Hey everyone, I know that it's been a really long time since this story has been updated. Both Kazey and I are really sorry for this not being updated. Somehow it just got lost in our schedules. We're back in business and hope you enjoy it.

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Chapter Three

He awoke slowly. Not with the unexpected start that one would get when whipped from a nightmare, but the reluctant pull of one who wanted to remain dreaming. At least in his dreams, the image of the little replica being wrenched away seemed bearable, unrealistic in the mess that was his inner thoughts. Awaking was terrible though. He knew he had failed to keep her safe – Scion too – and the guilt crushed his chest like the light drilled his eyes.

Pain.

That was all he got when he opened his eyes to reality and shook off the dream that had stalled his fears. The fears that told him that what happened had really happened, and that he should feel like the failure he certainly did.

Asch pushed himself up from the bed, inwardly cursing at the realization that he was in no pain whatsoever. There wasn't even a scratch of proof on him that would make anyone believe he had tried his hardest to protect her. He wanted to punch himself for it. He had had all his strength going in, and somehow it slipped away in the blink of an eye, just like her.

'Sin…'

The door creaked open. He turned his eyes onto Din, who had partially stepped into the room with a half-hearted smile.

"Hey…" the blond said gently. "You're awake."

Asch said nothing at first, knowing that stating the unimportant, obvious things was just way of hinting at the bigger things, the things that silence itself could manage to make clear.

"What happened…?" he finally asked, tilting his head down. "I'm not injured. Why am I lying here?"

Din came forward, rubbing the back of his neck. "You used your hyper…hyper….your power, and teleported the stone and us back to Blue Abarath. We landed in the fountain. You were completely unconscious."

The former God-General gritted his teeth together. "Over exertion…" he muttered reluctantly, "Hyperresonance can drain every ounce of energy if used too often."

"Yeah," the blond agreed. "That's twice in one week you've used it."

"I'll have to refrain for a little while…" he responded.

The thought clenched his stomach into a writhing mess. He needed that power to save Sin and hopefully Scion.

"Syft transported the sixth fonstone down to the seventh…" Din explained, his tone turning quiet as he continued, "They're both safe now…"

Asch glanced at him, and knew that that fact meant nothing compared to what both of them had given in exchange. Who cared about the fonstones?

His hands clenched the blankets roughly, his rage beginning to boil with the shame toward himself and the actions of the enemy. Just what were they thinking?

"Sin blew that transportation cart of theirs into dust," the blond stated firmly. "She managed to do that for us."

Asch let out a bitter half-laugh and turned his head away. "And I traded her for a rock."

The blond fell silent. The former God-General was quick to realize that the situation wasn't any better for Din than it was for him. Scion was gone. Sin was gone. Their pain wasn't greater than each others. He suddenly felt even guiltier, realizing he had put his own problems above Din's again.

"Sorry…" he found himself murmuring.

The blond just shook his head acceptingly. In many ways he was stronger than Asch gave him credit for.

"What should we do now?" Din asked wearily, lowering his eyes and touching his chin.

The red head swung his legs out of the bed and furrowed his brows in contemplation.

"We need a direction of travel," the blue eyed man explained. "Just somewhere to start…maybe we should head back to where-"

"—How long have I been asleep?" Asch suddenly asked; his tone urgent.

Din shook his head, confused. "About four hours…Why?"

The God-General breathed a sigh of relief, running his hand through his hair.

"If I haven't missed it. I'll know which way to go."

The blond just tilted his head as Asch rose and headed out of the room, in the direction of the drawing room.

"We're here…little demon," Hugo stated, smirking as he walked around to unlock the door to her cage.

She ignored this however as she continued to gaze at the sun coming close to dusk. It was up to Asch now, and she felt useless getting so easily captured the way she did, with Levaia's sleeping arrow through her shoulder. The shot had been inhumanly fast.

"What's she looking at?" the boy with the pale blue hair asked, appearing beside the larger man with a questioning look on his face.

Sin tore her eyes away finally, feeling the tears well up from staring into the blinding light.

"I don't know…" Hugo muttered, seeming uninterested. "Been staring out there the whole damn time."

The lock clicked open, but both of them seemed to hesitate with getting in to retrieve her. She wasn't about to make it any easier.

Hugo jerked his head toward the cage. "In you go, Soran."

"I'm not getting in there this time."

"Only because the last one nearly broke your face, wimp."

Sin's eyes lit up.

'Scion…!' She somehow knew.

It was almost enough to coax her out of the cage.

"Well why don't you get in then, you big oaf? See how you like it?"

Hugo lifted his chin. "Maybe I will—"

"I'll do it."

All three of them turned to see a new figure approach. His strides were long and steady, his clothes dark, his hair mahogany. His face…

The closer he got the more tense she became. The more she couldn't breathe. The smaller she felt. She thought she was going to choke. His swift strides stopped beside the two other males and the cage.

