Chapter 15: The Ace of Spades

"They went back to the Destiny Islands." Jade said. Ace had just walked through the large double doors into the Council Room. She answered him before he even asked. He paused, surprised.

"Oh. Wait, they? Riku went with her?" He asked. Jade gave him a look.

"Of course Riku went with her. It's his home planet." She answered shortly. The Council Room was a large round room with an oval table in the center. There were shelves covered in books and maps and plans. Said things were also scattered across the table. Jade was sitting at the end of the table closest to the door, looking over a map. Lodi was milling over a book near one of the shelves. There was also another man standing with his arms crossed, leaning against one of the shelves. He was deep in thought, but every once in a while his eyes would flash up towards where Ace was standing. He looked the exact opposite of Ace in everything but age; he was probably only five or so years older than Ace's eighteen. Otherwise, his hair was dark, dark brown and cropped short, as opposed to Ace's shock of messy platinum blonde hair. His eyes matched his hair, where Ace's were bright blue, and his skin was the fair colour of someone who spent most of their time inside, where Ace had a tanned complexion from spending most of his life outdoors. The man was Prince Erik, heir to the rightful throne of Gova. He and Ace had never gotten along, with Ace blaming him for every abuse he endured at the hands of soldiers before Dax arrived. There was a long tense silence as the two of them looked at each other.

"Alright. Let me know when they get back." Ace muttered, still glaring at Erik. With that, he turned around and strode out. Without ever looking up from his book, Lodi spoke.

"That boy makes enemies too easily."

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Ace's apartment looked almost exactly the same as Skye's. He was standing on his balcony, looking out over the coast, with the small town off to his right. He'd marveled at how Venus and Mars had been able to cast an illusion over the windows so that they'd remain hidden, and how they'd designed the balconies perfectly so that no one would be able to see them from the ground. Now he was paying no attention to either the twins' feats of engineering, or the breathtaking view out in front of him. He sighed, thinking back on the day he'd first met Riku and they found Skye again:

When she fell out of that fire, I was surprised to see Riku so worried. We all knew that she'd be fine. No one was really expecting her to collapse, but he seemed like he thought she'd be dead. Like she wasn't a Fire User. I guess he didn't know. But she fell into him, and the two of them ended up of the floor of that tower like a pair of lovers. And from the way he whispered to her, I guessed that they were. Once I realized that he saw her in a light that I never did, I all of a sudden felt like I was the one who deserved her. We survived our childhoods because of each other, and we fought side by side for years. And somehow this guy that she'd only just met managed to wedge himself between her and me. They spend all their time together. It's sickening.

His face twisted into an expression of disgust. He fished a small ball out of his pocket. Not that he would know, but it looked exactly like the ball Dax had used to open the portal in the Islands when he kidnapped Skye. Ace walked back into his living room and held the tiny sphere out in front of him studying it carefully. He tightened his hand around it and the plastic-like surface seemed to melt away, pooling into a much less substantial sphere of dark water floating in midair in his hand. He drew his hand away from it, bewildered, but still it floated. He watched it, curious, as a tongue of the dark water drew outwards from it. Another tongue stretched out opposite the first. Then another appeared between them, and one opposite to that. More and more appeared until there were eight rays of water pointing out from the center sphere, making it look like a wavering, black sun. Then, it began to spin, giving it a spiral shape. The tongues began to merge together and grow outward, until an oval of water was formed, floating at seven feet at it's tallest, and four feet at it's widest. Ace stared at it with a hard gaze. A cloaked figure emerged from the portal.

"I've upheld my end of the bargain. Just give me my warning. That's all I ask." He stated firmly. The cloaked figure nodded.

"Your warning you shall have. It's the least I can do after you single handedly crushing the only force standing in my way." The man said, his tone almost mocking, but subtly enough that while Ace was angered by it, he couldn't really snap back at him. The man turned on his heel and started to walk back through the portal, but Ace grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him roughly around.

"Wait. If that'd only the least you can do, then there's something more I want." He said. The cloaked man pulled back his hood, Dax's blue eyes boring holes into him. He shoved Ace backwards, sending the blonde stumbling into the couch.

"Treat your betters with some respect or you may find yourself dead. Got it?" He asked, the venom seething in his voice. Ace was trembling, but he still held his voice steady and made his demand.

"I gave you what you want. This will give you your unquestioned tyranny. Now all I ask is that you answer me one damned question!" He answered, his voice raising slowly as he spoke. Ace and Dax were standing toe to toe, glaring at each other.

