Disclaimer: I don't own rights to the game, the characters, anything—as much as I wish I did.

Thanks to all who gave me ideas for this fic. And, of course, to all who review.

A/N: Chapter 11.

Oh yes, there is a little treat for you guys at the end of the chapter, so I'd like to hear your comments on that as well. :)

I'll shut up now.

Guy panted heavily. He resisted the urge to touch the wounded area of his shoulder. He had been attempting to ignore it since Tear had hit him with one of her daggers at Choral Castle as they made their escape. The God-Generals had advised against doing anything but stopping the bleeding until they could have a healer look at it, and it just so happened that Legretta was waiting for them in the Tartarus. Her instructions were simple: remove it.

Guy braced himself against the narrow wall. He found no hold for his feet on the slick steel floor of the Tartarus, but he held himself as tense as he could. He closed his eyes, resisting the urge to just pull the thing from his shoulder and be done with it. He could rip it out, then a Seventh Fonist could heal it, but damn them if the only Seventh Fonists on board were female, unless he counted Asch, but the redhead clearly had no interest in healing artes or helping others, so that was hopeless.

Largo hovered over him, and the willing Seventh Fonist, Legretta, stood back to ready her spell. The Black Lion came close to Guy's face, apologizing softly for the awkwardness of the situation. Largo himself got hold of the wall, then placed his knee in front of the blond's chest to hold him back. Carefully, the man fingered the hilt on the dagger, reading its direction and depth with slight tugs. Guy winced at every motion, but Largo muttered that slow tears would probably hurt more than quick ones. By the time he had finally judged the wound sufficiently, Guy had slackened. Largo suddenly yanked it from his flesh with no warning, and Guy screamed out in pain, falling forward to the deck.

"I'm sorry. It had to be done." Largo examined the blade of the knife. It was sleek, at least, and if it had been barbed, it would have practically torn his muscle to shreds.

"You could have warned me!" gasped Guy, still cringing. Legretta moved closer, applying the seventh fonic arte. Guy lurched up, ready to run for it, but Largo grabbed his arm. Guy turned to him in shock. "Hey! What the hell are--"

"You're bleeding all over the place, boy! Get back here and let her heal you!"

"No!"

Largo sighed. He hated using force, but force it must be if Guy was to ever listen to him. He dragged him back down and latched his other steel fist to his right arm, holding him forward to the healer. "Now, child. I know of your fear. Just relax."

Guy could not, no matter how hard he tried, release the spring of tension coiled through him. His gaze remained on Legretta's stoic expression, his heart racing. Why? What the hell had done this to him?! He closed his eyes tightly, thrusting his head to face in the other direction. Slowly, he began to feel the arte take effect, and it eased the muscled around the site of the wound. He gasped, the rest of his arm soon numbed, then he let himself... relax. With a grunt, he thought of her again, and he struggled to get away.

Legretta massaged the area around the gash slowly, still focusing on the Seventh Fonons. "This is a terrible wound... And to think we had to wait even until now to remove it."

"It seems that soaking it has helped. It looked worse before, but I suppose we couldn't really tell with the blade in the way in the first place," said Largo.

"Either way, now we can heal it properly. We were in no shape to get to it then, anyway," said Legretta.

"True enough. He was all ready stressed from Choral Castle, but that dagger must have caused quite a bit of--"

"Gailardia! Come to your senses! You're not to be harmed! Why do you resist?" Legretta snapped.

"I-I—I have no idea!"

"Such weakness! Do not let such a petty thing fool you. There is no place for cowards in the Oracle Knights."

"I can't—!" Guy kicked out at her, but the officer leaped aside swiftly. She sighed sharply, turning away. Guy scrambled out of Largo's arms, but just as he had gotten to his feet, Legretta spun and latched onto his arm. Guy paled, and he hardly heard her next remark over his own bloodcurdling shriek.

"Get over it."

Ion latched the door behind him securely. He trotted down the stone stairs to the prison cell, sighing. Anise had been difficult to get rid of, but in his act of presenting himself as feeble, he had almost forgotten his authority to order the girl to leave him alone. It had upset her, but that did not trouble the Fon Master. Other than that, he had managed to detach himself from the overprotective group with minimal trouble. Luke was eager to see Van, Jade and Tear would rather not, and Cantabile seemed quietly reluctant to meet with the commandant, though she had never outwardly said anything. He doubted that after all they had done for her that she would desert, of all things, but he made a mental note to be wary of the temperamental admiral's half-concealed hesitance.

"Ah, Fon Master," Van greeted him quietly. "Have the guards left?"

