(A/N: And now for the moment many of you have been waiting for: The Reunion of Luke and Tear. And as an added bonus: I will be revealing Rukia's status this chapter. Sorry for making you all wait so long, but I finally got around to finishing up this chapter. Big special thanks to Xerosonic for helping out with this chapter)

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Tales of the Abyss

Tear's pov

Today would be the 3rd year anniversary since Luke's disappearance. I had to tell myself disappearance. I refused to say Luke was dead. He promised me that he would come back. I came to Hod's replica almost every night to await his return. Once a season Jade, Natalia, Anise and Guy would join me out here as I sang the Fonic Hymn. Today was special because today was Luke's coming of age anniversary. I wouldn't be joining them. Luke wasn't dead. I denied that reality. I sat down on a rock and began to sing as I always did.

Tue ne ze Quaiyu Tue Ze

Crano se taiyou ne ve nu se

Fa de se te nu te oo te qu

Yo may crado se le va se le

3rd Person View

It was nighttime now, stars are currently out and the moon was high. After so much work had been done, Luke had finally managed to get some time alone for himself here in his home world. It's been so long that he had been back in his home that he almost lost the feeling of the wind. Luke looked out into the distance on top of the cliff that was next to the giant landmass that Van had created to be Hod's replica. It was decided that they would be stationed nearby there since it was isolated from the world. Asch had confronted Luke before about being here in Auldrant. Luke could be here, but he mustn't make his presence so far known by the people in this world for it would disrupt the balance of life and death. If that were to happen, Yamamoto would strip him of his rank for negligence and proper etiquette of duty. Luke didn't mind it that much; he already knew what he wanted.

His eyes gaze and his thoughts drift into the past as he thinks about the final fight he had before his eventual death: Luke's infiltration of the fortress, his fight with Asch, and then against Van. The memories soared throughout his mind as he closed his eyes and felt the wind blow on his face, his hair also flowing with the gentle night breeze. Luke is now at ease, until he started to hear a soothing voice in the distance, one that was singing.

Vane va le Vane va se le

Quo ne quo no te ne ko yo se le va

Le vale krato le ne

"That voice?" Luke muttered to himself as his eyes suddenly opened. "Tear?" His heart began to race violently in shock of this development. He leaps down the cliff he was standing on and looks out to the distance where the stretching glowing flower patches are. He peers slightly to see more clearly to what's in front of him, that's when he saw his group. Tear was sitting upon the rock as she sang the melody. Guy and Anise were to the left of her. Jade and Natalia were to the right. Luke was taken aback to what he saw.

Tue le ze Quaiyu Tue Ze

Cra yo se tray yu le le u se

Fa de se tue yu te oo te coo

Yu may cryo se leh va se le

Vane va le Vane va se le

Quad yu qua na te le koh u se le va

Le dane krato le Ne

No way? They're here? I know I was dead for so long but have they really been waiting for me to come back? Luke's thoughts were a bit wild, possibly unstable to what he was seeing. His heart raced even more, but not of anxiety, but of excitement. He took his steps closer ever so slowly to reach them each step managed to calm him down more as he drew closer to them. Sadly, Tear had stopped singing, and the group began to leave. Wait! Don't go yet! Luke got anxious now and decided to use flash-step to reach them, but he did it quietly to not disturb the calm atmosphere around him.

Tear was about to turn herself away and leave, but the corner of her eye managed to catch Luke in the distance. At first she didn't know who it was, but it soon came clear to her that it was Luke that was drawing near. She gasped slightly to his appearance and stood up from where she was sitting. The rest of the group turned, now seeing Luke who made his appearance to them after three long years of them waiting.

Tear stepped forward a few feet to speak with him, but she was rather timid from the shock. "Why are," she paused for a moment, trying to find the right words to say. "You here?"

Luke smiled with soft eyes and replied. "This place…it's a nice view of Hod." Luke paused a moment before continuing, trying to take in the moment he has here now. "And, I promised someone I would come back." Tear was speechless; she couldn't find the words to reply back to him after that. The only thing she did was let a teardrop fall from her face that she was holding back all this time.

"Luke!" she ran forward towards him and wrapped her arms around him. She held her body to his as she trembled slightly. Luke could hear the tears she was holding back, but several were escaping nonetheless as they fell onto the sleeve of his Shihakusho.

"Why are you crying?" Luke asked.

"I missed you," she told him her has gripping his sleeves, head resting on his chest.

"I missed you too," Luke told her. He wrapped his arms around the musical medic. "Not a moment went by that I didn't think about you."

