A/N:
Disclaimer: I do not own the Tales of series, they belong to Namco.
Pairing: Main Asch x Luke, Flynn x Yuri, Richard x Asbel.
One-sided Yuri x Luke, Natalia x Asch, Tear x Luke, and Guy x Flynn.
Hints of possible Jade x Guy and Ion x Sync.
Warning: Contains Yaoi, language and blood, OC's included, Skits and diaries included (Mainly by Luke), Luke is the main here, and OCC characters possibly.
Helpful Tips:
Crossover- Titles
Crossover- Skits/Current Date/Setting/Location/Diary
Crossover- Thoughts/Flashback/Artes/Emphasis/Weapons Name
Crossover- Normal speaking/Present Time
Chapter 3: Torii
Luke Diary Entry 1-2: The Plan
Apparently, Yuri and I were attacked a few hours after we arrived in Capua Nor by Arietta the Wild monsters. That brat…She still hasn't given up the thought of revenge for the Liger Queen (Her mother). It was annoying to fight since we were surrounded by citizen and Yuri was quick-witted enough to come up with a plan. We both made a run for it after knocking down Arietta monsters and found some place to hide.
Yuri idea was that we slightly switch places; that vigilant was suppose to disguise himself as me and distract Arietta and other Oracle Soldiers while I head to the port to meet up with Aaralyn.
What I wanted to know was…How long did Yuri keep that red wig and those cloths?
He said, "Just in case, Luke."
I was against Yuri for putting himself in danger for me when he had nothing to do with my mission. But, that guy seemed more stubborn than me it looks like.
He told me to get out of the Imperial Knights cloths I wore and wear the cloths he had gotten. After that, we parted ways.
I couldn't believe it…
Aaralyn was definitely at the port there, but someone else was there with her.
Asch the Bloody, God-General of the Oracle Knights and…my original, our greetings were short and at least we weren't fighting. I grabbed Aaralyn hand and headed to the ship, I didn't glance at Asch behind me, but I knew what might've gone through his mind.
As expected, Aaralyn was mad that I didn't tell her anything about Asch. How could I when I was trying to find the words to tell her…?
The ship began to rock as if hit by earthquakes, Luke stumbling slightly in the hallways of the cabin section while looking for Aaralyn. When the ship stabilized, a novice Imperial Knight working on the ship saluted through seemed panicked.
"Sir, we have been attacked by…" The novice knight gulped. "…Assassin Rakshasa."
A blur of red and white dashed past the novice knight, who looked startled and looked to see the redhead Captain climbing up to the decks.
"Where is she…?" Luke mumbled, frantically searching for Aaralyn.
He had paled at the name of "Rakshasa" and if that ambitious man was here, then he had to find the Guide quickly. That man was quite skilled in stealth and dirty work, but never compared to the redhead Captain that clashed swords with him several times. Luke could still remember clear as day of Rakshasa declaration to humiliate the redhead Captain and be promoted to a high status in the Imperial Knights.
"I'll kill you! I'll make you pay for all of this and have you taste the dirt when I'm above you!"
Luke could only shake his head at such foolish arrogance, even he an idiot could tell. Right now, it's best to-
"Eagle Dive!" A deep, rough voice shouted from above.
The redhead stepped forward in time for a kick to be dropped, sending a shock wave that forced Luke to be sent backwards before it calmed again. Luke stood up, his arm over his eyes to block the cloud of dust and waited for it to clear.
The attacker revealed to be a man in his twenties with chopped, spiky brown hair. His features catlike like his stance bent and lowered. A scar covered his tanned cheek and his lips twitched into a feral grin. He wore lighter clothing that held the design of the Imperial Knights on the black fabric that clung to his fit-build body. On his hands equipped with claw like gauntlets.
"Rakshasa." Luke said bitterly, almost disgusted.
Damn, what a worst time to appear now.
