Yar! Games! Fun fun games! Yes, the game is going to be in it. XD We'll get to Choral Castle…eventually. Speaking of games, I was spending a lot of time on an MMORPG called Eden Eternal. It's so fun except for the grinding part. :/ Ah, well.

School's coming up next week, but it doesn't matter to me. I got a 4 hour break. X3 3hrs if my Jap professor had me volunteer in the noon class.

Disclaimer: I don't own TotA.

Chapter 17: Word Games

The strangled cry of the monster ran in the air as it fell down dead. I heard Guy's sigh of relief as he sheathed his sword and turned around to check on everybody.

Aside from being covered in blood of dead monsters, most of us were fine. Tired, but fine.

Not me, though. I was aching from head to toe. I let myself fall down onto the ground and leaned my back against the large rock that felt cool for my body. While catching for my breath, I leaned my head back and stared at the blue sky that doesn't seem to mind the battles that was happening below it. I wanted to be like that; all carefree and stuff.

I'd already lost count on how many days since we had left Kaitzur. One thing I did know for sure: we were way behind schedule and the hoards of monsters were to blame. We had really short breaks since the monster battles took up most of the day and we were trying to get to Choral Castle asap.

Which sucked.

"What's with all of these monsters?" Anise asked, returning Tokunaga back into the doll state. She held a pouting expression as she scanned the area. "If Gloomietta wanted Ion and Luke to just come to Choral Castle, there's no reason to release all of these monsters."

"Remember, Anise, most of the monsters we had encountered are from Fubras River," Celena pointed out. "Since taking the river path, it was expected."

"True. And with all of these battles going on, Luke and Anh are improving a lot," Guy commented looking at the two of us. "If this keeps up, they'll fight just as well as the rest of us."

Luke muttered something underneath his breath. A hint of red tinted on his cheeks as he lowered his head to hide his expression.

"Oh, shut it, Guy." I placed my handgun back into its pouch. With all of the monsters jumping us, I had to limit my use of bullets. There was so much a rifle with limited ammo could do. Luckily the handgun required only fonons in the air. It was a lot easier to use cause, honestly, I didn't have time to just load the bullet, turn to the monster and fire at it. With this, it was a hell lot faster. "I'm going to be all sore way before we reach Choral Castle."

"Well now, before this goes out of hand and a certain someone gives up on us, let's be on our way." Jade spoke up, adjusting his glasses like usual. Out of everybody, he, Guy and Celena didn't appear to be tired at all. Then again, they were the experts out of the entire group.

"Roger that!" Anise's hand flew up in the air excitedly. Tokunaga on her back swung left and right as if it was trying to hang onto a jerking beast.

"Does anybody care about being sore?" I muttered as I got up.

"We all do," Tear said simply. "But ensuring the chief's safety comes first."

And now I had a sudden urge to just leave him along.

I bit my tongue from saying that out loud. I just wanted a longer break aside from the cold nights. It wasn't like we were going to nap in Choral Castle either…

Heaving a weary sigh, I pushed my thoughts away and casted a glance at Tear. Something red shifted beyond her and I saw Luke. He looked like he was eyeing something; staring at whatever it was very intensely. Following his gaze, I found myself staring blankly at Tokunaga. My brow furrowed in confusion and I looked back at Luke just to make sure I was staring at what he was staring.

Yep. He was.

"Hey, Tear," I heard Luke whisper to her. His tone was low but it was enough for me to catch what he was saying to Tear. "Can I ask you something?"

Tear gave him a confused look and then slowly nodded.

"Well," he nudged his head towards Anise, "everybody's acting like it's normal, so it was kind of hard to bring it up, but-" He jabbed a thumb to Anise's direction. "-Anise's puppet thing… How does it work? Is it Fonic Artes?"

Tear raised a thoughtful hand to the side of her face. She tilted her head so that her head rests in her hand. Looking at Tokunaga curiously she said, "Who knows."

"What do you mean, 'who knows?'" Luke looked past me to see that I was listening. He narrowed his gaze at me but didn't say anything further.

"I'm curious about it, too," Guy said suddenly.

"You were listening, too, Guy?" Luke looked over his shoulder to the blond.

"Everybody probably heard you, Luke." I looked over to the other half of the group that was ahead of us and then I looked at Guy to see that he was inspecting Tokunaga from a distance. He looked really fascinated by it now that Luke brought it up.

"Ever since that incident in Kaitzur, I always wonder how that doll operates." A glint of interest lit up in his eyes. "Luke, go ask her."

"Why me?"

"You're more than likely to get an answer out of her."

Luke tsked at Guy and increased his pace. He tapped her shoulder. "Hey, Anise, can I ask you something?"

"Oh, what is it, my dear Master Luke~?"

"That doll of yours…" he started.

"Oh, you mean Tokunaga?"

Luke turned to look at us, an odd look on his face before turning back to Anise. "Uh, yeah, Tokunaga… So how does it get so huge?"

Anise's eyes widened a bit and then a wry smile broke. "Well, if you must know…" She pulled him closer to whisper it into his ear. They both end up stopping and we walked past them. I saw Luke's face furrowed in confusion when we walked by. He straightened up, and caught up to us with Anise in tow.

"It's a lady's secret, she said." He told us.

I facepalmed.

"Just what are you guys doing?" Anise asked with her hands on her hips. "If you really want to know, it has to do with Fon-Tech, but the details are an Order of Loreilei secret. So, a lady's secret." Her hands made circles in the air before pointing to her cheeks.

Luke turned to Tear, "Which means…?"

