Standard disclaimer: I don't own the series.

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AN: Hello everyone! Okay, the last chapter was a little... odd to say the least. Well, look at it this way, they managed to get another Goddess Key ^_^

Alrighty, Ryu's group and Manna's group are on their way back to Shevat to regroup. Wyatt and his group, as well as Yui are on their way to Navare. There is also a strange woman that appeared before the Professor and is going to be the "giant robot pilot." Right... :/ So, what does this mean? Who knows?

Okie day. This chapter is a bit... odd. I know that I am pushing that "T" rating for all its worth and them some. I guess I haven't gone overboard because I haven't heard anyone complaining yet. Yet, being the key word there. So, why bring this up? Well, um... this chapter is a bit... um, what's the right word? There's implied sex in this chapter. ^_^;;; Yeah, a semi-lemon. Implied premarital sex. Dunno how people feel about that... I know it doesn't bother some people, but I figured I'd put that up in the AN just in case so I don't offend anyone.

Then again, I doubt that anyone that is offended by the whole "implied sex" thingy would be reading this story. You know, seeing that there are innuendoes left and right in this story. Heh.

Here are the reveiws!

Meeerf: Hiya! Hee, you are really good at picking at my plot points, aren’t you ^_^ Maybe.

Heh, it was nothing like that. He was more or less impressed with the annoying brat when she kept standing up to him. It’s not mentioned during childhood, though. He’s in the stage where he likes her, but isn’t really sure about it ^_^;;;

Glad you liked the whole Yui POV. She is an interesting character and her role in the story will be explored a little more in the next few fics. ^_^

As for the time key, I think I did. Sorry about that. Hehe. That will be fixed, as well as the purpose of the other keys. Why would you think that? (looks innocent) hehe, she might ^_^

Oh, I totally agree with you on this point. I see what you mean. I’ll work on that in future fics… like say the last few chapters…. ^_^;;;

Yeah, I realized that as I was writing the story. He was originally, but I got to thinking that even though he’s not human, his body would still age… metal rusts, that sort of thing? Hehe, yeah. I wanted her to age, but not too much.

Oh ho! Yup! Well the next chapter will be the trip to Navare. Hawk might show up. Hehe, that would be fun!!!

Oh… probably! ^_^

Anyway, here's the chapter. Enjoy.

Mina watched in silence as Strife and Garr exchanged words. She wasn’t really sure what was going on, but whatever it was, it was causing Garr great concern. Strife didn’t look all that happy either. But then again, Strife was a man of few words.

She was becoming concerned about Garr. She knew that he still blamed himself for his participation in the Brood Wars. That was why he journeyed with and protected the third Destined Child, all in order to question the will of the Goddess.

So many still did not understand how precarious of a thread that the balance of the world stood. The world was quickly shifting to the brink of destruction, and Gideon could not see that. She knew, however. She was the Four Winds, after all. The Avatar of the Goddess of Freedom and the Winds, Miliené. She understood what most races had forgotten.

She was often overlooked and underestimated because of her youthful appearance. She did, after all, stop aging at age fourteen. She life forever halted because she took the Mark of the Wing in stead of her sister. All in order to become the Great Bird. All in order for her sister and her friends to go to Evarai and destroy the founders of the Saint Eva religion, once and for all.

She thought she would forget who she was after she transformed. She had been sadly mistaken. Much to her horror, she retained all of her memories as a human. Worse of all, she retained her sense of self. Forever trapped in the form of the great avian. She had unwittingly became the Avatar of the Goddess of the Winds.

She knew that the other avatars had extended lives, but not true immortally. She knew that while some it was a matter of birth or blood, like Harmony and Mardeia. For others it was a matter of chance, like her. She still didn’t know how Troy was chosen.

Because of her long life, she knew secrets that hardly anyone else knew. She knew that it was Manna that had returned Garr to life. Apparently, the Overseer of the Grand Design had power over life and death. She knew that when Lucien fell, the balance of power was shifted for a brief moment. That was, until Manna appeared and took over the position. She had said that she was Lucien’s student and a minor goddess of dreams.

She knew that there was a secret connection between Manna and Deis. She knew that the connection also extended to Myria in some form. Miliené had said as much.

How did a minor goddess get one of the top positions on the cosmic totem pole? That was just not a position that was passed around. Mina knew that there were other students that might be able to take up the role someday, barring something happened to Manna of course. Deis and Manna had planned it that way. With Ladon in pieces and Myria having lost her sanity, the two of them were forced to take a stand and mount a defense against the goddess.

