Author replies :D

Aquamarine Silvertail: In the game Tales of Hearts, there are sidequests where the player can acquire items of Bandai Namco characters. For example: Guy's vest, Natalia's scarf and Jade's glasses are the items that allow the player to call forth the characters into battle. There are more and I'm slowly naming some of them. Neat, isn't it? Anyway, Jade's glasses require the player to complete a sidequest AFTER the game is complete…which sucked in my case.

Loy: :D *hands you Presea's Keycrest and exsphere*

I forgot to add this but: I thank my beta, Mieu, for beta-ing this.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of the Abyss. Period.

Chapter 13: Kaitzur

Asch went on his merry way once more. He usually leaves until dinner every night. By the time it was the next morning, he left without a trace while I was left in Celena's care. By care I meant being carried by her the entire way. Not once had I heard her complain about my weight. She was a lot stronger than she looked. And here I thought her slim frame was all for show. Now that was where I was completely wrong.

I tried to do something while being carried, like talking to her. She just kept going on while being silent so I ended up talking to myself. It was rather sad so I opt out for the next option: Sleep. No seriously, I just napped. I was given a free piggyback ride and I got nothing better to do. The scenery was something I don't usually bother and I would eventually get tired after watching them for who knows how long.

I also decided to make random notes in my head about the two of them. One of them happened to be about scent.

For example, I noticed that Celena had a nice rose perfume. Asch's had a spicy…something. Cologne..? Yeah, cologne. I didn't know that he wore cologne but he did.

…It smelled like cinnamon or something spicy.

It made me drool a bit.

He smelled that good.

Okay, mind back into action and away from the yummy smelling Asch. We (as in Celena and I, Asch ditched us obviously) made it to Kaitzur in record time. And I meant record time. According to Ion, it was supposed to take a week and a half so about ten days. Celena, with her beastly strength, got us here a little over half. But that was because there were no breaks, they were up early in the morning, they camped out late and other stuff...I think…

Kaitzur checkpoint. One word to describe this place: Dull.

Soldiers at the entrance and at the gates stood high in attention and alertness. They barely bat an eye towards the travelers there and they just…stood there. Hands behind their backs, their backs were perfectly straight, their heads held at an acute angle and they were pretty much boring all together. Obviously it wasn't a place for sightseeing but...they could try to make this visit worthwhile or something.

"Please please please let me through?" a familiar voice spoke up. I lifted my head from Celena's shoulder to see Anise trying to beg a soldier to let her through. "I don't have my passport or identification but I have to get through!"

"I'm sorry, miss, but we cannot allow people to go through without a passport or identification." The soldier replied.

"Can't you make this a small exception?" Anise begged, posing a rather cute pose. She was standing on one leg, her entire body was tilted to some degree and she was probably covering her mouth while giving him puppy eyes.

"Again, I'm sorry."

Celena sighed as she walked up to her. "Anise, that is futile. You can't make them budge."

Anise turned around, still holding that cute pose. Her eyes widened as she relaxed her pose. "Wh-whoa! Lieutenant! What are you doing here? And why is Anh with you?"

"Hi, Anise." I smiled at her while giving her a small wave.

"Good timing you have there, Anise," Celena said, changing the topic. "I'll let you take care of her while I go on ahead. I'm tired of her drooling on my shoulder."

"I wasn't drooling on your shoulder!" I protested.

"You were when you were mumbling about cinnamon a while ago."

…Oh yeah.

"She's doing it again…"

"You two seemed to get along pretty well!" Anise commented.

"What two?" Celena and I asked simultaneously. That caused Anise to giggle some more while Celena, roughly, released her hold on me, letting me fall onto the ground butt first.

I hit the ground with a groan. And now my entire lower half was scorched with pain. I rubbed my butt while supporting most of my weight with the other arm. I looked up to see that Celena was making her way towards the border leaving Anise and I at the checkpoint.

Great.

"Wow, what happened to you?" Anise asked me as she bent down a bit. "You look like you've been beaten up."

"I was beaten up." I corrected her. "Do we have enough money to stay at an inn? I'm dying for a comfy place to sit down on like right now. Also, do you have something to dull the pain for a bit?"

I really hated painkillers but I will use them if I really have to. Anise stood up straight as she rest a finger on her lower chin. She then went through her pockets and pulled out something that looked a lot like candy. Wow, I hadn't had candy in such a long time. Looking at that already had my saliva building up in my mouth.

"Here, eat this," she told me as she passed the candy to me. I took the candy, unwrapped the wrapper and popped the candy into my mouth. A burst of apple flavor invaded my sense of taste. I chewed the gummy realizing that it was an apple gel I ate.

…Yummy~

Now I know why the Japanese version called it 'Gumi' instead of 'Gel'. It was a gummy. As in a gummy bear gummy.

Yum~

Not only does it taste good, but also it made the pain go away. It probably didn't heal what Asch had done but at least it was a substitute until better methods of healing arrives.

"From the look on your face, I'd say you like apple gels very much!" Anise laughed. "Well, it's expected since they are really, really addicting. But we have to preserve them even though they are that good. Come on; let's get you inside while the effects are still working. Once Luke and the other have caught up to us, we can have Tear heal you."

I don't know if that last part was going to be a good thing or a bad one. Hopefully I don't pass out like what happened earlier.

For the next few days while we were waiting for Luke and crew to show up. At least a week had passed or so. …Or maybe less. I didn't know. I never bothered with dates and if I asked for the date, it would be meaningless to me since I had absolutely no clue about Auldrant's calendar. Yet. I updated Anise with the recent news, which included meeting Jade and the fonslot seal and meeting Arietta at the Fubras River.

Although my legs felt a lot better than what they used to, Anise suggested I rest while we wait for Tear to show up. In her own words: 'It's better to be safe than sorry. Just because it feels better doesn't mean that you're legs have completely healed.'

While I rested and tried not to move around a lot (I still tried standing on them every now and then…behind her back), Anise went out in attempt to get us to pass without passports or IDs. It was futile still but she kept trying. She had this theory where if she asked them every day, one of them would have enough compassion to let us through. She even used me as a guinea pig! Pity target but still! Each attempt was futile. Anise told me she wasn't about to give up until a week later…or until Luke and the others shows up.

