Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of the Abyss.
Authors Rant: Now that the disclaiming part is over, I would like to bring something to your attention about this story.
It is long.
It is fickle, in a sense.
It is NataliaxWHOMEVER FITS THE STORYLINE and right now…that's going to be—(See rest at the bottom.)
Chapter II
Unfamiliar
"I'm going." The God-General drew out his sword, gripping it in both his hands. "I'm breaking this door down, and I'm going to find Natalia."
"Oh?" Jade raised an eyebrow, "I wouldn't advise that."
Asch stared at Jade in disbelief. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly as I said," answered the red-eyed man. "We tried to break down a door in this place, not too long ago, by using a fonic arte on it. It was exactly like this one. And do you know what happened when I used my strongest arte on it? Nothing. Not a dent. We are just as worried for Natalia as you are, but common sense should tell you that there is perhaps an alternate entrance.."
"That's bullshit! It might not be the same for this one." Asch gripped his sword and swung wildly, clashing with the metal door and staggering back from the force. It had deflected his attack and thrown him back. Just as Jade had said, not even a scratch. He tried again, and again, swinging with much force, hoping that the next swing would be more effective than the last.
He tried for what seemed like hours, but to no avail. The young noble hung his head low, his voice quiet and full of despair. "So… what am I supposed to do then?"
"We find another way."
"I want to know what happened. Tell me. How did she end up in there?" Asch asked as he sheathed his sword, concentrating hard on the situation.
"Well…" Luke began, "I didn't see exactly wh—"
"We're out of time. We have to leave now." Tear stated anxiously, looking off into the distance. Enemies had entered the area.
"Tear's right. We have to go now." Jade repeated, grabbing the item bag with Mieu inside and sprinting off towards the entrance with Tear and Anise behind him.
Luke glanced at Guy as he passed, following the others. "Luke. Let's go."
"R…Right." He answered, glancing at Asch. "Aren't you coming?"
His original did not bother facing his replica. He remained facing the door. "Go on, you dreck. I'm staying. If there is another way, I'm going to find it."
"But it's dangerous here."
"I don't care. Now go." He growled, "I'm cleaning up after you."
"But—"
"Go!"
"Luke, come on." Guy called once more, dragging off his friend by the arm.
Asch sighed and shook his head, speaking to himself in a dejected tone, "I can't believe this… Weren't we supposed to change our country? You'd better not be dead." Finally giving in, Asch turned and sped off after them, knowing that he would gain nothing from actually staying behind. He cursed everything.
Natalia could feel herself being carried, something splashing up onto her with every clumsy feeling step. Thin yet muscular arms held her.
"Is she breathing?!" Called a male's voice fearfully, as she felt herself being set down roughly on a hard surface. He did not sound too old. Probably around 16 or so, at least she assumed so. Why was he yelling?
"No. There's too much water," responded a second voice that sounded alarmed, this time it was female, obviously an older woman. Perhaps his mother.
Natalia's senses began returning and she could fainting feel water brushing up against her. She could also tell she was lying on something gritty, like sand. A beach? Lake? Something. Why am I wet? Where am I, she asked herself mentally, I'm dead, aren't I?
Natalia could vaguely feel something pressed against her chest—an ear. "She has a steady heart rhythm, but it's weak," stated that same female voice. The ear was removed and replaced by a large set of hands, a man's hands, as he began push down on her upper body hard. Once, twice, three times, four times, then finally, through an involuntary action, her body just began coughing up water violently and she turned to her side against her will and continued expelling the water. A gentle hand began patting her on the back until she ceased her aggressive movements.
"She okay? Nice goin' Regal. You saved a life today." Stated another male's voice, sounding a bit sarcastic as he broke the silence. "Now if only you weren't so impassive, you'd fit the hero part."
"Stop playing around, Zelos. We've got to get to an Inn," Answered another females voice, sounding annoyed.
"Hey. She's really kinda cute. I wonder how old she is…" The same cocky male voice again.
"You pervert. Could you save that until she's at least conscious?" The female voice answered.
"Aw. There's nothing wrong with me saying that, Sheena. Besides, there are plenty of places to stay in this area. Follow me." Multiple sets of footsteps were heard getting further away, like she was being left behind.
Natalia strained to take a deep breath, shuddering at the same time and wanted to badly to open her eyes, but did not have the energy to. It was so hard to breathe. She could feel someone force her into a sitting position and slide their arms under her, lifting the young princess off the ground. It was not the same person as before—the one who carried her from the water. She could tell. This person felt bigger—different.
He began walking, taking long, graceful strides, following the others that traveled ahead of him. She struggled, and with much effort, Natalia finally was able to open her eyes and gaze at the one who carried her so tenderly.
From first glance, she could already tell that he had fiery red hair. Asch, she thought, as her blurry vision cleared, and deep brown eyes accompanied the figure once she could see clearly again. No... It's not. Natalia drew in a deep breath, trying to reflect on what happened, but only bits and pieces graced her empty memory. Her wondering gaze must have finally alerted the young man, for he glanced down at her for a brief moment as they went along, then back down the road. She opened her mouth to say something to him, ask him anything, but no words came. She tried again, and still nothing. It was then, that she blacked out.
"C'mon," stated a familiar sounding voice of a man, as Natalia and he trudged through the wooded area. She could feel herself constantly tripping over roots and whatnot, but the one who strolled beside her would not let her fall. He kept a strong grip on her upper arm so if she did, he could at least catch her in some way. "We don't have much time until nightfall."
"I know…I'm sorry to slow you down so much. It's alright if you want to go ahead of me."
"Now you're just being stupid. I didn't say anything about that." He did not even bother looking back at her as he led her through the woods, still holding her arm. "Besides, I didn't just go through all that trouble to leave you behind."
"I know," she answered quietly, smiling uncontrollably. "I know."
"What? Is that all you can say now? 'I know'. Yeah. I figured that much," he growled.
"Thank you—for coming to get me."
There was silence as they continued to march, only the sound of their footsteps. He stared straight ahead, Natalia turned her gaze to him. His face remained expressionless, and he loosened his grip on her arm, lowering it to his side as he slowed to a halt, stopping her as well. "It's nothing. They were just a few pickpockets. Weak."
"Still…" she reached for his hand, and took it into both of hers, holding it tightly. "Thank you for coming to rescue me, Asch." She smiled brightly at him, and he could not help but smirk at her.
"Even the dreck could have saved you. Don't make such a big deal out of it because it was me."
How long has it been since any of us last saw Natalia? Man…here I thought we would have found her elsewhere in the facility after going in there so many times, but nothing. No matter how many times we tried to break down that damn door, it didn't even budge. How could I have just let that happen? I knew I should have stayed. Why didn't I? Why did I leave?
"Guy…?" Came a small voice from the doorway to his room. They had rented a room at an inn in Keterburg, for the sake of getting at least an ounce of sleep. Ironically enough though, no one had actually gone to sleep yet, at least, that was what Guy had assumed as he looked towards the doorway to see the face of a troubled girl.
"Yeah, Anise?" He answered gloomily, smiling weakly while propping himself up on his elbows and looking at her from his bed, "Nightmares again?"
"Is it alright if…I sleep in the extra bed," she asked, pointing towards the other bed a few feet from his and avoided the question about nightmares. "I would be sleeping with Tear, but Luke took my bed and the colonel left to go somewhere—but now the Colonel hasn't come back, so I would be alone in his room, but I didn't want to wait for him to come back so…" The sound of Anise's voice alone was enough to tell that she had been crying lately, and because of that, he could not turn her away, even though he felt like being alone. Firstly, Anise never cried, so that was a good reason too, as to why he should not obey his own feelings. Even the way she spoke seemed different. "I don't want to be by myself."
"It's okay, Anise. Go on. I don't mind. Besides, it would have been lonely without someone else in the room." With a sigh, Guy stood from his bed and strolled over to the closet, opening it and taking out a thick blanket before closing the door behind him while Anise just stared dejectedly from the doorway. He made his way back to where she would be sleeping and placed the blanket at the foot of her bed. "Just in case it gets too cold for you in the middle of the night, I'll leave that there, okay?"
