Guardian Souls
By: Ghost of the Dawn
Chapter Two: Across the Ocean
"Yo Ryo, wake up!"
Ryo popped open one eye when he heard his college roommate's voice call to him.
"Kento?" he asked as he squinted at him.
What did that fool want? They were on vacation at Mia's house and it was still dark outside. Why was that loudmouth waking him up so early?
When Ryo chose to ignore the call to rise he got a fist in the shoulder. That caused Ryo to whirl around in his sheets and attack Kento back. Both warriors got in a small tussle which caught them both in the bedding. Thus resulting in both of them falling on the floor in a mess of sheets and limbs. Undaunted even by this, Ryo was about to go back to sleep on the floor with half of Kento draped over him when Mia poked her head in.
"What are you two doing?" she demanded. "Get up and get packed. Right now."
This time, Ryo reluctantly sat up.
"Packed?" he asked as he looked at the clock. "It's five freaking thirty! What on earth are we packing for? And why at this hour?"
"We've got a plane to catch," Kento said as he pulled himself to his feet.
Ryo scratched at his wild bed hair and squinted at the form standing over him. Curse him for turning on the lights in the room.
"Plane?" he asked cluelessly.
Kento gazed down at the one he and his friends often looked to as the leader and placed his hands on his hips.
"Don't you remember anything that happened yesterday? We're going to go see Robyn."
Ryo was suddenly a bit more awake.
"Really? We are?"
"Yeah Mr. Ready-For-Anything. Our flight leaves at seven so we have to move fast."
Ryo was still left to wonder about a few other things as Kento marched off to other parts of the house.
It was still dark out when Ryo, now dressed, wandered down to the breakfast table. Kento, Miniko, and Mia were already there eating fruit and cereal-- the fasted breakfast that could be put together. Everyone looked tired.
"Hey Kento, didn't you wear that yesterday?" Ryo suddenly noticed.
Kento glared at him tiredly. "I didn't go to bed last night."
Ryo blinked. Why hadn't he noticed before how tired Kento looked?
"Both of us were up," Mia explained. "We spent all night trying to get everything together: booking tickets, finding addresses and phone numbers, making phone calls."
"Are Cye and Sage coming?" Ryo questioned again.
Miniko stopped in mid chew at the mention of the latter's name.
"I don't know," Mia replied. "The plane leaves so early and it's such short notice. Plus, they're so far away with school. I talked with Sage last night, but he sounded so dead tired, I don't know if he even understood what I was saying."
"And Cye?"
"I'm not sure where he is," Mia replied regretfully. "He studies off shore here and there from what I hear. I left messages for him everywhere I could think of. I don't know if he'll get them in time. I bought tickets for them, too. I hope they can make it. If not, we'll just have to leave without them."
Ryo paused from pouring his cereal. "You bought tickets for everyone?"
"Boy Ryo, you're just on the ball with these questions today," Kento chided sleepily.
But now Miniko was questioning, too.
"Everyone?" she repeated.
"Everyone," Mia smiled. "With a group rate, we got a pretty good deal on them. And don't worry guys, I know you're all poor college students. You can pay me back whenever you're able, okay?"
Ryo smiled at her and happily dug into his cold cereal. Miniko was having trouble believing she was going, too.
"Hey, did anyone wake up Rowen?" Kento suddenly wondered.
Mia's expression fell. "He's not feeling very well. I think it's because of his shoulder. I'm not very good with treating wounds like that. I'm not sure if he should go, but I don't think he'll stay here."
Ryo and Kento nodded. Rowen could be dying and they knew he would still insist on going on this trip. He would probably pack his own bags and hitchhike to the airport if he had to. "Um...I took a nursing class," Miniko spoke timidly. "Perhaps I could look at it...maybe?"
Kento raised a suspicious eye at her, but Mia smiled.
"That's a great idea. His room's upstairs on the left. I would appreciate anything you could do to help out."
Miniko paled for a moment. Mia was sending her upstairs by herself? She was just supposed to walk into Rowen Hashiba's room and ask him to take his shirt off? As if what she had done yesterday wasn't hard enough. Oh well. What's one more humiliation anyway?
