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: Yay, this one's not a space filler, I swear. Also, the two chapters coming after this one may be my last for a while--as stated in my bio, I am entering this year's NaNoWriMo, so I probably won't get to updating this for a while...
I'll shut up now.
Reluctantly, Jade permitted them to set up camp. and stay the by the river until Luke woke up. He pointed out how insects swarmed near water, bringing the froglike monsters that preyed on them, and how both of these things would not please the young noble. Regardless of all practical decision making, Guy begged the colonel to let Luke rest, at least for the night. Jade eventually gave up, and they sat licking their wounds over supper.
"Anise and I are fine," Guy counted off each party member for the benefit of Tear. "And you're okay, unless you count that nasty scrape you got yesterday. Jade is--"
"Fine," the older man brushed away the issue. "But what of your beloved?"
"What?" It took Guy a moment to realize what he meant. "Hey! What do you mean by that?!"
"You can't deny that's how you've been acting." Tear smiled.
"Only the honest truth," Jade said sincerely.
"I do not--"
"Oh, he's finally waking up." Tear broke off the steady stream of healing magic she had been applying to Luke. She doubted her presence would have barred Guy from hovering over Luke as he was prone to do.
"Luke? You okay?"
Luke moaned and rolled over on his side, clutching his head in pain.
"Did they hurt you? Let me heal it." Tear gently combed through his long hair until she felt the lump where Sync had stricken him. She let the Seventh Fonons flow easily, and he was soon back up.
"Welcome back, Luke," Jade chided.
"Oh, my poor prince!" Anise tackled Luke almost as hard as Guy. "I was so worried about you!"
"Can you walk?" Jade interjected abruptly.
"Yeah," said Luke flatly as he stood, knocking Anise and Guy away rudely.
"We should be going as soon as we can. We've been here long enough," Jade voiced impatiently. "There's no telling what the God-Generals intend to use Ion for."
"That's right, Luke!" Anise perked up. "We have to find Ion!"
"Ion..." Guy's gaze shifted to the horizon, his thoughts drifting to the Fon Master's words on the Tartarus. The fiery sunset tinged his hair almost the shade of Luke's, and he was lost in the peace of graceful clouds fluttering past the orb of light. So brilliant, and his own dilemma was forgotten for a moment--until Anise interrupted him.
"Guy? Something wrong?"
"N-No, nothing," he said shakily.
"You saw Ion on board the Tartarus, didn't you?" Everyone fell silent for what seemed like hours before a response to Jade's comment was heard. There was no point in hiding anything from Jade.
"Yes."
"What did he tell you?" Even Luke was interested.
"Nothing," Guy lied. "I only passed by him, and he was surrounded by guards. That's all."
"I see..." Jade obviously didn't believe him. "Well, all I can do for now is leave the matter alone. You aren't going to tell us the truth anyway; interrogating you would merely be a waste of time and effort. Speaking of time, we should get moving. It's dangerous to travel at night. We can probably make it to Kaitzur in an hour or so."
"Yes." Tear gave Guy a wary glance. "The plains are no more dangerous than this river. It's likely the presence of Arietta's monsters has agitated the natural inhabitants."
"But I'm tired," Luke whined, folding his arms.
Guy gave him a glare that shut the noble up instantly. He himself wasn't in the mood for a pressed march, but he could especially do without the complaining. Besides, it was Jade who had given the order. There was no way they could convince him to rest even longer.
Luke returned the gesture with a hurt look, but he kept quiet.
"Everyone ready?" Jade met each one's eyes in turn. Luke retrieved his weapon from where Sync had discarded it in the dense weeds growing just at the water's edge. He mumbled under his breath as he shook water from the leather sheathe, careful to avoid the rocks on this side. He returned to the group.
"Ready."
The walk to Kaitzur was exhausting. It took three hours even at the fastest pace they could manage and with minimal conflict from monsters. No one said anything, and Luke was positive he had fallen asleep on the move, Jade being the only threat and motivation to keep him in the frame of mind to just put one foot in front of the other over and over and over again. He'd never known the act of walking to be so repetitive and hypnotic.
The border fortress was heavily guarded. After being permitted to enter, the first thing Jade did was book two rooms at the inn. There was a rather haggard argument over who would be the first to shower, but soon it was decided that not even that was worth holding themselves upright for another minute. They went straight to bed.
Luke slept fitfully that night. He could have sworn he'd heard a door open, voices, and footsteps, but he could remember none of it upon wakening. Then again, he was too groggy to conjure his own name the next morning as well.
