A/N: Yes, I'm sorry, it has been a while, but I'm also a beta and as I was having this wonderful inspirational streak I got a load of emails from all of my authors who had updated at least two chapters each. I've been a bit busy and it wasn't until I got a reviewfrom Lizz that I remembered how long its been and decided to update. I believe this is a bit longer than the usual, so I hope you enjoy it more.
Thanks to all of my reviewers!
Chapter 13 (Lucky Number!)
Last time:
"What's Hell?" Sephiroth wondered.
This time:
"The place where all evil people go when they die and are tortured for all eternity in unbearably hot flames. Flames that never go out and never let up." Sye answered.
"Okay. Quite a cruel world you come from to make up something like that." Sephiroth told him skeptically.
Sye snickered at the comment. "Yeah, anyway… We'll watch and see what cave they go in, then we'll go in after them if they don't come back out."
"What if the cave they go in is a trap and they die?"
"Then we'll die too, but at least we'll have done something. Agreed?" He asked and put up his hand. Sephiroth stared at it oddly. "Shake my hand if you agree." Sye told him, then Sephiroth smiled and shook his hand.
"Strange customs." He shook his head. They dismounted and sat down, watching their friends climb the mountain tediously.
Their friends finally picked a cave to go into and headed in, waving goodbye from the top.
Sye was looking over the map under the shade of a tree.
Sephiroth had climbed up the tree and knocked a few fruits down. They looked like a cross between tomatoes and apples, but they were orange. The Wolfoz wouldn't eat anything from Sephiroth's hands so Sye had to feed it to him.
The Wolfoz he had affectionately named Wolf, laid next to him in the shade asleep. Sephiroth was leaning on the opposite side of the tree shaving a dead branch down to make a wooden dagger.
"Hey!" Sye shouted happily and both Wolf and Sephiroth jumped.
"What?" Sephiroth yelled looking around frantically as if they were about to be ambushed.
"No, I mean here; on the map."
Sephiroth knelt beside Sye as Wolf looked over Sye's arm to the piece of paper.
"What's the one thing about this paper that's weird?" Sye wondered looking at Sephiroth.
"I do not know. What?" Sephiroth wondered curiously.
Sye held it up to the sun's rays and Sephiroth gasped. "It's see-through. And there is invisible writing on it, that isn't on the back or front. It can only be seen up to the light." He paused taking the paper away from the light and showing Sephiroth both sides. "At first glance it just looks like scribble that had been erased, but then I remembered, that you people write in ink or something like it and ink can't be erased." Sye smiled. "Ryo didn't see it because he was only paying attention to the path we were taking and no one else looked at it except for that little girl and she wasn't in a well lit room like we are out here with the sun right there."
"My gods!" Sephiroth gasped. "You are right."
"I can't read it though." Sye turned to his counter part. "Can you?"
"Perhaps. Let me have a look."
Sye handed him the paper and sat back tiredly.
"It is written in Zairian." Sephiroth informed him.
"From Africa?" Sye asked breathing heavily.
"Perhaps in your world, but in ours the entire mass of land is called Zaire and it is actually quite small. It sits in the middle of the biggest body of water."
"Oh, Australia." Sye nodded. "Okay, well what does it say?"
"This does not make sense." Sephiroth murmured frowning.
"Say it out loud and we'll figure it out."
"'Seraphim, the first death. Cherubim, the second trial. Thrones, to be taken. Dominations, to instate. Virtues, to destroy. Powers, to conquer. Principles, to overcome. Archangels, to control. Grigores, the last stand.' It doesn't make any sense at all. Are you alright?"
Sye leaned against him. "Yeah, but they better hurry. This poison is really starting to hurt. It's affecting my vision." He decided to ignore the pain and concentrate on the puzzle instead."Okay, well the Seraphim, Cherubim, Dominations, Virtues, Powers, Principles, Archangels, and Grigores are the nine orders of angels in literature." He smirked.
"Is that good?" Sephiroth wondered.
"This other stuff here, Seraphim and the first death, maybe he means that to be Ryo. Our Ryo I mean, or your Seiji and the second trial is us coming to try to save them. 'Thrones, to be taken.' That must be Ryo's throne as a prince."
"You are right. He did try to take it, twice before." Sephiroth agreed, quite engaged now.
"Then this, 'Dominations, to instate.' crap. He must be talking about people he will take over. It all makes sense. "Virtue's to destroy.' And so on. He'll destroy everything pure and make it all evil; is basically what he's saying."