She knew that Deis had a plan. She knew that Deis and even Manna had subtly nudged the events into place, made sure people were in the right place at the right time. Manna had revived Garr, and Deis had told him to protect the next Destined Child. Manna had gathered Troy and Jin and together they had explored Legence’s activities. Together they had run into Garr, when Garr was trying to save her.

And together they defeated the ones that wanted to sacrifice her to Legence. It was then that Jin asked Garr to protect Ryu, Nina, and Yuki.

Manna was the Overseer, but was only allowed to interfere so much. So, Deis had interfered on her behalf. Throughout the entirety of the Cycles, Manna and Deis had worked together to end them once and for all, to stop Myria and Ladon’s fight, before it was too late.

If the two halves of the creator god ended up destroying themselves, then it was all over. The world would turn to ash and all life would cease.

Mina sighed as she turned her attention to Garr and Strife.

“So, that is what you will do then?” Garr asked Strife. The other man nodded.

“I am concerned about her Majesty. I will return to Wyndia and check in on the queen. I am worried that something great is about to happen. She will need someone there to help if it hits the fan.”

“Agreed,” Garr nodded. “You have your mission, and I have mine.”

“Guardian?” Strife asked. “What are you referring to?”

“Lady Deis has given me a warning. I must protect Ryu at all costs. He will need my help in the up coming battles. I am afraid that he will lose in his current state if I do not go.”

Mina nodded sadly. She knew that was what the two men were planning. They were leaving the safety of Angel Tower… and she would be alone once more. Mina steeled herself. She had made up her mind. She was not going to be useless anymore.

She would help Nina and Ryu and their companions once again.

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Ryu wasn’t exactly looking forward to returning to Shevat. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the tropical paradise. It was more like he really didn’t feel like seeing his brother at the moment.

He knew that Leon was trying to make up for past mistakes. But the fact remained that his brother tried to kill him. He just couldn’t forget that one little fact, no matter how hard he tried. It was like a festering wound that just would not heal. Ryu sighed slightly as he removed his jacket and walked into the living room of Saria’s house.

Sari followed in right after Ryu, Jin and Nina right on her heel. Ryu knew that Sari was just trying to help his case. He knew that she was a nonviolent person at heart and hated to fight. But he also knew that she was not the type of person that would just take things lying down.

Ryu was interrupted from his musings when he heard Manna clear her throat. He looked up and spotted Manna leaning up against the wall, next to the window, and Troy sitting on the couch. The odd thing was that Troy was holding a sword on his lap. Troy grinned and stood up and walked over to Ryu. He stopped right in front of Ryu and held out the Dragon Blade.

“I do believe this is yours,” Troy smiled.

Ryu looked confused, but took the sword anyway. It was truly the Dragon Blade. The sword was said to be forged by Ladon himself and wielded by him against Myria during the War of the Gods. Ever since, it was used by various Dragon Clansmen to combat the evil goddess. The sword was also a part of a suit of armor that was also forged by the Dragon God.

Ryu didn’t care too much for fairy tales. He was too busy drooling over the sword. He looked up at Troy, but Troy merely gave him a toothy grin.

“We found it when we went a lootin’,” Manna grinned slightly. “Actually, it was in the heart of Laurante’s castle.”

Ryu nodded numbly. “What did you find out?”

Troy and Manna exchanged glances with each other. Manna finally decided to speak. “We found out that Aaron has conducted some kind of experiment on Valerie and has also implanted the Light Key inside of her.”

“So, what about you?” Troy asked.

“Navare might have the Dark Key,” Jin started, but was interrupted by Sari.

“Nina got into a fight with Tora’s Avatar,” Sari said in a calm voice. “And Nina laid the smack down on her for locking lips with Ryu.”

“Oh, is that all?” Troy asked in an almost bored voice. “I thought you guys did something interesting.”

Nina scowled. “Arg! She was being controlled by another Sword! I was NOT jealous!”

Ten sets of eyes glanced over in Nina’s direction. “Uh, okay?” Manna said cautiously. “No one said that you were jealous.”

“Another Sword?” Troy asked with mild curiosity. “Another one?”

Ryu grinned slightly. “Yeah, and this one was a babe… um…. I mean a real bitch! Yeah!” Ryu squeaked out, holding up his hands. “I mean… that is… Nina?”

Nina merely glared at Ryu. She balled up her fists, but merely turned around and stalked out of the room. Ryu sighed and just shook his head. Troy walked over and placed his hand on Ryu’s shoulder.

“Rule number one with dealing with women: don’t mention a girl is hot in front of your girlfriend.”

