Disclaimer: Hn.
Warnings: Nothing, really.
A/N: Gah! Stupid, stupid electrician guy, and stupid, stupid computer! I had everything typed up and was about to post this…and then the stupid electrician guy flicked the wrong switch! And when my computer finally started again, Word hadn't recovered my chapter! GAH!
On the bright side…I finished chapter seven. Now Bailey-chan must finish chapter eight, and I can take another three weeks to do chapter nine. ^_~
Chapter Fourteen: In Which There is a Lot of Talking
There was a stunned silence after the sudden disappearance of Tobraea. Nobody moved except Amanda, who was busy trying to heal Kino and was ignoring everything around her.
Minutes passed. Then suddenly, slowly, Denice stood up, weaving unsteadily on her foot. After regaining her balance, she silently walked over to Kino and Amanda, where she knelt down, staring vaguely at Kino's face.
"Denice?" Rowen asked softly.
"I couldn't protect him," she murmured absently, still staring. "I vowed to give my life protecting him if it was needed, and I failed." She paused, breathing deeply. Then she looked away from Kino. "I have never failed before. Of all the things to be the first…."
Shaking her head, Denice stood up and faced Tobraea's remaining warriors. The nine armored people shared nervous glances before suddenly disappearing.
"Now what do we do?" Kayura asked, looking around at everyone. "We spent all that time getting these two back, and now Tobraea is dead, and his warriors are gone. Is there a way to send us back or something?"
"No," Denice answered almost immediately, turning back to Amanda and Kino. "You are stuck here, just like Amanda was when she came to help me. I suggest, however, that you all return to Kayura's castle for now."
"What are you and Amanda going to do?" Cale asked softly.
"We will return Kino's body to his clan," Denice returned. "Tobraea's attack was enough to kill him as it was, but for the fact that Amanda would be able to heal him. After that last spell—"
However, she was unexpectedly cut off by Amanda's soft voice.
"He is still alive," she said.
"What?" Denice asked, eyes widening in disbelief. "But he can't be alive! You know as well as I do that that damned spell of his killed him! It doesn't matter how fast you got to healing him!"
"He is still alive," Amanda repeated softly. "But I am not sure I did him a favor by saving him. His magic remains as strong as ever, but he will need a Strengthener by him all the time, most likely for the rest of his life. The clan may still be thrown in chaos for lack of a suitable leader."
"Not if I have anything to say about it," Denice scowled. "Kino was nearly killed while destroying Tobraea."
"We will go together then." Amanda stood up, smiling.
"No we won't. You are going to Kayura's castle to rest after all you've done today. I will go on my own and explain everything to Lord Shi. Then I'm coming back, and you sure as hell better be resting."
"All right," Amanda sighed. "And mind your language!"
"Yeah, yeah," Denice grumbled, lifting Kino and spreading her wings. "See you when I get back!"
She took off immediately, flying in the direction of Kino's remaining clan.
"Now what?" Dais asked.
"We go to the castle," Kayura replied immediately, rolling her eyes. "Amanda needs to rest, and we need to relax."
"What about the rest of Tobraea's men?" Touma asked thoughtfully, frowning around at everyone. "Shouldn't we find out where they went, so we know whether or not to be on guard?"
"They'll be somewhere in the Dynasty. We'll know if they decide to jump dimensions, because we'll jump with them," Kayura returned, stretching slightly.
"And they've probably gone to the Outlands," Cale added. "They know we won't follow them there."
"The Outlands?" Rowen asked blankly.
"It's this part of the Dynasty with absolutely nothing in it," Cale replied.
"Except spirits," Sekhmet piped up. "Remember, we banished those nether spirits there?" Well, not quite banished, they asked us if they could go, but…."
"Enough, Sekh," Cale rolled his eyes. "Let's just get into the castle. We need to catch up Anubis and…uh…"
"Shuten Doji?" Sekhmet supplied.
"Well, whatever his name is," Cale agreed.
"Shuten Doji," Sekhmet repeated, grinning when Cale glared at him. "Weren't we going to the castle?"
Cale rolled his eyes again. "Let's just go," he grumbled, turning to the castle and beginning to walk.
