Chapter 28

Daath was just as amazing as Luke remembered it, though there were fewer people around since it was already getting close to supper time and most of the shops had closed up for the day. Not that it made a difference, now wasn't the time to be seeing the sights. Luke still couldn't contact Asch, which meant that he was either unconscious or… no he wouldn't even consider the alternative. Asch couldn't be dead. He may not have gotten a reply, but he could still sense his sibling's presence at the back of his mind. That had to mean something. Asch was alive, but beyond that, Luke couldn't tell.

"Jade?" Guy spoke up, breaking the silence that had brooded over them since they had departed from Aramis Springs.

"What is it Guy?"

"This has been bothering me for awhile now. What exactly happened here?"

"What do you mean by that?" Jade inquired.

"Well when you first met up with us, you said something about Asch being the one that sent you. Then you turn around and say that Asch was captured. And what about you? Weren't you with everyone? Why weren't you captured?"

"A valid point." Jade replied, a sly grin on his face. Really, if they weren't so amusing when they tried to play detective, it would be rather annoying.

"As amused as you seem to with all this," Luke interrupted, "If we're planning to rescue them, I'd like to know what we're heading into."

"Oh? That's quite the initiative you're taking there." Jade taunted, but Luke remained serious. No fun at all.

"Jade, why won't you tell us?" Guy's tone was equally serious.

"I'm afraid there isn't much to tell." Jade shrugged. "We were supposed to meet up with Ion and Anise first thing in the morning but we were ambushed in the Cathedral. Asch knew he was a target so he covered my escape telling me to go to Aramis Springs to get help."

"I wonder…do you think he knew you'd come after him?" Guy asked his best friend.

"Maybe." Luke lied. Asch had sent Jade to get him knowing full well Luke was already on his way. "What happened to Ion and Anise then?"

"Ion was captured but Anise also managed to escape. She's tracking down where they're being held as we speak." Jade provided. "Although, if you don't mind my asking, what happened to Tear?"

Luke was silent for a moment. "She stayed in Yulia City."

"Pity." Jade stated, "Her talents would have proven useful. Oh well, it can't be helped. That does of course mean that we'll have to be extra careful without a healer handy. No rash actions." He finished, his last comment directed at the red head.

Luke clenched his fists. He almost wished they'd come out and yell at him. It would be so much easier than the subtle signs of distrust and constant reminders of how badly he'd screwed up. He knew he'd earned it, and while he had known no one would trust him, he hadn't expected it to hurt so much.

"There you are!" The three heard a familiar voice in the distance.

"Asch? How'd you get out so-" The Fon Master Guardian exclaimed, cut short when Luke turned around to face her. "Oh, it's you." She stated disappointedly. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm afraid these are all the reinforcements Asch sent us to fetch." Jade provided.

"Seriously? How'd he manage that?" She eyed the two boys, they were obviously the last two people in Auldrant she had expected to come to Asch's rescue. "I've got to wonder what the hell he's thinking telling us to get Luke though. So what's this? Round two?"

Luke ignored Anise's comment, looking off to the side. He distracted himself by trying to contact Asch as Anise continued her brutal taunting that she so cleverly interlaced within her report to Jade. Luke thought he had sensed Asch stir, but he still hadn't been able to get a reply. Damn it, just what had they done to him?

"Things aren't looking so good." Anise stated solemnly, deciding she'd had enough harassing Luke for the time being. He wasn't even paying attention anyways. "With Akzeriuth gone and Asch and Natalia missing, Kimlasca is blaming Malkuth for their deaths, saying they did it on purpose. Likewise sounds like Malkuth thinks Kimlasca was behind the destruction of Akzeriuth, and tensions are getting pretty high. If things go on much longer, we're going to have a major war on our hands."

"First things first, we need to rescue Asch, Natalia and Ion." Luke stated. "Even if we tried, we'd get nowhere in negotiations without them."

"Luke's right. Let's decide what to do after we get them out of Daath." Guy agreed.

"I'm afraid that there's no way we'll succeed in averting a war without their assistance," Jade confirmed.