Tear looked in the other direction. "I'm not a puppeteer so I can't answer that."

"Anh?"

I raised my hands up in the air. "No clue."

Luke frowned and kicked the dirt. "…Dammit, I wanna know!"

Guy laughed. "Try harder next time, Luke." He turned to Anise. "But you said, Fon-Tech, could I-"

"Nope!" Anise quickly cut in. She moved ahead of us and quickly turned around as if she was shielding Tokunaga from Guy's hands. Her hands were held behind her back looking like she was ready to counter whatever attempts he might make if he were to reach out for the doll. For all we know, she could even use it. It was only a hand's reach after all. Guy already took the hint and only frowned in disappointment.

I cleared my throat. "So…"

"I'm bored," Luke declared. His hands went behind his head, clearly lost interest in Tokunaga.

Already…?

"Well, you got to salvage the peace and quiet at this moment," Guy said lightly with a chuckle. "It's either this or battling monsters."

"Can't we have something in between boredom and battling monsters?" Luke suggested. "Something that can keep us from being bored but not battling monsters at the same time."

"Like…a game?" I asked. A grin was working its way to me.

He just shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

I grinned even more. "How about the game?"

"What's that?" he asked, lowering his hands.

"The game is a game where you're supposed to forget about the game and if you remember it or someone reminds you of it, you'd have to say 'I lost the game.'"

He stared at me as if I was mad. Then turned to Tear and Guy. "Did anybody else get that?"

Tear simply shook her head, looking just as confused as him.

Guy laughed lightly. "Simply put, the point of the game Anh's talking about is to forget about it. Like she said, if you remember it or someone reminds you of it, you have to declare that you lost the game. So, just for starters, I lost the game."

"I lost the game as well!" I declared happily.

"Basically, we just let the others know that we lost?" Tear asked, confused. "Then what is the point of the game?"

"It's just for fun, Tear," Guy said. A hand rested on his hip as the other went in the air waving casually. "Though it's fun seeing Anh's frustrated face when she gets reminded of it."

Tear tilted her head to the side. "So there's a time limit?"

He nodded. "We have half an hour to forget."

"That's simple enough," Anise chirped. "Count me in! So, that means I lost the game~"

"It doesn't sound too complicated," Luke muttered. "I lost the game."

"I lost the game." Tear said. "Now what?"

"What I want to know is how did Guy know about the game?" Luke turned to the blond with curious eyes.

Guy laughed and shrugged like it wasn't much of a secret. "I've heard of it."

Yeah, from me…

"Now that we got that settled," Anise placed a hand on her hip, "What are we going to do, aside from walking, now we got about half an hour to kill before probably chaos ensues?"

I shrugged. "We could talk about…stuff."

"That's very vague, Anh."

"A bit too vague," Tear agreed with a sigh.

"Give me a minute or two and I might come up with something," I said to them. Though I already had a game in mind so technically I was lying. Buut, let's see what these guys can come up with.

"Well, what is there for us to talk about?" Anise asked with a light shrug. "We know what each other's occupation is about so that's out since none of us would want to give out any more information. Hmm…Let's see." Her fist collided with her open palm as her eyes lit up. "Hey, guys. I'm born on Shadow-Decan 46. Remember that."

Luke gave her the confused look. "What's that all about?"

Anise lifted a finger up with a smile on her face. "On my upcoming birthday, I expect you all to shower me with presents."

"Technically speaking, I should be the one to expect the birthday greetings and such." Guy grinned at Anise. "My birthday is on Efreet Decan 41. Unless there's someone's birthday before mine."

"No," Tear said. "My birthday is near the end of the year. It's on Lorelei Decan 1."

"Luke was born on the same month as you, Tear." Guy noted. "His is much closer to the end of the year though.

"What about you, Colonel?" Anise looked at Jade with an interested expression.

He looked over his shoulders before looking forward again. The sound of him adjusting his glasses was the first thing we heard before he said, "Unfortunately, my birthday is a little later than both Guy and you, Anise. Sylph Redecan 22."

Before anyone could question her, Celena said, "Rem Decan 25. And I'm not interested in wishes or gifts."

"Well, Ion's on Efreet Decan 18. A little earlier than Guy's." Anise pondered thoughtfully, and then she looked at me. "And how about you, Anh?"

Before I opened my mouth to make up a fake date, Jade quickly cut me off saying, "Rem Decan 44."

Anise's eyes bulged. "Really? You're born on St. Chocolate's day?"

If that was the equivalent to Valentine's, sure why not? "Yeah…?"

"Lucky," Anise muttered. "Guys must have given you twice the presents on your birthday."

I laughed. "Uh, no. I don't get two presents. I mostly get one present per person. All from my family. None are from guys."

"Whaaat?" Her jaw dropped unexpectedly. "Those guys are heartless. Who doesn't want to give you presents, Anh?"

"The ones that was afraid of a backhand slap." I laughed again at the memory. Guys at my high school feared me cause I backhanded on guy out of rage. It was a silly incident when I think back to it. Made me grin every now and then when it comes to mind.

"You don't appear to be the violent type."

Well, she hadn't seen me in high school.

"Anything goes with a pretty face." Guy chuckled. "So in order, our birthdays goes Celena, Anh, Ion, me, Anise, Jade, Tear and then Luke."

"Myuu! Mieu's birthday is somewhere in the second season! Mieu was born in late spring." The cheagle spoke from Ion's shoulder. His little paws waved excitedly but then held fast to Ion's shoulder when he nearly toppled over. I stifled a laugh when I saw him so frightened.

