Set Fire to the Face on Fire (Ryuu)

[Ryuu]

"Wait, dumb ass," Ryuu heard Matrim say as he followed Ryuu out of the coffee shop, and walked with him for a bit, "We need to talk more. So either follow me and learn more about Alex, or you can leave, up to you." "Who are you calling a dumb ass, dumb ass." Ryuu replied, a hint of teasing in his voice, as he smirked slightly. He walked beside Matrim down the sidewalk, his hands in his jacket pockets. "Don't know what Militia does, don't care. I know what the Reapers are about, and I know where I stand on that. Unless Militia is into some bad stuff, they can't be the worse of the two. But if that's all you've got.... you'll need more. You'll need to get stronger. Much stronger. So keep training with Emily. Me and Alex were the leaders of the Enforcement Squad, a group that didn't do much. We were the good guys in the end, at least... he was. Then we were pillars in Alaska..."

Ryuu kept silent as he continued to walk down the sidewalk, so the Enforcement Squad was a gang at St. Paragon's Secondary School who were the good guys, and Alex was the leader. Ryuu knew Alex had been at St. Paragon's, having heard from him a while ago. Ryuu saw Matrim stop, as he stopped and turned around, facing Matrim. "He was killed by a man named Marquise, who's Qi allowed him to change the shape and look of his body. He had gotten powerful enough to create illusions. Alex had wounded Marquise, but it was too late to... all I could do was deliver the killing blow. Finish what he started. He's buried in Alaska, I gave him a proper burial." "So, you never managed to find out who was the stronger between the two of you, because he died. As for the Reapers, I don't know what it does, don't care to." Ryuu stared carefully into empty space, thinking deeply. He was beginning to understand Matrim's way of thinking, but the thing was, Militia was starting to fall apart. Ryuu was loyal to only two people in Militia, Emily, his teacher, and Gabriel.

Everyone else in Militia, he held no loyalty to them. But Matrim didn't need to know Militia was falling apart. "I may not be Alex, and I never will be," Ryuu said, as he looked at Matrim, "But I will get stronger than him." Ryuu lifted one hand up, before clenching it tightly. "I don't know how strong Alex was before he died, but I will keep his memory alive." Ryuu understood why Alex had become friends with Matrim, and how Matrim's way of thinking was. Ryuu now knew, there was more to Matrim, than just the Pillar side seen by all.

[Matrim Gallagher]

"Know your enemy, figure out stuff about Reapers, figure stuff out about Pillars. Right now you should be pumping me for information about the other Pillars. I would tell you everything I know right now except..." He smiled, thinking about it. He knew stuff, he knew things but he wouldn't say a word of it, "It'd make it too easy for you. You earn your stripes kid, just like everyone else."

He laughed, continuing to walk, "So Militia is Emily, Nick, Trizen, you, and this Emi girl yeah?" He asked thinking about it. It was small numbers for a gang. Of course, Matrim's gangs were usually elitist, only having a few members, "What does Militia do exactly, anyway? I mean.. it's got a really fancy name, and I know Emily is a good person. At least... I think she is. So it can't be bad..."

Unless she's two faced... but I don't get that vibe from her...

"I was there when Trizen first met Emily, strange... I haven't seen that kid since then... his first impression of me was taking on the School Captain in a fight. Emily's impression of me will be... well it wouldn't be good. Don't know this Nick guy, at least his name doesn't ring any bells. Common name and such, and Emi I haven't met. Oh, and piece of advice, having a girlfriend who's in a gang, try to keep an eye on her. People tend to target girlfriends for some reason, so make sure she gets stronger too. In the end you can't always be there to protect her."

Figured that out with Reira on... more then one occasion strangely enough.

[Ryuu]

"Know your enemy, figure out stuff about Reapers, figure stuff out about Pillars. Right now you should be pumping me for information about the other Pillars. I would tell you everything I know right now except..." Ryuu saw Matrim smile, it was obvious the guy know stuff, but wouldn't tell him, "It'd make it too easy for you. You earn your stripes kid, just like everyone else." "Of course," Ryuu replied, his hands still in his pockets, "Nothing in life is easy, so why would this be any different?" He heard Matrim laugh as he walked, as Ryuu smiled slightly. "So Militia is Emily, Nick, Trizen, you, and this Emi girl yeah? What does Militia do exactly, anyway? I mean.. it's got a really fancy name, and I know Emily is a good person. At least... I think she is. So it can't be bad..." "No," Ryuu replied, shaking his head, "As far as I know, neither Nick or Emi are in Militia. I'm friends with Nick, but that's about it, nothing else. And as for what Militia does... You'll have to find out the hard way. If I told you right here and now, that would be too easy for you and the Reapers."

