Chapter III

"I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves."
-Ludwig Wittgenstein

Guy grunted as he was forced down on the ground of the palace floors and tried his best not to glare defiantly at the soldiers who had captured them.

"Hm...I probably should have thought to ask the captain where we were going sooner..." Luke whispered from beside the blonde. Damn, this was bad. Luke couldn't help but feel the most stupid he had ever been in his entire lifetime (excluding the time when he didn't know what Van's name meant). This was bad. Luke took a look over at Anise who was looking down at the ground low with a mean look on her face. Luke didn't know exactly what the look meant, but he could feel it wasn't a good thing.

"So you're the young heir who ran away, huh?" Luke looked up at the voice and saw a younger Peony and Luke raked his mind, was the emperor supposed to be here? Luke knew Jade was 'old' and Peony was around that age, but Luke for the life of him couldn't recall if Peony should be hiding out in Keterburg or be here. Why was that bothering him anyway? It's not like Luke always paid attention to little details before, so why...?

"What are you talking about?" Anise said brashly to the king, "This guy? Heir? He's just a mercenary I hired! So is the other guy!" The guards seemed alarmed by this information but Peony just smiled.

"Oh is that so?" Guy could tell by the tone of his voice he wasn't falling for it. But there was something off from his tone of voice, but Guy couldn't exactly match it to anything. "Hmm...I do suppose you have proof with identification?"

"Yes I do!" Anise stood up, brushing back one of the guard's spears with slight anger and started to search her breastplate. Luke and Guy both looked away as the girl kept searching for 'identification' and came up with none, predictably. Anise then heaved a fake sigh, and Luke finally knew what she was doing. "Oh no...I must have lost it after all those monster fights! Oh no...I'm so sorry!" Anise gave a fake sob, covering her face to pretend her facade was real. Luke felt that he could almost choke from Anise's performance. Choke from laughter that is, but the guards seemed moved and so did the king. Ugh, if only they knew the gald greedy girl...

"Hey, hey, hey, it's okay," Luke felt his stomach groan from holding back laughter and kept his face directly to the ground so he wouldn't have to witness Peony's comforting the nine-year-old girl who was faking her cries.

"I-I-I'm really sorry! I-I-I," Luke had to admit though, she was really good at faking the trembles of the mouth that would come out if you spoke sentences during a serious cry...not that Luke would know or anything. "I'm just so sick and tired," insert big breath, "I've been on this quest for so long! I just want to see my mommy and daddy again!"

"What quest, child?" One of the guards asked while one of the other guards went off to get a washcloth. Anise must have looked up because the Luke heard a slight groan from Guy and that could only mean that she really was faking real tears. If Anise was this good of an actor, how come she never did that before? Then again, she came awfully close when she wanted to gamble in the Keterburg casino...

"I-I-I'm going to become a Fon Master Guardian, and I needed a little help, so I hired these two! They've been with me the last half year!"

"Is that true?"

"Yes sire." Guy immediately replied, not wanting Luke to maybe end up getting them in more trouble. Peony gave a humph, and Guy watched closely to see that he wasn't extremely moved by the girl's display.

"Very well. Then you shouldn't argue with staying here until a Kimlascan soldier comes and verifies your identification." Anise seemed stunned for a moment and Luke sighed. Damn it.

"But...I only have to read one more stone, then I can go home!"

"I'm sorry little princess," Peony complimented, "but I wouldn't want to let you go if you were lying to me." Anise gave a pathetic look but Peony turned around and the soldiers stood the two teenagers up and guided all three of them to a room. Once they were in the room Anise gave a huge kick to her newest bed.

"DAMMIT! I thought for sure they'd fall for that!"

"That was fake!?" Guy asked with surprise and Luke sat down on his bed to look around the room. It was a room equipped with approximately five beds, and two windows, that were both from the second floor window. Though Luke wasn't scared of a measly second floor drop, but he was afraid of the guards that stood beneath the drop.

"Yeah, I'm pretty good at it, aren't I?" Guy stared at the dark-haired girl with amazement, he never thought a nine-year-old could have so much potential to become an actor.

