Daughter of the Storm - haha im glad u like it xP yeah, i hadn't thought about what other ppl would think about Artes' and Ion's resemblence bwahahaha, i guess now i get to keep u in suspense!!!!
Yuugao Azamizu - thanks for the r&r x3 I'll try to update faster next time 3
Apprentice Writer - haha thanks!... i think? lol nice to know i live up to ur expectations!!! ... o i guess it's write.... Guess no one cares bout me... -corner-
Culinaromancer - haha yupyup, suspense suspense!! Bwahahaha, i feel happy... and its like 1 in the morning _ yeah, but i'm connecting the whole Ion and Evenos name thingie -nods head- ur review gave me a rly good idea hahaha thanks for the support
topaz-skye - thanks so much xD i love this story too!!! its so much fun to write!!!
ahem, i would like to thanks Culinaromancer and Sorrow of Sueside for visiting Artemis on Fanfiction!! ; __ ; it makes me smile.
It's funny though... cause I started on this story, cause I lost my flash drive (ended up being with my cousin) that had all my other stories in it, and I was desperate for some ToA, but my brother took the game with him to college... so.. Bum.... THEN I STARTED ON THIS! HUSAAAAHH!! CHEAARS FOR KEI!!!! Ahem.
summary: Artemis Niels is a part-time topographer, gel maker, and merchant, with some medical talents just for kicks. Dressing as a male comes naturally. but she never thought she'd be dragged on a quest to save the world. 'Tales of the Abyss is not my property'
Page 3: who i hate the most
"What in the world?!" Artemis exclaimed.
The thing swung its arms out and the party had to spread out to avoid the attack. Tear and Guy pushed Artemis and Ion out of the way.
Agitation flashed across the green haired man's face, but Guy pushed his concerns to the matter at hand. He pulled out his sword and ran in to attack. Tear followed suit but managed to push Artemis and Ion out of the way with Anise's help.
Artemis gaped at the 13 year old girl as her plush became her weapon. What did children play with nowadays?
SHIINGG!!
Guy parried the machine's attack but only changed the course of the arms direction. The metal claw headed straight for the Fon Master and Artemis. He cursed under his breath, there wasn't anyway he could divert the attack, he could only hope that the two could somehow block the oncoming attack. He turned around to finish his counter attack on the machine when he heard its arm crash into the dock.
Artemis. The innocent bystander they had dragged on their journey. Ion. Without him, where would the peace go??
"ION!"
Anise's scream distracted Guy and gave the machine enough time for it to hit Guy. The hit landed him a good distance away from the fight after hitting a pole.
"Guy!" Tear called and started to cast First Aid.
He shook his head with a wince, "Focus!! I'll get up in a second, heal Luke!"
"Thank heavens..." the dust from the debris finally cleared up.
Jade glanced over, perhaps there was much more to this Artemis than what met the eye. He almost tripped on his own feet at the sight, but settled with adjusting his glasses.
Artemis was just barely hanging on to the helm of the ship and the Fon Master was holding on to his neck.
The young man caught Jade looking and gave him a sheepish grin.
"Well, at least we're alive, eh, Ion?"
"Yes," Ion replied quietly, just slightly startled from Artemis' evasion from the attack, "That's good."
Guy breathed out in relief. They were both still okay.
CREAAK!
"Oh Lorellei, that's not a good so- OOOOUNNNNDDD!"s
Guy ripped the Miracle Gel out and popped it into his mouth. The gel had an instant cooling effect in his throat. Like a ice cold drink of water after a long journey in the desert. Most of his wounds disappeared and his mind felt more clear. His speed was back.
Good.
Not good. The metal that Artemis had been holding on to was bending, and at an alarming speed.
Ion opened his mouth to speak, "Artemis, I can swi-"
"No way, I'm not letting you go," he paused to breathe carefully and adjust his hold, "that debris down there can hurt you-" he breathed carefully again, "or kill you."
