The plot starts to pick up in the next couple of chapters. This is the last old chapter I had to revise. Please read and review. Flames are even welcome. I said in the first chapter that I never check my email, but I do now. About once a week. ANY feedback is welcome. Many thanks to the reader who contacted me in December. I might never have considered this story again, otherwise. See, all you lurkers? Readers do have power to influence the authors. Exercise it!

It's been a while, so I'll put in another disclaimer.

Disclaimer: What is in RW or YST does not belong to me. In fact, if you can recognize it, it's a good bet that it's not mine.

Chapter 4

The tiger got steadily to his feet and walked to the door of her room. Cera followed him and opened the door with shaking fingers. White Blaze bounded down the hallway and leapt down the stairs. Cera was suddenly feeling very self-conscious and forced herself to walk to the railing and look down to where the boys and Mia had been eating with the strangers. The table was deserted, but had not been cleared. Cera listened intently to the ominous silence and was rewarded with the faint sound of a door opening and shutting. White Blaze padded silently toward the front door and stopped as he reached it to give Cera a long measuring look. It was as if he had evaluated her and said firmly, "Don't go outside. It might be dangerous."

Cera frowned at the tiger. "I'm not listening to you. I'm going out there no matter what you think."

White Blaze blinked at her. What! You'll get hurt!

Cera walked down the stairs and to the door. The tiger blocked her path. "Come on, White Blaze! Let me out!"

The tiger's growled protest was drowned out by the rolling thunder. The sounds of clashing weapons could be clearly heard. Suddenly the tiger launched himself at the girl, pinning her to the floor. A spear was firmly embedded in the door. Cera was terrified but determined not to show it. Pushing the tiger off, she pulled it out and examined it.

Hmm… she thought. If I can turn one food into another why not weapons too?

Because you can't remember how to control your powers? suggested some part of her mind.

I think I can do this!

Do what exactly?

I don't know yet. Just be quiet and let me concentrate!

White Blaze watched, concerned. The girl stood like a statue holding the spear. Abruptly she dropped it and threw the door open to dash outside before he could move to stop her.

The gray-armored soldiers were swamping three armored figures figure. Two others were trying to get to them and three more besides were scattered. Cera felt oddly immune and detached in her observations. A soldier noticed her and turned towards her raising its weapon above its head. She watched in slow motion as it came towards her. It was only about a foot away when a sword blocked it.

Two things happened. She shook off the detachment, but remained frozen in place as a whirlwind of knowledge crashed into her. Ronin warriors. Dark Warlords. Demoness Quartet. Dark Lady of Deception. Suddenly she understood. Her life flashed before her eyes and Cera gasped as she realized the most important facts of her situation.

She was alive. And away from Talpa.

"Cera!" it was Sage's voice. He turned from destroying the Dynasty soldier and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Cera! Are you all right? Why didn't you stay inside?"

With great effort she yanked her attention from past to present. Sage of the Halo. My adopted cousin. Saved me. I'm Cera of Deception. Sage just asked me something. Oh, of course. Am I all right? She blinked, took a deep breath, and found that time had returned to normal. "I'm fine, Sage. Thank you for rescuing me. You should go help your friends." Can I defend myself from any other attacks? Naturally, I am Deception. "I'll be okay."

Sage was clearly confused. "You're not in shock are you?" he asked worriedly as he released her. "You do realize that I'm wearing mystical armor and there are soldiers from a place called the Evil Dynasty attacking us, right?"

Cera gave the bearer of the armor of Halo an irritated glare. "Do I act like I'm in shock? I know you're a Ronin Warrior, Sage!" And I know all about Talpa's Evil Dynasty in the Dark Nether Realm, Halo.

He gaped at her. "How?"

"That soldier must have triggered some forgotten knowledge or something. Never mind, now. It's not important. There is a battle on. I can keep myself out of trouble. Go help the others." She pushed him back into the fray and slipped back into the house.

She ran through the house until she reached the balcony. She summoned her maroon and dark indigo sub armor and tried not to attract attention while watching the fight. Despite their full armor the Ronins and Warlords were wearing out. For every soldier they destroyed two more took its place. Seeing the hopeless situation struck someone as funny.