"Hee-hee!Looks like the prey has been found!" Rakshasa said enthusiastically, standing up straight now. "And it turns out to be the cocky Captain of the Imperial Knights under Commandant Scifo division!"
"Cocky you say?" The redhead Captain repeated, a small smirk gracing his features. "Shouldn't that be you?"
There was a loud, boisterous laughter erupted eerily from Rakshasa.
"Quite a mouth you have, eh?" The assassin laughter died down, when facing Luke again it was no longer a grin, but a scowl that glared at the redhead. "That's what I hate about brats like you! One of the traits I hate the most so much I wanna tear into pieces!"
"Sorry if you hate me too much coming from a sore loser." Luke countered very sarcastically, earning a raging yell from Rakshasa that charged at him out of nowhere.
Luke side-stepped at the thrust of the clawed hand and unsheathed his Ultimatus to slash upward at Rakshasa upper body, earning a screeching painful sound that imitated a mighty lion falls. The redhead didn't stop there as continued his attack to jump up and drop a downward slash.
"Fang Blade!"
It was easy to defeat the assassin due to his anger clouding his judgment. What an irony since he was an assassin that supposes to act stealth here. Apple green eyes watch the body fall against the wooden floor of the deck, of course, Luke had no intention to kill him since Rakshasa is part of the Imperial Knights no matter what.
Luke sheathed his Ultimatus to see a group of soldiers with the novice knight from earlier marching up to him. They all saluted respectfully.
"Captain Luke, sir." The novice Knight greeted before looking at the assassin. "What should we do with him, sir?"
"Tie him up and put him in a cabin somewhere, make sure to keep a close eye on him." The redhead Captain ordered, turning around and heading to find Aaralyn. "Who knows what tricks he might be up to."
"Sir!" The entire soldiers behind him shouted.
Now to find Aaralyn…
Of course, the blond woman had felt that tremor from before and had to grab on a nearby rope used to hang the sails to stabilize herself. When the tremors were finished, she can assume something happened.
Shortly after the tremors, the deck began to shake as if a meteorite had fallen onto the ship and caused it to quake again. A few minutes later, it ended and she sighed in relief when finally gone.
"Geez, who the heck is crazy enough to do that on a ship?" Aaralyn asked no one in particular, hearing a familiar redhead calling her name.
"Aaralyn!"
The blond woman turned around to face Luke, who looked relieved when he saw her.
"Luke? What's wrong?" Aaralyn asked, blinking and stood up straight.
"Someone had intruded on this ship earlier, apparently to get in my way and I was afraid for a moment that something happened to you." Luke answered, smiling softly.
"As you can see, your concerns are unnecessary." The blond woman reassured Luke, looking away with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Yeah."
"So…When are we getting to our destination?" The blond woman asked.
"It should be in another hour or so, you should rest in the cabin while I take care of some business." Luke suggested.
"The intruder?"
There was a nod from Luke, which answered any future questions that might be asked.
Skit 7: Homesickness
Luke notices that Aaralyn loud sigh of depression, his concern grows.
Luke: Something wrong, Aaralyn? You're sighing quite a lot there…
Aaralyn: Oh, well I'm stuck with you till we return to Terca Lumireis after your job is done. I always wanted to see the outside world since I was only a teacher in the Mura No Kiri and only Guides that proved themselves could go outside the world.
Luke: Well, you are outside your home and seeing the world right now, are you?
Aaralyn: True and I am a Guide now…But I can't help miss the children back home since I have the feeling this will be a long trip.
Luke: Don't worry; it'll be over before you know it, Aaralyn.
Luke smiles, making Aaralyn smile back
Aaralyn: You're right, Luke.
Skit Ends
It was late evening the time the two reached Aurnion, both choosing to head into Egothor Forest in the morning they booked at an inn to stay for the night.
The two having separated rooms, but still close to each other in case something happens. Aaralyn in her room was busy brushing her hair and getting ready to sleep. The redhead Captain was in his room, already lying down on his bed, through not sleeping yet.
