Chapter Eight

Other World

Part 2

"Huh?" Ryo opened his eyes to an unfamiliar room. His head was throbbing as he sat up.

"Whoa. Easy now," A voice said to him. He turned to see who the voice belonged to. Standing by his bed was a beautiful young woman that looked about his age. And that wasn't all. She had black hair and animalistic blue eyes. It was almost like looking in a mirror for Ryo, only he was looking at a girl. "You shouldn't move."

"I'm fine," Ryo looked around the room. The others haven't woken up yet. They were laying down on more beds in the hospital looking room. There was an older woman leaning over Cye. She looked like some kind of doctor. Her hands were hovered over Cye and radiating a dark purple glow over his body. There was a girl standing next to her with straight, shoulder length sandy brown hair with sea blue eyes. Another weird connection. That girl kinda looked like Cye. Ryo placed his hand on his face as his head throbbed harder. "What's going on?"

"You're fine. You're in the palace," The girl sat down on the bed, facing him. She placed her fingers on his forehead. A warm red glow flowed over Ryo. He felt some kind of connection with this girl. A silver circlet formed on his forehead with the ends at the center of his forehead curled up leaving a place for some kind of jewel that was missing. His headache was gone when she pulled her hands away from him.

"The palace? What?" Ryo looked at her while rubbing the circlet.

"You have been teleported to my world. A world of magic and mystery," She smiled. "My name is Lira. I am Guardian Fairy of Fire."

"Guardian Fairy of Fire?" Ryo asked. That must be why I felt a power connection with her. "What are we doing here? Where's Sage and Rena?"

"It's alright. They will be here soon," Lira replied.

"Oh, my head!" Kento grumbled as he woke up.

"You'll be fine," A girl, same age as the other two, place her fingers on his forehead.

"What are you doing?" Kento demanded and pulled away from her. His head throbbed harder.

"If you will stop trying to be a tough guy, I can make those headaches go away," She narrowed her eyebrows at him.

"What?" Kento asked.

"Just shut up and let me help you," She crossed her arms. "Well?"

"Ok," Kento replied. She replaced her fingers on his forehead. Ryo watched as a orange glow appeared and formed a silver circlet just like Ryo's on his forehead. This girl even looked like Kento with short, wild bluish grey hair and blue eyes.

"The name's Rin. I am Guardian Fairy of Earth," Rin said.

"Kento," Kento snapped. "Where's Rena? And Sage! They got separated from us!"

"They'll be here soon. A friend is out looking for them," Rin replied then got up and moved away from him.

"This is too weird," Ryo mumbled as he looked around. The rest of his friends started to wake up. He noticed another girl in the room that looked like Rowen. She had long blue hair, part of it was pulled back in a ponytail tied with a dark blue ribbon and blue eyes. Ryo wondered if he was dreaming.

"No. This is not a dream. It is very real," Ryo whipped around to Lira. Did she read his mind?

"What's going on?" Mia asked. She was now sitting up on her bed and looking around. "Where's Sage and Rena?"

"I don't know," Ryo replied.

"Rena!" Rowen shot up in bed in a panic. He looked around. When he didn't see her he jumped out of bed only to get hit with a serious headache that made him drop to the floor. "Ah!"

"Calm down," The girl Rowen kneed down in front of him. He looked at her.

"I can't! I have to find her!" Rowen winced.

"You're not going to find anyone in that condition," She replied and placed her fingertips of her left hand on his forehead. With a dark blue glow another silver circlet appeared. "Better?"

"Yes," Rowen nodded. "Thanks. But I have to go now!"

"You're not going anywhere," The girl said.

"What? I need to find my friends!" Rowen snapped. "Rena is very important to me! I'm not going to let her..."

"She and your other friend are going to be just fine. Lucio went to get them," She said in a firm voice.

"Lucio?" Rowen asked.

She nodded. "My name is Sky. I am the Guardian Fairy of Stars."

"Sky? Guardian Fairy of Stars?" Rowen questioned. He felt confused. His brain was foggy. Sky offered him her hand and she helped him back to the bed.

Cye was the last to wake up. The same happened with him. He also had a headache and the girl who looked like him created a light blue glow and a circlet formed on his forehead. He lazily looked around. "Where am I?"