Anise sighed, "I guess I don't have much of a choice." She eyed Luke venomously, "just don't try anything."

"I won't," Luke replied as he brushed past her heading for the Cathedral.

No one was going to die because of his mistakes ever again.

---------

They had made their way deep into the underground levels of Daath, and Luke was grateful they had Anise leading the way. The vast expanse below the Cathedral was as confusing as its upper levels had been, and Luke would have spent years searching the place had he been alone.

Anise's initial disgust had died down a bit, and she had actually spoken to him a few times in a somewhat civil manner, but it was clear she still didn't trust him. It was to be expected though, and Luke put up with it. Whether they trusted him or not, whether they'd acknowledge him or not, he still needed their help. Though he knew that neither Anise nor Jade was doing this for his benefit, he was still grateful.

They had managed to avoid the majority of the Oracle Knights they had come across, which would have been a much more impressive feat had there been more of them; but there weren't. In fact, the hallways were suspiciously empty. Anise explained that they were passing through the sleeping quarters for the majority of the soldiers, most of which were probably at supper. They would have to take an alternate path to get out though, since by the time they found and released the captives, the hallways would be swarming with them.

Anise hushed them as they approached an especially broad hallway buried deep below the main levels of the Chapel. The hallway itself looked just like any of the others, and if it hadn't been for the four Oracle Knights guarding two of the doors, there wouldn't have been any indicator that anything was suspicious at all. Really, they needed to learn to be more inconspicuous. Jade pushed his glasses up his nose; they may as well have labelled the room in which they had placed the captives. But obvious or not, they would still have to fight.

"Alright, Anise, Guy, you take the two on the right, Luke and I will handle the two on the left." Jade instructed.

"What about the other two?" Luke asked.

Jade looked at him curiously and stole another glance down the hall. He was right. At the very far end there were two more guards that Jade had dismissed. They were far enough away not to be a threat, but on second thought, they would inevitably get involved once they heard the commotion.

"Looks like a free for all." Guy commented as he drew his sword.

"Sounds good to me," Luke drew his as well. It felt odd to hold his own sword; then again, this would be an interesting chance to see just what he had managed to pick up from fighting with Asch.

Just as Jade had predicted, as soon as the battle started, the remaining two guards joined in the chaos and made it six against four. Luckily for them, their group had a clear advantage in skill and the battle wasn't especially difficult. In fact, Jade found himself observing the proceedings far more than he should be.

One guard fell, then another, there were now four left. It was intriguing. Something was different about Luke all of a sudden, but Jade just couldn't put his finger on it. They had travelled a long ways together, and over that time, Jade had picked up on each person's unique fighting style. It was crucial on the battlefield to be able to predict how your allies would react, and then act accordingly. It could mean the difference between life and death after all, so Jade had made it a point to remember. Their usual patterns, their favourite skill sets, how they moved, they way they reacted, Jade had memorized it all. But Luke was suddenly different. It was almost as if he was moving more like Asch.

Jade sidestepped a knight's sword, he had been lost in thought too long it seemed. He retaliated with his spear, piercing through a weak spot in the armour. Now there were only three left. Jade glanced at the battlefield. He had lost sight of Luke, no matter, now wasn't the time. Jade unleashed his fonic arte, the wind forcing the guards back, but not doing nearly as much damage as he would have liked. Their thick metal armour protected them from the wind's sharp blades. Metal armour? That gave Jade an idea.

Perhaps third fonons weren't very effective, but he'd wager that metal would conduct fifth fonons rather nicely. Jade prepared to cast the arte, but there was something peculiar. For whatever reason, there was an absence of fifth fonons in the air. Where had they gone? Jade reached out, and then noticed them gathering. They were behind him.

"Bring all to ash and ruin."

Jade spun around fast enough to catch sight of the red head as he finished the arte. The fifth fonons crashed down, crippling the remaining guards.

Luke's long red hair settled down around him as he slowly let out a breath allowing the remaining fonons to dissipate. Impossible; Jade watched the young noble suspiciously as he re-sheathed his blade. Had Jade not known better, he would have thought the two of them had pulled that switching trick of theirs. He simply couldn't grasp how it was possible. That was no beginner's arte. Even if training had been the reason those two had been continuously sneaking off at night, there was no way Luke could have progressed that much in the short time since he'd known the boy, even under Asch's tutelage. Jade took a brief moment to settle his thoughts; those two were becoming more interesting by the moment.

The question then remained, how long had Luke possessed such knowledge of fonic artes, or rather, how long had he possessed such control over fonons? Perhaps Luke wasn't as untrained as he had been led to believe. However, if that was the case, what did it mean for Akzeriuth? The chances that Luke had accidentally caused a hyperresonance with another seventh fonist went down exponentially if Luke had the capacity to control fonons to the extent he had just witnessed. Had it been on purpose then? Had Luke known that the destruction would take place, even if it had been in the hope of some perceived benefit? It was certainly something Luke would be inclined to do, to jump into matters, not giving any thought as to the consequences. But something still didn't sit right, and it bothered him; it bothered him a lot. Nothing hadever evaded his perception this well for this long, especially not something so crucial to the matters at hand. Asch knew something, of that much he was certain, but whatever it was, he was keeping it to himself.

Luke couldn't resist a small grin of satisfaction at his success. It hadn't been as hard as he expected it to be, though it had easily taken him double or triple the time Asch could have pulled it off in. After the fight with the bandits, Luke had taken advantage of the remaining trip to Daath by getting Asch to give him a crash course in fonic artes and Asch had happily gone into it in great detail for him. In the end, it had been from feeling how Asch tied the fonons together that helped it all click; after all, it felt the same as if he'd been the one to do it himself. He had really only managed to pick up on a couple of the ones Asch knew from their subsequent battles with monsters along the way, and of those, he could only remember the one with the shortest incantation; but Luke was still proud of himself.

"Nice Luke," Guy commented as he put his sword away, "since when do you know fonic artes?"

"A little while now I guess." Luke replied.

"You got Asch to teach you, didn't you?"

"Yeah." Luke replied.

"Well good for you. Now let's go meet up with the others, shall we?" Guy said indicating Anise and Jade who were already making their way towards the doors the Oracle Knights had been guarding.

Finally, now he could see Asch again. It was so strange, even though it didn't feel like they'd been apart that long, the last time Luke had actually seen Asch, was when they had fought in Yulia City, and that seemed like a lifetime ago. But as Guy and the others continued, Luke spotted something out of the corner of his eye.

Luke bent down to check it out and noticed a set of keys attached to the guard's belt loop. Luke removed them; they must be to open the doors.

"Hey, the doors are open." Luke heard Anise comment as she entered one of the rooms. Weird; Luke held the key ring suspiciously. Oh well, he pocketed them anyways, who knew when they might come in handy. If nothing else, it would frustrate someone to no end when they couldn't find their keys.

Luke joined Guy in the room across from the one Anise and Jade had entered. It seemed like your typical room, bookshelves lined one of the walls and several tables were set out. On the other side was a chair and a few couches, on one of which was sleeping the young princess. Hardly the cells they had been expecting.

"You gonna wake her up?" Luke asked the blonde.

"Are you kidding?" Guy ducked behind him, trembling at the thought. Luke just laughed.

Luke walked over to the couch and gave her a gentle shake. After a moment she blinked sleepily and looked up at him. Her face lit up and she smiled warmly, but it quickly faded as she realized it wasn't who she thought it had been.

"Luke."

"Sorry. I'm afraid so." He replied gently, offering her a hand to help her stand up.

"I'm fine." She replied coldly and proceeded to sit up on her own. "What are you doing here?"

"We came to rescue you." Luke replied.

"I find that hard to believe." Natalia shot back coldly. "Come to see what else you can screw up?"

"Ouch that's harsh." Guy mumbled in the background.

"Why don't you just-"

"Luke!" Ion's voice came from behind them and cut Natalia off. Anise and Jade followed him in and they gathered around the couch where Natalia was sitting. "I'm glad to see you're feeling better."

"Thank you," Luke genuinely smiled. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. They've been holding us here in attempts to antagonize the situation between Kimlasca and Malkuth." Ion provided.

"Yeah," Guy interjected, "we've heard."

"Have any of the God-Generals or Commandant Grants been around?" Jade asked sternly. This may not be the best place to be talking.

"No, not to my knowledge." Natalia provided.

"Really?" Ion inquired, "I could have sworn I'd heard Van earlier today."

"Oh? I must not have been paying attention then." Natalia shrugged. "Either way we shouldn't dawdle. Whether they've been by or not, they're bound to come around sooner or later."

"Natalia raises a good point. Let's continue discussions once we've made it back to the Tartarus." Jade agreed.

"Wait a second, where's Asch?" Luke demanded.

"He's not here." Mieu commented.

"I'm afraid he's been locked up elsewhere." Ion provided.

"Why?"

"Why?" Anise spoke up. "I'd say because he annihilated about half a squad of Oracle Knights before they managed to get him under control."

"Yeah that sounds like him," Guy commented, "never goes quietly."

"No he doesn't," Luke agreed, though his statement was followed by an awkward silence. Why was everyone looking at him?

"So do you know where they're keeping him?" Guy asked Anise.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Anise protested.

"Well then," Guy chuckled, "You lead the way."

--------

The room where Asch was imprisoned seemed inconspicuous enough from the outside, but once they'd entered, it was clearly different. Unlike the first two rooms, this one was obviously designed to hold prisoners. They found Asch at the far end of the room, completely restrained. His feet chained to the wall near the floor, and his arms were chained above his head. His crimson hair fell in his face as his binds held him upright despite his state of unconsciousness.

Everyone fell completely silent, their eyes all on the captive's sibling. What would he do? After everything that had happened in Yulia City… how would Luke react? Asch had been openly cruel, without giving any sort of explanation for it, and it couldn't have been easy on his twin, no matter how much Luke deserved it.

The air around Luke as he approached Asch was serious, and everyone was tense. Guy recalled what Luke had said in Aramis Springs, but did he really mean it? Like, did Luke really understand what Asch had done, and was okay with it? Or had those words been said solely for his benefit? He guessed there was only one way they were going to find out. Guy found himself secretly hoping Luke would let Asch have it, and if he did, Guy certainly wasn't going to be the one to intervene.

Luke walked up to Asch and positioned himself directly in from of his older sibling. Asch simply...hung there, for lack of a better word. When attempting to wake him up didn't produce any results, Luke gave him a mental shove. Slowly but steadily Asch began to stir. He cracked his eyes open and blinked lazily a few times before noticing who was in front of him.

Everyone in the room held their breath.

Luke's seriousness melted into a devilish grin. "Finally!" he exclaimed. Asch just stared at him, still not completely alert from his prior lack of consciousness. "It's about time you didn't make a grand entrance!"

Asch blinked confusedly a couple times before he burst out laughing and was quickly followed by Luke. Asch was just so relieved to see him. Not just because he needed help getting out of his current dilemma, but because he could see Luke. Luke stood before him laughing, and he was okay. He wasn't unconscious or depressed or bordering downright insanity, but laughing, filled with the light Asch had known for the past seven years. And for the first time since they had left Baticul, he saw Luke smile, genuinely smile. Seeing Luke as his usual self made Asch happier than anything else. So while he was just as confused by Luke's statement as the awestruck group before him, he couldn't help but laugh.

"Seriously," Asch finally managed between chuckles, "what the hell are you talking about?"

"Well every time we get separated, you always make a grand entrance when you show up again. In the Cheagle Woods, in the port in Baticul, and then in Yulia City," Luke ticked off the instances on his fingers. "You always get to be the one to come in and save everyone!"

"Alright genius," Asch taunted unable to wipe the smile off his face, "if it's your turn to play hero, how do you plan to get out of this?" Asch tugged on the chain that was attaching him to the wall, showing that it was firmly implanted and wouldn't break.

