Storyteller

Ion and Anise received their orders in a sealed beige envelope. It was Yulia's seal, and the information had come directly from Jade.

"We have to go see Luke and Asch again I guess." Ion stretched his arms above his head while he watched Anise for a response.

Anise had been acting strangely since the Colonel asked to speak with her about something in private. Ion hadn't been as bothered as he could have been, but he knew that if something wasn't for him to know, he wasn't to ask questions.

She carried a new doll in her arms, with a dark smile on its face. It looked ragged, but there was a hint of unwanted maturity in Anise's eyes. She looked as if she had just been told a dark secret, but Jade promised it was not concerning their mission.

"We should head out then," Anise said bleakly. She seemed to meekly avoid eye contact with Ion, lest what she knew somehow become visible in her now cold eyes.

"Is… everything alright Anise?" Ion dropped his arms to his sides, dejectedly.

"Yeah, I'm alright. But… Have you ever learned something that could change your life?" Ion ceased his worrying at her confession. Jade had just told her something that had shaken her, forced her to grow up a little too fast. Ion had grown up fast too, he could relate.

"I don't know anything the Order, or you do not with me to know. I'm their property, you know that!" Ion smiled, and Anise weakly returned the gesture. But a smile was a smile to Ion, no matter how small. It was improvement.

"Yeah Ion, I'm sorry, I forgot." Anise stretched, before tying the strange doll around her neck. "Let's get going, okay Ion?"

Ion was created to replace Yulia's brother, but she hasn't gotten the chance to get to know this Ion yet. He isn't her brother…

"Oh course Anise; I'm ready if you are. Don't forget the mission card, Mohs tightened security again."

Luke seemed more attached to Guy as the uproar of his arrival died down. Asch was forced to attend to more studies, his playtime had been cut shorter then it had been before.

This in itself was enough to cause the small child horrible bouts of depression, as Asch was the only person whom he truly, deeply cared for- Aside from Guy and his mother, but Asch was different. Luke didn't want to play with Guy all the time, he didn't sleep in Guy's room at night, and Guy didn't look like his brother, he instead looked like his protector.

Guy had never been the sole interest of a child before, he was still a child himself, but Luke's dependency on him was growing as quickly as his isolation from his father and the outside world was growing. The blond had become Luke's only tutor as he couldn't learn everything by observing as he did with his early knowledge.

But not only had Guy become the only teacher present in Luke's life, he also became the only older male presence. The Duke knew that Luke would be of no value to him, he was not an heir to the throne as Asch was, nor was he not even his true son. Luke only stayed because of Suzanne and Asch's attachment. The Duke was aware of the return policy, which would rid him manor of both Guy and the perfect little child with that despicable collar, but he was bound by his wife and son.

"Will Asch have time to play with us today?" Luke may have surpassed everyone around him in knowledge, but he was still a child, Guy could never allow himself to forget that.

"No, I'm afraid not even after dinner today, its bath time, and then bedtime. You will see him then!" Luke frowned but didn't show any other signs of his disappointment. Instead he allowed Guy to pick him up and set him in his lap, face to face with the blond.

"I'll tell you a story instead; I know you are dying to hear it." Guy tried to maintain his happiness, but Luke could already feel what was coming.

"Guy… You don't have too…" Even as the pain Guy would feel because of his memories began to dull, it only intensified within his redheaded charge.

"Luke, I know why you are in pain when I'm sad, same with Asch and your mother, but you never feel our anger, or our rage; you only feel what you think you can fix. And maybe… you can fix me if you listen to my story." Guy tucked a lock of Luke's hair behind his ear, gently scratching the soft spot hidden there. He wasn't sure if was proper behavior for a child to enjoy such an animalistic feeling, but he was beyond caring.

Luke slid the eye closest to Guy's scratching closed, tilting his head a bit to give guy better access to all the soft spots lining his neck line.

"I'll listen if you promise not to use my weakness against me again!" Luke smiled to his caretaker, who had discovered that with a simple scratch, Luke would be willing to do absolutely anything.

Guy laughed at Luke's innocent request before stopping the attack on Luke's will. He smoothed down the hair he had ruffled on the boy's head, before contemplating over where to start.

"Well, once upon a time Luke, I was young like you. Only about four months ago, an evil man came to my city. It was a beautiful city, but he didn't care about the sunsets and the ocean, he wanted to destroy." Guy debated stopping his story when Luke began to quiver, but the child instead demanded more contact from Guy, wrapping his arms around his caretaker's waist. It was only natural that Luke would desire contact from his caretaker, as he desired contact from Asch. But Asch wasn't here, and when Luke was uncomfortable, only being around those he cared about seemed to help.

"But the island was full of all sorts of fighters who could defend the island. The man did something horrible, he commanded a child to destroy for him, knowing the values of the islanders wouldn't allow them to harm the child as they would the man." Luke shuddered again, and Guy wrapped his arms around his quivering form.

"Was the child as evil as the man?" Luke questioned, disguising how much he truly knew about what might have happened.

"The child cried out with each victim the man made him cut down. He called out for someone to kill him, but his powers acted of it's own accord, denying the child's wishes to stop. I was the last one alive, the only one to survive the horrible events that befell my home. I know he saw me; he stared at me with his soft golden eyes, apologizing silently for everything that had happened, before he turned and left. Fire shot out from flames around his feet, burning the buildings and bodies of the islanders, but for some reason, he spared me." Guy knew it was a hard tale to tell, and it was hard for Luke to have to accept.

"I don't blame the child. I blame the man that used that boy for his own evil purposes. The child was an Impostor, it was impossible for him to deny the orders of those who gave them."

Luke closed his eyes, hoping that maybe those memories weren't the ones that matched what his other self told him about.

"So now you know. But what did you take from the story?" Golden-eyes Luke was speaking to Luke, as he trembled within Guy's embrace.

'You were ordered to kill Guy's entire city? That makes me the Malkuth murderer… I killed millions of people because of this man...?' Luke wished he could return to the days when he first arrived at the manor. Before he could walk or talk, before he could fully realize his dark past.

"I told you what you discovered would not bring you happiness."

Luke felt his own eyes start to water at the realization of his past, causing to Guy to stir from his own memory haze.

"Hey little guy, it's alright." The blond pried Luke away from his chest so he could examine his face, no doubt the child would start crying soon.

"No…" Luke moaned, trying to hide his face in Guy's shirt once more.

"It's not your fault, it's okay…" Luke seemed to flinch when Guy reassured him of his innocence, and Guy started to wonder what exactly was going through his mind.

"It is my fault Guy. I remember something that will bring you sadness. But these memories aren't mine… they are his..." Luke's words were as serious as Guy had ever heard the child speak before; it was nerve-wracking trying to figure out what had bothered him so.

"Is he… the one who was talking to me the other day? When you couldn't remember his words, these memories are his?" Guy knitted his eyebrows together; the situation with Luke was getting clearer in some places and darker in others.

"Do you know his name? He was here before me… Did you know him?" Luke bit his bottom lip, hoping that maybe he was just dreaming again, that he would wake up and Guy would tell him a story he hadn't seen happen in his mind.

"His name was…" The tag! Guy reached into his pocket to grab the tag for Luke, but the boy grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"His name is Lorelei."

A/N: I think my chapters are getting shorter, but I can't really remember anymore. I'm writing the climax now, or at least the post climax, and it seems to be stealing my soul, I don't think I would ever have thought of some of the evil things I almost wrote, but they are still swimming around and encouraging my fingers to leave such tragedies. But alas! I shall not. Yet.

I do have to stop being a favoritism-er and finish my other two works in progress. They just don't sound appealing anymore. D: