Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Past Meets Future ❯ Chapter 9 ( Chapter 11 )

Rating: T

Pairings: Future selves: RyoxMia, CyexCelena, KentoxKahlan, RowenxLee, and SagexSaphrita. Past Selves: CyexCelena and RyoxMia. Kids: Touma+Sakura+Touma.

Disclaimer: Don't own Sexy Sage or anyone else from Ronin Warriors.

SSSSSSSSS scene change

italics telepathy

“yap yap yap” talk

`yap yap yap' thoughts

 

Past

Meets

Future

Chapter 9

 

“Is there no end to this thing?!” Shu wondered aloud, looking around himself at the spiraling stair. Moisture condensed on the smooth stone above their heads, occasionally dripping down the back of someone's neck. The only illumination came from softly glowing fungi that lined the walls of the stairwell. It may have just been his imagination, but Shu could swear the light showed that the walls were brickwork. “I don't think we've been here all that long, actually.” Cye replied thoughtfully.

“What makes you so sure?” Touma asked from behind.

“I've been counting the stairs.” Cye admitted, “Partly form boredom.”

“And how many have we gone down so far?” Sali inquired, her tone indicating vast amusement.

“Somewhere in the 800's.” Torrent chuckled, “You made me lose count.”

“Hmm…” Rowen mused, “if we go down the stairs at a rate of one or two every second, then that means we've been down here…”

“Somewhere around fifteen minutes.” Sage concluded, “Which is more than long enough to be going down into the ground.”

“You don't like caves much, do you Sage?” Shin teased him.

“No, I just…whoa!”

Halo had craned his head around to regard the younger Ronin, put a foot wrong, and stumbled forward. Reacting instinctively, Rowen and Shu reached out and caught the blonde before he fell and cracked his head on the stone stairs. For a moment, everyone froze, commanding their hearts to start beating again after the fright of such a near miss. “Clumsy.” Kento grinned weakly, attempting humor, “You're the last person I would have expected to trip.”

“I didn't.” Sage said angrily, “I just slipped on something.”

“Slipped on something?” Sali and Celena exchanged puzzled glances.

“There is water dripping from the ceiling.” Cye reminded him, “It just might have been continuously collecting in that particular spot.”

“Probably.” Sage agreed.

From somewhere ahead, the sound of White Blaze roaring brought their attention back to matters at hand. The noise didn't seem all that far away, though the tiger had disappeared not long after they'd entered the stairway. “I wonder what's wrong with him?” Sakura asked.

“Only one way to find out I suppose,” Leeanna yawned, stretching her arms over her head, “and when we do get out of these stairs, I vote we stop for the night, hm?”

“That's the best idea I've heard since we started this crazy mission.” Reika snorted, moving downward once more, “I wouldn't say no to something to eat, either.”

“I thought we already agreed not to mention food.” Shin chuckled.

“No, I made you promise not to.” she retorted.

The minutes stretched on, agonizingly long. The clicking noises of their sub-armored feet hitting the stone filled their ears, and the other sixteen found themselves following Cye's lead and counting the steps. In the dim light, all that was possible to make out was the vague outline of the person before you, or their profile as they turned to speak back over their shoulder. Several times Rowen caught himself stifling a yawn, and heard others doing the same. It was hard to believe that everything that had happened to them thus far had occurred in the span of a single day. No wonder they were all dead on their feet. He nearly tripped over his own two feet when, reaching out a foot for the next stair, he encountered a flat space. A crooked grin pulled slowly at his lips as Shu and Sage both stepped out beside him. Turning, Rowen cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted up the dark chute of the stairwell. “We've hit bottom!”

“What, are we in a mine shaft or something?” Celena's sardonic voice called back down to him.

One by one, the rest of the group reached the ground floor and took a gook look at their surroundings. They seemed to be standing on a flat, elevated platform about fifty feet or so across. It was bordered on three sides by walls, and the fourth dropped off into a wide crack to their left. Across the cleft was yet another wall. “Any ideas where we could be?” Nadeshiko peered around herself, confused.

“Or where we go from here?” Reika added.

Since the questions were largely rhetorical, nobody took the time to put together an answer. Instead, they explored the platform, searching for any escape. “Odd.” Seiji remarked after a moment, crouching down to stare intently at the ground.

