Don't know what to say right now. Second year university...Yay. When I hear about Applied Math, I thought it was going to be easy.

...Guess not...

I've noticed something...Being a math major, it really takes up time on FFN. That and I lack a computer. But the main reason why updates are going to be a lot slower is that I'm back into the math mind and not longer in the typing mind. One day, I was like: Okay, let's type this! and then went all 'duuhhh' halfway through. ^^; Thank you so much, math. No I will not switch majors. I love math with a passion! :D

Wait that sounded wrong…

I thank Mieu for editing it as well as inputting some of her opinion to some parts~

Also! Guy's vest goes to Ginga no Yousei! Loy gets Yuri's Bangle. Sorry, Luca, no one likes your big ass broadsword. XD

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Hearts. If I did I would put Zelos as a cameo- Wait...Wrong game... I don't own ToA.

Chapter 12: Miasma and the Anti-hero

"I will chase you to the ends of the earth and kill you!" Arietta threatened.

Note to self: Never. EVER. Leave evidence for potential hatred. Arietta probably hates me more than Anise. Actually, when I think about it, no. She would hate Anise more than me. She was, after all, the God-General that opposed Anise. Speaking of opposition, do I get someone that opposes me? Jade had Dist, Tear had Legretta, Luke had Asch, Anise had Arietta, Natalia had Largo, and Guy had Sync. Unless Sync opposes Ion, would that make Van oppose Guy? Ugh, too much thinking.

In any case, I seriously hoped I don't have someone that opposed me.

Any who, back on to the topic at hand. Arietta started mumbling on her own as she lifted her voodoo doll. Tear readied herself for the attack.

"She's casting!" she cried out.

Arietta was just about to finish her spell but a large earthquake interrupted her. Losing her concentration as well as her balance, she fell to the ground with a soft grunt. She wasn't the only one that fell. I fell onto my butt as I looked around to find something stable to hold on to. Ion was lucky since he found Jade, who, although appeared shocked, didn't seem to mind the quake at all. Everyone else had somewhat decent balance.

"This is bad," Jade spoke up, sounding ridiculously calm and unfazed, "it's an earthquake."

"Try sounding more concerned than calm!" Guy stated, hastily. He was right, Jade! Sound like you were more concerned!

"But I am concerned, Guy."

Argh! No point in arguing with Jade right now. As the earthquake ensued, parts of the ground began to shift and purple mist shot out from those gaps. Oh lovely, poison.

"That aside, what's that mist?" Guy asked as a few more bursts of miasma shot out from a few more gaps.

Well! It was definitely not perfume, Guy. Definitely. Bad time to make a sarcastic comment so I kept that thought to myself.

"This is miasma!" Tear explained to Guy. I heard Ion gasped as Mieu ran up into his arms for safety.

"Oh no! The miasma is deadly poison."

And just to prove his point, a large amount of it was sprayed right onto the liger's face, causing it to collapse. Arietta, too, was another example. Just as she was about to back up, she had also inhaled the miasma and she fell to the ground, unconscious.

"This stuff kills you if you breathe it?" Luke asked, examining the unconscious beast and person.

No, if you inhale the miasma, you'll start hallucinating about flower fields. I mentally slapped myself. I was full of sarcastic comments at this moment, but it would all be best if I just kept them to myself. Yeah, definitely keep them to myself.

"If you don't inhale a large amount over a long period of time, you'll be okay." Tear told Luke. She walked over to Ion to steady him. "Let's get out of here bef-" Ion gasped, causing Tear to see what or who he was gasping to.

The ground around Arietta, who was still lying unconscious on the ground, started to sink. And not only that, the ground beneath us was also sinking. Not as fast as Arietta's but still…

"Now what do we do?" Luke asked, holding onto Guy. "We can't get away...!"

That caused Tear to sigh. I would sigh, too, if I was in her place. We were on sinking land; I was still on my butt since I had never experienced an earthquake before. My heart was thumping madly and I, for sure, knew I couldn't get up and about during an earthquake. Tear began casting something as a fonic glyph appeared below her.

"Fonic hymns at a time like this?" Jade questioned Tear when he recognized what she was about to cast.

"Kuroa Ryuo Zue Toue Ryuo Rei Neu Ryuo Zue."

"Wait, Jade!" Ion pleaded. "That song...it's one of Yulia's Fonic Hymns!"

There was a much larger fonic glyph underneath us as a barrier-like field surrounded us before a bright light replaced the barrier. I closed my eyes while covering them with my sleeve as the blinding light nearly blinded me. Once I was completely sure that the light was gone, I lowered my sleeve only to find the colour of everything a bit disoriented. I rubbed my eyes and blinked once more as they adjusted. I also took deep breaths to calm my rapidly beating heart.

Well…that was my first experience of an earthquake. I definitely do not want to experience that again.

"The miasma disappeared!" I heard Guy say as I stood up. He sounded quite surprised.

"I've applied a vibration identical to the inherent vibration of the miasma," Tear explained, lowering her weapon. "It's a temporary shield, though, so it won't last long. We should get out of here while we still have the chance."

"The seven fonic hymns left behind by Yulia... I'd heard rumors of them, but..." Jade paused a bit as his gaze narrowed on Tear. "I heard that they were too difficult for anyone to decipher."

"Worry about that later. We need to get out of here." Guy pointed out. "If we keep worrying about trivial things we're not going to make any progress."

"I agree, but first." Jade turned towards Arietta's unconscious figure as he whipped out his weapon. He approached her, and aimed the pointy tip of his spear at least one meter above her heart.

"Jade! Please spare her!" Ion pleaded taking one step closer to him. Tear held him back, however, since it would be a smart thing to kill her now.

"Hey! Stop!" Luke shouted, grabbing Jade's arm. "Why do you have to kill her?"

Jade turned to Luke, his face was expressionless and devotedly calm. "If we let her live, she'll come after us again."

"How can you kill someone unconscious and defenseless?" Luke asked him, his face was irked.

Tear sighed. "You really are soft..."

Luke turned towards her, looking like he was this close to biting her head off. "Shut up, you cold-"

"Jade, please let her go," Ion pleaded once more. "Arietta was originally one of my Fon Master Guardians."

Jade paused for an uncomfortable amount of time. He then allowed his weapon to return to his arm as he turned around. He cast a small glance back at Arietta before pushing his glasses up and walking a few steps away from her. "...Very well."

Ion sighed in relief. "Thank you, Jade."

"And I, too, would like to thank you, Jade." A new feminine voice spoke up. Everybody appeared tense as the projector of that voice revealed herself. Standing right behind Arietta's figure was a woman with long wavy silver hair and calm light green eyes. She had a slim figure and there was two daggers attached to a belt and the sheaths were located on her back. She wore a dark sleeveless Oracle Knight uniform with yellow embroidery and underneath that sleeveless uniform was a long white sleeved shirt. She wore white pants and boots that go up to her knees and they matched the coloured portion of her uniform.

How colourful of her... Black and white with a hint of yellow.

"Why are you here?" Jade asked, calmly. It caused the woman to grin. Deviously, I must add.

"Is that always the first thing to say to someone you haven't seen for a while, Jade?" she asked, still holding her grin. She crossed her arms as she gave a light shrug. "I have been informed that Arietta had disappeared so I came searching for her. Don't worry; I'm only here to pick her up. Nothing more or less." Her gaze went to Ion before she picked Arietta up and held her in what looked like a princess hold.

"Fon Master." She greeted. Ion inclined his head before she walked past him leaving us without another word.

I was the first to say something. "Okay then..."

"We shouldn't linger any further," Tear sighed. "Questions can be saved for later."

Ion nodded. "Yes, let's go."

The odd woman that knew Jade was bugging me at the back of my mind. I had so many questions to ask. Who was she? How did she know Jade? How did he know her? What was her name? Was that hair colour natural? Argh! My Jade fangirl instincts were kicking in. That was bad. I thought I diminished those fangirl instincts and went to being a Guy fangirl. Ugh. Was a Jade fangirl, apparently will stay a Jade fangirl. Guy and short hair version of Luke came in close second. Dammit...!

"Anh!" Tear spoke up. My head snapped up to see Tear right in front of me with both hands on her hips. "Were you even listening?"

"Sorry, Tear," I apologized. "I got carried away. What were you saying?"

She sighed, pressing a hand on her forehead. "The Colonel would like to know something and suggests we camp for now."

My eyebrow rose. "Why? I thought we would camp out later."

"I would like it if we had some distance between us and her." Jade spoke up.

"Who is she, by the way?" Luke asked the question I was about to ask. "She knew Jade and she was giving Ion that look."

"Oh, that was Celena. She's the head of the Fon Master Guardians," Ion explained to Luke, happily. I nodded. That made sense- Wait no, it didn't. She was the head of the Fon Master Guardians and she just let Ion go? Just like that? Just like that?

"If she was the head, why did she just walk off like that?" Guy asked. He was probably thinking of the same question as I was. "She has responsibility over you, Ion, doesn't she?"

"He's right," Tear spoke up. "The Lieutenant is just not that kind of person to just walk away. Why?"

"Probably because she can trust me in Jade's hands?" Ion guessed with a smile.

"I think she's a little too trusting..." I murmured, looking over at Jade. Actually, we all did. Some of us, including myself, were giving him dubious looks, and he, in turn, ignored all of them. He pushed up his glasses. "So...how does this Celena person know you?"

"She must have mistaken me for another Jade," he said, casually with a shrug.

Uh-huh. The another Jade who happened to have the same name with the same hair colour and length, the same eye colour, the same height, the same Malkuth uniform with the Pac man belt and status along with the same sarcastic personality. Uh-huh. There was totally another person just like that.

...He just avoided the subject.

"The Lieutenant aside. Tear, about your fonic hymns," Jade turned his attention towards Tear. "Your fonic hymns are different from the ones I know. And, Ion," He cast a glance at Ion, "you say those are Yulia's fonic hymns."

"So what?" Luke asked in an uninterested tone. He was probably eager to see Master Van so much that he didn't cared for stuff like these. These fonic hymns will save your butt, Luke.

"Yulia's fonic hymns are special," Guy spoke up in a thoughtful tone. He had one hand acting like a support for the arm that had a hand underneath his chin. "Normally, fonic hymns are just the incantation used in a fonic arte, combined with a melody. They're not as strong as fonic artes."

"But Yulia's fonic hymns are different," Ion continued. "They are said to hold the same power as fonic artes."

I laughed internally to myself. The first fonic arte I could think of that held the same power as a fonic arte would be Judgment. Too bad a certain purple clad mercenary couldn't do the incantation. I really liked that 'rest in peace, sinners' talk. Or him with his Japanese seiyuu going all 'Jajimento!' shouts all over the place. Oddly enough, I can hear him chanting both in English and Japanese in my head. Crazy Kratos fangirl fangirling him? Yep. Definitely.

While I was fantasizing about four thousand year old Seraph with blue wings, it seemed the party had moved on from fonic hymns to the topic of descendents. Jade became oddly suspicious about Guy since his knowledge about fonic hymns was pretty great.

"How are you able to sing Yulia's fonic hymns?" Jade asked Tear. He was continuing the subject at hand, but his eyes were focusing on Guy. Tear blinked once.

"I was told that it is because my family is descended from Yulia..." she answered. "I don't know if it's true or not."

Jade paused a bit. He pushed up his glasses with closed eyes. "A descendent of Yulia. I see..."

"So, that means Master Van's a descendent of Yulia, too?" Luke asked. "That's so cool!"

I sighed. He praised Van but not Tear…? Master Van this, Master Van that. If Natalia was most of what Asch would say, then 'Master' Van would be most of what long haired Luke would say.

"Thank you, Tear. I would certainly like the chance learn more about the fonic hymns." A sly grin stretched across his face. "Especially the Grand Fonic Hymn."

"'Grand Fonic Hymn'? What's that?" Luke asked, completely oblivious. It was funny how I would be agreeing with Luke if I hadn't played the game before. Luke was just as stupid as the player on their first playthrough. Assuming that they had never watched the anime nor read about the stuff online.

"The Grand Fonic Hymn is the fonic hymn Yulia sang to use Lorelei's power." Ion explained to Luke. "It is the proof of their covenant."

"We should make camp now," Tear spoke up, quickly changing the subject. She looked at me. "Anh, you're making tonight's dinner, right?"

It felt as if reality had struck me on the face. Crap...! I forgot we had to take turns just to see how well our cooking was. Sandwich lunch, I was completely fine with but now I had to cook...! Where was the Wonder Chef when I really needed him?

How I wished for the Wonder Chef to suddenly go 'ta-dah!' right in front of me and help me out with the cooking. I stared at the recipe books in front of me. I didn't want to make something we had already tried like the spaghetti and sandwiches but I couldn't come up with something different from the top of my head. Actually, I could. I could make fettuccini alfredo from scratch but...I used prepared sauce instead of making my own. And I remembered I made it once before but what were the ingredients...?

Cheese...cream... There was more to that. It was a nagging thing in the back of my mind! Two ingredients? I don't think so! It sounded like Mac and Cheese to me...! Last time I attempted to make the sauce, it turned into Mac and Cheese because I was lacking some ingredients. That and I made some odd substitution. I clutched my head and ruffled my hair, hoping to get the information out. It was unsuccessful as I continued glaring at the pot in front of me hoping that it would cook something on its own.

It didn't.

The kitchen was set up not too far from the fire in case we needed it. I was deciding to either make sandwiches or make the fettuccini alfredo from the top of my head. Somehow neither of them sounded very appealing. I could make something simple and from the recipe like sandwiches but we had those for lunch almost every day. If I made those, Luke would definitely whine or complain or be long hair Luke-y.

Should I do rice and meat? That was my usual meal back at home and I wasn't a veggie person so that was what I had almost every day. That was bad. Yeah...bad idea.

I crossed my arms as I made my decision. Mac and Cheese was the simplest to make. I made it before but it may or may not go so well since it was from memory. My hand moved to my bag as I searched for the Wing Pack that was in there. I soon felt a cold metal feeling and I knew it was right there. Taking it out, I flipped through the food section to see if there were the ingredients for the Mac and Cheese.

Elbow pasta. Check.

Cheese. Check.

Cream. Check.

Dammit, Wonder Chef, I would hug him if I knew where he was at this moment. We didn't even have to do shopping for ingredients thanks to him. But we were going to run out of ingredients sometime soon.

Never mind that, it was time to cook. I rolled up my sleeves and rubbed my hands together. I grabbed a pot that was already filled with water and walked over to the fire where Mieu and Ion were sitting. I think Tear and Jade were out gathering water for the remainder of the trip while Luke was sparring with Guy or something like that. All I knew was that Luke was with Guy. What they were doing, it was completely guy stuff. I set the pot just above the fire allowing it to boil the water. I turned towards the cheagle on Ion's lap.

"Mieu, can you breathe more fire?" I asked him. "I need to get the water boiled so that the cooking the pasta part comes faster."

"Myuu! Of course, Anh!" Mieu nodded, cheerfully. He hopped out of Ion's arms and blew more fire into the makeshift fire pit. The flames danced around the pot as I heard a piece of wood snapped.

"What's for tonight's dinner?" Ion asked me.

"Mac and Cheese," I answered. I laughed a bit nervously. "I thought I might try something new for a change. But I can't guarantee that it will taste good. It's coming from the top of my head and I haven't cooked in a really, really long time. Hopefully, it doesn't turn out as bad as the grilled cheese sandwich."

It was Ion's turn to laugh. "I think you would do fine. Everybody is good at cooking at something. Even if it was the simplest thing."

Honestly, that shouldn't be applied to those that couldn't cook even if they tried hard enough. Like Natalia or Raine... I slightly smiled at him. "So that means you could cook, too."

"I could cook...if I was given the chance." He laughed a bit. "I can only do some the simple stuff like make sandwiches. Back at Daath, my meals would be prepared by the cooks there. When I was out here with Anise and Jade, Anise would do the cooking."

"Every day?"

I received a nod from Ion. "Every day. She said that she wanted to perfect her cooking. Of course, Jade didn't mind at all."

I started laughing. Of course Jade wouldn't mind. He didn't have to cook for the trip so it was perfect for him. That person could be as lazy he wanted to whenever he wanted to. I covered my mouth a bit. "Yeah, that sounded like him for sure." I paused a bit; the water was already boiling. Now how much pasta should I put in there? I didn't know. I could estimate but what happened if I put too much...?

Screw it. I was putting two small bowls of it in there. I did that the last time I cooked Mac and Cheese. Hopefully, it was enough...I think...

As I poured the pasta into the pot and began stirring it with a wooden spoon, my thoughts went to today's events. "Today was pretty interesting, wasn't it?"

Ion nodded. "I didn't think Arietta would be waiting for us at the Fubras River at all. It kind of surprised me."

"I think it surprised everyone to see her there." I agreed with him. The liger was the one that surprised me the most actually... "Though that miasma is weird. How do you know about it, Ion?"

Ion paused a bit. "That's considered classified information."

I sighed. "There's a lot of classified information from the Order."

"I'm sorry."

I waved a hand in front of him. "Oh no, don't worry about that. Everybody has their own secrets." It was pretty silent between us after so I started on making the sauce for the pasta. Once the cream started to slightly boil, I added the cheese to it. I started stirring the pan to make sure the cheese was completely melted in the cream. I tried a different topic. "We meet Anise at the checkpoint soon."

Ion nodded cheerfully. "Yes. The trip should take at least a week and a half before we reach it but Anise will be there for sure."

"You sound really confident that she's not going to pass that checkpoint without us," I noted at his enthusiasm.

"Well for one thing, she doesn't have her passport," Ion pointed out. "In fact, I don't think any of us have our passports. I mean, I'm sure we didn't have time to pack them during the attack on the Tartarus. I know I don't have mine."

He did have a good point. I wasn't too sure if Jade or Anise were thinking ahead and packed the passport. They must have been lost somewhere on the Tartarus. Though Guy should have his since he said he traveled by land. That meant everybody except him was screwed at the checkpoint.

"Ah I'm hungry...!" I heard Luke whined. I looked up to see Luke and Guy approaching the two of us. Luke was stretching his muscle as he came up to him. He sat on the ground with one elbow on his thigh and his head was being supported by his hand. "Are you even done preparing it yet?"

"I'm almost done," I told him.

"Well, then hurry up!"

"I'm hurrying! Jeez!" I shouted, straining the pasta. "A few minutes is all I ask!"

"Oh? It looks like we arrived just in time," Jade spoke up as he and Tear arrived at the camp.

"It smells good," Tear commented on the meal and that caused me to laugh.

"It's only Mac and Cheese, Tear." I poured the sauce over the pasta, stirred it and clapped my hands proudly as soon as I was finished. "Okay! Dinner's ready! Everybody eat up~!"

"Finally! I was just about to starve here!" Luke murmured as he took his plate of Mac and Cheese.

A few minutes into the meal...

"WHY IS IT SO PLAIN?"

"YOU TOLD ME TO HURRY UP, IDIOT!"

My cheeks were puffed out as I sat out in the open not too far from the campsite with my legs up to my chest. My arms were resting on top of my knees while my head rested in the crook of my arms. Today was Guy's turn with the dishes; he had left for that while Tear suggested that we do four looks outs instead of the usual two. It was Tear's turn at the moment and I follow shortly after Jade who was second after Tear. I took this opportunity to get a break from the camp and well...sulk for a bit.

In about a week's time, we would meet up with Van and Anise. I wondered...Did he set me up in this? Why was I here in the first place? Does Van know something that had me being here?

I had so many questions and he was the villain of the game. Perhaps he knew something. Or maybe not. For sure my existence wasn't written in Yulia's Score. I don't recall that Celena person being a part of the game either. Nor had the game spoke about a 'head of the Fon Master Guardians'. Or maybe that was just me and not knowing about it all together. At the same time, Celena could exist but she wasn't mentioned in the game. Or! She never existed in the first place and then I came along and threw things off; making her existence there to even things out. But that sounded like I was a god or something. That and it was very illogical.

This was like Schroder's Cat all over again.

I heard someone come up to me from behind, causing me to become more aware of my surroundings. My hand was placed on the small gun in my pouch as I turned around ready to attack him or her. Instead, I found Tear who was calmly staring at me. The moon was shining just behind her giving her a majestic look.

"Tear," I sighed, removing my hand from the pouch. "You scared me for a second there."

"I just wanted to see how you were doing," she stated simply. "You were daydreaming earlier today and you went off on your own just now. Did you realize that you could be attacked by roaming monsters?"

I frowned a bit. It sounded more like scolding instead of checking up on me. "I'm within the radius where the holy bottle was applied so I thought I should be okay. Besides, I still have a lot of time before the effects wear off."

"Theoretically speaking, the holy bottle should last for three or four hours, however, that doesn't mean you can lower your guard." Tear narrowed her eyes at me. "I thought I said there were cases where the monsters still attack travellers even with the holy bottle in effect."

I sighed. There was no point in arguing with Tear. She looked after the well being of people but she was really blunt about a lot of things. Even though they were good points. "I get it. I won't wander away from camp next time."

"Please refrain from doing that," Tear agreed.

I nodded slightly. "By the way, aren't you on look out duty, right now?" I asked her.

"A short break doesn't hurt," she answered. "And I noticed you weren't acting normal. Are you acting like this because of Arietta?"

I sighed. Arietta blamed me for killing her siblings. Honestly, it was an accident. I never thought she would single me out from everyone. Hooray for hate targets. Add Dist to the mess and that means more trouble for Jade and Anise. I was a big bundle of trouble for a lot of people. And Ion... Ion was just a magnet for danger. He was far worse than a certain other danger magnet that I could think of. And that one had sparkling vampires to save her hide.

"Honestly, it kind of surprised me." I admitted. "I never thought she would do something like that. I mean, turn me into a hate target and all."

"You can expect more people to hate you, not just Arietta."

"I know..." I sighed a bit. "I'm still getting used to this soldier business..."

"You're still a civilian so take your time."

"I would if Jade gives me a break..."

"True... But the Colonel was looking out for the best interest of the party. He doesn't want any of us to be a burden."

More like he was trying to make me catch up to everyone so that I could defend myself from some crazy loco. That and he didn't want me to stray too far away from him in case someone else knew about my origins. Tear and I stared at the dark sky in silence. It was pretty quiet and the only sound that was made was the soft sound that crickets make.

"In a week we get to Kaitzur..." I mumbled.

"Yes... Van is there, too..."

"I shouldn't be in any position to say this but..." I paused a bit. "You shouldn't be so rash about him. Just because you hate him, doesn't mean you could kill him just like that." There were many times where I want to do that to my siblings, but I wouldn't do that to any of them. Tear probably wouldn't either. Yet.

"You make it sound like you have a brother."

"Actually, I have siblings." I admitted. "I'm the oldest and I have a good number of siblings. About...Five."

"Five...? That's a lot of siblings you have."

I laughed a bit. "It's not that bad. I just live with two of them while the other three at being taken care of elsewhere."

"...Your parents are separated...?"

"Yeah they are… What about your parents?" I asked her, even though I knew about her parents.

"...I don't know them. I was..." It sounded like she was hesitating a bit. "...I should return to the post." Tear spoke up. "Be sure to get some rest. You are next after the Colonel, and he said you would resume practice after your watch."

I groaned, letting my head hang low. I don't know why but the topic of Jade always ruined everything. "Yeah, yeah. I'll be over there in a bit."

"Just make sure you get back to camp, soon." Tear told me before she walked off. I silently waved at her before turning my thoughts towards today.

Then I heard a very familiar tune in the air causing my attention to divert from thinking to the source of the tune. It wasn't a fonic hymn. It wasn't a tune from the game, period. It sounded like it was from...

...Disney...?

I stood up from my place to follow the sound.

Whoever was singing that tune, they must have known something about home...!

Following the sound of the person wasn't that difficult. It was loud, it was male and it was definitely jolly. I was so glad that there wasn't anybody else around him otherwise it would be chaotic. Although...Did he had to walk through a damn forest? It made following him so much harder than walking in an open field. I had to move branches out of the way, climb and over some large roots in which he just jumped over them like they were nothing. And it was getting colder by the second...!

The source of the sound was a blonde man with green overalls, a red cape and the well known fork and chef's hat. He was in a marching form, almost like a soldier marching in an army. Except...that was a one-man army. A pretty sad one-man army.

"Heigh ho, heigh ho, and off to work I go~" he sang cheerfully. He began whistling the other half of the portion before going back to the 'Heigh ho! Heigh ho, heigh ho!' and then repeating the song again. He never lost a beat as he continued marching while moving the braches and leaves with his gigantic fork. It was a wonder why no monsters attack him because of his loud voice.

"You have got to be kidding me," I muttered, moving a branch away. I tried following him but he was still a fair bit ahead of me.

"Hey, you!" I called out to him, hoping he would slow down for me. No response except more singing and more marching.

"Wonder Chef! Wait!" Still marching.

Seeing as he didn't stop, I sighed. I really didn't want to say it but... "Freeze! Malkuth Imperial Forces!"

He froze almost instantly. I didn't think it would work but it did, and that part kind of shocked me. I sighed once more before catching up to him. By the time I caught up to him, he still held that frozen position. As in, he was about to take one step so he held that his weight was all on one foot. On one foot and at a sixty or more degree angle. How that was possible, I had no freaking clue. I waved a hand in front of him and still no response from him.

I rubbed my temple in frustration. He took literal stuff to a whole new level. "Unfreeze, dammit."

The Wonder Chef sighed as he took one step back and smooth out his overalls. "And here I thought I would be stuck like that for the entire time! Thank you, very much, my dear!"

"Why are you here?" I asked him, tiredly. "And why were you singing those songs?"

"You don't know anything about Snow White?" he questioned me. "And I thought you would know about it since it was from your home."

So he did know about Earth.

"You know about Earth?"

"Of course I do!" he beamed. "There isn't a world out there I don't know. Auldrant is the same as Earth but I haven't been able to venture around the world like this. So, to me, it's a whole new world~!" His arms were splayed out in front of him as he began to sing a new song.

"Stop!" I hissed at him, waving my arms in front of him. "You need to help me get out of here and back home!"

"I wish I could, but I can't!" he responded almost immediately and…disturbingly happily. I gaped at him.

"What?"

"My dear, I'm only good for cooking and disguising. Jumping worlds is not a skill of mine."

Okay…but that left one unexpected loophole. "Then how did you get here?"

There was a ruffle noise that caught our attention. The Wonder Chef's head flicked towards that direction and then he turned towards me. He raised one fisted hand in the air. "Gotta run!"

My eyes grew wide as I realized what he was holding. It was too late as his hand threw the small smoke bomb onto the ground. Smoke flew up into the air as I covered my eyes with my sleeve and fanned the smoke away from my face. I heard the Wonder Chef scuffled away while the smoke was still around. Once the smoke was gone, I frowned at the spot where the Wonder Chef once was.

Thank you for nothing, you useless character.

My frustration towards the blonde was cut short when I heard a growling from somewhere. My body suddenly went tense as my heart started beating madly as I looked around for the source of the growling. For sure it sounded like it was circling me.

Oh my God…! That idiot Wonder Chef left me behind to defend for myself. Hyperventilating…Hyperventilating!

"You're leaving me here to defend myself?" I shouted at the air, hoping the Wonder Chef would hear that. When I see that man again, I would wrap my hands around that neck of his to give him a piece of my mind.

All of my thoughts flew out of my head as silence responded me. Wait…where was the growling? Why did it stop? Was it going to attack me? I squeaked a bit as I backed myself towards a tree, both of my hands touching the bark. I hated being alone in the dark. Especially when there was something out there that would literally kill me.

I searched frantically to the sides trying to catch the slightest bit of the beast. I heard a twig snapped and my head immediately flew to that direction. I fell to the ground as my hand pulled out the handgun, shaking. I tried aiming it at the direction, waiting for the thing to come out.

I thought I shouldn't wait for it to come out, so instead, I fired the gun. It ricocheted off of metal as it flew towards another tree and the sound of metal ringing was heard.

Wait…Ricochet…?

"I thought I heard someone," a voice spoke up revealing to be Celena. She had a bloodied dagger that was dripping in one hand so it was a fresh kill. I still held her at gunpoint as she coolly stared at the gun. An awkward silence was between us before she turned around, about to leave.

"Wait, you're just going to leave me here?" I asked her, completely terrified. She paused a bit before looking over her shoulder.

"I don't care what happens to Jade's lackeys." She stated, bluntly. "It's his problem, not mine. However, there's a camp set up not too far from here, you can go there or stick around here. Your call."

"Camp?" I squeaked. "As in your camp?"

She just shrugged. "You could stick around with the enemy or be bait for the wolves. That's completely up to you."

The latter didn't appeal to me so I was stuck with one option. Actually, I could find my way back to the camp where everyone else was, but I didn't even know how to get back. That and I lacked a map. I cursed at myself as I made my decision.

This day sucked. I followed Celena down towards her own camp. The crazy lady dragged the dead body of a wolf along with us and now she was cutting the darn thing up and cooking the meat pieces on top of the fire...with her dagger. And she had bloodied hands. She never minded the blood either...! After chopping some slices of the wolf, she threw the meat into a pot where there was something already cooking. It was probably stew or something.

"What the hell is she doing here?" a ridiculously familiar but rough voice asked. Celena looked up but then her gaze returned to the pot. I jumped from where I was sitting and turned around where the source of the voice was. Towering over me was a familiar face and frown with darker red hair and wore a dark Oracle Knight uniform. On his left hip was a large bastard sword indicating that he was a right handed person. Asch the Bloody was just like Luke but his expression was more rough, his bangs were spiked up and he looked like he was about to cut anybody into pieces with those eyes.

He doesn't look like he was really happy to see me. Well duh, I was wearing a Malkuth uniform. Of course not.

"...Uh...Hi..." I managed to say to him. It didn't please him at all; instead, it made his frown go deeper.

"Hey, Asch," Celena spoke up. "You're just in time for dinner."

"Answer my question, Celena," Asch repeated, not lifting his gaze from me. "What the hell is someone from the Malkuth military doing here?"

"Interrogation...?" Celena guessed, playfully. It caused Asch to scowl at her and she laughed. "I'm kidding. I found the girl in the woods-"

"You should have left her there."

"What was I suppose to do?" Celena asked, innocently. "She followed me out of her own free will."

That part was true...

"Then you should have killed her."

"But she's part of the Fon Master's group."

"Do I look like I care?"

"No, you don't."

"Exactly."

"But don't you think it would be nice if we gave her back to Fon Master Ion's group in one piece?" she continued. "After all, they spared Arietta. I think it's fair if we did the same. Besides, she's completely useless. The idiot entered the woods knowing that there was a bunch of monsters in there without a good weapon. Even worse, she doesn't have proper training. She's not a threat one bit. Now stop grumbling and eat."

Gee thanks...

Asch didn't appeared to be pleased one bit but he didn't do anything either. I think he wanted to cut me down but it seemed that he was willing to let that slide...for some reason. Well...I would find out about it but I couldn't since Asch walked over to Celena and took a bowl of stew she handed over to him. He sat across from me, behind the other side of the fire leaving me by my lonesome self. Neither of the two spoke to me during the meal. Actually none spoke at all. They just ate in silence.

Was it just me or was there an awkward silence out here? This was far more awkward than with Luke.

I was surprised that Arietta wasn't going to jump out at me at this moment. Wait...Where was she at this moment? Didn't Celena take her away from us earlier? Where was she now? I looked around to see if she was around. She wasn't.

"What are you doing?" Celena asked me as I turned back towards the two.

"Uh...Arietta..." I managed to say.

Without swatting an eye at me, she answered, "She's not here, if you haven't noticed." I opened my mouth to ask another question but she was one step ahead of me. "It's called a Panacea bottle for a reason."

I closed it. "Oh..."

The remaining time left was in silence...again. Celena finished first; she left the camp to do something. She didn't say what though. Not that she should be saying it to someone like me. Asch remained at camp, keeping an eye on me. Kind of...

He was sitting across from me, polishing his sword. I just sat there staring at the fire in front of me. My gaze occasionally lifted from the fire to Asch to see if he was staring at me. He wasn't. Though I couldn't help imagining things about Asch since he and Luke looked alike. If only his bangs stayed down instead of sticking up like that. Well...I don't think Van would allow the original walking around in cities with his bangs down at all. If that happened, people would recognize who he was almost immediately. Especially if he was in Baticul.

…Or maybe Asch just doesn't want to look like Luke at all.

Those two looked like twins if their current situation hadn't existed. If I were Suzanne, I would dress them up so that not only do they look identical, they dress identical. Too bad that would never happen.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Asch asked me suddenly. I jumped by the sudden question, trying to come up with an answer. "You should know who I am just by looking at my face."

"You two look the same but..." I hesitated a bit.

"Hmph, you're in the Malkuth military under the Necromancer and you don't even know. You're not as bright as you look."

Ouch. I knew more than you think, Asch... "I know that you and Luke have the same faces. Heck, I know the relationship between the two of you. It's just that...I rather not wanting to know about that."

Because keeping that from Jade was going to be difficult...!

Asch scoffed. "So, you do know something about fomicry."

"Being the Necromancer's second-in-command, of course I do." I lied to him. And then...the silence returned. Frowning at him, I went back to staring at the fire. A few minutes passed and I sighed. God, I wished I had my iPod with me. At least I could do something instead of staring at the fire while trying to converse with an anti-social person.

Was this how Ion felt when he had nothing to do?

"Um...so..." I started to say. "Where are you two heading...?"

I was answered by silence. Asch chose to ignore me this time.

"Uh...Okay then..."

...I think...I should go to sleep now...

It was early in the morning. That I knew for sure because Jade usually wakes me up at this time for practice. If I didn't get up, then he would use some methods to get me out of my bed like making me search for my blanket after he took it or other things I rather not imagine. Either I get up early or wake up to something weird. I sat up in the darkness. It was chilly. Really chilly. Normally that wouldn't bother me because I had a blanket but I was sleeping on the ground without one. My arm was used as a substitute pillow because Asch and his friend there don't possess those things. Made me cry internally really.

Well, I should get away from here as soon as possible. Before I was worried that I was about to be mauled by monsters, now...I should head out before it was light out. If my assumption was right, then the monsters weren't going to be rowdy at this time of day. I stood up and checked Asch, who was sleeping on the ground with his back on me. Like me earlier, he was using his arm as a pillow. He didn't seem to mind that part at all. There was also no sign of Celena nor was there any sign of her returning.

Not that I care about her or anything, but I should head out like...now. Before Asch wakes up. Straightening myself, I turned around only to have a palm smacked towards my forehead. I fell back and hit the ground on my butt. Wincing in pain, I rubbed it.

"You suck at sneaking away." Celena said, tapping her foot on the ground. I looked up at her and she was staring down at me. Her arms were crossed, and not only her arms but her face looked crossed as well. "Next time, try to be more subtle about your departure. Even Asch knew you were awake."

I gulped as I turned around. As expected, Asch was already sitting up, glowering at me.

"Uh...Good morning to you, too..."

"There's no point of you escaping," Celena spoke up. "Now this makes sure you can't run away." She tugged the rope, testing it. Seeing as she was ridiculously stronger than she looked, I was jerked towards her. A slow smile spread across her face. "I don't know about your group but there's no break whatsoever."

Now I was being treated like a pet. Wonderful. Now they made me wish I was going through practice with Jade. Oh, why did I had to go find the Wonder Chef...?

"Hey~" I called to the two that was dragging me along behind them. I got no response from the person who was holding the other end of the rope. Which was Asch.

"Hey, person holding the rope!" No response. Well...the only response was from Celena who looked back with a raised eyebrow. She decided to ignore me of course.

My face twisted a bit. "Mr Redhead!" No response.

He was acting almost like Kratos... "Is there anybody in that brain of yours?" No response. Still!

Maybe he was ignoring me because I was throwing insults at him. "Oh Asch~" Again. No response.

Oh, that does it! I grabbed the rope and yanked it backwards. Asch's arm was pulled along with it but he then yanked it forward without looking back. And since he is a much more powerful person than I am, I was pulled along with it and I stumbled onto the ground. It was only then that Asch stopped. I lifted myself off of the ground.

"Jeez! Finally!" I sighed. "Can we stop for a bit...?"

Asch's eyes narrowed at me. "I thought we agreed to no breaks."

"Uh...no...That was you and Lena's decision. Not mine."

"Don't give me a nickname, girl."

I shot a look at Celena. "My name is Anh, not girl."

She looked away, uncaring. "Like I care."

Somehow...those two act very alike... Almost like siblings... Whatever the case was.

"Anyway, can we stop for a bit?" I asked them, sweetly.

"No." Asch answered bluntly.

I pouted. "But I have to pee...!"

Without missing a beat, he replied, "You disgust me."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, gee, I'm sorry I had to say that but I really need to go and you ignoring me doesn't help at all. Can I make a stop...?"

Asch let out an irritated sigh before directing me to a large rock. I walked around it while trying to wrestle the rope around my wrists free. It was hopeless since the rope was tied in really odd ways. It was almost impossible unless someone used a sword and sliced on it. Futile...

With a frustrated sigh, I sat down on the ground with my hands on my head trying to figure out a way to get away from these psychopaths. Even though the destination was the same as Luke and them, the silence was going to kill me and I wasn't a silent type...unless I have nothing to say.

Celena poked her head around the rock. I squeaked at her sudden appearance. Her eyes were narrowed dangerously at me.

"Wh-what...?" I managed to ask her.

"If I ever catch you lying again, I will drag your little bottom all the way to Kaitzur myself."

I groaned again. She was as sharp as Jade. I guess it was a have to since she was the head of the Fon Master Guardians. What confused me more was that why someone like her was working with the God-Generals, which were under the Grand Maestro faction. Wasn't she in the Fon Master faction...?

My mind was thrown back into reality when she jerked me to my feet and pulled me along with her. This trip was going to take a really, really long time...

It was already past midday. My feet were sore and I was tired of walking as of right now. I think Asch was about to give up on me because I was bugging him every so now and then. But it was only because I was bored and I would like to have someone to talk to even if the person was going to be an anti-hero. I opened my mouth once more in attempt of a conversation.

"You better have something good to say." Asch told me before I said anything. He wasn't looking at me and he just confused me at that part. I closed my mouth and frowned.

"How did you know I was about to say something?"

"You tug the rope whenever you do."

Oh…I didn't know that… He picked up some of these habits I didn't even know that were habits. I kept walking as the two in front of me suddenly came to a halt. As of the result, I bumped into Asch, who didn't mind that part. Puzzled, I peered past his shoulder to see a large mass of dead monsters. Most of them had stabs and it looked like it was brutally beaten up. From the colour of the blood, which was a deep red instead of the fresh colour, it looked like it happened some time ago.

Asch handed the rope over to Celena before he walked over to the monsters to inspect them. After staring at them for a good minute or two, he returned to us.

"Are they dead…?" I asked him, hesitantly.

Celena scoffed. "If they were alive then we would have been attacked that instant." She looked at Asch. "Well?"

"That Fon Master Guardian was here," he answered, gruffly. "And she's alone."

My face brightened as I realized who he was talking about. I was hoping that Luke and the others were ahead of us but it turned out that I would be seeing someone else pretty soon! I was pretty excited by the news. Anise! Yes! I was not going to be alone with anti-social people any longer!

"How do you know it was Anise?" I asked.

"Well, it's not the replica that did all of that." Asch snapped at me and I recoiled.

"You didn't have to be so mean...!"

Asch ignored that. "I'm going to go on ahead." He declared without a reason. Before anyone could respond, he turned around and left immediately. I turned to look at Celena who stared at him passively.

"You're just going to let him go?" I asked her.

"He'll be fine on his own." She paused a bit before adding, "Unlike another person I happened to know."

"Well, gee, sorry," I replied sarcastically. It wasn't my fault that back at home there was absolutely no need to fight for your own lives.

"We already wasted enough time." Celena spoke up, tugging my wrists instead of the rope.

It rained that evening.

Right in the middle of dinner, too.

...Not that dinner was an appealing dinner. Tonight's dinner was, according to Celena, wolf something. I didn't pay attention to the other half but the wolf part stood out the most. I tried horsemeat before, which taste like beef almost, but wolf wasn't exactly one of the 'try' list...

We took shelter, underneath a large ledge that blocked out most of the rain. Another fire as well as another meal was being made. Not by me, of course. I just sat there without any binds. It was kind of obvious I couldn't flee at this moment since I would be soaking wet and they could track me through the muddy footprints. Even if I could flee, I kinda don't want to at the same time.

I was stuck here for the night with some random person. At least there was a fire here! Better than nothing at all.

Just go with the flow. That was what I always do.

There was the sound of footsteps approaching us and I already knew who that person was.

I don't know why…but whenever dinner was ready, Asch always seemed to show up. He had like the best timing. Almost like there was a bell in his head saying 'dinnertime!' and he shows up. Just like that.

Well, Asch did return the moment dinner was ready. He was drenched from top to bottom but it appeared that he never minded it in the first place. When he came over, I took a good look at his face and burst out laughing. Uncontrollably.

"Is there something on my face that you find it funny?" Asch asked me. His tone said that he was not amused by my sudden sense of humour.

I waved a hand in front of my face as I tried to sober up. "Sorry! You just need to lighten your mood up a bit and, not only you look like Luke; you're acting just like him, too!"

His gaze darkened dangerously causing me to stop.

Oh crap.

Asch looked over to Celena. "We're supposed to return her, right?"

Celena tested the meat before biting it. She nodded, "Yep."

"You didn't say anything about what condition she should be in, though."

"No, I didn't."

"Good." He grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out into the wet rain.

"Huuu…"

"Stop making those noises, it's annoying." Celena told me in a strict tone. It was the next day and the sky looked like it was about to rain a second time. Dark clouds loomed over the air while we made our way over to Kaitzur.

"Asch beat me up, he made sure I didn't get dinner and I went to bed in pain. I'm hungry and in pain. What isn't there to whine about?"

"You didn't whine; you made noises."

"It's my way of whining!"

"Be glad Asch didn't chop off your arms when you said that."

"But he didn't have to make me unable to walk!" I tried moving my feet that was broken. Not only did he prevent me from fleeing, he made me crippled for the rest of the way. All of that while being shameless. At least I didn't have to walk since Celena was giving me a piggyback ride. Better her than Asch, who knows what Asch would do to me after that beating last night. But the paaain…!

Dammit! Why weren't either of them healers? I understand that Jade wanted me to stay clear from being healed but the pain was crippling me! And if Asch was a healer, he would definitely not heal me because he was the one that whooped my butt!

"Your fault for lighting the fuse. Not mine."

"At least sound concern for me."

Celena had a long pause "…No…"

I cried in the inside. It was worth a shot though…

"Hey, you. Why don't you say anything?" I shot a glare at the cause of my pain. He wasn't paying attention to the glare.

Obviously, I received the silence treatment from him.

Asshole.

Okay, so it was my fault for making him this mad. It was just hard to resist after seeing a Luke look-alike and not making the joke while Luke wasn't around. Next time, I keep my mouth shut when it comes to Luke with Asch.

Aniiiise, where were you when I needed you the most…! I want someone to talk to other than the anti-social groupie here…!

Hyuuu~ Done. I don't know why, but I do not like this chapter… Maybe it was because it was a dull one…

Anyway…Up for grabs from the Tales of Hearts game! Too bad Zelos' item isn't here otherwise I would have taken it for myself. Anyway! Lloyd's…red…boots… (O.O?) is up for grabs. As well as Presea's exsphere and Key Crest. What else… Natalia's scarf. And that should be enough for now. Jade's glasses…! Why are you at the very end of the game…! D:

EDIT: I TOTALLY FORGOT! TALES OF THE ABYSS IS ON THE TENTATIVE LIST FOR THE NINTENDO 3DS! AKA: ToA IS GOING TO BECOME A REMAKE SOON! WHO'S SO HYPED UP BECAUSE OF THIS BESIDES ME? *insert fangirl squeal right here* :D

Anyway, progress in the next chapter! See you all then~