"Yeah!" Guy admitted to the girl and Luke frowned, looking around some more. There had to be some way they could escape, he didn't want to be around for the time came when a soldier came about to identify him. Luke really needed to dye his hair or something, he thought to himself but then continued to look around.

"I don't think you should bother." Anise grumpily put, sitting on her bed now to look at the rapid searching redhead. "This is the capital, I'm pretty sure if they have us in a room like this, it's going to be surrounded by security."

"True...but there's usually a trick door somewhere."

"Seriously?" Anise asked, not knowing any layouts of any sort of castle or mansions, as this had been her first visit to one. The closest thing that she had been into was a castle was the Daath cathedral, but she wasn't sure if that counted.

"Usually anyway." Luke commented, scouring the room but failing to find what he wanted. This was just wonderful.

"Any luck?" Guy asked after Luke spent what seemed like thirty minutes looking. Luke shook his head and groaned loudly, sitting on his bed with a loud thunk, taking his head into his hand and concentrated. The other two stared at him, but then Anise moved in her bed to get comfortable to 'rest her eyes'. Guy looked at his empty side as they had taken all of their weapons (except Anise's Tokunaga and only because Anise pleaded 'I need my teddy-bear to sleep at night!') and sighed, knowing to give in. Why was Luke so adamant against it though? He understood about the part of needing to get to the 'original' Luke called him sometimes, but he couldn't exactly get why it was so important. The blonde really wanted to ask but Luke seemed to get so snappy about the subject of the future.

"We should just probably rest for tonight." Anise said in a tired voice, looking like she was asleep already. Guy nodded at this idea and looked over to Luke, who looked like he was attempting to come up with a plan but was having too much trouble with it.

"That's a good idea Anise." Guy said lightly, hoping that Luke would get the message, but the redhead refused and started to play with his fingers on the sheets as though it was going to help formulate a plan. Guy gave a sigh and stood up and hit Luke to the head.

"OW!" Luke's hands immediately flung to his new injury and the boy gave a light glare to his guardian, "What was that for?"

"Luke you shouldn't have to worry about something you have no control over." Luke seemed to pause at those words and gave a loud sigh in reply. Guy waited for an answer but Luke then scooted into the sheets of the bed and almost looked like he did when he first came back from the kidnapping. A little kid who needed to be tucked into bed.

"Okay, fine! Fine! You didn't have to hit me!"

"It was the only thing I could think of to get through that thick head of yours."

"Shut up." Anise and Luke's voices melded together and the three shared a tired laugh over it. Anise then closed her eyes, tired after a long day and too much fake crying. Luke also rested his eyes, still looking like a little kid with a sheet out of place. Guy was the last one to fall asleep, but he looked over the room carefully and couldn't help but feel a twinge of an unknown feeling twitch in his body.

In the morning, Anise was the first one up and she stared over at her two companions with a contemplative stare. Should she tell Mohs about them? Anise remembered lightly before she headed off that Mohs told her to tell her anything she found interesting from her journey. Anise didn't have to send any letter as she hadn't found anything that seemed out of place or interesting. That was until she saw these two however. She wasn't going to say she knew something was different from Luke the moment she set eyes upon him, after all, that was just something a romantic would say. But after spending three days with the two, Anise just knew something was off with the redhead teenager and his blonde guardian. Yeah, there was Guy's fear of women, that was strange, but there didn't seem to be anything else that was strange about him.

But Luke...Luke...Anise really didn't know why, and one of the first things she was taught as an oracle knight was to trust your instincts or the orders of your superior, and that was telling Anise that there was something strange about Luke. Anise wanted to make a report about it, that Luke could somehow come back from what should have been a possible unconscious death, that Luke seemed to know more then he let on, but Anise somehow also didn't want to.

The girl didn't want to say she was impressionable, but...it had been ages since she had hanged out with semi-normal human beings. The closest person and female to her age was that dreadful beast girl who was rumored to have actually bit Fon Master Ion. Anise couldn't exactly remember her name, nor did she really want to. Anise had an obligation to Mohs to fill out a letter and tell him of her newest adventures...Anise bit her lip, but why? Why should she?

