Chapter Two

By: Rowen of Strata

Once again, I’m reminding the people who are reading this story that the plot would make a lot more sense if they read Mela N.’s stories.  Also, I took the idea of the infamous "smiley faces boxers" from another story, but I don’t remember which. So whoever wrote that story, don’t send me hate mail because I stole your idea.
(Sorry if the first chapter was a little blunt, but I promise the story will get better as it goes along. I’m not good at writing beginnings.)
 

Part 2
Confessions and Memories
 

Everyone decided that going to bed was the best option at the moment, since Ryo was not responding to anyone around him. He was so shocked at Rowen and Sai’s appearances that Mia had to have Kento shove him up the stairs and into bed. After the door closed, Ryo was still in the same position, staring blankly at the ceiling of his room. Sai headed for his old room, while Rowen headed for his. Sai then noticed that everything had been cleared out of his room. At first, he thought about asking Kento why, but then he realized that Kento had thought Sai was dead. He tried falling asleep in the empty room, but it just didn’t feel the same to him. Also, Kento’s snoring didn’t help either. Rowen, on the other hand, had no problem falling asleep. Sai couldn’t help but notice that Rowen was just a little too comfortable here. It was like he was hiding something that he didn’t want anyone else to know about.
While everyone was upstairs, Mia was preparing sleeping arrangements for Kendy and Maurette. After that matter was settled, Mia returned to her room and decided to do some research on ancient legends for her class tomorrow. She also had to think of a reasonable excuse to cover up Rowen and Sai’s mysterious appearances. She also wondered where these new girls came from and how did they know Rowen and Sai? Did they know about Talpa and the Dynasty Invasions? While Mia was pondering about those questions, she didn’t notice the one legend that slipped by on the computer screen that was completely undeciphered. It was then downloaded onto a disk along with the rest of the translated myths for her class.
After she was done with that, she decided to think about what she would do to Sage, Kento and Ryo tomorrow night.
‘Maybe I should spray whipped cream all over Sage’s room and Sage. Yeah. Then I should purposely take out all of his clothes and hide them where he wouldn’t find them because he tried to get out of cleaning up the house tomorrow after school. Then for Kento, I’ll raid his secret stash of food, take everything in it, and then throw it into the lake. That’ll be torture for him! Ha! Then there’s Ryo. I know! I’ll dye White Blaze pink and orange. That’ll freak Ryo out enough that he’ll pass out on the spot! Aren’t I evil?’ With that last thought, Mia turned out her light and went to sleep.
The only three left up were Sai, Sage and Ryo, but Ryo doesn’t count because he wasn’t responding to his surroundings. Sage had left the house some time earlier to meditate in the brisk night air, and Sai was still trying to force himself to sleep. After an hour of relentless tossing and turning, Sai decided to leave the house as well. Maybe a brief walk in the cool night air would relax his tense senses. As he walked out the door, the magnificent beauty of the iridescent lake among the shadows overwhelmed Sai. Also, the navy blue sky with the insignificant twinkling stars scattered about it was quite picturesque as well.
‘No wonder Rowen usually stays up until 2 am. The day isn’t nearly as beautiful as the night is.’ Sai thought to himself as he looked at the immense void above him.
"Compelling, isn’t it?" a voice said from the shadows.
Sai nearly jumped ten feet when he was disturbed by the voice.
"Sage. Whew. You scared the shit out of me man. Don’t ever do that again. Anyway, when did you start to meditate at night anyway?"
"Ever since….." Sage then hesitated as the horrified screams of Rowen and Sai echoed through his mind, "…. since your guy’s disappearances. I came out here every night to talk to the stars. I told them all of my fears, secrets, and doubts because they made me feel like I was talking to both you and Rowen. I’ve felt so guilty for what happened and I still do. Every night I begged for your forgiveness, and I never seemed to receive a response. Now I know why."
Sai never thought that Sage would be the type of person who could descend into deep depressions like that. Ryo usually was the king of depression in the Coji household. Sai realized then that if he had decided not to return, Sage probably would have either committed suicide or gone to a mental institution during the recovery process.
"Sage, even if you did kill us, you would never do it on your own free will. Even then, Rowen and I would have forgiven you in the blink of an eye."
"Thank you, Sai. A couple of things are still bothering me though. How did you manage to make it out of the spirit realm in one piece and why did you guys take so long to return to Toyama?"
