Dragonia
By Dixxy
Prologue Two: Prayer for the Dying
(Ryo)
I've failed you in the worst way ever.
Fearless people, careless needle
Harsh words spoken, and lives are broken
I don't know why I did everything I did. Hey, it isn't my fault I was handed the Armor of the Wildfire- though there really IS no "leader" armor, Mia told me that, historically, Wildfires tend to lead the pack whenever the Ronins go into battle against the Dynasty. And it was me who ran around Japan trying to find the rest of us. It's me who bears the Inferno. And maybe because of all that I got a little too. . . full of myself. I thought I could do it all.
Forceful aging,
Help me I'm fading,
Heaven's waiting
It's time to move on...
I misjudged you a little, though I never outright said it. Just because you were smaller than the rest of us- not by a great margin, granted, but still thinner and shorter- I guess that I felt more like you were another Yuli to us at first. You couldn't have been as old as the rest of us, yet you weren't too much younger than Sage or Kento, were you Cye? You weren't. You were our youngest, but you weren't weak.
When I first saw the rest of the Ronins, I couldn't help but evaluate you all. Rowen saved my life against that first Tin Can- you know, the one Mia used to tease us about after we could all easily take down ten at a time with one hand tied behind our backs? He was also older than me and smarter than me- maybe I felt a little, well, inferior around him. But of course the Rowen we know and love isn't like that at all. When he saved my life I guess I got this idea that Rowen was someone I could depend on.
Provided that Mia, Yuli and I could find him that rainy night, anyways. . .
And then there was Kento. Despite his jolly, youthful features, Kento knew how to fight and throw a punch. He was unquestionably the strongest of the five of us- some of the stuff he was hit with I don't I would've been able to take. For that, Kento has my eternal respect.
Sage I saw a bold, daring, and witty ally. He showed off that first time by jumping off that skyscraper headfirst, and still managing to make a perfect landing. And after fighting alongside him, I saw that he was a well-rounded swordsman who was probably better with that no-datchi of his than I was with my katanas.
Crossing that bridge with lessons I've learned
Playing with fire and not getting burned
But you, Cye, you were different. Though you could scramble pretty quickly to get to where you needed to be, it was obvious that you weren't too much of an experienced fighter. You barely knew how to hold your yari at first and you made some clumsy attempts at punches and kicks. I saw Kento smack his forehead a few times, though I didn't realize why until later. Poor Kento- he tried so hard to teach you how to fight. Your Japanese was also a little shaky, and you didn't talk too much at first. And your face. . . you looked so young and carefree. I thought you were thirteen or fourteen when I first saw you.
I was frightened.
I may not know what you're going through,
But time is the space between me and you
Life carries on, it goes on...
Why was I frightened? Because I thought you were so young and innocent and naïve. I couldn't believe someone like you had been given an armor. You couldn't possibly be a warrior- you had the carefree look of someone who came from a sheltered home life, went to Church every Sunday, and promised your parents you wouldn't touch a woman until you were married. You looked so. . . innocent.
I silently took on the role of your protector.
Crossing that bridge with lessons I've learned
Playing with fire and not getting burned
When you were trapped in the Sea of Toyama, I immediately volunteered to go after you, even when I KNEW my armor was weak in water. It's not that I didn't trust Sage, whose Armor of Halo would have probably taken no prisoners in that watery environment, but I wanted to make sure you were okay myself. Even after the effects of Sehkment's poison started to take affect I still pushed on because I was afraid he was going to kill you.
Words cannot express how amazed I was when the two of us beat Sehkment.
Suddenly your yari wasn't some foreign toy placed in your hands- you knew exactly how to use it to not only pull off the Super Wave Smasher, but to also hold your own against Sehkment in a clash of weapons. Yuli told me about the part of the fight I was unconscious for, and he seemed amazed, too. Still, I think Yuli was always under the mentality that we were all invincible super heroes.
But after the fight, as we were gazing out onto the oceans, I suddenly felt like I had failed you. Later on even Anubis pointed it out to me. At the beginning of the battle, there was a certain glimmer in your eyes. It was innocence. Naiveté. The eyes of a young boy without much of a care in the world.
Those eyes changed after that. As you looked out onto the ocean, I could almost see that inner light flicker out into nothing. I was stunned speechless. Your innocence was gone, almost like you'd been metaphorically raped. Though nothing of that nature actually happened, that's how it looked and felt at the time.
I felt like it was my fault that I couldn't protect you.
I may not know what you're going through,
But time is the space between me and you
Life carries on, it goes on...
I cried when we stopped for the night. I secluded myself from White Blaze, Yuli, and you. Yet even after the other two fell asleep, you still found me crying. You were pretty confused and asked me what was wrong, and I told you what I saw. Poor Cye. You didn't get it right away (probably because your Japanese was still a little shaky and I was blubbering like a whale), but you did give me a friendly hug- you understood that much.
