Chapter 9: Origins

"What do you mean we're not alone?" Luke asked, keeping his voice down.

"Exactly what I said," Asch curtly replied. "Someone's been here."

"And recently too," Jade added also noticing the lack of dust and debris in the entrance and down the center of the corridors.

"The place was boarded up and shut down tight when we left it. Everything is open now, some one has been here," Asch provided.

"How do you know that it wasn't just the monsters? I mean, I see lots of them kicking around here." Anise pointed out, still keeping a wary eye out for said monsters in case they decided now would be a wonderfully ironic time to attack. No, apparently only Jade had such a bad sense of humour, even the monsters weren't quite so cynical.

"The monsters kicked down the door?" Guy asked. "I highly doubt it. No one should have been here since the White Knights locked it down tight 7 years ago. They did a pretty good job of it, it may have been awhile since then but I doubt this was just nature's doing."

"Besides, look over there," Asch pointed to a dusty area away from the beaten path, so to speak. A thin layer of dust still covered the floor in spite of the myriad tracks that had been left by the various wandering monsters. "Someone would have to be coming and going pretty frequently to have swept all the dirt and dust from the floors."

"You don't think…" Tear began.

"The God-Generals?" Jade finished. "I wouldn't dismiss the possibility. Run down as it is, the castle would still function rather nicely as a base, and is certainly the most practical and well suited facility in the area if one wanted to go unnoticed."

"So does that mean this is where they're keeping Ion?" Luke asked.

"That too is a possibility. I suggest we investigate a little further before we settle in for the night. If that's alright with you, Asch?"

"Do whatever the hell you want, old man."

"You just can't resist, can you?" Jade said with an especially sly grin.

"Why would I want to?" Asch shot back, though he was far from amused. His snarl dampened the amused grin on the Colonel's face. Asch instantly regretted it, he knew that look on Jade's face, and the Colonel was already in the process of trying to deduce why this place was making him uncomfortable.

The last thing Asch wanted was Jade thinking. As much as he'd like to discredit the man, he had to respect Jade's intellect. From the short time he'd spent with him, Asch had noted his talent for piecing together the most obscure pieces of information to come up with the truth, and this abandoned manor was filled with more truths than he wanted anyone knowing.

"Wow this place is huge!" Anise's voice echoed as they started down the stairs into the basement.

"Keep your voice down, someone will hear you!" Asch snapped.

"Jeez, sorry." Anise stuck her tongue out at Asch as soon as his back was turned. Man, what was his problem all of a sudden? It seemed the more they explored, the crankier he got. He'd been even more on edge since they decided to check out the basement. What was his deal anyways? Luke didn't seem so bothered about being here.

"Remember anything Luke?" Tear inquired as Luke poked and prodded the statues that lined the hall. He'd learn his lesson when a monster popped out of one. It wouldn't be the first time in this crazy mansion.

"Hmm, not especially, why do you ask?" Luke returned with a smile.

"Yeah well, it just seems strange that Asch remembers this place enough to find it, but you don't even remember being here," Tear replied.

"I've been somewhat curious about that myself," Jade interrupted.

Luke simply shrugged. "I'm sure I probably came here a few times, but I just don't really remember much about when I was really young, you know? Asch must have been here more than I was."

"I suppose that makes sense that only one of you would have come," Tear commented. She really couldn't fault Luke, she couldn't say she remembered much from when she was really young either.

"Oh? What makes you say that?" Luke inquired curiously.

"This place isn't all that far from enemy borders. Especially during a time of war, I highly doubt Duke Fabre would want to risk both his heirs should the worse case scenario come to pass." Jade provided.

"Well now that you're done analyzing our past, you want to get a move on? I'd like to get this over with and get some rest sometime tonight." Asch cut in.

"Yeah, from the sounds of things, you need it," Guy mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" Asch demanded.

"I'm talking about how rude you're being," the blond snapped back. "You don't have to jump down someone's throat for having a conversation. Some of us don't mind being sociable."

"I'll show you a thing or two about-"

"Stop it!" Luke yelled in a tone that turned everyone's heads. Tear had never heard Luke raise his voice like that. Sure he'd been angry and yelled before, but it was always a whiney, annoyed kind of anger. This time he was very serious.

What in the Score had Asch so upset? Luke stared down his best friend and his older sibling, neither who dared issue a peep. Luke could tell Asch had been uncomfortable from the moment they'd started heading towards this place, but this went beyond just being uncomfortable or even irritated. Asch was only ever like this for one reason: to hide the fact he was afraid of something. What that something was, Luke had no idea, but it was as obvious to him as Asch's anger was to everyone else, and Luke wanted to get to the bottom of it. Asch was his brother after all, moody though he may be, if there was a chance he could help, he wanted to be there.

"Now if the God-Generals aren't on our tail after that, we'll know for sure they're not here." Anise said breaking the awkward silence.

"Indeed," Jade agreed, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Shall we continue? And in a more obscure manner this time?" He suggested, his gaze fixed on Asch. Something was going on with him. He could understand it if the boy was on edge, but this went beyond concern over the God-Generals, and Jade would find out what it was before these irrational breakouts cost them all their lives.

Despite being underground, the basement wasn't spared the ruin that had befallen the rest of the mansion. Moss grew on many of the statues and walls giving the entire place an eerie feel. The fading light of day still seeped in through cracks where the upper walls had been worn away by the elements, but not nearly enough to dismiss the need for the makeshift torches they were using.

The group had proceeded in silence since their last major outburst, listening for the tell-tale sign of a God-General or even just the monsters they had attracted. The silence didn't really change much, Asch was still on edge, Guy was still in a bad mood, Luke was still curious about everything, and Anise, well Anise was her usual chipper self. For all their sakes, Jade hoped that the light at the end of the hallway opened onto the ocean so they could end their search and get some rest. Hope was always a rather fruitless notion. It hadn't served him in the past, why would it be any different now?

There weren't a lot of things that could make Jade Curtiss stop short, but what they came across at the end of the hall was one of them.

Special fonstones had been placed around the room to keep it lit. Unlike its surroundings, it was in surprisingly good condition, and had obviously been maintained. Though such trivial details weren't needed to tell that someone had been in this room since the castle was abandoned, the large fon machine in the center of the room would have done just as well.

"Wow! Look Master!" Mieu bounced over onto the top level of the fon machine with Anise and Luke not far behind him. It was huge! Bigger than any fon machine Luke had ever seen. It was two stories tall with two identical platforms on each story. There was a set of stairs on the other side of the room that led down to the lower platform and to even more fon machines.

Luke looked back at Guy, expecting him to be ecstatic about this new discovery, but to Luke's surprise, he wasn't. In fact, he was very serious and had a very dark look on his face. He couldn't still be mad about being yelled at before, could he?

Why? Asch stood glued to the spot. Why of all the places did they have to come here? This place so seeped in nightmares that he could still hear the screams of pain as they echoed off the walls. Pain his own body seemed to echo, even now. Stupid! It all happened a long time ago. So then why? What was he so afraid of?

Jade, Tear and Guy also moved to join the three already on the fon machine. Asch didn't know how he could move, it was already taking every drop of willpower he had to keep from giving into the emotions that his memories invoked. Somehow he put one foot in front of the other and followed suit, because if he didn't, there would be questions. Questions he already knew he couldn't answer, and he'd be damned if that was how everything was going to come out.

"Hmmm," Jade stared up at the machine. As to what it was, he had no doubt. As to how it got here, now that was an interesting question. One he would have loved to ask, but if his growing suspicions were indeed correct, and he was almost positive that they were, if only by the reaction of the eldest 'twin', then that would be a rather cruel thing to do. Even for him.

"What is it Colonel?" Anise looked up at him curiously. "Do you know what this thing is?"

"I have an idea of what it might be, but I'd rather not divulge until I am certain. How about either of you?" He passed the question over towards Guy and Asch.

