Chapter 28

Pulling the sheet over Richter, Aster focused on smiling cheerfully at his friend. It had taken both him and Jude to get the half-elf back in bed and propped up. Even though he was trying to hide it, Aster could feel how weak and shaky Richter was and mildly regretted letting him get up at all.

"I don't enjoy this, you know," the half-elf said distastefully.

"Oh come on, how many times have you carried me out of the lab and put me to bed? I think its only fair," Aster retorted.

Jude returned from the bathroom with a glass of water and held it out to Richter. "Take this," he said.

"What is it?" Richter eyed the young doctor distrustfully.

"Antibiotic, iron supplement, and pain pill," Jude said. "Wish I'd been able to find an IV kit for you last night. Make sure to drink plenty of water whenever you're awake. You lost a lot of blood, so you're going to need to replace that."

"I don't want the pain pill," Richter muttered grumpily.

Aster leaned in with a scowl. "You're going to take it anyway."

Glaring in return, Richter held out his hand for the pills and knocked them back with a swallow of water.

Jude turned to Aster and held out the three bottles. "One of each every four hours," he instructed.

"Don't even trust me to take my own medications now?" Richter growled.

"Quit being so grumpy," Aster admonished, pocketing the bottles after looking at the medication names. He looked at his friend and put on a stern expression. "You'll recover soon enough. Until then, I'm here! So don't make it hard on me, all right?"

Richter dropped his eyes with a sigh and settled back in the pillows. "Fine. But don't hover. I hate that."

"All right. I'll be back in a bit to get you," Aster said. He hesitated briefly and reached up to his neck, unclipping the choker he wore. Leaning in, he slipped it around Richter's neck.

"What?" Richter asked.

"To remind you that I'm here," Aster said firmly and straightened. He nodded to Jude and spotted Richter touching the choker with a light caress of his fingers. "Let's go get supplies ready for our trip."

Jude nodded and led the way out into the hall where it turned out everyone had waited.

Putting his cheerful mask back on, Aster smiled broadly. "Okay, Zelos. Show me how to fly a rheaird!"

Tiger muttered something under his breath and looked mildly pale. Genis elbowed his friend and whispered something in return. They all headed for the elevator, and thankfully no one was paying attention to Aster anymore. He stared at the floor as he followed the others outside, then started when a Centurion appeared in a swirl of wind. Emil requested flying dragons, and the Centurion disappeared again.

"Ventus will bring your mount to you shortly, Zelos," Emil said.

"Go on," Zelos flipped his hand. "Get out of here if you're ready to go."

Emil nodded once and turned to look at Ivar. The man spun on his heel and marched away, leading Emil, Marta, and Sheena.

Zelos shook his head. "Glad I don't have to deal with that moron," he said.

"Ivar?" Aster guessed. "He's not all bad." Suddenly reminded, he glanced around and found that Jude had left him and was off speaking with Regal. "He just really has a grudge against Jude."

"Don't see why. The doc seems like a perfectly reasonable guy to me." Zelos shrugged.

Aster laughed. "Long story. You can probably get Alvin to tell you parts of it though."

Leading the way down the street, Zelos headed for a cleared area to produce his rheaird. "All right. This device shrinks it," he said and handed Aster the contraption. "You just press that button to activate it. Now for riding. Climb on."

Nervously taking the handlebars, Aster sat on the front of the seat, Zelos behind him. "There's a toggle on the right, that controls speed. On the left you have altitude and you change directions with those pedals down there."

Sucking his lower lip, Aster placed his feet on the pedals and cautiously lifted the rheaird off the ground a bit. Pushing the pedals, he got a feel for how difficult it was to turn the airbike.

"You can drift left and right and go backwards too," Zelos added. "That button next to the altitude, just hold that down and push a pedal."

Doing as told, Aster tapped the left pedal and drifted sideways a few feet.

"To back up, pull the speed toggle towards you while holding that button."

After successfully performing the task, Zelos leaned back, patting his shoulders. "You got it. Just don't run into anything and you should be fine."

