Are You Afraid?

Chapter I: Paper Cut

Disclaimer: We all wish we could've thought of a complex storyline before the creators of Tales of the Abyss could.

A/N: This fanfic takes place some time after the Absorption Gate (seeing that I am currently only there), and refers to the Mt. Roneal incident. Uhm. Yes, spoilers if you haven't reached this part yet. You've been warned, so no complaints about spoilers...

I'll also change the location of the fanfic once Tales of the Abyss gets its own category. Anyone know how to make them open a category? If so, please tell me and I shall try alerting the creators of FF . net

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A hint of joy softly bounced along the group of travelers whom were relaxing in each other's presence. They had traveled together for quite a while, and accomplished exploits that had earned them the respect of many, yet the hate of countless others. Despite troublesome events that resurfaced once in every while, everyone basked in the grand room of the famous Ketersburg hotel as worthwhile reward for their hard work.

The fire that chipped away on the given wood blazed in a mesmerizing dance, and caught the attention of the young puppeteer whose eyes fluttered, close to letting her slip away into a deep slumber. Outside, a raging snowstorm had chased every citizen of Ketersburg into their homes- or igloos if they didn't own a house- where they would brace themselves, awaiting the arrival of the new layers of snow. This happened almost every night, but the only problem was that this time, the storm lasted for a long time. Normally, as the staff of the hotel indicated, storms would only last for about three hours maximum, but this had been going on since nine in the morning, and it was already six in the afternoon. Hopefully, if the snowstorm ever ceased its wrath, then the snow wouldn't pile up until the city disappeared, where the only thing that would be visible would be the roof of the hotel.

Their short vacation had to end up like this unfortunetely. Luke had met up with Tear before shortly visiting the others to discuss about the whole issue of an unstable planet storm, which threatened to become another obnoxious crisis. He hadn't seen them in nearly a month, which became quite problematic since he had probably gained some weight from letting his brain stress of loneliness, then bloat. After visiting the other "Outer Lands," which Luke presumed now became "Inner- finally-stupid-and-safe- Lands," mostly all his teammates rejoined him to investigate the cause. Of course, Asch was not amongst them, as usual…… Or rather, he couldn't find him, but he just didn't want to admit that he wanted to find that moron. Asch was also not very good with insults. Where the heck did he come up with, "dreck," anyway? Well that was part of the mysterious split personality of that boy, and it was open for debate, but Luke felt that it was worthless to think about as he lay there, on a couch staring out the frozen-like window.

The good person Jade was, he'd often blame the Luke for choosing this "warm, vacation spot" in hopes of striking up entertainment while they were stuck inside the luxurious hotel. Most of the time it would work but Tear had suddenly become quite the peacemaker when it came to teasing Luke. This had ruined most part of the Necromancer's schemes, but he didn't mind all that much. Truth be told, Jade actually liked watching the Seventh Fonon user struggle to find excuses when she'd stand up for him. It wasn't Luke's fault either. They had participated unwillingly to the hunt for the run away rappigs, for his Majesty, King Peony. This also resulted in a very nice reward, and bathings suits that seemed to fit everyone's style. Yes, even if no one had ever seen Tear's real bathing suit.

"Hey, Tear."

The young girl that had almost fallen asleep on a comfortable armchair looked up sleepily. She stifled a yawn before answering. "Yes Luke?"

"Guess I'll pick a better place next time." The sheepish answer made a small smile tug at Tear's lips. Luke finally admitted that this wasn't the best of choice. Especially when the man at the reception counter told them that this was the season of violent snowstorms. He had insisted as usual, but the past was the past, and they couldn't do anything about it. Like Guy had stated earlier on, 'it's not like this will be our only vacation. Let's relax and we'll make better plans next time.' That was carefree Guy for you. Noble, handsome, yet a disturbed-Guy-guy. His gynophobia tended to be awkward at times, but amusing. Especially the time when Natalia had "accidentally," hit him with a frying pan out of her cooking skillz of madness, then dragged him away to treat his wounds.

Natalia was a kind girl, very responsible, but Luke couldn't tell whether she was in love with either Guy or Asch.

"Any suggestions to make this 'family' time a bit more…… oh hmm, how may I put this?" Jade interrupted Luke's next comment,, as he adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose like he always did when in deep thoughts, or scheming. "Let's say, more family-ish."

