Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Into the Dark Night ❯ Chapter Eleven ( Chapter 11 )

Into the Dark Night

Nagia

Chapter Eleven: Hard Candy

"And so there isn't any sweetness in the dreaming/And when you wake/The morning showers you with light/And it makes you feel alright/But it's just the same hard candy you're/remembering again." Counting Crows, Hard Candy

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I am now zipping along through South Dakota (I LOVE South Dakota! It reminds me of Tennessee. I don't think anyone noticed my big ridge-runner feet in the indoor pool (with a JACUZZI!). Sadly, I missed the Rodeo. And someone must have tossed out a cigarette, because the farmland beside the Interstate is burned. Anyway, the name of the chapter comes from Counting Crows' song, Hard Candy.
So you know, I always considered Seiji to have a peculiar connection to spirits and energy, and so I made him a priest.

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1

The fair-haired man seemed to the survivors so much taller than he actually was, and wholly unapproachable. He looked as though a monolithic golem would be more likely to react to the survivors' plight than this apparently unfeeling Daemon. He seemed to glide across the stone floor rather than walk his cruelly majestic expression and cold eyes sweeping the room with a raptor-like gaze.

Seiji's usually mellifluous voice sounded indifferent, but not even his carefully crafted façade could erase the authority his voice held.

"On my authority as the Fated One, I order you all to vacate this warren of unnaturalness and release whatever prisoners you have taken."

The survivors nodded without a sound, and departed silently from the room to do as Seiji had bid them. As soon as they had all gone, Seiji dropped his façade of indifference and looked around the room, taking in the damage he had done earlier. He tried to remember how it had happened, but he found that everything but the battle before was blank.

"Did I do this?" He wondered, unaware that he had spoken aloud, "I don't remember it."

"You are indeed the cause of my corporal's deaths, and the shattered wineglasses, and the table against the wall." Lloyd said, entering the room behind him.

"I…I don't remember anything before the battle…how can this be?" He wondered. And suddenly his unbridled use of energy caught up with him, and he fell to his knees with a quiet yelp.

Everything went black.

2

Ryoko had long relinquished the hope of ever seeing the Fated One and her daughter again, for Seiji had been gone within Lloyd's warren for more than seven days, and that was only by Daemon reckoning. Her hair was unwashed, her eyes were sunken deep into her face, giving her a haggard look and she no longer looked youthful.

Nasuti's heart had broken at the thought of Seiji's death, and though she had healed, she refused to speak or move, only crying inconsolably. The child she carried was no comfort to her, rather, it was a near-constant source of pain. Nasuti's appearance reflected her painful transfiguration, as her hair was dull, and her eyes were horribly vacant.

She looked up without comprehension as he glided smoothly into the room, as if on wheels with perfect traction. She had ached for him so much, ached for his warmth and ached to bury her face in his soft hair and gaze into his piercing eyes. And here he was, standing before her- her tow-headed, raptor-eyed beloved, and she could only weep.

"What a welcome," Seiji said dryly, "Please, tell me you at least missed me."

This only made her cry more. He knelt down, gently pulled her close and whispered spells to send her into deep, dreamless sleep.

"Rya is just fine," he said to Ryoko. "She's sleeping in the room at the end of the hall. You should go to her. You are, after all, her mother."

Ryoko only nodded gratefully, bowed, and rushed out of the room. He smiled, and gently curled up on the bed beside Nasuti.

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I've finally finished this one, and am going to do a major rewrite of the other chapters, and basically give this whole thing a more action-like plot. On a less business-y tone, I'm in Spokane, Washington, and have never had a better after-glow from hearing a book. So you know, it's Up Island, by Anne Rivers Siddons, read by C. J. Critt. Get the unabridged version. You'll need to hear every sentence to get the real feel of the book…though I must disagree with Anne's sentiments about Atlanta (I think it's a big city full of HOPELESSLY BACKWARD SPEED DEMONS and LOTS OF TRAFFIC AND REALLY SUCKS).

(\(.)_(.)/) Heh… it's Gizmo! Ooh… look…X!x