"What about the Grigores?" Sephiroth asked, frowning as he thought about it.
"Us." Sye answered calmly. "You and I are the last stand. We're their only defense now."
Sephiroth nodded understanding. "Do you think they are caught?"
"Yes." Sye nodded sadly. "I believe they went into the wrong cave and I think I know which will lead to Ryo and Seiji."
Sephiroth was aghast. "Which?" He asked.
Sye pointed on the map to the row of caves, three story's up and five from the right."
"How do you know?"
Sye then pointed to a few numbers scribbled at the top of the map in the corner. "It's either the date, or it's where they are. I think Aries is in one of the top ones so the dragons will be able to fly out into the night easily and the moon will be easily accessed."
"Smart." Sephiroth smiled. "You are quite intelligent."
"Nah, I just have street smarts. We better get going so darkness doesn't just creep up on us." He tried to stand, but faltered. "Wolf would you carry me, please?"
The Wolfoz seemed to hesitate for a moment.
"You're not afraid of dragons, are you?" Sye raised his brow. He smiled. "I know you feel the evil in that place better than I do, but I need you, please." He held out his hand and Wolf licked it, then pushed his head through Sye's legs and Sye fell back onto Wolf. He laughed gently. "Thank you, my friend."
"I will walk across first." Sephiroth started across and waited patiently for Wolf to run across quickly with Sye. They headed steadily up the mountain until they reached the third level where they found the cave they were looking for and stopped at the entrance that was five times bigger than they were.
"That is one big opening." Sye whistled as they started to walk inside.
"I can't believe this." Ryo groaned. "I'm going to die so Aries can raise some dragons from the dirt and rule the world. Fuck that, man!" He laid back. "It's fucking cold in here."
"Stop complaining." Seiji groaned, aggravated from all the vile language he was being subjected to. "You are not helping things."
"I'm not trying to help things. You're going to be sacrificed to those things. That doesn't get you just a little peeved?"
"If 'peeved' means angry, then yes." Seiji replied. "I will not let it affect me though. I plan to be the nastiest thing those buzzards have ever eaten." He sighed.
"This shit sucks!" Ryo stood up and kicked his cage's bars fiercely.
"I'd know that cussing voice anywhere!" Sye laughed. Ryo was overjoyed and laughing happily when he saw Sye and Sephiroth come down the cave toward them.
"Sye!" Ryo yelled happily. "I don't know what the hell you're riding, but I'm glad to see you!"
As Sye came closer Ryo reached out for him and Sye took his hand.
"We'll get you out, man. Don't worry." Sye sighed pulling back his hand.
"What happened to you? You look pale. Where's Seiji? Is he alright? How about Rowen? What happened?"
"Calm down." Sye whispered. "I'll tell you everything, but bare with me here. I can't even walk anymore."
"Why!" Ryo snapped furiously.
"Poison." Sye whispered. "Here's how it went down. Rowen, me, and Seiji landed in this garden like thing and then all these guards surrounded us. Seiji and me were hurt bad and they mistook me for this guy." Sye pointed to his double, who stood next to the general's cage. "That's Sephiroth an advisor to this Prince Ryo Fay Soma, dude."
"Yeah. Does that guy really look like me?" Ryo asked a bit nervously. "I mean, did Seiji mistake him for me too?"
"Yeah." Sye nodded. "We got all that worked out quick though. Anyway, they thought our Seiji, was this dude." Sye pointed to the general. "They thought Rowen had hurt us both because they hadn't seen him before. You follow?"
"Yeah, I think."
"Ryo healed Seiji and me though. He has some sort of healing power and we were fine. Well, then me, my double, Rowen, his double, and Seiji, were all in this prince-guy's palace. We sorted everything out by our stories and figured that it was Aries that had kidnapped you two, so we decided we had to go save you and so we took off on our journey."
Ryo noticed Sye was using a lot of slang and little care for how he spoke. It had to have something to do with why he seemed so weak and pale, that he was being so careless with his speech.
"Did Prince Ryo come with you?" Seiji interrupted.
"Yeah." Sye replied. "His father and he had this huge fight, but Ryo ended up coming with us. We each had a horse and food to start, but as our journey progressed, we stopped for a rest and we were attacked. I saw this weapon in the woods and I saw it was aimed for Ryo so I jumped in front of it before he could be hurt."
"Oh, my Lord, Sye!" Ryo gasped, cursing himself inwardly that he wasn't there to help.
Sye smiled.
"You were serious when you said you would do anything for me?" Ryo realized.
"Absolutely." Sye replied, smiling. "Damn thing impaled me and Seiji took it out after the fighting was over. It had had poison on the tip of it though, so now that's in me. Ryo healed the wound, but he couldn't get rid of the poison. He's says I'm going to die from it, but Rowen thinks if we get all of us back home quick enough he can get me to a hospital and I'll be fine, but I don't know." He paused at that morbid thought, then moved on with a small smile. "Anyway, we pushed on and I rode with Ryo so I wouldn't fall off the horse." He paused to catch his breath.
"Sye, I'm so sorry." Ryo whispered, fretting.
"Don't be. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't anyone's. It was my own choice." He smiled again, trying to lighten the mood.
"We made it to a rope bridge." Sephiroth continued. "It was not very sturdy looking at all and it creaked bad. All of us made it across safely, then Asriel came across and the bridge broke."
"Who's Asriel?" Ryo asked.
"Rowen's double." Sye answered. Ryo nodded.
"Who is Rowen?" Seiji wondered.
"My lover." Sephiroth whispered, blushing.
"What holds true in Heaven…" Ryo whispered smirking and shaking his head. "Keep going."
"The bridge broke and he was just barely able to jump off his horse and make it to the other side. Now we had two less horses, so I had him ride with me. After that we came across a dead valley and it was nighttime so we had to find a place to stop, but we were being tracked. Wolfoz were hot on our trail."
"What's a Wolfoz?" Ryo asked. They all pointed to Wolf. "Oh." Ryo said with understanding, then as he reconsidered the information he raised his brow. "Huh?"
"We're getting there." Sye told him. "They fought off and killed all the Wolfoz except this one, who was injured. I made Ryo leave him alone, so we left and found a cave nearby. This Wolfoz came hopping in a little bit later and I shared some of my food with him. He became our ally and carried me here this whole way."
"Amazing." Seiji mumbled leaning against the bars. "Wolfoz are supposedly untamable." He sighed. "He must really respect you."
Wolf nodded and sneezed.
"Yes, it is cold in here." Sye nodded. "I don't feel so good." He slumped over. "I can't… we better find the others and… leave." His eyes half closed, but he remained awake.
"How long has he had that poison in him?" Seiji asked hastily.
"Three days." Sephiroth answered. Ryo seemed even more distressed.
"Those were probably assassins of the Boar Clan, according to your story. That is no good." Seiji shook his head. "He should be dead already."
"No!" Ryo growled. "Sye, I'm so sorry I dragged you into this!"
"It was my decision." Sye repeated calmly. "Wolf, do you think you could pry that lock open?"
The Wolfoz shook his fur lazily and clamped his jaws over the rusty metal of Ryo's lock. It snapped open easily between his teeth. The lock fell to the floor as Wolf stepped away. Ryo shoved the door open and ran up to Sye. The Wolfoz didn't seem to mind Ryo at all.
Ryo leapt up onto the Wolfoz behind Sye and they embraced.
"Even though you were saving the other me, I still feel responsible and honored that you would actually do that for me."
"You're the best friend I've ever had." Sye smiled. "I would do anything to protect and help you."
"If I didn't know that Seiji would be angry with me for it, I would kiss you, you wonderful person." They embraced again.
"You have to go save Seiji and the others. We'll take Seiji and head outside." Sye whispered to Ryo.
"Alright." Ryo got off of Wolf and started to run out.
"Wait!" Seiji yelled. "I am coming with you!" Seiji yelled to Ryo.
"No, go with them!" Ryo yelled back.
"If you do not wait for me I will track you down anyway!" Seiji yelled.
Wolf bit his lock off as if it were merely a cracker and Seiji dashed over to Ryo.
"Fine." Ryo snapped. "Don't get in my way!" He paused and started to run out. "Sye, get going, now! You shouldn't stay here, Aries might come after you!" With that Sephiroth and Sye started to leave.
After they made it to the entrance to the cave they turned and saw their friends already climbing the mountain.
"Go to the top, Ryo! That's where they'll be!" Sye shouted after them. Ryo nodded and gestured for them to leave. Sye and Sephiroth took off across the bridge and realized it was starting to get dark.
They better hurry! Sye thought painfully. He worried for Ryo suddenly and his beloved Rowen, then he started to feel blackness creep up on him.
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