Author's Note:

Again, not a lot to say. I'm still working on the Jade/Saphir short fic, called Initium. While I had intended to just have them immediately go at it like bunnies, they're insisting on dragging it out a bit and enjoying themselves. So it's coming along, but it's longer than I expected so it may be a while before I have anything to post yet. In the meantime, here is the next non-smut chapter in our ongoing saga...

Chapter 37

"I was dying. And...I was okay with that. I mean, I didn't want to die. But...I'd accepted it. I'd done alright and protected the stuff that mattered, and I remember thinking that it wasn't such a bad way to die. People die all the time before they accomplish anything decent, and at least I made my life matter at the end.

"I felt it happen; my body dissolve, and it didn't hurt. It was warm, and it was like...being hugged by my mother. I felt someone near me, and I couldn't see him or anything, but I knew it was Ion, and he was proud of me. I was safe, and I knew that nothing could ever hurt me again.

"Then I heard Lorelei, and it gave me a choice; it said I could stay in the light where it was safe, or I could go back to Auldrant and to my friends. To my family. It would be up to me and no one would be mad no matter what I picked.

"I asked how? How could I go back without a body? Even Lorelei couldn't stop my fonons from separating. I thought maybe it meant as a ghost, and I tried to picture myself haunting my house and rattling chains and scaring my father to death. You know he acts all tough, but he's kind of a chicken about stuff like that. I figured I'd creep up on Natalia a lot too and yell 'Boo' just to see her jump. I was actually kind of getting into the idea.

"Then I felt someone else next to me, besides Ion, and I heard a voice say 'You can take my body. But you better take good care of it, or else I'm coming back from hell and kicking your sorry ass.' I wanted to hug him. I wanted to slap him. I wanted to tell him that if anyone was coming back in his body it had to be him, but...there wasn't time. He was gone, and I had to decide, and some part of me just couldn't let go. I had one chance to live again, and I grabbed on.

"Lorelei healed the damage to Asch's body, and I felt...it was like putting on a new pair of shoes for the first time. It felt tight at first, and then...right. Lorelei was really happy and it said...'Go back now, my beloved. Go home."

"But then...it came. The darkness. God, Jade, nothing ever...The God-Generals, Van...they weren't really evil. I mean, for a while I thought they were, but they thought they were doing the right thing, and that we were the evil ones for trying to stop them. I know they were all twisted but they weren't really evil. This thing was evil. I knew it wanted me, wanted to kill me, but that it couldn't. For some reason I was safe. But I was still in Lorelei, and Lorelei was still weak from Van. Too weak to fight back. So it couldn't touch me, but it took Lorelei, trapped it, and me within it. It can't kill us, but we can't get out either. Lorelei's tried, but it's no use. It's like when it was stuck in Van. Someone has to let it out; it can't get out on its own."

"And until it does, neither can you." Jade finished. He could see it now that he'd had time to take a better look at Luke, the subtle differences that had distinguished the replica from his original. A warrior, Asch had been stronger than Luke, more muscular, older-looking in general. But Asch's eyes had never shown with this much warmth, this much spirit. There was no way anyone who knew the two of them could ever mistake one for the other, and Jade was relieved more than he could say that he was sharing his prison with this one.

The one that he considered a friend.

"How long have I been here?" Luke asked now. "You don't look much older so it can't be too long. It's hard to keep track."

"Over two years. I'll ignore the implication that I'm showing my age at all."

"So tell me everything." Luke sounded as eager as a child. "Everything I've missed. How's Guy? Is Natalia getting along okay with Uncle? Is my mother okay? She had to have been so upset to think both Asch and I were dead. How's..." he stopped.

"Tear?" Jade asked with a small smile and a wink. He briefly summed up the events of the small group's lives for Luke's benefit, and it was to him like seeing a thirsty man guzzle a gallon of water. Luke couldn't get enough, and Jade found himself relating even minor details for the boy's benefit.

"So what about you?" Luke finally asked, noticing Jade leaving out the details of his own life. "Same old Jade, I'll bet. I guess your life never changes."

Jade burst out laughing. "Well, not exactly...someone in the universe has a very odd sense of humor at times. Do you remember when I told you what my hypothetical son would be like...?"

"Wow." Luke listened wide-eyed to Jade's tale. "So you had no idea at all?"

"Not even an inkling. The boy descended on me completely out of the blue, determined to completely turn my life on its rear. He's hot-headed, incorrigible, and more stubborn then ten boys his age. Here I'd always expected fatherhood to be simple compared to other challenges in my life."

"But you love it; I can tell." Luke was grinning. "I'm glad, Jade. I bet you're a really great dad."

"Well, that's open to debate. When I allow him to have his way I'm the best father in the world. When I actually parent him, then I become the devil. I suppose it's the same with all children, but he was raised without limits and it falls on me to install them. Of course, the moment I do Saphir finds some way to circumvent them."

"Dist is still giving you a hard time?" Luke was surprised. "I thought he'd still be in prison. I guess it makes sense he'd come after your kid. He hasn't hurt him, has he?"

"No. He's too busy trying to remake the little hellion in his own image. I'd be irritated if I wasn't so damned fond of him."

Luke gave Jade a confused look. "I don't understand..."

"Well, it started a few weeks after we lost you..."

The hours went by, there was no time here, none that Jade was aware of anyway. There was just the small room, and the boy at his side, and the indescribable comfort that came from knowing he was no longer alone. Of course, he couldn't say any of that out loud, but he sensed Luke understood anyway. He was far more clever than anyone had ever given him credit for.

Jade deliberately tried to shock him by relaying the details of his life with Saphir. He'd expected Luke, sheltered for so much of his short life, to respond the way Natalia had. Luke, however, surprised him by calmly accepting it with a shrug and "Well...whatever makes you happy." The implication was that he personally couldn't see how anyone could possibly be happy 'married' to Dist, but he considered Jade strange anyway. This was just one more thing to add to the list.

"So this place, you control it?" Jade asked now.

"Yeah. Lorelei explained it to me, but I'm not sure I understand it completely. This is all real, by the way." Luke reached out and thumped his knuckles against a wooden wall. "It has to do with my hyperesonance, but since we're in Lorelei it's a lot more powerful. Fonons are everywhere, so I can take them from everywhere, even the air, and reshape them into whatever I want. It took a while back home, but here it's instant. I've been practicing; it's not like I have a lot else to do."

Luke held his hand over the bedside table, and the air underneath it seemed to shimmer. A moment later Luke held up a bright red apple. "See? Nothing to it."

"So, I understand how you became trapped here." Jade was impressed with Luke's abilities, but didn't comment for now. "How did I? It was my understanding that Lorelei isn't overly fond of my ilk."

"It's not, usually, but you helped it so it trusts you. Have you ever seen those little dolls that you can stack inside each other?"

"Nesting dolls. Nephry had a set."

"Yeah, those. I'm in Lorelei. Lorelei is trapped in Lẽtum. You were trapped in Lẽtum next to Lorelei. You with me so far?" Luke took a bite of the apple. "Do you want one? They tasted like crap at first but I've gotten good at them."

Jade shook his head and Luke swallowed and continued. "So anyway, Lorelei likes you. It's been trying to pull you inside every since, but Lẽtum kept pulling back. You were halfway between for awhile. Lorelei was finally able to use my energy and we gave a big tug and...here you are. Lorelei thinks it can't get you back out because I'm here, and as long as I stay close to you it can't get to you. So you're safe. I mean, you're still stuck here, but it can't mess with your head. I'm sorry it took us so long to help; Lorelei told me it showed you some pretty sick things."

"We're going to get out of here, Luke. I have every confidence in the world of that. And now that I'm not constantly being bombarded with images of my family torn to shreds, I can actually concentrate on the pressing matters at hand. I'm going back home, and so are you."

