"Behind Dynasty walls, the power to shatter one's sanity lies sleeping…"

Shattered
(Inspired by Weiß Kreuz)
Written by Lord Lykouleon

Act I: Preservation Of Memories
Chapter Five
Ghost Convention

The Dynasty: July 08, 1989

Heavy breathing.

In… Out… In… Out…

He could control it.

In… Out… In… Out…

He could win!

In… Out… In—

His throat contracted; no voice to scream, and banged his head against the wall. It was temporary relief at best. This newest seizure sucked out his very breath; emptying him, cleansing him, in the most horrid of ways.

Stop IT!!!!

Air slammed back into his lungs, his breath 'mercifully' handed back to him. A short repose, he knew, but a window of opportunity he'd take.

Cale rose drunkenly to his feet. I gotta… warn the others… He had been a fool to wait this long.

Time. He didn't have much. She'd be back again. Her presence lingered on the edge of his mind. And the next time… Well, he didn't know how well he'd hold up the next time.

Shinjuku Central Park: July 08, 1989

The trio had arrived in the park late in the afternoon. Not many children out playing with their mothers, but there was still a sizeable crowd, most teenagers spending the last of their daytime hours with their friends.

There were no tables or benches available near where they had parked, and none of them felt like hunting for a spot to sit. So a small, grassy knoll with a few cherry blossom trees for shade settled for their meeting place. All three of them were standing. Odd, yes. But this wasn't really a sit-down topic.

"So, Kayura, what's this about?" Sage asked. "This isn't exactly like you."

The young Ancient lowered her head in apology. "Gomen nasai. I know this is sudden, but I needed to speak to someone about this, and the two of you came to mind."

"Nice to know we're so high on your list," Rowen smirked, the comment earning him a warm smile from the former warlady.

"Stop flirting, Rowen. She's trying to tell us something important," Sage said evenly, though there was a certain shine in his eyes.

"Flirting?" Rowen placed a hand over his heart, raising a devilish eyebrow at his companion. "Moi?"

Kayura couldn't help it. She started giggling.

Rowen's grin widened as Sage rolled his eyes, Kayura's laughter continuing a moment longer before it subsided into a pleasant smile. Finally, the tension on her shoulders had eased. She knew she had made the right choice to confide in these two young men.

"I really don't know what to make of this," Kayura began. "And I'm hoping that seeing the situation with fresh eyes would help. But a few days after Talpa's demise, the former warlords and I discovered a hidden passageway sealed behind one of the walls of the castle."

Sage and Rowen said nothing. Kayura continued. "It was early morning. I… had a premonition of Sekhmet's death at the same time Dais had a dream about a door and a shapeless apparition. When I discovered that Sekhmet and two other soldiers went to investigate, I ran to the passageway myself. There were… black-flamed torches lighting the very last stretch of the path and a lot of negative energy circulating in the air. I saw Sekhmet a yard or so down, but I couldn't step forward. I—" Kayura hesitated, catching her breath. "I don't know why."

"Was there a barrier?" Rowen asked.

"More like a trigger. Something… bad would have happened if I crossed it."

Sage raised an eyebrow. " 'Bad'?"

Kayura sighed. "I know I'm being very vague with my descriptions when I can't afford to be, but I honestly don't know what would have happened. …It was one of those rare moments that you get a chill, a warning against something you were about to do, and you just know at that moment, if you go through with it you'll die. No questions. Just that finality."

Both boys exchanged looks. "Go on," Rowen urged, wanting to hear more of the encounter. "What happened after you stopped?"

"I called to Sekhmet. He couldn't hear me. I assumed he was dizzy, because he had staggered on his feet and clutched his head. The Dynasty soldier with him helped walk him over to me, but the other… The other was closest to the door and never responded to us. …He was holding the spear I saw Sekhmet killed with."

"…Is he alright?" Rowen asked.

"Yes," Kayura replied. "He's fine now."

Rowen released the breath he was holding. Sage had relaxed his shoulders. "Now?" the blonde asked. "Something still happened?"

