Quick note: Due to FF.net's formatting I can't place anything in italics so
if it has '' around it, treat it as italics.
The trio arrived at was once the main gate of Houtou castle, the ancient Chinese castle was only a shattered shell of the glory it once was. A simultaneous shiver ran up the spines of both men as they viewed the site that their previous selves fell.
Hakkai gave a nervous laugh, "Well it seems we're here, shall we enter?"
Sanzo stared at the castle as cold shivers took over her body. She had seen this place many times in her dreams, but to see it for real... it unnerved her. It was easy to see that nature had taken its toll on the once proud castle, weeds and other plant life grew in and out of the cracked stone. There was graffiti on parts of the building and trash strewn about the ground. Swallowing hard, Sanzo took a step forward. "Shall we get this over with?" her voice hinted that she was afraid but was trying to suppress it.
Gojyo tossed his pack to the ground, pulling out a flashlight, and SEVERAL packs of cigarettes, "Well, I'm ready."
Hakkai meanwhile, had removed the rope and grappling hook he had bought, placing it around his neck. He tossed a flashlight to Sanzo as he pulled out a second for himself, "Alright, hopefully this may be all we need." He said as he rose gracefully to his feet.
Sanzo checked over the flashlight and put it under her belt. She wasn't quite sure what to expect from this whole thing, but what ever it was would be life changing. "Ready boys?" she asked looking her two partners over. They began to enter the castle. Xia took the flashlight out and turned it on, "No turning back now..."
"Hopefully you don't mean that literally. I would like to be able to go back to town again." Hakkai attempted to lighten the mood as he followed the blond.
Xia led the way through the dark ruins. She walked the path in her dream, unfortunately the one path was collapsed and they had to find another way. The entered a room that partly collapsed on itself. She stopped as she entered the room and waited for the others. The room was one of those from her dream. If she was right at what happened here, she wasn't about to go on alone.
Gojyo stumbled slightly as he entered. It was faint but he could swear he could hear the building crumbling as well as masculine shouts. His heart was pounding and his breathing was fast as if he had been running. The redhead never felt Hakkai's hand on his arm, trying to steady him, nor heard the younger man calling his name.
Xia wasn't sure if she was hallucinating or what. The room seemed to have gone into reverse, now it was how she remembered it. Her body moved on its own, she began to run across the room and tripped when the room shook. Quickly she turned and saw the faint outline of someone holding a pillar up.
'Go! Get out of here you stupid monk!'
Hakkai didn't know what to do, like the others he too was seeing things but it seemed his detached personality was protecting him from going too far. What forced his hand was when he saw Xia running ahead. He looked up at Gojyo, "Please forgive me." Hakkai said before his hand rocketed toward the half-breed's face.
Gojyo's head rocked with the blow as white stars exploded behind his eyes as the pain drove out his soul's final memories of life. His hand slowly moved to cover the red handprint, "Hakkai???"
"You seem to be panicked, it was the only solution I could think of." He said softly. "Now we must keep up with Sanzo." Hakkai said, then gave the taller man a weak smile, "Try to stay focused or I will have to slap you again."
Gojyo nodded, definitely planning on avoiding another blow like the one that his ears were still ringing from. Together they ran after the female monk.
Sanzo stood and gazed at the empty spot for a moment. She could have sworn someone touched her shoulder, but when she turned there was just a fading image. Her feet began to take her down the darkening hallway. Things from her dream flashed into reality. She followed the two phantoms from her dream till something came out of the shadows.
The two men made it to the fallen column. Gojyo stopped as the pounding feeling returned. He looked down and spotted it...a skeleton, most of the upper body and all of the lower half was completely crushed. Only the skull, right arm, and shoulder were still intact. The fingers were outstretched as if reaching out in the direction Xia had run. The half- breed dropped to his knees as he had spotted something shining in the light of Hakkai's flashlight. His hands quickly brushed away the centuries of dust and dirt, revealing a sliver lighter, scratched, dented, yet still shone. He grabbed it the weight was comforting in his hand.
"Gojyo? We're losing Sanzo, we have to go now!" Hakkai urged.
The redhead stood, oddly, once he touched the lighter, what ever had plagued him faded. "Alright, Hakkai." They moved as one chasing down the monk.
As they entered the hallway, it was Hakkai's turn to fumble, he grasped his chest as his lungs erupted in complete agony. The young man fell to his hands and knees as he struggled to breathe.
