A/N: Yay! I decided to continue this! It won't be a hundred chapters long, though; I've estimated it to six or seven chapters, mostly focusing on the battles with the God-Generals. Well... At least the Sync and Arietta battles. My miniature plan is missing one, I think. Epic fail. Short story, I know, but hopefully, it'll be enjoyable to some. I might expand further on this when I go back and play through the game again, making notes of the Sync and Arietta appearances as I go. On another note entirely, I'm frustrated that Fanfiction apparently has a problem with how I do scene breaks and likes to erase them. And I just now noticed. Aren't I just the brightest crayola in the box?

Disclaimer: I own nothing, sadly. Especially not any of the Tales Of titles.

Weaving A Delicate Lie Chapter Two

Arietta the Wild had to be the sorriest excuse for a God-General there had ever been. Surely there were more people appropriate for the position, weren't there? The title being in her incapable and unprepared hands threatened to make them all a bunch of laughing stocks.

He found it had to believe that she was still thinking this whole "Sync is Ion" thing was true. Either he was a fantastic actor (He doubted that.) or she was as dumb as a fence post.

Honestly, he'd place his bets on the latter.

It was hard to believe that the teenager was hanging on to every word Sync and the Commandant said. How stupid could one little girl be?

It was because she'd been raised by a bunch of monsters, he reasoned. What other answer could there be? If she'd been raised in some kind of civilization, he was sure that she would have more sense. She was far too trusting for his taste; it was like she thought nobody in the world lied, and that was precisely what they were doing.

They'd been doing it for two years, in fact.

She believed it all—everything! Every little lie was seen as the truth and nothing but the truth.

How could she believe any of them when she was told that Sync was the real Ion, after all the things he'd said about that weakling? How had she believed them when they'd said the reason Sync didn't like being called "Ion" was because it was longer his? How had she believed them?

It was just too unreasonable.

And now here she was, believing again, like she had everything else.

Here she was, being told by Van that they needed to abduct the Fon Master to read the score and the reason Sync couldn't do it was because being replicated had weakened his powers. And the sad thing was that she was eating it all up. She was hanging on every word as if it were the truth.

Sync almost felt bad for her.

Almost.

"I'm going with them." The very firm statement pulled Sync from his reverie, grabbing his attention as his green eyes landed again on Arietta the Wild. What was she talking about? She was going with them? As in… As in going with him? With Sync, Largo and Asch?

Van was already formulating an excuse to tell her not to go, but was unable to put it into words before Arietta continued, "I'm going with Sync!" It surprised him how adamant she sounded about attending. She had little to offer, and it seemed like a bad idea, but even the Commandant looked to be having trouble trying to think up an excuse to have her go with Dist and Legretta instead.

"Arietta," Sync spoke, his voice becoming softer, like Ion's. Obediently, she turned to face him. It was odd to see this sort of behavior coming from her, of all people; it was new, at least to him. "It's going to be dangerous," Sync continued, watching her face twist, showing her intense displeasure. "I would feel better if you stayed here." Suddenly, her displeasure was replaced by her smiling face.

And he felt the urge to puke; he liked her better the other way.

"Sync," she said sweetly. He almost blanched at the sight of her blushing. "I'll be fine; I want to go with you."

Then, Van responded to her, finally. "No," he said flatly, grabbing her attention. She looked as if she were about to protest, but Van continued, "Stay here." She looked disheartened, even as she looked to Sync for some kind of support, though she had to know she wasn't going to get it. However, he'd forced on a smile and this renewed her optimism; she nodded at Van, which awarded her a pat on the head.

This was absolutely heavenly.

After dealing with Arietta for several weeks, having to be nicer than normal-especially to her-to keep the lie intact, he was finally free for the time being.

It was wonderful.

He never thought it would feel so great to have to go out, kidnap the Fon Master's replacement and force him to unlock a Sepiroth, but suddenly, it did. It was great. It was wonderful. Or it would be, if Largo hadn't decided to wander up to him in the middle of his musing and ask him about that little wretch.

"Do you not feel bad for lying to Arietta?"

It was a stupid question, above all else. The answer was really very simple. No, he didn't. But that wasn't why it was stupid. They were lying, just as he was, only he was the one that had to hold up this damn facade of being someone he wasn't. But here Largo was, ready to judge him for being such a monster. By no means did this girl deserve ever ounce of torture he put her through! No, no, of course not! She was just a sweet, simple little girl who desperately tried to cling to her lost boyfriend for two years without ever realizing that he was actually dead.

"No," he answered flatly after a moment and despite the flat line that Largo's mouth was drawn into, he had a feeling that the large man found that single word to be inconceivably despicable.

Not that Sync cared. At least Largo had the truth instead of some petty lie.

Honestly, with this masquerade Sync had was being forced to keep up with, he'd pretty much gotten tired of lying. If there was one thing he disliked, it was having some girl hanging all over him and off every little word he said.

Largo adverted his gaze, opting to stare at the path ahead, instead. Sync did the same, but the moment he focused on the task ahead again, he noticed Ion had turned his head slightly to look at the masked male. More than likely, he'd noticed his and Largo's conversation, but Sync personally didn't care whether or not he had overheard it or not. He had no idea what Largo meant—he had no idea what exactly he was lying to Arietta about. He just knew he was lying.

And Sync could be lying about anything. Literally.

But he was almost certain that that idiot would never guess what it was in particular that he was lying about. He was almost positive that Ion had his suspicions that Sync was another replica of the Fon Master Ion, but he doubted that little naive twerp could think of him—a boy who had the face of Auldrant's precious Fon Master—doing something so terrible, like convince the poor pink-haired crybaby that the little weakling that was Ion was an imposter.

What could he say? He was just a terrible guy.

"Ion?"

Finally, Anise's words reached the Fon Master and he jolted, looking over at her, surprised. "Yes, Anise?"

"What's up with you?" she questioned, resting her hands on her hips and puffing out her cheeks as most of the others joined in staring him down. Some appeared worried, while the others seemed simply interested. "You're spacing out more than usual!" she clarified when he blinked at her owlishly, looking utterly confused.

"I am worried about Arietta." This revelation seemed to surprise the others as they all stood there, blinking at him curiously, practically begging for him to explain what he meant. After all, it seemed like the God-Generals were his enemies now; to worry about them might seem like a terrible idea. "It was something Sync and Largo were talking about," he continued, "Largo asked him… if he felt bad about lying to Arietta."

Anise's eyebrows shot up. "Really? What's he lying to her about?"

"I don't know…" Ion answered, "They didn't talk about it after that…"

"It seems the God-Generals might be dealing with a few problems of their own," Jade butted in, pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. "Perhaps we could use this to our advantage." Ion looked dismal at the idea, obviously not really wanting an edge over the God-Generals—they were people, too, after all, striving for whatever goal they thought was right. But it was true that they needed one. Grouped together, the God-Generals greatly overpowered them. The others almost struggled to take care of Sync and Largo earlier, in their fight against them. Asch hadn't even needed to join in.

And Sync's fonic artes…

"Man…" Luke began, grabbing the attention of the others, "Who cares? We're wasting time!" He stalked off, only watched by his companions first before several started after him.

But Anise and Ion stayed fixated in their spots for a moment before the girl released a cry of outrage. "Ugh! Who does he think he is? Can you believe that guy?"

"Anise…"

A/N: I know, I know! "That wasn't a whole lot of anything," right? Well, I think it's pretty safe to assume that this is gonna be more focused on Sync's feelings as he plays "Ion", rather than any real action. Skipped the battle with Largo and Sync mostly because I'm lazy, not to mention! It was boring, it was lame, I know. Sorry. I have fun writing Sync's personality, so I like focusing on it. A lot.