A.N.: I do not own anything! Another serious multy chapter story made to torture Luke in every possible ways... most probably.
He looked at himself in the mirror one last time, checking his clothes one more without the embarrassing (and scary) presence of the maids, gave his hair one last pull, and with that he was ready. Guy had learned, quite painfully, that being a noble also meant that he had to care for his looks. A member of high society could NOT afford to look ruffled, or sleepy, or anything but absolutely perfect.
The house of nobles had reminded him of this peculiar point, though with subtlety: having a group of arrogant people treat you like a servant not worth more than the dirt on their shoes wasn't something to look forward to. It hadn't been until he had totally revived the status of house Gardios that the other nobles had changed their approach towards him. It was quite funny even, as they now so desperately, as one would say, kissed his ass and boots to get in his favors. They had only forgotten that Guy wasn't one to forget easily of the past…
But even with that in mind, the whole reason why Guy was getting ready with such eagerness, such noble perfection, was because today they arrived in Kimlaska on official invitation (he, as in the Emperor, his generals, Jade and he, the only heir of Gardios, the highest ranked noble house of Malkuth).
He felt quite content, also guessing that he'd be able to see many people that he hadn't quite been able to see in the past months, or year for the worst cases. First was 'lady Anise Tatlin: the Fon master, ruler of the order of Lorelei. Then Mystearica Musto Fende descendant of Yulia and now official next in line to be governor of Yulia city, the independent state had quite the influence since it had a history for being the real master head of the order of Lorelei.
He'd been looking forward to knowing about the state of princess Natalia's wedding also; if the king had been able to put his word in it, he was sure it would have been done ages ago! But Natalia and her dear bride (you Had to blind not to see who wore the pants in this relationship) had made a point to take care of the Replica's problem first and foremost. Gaillardia had had wind that a most permanent and stable solution had been found quite recently, and that was also part of the reason why they would all meet in Kimlasca.
He ironically remarked that, had it been but a year or so before, it would have been outrageous to propose for all the current powers in charge of the world's fate to assemble in a non-neutral zone. He wasn't about to complain about the change in mentalities though, far from it! Actually, Kimlasca was just paying back for the hospitality they had received from Malkuth in their last stay, the occasion being his own promotion to the title of Count (as he positively refused to be a Duke if just for the sake of NOT being compared to Duke Fon Fabre) and the Emperor's wish to raid the national treasury… as per usual.
Of course, since Peony seemed to be so… generous, king Ingobert had been impressed with the grand welcome, obviously he intended to show his kingdom's own worth through the upcoming festivities that were sure to follow their arrival into Baticul itself. Guy reminded himself that the king would be gutted alive by his own (adoptive) daughter, if he ever thought of spending as much money as Peony had at that time. Damn, even the Emperor himself had escaped one terrible and painful death from the Necromancer because of his childish behavior. And he'd never forget that dark look in Jade's eyes as the Emperor had introduced the Kimlaskan noblemen and king to his 'cute little Jade' and his 'sweetie super cute Luke', not to forget his 'Natalia darlin'' and 'adorable Asch'… well, the last two ones had angered very very dangerous people and almost ended (if not for Ingobert and his sister's good spirits and nature) in a political disaster.
Most importantly, he would finally get to see his friend, his best friend. It had been a good six months since he had come back to them through Tataroo valley. At the time he had conceded that he had rushed a little his appearance as he had just returned from somewhere past the fon belt and into the fallen Hod, there he had been working on separating his own being from the other two that he had wound up carrying over by passing through the fon stones left by Yulia. So they had (to Natalia's delight) assisted the revival of Asch through the use of Lorelei's power, and with that Luke had gone back to looking a lot more like his own half arrogant, half mopping self, which was a relief to them all; and apparently that also meant that Lorelei had gone into the fon belt which was intensively surveyed since then.