“Yes, that way, you won’t die, or will she try to withhold sex as a means of punishment,” Jin said as he crossed his arms.

Ryu and Sari merely glanced over at Jin. “You speak like you have some experience in that area,” Ryu said as Sari giggled.

Jin coughed. Manna glanced over at the others. She shook her head and walked off after Nina. “I’ll deal with the princess. You guys plan our next step.”

And with that, Manna left the room, looking for Nina.

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Legence smiled as he absorbed the energy that Iris had managed to gather from Mara. Iris watched as he finished off the rest of the energy. Getting the energy was a feat in itself. To attack an avatar and gain energy from it was suicide. It was just by luck that the Woren and the princess didn’t like each other.

“Such power…” Legence smiled slightly. “You have done well, Iris Dante. You have done well, indeed.”

“Of course,” Iris bowed. “I live to serve your will.”

“I find it interesting,” Legence said as he turned to Iris. “That you would betray your king like this to follow me.”

Iris’ smile did not falter. “You ARE my king. You are the heir to Dragnier, as Gideon has proclaimed.”

Legence nodded in agreement. “Soon. Soon, I will be rid of this mortal shell and the need to feed off of others. Soon, I will have my true form back and I will lay waste to this pathetic world.”

Iris nodded. Legence smiled. “It was wise to wait until the Destined went to Worent. If you hadn’t, I would have never gotten the boost that I needed. Now, we will be able to carry out my master plan. Mother may think that she has trapped me, but she is wrong. Once I have absorbed the other piece of Ladon, I will be able to become complete and shed this mortal shell.”

Legence looked at Iris. “I will need you to do me a favor. Follow Transell to Navare and get the Dark Key from him. Also, he has become rather useless and annoying. Depose of him.”

Iris smiled and bowed at the waist. “As you wish.”

And with that, she vanished.

Legence smiled to himself. Soon, it would all be over and he would be free. Not even Myria would be able to stand against him when it was all said and done. Ryu thought he could win, but it was all in vain.

Legence would prevail in the end.

It was, after all, how Myria, his mother, created him.

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Manna spotted Nina sitting outside next to the water fountain in the water gardens. Manna pulled out her fun flask and took a drink. She recapped the flask and placed it back in her pocket. Goddess preserve her, this was going to be a bit of work.

It was no secret that Nina liked Ryu. Jin had mentioned it to Manna that Nina was curious about sex, especially with Ryu. The subject itself made Jin squirm. It always had. Manna, on the other hand, was not prudish at all. When one has lived for as long as her, one tended to get over being shy.

So, with that in mind, Manna approached Nina. Manna made no attempt at hiding her presence. She wanted Nina to know she was there.

Just like she predicted, just a second later, Nina glanced up with a tear stained face. Manna fought the urge to sigh in annoyance. It wasn’t that Manna didn’t know how Nina felt. Manna had her fair share of pigs that only thought with one part of their bodies. But that was a story for another day.

First she had to help Nina through this little ordeal.

“What’s up?” Manna asked in a casual voice.

Nina gave Manna a confused look. “What do you mean?” Nina asked in a cracked voice.

“You just bolted right after Ryu said…”

“I know what Ryu said,” Nina snapped.

Manna did roll her eyes this time. She held up her hands. “Hey, don’t take it out on me, Princess. I didn’t do anything.”

Nina sighed and looked down at her hands. “I know. I’m sorry for snapping at you Manna. Its just that… Ryu can be so…”

“Annoying?”

“Like a man…” Nina finished. “I have no idea what he’s thinking half the time! It’s so frustrating!”

“Welcome to womanhood,” Manna grinned slightly. She placed her hands in the back of her pockets and walked over to stand in front of Nina.

“Uh?” Nina asked.

“Well, okay, so Ryu was being a pig. He’s a guy. What else is new?” Manna said in a joking manner.

“Manna, what am I supposed to do?” Nina asked.

“About what?” Manna asked as she balanced on the ball of her heels.

“About Ryu… about me… about this…” Nina trailed off.

“You want to have sex, don’t you?” Manna asked in a mischievous voice.

“Um, yeah…” Nina turned five shades of red at merely the thought.

Manna crossed her arms and smiled. “Okay. You want to have sex. What are you going to do about it? Stand here and mull it over, or go and claim your man like a plot of land?”

“Ehee?” Nina just turned another shade of red. “Manna?!”

“What?” Manna asked with a shrug. “Look girly, I’m not a puritan nor a cloistered nun. I drink, smoke, swear, and have sex on a regular basis. I’m not exactly the best role model out there. I’m not going to tell you what to do or how to live your life. Ya know?”