“What is it?” Touma stepped up behind his friend, following his gaze.

“The ground.” the blonde teen replied, “It's not stone, it's…”

“Tile?!” Touma finished the sentence for him, now thoroughly puzzled as well.

Automatically, everyone looked down at the floor beneath their feet, realizing what they'd missed. The glazed ceramic tile was chipped, scratched, and discolored by years of wear and use. Definitely way out of place in a Dynasty dungeon. “Now, I'm confused.” Rowen folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall, lost in his thoughts.

“Welcome to the club.” Kento muttered, pacing over to peer over the edge of the drop off.

It seemed to fall about six feet or so; he could make out the bottom but none of the details. The crevice ran lengthwise across the room, disappearing into wide holes on either side. Shin stood beside Kento, regarding the fissure with the air of the terminally lost. “It doesn't seem like it's that far down of a drop.” he said, “Why don't we go down and take a look, maybe the exit is through one of those openings?”

Hardrock shrugged, “Hey it's something to do, who knows, we just might find a way out.”

“Go on down.” Ryo's voice came from behind the both of them, “I'll keep an eye open and give you a yell if anything happens.”

Quietly, the two young men dropped themselves over the edge, landing knees slightly bent on a layer of broken stones about the size of on egg each. Kento automatically made his way over to the right hand gap, peering into the darkness that stretched away for eternity. Making a sound of disgust, he turned away from it. It was possible that the only way out of this chamber was through one of these two holes, but which one? And why did it seem to him that those in the Dynasty had a fascination for all things dark and dreary? “Hey Kento!” Shin was on his knees in the rubble, staring at something, “what do you think these could be for?” He pointed at two long bars of steel running parallel to the sides of the crevice. Slats of thick, heavy wood were laid between the bars, bisecting them.

“You know,” Celena said from the edge of the platform, “if I didn't know better, I'd say you were standing in a…”

A sudden shrill shrieking noise cut her off, and two bright spots of light sprang to life in the tunnel to the left, flooding down the cranny and blinding both Shin and Kento as they turned to stare at it in shock. A rushing sound, accompanied by the whine of metal on metal filled their ears, and everyone else in the room gazed on in horror. “SUBWAY!!!!!!”

Shaking off his stunned surprise, Kento raced over to Shin and yanked him to the side of the ditch. The shorter boy was still bewildered by the appearance of the train. Growling softly to himself, Hardrock cuffed him lightly upside the head, effectively getting his attention. He cupped his hands into stirrups and motioned for Shin to step up. Wasting no time, the other youth set his foot into the hold and reached upwards to grasp the side of the crevice. Celena's hands grabbed at his shoulders and hauled him roughly over the edge. Adrenaline surged through his veins, pumped by his furiously pounding heart. Shin spun around on his knees and reached back down to grip Kento's wrist, wondering in the back of his mind how he was going to be able to pull the larger boy out of harm's way, especially with Celena so weak. The oncoming train roared down on them, the two headlights of the vehicle growing larger by the second; filling his eyes and making his head swim. The grip of the trapped boy's hand seemed to crush the bones in his forearm. Then someone was beside him, leaning over and grabbing Kento's other hand. In total synch, the two warriors heaved backwards, pulling Kento far enough out of the ditch so he could swing a leg over the edge and pull himself up. The train screamed past, missing Kento's foot by a few inches at the most. The stunned warriors watched as the windows flashed by, reflecting the wan light in a blur. Shin and Kento both stared, their blood running cold at the near miss. Shin turned to discover who the other rescuer hand been; he hadn't exactly hand time to notice in all the confusion. Two pairs of eyes met one colored emerald green, the other ocean, father and son gazed at each other for a moment. Cye managed a faint grin, panting with exertion. Shin echoed the expression before flopping down onto his back. “What the heck was that?!” Shu demanded.

“What do you mean?” Rowen blinked in surprise, turning to stare at the bewildered young man.

In fact, all of the new Ronins had completely befuddled looks on their faces, “You've never seen a subway train before?”

Reika shook her head slowly, “No. Is that what it was?”

“Most of man's technology was destroyed in Armageddon.” Touma reminded them.

“There's a lot of things you take for granted, that we never knew existed” Leeanna put in.