"Yes. The apparition I told you Dais dreamt about; what I believe is hidden behind that door… It possessed the soldier and had him attack Sekhmet. The other soldier stepped in to save him, and in the scuffle, both soldiers died. When Sekhmet reached me, he had passed out. He was somehow poisoned by the energy around us, and when I tried to wake him, the door began to open."

By the time Kayura had gotten to this point of the story, her skin had notably paled. Her voice was quieter, and a light sweat had moistened her skin. The memory was still fresh, despite the fact it happened months ago. She licked her lips, taking a moment to regain her composure.

"There was laughter… Soft giggling. I still remember it. …I don't know how but my kanji had activated a moment after, and I found Sekhmet and myself in Dais' quarters. And that was the end of it. I had called forth Sekhmet's armor with the shakujo and performed several cleansing incantations to help him fight the poison as he slept. We had sealed off the entranceway to the door with spirit wards and I had strictly ordered everyone not to go near it. But Cale had gone in not two days later." A flash of anger had passed by her face. "Dais found him unconscious a few feet in front of the door. We don't know what happened while he was there. Cale has yet to say anything. But no one else has defied my orders and gone in. So far, we've been researching the Dynasty's past history, looking up old blueprints of the castle and trying to find any hint as to what's hidden behind that door. We suspect it was one of Talpa's old projects."

"Projects?"

"Remember that ball of energy the size of a small meteor?"

Rowen snorted. How can I forget? The damned thing nearly killed them; twice with him and Ryo.

"Talpa didn't just come up with that out of the blue," Kayura said. "He's been testing out how to weave that much energy into a solid object for centuries. It's documented in the Dynasty's library."

Well I'll be… Rowen couldn't mask the surprise on his face. What do evil demon emperors do in their spare time? Concoct experiments like any normal scientists on ways to make life better. Or conquering the world easier.

"Have you found anything yet?" Sage asked.

Kayura's shoulders sagged. "No," she replied. "The decaying state of the passageway suggests that it's been sealed long before any of the warlords came to serve Talpa. And though he did do more experiments before we came, the kind of documentation from that time period is limited. The oldest ones are written in an ancient Japanese dialect that were similar to the carvings Sekhmet had found on the door. Unfortunately, we can't decipher the text."

"But Kayura, you and the other warlords are over 400 years old," Rowen mentioned. "Even if the characters are slightly different, shouldn't you be able to read them?"

Kayura shook her head. "I'll admit, I could read script written about a century back from when I was born. But these scrolls were written before the turn of the millennia."

"One thousand years?!" Sage cried.

Rowen's jaw dropped. "God, that's before…"

Kayura nodded, confirming their thoughts. "Right. Before the Ancient's battle with Talpa."

Rowen grinned despite the inappropriateness. Over a millennia old? The scholar in him had risen to the forefront. What he'd give to get a chance to see those scrolls.

"The problem with the text is that, not only is it old, but it's written in Talpa's hand."

Sage blinked, as did Rowen. "Talpa wrote?"

Kayura gave them a lopsided grin. "Hard to imagine. But he was a powerful sorcerer before his soul became a demon. And as I'm sure you know, sorcerers weren't exactly known to be stupid."

"It took a lot of studying and concentration to master spell casting," Rowen agreed. "His work ethic back then should be roughly equivalent to one of our Tokyo U students."

"Tyrants who write prose and study in-between raping and pillaging the countryside?" Sage shook his head.

"Hitler wrote Mein Kampf."

"…Let's not get into that." Sage turned to Kayura. "What's wrong with the text being written in his hand?"

Kayura hesitated, suddenly looking embarrassed. "It's not legible."

Sage was having a hard time keeping his face neutral. "He wrote in chicken scratch?"

Rowen looked offended at the term. "It's not chicken scratch. We're just preoccupied with our work to pay that much attention to what we're writing."

"…"

Rowen shifted his gaze between Sage and Kayura. Both were giving him rather peculiar looks. "What?"

"Rowen, stop it."

