Ch. 9

When they stepped inside, they didn't know what to make of Asch's state. The redhead was pale and was frozen in panic as he stared at something in fear, as if he were seeing a ghost and they were unnerved by it as they've have never seen him so scared before. Luke was standing right in front of him with his hands on his shoulders as he tried to snap him out of his catatonic state. "Asch! Asch! You have to calm down! You have to try to breathe or you'll pass out! ASCH!" the group looked more closely and was astonished to see that he was close to hyperventilating by how fast his breathing was becoming. Tear stepped up.

"Luke, what's-"

"He's having a panic attack from when he was kidnapped!" he explained urgently and Natalia was about to go to him but was stopped by Jade and she looked to him outraged and confused as to why he was keeping her from her lover. Luke, however, was grateful that he did.

"Jade, why did you-"

"Let Luke handle this." He ordered and she was about to protest but he shook his head. "I don't think your voice will get through to him at this rate. Right now he needs him and it seems that this has happened before has it not, Luke?" the boy looked down and nodded sadly and the heiress was shocked by this. Why didn't Asch tell her?

"No..." they all directed their attention back on the other redhead to see him trembling and shaking his head slowly in denial with tears close to spilling, surprising them. "No," he muttered again, "...please no...I...stop...No. Noo!" he yelled out, holding his head and shutting his eyes as he shook his head continuously from the memories flooding his mind, muttering under his breath.

"No! Master Van! Why are you doing this to me?"

"I'm sorry Luke, but this is for all of the lives you will be purifying and in order to do that, we need your power."

"Let me go! I wanna go home! I WANNA GO HOME!"

"There won't be a home for you any longer child. There is no point in returning to the manor. Just give it up. We've already made a replacement for you...and to them, you are no longer needed."

"It hurts! Make it stop! NO! AAAAAH!"

"ASCH!" Asch opened his eyes from the memories and looked up through the blur of his tears to see Luke standing in front of him, looking panicked and concerned. Vaguely through his fogged up mind he could tell how scared he was for him. His whole body shook from the ordeal. Memories. They were just memories. Not real...but they were real before and knowing this his hands dropped to his sides as his knees buckled from under him. "Whoa!" luckily, Luke caught him in time and kneeled in front of his frightened original. "Asch, can you hear me? Just try to breathe slowly okay? Take in slow deep breaths like before." It took a minute for the words to register before he complied. "That's it, just keep on breathing Brother." He instructed calmly with a gentle, warm smile.

"...L-Luke?" he stuttered out weakly.

"That's right. I'm right here." he said gently as he pulled the male into a warm embrace and held him like Asch did last night. The older still shook in fear as he gripped his isofon's jacket tightly with shaky hands to anchor himself to reality, tears still falling.

"Van...h-he..." Luke shushed him softly.

"I know Brother, I know. But Van is dead now, he can't get to you anymore. No one is going to get you and make you go through that again." He didn't respond but his only indication that he heard him was that he held his little brother tighter. He could hear a curse being said in the background-most likely from Guy-but he could care less right now as he tried to focus on the gentle strokes on his head. He didn't care how weak and pathetic he looked to the others or how scared he had made Natalia (which he'll probably have to talk to her later); he just needed Luke there. He just wanted his little brother right now so he'll know that everything will be okay and that he was safe.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

It took ten minutes for Asch to completely snap of it, but he was still too shaken to even stand on his own, so thankfully he didn't when Guy brought over a chair for him to sit. Not surprisingly, the episode had brought attention to the employees nearby as some stared in bewilderment or concern, but Jade quickly shooed them away; the last thing Asch needed was to bring more attention to him. Right now he was currently leaning his head against Luke's side who stood beside him with an arm around his shoulders, his face still a bit pale. But at least his tears had stopped and he didn't have that haunted expression on his face any longer. "Luke, might I ask what caused the sudden attack? Surely it wasn't just the fear of doctors?" Natalia narrowed her eyes disapprovingly at the Necromancer.

"Jade, you should not ask something so personal right after he went through an episode!"

