Concern

By Robin Gurl

"Hey, watcha doin' over here?! We rescued Rowen! Let's go celebrate." Kento says happily as he follows his best friend back down the hill. "Everyone else is back there."

"The jeep is down here and I'd like to catch my breath."

He looks away as a bright flash of skyblue light appears before the Torrent armor is willed away. He tilts his head before looking back to where everyone else was. He looks back to his friend before hurrying to catch up with him, "You ok? You didn't get hit or anything too badly during that fight did ya?"

"No. I managed to hold my own quite well and have been for two days."

There was a tone that he wasn't used to. "Cye? What's wrong? Why are you so upset? Ryo and I did it! We got Rowen back. Now we can defeat Talpa."

"What if you both hadn't come back?"

"…what?"

The other had his back to him before he turns around to face him. Kento stepped back. He had never seen Cye this close to tears before. "H-Hey dude.. a-are you-"

"What were we going to do if you both had been caught or worse killed?! What made you think that what you did was the best course of action?"

"Someone had to do it and neither you nor Sage were too keen on it, so when Ryo ran off I joined him." Hardrock shrugs grinning. "Besides you were safe, and we succeeded."

"You both got bloody lucky that you weren't wiped off the earth by those energy balls and you know it. It wasn't skill, it was sheer darn luck."

"Hey, what's this all about!? Aren't you happy we're back? Without us, Rowen wouldn't be here and there is no way you and Sage could take down Talpa on your own."

"And we're supposed to just forget it ever happened and celebrate?"

"Well…yeah."

"Go back and celebrate. I don't feel like it. I'm happy and relieved that it all worked out but right now my nerves won't let me celebrate. If we were back in street clothes and this wasn't happening, a good cup of tea would be what's needed. But since we don't have that.. I just need some time to myself." Cye couldn't even force a smile before he walked down the rest of the hill by himself.

Kento watches as the bearer of Torrent walks off before turning back and heading back to the others. He meets up with them grinning as best he could but he couldn't shake off how his best friend was acting.

"Hey, where did Cye go?" Rowen asks looking around. "Is he ok?"

"What? Oh, yeah.. he said his nerves were still friend from it all. He's down by the jeep."

"Nerves? I knew he didn't like fighting but didn't think he was that upset by it." The blue haired ronin laughs nervously. "Surprised you're not down there with him. You're good friends right?"

"Oh Cye's probably mad at Kento for running off with Ryo." Sage rolls his eyes. "I'm still miffed at you as well."

"Wait, tell me everythin'."

"Ryo and Kento had this glorious plan to sneak out while the rest of us were sleeping to go find out what Talpa was up too. Left without a word."

"Woah, hold on, we told Yuli." Ryo adds in. "And he told you guys."

"Still. We had no idea if they were okay or not and kept making our way in to help. I'm glad it worked, but it was disaster. You would have been pulling your hair out."

"We were on pins and needles there for awhile." Mia added. She hugs Yuli from behind as she smiles, "…actually… didn't Cye bring up that his father was in the navy and died in some kind of maneuver out in sea?"

"Oh! That's right." Rowen looks up in thought, "It was a surprise attack that the upper command never sent down to the lacky's… I remember reading about it. It was a mess. I'm pretty sure a lot of commanders lost their badges over it."

"Oh wow.. it worked out though right?"

"No." Strata sighs. "It killed almost everyone board."

"You know a lot about this kinda thing."

"It was a hobby back in middle school… I wanted to know everything about the Navy and Military in Japan. I'm thinking back… I think one of the commanders last name was Mouri."

"If that's the case, it could be why he's so upset."

Kento looks over his shoulder nervously before sighing, "I probably scared him half to death."

"You scared us all." Mia says firmly. "Not just Cye. We were worried sick about you all."

"While I'm thankful you both pulled it off and all that. It wasn't the smartest thing to do, ya know." Rowen sighs before looking to Kento, "I think ya owe Cye an apology."

"…ohhh alright already. Mia, Cye was mentioning something about hot tea. Is there any back there in the jeep?"

"Oh. There should be. We picked up lots of provisions when we went to find you in the mountains. Ask Sage, he took care of that."

The blonde nods, "Should be a good amount. I remembered that he said he liked it and thought it may help during the battles… we just haven't had much of a chance. And the last couple of nights, we were recovering and waiting. He was too weak to do anything like that the night you two left."

