Consequences of Capture

By Dixxy

Chapter Seven: The Powers Within

A few days after Sage's suicide attempt, Kento told Cye what had happened.

"Well why didn't you tell me this before!?" Cye asked, turning on his best friend as the two stood in the younger Ronin's bedroom. His turquoise eyes had narrowed with his face into a scowl, his fists clenched on either side. "For heaven's sake I though he'd just had a nightmare! I didn't think he was suicidal! What the bloody hell makes you think that not telling me something that big was a good idea!?"

"It didn't seem like a good time!" Kento countered.

"You told me not to worry!" Cye said. His face changed from the scowl to the pleading desperate look Cye used whenever he was very upset about something. "Kento, is Sage is suicidal how can I not worry about him? He's my friend, too! I know it was an awkward moment, but why did you wait until now to tell me?"

Kento sighed. "Cye, I've dealt with some crap in my life, but I've never had to deal with a suicidal friend before. I wasn't sure HOW to bring it up. He was really unstable a few days ago- dear God, Cye, Trulpa tried to convince him he was some kind of a worthless whore."

Cye was taken aback by this comment. "Wha?!" To Cye, "Sage" and "whore" did not belong in the same sentence, never mind should anyone accuse Sage of being such a thing! Out of all the Ronins Cye thought Sage to be the most proper, polite, and well-groomed of the lot. How could anyone say such a thing?

"I'm not sure where it came from either, but I think it's because Sage is, for lack of a better phrase, a 'pretty boy'. Face it, Cye- the girls back in Japan thought Sage was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Remember that one who chased him down the street screaming at him to father her children? From the way Rowen reacted to the situation with that 'here we go again' look I get the idea this kind of thing has happened before," said Kento, sitting down on Cye's bed. He crossed one leg over the other and folded his hands in his lap. "So Trulpa's probably playing on that a little bit, but I get the idea that wasn't the biggest piece of the pie."

Cye sat next to Kento, placing his hands on the blanket and leaning backwards onto the outstretched limbs. "What do you mean by that? Sage came from a good family- the Date clan! Our seventh and eighth grade history teachers sang nothing but praises about Date Masamune and he was raised in a very prestigious dojo. He's polite, dresses maturely, keeps himself well-groomed, gets decent marks from what I gather and is an all-around model citizen."

"Well, you're right- Sage ISN'T telling us something," Hardrock said. He propped his elbows on his knees and rested in chin on his clasped hands. "When I asked Sage about it, he said something about family problems, though that much I knew a little about. Believe it or not, Sage is a wild child at heart, but that's not what his parents wanted- they wanted someone mature and sensible from a young age."

Cye finished the story for Kento. "They were very strict with him to suppress his wild desires so they'd have an heir to the Date clan. He had a rough childhood, didn't he?" he said, looking to Kento for an answer. Kento looked indecisive, which Cye raised an eyebrow to.

"Maybe not a 'bad' childhood, but certainly a strict one. They used to lock him in the basement if he was misbehaving, and Sage was never a big fan of the dark. I imagine he was worse as a kid about it. Personally, I don't think Sage was physically beaten or, God forbid, sexually assaulted, but there was probably a little bit of mental abuse involved," said Kento. "Still. . . I think that it goes deeper than that."

"What do you mean?"

"Unfortunately, I don't have a damn clue- Sage refuses to talk about it, but whatever it is I THINK it's something serious. After the second war, Sage never called home like the rest of us did," said Kento. "Rowen had lengthy conversations with both of his parents and the two of us used that speakerphone function so we could talk to my folks, then you called your mother. Ryo never really had a family TO call, but Rowen tried to get Sage to talk to his family. I don't know what happened, but Sage is angry with his folks for something."

"For the suppression?" Cye asked.

Kento shook his head. "No, Sage lives the way they wanted him to, doesn't he? If he was upset with them over that he'd probably be off doing wild things like smoking marijuana or sleeping with all those girls that liked him so much. As a side note I think he's afraid to act any other way, but what can we do about it? Nothing. Sage is the only person who can tell us anything at this moment in time. Rowen MIGHT know something, but I'm not sure."

"Like he'd say anything," Cye said. "Rowen and Sage were best friends, and anything that went on between the two of them should stay there. I understand suicide is involved here, but. . . Rowen's smart, and if there's away to leak just enough information to help Sage without revealing a secret, he'll find it. And he would, too, considering- speaking of which, how stable is Sage right NOW!?"

Suddenly, Cye was alone in the room with distinct echo of the magic Kento had used to teleport out. Sighing, Cye curled up in a ball on his bed. He thought about following Kento, then decided against it- it was probably better that there was only one person checking on him. If he came into the picture, Sage might get upset, and if he really WAS still unbalanced, then that might have a bad outcome. Besides, he'd just found out about what had happened- he needed at least a few hours to sort the through everything running in his head before he did anything.

I'll apologize to Sage for not involving myself as much as Kento has later, he said. Cye snorted, shrugging his shoulders as he rolled onto his side and rested one hand on his pillow. Maybe I'll pop in on him later with some cookies or something- Sage does love chocolate chunk, and I think I've got the resources to make them. He and Ryo went crazy over the last batch I made.

Cye cringed at the thought of the Mortal Realm. Although he desperately missed his mother, Kento's family, and his friends, it had been close to two months since their disappearance. As they had figured out early on, the more time that passed, the less likely it was they would be returning to Japan. So far, they'd come up with nothing in terms of a plan of escape. Now it looked like they'd probably end up having to rely on the Senshi or, when they finally did break free, go to the Senshi.