"Ask away. I won't guarantee an answer." Dax said after a moment, his voice still filled with poison.

"Skye. Can you help me?" Ace asked. Dax's guard went up instantly.

"Why? What do you want?" He asked in reply. Ace smiled bitterly.

"Do you actually think I give a shit about this rebellion? No. I joined because she was a part of it. Riku stole her from me and I want her back. I need you to help me." He said darkly. Dax licked his lips, smirking in the most haunting fashion.

"Of course. Tell me what you need me to do."

"Warn me before you come, so that Skye and I can leave. Riku will die here with the rest of them, and he'll be out of my way. In other words, all I want is for you to do exactly what you wanted to do in the first place. Just take care that Riku is one of the fatal casualties."

"I like the way you think boy. Consider it done." Dax said with a nod, his cruel smirk never leaving his face. "Nice doing business with you."

"There's more." Ace said quickly. Dax cocked an eyebrow in mild surprise.

"More?"

"Skye's powers. Her mentors said that her powers are dangerous. Like she can't control them. Is it that she's a danger to herself?" Ace asked. Dax thought this over, and with a smile of thinly veiled contempt, he sat down on the couch.

"Indeed. She may be in quite a bit of danger to herself." Dax lied. "The Heartless keep a rein on my power, but she doesn't have anything to keep her grounded. Tell me, what do you know about her powers? I'll be able to help you more if you could tell me more." He said smoothly, laughing silently to himself.

Skye and Riku walked out of the flame and into Skye's apartment in the Rebel City. Riku let out a long sigh. Skye flopped down onto the couch.

"I feel kind of bad for leaving them. But it's not like we had any choice." She mumbled.

"I know…" Riku answered, sitting down next to her. He stared out the window. "But they know we're alright, and that we'll come back, so that's what matters, right?"

"Yeh…" Skye answered halfheartedly. She tilted her head back so she could look at him. "I'm glad you came back with me, you know." She said with a smile. Riku smiled back at her, planting a kiss on her lips.

"Nothing can keep us apart now. No matter what happens, we share a destiny."

The next morning, Skye took Riku for a proper tour of the Rebel City. The three levels above the ground were bakeries, blacksmiths, tanners, and other such crafts. The crafts men and women lived behind their workshops. The five levels above those belonged to the soldiers, with the level above that being a training area. The level above that were for scholars and tactical intelligence. Above that was the Council Room and the Rebel's apartments, the Rebels being Lodi, Jade, Skye, Riku, Ace, Venus and Mars. Skye and Riku met Mars on the way up.

"Mars! This is Riku." Skye called, waving him over. "And Riku, this is Soren, but everyone calls him Mars."

"…why?" Riku asked after a moment. Skye blinked at him, not understanding the question. It was Mars who answered.

"Because Venus and myself use Earth Magic. As such, we found ourselves named after planets." He answered politely. "It's good to meet you, by the way."

"Oh, you too." Riku answered, startled by Mars' mannerisms. Skye smiled.

"Right, well, we'll see you later Mars."

"Have a good day." He replied with a wave as Skye and Riku walked away.

"He's really…" Riku started to say before he realized that he couldn't find the word. Skye finished for him.

"Sophisticated? I know. It's a little weird." She answered with an amused grin. She led him through the tunnel where they'd seen the farmer's coming in the first day, and found a massive, flat, hollowed out space underground, beneath the sea. It was essentially a massive underground farmer's field, lit by Skye's mini-suns, and irrigated by the water above them. Then, she took him to the little port village at the base of the mountain. A woman covered in endless numbers of shawls was sitting in the market.

"Hey, you there!" She said suddenly, pointing a crooked finger at them. They stopped, startled. She was completely hidden under her layers of cloaks and shawls, with only her face and her pointing hand visible and even then, once she folded her hands in her lap again, both of them disappeared too. Skye tilted her head to one side and walked towards her. The woman showed her a toothy grin. "Fortune?"

"I'm sorry?" Skye asked, confused. The woman let out a chuckle. She wasn't as old as one might be led to believe; no older than 35.

"Do you want you're fortune told? I'm an oracle. No charge. I can tell just by looking at you that your fortunes would be just a treat to tell, the two of you." She said, peering at them from under her shawls. Skye and Riku looked at each other and shrugged.

