Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Uncertainty ❯ Swirling Through Chaos ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2: Swirling Through Chaos

Rowen looked down at the form he now held limp in his arms, concern marring his forehead. "Cye?" he asked cautiously. When he received no answer, he tried again only more urgently. "Cye, answer me. Please." Still no response. All right, he was really worried now. He tried to feel along his mind link to Cye, but was pushed back by a wall of flames that seemed to surround Cye's form. Rowen yelped as the sheer heat washed over him in waves. He pulled away from Cye's link looking slightly scorched. Now he was extremely worried; Cye shouldn't have a wall of flames around him that was Ryo's department.

Rowen picked up Cye's still figure and gently laid him on his bed. Feeling the heat radiating off of Cye's body, he bit his lip in consternation. Wondering what he should do first, he turned inward to call for the guys, thinking that they would want to know that Cye was sick. He then headed to the bathroom in order to get a basin, filling it with cold water. Once back in Cye's bedroom, Rowen dipped a wash cloth into the cool water to gently bathe Cye's face, in an effort to bring down the raging fever. Torrents' frame commenced shaking uncontrollably at his touch. Looking fearfully down at the spearsman, Rowen pulled the blankets up around Cye, in an effort to warm the slight figure.

"Hey Rowen, What's wro . . . ?" the voice trailed off as he saw Cye's unconscious form and Rowen's troubled face.

Rowen looked up to find Ryo standing in the doorway with Sage to his right and Kento to his left. "Hey guys."

"Cye . . . Oh God. Let me through. I have to get to Cye." came Kento's distressed voice. But Sage put a restraining hand on the bigger man's shoulder. Kento looked up at the blond swordsman, confusion in his eyes.

"Wait Kento. Rowen's doing fine. Let me see what I can do first, all right?" Sage asked quietly of the bigger man.

Kento nodded his understanding but his worry tinged his every action. He began to fidget staring at Cye's motionless form. Turning inward to check on Cye through their link, he was suddenly startled when he was slapped hard across the cheek. Kento jerked out of his haze, anger blazing in his eyes at Rowen who had slapped him. "What the Hell did you do that for? I was only trying to see if he was all right."

"Look Kento, I know what you were trying to do, and I am sorry I slapped you but you weren't listening to me. I yelled your name three times and when that did not work, I slapped you."

Kento interrupted his apology. "I don't care that you want my attention. He's my friend and I have to know if he's all right. So just leave me alone." Kento yelled a little forcibly as he started to turn inwards once again.

Rowen took a step back from the rage evident in Kento's eyes, but he was not going to back down. "NO KENTO, you can't!" Rowen cried out, shaking Kento's forearm in desperation.

Kento looked down at Rowen's hand and placed his own on top of it. He started to pry the archer's fingers off of his arm. But stopped when he heard the note of pleading enter Rowen's voice.

"Kento, will you please just listen to me. I have already tried that. The only one of us that can possibly have a chance of getting through is Ryo. Cye's whole spirit is being shrouded with intense flames. Look at me Kento. I mean really look at me."

Kento did as Rowen asked and for the first time, he noticed the archer's flushed look, the eerie light in his eyes, the dry, chapped lips. Rowen's hand on his shoulder was slightly red and it looked as if it was going to blister. There was a feeling of heat radiating off of Rowen's fingers. Kento looked up with realization. "You saying that Cye did this to ya?"

"No Kento, Cye did not do this, at least not purposely. He just erected a shield around himself when he fell, and since his fever was high on his mind the shield became a living wall of fire. I am sorry again that I slapped you, but I did not want you to get burned like I did." Rowen's voice trailed off as a slight feeling of pain passed through his body. An almost imperceptible moan came out of his chapped lips, making Sage turn toward him.

"Rowen, let me see." Sage took Rowen's hands in his and placed their foreheads together as he began to concentrate. A green aura began to envelop Sage's form as it slowly spread out to encompass Rowen.

Rowen moaned slightly as he felt Sage's power leaking into him. The pain lessening to a bearable tone, he began to pull away from Sage's healing touch. "That's enough. You'll need your strength to help Cye."

"But Rowen,"

"No buts about it golden boy. He needs you more than I do. I was only slightly scorched, but that wall of his has got to be hurting him. "Hey Ryo, what do you think?"

But Ryo was no longer paying attention to them. He was instead, looking thoughtfully at Cye's figure. His mind made up, he cast caution to the wind. He was going to attempt the mind link with the water warrior, fully aware of the chance he was taking. But since Cye's shield was made out of fire, he was hoping that he would be able to pass through it easily enough. He started to turn inwards, no one noticing his actions, since Rowen and Kento were arguing and Sage had turned his attention on Rowen's slightly singed form. Ryo's blue eyes lost focus as he began to link to Cye's mind. His hand resting on Torrent's shoulder.

"Ach, RYO NOOOOOO!!!!!" came Rowen's voice as though from far away and then it was inside his head. "Ryo what are you doing? Stop it. I don't know if you can get through even if you are Wildfire." Rowen's mind voice held a touch of panic as well as understanding but Ryo shut it out.

"Too late," he thought back to Rowen. "I'm already at the fire wall. I'm beginning to pass through."

Rowen who was linked to Ryo started to pull away as the heat began once again. Only Ryo was faster and shut the link off, knowing what it could do. Rowen staggered against Sage's chest as he wiped his sweat soaked brow off on his hand. "Damn Ryo, I hope you know what you are getting into." Rowen's voice trailed off as he noticed Ryo's eyes closing. The dark-haired boy had slipped into unconsciousness as well.

A string of muffled curses met Rowen's ears as he looked over at Kento. Kento was extremely upset now since two of his friends were both out like lights. Rowen was worried too. He wasn't sure what made Ryo lose consciousness. If it was because he was now behind Cye's defense, then he should be ok and will wake up once he comes back out of Cye's mind, but if that wasn't the case . . . Rowen bit his lip in chagrin. There was nothing he could do right now except continue bathing Cye's face, and pray. He pulled Cye's desk chair up to the bed and sat down, once again dipping his hand into the basin of cool water.

Sage stood next to him and gently placed his hand on top of the hand Ryo had left on Cye's shoulder. He let his power begin to flow once again out of his body and into Ryo and Cye. Praying that it would do some good but unsure if it would or not.

Ryo stood on the brink, looking at chaos. That was the best way to describe it. He wasn't sure what had happened but obviously he had bypassed the mind link and ended up straight into Cye's mind. That was not supposed to happen. He thought about it and finally had to say that he was stumped. The only thing that he could think of was that the fire wall was more than a simple defense mechanism. Ryo thought about how the fire had seemed to grow stronger as he passed through it, almost as if it was feeding off of his armor. With a start, he realized that maybe that was the case, since he did not believe he could have actually ended up in Cye's mind otherwise. Generally, their mind links only give feelings and words but since Cye was out cold, then part of the link was out as well. Ryo had hoped that the remaining part of the link would give him a clue as to what was wrong, but he had instead become trapped inside Cye's mind along with the water bearer.

"Cye, can you hear me?"Ryo called trying to awaken his friend. "Aw come on now Cye, I know you're in here and I'd just as soon get out. So help me out here, why dontcha?" Ryo asked pleadingly.

He began to walk, careful where he stepped as he sifted through Torrent's memories. He smiled as he watched scenes play out in Cye's mind but then groaned when the scenes shifted to terror. Ryo was held captive by the heart wrenching scenes that was more myth than fact. He then realized what held Cye captive besides his fever.

Cye was terribly afraid, afraid the guys would be upset with him. Cye's mind shifted abruptly to the recent obvious pillow fight with Rowen. Ryo remembered seeing the feathers strewn around the room but never thought to ask Rowen about them. He felt Cye start to relax as a feeling of cool water and light began to invade his senses. Looking up he could see Cye's form tumbling head over heels in the maelstrom of his mind. Ryo reached out a hand and managed to snag the still unconscious form and brought him close to his chest. Cye stirred slightly once he was in contact with Ryo's body.

"Come on Cye, wake up. You can do it. Sages' power is coursing through you. You'll be better in no time. Come on. You have nothing to be afraid of. What Rowen said is true you know. Admit your feelings, don't hold them all bottled up." Ryo let a smile form as he watched Cye's eyes flutter open.

"Ryo?" Cye asked confused.

"Yeah?" came the response.

"Uh, what are you doing here?" Cye looked around dazed. Realizing where they were, he added "How did you get here for that matter?" Cye knew that he was still unconscious but that his mind had been freed thanks to Ryo's presence.