That damned debt...why were her parents so careless with their money? It could make Anise cry if she really thought about it, but she forced herself to deal with it. This was no big deal, just fill out a letter. It's not like it'd be important or anything...Anise sighed and stood from her bed to knock at the door and request a piece of paper and pen to write a letter to her 'parents'. Being the sweet little girl she was, the guards gave into her request and she made her letter to look exactly like she said it was. A letter to her parents, but with the notes that Mohs would be able to identify that it was to him.

There, it was sent off now. No big deal, really...but why did she feel like it was? Anise shook her head and brushed back her curls, giggling slightly to herself as she could feel her hair growing longer. Anise used to have really long hair as a younger child, but she had to get it cut off when she joined in the oracle knights, but that was okay. As long as it was growing back. The nine-year-old had no time to be worrying about those sort of things!

"Luke, wake up." Anise shook the redhead, who groaned and hit her on the face sleepily and fell back to sleep. Anise glared at him with an annoyed stare but then went over to Guy, who was extremely easy to wake up. "Wake up Luke."

"Y-Y-Yes ma'am!" Anise rolled her eyes slightly, getting mildly irritated by Guy's phobia. What a stupid thing to be afraid of! Women were mostly docile creatures and there really was no reason to fear them if you were a guy! If Guy was girl on the other hand...Guy pushed Luke's shoulder to wake up him, only to get hit to the face just like Anise was. Guy sighed and Anise blinked as Guy lifted the boy easily overhead and Guy threw the redhead to another unoccupied bed. Luke's reaction was immediate, a scream and a loud thud with a slight SPROING from the bed's springs. Luke ended up flying on the other side of the bed unto the ground and he groaned.

"Guuuuyyy..."

"Sorry man, you wouldn't wake up."

"It's always the same, I never get enough sleep." Luke grumbled, his head popping from the side he fell and a hand on his forehead. Luke then looked over to Anise with half-lidded eyes, "Any news?"

"Don't think so." Luke groaned and sank back down. Guy seemed to roll his eyes, at least this part of Luke hadn't really changed. Luke treasured his sleep like an old cat in the sunshine.

"Come on, get up!" Guy yelled, walking over to the fallen Luke and giving him a light kick to his foot. Luke kicked back and turned as though it would deflect the damage already done. Guy looked over at the Fon guardian in training and requested, "Hey Anise, can you ask for a pail of cold water?"

"Nonononono! Wait! I'll get up!" Luke moaned like a pitiful baby and forced himself up with the help of the beds on his sides. Guy gave a light smirk and Luke gave a dirty glare with his messed up hair in his eyes. Anise gave a light giggle, as the glare had no effect on the blonde whatsoever. "Guy, why do you have to be so mean?"

"Why must you be so difficult to wake up?" Anise had partly witnessed this the previous mornings but she had been in and out, dealing with the old rantings of the blacksmith who had taken a liking to the dark haired girl. So now that she was watching it, Anise definitely knew there was something strange about these two.

"I'm only difficult because you make it that way."

"Uh-huh, sure." Anise shifted from her spot and looked over at the older boys as Luke in a fussy manner tried to straighten his hair out (that was one of the things Luke was particular about, why Anise wasn't even sure if she wanted to know). Humph, another day in this 'dungeon' and she knew she couldn't think of anything to escape.

"There has to be a way out." Luke started suddenly, taking another look around the room and Guy gave a sigh.

"Why don't we just bust our way through?" The only girl asked, blinking as she recalled the brashness of their escape last time. Luke frowned and Guy blinked, as though seeing something that the dark-haired girl couldn't.

"The relations between Kimlasca and Malkuth aren't exactly the best. If I was to run away and the guards actually had a chance to fight with us, Malkuth would be to blame for letting me go. I don't want to cause that kind of annoying diplomatic disaster." Guy had been surprised, he didn't know that this Luke knew about the politics that governed the lands. Another thing to add to the different Luke.

"So if we ended up escaping from the bedroom..."