"Oh." She crossed the room to her bed and slid under the covers quickly and shut her eyes tightly. Anise then brought the covers up over her head, curling up into a ball under them. "Thanks, Guy. I appreciate this."
"No need to thank me," he answered as he slid into his own bed and rolled over onto his side, not facing her. "Just get some sleep, okay? We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." He closed his eyes.
Anise stayed still with the covers over her head, listening to the howling arctic winds that blew outside the window and the clumps of snow that knocked against the glass. "What do you think…happened to Natalia?"
"Don't know. I guess she's just elsewhere in the world, trying to make her way back to us."
"But…anyone could have done that by now. Especially, Natalia. It's been three months."
"Yeah. You're right."
"Guy…"
"Yeah, Anise?"
"Where do you think she went?"
He chuckled bitterly and rolled over onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. "Somewhere we can't follow."
Asch glanced over his shoulder after hearing what sounded like clanking noises, but assumed it was just a monster that was far off. This seemed a bit easier to defeated in this place, or had he just gotten a bit stronger? It did not matter to him, either way.
"I'm positive. This is the right place. Honestly, how could you forget what it looked like," stated a voice that sounded familiar, the person was just ahead of him. It was Guy. Asch made his way to the end of the stretch and stopped just before he rounded the corner. At the moment, he wanted to know what they were doing, so much as to why they had come.
"He does have a point." Jade, most likely.
"Yeah, well…Are you sure we should come here alone? We don't even have a healer with us," complained a young girl, a girl that Asch could not seem to remember the name of. "Tear's still back at the Inn. Couldn't we have waited for her to recover?"
"There's nothing to be worried about," Luke confirmed.
"We have more than enough items to hold us over until we get back. Don't worry, Anise. If worst comes to worst, I'll protect you," Guy replied as he smiled and nodded.
"Aww. Well, alright. Let's keep on movin'!" Anise roared triumphantly as she spun on her heels and began marching in the direction of the place that Natalia disappeared. Jade took one glance back at where he had felt a presence at, but then turned and began following the others.
After assuming that they were far enough ahead, Asch turned the corner and sprinted down the next stretch and once again slowed to a halt to check whether or not they were there. He peeked around the corner, only to quickly pull back when the gaze of Jade fell upon him.
"Oh, Asch, how wonderful for you to join us. We were beginning to wonder if your little chasing game was getting the best of you," came a sarcastic statement from Jade.
"Man, oh man. We could hear you running the whole time with all that armor on," Guy remarked, grinning as he spoke while Asch emerged from behind the corner.
"If you're wanting to travel with us, then you're more than welcome Asch," Luke suggested, being the only one thus far who had not made a smart remark towards his original.
"Shut up, dreck! I'm just here to see what you were trying to do. That's all." Obviously, Asch was embarrassed.
"Hey! You don't have to be like that. I'm not the one who insulted you! They are!" He gestured towards Jade and Guy.
"Yep…Not the genius we thought he was," Anise stated, smiling smugly at the others.
"Whatever, just what are you doing anyways?" Asch demanded.
"If you must know," Jade began, "we came here to test a theory of mine."
Author's Rant: Asch. Yes. Asch just might be the one for Natalia, because he fits best in this all together. I'm sorry GuyxNatalia fans—wherever you may be. I promise. I'm going to write a nice tragedy for you, consisting of GuyxNatalia. One where Asch dies. How about that? Does that make you happy?
Eh. I was gonna do that anyways.
I'm gonna write a tragedy of Tales of the abyss. I'm not sure who will die but SOMEONE or SOMEONES will die.
Also, guess what? If you wanna be a pal to me and have some free time to answer a question, head on over to my other story "Left Behind" and go to the third chapter. It is there that you will find what I/you seek. Go at your own risk though. It's located at the bottom of the page—my Author's Rant. I warn you now. That story is of the Bleach series (if you want to read it) and the question derives from Pirates of the Caribbean three, and is spoiler-ed…somewhat.
-Vincentre