The world hadn't quite looked the same to him after the war had been fought, something he wasn't sure he'd get over anytime soon. Prior to even receiving his armor, the world seemed like such a happy place. Ideas like love and friendship filled his head, and in all honestly he didn't have very many cares in the world. The worst thing that had happened to him was arriving in Japan as a foreign exchange student to find that, somehow, through some stupid error somewhere along the way, he was alone in a country that spoke a language he was still learning and no place to go. God bless the Rei Fuangs for taking him in within the first few days- he'd been too embarrassed to go back home to his mother and sister.

Cye blew up at his bangs. Sage wasn't the only one with a few family issues. Thanks to some drunken banter from the Mouri side of the family at a family gathering, Cye learned that he wasn't QUITE who he thought he was. The man whose last name he bore wasn't his father at all- in fact, that man died well over a year before his birth. In actuality, he was the result of a drunk one-night stand his mother had while still grieving for her husband's death. Cye had been mortified when he learned the truth, but he had still been fairly young when he learned the truth. True he had no clue how it was possible for some random stranger to impregnate his mother at the time (he'd been doubly mortified when an uncle of his had sat him down for "the talk"), but he understood enough to know it wasn't a widely accepted practice.

Well, I'm here, aren't I? How can I complain? If my mother hadn't done that then I wouldn't be here, he often found himself thinking. It was a difficult feeling to comprehend- it couldn't have been easy for his mother. She was pregnant with some nameless face's baby, something that disturbed Cye. He hated the fact that his mother went through that, but what good would his words of comfort really do?

Once, when Cye was eleven, he'd approached his mother and said the most difficult thing he'd ever had to say to her. "I'm sorry" were two words he said on occasion, but never for something he couldn't control. It hadn't taken much before he broke down crying, trying to take the blame for everything she'd gone through. His mother had cried, too, holding him tightly and telling him over and over that it didn't matter how he came into the world. What mattered to her was that she had a wonderful son that she loved and loved her back.

Cye yawned as he finished the thought. His conversation with Kento had taken place at a late hour, and he was too tired to really do anything about anything at all. He'd make some cookies in the morning, bring them to Sage, then sit down and have a talk with him about what had happened.

Cye awoke with a start, but didn't move from the position he lay in. He listened carefully, hearing high-pitched squeaking sounds and the shuffling of claws and feet against the carpet in his room. Cye held his breath, too frightened to move. He needed to have a better idea as to what was going on before he did anything.

The sounds of the chattering made him realize that they were small gargoyle like creatures that lived in the Dynasty- when he'd first been captured by Talpa they'd been his "welcoming committee"- nasty little creatures they were. They enjoyed pulling hair, smacking, scratching, and overall being a nuisance to anyone whom they decided to bother. Though he didn't consider them a real threat, they were a problem and he'd have to deal with them if he hoped to sleep through the rest of the night.

"BWAJIBIBIBIBIKA!!!"

Cye screamed as one of the creatures pounced on his head. Startled, he bolted upright in his bed, flailing his arms around to try and get the creature off. The other gargoyles joined in, latching onto him and causing quite a scene. Stumbling off the bed with at least five of the creatures on him, Cye struggling to push them off. But his efforts weren't doing very much- they were holding onto him like leeches.

In an effort to try and get one off, Cye decided he would try to cast a spell. Physical force wasn't working, so maybe magic force would. Concentrating as much as he could, Cye pointed a finger at a gargoyle latched onto his left leg and short a beam of ice cold water at it. The creature fell off, sputtering at the surprise water attack. Cye thought he was victorious, but once the attack was called off the creature jumped back on.

Damn it! I can't keep that up for long! he thought miserably.

"EAT! EAT! EAT!"
"FOOD! FOOD! FOOD!"

"DINNER! DINNER! DINNER!"

Cye screamed in pain when the creature on his leg bit down hard on his leg. He saw white from the pain as the gargoyles began to attack other parts of his body- his arms, his torso, but thankfully not his neck. Tears were streaming down his eyes from the sheer pain he was being forced to endure. But his flailing and magical attempts were doing no good- someone was going to find a half-eaten carcass the next day.

The creature on his head began to claw at his scalp, causing coppery tasting blood to drip down his face in rivulets mixed with salty tears. That was one thing Cye was very aware of- blood. He could feel the life-giving liquid seeming to poor from his wounds, the gargoyles drinking it greedily like fine wine. His stomach lurched at the thought of it.

"HELP ME! SOMEBODY! HELP ME!" Cye screamed.

Suddenly the room began to rumble and fill with light. The creatures stopped gnawing on Cye, confused as to what was going on. Before they could react, however, beams of concentrated energy began to shoot out at them from seemingly nowhere. They yelped and screamed, not happy with the unwanted attack. Once they were all off of him, Cye collapsed to the floor, his wounds bleeding profusely and pieces of his own flesh hanging off where a few had taken some small chunks out.

The gargoyles were now all lying lifeless on the floor, the energy having either knocked them out or perhaps even killed them. Cye wasn't sure what to think- besides, his heads was swamped with pain and he was having trouble thinking or even seeing things clearly. He needed help- badly.

"HOLY SHIT, CYE!!!" Somewhat distantly, Cye became aware of another presence in the room. "CYE!!! OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, CYE!!!" Cye kept his eyes open long enough to see Sage's panic stricken face hovering over him before loosing all conscious though.