Six months since then, and six months since he had been called over to Malkuth and being busy with multitasking; his uses and jobs depending solely on the Emperor and Jade's sick tempers and wishes. During the same span of time, the original and the replicated Luke had to learn about the happenings of the past two year and a half and each their status had to be decided. In the end, Luke having been a Viscount, he had promoted to being a full fledged count, Asch had also gained a few honors, though no official titles yet, outside from being the heir to the throne of course.
All of them being extremely preoccupied by different levels of duties they hadn't had a chance to see much of one another for quite a while.
Guy thought a bit more about his friends as a Malkuthian guard knocked on the door to his cabin, informing him that they were in sight of Baticul and would be arriving at the port in less than an hour.
Making one last check of himself in the foot length mirror, he exited his cabin and directed himself to the deck in order to watch the sights of the city next to the Emperor and other officials (Jade himself would probably just remain in the cockpit to ensue that everything went well, or just for the pleasure of pressuring the poor captain and his fontechnicians).
Passing a few soldiers, he arrived at the metal stairs leading to the said deck. Straightening his back, he passed the door at the top, only to be welcomed by the sight of the imposing buildings of Baticul. Detaching itself from the blue summer sky and few volutes of dark smoke due to the intense machinery activity, the city happened to be much closer than he had expected it to be.
He moved further down the Neo-Tartarus' deck so he would stand close to the rail and to the Emperor, who was currently leaning over it to appreciate the soft sea breeze and the sights altogether.
"Feeling nostalgic?" Peony asked lazily, only halfheartedly striking up the conversation; it was quite rare for the Emperor to be silent so Guy guessed that was probably sleepy from yesterday's excitement. Maybe he could thank Jade for waking the blond thing early and therefore avoiding the man's hyperactivity to show off too much.
"Not really… I mean, the city changed quite a bit in three years…" he answered. And it was true. The effort to offer Replicas places to stay had made a few new buildings pop up around the city. Besides that, many places had been reconstructed, like the coliseum, since the return of 'the blood haired berserker' (hell forbid if he knew who that was, sheesh…) had allowed the building to have a great rise in its gains.
"I wasn't really talking about the city silly!" the long haired blond tsked to reprimand the Gardios nobleman.
"huh?" he, oh so intelligently, replied, which made the Emperor smirk a bit too deviously to be good for him.
"Come on! Be a little more happy or somethin'! What are you going to say to Luke anyway? You prepared something or what?" he asked the lost boy, his childish nature taking root once again as fatigue left Peony's features.
"Not really! Humm… just say 'Hi' I guess…" Guy answered, not believing that he had to prepare some sort of allocution for his friend, maybe for Asch, for the sake of resisting the urge to make the annoying noble's head to get acquainted with nearby walls, but for Luke… not really.
The Emperor huffed, obviously picked by the lower man's attitude.
"W-what?" he squeaked as the Emperor turned around and faced him angrily.
"You're so dense I can't believe it! Damnit! Is it impossible to ask for some sort of fun and action around here!" he screamed. Thanks fully for Guy, Jade chose this moment to make his appearance and tell them that they would enter the harbor at any minute now.
Once Peony had finished stomping his way out of the deck, Jade turned to him, which positively froze the noble's blood still.
"I too, shall look forward to some amusement." And with that said, he was gone, in what Guy liked to assimilate to a 'puff of smoke', which really was just the howling wind of impendent doom and solitude…
"Guy! You look well; it is quite a pleasure to see you again! Jade as well of course!" the Kimlaskan princess welcomed the two of them personally after the official welcome of the Emperor. She approached, boasting with self confidence and joy, apparently with the intend to give him a bone breaking hug, which he gracefully refused through his usual cry of 'bloody murder' reminding the noblewomen present that, no, he still hadn't overcome his phobia.
"*sigh* How are we ever going to marry you, I wonder?" Jade sighed in fake despair.
"Really Guy! I would have thought that this was no longer a problem!" she exclaimed in indignation; pointedly ignoring Jade's remarks.
"Well it IS! Please don't come near me!" he cried.
"Hehe, And I who was planning to jump you from behind! I might just have to stick with the General then!" a childish and high pitched voice rang from their side.