"I thought he was fine?" Ryo asks worried. "Hold on… what are you talking about?"

"I thought he was fine as well. He woke up, I guess not long after you two left and was in pain.. so I helped him back into the water. He slept there the rest of the night."

"…s-so I just left him when he w-was still hurt a-and.. oh boy." Kento heaves a sigh running a hand through his hair. "A lot of good I did at protecting him. Hey Ryo, if I can get some water can you help boil it?"

"Uh sure. I think I can do that."

"Great. Thanks!"

~*

Cye eases himself to the ground at the back of the jeep tossing his armor orb up and down in his hands. He didn't know why he was so bothered about all of this.

Everything worked out.

They were safe.

Rowen was down with them.

Everything was fine.

He closed his eyes taking a few deep breaths. He had to stop comparing everything that happened with what happened to his father.

It wasn't the same.

The battle with Talpa was different. This battle was real. It wasn't a simulated attack that went wrong.

That's why it was so scary. This was real. This wasn't some sort of board game or video game that when you got hurt or lost your life, you just respawned. If you werent' careful, you wouldn't be coming back.

This terrified him and he couldn't figure out why Kento couldn't get this through his thick skull. To make it worse, it had WORKED this time which meant Kento would repeat it. Even if next time… he clenched his eyes shut trying not to think that direction.

He hated fighting. He hated watching innocent people get hurt. It's why he joined this …whatever it was.. and was relieved when his best friend joined.

But now, he regretted that he ever told Kento.

Instead of working together, he was too worried about what was going to happen to him because he was out there being stupid. To make matters worse, Ryo wasn't much better.

It didn't matter what he told Kento. It didn't matter how scared he was when he woke up a few nights ago to see Kento and Ryo were gone. It didn't matter the amount of hidden panic attacks and being unable to sleep he'd gone through.

All that mattered was that beyond any reasonable doubt and sheer damn luck, Kento and Ryo had survived and they had rescued Rowen.

He should have been happy.

The relief hadn't hit him yet.

He had just wanted to throw up.

He felt so dizzy and sick to his stomach but could only put a smile on his face.. it was a celebration after all… until it got to where he couldn't. That's why he wanted to go hide just for a little bit.

Just to get his bearings back.

He was trying to convince himself that throwing up would not help. He needed his strength if Talpa did attack and that would only make things worse. He didn't want to be an inconvience anyone on the team. He was already the weakest of the five and he wasn't about to make it worse.

His body though had other ideas. He got to his feet and looks around finding a few trees and bushes… if he was going to get sick, he wanted to be away from what would be their camp site.

His mind and body took that was confirmation that it was allowed to do what it needed and his stomach started to cramp up as he hurried over.

~*

"Cye?! Cyeeee?!" Kento called as he walks down the hill towards the jeep. He wills his armor away in bright flash orange leaving him in his subarmor. He stopped worried at not getting some sort of response and started to jog down the rest of the way. "Hey dude, where did you go?"

He looks around all four sides of the jeep then inside of it and it was all empty. "Oh come on! I'm not good at hide and seek, you know this." He walks towards the back again only this time at the ground then he heard wretching noises. He walks over into the woods and hears someone getting sick. "…hey… y-you uh ok..?"

"I-I'm alright… as s-soon as my body decides it's done." Torrent didn't turn to face him as he sat back in the dirt away from the mess he had made behind one of the trees. "You didn't have to come back."

"Yeah I did. I'm sorry I scared ya." Hardrock walks over and gently places a hand on the red hair before sitting beside him. He leans into the smaller warrior careful not to jolt him too much. "It was kind of stupid.."

"Kind of?"

"Ok, it was possibly one of the dumbest things I've ever done since we started this whole battle with Talpa." He sighs relieved as he feels his friend lean into him. He gently wraps an arm around the smaller shoulders. "I should have told you or something. Ryo just wanted to go and I couldn't let him go alone. A-And you know I only agreed to do all of this so I could protect you."

"You thought running off like you did would relieve me? That I would feel protected not knowing where you were or what you were doing!?"

"Well kinda…" He turns to look at the youngest warrior getting a glare in return. "No. I didn't even think that far." He heaves a sigh before getting to his feet offering his hand to his friend, "You feel like standing yet?"