"HAKKAI!!!!" Gojyo yelled as he grabbed the smaller man.
Xia sat on the floor not far from the two men. Quietly she rocked back and forth cradling something in her arms. Her eyes teared up as she saw the light fade from the emerald eyes in her arm. When she opened her eyes again the tunnel was dark. "Huh... what the..." Finally she looked down at her arms and let out a startled scream. Her arms flung back and the skull rolled down her front, it came to rest seemingly staring back at her.
The scream was what finally shook Hakkai from the ancient past. "Sanzo!" He struggled to his feet with the aid of the newly recovered Gojyo. They made their way over to the monk and the second skeleton. Hakkai rested a gentle hand on the young woman's shoulder.
Sanzo screamed when a hand fell on her shoulder and quickly turned her gaze fell upon the two men. She reached out and touched them, to her relief and sanity they were real. "I thought I was going crazy..." Xia managed to choke out, clenching the fabric of Gojyo's shirt.
Gojyo's arms wound around her, "Hey, it's okay. Do you have any idea what's going on??" He asked gently.
Hakkai knelt beside the remains, looking at it with a steady eye. "This is a youkai...but not quite. I can't seem to find a limiter anywhere but he clearly died with one on." His sharp eyes caught a glint. Hakkai's nimble fingers picked up a monocle, the glass in it was cracked but it was still fairly intact.
Xia rested her head against Gojyo, she was nearly drained. "It was him... the one with green eyes... It was you Hakkai... and back there," she looked down the path they came then up at Gojyo. "There's just one more, shouldn't be much further down the hall. It's just like my dream..."
Hakkai looked from her to the skeleton, "If that was me...then where..." His eyes widened as he realized where the demon's limiters were. The green- eyed demon reached up and grabbed his left ear. "Those bastards! It wasn't enough for them to slaughter my parents and my sister to kidnap me. They had to desecrate his remains as well!" He said angrily, struggling to control his temper.
"I'm sorry Hakkai... I know they were there when I left in the dream." Xia took a few steps down the hall. "Come on. There is just one left. The Seiten Taisei, the hole should be down the hall." Gojyo rested his hand on the angry youkai's shoulder, "Come on, let's finish this together, Hakkai."
The younger man took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "You're right, Gojyo. Let's go." He hoisted the rope higher around his shoulder as they followed Sanzo to the hole.
"Shit, I don't see how anyone could survive this." Gojyo commented, shining his flashlight down into the darkness.
Xia stood near the edge of the hole gazing down into its depths. "I heard him cry out, i turned to see what was wrong and he was gone. The hole... i looked down the hole and there he was. I tried to help, we finally got a hold of each other. The floor shook and gave way, he slipped loose. Those golden eyes were full of fright. I couldn't help him as he fell into the darkness." Xia stepped away from the edge and looked over at Hakkai as he fastened he rope to a large chunk of the wall.
"I'll go down first." Hakkai said, "In case you lose your grip, I can catch you." He said, before beginning his descent. "I'll call when I reach bottom, then you can start down, Sanzo."
Without a word the young priest nodded her head. She watched as another friend of hers descended into the darkness.
Gojyo touched her shoulder, "He'll be okay. Hakkai's tougher than he looks."
After several long minutes, Hakkai's voice came from the pit, "I'm down! But the rope's a little short! When you reach the end, just let go and trust me."
Xia stepped up to the edge and took a moment before kneeling down at its edge. "Ok Hakkai! I'm on my way!" She grabbed the rope and carefully let her legs drop down and all she had was the rope..
Xia stepped up to the edge and took a moment before kneeling down at its edge. "Ok Hakkai! I'm on my way!" She grabbed the rope, carefully let her legs drop down, and now the only thing keeping her from falling was the rope. It took a moment for her to get herself situated.
After another several minutes she reached the end of the rope. She could see Hakkai waiting to catch her. Deep down she knew to trust him, she did so far. She let go.
She didn't fall far before Hakkai's strong arms wrapped around her, he bent his knees to absorb the force of the impact.
"Hakkai!!!" Gojyo called down, "Everything okay???"
"Yes! We're fine, you can climb down now, don't forget about the drop!" Hakkai warned as he lowered Xia's feet to the ground.
"Don't worry about me, remember, I'm the eldest here." The half-breed joked as he climbed down effortlessly, landing on his toes after dropping down. "Alright, which way?"
