Credits: Ladynadiad and Blitzmage, For the in-game quotes at the beginning. Black Acid Dragon for the semi-main concept of this chappie. Kenny Loggins for the musical inspiration. Nijuu for the story, Carmen House (wherever you are, please continue your fic! its absolutely wonderful and you deserve more credit than what you're given right now)! And, Roy and Riza from FMA (for some reason, the pairing always reminds me of Luke and Tear). Please note that I do not watch FMA, I just like Roy and Riza.

Without further ado, here's part two! (no pun intended, the wording is coincidental)
Sorry for the long wait (I know I said within the week). Life happens, so, what can I do? So very sorry for any typos.

Disclaimer: I do not own TOA nor Jade!

kagami nanda bokura tagai ni...(it's a mirror, to show us each our individual karma)

"…Let's work to change our country. For the rest of our lives. Together!"

"You idiot, I'm going to keep on watching you too."

You made a promise…

You said you'll come back…

That's why I'm here too…

Because I promised that I'll always be waiting…

Tear felt pathetic in her current status. One minute she was having a casual conversation with Luke, the next she's inside her grandfather's conference room. At 3:00 am, she highly doubts that anyone would be sane enough to hold a meeting so she decided to stay there for a while; maybe at least until she feels tired and can go back to sleep. As much as possible, she wanted to erase every bit of her conversation with Luke from her memory; more so, she wanted Luke out of her memory altogether. She would've rather killed her brother all by herself, than to meet him and end up how she is today.

/cough/ Luke…I'm sorry. She covered her mouth after a series of rough coughs. She looked at her hand, seeing stains of blood outlining the crevices of her palm. She disregarded her current condition, despite the strong feeling of nausea and heavy breathing.

"I just want to see you…one last time…" She whispered to herself as she headed for the front door.

Natalia had experienced the worst sleep that she could ever have in her lifetime. She did not mind sleeping on the floor, as she is already hardened by their previous adventure. What bothered her most is the infernal racket coming from her ridiculously active friends. She sat up and stretched her arms as she let out a small yawn. Shortly after a few morning ceremonies, she neatly rolled her sleeping bag in a small area, seeing as there is no use trying to sleep despite the fact that it's still dark out. She looked at the garden window to see who was making all the noise and found Jade and Guy sparring, each with his own loud battle cry as sword and spear clashed with each other.

Ooh I do hope they're not ruining the flowers! She thought to herself. She stopped looking and decided to go downstairs and fetch herself a drink, as she is not fond of violence, even if it's for practical purposes. On her way downstairs, she saw Luke seated on one of the lower steps. She sat down next to him and softly held his hand; slowly interlacing her fingers with his. He felt her soft touch and turned to face her, gazing at her face; slowly examining her soft features.

"Why are you here?" Asked the inquisitive princess. Luke's now contented face suddenly turned to a slight grimace. "Nothing."

"I'm your friend aren't I? Why can't you tell me?"

His face brightened up once again, happy that he has someone like Natalia to talk to. "Well…I was talking to Tear and she kinda, well…backed out."

"What did you tell her?" She asked him with a straight face.

"N-nothing too serious…I just asked her, y'know, stuff."

Natalia laughed at his innocent gesture. He looked like Luke, sounded like Luke, but something inside of her is telling her that she's really looking at Asch. She tightened her grip on his hand as she leaned on his shoulder. She closed her eyes, reminiscing on her childhood, and the times that she was with Asch. Luke observed her childhood friend, all the while replaying the memories that he just regained.

"Luke?" The princess broke the chain of silence that stayed between them.

"Yeah?"

"…when you said that 'you promised someone'…who were you talking about?"

Luke gazed at her once again, looking at her passionate green eyes. "Don't you remember? We promised each other that we're going to change our country…together."

Her eyes widened; a feeling of nostalgia mixed with happiness filled her. She felt a tear fall from her eyes; he kept his promise. "Don't cry." Luke gently wiped the tear away from her eyes. She tried to stop, but her inevitable attempt was swayed even farther when she couldn't control the overwhelming feeling inside of her. The feeling that told her that Asch really did care; and that Asch came back for her in his true form, in Luke's form.

"I- t-h-ho-u-ght I'd- I'd never s-see you again…" She quietly replied in-between sobs.

He wrapped his arms around her gentle figure. He found it ironic to see such strong and powerful determination from this frail, gentle princess. She returned his caress, her own arms wrapped around his waist. "You waited all this time, for me?" Was the only reply he could ever muster.

