Disclaimer: Well, let's see. This happens to be on and also a story about Tales of the Abyss. Fan. Okay, point is, I don't own the game, the characters, anything—as much as I wish I did. So, if anyone honestly thinks I own the game, I give the rest of the world permission to throw large, blunt objects at said offender. Because that's seriously offensive to the REAL creators of the game—comparing them to me, that is ;) You get the point.
Thanks to all who gave me ideas for this fic. And, of course, to all who review. Much appreciated!
>A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I hope you enjoy this chap--I really liked writing it, that's for sure ;) +gets a head start running for cover+
I'll shut up now.
"I've found you at last, Necromancer." A small click from behind his head told Jade the assassin was using guns. Guns were not common as handheld weapons, and he could only think of one who even used them.
"Legretta the Quick." He sneered.
"Major Legretta?" Tear spun to face the blond woman.
"You're one of the God-Generals!" Guy struck her hand in an effort to disarm her, but she gave him a swift kick to the stomach, and the swordsman fell back, his phobia restraining his actions far more than her blow.
Legretta jerked her hand away in the process, leaving her open long enough for Jade to force her to the ground.
"Excellent work, Necromancer." She grinned up at him, reaching for the weapons that had been thrown down in the midst of Jade's attack. He kicked them farther away.
"Anise! Hold her here while I help the others! She's not the only one here!"
"Right, Colonel!" Anise released Tokunaga's power, and the doll's proportions swelled tenfold, making it more than enough to keep Legretta down.
Luke heard movement behind him, and when he turned, he found himself face to face with a huge male liger. The beast fixed its jaws around his arm, and Luke winced, expecting it to be snapped under the immense power. The liger didn't bite him hard, however, and as it dragged him down, a birdlike creature revealed itself from the cover of the trees. The bird went for Tear, but she was ready, aiming a knife at it mid-flight. Luke screamed out in fear, but the liger baring down on him made no effort to either hurt him or let him go. Guy heard him, and threw himself with a yell on top of the liger, his sword flashing and whirling. The monster growled and shrugged off the onslaught.
"There you are! You people killed Mommy!" a high-pitched female voice sounded from behind the liger, strained with tears. "Kill them!"
The liger drew blood and Luke yelped, struggling to get out of its grasp.
"Luke!" Guy thrust his blade through the beast's cheek, careful not to hit Luke as well. The liger reared back, finally releasing Luke. The noble ran cover near the Tartarus. Guy was knocked back a few paces, and his blade dislodged itself from the liger's mouth. It buried itself in the ground near the girl, who was hollering and cursing about them "hurting her friends" and "killing Mommy".
Tear, meanwhile, staggered back from the bird, her shoulder blades streaked with slick blood from the creature's talons. She tried to make it to a safer area before even beginning to heal herself. She tripped and almost fell to the ground, but Jade caught her.
"Tear! Stay back! I'll hold it off!"
"Thank you!"
Jade watched the circling hresvelger, waiting for an opening. It flapped wrong just once, and as it tried to right itself, Jade caught it in a deadly arte.
"Thunder Lance!"
The beast lost altitude, stunned, and had no time to heave itself back in the air.
"Sonic Thrust!"
The bird slumped to the ground, lifeless. Jade flicked the excess blood from the spear and let it disperse back to nothing.
"Tear, are you all right?"
"Yes," she panted.
"You've lost far too much blood—it's a wonder you didn't pass out."
"No, really, I'm fine." the Oracle Knight stumbled, and she grabbed Jade's uniform for support.
"Just wait here. I'll see if the Fon Master can heal you; he is a Seventh Fonist."
"Fine." Tear finally gave in. "And make sure Luke is okay, too."
Jade nodded and took off to find the others. He saw no trace of bodies, but there was evidence of a fight regardless. Grass was flattened in violent smears as if someone had been struggling under a great amount of weight, and blood could be seen everywhere, clinging to the flora like black dew.
"Now, Necromancer. Do as I say. We have your friends, so there is no one to rescue you this time."
Jade kept his eyes forward, feeling the steel of a gun's barrel on the back of his neck. He did not respond, nor did he show any hint of timidity.
"Back to the ship." Legretta raised her voice, and Jade saw Luke and Guy from the corner of his eye, guarded by the liger and in the hands of the pink-haired girl. Legretta had her other weapon aimed at the Fon Master and his guardian, who was standing bravely. Tear was still unchecked, but she was in no position to move anyway.
"Arietta," the blond major snapped to her colleague. "Get them back to the Tartarus as soon as you can. We can't keep Largo and the others waiting. We have to be back in Daath with the Fon Master as soon as we can, or else the Commandant won't be happy with us."
"Yes." The sly girl grinned to her liger friend. "The others should be kept alive, too. They will pay for murdering Mommy and my friends!"
Legretta urged them to march, and Arietta followed them, pleased with herself and her charge. Luke gave Guy a confused glance, but the servant only shrugged back at him. The noble directed his attention to the colonel. That man was inhuman—he could just watch them do this and not even flinch. Jade noticed him and gave him an unconcerned smile. Luke glared back at him. Jade shrugged, and he checked on Tear to see how she was faring. The young Seventh Fonist was just barely able to stand, and she shouldn't have been walking, but the God-Generals egged her on. Anise looked about ready to explode from being forced away from Ion. Arietta gave her an evil smirk, taking Ion to walk near her. Ion looked worried, but not much more than anyone else. They advanced quickly, up the steel gangplank and down one of the myriad of hallways that wove through the ship.
"Leave them here," Legretta gave her curt command, and Arietta eagerly locked each in his own room, as the Tartarus had no holding cells available. "I want them fully guarded, day and night. They must not escape."
"Of course." Arietta grinned, neglecting to lock Ion away. "Can Ion stay with me, though?"
"Fine. It would be better if we found a place to hold him where we can personally keep an eye on him anyway."
"That's not what I meant!" Arietta pouted.
"Whatever, just hurry up and get the Oracle Knights down here to watch them. We don't have any time to spare."
Behind the closed doors of the rooms, Jade listened intently. Judging by Legretta's words, the Oracle Knights that were supposed to guard them weren't present yet. If he could take them by surprise...
"O mighty explosion...Energy Blast!" he whispered, and the lock of the door jolted with white-hot fonons.
"Oh?" Legretta banged on the door. "You want out, do you? I'll have you know we had these locks reinforced just for you—all the other doors would have opened for that much, I can assure you."
She slid the key into the door, pushing it open. "I don't think we can leave you like that—you might get more ideas."
"Try me!" Jade challenged.
"Oh, I have no intention of fighting you..." She leaned back, confident he couldn't harm her. "You can't do much with your fonic artes sealed, can you?"
The major tossed a black die at Jade, and it created a force field of blue energy. He grunted under the stress, and soon the light disappeared, the small cube of fontech clattering to the floor. He felt shaken; that was a powerful seal, perhaps even the highest grade in circulation. He'd never get it undone within the next half a year or so. He grinned up at the God-General mischievously.
"You've done a wonderful job, Major. I look forward to the next time we meet."
"In your dreams, Necromancer."
She slammed the door forcefully, rejoining Ion and Arietta outside.
"Sorry it took so long, Arietta. The Necromancer was being difficult."
"Oh, that's okay, Major."
Legretta took Ion's hand, and he didn't resist as she led him off down the hallway, whispering to him. "You did wonderfully, Fon Master."
"It was nothing, Major."
Tear was the first one to awaken the next day. She could hardly remember what had happened the night before until she felt the searing pain across her back. She winced, softly chanting a healing spell to ease it.
The room was lit only by a porthole midway up the side of the wall and a faint glow from the fonstones in the hallway. Though the window was fully exposed, the starlight didn't help much to improve the visibility. The door was solid, and she could tell upon further investigation that the lock had been significantly bulked. That was quite the mechanism. That's why Jade hadn't been able to break it--
"Jade?" she called anxiously, suddenly concerned for him after what she'd heard last night—Legretta was speaking to him, and she'd done something—something painful, from the sound of the grunts she'd heard. No answer came, which also confirmed the lack of guards. Were the Oracle Knights careless enough to leave them unguarded, especially at night? This seemed only to worry Tear more, coupled with the fact that there was still no response from the colonel.
"Tear? That you?"
The Seventh Fonist spun to face the voice, but it didn't make much difference, as the heavy steel walls were solid. "Guy?"
"Yeah," his voice sounded distant. "You okay? They didn't hurt you, did they?"
"No." Tear breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe this wasn't the voice she was expecting, but it was better than that unearthly silence.
"Is Luke okay? I thought I saw him on the other side of you."
"I don't know..." she winced and her knees buckled as she clutched her shoulder blades.
"Hey!"
"It's nothing," she mumbled, healing herself absently. "I was hurt in the battle, that's all."
"You sure you're okay?"
Tear grinned slightly. So it wasn't just Luke he obsessed over after all.
"You should get some more rest. It sounds pretty bad."
"No, really, I'm just fine."
"If you say so."
Tear pulled herself onto the cot that was shoved to the corner. She sighed again, and thought she heard breathing from the next room over. She knocked, and this time a prompt reply followed.
"What do you want?!"
"Luke?" Guy had to shout louder to be heard through the door. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." The noble snorted.
Guy started to say something else, but they both stopped when they heard more movement.
"Colonel?!" Anise spoke as if out of nowhere.
"Anise! Don't tell me you were listening the whole time!" Tear berated her.
"Now's not the time to worry about that!" Anise squashed her statement angrily. "Colonel! Are you awake yet?"
Jade gasped a few times, his breath rattled and sounding much more tired than normal. "Damn that Legretta."
"Colonel!"
"Don't even try, Tear. You know you can't heal me from there."
"Jade, what's wrong? What did they do to you?" Guy chimed in.
There was a slight pause and more coughing before he told them. "Fon slot seal."
"Dammit!" Guy pounded the wall of the Tartarus, and the sound echoed around the small chamber.
"It's nothing I can't work out myself," Jade assured him. "It will just take a while." He leaned back to the wall, the weight of the seal making itself known. It was a binding, smothering, undulating power, sapping his very energy and fonons. Jade struggled to keep the strain from his voice as he gave the next command.
"You all just find a way to get out. If that's not possible, you can at least find out where we're headed and--"
Jade fell silent as the sensation of motion vanished, and the whole vehicle swayed forward in the aftermath. There was clanking from outside—it must have been a hatch opening to permit the exit of soldiers. The sound rose in volume, and then quieted after a while, and a single set of footsteps followed them. It took a moment for them to realize the footsteps had doubled, and one set grew louder, closer. It was apparent a knight had entered the hallway, and he had no doubt heard them.
Suddenly, the pounding of sole and steel halted, and a voice whispered into the door.
"Don't say anything. We've stopped in St. Binah. Get out quickly and quietly, and don't let the others see you. I'll create a distraction so you can get out now. When you hear me get far enough down the hall, you may break out, but don't do anything rash."
The click of a lock snapped in each door as the knight went along, but stopped in front of one. After a moment's silence, the knight hesitantly unlatched the door.
"So... we meet again."
Please review!
Thanks to my beta, Lanane, for much valuable help with editing and making this fic a little easier on the eyes!