"Oh dear," Natalia spoke up realizing the problem. "We'll need to find the keys."

"Man!" Anise moaned, "They could be with anyone!"

"Well? What's the plan?" Asch inquired noticing the sudden smug grin on Luke's face.

Luke didn't reply but simply reached into his pocket, pulling out a set of keys that he twirled tauntingly around his finger.

"Okay show off," Asch grinned. Even he could tell that Luke was thoroughly enjoying every moment of this. "Now can you get me down from here?" Luke caught the keys he was twirling and helped Asch down. He stumbled and Luke caught him, offering his shoulder as support while the blood returned to Asch's extremities.

"Are you going to be okay to move?" Luke inquired after a moment.

"Yeah." Asch stood up straight, rubbing his wrists, sore as they were from the hours of pressure imposed by his restraints.

"Okay good, because it probably won't be long before reinforcements show up."

"You're right, let's get out of here."

----------

"Clever little rats." Dist commented as he examined the empty restraints.

"They got away," Sync commented. "Looks like someone didn't take much care in locking them up."

"Oh shut up, putting him down here was Cantabile's idea, not mine!" Dist fumed.

"And who was the one who wanted him for experiments and insisted on using the restraints instead of a cell like any normal prisoner?" Sync taunted.

"It wouldn't have mattered anyways," Dist stated. "These were unlocked. Someone helped him escape."

"Maybe it was the other one." Sync slyly suggested.

"Oooo" Dist cackled at the thought, "this may work out better than I had planned after all. Sync, I'm going after them."

"Be my guest, they can't have gotten far. Just remember that if you volunteer to go after them, the failure is on your shoulders." Sync replied.

"I won't fail! They'll never defeat my glorious creations!"

"They won't have to if you don't get moving." Sync taunted.

"Oh shut up!"

----------

"Hey Guy," the Fon Master guardian spoke up as they walked through the outskirts of Daath.

"What's up Anise?"

"Maybe you could explain something to me," She replied.

"What's that?" Guy inquired. Anise just gave a pointed look in the direction of the twins who were walking ahead of them. The two red heads were lost in their own little world, chatting happily about Score knows what.

"I'm confused, what does Anise want to know?" Mieu spoke up from his perch on Tokunaga's head.

"I just don't get it," Anise provided. "I mean, between Luke in Akzeriuth and Asch in Yulia city, you'd think that one of them would be angry or upset."

"You'll learn pretty quickly that it's completely pointless to try and understand those two," Guy commented. "Most of the time, it's easiest to just go with it."

"Well I'm just happy to see that they're getting along," Ion commented.

"Perhaps," Natalia spoke up, "but this isn't like back at the manor where they tended to make up with out anyone being the wiser. Neither of them could have possibly spoken to each other before now. If nothing else, Asch needs to give Luke a good stern talking to."

"I wouldn't be overly concerned," Jade shrugged. "If they're both fine with everything that's happened, I don't see any reason we should be getting worked up over it."

"Jade's right," Guy agreed, "Besides, there'll be much more to worry about travelling through these mountains at night."

"Oh I wouldn't worry too much about that," A voice towards the side caught their attention. "You won't need to go through the mountains once you're dead."

"Dist," Jade stated, as the God-General and his floating chair descended upon the group. "I should have figured as much. No one else could possibly make such a tacky entrance."

"Shut up! What could someone as disgraceful as yourself possibly know?"

"More than someone like you, I'm sure."

"Well you can laugh all you like, but I'm not interested in you today." Dist brushed off the insult as he scanned the group.

"Guys!" Asch and Luke ran back to join the rest of the group, quickly noticing the God-General that had their attention.

"Ah, there you are my little lab rats," Dist said as he noticed the boys.

"Lab rats? What does he mean by that?" Anise inquired.

"Tsk. Tsk," Jade taunted playfully. "You two were messing around in the lab at Choral Castle weren't you?"

"Maybe," the boys both grinned.

"Honestly you two…" Guy shook his head.

"What's this about Choral Castle?" Natalia inquired.

"Hey! Stop ignoring me!" Dist protested.

"Did you hear anything?" Jade asked tauntingly.

"Nope," Asch replied, deciding to join in on the fun.

"Must have just been a fly in my ear," Jade shrugged.

"I've had just about enough of you!" Dist fumed in his chair. He snapped his fingers, and almost out of nowhere came a huge fon machine.

How they hadn't noticed its presence before now, the group would never know. The fon machine easily stood twice their height and made the most atrocious noise as it moved. Its limbs needed grease, and lots of it. It was almost as gaudy as its creator, bulky, slow and painted a myriad of mismatching colours. But in spite of this, the several weapon systems built into it, kept the thing from becoming a complete joke.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me." Guy almost rolled his eyes.

"Ha ha!" Dist laughed as he hovered about foot above ground, his eyes gleaming with pride at his latest creation that was now standing next to him. "Afraid aren't you? Terrified. Struck speechless in awe of the beauty and grace that I have created. Behold, my beloved Barrelow XI! Consider yourselves privileged, not many get to perish at the hands of my super, ultra, amazing, one of a kind- Hey!"

Dist was cut off by his own creation and forced to retreat several feet as the machine swung around, one of its limbs nearly colliding with the God-General. The group had already engaged the thing.

"Over here you oversized scrap heap!" Asch called, he and Luke drawing its attention.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Dist cried, as Guy climbed up the back of the machine. It only took him a moment to reach the power source and yank it out, leaving a mess of broken wires and electronics. Dist's beloved Barrelow XI buckled under itself and went crashing down to the ground.

"That was easy enough," Guy said as he rejoined Jade and the others who were guarding Ion.

"You give that back!" Dist demanded, his face red with anger. Guy simply grinned and waved the broken piece of fon machine tauntingly before throwing it with all his might into the nearby woods.

"I'll make you regret-"

"Hmm, what's this?" Luke, who had wandered around behind the infuriated Dist, plucked a strange glowing stone from the back of Dist's chair. As soon as the artefact was removed, Dist's chair crashed, the legs smashing upon impact sending the eccentric God-General flying a few feet, face first into a pile of dirt.

"What do you have there Luke?" Asch inquired.

"I don't know, Dist had it in some kind of device on the back of his chair." Luke replied, still staring at the stone. It had stopped glowing, and Luke's interest had somewhat diminished. Now it just looked like your average rock, but it was too perfectly shaped to be something natural.

"Why you lousy-" Dist barely managed to speak he was so mad.

"Pass it here," Asch spoke up.

"Return that at once!" Dist launched himself towards Luke. Luke grinned and tossed it to Asch. Dist jumped for it, but it passed clear over his outstretched hand and was caught by the second sibling. Dist redirected his attention.

"You give that back or I'll…" Dist threatened as he stormed towards Asch.

"Here Jade, you take a look," Asch tossed the stone to the Colonel as Dist flailed in attempt to intercept it.

Dist was so furious he couldn't even form words anymore. That still didn't stop him from storming towards Jade though. Jade wore the most evil and amused grin any of them had ever seen. He was so proud of those two right now.

"Here, Luke," Jade threw the stone back to the young noble who was fighting to keep his laughter under control. Asch too wore an amused grin and everyone else could only shake their heads as the three continued their game of keep-away with the enraged God-General.

"Just you wait!" Dist threatened after a good ten minutes of running in circles in attempts to reclaim whatever Luke had taken. "I'm putting this down in my revenge journal!"

The God-General stormed over to the remnants of his chair. The legs were a splintered mess and the seat was bent out of shape. It took him several minutes to pry open the hidden compartment but he was finally able to extract his beloved journal.

"See! Now you'll all-" Dist stopped. A breeze blew across the empty road as a group of people were barely visible beyond the horizon.

"I'll get you all! You'll see!! You'll regret the day you crossed Dist the Rose!" Dist screamed into the sunset.

"Are you sure this is okay? He won't come after us?" Natalia inquired of Jade as the echoes of Dist's threat faded with the last of the day's light.

"It'll be just fine," Jade replied.