Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of the Abyss. Namco does, but I can always dream... right? *crickets*

Warning: Language, violence... PG stuff. Possible yaoi, if you squint.

Summary: He shouldn't need to know, but his curiosity got the better of him. What does dreck mean?

Author's Note: Just a very very very short idea, based around the meaning of dreck. (yes, it's an actual word. And no, it's not pretty. I googled it, then made the mistake of googling pictures of dreck... *shudders*)

Better Off Not Knowing

by crystalamaris

Dreck... that was what Asch called him... constantly. But Luke was clueless. He hadn't the slightest clue what it meant. Jade warned him though, that he probably should leave well enough alone. But Luke was curious. What did Dreck mean? Was it some sort of term of endearment? Was it something bad? From the way Jade put it, it was something bad... but then, this is Jade we're talking about and that could mean anything. It just left Luke wanting to know more.

Early one Gnomeday morning found Luke sitting in Daath's library scanning book after book of languages. It was amazing how many different languages there were. It seemed like each city had their own language, though they all used the basic Ispanian. Like Keterburg used something called Russian... an interesting slur of words that Luke couldn't make head or tails of. But no dreck in that language. Then Chesedonia had Arabic. A beautiful language that flowed like music. Luke couldn't even begin to read that. A good sized stack of books sat beside him, but none of them had what he was looking for, as far as he could tell. Suddenly a book was dropped on the table in front of him, causing the replica noble to jump.

"Try this one. It may have better answers to what you're looking for," Jade simply stated, leaving Luke looking at a book called "Nam Cobana language for idiots"

German was the name of the language within the book. Luke may not have liked the idea of the book's title, but he found the word.

"Dreck... German... slang... syn... Trash? out-dated electronics? Feecees? Garbage? WHAT!?" Several people looked up in surprise as Luke cried out, slammed the book into the table, and stormed out of the room.

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Asch was not expecting the sudden urge of anger that came, not from him, but from his replica. He also wasn't expecting the sudden urge to turn on spot and find somewhere to hide... fast. Blinking in surprise, he turned at a sudden roar that could've been one of Arietta's friends, had it not come in the form of one word.

"AAAASSSSCCCCHHHH!!!!" His replica came out of seemingly nowhere and nailed him right in the jaw, the original too stunned to react, let alone defend himself. He never thought that his walk in Daath would end with him being punched into one of the score stones, hard. He never imagined slumping to the ground and staring up at a very pissed... scratch that. A very irate replica. There was no word to describe just how angry Luke was. And if there was, it still wouldn't work. All Asch knew was he was on the ground against a fon stone, his cheek throbbed, and there was a very angry redhead standing over him, looking like he was about to hit again, if it wasn't for a blond princess who leapt on his arm and clung there while Luke got his emotions in order. It took Tear and Guy also latching onto Luke to get him the back off. Actually... they dragged him back away, the replica panting and heaving and growling.

"What the fuck is your problem!?" Asch shouted, pushing himself off and sending a glance at Natalia who made quick work of the bruise, while still holding the struggling failure.

"Trash? Garbage!? Shit!!?? I! AM! NOT! A! DRECK!" With each word, everyone but Jade got visibly paler. By that time, surrounding locals had decided that this is one event that they'd rather avoid and hurried off to pray for safety. Asch attempted a nervous chuckle.

"Um... well... heh..." Luke easily shook the stunned Tear and Natalia off of him, and a glare sent Guy back a few steps. Luke stepped forward and seized the front of Asch's tabard.

"Don't you dare ever call me a dreck. If you do, I will find the slowest most painfullest torture ever. I'll even ask Jade to help me. I'm sure the necromancer would be more than apt to help me find ways of torturing you without killing you." With that, Luke shoved Asch back into the stone, kicked the cheagle out of the way, and stormed out of the courtyard, and even further out of Daath. His stunned companions followed, though not as quickly. Soon it was just Asch and Jade in the court yard.

"Hmm... I did warn him that it was something he'd probably be better off not knowing," the Malkuth soldier stated, and followed his comrades out.

Reports came into Daath later that some pissed off redhead that looked remarkably similar to the god-general was storming around the Daath plains eliminating monsters. It would be another year before the monster population between Daath and Daath Bay returned to normal.

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A.N- Wouldn't being called that piss you off, too? Yes... I know I should be typing out Absent Without Leave, but this idea just popped into my head and I had to get it down. Please, R+R