TW: This chapter includes mention of violence. Read at your own discretion.

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She gained consciousness to find herself in a cell with her armor stripped off and her legs bound tightly in chains. She tried to sit up but her body was still frozen but soon enough she realized that she wasn't alone in that cell and her head was resting on what seemed to be someone's knees.

Mustering up all her strength, she tried to lift herself off the ground, the chains biting into her flesh with each movement. However, the person next to her gently helped her up and she turned to see that it was Ryuu.

They were both chained together in that cell but unlike her, he wasn't affected by that paralyzing venom the assassins had on their swords.

"What happened?" She asked, her eyes frantic to see him chained as well, "where are the rest of our people? Why are we here?"

She could see that if the two of them were chained, that meant the rest of the clan had been caught as well. Something was off about the entire ordeal because the League should not have been aware of their attack until it was too late.

But as the effects of that venom were wearing off and she was recalling everything, she was starting to see that all the assassins were quite prepared too.

And then the features of Talia Al Ghul swam in her memory, pain shooting up her back at the slash she had landed with her weapon.

"Ryuu, why are you so silent? Answer me," she held onto his arms, scared to see that his features were devoid of all emotion just like he had been the day she had come back to the base from the Academy and seen him mourning at his parents' graves.

"We got betrayed," he spoke at last but his voice was quite low, "the League already knew we were going to attack because someone from our clan changed sides."

"What... But why? And who told them?"

"I don't know," he mumbled, "all I know is that it must be someone from the six of us who made this plan. Tanjiro, Keiji, Miyu, you, me, and Ichiro Sama... The League was waiting for us to fall into their trap and their weapons were poisoned. So all of us who fought against them and managed to get struck got affected by the poison. The group we sent to distract the assassins got caught first of all. Then your group was targeted..."

She was still trying to process his words because she couldn't imagine anyone from those people changing sides and betraying them. Miyu was her closest friend, Keiji and Tanjiro were Ryuu's friends and Ichiro had always looked out for her. So even thinking that anyone from them would be a traitor was hard.

"Ra's wasn't even in the base and all those assassins were being led by his daughter," Ryuu resumed with a heavy heart because he could see their fate right in front of his eyes, "she was able to capture the clan because she had you... She threatened to kill you if we didn't surrender."

The scene was still very vivid in his memory. He had felt the blood freeze in his veins the second he had seen Talia Al Ghul holding Sayuri with a sword to her neck. He had been terrified to see her so lifeless that for a second, it seemed that Talia had already killed her.

There was no other option for them but to surrender.

Sayuri's heart sank upon hearing that and she too felt like everything had been fatally compromised right then. They were locked up and so was the rest of the clan while it was quite known that the Al Ghuls weren't going to let them off alive.

She thought about Kai who was back at the base with Ichiro's wife and Miyu but a shudder passed through her upon realizing that as the League now knew the Sasuke clan was responsible for the infiltration, they would strike at the base too.

None of them were safe and considering the current situation, she might never get to see her son again.

And if the base was attacked by the League then there was very little chance for the people who were back there to survive as well.

Everything had gone up in flames and now it was clear that they could not put an end to that war and just like before, their clan was in the most danger of being wiped out.

She edged closer to Ryuu, yearning to be held in his arms and wake up from that nightmarish situation. But they were not asleep and it was no nightmare that would end upon waking up.

Still, Ryuu sensed that and wrapped his arms around her trembling figure, bringing her close into a hug. All the fears that were coursing through right then were what he had been thinking about ever since he had been thrown into that cell and chained up with Sayuri.

There was no way out. They were going to lose in that war and there seemed no way they would make it out of the Al Ghuls' fortress alive.

"I'm sorry," he whispered and Sayuri froze, looking up at him in a mixture of shock and confusion, "please forgive me for what's going to happen... I had no other way."

His brown eyes were full of sorrow and he was looking at her as if it would be the last time he would see her. Seeing him as such made her feel twice more terrified of what was going on.

Ryuu couldn't be that traitor but then why was he saying sorry and what exactly was he referring to? By his words, it seemed as if he had done something that she would never have wanted him to do, and that thought in itself was terrifying.

"What do you mean...? Why are you apologizing?"

"I had to break my promise because there was no other way I could keep you and our people safe instead," he resumed, the fear in her heart increased to see his blank features, "I'm sorry."

Her hands closed onto his shirt tightly, grey eyes piercing through his as she asked, "Ryuu, what have you done? You aren't the traitor, I know that... You can't betray me... And if that's not what you are referring then what else have you done...?"

He knew time was running out and the assassins would be there any moment to take him out of the cell and into the throne room before Ra's Al Ghul who had returned to the base after learning of the clan's imprisonment. He had to tell Sayuri before that.

"I didn't betray any of you but I can no longer keep my promise of staying alive and coming back to you," he replied, his voice sorrowful as he took in the pain in her eyes, "Talia Al Ghul put forward the condition that if we give up our leader, she will get the rest of the clan pardoned... I don't know if this is a trap or if she really means it but I had no other way..."

"What have you done? Ryuu, tell me right now, what did you say to her?" Her grip tightened on him as she demanded knowing the answer to that question would be something terrible. But still, she had to know fully what had happened back when she had been unconscious.

His hands rested upon hers getting her to loosen her grip on him as he clasped her hands instead, "I told her I am the leader."

Her eyes widened in alarm as everything he had said before clicked together and started to make sense. If Ryuu had told her that he was the leader, that meant they would undoubtedly kill him to cripple the rest of the clan.

So that even if the others were pardoned, they would not be able to strike back. But of course, the League wasn't yet aware that Ryuu wasn't the leader. And he had used that fact to trick them into thinking that he was Nuriko's heir instead of Sayuri just so she wouldn't be killed by them. 

And realizing it made Sayuri terrified as she came to the conclusion that by the end of it all, Ryuu would have sacrificed himself for the clan. Yet there was no knowing whether the Al Ghuls would let the others go or kill them as well.

"Ryuu, no..."

He cupped her face in between her palms, getting her to look at him although her eyes were welling up in tears as she was realizing the consequences of Ryuu owning up instead of her. "Sayuri, please look here. Listen to what I have to say. Please."

"But I... I should have..."

Before she could say anything, he silenced her with a kiss because he didn't want her to admit that she was the leader in that cell because there was a chance that they were being overheard.

He held her close to him as he whispered in her ear in a very low voice so that he wouldn't be overheard, "please don't say anything that will contradict my statement. I have told them I am the leader and you won't say anything to oppose that. Neither will the rest of the clan."

She was starting to see that had been Ryuu's backup plan all along. If they got caught, according to the rules, the leader had to be killed. But he had already decided to take up the position instead of her and somehow gotten the clan to agree with him that they would not disclose who out of those two was the true heir of Nuriko Sasuke.

"You have to stay alive," he whispered, feeling the tears streak down her cheek, "for yourself and for Kai. Please... Don't die here. Get out when you can and go back to Kai. Keep him safe."

His voice was desperate and he was begging her to let him sacrifice himself for all of them. She didn't want to lose Ryuu as she didn't know how she would be able to survive with the knowledge that he gave himself up so that she along with the rest of the clan would be pardoned.

He was always like that, sacrificing himself for the sake of the people he loved and held dear.

But she didn't get to stay with him any longer than that as the cell was unlocked and two assassins stepped in, opening up Ryuu's chains. That meant the time had come for him to be taken to the Demon Head.

"No!" She held onto him tightly but he was snatched out of her grasp, the assassins dragging him out while her cell was locked up again.

Her ankles had started to bleed as she had forced herself to come up to the bars, not letting go of Ryuu until one of the assassins had struck a whip at her violently, making her fall back. Her hands struggled to reach the bars, eyes following the retreating figure of Ryuu being led away to the throne room.

He was being led to his death and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"No no no," she sank down on the ground, her body shaking in distress and the blood tricking down those chains restricting her movement. 

The physical pain she could feel right then was nothing compared to the pain churning in her heart upon knowing that she was going to lose the man she loved. And it hurt twice more that he was sacrificing himself for her sake and instead of putting an end to the war as she had promised him she would do so, that war was going to put an end to him.

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