One second Ivalee was talking to Sync, and the next she was being pulled along to Lorelei-knows-where. The little pink-haired girl continued to drag her along, through portals and down different pathways. Ivalee couldn't memorize the way, but she at least made an effort.

"Arietta!" She gasped, trying to keep up. For someone her height and age, she ran unexpectedly fast. "Slow down!"

"I can't!" Arietta replied. "Legretta's coming, and you need to be with the rest of the group!" …What the hell was going on?!?! Arietta…helping her?!?! Hell must've surely frozen over.

"Wait!" She finally listened and stopped, turning around to face her. "What about Sync?"

"Legretta's looking for him, and if you were with him, that'd just make things worse." Arietta explained.

"But I don't see how my presence would affect anything."

"Well…just trust me on this." Ivalee didn't really want to trust her, but considering the past few encounters with Legretta, she really didn't want to go back.

"Alright," she sighed. Arietta looked up suddenly, focusing on something high above their heads. Ivalee followed her gaze, where she could just make out two figures. One of which, had bright green hair.

"Let's go!"

--

This…is so…aggravating! Asch grinded his teeth, opening the mind link momentarily.

Luke! Concentrate! He growled.

I know! I know! Despite his response, Luke's concentration dimmed even more. Through the link, Asch could see vague pictures of Tear.

Stop thinking of Tear!

I'm trying!

Try harder!

The hyperresonance starting becoming more bearable as Luke began focusing again. Asch closed the mind link, hoping that he wouldn't have to look through Luke's eyes again if he was thinking about Tear again. Ugh…

The rocks descended into the core and the ground rumbled as the tremendous amount of fonons rushed to fill the empty area. Their hyperresonance slowed, then stopped completely.

Tear rushed to Luke's side as he collapsed from exhaustion. Soon, Asch knew that he'd probably fall too… Though Natalia would be at his side in a second. If Ivalee were here, then we wouldn't have this problem… He thought angrily. I wonder what they're doing… Revolting images filled his head, and he pushed them away immediately. Shit, I shouldn't have left them alone.

He was so buy with his thoughts, he didn't even notice when he hit the ground, until Natalia was asking him if he was okay.

"Yea," He assured her. Looking to Luke, he figured that he must've been more affected. The replica- he stopped himself, reminded that he had made an effort to stop calling Luke that- Luke looks like he could pass out at any second. At least Tear was there to help. Probably the loss of concentration really hurt him.

H-hey! Luke suddenly invaded his mind. I've caught you thinking about Natalia all the time!

Yea, but it wasn't during the middle of a hyperresonance. Asch thought smugly. Luke was silent after that.

A loud thudding noise was coming from higher up. Sounded like footsteps...

"Hey!" Ivalee shouted, stumbling through the portal unexpectedly. It didn't sound like she was talking to them. More like yelling at someone. Was there someone else behind her?

She looked around, assessing the situation, apparently. Where the hell was Sync? Wasn't he supposed to look after her? A sudden flash of anger flowed through him. If she was hurt while it was Sync's job to look after her, then he'd-

"Where's Sync?" Anise asked, cutting into his thoughts. Ivalee glanced at her momentarily before looking directly at Asch.

Legretta's here, She stated through their link. Luckily Luke had gotten out of his head only minutes earlier, or he'd have one hell of a headache.

Where?

I'm not sure, but she's with Sync. Arietta dragged me away from them so they could talk privately. ...Huh? Arietta? So Legretta saw her?

Was Arietta under Legretta's command?

No, actually. She sounded surprised. She did it on her own free will. I got away before Legretta saw me, and she never knew Arietta was involved. Weird. Arietta was helping her?

She was helping you? Asch asked incredulously.

I thought the same thing. I still don't know why, though. Creepy. Now his thoughts were aligned with Ivalee's. Maybe having two replicas was getting to him.

Ha, ha. Very funny. Ivalee said sourly. Right, she could hear his thoughts. That sucked.

You said it. She replied. This is starting to get on my nerves. The thought suddenly occurred to him that he could shuffle through her thoughts. Ivalee growled as he flipped through her mind.

Stop that! She ordered. Yea, like she had the right to order him around. He could control her, and Luke. Hmm, I wonder if I could control both at the same time... Though that'd probably give him another headache in the process.

Ivalee gasped, staggering backward and gripping the side of the nearest portal. Asch brought up the thoughts she didn't like to share, watching her face grow more surprised and irritated by the second. Most of them being about Sync, of course. She scowled as he thought of the embarrassing discussion of Sync and her sleeping together, all because of her one moment of ignorance.

You are so mean. She accused, narrowing her eyes.

That's what you get for thinking about kissing Sync while using the mind link. Revenge. Sweet revenge.

If that's how you want to play, She loosed up a bit in her posture, thinking about Sync some more. She forced an image of Sync and her lip-locked on the bed, her fingers curled around the roots of his hair while Sync's hand pressed her body closer to his...

"Fine!" He shouted, standing upright. "You win!" Usually, he wouldn't give up so easily. But he absolutely hated to see her disgusting images of Sync and her. Ivalee smirked. He slammed the link closed, grateful to have his mind to himself again.

"Asch?" Natalia gazed at him curiously, while everyone else glanced back and forth between him and Ivalee. Right, no one else had heard what just happened. Thank Lorelei for that.

"Legretta's here," he said bitterly. It's strange how they got from the topic of Legretta, to the topic of Sync and Ivalee kissing. Ugh... He shuddered. For the second time in the past ten minutes, he was sickened by someone else's relationship. Natalia and his relationship was completely different. That was what he tried to tell himself, anyway. Though he failed to convince himself that was true.

"I think we should be heading out now," Tear suggested, trying to pull Luke off the ground with little success. Guy sighed, walking over to help. Tear backed away a few feet first, being wary of his phobia.

"Alright then," The gynophobic blonde heaved Luke onto his shoulders with a grunt. "let's go."

--

"This is a waste of my time." Sync turned around, walking to the nearest portal. The one Ivalee had disappeared through not too long ago.

"Sync," Legretta began. "You're lost. You have no clue where Ivalee is, and you'll end up even more lost trying to find her.

"Go away," he growled.

"But I know where she is." Sync paused. "I had Arietta take off with her." She lied. It wasn't bad, and totally believable. After all, Arietta was under her command. Though she was still back at their boat outside. Tricking him was almost too easy.

"Where?"

"I could lead you there. Only if you were willing to make a deal." He turned, a deep frown etched on his face. After a moment of silence, he finally spoke.

"What's the deal?"

Author's Note: Yea, I just had to put that bit in there with Asch and Ivalee. I had fun writing that, lol. Oh, and just in case anyone didn't get it, Legretta lied about Arietta taking Ivalee. But what she didn't know that she was right. All the time, she thought Arietta was still on the ship outside. And you'll find out Arietta's reasons why later.