Disclaimer: Ronin Warriors are not mine. I didn’t make them up. They belong to Sunrise Animation. Also, any new characters are my creations and if anybody likes them and maybe wants to use them, please tell me. (That’s wishful thinking, I hope somebody will like them that much.)

Note: I have no idea when this takes place or how the new Emperor came about (yet). The Ronins are in the middle of a battle with a new dynasty and new warlords. I make a few assumptions you need to know, like that Ryo was an orphan and grew up in an orphanage. I can’t think of anything else right now, but I use my own interpretations of dynasty magic and their powers. Keep that in mind and everything should make sense. I’d appreciate comments if it doesn’t.

************************************************************************

Mia studied the grains of the wooden tabletop. When she realized that Cye had stopped she looked up. There was complete silence. She felt like she should say something, anything to try and break the morbid mood. "Uh…so that’s what happened, huh?"

"Yes. That’s it." Sage looked at her, trying to figure out what she meant.

"Oh, okay," She started to get up. "I guess I’ll make breakfast then."

Cye put a hand on her shoulder. "No, I already did. It’s done. We can eat now."

Mia sat back down, feeling lost. She felt like she needed to do something. It was like she had had too much coffee and the caffeine was just beginning to take effect. "I’m not really hungry. Um, I have some work to finish, excuse me." Mia got up quickly, hoping they wouldn’t try to stop her as she hurried up the stairs.

Mia entered her den and quickly closed the door behind her. She wasn’t being careful; it slammed shut. Mia jumped and turned to the door feeling self-conscious. I hope none of the guys come up here to ask what that was about, especially not Cye. He’ll want to talk it out. I know I probably should but…Ryo was my friend too. Of course I’m upset. I just want them to leave me alone. Mia shook her head to clear it. Wait, Why am I getting so riled up? They are leaving me alone. She walked to her desk and sat down. I just feel off balance, like this isn’t happening. I mean, these guys are like the superheroes on TV. They save the world and always come out okay, right? She twisted absently in her chair, her hands hovering over the keys. It’s surreal. I wish it hadn’t happened, but then that’s probably how every one feels. I don’t want to think about this. And, contrary to what they probably think, I do have work to do.

Mia keyed up her files on the computer screen. She had long since realized that there was nothing about the new dynasty in her grandfather’s data. At first she had been disappointed that her grandfather had no information. Then she had realized, feeling slightly guilty, that he had gotten the data by researching, not by using somebody else’s work. The fact that he had been able to find the original data meant that there was information out there; she just had to find it. Mia had been flying to libraries and exhibits all over Japan and even internationally since this new war had started. So far she had found little or nothing. Now she was going to search her grandfather’s stuff again but this time for a different sort of information. She was searching his files for places to look instead of the facts themselves. She started the search program Rowen had made last summer when he was "bored". Ryo had really teased him for that. She sighed and told it to look for references to original historical documents.

Mia leaned back in her chair and watched the computer screen. This was going to take a while. She wished she had something else to think about while she waited.

* * *

Yuli woke up and yawned. It was Saturday. He was going to play soccer with White Blaze. Then Ryo would teach him a new trick and his parents would think he was so cool. Of course, Mia would probably make him do his homework first, but Kento would say "Ah come on, he’s only a kid for so long." And Yuli would get to play until Sage asked about his homework and then made him get help from Rowen. While this was happening Cye would make Yuli cookies for when he was all finished. Then, after he had cookies, he would get to play. Yuli heard everyone downstairs. Uh oh, he was going to miss breakfast. Yuli pulled on his shorts and a green save the whales T-shirt Cye had given him.

Yuli bolted into the kitchen. Rowen was the only one there, sitting at the table and leaning over a book. He looked up, "Yuli? Oh, Cye left some pancakes on the counter but there’s cereal too. Some frosted nutty thing. Guaranteed to fry your brain."

Yuli giggled. Rowen always teased him about his breakfast food. He pulled one of the wooden chairs over to the counter so he could reach the pancakes. There were two left. They weren’t very cold so he wasn’t that late. He opened the cabinet in front of him and gazed longingly at the top shelf. "Rowen? I can’t reach the syrup. Can you help?"

"Sure, squirt." Rowen bent down the page he was on and walked to the cabinet. He pulled down the maple syrup and handed it to Yuli.

Yuli took it and stood straight up on the chair. This way he was about two inches taller than Rowen. He grinned. "I’m not a squirt! You’re a munchkin!"

