Chapter 77: Resolve

Of all the places Natalia never thought she'd have the opportunity to witness again, the Absorption Gate was one of the few she wished she wouldn't. It was beautiful; she certainly couldn't deny that, but it was a dangerous beauty. Ice cold winds froze water on the jagged terrain, making it glisten in the light of the Planet Storm above. One couldn't look at up at such a phenomenon and not stand in awe of its incredible power. However, losing oneself gazing at the light that tore through the sky could easily mean death on such treacherous terrain and the Princess quickly returned her thoughts to the earth.

The lowering of the Outer Lands had altered the terrain surrounding the entrance, and Ginji couldn't manage to land where he had previously, meaning they would have to walk the icy trails to the Passage Ring's entrance. They traveled mostly in silence, though Luke and Tear seemed happily oblivious as the only ones engaged in conversation and the rest of them were more than entertained listening to exactly what the new couple was talking about. Natalia couldn't resist a smile; Tear seemed to have mostly recovered from Asch's attack on her the other day, though Natalia doubted the melodist would ever forget it. Natalia wouldn't; it brought back such a unique mix of joy and anger that the Princess wasn't entirely sure what to think about it all.

She was actually glad for her fiancé's antics; it had been so long since Natalia had seen him in good enough spirits to be so mischievous. So while she was angry at the way his prank had extended to her as well, that anger was directed mostly at herself, for believing such a thing long enough to be strung along. Yet, once all was said and done, much to her dismay, Asch had slipped back into his usual demeanour, and she wasn't quite sure how to interpret his most recent bout of broodiness.

Asch wasn't being anti-social as he had been in the past; quite the contrary, he could almost always be found with the rest of them, but his silence spoke far more than he had as of late. There was still something on his mind, something plaguing his thoughts in that silence and whatever it was, he was having a difficult time dealing with it. Natalia wanted to approach him, but was nervous in doing so. She had absolutely no idea what she could possibly say. It wasn't like she could walk up to him and demand to know what he was hiding. Everyone was entitled to their own personal affairs, herself included. There was more than one thing that she wasn't telling him. So instead she continued along, carefully watching her step and listening as Luke and Tear discussed their previous journey here.

Natalia smiled when Luke confessed that he never expected to return here, and it amused her to hear his thoughts run along the same lines as her own. Was it really any surprise? After all, the last time they had been here they'd been under the impression that they would be fighting to the death against Van to decide the fate of the world. In reality neither party had died, and the fate of the planet still hung in the balance. She caught herself wondering if Asch was thinking the same thing. No, Natalia immediately reconsidered; she knew by the look on his face that his thoughts were nowhere near such a mundane topic as reminiscing.

"Continue thinking so hard and you'll walk yourself right off the ledge," Natalia said teasingly. She was rewarded when her fiancé betrayed his surprise for a split second before responding with a sly smile.

"Don't worry, unlike some people I can accomplish both thinking and walking at the same time." Almost as if on cue, Natalia heard Luke shout as he nearly tripped over a stray rock along the path. She couldn't resist a giggle. At least Tear had her hand in his, and unlike her boyfriend she could talk and still keep them from taking a nasty tumble.

Asch hopped down a small ledge and offered Natalia his hand. She took it and even once she'd leapt down herself, she kept her grip and was rewarded when he gently squeezed her hand back. The gesture warmed her heart, reminded her of the days when the two of them hadn't been unlike her best friend and cousin were now. Young, infatuated, back when they'd first seen each other as something other than a childhood friend; so many lazy afternoons together, so many beautiful times that she had never appreciated properly. The little reminders of those simple times made her want it all back. She wanted all of this to finally be over; she wanted to have a life with her friends, her family and her fiancé again.

"You look like something is bothering you," Asch noted. Natalia laughed. "What?"

"I've been trying to figure out how to ask you that all day, and here you're the one asking me," she replied still chuckling.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh come now Asch, you can't honestly say nothing is bothering you. It's written all over your face these past weeks. There's something on your mind you haven't been able to figure out."

"And if I said it was really nothing-"

"Then I'd say you were a liar," Natalia declared. "I've spent the last eight years figuring out how to tell when something is bothering you, because Lorelei knows it would kill you to actually tell me," she said slyly, her smile killing any malice that might have otherwise resided in such a statement. "And to be fair, I should warn you, if this keeps up I might have to sic Luke on you. He has enough cheer for all of us these days." Asch chuckled but didn't offer any kind of reply; if anything, what little cheer he had diminished.

