Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Untitled ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

A/N: We know this is a strange chapter, but I felt that we hadn't been answering enough questions. I'm just a stickler for knowing all the facts and I want my fans to have the same. We meet two more players in the game and Rowen has a long chat with our favorite vampires.

JC: This wasn't so bad.

Kathrine: I just hope the fans get a few of their questions answered out of this.

Catherine: You also find out a lot more about Sage.

Jenny: Please tell us if you like it or not.

Kathrine: On with the fic!

Disclaimer: I am so tired of repeating it!

Warning: All those who are homophobic are safe from Kathrine's wrath today. She's too tired from all of this weekend's writing. But I can't say she won't get to you tomorrow. ^_^

Untitled

( for now )

By Kathrine and JC

Rowen awoke with a feeling of fatigue in his senses. He was so tired and comfortable. That's when he jumped up and stood immediately. The world tilted and he ended up falling back onto the soft fluffy surface. Allowing his eyes to clear he soon realized he was in a large bed covered with light blue and gray satin sheets.

Where am I? Rowen wondered. He looked about the room he was in and could see the table against the side of the bed, a large armchair near a cozy fireplace, and beautiful tapestries of fairy tale creatures on the walls. " Amazing," he whispered out loud.

" So you are awake finally?" he heard a voice from the one side of the room. Rowen turned his head quickly and watched a figure that he hadn't noticed before stand out from the comforts of the armchair. The fire glistened against his form and he immediately recognized him as the vampire he had saved.

" What do you want?" Rowen asked. " Who are you?" He just couldn't remember his name.

" Answers," the man replied. " I am Kale and I want to know what happened last night. Who was that Arago demon and where is this 'Nether World' that he has taken Sage to?"

" How well do you know Sage?" Rowen asked a question of his own. " Had he told you nothing about his past?"

" I helped raise him from the age of ten and he told us nothing of his past," Kale answered.

" Then I have much to tell you," Rowen sighed. " What did you mean by us?"

Sekhmet, Dais come in here, Kale requested in his mind. Less than one second later, two men appeared in the room with a shift in the air. One was the white-haired man Rowen remembered from the night before, but the green-haired one was a current mystery.

" They and myself is what I meant by we," Kale explained. " Sage has lived with us for almost ten years and we would like to know what happened to him."

" He was taken back to the Nether World," Rowen looked to the sheets of the bed he sat on.

" What is this Nether World?" the green-haired man asked.

" It is the domain of Arago, our father," Rowen replied.

" Father?" the white-haired man repeated.

" Yes," Rowen nodded. " He's not truly our father, but he was the one who raised us, well only Sage until he escaped."

" Escaped?" the green-haired man was getting confused.

" Could you tell me your names?" Rowen asked. " I don't like not knowing someone's or something's name, it makes seem like it doesn't have true meaning in the world."

" I am Sekhmet," he replied.

" I am Dais," the other introduced himself. " Now please continue."

" Right," Rowen tried to think of how to begin his story. " Arago that rules the demon Nether World. It is the world where the human magic-users such as witches, and wizards sent all of the demons and warlocks. By a strange twist o the spell the Elementals were also sent to this world. They are my people, well at least one clan is."

" Do you mean that all five Elemental Clans are real?" Dais asked.

" Yes," Rowen confirmed. " I am of the Strata Clan, the tribe of the air. But Arago destroyed all of the clans when he searched for people to keep himself alive."

" Explain," Kale said.

" When Arago still lived here in your Tangi World he was cursed by a man of the Ancients Clan," Rowen replied. " They are of who the Elementals derive from. But this man caused Arago to lose all of his power and life force, there by killing him slowly and painfully."

" So he used people to sustain his life?" Sekhmet felt sick. " Even vampires have a code of whose blood they drink."

" He would take the life forces of children and adult a like to boost his own, but then he was banished to the Nether World and couldn't feed off of people," Rowen continued. " He was forced to use his Nether Spirits' dark energy to save himself, but it could only save him for so long. But then his spirit priest found away to save him.

" He found a spell that would take the energy out of those with powers taken from the five elements and keep him alive for much longer than before, not to mention give him those powers as well for a time. They tracked down the Elemental Clans and killed all of those he found with no power. The only people who did have power were children at the time."

" You were one of these children I presume," Dais concluded. " How many were there of you?"

" Only five," Rowen answered. " One from each clan."

" Which clan was Sage from?" Kale asked.

" I'm not sure," Rowen admitted. " I know of the four main clans, but the last of the five stayed very secluded and was said to be direct descendants of the Ancient Clan. I believe he was of that clan, but I never found out."

" Why?" Dais asked.

" I was brought to the castle of Arago when I was six," Rowen explained. " Sage and I are the same age, he only a few months younger than I, but he was born at the castle."

" He what?" Kale raised an eyebrow. " But I thought you said that the people were killed unless they had power. How was he born at the castle?"

" How do you know all of this anyway?" Sekhmet inquired. " You who weren't even born before all of this know more than we, who have lived for centuries and never knew."

" My caretaker, Mia, is a very old demon," Rowen answered. " Her tribe, the Noki, were killed because they gave up fighting. She was kept to take care of us and told me all of the truths of our beginnings."

" So how did she say was Sage born at the castle?" Kale repeated.

" She said that the unknown clan was destroyed first, but no child was found," Rowen explicated. " But when his soldiers were checking the forest week later for survivors they found a woman who was weak and close to death. They brought her back to the castle and Arago was ready to have her executed when Badamon told him she was with child. Arago knew that this child was the one he had been searching for and let her live until she gave birth. He killed her only minutes after."

" He killed the child's mother just after birth?" Sekhmet growled deep in his throat. " And people call vampires barbaric."

" This child was Sage?" Kale asked.

Rowen sighed and nodded, " He is the only one of us who never knew of his tribe, the others such as myself all having been taken years later when we were older. Sage though is still the youngest."

" Who are these other children you speak of?" Dais asked.

" They are my brothers and at a time were Sage's as well," Rowen sighed. " I left them at the castle when I escaped, but now I know the only reason why Arago let me escape was so that he could capture Sage again."

" What does he want with Sage?" Sekhmet questioned.

" Sage is the only one out of us who has three abilities, all being very important ones," Rowen explained.

" He has more than being able to talk to animals?" Dais became very curious.

" That was a gift he learned from Kento, our bother of the Hardrock Clan, the earth elementals," Rowen shook his head. " Sage had the ability to learn simple gifts such as that when he was a child."

" Is that why Arago wants him?" Kale asked.

" No, for some reason that ability he could not take from Sage in the power draining process," the blue-haired young man replied. " He used a spell to make sure Sage himself couldn't ever use it again either."

" What are his other two gifts?" Dais wondered.

" He heals himself and others and can feel others emotions, such as those you call empaths."

" Heals himself?" Sekhmet thought back to the first real day they had spent with Sage. The night he had arrived his had hurt his ankle very badly, but the next day it was as if there was nothing wrong for he spent the day running about investigating his new home. Sekhmet also recalled that the blonde wouldn't say how he had healed, but looked fearful when he asked. Was he afraid of what Sekhmet would have done if he knew?

" How do we save him?" Kale asked. " We aren't about to leave him there so how do we get him back?"

" You sure you want to do this?" Rowen asked. " I know he will hurt Sage for leaving in the first place and the only other person to try to go against him is dead right now."

" Who?" Dais queried.

" Her name was Kayura, but we all called her Momma, and her husband, Anubis, Poppa," Rowen wanted to cry at the memory. " They treated us as if we were their own children and tried to teach us as much as they knew about our tribes. They were humans from you world that accidentally found their way into the Nether World. Arago forced them into servitude and they took care of us along with Mia."

" So what did he do to her?" he pushed on.

" They were so afraid of Arago, but she got fed up with Arago after he beat my brother Kento," the boy responded. " We had all been hiding from him and he caught Kento and hurt him really bad. He wouldn't tell him where the rest of us were. Momma couldn't take it anymore and said she was going to leave and take us with her. Arago merely crushed her heart with a spell. Poppa took her body and left. We didn't see him or Sage after that."

" Where did he go?" Sekhmet wanted to know.

" Kento had hid him in an old hay cart that we used to play hide and seek in," Rowen explained, " but when the rest of us went back to get him the cart was gone. Sage was so weak from Arago draining his power and he'd said he'd died from energy loss."

" But that still doesn't mean that we won't try to save him," Kale had a determined look in his eyes.

" He's our family," Dais agreed. " We won't abandon him to some madman, demon or not."

" You're serious about this?" The three men nodded. " Then I shall take you to the gate that leads to the Nether World. It is only a three days journey away from here."

Kale saw the tired look in the young man's eyes and could tell he was ready to pass out. " You should rest," he suggested. " We have to hunt and you can sleep until we return."

" Thank you," Rowen laid back against the plush pillows on the bed. " I don't know how to repay you for helping me. Sage was luck for you to have found him."

" Just rest," Dais whispered in his paternal tone. He was becoming fond this boy and felt that he should protect him like he had wanted protected Sage when he first met him. This boy seemed so innocent and yet wise, just like Sage had been those years ago and even still.

Rowen closed his eyes and immediately fell into a deep sleep. The three vampires watched him only for another moment before leaving the room the same way they had come.

*****

I'm so tired, Sage slurred his in thoughts, as he lay immobile on a hard stone bed. Arago had taken quite a lot of his energy from when they arrived, having entered the castle through Badamon's chambers. The priest had laughed in his face as he had tied him to the six-pointed star and stolen his energy from him and directed it to the monster that was his father.

Then Arago had beat him, cracking a few of his ribs, pulling his arm out of it's socket and then putting it back the most painful way he could think of. Sage knew that he would deal with much worse during his stay in his old home. But his mind wondered about the others for he hadn't seen them. Are they all right, he asked himself. Will they remember me? Will they hate me for leaving them like that?

He felt something cool on his cheek and winced at the pain it caused. He pulled away, but pain caused him to stay still. " Oh my little Seiji," he heard a soft feminine voice whispered sadly.

