(The song(s) you'll see in this chapter are sung by Usher and Babyface with Tamia and are copy written to them, and the songwriters and producers behind the songs and music.)
Tears of Twilight
Chapter 22.
Thunder winced as Kaye pulled his blood soaked shirt and laid it aside. Immediately the siblings gasped in shock at the lacerations covering his neck, torso, chest, ribs, stomach, and arms. Blood seemed to pour off into torrents and there seemed to be no end to them.
"Oh, Thunder," Kaye said softly.
Thunder looked away, feeling ashamed of himself. Though a part of him couldn't help smirking, knowing the fact that he had pissed Talpa off. "Serves the bastard right," he thought bitterly.
Cye grabbed the alcohol and poured it over one rag while Kaye filled the other rag with peroxide. Both laid the soaked rags over the smaller wounds, while gently cleaning the deeper wounds and bandaging them up. Thunder stiffened in pain. He had never had this done before, so it all felt quite foreign to him. After he was tended to, Cye took up his blood soaked shirt and put it in the bathroom sink full of water to clean it out. Kaye climbed off the bed, picking up the first aid kit and other supplies off the bed. She looked at Thunder sadly. "You should get some sleep, Thunder. You've had a rough day."
Thunder was about to say so had she, but he changed his mind and nodded. "Yeah," he said softly, as he turned his head away as Kaye stepped into the bathroom to talk privately with Cye.
Thunder was thinking of all that had happened to them and himself. His mind kept thinking of the hardships and what Talpa had put them all through. With a small sigh, he quietly began to sing:
"Oh no, no, no, no
If love was a bird
Then we wouldn't have wings
If love was a sky
We'd be blue
If love was a choir
You and I could never sing
Cause love isn't for me and you
If love was an Oscar
You and I could never win
Cause we can never act out our parts
If love is the Bible
Then we are lost in sin
Because it's not in our hearts
So why don't you go your way
And I'll go mine
Live your life, and I'll live mine
Baby you'll do well, and I'll be fine
Cause we're better off, separated
If love was a fire
Then we have lost the spark
Love never felt so cold
If love was a light
Then we're lost in the dark
Left with no one to hold
If love was a sport
We're not on the same team
You and I are destined to lose
If love was an ocean
Then we are just a stream
Cause love isn't for me and you
So why don't you go your way
And I'll go mine
Live your life, and I'll live mine
Baby you'll do well, and I'll be fine
Cause we're better off, separated
Girl I know we had some good times
It's sad but now we gotta say goodbye
Girl you know I love you, I can't deny
I can't say we didn't try to make it work for you and I
I know it hurts so much but it's best for us
Somewhere along this windy road we lost the trust
So I'll walk away so you don't have to see me cry
It's killing me so, why don't you go
So why don't you go your way
And I'll go mine
Live your life, and I'll live mine
Baby you'll do well, and I'll be fine
Cause we're better off, separated."
In the bathroom, Cye's and Kaye's eyes went wide. This had been the first time they had heard Thunder sing, and it was quite unbelievable. His voice was far beyond beautiful. Neither could really explain it, but it had them hanging onto every word sung out by him, and it brought tears to their eyes.
In the throne room, Jakada raised his eyebrows as he listened, and Talpa was sitting there with his eyebrows furrowed as he was in deep thought. His Warlords surrounded him, and they had been hanging onto every word, wondering what had possessed Storm to sing.
"So, Storm has a voice as well," Talpa murmured.
"Master?" Cale said, curiously.
Talpa straightened up more and looked at all three of his Warlords who were waiting for him to speak. And speak he did. "Is everything ready for the final phase of the testing?" he asked.
"Um, not exactly, master," Dais said.
Talpa's eyes glowed red and he glared hard at them. "What do you mean, not exactly?"
"We can't figure how you want it, master," Sekhmet informed him.
Talpa's eyes flashed even more, and he shot out red energy at them. All three screamed in pain and found themselves recoiling on the floor, begging for mercy and apologizing, as if they believed that would lighten up Talpa's anger toward them.