Ion kept quiet. Artemis was such a good person, why was he so? Was everyone like him? No, Ion had witnessed the different types of people in the world on his own. As soon as
Artemis had spotted the rogue attack coming their way, he had grabbed Ion and jumped out of the way. The force of its impact made the part of the ship they were on give way and the man ended up ordering Ion to swing around to his neck when they almost fell off the ship into the water.
"Thanks heavens," Artemis breathed out as soon as he had grabbed on to another piece of the metal barring.
"Well, at least we're alive, eh, Ion?"
Ion stared at the back of the young man's neck. Why?
"Yes, that's good."
And then the bar cracked. It didn't bend, it cracked. There was no time for Artemis to grab on to another bar. Only his arm that flew out in the air. Ion arm slipped but the man brought his arm back around his neck.
They would fall. Hit the debris that was floating nearby if they didn't get the water, and who would know when they'd get out of the water.
The falling feeling jolted to a stop and Ion almost lost his grip again.
"Are you two okay??"
Ion opened his eyes and looked up.
"Again, it's Guy Cecile to the rescue," Artemis said weakly.
"...I can't pull both of you up," he grimaced.
"Ion, go," he said without hesitation.
"Excuse me?"
"Go," he said, "You'll have to go up first anyway."
"...Alright."
Ion pulled himself up and got back on the ship.
"Alright, now the miracle maker is next," Guy grinned and Artemis simply stared at him.
"What? C'mon, keep it moving," Guy's humor lightened the mood somewhat.
Guy pulled the man up with little difficultly and the three checked themselves over. Artemis' stopped to stare at Guy.
"Nice to see it works well," he commented on the gel that Guy had consumed earlier.
"Yeah," Guy grinned, "I wouldn't have been able to make-"
"Look out!" Ion exclaimed as an attack from the "Kaiser Dist R" came their way.
Guy made move to pull out his sword but the voice beside him made him stop in his tracks.
"I got it, this guy is mine," Artemis jumped over Guy with an agility that didn't seem to fit his somewhat laid-back appearance and evenly landed on the machine's arm. Quickly gaining his balance, he pulled out a thin vial from his satchel. Before the satchel even closed all the way, he ran across the arm and straight up to the main body of the god-general's machine.
Artemis gave a shout to the others that were nearby "Watch out for glass!" and took a final jump over the machine's head. He threw the vial down.
"Acid Bottle!"
"O violent torrent…Splash!" Jade called out as he brought his spear down. The mass of water he summoned fell on the machine just barely missing Luke who was about to strike.
"H-Hey! Watch it!!"
Jade pulled his spear up. It wasn't like he couldn't defeat the thing. He could probably be away with it with no difficulty at all. He smiled, it was all in good humor. Have some fun maybe… Plus, harassing the younger ilk was always amusing.
"Look out Luke," he said, "there's water on the sides of the ship."
"Why you-"
Luke stopped mid-sentence when he heard the clinking sound of something against metal. He turned around and gaped at the person running on a limb of the Kaiser Dist R.
"You!" he pointed at the green-haired man.
What was this? The waste of space -like Ion- was actually that agile? He glanced at Guy who was staring as well. No, no. He shook his thoughts from his mind. No one was as agile as Guy. No one.
"Watch out for glass!" he warned.
"Glass?" Luke was confused as to why the man would warn him about glass, especially during their fight.
"Luke move!" he didn't have much longer to think because Tear tackled him out of range of the machine.
The two rolled out of the way just in the nick of time. His and Tear's hair brushed against his face as the wind from an explosion hit them.
He looked back at where Artemis had been.
"What the hell?!"
A whole section of the previously known Kaiser Dist R had completely disappeared with parts of its limbs lying at its side.
"You're in the way! Repel!" a burst of wind flew by and hit Dist right on target.
Artemis held a blank look on his face.
No one said anything. Who knew the weak looking Artemis was agile and skilled in the fonons.
Jade's eyes narrowed. That explosion was one thing, but the arte… He didn't know anyone who could cast an arte with literally no cast time.
"Artemis!" Ion ran past Guy towards the older man. He had a distant look on his face and was startled at the call of his name. He looked to Ion and confusion shot through his eyes. Ion paused.
"Artemis?"
"Your not Evenos…" he still had a distant look in his eyes.
"Artemis!" Anise and Guy ran over.
"Wow that was amazing!" Anise exclaimed, "You did that arte like that!"
She snapped her fingers to demonstrate the no time it took.
Guy nodded his head, "That was amazing, but what was that from before?? That vial, it caused that explosion right??"
"…"
"HEY YOUUUU!!" Luke stomped over.
"Luke stop it already," Tear sighed.
"What was that?! Running around like that! Do you think you're better than Guy?? Cause no one is-"
Anise, Ion, and Tear looked at Guy who smiled sheepishly. Artemis blankly stared at the young noble.
"and that explosion! You could have killed me!!"
"Ah, Luke," Ion started, "I think that's enough-"
Ion stopped when he saw a sudden movement from the corner of his eye.
"Artemis!" Anise exclaimed as the man fell backwards. Guy grabbed his arm before he fell off the ship.
"Such poor health," Jade shook his head, "I suggest staying with him till he recovers."
Jade was also curious. He had questions. And everyone knew, if Jade Curtiss had questions, they were answered. He turned and stole another glance at the unconscious man.
He needed no incantation. Every arte needed some sort of incantation, otherwise the fonons didn't connect with the fonist's fon slots. It would just be an empty command with no one to listen. But, as soon as the man had thrown his concoction -that nearly killed Jade and the others- he delved straight into a spell. It wasn't a simple Arte like Luke's or Guy's. It was an arte that would have required time to accomplish and concentration for sure.
It made sense if he was someone like the Fon Master, whose health was meek but power strong. The two did share some similarities.
Jade looked back at Artemis, then looked to Ion.
"Right, now, I'm off to check the bridge."
"I'll go with you," Guy said and carefully laid Artemis on wooden flooring.
"Ladies, please protect Luke, Ion, and Artemis."
"Hmm?" Anise leaned in over to the 21 year old man, "Don't tell me you're afraid of us, Guy…"
"N-no! Of course not!" he exclaimed and ran off to avoid any further confrontation.
The four conscious people stared in silence before Luke spoke up.
"… What should we do?"
"Let's check to see if anyone's injured," Tear suggested.
"Yes," Ion nodded his head in agreement, "you're right."
Anise sighed and put her hands up, "It's not easy being a messenger of peace…"
"You got that right.." Luke mumbled. He turned to the unconscious man on the ground.
"Ugh, so what do we do with him???"
"Let's just leave him here."
"Don't say that!"
"Yeah, maybe you should have a little more gratitude-"
"To the weirdo who almost killed me? No thanks."
Artemis wanted curl up into a ball, as if the action would give her peace. Her head was spinning and the argument going on nearby wasn't helping at all. Why couldn't they just take the man and leave, they could leave the man if they wanted to for Lorelei's sake! She just wanted some quiet.
"I think he's awake."
"Artemis?"
Artemis' heart sank. They were talking about her. Why, oh why Lorelei? All she wanted was sleep.
"Ah, it's no good," the discouraged voice said, "I think he's still asleep."
"Well, it's not like we can very well leave him on the ship.. It needs to leave soon…"
"Someone could carry him?"
"Do you plan on doing that, Luke?"
"What? Why me?"
"You are the one who suggested it."
"Why you…"
"I suppose it's impossible for you then, seeing as you've probably never had to do a thing."
"What? I can lift him!! I mean look at him! He's just like an Ion but taller!"
"…Thanks Luke..?"
"Ion that wasn't a complement.."
There was a shuffling of feet and then a long pause.
"…How am I supposed to pick him up?"
"Oh man, Luke," another shuffling of feet, "I'll carry him."
