Chapter 9: You're not afraid of the dark, are you?

New Years came and it went and the world didn't blow up, nor did demonic armies rise from the bowels of Hell to devour innocent souls, nor Angels come to cleanse the sinful people of the Earth. The red moon was certainly a surprise to everyone. The moon was sometimes found to be the cause of chaotic psychological behaviour; sometimes even physical illness could be attributed to the moon's phase. Of course such cases were rare; however, with the advent of the Blood Moon, reports from around the world came in of people becoming sick with no explanation and violent outbreaks, normally calm people suddenly becoming berserk and attacking anyone around them. Many scientists said that the moon looked red because the pollutants in the air at night were filtering out all other light but red light or that dust on the moon's surface was only reflecting rd light from the sun; these scientists were unfortunately ignored by the masses. Some people fearing the state of the world, closed and locked their doors and didn't go out unless they had to. The rest decided that they wouldn't be afraid of what might be and, as though trying to give any impending doom the finger, started a myriad of celebrations for their last weeks of vacation.

Many clubs benefited from this sudden boom in partygoers, among which was Lastic, Rick and Kit's jazz club. They revelled in the increased business they got; Lenn was happy to get out more often as well as being able to get Rin out of the apartment. As for Nina, she welcomed the distraction.

SOL Nina-

I thought I would be able to ignore my feelings for Ryu, whatever they actually were. Truth is I had a hard time. I've heard stories about how people who are reincarnated, past lives type stuff, meet and still have the same feelings for each other. Lenn thinks that maybe Ryu and I were once lovers in a past life, but she's very into that stuff; thinks it's romantic, so she's kinda biased. I don't believe in things like fate or destiny. Stuff like that was invented by authors to fill in plot holes. I am my own person, not some recycled soul and thus have my own desires and emotions; my life is not written in stone. That didn't make things any less confusing though.

End SOL-

Nina sat at a table, on the other side of the room from Ryu, nursing a drink and confused as hell. Rin, seeing her friend's distress came over to the table.

"Nina, is something wrong?" Rin asked in a hushed voice.

Rin was very soft-spoken, except with certain individuals, the type who wouldn't leave her alone, with whom she would raise her voice. She was constantly raising her voice with Rick. Perhaps it was because she spoke so quietly, but people she spoke with always took great care to listen to her.

"Wha… no, I'm fine; nothing wrong at all." Nina smiled nervously.

SOL Rin-

Two things I know about Nina; one, she doesn't want other people to worry about her, not her parents, not her friends, not her boyfriend, not anyone. I believe it is because she doesn't want to be a burden to anyone. The second thing about Nina is that she is a terrible liar, thus making the former more difficult. I can understand wanting to handle one's problems by oneself, but there are times when one needs to speak to others.

End SOL-

"You have been sitting here nursing your drink for the past half-hour. You are not fine." Rin stated.

"It's not a big deal, I can handle this on my own." Nina reassured Rin gently.

"I am not offering to help you." Rin said flatly. "I am offering to listen to your problems, nothing more. It may help you decide what to do."

Nina looked down at her drink and then looked at Ryu who was sitting at the other end of the room, quietly and calmly observing everything. Nina back looked at Rin and sighed.

"It's… Ryu. I just… I dunno, there's just something about him… It's confusing." Nina started, grasping for words.

"You have feelings for him." A statement, not a question.

"Yes." Nina replied meekly.

"But you don't know what those feelings are."

Nina nodded, her eyes cast downwards. Rin glanced over at Ryu.

"I suggest you confront him about it." Rin stated simply.

"I can't do that, are you nuts?" Nina exclaimed.

"You cannot lose anything by talking to him about it. He does not seem the type to respond negatively to those kinds of advances. If he responds at all, that is. I have not seen him sow even a glint of emotion. He probably wouldn't do anything if you told about your problems."

"That doesn't make me feel any better." Nina grinned half-heartedly.

"It was not meant to. It was only meant for you to realize that the situation."

"Dropping reality onto a perfectly good dream is very mean." Nina smirked at Rin.

"Reality and dreams are not mutually exclusive. Tell me, do you love him?" She asked suddenly.

"What? I don't know how I feel about Ryu…" Nina started, shocked.

"Not Ryu, Joshua. Even though he is not here, do you still love him? Are you sure your feelings are not a result of Joshua's unavailability."

"No! It isn't like that at all. I love Joshua with all my heart." Nina replied sternly.

"Good, as long as you are sure about your feelings for Joshua, I think you may be able to determine what your feelings for Ryu are." Rin said standing up.

Nina watched Rin wade her way through the crowd. She didn't feel any less confused but she did feel a bit better about it. Maybe she should talk to Ryu about it, though she was sure he would tell her that getting involved with him would be far too dangerous.

Outside the club, a figure approached. There were many people coming and going, so her entrance wouldn't be noticed. Maya thought the club looked nice enough, certainly not a den of evil that would hide the Dragon. She could only hope that the Church would pay for any damage ensued; after all these people couldn't be knowingly involved with a monster like the Dragon. Then again, she didn't know these people, so it was impossible to tell what they were really like; they could be brainwashed servants of the evil beast. It was really difficult for her to think that anyone would willingly follow something as evil as a dragon.

She walked in the club and looked around. It was festive, the music was pretty good and people were enjoying themselves; definitely didn't look like they were housing the source of all evil. She spotted her quarry fairly easily; a dark brooding man with blue hair being relatively easy to spot after all. She went to the bar; the guy serving drinks was actually kind of cute, with his confident smile.

