Exam on the American government soon. Joy. As if the last one didn't come too soon. I suppose it would help if I did the reading…but…no.

Anyway, here's the next chapter. I sincerely hope you liked the last one, and remember, please review, just to let me know you care. It makes me ever so happy. It makes Florian happy, too. You want to make Florian happy, right? Right? If you don't, you're a heartless criminal and should be sent to jail. Right now. Oh, and I'm so sorry about the lack of fantastic chapter summary last time. I completely forgot.

In other news, I'm working on a drawing right now…yes, it's amazing, and no, it doesn't have Florian in it. BUT IT HAS ION. If I can draw it right...

Disclaimer: The unfortunate author doesn't own Tales of the Abyss. Just in case you were confused.

Chapter Summary: Sailing the high seas isn't all it's cracked up to be, but for Florian and Jade, it's even less than what it's not cracked up to be. Oh dear.

Huddled in the bottom of the rickety boat-like thing, Florian covered his face with his hands. This was nothing like any boat he'd ever been on. The rocking…it was awful. And the water…the water just kept rising! He was almost certain boats weren't supposed to be full of water. Almost. Just for good measure, though, he asked Jade, his recently-acquired adventure companion.

"Is it…is it supposed to be full of water?" asked Florian rather sickly, because he was feeling awful.

Jade looked down at Florian. "Florian, if boats were meant to be full of water, don't you think that would defeat the purpose?"

Florian sank farther into the bottom of the boat, wishing he could just wake up and be back in his scary, lonely room in the Daath cathedral. Every time he opened his eyes, though, he saw the same rocking, tilting horizon, and nothing else. Florian had never really contemplated dying…well, not since he'd gotten to Daath…but now…

"Mr. Jade," sniffled Florian, "Are we going to die?"

Jade sighed. He really didn't like attempting to console sniffling little boys. Actually, he wasn't fond of consoling anyone.

Florian took this sigh to mean yes, they were going to die. He let out an ear-piercing wail, which caused even hardened Jade to flinch.

"I'm going to die and I'll never see Anise again," Florian howled, burying his face in his soggy sleeves. "And I'm going to die!"

Jade wanted very much to tell Florian to stop his sniveling, they weren't going to die, but, the truth was, he wasn't too sure. And he didn't feel up to lying just to make the kid feel better. He looked up, exasperated. This was all Luke's fault.

While he was gazing up at the heavens, however, Jade saw something completely unexpected and slightly frightening. Up there…that big, red round thing…

Florian continued to wail, until Jade reached down and hauled him up.

"Look there," said Jade, pointing. "What does that look like to you?"

Squinting, Florian contemplated the red blob, momentarily silenced. He wasn't sure what it was…actually, he had no idea what it was. It was very red, though, and very round…and it had some sort of thing hanging from it.

Jade glanced at Florian, then sighed. Of course. Florian was too naïve to recognize…well, anything, really. Must he do everything himself? Was it his destiny to forever be surrounded by people who were…incompetent? Hadn't Luke been punishment enough?

Unfortunately, none of Jade's questions were to be answered right then. The thing began to descend. Farther and farther down it went, until it was close enough for Jade and Florian to hear the person inside screaming.

"No! No! I told you not to touch that!" yelled the angry occupant of the hot air balloon, for that was what it was. "Now look what's happening! No! Stop! Let go!"

Florian and Jade looked at each other, then back at the hot air balloon. Florian, though, still had no idea what it was, although it looked simply fascinating. He bit part of his wide sleeve, deep in thought.

Suddenly, quite without warning, Jade whirled around, a look of severe irritation on his normally-composed face.

"No," said Jade, while Florian looked up at him with concern. "No. I do not accept this. This will not happen."

Florian frowned, then turned back to look at the descending thing. And there…there! He saw one of the people inside! With excitement, he turned, tugging on Jade's sleeve to get his attention.

"Mr. Jade!" said Florian urgently. "There are people in there!"

Jade, however, did not share in Florian's excitement. He shuddered, and remained silent.

