Promethes Mneme, by apakoha

Author's Note: Hello again, everybody. This chapter is shorter than usual as you may have known already, but I think it ended at a good point. Besides, you guys got extra Christmas love last chapter, anyway. :) As always (for the last few chapters, anyway...), thanks to Spartan for editing and being my source of medical knowledge.

There's a lot of plot in this installment, even if it's shorter. Make sure you're paying attention, everybody!

If you enjoy, review. It's the natural order of things and you know it.

Luke and Van were silently frozen in place for a second. Nothing else mattered in Luke's vision anymore; not Ion, not the passage ring, not the weirdly colored memory particles. Then they closed in.

Van was stronger than he should have been, Luke realized. As he blocked Van's sword with his own, the ringing vibration climbing up his arm, Luke knew that Van was intending to kill him. The fact that he himself was trying to kill Van before this could go any farther slipped from his mind, and Luke felt betrayed.

As he fought his old master, Luke began to think less and less. Soon, he couldn't afford to think - only react. He saw empty space and avoided it; he saw a spot to step forward and he took it. After a few minutes of evenly clashing, they stepped away from each other, sizing each other up.

Van's eyes were narrowed as he watched the boy he thought he knew so well. "You know more than I ever taught you."

"Maybe I'm just intuitive," said Luke, almost growling. He couldn't believe this man. Finally, Luke let go of his lingering affection for the man. It would still exist but now Luke knew that it could never make him hesitate.

"Or someone else had a hand in teaching you," said Van, "Asch, was it?"

This could be bad if Van thought Asch played such a big part, if only because Asch wasn't about ready to let go of Van.

"No," Luke answered quickly. They were slowly circling each other, never letting their swords lower. "If I learned anything from Asch, it was because I took it."

Dreck! Asch shouted, and Luke jumped. He whirled almost in a circle to see Asch running into the hall of the Sephiroth. Van didn't attack as he watched everybody, Tear included, follow Asch.

"I suppose you had a hand in this as well," said Van, his voice calculated and soft. Luke didn't answer. He wouldn't give any more than he had away. At this point, Van should have no idea of what Luke really was.

Luke turned to face Van again; sword at the ready, but it seemed Van wasn't going to continue fighting. Luke didn't want to turn his back on him any longer and went closer to his friends who were running up.

"Stop!" shouted Van, and raised his hand to Luke. Luke ignored his ex-master and went to meet with Asch and the others. Strangely enough, Ion was with them. Had he been so involved in the fight that he didn't notice Ion slipping away?

"Luke!" called Natalia, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" Luke said, loud enough for her to hear.

"Come back here, Luke," said Van, "Or I guarantee you will be watching them all die upon meeting you."

"You're bluffing," said Luke, and he kept walking up to them.

"Am I?" said Van, "If that's what you think, you don't actually know me."

Luke almost continued, but he stopped to think about it. This wasn't the time to underestimate Van, even it was most likely a bluff. Luke couldn't take the chance. Grimacing, Luke turned around and walked to meet Van, making sure to go as slow as was possible. It might be infuriating, but he wouldn't give Van the pleasure of running up.

As Asch, Tear, Ion and the others reached the bottom floor, Luke was standing in front of Van. Both of their swords were sheathed.

"What is it?" said Luke, grinding his teeth.

"Face the passage ring again," said Van. Luke turned on his heel.

"Yes?"

"I don't think you'll call a hyperresonance for me again," said Van thoughtfully, "No matter." Out of the corner of his eye, Luke caught Van's smirk and his stomach began to fall.

"Imitation of the true power of Lorelei's scion," said Van, "Make your existence perfect."

With a shock, Luke felt his hyperresonance appear and grow and grow and spin out of control. He felt the white, golden light spiraling in his core like a hurricane before it began to spin out of his body, visible to everyone. The hyperresonance began whirling towards the passage ring.

"No!" shouted Luke and he held his hands out, trying to control himself. He couldn't breathe; the power of the hyperresonance was too much. It was exactly like his first Akzeriuth. It was going out of control and Luke didn't even know when Van had made more trigger words and trying to catch a hold of the golden tornado was as impossible as moving from his spot. Luke was frozen to the ground.

Luke! That was Asch.

Asch! said Luke, weakly and powerlessly, Help me!

I'm trying!

