=============================================================== Authors Notes. Hey everyone, what did you think? This was my first real shot a Ronin Warriors Fanfic and I am very open to feedback. Praise, Criticism or just the fact that you think I suck, I'm all ears. Also I should apologize for the long ass gap between updates. I had a few home issues that no one wants to hear about. Also to anyone who tried to email me I apologize for due to circumstances beyond my control, I had lost my original email and could not receive nor respond to any emails sent over the long period of time. I'm open to questions, comments, and suggestions, let me know and I promise you'll get a response. I'd like to make up for lost time.

My Email: MaskOfEclisis@aol.com

Thanks To: Amanda Swiftgold - for hosting my story and not dropping it, because I was absent so long, and most of all hosting everyone's story that inspired me to actually try this. Elephants 2000 - for giving me the most amazing and addicting feeling I ever experienced in my life of having a total stranger telling me she likes it so much that she can't wait for more. Thank You Very Much! Ghost Of The Dawn – For that Awesome reflective yet untitled piece of art that really inspired a lot of chapter sixteen! Thank you and keep up the good work! Hana-Chibi - for reviewing and giving me inspirations, and giving me something to read when I was stuck on chapter 5 Dragon Blood - for continually reading my crap and becoming very emotionally involved, and also coming up with a new name for Mina. Unfortunately I can't put it here because children may be reading...

And to everyone else who took the time to read White Lilies. Thanks!

Comi Sani Dai ~G Ronin

White Lilies Soundtrack

Hey everyone, if your reading this then you really must have nothing better to do, or were looking on the page listings in the Fan-Fics and went "Soundtrack? What the hell?" Well as I was writing up this story I used a lot of music to help me out and as it went along, it seemed there was one song that defined each moment in the story. I hope to share that song and reasons why I chose it with you. Also, if you haven't read White Lilies, and plan to, THANK YOU! And don't read this! Contains spoilers! All of them! If you don't plan to read White Lilies you suck, go ahead and read on you big jerk.

Ryo's Theme: NickelBack - Hero
I originally had something else planned for Ryo's theme but as the story grew, Ryo's character became broader and it was harder to find a song that would cover every aspect of it, and then it hits me. Also in this song, the love of hero as his relationship with Mina. I think it works because it shows the valiant warrior in him as well as the heartfelt human, and also his ever-present insecurities about who he is.

Mina's Theme: Enigma - Gravity Of Love
There is an image that I did a very poor job of pulling off with Mina. I wanted her to be a love-deprived soul that was seeking someone to say it, do it, and devote it to her and her alone entirely. She wants and needs love so badly she would go to extremes to get it and if there was the slightest hint it wasn't the purest heartfelt kind, she would find better. So thusly, the gravity of love is too much for Mina to resist, as is hers.

Breakfast at Mia's : Green Day - Time Of Your life
This song is just beaming with nostalgia, good times, bad times, fun times, hard times, I don't think there was a much better choice for the Ronins coming together and reliving the moments of their life again. Green Day made a classic with song, in my humble opinion.

Mina And Ryo: Lifehouse - Hanging By A Moment
It was difficult to find a song that would capture the essence of the entire story of Ryo and Mina. It had to be soft to reflect tenderness, hard to reflect the power, heartfelt to express the fortitude, and light to reflect the happiness it gives them. Before, I was using a cluster of songs to serve my purposes but then I heard this song on the radio and it perfectly combined every last aspect.

The Dynasty Lives: Static X - Cold
There's one thing to say about this song; Evil, Evil, and more Evil. What sums up the Dynasty better? But not only that, I had to do something that would also portray about how the Warlords were being taken again but also were willing to fight it with all their being. I thing the tune of this captures that the best.

Ronin Reunion: Bon Jovi - It's My Life
When the Ronins called their armor all together once again after two years, I wanted that to come out as a very powerful moment but also very blissful. They had to be called to fight evil and the world was in trouble and blah, why can't they be happy? Bon Jovi puts Determination, Power and an overall high into the moment with this song.

Identities Revealed: Adema - Pain Inside
Mina finding out that Ryo was a Comic Book hero is a large turning point in the story. I wanted to turn away from the "Wow you're a Ronin Warrior? That is so cool!" attribute that usually goes along when they reveal themselves, and I wanted to see if I could capture what it would be like if someone we loved turned out to be some superhero. Also, trying to keep to her personality I made Mina a bit more hurt than many others would be. She loved Ryo with all her heart and something like this shattered her faith in him, and I needed a song that placed all that pain and heartbreak.

