So... Still running a bit behind, but alas, such is the way of life. Also, Jade is a Jedi. (Will be addressed again in a later chapter.)

Edit: Spaced out and didn't post this when I meant to...

Anyway... Here's Part 16!

And, like a lot of things regarding Sync, I don't want to know. –Kairi

*...How is that supposed to work?* –Dark

"Yes, riddle. In your preferred medium of nonsensical but formatted poetry." –Dark

"The Dark Wings... Perfect, Jade." –Kairi

Chapter 2.7 – Race, Double Agent!
Part 16

"Hmm? Kairi?"

I leaned back, throwing my head backwards to look at Jade... Okay, so he was upside-down by my perspective, but still...

"Did you know I have a poor sense of direction when travelling in forests?" I asked. Jade blinked twice, before smirking slightly.

"Oh, is that it? Ah, I remember. Asch was the one who couldn't find his way around in cities," he replied, catching onto my joke. The joke being that the two positions stated above were actually reversed.

"Well, at least I didn't get lost with the road completely in sight," I added, letting my head fall back into a natural position. Jade chuckled, unable to resist, while I forced down a smirk. Yes, that last one had been Sync's handiwork. How he had pulled it off, I don't know... And, like a lot of things regarding Sync, I don't want to know.

"We assumed you'd have made it onto the ferry before Arietta destroyed it," Tear said. I smirked as I stood.

"You know you make an ass out of 'u' and 'me' when you do that, right?" I asked. Tear gave me an odd look, while Guy sighed, Anise giggled, and the other three males just gave me a knowing glance. "Anyway, I just got here a little while ago. I got totally turned around and ended up back at Fubras River, after you guys went through. It helped that I picked this guy up about then," I said, pointing to the liger who was contentedly napping a little ways off.

Dark stared at it for a moment before growling, thankfully after I'd managed to connect to Twilight's mind.

"And what's a western clan alpha doing this far south?"

Twilight raised his head and looked at him, seeming to balk for a moment. Then he stood. "Avoiding my pack... and clan, for that matter," he replied, padding over to me. He paused a moment to sniff the baby liger Dark was still carrying around. Huh. I guess he never got around to taking her home. "An eastern... female?"

Dark frowned, shifting into an almost defensive position, while Twilight huffed, turning away from him. "Interesting friend," he commented. I shrugged.

"Yeah. And?"

Jade sighed, obviously agreeing with me that we weren't getting anywhere with this. "He's not one of Arietta's, is he?" he asked, obviously cautious. Twilight openly snorted at that.

"Princess Prissy? Ha! I got kicked out of my pack for making friends with an easterner. Why would the southern ligers like me any more than them?"

Dark glanced between me and Twilight before he broke down in laughter. "Oh yeah. Perfect fit."

I held out my right arm and poked at the fonons there. This was something I'd done while waiting for them to arrive at Choral Castle, and it was nice to know it was almost as easy as Jade made it look.

A short flash of displaced fonons, and a frying pan was in my grip. Dark sobered up quickly, and Luke, Jade, and Guy, who were closer than he was, all took steps back, while attempting (and failing) to be inconspicuous about it.

I just smiled as sweetly as I could.

A short, quiet warning growl from Twilight had the frying pan's fonons resting on my arm again and my smile vanished, replaced with something as apologetic as I could muster.

Jade and Dark stiffened, Dark's right hand hovering over his holster.

"Ah, there you are. Oh... Hello Kairi..."

It took all I had not to smirk at Van. More points for his acting abilities... since we all know I irritate him. (And that right there is an understatement.) But, since he thinks I think I'm his subordinate, he's trying not to act all that cordial, like one would think he normally would.

"Van," I replied curtly. Luke groaned.

"What is with you two? You get along like..." He frowned, trailing off as he tried to come up with a suitable metaphor.

"Ligers from different clans?" Dark supplied. Luke rolled his eyes, but didn't reply. "At least their relationship hasn't devolved to the one Danté and I have yet."

"And that would be...?" Van started.

"Kill on sight. Or attempt to, at least."

I reached out for Dark's mind as Luke and Van started talking. *If it weren't for the fact that he's trying not to blow my cover, he would be trying to kill me. How do you think I got amnesia in the first place?* I asked. Dark sighed in his mind, careful not to echo it physically.