"In the palace. You're safe. My name is Current," She smiled shyly at him. "I am Guardian Fairy of Water."

"So, what's going on?" Kento asked. "Why can't we go after Rena and Sage?"

"Cuz' you know nothing about this place. You'd get lost or killed," Rin replied.

"Says you! I'm strong you know!" Kento snapped.

"Nice comeback," Rin rolled her eyes. "Shadows are everywhere. You won't survive here."

"What was that?" Kento jumped off the bed.

"Chill, Kento. There's no point in yelling. We are in a strange place," Ryo said in his leader tone.

"Yeah. Whatever," Kento plopped down on the bed and crossed his arms.

"Ye younglings always in a hurry," The old medicine woman shook her head. The girls looked at each other with guilty expressions.

"Yes, ma'am," They replied. They obviously had high respect for this woman.

"Ye might do well to listen to these young ladies. Ye strangers are not here from this time or place. Ye are not of our magic," She spoke softly and with wisdom. "All ye questions shall be answered when our princess is returned to her throne."

"Princess?" Mia asked. She was the only one who didn't get any headaches.

"That's right," Lira nodded. "You're friend, Rena. Is our princess."

"What?" Everyone yelled.

Rena was holding Sage in her arms, crying and trying to keep a barrier up around them. The shadow creature had followed them and was attacking. Sage tried to call his armor but his headaches had doubled the second they were in this world. He immediately collapsed. Rena was trying her best to keep both of them safe but she was starting to run out of power. I can't hold on much longer. Lucio, where are you?

"R-Rena. Get away. Run," Sage groaned through the pain. Rena shook her head. There was no way she was going to leave him. "Rena. D-Don't stay because of me. Get out."

Rena shook her head with more intensity. Never! I will never leave you! NEVER!

The shadow creature took one more hit to the shield and it vanished. "Now...you DIE!"

It swooped in for the kill. Rena wrapped her arms around Sage and closed her eyes. She waited for the final strike but all she got was a sudden gasp from the creature. She looked up to see that it had been hit by Lucio. Rena mouthed a silent reply. "Lucio!"

"Welcome, Princess," Lucio smiled. The creature slithered away from them.

"You won't win, Guardian Fairy of Light. This war will be mine!" It hissed at them then went away.

- Lucio! He's hurt! Do something! -

"It's alright, Rena," Lucio smiled. He was tall with short honey blonde hair and violet eyes. Defiantly another version of Sage. "He'll be just fine."

Lucio placed his fingertip on Sage's forehead and formed a silver circlet with a green glow. Sage relaxed and fell asleep. Rena tightened her arms around him. "Come. We need to get out of here."

Lucio kneeled down and pick up Sage. He threw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He held out his hand and she took it. She stood up and he put his arm around her waist. "Hold on. I don't want to use this, but he needs medical attention."

Rena nodded. Lucio began to glow and his pure white angel like wings appeared. With a quick flap of his wings the small group was in the air. Rena tightened her grip on him and hid her face in his neck. He gave her a light squeeze. He could feel how tired she was just from touching her.

"Hn," Sage moaned as he slightly opened his eyes. He blinked and things began to clear up. He found himself in an unfamiliar room with an old lady looking down at him. Her grey and white hair pulled back in a loose bun and strains were hanging around her wrinkled face. She smiled.

"'Bout time ye woke," She chuckled. "Ye been sleeping for three days."

"Three days?" Sage asked.

"That's right. Ye power connections are a pain in the wings, let me say," She shook her head. "Yet, I never seen such a one as this in all mine years. Ye power strains were far worse than ye friends."

"What? Power strains?"

"That be them. Such a nasty little devil it is."

"What are these power strains?"

"Ah! Ye don't know? How is it possible that ye know nothin' about ye powers attached to that of ye..."

"That will be enough, Lady Healer," The two turned their attention to the Sage look alike standing in the door. He was dressed in a prince outfit with a light green tint to it and a green sash strung from his left shoulder to his right hip.

"As ye wish, Sir Lucio," Lady Healer bowed her head and scurried off to other business.

"I'm glad you are awake," Lucio smiled at him. "Rena was really worried about you."

"Rena. How is she? Is she alright?" Sage sat up but dropped back down out of exhaustion.