"Then it's a magic act. Or so I hope. Maybe His Majesty would come up with something, he's clever like that." Luke shifted a small little bookcase that he didn't even notice because of the dark lighting. Hmm...nope, no way out through that. Luke turned to the other side of the wall and the two nodded to each other and started to help out, though staying far away from each other. Anise blinked as she found a really small wall that was slightly movable.

"Luke, over here." She addressed the boy from the other side and he came to her, smiling honestly as he pushed it through. The wall collapsed to the side and it was then Luke cast a frown. It wasn't a way out, but rather a hiding spot. A rather, small hiding spot. Luke risked a glance over at Guy who had came to his side at their new discovery. Luke's voice then forced itself to a whisper,

"We'll have to hide in here until the guards realize we're gone."

"I see, that way we can escape while they go searching for us."

"But wouldn't His Majesty know we're in here?" Anise asked in the same whisperish tone,

"If he put us in here, he's probably forgotten about this hiding spot." Guy answered the question, frowning at the thought of being stored so close with a girl. Sometimes his phobia was completely bothersome. Luke nodded at Guy's response and pointed Anise to go in first, which Luke followed after and Guy last. Guy found the lever roughly in the dark and pulled the wall back into place and they all sat and waited.

It almost seemed like hours, and that was when Luke wondered what the time was that Guy had decided to wake him up. Let's see...breakfast times were usually pretty early/late, so he would assume that one of the guards would come and either give them food, or invite them to breakfast. But Luke didn't really know Peony's sleeping schedule, so he could be completely wrong. The redhead squinted through the darkness to see Guy trembling just slightly. Well he had reason, Anise's leg was laid out and almost touching him. More time passed and it wasn't for a few more minutes when they heard a slight crash to the ground. Ah, so they had brought food.

"THEY'VE ESCAPED!" Though the trio inside their cramped space couldn't quite hear the shuffling or the murmur that went outside of their room, they all knew that there was a slight panic escaping throughout the castle walls. Guy waited for a few more minutes to go by before he opened the wall again through the use of the lever he had found earlier. Guy was inwardly impressed by the mechanics of the wall but rapidly pushed himself out, helping Luke out, who helped Anise out of the dark pit. Luke rushed towards the window and opted Anise to go first, who threw down her doll as it crashed on the ground with its transforming ability. Anise jumped on it, and turned it little again for stealth procedures while Guy and Luke followed with light thumps to the ground. The three then ran through the shadows the pillars of the castle offered and made their way out of the city.

The three made it out into the plains, all breathing uneasily as they had to keep their breath to themselves running in and out of buildings just to make sure they weren't caught.

"W...Well, what now?" Anise asked, catching her breath successfully. Guy stood straight up and looked back at the seemingly retreating Grand Chokmah and looked around to the wild plains they were caught in.

"Hide and seek." Luke numbly said, remembering faintly that they had to go through a forest that may or may not be guarded. Luke smirked to himself though, he was really good at hide and seek. Anise blinked and smiled faintly, Luke could also remember that she enjoyed a game of hide and seek. Guy rose his eyebrow at the two who associated each other with their facial gestures.

"Hide and what?"

"Hide and seek." Luke pointed towards the forest ahead of them, "I'm pretty sure there will be guards there that haven't been alerted yet. There's a lot of trees we can hide behind."

"Yeah but the guards aren't going to move from their spots." Luke frowned, oh crap...Mieu. He had completely forgotten about the annoying furball, Mieu was the one who had helped the group travel last time. Though Luke wasn't even sure the furball was alive much less equipped with the sorcerer's ring. Craaaap.

"We'll just throw some rocks in some direction or something." Anise suggested, thinking of diversions to get through the forest she had yet seen. Luke looked troubled, as though they would need that distraction. But why? A forest was a forest, surrounded by trees and shadows that could easily be crept in.

"Yeah, that's the best we can do for now." Luke agreed and Guy gave a sigh, starring again at his empty side, he really wished they could have escaped with their weapons.

"What are we going to do if we bump into some soldiers?"

"Rely on Anise." Luke answered straightforward and started to move carefully to the forest's entrance. There was one guard waiting outside of it, and Anise demonstrated her throwing abilities but hit the soldier in the head with an abruptly huge rock. The two teenagers stared at the young girl with a blank stare, who giggled,

"Whoops."