"I'll do it," he repeated.

"Ah…Razal…" Soran started, seeming to fall oddly humble with the new arrival. "Are you sure…? I can…"

But the man was already opening the door and proceeding into the cage.

Sin pushed her back tightly against the metal bars behind her, not knowing what else to do with the tightness in her body. He straightened in front of her, his eyes observing.

"You look frightened, Little Demon," he stated, his close voice making her flinch considerably. "Not a good sign that you'll survive the months ahead."

Her hands clenched beside her.

Razal crouched and turned his gaze over his shoulder. "Was she hard to obtain?"

Soran shook his head, more in thought than in denial. "Levaia's shot took her down quickly. It's the other two that'll bruise your bones."

Sin tried to listen, but she was paralyzed with the presence of the man in front of her. Any way he shifted, any time he blinked, she felt the fear swell.

His deep green eyes turned back to look into her widened orange ones. His facial features were sharp, his gaze hardened.

He looked like Asch.

"Will you head butt me like your friend did…?" he asked lowly as his hand reached out, preparing to grab her arm.

Her flight instinct turned to fight in that lightning quick moment as she jerked and then sprung at him. He seemed to expect something like this though, because his hand shot out on a different angle and grabbed her arm anyway as he spun out of the way.

It was then that she forgot all that Asch's training had taught her, and she began to thrash in the look-a-like's hold, reverting back to what she thought might have been very basic animal instincts. She couldn't stand his touch. She felt like she'd throw up from fear.

They struggled then, back and forth, dancing around the cage. Sin realized that her edge in fighting was a distant thing when the man who looked like Asch was around. It was a constant process of being distracted by the familiarity and then boiling over with anger…so much so that it shamefully clouded her vision. It made her wild…it made her a stranger to herself.

"That's Eyes of the Demon alright…" Soran murmured with a frown.

"You don't need the eyes to know it," Hugo agreed.

'I can't ask for my weapons…' Sin thought, exhausted. 'It would mess up everything…the whole plan…'

Razal overpowered her then, slamming her back against the bars and making her head spin from the pain in her shoulder. She blinked out of the daze in surprise when a snarl escaped her lips. He stared back, unafraid.

"You sicken me…" she huffed, clenching her teeth. She pulled at the forearm that was pinning her collarbone to the bars.

His green eyes didn't waver. "Weaker…" he stated lowly. "You must be the baby of the group."

She wished she could have held back the fury that engulfed her from the comment, but it slid in between her logic and caused her to savagely grasp at the fonons around her.

"Razal…!" Soran shouted, his sentence cut off with the crackling protests of the barrier on the cage.

"I'll show you…!" Sin snarled. His grip tightened.

The static ran over both of them, making Sin clench her teeth in pain. But she continued to gather the power, determined to show him that she would never give them the chance for it to be easy.

She couldn't believe he could still hold on when her body felt on the verge of going into paralysis from pain. His grip was strong though, just as his gaze was.

"L-let go!" Sin yelled in final desperation.

She released the power she had been building, but a split second before Razal had released her from his grip, and the unexpected freedom clashed with her pulse. She succeeded in pushing him away, but the horrible pain in her head and back told her that she had thrown herself harder and farther than she had thrown him.

"Ugh…" she groaned, having no choice but to slide down into a position of submission with the cloud of black hanging over her eyes.

Sensing that a presence had come to stand in front of her again, she lifted her head, although she could see nothing through her dazed eyes. There was the soft sound of shredding then, and the motion of fabric covering her eyes was so swift that she had no time to resist. Her hands were trapped behind her before she could even raise them an inch to tear it off.

"Blind the demon…" Razal murmured lowly, his cursed arms sliding under her and lifting. "And even it becomes tame-able…human…"

Sin turned her head to the direction of his face. "Don't worry. Someone less human than me… will destroy you..."

Asch stared at the piece of paper in front of him as Din stood to the side and watched. The former God General seemed so focused and intent on what he was putting down onto the page. The two of them sat in silence through the process; the blond waiting for an explanation as to what was happening. It had taken him by surprise when Asch had looked up at him.

"We need to mark this out on a map," the red head stated, pointing to the paper in front of him.

"What is it?" Din questioned, his fingers touching his chin lightly.

So much had been happening recently that it was hard to keep track of it all. Every piece of information had a place to go, as well as every detail. The two men had been doing the best with what they had to regain what they had lost.

Asch was thoughtful for a few moments, as if considering what he was about to say.

"Before we had left the other day, Sin and I had made a plan," he started, his brows pushing together, "If anything happened, she would use our connection to show us a direction to the place where they would be taking them."

"So you wrote down which way was which?" the blond asked curiously.

