Between The Lines

Chapter Four

"So you…flew?"
"No. I spun."
"Okay."
"What?'
"Nothing."
"Rowen…" Sage sighed as he looked at his friend. Rowen had wasted no time getting over to Sage's ancestral home and now they sat outside on his porch, watching the day slowly turn to dusk.
"Nothing! I'm just saying that for weeks I've been worried off my ass that something was horribly wrong and that the world might be ending again and I find out that all this drama I've been going through was because you were sneaking off to the forest so you could go…spinning."
"…Sometimes I really hate you, you know that?" Sage crossed his arms sternly and glared at his friend until finally the corner of his lip twitched. He valiantly tried to smother it before Rowen saw.
"You shouldn't Sage. I'm very accepting of you. I'm not even angry with you in the least for putting me through all that. In fact, I think it's sort of nice that you have a new hobby. I mean, I tried boxing for a little while. Oh and painting."
"Rowen…"
"Of course neither of those is as interesting as spinning. I went to a few poetry readings and bought a new skateboard…"
"Rowen…"
"And even thought about learning American folk dancing, but man! Spinning! That's like…wow! Amazing! I never would have thought of it in a lifetime…"
"Rowen!" Sage yelled, cutting his friend off. Rowen sat there on his back porch with a huge mischievous grin on his face. Sage couldn't help himself and smiled too, relaxing his posture and moving to sit next to Rowen. The blue haired man laughed out loud and leaned back on his elbows, staring out at the road leading up to Sage's home. After a moment the grin faded and was replaced by a more thoughtful look.
"Seriously, though, what do you think it is? An enemy trying to draw you in?"
"I don't think so. It doesn't feel evil necessarily. These new armors may have been created out of Suzunagi's hatred, but they were made for one good purpose in her mind. She thought by using them to call the Inferno armor and destroying the world, that she would rid life of all hatred and anger. Misguided perhaps, but she meant for suffering to end, not so she could reign in evil. Suzunagi didn't want power; she wanted a happy ending. These armors aren't like the previous ones. They aren't made to turn the wearer into a power hungry slave. So it shouldn't matter if use them or not. Still, I haven't worn mine since the day we received them."
"Neither have I," Rowen admitted.
"Have you wanted to?" Sage asked quietly.
"Sometimes. But it seemed like bad luck, you know? Plus it's hard to blend into a crowd when you are dressed in a gigantic metal suit. Not exactly usual evening wear."
"…Maybe on the holidays."
"Maybe," Rowen agreed.
Sage shook his head, blonde hair still falling over one eye. Rowen briefly wondered just how good at sword fighting his friend would be if he could actually see his opponent with full vision.
"Anyways, Rowen, it's been weird. I feel like my armor has been calling to me, like it's been getting restless. I didn't know at first that it was my armor that was doing the calling, but lately it's made sense. Each time I leave that clearing it's like I've been stripped and emptied and filled with energy all at the same time. My mind's clearer, my body's stronger. I can feel it."
"Should I make a joke about energy drinks?"
"Later."
"Okay…But it hurts you, right?" Sage sighed and crossed his arms, looking down slightly.
"Yes. It leaves me…weak. I can't…" Sage stopped and closed his eyes before continuing. "I can't control it Rowen. I have absolutely no control. It's like I'm a little kid caught in a tidal wave. Only I want it."
Rowen sat silently. It was the first time he'd ever heard Sage admit to any weaknesses. Sure, he was much more open with him than with any of the other guys, but still…Sage must really be unsure if he'd allowed the words to leave his mouth.
"But you don't thinks it's bad," Rowen stated. Sage shook his head again, eyes open now but narrowed.
"No, I said it's not evil. But bad? I don't know Rowen. I'm not sure if the line between good and bad isn't blurry sometimes. My armor's trying to get me to a place, to teach me something that I don't understand, but should any man trust the intentions of a piece of metal? I just don't know."
"The armors are more than metal Sage."
"True. But what else are they?"
"They're us. They always have been."
"…Then why am I the only one experiencing this?"
"Maybe you're the only one settled enough to be able to learn something from himself. The rest of us are too egotistical and self-centered."
"If you're self-centered then shouldn't you take your own opinion as the most important-" Sage started but Rowen cut him off, not feeling like getting into that debate.
"You know what I mean. You're the best equipped to deal with opening up and losing control long enough to learn what we need to do."
"So I should keep doing this?"
"That's not up to me."
"Up to me?"
