To say he was annoyed was an understatement. After the slight botching of the unauthorized mission, he now had to find that group of idiots and take back the fon disc before they could get too much information. Not that he even knew what was on that stupid disc - that was Dist's task, not his. But since it was partially his fault for losing the disc, he now had to get it back for the incompetent scientist.
Sync scowled at the mass of people that kept cutting in front of him as he stalked through one of the many bazaars of Chesedonia. It really seemed like they were all doing it on purpose, which only aggravated him more.
A sudden flash of red had him looking over to see if he'd run into the group he was searching for, but the red wasn't the shade of Fabre's hair. It was more golden than crimson and instead of belonging to a person it belonged to a pet. Sync frowned, wondering if he was seeing things, but the moment the creature ran for him, he knew it wasn't an illusion.
Resisting the urge to defend himself, Sync remained where he was, not wanting to get into trouble with the owner if it wasn't the pet he thought it was. The creature was a little smaller than one of Arietta's ligers and was proportioned differently, with more powerful front legs and slimmer hind legs. Right as the creature barreled into him, Sync felt the fluff of its golden, shaggy mane engulf him and a slightly harder surface that was probably the armor that traveled along the canine creature's front legs and back.
The pet was suddenly pulled back, much to Sync's relief. He wasn't sure how much more he could take of the animal's playful mauling. As the pet turned, he saw the scars covering its right eye, and its torn ear that was quite a bit shorter than its longer left ear.
"Damn it, Nyla, I don't know who you're mauling but I seriously hope it's a friend!"
At the sound of that voice Sync was partially thankful he didn't try to attack the pet - not just because it might've belonged to a noble, since nobles tended to raise Arkas when they plan on traveling outside cities a lot, but because it belonged to the familiar girl. Still, he wasn't happy about being mauled by any Arka, no matter who the owner was. So he turned his glare on the owner of the voice.
"You need to keep a hold of that pet of yours," his tone was cold, colder than he'd meant but the moment his eyes caught something on the girl he'd lost his nicer tone.
Shorter than him, she still had an air of maturity if you could look past how young she looked. Her silvery blonde hair was piled into a messy bun on her head, longer than Legretta's. Unkempt bangs framed her silver eyes, that widened in surprise once they landed on Sync.
Her outfit was a bizarre hodgepodge of blues, reds, blacks and browns. He vaguely recalled seeing that shirt on the Emperor of Malkuth once, but he couldn't be sure. He doubted that the Emperor's shirt was as cut up as the one hanging from this girl's slim form. Both of her gloves were differently sized, the one on her right hand going further up her arm than the left one does. It appeared the only things that matched were her brown, combat ready boots.
On her waist was multitude of belts that he knew once belonged to her brother, another from the Emperor, though the third eluded him. Covering them, was one of Asch's tabards? Where had she gotten one of those?
But most interesting, and frustrating for the green-haired General, were two of his arm bands covering her right arm.
The ones he thought he'd lost.
"Where did you get my arm bands and Asch's tabard?"
At least she had the decency to flinch. "I stole yours from your room and Asch's during training. He'd stripped down and left it right there so I took it. Got a problem with it?"
If he kept this conversation up for too long, it wouldn't likely go anywhere. He doubted she would just give them back, he already had new ones, anyway. "What are you doing in Chesedonia, then? Didn't your brother tell you not to come here after the last time."
She scoffed, the sound somehow sounding like one of Sync's and he had to wonder how often he did that around her if she was beginning to copy him. "You really think I listen? If I listened to my brother, we never would've met, and I wouldn't get all these wonderful chances to pester you and steal your clothes."
"Listen-"
"That's the funny thing Sync, we're friends, but that doesn't mean I have to listen to you, c'mon Nyla!"
Wait a second, friends? When did he ever agree to that? Sync was stunned for a second, so by the time he realized what she'd planned the girl was already halfway up the row of stalls and away from him. "Va-" he cut off as someone bumped into him, making him lose sight of the small female. "Damn all these stupid people…"
"If I had wanted to hurt you, I would've left you to that monster," Sync grumbled, his eyes on the trembling female huddled against the tree. She'd been knocked into it minutes earlier by the monster he'd just slain, and yet it appeared as if she was clutching the tree like a lifeline.
Normally he wouldn't have bothered saving someone from any sort of danger, but if it was revealed that he'd been close by Daath in an area where a traveler had been killed and hadn't helped… Yeah, no, he didn't want to get involved in any of that.
He stepped closer to the small girl, though when she screamed he backed away on reflex, wondering how his luck could've gotten so rotten to get stuck with a preteen in shock. "All I wanted to do was leave the city and train, get away from that idiot of a scientist and the moody Fabre brat, and here I am stuck with a sniveling girl…"
The girl perked up, eyes widening, "A-Asch?"
Over near the carcass of the monster he'd just slain, the body of the girl's pet shifted. So that thing's alive? It padded over on unsteady paws and nudged the girl before looking at him. Sync frowned, then decided to take that as a sign to come closer. She tensed up again but didn't scream, so he took that as a sign to pick her up, her arm and leg too injured from the monster to be of any use.
"Please take me to Asch…"
Sync shook his head, finding it funny that the massive amount of people, the Arka, and seeing the shocked look on her face made him remember when he'd first met her. He'd taken her back to Daath, through the crowds of people who wanted to have their blessed Score read to them, and to the cathedral, taking her to the then God General in training. He'd taken her off Sync's hands, though he had noted that she had been tense with him as well. The time he saw her after that was when she'd found him outside the city once again, training. He'd taunted her about being out of the city without protection and how the next time she was in danger he wouldn't save her, but she'd responded with the same tone, flippant and sarcastic, like she'd been a different person, so long as she'd been a distance away from him.
Seeing her again after a long time was clearly messing with him, he had a mission to complete after all. That group of idiots was here somewhere and he needed that disc before Dist decided to come complain to him about it once again, and Sync really didn't need that at the moment.
...
"By the way, Colonel, why did you just stand by and watch as she did that?"
Jade smiled, "Oh no, you got me. It looked like it would be so amusing..."
And it was, Luke had been walking around the bazaar without watching what was going on around him, and he'd been taken advantage of. It amused Jade, since he'd chased the group of thieves across the Rotelro bridge right before he'd met the spoiled Fabre heir standing in front of him. The journey from then to now had been riddled with amusement for the Colonel, especially since his normal agenda was mostly filled with paperwork and training recruits.
Maybe Peony was right, and he needed to get out a bit more if wandering around Auldrant with a group of kids was filling him with amusement. Although if someone tried to get him to say that aloud he'd deny it the second it was spoken.
Since this wasn't his first time in Chesedonia, Jade knew exactly where they were heading, though Guy seemed to be taking it slow so Luke could look at everything around them. It mattered little to him though; it allowed him to think more of some of the events of Coral Castle. The fomicry machine alone was a bit worrisome, but seeing Asch the Bloody had Jade wondering just what Dist has been involved with all these years in the Oracle Knights. Granted, he wasn't sure if it was Dist who was completely involved, considering he had, according to Luke, been very interested in the findings at Coral Castle, but it was something Jade wanted to look into.
It took them longer than he would've thought, but eventually they arrived at the Kimlascan Consulate and their group was ushered in to see the Consul.
"Luke Fabre and the emissaries, I presume?" Greeted the Consul.
"What's the status of the ship to Baticul?" Jade wasted no time in asking. After all, the sooner they got to Baticul, the sooner he'd feel better about a couple of things. And less of a chance they'd be stopped by another God-General.
"Preparations are currently underway. Why not partake in some sightseeing around town while you wait?"
Guy took this moment to speak up. "Why don't we take this opportunity to investigate that fon disk?"
"If you need a fon disk analysis machine, I believe Mr. Astor of the Chesedonia Merchants' Guild has one."
"Luke, let's stop by there for a minute. Tear'll probably be busy after we get back to Baticul and all."
Although he'd prefer not to wander too much, Jade did agree that it would likely be a good opportunity to see what's on the disc. "I agree, after all, I do wonder what's on it."
Luke seemed to think about it, "Hmm. Well, okay. I want to take a look around, anyway."
Allowing the others to lead the way out of the Consulate, Jade once again fell into his thoughts. Halfway to the mansion though, he noticed something that had him leaving his thoughts and pausing long enough that the rest of the group noticed.
"What is it, Colonel?"
Leave it to Anise to question him. "I just thought we could split for a moment and meet up again in front of Astor's mansion. Luke did want to look around after all, and I just recalled something I wanted to try and find while we're here."
Luckily they didn't question him too much and Luke took that to mean it was okay to drag Guy off to look around more while Tear went off with Anise and Ion, leaving him to go and check something he hoped was wrong.
Three stalls down, Jade noticed there was a wide berth around an area that was usually teeming with people around this time of day. As he got closer, he noticed why and had to hold in a deep sigh that threatened to break out. After all, he'd hoped he was wrong when he'd seen it minutes earlier, but apparently no one was smiling on him that day.
A blonde girl was standing at the stall of a weapons dealer, waiving her arms around in a manner that clearly stated she wasn't happy with the way the bargaining was going. At her feet was the reason of such a wide berth, an Arka lay curled up with its head on its paws, the twin tails that signified it being such a creature, swishing from side to side near its forepaws. Jade noticed that the armor on this particular Arka had been altered and had a Malkuth cloak sewn into it, one that Jade realized was one of his own. Where had she gotten that, he wondered?
As he drew nearer, the Arka lifted its head and growled, the growl causing the girl to look over at the pet then up at Jade. The instant her silver eyes locked on him, she froze then looked from side to side as if trying to plan an escape route.
"Don't even think about it."
She cringed back as he came to stand beside her and looked down at the Arka by her feet. "Couldn't have warned me sooner?"
Jade sighed. "Don't blame Nyla for allowing me to see you, since you're the one bringing such a creature to Chesedonia where they stand out like a sore thumb."
Her eyes shifted to a glare as she eyed the creature at her feet. "Maybe I should leave you home, since you're the one who keeps getting me caught; this is the third person today alone that has caught up with me because of you. And we've just arrived from home!"
At least he managed to catch her before she got into trouble, then, though that might not necessarily be true since the last incident here in Chesedonia regarding her had actually been caused not even an hour into her arrival here. Still, "why are you here? I believe your brother told you not to come back here, especially not without an escort."
This caused her to turn her scowl at him. "What is it with everyone telling me what my brother has or hasn't told me? I get it, I 'shouldn't leave home without permission like a good little girl'. But seriously, there is nothing to do at home, and I already checked the shops there the other day and they had nothing new. Is it so bad to want to get something newer?"
Her sarcasm was in top form today it seemed, though that meant little to him at this point. Jade thought about it, if he left her alone here, she would likely get into some form of trouble and he'd have to go and get her out of it. It's happened before, in other towns, when he'd had to go out of his way to get her away from a few situations that she hadn't been able to handle, and he didn't want a repeat of any of them. He'd rather not have a screaming and crying girl on his hands for long periods of time, or have to receive letters regaling the tales of her crying and screaming from one of the others who would have to remain with her to calm her down.
Silver eyes were now eyeing Jade with suspicion. "You're planning on taking me to the Consulate, aren't you? Well guess what, I already checked there and it won't work, not if you plan on leaving me there to continue on whatever secret mission Peony asked you to do for him. I'll just leave the Consulate since none of them would be able to stop me."
Ah, so that explained why she hadn't been taken in yet. Any time a new soldier was stationed at the Consulate, they were warned about her and told to either keep an eye out for her or grab her if she seemed to be in trouble. It was likely that the former now applied to pretty much all of the soldiers there at the moment, which means he'd have to improvise.
"Not at all, I was wondering if perhaps you'd help me with something. Apparently Dist has gotten into something of a bind, and I wound up with an item of his that needs to be translated. Since you know a lot about his workings, I figured that you would be able to help us with the disc."
"Which means, you plan on having me come with you, regardless of what I want. Fine, I'll help you with the disc. But only if you buy me lunch on the way to wherever we're going, I haven't eaten since this morning."
Jade had expected much more resistance from her at this point, but perhaps she thought he would take her along regardless of what she wanted. Not that he'd have much of a chance if both of them turned on him, since his Fon slot seal hadn't been lessened at all since the Tartarus. Though it was unlikely that she knew about that incident, which was probably the cause for her quick willingness to agree to come with him.
Without another word, she climbed on Nyla and the two headed off in the opposite direction that he needed to go in. But finding it better to just follow along, Jade began to keep pace alongside them as they began their trek through the bazaar. After about ten minutes, the trio wound up at a fruit stand and Jade bought a bundle of fruit, which was then placed in the pack that was strapped on the left side of Nyla's armor.
"This'll work; lead the way to wherever it is we're going," came the reply muffled by an apple.
Resisting the urge to sigh, Jade indeed led the way to Astor's mansion. At the entrance of the mansion, the rest of the group had already arrived. Anise was playing with Mieu, Guy was talking with Ion, and Luke was apparently being scolded by Tear for something. As Jade came upon them with his new companions, everyone turned to stare.
"Whoa, that's an Arka! They're really rare nowadays and really expensive to breed!" Anise cried out, rushing over to them; apparently not seeing the girl on top the Arka's back until she jumped off Nyla's back and stood in front of the pet to keep it from attacking Anise.
"And also really temperamental when being suddenly bombarded by little girls."
Anise stopped short from running into the blonde, gasping at her sudden appearance. "Whoa! Where did you come from?"
Jade chose that moment to speak up before either of the two girls decided to start an argument. "Well, now that everyone's here, why don't we go in and see Astor?"
"Um, Colonel?"
"Yes, Tear?"
"Who is this girl?"
Jade sighed, he knew he couldn't very well just bring her along without the group questioning the decision, but he didn't really feel like explaining anything at the moment. Luckily, someone else realized that.
"Oh, so he didn't tell you he saw me. That's just great. Mr. Doesn't-Like-To-Explain-Things over here apparently saw Nyla, which obviously means I'm here, and went to find me. Evidently, he has it in his head that I can't take care of myself and has coerced me into 'helping' you guys out with something that might or might not be from Dist—"
"It is."
"—because he wants to keep me close until he can hand me off to the right group of soldiers to take back to the capital," she finished despite Jade's input.
Everyone turned to stare at him now, looks ranging from shock, disbelief, and anger. It would amuse him more if the looks weren't directed at him, though it still did entertain him just a tad. He was mostly amused by the tone that she had used, since he remembered her always being quiet when he'd first found her, never wanting to make much of a sound while in a new environment. Though there had been a reason for that, and Jade was thankful that he had a chance to change that, not that he outwardly showed it. Even Peony had been surprised by her appearance and tone back when— No, he wouldn't allow himself to continue that train of thought at the moment, there were other things that needed to be handled. He couldn't allow himself to get that caught up in his memories.
"Like she mentioned, I'll be keeping her along until I get the chance to hand her off to another higher official who will make sure she doesn't get into trouble."
Tear sighed, clearly not thrilled by the newest addition, but walked over with a hand extended, "In that case, I'm Tear."
"Oh, err, yeah. Hi, I'm Valeria. This is my pal Nyla, pleased to meet ya," she got out, shaking Tear's hand.
Anise came over next and offered her hand as well, "Anise Tatlin, Fon Master Guardian."
Jade noticed with interest that Valeria stiffened the moment Anise mentioned her title and looked over right as Ion was walking toward the group of girls, though as the Fon Master drew closer, he stopped with shocked look on his face. "Oh! I remember you; you used to spend time around the Cathedral in Daath while waiting for Dist and some of your other friends."
He also watched with interest as Valeria inhaled a breath and held it for a moment before releasing it and exchanging her shocked look for a quick grin. If he hadn't been watching her, he would've missed it, it had happened so fast.
"Right, I recall seeing you around, good to see you again, Fon Master," Valeria greeted offhandedly, looking away the moment the greeting was finished. She then walked to Nyla's side and got atop the pet while turning to look at the men of the group. "No need to be all formal, I don't need handshakes or anything, just your names so I don't call you something else."
Luke looked annoyed at the thought of a new person, "Luke. Luke fon Fabre."
Guy on the other hand looked relieved. "And I'm Guy Cecil, a servant at Luke's manor."
"And I'm Mieu!" the cheagle cried as he bounced up and down next to Luke. Valeria cringed away from the cheagle, clearly not liking his high pitched voice. Even Nyla growled low, snorting at the little creature, which then caused his ears to droop sadly. It amused Jade, since Mieu likely knew what the Arka had grumbled to him.
"Okay, got it. Tear, Guard, Ion, Fabre, Guy and Pipsqueak. Also Jerk. Good to know. Can we get this over with now?"
Jade wasn't too worried about the nicknames, since she likely only said them to get on the nerves of the ones she'd nicknamed. If he recalled, she'd done this before while with him on a training exercise, it was mostly to see who she might be able to annoy the most and the fact that she managed to single out the ones who would most likely get annoyed or saddened the quickest didn't surprise him.
He brushed it aside for now, since they had other things to do. Anise's cry about being called 'Guard' had him chuckling under his breath.
A/N:
RK: Thank you for reading our fic! This is the first fic that we're writing together and hopefully we'll be doing a good job!
We also really need to thank our Beta: IHaveNoIdea8 who has stuck with us through a TON of messaging, giving us tips and ideas on how to make something better or change it. Also she fixed grammar and run on sentences, cause she's amazing like that!
Um? Anything else?
Mara: Neither myself nor RK own the rights for Tales of the Abyss, we only own the two copies of the PS2 version and a copy of the 3DS version in our possession. Only our OCs are ours and any side plot we may or may not throw in later on in the story.
We also wish to give a warning that there will be a few darker elements within our fic, but we plan on giving warnings if they get to be a bit intense.