Apparently she arrived a day before Celena and I did which was pretty good timing we had there. While she was coming up with ideas for her new excuses, she cooked for every meal. I had to say this but her cooking was good. She had me try a variety of dishes while asking me which one would Luke like the most.

I couldn't give her an answer since I had absolutely no clue what Luke liked or disliked. I know Asch's. But I definitely do not know Luke's.

"So, how come you're with the Lieutenant?" Anise asked me as she watched me toyed with my most hated vegetables: Onions.

I winced at it as I moved a small slice towards the edge of the plate. I bit into a slice of bread as I thought of what to say. The truth couldn't hurt, would it? "I followed the Wonder Chef and I was nearly attacked by a wolf if Celena hadn't killed it before it attacked me."

Anise stood up straight slamming her hands onto the desk. "Whoa! You ran into the Wonder Chef?" Her eyes beamed with excitement.

"Yeah…" I answered. "Why? I thought no one would believe me if I told that to anybody. Wasn't he in fairytales?"

"He is but if he actually existed, I would most definitely want his autograph~" Anise's hands clasped together and began swaying back and forth. I smiled at her.

"You like the Wonder Chef that much?"

"Not really," Anise admitted. "But imagine how much Gald his autograph would be worth?"

I had to resist the urge to move my plate aside and slam my head onto the table. Instead, I stabbed a piece of the meat with my fork and ate it. If someone had to describe Anise in a few words it would be: Deadly little girl that craves money.

Anise then pouted. "Although some people would think it's a fake even though it was from the real deal. That means…!" Her eyes had an evil gleam in them as she came up with ideas. Most of them were about catching the Wonder Chef and bringing him to the public view. Which would kind of backfire on her if people thought that we just brought some blonde and dressed him up.

"…We should hold a cooking competition…!" Anise continued. "That way, the people would know that he's the real Wonder Chef and-"

I don't even need to hear those crazy ideas. If people didn't believe in Santa Claus even if he did exist and was standing in front of them, then they would most definitely deny that fact. It was the same case with the Wonder Chef. At least I know he was the real thing because…

…What random character would be singing Disney songs in the middle of nowhere?

"Well, I should get going now." She spoke up as she slid her chair backwards. I hastily ate a few more bites before shoving the plate to the side.

"Wait, I'm coming, too!"

"No, you stay here and rest."

"But I'm tired of resting all the time."

We had a short standoff of whether I should go or not. Then Anise heaved a sigh.

"Fine, but you better not be pushing yourself."

"Yes, ma'am, I won't."

"Aren't you older than me?"

I looked left and right. I should be but I don't think Anise knew I was older than her. Though…that should be a given. "Yes…? Maybe…? I don't know."

Anise placed her hands on her hips. "How old are you?"

"Eighteen."

"Then don't call me 'ma'am'," Anise ordered. "Makes me sound older than I should be." She turned around and head towards the door. I smiled to myself before going after her.

"But Anise~ You act older than you should be~"

Anise marched up to the soldier at the gate, very determined today. The soldier at the gate didn't seem very pleased at her. He held a hand up at her, which basically told her to stop. Anise stopped and looked at him straight in the eye. Then she started her new act.

"Can't you let us through?" she asked him softly. Her head hung low, her tone sounded broken and I suspected that she was about to cry. Cry crocodile tears to be more specific. "My friend here needs serious attention and the next Seventh Fonist is all the way at the Port!"

"I'm sorry to hear about your friend," the soldier said, looking towards my direction. I raised an eyebrow at Anise, who was looking at me with a devilish grin. "But she appears to be fine."

"No no, she's actually in pain. Watch," Anise told him, lowering her fist onto my shin. I winced in pain as I gripped her shoulder as support. Thank God the actual damage happened was a while ago otherwise I would have buckled over from pain.

Still. Ow.

"See? She needs serious attention," Anise continued. "We've been coped up here for a really long time and her legs haven't healed ever since. We need a Seventh Fonist. Now!"

The soldier fumbled a bit. "I-I understand. Do you have a passport?"

Anise lowered her gaze as that particular topic was brought up. "We lost it during our trip."

"I can let you through if you have ID."

"We lost those as well." Anise told him. "Please let us through. Please! Just this once!"

"I'm sorry," he told her, "but I can't let you pass without either of them. It is regrettable but that's the law."

Anise sighed, turning around and walked off as I lost my support. I stood there, hands on my hips as I wait for the pain to dull. Off to the side, I heard Anise said 'You better watch your back' darkly. Looking at her direction, I could see her giving him a dark glare. I gave her a nervous grin. Did she say that to every soldier that was here...?

My grin dropped when I saw them behind her. It soon turned into a relieved smile as Ion smiled back at me. I would go greet them but the pain...!

Anise didn't seem to see them, she was rather busy still giving the soldier evil glares and possibly thinking evil thoughts. Ion chuckled a bit. "Anise, Luke can hear you."

Her attitude changed almost immediately like a grumpy child that was given candy. Anise's eyes widened as she saw Luke and she clasped her hands together happily. "Oh! It's my darling prince~" She ran over to him giving him a hug...glomped him actually. Luke slightly recoiled back a bit but he steadied himself. He was pretty surprised by her sudden glomp.

Off to the side, Guy took one step away from Anise and Luke. Then one step closer to Jade.

"Luke~" Anise giggled. "I'm so glad you're safe! I was so worried about you~" She turned her head over to Ion. "Oh and you too, Ion."

The first part was obviously a lie. The second part, maybe...

"We were worried, too." Luke said. "They said you were fighting the soldiers and you fell from the Tartarus."

"Yeah, it was pretty scary." Insert evil Anise laugh right after that.

Ion placed one hand on Anise shoulder as he looked up at Luke. "The poor thing must have been terrified. She screamed, 'I'll kill you bastards!' as she fell."

Anise turned around and placed a finger on her lips. "Ion, please! Shh!"

"You did scream that, Anise." I pointed out as I slowly made my way over to them. "It was pretty loud."

"Anh is no different," Ion chuckled. "She screamed just as loud in the Cheagle Woods."

"E-" My face felt hot and it was probably an unattractive shade of red. "Ion! Shh!"

