Getting there. Slowly, but I'm getting there. Two more.

Go vote. (Yes, I will put this in every A/N until I am done uploading.)

Enjoy!

*Oh, you're a moron alright.* –Asch

*And you're saying you're not enjoying the mental image of Luke's face when Kairi says that?* –Sync

Chapter 3.5 – Akzeriuth
Part 33

I looked around and took a moment to think before looking at Pyrope. "How many men did General Grants bring?" I asked. He frowned and scratched his head.

"Two or three platoons, one Malkuthian for sure, maybe two Kimlascan."

"That makes sense. Between the port and the border town itself, Van would have been able to gather up more Kimlascans." Asch sighed and turned to Natalia. "Are you going to mind if I take command of the Kimlascans?" he asked. She shook her head.

"No. I have the authority to take command, but I don't exactly have the experience needed in a situation like this."

Asch nodded. "Right... Jade, see if you can't find the officer in charge of the Malkuth group. Split them up into as many squads of four as you can, I'm going to do the same with the Kimlascans."

"The miasma is worst in the mines, make sure the soldiers focus there, first," I added. "Once we've cleared out most of the mine tunnels, we should start moving people. Anyone who can walk should get some supplies ready. And carts. The worst cases are going to need to be carried."

"Mind you, we'll only be able to send relatively small groups through the pass, due to some of the narrower parts of the road," Jade said.

Asch crossed his arms to think for a moment before looking up at Pyrope. "Mines, how many are down there and how bad is the miasma?"

Pyrope shook his head. "Tunnels one through six have been abandoned for some time now and blocked off. Seven through fifteen are still being mined, but we've already cleared eight and eleven. Fourteen seems to be the worst on miasma. Sixteen and seventeen have got the most people still inside, since those are the ones we were just digging out."

Asch nodded. "Alright. Jade, focus the Malkuth squads in tunnels seven, nine, ten, and twelve for now. I'll have the Kimlascans start in on thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen. Once they've started with the work, the rest of us will head down to..."

Asch paused and glanced at me, finally noticing that I'd been prodding him in the shoulder. "Send Kimlascans down seventeen, we'll take fourteen."

"Did you not hear him say that the miasma's the worst down fourteen?!" Asch asked, just short of yelling. I crossed my arms, this time prodding his mind.

*Sephiroth,* I reminded him while keep up my 'stubborn' façade.

He sighed in frustration. "Fine. We'll deal with fourteen."

I nodded once before turning to Pyrope. "Can you keep everything coordinated up here?" The miner nodded, and Jade ran off to find the Malkuth soldiers, while Asch and Natalia left to find the Kimlascans.

"Wow. I feel really useless right now."

I chuckled. "It's alright. The mayor probably would have questioned us more, but Pyrope knows me, Asch, and Sync very well. We've made a bit of a name for ourselves, killing the monsters in the mines here."

Anise blinked. "Monsters in the mines? Isn't that dangerous?"

I shrugged. "The monsters here seem to operate under a bit of a 'don't bother me, I won't bother you' thing. Problem is, they'll sometimes block up a tunnel by choosing to nest down there, and the miners usually have to call in Malkuth soldiers to get rid of them, which could take weeks, and the soldiers usually end up damaging the area around the nest in their little extermination."

"Damaged ore sells for much less, and these men need their income to support their families. Being unable to mine a tunnel and then not having good ore to sell afterwards? Plus having to pay the Malkuth military for the clean-up? Not exactly a good thing for their wallets," Sync said.

"That's why they like us so much. It's a lot of monsters, but individually, they're really weak compared to the ones around Mt. Roneal. It gives us a challenge, and it saves the miners money."

"By the way... Where's Van?"

I frowned at Sync's question and closed my eyes, laying down a slightly stronger field and darting around all of the minds I'd encompassed. I growled, and Twilight seemed to sigh in exasperation. I poked Sync's mind.

*Not here?* he guessed.

*Worse, he's down in the sephiroth.*

*You mean at the Daathic Seal?*

*No, in the sephiroth. Zion's with him.*

*Dammit!*

*I don't think they've gone to look at the passage ring, though. They're just hanging around the entrance. Zion must have just gotten here.*

"You know, now that I know about it, it's really annoying knowing you two are having a conversation I can't hear."

