Luke's gets arrested. And Anh's day is going to get much worse than it already is. Title kind of says everything…ish…

There was this certain scene that made me want to type up. I typed it, changed it, and typed it again. …And because of that damned scene, I ended up with a writer's block of that scene for a few days. And then I went: 'Screw it!' and chucked it out of the window. It's gone now, though it probably doesn't affect anything at this moment.

I would thank my lovely beta, Mieu. Even though the plot might sound Sueish or is a piece of crap, she still edited it…Without the shouting.

Disclaimer: I don't own ToA of any sorts. I own myself (aka Anh) since it is me I threw into the game. XD

Chapter 5: Babysitting

"How are the two of them fairing?" Jade asked me as we left the bridge to meet Luke, Tear, Ion and Anise in a different room. He handed me a large map of Auldrant along with a set of keys for me to carry just before we had left the room. I stood there at the door, receiving the items while I held the door opened with my back allowing Jade to walk through before following him with the keys in my pocket and the map in my arms.

"They are pissed. Well…rather Luke is." I answered honestly. I had checked on Luke and Tear earlier before returning to the bridge to get Jade. Tear had remained calmed and composed while Luke was spouting as much nonsense as he could think of. Most of them were being shot at Jade, the Cheagle Woods, Mieu, and Tear. Mieu was being…Mieu, innocent, child-like, completely oblivious, and unable to do anything until something happened or someone ordered him to do something. I was pretty surprised that Luke hadn't ordered Mieu to burn the handcuffs so that they could break it once the metal was weak enough and flee. As if they could run on the Tartarus without being caught. Back to Mieu…Mieu was currently in the custody of Ion. At least Ion was trustworthy; he wouldn't dare allow Mieu to do such a rash thing.

"A Malkuth soldier suddenly arrests them not too long after they have been rescued by the very same man. Yes, Jade, they are totally going to be giddy and cheerful when you arrest them. Totally." I rolled my eyes when I said that last sentence.

"Someone has rubbed off on you," Jade noted. I made a face with my cheeks all puffed out.

"Who said you rubbed off on me?" I huffed as I picked up the pace. I heard Jade chuckle behind me before catching up with me. On the way, something came into mind. "You are planning to use them for something, aren't you?"

I looked over my shoulder to look at Jade. He wasn't behind me so I had to search around me to find him. Apparently he decided to change sides; he was walking on my right and recently, he switched to walking on my left. I gave him a glare once I located him; he ignored it since I pose no threat to him.

"It depends if he is willing to cooperate." Jade replied simply. He pushed his glasses up so that it gleamed in the light. "He is, after all, deemed as a rather suspicious character from the start."

I stopped in my tracks. Luke was a suspicious character. There were a number of things that many people could point out that made Luke suspicious, but wasn't there a good number that deemed me suspicious. I was a girl who just wanted to keep a low profile that she had just appeared into a game. I would be more suspicious than Luke and yet…Thanks to Jade, there was no form of interrogation. Most of the soldiers, including Ion and Anise, never questioned Jade why he did that. Would I be considered lucky or damned?

I hoped it was the latter.

"Wouldn't I be deemed as suspicious too?" I blurted out. I bit my lower lip when the words came out. It was too late to take them back now. Jade, too, stopped to ponder about it. I looked at him with a serious look. He never bothered turning around to look at me nor was he giving me an answer. I sighed, "I'm just a random girl you met in Daath without any money, in weird clothing, and most of all, knew who you were from the beginning. Why didn't you arrest me along with Luke and Tear?"

This time, he really did turn around to face me, though his expression was unreadable. We held eye contact for a really long time before he turned around and continued on his way. I exhaled before catching up with him. "Well, I was wondering the same thing as well." I heard him said.

I narrowed my eyes when he said that.

"…That…totally helped…"

"You're welcome."

We reached the door that led to the room where Luke and Tear were being held. Fon Master Ion, Anise and Mieu were also in the room due to Ion's request. Also present in the room was two guards either there to protect the Fon Master or to keep an eye on the 'guests'. We, rather I, was about to open the door until Luke's voice suddenly spoke up from within the room. My hand was already on the handle and Jade grabbed my wrist to stop me from opening the door. I blinked in confusion before releasing my grip on the door as we listen to the conversation being held.

"Dammit, Jade! That bastard! I wouldn't have bothered with the Cheagle Woods if I knew about this!" Luke's voice shouted. There was a feminine sigh that responded to his shout. Probably Tear's voice since Anise wouldn't have a reason to sigh.

"From what he was saying, it sounds like they've had their eyes on us the whole time. We would've been captured one way or the other."

"My, she is quite insightful." Jade commented, quietly. I rolled my eyes.

Why were we eavesdropping in the first place? We were still standing in the doorway. Please, tell me that this wasn't a hobby of Jade's…

"But I didn't do anything!" Luke protested. "They don't have any right to treat me like this!"

"…He is in enemy territory…" I muttered.

"Indeed." Jade said, agreeing with me. "Not to mention that he stole an apple from Engeve."

My face twisted to a 'are you serious' look as I slowly turned my head to the side to show Jade that expression I had. "You're really planning to use that on him?"

"Why not?" Jade answered with a shrug.

"Still, there are advantages to siding with them while we're in Malkuth. You won't have to hide your identity, for one thing." Tear pointed out, casually.

"Whatever! It's all your fault anyway. Ever since you came, it's been nothing but trouble!" I heard Luke sighed. He muttered something under his breath and I wasn't able to hear what he had just said, though it might have been some form of complaint.

"Look on the bright side, Luke!" Anise chirped, cheerfully. "At least the Colonel was being nice."

"What's so nice about that four-eyed freak?" Luke asked Anise. He had a perturbed tone and he made a good point. Jade was never nice, he was being lenient. Well, thinking about Jade being a happy-go-round person like Anise would freak anybody out…though…that would be an amusing sight to see if that did happen.

"Well…I heard that he helped the Lieutenant Colonel out of a bind…" Anise said after a few seconds of silence. I could imagine her with one finger on her cheek with her head tilted to the side so that she could think of a good example.

Ack! Better not let them talk about that subject any further…! I opened the door suddenly surprising nearly everybody in the room. The raven-haired girl squeaked a bit before recomposing herself, Ion gave a nervous smile. Luke had his fists on the table while Tear had her cuffed hands on her bosom and sighed quickly before setting them down onto her lap. I stood to the side allowing Jade to step into the room. Jade had crossed the floor effortlessly and stood in front of the table that was between him and our newest guests. He pushed his glasses up as it gleamed in the light.

"Do not mind us," Jade said. "Please. Continue the conversation as if we weren't here in the first place."

"Ehehe…How long had you two been there…?" she asked, nervously.

I shrugged before closing the door and walking up to the table, laying the map of Auldrant across the table. The map was big with a variety of points that indicated that they were cities. The cities, ports, towns and various rivers were labelled on the map. I straightened up after giving the map a good look. "Eh…For about a few minutes." I responded as I took my position. I was standing on Jade's left, just a bit further back. I looked at Luke and Tear who was giving Jade a look that said they weren't happy seeing them.

"Oh…" was Anise's response.

"It's quite rude to talk about people when they are at the door." He cast a side-glance towards Anise. She ended up laughing nervously with both her hands behind her back.

Ion cleared his throat as he made his way towards the table. He set Mieu onto a chair that was across from Luke and he then made his way towards Anise, who was already at the table. "Well…shall we get onto our business?"

"Yes, of course, Fon Master." Jade replied. He pushed his glasses up once more before directing the entire room's attention, aside from the two guards at the door, to the map in front of him. He tapped at a certain location on the map on the Kimlascan side. From what it said on the map, it was Baticul. Jade tapped it a couple more times. "The Seventh Fonon hyperresonance came from the direction of the capital of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, Baticul-" He drew an invisible line with his finger towards the Malkuth territory. Like Baticul, he tapped a forest area twice. "-and converged inside Malkuth territory near Tataroo Valley."

He pushed his glasses back as he faced Luke and Tear. "Now, if you two were the source of that hyperresonance, that would make you guilty of illegally crossing the border into our country, wouldn't it?"

"Jeez, you're obnoxious." Luke said, not answering the question. He looked off to the side, completely uninterested.

Anise giggled, she covered her mouth with her fisted hand. "He called you obnoxious, Colonel~!"

"I'm terribly hurt." Jade said, jokingly. There was also a hint of sarcasm in his tone. Then again, it was Jade; there was always a hint of sarcasm in his tone. He looked at Tear with a serious expression now. "Moving on. Tear, we already know you're with the Oracle Knights." He looked at Luke. "But what about you, Luke? What's your full name?"

Luke's face twisted in disgust for a brief second before he answered, "Luke fon Fabre. I'm the same Luke you idiots tried to kidnap."

Ion and Anise's reaction became shocked while Jade and I was acting completely calm at the news. I knew that Luke had a royal title but Jade, on the other hand, had a really good poker face. No doubt it was a surprise for him too, but he was really good at not showing it. Jade rested a hand underneath his chin. "The son of Duke Fabre, who married into the Kimlascan royal family?"

"The son of a Duke~?" Anise clasped her hands together as she swayed to the side. She looked like she had suddenly fallen in love with someone…or their money perhaps… "Ohh~!"

"Why are you in Malkuth?" Jade questioned. "And what's this about a kidnapping? That doesn't sound very pleasant."

Luke opened his mouth to answer but Tear quickly cut in. She stood up from her seat so that everyone focused their attention on her. "Kidnapping aside. We're here only because our Seventh Fonons caused a hyperresonance. It wasn't an act of aggression against Malkuth by House Fabre."

Ion nodded as he looked at Jade. "Colonel, I believe Tear is telling the truth. I don't feel any hostility from him."

Jade nodded as well. "Yes. It does seem he's lived a sheltered life, completely ignorant of the world outside."

Luke snorted. "Fine, make fun of me."

"You are sheltered, Luke…" I said, narrowing my eyes. "Some might even define you as a prick."

This time, Luke stood up from his seat. He narrowed his eyes at me. "What did you just call me?"

I took a few steps towards the table to slam my palm onto the table as I leaned in closer to him. "What? Never heard of the term for 'asshole' before?"

"Anh, don't start picking unnecessary fights." Jade told me, sternly. He grabbed my arm and pulled me back. I stumbled as I walked backwards, but I managed to regain my balance. I crossed my arms and looked away childishly and shamelessly.

"Luke, please don't mind her," Ion said to Luke, "she never meant any of it."

"No, I meant it." I corrected him. "Every single word."

Jade glanced over his shoulder to look at me. "Anh."

"Sir, yes, sir, lips are now sealed." I said, making a zipper motion across my lips. I also made a small locking motion on my lips before throwing away the invisible key before crossing my arms again.

Luke huffed before sitting back down. "Fine."

"Actually, why don't we ask them for help?" Ion asked, changing the subject. Jade glanced over his shoulders one more time. I gave him an innocent 'what?' look. Although, he might have guessed that I wasn't planning to shoot harsh comebacks at Luke…yet.

Jade turned his attention back at Luke and Tear. "We're heading for Kimlasca under orders from His Majesty, Peony the Ninth, Emperor of Malkuth."

The muscles on Tear's brow twitched a little bit. "To declare war…?" she asked.

Luke's eyes widened before he stood up once more and slammed his hands onto the table. "Declare war? A war is gonna start?"

Anise gave Luke a wink. "You've got it backwards, Luke. We're trying to prevent a war from breaking out."

Jade pushed his glasses up. "Anise, that's not public information."

Anise covered her mouth with her hand and gave Jade an innocent look. Almost like a child giving their parent(s) the same look after they did something wrong.

…Bad metaphor…

"Trying to prevent a war…?" Luke asked as he settled back into his seat. "Are relations between Kimlasca and Malkuth really that bad?"

"I think you're the only one who doesn't know…" Tear sighed. Luke turned to glare at Tear. He pointed a finger at her.

"…You know, you're obnoxious, too." He sneered. Tear didn't say anything to that; she appeared to have ignored it completely.