“Uh…?” Nina wasn’t sure what do say to Manna’s speech. She knew the girl drank, but… “What exactly do you smoke?” Nina asked.

“Heh,” Manna grinned. “In some countries it might be considered legal. Let’s just leave it with that, okay?”

“Right…”

“Okay, your problem with this whole sex thing is that you are very shy and prudish. Ryu’s had sex, right? Well, just tell him and let him take the lead. It’s like dancing really. No matter how inexperienced you are, as long as you have a great partner, you will be fine,” Manna said.

“Um, how’s sex like dancing?” Nina asked in confusion.

“My god, you’re 20, right? HOW can you not know about sex?”

“Jin told me some things about it…” Nina said in embarrassment.

“Jin’s worse than my youngest daughter about that topic…” Manna muttered to herself. She glanced over and noticed that Nina was giving her a confused look. “What?”

“You… have children?” Nina asked.

“Eh…” Manna smirked slightly. “Never mind. Anyway, it’s getting late. You should go make up with Ryu and let him have his way with you.”

Nina blushed like mad and ran from the gardens. Manna sighed and looked up towards the setting sun. “What is it with youth today?” Manna chuckled to herself and walked back towards the buildings.

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Luckily for Nina, Sari was able to provide everyone with separate rooms. It wasn’t all that hard to find Ryu’s room. She quietly knocked on the door and after a pause, Ryu opened the door, clad in nothing but a pair of pants.

“Nina?” Ryu asked. Nina nodded. “I thought you were mad at me?”

“I am… a little,” Nina said in a small voice. “Can I come in?”

Ryu stepped aside so Nina could walk into the room. Ryu shut the door behind him. Nina paced the room a few moments, playing with the hems of her sleeves. Ryu silently watched Nina from the far side of the room. She finally stopped pacing and turned her full attention to Ryu.

“Ryu?” Nina asked. “Um, I’m not really all that mad at you… I’m just…”

“Nervous?”

“Scared. Scared of losing you to another girl… just scared all the time that I will somehow lose you,” Nina said.

Ryu smiled as he walked over and placed both hands on Nina’s shoulders. “You will never half to worry about losing me… to anyone.”

Nina leaned forward against his chest. “Ryu,” she breathed. “I love you.”

“I love you too Nina,” Ryu said.

“No, I mean I really, REALLY love you?” Nina mumbled against Ryu’s muscular chest. “I… want you…”

“Eh?” Ryu raised a blue eyebrow. “Nina? What are you saying?”

“I…” Nina looked up into Ryu’s eyes. “I want… I want…”

“You want to sleep together?” Ryu asked. “But we already do that…”

“I want to…” Nina blushed. Oh, what the heck. “I want to have sex with you!”

“Ah?” Ryu asked in pleasant surprise. “Nina, are you sure you want to do that? I mean, once we have sex, you can’t go back…”

“I don’t want to go back…” Nina said as she practically threw herself on top of Ryu. Both of them collapsed onto the bed. Ryu grinned like a madman and laughed. Nina gave him a confused look.

“I never pictured you doing that!” Ryu snickered. “Okay,” Ryu smiled as he flipped Nina over so that she way lying beneath him. “You really want to do this?”

Nina nodded. Ryu smiled as he started to unbutton her nightshirt. “Very well then…” Ryu said as he leaned down and kissed her hard on the lips. She kissed him back with equal force.

She was his after that.

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Salla looked slightly concerned as she paused right in front of Ryu’s bedroom. She could hear what sounded like a woman screaming coming from the room. Her hand hovered over the door for a moment, as she considered knocking. She was pulled out of her musings as she spotted Troy walking down the hallway.

“Troy, good evening,” Salla smiled. She was about to say something else, but that girl’s screaming cut her off in mid sentence.

Troy paused and listened to the sounds coming from inside of Ryu’s room. Troy finally grinned like a mad man and started to walk off.

Salla gave him a confused look and grabbed hold of his wrist.

“Aren’t you the least bit concerned if everything is all right?” Salla asked in concern.

Troy snickered and shook his head no. “Not the least little bit.”

“And why’s that?” Salla demanded.

“Cuz Ryu’s getting his groove on,” Troy answered in an amused voice.

“He’s… oh my!” Salla hid a grin behind her hand. “So, who’s the lucky lady?”

“Oh, from the high pitched screaming, I’d say Nina.”

“Pardon?”

“I really didn’t know Nina could scream like that,” Troy mused to himself as he walked off.

This really was shaping up to be an odd journey.

 

To be continued…