Erm, I'm kinda (well, completely) new to all this so sorry if this sucks XD

Feedback much appreciated and I'm not afraid of criticism.

And I don't own the (awesome) characters, blah blah.

Luke sat awkwardly on his knees, struggling to catch his breath. One hand remained on the floor for support, though his arm was visibly shaking somewhat. A triumphant Asch stood before him with his arm outstretched, pointing his blade directly at Luke's face, mere inches away from it.

"Hmph. So I haven't lost my touch, then." He pulled the Key of Lorelei away. " You fought well. But not well enough."

Luke brought himself back onto his feet, still panting from exhaustion. "Asch..." He reached into his pocket, and when his hand re-emerged it was cupped around a sparkling spherical object which emanated an incredible crimson glow. This was no doubt the Jewel of Lorelei. "T-take it... complete the Key..."

He reached out and Asch did the same, taking the Jewel from Luke and pushing it into its intended place in the Key of Lorelei's hilt.

Asch sheathed the sword and turned to leave, but a door at the opposite end of the room (which neither of them had noticed, as it did not look like a door but rather part of the wall) slid open, from which eight replica knights rushed in.

"Stop! Hand over the Key of Lorelei!" They readied their swords, prompting Luke to pick up his sword and adopt a battle stance. Asch reached for his own.

"Asch, go! Natalia's waiting for you. I'll... I'll take care of them..."

"Like hell you will!" Asch yanked the Key of Lorelei from its scabbard and stepped forward, only to be physically stopped by Luke, pushing him back. "What the hell are y-"

"There's no time, Asch. I'll hold them off!" His voice softened there, showing he was a little afraid.

"Don't be stupid!" Asch protested, but it quickly became obvious that this was an exercise in futility and was only wasting the very time Luke was attempting to buy. With an agitated sigh, he turned around, slowly sheathed his sword once more and walked over to the main door ahead. He turned his head. "Don't let me down, replica."

Luke nodded, and slammed his fist into the circular marking in on the floor, his pseudo-hyperresonance forcing open the door before Asch, allowing him to leave.

"Out of the way!" One of the knights demanded, as the group rushed forward.

"Can I... Can I do this? I... have to. For Asch's sake. For everyone's sake!"

"No! This is for the originals... I won't let you pass!"

Eldrant was huge, and many times the group found themselves walking across enormous long strips of land resembling some sort of construction work. It clearly wasn't natural, and was presumably intended to provide structural support of some sort.

Hidden behind the glare on his glasses, Jade's eyes wandered around, inspecting the surrounding areas as the group continued onward.

"This way..." No one was quite sure exactly how he determined which way to go, but trusting him had worked out thus far. Besides, they had nothing else to go on.

Natalia's eyes widened as she saw a familiar face. "Asch?"

"Natalia." The group ran down the nearby stairs to reach him, and Natalia did so most eagerly.

"Asch... where's Luke?"

"He's holding off the enemy."

"Holding off the enemy?" Tear asked, trying to limit the extent of obviousness in her concern.

Asch responded somewhat coldly, as per his usual tendency. "That's what I said. Come on."

Guy noticed Tear's concern and felt it necessary to comfort her. "He was determined to settle things with Van. He's come too far to throw that away now... he'll be fine. I promise." Guy was in no position to make such a promise, but Tear appreciated his words.

The group pressed on, and observed in awe as new land was visibly being produced off in the distance. As Jade noted, the replication was "still in progress". Guy was, understandably, almost overwhelmed by what he was seeing.

"Hod... it's just like when I saw Mary's replica. I know it's a replica, but the feelings just come rushing out..." Said feelings came out in full force when they reached what Guy stated was the remains of his manor. He couldn't help but run excitedly towards them, marvelling at what he was seeing. "I never thought I'd be able to come back... it's a strange feeling."

Natalia had never seen Guy like this. The nostalgia for his childhood was clearly immense. "I can't bring myself to hate Fomicry. I think it could actually do some wonderful things..."

Jade adjusted his glasses as he so often did. "That applies to everything. Any tool can be used for wonderful or foolish things..."

"the Score, too." Anise added.

Asch had naturally gone on ahead, leaving the group behind but not to such an extent that he would be in danger if anything should happen.

"I wonder if he...

he certainly put up a fight against me. I'm sure he can give those knights a hard time...

But he's trapped.

No... if those knights got in, he can get out."

He tried to reopen a communication channel with Luke, but was finding it a bit more difficult than usual.

With a well-timed parry, Luke was able to knock one of the knights' sword out of his hand, and kicked it away, rendering him much less of a threat. Two swords swung towards him from behind, but he leapt out of the way of one and blocked the other. A third came at him from the left, clashing directly with Luke's own with such force that sparks were sent flying. In the heat of battle, he didn't even bat an eyelid at this and commenced a flurry of sword swipes knocking back the aggressors. One tremendous swing of his sword, and bam. Seven knights all on the floor, at least four of which were unconscious.

A familiar but agonizing pain pulsed through his head, causing him to groan in pain. Two of the knights had gotten back up, ready to attack again.

"Ugh, dammit! Not now! Not n-"

"Replica! Behind you!"

Luke had forgotten there was an eighth... he turned around to see the eighth knight already in mid sword-swing and...

The communication channel abruptly cut off, startling Asch who needed a moment to gather what had just happened. He hadn't noticed the group had caught up to him, and he hadn't noticed that he'd been standing wide-eyed for a few seconds now.

"Asch, what is it?" Natalia asked. "It's... Luke, isn't it?" She hoped she was wrong.

"He... he's..." Before he'd even said the word "gone" to finish his sentence, the tone of his voice had already confirmed everyone's fear.

"No! That can't be... Say it isn't true!"

"Those bastards... Dammit! I'm such an idiot! I should have-" He stopped when Natalia began to hug him tight. He didn't hug back, but he didn't push her away, either, like he'd have done to pretty much anyone else.

"I'm sorry, Natalia..." His eyes panned across the group. Anise was trying hard not to tear up, and Tear seemed the same way, but turned to hide it. Other than a whispered (and unheard) "no...", Tear was silent.

Guy on the other hand, was more angry than sad. Well, that's what it looked like, anyway. "I don't believe it. You're wrong, Asch!"

He gave Asch a punch on the shoulder, and Asch knew this was no time to be annoyed about it. He said nothing, and tried one last time to open a communication channel with Luke again, but to no avail.

Jade had simply closed his eyes and retained a somewhat serious facial expression. "I'm sorry, but we have to press on. There'll be time for mourning later. Right now, we have to make the most of the time Luke bought us. It's... the least we can do."

"Jade!" Guy snapped. "He's not de-" He couldn't say it. "We have to go back for him. I'll go alone if I have to..."

"Luke's gotten quite competent with a sword. The enemy must be quite a threat if he couldn't fight them off and catch up to us. And like I said, we have to make the most of the time he earned us."

Guy clenched his fist and let out a depressed sigh. "Luke, you idiot..."

Thanks for reading this. Yeah, I kinda intend to have a second (and final) chapter, possibly. Thanks again