"Now listen, all of you," Talpa bellowed as he stared down at them with his cold, cruel eyes. "I have told you time and time again of how I wanted the final testing to be. Each of them will be tested by the power of the elements opposite to them. I don't want this screwed up. I've been waiting as patiently as I could for this to come to take place, and after this final test, I still must wait four more days before summoning the creature I need to gain intensive power. If this does not happen, the three prisoners will not be the ones to suffer for this failure, but you three."
The Warlords eyes went wide with shock and they trembled with fear. They knew that Talpa always made good on his promises whenever he threatened to do something that was painful. They saw his eyes flash again and flinched.
"Now go and get it done!" he commanded.
They scrambled away as quickly as they could, leaving Talpa to mutter about certain idiots. Jakada turned to look at him, leaning against the wall of the throne room as he looked at his sharp nails with a rather plain look. "You know what they said, good help is hard to come by."
"Especially ones who obey well," Talpa said as he looked right at Jakada. Somehow Jakada didn't like that look. Could Talpa know what he had been planning to do? Of course not. He couldn't read minds like he could. But it was hard to tell. Once before Jakada had tried to read Talpa's mind, but it was like nothing was there at all, and that he didn't like either.
Talpa suddenly stood up from his throne room. "I am going to my chambers to rest for a while. After Storm's smart ass mouth, and my Warlords incompetence, I need rest." And with that said, he vanished from the room, leaving Jakada alone.
Ryo, Sage, Flash, and White Blaze were once again heading outward. Each of them walked side by side, keeping alert to everything that was going on around them. Occasionally, Sage tried to reach the other Ronins, but quickly retreated whenever he hit a mental wall. Knowing there was nothing they could but hope to run across the others, they kept on marching through the Talpa's territory.
Flash was pretty quiet as if either in deep thought, or troubled by something. She didn't say what was on her mind, and the boys didn't think to ask her either. All of them were intent on one thing: getting to that castle. Of course it would be hard, Ryo thought to himself as they marched through a swamp. Talpa would have all sorts of traps laid out, and his Warlord and his new lackey were probably all juiced up even more.
The water ran off Sage's and Ryo's armors, but soaked Flash through the jeans and ran off White Blaze's fur. The tiger was a little annoyed, but did not show it. They had to keep their trail as hidden as carefully as they could. It was best to save their powers until absolutely necessary.
They made it out of the swamp and made their way up a sandy hill, keeping their heads down low so they would not be seen.
"Everyone okay?" Ryo asked, after a good amount of time had passed.
"Yeah," Sage answered.
"Yep, just a little squishy back here," Flash said with a shrug.
Ryo gaped at her, blinking a little. "So why don't you dry off?" he asked.
Flash looked directly at him. "Because I wanted to save all this lovely water for our dear friend, Jackass," she said with a smirk.
"And that would be how?" Sage asked, slowly as if trying to understand why on earth she would want to do that.
"I want to shake it all on him, and giving him a shower. That dog probably hasn't had a shower in years."
The two boys chuckled and three continued to move on, with White Blaze following along behind.
"Man, where did Lightning go?" Kento wondered out loud in frustration as the three of them made their way down the mountain side as vigilantly and as stealthily as they could.
It had been at least two hours since they've been waiting for the tiger to come back, and when they couldn't wait anymore, they decided to leave the cave, now that it was light out enough to venture out.
"I don't know, Kento," Rowen replied, "but he can take care of himself."
Kento nodded his head as Rowen stood up on a ledge and overlooked the area they were above. Scorpio was just a few feet above him, and as all three looked outward, they could see a hundred Dynasty soldiers marching forward in two lines right underneath them. All three kept silent, and as Scorpio watched, he noticed that Rowen and Kento were trying to hold their energies back, as if worried their enemies could someone sense them out. Wait, perhaps they could. For a while he watched both Rowen and Kento carefully while at the same time keeping his sky blue eyes on the marching soldiers down below, waiting for any shift in their direction that might hint they were coming after them. So far they kept on marching as if oblivious to their presence. When the last one had past and was gone into the distance, both Ronins sighed in relief.
"Can.. can they sense you guys?" Scorpio asked for confirmation.