"Relax. She's fine," Lucio walked closer to him. He narrowed his eyebrows at the bearer of Halo. "Using her powers as much as she did wasn't good for her. She slept for almost two days. Then it took several hours to pry her from your side."

"She's ok," Sage repeated.

"For now. It's not good for her to use her powers without the proper training," Lucio glared at him. "You could have killed her."

"What?" Sage's eyes popped open. Was that really true?

"Lucio!" The boys looked at the newly arrived Lira. She was wearing a similar outfit to Lucio's with a light red, almost pink tint to it, wearing a red sash, going from her right shoulder to left hip, and glaring at Lucio with her hands on her hips. "You know full well that it is not his fault!"

"Sorry," Lucio winked and stuck his tongue out at her.

"Please, ignore him," Lira smiled at Sage. "He has issues. Princess Rena is just fine. Yes, she was worried about you but it wasn't your fault. So think nothing more of it, Sir Halo."

"That's good. Wait...Princess Rena? Sir Halo?" Sage asked. "What do you mean?"

"It's along story. You need to get rest before we tell you the mission she is on," Lira replied.

"Can I see Rena?" Sage asked.

"No," Lucio said flatly.

"Lucio!" Lira punched him in the arm. "Of course you can. I will send word to her that you are awake."

Lira clapped her hands and a page scrambled into the room. "Lady Fire, what is your wish?"

"Please, take word to the princess that Sir Halo is awake," Lira ordered politely.

"Yes, ma'am," The page bowed then left the room.

A few minutes later Rena appeared in the doorway. She had her hands collapsed in front of her and a light pink brushed across her cheeks as she stared down at the floor. Sage eyed her up and down. Rena was wearing a pure white dress that was sleeveless, the bodice hugged her chest tightly and was cut just a couple inches above her belly button, the skirt flowed freely down to the floor covering her feet. Her hair was pulled up in several curls with some hanging to frame her face , she worn a silver tiara holding five gems that were identical in color to the ronin armors and a gold wrist cuffs on each wrist and one on the upper part of her left arm.

"Rena?" Sage asked as he stared at her. He just realized that he had never seen her in a dress before.

"Princess Rena," Lira bowed to her. Rena blushed harder, obviously not use to so much attention.

"Aw! She's so cute when she's embarrassed!" Lucio squealed and threw his arms around her, rubbing his cheek on hers. Sage twitched.

"Lucio!" Lira whacked him on the head. "You know better than to treat the princess like that! Show her respect!"

- It's ok. You don't have to be so formal. -

"Sorry, Princess. It's our duty to treat you as such. Please, excuse us. We have work to do," Lira bowed to her and headed for the door.

"I'm gonna stay here a while," Lucio said.

"Oh no you're not!" Lira grabbed his ear and tugged.

"Ow! OWOWOWOWOWOWOW! ALRIGHT!" Lucio cried out. Lira let him go.

"I must leave you now, my princess," He took her hand and kissed it, with Sage watching carefully. "I won't be gone long. We have much to talk about."

Rena nodded. Lucio's eyes sparkled as he hugged her again then kissed her cheek. "OH! You are just too cute!"

"You moron!" Lira grabbed his ear again and dragged him out of the door. Rena watched in confusion as the two left. Rena then turned her attention to Sage. He was staring down at the blanket with a soft, confused look on his face. She walked over to him and he looked up at her.

- You ok? -

"Yeah," Sage nodded as he looked away from her. "Just tired."

Rena stood there and watched him. She studied him. He didn't look back at her. She flung her arms around him as she sat down on the bed. She hid her face in his shoulder and cried. Sage gave her a confused look before wrapping his arms around her and stroking her hair. "It's ok, Rena. I'm fine. It's ok."

Mean while, outside the infirmary door, Lira and Lucio were standing on each side of the door, listening to Sage comfort Rena. Lucio clenched his fists and narrowed his eyebrows. Lira glanced over at him. "Lucio, you know you can't..."

"Shut up," Lucio growled then walked away. Lira watched him go before walking off in the opposite direction.

Later that night Rena was sitting, very comfortably, on her throne as the others stood around, mostly looking at each other. White Blaze was lying on the floor by her throne, a request from Ryo to keep an eye on her. Kento was getting really tired of all of this quiet and finally piped up. "You people gonna tell us what the heck is going on?"

"Fairies!" Rin snapped.

"What?"

"We're fairies."

"Whatever." Kento rolled his eyes.

"Calm down, Kento," Ryo ordered. "Is anyone going to tell us what is going on here? Why is Rena your princess?"

"Yeah. How can she be your princess if she was born on Earth?" Rowen asked. All the boys were dressed in the traditional clothing of the fairies. The outfits were similar to that of Lucio's only without the sash. Mia was dressed in a maroon dress with one strap going on her left shoulder and a matching choker, her hair was pulled back with a maroon ribbon.

"Rena, as I'm sure she has told you, was kissed by magic when she was born. She has been chosen to save our kingdom," Lucio replied.

"We know that already," Rowen said.

"Look it's kind of hard to explain. Let's see," Lira placed her hand under her chin in a thinking manner.

"Basically, when ever this magic world is in danger a human will be born and kissed by magic," Sky started to explain. "She grows up in the human world until the danger has come to great for the fairies to handle. The princess will have to give knighthood to her truest followers and together with the magic powers of Guardian Fairies..."

Mia noticed how all of the Guardian Fairies suddenly became tense as Sky was talking about that part. "...the knights and the princess will free the magic world from the clutches of the Shadow Creature."

"Sounds familiar," Cye noted with sarcasm. The ronins chuckled.

"It's really not the time for the princess to face the Shadow Creature," Rin stated. "But somethings are just out of our control."

"Thanks to a certain green armored chap," Lucio glared at Sage. Sage met him with a glare of his own.

"How is this my fault?" Sage demanded.

"You weren't suppose to go into her fantasy world! You're power allowed that stupid creature to follow Rena into the human world! It feeds off you humans stupid inability to believe in magic!" Lucio yelled.

"Lucio!" Lira snapped. "That is enough! He knew nothing about that! You can't blame him!"

"Can't I? You know how important Rena is to us!"

Rena formed a small energy blast and shot it to the middle of the room to grab there attention. She shot to her feet and narrowed her eyebrows at Lucio. White Blaze looked up at her lazily before laying back down. Typical tiger. - That's enough! It wasn't Sage's fault! I should have been able to keep him from entering into that world but I didn't. If it's anyone's fault it's mine. -

"I'm sorry. Forgive me, Rena," Lucio bowed to her. She nodded.

"So, the knights and Rena will battle it out with this creature," Mia asked. "Will you be assisting them in the battle? And who are the knights?"

"The knights are standing right there," Rin pointed at the ronins.

"US?" They asked.

"Why us? Not that we wouldn't help Rena," Kento said. He gave a wink at Rena. "We love her. But why does it have to be us? We don't have magic like you do. We have our armors so we can..."

"You're armors will not work here," Rin said.

"What?" Kento asked.

"You're! Armors! Will! Not! Work! Here!" Rin replied talking as if Kento couldn't understand her.

"I heard you then first time! I mean why not?"

"They won't work because magic outside of this world cannot work here. We're not sure why. All we know is magic from another world isn't allowed to work here," Lucio replied.

"Yeah. Right," Kento rolled his eyes.

"Then go ahead and try calling on your armors," Rin shrugged.

"Fine. Armor of Hardrock..."

"Wildfire..."

"Torrent..."

"Strata..."

"Halo..."

The remaining group watched as nothing happened.

"W-What?" They blinked, confused.

"Told you," Rin smirked.

"Then, how are we suppose to help Rena if we can't use our armors?" Ryo asked.

"We should go eat. Tomorrow Princess Rena will begin her quest of knighting you five," Lucio said then the girls headed for the dinning hall. Lucio walked up to Rena, offered his arm and escorted her out.

"Did you notice how they sidestepped Ryo's question?" Mia leaned over and whispered into Cye's ear.

"Yeah. I'm getting the feeling that they are hiding something," Cye nodded in agreement. "It's kind of weird that these Guardian Fairies share similarities with us."