"Nevermind, let's go. It should be a little easier, but we don't want to knock them all out Anise."

"Yeah, alerting them we went this way would be a very bad thing."

"I know that!" Anise hissed at Guy, who was talking a little down to her. Guy sighed as the trio started to sneak around the forest. It took even longer to get through the forest then the city, but it was helpful that Luke faintly remembered some of the geography of the area. They even found a sword for Guy to hold unto because the blonde was still anxiously looking to his side in anxiety. Luke was the only one who was unarmed, but he had no problem with that. The forest journey ended with Anise throwing another huge rock at the end's entrance, knocking the guard out on purpose with a smug smirk on her face.

"Anise..."

"Let's go!" She ignored the skeptic stares and they ran out from the forest, being free from the darkness but far from where they wanted to be.

"If we go any further we'll just end up closer to Kimlasca territory and farther from Daath." Luke didn't need that reminder, but nodded to Guy's comment and frowned.

"...Hey, while we're here, can I go look at the last stone?" The two turned to the guardian in training and blinked.

"What?"

"It's in the area...So it'd be nice to finish my quest, you know?"

"You were serious about there being a stone in the area?"

"Of course! I know where they all are!" Anise nodded, and looked around the plains, then pulled out a map from the pockets of her suit. She pulled out one that was specifically labeled 'Malkuth' and pointed to a circled part of the map. "This is the last one that I need to see."

"Whoa...It isn't that far, we could do it." Luke commented cheerfully, as he couldn't help but think of helping Anise into the occupation of the future.

"But shouldn't we be focusing on getting out of here?" Anise frowned at Guy's fact then gave an overdramatic sigh,

"Oh I suppose we should."

"Oh wait..." Guy started but Anise continued, laughing maniacally inside her mind,

"No, you're right. I'm not important compared to Luke, we should hurry and run to a near port."

"I didn't mean-"

"Anise, it's okay. We can go." Luke just finished, not wanting to see Guy suffer anymore. Anise turned and gave the two a huge smile,

"Great! Let's go!" She started to lead the way and Guy groaned,

"Women are silly, right?"

"Right..." Guy moaned out and followed the confident girl. It was hard to deny a request from such a cute looking nine-year-old. Despite Anise's comments about how close it was, it didn't seem that close at all, especially when they reached their destination as the sun started to set. One thing was for sure in Guy's mind, if the palace's soldiers hadn't followed them, then they weren't considering the stone as one of their destinations. Or it was possible they didn't even know about the stone's location themselves, which Guy found odd in his mind because he was sure there was a war that was fought over the stones a long time ago. Oh well. They made it and collapsed near the stone's shadow in comfort,

"I'll make some rice balls," Luke said, getting up after a few moments of rest to gather the materials for the quick and easy to eat meal. Guy nodded and stared as Anise squinted at the stone, reading it carefully into her mind.

"Why are you so determined to be a Fon master guardian?" Guy asked in genuine curiosity. Anise blinked at the question and finished reading a line and turning to the blonde swordsman. Anise had never really thought about it before, she supposed it was because her parents debt to Mohs as the man insisted she become an oracle knight. A Fon master guardian would be closer to the Fon master, and that would...would what? Where had Anise got the thought of becoming a Fon master guardian? She couldn't remember.

"I guess it's because it's what I want to be." Anise made something up, shrugging over to Guy and giving the blonde a light smile. "What about you? Why are you escorting an important figurehead?"

"He's my friend." Guy answered easily, and Luke felt a slight silence overcome his mouth as he had arrived with wood materials. It never stopped amazing Luke to hear those words, to hear the fact that someone considered him as a friend. Luke remembered Asch telling him to get over that one moment when he felt abandoned just because he was a stupid brat over killing thousands. It was hard to describe, it was just something that was hard to get over, and Luke really didn't know why. But he listened carefully as Anise asked,

"Your friend?"

"Yup. He's a complete idiot, and he needs my help, because he's my idiot best friend."

"How did you get to be friends with him?"

"Well that's a long story-" Guy started but Luke felt that was when he should walk in, feeling a little lighter.

