Issues of Post-Game Crossovers: Tales of the Abyss Familiar of Zero

by noctisxsol

Two souls in one body put into the service of a girl who doesn't truly know who she is or what she wants. Both will need to forge their identities in the path of their own destiny. Spoilers for Tales of the Abyss.

1. Binding

Issues of Post-Game Crossovers: Tales of the Abyss and Familiar of Zero

Chapter 1: Identity

Spoilers for all of Tales of the Abyss. Play the game, It's one of the greatest of all time. Available for 3DS, or PS2 if you can find it. Some head-cannon, but that's inevitable for some of this stuff.

This is planned to be a fairly short series since there is only one real season of Familiar of Zero (FoZ). The tone will be a little more serious and soul searching, but the comic relief will still be there. This will not be a story of a forming romance, but rather of forging/ deciding your identity. Luke/Asch will be summoned at the point just after he freed Loreli, but the memories from both will exist in the new person. The summoner must decide her own fate, and the summoned his own identity.

I have no rights to either Familiar of Zero nor to Tales of the Abyss, and I make no money off of this work. If you aren't satisfied, contact me, and I'll give you everything I earned from this. If you find it really bad, then I'll send double.

Text key

"Speech" "Thought" "SHOUTING" 'Non-bodied Beings' "Spells/Artes"

This story assumes familiarity with Tales of the Abyss, but can be read without. If you don't understand a term; you're already on the internet, look it up.

And with that, we begin

'So, the world did not vanish.'

"My servant that existed somewhere in this vast universe."

'To think that the future I saw would be rewritten.'

"My divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call!"

'You have done admirably."

"I wish from the very bottom of my heart and add to my guidance and appear!"

'Go with my blessing and gift."

-Tristain Academy Courtyard—

A pink haired young woman stood in front of a crowd of her peers, pouring out her soul in her final chance to prove herself. Giving her wand a final dramatic wave she pushed all of her power out and hoped. An explosion covered the area. As the dust settled, all of the students stared in awe at the sight before them. What they saw was not an animal, but instead a pair of men in a protective sphere. The visibility was low, but they would see that both were adorned with red hair, and that one of said men was laying pale and bloodstained in the other's arms. The second fact was what caught people's attention.

"Brimir!" … "Louise killed someone!" … "Get a water mage!" … "Is that her familiar?" … "Germanian?"… "Twins?" … "A human familiar?" … "Why is he glowing?"

The crowd of students surged in opposite directions. Some wanted to get closer and see just what the Zero had managed to summon. Others remembered her penchant for explosions and wanted to be as far away as possible.

The latter group had the better idea.

A glow began to emanate from inside the sphere and increased until it hid everything from the spectators' view. Lances of light pierced the bubble and light flooded the courtyard. When everyone could finally see, they were greeted by a crater containing a single red haired young man, a bag of holding, and two piles of clothes.

Most of the ladies blushed and averted their eyes at the sight of the young man in the buff, but a certain red haired young lady couldn't resist but find comedy in the situation. "How perfect! Louise the Zero's familiar makes explosions just like her!"

As the crowd erupted in laughter said pink-haired girl merely stewed in her anger. "That's not fair. His explosion was better than mine."

-Infirmary, Later—

"But he's a human! And we don't even know if he's the one I summoned or if he was merely dragged into the spell with his brother or-"

"Miss Valliere, the rules are very clear. Despite the unusual circumstances of his summoning, we cannot allow you to so casually undermine the sacred ritual. He will be your familiar. Complete the ritual."

"But Professor Colbert, he's obviously a noble! His current lack of dress aside, that second explosion was not caused by my magic and he still seems to glow."

"Yes, well" The professor coughed and stumbled over his words before coming to a decision. "I'm certain that his family will understand the necessity of the sacred ritual. Though, perhaps it would be wise to learn more about your familiar and the consequences of binding him before the contract is sealed. I'm certain that the element of time can be flexed in this unprecedented circumstance."

"Am I then to be the only second year without a familiar until that is concluded?"

"Well-" The argument between teacher and student was interrupted by a loud groan from the bed where they placed the crimson haired summon.

"(Damn it. I thought the afterlife was supposed to be peaceful. Should have known the Order was lying about that too.)"

The nobles winced at the harsh tone even if they couldn't understand the words. They pushed forward into the room where Colbert took the lead and extended his hand in greeting. "It is nice to meet you sir. You are at the Tristain Magic Academy. Louise here must have brought you here as part of her summoning spell. From where do you hail?"