"Sure." Riku answered after a moment. Then woman nodded with a smile and showed them through a small door in the side of a building. It led to a rather claustrophobic staircase. Riku and Skye climbed it carefully, since it was dark inside despite the sunlight outside, and found themselves in a small room. It looked like it had been an attic that the woman had converted into her 'workshop'. There was a shelf covered in bottles filled with materials that they weren't so sure they wanted named. There was a long table sitting below a window with the heavy drapes closed, so that the only light came from the two lamps on opposite walls and the three candles on the round table in the center. The long table had tarot cards strewn across it. The round table had numerous chairs sitting around it, and a crystal ball sitting next to the candles on it, flickering strangely in the light. Riku and Skye sat down, looking at each other skeptically. The woman climbed the stairs a moment later, pulling the shawls off her head. A mass of red curls practically exploded out from underneath their wrappings, falling freely to her shoulders and making her look much younger than she had looked on the street. Or perhaps her youthful appearance was a trick of the light. She sat down opposite them and looked at them with a very business like demeanor.

"You're skeptical." She said after a moment. Both of them remained silent. They didn't really want to admit it for fear of offending her, but at the same time, they didn't want to lie. She shrugged. "No problem. I'll start with Riku, and then we'll see how you feel about my clairvoyance." She answered. Riku nodded his assent, and then blinked in surprise.

"Wait a minute, I didn't tell you…oh." He started to speak, to ask how she knew his name, but realized halfway through that she did just claim to be an oracle. Who knows, maybe she really is psychic. He gave a mental shrug, deciding that he wouldn't judge one way or the other until he heard what she had to say.

"Let's see…well, I've never seen anything like this before. Half a destiny! How about that!" She exclaimed, peering into her crystal ball. Riku stared off into space in the crystal and found that she could show him what she was seeing with it. He saw himself, and a series of images flashing before him, but with many of the major pieces in those images missing. None of them stayed long enough for him to make any sense of them, but he could see the strange gaps. Skye's figure appeared next to his a moment later, and she took his hand. Once that happened, the pictures became whole, though no less discernable to Riku than they had been before. The woman just stared, gaping. Skye was getting a little impatient, not understanding what was going on.

"What?"

"Well, this is certainly shocking!" The woman said, surprised. "His destiny only becomes complete once I look into your destiny as well! It's as if…"

"We share a destiny?" Riku asked, looking rather amused. The woman nodded.

"Exactly!" She said, thinking she'd made some grand discovery. Skye grinned.

"We knew that already." She said. The woman blinked at them, confused, and then shook her head.

"Alright then, let's take a look at what your combined destinies hold." She peered back into the crystal ball, apparently concentrating very hard. After a long silence, she looked up at them. "All of the signs point to a grand disaster. You'll work to stop it, but a betrayal will mean that you'll get there too late. And there's something else that I can't see any meaning in. I've never seen nor heard of it before. A broken lock. It will make you happy, that much I do know, though why a broken lock would make you happy I could never fathom." She leaned back in her chair. "I knew you two would be interesting, but not so confusing." She sighed. Skye shrugged.

"At least we know why we share a destiny." She said simply. The woman looked like she was going to fall out of her chair.

"You do?" She asked, leaning forward. Skye grinned sheepishly; she'd forgotten that people here didn't know about paopu fruit.

"There's a fruit, and they say that if you share it with someone you care about, your destinies become intertwined." She explained. The woman smiled knowingly.

"Well, isn't that romantic!" She cleared her throat as Skye and Riku found themselves blushing slightly. "I think I've held you two up long enough. You probably have places to be, right?" She asked with a kind smile. "We've been here for over an hour now, after all."

"We have?" Skye asked, mildly alarmed. She hadn't realized that it had been that long. The woman nodded.

"Indeed. Now, do come back and visit! I'm Amilee, by the way." She said, waving for them to follow her as she descended the steps, wrapping her shawls back around her as she went. Riku and Skye followed her out and she took her place back on the corner of the market. The couple walked down into the market, browsing through the wares.

"You think she was a real oracle?" Riku asked after a minute.

"I dunno. She knew your name, and she knew about the paopu fruit. But that's all stuff that's already happened. She could have found out some how. Who knows? It might even have been some elaborate plan from Dax to find out the location of the Rebel City." She answered, more thinking out loud than actually replying. Then she grinned. "Though most of that stuff is pretty farfetched…" she admitted sheepishly. Riku shrugged.

"I guess we'll just have to wait to find out."

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Dun dun dun! Ace is officially a terrible person… and is the oracle really able to see the future! Find out next chappie! And make sure to review please. My head is going to explode. POOF! …--head deflates--