Return to Tataroo Valley
Luke was hanging upside down from a tree branch, his feet caught between two branches. His arms were crossed and a really ticked off look on his face. "And just how did I end up in this position? Didn't I get knocked out last time…?" he asked.
"Yeah you did, but don't forget this is a little different than what we went through before. There may be other differences since you can control your hyperresonances now…" Tear said, her arms also crossed as she looked around, spotting a monster, "The monster's around here are still weak…." She pointed out.
"Well duh… Of course they're still weak… this is the past, remember? They haven't had time to get stronge-" Luke was cut off by a loud crack. His eyes widened as he looked up at the branches he was hanging from. "Oh shi-" he started, but was cut off by another crack as he fell to the ground, hitting his head on a rock, making his head spin and knocking him somewhat out of it.
Tear was watching the whole time, and couldn't help but laugh. "Well it seems you're back to your old self though… You're a complete and total idiot again…"
"Oh shut up…." Luke mumbled as he sat up and rubbed his throbbing head, "So are we at the same part of the valley as last time?"
"Seems so…" Tear said. "The only problem is that even though we know all of our Artes, we have our original starting items and we aren't as strong as we were when we defeated Van…"
"You're kidding… There goes my one hit kills idea…." Luke said with a sigh.
"We should get going so we can catch that coach that we rode before…" Tear said as she began walking away.
"Huh? Hey wait up!" Luke said as he hopped to his feet and ran after her. 'First she says I'm back to my old self, then she goes and acts cold to me again… I'm not the only one who changed apparently' "Hey… wait, why are we going on that coach again when it will take us to Engeve again?" Luke asked as he finally caught up to her and began walking beside her.
"Don't you remember what I told you? We have to try to repeat everything we did before" Tear said, "And besides…" she said as she pulled ahead of him, put her hands behind her and twirled around to face him. "This way we can spend some time together" she said with a smile that instantly made Luke smile back.
"Heh… Yeah I guess so" Luke said as he continued walking, turning around when she didn't follow, "Hey, don't we have a coach to catch?" he asked with another smile.
"Yes, let's go," Tear said as she began walking again, walking next to him, her hand grasping his as they walked.
Suddenly Luke stopped and put a hand to his head. "Dammit… the headaches are back…" He mumbled, then gasped when he heard Asch's voice.
Hey Repli- I mean Luke, can you hear me?" Asch's voice rang through Luke's head.
"A-Asch!? You're alive?" Luke asked.
"Luke, is that Asch contacting you again? He's alive?" Tear asked, holding him so he didn't collapse.
"Yeah… and for once he called me by my name instead of Replica…" Luke said with a small laugh.
"Oh shut up before I do decide to call you a replica again. What the hell is going on?! How am I still alive?!" Asch shouted, making Luke's head hurt even more.
"Dammit, quit shouting, or you're going to die again! Lorelei fused the two of us into once person when I released her, then Tear and I accidentally caused a new kind of hyperresonance that split us apart and took us back in time to when Tear and I first met. Now we have to try to repeat the past. From what I'm guessing, you, Tear and I are the only ones who know about the future" Luke explained.
"So that would explain why Sync and Arrietta are still alive…." Asch said, calming down again.
"Hey, Asch? Since the God Generals all think you're on their side now, can you get Arrietta to move her Liger Mother out of the Cheagle Woods?" Luke asked.
"Good thinking Luke" Tear said happily.
"Huh…? Why do you need her to do that?" Asch asked.
"The Ligers are hunting the Cheagles because one of the Cheagles burned the Liger's forest. If you could get the Liger Queen out of there, it would save us the trouble of killing it and dealing with Arrietta constantly trying to get revenge" Luke explained, hoping that Asch would listen.
"Oh yeah… I remember Arrietta constantly crying over her Liger Mother dying at your hands… I'll see what I can do. Maybe I can get her on our side…" Asch said.
"Good thinking, we could use her ability to talk to animals" Luke said, nodding in agreement.
"Okay I'll- Dammit, here comes Dist… I'll contact you later" Asch said, then his voice and Luke's headache disappeared.
"So, shall we continue to look for that coach driver?" Tear asked.
"Yeah. Let's go" Luke said as he began walking with her.
As they walked along the path, Luke looked at all of the different flowers and trees. "Man, I didn't realize how beautiful this place was…"
"I told you" Tear said, giggling a little.
"What do you mean?" Luke asked.
