Life sucks. My parrot died. I'm unemployed. I'm on probation for my scholarship. But here's a chapter anyway. I owe it to you. I'm putting up to 18 today, if they're all on the flash drive.

As he thought, Jade did end up being ill the entire trip, and as Nephry expected, he was ecstatic when it ended.

Or at least as ecstatic as a seasick head-surgery patient could manage. Once they were off the boat, Nephry took him straight to her house and forced him to bed. Not surprisingly, he didn't argue.

"Here," the woman said, handing him his medicine. "Take this and get some rest. I have to go for a moment."

As she gathered her things, Jade couldn't help but ask why.

"I'm the viscount of Keterburg, I need to deal with some matters of great importance, you know…" she said somewhat sarcastically. "Don't worry, I'll be back to check on you soon…"
"Why, thank you, Mother," Jade replied much more sarcastically. Nephry resisted the urge to throw her hands up as she glared at her brother. He really wasn't a very nice person…

Once she'd gone, Jade sighed, putting a hand to his head. Gods, how it ached. If he didn't know better, he would venture to guess he was having another hemorrhage. But of course, the corrective surgery was fixing that. If only his medicine would suppress the pain.

Unfortunately, it wasn't working. In fact…the pain seemed to be intensifying.

I couldn't be having another one, could I? He thought to himself. Just in case, he put a hand to his nose, but it wasn't bleeding.

So what in Auldrant was going on?!

It never occurred to Jade that he might be able to ever heal himself. It defied all logic, all everything!

The pain intensified to the point where he could no longer take it without doing something. At first, he just punched the frame of the bed systematically. That wasn't enough. Nor was using his spear. Nothing. Nothing NOTHINGNOTHINGNOTHING!!
"Rrraaaauuuuughhh!!"

His scream tore through the room, alerting even Nephry to his pain. She'd been in another part of the building, but had still heard Jade all too clearly.

Oh, Lorelei…brother, please…

Her blood ran cold as the yell cut off, and she instantly leapt to her feet, fearing the worst. Within a few minute's time, she was up the stairs and fumbling with the key to the room…

…But Jade beat her to it, opening it and allowing her entrance.

"Jade! Why are you up, and why did you—"

"I have healed."

"What?"

The Colonel slowly pushed his hair back, revealing that he'd removed the bandages, and that there was no longer a mark on his flesh.

"It doesn't make sense," Nephry murmured. "The surgery…"

"Whether I like it or not," Jade replied, cutting her off, "I am a complete fonist now. First through Seventh. I unwittingly healed…myself."

The Colonel's features were blank, though pain still flickered in his crimson gaze. Involuntarily, his left eye had watered and a tear trailed down his cheek—a testament of his pain.

"But you can't control the Seventh Fonon," Nephry murmured quietly. "It can be dangerous…"

"Yes, which is why I'm leaving tomorrow. There is no point in endangering you with my uncontrolled artes," Jade told her. "But make no mistake; I will master the Seventh Fonon. I am a child no more."

Nephry couldn't bring herself to argue. She didn't fear for her safety against Jade's Seventh Fonon. There was too much faith in him for her to fear something so trivial…of course, she told herself it was trivial, but that was not so. She just feared how he would deal with this more; whether he could handle it at all when his mind turned to his past. The degeneration would not help him in the long run with thoughts like that.

I don't want him hurt. But I don't want to hurt him either by keeping him here.

I said I wanted you to do what you wanted to do," she replied after a while. "If you want to leave…then leave."

***

When Luke and the others returned to the meeting room, an engineer they were not familiar with redirected them to the flight hangar. Apparently, Saphir and Aston had already gone to the other building because it normally stored the Albiore, therefore it would be easier to inspect there.

"Thanks," Luke had said with a smile. "Come on, then. Let's see how useful dist has made himself.

And indeed, the fonic engineer had proven himself at lest somewhat useful. When the others found him, he was somewhat dirty, but holding the Albiore's flightstones and examining them with interest. A pair of brownish safety goggles pushed his hair back, though he didn't bother changing his worn clothes.
"So, anything interesting or helpful?" Guy asked, his blue eyes flicking to the Greater Flightstone.

Saphir looked up, his mauve eyes as keen as they had been when he studied the stone.
"No news yet. Things like this take time," he informed the fon machine buff airily. "Of course…"

"He's provided us with some theories on how to better the Albiore," Noelle finished for the former God-General.

"Really? That's great!" Luke replied. "So can you tell us what's on your mind, Dist?"

"Saphir," Tear corrected.

"Whatever."

Saphir pursed his lips snarkily, but decided to explain.

"The Albiore—or rather, any flight machine, I'm sure—operates based on four specific things acting on it: thrust, lift, weight, and drag. Thrust gets it moving, lift gets it into the air, weight is the power of Gnome acting upon it, and drag is air resistance from the wind," he told them. "That is basic aeronautics. Now then…the Albiore combines thrust and lift, but it is the same basic principle—it must gather power to begin thrusting itself—lifting itself—upwards. All of this depends on the atmosphere, and the air lifting the craft up and working with the craft itself to keep it afloat. Are you with me?"

Tear, Guy, and Anise nodded, Guy more vigorously…but Luke sort of raised an eyebrow.

"If I say yes, will you keep going?"

Saphir sighed.

"Anyway, the Flightstones gather Third Fonons to assist in keeping the Albiore afloat as well, in combination with the Third Fonons in the air. After all, the Albiore is a very heavy and well-built craft. The problem is altitude. The higher one goes, the more the atmosphere thins."

"That means that the Third Fonons within the air are lessened the higher you go up, causing flight to become difficult," Tear added.

"Yes. In addition, assuming the Albiore's Flightstones can keep it up, the atmosphere thinning is a very bad environment for flight."

"I get it," Guy murmured. "So then what we have to do is find a way to get through the thin atmosphere with the Albiore…and not have it stall out or plummet."

"Correct once more. The problem is finding out how to do it. You see, to gather the amount of fonons needed would be to gather enough to summon Sylph."

Tear's blue eyes widened.
Enough to create an aggregate sentience of the Third Fonon? That would be…unprecedented!

"I can assume by the hymnist's looks that you know the difficulty of the task. That's good, because it means you know why I am going to be up all night."

Guy nodded, his face resolute.

"I'll be up with you," he said firmly.

"Me too," Anise added. Saphir didn't quite believe she'd be able to hold out, but he didn't smirk, in case that insulted the Fon Master.

"Do as you will, all of you. Just stay out of our way."

R & R plox?