Hello everyone! It is February 1st here in Australia, and I have just finished this chapter for you all. As promised; I'm posting it today. More notes at the bottom but an important thing now it that there is a section in this chapter, written under the assumption that EVERYTHING is made up of fonons. Whether it is true or not in the game is irrelevant. So without further ado; Chapter 13!
Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of the Abyss or Caius Yamada. Rights go to respective owners.
A Promised Fulfilled
"You decided to sneak through the forest?"
Lythia's disbelief coloured her words, but amusement sparkled in her violet eyes. Before her was Luke, Natalia and Tear as they recounted why Aslan Frings had approached her, informing her that "curious Kimlascans" had found their way through the Theor Forest.
"You, for all intents and purposes," the Malkuth Princess continued, "passed through enemy territory to spy on activities beyond the checkpoint. It doesn't matter that you were looking for Oracle Knights. You should have waited, trusted that we had it under control. Had it been any other circumstance, you would be locked up, not set free."
"At ease Major," came the voice of General Frings as he stepped out of the shadows. Instantly Lythia fell silent and stepped back as the man approached. There was no expression on the General's face, even Lythia, who could read his expressions well, couldn't discern any emotions. Must be the Kimlascans that are causing it, Lythia mused.
"While her act to mask her wish to encourage you further is applaudable," the General started, giving a half-hearted, pointed glare at Lythia, whom seemed to stand up straighter, her eyes widening with surprise. "Major Balfour must really be going off to find her brother."
"Hmph, you send me cause you don't want to face Jade in case he decided to get drunk," the blonde woman huffed.
"How very eloquent milady," General Frings commented dryly, earning himself an obscene hand gesture from the woman as she walked off.
"My brother is Jade Curtiss and I have practically lived in the military since I was thirteen," were her parting words. "I might be Princess of Malkuth, but I can be crude if the situation demands."
Lythia disappeared through a doorway without another word. After a few moments of silence, Frings turned back to Natalia, Luke and Tear.
"She and Colonel Curtiss will meet us in the imperial palace," he commented. "Are you ready to head towards the palace now?"
The group of three nodded in response, slightly shocked at Lythia's attitude, wondering if it was a normal occurrence. A glance at General Frings as they followed him however, told them that Lythia's behaviour was new, and the good General was concerned. That didn't put the group's minds at ease.
When Lythia had entered the palace with Jade at her side, the two siblings noted the group's awkward silence with a quick glance at each other, but the two, ultimately ignoring the awkwardness, simply lead the way to the audience hall. There, Lythia took a place behind Peony's throne on the dais and Jade stood to the side of the room. Peony glanced at his two friends with a conflicted expression on his face, but that quickly turned into a wry smile as he observed the group before him.
"Ah, you must be the ones dragging my Jade all over the place and keeping him away from home," the blonde Emperor commented slyly, earning a light, irritated murmur from Lythia and a confused and unsure gasp from Luke. "And then he goes and gets himself hit with a fon slot seal. He's nothing but trouble when he's useless, huh?"
The glare that Peony could feel Lythia sending him was worth the stunned and bewildered faces of the group.
"Your Majesty," Jade almost snarled, and it was almost a snarl, the Emperor and the shared sister could both see it. "Must you confuse our guests?"
Peony apologised with a laugh, and the conversation continued. Lythia watched silently, not feeling the need to speak up. At one point she almost did, however Jade cut in before she could. The impending war was brought up, and then St Binah. The conversation was interesting until Luke spoke in answer to a question of Peony's.
"I am a criminal to Malkuth. I am to blame for what's happening. I want to do anything I can. I want to save everyone."
Lythia walked forward then, wearing an exasperated expression.
"That's all well and good, Luke fon Fabre," she started, sending the red haired boy a light glare. "However I told you in Keterburg, that you are not the mastermind that caused the destruction of the mining city. Do not take the blame for that tragedy."
Peony stared at Lythia with surprise, then smiled. Seemingly ignoring the exchange that just took place, the Emperor let his chin come to rest on his hand as Jade started to speak.
"If I may make a suggestion," the brunette man stated. "Perhaps Luke and my unit could evacuate St. Binah, while General Nordheim contains the northward moving Kimlascan army."
The blonde Emperor smiled and shifted his gaze towards his military advisor.
"Well, Sesemann?" he asked. "That seems like it would work. So what do you think? Both Jade and Lythia say we can trust these guys."
Lythia snickered at the way that Sesemann reprimanded Peony for calling the group 'these guys', but fell silent when the greying man turned a sharp glare upon her.
"We will try to gain the council's approval," Sesemann said, giving the two royal siblings, adopted one may be, another glare, at Peony's less than eloquent reply and Lythia's resumed snickering.
"So you won't abandon St. Binah…?" Luke asked, drawing the attention of Emperor Peony once more.
"Of course not," the blonde man replied, standing up. "They are my precious citizens. Please help them."
"I'll do everything in my power," Luke murmured, Natalia echoing his words. General Nordheim and Sesemann left the room, leaving the group, Peony and Lythia. Peony looked at the blonde woman and decided to act upon the promise he had given Nephry back in Keterburg.
"As much as I would like to order you to stay Lythia," he said, "you will be going with your brother to St. Binah. It would be counterproductive to keep you here when there is nothing for you to do."
Lythia said nothing, but her eyes sparkled with barely concealed relief. She nodded her affirmation to Peony and she turned to leave the room, but Luke raised the question that had been sitting on the group's mind ever since the issue had been raised.
"Your Majesty, may I ask what Princess Lythia is so desperate to hide about her past as the Witch Child?"
The blonde woman, walking towards the door of the audience hall, faltered in her step at the hesitant inquiry. Though Lythia resolutely kept walking, it was easy to see that she had slowed her pace so that she could hear Emperor Peony's response. The man's silence was as long as his adopted sister's pause and he replied as if commenting on the weather, his surprise at the Witch Child revelation only noticeable by the way his eyes widened when Luke mentioned it.
"An interesting question, to say the least, Sir Luke," Peony responded. "We all have secrets, what makes you think I know my lady sister's?"
"She said that you knew," Tear injected. At this, Peony raised his eyebrow speculatively.
"Is that so?" He asked, after considering the group for a few seconds. Lythia had, by now, almost reached the end of the room. Peony continued. "Perhaps if you can tell me the name that my father bestowed upon Lythia, then I'll tell you. But you should know that secrets should be kept, don't you, Sir Luke?"
There was a certain harshness to his tone, reprimanding, that seemed to pull a shroud of discouragement over the party. The room knew that a dangerous topic had been touched on and that Emperor Peony was all but ordering to keep their inquiries to themselves. As Peony stood to follow Lythia however, a voice spoke up, from the corner of the room, the owner having going unnoticed for the whole meeting.
"Lythia Kari Malkuth."
A strangled gasp escaped from Lythia, as she quickly turned her head in the direction of the voice.
"Caius," she murmured, before she realised what had been said, and quickly fled the room. Natalia let out a cry of surprise, before she chased after Lythia. Peony turned his gaze upon the brown haired teen.
"We will talk later, Caius Yamada," the Emperor said coldly. "You do not understand what you have just done. No one should know that name, most of all, me. The Witch Child should have remained a children's story, something my father created and something he should have taken with him on his death."
Nothing was said as the Emperor swept past. Peony stopped at the door, much like Lythia had done.
"Jade, bring your group to my chambers once your other young swordsman has recovered," he stated, not looking behind him to the man he was talking to. "I have something to tell you all that should not be overheard."
Peony left the room, leaving behind him dead silence. No one said anything for a few minutes after that.
"There is something I need to ask you, Lord Brother."
"Yes Lythia?"
"Before our Lord Father died, did he tell you my name?"
"What name? What are you talking about Lythia?"
"The name that he gave me when he adopted me."
"No, he didn't tell me that name. He only told Franz."
"Good. I can never tell you that name. It will only bring despair to everyone."
"I believe you, my Lady Sister."
The Black-Market of Grand Chokmah was crowded as usual, many people selling simple trinkets that, however illegal they looked, were just simple artefacts and things that weren't what the military believed them to be. Two women walked through the crowds, one with crimson red hair and bandages around her eyes and the other with black hair and jasper green eyes. Both women were wearing the brightly coloured dresses of the Chesedonian dancers.
The two women entered the tavern with the sign out front naming the building as "The Broken Dagger" and walked up to the tanned woman behind the bar, Dalia, who was currently talking to a cloaked man sipping a drink.
"Ah and here is the woman you are looking for Mr. Colonel," Dalia said, drawing the man's attention to the pair who had entered the currently empty tavern. "Anything you want or need to know about fomicry the you need to talk to Lillian fon Fabre. She's been collecting that information for years. Every known fomicry experiment that has taken place ever since it was banned she knows about, she even knows about most of the experiments from before it was banned as well."
The cloaked man turned his head, to face the two. The crimson haired woman stepped forward, not seeing the way her companion's eyes widened at the brunette hair that fell from the cloak's hood.
"I am Lillian fon Fabre," the crimson haired woman introduced. "Who is it that's asking for me?"
"Jade Curtiss."
The simple reply had both women surprised. Without a comment, Lillian made an indicating hand gesture towards the stairs and tossed a few coins on the bar top. The small group of three then proceeded through the halls of the building to a room with a dark wood door. Once inside, Lillian turned to Jade.
"Did your sister not teach you anything about this place?!" the red head demanded. "You are either ignorant to the rules of this place or you are a truly desperate man, Jade Curtiss. One never reveals their true name within the buildings of the guild."
The room was silent for a few moments before Lillian turned to her companion.
"Ester, wait outside. Jade and I talk alone."
The black haired woman left the room and then Lillian and Jade were alone. Crimson hair hid the blindfolded woman's face from Jade as she looked towards the door in thought.
"So tell me Jade Curtiss," she started, not moving aside from her mouth. "What information do you seek? For whatever it is, all I ask in return is the secret of Lythia Balfour's violet eyes."
Lillian could feel the glare that Jade was sending her, so she turned her head in his direction, letting the man fully see the bandages wrapped around her eyes. Clean, unadulterated by blood or any other substance, and quite clearly new.
"There is nothing to tell about my sister's eyes," Jade responded, his voice slightly strained. The red haired woman stood up and walked towards the door.
"Then we have nothing to talk about."
Emotionless words that said nothing about what Lillian thought. The woman left the room, greeted Ester, and the two walked back down to the main part of the tavern, which had a few more people occupying it now. Lillian and Ester split then and walked towards different people, trading information as the Information Guild was known for. That was how they were when Jade walked out of the tavern a few minutes later. The man never noticed the golden vine clip in Lillian's hair.
There was a frantic rustling of books in the library of the great palace in Grand Chokmah. Lythia was disregarding her usual respect for books as she hurriedly pulled books off shelves and shoved them back on when they weren't the one she was looking for. What she was looking for however wasn't in the library, it never was. It had been with Jade ever since its previous owner died. Gelda Nebilim's journal would hold all the answers she was looking for.
"What are you searching for, dear sister?"
Lythia turned quickly in surprise to face Jade as he stood in the doorway of the library. There was silence between them as they stared at each other, Lythia wondering if she should ask the one question on her mind, and Jade waiting for an answer.
"What aren't you telling me about my eyes?" Lythia finally asked quietly. Jade looked away and opened his mouth to say something, but Lythia cut him off, anger flashing in her violet eyes.
"Do not tell me that there is nothing!" she spat. "I am not stupid!"
There was a sharp sigh from Jade. In a moment of weakness that he would only show his sister, the brunette man let his hand run through his hair and he sagged against the doorframe beside him.
"I wasn't meant to be the one to tell you," he murmured in defeat. "Professor Nebilim should have, or our parents, but they are dead. Peony doesn't know enough to tell you. You were born blind, Lythia. The Professor cast an arte upon your eyes to give you sight, or a semblance of sight at least."
Any anger or frustration that Lythia felt dissipated, causing the blonde woman to take a step back in shock.
"W-what? N-no… y-your lying!" came her gasp. Jade walked forward and grabbed his sister's shoulders. Moving to stand behind her, he covered her eyes.
"What do you see Lythia?" he asked. His question is very random to Lythia.
"Other than your hand?" she responds quietly. "Books, shelves, scrolls, other tomes."
Jade leads her forward and pulls a book off the shelf. He takes his hands away from his sister's eyes and asks her to read the book which he has opened before her. Confused, but seemingly knowing what Jade was doing, Lythia complied, reading the page. Eventually Jade stops her.
"I can't see the words of the page your reading," he says, lifting the cloth that he had placed over the pages away. "The arte that Professor Nebilim applied to your eyes doesn't give you true sight, instead it allows you to see fonons. These fonons create the forms you see, as such, you cannot be blinded by certain blindfolds."
Jade holds up the cloth.
"Tell me, dear sister, what colour is this cloth?"
"White," Lythia replied slowly. "It's clean, only pure fonons form it, they are not mixed to make it a different colour. I cannot see through darker coloured cloths because the fonons that create the colour are mixed and have flooded the cloth in a way that blocks my view…."
The siblings were silent for a few moments, neither moving. It was Lythia's turn to sigh.
"So I was born blind, but saved from that fate by Professor Nebilim," the blonde woman murmured. She shook her head. "I need to find Caius…"
Lythia left in a dazed manner, repeating the revelation of her blindness over and over. Jade was almost going to chase after her, but movement from a darker corner of the library drew his attention to Emperor Peony, who was holding a book which had been discarded by Lythia. The Emperor gestured for him to leave Lythia alone, before the blonde man followed after their shared sister.
A brown haired teen sat in his room, reading an children's novel that Arya had given him when he had first come to the castle. Caius was so absorbed in his book that he didn't notice the person approaching him until her shadow covered his book. The teen looked up to see Lythia. He was about to shout at her to go away, but the blonde princess spoke first. Not to him, or at him, more about him, like she was reciting a formula.
"Caius Yamada, last name given by Princess Lythia of House Malkuth," Lythia stated, "test subject 261 of Project: Lunderverg. The same project affiliated with the Christopher Plan. Both projects worked towards the resurrection of the Malkuth councilman Christopher Lunderverg. Subject 261 was only listed under the name 'Caius', as many of the other subjects, no last name was recorded. No birth records exist of Subject 261, exact age is unknown. Medical analysis puts Caius at around sixteen years of age. In Subject 261's files, the experiment was listed as a partial success. The test subject was to be terminated and subject 262, listed 'Sera', was to take his place. Nothing else is known of Caius Yamada."
Lythia stopped talking and whatever Caius wanted to say was forgotten. The silence lasted a few seconds before the shocked teen asked the question he needed answered.
"What do you mean by 'partial success'?"
Deafening silence reigned again. Lythia sighed, closing her eyes to answer the boy's question.
"The Christopher Plan," the princess began, "was seeking to create a stable replica that would not fade away or explode in a burst of fonons, a replica that would live a normal span of years. They ultimately failed, unable to get their replicas to live longer than six months. Branching of from this was Project: Lunderverg, who sought to fuse a dead soul into a living body. The notes found stated that in an experiment, the soul they were trying to fuse to your body spoke to then for a minute before disappearing. It is noted as well, that this caused complete memory loss."
Caius looked back down at his book for a moment, glaring at the pages.
"So Dr. Gneiss lied to me?" he asked. "My memory wasn't stolen by the Witch Child?"
Lythia's eyes narrowed as the brown haired teen mentioned Dist.
"Dr. Gneiss is well known for his lies," she commented. "I had no idea he was involved in either project."
"He was the first person I saw," Caius replied. "He told me my name and that the Witch Child had destroyed my family and then he sent me to Malkuth."
With a frustrated huff, Lythia muttered something under her breath, though Caius only caugth the words "Dist" and "I can't believe Peony." When Lythia finished with her quiet rant, she placed a file beside Caius.
"That contains everything i just told you," she said simply. "You have a choice now. I kept my promise and found out everything I could about you. Now you can leave my service and this palace and I can give you the funds you need to send you on your way, or you can remain my retainer and put this all behind us."
The teen looked up at Lythia.
"Why are you giving me this choice my Lady?" He asked, shocked.
"I gave you a very simple order Caius," Lythia murmured quietly. "One simple order; 'you will not tell anyone, not even the Emperor, that name.' That is what I said. The bond between retainer and their liege is built on trust. Can I trust you anymore Caius? So you get a choice, to leave or to stay."
"What is so important about that name?" Caius demanded, but Lythia gave him no answer as she turned on her heel and walked away. Peony entered the room as she left.
"Do you really wish to know why the name Lythia Kari Malkuth is so important?" the Emperor asked. Caius nodded numbly. Peony let a hand rest on the young teen's shoulder.
"Come to my rooms, with Jade's party," the blonde man said. "I will only explain this once."
Caius stood and bowed before Peony, but the man simply stopped the teen by lifting the teen's head to look at him. There was a hard expression in Peony's eyes that made the brown haired teen want to finch away.
"I meant what I said in the throne room Caius," Emperor Peony intoned in a cold voice. "I did not wish to know the name that my father gave Lythia. I can assure you now, that if the Witch Child returns, it is on you."
"But Lady Lythia is_"
The question that Caius was going to ask was cut off by Peony pressing his hand over the teen's mouth. Releasing the boy, Peony turned to leave the room as well. Before he opened the door however, he threw some words back at Caius.
"There is a big difference between Lythia Balfour and Lythia Malkuth. The Witch Child might be the only thing left that connects them. But until you spoke that name, the Witch Child was dead. That much is certain."
Those foreboding words trailed after Peony as he left, leaving a very stunned Caius behind. There was nothing the teen could do except wait until Colonel Curtiss brought his party to the meeting that the Emperor had requested.
So now that we have reached the end here, what do you think?
In this past month I have finished the planning of this story and I can now state that, including both the Finale and the Epilogue, this story will be 30 chapters long. Yes, we are almost halfway. I never expected that many chapters when I began, I honestly expected more.
Anyway, next chapter will have an explanation from Peony at the start, about the Witch Child and Lythia. It will also get back into the majority of the chapter following game (or anime if I decide that I like the version of events better in places...). Lythia's semi new personality will be addressed too.
Well cool interesting stuff was raised, like is Lillian fon Fabre and her friend Ester. I wonder who they are? And what will Caius choose?
See you next chapter! (I make no promises for when I'll post it. My uni trimester goes back soon. Sorry.) Please review!
~Icetail of WindClan - Meta-If~
Unimportant Notes:
Dist has many fomicry projects that he has participated in. He has been both a hindrance and a help to Lythia. That will unfortunately be explained in the last chapter.
OOC moments will happen when characters are alone or in the presence of the only person they would act like that around. The most OOC moment will be when Dist finally isn't a cockroach. But you didn't hear that from me.
