Dragonia

By Dixxy

Chapter One: First Anniversary

(Rowen)

I remember the day everything turned upside-down for the umpteenth time in my life very clearly. Yes, that many times. My parents are divorced, I met Sage- my first REAL friend- we found out armors, and then Sage, Cye, and Kento vanished on me without a trace. Quite frankly I was used to my world being on a non-stop roller-coaster full of bumps, shakes, and loops. It's almost as if someone out there enjoys watching me suffer.

It was sometime in the vicinity of ten- we were all planning on going into town together. It was late August, and Mia wanted to make sure we all had new clothing for school. Mia had been very anxious to go on that day, saying "Sunday, Sunday, Sunday" over and over again it seemed. Though I didn't care either way (big whoop, a few more teachers were going to be amazed by my talents- I'm not trying to sound cocky, but after awhile it becomes rather annoying), Yuli and Ryo were less enthusiastic.

"I don't wanna go back to school," Yuli whined. The three of us men were sitting on the couch in the living room, Yuli half-sandwiched between Ryo and me. He was pouting with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands, his cheeks puffed out from depression. Ryo had flopped backwards, staring at the ceiling with great interest. I sat patient, one ankle resting on the opposite knee and my arms folded loosely across my chest. Mia was finishing up the whole feminine "get ready" process, which made me guess we had a good ten minutes left until we had to go if she was quick. Though you'd think we'd be moving around we weren't- it was very hot outside and the air conditioner wasn't quite cutting it.

"I wanna stay home and draw," Ryo said. That was Ryo's hobby, other than soccer and sword training- drawing. He'd been easily lost to the world of manga and anime ever since he was a child, and he'd recently decided to draw his own. And he was GOOD, too. I may be a genius, but I can't draw actual objects very well. Diagrams and the like are fine- those involve lots of rulers- but if it's anything else I'm screwed. Even my stick figures suck.

So naturally Ryo appreciates me doodling my self portrait every time he questions his artistic ability. Not only does it grant us both a cheap laugh at my disposal, but it lightens his spirit and he usually comes up with some sort of a masterpiece that knocks the socks off of everyone else in the household. And all because I can't draw if my life depended on it.

"Come on, you two. Mia's buying us new clothes. We can get whatever we want and it won't cost us a cent- well, at least it won't cost Yuli. I dunno about me and Ryo," I said. I smirked. "We might get sentenced to hard labor or three weeks of solitarily confinement."

"What's solitary confinement?" Yuli asked.

"It's a prison term for when they keep prisoners by themselves," said Ryo. He shook his head and gave me a look that plainly stated "grow up you moron or else I'm going to maim you". "Usually for bad behavior or just REALLY bad criminals that might be a danger to other prisoners- stuff like that. Rowen's just kidding you, Yuli."

"I knew that, but I still didn't know what it meant!"

Chuckling, I wrapped my arm around Yuli's head to give myself a noogie opportunity. He squealed in terror, flailing his arms about in a mad attempt to get me off as he begged Ryo for help. By then, however, Ryo was too busy holding his gut as he rolled on the floor, laughing his head off. Naturally, the victim of my random attack was yelling at us both- me for giving him noogies, Ryo for being useless. White Blaze, who had been napping on a large blanket kept in the far corner of the room, was staring at us as if we were rare creatures in a zoo.

Stupid humans, is probably along the lines of what he was thinking.

"Men."

We stopped our rough-housing to see Mia was waiting for, apparently ready to go. Her purse in hand, hair combed, and a light touch of make-up on her face, and a tired look on her face. She had a slightly frazzled look on her face, like something was wrong. Still, she smiled when she saw us. "Gentlemen? Let's get going, shall we?" She spun on the toe of her shoe, tossed her head back, and began to strut to the door.

"Women," was my next comment.

"Rowen, do these jeans make me look fat?"

