Yeah, I spaced out and forgot to post again. Sue me. (Please don't, I really don't have the money to go to court!)

The Council Drawing is done and has been posted on DeviantART! Go check it out!

Also, I'm still accepting requests for drawings of scenes from Re:ARitA and Re:AST.

Again, GO VOTE ON THE POLL! Right now only one person has voted... :(

Um... I think I'm out of things to say... Oh!

Thanks again to Coren024 for beta'ing (and choosing one of the quotes).

Enjoy!

*Between Anise, Arietta, Aerith, and Star, I'm so sick of little girls that I might just kill one...* –Kairi

"Are we there yet?" –Dark

"Trust me, Asch got separated from me and Kairi on our way back out when we were visiting here, and if it hadn't been for Kairi's telepathy, we'd have never found him." –Sync

Chapter 2.18 – Race, Double Agent!
Part 27

Reighn's POV

Alright. I'll admit it. I was hot, and tired, and very close to snapping at the liger who was using my shadow to stay cool.

Not that I could blame her. If I was her size, I'd be using someone's shadow to my advantage as well.

"Hey..."

I looked up from my feet and leveled something just short of a glare at Dark. He cringed.

"I'll hold that thought for a few hours..." he said.

Which, of course, just made me curious.

It was a good thing, I decided, that I was too busy cursing the heat to really consider asking him what he'd been about to say.

However, as the air finally started to cool off (though not the sands, which I'd be grateful for later), Sync glanced over his right shoulder. "When was the last time you took a drink?"

Dark scowled and pulled out one of the canteens he'd been carrying. Apparently, not recently enough. I'd barely been paying attention to myself and Sync, to be honest. Apparently Sync had taken it upon himself to make sure Dark was getting enough water, too.

"How much longer is it going to take the Oracle Knights, do you think?" Dark asked. Sync sighed, flopped down on the sands for a moment, and wiped away some of the sweat on his forehead.

"I don't know. That depends on..." he trailed off, and I frowned, wondering why he'd... wait...

Having heard about it often enough from Sync, it took little effort for me to reach out and snag what honestly felt like a butterfly dancing around my head.

*—going to be leaving these guys to deal with it while we go ahead,* I caught Kairi saying.

*Great... Are we still going to have a chance at getting there in time, or...?* Sync asked.

*It sounds like Arietta doesn't want to leave until morning, so yeah. Even with the griffins, you'll probably have plenty of time,* a new voice piped up. Asch, if I remember correctly.

*By the way, Reighn... I hate to have to say this, but your little sister is a bitch,* Kairi added.

I couldn't help it, I chuckled. *Oh yes, I know. I found that out about the same time your brother was being an ass by chasing ours across Rotelro Bridge,* I said. I got the impression that Kairi was smirking.

*Right... I'd better get some sleep. Between Anise, Arietta, Aerith, and Star, I'm so sick of little girls that I might just kill one...*

*Wouldn't that solve some of our problems, though?* Dark asked teasingly. Kairi's almost-maniacal laughter filtered through.

*Not enough to be worth it, unfortunately. Not enough to be worth it... See ya tomorrow!*

With that, the connection snapped, and I took a moment to massage my forehead. It felt... weird. I looked over at Sync and crossed my arms. "So, what did I miss?"

Sync took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh before standing up, turning, and walking. "Arietta, Ion, Asch, Flick, and Kairi are taking griffins to the Zao Ruins because they're still having trouble with sand where it doesn't belong. They're also taking Twilight via Arietta's hresvelgr, because it's large enough to carry a liger," he said. I frowned.

"So if we have to fight, we'll have to deal with Arietta, Flick, Kairi, Twilight, and the hresvelgr? Or will one of them be staying back to keep Asch and Ion in line?" I asked. Sync frowned.

"We don't know. I doubt the hresvelgr will be fighting. It's there to carry Twilight. If one of them does stay back to keep them in line, it'll probably be Twilight, but Kairi might stay back too. Logically, Arietta should be the one to do it, but she's never been one for logic, so unless Kairi brings it up..."

"Let's not worry about it for now," Dark interrupted. "There's no use worrying over something we're not sure of." I nodded, seeing the sense in that, then shoved my hands in my pockets.

"So... You were saying, earlier...?"

Dark took a deep breath. "I take it... You're waiting until you've actually got the time to talk to start apologizing to Kairi?"

I swallowed and looked away. "Yeah... Though I tried to start earlier when we were in the factory," I muttered. That, and... How the hell was I even supposed to begin?

Van had known exactly where Kairi, Asch, and Sync were because I'd been reporting on them for months. Kairi's death had been well-faked; had Van not lost his hold on her, no one would have known. Asch's will had probably been close to broken before he'd found out Kairi was alive, and what would have stopped him from helping Van's ideals then? Thinking back on it now, I don't know why I ever went along with it, either. And Sync... Sync was alive only because Cantabile had found him before his heart gave up, and because she and Nephry had refused to lose that last piece of Kairi.

What about Dark? What if I hadn't delivered the message? Kairi was his friend, and that liger had died so soon after... Did I really want to know what he'd be like if Kairi really had died?

One more person came into my mind, but I refused to actually think about Jade's feelings on the matter. We were so similar, after all, and even after everything Aerith's done... I couldn't even begin to imagine what I'd feel if she were gone.

I took a deep breath. "You're not angry with me?" I asked tentatively. I wasn't sure I really wanted to know the answer, honestly.

But Kairi just shrugged. "You caught me on an off day. I don't have the energy to be anything more than irritated," she said. Almost as if it was no big deal... "Besides, whatever keeps the boat floating at the end of the day."

And I couldn't help but relax and force down a smirk, because the way she'd said it told me she knew my situation very well.

I frowned. It wasn't often my memories would come up unbidden, but it was usually a good idea to pay attention whenever they did.

Still, hours later and now half-stumbling in the dark, I still had no idea why that memory in particular had come up.

"Brr... Okay, I quit. I'm tired, sore, hungry, and now cold on top of everything else," Sync complained, pointedly flopping down on the dunes. The sand had long since lost its warmth, and I smirked before pulling a tent out of my wing pack.

"Here. You two get some sleep. I'll take first watch," I said, handing it over to Dark, who had reluctantly put Sorylle down. I smirked. The little liger was probably quite warm.

Wait a second...

"Sync, stay put," I ordered, seeing the green-haired teen about to stand up to help Dark. He looked up at me with a scowl as I walked over, knelt down, and muttered a fonic verse under my breath.

I couldn't hold this up for long, but I could do it long enough to check Sync's ribs.

Thankfully, they were all still doing just fine, and I let the seventh fonons go before nodding once to a petulant Sync and walking off a ways.

Dark growled something to Sorylle, and the young liger padded over to me to curl up in my lap.

I was already lost in my thoughts though, as I finally realized why that memory in particular had come up. Kairi had a habit of simply understanding. The question that had been plaguing me for months, of how I could begin to apologize to Kairi if she was still alive, had a very simple answer. I just needed to start with an 'I'm sorry.' Because if Kairi needed more than that, she'd ask for it.

That thought really did help me put my mind at ease.

I couldn't help but feel a big smug that I'd been right about Sorylle, though. She really was quite warm.

*-.-*-.-*-.-*-.-*

"Are we there yet?"

I resisted the urge to groan, punch myself in the head, knock Dark upside the head, or anything else that would give away my frustration.

"And here I was thinking I was the youngest one here..." Sync muttered. Dark chuckled.

"No. That would be Sorylle."

"I don't think she counts."

Sorylle growled something, and Dark started laughing. "And she's got the same sense of humor I do, apparently."

I rolled my eyes, then paused. "Hey, Sync. Is that it?" I asked, pointing a little off to one side. Sync groaned.

"Thank you for noticing that. I'd have walked right past if you hadn't," he said, turning and heading toward what looked like towers poking up out of the sand. Dark and I exchanged a look before shrugging and following him. If that was it, then it meant we weren't lost in the desert. Bad thing to be, that. The desert's not a nice place to be lost in.

I took a moment to take another sip before frowning and stopping. Then I grabbed Dark. "Freeze!" I called, since Sync was out of my range.

Sync stopped and looked over his shoulder to me, and I pointed up at the griffins flying overhead. Far enough overhead that we wouldn't be noticed if we weren't moving.

Once they were past us, the three of us exchanged looks and took off running across the sands.

"Sync, does Reighn know about..." Dark started. Sync was quiet for a few minutes.

"I haven't told him," he said finally, and I frowned. "Besides, it's not exactly my place to do so. It's Kairi's secret."

Which just makes me more curious. Thank you, Sync. Thank you.

