AN: Whoo hoo! Ten chapters! Yeah! And... over 2,000 views?! You guys are amazing! T-T
So... I know I sort of gloss over Guy, but... honestly, people generally won't jump to the most far-out, strange option until forced.
*TALES OF THE ABYSS DOESN'T BELONG TO ME. Please enjoy, and leave a review! ^_^ *
Van folded his arms and looked at the group. "Let's talk about this at the Inn," he decided finally, watching Jade carefully. "You can explain what's going on there."
...
Aeden dozed lightly on one of the beds with Mieu on top of her, while the others took places around the room, some sitting, some standing.
Luke looked up at Van, who was standing in the middle of the room where he could see everyone.
Van folded his arms. "Now, Fon Master, please explain to me why I received a report you had gone missing and yet I find you here in the company of a Malkuth Colonel, two Fon Master Guardians, and one of my students. None of you kidnapped at all."
"Daath received a request for assistance from Colonel Curtiss, but Maestro Mohs didn't bring it to my attention," Luke began, and, with some help from Jade, explained what was going on.
Van nodded when they were done. "I see. Well, I'm sure Mohs was only doing what he thought was best-"
Tear had been listening in silence, hands tightening, but she couldn't stay quiet any longer. "Van, you explain yourself. What are you doing? Why did your subordinates attack the Fon Master? How could that be a 'misunderstanding'?!"
"They may be under me, but the Six God-Generals also belong to Mohs' faction within the Order."
Tear threw her hands up. "There are no factions within the Order-"
Van shook his head. "That's where you're wrong, Tear. The division is very real, but as a Fon Master Guardian, you've been too close to see it. Both the reformists under the previous Fon Master and the conservatives under Grand Maestro Mohs have been careful to avoid upsetting the new Fon Master until they know which side he falls on."
Luke frowned. "The Order... is divided? And they've been waiting for me to take a side in an argument that I don't know about?"
Van put his hand on Luke's shoulder. "It doesn't affect you, so don't worry about it, Fon Master. It's just left over from all the chaos when you were chosen. I'm sure it'll be sorted out soon enough."
"So... you didn't send the God-Generals after us," Tear said slowly, as testing the words for a lie.
Van turned back to her. "Both them and I were likely sent to bring the Fon Master back to Daath. But Tear, I left you back in Daath. I trusted you to keep the Fon Master safe."
"She asked for some time off to deal with some personal matters." Luke looked up at Tear. "Right?"
"Personal matters? Surely you haven't-" Van looked disappointed. "Tear, did you really abandon your duties in order to come to Baticul?"
Tear looked at her feet. "I'm sorry. But to be fair, when the Grand Maestro learned I was to leave, he gave me another mission as part of the Intelligence Division."
"You're working with Mohs and you pretended not to know about the factions?" Anise shook her head. "You're shameless..."
"I didn't," Tear protested. "I haven't worked with the Intelligence Division since I was reassigned to the Guardian Corps."
"And what other mission is this, Tear?" Jade asked, but Tear shook her head.
"I'm sorry, it's classified."
Van went to the door, drawing their attention back to him. He stopped and turned at the doorway. "I believe I understand the situation now. I will escort all of you over the border, and to Baticul, before I return the Fon Master to Daath."
...
Van led the group through the gate and across the strip of no-man's-land between the two halves of the border fortress.
The Kimlasca side of Kaitzur was markedly different from the Malkuth side. Instead of the small town buildings on the Malkuth side, the Kimlasca side had military style Quonset huts. Wire fences and trenches cris-crossed the entire space and crates and barrels, presumably filled with military supplies, were scattered around.
Aeden and Luke stared at all the various equipment that confirmed Jade's story: at least one of the two countries was clearly war-ready.
Aeden comforted herself with the fact that the soldiers around didn't appear to be on high alert. The Kimlasca army wouldn't just attack Malkuth for no reason, would they?
"You weren't kidding," Guy said quietly to Jade. "It looks like a full-scale operation is in the works."
"While we were on the Malkuth side, I heard things have gotten even worse," Jade replied, equally softly. "There's been some skirmishes on both sides. Tensions run high and it would be easy for something small to set off something big."