"I know enough to tell there's something there," Natalia continued more softly. "Whether I find out what it is, whether you let me in to help you deal with it... that decision resides with you."

Asch pulled Natalia's hand closer until their shoulders touched, and the gesture unexpectedly set Natalia's heart racing. She missed their closeness, the small gestures that reminded her how dear she was to him; even the silence they shared in that brief moment left her at ease. Asch let a chuckle escape.

"You know..." he began. "For once I think I actually wish I could tell you everything; I wish I could just let it all out; I wish there was someone who could help me with this..."

"Asch, whatever it is, we can do it together. I may not be able to do more than listen, but I'm sure we can find a way to solve whatever problem you may have. If I've learnt nothing else this past year, it's that nothing is impossible. Think of all we've accomplished! Two years ago we'd have called it sheer lunacy, but we've done it all the same."

"This isn't something like that at all. This is something that can't be changed, and to be honest if I could change it, I probably wouldn't," Asch confessed. "There's nothing I've done that has brought things to this point that I would want to undo. It's just... something I have to come to terms with. And I have to come to terms with it on my own... otherwise it's meaningless."

Natalia looked long and hard at her fiancé. She studied his gaze, the depths of his green eyes, the sharpness of his features framed by his blood red hair; at first he continued to watch the terrain, but noticing her attention he questioningly observed her scrupulous stare.

"It's Luke, isn't it?" She finally concluded.

"What?" Asch blurted, completely caught off guard by her statement.

She smiled; her satisfied expression told the young monarch that she mistook his surprise as an attempt to conceal the truth. "No really, what?" Asch repeated.

"You're still feeling uneasy about Luke being in a relationship with Tear, aren't you?" Natalia elaborated.

"I am not!" Asch fired back a little too quickly to sound remotely credible. His shouting turned a few heads, but when Asch shot them all an annoyed glare, everyone kept on walking, including the unknowing subjects of the conversation.

"Really now, there's no reason to be ashamed of such a thing; after all, you've always been over-protective of Luke," the princess continued once Luke and Tear were out of an earshot. "In fact, most of us are surprised that you've taken it so quietly; your intervention in Grand Chokmah notwithstanding of course."

Asch stared at his fiancée in disbelief, unsure whether to be relieved that she'd latched onto something so far from the truth or insulted that she'd think he had problems with Luke being with Tear. And besides! He wasn't over-protective! Sure, maybe he kept an extra close eye on his little brother, but that's what big brothers did. Luke definitely got into enough trouble to warrant an extra pair of eyes. Lorelei knows his sibling could find trouble easier than a fish could find water.

And it wasn't like he was out of line for feeling annoyed that Luke had barely said five words to him since Grand Chokmah; it wasn't like Luke had never met Tear before. He could stand to make a little bit of time for his own family! Even Guy had barely been able to get two words in with him. It was one thing to have a girlfriend, but the way he'd been dropped like a rock grated his nerves.

None of that added up to his being over-protective; Natalia was barking up the completely wrong tree. So why was she still looking at him like that?

"What?" Asch asked.

"Say it," Natalia prodded.

"Say what?"

"That you're being silly and over-protective."

"I'm not! I'm not being over-protective, and I'm completely fine with Luke and Tear being together."

"Is that so?"

"Yes!"

"Then why is it you've barely let them out of eyesight since we left Grand Chokmah?"

"Well... that's..."

"Earshot as well, if I recall correctly," she continued. "You're always nearby; even when we stopped overnight you volunteered to help them gather wood for the fire. Why is that?"

"That's because..." Asch struggled but failed to come up with a reason on the spot.

"My, my," Natalia giggled. "Asch, struck speechless? What has this world come to?"

"Shut up," he mumbled, hating that the more she spoke the more he was realizing how right she was.

Okay... so maybe he wasn't as okay with Luke and Tear as he'd thought. He was just worried though... and what was so wrong with that? He was worried about where they would go, and what was inevitably going to come at the end of their relationship. He was afraid of the inevitable pain, and it was inevitable given their fate; Luke feared what he would do to Tear, but Asch knew that Luke would suffer doubly. He still didn't understand why Luke had done what he had done; why had he started something that he knew was only going to bring him misery?