"You kids are so lucky," Jade said airily. Too airily, as far as Luke was concerned, and it should be against the very laws of nature to be so chipper after a solid day of walking and on only six hours of sleep. "This nice old colonel let you sleep in. Isn't that wonderful?"
"I'm honored," Luke spat, seeing the time as being only about thirty minutes later than usual.
"Oh, and Luke," he continued. "We were promised a five percent remission of our bill if we did our own laundry."
"Anise again, huh?" Luke guessed.
"But of course." Jade shrugged as though the Oracle Knight in question was the most difficult person on Auldrant.
"Fine," groaned Luke. Stripping his bed was far less draining than arguing with Jade. Hell, even if he was in the state to do such a thing, that devil would have him reduced to the equivalent of his current state in seconds.
As he was well at work peeling the pillows from their threadbare cases, Luke's eye caught sight of a slip of paper on his nightstand. Curious as to why he hadn't seen it the previous night, he reached forward, the bedding spilling from his arms, and tryied to tell himself it had been there but he was just too out of it to have noticed. Regardless of his doubts, Luke unfolded the paper and read the message scrawled across it. His eyes widened, and he fought back a gag, quickly glancing over his shoulder to make sure Jade hadn't noticed. Luckily, the colonel was busy with his own task at hand. Luke stuffed the note into his pocket as casually as he could, hiding the motion behind an exaggerated toss of the heap of sheets into a corner.
"Um, Jade," he mouthed carefully. "Have you seen Guy anywhere?"
"Oh, he's sleeping in the lobby. He probably couldn't get to sleep last night with all your snoring." Jade responded thoughtfully.
Luke shot him a venomous glare, but he refused to say anything and risk fueling the colonel's high good humor. That would surely be the path to absolute verbal destruction.
Luke thanked Lorelei when he heard a knock on the door that removed any further opportunity for Jade's bitter remarks.
"Are you guys up yet? Can I come in?" It was Anise, and she was clearly anxious to get moving again.
"Yeah, you can come in," Luke pulled the door open gustily, admitting the girl.
"Oh, Luke, you're so kind!" she pinned the noble to the wall that was conveniently just behind him.
"Yeah, yeah." He shoved her away. "What did you come here for?"
"I was just wondering when we could get going. Tear's all ready out eating breakfast, and I've been ready to leave for an hour!"
Luke drew out his moan past the point of reasonable. "I can't believe how you people can march all day, fall asleep for a few hours, and do it again at the crack of dawn!"
"We have been doing something with our lives," Jade admonished the boy.
"Like it's my fault I was never allowed out of the manor!" Luke raged before storming downstairs. He just had to get away from that bastard before he made him go insane!
"What's bugging him?" Anise peered after Luke innocently.
"I think Guy's disappearance is bothering him."
"Guy left?! When?"
"During the night, it seems. Luke knows more about it than we do; I noticed he found a note earlier—that had to be from Guy."
"I wonder what it could be... Colonel, do you think it has anything to do with Ion? Guy got really weird yesterday when I mentioned him..."
"Perhaps." Jade narrowed his eyes after the boy, who was long gone by then. "But we can't worry about that now. Let's have some breakfast, shall we?"
Jade and Anise found Luke sitting at a table with Tear. The two spoke quietly to each other, and simple observation could tell that Tear was actually being patient with him. Anise considered the possibility that Luke wasn't being obnoxious for once, but then dismissed the thought, as that just wasn't plausible. She snickered and made an attempt to get closer to make eavesdropping easier, but Jade held her back. She looked up at him sheepishly and stopped after receiving one of his grins.
"So Guy...left? Why would he ever do that?"
"I don't know! I just don't want Guy to... I don't want him to leave me like this!"
"It's fine, Luke," Tear whispered, somehow feeling sorry for the boy. Had he really lost his memory to that great of an extent? He was like a child, and he needed support, even if he really didn't deserve it sometimes.
"I don't know anything! I don't have anyone else to talk to... Jade is mean and Anise only wants money! Guy's the only one who cares..." Tear winced at his statement. Now that was just a bit selfish. Had they not put up with him this long? She nervously glanced back and happened to notice Anise and the colonel standing in the threshold to the lobby's dining area.
"Oh, hi Anise, Colonel." Tear waved to them distractedly.
"See what I mean?!" Luke sighed angrily, jumping up from the table. "You guys just!... You know what?! I'll get through the border on my own, passport or not! I'm the Duke's son! Watch them hold me back; I'm going find Guy!" He stormed out the door, and the few other people mingling in the hall turned to stare for a moment.
"Luke!" Tear muttered under her breath. Jade and Anise made their way over.
