Tear Down the Stars
-Falling Far

The birds were not singing and the wind refused to blow. It seemed that nature itself was bowing to the god and his companions. Ryu - The Yorae dragon - looked down at the woman under his arm. Nina was tired, leaning on him for support. Branching around him were the others. Ursula, her straightforward perseverance somehow muted over this long time. Cray, whose temper had become more and more hair triggered as he thought of his lost lover. Deis within Ershin, neither seeming to care about the flow of time. Lastly, Scias, seemed to be the only one who was relieved.

Ryu leaned back against one of the stone pillars, looking up at the sky. "I can't do this." He muttered.

Scais, as usual, didn't seem overly concerned; a slight eyebrow raise was his only response. Ershin, or Deis, rather looked as though she already knew. Ursula and Cray spun at the same moment, their eyes narrowed. From under his arm, Nina pushed a blond bang out of the way before asking the question. "What do you mean?"

Ryu shook his head, standing on his own; his newly blond bang seemed to shock him when he noticed it in his eyes. "It's like this sorrow, this change. I don't feel like me." Sitting down with a sigh he continued. "I have this urge to go to Sonne." He looked up at Ursula. "It's south of here right?"

"Yes." She responded with a snort. Since this trip, she had become much less haughty. Still, the recent victory seemed to be enough to boost her ego.

Moments went by, everyone tensely watching the dragon god. Ryu stood finally, dusting himself off. "I'm letting Fou-Lu out, we should take him there."

"What!" Cray's tail puffed straight out and he dropped his weapon. "WHAT? You can't be serious, that that thing wanted to end humanity!"

Ursula also chimed in with various assorted mentioning of Ryu's idiocies.

"And how exactly do you two intend to stop him?" Deis asked, "Are you going to fight a whole god? All on your own? Let me get comfortable, this promises to be short and amusing."

"I-I-I Thought th-th that we were going to stop fighting." Scias commented to no one in particular.

"Cray, Ursula, stop this. Deis…" Nina sighed, shaking her head and moving in between them and Ryu. "Scias is right; we are supposed to be done fighting." She turned to Ryu with a faith that Ursula and Cray didn't seem to share. "Ryu won't let him hurt us, right?"

Ryu nodded. And turned to go to Sonne.

"So that's it? We just all hop down to Sonne?" Cray snorted.

Ursula looked like she was going to say something else, but Scias put his hand on her shoulder. "I- I want to stay with Ryu and N-n-nina. I'm coming." Scias smiled and started walking after Ryu and Nina who were waiting for him under the arch near the entrance of the temple garden.

Her tail lashed around as she thought. Ursula then growled, crossing her arms under her chest in a huff. She started after them, regardless of what she thought.

"Gods…" Cray picked up his staff and stalked after Ursula.

"Oh poo, here I thought I was going to get a kitty rug and a mink shawl." Deis commented, still under the columns.

Erishin laughed, and then paused. "Did I choose an appropriate time to laugh?" The armor asked.

"Very good, now let's get a move on."

With a good natured nod, Erishin scooted down the trail, following the others south.

oOo

It seemed that they all were still following Ryu. Nina at his side and not looking back, Cray and Ursula had caught up, both angry to be following at all, both with nothing better to do. Scias and Ershin took up the back.

Deis was surprisingly unworried about Ryu's inability to send her back where she came from, they were closing chapters now, the goddess was content to look here for a body. They didn't rest long, moving to Sonne with a speed that Cray questioned more than once.

Ryu's responses were short, almost clipped. He had changed significantly since his joining with Fou-Lu. It wasn't the same person, there were times during the week-long trip that Ryu seemed to be fighting with someone, but there was no one there. It was disturbing enough to set the others on edge.

"We are about fifteen minutes from Sonne." Ursula kicked a flower with her boot. "For the record, I think you are insane to let him out Ryu."

Ryu glared at her, and then shook his head as if to clear it. "I can't handle this. I am sorry."

"Weakling." She snorted. And apparently, that was the wrong thing to say.

The wind picked up as the young woman suddenly realized she had insulted a god. One could almost feel the ground shake. He turned slowly to face her, rare anger on his usually relaxed face. She fell back as her heel struck an uneven area of the land, falling on her tail. She blinked up at Ryu, mouth working without making a sound.

"Ryu!" Nina yelled, finding the courage to step between the two. "Ryu?"

Again he shook his head. Ryu turned from the group, looking down to the village. There were only fifty or so feet of untouched forest, before the bleak and foggy hex blast-range. It was a miracle that it had been missed at all. For the first time since his joining, Ryu smiled.

Taking a deep breath, Ryu planted his feet slightly apart and let out a yell of pain. The noise seemed to split, Fou-Lu's deeper tones gained the same strength of Ryu's tenor. A flash of white light blinded those around him and when they gained the ability to see once more, Fou-Lu was next to Ryu. Both the dragons were on their knees.

Ryu fell back to a sitting position, smiling at a blue bang. His face regained a youthful relaxation to it. All in all at least he looked quite contented.

Fou-Lu's attempts to rise were rejected, and he too fell less ceremoniously on his backside. He looked around, confused before centering his questions to Ryu. "What art thou attempting?" Red eyes took in Sonne below them. "They live?"

Ryu nodded, closing his eyes.

Slowly, Fou-Lu looked from his other half back down to Sonne. "So thy design for us is that we makest our way back to Sonne?" He scoffed. "To what end?"

Before Ryu could do anything, Cray cut in. "You need to stop talking like that bub." Cray growled, as he leaned against a tree. "You aren't exactly royalty anymore yanno."

At first, it appeared that Fou-Lu was going to be angry, but then he started laughing to himself. Slowly, Fou-Lu thought about his words before he spoke again. "And you would be right, crass and rude, but correct."

Cray's tail lashed about, but he didn't respond.

Nina rushed forward, falling to her knees and draping her arms around Ryu's neck from behind. "Are you alright?"

This drew the Emperor's attention. He cocked his head at her. "'Tis why th-" With a look at Cray Fou-Lu cleared his throat. "This is why… you brought me here?"

Ryu put an arm around Nina, under her wings. She seemed shocked, but not displeased at the sudden attention, her cheeks colored and she settled closer to the dragon. He brushed a bit of hair out of her face and let his head rest on hers before he answered Fou-Lu. "You wanted to come here."

"Then," again he paused, "I thank you." He attempted to stand and failed. Ryu was up to catch him. Tossing his other half back in weak anger Fou-Lu leaned on a tree. "Leave, I do not want of your assistance."

Ryu stood his ground, moving again to help Fou-Lu regardless of the other's protests. They stared at each other in silence for a few minutes.

Fou-Lu's eyes narrowed. "Allow me at least some rest," he paused, wording himself. "I cannot be dragged yet again to that village."

Ryu nodded, turning his back on Fou-Lu.

Cray was still leery. "You better not get any bright ideas…"

Fou-Lu laughed, sitting with his back against the tree. "Thou believest thou threatens me in the slightest, tiger? I wouldst not continue in this manner of treating our person. Our ideas on your kind are nothing but validated by your breath. Ryu shall see the point sooner or later."

Cray blinked, then turned and stormed back to the others.

While they were all preparing for bed, Nina turned to Ryu. "Uhm… Ryu?" He looked up at her in question; she knew he wasn't going to speak before she did. "I don't really... uhm, mind that back there, you know." She frowned, confused. "You've never held me like that before."

His head turned to where Fou-Lu was already sleeping. Taking out a blanket he walked over to his other half. Ryu draped the item over Fou-Lu's shoulders without waking him. "Something just made me need to…" He said, his voice trailing off. He walked back to Nina. "Do you want the sleeping bag?"

"I can share." The princess responded.

Fou-Lu woke up startled. He sat up quickly, causing pain to rush to his forehead. Unaccustomed to feeling that sort of pain, he lifted his palm to his head. It was then he noticed the blanket that was on his lap.

His eyes then traveled over to where Ryu and Nina were sleeping, facing each other. Nina's wing was draped over Ryu, her head under his chin. Once again he took in the blanket before he looked at Sonne. He laughed lowly. "Human kindness…" Curling on his side, Fou-Lu pulled the blanket back up over his shoulders.