Sai hesitated before he answered Sage’s questions. Answering the first question would be easily done, even thought it brought back horrifying memories, but the second would not be so simple. How could he tell Sage about him not wanting to return to Toyama?
"Sai. Oh Sai. Time to return to reality." Sage was saying in a singsong type of voice.
"Huh? Oh. First of all, I will tell you what happened to Rowen and I, or at least what I remember. I recall seeing you sending Rowen and I into the dark abyss and that was the last I saw of you. Then I remember the feeling of being ripped in two. The physical agony I was put through was immense, and then there was a bright light that overcame me. All of my previous pain ceased and I felt as if I had reached the gates of Heaven. As my body bathed in the light surrounding me, I heard voices calling me back into the mortal realm. I remember resisting the force pulling me back to Earth, but all of my attempts were in vain as I felt myself plummeting towards my mangled body. The next thing I know, I’m laying on my back and seeing Rowen on the other side of the parking lot bleeding profusely and showing no signs of life whatsoever. I then lost consciousness and when I awoke, I found several doctors leaning over me, murmuring several words that I couldn’t understand. One said that it was a miracle that I survived through everything that happened. For a week or so, I had no clue that Rowen was alive or where I was. That was when I met Kendy and Maurette. They were both serving their detentions by being volunteers at the local hospital. That was when I found out that I was no longer in Japan, but in America. I didn’t know about Rowen’s condition until he awoke from his coma about two weeks after I awoke from mine."
Sage looked at Sai with a look of utmost guilt and sorrow. He now had an idea of why Sai had looked so forlorn when he had entered the house. Sai then continued talking after a short pause.
"Sage, I know you may not like the answer to the next question, but I always tell the truth, and I never make exceptions. The reason why it took us so long to return to Toyama was mainly because we couldn’t leave the hospital and the other reason is that I didn’t want to come back. I didn’t care about what Kento and the others felt at that point. I-I just wanted to get away from the painful memories of Talpa, the Dynasty, and everything else that occurred here…"
With that last statement, Sai started to sob uncontrollably into Sage’s shoulder. Sage knew that Sai had kept this mental torture to himself for some time, and this was his way of releasing it. For once, the Ronin of Trust needed someone to confide in. After about a half hour passed, Sage led Sai back to the house, where they both received a good night’s sleep.
Before anyone knew it, morning came and school was only a few hours away. Everyone was up early, except for Rowen, but no one dared to get him up before at least 7:30am because he would knock you out cold if you did. Ryo had to be slapped silly to get him out of his trance from last night. He didn’t get a wink of sleep, but he still functioned perfectly fine. Mia was walking around the kitchen still trying to make up a reasonable excuse for Rowen and Sai so they could be introduced to the school once again. The reason they had to go back to Han a High and not any of the other schools is that Han a High was the only school that accepted students in the middle of the year. Just then, Mia had a great idea.
"Hey guys! How does this sound! When Rowen and Sai had the car accident, the car went over a cliff, but their bodies were never found in the burned wreckage. They were presumed dead after two-week search effort. Then, they came back to our house just yesterday and that is that."
Kento stopped eating and replied, "Great idea Mia! Anyone else not want their breakfast?"
"I’m glad to see that you are eating well again, Kento. I was getting really worried about you." Mia stated.
"Well, now that I have the World’s Greatest Cook back, why should I turn down a good meal?"
"Kento stop eating? I don’t think that is possible." Sai replied.
"What’s that supposed to mean!"
"Hey! Who’s going to wake Rowen up? I’m not doing it. I feel like having my head screwed on the right way today." Ryo said.
"Men are such babies. I’ll do it! Ugh, he’s not that hard to wake up." Kendy replied.
"Oh yeah? I’d just love to see you try Miss High and Mighty!" Sage snapped back.
With that last statement, Kendy turned around and walked upstairs and into Rowen’s room. A few seconds later, Rowen’s screams could be heard.
"WHAT THE HELL!! AHHHHH!! OUCH! HEY DON’T DO THAT DAMMIT!! WOAH!!!!" *thump*
"I’d hate to be the last one to be up with Kendy around." Sai whispered to himself.
Just then, Rowen ran out of his room with the infamous smiley face boxers on with the funniest look on his face. He then turned around to see Sai starting to crack up along with all the other guys. He realized what he was wearing and started turning the brightest shade of red possible. Rowen ran back into his room while the guys, and girls, were rolling around on the floor laughing their eyes out.
"THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH SMILEY FACES!!!!!" Rowen shouted from behind his closed door.
"What are ya goin’ to have next Rowen, pink little bunny rabbits!!" Kento hollered from his position on the floor. Rowen then peeked out of his door and gave Kento his nastiest look imaginable before shutting it again.
"Boy it’s good to have those two back." Ryo said to no one in particular.
"That reminds me, what the hell were you guys talking about when you said that you thought he," she said as she pointed to Sage, "killed Sai and Rowen? Why are you guys concealing their pasts? What is so bad about them that Maurette and I can’t know about? I’m not going to shut up until you tell me!" Kendy said. Then she started to hum The Song That Never Ends, which, if sung long enough, will cause anyone to go crazy. All of the guys present covered their ears until Ryo spoke up.
"Alright! Just stop singing that damn song! How the hell did Rowen survive living with you? That’s the only thing I want to know."
Kendy stopped humming and the guys removed their hands from their ears. Ryo was reluctant to speak because if he told Kendy and Maurette what happened in Toyama during the Dynasty Wars, he would be putting them in danger. Also, he had the sneaking suspicion that Rowen would end up killing him if he told, after what Sai had said happened the day before. At that same moment, Rowen emerged from his room.
"Hey guys. What’s up? Why is everyone so quiet? Did I miss something?"
"Yea you did Rowen. I just tortured Ryo into telling me about your guys’ pasts. Why the hell are you guys so resistive? It can’t be that bad, can it?" Kendy said.
"Alright Kendy. Since I know I can’t talk you out of it and you’ll start to sing if I try to, I’ll tell you everything you need to know." Rowen stated. He started at the very beginning when they received their armors and met each other for the first time in Toyama and continued until he reached the point where he encountered the demon personally. He didn’t wish to continue at that time because of what had happened to him was too fresh in his mind. Rowen could still hear the demon’s voice within his head whenever he thought about those memories. How could anyone understand? Not even Sai knew what happened to Rowen. While Rowen drifted into his own world, Maurette and Kendy were trying to register all of the information that they were just told. Neither of them had known that their boyfriends had such traumatizing experiences. Who would of thought that a gentle soul like Sai and a genius like Rowen had saved the world multiple times?
"Earth to Rowen. Yo Rowen! Come in Rowen!" Kento was yelling as he was waving his hand in front of Rowen’s face.
"Huh? What?" Rowen replied with a blank look on his face.
"Dude, you drifted off right after you explained all of the stuff that happened to us while battling the demon lord. Aren’t you gonna to tell us what happened to you after your disappearance?" Kento stated.
"No! How could any of you understand what happened to me? You would think I’m some sort of freak after I told you! Even you wouldn’t understand, Sai, and we went through the same portal! My experience was extremely traumatizing and I relive the pain each time I think about it!" Rowen yelled while a single tear rolled down his cheek. "I can’t tell you until I’m ready, you hear me?" With that last outburst, Rowen left the room and ran into the forest surrounding Mia’s house. No one dared to stop him because his temper was the equal of Ryo’s. After a few minutes of silence, Maurette broke the silence.
"Don’t you guys think that we should be getting to school? I mean, we have to register Kendy, Rowen, Sai and I before the first bell rings, right? Who’s going to bring Rowen back into the house? I mean, we don’t have time for games at the moment." Maurette stated as she looked at her watch.
"I’ll go get him." Sai volunteered. "If anyone should go, it would be me. I need to know what was so different about his experience from mine. It seems that Rowen met the demon personally, while I was left alone and I think he needs to talk to someone who went through a similar experience. You guys can go ahead and go to school. Kendy and Maurette need to be registered and if it isn’t too much trouble, do you think you can register Rowen and I as well?"
"Of course, Sai." Mia replied as she hurried everyone out of the door. Sai stayed by the door and waited for everyone to leave. Then he rushed into the woods after Rowen. He ran for several minutes before he found a steep cliff at one side of the forest. Standing at the edge was Rowen, who looked like he was contemplating whether or not he should jump. Rowen then took a step closer to the edge and the sound of crumbling rocks could be heard.
"Rowen. Don’t do it, Rowen."
"Why shouldn’t I, Sai. You were right when you were questioning coming back to Toyama. There’s so many painful memories here." Rowen had to swallow a lump in his throat before continuing. "I want to end everything. I just don’t care anymore, and no one else cares either."