"Luke," Tear muttered as she wrapped her arms around Luke's neck and buried her eyes directly into his chest.

"Nice to have you back," Guy walked up to Luke.

"Guy can't you tell they're having a moment?" Natalia reprimanded.

"Hey he's our friend too," Guy reminded her.

Tear and Luke broke away from one another, even though it pained them to do so, they let go of each other's embrace. "We can continue this later," Luke whispered to Tear.

"You kept us waiting," Guy told Luke as he grabbed Luke by his collar and dragged him away to the side, "Your 'coming of age' ceremony would've been today you know."

"Wow has it been that long?" Luke whispered to Guy in amazement. Luke then popped thoughts in his head: yeah exactly three years that makes sense. Luke finished pondering and broke away from Guy's grasp with a nudge. "Good to see you're doing alright."

"What have you been doing anyway?" Guy questioned as he places his hands on his hips in a commanding posture. "It took you three years to finally come back?" Guy asked as he dropped his smile for a moment to make Luke give a serious answer.

"I've been through quite an adventure," Luke chuckled with a broad smile as he thought about everything he had been through in Soul Society. Although he didn't want to say anything of it until they were ready for what he would have to tell them. "It wasn't exactly easy to get back from where I was."

Guy dropped his hands back to his side, sighed deeply, and went back to his friendly attitude with a smile on his face again. He walks up to pat Luke on the shoulder and say with an adventurous look, "Well whatever nutty trip you went through we want to hear all about it tomorrow," he looked towards the others to try and egg them along, "Don't we guys?"

"Yes," Natalia agreed as he stepped forward.

"You bet!" Anise piped up.

"Does this adventure of yours have something to do with your outrageous uniform?" Jade asked as he pointed out Luke's odd clothing. He took the moment to push in his glasses as Guy removed his hand from Luke's shoulder. "You look like you're part of some form of military organization." Luke took a few moments to take in Jade's comment, knowing that he was right of course, but he didn't want that to be known so quickly.

Luke chuckled to try and lower the uneasiness of the topic Jade almost brought up so suddenly. "You could say that. It was a pretty crazy place, where I went."

"You sure you didn't just have a coma dream that lasted three years," Guy joked.

"Hey," Luke whined, feeling offended. Although that would have worked in Luke's favor to get the idea off him right now, it wouldn't explain his clothes anyway.

"In any case we should get going. The road gets dangerous here at night." Jade reminded everyone. As he pushes his lasses back up before they fell. "I will have more questions later, but for now," Jade stepped forward, extending his left hand in front of Luke. "It's good to have you back." Luke stood in awe for a moment, mostly because this is jade of all people who are actually being friendly to him instead of being a snarky jackass as always. Luke extended his hand and shook with Jade.

"Yeah," Luke muttered softly as he took a short gaze to everyone in front of him. He broke off his grip with Jade and turned with the rest of the group. "Let's go." They began to make their way south of their location; towards the city of Chesodonia. It's a bit of a hike, but at least I am back. I have all the time I can ask for, Tear came up from behind, and slowly wrapped her arms around Luke's left arm as she clings to him tightly. Luke felt slightly jumpy after the sudden grapple, but a smile broke out on his face that no one else could see from behind him. And I'm in no rush.

Campsite near Eldrant

Momo is sitting at her desk in a temporary tent, shuffling around piles of paper work that sits on her desk from her captain happily. Most of it is just papers confirming conformation of events, but some more came in just recently about the statues of the earth and their force. After a while, she manages to clear out all her workload and then got to the final portions of her pile that dealt with the recent events. Her mood suddenly changed when she picked up one file that was talking about the fight that broke out against the Arrancar. She became frantic, shuffling through the other papers on answers to the many questions in her head. Mostly being on What's going on? More and more papers were piled on to the side as she scans each one until finally she got the battle report. Her eyes widen, and her breath stopped while she stared at the file concerning Rukia Kuchiki's statues.

"No way." She muttered. "WIA? Heavy injuries during an encounter with the elite Arrancar force Espada." Momo took action and shot up from her desk as she slipped the paper into her shihakusho and bolted out the tent. She looks to her right and see's Nanao holding a scanning a clipboard in her arms. "Nanao!" Momo shouted to grab her attention. Nanao turned and flash-stepped next to her; sensing her distress. "Take over for me. I have to go find Captain Luke Fon Fabre." Momo said in a hurry and stormed off in the direction where Luke took off earlier. Nanao didn't even have the time to reply back.

Asch came walking onto the scene from behind. "What's going on?" Asch demanded. Nanao turned to face Asch with a jolt.