After a while, even though I still felt responsible for your well-being, I came to see you as more of an equal rather than someone to worry about protecting. Especially after we kicked our own asses courtesy of Dais and his illusions. We were all getting closer, and we were all trusting each other more (though I don't think that Sage and Kento could ever come to an agreement on their choice methods of battle tactics).
Just say die, and that would be pessimistic
In your mind we can walk across water
Please don't cry: it's just a prayer for the dying
I just don't know what's got into me
When you all "died", I felt crushed. I felt like such an idiot to have let Talpa get away with absorbing you all. Even after he absorbed me I felt like I'd failed you, even if we all COULD be together again. But we all know what came next- we kicked Talpa's ass with the Inferno and lived to tell about it.
The worst failure by FAR, however, was when Talpa captured you, Sage, and Kento. I nearly lost it while I watched the three of you twisting and screaming in pain. God, what I would have given to stop that. I was so afraid. I thought you were all going to die- for REAL this time, and with no coming back like the first battle with Talpa. Even with Anubis' help and my façade around Rowen, Mia, and Yuli, I still wanted to die inside.
Been crossing that bridge with lessons I've learned
Playing with fire and not getting burned
I may not know what you're going through
But time is the space between me and you
But you all came out okay. Horribly shaken by the experience once the last battle was fought, but you were all alive. You were able to heal. You could start to move on with the rest of your lives so you could finish school, go to college, start careers, get married and have families, and grow old. You had the chance to live again.
Then that accursed camping trip . . . Now it was finally over for the three of you. None of those things would EVER happen now- your lives were cut tragically short. And you all had so many plans for later in life! I remember Sage talking excitedly about taking a year off after high school to travel though the Americas and Europe. Kento boldly bragged about how he was going to take over his family's restaurant and make it into a huge success. Cye, you looked at them both, laughed, and said you would be just happy making it through high school.
"I don't know exactly what I want to do yet- I can cook, but I refuse to harm sea life so I wouldn't be able to get a job in a lot of restaurants, 'less I opened my own. And marine biology seems like the right ticket, but I don't know if the long trips away from home would sit well with any family I may have someday. And there's no telling how long I'll be able to keep up with swimming! Armor or no armor, my age is bound to catch up to me one of these days."
There is a laughter that we know
Hold on, say yes, while people say no
Life carries on, it goes on...
But now none of those ideas can be explored. A part of me died with the three of you, because we had all wanted to grow up together. We wanted to go to our proms together and try to see if we couldn't get our colleges close together- maybe we would all say "to hell with it" and go with Sage during his year of travels. We would stay in touch throughout our entire lives- if and when we got married, we devised a flow-chart for "best man" set ups so everyone got that honor only once (I was going to be Rowen's best man and, ironically enough Cye, you were set to be mine). If we ever had kids we'd set up play dates in hopes that they would be able to become friends like the rest of us. We'd stay close together and watch as our lives went on. Maybe we'd all get drunk on the eve of Kento's wedding. We'd tease Rowen when he had to change his first diaper, and tell Sage to stop freaking out when his daughter went out on her first date. We'd of course have to give our full emotional support to you, Cye when your youngest went off to college and you became the parent of an empty nest. God knows what they'd have to do to me when my kids told me I was going to be a grandfather!
I'm crossing that bridge with lessons I've learned
I'm playing with fire and not getting burned
I may not know what you're going through
But time is the space between me and you
There is a laughter that we know
Hold on, say yes, while people say no
Life carries on, it goes on..
But those dreams have been shattered like mirrors in an earthquake. It's just me and Rowen now, after all. Mia and Yuli, too, but we lost so much that awful night. Your screams of terror still haunt me in my dreams. My dreams still take me back to those woods, back to that night. I can still feel every stone and stick underfoot and all the branches that reached out at my legs, arms, and face. I can remember the sounds of the wildlife as they scattered away from the scene of the tragedy.
Rowen and I both woke up when your screams sounded. It was horrible. Rowen called into your tent to try and find the three of you, and when he found nothing the two of us just ran and ran. By the time we reached the scene, our bodies lined with cuts and bruises. We didn't take any path- we ran straight through wild forest. The path would've taken too long- we had to get to you fast.
But we weren't fast enough. . .
It goes on, when nothing else matters
When nothing else matters, I just don't know what's got into me
I couldn't save you, Cye. I failed you. I tried so hard to protect you, but I just couldn't do it. A part of you became a casualty of our war with Trulpa, and I can't forgive myself for that. I feel like you lost your innocence because of me. Your youth. Your naïveté.
And ultimately. . . your life.
I'm so sorry. . .
It's just a prayer for the dying
For the dying