Xia moved her flashlight around a bit. "I don't know. He's probably around her some where."
Hakkai shined his light on a tunnel, "This way looks as good as any..."
"Then that way it is." Gojyo said, moving toward it.
The three made their way down the tunnel lit only by their flashlights. It was several long minutes when they emptied out into a room untouched by the elements and the destruction. There was only a pedestal in the center of the room, lit by a strange blue light. It wasn't clear at first what, but something was laying on top.
Gojyo squinted his eyes against the light, "Hey! There's a guy there!"
Xia looked at Gojyo. "Think it might just be one of the demons that runs around here?"
"Hell if I know, you're the only one who knows what gold eyes looks like." Gojyo said, shrugging.
"There is only one way to find out, Sanzo." Hakkai said, looking at what could be an altar.
"Guess that means I have to go up." Slowly Xia made her way to the raised platform. From the distance she wasn't sure, it kind of looked like him. As she got closer something on the person's stomach caught her attention. Slowly Xia reached out and touched the small white thing on the person's stomach. It felt scaly, warm, it was breathing.
The little dragon stretched, yawned, and kyuu'ed. He blinked his red eyes as he stared at the blond woman wearing robes he clearly recognized. Then a scent reached his sensitive nose, one that was almost familiar yet not quite. He looked around frantically and kyuu'ed loudly as he saw the reincarnation of his master/friend. Hakuryuu rose up unsteadily and flapped stiffly as he roughly flew to Hakkai. The green-eyed demon was forced to catch the dragon as he lost control of his stiff wings and lost the rhythm of flight.
"Be careful, Little One, you should stretch before moving if you've been inactive for long." Hakkai said with a gentle smile, "You have rigor mortis." He teased, then laughed softly as the white dragon rubbed his head under Hakkai's chin.
"He was never in my dream..." She turned back to the person laying before her.
Hakkai held the little dragon close, "He was in mine." He said softly, happy to see that the creature that flitted in and out of the happier moments of his dreams wasn't just a figment of a childish hope that there was light at the end of the darkness.
It was the same one from her dream. Sanzo brushed some hair from the kids face. A golden headband remained in place around his forehead. No one must have found him other wise that would not be there. "Well, it's him all right." Sanzo couldn't help but keep watching the guy.
The trio arrived at was once the main gate of Houtou castle, the ancient Chinese castle was only a shattered shell of the glory it once was. A simultaneous shiver ran up the spines of both men as they viewed the site that their previous selves fell.
Hakkai gave a nervous laugh, "Well it seems we're here, shall we enter?"
Sanzo stared at the castle as cold shivers took over her body. She had seen this place many times in her dreams, but to see it for real... it unnerved her. It was easy to see that nature had taken its toll on the once proud castle, weeds and other plant life grew in and out of the cracked stone. There was graffiti on parts of the building and trash strewn about the ground. Swallowing hard, Sanzo took a step forward. "Shall we get this over with?" her voice hinted that she was afraid but was trying to suppress it.
Gojyo tossed his pack to the ground, pulling out a flashlight, and SEVERAL packs of cigarettes, "Well, I'm ready."
Hakkai meanwhile, had removed the rope and grappling hook he had bought, placing it around his neck. He tossed a flashlight to Sanzo as he pulled out a second for himself, "Alright, hopefully this may be all we need." He said as he rose gracefully to his feet.
Sanzo checked over the flashlight and put it under her belt. She wasn't quite sure what to expect from this whole thing, but what ever it was would be life changing. "Ready boys?" she asked looking her two partners over. They began to enter the castle. Xia took the flashlight out and turned it on, "No turning back now..."
"Hopefully you don't mean that literally. I would like to be able to go back to town again." Hakkai attempted to lighten the mood as he followed the blond.
Xia led the way through the dark ruins. She walked the path in her dream, unfortunately the one path was collapsed and they had to find another way. The entered a room that partly collapsed on itself. She stopped as she entered the room and waited for the others. The room was one of those from her dream. If she was right at what happened here, she wasn't about to go on alone.
Gojyo stumbled slightly as he entered. It was faint but he could swear he could hear the building crumbling as well as masculine shouts. His heart was pounding and his breathing was fast as if he had been running. The redhead never felt Hakkai's hand on his arm, trying to steady him, nor heard the younger man calling his name.