The ronins and Mia followed the others into a grand dinning hall. There was a place set for each of them. Rena was at the head of the table, on her left was Sage, Rowen, Ryo, Mia, Cye and Kento, while on her right sat Lucio, Lira, Rin, Sky and Current. Servants rushed around the room placing the last of the meal on the table. One of them place a large plate of meat on the floor for White Blaze. The tiger happily purred at the food and dug in.

"So, what exactly is Rena suppose to do to knight us?" Rowen asked.

"She will go on a small quest with each of you. You are suppose to protect her and reach a certain destination where you will each find a gem that belongs on the middle of your circlets," Sky explained.

"I still don't understand how we are suppose to do anything if we don't have our armors," Cye said.

"The quest will be within your element. You do not have to worry about it," Current quietly replied. Cye looked at her. She blushed and looked down at her plate. Cye smiled. He could feel a connection with her.

Rowen walked down the long hall of the castle. He couldn't sleep. And not because of his usual reasons. This place was just to new. There was too many questions unanswered. Plus, he was worried about Rena. The ronins did a little exploring after Lucio returned Rena and Sage to the castle. Kento's first thoughts of the place was that Cinderella would be jealous if she saw this place. The castle itself was huge.

It had several different flower gardens surrounding it as well as over a hundred different fountains place at random in the gardens. There was a few trees as well. A fair distance was a village that spread out like a hand fan around the castle. They hadn't gotten to the village yet but it looked quite peaceful. Beyond the village was dark clouds. One of the attendants to the gardens told them that it was the domain of the Shadow Creature and to never go there without the Guardian Fairies.

Rowen raised his gaze from the floor to see his friends. "Looks like we all couldn't sleep."

"That room is way too big. It's like ten times the size of my house. And my house is pretty big with five kids living there," Kento said.

"I'm not use to such a big room either," Ryo nodded. "I'm also worried about Rena."

"Me too," Cye said.

"We all are," Mia said.

"Let's go in," Kento said as he opened the giant doors to Rena's room. They all were surprised to see Rena was awake. She smiled and waved at them, obviously expecting them. White Blaze didn't even look up at his human friends as they filed into the room. "Hey, Pretty Princess!"

- Very funny. -

"What?" Kento shrugged then plopped down on the giant bed next to her. Rowen sat on her other side while the remaining friends sat down and faced them.

- I was wondering when you'd show up. How are you all doing? -

"Fine," Kento smiled. Nothing bothered him.

"I'm ok," Rowen replied. "A bit concerned about you."

- I'm fine. -

"We're all fine. We're just worried about what they are expecting you to do. Are you sure you can handle it?" Ryo asked.

- Yes. I will be fine. I know Lucio would never lead me into danger. - Rena looked at Sage. He was refusing to look at her. Rena crawled on her knees and hands to crawl over to him. She lifted his chin so he would look at her. Her eyes revealing the question she wanted to ask.

"I'm fine, Rena. Just a bit tired," Sage replied averting his eyes from hers. Rena sat down on her legs and took his face in her hands. Sage had no choice but to look at her. She tucked his hair behind his ears, smiled and kissed his cheek. The others chuckled as Sage blushed.

"Rena?" Rena turned her attention to Cye. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

- Yes. Why? -

"I'm just not sure. I just have this feeling that they aren't telling us something," Cye sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Rena studied his face before looking around at them all.

- Do you all feel this way? -

The group exchange guilty glances. - I see. -

Rena sat next to Sage and hugged her knees. They all waited quietly. - Well, I've know Lucio since I moved to the states. I know he wouldn't let anything happen to me and I know you all won't either. I don't know what is going to happen on this mission but I'm glad you all came with me. With you all here, by my side, I know we will get through this. So, can I count on you? -

The group exchanged glances again. Kento was the first to pipe up. "Of course you can!"

"You bet," Cye nodded.

"We'll always be here for you, Rena," Ryo smiled.

"You know I'm here for you," Rowen said.

"Me too. I know I can't fight with you but I'm going to learn everything I can about this Shadow Creature and see if he has any weaknesses," Mia said. Rena smiled at them then looked to the one that hasn't spoke yet. Sage had his eyes closed. He opened his eyes and looked at her. His expression was soft and unreadable. There was a mix of emotions mixing around in his eyes. Sage leaned over and whispered into her ear. The others watched in confusion to the quiet whisper between them.

"I will always be by your side,"