Part Two: A Precious Feeling

Worried, Ion crouched beside his injured companion. He pressed his fingers to her pulse, checking her throat and wrists. Reassured by the strength of the beats, he brushed her dark hair out of her eyes. He was trembling, out of both anxiety and his own weakness ever since he had cast that Daathic Arte.

Oh, how he wished he had Sync's durability when it came to Daathic Artes…he'd be so much more useful then…

"Anise? You need to wake up, you have to eat this." He pulled out an Apple Gel and held the sticky sweet substance to her lips. "It will give you the strength you need. Anise, please!"

She stirred slightly and groaned.

What he wouldn't give to be a Seventh Fonist. "Anise!"

Ion blinked in surprise as she grabbed his shoulder, her fingers digging into his robe, pulling herself into a sitting position. She almost instantly slumped against him, and the Fon Master carefully repositioned her so she could lean more comfortably. Her blood was staining his white robes, but he couldn't bring himself to care. "Here." He offered her the Gel, and her eyes focused blearily on it. Taking it from him, she nibbled the edges, making a face. A slash on her cheek was weeping red.

"Thank you, for protecting me." Ion told his Guardian solemnly. He gave her an affectionate one-armed hug, being mindful of her wounds as he did so.

Anise had already devoured half the Gel—she looked better. Or at least her gaze was more focused now. She mustered a smile. "It's my job, isn't it?"

"Nevertheless," Ion replied. The Fon Master didn't keep many items on him, but fortunately Anise did have a few tucked away in her pockets. One of the other uses for Gels would be their medicinal properties when applied externally. While nowhere near as effective as healing Artes, they would dry up and help stop bleeding and infection.

There was a reason they cost one hundred Gald just for one blob of jelly the size of your palm.

Ion carefully spread an Apple Gel across a slash on her arm, speaking as he did so. "Do you know where the others are?"

Anise frowned, holding her outstretched appendage steady. "I know where the Albiore is, and Noelle, but Luke and the rest…" She shook her head. "Bad news, Ion. Gloomietta is here too."

Ah, the female God-General was in the canyons as well? Most unfortunate…He still hoped he could talk some sense into her, he didn't find her quite so bad. "We need to find our friends as soon as we can."

"Yup," Anise drawled as she stood up, stretching her arms over head head until the joints popped.

Ion rose as well, concern evident on his young face. "Are you sure you can walk? Do you need to rest?"

She waved him off. "We don't have time! Let's go!" She took a few steps and then promptly stumbled. Ion rushed to catch her, feeling pretty shaky himself still. Fatigue ate at the edges of his vision, but he gritted his teeth, resisting its dark allure of rest. If Anise could still stand after the beating she took from Sync, not even fully healed after the crash, he could take some tiredness.

Anise had one arm slung over his shoulders, and her breaths came quick and hard.

"Can you use Tokunaga still?" queried Ion worriedly.

The puppeteer shrugged. "I don't know, I don't think so…" At his flummoxed look, she went on. "It takes energy to operate him, not a lot but…"

She weighed less than he thought. Ion readjusted his grip on her as he continued to support his Guardian. "I think we should stay here then, until you're strong enough to use Tokunaga at least. What if we get attacked by—"

"No, let's go." Anise pulled her arm back but continued leaning against him. "Gloomietta and Sync could be attacking the rest right now!"

Ion studied her shining brown eyes and knew that she wasn't going to back down. "Very well," he sighed. "But slowly."

She nodded at that, and the two friends started towards the exit to the dead-end valley, their movements careful and precise.

It was nice, Ion thought, to be able to help his Guardian for once. Normally he never was of much use.

~*X*~

Arietta paced back and forth on her big brother Liger—(or to be more accurate, he paced and she rode)—clutching her doll tightly. Her pink-red eyes were narrowed in anger, and she sat stiffly, like a queen on her throne. Several of her monsters lounged around on the cliff ledge, licking their wounds and dozing off, but the God-General merely went on waiting.