"It's fine." Asch croaked out and she whirled to him in surprise, not expecting for him to respond let alone be okay with it. She sighed sadly, feeling useless and ashamed that she wasn't able to help him. Luke rubbed his shoulder consolingly and gestured with his head behind him. They looked over and immediately understood when they saw a large fomicry machine on the far side of the room. So that's what happened. Then Luke began to explain that this was the second time he's had a panic attack and also that he had had many before in the past. The first time it had happened was the day before the others came to Baticul. They were in the library at the castle doing some reports when Asch had accidently dropped a book beside him, so when he went to pick it up he paused and froze in place. Luke had naturally become concerned for him but was stunned when he felt a wave of fear go through him and instantly went to his side. He had panicked when nothing he did couldn't seem to get through to him at first and how pale he had become. He didn't know what to do so he did the only thing he could do, he tried bringing him out of it by yelling his name and was relieved that he got a response before telling him to breathe and when he looked at the book, he found it open to a page with a picture of a fomicry machine printed on.

"I see, so that's what triggered the reaction; a psycho traumatic response. I can understand how that must have happened because when extracting data from a living being, it can cause excruciating pain and most people often do not survive the process while some that do become traumatized from the experience. You were very fortunate to have survived from it, but not unscarred...I humbly apologize for what my research has done to you." The older noble scoffed.

"Don't flatter yourself old man, it's not like it's your fault this happened to me and it's not like you were the one that personally did it." Besides, if it didn't than I wouldn't have Luke. He added silently. Jade nodded and adjusted his glasses.

"Very well then, but rest assured that you won't be going on that machine because it isn't the same one when you were young. This machine may look like it but the function of it is quite different and is only used for medical purposes and studying data from replicas only." He explained and the noble inwardly sighed but stiffened when he had mentioned that it was used for replicas. Which meant...

"Don't worry Asch," he looked up to see his look-alike smiling in reassurance, "I've been on that thing a hundred times and I'm perfectly fine; I just get tired and dizzy afterwards." Still, that didn't bring him much comfort to see his little brother on that thing. In fact it worried him. "I'll be fine. How about I go first with the examinations?" he suggested to the blue-clad man.

"That would be wise if you do. And also, I would like to know how you're mental health is as well." Luke stiffened at this but tried to feign it off as confusion, though his brother wasn't fooled and knew why.

"What are you talking about?" he replied.

"I mean exactly what I said. You've had panic attacks as well, haven't you?" he stated bluntly, more as a fact than a question. Luke sighed and turned away, smiling ruefully.

"Like I said, I can't hide anything from you, Jade." Everyone gasped and stared at him in astonishment.

"Luke, why haven't you told us this?" Tear demanded.

"Yeah Luke, we're your friends!" said Anise. "Why didn't you? We could've helped!" he turned back to them apologetically.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't want you all to worry about me because we were too busy stopping Van for me to tell you and it wasn't the best time to." Said Luke. "Besides, I haven't had another episode since after I came back."

"Luke...when did these attacks start?" Guy questioned hesitantly and everyone, except Florian and Asch, tensed up. The young noble looked hesitant to answer but knew he had to.

"...Since Akzeriuth..." and that answered everyone's question and they became guilt ridden as they remembered that terrible events (excluding Florian). How they treated him and turned away from him when he needed them the most; it's no wonder that he's had panic attacks and they certainly didn't help his drive. Seeing their expressions, he quickly backtracked and waved his hand in front of him. "But really guys, it's not your fault. It was a long time ago and I handled it just fine."

"But Luke...we weren't there for you." Natalia argued. "You shouldn't have had to deal with it on your own, especially when you really needed us."

"Seriously guys, it's not your fault. I had brought that upon myself and I've accepted what happened, so it's not a big deal anymore." He insisted. "Look I'm fine and I said I haven't had another episode since then. And you're here now so don't feel guilty over what you didn't do and be glad about what you're doing now." They were about to interject but he held up a hand to stop them. "Nope, I don't want to hear it. I'm fine, you're forgiven and we're still friends so let's just be done with it okay? Okay! Now, onward with the examinations and let's get started on the tests Dr. Obnoxious!" he stated with as much enthusiasm as he could muster and Asch couldn't help but snicker at his response and their baffled expressions. They all shook their heads as they mused at how stubborn they were, but couldn't help but smile.

"You and your brother both. Now why is it that you two insist on giving me these horrendous nicknames?" Jade mused out loud and they both grinned.

"Because they fit." Was their only reply and they all chuckled. Then Meiu chose that moment to appear as he struggled to carry a glass of water with his tiny body and floated over to Luke; Tear felt sorry for the cheagle but couldn't help thinking how cute it looked, blushing.