Anise giggled. "You gotta admit. That was pretty loud. The Colonel and I heard at the entrance of the Woods, too!"

Now my face was probably as red as Kratos' hated fruit. "I feel like I should flee now..."

"Speaking of fleeing," Luke spoke up as he tossed my bag to me. "Why did you leave us? Did you realize that I had to fill in your watch out duty? That we searched almost everywhere for you? That was a waste of my time!"

"I-It's not like I meant to do something like that!" I protested. "I got sidetracked!"

"What made you sidetracked?" Tear asked me as she crossed her arms. I bit my lower lip as she asked that. Normally I would tell her but she doesn't believe in the Wonder Chef so it would sound like an excuse.

"Anh found the Wonder Chef," Anise spoke for me. I had to slap my palm onto my face when she did that.

"Again with the Wonder Chef?" Tear asked before she sighed. "I thought I told you that he doesn't exist."

And I got nothing from him to prove that he actually existed either. Dang it...!

"After that she was rescued by the Lieutenant!" Anise chirped.

Tear's eyes twitched in agitation. "The Lieutenant was near us at that moment?"

"She was, unfortunately." Jade nodded. "She also camped at least a good distance, otherwise I wouldn't have been informed about Anh's disappearance."

There was a large awkward silence between all of us as Tear, Guy, Luke and I turned our gaze towards Jade.

"What the heck? You knew?" Luke shouted. His arms flew up into the air in rage. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"No one asked me." Jade answered, sarcastically. "Besides, we were bound to meet up with her anyway, so it was fine."

"Fine?" Luke repeated. "Fine? We spent a couple of days trying to find her and that was fine?"

Again with more sarcastic comments. "It puts a good distance between us if we did that."

"You...!"

"Colonel, stop teasing Luke!" Anise ran over to Luke hugged his waist. "By the way, Luke. I kept the Imperial letter safe. Aren't you proud of me?"

Luke looked startled by her glomp. "Oh, uh, yeah. Good job." His gaze went up to Jade and gave him silent angry dagger glares to him.

"So Colonel," Anise peered over her shoulder towards Jade. "Were you worried about me, too?"

"Of course," Jade replied. Sarcasm was drooling from his tone. "We can't do a thing without that letter."

"Booo! You're mean!"

"How are we going to cross the checkpoint?" Tear asked as she looked at the checkpoint. "Everyone here besides Guy doesn't have their passport."

Cue Asch. "You won't need any once you're dead!"

Luke looked around to find the source of the voice. "Who..?"

"Up, Luke." I answered, pointing up. He looked up just to see Asch already in front of him. I expected Asch knocking Luke to the ground. I wasn't expecting him knocking me along with him. Luke took most of the blow and I was a few feet in front of him. I tried to get up but it seemed the pain from my legs came back. I was in between Asch and Luke as I stared into those hated emerald eyes. Crap! Where was Van? Wasn't he suppose to be here by now? Uh... Time to uh...reason with him. "Asch..."

"I don't need to hear anything from you!" He smacked me aside and I hit someone else this time. This time I heard a female grunt as Asch charged towards Luke to attack him.

Wait...Female grunt...? I looked behind me, confused, to see Celena taking the brunt of the crash. The sound of metal clashing caused me to turn my head over to Asch.

And now it was Van's turn to appear. He parried Asch attack with only one command. "Stand down, Asch."

Asch doesn't want to move one inch. "...Out of the way, Van."

"What do you think you're doing? I don't recall giving any orders like this." Van's eyes narrowed. He repeated the line, but more firmly. "Now stand down."

It took one long minute before Asch relaxed his guard. He sheathed his sword; his face looked like he wanted to cut Luke down at that moment. It might have worked if glares were daggers. He left with an inhuman jump.

"Ow. Do you mind?" Celena's voice made me realized that she was still behind me.

"Sorry!" I apologized to her moving away from her as fast as I could. She removed herself from the metal bar that was directly behind her. Ouch, that must had really hurt. "Are you okay?"

"My stamina is something you shouldn't be worried about."

"She's right." I heard Van agreed. I turned around to see Van scanning me from top to bottom but his eyes were intently focused on my legs. While his eyes were on my legs, my eyes were on his brows. Wow, bushy brows. The tip of Tear's spear was aimed at him. If I was at the end of that tip, I would be shocked. But Van...Van had a calm gaze from the tip towards Tear's face.

Looking at her, I saw that her eyes were ice cold. "Get away from her."

"Tear, put away your weapon," Van told her, moving the spear away from his face. "You misunderstand. I was just about to heal the damage that Asch had done to this girl."

Her eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"He means that he was going to heal the idiot's broken legs." Celena answered her. "I'm surprised that you never noticed that she was limping."

"I can heal her myself." Tear said sternly.

Van stood up straight, looking at Tear. Eye to eye. Steady gaze to steady gaze. "Very well. Once you're done, come find me in the inn."

"Master!" Luke spoke up before Van left us. "Thanks for saving me." Van smiled before walking over to Luke. He exchanged a few glances as Tear inspected the damage. Anise, Ion, Guy and Jade had also joined us.

"Are you okay, Anh?" Anise asked me. "I told you not to push yourself. Is it my fault for hitting you earlier?"

"I think that Asch just made it worse when he shoved her out of the way." Guy spoke up. "She looked fine before he showed up. So I suppose it wouldn't be your fault."

"Can you stand, Anh?" Ion asked me.

"I'll try," I told him. "No promises there."

Seven Fonons flowed from the beautiful green gylph in front of Tear's hand and towards my legs. The pain was replaced by a soothing feeling that felt cool at the same time. Tear slowly removed her hand once the gylph was gone.

"There, that should do it." Tear said. She looked up at me and furrowed her brow. "You look pale."

"Am I?" I asked, feeling my forehead. Crap, faint feeling taking effect. "I guess the pain got to me." I gave them a smile. "I'm okay, really."

It looked like everybody else had bought it but only Jade knew the truth behind it. Actually, scratch that. Jade and Van were giving me looks. Jade I could understand but Van.

Celena huffed. "I don't get it why Jade brought someone like her to the military. She's absolutely useless."