But more than all of that, Asch realized, he was afraid of losing Luke. He was already a third wheel to his little brother, what was going to come next? How long before Luke didn't even care if they saw each other, before they didn't speak for weeks without Luke even noticing? Before he would have to watch his little brother in a separate world, completely happy without him?

Part of Asch had always known this day would come, part of him knew that Luke wouldn't stay his baby brother forever, that he would have to grow up someday. That part of him had felt it more and more as he watched Luke fend for himself, watched him grow up in a world that kept denying him. Deep down he'd known Luke was no longer the child that clung to his sleeve, the child that looked to him to make the world right; and deep down he'd realized that someday they would have to go their separate ways. Asch just didn't want to accept it. He didn't want to accept that there was a life that didn't have Luke by his side, where he didn't see his sibling on a regular basis, but he couldn't deny it anymore. He hadn't been able to since the days in Baticul after their first visit here. The days when he'd realized that Luke didn't have a place in his world, and neither did he want one. Maybe that's really why he pushed Luke away; maybe that's why he ran. But no matter how far he fled, he never escaped that daunting reality. A hole had been ripped in his chest; he felt bare and empty in a void that threatened to swallow him. Now, with both their death's looming over his mind, a cold numbness clung to him, and no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't shake it.

Yet, as he stood there on the edge of a precipice, he felt the warmth of Natalia's hand in his, the gentle weight of her head as she rested it against his shoulder. No, he wasn't alone, was he? He had Natalia; he had all his friends. They'd spent so long telling him, but only now was he finally starting to believe it.

He wasn't alone.

Somehow it only dulled the sting of Luke's recent negligence. He couldn't help feeling a little betrayed by it all; and maybe it was because he was used to being spoiled. He was so used to talking to Luke on a regular basis; to having that much closer of a relationship that now they seemed so distant, even if their interaction was still as much as any two siblings might have. But he couldn't share those feelings with Luke, and he wouldn't let himself resent Tear for it either; he had to come to terms with it, in his own way. He let out a single chuckle. Leave it to Natalia to figure out a problem he didn't even realize he had.

"What?" Natalia asked.

"I was just thinking you're probably right," he confessed. "Maybe I have been a bit overprotective; and a bit spoiled without realizing it."

"Don't be hard on yourself; it's nothing to be ashamed of. You should be proud that you and Luke are so close that you have such feelings."

"I guess. I just worry about him."

"We all do," Natalia replied with a giggle. "You're not the only one who's been in earshot the past few days." Natalia nodded her head at the blond who was tailing Luke and Tear pretty efficiently.

"I worry about his timing," Asch corrected her. "I wonder if this was really the right time for him to take that step with her, with everything going on, and not knowing how things will end..." Or knowing exactly how things will end.

"It's because it's a time like this," Natalia answered. "It's these times that we need to embrace and hold onto such feelings. When the world is unstable and the future uncertain, we need to remember all those things that make life worthwhile. Because when things are at their worst... that is what will remind us what we are living for."

"What we're living for, huh?" Asch repeated softly.

"Indeed," Natalia smiled, pulling herself closer. "I'm finding more and more reasons every day."

Largo sat patiently; nothing but the whirring of the Planet Storm and the clinkering of his men's armour reached his ears, but neither sound sufficed to break the almost meditative state he was in. It had been days that he'd stood in wait; though the passage of time was indecipherable here. He counted its passing as his men alternated shifts, each new round bringing food and supplies to those who remained in the core. If his enemies were smart, they would simply cut off the supply route; he who couldn't, no, who didn't dare leave on his honour as a warrior, would starve until he was too weak to defend that which he had been sent to protect.

But the Black Lion knew his foes would do no such thing. Though the Necromancer might have it in him to conceive such a plan, it would never be brought to fruition. They had precious little time, and like he in this foreign and ancient place, they had no ability to decipher exactly how much of their valuable time was already spent. His enemies, who could not afford such a costly plan, would face him head on and the God-General would have it no other way.

This was his final mission; should he stand victorious or be defeated, it would end here; appropriate seeing as here was where it began. Here Yulia had started the chain of events that would birth such a bloody and meaninglessly cruel existence, that had led them all to this place, and here was where he would cut that chain. Ironic, or perhaps simply inevitable; he didn't particularly care which. In the end even he was a slave to the destiny he'd sworn to crush.

