Lunarian: After getting no feedback for my last part I'm gonna just write whatever and forget about trying to go together like an actual rewrite. Some suggestions for a better way to write it, or a better format or anything I'd really like.

Disclaimer: I do not own or have privelege of claiming rights to anything involved with Tales of the Abyss. That's all Namco, and they do it well. I can only lay word that the way I choose to parody the story is my own idea.

Key
Text Narration
"Text" Dialogue
'Text' Sarcasm, Saying's, and/or so-called... quotes
Text Character Thoughts, and/or Character Tittle
Text Sound Effects

Chapter 6

After a dull coach ride, made bearable only because of the view it afforded of the fleeing Dark Wings, the two person party arrived at their destination. Walking up the pathway they got a first look at the town.

The town of Engeve was a small little hamlet located out in the middle of the Rugnica plains. The positioning of the town enabled them to make use of the trade routes going off in all the directions outward. The people of Engeve supplied those routes with large quanities of farmed produce, wheats and grains. This let the town remain small, all the citizens would contribute to the crop in some way and they took it very seriously as it is the life-blood of their economy.

Tear's first priority of buisiness was to find out how they could reach Baticul. It didn't take long before she was able to get an answer, unfortunately it wasn't a good one. It seemed that with the bridge out, curse those bandits, now the only way to get back to the kingdom of Kimlasca was through the Kaitzur check point to the south. When she looked to see what Luke's reaction was, she had given up on staying sore at him since he was just too cute when not acting like an arrogant prick, she was dismayed to see he wasn't even paying attention.

Luke was feeling hungry since he hadn't eaten since what must have been last night. So while Tear was doing her thing he decided to see what he could find to eat. He didn't see a chef anywhere to order his meal from, everywhere he looked he saw people doing things with plants or the dirt. He didn't know what they were doing, it didn't look like a good time to him. He gave up on trying to understand the locals when a shiny red fruit caught his attention.

It was an apple, the sweet succulent king of the fruit world. It taunted him with its mouth watering juicy flesh covered in a thin yet tasty skin. The apple's color was a bright red and it lured him in, he was helpless to resist the siren call. Luke could hardly stop himself and soon all of the apple's flavor would be his.

"Does this apple taste as good as it looks?" Luke asked the man sitting down next to a sign with an apple on it. Not waiting for an answer he picked it up and brushed once briskly with his sleeve. "It would be pretty hard to be wouldn't it. Well only one way to find out." He took a bite out of the apple unaware that Tear had arrived to watch the whole thing.

Sometimes Tear thought that Luke's naivete was cute. Sometimes on the other hand she felt that it was just sad. This was one of those times. Imagine not knowing that you can't just take something when you want it without paying first. Luckily she was able to straighten the situation out with the merchant and the noble dunce.

Once that fiasco was behind them Tear informed Luke about what she found out. He didn't share her concern that they would need to obtain identity papers, his proposed solution was to wave his father's title in everyones faces. She was left with no choice but to adopt a wait and see approach, as in wait and see if something better then Luke's idiotic idea presented itself. Due in part to the pleading of the wide eyed young man Tear said that they would spend the night in the town.

"This town seems so poor. Do you think that the inn has only a single bed?" Luke asked Tear. He was sure that he could get her to warm up to him if they shared a bed. The maids of the manor had told him that he gave good massages. All he needed was the right opportunity and he could get her. It was a good thing that his thoughts weren't being said out loud or Tear would have knocked him out to save the trouble.

"This village isn't poor Luke. Why would you think that?"

"Just look around you Tear. There are animals wandering around, no mansions, and the roofs have fur on them."

"It's a farming village Luke, growing crops and raising livestock is what they do. Besides that, take a good look at the people's faces. The people are happy doing their work, they aren't poor."

