Sage fanned his face with his hand as he walked down the crowded sidewalks of Toyama. Even though it was July he couldn't understand why it was suddenly gotten so hot. Sage now regretted wearing his khaki dress pants, the sweat was making them stick to his legs and it was rather uncomfortable.
Traffic rushed past without giving the tall blonde a second glance; unless there was a female driver, then he got more glances than he was comfortable with. Ignoring the cars and trucks rushing past him at speeds that were likely far above the speed limit the warrior of light leaned against the railing of the bridge he had just come across and looked out over the water. Something didn't feel right.
This was the same feeling he had gotten when standing in front of Talpa's castle or when he was captured in New York. The feeling of ice in the pit of his stomach, it almost made him want to throw up. Someone, or something, was coming, that much he was sure of; what he didn't know was which side they were on.
"Both, most likely." Sage jumped as his mental question was answered in a deep, gruff voice. He didn't even have to turn around to know who had read his mind. "Hello Kale."
"Halo." Was all Kale gave by was of greeting as he leaned backwards against the railing and watched the cars zoom by. Both were very tense, unlike the rest of the warriors Sage of Halo and Kale of the Winter Armor had yet to put aside their differences. Even though they were technically on the same side, trust was next to impossible between the wearers of the Twin armors.
Despite Sage's usually quite nature he couldn't help but break the silence. "I thought you were still asleep."
"When you left? I was, but you aren't that hard to track." Sage arched one blonde eyebrow at this but chose not to question the matter further. "What did you mean by both?"
Kale just smirked. "What? You don't know?" Sage's glared urged him to elaborate. "By nature a human's heart can only be good or bad. No matter what they do to show otherwise they can't be both. I feel it too, I can't tell what it is but something that is both good and evil is coming. Or rather" He paused and shifted uncomfortably, "I think that the evil is already here, but the good has yet to arrive."
"Two different things you mean?" Sage had to admit that what Kale said made sense. But receiving new enemies and new allies at the same time seemed a bit unusual, and seemed a bit unlikely to him. Sage narrowed his eyes, as much sense as it made Kale could still be wrong. Either way, Sage still didn't trust Talpa's most obedient ex-Warlord.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Shadows covered everything, a shadowy figure sat on a dark throne and the only source of light came from the dark purple fire on the left side of the throne.
"I believe the warriors are on to us Milord." Said someone with a beautiful feminine voice. A deep voice answered her in a sinister tone. "And what. my dear, makes you believe such a thing?" A woman became visible behind the flame and bowed low before her lord. She had long dark crimson hair and deep gold eyes that held no emotion in their depths, and most likely never had. "Akuni was too obvious. The twins know she is not what she appears to be. Also, The male twin-armor wearers expect something, though I doubt they know what it is."
"Perhaps. But expecting something to happen is not the same as knowing what that something is, and knowing how to stop it. Have you done as I ordered, Akuichi?"
"Yes Milord."
"Then even if they did understand, they could not stop us. They will all perish."
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Hm... I know I am not from America, but I was not aware it could snow so early in the year."
Andreis blew gently on her coffee cup with her blue eyes still closed in deep thought. She heard the tapping of fingernails on the restaurant table that the pair were sitting at and opened her eyes to stare into Selen's lavender ones. The spring seasonal sighed heavily before setting down her cup and folding her hands under her chin, "Yes, I hear that New York has never had snow like this in mid-July." Andreis tugged gently on the left sleeve of her navy blue sweater before letting her right hand play with the end of her knee length blue skirt. With her left hand she picked her coffee cup and sighed again before bringing it to her lips.
Andreis was physically in her twenties but in actuality was a 440 year old woman that was born in a small village in Russia. Andreis Tasya, or as she was more commonly known, Anne, was the only warlord to have originally been on the side of the Dark Lord. She had switched sides about halfway through the war and fought beside the Ronins and her fellow Warlords. Currently, as she sat across from one friend, waiting on another, she was very glad she had.
Selen absently twirled a strand of her waist length green hair around one finger. She stared out the window with a distant look that made it seem like she was looking through the flakes of silver instead of at them. Selen was a 20 year old Egyptian girl whom had traveled to America to assist the Ronins in concurring the Dark Lord. Her well tanned skin was a major give-away to her origins. She wore a lavender sweater and an ankle length green dress that she prayed never to have to fight in. Both her ankles and wrists held golden bracelets, and gold earrings dangled from her ears.
"Danni's late."
Anne sighed once again, something she seemed to be doing a lot lately, and nodded slightly. It was common for Danni to be late to her own funeral so she wasn't really worried. It would only be a matter of time before the Autumn Warlord walked through the door and...
Both girls looked up as a shadow fell over their table. 'good timing' Andreis thought wryly. Danni Jessamine, twenty one year old American wearer of the Mystique Armor, could be considered beautiful, if you could get past the scowl currently decorating her face. Long wavy silver hair fell on either side of her face before stopping somewhere above her waist. Two crystalline blue eyes glared at the bearers of the Demonique and Snakebite armors. Andreis wasn't even fazed her companion's foul mood, she sipped her coffee calmly with her eyes closed, not even giving the younger woman a second glance. Selen, on the other hand, shifted uncomfortably under her friend's gaze before looking away.
Danni wore a hunter green wind breaker over a red turtle neck and worn black jeans with holes ripped through the knees. The legs of her pants were soaking wet, not to mention the seat. Most likely she had run all the way to the dinner, trip on a patch of ice and landed in a snow bank. That conclusion also explained the sour look on her face.
"This morning, you guys felt something right? Coming from downtown?" Her expression was now slightly nervous as she slid into the booth. "Tell me I wasn't the only one that felt that..."
Andreis slowly opened her eyes and looked past her teammates at the snow covered city beyond the window. "I felt... something. It could have been anything, but..."
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The living room was filled with the light of the TV as the news anchor adjusted his collar, sweat pouring down his normally calm face, "The entire world is undergoing a major heat wave. In high latitude and elevation areas the temperature has jumped to 70F degrees and rising. Areas near the equator have been evacuated due to rising temperatures of 200F degrees and above. Scientists are frantic as the polar ice caps begin to melt. All outdoor events have been canceled due to the rising..." The light went out with a blink as Kento flipped off the television.
The air outside in Toyama and surrounding areas was well over 100F degrees. High radiated off the sidewalk in waves so thick it was difficult to see through them. The lake on Mia's property was a fraction of its normal size and water that remained was boiling. The majority of the residents had taken to wearing shorts and tank tops, or no tops, when the air conditioner had blown.
Ryo was the only person in the entire world that was dressed normally. The extreme heat didn't really bother him, in fact it almost made him feel stronger. What was bothering him was how easily the heat was overpowering his friends. He was also worried; Sage had left early that morning before most of the household was even awake and he hadn't returned. Kale had also left after he had woken up. Ryo sighed, wherever the two were, there were probably getting at each other's throats.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
It was a day of firsts. Sage Date and Sasaki Kuujurou, or, as he preferred to be called, Kale, could be found in a local diner, having lunch and a civilized conversation. They had stayed on the bridge until the heat became unbearable in their current attire, that was when they had fled to the safety of the closest diner with A/C. They had ordered lunch and were comparing theories about what could be causing such a heat wave when the heat overpowered the poor air conditioner and its life had come to a abrupt halt. The two warriors really didn't see a point in moving after that; there were probably no more cool spots in the entire country so why waste energy by moving?
"It's almost like someone is taking all the heat from somewhere else and putting it here, ne?" Sage commented with a small laugh. He had never spent so much time in the other's company without getting in a fight and for some reason the warrior of light was in an extremely good mood, despite the rising temperatures.
"Maybe." Kale answered while watching the manager of the small restaurant try with all his might to fix the small cooling contraption in the corner.
Sage almost had to do a double take at the answer he received; Kale was agreeing with him, it really was a day of firsts. Standing up Sage stretched before turning to the other warrior, as nice as it was to get along for once the others would be starting to worry. Of course, that's not what he told Kale, "Maybe we should ask Anubis or Kayura."
Kale nodded and fished his part of the bill out of his pants pocket, then he followed his former enemy back out into the blistering weather.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Geez, who opened the freezer door and forgot to shut it?"
"Oh stop yer whinin' Kris! Ya haven't shut up since we left the buildin'." A girl with short blue locks and a heavy New York accent yelled at her large friend as they waited on a street corner beside their school. A smaller, tanned girl with shoulder length brown hair rolled her eyes at the two and went back to scanning the door to the school building where their other friends would soon appear.
The school board had dismissed early due to the freezing cold and the snow that was pilling up on the roads. At first the three friends were all overjoyed to be getting out of class, until they realized they weren't dressed for such a drastic weather change.
The first girl, Kristi Faust, was also the biggest, but judging from the muscles protruding from her shirt sleeves very little of it was actually fat. Kristi had a round face and brown eyes, partly covered by dark bluish hair. She was dressed in blue jean overalls over an orange short sleeved shirt, and brown tennis shoes that looked like they had almost seen the inside of a trash can many times.
Rosette Hatterson was a tall lanky girl whose short, dark blue hair fell into deep blue eyes. Rosette, better known as Ro, was the only one of the three wearing anything close to being appropriate for the unexpected weather. Her yellow tee-shirt was covered by a blue wind breaker, and her blue jeans were in fairly good condition, other than being thoroughly soak from her trip into a snow bank.
The smallest, but surprisingly oldest, was Ceilia Moore, a young girl from Hawaii that had moved to New York to fight in the battle against the Dark Lord. But at the moment she was too busy freezing to think about their late enemy; her light blue knee-length skirt was doing nothing to keep her warm, nor was her white short-sleeved blouse.
"Don't you two ever shut up?"
Ro and Kristi, who each had the other in a very efficient headlock, looked up at Kat's voice and the sound of snow crunching under two pairs of tennis shoes and a pair of sandals.
"I don't think I've ever seen them be quite for more than a few seconds." Sara answered with a small laugh. Rosette glowered at her best friend before mustering up as much dignity as she could, "so what do ya make of the weather we been havin' lately?"
The twins faces fell and their exchanged a glance. "Actually," Kat started. "That's one of the things we wanted to talk to you guys about." Sara nodded, "Did you guys feel anything odd this morning?"
"Other than the creepy new teacher?" Becca asked. "You guys acted really weird when she came in."
Kat shook her hair causing the snow that had started piling up there to fall to the ground with its cousins. "I'd never felt an aura like hers before. It was completely dark, and there was an empty space where her heart should have been. But that isn't what we're talking about."
"It was after first period; a strong blast of power, it came from the center of the city. I don't know when it was but the snow started just afterwards."
The others considered this for a moment before Ceilia piped up in a lightly accented voice, "Maybe we should ask Anne..." The others nodded and headed towards the center of town were the Warlords would surely be."
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"This isn't natural, I didn't even think one world could hold this much heat." Anubis took a sharp intake of breath at his friend's words. Kale was right of course, the heat didn't appear to be from this world but he didn't know where it had come from, or how to put it back. "Yes, I've heard rumors of such things happening. But I've never..." He let the rest of what he was going to say die on his tongue and went back to staring at the floor. Kale, who had done all the talking thus far, continued trying to wear a hole is the floor with renewed vigor. Kayura was sitting on a chair in a corner, eyes staring unfocused into a distance only she could she. The only other person in the room, Sage of course, leaned against the door frame in a trance-like state, watching the other three people in the room. So far the only thing the meeting had done was give everyone a time to broad while the others slept. Even at night the temperature inside was at least 60F degrees, but at least it wasn't the same searing heat as during the day.
Slowly, Kayura stood up, her eyes coming back into focus, with a thoughtful expression on her face. "World joining. That's what its called right? Everything from one world flowing into another is world joining, I think." Kale and Sage exchanged confused looks and asked her what that meant.
"It means someone is trying to move something to our world." Anubis answered for her. "It could be anything, but..."
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Remind me again what the point of this is..." Akuichi smiled at her sister's naivety. The two stood on the tiled roof of a dojo in New York City, New York. Inside there could hear the voices of nine fairly young sounding girls that were discussing theories not far from the truth. Their intelligence surprised her but she could help but smile at how helpless their were to change their fate.
"My dear baby sister, do not worry about the intent of our lord's plan, I assure you it is foolproof." She smiled. "Which is probably a good thing, considering how foolish our targets are. These are merely the effects of world joining, they will pass when the joining is complete and the majority of the population will go back to living their happy little live without ever knowing what hit them. Until our lord receives the power he craves, then they'll all die."
The elder of the two girls couldn't hold back her laugher any longer, and the sound of her voice carried into the night as the two disappeared.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Saceria: Akuichi and Akuni, Evil one, and Evil two, very original names aren't they?
KB: Shut up, I couldn't come up with anything without stealing characters from my other fics.
Soffia: Please tell us what you think.