Chapter Four
“Morning Cye!” a cheery voice whispered in his ear.
The English teen groaned slightly then turned over to get more sleep.
“Oh come on,” the voice sighed as 2 hands grasped Cye’s arm, shaking him slightly, “Come on Cye, time to wake up.”
The elder brunette growled and rolled twice ending up on his back, he slowly slipped back to sleep.
“Oh no you don’t!” The irritated voice growled. There was a slight brush then a loud creak as the girl hopped onto Cye’s tired body. This caused only a few grumbles from the British youth before he pulled a blanket over his head.
“No fair, for once I’m ready to go and your not!” Megan sighed, slowly a smiled crossed her lips.
She pulled the blanket off of her companion’s face, for an instant she felt a strange sensation as she crossed her arms and rested them on Cye’s chest. The girl watched him for a little while until he was aware she was there. The pinned teen was suddenly embarrassed, and it showed, “Alright, I’m up.”
“Good!” the Nightling quickly jumped off of her friend’s aching body, “Now hurry, you don’t have a lot of time!”
Cye waited till she left before smiling to himself. He dressed and washed as fast as possible, when he went down stairs he was met by a truly unique site. Megan was reading a book at the kitchen table, wearing a school like skirt and shirt. She looked a lot like a catholic, or Lutheran, school girl, minus the sweater.
“What in the world?” the warrior of trust thought allowed.
“Oh, hey Cye, I fixed you some toast,” Megan said, handing him a plate.
Cye took the plate gingerly and started to eat the buttered bread. He watched the young brunette carefully, she seemed strange somehow, something was missing about her. Soon the pair left for the school, leaving only the tainted aura behind.
***
“Hey Ryo, I’m surprised to see you here this early,” Rowen teased playfully, for some reason he was full of energy.
“Well, even I need a little time to study,” the tiger eyed boy replied.
Rowen stood next to Sage and continued to send sarcastic comments at Ryo. Ryo let the comments slide off of him. Suddenly a vroom was heard in the distance, signaling the coming of another ronin.
The harley rode into the parking lot, letting the whole campus know its presence. Soon the bike stopped and Cye was allowed down. He took off his helmet and placed it on the back of Megan’s motorcycle. The girl quickly followed, placing her helmet on the handlebar. The guys watched as a very different girl walked towards them, her hair gently blew behind her, sending a few bronze threads dancing. She seemed more like a girl than she had before. They couldn’t believe that this was the same girl they had met a week ago. But there she was, Megan Nightling.
“Hey Meg, whats up?” Rowen inquired casually, forgetting his purpose of being there at that moment.
“Nothing much, just driving Cye here to study. You here to do the same?” The girl replied.
“Well, all of us are, I think even Kento is suppose to get here soon,” Ryo answered for his blue-haired friend.
“Well good for all of you, I better go, I have stuff to do, Cye I’ll come pick you up later ok?” the stormy-eyed girl called over her shoulder as she left.
“Alright, I’ll see you later Megan,” the bearer of Torrent crowed back.
Sage narrowed his eyes at the retreating girl, her aura stunk of darkness, and unlike his friends he remembered what had happened last night, atleast in part. Halo let himself stare at the girl as she left, making it apparent as to who his feeling was directed.
“You like her don’t you Sage?” Rowen mused happily.
The blonde tore his gaze only a moment to stare at his friend, crystalline blue met a ghostly violet, and the words were said that needed to be. The pair nodded to each other and left.
***
“Brrriiinnnngggg!” the bell sounded for first hour.
“I hate exams. It looks like it’ll rain too,” the wielder of fire sighed as he stepped into the classroom.
“Hey Ryo, ready for the exam?” Robyn chirped happily, she enjoyed the sight of ultimate dread on his face.
Ryo let out a long desperate sigh, “You know how much I love school.”
Just then Kami appeared, looking more pale than ever. The two watched as their friend sat at a table some distance away. The red head walked over to her friend, “Hey Kami what’s up?”
The girl looked sick or terrified, she didn’t look up at her friend, just stared into space.
“Kami? Are you O.K.? You look horrible, what did you do last night?” Robyn asked, a little concerned.
As response to the questions the wan girl looked up at Robyn, her voice seemed unsteady, fearful,
“Why? What did you do last night?”
The emerald-eyed youth thought for a moment, but her memory wouldn’t allow her to know.
“What happened…last night? I…I don’t know.”
The confused teen walked back over to her table, Ryo gave her a look of wonder. The girl looked up at him, her mind scabbling to find the answer to Kami’s question.
“Robyn, what’s wrong?” Ryo inquired.
“Ryo…do you remember? What did we do last night?” the red head stared at him for a moment.
“We…we…I…I don’t know” Ryo admitted before a sharp pain bit him.
“Ryo?!” Robyn screeched as her friend doubled over in pain.