I kept my mouth shut and resisted the urge to start questioning the green-haired boy. He should know better than to start talking about things like that in front of me.

I was honestly quite happy to reach the ruins. More because my dark coat was starting to suffocate me than anything else.

"They're already inside. Let's go," Sync said. "And be careful. They've left the griffins pretty close to the entrance."

I nodded, pulling my scythe off my back for a moment as we stepped inside the ruins so I could get my coat off. Dark smirked, but was smart enough not to say anything, simply held out his hand to hold my scythe for me. I was actually quite glad Sync was more preoccupied with something below us as I tucked my coat away in my wing pack.

I'd just strapped my scythe back on when Sync sighed. "No good. We're going to have to fight the monsters," he said. I glanced over the edge and frowned. Sync was right. The griffins and the hresvelgr were lounging around between us and where I could see colorful hair disappearing further into the ruins.

We all shrugged and headed down, taking our time so that Arietta wouldn't hear her monsters screeching as we killed them. Once we were sure we were in the clear, the three of us settled into casting stances.

"O roar of the earth! Ground Dasher!"

"O noble heart, loose thy flame to raze mine enemies! Witches' Circle!"

"O fountain of frost! Crackle!"

The monsters, predictably, started screeching the minute our artes erupted underneath them, and Sync rushed forward to start attacking, a knife in each hand to maximize the damage his martial arts style could do. Dark and I stayed back, Dark to shoot, me to cast.

And Sorylle ran forward as well, latching onto the wings of the larger monsters and grounding them for a few moments each so they couldn't fly out of range of my artes. Dark smiled and settled into a casting stance again, calling out what I guess was an order in a growl.

Sorylle jumped straight up and—just barely—latched onto the hresvelgr, which had been harassing Sync for the majority of the battle.

I'd already been casting, so I switched my target to the blue monster before unleashing my arte. "O brilliance, show your wrath! Photon!"

I frowned when I realized Dark was gathering second fonons. So far, the only artes Sync and I knew about were Archangel's Wing, Witches' Circle, and Halo. So, what was this?

"Vile worm of the dunes, grant judgment!" I blinked a few times. "Sandstorm!"

Sync flipped back out of the way, Sorylle under one arm, and we watched the small tornado of sand whip up around the screeching hresvelgr.

Dark smirked when the sand dissipated to reveal a quickly-separating monster.

"That's what you've been working on since we entered the desert?" Sync asked, putting Sorylle down and heading for the next monster, a griffin. The former assassin chuckled.

"I can create artes pretty quickly when I actually put my mind to it and have inspiration," he said. I frowned, unleashing another Crackle and killing off one of the griffins. Sync's knives found the throat of another and it went down, while Dark shot down a third. Now that we could focus on the weaker monsters, they were falling quickly. We were quiet for a bit as we continued to finish off the griffins.

Then Dark frowned. "I don't think I should use it again for a while, though," he decided, slipping his guns back into their holsters. Sync looked up—yes, up, oddly enough—at him.

"Why not?" he asked. The black-haired boy sighed.

"You know how fonslots can only handle so much stress, so fonists have to start out with low-level artes and then go up? Sandstorm is perfect for me and my little situation, but now there's a really uncomfortable pressure on my fonslots," he said. Sync nodded.

"Ah. So, basically how I'm feeling right now after dropping Ground Dasher."

"Pretty much. I'm not sure how safe it is for you to be using higher artes, anyway, if your fonslots are in that bad a shape."

Sync scowled. "It'll be fine as long as I don't push it too much. Part of it's just the fact that two months of bed-rest have completely totaled my body."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Zion did more damage than the bed-rest," I stated. Then I finally slung my scythe back over my shoulder. "We should get going. The God-Generals may or may not have heard that. The monsters were quite loud, and I don't know how well it echoed down here."

Sync shrugged. "It didn't. There's sand all over the place, even down here. That absorbs most of the sound. Trust me, Asch got separated from me and Kairi on our way back out when we were visiting here, and if it hadn't been for Kairi's telepathy, we'd have never found him."

Dark groaned and headed over toward the doorway that would lead us further into the ruins. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

Sync, Sorylle, and I followed.

Fun Fact: When I wrote this chapter, I'd completely forgotten that Kairi and Reighn had been talking via telepathy in the abandoned factory. Hehe... whoops. Oh well.