So... Yeah, I'm running a bit behind. Sorry. Finally finished NaNo late last night, and now I'm trying to find all of the parts I need, because I only had up to 29 ready to be beta'ed. The rest are still in the original document.

Anyway... It is now December. You guys remember what that means, right? Triple updates! (Plus an extra since I won NaNoWriMo and feel like sharing that joy with you, and another extra for my birthday, and another extra for my mom's birthday, and a fourth extra for Christmas.) That's a total of eighteen updates. This one not included.

So, yes. It's going to be a crazy month.

Oh! DON'T FORGET TO VOTE! That poll comes down on Sunday, December 7. Yes, my birthday. It's coming down in SIX DAYS, so really, go vote!

Now that that's done...

Enjoy!

Who'd have thought Sync the Tempest would have a little kid hobby like collecting marbles? –Kairi

I could practically hear a voice in my head saying 'challenge accepted.' –Kairi

Chapter 3.2 – Akzeriuth
Part 30

"Sync... Sync!"

The green-haired boy woke slowly, but I didn't care. We were already docked, which meant we should take the chance to get off the ferry. Now.

"Sync, come on! I'll let you take a nap once we're off the ferry, okay, just wake up!"

Bleary green eyes opened and Sync leveled something just a little short of a scowl at me. "I'm up, I'm up..." he grumbled. "But I'll have you know I'm not that happy about it..."

I giggled. "Come on, sleepyhead."

Sync got up, straightening his pants and pulling his coat on while I rolled up his sleeping bag.

I caught him humming as he went about his task, until he suddenly cut off when he realized I was staring.

"Sorry..."

I shook my head. "No... Continue, please. I... It sounded familiar."

He took a deep breath and went back to humming. It wasn't long before I realized I was right. It was familiar.

"I wish I was on yonder hill. 'Tis there I'd sit and cry my fill, and every tear would turn a mill~" I sang softly, causing Sync to stop again, even as I continued on. "I'll sell my rod, I'll sell my reel, I'll sell my only spinning wheel, to buy my love a sword of steel." I stopped there and sighed. "Siulil a Run..."

Sync's face flushed. "I... I don't know where I learned it. I never understand the lyrics, either. Just... It's like the voices are jumbled, but not... I don't know. It's confusing."

I frowned, then shrugged and started singing from the beginning, since Sync had brought it to my mind and it was now stuck there. Of course, I stopped singing once we emerged on the deck and made a break for the Deo Pass. Twilight had no arguments about carrying both myself and Sync, and Valkyria was quite content with staying curled up on the liger's head.

Once we were safely on the road, Sync and I dropped off of Twilight and walked... in the grass, rather than on the road, since liger prints are distinctive. I went back to absent-mindedly singing whatever Celtic Woman song came to my mind.

It bothered me that Sync seemed to know at least half of them. And the half he didn't know were the ones I didn't listen to or sing as often, or at least, not in front of my friends. Did I sing more than I thought I did?

But Sync assured me that he had no idea I'd even heard these songs, let alone known the lyrics for them, so I let it rest for a while. This was obviously a conundrum I'd have to address at a later date.

"You know, if we go through the Deo Pass before Asch, he'll catch onto our tracks," I said a few hours after we'd left Kaitzur. Once Sync had woken up, he, much like me, didn't really need or want to go back to sleep. So we'd been traveling.

Sync was quiet for a moment. "What do you propose we do then?"

I stopped and crossed my arms, looking back toward where the port was. That was a good question. We couldn't risk going ahead of Asch, because he'd recognize the tracks. But if we just sat here to wait... Hang on.

"Sync, did they say anything about going to Choral Castle?" I asked.

Sync looked at me like I'd grown a second head. "No. Why?"

I nodded to myself and started walking again. Not ten minutes later, the two of us turned off to head down a side road, the one that led to what had once been Duke Fabre's vacation home.

"Why are we going to Choral Castle?" Sync asked.

"I want to see if the Sword Dancer's there. I kinda hope it is. The Ultimatus is a really good sword, and the Genius Rod or whatever the heck it is you get out of the second battle isn't that bad either," I said. Sync's expression didn't change much, and I sighed. "Tales of the Abyss. The character's weapon types are fixed, which kinda makes sense, honestly, but still. Anyway, as you go through the game, you upgrade each character's weapons to do more damage in addition to leveling up. With me so far?"

Given that I'd only explained game events to him so far, I figured the short 'tutorial' would probably be a good idea.

Sync looked thoughtful for a few moments before nodding.