"I have my suspicions, but I'm not any more certain than you are." Guy replied, his gaze never leaving the machine. Asch only nodded in agreement, he too staring at the machine as if he was in a dream he was hoping to wake up from soon. Or from emotions swirling below his frozen exterior, a nightmare.

"Really?" Luke asked. "What do you think it is?"

"No, it's nothing." Guy dismissed the subject. "I'm not sure what it is, but either way, it's nothing you have to worry about Luke."

"I just want to know what it is." Luke muttered, the excitement he had gained from this newest discovery vanishing in an instant. "Asch? Do you know what it is?"

"No." Asch answered softly his gaze still never leaving the machine.

"You do so know what it is!" Luke argued. Why did everyone treat him like he was stupid? "Come one why won't you tell me?" Luke was getting angrier, "Is it because you think I'm too stupid? That I won't understand even if you do tell me? You never tell me anything! No one ever stops to explain things, and then you all yell at me for never knowing anything! Well, then? Why won't you tell me so I can know?"

This drew Asch's attention, but the gaze he had fixed on Luke was cold. Luke had never seen him like that before. Oh he'd been angry with Luke, and anger, Luke could handle. This- this was something completely different.

"That's enough I think." Jade stepped between the two redheads. "I suggest we retire for the night. The God-Generals obviously aren't around, or they'd have shown up a long time ago, and it looks like more than one of us could use some rest."

"I agree," Tear said as she began back the way they had come, "It's been a long day for all of us, how about we set aside everything until we've had a good night's sleep?"

"I think that's a wonderful idea," Guy replied, quickly following suit. "Come on you two, let's get some rest. Whatever your problem is, you can settle it in the morning."

Luke took one last look back at the machine before mumbling to himself, "I don't think so."

"What do you think you're doing?" Asch watched Luke jump at the sound of his voice as it echoed in the otherwise empty chamber. Luke looked up at him from the lower platform, realizing he'd been caught. Everyone had settled in and been asleep for a couple hours when Asch noticed Luke get up and sneak out. His brother was so very predictable.

"Since no one is going to tell me, I'm going to figure this thing out for myself!" Luke declared as he continued to poke around the fon machine's lower level. Asch let out a huge sigh before joining Luke on the lower level.

"I don't know what you're hoping to accomplish, but whatever it is, it isn't going to happen, so just get yourself back to bed."

"No," Luke stubbornly declared.

"I wasn't asking," Asch replied curtly, grabbing Luke by the arm. He was ready to use force if need be, whatever it took to get them both out of this Score-forsaken place.

"What the hell is your problem?" Luke yelled yanking his arm out of Asch's grasp. "You've been scared out of your wits since we got here! And don't look at me like that," Luke continued as Asch glared at him. "You might be able to fool everyone else into thinking you're just being an asshole, but I know damn well that you're just scared of something. But that doesn't mean you can just take it out on everyone around you! You don't want to be down here, fine! Just go! I'm not leaving until I figure out what this thing is!"

That- that idiot- how dare he! "You want to know what the hell this thing is?" Asch yelled, no longer able to hold back. How dare he presume to know everything! "This thing is what they use to make replicas!"

The two brothers stood in silence for a long time. Neither moved, neither dared breathe. Asch regretted the words the second they'd escaped his lips. Guilt curdled in his stomach leaving a sour taste to flood his mouth. He had just been so mad, and so damn anxious to get out of here, that he hadn't been thinking. It really wasn't fair to Luke.

Luke slowly walked over to the machine, and gently placed a hand on it, turning back to look at Asch.

"So…this is where I was born?"

Asch answered with a soft nod.

"Luke, I'm-"

"No, it's okay" Luke gently shook his head. "I'm the one who's sorry. I was being selfish... I knew you were upset about something, and I didn't stop to think."