"That’s not true, Rowen. Everyone cares so much and didn’t you see how glad Sage was to see you? How could you even think about suicide Rowen? You are holding Sage’s mental stability within your hands and if you die, Sage will go over the edge. I was talking with him last night and do you know what he said? He said he always came out at night to meditate and talk to the stars because it felt like he was talking to you. He was always asking for our forgiveness and now you’re saying that he doesn’t care?" Before Sai could continue, Rowen stepped back from the cliff’s edge and collapsed. His body was shaking with sobs that seemed they had been withheld for years. Sai walked over to Rowen and comforted him.
"It’s okay, Rowen. Something that you don’t know is that I’ve been contemplating suicide as well, but when I tried at the hospital, Maurette stopped me. She represented all of the things that I had to live for. Now, Rowen, why do you think I would see you as some freak if you told me what happened? I can’t understand what happened to you if you don’t tell me, Rowen."
"Okay, Sai. Since I know you’ll have some sort of comprehension of the situation, I’ll tell you, but promise me that you won’t tell any of the guys until I’m ready. I’d like to tell them myself. That’s the way it should be." Rowen made a short pause before continuing. "When I was pulled into the darkness, I had the feeling that I was being split into two halves. You probably had a similar experience, but that’s where the similarities end. I then landed into a dark chamber, surrounded by billowing flames. The heat was suffocating and I could barely breathe. There’s where I saw it. The demon was nothing more than a ball of purple light, but that wasn’t the part that bothered me. Next to him was Sage’s soul, chained to the wall like some pet. The demon spoke to me. He said that if I allowed him to feed upon my soul and take control of my physical body, then he would release Sage. If I didn’t, he would be imprisoned here for all eternity and his physical body would remain in it’s current comatose state until it died. I couldn’t let that happen to Sage, so I agreed. Sage’s soul vanished into thin air and I didn’t have time to see much of anything else. First the demon melded my armor orb with my soul, so essentially, I’m always in my sub-armor. After that extremely painful experience, it started to enter my mind. I couldn’t fight it. I could feel it’s evil presence seeping into my consciousness and I was powerless to stop it. Then as the pain became almost too unbearable, it subsided. My soul flew into a very bright light at that point, but I could still hear the demon calling me. It’s voice kept repeating, ‘Remember Rowen of Strata, I own part of your soul! When I return to your realm, your soul will belong to me and so will Sai of the Torrent’s! You will serve only me!’ I hear those words in my mind everyday. It feels like he is actually a part of me. If that light hadn’t come when it did, I would have returned as nothing more than an empty shell. That…. THING would have made me murder all of you guys and destroy the rest of the mortal world along with you…" Rowen paused once again, but this time he just turned around and looked up at the sky. The wind was blowing through his blue hair, like it was trying to carry those troubled thoughts away from its master. A solitary tear made its way down Rowen’s cheek as Sai gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. They sat there for a few hours, just staring at the clouds. Then Rowen got up silently and headed towards the house with Sai following close behind.
When they both reached the house, Rowen went inside and sat on the couch with his head buried in his hands. Sai came in and took a seat next to Rowen. Rowen once again started to sob uncontrollably. Right now was one of those times that Rowen just needed to release all of the emotional torture that he had withheld from the world over the years. Then the others returned home to find Rowen on the couch sobbing, while Sai gave the guys a look that told them to either leave the room or come back later. Kento got the idea first and shoved the others back out the door. Once outside, there were some very confused looks given towards Kento.
"Why did you push us out, Kento? Rowen needs us right now!" Kendy scolded.
"Not right now, Kendy. He needs some time alone with Sai to try and figure out how to deal with all of the pain he feels within his soul. I could see it in Sai’s eyes."
"Well, the good piece of news is that the principal bought my story and that he’ll introduce Kendy and Maurette tomorrow. Also, Rowen and Sai will be reintroduced to
the school when they are ready to come back." Mia added, trying to change the subject.