"Why do I think there's a story behind that statement?" Aster asked and looked back at the redhead as he gently set the bike on the ground.

Zelos grinned with a sly look. "Now that would be telling." He winked and hopped off.

Climbing off a little more carefully, Aster pulled the other device from his pocket, aimed it at the rheaird, and pressed the button. "Thank you, Zelos," Aster said, looking up at him.

"No problem." He flipped his hair and turned away. "Now to find out where everyone else went..."

Aster pointed towards the beach. "I think that's your group down there."

Squinting as he shaded his eyes, Zelos nodded. "And looks like they're ready to go. I hope your invention works, kid." He smiled at Aster. "It would solve a lot of problems at once."

"Yeah..." Aster sighed. "It just depends on whether Altessa has a key crest design that will work."

"If he doesn't then Dirk will," Zelos said with full confidence. "It's gonna work out." He left, sauntering off towards the beach to join Alvin and Tiger where they stood next to a pair of winged dragons.

"Hey, Aster."

He turned to find Genis walking towards him from another direction. "Are you ready to go?" the half-elf boy asked.

"Yeah. Well. Unless we need anything else...?"

"Just you and Richter," Genis said. He looked away, gaze straying towards the northeast... towards the battlefield.

Aster could feel the tension. He knew Genis wanted to ask him about Raine. He didn't want to think about it and found himself picking at his nails with the intense desire to wash his hands rising. "No," he said. "There wasn't anything... that could have been done. Richter was..." he swallowed as his stomach objected. "They... tore her apart..." He rubbed his eyes, not that it helped any. "Richter was still... alive. He... I... It was open, I could see everything and Jude had me breathing for him because he couldn't and was drowning in blood and..." He wiped his arm across his eyes. "I'm sorry Genis. I didn't even recognize her at first - there wasn't... enough left to fix."

He felt someone take his hands and opened his eyes to find Genis standing in front of him, face pale and pain in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"You had a right to know," Aster said and shook his head, feeling his whole body trembling. "I wish we could have saved her too. Let's make something great and name it after her?"

Genis nodded and put on a smile he obviously didn't feel.

The two wyverns took off, flying out across the water and Aster shaded his eyes, squinting after them. "Any idea where Jude went?"

"No," Genis said. "Do you need help with Richter?"

"Probably. If you don't mind."

Genis followed him back to the hotel. When they got to Richter's room, Aster was partially glad to find him asleep, although he was still propped up by pillows, head lolled to the side.

"I'm still mad at him," Genis said softly. "Maybe he could've done something to protect my sister. It's not rational."

He had nothing to say to that. All Aster knew was what he had personally seen. Taking Richter's hand, he patted it to wake him. "Hey, Richter. It's time we got going."

The half-elf pried his eyes open and mumbled. He shuffled to move his feet towards the edge of the bed.

Aster pulled the blankets off and he and Genis got the man on his feet and steadied him as they headed out into the hall. It was slow going to get outside, but Richter made it without trouble and Genis held him up while Aster pulled out his rheaird.

"We're ready to go then?" Jude asked.

Looking over, Aster found the young doctor approaching from further down the road, carrying a bag over his shoulder.

Richter leaned heavily on Aster's shoulder as he climbed onto the rheaird behind him.

"Yeah, I suppose if you are," Genis said, bringing out his rheaird. Hopping onto it, he moved to the front edge of the seat so he could reach the pedals. Jude paused to look at the magitech device curiously before mounting and gripping Genis's belt. "You're not afraid of heights, are you?"

"Nope."

"Great." Genis took to the sky.

Reaching back, Aster tucked Richter's hands into his belt up to the wrist.

"Not going to fall off," he grumbled.

"Just in case." The blond smiled over his shoulder and lifted upwards slightly more cautiously. Genis had already gotten ahead some distance, but slowed down when he realized Aster wasn't directly behind him.

"Wind's keeping me awake," Richter said.

"Sorry."

"Don't do that." Richter sighed. "I'd rather be awake."

Aster grunted. "Of course."

"I'm completely useless."

"No you're not." Aster shook his head.