The other takes the offered hand and stands a bit unsteadily. Kento steadied him smiling weakly, "You going to be ok?"

Cye bit his lip looking down at the ground shaking his head, "…I don't have a choice but to be okay. We don't have time for any of this and yet I can't shake it off. You scared me, Kento. I thought I'd never see you or Ryo again. Talpa is powerful and I don't care how strong you are or how good at fighting you are… he can and will take your life and your armor."

"I promised you that I wouldn't die while fighting."

"You can't promise something like that, Kento. It's war. It's a battle. Don't promise me something you can't keep. I hate empty promises." He finally looks him in the eye still very upset and trying to hold back tears. "I lost one person I loved dearly to something like this.. I don't want to lose another."

"Y-Your dad…? You mentioned to me years ago that he was lost in a naval accident but never told me what happened." He sighs looking at him, "Rowen's a military nut and knows a lot of stuff like that… he said he remembered reading about it. It was a naval excerise almost like what happened here wasn't it?"

"….yeah. I was 10. I had just received the armor as well but couldn't weild it yet. I was just the only person to hold their breath and dive deep into the swirling salts for fun and found the thing…" Cye shrugged smiling weakly. "We heard something had happened and my mother begged me to go out and save him."

"B-But you couldn't.."

"I know. I told her I didn't think I could and of course being distraught, she didn't believe me. No matter what I did I couldn't get Torrent to respond. It wouldn't even light up. So, my father died out there. Some higher up official thought it was a good idea to do a surprise manuever and throw our neighbors off guard. A lot of lives were lost. He promised me he'd return and obviously never did."

"Cye…"

"There was no reason to attack our neighbors, not one. They hadn't done anything just existed and for some reason Japan had to attack. They didn't even bother telling the soilders who were going to fight the battle what was going on, they didn't even know what they were getting into. And no one came back." He looks down at the orb in his hand, his voice shaking a bit. "S-She never did forgive me a-and I don't think I've ever forgiven myself… if I had been stronger, I could have saved him.."

Kento hugs him tightly feeling him shake in his arms, "I'm sorry, buddy. It wasn't your fault. She shouldn't have asked that of you." He sighs looking up to see the others watching, he just shakes his head for them to leave the two of them alone for now. The hug he was receiving back was tight and he could feel him breaking down. "I won't d-do that to you again, ok? And I'll do everything within my power to not let you get hurt or killed and I'll keep myself alive as well."

He pulls back from the youngest and wipes his eyes grinning, "I just need you to keep me in check. Heck, keep us all in check. You're good at that. I know you hate fighting, but you're not too bad at it either. Its' why I don't worry too much aboutcha. You kick ass." The other blushes before lowering his gaze but feels a hand lift his chin. "You do. You're stronger than you think, dude. Now, come on, everyone is going to be wondering where we are."

"Kento.."

"Now look, you don't have to party or anything but sit with us. I can keep an eye on ya. Besides, Sage said something about having some hot tea in the back with the other provisions."

"Kento."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks…"

Kento blinks before smiling wrapping an arm around the smaller shoulders, "Any time.. your bed roll will be next to mine tonight."

"Not if you're going to snore all night."

"I do not snore!"

"Like rocks in a blender.."

Rowen and Mia turn around from getting supplies out of the jeep relieved to see the two of them come up.

Ryo walks over to them with a cup in his hands. "Here! The tea bag has been in there for a bit… Sage called it steeping or something… but it's hot!" He hands it off before smiling sheepishly, "Sorry for scaring you, Cye. We won't do that again, I promise."

Cye looks down at the tea then back at the others before smiling back at them nodding. He's finally able to relax and walks over to Rowen, "Welcome back… I'm glad you made it back here ok."

The bearer of Strata just hugs him to his side, "You an' me both. Sorry they were such a handful."

"It's alright.. I managed." Cye leans into him as he dunks his teabag into the water.

"We won't be pulling any of that again, Cye. I won't let it happen. We will make it out of this alive." He smiles down at him. "You can't give up on that."

"Just keep reminding me of that."

"Every five minutes.. 30 minutes….2 hours….?"

Cye rolls his eyes before laughing as he finally relaxes. "Whenever you can."

"That's a promise."