"You’re right. Wow." Rowen’s answers were the same as always but he didn’t sound like he was paying attention. Yuli put the syrup next to the plate of pancakes and climbed off the chair. He walked over to where Rowen had resumed reading. Yuli tugged lightly on his shirt. "Rowen? Whatsamatta?"

Rowen looked up. Yuli looked worried. The little boy honestly didn’t understand. "Uh, nothing. We’ll play later okay?"

"But I’m supposed to play with Ryo ‘n Blaze."

Rowen looked at him in shock. That settles it, he thought. He either doesn’t remember last night, or Mia told him something. I’ll have to set him straight. Great, just what I need. "Uh, Yuli, do you remember last night?"

"Yeah." Yuli looked at Rowen. He didn’t know what he meant. Last night the guys had come back and Sage was hurt. Yuli paused. But Ryo hadn’t. Neither had White Blaze. Yuli had woken up and come downstairs just as Cye said to Mia…

"Ryo’s dead." Rowen said softly. Yuli looked up at him.

"But Cye didn’t mean it, right Rowen? You guys always win. You kicked Talpa’s butt. Right?"

Rowen looked at Yuli. Hadn’t the kid heard him? Yuli had really spaced out. "Cye meant it, Yuli. I was there." Yuli looked ready to cry. Rowen put down his book and kneeled next to Yuli. As tears started to form, Rowen put an arm around his shoulder to comfort him. There wasn’t much else he could do.

* * *

Inanime was the Warlord of Desolation. He stood a top the ruins of the elder dynasty’s castle. Even in the sunlight, the world was as dark to him as the caves beneath the ground. The only source of light was the bright lines of color running through the earth. Inanime was blind to the world of life, what he saw was the magic that existed in things. He was a nocturnal creature. His formerly blue eyes were covered in mist like two large cataracts and his hair was just as pale.

Steps echoed behind him. "Do you like the view?"

"The emperor sent me here to see magical disturbances."

"Well, that answers my question."

"What do you want, Warlord of Slaughter?"

"Are you angry with me?" He inquired curiously.

"What for? I wondered if our master had an errand for you as well."

"Your intellect amazes me."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"If it’s nothing then why are you here?"

"Remarkably, I find that I am losing in this battle of wits. How absurd."

"The emperor does have an errand for me, an errand which requires my concentration."

"Then I’ll leave you in peace, o master of subtlety." The Warlord of Slaughter turned on his heel and departed. He was only average height in red and brown armor. He was not, however, wearing his helmet and his short, cinnamon hair rustled in the breeze. Inanime spared a glance at his departing back before returning to his study of the landscape. It was pointless to look at him anyway, all Inanime could see was the tangle of colorful string that was Slaughter’s magical aura, and Inanime always remembered an aura after he had seen it once. It was what Lady Dementia had trained him to do.

He paused. There was something wrong with Dementia and he didn’t know what. Something that didn’t fit with his sense of what was right. He did not understand what it was that bothered him so Inanime just mentally shrugged and went back to his survey of the emperor’s realm.

* * *

"Well...," The woman thought over their answer while the boys looked at her in hope of an easy escape. "Absolutely not! That’s what you told me last time, and look where it got me for believing you." She whirled around and gave the spectators a warning look. "Now, everybody get back to, well, whatever you were doing. As for you two, you’re coming with me."

Cye opened his eyes, careful not to make any noise. He didn’t want to wake up Kento again. Kento hadn’t made a big deal about it, but he knew Cye well enough to realize that something was bothering him. Cye was well aware of the fact that he was being watched. Hopefully, Kento just thought he was upset about Ryo. Everybody was. However upset Cye was about that, it still wasn’t what kept waking him up at all hours of the night. He had had another one of those dreams.

Cye knew that this wasn’t his brain randomly throwing images together. He didn’t recognize any of the stuff in his dreams and there was certainly nothing happening that would make him think he was a girl. Of course, after deciding that these weren’t just ordinary dreams, he still didn’t know what they meant. They couldn’t tell the future, why would he be dreaming about what would happen to a bunch of little kids. Even so, he felt that they were real events. Memories, then? It had to be, but whose? Cye shook his head. No matter what they were, they were completely useless. The dreams were probably just the result of his restlessness. Cye was not as empathetic as Sage, but he did have some mental powers. Maybe he had just picked up on someone’s dreams. If it really bothered him, he could always talk to the guys, but right now there wasn’t any point to doing that. Cye hoped he could spend the rest of the night in peace and that whoever’s dreams he might be "overhearing" would have a nice dreamless sleep.

* * *

The Warlord of Slaughter, Matar, slouched against an old wooden table in a chamber about the size of a bus. He watched as The Warlord of Ruin paced across the room. Matar snickered, "Ruin, please, you should not be so upset when our master demonstrates yet again that he prefers Tane over you." Ruin stopped to glare at him and Matar laughed outright.

"I merely want to know why our dear overseer has had trouble finding the time to check in on us lately."

"He’s doing the emperor’s bidding. Why does that worry you?" A new monotone voice spoke up from the corner. The speaker leaned against the wall, out of range of the one lamp that lit the room.

"We have gotten no orders since he began his pet project. What if the Emperor no longer has need of us, Warlord of Desolation, what then? Plague will do anything to displace his competition, namely us."

"If he displaces us it will be because our master commands it. Or were planning to disagree with the emperor’s wishes?" The warlord’s tone of voice implied nothing, but Desharian winced.

Matar had noticed that Inanime was always dead serious. He supposed it came from having the intelligence of a dynasty tin can. Matar always referred to the Dynasty’s soldiers that way. He noticed it annoyed Ruin and Tane to no end. It didn’t help that the Emperor made no objection. Matar was probably the only one of the warlords (besides Inanime who didn’t care) who was sure of his position in this empire. Matar had been recruited for his intelligence and no other reason. He had no need to worry about his fighting skills or his popularity. They didn’t get him anywhere. Matar was startled out of his contemplation by Tane’s arrival.

"Is something the matter, Ruin?" Tane inquired innocently, deliberately baiting the angry man.

Ruin did not take the bait. "Of course not. How goes the world, Tane?"

"I take it you are curious about my ‘pet project’?"

"I did not say that, Warlord of Plague." It was a sure sign he was getting annoyed. Matar leaned back, anticipating a show.

"You really don’t want to know how I’ll make a zombie out of Wildfire? Not at all?"

"No, I don’t. Besides that would be pointless. The creature you would create would not be Wildfire. It would be just like any other idiot soldier except that it wouldn’t have any armor at all."

"Fool."

"Fool? Back up your claim, oh favored one." Ruin was switching names again. Matar raised an eyebrow, yet another indication of the fireworks to come. This will be very interesting.

"I don’t need to. If you can not see why I would do this, then you could hardly understand it even if I explained it. It is so simple." He stressed the "so".

Desharian mimicked the nuances Tane’s voice, stressing the "so" in a similar fashion. "It is so simple because it is so useless."

"Watch what you say Warlord of Ruin. The Emperor gave me the power. Take up your complaints with him." Plague looked ready to strangle him.

That was another thing that Matar had noticed. While Ruin obviously lost control verbally he never went any farther than was safe. It made Matar wonder if he even lost control at all. Plague, however, never had any emotional restraint. If you angered him, he would do anything. Ruin had better exercise some of his control or one of them may not be leaving this chamber.

Matar never knew if Ruin would have pushed the disagreement any farther because Lady Dementia chose that moment to enter. Matar considered the possibility that she had been outside the door waiting to enter at such a crucial time. He wouldn’t put it past her. She enjoyed messing with people’s minds. He was surprised to see Inanime watching her. Admittedly, that didn’t surprise him but it was the way he looked at her. Inanime had an expression of slight disgust and confusion on his face. Matar hadn’t even thought Inanime could feel emotion. What’s more, Inanime looked to be seriously considering something. Matar would have to spend quite a bit of time thinking on this. What was Inanime, really? He seemed like such an overall loyal dolt. So why was he disgusted by someone the Emperor obviously favored?

Lady Dementia nodded to the inhabitants of the room. Then she turned to the Warlord of Desolation and gave him a bright smile. "Master would like to see you," she said.

Inanime silently stood and followed her from the room, still wearing the same expression of disgust. Tane and Ruin resumed bickering as soon as they had left though not as heatedly as before, Dementia had a way of dampening a person’s spirits. No longer interested in the verbal battle, Matar stood and excused himself to go to his quarters and think.

* * *

It was Sage’s turn to make breakfast. Because of his injury, it was a simple matter to get out of the responsibility. Unfortunately, Mia was the only one able to do it and part of the deal was a trip downtown with Yuli. Yuli had left his skateboard out last week, and it had come to an unfortunate end when Kento had failed to look where he was going on his way from his room to the kitchen. Now Sage was supposed to take Yuli to a repair shop and get it fixed. Mia hoped it would cheer him up a bit. The kid was only here while his parents were out of town, and he had had the bad luck to be here on that particular night when the Ronins had returned minus an armor and a tiger.

"Hey, Sage, are you going to the city today?" Cye asked. Sage looked up from his plate of scrambled eggs. He was glad there was not anything he would need a knife for. It would be difficult to cut with his arm in a sling.