"True, but she has potential." Jade pushed his glasses up.

"Potential my butt." Celena crossed her arms. "You have this weird habit of picking up people in the middle of the streets. Just like that maid."

Maid? What maid? I turned to Jade who didn't seem to be phased by that. Instead he pushed his glasses up once more. "Need I remind you, Celena, that you, too, were taken in from the streets fifteen years ago."

It looked like Jade had struck a homerun cause Celena looked absolutely furious. Celena rushed over to him intending to give him a punch. I closed my eyes waiting for the conclusion to pass.

There was no one falling from the ground.

Nor was there the sound of punching.

I had one eye open to see Jade still standing there, arms crossed. His head was tilted to the side as if he was going to receive the punch but at the same time, his gaze was calm and calculating. Not too far from his face was Celena's fist. And holding her arm firmly into place was Van. Either Jade had anticipated that Van was going to hold her back or he was just some crazy guy letting someone punch him like that. I wouldn't think it was the latter.

"Let go, Van." She demanded quietly.

"Calm yourself, Lena." He told her, still holding her arm. "You shouldn't let your anger get the best of you."

A few moments passed before I heard her hiss. Celena jerked her arm away from Van and gave Jade some sort of look. I couldn't determine what look she had since her back was on me but if I were to make a guess, it would be a hated look. She, abruptly, left the room, slamming the door behind her as she did that. I heard Van sighed.

"It seems everybody is on edge today. I will drop by tomorrow. By then I hope you have all calmed down." He, too, left the room.

Silence covered the entire room. Mieu fidgeted beside me as I stared at the ground.

"Well then, it's been a while since we had a decent accommodation." Jade spoke up. "Let's all relax today. If there is a fee, I'm sure Dorian General Grants would accommodate for us.."

"I will go book the rooms under my brother's name then," Tear said softly. She turned around and exit the room in a very silent fashion.

"So, who's this handsome person over here~?" Anise asked as she eyed Guy from head to toe. She gave him a devious look and a small smile. Guy seemed pretty calm with her scanning him while Luke scratched the back of his head.

"Right, you two haven't met yet." He said. He had one hand gestured at Guy. "Anise, this is my servant, Guy. Guy, this is Anise."

"Please to meet you, Guy~" Anise chirped.

"Likewise, Anise." Guy said, smoothly. "I didn't think that Fon Master Ion's Fon Master Guardian would be so young."

Anise giggled. "Well, it's still a pretty difficult job."

Jade pushed up his glasses, looking quite amused. "If you call leaving Ion to Malkuth's military while she ran off to men whom have large sums of money, difficult."

Anise turned over to Jade and placed her arms on her hips while giving Jade a look. "Booo, Colonel, you're still being mean!"

"I'm not being mean; I'm just stating the truth."

She ignored that part. Anise turned over to Guy and pouted a bit. "But you're a servant, right? What are you doing all the way over here?"

Guy flicked a thumb over to Luke. "I went out to search for Luke on the Duke's orders."

"You must be strong if the Duke just sent you."

Guy chuckled lightly. "I wouldn't consider myself strong in comparison to someone like Van or Jade at the very least."

Luke huffed a bit. "You're being too modest, Guy. I would say you're on par with Master Van."

"You haven't seen the man at his full strength," Guy grinned. "I would say the same to Jade."

"Speaking of the Colonel," Anise looked over her shoulder. "A little bird said that you've been hit by a fonslot seal."

Jade cast a glance towards my direction. I just shrugged lightly at him as he pushed his glasses up. "Oh, don't worry about me. I may not be able to use most of my fonic artes, but I'm still formidable."

Anise gave him an once-over. "You don't look that formidable."

"Would you like to find out, Anise?"

"Ooh, scary. Guy~ Protect me from the Colonel~" She ran over to Guy to hide behind him but he immediately recoiled. He screamed as he backed away from Anise, arms flailing all over the place as he plant his back was against the wall. At that moment, Tear had opened the door and entered the room. She paused at the doorway when Guy slammed himself against the wall…which happened to be right next to the door. She gave him a raised eyebrow before he screamed once more and distanced himself.

I turned my head over to Anise who was standing on one foot with the other one raised in the air as if she was about to pounce on Guy. She, too, was watching Guy with both of her brows raised. She then lowered her raised foot on the ground and looked over to Luke.

Luke sighed. "Guy doesn't like women."

"Actually, he has gynophobia," Jade corrected. "He fears the contact of women."

Anise pouted a bit. "Oh, that's a pity… Shouldn't we try to cure you? I mean, if you get teased enough times, you'll definitely get over it."

"Please don't."

"Maybe if you tease him once a day, he might get over it eventually." Ion suggested. Anise's face beamed while Guy's dropped in horror.

"That's a great idea, Ion!"

"A wonderful idea, Ion. But let's save that for tomorrow, it looks like Guy has enough fun for today." Jade appeared to enjoy that more than Guy was.

"Do I look like I was having fun?"

"Booo, Colonel. You're always spoiling things."

The kitchen staff was pretty small so the meal was made by Anise instead. After the meal, we all sat in the rooms the Tear, Anise and I were sharing. Tear and I sat on top of a bed while Ion sat on a chair with Anise beside him. Guy was leaning against the wall and Luke and Jade were sitting on chairs. Mieu was with Ion, sitting happily on his lap.

It was already late in the evening but we didn't have to wake up early so that was a bonus. Most of the time, Anise was talking about her ordeals she had faced. The room was lit by some sort of fon technology that was pretty much similar to light bulbs. Guy wasn't going all Fon-Tech Mode on us so that meant he knew what they were. I noticed that Jade was constantly looking out of the window as if something was going to happen.

Not too long after, a storm began. It was a pretty light storm so we all ignored that.

Then the lights went out just like that.

"What happened?" Anise asked, frantically.

Footsteps were heard, and then something else. It sounded like someone was checking on the bulbs. Guy's voice sighed. "Looks like lightning has struck. Do we have anything as a backup?"

To answer his question, someone struck a match and a candle was lit. The room was illuminated with the soft glow of the candle with Jade as the center of it all. "Why, yes we do."

"I'm not even going to bother asking where you got that candle…" Luke muttered.

