So, updating pretty much whenever I feel like it right now. Um... Trying to catch up, but oh well. Anyway... Um... I thought I had a question for you guys, but I've forgotten it. Oops.

Okay, enough of my rambling.

Enjoy!

"By the way... You owe me an explanation as to why the emperor gave Kairi a military uniform." –Glenn

"I honestly don't think you were under orders to get blasted to Tataroo Valley via hyperresonance, thanks." –Dark

"And the great Necromancer is hopelessly in love... Does Kairi know about this?" –Dark

"Do you irritate people to the point of them wanting your head on platter on purpose, or does it just happen?" –Guy

Chapter 2.1 – Race, Double-Agent!
Part 10

Dark's POV

"Now what?" I asked, hopping out of the wagon we'd used to slip into St. Binah. Rose looked regretful.

"I'm afraid I can't help you beyond this point," she said. Jade nodded.

"That's fine. We should head for the military headquarters," he said. I felt something tugging on my pant leg and looked down.

"Meow?"

"Yes, Valkyria, we're going to see if Kairi made it," I said, feeling rather a bit more awkward than usual because I was talking to a cat rather than a liger. Especially since I couldn't really understand her.

"Her scent's here," Sorylle piped up. I smiled.

"That's good."

"What's good?" Luke asked. All eyes were on me now, it seemed, and I sighed.

"Sorylle said Kairi's scent is still sticking. If she isn't still here, she must have only left a few hours ago," I translated. Jade nodded.

"Let's go. Kairi likely would have sought out Glenn if she made it here, especially if she knew she was being pursued," he said. He turned and started walking, and the rest of us fell into step behind him. It didn't take us long at all to reach the headquarters, and the minute we entered, I raised an eyebrow.

Why was there a little girl sitting in here?

"Selenia? What are you doing here?" Jade asked, echoing my thoughts. The girl turned around, glancing around us, before her eyes locked on me. Or rather, on my chest.

"Ah, so you're Dark."

I tilted my head to the side, wondering what strange dream I'd walked into.

Selenia stood up and skipped over, tapping the exposed wooden pendant dangling from my neck proudly. "I carved four of these," she said. "And I met the other two boys when Kairi handed them over. Which means you have to be Dark."

I blinked a few times before everything started registering in my mind.

"Uh... Thanks, then," I managed to get out. Selenia giggled, while her father sighed... Or groaned. I think it was supposed to be a groan but got turned into a sigh.

"Selenia, why don't you go see if my wife needs any help?" the elderly man standing off to the side suggested. Selenia sighed.

"Alright, Grandpa. See you later, Jade!" she called over her shoulder, already skipping off. I blinked a few more times.

"Cheerful, isn't she?" Glenn asked. I clenched my fists, suddenly realizing why the mental image I'd had of Selenia and the girl in front of me hadn't matched up.

Selenia was a cheerful girl... but not that cheerful.

"I really hope Kairi saves a piece of the bastard that killed Sync for me," I said. Glenn chuckled.

"Get in line," he said. Then he turned to Jade. "By the way... You owe me an explanation as to why the emperor gave Kairi a military uniform."

I honestly wasn't sure if Jade was going to laugh or start banging his head against the wall. "Well, I guess that's one way to get around Legretta's vague description..." he muttered. "Is she still here?"

Glenn shook his head. "No. She and a Fon Master Guardian were here for a time, but they left earlier. They left letters for you, though," he said, handing over two envelopes. Jade opened the one from Anise before handing it to Luke with a smirk. He then opened the one from Kairi.

The 'letter' from Anise was pretty much just her confirming she was alive and that she was going to go on ahead to the next point. This was, of course, accented by constant comments about her 'love' for Luke. I growled a word that I won't write down here.

"Dark, can you read Kairi's runes?"

"Huh?"

Yes, I know I have all the eloquence of a rock. Shut up.

Jade handed Kairi's letter over to me, and at first glance, it made me frown. Half of it was in the fonic alphabet, but the second half? I recognized the runes, because they'd been inscribed on the sword she had given Luke, but I could only barely read them. I recognized the four letters that started it though.

Asch

My eyes widened. "I'll translate it later," I said, realizing suddenly why Kairi had started chuckling when she was cornered. Jade nodded, though he looked a bit suspicious about the way I'd responded upon looking at the letter.

"You're welcome to stay the night here. The Oracle Knights will have to leave before tomorrow morning," Glenn said. Jade nodded.

"Thank you. I'll take you up on that offer, but first... would you mind if I write a letter of my own?" he asked. Glenn blinked.