"Here's the wood." Luke cheerfully put, placing them on the ground and Guy helped put them in a proper camping position.

"Oh good, it was getting hard to read the stone." Anise admitted, letting the men do the work as she traced the words on the stone with her hand. Something felt strange about it for a moment and Anise frowned, as the fire came on with a very dimming effect. Hm...

"Come on and eat Anise, you can read after a full stomach." Guy suggested the girl and she nodded dimly, sitting next to Luke and taking a huge bite from his rice balls. She was actually surprised that the boy knew how to make it, as she had assumed most higher-ups had their own cooks. It wasn't the best thing she tasted, but she could live with it. "Not bad Luke, you've been improving!" Guy said, taking another small bite into his rice ball. 'This was an improvement?' Anise thought.

"Eh...I used to be so good at making these..." Luke admitted sadly, it seemed his cooking knowledge that he had slaved over learning (without anyone watching him) had escaped him. How sad...Though he knew that no matter what he did he could never compare to Anise's genius cooking.

"Huh? Really?" Guy asked and Anise rose an eyebrow at the question. Something was off about this conversation, "How could you screw up on a rice ball, Luke?"

"I just forgot how to make them, okay? It's been a while!" Luke answered back with a frustrated blush. Anise smiled, the strange thing about the conversation away from her mind. These two were very funny.

"Haha, sorry Luke, it just seems silly to forget how to make rice balls."

"At least I managed to make them this time! Next time I'll give you the rotten looking one instead of throwing it out!" Luke yelled at him childishly and Guy just laughed. It's weird watching them associate with each other, Anise thought. Not a bad thing, just...weird. Anise finished her last rice ball of the night and turned back to the stone, only to freeze in horror as she could see shadows casting over it from the top.

"...What the hell is that?" Anise whispered, staring at the giant looking octopus drenching its body all over the stone from the top. Anise hadn't noticed it because she had began reading from the bottom. How the hell was this thing here in the first place!? There were no nearby rivers or anything of the sort, and why was it staring down at Anise like she was a tasty morsel? At Anise's words the other two looked up and stared in the same shocked manner.

"Anise...try to back up...slowly..." Guy whispered, not bothering to see Luke's equally surprised reaction. Luke had never seen anything like it in his life. It was very huge, to be able to live comfortably on the stone and it had a pinkish hue to its shell. Anise nodded slowly and started to take a few steps back, but screamed as a slimy hand reached and wrapped around her fiercely. Tokunaga didn't need to hear the scream to know his owner was in trouble and crawled upwards to the enemy and started bashing him at the side. Guy also didn't need to hear the scream to pull out his sword and struggle up on the rock. Luke stared around carefully as he had no weapon like Guy did.

Guy made it up on the stone as the thing fell because it was hit furiously in the eye by the small plush Tokunaga. Anise followed and she yelled as it started crushing her body. Guy cursed, jumping after it and giving it a slash to the huge head, but jumped off as it did nothing. Luke came around the corner with wood lit on fire and threw it to the body, which screeched in fear and Anise's yell overcame its own as a crush was hearable. Guy turned his sword and body to yell,

"DEMON FANG!" The tentacle holding Anise fell to the ground with Anise with it, who groaned in pain and Luke stared terrified as the cut limb regrew at an alarming rate. What the hell was this thing!?

"Flame Burst!" Luke froze and turned as the creature yelled in a fury from the new damage done to his body, extremely weak against the fire artes. Luke stared and found himself frozen under the red-eyed gaze of someone who he was only familiar with from the future.

The Necromancer...

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Jade felt his mind tingle, which was...well what would most call 'odd'. Jade stared from his room in the carrier that had so graciously given to him and frowned a bit. How strange, but no matter, he was to be at Daath soon.

"You still haven't told me what you think of these new memories of mine." Guy said to the blonde-haired general. Jade looked at the blonde who had barely woken up in time to accompany him on the carrier to Daath.