"Well, I tried to link with ya but as I was crossing your defense barrier, I was pulled in. So you would probably know how I got here better than I would." Ryo shrugged his shoulders not knowing what to say.

Cye let that thought tumble around for a few minutes before finally saying "Thanks Ryo."

"Huh? What for? I was only trying to check on you."

"Yeah, but you were the only one that I was letting through my defense. Else I would have chosen a different barrier besides fire. I'm not sure why I chose you though, maybe because I was afraid the most of what your reaction would be, to me admitting my feelings to Mia. I don't know. But I do know that you had better get back to your own body. You've been here a little long, Don't ya think?"

Ryo once again shrugged his shoulders, feeling helpless. "I would love to leave, but I am not leaving without you. Besides I don't have the strength to go back through the fire wall. It kinda absorbed my powers on the way in." Ryo said sheepishly. He knew it wasn't really Cye's fault but it was his defenses that were keeping him here.

"Uh Ryo, I think you should turn around. The defense is no longer there. See? You can pass through safely."

Ryo turned to look behind him. Sure enough the barrier was gone. He turned back to Cye. "What about you? I'm not leaving without ya."

"Ryo, you have to. I'll be fine. I'm just exhausted but my defenses are down. You guys will be able to check on me. I'll try to wake up as soon as I can, but there are still some things that I need to work out, alone. Please, don't argue with me Ryo." Cye pursed his lips together knowing the look that Wildfire was giving him. Cye wasn't sure how long Ryo had been in his mind before Ryo had found him, but he could feel Ryo's life starting to slip away. The bearer of Wildfire had to get out and fast. There was no more time to argue. Cye knew what he had to do. He hated to hurt Ryo but there was no choice. Turning toward the raven haired young man, Cye gave him a slight smile full of love. He then proceeded to run full tilt at Ryo's form, hitting him dead center propelling him back and out of his mind. Cye mouthed sorry to the boy before Ryo was carried out of sight. He then fell limp as he felt Ryo's presence fade.

Ryo looked at Cye, startled as the auburn haired young man hit him. "Nooooo, Cye!!!!!" he yelled, but could do nothing to stop his free fall. Ryo landed back in his own body with a jerk. He sat up with sweat pouring off of his brow and slammed his fist into the mattress next to Cye's head. "Damn, I was so close. I can't believe I lost him. Oh Cye, why didn't you come back with me?" He asked no one in particular as unconsciousness claimed him once again.

Rowen started forward but Sage held him back. "He's fine just worn out. I'm glad he came back when he did though."

Rowen looked questioningly up at the swordsman. Not realizing the danger Ryo had been in.

Sage smiled at the bewildered expression on Rowen's face. 'He must not have felt it, interesting.' "Rowen, didn't you realize that Ryo was no longer in his body but that he was in Cye's? If he hadn't left Cye's body when he did he could have died. I was beginning to get worried because I did not know how to pull him back. I could feel his body beginning to shut down. That was why he jumped so much when he came back. His body was surprised that its mind had returned. That's why he's unconscious now. He just needs to rest some, but I would feel better if we could watch him. His life signs may still slip." Sage gently picked up the unconscious teen and placed him on Kento's bed.

"Sage, what about Cye?" came Kento's question.

"Sage looked over at the stockier boy. "I think Ryo reached him. It's now just a matter of waiting. I know that Cye's defenses are down else Ryo would not have made it back out. He didn't have the strength to. So you can check on him Kento if you would like, but don't fall in like Ryo did, ok. Just lightly probe. Cye needs his rest."

Kento acknowledged the swordsman and turned inwards letting his mind briefly touch Cye's. He felt better knowing that Cye's mind flicked out to touch his but then he pulled back so that Cye could rest.

"Well, feel better now?" Sage asked kindly.

"Yeah" came the response.

The three Ronins left conscious settled in to wait, not knowing what to expect. Sage settled next to Ryo's figure, afraid to leave the young man's side. Ryo's breathing had steadily become stronger; but Sage was still uneasy about how Ryo would feel when he woke up. Kento hovered between the two unconscious figures, flitting back and forth like a hummingbird. Rowen had fallen asleep next to Cye, his head pillowed on his arms.

Sage sighed. This was going to take awhile. He wondered briefly who would wake up first, Ryo or Cye, as sleep overtook his form. He was too exhausted to remain conscious, leaving only Kento's worried figure to hover around the other warriors.