Oh no, no one was picking her up. She almost shuddered, it always felt weird not being able to control your own gravity.
Guy bent down to pick the man up, but stopped when his light green eyes opened. The two stared at each other.
Guy's face flushed in embarrassment of his position. He was leaning right above Artemis and in turn the green-haired man was staring right at him.
"Uh…" he was at a loss to explain the situation.
The lying man shook his head and stumbled to his feet. He almost fell over, but the Colonel grabbed his hand before fell. He mumbled a thanks and pulled his hand back. Artemis turned to look at the immobile group.
"Are we going or not?"
"It is an honor. I am Goldberg, commander of the 1st Division, Kimlasca-Lanvaldear Royal Forces. Congratulations on your safe return."
"Yeah," Luke replied offhandedly.
Artemis glanced at the red head. Just what kind of person was Luke? An aristocrat perhaps…
"A carrier pigeon arrived with a message from Count Almandine."
Count Almandine? Artemis looked over to Guy with a questioning expression.
"We met him just before we bumped into each other in Chesodonia," he explained in a whisper. Artemis nodded slowly.
"He said you were traveling with an emissary of peace from the Malkuth Empire."
An emissary of peace? That must have been Ion.
"I'm Ion, Fon Master of the Order of Lorelei. I bear a letter from His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Peony the Ninth of the Malkuth Empire. May I ask an audience with His Majesty, King Ingobert the Sixth."
Artemis blinked. She had realized that the boy was familiar with formalities, but he was so mature when he spoke. He spoke with a firm and yet humble voice, one that would not waver and was not overbearing.
…Wait. Artemis' heart slowed. The king?? They were going to go see the king??? No, just Ion and Anise because she was his guardian.
"Brigadier General Cecille, at your service."
Artemis stirred from her thoughts to hear the man speak. He turned to Guy and frowned slightly.
"Is something wrong?"
Guy's eyes widened, "N-no, excuse me, I'm Guy. A servant of Luke's."
That explained why he handled Luke so well, and that Luke was definitely part of the aristocracy.
"Locrian Sergeant Tear Grants." Tear spoke up from beside her and she nearly jumped, "1st Platoon, Oracle Knights Intelligence Division."
Tear was part of the Oracle Knights-
"Ionian Sergeant Anise Tatlin. Oracle Knights Fon Master Guard."
along with Anise... that could lead to problems in the future.
"Colonel Jade Curtiss, commander of the Third Division, Malkuth Imperial Forces. I represent His Imperial Majesty."
The emperor? Jade represented the emperor??
"You're THE Jade Curtis…?!"
Ah.. She felt left out. Apparently, everyone had some amazing background, well except for maybe Guy… But what did she have? Her name.
"You taught me a painful lesson in our battle in northern Chesedonia, General Cecille."
Jade was taught something? So General Cecille defeated Jade…
"You must be joking. My forces were virtually wiped out…"
-with some difficulty.
"You're well known as the Emperor's personal confidant, Colonel. If you're here, Malkuth must indeed be serious," Goldberg said.
"Tensions along the border are greater now than at the start of the Hod War. We have no choice but to be serious," Jade answered.
"Correct. And who might you be?"
Artemis blinked, she hadn't realized that she hadn't introduced herself.
"Uh…I'm Artemis Niels. Just a civilian who was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time?"
"Ah, so you're Artemis Niels, everyone has been wondering who you were," Cecille said, "I have several of your maps and illustrations."
Goldberg nodded his head, "You're right Cecille."
He turned to Artemis, "Everyone's been wondering who made the 'Binding Series' and all that stuff."
"Oh…" Artemis didn't quite know how to reply. Her 'Binding Series'? She gave that project up years back and had thrown it all away. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to keep them wondering."
"Of course," Artemis reached around her neck to pull her hood up and frowned when she realized it had been missing for some hours.
Curses.