Richter leaned away slightly, "Bleh." He lifted a hand away from Aster's belt to push Aster's hair away. "Yes. I am. I can't fight anymore. I can't even stay awake to help with your research."

"You're just recovering. You'll be able to do all kinds of stuff again," he insisted.

"Aster..." The half-elf's grip on his belt tightened. "I need to... ask you..."

"I missed you too," Aster said and risked looking back over his shoulder at the taller man.

Richter sighed, hardly looking pleased that Aster had preempted what he had wanted to say.

"I could hardly think of anything except you," the blond added.

"Liar."

"The gun was to distract myself from how miserable I was," Aster insisted. "Richter, I just can't imagine living without you. You're... more than my friend. And I'm sorry I did that to you twice."

Richter leaned forward, his lips pressing gently against Aster's neck as his arms tightened around him. "We're both still here for now."

"Yeah," Aster agreed. Part of him knew that if any other man had kissed him like that, he would have been disturbed, but somehow, it was all right since it was Richter. Ahead, Genis and Jude were apparently talking as well. Aster was glad. Jude could explain better any of Genis's medical questions.

"I wish I understood my feelings for you," Richter said.

"I don't know either," Aster agreed and smiled slightly. "I just know that if I did date a man, it'd be you." He felt Richter go still with shock. He glanced back again and found Richter giving him an odd look. "I'm thinking you feel the same? I want... This to not change. I want us to go on researching and building things together for a long time. I like how brilliant you are, and at the same time, you keep me grounded."

"Yeah." Richter smiled slightly. "And you're my guiding star."

"How sappy," Aster laughed and turned to look ahead again, just to make sure Genis hadn't taken off and left them. "I'm glad Ratatosk got Marta back," he said. "Not sure I said that before but... she's his world and it's really obvious. I'd hate for anything terrible to happen to them."

Richter's hands tightened on Aster's belt again. "I've been thinking about that. I couldn't understand why Ratatosk would go so far as to turn back time, even if he was attacked by that man with the spyrix sword... And it hit me... What's the one thing he would do anything for?"

Aster's eyes widened and he turned to look at his friend, jostling the rheaird unintentionally and had to quickly fix their heading before Genis noticed. "Do you think he remembers?" he asked breathlessly.

"Probably not, I don't even remember much except that blue lightning and Ratatosk screaming in rage. But it's even more reason to solve this time-warp issue before the mana runs out... And part of me is afraid that if we link to Rieze Maxia and Elympios before we settle that, you, Tiger, everyone else who died before... and Marta will disappear."

"And I'll have done it to you a third time."

"It's not like you've done it on purpose."

"I don't want to do it again, though. I'd like to live. Richter. I promise, I'll find some way to make sure I live through this. Okay? Not because I don't personally want to die, but because I don't want to leave you alone again." He looked back once more to find Richter smiling at him.

"I promise to keep living as best I can even if you don't."

His throat tightened and he released one hand from the controls to squeeze Richter's hand. "It's a deal."

...

"No... Aster, stop," Richter said and sighed. "Just let go of the controls. Please." Reaching past, he took Aster's hands off the controls. "You land like this. Get your feet off the pedals."

They had apparently arrived at their destination, Genis had glided down to land without a problem at the foot of a cliff. Aster had tried to follow, overshot, backed up, then Richter had gotten annoyed. Tucking his feet back, Aster pouted slightly as Richter deftly jogged the controls and dropped them a hundred feet to safely touch down on the ground.

Genis was leaning against his rheaird laughing. "That's pretty sad, Aster," he sniggered. "The sick guy has to land you?"

"I only learned how to fly this thing today and I didn't crash it!" Aster objected.

"I'm just wounded! There's nothing wrong with my head," Richter said at the same time.

That only made Genis laugh harder. Jude was averting his eyes but obviously found the situation funny as well.

Richter sat back and gripped Aster's shoulder as he levered himself off the rheaird. Hopping off as well, Aster pulled out the shrinking device and put his rheaird away, then walked slowly as Richter leaned on his shoulder again for balance. Genis went ahead and without knocking, threw the door into the cliff open and walked straight in. "Hey Altessa," Genis called.

