with the sword in its shadowy hands. The sword was pointed at Ray's neck and Ray just closed his eyes awaiting the inevitable. The shadow seemed to turn to her for a second, "You are powerless to stop me little girl. There is nothing you can do. I will have what I want."

Mariah's mind began to race, looking for a way to save her beloved Reikou. She knew, however, that the shadow was right. She couldn't save him.

The shadow gave a hideous laugh before plunging the sword into its intended target.

Mariah cried out in her mind in vain. He was gone…

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"NO!" Mariah shouted as she leapt up from her pillow. Her heart was racing and her head was pounding. Beads of sweat dripped from her brows as she took deep breaths trying to calm her nerves. It was only a dream… or rather a horrible nightmare from another life. The tears finally found their way to her and she cried sobbing every so often, "Ray…"

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"Mariah…" Ray said as he looked out his bedroom window. He'd woken up just minutes before to a feeling of dread. Something was wrong and his mind seemed to wander to Mariah. Was she in some kind of trouble? He clenched his fists as he searched for the answer in his mind and beyond. Searching for the disturbance that he felt.

Eventually, when no answer came to him, he decided to go and check up on Mariah. A call would probably be more sensible that late at night but he needed to see her. Needed to see that she was alright in order to calm his mind.

He slowly crept out of the house and into the garage. He got into his car and turned on the ignition and headed off the property. Soon enough he was on the highway headed straight for Mariah's house. Several minutes later he reached her house. Her bedroom light was on and the window open and he could see her looking out the window. She looked down at him and smiled as he got out of the car.

Mariah lived with the other Bladettes in a fairly big house. They shared all the responsibilities more or less. Due to that fact Mariah had to quietly sneak downstairs and out the door as to avoid waking them.

"Ray… What are you doing here so late?" she asked him as she slowly closed the door.

"I was worried about you. I just had to see you," he replied with worry in his eyes.

"I'm fine… I just had a nightmare… It was about him again… Him and you…" she said sadly avoiding his gaze.

"Mariah…" Ray whispered as he walked up to her and hugged her tight as the tears began to flow.

"I'm so worried something's going to happen to you Ray… I couldn't bare to loose you again… Not like that," she sobbed with her head on his shoulder wrapping her own arms around him.

"Nothing is going to happen my love… I promise you," Ray said as he began to stroke her hair gently.

"Should have known it was you two again… Don't bitbeasts ever sleep?" came a voice from one of the windows.

The two looked up to see Nadia glaring down at them.

"Sorry," Mariah whispered.

"Ya, ya… whatever… Goodnight," Nadia sighed as she closed the window and headed back to bed.

"Guess I better go," Ray whispered to Mariah, "I'm just glad you're ok."

"Please don't go," Mariah whispered back tightening her grip slightly.

"Ok…" he said as he led her to the porch and the two sat down. He rested his back on the railing as Mariah rested her head on his lap and closed her eyes.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Ray smiled as he began to stroke her hair again.

Mariah soon fell asleep and Ray watched over her that night as he had done so many times before… In another life.