Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Love's Tangled Web ❯ Part 10 ( Chapter 10 )

 

Author's Note: The sex demons are taking over the world, and using humans for food. When will we learn more about Yoshitomo and his mistress? Rowen's propositioned Jade, and she's told him her secret. What will happen next? More emotional distress ahoy! Songfic chapter, from Sage's POV, based on the song `Somewhere Out There' by Our Lady Peace. Angst, emotional insight. Enjoy.

/…/ denotes mental communication through the armor link

 

 

Love's Tangled Web

Part 10

 

 

Last time I talked to you
You were lonely and out of place

 

I flop down on the couch and put my hand over my eyes, brushing blonde hair out of the way. Gods, I miss her… We've been fighting, though it seems to have eased off the last week or so. How she hated me; I shudder just thinking about it. She was so out of place, and I think maybe even lonely. She attached herself to Sai for a while, but I think it never really felt right to her. It was painful seeing her so disjointed and lost and confused, the pain piercing my heart, even through my shield of anger.

You were looking down on me
Lost out in space

 

The moon. Ryo might have had to stand out in a typhoon to find Rhia, but Rowen and I found Jade orbiting the damned moon. I was the last person she wanted to see, I knew, but Rowen and I had been the ones to go wake her. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful floating there. I remember seeing her eyes fluttering open slowly, those emerald orbs shining in peace, harmony, and radiating power.

We laid underneath the stars
Strung out and feeling brave
I watched the red orange glow
I watched you float away

 

How we awakened her in the first place, I'll probably never know. Maybe it was Rowen's doing. He's the Air Ronin after all, but that doesn't matter. I remember watching the sleepy haze recede from her eyes like a veil being lifted. The stars and the moonlight reflected in her eyes, making them absolutely dazzling. I dared to hope—maybe she had forgiven me, forgotten the past, as her soul was bared to me for a few precious seconds in those glittering green eyes. But no. As she regained her senses I watched the mask slip into place, one so very like my own, and watched as she drifted even further from me, though she was mere centimeters away.

 

Down here in the atmosphere
Garbage and city lights

 

And much as I hate to admit it, that's something she learned very well from me. I've masked my emotions for so long, it's automatic, and I never realized what a hideous thing it is until I saw that very mask donned by my own love, against me. It hurt! And I never knew that that's the way I was, toward everyone… But now I'm here, back on solid ground, amidst the smog and city lights, and she's… the gods must know where, for I surely don't.

You've gone to save your tired soul
You've gone to save our lives

 

She's gone on reconnaissance with Rhia. She wanted to go alone, but Ryo insisted that she take someone with her. And rather than choosing Ryo, or Sai, she picked Rhia. I wanted to go with her, but I knew she wouldn't have it, she's still too angry, too filled with sorrow. I think she's also using this mission as an excuse to go on a personal quest to give her some time to sort out all the crap that's been going on in all of our lives. But no matter the reason, she's gone. I sigh and run my hand over my forehead and into my hair, fisting it there.

I turned on the radio
To find you on satellite
I'm waiting for the sky to fall
I'm waiting for a sign

 

Maybe… maybe there'll be some news of her on the radio… We sent radios with her and Rhia, so they could report back, having no idea if they would work or not. I flip it on, but there's nothing but static. Everything is disrupted from the merging of the two worlds and the spiritual energy running rampant. I turn it off, disgusted.

 

I wish something would happen. Anything! Maybe the whole world will just fall apart and I can disintegrate into nothing and meet you in the Otherworld… And then there won't be all the silly, stupid masks and pretenses we use here. I'm waiting. I don't know what for, but I am. Waiting for something… waiting for Jade. For a sign from her.

 

I'm waiting for a snap back to reality and love or complete and total rejection. Not this crazy limbo of love and anger.

 

And all we are
Is all so far

 

You're falling back to me
The star that I can see, yeah
I know you're out there, somewhere out there
You're falling out of reach
Defying gravity, yeah
I know you're out there, somewhere out there

 

I want you, miss you so much, Jade… Can't you feel the ache in my heart? It feels like the whole world is pain without you. I sigh and slump back onto the couch. She is a star. And like a star, I may not always be able to see her, but I know she's out there. Somewhere. But I can see her oh so clearly in my mind. Her anger, her flaring rage and cold hatred, the betrayal and the pain. Gods, the pain! And what I felt of her pain is magnified a hundred times in me, because I know that I am the one that caused her that pain.

 

I want to apologize, to pledge my undying love, to tell her if she doesn't already know that she is my soul's mate. But she's gone. I feel her spiraling away from me, denying the love and bond we share. I have to accept the fact that she is out in the world, somewhere, and away from me, but I don't have to like it.

 

Hope you remember me
When you're homesick and need a change

 

Gods, Jade, please come back to me. Whenever you finish whatever it is you're doing, your mission, your soul-searching, please remember me, and remember that I love you. I know I've done some terrible things, cheated on you, was inattentive, was a cold, emotionless ass. I was a fool. And even though being sorry isn't nearly enough, I am. I was a complete idiot not to realize how truly and deeply in love with you I am, and it is my greatest wish that you will forgive me for the senseless things I've done.