Kento looked like he was going to follow Miniko upstairs, but Mia wouldn't allow it. Miniko trudged up to the second floor alone. Her steps became slower and smaller as little by little she reached Rowen's room.
The door was already open as Miniko peeked inside, hoping the resident wasn't in any position she didn't want to see. However, she was relieved to find Rowen at least half dressed sitting on his bed. He had pants and socks on and was scratching at the bandages that could clearly be seen wrapped around his bare chest.
"Um...excuse me?" Miniko said meekly as she shied in the doorway. She immediately noticed how pale Rowen was when he looked up. He really didn't look like he was feeling well.
"Mia sent me up here," she tried to explain. "I've had a bit of medical training and she thought I could help."
Rowen looked at her thoughtfully. "That's right," he said in a calm, almost weak voice. "I saw you in the medical wing of the college extension several timest."
Miniko blinked. She was surprised he remembered that about her. Though she did make herself a hard person to forget in high school. Not that she was too proud of it; especially now.
"Give it a look if you want," Rowen invited, turning sideways on the bed.
Biting her lip, Miniko slowly took the invitation. Her hands were shaking as she sat down and carefully started to remove the bandages. She couldn't believe how nervous she was. Why? Was it because she had been so horrible to him in the past? Was she expecting him to take revenge on her? Would he suddenly attack her now that they were alone? No, that didn't seem logical. She couldn't recall sensing any kind of hostility from him since the moment she saw him the day before. Despite that the wound she was nursing was really her fault.
"Thank you," she said softly, catching Rowen's attention. "Thank you for being so nice to me yesterday. I'm really sorry for what happened. For everything. I really was horrible to you and the others back then. I don't know what to say."
Rowen didn't turn around, but he did smile. "It's okay. One thing I've learned from being a Ronin Warrior is that no matter what they've done, people can always change. Plus, I guess since we're both connected with the same armor, we'll have to get along, right?"
"Yes, I suppose so," Miniko answered quietly.
She fully unbandaged the arrow puncture and bit her lip at what she saw. It still looked fresh! It appeared as though the body hadn't tried to heal it at all. No wonder he looked so horrible. Was something preventing it from healing perhaps? Maybe a piece of the arrow still stuck in the wound.
"How does it look?" Rowen then asked. "And don't lie to me."
Miniko smiled sheepishly. She had actually planned on sugar coating her diagnosis a bit before he had said that. "Honestly, it doesn't look too good," she admitted. "The body's having trouble healing it. But I'm not sure why."
Rowen slumped a bit as he furrowed his brow in thought. One hand slowly went to his shoulder as his mind churned. During his brain surgery, he had a chance to learn a bit of medical trivia. Still, he didn't come across anything that talked about this.
"I wish Sage was here," he mumbled to himself without thinking.
Again, Miniko almost winced at the name. He was the one she dreaded seeing most of all.
"You miss him?" she found herself asking. If she was in that situation, perhaps she would want a good friend to be with her as well.
"Well, yeah," Rowen smirked. "I guess that. But also because he's our healer."
There was a questioning look on Miniko's face at that statement.
"You know that Sage's armor is Halo, right?" Rowen asked.
Miniko shook her head.
"So, did you know what mine was before coming here?"
Another negative.
"I knew you five possessed the armors, but I didn't know who had what," Miniko admitted.
Rowen chuckled.
"So I guess we both got a surprise yesterday."
"Yes, though no one noticed mine with your fainting."
Rowen raised an eye brow at Miniko's smile.
"I'm sorry," Miniko quickly apologized. "I didn't mean to be rude."
Rowen chuckled to himself. She really had changed. And that fact alone made him wonder just what she had been going through to call on such a change in heart. In a way, it made him smile. If there was hope for Miniko Hino, there was hope for just about anyone.
Getting everyone in the jeep and off to the airport was a task in itself. It was something no one really wanted to do, but knew they had to. First, the bags were stuffed in the tiny compartment in the back. Mia wasn't planning on staying there for more than a day or two so everyone was packing light. Miniko didn't have anything at all to pack and was borrowing some of Mia's things. As far as actually bodies went, that was quite crowded as well.
With Mia about to doze off from lack of sleep, Ryo offered to drive to the city. Rowen was carefully placed in the front passenger seat as he was too sore to climb in the back. Behind them, Kento and Mia eventually fell asleep, leaning on each other while Miniko sat next to Mia and looked out the window as the trees turned into buildings and they neared Toyama airport.
The terminal was packed; as was usual for a weekday morning. Mia parked her jeep and everyone filed out, grabbing their small travel bags. Rowen winced as he picked up his own bag. The new bandages didn't help in the least. His wound still felt angry and raw. Miniko was right and he could feel it. It wasn't healing at all.
"Here, I'll take that," Ryo offered and Rowen gave it to him gratefully.
Mia led the way inside as she had the tickets and directions to the correct gate their flight would be loading. Upon reaching their destination, the group was surprised to find someone already waiting there for them. Miniko instantly held back at the site of him. In the pit of her stomach she knew she'd have to face him sooner or later as he was a member of the Ronin Warriors. But she hadn't expected it to be this soon. However, she could have had a whole month to prepare and it might not have made any difference. Might as well deal with it now and get it over with.
"Sage," Kento was the first to greet him with a hearty pat on the back. "We're glad you could make it."
The taller blond gave him a tired smile.
"Woa dude, what have you been doing? You look horrible!"
"I haven't slept in about forty-two hours," Sage admitted. "I was cramming for exams when Mia called me."
"Oh Sage, I'm so sorry," Mia apologized. "You really shouldn't have come. School is important."
"So is this," was his simple reply.
"Yeah, you only say that like you mean it," Rowen stated with a sarcastic smirk.
Sage looked up at his best friend and the look on his face said that no matter how bad he appeared, Rowen looked ten times worse.
"How are you feeling?"
Rowen winced and put a hand on his hurt shoulder. What a baby he was that people could see his pain so easily.
"Not too bad, just not any better," he told him.
Sage responded by taking his good arm and leading him off to the airport bathroom. As they walked passed the group, Sage happened to catch a glance at Miniko as she watched him go. Even though Mia probably informed him of Miniko's presence, the blonde still looked a bit surprised at the site of her. But that look hardly stayed for even a second as Halo and Strata walked off.
Inside the men's bathroom, Sage had Rowen turn around so he could examine him. Due to his wound, Rowen was wearing a wide necked sweater which made it easier for his sore body to put on. It also made it easier for Sage to pull down the stretchy material by the collar to get a look at the puncture high on his shoulder.
"Not exactly how I pictured seeing you again," Rowen commented to the wall. "I thought at least a few more years before a demon attack."
"You say an arrow did this?" was Sage's reply as he pulled at some of the bandages.
"Yeah, can you believe it," Rowen chuckled at the irony through gritted teeth. "Can you do anything about it?"
"I'll try. It's been a while."
"Do what you can buddy, that's all I ask."
Wanting to get as much contact as he could with the wound, Sage pulled the bottom of Rowen's sweater up over his shoulder. He then placed his hand over the bandage and closed his eyes, calling on his armor's healing powers. Sage was only able to concentrate on Rowen's shoulder for a moment, however, when an older gentleman stepped in. The two ronins hurried to resume normal statures to save themselves from any questioning looks.
"Looks like we'll have to wait," Sage said as they walked out. "Where are we staying?"
"Mia probably got us a hotel," Rowen replied.
"It will have to wait until then."
"Yeah. So Sage, what do you think about Miniko coming with us? Mia told you about that, right?"
"Yes. I'm surprised how different she looks. It kind of worries me that she's coming along," Sage admitted.
"Don't worry," Rowen assured him. "I'm the one who has to deal with her."
"What do you mean?" Sage wondered.
Rowen blinked; then laughed stiffly. "I guess Mia didn't tell you about that part."
Sage shook his head, a blank look on his face.
"Don't sweat it. I'll tell you on the plane," Rowen continued as they met up with their group again.
"Right on time," Ryo told the two. "They just announced our flight is boarding."