***
Sage narrowed his eyes in thought, all of the ronins and Robyn had been sent to the nurse’s office. All had the same condition, a sharp, stabbing pain in their heads. The nurse had gone to get advil since she was out.
“Guys, what is going on?” Cye questioned his friends.
“Something has erased our memory,” Ryo sighed, the pain had decreased slightly.
“No, memory can’t be erased…but it can be blocked,” the blonde explained.
“The real question is, who? A new enemy?” Rowen thought aloud.
“No… it might be some one right under our noses,” Sage thought, he closed his eyes and concentrated.
“Sage? What do you mean?” Robyn asked before the keeper of halo slipped into meditation.
***
“Halo…what has brought you to me?” the cloaked figured asked.
“Help me find out…” the blonde replied solemnly.
The lady nodded, “but you must promise…”
“What?”
The lady lowered her head, “Promise not to judge.”
“Very well, I promise,” the violet-eyed young man replied hurriedly.
The cloaked woman grabbed to Sage’s hand, instantly the pair appeared in a void of darkness. The wind rushed past them and in the distance, growing steadily bigger, was a large door. When the companions finally made it to the front of the door Sage could see the huge lock. The lock was of silver, 2 dragons coiled around a sword.
“How do I unlock it?” the blonde questioned his guide.
The woman gently touched the lock, it crumbled, the doors opened slowly. Light flooded into the darkness, letting Sage see all he had forgotten.
***
The blonde sat up, he was at the park, everyone was lying down, sleeping. It was day, maybe a little after 9:30 am. Sage looked over at their tormenter, she was sleeping also, at her feet floated a glowing white orb.
“Time for this to end,” the blonde punched the orb, it immediately shattered.
Slowly the group woke, one by one.
“…Now I remember…”Robyn declared, her cheerful face quickly turned to sorrow.
Megan sat up, she looked so pale, so ashamed.
“You cast a spell on us,” Ryo whispered.
“She’s a witch,” Kento stated.
“She made us forget, because she didn’t want us to interfere with her plans,” Rowen growled.
Sage walked over to the girl, he lowered the tip of his blade to her forehead, “Leave.”
Her pale eyes seemed so empty then, she looked up at Sage and leaned forward, “Kill me…I’d rather die than betray your trust.”
“Yeah, put her out of our misery, she deserves it!” a familiar voice called over, “Or perhaps death is too good for her.” The tall brunette walked into their hideaway, she seemed out of place for one dressed as she was. She wore a purple turtleneck sweat shirt and a short black skirt, long purple stockings hugged her legs, small black shoes fitted to her feet. Megan narrowed her eyes in thought, for some reason this was not right.
“Mia!” Ryo exclaimed happily, his spirit rose instantly.
“Ronins I’m so happy to see you’ve discovered your new enemy, now we can dispose of her,” Mia explained calmly, too calm.
“No, you can’t!” Robyn yelled at them, quickly running in front of her downtrodden friend, “I won’t let you!”
“We must or she’ll destroy the world! Don’t you understand?!” the woman growled impatiently.
“Robyn, please, its for the better,” Cye pleaded.
“No! NO!” the read head snapped angrily. Suddenly the emerald-eyed youth collapsed, behind her Megan stretched a hand out to catch her as she fell.
“Robyn!” the keeper of Hardrock called.
“Its O.K. She’ll sleep for a while, here, come take her from me…I’m too tired to stand,” the Nightling added with an amused tone.
Kento walked cautiously toward the girl and as quickly as possible picked his friend up in his arms. The pale-eyed girl let out a sigh, “Come now, do as you will.”
“Go ahead guys,” Mia let a slight smile come to her lips.
“But…we can’t…” the beaer of Strata stuttered, none of the ronins dared to look at the girl.
“Fine, I’ll do it,” the tall woman growled and reached for Sage’s sword. The blonde didn’t resist as she took it from him. For a moment Mia stared down at the ashamed youth, Soon all my worries will be over.
“Die Cassiel!” the brunette screamed hatefully as she plunged the sword into the Nightling’s chest.
The shock made the blue-eyed teen gasp, slowly her body fell limp and her eyes grew foggy.
Sage winced, a pain had struck him deep in his heart, too deep for anyone to understand.
Halo…you’ve given up on me…you’ve forgotten me…God help you, the angelic voice sang sorrowfully as it faded away.
Mia smiled to herself, “No more worries, now that the queen is defeated I can claim my prize.”
“Mia…what do you mean by that?” Cye questioned his friend.
“Time to see the true kingdom of this realm, Heaven might be out of my reach for the moment but that’ll change soon enough. When I drink the blood of one of His angels I get an all access pass!” The brunette exclaimed, laughing to herself and looked down at her deed, the limp body just lay there, “Soon Cassiel, you’ll be mine.”
“Cassiel? Who’s that?” the muscular teen inquired.