"Hey, Cale, why don't you just teleport?" Sekhmet called after him. "It's a lot faster!"
"I feel like walking."
Sekhmet glanced around at everyone, shrugging.
"I'll be in my room," he said, "to see if my snakes got loose again."
"When you're doing checking on your snakes, go back to the room we took Amanda and Strata to that first day," Kay told him. "We'll be waiting for you there."
"All right," Sekhmet agreed before suddenly disappearing.
"I'll walk with Cale," Amanda murmured, smiling shakily at the remaining people. "Ronins, Troopers, you might want to follow us." And she took off immediately, rushing after Cale.
The remaining Warlords and Masho then disappeared, leaving the Ronins and Troopers alone.
"Well, let's go," Rowen said.
"Hold on, Rowen," Ryo ordered, glaring at his friend. "What makes you so sure we can really trust them? We barely know them!"
"They got you out of the dungeons, didn't they?" Rowen returned, raising an eyebrow at him. "And Denice and Amanda certainly trust them. Besides that, we already know they're not working for Tobraea, so they want to be sure they're gone as much as we do. Even if they are still evil, they'll at least work with us until there's no threat to their power."
"But if they're our enemies, wouldn't they want to work with Tobraea to get rid of us?" Ryou asked, backing his counterpart up.
"Not necessarily," Touma answered him before Rowen could get a chance to. "Tobraea and his men are a lot stronger than the Warlords and Masho. They wouldn't have any reason to work together, because Tobraea and them have everything they need, what with Denice's castle."
"And if they turn against us after we defeat Tobraea's men?" Ryo asked.
"If we all fight them together, we'll probably be too weak to fight each other afterwards," Rowen rturned.
"They'll have to let us go," Touma agreed.
"And we'll have one up on them, since I doubt Denice is likely to leave Rowen," Sage added dryly.
"Doesn't mean she'll fight with us," Rowen muttered. "Not with the way Amanda and Cale are heading. She won't want to betray either me or Amanda, so she'll probably just stay out of it."
"I doubt we have anything to worry about anyway," Cye sighed. "Kayura isn't likely being controlled by anyone else, least of all the Warlords."
"And we know we can trust Anubis," Kento added.
Neither Ryo nor Ryou looked convinced.
"Look, let's just go along with them for now, all right?" Shin grumbled, absently rolling his eyes. "We need to get rid of Tobraea's men, at least. They'll get rid of the Warlords and Masho first, and then come after us. Either way, we'll probably be dead eventually."
"He's right, you know!" Shu grinned. "Now can we just go? They might have something to eat, and I'm starving!"
Kento nodded emphatically in agreement.
"All right, let's go," Ryo muttered, sighing. "But if I'm right, don't say I didn't tell you so…."
Everyone but Ryou rolled their eyes as they ran after Amanda and Cale, who were way ahead of them.
"Can we knock them out until we've gotten rid of Tobraea's men?" Touma asked Rowen softly as they ran for the castle.
"We'd better not," Rowen muttered back, chuckling lightly. "We need them, not to mention their armors."
"Yeah," Touma grumbled. "That's exactly what I thought. Unfortunately."
Rowen just laughed.
A/N: Okay, bad ending. Shut up. And Ryo probably would trust them, wouldn't he? Well, either way, this is how I wrote it, and this is how it's staying. ^-^
Okay, if you like this story, you might want to read my other Ronin fics. If you do, visit my site (that's on my profile…can't put the link in here cuz ff.net is EVIL), go to Words of Wisdom, and then to the R Files page. That has my two fics on it…and links to my rather tentative character guides for my OCs. Um…the only reason they're not on ff.net yet is because I don't have titles or summaries for either of them. ^^; So…yeah. That's it.
Except. *squeals* I got my speakers working again! This means I can listen to music! Which means I can re-download the YST songs and actually hear them! Yay!!!!! Ahem. Anyway. Onwards.
Thanks to:
Nell- Yeah, yeah.
Harry2- Er…I'll try to find some more…. I doubt I'll be able to, though.
AnimegirlH
Uh…where'd they all go? ^^;