Everyone moved to gather their things.
"I guess Cye's not going to make it," Kento said as he looked out among the crowd. That familiar head of wild rusty hair was nowhere to be seen.
Mia shook her head in disappointment. "I guess not. We just weren't able to catch him in enough time. He's probably still out on the ocean and hasn't even received my message yet. There's nothing we can do."
As the rest of the team reluctantly started to board, Kento stayed back and waited a bit longer. He could only imagine how Cye would feel when he got back to his apartment a few days from now to find that message. Of all the people that should be on this plane, Cye should have been there the most. But, as Mia said, it couldn't be helped. Kento's only consolation was the thought that they could get Robyn and bring her back to Japan before Cye had a chance to realize what he missed. Yes, that was what they would have to do for him.
With their morale a bit lower at the lack of one travel companion, everyone got on the plane and took their seats. Rowen and Sage sat together--after the former made a bit of a fuss about getting the window seat. Sage was too tired to put up a fight. Ryo and Kento also sat together, leaving Mia in the middle between Miniko and the empty seat that would have been Cye's.
Mia stared down at the empty place sadly. It wouldn't be the same. This trip would have meant so much to Cye. It broke her heart at the thought of leaving him. In the background she could hear Kento comment to Ryo about how pissed he would be when he found out. But worse than that, Mia felt almost like they were betraying Torrent somehow by leaving him. On the other hand, they might betray him even worse if they did wait to go and something happened to Robyn in the meantime.
Mia closed her eyes, feeling torn when a figure suddenly fell into the empty chair next to her. Mia's eyes popped right open again. She couldn't believe it. Now sitting next to her was the heavily panting vestige of Cye, looking like he had just run a twenty mile marathon. Mia's smile grew to light up her whole face. He had made it.
"Hey buddy!" Kento greeted with a healthy slap to Cye's heaving shoulder. "Gad you could make it! Did you run all the way here?"
Cye could only grin weakly as he continued to fight for breath. Mia turned her head to smile with relief at the back of the chair in front of her. When Cye's hand fell on hers, she looked back up at him. Even after that, she had to wait a moment. Cye looked like he had something to say, but he still didn't have the breath to say it yet.
"Thank you," he finally managed. "For leaving my ticket at the front in case I made it. I almost didn't."
Mia beamed at him. "I'm so glad you did!"
Cye smiled and dropped his head tiredly on the headrest. He closed his eyes as his breathing became more normal. His hand remained closed around Mia's, and she didn't seem to mind. A half an hour's delay later, the plane took off.
The flight was long--as was expected of a pilgrimage over seas. The first two hours or so were spent in silence or small talk between the group. Sage, Mia, and Kento were soon asleep. Miniko spent most of her time looking out the window and keeping to herself. Rowen was uncharacteristically quiet as well. Mostly due to the fact of his wound not making him feel as well as he might have.
A meal was served on the flight which seemed to wake everyone up a bit more.
"Great, airplane food," Sage muttered to himself as he poked at his chicken cordonbleu.
"Hey, I'll eat it if you don't want it," Rowen offered.
Sage instantly held his lunch away from his best friend's grasp. That arrow wound obviously didn't affect his stomach any.
In front of them, Ryo listened to the bickering and smiled to himself. Everything felt so tired this morning--foreboding and almost scary. Life was being turned upside down again by unknown powers that could possibly be a threat to all mankind. It was a bit discouraging at first to think that after all they had put on the line, the warriors were not done yet. But now that they were all together again, and it felt like everything was okay after all. Just the five of them being in the general vicinity of one another--being able to see and hear each other--was comforting. It somehow restored their strength to be together again and Ryo was sure whatever lay in store for them, they would be okay because they were together.
With lunchtime over and Sage having finally received a bit of sleep, the Warrior of Halo was ready for some explanations. Cye was quite curious as well. Mia did the explaining as best she could. Miniko added things quietly here and there where Mia wasn't sure if she had her information right. It was all still just as puzzling and hard to put together for her as it was for the rest of the ronins. Cye and Sage, for the most part, listened to the story politely; without much comment or reaction. It was when Robyn was mentioned and the probable danger she was in, then the air started to tense up.