“That little detail slipped my mind” Rowen admitted, “a subway is public transportation; it's used to transport large numbers of people through underground tunnels that travel beneath the big cities.”

“You can ride in that thing?” Seiji asked, his tone one of disbelief.

“It's hollow” Rowen felt a little odd to be explaining such a thing to them.

“And if it had hit you,” Ryo said, his face utterly deadpan, “you wouldn't even have had time to realize that you were road kill.”

Shin gulped audibly, visibly shaken from the encounter. Sali shot him a sidelong glance, noting how pale he seemed. Kento didn't look much better, though she decided that she owed him a great deal of thanks for his quick thinking, and even quicker acting. Shin was her only brother; the thought of him as `road kill' sent chills up her spine. “What do we do now?” Cye asked after everyone had digested this latest occurrence, “if we try to leave through either of the tunnels, we could get mowed down by a train without warning.” Silence fell as the all seventeen of them exchanged looks; `Now what?' Was a very good question. Nobody could think of an answer. Shin cleared his throat, drawing their attention, “You said people rode around in that thing, right Rowen?”. He waited for the archer to nod before continuing, “so what if we just…stopped one and got inside of it?”

Both of Rowen's eyebrows rose towards his hairline, “…You know, that's so simple it might just work!”

“Hold that thought!” Kento held up a hand as though halting something, “you're forgetting one little thing, how do you suggest we go about stopping one?!?!”

Sage's lips curved into a wry smile, “I should think a great deal of electricity would do the trick.”

Mia quirked an eyebrow at him, disbelief written on her face, “You think that would work?”

“I don't see why not.” Sage shrugged.

“Then again, maybe it won't be necessary.” he frowned slightly, “this whole thing seems as though it's been set up to head us in one direction; first that ball of light, then the stairs, and now this, unless I miss my guess, the train may very well stop on its own.”

“Then why didn't it do that just now?” Nadeshiko challenged the theory.

“If you were Taru, would you just pass up a chance to wipe out two of us?” the blonde said logically, “it must have been too good of a shot for her to ignore.”

“I wonder where she's trying to take us then?” Ryudo murmured quietly, his eyes distant, “why hasn't see just picked us all off by now, I can't understand it.”

“She's probably just having some fun at our expense.” Sakura drawled dryly.

“Seems like an awful lot of power just for an ego trip though.” Seiji shook his head, “The only way to find out is to ask her and to do that, we'll have to wait.”

“Oh joy.” Rowen rolled his eyes, “More waiting.”

“What are you complaining for?!” Sali laughed, “we can rest here until the train comes, we'll hear it long before it shows up, but we can all get a little nap first.”

Kento rapped his fist against the hart tile beneath him, “Right, sure, you sleep on this and you'll be feeling it for a week afterward.”

“It's better than nothing!” Reika defended her friend, stepping away from the edge of the drop-off, “I'm certainly tired enough.”

“You won't hear any complaints form me.” Touma said, settling his back against the wall and folding his arms over his chest.

In a matter of moments, the Ronins had made themselves as comfortable as possible on the hard floor. Despite the cold tile, none of them managed to keep their eyes open for more than a few moments after lying down.

 

SSSSSSSSS

 

Touma's eyes shot wide open as his stiffened against the wall, choking back a cry by the barest of margins. His chest heaved frantically as his lungs strove to pump air through his body, accommodating the panic he felt. He'd expected a few bad dreams about the harrowing experiences earlier that day…but nothing that would have him waking up in a cold sweat. Drawing his knees up to his chest, Touma folded his arms atop them and buried his face there. Gradually, he stopped shaking, and his heart ceased its attempts to slam right out of his chest. Fragments of the dream that had frightened him so came drifting back. It had felt a great deal like dying; with the darkness closing in around the edges of his sight, leaching the colors form any and everything; the muffled quality of the faint noises around him. Lethargy spread through his limbs and his breathing filled his ears, becoming all he could hear and feel. Then the screaming had started. The voices were vague at first, and his mind had to struggle to put his finger on whom they belonged to. Slowly they became louder and clearer and he heard the sounds of battle, followed by the sharp scream of his mother crying out her sure-kill… Someone was sobbing. It sounded horribly like Kina. The shrill screaming clawed at his ears and a splash of vivid crimson spread across his vision before someone's body hit the ground with a meaty thud… Then he'd woken up. It took Touma a moment to realize that he was shaking violently all over again. “Tou?” the blue haired archer froze at the sound of his name, wincing to himself at the thought that one of the others had seen him so broken up over nothing more than a dream. He slowly turned his head to meet a pair of violet eyes. Great, it just had to be Sakura. Touma was beginning to wish he'd fallen and impaled himself earlier. “Bad dream?” she asked, yawning and uncurling from the ball she'd been sleeping in.

