Summary: She was the descendant of Yulia, the prophet of Lorelei. She used the seventh fonon, and knew of all the lore concerning her bloodline.What was the difference between her ancestor and herself? The future, or at least that was what she thought. slight Tear/Luke.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of the Abyss...or Jade in any possible way..:sob: Why must our love remain nonexistent!!! Curse Lorelei and his gender-confusedness!!

-------------------------May contain spoiler if you haven't played until after Akzeriuth...//dramatic pause//..."thing"---------------------------------

Mystearica's Gift

She felt out of her element, the drifting songs and hymns that flowed through her being, waiting to be brought out in a spell, to either heal or harm, were surging and sounding louder than she could have imagined. Tear wasn't as strong enough for this to happen, what happened to the older Melodiosts she had studied under, though the thrumming didn't feel strange or out of control at all.

She felt comfortable, as if she had had grown into it gradually, but unless she had an amplifier, her current level was impossible. She only knew a handful of spells after all. At least the last time she was…awake? It felt like she was standing…but laying down at the same time?

She was awake, but for some reason Tear couldn't begin to recall just where she was. Was it on the Albiore II—What was an Albiore? Now she was only confusing herself.

She clenched her hand and attempted to reach for her daggers—They were there. If they hadn't, then she would have had a much harder time of overcoming her unknown captors. Sighing in relief, she tried to survey her surroundings without necessarily drawing attention to herself.

There was a light that shined softly behind her eyelids, it was warm, but foreign…It rivaled the feeling she acquired when healing or using one of her fonic hymns, but she knew it couldn't be. Besides herself, the insolent brat and the princess…Princess?Tear never recalled coming in contact with one; the only princess in Kimlasca-Lanvaldear or Malkuth was Princess Natalia, the daughter of King Ingobert, and the only royalty she had come to face with was the son of Duke Fabre, so she couldn't know any other seventh fonon user. It couldn't be that—

"Thank you! Tear—Thank you!"

Tear opened her eyes in shock to find herself in the embrace of a red-head dressed in white—Luke? If his outfit was any indication it was him, but the spoiled boy had much longer hair, and if the Fubras River passing was any hint to his vanity, he would most definitely not cut his hair under any circumstance.

It couldn't be Asch, he seemed to be the type to shun any physical contact like--Who was she about to mention? What was wrong with her! The bright light hurt her eyes, she was being hugged by a short-haired version of the brat she was traveling with, and she was remembering things that she had no clue about. She—

"—I know I shouldn't get ahead of myself," He said sheepishly as he finished shaking her hand and turned to a little girl who was toting around a patched doll. Wasn't she the Fon Master Guardian? "It's just that we haven't had much to be happy about lately, and now that we know that the armies won't fall—"

Now she did a double-take and turned to look at the group assembled.What was this about armies? The tensions between the two countries had grown, but not to the extent that war would occur so soon. The only way something could fall from the outer lands were if they were to fall down to the Qliphoth, and the no one knew how to control the Sephiroth trees—This was a Passage Ring! Impossible! Van had told her a bit, as did her grandfather, but one couldn't enter without the presence of the Fon Master and permission of the Order of Lorelei.

She ignored the fact that her surroundings soon began to fade, explaining it away to herself as the effect of her sudden shock in being introduced to this environment: one where she was apparently suffering from some sort of amnesiatic condition. This was, however, brought back to her immediate attention in an unusual circumstance.

Her body grew faint, as the Passage Ring and her vision twirled, a wonderful rendition of the time that Mieu tried to create a pyro tornado on his "master's" prompting; it had not ended well, and seemed to be a harbinger of what was happening to her. Tear collapsed onto the crystallized floor, her body sagging as she soon lost whatever control of it she had managed to garner in her small span of consciousness. She tried to move her hands to her daggers, to at least feel a bit of security, but it was for naught.

"Tear! What happened—ar-- you--ok-ay?"

She heard shouts as her surroundings faded, and again she was accosted by the warmth of the red-head. It was a nice feeling she supposed. She just wished she knew what had led to such a welcome change in him. If he could be like this, then maybe—All went black...

…She awoke to the smell of smoke, and on the ground with an ache at her side. Hadn't she just been with Luke in the Passage Ring?

"Look, Tear, are you awake?" an annoyed voice sounded above her, drawing her attention to the person in question. He still had his long mane of red, but this time his face held none of the compassion or empathy his…dream counterpart had had. She slowly nodded her head, now painfully aware of the wound at her side and the events that had led up to her receiving it.

"I just wanted to say…Mieu wanted to know if you were okay." He sighed, drawing a hand through his hair exasperatedly. She felt a twinge of hurt at being treated like she was a burden when just a few moments ago he had held her as if she was the greatest thing that had ever happened to him.

"Yes, I am fine. As a soldier, I'm used to receiving wounds such as this and recovering quickly." She answered stiffly, not wanting to break her facade of apathy. If he was going to act like a spoiled brat, he deserved nothing less in return. A stare-off between the two commenced as Luke tried to see if she was being rude, and Tear just stared back not to be outdone. They continued in this manner until it seemed it would never end.

"--Now that you two lovebirds are done with your rather lively discussion", Jade began cheerfully, adjusting his glasses to create something else to focus on other than the two protesting teenagers before him. "Why don't we begin discussing what we're to do from here." Guy looked smug at the red-faced pair from his position beside the tree at the edge of their campsite, as Luke looked ready to cast Mieu Fire on him.

The shadows draped across every figure as the fire both grew and receded, casting an omnipresent shadow show for the group. Placing her staff next to her seat, she settled herself within one of the constant shadows, not wanting to face more ridicule from the slightly off Necromancer, and needing to brood more on the dream she had had, now in what she believed to be a decent state of mind.

She had dreamt of a Passage Ring, a Sephiroth, a short-haired and much nicer Luke, and something about the tensions mounting enough for a war to start. Had she accidentally inhaled fumes from one of the mushrooms they had fought? Snippets of the conversation she was pretending to be apart of reached her in her little nook, but she swept them aside and tried to focus on her dilemma.

It would take years for Luke to mature to the point of actually caring for someone other than himself, her internal argument started; the same would hold true for the war, and if what she believed her brother to be doing was true; the same would hold for her brother's plans which she knew must include the Outer Lands and Qliphoth, and even her strange growth in strength…Then what had she just seen?

Another shadow drew itself beside the shadow she had hidden herself in, so she glanced up to see the Fon Master gazing at her with his usual cherubic expression of serenity. He asked quietly if he could join her, and she nodded quickly to the waiting youth when it became apparent he was talking to her.

"So what was that hymn you used in the last battle?" he asked politely tilting his head to the side in a gesture of genuine curiosity. She struggled to remember just which one she had used that would issue such merit from the Fon Master who had most likely seen more fonic spells than she could ever learn in her one life.

"I'm not really sure what exactly to call it", she began slowly, "but it was derived from the first fonic hymn of Yulia". She glanced over to see if she had done anything to offend him, the Daathic Fon Masters had had a history of being touchy on the subject of who could refer to the sacred hymns, but none of this showed on his face. He looked slightly intrigued and asked for her to explain the principles that helped her to bring it to being. A few moments passed, an amazed outburst when she revealed she was actually was descended from Yulia herself, but they continued until he seemed satisfied with the answers she gave him, and she let out a sigh of relief. It wouldn't do to get on the bad side of the most important person in her order.

They spent their next span of time in silence as her companion looked as if he were trying to say something particularly difficult and unsure as to how to breach the topic.

"Tear," he said, getting up to answer a summons from Jade who looked to discuss something that would concern him, "Have you ever used the Seventh Fonon to do more than… heal?"This comment jarred her thoughts as she turned to look at his retreating back.

Do more than heal! Other than healing would be to—no, only Yulia could… but hadn't she just said she was descendant of…Could what happened—could the dream have been a vision? She saw Ion cast a glance and nod from the other side of the campfire briefly, as if acknowledging her train of thought as being correct. It would have been the shocked expression that she had let her face express for a few moments that had led to his acknowledgement, but he could have been nodding to any—other bush behind her.

Could she have seen the future? With everything eventuating as it was, messed up and twisted, she supposed anything could be possible, but her? What merit could she have that let Lorelei think she was worthy of such a gift?

"Tear! Bandits!", at the exclamation, Tear quickly straightened her dress and hair, took up her staff, and shook her head of such thoughts. It was impossible and impractical to think of such thoughts when on the run like this.

Casting a 'Nightmare', and seeing Luke barely avoid being hit by the violet explosion, meant for the dim bandit who thought it smart to cast a spell so close to a swordsman, she supposed that future would not be unwelcome if it meant he would stop being such an idiot. Watching him boast about their victory at the end of the battle only magnified that welcoming.

He would get himself killed with that attitude, and again she couldn't help but feel a tinge of emotion concerning the spoiled Duke's son. She just hoped that the situation didn't end up as bad as it sounded from her position. Not that it would come true or anything.

It was just a feeling…a really strong feeling.

One that made her feel as if what they faced now barely held a candle to what was going to come.

Not that it necessarily was.

She really needed to make up her mind about that. The hug was a nice thing to look forward to.

"Shut up Thing!"

"Okay Master…"

And the new attitude was an even nicer thing to look forward to.

A/N--I probably can safely say that I played away five days of my life playing Tales of the Abyss, coming up with this when my mind couldn't take no for an answer when I abandoned it in order to play a bit of Symphonia...I, along with my sisters, are the "Regeneration Trio"!! Myself clad with two swords, one sis weilding chakrams (reminds me of Axel!!), and the other midget holding a kendama--We fight beat evil Desian butt!! my second playthrough.. . , but whatever...

The scene of "Present" time is after she takes the hit to save Brat!Luke in the beginning of the game, which earns him the title of "Frightful Child", or something along those lines...On an unrelated side-note,--I love his 'Viscount' outfit!!!!I had him wear it the whole time after I got it!!