Jade's glasses gleamed. It looked like he was up to something. "You don't know? The candles are used during storms like these." He gestured at the window where the rain was pouring heavily. "It was a precaution for the inn staff since they don't want anything bad happening to their guests."

I gulped a bit. Somehow there was a scary story in the making. "Bad things happened here…?"

Anise giggled. "Colonel, you shouldn't tease people like that."

"I'm not teasing; it's the truth." Jade pushed his glasses up. "Black outs are pretty common in this inn when a storm is present which is why they supply candles and matches. It's quite useful at times like these. It reminds me of a story. There was a storm just like tonight's storm some time ago. A couple was staying in this inn since the rain made their progress difficult. They booked themselves separate rooms for the night, hoping that the storm would let up by the morning. The young woman was preparing to sleep in this very room when a black out happened."

"Why does this story sound so familiar…?" Luke sighed, resting a chin on an opened palm.

Anise pushed a finger on her lips at Luke's direction. "Shh! I want to hear the rest of the story."

Jade continued with his story, not minding the interruption. "Of course the woman wasn't scared of the sudden black out. She searched through her belongings to find a spare match and lit it. She wanted to check if her companion was all right so she left her room to do so. That was when that happened."

There was a deliberate pause. I could feel shivers going up my spine as I reached for a pillow.

"With a lit match, she had enough time to go check on her companion and then return to her room. But she was only halfway through the hallways until the match suddenly went out. Terrified, she frantically searched for a solid wall to support herself against. Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness when-"

The candlelight flickered out and the room was once again dark. If I remembered correctly, the candlestick was still unused so it should have lasted through the story.

How come I got this feeling that something was going to happen?

"Oh my, the light went out." I heard Jade said. He had a hint of amusement in his tone. The sound of a drawer opened and a few seconds of waiting in silence, it closed. "It seems that there was only one match. I'll go find another one in the other rooms."

I heard him stand up and walked out of the room and the door creaked as it opened and closed.

"…Why didn't he ask Mieu to light the candle?" Luke asked in confusion.

"Mieu's asleep," Ion answered. "He fell asleep sometime ago so Jade didn't want to wake him up for that purpose."

Luke huffed a bit but he didn't complain any further. We all sat in silence and I felt Tear shifting herself on the bed pretty often. I could tell she was scared. Heck, I was kind of scared as well. I wasn't very fond of scary stories or movies since I get these images in my mind and I get overly paranoid especially at night. Like a murderer was in this very room or worse, a ghost. A bloodied, disfigured image of a woman. I shuddered at the thought. Goosebumps, check. Paranoia, check. Hyperventilating, almost getting there. I hugged the pillow closer to my chest as my heart thumped madly.

Where was Jade and the light?

"Jade's sure taking his time…" Guy muttered as he shifted from his position. "It shouldn't take that much time to find a match."

"Hmm…maybe he was attacked by the thing he was talking about." Anise suggested. "It could be a ghost for all we know."

"D-don't say such silly things." Tear hissed. "Ghosts don't exist…!"

I nodded frantically but no one could see it. "Of course NOT!" I screamed the last word that escaped my mouth since a hand grabbed my shoulder from behind. Out of instinct, I swung the pillow that was in my hand at my intended target.

What happened after that was like a bunch of dominos falling against each other. I screamed, then Tear screamed, and then everybody else screamed. I wrestled myself free from the hand. It didn't hesitate to release me as I moved away from the bed I was sitting on. I found myself another bed as I got on it and stood up.

"What's wrong with you?" I heard Luke shouted.

"Something grabbed me!" I exclaimed as I rubbed my arms to get rid of the Goosebumps.

"Don't be stu-Aah! Who's touching me?"

"I got it!" Guy shouted as he moved to where Luke was making frantic yelping noises. Next thing I knew Guy said 'whoa' before it sounded like he hit the ground. Hard.

It was at that time, the lights flickered back on. In the center of the room was a shocked Guy with a Jade holding his arm. Amusement was written all over Jade's face as I looked around the room. Tear was at a corner of the room with her weapon in hand; her face was pale as she looked like she wasn't ready to handle another scream fest. Ion was still sitting on the chair unable to do much since Anise was hugging him pretty tightly. Luke was backed against the wall but the minute he laid his eyes on Jade; his expression went from fear to anger.

"Jade…! When did you…!"

"I was looking for another match when I ran into one of the staff. They said that they would get the lights back on pretty soon so there was no need for any further searching." He responded as he released Guy's arm. He straightened himself as he placed his hands behind his back. "My apologies, Guy. It was merely an act of self-defense."

Guy chuckled nervously. "I've been through worse."

"Don't tell me that was you who scared all of us." Luke pointed a finger at Jade's direction. In response to that, he just smirked as he pushed his glasses up.

"I find it quite amusing to see that you all jumped to a conclusion before I finished the story."

I furrowed my brow. "Wait...That's not how it ended...?"

"How did it end then, Colonel?" Anise asked, releasing her hold around Ion.

Jade pushed up his glasses. "It turns out that her companion was also checking up with her. Her companion grabbed her shoulder from behind, therefore startling her. Around that time, the electricity came back on. Nothing horrible happened to the two of them. Honestly, you youngsters shouldn't have taken that story seriously."

"It's hard not to do that when you're the story teller!" I cried out, settling on the bed.

"I said that bad things happen here. That doesn't mean that my story was going to have a bad ending."

"Could've fooled me…" Luke muttered.

I sighed, resting my head on my palm. "Ditto."

"I think we have enough adrenaline running through us, now," Ion said as he stood up. "We should return to our rooms and rest for the morning."

The lights were out and the rooms were quiet. The guys had left about an hour or more, I couldn't tell. I just know that they went to the rooms they were all sharing. While Anise and Tear were soundly asleep, I was having a difficult time sleeping. I rolled over to one side, and closed my eyes trying to make myself fall asleep.

No good.

I didn't know what was wrong with me. Maybe I was just on edge of what happened today. But the more I think about that stuff, the lower the chance of me sleeping anytime soon. I decided to just wait it out. The soft sound of Anise's breathing was all that was heard in the room. I sighed softly before turning over to my other side. When that side didn't seem to make me sleep, I laid on my back. A few minutes later, it started to feel pretty uncomfortable so I flipped myself to one side again.

Still not working.

I sighed once more before tossing the covers to the side and hoped out of my bed. I was already tired of staying up while trying to sleep. I might as well head over to the kitchen and raid the fridge or something.

Hot milk sounded nice.

I opened the door and glance back in the room to check if the creaking noise disturbed Tear or Anise. Seeing as either of them hadn't moved one bit, I slipped out of the room and gently closed the door. I tiptoed towards the kitchen, rather…where I thought was the kitchen. When I reached an unknown room, I turned around and traced my steps back to the room. My eyes were already adjusted in the dark so a candle wasn't necessary. At the same time, I wished I had one because Jade's story still gave me the Goosebumps. The only problem with that was that I didn't know how to light a candle.

Moving on, I silently walked over to the other end of the hallway, hoping there was a kitchen there. There was. Even though my eyes had adjusted to the lack of light in the room, it was hard to differentiate which is what since this kitchen wasn't like my kitchen. It wasn't until my fingers touched the surface of something cold that I assumed that it was the fridge. My hand grasped the handle and opened it.

Yep, it was the fridge all right.

I hoped the staff doesn't mind if I mooch off of their milk supplies. Getting the one from the Wing Pack causes noise and I didn't want to wake Tear or Anise up. I searched through the fridge for a milk container. They had milk in metal containers while back at home we had it in cartons. Oh well, at least it wasn't difficult to find. I pulled the metal containers out of the fridge and set it aside.

Now I needed a pot since they didn't have a microwave. I heard someone shift behind me and fear overtook all of my senses.

Oh God...! Please tell me that wasn't a ghost. I wasn't even armed at all, I placed my handgun underneath my pillow in case of an attack and the thought of bringing it with me when I wandered the halls never occurred.

"Should I turn on the lights, Anh?" the shadow asked me and I immediately yelped.

The lights turned on and Ion was at my side. He had a very nervous look across his face. Seeing him, I sighed at my misunderstanding.

"Ion, that was you...Sorry for screaming."

"I apologize as well. I didn't think you would scream."

I rubbed my temple as I leaned against the counter. Then I remembered the milk and I searched for a pot, I noticed that there was one already on the old looking stove. I looked back at Ion and then it went over to a table where a glass of milk sat. "You were here drinking milk, too?"

"Yes, the tryptophan found in milk is said to break down into a neurotransmitter called serotonin that induces sleep. Or so I've been told."

Big vocabulary he used there.

I blinked a couple of times before pouring milk into the pot. "I never thought about that. I've been told that it helps you sleep when I was young." Below the pot was a large fireplace-thingy. I assumed that one had to light it in order to get the fire for cooking and such. Luckily there was a matchbox in the drawer near the stove. I took one stick and tried to strike it against the rough surface of the box. It was pretty unsuccessful since I had no flipping idea how to light a match.

Ion's hand covered mine before he pulled the match and box away. He lit the match easily before putting it in the fire-pit. It roared to life a few seconds after. Ion gathered his glass of milk and we stood there in silence, watching the fire dance.

"...Thanks, Ion."

"No problem," he said, smiling. "I don't usually get to do this in the Cathedral so I like to be helpful even if it's small things."

"You have a big job though, Ion," I pointed out. "You can relax as much as you like."

Ion sipped his milk and nodded. "Yes, I know. But I want to do something normal at least once."

"What do you mean by that...?"

Instead of answering my question, he pointed to the pot. "The pot's boiling over."

My head snapped over to the pot where the milk was boiling just like Ion said. I frantically grasped the handle of the pot and pulled it away from the stove. Milk dripped out from the rim of the pot and onto the floor and counters. I grabbed a cloth that was nearby and dried those surfaces. Ouch, hot, hot, very hot. I ran the cloth in cold water to cool the cloth and my hands before wiping some more milk off.

...Well...there goes at least half of my milk.

I sighed, resting a hand on my hip as I glared at the milk that was still in the pot. The milk was pretty much steaming hot at this moment so I had to wait for it to cool down. I don't know how long that would take but in the meantime, I should clean up the mess I made.

"You're pretty destructive in the kitchen, aren't you?" Ion asked me while I was washing the cloth free of milk. My face became flustered.

"D-destructive?" I repeated, I twisted the cloth to get rid of the moisture in it. "I may not be good in the kitchen but that doesn't mean I'm that destructive. I just...don't pay attention to some stuff..."

Ion chuckled. "I noticed."

"Huh..." I mumbled, pouring the milk from the pot to the glass. It was at the right temperature and I took a sip out of it. It was a while since I had milk by itself; I usually had milk with cereal. Now that I think about it, the sugar from the cereal sweetened the milk so I was pretty used to that sweetness. After tasting it as it was, it was...plain.

No wonder I preferred it with cereal.

"Something is putting you on edge." Ion said, placing his glass in the sink. He grabbed the cloth and it looked like he was going to wash the glass.

"It's all right, Ion, I'll wash the glasses when I'm done with my glass," I spoke up, walking over to him.

"Oh, no. That's fine. I can do it myself."

I sighed softly. If he insisted, I guess there was nothing I could do. My thoughts went over to what he said earlier. "Do I look like I'm on edge to you, Ion...?"

Ion smiled a bit. "Maybe that's just me but you don't seem like yourself. It might be the story we heard today."

I choked on my milk when he said that. I turned away, trying to cough up the milk that went down the wrong pipe. "I don't know what sane person would act normal after hearing a story like that. How do you do it, Ion? How can you not be scared?"

"Actually, I'm a bit terrified by the story, I just don't mind it when I heard the ending."

That would be the logical thing to do since it wasn't a scary story to begin with. At least there was one person on this entire planet that doesn't believe in Jade's lies slash stories slash whatever comes out of his mouth."You're incredible, Ion..."

"I'm not that special, but I thank you for the compliment."

I laughed. "At least you don't have to deal with him after you hand the letter over to Kimlasca."

"Honestly, I want to see the end results between Malkuth and Kimlasca..." he admitted, his head was lowered. "But my duty is to give the letter to Kimlasca and I would soon have to return to Daath after."