"Stop what?"

"Pointing out similarities between you and Talpa. You're scaring us."

"But, Sage—"

"Rowen," he held up a hand. "Shush."

Kayura shook her head, dismissing the scene as a common occurrence. "Dais and a group of scribes have been trying to translate it for three months now."

"Three months??" Sage couldn't help it this time. He started snickering. Rowen promptly slugged him in the arm.

"Ancient text written by a biased hand." Kayura sighed. "Because our answers lie in these scrolls, we've been at a standstill for the past three months. Nothing else has happened aside from what I've already described to you."

"Nothing happened to Dais?"

Kayura's eyes narrowed warily. "What do you mean by that?" she demanded. "Was something supposed to happen to Dais?"

Sage was unruffled by her suspicion. "When he found Cale in front of the door, he was alone."

"That's right," Rowen added. "Everyone else who's come near that door had something happen to them. Dais didn't report anything strange while he was in there?"

Delicate eyebrows furrowed as her lips pulled down into a confused frown. "No, actually. He said that the passageway looked… ordinary. He even had a moment to look at the carvings on the door." She shook her head, looking at either of them for an answer. "Why do you suppose that is?"

"I think I know." Rowen and Kayura waited for Sage to speak, the blonde pausing for a moment to mentally recheck his findings. "It's a ghost," he said.

"A ghost?" Kayura echoed.

Rowen opened his mouth to speak.

"Ah, don't you dare," Sage cut him off. "In light of all that we've been through, don't you dare—"

"Ghosts aren't real."

"—say it." Sage finished, sighing in disgust. "Rowen…"

"Just because we've seen spirits doesn't prove the existence of ghosts. They have two entirely different rationales. Spirits, for example, don't necessarily have the be the souls of the deceased manifested. In fact, the reason why spirits have been mistaken for ghosts in the past is because they often take the form of humans when revealing themselves, like Talpa's Nether spirits. Ghosts, on the other hand, are the souls of the dead trapped on earth. They haunt, but can't really hurt you unless you let them, and are normally limited to a certain area, usually pertaining to their death or their reason of unrest."

"You can tell the difference between a spirit and a ghost, yet you stand here claiming one exists and not the other." Sage held up his index finger at Rowen. "Tell me one reason why."

"I haven't seen one."

Sage rolled his eyes. "And I guess that's the basis for everything."

Kayura looked from one boy to the other. "Do you two fight often?"

"Yes."

"No."

Sage blinked, staring at Rowen incredulously. "'No?'"

Rowen shrugged. "I don't think we fight."

Kayura cleared her throat, lest Sage tried to strangle Rowen before the day was over. "Going back on topic, Strata, for the sake of the argument, please give him the benefit of the doubt." Quietly, Rowen nodded. "Now." Turning towards Sage, she asked, "Why do you think it's a ghost?"

"It's the only logical conclusion, based on what you've told us. Possession of a Dynasty soldier, sphere of influence being limited to the area surrounding that door…" he listed, counting off each sign with his fingers. "Energy poisoning, since Sekhmet is more sensitive to energy shifts than the other warlords; which is also probably why you didn't want to step near it."

"And Dais?" Kayura asked, wanting to know the reason of his immunity to the spectacle.

"He's the Master of Illusions."

"But how is that—"

"Ghosts play off of illusions and mind tricks," Sage explained. "Like Rowen had said, they can't hurt you unless you let them. If you let them scare you and acknowledge their presence, they can make you see and believe whatever they want, whatever you fear. That's why people are scared of ghosts. When they see them, the worst thing imaginable tends to happen because their fear is running away with itself. And it's that fear that ghosts feed off of. The malicious ones, anyway. But even with the most unobtrusive of ghosts the same rule applies. The more you believe in them the more clear they appear to you and are able to communicate with you. Without it, they just disappear."

"And that's why nothing happened to Dais," Rowen continued. "He really didn't know what happened so he had nothing to expect. And his armor naturally dispels any kind of trick being played on him. He might not have even noticed that anything was wrong."

