Note from Author: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

As always, many thanks to my wonderful beta, darkangel, who helps inspire me with wonderful evil and angsty ideas and edits for me when some of what I write doesn't always make sense. I also want to thank everyone who helped me out with ideas or gave me feedback on ideas or even dropped me a line either here or on the Tales forum about how much they loved this fic.

Luke and Natalia arrived to St. Binah at the same time as a small group of Malkuth soldiers arrived. They tried to get out of sight, but unfortunately there was nowhere they could hide.

"Luke? Is that really you?" A familiar female voice called from the center of the group. Luke suddenly noticed the presence of Tear, Jade, Anise and Ion among the soldiers. He breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he saw the familiar faces of Tear, Jade, Anise and Ion among the soldiers. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes. It's really me, Tear."

"And me too!" Mieu interjected.

"Luke, it's so good to see you again!" Ion enthusiastically said. "How are you doing?"

"Pretty good actually," Luke answered.

"He does look pretty good for someone who almost died not that long ago," Jade mentioned.

"So what brings you here, Luke?" Ion asked.

"Kiran and Sync will be arriving here," Luke answered.

"They will? How do you know?" Tear asked. "We couldn't find out anything from him!"

"I know, I saw the whole thing. Sync's his superior now, so he couldn't say anything."

"Hmm, that's an interesting connection you two have. I don't know of any other replica and original sharing such an ability."

"Jade, speaking of that, how do you know so much about replicas?"

"Why don't we talk about this later? We have a city to evacuate."

"Evacuate? Whatever for?" Natalia asked.

"This city may very well fall just like Akzeriuth did," Ion explained.

"No! How could that be?" Luke exclaimed.

"We'll talk about this all later. Right now, we need to get the residents to a safer place," Jade suggested.

The soldiers and the group entered the city and made their way to the Malkuth Military Headquarters at the center of the city to give the message from Peony to the McGoverns so they could get the word out. They walked inside and saw both the McGoverns deep in conversation.
"I told you, Father, with Kaitzur overrun by Kimlascan forces; we cannot afford to have troops leave the city." The younger of the two shouted.

"But if we don't evacuate the civilians, St. Binah will become the next Akzeriuth!" the older man stated.

"We cannot make a move without an order from His Imperial Majesty." The younger of the two responded to this.

"That should be simple enough to provide, General." Jade interjected.

"Colonel Curtiss?! You're alive!" the younger McGovern declared.

"Jade, what did his Majesty say?" the older McGovern questioned.

"We're to evacuate the civilians to the Engeve area." Jade informed him.

"But that means leaving the city unguarded." Glenn mentioned.

"The land has already begun to fall, sir. Would you have them all die?" Tear stated. "Do you want this to be like Akzeriuth? Or even Hod?"

"My troops will take over escorting the civilians partway along the route. Once the civilians are out, please have your forces go west to join General Nordheim's forces on the East Rugnica Plains.

"Understood. So we're abandoning St. Binah." The younger McGovern concluded.

"Right. I'll go inform the residents." The older of the two men stated.

Both of the McGoverns left to get the evacuation started. There was a lot of work to do to evacuate the entire city, and they had to be careful not to cause a panic in the process.

"Let's go help." Ion suggested.

"Yes." Luke agreed.

"Luke, I know you want to help, but you really shouldn't overexert yourself." Natalia scolded.

"Natalia, let me figure out what my limits are. Stop being so overprotective of me!" Luke demanded.

"Luke…" Natalia started to say, but Luke had already stormed off to go help some citizens

"Let me guess…he probably shouldn't even be out of bed, much less in another city helping its citizens to evacuate?" Jade asked Natalia.

"Yes. He's so stubborn!" Natalia declared.

"He feels guilty about what happened in Akzeriuth most likely." Ion suggested. "He needs time to come to terms with that. Has he talked about it with you?"

"No, not at all." Natalia mentioned. "He didn't really mention it, and I didn't want to ask him."

"Natalia, you might want to ask him about it." Tear suggested. "It has to be bothering him, and you might be the only one he would talk to about it, except perhaps Kiran."