Faint sounds from above alerted Largo to the presence of his foes long before they would come into sight. There was no scheduled change of forces for several more hours; there was no mistaking the sounds of battle as the few monsters he'd allowed to roam served their purpose as alarms. Largo brought himself to his feet and the men who were not so perceptive as their commander took to arms. Many looked nervously about, searching for an enemy they wouldn't see for several minutes yet, while others moved to hide in ambush. Largo immediately called them out. No tricks, no traps, no ambush; just his strength against theirs. Perhaps he was being foolishly naive, but if this was how it ended, it would end on his own terms.

He was well rewarded by the suspicious, almost surprised looks on his foes' faces when they arrived. Shocked to see him standing in their way? He doubted it; most likely surprised that they didn't perceive any hidden forces, suspicious of where an ambush may lay in wait, escaping their notice. Only one person seemed certain that there was no one lying in wait, and the Princess' fierce gaze met his own in a fiery challenge. The familiarity of that fire flashed a pang of regret but one that was quickly discarded. He'd no time for reminiscing about the past. Today was about the future.

"I'd expect as much of the Black Lion," Natalia was the first to speak. "Your honour speaks well of you, though your cause does otherwise."

"You forget that history is written by the victor," Largo replied. "Whether a man is a hero or a villain is determined only by whether he fought for the side that conquered. What is right and what is wrong is merely a matter of perspective."

"Indeed," Jade agreed, "such is the way of the world, or perhaps it is merely the way of humanity."

"That is a weak excuse," Largo countered. "To say it is in the nature of things is no different than dismissing it as the Score or the Planet's Memory; it all boils down to an inevitability that no matter how hard you fight against it, will not alter its course."

"I refuse to believe that is true," Natalia shot back. "People's choices, their struggles, their efforts, they mean something! It is not merely futile struggling against an inevitable fate. Their choices will decide their future."

"Choices are meaningless if the result is pre-determined. If no path will lead to another outcome then the ability to make decisions is no more than an illusion to hide from people how enslaved they are. The only way for people to regain their independence is to eliminate the world bound to the Planet's Memory and create a new one that is truly free."

"How can you know that for sure?" Tear challenged. "How can you be so sure that all possible choices are pre-determined? How can you know there is no way to find a different future? Look at Luke, he was never in the Score to begin with and yet here we are. Maybe we've already deviated from the path of destruction Yulia foretold."

"That is meaningless," Largo replied. "The Score is simply a small part of the Planet's Memory, translated into human words. You ask me to prove things are pre-determined, but in the same breath I could ask you to prove they are not. I have seen the inevitability of the Planet's Memory. I was there the day I saw the myth of free will shatter before me."

Jade sighed as the verbal banter passed back and forth, warily eyeing the God-General's men. While Largo himself may be valiant, that didn't mean the same of his soldiers and the Necromancer still wasn't entirely convinced that there weren't any reinforcements waiting in the many crevices surrounding them. The soldiers were uneasy, clearly uncertain what to make of their commander's debate with his foes and the longer this drew out, the more likely one of the Oracle Knights would take the chance to eliminate one of them.

While he could appreciate his friends' attempts to sway the God-General's ideals, and Jade would give them points for choosing Largo as he seemed the least attached to Van's ideals, he knew that they wouldn't succeed. There was far more to his story than they knew, for the path Largo was on was not one traveled on a whim; that he was still standing here, trusted enough by Van to guard this Passage Ring with his life, was proof he was deeply connected with the cause.

"Free choice isn't meaningless," Asch continued, garnishing an even deeper sigh from the Colonel. "That's nothing but a pathetic excuse for people who made the wrong choices. To say that no matter what you do you'll have the same result, that's only one more reason people use to not have to put any effort into something, or to have to care about anything."

"You're naive and foolish," Largo replied. "You know nothing of loss and of pain."

"Try me," Asch fired, his eyes narrowing. How dare Largo think that he knew the first damn thing about him. "I know plenty about losing everything, about having every last thing you care about ripped away and then shoved in your face for reasons you can't even begin to fathom. It might be unfair, but to blame the world and watch it burn is just as bad."

"I wonder if you would still be saying the same thing if you hadn't had all those things you cared for returned to you," Largo challenged. "I had a family once, a wife that I cared for more than anything. The Score told us that we should, no, that we must have a child. We rejoiced, and welcomed a beautiful baby girl. But one day, I returned home from a job and both were missing."

The tension in the room was palpable; the Oracle Knights shuffled nervously, as did Natalia and her companions, but Largo continued without notice or pause.