Rowen nodded as Kento wiped the sweat from his brow. "Yes, especially if we keep our armors' energies up high. That's why we had to lower it. Unfortunately, it wears us out a bit."
"That's bad," Scorpio said with a shake of his head.
"Yeah, but we'll be fine," Kento said. "Now let's get going."
A Dynasty soldier had brought the three prisoners their meals and left quickly. Cye grabbed his and dug right in, not caring about the stale taste it seemed to have. Kaye was rather picky about the food, but she couldn't starve herself. A third plate lay untouched on the desk. Thunder had been sleeping for two hours now, and they wondered if he would wake soon, or continue to keep on sleeping through the night. In a way they wanted him to sleep all night long, but what if Talpa became furious because he hadn't eaten? What then? For now the two would allow him to rest while they finished their meals, then they would wake him up to eat. After they had eaten, each of them continued to sit there in silence, debating on what to do. Finally Cye couldn't stand it anymore. He stood up and walked over to Thunder and gently shook him awake. The blond haired Warrior cracked his eyes opened and looked up into Cye's face with a tired expression. Cye shrugged apologetically at him.
"You better eat, Thunder. They brought our meals about ten minutes ago, and who knows what Talpa will do if you don't eat."
Thunder sat up and looked toward the solo plate waiting for him at the desk. A frown came to his lips; not the unhappy frown as one usually gets when they feel sad or angry, but rather the, "I just woke up," frown on his face. He climbed out of bed, wincing a little. He had forgotten about the wounds he had received earlier that day and still cursed Talpa silently because of it.
Kaye frowned to herself as she watched him slowly limp toward the desk. "Poor guy," she thought. "He's in so much pain, he can barely stand it, and it seems as if he's trying to fight the urge to cry. So why doesn't he just ask Cye or me for help?" Then she realized as he took his plate and slowly made his way back to the bed. "Wait, maybe he's ashamed to ask for help because he's never really had to before. This punishment of his really blows. Who does Talpa think he is?! He's not Thunder's father!"
Thunder sat down on his bed and slowly begin to eat, chewing his food and looking at the wall on his side, as if staring out into the world. He didn't move when Kaye approached him from behind, but when she was about to say something, he spoke first. "Heh, need a window here."
Kaye frowned deeply and Cye shook his head, each of them casting a glance at each other, then back at him. "How are your wounds?" Cye decided to ask.
"Hurts like hell," Thunder said quietly. "I'll be so glad when I can heal myself, though it's taking most of my energy to stop myself."
"What do you mean?" Kaye asked as she cocked her head at him.
Thunder took another bite of his food, chewed, and swallowed before answering her. "Sometimes, my body likes to heal on its own, it's so used to having me do that, it automatically jumps right into it at times. This time, it's more cooperative with me, because it senses Talpa will do more damage to it."
"That really sucks that Talpa is like that," Cye grumbled.
Suddenly Talpa flew into the room and grabbed Cye roughly as Kaye winced, and Thunder dropped his food, startled. All three stared in shock at Talpa, then both Kaye and Thunder glared daggers up at him. "Let him go!" Kaye yelled at Talpa.
Talpa turned his head, flashing his red glowing eyes at her as he held Cye tightly in his hand. "Stay out of this, or you'll receive the same as Storm." Then turning his back to her, he faced Cye again. "I thought I told you to call me father!" he roared. "And since you still refuse, you will learn the hard way!"
Then before Kaye or Thunder could move, Talpa activated their collars, freezing them, then suddenly he lifted Cye up and held him upside down by holding onto his ankles. Immediately, Cye cried out, he didn't like being hung from his ankles, due to a terrible experience he had had when he was younger. To his horror, Talpa actually raised his metal encased hand and suddenly smacked him hard across his rear. He cried out in pain, barely surprised he had felt it through his thick denim jeans. Having thought it was over, he went to glare angrily at Talpa, but then suddenly cried out again when Talpa repeated the process about ten times, making Cye cry out in pain each time.
Kaye and Thunder watched with horror. Kaye, couldn't believe that Talpa was doing such a thing, and it was even more strange was that she couldn't feel the pain Cye was in, so she had no idea what he was feeling. Oh, it was terrible, that she knew of, and it was probably hurting Cye, not only in physical pain, but a deep emotional pain as well.