"Why Guy, that is because I still have no answer to give to your question." Guy stared blankly at the man and frowned as he kept smiling his oh so pleasant smile. The blonde adult then sighed, holding his head and frowned. It was really strange, news about a future Luke and a younger him wrought in confusion. Battles and escaping soldiers because Luke didn't want to get caught, because he had to save Asch. But the strange thing was, Guy felt as though all of his other memories were starting to rewrite themselves.

"Well what about the whole Luke from the future thing?" Jade gave a dismissal shrug, not sure how answer the other's question. "Don't you find that just really strange?"

"I do," Jade admitted, "But I want to compare to Anise's memory changes before worrying about it." Jade casually committed, moving a little from his position.

"Oh...right. I forgot." Guy admitted folding his hands together with a contemplative look. "So Anise has the same kind of memories."

"I suspect," Jade replied, looking down at the letter once again (with the xoxoxoxo smeared) and Anise hadn't gone into extreme detail but she had indeed said that she had new memories. Jade felt that strange tingle in his mind again but ignored it, looking over to his companion at the moment, "Tell me again exactly what you remember," It might help to hear the details again, maybe. Jade wasn't optimistic about it. Guy nodded and began commenting about his new memories of Luke being able to do abilities that seemed beyond his experience, of a secretive nature that pertained to the future (and Guy knew now that it had to do with Van and all the other little details about the Sephiroth and replicas). Guy continued with the new comment about meeting a strange nine-year-old by the birthright of Anise and her moving doll, but she didn't seem different except a little weaker.

"And now since I've woken up, all I keep seeing is new memories as our journey happens, but I don't even know what happens."

"Hum..."

"Did you think up something new?"

"No not at all, I was just thinking how nice it would be to have some of Anise's stew when we reached Daath." Guy gave Jade a mismatched look but understood that it was just Jade's way of...being Jade. Nothing he could do about that, but he couldn't help but make the light reply,

"Yeah...it'll be really nice. I bet she's grown to be a more beautiful woman in the past year."

"Oh my Guy, I had never taken you to be that sort of person."

"Shut up Jade." Jade laughed as a blush came to Guy's cheeks at the comment Jade had made as a perverted advance.

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The trio now sat by the fireside with a new accomplice, one whom Luke kept shooting gazes back at. Anise's bones were bruised and she was currently wrapping bandages around her body with light flinches as she insisted that she could do it by herself. Anise had a few apple gels to absorb part of the pain, but it wasn't enough to make it go away completely.

"So...you're...Jade," Guy started, blinking as Luke kept his eyes on the man in a suspicious like manner.

"Yes." Jade simply answered, though spoke no more as he started sipping from a bottle he pulled out from his own backpack.

"What are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?" Anise asked brashly, not in the best mood after having been crushed by a strange sea creature, which was currently lying dead on the other side of the stone.

"I could ask the very same of you three." Jade replied lightly, staring at the three and Luke knew the smart man already knew who he really was. Luke had given him a fake name (Asch)(As he couldn't think up anything else at the time), but Luke knew just like in the future, Jade knew immediately just from the looks of born redhead who he was. Luke groaned in his mind, he really needed to dye his hair or something.

"Finishing my journey," Anise gave the blonde man her reply. Luke then looked over at Jade, the man didn't change as drastically as Anise or Guy had, in fact, the boy could tell that the man was still extremely powerful and the only difference between this Jade and future Jade was how long Jade's hair was. It looked very strange to see a Jade who didn't have hair looking like it was flouting on his shoulders, but that really was the only difference.

"Hm, one could say I was finishing my own training." Luke's ears peeked up at this but then the thought of 'training' and 'Jade' came into mind and he frowned at the thought. Jade got the title Necromancer for a reason...Maybe there were bodies lying around here or something, that thought gave Luke the creeps.

"Training? For what?" The bright blonde asked curiously and Jade just stared over with a smile. Guy couldn't help but think, 'Damn I can't tell what this guy is thinking...'

"Oh nothing special." Jade assured the trio and Luke frowned again, just thinking of the corpses that could have been dug up from around here. Just the thought of it was giving him the creeps! Luke never liked thinking badly about Jade, because the man did his best with the lack of emotions he had, but everyone once in a while his mind would remind him about the frightening fact of the experiments of the glasses-wearing man.

"If you say so," Guy replied then looked back to the smoldering corpse that was the strange octopus and back at the fonon master, "You don't look like you need much training."

"Quite the contrary, I'm still young, I always have more to learn." Luke almost felt like laughing because of the comparison of Jade saying he was so old after all in the future.

"I guess..." The only girl in the whole group tightened her binds and grunted, almost cursing to herself once again that she was relatively useless in this battle. It was so stupid!

"L...Asch, you haven't spoken all night, is something wrong?" Guy asked after a light timid break from all their questions, noticing how quiet Luke was for the moment.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired." Luke admitted, staring carefully at the genius across the fire. Jade was paying no attention to any particular thing, and Luke couldn't help but wonder if he was part of the Malkuth army or not. It didn't seem like Jade knew about the fact that Luke had escaped from the palace, and judging from the worn out way his clothes were, he had been out here for a couple of days.

"You should rest then, we'll have a big deal ahead of us tomorrow." Guy spoke to the tired teen happily. They were in the company of someone who could keep them safe if there was another one of those strange octopus creatures around.

"Okay, that sounds like a good idea." Luke said back and looked over at Anise in a slightly worried manner. Now that he thought about it, was this when Anise originally met Jade? If that was true then the strange octopus thing had attacked Anise back then too? It was all too confusing, and Luke didn't really want to think about it right now. "Anise, do you want to borrow my item bag to sleep on for tonight?" Anise nodded,

"Yeah thanks...Asch." She hesitated, not used to the disguised name because they hadn't even discussed about Luke getting a new name so it was strange. Luke nodded and gave Anise his item bag, letting the girl rest carefully with a curve for balance on her bruised ribs.

"Good night you three," Luke said, laying himself carefully, though hoping that Jade wouldn't end up dragging them back to Grand Chokmah or something to that manner while he was asleep. Luke knew he slept harder then a stone cliff rock, and Luke wanted to trust his instincts.

"Night." Anise replied back to Luke's bidding and moved around a bit to fall asleep comfortably. The last one's awake stared carefully around and bid each other their own goodnights, keeping an eye out to what would come soon.

End Chapter III

I stare pathetically at the chapter then at the readers, "I'm sorry it's a little later then I promised. I got busy and couldn't type the chapter up and lost track of time..." I bow over and over again, almost crying.
"Quit apologizing, it makes you seem pathetic."
"Not in a good mood again A-san?"
"Nope."
"Right..." I nod again and look at all of you again,
"Thanks for reading. I do not own TotA. Sorry again that the chapter is a little later and that it's a little shorter then the previous chapter...and sorry for no word from the rest of everyone, it's to build up mystery and stuff..."
"M-chan..."
"Right, right, sorry."

Thanks To.

Sieg15 ("That's very flattering, thank you. I hope this story turns out good in your opinion.")

Ana Paula92 ("I agree...sadly he won't...not until the next two chapters or something. Depends. Anyway, thanks for the review.")

killerbunbun ("Well...this may be just my opinion but those kind of emotions don't just away. Yeah, Luke may say that he thinks that they're equal, but I guess that's just my opinion. Inferiority complexes...are...well complex. But you may be right, and I'm sorry if you are." I bow, "Sorry.") Harada Risa ("I think I found a few typos last chapter, but I can't remember, and I'm trying to improve." I bow, "Thanks.")

LatyfeSurLeSora ("Yup, just from knowing the future, you can change it. Asch got the same ability indeed...though he can't do much at the moment." I laugh uneasily, "Thanks for the review.")

Meimi no Kage ("You have no idea how much that relieves me, because I had thought that I actually wrote him completely out of character, with just a little hint of him. But I'm glad that my reasoning was good." I bow once again, "Thank you so much, your compliment makes me incredibly happy."

cherryblossoms24 ("Tear they won't see for awhile, but they will eventually. Mieu...well like the chapter said, Luke isn't even sure he's born at the moment, so who knows? Hahaha")

Chaotic Blades ("...Well that is true...that won't happen." I laugh, "But it would be an amusing thing to happen to the story if it did." I laugh again then smile, "Hmmm, what's going to happen with Van indeed?")