"Oh thank Lorelei!"

"Anise, you do realize that the Tartarus is floating in the core and is not solid ground?"

"Shut up! Don't remind me."

"Rough flight?" Asch inquired, a corner of his mouth turned up.

"For some reason the planet storm slowing down made the turbulence worse," Noelle reported. "It's a good thing we didn't try using the Albiore III."

"What happened to Sheridan?"

It fell to Jade to tell the Princess what had happened. "It was Sync and Legretta. They are both dead, and apparently Van discovered that several people had been placed into replica bodies. Many of his troops must have died over those fifteen days, and that turns out to have included Arietta."

"I'm going to kill him."Anise didn't let go of the pillar even when Ion went to her side. "She wasn't very bright, but she was loyal, you know? And Van had Legretta drug her and killed her in her sleep because he thought she might be used against him somehow."

"I'm sorry."

"Luke, it's not your fault. You weren't even the one that killed her in the other future. You saved her and then that bastard Van killed her. I'm gonna kill those bastards!"

"Anise?"

"Don't worry, Ion. I won't let them get their hands on you. They can't tell you're a… replica replica? Anyway." She hugged him now instead of the pillar.

"What about Sheridan?" It was good that there were three fewer god-generals in the world, but that wasn't Natalia's primary concern at the moment. Her people were.

"Once the god-generals were disposed of and the defense systems repaired – they managed to take out three stations and there were, as you know, three of us to stand guard – the fact that Van had moved in for the kill became an advantage. When Belkend's navy arrived the soldiers carried by most of his remaining landships had already been taken down by Sheridan's roving fontech guards, although they weren't very good at telling friend from foe," Jade gave Noelle a look of reproof at this, "and with the few openings they had made in the minefield closed off so they had nowhere to run they were dead in the water. There isn't much left of the city but rubble, but only Contingency Plan C had to be activated before the reinforcements got there, which was abandoning all of the upper city but the defense stations and reviving the guards, who attacked everything in sight including the defense stations. I don't think there will be more than a few hundred permanent casualties, although they were starting to run out of life bottles when the reinforcements arrived."

"That plagiarist Dist made off with one of the guards." Plagiarist was Sheridan's equivalent of Keterberg's tourist.

"At least that meant one fewer to fight. Why couldn't you just blow up the city? It would have had the same effect and it wouldn't have taken us longer to finish off all twenty of those things than the god-generals, and they took out a fourth of our reinforcements! What was General Sheridan thinking… never mind." He had been thinking about surviving an onslaught of fanatic Oracle knights, or at least killing enough the people that escaped would hopefully been able to find someplace safe before they recovered enough to start looking.

"I haven't seen fontech like those outside of the sephiroth and Yulia City." Tear shook her head in wonder. "I can't believe the Outer Lands used to know things we don't remember."

"Well, he was a heretic." Ion sighed. "In the old days that often meant someone who was preserving knowledge the Order wanted dead and buried."

"The books still exist, but we don't look at them. We want to build our own future, and as long as the Order thinks they got them all we're safe." Noelle smiled. "But the Order's changing. Maybe we can go find them someday. We've already lost the clues for all but six of the caches, and one of those was on Hod."

"Jade."

"Yes, Luke?"

"You actually look… harried." The mind boggled.

"They had called those things up before we arrived since they didn't know we were coming, and we found ourselves having to deal with eight of them and Sync and Legretta. There simply was not time to cast fonic artes without dying and the battle devolved into positioning ourselves so that the fontech dolls went primarily after the other group, and Tear made the mistake of starting to cast holy song early on. They were programmed to go after seventh fonists above all other targets, since they're both the healers and usually Order members, it seems." Jade took a deep breath. "Or it might be users of the Yulian Fonic Hymns in particular, they didn't go quite as berserk after she cast resurrection. We would have been doomed if the militia hadn't used life bottles and gels on us from cover. I'm looking forward to fighting Van, after that bit of exercise." Dying that many times that quickly would wear on anyone.

"And those two are fast. Tokunaga's a big target compared to them. And right after finishing them off I had to get on an Albiore after throwing up on our last flight and still having to cast fonic artes. I'm not moving unless it's to kill Van," Anise declared, having sunk to the ground.

"Do you have anything to eat?" Tear asked pitifully.

Anise groaned. "Don't mention food!"

"Guy, is this working?"

"Everything's going back to normal, and it looks like it changed things on the ride down for you guys pretty drastically. Don't worry, the Tartarus is holding and the miasma is contained."

"That's good." Jade leaned against a wall. "If I am woken up for anything I will commit murder. Except if it's curry or Van, then I murder them."

"Uh, duly noted." Guy backed away.

"If you make curry I will kill you. That stuff smells. If you make them make it and I throw up, it will be on you, Jade."

"You can try."

"Maybe just a rice ball? Something?" Tear was famished.

"Not those shrimp rice balls, Luke! I'll smell the shrimp." Anise shuddered as Ion rubbed her back soothingly. "Can you take Tear somewhere else so I don't have to hear you talk about food?"

"Sure. Come on, Tear, lean on me." Luke offered her his shoulder and took her down into someplace they could cook while waiting for Anise' stomach to settle.

-

The ship's stellar navigation clock was broken and there was no real way to tell time in the core. Van arrived shortly after they ran out of kombu. Jade might have grown addicted to curry in Grand Chokmah but in Keterburg they ate a lot of seafood, partially because it was too cold for anything but seaweed to grow. Natalia had decided to make oden for some reason, and that was a hard, hard thing to make well enough to suit a native's palate. Jade had callously tossed the abomination overboard, made a batch for himself, dropped hints that he'd put something unspeakable in it, and forced the others, who were craving some because of the smell, to make another batch. Jade's smelled better but they weren't foolish enough to trust that smile.

Jade the resort king had managed to construct a lounge chair on the deck in order to kill time even though there wasn't any sun to bathe in here. He still had a good view of the light show that was the core. One of the camp stoves was keeping his oden warm and he'd left some books behind in his quarters since he could just buy additional copies when he next found the time for light recreational reading.

He was working on Professor Iemon's Trinity: An examination of the third fonon in the planet storm, sea-level atmosphere and upper atmosphere, when Largo was dropped down on him from above brandishing his axe/scythe. As there was no sun to block out here Jade would have had no idea if Largo hadn't yelled. Since he did have warning, Jade rolled out of the way, flung his book to safety and, wincing, tipped over the oden so Largo landed on it and the camp stove. If it weren't for the pesky safety railing he would have slid over the edge.

Van, who was flying, could have caught him, it wasn't as if there was anything to go splat against here, but it was the principle of the matter.

Largo's crash landing had caught the attention of the others. Jade hesitated, but since Largo was right in front of him and now they were going to be out of kombu until Noelle next came to check on them and they could leave and go right to Keterberg (Luke had left before doing the shopping, and it wasn't until they were in Sheridan that Jade had realized that they only had six bundles of the stuff: he'd gotten used to being able to eat his favorites while they were gallivanting all over the world), he remained fighting Largo, soon joined by Guy and Anise, while the others fought Van.

Van had left Largo to keep Jade busy and then gone over to where Natalia was napping (they'd taken a cue from Jade and moved things on deck) with her head on Asch's lap, Luke was brushing Tear's hair, and Tear was playing with Mieu, theoretically so that he wouldn't start making too much noise and wake Natalia up.

Luke was the first person to notice the falling Largo and flung Mieu into the item bag. Natalia was torn over whether or not to head over there. Largo was her father and while Guy could heal himself none of the three facing him were seventh fonists while everyone here was one even if Asch didn't actually have any healing artes and Luke's were… erratic.

"Forcing me to come to a battleground of your choosing? You've improved, Asch."

"Be silent!" Natalia, unlike the others, had a ranged weapon, and so had no need to wait until Van was pinned down to launch an attack: if they started to cast while he was still outside of combat he could just swoop down attack the fonist without having to worry about whoever he was fighting at the moment going for his back while he was occupied. Shoot the fonists. Natalia might not be descended from the leader of Lanvaldear and the founder of the school, but she knew the principles.

She would actually be at somewhat of a disadvantage against Largo, she noted idly. "Tear!" She ordered as Van descended, his sword blocked by Asch's as Natalia started on revive. "They could use you over there: send…" Hmm, Luke and Asch were both primarily swordsmen, and with Tear gone they could use an attack fonist even if her first inclination was to ask for Guy, out of some ingrained instinct that meat shields were an archer's best friends, or her cousin's best friends in any case. "Jade here!"