Talpa finally seemed satisfied, and slammed Cye on the floor. The young Ronin groaned in pain and then winced with fear as his hair was grabbed and he was hauled to his feet. "Now are you going to start calling me father?" he demanded.
Cye was breathing hard, as if trying to stop himself from crying his eyes out. Actually, that was basically true. He hurt so bad, he doubted he'd sit for a week straight. He looked up at Talpa with an exhausted and pain expression, then looked down.
"Yes," he muttered.
"Yes?" Talpa retorted.
"Father," Cye mumbled, feeling defeated. He cast his friends a horrible look and they could only sympathize with him.
"Good," Talpa said as he let him go. He turned to look around the room, seeing that Torrent and Tiger had eaten their meals already, and that Storm still had his to finish. "Finish your meal quickly, then into bed all of you."
Kaye rolled her eyes. "You're not our father, Talpa."
"No, but I am your master here, and you will learn to obey me, or suffer the consequences."
"Screw the consequences," Thunder muttered to himself.
Talpa glared at him. "And your mouth will get you in further trouble, Storm. Shall I take you back to that room for another session?"
Thunder stared back at him and quickly shook his head, feeling his heart pound. He did not want to experience that all over again. He really needed to keep his mouth shut, but spending all that time with Flash had rubbed off on him. Then again, he wished he could witness Flash facing Jakada, or even Talpa. They thought he had a mouth, wait till they saw her. The thought made him grin to himself, and as Talpa gave them access to move, and left, he suddenly burst out laughing, trying to contain himself.
The other two looked on in confusion, and as Cye was rubbing his rear as gently as he could, Kaye asked, "What's so funny?"
"Just thinking of how Flash will be when she meets up with Jakada or Talpa," Thunder replied as he finished his meal.
Cye and Kaye cast each other a glance, but said nothing. In the next few minutes, Thunder healed Cye of his pain, then all three readied themselves for bed, and were soon under the blanket. Kaye took out a small locket photo of Kento and stared at it while the light was still on. Tears ran down her cheeks as she gingerly touched the picture. "Come for me, Kento," she softly whispered as the light went out.
Thunder was watching her sympathetically, feeling his heart constrict as he looked down at his sheets. Softly he began to sing, hoping it would ease her pain and help her to sleep.
"Baby dim the lights
So while I pour the wine
Set the music up nice and slow
Wanna move with you inside a groove
Like no one's ever known
Let your body unwind in the warmth of mine
Tell me what you like
'Cause tonight I wanna turn you up to paradise
Sweet thing hold me close
Share my desire
And we can make the magic flow
Once the music is right
Give me slow jams and hot romance
Rock me with that tender dance
Baby get closer so we can feel the power of love
Share my sweet groove the whole night through
Let me lay my beat on you
We'll keep the music playing moving in time
Let me get a taste of some Babyface
And you know it'll be alright
'Cause the road that ends at Boyz II Men
Is the road I wanna ride We can go to the moon on a Stevie tune
Fly ribbons in the sky
Give me everything R. Kelly sings
Let us bump and grind
Baby feel the beat
Here in my heart
Move with me in ecstasy
Let the melody start
Give me slow jams and hot romance
Rock me in that tender dance
I wanna feel the passion so give me all you got
Share my sweet groove the whole night through
Make tonight a dream come true
Let's keep this groove thing going
and never never never let it stop
It's something that feels so right
Take this side of your rhythm
Baby tonight's your night
When I feel your beat inside my soul
It's a do me groove
I know I can't control
Sweet thing hold me close
Share my desire
We can make the magic flow
Once the music is rocking
Give me slow jams and hot romance
Rock me with that tender dance
I wanna feel the passion so give me all you got
Share my sweet groove the whole night through
Let me lay my beat on you
Let's keep this good thing going
Moving in time with something good."
Kaye listened with awe. She kept imagining it was Kento singing to her, but it was hard to believe that someone could sing so well. Then again Sage could sing pretty well, and Cye too, though Cye was more shy on singing. In time, silence reigned in the room and soon all three were asleep, dreaming of the time they once ran free.