They both toured the place for a little bit, checking out the local stores and townsfolk. Aside from learning how to cook Spaghetti from one of the busy mothers there was nothing to hold Luke's interest for long, and even there Tear gave him grief because he supposedly was rude to her. So they returned to the inn planning to get some sleep. As fate would have it however there was a large crowd gathered in front.

The local populace was all up in arms because all of their storehouse's inventories was dissapearing on them. For some reason they all decided to congregate in front of the inn and were working themselves into a frenzy.

"It's just food, if you need more then buy it." Luke didn't see the danger in speaking his mind. So when everyone turned on him and started calling him a thief just because of that apple incident, he was shocked. Tear was shocked as well, but chose to stand on the outside and see where this went.

Seeming to take Luke's silence as a confession, the growing mob frog marched his inert form over to the leader of the city's house, a kind hearted old woman named Rose.. They interrupted a meeting between Rose and a guy in a blue military outfit, but they didn't seem to care. Loudly they condemned Luke as the thief who had been pilfering all their goods. Luke got enough sense to start yelling his innocence at this point but it mattered little to the mob. Before it turned into a lynching, Rose stopped them all and had them explain.

It was soon discovered that Luke was not in fact part of the Dark Wings, as the townspeople had begun to believe ... and that he was actually innocent just as he kept telling them. The deciding factor in the little drama turned out to be the military man that was there. He confirmed that the Dark Wings had fled to Kimlasca over the now destroyed Roltero bridge. A fact that Tear was trying to convey as well. Luke asked for the name of the man who helped.

"I'm Colonel Jade Curtiss, Third Division, Malkuth Imperial Forces. And who might you be?" He was a mid 30's aged man with brown hair, glasses and red eyes. He was a man of few words and even less emotions, most commonly alternating between seriousness and sarcasm so fluently half the time those around him didn't know when he switched.

Luke tried to answer by giving his full name in return, it seemed the appropriate thing to do, when Tear yanked him off to the side. She then informed him that he would be an idiot to tell them who he was because they were in enemy territory. Tear then told Jade their names and made up a lie about them heading for Chesadonia but got on the wrong coach. Then, the final piece of evidence to clear Luke's name came in the form of a young boy.

He wore lime green ceremonial robes, had long moss green hair and eyes, and spoke with a soft voice that was almost feminine. He was the Fon Master Ion, a purely innocent soul whom wished no harm on anyone, and took his duties as the leader of the knights of Lorelei religiously.. He said that he was curious and took it upon himself to investigate the storehouse. What he found was some fur of a sacred beast called a Cheagle, effectively pointing the culprit to be a cheagle. So Luke was finally free to go after getting some apologies.

It wasn't until after they had left that Luke realized that was the so-called 'missing' Ion that Master Van was talking about. When he tried to return to question him, Tear stopped him saying they were busy with a meeting and that getting some sleep would be best. When they entered the inn there was one last new face to meet before the day was out.

A little girl was talking to the inn keeper. "Have you seen the person I was with? A boy, pretty short, kind of out of it?" Her name was Anise Tatlin, a 13 year old Fon Master Guardian, Ion's personal guard. She uses her cheerful cute girl personality to anyone she tries to charm, but only those really close to her knows how she really was. She could be violent, scheming, decietful and manipulative in same breathe as being courteous, polite and friendly. She carried her weapon Tokunaga with her always, an object resembling a stuffed teddy bear that could grow to gigantic size and carry her into battle.

She was trying to find out where Ion had run off to this time, sometimes she had trouble guardiang him with his sometimes selfless nature. He was just too kind and that often lead to trouble. The innkeeper was no help to her, but she was able to find out from a traveling duo that he was at Rose's place. The boy of the pair told her some disturbng news, that there was rumor of Ion being missing. She thanked the two before running off to inform Ion.

Some good fortune came about afterall to Luke and Tear, when one of the group from earlier turned out to be the innkeeper. He let them both stay for free.

"There is more then one bed, damnit." Luke said. When Tear gave him a strange look he quickly ammended. "I mean, oh what luck. Heh."