Aster was there in time to hear a grumpy, "Who's there?" in response. As they followed Genis inside, a short balding man with an enormous amount of white beard came up the stairs on the far side of the common room. He stopped on the landing. "Genis," he said. "What mess have you brought to my door this time?"

Genis flipped his hand. "These guys just had some questions about key crests. I thought you could help them."

Altessa folded his arms stubbornly.

Aster cleared his throat, "Mister Altessa, I'm Aster Laker, this is Richter Abend and Doctor Jude Mathis. Richter and I are from Sybak-"

"I'm done working with them," he said firmly.

"Altessa!" Genis stomped his foot. "I wouldn't have brought them here if I didn't know you could help. The world is in trouble again and it's not just Aselia, but another world as well."

The dwarf sighed and shook his head. "I've given a lot of time to Sybak and I don't want to give them anything else."

"Its not for Sybak!" Aster said and pulled out his gun. "I want to make this into not a weapon. There've got to be other uses for key crests than offensive."

Straightening, the dwarf looked from Aster's gun to his face. "Weapon, hm? Who else has one?"

"No one. It's a prototype I developed, using what I had available. I got this to work as proof of concept, but what we really need is non-military," Aster said.

Closing his eyes, the dwarf pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed gustily. "Let's have a look at it then," he muttered and gestured for them to follow him back down the stairs.

Richter released Aster's shoulder and limped over to the table. Pulling out a chair that was far too short, he lowered himself into it and stretched his legs out awkwardly in front of him. Jude quietly asked something but Richter waved him away. Shooting Aster a look, the half-elf encouraged Aster to get moving after Altessa. Feeling like he was leaving his friend out, he followed Genis and the dwarf down the stairs to a workshop area.

Setting his gun on Altessa's work bench, Aster pulled the casing off to expose the insides. "Doctor Jude can explain better how some of these work, but-"

"I know what these are," Altessa said and sighed, shaking his head. "Ingenious repurposing of Spyrix though."

Jude stepped forward. "You know of Spyrix?"

"Of course. It was what caused the war long ago between Sylvarant and Tethe'alla." Altessa carefully picked up Aster's gun to look more closely at the booster. "This, however..."

"That's a booster," Jude said and launched into a detailed explanation of how it worked.

Nodding as he stroked his beard, Altessa spoke when Jude finished. "And you're saying this thing works? It creates its own mana and casts an arte without destroying spirits or mana in the process?"

"Yes sir, and the key component was a key crest," Jude said, pointing at the inscription on the aspyrixis. "Are there other key crest designs by chance?"

"There are plenty," Altessa said. "But I have to say you got lucky on this one, kid. If you'd inscribed that wrong, you could've blown yourself up when you tried to use it."

"Oh, I'm sure," Aster said and laughed. "But I didn't and it works, so... will you help us?"

Altessa looked from him to Genis and sighed. "Fine," he muttered and headed over to a book shelf where he pulled down a couple volumes. "I haven't worked with key crests in a while, though, so I'll need to refresh my memory a bit. Do you have any more of those boosters?"

"I brought a couple," Jude said, "In case we needed to test things."

Dropping his books on the bench, Altessa flipped one open and began thumbing through the pages. "What were you wanting to make?"

"A lamp?" Aster said and shrugged as he looked at Jude.

Richter's chuckling caused Aster to look up, finding that he had relocated his chair next to the railing above them. He leaned against the banister.

"What's so funny?" Aster demanded.

"Normally these things go the other direction," Altessa said. "Turning something innocuous into a weapon."

"Oh, anything can be a weapon, you don't even have to try that hard." Aster waved his hand and grinned broadly. "Let's get to work then?" Reaching into his bag under his coat, Aster pulled out the folder with his various notes. Flipping through them, he found the stack of papers concerning his gun.

Jude deposited the booster, spirit fossil, and aspyrixis on the table while Genis found a seat on the stairs and propped his chin in his hands.