*Thank you for that lovely information. I want to kill him more now.*

*Sync?*

*If I had the proof, I'd shoot him right now.*

*He did it, but I'm not sure how to give you the proof. It's kinda back on Earth.*

*...How is that supposed to work?*

*My doppelganger has some abilities I don't because of the lack of a true Energy Core.*

*...I'd repeat my previous question, but I think Jade's starting to realize we're talking. When are you planning to tell him—*

*Not until I'm sure he can handle it. He's got a lot on his mind right now. My kidnapping, my return, my leg, which shouldn't be too much of a problem anymore, Sync's... yeah... and the fact that he knows I won't stop until Asch is by my side again. And that's not even starting on Reighn, who has ditched Van, good for him, and is probably going to be one hell of a headache to track down,* I said. Dark was quiet for a while, before his thoughts (which I couldn't actually read, simply sense their movement, if that makes sense) snagged on something.

*What does Reighn look like?*

I frowned, glancing up at the others and noting that they seemed to be preparing to board the ferry, since it was now docked. Then I closed my eyes and summoned up my memories of Reighn, mostly from our first meeting, when he'd caught me twice since I'd exhausted myself.

*Ah... So he's the one who delivered it.*

I let my utter confusion through the connection as I opened my eyes, and Dark walked over to me with a sigh, practically shoving the now-awake Sorylle into my arms while he made a bit of a fuss about inspecting Twilight.

*Van told us you'd died, supposedly an accident in Keterburg, which had also claimed the life of Sync, and that he was nursing Asch, the only survivor, back to health. But just before that, a stranger, this... Reighn... pulled me and Natalia off to the side. If you met on the ferry we took to Daath, that explains how Koran knew him. Anyway... He gave us the letter you'd written to Natalia just before your death, and... He told us it was murder. Then he left.*

I was quiet for a while, watching as, one-by-one, our friends started to group up around us. Sorylle jumped down from my arms and pounced on Twilight, who had decided to lay back down, starting up a bit of a tussle between the two that Dark and I couldn't help but smile at.

"Hey, did you give her that riddle yet?" Luke asked as he walked over. I raised an eyebrow, since I wasn't supposed to know about it yet.

"Riddle?"

Dark sighed, digging around in his coat pocket. "Yes, riddle. In your preferred medium of nonsensical but formatted poetry," he said, handing over a folded piece of paper. I unfolded it, glanced over the five lines, and then stuffed it into my jacket pocket as Twilight growled another warning.

"It's nice that he already knows who is not a friend," Dark said quietly as Van walked over. I resisted the urge to shrug. Let Van assume what he will.

"Are we all ready?" Van asked, noting that he was the last to arrive.

I nodded once. "It would seem. Shall we board then?"

Van gave me a cautious look, and Jade, just to keep up appearances, adjusted his glasses, a habit he used when uncomfortable with one thing or another.

"Yes, let's," Jade said, sticking his hand back into his pocket. I turned to step onto the ferry, seeing Almandine walking over to see us off. I, for one, was not interested in whatever babble he had to give us.

Twilight, Dark, and Sorylle followed me onto the ferry, Jade trailing behind after a moment. The others would probably follow a little ways behind, but I knew what I was going to do.

And, as the ferry set off, Luke found me tucked between a couple of crates on the back of the it.

"Hey... Um... About Sync..."

"Don't, Luke."

The redhead didn't reply, simply stood there a few minutes before rather awkwardly turning and walking away.

And, as Luke left, Van stepped over to me. "Do they suspect?"

I could have thrown a pebble at him. But I was a good girl and didn't.

"No. Or at least, not in the way we thought they would. The colonel seems to be concerned I'm a replica, but he's not voicing that opinion where the others can hear him," I said. It was a lie, of course, but Van didn't need to know that. Though, Jade had thought I was a replica when we first met up in the Cheagle Woods, so I guess it's not too much of a stretch.

Van nodded and headed up to the bridge, and I stood and left for the cabins, hoping to find Dark quickly. I had the feeling he, Jade, and the ligers would be taking up the cabin I'd dropped Twilight off in, though.

Sure enough, I walked in to find Jade and Dark sitting across from each other. A white cat rubbed up against my leg, and my eyes widened. "Oh my gosh! I am so sorry, Valkyria!"

She looked up at me and mewed, a depressingly tired sound that made me sigh in return. Then I looked up at Jade and Dark, Jade looking much more comfortable now. I raised an eyebrow, and he shook his head, almost in shame, it seemed.