"Hey! Hey! Don't ignore me!" came a new, different voice, and Florian suddenly realized that there was someone…hanging off the thing that was…hanging off the big red balloon. That's what the top part was! A balloon, like the one Anise had brought him. Oh, but what was it doing?

"I'm going to kill myself," said Jade suddenly and decisively. "That's exactly what I'll do."

Alarmed, Florian looked up at Jade. "No, no! You can't kill yourself!"

Jade sighed. He knew he couldn't kill himself. He was practically invincible. It would be nearly impossible for him to kill himself. Still…

Down, down, down the balloon continued to descend.

And then there was a large splash.

Whirling back around, Florian stared at the mass that had hit the water. A basket, it looked like, the kind you put berries in. Florian became distracted with this comparison, remembering the time Anise had taken him to pick berries. He stared off into space, until some more shouting brought him back to the problem at hand.

"You morons!" screamed the first voice. "Look what you've done! Now what are we supposed to do! I don't even know how this happened! I should've died when I had the chance!"

Florian looked over at the basket that was floating in the water. A small black thing was furiously punching the basket's side. Although the basket was still a good distance away, Florian squinted, and realized that small black thing was actually a person. Probably. It could've been a robot, but Florian wasn't sure what robots looked like. He raised his hand to wave, but someone grabbed it.

"No," said Jade sternly. "You do not want to wave to those people."

"But why not?" asked Florian innocently. "They're in trouble, and so are we."

"We wouldn't just be in trouble if they spotted us," said Jade. "We would be in hell."

Florian gasped. He'd heard some of the people in Daath talk about that, and it sounded absolutely horrible. Eyes widening, Florian was once again terrified. He turned around, just like Jade, and pretended those people weren't there. And then…horror of horrors! Florian realized their boat-thing was drifting! Straight towards the basket!

"Oh, dear," sighed Jade, hanging his head. He, too, had noticed the horrible drifting. "If only we'd gone this fast before."

Florian's eyes filled with tears. Why was this happening to him? He'd only wanted to see the little white kitty!

Suddenly, a new cry rose up from the basket. "Wait! Look! Look there!" It was the second voice.

"Shut up!" yelled the first. "Stupid!"

"I am not stupid!"

"Yes you are!" the first voice screamed. "You're stupid, the whole world's stupid!"

There was a pause, and then, "No! No! No!"

They had been spotted. Florian raised his hands to his face. Oh! Strangely enough, the people in the basket didn't sound like the soul-eating monsters he had been imagining. They sounded even unhappier than he felt. At least, the first one did. The second one was yelling, as well, but…

"Oh. My. GOD." The second voice was steadily rising, becoming more shrill by the second. "OH MY GOD."

Jade groaned.

"Jade!" cried the voice. "Jade! It's Jade!"

Florian, peeking between his fingers, turned around warily, just in time to see one of the occupants frantically waving its arms. They were getting closer…and closer…and closer…how strange those people looked. In fact, they weren't a pair unlike he and Jade!

And then…the boat-thing smacked right into the floating basket.

Come on, you know you like suspense. It keeps you reading, right? Right? Of course it does. This…well, really, this stuff just popped into my head while I was writing. Bet you can't guess who's in the balloon. And I'll bet you're dying to know what Jade was doing drifting in a boat in the first place. Not to worry; in time, all will be revealed. As long as you keep reading and reviewing. Oh, and if you have any requests or ideas, I'll be happy to hear them and shall try my best to work them in. And just to let you know, I plan on getting all the main characters and God-Generals in here. So...yeah, this might go on for a while.

Oh, and once again, please write some Florian stories! He deserves to have fun, too. I mean, although it's fun to write about Ion…well, you know, Florian has more of a…SHH SPOILER…well, of a future. YOU KNOW HE DOES. Plus, Florian's so gosh-darn cute. Except when he makes you play hide-and-seek in that awful place…

Sorry, long end-note. I'll finish up. Thanks for reading! Until next time!