Tears of Twilight
Chapter 22.
Thunder winced as Kaye pulled his blood soaked shirt and laid it aside. Immediately the siblings gasped in shock at the lacerations covering his neck, torso, chest, ribs, stomach, and arms. Blood seemed to pour off into torrents and there seemed to be no end to them.
"Oh, Thunder," Kaye said softly.
Thunder looked away, feeling ashamed of himself. Though a part of him couldn't help smirking, knowing the fact that he had pissed Talpa off. "Serves the bastard right," he thought bitterly.
Cye grabbed the alcohol and poured it over one rag while Kaye filled the other rag with peroxide. Both laid the soaked rags over the smaller wounds, while gently cleaning the deeper wounds and bandaging them up. Thunder stiffened in pain. He had never had this done before, so it all felt quite foreign to him. After he was tended to, Cye took up his blood soaked shirt and put it in the bathroom sink full of water to clean it out. Kaye climbed off the bed, picking up the first aid kit and other supplies off the bed. She looked at Thunder sadly. "You should get some sleep, Thunder. You've had a rough day."
Thunder was about to say so had she, but he changed his mind and nodded. "Yeah," he said softly, as he turned his head away as Kaye stepped into the bathroom to talk privately with Cye.
Thunder was thinking of all that had happened to them and himself. His mind kept thinking of the hardships and what Talpa had put them all through. With a small sigh, he quietly began to sing:
"Oh no, no, no, no
If love was a bird
Then we wouldn't have wings
If love was a sky
We'd be blue
If love was a choir
You and I could never sing
Cause love isn't for me and you
If love was an Oscar
You and I could never win
Cause we can never act out our parts
If love is the Bible
Then we are lost in sin
Because it's not in our hearts
So why don't you go your way
And I'll go mine
Live your life, and I'll live mine
Baby you'll do well, and I'll be fine
Cause we're better off, separated
If love was a fire
Then we have lost the spark
Love never felt so cold
If love was a light
Then we're lost in the dark
Left with no one to hold
If love was a sport
We're not on the same team
You and I are destined to lose
If love was an ocean
Then we are just a stream
Cause love isn't for me and you
So why don't you go your way
And I'll go mine
Live your life, and I'll live mine
Baby you'll do well, and I'll be fine
Cause we're better off, separated
Girl I know we had some good times
It's sad but now we gotta say goodbye
Girl you know I love you, I can't deny
I can't say we didn't try to make it work for you and I
I know it hurts so much but it's best for us
Somewhere along this windy road we lost the trust
So I'll walk away so you don't have to see me cry
It's killing me so, why don't you go
So why don't you go your way
And I'll go mine
Live your life, and I'll live mine
Baby you'll do well, and I'll be fine
Cause we're better off, separated."
In the bathroom, Cye's and Kaye's eyes went wide. This had been the first time they had heard Thunder sing, and it was quite unbelievable. His voice was far beyond beautiful. Neither could really explain it, but it had them hanging onto every word sung out by him, and it brought tears to their eyes.
In the throne room, Jakada raised his eyebrows as he listened, and Talpa was sitting there with his eyebrows furrowed as he was in deep thought. His Warlords surrounded him, and they had been hanging onto every word, wondering what had possessed Storm to sing.
"So, Storm has a voice as well," Talpa murmured.
"Master?" Cale said, curiously.
Talpa straightened up more and looked at all three of his Warlords who were waiting for him to speak. And speak he did. "Is everything ready for the final phase of the testing?" he asked.
"Um, not exactly, master," Dais said.
Talpa's eyes glowed red and he glared hard at them. "What do you mean, not exactly?"
"We can't figure how you want it, master," Sekhmet informed him.
Talpa's eyes flashed even more, and he shot out red energy at them. All three screamed in pain and found themselves recoiling on the floor, begging for mercy and apologizing, as if they believed that would lighten up Talpa's anger toward them.
"Now listen, all of you," Talpa bellowed as he stared down at them with his cold, cruel eyes. "I have told you time and time again of how I wanted the final testing to be. Each of them will be tested by the power of the elements opposite to them. I don't want this screwed up. I've been waiting as patiently as I could for this to come to take place, and after this final test, I still must wait four more days before summoning the creature I need to gain intensive power. If this does not happen, the three prisoners will not be the ones to suffer for this failure, but you three."
The Warlords eyes went wide with shock and they trembled with fear. They knew that Talpa always made good on his promises whenever he threatened to do something that was painful. They saw his eyes flash again and flinched.
"Now go and get it done!" he commanded.
They scrambled away as quickly as they could, leaving Talpa to mutter about certain idiots. Jakada turned to look at him, leaning against the wall of the throne room as he looked at his sharp nails with a rather plain look. "You know what they said, good help is hard to come by."
"Especially ones who obey well," Talpa said as he looked right at Jakada. Somehow Jakada didn't like that look. Could Talpa know what he had been planning to do? Of course not. He couldn't read minds like he could. But it was hard to tell. Once before Jakada had tried to read Talpa's mind, but it was like nothing was there at all, and that he didn't like either.
Talpa suddenly stood up from his throne room. "I am going to my chambers to rest for a while. After Storm's smart ass mouth, and my Warlords incompetence, I need rest." And with that said, he vanished from the room, leaving Jakada alone.
Ryo, Sage, Flash, and White Blaze were once again heading outward. Each of them walked side by side, keeping alert to everything that was going on around them. Occasionally, Sage tried to reach the other Ronins, but quickly retreated whenever he hit a mental wall. Knowing there was nothing they could but hope to run across the others, they kept on marching through the Talpa's territory.
Flash was pretty quiet as if either in deep thought, or troubled by something. She didn't say what was on her mind, and the boys didn't think to ask her either. All of them were intent on one thing: getting to that castle. Of course it would be hard, Ryo thought to himself as they marched through a swamp. Talpa would have all sorts of traps laid out, and his Warlord and his new lackey were probably all juiced up even more.
The water ran off Sage's and Ryo's armors, but soaked Flash through the jeans and ran off White Blaze's fur. The tiger was a little annoyed, but did not show it. They had to keep their trail as hidden as carefully as they could. It was best to save their powers until absolutely necessary.
They made it out of the swamp and made their way up a sandy hill, keeping their heads down low so they would not be seen.
"Everyone okay?" Ryo asked, after a good amount of time had passed.
"Yeah," Sage answered.
"Yep, just a little squishy back here," Flash said with a shrug.
Ryo gaped at her, blinking a little. "So why don't you dry off?" he asked.
Flash looked directly at him. "Because I wanted to save all this lovely water for our dear friend, Jackass," she said with a smirk.
"And that would be how?" Sage asked, slowly as if trying to understand why on earth she would want to do that.
"I want to shake it all on him, and giving him a shower. That dog probably hasn't had a shower in years."
The two boys chuckled and three continued to move on, with White Blaze following along behind.
"Man, where did Lightning go?" Kento wondered out loud in frustration as the three of them made their way down the mountain side as vigilantly and as stealthily as they could.
It had been at least two hours since they've been waiting for the tiger to come back, and when they couldn't wait anymore, they decided to leave the cave, now that it was light out enough to venture out.
"I don't know, Kento," Rowen replied, "but he can take care of himself."
Kento nodded his head as Rowen stood up on a ledge and overlooked the area they were above. Scorpio was just a few feet above him, and as all three looked outward, they could see a hundred Dynasty soldiers marching forward in two lines right underneath them. All three kept silent, and as Scorpio watched, he noticed that Rowen and Kento were trying to hold their energies back, as if worried their enemies could someone sense them out. Wait, perhaps they could. For a while he watched both Rowen and Kento carefully while at the same time keeping his sky blue eyes on the marching soldiers down below, waiting for any shift in their direction that might hint they were coming after them. So far they kept on marching as if oblivious to their presence. When the last one had past and was gone into the distance, both Ronins sighed in relief.
"Can.. can they sense you guys?" Scorpio asked for confirmation.
Rowen nodded as Kento wiped the sweat from his brow. "Yes, especially if we keep our armors' energies up high. That's why we had to lower it. Unfortunately, it wears us out a bit."
