We've Grown

A/N: Geez, I didn't know what to write about here. I mean this chapter by here too lol. I didn't know what I wanted to happen yet, because I know what I want to happen later on, but now? What can I have happen now that won't draw away fro the plot? Other then their aging so they all finally match their game ages, but that has other purposes as well. You'll see :D I GIVE EVERYTHING AWAY IN THE AUTHOR'S NOTES DON'T I!!!!

D:

Lorelei smiled contently as he channeled the power of his hyperresonance. He wanted to surprise Luke, and he wanted to gain the trust of his companions.

As much as Lorelei didn't want to admit it, he truly had been the Malkuth Murderer, not Luke. He killed millions, he razed entire cities, and he left child like Guy with no families to return to.

So here he was, the tainted power of the sacred flame, helping his innocence grow up and mature. He would change their outward appearance, for as long as the sacred flame burned bright Lorelei could continue to protect them with their disguises.

And Lorelei couldn't be happier. He was exposing the controller of this deadly power to the cruelty of the world, in a matter of hours, the years of youth he was stealing from the three children was nothing more then another causality.

Lorelei had no will, no conscience. He obeyed orders, and Luke's unspoken orders were stronger then his verbal requests.

But those nonverbal commands, fleeting emotions, they are dangerous, and Lorelei knows that. He knows that in a moment of anger Luke could destroy an entire city. Van can also force Luke to act rashly.

If Van gets too close to Luke, there is no doubt he will seal him away again, and this time, forever, and Lorelei knows this. But with no will of his own, he can only bend to his will, Lorelei will only answer to himself; Luke, because no one else matters. No one else is important, only Luke.

Luke's limbs continued to grow as the golden hue of Lorelei's power washed over him and his family.

Yes, Luke was losing his childish innocence, but for what? His fleeting happiness? Where all emotions this strange, Lorelei wondered, Can I feel emotions too?

It was morning, and as the glow of hyperresonance faded, the glow of the sun filtered into the room.

The three companions awoke, awkward in their own bodies, stumbling around their room until one of them had the brain to fully open his eyes.

"Luke… You've grown… A lot…" Asch stopped packing up his belongings to stare at his faltering brother. Luke was stumbling to adjust to his longer arms and legs, his increased height, and no doubt the fact that he seemed to have skipped puberty (if Impostor's even had that… Asch thought darkly.)

"You too…" Luke replied, his voice was deeper and more mature, no doubt a side-effect of his over-night aging.

"Guy too?" Asch questioned, wobbling over towards their adopted father's bedside. Guy was still escaping the clutches of a deep sleep, but the changes on his were also very noticeable.

They had all aged at least nine years, and Luke was having a hard time staying conscious.

"I must have done this… On accident… I'm sorry…" Luke allowed his body to fall back onto the much smaller bed he and Asch had shared the night before. They couldn't comfortably share that bed now, but it was still good enough to catch Luke's fall.

"You are just learning about your powers now, it's alright Luke!" Guy pushed himself out of the twin sized bed he had claimed for himself, truly understanding how awkward the twin boys felt in their new bodies.

Luke yawned, a bit shocked at how his clothing had even expanded with his own body. His collar hadn't adjusted itself though, and it was pulling tightly against Luke's pale neck.

He reached up and tugged at it, hoping maybe a little pressure would be enough to loosen it, but Guy noticed his turmoil before Luke had the chance to find out.

"I'll fix that for you Luke; I'm surprised it just started bothering you!" Guy successfully stumbled over to the twin bed, while Asch continued to pack their belongings. He was lucky he and Luke remained twins, even though the influence of Lorelei's power, because he hadn't brought any clothes of his own.

"I would just take the damn thing off, but there are Impostor guards that could sense you from miles away, we would be arrested before we knew it." Guy ruffled Luke's hair, before standing and stretching his new appendages. His body may have been larger, but his mind was still young.

"It's alright Guy, I understand." Luke said, falsely cheery. He was screaming inside, asking to be human like Asch and Guy, but Lorelei gently reassured him there was nothing anyone could do at that point. He had been born an Impostor, and for the rest of his lifespan, he would remain that way.

