I don't own Ronin Warriors. All OCs are mine.

Chapter 23

Mika sat in the food court, observing the people around her. Some families sat in little groups, keeping each other close while some were trying to get their minds off the situation at hand by talking about everything but the ongoing attacks. She saw children running around and playing with each and she knew their parents probably told them to play so they wouldn't be scared. She sighed, bringing her knees to her chest and laying her head on her arms. Mika knew that if she didn't follow Sephiran in the first place, none of this would have happened.

"It's not your fault."

Mika looked up to see Anubis sitting down next to her. Anubis gave her a small smile, but she turned away, lowering her head back on her knees. "You know this is because of me. The guys know it, too, for they want nothing to do with me. They all hate me for it."

"They don't hate you."

"Yes, they do."

"No…we don't."

Mika snapped her head up to see Cye and Ryo standing in front of her. Cye offered her a smile while Ryo remained stoic. White Blaze came up behind them and laid down at Ryo's feet, keeping his eyes on Mika.

"But…"

Cye moved to sit down on her other side. "We were shocked to discover what you did, some more than others, but we don't hate you for it. It's more of a…misunderstanding."

Mika stared at him for a moment before turning her gaze back to her knees. "What do you want?"

"You know the layout of Sephiran's hideout," Ryo started, sitting down across from her.

"You want information, I suppose." Mika glanced up at him and narrowed her eyes. "But why should I help you when you've been assholes to me?"

Anubis laid a hand on her shoulder. "Mika, please. Tiffany needs help."

Mika thought about it for a minute before she shrugged. "It's nothing different. It's the same as when Talpa was in charge."

"Do you have an idea of where they're keeping Tiffany?" Cye asked.

"Sephiran put her in a padded cell, but he might have put her in the dungeon after she helped all of you escape. He wasn't too happy with her after she did that."

Cye glanced at Ryo. "If we can get in, Sage, Kento, or I could lead us to the dungeons. That's where Talpa first had us before he put us in those statues."

Ryo nodded. "When Rowen, Sage, and Kento come back with how to get in, we'll come up with a plan of attack."

"Be careful," warned Mika. "Sephiran will have guards everywhere. I'm almost certain he'll have an army waiting for you once you get in."

"We've faced off an awaiting army before."

"No, you don't understand." Mika made eye-contact with Ryo and Cye before continuing. "Talpa may have ambushed you, but Sephiran doesn't wait around. He'll do whatever it takes to get what he wants. If he used me to get in-between all of you, then just imagine what he'd do to make sure you don't get Tiffany."

Ryo and Cye shared a look and then turned to look at Anubis, who stayed silent throughout the conversation. "We might have to be wary when we go to attack," Anubis said. "If what Mika says is true, we may have a tough battle ahead of us. Plus, it'll be harder to get Tiffany than rescuing Cye, Kento, and Sage."

"We'll find a way," declared Ryo. "The odds were against us when Sage, Cye, and Kento were taken and we beat them. We can do it again." He turned to Cye and his friend nodded in agreement.

White Blaze suddenly raised his head and looked towards the entrance. He saw Rowen, Sage, and Kento had come back with Kalana behind them. He stood up, gaining the attention of the group.

"What is it, boy?" Ryo wondered, turning to look at where the tiger was looking and saw a wisp of blonde hair as Kalana walked by. Ryo's attention focused in on the woman as he slowly got up and started walking in the direction the group went. He saw them heading into the make-shift infirmary and picked up his pace, almost running to his destination. When Ryo entered the place, he saw Sage standing next to Iris with the woman sitting on the bed. He couldn't see if it was Tiffany or not, but he still had hope. He hurried up to them as Rowen and Kento came up to him, but he stopped when Iris moved out of the way, revealing the woman to be Asami.

"I want you to stay here for the night," Iris told Asami. "Just to see if the poison is still lingering in your body. If you're still sore after that attack, I'm not sure if everything is gone."

Asami nodded and then looked over at Ryo, noticing the distraught look on his face. She realized he thought it was Tiffany who was here. "I'm sorry," she told him. "I didn't mean to get your hopes up."

"Don't apologize," Rowen answered for Ryo. "Tiffany would be happy that you got out safe."

Asami swallowed the lump in her throat as tears welled up in her eyes. "She would have been here if I was stronger."

Ryo stared at her. "What do you mean?"

"I was going to get her out of there, so we could escape together, but she told me to leave her. I was able to alleviate some of her pain before I escaped." A few tears escaped from her eyes and Asami hastily wiped them away.

"How…how is she?" Ryo dared to ask.

Asami shook her head which made Ryo freeze in his place. He knew it wouldn't be good, but he still wasn't prepared for the answer. All different scenarios ran through his head of the state Tiffany could be in and all of them involved her in a near death state.

"I think Tiffany knew neither of you were going to make it out if you tried and helped her," stated Sage.

Asami nodded. "She was also worried that, if I had stayed any longer, Sephiran would have gone after me to try and get her to submit to him."

"That bastard," snarled Kento. "Going after his own wife to try and get his daughter to listen to him."

Asami stared at Kento before turning her attention back to Ryo. He hadn't moved, still processing the information Asami had told them about Tiffany. Asami slowly got up from the bed and walked up to him. She raised a hand and placed it on his cheek, noticing the tears that were swarming in his eyes. She gave him a small smile and brought him into a hug, running her hand up and down his back while her other hand cradled the back of his head. Ryo closed his eyes and returned the hug.

Sephiran clutched the armrests of his throne, glaring daggers at Naga. The general avoided his master's gaze by looking at his feet. Fuzen and Karver kept glancing back and forth between Sephiran and Naga, wondering who was going to speak first.

Kai was the first to speak. "Naga, what do you mean Asami got away?"

Naga looked over towards him, trying his hardest not to look at Sephiran. "I had her in my clutches, but those warriors came in and were able to get her out of there. She even put herself in front of my attack to save one of them."

"What?!" Sephiran screeched, lurching forward. "You mean to tell me you sent an attack towards one of the warriors but hit her instead?!"

"No, Master, I-"

"And she could possibly be on her death bed because of it?!"

Naga opened his mouth to scream when he was suddenly covered in a black mist. He heard something sparking within and then electricity struck, sending the general to lie flat on the floor as he withered around, screaming in pain. Sephiran waved his hand and the mist dispersed, leaving the general to tremble where he lay. Sephiran glared at him before addressing his two other generals. "Take him back to his room."

They bowed, mumbling their agreements, and both reached down to grab a part of Naga and drag him towards his room.

"That traitor." Sephiran leaned back into his throne. "How dare she defy me."

"My Lord, maybe we can use this to our advantage."

Sephiran eyed Kai, wondering what he could mean by this. "Remember when Asami came in to beg for Karver to stop hurting Tiffany? What if we tried that again but this time, to lure her in?"

"While I like the idea of the plan, Kai, that wouldn't work. If Asami is with the warriors, then they know that Tiffany would never forgive them if Asami turned herself in. We need another reason. But speaking of my daughter, is she breaking yet?"

Kai shook his head. "Not yet, I'm afraid. Fuzen checked in with the girl a few hours ago and, to him, it looked like she was somewhat healed."

"Damn it!" Sephiran slammed his fist down on his armrest, seething at the news. He knew that his wife did something to her after he left Tiffany's cell, but he didn't think she would heal some of the wounds. "At this rate, she'll never submit."

"What if we put her in the chamber?"

"No, she won't survive."

"Not for a long time, but just a day. Then, we can have each of the generals spend a day breaking her. I'm sure after those four days, she'll be ready to submit."

Sephiran thought about this, thinking over this plan Kai proposed to him. "You do realize once Tiffany goes in the chamber, anything can happen to her, right?"

"Not anything. I can set it to only the settings you request."

"All right. One day."

Kai bowed before Sephiran. "I will go get the chamber ready." Kai backed out, still bowing to Sephiran as he left the room.

Tiffany shifted in her restraints, twisting and turning her wrists to try and loosen the chains. However, they didn't let up and resulted in cutting her wrists even further. She even tried pulling at them, thinking her blood could be used to slip through but that didn't work either. Tiffany hung her head, taking deep breaths to calm herself down.

The door to her cell opened and Fuzen walked in, heading towards Tiffany to undo the chains. "Master Sephiran requests your presence." With the chains gone, Tiffany collapsed to the ground and was then roughly hoisted to her feet. Her legs wobbled as she walked and whenever she stumbled, Fuzen would only drag her along which made her scrape her feet against the hard floor.