Before he got into bed Luke brought up something that was bothering him. It didn't set well with him that he was accussed of being a common thief. He remembered that the Fon Master had suggested that the thief were some 'sacred' beasts called Cheagles. When he asked Tear if she knew what they were she described them as herbivores that lived in the woods nearby that are revered by the order of Lorelei along with Yulia. That seemed a perfect stroke of luck to him. He could find the real culprits clearing his name, and maybe then Tear would stop being on his case all the time about being self centered. He told her as much.

"We're going to that forest tomorrow."

"Why?"

"To capture the real thieves of course."

Tear didn't have much to say in answer to that, she saw nothing wrong with it and truthfully she did not believe that there would be much success in convincing Luke otherwise, he was very stubborn. Soon Luke was asleep and she found herself watching him. When he was out like this and not displaying that ignorant self centered attitude of his, she found to her surprise that he was actually kind of cute. It was almost adorable how he looked just like a little boy. She wondered what lay in store for the future.

Tear wasn't stupid, she saw the way Luke looked at her earlier when discussing the sleeping arrangements. It's not that she was adverse to the thought of getting closer, since he had shown he could act in the right way when it is pointed out to him how what he was doing was incorrect, finding him to be cute didn't hurt either. Her thoughts were interrupted when Luke's eyes suddenly opened, he was awake.

"Whoa!" Luke startled on waking up. "What are you doing staring at me?" His sleep addled mind took note that Tear appeared especially vulnerable at that moment, if he wasn't so tired ...

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"Why would you be staring at someone while they sleep? Just go to bed."

"I suppose I will, goodnight."

The rest of the night passed with no event and soon the morning rose and they were ready to start off. First Luke insisted on going back to Rose's house to speak with Ion and finally get to the bottom of this missing buisiness. Shortly afterwards however he was told that Ion was no longer around. This left them back to where they started and were about to leave town when the apple selling man from yesterday approached them.

"I would like to apoligize again about yesterday. I'm truly sorry, but I wonder if I might ask you a favor?"

Luke considered it before answeing noncommitedly. "No one's stopping you from asking."

The man revealed that he had a special box of some importance stolen along with the store's of food. Word had spread and he knew they were headed to the forest, so he asked them if they could keep an eye out for it, and to return it for him if they could. Naturally, he told them he would reward them. Luke agreed readily, he was feeling a little better this day after a well nights rest.

Nothing further came up as they left the town, so soon they were on the way to the Cheagle's forest. They fought the monsters encountered on the way, gaining more experience. Several battles later and they were standing at the entrance to the forest.

The cheage woods are a small patch of forest located within a larger woodland area. An abnormally large tree stands out in sharp contrast to the surrounding area marking the place.

The first thing that Luke noticed as they entered the forest besides the tall trees everywhere, was the person surrounded by monsters. Ion was here in the forest and curently had three monsters covering him from three sides. He was bent over at the knees on the ground breathing hard and looked to be in trouble.

"He needs help, let's go." Luke said.

Immediately it was revealed that Ion did not need help after all. Just as the tiger monsters were about to strike he raised his hand. His hand glowed with a bright light as a Fonic circle appeared around him, the spell let out a brilliant shine and the enemies were no more.

Luke and Tear stopped moving forward when Ion let out his attack showing that he was not as helpless as he looked and was in actuality quite formidable. As soon as his attack died down though Luke noticed that Ion was looking shaky on his feet. He ran forward followed closely by Tear, but he was still too late and Ion fell down backwards fatigued. Tear knelt down next to him and helped him up while Luke asked about his health.

"Hey, are you ok?"

"I-I'm fine. I just used too strong a Daathic fonic arte." Ion said. Once he got a good look at Tear he continued. "Oh, you're the two from Engeve yesterday."