Ryuu had wizened up, he wasn't going to tell Matrim everything about Militia. Friends or not, the fact of the matter was, they were in different gangs. If they were in the same gang, then yeah, he'd be open, but seeing as they weren't, Ryuu was going to keep his mouth shut on it. He wasn't going to tell Matrim information that could be potentially used against them. "And Emily is a good person, I don't know enough about her, but I do know she's a very determined girl."

"I was there when Trizen first met Emily, strange... I haven't seen that kid since then... his first impression of me was taking on the School Captain in a fight. Emily's impression of me will be... well it wouldn't be good. Don't know this Nick guy, at least his name doesn't ring any bells. Common name and such, and Emi I haven't met. Oh, and piece of advice, having a girlfriend who's in a gang, try to keep an eye on her. People tend to target girlfriends for some reason, so make sure she gets stronger too. In the end you can't always be there to protect her." "I don't know if she'd want to be in Militia, to be honest," Ryuu admitted, "But you're right, I won't always be around to protect her, so she'll have to get stronger, with or without my help." Ryuu continued to walk down the sidewalk, before stopping. "How was Alex? In Alaska I mean. I haven't seen him since he was sent to St. Paragon's Secondary School, so I guess that's part of my question too."

Because while I can tell you how Alex was like when he was younger, I don't know how he was like after then.

[Matrim Gallagher]

"Pretty indifferent, and the way you talked earlier made it seem like you were saying that Nick and Emi were in the gang too, guess I got that mixed up. Oh, and I don't recall saying I was a reaper, just that I knew about them... though yes I'm a reaper, and you bloody well better take that secret to your grave. But look, what if I told you that there aren't always just two sides? There isn't just good and evil, that sometimes there's multiple goods, multiple evils, and sometimes there is that grey area in the middle."

He paused and took a big breath, "I don't know what Militia stands for, Reapers stand for doing what they want when they want, and they take out anybody who gets in their way and that's as simple as that. I see a gang war in the future. I see a lot of fights, and quite frankly it worries me." Matrim said with a bittersweet smile on his face, "I've been in a war already, Alex too. Religious nut with a mind washing Qi lead an army on our school. We called it The Paladin War. My Qi was a shield back then, I was bulletproof until it finally wore down and shattered. Alex was the first person to find a way past my shield..."

He took a moment to think and got back on point, "But I digress. I don't like war, I don't want war, and I'll do anything to prevent a war short of doing something like hurt babies or listen to an entire Brittany Spears album. But my question to you is, if there was a way to avoid a war, or to somehow make one otherwise impossible. If there was a way that didn't violate some code of ethics... would you seek that out? Would you work to find a way that didn't involve fighting an a major scale?"

He had a serious look on his face, he was wondering what Ryuu would answer. He didn't know what Alex would answer. Hell, Matrim avoided Ryuu's question by just stating a fact about Alex here and there. He would tell him more about Alex once he found out more about Ryuu. He'd probably tell him how he had used Alex in Paragon, how he got Alex in trouble with the law, how Alex had become a prisoner same as them.

[Ryuu]

"Pretty indifferent, and the way you talked earlier made it seem like you were saying that Nick and Emi were in the gang too, guess I got that mixed up. Oh, and I don't recall saying I was a reaper, just that I knew about them... though yes I'm a reaper, and you bloody well better take that secret to your grave. But look, what if I told you that there aren't always just two sides? There isn't just good and evil, that sometimes there's multiple goods, multiple evils, and sometimes there is that gray area in the middle." "I'll take your secret to my grave, if you take my secret to your grave," Ryuu replied, looking straight ahead at the view of the harbor in front of him, "While there is multiple good and evils in this world, they all have one thing in common. Power. There are those who use power to help others, those who use it to destroy others, and even those who have power, but never use it, merely choosing to observe from afar." Power, much like greed, can warp a person's ideals, turning them into someone obsessed with nothing but adding on to what they already had. Ryuu had seen it before, the enemies of his father, the ones who tried to eliminate him, to further their own power. It was not a great sight to behold. Ryuu heard Matrim pause, and take a deep breath, before continuing.