"Can I get you anything?" Rick asked Maya.

"Just water, thanks."

"Can I ask you something?" Rick asked with a sly smile on his face.

Maya looked back at him, with a raised eyebrow and a questioning smile.

"Did it hurt when you fell from heaven, angel-girl?" He asked.

Maya looked at him and giggled.

"Awww, that's cute. You're really sweet and I'd love to hang out with you, but I'm working now." She said, placing a hand on his cheek.

"Working?" He whispered to himself as she turned away.

Across the room, Ryu was sniffing the air, as though he had just caught the whiff of something but couldn't quite pick it up again. Lastic, noticing this walked over to him.

"Something wrong Ryu?" Lastic asked.

"There is something… no… someone here who has been touched by demons, but is not a demon themselves. You should move." Ryu stated flatly.

Lastic was about to ask why when Ryu simply shoved him out of the way and grabbed the dagger that was flung towards him. The point of the dagger was barely a centimetre away from Ryu's right eye. Ryu dropped the dagger and charged towards Maya, unsheathing his blade, slashing at her. Lastic didn't eve see him move through the throng of people. Ryu's blade sliced through Maya's coat, but she was no longer in it. A deafening silence came over the room, the music stopped playing and it seemed everyone held their breath. Maya stood on one of the tables, dressed in black, like a classic ninja of some kind.

"Attention ladies and gentlemen," She began. "I am terribly sorry to interrupt your merrymaking, but this gentleman and I must battle to the death now. For your own safety I ask that all non-combatants leave the premises immediately."

She materialized three throwing daggers between her fingers and prepared to fling them at Ryu. The crow just stood or sat there, their faces agape in horror.

"Well what are you waiting for?" She asked. "RUN LIKE HELL!"

That caused the people to panic. They rushed out of their seats and streamed towards the exit. Ryu stood still and the flood of people flowed around him like water. Nina, Rin, Lastic, Kit, Rick and Lenn didn't leave, but they did move away from the two. Maya threw her daggers with expert skill, but Ryu knocked them aside with a single sweep of his sword and then charged her. Maya brought out a short sword and blocked his strike, then brought out another short sword to strike him down, but Ryu blocked with his sheath. The two struck out at each other, Ryu using his sheath like a second sword, but neither one was able to get the through the other's defences. Maya dropped and tried to catch Ryu with a sweeping kick, but Ryu jumped back. He charged and struck with a vertical slash; Maya flipped over Ryu as his sword came down and he only ended up slashing the table she was standing on, slicing it in two. Thinking to end it, Maya struck out at Ryu, his back facing her. Without turning around he blocked her blade with his sheath, then whirled around trying to catch her on his sword, but to no avail as she back flipped out of his reach. He attacked her again and again, but she back flipped out of his reach. As she back flipped once again, she threw a dagger at him, forcing him to stop and lean back to avoid the projectile. She came to a crouching position and waited for Ryu to try and strike again.

"All right, enough with the fancy flipping." Kit snarled as she held a gun to the back of Maya's head. "Now what the hell do you think you're doing, trashing my club like that, bitch?"

Maya said nothing and smiled. She slid back, behind Kit, who fired her gun, missing Maya by a hairsbreadth. Maya did a hand stand, wrapping her legs around Kit's neck and then tossing her to the ground with just enough force to knock her out.

"KIT!" Lastic cried out.

He attacked Maya with fists, feet and fury, but was no match as she blocked every pucn and kick. He was a very good martial artist, but his skills and Maya's were vastly different, it was like comparing the motor functions of a baby and an adult. Maya beat him back easily, but did no lasting harm to him; he would only have bruises.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot allow anyone to get in my way." She stated coldly.

A look of surprise dawned on her face as Ryu suddenly appeared before her. She tried to jump back, but he was able to slice off her arm just below her elbow. Maya didn't even scream; she just looked at the bloody stump in shock. The rest of her appendage had fallen to the ground completely inert. Ryu dashed towards her in an attempt to finish her off, but a giant of a man appeared before Maya, blocking Ryu's path. The giant wore a black trench coat and hat, as well as a mask with red tinted goggles.

"Unit has sustained heavy damage. Fighting capabilities decreased fifty percent. Continued combat would result in loss of life of Unit. Aborting mission." The giant said in a cold mechanical voice.

In a small explosion of light and sound Maya, her cut appendage and the giant disappeared. The explosion knocked Ryu and Lastic of their feet. Lastic jumped to his feet and raced to Kit's side, seeing if she was all right. Ryu rose to his feet dusting himself off looking completely nonchalant about the whole thing.

"Okay… What the HELL was that?" Rick demanded.

"Ryu, are you okay?" Nina asked as she rushed over to him.

"I am undamaged. That was an assassin coming for me. My presence here has put you all in danger, this is only the beginning."

"So what are you gonna do?" Kit asked as Lastic helped her to her feet.

"As I said, my presence is putting you in danger. Further more, I am no longer making an effective assault against the demons. Time is growing short, so I must leave." He said in perfect calm.

The look on Nina's face was a mixture of concern, shock and sorrow.

Music: 'Magus (decay of Hope)' (OCRemix, Crono Trigger)

Author notes: Bleah, so tired. And I had writer's block, so I think this chapter didn't come out as well as it could have. On a lighter note, I have fanart! Check out my author profile to see links to the fanart that's been done for me.