"We're up here again?" Luke complained.

"I guess that means the author is saving our part of the story for last," Tear reasoned.

"I guess so."

"He really seems to want his readers to hate him."

"Given what happens in Verse 12, I'd have to agree."

"Luke! You read ahead?"

He shrank from her glare. "I couldn't help it, I was curious."

"Really, you've got to learn some self control…"

"Sorry," was his simple reply as he walked away in shame.

"Wait! What do you mean 'what happens in Verse 12?' We're in Verse 12! … I wanna know too…" she whispered shyly under her breath.

Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice…Aquaman sits around uselessly, waiting for something, anything,to happen underwater. Sorry. So, having thwarted Dentin's minions and ensuring Florian's safety for the time being, Anise and company head to Chesedonia. While all that was going on, though, Jade, Natalia, and Guy had already arrived in Chesedonia and began their search for Luke. You'll meet the last two OCs now (though Crocell hasn't really been formally introduced, and I haven't even thought up a head-honcho villain beyond his or her motivations… No, it's not going to be Dist – he just wouldn't fit the part. Besides, I would phail at writing him).

Sadly, I don't own the rights to Tales of the Abyss. Then again, if I did, I wouldn't be writing this – I'd be naked in a tub filled with gold coins. Why gold coins? Some people look at a tub filled with gold coins and ask why; I look at a tub not filled with gold coins and ask why not.

Verse 11: Divergence Rhapsody – Duplicates

"I kinda like the blond one," came a coquettish voice behind them.

"Me too!" Another voice, this one with a tinge of faux childishness.

"I call dibs."

"No fair, you always get to pick first."

"That's because I'm the oldest."

"By like two minutes. Come on!"

Guy sighed. He was sure he wasn't the only one who heard the conversation behind them, and he was sure he was about to walk into trouble. The only question he had was whether he should be more worried about what sinister comment Jade was undoubtedly brewing or Natalia's angry silence. It didn't matter that he didn't know who they were and had done absolutely nothing to instigate the situation – this was not going to end well for him.

"So cute!"

"A fine specimen – an excellent blend of litheness and muscle tone."

The second woman sighed. "So clinical – all you see is the science… A body like that is…art in motion. You can't just assign numbers to such a fantastic work of art."

"Artists give their works a value in their galleries – there's a number right there. You're idealism is wasted on me. Besides, I was here first."

"It's not my fault you gave me bad directions!"

"Fine, if you're so intent on having the blond, I suppose I can be convinced to share."

"Share?" the second woman nearly shouted.

Guy couldn't help but cough.

"In fact, if you're up for a bit of kidnapping, we could take as long as we like," the first laughed.

"You know…" Jade began.

Guy cringed. "Jade, please don't."

"Alright. If you'd really rather not hear what I have to say…I'll just whisper it to Natalia."

I walked right into that one, he thought, slapping his forehead to simulate the effect.

After Jade had spoken his peace, Natalia had grown about three shades redder and Guy was unable to tell if whether this was the result of anger or embarrassment. Either way, she looked about ready to turn around and face the two women who'd been following them for quite some time now.

"Did I stutter?"

"Ha ha, make your jokes."

"Who said I was joking?"

There was a pause. "Well, if nothing else we should at least introduce ourselves."

"Yes, it's about time that we did, I think."

The three stopped dead in their tracks – Guy out of fear, Natalia out of anger, and Jade out of his usual morbid curiosity.

"Hi, I'm Nina Vanemuine and this is my sister Ava."

It was a rare occasion indeed when Jade Curtiss was at a loss for words, and no matter how badly he wanted to say something clever and sarcastic, unfortunately for him this was one of those occasions.

The two sisters began fawning over the object of their affections. Natalia was as red as she'd ever been, but on the bright side, Guy was positive he was in the clear.

"So, what's your name, cutie?"

"N-Natalia," she stammered.

"Such a pretty name," Nina commented.

"Stop acting like a child!" Ava snapped. "Natalia, we're here to make you an offer. If you'll leave your friends here behind and join us, we won't kill you."

"What?"

This got everyone's attention.

"Yes, though I'm afraid these two will have to die. Our master will be angry enough we let one of you live."

"What are you talking about? Are you with the Original Order?"

"Of course, sweetie," Nina chimed in. "You didn't think we were just some random assassins, did you?"

"We aren't any sort of assassins. It's just part of the job – the worst part, but a part nevertheless."

"So what, do you work for Dentin or something?"

Ava spat in disgust. "Cretin? No, we don't work for that scumbag. Like him, we only take orders from the master."

"And who's that?"

"Nuh uh uh," Nina taunted, wagging her finger. "I'm afraid that's privileged information."

"We'll find out on our own soon enough," Jade interrupted. "In the meantime, I do hope your intention isn't to fight us here in the middle of a busy street."

"Of course not!" Ava seemed offended. "We're not monsters – we're not going to involve innocent civilians if we can avoid it."

"Yeah, you shouldn't judge all of us by your experience with that creep-o, Dentin."

"Yet you would strike us down even though we've done nothing to you," Jade commented offhandedly.

"Of course, because the master has commanded it!" Nina almost cheered.

"Still, our offer stands to you, Natalia, if you're so inclined."

"I'm nothing of the sort!"

Ava tisked. "A crying shame, really. Que sera, sera," she added with a shrug.

"So should we be watching over our shoulders or are you done for the day?" Guy complained.

"Oh, we stumbled across you quite by accident, I assure you. We'll leave you be for the time being."

"Yeah, we have other things to do here!"

Ava slapped her younger sister upside the head. "Idiot." She turned her attention to the group of three. "The next time we meet though, I can't promise it will be on friendly terms."

"Then we won't expect it. Consider us duly warned," Jade said dryly.

"So be it. Goodbye, Natalia."

"Bye Natalia!"

"Are we supposed to take them seriously?" Guy joked as soon as they disappeared from sight.

"I would," Jade replied quite seriously. "If I had to guess, I'd say those two are in charge of the reason why we had to come here anyway."

"You think?"

"What are you two talking about?"

Jade cut Guy off before he could answer. "Nothing but speculation for the time being. Once we've got Luke back, I'll look into it further. In the meantime, why don't the two of you check in with Astor, see if he's heard anything? I'm going to go…ask around the bar."

Guy rolled his eyes. "Fine, go 'check the bar.' But you owe us."

"Why would I owe you? I'm only going there to further the course of our investigation. If I should happen to have a few drinks so as to not draw attention to myself, then that's just an unfortunate consequence."

"So, what were you talking about earlier?" Natalia asked once Jade had branched off to go to the bar. "You know I don't like it when you lie to me."

"I didn't say anything!" he defended. "And Jade didn't lie either…it is just an educated guess."

Natalia sighed. He was almost as difficult to pry information from as his Malkuthian mentor. "What's an educated guess?"

"Well, the Original Order is spreading its influence in both militaries, and it's possible that they intend to merge their recruited forces together to make a massive army of their own. If that's the intent, then Chesedonia is the place to do it. Or if not, certainly somewhere in the Zao Desert."

"Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"What good would it do? If we took action against our own militaries, it would only add fuel to the fire – give soldiers on the fence the nudge to the Original Order's way of thinking. They're holding all the strings," Guy lamented, "so for the time being it's all we can do to resist the pull."

"Maybe. I don't like doing nothing."

"Well, that's what you have me for – if there's one tactic I excel in, it's waiting a long time for the perfect opportunity to strike."

She didn't really know what to say, though Natalia was glad he'd developed a sense of humor about it.

"Yeah, between the two of us I think we could handle running a country…when the time comes," Guy added, with an inflection that hinted that a great deal of thought had been made on the subject.

"Was there any doubt?" she asked as more of a statement than a question. She didn't give him the chance to answer, though, before asking something else. "The question is whether or not we'll be able to handle running a family."

Guy coughed, caught completely off guard. "Don't you think it's a bit…early to be thinking about that kind of thing?"

"When do you want to think about it?" she asked angrily, though she was laughing at his reaction on the inside and at this point was only teasing him.

"I-I don't know, I haven't, uh, thought about it, I guess. At least after this Original Order business is put to bed and the Republic of Feres stabilizes."

Natalia cocked her head. "Are we talking about having kids, or just about talking about having kids?"

"…Having kids, I guess. I mean, it's not like I haven't thought about it at all," he muttered, looking away.

"Oh?" Now she was the one caught off guard.

"Yeah, I just think, and don't take this the wrong way, that starting a family is a…bad idea. You know, until everything calms down a bit."

"Hmm…fair enough." Natalia suddenly laughed. "I've got to be honest; I really wasn't expecting a serious conversation with you about this."

Guy mocked offense. "Really, that hurts. I'm hurt."

She slapped his arm playfully. "I'll 'hurt' you."

Guy knocked on the large door to Astor's manor, startling Natalia who was so deep in thought she hadn't even realized they'd arrived. The pair was quickly escorted to Astor's private office.

"I was told to expect you."

"Really?"

"By who?"

"Your friend Tear stopped by only a few hours ago, looking for Luke. She said the rest of you wouldn't be too far behind her." He paused for a moment. "Are you all there is?"

"Jade's here too," Guy explained, "umm, looking around town."

"I'll tell you what I told Tear – you can relay it to Colonel Curtiss. Luke stopped by this afternoon," he began, and stopped while the pair recovered from their momentary shock. "He told me that if any of you came looking for him that he was sneaking out of Chesedonia."

"Did he say which way?" Natalia asked in a mix of excitement and concern.

"No, but Tear seemed to think he'd be headed North." Aston shrugged. "I wish I could be more help than that, but it's all I know."

"No, thank you. It's better news than I was expecting," Guy quickly replied.

"Yes, you've been a great help."

After exchanging goodbyes, the two went to retrieve Jade before he had too many drinks.

"Wait!" Jade almost shouted as Guy and Natalia raced through the north gate. After making sure they stopped, he turned to one of the gate guards. "If someone were trying to avoid passing through this gate, what would they do?"

"Well sir, there's a bit of forest that comes pretty close to the walls of the city. We still get the occasional smuggler trying to hop the wall that way."

"Would it be possible to leave the city over that wall?"

"Sure, you'd just need a ladder."

Jade turned to his young companions. "There. Now we have a lead."

Once at the entrance to the forest, they quickly found a trail of broken branches, marked trees and such that Tear had most likely left for them to follow. What the trail led them to crushed hopes raised by word of Luke's safety.

"It's not a good sign, but at least we're on the right trail," Jade said sarcastically.

"Luke…"

Guy wrapped a supportive arm around his wife. "I'm sure he's fine."

Jade knelt down to inspect a nearby body. "He's definitely fine."

"Did he do that?" Natalia asked, not particularly interested in taking a closer look.

"No, but unless we're dealing with ghosts here, even if Tear didn't catch up with him he's not alone." But what is she doing here?

Hmm, all that talk of "master" in the beginning gave me a fun idea. Wouldn't it be just deliciously evil of me to make Mieu the mastermind of the Original Order? I could picture him sitting in a chair in a dark room, petting a tiny Luke plushie in his lap in that evil-villain-petting-a-cat sort of way, laughing evilly but his high-pitched voice making it sound more FUBAR than evil… but no, not even I would do that to you all. Feel free to read on if you will – Verse 12 is just around the bend, and you'll finally find out what happened to Luke and Tear (and Karin, but she's an OC so who cares? You will, if I have anything to say about it. Grr…).