One of her bird sentries that had survived the battle squawked overhead, and Arietta instantly understood the message, as did her Liger. He stopped and pulled himself up high so that he towered over the rest of the rabble even more than usual.

A very battered, but oddly grinning, Sync the Tempest hauled himself over a rock that was hiding the monster group from view. He dropped down lithely, wincing as an apparent injury in his leg protested against the action. He looked up and stiffened as he noticed Arietta's quiet look of unrestrained fury.

Then, inexplicably, she pounced. She was infuriated, dropping her precious stuffed animal even as she surged towards him, leaving her Liger behind. She swiped at his face, her sharp nails creating five new bleeding scratches on his cheek.

"Sync!" She screamed, anger boiling within her. "I said don't hurt Master Ion!"

Sync looked taken aback. "What are you talking about?" He demanded.

"My monster friend…" Arietta took in a deep breath and shook her head. She hadn't lost control like that since she had been newly "tamed", back when…it hurt just to think about. "He says Ion had blood on his robes, and he looked like he could barely stand."

"That's his fault," Sync growled, putting a hand on his cheek and checking his glove for blood. There was a lot of it. He scowled.

"What do you mean?" Arietta asked. When she got no response, she kept insisting until he snarled a reply.

"Your precious Fon Master used a Daathic Fonic Arte on me. He tired himself out; I didn't touch a green hair on his stupid little head."

"Don't talk about Ion like that," Arietta the Wild reminded him, but her eyes gleamed with relief. That was good, the Master was fine. It must have been Anise's blood on his robes…she frowned. Did she really want to kill Anise…? Not yet, not really, she just wanted her job back.

"Looks like you lost," Sync sneered as he saw the bleeding monsters behind her. Arietta turned to her friends and gave them all a reassuring, thankful smile.

Facing her companion again, she shook her head, pink tresses swaying. "We'd not have lost if you had shown up like you said!"

Sync just smirked at her accusing tone. "Relax, will you? I went to put a Curse Slot on Anise."

Arietta didn't know what a Curse Slot was exactly, but it sounded bad. She gave a little smile that showed her sharp canines.

"Your monsters don't look to be in too bad a shape," Sync observed.

"I ordered us to retreat." She padded to the edges of the ridge and gazed out over the valley, dotted with green. She imagined Master Ion somewhere out there, with Anise, and she felt her face shift with worry.

"Have they regrouped?"

Arietta nodded.

"Well." Sync punched one fist into his glove, smiling nastily. She didn't even have to look to know it was there. "Let's get them again tomorrow, they won't be expecting it."

Curiously, she peeked at him. "Why tomorrow? Why not tonight?"

The masked God-General pointed up at the sky, where ominous gray storm clouds gathered. "They won't be going anywhere."

Satisfied, she hummed in agreement. Something occurred to her, at that moment. "Sync?"

"What?"

"Will Anise enjoy the Curse Slot?"

Sync saw past the innocence in her voice. His lips pulled back in a sneer. "Oh, she'll have the best time of her life, I guarantee it."

Arietta the Wild gave a shark-toothed grin.

~*X*~

Ion laughed and Anise joined in, giggling along with him.

"I love Mama and Papa," Anise went on, wiping away an imaginary tear of mirth. "But they're so easy to trick it's not even funny."

He tilted his head to the side in response to the sudden hardening of her eyes as she said that last bit. At his inquisitive stare, she merely smiled, leaving him to wonder if he had imagined it.

They were wandering down the valley pathways, slowly but surely making their way back to Noelle. The paths that Anise had rushed down earlier seemed to take three times as long to traverse. Ion was exhausted, his limbs trembling like a leaf in the gale. Anise had recovered, and she was holding him up now instead of the other way around, like it had been previously.

"Are you sure you don't want to rest?" Anise asked him anxiously, her voice losing the joviality it had held during her story. Her brown eyes were unusually gentle.

Ion met her gaze, and then shook his head, summoning a smile. "I'm fine," he lied even as something unexpected happened.

He coughed.

The Fon Master doubled over, coughing so much that he couldn't take in any air. His lungs ached and darkness chewed away at his vision, leaving him a ragged circle to see out of. The world spun and the green-haired boy felt as if he was about to collapse onto the soil. Anise lowered him to the ground, and he curled up against her shoulder, trying in vain to breathe.

"Ion! Ion, are you okay?" Anise's panicking was understandable. He had never had an attack like this before.

The Replica was suddenly reminded of one of his few encounters with his Original. The Original had had the same cough, the same pale face he was certain that he bore also, at least at this moment. The Original had died from the mysterious illness. Ion knew he didn't have the same disease, but the overexertion of his Seventh Fonons must be…

"Can we…find somewhere…?"

"To rest? Yeah, sure! I'll…um…it's not safe out here, Ion." Gears turned in her head. "I've got an idea!" She declared with a bit more of her old energy than before. Tokunaga blossomed to his full size in a spray of glowing Fonons, and Anise forced him to kneel at an awkward angle on his short legs. "You can ride Tokunaga, and I'll find us somewhere safe to sleep for the night."

"Didn't you…aren't you worried about Luke and the others?" Ion rasped. He felt a bit steadier, and his heart was starting to ease its frantic thumping. Still, he continued to sit there in the grass, head tilted back to survey the sky. Angry leaden storm clouds were swirling above them.

"Yeah, but face it Ion, we're in no condition for a fight." Anise ran a hand through her dark hair, following his emerald gaze to the heavens. "Oh great! Just what we need! Rain!" She groaned and stamped a foot in a childish fit of anger. Shaking her head so hard that her pigtails swung, she gestured at Tokunaga. "C'mon I'll help you on. Let's find somewhere to rest."

It wasn't a childish fit, Ion corrected himself as he sat cradled in Tokunaga's arms. He would've felt slightly embarrassed, but he was too tired to care. Besides, Anise rode this thing all the time, right? His Guardian had her arms crossed, her actions causing her puppet to do the same. She squared her small shoulders and kept walking. She's only twelve…

And I'm only two.

"A cave," Ion remarked after a few minutes had passed in silence. Anise shoved a briar tendril out of her way, only slightly wincing as the thorns pricked her palms. "There must be one somewhere along these walls."

"Good idea, let's get off the path." Her tone signified how lowly she thought of this, but in the end she hopped onto Tokunaga and took up her usual place. He noticed her shoulders were starting to sag a few minutes into the wilder areas of the stony valley.

It took energy to operate her doll, did it not? The sooner they found shelter the better.

Ion felt sleepy. He knew this had the potential to be dreadfully dangerous so he was careful to keep his eyes open, rolling his staff between both hands to keep some part of his body busy. The absent motions helped to clear his mind.

He looked up at his Guardian, who was clutching Tokunaga's ears and staring off into the straggly vegetation, her stare savaging the rock walls as if they held great treasure. A rush of affection for her swept throughout his entire body. His Guardian, he had picked her well…

Ion still recalled how he had first met her. He recalled that it had been her that had first made him laugh. He had been a newborn Replica at the time, and Anise had been there for many of his firsts. His first snowfall, his first birthday—(not that she knew this)—his first winter holiday…

And she thought him the Original. Oh she must have never directly met his Original if he thought him to be him. The Original had had such an emotionless smile, little more than the baring of teeth, and an intimidating darkness hiding behind his eyes.

Thunder rumbled overhead, and Ion blinked up at the sky in time to get a fat rain droplet on his nose. It was warmer than he expected, and the tiniest of breezes stirred the plants in the high-walled canyons. The light dimmed, nearly extinguished, and lightning surged across the sky with a wild snarl.

He remembered his first storm—Anise had giggled as he jumped up from his desk with a yelp at the booming…

The water dripping from above increased into a drizzle, and that promised to become a veritable torrent if they didn't find shelter soon.

"There!" Anise sounded relieved, and Tokunaga picked up his pace until, following the unfortunate eradication of some dried up ferns, they ducked inside of a cavern.

It was large and wide inside, the ceiling was only a foot above of Tokunaga's head. Ion got off and Anise shrunk her stuffed animal again, slinging him onto her back. She slouched over, and he offered her his hand, helping her regain her balance.

"Thanks," she muttered, looking more exhausted than he had ever seen her.

"Let's go to the back," he invited, watching his Guardian closely for signs of fainting. They managed to get to the very rear of the cave, and they sat down close together, completely and utterly worn out. Ion felt like he could nod off at any moment, and Anise's head was resting on his shoulder.

The rainstorm howled outside, and soon they couldn't see anything at all past their safe haven. The red-brown stone was smoother than any of them had expected, and the only other living creature in the cave was a dozing bat in the upper left corner. It paid them no mind.

"Thank you, Anise. I know I must make you worry a lot," Ion apologized once his body was no longer trembling. He still imagined that if he went to sleep now, he'd be knocked out for a moon's cycle.

"S'okay," she mumbled, eyes half-way closed. He saw her smile. "Stop apologizing, it's my job, right Ion? And besides…you're…" She trailed off, and he decided to attribute that to her weariness.

(Even though he swore that she had a tear on her face, but maybe it was a stray raindrop?)

Ion hesitated, and then he pushed his fingers through hers, their hands already touching on the lukewarm rock beneath them. Color flooded her cheeks but Ion just smiled.

"It's too early to go to sleep," Anise grouched, surprising him by sitting up and meeting his gaze. Her brown eyes gleamed in the semidarkness. "Do you think the Colonel and Luke and the rest are okay?"

"I'm sure they're fine, they have Tear and Natalia after all to heal them, and Guy is very observant."

A sudden noise made Ion pause and look out into the gloom, but all he saw in the gray was more gray. Perhaps…a sound from the storm, and that was all?

Perhaps…

~*X*~

Sync may have been called the Tempest but by no means did he enjoy being out in one. Despite his qualms with the weather (and the world in general) the God-General tramped around the valley, following the energy trail of his Curse Slot that he had implanted on Anise's shoulder, just like the one he had stamped onto Guy.

For once he didn't mind his golden mask; it offered his eyes some protection from the gale. He trotted towards a smooth cave that sliced into the stone wall at a low angle, crouching down near to the ground and slinking along like one of Arietta's Ligers. The female God-General was back at their base, tending to her precious monsters and completely unaware that he was about to activate the Curse Slot right now.

She'd likely have a fit anyway, but this was something that Sync wanted to see alone…and he also would just love to see Ion's reaction to his Guardian…

The notion made Sync smirk to himself, and he ended up snapping a branch under his boot. He stiffened, and he saw Ion's green gaze swing around to stare at him. Fortunately, the seventh Replica's eyes were searching but unseeing. The God-General was too engulfed by the warm rain drip-dropping all around him to be seen.

As "Ion" looked away, returning to his conversation with his Guardian, Sync opened the palm of his hand wide as he sidestepped into the shadow of a high reaching valley plant that offered some protection from the deluge.

His fist closed with a momentary flash and a snap!

~*X*~

Ion didn't understand it. One moment Anise was talking to him normally, and then her shoulder let off a glaring purple shine.

It couldn't be…

He stared at the snaking sigil glowing on her skin in horror.

A Curse Slot!

Anise's words stopped mid-sentence. Her entire body went slack and he saw the intelligent light fade from her chocolate gaze to be replaced with something baser, primal. She was staring at him blankly, as blankly as the other Ion Replicas had looked at one another when they had been "born".

"Anise…?"

Suddenly, she lunged at him. Ion gasped, reaching for his staff, not sure what to expect. It certainly wasn't this.

Her mouth was on his, her fingers tangling themselves in his hair, and in his shock he ended up dropping his staff again. The clink sounded overly loud compared to the monotonous drone of the rain outside.

Ion knew very well what kisses were, had seen plenty of them, but had never experienced one himself. Another first that she had shared with him—a kiss. But still, even though some part of him he hated to admit found it enjoyable, his whole being agreed this wasn't right. It shouldn't have been like this, if they were Scored to kiss, and fall in love, then it should be because of natural causes and not because of a Curse Slot.

And he knew only one person other than himself that could use such a dreadful Daathic Arte. This was even one of the forbidden ones, but the Original had always liked such things…

As gently as he could, Ion pried Anise off of him and held her back by her small shoulders. She whimpered his name in such a pitiful way that he almost let her go, but the Fon Master shut his ears off to her pleas and said in a cold voice that he had never used before, "Sync. I know you're out there."

Silence.

"Sync!" Ion tentatively shifted one of his hands so that it covered the Curse Slot. He could remove it, but it would probably take every single one of his remaining Seventh Fonons if he did…and that meant death. No, he would need to rest first and he had no time.

A shadow detached itself from the tumult outside and approached. Ion's eyes narrowed to slits as he beheld Sync the Tempest watching with cruel amusement.

"Having fun?" The God-General drawled.

Ion readjusted his grip on Anise before she got free, and the sad sound she made caused the hair on the back of his neck to stand on end. "Why would you do this to her?"

"It's hilarious, that's why." Sync put one hand on his hip, and the other whipped his mask off. His face was a mirror image of his own, and Ion knew who he was, had always suspected since before he had even met Luke.

"Your quarrel is with me, let Anise go," he ordered evenly.

"You're in no position to be telling me what to do!" Sync's eyes blazed emerald fire. "Huh, she's so pathetic. I activate a Curse Slot on her and it turns out she's in love with you." He drew the word out like it was gum and spat the last syllable as if it were poison.

In love…with him? The thought made his heart flutter happily, but this was still the wrong way to have found out. He hugged the girl close to him anyway, and she relaxed into his hold, still unable to say anything other than his name. Which she did, as a low whisper into his shirt.

"There is nothing wrong with love, Sync. What do you want?" Ion wondered idly which Daathic Arte he could use without killing himself.

Sync's smile was cold, but it still held more emotion than the Original's. The Original was the one that Arietta loved, and Ion wondered if she could sense anything of him in Sync. "Oh, nothing." Another bout of frigid laughter. "Even if she loves you, she cares for someone else more. Two someones."

Confused, Ion asked, "What do you mean?"

Sync took a step back. "Well I've learned something interesting today. I've had my fun. But I'll pay you back for that Divine Blaze from earlier," he threatened.

Ion's only reply was a hard stare.

"That's the most Ion-like look that you've ever managed to accomplish in your pathetic life."

"At least I've managed to accomplish something."

Sync snarled in fury and lunged, his fist millimeters from Ion's expressionless face. "What did you say? It's true I'm not fit to replace the Original, but at least I've made my own life! You've done nothing but steal someone else's! You're impersonating a dead boy!"

The God-General inexplicably retreated. He was gripping his mask so tightly that Ion imagined it would snap to pieces soon.

"Sync…"

"Shut up! I know what you're about to say!" Sync shoved his mask back on and then he waved his hand. A pulse of energy removed the Curse Slot from Anise's shoulder. Following that, the Tempest vanished into the rain.

Ion stared at his Guardian in wonder. Sync could remove Curse Slots far easier than he could, since he lacked the restriction that hindered him so. Still, the strain had to be immense. What did he possibly gain from stamping Anise with one? Was it an effort to drive him and her apart? Something else entirely? "Anise? Are you all right?"

Her eyes had light in them again, but they also looked foggy. "Ugh…what happened…?"

"Rest," Ion urged, guiding her down on her side. "Something…came up."

"A…ah my head hurts…"

"Rest," he repeated softly. "All will be well in the morning."