"Asking once was north, twice was east, three times was south, and four times was west," Asch explained, pointing in each direction on the map as he said them.

Din nodded his head at the idea. He had to admit that it was original and seemed like it would work. So long as they could find where they were when they had been separated, t would have been easy to trace where they had gone. All they really needed now was to get there…

Walking forward, the blond placed his hands on the table; his blue orbs looking at the large map of the area. He tried to trace back to where they had gone to.

"This was where we were when they took Sin," Din stated, pointing at the openly forested area, "What way did they go from there?"

Asch looked down at the paper as he rose to his feet to get a better look.

"East from here," he stated; watching Din's finger trace the paper map, "And then there were a few minutes before they turned north… for about an hour before turning east again."

Din tried to map it all out in his head as his friend described it to him. With the time lines and distance, it was a little hard to really tell when and where to turn. The two of them together working for their ultimate goal… he was sure that they would be able to put it together.

'Just hold on you two… We'll be there as soon as we can…'

Sin tried to struggle against whom was holding her. She couldn't see where she was being taken, but by the smell and dampness, she knew that it was underground. She tried to see through the piece of fabric that blinded her. Wit the lack of light it was in vain to try. She couldn't see anything past the barrier that blocked her vision

Suddenly the person pulling on her stopped before she heard metal reluctantly cracking open. The blindfold was pulled off before she was thrown into a prison cell. "Sin!" Scion called, getting up to catch her friend.

"Are you sure it's alright to keep them in the same cell?" Hugo questioned almost cautiously as they shut the door.

"They should be fine in there," the mahogany haired man stated, "These cells can hold them well enough."

Sin made herself sturdy with the help of Scion. Her demonic orange eyes were locked on Razal's face; her orbs filled with hatred. She could feel it – her hatred – as her hands clenched tightly. She could break down that cell door easily…

"…Yeah? Well just who do you think you are?" she growled, swinging her hand as she concentrated on her fonons.

"Sin no!" Scion cried, grabbing the girl's arm to try to stop her.

It was too late. Sin released as much force as she could against the metal bars that separated her from the men on the other side. The force was blown back though, bouncing off the cell and coming back at her. It threw her into Scion; knocking both of them against the concrete blocks at the back. She heard Scion cry out in pain at the contact, and felt her trying to push herself away from the wall.

"Scion?" the smaller girl asked with concern, trying to get off her friend.

She heard some laughing from the larger and smaller men outside the cell. They must have thought the action to have been foolish.

"Keep it up little Demon," Soran laughed with a dark smirk, "You'll end up saving us the trouble of killing both of you."

Scion scoffed, smirking herself at the man's words.

"You need a barrier cell to protect you from us," she stated, glaring at him hatefully, "You know that if you were against us one on one… your blood would be all over the floor."

Sin didn't pay attention as the three men walked away. She was more concerned about why her friend was wincing so badly. Her brows pushed together with confusion. Had they shot her in the back like they had her?

"It's fine," Scion stated, letting go of her pants that she had been grasping onto, "It's nothing to really be concerned about."

"What did they do to you?" the orange eyed girl questioned, not reassured.

"Nothing that hasn't happened before," the silver haired girl stated.

There was a tone in her voice; a humorless sense of amusement. Being in such a place for so long must have started to get to her.

"How did they manage to catch you?" Scion wondered, raising her own brow, "I figured you would have been safe at home by now."

The whole plan had gone by so quickly… she hadn't even realized how long she must have been in that carriage. What had happened to Din and Asch?

"We tried to stop them from getting the sixth fonstone. They caught me destroying their cart… and then I was out for a while…" the smaller girl trailed off, trying to remember.

"You didn't read it… did you?" Scion asked; her expression both serious and stern.

"No," Sin shook her head, "Asch would kill me if I did."

She thought about it for a few moments before looking at the green eyed girl with confusion.

"How do you know about the fonstones?"

Scion merely pointed across to the other cell holding three children before shaking her head.

"Apparently they've been using replicas for a while," the silver haired girl explained, sounding disgusted, "They use them to read the stones and then leave them for dead."

Sin looked across at the three kids, her heart sinking at seeing the little girl clinging to the oldest boy in fear.

'That's such a horrible thing to do…'

"Then why would they bring you here?" Sin asked Scion, her brows knitting together, "You're not a-"

Scion quickly covered the girl's mouth, "They don't know that, and the less they know the better.

All that had happened had come out of nowhere. The fonstones… the war… these enemies… How was it all really connected? Why were the puzzle pieces scattered from each other?

Her thoughts we cut off as Scion got to her feet.

"Did… Din make it back safely?" the silver haired girl wondered quietly, as if afraid to know the answer to it.

"Yeah, he's safe at home with Asch," she assured her older friend with a smile.

There was no way that those people had stopped those two from making it home safely. Not when they had a goal they needed to achieve.

