Calm.
Everything was calm, which was exactly how Tear liked it. She was sitting in a chair by the window of her room with a book in her hand. The sun shone brightly outside and the current angle of it created a small rainbow across Tear's hand.
Suddenly, the door slammed open.
"Oh my gosh! Tear, I can't find Luke anywhere! I was going to ask to give him a tour of Daath but he disappeared somewhere! Ohhh, where is he!" Anise shouted as she ran into the Inn the group was occupying.
Tear simply looked up from the book she was reading. "Why does everyone always ask me where Luke is…? I don't know Anise. Have you asked Guy?"
"Well, you're always with him! And Guy told me to ask you. Even Mieu doesn't know where Luke is… oh my Luke, where have you gone!" Anise answered, bouncing on her feet.
At this Tear's look became more serious and she returned the book to her satchel. "If he has wandered off again, we must find him."
It would be a lie to say that Tear didn't trust Luke. However, it would also be a lie to say that Tear trusted Luke on his own, especially in a large city such as Daath. He still didn't know enough about the outside world to see through the intentions others. It was particularly dangerous for Luke to have disappeared in Daath, with the home base of the God Generals so nearby.
"Perhaps our Luke has left to have some alone time with Natalia, they are to be married after all."
Both Anise and Tear spun to face Jade. He was leaning against the wall near the door with his arms crossed and his normal amused look etched across his face.
"Don't be ridiculous Colonel," Tear replied coolly as he brushed past him, "Luke knows just as much as anyone that we do not have time for such things."
"Ah, Luke does not have time to be alone with the lovely Natalia, yet you have time to pleasure read?" Jade said, walking after her nonchalantly. He was easily able to match Tear's quick stride.
"Nonsense, this is a book from the Qlipoth is about the Sephiroth Trees. Please, Colonel, do not think of me as one to slack off after what we have already been through." Tear said back.
"Hey guys! Don't just leave me here!" Anise shouted as she ran out of the room after them.
Outside the Inn Tear immediately turned to Anise. "Where did you see Guy? He may be able to tell us where Luke might have gone."
"Well," Anise started, drawing out the word several seconds longer than was necessary, "he was at the museum when I found him."
"Unable to resist his machine-manic nature…" Jade mused and began walking in a seemingly random direction.
"Do you even know where you're going, Colonel?" Anise deadpanned.
"Of course." Jade said.
And so they set off, a short journey that mainly consisted of Anise complaining that Jade was going the wrong way and Jade saying that it was a short-cut. Tear had, after traveling with Luke for long enough, learned how to tune out annoying, complaining voices in the background.
Instead, she focused on what she would say to Luke when they found him. She would certainly chew him out about getting lost in enemy territory. What could he have been thinking?
As they arrived at the museum, Jade excused himself to seek out Luke and Natalia out by himself while Tear and Anise fetch Guy. Upon entrance, Tear immediately spotted Guy engaged in conversation with a man.
"Have they seriously done that?" Guy said excitedly while grinning ear to ear.
The man, who was just a bit taller than Guy with greasy brown hair that was tied back into a ponytail, just nodded and smiled.
"Indeed, in fact, I believe that the original idea came from—"
"Guy, Luke is missing." Tear cut in, ignoring the sour look the man gave her. She was too worried about Luke for Guy's machine-based shenanigans.
"We can't find him anywhere!" Anise added and ran behind him, forcing him to back toward the exit to get away from her.
Guy made a saddened face and began to reply. "But I was just talking about the newest fon-tech machine! It's called a—"
"You can do that after we have found him." Tear said curtly.
"Alright… he's probably with Natalia or something, but honestly I'm surprised he's not around you, Tear. Did you guys ask Mieu?" Guy said as he let out a defeated sigh. At the mention of Natalia, Tear gained a slightly annoyed look that went unnoticed by her two friends.
"Of course I did!" Anise shouted and stomped her foot.
"Let's check the weapon's store first. Luke's probably just trying to bargain with some guy over a new sword." Guy said reasonably.
"But I already checked there! He's not anywhere! Oh my Luke, where have you gone! My money…" Anise trailed off, continuing to whine.
"It won't hurt to check again." Guy said. Anise grumbled an agreement and the group set off in the direction of the weapons store.
Tear was silent as they walked before finally saying, "You two go on ahead, I'm going to look for Luke on my own. I will meet you back at the Inn in an hour."
"Oh, I see Tear wishes to be alone with Luke."
The three turned around quickly to see Jade standing there with Natalia and Ion, who was bristling slightly at Jade's comment. Tear was as well.
"Of course I don't!" Tear snapped.
"Of course she doesn't!" Natalia said, scowling.
Jade just smirked and chuckled slightly, adjusting his glasses. "I found Lady Natalia at a book store. She was looking at a cook book."