"What's wrong with the young master?" Jade mused, seemingly only half-interested.
"He thinks he can just do whatever he wants and go look for Guy on his own." Tear was quick to follow the rash noble. "I'd like a word with him."
Outside, a strange scene was unfolding. Tear found Luke one the ground, helpless at the sword point of an Oracle Knight. She couldn't properly identify the man, as another person was blocking her view—her brother.
"Van!" Knives flew to her hands, and Tear took up a fighting stance. He hadn't heard her.
"Asch... Don't ignore my orders! Stand down!"
The God-General tossed his head to the side and retreated with an elegant leap to the other side of the border without arguing. Whatever his motive, it may not have been worth risking a demotion to fulfill.
"Master Van!" Luke's mood reversed instantly as he practically bounded back to his feet.
"Tear." Van turned to his sister. "Put away your weapon. Let me explain."
"Give me a good reason to!"
"Tear! Stop!" Luke raged, throwing himself in front of her. "You're crazy!"
"Ugh," she grunted in disgust. "Fine, we can talk, but don't expect me to agree with anything you say..." She shot a pointed look through Luke at her brother. "Or even believe it."
Luke was too excited about seeing Van to stay mad at Tear. "Why did you come here, Master?"
"I'll tell you everything, just wait a moment—we don't need anyone else hearing. Let's take it to the inn, all right?"
Guy glanced back over his shoulder sadly. What had he done? Van had come and taken him... and he'd willingly agreed to help the bloody bastard. But he was... Guy wrenched his vision from the Frontier Fortress' shrinking silhouette on the horizon. Every step that took him farther away from the town jolted his conscience and he had to fight to keep from rushing back to Luke. How the poor boy must feel now! Guy shook his head and focused on the Fon Master.
"How are you doing?"
"I'm fine." The young Fon Master smiled up at him. "You're doing a wonderful job of protecting me!"
"It's nothing."
"By the way, I'm glad you've decided to help us, Guy."
Guy almost forgot himself and made a flat out beeline for the border at Ion's abrupt statement. "I-I haven't thought it out yet. Give me more time before I commit to anything, Fon Master."
"Guy?" Ion halted to gaze into the blond's eyes. "Do you not trust me?"
"I-It's not that." Guy tossed a sentence together hastily. "I just don't like leaving Luke..."
"That's understandable," Ion picked up their placid walk again. "You've just been ripped from the person you care about most."
Guy felt another verbal punch. Ion sure knew how to hit his weak spots. Who did he care about most?... Luke? No, he was the son of his family's greatest enemy—not that he had any family left after the Duke ruthlessly slaughtered them. Who then, did he care for?...
"I'm not sure if that's entirely true, Fon Master..."
"You may call me Ion," he said gently. "But what do you mean?"
"Well... I've never been especially close to anyone before..."
"Then we can be friends." Ion grinned innocently at the swordsman.
"Okay, Ion," Guy laughed. "I'll do anything you ask without question from now on. I'm sorry I doubted you."
"You make it sound like you're a slave, Guy!" Ion chided. "And you don't have to apologize!"
"Okay, then."
The remainder of the journey was just as silent as the beginning, but now the lack of words was in quiet bonding rather than tension. Guy was still uneasy, but immediately felt guilty for his misjudgment of the Fon Master. He should never have been so hard on the boy—he really was just the honest soul he appeared to be. Perhaps Guy's traumatic past and vengeful purposes had remained habit. But he was sure now that no skill of acting could move him in such a way. And Van... Ion was with Van. But maybe Van was right, too. He had been Guy's faithful guardian—even if that was some years ago; he had pledged his sword to the Gardios family. Such an action was not to be taken lightly.
Still further support stemmed from Van's calm but steady reasoning the prior night—The Hod War was foretold in the Score. Man had done nothing to prevent the fall of Hod, and countless lives could have been saved had action been taken. Had something been done—evacuations, even, if nothing could prevent its collapse—it would have been different. But no, the Order let Hod and the Isle of Feres just wash away in a tide of blood, simple as that. So this... This was the Score. A thing thought of so highly, yet so abused.
Guy considered voicing his musings, but Ion's carefree demeanor was too beautiful an example of peace to disturb. However, Guy's feelings refused to leave, and guilt for what he'd done to Luke still hung over his mind like a shroud of miasma. Luke was probably so lost right now, helpless, and by Yulia it wasn't the poor kid's fault! He needed to be there for him, but Ion needed him now, as well.
What the hell was he supposed to do!?
Please review!
Thanks to my beta, Lanane, for much valuable help with editing and making this fic a little easier on the eyes!