Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Do You Remember Me? ❯ And we all fall down ( Chapter 6 )

AN://Happy New Year! Little elves have been dancing on my head to get me to finish this. Not to mention watching my dad shake his head every time I mentioned it( do you know how weird it is knowing your dad reads fanficiton, in fact I blame this obsession coughlovecough on him…rightfully. Hard to hide my screen name from him too…) I really want to finish this, and promise I will. Finally, after all this time I have a clear indication how this will end, and hopefully with a lot more agonizing, teeth grinding, nail biting, backspace abusing work I can get this finished. Please enjoy.//

The air was heavy and pressed down upon him as he stood immobile on the edge of the cliff. He vaguely realized he couldn't hear Sage's voice calling anymore, or anything at all really. The words he watched spill from the wraiths mouths were too deafening, though he couldn't hear them, he knew what they were. The slight figure that stood next to him shook visibly in frustration, and vaguely he found it odd for the normally collected boy to be so scared. His heart ached as the ghostly figure that looked like him stepped up to the shaking boy and reared back a fist. The slap should have resounded in the silence, and his ears still rung with that impression. He felt his anger rise and then fall as he fought to rationalize to himself that this was just a memory. But it was too real even as he watched the scene from his nightmares and, sometimes, dreams play out before him. In his dreams things turned out different. The angry faces turned kind and loving, they listened and didn't raise a hand. That shaking boy was in his arms and away from the cliffs edge. The blue, blue eyes hidden and swollen beneath those cyan bangs forgave him, them. Then again, that part hadn't been a dream had it? Those eyes had shown them all the forgiveness in that slender body and tender heart. Wisdom wasn't just a symbol for him.

Across the scene he met the rich brown eyes of a tiger and wondered what Blaze was doing here. He hadn't been on that day. Behind him smoke rose, and he knew that it came from the city.

His eyes burned as a tall figure imposed himself next to the boy on the edge, helping to face down the other three's accusing words and scalding scorn. Heart ache bit him hard as gratefulness, no, it was admiration and hope, played across that bruised face that was revealed fully as the wind gusted. Something akin to jealousy sparked in him as the other began arguing with their leader along with the breaking boy. He should have had the trust in his friend to listen and try to understand. Instead he had let the anger at the world boil over the others and took it out on one person they knew would fight back against it.

He couldn't feel the breeze, but he saw it dance soft flyaway hair around a battered face, giving him a clearer view of the damage done. A thin trickle of red painted across a pale cheek from a small slash under his eye. Another scratch ghosted above that one across his left eyelid, nearly swelling it shut. The rose of his cheeks he knew was from the cold, but it was becoming a darker discolored mark on one from the blow he himself had delivered the boy. Looking farther down, as hard as it was to tear his eyes from the face he hadn't seen in too many years, eye narrowed in on the twisted wrist that was cradled close to his body. He didn't remember any of them giving him that, so it must have happened before… He hadn't noticed. Of course he hadn't noticed a lot before, not back then. All he had seen back then was life interrupted, and a misplaced hate that hadn't fit where he had tried desperately to place it.

His heart broke as the boy raised his unbroken hand, letting the useless wrist fall to his side, and held out the sphere colored his favorite shade of blue. In a shimmer it was cloth that wrapped around his body with the wind.

His world shattered as the ground broke way under worn sneakers and the wind blew that suddenly calm body away from solid ground, and his world embodied in four, and out into the sky. Then down when his broken wings wouldn't fly.

Life rushed back in with a scream.

Ryo skidded to a halt as he left the protection of the woods, breaking into blinding day and crisp, icy wind. The scream that broke in his ears nearly knocked him back like a physical blow. All he could see was Cye, standing by open air with his head tipped toward the sky. Old instincts made him search the area even as he began moving toward the other man for anything that could have made him call out in so much pain. He could find nothing that could have hurt him, but an old part of him told him still that something wasn't right. It wasn't that Cye was suddenly here, he had expected that somewhere all along, but something more. Reaching Cye he rested a hand firmly on a quaking shoulder, but was brushed off roughly. Cye spun to him with haunted eyes that were nearly red with irritation, but completely dry.

"Ryo."

The look he was given asked him `why', but he didn't know how to answer. He felt Kento roll to halt beside him, breathing heavily.

" Cye…" The tall man heaved after a minute. " What's wrong?"

For a sliver of a moment Ryo wanted to laugh at the fact that no one found it odd they had all had gravitated here.

" Where's Sage?" Cye asked instead of answering, though he did seem genuinely perturbed. Then, seeming to remember something turned with a slightly panicked edge toward the side of the cliff. He stopped short.

The odd sight of a great white tiger rump attached to a swaying tail in the air stopped any attempt to move forward, and for a few seconds they all stared as White Blaze leaned over the edge, gazing curiously down at something. He gave a rumbling growl down to whatever he was looking at and then sat back on his haunches.

Kento was the one who finally shook his head at the tiger and moved to peer down himself at whatever was so interesting. Sharp violet eyes scowled back up at him from a few feet down. A snicker died on his lips as he fought with himself over weather the situation was alarming or hilarious. Sage decided for him when he reached higher to pull himself up, loose rocks giving way beneath his hands, and he began slipping down. In a heartbeat Kento had lunged down and grabbed onto an outstretched wrist, pulling the would be rock climber to safety.

" What the hell were you doing?!" Kento shook the man once he had him back on his feet. Sage, still a little unsteady, grabbed one of the offending arms to hold himself upright with as much dignity as possible.

" I," Sage forcibly removed Kentos hand from his jacket lapel, " was climbing down the cliff." He stated matter of factly, not at all helping.

" We saw that Sage, mind telling us why?" Ryo inquired, rubbing his arms as the cold wind biting through his thin shirt started to register.

Opening his mouth to reroute the conversation back to Cye he resignedly stopped when he caught the other mans tired eyes. Sighing he decided to answer straight.

" There was something glinting down there, I merely wanted to see what it was." They could tell he was downplaying his reason, but no one called him on it.

" So you threw yourself off a cliff." Kento exclaimed with a grandiose hand gesture toward said cliff he had pulled the man off of not a minute ago. He didn't notice Cye's grimace. His own smirk faded.

" So it seems." Sage replied.

The words were carried away with the icy breeze, leaving the four standing there in an awkward pause. Minutes ticked by in what felt like days to them as they waited. The gravity of the place they stood at didn't escape them, and behind they're eyes memories vied for attention to bring back feelings of regret. Ryo looked over his three remaining teammates with the patchwork remains of a leaders spirit. Somehow after all these years he had managed to hold some of that feeling intact. Though at the moment he felt sorely out of shape. But they were all here again, together more or less.

More time slid by as nothing moved but the wind and woods, with the constant shifting of the bodies next to him. He turned his gaze to the surrounding land and sky, waiting. For what he didn't know. He felt a little let down. All this time he had expected to come here and, well he really didn't know. Something should have happened.

" It's all kinda of anti-climatic isn't it?" He asked as he walked toward White Blaze. " We came all this way, and took our own damn time about it too, and Nothing!" His frustration bubbled out through his words, echoing over the expanse of land and sky.

Ryo searched far out over the wooded land dotted with fields, and the thin strips of gray that he knew were roads winding through the wilderness. Unconsciously he focused on any point of blue he could find, even knowing that he was much too far away to see the rumpled blue head he was looking for. He felt all the anger and certainty begin to leak out of him and he realized all this time he expected to come here and find Rowen and everything would be okay again. He felt like breaking down and crying. But how could he? It was still his responsibility to hold this ragtag together, or least he would like to think that. He didn't want to admit that he had been wrong, that Rowen wasn't coming back.

" Wait a minute." Kento broke through the uncomfortable silence that had followed Ryo's questioning. " So, what? That's it? We just imagined what we saw, guilt/grief induced visions that drove us to return to the scene of the crime?" He was ticked, missing the looks of surprise from the three around him. Everything began to boil over at once.

" No." Cye stated hoarsely.

" No it wasn't a crime?" Kento broke in.

" Kento we know--!" Ryo tried but Kento didn't let him finish.

" Know what Ryo? That what happened was murder?" His eyes hardened. Ryo's blazed.

" Shut up!" Sage's voice was layered over a thin echo, but no one noticed.

Everything quieted gradually, Cye tugging on Ryo's sleeve to get him to back away from where he had pushed himself into Kentos face. Backing a few paces Ryo let himself burn off the rest of his temper staring heatedly at Sage, who took it all in a cool stride.

" We're fighting each other." Sage stated simply. There was no satisfaction watching as Ryo nearly deflated and Kento's shoulders sagged. Cye merely nodded.

" Again." Weather the scream had hurt his voice, or emotion had taken it's toll on him, Cye's voice was still rough. Something ages old resided in that once tender tone.

" Yeah." Ryo's own voice was harsher than normal. " Yeah, again."

He swallowed back the disgust that welled in his throat and stalked away from the three others who he had at one time built a family with. What they were to each other now, he sadly couldn't tell. That hurt almost as much as it had that day.

Unceremoniously he flopped onto the edge of the cliff and swung his legs out into the afternoon sky. Cut off protests echoed behind him, but he ignored them.

" Hey, shouldn't we be talking about this?!" Kento cried indignantly with a noted, but failed, attempt to keep his voice a little lower. " We all didn't just hallucinate the same thing."

Ryo shifted on a rather lumpy rock.

" This has got us nowhere." Sage's imperial voice was spiked with a bitter ice. " There Cye, are you happy? Your ghost has led us to nothing."

Leaning to the side Ryo felt around for the rock he had been on, but hit leather instead.

" I'm returning home, to my fiance."

Ryo turned see the others and watched Sage begin stalking for the woods.

" Touma's diary."

He watched as Sage stopped mid step and square his shoulders. Next to him he could feel Kento still seething. But all attention was diverted to the worn leather volume he held in his hand. The brown cover was cracking in places, the spine starting to fall off weather from the ride and abuse in his back pocket or previous use he felt bad he didn't know. The words emblazoned on the front were nearly marked out by an overpowering purple splotch, of sources he wasn't sure he wanted to know. Running careful fingers over the cover he automatically scratched at the stain.

"Well," The deep voice startled him, " Are you going to read it Ryo? It's not like he can be mad."

He shot a look back at Sage as the man settled himself stiffly on a larger rock a few feet away, and still close enough to make a quick exit. The others were looking at him the a resignation of the same sort he recognized in himself. For all he wanted to just turn around and go back to the house where hope still had resided in him and forget coming here he opened the book.

The guys are deluded. To think, giving a tiger a bath…

Ryo snickered quietly under his breath as he flipped through the pages.

The cities on fire…

His eyes caught on the sentence.

…so not literally, but just the same…I hate feeling useless…

…We had that `big discussion' again…again…

…, but I never said anything but we should if we could…

…those with power, with talent, should use it to their best and that of the world…

…I had to save them…

…people turn from what they do not understand…

Ryo stopped reading as the writing became nearly illegible. It connected in his brain that Rowen must have come home for those precious few minutes he got ahead of them with his flight. These were, essentially, his last words, and hit home far too much. They had been afraid too…

A powerful gust of wind knocked into Ryo's back, forcing him off the edge. His yell was swallowed by the others shouts, his hands grasping at the rocks now falling with him, grasping a ledge hard and swinging roughly for a second.

" Oh sh.."

" Ryo?" Cye's voice was panicked.

Pulling and grunting he scrambled his way up until he could rest his upper body on the narrow outcropping. He dared lift his head only a little.

" `m fine." He ground out, trying to keep hold.

" Just hold on Ryo!" Kento called down, and he resisted rolling his eyes. " We're coming to get you!"

" You're what?!" Ryo very nearly lost his grip, but even that shock hadn't dulled his instinct to keep hold. " Stay there!"

" Just," a pause and grunt, " chill out for a second."

Stray rocks tumbled past him, signaling the descent of the other men. He could clearly hear all three of them bickering as they traversed the narrow ways that lined the face.

" Right, chill." Ryo tried valiantly not to shiver and throw himself inadvertently from the tenuous hold. The wind was buffeting him already, and causing goose pimples to rise everywhere on his taunt body.

A tense minute ticked by and for all his attempts to pull himself up, he was still clinging to the rocky ledge for dear life. A muttered curse bit through his lips as he realized the journal that had been in his hands was now sitting not a foot from him, at the very edge of the ledge, and getting closer with every gust. Gritting his teeth and groaning, Ryo tired to inch his hand closer to the little book without knocking either of them to oblivion. A blue blur alighted on the book just as his fingers stretched a little more, causing him to gasp and scramble for a better grip.

" Yahhhh!" Ryo clawed his way back into a secure, or somewhat secure, postion and turned to glower at whatever had made him nearly fall. A tiny blue bird chirped back happily.

" Shoo." He blew toward the bird, who looked more amused than he had thought possible for a bird. " Beat it bird." Ryo raised his voice to no avail.

Without warning the little creature hopped, releasing the book. Ryo let out another yell as he grabbed for it, securing it, and himself both by one hand each. A moment of vertigo overtook him as he looked up into the startled faces of the others. Then he was falling. The screams in his ears sounded much closer than they should have.

Cye groaned as he lifted his aching head from something soft and vaguely squishy he wasn't sure he wanted to identify. He sat for a moment, listening to answering moans from around him, and remembering why he was feeling like he had been rolled down a mountainside. He had.

" Owhhhh." He groaned again as he slowly opened his eyes. For a moment darkness was all that greeted him, and a sharp fear ran through him, before shapes, colors, and a buttery light faded into focus. Looking around he realized the soft, squishy feeling had been the partially melted snow he had landed on. He pushed away the logic that even that shouldn't have saved him, or any of them. He scanned the men around him quickly for injuries but could detect none from where they lay, picking themselves up too. For the life of him he couldn't figure out how Ryo had landed on top of Sage either. And Kento partially on them. Now wasn't the time for such trivialities through, if he could only focus his mind.

" How?" But even as he asked a cheery little twitter drew his eyes up to a branch above him. " Bloody little.." Cye scowled.