"To send to Kaitzur via carrying pigeon?" he guessed. Jade shook his head though.

"No, to send to one of the people that took over the Tartarus."

"That won't be necessary."

Everyone in the room turned, but I didn't bother. I'd been the only other one awake at the time, after all. Jade smirked and adjusted his glasses.

"What happened to not being able to leave the Tartarus?" he teased. Cantabile shrugged.

"Ask your sister the next time you see her. One would think that finding out she's alive would make Asch less cooperative," she said. I raised an eyebrow, glancing behind me before looking back at Jade.

"Asch?"

Cantabile sighed. "Orders. We ended up bringing him with us," she said. Then she frowned. "Tear? What are you doing here?"

Van's younger sister coughed rather awkwardly. "Orders."

I snorted. "I honestly don't think you were under orders to get blasted to Tataroo Valley via hyperresonance, thanks."

Cantabile patted me on the head. "I'm starting to see why Kairi likes you."

I blinked. "Thanks... I guess...?"

Jade chuckled. "Take it as a compliment, Dark," he said. I shrugged, then stuffed my hands in my pockets.

"Hey... You wanna tell me what was going on yesterday? Because I am pretty sure that Zion and Flick are not members of the Order of Lorelei," I said, changing the subject. Cantabile sighed.

"Flick is, technically. She's taken Sync's place as head of the fifth division and Chief of Staff. As for Zion... He's after Kairi. That's all I know for sure... The others know I was close to her. They've been excluding me from a lot more than I'm certain I know about," she admitted. Jade frowned.

"I know I saw Largo, Legretta, and Arietta. We've already mentioned Flick... Is Dist involved as well?" he asked. Cantabile nodded, while Tear crossed her arms, glancing at Luke.

"General... Is my brother the one who ordered the attack on the Tartarus?" Tear asked, and it was quite obvious she didn't want to. Luke looked affronted, but I frowned, watching Cantabile's expression.

The older woman sighed and shook her head. "I'm not sure. My orders are being passed down through Legretta," she said, not looking happy about it. Luke crossed his arms.

"See? Just because the God-Generals are Master Van's subordinates, it doesn't mean he's automatically to blame for this!"

I growled softly under my breath, and Luke went from whining to hiding... behind Tear. As if that would stop me. Cantabile chuckled, though it was a humorless sound.

"Van's up to something, that's for sure. He wouldn't be working with Zion if he wasn't. Oh, hey, while I'm thinking about it... Does someone have a piece of paper? Nephry made me stand around for half an hour to memorize something that makes absolutely no sense to me on the off chance that I ran into Asch or Dark, but I get the feeling Kairi would have an easier time translating it," she said.

Glenn sighed, turning and pulling another piece of paper off of the nearby desk. "Here," he said tiredly. I held back a smirk. So, Anise and Kairi had gotten the paper from him for their letters.

Cantabile took it and wrote something down, five lines. I frowned and glanced over her shoulder as she wrote.

A replica of a mirror shows no light
Beneath the shadow of the mountains white
For the blood below
Never ceases flow
And one who was born without is now right

"What the fuck?!"

I laughed. I couldn't help it. Luke had just spoken for everyone in the room, and Cantabile's smirk told me she agreed wholeheartedly.

"My thoughts exactly," the God-General stated. "Nephry was very adamant though, so there it is, word for word."

Jade frowned. "This... reminds me of..."

"Kairi's riddle."

I groaned. "How many more people are going to randomly walk in here?!" I grumbled. The man chuckled.

"Sorry..."

"You're right, Ari. This is exactly like the couplets Kairi left scattered around the Tartarus. Which means..." Jade said, trailing off. The man, whose name was apparently Ari, sighed.

"Don't ask me to translate that."

Jade chuckled. "I don't blame you. It took me almost an hour to figure the first one out after I got the last piece. This one seems to be more complicated... I wasn't aware my sister had any proficiency in riddles, though..."

Cantabile frowned. "That's the thing... I saw the paper with the original riddle on it, and it was written both runes and the fonic alphabet. But I'm not sure Nephry knows runes," she said. "And Kairi couldn't have written it, because Nephry gave it to me after... after the kid died."

I stared up at Cantabile, suddenly remembering what Kairi had told me about her.

"She might as well be his mom. No one else bothered to raise him, after all."

I sighed, looking over the riddle again. Then I frowned. "We're missing a piece."

"What do you mean?" Jade asked. I crossed my arms.