Van stopped and turned back to look at them all. "Since I can travel faster alone, I'm going on ahead to the port to make sure things are ready for our departure. While I can't say this is the most comfortable place to stay, I would recommend that you get some rest, or at least some supplies."
He nodded to Aeden. "You stay out of trouble, all right? I don't want to have to patch you up again next time I see you."
"Yes, Master!" Aeden bowed in reply, and Van smiled and left.
"Ugh..." Anise looked around. "Why couldn't we stay at the Inn on the Malkuth siiiide? It looked a lot nicer than this place."
"Now, now, no complaining." Anise shivered as Jade put his hand on her shoulder, smiling his trademark smile. "I'm sure Aeden's happy to be back in her own country."
Aeden looked around. "Well, I say we should follow Master Van now. I wanna get home."
Tear folded her arms. "You do realize that means sleeping outside again, right?"
But Aeden wasn't listening. "Let's go already!"
Luke suddenly spoke up. "I think we should keep moving too. We want to stop the war, right? So the faster we get to Baticul, the faster it'll stop." He looked over at Ion. "Hey, are you going to be all right?"
Ion nodded. Even though he was still paler than what would pass for strictly healthy, his forest green eyes were determined. "Yes, Fon Master. I promise I won't hold you back."
...
"How about here? This spot? Here? Come onnnnnn!" Aeden moaned. "My feet are killing me! Are we seriously gonna walk alllll night?"
"Guy," Anise said sweetly. "Please take care of that." Then she shoved Guy, knocking him into Aeden and both to the ground.
Guy yelped and leaped to his feet, while Aeden glared up at both of them.
"Hey, what was that for? You wanna get hurt, little kid?!"
"I'm not a kid!" Anise shot back. "And at least I'm cute, unlike some people!"
At the head of the party, Jade sighed. "Ah, the playfulness of youth..."
Tear looked back. "I don't think... Oh never mind. Colonel, how about stopping here?"
Jade surveyed the proposed campsite. "I suppose this will do."
...
Aeden stopped unpacking. "Hey, Guy?"
He looked over at her. "Yeah?"
She gestured to her backpack. "I've been wondering, where'd we get all this gear? Like bedrolls and stuff. It's like it appeared out of nowhere."
Guy turned to face her. "Well, Jade got- Gyaa! G-get off me!"
Anise's head poked over his shoulder, her arms wrapped around his neck. "It's magic!" she said mysteriously. "Those bags can make anything you need appear..."
Aeden gave her bag another look. "Really?"
Anise let go of Guy, who gasped in relief. "...as long as you pay me 50,000 Gald!" she added with an innocent grin.
Guy sighed. "Don't listen to her."
...
After eating some pasta Tear had made (a recipe she had learned from a woman in Engave), the others spread out around the campfire. Ion, Anise, and Aeden curled up in their separate bedrolls and almost immediately fell asleep, while Luke, Jade, and Guy sat around the campfire in silence and Tear quietly packed the ingredients back into their packs.
Jade stood. "I'll take the first watch. Tear, can you take the second?"
Tear nodded. "Yes, Colonel." Finishing, she unpacked her bedroll and lay down, facing away from the fire and the others.
Luke had been absently scratching lines in the dirt, but after that he dropped the stick he'd been using. "Guess I'd better get to bed too-" He looked up, straight into Guy's eyes. "Hey, why are you staring at me like that? You've been doing it for a while now. Is everything okay?"
Guy shook his head. "Sorry, Fon Master, it's just... You look like someone I used to know."
Luke looked up at the sky. "Really? Huh."
"He died a long time ago, though." Guy smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you. You should go to bed; it's still a walk to the port."
Luke lay down on his bedroll, looking up at the sky. "I wonder if this was written in the Score," he mumbled sleepily, then rolled over and closed his eyes, his breathing slowing into the steady rhythm of sleep.
Guy watched Luke for a little bit, unable to rid himself of the uneasy feeling that had haunted him since Van's visit, then turned away to try to get some sleep.
...
"Is that the port?" Luke asked in interest, and Guy nodded.
"Yeah, and we'll be taking a ferry back to Chesedonia from there." Guy looked back, shading his eyes. "It probably would have been faster to take a land route, but with the bridge blown up..."
"My, my. For a Kimlascan servant, you seem to know a lot about the geography of this area, Guy," Jade said, coming up behind him as the party walked through the main gate.