Luke snorted. "As if that's specific."

"It can't be helped, Luke." Ion said with a smile. "Cheagles don't hold a calendar like we do. They can only guess based on the seasons."

Guy only laughed lightly. "Okay, I guess everyone's accounted for. Age wise…"

"I would be eldest among all of you youngsters," Jade said with a nonchalant wave of his hand. "You and Celena look like you're roughly the same age."

An eyebrow rose from Guy. Mine did, too. Just how old was she? Curious, I asked her. "How old are you, Celena?"

"Twenty-eight." She answered. "If you all are curious about the other members of the Order, Anise is thirteen, Ion fourteen and Tear is fifteen."

"F-fifteen?" Luke exclaimed staring at Tear.

Anise gasped. "Tear's only fifteen?"

Tear blushed a little. "Yes. I turned sixteen this year. Why?"

Anise's hands slapped the side of her face and stayed there. Her expression looked horrified. "No way! Anh's boobs aren't going to be able to compete with yours!" She jabbed a finger in my direction, pointing to my small bust line.

Instinctively, I wrapped both of my arms around them. "Why my boobs? Yours are smaller, Anise! No wait, I stand corrected, you're an ironing board, Anise."

"But I have a chance to make them bigger," she pointed out with a sly finger. "I'm still a growing girl, I'll have you know. You, on the other hand, you're already nineteen, Anh! You're almost past the age of growing any more…you know." She gestured to the breast area.

...That wasn't what occupied my mind. When did I turn nineteen? Wait…Luke disappeared near the middle of the first month and my 'birthday' was…Oh. Oh… So I did 'turn' nineteen. Crap. Gotta keep that in mind.

I shook my head, pushing that thought away. "What about Celena? Her boobs are smaller than Tear's! And I have a couple of friends my age who's boobs are bigger!"

Tear's face paled in complete horror as Anise and I started the whole 'boob size' talk. It slowly turned red in embarrassment. The guys, on the other hand, wanted no part of our conversation but could not work their way out of listening to it.

"I don't care about my breasts." Celena said. Her tone seemed a bit irked. "Larger breasts make fighting a lot harder so I'm quite satisfied with my size."

Oh, I felt sorry for the guys here. Funny thing was, none of the girls, but Tear, mind talking about it.

"I'll have you know," I said, a hand hovered over my chest. "I'm happy with my size. I like my 34A cup size! Better than having a D cup."

"What's wrong with D cups?" Anise asked, huffing. "Men-"

"Change of topic!" Guy said suddenly. "I lost the game."

"Your timing sucks, Guy." I muttered. Taking a deep breath, I said, "I lost the game as well."

Anise giggled. "I guess I lost the game this time!"

"I lost the game." Tear declared. Her expression relaxed at the change of topic. Hell, it looked extremely relieved.

I couldn't help but smirk. Despite her cold demeanor, she was very shy, rather nerve-wrecked, when it came down to that particular topic that tends to be kept within the same gender. Anyway!

I raised a hand in the air. "Since we got nothing to talk about, I suggest we go back to the topic we had earlier."

"No!" Guy, Tear and, surprisingly enough, Luke, shouted.

I lowered my hand, still smiling even though we were no longer talking about it. Guy cleared his throat. "How about that game we were talking about last time, Anh? That first-letter-last-word game."

"Oh! Is this the game I heard you two playing at some point?" Anise asked. She yanked my sleeve happily. "I wanted to join but I didn't know how it works."

"If you had a game in mind, why didn't we talk about it earlier?" Tear mumbled sounding very exhausted.

"What game were you guys talking about?" Luke asked.

Guy opened his mouth to explain but I held a hand up. "Ah ah! Don't say a word, Guy. I want Luke to say that first."

Luke's face twisted in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"That, Luke. That. The 'I lost the game' line."

He huffed, crossing his arms. "I didn't say I was going to play that stupid game."

"Oh? Okay, I guess we'll not do anything until you admit it."

Guy looked just as confused as Luke. "Come on, Anh. Why would you want him to declare that he lost the game before we get this one going?"

"No, but it's unfair to play a game if he's planning to mention the game to make its participants lose on purpose." I walked next to him, nudging him lightly in the side. "So?"

"It's not like it's that big of a deal," he said, lifting his chin up high in pride. "I lost the game. You happy?"

"Yep!" I waved a hand in Guy's direction. "Guy, explain how the game works."

"Why me?" he asked.

"I'm bad at explaining," I told him. "I thought we went through this. When I tried explaining it to you, you got confused until we actually played the game."

He chuckled. "Oh, all right. But be warned, guys, she's really bad with the explanation." He cleared his throat. "Basically, the first letter last word game or simply called Word Chain that Anh and I were talking about is a word game played by many people. As much as there is. One person calls out a word to a particular topic and the next word has to start with the last letter of the word preceding it. For example, if we choose the topic, let's say, colours. Anh, you pick a colour."

"Black." I said instantly.

"Anh said black which ends with a 'k'. So I start the next word starting with a 'k'." Guy's hand rubbed the side and bottom of his face as he thought of a colour. "Hmm…'k'. Khaki." He snapped his fingers before he called the colour. "It's a type of yellow just to let you all know."

"I don't even know how you manage to come up with these colours," I mumbled. "I, right? Indigo."

"And you get the point." Guy said to the others. "So who wants to continue it? Start with an O."

"Orange!" Anise chirped happily.

"Emerald." Tear said.