Betrayal: No Doubt - Don't Speak
The lyrics fit together like a warped puzzle piece. When Mina and Sage kissed like that, it was supposed to be more of a moment of confusion more than anything else but the main fact remained that Ryo and Mina's relationship was almost dead and buried. I think since it's a female singer it shows the decisions was more Mina's than Sage's, showing how desperately she wanted to be loved.

Unbroken Promises: Tantric - Mourning
Ryo is used to his loved ones leaving him, but Mina is someone he wouldn't give up without a fight. He knew it wouldn't be the best time to confront Sage, and somewhere deep down inside he knew it wasn't all his fault. When he went to the lake after Mina, it was a mixture of just about every melodramatic foible one could imagine, and when a Ronin is faced with such a challenge he stands tall. I believe Tantric's Mourning captures the sorrow and determination that's beaming in Ryo, that his promise to love her unconditionally still held true.

Anubis Returned: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Other Side
I doubt there is a character that has more sides to him than Anubis. The good, the bad, the dead, the undead, the Ronin, the Warlord, it makes you wonder how a man with such a confusing life knows exactly what he must do so often. His life and death has had so many twists and turns, it's a complete jumble that only he can understand, just like the song. There are sides to everything that only one person can understand.

Kento's Theme: Iron Maiden - Wicker Man
Wicker Man as portrayed in this song is someone who lives their life their own way, or at least that's what I got from it. Kento is like that, living his life his own way, careless of what others think of his freestyle life, I think that exudes from the man when he trains himself in the story.

Sai's Theme: Live - When Dolphins Cry
Sai is obviously the pacifist of the five, that was made clear endless times, but he has an unshakable duty to save the world so he continues to fight on, hurting himself inside. The battle in his element I think shows the battle within himself to stay true to who he is. He is a lover of all aquatic life but to survive he had to do battle with it, and when he realized that, it made him stronger. When Dolphins Cry is not only a symbolic title, but as the song goes, it delivers the message that you have to fight for what you care about and that may also hurt it.

Rowen's Theme: Lenny Kravitz - I Want To Get Away
A man that had been hit with plenty of life's hardballs still refuses to look at the unfair situations he's faced with subjectively. Rowen never seemed to be much of a whiner to me but one thing I know is that when a person doesn't complain a lot on the outside usually is holding it in on the inside. Him damning a mountain to hell illustrates that I believe. Also his freedom of flying and letting go as he fell, that freedom is what I saw in Rowen, and Lenny Kravtitz's "I Want To Get Away, Fly Away" hit the nail on the head there.

Sage's Theme: NickelBack - How You Remind Me
The meditative quiet and stern young man determined to defend the light from the darkness, one would think the trip in self discovery would be a walk on the beach to Sage, so I changed it around a bit. Letting him see what it feels like to be insecure as the rest of us, and what it felt like to be slowly falling in love. Mina so easily flew into his consciousness he obviously was becoming overwhelmed and instantly called it love. "How You Remind Me" gives a struggled impression of what it's like to be away from someone you feel so strongly for and how that distance can make you think more deeply into it.

Wildfire: Linkin Park - Runaway
Technically Ryo did run away on the general outlook when he was supposed to be training. Going home to sort out his thoughts and gather himself and ending up spending the entire week there, that was running away from his problems but also, it too was helping him fuel his most powerful trait as a human being and as a Ronin Warrior, his undeniable fire within himself. Every song Linkin Park has ever come out with always told some powerful story about who is within yourself so just about any song could have fit here for any Ronin but Runaway paralleled it with the unbridled fire I was getting at.

Decent Into Evil: Trans Siberian Orchestra – Sarajevo
Okay, basically it's just Caroling Of The Bells with a 60-piece orchestra behind it and led by killer drums and one badass guitar. I needed something that was war like in nature and also very unwarlike as this is not two countries fighting within the usual disputes, this was five men going off to fight an entire other world. I needed something that delivered the saying "This is War Unlike Any Other". Who knew a Christmas song would do that?

Battle With Venom: Static X - Get To The Gone
A lot of people don't like the big heavy yelling screaming inaudible lyric type music, but I doubt there is any dance beat that would express the mad rage in this battle. With the confusion and trauma that was going on with Ryo at the time, and throwing himself into battle completely and fully to escape the pain would lead to an insanely tremendous battle. Hard hitting, fast paced, deadly skilled, one could lose sight of the right way to fight. Lots of pounding going on.