"No. It's up to Ryo. He's still the leader, and if we're wrong he's got the most to lose." Neither one of them brought up the Inferno armor and the cost of falling under its control.
Sage sighed again. "I'm not sure about any of this, Rowen." Rowen grinned again, standing up and brushing himself off before sauntering over to his car, motioning for Sage to follow him.
"Good thing I'm the smart one of the group. I can be sure enough for the both of us."
Sage stood and straightened his jacket. There were many things he didn't know or understand, but at least the blue-haired ronin in front of him never changed. As they drove off in search of their leader, Sage silently admitted to himself that he found comfort in that.

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It probably would have made the entire thing easier if the guys hadn't chosen the exact same restaurant that Sage and Rowen frequented to meet up in to have their "discussion". After the first round of shouting the owner was staring to look a little peaked. He was walking around the place, cleaning already clean tables and hoping the big black haired man would stop jumping up and down and shaking his fists, or that the other two wouldn't glare so menacingly at each other. It was frightening off his customers, like the arguing men this afternoon had done. By the sounds of their voices, it didn't look like anyone was going to calm down any time soon either.
Ryo hadn't been able to get a hold of Sage or Rowen, so it was with Kento and Cye that he now sat, idly twirling his straw between his fingers, staring down at the table top. Cye had been silent for almost ten minutes now and Kento had just finished with his last rant about how they needed to "get out there" and "figure out what the hell was going on". Not that Ryo disagreed, but it's really hard to find the enemy if you're not even sure who or what the enemy was. Despite his wariness, he wasn't even sure that there was an enemy, at least not one that he could see. So after letting Kento and Cye know what had happened, he too had been quiet and thoughtful. Kento was still whacking his hands irritably against the table, muttering under his breath and staring around the place as if he expected to get attacked at any moment. His gaze fell on the restaurant owner, making the poor man flinch and scurry off across the room.
"Are you telling me that you haven't noticed anything at all Cye? Cye!" Kento had turned back to Cye, and was waving his hands in front of the slender man's face. Cye allowed it for a moment before suddenly grabbing Kento's hand and snapping it back painfully. Kento yelped and Cye let go, an irritated expression on his face.
"I've haven't told you anything Kento. In fact I've just been sitting here thinking that I was perfectly content an hour ago."
"So you didn't feel it too then?" Ryo asked quietly. Cye looked away, a small stain of color on his cheeks.
"No."
"Cye."
"Okay, so maybe I did. I got really dizzy and hot and felt like I'd bumped my head. Not that uncommon you know."
"You're in denial."
"Kiss my ass."
"No you are. You think that if we just ignore everything it'll go away. You've had your head buried in the sand for so long now that I'm not sure you could see anything right in front of your face!"
Ryo's voice was starting to get a little heated. But then again he'd never been able to hold his temper. And ever since Cye had realized that he couldn't get away from the legacy of the armor no matter what, he too had developed a temper to rival his leader's. This would explain why the young auburn haired man half stood up in his seat and leaned forward snarling angrily.
"So what? So what if I'm the only one here who has no problem letting all this go. I told you a year ago Ryo that I'm in this now to take care of myself. That's all I have and all I will have, so forgive me if I'm not jumping at shadows too. If I want to ignore getting a migraine at the exact same time every afternoon than that's my prerogative and it's not my fault if you have a problem with it!"
"Oh yeah? You have nothing? Well buddy, I'm sure glad that I spent so much time watching your back in all those battles since I don't count now!" Kento barged in angrily. Cye turned back to his friend and snarled.
"What do you know about it Kento?"
"What don't I know about it Cye? Do you think you're the only one who has had a tough time because of all of this? Hey, I was all ready to take some names a year ago, and I remember someone standing right there beside me!"
"She tricked me you jackass!"
"Suzunagi shouldn't have been clever enough to trick you, Cye. You always knew almost as much as Rowen and Sage. It should've taken more than a little illusion to make the great Cye act like a fool!"
"And it didn't take an illusion at all for you Kento! You just jumped on for the ride. And I'm a fool? This from a man who thought it would be a good idea to jump off a building last year!" Kento jumped fully up, face beet red and fists raised furiously.
"Stop! Both of you! NOW!" The roar of the man next to them brought them both up short. Even now, Ryo was their leader and obeying him came instinctively. It didn't stop them both from glaring at each other as they slowly sat down.
"Stop. This isn't a time to be fighting. Kento, calm down and stop getting in everyone's faces. Cye, like it or not we have to accept that something's going on and that we need to do something about it."
"Do what? Wait to get attacked again? Picked off one by one like with Suzunagi?" Cye asked bitterly. He said her name with a deep bitterness that made Ryo shake his head. Someone was going to have to get through to Cye before he ate himself up inside. Anger was a tough thing to swallow, Ryo knew this well.
"No we stick together this time. We're not making that mistake again. First we need to find Sage and Rowen."
"Well, where are they?" Kento complained loudly. "They're not answering their phones."
Cye sighed and looked irritably at his friend. "Kento you blockhead, can't you feel anything?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kento growled, still angry with Cye. The slender man just shook his head and motioned behind Kento.
"It means that we're right behind you and you should have felt us coming a mile away, buddy." Rowen's blue head bobbed from behind Kento's chair, and he walked up and grabbed the ronin of Hardrock around the neck and gave him a rough noogie. Kento pushed him off forcefully but still gave Rowen a crooked grin.
"Hey man, where you been?" Rowen grinned back but looked at the rest of his team, smile slowing fading. Cye and Ryo both looked stressed and Kento was pretending not to be. Ryo's blue eyes dug into his before moving to the man standing back a little ways behind Rowen, leaning against the door frame, head bent and arms crossed, not looking at any of them. Rowen mentally sighed, knowing that this wasn't going to be easy at all. Their leader rarely missed anything and his eyes were riveted on Sage.
"We have a problem guys," Rowen said softly. As one they all turned to look at the warrior of Halo. Sage looked away.
"Alright Sage," Ryo said gently. "Spill." Sage looked at Rowen briefly before turning to his team and his leader.
"Not here. I'll show you." Bursting with curiosity but knowing better than to try to push information out of Sage, they followed him out of the restaurant and past a very relieved owner.

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He took them to the same clearing that he'd been coming to for the last few weeks. Sage wasn't even sure that anything would happen now, since he'd already been here once today. Still, as he entered the clearing and took his normal seat, the same feelings started to swirl around him, feelings of serenity and peace. Of hope and love and happiness.
"This is where everything started happening," Sage spoke softly to the others. They were all looking around and seemed confused. "Do you feel that?" Sage asked them, already losing himself in the glow of those feelings. Kento looked at him weirdly.
"I don't feel anything man," Kento declared. Ryo shrugged as he looked at Rowen. Rowen shook his head. Neither of them felt anything either. Cye was starting to look a little more relaxed than normal.
"It's nice here," Cye said softly, a hint of that happier younger Cye in his voice.
As the others seated themselves in a loose circle around him, Sage already felt himself start to slip away to that other place. He was absently aware of Rowen saying something to him about being there with him, but Sage didn't quite understand. The others were speaking and deep down Sage knew that their voices should be a distractant to him to break his concentration, but he didn't care. He was drifting, drifting along with the tide, feeling himself once again shift slightly away from his grounded self.
The warmth of the sun was increasing on his skin, a feeling that he'd become used to by now. Sage started to drift faster. The light became brighter and brighter until he couldn't see anything but blinding white. The warmth turned into a roaring heat that hurt his skin. Too soon. He started spinning. Too soon. Something was wrong. Something had been wrong every time, but this time more than most. Something very very wrong. He was spinning out of control now, and the pain was starting. No visions this time, only pain. Pain…he opened his mouth to scream.
Sage suddenly stopped and the blinding light flickered as if startled. Something hovered in front of him. Sage's eyes widened and he wavered as it rippled, growing closer and closer. Something grabbed his head and bent it painfully back and his mouth was pried open. Sage tried to yell, to fight back, but his arms and legs felt as if he was being restrained.
Hold him!…Get it between his teeth!... What's wrong with him!…I can't hold him much longer!… Sage!
With the last bit of his strength Sage wrenched his arms and legs free of their invisible restraints and struck out at the thing in front of him. The light flashed and he heard terrible roar of pain and, blessedly, everything finally went dark.
His eyes rolled back in his head…He started seizing… I had to get that stick in his mouth or he would've bitten his tongue…He threw Kento and Ryo twenty feet when he lurched up like that…That was the most terrible scream I've ever heard…What do you think hurt him so bad?…I don't know but let's get him out of here…Good idea, this place creeps me out…Hold on buddy, I've got you…
He could hear, he knew, but thankfully he couldn't respond and Sage let himself slide just a little deeper into that welcome blackness of unconsciousness, thankful that this time he wasn't alone.