They turned down a hallway Tiffany didn't recognize, and she wondered where they were going. She saw Kai and Sephiran standing in front of a door at the end of the hallway and Fuzen held her against him when he stopped.

"You won't break, Tiffany, so you left me no choice," stated Sephiran, his eyes showing no emotion in them.

"We call this room the chamber," Kai explained, gesturing to the door behind him. "In this room, there is no time. Only you and whatever you encounter will be behind this door." He grabbed the door handle and slowly opened the door. A draft came from the room towards Tiffany, making her shiver from how sinister it felt. Fuzen started to push her towards the door and Tiffany tried to stop herself from going in, but she was only pushed onward. She could hear low growls and wails the closer she got, and fear crept up her spine. Right before she was pushed into the room, Fuzen leaned in and whispered, "Enjoy your stay in hell." He pushed her in and the door slammed shut behind her.

Tiffany turned around and was shocked to find there was no door behind her, just an empty space. Surveying the area, she found herself in a swamp like area, with withering trees and a dark green sky above her. A thick layer of fog covered the ground and the smell of mildew was in the air. Tiffany slowly walked forward, and the ground squished underneath her feet. She didn't know what she was stepping on, so she hoped it was mud and not something else squishing through her toes. As she took another step, something struck her and then the world around her went black.

Asami flinched, bringing her hands up to rub her arms. Iris saw this and came by her side with an extra blanket in hand. "Are you cold?"

"No, I just…I fear something happened with Tiffany." Asami looked up at Iris. "I think I made it worse." Asami tried to get up but Iris pushed her back down.

"Whatever you're planning to do, don't. It's not going to help Tiffany."

"Don't you tell me what to do! Tiffany, my own daughter, is probably facing a punishment because of me! I'm not going to just sit here and pretend that nothing is going on!"

Iris stood in front of Asami, placing her hands on her shoulders, and stared into the woman's eyes. "I know this is hard, but you have to stay here. You will be of no help to her if you die."

Asami stared at Iris for a bit before turning her head to the side. The sound of footsteps alerted the women to a visitor and they turned to their guest. Mika stood a few feet in front of them, wringing her hands together. "I…I just wanted to see how you were doing, Asami," she explained.

Asami smiled at the young woman. "Mika, I'm so happy you're here. Come, sit down next to me." Asami scooched over, patting the spot next to her. Mika walked around Iris and sat down on the bed, staring at her hands.

"I'm going to check on the other patients," Iris said, knowing that they probably wanted to be alone. "Call me if you need anything." She walked away to another cot to check on the patient.

"How are you doing?" Asami asked once Iris was out of sight.

Mika shrugged. "Ok, I guess. The guys still hate me, but I think some of them are coming around to forgive me." She closed her eyes as she let out a sigh. "Even though Ryo says he forgives me, I know he never will. Not after what is going on with Tiffany."

Asami rubbed Mika's back reassuringly. "I'm sorry for what my husband put you through. He was so desperate to get Tiffany, he would do anything to get her. I didn't know what his plans were until he was putting them into action." Asami thought of the day she saw her daughter looking so miserable and she was relieved when her friends came in to save her from being taken by Karver.

"I hurt your daughter, and I'm so sorry for it." Mika sniffled and hastily wiped her eyes to keep the tears at bay. "I didn't think I…I was going to be like him."

Asami brought Mika into a hug, rocky the young woman as Mika squeezed her eyes shut to keep herself from crying. Mika laid her head on Asami's shoulder but when she felt her flinch, she lifted her head back up. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, dear. Just had an incident with Naga."

Mika narrowed her eyes as determination set across her face. After what these people did to her, she wanted to get back at them. She didn't care if the guys were going to let her help them or not. She was going to do it. "Asami, they need to pay."

"I agree." Asami nodded her head and then looked across the way to where Iris was. She leaned in closer to Mika, whispering, "You want to help me take down one of the generals?"

Mika quickly snapped her head up at Asami, staring at her with wide eyes. At first, she couldn't believe what Asami was asking of her. Take on one of the generals? That was crazy. But, the more Mika thought about it and how the generals had tricked her, she nodded her head in agreement. "When?"

"We need to wait till Iris leaves and then we'll go."