Reirei and the Return of Darkness*

Without warning the island suddenly appeared in the sky.
Four foul and wicked beings claimed it for themselves.
They possessed the frightening powers of Chaos, Destruction, Terror, and Death.
The people were horrified and call these four the rulers of Darkness.
The reign of Terror continued.
The world massed its warriors to battle their dark foes, but the powers of Darkness proved to be all-powerful.
In desperation, the people called on the remaining Byakko seishi; Tatara, Tokaki, and Subaru; as well as their priestess, Suzano.
And so began the final battle.
    “We can’t let them win!” Tatara, shouted. The four heroes stood back to back, each facing one of the four leaders of the Darkness: Kanki, Lexis, Arcadia, and Tenkou.
    “Foolish mortals,” Tenkou laughed. “You may have won the battle, but we will destroy this world and all in it!”
    “NO!” the seishi snapped, lunging at the silver-haired villain only to be thrown back. In his hand, the legendary sword, Hato Kakumeika (1), resonated; lending him its power. “Tokaki, Subaru, Suzano, if we use the channel our energy through the sword, we might be able to stop them! Quickly, focus your energy into the sword!” he said, closing his eyes. He could sense his friends doing the same. He sent out a wave of energy, but it wasn’t strong enough and dissipated when it came in contact with the energy surrounding their enemies.
    “HA!” Kanki laughed. “Is that all you humans have to offer against us?”
    “Come on, we have to give it everything we’ve got!” Tatara called, tightening his grip on the sword. He looked down at the image of Suzaku, the God of the South, which made up the hilt and ran his thumb over its head. He raised the weapon before him, the four gold rings that dangled from the hilt chimed in unison and he closed his eyes.
    “Tatara, I don’t think Suzano’s body can take anymore of this,” Tokaki informed their leader.
    “I-I’m fine. Let’s do it!” Suzano assured them. They focused all they had on the task at hand and released a wave of pure light that threw the four demon lords back from whence they came.
    “This isn’t over!” Tenkou shouted, holding out a little longer than his comrades. “We shall return!”
    Tatara stood string as Tenkou’s body vanished before his eyes.
    “We…we won…” he breathed, his arm dropping to his side. He suddenly realized that his friend’s had been thrown back when the two energies had collided and hurried to make sure they were all right. “Subaru!” he cried as he approached his friend.
    “I’m fine,” the woman breathed, rising to her feet. They found Tokaki next. He rose and looked up with a faint smile.
    “I won’t go down that easily,” he assured them, his arms encircling Subaru’s waist. Tatara then spotted Suzano and ran to her side.
    “Suzano?”
    “We…we finally did it, Tatara…” the girl said quietly, not moving.
    “Yes…yes we did. They won’t be returning here again.
    “Then…our son is safe…that’s good…”
    “That’s right,” Tatara said, dropping to his knees beside his wife. “Hatsuhana (2) is safe and so is the rest of the world. Now we can go back to him and-”
    “I’m…sorry, Tatara…I’m…not going…to be able…to go home…”
    “Suzano, what are you saying?” Tatara asked, afraid that he already knew the answer.
    “The blast went through me,” she breathed quietly, tears escaping her closed eyes. “I…can barely…speak…”
    “Suzano!” he cried as her body relaxed. Suddenly, it seemed as if the whole island was shaking apart and the bridge between Tokaki and Subaru and their friends collapsed.
    “Tokaki, this place is falling apart. Quick, use your powers to get us out of here!”
    “I can’t! I only have enough energy left to teleport once,” Tokaki replied, shivering slightly. “And Tatara and Suzano are too far away!”
    “We can’t just leave them here,” Subaru said on the verge of tears. “We have to do something!”
    “Tokaki! Subaru! You two get out of here!” Tatara called to them, holding Suzano close to him.
    “But-” Subaru tried to protest.
    “You two have to go and tell the people that we won,” he explained, tears running down his cheeks as he smiled. “Tell them the Darkness is gone and please look after Hatsuhana for us. I can’t leave her here alone to die.”
    “…Let’s go, Tokaki,” Subaru said finally, holding back her tears for Tatara’s sake.
    “Subaru, you can’t mean-”
    “He told us to go. He’s still our leader and he’s right: we have to tell everyone it’s safe now.”
    Tokaki clenched his teeth and turned his gaze to his friend and priestess.
    “The world will know of your courage, Tatara. I swear it!” he called and then he and Subaru were gone. Tatara pressed his cheek to Suzano’s forehead and sat kissed her forehead.
    “Now our son will grow up in a world free of the Darkness and he’ll be safe. Everything will be alright, Suzano,” he whispered, lacing his fingers with hers and squeezing her hand. “I just wish we had been born in a peaceful time like the one that is promised to come. I love you Suzano. I’ll always be with you…”

97 years later (give or take a year), a young boy named Shun’u Kou ran away from home, sick of being tormented by his sisters and smothered my his mother (or more so, her large breasts *^.^*) He met a man name Hakurou, the leader of the bandits of Mt. Reikaku. He decided to become a great man like Hakurou and joined the bandits. He was given the nickname Genrou, of “Phantom Wolf” shortly thereafter. After undergoing a trial to capture the evil Mt. Kaou bandit’s treasure, he met Reirei, a young girl around his age. She turned out to be the treasure he and his friend, Kouji, had sought and was eager to leave Mt. Kaou and join Mt. Reikaku. She stayed at the bandit’s stronghold and proved time and time again she could fight as well as anyone else.

99 years after the battle Tatara and his friends had fought against the Darkness, Suzaku was summoned and, after finishing his duty to Suzaku, Genrou returned to Mt. Reikaku, intent on living a bandit’s life again and being the leader of the bandit as Hakurou had intended him to be.

And that’s when the trouble started…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

* as mentioned in “What if…”, Darkness: evil organization of both fallen angels and demonic spirits who use and/or bend fallen angels to their will.

(1) revolutionary song. That would make the sword’s name “Dove Song” in English, but it would pertain to the legend of the Dove of Suzaku as seen in Fushigi Akugi (written by me). There’s a reason for everything, just so ya know, no da.

(2) first flower of the season or year; first flowering on a plant; first menstruation. I thought it was a fitting name for Tatara’s first/only son

Now, for those who have played Lufia and the Fortress of Doom, you basically know what’ll happen. For those who haven’t, do you want to hear more?

R and R and maybe we’ll get to see if Mysia can pull off a non-yaoi story ^_^;;

What if...?
It's a question many people ask themselves throughout their lives
A question that asks many things and yet only one
A question of possibilities
Everything is purely a problem of possibilities
And the world is only stabilized by the one who observes it...

Remember this quote because it not only has something to do with my master plan, but the last two lines are from Chrono Cross and are basically the two lines that started my insanity complexity throem (um…yeah…)