"I still can't believe we're not going to DO anything about it!" Ceilia Moore sighed, and watched her breath condense when it hit the cold air, as her best friend complained about their lack of action for what had to be the thousandth time that... hour. It had been two days since the group had met in the Davis Family Dojo and decided on a course of action. Doing nothing.
"It's not like there's much we can do Kris..." The small girl started in a soothing tone. "Even Anne doesn't know what... get your feet off my table." The two were in Ceilia's living room wrapped in at least five layers of insulated clothing and blankets, because even indoors the temperature could give a meagerly-dressed person hypothermia.
The two were flipping channels on the small TV in front of them and using mugs of hot chocolate as mini-heaters. Kristi had her chair reclined as far as it would go with her feet propped up on the table in front of her. She made a face at her smaller companion and reluctantly sat up.
For several minutes after that neither of them spoke. The only source of light came from the small television that no one was watching; the clouds outside made the sky so dark it was as if the sun had forgotten the little planet called Earth just two days before and no one was sure whether it was day or night.
"Uh, Cei'?" Kristi's voice rose above the sounds of a television program that neither of them was watching.
"Yes?"
"The chocolate's cold."
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Naotoki Yamanouchi was bored. He was also very hot and sweaty, but the important thing is that he was bored, and bad things tended to happen when Naotoki Yamanouchi got bored. Two days earlier their little 'team' had agreed to wait out whatever was happening; not that there were many other options. Right now he was regretting that decision, not that he had done any deciding or anything.
Running a hand through his messy green hair and fighting down a yawn Naotoki, better known as Sekhmet, started to make his way downstairs for a late night snack. Passing more doors than he could count, some of which vibrated with the snores of their occupants, and having to back-track once or twice, Sekhmet finally found the staircase and went down to the kitchen.
Pouring a bowl of cereal, he sat at the table and began to munch thoughtfully.
"Do you think they were right?" The green-haired half-blood nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of his teammate's voice. Kale was sitting right beside him staring out the window with a distance look on his face, eyebrows knitted in concentration.
"Would you please not do that, you know I don't deal well with surprises." Kale's blue eyes locked with his brown ones and Kale smiled, "Sorry 'bout that. Still, what do you think?"
Sekhmet laughed softly, "I try not to. That's Dais' job."
"Moron."
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Silence stretched over the Davis Family Dojo, where hundreds came every week to learn Kendo and various martial art styles. Connected to the dojo was a modest sized house where the Davis twins, Sara and Katherine, lived with their mother, grandfather and little brother Matthew.
The silence remained unbroken as snow drifted down from the heavens to take its place. Nothing moved, it seemed as if the cold had frozen time as well as the ground and anything that happened to be on it. It was almost as if there was no one left.
"MOM!" Or not... "Kat stole my mittens!"
"I did not you little brat! Haven't you ever heard of due process? And who in their right mind would wear mittens, anyway?" Kat scowled at her little brother; she was innocent for crying out loud, for once that is. The boy had obviously lost them and was framing her; of course if anyone in their family was likely to steal something, it would be her. "Whatever kid, why don't you just look instead of pointing fingers?" with that said, the blue-haired seventeen year old stormed upstairs to the room she shared with her twin and fell face down in her bed.
A small giggle came from the other side of the room but Kat ignored it in favor of fuming at her pillow. She wasn't sure what the pillow had done to her but it was going to pay dearly.
Sara smiled as her sister continued to ignore her. "So where did you hide them?" She smiled again at Kat's glare before her expression became far more serious. "It's coming closer."
Kat raised her head out of her pillow and locked eyes with her twin, "yeah, I know. Think we can do anything about it, or are we just along for the ride?"
The blonde smiled grimly, "what do you think?"
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Her breath turned to ice the second it left her blue lips. Why she had ever decided to venture out into the cold was beyond her. She was about two miles from her apartment, leaning on a fence overlooking a playground in Central Park. Snow was collecting on the unused swings and nothing looked like it had been used for days. It hadn't of course; at first the children had been thrilled to be able to play in the snow, or get out of school in her case, but now they would cry and beg the chilly white flakes to return to the sky as their tears froze to their cheeks.