The man stared at the hand in what seemed to be annoyance before standing up from the bed to shake it. However, that removed the sheets covering his nakedness, and it was done in the presence of a very hot-blooded young lady. Said young lady reacted before thinking and set a kick to the presumed pervert's privates.

Acting on instinct, his hand went to grab a sword. While there should have been nothing, his hand caught the handle of a familiar blade and within an instant it struck the young noblewoman across the cheek with the flat.

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she forced them back and tried to assure herself. "I am a Valliere, I am a noble, I won't be made a fool of by this uncouth Germanian barbarian!"

The man that struck her was focused on the blade in his hand. The blade was long and had a hexagontal dip on both sides in the middle of the blade, and was attached to a handle in the shape of a tuning fork. "This is… The Key of Lorelei. But why do I have it? Didn't it dissolve when I freed Lorelei? What happened?"

The man traced his memory back, he remembered fulfilling his mission, but before that feeling the death of his other half and at the same time dying himself. His memories pushed back into his head in matching pairs; falling down into a trap hole to find his original, and also witnessing the replica fall down the trap as the original. He could remember both sides of the duel as original and clone fought for the right to destroy their destiny. He remembered both giving and receiving the back-handed acknowledgement of surpassing his status as replica.

Two voices warred in his head. He stumbled and started to glow. His hands went to his head and clutched his hair. Long. Asch. The sword in his hand was given to the replica. Luke.

His breathing increased. Both sides of him knew what was happening, but couldn't command the body to stop the destruction that was about to unfold. Full power hyper-resonance. Not even dust would remain.

Swords piercing his back, his stomach, three of them. Dead. Holding the cooling body of his original as his own body dissolved. Dead. Dead. Dead.

The power pulled his arms in front of him. A vibrating sphere of destruction formed in front of him as reality was flooded with more power than it was made to hold.

A hand caught his attention. Memories of a ship. Vandestelca? No, the traitor was dead and Lorelei was free. Who-

Lips. Too small, too short. Not Natalia. Nor Tear. Anise? Pink hair. Kiss.

Pain. Burning on his hand. Fonic Glyphs? Ancient Ispanian? Hyper-resonance shorted out. Explosion. Partial power. Pain. Darkness.

Colbert cleared the air of smoke with a quick wind spell and took stock of the situation. Louise was on the floor, pinned by her newly bound familiar and lit with sunlight from a newly created hole in the wall. He came to the silent decision that the two were perfect for each other.

"Congratulations, Miss Valiere, you have successfully bound your summon, may have created an international incident, and have managed to indirectly destroy the medical wing. You have defied all expectations once again."

Louise wasn't certain how whether to take that statement as honest compliment, or backhanded insult.

-Evening, Valliere chambers—

The crimson haired familiar sat up in an unfamiliar bed surrounded by stone walls. Ever since he left the manor and traveled over the whole world, this had become a more common thing. It wasn't a matter of concern.

He was also naked. Not even any bandages. That was not common, and was an inordinately bad sign. Either he had gotten drunk, or someone had kidnapped him again. He sincerely hoped it was the later.

The silhouette of a small young woman fell across a thin privacy screen. "Fon Master guardian. Anise? Arietta? Damnit, what did I do? Or… Lorelei help me…"

Deciding it would be better to face the humiliation and possible castration right away, he sat up and called out, "Did I do anything… stupid, last night?"

The silhouette froze before rushing to finish changing and threw a set of clothes at him over the screen.

"Anise, is that you? What's going on? Where's Guy? Where's Tear? Did something happen?"

A pink head poked out from behind the screen before retreating back blushing.

"So it was kidnapping. That's a relief. I was worried I did something that I couldn't live down. I would have to destroy Dist's revenge journal again. Or worse, introduce her to Mother…"

His mysterious captor finally came out from behind her screen once he was finally dressed in the shirt and cape thrown at him. She looked him up and down before nodding to herself in satisfaction. She waved him over to a small desk and pulled out a chair for him to sit.

They were eye to eye like that.

"Alright Louise, don't panic or do anything stupid. I summoned a noble, his lack of manners aside. I don't know what rank he holds, if he had or even can have a familiar of his own, or even how well he can control his magic. He may very well be like me and… No. I have to treat him with respect as a noble deserves, even if he is a boorish Germanian. Remember the lessons that-

"Are you feeling alright? You've been staring at me with a really intense look on your face."

Louise blushed and turned her head to the side, only barely holding herself back from a huff and calling him an idiot. However, she wasn't able to hide the bruise that had formed from his earlier strike. The discoloration jogged the man's memories and his eyes widened.