"Everyday has been very painful. The thought of you dead…gone…" She held him tighter, her head resting on his chest, feeling his heartbeat. "It just didn't seem real. Jade tried to open me up to the truth, but he never understood what I felt when I lost you…almost…lost you." Luke placed his hand on her head, streaking her gold hair with his fingers. "It's all over now, you're here with me."

"…he told me that I wasn't the only one suffering. I understood that, but no one ever understood what I was going through. They were too busy thinking of Tear's predicament…" And then, it hit her, "…Tear…do you feel something for her?

The question Luke off guard, "Even if I did, she would never return it."

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, I did feel something for her…but I could never tell if she ever felt something for me. She's always hiding everything…like she doesn't want anyone to know what she really feels."

Natalia softly caressed his cheek and stared at his eyes. "I'm not going to hide what I feel, Luke. I don't want to lose you again…I-I j-just…to…se-e you again…I will do anything, e-ven if I have to wait forever, I will, all I ev-ever wantedwa-was…for you to come home!" Control was beyond her reach when she finally broke down, lying on his chest, soaking his shirt with the tears that never seemed to end.

He softly cupped her chin. "I'm here now…" then slowly gave her a soft and passionate kiss. His lips, giving her a sense of euphoria, made the pain that was kept inside her heart disappear. All her worries were taken away, and were replaced by this moment which she wished would last forever.

Tear knew that she had to go home…realizing that she still has to cook their breakfast, and remind them of the meeting that they were to have with her grandfather. She shook her head, trying to erase the feeling of uneasiness and the memory of her past conversation with Luke. She knew that she had no need of such renditions, besides, she has work after work piled up in front of her, and such hindrances will only slow her down.

Luke probably forgot all about it as well, I suppose…

What she was about to see next shocked her, and at the same time made her feel indifferent, as if she already expected it. When she entered the house, she saw Luke holding Natalia, caressing her gently, as if the princess had lost a loved one (well she did, but he came back).

Tear seemed to be unnoticed, as the said couple was still held in their reverie. She walked past the stairs went inside the log room, rather, she ran past the stairs, as if trying to get away from the scene as possible. By the time she ran past, Luke saw her go to the log room with his peripheral vision. Natalia noticed his brief glance at the young melodist, whom she just saw mere milliseconds before Luke did. She felt his lips breaking away from hers, taking her away from her few moments of pure happiness.

"T-Tear?" She heard him say the melodist's name. No sooner than that did he got up from his position and ran towards the log room. Natalia stood up and embraced him from behind. "Please…make her understand." Luke gave her a small nod. She let him go.

I love you Luke.

"Tear, listen, about that…"

Tear simply looked at him, as if nothing ever happened. "About what? You and Natalia?"

"…yeah…she was really sad, and I just wanted to cheer her up."

"You idiot, then what are you ashamed of? What are you trying to explain to me?"

"Well…" Luke sheepishly replied, "I know that this isn't the right place and time." She simply replied with a smile and proceeded with whatever she was doing before he barged in. Despite her seemingly (as Luke knew by experience that she hardly smiles) cheerful reply, he somehow can't shake off the feeling that something wasn't right. Somehow, he could sense that she's lying.

"Its only right to make people feel loved…why do you look so unconvinced by my answer?"

She's hiding something, I just know it! "…umm, Tear? Why did you run away when you saw us?" Her cheeks flashed a tint of pink, fortunately, he didn't see it. "It would be rude of me to bother you and the princess with your private affairs."

She caught him on that one. Soon, she asked him to leave the room; pointing to the messy pile of books that were left on the table. "I have to clean up a bit- /cough/" She was interrupted by a short cough which soon turned into a series of outbursts that made her feel unsteady. She tried to get a hold of whatever was closest to her to help maintain her balance; what she least expected (and what she least wanted to feel at that moment) was the arms of the one she loved the most.

"Tear, what's wrong?!" Luke frantically asked the melodist, who was now lying on his arms; her breathing heavy and her skin pale.

Not too long after their predicament, Jade found the two teenagers inside the log room.

"I heard Luke scream and-" He was shocked at the scene that was at hand, "…What happened to her?"

"I-I don't know! She just coughed a lot…then she just turned all pale."