Turning back, Guy laughed. "Not really. I just like to read about places to go on vacations in my spare time."
"Why would you ever wanna go on vacation her-" Aeden's comment was cut off by a loud explosion directly ahead of them.
"That sounded like it came from the docks." Tear drew her spear and the whole party ran faster. As they came out from between the buildings and onto the docks proper, they could see smoke and even some flames rising from a ferry ship to their left. Dock workers and engineers ran in a panic back and forth from the ship, going about Van, who stood in the middle of the docks, looking up at a girl and griffin.
"Arietta, what do you think you're doing?" Van called up to the God-General.
Despite the fact she was hanging from a griffin by one hand, Arietta looked upset and even a bit apologetic. "I-I'm sorry, Commandant!"
Aeden and Luke ran up behind Van. "Master, what happened?" Aeden asked, and Luke nodded fervently.
Van looked at the pair. "Arietta turned her monsters on the ship." He looked back up at Arietta. "Who told you to do this?"
Arietta bit her lip. "Asch asked me to." A second griffin flew by, carrying a terrified looking engineer in its grip. Arietta swallowed. "And- And I've taken the only man who can fix the ship. The Fon Master and Ion need to come to Choral Castle or- or I'll kill him!"
"Arietta!" Van called after her, but Arietta and her monsters flew fast to the north.
Van looked down at the ground. "Asch..." He looked up, turning to the group. "You should head back to Kaitzur, Fon Master, Aeden. A military ship that can take us back should be arriving in a few days. We need only wait till then."
"What about that poor engineer?"Aeden burst out. "Won't they kill him?"
"I'll deal with Arietta. Don't worry about it." Van shook his head. "Just go back to the border. You'll be safe there."
"But-" Aeden started, and Luke put his hand on her shoulder.
He nodded his head once, sincere trust in his eyes. "If Maestro Van says he'll do something, he'll do it."
As they neared the gate, three engineers, their uniforms and faces streaked with soot and ash, stopped them.
The one in front, a brown haired man, bowed deeply to Luke. "Fon Master, please."
Luke stopped, confused. "What's wrong?"
The man looked up, his eyes pleading. "You will save our crew chief, right?"
"See," the second, a auburn woman, broke in, "he was feeling great. He had just had his birthday Score read, and it said that a great disaster would be averted."
The last man, his black hair streaked with a bit of silver, nodded. "Please, Fon Master."
All three bowed. "Please, save him!"
Tear folded her arms. "To ignore someone whose Score said a disaster would be averted... It goes against everything the Order stands for."
"You still don't trust Maestro Van?" Luke asked, looking behind him at the first of his two Guardians.
Tear shook her head. "No, I don't trust my brother."
"See? We should go!" Aeden clenched her fists. "I bet we can rescue that engineer and impress Master Van!"
"I doubt that disobeying him will gain his approval, but..." Jade folded his arms. "Does anyone know this Choral Castle?"
"It used to be Duke Fabre's vacation home, up on the coast," Guy explained. "I heard it was abandoned when the front lines of the last war got too close. You should recognize it, Aeden."
Aeden blinked at him. "Huh? Why?"
"Well, that's where they found you and your brother when you were kidnapped. Maybe if we went there, you might remember something."
"Remember... my brother?" The idea gave Aeden pause. On one hand, she hated the very idea of him. He was the Fabre child who should have lived, should have married Natalia and become king, the one wanted by her mother. On the other hand... Nah, there wasn't another hand.
She turned away. "No. I changed my mind. I don't wanna go."
Jade spread his hands. "Too late. It seems the party is leaving with or without you."
She spun around. Jade was right- they were walking away, and were already half-way out the gate. She stomped her foot. "How dare you- Oooo... Wait for me!"
...
Anise looked around the crumbling castle as they walked in through the gate in the outer wall. "Ugh. It looks like the kind of place with lots of ghosts and spiders and stuff. And it's damp too."
"G-g-ghosts aren't real," Tear protested. "D-d-don't be silly!"
Anise grinned as she pushed open the doors with a loud creak. "Oho! Is the high and mighty Fon-Master-Guardian-slash-Intelligence-Division-Sp y afraid of ghosts?"
"I-I'm not afraid of ghosts! And I'm not a sp- eek!" Tear jumped as water dripped on her head, and Anise giggled.
Jade looked around the main hall curiously. "Strange. There are signs of recent activity, but it's supposed to have been abandoned for years..."
Anise poked Tear again, making her squeak, and Guy waved his hands at them. "Now, now. It's not nice to teas- AH!"
"Guy, there's a-!" Aeden grabbed onto his shoulders, eyes closed tight in panic, but Guy threw her off. Sitting up, she rubbed her arm. "Ow! What was... that for... Are you okay?"
Guy slowly straightened. "Yes. I'm so sorry- I don't know what came over me. My body just reacted on its own."
Jade looked at him, folding his arms. "That... did not seem like a normal reaction or an aversion to females. Are you sure nothing is wrong?"
Guy shook his head. "I don't know. I wasn't like this when I was a kid. All I know is that there's a piece of my memory missing. The cause might be there."
"So, you're missing your memory too?" Aeden asked, and Guy turned to her.
"Are you alright? I'm so sorry-"
Aeden waved her hand. "Really, I'm fine. About your memory, though..."
Guy folded his arms. "No, I don't think it's the same. I'm only missing one memory."
"How do you know that?" Luke asked curiously.
Guy looked down. "I know. It's the memory of the day my family died."
Tear and Anise looked shocked. Tear said quietly, "I'm sorry."
"I don't really want to talk about it any more." Guy turned away. "Let's just move on, okay?"
There was a sudden rustle from above and Jade's head snapped up. "Get down!" He shoved Aeden down to the ground, while Tear did the same to Anise. Guy grabbed Ion, but Luke was beyond his reach and a bit late.
A large griffin, the same as they had seen at the Kaitzur Port, swooped down and caught Luke, lifting him out of their reach before any of them could react.
Arietta stood above their heads on the second floor with a second griffin by her side. She stroked its beak as the first flew by, Luke's limp body in its grasp.
Jade climbed to his feet. "We should have been expecting something like this."
Anise stared up at the other little girl. "Hey, I thought we were all friends once! Why are you and the other God-Generals kidnapping big brother Luke?"
"How can you still call him your big brother like that?!" Arietta cried back. "After what he's done-! If you're his friend, you're not mine, mean Anise!"
"I don't-" Anise started, but Arietta was gone. Anise looked at her feet. "'After...' Can she mean the liger queen? Oh, Arietta..."
Guy stood. "I think recovering the Fon Master is what we should be focused on right now, not the God-Generals' motives."
Tear helped Ion to his feet, then readied her staff. "That's right."
"Spread out in pairs," Jade ordered. "Look for anything that looks suspicious. Perhaps we can find where they're working from."
...
It was some time, and several trips up and down the stairs, passing both Anise and Jade's team and Guy and Ion's, before Tear and Aeden found the locked door in the study.
Aeden poked the glowing light in the center of the door's locking mechanism. "Hey, Tear. What's this?"
Tear came over from where she had been examining the desk. "Strange... It's been sealed with special fonons. Something important must be behind it."
"Fon Master!" both exclaimed.
...
Out in the hall, Guy was running from something that was white, wispy, and very fast. It's one eye was also glowing purple.
Ion panted as he tried to keep up, then his breath caught on the dust that was everywhere and he had to stop, coughs shaking his body.
Realizing that Ion wasn't behind him anymore, Guy stopped and ran back. "Are you alriiiight!" He moved himself between the boy and the thing and closed his eyes, waiting for it to hit them.
"Sonic Spear!"
Guy felt a rush of air ruffle his hair as Jade's spear flew through the thing and barely missed his head.
"Dual Punishment!" Anise called, and Guy opened his eyes to see the white thing disappearing. Anise hopped off Tokunaga and patted the doll as it shrank back to normal size.
Jade picked up the glowing orb that was all that was left of the white thing. "Hm. Odd to see collected fonons like this..."
Aeden and Tear ran out to the hall to see the cause of the noise.
"Hey isn't that-" Aeden started, and Tear nodded.
"Just like that!" Tear took the orb from Jade. "May I have this?"
Amused in Jade's case, and bemused in Guy and Ion's, they followed the two girls back to the study.
Tear fitted the glowing orb into the locking mechanism. It flashed, then the door opened.