While Mia was talking to the rest of the guys, Sage slowly backed out of the group and headed towards a nearby tree to meditate. He needed to probe Rowen’s mind to find out what happened to him. As he entered Rowen’s mind, he sensed a lot of turmoil. Then the agony of the experience hit him full force. He saw the tendrils of smoke grabbing at Rowen, pulling him apart. Then he saw it. Rowen’s soul had separated from his body completely. While the mysterious smoke held his soul, Rowen’s body was dropped like a useless piece of waste. Sage watched as it fell through the realms and landed with a sickening thud on the parking lot below. Then Sage turned his attention from Rowen’s mangled body to his soul that was being pulled into a dark room. He then saw everything Rowen saw, including the part when his soul was chained to the wall and Rowen traded his soul for Sage’s. Then everything else occurred in the exact same way Rowen had described it to Sai. As soon as Sage pulled away from Rowen’s mind, he let out a small scream and collapsed on the spot. Meanwhile, everyone else was arguing about Rowen. Kento and Kendy looked about ready to go at it when Maurette noticed someone was missing.
"KENDY! KENTO! WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP FOR 30 SECONDS SO I COULD SAY SOMETHING, OR AM I GOING TO HAVE TO KNOCK ONE OF YOU OUT?" Kendy and Kento stopped after Maurette’s outburst. "That’s better. Have any of you seen Sage for the past half-hour because I haven’t." Everyone looked around but no one found Sage. Then Kendy spotted a limp form underneath one of the nearby trees. As she looked at it, the form let out a small moan.
"I found Sage! He’s under that tree over there and I think he’s unconscious!"
Kento and Ryo ran over to Sage to find that had his eyes closed and his eyebrows were furrowed like he was either concentrating or in pain.
"I think I know what happened, Kento." Ryo stated, "Sage was probably trying to probe Rowen’s mind and he ran into some trouble when he did. I hope he found out what happened to Rowen before he passed out."
Ryo then asked Kento to carry Sage into the house because it was starting to get cold outside. When they walked inside, everyone noticed that both Sai and Rowen were asleep on the couch. Everyone quietly walked past the two sleeping figures and placed Sage in his room. All of the remaining guys decided to go back out into town to get something to eat. Kendy and Maurette also decided to go because they didn’t want to stay in such a quiet place for the rest of the day. Mia said they could use her car while she stayed at the house looking after the others. Anyway, she had to look through the legends she didn’t get to in her class today. As soon as Mia heard the door shut, she headed for her room.
A few minutes later, Mia found her class files. She looked through each legend thoroughly just to make sure there was nothing left to translate in each. Then she stumbled upon a legend that hadn’t even been touched. As she looked at it, she noticed a picture that showed the Armor of Strata. Mia also noticed the difference in the color of the armor. Instead of the solid blue hue the armor usually had, the armor plates had a mix of red and black within them and the normally golden horns had changed to black as well. Mia looked onward and also saw the Armor of Torrent, which had the exact same red and black hues mixed with the normal light blue hue of the armor. Then she saw two other armors. They had the same structure as the armors of Torrent and Strata, only the colors were different. The Strata look-alike had a deep purple hue in the place of the navy blue color of the original. The horns were bronze-colored instead of the lighter golden hue of the original. Then as she looked at the armor beside it, Mia saw that it had a sea-green color in the place of the light blue color of the original. Then she looked at the horn and realized that it was pure white instead of the silvery color that the original Torrent armor has.
Mia proceeded to translate the first line, but before she could do that, she had to remove the file from the disk for her class. She didn’t want to show her class a legend and not know what it was about. After that was done, Mia went back to translating the file. The first two lines stated,
‘Darkness shall come forth upon the land,
Shrouding the Earth, water and surrounding air.
Foes of remarkable strength shall appear,
To stop these opponents, no one will dare.’
Mia became so engrossed in her studies that she completely forgot about her assignment for the guys. The house still looked like a pigsty and it probably was going to stay that way for a long time considering all of the recent revelations made. She also, unconsciously, set back her revenge for another date because of that. As Mia was busy translating, someone was shuffling around downstairs.
Rowen had just awoken from his restful bliss on the couch. The first thing he headed for was the refrigerator to search for some dinner. The best thing that Rowen found was a carton of milk.
‘Reminder to Mia: Go to the store to buy some more food.’ Rowen thought to himself.
As he was pouring a glass for himself, Rowen suddenly felt very strange. Then a surge of extreme pain flowed through his body. Rowen let out a yelp of agony and crumpled to the floor, clutching his head. The milk he had been previously pouring dropped to the floor and spilled all over the kitchen floor. He could feel the force corrupting his mind. Before he lost consciousness, Rowen’s eyes glowed with a red tint and then they shut. Rowen then lay still.