She'd have to get a new cloak, seeing as walking without it made her feel bare and exposed. She glanced at her bag, she'd need to get a new satchel…and change her emblem. It wasn't any good if everyone could recognize her handiwork simply by knowing her name. Better yet she might as well have changed her name.
Her eyes lowered. There were some things she didn't want anyone to recognize as her own.
"Well, then, Luke, my Baticul defense unit will escort you back to your home."
A whole defense unit to escort him home?! Where did he live, Belkend??
"Hold on! Ion asked me to speak to Uncle on his behalf. I'm taking him to the castle!"
"Thank you, Luke. I appreciate the support," Ion said kindly.
"I'm impressed, Luke," she folded her arms, "You truly understand your responsibility."
"Oh...uh...yeah…"
"Understood. In that case, I shall send General Cecille to inform His Grace, Duke Fabre. If you would, General Cecille."
Fabre.. Ah, so Luke was the son of a Duke… Eh, nobility..
"Yes, sir."
Artemis stared at the aircar with some unease. She looked at the rest of the group that was farther ahead and turned to Jade who was also in the back of the group.
"Hey, Jade," Jade stopped walking to look at Artemis, "I… um.."
"Not so found of the air, is that it Artemis?"
The man's smirk was somewhat irritating.
Well there always had to be someone who had to enjoy man's discomfort.
"Ah…I know a way to get up without the aircar, so I'm… just… going to go… that way…"
"Is that so?" Jade paused before turning to the rest of the group.
"Luke, Artemis and I will be walking up," he called out.
Luke stared and then scoffed, "Whatever, I'm not going to wait on you guys."
"So much for understanding responsibility."
"H-Hey!"
"It doesn't seem like Luke will wait on us, we should hurry."
Jade turned to Artemis and smiled.
"Shall we?"
Artemis gaped at the man.
Jade smiled to himself. What perfect timing. He learned some information on their new companion and had the chance to question him more. Plus, he also happened to hold one of his maps and guides. He kept them with Peony, since he had memorized the work for the most part. There were some things he kept on himself and wanted to know who crafted them. He knew the craftsmen of everything he owned for the most part, but some things were amiss and since Artemis seemed in the trade of crafts, perhaps he knew who.
A sigh from the said man pulled Jade from his thoughts.
"Tired Artemis?"
The man turned to Jade and Jade had to admit he was rather amused with the man's expression.
His eyelids had gotten much lower and his lips formed a slack frown.
It seemed the man was tired.
Jade's smile faded.
He looked so tired that he appeared sick.
His shoulders were slack and his skin seemed slightly paler. Jade remembered that the man had been walking with a slight drag as well. His lips were dry and his eyes were unfocused.
"I look that bad huh?"
Jade's eyes refocused.
"Excuse me?" he questioned, not sure if he had missed something Artemis had said.
"Don't worry about Jade," the man rubbed his eyes, "Like you said, my health isn't that great and well to be honest it's not like it's getting any better."
"You are ill?"
Artemis shook his head and looked up into the sky with a hand over his eyes.
"It's a long story that I'd rather not go into…"
He sighed and turned to Jade, "Traveling, drawing, crafting, it's all what I do… well, till my time is up to put it short."
Till my time is up.
Jade stopped his glasses from falling.
"You should get a new pair of-
"You're simply going to give up?"
"I'm sorry?" he asked, not quite sure where Jade was leading.
"You will just do this nonsense and give up?"
"Nonsense?"
Inside, he really hated people that gave up. If someone had an goal, they should follow through till the end. He hated people that gave up when they were given a set time they couldn't grasp. If anything, you should try harder, find ways around the obstacle. Persevere through the suppressing force and continue on.
He really hated people that gave up.
They were pathetic.
He met Artemis' eyes with an even look.
Why are you giving up?
O____o suspense?! .. i think?
well BE HAPPY I'M UPDATING DURING MY EXAM WEEK! BWAH.
its perty long too... -dies-
im tired. someone buy me cake. D: