Chapter 10

Luke was hurriedly putting on his black pants when he noticed Asch was staring at him. The younger blinked as his fully dressed twin pointed to his shirt. Luke looked down in misery as he realised the tag was poking out indicating he'd put it on backwards. Luke hurried with his belt before shooting Asch a "don't-watch-me-I-feel-uncomfortable" look.

Asch merely shrugged at Luke's show selfconscienceness and turned away.

After hearing two familiar voices rant at each other outside the window, Asch had woken Luke and ordered him to dress immediately. He knew the eight year-old was tired but so was he, and they needed to get home to sleep, unfortunately that meant getting up. Luke had been very clumsy in his attempts to put his stuff on properly. Shirt on inside out... shirt back-to-front... shoes on minus socks... shoes on wrong feet... there hadn't been a mishap that Luke had missed!

"I'm ready!" Correction.

"No you're not." Asch said wearily, Luke looked at him blankly as he failed to see what he could of done now. Asch glanced at Luke's pants. "Fly's down." Luke spun round to fix it with enough hesitation to allow Asch to see him turn bright red.

"If you're done grab your bag. We're leaving." Luke nodded dragging his satchel before following Asch out the room.

"-And I say we should check the inn's!" Guy growled, his temper grew as did his frustration with Jade. The old man had suggested that they scout for information before exposing themselves as the Oracle Knights they were pretending to be.

"Guy as I've said that's far too irrational. We will end up getting caught." Jade sighed heavily as he spoke the final words through his gritted teeth. This early morning thing was grating his nerves as much as Guy was. Keep your composure, nothing will get done otherwise. It is in you best best interests to keep your composure. However, in this long list of thoughts the fonisist couldn't help but add a goddamn brat from being added at the end. It was just too tempting...

"I thought I heard you out here." A groggy red head appeared from the dark, casting a bright shard of warm light out across the evening street. He seemed reasonably indifferent and lacking any enthusiasm when addressing them. But suck a response is to be expected from a man who is currently wake at what he could only assume to be four a.m in the early hours of the morning.

Asch's usual high standard of appearance remained immaculate though. In fact the only other attribute that could possibly show he was tired was the hinted dark circles under his eyes.

Luke on the other hand, who stumbled out into the street into the back of his twin, was another story entirely. The younger's hair was messy and his clothes were covered in creases, his eyes were basically closed and he looked to be in a temparary state of miss balance.

"Luke, Asch, you're all right! I'm so relieved-" Jade interrupted him.

"We can exchange pleasantries later, at the moment we need to get out of here. Anyone got any clues?" Guy stared at him in mortal disbelief. It was as if he had said something like 'aren't ligers such cute and harmless animals? I'm going to get one as a pet!'.

"You're joking right? You can't honestly expect me to believe- wait..." Guy pondered quietly for a moment -the others around him stared wondering when he'd catch on (save for Luke who was fast asleep standing by Asch's shoulder) -before growling curses at Jade. There we go.

After wandering down through the streets and occasionally running into the allies to avoid soldiers, Asch was thoroughly tired of walking. Luke wasn't any better, but at least he didn't complain.

"Guy, where are we going?" He asked eventually. Guy turned his to the side partially looking at the younger. He gave a weary smile as he spoke.

"We're just biding time at the moment while trying to stay within running distance of a exit." Asch looked at him blankly.

"Why didn't we just stay still then?"

Jade answered before Guy could. "It increased our chances of being caught by another guard party-"

"-and our chances of falling asleep." Guy interjected, obviously not fond of being left out.

Jade pushed his glasses up his nose, not sparing the blond so much as an acknowledgement before continuing. "Noir will be creating a distraction around midnight. She has links around the city though, so I doubt that we'll have to wait long before she decides to 'light the fuse' early -so to speak. That is why we need to be near an ex-"

Jade's briefing was short lived as a loud explosion emanated from an empty lab near the centre of the city went up in smoke. The distance over the houses was lit up in a bright orange glow that outlined the roofs. The desperate cries of men and women circulated from that far off direction -Asch assumed they were actors reeled in by Noir to aid their escape. Failing that, they were probably just panicked by the the sudden inferno. No doubt Noir had overdone it with the fireworks again.

Noir always over did it with the fireworks...

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of town three sleepy women watched the skies for any changes. Originally it had been three women one young man and one child, however there's only so long that one child can stay awake for, and someone needs to watch her when she falls asleep. They had drawn straws, but Ion had won in the end.

On the horizon there was a bright flash that dulled into a bright glow. Smoke up rose into the air with the screams of those frightened people closest to the blaze. Orders for water and ensued panic spread faster than the smoke across the sky line and four figures approached hurriedly.

Tear was the first to recognise them as their awaited allies. Noelle stood and rushed to get to her pilot seat. Tear stayed near the door along side Natalia to help their friends board. No one spoke. They were all too exhausted and the night had dragged out for far too long.

In their footsteps, but close enough to follow, several guards stopped their chase, they saw their cause already in the air and knew better than to follow. It would have been like having a reward less job on their behalf, after all, even if they caught up to the group and somehow got them down off the Alboir, the assumption that a group of amateur guards would be able to fight out numbered by experienced professionals was hardly even a losing bet. Even amateurs don't make mistakes in that.

Tear almost felt sorry for them.

Unconsciously, Asch had grabbed onto Luke pulled the younger against him as they escaped into the Albior. When he realised Luke was no longer awake he pulled him into a corner and laid his brother's back against his chest. Luke's head lulled due to the wind currents that rocked the Albior, but otherwise he didn't stir.

Asch didn't want him to though. He wanted everything to stay as quiet as possible. He wanted the turbulence to ease. He wanted Noelle to fly as safely as possible so as not to wake Luke.

Luke murmured in his sleep and Asch pulled him closer, his grasp still gentle.

He honestly couldn't remember a time when had felt so protective...

An; My apologies for the delay. This took more time to write than usual.