“What makes you say that?” he countered, just a tad defensively.

The answer was obvious to them both, but he had to try and save face. He could barely make out the curve of a smile that touched her lips as she replied. “Because I had one to.” Sakura twined one sapphire lock of hair around her index finger, whirling it in agitation. The tiny smile disappeared and was replaced by a frown.

“What about?” Touma ventured after the silence dragged on for several awkward seconds.

Her voice was very small and lost as she answered, “Today…back in that room, where we almost lost you.” she shook her head and forced a rueful grin, “It's silly, but I kept dreaming that…that I lost my grip on you, and you kept falling.” Her gaze fell to her hands, “and all I could do was watch while I let go to save myself and you died.”

Disturbed at seeing her so upset, Touma leaned towards her and set his hand over hers. Sakura looked up at him questioningly, the shadow from her own nightmare still lingered in her eyes. “But you didn't.” he said earnestly, “And I'm here, aren't I, you did everything you could, all of you, and it was enough, I owe you more that I can ever repay you, Kura.”

Slowly, she shook her head, her bangs tumbling into her face, “No Touma, there are no debts between friends, you know that, the others would tell you the same.” Sakura reached forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, grateful for the comfort, “Now what was your dream?”

Touma thought about that for a moment as he wrapped his arms around her waist, and kissed her gently, surprised by the fact that she didn't pull away this time, but kissed him back. “It's not important.” he said as he broke the kiss, “Don't worry about it, just go back to sleep.”

“But I want to know!” she protested, “you looked frightened by it Tou, very lost.”

“I'm telling you it's nothing!” he insisted, wishing she would just let the matter go.

“I told you mine!”

“Just drop it, why is this so important to you?!”

Sakura let go of him and sat back, an unreadable expression on her face, “Because you have the same look you had earlier, when you were falling.” She laid herself back down, curling up her face hidden in her arms. Maybe he was imagining things, but Touma swore he heard her say, “And I don't want you to fall anymore.”

 

SSSSSSSSS

 

It was the rumbling that woke them up. The chipped floor beneath them buzzed with the vibrations of something huge and heavy moving at high speed through the tunnel. All seventeen Ronins were shaken awake as the tremors rang through their bones, echoing inside their heads like a swarm of angry hornets and rattling their teeth together. The faint scent of gear oil and rust blew through the room on a source, less breeze. Shu clutched at his head and grimaced, “Ugh, feels like somebody whacked me upside the head with a frying pan…while I was wearing my helmet!” That awful roaring noise grew closer, and Shin and Kento went very pale at the memory of their previous close call.

“Sage you'd better get ready.” Rowen reminded Halo, “We don't know for sure that it's going to stop for us, we just might have to fall back on the contingency plan.”

The blonde nodded his understanding and summoned forth his armor, feeling somehow more stable as the familiar weight settled down around him. A similar rush of power surged through the station, accompanied by a brilliant flash of light. All eyes turned on Seiji, who shrugged emerald encased shoulders indifferently. “I've had a great deal of experience working with the element of lightning and associated electricity; I think with the added assistance of the armor, I could be of help.” Seiji explained, though it was clear from his tone that he would be joining in the effort whether or not Sage agreed.

But there was no objection in Sage's direct gaze, “You have to learn some time.” he reminded the less experience swordsman, “And it might as well be with someone who can warn you of any mistakes you might be making.” he chuckled softly, “You kids have it easy, we had to learn the hard way.”

“Kids?!” Touma, Leeanna, Shu, and Nadeshiko sputtered indignantly.

Shin just smiled, “Could it be you're developing paternal feelings towards us?”

The past Ronins blinked at him in something like shock. Shin had his arms crossed over his chest, the expression on his face, some obscure mix of triumph and expectation. Ryo opened his mouth to reply, very pointedly not looking in Ryudo and Reika's direction. A loud whistle screeched out of the blackness and everyone's attention was gratefully redirected. “You two had better get moving.” he said instead, “Sounds to me as if we're almost out of time.”