"Back when we first got here, when you were complaining about how annoying this place was, I mentioned how I thought this was a pleasant place to be because of how pretty it was" Tear explained
"Hmm…. Yeah… I guess I was too much of a whiner to notice… but I think it's better now anyways…" Luke said with another smile.
"Huh? Why is that?" Tear said, looking a little confused.
"Because back then I hated you… Now we're best friends, and it's much easier to enjoy with a friend rather than an enemy" Luke said happily.
"So… I was an enemy to you back then…" Tear asked, sounding upset.
"Only because of how fast things were moving around me, and how you got me out here in the first place. But don't worry. I don't think of you as an enemy in the least anymore. You know that" Luke said, giving her a gentle hug.
"Heh… I was just kidding you know…" Tear said, hugging him back, then beginning to walk again.
Something rustled in a bush nearby. "Shhh…. Did you hear that?" Tear asked, not knowing for sure because of the distance between them and the bush.
"Yeah, I heard it… looks like we've got some monsters to deal with…" Luke said, taking his sword out of it's hilt, waiting for the monsters.
"Damn, there's more coming!" Tear said, pointing to another group of bushes.
"What?! Dammit!" Luke shouted as about seven boars shot out of the bushes, charging at Luke and Tear, "Tear! Can you put them to sleep with your hymns?"
"Understood. Just keep them busy for me" Tear said as she began chanting her hymn.
"Got it" Luke said as he charged at the closest pair of boars, Triple slashed one, then jumped into the air and shot down onto the other on with a Havoc Strike.
"Tre ne ze qua lo tre ze…" Tear finished her hymn, watching Luke smile as all the boars fell asleep.
"Easy kills…" He said to himself as he quickly slashed every boar horizontally on the face, instantly killing all of them, a few of them squealing in pain as they died, making Luke feel kind of sorry for them, "Okay let's get out of-" Luke was cut off as something charged at him and sent him flying, "What the hell!?" he shouted as he flipped in the air and landed on his feet.
"It's the queen of these Boars!" Tear shouted, beginning to chant the Éclair de Larmes spell.
"Dammit!" Luke shouted out as he charged at the boar bringing his sword down on the giant boar's head. But all that was heard was the sound of swords striking each other, "What!?" Luke shouted out as his blade was being blocked by the enormous tusk of the boar.
The boar quickly pushed Luke's Sword out of the way, then charged into him again, sending him flying again, this time blood flying behind him. 'Oh no, Luke! Dammit, I have to finish the spell!' she thought, finishing the spell just after finishing the thought, "Éclair de Larmes!" she shouted, the ground under the boar lighting up in a magic circle, then being ripped into an X, unleashing waves of light energy into the boar, the final hit killing it.
Tear gave a sigh of relief, then ran over to Luke to heal him, "Luke, are you-" She was cut off by Luke.
"I'm fine… Come on, we need to find the coachman…" Luke said as he stood up and began walking down the path, his left arm bleeding at the elbow.
"Luke, please let me heal you…" Tear pleaded.
"Fine, if it's worrying you that much" Luke said as he sat down and waited for her to come over and fix his wound.
"Thank you…" Tear said as she opened the item bag and got a roll of cloth out, then sat down next to Luke, "You really should have been more careful Luke…"
"Don't start lecturing me again, okay?" Luke growled. He obviously wasn't happy about the surprise encounter.
Tear began chanting, then said "First Aid…" making Luke's wound light up, then almost completely disappear. She then wrapped the remaining cut in the cloth, knotting it to keep it in place. "Okay… Let's go" Tear said, getting up, then helping Luke up.
"Yeah… Sorry for talking to you like that…" Luke said as they continued walking.
After turning the first corner to come up on the path, they spotted the coachman. "There he is…" Luke said, heaving a sigh of relief.
"Come on, let's hurry up. We have to act like we accidentally came here, so just follow my lead, alright?" Tear said as she ran over to the coachman, "Excuse me, could you tell me what direction the capital is in?" She asked kindly.
"Hm? The capital? Oh, it's northeast from here. I can take you on my coach if you want" the coachman said.
"How much would it cost for the two of us?" Luke asked as he caught up to Tear.
"Hmmm…. Twelve thousand gald a piece"
"We… don't have that kind of money on us right now… would this do?" Tear asked, taking out a jewel, then handing it to the coachman.
"Wow, this is some jewel! Sure, this'll do. Go ahead and get in. I still need to get some water before we leave, alright?" the coachman said as he continued down another path that would take him to the nearby river.
"Thank you" Tear said as she and Luke headed toward the coach and got into it.