"We're going to release you now." Jade said. He turned at me and gave me a nod that signalled me to go unlock their cuffs. I sighed, complying with his silent order and walked over to the table to unlock Tear and Luke's cuffs respectively. While I was unlocking their handcuffs, he continued talking. "I'll grant you permission to enter any area you wish, apart from those containing military secrets. First, learn a little about us. Then, if you feel you can trust us, we'd like to ask your help. So that we might prevent this war."

I walked away from them with the pair of handcuffs and the keys in my hand. I handed both of them over to Jade when he held his hand out to me. I turned around after I handed the cuffs and keys to him to see both Luke and Tear rubbing their wrists. Although they both had gloves on, the cuffs were made of metal and it might have rubbed through the fabric and onto their skin given their expression and all. Luke was staring at us while rubbing his wrists, his expression contemplating.

"If you want us to help you, why don't you just tell us what's going on?" Luke asked.

"If we were to explain and then you decided not to cooperate with us, we would be forced to hold you captive." Jade answered, completely calm. The expected reaction came from the both of them when he had said that.

Sadist alert.

"What…?" Luke asked.

"This matter is a state secret. That's why I'm urging you to make up your mind first." Jade replied, casually. "I hope we have your understanding." He turned around to leave the room but stopped just when he opened the door. "Oh, and Anh. Accompany them when they decide to leave the room."

"Huh? What? Why?" I asked, completely distraught. I thought I was heading back to the bridge to do some work for him not do another form of watching.

Jade looked at me over his shoulder. He smirked slightly before pushing his glasses up. "You were being rather rude earlier. Think of it as punishment."

Before I could protest, he left the room swiftly.

"I don't believe this!" I cried out with my hands balling in my hair. We all exited from the room since Luke wanted to look around. Since Jade allowed Luke and Tear to wander/tour the Tartarus, the Malkuth military had returned their weapons to them. All of us, including myself, had left our weapons back in the room. Jade and Ion had guaranteed that there were no tricks or sneak attacks coming from the soldiers, so Luke and company can tour the Tartarus without being paranoid at every corner they make.

I made a fist and shook it into the air. It didn't matter who or what my fist was aimed at, I just felt like shaking it; it was a past habit of mine to shake my fist whenever I became frustrated. Accompanying with Luke, Tear, Mieu and I was Anise who would like to show Luke around the place. I was taking the lead; I looked behind me to see if everybody else was following. Behind me and to my left was Tear who was holding Mieu in her arms. Not too far from her, and on her left (my right), was Anise who was skipping happily along Luke's side. And Luke…Luke was walking directly behind me with both of his arms behind his head. He was flanked by Anise and Tear with me in the lead. If Jade saw this, he would make some weird comment about this…I just had this sneaking suspicion that he would.

Should avoid contact with him at all cost.

"You said it." Luke said, looking all around the halls. He made a tsk sound. "This place sure looks boring."

"This is a battleship, Luke," I told him as we stood in front of the door. We had to wait for a few seconds before the door slid open automatically. On the other side was Jade, just waiting to greet us. He had both of his hands behind his back; the light somehow made his glasses gleamed as if he was expecting us to show up at the door. That calm expression of his with the gleaming glasses made him looked like he was devising something. I took several steps back and ran into Luke. He cursed a bit while I blurted the first word that came into my mind, "Geh!"

"My, what is with that response, Anh?" Jade asked, looking down at me. The gleam from his glasses left since the height difference between him and I was that large. He looked up and past me and his eyebrows rose. His expression then changed from interested to amused. "Well, well, Luke. A lovely lady on each arm and one taking the lead? You are quite the ladies' man, if I do say so myself."

I slapped my palm to my face around the same time Anise said, "Oh, Colonel~!"

"I…I'm not…We're not…" I heard Tear stuttered.

Luke huffed. "He's not talking about you, Tear. He must mean Anise, Anh and Mieu."

I dropped my palm slightly with my brow furrowed. Did he just say that…? I turned around to face him. To the side, Tear had an odd, disbelieving look on her face. She wasn't the only one with a weird look; mine must have looked like that too. Anise had also given Luke a weird look as well. Jade must have given Luke a weird one from behind me or was he intrigued by Luke's understanding of females.

"Are you serious?" I asked him. Hello? Tear's big boobs? How could he not notice boobs that big? Anise was an ironing board and I had a decent yet small size, and both of our uniforms do not bother defining our boobs unlike Tear's uniform. Yet Luke was able to say that we were female. And as for Mieu…I vaguely recalled that the cheagle elder called Mieu a 'he'.

No comment, Luke…

Luke stared at me then at everybody else. "What?" he asked, defensively.

"But Master, I'm a boy!" Mieu said in Tear's arms. Mieu was waving his arms in the air towards Luke. Luke looked at Mieu with shock.

"What? You're a boy?"

"Of course I am!" Mieu said proudly as he put his arms on his small hips. He lifted his head up proudly.

"You sure as hell don't sound like one…" Luke muttered.

Jade coughed. "Now, now, settle down. By the way, what's this about a 'kidnapping' you mentioned earlier?"

Luke looked away with a grumpy face. It was a sore topic to him, anybody could tell by his expression. "How should I know? You people from Malkuth are the ones who kidnapped me!"

Jade's eyes narrowed suspiciously. He then changed his expression to a thoughtful one. "…Well, I'm afraid I don't know anything about it. Did it happen during the previous Emperor's reign?"

"Humph. Beats me. Thanks to that, I lost all of my childhood memories." Luke huffed as he crossed his arms. Jade's suspicious expression came back.

"I'm sure you have your grievances, but I do hope that we can obtain your cooperation." Jade said finally. He cocked his head to one side. "Which brings me to another question, why are you all here and not touring around the Tartarus?"

Everybody's attention went from Luke and Jade towards me. I blinked twice. "Eh?"

"You do know that this is near the bridge, Anh," Jade pointed out to me. I thought about it a few more seconds before I slapped my palm to my face again.

I lifted my face from my palm as I tried to say something. "I…uh… um…I forgot…"

Silence enveloped the entire deck. The silence was broken when someone giggled. A high-pitched, teasing giggle. It was Anise.

"Anh gets lost without a map!" Anise grinned. Luke had a wide smile on his face, Tear sighed with a slight smile on hers and Jade… I rather not get to Jade. I felt heat flushed to my face in embarrassment.

"Well, whatever the case is, I guess this is all we can see for now." Luke spoke up. He placed both of his hands behind his head before making his way towards the door. He stopped at the entrance to give us a nudge towards the door with his head. "Hey, let's check the other places."

Oh god, he totally saved my butt there. Anise was the first to go after Luke, followed by me and Tear. I didn't look back to see Jade's reaction, I don't think I want to right now. I focused my attention on what was ahead of me. Anise was hugging Luke's arm as she led the way. Luke was trying to keep his balance but that was pretty unsuccessful. From behind, he looked like he was wobbling, trying to keep his balance straight but cannot. Almost like a drunken person.

Now that was a sight that got me smiling. Luke must have never seen someone like Anise before. Young yet mature, sweet yet cunning, and a whole bunch of other stuff all in one.

"So, Luke~! Where do you want to go next?" Anise asked. I was walking beside Tear; the both of us gave the two of them a good distance away from them. Anise appeared to have gone head over heels over Luke.

Luke jerked his arms away from Anise. He crossed his arms so that she couldn't pull them away. "I don't know. What's on this ship anyway?"

Anise put a finger on her cheek. "Well, there's the bridge, there's a lounge where all the soldiers relax, and there's a cafeteria too…Well, a small one, anyway. Then there's a big room they used for meetings, and a bunch of rooms for everyone to sleep in."

"That's it? That doesn't sound very interesting." Luke set his arms to the side. Anise took that opportunity to grab it, but she wasn't pulling on it at all. She looked behind her and towards us so that Tear and I weren't left out of the conversation.

"Where do you want to go, Tear?" she asked the fonist. Tear seemed a bit startled by the question. Her hand was balled into a fist, covering her mouth, as she thought of where she wanted to go first.

"You said the lounge, and the cafeteria, right?" Tear asked, removing her hand from her mouth. "We could check the lounge then the cafeteria. I highly doubt that we are able to see the meeting room."

Anise yanked Luke's arm happily. She pointed down the hall. "All right! The lounge it is~!"

"Whoa, hey! You don't have to yank my arm!" Luke shouted when Anise started to walk, more like running, towards the lounge. Tear sighed with a palm pressed to her forehead and I sighed while shrugging lightly before we followed Anise and the protesting Luke.

In the lounge, there was a series of chairs that range from armchairs to barstools to more chairs I wasn't able to name. Most of the chairs were grouped into four or five and most of those groups of chairs surrounded either a large round table or a small square one. A few of the chairs were occupied by soldiers who were either in some form of conversation or playing a game of cards. The lounge had the same blue walls and design as the halls, there were circular windows that were encircled by gold lining. The lighting on the ceiling wasn't too bright, but it wasn't that dim. It just gave the room the right hue and colour for the atmosphere.

We all walked through it, finding a spot so that we can take a seat. Hopefully, Luke would choose a spot away from the soldiers. As we all walked by, the soldiers steadily grew quiet, one by one. Either they were giving Luke and Tear a suspicious look or they were giving me that very same look. Most of them just avoided looking at us all together.

"This is a very cheery crowd," Luke commented, sarcastically, as he placed his hands behind his head. He shot each of the soldiers a glare whenever they gave him one. Anise, who had to release his arm, fell back and was now walking between Tear and I.

"…tenant Colonel?" a soldier whispered to another. He was quiet at the beginning and it steadily grew louder so that all of our attention was directed towards him. I tried my best not to listen but the tick on Anise's jaw said that she was not pleased at what she was hearing. It seemed Luke had also heard it as he turned his head towards that direction and lowered his arms to his sides. We walked past them before another one spoke up, this time louder.

"I heard that she was some girl the Colonel had picked up in Daath. Apparently she had no experience in battle whatsoever." Another spoke up.

"How did someone like that become the Lieutenant Colonel so quickly?"

"I bet that-"

"What are you? Soldiers or a bunch of gossip girls?" Luke snapped at the soldiers before they could finish their sentence. The soldiers immediately became quiet and Luke tsked. He turned around and grabbed my wrist, pulling me to a remote corner where very little soldiers were around. Anise and Tear, with wide eyes, hastily followed him. Luke released my wrist and took a seat when we all made it to the corner. I stood there, baffled. Luke gestured to the armchairs for the three of us. "Well? Sit down."

I exchanged confused glances with Anise and Tear before we sat down along with Luke. When we had settled comfortably in our seats, Luke pinned me with an intense stare.

"Spill it." Luke demanded.

"What?" I asked him.

"How you got into this mess, spill it." Luke repeated, lengthening his sentence. "I want to know why you are submitting yourself to this gossip without saying anything to clear your name!"

"…Luke…" Tear whispered his name. She gave him a kind smile when he showed some form of concern for me.

I looked down at my lap. Luke had already made himself comfortable for a long story by leaning back onto his chair with his hands behind his head, again. He crossed his legs; setting one ankle to rest over his thighs. Anise and Tear had also made themselves comfortable, except they just sat straight and braced themselves for the story. Hesitantly, I opened my mouth to explain it all. Leaving out as much information as I can.

"I found myself in Daath without money or any extra pair of clothes." I said, summing up the events to the shortest sentence I can think of. "Jade just happened to be there when I decided to skip the bill from an inn and he suddenly decided to help me out. Because he was my main provider of money, I agreed to work for him until I paid him back no matter how long it took. Stupid, really, but I really don't like the idea that someone paid me without getting anything in return. I really don't know why but he made me his second-in-command. So…basically that's all there is to it."

"Sooo… The Colonel helped you out, and you felt indebted to him, right?" Anise concluded.

"I guess you could word it that way." I laughed nervously. It wasn't my decision to be indebted to him; I had to choose to accept his offer and do something about it or say no and be screwed. Personally, I wouldn't want to be the latter.

"I guess that explains why you lack battle experience," Tear said, "but it sure was a surprise for the Colonel to make an offer to you."

Yeah…you bet that was a surprise.

"You just have money problems, right?" Luke asked, intrigued. He uncrossed his legs, removed his hands from behind his head and leaned closer to me with one arm propped on his thigh. "If money's what you need, why don't you work for me when we get back at Baticul? I'm sure we can pay you nicely."

"Do you really want me to die?" I asked him darkly, balling my hands into fists on my lap. I was stiff, completely stiff. "Making an agreement with Jade was like making a contract with the devil himself!"

Though I had to admit, it was a tempting offer, coming from Luke. But I, unfortunately, had to turn it down. As much as I wanted to cut ties with Jade, I don't think I want to know the result if I did. Jade was too clever. I believed that Jade wanted to find more of my secrets as much as he can by keeping me at his side. Eventually, he would figure it out entirely, but how long would that take? Days? Weeks? Months?

Luke scooted back to his chair. He tsked. "Well, I tried to help." He blinked a couple of times before he decided to ask me another question. "Oh yeah. Why do you call him Jade when you're with just us, Ion and him, but you call him 'Colonel' or 'sir' when you're around those other soldiers?"

"Just to show that we're not that friendly as they thought we were." I answered simply. God, I hated the gossips. I just wanted to keep a low profile as much as I can. Being all friendly with Jade would make the both of us the subject for a lot of wrong conclusions. Peony's conclusion being one of them, though Jade seemed to take light and even ignored all of those conclusions. I, however, am deeply bothered by them. I guess I would be deemed as cowardly since I never stood up for myself.

"Oh, so this is where you all are!" a voice spoke up suddenly. I jumped in my seat as I instinctively moved my hand up just above my boobs. I looked up to see who the voice came from and immediately sighed in relief. I let my arms fall to the side after I realized that it was Ion that had just spoke up.

"You scared the living daylights out of Anh, Ion!" Luke grinned, jokingly, as he looked at the Fon Master. Ion tilted his head to the side as he looked at me.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Anh." He apologized. "I didn't know. Did I come at a bad time?"

"Not at all, Fon Master." Tear responded as she stood up to offer him her seat. Ion gave Tear a smile before taking her seat. "Anh was just explaining some small details that we wanted to know."

"Really now?" Ion asked, interested. He looked at me and gave me a smile. "I'm sure you all know that Anh is a kind person."

"Yeah, a kind person who willingly submit herself to a devil," Luke said. Tear shot him a glare and he gave her a defensive look. "What? I was just wording it the way she did. Besides, everybody would know or guess that Jade's a devil. Did you see how calm he was when he threatened us?"

"The Colonel isn't that scary!" Anise chirped.

Luke gave Anise a look that asked her if she was insane. "When and where was he not being scary?"

Anise cocked her head slightly to the left as one finger lightly touched her cheek. She was pondering on Luke's question, trying to find the answer to his question. After a really long minutes of silence, she finally answered, "He just is~!"

"That wasn't very helpful." Luke smacked his hand to his forehead. Ion gave a smile that seemed to enjoy the conversation we were in. Tear sighed before she looked to the side; she placed a hand underneath her chin, deep in thought.

"Though I have heard of his name before," she murmured. "I just don't know where…"

"Did you say something?" Luke asked the fonist. Tear glanced at Luke and shook her head.

"Nothing."

Luke frowned at her but he decided not to press it any further. He stood up and stretched. "Well, we should head back. I've made my decision now."

"You're agreeing to help with us?" Ion asked. There was a hint of joy in his tone. Luke smirked and gave Ion thumbs up.

"I am totally declining his offer!"

The entire room was silent… Actually, our corner was the only area silent. The only sound that can be heard was the murmuring from the other soldiers in the room. Meanwhile, there was one thought that passed through my mind: Whaaaat?

Uh-oh. Luke's going decline on Jade's offer. That was totally not what was supposed to happen. Tune in next time to find out what he really meant!

If anybody had noticed…Luke answered with sarcasm. SARCASM! If you want to know why he said that, then scroll up and find the sentence that made him said that. If you can't find it, then wait for the next chapter.

Review please! And…I don't know…Uh…anybody wants a cheagle sandwich? *stares at the only cheagle there*

Mieu: Myuu~?