“What were you planning on doing?” Mia asked Sage, “How're you going to fry that sucker?”

Sage just smirked and dropped down into the trench, which the train would come careening down shortly. Seiji frowned in confusion, but followed without hesitation. “What's the bright idea?” Leeanna quirked an eyebrow as she leaned over to observe them both.

“I was planning on using this to transmit a large amount of energy into the oncoming car.” Sage explained, tapping the metal rail between his feet with the tip of his sword. His lips twitched as he fought not to laugh at the various reactions to the reckless-seeming plan.

“What if it doesn't work?!” Shu blanched. Seiji stared more than a little wide-eyed at the elder bearer of Halo.

“Then our reflexes had better be as good as I think they are.” Sage said dryly.

“You don't exactly inspire confidence, you know” Shu muttered sullenly, “Seiji, if it even looks like it won't work, I'm hauling you butt out of there.”

“I appreciate the offer Shu.” Came the slightly echoed response as Seiji echoed the other's posture by setting the sword so that the tip touched the long strip of metal, “But I believe this will work.”

“I wish I was so sure.” Reika murmured quietly, worrying, her lower lip between her teeth as she fidgeted anxiously.

Cye set a comforting hand on her shoulder and smiled understandingly. “You'd better take a few steps back.” he advised in his softly accented voice, “There's going to be a forceful wind when it comes by.”

Twin spots of intense light appeared in the darkness of the tunnel. The rays of light slanted from the shadows and pooled on the rocks and rails, speeding along and leaving blinding flashed off the metal. Seiji gulped reflexively and gripped his sword-hilt until his fingers ached with the strain. Sage stared ahead, a grimly determined set to his jaw as a sudden rush of hot air blasted outward form the drift. “Now!” he snapped as the lights grew to encompass his vision. The Sword of Halo sparked to life with waves of green-gold energy. The dark station was suddenly flooded with illumination. All those on the platform squinted against the sudden flare. Purple and orange spots dance behind their eyelids for a moment, before they were blinded once more by a twin burst as two voices rose in unison. “THUNDER BOLT CUT!!” The brilliant emerald and aureate power raced crazily down the rails as both Sage and Seiji gritted their teeth with the effort of controlling their sure-kills in such an unusual manner. There wasn't a soul in the room whose breath did not catch in his or her throat as the energy impacted with the oncoming subway car. It crackled up the cab, sparking along the control panels inside the emerging out the roof to envelope the whole train in a faint shroud of shimmering hazy gold. For some distance behind, bright lights continued to whiz down the rails into the darkness of the tunnel. With a tortured screeching of metal-on-metal, the wheels of the car slowly creaked to a halt, stopping the car a good five feet away form the two warriors standing in its path of travel. A great sigh of relief rose from the platform as everyone released the breaths they hadn't been aware of holding. Reika pressed a hand to her chest as her shoulders sagged in relief. “You know, for a moment there…it was almost difficult to tell the two of them apart.” Shin remarked thoughtfully at her side. Kento nodded in agreement, with the helmets on, it was impossible to see the differences in the way both of them wore their hair, and so the familial resemblance stood out all the stronger. Nadeshiko grinned wildly and gave Seiji a quick thumbs-up. The other teen grinned back, an expression of breathless incredulity on his face, as if he couldn't quite believe they'd managed to pull it off. “Get out of there you two, and I'll go check whether or not you fried the switchboard.” Rowen called, already heading towards the still slightly sizzling subway car.

“We'll be right th…” Sage began to walk back towards the edge of the drop-off, but cut off his own words with a groan as his legs buckled under him.

Within an instant or two, Seiji was at his side, looping one of the other boy's arms over his shoulders and looking as him anxiously, “Are you alright, what happened??”

“I'm not sure.” Sage replied, shaking his head slightly.

“Well you did you a lot of your power trying to heal Celena back in the tunnel.” Cye frowned, “You just used a little bit more than you intended to.”

Sage nodded, “You're probably right.”

“Let's get you out of there.” Ryo beckoned White Blaze forward, gesturing towards the two green-clad warriors in the trench, “Go fetch.”

“Fetch?” Seiji arched an eyebrow at the dark-haired boy.

