Okay, big time-skip between 51 and 52. You'll see how much when Asch and Kairi start talking. Also, I suggest going back to Chapter 7.1/Part 7. There was a HUGE hint there as to what's going to happen in this 4-chapter arc. (Which will switch back and forth between Kairi's POV and Asch's.)

Also, the requests for CR chapters for the Re:ARitA timeline will remain open until I start Re:AST. (I mean actually start it, not just put up a first chapter which will probably be brought down when I actually start posting...)

Okay, enough of my rambling. It is twenty minutes before I usually get up, and I haven't finished my coffee yet.

Enjoy the chapter!


Chapter 7.1 – The Surprise
Part 52

I leaned against the railing, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. The wind whipped around me, tossing my ponytail around. It was a cold wind, but it felt nice after having spent the last week in the desert.

"It's been a long four months, huh?"

I smiled. "Feels like eight months to me, remember? Actually, closer to nine months now," I commented. Asch chuckled.

"I don't envy you your calendar," he said. I sighed.

"It's hard to believe... That it's... Gosh, at least March already. Makes me wonder what my grades look like," I mumbled, finally opening my eyes as something small and wet hit my face. I blinked, then smiled. "Snow... Heh..."

Asch smiled, holding out a black-gloved hand to catch a few of the delicate flakes. "It's been a while since I've gotten to watch snow fall, too. We've tromped through it a few times in the last few months, but..." he trailed off. I sighed, then spotted Sync sitting off to one side under an awning, a book open in his lap. I smiled, remembering where it had come from.

"You should come by again some time. And bring Sync with you, at least, if Asch is going to insist on not coming back," Natalia said. I smiled.

"If I can get away with leaving Asch by himself," I told her. She giggled, then her eyes widened as she handed me the book she'd carried down from the top level with her.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Dark told me you had a book on fonic artes, but not strike artes. I thought this might help you," she stated, handing it over. I'd become rather fluent in the Fonic Alphabet by then, so I had no trouble reading the title, 'Melee Applications of Fonology.' I smiled.

"Thanks. If this one's anything like the book I have on fonic artes, Sync might be able to pick up a couple of artes too," I said happily. Natalia smiled.

"I hope it comes in useful. It's certainly not as if it's the only copy in Baticul," she replied. "Good luck."

I laughed and ran onto the ferry, not wanting it to leave without me. We were already a ways out when Asch and Sync joined me on deck, Asch with his hair up in a ponytail for once. I turned around, still able to see the blonde girl and black-haired boy on the docks with the liger next to them. I grinned and waved, and Natalia's white-gloved hand came up in response, as did Dark's arm, now in a light blue, as opposed to his usual black. It'd been an odd difference that morning, but it looked good on him.

Once Baticul had become very small, I turned around and walked over to the crates, sitting down and opening the book.

"So, what's next?" Asch asked. I took a deep breath and looked up at him, that smile still refusing to leave my face.

"Akzeriuth. Tataroo Valley, Zao Ruins, Meggiora Highlands... No reason not to finish what we've started," I told him. Sync frowned.

"I'm a little worried, though. You might have the timeline of Tales of the Abyss memorized, but... You're messing with a lot here," he said. I shrugged.

"So?" I asked. "If it means I get to keep my new friends, who also happened to be two of my three favorite characters from the game, I'll do it," I told them.

The conversation that had followed had been an amusing but slightly awkward one about the game. Sync had taken it all in stride, so long as I didn't mention anything he'd done, whereas Asch had wanted to know more about his replica.

"So, what all are we planning on doing while we're here this trip?" Asch asked, leaning back against the railing. I shrugged, still bent over as I watched the snow falling over the water.

"Nephry and I talked about something last time we were here. I'm not sure if it still applies, but I'll find out soon enough. If so, we'll be sticking around for a while," I told him. He smirked.

"Is that why you bought the coat back in Grand Chokmah?" he asked. I smiled, pulling the white coat in question tighter around me.

"You know I don't like the cold," I teased.

"Hey, any chance I could talk one of you two into a quick spar?" Sync asked, putting the book away. I shrugged.

"Weapons or no?" I asked. Sync chuckled, pulling out his knives.

"Up to you," he told me. I laughed and grabbed my sword, standing across from him and raising an eyebrow in challenge.

He rushed in at me, and I slipped around to his right, lashing out with my sword, only for him to jump back and away, tossing down a trio of knives as he did. I recognized Severed Fate, but didn't jump out of the way in time to avoid the small blast of fonons that about knocked me off my feet.

I grinned, realizing that it was a new one. I didn't give him long to celebrate, though, jumping over next to him and bringing my sword in at an odd angle I'd used to catch Asch off guard the day before.

Sync's knives moved to block the blade, but they didn't impede the hilt that slammed into his shoulder a moment later. He cringed. "Should have recognized that one from yesterday," he grumbled. I giggled, pulling my sword away.

"Oh well. At least you've gotten more confident about your ability to block an incoming blade. We definitely don't want a repeat of the Zao Ruins," I commented. Sync sighed.

"Yeah, that didn't end well, did it...? Ugh... That was not fun, by the way. You could have warned us it was going to be that long..." he grumbled. I laughed.

"I wasn't looking forward to it either," I told him. "Besides, it would have ruined all the fun." He raised an eyebrow at me before rolling his eyes and walking off.

"Um, you know we're going to be docking in the next five minutes, right?" Asch asked as Sync walked past him. The green-haired boy nodded.

"Yeah. I need to go get the rest of my stuff," he replied. I giggled, skipping back over to the rail and returning my sword to its sheath, which was then slipped into my belt, Guy-style. My bow and quiver were, for now, stowed away in my wing pack.

Asch was quiet for a while. Sync made it back to the deck just in time for the ferry to bump into port, which was about when the redhead turned to look at me. "So, if you don't have any real plans for Remday, could I come up with one?" he asked. I shrugged, carefully keeping my expression neutral.

"Again, it depends on what Nephry and I discussed last time we were here. I'll get back to you on that tomorrow," I told him. Then I walked off the ferry, Asch and Sync following me.

Sync was blissfully ignorant of Asch's sinking mood, and also of my careful avoidance of telling Asch just what Nephry and I had been planning. Although he probably wouldn't be much longer.

That day's date? Lorelei-Redecan 44, 2017, exactly four days before Asch's seventeenth birthday, which would be Remday. And yes, I knew he was trying to hint at the fact that he wanted to do something for his birthday for once (he'd told us when we'd celebrated my eighteenth that he hadn't really done much more than eat a small pastry or something of the sort for the last six birthdays he'd had). And yes, I was purposely not telling him things again.

Needless to say, the trudge to Keterburg was quiet, and it gave me time to stop and think over all that had happened.

It had only taken us a few weeks to finish up with the sephiroth, though Zao Ruins by itself took us eight days from setting out from Chesedonia to getting back to Chesedonia. Tataroo Valley had taken five, mostly because we'd taken our own sweet time about it after the hell that was the Zao Desert and the Ruins combined. Then we spent a day on a ferry to Sheridan, spent about a week trying to get to the sephiroth before we finally got it locked up, and made it back out more easily than we got in, mostly thanks to Noir, York, and Urushi.

Apparently, the majority of the survivors from Hod had a bit of a network going, and Reighn had contacted them, telling them about me. And while Sync and Asch had been skeptical about accepting the help of the infamous Dark Wings, my confidence in Noir had relaxed them, and the trio had been a big help in getting us back to Sheridan.

Then we stepped through the gates of Keterburg, and I grinned, bending down to grab a handful of snow and pack it together.

"Barst! Look sharp!" I called, tossing the snowball at the blacksmith who was probably taking a lunch break. He looked over and tried to duck, but wasn't quite fast enough to avoid getting snow on his head. He stood back up and laughed.

"Nice to see you again, too!" he replied. He smirked. "Hey, Nephry said you got a few letters while you were out. Might want to go look into that, since I'm pretty sure one of them is from your brother," he added. I frowned, then my eyes widened as I realized what he was talking about.

"Right, thanks, Barst! See you later?" I said, already taking off at a run for Nephry's mansion. He laughed.

"Sure thing, Kairi!"

"Wait up! Sheesh!" Sync grumbled, catching up to me. Asch was laughing behind him as the redhead finally caught up as well.

"Kairi, wait?" he teased. Sync sighed.

"Yeah, good point."

I just threw my head back and laughed, taking the steps up to the mansion doors two at a time before pulling it open. I stepped in and grinned, reveling in the warmth before reluctantly pulling my coat off and hanging it up on the coat rack nearby.

"Welcome back, Kairi."

I turned around and smiled. "Good to be back. Barst said I had mail... Did Nephry leave up in my room like usual?" I asked. Arielle giggled.

"Most of it. She literally just got back from the post office, and I think she mentioned there being more today, so..." she trailed off. I grinned.

"Right. Her office?" I guessed. The blonde maid nodded cheerfully, then skipped over to Sync and put his scarf up on the high hook he couldn't reach easily for him.

"Thanks, Arielle," he said quickly. She smiled.

"There's someone here for you, too," she told him. He blinked.

"Huh? Who?" he wondered.

I resisted the urge to laugh when Cantabile made it down the stairs. My concern over the fact that she was limping again was enough to overrule how much I wanted to die laughing at Sync's expression.

But then the shock and confusion faded and he grinned, running over to her, already babbling about how much he had to tell her, and I giggled and looked over at Asch. It had taken us a while, but we'd realized that Sync looked up to Cantabile, since the woman had been the only one to really raise him up until he left Daath. That, combined with Sync's utter horror at my loss of my father, had helped nurture something like a child's connection to his mother in regards to Cantabile.

So, while Asch headed into the library, probably to sulk about me 'forgetting' his birthday, and Sync and Cantabile wandered into the living room while Sync told her all about our adventures since leaving Daath, I headed into Nephry's office.

"Hey," I greeted her. She giggled.

"Was that Sync I heard out there?" she asked. I laughed.

"Yeah... Wouldn't usually take him for a chatterbox, but he's definitely going at it out there," I told her. "So, apparently I have mail?" I asked. She nodded.

"The first letter was from the head of the Ladies' Society," she started.

I bit my lip. Moment of truth right here. "And?"

Nephry smiled. "They've agreed to move it up," she said. "The second and third were both addressed as being from Jade, but I recognize the Emperor's handwriting well enough to know that one of them is really from him," she continued. "Those are both upstairs. I stashed the first one away in my files."

I nodded. "Probably a good idea. I can brush off letters from Jade and Peony. Lady Millie? Not so much," I agreed. "Anything else?"

Nephry pulled two envelopes out of the pile next to her and handed them to me. One of them was very fancy and official-looking, with a seal I recognized as being Duke Fabre's in one corner. "Luke's birthday, huh? Oh!" I cried, realizing I'd forgotten something. Nephry giggled.

"Barst said it's done, and you can pick it up whenever you're ready. Oh, and there's a ferry leaving here for Baticul tomorrow morning, seven a.m. His shop should be open around six, too," she told me. I sighed in relief.

"Thanks. I'd completely forgotten about that," I admitted. Then I moved what was probably a party invite so I could see what the second letter was. Though, I probably should have guessed it would have been from Dark. The neat but tiny lettering on the front was definitely his handwriting. Probably something to do with the double birthday coming up.

"There are also letters upstairs from a Natalia, a Selenia, and a Noir," Nephry added. I smiled.

"Right. I told Natalia we'd be coming back here after Grand Chokmah, but we ended up in Chesedonia instead. Whoops," I said cheerfully. "I should go read everything. I'll be back down for dinner... Oh, and—"

"It'll be delivered the morning of. You are going to make it back in time, right?" she cut me off, already knowing what I was talking about. I laughed.

"Of course," I told her, walking over to the door and slipping out, then skipping up the stairs opposite and heading into my room, where I picked up the five letters on the table. It was easy to tell the difference between Jade's thin, slanted handwriting and the Emperor's neat though less fancy letters.

I started with Jade's letter, reading through it quietly. It was probably a good thing that the invitation to Luke's party was hidden under the other letters, because Asch walked in when I was about halfway through the letter.

"Cantabile wants to know if she's invited," he grumbled. "Although she didn't mention what to..." he added. I giggled.

"Of course she is," I said before turning back to the letter. Asch stood there in the doorway for a moment before he left. I wasn't going to say anything, but I wanted to beat Cantabile for almost slipping.