"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible."

-Francis of Assisi

Chapter 14: Dist the Reaper

All was well in the group again.

All except for the one detail of St. Binah falling.

At least Guy and Alex had figured things out, so the atmosphere of the group was no longer awkward.

Anise hadn't gotten her way when the group agreed to take Ion along, but after thinking for a bit she realized Ion would be safer from Mohs with people like the Colonel looking out for him. Besides, Mohs couldn't exactly be mad at her for going along with Ion's orders; it was her job. She was sure her parents would be fine.

The group didn't have much more than a few monsters standing between them and St. Binah. The only problem they did have was the fact that Ion and Guy didn't get a chance to rest after the curse slot was removed, and it was only an issue because they had to go to St. Binah by foot, and Luke was trying to rush them.

As a result, Anise and Alex had spent the entire trip fussing over the two of them. They insisted they were fine the whole way, but neither of the girls were convinced. Nonetheless, they both reluctantly backed off.

Maybe it was just her imagination, but Anise always thought there was a bit more to Alex and Guy's relationship than they both said. Their argument and how miserable they both seemed when they weren't talking only made Anise more sure. Ion and the others said that their misery was more likely because of Akzeriuth, and maybe that was true, but they both seemed relatively fine before they went to get Luke.

It might have just been because she was young and she was supposed to be into gossip and anything romantic like the other girls she dealt with when she was training to be a guard for Ion, or maybe it was because she was deprived of her youth by Mohs and the Guardian program as well as everything else Ion had gotten them involved in, but Anise sometimes liked to distract herself from everything by getting involved in other people's relationships.

If Guy didn't have that phobia, those two would make the perfect royal scandal.

Well, actually the perfect royal scandal would be Natalia dating a servant, but with how the princess was, Anise highly doubted that was about to happen.

Whenever it got brought up somehow, Alex was always saying how she hated the idea of marrying someone she didn't know, and Anise was willing to wager that was the reason why she seemed so unwilling to go back to Baticul, despite the fact that it was probably a good idea to go back and at least let her parents know she and Luke weren't dead.

And now they knew Guy was actually from Hod, and a Count at that.

It wasn't unheard of for royal families from one country to send family members to marry into a noble family from another country, to promote peace. She had heard about a few cases in her history classes in the Guardian program.

It made any relationship between them a bit more likely to happen, if they really did have feelings for each other, and kind of took the fun out of butting into their personal lives, to be honest.

There were at least some complications to keep things interesting, like Guy's phobia, for one. No matter the circumstances, it was mostly fun to throw herself at him and get a reaction out of him. She thought that maybe if she continued to surprise him like that, he might be able to get over the phobia.

On top of that, there was the fact that Guy's parents were killed by Alex's dad. That would be a hard obstacle to get over for anyone, but Guy already seemed to be mostly over it, with how close he was with Alex and Luke. Now it was mostly just discomfort on their side after hearing the truth. They seemed to be dealing with it a little better after Guy pulled them aside to talk to, though.

Every time she tried to bring this up with Ion, he constantly reminded her that there wasn't really much reason for her to believe that Guy and Alex were interested in each other that way, and that they were likely just friends.

Anise didn't buy it, but if he was right and Alex wasn't interested, Guy was a Count. He was probably rich…

Anise shook her head of the thought as they neared the gates of St. Binah. Now wasn't the time for one of her 'get out of debt quick' plans.

There were more immediate problems to worry about. None of them wanted a repeat of Akzeriuth on their hands. One trip to the Qliphoth was enough.

The city looked mostly peaceful as they approached. Clearly no one had any idea of what was to come. If they had known the land was beginning to fall, there definitely wouldn't be any people trying to do small repairs about town.

"You all begin evacuating the residents," the Colonel told them as they entered the small city. He made a beeline for the military headquarters, "I'll quickly inform the Field Marshall. He should be able to give us some troops to lend a hand."

Once he was gone, the others took another look around the city plaza. Everyone was chattering happily with each other and going about their daily lives. None of them expected anything.

"How are we supposed to just tell them they're about to lose their homes?" Alex asked.

Natalia nodded, "Yes. To just expect them to be okay with losing everything they have worked for in life would be heartless."

"Luke?" Guy turned to the redhead in question, "How do you want to handle this?"

"Me?" Luke blinked, "Uh... Tear, what do you think?"

The melodist shook her head, "You said you wouldn't follow along blindly anymore. Tell me what you think we should do."

He thought for a moment, "Maybe splitting up into groups would be good. That should make things go faster, right?"

"That's a good start," Tear smiled.

"Okay," he nodded before turning to the rest of the group, all them were starting to become restless, "So let's split into groups, then, and we can each take a street. Tear, and I can stay behind and explain things to the people here in the plaza."

Anise didn't particularly like having to listen to him, but at least this time he seemed to be genuinely concerned for the people. She was, too, so she wouldn't let her feelings toward Luke get in the way of helping.

"Ion and I will take that street over there," she announced, grabbing Ion's hand and pointing in the direction of the closest street to them with her free hand, "We'll come back here to help out once we're done."

"Sure," Luke replied, "Thanks, Anise."

While hearing him thank anyone for anything was still weird for her, she pushed the thought aside for now and focused on the task at hand.

They'd gotten to all the homes on the street except the one at the very end. It was the smallest of all of them, and Anise imagined there couldn't be many people living there.

When the door creaked open, an old man stood before them. He was hunched over, with one hand braced on the small of his back and the other on a walking cane. Anise's first thought was that they should have brought someone with them who was strong enough to carry another person.

"Ah," he said with a smile on his face, "It's been a while since I've had such young visitors. What can I do for you both?"

"Excuse us for bothering you, sir," Ion bowed as he had to the others they had warned, Anise following his lead, "I am Fon Master Ion-"

"Oh, Fon Master!" the man's eyes lit up, "What an honor, to have you at my door. Please, come and have tea!"

Ion smiled and politely raised a hand to interrupt, "I would love to, but I'm afraid we don't have the time. That's what we've come here to discuss. I'm sure you've noticed the earthquakes in the area as of late?"

"Oh, of course," the elderly man nodded, "I'd say it's quite hard not to. The one earlier this afternoon made a mess of my home, I'm afraid."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but we've come here to inform you of what's realy going on. You see, what happened to the mining town of Akzeriuth is about to happen in this area as well..."

Even when he wasn't beating around the bush, Ion had a way of keeping people calm. The old man didn't even freak out as Ion explained to him what was going on. After the first few homes, Anise had figured out that Ion was much better suited for explaining things than she was. She was mostly just there to make sure nothing happened to him, and to help get people out of their homes that needed it, like she was sure this man would.

As Ion continued to explain while the man nodded along, Anise took one last look around the neighbourhood to make sure there were no stragglers, but the street was mostly deserted except for Natalia, who was helping an elderly woman down the road.

"I see. Thank you for informing me, Fon Master, but I think I'll stay here."

Anise whipped her head back in the direction of the old man, ignoring the cracking sound her neck made or how one of her pigtails nearly slapped her in the face, "What?!"

He frowned, "I said I'm going to stay in my home. All my fondest memories took place here in this town. My son was born in the room above my head, and my wife recently passed in the very same bed. I've lived a full life, Child. I have no regrets."

"I understand-"

"I don't!" Anise cut Ion off, "You just said you had a son, how could you think about dying right now?! Why don't you think about him, or any grandchildren?"

"Look at me, Girl," he sighed, using the hand not on his cane to motion to himself, "I don't have that many years left in me. I'm too old to be homeless."

Her hands closed into fists at her sides. How selfish! Yet another parent willing to just leave their child behind. She didn't care if the old man's kid had to be an adult by now, it was like when her own mother and father basically handed her over to Mohs pay off their debt. Only this might have been worse. Whoever this man's son was, he would never see his father again, without even a chance to say goodbye. Maybe his kids would never meet their grandfather.

"Besides," the elderly man added after a pause, "My son died in battle just a few months ago, shortly before my wife. I won't have any grandchildren. I'm sure you can understand now why I'm ready to leave this life behind?"

Anise's eyes widened. Just a few months ago? They were in the same area...did his son die on the Tartarus?

"We're very sorry for your loss," Ion bowed low again, "We'll leave you alone now."

Anise turned her eyes away from the man. If she was right, she and Ion were partly responsible for his lack of will to live, because of the decision to bring Emperor Peony's letter to Kimlasca despite Mohs' wishes. Ion never would have been proclaimed as kidnapped, and Daath never would have had to send any Knights to find him. What happened on the Tartarus would have been avoided.

"I-I'm sorry."

The door closed in her face.

For a long moment, Anise stared straight ahead of her, trying to wrap her head around what just happened. It wasn't like Akzeriuth. The land was falling, but it wasn't like back then. They were perfectly capable of saving everyone this time. The land hadn't begun falling yet, save for the earthquakes, but they had the time to inform everyone of what was happening. They knew what to expect this time.

So why would someone refuse to be helped? She didn't get it.

"Anise, let's respect his wishes."

"But he's going to die...and we can save him!"

Ion shook his head, "We can't force anyone to leave their homes if they don't want to. I understand how you feel, but there's nothing we can do."

Anise couldn't help looking over her shoulder back at the man's house as they made their way back down the street. He may have asked to be left there to die, but it still didn't feel right.

"I don't think Guy's phobia was the reason he didn't try to attack Alex in Theor Forest," Ion said suddenly, making her jump. She had almost forgotten he was there, which only made her feel more shame. She was his guard, forgetting about him was one of the worst things she could do.

"Huh?"

"I don't think Guy's phobia was the reason he didn't attack Alex," Ion repeated.

Anise tilted her head at him, "Why are you bringing that up, all of a sudden?"

"You looked like you could use a bit of a distraction," Ion replied with a soft smile, "We've finished evacuating the area assigned to us, and honestly, it's been on my mind for a while now."

Anise shrugged, "Okay, so why are you wondering about that? Alex is a girl, and Guy can't get near girls."

It came off a bit harsher than she meant it to, and she felt a bit bad about that. The old man denying their help must have left her in a worse mood than she first thought. She was at least happy that the plaza was now bustling with people that needed to be helped as they reentered it, that would be something to keep her mind off things.

"Alex and I came to the same conclusion," a voice said suddenly from behind her, making her jump again. She turned on her heel and saw Jade, who really needed to warn her if he was going to do that. "We spoke about it before seeing His Majesty."

"So Alex figured it out too..." Ion sighed.

Anise tore her eyes off the people lingering near the city gate, looking like they were considering making a break for it despite the monsters. The troops Jade enlisted from the Field Marshall were still trying to help people inside the plaza.

Anise looked between the Colonel and Ion, "Figured what out? What are you two talking about?"

"The curse slot paralyzes rational thought," Ion explained, "It wouldn't matter to Guy that Alex is a woman if he was being controlled the way he was. His phobia shouldn't have had any affect on what happened."

"Precisely," Jade confirmed, "Actually, there's been something I've been wondering about in regards to Alex lately. Recent events have only made me more curious."

"What's wrong?" Anise asked, "Do you think she's lying about something?"

She felt a little nervous about the Colonel being suspicious of Alex. If he started asking questions about all of them after Guy revealed his true origins, it was only a matter of time before his red eyes were carefully watching her. She wouldn't be able to act normal if she knew someone like him was watching her constantly.

"Not exactly," Jade replied, "I'd rather not say anything until I know for sure."

"Boo," Anise pouted, "You always say that!"

"I'm afraid this is about Alex, not you. It's not your place to know," he adjusted his glasses.

"Then how come you get to look into things, if it's her private life?"

Jade ignored her, "At any rate, I'd rather she not hear about this conversation, understood? In fact, let's keep this between us."

"Of course," Ion nodded.

"R-right..." Anise said. What was the point in bringing it up when the conversation didn't even go anywhere?

"Hey! You three!" Luke shouted at them from the other side of the plaza, "Less talking, more helping!"

"I hate to admit it, but he's right," Jade placed his hands in his pockets before heading into the mass of confused and scared people, "Let's focus on what we're supposed to be doing. The troops will escort the civilians to Engeve; unfortunately we have to abandon the city. Please, help the citizens get ready for evacuation."

"Yes, Colonel!"

...

Luke couldn't have a repeat of what happened in Akzeriuth. More than anything, he didn't want it to be his fault again if something did go wrong. His friends and comrades already didn't trust him.

Hell, he couldn't even trust himself not to screw up yet.

But worse than the feeling of having his friends not trust him, would be the feeling that his actions in Akzeriuth led to the deaths of even more people.

St. Binah was already starting to fall; the multiple earthquakes and sinking ground in the area were proof of that. Thick cracks in the brick road were quickly becoming fissures separating the residential area from downtown, and Luke was sure they were starting to run out of time. As a result, everyone was working as hard as they possibly could to get the residents safe and ready for evacuation.

He got why they were so reluctant to leave everything in their homes behind, but he couldn't help getting a little irritated once in a while when people insisted on going back and packing everything they could.

Family pictures and heirlooms were one thing, but when they wanted to take everything in their closets and even dishes or other random things, then they were just starting to waste valuable time when they were already having some difficult getting from their homes to the plaza due to the small fissures forming and the shaking ground.