Ryo snickered, “Poor choice of words, maybe?”

“I think so.”

The large snow-white cat thudded down onto the packed stones with barely a whisper of sound. He padded over to Seiji, waiting patiently for the younger Halo to help Sage onto the tiger's back. Sage managed to get his arms around Blaze's neck before the mystical feline leaped easily back onto the platform. Seiji was right behind them, scrambling out with a little help from Kento and Touma. “All aboard, I guess.” Touma chuckled, eyeing the strange metal transport doubtfully.

“It's not all that bad.” Cye assured him, “Come on, let's see how Rowen's doing.”

In single file, the Ronins stepped carefully over the gap between the edge and the stairs leading into the car. Inside, fluorescent lights ran the length of the seating area, reflecting dully off the corrugated iron floor. It was almost eerie how like a real subway car this was…right down to the discarded snack-wrappers, and the used chewing gum stamped into the floor and stuck to the ceiling and under the seats. “That's public transportation for you.” Kento made a face and plopped down in one of the plastic upholstered chairs.

“I'm going to check in on Rowen.” Touma said as he headed down the aisle to the driver's end.

His sub-armored feet made weird clacking noised as he walked, and more than once gum stuck to the bottom on his `shoes'. Touma made a face and stuck his head into the small room at the very end of the car. Before him, Rowen was closely examining the control panel. “How goes it?”

Rowen jumped in surprise, but shrugged as he noticed it was only Touma, “Well, our lightning bugs didn't melt or short-circuit anything as far as I can tell, surprisingly.”

“Can you get it moving?”

“Can I get it moving? Oh ye of little faith.” Rowen scoffed, throwing a switch.

With a sudden lurch, the train began moving once more, starting off at a relatively slow speed, and continuing to gain velocity as it shot into the opposite tunnel. Touma reeled back against the wall, hands flailing for any kind of hold. “You could have given me a little warning!”

Rowen smirked and held the door open, “Let's go, I get the feeling that we'll stop when Taru's good and ready to let us off, I'm not needed here.”

Touma scowled, “I hate the idea of being under that brat's manipulation.”

“There's nothing we can do about it at the moment.” Rowen shrugged, “Don't sweat it; we're just cooperating with her for now because it gets us where we need to be.”

“Which is?”

“Wherever she's holed herself up.”

The two azure haired Ronins rejoined the others. Talk was muted as the subway train sped along at an undeterminable speed. Staring out the windows revealed only the faint image of the wall whizzing by at mach-5. They either sprawled in the uncomfortable plastic chairs or stood leaning against the poles and using the little hand-stirrups mounted in the ceiling. Ryudo gazed impassively out the window, a tiny frown line appearing between his brows as he struggled with his own inner thoughts. Ryo watched unobtrusively as Ryudo continued to rake his teeth over his lower lip as whatever issues he was tackling played havoc with his mind. It occurred to Ryo that Ryudo had seemed much less confident since the whole plan of going into the Dynasty territory had begun. Strangely enough, Ryo recognized the look on Ryudo's face, and the troubled light in his eyes. Hadn't he seen it in the mirror enough times before? Carefully making his way so as not to lose his balance on the rumbling floor, Ryo stood a little behind the young boy, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder carefully. “Something wrong?” Ryudo blinked once or twice, apparently not noticing his presence until that very moment. He half-turned his head to meet Ryo's eyes before turning back to staring out into the blurred blackness. For a second, Ryo wondered in he was going to say anything at all. “How can you stand it?” his voice was so low that Ryo almost had to strain to hear it.

“Stand what?” Ryo asked quietly.

“The price of command.” Ryudo chuckled humorlessly, “I remember my father, mentioning it before, but I never understood what he was trying to get at.”

“The price of command…?” Ryo echoed, obviously not understanding either.

“Like it or not, I'm the technical leader of this generation of warriors aren't I?”

He was hugging himself tightly now, his fingers digging almost painfully into his arms through the sub-armor, “I never wanted that, I'm not cut out for it, either Seiji or Touma always made most of the decisions, when we were younger, I was content to follow…but now I have to step up and take responsibility for the actions of the group, I thought my heart was going to give out on me, watching Seiji take that risk just now” Ryudo turned a tortured gaze onto the boy he so strongly resembled, “that's what I can't stand, letting the people I care about, the ones I'm supposed to be responsible for go into danger, especially when I'm just sitting by and watching, how can I continue to make decisions that might put all their lives on the line, if just a simple risk comes so close to breaking my nerve?”