"Alright. So, there's an optional 'boss' that you have to face three times over the course of the game. The first time is at Choral Castle, and the cutoff is the fall of Akzeriuth. Because you're a good five to ten levels higher when you're headed for Deo Pass than when you first visit Choral Castle, it's generally suggested that you wait until the trip to Akzeriuth to face the first Sword Dancer. Still not lost?"

Sync nodded.

I smirked. "The first Sword Dancer is pretty much pointless, but the second and third drop weapons in the game, and you can steal a sunlight chamber off of the third one... You're making a face that is definitely not confusion."

Sync stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out... well, it looked like a large, golden-colored marble with silver wrapping around it. He handed it to me for a moment and I realized that there was something written into the metal... which I couldn't read, because it seemed to be in Ancient Ispanian. I blinked.

"You've got to be kidding me. Fon slot chambers are real?"

He looked a bit bashful. "They're really rare nowadays, regardless of color, because they were all made back in Yulia's time. No one knows how to make them anymore. Sunlight chambers are especially rare, but I guess you already know that... I found that in the river in Tataroo Valley."

I handed the sunlight chamber back over to Sync and he stuffed it back in his pocket. I took a moment to think this over.

"That's... interesting."

"Um... I have a habit of collecting them." I turned and raised an eyebrow, and Sync ducked his head. "Well, I kinda found one outside Daath when I was just a couple months old, a grass chamber, and I was really upset when Mohs took it away, because it matched my hair and eyes... Cantabile found one on a mission a few weeks later and gave it to me... And since I'd been made a God-General by that point, Mohs couldn't just confiscate it, and no one knows exactly how to use them, so... I've got a small collection stashed under one of the monuments in Daath."

I resisted the urge to giggle at Sync. Who'd have thought Sync the Tempest would have a little kid hobby like collecting marbles?

Then I stopped and actually thought about it for a little while. "We'll have to stop by Miyagi's dojo the next time we're in Baticul."

"Huh?"

Now Sync was confused, and I smiled and ruffled his hair a bit, just to annoy him.

"The game. The party gains the ability to use the FS chambers after they stop at Miyagi's dojo. Maybe he has an idea. If not, I might be able to figure it out. I know what purpose they serve in the game, so..." I trailed off. Then I shrugged. "Eh, enough of this seriousness."

Sync sighed and smiled a bit, and I started humming. We had left what was left of the road some time ago, and before I knew it, Sync and I were playing around, rolling in the grass after he tackled me, and taking turns humming and singing.

"Could these walls come crumbling down? I want to feel my feet on the ground. And leave behind this prison we share, step into the open air~"

Twilight seemed to catch onto the basic rhythm of the songs, and his growls soon accented our voices, until Sync and I dropped to the ground near the cliffs around Choral Castle, laughing and not having a care in the world.

Unfortunately, our happy moment was shattered by... well...

"SYNC EVERETT OSBORNE!"

Sync froze, and I paused before making a face. 'Everett Osborne?'

The woman who stormed over to us wasn't limping, but I recognized her even without the tabard, since her hair and eyepatch were pretty distinctive.

Twilight and I stepped back, Valkyria hiding behind me.

Sync swallowed, stood up, and turned to face Cantabile.

"Hi... Mom."

It's probably a good thing I was not on the edge of the cliff, because I sat down quite suddenly. "Mom?!" I choked out quietly.

Cantabile took a deep breath. "You made Nephry let me believe you were dead," she said in a monotone. Sync fidgeted and looked down, unable to looked her in the eye any longer.

"Van knew... And... If he thought... I just... Mm..."

Cantabile closed her eye and focused first and foremost on keeping her breathing slow and steady. Then it snapped open again, and she enveloped Sync in a hug. "Don't you ever do that to me again."

Sync bit his lip and practically knocked her over returning her hug.

All of a sudden, I felt like I was intruding, and I smiled, stood, and headed into the castle, Twilight and Valkyria on my heels.

When I stepped into the entrance hall, the first thing that drew my attention was the sword stuck into the floor in the center of the room. I smirked. So, the Sword Dancer was here after all.

*Will we face it without Sync?* Twilight asked after our usual nudge and connect deal. I shook my head.

*No. I'm not so arrogant as to think I stand a chance against it alone, even with your assistance. No, I'll wait for those two to finish.*

*They are already done, it seems,* Twilight said, looking over his shoulder. I turned, and raised an eyebrow at Sync and Cantabile.

"You two have a bit of explaining to do, I believe," I said, crossing my arms. Sync flushed pink.