With a surge, Luke felt Asch's golden power trying to force itself into his mind, trying to help get control before the hyperresonance destroy everything. The two melded everything they could to build up power and get control of the hyperresonance storm; they started to put figurative hands on it and force it down.

Just as the two of them nearly gained control over it, something pushed Asch violently out of Luke's mind.

ASCH! Luke screamed, desperate. There was no answer. They were screams and yells from behind him, but Luke couldn't turn his head to see what was going on. Tears streamed down his face, the only physical indication of Luke's raging inability to stop himself.

So you're his scion.

If Luke was able to move, he would have frozen in his spot at the unfamiliar, dangerously feminine voice echoing in his mind. The addition of something else in addition to him losing control of his hyperresonance was too much.

Whoever you are, get out, he snarled.

Calm down, boy, she said, calm supremacy flowing from her voice, Lorelei will fight bitterly to keep you alive, however inconvenient that makes things for myself.

Why are you here? Luke snapped, Who are you?

How like Lorelei to pick a boy without manners. Ask me again. Her voice had sharpened menacingly.

I'm busy right now! roared Luke, Answer me or get out!

Everything was ripped from Luke's meager control. The passage ring reverberated with the sound of the hyperresonance met the Fonstone keeping the Sephiroth alive. Like a crack of thunder, the passage ring was broken and falling to pieces. Luke fell to his knees in trembling shame and fury as Akzeriuth began to fall again.

Gunthrea… she laughed, and I'm here to stop you.

Luke's head shot up and saw only the dark purple and black memory particles circling him. The white and golden ones were trying to get past the dark curtain, but Gunthrea was keeping Lorelei far away from his scion. Luke reached out for the being that sent him here. Lorelei...

That poor, gentle soul won't be able to reach you for quite a while, said Gunthrea, Until your death, you are mine! Luke shuddered violently at those words. He felt a weird touch on his mind and tried to shove it away. But she was here to stay. Not much here to speak of, but your life will be over soon.

I… Luke gagged and tried again. I thought you said Lorelei wouldn't let me die.

I said Lorelei would fight bitterly to keep you alive, she said, a smile audible in her voice, I do not believe that he will do you much good now. And Luke saw Lorelei's memory particles being eaten and assimilated by Gunthrea's. Blankly, Luke watched Lorelei's presence disappear and felt Gunthrea impose her will more strongly on his mind until he couldn't move from his place on his hands and knees from her gravity. The air was so heavy.

With a bright flash of light and a tremble of heat, Gunthrea reeled back. She had such a presence in Luke's mind that he could feel it. He took the opportunity and created a hyperresonance by himself, one he could control. With a struggle, he stood up and melded his hyperresonance with Asch's: the hyperresonance that had saved his life. Together, the two identical sons of Fabre drove Gunthrea away and there were no memory particles left among the still crumbling passage ring.

When she was gone, Luke whipped around to see Van in battle with the others. He hadn't heard anything at all. Stumbling, he ran at Van with his sword drawn. He couldn't believe he had the energy to move, and his mind was still raw from Gunthrea ripping away.

He didn't know how it happened. One minute Van was there, and Asch was behind him. The next, Van had extracted himself from the battle, Asch had managed to get beside Natalia and Luke's insides were spilling out between his fingers.

Everyone froze, not that Luke noticed. Van whistled and two griffins arrived. He rose up in one's talons and the second creature grabbed Asch about the wrists and lifted the fighting man into the air alongside him.

"I'm sorry, Fon Master," said Van, "But I cannot afford to lose Asch."

Amid Asch's cries of "Let me go!" the two men being carried by griffin left the hall of the passage ring.

Luke's sword had long since fallen from his fingers. With his hands and arms and front were covered with blood, more pulsing out at every beat of his heart, Luke stared numbly at the mess of his stomach. Luke couldn't get the blood to stop coming. He was trying to put pressure on the wound and hold the two edges together. He kept trying and trying and didn't notice Natalia turning him over, five sets of hands trying to hold his stomach together or Tear singing the second hymn of Yulia to save them all.

He heard broken pieces of sentences that meant nothing to him.

"Thank Lorelei we were at the dividing line - "

"What was he doing, anyway?"

"Sempiterna flamma qui, dat vita, subsisto intus ei cado anima. Revive!"

"Cut the shirt away, for - "

After an eternity of voices and singing and the miasma, they stopped at the bottom. Tear's song fell away and she sat down in exhaustion.

"How's Luke?" she gasped.