Ryo stared in surprise, experiencing a sudden pang of deja-vu, only from a totally different perspective. He hadn't thought it was possible to see oneself so clearly in another. Hadn't those same questions tortured his own mind during the days of the war with Talpa? It had taken him ages to puzzle through to the answers by himself. “Ryudo” he said softly, squeezing the boy's shoulder a little tighter, “there isn't anything to be done to stop the others from taking risks, do you know why that is?”

At the wordless shake of the boy's head, Ryo continued, “It's because the deal works both ways, they fight to keep you safe, just as you with you could to keep them from harm, you may want to throw yourself between them and any oncoming danger at times, but you can't and you know it, we all have a role to play, and if we don't, we're not going to make it through this alive.”

“I just feel as if I haven't been doing anything to help.” Ryudo near-whispered.

His bangs fell over his face, throwing his eyes into shadow and hiding the way his eyes shone with tears unshed. He wasn't strong enough for this, and he knew it.

“Don't make me mention the risks your sister took just to bring us here.” Ryo said mock warningly. He caught the boy's chin between his fingers and tilted his face up so that their eyes met, “The fact that you feel unworthy of the power that comes with command means you're less likely to be corrupted by it, or to abuse it.”

Ryudo swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand and managed a watery smile, “I…suppose…”

“You just gotta learn to delegate.” Ryo grinned, “Taking everything on your own shoulders is a great way to worry yourself into an early grave.”

Ryudo made a sound suspiciously like a snigger, “You hypocrite.”

“Made you laugh, didn't I?” the grin widened a smidgen.

With a slightly stronger smile, the younger Sanada nodded, “Thank you, you didn't have to help me.”

“I think it's in the job description” Ryo coughed awkwardly, recalling Shin's words from earlier.

He'd never intended to get attached to either Ryudo or Reika, but… It seemed the Mouri line all shared the same inherent ability to read emotions that other people weren't even aware of feeling. “Err…” Ryudo sought for something to say, and was saved by a sudden squeal of the brakes. Everyone was either thrown against the seats before them or stumbled forwards from the force of the stop. Touma staggered forward a few steps, then turned to glare at Rowen. “I thought you said there was nothing wrong with it!”

“There isn't.” Strata replied, rubbing his forehead, which he had banged against one of the metal poles, “this is our stop, I guess.”

“Here?” Mia looked out the window in disbelief, “but I don't see any stairs or anything, are we supposed to continue down the tunnel on foot?”

“Try looking out the other side, Mia.” Seiji chuckled.

He wiped at the window on the opposite side of the train and peered out, “There's a faint light, like on the last platform.”

Creaking and groaning loudly, the door slowly opened on hinges nearly rusted shut. Kento, sitting nearest the entrance, leaned out to take a quick glance around. “You're right Seiji, there is another station here, but I don't see anything that looks at all like a trap.”

“This is the end of the line for us then.” Sage said finally as he slowly got up from where he was sitting.

Kento stepped out onto the tiled floor first, taking another step to the side to allow the others to file past him. “Where do you think we'll come up at?” Shu asked, eye the stairwell in the wall ahead, “Another maze?”

“I hope not.” Nadeshiko murmured fervently.

White Blaze jumped out last, thumping down onto the platform to land in a wary crouch. He lifted his striped head and sniffed at the slightly musty air of the unused subway station. The fur along his spine slowly stood on end, and his muzzle drew back to reveal a truly frightening set of fangs. “Hmm?” Ryo turned to look back at his companion, “Blaze?”

“What's wrong with him?” Rowen asked, puzzled.

Seiji frowned, and wrinkle his nose, “Do you…smell something?”

Cye took a whiff, and coughed suddenly, “It's almost like something's burning!”

“Burning?” Ryudo blinked suddenly watering eyes; “you're right, it smells like smoke!” he rubbed at his eyes, and narrowed them blearily in the direction of the stairs, “Look!”