My head cocked over to one side. "Aww, why do you look so gloomy? Even if you return to Daath, I would come visit you. Heck, I'll try and drag Luke's butt over there, too."

"You would get a lot of complaints from him and I don't think Jade would allow you to do that."

My shoulders dropped a bit. "No, but it was worth a shot."

Ion chuckled a bit before he head towards the door. "It's getting late, and I'm feeling a little bit sleepy. Good Night, Anh."

I raised my empty glass at him before he left. "Night, Ion."

I woke up to the sound of loud banging at the door. Groaning, I turned around and tried to ignore it. Unfortunately for me, it didn't go away. Instead, the door slammed opened as someone marched into the room. Whoever it was, they just stood at the side of my bed. Just...standing there. One side of my bed heaved; I felt that for sure. And then I felt my back being poked.

"Anh, wake up," sang the softly sound.

"Five more minutes, Anise," I mumbled knowing that it was Anise.

"Come on. It's past breakfast."

"I can live without it."

There was a long dramatic pause. Being half-asleep, I thought she just gave up and left the room, leaving me to my sleep. But just when I was about to drift to unconsciousness, she spoke up once more, "But they made your favorite for breakfast this time."

My eyes jerked opened as I shot up from bed and threw off the covers. I charged through the doorway, screaming, "SUSHI!"

...She lied. Anise lied about sushi being made for breakfast. I couldn't help it though. It was my favorite. Darn Anise for making it that one day and darn me for gobbling it up like it was nothing. I sat there at the table with my head resting on my arms.

"...Traitor..."

I heard Anise giggled beside me. "You knew that there wasn't any sushi made for breakfast and yet you still fell for it every time."

"...I hate you..."

"That's what you said last morning."

"Oh, shut up."

Someone walked into the room and paused. A rich male chuckled filled the air as he continued walking and took a seat. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

"Oh, shut up, Guy."

"Mind telling me what's going on?" he asked.

"Anh's favorite is sushi so I told her that sushi was being made for breakfast." Anise explained to Guy with a chuckle. "You should have seen her bolting out of bed. It was almost inhuman."

"Sushi, you say. Normally, people wouldn't have sushi for breakfast."

"In Anh's world, it's possible."

"Well, that's a weird world, if I do say so myself." I heard Jade say. He was already present in the room when Anise and I arrived.

"...I hate you guys." I mumbled.

"Anh is grumpy~"

"Now, now," Ion spoke up. "I'm sure she misses the taste of sushi."

Guy chuckled nervously. "To a point of obsession? I don't think so, Ion."

"I agree with Guy." Jade said.

Evil. These guys were pure evil.

"And then, Master Van...!" I heard Luke from just outside of the room. I immediately straightened up and ran a hand through my hair to smooth it out as well as take out any knots. The doors opened with Van entering the room. Luke was walking cheerfully right beside him as Celena followed the two of them, silently and gracefully. Looking over to the right side of the room, Tear, who was silent the entire time, was watching Van's every movement like a hawk watching its prey.

Van sat down that was across from Jade who was technically sitting at the far end of the table. Luke took a seat in front of Ion, and I was sitting on Anise's left. Guy was sitting to Luke's right while Mieu stood on the table to Guy's right with an unoccupied seat behind him. Tear stood not too far from Luke. Her back was resting on a wall as she crossed her arms, her weapon was leaning against the wall right beside her. Celena stood a few steps behind Van's seat and she was standing there almost like a statue.

Ion stood up from his seat, gaining the attention of everybody in the room. "Firstly, I would like to apologize for my sudden decision for leaving Daath without much notice. You shouldn't blame the Malkuth military who were aiding me during my escape. The fault lies on me alone."

"No one was going to blame you for your decision, Fon Master," Van said, calmly. "Personally, I was quite surprised that you didn't bring more Fon Master Guardians with you."

"Anise and the Malkuth military would suffice for me," Ion responded.

"You should have taken Lena with you at the very least."

"I didn't want to make to a big deal for the Order. It was best if I just took just one unit."

Van nodded. "Yes, I suppose. Moving along, about the vanishing ordeal, I'd appreciate it if you'd fill me in on what's happened up until now."

Jade pushed his glasses up and stood up from his seat. "My Lieutenant Colonel and I were the ones who took Ion away. Allow us to explain." I gestured Ion to sit down before Jade were to continue. "Now then, Anh, would you kindly explain."

My eye twitched a tiny bit before I stood up. Thank God I knew the events, otherwise I'd be screwed.

"And that concludes the recent events up until now." I said before sitting down. I skipped the part where I was separated from the group but there wasn't much detail to say during that time. Fubras River then Kaitzur. What else was to say about that? What we had for dinner?

Ion turned over to Van. "When the Malkuth military came up to me requesting for assistance, I felt that I should be responsible to see things through. I never thought that Mohs would disagree with it. But the Six God-Generals..."

Tear took a couple steps closer to Van, accusation were in her eyes. "The Six God-Generals are under your command, Van, why are you interfering with Fon Master's Ion's wishes to stop war?"

Van calmly looked over at his sister while Luke shot his own look at Tear. "She's wrong, isn't she, Master Van?"

"It's true that I command the Six God-Generals, but they are also a part of the Grand Maestro Faction. It's likely they're under orders from Grand Maestro Mohs."

Tear, angered by his words, slammed her hands down at the table. "Grand Maestro Mohs only wishes for peace! He would never do such a thing!"

"Calm down, Tear," Guy spoke up. "It makes sense if you think about it."

"To make things clear, I don't side with the Grand Maestro faction." Van looked around the entire room. "People tend to assume that I side with the Grand Maestro because I'm the leader of the Six God-Generals. For that matter, Tear, you're a part of the intelligence division under the Grand Maestro's command. Why are you here?"

"I'm searching for something under orders from Mohs. I can't say any more than that." She answered calmly.

Van narrowed his eyes as he caught on. "Would that something happen to be the Seventh Fonstone?"

Tear didn't answer the question, instead, she looked away. All around the table, we, which includes Mieu, all expressed our shocked looks, with one exception: Luke. Luke furrowed his brow in confusion.

"The 'Seventh Fonstone'...? What's that?" His brows flew up in curiosity.

