A/N: I'm sorry this took so long to come out, but I will try updating more often than this. I won't trouble you with excuses about school, or work. I'll just let your minds weave my problems for me and tell you that I will try my damnedest to do better.
Thank you, reviewers! I love you all! –smooch-
Chapter 14
Ryo could finally wrap his arms around Seiji. His Seiji. Even though they were trapped, it didn't matter because they were trapped together.
Aries had them and it was really pissing them off, but they were together and it made them happy. The sorcerer loomed over them, loathing their happiness.
"You are about to die and you are acting as if you've just come from a lovelystrollthrough the forest! What is wrong with you?"
"Love is something you'll never understand!" Seiji growled glaring hatefully at the man that had taken Ryo from the streets and started all this.
"You are right. I won't. The prince does though and now that I have both Ryo's here, I can just use the Prince, whom I've wanted revenge on for a while, and let my prince have you." He laughed talking about Ryo.
Prince Ryo stood next to General Seiji as they both groaned hatefully.
"Call your fucking dragons!" Ryo spat. "I'll take them on." He balled his hands into fists, punching one into his open hand hard.
Aries started to laugh hysterically. He walked over to the only other cage in the room and pulled Asriel out by his hair, a sword drawn to his throat.
In the dreary room there were stone walls surrounding them, but this room was the largest of all. It was fifty yards in distance and width and twice that tall. There was an opening in the ceiling, allowing the remainder of sunshine to enter and illuminate the room, but it was fading fast and would soon become moonlight, which would mark the beginning to this ceremony.
On the walls shackles were latched seven feet up so you would have to reach your arms up and stand on tiptoes if you were short.
Aries shackled Asriel and laughed cynically as he walked across the room under the sunlight and looked at the floor under himself. It was covered by a black slab that was at least six feet wide. On the wall directly in front of it was another black slab, but it was nothing, only blackness. It remarkably didn't shine at all from the light, even though it was perfectly smooth. The black just seemed to absorb the sunlight. Directly behind Aries on the far wall there was a mirror that was angled. It was high on the wall, very far up there.
The slab Aries stood on glowed green as the sunlight completely disappeared. He stepped off of it and smiled deviously. Green letters appeared on the black slab on the floor as the moonlight started to filter in.
"Neither life nor death." Aries read and the slab moved itself. It actually angled up so that whatever light came in bounced off the slab and onto the mirror up on the high wall.
The mirror reflected it onto the slab on the wall and more letters illuminated themselves there.
"Take my soul. I freely give my spirit and allow it to be damned for this which I wish to be granted." A rumbling started and Aries turned back to the cage holding everyone except for Rowen who was in the other cage Asriel had been in. Aries walked over with his keys. "Prince Ryo, if you would be so kind as to step out of the holding cell."
"I will not." Prince Ryo crossed his arms and frowned.
"Then I will behead your friend." He gestured to Asriel. "It tastes the same to the dragons."
"Go ahead. He is no part of the court." He shrugged.
"You may not care for him, but what about you personal advisor? Do you think he would really be very happy with you to find out you let his lover die, by my hand no less." He chuckled.
Ryo walked up to the door of the cell shaking his head. "You're going to feed the rest of us to that goddamned dragon anyway, so why should it matter?"
"Ah!" Aries laughed and reached through the cell petting Ryo's hair. Ryo stepped away slapping the man's hand away from him. "Not you, my friend. My prince has personally requested I keep you alive. The rest I can feed to the dragons though. And there are two of them." He turned to Prince Ryo. "I will just keep killing them until I get down to your precious general." He smirked. "Wouldn't you just love to watch him die in your arms?"
"Rot in Hell, bastard!" Ryo screamed, his rage boiling over.
"For this, I will." He nodded and placed his sword against Asriel's throat.
The door swung open by the power of Aries' mind.
Prince Ryo hesitated, but walked out onto the black slab which stood quite a distance away from them. As soon as his foot was clear of the door, it slammed shut against any more escapers. Not that anything could rightly be done without a threat to Asriel's life though. How irritating! Damn it all!
Seiji glanced morbidly up at the grandeur of space in the room; he could just picture that entire space filled with two dragons of enormous size and growling bellies.
The Prince touched his hand to the slab on the wall and sighed as he allowed his magic to embrace the magic of the stones. It started to glow and he backed away, to the one on the floor and squatted to be able to see it more clearly. He was still shirtless and getting cold, but he ignored that. He started to speak in a language that none of them knew. It was an ancient language that seemed wrong for either world. He kept mumbling several phrases twice, then he seemed to be praying as he fell to his knees, tears flowing from his eyes, though none knew why. Perhaps it was that he was calling the very demons down that would kill his love, and new friends, or mayhap because of the pain, but it was most likely not the latter.
Smoke started to rise from the slab on the floor and figures started to becomevsible. Outlines of red started to manifest on the wall. A fire started to travel around the design of two dragons facing each other, their tongues intertwined and their bodies long and thin like in Chinese art.
"Prince." General Seiji whispered, his grip on the bars of their cage tightening. He tried to look away, but his gaze found its way back to Prince Ryo. He looked like he was becoming more and more tired. As if the very life inside of him was being torn out. He could barely hold up his arms toward the sky, but yethe remained poised and beautiful.
Inside the cages everyone was anxious and somewhat fearful, but not for their own lives.
The two figures inside the smoke became more and more visible, then a monstrous roar engulfed the room and prompted everyone to cover their ears, but Prince Ryo stayed without moving; he seemed to be in a trance, almost.
The two shapes became more and more clear. They weren't dragons of any kind, they weren't spirits either. They looked like human beings.
They were both –to Seiji's understanding- male, though he couldn't be sure. They were the same height and could have been twins if you didn't look closely at them. Their bodies were mirror images of each other.
Their eyes were narrow black slits. The lower lid of one of their eyes carried a tattoo of a black stripe that fell over their cheeks like tears. One had it on their left eye, the other on their right. Each of their hair colors and lengths were the same; short and flaring up, like flame. The color was like Ryo's hair: black. Only they had highlights of red in their hair, exactly mirroring the others. Their right and left arm entwined together as they stood side by side staring down on Prince Ryo. They were completely naked, but they had no organs, or belly buttons, or nipples. Just smooth skin where those parts were supposed to be. Their fingers entwined together. Their nails were long and clear, glassy almost.
Their entire bodies were black except for their faces which were more of a pale tan color. The black moved up their necks to their chins with one black stripe curling from under their ears. Their expressions were eerily blank.
Merely their presence caused everyone to hold their breath. They were beautiful and miraculous.
Aries started babbling something to himself. He talked quickly, then he started yelling and laughing maliciously -seeming to be losing what little there had been of his mind.
"I am your Master!" He yelled to the dragon men, but they still only looked at Prince Ryo. "Did you hear me? I am your Master! Obey me! Kill him!" He laughed again, but stopped when they didn't move.
Prince Ryo started to speak to them in the language he had been speaking before. He bowed his head and closed his hands together in a prayer.
They said something to him, speaking at the same moment, with the same tone and perfection.
Prince Ryo continued to speak to them respectfully as far as anyone could tell and they suddenly looked over to Aries, then at Asriel, who was chained behind him still, then the cage which held everyone else. All through this, Prince Ryo continued to speak, then looked up at them and still spoke, only with more emotion.
"Yes, I have sacrifices for you both!" Aries laughed and the dragon men looked at him simultaneously.
He pointed to Asriel who seemed even more fearful. Who were these dragon people going to listen to? Were they going to obey Areis and kill Asriel before they killed the rest of them?
What, perhaps, caused even more fear to course through the captives happened when Sye and Sephiroth suddenly appeared at the entrance.
"Gods!" Sye shouted as he entered quickly into the chamber on Wolf. They looked over to him quickly, their expressions blank, but intrigued somehow. Wolf wasn't nervous. He was brave and strong against these immortal creatures. Sye's voice boomed throughout the room, though he appeared so very weak and fragile. The occupants of the room wondered suddenly if he was very imposing to the dragon men."Aries is the one that gave up his soul! He is your sacrifice!" Sye pointed his hand weakly to Aries, who was frightened now.
"NO!" He screamed as they turned to him. The dragon man closest to Aries looked at his counterpart and released him. As he separated from his counterpart everyone in the room held their breath steadily.How very odd it was to see them move separately. How very frightening...
The mangracefully walked over to Aries.
Just by moving away from his counterpart, he struck fear into all of them. They didn't move as one anymore.
Aries was paralyzed with fear. He was looking down onto this shorter dragon man who merely walked up to him and stopped, and yet he was frightened beyond comprehension. The man reached his hand out to Aries, who didn't move at first, then he put his hand on the man's.
The dragon man pulled him closer and into an embrace. Not wanting to enrage the man before him Aries decided it better to obey.He had to crouch down slightly for it, but he relaxed soon enough and became fearful again when he looked up and saw the other half of this man standing where he had before… watching.
The man's grip tightened on Aries and he started to scream in fear, but the man nuzzled his head into Aries' neck. He opened his mouth and everyone in the cage could see his fangs which he dug into Aries' flesh. Aries cried out painfully, causing several of them to shiver from the sound.
The man never blinked or closed his eyes, he only drank the blood of Aries and they all heard his bones crack after a while. Crunch. The man dropped Aries. His bones had snapped, his neck was broken; he was dead. Not a drop of blood had been spilt or wasted on the dragon man. He walked back over to his position next to his counterpart and they again moved as one, now looking at Sye.
Sephiroth had jumped off of Wolf and now stood near the cage, wanting desperately to release his friends and get away from these... things!
Sye approached on Wolf slowly, but not fearing anything. The room was completely silent except for Wolf's footsteps closer.
"I was watching you before. I saw you, and I don't know how, but I understood your words. I am the speaker for the dead. Be free." Sye told them powerfully, though he appeared so weak. "I demand that you release yourselves from these stones and free yourselves of this hold. Fly free. That is my only wish; fly free." He whispered.
They looked at each other debating Sye's words, then they started to turn back to smoke and finally morphing their bodies into two gigantic dragons that barely fit in the room. They mumbled something to Sye in yet another language as they transformed. They burst from their place and barreled from the room, charging through the hole in the ceiling, causing rocks and debris to tumble down to the floor of the room, crack and breaking the stones that had held them captive for so long. Their black bodies flew off into the night quickly, and again with those same twin-like movements.
"Sye!" Rowen called out. "My God! Sye! How?"
Sye sleepily turned to Rowen.
Prince Ryo started to tentatively approach Sye as everyone else wanted to.
"He's dying." Prince Ryo whispered to them as he observed the glassy look to Sye's eyes. "The dragons listened to him because he will soon be a part of the dead world they belong to." He was in awe as he stared at Sye, feeling an even deeper level of respect for the soul that had saved them all, and yet wouldn't live to see the sun shine on his face again.
"Let them out." Sye told him weakly. Prince Ryo rushed to oblige, grabbing the keys from Aries' dead and decayingwrist and unlocking Asriel's shackles first, then Rowen, then the rest of them and they all tried to crowd around Sye, but Wolf wouldn't allow that. Sye may be dying, but if Wolf had anything to do with it, he at least wouldn't be suffocated.
He growled at them, then Sye groaned in pain and he laid down so Sye could get off.
"I'm sorry." Sye whispered hoarsely as Ryo grabbed him and pulled him off Wolf and into his arms.
"For what!" Ryo asked impatiently, trying to force the tears away that stung his eyes.
"For not barging in sooner." He sighed and they all frowned with worry and despair. Prince Ryo knelt beside him.
"He is dying. He will pass soon." He told them somberly.
"No!" Rowen fell down beside Sye and Seiji knelt next to Ryo caressing Sye's hair gently.
"How can we get back to our world!" Ryo asked desperately.
"It can only be done during the day time." Sephiroth told him with a grave expression plastered across his features. "Aries could do it at any time, but he was gifted with that power."
"No!" Ryo snapped, frustrated beyond belief. "He can't die!"
A/N: Cringes. Sorry I left you like that. I couldn't figure out how to divide this part, so… I had to leave off on a cliffie. –tear- Sorry! Please review if you liked the story and feel the desire to make me want to update more.