Author's Note: You can all breath a sigh of relief. This chapter is a little shorter than the last one.

Air, Metal, and Light

Steely violet eyes opened slowly to meet soft blue. Even the room was a pale shade of that color, but the blue that was of the greatest interest belonged to the eyes of a green-haired, pink-clad young fighter. At least, Sage assumed his companion was a fighter.

"Well, I guess we should start with hello and go from there. I'm Shun of Andromeda. It seems we're in a similar predicament, and that we're not exactly enemies, even if we're not exactly friends. Yet." The young man's voice was sweet and sincere. Sage smiled in return, but couldn't help wondering 'What kind of warrior is this Shun of Andromeda? He seems so gentle.'

"I am Sage of Halo, and I couldn't agree more."

"Good to see you boys up and about!" A cackle resonated through this touching moment and drew the attention of the young men to a rather withered hag who had appeared amid her beloved mist.

"You again. Lovely. Don't you ever get tired of pestering us." Andromeda's cheerful tone turned cold with contempt. Halo was taken aback by the shift in character.

"Oh, you've grown a mouth as well. I really shouldn't have put you two together -- he's such a bad influence. We must do something about that." She stretched out her withered hand, causing the green-clad chest to glow pale purple. Shun could see Sage was in pain, but the blond couldn't make a sound for some reason!

"What are you doing to him?! Stop it! You'll kill him!" Andromeda called in horror as he suddenly realized the witch was draining Sage of his strength.

"Oh, but that's the idea, little lamb. Come to the slaughter, it's your turn now." She cooed, reaching her other hand to graze Shun's chest. His cloth tightened about his body as the chains holding him began to pulse. He tried to pull away, but there was nowhere for him to go. As his energy drained, he somehow knew what to do. He tucked his spirit within himself, pulling it back from it's usual residence within the Nebula Chains and let his whole body and mind give in to a kind of light sleep. Immediately, all that held him faded away and a distant scream of defeat echoed in his fading ears.

Sage watched as his Andromeda enacted the idea that had come to him seconds before. It seemed to be working, so he decided to try it. He banished his armor, letting it flare than fade with the chains, and fell to his knees. The boys' attacker fled with an anguished cry as Halo quickly reclaimed his armor and caught Shun before the shorter boy hit the ground.

Andromeda felt strange arms shaking him gently and roused himself from his nap. He opened his heavy eyes and smiled at Sage.

"Looks like that worked out okay for both of us. Are you all right?"

"Shouldn't you be more worried about yourself? Can you stand?" Halo couldn't help but marvel at his new acquaintance. The blond was rather reminded of Cye's gentle character, but also of Rowen for the sheer lack of thoughts of self in his new friend.

"I'm fine. Just took a little. . . what do they call those, now? Power nap? I think a friend of mine. . ."

"Is behind you, on the other side of that wall somewhere. I know. I think one of my friends is with him."

"Well, then, we should go to them, I guess." Andromeda had now completely regained his feet.

"I suppose we should." Sage agreed, watching with interest as Shun sent the strange chains around his arms towards the wall. The material stretched to compensate with the pressure, so Andromeda rotated the chains, so that each was spinning individually as well as rotating around each other. The barrier was done for in no time.

"Neat trick." Sage commented.

"I've always thought so." Shun agreed.

"What took you boys so long? I was starting to think I'd actually have to come and get you." A dark haired,, female figure smiled sweetly at them on the opposite side of the wall.

--

Cerulean eyes opened slowly to take in the paler shades of that same color. Directly opposite their owner was a young blond with white and blue clothes and ice colored eyes.

"Well, it seems we're in this mess together, we might as well get acquainted. I'm Rowen of Strata."

"Hyoga of the Swan cloth. I take it you guys aren't behind this, and aren't with the Warlords." East met West in the clashing of the accents.

"Right on both counts. We're definitely not looking for any more enemies, especially since we thought the Warlords and Kayura were on our side. Apparently, we thought wrong. But now that we're all in the same boat, I'm not so sure." Rowen got lost in thought, and unfortunately dragged Hyoga with him by opening his mouth to speak his mind.

"In other words, you're as confused as I am about this mess." Swan smiled rather ruefully.

"Yep. Totally and completely." Rowen shot back a trademark grin.

"Aw, what a Hallmark moment. So sorry I have to break this up, boys, but you have something that I want." The room darkened, then began to pulse as a figure formed from the light mist that had seeped in while the warriors conversed.