"She's right," Luke agreed, slicing for Van's back. "They don't have a healer and it's better if you're not fighting him!" Largo would most likely fall first and it would be better if four others could hold him down while Tear sang the hymn. They needed to free Lorelei instead of just kill Van, and that meant they needed Largo out of the picture first so he couldn't interfere.

It would be better if they could have three keep Van busy while the other four finished off Largo, Tear mused as she ran over and tagged Jade out, but Van was good enough to require four opponents.

It was amazing that she wasn't trying to talk to Van and that Natalia had shot first instead of giving a speech. What had changed, Tear wondered as she ran through holy song almost on autopilot while Anise went into a dual dragon surge, giving Guy enough time to duck out of the melee and center without letting Largo break loose.

Luke and Asch had changed, she realized. And knowing just what Van would have done with a month and a half to work in without Luke and Asch to stop him. The percentage of replicas in Sheridan alone, despite their defenses! And it was nothing compared to Belkend's, Chesedonia's, Baticul's… forget Daath.

The rough estimate was that a third of the world's population had died in that time. Akzeriuth had been… over so fast. They all knew Luke still had nightmares, but it seemed like a nightmare itself. Tear had grown up in Yulia City, she understood the horror of the miasma, but even… Nothing too terrible had happened, besides Akzeriuth, and they had still partly blamed that on Luke, not Van.

But now they had living, breathing reminders… Ginji had just smiled wryly. Noelle had been a little shocked, and so had the rest of them. Noelle was good at staying out of trouble. Anise they'd almost expected, Natalia had been a small surprise, Jade had found it ironic enough to laugh hard enough that if it were anyone but Jade they would have thought he was hysterical… She and Guy were both their original selves. The people Van had ties to. Meaning they had most likely been captured knowing that their friends were dead while they were alive and without any idea what had happened to Luke and Asch. Or at least they hoped they hadn't known Luke was being tortured and been unable to help him, Asch as well.

They were fighting a single opponent but Tear had to fight back the urge to cast Judgment.

What Van was doing was wrong. He had to be stopped.

People with miasma poisoning stayed out of sight or didn't reveal it, if they even knew. The people of Akzeriuth hadn't even left bodies behind.

It just hadn't seemed real.

She wanted to wake up, but as soon as razing phoenix (an appropriate name, wasn't it?) dropped Largo she started to get ready to sing the preludes to her lullaby that would hopefully wake up Lorelei instead as Guy and Anise ran over to free up Luke and Asch so they could combine their weapon and armor into the Key of Lorelei.

Natalia had to drop back to cast revive on Anise and Guy, although the ones they replaced had still had the little feathers floating and letting her know it was active. If they were here Largo had to be already dead, but she didn't have time to think about that right now. The fact that, well, she had died, and he was working for the one who had to have been responsible had helped her deal with lingering family feelings the same way it had Tear. Largo had helped the one who had killed her, if he hadn't done it himself: Ingobert had practically locked her in her room to keep her from following Luke to Akzeriuth. Ingobert was her father. Origins didn't matter in the same way that Luke was just as much her cousin as Asch was.

What mattered was the memories people shared, that they stood by each other.

"Singing the hymn without the key, Mystearica? You might be able to fight me for Lorelei's pact-bound service, but I already control it! Without the Key there is no point to this battle!" His body seemed to change, revealing the seventh fonons she had sensed dormant inside it as he drew on Lorelei's power.

Natalia started on scare shot next.

-

Luke, Asch and Tear had taken cover so Van couldn't see what they were up to. "Do these wear off?" Asch pointed at the revive marker.

"Not unless the battle ends." And even if they were out of it the rest were still fighting.

"Good. Luke?"

"Yes?" Luke was putting on a resist ring since he'd just handed over the jewel. There was probably something better, but he wasn't going to bother digging through the item bag right now. He generally wore a sephira since he was the one in charge of shopping and that meant he was the one who got an earful if they didn't have enough money, although that made it utterly unfair that they'd made him go ask his mother for money when he'd saved more than enough learning how to be price-savvy to purchase those books out of the travel funds they only still had because of him… Well, he wasn't going to grumble, the old-old Luke had grumbled and it never did any good.

Asch held out the sword to him. "Me?" Luke stared at it. "It should be you. You had to put up with him for longer."

"And you were created to die by him."

"You had all that stuff done to you to create me."