Ion stepped down to the landing and halted before the tall man. "Yes. I had them stay well away. Is there anything to report?"

Van stroked his goatee. "Guy has joined the others on the Tartarus. They're still docked just outside of Baticul, but they are under orders to head to Daath immediately. We have business to take care of there. Anything of interest happen during the meeting?"

"Not particularly. We have decided to leave for Akzeriuth by land, but a decoy ship will be set out. I'm afraid with both of us tied up as we are like this, there is no way of informing the God-Generals."

"What about Cantabile?"

"She's a bit caught in it herself," Ion explained. "She volunteered to go to Akzeriuth, you see. Bowing and begging and the whole ritual. It was pathetic."

"Fascinating."

"Anyway, when should be the best time to tell Luke of his task?"

Van closed his eyes thoughtfully. "I'll be the one to do that; you need not worry about him."

"Very well, if you see that best fitting. He has rather come to trust me, though."

"Fon Master," Van started, breathing in deeply. "Everyone trusts you."

The sky's darkness made Baticul seem unusually dim for late noon. Luke grimaced as he led the group outside; he had been wary of the imminent bad weather since the boat ride to the capital. There was no doubt that it would pour down rain in the next few hours.

The group waited in silence for the Fon Master to return. His sudden need to speak to the commandant in the prison cell and his curt command for Anise to leave him unless given permission to do otherwise had obviously hurt the girl, perhaps more than the young ruler had intended. Anise herself was pacing the courtyard without saying a word, where Luke would have thought it more like her to try to hide her worry behind her exuberant attachment to him, or, moreover, his money.

Jade was the only on that was outwardly calm. He was in deep thought, absently picking at the fon slot seal every so often, as it had become habit to do so when things slowed down enough to allow him a moment to concentrate.

Cantabile stood ill at ease. She repeatedly glanced back from castle to the port down below, then up to the dismal sky and its bedraggled, smoky clouds. She did not trust herself near Van just yet. He would undoubtedly find out; it was apparent that even the sly colonel had made his predictions and suspected her as well. That could not be a good thing, especially if one so crafty as himself should see it in his best interest to use her actions for his own vile ends.

Tear sighed. Their number was was a large one for a group that was to sneak out of the city and take on a mountain path. The citizens would no doubt be uneasy if they got word of the plan to aid Kimlasca's long-time rival. There being Oracle Knights present would probably involve the Order also—a prospect that did not exactly appeal to the woman. There was nothing she could do.

The doors swung open, admitting Ion and Van. The others turned to them, and the soldiers stationed outside saluted quickly.

"Master Van!" Luke ran to the commandant. "Are you ready to leave for Akzeriuth yet?"

Cantabile stiffened. She hoped her tenseness would deter the man's attention, but she noticed his eyes sweep her briefly; she glanced down. Not here, not now. He wouldn't.

Jade scanned the Oracle Knight. "I hate to tell him of our plan, but I suppose we have no choice."

"It's all right," Ion nodded happily. "I was just informing him of it, actually. We've decided that we should probably split the party; one half may go by land, and the other half shall board the decoy ship. If the God-Generals see someone they know is going to Akzeriuth on the ship, it'll be a more successful endeavor."

"That makes sense. Who's going where, then?" asked Luke. "I want to go with Master Van."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible, Luke," Van informed the redhead. "We're only taking these that are urgently needed there ahead of time on the ship. Not that we don't need you—I simply wanted some assistance in checking the status of the Fubras River on the way. Apparently, that is where the source of the miasma is located. Tear, Cantabile, if you would..."

Tear nodded reluctantly, and Cantabile refused to indicate any answer for a moment. She gave a quick affirmative after a while. There would be no point in arousing suspicion so soon.

"But what of the Tartarus?" Jade questioned. "Your own men have captured it from Malkuth. Why can you not order them to evacuate and relinquish the ship to us? It would no doubt prove useful."

"I would, but not only do they blatantly disobey my orders, they have threatened the life of Guy if I make any action in the way of reclaiming the Tartarus."

Luke perked at he sound of his friend's name. "Guy? What are they doing to him?!"

Van gazed down at his student fondly. "Most likely holding him captive. They wouldn't kill him unless I try to take control of the Tartarus, I can assure you—if they did, then they would no longer have that power over us."

"You speak as though they are another unit and not your own," Cantabile pointed out sullenly. "Is that all we God-Generals mean to you?"

Van turned to her, amused. "I apologize, Admiral. I meant no disrespect toward those that obey me."

She glared at him scornfully when he turned attention back to Luke.

"Luke... Now is your time to be a hero. Just do as the Fon Master and I tell you, and you'll do fine."