"Uh yeah, why?"

"We’re a little low on food. I was wondering if you could drop me off at the supermarket." Cye explained.

"Well, we were going to walk to a bus stop." He gestured to his arm. "I can’t really drive."

Mia looked up, "We need food again? Kento, I take it?"

"Hey, I didn’t eat all the food!" Kento protested. Yuli giggled from across the table. That was a good sign.

"Oh you’re right, you didn’t eat all the food. Just most of it." Rowen corrected.

"Humph. Well I’m very happy to have cheered you all up, but I am going outside to practice. Coming Cye?"

"No, actually I have to go get groceries. Remember?"

"Cye!" Kento had an expression of horror on his face. "You’re not gonna leave me with these cannibals are you?"

"Maybe if you didn’t eat so much I wouldn’t have buy food so often. Ready Sage?"

"Yeah sure. Yulie, let’s go." Yulie jumped and ran out of the room. He returned holding and the broken skateboard.

"Ready," he said

Cye paused looking sheepish. "Alright then. Mia, umm…I’m a little low on cash."

Mia got up and walked over to her purse on the counter. She rummaged through it for a few seconds before pulling out a key ring with several keys and a white tiger key chain that Rowen had given her as joke. He called it "portable protection." Of course, it really couldn’t protect anything but everyone had laughed anyway. Mia paused, looking at it and reminiscing. Then she shook her head and pulled out her wallet. She handed Cye a couple thousand yen. "Here you go."

The threesome left the house and started the walk to the bus stop.

* * *

Cye sat one row behind Yulie and Sage on the bus. He had let Yulie sit next to Sage. The kid was having a great time. He had just discovered something the rest of them had known for a while, how fun it was to bug Sage. Cye snickered as he listened to Yulie asking Sage question after question about the bus. Sage was getting annoyed and had resorted to his earlier habit of calling Yulie "brat".

"What are you laughing at Cye?"

"Me? I wasn’t laughing."

"Of course not. Hey, brat, look that’s what you call a tree."

"I know that! I’m not stupid."

"Sure seems like it."

"Cye!"

"Sage, be nice."

"Watch it, Cye. It’s your fault he’s up here."

"So?"

"So why don’t you make him shut up!"

"Hey!"

"Sorry Sage, no can do. Ryo’s the only one who could manage that." There was immediate silence. Nobody felt like breaking the now somber mood by speaking.

Cye was grateful for some time to think, even if he had gotten that time in an underhanded way. He leaned back thinking about last night. Those dreams still didn’t make any sense. He was sure they were real, not just somebody else’s imaginings. Cye was positive that those events had actually happened, but future or past? It just kept bugging him that he still wasn’t any closer to understanding them. It was part of the reason he had come today. If anybody could figure it out, Sage could. Even so, the more Cye thought about it the more reluctant he became to talk. He still hadn’t said a word when the bus pulled up in front of the store. Sage told him they’d meet at the repair shop down the street. Cye nodded and resolved to talk to him after he’d bought the groceries.

* * *

A bell rang as Sage opened the door. The front room was spacious and big windows let in a lot of light. Yulie came in after Sage carrying his skateboard and placed it on the counter. Sage rang the bell for assistance. The guy who came in was big, overweight, and was quickly losing what little hair he had left. "Can I help you?"

"My skateboard broke." Yulie explained.

"Ah, I see. Let me have look. Ooh, this has definitely seen better days. How exactly did this happen?"

"A friend of mine stepped on it when the brat decided to leave it at the top of the stairs."

"Hey, Sage!"

"Must have been a big guy." The repairman observed.

"You got that right. How long do you think this will take?"

"It’s pretty bad, but, if I start now, maybe an hour or two. You want to wait?"

"We’ll wait until our other friend meets us here. If it’s not done then we’ll come back tomorrow. Can you keep it for awhile?"

"Alright." The guy pulled out a form. "Name?"

"Mine or the brat’s?"

"Yours."

"Date Sage."

"Okay," he paused to write it down. "Hey, do you go to (some high school. I need some help here)?"

"Uh, yeah. How’d you know?"

"My daughter goes there." Sage groaned while the repairman laughed.

"Why doesn’t that surprise me?" Cye remarked as he came in.

"That didn’t take very long."

"I didn’t need much. So how’s your reputation?" he asked innocently. Yulie laughed.

"Very funny. If you aren’t careful I’ll let you sit with Yulie."

"Please no. Anything but that." Cye grinned. "Oh, Sage can I talk to you for a minute?"