"What's been happening here?" Sin wondered, looking around, "Did you find out anything?"

Scion's brows narrowed as she thought about what Sin had said. The black haired girl figured that more would have happened here than back at Blue Abarath.

"There's something called the unknown force," Scion stated; her gaze unmoving, "It has the ability to alter what's predicted on the fonstones… Like this thing is somehow different from the entire world…"

With those words, the realization had hit Sin quickly. There was only one thing that she knew of that could have possibly been different. A person whose fonons were completely different from everyone else's…

"Asch," she said aloud, trying to keep quiet, "The unknown force is Asch."

"I know you love him and that he's special to you," Scion started, shaking her head with a small smile, "but Asch is no different from any of us."

"That's not true," Sin protested, her brows pushing together.

She had been to Asch's world; she had seen it and knew how different it was from their world.

"When Asch and I disappeared, we had gone to where Asch was from," she explained, remembering the experience, "Asch was from a parallel world, one like ours. They had technology like flying airships."

Scion raised a brow with what was being told to her.

"I'm being serious. There was a man named Guy that looks exactly like Din," she continued, "And the reason Razal looks like Asch is because Razal is the Asch from this universe."

She hated to admit it to herself, but she knew the resemblance between the two men. Sin could feel lit when she stood near him; when he had looked down at her in that carriage with cold eyes. Their energy was similar as well as their presence. The two men were similar.

"So Asch can alter what happens with the fonstones?" Scion questioned, almost sounding doubtful.

"I'm sure of it."

"Okay," the silver haired girl nodded her head, "So long as you really believe it then I will too."

"Thanks."

"What are friends for?" Scion asked with a small smirk.

It was nice to know that even when they were in this dark, miserable place, they still had a little hope. They knew that they would get out of here one way or another.

His brows furrowed as he heard the two voices talking from down the corridor. He could hear both the Presence of Moonlight and the Eyes of the Demon exchanging information. When he had reached a distance to understand what they were saying, he had stopped walking.

'Maybe I can learn something from these two...'

"There's something called the unknown force," he heard the silver haired girl state.

Razal's brows furrowed at the mention of the unknown force. It had been on the fonstones… on all of them.

"It's Asch," the short girl said, her voice quiet.

'The red haired general?' Razal wondered with confusion.

He had heard Hugo explaining the man to Jion and what he was capable of doing. It had sounded like the man was able to do many things.

'Then I guess this means that it's not the blond that was there like Jion thought…'

"What do you think these people are going to do?"

He jumped out of thought, hearing the smaller girl's question. Now seemed like a good time to interfere.

He walked down the rest of the corridor, coming to stand before the two girls' cell. Both of them immediately stopped talking and watched him intently. Opening the cell door, he took hold of the Eyes of the Demon. The girl suddenly became frantic with his hand on her arm. It was as if his touch burned her.

"Let her go," the silver haired girl demanded, taking a step from her resting position.

As his green orbs locked with hers he could see the fire inside; he could see what she was willing to do.

"Move and I'll make sure she dies while reading the stone," the mahogany haired man threatened, pulling the Eyes of the Demon to her feet.

He caught her hesitate with his words. She would risk her own life, but she would never risk the life of someone she held dear.

"Now be good while I'm gone," he ordered, dragging the smaller girl down the hallway with him.

Sin stood in silence as six people stood around her as well as Razal standing beside her with her arm tightly in his hand. She glared hatefully at the stone before turning her head to the side. Why the hell should she cooperate with them?

"Well go on little Demon, start reading," the mahogany haired man ordered, pushing her toward it.

"I'd get started," an older man told her, sounding almost amused, "I doubt that friend of yours is in any condition to fight right now. Do you want her life on your hands?"

Her jaw tightened at the man's words. It was hardly fair for them to feed off the care the two had for each other. How could a friend let their friends die? Everyone would rather stand in their friend's place. At least that was what her friend's were like.

"Start from here," Razal told her, pointing at where they had heard from last.

Reluctantly, Sin's demonic orange eyes landed to where the man had pointed. They went over the words quickly, trying to figure out the words. If there would be a way to lie about what was being read, then these people would never know the truth.

"The sixth fonstone will be taken to the seventh within the city of water. The Sky Generals will make their plans to succeed in future events, though one shall reach their end within the next few days."

Sin winced as she could feel the stone burning at her body. As he eyes continued on, she read something that made her heart turn with discomfort.

'Scion…'

Scion groaned as she rested against the stone cold floor. Her stomach started to protest again. She knew what it meant to feel the vile, water like substance coming to her mouth. Getting to her hands and knees, she started to throw up once again.

'Why… why is this happening to me?'

End of Chapter 3

Sorry again for the long wait, we hope that this chapter was well worth the wait and the fourth chapter will be coming out shortly as well.