"Right... Thanks, Master."

"It's time to leave," observed Tear. "We should head back to the lower levels now."

With one final wink, Van let his conversation with Luke drop so as to please his sister.

When they reached the main entrance, a soldier stopped them. "This area has been closed off. The Dark Wings were spotted leaving yesterday afternoon, so we cannot allow any civilians to interfere with the search efforts going on."

"Great! What do we do now?" Luke moaned, directing the question at Van.

The commandant had an answer ready almost instantly. "You can use the abandoned factory in the southeast part of the city. I'm sure you can find some way out."

"Van, is there no other way out of the city?" Tear asked, slightly irritated.

"I'm afraid we may be late if we were to go back and get His Majesty's permission to pass."

"An old factory... That sounds dangerous. Be sure to be careful, Ion!" Anise reminded the boy.

"Of course!"

"Tear, Admiral, shall we head to the port now...?" Van began.

The two women followed him reluctantly. They obviously didn't want to go and were convinced that few other arrangements could be as bad as the one the commandant had deemed the most practical. Van purchased their tickets when they arrived. Tear and Cantabile stood back, quietly conversing.

The older Oracle Knight returned shortly. Tear turned to him sharply, wasting no time in launching the question that had been on her mind since she had been informed that she was to accompany him to the Fubras River. "Van, does this have something to do with the Seventh Fonstone? Admiral Cantabile has informed me that it has supposedly been found near the Fubras."

"It's funny you should mention that, Tear." Van dropped his voice to a whisper. "In fact, yes, that is part of the reason we're heading there. I was going to confirm it myself, but then we received word of the thick miasma there, and you know the properties of the miasma—it takes longer to affect younger bodies. I thought having you there with me may prove useful should something go wrong. You are a Seventh Fonist, after all."

"But I'm not," interjected Cantabile. "Why do you insist that I come as well?"

"It's no matter," Van said slowly, as if he had planned out an entire script for the occasion. "Your duty is to obey orders and not to question them."

Cantabile growled lowly, but she gave no other form of protest. He knew now, she was sure of it, and the consequences would be dire. She would have to be ready when he made his move.

Luke and the remainder of the group backtracked to the aircar dock that would take them to the abandoned factory. Immediately, Ion noticed a lack of soldiers, and Jade was slightly surprised that the Fon Master had pointed it out before him.

"It's rather suspicious." Jade shrugged. "But I suppose we can't hang around here any longer. Off we go, kids."

They stepped on, and the fontech elevator slid down its track, deep into the workings of the machinery below. With a pang of guilt, Luke thought of how much Guy would enjoy such a trip.

"Hm, it's pretty dark... Ion, watch out," said Anise when they arrived and the aircar came to a full stop at the bottom.

"I will, Anise."

The gloomy atmosphere allowed almost no light from above to penetrate. It was hard to keep up any sort of pace in the darkness, and oil was thick on the air. There was no telling what had been produced in the factory, but whatever it was had had to be a decent size, given the large spaces between the walkways they were on and the ones above.

"It's a shame we don't have Mieu; he could just breathe fire so we could see." Luke shrugged sadly.

"That probably wouldn't be a good idea, anyway. There is likely a lot more oil in here than you think, and any slight source of ignition could cause the entire place to blow up," Jade pointed out.

Luke cringed. "Wow..."

They progressed in silence, but they didn't go far before they heard a scream from ahead. Luke halted, attempting to scan the darkness and see something, but there was nothing but more black smudges that could easily be more machinery. He squinted, and he was sure one of them moved. When it twitched again, he instantly had his sword in had and dashed for it. The others called for him, but there was no mistaking the voice was Natalia's.

She came into view, backed against a wall by the enormous monster that had put her there. It was some kind of oil-coated spider, and it struck her again with its claws. Natalia valiantly readied another arrow and fired, but then dropped back and tried to get around it, holding her arm the whole time as though it had been injured.

"Fang Blade!" Luke tore across the metal platform to the beast, putting himself in front of Natalia.

"Luke?!"

"Get back! I'll hold it off!"

"No! I'll fight, too!"

"You're hurt, dammit!" The monster slashed at Luke, but the boy deflected it with his blade.

Jade, Anise, and Ion arrived shortly. The colonel began casting, and Tokunaga swelled, Anise taking her position on top of it. The monster spun, slinging oil and grime onto them. Ion backed away, touching his lip hesitantly.

"Stalagmite!"

"Dual Punishment!"

"Havoc Strike!"

"Storm Edge!"