"Fon master Anise! To think that you would so shamelessly use a poor old man's weary bones and pains to your pleasure is quite… undignified." Jade replied with all the fake he was worth, as soon as he had recognized the small girl.
"Booo!" she pouted. Though her pouting face was losing more and more of the 'cute child' impact as she called it, since the now fifteen years old had begun to look a bit more like a lady to be. Behind the Fon master was the quiet figure of Tear Grants, trying as she might to avoid the insistent looks following her every steps: it was quite obvious that her fanclub (powered by Noir's own) had grown in ranks quite remarkably.
"Hello, Tear. You're astonishing in these! It's a wonder you don't have a flood of suitors at your feet right now." Guy pleasantly greeted the lady, his comment made her blush a little more than it should have and he realized it was probably because the jealous streak of her fanclub had taken down every single fool who would dare try and stain the beauty's shoes with their saliva…
"W-well… Hum, t-these are official grown for…my position?" she hesitantly told the blond.
'Ah, so she had prepared a speech of sorts…' they all silently thought as Tear seemed to be looking for good prepared sentences.
"Tear, you don't need to be so reserved with us! Anyway! It certainly is nice to be all together again! I can't believe the Colonel's become General! And Guy is now a Count? So many good suitors! *sigh* Oh well, I chose my path… as one would say…" Anise rambled.
"Oh? Are you having second thoughts now? Besides the General title is merely for show, I told you I was back to being a researcher didn't I? Well that aside, where our little ligers might have gone to?" Jade pondered, as Anise, once again, made a face.
"Who's a liger? Are you trying to compare me to a monster Necromancer?" came an angry voice from behind their little closed group.
"I never said names now did I?" Jade replied as one of his favorite pick had shown up.
"Asch! I told you not to frown in such an ungraceful manner!" Natalia reprimanded.
"And how am I supposed to frown in a graceful manner?" he angrily replied to the princess.
"Well, you don't frown. Really 'wrinkles'! You'll never learn!" Anise teased the ex-God-General.
"Shut up! And don't call me 'wrinkles'!" he raged as his sneer deepened (if that was even possible).
"But it's the truth!" she replied as she pointedly pointed her finger at the knit between the future king's eyebrows.
"No it's not!" he replied, but before the expected fight of 'no it's not' and 'it so is' could break out, Guy decided to intervene.
"And, where is Luke?" he asked pointedly, wishing he could at least have his friend around to joke with or anything: without him around he tended to feel like part of him was missing. Altogether he did his best to ignore Tear's reaction to the name.
"What? You don't know?" Asch looked as though he was winning some imaginary prize at the puzzled faces he was receiving from most of the others.
"Asch! We are here to talk about this later." The princess clarified the here as being the official reunion they were currently supposed to be in.
"Has something happened?" Guy tried, an uneasy feeling settling in the pit of his stomach at the thought.
"I heard many sorts of rumors… Do they have anything to do with it?" Jade said as his comment earned him a panel of different expressions.
Gaillardia did not like being left out, and the fact that most people around him looked as thought they knew that something was up was not to his liking. Tear kept on fidgeting, looking embarrassed, Jade looked serious for a change, Anise looked like she neared the guilty state, Natalia's lips became a thin line as she seemed to think of a way to break the news out and Asch was being… well, Asch.
"They might as well… Though I don't have enough information myself to tell about it. But other than that, it's not the primary reason why Luke isn't here." Natalia explained.
"Then… Is it because of that project? Since Florian was called over I'd guess that it's going well?" Anise tried her own side, but Guy was not so happy about the conversation going somewhere he knew nothing about.
"Yes, though-" Natalia began, but she was cut mid-sentence.
"Wait a minute damn it! What's going on? How come I don't know a single thing about what you're talking about?" Guy raged at his own ignorance.
The others looked at one another, trying to find a way out of it, Jade even managed to bite back a 'Guy explain' as the looks turned to him, finally he managed to meaningfully throw the responsibility of the explanation to Asch.
"Hmph! The dreck's gone to prepare his project to give the other trashes a 'place to live in'. Though the rumors are probably more about those less than shits called 'Vanguard' or something stupid like that." Asch did -oh so pleasantly- not clarified the problem.
"I'll have to wonder about the number of curses and foul words that can leave your mouth in such a restricted period of time…" Natalia complained.
"Vanguard? Oh! You mean that anti-Replica extremist move? I thought they were pretty minor problems… What about that project?" Guy tried again, a little calmed down now that the problem was coming to light.
"The summit with the king and Emperor will begin soon. I'm sure you'll all have your answers cleared out soon enough." Natalia said as she spotted a few soldiers coming their way, probably to tell them to go to the council's room.
"So. Let's get down to business shall we?" Peony said as he took his seat at the octagonal table prepared to hold a summit between the equal strengths of the world.
"Or so it would seem." Ingobert stated as he faced the Malkuth's Emperor.
"Will you finally tell us what this is all about?" Jade allowed his own sarcasm to show as he had been meaningfully offered a seat at the table.
"It seems that we- I mean- Luke managed to somehow finalize the project that I spoke to you about." Ingobert stated.
"Ah! So that's why young Glenn was called!" the Emperor exclaimed as the situation seemed to make sense to him, Guy also noted that Anise seemed to be in it as well.
A long silence stretched as the three got a glimpse at Jade's apparent constipated expression, which was bad news.
"I myself would like to get an explanation." Tear said as thought the General's face had spoken for its owner by itself.
"Of course, forgive my poor manners. It is true that I had told his imperial majesty Peony the ninth and Governor Theodoro to keep as quiet about this as possible. But you must understand that with our current problems, we cannot allow mistakes." The King stated uneasily.
"Problems?" Guy piped up. He guessed that it had something to do with the extremists, though he hoped it wasn't so grave.
"The Vanguard." Peony stated, crushing his hopes.
"I thought they weren't being too much of a problem?" Tear stated, reflecting Guy's own knowledge of the situation.
"Actually the rumors had it that they had grown in numbers quite recently." Jade put on his two cents.
"I'm afraid that it's exactly the problem." Ingobert began.
"Their ranks are growing by the day, their popularity is frightening and their actions are more and more extreme as time goes by… It's horrible! And completely unforgivable!" Natalia raged.
Silence once again reigned supreme upon the richly furnished room as all present were digesting the information.
"We think that we should refrain from spreading words about their current importance: we don't want to advertise their doings. Though, the dreck seems to think otherwise, even if I haven't heard about his own thoughts on the subject recently." Asch broke the pressuring silence.
"Yes. Though I really wish that you could speak of the one to whom you owe your life in a more proper way. Anyway, we also have good news." Natalia tried to lift the heavy mood.
"Indeed. Count Luke Fon Fabre recently communicated the state of things with the current development of "Symphonia" the replica city." Ingobert stated as he gave his nephew a sidelong look.
"Replica city?" Jade asked, apparently interested.
"A city for the replicas, but also ruled by figures from the different powers in place: Maestro Florian for Daath, General Glenn McGovern for Malkuth, General Cecille for Kimlaska and a few replicas also; oh and we're still waiting for Yulia city and Chesedonia's own ambassadors!" Anise cheerfully explained.
"Is that why they aren't here then?" Guy asked.
"Indeed. And that's also why we're rushing this meeting: we leave for Symphonia first thing tomorrow to get a full view of the things there!" Peony added.
"WHAT?" they all screamed (minus Jade who had managed to remain as unconcerned as ever).
"This is not-" Asch began.
"I'm sorry if this seems 'rushed', but it's not our intention: Symphonia is still under construction. Actually the officials were sent there to overlook the building process…" Ingobert stated.
"Yes: we merely thought of going over these few details before Luke's return when he should inform us more precisely of the situation. Regarding the Vanguard as well…" Natalia explained.
"That's exactly why we should go to the city!" Peony insisted and Guy helplessly sensed his childish essence going out of control. Fortunately, Jade had sensed this as well (of course) and made an apologizing gesture to his audience, before unceremoniously punching the back of the Emperor's head, said head became intimately acquainted with the table and remained that way for a good, pregnant minute of utter silence.
"OWWWW JA~DE!" the blond cried once he was back to the living. Unfortunately for Peony the two's antics had become so well known that no one bothered to even try and help him anymore.
"I think that today's meeting should be called off: it's bedtime now~!" the Necromancer managed to sigh and look threatening at the same time which convinced them that, yes, it was time to call it a day…
The next day saw the group having a much less official meeting in the middle of Duke Fabre's manor's courtyard. Guy remembered all the training sessions he had had with Luke there, in a time when Van didn't seem like a psycho trying to destroy the world, at a time when he would sat next to the yard and search for a way to tell Van that he didn't want to kill the redhead anymore… Though all that was in the past now.
It was then, while they were all taken in their own personal bubble that Anise decided to inquire about her friends' romance.
"Hey, Natalia! You still didn't tell me when you would hold that wedding! You know I'm really looking forward to it! After all~ It'll be my first time telling the "you may kiss the bride" and it's gonna be royal!" she rambled on.
"W-well… I-hum…- Actually…" she began, embarrassed and blushing at the implications while looking at Asch who was equally ablaze.
"The King asked that we wait until that trash as made his choice…" he explained carefully.
"His choice?" Guy almost chocked as he asked this; as the implications inwardly made him pale: he knew that his friend's relationship with Tear had gone down the sewer for one reason or another, and he still wasn't sure he wanted to have the details, for fear, of what he didn't know, but the thought still scared him nonetheless.
"Apparently father has asked him about possibly marrying into a Malkuth/Kimlaska symbolic union between noble houses." Natalia clarified, and there it was: his fear of getting implied into this mess; still he had to say something about it.
"Are you kidding? I mean… That's… not really a choice now is it?" he asked as he looked at the surrounding faces.
"I didn't hear of it. Is it recent? Or maybe it is still an unofficial demand?" Jade asked.
"Actually, it's been a while…" at the sound of Peony's voice they all turned around to face the hopeless Emperor.
"Your majesty. Shall I ask why you are here without escort? And how much is 'a while'?" Jade dangerously raised his voice while managing fake unconcern.
"Ever since he returned from the dead I guess." He answered, not caring a single bit about the danger his childhood friend represented.
"Ever since…" Anise repeated as she eyed Tear, waiting for a reaction.
"Is there a problem?" she finally said as the attention she brought finally got to her.
"Hmph! I doubt the dreck would be spineless enough to do that." Asch pointed out in a rare show of insight and softness towards his replica.
"If you think that this is the reason why we… did not involve in a more intimate relationship, then you are mistaken…" Tear said with a tinge of sadness in her voice.
"If you say so… You know… we're just asking because we never really had a chance to understand the whole situation… And… well, he really could be so much of an idiot that might actually have separated from you, because he was given the chance to bring Kimlaska and Malkuth ever closer…" Guy brought himself to say this; as he was now felt like he didn't really have to worry about the two separations being unwanted.
"It's just… Well, I guess that it was really all my fault: I-I was so ignorant of these feelings before… I really loved Luke, those three years ago, as I saw him change… But I think that the flow of events might have played to big of a part in this…" she finally said.
"Everything went too fast. Not to mention the gravity of the situation. I guess it would be expected that once the adrenaline has worn off, you would rethink things over…" Peony stated as he seemed to understand the situation.
"Yes, I suppose so. At the time, there was me dying, and my brother going crazy, then Luke was dying, every thing was going in fast forward motion. I felt so strongly and I thought I was in love, more than one could ever be… I really thought so. But when he was gone, I started to rethink of everything and I realized that I might have just been confused. I love Luke, but more like I would love my own brother more than anything else. I… told him that. And he told me that he was relieved because he also felt like his own emotions were not of that kind either…" she finally let it out: the whole reason why Luke and Tear ended up splitting apart from one another.
"I guess it's… understandable. And Luke is really just ten now…" Guy said as he looked sadly at Tear. His thoughts were slightly different however, as he wanted to scream at the woman that what she had done was irresponsible, and that she was just trying to make excuses for herself; but he also realized that their situations were different: she had barely met Luke in the mist of things, while he and Natalia had known him before, they had a 'base' for their new impressions of Luke as the boy had changed for the better. He realized that in Tear's position, it would have been hard not to feel mixed about the replica and maybe end up with the wrong impressions.
"I'm not trying to look like a victim here. I know that I'm probably the one the most at fault, maybe I even ended up hurting him; but if I hadn't done it right then and there, it could have been worse…" she finally said. After that final statement, silence seemed to have once again bestowed them with its supreme presence.
"A-Anyway, what about you Guy? Any luck with the noble ladies?" Anise tried to sound cheerful and dissipate the dark mood settling over.
"No. Not really…" he began as he threw her a meaningful look.
"Gaillardia is still too rude to present to our fine ladies." Peony piped in.
"You mean, especially since those fine ladies have some other fine suitor…" he bit back, not really feeling like lightening the mood at the moment.
"My, my! It almost sounds as if you were angry!" Jade humored with a helpless shake of his shoulders.
"Do you need to look so unconcerned about everything?" Asch said as he shot the devious General a sidelong glance, as thought he was telling him to please read the atmosphere before making a comment.
"Now, now! Besides, I'm sure that his majesty brought such a foolish idea down. Now we just need to have king Ingobert understand it clearly!" he cheerfully went on as his glasses suddenly hid his eyes as they caught the glare of the sun, as if they were programmed to emphasis their wearer's words and make the people around wish they could flee for their life.
"A-actually… It kinda seemed like a good idea so… I sorta…. Well- started to present a few possibilities to the king and Luke - eep!" Peony squeaked as each of his words seemed to bring his impending doom and very gore, horrible, painful and torturous death closer by the minute.
"You WHAT?" the others (minus Jade who was mentally checking all the available tools present around the torture cells that he was bound to come across during a later, throughout inspection of the castle) exclaimed.
"I'm sorry…" he pitifully whimpered.
But their joyous, certainly not murderous, blabber was suddenly interrupted by a well known voice, coming from a door, one that lead to a room that really shouldn't be in use right now.
"Could you be any louder? I hardly had any sleep and you're making my head ache so early in! Do you know how late it was when I arrived last night?"
A.N.: Yes it's a bit long for a prologue… So I guess it will be the first chapter. Anyway, omake?
Luke giving his impressions after meeting a few Malkuth high society ladies:
Peony: Here is lady Estellise, what do you think? A real beauty huh?
Luke: Riiiight… Her voice drives me up the wall something even worse than Mieu's! And that's saying something!
Peony: Alright, but isn't she cute? *drool*
Luke: …Next!
Peony: Ok, how about that marvelous woman?
Luke: She's scary. I mean, all she as is that huge pair of breasts even bigger than Tears. And she always looks like she's gonna eat me… SCARY!
Peony: Still a child…
Luke: …Freak…
Peony: Then! How about we look through a few paintings of those you haven't seen yet?
Luke: …Whatever. *holds his head*
Peony: Look at this!
Luke: No.
Peony: WHY?
Luke: Are you blind? She's what? Twelve?
Peony: I assure you she only looks young!
Luke: Next.
Peony: *sigh* Fine. This one?
Luke: Is that Nephry?
Peony: *choke* W-what? What the hell is that doing here? *put the painting in his vest*
Luke:…
Peony: Errrr… Ok, that one?
Luke:…
Peony: What? *glance at the portrait and sees his mistake* Oooops! Forget you saw anything! *runs*
Luke: Was that… Jade in a dress…? *traumatized*
…And ever since, Luke has refused to see Peony in person for months…for fear that the memory would resurface.