Luke's face curled into deep thought as he tried to come up with a colour that started with 'd'. Unfortunately, he couldn't come up with one. He wasn't the only one either.

"How about Drab?" Ion spoke up. "It starts with D."

"Good one, Ion!" I flicked a thumbs up in his direction. "That should be easier for you, Luke."

"I know that!" he snapped at me. "Blue."

"Ecru." Guy said victoriously.

"What kind of colour is that?" Luke sounded offended.

"It's…sort of like a sandy colour."

"Guy, sometimes I seriously hate you." I glared at the blond. "You said that on purpose cause no one doesn't have a colour in mind that starts with a U."

"Unmellow Yellow." Jade spoke up. We all turned to him, looking at him as if he was trying to troll us. He adjusted his glasses. "It's a colour, I can assure you that."

"Let me guess," I rolled my eyes. "It's a type of yellow."

He grinned back at me. Clearly amused. "How clever, Anh, though I'm sure the name gave the hint away."

I rolled my eyes at him again. "White."

"Eggplant." Guy said when no one picked out a colour with an E.

"Tickle Me Pink!" Anise sounded really giddy when she said that. She even laughed after she said it.

"Oh Lord, please tell me that's not a colour." I groaned.

"It's a colour." Jade said.

"…Thanks."

"KU Crimson." A different voice spoke up. Celena's.

I slapped my forehead. "Can we have some normal colour names that don't sound fake?"

"Navy blue." Tear called.

"Eggshell." Guy laughed.

My hand lifted upward, ready to slap myself. "That's not a colour, is it?"

"It is."

"No one's asking you, Jade!" I turned to him and before someone else called out a word starting with L, I said, "Lavender!"

Luke gave me a weird look. "What's gotten into you? Red."

Ion laughed. "Deep fuchsia. It's quite normal."

"Ao." I heard Guy say.

I turned to him, looking at him from head to toe. "Did you hurt yourself somewhere?"

He laughed. "No. I didn't say 'Ow,' I said 'Ao'. Spelt with an A and an O. Ao is an actual colour."

"Onyx." Jade had a smile that said he stumped everyone.

"What letter does that end with?" Luke glared at Jade.

"X."

"What colour starts with X?" His hands flew into the air in rage. "There's no colour that starts with X!"

"Xanadu is a colour beginning with an X." Celena corrected smoothly.

How the hell do these people know such weird colour names? Talk about a game that turned from fun to one that was completely freaking me out.

Jade smiled again. "Umber."

"Regalia." Ion.

Guy acted really quick, going, "Awesome!" followed by his laughter stating that it was a real colour.

Next thing the entire group knew, my hand smacked my forehead really hard.

"Here," Tear handed me a bag of ice. "Place that on your forehead. And refrain from slapping yourself in frustration. It's just a game, Anh."

I took the bag and placed it on my burning forehead.

A couple rounds of the Word Chain game followed by Guy's "I lost the game!" declaration, I ended up injuring myself out of pure frustration of the names of colour that was out there.

I mean, awesome was a colour? What in the flipping mind of the creator of the colour made him go "This colour is awesome so it'll be called Awesome!" Worse. It was a form of pink, confirmed by Anise. Jade was clearly amused by my expressions when an odd colour was called and so he kept it up. Calling weird colour names like Banana Mania, Fuzzy Wuzzy, Razzmatazz, Razzle Dazzle Rose, Spiro Disco Ball or Toolbox. All of which were actual colours much to my dismay.

I found out that there were some very odd ones that would make people question the makers of the colours. Like Lust and Hooker's Green.

Man. If Zelos were here, he'd be calling those colours for sure. Hell, I was sure Raven would, too.

Anyway. It was already dusk and we had to make camp. Tear was treating the burning mark I had inflicted upon myself. Of course, I dropped out of the game at some point considering that I was close to ripping my hair out. In the end, the competitors of the topic of colours ended up with Guy and Jade, neither backing down. Those two's vast knowledge on colours scared the hell out of me.

Note to self: Beware of colour topics.

Colours aside, Tear was making dinner and, since I gave myself a massive headache, I was helping her to the best of my ability. Anise and Ion started the fire with Mieu's help while the other four were searching the parameter. I saw Tear set down a basket of green beans and laid a knife beside it.

"It's a simple task," she said with uncertainty, "but I want you do string these beans. Can you do that?"

I sat up straight and inched myself closer to the basket. "Stringing beans. Sounds easy enough."

She nodded and left me with the beans. I picked up the knife and a bean. Staring at it, then back at the knife, a thought came to me. How would one string beans?

"Uh, Tear?"

A few minutes later, after Tear showed me the ropes of how to string beans, I started on them myself. Fearing to cut myself in the process. I remember my mom and younger sister stringing beans without ease and neither with cuts on their fingers but…

I just can't seem to do this!

My fingers were shaking, trying to get the job done and not cut myself in the process. At some point, I yelped when I pushed the knife too hard and it touched my skin. Only to find out that it was scarred.

I was so pathetic.

But I got the hang of it. Eventually. I was just really slow and overly paranoid. Tear didn't mind about my slow pace. She said that they were just going to be boiled then added to the dish for colour. The boiling process wasn't going to take too long so I could take my time.

Not like I was going to eat it or anything. I'll feed them to Mieu. He likes his veggies, boiled or raw.

Thank God for the cheagle.

"How far are we from Choral Castle?" I asked her, nearly halfway done with my beans.

Meat sizzled on the flat pan when Tear flipped it onto the other side. She shook her head slightly. "I don't know. As long as we don't run into more monsters, we could get there in a few days or so. Worst case scenario, we could take up to about half a month."

"Half a month…" I repeated. Half a month here was a month back at home. Luke's diary said that it was Sylph Decan when he wrote it. So that meant we still got about another month and a half to reach Baticul? Yeah, I guess that was more than enough time. "That sounds long."

"Mmm." Was Tear's only response.

"Think we'll run into Van?"

"I hope not." She answered wearily. "It would cause a variety of problems."

I sighed, setting the knife down and flicking my hand. It was starting to feel stiff. "Yeah, I see what you mean. Running into him wouldn't be a good idea. But Choral Castle is big, right? Running into him would be like a one in a million chance."

"But that still holds the possibility of running into him since the number is not a definite zero." She countered softly. "Anh."

I cocked my head to the side. "Yeah?"

She opened her mouth to say something but suddenly we heard Anise, "Ah! Welcome back! All of you!"

"Welcome back." I heard Ion greeted them kindly.

Tear's mouth shut closed, her lips was pushed into a thin line as the two eldest members of our group approached us. Jade eyed the beans then the knife in my hand. A slow smile spread across his face. "Oh? Helping Tear string the beans? I'd best keep my distance. Wouldn't want to be suddenly backstabbed."

"Ha ha." I rolled my eyes at him, continuing my task.

"Need help?" Celena asked, looking around.

"No, it's quite all right, Lieutenant. Anh just needs to finish stringing the beans and we'll be done."

"She's doing a slow job at it." Celena noted casting a side glance in my direction.

In retaliation, I just stuck out my tongue at her. Celena gave me a disapproving look but I didn't care.

"I came here to let you both know that we've already decided on the next pairs for tonight," Jade spoke up. "Tonight will be, in order, Guy and Tear, Anh and Luke followed by Anise and myself. Celena will be taking a break for tonight."

…I guess that was fair. Everybody had their turn for rest except for Celena as of this point. However…

"Why am I paired up with Luke?" I exclaimed.

A 'Really?' look came from Celena when an eyebrow rose. "Because everybody else has been paired up with Luke aside from you?"

I frowned. "Yeah but we're both inexperienced in battle-"

"-Which is good opportunity to learn from one another." She cut in quickly.

"I have to agree with the Lieutenant on this one, Anh," Tear turned to me. "You both may be still inexperienced, but the two of you can still learn from the other to build up on both of your strengths and weaknesses. Think of it as practice in real life situations."

"I guess you have a point." I grumbled finishing the last of the beans.

The dinner made by Tear was simply Rappig meat with mash potatoes and boiled beans. I didn't do too much complaining since the only thing I didn't like about the dish was the beans. No one said much since we all wanted to stay alert in case there was an ambush like there was on the first day we set out. We were very hawkish. Somehow there were no monsters attacking us in the evening, but we did get the occasional attacks from wild monsters. For the most part, we ate our meals without being disturbed.

Good thing no one complained about how short the beans were. Me and my bad cutting.

After dinner, I scooted over to Luke who was preparing for a very short nap before our turn to guard. "So, you heard that we're being paired up and going second?"

"Yeah," he grunted.

"By the way, Luke," I said. "The game."

"Good night, Anh."

Total rejection. Awesome.

"Cow."

"Whale."

"Emu."

Another game of the Word Chain ensued the next morning. This time, the topic was on animals. The game was now an elimination match just to make things more interesting.

Last night, there was a small attack during our watch. Luckily, Luke and I quickly finished the monster off before it did real damage. I personally thank whatever heavenly beings out there - including Loreilei - that the monster was a weak one and not something absolutely insane for the two of us to handle.

And now, we were currently enjoying the sort of monster free morning playing a game to stave off the boredom.

"Anh," Anise called to me. "Auldrant to Anh."

I snapped myself out of thought and looked at Anise. "Yeah?"

"It's your turn. Starting with U."

"Uhh…"

She giggled. "That's not an animal."

I shrugged lightly with a smile. "I tried."

"Anh's out." Guy said. "Ion. Start a new round since it was you who called Emu."

Ion looked at Mieu then smiled. "Cheagle."

"Eel!" Anise's hand flew up in the air before adding. "Those make an edible dish!"

"Liger."

"Ram," Guy called grinning at Luke.

Luke scoffed. "M-" He casted a look behind him, towards the rest of us, and paled. "Monster!"

Anise placed a hand on her hip. "That's not an animal."

Luke jabbed a finger beyond us. "I'm not talking about the game! It's an actual monster!"

We all turned behind us to see a large tree monster that would have been called a Treant except…I kinda don't remember what kind of monster the Treant would look like in Abyss. But, ah well, close enough.

The monster was a huge tree, like I mentioned before, that was round like a bulb in the bottom with the top looking like a normal tree; loaded with leaves. The monster's vine-like hands lifted up in the air before slamming itself downward.

Every single one of us jumped out of the way, avoiding the monster. I tumbled on the ground and did something like a barrel roll on my sides until I hit something soft. Looking up, I saw Tokunaga's hand.

"Ion!" Anise shrieked. Her voice was laced with worry.

"He's fine!" Celena called back and Anise's expression immediately relaxed. I got myself up and pulled out my handgun. Luke and Guy joined us not too long after.

"What the heck is that thing?" Luke cursed when it was pulling itself towards us.

"It's called a Treant. A monster found near Deos Pass." Jade answered unexpectedly. "Fortunately for us, it's by itself." When buzzing noise erupted in the air, he sighed. "Or not."