The assault was relentless. After several minutes of battering the monster's bulk to the wall, Jade glanced around hastily. It wasn't dying, and their attacks could barely cut through the slime that clung to its skin to harm it. All they were doing was driving it into the rear wall, which seemed to be where its burrow was, judging by the mass amounts of rubble slapped across the wall. Jade could see an opening behind it, and that would be perfect. All of the freshly upturned stone and metal was less likely to have faint trails of the flammable oil to other parts of the factory. Kill or cure.

"Flame Burst!"

Natalia and Anise gasped in horror as the fire erupted before them, engulfing the monster and sending it slamming through the wall with a sickening squelch that was accompanied by the snapping of most if not all of its spindly legs. Luke blinked, shaking his head to rid himself of the burning pattern of green lights that invaded his sight. When he opened them again, he started at the sight of the monster, which was half in and half out of the hole it had plowed into the steel. Debris was scattered, and the rough opening that had once been concealed was visible.

"Jade!" Natalia ran to the colonel, jabbing a finger to his chest angrily. "Just what on Auldrant were you thinking?! You could have killed us!"

Jade huffed as though exasperated, though his broad smile gave him away. "I was taking care of the monster. You're quite welcome, Princess."

"How rude!" The livid woman placed her hands to her hips arrogantly.

"Hey, what's this?" Anise pointed to the opening, and the rest turned to peer through it. There seemed to be some kind of rusted elevator shaft in it running straight up, and a small puddle of daylight spilled down from above.

"Wish Guy was here... He could tell us how it works and everything," observed Luke.

Ion treaded over the mangled steel to the group carefully. "Oh, is everyone all right?"

"Fon Master! What are you doing here? It's much too dangerous." Natalia darted to him, taking his hand comfortingly.

Ion shook her off absently. "Princess... I should be asking the same of you. This is no place for someone of your status!"

"I've heard enough of that!" Natalia declared. "You're going back to the castle! No argument!"

"Well, well..." Jade sighed. "Princess, you know we need Ion to help in Akzeriuth. Why don't you head back now? You're the one that was ordered to remain in the city."

"I can't!"

"We don't need more of a burden, Your Highness," Jade said plaintively.

Natalia continued her protest stubbornly. "I can fight, too! I am a master of Lanvaldearean-style archery!"

Luke cut in abruptly. "More like the master of getting ambushed! We had to get you out of that mess, you know?!"

"Please stop arguing!" Ion pleaded. "We need to keep going!"

"Not with Natalia we're not!" Luke shot back.

"Luke!"

"Natalia, you don't know what it's like out there! You've never been in a real battle before! That's why you got hurt! See?"

Natalia made a weak effort to hide her crippled arm behind her back. "I-I just—I just slipped, missed a step, that's all! You know I know what I'm doing, Luke!"

"You liar!" he snapped, and she almost winced as his harsh mood suddenly made itself evident. "Natalia, we don't have the time to stand here arguing! Just listen to what I say, and go back home! Uncle will be upset if he finds out you left without his permission!"

"How do you know I sneaked out?" The princess raised an eyebrow.

"U-Uncle would never let you--!"

"How do you know, Luke? He may just have well granted me permission to go. You weren't there to see it."

"B-But!" sputtered Luke helplessly. He looked over to Jade, who was grinning blandly, his expression utterly unreadable.

"Dear Princess Natalia..." he began, bowing for effect. "His Majesty may have allowed you to accompany us, but did he truly send you alone? He sent his only daughter and heir to the throne into a dangerous, filthy, old factory without so much as a unit of guards? Is that it?"

"Well--!" Natalia looked broken under the colonel's gaze. His logic proved unanswerable.

Jade turned his back to the woman. "It's no matter now, anyway. It seems our path is blocked."

The others gasped in astonishment. No one had even noticed that the force from the mighty explosion had rendered the metal soft under its heat, leaving it easily bent and snapped when the rubble followed. Whatever parts of the path that had not been destroyed were thoroughly obstructed, and there was no quick way around it. "Well, kids, it looks like there's nothing to do now but try to get out of here as fast as we can. We've wasted enough time as it is. I can see sunlight from that elevator shaft—shall we try that?"

Anise shook her head in amazement. "Colonel, I don't believe you! First you nearly kill us with that fonic arte, then you block our only way back to the city, and now you're changing the subject like nothing even happened!"

"There is nothing to do but look forward," he said pointedly. "As I was saying..."

"That shaft..." Luke turned back to the opening, examining the walls of the structure. "What was it used for, Jade?"

"Freight, I assume."

"Is there any way up?" Natalia joined the redheaded noble, she too assuming a position so as to have a better look up the shaft. It was rather narrow—she estimated it to be about four feet square and at a perfect ninety degree angle—and no one could maneuver his way to the surface under those conditions. Besides, there was no telling just how deep they were.

