The Darkened Sanctum

XIII: "A Terrorist's Niche…"

"Here we are…. The Trinity Pit."

Ryu gazed about the mildly damp halls; it was just another section of the sunken Tradesector, but the groundwater hadn't affected this area as much. The gates that once protected the stores were busted in to act as doors. Grungy faces were passing by, glancing with cold eyes at the party. Slowly walking in behind Lin, he felt a bit uneasy; he didn't notice as Nina lost contact with his hand.

Cheryl was also on the edge, slowly taking a position behind Lin. She just simply felt nervous, even if she couldn't find a reason. She slowed down further when she noticed, glancing over her shoulder, that Nina was slowly coming to a halt.

Nina's mind was fogging up, her vision becoming a blur. Her lungs fought to draw in air, but the dust across her filters prevented this. Her muscles started to shut down, making her move slower and slower. Finally, just as she feared she would die, her body went limp and she collapsed onto her face, lying across the grimy floors.

"Ryu!" Cheryl instantly caught him, bringing him to a halt, "N-Nina!"

"NINA!" He threw himself down beside her, unsure of what to do. Panic filled his mind as his heart raced; all he could see was Nina lying there, not breathing, and could not get his body to move.

"SOMEBODY GET US SOME HELP!" Lin screamed down the hall, then quickly moved back to the girl as several other members came running.

"There… that should do it…"

Lin moved herself out from the 'temporary room', which was a very fine mesh net suspended over the white bed Nina lied upon. Several machines had been hooked up to the girl; one monitored heart rate, while another one kept track of her breathing. Nina also had a plastic tube down her nose to provide her with air, a welcome blessing to her weak lungs. An IV drip was attached to her arm, while another tube in the opposite arm was meant to directly deliver medication. Still, despite all the care, Nina's chest rose and fell as if she had been running for a good distance. Pulling the plastic gloves off, Lin looked at the two beside her; Cheryl staring, unsure of what to do, and Ryu… staring blankly as if he was no longer there.

"…She'll be okay here, Ryu." Lin tried to look cheerful, but got no response from Ryu, "She's not asleep yet… she can hear you if you say something, you know."

"…" Ryu stared in at Nina, ignoring the mesh entirely. There was a faint threat of tears in his eyes, and when he opened his mouth to speak his voice seemed to be distant; "Nina… I'm so sorry…"

Nina stared ahead at him, her face reddened by a low fever, her cheeks slightly swollen from hitting the floor. Her eyes watered miserably, so she could barely see his face. But slowly, a sweet grin spread across her face. She smiled as if it were the last smile she would ever wear; the expression was empty and hopeless, however, since the look in her eyes was distant and full of sorrow.

"…Don't…" He emotionally winced, "Nina, you can't… leave us…"

She slid her eyes closed, letting out a sigh. The smile faded a bit, as she silently drifted off into well-deserved sleep, which was much easier on her tired body.

"…Nina…" He sighed, gaze falling to the floor.

"She needs the rest, Ryu." Lin rested a hand on his shoulder momentarily, trying again to look cheerful, "You look like you need to take a walk. Nobody here will bother you when you look like this…"

"…" Cheryl looked up at Ryu, "I'll stay here and watch her for you."

"…Thank you, Cheryl. I think… I think I'll take a walk…" He turned away from the bed, heading across the room, "Clear my mind…."

"…Will he be okay?" Cheryl looked to Lin after he left, looking worried.

"…I don't know… Come on, we'll get to know each other a little better, eh?" Lin moved around behind the bed, still able to see Nina clearly, then rested against the wall. Cheryl followed suit, causing a bit of a sincere grin to appear on Lin's face, "So you really want to join Trinity, huh?"

As he started down the cold, metal halls, his body reminded him that it was very late; Trinity members looked ready to go to bed, as well. The hum of the electric lights could be heard everywhere, as well as the low, rumor-filled whispers that were emitted by the locals. Mulling over the noise and his own emotions, Ryu wondered if it was possible to simply walk away from himself for awhile. But after twisting around through the 'pit', he found it impossible. Taking a door he hadn't before, he found himself in a council room, Trinity members instantly stopping their talking to stare at him.

"…Don't mind me…" He let out a sigh, eyes fixed on the floor.

"We can't continue our meeting with a Ranger about, stupid," One of the women looked back, frowning a bit, "Go pout somewhere else."

"…" Looking up, he noticed a doorway leading into an office; ignoring the people, he wandered to it, staring in the open doorway. A blonde man behind the desk was busily writing something down, not at all noticing Ryu. Ryu knew that face, and made a bit of noise to grab attention.

"Hm?" The man looked up, "Ah, you're the visitor. Come in, come in…"

Ryu silently stepped in, staring at the man's face.

"Well," The man stood up, walking around in front of the desk, "I probably don't need to introduce myself to you…"

"You're Mebeth… leader of Trinity…" Ryu closed his eyes with a sigh, "…A wanted man."

"Ah, but aren't you as well?"

A deeper sigh floated across the room.

"I'm sorry… I don't mean to insult you." Mebeth smiled a bit, "Rather, to thank you. It was because of your efforts we are able to have Nina safe here."

"But she can't stay here… I promised I would take her to the Sky…"

"How do you know such a thing exists…?"

"…I don't."

"Would you be willing to risk her health to find out?"

"…?" Ryu looked up, a bit lost.

"When you make her walk through this polluted underground, you are essentially making her walk upon shards of glass. It must pain her to wander through the heavy dust; if she had collapsed in a remote tunnel, what would you have done?"

"I… I don't know… I…" Ryu swallowed hard, "Can we heal her…?"

"…While we can keep her stable with treatment, we can never fully heal her, no." Mebeth sighed, moving to the side of his desk, staring up at the cement wall, looking at the Trinity symbol painted there. "But… even then… it is up to her if she wishes to stay alive or not. We have no control on her soul."

"Then if I asked her… and if she indicated she wanted to…?"

"Then I suppose it is your own risk. She's just very close to the edge, Ryu."

"…How… did…?"

"Hm." He smiled, "Lin has mentioned you. You seem to scare her quite a bit; did you know that? Very little things shake her. We were actually expecting you for a time, which is why we already had the equipment set up."

"You've been spying on us…?"

"You'll have to talk to Lin about that. All I did was answer her calls." Mebeth looked over his shoulder, "You look terrible right now. I suggest you find something to get your mind off dark thoughts if only to spare your sanity, or even a short nap. Feel free to stay here as long as you want; you may be a Ranger, but I know you are not my enemy."

"…Thank you." Ryu turned, and then headed back out, eyes fixed on the ground once more, "…I… thank you…"

Mebeth nodded and watched as he left. Looking back up at the wall, he mulled over the short conversation in his mind; at least on the outside nobody could've told you Ryu was linked, not at all. But still, he remembered the words of advice given to him… and sighed deeply.

"You're back!" Cheryl ran over to Ryu as he entered the room. She smiled up at him, noting he still looked sad, "Nina is okay- she's still asleep, though. You look like you need a hug… do you want one?"

"Uhm… sure?" He held his arms open and was instantly clung to, receiving the biggest hug he had ever gotten in his life. It was almost enough to knock him over, and he tried his best to hug with the same effort back, "Thanks… that does feel a little better."

"Good!" She let him go and hurried back to Lin, "Lin says I can't join Trinity until I turn sixteen. Tell her to let me join NOW!"

"Huh?"

"Hey," Lin smirked, "It's a favor for you. It should give you some time to convince her out of becoming a member. Now, I think getting some sleep is the best option now. We all can use the rest… even me, amazingly."

"Yeah… are there beds?"

"Course there are beds- we're not THAT inhumane," Lin scoffed, heading across the room to the exit. She flicked off the lights, waiting until the two were following, "We'll have room for you guys, promise. Even if the beds are taken, we have rollaways stashed here and there. Come on."

The beds were only beds by definition, the slight padding on them not entirely separating the sleeper from the metal platform they lied on. The pillows had been used to the extremes, only cloth sacks that were as hard as rocks. Sitting upon his bed, Ryu let out a sigh, somewhat uneasy that he couldn't see Nina's room from this area. Cheryl, on the bed above him, was hanging upside down, with the end of her long shirt secured under the back of her legs. Her hair hung down, as well as her arms, and she looked rather bored. Looking up at her, he had to ask: "What are you doing?"

"I don't know. It feels comfortable."

"If you're not careful, you'll fall," Lin teasingly warned, "The floor is pretty solid cement, too. Your head would crack before it would."

"No…" She whined, wrapping her arms around her head, "I don't want to crack my head!"

"Then get into bed, you noodle!" Lin walked over and shoved Cheryl back onto the bunk, "Now try and sleep, wriggle worm."

"No…" She whined. "I'm not a wriggle worm."

"At least PRETEND to sleep so Ryu can get some shut-eye." The woman moved to her own bed that actually had a nametag above it; the wall had several magazine pictures taped upon it. Most had those signature tails and ears, but a few regular humans were scattered here and there. It was if she had been trying to construct a tapestry.

"Lin, why do you have all the pictures up there?"

"Hm?" She looked over her shoulder at the wall, "Oh, just because. There used to be… a picture of my mother and father, but I covered it all up. I forget how many layers there are over it."

"Why'd you do that?" Ryu eyed the pictures, "I would have given anything to know my family…"

"I don't know. They just aren't that important to me, I guess. I don't know where they live anymore or if they're even alive, but… really, I don't care." Her voice sounded a bit distant, suggesting her words weren't fully sincere, "They wouldn't miss me anyhow. They never liked me all that much… I was too much of a free spirit for them."

"…" Staring in silence, he felt just a small amount of pity for her.

"Heh."

"Hmm?"

"I just remembered that the last time I did see them they didn't notice me. They were looking all over for me, too, but they gave up after about a week. Wonder what Mom would say were she to see what I do for a living…"

Cheryl suddenly hopped off the bed, causing both of her companions to look at her. She turned to Lin, and said, "I want to walk around before I go to sleep."

"Okay, just don't mess with our stuff. Ol' Bethy," She was, of course, referring to Mebeth, "…gets pretty upset when things are out of order. However, that means he's always upset since there IS no order. Heh."

"Okay, I won't touch anything." Cheryl headed for the door, crawling through the hole. The soul inside of her was telling her something was amiss, as if it was hanging in the air. It told her to get up and move around, gnawing at her mind until she did. She slowly walked into the room with Nina's bed, and then found the sensation to ease. Experimentally, she stepped back out of the room and the sensation rebounded. Figuring it couldn't hurt, she spent some time walking about Nina's room, occasionally glancing at the sleeping girl. There was still a notion that something was wrong, but perhaps not with Nina herself; she was asleep, as before, and the monitors beside the bed seemed to display the same things that they did before. Something, though, just something…

A few minutes later, just as Ryu set his head down, a loud scream pierced the air. Instantly upright, he recognized that shrill voice; "Cheryl!"

Lin threw herself from her bed, whipping out her gun; with Ryu right beside her, both ran like the wind out of the room and across the hall. Objects crashed to the floor, audible through the walls, mingled with voices in Nina's room. Both burst their way in, coming across an anger-inspiring scene.

Cheryl was backing up to a wall, with Nina held in her arms; Nina herself was awake now, looking scared as all get-out. Two Trinity members with broadswords were closing in on them, knocking things over as they did. They all flinched when a shot hit the cement wall near the two girls, causing Cheryl to pull Nina closer in defense.

"What in the HELL are you doing?" Lin shouted across the room, "Explain your actions- NOW!"

"We must take her before you do, traitor," One of the men hissed at Lin.

"This child is proof of the government's dark deeds!"

"You're insane!" Lin reloaded, keeping her eyes fixed on the two, "Move away from those girls or I'll be forced to defend them!"
"Not on your life!"