"Our daughter was gone, and after losing her my wife went hysterical. They found her body floating in the bay a few days later. In a single day I lost everything that mattered to me. Why tell us to have a child only to lose her? And then to drive my wife to such sorrow as to kill herself... I refused to accept it; I hated the Score, the Planet's Memory. Tell me then, since you think you have all the answers. What should have been done? Where was our choice? What could have been done to prevent such a tragedy? What decision could have led away from that path?"

Silence echoed across the chamber.

"Free will means nothing," Largo stated. "All ends are the same and so choices are meaningless. This world will be eternally trapped. If it is our fate to be doomed to tragedy and destruction, then at least we will leave behind a world that can make its own future in our wake."

"You're wrong," Luke retorted. "Even if the ends are the same, our choices do mean something! Life isn't about where it ends; it's about the journey you take to get there. You can choose to be happy, or you can choose to be sad and live in regret. Even if you will end up in the same place, I refuse to believe that the path you take to get there is meaningless. People don't live to die; they live for all the experiences and memories that they create along the way. I'm sorry that you lost your wife and your daughter, and you're right, their deaths were sad and it seems cruel that they had to die so young, but does that make the lives they lived worthless? Does that mean that all the times they shared with you, all those days you were happy together mean nothing at all?"

Luke felt the air brush against his face as Natalia's arrow flew at her target. Largo easily knocked the shot from the air, the arrow crumpling under the impact of his heavy armour. Spinning around in shock, Luke saw Natalia standing firm, her bow still aimed, her hand frozen where it had loosed the arrow.

"I will acknowledge your resolve, Largo the Black Lion," Natalia declared.

A faint grin spread across Largo's face as he readied his massive weapon. "And I will yours," he replied.

"Natalia! What are you-"

"Don't, Luke," Asch cut his sibling off. "She's right. Largo has his right to fight for what he believes. Neither of us will stand down, so we'll let the outcome of this battle decide."

Largo swung his huge scythe warningly, his resolve written on every inch of his face. "Will you be the heroes or the villains of this story we've begun? Face me and decide!"

The entire room burst to life as the frozen soldiers rushed forward to meet them. Luke met the first with his sword, parrying a strike before driving his blade through an opening in his enemy's armour. Crimson ran down the sword as the soldier crippled in front of him. Luke was suddenly reminded of the first time he'd killed someone, back all those days ago on the Tartarus; it made him sad to realize how easy delivering death came to him now.

Luke had to be quick on his feet to avoid Largo's scythe. The blade came down over his head and a few hairs flew loose as he narrowly dodged the strike. Luke was quick to put a bit more distance between himself and the God-General but was impeded by a second soldier. To his left Jade was contending with another two soldiers that were keeping him too occupied to cast his artes. Asch and Tear were engaged with another few men, leaving Guy, Anise and Natalia to try and occupy Largo.

If there was an up-side to having to contend with half a platoon of Oracle Knights, it was that their presence was preventing the God-General from sweeping his huge scythe across the relatively small battlefield. With the power to cleave someone in two, it wasn't something Luke wanted to be blindsided by. Unfortunately, as more and more of the God-General's men were falling, Largo was getting more and more liberal with his weapon and the battle grew harder and harder.

Natalia cursed under her breath as arrow after arrow bounced harmlessly off Largo's armour. She simply couldn't find an opening; his thick metal armour covered every inch of his body except for his face, but a direct attack was easily deflected. She wasn't the only one on the battlefield struggling either, no one had landed a solid hit on their foe and she'd already needed to tend to multiple injuries on their part.

The young princess felt her bow quivering in her hands; she forced them to be still, but that only spurred the trembling and the nauseated feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wasn't at her limit, far from it; what shook within her was her resolve, her desire to fight this battle. She didn't want to do this, to be here, to be fighting...

Natalia remembered the feeling, the sick, nauseated feeling she'd had the night she'd finally decided to clean up the stray locket she'd picked up. True, she had never given much thought as to whose it might be other than her Aunt's; it seemed to be the obvious conclusion, Choral Castle was their vacation home. Not once had she expected to find a picture of herself carefully tucked away within. A picture of a baby girl and the woman her nanny had identified as Sylvia, her birth mother. On the back of the picture in messy writing were the words 'Meryl' and a date only a few days before the day she had always called her birthday. That same locket still sat in her pocket, weighing more than were it made of solid lead.

At first Natalia hadn't known what to believe, unsure which was worse, to believe that Largo had dropped it, or that Mohs had. But even the former Scorer in Baticul could tell her that Mohs had been with the Order in Daath his entire life, and her nanny surely would have known if her birth father had been a man of the Order. Having heard Largo speak, however, had confirmed it beyond any doubt and it was that knowledge that had Natalia's heart quivering. Never had she felt so alone in the middle of the battlefield, never had she been so unsure about what to do.

Jade scowled, adjusting the target of his arte at the last second. The energy blast exploded in the scythe's path, sending it off course and only a few inches short of the Princess who stood in shock on the battlefield.

"Natalia!" Asch was quick to turn his attention towards her, all while sending a grateful gesture at the Necromancer. But before he'd gotten halfway across the platform, Natalia quickly arched her bow and sent an arrow flying at the God-General's face, forcing him to shift his attack to block the strike and away from her distracted fiancé.

Natalia took a deep breath as she notched another arrow and sent it flying through the neck of the last remaining Oracle Knight. She barely noticed Tear nod in thanks, her entire mind was suddenly focused on a single thing, and that was the fact that she couldn't afford to be defeated here. She had kept everything to herself, shouldered the burden in silence all for this moment, this single chance to face down the God-General and confront him face-to-face about his choices. If the others had known, they'd never have let her come, but she had to. She couldn't keep running from her past forever; she had to stand tall and face it, and she wasn't about to give up now.

With Natalia's mind back on matters at hand, Jade returned his full attention to the problem before them. He dismissed whatever had suddenly distracted the Princess, a matter for another time; for the time being it would take some quick thinking to come out of this encounter unscathed enough to perform an inquisition. The problem was obvious: the God-General's thick armour was impervious to almost all of their attacks. It was solidly built, and any other man would have collapsed under the sheer weight of the materials from which it was forged, but not the Black Lion. His strength and stamina were formidable to say the least. There was also the other small problem of his weapon. Its range had tripled with the defeat of his last remaining allies, leaving them expending most of their energy trying to avoid it. The chances of getting in close enough to land a killing blow with sword or spear were slim. Natalia's arrows and Tear's knives had little power against his defences and they were running out of energy.

Even Jade's vast arsenal of artes was proving of little use. Wind artes were useless, and lightning based artes didn't faze the God-General either, meaning his armour was insulated so as not to conduct electricity. Luke and Asch had taken to fire based artes, a clever strategy but one that wasn't working well either. In theory the flames should heat the metal, making it unbearably hot for their opponent, but not only did Largo's stamina seem to extend to sweltering heat, he could see through their plan and refused to give them the time to cast.

Guy and Anise continued their physical assault, trying to act as distractions while not getting themselves killed. Tear and Natalia turned their attention to the task of keeping the cannon fodder as injury-free as they could. Anise tried some of her light and darkness based artes but was only rewarded when the God-General charged her head on. Guy took the hit, the scythe's pole landing cleanly in his stomach, knocking him breathless and sending him flying clear across the room, dangerously close to the cliff face. Natalia immediately fled to his side and pulled him from danger.

There had to be some way, some weakness the Necromancer hadn't considered. There were openings in the armour to allow for movement, but it was constructed narrowly and angled so no blade could easily penetrate without a few moments to line up the strike. If only there were a way to widen the holes, to create a target that could be reached, or better, that could be hit from a distance. Luke's arte went off, sending a shower of flames down over the God-General. The armour glowed red where the sparks landed, which began to fade as soon as they'd struck. Luke narrowly avoided a hit with the massive blade, but took a check from Largo himself that had the boy down for the count. Anise rushed in to draw Largo away, for that's all her reckless assault would do, no matter how hard the girl tried to aim for the dull red areas lingering on the armour. That's when Jade got an idea.

"Asch!" Jade summoned the future monarch's attention from his ailing sibling and, with no more than a quick nod, conveyed his plans to the fiery young noble. Really, when had he trained the boy so thoroughly? A half second later, Asch had launched another fire-based arte that, like his sibling, crashed harmlessly against the thick armour.

But this time Jade was not so easily dissuaded and his own fire arte exploded not a second after Asch's had, striking Largo from behind as he'd turned to attack Asch. Allowing himself to become distracted, Largo turned again and Asch's arte struck right where Jade's had, intensifying the red hot glow of the thick metal. Largo was not so easily fooled twice, and this time his attention remained on the Necromancer who was well into casting. Tear loosed a light based arte inches from the God-General's face; he stumbled backwards a few steps and was hit by two more artes.

