Chapter 1! I'll make a quick summary.

Jade has put me into a debt and now I'm working for him. So? What's this all about? Read and find out!

Disclaimer: I don't own ToA.

Chapter 1: Rescue Mission

I stared at myself in the mirror. After nodding, I changed the angle to have a look from that side. I was wearing a Malkuth uniform, except that mine looked a lot like Jade's minus the swallow tail cape.

Basically, I was wearing a long sleeved shirt with a black choker around my neck. The choker had a small cross charm hanging from it. Unlike Jade, I wasn't wearing any gloves, so my hands were bare. I was wearing the blue vest with gold buttons that buttoned oddly. Usually they would just button up like a blouse, but this one looked a lot like Jade's uniform. Along with the vest, I was wearing a blue mini-skirt (the vest wasn't tucked in), black leggings, and military boots that went as high as my knees. Luckily for me, they weren't heels. Around my waist was a black belt with two pouches on my right side and a slightly different pouch on my left. The left one looks to hold a weapon of some sort.

All right, the outfit all together wasn't that bad. But why was I wearing this again?

Earlier, Jade had gone out and bought me a lot of things. The uniform, contacts (I didn't even know they had contacts here. Lucky me!) , socks, and… lingerie. Fortunately for me, Jade just gave me the money as he threw me into the store that sells lingerie.

"Well, he doesn't have a girlfriend to have a reason to use money," I muttered. But even so…How much money did he have? There was a knock on the door and Jade walked in with a brown cloak.

"Are you ready?" he asked. I sheepishly gave him a nod. First day popping into the Tales of the Abyss game and already I was working. Mou! Could this day get any worse? Jade handed me the cloak, a hair band, and make-up. "You might want to change your appearance for now."

Oh, how I hated putting on make-up. Onto the point, I pulled the front of my dark hair back into a small ponytail; whatever I couldn't tie up I just moved behind my ear. Damn short hair. The front part of my hair was just below the shoulder line while the back of my hair was shoulder length. But it was still short! I left my bangs the way they were before: parted to the left with a small portion on the right. As for make-up, I put on what I thought might look nice. As if I was ever going to wear this again.

Once I was done, I grabbed my cloak and stared at it. "I hate the colour brown."

Jade was waiting for me at the entrance of the Inn. I was already wearing my cloak when I met up with him since he instructed me to put on the cloak before I left. He explained some details to me: I was on a rescue mission. Well, it's pretty obvious that the target was Ion, but Jade was asking (not like I had a choice) me to help him rescue Ion. Though I didn't know why he was doing this all by himself. Like…where the heck were his subordinates?

Once the both of us made it to the Cathedral, we entered it with ease. The guards thought we were just travellers doing the pilgrimage thingy. By the way, the Cathedral was HUGE! Just looking at it on the television screen was decent but up close in real life…IT'S BLOODY HUGE! Even the interior was huge. It took me practically everything in me to just suppress a big "Whoooaaa!". But since this was a professional job, I had to keep my cool.

We made our way into the first door that lead to the base of the Oracle Knights. There weren't a lot of soldiers, so sneaking around was pretty easy. The first floor consisted of stairs. A lot of them. Just when I thought I could avoid the huge stack of stairs from my university, a crap load of them appeared when I was here in Daath. Perfect, just perfect. Although I was sure Ion would be held in the Oracle Headquarters from the direction we were heading, it turned out he wasn't. Huh, that's weird. Then again, I don't think Ion would be held in the headquarters.

It wasn't until the second floor that things got tricky. Jade and I hid behind a pillar when an Oracle Knight on guard duty was heading towards that direction. Sheesh! Where was Anise when you needed her? Without her activating that fonic glyph, things were getting really tricky. Once the Oracle Knight passed us, I let out a silent sigh.

"That was close," I said. Jade nodded.

"Indeed, we need some form of distraction."

I nodded at that. But since this was a two-man rescue mission, how was that ever going to be possible? Unless… I froze when I realized his intentions. "You…don't mean…"

"Oh, you caught on pretty quickly," Jade smiled as he patted my head.

Dang it, his height makes me feel really short.

"You, my dear, are going to be the decoy."

"I'm the what?" I asked him.

"My oh my, you are being rather loud," Jade pointed out. "Which is why you are going to be a very good decoy."

I felt him shove me out into the open as I gawked at him for stating the fact that I was the decoy. I turned around so that I can flip him off. But when I turned around, Jade was already getting his head's start. I shook a fist at his direction. "This is not what we agreed on!"