From there, the room fell silent. Van held a calm expression while Celena facepalmed to the side. Ion smiled nervously, Anise chuckled nervously for him and I had a strong urge to slam my head onto the table in front of me. Jade coughed, Mieu did his best to cover his face with his tiny paws, Tear pressed a palm to her forehead and Guy muttered 'talk about sheltered' underneath his breath. It took some time before Luke looked around the room to see everyone's expression.

"What? Quit looking at me like I'm stupid?"

"The Seventh Fonstone is part of the Score Yulia read 2000 years ago," Van explained for Luke.

"The world's future is written within the Score," Tear continued. She turned to Ion. "According to what I have heard, the Score, itself, was pretty long."

Ion nodded. "It took up seven fonstones, each the size of a mountain. Eventually, the stones broke apart. Some became the fon belt you see in the sky. Others fell to the earth. Malkuth and Kimlasca both tried to claim the stones that fell to the land, and it led to war."

"Because if you have the fonstones, you can learn the future~" Anise chirped.

Luke nodded as he soaked in all of the information. "Huh. So, the thing with the seventh 'Score' written on it is called the 'Seventh Fonstone,' huh?"

"It's said that Yulia hid the Seventh Fonstone herself after she read the Score," Jade spoke up. "Therefore, numerous powers have been searching for the Seventh Fonstone."

"And that's what Tear is looking for now?" Luke asked, looking at Tear.

Tear straightened herself and crossed her arms. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not."

Luke tsked. "You're such a stingy woman..."

"At any rate, I have nothing to do with Mohs." Van said. "I'll order the Six God-Generals not to interfere with you all, though I don't know how much good that will do."

Ion nodded. "Hopefully, more good than harm."

Guy flicked his head towards Van's direction. "Also, Van, what about the passports?"

"Oh yes, Duke Fabre has entrusted me with temporary passports. With the spares I brought just in case, there are just enough for all of you." Van pulled out a small package with a pile of passports in it. He unwrapped it and passed it around to each person at the table with the exception of Guy.

"Now we can cross the border." Luke opened the passport to see what's inside of them.

"You should get some rest here before you go," Van told them. "It's been a long talk and another day of rest doesn't hurt. I'll go on ahead across the border and ready a ship. Lena will stay here and guide you all to the port first thing in the morning."

-page break-

I stretched my arms out as we all walked out of the room where we had that conversation with Van in. We eventually left the inn for some fresh air. Celena was taking the lead and she turned to look at all of us. On hand was rested on her hip.

"So you guys are given one extra day of rest. Take this time to relax or do whatever you guys want. Just don't wander outside of Kaitzur. I don't want to be the one hauling you back. We leave at first light." She turned around and head towards the border where Van had just passed.

Luke glared at Tear. "I told you Master Van wasn't doing anything wrong."

"I don't trust him." She stated simply without looking at him.

"Oh yeah? Well, I don't trust you."

"Fine by me."

"...Nice friendly relationship you two have there," Guy commented, only to receive angry glares from the two of them. He immediately backed away from them. "Talk about a stiff atmosphere..."

"Really? I find it quite nice." Jade spoke up. "After all, a good relationship builds up on insults and hate."

"Just like you and your Lieutenant Colonel...?"

Jade smirked. "Just like my Lieutenant Colonel and I."

"Hah hah hah..." I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

Evening came by and went. Waaay before the sun hit the horizon, I had been woken up by Anise once more. This time, with tempura. Daaang iiit...! I ended up getting myself dragged out for practice by Jade. It wasn't that bad...I think. We started with me jogging around to get the adrenaline going through me before we went down to the actual practice.

I really didn't want to say this but I actually missed the training. No more grouchy red head God-General threatening to break other bones or whatever he could think of.

By the time practice ended, it made me wished I never missed it in the first place. That attitude quickly changed when breakfast arrived, specially made by Anise. Everyone ate at their own pace and left the table to pack or get ready. We were all outside of the inn with Celena having a light conversation with Ion.

Well...most of us.

"Where's Luke?" Anise asked, looking around. I looked around as well and to my surprise, he wasn't there. He was there for breakfast for sure, but where was he at this moment?

"I'll go look for him," I told Anise before she could make any suggestions. I guess the only place where Luke could be in the entire inn would be in the room he; Jade, Guy and Ion were sharing.

I asked for the exact location where the room they used to share was. The staff was kind enough to point it out for me and I found it without any trouble. Sitting on his bed, was Luke with his back on the door. I knocked on it lightly to get his attention and it did more than get his attention, he jumped from where he was sitting. Turning around, he saw me as sighed.

"What? Is it time to leave?" he asked.

"Just wanted to know what'cha up to." I answered, walking over to him. He shoved whatever he had in his hands underneath his pillow and my brows furrowed. "Come on, Luke. Show me."

"No!" he said defensively.

"Why? Lemme see it?"

"Lay off will you?"

I placed both of my hands on my hips as I scoffed. "Fine, I will if you tell me what are you hiding!"

"It's just my diary, okay?" he shouted.

I took one step back. "Yeesh! Don't have to be that defensive about that."

"Will you leave now?"

Before I could say anything, Mieu ran up my leg and onto my shoulder. He rubbed his furry cheek against mine. "Myuu! Mieu knows what he's doing! Master's plotting something about Jade!"

"Argh! I told you not to say anything stupid, Thing! Now my plan's ruined!"

My eyes perked up in interest. "Against Jade? As in a prank?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"...Let me in on it."

Fun fact: Yes I love sushi. I will literally have it for breakfast because I love it that much.

Anywho, up for grabs is Order of the Holy White Mother (summons KOS-MOS), Tokunaga's up for grabs and...Leon's-er-Judas' mask. XD

Everybody knows that the next chapter spells disaster. If you guys have any suggestions on what the pair should do, feel free to leave a review for it. It may or may not show up in the next chapter, but it really depends if it's doable. That and it should backfire on Luke and Anh. XD After all, it is Jade they are targeting. I got a couple already in mind.

Ooh! It's also nice if you can make the a Halloween theme prank. }D

Up next: Getting back at Jade.

Please review and see you all in the destructive chapter!