"Home..." Luke shook his head. "Do I even have a home? I mean, they think I'm dead. They've moved on. Maybe it's better for me to just stay here. I did a lot of good but I caused a lot of trouble too. Maybe..."

"Luke! Here I was admiring your new maturity and how you've handled yourself. We don't have the luxury of allowing you to wallow in self-pity. Are you going to assist me or not?"

Luke looked offended at first, and then sighed. "Same old Jade. So what do you want me to do?"

"Well, for starters...I don't suppose you know how to whip up a decent curry?"

***************************************

In the end, getting Saphir to calm down and return to sanity was incredibly simple. So simple that Peony was kicking himself for not thinking of it sooner. However, in his own defense, he thought, he did have a lot on his mind. For instance, stopping the council from declaring him temporarily mad and locking him way 'for his own good'. That might have sucked.

He'd tried at first to send little Max out to reason with Saphir, figuring that if his friend would listen to anyone it would be the cheagle. However, Max was of the mindset that if Saphir wanted something he should get it, so she wasn't about to help 'trick' him into cooperating. Even for a really handsome emperor who kept her well-stocked in waffles.

"Saphir!" Peony finally shouted up at the throne-room ceiling, staring into a black air-vent that had been making suspicious noises. "Vilo is coming with us on this mission! However..." He pulled out his best 'royal' voice. "If you do not come down from there at once, you will not be going along! I will leave you here, alone, to worry. You will have no idea where we are, how we are, or if we're even alive!"

There was silence, and then a small voice wafted out of the air-vent. "You wouldn't..."

"Try me!"

"Sometimes you can be simply impossible!"

"Oh, you have no idea." Peony snarled. "It's after midnight, I am exhausted, I've just agreed to put my honorary nephew in harms way, send myself into probably certain death, been declared insane by my council, and my head hearts like a bitch after someone chucked a vase at it. I have nothing left to lose at this point, so you just try me, pal."

There was a rustling noise, and Saphir's feet appeared at the vent. Slowly, with dignity, he lowered himself until he was dangling by his fingertips, and then dropped the rest of the way to the floor. The normally pristine man was a mess; he was covered in dust, spider-webs, and to Peony's dismay (he'd have to have a serious talk with the maids) what appeared to be rat-droppings. "Well, really." Saphir gave the emperor a disgusted look, "You don't need to be vulgar about it!"

"I stopped them from throwing you back in prison. They wanted to, you know. You gave them perfect fodder tonight; here Jade and I keep telling them how reformed you are, and what a benefit to Malkuth you've become, and then you go pulling Dist out of the moth-balls for an encore performance. That was just sad, man. You made me sad tonight." Peony was trying to look stern.

"Well, how did you expect me to act?" Saphir, who was actually deeply ashamed of himself right now but had no intention of letting His Majesty know that, snapped. "Even if we live through this nightmare, as soon as Jade finds out I allowed Vilo to go along he'll kill me!"

"No, he won't. I'll take the full rap for it, don't worry. I'll even tell him you did everything you could to stop us."

"Everything?" That small voice again.

"Well, I suppose that depends on if you can behave yourself from here on out." For some reason, now that Saphir was back to normal (at least normal for Saphir) all Peony wanted to do was laugh hysterically. It was hard to keep a straight face. "You are going to be a perfect little angel from this point on, up to the point where we kick that demon's behind from even thinking of snatching our Jade, and have Jade back safe and sound with us. After that what you do is between you and him. Can you be good?"

"I am not a small child!"

"Then don't act like one. Can you be good?"

"Yes." Saphir hissed.

"Good. Just what I was hoping to hear. Now, go get cleaned up, and apologize to Vilo for upsetting him."

"Vilo is...upset?"

"Oh yes, very." Peony was lying through his teeth and loving every minute of it. "He heard the council demanding I have you arrested and the kid was in tears. He was so afraid they were going to take you away from him. Kratos finally took him off to try and calm him down. Poor little guy; Jade's missing and now he's all worried he's going to lose you too, even though I told him I wouldn't let that happen."

"Oh dear...I have to go see him at once!" Saphir was beside him with guilt now. "I never meant...only trying to protect him...means the world to me..." He took off out of the throne room in a dead run, and only then did Peony allow himself to dissolve into uncontrollable laughter. Maybe that last part was a bit mean, but his head really did hurt.

First he needed to go find a gel or something, then he was going to bed.

He'd earned it today.

************************************

Saphir, having lost all chances of getting them to leave Vilo safely at home, had also failed miserably in convincing Max to stay behind, or go back to the Cheagle Woods for the time being. The cheagle pointed out that she alone would be able to determine a replica of Jade on sight (or smell). When that didn't convince Saphir, she'd added (with some irritation) that she was most certainly not a pet. She stayed with Saphir because she loved him, but she was a free-thinking creature who could make her own decisions and if she wanted to go along she'd like to see him try and stop her.

"No!" Saphir had almost wailed, when a some-what groggy and bandaged Guy had shown up at the palace the following morning. "Not you too!"

"I'm okay..." Guy actually didn't feel even remotely close to okay but had no intention of sharing that. "I have to do this...it's Jade..."

"Listen you..." Saphir snarled. "Do you know how when someone dies, everyone comforts their loved ones by saying 'Don't cry? He wouldn't want you to cry?'"

"Yes..."

"Well, I most certainly do not agree! When I die I fully expect tears, hysteria, and crippling grief! If everyone I care about comes with me and expires on this mission, there will be no one left to mourn for me! So someone has to stay behind!" Saphir folded his arms, pleased at his logic, but noticing Guy wasn't buying it.

"Saphir..." Guy was trying not to laugh, but was interrupted by a cheerful voice behind him. "Hey, wait for us!" He turned to see Anise entering the hallway, dragging Florian by the hand. "We're going too!"

"Waaaaaahhhh!" Saphir suddenly burst into tears and ran back down the hall as Anise stared in shock at his retreating form. "Something I said?"

"He'll get over it." Guy absently rubbed at his head. "Eventually. I understand why he's upset, but we're all adults. Well, most of us."

"Hey!" Anise put her hands on her hips. "I'm more mature than most of you."

"There you are! How dare you keep me in the dark about something like this? If I hadn't ran into Tear on the way here, I wouldn't have known at all! Guy, I'm especially disappointed in you!"

Guy groaned as Natalia marched up to him, followed by Tear, who looked rather sheepish. "Jade is my friend too! You didn't think I deserved to know he was in danger?"

"Now, Your Highness, I told Guy not to tell you." Peony intervened. "No one doubts your skills, but you're just so darned valuable..."

"You are going, correct?" She eyed Peony sternly.

"Well, yes..."

"Then so am I! This isn't just about Jade. This beast is a threat to Kimlasca as well, and as future queen..."

"Okay, okay..." Peony held up his hands in defeat. He glanced at the front door of the palace. "Anyone else? Any widows? Orphans? Suicidal types? Space on the great Malkuth-Kimlasca Rescue-Jade-Or-Die-Trying Mission is going fast!"

"Your Majesty...." One of the council men came forward. "Please, we beg you to reconsider. Or at least, please name an heir should the unthinkable happen."

"Well, now I have given that some thought." Peony said soothingly. "It so happens I've decided to name an temporary heir to the throne. He's a little young, but he's bright as a whip, has excellent leadership skills, and is very diplomatic. If anything does happen to me, you'll find with a little training he'll be a better emperor then I could ever dream of."

"Oh, thank you, Your Majesty. Who is he? Where can we find him? Is his background suitable?"

"He's right up there." Peony pointed to the staircase. "First door on the left. His name is Perry..."