"Stable," said Natalia, panting. She was bent over Luke's unconscious form, hands hovering over his exposed chest and stomach. "He'll be fine as long as he doesn't move, but that's impossible since we need to get out of here. He needs more help."

"What's going to happen when he wakes up?" asked Anise. Her hands were slick with Luke's blood. Except Tear, everyone's were, up to and past the elbows.

Natalia stared at the wound. "It's going to open up again. Even jostling him around a little will cause immense bleeding again."

"I'm so glad Luke convinced your father to let you come," said Ion, voice passionately fervent, "If you weren't here, Luke would have died."

"And I would have been blaming myself," said Tear, crawling over to look at Luke's stomach for herself, "You would try to talk me out of it, but I know I would take responsibility for it."

"But it didn't happen," said Guy firmly.

"Do we think it's a good idea to wrap him up?" asked Jade, stepping closer to Luke. Everyone had to back off in the later stages of Luke's healing while Natalia finished closing his stomach with as many healing artes as she could manage.

"Oh. Yes," said Natalia, digging through her bag for bandages, "I know it's a lot to ask, Tear, but can you manage continuous healing artes on him while we wrap him up?"

"Of course," said Tear, and once the others were ready with swathes of fabric, she began speaking nonstop in Ancient Ispanian accompanied by chilling blue light. As Luke's stomach threatened to open again, Tear was building up as much flesh and tissue as she could, countering the damage. Before it was completely covered up, everyone watched as layers of flesh grew under the surface of Luke's skin. It was a testament to Tear's skill that they managed to cover Luke's midriff with no bleeding.

"That's the best I can get," said Natalia, closing off the bandages, "Now he'll be able to at least walk without his stomach splitting open again."

"Tear, you can stop now," said Guy, gently coaxing her, "Luke's fine now."

"No he's not!" snapped Tear, interrupting her continuous flow of healing words, "otherwise he wouldn't be on the ground with a stomach that's barely holding together. I'm going to keep going until he's better."

"Tear, stop," said Natalia, "There's not a lot we can do until he can get to a hospital or more advanced medical help."

"No!" said Tear, "We can build up muscle and skin for him. We can speed up the healing process. We can heal it so he doesn't have to worry about his stomach when he wakes up. We can make it even just a little bit better."

"Tear - "

"Stop it!" said Tear, and her voice broke a little. "Just let me work!"

Natalia, Ion and Anise stayed with Tear, helpless, while Jade and Guy went to go look for a way out of the Qliphoth.

"Asch left the Tartarus just outside the city," said Jade, "It may have survived the fall."

"Those poor soldiers," said Anise glumly.

"There's nothing we can do about that now," said Jade, and the two men left. For Natalia, waiting was painful. Tear was casting artes without stopping, Anise and Ion were deadly quiet and she couldn't avoid hearing the faint whisper of Luke's breath. Natalia just rested. At one point, she scrounged around in her bag, looking for an Orange Gel or anything to keep Tear from collapsing, but to no avail. The only thing she could do was sit.

Jade and Guy returned before Tear fell over from exhaustion. Guy gave her a speculative look while Jade explained what they had found.

"The Tartarus is operational," he said, "And it's managing to keep above the mud. Guy and I have already... cleared it out."

"Let's go, then," said Anise, ignoring the implications of the Tartarus needing to be emptied.

"Tear," said Ion, bringing a hand to her shoulder, "We're going to be moving Luke now."

"Wait a minute," said Tear and she cast a few more healing artes, still unsatisfied with the result. "Okay."

Guy carefully lifted Luke onto his back. "You know, Tear, Luke's life isn't hanging in the balance anymore. It's okay to take a rest every now and then."

"Guy isn't telling you to stop healing Luke," said Natalia as she spotted Tear about to argue, "We should do it as often as possible. But Luke isn't going to be getting any help from you if you collapse at his side. You've done so much."

"...Okay."

The seven of them traveled over the fallen mix of rock and rubble to where Jade was pointing out the Tartarus to them. On the deck, Guy laid Luke down and they gathered in a circle around him while they decided what to do.

"Well, we've got the Tartarus running," said Jade, "It's operational, but we can't stay here."

"There's a city to the west," said Tear, "Yulia City. We should go there."

"You seem to know quite a bit about the Qliphoth," said Jade, "Are we going to get an explanation?"

"At some point, yes," said Tear, "When we're safe."