 

/Jade?/

 

/Nothing to report. Stay out of my head, Sage./

 

I miss your purple hair
I miss the way you taste

 

“Jade…” I feel the tears well in my eyes, but I don't care. Let them fall. She deserves every one. It seems like forever since she's left… has it really only been a week? But then, she avoided me for nearly two weeks before this new threat arose. And now…

 

It seems so long since I was last with her and happy, but I remember her perfectly. The long, vibrant purple tresses that fall past her waist, long lashes framing sparkling emerald green eyes, the fine boning of her face, high cheekbones, slender jaw line, cute little nose, full pink lips that taste better than the nectar of the gods, all of these things haunt my dreams. I remember her slender, amply curved frame with long, smooth legs, small delicate feet, beautiful long-fingered hands, and that cute fairy-like personality that's fun and slightly bratty at the same time, but guaranteed to be contagious and put a smile on everyone's faces. I remember even the smell of her, light and sweet, the richness of her overlaid almost constantly with her favorite cherry blossom perfume, the fragrance only enhancing the sweet smell of her. Another sigh escapes my lips. That's Jade, and I miss her.

 

I know you'll come back some day
On a bed of nails I wait
I'm praying that you don't burn out

or fade away

 

She'll be back. I know she will. She has to come back. But, gods, I'm so apprehensive about when she does. It's scary. My mind thinks of the most terrible things possible and dwells on them. At the moment it seems ultimate rejection is so much more plausible than forgiveness and love. I go to the small altar we have set up in the corner of the room and light three sticks of incense. I kneel and clap my hands to banish negative energy, and pray. I pray that you are safe, Jade, and that you will come back to me, safe and whole, rather than the shadow that you were when you left. You hoped no one noticed, but we all did. The stress wore on you and that beautiful personality faded until you were nothing more than a shadow of the person you once were. Please don't stay like that. Please don't let this drive you away, or cause you to fade into nothingness. I couldn't bear it. I'd never forgive myself.

 

And all we are
Is all so far

 

You're falling back to me
The star that I can see yeah
I know your out there, somewhere out there
You're falling out of reach
Defying gravity yeah
I know you're out there, somewhere out there

 

/Shit… Oh SHIT! Guys, we've been spotted!/

 

Jade's frantic sending screams through my mind and I am seeing through her eyes as the link is forced wide open by the power of it. Rhia is darting between buildings in front of her, and there are two, no, three of those demons after her.

 

/Run, Rhia, don't look back, just run and hide!/

 

I see through her eyes that Rhia nods as she goes, losing herself in the maze of buildings. As soon as she is out of sight, Jade turns, calling her armor to her, and stands her ground, drawing her sword as she waits for the demons chasing her to draw into fighting range.

 

/No, Jade, just run!/

 

Ryo's thought blazes through her mind, through all of our minds, and she hesitates, if only for a moment. But they are almost on her, and in a move I taught her, she raises her sword and uses the first one's momentum against her as the sword parts her cleanly from shoulder to groin, the two bloody, twitching halves of the corpse landing behind her. She wipes the blood from her visor, Starfire must have kept it up to protect her from the demons' gaze, and she faces off with the two remaining incubi.

 

They try to trap her, getting one to circle around behind her, to no avail. She's too smart for that, slowly retreating until her back is protected by the wall of a building. They make stupid moves, rushing at her, each in turn, and they lose any limb that comes within sword reach—a hand, an arm, part of a wing. One of them rushes her, and she beheads him swiftly as in the same stroke, she lunges forward, gutting the second. Panting, she looks around warily, scanning the sky, the streets, the buildings for more of them before running off.

 

You're falling back to me
The star that I can see yeah
I know you're out there, somewhere out there
You're falling out of reach
Defying gravity yeah
I know you're out there, somewhere out there

You're falling back to me

/I'm coming home, guys. Rhia, stay hidden, and head back for the house./

 

I feel the wave of relief pass through all of us. I am standing in front of the altar now, prayers forgotten, except for the one to bring her home safely.

 

/NOOO!/

 

Her scream rings out through the bond, and I am drawn back into her, again seeing through her eyes as she is grasped from behind and lifted up into the air. Pointing her sword straight up, she plunges it up, into the incubus's chest. Blood runs down the blade, and his wings falter, and they start dropping. Then, he laughs. That same dark, wicked laughter from last week.

 

“Do you really think that's going to stop me?”

 

Those same blue eyes, that long, blue-white hair. Yoshitomo. She pulls the sword out and drives it up into him, again and again, the blood raining down on her like some grotesque shower, and he continues to laugh at her.

 

“My mistress has plans for you, little human. I will enjoy feasting on your soul.”

 

Panic and fear lance through her brain as she realizes she cannot get free of him, trying to slash through his arms, only to have them immediately heal by some strange force. She starts to struggle.

 

/Guys, help me!/

 

Yoshitomo continues to laugh as he wheels around in the air, heading back for the castle. “Be quiet now. The fun will start when you awaken.”

 

/No! SAGE!/

 

And the sending goes black and silent, the armor link closed. He knocked her out, and the one she called to help her was me. ME.

 

I know, I know
You're falling out of reach ohhhhhh
I know...

 

Not Sai, Not Ryo or Rhia, me. Love causes my heart to swell with an aching, painful heat, tinged with loss. We have to get her back, we have to save her. My Jade has been captured, will be tortured, and she called for me. She needs me. I've got to go save her. I'll kill Yoshitomo with my own hands if I have to.