"No, Ryo, they're fine," I said. While Mia had gone off with Yuli, Ryo and I were left to our own devices. My friend and I were joking around as we tried on different shirts and jeans to see what fit and what didn't, and we made absurdly feminine comments in the process. The attendant for the fitting rooms seemed annoyed, but had chosen to stay quiet.

"He probably thinks we're gay or something," I muttered under my breath as I looked at a pair of khakis I was trying on. I shrugged, decided they fit, and walked back into my dressing room, where my own pants were waiting for me, as well as two pairs of jeans and a button-up shirt.

"Hey Rowen?"

"Yeah?" I was now half-way back into my own jeans.

"Are we. . . going back to. . . that spot?"

I stopped. I knew what spot he meant.

THE spot.

Suddenly Mia's odd behavior about the trip wasn't so odd anymore. No longer did I just see that day as "Sunday". I saw it as the number date, the kind of date that doesn't rely on what day of the week it is, but rather that of the month. Mia had probably chosen that specific day to take us school shopping with good reason. This wasn't going to be an easy day for us, and she probably figured that looking for clothing and notebooks would take our mind off of what that day meant to us. It wasn't about the end of summer or the start of school. It wasn't even as if the end of August held any real significance.

It was the anniversary of the tragedy at the camp grounds.

I buttoned the top to the fly of my jeans, my head spinning while I was lost in thought. "I don't know," I said. "I mean. . . could we find it again? Even if we wanted to?" I coughed. "After all. . . it's not like we're going to find anything new. Between us and the police and all the search parties. . ."

"Please. . . don't talk about that!"

"You're the one who brought it up!" I snapped back.

I saw Ryo's sneakers at the bottom of the door. "I. . . I don't know, Rowen," he said. A soft thud let me know he was leaning up against the door. "It hurts for me, too, but I feel like it's sacred ground or something. As much as I know it's going to hurt. . . I don't think I can hold back."

"Exactly one year ago right now, the five of us were probably just getting up to eat breakfast and go on a hike," I said. "Cye was probably trying to ward Kento away from the campfire while you and Sage poured that ice water on me and my sleeping bag to get me to wake up. We probably had the last of the granola and hot tea, then had the jerky for lunch. We went swimming in the lake around five and ate candy for dinner around six. And then. . ." I sighed. "There's nothing we can do about it now, right?"

". . .right," said Ryo. I grabbed my purchases and stepped out of the room to see Ryo with a melancholy look on his face. "I just wish there was something we could've done. Something we didn't do or didn't do right or. . . you know, I think that right now hurts more than the days after it happened." Ryo's crystalline blue eyes were red with tears, now streaming down his face. I dropped the new clothing on the floor and grabbed him, letting him cry into my shoulder. "Oh Rowen, why'd they have to die?"

"We don't know that answer," I said. I held him tighter. "But I wish we did."

"Queers."

I gave the attendant a nasty look and flipped him the bird. "Fuck you," I said. "We're not 'queers' and he's upset because some good friends of ours died tragically one year ago TODAY." I almost roughly tossed Ryo aside, fuming with anger. I grasped the edge of his desk and leaned forward so our foreheads were pressed together. The man seemed startled by my sudden aggression, and I glared harder. "Don't open your damn mouth unless you know what you're talking about, jackass." I shoved the desk a little, causing some papers and tags to scatter. I grabbed Ryo's shoulder and escorted the two of us out of the area.

"Rowen. . . that wasn't very nice."

"No kidding," I said. "But I don't care. He has no idea."

Ryo sighed. "I hope he never does."

I looked at Ryo in shock. "How can you say that?"
"Even if he was kinda rotten to us, think about it," said Ryo. He looked back at the fitting rooms with a forlorn look in his eyes. "He probably has a family and his own friends. Maybe a wife and kids, and judging by his age maybe even some small grandchildren. How would he feel if they were all put in danger and only a few of them came out of it? He had to watch them suffer and get hurt like that, and wonder if even he'd see the sunrise again. Does anyone really deserve that?"