"No, you couldn't have known." Asch shook his head. "And you were right earlier; we haven't really been explaining much to you. Everything has been happening so fast, I don't think to slow down every once in awhile." He replied as he too came over to the platform. Instead of stopping on it like Luke had, he hopped down in the space behind it. Curious, Luke followed him.

Luke's heart creeped up into his throat when he saw what it was Asch was investigating. Cut out from the rock wall behind the fon machine was a small cell. Metal bars were raggedly jammed into the stone and the miniature crypt was hardly big enough to hold a child. Water dripped from the ceiling and covered the jagged floor, so there wouldn't be anywhere dry or even safe for the captive to rest. No wonder Asch hated this place. Now Luke understood why Asch had been so upset, he began to fathom what sort of memories still clung to him. And without even thinking he….

"I-Is that...'" Luke could barely form the words.

"That's where I was kept," Asch said quietly.

"I'm sorry-"

"Don't be," Asch said with a bit of a chuckle, "It's hardly your fault. I remember waking up in that cell. It was summer, so I wasn't dressed very warmly. I froze in there." He looked up at Luke with a sad smile. Somehow Luke had a feeling that the cold had been the least of his worries. "All I wanted was to go home," Asch continued. "But they kept me in there doing experiment after experiment. It hurt. I didn't understand any of it. I just…I just wanted to go home."

They both solemnly returned to the main chamber. After a moment, Asch took a deep breath. "So, you've been down here a good fifteen minutes, what did you get figured out?"

"Well," Luke began trying to shake off the intensity of the moment they had just shared. "Those little fon machines over there control this big one."

"Yeah, and?"

"And? That's all I figured out." Asch couldn't hep but laugh outright. It was a good thing he decided to come down after all; Luke would have been here for the rest of the year at the rate he was solving the mysteries of this room.

"Hey…" the indignant Luke protested. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Asch managed between chuckles.

"Oh. I did find this though." Luke held up a fon disk. "It was in one of those fon machines."

"Lets see." Luke handed Asch the fon disk. "Hmm," Asch looked at it for a moment before looking back at Luke with a devilish grin. "Want to see what's on it?"

"Sure!" Luke followed Asch over to one of the many fon machines where Asch stuck the disk in. All kinds of information appeared on the screen. Asch skimmed through it, while Luke just watched in awe. One more talent he could throw on the list of things he didn't know Asch could do. "So what does it say?"

"It's a log." Asch replied still skimming.

"A log?"

"Yeah, like a journal of sorts. It's the records that they kept while they were conducting experiments."

"What kind of experiments?" Luke got a pointed look from Asch. "Wait…me?"

"Yeah," Asch returned to reading the logs. "It's the records of what they did here 7 years ago. I'm amazed the White Knights never confiscated this. Though come to think of it, they should have destroyed the entire facility."

"Maybe they didn't make it down this far?"

"They should have searched the entire place," Asch pondered. "I wonder if access to it was sealed somehow."

"But if it's open now doesn't that mean..."

"Someone is using it again," Asch concluded.

"Well anything on the disc that can tell us?" Luke asked.

"Nothing more recent than 7 years ago. It's odd though, the project is still labelled as incomplete."

"No kidding… I mean, I'm here aren't I?"

"Just let me finish reading this first… Based on what it says, they never got the chance to complete the last procedure because the military had found them and they had to take off."

"Well what didn't they finish?"

"Hmmm, something about synching our fon slots since we're perfect isofons." Luke was silent. "You can ask." Asch said simply after a moment's silence.

"Sorry," Luke said with a small chuckle, "but what is a perfect isofon?"

"It's okay, thats not something anyone would know. I did a lot of reading on all this stuff back when I finally returned home. Basically, everything has its own unique fonon frequency. Even replicas have one that's different from their original. In our case, you're a perfect replica, even our fonon frequency is identical. Even I'm not sure what it means to sync our fon slots though."

"Fon slots, that's what you, Jade and Tear use to gather fonons for fonic artes right?"

"Yeah that's right."

"I kinda wonder, do you think its maybe because our fon slots aren't synced or whatever that we get those headaches?"

"Hmmm, that's an interesting idea. It's very possible. There's really only one way to find out though."

"Are you sure that's okay?" Luke said somewhat hesitantly. "I mean, are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"It's all here, and it's not overly complicated, the fon machines themselves do most of the work."

"Why don't we go ask Jade?"

"No." Asch almost cut Luke off. "I can do this. Besides, do you want to be the one to explain all this to him-"

"No!" Luke shrunk back, not realizing how loud he had yelled. He hadn't thought of that particular implication.

Asch came over to Luke's side, took his hand and looked him straight in the eye. "Relax. Just trust me, okay?"

Luke smiled, "I trust you." Asch returned the smile and showed Luke where to go.

The machine emitted a soft light that bathed the room in an eerie green. Asch could only watch on and hope that his siblings unwavering trust had not been misplaced.

Everything was dark. What had happened to the light? What had happened to everything for that matter? Luke's heart started racing. He was alone in the emptiness, lost in the darkness. The panic began to set in. No. Luke forced himself to calm down. Asch said to relax. That everything would be okay, and he trusted him. Now stop and think.

It was dark. His eyes were closed. He had closed his eyes, or had they simply shut on their own? He couldn't remember... It didn't really matter. He just had to calm down, just had to relax. By the time he had settle down, he could see everything. Well, that wasn't entirely true, everything was still dark, but he could feel everything. Asch was still there, he had come closer.

Asch was worried; scared he'd done something wrong. That Luke would be hurt somehow. Now how did Luke know that? But he was fine. It was nice here, warm and safe, even with that small inkling of worry in the back of his mind. It was the same darkness as before, but it was no longer frightening.

He wasn't there alone anymore.

The light died down and the dull rumble of the fon machine faded. Luke sat up groggily as if he had just woken from slumber. He slowly stood up and made his way over to Asch who was also half asleep on his feet. They looked at each other for a moment and both started to laugh.

"I think it's about time we get some sleep," Asch finally managed. Neither of them knew why they were laughing. Maybe because they were both tired, or maybe because they had just attempted the most reckless thing either of them had ever attempted to pull; but whatever the reason, any remaining traces of resentment or anger melted away in that brief moment of shared mirth.

"I think that's a good idea," Luke agreed, rubbing his eyes and suppressing a yawn. He hadn't realized just how tired he was, on top of the fact that that whole fon slot thing still had him kind of out of it. Asch too from the looks of things. Wait... why was Asch affected too? He hadn't been on the machine... Luke barely had the brain power to consider it. With a yawn, Luke pushed the thought to the back of his mind. He'd ask Asch in the morning.

"Then let's go." Asch and Luke slowly made their way out of the basement and back up to the room where the group had decided to crash for the night. As they left Asch couldn't help but wonder how Luke did it. As the last traces of his anger had faded away, so had all his fear; and he knew that he could start to deal with all those terrible memories.

Because now he remembered exactly why it had all been worth it.

"I told you I heard something!" The high pitched voice echoed across the empty chamber.

"Shut up Dist, you'd had better be right to have me up at this hour," a second voice snapped back. "We have to be gone before first light tomorrow if we're going to catch them."

"You say that like it's my fault we haven't captured them yet. I wasn't aboard the Tartarus when they escaped, you know."

"Neither was I, but you'd do well to remember that this is our assignment. Now where is this 'noise' you heard?"

"Shut up Sync! I know when there are rats crawling around my lab." The two God-Generals came upon room with the large fon machine that Dist had designated as 'his lab'.

"There you see. Nothing! Now let's get some rest or else-"

"Not so fast." Dist cut him off, scurrying over towards the controls. "Now what do we have here?"

"What is it?" Sync inquired and Dist held up the fon disk. "So you found your fon disk, big deal, its been there for ages. That doesn't prove that anyone's been here."

"Oh but it does." Dist replied with nothing short of an evil grin dawning his face.

"And how do you know that?"

"Because, my intellectually challenged friend, it's been recording data."