"That's bad," Scorpio said with a shake of his head.
"Yeah, but we'll be fine," Kento said. "Now let's get going."
A Dynasty soldier had brought the three prisoners their meals and left quickly. Cye grabbed his and dug right in, not caring about the stale taste it seemed to have. Kaye was rather picky about the food, but she couldn't starve herself. A third plate lay untouched on the desk. Thunder had been sleeping for two hours now, and they wondered if he would wake soon, or continue to keep on sleeping through the night. In a way they wanted him to sleep all night long, but what if Talpa became furious because he hadn't eaten? What then? For now the two would allow him to rest while they finished their meals, then they would wake him up to eat. After they had eaten, each of them continued to sit there in silence, debating on what to do. Finally Cye couldn't stand it anymore. He stood up and walked over to Thunder and gently shook him awake. The blond haired Warrior cracked his eyes opened and looked up into Cye's face with a tired expression. Cye shrugged apologetically at him.
"You better eat, Thunder. They brought our meals about ten minutes ago, and who knows what Talpa will do if you don't eat."
Thunder sat up and looked toward the solo plate waiting for him at the desk. A frown came to his lips; not the unhappy frown as one usually gets when they feel sad or angry, but rather the, "I just woke up," frown on his face. He climbed out of bed, wincing a little. He had forgotten about the wounds he had received earlier that day and still cursed Talpa silently because of it.
Kaye frowned to herself as she watched him slowly limp toward the desk. "Poor guy," she thought. "He's in so much pain, he can barely stand it, and it seems as if he's trying to fight the urge to cry. So why doesn't he just ask Cye or me for help?" Then she realized as he took his plate and slowly made his way back to the bed. "Wait, maybe he's ashamed to ask for help because he's never really had to before. This punishment of his really blows. Who does Talpa think he is?! He's not Thunder's father!"
Thunder sat down on his bed and slowly begin to eat, chewing his food and looking at the wall on his side, as if staring out into the world. He didn't move when Kaye approached him from behind, but when she was about to say something, he spoke first. "Heh, need a window here."
Kaye frowned deeply and Cye shook his head, each of them casting a glance at each other, then back at him. "How are your wounds?" Cye decided to ask.
"Hurts like hell," Thunder said quietly. "I'll be so glad when I can heal myself, though it's taking most of my energy to stop myself."
"What do you mean?" Kaye asked as she cocked her head at him.
Thunder took another bite of his food, chewed, and swallowed before answering her. "Sometimes, my body likes to heal on its own, it's so used to having me do that, it automatically jumps right into it at times. This time, it's more cooperative with me, because it senses Talpa will do more damage to it."
"That really sucks that Talpa is like that," Cye grumbled.
Suddenly Talpa flew into the room and grabbed Cye roughly as Kaye winced, and Thunder dropped his food, startled. All three stared in shock at Talpa, then both Kaye and Thunder glared daggers up at him. "Let him go!" Kaye yelled at Talpa.
Talpa turned his head, flashing his red glowing eyes at her as he held Cye tightly in his hand. "Stay out of this, or you'll receive the same as Storm." Then turning his back to her, he faced Cye again. "I thought I told you to call me father!" he roared. "And since you still refuse, you will learn the hard way!"
Then before Kaye or Thunder could move, Talpa activated their collars, freezing them, then suddenly he lifted Cye up and held him upside down by holding onto his ankles. Immediately, Cye cried out, he didn't like being hung from his ankles, due to a terrible experience he had had when he was younger. To his horror, Talpa actually raised his metal encased hand and suddenly smacked him hard across his rear. He cried out in pain, barely surprised he had felt it through his thick denim jeans. Having thought it was over, he went to glare angrily at Talpa, but then suddenly cried out again when Talpa repeated the process about ten times, making Cye cry out in pain each time.
Kaye and Thunder watched with horror. Kaye, couldn't believe that Talpa was doing such a thing, and it was even more strange was that she couldn't feel the pain Cye was in, so she had no idea what he was feeling. Oh, it was terrible, that she knew of, and it was probably hurting Cye, not only in physical pain, but a deep emotional pain as well.