"That's part of the problem. I don't have any idea of what he and Kiran discussed while he was still unconscious. And he would have stayed in Baticul if it wasn't for Kiran."

"You and Luke will have to handle that issue." Ion mentioned. "It had to be a shock to him to discover that he has a replica of himself. Getting to know Kiran better could be his way of coping with it."

"Especially under the circumstances." Tear mentioned. "He really couldn't talk to anyone else once he knew. Anyway, we should go help Luke. He does have the right idea."

-----

The preparations for evacuation were well on their way. A group was already nearly ready to depart with their escort to Engeve.

Luke was getting more worried as time passed and Kiran still didn't arrive with Sync. He knew they were coming. It was only a matter of time before they arrived. He didn't know what their objective was, that worried him more than anything. No matter what it was; it would get in the way of the evacuation.

Then chaos erupted over the area. People were running away from the gate. What could have happened? He looked around for a cause that would explain it, but saw nothing right off.

"Sir! Watch out!" A child running by screamed at Luke.

Luke turned around just in time to see a box coming off the cart that he had been helping load. He tried to get out of the way, but reacted too slow and the box crashed into him, causing him to lose his balance.

He was lucky, it wasn't an extremely heavy box, but it still stung quite a bit. He rubbed his right arm which had taken most of the force of the blow. It wasn't anything too bad. The bone felt all right, it just hurt. The pain should pass soon enough.

Then he heard an odd but familiar sound. It was a mechanical whirring sound that he remembered hearing the last time right before the God-General Dist had arrived. Strange, Kiran didn't mention the eccentric God-General, he just said him and Sync would be here. Two God-Generals and Kiran would not be a good thing at all.

It was evident that their plans definitely involved causing a panic and preventing residents from escaping, but what else? There had to be more to it then that. If that was the only objective, they wouldn't need two God-Generals, and a former one.

"Hah hah hah hah hah!" A voice boomed from above. "So nice to see you again Jade!"

Dist appeared from above the gate sitting as usual on his overstuffed flying chair. By this time, all the residents had found some place of safety, even if it was behind the carts that had been packed up. Luke stood up and walked closer to the gate itself where the others already were.

"Dist, this isn't the time for this nonsense!" Jade shouted.

"You call seeing an old friend 'nonsense'? I'm hurt, Jade," Dist commented.

"Dist, what happened to your hands?" Anise commented. Once she said that, Luke noticed that his hands looked strange. He recalled that all the God-Generals wore gloves of some sort, and Dist wasn't. His hands were also wrapped in bandages, only leaving the fingers free. Even his fingers looked reddened from something happening.

"Dist must have had set something on fire yet again and burned his hands." Jade suggested.

"I did not!" the eccentric God-General whined.

"What is your business here, Dist?" Luke demanded. "Are you even supposed to be here?"

"One as elegant as myself needs not follow orders!" Dist whined.

"Yes he does. If he doesn't wish to be declared a traitor and punished as one, that is," A new male voice declared from the gate. Again, they recognized the voice, it was Sync. "If you want to escape punishment, you had best return to Daath before the Commandant finds out you left, if he hasn't already."

"Damn you Sync! You always ruin everything!" Dist whined. "This is going in my revenge journal!"

Dist flew off after shouting that. Evidently Sync's threat meant something to Dist. It was a relief to have one less God-General, however. Though Sync was definitely the worse threat of these two.

"Sync, what are you doing here?" Anise demanded to know.

Sync stepped out from under the gate. Once he came more into the light, Luke could see who was behind him. It was Kiran, just as he had been told. "I'm here to retrieve the Fon Master," He explained. "But I also have orders pertaining to the 'light of the sacred flame'."
"No!" Kiran declared running in between Sync and the others. "Don't hurt him!"

"Kiran, you know the orders pertaining to him. His continued survival could hinder our plans. He must be destroyed as the Score foretold. Unless he will willingly join us."

"Never!" Luke shouted. "Van showed his true colors in Akzeriuth! I wouldn't work with him even if my life depended on it!"

"A shame, because your life does depend on it," Sync stated.

Kiran opened the connection between him and Luke, he couldn't let Sync hear what he needed to say to Luke. Luke, get out of here now! Our orders are to kill you if we find you!

Why didn't you tell me this before?

I only found out on the way here!

"Kiran, you know the orders pertaining to your original," Sync reminded the former God-General. "Prove that you aren't a traitor and carry them out."

"Never! I would rather die a traitor than follow that order!" Kiran declared. Luke, please, get away from me! I'm not going to have control of my actions much longer. Not unless you can remove this Curse Slot before that happens!

"Sorry, Kiran. I can't grant that wish of yours. You will live until Van's plans are fulfilled, and no longer if you continue with this insubordination," Sync told him. Before Kiran could respond, a red glyph appeared on his arm. "You were willing enough to follow orders once. You will continue to do so!"

Kiran suddenly drew his sword and started running towards Luke about to attack. "No!" Natalia wailed. "Luke! Get out of the way!"

Luke drew his sword in barely enough time to parry the blow Kiran tried to make. "Everyone, stay out of this! I won't have Kiran getting hurt because Sync is forcing him to do this."

Luke suddenly had an image come into his mind, strange, nothing like this happened the last time Kiran was affected by the Curse Slot. He saw a younger version of Kiran speaking with a younger Cantabile.

"Cantabile, what does Van mean when he says I'm 'just a tool.'?" The young Kiran asked the female God-General. He asked her first, since she was one of the few who would actually answer his questions and treat him decently. He wouldn't even have a name other than "Replica" if it wasn't for her.

Cantabile groaned. "Kiran, I don't know why he would say that. Why don't you ask Legretta? She's Van's assistant, she should know."

"Okay! I'll do that!" the young Kiran cheerily said.

A tool? Was that how Van had referred to Kiran? He continued to parry Kiran's attempts at hitting him with the sword. One of the attempts to parry wasn't completely successful. Luke could see blood welling at the site of the slash Kiran made on his left arm.

The others were obeying Luke's request to not get between him and Kiran. Instead they were attacking Sync. Each had their weapons ready, even Ion did, though he wouldn't be fighting. Natalia shot an arrow in Sync's direction, but the agile God-General found it easy to dodge her shot.

Luke could see another snippet of Kiran's memory within his mind. Was this coming across their connection? Was Kiran doing this willingly, or was it Sync's doing?

Having asked Legretta about what Van said and getting no answer that made sense, he tried to ask Largo. The big man really did have a kind heart, especially towards the younger of the God-Generals, Arietta, Sync and Kiran. He was like a father to each of them.

He found Largo finishing up the training of some of the Oracle Knights in his division. Largo helped train many of the male Oracle Knights, especially the ones who were rising quickly among the ranks. His specialty was in training the smaller Knights in how to deal with an enemy much larger than them. Upon seeing Kiran enter, he dismissed the other students since the training was over.

"Kiran, I didn't realize you were schedule for training today...or did you have a question about something we covered?" The big man asked the young Kiran.

"I had a question about something Van said. But Legretta and Cantabile didn't answer it. Can you?" The boy looked expectantly at the large man.

"I can try. But if Legretta and Cantabile didn't know, I doubt I know either."

"Why does Van say I'm 'just a tool'?"

Largo groaned in response just like Cantabile had. This made Kiran wonder if he and Cantabile really did know the answer, but it was an answer they didn't want to tell. "I'm sorry, Kiran. I can't answer that question."

"You know the answer! I know you do! You just don't want to tell me!" Kiran stubbornly shouted.

"N-no, it's just…" Largo started to say.

"I can answer that one." Another voice said. Kiran turned around and saw one of the more recent additions to the God-Generals, Sync the Tempest.

"You know, Sync?"

"Yeah, and I have no problems saying it, unlike the others. You're a tool because you're a replica. Replicas are made to replace their originals and then thrown away when no longer of use," Sync bluntly told his comrade.

"Thrown away?"

"Yeah. In your case, you get to take your original's place and die for him. That's when you will be thrown away like a piece of garbage. But then, that's all a replica really can be."

"But why can't I replace my original after he dies instead?"

"Because you're just a tool."

"Sync, stop that! You're going to upset him." Largo shouted.

"No!!! That can't be true!!" Kiran wailed as he ran out of the room.

"Kiran, stop this now! You don't want to hurt me, at least not anymore," Luke shouted while he continued to parry Kiran's slashes.

Luke was having a hard time keeping up with his replica. Kiran's strikes weren't hard to dodge; there wasn't even any thought behind them. The problem was that Luke wasn't able to move nearly fast enough. His injuries were still slowing his reactions and movements.

It was amazing that Sync was able to fend off his friends and still control Kiran. The masked God-General was definitely amazing in battle. No matter how many fonic artes Jade sent his way, or arrows Natalia sent at him, or anything else they tried to use against Sync; he had yet to receive one hit from them. He wasn't trying to attack them, however. He was merely defending himself.

They didn't have much more time remaining. The longer this battle went on, the longer it would take before the citizens could be evacuated. Every minute was closer to the one where the city would indeed fall. They had to end this, and soon. The problem was, the only way it seemed to end this was to incapacitate Kiran or Sync somehow.

"I hate being a replica! Why do I have to die and my original gets to live?!" Kiran shouted at no one in particular. He was completely alone. Tears flowed freely from his eyes. "I don't want to die! Why can't I live instead of my original?"

He heard a knock on the door. "Go away!" He shouted at whoever was trying to invade. "I want to be left alone!"

He had left the door unlocked, so his visitor had no problem getting in. "I said I want to be alone."

"No, you shouldn't be alone, Kiran." Cantabile's voice gently told him. " Largo told me what Sync said to you."

"Yeah, he said the truth. He doesn't lie. You could have told me!" Kiran cried

"Yes, I could have. But look at you now. Was it better for you to know your purpose?"

"But why me? Why do I have to be the one to die? I hate my original! I don't even know who he is, but I hate him! What makes him so much better than me?!"

How could Van do that? How could he make a replica with the intention of throwing it away? No wonder Kiran wants to kill him! All he ever wanted was to live, and who could blame him? No one really wants to die.

Luke could feel tears welling in his eyes. Had everything been an act and Kiran hated him from the start? But then if Kiran had wanted him dead so much, why go through the trouble of saving him in Akzeriuth?

"Luke, watch out!" Tear warned him.

Luke had been so absorbed in his own and Kiran's thoughts that he didn't see Kiran's sword coming straight for him, a blow that would kill him, if he didn't get out of the way quick enough.

"All you need to do is picture me doing what you want me to do."

That's it! He could try controlling Kiran. If only he would drop the sword. He didn't even realize that his thoughts had projected to Kiran for the first time. The moment he thought of disarming the former God-General, he saw his attacker suddenly drop his sword right as he tried to dodge the attack.

"Is it any more fair that your original should die and you should live?" Cantabile pointed out. "You could easily develop your abilities and your loyalty to the Commandant. If your skills would be more useful to him, then you would be the one he would keep. But you would still be a tool to him, just the more useful tool, rather than the discarded tool. Is that what you want?"

"I just want to live! I don't want to be thrown away like a piece of garbage!" the younger Kiran exclaimed. "I want to be the useful one, not the piece of garbage!"

No! These can't be Kiran's thoughts! He never would think this way! Was Sync even capable of making him think these horrible things?

Luke saw Kiran pick his sword up. Was this never going to end unless one of them killed the other? Wasn't he beginning to tire even in the least bit? Luke sure felt like he was getting very tired.

"Stop this, please Kiran!" Luke exclaimed fearfully.

"It's worthless to try and reason with him," Sync mentioned from his vantage point above where they others were still trying to hit him. "He's completely under my control. If you can't stand to hurt him, then you had better give up now and die."

Natalia readied her bow, "Never! We won't let you make Kiran kill Luke!" she shot an arrow, "Piercing Line!" Her arrow, infused with fonons from her arte, hit its mark as everything else had failed. It only hit Sync in the arm, but it was a start.