Luke had his hands folded behind his head like a pillow and one leg cross the other, sometimes staring at the ceiling and other times staring at the window which was pitched black outside.
"Just a little more and I'll be back in Auldrant…" Luke thought to himself, closing his eyes and letting sleep takeover.
The next day, early morning both Luke and Aaralyn marched through the forest. They encountered some monsters along the way which wasn't surprising.
After defeating the twenty-fifth monster in the row, the blond Guide had crouched down to a kneeled Luke. The redhead Captain had kept a hand over his forearm, crimson staining the white coat he wore and apple green eyes glanced at the crimson-eyed woman. The blond woman held her hand out when Luke grip over his forearm lessened and fall, revealing a deep, nasty red cut.
"O gentle light(1)…First Aid!" Aaralyn chanted as her hands glow a soothing light, fixing Luke cut till it left not even a scar. "That should do it."
"Thanks." The redhead Captain stood up, helping the blond woman up as well.
"As a support person, it's normal." The blond Guide stated. "But you're welcome either way."
"Right…" Luke gave an expression of doubt at Aaralyn statement before they started to walk further.
They walked further into the forest with Aaralyn taking lead and Luke behind her. The redhead Captain trusted Aaralyn with being his Guide through this forest. She had the knowledge and experience, more than Luke himself when it comes to geography.
"Apparently, the border shouldn't be that far from here." The blond Guide spoke up. "I remember that it should be some sort of Torii(2) in the more rocky part of this forest."
"Torii? What's that?" Luke asked, he never heard such a term before.
"Well, it's a traditional eastern gate that's very old, so no one knows where or what exactly they are other than it being some sort of gate. Usually they would stand as an entrance I heard." Aaralyn explained, her teaching mode coming in.
"Oh, that sounds interesting. I wonder what it's like…" Luke mused to himself.
"It's hard to say what it's like, so you have to see it for yourself." The blond Guide heard the muses. "Looks like we're near there, Luke."
True to Aaralyn words, the forest scenery changed to a more rocky landscape. Their footings were careful due to the uneven grounds full of rocks. The redhead captain looked around the area, not seeing this "gate" the blond Guide mentioned earlier and it was beginning to irritate him.
"We have been looking around for an hour and I still haven't seen this Torii, Aaralyn!" Luke finally snapped, narrowing his eyes toward the back of the blond Guide head.
"Shut up for once and we're here!" Aaralyn snapped back, halting to a stop.
"Please, I don't even-"Luke doubts melt away when he saw the gate the blond Guide mentioned.
About twenty meters tall, two thick wooden post shoot up toward the sky and supported two beams, the top curved upwards. Painted bright scarlet, it would've been elegant if it weren't for the state of it rotting and covered in dirt.
"Woah…" The redhead Captain simply said.
"Told you it's hard to describe it. " Aaralyn scoff, walking up to the Torii now and stopped in front of the gate. "You need to see it for yourself."
"What are you doing now?" Luke asked with a raise eyebrow.
"Praying."Was the obvious answer.
"…Okay." The redhead captain said awkwardly.
Luke watched as Aaralyn clapped her hands together into a prayer. A glyph formed beneath her feet, the design foreign to the redhead captain as he noticed some electricity came to life around the post. The white jolts became more visible, a crackling noise more audible by the minute when the space within the gate emerge in a hazy like manner. Aaralyn stopped chanting and the glyph disappears before she turned to Luke.
"It's ready now, we just have to pass through and we'll be at Auldrant now. " The blond Guide announced. "But…I have some warnings I have to tell you no matter what."
"Warnings?" Luke repeated.
"Yes, that's correct." Aaralyn nodded her tone grim."First, make sure you keep me in your sights as I'm leading here. If you lose me and we separate, then you are stuck inside the mist for eternity."
"Haha...I'll make sure to remember that." The redhead Captain laughed nervously at the last statement. "Is that all?"
"One more thing, most effective way to make sure we don't separate is that we keep close to each other." The blond Guide showed an example by grabbing Luke wrist and started dragging him close to the gate. "Like this."