'You can change my appearance, but you can't change my body composition!?' Luke shouted at Lorelei within his mind. On the outside, he was smiling; carrying on idle chatter with his caretaker and twin, but Lorelei could see how much it hurt him to still be different.

"Just like the earth, you are made of what you are, all of us exist for a reason, and your birth as an Impostor was destiny, we would never meet had you not been created as my will. We couldn't save the world without you…" Lorelei's voice was like a fading dream, as his words sunk in.

"Where to now guys? We never really planned this out…" Guy hoisted his and Luke's travel bag onto his back, and ushered the two teens out of the room.

The door to the room adjoining was cracked, and Tear watched the three children file down to the lobby. She pressed a button on her uniform, and got herself packed to leave the inn. The messenger would be arriving to take her report back to Yulia, since she had been caught escaping with the CEO.

"This could be the biggest shock The Order, and all of Auldrant are going to receive…" Tear mused to herself, tossing her discarded shoe at the door to secure it closed.

She threw it a little harder then she had planned, but right now, she was a mess.

"I think heading anywhere in Kimlasca-Lanvaldear will definitely blow our cover, but since you two are nobles, we need to lay low, wherever we are…" Guy enjoyed a cup of hot tea while Luke and Asch stuffed themselves full of the free breakfast foods.

"And don't eat too much now… All of this is going to weigh you down; I imagine we are going to be doing a lot of walking…" Guy scolded. He fell into the role of caretaker for both children as soon as he realized how the Duke was going to react to Luke, and how it would destroy Asch.

Guy held no malice for Luke for what he had done, because he knew what others didn't. He knew what Luke was like on the inside, a scared child crying out for purpose in life, he was a sacred flame that was struggling to burn as brightly as it was expected of him, but the wind kept sputtering him out.

One thing Guy did hold malice towards, were those who had created Luke, created him using Lorelei's sacred fonon signature, to make him a tool, instead of a being. He hated Van for the destruction of his Hod, he hated the Duke for not loving Luke like the son he tried to be, and he hated the people of Auldrant who believed Luke wasn't human.

Luke's eyes caught Guy's, and there was a flash of gold.

"You see me as a human being… And I can never thank you enough for that…" The words reached Guy's ears only, and that alone was startling enough to cause the blond to choke on his tea.

Luke broke eye contact once his caretaker began coughing, instead focusing on the tea in his hand.

"Hey Guy… You shouldn't try to inhale your tea!" Luke giggled, which would have been strange behavior had he not been a seven year old in a seventeen year olds body.

"Ha ha, thank you Luke. I guess I just wasn't paying attention. Thank you for your kind word's of wisdom though." Guy eyed the boy cautiously, a bit concerned at how he had been able to speak directly into his mind, and even picked up on his train of thought! It wasn't something he had been expecting, not since the headaches and the blackouts stopped.

He honestly hadn't heard Lorelei's voice in a long time, and he was wondering if Lorelei still held the ability to communicate with the outside world.

It was Lorelei whose flames burned at Luke's feet, when under stress and extreme emotions, Luke could make those flames appear, but who controlled what happened once the flames were lit? Was it Luke who had taken them to safety?

Or was Lorelei the one who acted on Luke's behalf?

"Does it please you?"

This time Guy was a bit more prepared. He had set his tea cup down when he received the first message, but the second one seemed like a playback from Luke's earlier days. He hadn't said that since he had developed a more complex thought process, since he had been able to override the original Impostor principals of servitude.

'Does it please you?' Guy thought, hoping that maybe Luke could hear him. The boy was in a vivid conversation with his brother about how much stronger they had probably gotten because of his power, and Asch was betting he was still the strongest of the two.

They would definitely be arguing through the day, possibly the entire day and into the night, but Guy wasn't concerned about that. He was more worried about The Luke he heard in his mind, the Luke who could speak in strange riddles, who was still the desperate boy looking for recognition for who he was.

"To make you and Asch happy, to keep you both safe. That is what pleases me."