Luke then introduced himself with just his first name. He got his first example of Ion's personality when the first thing he did when learning of him name was to say that in Ancient Ispanian the name Luke means 'light of the sacred flame', and that it was a nice name. Then Tear gave out her full name and rank which also caused Ion to say something completely unexpected.

Ion said that Tear was Van's younger sister, a fact that Luke was very surprised to learn. When he asked her why she was trying to kill him, she was evasive as always but this time Ion seemed to be curious as well. Luke tried using the added pressure from Ion to get an answer and it seemeed to almost be working, when everyone got distracted from a cheagle wandering by down the path.

"A cheagle, c'mon everyone let's catch it." Luke said.

Tear convinced Ion to not question about her brother anymore. She said that it was private, involving her homeland and she didn't want to drag others into it. By this time Luke had gotten far ahead before realizing they were still standing around, so he called to them.

"Let's go, hurry up!"

Despite his best efforts Luke soon lost track of the cheagle. "It's no good, it got away."

Ion told Luke not to worry because the nesting ground was up ahead. It seemed that he was curious about the cheagles strange behavior, since they are normally intelligent and peaceful creatures, and so he did a little looking into it.

"So it seems that we are both going to the same place then, huh?" Luke commented.

"Oh, are the two of you also going to investigate the cheagles here?" Ion asked.

I'm not going to just let people accuse me of doing something I didn't do." Luke said. He hadn't known Ion for long but already he felt he understood just how stubborn he would be. He told him that he would be going with them.

"Really? You don't mind?" Ion asked hopefully. He was delighted that they weren't going to try and keep him out of it, or send him away.

Tear tried to scold Luke for trying to bring the Fon master to a place so dangerous, but Luke displayed a surprising level of understanding of Ion. He said if they didn't bring him along then he would just come in on his own. Ion didn't deny that accusation, he just repeated that he had to know.

"See? Besides we can't just leave a guy with a face so pale he looks like he might die." Luke said, showing the most compassion he'd shown anyone since this whole mess began. It was hard to not be nice to Ion, he was just so innocent.

"Oh, thank you so much! You're such a nice person Luke."

It was really different to hear it from someone other then the manor maids. Luke found himself getting embarressed by Ion's praise. "N-No now stop it. Let's just go." He could see Ion still wasn't looking much better. "And don't go using that weird arte again, we'll take care of the fighting."

Ion did not take the hint and said some more things. It seemed to Luke that Ion was flirting with him. "You're going to protect me? Sir Luke, I'm so moved!"

"Wha ...?" Luke was being blind sided by the way Ion acted. He was just so genuine it was overwhelming. "Don't call me sir, it's just Luke." He had to turn his face away from Ion's smile, it was making him blush. "L-Let's go."

"Okay Luke." Ion cheerfully said. Tear was staying quiet for some reason.

Walking through the forest Luke and Tear continued to fight any of the monsters they encountered, being sure to keep Ion out of harm's way. It wasn't long before the monsters were no longer any trouble to defeat. Searching through the forest uncovered several small medicinal items hidden about, and a small locked box.

Luke scrutinized the box in his hands, turning it over to see if he could open it. Before he had any success Tear grabbed it out of his hands and placed it within her own pack.

"Luke, you weren't about to try and open that box were you?" She asked severely.

"No, of course not." Luke replied weakly.

"Good, because you made a promise to that man that you wouldn't look in it." Tear was being firm, she would not let Luke get away with such a thing especially in the presence of the Fon Master.

With that resolved they continued on, soon reaching a patch of forest where the river circled around the large tree. There they saw a little pink cheagle wandering around that Ion said was a child. It ran away when Tear got too close because she was mesmerized by it's cuteness. When they followed it they saw it run into an opening in the tree. There was a small pile of apples on the ground near the entrance, and when one of them was inspected by Ion he observed that they had the mark of Engeve on them. They found the proof.

So ... yeah that's that. Apparently no one is appreciative of it in the least so I'll probly just keep changing things around for my own amusement.