"Eh?" Luke blinked.
"Now, let's go then. The gate entrance won't last long."
Gnome Decan, UndinedayN.D. 2023,Auldrant
In the Grocer Hamlet in the Malkuth territory, Engeve was bustling through with their harvested crops and markets. Inside the Mayor Rose home, there was a dark blond haired man in his twenties wearing the traditional blue Malkuth Uniform, pushing his glasses against the bridge of his nose and took a sip of his tea from his seat. His crimson eyes watched the other man, with lighter blond hair that leaned against the wall, wearing black trousers and a cream yellow vest over his white shirt. But his gaze turned back to the Mayor, Rose listening politely to the problem at hand.
"As it stands, it seems that there are Ligers at the Cheagle forest again." Rose went straight to the point. "I know it's rude to bother you about this problem again, Colonel Curtiss especially after you and few others had helped us before."
"No madam, it's quite alright." The dark blond man stood up. "We took care of it before; it's not different from now."
"Really?!" Rose exclaimed.
"Yes." A smooth voice of a female perked their ears.
They turned their heads to see a woman around her twenties wearing a brown uniform that signifies she's with the Order of Lorelei. Her long silvery gray hair flutters back and forth, parts of her bang slide to one side to cover one of her sky blue eyes. She wields a staff in one hand as she walked in.
The other blond haired man moved away from his place, a hand gripping the hilt of his noble family sword. He smiled politely.
"What did you find, Tear?" The Colonel asked, through sounded like a demand.
"I found someone we know that could help us with the Liger problem. " The woman named Tear answered. "He seemed enthusiastic to see us again."
"Wait, you don't mean…" The lighter haired blond spoke when a furry blue creature floated inside the house from behind Tear, appearing shy.
"Well, well…If it isn't Mieu." The Colonel greeted with a smile. "How are you?"
"Mieu…I'm fine, Jade!" The creature, Mieu greeted back with cheerfulness turning to meet the other blond. "It's nice to see you again, Guy!"
The blond name Guy grinned, letting Mieu sit on his shoulder for now.
"Ms. Rose, it seems that we'll be heading our way now that we have gathered the necessary people." Jade informed the Mayor, who nodded.
"All right, but be careful. I heard this Liger Queen is fiercer than the last one."
The trio had left Engeve before midday after gathering their supplies together. Mieu now in Tear arms chatted away to both Guy and Jade amusement at Tear weakness for cute things.
"It's been so long since we started to gather like this and went on an adventure." Guy began to speak, earning the others attention.
They all stopped to look at Guy, who gave a nostalgia expression and stared at the blue sky full of Fon Belts.
"Yes, indeed…Five years to be exact since he…disappeared…." Tear spoke softly, her tone full of sorrow.
"Natalia said that he betrayed us and nearly tried to kill her. " Jade reminded them, his tone neutral as ever. "Apparently, she appeared convincing enough."
"Well…I wouldn't believe that he do something like that." Guy argued, narrowing his eyes at the Colonel words.
"I'm merely restating what happened."
"Enough, you two." Tear smooth voice broke them apart before an argument would start. "We should hurry to the Cheagle Forest and do something about those Ligers."
Guy scratched his head nervously while the Colonel only shrugged his shoulders.
"You're right. Sorry about that." Guy apologized.
"No matter, as Tear said we should hurry." Jade smiled and they continued their walk toward North were the Cheagle Forest is.
After the hardships of walking through that dense mist and almost had gotten lost within the space, here he was. The familiar sky full of Fon Belts and the air simmering with fonon particles surge through his body like medicine. There wasn't any need for the glasses since it seemed to have gotten blurry when he still had them on when taking a step into the grass. So he took them off, his vision clear as day.
The familiar forest of where his journey had started, The Cheagle Forest.
The redhead was filled with glee but at the same time filled with fear.