"You're wasting your energy," Largo stated. "I've endured temperatures greater than you could imagine. This is nothing!"

"You would have, wouldn't you, Badaq?" Natalia challenged, returning to the battlefield. Guy still looked a bit unsteady from the hit and held back a bit.

The foreign name seemed to catch the God-General by surprise, and neither Jade nor Asch missed the chance to land another set of artes on him. He tried to retaliate but it was clear the heat was slowing him somewhat.

"How do you know that name?" Largo demanded.

"You lived in Baticul with your wife and child," she replied. "You worked as a mercenary escorting caravans across the desert to Chesedonia. There are some who still remember you," Natalia finished, throwing something at the man that glittered in the light of the passage rings. "It wasn't difficult to learn when knowing what to ask."

Largo swung around, catching the item Natalia had tossed but the opening allowed Asch and Jade to land another clean hit. "I see," Largo replied. He swung at Jade but was intercepted by Tokunaga who knocked the weapon off course. The God-General took another hit. "I thought I'd lost this, but I see now how you learned so much. Then you must know why your foolish fire will never defeat me."

An evil smirk spread across Asch's face as he finally put together the entirety of Jade's plan. Jade confirmed it with a smirk of his own. "Who said anything about defeating you with fire?" Asch asked. Largo's eyes widened as he realized what they were doing.

Both Asch's icicle rain and Jade's splash arte struck Largo's red hot armour sending plumes of steam into the air as the freezing water collided with the piping hot armour. A massive crack echoed across the cavern as the rapidly shrinking metal split across Largo's back. "Anise! Now!" Asch yelled.

Tokunaga charged in, one of its huge arms pounding the metal right along the crack and splitting the entire back open. Without wasting a second, Asch charged in. His sword flashed as it reflected the light surrounding them; darting behind the God-General, he aimed for the opening.

"Fools," Largo swung around, catching both Anise and Asch with his scythe. Their lives were spared only because he'd swung around the opposite way and it was the back of the scythe that connected, but it in no way spared them the blow. Asch went flying into Jade, narrowly missing the Necromancer, just as Anise took out Tear. "Don't think you've won just yet."

"Don't touch him!" Luke charged.

"Luke, no!" Tear screamed as Largo raised his scythe.

But the blade never fell. Frozen with the colossal weapon in the air Largo looked over his shoulder to see a single arrow sticking out of his back. A second arrow was notched and the proud God-General could do no more than watch as Natalia launched it, her fiery eyes betraying a hint of sorrow. Largo felt the arrow pierce his heart.

"That was... an excellent shot... Meryl."

Largo collapsed onto the ground, blood beginning to pool and stain the glyphs below him red. Natalia's hand trembled as she lowered her bow. Around her she heard the hustle of Tear tending to Asch. Anise being on Tokunaga seemed to have escaped most of the damage, but all Natalia could really register was the sight of the dead God-General lying in front of her.

"Meryl?" Anise's voice drew Natalia from her daze. "I wonder who the heck Meryl was."

"Maybe it was the name of his wife," Tear suggested. "Natalia, you seem to know quite a bit about him."

"Yeah! What's with that? And what's with that thing you tossed him halfway through the fight?"

"N-Nothing," Natalia shook her head, trying to clear it. "I just thought it might distract him. I'm sure Meryl must have been his wife; he loved her so much as to go this far for her memory, she must have been dear to him." She caught Asch's eye and could see that he was sceptical of her explanation. She must look worse than she thought, but she was grateful when he made no move to call her on it.

"Shouldn't we get moving?" Natalia spoke up to distract from the expectant looks she was getting. "We've still got a Planet Storm to put a halt to, do we not?"

"We do," Tear agreed, not being one to miss Natalia's attempts to dismiss the issue, but going along with her all the same. "Let's get moving."

"I don't care what you say, Luke," Anise argued. "That was unbelievably anti-climactic."

"What were you expecting?" Guy asked.

"I don't know, more lights, more flashing, something!" The former Guardian threw her hands in the air. "I mean this is the fonon flow that supports our way of life; you'd think turning the damn thing off would be a bit more exciting.

"Well, I'll be certain to direct your complaint to Yulia next time I speak with her," Jade stated.

"Boooo, you're no fun Colonel!" Anise stuck her tongue out and everyone erupted into laughter.

As much as he laughed at it now, Asch almost agreed with Anise in that the process of shutting off the Planet Storm had been surprisingly simple and almost dull considering all the effort it had taken to get there. Luke had taken the Jewel of Lorelei into the fonic glyph they'd found below the Passage Ring, and the entire thing had dispelled. They'd waited a few moments to recover and to make sure the flow of fonons had stopped and that was it. Now here they were, on the way back to the Albiore. Not that Asch would be caught dead complaining about it. It was nice to have something go off without a hitch for once; maybe that's why it was so easy to laugh about it all.

Still, there was one person who wasn't laughing, someone who had seemed off since they'd defeated Largo, and Natalia's sudden change of demeanour had Asch puzzled. It bothered him that he didn't know why she was so upset, but since she'd the courtesy to confront him alone about his moodiness, the least he could do was afford her the same courtesy. But as his mind raced through all the possibilities, the Albiore couldn't come into sight fast enough.

"Natalia," Asch gently placed a hand on the Princess' shoulder once they'd boarded. "Can I talk to you for a bit?"

"Of course," Natalia replied. Asch shook his head when she looked at him, expecting him to continue.

"I think it'd be better if we spoke alone," he added. The Albiore's engine's roared to life and the sudden jerk of the takeoff sent Natalia stumbling into Asch's arms. She flashed a weak apologetic smile and Asch surprised her by kissing her cheek. The impulse made Natalia blush. Once the Albiore was steady and in the air, Asch opened the door to his cabin and the couple sat down on the edge of the bed together.

"Natalia, what's wrong?" Asch asked.

"Nothing's wrong," Natalia replied. "I guess I'm just tired after such an intense battle."

"You're lying," Asch said bluntly. "Just like this morning, you said you know when something's wrong, well the same goes for me. Whether you tell me what's wrong, that's your choice, but don't sit there and say that there's nothing."

Tears came unbidden to the Princess' face and the sound of her own words broke down the little resolve she had left. "It's just... it's all so..."

"Natalia, what is it?"

"It's Largo... he..."

"Don't worry about him, he's gone now."

"No that's not it!" Natalia's voiced rose unexpectedly. "The daughter he kept talking about... the one that drove his wife to kill herself, the one that drove him to this point... it was me. He was my birth father, Asch."

"Natalia, what are you talking about? You couldn't be Largo's daughter, didn't you hear him? His daughter died."

"No, Asch. He said his daughter was taken from him, that he lost her; he never said that she died! The real Princess was stillborn, remember? I was taken from my family and given to the Queen as a replacement for the daughter she'd lost."

"But... how can you be sure?" Asch asked.

"That thing I tossed to him, during the fight..."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I found it at Choral Castle when we fought him and Sync. I saw a locket in the mud and thought it was Aunt Suzanne's so I picked it up... but inside was a picture of my mother holding me as a newborn."

"But you still can't be sure that it was his," Asch pointed out.

"The name on the back of the picture was 'Meryl'. He said it again down there, he called me Meryl. That was what they'd named me... That was how I found out about him. I searched the birth records at the castle, investigated from there. I'm sorry I never said anything, I simply... I had to figure everything out for myself."

"Still, why didn't you say something? We could have tried to work things out; figured out some way for you to talk to him. You shouldn't have had to-"

"No! Don't you get it? I was afraid! I didn't want that! I didn't want to get to know him; I didn't want to acknowledge he was really my father. I was scared that if I got to know him... that I would hurt father, that I would grow distant from all of you. I didn't want to hesitate." Tears began to fall from her eyes.

Asch put his arm around Natalia and pulled her closer. "You idiot," he said sadly. "You should hesitate. There's nothing wrong with that; you shouldn't be able to point a bow at your family and fire with no regret."

"No... I can't- I couldn't afford to hesitate. The world, all of you, it's too important to me to risk losing. We've come too far, lost too many people to give up now. There was no other way."

"Then why are you crying?" Asch asked, barely louder than a whisper.

"I just..." Natalia broke down completely, losing herself in Asch's arms.

"I just wish... I had tried harder to stop him," she sobbed.

"Shhhh," Asch said gently, rocking Natalia comfortingly in his arms.

Without saying a word, Asch sat there, letting Natalia cry; pour out all her regrets until the dull hum of the Albiore's engine and the warmth of his arms lulled the Princess to sleep.