The redhead quirked his eyebrow and look around. Guy was chit-chatting at the bar with the bartender, Natalia seemed to be engrossed in some kind of book, Mieu was-…… doing Mieu stuff, and Anise was fast-asleep on her sofa, entangled in her Tokunaga. Tear was still curiously looking back and forth between Jade, and Luke, not very sure whether to sleep or not.

"I've chosen our 'family-quality-time' spot already, now you choose what to do."

Very bad idea.

The older man's glasses gleamed feverishly, as if someone was casting a fonic arte of light at him. His devilish grin crept on his face too, completing his beautifully-insane-serious-normal-every-other-emotion-he-ever-had look. Sometimes, he resembled much like Dist, in a way, since he was at least a thousand times smarter. Tear secretly found Jade to be a very scary man, but so did everyone else.

"How about a game of Truth or Dare? Hmm?" Too late, it was already declared. No one ever dared to contradict Jade.

"T-truth or dare?!" Gawked the replica a little louder than intended. Anise had woken up from the commotion and grumbled.

"Why yes. It would be fun wouldn't it? Ah, it has been such a long time since I've played that game. I won all my matches against Saphir and I doubt I could lose this one." And this was probably the truth. He didn't look like he could ever lose any kind of game. "This game of Truth and Dare is a little different. You see, each and every person will pick a person's name out of a hat. Then, they will give that designated person both a question that they have to answer truthfully, and a dare. This way, everyone could play, and no one would be left out from any given tasks." Jade concluded his sentence quite happily.

"Eh? B-but……" Luke stared at him blankly. It was something to do, and surely more interesting than watching snow whirl around like some crazy psycho, but there was always a catch with that man.

"Will this cost me?" Anise groaned, rubbing her eyes.

"Absolutely not." Replied Jade, aware that she would certainly refuse if it did.

"Alright! I'm in!"

Everything went according to plan. "Good then. Luke, and everyone else will have to play. Anise decided."

"What?!" Simultaneous exclamation from both royalties. Natalia was probably listening to them talk earlier, having the book for some kind of disguise, but she didn't seem to like the idea very much either.

"Oh, I almost forgot." The older man said, as he took a hat that rested on a tabletop. "There is a referee that will watch every contestant. They will make sure that everyone will accomplish their task, and reveal truth to their question by conducting research. Of course, there are boundaries, and no personal space will be trespassed." Jade already started to rip the paper he was writing on prior to the game. It was most likely junk, since no one in their right mind would want to rip a perfect report.

"I'm gonna be the-"

"And since I picked the game. I shall be the referee, like every other game I've had with Dist," Interrupted the Necromancer as Guy had tried to intervene at the right moment for his position.

'No wonder he won all of the games.' Tear thought wearily while rubbing her temples.

"Normally, I would split people into teams, but seeing this is going to be uniformly distributed, it will be everyone against me." The hat had already been passed to Luke. He readily poised himself to dig his hand into the contents that would likely give him an evil paper cut. Jade crossed his legs and brought a thoughtful finger to his chin. He then stroked the imaginary beard which resulted in a giving him a wise atmosphere. "It is easy to win. If everyone completed their given task, and question truthfully, then each and every person will give me a truth and a dare. I will then have six questions and six dares to complete under your care. If the opposite occurs, then I win. The penalty will be a double-dare to everyone. That will be kissing a person of the same gender, and a fee of 10, 000 gald from every participant, except Anise whose fee will be gladly paid by Guy."

"What?!-"

"Oh hey! I got you Tear!" Luke squinted at the name that was neatly written on the blank surface of the paper. It seemed that he hadn't paid attention to the last few instructions given by Jade since he looked quite carefree. A red stain had also started to spread across the strip of past-document, signaling a papercut.

At her armchair, the melodist cursed in her mind. Of all people, he'd certainly get her back for nasty things she'd said to him in the past. Like back at Tataroo Valley, where their teammates fantasized about how Tear and Luke were alone at that very place at night due to a hyperesonnance. She had said something quite offending, but it hadn't processed through her mind correctly before she had blurted it out. Therefore, Tear couldn't remember what she had said. On top of all that, if someone failed to answer correctly, she wouldn't only lose money, but she would have to kiss a girl. It wasn't something she'd kill herself for, but it was also called F-A-N-S-E-R-V-I-C-E in which both Major Legretta and Over-Protective-Bother-Van had lectured her in the past for. They were quite serious about it after she had apparently done something on the lines of the new verb- fanservicing.