"This... This riddle was written for Kairi's eyes. A replica of a mirror... Damn. I know I'm missing something..."

"Um..."

I turned to Luke, stuffing my hands in my pockets. "Spit it out. Even a stupid question can lead somewhere intelligent," I ordered. Luke just shook his head.

"It's not so much a question as... Well... You said Keterburg's covered in snow year-round, right? And Sync died in Keterburg... There are mountains around there, too, right?" he rambled. I crossed my arms and nodded.

"Yeah, the second line's probably referencing Mt. Roneal, but that's relatively obvious," I said. Luke frowned.

"Yeah, but... It's the two short lines that are getting to me..."

Jade sighed, taking the note and folding it up before handing it to me. "Keep that with the letter, see if you can get those runes translated. We should head for the Inn. Ion's tired and none of us are going to get anywhere with that riddle any time soon," he decided. I nodded, and Cantabile sighed.

"Yeah, I've got to get back to the Tartarus before the others realize I'm gone. Take care of yourselves... And tell Kairi I said 'hi' when you see her, won't you?" she said, already walking off.

Rather than watching her leave, I was more amused by the way Jade's eyes were following her. "Don't let them catch you," he called. His even voice might not have betrayed much, but that glint in his eye told me all I needed to know.

Well, Jade, consider this revenge for your comment about Natalia earlier.

"And the great Necromancer is hopelessly in love... Does Kairi know about this?" I teased.

If it weren't for the fact that the mental image of a pissed-off Duke Fabre frightens me more than a pissed off Jade, I'd have been on the receiving end of the most terrifying glare ever directed toward me right then.

"Do you irritate people to the point of them wanting your head on platter on purpose, or does it just happen?" Guy asked, nervously stepping further out of the way. I smirked.

"Only most of them. Mohs being one that hadn't been intentional to start with, and Jade... well, I'm just going to say that he deserved it," I said, folding the letter up and slipping it and the riddle into my coat. Jade scowled, knowing exactly what I was talking about, even as I turned and headed back out.

That riddle kept playing itself over in my head. I was starting to get this impression that only Kairi would know what Sync was going on about...

Sync!

I froze, not quite mid-step, and was bowled over for my efforts. Red hair let me know who hadn't put on the brakes quite as fast as I had.

"You okay?" Guy asked, pulling me and Luke to our feet. I frowned, pulling out the riddle again.

"Yeah..."

"Breakthrough?" the blonde guessed as Jade, Ion, and Tear joined us finally. I shook my head.

"No... Just a thought. I'll have to have Kairi confirm it, though, before I explain," I said, putting the riddle back after staring at it for a moment. I looked perfectly calm on the outside, but my heart was racing.

Sync had known Kairi was alive? That was the only thing that could make the riddle make sense.

"Nephry made me stand around for half an hour to memorize something that makes absolutely no sense to me on the off chance that I ran into Asch or Dark..."

If Kairi were alive, Asch and I would definitely be the first two people she would look for... So, Sync gave the message to Nephry so that it would reach Kairi. But the message itself...

But, that still complicated things. Sync died before word reached even me, though I know Asch, Sync, and Nephry had been the first to find out.

Wait a second...

"So, your real body is in a completely different world?"

"Dark? Are you okay? You're looking paler than usual," Guy observed, snapping me out of my thoughts for a moment. I took a deep breath.

"Yeah... I just have a lot of questions for Kairi all of a sudden," I said. I spent the next ten minutes trying to organize the mess in my head while Jade arranged our rooms. I was put with Ion, while Luke shared with Guy and Tear was left with Jade. Of course, Mieu went with Luke while Sorylle and Valkyria, the poor kitten, ended up following me.

Once Ion and I were sitting on the beds in our room, Sorylle and Valkyria curled up at the foot of mine quite comfortably, Ion spoke.

"What was Sync like?"

I bit my lip. "I... honestly don't really know," I admitted. "I didn't spend as much time with him as Asch and Kairi did, but... He was clever, and determined, and... he was a little brother to Kairi."

Ion frowned. "He was right there for so long... I'm regretting not getting the chance to really meet him, now."

"Don't," I said. "Sync had a lot of negative opinions on things, despite Kairi trying to change that in him, and I know one thing he held onto was his scorn for the position of Fon Master."

I opened up the letter I'd been messing with then, wondering what else Kairi would confuse me with before I got to sleep.

Fun Fact: The riddle above was re-written at least six times before I came up with the final version... Eek. Even the Tartarus emergency riddle didn't take that long, with only two revisions.