Luke knew that he wasn't supposed to be here since he was dead to them after all. He was betrayed and left to die all alone in a foreign land that wasn't Auldrant. Five years and he returned here.
His thoughts wondered to the others. Did they care that he wasn't there? Did they miss him? Or did they not even spare a thought that he was gone at all?
The redhead Captain sighed, it didn't matter…He had to remember why he came here for.
As Captain Luke, no one else and that's it.
"Hey, Luke!" Aaralyn shouted as she caught up to him.
The redhead Captain had run ahead earlier in a hurry the moment they left the Torii. It took a while for the blond woman to catch up to Luke since she lost him a few times in this unfamiliar forest.
Aaralyn stopped when she was next to Luke, catching her breath. This forest sure had a strange feeling and the air brimming with power. The blond Guide had noticed Luke without his glasses and his expressions conflicted with anticipation? No…It was excitement and fear that were in a struggle.
"Where is this place, Luke?" Aaralyn asked, looking around the forest.
"If I remember correctly, this is the Cheagle Forest." Luke answered, his gaze never moving from in front of him.
"Cheagle Forest?"
"Yeah, home to the Cheagles, sacred beast to the Order of Lorelei." The redhead captain explained.
"Lorelei? You mean the rumored sentient being of the seventh fonons?" The blond woman questioned quizzically.
Luke gave a small nod. "That's right. Anyway, we should find a way out of here first and stop to the nearest town which is Engeve here."
"Oh, the Grocer Hamlet village…." Aaralyn mused, impatient to see what Auldrant really looks like for real.
Before the two could begin to leave the forest, a blinding flashing light from distances away erupted throughout the entire forest. Forcing both Luke and Aaralyn to close their eyes and opened them when the light faded away.
"What the hell was that…?" Aaralyn exclaimed, bewildered of the light just now. "Luke, do you-LUKE?!"
The blond Guide shouts were deaf to the redhead Captain when he began to dash where the light was. Shortly to Aaralyn dislike, she began to follow after the stupid redhead again.
Luke knew what that light could possibly be and if he's right, then it's one heck of a déjà vu.
Skit 8: Déjà Vu
Tear: This takes me back then five years ago.
Jade: Yes, indeed it does, Tear.
Guy: Really? What does?
Mieu: Mieu! When I first met Master, Tear and Jade!
Guy: Huh? Oh yeah, when Luke had disappeared from the Duke Fabre Manor by the hyperresonance while you were attempting to assassinate your brother, Tear?
Tear: Yes, that's right…I had the impression of Luke as a spoiled brat…But after Akzeriuth, he truly wanted to change….
Tear looks down while the others faces become serious.
Jade: I would like to believe that Luke wanted to change, but after that incident with nearly attempting to murder Natalia. It's impossible to trust him.
Guy: You may say that, Jade…But I believe that Luke wouldn't do something like that no matter what.
Mieu: Mieeuu….Master….
Mieu looks sad.
Jade: Either way, we aren't even sure of Luke status right now. It's been five years now, he might be dead or perhaps found a new life somewhere.
Guy: Now don't say that!
Guy raises his voice which is rare, Tear frowns and glares at them both.
Tear: Enough! We should focus on the Ligers right now and discuss this later.
Both Guy and Jade are silent and leaves, which left Tear and Mieu alone. Tear looks down again, speaking to herself in a soft, sad tone.
Tear: Luke…Are you alive still? If so…Please let Guy words be true at all cost…
Mieu: Master wouldn't hurt his friends…
Tear: I know, Mieu…
Skit Ends
A/N:
"O gentle light(1)…First Aid!"- Apparently, there are many different incantations for the Arte, First Aid. So I thought...Make up my own, but the actual Arte will still be the same.
Torii(2)-
I looked it up on different sources for designs of it, but generally is a Shinto architecture that appears as entrances to shrines and such. The belief was that it suppose to act as a gate for the world and the next world. This is what a Torii looks like:
Site: wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Torii_ /250px-Torii_ .png