"So you're saying that," Kayura began after a short pause, "there's a ghost haunting one of the back halls of the Dynasty castle?"

Sage half-shrugged. "What else could it be?"

"One of Talpa's maniacal experiments?" Rowen shrugged himself. "Whatever the case, what I'm more concerned about is what it's doing there in the first place. If it was an experiment, why was it locked up? And if it is a ghost, which I doubt, why is it haunting that particular place?"

"You think there's a coffin behind that door?" Sage asked.

Rowen pursed his lips. "That or a murder scene."

Kayura shuddered, holding up her hands as if to ward off the mental images. "Okay, that's enough speculating for now," she said. "Halo, if it is a ghost, how do we get rid of it?"

Sage frowned. "You want to exorcise it?"

"Yes," she replied, scowling at the question. "Is there a problem?"

"He's a ghost sympathizer."

Sage rolled his eyes skyward, cursing Rowen under his breath. Kayura looked cross. "Kayura, it's a lost soul," he began. "Exorcising it before it can find peace is the same as killing someone before their time. You'll be casting it into purgatory with no chance of leaving."

"Where it rightfully belongs for all the trouble it's caused."

"Kayura!"

Kayura sighed, rubbing her temples. "Halo, I understand your point of view. And I hope you'll understand mine. The Dynasty is in a state of turmoil in the wake of Talpa's death. There are many political issues and other duties that are at the forefront of my mind and catering to a thousand year old ghost's whims isn't one of them. I can't simply wait for it to finish its business, nor do I have resources available to help it along its way. Maybe some time from now I can, but right now I have a realm to delegate and I can't have my men on edge because there's a ghost in the palace!"

Kayura paused, then bowed her head in an apology, embarrassed for losing her composure. "You do not know how lucky you and the other Ronins are. …I wish I had the luxury to do as I wished."

"Kayura," Sage said after a moment. "…Would you let me check it out?"

Kayura exhaled; an odd mixture of a laugh and a sigh. She shook her head. "I wouldn't risk your life over this."

"It won't hurt me."

This time she did laugh, bitter and ironic. "It won't hurt you?" she asked. "This coming from a man who believes in ghosts and just told me that belief is what strengthens them?"

"And fear," he added evenly. "I've dealt with this before. I know how to block out their influence."

"No," she said firmly. "You said Sekhmet is sensitive to energy shifts. Well compared to you he's as sensitive as a brick wall. I know a bit about ghosts myself, Halo, and clairvoyants and wandering souls don't mix. You'll end up getting poisoned, like Sekhmet, or worse yet, possessed."

"You're assuming that I don't know how to handle myself."

"Having an armor bearer controlled by a malicious ghost is not something I want to add to my list of things-to-fix-today."

Rowen clapped his hand once, loud enough to grab both Kayura and Sage's attention. "Now, before you two fall madly in love with each other…" The comment didn't earn any favorable looks. "Let's keep in mind that we don't know for sure if it's a ghost. And performing an exorcism when it turns out not to be one would just be a waste of resources. As it stands, ghost or not, I would suggest sending Dais back in again, since he has a better chance of walking out of there still conscious, and then decide from there what to do."

"Sounds reasonable enough." Kayura sighed, not liking the delay but glad they had gotten this far. "Thank you. Both of you. You've helped me a lot. I feel a bit more confident in dealing with this situation now."

"Anytime Kayura. Just tell us what Dais finds out, okay? Don't be afraid to ask us for help."

She smiled. "I'll keep that in mind, Strata."

"Now look who're the love birds."

Rowen rubbed the back of his head. Kayura blushed. "T-That's not what…"

Sage turned his back, starting down the knoll. He waved a hand in the air. "Anyway, we'd better get going. We've still got homework to do."

"Don't worry about him," Rowen commented offhandedly. "Hurt pride and all."

Kayura sighed. "I didn't mean to offend him."

"That's alright. He just doesn't like being lectured. He'll get over it in a few minutes." Rowen smirked and called out, "Ain't that right, Sage?" His smile faltered when Sage stopped, moving a hand to his face and shaking his head.