"Who goes there?" I heard the Oracle Knight shout from behind. I grabbed the hood of my cloak and covered my face. Thank God for the hood. Once I got a good estimate of the distance between me and him, I bolted in the opposite direction of the Oracle Knight and right after Jade. Though I couldn't see him anymore, I wasn't focused on that part. Right then…

I need to flee for my life!

I heard the alarm sound and more Oracle Knights appeared through the doors I remember were locked from the inside. If only I remembered what door leads to the Fon Master's chamber! Oh, why did I forget then? I watched the anime and all, but that didn't tell me the exact location! I cursed myself for my forgetfulness.

I found myself in an empty room. It was about time I took a breather. I couldn't run very fast, but if my life depends on it, I most definitely would. Now I know why my friend flees like a crazy madman when a bee got near him. But his case was different from mine; his was just a phobia, mine was life or death. But the stairs…there were so many stairs.

My joints hurt.

"That damn Jade," I muttered to myself as I collected myself. "Didn't even give me a weapon to protect myself. Though it's not going to help me since I never used a weapon in my life." I sat there as I listened to the sounds outside.

By now, most of them couldn't find me in a room. I hoped… Well, it was time for me to get going.

I got up and brushed my cloak.

This mini-skirt gives me a lot of room to run around. Good thing it wasn't tight around my thighs, or I would have bashed Jade for it.

I opened the door and found myself face to face with another Oracle soldier. Well…I thought it was another Oracle soldier. I couldn't tell because they were all wearing that gaudy grey colour suit of theirs. It was worse in my case since my hood was down.

"Just my flipping luck." I sighed. Five seconds later, I bolted for the next door with that Oracle Knight in tow. Hopefully, that door had a locking mechanism from the inside, otherwise I was doomed. Once I opened the door, I didn't bother closing it because it would take a lot in me to just close that huge door and that Oracle Knight was right behind me. I just kept running towards the end of the hall and I got through the door and closed it hastily.

"I've…had enough of this…" I groaned at the closed door. "I give up…!"

"Why give up now?" A voice asked me from behind. I squeaked and turned around with my back on the door. In front of me were Jade and Ion, and Ion was the only one giving me a puzzled look. After blinking a couple of times, I forgot about my tiredness as my anger rose. I walked up to Jade, grabbed his collar with both of my hands and pulled him down so that he was down to my height.

"BASTARD!" I shouted. "How dare you turn me into a guinea pig without giving me a weapon! I'm not a sprinter for Pete's sake! Have you any idea how close I was to dying?"

"I figured a little exercise would be good for you as practice." Jade gripped my hands and jerked them away. He straightened up and fixed his collar, since I was close to choking him. "Besides, I'm too old for these things. You're asking someone my age to have as much energy as you do? Look on the bright side, at least you found the Fon Master." He guided my attention to Ion, who was baffled by my actions.

Ion was exactly how he looked in the game and anime. He had green hair, and the front of it was tied and left hanging on both sides of his face. He had a green headband with what looked like cheagle fur hanging from the sides as well. Ion possessed eyes that were the same colour as his hair. He was wearing the bright green robe that signified that the wearer is the Fon Master, though I swear it looked like a dress. He was holding a staff with the head matching the same symbol as the necklace he was wearing. It must have the symbol of the followers of Yulia and Lorelei, since a lot of people wore it.

"You found him," I corrected Jade, turning my attention back to him. "I was too busy running for my life. You could have told me that you were going to make me as a decoy so that you can find where Ion is!"

"Didn't you ever hear the saying: To fool your enemies, you must fool your friends first?"

This man…

"Fine," I sighed, giving up. I was never going to win in an argument with him. "So how are we going to get out?"

"Simple." Jade told me as he flashed me a smile. I took a step back as I realized his intentions. "I've already made the arrangements."

"Say what?" I asked him. "I am so not going to be your decoy this time!" I walked up to him, intending to hit him with all I got. Next thing I knew, arms wrapped around me in a tight grip. I struggled within the grip as I was carried outside of the room. "Lemme go! I'm going to rip you to shreds if it's the last thing I'll do!" Well, not rip him to shreds, but it was the first thing that came into my mind.

"But if you do that, who's going to support you?" Jade asked in a joking manner. I shot him a glare as he led Ion out of the room. It wasn't until I was in the room closest to the door that they began to plan an escape. Jade was outside with Anise at the door. "We're counting on you, Anise."

Anise was wearing a pink Oracle Knight uniform with her shoulders bare, an overtop that fell down to her midriff with a long cape that extended down to her knees. The ends of her sleeves were mauve instead of pink, and she wore white gloves. Anise completed her attire with black boots and socks that went as high as her mid thighs with pink and mauve embroidery. Her raven hair was tied up into two pigtails on both sides on her head, held up by yellow ribbons. Her chocolate brown eyes beamed in excitement as she talked to Jade.

"Don't worry, Colonel!" Anise giggled. She set the doll on her shoulders and covered her mouth with her gloved fists as she lifted one leg up, ready to run any time now. "I got it all covered~!"

I sighed.

Why was I here doing this? I'd rather just jump into the story and do something else besides going through rigorous demands.

Luckily for me, I didn't have to do the running. Anise was planning to keep the guards at bay so that we had some time to escape. Hopefully it would be enough time.

We got out of the hallway without much problem, since Anise kept a lot of the Oracle Knights busy by freaking out that Ion was gone. She was good at that, faking panic and acting all cutesy towards others. We were up the stairs when the Oracle Knights ran through the door. I heard Jade sigh.

"It seems that Anise failed to keep them at bay." He grabbed my hood and lifted it over my head. "Time to initiate plan B."

"What plan B?" I asked him before I felt an odd sense of déjà vu when he shoved me down the stairs. Of course, I shouted at him as soon as I gained my balance, only to find that he was making a quick getaway with Ion. Then I ran, decoy yet again.

Let me get this straight. I was a Jade-fangirl up until the point where I began being used as a guinea pig. Now I was stuck with this guy for the remainder of the game. Just my luck. Never wish for the impossible, because you never know what happens when you really hang out with your fangirl target.

I met up with Jade, Ion and Anise at the fourth monument. I rested my hand on a tree as I used it for support while trying to gasp for air. I was tired, I was sweaty, 15 years of my life might have gone by because I was being threatened by Oracle soldiers, and this day completely sucked.

What next? Oracle knights showing up and we have to run some more? Not a bad idea! I've already run like 50 kilometres or something! I slapped my cheeks. No time for stupid thoughts. Just stick around and things will certainly brighten up.

-page break-

"HAH?" I asked Jade. The four of us had boarded the Tartarus at the Daath harbour and were making our way to Grand Chokmah. Jade asked me to join him in another room to discuss something. I'd barely sat down on my chair when I was told something I could barely stand to hear. "You want me to keep an eye on Ion? Go get Anise to do that! Heck, it's already her job to do that!"

"In case of an emergency, you are to be the Fon Master's bodyguard," Jade told me. His crimson eyes told me that I had no other choice. I sighed as I sat down on my chair. I folded my arms as I glared at him. There was more to this than just telling me to watch Ion. Jade pushed his glasses up when he was sure I was willing to listen to whatever else he has to say. "You are going to act as my second-in-command, but don't get me wrong. This rank is just for looks. You lack talent, I'm sure you couldn't fight even if your life depended on it. The reason why I have you at this rank is that you still need to repay me for my kindness. Think of this rank as a way for me to keep an eye on you." He said all of this with a reassuring smile.

This guy was completely mocking me!

I resisted the urge to just slam my hands onto the table and tell him I quit. But since he got my number, I couldn't refuse him. A soldier entered the room with a long package wrapped in a cloth. He remained silent as he set the item with a few more items, along with a long package, onto the table in between us and left the room in that same fashion. I stared at the thing in front of me.

"What is that?" I asked him.

"This," Jade said, tapping the package, "is going to be your weapon."

I stared at the package and decided to gently unwrap it. Underneath the cloth was a rifle. The weapon was completely black, and it had a scope; I couldn't tell what type of rifle it was, but it looked like it was meant to be carried by someone with my physique.

I blinked twice. Okay…Didn't think that they would go and make rifles around this time. Then again, I do recall Legretta using guns. I picked the weapon up and winced at the weight. It was quite heavy despite its looks; it would take a while to get used to. I examined the rifle carefully. Since I wasn't familiar with guns, I had to be extremely careful if I were to ever use it.

"It's a sniper rifle," Jade explained as he held out a small book for me to take. I picked it up and flipped through its contents as Jade continued. "Obviously, it's meant for shooting at a distance. Since you are not familiar with the front lines, this will have to do. Although this was the first one properly made, I'm sure there's nothing wrong with it."

N-Nothing wrong with it? Oh dear Lord. I was going to go into battle with a weapon that might accidentally kill me. Tell me this was all a dream…

"The bullets are specially made." Jade pulled out a small pouch with bullets in them. "I played around a bit and these bullets will pack a punch. There's fonons infused in them and once they hit a target, they will act very similar to my Energy Blast. The rifle is bolt action, do you know what those are?"

Sadly, I didn't, so I shook my head to tell him I had no clue. Jade sighed, and started to show me the ropes. Once I got the basics down, I was on the deck with Jade, practicing the bolt action thingy he was talking about. The package of bullets he gave me was in one of the pouches on my right. He also gave me a small gun meant for self-defence in close range battles, that gun was placed into my left pouch. I pretended to fire, unlocked the bolt, re-loaded, and went back into position repeatedly. Since it was my first time handling a weapon like that, it took me the whole day just to get used to the routine.

The trip to Grand Chokmah was going to take approximately a week. During that time, I was practicing with Jade, and when he was busy, I went with Ion and Anise to learn the writing characters of Auldrant. I needed to be at least a bit educated during my stay here. When all three were busy, I went with the military crew, doing whatever they did. Though I swear some of them hated me because I was just a random girl, yet I was promoted to be the Necromancer's second-in-command. However…they had no clue what I had to go through. I would rather be in their position than in the one I was currently stuck in.

Once we got to Grand Chokmah, I let out the long 'Whooaaa!" I'd been dying to say. Grand Chokmah was…well, to sum it all up, full of water. A lot of it. There were water fountains, water pipes, small rivers under bridges, a waterfall, and so much more! I could continue but the list would go on forever. The buildings were white, though I highly doubt they were smooth like marble, there were a decent amount of plants and it looked pretty lively.

Ah, I so wanted to live here if I were given the chance.

I heard Anise giggled beside me.

"Is this your first time to Grand Chokmah?" she asked me as we made our way to the palace. I nodded. I'd seen it in game, but it was huge, and much livelier than what I'd seen there. At the same time…it took way too long to get to the palace.

How I miss just sitting there on couch, pushing a control stick.

"I've never been here before," I responded. "It's my first time heading over to the palace. To be honest, I'm a little nervous. I didn't get much of a warm welcome on the Tartarus."

"Are you talking about those rowdy soldiers back on the Tartarus?" Anise asked with her hands on her hips. "Those guys are just jealous."

"Though I would trade any of them my position given the chance," I sighed as I adjusted my rifle. It was hidden in a carrying bag that was slung over my left shoulder. I didn't want to walk around in a city or town while leaving my rifle uncovered. It just made me more agitated to have curious glances in my direction.

"Why is that?" Anise asked. She gave me a smirk as she nudged my side. "You are a lucky girl to be at the Colonel's side."

"I'm his slave, for the love of God!" I muttered under my breath. Then I remembered that here they didn't have a God like I do, though Anise didn't notice my slip-up. I needed to choose my words carefully next time.

There was quite a welcome reception from the maids of the palace. I wasn't looking forward to meeting Peony.

"Thank you, Jade and his lovely girlfriend, for bringing in the Fon Master here safely!" Peony exclaimed. My eye twitched in anger. Once Peony requested to Ion to bring a letter to Kimlasca, he asked Jade to bring me to his chambers to thank me personally after Ion and Anise returned to the Inn. That was the exact reason why I wasn't not looking forward to personally meet the Emperor.

"I am not his girlfriend!" I corrected Peony. Jade, behind me, sighed at the misunderstanding. I tried my best not to sound that angry, but it wasn't going too well. "Besides, I'm already in a relationship!"

"With Jade~!"

"I have a boyfriend, and he's not Jade." I pointed a finger at Jade, furious. "Also, he's too old for me! Why am I here in the first place? I'm going back to check on Ion!"

"She's very lively!" I heard Peony commented when I reached the door. I opened the door and left the room, my face red with anger. I didn't need to be harassed by Peony! Jade was bad enough!

Which reminds me…

I slapped my palm onto my face. I was being disrespectful to Malkuth's Emperor. My superior's…uh…He's really Jade's best friend but whatever! What the heck was I thinking?

When I got back to the inn, I headed straight for my room and plopped myself down onto the bed. Anise joined me in my room since she saw me being all...bleh... I had to explain to her what happened after the two of them left and well...she giggled.

"The Emperor likes to flirt with a lot of women," Anise said.

"Yeah, I already knew that part," I mumbled. "But I just walked out on the Emperor after he made me mad!"

"There's nothing wrong with that," Jade said as he entered the room. "His Majesty just wanted to get a good look at you before he sends us off on our next mission."

"We're heading to Kimlasca after we receive the letter, right?" Ion asked him.

"Yes, the letter should be complete by tomorrow morning so we leave first thing in the morning when the letter arrives," Jade replied. "So don't wander around outside of the city." That last line was directed mainly at me.

As if I had any intention to run away.

"Yessir," I mumbled, waving a hand without much effort. I heard the door close. Jade must had left. I sighed as I turned my head over. Ion tapped me on the shoulder. I looked at him.

"Do you mind coming with me to the market?" he asked.

"Why not ask Anise?" I was puzzled by the question. I looked around the room. Anise was nowhere to be seen. Just where did she go? I shrugged. "I guess I could accompany you."

We walked through the market and picked up some items along the way. Most of them were cheap. And yes, I was using Jade's money to pay for these things, so I had to be really careful about what I bought. It wasn't much anyway.

"You really don't like spending a lot, do you?" Ion asked when I returned with a package of ear plugs. Ion looked at it. "What are those for?"

I held it out so that Ion can get a closer look at the items. "Since I'm using a gun, I need to protect my ears. I think the rifle has a silencer equipped to it, but I'm just being cautious." I looked at Ion as we started walking back to the Inn.

Was he really taller than me? I wa four years older than him! I felt short for my age… Why were all main characters in every Tales game so ridiculously tall? The tallest in most of the groups are around six feet! SIX!

"Do you think we can stop at Engeve?" Ion asked, interrupting my train of thought.

"Engeve…?" I repeated. Now that I thought about it, we were supposed to head over to Engeve after we gave the Dark Wings a chase to the Rotelro bridge. We would meet up with Luke and Tear at the Cheagle Woods the day after.

"I heard that there seem to be a problem with the food storage over there," Ion explained. "They were looking for the culprit and I want to have a look at what's going on."

"Is it because Engeve is close to the Cheagle Woods that you wanted to go and check it out?" I asked Ion. Ion paused as he thought about his answer. "You don't need to tell me. I understand. I'll see if I can run it through Jade."

Ion's face brightened. "Thank you, Anh."

No problem, Ion. If only Jade will be able to listen to me.

"Absolutely not." Jade answered me when I asked him that question later on in the day without looking up from his paper work. It took me a while to find his office, but I eventually found it with some instructions from the other soldiers there. I sighed. It was obvious that he would say no, but I didn't think he'd say it that fast. "We have to hand the letter to King Ingobert as soon as possible."

"But, Jade," I whined. I was putting on my best pleading look; I didn't use it very often, since I rarely begged people to do something. "A small detour wouldn't hurt, would it?"

"Again, no." Jade didn't bother looking up from his work, and the pleading face failed.

"The letter takes priority, I know I know." I sighed. "I'll just have to tell Ion the bad news then."

"Now that we got that part cleared up…" Jade looked up from his work and stood up. He turned to face the window with his hands behind his back. "We could go to Engeve after the letter is delivered. For the time being, go back to the Inn and rest up. We leave at first light…Lieutenant Colonel."

He turned around to give me a smirk as he called me 'Lieutenant Colonel'. I gave him a pout, then stuck out my tongue in a childish way before I walked out of his office.

Not like he had a choice. The Dark Wings will destroy the bridge; we'll have to make that detour to Engeve regardless. Ha ha ha. Beat that, Jade.

I returned to the Inn and told Ion that we 'might', making air quotation marks, head over to Engeve after we delivered the letter. Ion was a bit disappointed, but there's not much I could do. Things would fall into its place even if I said nothing. Well…it would be better that I say nothing. No need to look suspicious.

I lay on my bed as I thought of things; I looked at my ring that was on my right hand. It came with me along with the earrings. I was wearing both of them when I went to bed before I found myself in the game, and they served as a reminder of my family, my friends and my boyfriend. They also served as a reminder that I had to find a way to get back. Hopefully I would. I clutched the ring as I turned over to the side.

Things were not going to run smoothly for the next few days. But I don't think it was going to be that bad.

Chapter 1: done. I wanted to get this part over as fast as I can and it looks like I did. Anywho, we'll get to the main story in the next chapter! Look forward to it!