The Tartarus was set on a western course and talk turned to Van.

"My brother needs to be stopped," said Tear, staring at Luke, "I don't know why he wants Luke dead, but I will stop him."

"I'm a bit more concerned with why Van wanted to destroy Akzeriuth, and more than that, what his plan beyond this is," said Jade.

"The fall of the city certainly isn't where his plans end," said Ion.

"Whatever comes after, we have to stop it. It's our duty," said Natalia.

"Yes…" agreed Tear and everyone was silent as they listened to the Tartarus speed over the mud and miasma. It was broken by Luke groaning quietly as he tried to push himself up into a sitting position.

"Luke!" said Tear, and she ran over. She checked the bandages and didn't sense any large break of skin. For his part, Luke was mostly confused.

"What's going on?" he asked, "I feel like my stomach is on fire."

"You should lie back down," said Natalia, also checking him over, "We don't know how things are going to hold up for you."

"I'll be fine," groused Luke and he stood up, slowly and painfully. Everyone leaned in concernedly as Luke awkwardly took a few steps before he couldn't go any more and leaned against the closest bulkhead. "Can someone please tell me what happened?"

"Well, what do you remember?" asked Guy.

Luke frowned as he perused his memory. "The last thing is really a blur. There was blood and singing and that's about all I remember." His frown deepened and then he remembered the most important thing. He gasped. "Akzeriuth fell!"

"Yes," agreed Jade, "But it could have been far worse."

"Yeah," said Anise, "The only ones to die were the Oracle Knights Asch had brought with him. Compared to ten thousand citizens, this is the one of the better situations."

"But what if they didn't make it to Kaitzur? Or, or, what if Kaitzur fell, too?" said Luke, "How do we know?"

"We've traveled over the rubble," said Guy, "There's not enough of it to be anything but Akzeriuth and the surrounding area."

"I imagine there's some of Deo Pass down here as well," said Ion "But like Guy said, not enough to be any more than that."

"So you can rest easy," said Guy, "We're alive and the people of Akzeriuth are, too."

"But Akzeriuth fell!" said Luke, still caught on that, "It's a pile of broken rock and buildings and people's homes!"

"It's still far better than the alternative," said Tear, "You helped save the lives of every single one of those miners and their families. Think about that."

Luke stared into his friends' eyes and nodded. "Yeah… They're alive. That's the point." But he couldn't stop the tears leaking out. "I just can't get it out of my mind. What if Van and I had gone down into the passage ring first thing? What if none of the citizens had been evacuated from the city?" He could hardly get the words out through the sobs.

The bridge was silent. Guy and the others couldn't take their eyes off of Luke, no matter how embarrassed they were to be witnessing him break down.

"Can you imagine?" he asked again, clearly expecting an answer.

"It would have terrible," said Ion quietly but clearly, "A nightmare."

"I know," said Luke, "and I can't get it out of my head." The images flashed through his mind almost faster than he could process them, just slowly enough for him to know exactly what was happening. To his shame, his rejection from the group was one of the worst, second only to that little boy sinking into the mud, calling for his parents.

"But it didn't happen," said Tear, trying to get him to understand, "Everyone was saved."

"I know!" said Luke, "But I just can't stop…" 'I can't stop remembering!' He stopped himself from saying. What would they say? 'Remembering what?' He choked up with more tears, his weeping renewed. It hurt to cry. His stomach was seizing up weirdly so he had to bend over to try and make it hurt less.

"I'm afraid I don't see the point," said Jade, "No one except the previous crew of this ship has died. We finished our mission in impossible time. Isn't this all something to be proud of?"

"If you think that," said Luke through tears, "then you don't understand what death is. I'm crying for the soldiers that died today. I'm crying because ten thousand people could have died here today. Doesn't that scare you, you cold, broken machine?!"

"Now, Luke," said Guy, "There's no need to insult Jade."

"No, it's alright," said Jade, "I understand where he's coming from. Frankly, since he's the one who brought the city down, I'm more than willing to excuse a few insults."

"And the worst part of it," said Luke, tone rising higher and higher, "since I am the one who brought the city down, I would have ten thousand lives on my conscience, wouldn't I? Right? I would be the biggest murderer on the face of the planet, right?"

"Luke, that's terrible!" said Tear, "You need to stop thinking about it."

"I'm trying," said Luke with gritted teeth, "I'm trying."

"If you need a single thought to carry you through," said Ion, "Think of this. Ten thousand people are alive today because of you and your evacuation plan."

Luke met Ion's eyes and the Fon Master realized that Luke didn't believe what had actually happened.

"Luke!" he breathed in understanding.

"What?" said Natalia, "What is it?"

"I don't think Luke understands that the people we saved are really, truly alive," said Ion, not breaking eye contact with Luke. There were sighs of exasperation and pity.

"Oh, Luke," said Tear, words tinged with sadness.

"Just remember every person you sent in a caravan," said Guy, "And every person you helped onto the Tartarus. They're alive."

"Sorry," said Luke, covering his eyes with a hand, "It's just really hard to try and see anything other than what we left behind there."

"Just keep thinking about the people," said Ion, "and things will get better."

Luke nodded and that was the end of it. He refused to talk more about it and eventually everyone understood that. One by one, people dissipated from the room. Luke and Jade were left alone in the bridge.

"Something is going on here," said Jade, "and I want that explanation soon."

"Oh, leave it alone," said Luke with a dim smile and they faced the oncoming sea of miasma.

"How do you suppose Tear knows so much about the Qliphoth?" said Jade, not really asking Luke seriously.

Luke answered anyway. "I think she'll tell us soon. Whereas I can get away with having my secrets, hers affect us much more directly."

"Do you expect me to leave you alone when you give me such incredible hints?" said Jade dryly.

"I guess not," said Luke, pushing Akzeriuth out of his mind momentarily, "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorrier," said Jade, "I still don't know what you've been hiding."

Luke chuckled, his voice harsh from crying mere minutes ago. "Well, patience will conquer that."

"A promise of an explanation will be good enough for now," said Jade pointedly.

"Then that's what I'll give you," said Luke, smiling at the soldier, "I promise an explanation." Even just saying the words made Luke's stomach shiver in apprehension.

"Good," said Jade, "Now, I think we should gather again. I'd like to hear a little more from Tear about this place. Do you need help getting out there or would it be best to meet here?"

Given the choice, Luke decided he wanted to go out on the deck more than stay inside. "I'll go outside."

"Making more work for this old man," said Jade in a false grumble, "You young men not considering their elders and betters."

Luke laughed as Jade put an arm under his shoulder to help him walk. "So you're my better, are you?" He hid his pained grimace as he felt the pull on his stomach, and leaned down to try and stop the muscle pulling apart.

"At the moment," said Jade, but there was worry buried in his eyes.

After Luke had gotten more comfortable, he waved Jade's worry away. "I'm good now. Let's go."

Jade deposited Luke leaning against the outer bulkhead right by the door and went to find the others. Tear was the only one on the deck, and they exchanged smiles. Tear went up to Luke and started examining his stomach.

"Is everything going okay? Is it hurting?" she asked while running a small diagnostic.

"I felt it pull a few times," said Luke, letting her examine, "But I don't think the skin broke."

"Maybe I should run a few more - "

Luke cut her off, "Tear, it'll be fine for now, I said."

"Are you sure?" she asked, pulling her hand away, "There's been no pain or anything?"

"I'd be lying if I said it doesn't hurt," said Luke, "but you look tired enough already without adding to it. If you're that worried about it, it can wait until tomorrow. Or better yet, until we arrive at - somewhere else." Luke nearly said Yulia City, and bit down on that. He didn't remember Tear saying anything about it; he'd have to be safer about this. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"Yulia City," said Tear, "It's to the west of here. You'll be able to get better help when you're there."

"I think I've had excellent help so far," said Luke and she blushed.

Soon after, more people meandered onto the deck with Jade at the tail end of the disjointed chain. In respect of Luke's limited ability to move around, they moved to be near him while they talked.

"I can hardly believe that this is all underground," said Anise.

"I know," agreed Guy, "Looking back on life above, I can't help but be nervous about all the space between it and here."

"It's not quite underground," said Tear, "Life above is lived on the Outer Lands. It's basically the shell of the plant lifted off of this place, the Qliphoth."

"How are the Outer Lands staying up?" asked Natalia.

"They're supported by pillars called Sephiroth Trees that grow up from the Qliphoth," said Tear.

"I don't quite understand," said Guy.

"Well," said Tear, "A long time ago, in the Dawn Age, the Outer Lands were here, in the Qliphoth. Two thousand years ago, the miasma covered all of Auldrant and Yulia devised a way to save everyone. Or rather, she read the Score for the first time and Lorelei gave her a way to save everyone."

"Why did the miasma appear?" asked Luke, looking for hints about anything regarding Lorelei.

"By the war that had enveloped the planet," said Tear, "I'm not sure how, exactly, but it caused the miasma to spring up."

"Following the first reading of the Score," said Ion, "Yulia made a plan to raise the planet's crust from the miasma using the Sephiroth that already existed. That was the start of the Outer Lands."

"But why did this happen?" asked Jade, "I'm assuming a Sephiroth was holding up Akzeriuth. Why did it fail?"

"Me," said Luke, trying to keep his voice light, "I destroyed the passage ring. The passage ring is what makes the pillar from the Sephiroth, right?"

"Right," said Ion, "The passage ring was destroyed with Luke's hyperresonance and thus destroyed the pillar completely. The Sephiroth itself still exists, but it will never have enough power to lift the land again."

"Cheer up, Luke," said Guy, "It could've been a lot worse, so let's just agree that it happened and get over it."

"Right," said Luke and he forced himself to lift his head.

Guy seemed satisfied with that.

"What's that?" said Jade suddenly.

"What is it, Colonel?" asked Anise.

"I think I'm detecting a large fonon signature to the west," said Jade, "It's faint, though."

"That must be Yulia City," said Tear, "We'll probably have to travel for quite some more time before we see it."

"For the time being, it makes a decent homing device," said Luke and that was it for then.

They arrived at Yulia City after several more hours of travel. There was no indication of day or night, so everyone took the opportunity to sleep at one point or another. When Anise spotted the city for the first time, nobody was quite up to par, but they were rested at least.

"Look at that," breathed Natalia, "It's beautiful."

They were standing at the port of the city, the only place they could dock the Tartarus.

"Yes," said Tear, "Much better than the rest of the scenery. The mayor's inside; come on."

With Guy's arm under his shoulder, Luke slowly followed the rest of the group.

"You..," said a voice from behind. Luke had Guy help him turn around to see Asch stalking up to them. Everybody slowed to a stop as they witnessed the scene about to take place.

"Asch," said Luke, "How've you been?"

Asch ignored Luke's attempt at humor and marched up to him, where he shoved a finger into Luke's chest. He winced at the pressure.

"You liar!" said Asch, "You had me tricked into thinking that Van was your enemy and then you destroy the passage ring anyway!"

"Asch…" Luke tried to explain.

"Did you not feel me trying to help, reject?" Asch was snarling, "I figured Van was forcing you to use hyperresonance, but you showed whose side you were on when you shoved me out of your mind, didn't you?"

"Asch, you idiot," said Luke, "Let me explain what happened."

"Explain what?" said Asch, "That you want to destroy the Outer Lands just as badly as Van does?"

"Asch!" barked Guy, "Luke said he would explain. Leave him alone. If you didn't see, Luke almost died because Van gutted him in the passage ring. Weren't you paying attention?"

"Asch, I can explain everything," said Luke, gently pushing Asch's finger off of his chest, "Just let us get some rest. There will be time for us to talk privately in the city."

"Luke still needs a lot of time to recover," said Tear, walking up beside Luke, "We'll be in Yulia City for a while."

"Fine, then," said Asch, and he glared at Luke one final time before stalking towards the entrance of the city, stubbornly keeping just outside of the group.

"Here you go," said Tear, gesturing at the room.

Luke looked around from his seat on the bed. "It's very nice."

"T-thank you," said Tear, "For now, it should suit you as a resting bed. The doctor said that as long as Natalia and I continue intense healing, you'll be able to walk on your own in a few days."

"How long would it take on my own?" asked Luke.

"Weeks," answered Tear, "I should get started on the healing." She went through her entire repertoire of healing artes twice before she was satisfied with how Luke was doing. "Now sleep."

"You rest up, too," said Luke, "Using so many artes has to be tiring."

"I will," said Tear, and she left him alone in her room. Luke sighed and lay down, clicking off the light. He listened to Asch arguing with Tear and Guy below in their unofficial gathering room, and Jade reluctantly agreeing with the two. The voices weren't loud enough for distinct words to be heard, but it was obvious that Asch wanted to talk to Luke right away and the others weren't letting him. As for himself, Luke wished he could spend a decent amount of time in Yulia City without spending most of his time being unconscious or laid under. The murmurs of his friends' voices were comforting, and Luke felt himself drift off to sleep.

That was how Luke spent the next few days. Since Tear, Natalia, the healer and the doctor in the city told Luke that the best healing a body did by itself took place during sleep, Luke spent almost all of his time in bed. Every half hour, Tear and Natalia rotated healing duties, never letting Luke's stomach go unattended for longer than a few hours at night when everyone slept. Luke's stomach was bare for the entire visit. He wasn't allowed to move from any position but on his back for fear of the fragile skin holding his belly together snapping.

Whenever Luke was awake, he asked to explore the city but was refused every time. The most he was allowed was spending a few minutes in the selenia garden attached to Tear's room. He felt perfectly fine, he was near the end of his recovery, but Tear told Luke he had to get more rest because he wasn't recovered yet, silly man.

When the doctor announced that Luke was allowed to get up and walk, he cheered and sat up right away.

"Careful!" said the doctor, putting a hand on Luke's shoulder, "You may have a few centimeters separating your insides from the air, but it's not enough to hold under anything except simple moving about. There is to be absolutely no fighting until both of these young ladies agree that you're fully healed." He gestured to Tear and Natalia who were both present. "You will continue to have them heal you twice a day until that day comes."

"Yes, sir," said Luke meekly, and the doctor nodded smartly before leaving Tear's room. "A few centimeters?"

Natalia smiled. "Of skin. A human body can produce enough layers to stop bleeding in mere hours. Our artes just helped it along. It doesn't sound like much, but for skin, a few centimeters is a lot."

"Huh." Luke spread himself out a little and examined his naked top half. "I'm a bit scarred, aren't I?"

"A bit," said Tear, hiding an amused smile.

"Really," scolded Natalia, "Look at yourself, your stomach and the one on your shoulder, to say nothing of the little ones that are just about everywhere."

"Natalia's right," said Tear, and the two exchanged knowing looks, "You need to be more careful in battle. One of these days, you won't get these little scratches." She poked a thin, two centimeter long scar on his arm. "It'll be as big as this." She pointed to the red, harsh mess of his stomach. "Maybe even bigger. You should train with Jade more, he emphasizes not getting hit by the enemy at all. I think it'll be good for you."

"Yeah, yeah, okay," said Luke, trying to get up again, "I just want to get out of here. No offense, Tear."

"While I'm not offended," said Tear, "you can't get up just yet."

"What? Why not?" asked Luke, indignant.

"Asch," said Natalia, shrugging helplessly, "I'm sure you've heard us arguing already, but he's upset because he hasn't talked to you yet. He's been waiting downstairs since this morning when the doctor said it was okay for everyone to see you."

"Well, isn't everyone else going to see me first, before Asch starts his interrogation?" asked Luke.

Tear shrugged, a mirror image of Natalia just a moment before. "They agreed to let him come in first. He was making quite a fuss."

"Okay," said Luke, feeling ominous, "Has he... explained things to you, Natalia?"

Natalia smiled weakly. "A little bit. I…think I understand what's going on."

"Well, there goes my delay strategy," said Luke with a laugh, "Alright, I'll see him." He made himself comfortable while the girls left and tried to arrange things in his mind so he wouldn't be too confusing.

Asch came up the stairs and sat down on the chair by the bed Luke was in.

"So, talk."

Luke laughed disbelievingly. "Oh, just like that? Give me somewhere to start."

"Alright, how about we start with how you already knew what a hyperresonance was when I met you? I know that Van told you, but somehow, Van didn't seem to think so in the passage ring."

Luke hesitated. Can we talk mind to mind?

"Why?"

Because I don't want to be overheard, said Luke, refraining from adding the sarcastic 'why else?'.

Fine. Talk, replica.

First of all, stop calling me replica, said Luke, You don't have to call me Luke, but at least give me the dignity of a name.

Asch frowned in thought. Why are you standing up to me all of sudden?

Because I'm telling you everything, said Luke, Everything means a lot to me, and I'm not going to let you sit there and disrespect what makes me who I am.

Okay. Luke. The name was voiced with the mind's equivalent of grinding teeth and a growl in the throat. Tell me 'who you are'.

I… Luke stopped to calm his stomach. I'm still me, Luke. So you understand. I…I'm not exactly from…the future…but I am. It's really... I'm from another world. Lorelei sent me to this world to save it, and now I'm doing everything in my power to stop Van from destroying Lorelei. That's who I am.