"A-Asch? Where did you come-"

"I felt some vibes so I came this way to check things out." Asch answered rather calmly unlike his partner. "So what exactly happened?"

"I don't know." Nanao plainly said to him, regaining most of her composure. "Momo became frantic for a bit and then stormed off to find Captain Luke Fon Fabre." Nanao placed her clipboard to the side and faced the tent Momo came out of. "Something really hit a nerve or something because even I haven't seen her get like that before."

"Hmm." Asch grunted and shut his eyes. He began to concentrate on trying to contact his replica associate. Dreck? Dreck! Asch was getting annoyed on how long it was taking to get in contact with Luke. For god's sake would you pick up! This is serious! No response. "Well, Luke isn't picking up. That leaves us clueless as always." Asch turns away and starts to walk back to his tent. "Whatever it is, I'm sure he'll Luke can handle it once he meets with Momo. He IS a captain after all." He stops to look towards Nanao. "See what you can find in the tent. I'm going to look through my files a bit and see what's up." Nanao did as was told and entered Momo's tent. Asch continued to walk back to his tent and focused again to contact Luke. Luke, would you respond before I find you myself and rip out a few of your teeth?

Huh? What is it Asch? Luke finally responded back, thus making Asch sigh heavily.

Momo is on her way to meet you. Her tracker is going to get her to you. She seemed pretty nervous about something according to Nanao since she just stormed off. Asch explained to Luke. So whatever you're doing, wrap it up and get yourself ready, I believe things are about to get really hectic these next few days.

What happened? Luke asked.

Dunno. Asch replied straightly after the question. All I know is, you better pick up immediately next time or I'm going to be the worst dentist you will ever have.

Funny. Luke comments back as he cuts himself off.

Asch didn't notice that he was already at his tent. It was stationed near the Cliffside with a very good view of the flowerbed below that led to Eldrant. The tent of course is well hidden and Luke's is right next to his. Not that he likes that fact. Asch sighs again and places his hands on his hips as he stares down towards the giant landmass where Luke and Asch had their final confrontation. He stretches out his arms to rid of his aches and tiredness. Damn it dreck, why do you have to pick the worst time to go meet everyone like this.

"Asch." Nanao's voice is heard from behind which made Ash turn his head to see her. "I always see you staring down at the scene like this." Nanao walks up till she stands at Asch's left and looks down to see the large flowerbed that illuminated white. "It's a nice view. I know you have a story about everything you stare at, so do you care to share?" Nanao pleaded the captain with a soft smile. At this time, Asch had no reason to refuse, but he didn't really like the subject matter, even if it did look nice.

"Well, this place is secluded from the rest of the world so it's secret. Monsters don't tend to travel near where we are so our position is ideal. Nice view as well I guess." Asch told Nanao, who didn't seem to be satisfied with Asch's explanation. "I guess you can say this is Luke and my tomb."

"Tomb?" Nanao questioned. "You mean you-"

"This is where Luke and I had our final showdown. We won, but we died in the end." Asch explained. "If anything, this place is one really overrated grave. A tombstone, flowers, and everything else you need for a funeral. All supplied by nature itself. I found this location to be a joke of Luke's, but I'm not exactly complaining since he chose a smart place to put us." Asch began to be a little sentimental about the area, now fully taking in the scenery at heart. "It really is a nice sight though."

Nanao grew closer and wrapped her arms around Asch as she clings to him. "I'm sorry."

"About what? It's not like you brought up a ghost of my past." Asch said as she held Nanao a little closer to him. "Your presence actually makes this sad scene for me actually enjoyable." Asch turned his head to face Nanao who looked deeply in her eyes and gave her a kiss on her forehead. "Now how about that report?"

"Mood killer." Nanao slurred and broke away and took a professional stance. "Apparently she got a report concerning what transpired on earth's side. They were attacked by the Arrancars and that's all I can dig up. It's possible that Momo had taken a few documents with her."

"So Aizen made his move." Asch pondered with his hand on his chin. "Then we better get ourselves prepared and on high alert. We don't know if we might get attacked anytime soon." Asch suggested as he placed his hand on Nanao's shoulder and walks away back to the campsite to inform the rest of the members at present.

Karakura Town

Urahara's shop

Ichigo's pov

I looked at Rukia as she was being healed underneath Orihime's Soten Kisshun.

I felt someone whack me at the base of the neck. It was Renji. "Hey, what the hell was that for?"

"If Rukia were awake she'd be telling you how this isn't your fault so you should stop looking at her like a depressed shmuck and just know that she's going to be ok," Renji told me.

