Alvina needed air. Good thing for her that this was her lunch period. She roamed around the courtyard and found a quiet place by the edge of the forest. She sat in the shade of an oak tree and played with the grass near the trunk of the tree.
She felt terrible. She wasn't supposed to let go like that. That was supposed to stay secret. But of course, everyone in that room now knows what a freak she was.
"What sick Supreme Being thought it would be funny to curse me with fish properties?" she asked the heavens in Italian, so no one would understand what she was saying. "Did you think it would be funny to put a fish on land and see what the humans would think? Huh? I demand to know. This isn't fair to me to be a damn lab rat for You. I mean, I might as well be a damned-to-hell walrus for Chrissakes."
She leaned against the trunk of the tree, tears welling up behind her eyes. It was just the way her body formed. She came to that conclusion. It was some twisted chromosome that she got from God knows where. A chromosome that allowed her to hold her breath for three hours straight. A chromosome that made her body especially for the water. A chromosome that made her stronger than five grown men. Everyone back in Cardiff was correct in saying she was freak. That same chromosome made it possible for her to learn anything instantly. As a matter of fact, she was fluent in almost any language. Se could do almost anything.
I am such a fool to think I could leave all of this in Cardiff. I knew it would catch up with me sooner or later. I can't stay here. I'm packing up and I'm leaving.
She quickly got up and started towards the school, but ran into Cye.
"Alvina," he said, "I was looking everywhere for you."
"Keep looking," she said. She tried to walk away but Cye held on her.
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm not Alvina. At least, not the Alvina you knew three days ago."
"I don't understand," he said. "You're not making any sense. No, stop. Sit down, I want you to talk to me. I'll listen."
She looked at him through teary eyes. He was strong, but she was stronger. She just didn't want to break away. She gave in and fell to her knees, crying. Cye knelt down beside her and wiped away her tears. He waited until she regained most of her composure.
"I'm a freak," she said simply. "I was born like this. No one could understand. Everything I told you was a lie, the twisted truth to what I really am. I baffled specialists around the world in the field of genetics. They did blood test after blood test and they all came out with the same thing: I had an extra chromosome in my genetic make-up. My parents were clean. Both of them normal and my grandparents on both sides.
"I was an oddity. The specialists had no idea how I accumulated an extra chromosome. I grew up being home schooled. I never went outside save for summer for a few days to go surfing or swimming. I never had any friends. Nobody knew about me. The foreign exchange papers were lies. I did belong to a school, but I never went. I'm a freak of nature who would rather live in the sea or die alone than to be ridiculed and beat up for being different.
"I lost control in there. I hadn't gone swimming in three weeks prior to me coming here. The urge was too great for me to handle."
Cye listened with understanding. Being thrown into the Dynasty Wars wasn't much fun for him. He did what had to be done, but it was hard going back to normal. All five of them had changed, but they didn't know if it would make or break the life they once had. Being Dynasty free for the past three years helped them get used to being simple teens again. They were able to do things they couldn't do before; one of those things was finding someone to share your inner thoughts with. Cye was the only one who didn't have that.
Cye thought back to when Sam, Dania, Anna and Jay Lee learned about their secret. It took them a while to believe it and to come to terms with it, but they were fine. The kept the secret, and if they were to all have an argument and break up the next day, they would still keep the secret. That's how much they all loved each other.
Alvina needed to know that she wasn't alone. Cye held out his hand to her and looked into her eyes.
"I need to tell you something, but I can't say it here." Alvina took his hand and he pulled her to her feet. Cye led her through the woods to a far point where they were well hidden and far away from earshot. Cye made a quick scan of the area to see if they were alone. He turned to Alvina and took a deep breath.
"You remember what you said the first night at the manor?" he asked. "You know, when you said something about us being interested in the Legendary Ronin Warriors?"
"Yes, but… what does have to do with you? It's just an interest, right? They're only stories."
"No, they're not." Alvina and Cye both turned to look at the other four teens that had made their way through the brush. The looks on their faces told Alvina that something was up, but she couldn't understand.
"What do you mean they're not stories?" she asked. "I don't know where this is going."