Jade took the young melodist out of Luke's arms and softly laid her on the ground. He checked her pulse but was greatly appalled by the presence of dry blood on her hand, as well as on her mouth. "We need to get her in a bed, now!"

Luke lifted her up and followed Jade up to Tear's bedroom. They saw Anise still sleeping in Tear's bed. Jade lifted the young girl out of the bed and into an unkempt sleeping bag.

After Luke placed her in bed, he went next to Jade, who was scouring their item bag.

"Why can't we take her to Belkend?"

"There's no time. Her condition might worsen…" Jade rushed to Tear's side after procuring a blood fonon reader from their inventory. He placed it on her wrist and checked for her pulse again. The others were worried as well, but were asked to leave the room by Jade.

Morning had already reached its peak when Jade exited the room. Everyone, including the newly-awoken Anise, was hoping to hear a positive diagnosis from the necromancer.

"Is she going to be okay?" Luke spoke up. Jade lowered his head and removed his glasses. "Do you remember the miasma infecting her in the past? It seems that it left her with some after-effects. Due to her weak internal organs, she seemed to have contracted some serious disease…and she's had it for quite some time now. I'm afraid it's too late to cure it."

"What kind of disease is it?" Guy and Natalia asked in unison.

"She contracted tubercle bacillus, and it worsened overtime due to a coronary thrombosis on the left side of her heart."

Everyone just stared at him wide-eyed, especially Luke who seemed to be drooling from the side until Guy spoke up, "Okay, we get the part that she's weakened by the miasma but…what was the other part again?" Jade sighed upon seeing everyone agree to what Guy had to say. "It's simple really; I just said that the blood clotting occurred in her left pulmonary vein and artery, creating the overflow which created a serious rupture in the left side of her heart and left the mycobacterium to spread even further. When left unchecked, or even when it's all by itself, mycobacterium can affect almost every organ system in our bodies in short amount of time. Treatment for mycobacterium itself is very complicated, time consuming, and it's a very rare disease on Auldrant, which makes it almost impossible to contain and remove the bacteria."

By this time, Luke's brain just got battery dead. Everyone else nodded at Jade's explanation. Jade sighed once again, Anise noticed it and said, "Don't worry Colonel I perfectly understood what you meant!"

"So do I." Natalia remarked, accompanied with Guy giving him a smile and a thumb's up.

"You simpletons should really learn to read a book or two…this is honestly embarrassing! And I hate explaining myself. She has tuberculosis, which means she contracted a deadly virus. Not to mention that there's a cut on the left side of her heart, leaving an opening for the bacteria to spread which makes it impossible to contain…simple enough?"

"You don't have to be mean! I got what you said the first time." Luke replied; his brain fully-functioning once again.

"I must apologize, o wise one." Jade sarcastically remarked. Luke was about to strangle Jade when Guy grabbed his arm. "Let's worry more about Tear right now okay, Luke?"

At the mention of Tear's name, Luke headed straight to the room, leaving the others in bewilderment.

Tear…did you wait for me…?

…yes…

I kept my promise, didn't I? I'm right here…you can feel me…

…Luke…please…don't leave me…I'll wait for you…no matter what…I'll love you…always.

I'm sorry…

"LUKE!"

"Aah!!" Cried the poor noble as he tripped on a faulty wooden plank on his frantic attempt to get to Tear's bedside. The young redhead quickly stood up and ran to his destination once more, upon hearing his name being called by the melodist.

Tear opened her eyes, seeing her hand outstretched as if she wanted to reach in and touch the ceiling. Was it just a- Her thoughts were interrupted by Luke's hysterical shouting.

"Heyareyouokay?! IheardyouweresicksoIwantedtodropbyand-"

"Luke," She held him by the shoulders in an attempt to calm him down, "Stop shouting and try talking a bit slower." She managed to make him calm enough for him to sit down and take a deep breath.

"What happened? Why were you shouting anyway?" She decided to talk first while the young scion was still trying to orient himself.

"…Well, I heard Jade saying that you're sick so I just wanted to know how you're feeling."

"So…you found out. Luke, I'm sorry I didn't…/cough/tell you./cough/cough/"

Luke instinctively placed his hand on her back and softly rubbed it a bit while his other hand held her free hand. "Don't push yourself."

She found herself lying on her bed once again, his hands never straying from her side even after her coughing subsided. She found his words both nostalgic and painful, as it always reminded her of the many occasions that he said the exact same words with same sincere smile and profound gestures.