Sage, for his side, looked more dubious than anything else. It was obvious he was having trouble believing any of this. Maybe, if he wasn't on a plane several thousand miles out to sea, he might have even walked away. Cye just looked alarmed. Both were giving Miniko stiff glances here and there; making her feel, once again, about ten inches tall. She, too would have ran off if she were anywhere else.
When the two girls had finished telling all they could, a deep silence fell over the group. Cye only took a minute to get it all sorted in his head before he was off asking Mia questions again. Hardly any of which she or Miniko could answer, however.
Sage could hear Cye's questioning voice in the back of his head, but he didn't pay attention to it. He rested back against his seat and slowly let it all sink in. Rowen watched him curiously as his best friend stared at the ceiling for several minutes. He was beginning to wonder if Sage maybe had fallen asleep again, with his eyes open this time, when he spoke.
"So," Sage said soft and slow. "We're going to meet Robyn. And then what?"
Rowen blinked at him. It was obvious even the group brain hadn't planned that far ahead. They had been so worried about merely getting to her. When they had found her, where would they go from there?
"What do we tell her?" Sage then asked.
Rowen had no answer. What were they supposed to say? They were showing up out of the blue after a year apart for no other reason than to get her involved in something they didn't even want to take part in themselves. Would they be taking her back to Japan, a place she left all on her own? Would she end up going even farther with them? Did they have the right to ask that of her?
In front of them, Ryo and Kento heard the conversation and similar questions were burning in their minds as well. Ryo looked to Kento and he could see the concern etched on his roommate's face. No one really had thought further than getting to the other country and Robyn. Just a visit there wouldn't suffice. If she was in danger, they had to stay with her. But could they stay there in America? Could they get Robyn to come back with them to Japan? What were they supposed to do?
It was odd, but Ryo found that even though his mind was troubled, his thoughts actually pulled him deep into slumber instead of keeping him awake.
"Ryo? Ryo! Yo buddy, time to wake up."
Ryo blinked as Kento gave a few small shoves to his shoulder.
"Huh?" he wondered, looking around. Where was he? What was happening?
Kento just shook his head, having gone through this a million times before. "Hello, Ryo! We're about to land. Remember? I swear, you wake up in your own bed wondering where you are half the time. I'd hate to see you wake up after an all night party."
Ryo, also used to this conversation, didn't pay much attention to it. Something else, a notion hanging on by a thread from his previous slumber, was nagging at his consciousness. As it sometimes goes for everyone, Ryo knew he had a dream; and yet, couldn't quite recall what it was. But he knew beyond a doubt he had experienced one. The feel of it still hung with him as his conscious thoughts began to gather again. It made Ryo's brow furrow. For this feeling from this forgotten vision was not all too pleasant. Nor was it, to his concern, all that unfamiliar.
Yes, he had felt this dream before. Even though it had been more than a year ago, he remembered it. That particular dream, Ryo found hard to forget. It felt like that fire dream he had once had when in high school. The dream with his friends all burning before him and that dark, grotesque figure finding satisfaction in his helplessness. It made Ryo feel a bit uneasy to be reminded of such a thought. Why exactly WAS he being reminded of it?
A year previous, Ryo had chalked up his strange vision related to the Nago incident they had a few months before graduation. That's where Sage's slightly similar and horrifying dreams had come from and the Bearer of Halo had told them that all visions had ceased right after, and he was never troubled again. In Ryo's case, however, he started to get the feeling that THIS dream was from a different origin entirely. Something else which he had yet to face that had come back to remind him of its earlier threat to "Not get involved". But from what? And why?
There was no mistaking it. This threat was just as clear as the day he had first recieved it. And Ryo slowly began to feel himself grow afraid. Was it this that the dream was talking about? This mission? Did this quest they were embarking upon have dire consequences if they got involved? It was so hard to say; so hard to decide. What was he supposed to do?
"Finally! Solid ground!" Kento announced as he stood up. Other passengers on the plane were doing the same thing. Ryo hadn't even noticed they had landed.