Billowing slowly down the stairs like insubstantial tentacles were thick trailers of smoke. The heavy, acrid cloud rolled onto the platform, winding around the legs and lower bodies of the surprised warriors. “Guh, what is it?” Shu's yelp was slightly muffled by the hand he'd clamped over his mouth and nose. Inhaling the fumes left an acidic taste and clouded up his lungs. The smoke seemed to surge upwards into several tall lumps. Choking as they were on the smog, this went unnoticed by the Ronins. A tiny whirlwind sprang to life in the center of the room, snatching away the noxious cloud and revealing several kneeling Dynasty Soldiers. “Guys, watch it!!” Shin cried, ducking under a wild swing of a halberd. He crashed his fist into the chest plate of the advancing suit of armor, leaving a gaping hole. A sudden cloud of sickly red smoke burst from the gap, blowing right into Shin's face and causing him to stagger backwards, coughing violently. It stank of death, rot, and decay. “Shin!” Reika shrieked, dashing through the advancing soldiers to his side, “what happened, are you alright??”

The auburn haired teen gasped for air as he shook his head to clear the vile scent form his nose, “Did you see, the smoke, it's different!”

“You're right.” Rowen said grimly, backing slowly away form another Dynasty minion, “These aren't the things we're used to fighting; we can't afford to inhale the stuff they leak!”

“How do you propose we kill them then?!” Seiji snapped, “The only way we know is to either let their essence escape, or annihilate them with a sure-kill, and we can't use one of those in such a small space!!”

“We can't take the time to armor up anyway!” Kento pointed out.

“Our only choice is to make a break for the stairs!” Ryo shouted over the din of clashing metal and heavy footsteps.

“But what if they follow us up the stairs!” Touma yelled back, desperately blocking every attack thrown his way, “we'd get in each other's way if we tried to fight there!”

“That's to our advantage; they can only come at us on ones and twos in such close quarters!” Ryo replied.

Kento grasped the forearm of one unfortunate soldier, and hurled him down into the trench. The crunch of the armor folding in on itself was barely heard over the clamor of battle. Ryudo turned to Touma, “You and Rowen should armor up and take the rear, that way; you can shoot down any soldiers that get too close.”

“Now you're starting to think like a leader.” Ryo approved.

Touma nodded and turned to Rowen, who was busy clubbing a soldier over the head and holding his breath to avoid breathing in the smoke. He nodded his head once in assent to Ryudo's suggestion, “Let's do it.”

 

SSSSSSSSS

 

Nobody really wanted to think of the exodus to the stairwell as a retreat. Backing towards the stairway, behind the others, Touma and Rowen kept their bows and nocked arrows trained on the slowly advancing troops. “Why do you think these are so different?” Touma asked quietly, feeling blindly for the steps. He fired into the closely packed ranks of the soldiers. Thin streams of demonic red smoke drifted upwards as the animated suits of armor toppled over.

“They `bleed' red…unlike the others, which let out a grayish color.” Rowen muttered, following Touma's example, “The soldiers we fought during the wars that we had were created by the negative emotions of the people our enemies captured…”

Touma's eyes went wide, then narrowed as a cold rage swept over him, “And Taru's killing her captives, these were made with the death energy.”

Rowen made a noise of disgust and coughed on what little smoke was wafted their way, “I say we make a break for it, the others have to be a good distance up the stairs by now.”

Both Strata warriors hastily turned and ran at breakneck speed up the stairs. The angry roars of the soldiers remaining on the platform echoed up to them, almost drowned out by the sound of armored feet pounding on stone. There was light up ahead, shining around the silhouette of fifteen people and one feline. Bursting out into the wan light of a cloudy day, Rowen and Touma paused and keeled over, hands on their knees as they caught their breath. Touma turned his head to one side and caught site of Ryo, Shin, and Sage staring in shock around them. He frowned and turned to look at their surroundings…and froze. Skyscrapers of concrete and plexiglass rose up from the somewhat cracked pavement at their feet. Street signs were bent out of angle around the hollowed out shells of broken down cars. The windows of such vehicles were caved in and gaped back like so many jagged toothed mouths. Soaring over it all was the silhouette of the Alter Palace. “W-we're in…” Rowen stammered.

“Toyama.” Ryo breathed quietly, “Our time period.”

 

TBC...

 

Author's Note: Well here's you last present I'll try to get the next chapter out in a few days. A week at most. Please R and R. Ja ne.