"This brings whole new meaning to woman troubles. And I thought Kayura was bad." Rowen muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Lady, I don't know who you are or what your after, but I think I can speak for all of us. . ." But Hyoga was interrupted by a peal of laughter as grey fingers brushed his white breast plate, causing a sharp intake of breath on Swan's part as he closed his eyes as if in pain.

"And who do you suppose "all of us" is, hmm, dove? You're little friends will soon enough be mine, so you might as well give in to me. That way you won't have to be alone. Wouldn't that be a pity?" Her sly grin and painful implications brought the Siberian's icy gaze to full blast as he swallowed the waves of agony and stared her in the eyes to learn the truth of her words. She was a bit startled by the intensity, not having experience with the nobler emotions and what power they can lend.

"Hey, what do ya mean? What are ya doing' to him? Let him gah." Strata, too, found himself unable to speak as he winced in pain from her touch. His chains pulsed and tightened and he felt certain this was going to be a very bad day. He struggled vainly for few seconds before he got the idea to try something new.

'The armor is reacting to this lady's power, too. Maybe that's the key. . . if these things are meant to drain energy. . .' Rowen's mind wasn't focusing as well as he'd like, but he was still pretty confident in his plan. And it worked like a charm.

"Wha. . .why you little. . ." Ereshkigal was none too happy when Strata was suddenly free, his armor gone. Hyoga opened his eyes to see what had upset her and his swimming vision focused on a dark-haired boy in street clothes. If that was Rowen, he had an idea.

"That could have been worse." Swan panted as he reclaimed his cloth, the echo of their enemy's defeat still ringing in their ears.

"Yeah, I hear ya. I think the others are okay, too. She was just messing' with our heads." The now fully armored Ronin concurred.

"I take it we go that way." Hyoga pointed to the wall behind Rowen.

"I think that's as good a way as any." Strata agreed, grabbing both bow and arrow in one smooth motion, but he still wasn't fast enough for Swan, who'd already sent an unhealthy dose of Diamond Dust at the wall, which was then pulverized with a light tap.

"Or we could do that." A wide eyed Rowen gaped. 'I'm impressed.' He couldn't help thinking as he finally tore his gaze away and looked down at his arrow. 'What he was going to do with it now.' His amused thoughts continued.

---

"Kayura." The two voices sounded as one, exhibiting the same tone of exasperation.

"Don't get too exited, now." She pouted, crossing her arms and tilting her pretty head to the side to better look at Halo and Andromeda.

"Don't worry." They once again spoke in unison.

"I don't suppose you could tell us what's going on?" Sage asked after the three had walked a few paces.

"Yes, actually, I could, but I'm going to wait until we find the others so I only have to tell it once." She replied cheerfully as the wall in front of them shattered and two figures in blue stepped through the hole.

"Hey, Sage, I see you've made a new friend, too. Mind introducing us?" Rowen smiled at the blond, ignoring Kayura.

"I am Shun of the Andromeda cloth, a Bronze Knight of Athena." The green-haired boy replied.

"She's a he!" Strata exclaimed before turning bright red. "I mean. . .uh. . ."

"Smooth, Strata. I remember you had that wonderful grasp of the obvious even when we first met." The young woman smirked, stifling her laughter.

Sage, meanwhile, had a firm hold on the bridge of his nose as he seemed to be in the throws of a magnificent headache, his face also touched with rouge, even when he finally spoke. "Sage of the Halo armor, Ronin of Wisdom, and I think it would be wise if I speak for my friend from now on. He is Rowen of Strata, and his virtue is Life Force. Its lack of being a virtue might help explain a few things." Lavender eyes finally raised to glare at Rowen, but Strata's attention was wholly on Swan.

"Easy, Hyoga. It's no big deal. Even Seiya and Shiryu joke about that sometimes." Shun laughed nervously, placing a steadying hand on his friend's arm. "He's Hyoga of the Swan cloth, a Bronze Knight like me." Andromeda explained to the Ronins, trying to change the subject.

"They do?" Swan wasn't biting.

"Yeah. They say I look like Sienna, from certain angles." His tone was a bit sharper now, but he softened and smiled. "I guess they're right, but I didn't say that."

"I wouldn't dream of telling them." Hyoga smiled back, letting go of most of his anger towards Rowen; thus allowing Strata to breath again. Halo also began to regain his paler complexion.

"Now, are you boys ready to get down to business?" Kayura queried from where she reclined in the corner, examining her nails. "I have a lot to explain, I suppose."

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Yay! I didn't have to keep on typing "blue"! Last chapter, that word got a bit repetitive, because I'm not creative enough to come up with synonyms.