Luke prepared to comment on the impossibility of any of them making the climb when suddenly, the light was extinguished. He snorted in slight confusion, unable to grasp any plausible reason that the damn thing had to just go out like that. He looked back to Jade, perplexed, and the older man approached to see what had happened for himself.

"Hmmm... It looks like the metal around it was a lot thinner than the walkways. It's not meant to bear the weight of humans, after all."

"But wouldn't the soil weigh more?" asked Natalia.

"Probably, but it has been constructed in such a way that it can hold that kind of weight more easily. The soil is a more fixed pressure, and therefore can be dealt with more easily than the spontaneous pressure points that are created by walking across the metal platforms."

"I see... Is there any way we can utilize that to get up there?"

Jade adjusted his glasses and brushed off his uniform busily. "I doubt it. The smallest upset would bring it toppling down on top of us. In fact, it could probably fall at any minute."

Luke and Natalia jerked away from the hole. They cringed, waiting for the dirt to rush down all of a sudden, but it held. Jade gave a light chuckle. Luke frowned at him, frustrated at his amusement. "It's not funny!"

"We need to get out of here," Ion mumbled, shuddering slightly for effect.

"Correct." Jade faced the Fon Master. "It looks like the shaft isn't possible to scale, nor would it be easy to locate the elevator and use it. Let's look around."

"Here, look!" Anise motioned to the colonel. "There's a ladder. We can get up a little higher, at least."

Jade examined the ladder. "It'll have to hold for now. Fon Master, you and Anise can go first."

Anise helped Ion onto the ladder first, then she climbed after him as swiftly as she could. Luke and Natalia followed, then Jade went last. Luckily, the supple steel of which it had been crafted was strong enough to bear their weight.

"We can't afford any time to rest." Jade watched the group carefully. "Look. There's some kind of emergency exit right here. I'd be willing to bet there are stairs as well."

"How do you know that?" Luke ventured.

"Well, there have to be emergency stairs leading to an emergency exit," Jade pointed out.

"Oh. Right."

Jade walked over to the doorway and glanced down. "Though it appears that we're all ready too high off the ground. Let's see... Ah, here we are..." He produced a rope ladder from a heap of molded debris and discarded oil drums.

"I'll go first again, Ion," said Anise. "You won't want to slip and hurt yourself. It looks like it's raining."

Luke joined Jade at the threshold and stared up to the sky. The roiling opaque clouds had finally released their intense burden, and the sudden rainfall neglected to seep into the earth and flushed off the topsoil in its mad rush. Near a desert, the soil had to have been no more than sand, but that did not mask the fact that it would no doubt be a royal mess to walk through. Luke groaned.

Jade looped the ends of the rope through two metal pegs near the opening. He let the ladder hang down, then allowed Anise to start. Going down took much longer than coming up had, and Ion had to wait quite a while to begin his descent. Natalia followed him, then the remaining males went last. Luke snorted as his feet hit the sodden ground, and he vainly tried to shake the mud from the bottoms of his shoes. The rain seemed light at first, but it soon became apparent that it was more than that, especially at the relentless pace at which it fell. He advanced, then with a yelp, slid on the mud and went down. It took until the others realized that he had gone down, into the earth, for them to rush to his aid. Luke clung to the rim of the hole, frantically trying to get his footing on the slick metal that lined it. "What the hell?!" he sputtered.

"Back off, now!" A voice sounded from the distance, and it was difficult to discern figure from mist until Jade recognized the voice.

"Sync!"

Sync the Tempest stepped into view haughtily, and another was close behind. Before anyone could place a name to a face for the second one, Sync attacked. He dashed through their ranks, and they hastily grabbed their weapons. Luke gulped, and the other man knelt to the hole, grinning. The redhead winced, expecting him to shove him in and leave him for dead, but to his surprise, the other man grasped his arms and heaved him up. Luke stared in complete and utter shock as he caught a glimpse of his face on the way up. A cold blade was forced against his throat roughly, and Luke could only stand meekly, appalled at the man's appearance. His sleek, blood-red hair, his familiar emerald eyes blazing hatred, his black Oracle uniform, and—!

All fighting ceased when the man's voice boomed out across the clearing.

"Hand over Ion, or the replica dies!"

Thanks to Medomai (Apakoha) for betaing!

[Here's the little treat I promised (copy and remove spaces to see it): http//i195. photobucket. com /albums /z90/ squidmaster64/ AschandLuke--ALmeetingscene. png

Hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to leave a review!