"You…"

"Excuse me?"

"What, Tear?" They both looked at her.

"Eenie, meenie…"

"That always ends on the second person if there are two people," Luke told her. Turning to Asch, he suggested, "Rock paper scissors?"

Asch nodded.

"Rock, paper, scissors."

Asch's rock broke Luke's scissors and Asch took the Key of Lorelei. "How are they doing?"

Luke looked over the bulkhead. "Another... No, Jade just went into overlimit. And there went Anise. Tear, you might want to start singing."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Ion asked. Or they thought he asked, the last few words were drowned out by the thunder of Jade's indignation.

"You just rest up, okay? You've done enough already. I always worry when you do that, I know radiant howl makes it safe for you to use that arte to come onto the battlefield to use it while you're casting it, but I didn't do all this so you could die of exhaustion helping me."

"I don't like not being able to help."

Luke chuckled a bit, sitting down against the wall. "I know the feeling. Being useless is horrible."

Asch was listening, waiting for the right moment. The battle's sounds calmed after Anise's racket, and then the Grand Fonic Hymn reached its climax. He ran forward.

Luke rested his head on his knees, tired. Hiding his eyes was pointless when he was watching through Asch, anyway.

And then it was over, but it wasn't. He knew, somehow, that it wasn't over, the future wasn't saved until the score was gone, and there simply weren't enough free fonons in the fon belt or the planet storm to destroy it.

There were enough in his body, though.

He didn't even have time to suggest it before Lorelei took the Key that Yulia had used to seal him into a stable form and into the pact as well as the core and turned it on himself.

It was a… strange feeling, but so very logical to Lorelei, to him. They were both manifestations of the seventh fonon. They weren't dead as long as those fonons endured, not really. Lorelei was bound and had gotten himself into this mess: Luke was free and had a life to live. It made sense.

But it was so strange to feel the same vastness that he had been when he had restored Auldrant from a world where originals were dying and replicas were born nameless to one where both could live become a permanent part of him. Yulia had bound the form of Lorelei that she controlled to have this power and that form alone so that the Score would be enforced. Now Luke was the mind of the seventh fonon and all seven knew it needed someone to keep it working right, what with the planet storm and the remaining miasma and…

The planet storm. The miasma.

He was going to have to stay in the core. There just weren't enough free fonons to create an extra self so that he could stick them with the task.

It would take five years, if he kept the levels on Auldrant's surface so low that no healing artes would work. Fifty if he let things stay the way they were now while the world recovered.

Asch wasn't happy about it, but it was sort of like the fact that Asch wasn't exactly happy about the fact that he had a choice between breaking Natalia's heart and his promises yet again (which he wouldn't do) or ending up king. Luke could die destroying the miasma, which Asch would not let happen; let the miasma come back, which neither would; or stay here.

When he thought about it, since he had this power and people would be after it, this was the safest place for him. It wasn't like they couldn't visit. Sheridan wasn't going to be working on the rocket project very seriously for awhile because they had rebuilding to get to (fixing the fontech that made the seawater drinkable took priority over everything), so the core was better than the fon belt.

This had been Lorelei's prison, its deathbed, but Luke thought it was pretty. "I can come out and visit," he told Asch aloud out of the blue and, while the others were wondering why the non sequitur, added, "Not more than a week at a time, though I can do it more often as time goes by. Not for a few months, though, until things settle down." The flows were haywire, and he'd better fix that if he wanted Noelle to be able to get down the rest of the way safely sometime this week.

"I suppose it's better than the alternative," Asch informed him. "Here. You'd better keep this." He handed over the Key.

The Key that might be used to create another Score. It wouldn't be all-predicting, since the world was about half immune to bindings like that right now what with all the replicas, but still, the risk was too much. Luke took it and focused power into it, then threw it upwards. "It will react with the miasma until it's purified as much as it can and then it will dissolve," he explained, part of him wielding it with just that intent as he spoke to them. "The seventh fonons that will release will speed things up."

"Do you know how long it will take?"

"Asch," and Luke's voice was gentle. "I can't see the future. That was most of the point of all this."

"I suppose you're right."

"Guy, explain."

"Me? I don't know what's so important that they're ignoring Van's body either."

"Sorry, force of habit." Jade's smile wasn't all that apologetic. "All me to correct myself. Luke, explain."