"Um... Well... You know how Zion attacked and I was dying?" he started. Cantabile sighed.

"My birth name is Evelyn Osborne... Nephry is my sister-in-law," she started. "Still... I've practically raised Sync, and when the healers said his chances of survival were... very low..." She stopped here and gripped Sync's shoulder, and he wrapped a hand around her arm. "I wasn't going to let Mohs have the satisfaction of knowing that Sync had a nameless grave."

Sync chuckled and gave me a look, and I smiled and opened up a connection. *Besides... You're the one who wrote me up as 'Sync Osborne' in the passage ring locks.*

I giggled a bit at that and nodded, then realized something.

The one-eighty I'd taken from happy and amused to horrified immediately worried everyone around me.

"Kairi?" This was a concerned Sync.

I looked up at Cantabile. "Does Van know?" I managed to choke out. She shrugged.

"He knows I thought of Sync as a son, even called him such once or twice after... But I never told him the adoption was official."

"Damn!"

"Kairi?!" Now Sync was borderline terrified. Well, as terrified as he can get.

I'm not sure when I started pacing, but I'd been at it for a while by the time Cantabile lost her patience, stepped forward, and stopped me in the middle of my track.

"You're going to wear out the floor. What's wrong?" she asked.

I looked up at her with wide eyes, then glanced at Sync, then took a deep breath.

"You cannot, under any circumstances, tell Dorian General Grants."

Cantabile's eye widened. I never referred to Van as such, she knew this. For me to do so... "I worry this involves Sync... I will never."

I nodded and took another breath. "Asch, Sync, and I... we added another layer of locks to all of the sephiroth, save the Absorption and Radiation Gates," I said. She frowned. "It's a basic lock, a riddle. What's red and green and gold and green all over again?"

Cantabile paused a moment to think about that before her eyes widened. "You, Sync, and Asch."

I nodded. "The answer that unlocks the passage ring is Asch fon Fabre, Sync Osborne, and Kairi Balfour. I started doing that just weeks after Sync and Asch left Daath," I said. "But if Van suspects..."

Cantabile and Sync exchanged a look, both now looking suitably horrified by what I'd realized. Sync took a deep breath.

"You switched up the first three colors for each sephiroth, Asch hates being reminded of his family with a passion, and you didn't know Cantabile was an Osborne until a few minutes ago. There's a chance it'll at least slow him down," he said.

I frowned, turning to start pacing again. "Perhaps... Perhaps just long enough for us to change it, put a new set of riddles in place," I said slowly.

"No!"

Cantabile and I both turned at Sync's outburst. His already pale skin had reached a point where I was sure it would transparent if he were any paler.

"Kairi, you know why we can't do that, why you can't do that!" he started. Then he stopped, breathing hard, and started shaking his head. "No..."

I turned away and went back to my pacing. "If I have to do it, I will."

"Kairi!"

I closed my eyes. "Don't do this to me, Sync. Please."

"Don't do this to you?! How the hell do you think I feel?! I—"

"I'm already dying, Sync. You'd rather that burden be forced onto more than one person?" I snapped, stopping and putting a hand to my face. I was just short of crying again.

Small arms wrapped around me, followed by longer ones, and a furry head pushed into my stomach gently.

"I'm sorry."

I sighed and managed to turn around so I could wrap up my little brother in a hug of my own. "As am I. Besides... I haven't looked into fixing myself up, yet. Who knows? I might figure something out," I said, forcing a smile. Cantabile kept up a strong grip on me though.

"What did you mean about already dying?" she asked quietly. I sighed.

"Miasma. There's miasma trapped in my body," I admitted. I looked up at her. "I'll tell Jade and Nephry on my own time. Please... Don't tell anyone what we've talked about here."

She nodded. "Alright..."

We pulled apart, and I reached up to scratch Twilight's head, petting Valkyria as well.

Then I looked at Ultimatus and frowned. "I will deal with you in the morning," I decided.

The odd feeling I'd been getting off of the sword the entire time, one of curious hope, suddenly shifted, and I grinned, recognizing it all too well.

Anticipation...

I could practically hear a voice in my head saying 'challenge accepted.'

Sync chuckled, while Cantabile sighed.

"You two are crazy."

Fun Fact: Yeah. The music thing was random, in that it just recently popped up like this. Keep in mind, Sync starts humming pretty much whenever there's no one around to hear it... Or when he thinks there's no one around to hear it. (Lookup ferry to Baticul.) However, there is a point behind it. Okay... it comes up something like ten chapters later (and I mean chapters, not parts). But there is a point behind it.