The name caught his memory quickly for there had only been one other person other than Arago to call him by that name. The way it was said wasn't said as a way of possession of domination, but of a loving concern. " Aunt Mia," he whispered as he opened his eyes.

He saw a face of a woman sitting next to him. She had long hair red and a slightly tan complexion. Her blue green eyes were the only clue that told of her demon origin, for her irises were the slit pupils of her people. She smiled weakly at him and continued to clean the blood off of his face from the cut above his eye.

" Hello Seiji," she said. " I was hoping to never see you again, but at least I know you've grown into a beautiful young man."

" I'm sorry Aunt Mia," he couldn't look her in the eyes. " It's been so long. You look so much like you did when I was younger."

" I never age, you know that," she rinsed out the cloth and placed it over the side of the bowl that sat on the table next to the bed.

" I know," he tried to smile. " I missed you though. When Poppa died I thought that I'd never see any of you again."

" Anubis, dead?" Mia looked shocked.

" He died a week after we left," Sage nodded dismally. " He was crushed beneath the cart during a thunderstorm."

" I'm sorry child, you must have felt very alone," she touched his cheek in a loving caress.

" Rowen was shocked as well," Sage replied.

" Touma?" she stared at him. " You saw Touma?"

" I told Arago I would return if he let him stay free," Sage answered. " I've had ten years of freedom, he deserves even more than that."

" Oh my Seiji," she sighed with sadness in her tone. " I hoped you would stay free. I had hoped you would do what the others couldn't."

" What of Ryo, Cye, and Kento?" Sage asked. " They are still here?" Suddenly, a loud sound of running came from the hall. Then the door burst open and a young man with raven-hair to his elbows stood in the entrance.

" Is Touma okay?" he asked. " They said Father brought-" The man's words caught in his throat as he stared at Sage lying on the bed. Sage could barely recognize the other, but his expressive tiger blue eyes brought many memories to the surface.

" Ryo?" he whispered. The other youth looked as if he was about to have a heart attack.

" S-s-sage," the man stuttered. " But how? You're dead."

" If things were only so easy as me being dead," Sage looked away. He thought Ryo would hate him for leaving and didn't want to see that anger.

" But…but how?" Ryo repeated. " Where have you been?"

" The Tangi World," Sage answered. " I've been there with the men who found me."

" Oh my Gods," Ryo walked to the side of the bed. " Did Arago do this to you? Did he hurt you like this?"

" He punished me for leaving," Sage said matter-of-factly. " I should have gotten much worse for leaving you all like I did."

" What happened?" Ryo asked. " He told us you died. How did you escape?"

" I'm not sure, I just woke up in the back of the dart and I wasn't on the castle grounds anymore," Sage answered truthfully. " Poppa was there and looked as if he was about to have a heart attack when he found me."

" You should have stayed gone Sage," Ryo frowned. " It is only gonna be worse for you now."

" I had to protect those I care about," Sage replied. " Arago was going to kill my brother and Rowen."

" You saw Rowen?!" Ryo gasped. " Is he all right? Where was he? Did Arago take him back too?"

" Rowen is fine and safe with my brothers," Sage smiled at Ryo's concern for the blue-haired boy. He had been very protective of Rowen when they were younger and he could feel that it had grown considerably. It felt the same as the feelings he had towards another blue-haired individual.

" Brothers? But Sage, I know you don't have any family in the Tangi World," Ryo shook his head. " You were born here like the rest of us."

" I know they aren't really my brothers," Sage admitted. " When Poppa died during a storm one night they took me in. They treated me like I was their little brother and to me they are my brothers."

" Are you he is safe with them?" Ryo asked. " I don't want Arago to catch him."

" He told me he'd leave Rowen alone if I came back," Sage could feel the pain dulling as his self-regeneration ability began to work. He knew he was really weak and it would take a while for it to work now.

" I'm so glad you were happy, even if it didn't last as long as we hoped," Ryo looked down to the floor. " We were kinda happy that your were gone. We thought you were finally free."

" I have never been free of him," Sage sighed. " He began destroying my life the day I was born, I will never be truly free of him."

" It's all right," Ryo assured him. " I know Kento and Cye will be happy that you are a live. Maybe not well…What the hell, you look like shit. " Sage chuckled at Ryo's bluntness, happy that he hadn't changed as much as he feared. He winced in pain as his chest constricted from the still broken ribs.

" That's enough," Mia sighed. She stood up with the bowl in her hand and motioned to Ryo. " Seiji needs to rest and you should let him."

" I'll tell Kento and Cye that you're back," Ryo walked to the door. " They might not believe me right away, but I'll convince them."

" It's good to know you are still the same Ryo," Sage whispered as he began to drift to sleep once again.

" It's good to know that you haven't either," the raven-haired boy sighed as he followed Mia out the room and shut the door behind him. " I just hope Arago hasn't realized it yet."

A/N: Enough answers for ya? I know it was short and a little too into all the details, as I said before, I don't like skimming on answers or details. You'll have to wait for more action chapters.