Soon enough a hoard of bee monsters surrounded the Treant and now we got a full fight in our hands. The Treant finally caught up to us, yellow eyes gleaming with malice and another of its viney hands lifted into the air and slammed back down.

That was when the swarm of bees attacked. Deadly knife looking claws inched its way closer to me and then Luke quickly slashed it down.

"What are you doing?" he snapped at me. "Any closer and they would have ripped you into shreds."

I saw a bee coming close to Luke and I fired at it, knocking it back and giving Luke enough time to react. He quickly turned around and took it down while it was stunned. I grinned at him, "I could have said the exact same thing to you."

He grinned devilishly. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

I nodded. "I shoot and you finish it off, yeah?"

"Ooh, and teamwork suddenly forms between the two." Anise teased from beside us squishing a lot of bees like tiny bugs. Oh wait, they were bugs. Just bigger and uglier.

"I-It's not like that! I'm only doing this for survival. I don't care what happens to Anh!"

Suddenly, an evil glint lit Jade's glasses. "How about this? We play this Word Chain game while trying to work our way back to Tear and Celena. The only difference is that we use sentences instead of simply words."

I opened my mouth to protest but Anise suddenly cut in. "Splendid idea, Colonel! I love it!"

"That would only be amusing if we weren't in a situation like this." Guy frowned. It quickly turned into a smile as he covered his face with a hand. "Looks like you got me." A bee came his way and he took it down in one slash followed by multiple jabs that took other bees down.

The Treant's vine hand reached for me and I shot that one while Luke slashed the arm. What I didn't expect was that blood spewed from the hand and all over the two of us. I grimaced as I wiped the blood from my face.

"Eeew! I got tree blood on me."

"Everyone doesn't seem to mind a little monster blood," Jade pointed out with a wry grin.

"Can you stop playing that game and be more serious?" I shouted at him stomping my foot on a dead wing. It made a crunching sound but I didn't care.

"But I am serious."

"Will you two shut up and just fight?" Luke snapped at the two of us. "And where's my backup?"

I sighed at him. "Coming."

We, more like Luke, hacked our way to the side of the Treant, trying to get to Tear and the others. A burst of flame suddenly flew past me when I came up to Luke. Shocked, the both of us turned to the flame, expecting a fire breathing monster. Instead, something blue came into view.

"Myuu! There's Master! Tear! I found Master!"

"What the-" Luke's shocked expression disappeared and rage replaced it. "It was you, Thing? You could have burned us! Did you realize how close that last fireball came to us?"

Mieu covered his ears instinctively as if Luke was about to smack the poor thing. Correction, he was stepping on it. Mieu's face was being rubbed against the ground with Luke's foot over top. "I'm sorry, Master!"

"That's enough, Luke, don't scold him." Tear appeared followed by Celena and Ion. "He was just trying to clear a path for us."

"Great, the gang's all here." I smiled as the other three came to us.

"Yeah, we just need to finish off a couple of bees then the Treant," Anise stated as she pointed to the remainder of the bees. "Easy picking after."

"Uh, guys." Guy spoke up finishing off of the last of them. "Is it just me or is that a bee hive on that Treant?"

We all turned to the Treant that was slowly making its way to us. On the branches that sprout from its head was a large round objects swinging side to side in sync with the movements of the Treant. As the Treant got closer, the objects got clearer. They were a whole hell of bee hives and…

…And another swarm of bees.

"Run!" I shouted when the numbers of bees were at the very least twice the number of the first batch. No one seemed to argue as Anise scooped up Ion and ran in the opposite direction of the bees.

"Now this is what I call hit and flee." Jade's voice was close to me.

"Enough of the games!" I shouted at him when I realized he was still playing that particular one.

"Look what you did, Anh, you mentioned the game."

"Argh! I've had enough of games!" Luke shouted. "Stop playing them!"

"My, who put you in a bad mood?"

"Jade!"

"Coming, coming."

I sighed, shaking my damp uniform before setting them on a rock to dry. The sun was setting in the horizon and the campfire was already lit. The issue at hand? We jumped into a river to get away from the bees. They left us alone of course, but only after we were soaking from head to toe.

The guys were at the campfire, warming themselves up. The rest of us were near the river with blankets, though in my case, I was in pajamas.

Anise sneezed. "Anh, you're lucky. You got a pair of spare clothes."

"I don't know, Anise," I wiggled my bare feet that felt cold. "These pjs aren't that long; they only go down to my mid calves. Everything that wasn't covered is freezing."

"Better than the two of us still in blankets," Tear said softly. Her knees were up to her chest and her hair was pulled back. She was clinging onto the blanket from the front, trying not to shiver as much.

"Both Anh and the Lieutenant are lucky," Anise sighed, leaning back into the rock. "They both brought spare clothes. You both are so lucky."

"Hardly." I laughed. "If the Wing Pack wasn't waterproof, my spare clothes would be damp to the core."

"Not the mention the food would be all nasty and moist with riverwater." Anise added.

Something large landed not too far from us. We all turned to it to see Celena walking towards us and to the brown traveller's bag I assumed she had thrown in our direction. Like Anise said before, Celena had brought extra clothes for herself, seeing her dressed in a shirt and pants where the shirt seemed a bit big for her.

And manly, I might add.

"Here, some clothes," she said blandly. "Some of them might not be fitting but they'll be better than blankets alone."

Anise was the first to ruffle through them and pulled out a large shirt. "Whoa, these are guy clothes."

Guy clothes? Don't tell me.

"Hey, Celena," I whispered to her. "Are those clothes…Asch's?"

Her eyes narrowed at me. "Say a word to him or to anybody else and I'll skin you alive."

I scooted myself back to Tear and Anise who were looking through what to wear. Her threat wasn't an empty one. Though how would I say it to Asch if I ever ran into him? Hey, Asch, just to let you know. Your friend, Celena? Yeah, she lent us some of your clothes to wear so I hope you don't mind, mm'kay? Oh and don't worry, Luke didn't touch one.

Yeah…Somehow I get the feeling that Asch would also skin me alive, too.

"At least it's better than nothing!" Anise giggled, shoving the shirt over her head. She grabbed a rope that was in the pile and tied it around her waist so it looked like a short dress…made of shirt.

"I wish there were undergarments though…" Tear sighed, wearing a shirt with sleeves that were waay too long for her. She wore baggy pants loaded with pockets and then blushed. "I don't look weird, do I?"

"If you were a guy, Tear, I'd fall for you." Anise remarked.

"I would, too." I chimed in. "You really have a boyish feel while wearing that."

That intensified her blush. "R-really?"

"Keep the blanket over you, Tear," Celena spoke up. "I'd rather not say more." She pointed over the upper region and Tear looked down, noticing what she had meant.

"So this means we can join the guys around the fire then?" Anise asked. Anticipation was written all over her tone.

"…About that."

"Ack! Put some shirts on!" I cried out. My hands flew up to my face covering my eyes but I somehow managed to peek back at them before covering them up. First thing we saw when we came to the guys were shirtless Guy and Luke. Both with a set of abs (and muscles) that would make any girl drool but we saw Luke's abs so it doesn't matter.

Still…

Luke scoffed. "What's wrong with seeing the upper half?"

"Do I have to explain why?" I asked back. "And why is Jade the only one not shirtless?"

"Ion's not shirtless," Celena pointed out in a dull tone.

I looked over to Ion to see that he wasn't shirtless like Guy and Luke. "Oh, so he's not. But that doesn't explain why Jade is still wearing his uniform and not look soaked like the rest of us."

"I have applied a fonic arte to dry my clothes faster," Jade said simply. A flick of his hand and a light breeze flew past me and towards the remaining tops belonging to the guys. "As you can see, Ion and I are completely dry and I'm currently working on finishing the rest of Guy's and Luke's. Be thankful they aren't-"

"Stop! I don't want to hear the rest." I held a hand up while another covered an ear. I already knew what he was going to finish with.

"-wearing the clothes Celena had brought for Tear and Anise." He finished. A grin spread across his face. "Now what could you be thinking, Anh?"

Sick bastard. I blushed, "N-nothing."

"Uh-huh…" Luke gave me a look that was wary about what I was thinking.

I shook it off with a wave of a hand. "So that means you're going to dry our clothes after, right, Jade?"

"Now why would I do that?" he asked. "Drying your clothes meant I also have to dry your undergarments. I am a man, I'll have you know."

…Yeah, but he ain't Raven either.

I rolled my eyes in irritation. "Guess our clothes are going to dry overnight."

Luke shivered. "I'm cold and I'm hungry. Hey Jade, finish it up."

"You wish for me to finish the soup or the clothes?" Jade asked. "I can't do both at the once so you have to choose one."

Luke glared at him. "Just finish the soup. There's enough blankets to go around. Tear, lend me your blanket." He held out a hand in Tear's direction, expecting her to hand the blanket over that instant.

"Uh…" I looked between the two. Tear didn't seem like she was planning to hand him the blanket but it seemed that Luke doesn't want 'no' for an answer. Jade was, while stirring the soup, stared between the two, completely intrigued. He looked down to the soup so that the fire illuminated his glasses and that smile of his was freaky.

"Tear and I can share!" Anise spoke up. She ran over to Luke and handed him the blanket before running back to Tear and huddled close to the brunette.

Luke wrapped the blanket over his shoulders looking confused. "Why didn't she hand me hers?"

"It's a woman thing," Jade spoke up enjoying every minute of Luke's confusion.

"I don't get it."

"Oh, so you're not familiar with the female anatomy?"

Luke turned to Guy. "What the hell he's talking about?"

Guy looked away, not trying to explain at all. Good thing, Guy didn't explain cause that would have been completely awkward. Especially when it was coming from a guy and right before dinner. Seeing as Guy wasn't planning on explaining any time soon, Luke looked at everybody else and each of us didn't want to explain.

"Will someone explain this to me?"

"Soup?" Jade held up a bowl filled with soup, changing the subject entirely.

"Luke, get the hint that it's an awkward topic." I mumbled.

"Did you say something, Anh?" He shot me an angry glare.

I coughed. "The game?" I blinked innocently at him.

"Anh!"

More innocence from me. "What? I'm just saying! We haven't touched the game in a while."

Ion laughed. Lifting his bowl of soup he had received from Celena he said, "Let's eat. The soup smells really good. And it would be a shame to put such a delicious hot meal to waste."

"Yeah, it smells real good." Anise took a big whiff of the soup before saying a quick prayer and digging in.

Tear had also helped herself with some soup but I noticed she was being cautious. Smirking to myself, I got myself a bowl and began eating as well. I occasionally passed a couple of my veggies to Mieu who ate them in bliss. Couple scoops into the soup, I noticed that the meat had a different taste to it as I continued chewing it.

"Jade, what meat did you use in the soup?"

"Beef, why?"

"It has an interesting taste," I told him, returning to my soup.

A sly smile broke out from his face. "Ah, you must mean the spice I added into the soup."

Really? I had a carrot chunk and licked it once it was inside of my mouth. Huh…That also had that taste I could tell but couldn't put a finger on it. A couple licks later, it tasted like…carrot. "What'cha put in it?"

"Oh, nothing special."

My eye twitched. "Like?"

"I found it in the Wing Pack, so I decided to use it to see what it tastes like. Interesting flavour, no?"

"Don't put us in suspension, Jade," Guy lowered his spoon and bowl. "Just tell us what the spice was."

"From my knowledge, it wasn't a common type of spice. It's called five-spice. If I recall correctly, parts of it came from Anise."

We all turned to Anise who looked just as clueless as we did. She crossed her arms to form an X. "Don't look at me. I don't have a clue what he means. I don't have any type of spices on me."

"No? If I recall correctly, half of the ingredients did came from Anise."

We all looked at our bowls then at Anise and back. Did Jade just…?

"So when he said the spice…" Tear stared down at the soup.

"Came from Anise…" I continued feeling completely disturbed. I didn't dare say the rest of it.

"Parts of me were made in this soup?" Anise exclaimed in horror.

"He's talking about the plant called Anise." Celena said. She sounded like she was unable to handle Jade's joking any further.

Anise's pale face turned bright red with rage and her cheeks puffed out. "Boo! You're mean, Colonel! Boo!"

"That's not funny, Jade!" Luke sneered at him. "I thought you actually put pieces of Anise in this soup!"

Jade's smile grew. "I simply said they came from Anise. I didn't say it came from you, Anise."

"His sense of humour is very disturbing…" Guy mumbled.

"We're better off talking about nipples." I rolled my eyes and going back to my soup.

A set of collective groans followed my comment.

I woke up early, thinking that Jade was going to disturb me in my sleep for practice. I later found out that he hadn't done that. Better yet, I didn't see him anywhere in the camp. Luke's snore was heard not too far from me and I caught the sight of blue ears flicking up into the air and then settling back down to where Ion slept. Tear and Anise shared a blanket since both of their clothes were still damp and their current borrowed ones were too thin. Guy wasn't here nor was Jade and Celena.

Now who was on guard duty last?

"…doing." I heard Jade's voice off at the distance.

My brow furrowed. What was he doing so far away from the camp? I started to make my way over there but I noticed that my uniform along with Tear's and Anise's were dry and folded up nicely. I reached for my uniform and I heard someone come to the camp.

"Up already, Anh?" I heard Guy's voice asked. My gaze going up to him, he appeared really pleased at something.

"Did something happen that you look like the sun?" I asked jokingly as I picked up my uniform, careful not to drop anything else that was buried in there.

He only grinned at me and walked over to Luke's sleeping figure. "You'll see." He gently shook Luke and earned himself a snort and an indecipherable mumble. Luke turned to the other side, clearly planning to ignore Guy. He only sighed and moved on to Ion. "Help me wake up the others."

I shrugged. "Sure." I couldn't sneak away to find out what Jade was doing otherwise everybody would wonder the same thing. Once again, I was kept in the dark by him.

I gently poked Anise's cheek and she stirred immediately. Her shifting woke up Tear as well and the brunette sat up, wiping out the sleep in her eyes.

"Morning already?" she mumbled.

"It appears so." Tear said. She pulled a hair behind her ear staring at Guy. "Did you find something, Guy?"

"Yep. And you'll guys would like it. A lot." He added before gesturing to us to follow him.

Only that Luke wasn't up. I knelt by him and poked him like I poked Anise. He stirred but didn't get up. When I poked him again, he swatted my hand away in annoyance.

"Luke." I whispered grabbing his shoulder this time. "Guy wants you up."

"Wake me up later," he mumbled turning over.

Well, he wasn't planning to get up any time soon. I frowned. What could I say to get him up? Anise used sushi and such on me and I jumped out of bed almost immediately. Luke's favourites? Hell, I don't know them.

Then an idea struck.

Grinning, I shook him again. "Hey, hey, Luke. I heard what Guy was going to show us. You wanna hear it?"

He only grunted.

I leaned closer to him. And with my best creepy voice, I went, "The game."

His eyes snapped open and he sat up. "Can you be serious for once in your life?"

"He's up, Guy~" I called to him completely ignoring his question.

"Come on, Luke." Guy called back to us. "You'll like this news, trust me!"

Grumbling, Luke got up. Reluctantly, I might add.

The two of us caught up to Guy and the others and we found ourselves staring at a rundown mansion. Stone pillars that once stood as an arc was broken and blocked the entrance. The walls that formed a barrier around the mansion looked worn out and were chipped here and there. There was a huge gap big enough for us to enter from there. Vines grew from various places and moss grew from cracks. Part of the roof of the building was cracked and fell apart right before our eyes. Dust flew up into the air and settled back down. Slowly.

"I didn't think we were this close." Jade suddenly remarked from behind us.

"Where did you come from?" Luke jerked away from him.

"Elsewhere." He answered. "Celena will join us soon. She said she was taking an early morning dip to wake herself up."

"Wow, that's it?" Anise's tone was in awe. She leaned forward as if she was trying to get a better view.

"We wouldn't have known we were this close since it was really dark last night." Guy looked back to us. "It's all downhill from here so we can make it by midday if we leave now. It's a little off to say this but welcome to Choral Castle."

Choral Castle in the next chapter. Yay~ For your information, yes all of those colours that was listed there are actually colours despite the ridiculous names. I laughed so hard when I saw them. XD

Next up!

"You mean to say this place is haunted?"