"Did you notice anything out of the ordinary three years ago?" Sage asked. She looked at him and almost considered running.
"Everything's out of the ordinary in Cardiff," she said. "Everything everywhere is out of the ordinary when you think about it."
"But did you?" Ryo asked.
"Yes. Lots of things. Out of season tempests, ground leveling earthquakes where it shouldn't happen, droughts, and insanity raging in New York. I mean, the news said it was worse than usual."
Cye realized that this wasn't getting them anywhere. He had to pick a different tactic to telling her what needs to be said.
"Exactly how much do you know about the Ronin Warriors?" he asked, hoping that they could stay within task.
"Everything."
"Then start with the poem, if you know it." Alvina looked at Ryo. She wanted to laugh and kick all of their asses for making her feel more like a freak. But she went along anyway.
"Torch of spirit sought through five,
Drinking strength from immortal fire,"
"Ryo of Wildfire." Ryo said. Alvina watched as his eyes flashed with the immortal fire Wildfire was incorporated with. "Continue."
"The darkest prison sheds the light,""Sage of the Halo." Alvina saw his eyes flash green with the light.
"Churning beneath a swirl of salt,""Cye of the Torrent." Alvina saw the ocean in his eyes.
"Burning within a throne of rock,""Kento of Hardrock." His eyes glowed orange as he smiled at her friendly.
"Floating among the eyes of ages,
Un-mourned in the stream of the sky."
"Rowan of Strata." Alvina saw the stars dance in his eyes. She was stunned into silence. She baked up against the tree she was standing near. She looked at one boy to the next, making more sense of all of this.
"So they do exist," she said slowly, speaking more to herself. "The legend was true. My father spent countless hours working on the truth, working to find out if the Ronins do exist. Old Man Koji was right, they were both right. Nobody believed, but they never lost faith…"
The five boys gathered and stared at Alvina as she rambled on. Rowan had a strange look on his face.
"When she said 'Old Man Koji', you don't think she's talking about Mia's grandfather?" he asked.
"That's the only other Koji I know about doing research on us and our armors," Ryo said. "It has to be him. Somebody ask her."
"Alvina?" Cye said. Alvina came to an abrupt stop and looked at him.
"Did Old Man Koji have a granddaughter?"
"Yeah. I met her once. We were okay friends, but we drifted."
"What was her name?" Kento asked.
"Mia." They looked at each other. They were definitely talking about the same person. Cye was beginning to think she was in on the matchmaking as well.
"So, I'm not the only freak." Alvina straightened her posture and moved closer to the group. Her face was calm and her mind wasn't racing anymore.
"According to the information my father collected, the Dynasty would have made the comeback, try to take over the universe."
"We got rid of that threat," Rowan said. "It took a lot of time and effort and sacrifice on all of our parts."
"So, everything abnormal that happened then in New York and around the world, stemmed from you guys battling against evil?"
They all nodded. Alvina understood now. She knew it had to be true. She could sense it. She had that unnerving feeling of power when she first met them all. A different sense from each of them. She had never felt more comfortable with them than with anyone else. They knew how she felt, what it was like to have your life changed before your eyes. Above all… they care.
"Your secret is safe with me," she said.
"And yours is with us."
The rest of the day went by quickly. Lunch was nothing special, unless you call Kento trying to steal your food special. The six teens sat under a large oak tree, enjoying each other's company before lunch was over and they had to march back into the prison school. As Alvina desperately tried to stay awake in her Physics class, he decided to play a little game with the unaware teacher.
However, she couldn't go out with the plan, and received a detention. As she was making her way up to the teacher's desk, Darres "accidentally" stuck his foot out and tripped her, causing her to fall. The entire class broke out in laughter as the teacher looked at her with flaming eyes. She glared up at Darres who smirked at her.
The end of the day finally came. The group waited outside by the fountain for Alvina to be done with her detention. Finally around ten to four, she came running out of the school doors as one of the teachers chased after her.
"And don't let me catch you with another one again!" the husky woman screamed. Alvina came to a stop in front of the group and smiled. They were looking at her with puzzled looks on their faces. Alvina only laughed.
"What was that about?" Kento asked. Alvina smirked.
"Oh nothing," she said casually. "She just caught me playing with a condom."
"WHAT?" Alvina was literally thrown backwards a few feet with the sudden impact of the exclamation.
"Relax," she said with a mischievous smile. "I was only kidding. I asked her to do that so I could play a joke."
As they walked down the sidewalk, Alvina and Cye fell behind to talk about nothing in particular. But the joke Alvina played whacked his mind.
"Alvina, can I ask you something?"
"You already did."
"Really, I want to know…" He trailed off. Asking the question he was going to took a stiff upper lip to come out and say it. But his hesitation made it known to Alvina what he was going to ask.
"No, I'm not." She said. Cye looked at her and she looked back, thinking about the memory.
"Three years ago, I was thirteen and I was out walking at night after arguing with my mother. It was late, later than I should have been out. I was walking down this dark street I was familiar with to be the gang street. I was grabbed from behind, pulled into and alley, and left for scrap. The police found me half dead by the shore line earlier that morning.
"The doctors did tests, and they were all negative. I had three broken bones in three different places, major damage to my reproduction organ, and had my innocence torn and burned in front of me. 'Twas then that I started training in self-defense and learning to street fight. That answer your question?"
"I can't even imagine what that had to be like…"
"And you don't want to. It's the most devastating thing anyone, male or female, can have taken from them, especially at such an early age. But I hope that my first real encounter would be better and not as painful."
They were quiet for the rest of the way back to the manor. Cye never realized how long she was in Hell. Compared to her life, fighting the Dynasty seemed like a baby playing with his food. Alvina's gone through more hardships than they have together as a group.
Once at home, the six youths all sat around at the kitchen table to work on their mountains of homework. As usual, Rowan was done before all of them, but they were surprised when Alvina finished before him.
"What's your IQ?" Rowan asked, looking up from his difficult Physics paper.
Alvina scrunched her face in concentration as she thought about it.
"Two hundred and eighty…five? Yeah, that's it." They all dropped their mouths.
"That's not normal…" Rowan said.
"I'm not normal," Alvina pointed out. "I never was."
After the homework was finished, dinner was made, Kento was chased out of the kitchen, Alvina made fun of Sage's hair, dinner was eaten and a movie was watched. After the movie was finished, they were all yawning enough to detach their jaws from their heads. One by one, they all trudged up the stairs to bed, Cye and Alvina being the last two awake and the last to head upstairs after everything was shut down for the night.
Cye followed Alvina to her door. He really didn't know why.
"Take it easy, Lover Boy," Alvina said playfully. "Don't go thinking that I would let you anywhere near my bed, even if we found out that we have tons in common."
Alvina smiled her mischievous smile as Cye's face turned a deep cherry red.
"Well, I guess I'll say goodnight then. Goodnight."
"Goodnight." Cye nodded his head and started down the hall to his room. Alvina took a deep breath and walked out of her room.
"Cye?" He turned and stiffened when she got close. Alvina looked away from him for a few seconds before she quickly leaned up and placed a small kiss on his lips before dashing back to her room and closing the door.
Cye was in shock. He stood there in the middle of the hallway like a statue. He lost all train of thought, all sense of time and motion. For all he cared, he could have been there for hours. Apparently he had when Ryo stumbled upon him on his way to the bathroom.
"Hey, earth to Cye. Buddy, you in there?"
"Uh huh…" Cye slightly came out of his daze, but only enough to move his body the rest of the way to his room and into the covers of his bed. He didn't even bother to get undressed. Ryo watched his friend with a cautious eye.
When Sage came out of his room, he noticed that Ryo was standing at Cye's door. He walked over to him and looked inside.
"Sage," Ryo said. "Look at his face. What do you see?"
Halo looked at Torrent. His face was slightly flushed, even in the darkness. He was calm, and he was dreaming, a small smile on his lips. Sage wondered what would have him like that, but the thought hit him in the head at the same time it did Ryo. They looked at each other, smiled, shook each other's hands in accomplishment and made their way back to their rooms.