He leapt from his seat and rushed over to his item bag and pulled out a strange dome shaped red gelatin. He rushed back over and gently tilted her face to show the bruise before rubbing the gel over the wound. "I'm sorry. I acted without thinking; I could have easily stopped you without having to hurt you. The apple gel should heal you right up."

Louise fought back her blush and the accompanying anger. She couldn't bring herself to go to a water mage for healing, in case word got out that she couldn't control her familiar. Who was still acting out against her command to sit and talk. And he was treating her like a child, which was even worse!

She squirmed and used both her arms to push away the hand that was treating her cheek. He laughed and let himself be pushed away, taking far too much delight in her petulant pout. "I'm sorry, you just remind me of one of my friends. Anise is only thirteen, but she likes to think she's twenty. 'I'm not a kid!' and the whole time she looks like someone's lost child."

"How… nice." Her smile was suddenly very forced and her hand was reaching for her riding crop. Only the constant mental reminder that this was another noble held her hand. "So… I remind you of a little girl… When I'm sixteen…"

The look of barely contained anger on her face brought up a memory of a different little girl and his mood darkened. He stared at her reflection in the window and saw the spirit of a different short pink haired girl, dying in a forest over the destroyed nest of the monsters that raised her. "Damnit… Arietta, why couldn't you let it go?"

Frightened by his sudden shift to a darker mood, Louise sought to gain control of the conversation. "Tell me who you are and where you came from." She almost winced at the commanding tone. A noble could easily take such an attitude as an insult.

The summon meanwhile was uncertain on how to answer. Two sets of memories and two voices gave conflicting answers. Replica or Original? Luke or Asch? When he finally spoke, the words came out slowly, like he was announcing an ongoing compromise. "I'm… the son of Duke Fabre, the nephew of King Ingobert VI. I'm engaged to Princess Natalia. I am the scion of Lorelei's power. My name is…" he paused, his mouth moving between two different names before he settled on one with a smile "Light of the Sacred Flame, Luke fon Fabre."

Louise stared in awe at the young man in front of her. "Engaged to a Princess, nephew to a king, he's practically higher rank than I am! And I summoned him! Surely that counts for something! I can't be completely talentless if I managed to summon someone like him! So what if he had the manners of a Germanian, he's all but a prince where he came from! Now if I can just find out where that is… and find out what this means for my element… and-"

"And who are you?"

Louise froze in the middle of her train of thought. "I-I am Louise François Le Blanc De La Valliere, the youngest child of the Valliere family. My father is the Duke of Valliere, and my mother is famed as Karin of the Heavy Wind. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sir Luke. Am I right to guess that your element is fire?"

Luke tilted his head in confusion, one of the voices inside him whispering that something was wrong. "Well, I can utilize all seven fonon types. The sacred flame is a reference to Lorelei, the seventh fonon."

Louise stared at him blankly. "Seven… fonons? What kind of wild magic exists in your kingdom!? Everyone knows that there are only elements of magic! And What in Brimir's name is a fonon? Where is your kingdom, anyway? Beyond the elf lands?"

Luke looked out the window and the voice grew stronger. Something was missing from the sky. He turned to Louise and stared straight into her eyes. "Take me outside, there's something I need to check."

Louise dazedly took him by the hand and led him to the courtyard where he had been summoned. He looked up at the twin moons and sighed. "It's not there. I really have been drawn to a different world."

The girl sputtered at the nonsense. "Another world, Impossible! The summoning can only bring creatures of this world! You just don't know what you're talking abou-"

"Devil's inferno!"

A wave of heat enveloped her face, flames stopping just short of her nose. Luke stared at her defiantly, his sword wand not moved from his attack.

"I carry the memories of two lives spent saving our world from a destiny of destruction. I traveled east until it became west. I have seen the end of north and south. I know my world, and this is not it. Now, you can continue to question my knowledge, or you can learn how I earned the name ASCH THE BLOODY!" Louise quaked in terror. Her only salvation was the far-away look in her familiar's eyes.

Asch, meanwhile was struggling with his now opposing inner voice. 'You didn't have to threaten her. She's obviously never experienced anything like us before, she's just trying to work with what she knew. You don't have to punish her for that!'

"She wouldn't listen to reason if there wasn't force behind it. She's even worse of a spoiled brat than you were, replica."

'And I'm proof that people like that can change! Give her a chance! Teach her! We were sent here for a reason. Maybe it's to help her.'

"We don't have time to play. We need to get back to Natalia, she doesn't know we're alive."

'That's another thing, HOW are we alive. You died! My fonons all separated!'

"The contamination effect? Or perhaps it was Lorelei who intervened. Who can be certain?"

'…Things are different now.'

"Replica…"

'I've grown since Yulia City. We're equals now. I won't stand by and let you lash out without reason.'

"…Then prove it. Apologize to the brat and see if she really can change with your soft gloves."

"Umm, Lord Fabre? I-I apologize for my insolence! Please forgive me!"

Luke looked down at the girl and saw potential. Potential for change. She knew something was wrong, but she just didn't know how to change it yet. "You can change. So long as you realize there is a problem and work to correct it, you will be on the path to change. And for my part, for scaring you, I'm" His mouth suddenly shut with a clack. The muscles strained against each other, like his body was fighting to keep in the words the mind wanted to say. "sorry."

He looked inordinately pleased with himself for what seemed to be a simple apology, but she brushed it off. "Well then… could you tell me about your brother? What happened to him?"

Luke's face changed in an instant. His eyes narrowed into slits and his face set into a grimace. It was like an entirely different person was wearing the face. "Replica. He was my replica, a copy that stole my life and almost ruined everything. Then he grew up. He surpassed me. I died, and he finished the job…"

"You died! How is that possible?! How can you be here?! What happened to the Replica?!"

His face softened again, and he put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm here. I just have Asch's memories too. It just gets confusing."

Louise spent a minute trying to figure out what was going on before surrendering. "I accept you as you are, Luke. I will assist you in any way I can, as a fellow noble."

He looked at her with a strange look on his face before sighing. "It's not about being a noble or anything like that. I'll accept your help from one person to another. However, it will have to be later. I have to return to my friends and let them know I'm alive, whoever I am now."

A cold feeling settled in the pit of the girl's stomach. "A-and how do you propose that you return? By your own admission you came from another world. I cannot return you, the summoning spell does not allow for the return of the familiar."

Luke placed his hands out in front of his chest. "When my journey started, a hyper-resonance blew me halfway across the world. With Asch and I working together to open the portal that brought us here, it should be an easy task to use another hyper-resonance to return to my world."

Her breathing rose and panic set in. "He's the first clue I have that I'm not a worthless mage, I can't let him go! He's going to teach me my element and I'll be a proper noble and not a disappointing zero and I'll grow up and pay Henrietta back for her friendship and become famous and get happily married and have kids and-" "NO!"

The forming hyper-resonance once again shorted out over the familiar runes and exploded. Luke was thrown off his feet by the force, but Louise managed to stay standing. She limped over to her prone familiar and grabbed his branded hand. "We are bound, you and I. We are mage and familiar. The bond is sacred, the founder's magic does not allow it to be severed lightly." She was perhaps pushing the truth a bit. The bond was nigh unbreakable as far as she knew, but he was hardly the same as a mole or a salamander. The fact stood that he could not be allowed to leave her like this. "Come, let's set this aside for tonight and rest. Perhaps you will feel better tomorrow?"

Luke looked up at her before he shifted to what she dubbed as the Asch Face. "Don't think that you're hiding anything, Brat. If I need to tear off this manacle to return I will."

Louise turned with an unrestrained huff and marched back to her chambers. "He'll come around after a night on the cold ground. No noble could possibly lower himself to two nights of sleeping outdoors."

The crimson haired man lay on his back and examined the runes on the back of his hand in the light of the two moons. Not discovering what he was looking for, he gave a quiet curse, before reaching going to the edge of the forest to gather firewood. "Tear, Natalia, Guy, Anise, Jade, Father, Mother Uncle, even Emperor Peony. Everyone. I will return." His body lit up with the light of Lorelei and his hands captured his head as Luke and Asch tore into each other with their blades. "But who will I be when I do?"

Chapter 1 Done

I have no illusions that this is only going to appeal to a few people. The Tales series isn't as popular as it deserves to be, and this demands full knowledge of that game to understand, much less care. I just wrote this to get a plot bunny out, and likely won't continue it for a while. I just wanted something slower. If I update one of my stories next will be Link's adventures in Matchmaking where he tries to convince Kakashi to hook up with the woman from the Wave Arc. And Haku is gender confusing. Either that or Tales of Symphonia IPGC with RWBY. Because what other game do you acrobatically fight monsters and racism in real time with a four person party while darkness and conspiracies hide just beneath the surface? Besides other Tales games.