"Luke…thank you, but I'm fine now-"

"How long?"

"What?"

Luke fixated his eyes on her, his fixed stare showed signs of what she thought to be concern, anger, sadness, and anxiety. "Tear, how long have you had this?! Why didn't you tell me or anyone? Why do you always have to try to act tough? You don't have to prove to anyone anything so, why?" He saw her look away as he felt his grip on her hand tighten when he felt a range of strong emotions pour into every word he mentioned.

"…Luke…did the Colonel tell you everything?" Luke nodded. "Then you know that I'm not going to survive?"

"How can you act so casual about everything? I never understood how anyone cannot be scared of dying!"

"Why are you so worried about me?"

"Because I care, Tear, I care about you!"

"…you care about m-"

"I love you, Tear!" Luke gave her a sudden embrace, accompanying his revelation. The melodist, who had little to say after his little, confession, simply returned his caress. He placed his hand on her head, each finger weaving on each strand of soft brown hair. With each stroke, Tear felt that she was with a different Luke than the one they met back at Tataroo Valley, different from the Luke that had a conversation with her back at the garden, different from the Luke that was just with her ten minutes ago. This was the Luke that she fell in love with; this was the Luke that promised her of his return.

"Jade, why can't we go upstairs?!" Asked Guy as he tried his third attempt in going up the stairs which led to Tear's bedroom.

The whole staircase seemed to be inaccessible after Luke went upstairs. The whole staircase glowed, and the foot of the staircase seemed to be protected by a barrier.

"Second-order hyperresonance…Guy stop!" Jade held Guy's sleeve, stopping him in his fourth assault-to-be attempt to go upstairs. "We are not needed upstairs…let the light subside. At this point, the only thing we can do is wait."

"You mean a hyperresonance is doing this?!" Natalia asked.

"I'm afraid so."

"But how? Luke couldn't have had another hyperresonance with her in her condition…" Guy replied, recalling the freak accident that happened between Luke and Tear in the Fabre manor's courtyard.

"…unless…there's another seventh fonist present in that room at this very moment. Someone like…Luke."

"What do you mean? He IS Luke!" Natalia sharply retorted.

"I meant…the replica Luke."

"Even it that was true, how could that be possible? That Luke doesn't have a soul to begin with, he's just made of seventh fonons, right? So how can he come back at the same time and be with this Luke separately?"

Lorelei…no, Yulia…you really have outdone yourself.

"…you came back…just like you promised."

"I always have…Tear…thanks for…waiting for me…"

She felt tears streaming down her eyes once again, every trickle reminding her that this was the Luke that she waited for, despite everything that happened, he kept his promise after all. He held her tighter, both in a reverie that seemed like the moments they shared on the night before they went to Eldrant.

It pained me just to see you go, even if it was for a better cause…

Despite the wish made by the perfect isofons for a separate life, a physical entrapment (a physical body) is what they lacked due to Asch's demise. After the explosion, Asch's body was gravely disfigured; leaving Luke's body as the only available host. Lorelei's only hope for saving his scions was to entrap both of their souls in the remaining body; their fonons, when combined, supplied the body with enough fonons to retain the two identical frequencies their soul emitted. Asch however, carried a stronger vibration, which made his soul more dominant than his replica's. The person that survived the explosion carried both souls; his personality was based on the last soul present, as some form of spiritual signature. The personality that the new Luke possessed convinced the others that it was the replica Luke that came back, but personality was the only thing that Asch's soul cannot control. Everything else, from his memories, to his emotions, and most importantly, his affections, were all controlled by Asch.

The moment at hand, however, strengthened the vibrations made by the replica's soul which enabled him temporary control of his body. Tear understood it to be so, as this Luke, held her passionately. Every fragment of her being knew how his hands felt. It was how she knew, that he truly came back.

Tear started to cough again, each outburst made her cough up more blood than she had ever had. He gently rubbed her back once again, never letting her feeble, pale body go.

"Tear, come on. You can fight this!"

I made a fatal mistake…I loved you…it became my demise…

She felt her vision slowly blur and her breathing got even more difficult as her health slowly declined. She could hear Luke scream something inaudible to her, but she could only guess it to be an attempt to encourage her.

But I have no regrets…because you gave me something that I thought only my brother could ever give…

"Tear, I kept my promise, why can't you keep yours? You promised to always watch me!"

...Luke…I'm sorry…