"I don't know what Militia stands for, Reapers stand for doing what they want when they want, and they take out anybody who gets in their way and that's as simple as that. I see a gang war in the future. I see a lot of fights, and quite frankly it worries me." Ryuu saw the bittersweet smile on Matrim's face, as Ryuu kept silent, "I've been in a war already, Alex too. Religious nut with a mind washing Qi lead an army on our school. We called it The Paladin War. My Qi was a shield back then, I was bulletproof until it finally wore down and shattered. Alex was the first person to find a way past my shield..."

"But I digress. I don't like war, I don't want war, and I'll do anything to prevent a war short of doing something like hurt babies or listen to an entire Britney Spears album. But my question to you is, if there was a way to avoid a war, or to somehow make one otherwise impossible. If there was a way that didn't violate some code of ethics... would you seek that out? Would you work to find a way that didn't involve fighting on a major scale?" Ryuu looked at Matrim, seeing the serious look on his face, as Ryuu paused for a moment, to think, before speaking. War is terrible, and no one should ever have to experience it. I would do everything in my own power to make sure that it never comes to that, to find a way so that blood would not be spilled unnecessarily. Even if a gang war commences, and more than likely it will, it is an unnecessary fight. Though we are enemies in rival gangs, we all have one thing in common, we all have a common enemy, those who look down on or fear us, because we have powers that they don't.

People fear change, they don't want anything to change, they want everything to stay the same. Those who are ignorant of the truth, try to eliminate what is different, in this case, us, we who can use Qi. Instead of fighting each other, we should be watching out for each other. War is not a beautiful thing, it is senseless violence, and precious lives are taken away, because of it. I would not allow anyone to take away the lives of those I care about, I would find a way to avoid a fight as quickly as possible."

[Matrim Gallagher]

"A simple yes would have been acceptable, but well put," Matrim said, wondering about some of the things that happened in his life, "Innocent people get hurt, sometimes worse. Gang wars I haven't been in, but from what I've experienced, war is not a good thing. Let countries go to war if they wish but this is a school. Just know that you can trust me with anything, Ryuu."

Because nobody else should....

"I owe Alex a great deal of gratitude, and didn't get to do that before. So a lot of that's going to be put to making sure his cousin survives," He slapped Ryuu on the back, and stopped, "Anyway, just thought I'd let you know. I'll prevent this school from having a gang war even if it kills me. And one better I'll make sure you and the people you care about are safe. But I gotta get going," Matrim said and took off.

Well, I guess I can count on him if I need to... but I'd rather leave him out of this. Him and Emi.

[Ryuu]

"A simple yes would have been acceptable, but well put. Innocent people get hurt, sometimes worse. Gang wars I haven't been in, but from what I've experienced, war is not a good thing. Let countries go to war if they wish but this is a school. Just know that you can trust me with anything, Ryuu. I owe Alex a great deal of gratitude, and didn't get to do that before. So a lot of that's going to be put to making sure his cousin survives." Ryuu's head jerked forward slightly as Matrim slapped him on the back and then stopped, as Ryuu looked at him calmly. "I'm sure Kazu knows you're grateful to him, and I know he would tell you that whatever he did, no thanks is necessary." Ryuu knew his cousin well, so well in fact, that the two of them were like brothers. All four of them were like siblings, watching out for each other, and helping each other out.

"Anyway, just thought I'd let you know. I'll prevent this school from having a gang war even if it kills me. And one better I'll make sure you and the people you care about are safe. But I gotta get going."

Ryuu watched Matrim take off, as he folded his arms across his chest, before smiling slightly as he saw Matrim disappear. "Rival gangs or not, you're still a good guy Matrim. Maybe we will end up friends sooner or later. For now, even though we're in different gangs, I'll make sure the one person you care about, is safe too." Ryuu would watch out for Reira, he considered her his friend, just as Alex considered her his friend too. Walking down to the end of the block, Ryuu would then cross the street, before taking his leave too.

(End Thread)