"Keep it up, Luke!" someone shouted.

He stopped in his tracks as he was carrying an elderly man to the gate where the troops were helping the people who were ready to depart, and turned to see Guy and Alex watching him while helping a group of small children find their parents in the confusing sea of people. Alex was currently holding the hand of a young crying girl.

"You're doing great!" Alex shouted in agreement before turning back to the children.

Guy said something to her, to which she nodded, and then he ran off in the direction of some elderly men who needed help. The two of them were acting like nothing ever happened between them. That was a good thing, considering the circumstances.

As Luke frantically helped the people of St. Binah, he remembered he wasn't the only one who desperately wanted to save St. Binah. Guy had told him and Alex that St. Binah was his first place of refuge after Hod in a conversation the three of them had on the way to the city. He had supposedly lived there with Pere for about five years before they entered the manor.

During that same conversation, Luke had asked Guy if he still hated Asch. He could still hear Guy's response.

"Don't ask, I'd hate for Natalia to overhear."

So that was a yes. But Luke had more important things to worry about, like the fact that the city was falling, and Ion, Anise, and Jade were standing around having a conversation at the other side of the plaza.

"Hey! You three!" Luke shouted at them, "Less talking, more helping!"

The three of them quickly dispersed, and they were all back to work with no distractions.

Everything was going about as smoothly as it could, until-

"I found you, Jade!"

The sun was hitting the new, unwelcome visitor in such a way that he and his chair looked comletely blacked out against the sun as he flated above the city. The already large amount of confusion amongst the city people only grew worse as they looked above them and tried to figure out what they were looking at.

Luke had already had the misfortune of meeting him a few times, so he knew Dist's annoying voice when he heard it.

His sudden appearance set everyone in a panic, and suddenly Luke was being pushed and shoved out of the way as they all desperately tried to make it to the city gate where the Malkuth soldiers were waiting to evacuate them. The young noble heard Jade make the command for them to begin the evacuation immediately, and slowly but surely, the crowd began to thin enough for Luke to be able to fight his way in the opposite direction, where the others were.

"What is that?" Natalia asked as Luke finally managed to get to them.

"Oh, great,"Anise groaned loudly, "What's Dist the Rea-"

"Rose!" the white-haired man interrupted her, beating his fists against the armrests of his strange floating chair in a childish temper tantrum, "R-O-S-E, Rose. Dist the Rose."

"Dist the Rose?" Alex asked, eyes narrowed, "Wait, does he mean Reaper? Like the God-General?" She turned to the others, "You don't actually expect me to believe this guy's a God-General?"

Natalia nodded slowly. The look on her face suggested she was equally baffled at the idea.

"It would be easier to believe if he acted the part," Jade replied, "However, more than the rest of them, Dist certainly knows how to be a nuisance."

"We've dealt with him a couple times before," Guy quickly explained to Alex and Natalia, "Dist the Reaper is the leader for the intelligence division for the Oracle Knights. He's mostly responsible for those hi-tech weapons you see some knights using. Instead of fighting himself, he creates fon machines and lets them do all the fighting instead."

"How is one as beautiful as myself a reaper and not a rose?" Dist demanded.

"Is Mohs ordering you to do this?" Jade demanded, ignoring his question, "Or is it General Grants?"

"It doesn't matter, does it?" Dist asked with a tired sigh and a nonchalant wave of his hand, "Either way it's the same. I'll be taking the Fon Master with me."

"I'm afraid not," Jade replied simply as the others drew their weapons around him. Anise took her spot in front of Ion, making sure to be in between him and Dist at all times.

The flamboyant God-General sighed again as he pulled a wing pack out of his pocket, "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but I won't pass up an opportunity to test out my newest Kaiser Dist model. You'll regret defying me, Jade!"

The giant tank of a machine fell to the ground just outside the city, causing a large tremor, nearly crushing Mieu and a small boy in the process. Luke dove to save him, rolling out of the way just in time.

What appeared to be a door in the back of the machine opened for Dist and his chair to float into, and massive, robotic arms and legs extended from its body as the door slid closed. One of the arms made a swipe at Luke as he tried to hurry the boy and Cheagle away from the situation.

"Thank you, Master!" Mieu squeaked.

"Go hide in the item bag, Mieu," Luke replied, stuffing him in the bag and letting Natalia guide the crying boy away as Jade started casting. Luke redrew his sword, though knew from the last time they fought one of Dist's machines that blades wouldn't do any good against the metal.