Xia wasn't sure if she was hallucinating or what. The room seemed to have gone into reverse, now it was how she remembered it. Her body moved on its own, she began to run across the room and tripped when the room shook. Quickly she turned and saw the faint outline of someone holding a pillar up.
'Go! Get out of here you stupid monk!'
Hakkai didn't know what to do, like the others he too was seeing things but it seemed his detached personality was protecting him from going too far. What forced his hand was when he saw Xia running ahead. He looked up at Gojyo, "Please forgive me." Hakkai said before his hand rocketed toward the half-breed's face.
Gojyo's head rocked with the blow as white stars exploded behind his eyes as the pain drove out his soul's final memories of life. His hand slowly moved to cover the red handprint, "Hakkai???"
"You seem to be panicked, it was the only solution I could think of." He said softly. "Now we must keep up with Sanzo." Hakkai said, then gave the taller man a weak smile, "Try to stay focused or I will have to slap you again."
Gojyo nodded, definitely planning on avoiding another blow like the one that his ears were still ringing from. Together they ran after the female monk.
Sanzo stood and gazed at the empty spot for a moment. She could have sworn someone touched her shoulder, but when she turned there was just a fading image. Her feet began to take her down the darkening hallway. Things from her dream flashed into reality. She followed the two phantoms from her dream till something came out of the shadows.
The two men made it to the fallen column. Gojyo stopped as the pounding feeling returned. He looked down and spotted it...a skeleton, most of the upper body and all of the lower half was completely crushed. Only the skull, right arm, and shoulder were still intact. The fingers were outstretched as if reaching out in the direction Xia had run. The half- breed dropped to his knees as he had spotted something shining in the light of Hakkai's flashlight. His hands quickly brushed away the centuries of dust and dirt, revealing a sliver lighter, scratched, dented, yet still shone. He grabbed it the weight was comforting in his hand.
"Gojyo? We're losing Sanzo, we have to go now!" Hakkai urged.
The redhead stood, oddly, once he touched the lighter, what ever had plagued him faded. "Alright, Hakkai." They moved as one chasing down the monk.
As they entered the hallway, it was Hakkai's turn to fumble, he grasped his chest as his lungs erupted in complete agony. The young man fell to his hands and knees as he struggled to breathe.
"HAKKAI!!!!" Gojyo yelled as he grabbed the smaller man.
Xia sat on the floor not far from the two men. Quietly she rocked back and forth cradling something in her arms. Her eyes teared up as she saw the light fade from the emerald eyes in her arm. When she opened her eyes again the tunnel was dark. "Huh... what the..." Finally she looked down at her arms and let out a startled scream. Her arms flung back and the skull rolled down her front, it came to rest seemingly staring back at her.
The scream was what finally shook Hakkai from the ancient past. "Sanzo!" He struggled to his feet with the aid of the newly recovered Gojyo. They made their way over to the monk and the second skeleton. Hakkai rested a gentle hand on the young woman's shoulder.
Sanzo screamed when a hand fell on her shoulder and quickly turned her gaze fell upon the two men. She reached out and touched them, to her relief and sanity they were real. "I thought I was going crazy..." Xia managed to choke out, clenching the fabric of Gojyo's shirt.
Gojyo's arms wound around her, "Hey, it's okay. Do you have any idea what's going on??" He asked gently.
Hakkai knelt beside the remains, looking at it with a steady eye. "This is a youkai...but not quite. I can't seem to find a limiter anywhere but he clearly died with one on." His sharp eyes caught a glint. Hakkai's nimble fingers picked up a monocle, the glass in it was cracked but it was still fairly intact.
Xia rested her head against Gojyo, she was nearly drained. "It was him... the one with green eyes... It was you Hakkai... and back there," she looked down the path they came then up at Gojyo. "There's just one more, shouldn't be much further down the hall. It's just like my dream..."
Hakkai looked from her to the skeleton, "If that was me...then where..." His eyes widened as he realized where the demon's limiters were. The green- eyed demon reached up and grabbed his left ear. "Those bastards! It wasn't enough for them to slaughter my parents and my sister to kidnap me. They had to desecrate his remains as well!" He said angrily, struggling to control his temper.
"I'm sorry Hakkai... I know they were there when I left in the dream." Xia took a few steps down the hall. "Come on. There is just one left. The Seiten Taisei, the hole should be down the hall." Gojyo rested his hand on the angry youkai's shoulder, "Come on, let's finish this together, Hakkai."