"No it is my fault, if I wasn't having trouble controlling my hollow this wouldn't have happened. If I could control that damn bastard then Rukia would be…"

Renji whacked me at the back of the neck again, "Quit acting like she's dead or that she's not going to make it! What happened to Rukia was not your fault it was those blasted Arrancar. All you can do now is wait for her recovery! If that's not good enough for you then go out and do something about it!"

I clenched my fist, "You're right," I began to walk off.

"Hey where are you going?" Renji asked me.

"Orihime, Renji, tell Rukia I'm sorry. And give her this message: 'The next time you see me, I'll be strong enough to protect you and everyone else dear to me'," I then bypassed Toshiro and Matsumoto and Urahara-san.

"Going out for a late night stroll?" he asked me.

"Something like that," I said and slid the door open to shop and walked out into the night. I walked across town, still in Soul Form, and made for a warehouse halfway across town. I lifted up the gate with ease.

"Well I didn't think you'd come looking for us in the dead of night," I looked up to see Shinji, "That look on your face tells me you've been looking for us. Does this mean you've decided to become one of us now, hmm Ichigo?"

"No," I said stoically.

"Hmm," Shinji looked at me weird.

"I'm not here to join your little motley crew, I'm here to use you and learn how to control this…thing in my body," I told him.

"Well listen to you talking so big. Who do you think's gonna teach ya?" Shinji scoffed.

"If you won't tell me," I scowled, "I'll rip the answer out of you, by force."

Shinji chuckled, "Judging how you came her in Soul Form with some ugly battle scars I'd wager you'd just got your butt handed to ya. But you're not one to just come here just cause you got beat. If that were the case you would've taken our side from the moment I extended my offer to you. So what happened? Did someone die?"

"Almost," I grit my teeth.

"Almost don't count, why don't ya tell us all what happened? Even if ya wont' become of our humble pals, if ya plan on learnin our secret that alone makes us comrades," Shinji pulled down his hat, "So why don't you tell us and get it off your chest? Maybe it'll make you feel better."

"No thanks," I scowled.

"Come on now, don't be like that, what's your big dark brooding secret that you came all the way in the dead of night to find little ol' us?" Shinji was either stubborn, or trying to provoke me. Either way he was stupid if he thought he could get the answer out of me. I stayed silent. "Not gonna talk huh? Maybe I'll guess then. Did one of your friends get hurt?" I tensed. "Oh looks like I'm on the right track. Was it your pal, the big guy you always hang around with? That fiery orange haired girl Orihime-chan? Or perhaps…was it that Rukia gal you're so buddy buddy with?"

Seething with rage I leapt at Shinji and collided swords against him, "Shut up already!" I shouted.

"I could've figured," he said. "One of your friends got seriously injured to the point of a low chance of recovery so now you feel responsible and came crawling to us. Man I can read you like an open book Ichigo," this guy was really starting to get on my nerves. He started twirling his sword. "You gotta learn to relax, not take life so seriously. If Rukia-chan's still alive you should be thankful she's still breathing. Or maybe," He stopped twirling his sword, "She's in a coma." I ran at him and struck again. He blocked with that same smug grin on his face. I attacked him again at point blank. But he dodged and used Shunpo to get outside my range. I could suddenly start to feel him creeping into my system.

No not now…go away…damn it…GO AWAY!

"What's the matter Ichigo?" Shinji taunted and then added, "Oh, is your friend finally awake. Good, let him come out, then we can finally get some work done."

"Not on your life!" I ran forward to cut Shinji down, but stopped short and collapsed on the ground

Shinji's pov

Well it seems operation "Provoke Ichigo" was a huge success. Let's see what we're dealing with here. I walked towards Ichigo's body only for his head to lift up off the ground covered in a white mask and lunge at me. Damn it! He's fast. I cursed dodging out of the way. He turned and started coming at me wildly, like a man gone berserk. I used shunpo, got behind him, and whacked him in the back of the neck with my sword hilt. Then I stomped on his back and put my sword blade near his face. Ichigo started to return to normal. "You should get it by now Ichigo. Your hollow isn't something that can be suppressed with the mind or your body. When you feel like learning how things are done around here get up and we'll get started." I looked up at the moon. "On second thought get some rest. We'll pick this up in the morning."

(A/N: Wow go Shinji being able to suppress Ichigo's hollow all on his own. But more importantly hooray for LukeXTear! Anyway have a happy New Year everyone. Hopefully I'll have another chapter out later tonight, but don't bet on it. However I do plan to have one out later during my vacation)