In this chapter, an unlikely prisoner is taken, and Guy joins us.
As the Tartarus's emergency hatch opened, Sync having walked up to open it, he was greeted with a burst of flame to the head, courtesy of Mieu. He jumped back.
"AAAUGH! What the hell?" Sync yelled. The fire had gotten under his mask, and he was clutching at his face. Luke, Tear, and Jade rushed out. Legretta whipped out one of her guns, and in an instant aimed the sleek silver-and-black muzzle at Luke. Before she could fire, though, she glanced down to see Jade was there, the blade of his lance at her throat. Before Sync could recover, Luke bravely trotted to him and kicked him in the gut. The masked God-General lashed out and punched Luke in the jaw. Soon, Sync found himself darting around, trying to avoid being skewered on Luke's sword.
"W-Wait, Luke, don't stab big brother…!" I cried. Everyone except Legretta and Jade stopped and looked at me; Legretta was in the process of backing up onto the Tartarus, Jade forcing her back with his spear.
"Big brother?" Tear and Luke asked simultaneously.
"You actually care?" Sync questioned.
"Of course I care! Even if you don't… even if big brother thinks he's not worth saving, I want my brother to be okay! And not stabbed!" I said. Luke had crept up on Sync during this time, and raised his sword to whack Sync with the flat of the blade.
"…Ion, you really don't understa-" Sync started, before Luke hit him in the back of the head with all he had. "GAH!" He collapsed, knocked out by the strike.
"I would have liked to hear the rest of that," I sighed.
"Sync!" Legretta said, standing at the door. She didn't move to do anything, though, seeing as she was still cornered by Jade.
"Luke, Tear, do either of you have some rope on you?" Jade asked as he forced Legretta inside and closed the door.
"Yes, Colonel, I do… why do you ask?" Tear said.
"Be a good soldier and tie Sync up for me, will you?" Jade asked. "I'd like to ask him about his relation to Ion later." Tear nodded, and produced a long rope from under her dress. How did she even make that stay…? Ah well. She knelt beside the unconscious Sync, and quickly bound his arms behind his back. She then tied a rope around his legs just above the knee, so he could walk when he woke up but not run or kick without tripping himself.
"Impressive job," Jade said as he walked over. "Now, shall we be on our way? I think the next logical course of action is to head for St. Binah, to get a message back to the Emperor about the state of the Tartarus. Luke, why don't you carry Ion's 'brother'?"
"Okay," Luke sighed. He grabbed the unconscious Sync and tossed him over his shoulder. At that moment, there was a call from nearby.
"Having fun on your adventure, Luke?" a voice said. I turned to see, as did the others, Guy approaching. He was a good deal taller than me, and his yellow vest and hair made him really stand out.
"Guy! Man, am I glad to see you!" Luke said, getting a grin on his face. "We were just leaving here, actually…"
"Yes, you can introduce yourself while we walk," an amused Jade said. As everybody started to walk off, Jade leading the way, Tear hung back by me. She still had Mieu on her shoulder.
"Ion. You look awful. What did they do to you?" she said, looking down at me with a worried expression. I couldn't help but notice that her dress really, really looked like a violin.
"Your dress looks like a violin," I blurted out, probably worrying her even more. "…Oh, um, they made me open a special seal that only a Fon Master can unlock… but now my head hurts."
"You look really tired. You should be the one being carried, not your brother," Mieu said. I started after the group, using my staff as a walking stick.
"Thanks, Mieu, but I can walk," I said, faking a smile. The Seventh Fonist and cheagle didn't seem convinced, but they followed the group without saying anything regardless.
After we'd been walking for a bit, though, I was getting really dizzy. I missed a step, and fell down.
"Oww," I muttered, too out of it to react more strongly.
"Let's take a break. The Fon Master doesn't seem to be doing too well," Jade suggested. We had been walking on the plains, with the occasional patch of forest, but at that point we were in a small valley formed by two hills. Tear helped me move to sit up against a rock, with my bag beside me.
"Do we have any food?" I asked. Tear glanced at Luke, who put Sync down on the ground by me. He then reached into a pocket hidden in one of his jacket tails, and pulled out some apples. Everybody got one, including me, but when I went to bite it, I recoiled with a yelp.
"Ion, are you okay?" Guy asked. Jade and Luke had explained everything to Guy, so he knew who I was.
"I-I'm sorry, I bit wrong with my loose tooth. I should really just get that out," I said.
"Aww, the young Fon Master has a loose tooth," Jade said in a sickeningly sweet tone. I ignored him, and pulled hard on the tooth. It tore free, but it hurt, and I gave another yelp. I could taste blood in my mouth- the gap was bleeding. I glared at the annoying tooth in my hand- there was a bit of pink gum tissue still attached. Ick.
"Here, I'll heal it," Tear offered. I gave her a very grateful look as she put her hand to the side of my face, and she didn't seem to have used up any energy at all, even though the new gap in my teeth had stopped hurting and stopped bleeding.
"Thank you, Tear, I'm in your debt even more now," I said, smiling at her. She looked away, embarrassed, and I took the opportunity to attack my apple. After a few minutes of not paying attention to the others, Jade tapped me on the shoulder. I looked up from my apple, reduced to the very center, even less than you'd usually leave behind.
"Ion. You referred to Sync as your brother earlier. Would you care to elaborate on that?" he said.
I gulped. This was going to be fun to explain.
Solana/Ion finally loses that loose tooth, and the plot is heavily off track.