Kayura took a step forward. "Sage?"

"Shit!" Rowen was behind Sage when his legs gave out, the blonde falling right into his arms, both boys sinking to the ground. "Sage!"

"What's happening?" Kayura cried out. "What's wrong with him?"

"I--I don't know." Rowen watched as Sage clutched his hair, cringing in pain. "I don't know what's going on. C'mon, Sage! Talk to me!"

Sage took in a sharp breath, concentrating harder on blocking out the pain. But the more he resisted, the more it got worse. The air was being sucked out of him. He tried to breathe, but his chest got tighter. His throat contracted. He wanted to scream, but the laughter would drown out his cries. It was everywhere.

"Stop it," he forcing out. "G-Get… Get out!"

"Kayura, transport us somewhere!"

"What?! We're in the middle of a park! I just can't--!"

"I don't care, just get us out! Quickly! Before anyone comes!"

Kayura gritted her teeth, but complied. Grabbing each Ronin's shoulder, she concentrated, and instantly the trio was gone, transported to the only place Kayura could think of at the moment: the back of Sage's car.

Rowen slammed his head against the window, muttering a curse after landing in an awkward slouch against the back seat. Sage was on top of him, nearly unconscious, and Kayura was kneeling on the other side of the car, an apologetic look on her face.

"At least we're out of sight." Rowen sighed and tried to get more comfortable; impossible with Sage's weight restricting his movements. "Can you use the shakujo?"

She gave a small nod and summoned the Ancient's staff, careful to angle the staff right to fit within the car's interior. Sage groaned and took in a shallow breath, his brows knitted together in pain. Kayura leaned forward and touched the side of his face, gently brushing back his bangs.

"Shh," she soothed. "Everything's going to be alright." She placed the tips of her fingers on Sage's forehead and closed her eyes. The shakujo began to glow, and a soft yellow light illuminated the inside of the car, casting flickering shadows around them.

Rowen watched as Kayura's eyebrows furrowed. The more she focused the less Sage appeared to be in pain, until he was quietly resting against Rowen, the stress on his body now gone.

Kayura lifted the staff away and sighed.

"Are you alright?"

She gave Rowen a nod. "I'm fine. Though Sage still needs some rest. I don't think you should let him drive home. He might pass out again."

"Do you know what caused it?"

"No." Kayura paused. "Though, it felt like a spiritual overload."

"Spiritual overload?"

"Mm. He's feeling someone else's pain." Kayura sighed, exasperated. He hasn't learned how to tone down his senses yet and he wanted to see the ghost without some kind of protection? Honestly, this man…

"Kayura?"

"Hm?"

"Has anyone of the warlords been sick lately?"

Kayura frowned at the question. "Why do you ask something like that?"

"Because," Rowen flicked his eyes down at Sage before looking at Kayura again. "Because he's been like this for a while. Not this bad, but he's been having headaches recently and no doctor could find anything wrong with him. And from what you said about it being spiritual, I think he's receiving this backlash of pain through the armor link, from one of us. …Tell me, Kayura. Did anything happen on March 24?"

She froze. "March 24??"

"It's the day Sage started to get his headaches."

Kayura sat rigid, eyes wide in horror. "Cale…"

Rowen blinked in surprise. "You don't mean to say that…"

"I do. It's the day Cale went to that door."

"And two days before that Sekhmet had gone." Rowen frowned. That's also when Sage had collapsed from that fever. "Kayura—"

She had already opened the car door and was stepping outside with the shakujo in hand. "I have to contact them. I have to see that they're alright."

Huff… huff… huff…

I can't let her…

Huff…

Get them… Have to warn…

Cale…

…No.

It's time, my love…

No… Have to…

Get them.

S-Stop…

Them from hurting…

Help… Kayura…

Yes. Help Kayura. Keep her safe. Bring her…

Where?

To the door, Cale. Bring her to the door.

…Yes. …Bring her to the door.