A blade came swinging through the air at Cheryl; she dodged under it and leapt up and onto the bed, Nina in her arms; the blade as it came down managed to graze Cheryl's already-wounded hand. Hitting the floor, rolling some distance away, both of the girls were scattered across the floor before Lin and Ryu. The two adults immediately stood before the girls, weapons at the ready as the men came charging.

Ryu's blade sung through the air as he brought it up and down across one man, delivering a strong blow, but not enough to fell the man; being hit himself, he stumbled back a bit but delivered another sharp slice. His actions made the new gash across the side of his stomach ooze blood, but he had to ignore it entirely if he was to finish this man off.

Two more Trinity members burst in the back door, one with a gun and another with a blade. Cheryl yelped and gathered Nina up as the two came after them; Ryu realized this, and quickly finished off his foe. But before he could turn around to face the new fighters, a gunshot split the air and a spurt of blood shot off from Ryu's shoulder. Within an instant his eyes had flooded red, and it was only a mere moment before he had burst into flame, uncontrollably, and had changed forms.

"What in the HELL?" The woman with the gun started backing away, leaving the man with the sword in the front, "What kind of FREAK is that?"

Lin dodged out of the way of a slice from a broadsword, hopping backwards on one foot, but she managed to laugh: "Don't call him a freak, you'll regret you did…!"

With that as the ignition, Ryu shot forward and caught the woman up around the neck; squeezing tightly, he easily crushed her airway, and then tossed her aside. With a snort of extremely hot air, he felt a blade hit him across the scales, though the attack had no effect. With a single downward swipe of his claws, he pinned the man to the floor and literally embedded the attacker's face into the cement. With a huff of annoyance, he suddenly looked down the hall as more soldiers woke up, all with weapons; moving backwards, he quickly scooped up the frightened Nina in one arm, Cheryl in the other, and then placed them in a corner. Picking up Lin, he also put the surprised woman in the corner, but before the girls indicating she should protect them.

We aren't victims, child…

Cheryl watched Ryu take off, but it was almost as if time had been slowed; it seemed to take forever for him just to turn around, his movement extremely delayed. The voice pounded through her mind, as her bleeding hand began to twitch.

We can take a stand; we shall take a stand…

Yelping, she squeezed away from Lin, holding her arm tightly. Before anybody could react, Cheryl was covered in blood that suddenly ran out of every pore on her body. With a scream, the blood boiled away as an intense heat roared to the surface of her skin. Whipping herself upright, with a spray of blood coming out of her now-white hair, Cheryl had changed dramatically.

Don't let them win, child- now fight in my name!

Her eyes had changed to the slit-pupil, golden, red-flecked eyes that belonged to the great dragoness; her body was covered in bright metallic scales that reflected the dull colors around her. Her hair drifted down across her back like the dragoness's mane. Flashing past as a mere streak of silver, she elbowed Ryu hard enough to hit him against the wall, then continued to the hallway. It seemed Vyzhit's soul would refuse to be one-upped; bringing up an absurd amount of power, Cheryl let loose a burst of energy that stung the eyes of her companions who were still in the other room. Knocked back by the force, Cheryl had hit her head and gone out, her scales slowly dissolving into blood and spreading away from her. She looked normal again, though covered in blood, slumped against the metal wall, which had a great dent within it from the impact. The hall was charred black, the walls cooling as a minute before they were dripping molten metal. The front gate had been entirely blasted open, letting a bit of a damp breeze drift in.

Prying his head out of the wall, Ryu burst into flames and was normal again; holding his pounding head, he tried to smother the odd feelings of hate for that girl. "Somebody… go check on Cheryl…"

"…holy shit motha fucka." The words slipped out of Lin's mouth before she stumbled upright and went quickly to the hall to tend Cheryl.

"…" Nina, though trembling from the experience, still with that severed tube running down her nose, shakily rose, then walked over to Ryu. Sitting down beside him, she latched on into a big hug, as if saying 'thank you'.

"….you're welcome."