Rosette was cold and surprisingly tired for it only being eleven fifty-six at night. Most of her friends would normally be asleep by now but it had gotten much harder for anyone to sleep at night, or at any other time.
A flake of snow landed between Rosette's eyes and she made a face, either it was getting colder or she had put on less layers than she thought she had. She laced her fingers in the metal links of the fence and sighing tiredly, closing her eyes as the air froze her breath into icicles that fell towards the snow below.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Kayura stood hesitantly in the upstairs hallway of Mia's mansion and stared nervously at the door in front of her. She knew that the only way to find out if the room's occupants were awake would be to knock but she was still nervous about waking them up.
Finally, stealing her nerves, the young looking girl decided that Kona at least was her cousin and he wouldn't mind, even if Kale did. Besides, this was important and she needed to talk to him. I few seconds after he knocked the door opened and a head covered in long messy auburn hair poked out into the hallway.
"Kayura?"
Grabbing his arm Kayura pulled the older man out into the hall and waited for him to finish yawning before starting her tale, "Did you hear it? That voice just a minute ago. Or was it just in my dream?"
"What voice?" Anubis questioned. Hearing voices was never a good thing, and for the ten them it was usually the late Ancient One telling them that something new was going to come and try to kill them.
Kayura began pacing in front of him with her brow furrowed. Then she just stopped and looked straight into his eyes, "I don't know. It's was a male's voice I think, I couldn't recognize it though. All he said was 'It is almost time.'"
That was when they heard the rain on the roof, as if the clouds had finally soaked up all they could hold and wanted an end to the unbearable heat. The few people in the house who were still awake opened their doors to go outside and enjoy the rain that surely meant their salvation.
Then their world was turned upside down.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Rosette's watch ticked midnight as the icicles her breath had formed hit the ground and exploded in a wave of pure heat. It knocked the blue-haired warrior off her feet and she sunk onto her knees in the white powder below clutching the metal fence with all her might.
Her hands quickly uncoiled from the steaming metal as it began to glow red hot; her senses began coming back to her as the snow below her melted down into a boiling river and she quickly jumped in the air and summoned her dark blue subarmor.
The next few minutes were a complete blur for the girl, her brain barely had time to register the insane temperature change before the water below began soaring directly upward at her like rocket of scalding liquid. The heat engulfed her, searing right through her skin-tight armor and scorching her skin raw. Her scream was lost in the rush of the water as it submerged her in darkness.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The rain poured down in sheets setting off the motion-detecting light on Mia's porch and illuminating the lake outside as it was refilled. Sekhmet and Kale ran to the front door and threw it open before feeling their souls being ripped out. The rain was suddenly a blizzard and the lake had completely frozen. The cold bit into their exposed skin at an unbearable degree, it felt like someone was taking red hot metal and pouring it over their bodies. It was as if the cold was attacking their souls, the hearts of their armors.
Screams filled their ears, though it took them a few seconds to realize that it was their voices that cried out. From up stairs similar screams could be heard and several were summoning their armors; an act the two ex-Dark Warlords were soon to follow. But that did little to keep out the 'burning' cold; it froze the soles of their feet to the ground below them and seeped through the joints of their subarmors to bite fiercely at their skin. The wall of white snow that had gone relatively ignored during the exchange suddenly seemed to shift its path and head right towards the two fallen warriors just like a tsunami of ice.
For a moment after the snow and ice had swept over them time stood still and white filled their vision. Then there was nothing but darkness.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Mia awoke with a start and all she could hear were the screams. They surround and threatened to engulf her. It was then that she noticed the cold which would have been pleasant if she hadn't been wearing shorts and a tank top. The cold nipped at her bare skin, but the screams were much more painful; she had the faint idea that her ear drums might be bleeding. Jumping out of bed, Mia winced as her feet hit the icy floorboards. She ran towards to door and threw it open, shivering as a blast of even colder air assaulted her. Then she saw the source of the screams.
The vast majority of her male residents, all in their subarmors, were all in various defensive positions and seemed to be in a great deal of pain. They all had one other thing in common, they were all glowing. Mia looked around quickly to see glowing Ronins and Warlords, collapsing left and right, and Kayura who was holding up Anubis and looked more than a little panicked. She locked eyes with the younger woman and suddenly, everything stopped. The temperature seemed to regulate itself and the screaming stopped; the boys all went completely limp and for a second Mia was afraid they were dead. Then, very slowly, she noticed their chests begin to rise and fall.
Mia let out the breath she hadn't noticed she was holding and glanced back at Kayura, whose eyes were still extremely wide. For a second the Professor of Mythology was confused, then, taking a second look at the boys, she understood. It was very faint, but they were still glowing.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Interesting. May I ask what the purpose of that was?" Akuni shivered slightly as a leftover bit of cold air made itself known. She and her sister sat on the edge of the roof of the Koji Mansion, one of the few places not illuminated by Mia's porch lights. On the ground, almost directly below them, were two unconscious, slightly-glowing Warlords.
"You mean you haven't figured it out yet?" Akuichi laughed as her baby sister shot her a look that could kill. "Fine. They're here..."
"Who's here?"
Akuichi smiled again at her sister's naivety, "The other source, of course. Those stupid little girls." Her smile became more sinister as she thought over her lord's plan.
"Oh." It was silent for a moment as Akuni ran over her thoughts carefully, "Ummm... Sorry for asking but, where are they?" Akuichi's smile fell instantly.
"Uh... Lord Reikoku said they were sleeping in the places where their armors would gain the most power, but he didn't say much more than that." She frowned, "Actually... He did said that their doubles would be drawn to them."
Akuni stood and glanced at the warriors on the ground, "Then I say we keep an eye on them. We'll let them do the work, and then we'll snatch the power away from them." Akuichi smirked up at her sister, "My thoughts exactly."
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
BETA-READER NEEDED! Again, seeing as no one answered my last plea for assistance. You can tell too. All you need is a good understanding of Ronin Warriors and good grammar and spelling skills.
Saceria: And the bad guy finally has a name...
Soffia: It's sorta obvious where KB is taking this at the moment but it will get better, right KB?
KB: OF course it will... I hope.
KB: There is a method to my madness... sorta.
Saceria: What are you blabbering about now?
KB: The older female Warlords, remind you of anyone?
Soffia: The outer Senshi...
Saceria: -Gives Soffia really weird look- KB doesn't own Sailor Moon either
Soffia: What? She asked...
KB: And you hit it on the nose! Anne, Selen and Danni had two models each, their respective Warlord and the Outer Senshi.
Saceria: Why...?
KB: Anubis has always reminded me of a male Setsuna, so I made Selen sorta like Michiru and Danni sorta like Haruka. Only not together.
Saceria: ...ummm... Whatever. R and R please. Or not, KB cares not me.
KB: Oh and two of the female armor names came were borrowed, with permission, from "The Road Goes Ever Onward" by Jessica Wolfe. A very good fic.
Soffia: Oh and, in case you haven't figured it out KB's sorta piecing together information from both the English and Japanese versions of Ronin Warriors/Yoroiden Samurai Troopers. Please bear with us.
Saceria: The "Haven't you ever heard of due process?" thing is taken from Spiral, which KB also doesn't own.
Review Answers
MorganRay: I'm slowly working up to everything you mentioned. I will completely describe how Anubis came back to life, or at least I was planning on it, when Anne comes back into the story. I'm also planning on going much more in-depth on the lady warlords, seeing as Danni and Selen are my favorite oc's I'm planning on each of the lady warlord, excluding Anne-including Kat, to have their own personality; they are completely different from their counterparts. And it is beginning to have a plot, it's just hard to find right now if you don't know what you're looking for. I promise to make it more clear as the story progresses.