Battle With Deception: Kid Rock - Bawitada
The way this song moves; big heavy hitting power, then low-key straightforward lyrics, then hard hitting again, it is like the actual soundtrack let alone symbolic nature. Kento strives to end the battle quickly by attacking with everything he's got head on, where as Sai is keeping things evenly balanced

Battle With Darkness: Linkin Park - Place For My Head
The lyrics in this one really do nothing to reflect the fight, which is surprising for a Linkin Park song. Its more so the tone of the music, where as it starts low, then picks up, hits you with something insane, then it get so quiet you put the speaker to your ear, then out of nowhere blasts you with everything its got. Fighting in pitch-blackness and toying with your opponent goes well with that. Cale silently waiting in your blindness, then striking at you like a rabid wolf.

The New Ronin Warriors: Namie Amuro - System 2000
Another song I can't say much in fluid lyrics because I can't understand a damn word she is saying. You'll just to have to hear this one for yourself to understand. The formation of the "New Ronin Warriors" would be dramatic in any Fan-Fic so unfortunately I'm not being original there, but I like to think this formation of heroes in the time of the worlds greatest need added a little oomph to the scene. System 2000 sort of gives that very impression

The Flame Of Damnation: Stabbing Westward - Save Yourself
I was looking for something that could capture the torment and angst of not only Ryo but also the Ronin Warriors who could not help him during this torturing ordeal. I may have done a poor job of portraying it but I wanted this scene to show that the Ronins had it just as bad as Ryo did, that it hurt them inside watching Ryo struggle alone. However this song is more so directed to what is going on in Wildfire's mind.

Ryo's Little World: Cranberries - Electric Blue First of all I do know that Ryo's eyes are Tiger blue so don't kill me. I originally heard this song when I first came to Miss Swiftgolds site and it stuck with me up to this point. The song doesn't really tell much of a story and its actually confusing but that's exactly the scene I was going for. This was his own little world and there really isn't any straightforwardness to it.

Battle Within: Pete - Burn
When you think of Ryo Vs. Ryo, a song that has to do with fire is expected but predictable, is it not? I decided to go a little different and target the fact that it's a human being going against himself than a warrior of fire going against himself yet keeping that aspect as well. Burn's title in itself seems to cover the fire aspect as well as some of the lyrics in it but the majority of the song it's more like he will not be the way he is, or in retrospect, he will not be like the way he is inside.

Damnation Versus Evil: Rob Zombie - Superbeast "Hey yeah I'm the one that you wanted, Hey Yeah I'm the Super Beast!" Need I say more? Ryo allowing the flame of damnation to exist within his body put him on equal footing with the supercharged demon emperor, it was a battle of the super beasts. This was a cataclysmic battle that needed a powerful high impact brutal song to go along with it. The immense power with the armor of inferno, which Talpa wanted so desperately, was now attacking him with deadly magnitude.

Immortal Hell Fire - Disturbed - Down With The Sickness
Personally I love this song. It's blatantly obvious that it's a song about the rage welling within until the demon has to be released from inside and goes on an unstoppable rampage. I need something that said Ryo has had enough; he can't take any more of it. The dynasty, the mystical armors, the love life, all of it, and now every bit of rage well up inside releasing a demon of hell onto the battlefield. I can't really describe it well, (duh) but if you read the scene and play the song, you'll feel it.

Death Of A Warrior - Ayumi Hamasaki - End Roll
I can't say how these lyrics go well with the dramatic scene, mostly because I don't have a bleedin' clue as to what she's saying. I wanted something sad but proud, so show that that it was a valiant deed of great magnitude, but also remind of the traumatic and heart wrenching the battle was to get there. The question remained, "Was it really worth it?"

Going Home - Alice In Chains - Don't Follow
When it's all said and done, the heroes have made their stand and the ash has fallen, you can't forget the soldiers who fought just as hard and valiantly for the similar cause. The Ronin Warriors and The Dark Warlords each fought a long arduous journey and will not be forgotten. But as their battle ends, they must return with heavy hearts. Walking a path many can't follow, they leave their friend behind. Ryo too has gone to a place that they can't follow, he's made his mistakes and settled his dues he to cannot be followed.

Epilogue - Linkin Park - In The End
OK, I'll admit it, Linkin Park is my favorite band, but that's really not the only reason I have like eight of their songs on my track listings. It is extremely overplayed on the radio so I'm pretty sure everyone knows the lyrics. "I tried so hard, and got so far, but in the end, it doesn't even matter." I just wanted to hit that line hard, interpret it your own way, this is wide open for you to see it any way you wish.