“That’s Megan…” Sage whispered, his eyes becoming watery, “No wonder Megan felt of darkness…darkness follows and attaches to light. Megan is…is…”
“Megan is the angel, Cassiel, sent to protect you and Robyn. Stupid fool she was…to choose such a weak host,” the women kicked the body angrily.
The warrior of Torrent fell to his knees, “Oh God…no, no! Megan!”
To this there was no reply, Rowen stared down at the girl’s dead form. Kento turned his back to the scene and Ryo stared at Mia, “How could you, Mia?”
“Mia is dead…I am heir to this realm, Belial,” The woman explained triumphantly. Mia’s form suddenly lost its color, her hair turned jet black, her skin turned white. Slowly black wings sprouted from her back, horns forming from her forehead, a small red gem in the center of her brow. Mia smiled with an animalistic grin, a long scorpion tail slid from under her skirt. Without hesitation the once human figure grabbed the cold body and pulled it to her.
“Now you proud warriors shall see…the gates of the Astral, Mental, Spiritual, and Physical Realms, will open,” Belial grabbed Megan’s wrists and bit into it.
“No! MEGAN!” Cye screeched, running towards the demon, he had called upon his armor as quickly as possible, “Monster!”
Mia only looked up once, straight into the teen’s eyes, blood decorating her lips. The monster dropped the body. As the warrior ran forward, the black winged creature began to glow, suddenly the wind picked up and knocked the keeper of Torrent 15 feet back.
“Foolish boy!” the demon spat, “Now…for the next step.”
“No you don’t!” Kento growled, he charged in full armor straight for Belial.
The new made monster didn’t even flinch, her wings flared only once sending Kento straight into a tree. The warriors glared at the creature once called their friend, the scorpion tailed girl looked back at them, smiling.
Ryo watched with horror as his friends stood against the vampire “Guys…I don’t know how to stop this.”
***
“Robyn…Robyn…Robyn wake up!” a childish voice called.
Slowly the red head’s eyes fluttered open, she was on her stomach, in a meadow of flowers. It was night and the moon was full, shining like a star. Robyn sat up, she was dressed in a long white dress, silver jewelry with emeralds clung gently to her arms and neck.
“Huh…Where am I?” the girl thought aloud.
Suddenly a shape flashed by with a giggled whisper.
“Who’s there!” Robyn stood quickly.
Another flash of movement caught her attention. She spun around to see a little girl in front of her. The girl was dressed in a burgundy garb, she wore a silver dragon necklace. She had bronze hair with burgundy highlights and pale blue eyes.
“Me….Megan?”
The younger girl smiled innocently, “Hello Robyn, I’m glad I can talk to you again.”
“Am I dead?”
Megan smiled, moonlight making shadows on her face, “Of course not, your just sleeping, but you’ll be soon.”
“What?! How can that be?!” the emerald-eyed girl crowed.
“Belial is slowly opening the gates to the realms. The spirit, the mental, the astral and the physical. These gates control everything,” the child replied quickly.
“What about the guys? Won’t they beat her?!”
To this Megan giggled, “No, the ronins will die and stay here with us forever. We’ll be together Robyn, all of us.”
“But…don’t you care that they’ll die?” Robyn was horrified.
“Death is inevitable, everything dies…at least in the physical realm,” Megan smiled.
A wind started, gently blowing the flowers, catching the moonlight like gems. Tears flooded Robyn’s eyes, “How can you not even care…”
The little girl smiled, “Oh Robyn, it doesn’t matter, soon all of us will be together.”
The red head glared at the girl, anger flooded her mind, “How can you not even care about them?! You’re as bad as Belial!”
“That makes sense, since Belial was once an angel herself…” to this the brunette fell silent.
“How…how can that be?”
“Angels are powerful…and most serve the better good, but they do have choices to which they can decide. Light or dark is the choice each angel first receives,” the child stared at Robyn solemnly.
“So they have to choose…But can the angels that chose darkness be killed?” the red head asked.
“Yes…all angels can be killed, but only with weapons of good…” Megan lowered her eyes.
The green-eyed teen suddenly saw her American friend, the teenage one, being stabbed with Sage’s sword…the sword of light. The youth didn’t dare to think about it, slowly an idea crept into her head.
“Megan? What will Belial do once the gates are open?”
The child looked up at her companion, “She’ll change the army and forces of the heavens into demons…not just the angels.”
“Who else is in this army and where do they come from?” Robyn was now more curious than ever, sorrow was left in the dust, only the flame of determination burned now.
“Dragons, unicorns, gryphons, gargoyles, Pegasus…all creatures of light…they exist in the Astral realm.”
“Megan…can you take us there?” the teen questioned.
“Yes…but why? We’re already in paradise, and the ronins will be here soon,” Megan protested, getting mildly irritated.
“We can’t let them die! We just can’t!” Robyn snapped at the innocent.
“Well then…you better tell them what I told you…” the child said sadly, “Good-bye, Robyn.”
And the red head was sent back to earth.