Mocking laughter flowed around them, whispers of approaching defeat and despair. Cera felt a compulsion to join in, but suppressed it determinedly. She saw the soldiers retreat as she withdrew to the house to watch from a window. She opened the window a crack to hear. The laughter seemed to be choosing a singe direction to come from now. A figure materialized in front of Ryo of the Wildfire. He was looking tired.

"Who…"

"—Am I?" finished the figure. She sounded young and female, but the looks and voices of Dynasty warriors were often deceiving. She wore pale blue-gray and dark gray hooded robes with sub-armor of the same colors visible barely beneath them. Within the shadows of her hood her eyes glowed an eerie stormy blue-gray, although Cera knew them to be violet naturally. A wisp of hair the color of pink-gold was all that escaped the dark confines. "I am the Dark Warlord of Despair: the third member of the Demoness Quartet. Your resistance is futile. Cease your efforts and surrender now or face the consequences," her cool voice made those within earshot as if a ball of ice had formed in their stomach, but hot lava was flowing through their veins as feelings of hopelessness warred with anger. There was no emotion in that command. Despair was simply stating what she saw as fact. The silence was dark, heavy, and tense. The Ronins were tired already. They knew that if the newest Warlord was to attack they would be able to put up little defense. Despair must have known this as well. What was she waiting for?

Banishing her sub armor, Cera flattened herself back into the shadows. She now had little doubt that this latest attack was due to her disappearance from the Dynasty. There was no point in wasting all those troops on a regular attack. Talpa suspected treachery, or that the Ronins had captured her, and was waiting for someone to let something slip. She could feel Hope searching for her through the link and closed her mind to her friend. She didn't want to reveal herself until she was sure what was going on. Ryo was speaking. His words were defiant and utterly useless. He wouldn't defeat Despair just by talking. She wasn't even listening to him, more preoccupied with finding the missing Deception.

There was a rumbling sound behind her and she looked to find White Blaze growling at her. She wondered for a moment why he seemed so upset by her. She realized that she had unconsciously been tapping her rainbow elemental abilities and sunk into the shadow element to feel more secure without her sub-armor. White Blaze was having trouble recognizing her. Her appearance had changed. She had black hair and eyes and a gray aura. She was different to his eyes and the shadow energy in and around her must have been doubly confusing to a creature as sensitive as the tiger. She frowned in concentration and separated herself from the shadows so she appeared as just Cera.

The tiger growled at her and looked puzzled. With a sigh the rainbow elemental summoned just enough Dragon Energy to understand his meaning without changing her appearance. White Blaze was a very special tiger. Cera could tell he could sense the change. He rumbled again. The sound was no different to her ears, but now she understood what he meant.

Who/What are you?

"You know me. I'm Cera. But, I'm also a Rainbow Elemental. I have certain secret abilities. I'm an armor bearer, too. I'm Deception," she explained.

Something changed in White Blaze's deep brown eyes. His meaning was clear: Why aren't you out there helping them?

She looked out the window again. Ryo and Hope were facing off and the other eight were polishing the soldiers off. No more were appearing to take their places. "They don't need my help." I can't give it to them anyway.

You really believe that? The tiger's eyes were filled with reproach.

Or maybe… Maybe I'm afraid to face one of my best friends as an enemy. She closed her eyes as a sudden wave of anger, desperation, and pain crashed over her. She recognized Dementia through the bond and fought with all her will to keep herself from reaching out to her. Talpa must be punishing her for something, she thought dimly and blacked out.

When she came to again White Blaze was licking her face. She couldn't have been out for more than a couple of seconds judging by what was going on outside. Most of the Dynasty soldiers had been destroyed and the Ronins and the other four were slowly winning. Sage and Cye were limping, but Cye looked dazed. He was totally out of it and his reflexes were almost non existent. If Despair attacked Ryo now he wouldn't last long, but Cera had an idea to help without revealing herself to Hope. It suddenly occurred to her that she could remember everything except the month before and month after entering the Nether Realm.

She watched silently as Despair finally attacked Ryo. White Blaze started to leave to help him. The tiger was still unhappy with her. Cera took a deep breath and released the thread of Dragon Power and called upon Fire. She searched out the Wildfire armor and fed raw fire energy into it and the air around it. She felt the armor respond to its element and Ryo began to regain strength.

Despair, who had had no weapon to begin with (she was notorious for going places totally unprepared), had stolen one of Ryo's katanas to fight him with. Now it was getting hot. Very hot. She yelped and dropped it. Ryo snatched it up and prepared to use his sure kill. Despair noticed the other Ronins and ex-warlords approaching and uttered a final threat before she teleported. Ryo stared in puzzlement at the twin katanas.

"Where did all that heat come from? There's no volcano around here!" he said.

Rowen put an armored hand on his shoulder, but then snatched it away as the heat surrounding Ryo threatened to cook him, despite Strata. "Don't worry about it, Ryo. They're gone."

"For now."

The five Ronins jumped and turned to face Cera, who was standing in the doorway next to White Blaze. Cye blinked at her. Sage and Cale winced at the sudden movement.

Cera walked outside and surveyed the damage done to Mia's property. Mia herself appeared and at first looked horrified at the mess that had been made of the landscape and then more upset at the state of the warriors. Kayura banished the Armor of Cruelty in favor of the Ancients staff. The males shed their full armor, but kept their sub-armor on.

Dais said, "You don't seem surprised, Cera."

Cera looked at him fully taking in his voice and his appearance before answering. The part of her that was still Talpa's Dark Warlord of Deception attempted to stir her old animosity towards the ex-warlord who had betrayed her master, but fell silent as the Rainbow Elemental, Deception, squashed it firmly. Sincerity, the girl who had recently recovered from amnesia and had spent a week and a half in the company of her enemies without knowing it, was undecided about nearly everything. She could not help these people, but she couldn't hurt them either. Not knowing them as people rather than targets.

"This is nothing new to me, Dais of Illusion," she replied uncertainly.

The white haired ex-warlord frowned, "But how you know anything of this at all? Aren't you just Halo's cousin?"

Kento interrupted, "Hey! How do you know who he is? We never told you Dais' name!"

Sage spoke up, "You started to come outside when they first appeared. I stopped that soldier from hurting you and you seemed a little out of it, and then I asked if you were in shock." He stared at her, "You told me you already knew about the armors and the Dynasty."

Cera was beginning to feel nervous about everyone staring at her. She tried to come up with an explanation that they would accept without questioning her too closely. She could not reveal her elemental powers. They would expect her to use them to fight their war and that was against the rules. Elementals could not directly interfere by using their powers unless the balance between good and evil was truly threatened or the enemy had also broken the rules that governed the Elemental Guardians of Balance. Ordinarily I wouldn't give this any conscious consideration, but I guess I'm still recovering.

"I don't remember exactly how I found out," she began finally. "That close call sort of helped me recall some of my memories and what I knew at that time." It was not a lie. She honestly didn't remember when or how she had learned of the Dynasty and the armors.

The ten people looked at her and each other. Cera could tell that they did not totally accept her explanation, but might be content to let it sit for now.

"So, you aren't here to spy on us for Talpa?" Kento asked.

She smiled halfheartedly at him, "Not as far as I can remember. Not that that's saying much. Besides, if I was a spy for Talpa—"

"Then it is Talpa who's been attacking us?" exclaimed Mia.

Why are they so surprised? "Yeah, I think so."

Dais's one eye glared at her. "Go on, Deception. Finish what you were saying."

Cera stared blankly at him. To which Deception did he refer? And how did he know her? She didn't remember meeting him as Talpa's Dark Warlord. She though she would have, as he was her intended nemesis. "Umm… If I was a spy for Talpa I would have tried to come up with a better story."

Silence reigned for a moment. Then she said softly, "Interrogate me later, okay? I have the feeling that you're only standing because it hasn't occurred to you to fall down."

As if on cue Sage and the blue-haired man with the scar collapsed.