Talpa finally seemed satisfied, and slammed Cye on the floor. The young Ronin groaned in pain and then winced with fear as his hair was grabbed and he was hauled to his feet. "Now are you going to start calling me father?" he demanded.
Cye was breathing hard, as if trying to stop himself from crying his eyes out. Actually, that was basically true. He hurt so bad, he doubted he'd sit for a week straight. He looked up at Talpa with an exhausted and pain expression, then looked down.
"Yes," he muttered.
"Yes?" Talpa retorted.
"Father," Cye mumbled, feeling defeated. He cast his friends a horrible look and they could only sympathize with him.
"Good," Talpa said as he let him go. He turned to look around the room, seeing that Torrent and Tiger had eaten their meals already, and that Storm still had his to finish. "Finish your meal quickly, then into bed all of you."
Kaye rolled her eyes. "You're not our father, Talpa."
"No, but I am your master here, and you will learn to obey me, or suffer the consequences."
"Screw the consequences," Thunder muttered to himself.
Talpa glared at him. "And your mouth will get you in further trouble, Storm. Shall I take you back to that room for another session?"
Thunder stared back at him and quickly shook his head, feeling his heart pound. He did not want to experience that all over again. He really needed to keep his mouth shut, but spending all that time with Flash had rubbed off on him. Then again, he wished he could witness Flash facing Jakada, or even Talpa. They thought he had a mouth, wait till they saw her. The thought made him grin to himself, and as Talpa gave them access to move, and left, he suddenly burst out laughing, trying to contain himself.
The other two looked on in confusion, and as Cye was rubbing his rear as gently as he could, Kaye asked, "What's so funny?"
"Just thinking of how Flash will be when she meets up with Jakada or Talpa," Thunder replied as he finished his meal.
Cye and Kaye cast each other a glance, but said nothing. In the next few minutes, Thunder healed Cye of his pain, then all three readied themselves for bed, and were soon under the blanket. Kaye took out a small locket photo of Kento and stared at it while the light was still on. Tears ran down her cheeks as she gingerly touched the picture. "Come for me, Kento," she softly whispered as the light went out.
Thunder was watching her sympathetically, feeling his heart constrict as he looked down at his sheets. Softly he began to sing, hoping it would ease her pain and help her to sleep.
"Baby dim the lights
So while I pour the wine
Set the music up nice and slow
Wanna move with you inside a groove
Like no one's ever known
Let your body unwind in the warmth of mine
Tell me what you like
'Cause tonight I wanna turn you up to paradise
Sweet thing hold me close
Share my desire
And we can make the magic flow
Once the music is right
Give me slow jams and hot romance
Rock me with that tender dance
Baby get closer so we can feel the power of love
Share my sweet groove the whole night through
Let me lay my beat on you
We'll keep the music playing moving in time
Let me get a taste of some Babyface
And you know it'll be alright
'Cause the road that ends at Boyz II Men
Is the road I wanna ride We can go to the moon on a Stevie tune
Fly ribbons in the sky
Give me everything R. Kelly sings
Let us bump and grind
Baby feel the beat
Here in my heart
Move with me in ecstasy
Let the melody start
Give me slow jams and hot romance
Rock me in that tender dance
I wanna feel the passion so give me all you got
Share my sweet groove the whole night through
Make tonight a dream come true
Let's keep this groove thing going
and never never never let it stop
It's something that feels so right
Take this side of your rhythm
Baby tonight's your night
When I feel your beat inside my soul
It's a do me groove
I know I can't control
Sweet thing hold me close
Share my desire
We can make the magic flow
Once the music is rocking
Give me slow jams and hot romance
Rock me with that tender dance
I wanna feel the passion so give me all you got
Share my sweet groove the whole night through
Let me lay my beat on you
Let's keep this good thing going
Moving in time with something good."
Kaye listened with awe. She kept imagining it was Kento singing to her, but it was hard to believe that someone could sing so well. Then again Sage could sing pretty well, and Cye too, though Cye was more shy on singing. In time, silence reigned in the room and soon all three were asleep, dreaming of the time they once ran free.