Then why did we deserve that?

For a summer night, it was pretty chilly. Mia blamed it on the fact we were hiking through damp woods while Ryo said it was just a fluke in the weather. Yuli, who was usually full of energy, was suddenly quiet and withdrawn as he and White Blaze went through the woods, the boy riding on the back of the great white cat. I was holding a battery powered lantern as I tried to remember the route.

"This is where we were camping," I said as emerged from some overgrowth in the forest. Sure enough, the small clearing that we'd spent our last week with the guys was laid out in front of us. The old log, boulder, and tree stump we'd used as chairs were still sitting around the long cold campfire. The trees we'd hung our clothes on to dry were still standing, tall and strong as ever. In the distance, I could see the lake that we'd all gone skinny dipping in just through the branches and leaves. It was almost like nothing had changed from the day we'd arrived.

"I'm surprised the camp site wasn't ransacked," said Mia, sitting down on the log. She picked up a stick and poked at the fire site, moving some pieces of bark and small chunks of rock around. "Considering they were dealing with a missing persons case, you'd think they would've left no stone unturned, right?"

"They sure did," Ryo said. "But there isn't much in this area to begin with."

"He's right," I said. After another minute of silence, I stood up and we progressed further.

The path I'd run down a year early seemed as horrible as ever. Branches and twigs still lined the path, and even at my much slower pace, I should still feel a few scratches and smacks from the tree. But our little lantern shined on and showed us the way through. I swallowed and clenched at my mouth, very upset at what I knew was coming next.

This clearing looked peaceful now. It was full of crisp, green grass, bright flowers, and lush trees. With the moon and stars shining high above our heads, the quiet we felt was almost comforting, as if inviting us to lie down and sleep. The soft chatter of night animals in the background was almost soothing, not at all creepy like one would think. It seemed like a perfect place.

If it weren't for the three memorials in the center of it.

Ryo and I had put off coming back thanks to the painful memories the three crosses meant. Someone from a local church had donated them to us after the disappearance so we could use them as such. They had been painted white with the sole exception of their names, which were painted in beautiful gold kanjis. A few members of the search party, amongst others, had left all sorts of beautiful things. Three smiling faces had been tacked on by the photographer that had taken their last school pictures and a rosary had been draped around each cross. A florist Mia had known since she was small had laid down the seeds for wildflowers all around in an attempt to make it seem more cheery and friendly.

Well, the flowers had survived, but not much else was in as good condition. The paint on the crosses had become cracked and faded from the elements, some worse that others. Sage's picture was torn in half, Cye's was badly stained, and Kento's was gone all together. The rosary around Cye's cross had broken and most of the beads were scattered along the ground, though I was sure a curious animal or two had taken off with one or more each.

Yuli, who had yet to visit the site even after a full year, got off White Blaze and slowly approached the makeshift memorials. He feel to his knees in front of Sage's cross, looking at the torn picture in silence. Carefully, slowly, and timidly, Yuli took the remainder of the photograph off the marker and stared at it. Before long, he was in crying hysterics.

Mia was quick to get to his side, hugging and soothing the young boy who had been so badly hurt. White Blaze also nuzzled Yuli, once again treating the boy like his own cub. Ryo and I exchanged a hug, too, each of us reflecting on what we had lost. What we had failed to protect and save.

"LUCK-Y! HELP!"

"What the hell was that!" I asked as soon as I heard the voice.

"MELODY!"

"Someone's in trouble!" I said. Remembering the terror from one year earlier, I ran at breakneck speed to the source of the voice. Mia screamed after me while Ryo didn't seem to be able to move, too shocked to speak. I didn't know who Lucky or Melody were, but I knew one thing was for sure.

I am the fastest of the Ronin Warriors.

Yet last year, I wasn't fast enough to save my friends.

This time, I wouldn't be too late.