"Here's that...water...you asked for...Master!" the young noble quickly relieved him of his burden and nodded in thanks before handing the glass over to his twin who thankfully had regained all his color.

"Here Brother." He gratefully took the glass with shaky hands to quench his parched throat. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Natalia staring down sadly and he knew that he would have to talk to her soon, but right now he just wanted to get this all over with and take a nap after. After giving back the empty cup, he began to unsteadily get to his feet with Luke's help.

"Um Asch, are you sure you're okay enough to stand?" asked the green-clad boy, worried. But he just waved him off.

"I'm fine," he grunted out, "let's just get this over with so I can get the hell out of here and sleep." Luke then led him towards the medical wing and feeling unsure what to do, Florian just followed them since he would be getting the same check-up and the rest followed after them as well.

XXXXXXXXXXX

For the past hour and a half, Jade had been giving each of the three a proper examination as he took blood samples and asked them standard questions while the others sat in the corner, out of the way in the room. The man had asked for them to wait outside but they all insisted on being there for the boys and he had no choice but to let them. Even though it was just standard check-ups, it took longer than expected because he had never examined Asch, so he had to get a completely new medical document for him...And other than that, the younger redhead had to constantly reprimand his original every time in order for him to cooperated; it was actually laughable to see Luke scold Asch like a child but they stifled in their laughter so they wouldn't embarrass the redhead. "All right, I think that should do for your check-up. Now it's time that we take you to the next room. Come along."

The General then led them all down the hall and into another room where it had monitors on both sides of the room with a wall in the middle that had a glass windowpane and a large fon machine attached to the other wall with a medium size hole in the middle and two men in lab coats manning the controls. As always, the Malkuth noble rushed forward and began to look it over with eyes full of wonder as he imagined in his mind on how it would work. "Now don't be taking it apart on us Guy, we're going to need that right now to examine them." He teased and the man narrowed his blue eyes at him. Jade walked over to where the hole was, pushed a button and, to their amazement, slowly popped out what looked like a bed. "Now this fon machine is used to scan for brainwave activity and the body structure by using radiation and the fonons around us as well as the synthetic fonons created." After the events, Spinoza has been deeply indebted in rewriting his mistakes by working on the problem of the decreasing of fonons. Because of the deactivation of the Planet Storm, there had been slowly less and less fonons. So in order to cure the problem, him as well as Jade and some scientist have been researching on creating machines that creates synthetic fonons as well as recycle old ones to make them reusable and so far they have been successful in doing so, but are still in the process of researching. "It won't hurt a bit, I assure you. All it'll do is scan your body with a light and it'll only take about five minutes for it to do a complete scan. You won't have to do anything, just lay here and relax. Simple enough." He explained, looking at the twins in amusement when he saw Luke keeping a tight hold onto the other redhead's arm so he wouldn't escape while said redhead glared at him. "Now then, Florian? Please step up and lay here." Giving his staff to Anise, Florian walked over to the General and lay down on the bed before he felt him stick something attached to wires on both sides of his temples.

"Um, what are these for?" he asked curiously.

"These wires will help me analyze your brainwave activity."

"Oh."

"Now just relax and stay still or we'll have to start the procedure over." He instructed and turned to the others. "Everyone else, please go behind the window." They did as they were told and looked through the pane as they watched him and the two men in lab coats start up the machine. Florian became a bit nervous but tried to calm his heart rate when he heard the machine whirl to life as the bed moved from beneath him and a light appeared above him. After about five minutes, the light died down and he felt the bed move again. "You can get off now, Florian. Asch, you're next." He called tauntingly as the boy got off and Luke had to practically drag his counterpart over to the fon machine and force him to lie down.

"I hate you." He grumbled out.

"No you don't." Luke crowed out with an impish grin, making him glare at him as the man placed the wires on the noble's temples.

"You, however, can go die in a ditch." Jade smirked.

"But dying in a ditch is so unsanitary." He retorted back and the other growled. "Now that we got that out of the way, shall we get started?" he said, not really asking and Asch was about to get up to let him have it but Luke brought him back down on the bed and he glared at the younger again. "Now just relax and stay still, if you can do that?" he said sarcastically as he went back to the controls while Luke went back behind the window. Asch kept grumbling under his breath but his heart leapt into his throat when the bed started moving and began to panic slightly. He tried telling himself to breathe normally and reminded himself that he wasn't ten anymore, that he would be fine...But all that flew out the window when the light came on and he froze.

"Sir, his heart rate is going up." One of the men in lab coats said urgently.

"He's having a panic attack. Luke, you need to calm him down immediately!"

"Already ahead of you, Jade." Luke answered back as he focused on his brother's panicked form.

'Asch! Asch can you hear me?' after a minute of waiting, he got a response.

'...Luke?'

'I'm here Asch, you need to try and relax right now.' He instructed.

'I-I can't.'

'Yes you can,' he encouraged, 'just focus on my voice. Don't pay attention to anything around you, only my voice. Now, try to breathe slowly and don't think of anything. Breathe with me Asch, in and out...in and out.' Luke instructed calmly as Asch listened and breathed. He thought of nothing but his breathing and the comfort of his little brother's voice instructing through it to him through their bond. Soon enough, his body began to relax a bit and his heart rate slowed gradually down to a steady beat. Luke smiled proudly. 'That's it Brother, just keep on breathing like that. You're almost done.' He assured and Jade gave him a nod in thanks before continuing while everyone else let out a breath of relief as they were all worried for the young noble. After five minutes past, he was finished and as soon as the bed pulled completely out the young noble immediately yanked off the wires and in a blur was quickly by his look-alike's side, surprising all of them as his breathing was erratic and his wide emerald eyes moved in every direction in pure terror and paranoia with his face as gaunt as a bed sheet. Luke slowly put his hands on his terrified counterpart and made him so as he was facing him. He gently raked a hand through his bangs he thought comforting words to his twin to soothe his nerves and eventually, Asch began to calm down before resting his head on Luke's shoulder and the other rubbed his back soothingly. 'You okay?' he asked, concerned.

'I'll...I'll be fine. Just...need a minute.' Luke held up a finger to Jade who nodded in understanding.

'Take all the time you need, Big Brother.' He nodded in response and they stood there in silence for a minute until Asch slowly pulled away from him, feeling embarrassed for showing how weak he was again. 'There's nothing to be embarrassed about, it's only natural after what you've been through.' The older grunted in response before sitting down in a chair that was in the room as he watched the younger calmly walk over to take his turn. Five minutes later, they were finished.

"Now then," Jade spoke, "all we have to do is examine Luke and Florian on the data machine and we'll be finished for the day. Tomorrow I should be able to have come up with a solution to our problem, and then we'll look into the twins abilities." They made their way back down the hall, and to the young monarch's dismay, back to the entrance of the building where the dreaded fomicry machine was. Everyone watched apprehensively at him staring at the machine, worried that he might get another panic attack and the princess walked up to him.

"Asch-"

"I'm fine." He replied rather quickly, clenching his hand in a tight and biting the inside of his cheek.

The blue-clad General cleared his throat. "Luke, if you please." Luke nodded and was about to go up to the machine but stopped short when he felt a tug on his wrist and looked over to see Asch looking at him worriedly. He smiled in reassurance.

"Asch, it's all right." Said Luke. "There's nothing to worry about. It won't hurt me; I'll just be a little disoriented after and after I get some rest I'll be fine. It'll only take ten minutes and when we're through we can leave, okay?" the older still looked unsure but finally conceded and let go. He watched him go upon the platform and lay down on it as he heard the Necromancer give orders to the people that were manning the fon machine as well.

"Let's begin. Activating Replica Data Machine." Luke slowly closed his eyes as he felt the familiar feeling of drowsiness until he fell asleep at the same time, a green light enveloped him with holographic screens surrounded the outer part of the machine. Asch sensed that Luke was sleeping, but he couldn't help but worry for him as he watched a couple lab coats look at virtual screens near his replica's head and take notes on clipboards to record whatever information. Finally after ten long minutes, the RDM (Replica Data Machine) deactivated and he felt Luke stir and the next thing everyone knew he was up there in a flash and by his twin's side, ignoring the surprised sounds he got from the employees near him as his only focus was on Luke as he helped the boy up and slowly make their way back towards the to others. Asch sat him down on a chair and began to look him over critically before sighing in relief as Luke gave him a tired smile and he gave one back. He grabbed another chair to sit next to him and his sibling proceeded to use his shoulder as a pillow so he could take a quick nap. Their friends smiled at the fond sight and Florian took that moment to his turn.

XXXXXXXXX

Once they'd finished, Jade told them that they should go on ahead to the inn since he would be at the lab all night working on a solution for them. So by the time they walked out of the building, they were surprised to see that it was already half past noon. All the way to the inn, Guy had to carry the green-haired replica on his back because of how tired he was and the redheads didn't look any better. In fact, they both looked completely drained and who could blame them. After two panic attacks and both of them feeling the after effects of each other's exhaustion it was no wonder they looked like they were about to crash on the pavement; it was amazing how they weren't already. By the time they checked in and got their rooms, Luke and Asch practically passed out before their heads hit the pillows and the five looked at them sympathetically. "Poor guys, they really had a long day." The blonde Marquess commented as he laid Florian on a bed that the two are sharing while the girls shared another room. Then he noticed how quiet the Kimlascan Princess was being and frowned in concern. "Natalia, what's wrong?" The three noticed as we'll and also became concerned.

"Is something the matter?" asked Tear.

"Why...why didn't he tell me he had been having these episodes? Both of them." She said sadly and they began to understand.

"Master said that he didn't want any of you to worry and I'm sure Asch has his own reasons." Said Meiu and they turned to the cheagle in surprise and shock.

"Meiu! You knew this whole time?!" She questioned angrily and his ears drooped in guilt.

"Meiuu, I'm sorry. But Master made me promise not to tell or he would be mad at me and Asch threatened to eat me if I did!" Guy and Anise sweat-dropped. Well that sounds like Asch. They both thought.

"It's all right Meiu, it's not your fault." Said Tear, then closed her eyes sadly. "Still, we should've known; we've should've seen the signs."

"We'll it's not like we were able to see them so how could we?" Said Anise. "Luke is sometimes good at keeping secrets and his acting skills have been improving and Asch wasn't around much for us to notice anything; it's a bit hard to read those two, let alone tell them apart." She mumbled the last part to herself. "And we were pretty much 'preoccupied' at the time."

"That's still no excuse for us, we should've been there for them when they needed us the most so they wouldn't have to deal with it alone...especially how we treated Luke on the Tartarus before, he really needed us there and we turned away and abandoned him." Tear stated sadly. "Only Asch was able to help him, even though he didn't know it at the time." The blonde male agreed.

"Yeah, we really messed up big time. What kind of friends are we for not helping him and Asch is our friend too now, and we weren't able to do anything either-we just stood there like idiots."

"But on the bright side, he didn't have to go through it alone this time!" The raven chimed in positively. "Luckily, Luke was there and knew what he was doing, so he was able to help him." But Guy didn't think of it that way as he still had that guilty expression. In fact, it only made him more ashamed.

"That's just it, Luke knew exactly what he was doing because he had to learn how. And who do you think taught him?" He inquired and she paused as the thought dawned on her and he nodded. "That's right, no one. He had to learn how on his own." Natalia gasped behind her hands in realization.

"That's right," she said in a quiet voice, "he was forced to figure it out on his own...with no one there to support him. He had to suffer through it alone." Then a terrible thought just occurred to her. How many times did those smiles they give her was fake? How many times had they said they were fine when they were the complete opposite? By this point, tears fell from her eyes as she cried in devastation and ran off towards the room the girls were sharing before closing the door behind her. The blue cheagle sniffed in sadness for his Master and Asch while Guy and Anise just looked ashamed. The Melodist one the other hand looked angry.

"Those two idiots." She muttered angrily

"Well...you can't really blame them," said the Fon Mistress, "we don't know Asch very well so it's no wonder he wouldn't tell us anything and Luke just didn't want us to worry. So he probably thought it was his problem to deal with." Or as punishment or something, she added silently to herself but didn't voice it out since it'll only cause more problems.

"Still, can't they see that in doing so makes them suffer and hurting the people around them?"

"I think they do," said the blonde noble, "but think from their perspective. They probably think that if anyone should be hurt it should be them that would hurt the most-that way, no one else will or something along the lines; they have that in common. They just think it's the noble thing to do, to keep it to themselves."

"Well I think they're being idiots. That's another thing they have in common." She commented coldly before leaving as well.