"Lukee! I got your name! I got your na- owch!" Mieu instantly fell back on its little behind. A paper cut had deeply grazed his small paw.

"Dammit Mieu! Be more careful!" Said Luke exasperatedly, earning him a glare from the female across the room. He really didn't care that Mieu got cut by the evil paper that was conjured by none other than Jade, but he was just scared of what that 'Thing,' could ever come up with for him to do.

The melodist quickly picked the small beast up and chanted a fonic hymn that echoed through the chamber. It was beautiful as always, but the effects from the resonance made it seem more angelic and soothing. A glow of green and blue sparkled around the Cheagle, and the cut soon disappeared, leaving but a small hairless line across the blue and white fur. After healing the Mieu, Tear reluctantly reached her hand into the hat and picked out a small piece of paper, and relunctantly unrolled it. "Mieu."

The Cheagle bounced happily on the balls of his toes as he snuggled close to a blushing Tear. She was already, mentally going through a list of things she could make Mieu wear for the sake of cuteness. Anise had also run up to the hat finally out of her sleepy state, and pulled out a paper. "Natalia!" Natalia seemed relieved. "Oh hmmm…… royalty…… money…… perfect!" The young girl whispered to herself. Though Anise secretly wished it was either one of the guys, in whom she could force them to marry her which would result in great fortune. But Natalia was fine, she'd probably ask for a very expensive ribbon she saw at the store earlier.

The hat was then passed to Natalia, whom instantly stuck her hand in the hat and pulled out a name. "Ohhh Guuuyy," She said at an alarmingly high pitch tone, making the swordsman cringed then sigh.

"Oh brother……" Muttered Guy, picking up the hat at his turn and picked out the very last paper. " Let's see…… -oh." Everyone watched Guy intently as his eyes lit up, "Anise!"

The girl smiled genuinely but it was soon faltered.

"And I know what to give you as a dare! If we lose somehow, you're paying and I'm not!" The swordsman proudly announced, resting his sword by his side, and leaning professionally on the back of Tear's armchair.

"Boooo!" Came the puppet master's immediate response, "I refuse!"

There was a cough as the older man covered his mouth politely. "My, my, losing already?" Jade smiled, or smirked, whichever he picked.

"But you told me I wouldn't have to pay if we lost!" Anise whined.

"Well that dare can easily be won if everybody is willing to participate, and accomplish their designated goals. Then you wouldn't have to pay, since you would win."

That made perfect sense, and that was certainly Jade the Necromancer for you. Bright, and cunning, no wonder he had such a high rank. Though the simplest things like arguments were really the only things that Jade found interesting. It perked his interest, and irritated the others.

But this game was like a form of teasing.

And so the game started.

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A/N: Help me decide on pairings. Yes, I know there are fangirls for LukexAsch, but I was never really a yaoi fan. I could make them kiss out of Jade's dare, yes, but I just need help with the pairings. I'm a fan of LukexTear, so I think I'll keep it that way. So, I don't mind shounen-ai, as long as Luke's not in there, since he belongs to Tear. AschxGuy? Go ahead. Shoujou-ai I don't mind either.

Chapters WILL get longer, word-count wise. This is just an introductory to the story. Please review, I go much faster when I get feedback. Also, please do not hesitate to correct my grammar, seeing that I am trying my best to improve before I write any more of Fouled Tongue. If you spot a mistake, please send me a PM, and explain to me what I did wrong. This is for you entertainment, and I try my best to please the readers.

I'll be posting the list of who's got whom on top of every chapter to make it a little easier to read. Though this is the first chapter, so here it is:

Tear has: Mieu

Luke has: Tear

Natalia has: Guy

Guy has: Anise

Mieu has: Luke

Anise has: Natalia

Also, The Six-God Generals will make an entrance, including Asch. Scary stories involving ghosts (my specialty), coming soon. So things will get spiffy-spiffeh.