Chapter 26: Worries of a Necromancer

After Rose had left, Jade sat at the table, staring at nothing in particular. He'd wanted to contemplate his wrongdoings in silence, but that apparently wasn't happening anytime soon. A few minutes later, he heard the door open and shut, and he looked up to see his sister standing there.

She was silent for a moment, then glanced toward the window. "You know, the fires were already spreading. Most of the field was already lost."

Jade smiled inwardly. This was Nephry's way of making him feel better. However, it did nothing to soothe him today. Shaking his head, he muttered, "I still caused tremendous damage..."

"If you hadn't, all the fields might have been destroyed completely," Nephry insisted.

"But... still... how could I make such an error?"

Nephry looked pained as she took a step closer. "If you say you've made an error, then you must know how. Or why."

Jade said nothing, but he removed his glasses and set them down before him on the table. Nephry was somewhat taken aback by this, as she had not seen her brother without his glasses since they were children. Then, all at once, she realized the truth. "You... recognized her."

He remained silent, and only a quick blinking of his eyes told Nephry that he'd heard her at all.

"Your silence confirms it more than anything." She came closer and stood beside his chair. "And itisn't like you... to do something like that."

Jade still didn't answer her, and Nephry sighed. "I can't force you to answer me. I never could."

Upon hearing his, he looked up and met her eyes. "Why did I let her escape all those years ago? Why...?" He rubbed his forehead. "Argh... I was so foolish back then..."

Nephry took a deep breath. "Who is she?"

Jade hesitated before answering, but he didn't look away. "...She's Sarah Nezul, an adversary of mine, who led a string of terroristic attacks many years ago against the Malkuth Empire."

Nephry pondered this for a moment, then asked. "And you... let her go?"

"Yes... in our final showdown..." He cast his eyes down. "I made the mistake in letting her live after severely wounding her... I don't know what I was thinking..."

Nephry was quiet after those words, and Jade looked up again with a fierce determination in his eyes. "I will not let her get away next time."

She smiled a little. "I wouldn't... expect anything less from you. We still couldn't have prevented a lot of that damage to Engeve's crops. With or without your fonic artes."

Jade wished she hadn't brought that up again. "Maybe so..."

Realizing she'd made an error, Nephry backed away some. "I... I understand if you'd rather I... didn't say anything about this."

He covered his eyes with one hand. "...Do as you wish."

"Fine. I believe they're going to ask you, though," sighed Nephry. She turned to leave, then changed her mind and sat in a chair at the other end of the table. "Jade... you can still talk to me, you know. I'm still your sister, no matter what happens."

Jade didn't answer, so Nephry simply sat there and said no more.

He sat there for a while longer, enjoying the relative quiet, since he knew Nephry was right. Sooner or later, he would be pressed for answers, and he couldn't avoid the group forever. Presently he stood up, put his glasses back on, and left the house, knowing that his sister had risen and followed him out.

Not a minute after he passed through the door, he heard a bright, cheerful voice call out "Colonel! Hey, wait up!" And Anise ran up beside him. He said nothing and continued walking, wondering how long it would take Anise to get tired of torturing him.

Slightly miffed, she tried running in front of him and giving him her cutest smile. "Hey!" Jade continued to walk forward, walking around Anise.

Anise stared after him for a moment before putting her hands on her hips and frowning. Then she ran back up to him and grabbed his arm. "Grr... Hey, what's wrong with you!? You can't just ignore me like that!" Jade kept walking, not even seeming to notice Anise clinging to his arm.

She growled and dug her heels into the ground. "C-come on, this isn't funny!" Jade just walked down a slope, dragging Anise along. This is getting tiring...

Finally, Anise jumped in front of Jade again and pushed against him to hold him still. "Stop right there! Nobody's laughing, Colonel! I just want to talk to you!" She glared at him, but Jade didn't even look down. He gently pushed her to the side, kept walking, and entered the inn.

"Wh... dammit!" she spluttered, running after him again and jumping onto his back. She wrapped her arms around his eyes and neck. "Stop it, Colonel! Why won't you talk to me!?"

Jade only groaned when he felt her weight on his back, and sat down on the bed closest to the door.

Clinging fast to him, Anise rested her chin on his head. "...What's wrong with you?"

Such a persistent girl... Jade thought to himself, then sighed, knowing Anise wouldn't leave him alone until he said something. "I've made such an error..." he whispered.

"Huh? ...Are you talking about the fields?" she asked.

"I let her get away not once, but twice!" he went on.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Anise slid her arm off his eyes and back around his neck. "Who're you talking about...?"

Jade went on talking as if she wasn't there. "Next time, I will not let Sarah Nezul get away... I willstop her."

"Um... you knew her, Colonel?"

He paused before answering her. "...She was the leader of a series of terroristic attacks against the Malkuth Empire."

"Oh. So you were trying to hunt her down, right?"

"In my final confrontation with her, I..." Jade trailed off.

"...You...?" Anise prompted.

"I had severely wounded her... and yet... I let her get away." He wasn't quite sure what her reaction might be.

"Well..." Anise smiled, even though Jade couldn't see her. "If you hurt her that badly once you can do it again, right?"

"I... I hope," Jade faltered.

His tone of voice frightened Anise, but she tried not to show it as she leaned over his shoulder to get a good look at him. "Come on, I know you can! You're the Colonel! And I'll be backing you up next time!"

He said nothing, and Anise felt her smile die a bit. "...Colonel?"

Jade still did not speak, so she tried urging him again. "C... come on, Colonel! Cheer up! I know you can do anything!"

Still nothing. He really is upset...thought Anise worriedly, and she shook him a bit. "Don't go silent on me again! If you're worried about the fields and stuff, no one's angry with you!" She backtracked a little, then said, "Well... maybe Van is, but he's just stubborn and weird and no one cares what he thinks anyway!"

"I'm sorry..." Jade apologized. "I need a night to think about this..."

"I'll help you think, then! You can tell me everything!" chirped Anise, glad to have gotten any kind of reaction out of him.

"No... I need to be... alone." Jade closed his eyes and wished Anise would go away.

She frowned for a moment. "Okay... but you tell me if there's anything I can do to help, all right? I'm worried about you, Colonel."

Jade was silent again.

"...Alright?"

It seemed that he'd lapsed into silence again, so Anise just sighed. "Okay then..." She let go of him and quietly left the room. As soon as the door shut behind her, Jade collapsed back onto the bed and tried to go to sleep.

After trying to puzzle everything out herself, Anise tracked down Natalia and found her in one of the fields, surveying the damage. "Ah, hey Natalia!"

Natalia jumped at the sound of her voice, then smiled. "Hello, Anise... How did your chat with the Colonel go...?"

"Um, yeah, about that..." She scratched her cheek uneasily. "The Colonel's in really bad shape..."

Natalia's eyes widened. "That... sounds rather serious. It is not like Jade to allow things to affect him."

"I know!" Anise paced in a circle. "When I first got to him he just pretended I wasn't even there! At first I thought he was just trying to be mean, you know? But... he didn't make a single joke." She sighed. "Something's really wrong... he's no fun anymore..."

"...That really does sound bad... were you able to help him at all?" Natalia brushed off her hands and walked over to Anise.

She hung her head. "I don't think so... Oh! I got him to talk to me, though!"

Natalia sighed in relief. "That is good, at least... Perhaps you should try again tomorrow, Anise. He may be in a better mood. I just wish there were something I could do."

"Yeah... he said he needed a night alone to think about it. It sounded like he was really beating himself up about letting that Nezul person get away, though..."

"I wonder what their connection is..."

"Oh!" Anise recalled what little Jade had told her. "He said she used to be a big terrorist leader against Malkuth. He tracked her down a few times and finally hurt her pretty bad, but she got away in the end."

"I see..." said Natalia, who had been hoping for more information.

"That's... all he told me, anyway."

"And now, I suppose he feels guilty not only for the crops, but for having allowed her to be here in the first place," Natalia tapped her chin. "Still, it is rather unlike him to be this overt about being upset. He usually seems to internalize everything and produce a normal front. I wonder if there is something else wrong..."

"Yeah..." Anise looked down at the ground. "I'm really worried about him..."

"Well... if anyone can help him, it's you, Anise. He does seem quite fond of you," smiled Natalia.

"Really?" Anise giggled and perked up a little, then sighed. "I don't think I made him feel any better today, though."

Natalia patted her on the shoulder. "I'm sure you did, in some fashion. He's probably happy you cared enough to try talking to him. You should try again tomorrow."

"You think so?" Anise smiled up at her. "I will, then!"

"I'm sure he'll feel better by then," Natalia reassured her, wishing she was as sure as she sounded.

Later that night, when nearly everyone was asleep, Van returned to the storehouse, where the prisoner was locked in an empty room. He went inside, locking the door again behind him. "Hey, you awake?" he asked.

The soldier, hands and feet bound and laying in the middle of the floor, made no response.

Van leaned down and shook his shoulder. "What is your name?"

He opened his eyes and glared up at Van, but made no sound.

Shrugging, Van said, "Fine, I'll just call you dreck." He recalled how Asch had usually referred to Luke this way, and since this soldier and his friends were against replicas, it seemed like the perfect insult to him.

The soldier laughed harshly. "You're the dreck."

Van feigned surprise. "Me? The dreck? And what is that?"

Glaring again, the soldier made no reply.

"Do you even know who I am?" asked Van, giving him stare for stare.

"You're with that replica trash. The one in charge," the man spat.

"That may be true, but I would hardly call that replica trash," Van defended his former student. "He's an idiot sometimes, but he's become a valued man."

"Idiot, huh? I know where he gets it from," laughed the soldier.

Van frowned. "You think you're a real comedian, hm? No wonder they used you as a throw away decoy."

This insult seemed to hit home, as the man kicked at Van's legs. Van stepped back out of the way, and the soldier sneered. "Afraid?"

"No, I'd just rather not be kicked by a used piece of trash," smirked Van.

The man's eyes burned. "What do you want with me, anyway? If I'm just a useless decoy as you say, what do you want?"

"Do you know anything about the Replica Resistance Force?" Van asked, folding his arms.

"All replicas will be eliminated," replied the prisoner, ignoring the question.

"And why do you want them all dead? What good will it be to the other members?"

"This world is for human beings."

Van sighed. This was going nowhere. "What are replicas considered to your group?"

The soldier flashed a mocking grin. "Dreck."

Van grinned in return. "Just like you, I see."

Angrily, the man yelled, "I am not replica trash!"

"You might not be a replica, but you're still considered trash by your own people. Put in the front of the army and dressed like Viscount Nezul to die instead of her. I believe that's what some replicas have been made for in the past." Van thought maybe the man would cooperate with him if he was shown how he was wrongly treated by his leader.

"Say what you want." He clenched his bound fists. "It will make no difference. You'll still be stopped."

"We'll see about that. But for you, it's the end of the line here," threatened Van.

The man attempted to shrug. "Taking you a while then, isn't it?"

Van started to walk around him. "What do you know of Viscount Nezul?"

The soldier just grinned again. "All replicas will be eliminated."

Kicking the prisoner in the shin, Van said, "I already know that, genius. Why is Luke a specific target? What is it about him that makes him so special?"

"Who?" the man grunted through clenched teeth.

Thinking he was playing dumb, Van waved a hand in the air. "Hmm, lets skip over him at the moment. Who do you think is the leader of the replicas?"

"Doesn't matter," answered the soldier, shaking his head. "All of them will die."

"How can you tell who is a replica?" Van queried, although it was usually obvious who the replicas were.

"How can you tell who isn't?" asked the prisoner.

"I asked you." Van glared at him.

"I know that, genius," he smirked, mocking him.

Van folded his arms again. "So, how will you be able to tell when all the replicas are killed if you can't even tell who's a replica and who isn't?"

The man looked impatient. "We follow orders. You should know a thing or two about that."

"And somehow you trust your leader enough to tell the humans apart from the replicas?"

"Why's that important?"

Van bent down low to stare into the soldier's face. "You said you're killing the replicas because you want the world to be for humans. It isn't easy to tell them apart if you stand them next to a human. They all look the same, and most act and sound the same now. You might be lucky and even have a few replicas in your own army, and not even know of it."

The prisoner laughed at this. "Of course not. Replicas are people who have already died, stupid."

"Not all of the orginals died when replicated," Van said darkly, remembering Asch.

He rolled his eyes. "You still haven't told me what you want with me."

"Information," said Van, as if it were obvious.

"That's funny," the soldier laughed. "Because you won't get any."

Van kicked him again. "I know you have something. And if I don't get it out of you, Jade will most likely end up killing you to get it out of you."

The man narrowed his eyes. "You can't pry information from the dead."

"Exactly," grinned Van.

"You make no sense," the prisoner snorted.

Van ignored him for the moment. "So why did you start the attack in Grand Chokmah? Your group was after Jade, correct?"

"Who?"

"The man who came up with the whole process of fomicry." How could anyone not know him?

"I wasn't in Grand Chokmah," the man shook his head.

"Then where were you? In St. Binah?" pressed Van.

The soldier smirked. "Now that was a victory."

"And you have plans to finish off the job in Engeve?"

"Now why would I tell you that?"

Van sighed in exasperation. "We'll find out where your commander's fleeing to recover her numbers. It'll be only a matter of time and you'll be spending the rest of your life in a Malkuth prison."