Luke then felt himself unable to move any more. His limbs wouldn't respond at all, no matter what he tried to do. Damn, Kiran must be trying to control him again! He had to move, if he didn't, Kiran would seriously injure, if not kill him.

He had no other choice, he had to either prevent Kiran from stopping his movement, or he had to stop Kiran's own movements. He hated the thought, he didn't like that he did it earlier to disarm Kiran, but this time he had no choice.

He concentrated on the single thought of Kiran stopping right where he stood. That was it! If he wasn't moving, he couldn't attack. Kiran suddenly stopped, and Luke let out a sigh of relief, maybe now he wouldn't have to hurt him.

What Luke hadn't planned on was that Kiran would fall over the moment he stopped. His momentum must have been too much. He wasn't moving, but he did fall forward. What was Luke to do now? If he let Kiran move, he could attack again. But if Kiran didn't move, he could get hurt from falling over.

He decided on the lesser of the two. It was better to let Kiran fall, then to do something he would regret later. Falling, he would recover from that. He wouldn't recover if he hurt Luke, at least not emotionally. Or at least… Luke hoped that was the case.

The moment Kiran hit the ground, for the first time since this started, he appeared more relaxed. Luke could no longer feel his replica's presence in his mind; he must have fallen unconscious.

Sync came down from above where he had been dodging all of the other's attempts at him. He picked up Kiran's prone form and slung his unconscious load over his good shoulder.

"Don't think this is over. As long as he bears the Curse Slot, he will be your greatest enemy," Sync informed Luke. He was about to leave but at the last moment he looked back at Jade, "Necromancer, I have something for you from a particular member of the Order,"

An envelope came flying at Jade and would have hit him in the middle of the face had he not brought his hand up in time to catch it. "And who of the Order might this be from exactly?" He tucked the envelope into his pocket to be read when they had more time.

"I leave that for you to figure out," Sync quickly left with his unconscious burden before anyone could respond to him.

Tear turned around to make sure the residents had not been hurt by the fight. Then she saw that the land had cracked to the point of making a cliff behind them all. And many of the residents were still below! There was no way for them to escape, unless they could figure out a way to climb up before the land fell much further. Unfortunately, many of those down there were elderly and such a climb would be impossible for them.

"Someone, get a rope! I'll go down there and sing a fonic hymn!" Tear declared.

"No! There's too many!" Jade exclaimed. "We have to find another way!"

"If only we had a way to fly!" Luke declared. "It would be easy to get all of them out then."

"Hmm, flying. Luke, Natalia, do either of you know anything of the experiments in Sheridan?"

"Experiments?" Natalia asked. "Which ones? They are researching many things in Sheridan."

"I had heard about a flight machine being developed," Jade mentioned. "It was a rumor going around in the military. Do you know if that holds any truth?"

"Actually, I do recall hearing about that," Luke agreed. "Father took much interest in the development of machines. I remember overhearing him speak of flight experiments in Sheridan."

"It's worth a shot. Do you think if they have something that can help us that they would even loan it to us?" Tear asked.

"I think between, Luke, Natalia and Ion here, we should have no problems on that note," Jade surmised. "Luke, Natalia, will you be joining us?"

Luke looked over at Natalia. He wanted to help, but he also didn't want to drag her along for all of this. What had just happened had to have hurt her more than she was showing right now, "I want to help these people. They may not be Kimlascan, but I don't want to see more deaths because of Van, if he was the one who caused this."

"I agree. If anything, our aid is will help maintain peace between our countries," Natalia agreed while trying to maintain a calm appearance. "And does it matter what country we are from? We are all people and if it's within our power to save them, we should."

"Then we better get moving. It's a long way to Rotelro Bridge," Jade suggested.

"Why Rotelro Bridge?" Natalia asked.

"It's where we parked the Tartarus," Ion mentioned. "Jade, once this is all over, can you return me to Daath?"

"Of course, Ion," Jade allowed. "Let's get going to Sheridan."

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!