The younger man took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "You're right, Gojyo. Let's go." He hoisted the rope higher around his shoulder as they followed Sanzo to the hole.
"Shit, I don't see how anyone could survive this." Gojyo commented, shining his flashlight down into the darkness.
Xia stood near the edge of the hole gazing down into its depths. "I heard him cry out, i turned to see what was wrong and he was gone. The hole... i looked down the hole and there he was. I tried to help, we finally got a hold of each other. The floor shook and gave way, he slipped loose. Those golden eyes were full of fright. I couldn't help him as he fell into the darkness." Xia stepped away from the edge and looked over at Hakkai as he fastened he rope to a large chunk of the wall.
"I'll go down first." Hakkai said, "In case you lose your grip, I can catch you." He said, before beginning his descent. "I'll call when I reach bottom, then you can start down, Sanzo."
Without a word the young priest nodded her head. She watched as another friend of hers descended into the darkness.
Gojyo touched her shoulder, "He'll be okay. Hakkai's tougher than he looks."
After several long minutes, Hakkai's voice came from the pit, "I'm down! But the rope's a little short! When you reach the end, just let go and trust me."
Xia stepped up to the edge and took a moment before kneeling down at its edge. "Ok Hakkai! I'm on my way!" She grabbed the rope and carefully let her legs drop down and all she had was the rope..
Xia stepped up to the edge and took a moment before kneeling down at its edge. "Ok Hakkai! I'm on my way!" She grabbed the rope, carefully let her legs drop down, and now the only thing keeping her from falling was the rope. It took a moment for her to get herself situated.
After another several minutes she reached the end of the rope. She could see Hakkai waiting to catch her. Deep down she knew to trust him, she did so far. She let go.
She didn't fall far before Hakkai's strong arms wrapped around her, he bent his knees to absorb the force of the impact.
"Hakkai!!!" Gojyo called down, "Everything okay???"
"Yes! We're fine, you can climb down now, don't forget about the drop!" Hakkai warned as he lowered Xia's feet to the ground.
"Don't worry about me, remember, I'm the eldest here." The half-breed joked as he climbed down effortlessly, landing on his toes after dropping down. "Alright, which way?"
Xia moved her flashlight around a bit. "I don't know. He's probably around her some where."
Hakkai shined his light on a tunnel, "This way looks as good as any..."
"Then that way it is." Gojyo said, moving toward it.
The three made their way down the tunnel lit only by their flashlights. It was several long minutes when they emptied out into a room untouched by the elements and the destruction. There was only a pedestal in the center of the room, lit by a strange blue light. It wasn't clear at first what, but something was laying on top.
Gojyo squinted his eyes against the light, "Hey! There's a guy there!"
Xia looked at Gojyo. "Think it might just be one of the demons that runs around here?"
"Hell if I know, you're the only one who knows what gold eyes looks like." Gojyo said, shrugging.
"There is only one way to find out, Sanzo." Hakkai said, looking at what could be an altar.
"Guess that means I have to go up." Slowly Xia made her way to the raised platform. From the distance she wasn't sure, it kind of looked like him. As she got closer something on the person's stomach caught her attention. Slowly Xia reached out and touched the small white thing on the person's stomach. It felt scaly, warm, it was breathing.
The little dragon stretched, yawned, and kyuu'ed. He blinked his red eyes as he stared at the blond woman wearing robes he clearly recognized. Then a scent reached his sensitive nose, one that was almost familiar yet not quite. He looked around frantically and kyuu'ed loudly as he saw the reincarnation of his master/friend. Hakuryuu rose up unsteadily and flapped stiffly as he roughly flew to Hakkai. The green-eyed demon was forced to catch the dragon as he lost control of his stiff wings and lost the rhythm of flight.
"Be careful, Little One, you should stretch before moving if you've been inactive for long." Hakkai said with a gentle smile, "You have rigor mortis." He teased, then laughed softly as the white dragon rubbed his head under Hakkai's chin.
"He was never in my dream..." She turned back to the person laying before her.
Hakkai held the little dragon close, "He was in mine." He said softly, happy to see that the creature that flitted in and out of the happier moments of his dreams wasn't just a figment of a childish hope that there was light at the end of the darkness.
It was the same one from her dream. Sanzo brushed some hair from the kids face. A golden headband remained in place around his forehead. No one must have found him other wise that would not be there. "Well, it's him all right." Sanzo couldn't help but keep watching the guy.