Natalia blushed slightly in embarrassment at that and let out a humph, trying to ignore the blatant stares she was receiving from Anise, Guy, and even Ion.
"Let's just find Luke."
"I am going to check the fields outside this city. Luke may be training." Tear said and started walking in that direction.
"Mieu!" cried out a high pitched voice from above.
"Master is outside the city! He is really hurt! Mieu..!" Mieu shouted as he flew down like a rocket and clung to Tear, who froze mid-step. However, she quickly came out of it and started running, the rest of the group not far behind.
As they arrived in the outside fields that bordered the city of Daath, they followed Mieu over to where they found Luke sprawled on the ground. He was groaning in pain and had a strange black print going down his back.
"Luke!" Natalia and Tear said at the same time and rushed over to him along with Ion, Anise, and Guy.
"Who did this to you?" Tear said as Natalia leaned down next to him and casted First-Aid.
"Van…" Luke managed to groan out. "He was using some kinda weird machine…"
"Van? Van is here!" Anise looked around quickly.
Jade simply crouched down next to Luke and examined the strange marks. "I have never seen any kind of fon-tech that has done anything like this…"
'"What direction did Van go, Luke?" Tear asked.
"I dunno… I was too busy getting attacked by his stupid machine…!" Luke snapped.
"What did it look like?" Ion questioned and handed Luke a healing item to help. Luke answered and Guy's eye lit up in response.
"I can't believe it! That's a the new fon machine I heard about at the museum from that guy! Luke, Van hit you with a…"
"Sir… what is this exactly?" Legretta asked as she looked over the machine that Van was standing beside.
"This is a new fon machine that Dist has built. He figured out how to make the mechanisms that most fon-technology utilizes smaller without getting in the way of its proficiency. I was testing it in the field, but I unfortunately had to return early as it was beginning to run out of fuel." Van answered. It was a well-known fact that certain parts of the machinery had to be large to work. The fact that Dist had found a way to make it smaller was miraculous, if it had also been energy-efficient it would have been a complete miracle.
"I see. But what is it called then? What does it do?" Legretta inquired, walking over to the device and placing her hand on a handle.
"It is something that can be used for both transportation and a weapon if needed. It can travel quite fast and the front of it is reinforced and can be used to cause much damage. After consulting Dist and a few other people who worked on it I have decided to call it a—"
"I see you are basking in my wondrous invention!" Van was cut off as a familiar floating chair entered the room. Dist was leaning back with his legs crossed and smiling widely, his glasses also hiding his eyes which caused him to look rather creepy.
Legretta and Van, however, simply found him annoying and were not intimidated in anyway whatsoever.
"After all," Dist continued his tirade, "such a beautiful construction could only have come from such a magnificent one as myself. My dedication, conviction, my splendor has shown through and created this perfect example of my craftsmanship! That snake, Jade, could never have accomplished what I have! Never! Not in—"
"Shut up, Dist." Legretta warned him, quickly tiring of him.
"As I was saying," Van resumed talking before Dist could reply, "this is called a…"
"Guys, why are you staring at me..?" Guy asked, cocking his head to one side in confusion. He was indeed receiving several blank stares from every one of his companions, even Jade.
"What a ridiculous name…" Tear muttered.
"Why is it ridiculous?" Guy asked and after thinking about it he started laughing and looked at Luke. The rest of the group also turned to see Luke's expression.
"What the hell! Are you telling me it was hit with something called a—"
"Exactly!" Guy laughed.
"That's very strange…" Ion said.
"That's terrible." Natalia corrected him, frowning deeply.
"My guess it was created by Dist. The marks on your back did seem amateur in nature." Jade said.
"Wait! Seriously!" Anise said. "It's really called a—"
"My dearest apologies, Luke." Jade said as he strode forward, his glasses turning opaque and a large smirk adorning his face.
"But it seems that Van has hit you with a van."
(A.N. Yes, I went there. I actually got this idea from a friend of mine. My friend was texting about Vanitas from Kingdom Hearts and kept calling him 'van'. I thought of a car, then realized who she was talking about, and then I thought about Van from Tales of the Abyss. I thought about two certain thoughts a little two hard and the idea for this fic was born.
Originally I had planned for this to involve Vanitas from Kingdom Hearts, but ultimately decided to use Van because this is his actual name, or at least, the name he goes by.
As for the part about the fon-tech stuff? Has anyone else noticed that there are airships, really cool guns, giant tank-boat things [a.k.a. The Tartarus], machines to replicate humans, but NO CARS? [or, at least, not in the anime version which is the only thing I've actually seen.] Also, all the stuff is REALLY big... so I thought of an explaination.
Favorite and Review please!)