"I'm sorry. I can't shake the feeling that I'm going to wake up one day and find that you've been replicated..."

Dark sighed. "So, the riddle?" he prompted me. I shrugged, sitting down and pulling it out.

"Haven't looked over it properly yet," I said, flattening it out on the table. There was no punctuation, but after looking over it a few times, I thought I could figure out where it was supposed to be. "A replica of a mirror shows no light beneath the shadow of the mountains white, for the blood below never ceases flow. And one who was born without is now right..."

I continued to mumble this a few times, before I started picking out individual words and phrases, or translations. "Replica... mirror... Mt. Roneal... blood below... below?... never ceases... blood... never... born without... Wait."

"Uh-oh. Here we go..." Dark muttered, letting his head fall back. I blinked a few times, remembering what my doppelganger had written. Sync had believed that I would return, and he had been born without all of the abilities of the Fon Master. So, this riddle really was meant for me. But what about the rest of the riddle?

The replica of a mirror made some sense. Replicas were practically mirror images of each other. Zion, the original, was a mirror of Ion. Replica of a mirror... shows no light? Perhaps hinting to the fact that Sync is dead? The second line was basically a reference to where he died. But the third and fourth...

"Blood below never ceases flow... blood below... Below? No... within..." I realized, remembering something I'd told Sync.

"If all else fails, you can use 'below' in exchange for 'within.'"

Confused green eyes looked up at me. "What do you mean?"

I shrugged. "Well, don't 'below the surface' and 'within' mean pretty much the same thing?" Sync thought that over for a few moments before nodding.

"Blood within..." I muttered. Then my hands went slack as the full meaning of the riddle hit me and the paper slid out of my fingers.

"Kairi?" Jade called my name quietly but worriedly.

It was a good thing I was already sitting, or I'd have fallen on my ass.

"Uh-oh... Please tell me you're in shock for a good reason..." Dark said. I sat there, emulating a fish, as I tried to speak.

"Below... When used in riddle-rhymes, it's interchangeable with the word 'within.' In this case... he needed something to rhyme with 'flow' or a synonym of it," I said quietly. "That having been said... The whole 'replica of a mirror' is Sync... it... he..." I broke off and took a deep breath.

Then another.

And one more.

"The only things that don't show up in light are things that are transparent or nonexistent," I continued. "And the last one... Replicas are born with... nothing, really. Born without... And he knew. He knew I wasn't dead. He knew I'd come back," I continued. Dark crossed his arms, but it was obvious that his brain was working through things.

As was Jade's, if the shocked expression on his face was anything to go by.

"Beneath Mt. Roneal, where the blood within never ceases flow..." my older brother muttered, realizing just what it meant. Dark's eyes widened, and he looked at the riddle again.

"Sync wrote this... after Van captured Asch," I said.

Twilight growled, and I stuffed the riddle back into my jacket, attempting, and probably failing, to hide the utter shock on my face. A good thing, then, that it was Guy, Luke, Anise, Ion, and Tear, not Van, who walked in.

"Uh, you three look like you just saw a ghost. Even the colonel. And that's saying something, because I didn't think it was possible to unsettle the colonel," Anise said. Jade glanced at me.

"Van can't know. Zion didn't tell him he'd had me kidnapped, he thought I was dead. S... He obviously planned this," I said, glancing between Jade and Dark.

Jade nodded, finally schooling his expression into his usual cool mask, while Dark took a deep breath. "Shouldn't we tell Asch?"

I closed my eyes to think. I had to get a message to Asch. Without the God-Generals catching on.

"What about Noir?"

"Who?" Luke asked.

I couldn't help it, I smirked. "The Dark Wings... Perfect, Jade. I'm already planning on contacting them while we're in Chesedonia. Knowing them, they're going to have a party with the work I'm sending their way."

Tear's eyes were wide and innocent. "The Dark Wings? I thought they were bandits?"

"Whatever keeps their boat floating," I said. "Now, if you'll excuse me..."

I stood and left, Twilight behind me and Valkyria padding along next to him, so I could have a few moments relatively to myself on the deck.

Then it hit me.

"Sync's alive..."

Fun Fact: I hadn't originally intended for Sync to send Kairi a message, but then I realized that he'd be stupid not to if he knew Kairi was still alive. Hence, the riddle, and this chapter.