A/N: Welcome back, my lovely little readers! The sequel for The Fight for Power is here! It's a direct continuation, so it basically takes place immediately after the last chapter of the prequel.

That being said, to any new people reading this, hello! I'm afraid if you read this without reading the prequel, you'll get pretty confused, so please go read that first if you want to read this as well! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of the Abyss. It is the property of Namco Bandai

Life in the school was nowhere near normal, but at least it wasn't hostile. Those in Daath had been given a choice; move to a different dorm and be forgiven eventually, or stay with Daath and go to jail. Surprisingly, several students chose to stay with Daath, and they were carted off to jail with Legretta, Largo, and a few other teachers who had been on Van's side.

Ion, Sync, Jozette and Arietta were among those who chose to go to a different dorm. While the two green-haired twins and Arietta chose to go to Kimlasca, Jozette went to Malkuth with Aslan. Guy also seemed happy that she chose to go with Malkuth, as it meant that he could spend more time with his cousin.

A few people had died in the fight, mainly students, and there was a few days of mourning as they were buried and a service held. Yulia led the service, singing the Grand Fonic Hymn for them. Tear would have attended and joined in, but she wanted to remain near Luke, Lorelei and Asch in case they woke up.

It had already been a week though, and Tear was growing worried. Although Luke had briefly woken, he'd been tired and barely thinking straight. Yulia said it was purely exhaustion; none of the boys had ever exerted as much power as they did against Van, and it had just depleted their natural energy. Their bodies were simply recovering from the massive energy drain, and when they felt it was enough, they would wake properly.

Visitors came and went. A few students came to give get-well cards to the boys, but the only ones who really hung around were Natalia and Guy. Anybody who visited could expect to see Tear sitting beside Luke's bed, either playing around with his hair, reading or staring off into space. Occasionally she would sing a verse from the Fonic Hymns she had learnt, but it wasn't very often.

She was busying herself one morning, having already plaited Luke's hair and so starting on Asch's. As she held the soft strands, she noted that Asch's hair was actually a shade darker, just a slight shade, but enough.

Combing it out and seperating it into three, she began to twist the locks, forming a loose plait. She worked her way down, continually brushing it out and grooming it. She hummed to herself as she worked, finally grabbing a bobble and tying the end. She inspected her handiwork, pleased with the result.

"Are you done yet?" a grumpy voice laced with sleepiness asked, and she jumped. Asch opened his eyes, looking up at her with fuzzy eyes before sitting up, rubbing away the sleep and yawning widely.

"Asch! I didn't realise you were awake. I'm sorry if I woke you," she said, turning red. First Luke, now Asch...good thing she didn't start on Lorelei like she had been planning.

"Nah, I was waking up anyway."

Tear frowned, eyes worried. "Are you sure? You pretty much exhausted yourselves..."

"I'm sure. Why don't you dote on Luke, he's getting up too," Asch said with a wave of his hand. Tear turned in surprise, seeing Luke sitting while holding his head. He opened his eyes, meeting her gaze and smiling.

"Hey Tear," he said happily.

Tear felt tears coming to her eyes, but forced them away. She smiled back.

"It's good to see you feeling better. Everyone was starting to get worried," she said.

"Well, they don't need to worry anymore," a voice said behind her and she jumped, biting back a shriek and turning. Lorelei laughed at her reaction, running a hand through his fringe.

"Are you feeling alright, Lor...sir?" she asked, quickly correcting herself as she remembered they were in public.

"It's fine Tear. And yes, I'm feeling much better," Lorelei replied.

Tear nodded, relaxing. Well, if they were sure they were fine...

"How long have we been out?" Asch asked, looking around for a calender.

"A week and a half."

"So that's why I feel hungry!" Luke laughed, leaping off the bed.

"Careful! I don't want you collapsing again," Tear scolded.

"Sorry, sorry," Luke apologised with a grin. Tear huffed, unable to stay mad at him.

"Do you want to go to the cafeteria?" she asked them.

"No, let's head back to our rooms. I don't want to cause a scene," Lorelei said with a sigh, the other two boys nodding.

Tear stood up, heading out of the Infirmary with the boys trailing behind her. Luke and Asch were chatting together quietly, though about what she didn't know.

"How serious were our wounds?" Lorelei asked quietly, coming up beside her.

"Very. Even Mum was afraid none of you would make it," Tear replied.

"And yet you still had faith," Lorelei noted.

Tear nodded, but didn't say anything more.

Lorelei saw her hesitation, and sighed. "It's alright, Tear. I heard her, I knew it was her."

Tear looked up in surprise, and he smiled. Finally she nodded. "Suzanne told me that you were all really stubborn, that you would pull through because it was just who you were. I believed her, so I never lost hope." She gave a rueful smile. "That didn't stop me from worrying, though."

"There's nothing wrong with worrying. But having faith in the person you are worrying about sometimes does more good than simply waiting for them to recover would, especially if you are near them constantly. I'll assume you probably didn't leave for very long?"

Tear laughed. "And I was hoping the smell wouldn't linger," she joked.

Lorelei chuckled. "That's not what I meant," he said, ruffling her hair.

Tear turned a little more serious, her smile fading. "Yeah. Luke woke up, really briefly, and asked me not to leave. So I didn't."

Lorelei saw that she was a little uncertain, and placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him with her bright blue eyes, and he smiled.

"Well, thank you, Tear," he murmured.

Tear blinked in surprise, then smiled softly, nodding.

"Hey, look Luke. Dad's flirting with your girlfriend," Asch drawled, ducking the swing from Luke and jumping over Lorelei's kick. Straightening with a smirk, he suddenly felt his hair being pulled and let out a pained yell.

"Ow ow ow!" he yelled as Tear dragged him down the hallway by his hair.

"He really should have seen that one coming," Luke sighed, Lorelei nodding in agreement as he bit the inside of his cheek.

They reached their rooms, heading for the kitchen. Luke and Lorelei obediantly sat at the table when Tear offered to cook, but Asch was adamant that he do it. Eventually he agreed to let Tear do little jobs around the kitchen while he cooked.

Eventually the meal was set on the table, and Luke grinned.

"Man, I've missed this so much!" he said happily, picking up his knife and fork.

"I second that," Lorelei muttered before digging in, Luke following shortly afterwards. Tear, sitting between them, watched in surprise, a little taken aback by their frenzied eating. Asch, on the opposite side between them, calmly ate his own.

Finally he noticed that Tear wasn't eating and raised an eyebrow.

"What, don't like the taste?" he asked.

"Oh, um, sorry!" Tear said, flustered, and picked up a piece of the food. She hesitantly bit into it, chewed, then swallowed. For a moment she was silent and Asch looked at her in curiousity.

"Tear? You alright there?" he asked.

"Asch..." she mumbled.

"Mmm?"

"This is really tasty!"

He sweat-dropped as she quickly scarfed down the rest of the food with a scary precision, calmly laying her knife and fork next to each other on the plate.

"That was delicious. Thank you very much," she said politely

"Tch, you're all weirdos. What's so special about my cooking anyway?" Asch muttered.

"Seconds!" Luke and Lorelei yelled, and he sighed.

"Alright alright, give me a minute," he muttered, standing up and heading back into the kitchen.

A/N: So, yes. Asch is apparently the best cooker in the entire world. I dunno, I always saw Asch being more like the Mum and Luke like the Dad in this fic...though, I suppose it's opposite in the game :3

Review?