Acting as if he were surprised, the man asked, "I thought I was going to die here?"

"If Jade's in a bad mood, most likely. You're under Malkuth's arrest here, and it's only for that reason that I don't kill you myself." Van looked longingly at his sword.

The prisoner just shrugged again at this statement.

Van turned away. "I'm done with you. Obviously, they wouldn't give a decoy like you any more information other than 'kill replicas', if your behavior says anything."

"If you say so." The soldier barked a short laugh.

"Well then, I'll leave you to Jade now." He glared at the man over his soldier once more before leaving the room.

Jade awoke suddenly in the middle of the night, recalling the last images of the burning fields again. He sat up slowly and looked around. Yes, it was rather late, and he'd been dreaming.

The other beds around him were all nearly full. He looked down the row. Guy was closest to him, Ginji was on his other side, and then Luke. The row on the other side of the room held Nephry, Natalia, Cecille with baby Nadine, and Tear. Jade remembered that Anise and Florian were staying at Rose's house. Dist... well, Jade didn't really care where Dist was, as long as he wasn't in the same building with him. Maybe with Van and his men.

That dream had been so realistic, he could have sworn he felt the flames from his powerful arte eating away his skin. Running a hand across his forehead, Jade realized he'd been sweating profusely. Getting up as quietly as he could, he left the room to take a walk in the cool night air.

Since he preferred to avoid going near the field he destroyed, Jade walked the other way, through the village. Upon walking past the large building the town used as a storehouse, the door opened and Van came out. He stopped short, and was about to reach for his sword, then he recognized Jade and relaxed. "I didn't expect anyone to be out this late, Colonel," he said.

"I just needed a walk," Jade made excuse. "What were you doing?"

"Interrogating the prisoner." Van clenched a fist around his sword hilt. "I would have liked to run my blade through him a few times, though."

"I take it he had no useful information, then?" asked Jade, although he didn't care much at the moment.

"No, not really. But his few words do have me somewhat on edge," Van confessed. "Would it be possible for you to send a number of the soldiers you brought to make a blockade at Rotelro Bridge and Kaitzur as soon as possible? We wouldn't want to lose track of Viscount Nezul so soon."

Jade looked around. "There are already a number of soldiers still at Kaitzur. I did not bring all of Malkuth's military with me. Just send a message ahead to Kaitzur."

"What about Rotelro Bridge? They could also come from that direction."

"Rotelro Bridge is not far from there, so I'll have some soldiers sent ahead," said Jade. "And I assume that any enemies in the attack on Grand Chokmah will have rejoined Viscount Nezul by now." He hadn't realized until then just how much saying that name pained him now.

Van seemed not to notice. "All right. Nezul will most likely retreat to Grand Chokmah once the other two locations are blocked off. At least that way we'll know where they are."

"Very well," nodded Jade. He bade Van goodnight and turned to go back to the inn. They seemed to be safe for the moment, but Jade could only hope that they wouldn't be driven to Grand Chokmah if he was wrong. He had a feeling that Viscount Nezul wanted them to go that way, if they had to leave Engeve.

His biggest concern, even bigger than wanting to correct his mistake of that afternoon, was to get Nephry back safely to Keterburg. And to do that, they would need a ship, since they no longer had the Albiore. But he had to make sure of which direction the Replica Resistance Force would be coming from. If he was right, and they were to the south at Kaitzur, or even across Rotelro Bridge, then they might be able to escape to Malkuth's capital city and put Nephry on a boat home.

However, if he was wrong, and the force was north of them, they would most likely meet the viscount once again. And Colonel Jade Curtiss, Third Division of the Malkuth Imperial Forces, feared for his sister's life if Sarah Nezul knew she was with them.

I devoted practically a whole chapter to Jade this time. I hope I made your day, all you Tales fans that love Jade! I love writing the brother/sister stuff, so I like the scenes about Jade and Nephry. I only wish I could write more of them about Van and Tear, but oh well. Those of you who only read my fic for the Luke/Tear fluff, don't worry. The story will be back on its original track next chapter, where the group spends the day helping to repair what was destroyed.

And for those of you that love the action, there will be some soon, I promise. But I can't say what kind of action- that's a secret.

All I will say is, I did leave a hint. -wink-

...yes, that was me winking. There was a little more Van in this chapter than usual, so I guess he's influencing me. (He didn't wink in this chapter, did he?)

Maybe I should be sarcastic like Jade, since he wasn't this time around. ...actually, bad idea. I'll just... think on ideas for next week's chapter. Please review!