Sage glanced at Cye, confused. He had barely bought any groceries and now he wanted to talk. Sage was pretty sure nothing had happened at the store so what was bothering Cye that he wanted to talk to Sage specifically? Why not Kento, for instance? "Sure. Hold on a sec." Sage finished filling out the pick up form and they left.

Cye still hadn’t said anything else by the time they reached the bus. Yulie tried to sit next to Cye but Sage stopped him. "Uh-uh. Back, now." Yulie pretended to pout but he couldn’t keep it up.

"Okay," he said cheerfully. Cye sat down next to Sage.

"Hey, Cye?"

"Huh?"

"You wanted to talk to me?"

"Oh yeah."

"Go on."

"Well, you see, I’ve been having some weird dreams."

"Okay, for how long?"

"Since the day after Ryo died."

"Why didn’t you tell us?"

"They didn’t seem very important. I mean, they’re weird."

"What, like purple talking dinosaurs floating around?"

"No. They seem really real. Like predictions or memories."

"How is that so odd? It’s not any worse than fighting demons to save the world. Predictions could be important. What if we had known what would Lady Dementia was going to do?"

" ‘Lady Dementia’ didn’t do anything, Sage. The girl did that after I freed her from the nether spirit."

"Okay, okay. Let’s not get off topic. You know what I’m saying."

"That’s just it! The dreams are completely useless! They don’t have anything to do with what’s happening now!"

"Cye, calm down. Take a deep breath. You want me to help you but you still haven’t told me anything about these dreams of yours."

"Okay, it’s from the point of view of a four-year-old girl, like I’m her. She’s in a or-"

"A girl? No wonder you didn’t tell Kento."

"Sage…" Cye pleaded.

"Sorry."

"Anyway, she’s in an orphanage and she is trying to get somebody to be her sister but the only candidates are guys. It’s kinda funny but it’s just her life. Very mundane."

"Mundane? That’s a clue to too much time spent with Rowen."

"Or you. Sage you’re not taking this seriously."

"Yes I am. I’m thinking that’s all. Quiet." Sage was silent for a little while. Cye could hear Yulie shifting his weight behind them but he knew better than to interrupt. Finally Sage looked up, "Describe them. Lot’s of detail please."

So, of course, Cye told him. Luckily, Sage kept his comments to a minimum. Slightly before he was finished they reached their stop. Cye continued talking as they got off the bus. Yuli followed.

"Okay. I’m still not sure." Sage murmured as they wandered back towards the mansion.

"About what?"

"Nothing." Sage stopped and was silent again. "Hmm…. Cye I’m going to try something okay? Don’t be surprised or anything."

"What are you going to do?" Sage didn’t answer him. Instead he reached over and touched Cye’s forehead. Sage’s symbol started to glow. Images started to flash through Cye’s mind as if someone were going through it like a file cabinet. Unfortunately, the searcher was searching in the wrong place. Not there, you snoop, he thought.

Oh, sorry. Finally, the dreams popped up. They didn’t go as slow they had before though. Sage sort of fast-forwarded through a couple parts. Afterwards, instead of the confusion he usually felt, there was a sense of recognition. It wasn’t his emotion. "You don’t suppose? Hmm…" Sage muttered after withdrawing from Cye’s mind.

"What?"

"Nothing. I’ll have to ask Rowen to be sure." Sage continued thinking aloud.

"Sage."

"Yes?"

"What are you talking about? You were inside my thoughts. I know you found something. What do you have to be sure of?"

"It’s really not important. I think you are right that they aren’t useful." He paused, "Unless…"

"Sage."

"Could you tell me if you have any dreams where the kids are older than four and five?"

"Okay, but..."

"Thanks." Sage ignored the other two the rest of the way to Mia’s. He was in a world of his own. Cye was a little worried that he might walk into a tree or something. He couldn’t even get a response out of the blond. So Cye resorted to Yulie for distractions. They got home about halfway through the second round of "99 bottles of Beer on the Wall."

************************************************************************

End of Chapter three. This thing was TWELVE pages. The earlier ones are six and under. However the last part is needed otherwise the chapter wouldn’t conclude. Mohoso may seem a bit Spanish but that’s because I had a dictionary next to me when I needed some names. It means "Moldy". So it is Spanish. At first, this last part had Sage driving. Anyone notice why that would be bad? Big thank you to Jyminka for catching that…^_^ this face really annoys me ^_^ Okay the next couple of chapters are going to take a while. I know what has to happen, Matar has to do this, Inanime has to do this, Cye has to do this, etc, etc. But I don’t know how! Oh well. Wish me luck.

Chapter Four
Home
Fan Fic Palace

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws