I'm back! And here's the twelfth chapter of Resurrection of the Promised Lands. I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of the Abyss

Chapter 12

As the first fonons engulfed the courtyard, they seemed to fall down and settle on the ground. Lacey raised her hand, and a crest seemed to be in flaming in black fire around the courtyard, sparking alight.

The fire from the crest spread too fast for anybody to see what it was, and judging from where they were standing, it would only be a matter of moments before the fire engulfed the four.

"Barrier!" Natalia called, a barrier engulfing her and Luke.

"Guardian," Trace said, a shield engulfing him. Lacey, however, did nothing as the flames raced ever closer to them.

Then, the flames engulfed them all, and nothing could be seen through the black blaze.

"Fiery black blaze, explode!" Lacey's voice called through the smoke. "Black Explosion!"

An explosion engulfed the courtyard, and then all that could be seen was thick black smog.

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"What was that?!" Anise yelped from the Albiore V. Her, Tear, and Noelle had just been going to Baticul to get Luke and Natalia for Jade. Then, as they were flying over Baticul, they could see first fonons covering the courtyard of the noble's level, then all of a sudden there was an explosion and they couldn't see anything.

"Noelle, can you land us as close to the noble's level as possible?" Tear requested calmly, and Noelle nodded.

"I'll do my best," She replied, and began their descent.

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"Luke, Natalia!" Anise and Tear called as they ran to the courtyard as the black smog began to lift. They heard coughing- that was a good sign. That meant they were still alive.

By the time they had made it to where the coughing had come from, the smog had lifted completely, showing a craterous courtyard.

"Are you guys alright?" Tear asked.

"Yeah, are you?" Anise asked as well. "What happened?" Natalia and Luke were in a right state. They were covered in ashes and looked like they had been thrown through a mill.

"We were attacked." Luke supplied, tossing a sword in his hand to the ground.

"What? By who?" Anise wanted to know.

"A girl by the name of Lacey," Natalia said, her face grim, "And Sync."

"What?!" Anise yelped. "How can Sync be alive?! We saw him die!"

"I don't know," Luke said, shaking his head. "But we saw him with our own eyes. He's alive. But the girl- Lacey, called him Trace." Tear nodded.

"So he's taken up a new identity." She said, and Natalia and Luke nodded.

"They took the Sword of Lorelei as well," Luke added. "I don't know what they wanted with it, but with Sync, it can't be good." Tear nodded.

"We should get going," Tear said. "Jade wants us all in Grand Chokmah as soon as possible. Noelle's giving us a ride in the newest Albiore." Natalia and Luke nodded and started to follow Anise and Tear.

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"Why was Runo caught?" She demanded. She wasn't happy. She might've gotten that loser Dist back to fix the fon machines, but now Stacey was telling her that she had lost her only fonist to Jade the Necromancer! She was not in a good mood.

"I'm not sure," Stacey answered. "But it might've been because of her one mystic arte. Her Indignation is still quite uncontrollable." She sighed.

"Do you know if Trace and Lacey succeeded?" Stacey shook her head.

"Their pigeon should be arriving any time now," Stacey said, and just as she finished, a messenger pigeon swooped inside. She snatched the bird up as quickly as she could without startling or hurting it, and opened the message. She seemed to brighten immediately.

"They have retrieved the Sword of Lorelei." She said happily. "And are on their way to the Absorption Gate." Stacey smiled.

"That's good news," Stacey said. "I better go make sure Dist hasn't blown himself or any of the machines up."

"I'm more concerned about the machines than him," She grumbled quietly, and Stacey couldn't help but smile.

They were inching closer to their goal every second.

And in this dangerous game, every second, every move, counted towards their success.

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"So this is the Radiation Gate?" Lacey mused loudly, Sword of Lorelei hanging awkwardly off of her sword belt. "Looks kinda decrepit if you ask me." Trace sighed. He was started getting annoyed by Lacey's outlook on everything. She was older than him and she acted like she was really younger than him.

"That's because of when the God-Generals were still around," Trace told her as they started to enter. "This is one of the places where that band of kids who stopped them came to shut off the free flowing seventh fonons." Lacey halted in her walking and glared daggers at the back of Trace's head.

"What is wrong with you?!"She demanded, and Trace stopped.

"What do you mean?" Trace asked curtly. Lacey glared at him, an unfamiliar feeling welling up inside of her.

"You know exactly what I mean!" Lacey snapped, which was something unusual for her. This made Trace curious. Never had Lacey every used that sort of tone on anyone before. Ever.

"You use the word 'God-General' like there aren't any left!" She continued. "You act like there aren't any left!" Trace glared at the thin air in front and told himself that it wouldn't help him one bit if he lost his temper on Lacey.

"Because there aren't any," Trace said calmly, teeth grinding against each other. But he could feel Lacey glaring at his back.

"You're lying." Lacey told him in a sickeningly sweet voice that told him that she was on the verge of losing her temper, and the result wasn't going to be pretty. "There's Dist, and-"

"And who?" Trace challenged, daring himself to try Lacey's temper further. Lacey snapped the bait eagerly.

"And you, Sync the Tempest." Trace froze when he heard Lacey call him that. Of course he'd known that Lacey knew about him, but he never thought that she'd stoop that low. But, he wasn't going to comment. The tone of Lacey's voice hinted that she knew of another God-General that was alive.

"And who else?" Trace asked, his tone saying that he didn't want Lacey lying or not answering him.

"Why should I bother telling you?" Lacey demanded. "Well? You guys always keep me out of the loop, so why can't I do the same thing to you?" However, before Trace could reply. Lacey had already brushed by Trace and went ahead into the Sephiroth.

Yet, even without Lacey telling him, Trace had his own idea of which God-General was back.

And he hoped that he was wrong.

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Sorry it took so long to get up, I had to change the ending because I didn't like it.

Please read and review!

-Scarpaw Signing Out-