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disclamers/warnings: see part 1


Bad Dreams part 3

"So are we goin' to the pond now or not?" Ryou demanded.

"We should go." Sage said, always the voice of reason.

"Yeah." Sai sniffled a bit. "I want this over and done with."

"Boots an' coats." Rowen suggested. "I's cold out theah."

Sage growled a bit. "Muddy too."

Rowen let go of Sai to go wrap himself around Sage, recognizing the scent of shampoo and soap.

"Ya took a showah…" He mumbled as pieces fell into place, and then started laughing hard. "Don'…don' tell me the mighty Halo slipped an' fell in th' mud."

"Shut up, Rowen."

Rowen pulled away, looking playfully hurt. "Why does everyone say that ta me?"

" Usually 'cause ya let yer big mouth run on a bit too much." Ryou reminded him fondly. Rowen merely smirked at him.

"You don't seem ta mind when I use m' 'big mouth'."

Ryou chuckled. "Sure, ya ain't talking."

"Let's just get going." Sage rumbled. Still a bit put off at being teased. The five gathered coats and boots, after the required hassle of finding all the pairs and headed out to the pond, Ryou and Rowen at the front and Kento bringing up the rear.

"Now what?" Sai asked when they got there. It wasn't a huge body of water, just a small pond…swimming pool size, surrounded by rocks and further out surrounded by trees. The nicest thing about it was that it was totally cut off from the rest of the world.

Ryou shrugged. "Talk to the fish…I dunno. Does it feel wrong?"

"A…bit." Sai affirmed. He had been tense the entire walk and it was worse now that they were there. It did feel wrong. He felt Kento step up behind him and relaxed slightly into the hand his friend put on his shoulder.

"Well, that's a step, at least. Sage?"

The blond shrugged. "I'm as clueless as the rest of you."

"Maybe…maybe…aww, Dammit!" Rowen picked up a rock and hurled it into the water.

There was a soft swishing and swirling and the water began to rise, not bubbles, nor did the whole water level rise, just a pillar of it. This took shape, smoothly and gracefully. Till a woman was standing in front of the Ronins who had all moved to fighting stances by now.

"That was uncalled for." She informed them.

She was tall and beautiful. Flowing was the best way to describe her, her dress, her hair both of which were blue. She had strong, determined features and light blue eyes. Reminding one of a water sprite only, not quite, she was too powerful. Yet she looked sick, tired.

Sai was the first to regain the power of speech, even before Sage. "Who are…"

"I am Mera. I am the water."

"Since when were we part 'a a story book?" Rowen asked.

Mera sighed. "Forgive my outdated speech, gentlemen. I have not talked to your kind in centuries."

"And why talk ta us now?" Kento demanded.

"There have been…problems, among the elementals such as myself. Avia, Air, Tella, Earth, and Incenta, Fire. They are my 'sisters' if you will. Of us all, Tella is the strongest, though Incenta is most likely to show strength. I am the scholar, and Avia is the lover. Though I got hit first and hard, Avia got hit hardest. An imbalance more often than not hits hardest the one who is the most emotional."

"This…imbalance," Sage had obviously gotten his brain back in order. "What exactly is it?"

"There are elements outside the elements, Sage of Halo, you of all people should know that. This is not the work of Death or Chaos…they have been effected too. You have heard of the four horsemen."

"Yeah. Death, War, Famine an'…"

"Pestilence." Sai said quietly.

"Exactly." Mera looked painfully sad. "Pestilence, disease, the one who is always forgotten, Death or War take the foreground."

"What 'bout Famine?" Kento asked.

"Famine is being constantly dealt with. He is always fighting. But with the way you humans treat disease he is…bored, restless…he want's more control, and being disease the elements of the earth are first hit."

"You and your sisters."

"Yes."

"What're we supposed ta do?" Kento muttered, trying to avoid staring at the blue haired woman.

"Fight Pestilence. Like me he has both an elemental and a human form, you are the best suited to fight him."

"Why not War, 'r Death?" Rowen asked.

"Death is kept far too busy by pestilence. Despite popular beliefs he has no time to sit around on an obsidian throne. The very existence of the living keeps him constantly occupided. War, War is War. He is not equipped to handle pestilence. Besides, there is 'divine law' that prevents elementals from killing one another."

"So we have got to do it." Sai said softly. Mera nodded.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Sai finally spoke up, snorting slightly. "We got into this by being Ronins, it is practically our job. I…" His eyes wobbled a bit. "I am sorry I didn't say anything sooner. You…"

"I am fine. Please, find Tella, it should be fairly simple. Trees are her favorites. She should be able to help you further."

"Mera…" Sai reached out to touch the elemental's arm. As he brushed the water he drew back, dazed and alarmed. "You…you're really sick."

Mera turned and smiled at him. "Do not worry about me, Sai of Torrent. You find Tella. I will be fine." She reached out and brushed her watery fingertips over Sai's cheek, then disappeared back into the lake. Sai just stared at where she had been. Finally Kento broke the silence.

"Sai, ya ok?"

Sai looked up at his friend. "I'm fine. It seems a little…unreal."

"It does doesn't it." Ryou commented, shaking his head. "An' it shouldn't. We've gone through enough that it shouldn't"

"This is a bit different." Sage commented. "We should go back to the house and talk where it's warm."

At this comment Ryou chuckled and opened his arms to his blond lover.

"Poor Sage-baby." Rowen teased receiving a glare in return. They started back towards the house all puzzling over whether it was real or not. For Kento, the distressed look on Sai's face proved the elemental's reality. He was still worried about his friend.

"Sai?"

"She sick, Ken." Came the whispered reply. "Sick in ways that even Sage can't heal. It's…It's really scary. She's the water…and she's sick. What does that make the water?"

The question was rhetorical, so Kento bit back his 'witty' reply.

"I'm sure we can fix it, Sai."

"Well I'm not."

"Huh?" That sounded real intelligent.

"This isn't what we're used to. It may need to be fixed without violence. Not something we're good at."

"You 'n Sage…"

"It isn't the same Ken."

"Sure it ain't." Kento sighed. "Look Sai. If ya say it won't get done it won't, and we don't need that."

"Sorry."

"So how d'we find this Tella person?" Ryou mused.

"Elemental." Sage corrected him.

"Whatever. Kento?"

"Why're ya looking at me?"

"Earth is your element."

"Yeah, that doesn't mean I know any more than th' rest of ya. Sai wasn't the one who got Mera, was he?"

"True." Rowen murmured. "Ya know, it may be as simple as asking."

"What?" Kento scoffed. "Ask the trees." With a mocking smile on his face Kento went and knocked on the trunk of a tree. "Hello, Mr. Tree? Is Tella the elemental in?"

Ryou and Rowen giggled at this, but Sai looked deadly serious.

"Uh, Kento?"

"What, Sai?"

"I don't think you should've hit the tree."

"I knocked. Why?"

"Just look, Kento."

Kento turned away from the giggling Ryou and Rowen. "Oh fuck."

The brown elemental coughed. "Why do humans refer to sex when they get upset?"

She was as brown as Mera had been blue. Warm brown skin, brown eyes, and deep brown, almost black, hair. Her dress looked like leaves draped over her. She was curvy to Mera's slim, and looked pissed rather than sick.

"At least no one threw a stone at me."

"You're Tella."

"No, I'm Avia. Yes, of course I'm Tella."

"What…?"

"Look, don't question Mer comin' outta the water. Don't question me comin' outta the tree."

"Alright."

Kento groaned, it looked like they wanted him to do the talking. "Mera said ya could fill us in on more of this Pestilence thing."

"Follow your nightmares."

"What?"

"Your nightmares. Were do you end up?"

"In a desert."

"So find a desert. I sure can't help ya with that. But Pestilence…he's a bastard. Never liked him much. Scrawny little fellow, all pale and spotty…reverses my natural healing. He…he's poisoning the earth, from the inside out. Mer got hit first 'cause water soaks things up, Incenta got messed up from sick fuel, and Avia, well Avia just gets sick easily." Her face contorted a bit. "Do you have any clue how your pollution effects her?"

Rowen choked a bit. "Yes."

"Ah, well. I fought it for a bit…but now I'm sick too. You boys are just lucky Death is so good, otherwise you'd have a hell of a lotta stinking corpses on your hands."

"How does Death…"

"Since Pestilence got so strong he's speeded up the disintegration process, watch." With only a slight wince Tella took a leaf off her tree. It turned brown and turned to dust in her palms in mere seconds. "It hurts a bit." She said calmly. "But it keeps the planet a bit cleaner. Plagues and new viruses have been popping up everywhere, I suggest you find the little Bugger…oups!" She chuckled slightly at the Ronins blushes. "The little bastard, and beat him to a bloody pulp. Then ya need to hand him over to Death."

"Kill him you mean?" Kento asked. Tella shook her head.

"No. Give him to Death, he runs things."

"Death?"

"Yes. You all go back to him in the end."

That seemed to unsettle Sai and Rowen a bit. The others too, but they didn't let it show.

"I hate to think that I'm only alive to die." Sai whispered.

"Oh, not you five." Tella said, slightly cheerfully. "You've got other jobs. Avia!" The clear shout had all five men covering their ears. The a sweet voice echoed through their minds, soothing their battered eardrums.

"I'm here, Tel. You don't need to yell."

"I yell."

"Yes, I know." The air elemental turned to the five men. "You're the Ronin Warriors?"

"Yes."

She flitted from one to the other, stopping finally at Sage. "Oooohh! He's cute! Can I keep him, Tella?"

"No. He has work ta do. So d'you."

"Oh."

Avia was slim, waiflike. Flowing, but not in the same way as Mera. She was a lighter blue than the water too. Her dress was smooth and fluttery and her blue hair streamed out behind her in the wind she created, but her light blue eyes were sad and clouded and she looked slightly listless. Rowen got a pang in his stomach looking at her. She could've been so cute, if she hadn't looked so sick.


~end of part three~

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