But that was where Jade came in handy.

"O violent torrent, Splash!"

Water cascaded onto the machine, the force of it breaking away the weaker bits of the outside to reveal the wires and gears. The water leaked into the opened sections, causing electrical sparks to fly into the air.

The machine thrashed around, trying to get away from the attack and charge at Jade simultaneously. But it should have been worrying about Tear, who had taken the time to use Invoke Wind on her throwing knives to sharpen them, and threw them to sever the revealed wires on the side of one of the machine's legs, stopping it from moving and preventing it from reaching Jade, who blew it away from them with an Energy Blast.

Soon the Kaiser Dist's only movements were the random jerks it made while it malfunctioned.

"No!" Dist cried as he pulled himself out from the remains of the machine, soaking wet and spasming from the electricity. Parts of his clothes and chair looked burned, and his hair was a bit frizzy, "My precious Kaiser Dist!"

"Well, that was anti-climactic," Alex deadpanned after watching the scene before them, she looked thoroughly unimpressed before turning to Guy, "You seriously love that kind of stuff?" she asked incredulously, pointing at the smoking machine.

"It does kind of make other fon machinery look bad," Guy sighed as he scratched the back of his head, looking as annoyed as Alex, "But it still distracted us. Look!" he pointed in the direction of the city, "There are still a lot of people in the city, and it's already starting to fall!"

He was right. In the short amount of time it took to beat Dist, the land surrounding St. Binah had begun to fall, leaving a deep chasm between the group and the rest of the city. There was no way they could get to the group of remaining residents, which included the Field Marshall and his son.

"Dist!" Jade yelled, "What do you gain from this?"

"Replica data!" the fuming God-General replied, "I can bring her back if I do what they say!"

Luke knew because of Nephry that he was talking about Professor Nebilim, but the others looked completely lost.

"Are you still dreaming about that?" Jade asked angrily.

"You gave up before you even started!" Dist shouted back before turning in his chair and zooming away without another word.

"I don't think you'll catch him," Jade said as a couple soldiers returned to the scene to help now that the citizens were far enough away from the scene, "But follow him just in case."

They saluted and immediately gave chase, and they all turned heir attention back to the people stuck on the falling part of the city.

"Don't worry about us!" Field Marshall McGovern called to them as Jade approached, "Get the others to Engeve safely."

"I could jump over and sing a Fonic Hymn," Tear suggested.

"I don't think you could make it," Alex told her, "The chasm's way too deep."

"Besides," Jade added, "There are too many people there for that to work."

Anise groaned, pulling her pigtails, "If only we could fly over there and get them."

"Fly…" Guy mumbled, his eyes closed in thought. They suddenly snapped open, and the blond turned to the group, "Hey! I heard they were doing flight experiments in Sheridan!"

"Flight experiments?" Alex asked, eyes wide, "Seriously?"

Luke could appreciate the mingled look of doubt and shock on her face. It was hard to imagine a machine with the ability to fly. Then again, Dist had apparently figured it out with his chair... That only led Luke to believe they'd all be getting weird chairs of their own, and he shook the idea from his head immediately.

"Yeah! I heard they excavated an ancient hover drive from the Dawn Age, so they've attached it to some machines and they're trying to fly them. All the fon machine buffs are talking about it."

"Now that sounds like something worth obsessing over," Alex replied to him, causing Guy to raise an eyebrow at her.

"It's true," Ion confirmed Guy's comment, "I approved of the experiments myself."

"Alright," Jade sounded just as skeptical as the rest of them looked, "Say we do go to Sheridan. Who's to say we have enough time?"

"My brother said it took days for Hod to fall," Tear explained, "There's a force called the dividing line between here and the Qliphoth. Van said Hod began to fall faster once it passed that line."

Jade nodded slowly, "Well… The situation does look different from Akzeriuth."

"So then let's go!" Luke said, "Even if it does take days for St. Binah to fall, we don't have time to waste!"

"It's not like standing around waiting for the fall is going to get anything accomplished," Alex said, "We should give it a shot."

"Yeah!" Mieu squeaked in agreement, peeking his head out of the item bag. Luke had completely forgotten about him.

"You're right," Jade finally sighed, "Let's get back to the Tartarus."

A/N: I laughed hard when rewrote this chapter. My old version of the fight with Dist was more or less:

God-General Dist would like to fight! Foe sent out Kaiser Dist!
Jade used Blessed Drops! It's super effective!
Foe's Kaiser Dist fainted! Foe is out of useable machines!