I smirked. "Sorry, Anise. To quote Ion, 'it's confidential to the Order.'"

Anise blinked a few times, but Reighn was the one to raise an eyebrow. "If it's supposed to be confidential, how do you know?"

I shrugged. "I know things."

"Telepathy?"

"I'll tell you later... Unless..." I trailed off for a moment before shaking my head. "No, if Sync had told you, you wouldn't have guessed my telepathy."

Reighn frowned and looked at Sync. "Does this have to do with what Dark asked you in the Zao Desert?"

Sync looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding.

"What the hell are you guys talking about?!" Anise grumbled.

Just in time for the other three to return. "What were you talking about?" Jade asked, genuinely curious.

"Tales of the Abyss."

"Huh?!" This was the response from everyone except Asch and Sync.

"Ah." As you can probably guess, this was the aforementioned duo.

Jade adjusted his glasses. "I've heard you mention that before. What is it?"

I shrugged. "A game. That's all you need to know right now. We're supposed to be evacuating people, remember?" I gave Asch a pointed look and opened a channel. *Evacuation first, sephiroth later. Van and Zion are down there.*

We headed down into Tunnel Fourteen. A rather familiar tunnel, given the fact that Asch, Sync and I had stopped by this particular passage ring twice, as opposed to the others, which had only been visited once. Well, and then there was the recent stop at the Zao Ruins. But that was just irritating.

We spent the next two hours finding people and hauling them back out of the tunnel. As the miasma and lighting got worse, along with my strength, Asch had me focus simply on finding the people so the rest of them could fight the monsters and carry them.

We decided to call it a day around seven-thirty, and headed to the inn. Pyrope was waiting for us with two soldiers in a large room with four beds, one of three Jade had asked Pyrope to set aside for us. Jade identified the Malkuth soldier as a Lieutenant Gray, while the Kimlascan was Sergeant Anderson, addressed as such by Asch.

"Sergeant, report," Asch ordered practically as soon as we'd walked in.

"Sir! Tunnels thirteen and fifteen are clear. We've only made it about halfway down seventeen, with even less progress down sixteen due to a swarm of monsters between us and the rest of the miners," Anderson said. Jade glanced at Asch, who had his arms crossed as he looked at the rest of us.

"Reighn, Sync, and I will deal with the monsters first thing tomorrow morning. We'll take Kairi with us for strategy," the redhead decided. I resisted the urge to argue, given how dizzy I was feeling at the moment. "Have squad A join up with H, I, and J tomorrow. Once we've broken through the monsters, B can go with E, F, and G. Tell C and D to start helping the civilians with the carts and supplies."

The Kimlascan saluted and ran off to find the other soldiers, while Jade frowned.

"How many Kimlascan soldiers do we have?" he asked. Asch sighed.

"Including Sergeant Anderson? Forty-two. Squad A has five men, the others have four each, with Anderson coordinating everything."

Jade chuckled. "We really do think alike when it comes to things like this. There are only twenty Malkuth soldiers here, so rather than have a group of three running around, since Lieutenant Gray is relaying orders, I split them up into three groups of five and a group of four. Speaking of which..." Jade trailed off to look at the soldier next to him. "Report."

"Tunnels seven and twelve are clear. Squad 3 is doing a final sweep in tunnel ten right now. Squad 2 is planning on making two more trips down tunnel nine before turning in. They think they might be done by then."

Jade frowned. "Alright. Have squads 1 and 4 assist the Kimlascan squads C and D tomorrow. Report back to me once 2 and 3 turn in."

"Yes, Colonel!" Gray saluted and ran off, and we turned to Pyrope next.

"Some of the men and women are fixing up some of the older carts so we'll have some extras," he said. "Most of those who are still in good shape are also trying to find weapons and shields."

Jade nodded. "Alright. We may be able to start evacuating as early as tomorrow morning. This is a good thing."

Asch took a deep breath and looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Kairi, Sync?! What are you guys doing here?!"

We all turned around to see Luke, Tear, Dark, Ion, and Guy. Sorylle stood next to Dark, while Mieu stood on her back, much like Valkyria was still curled up on Twilight's head.

Asch sighed. "They got on Twilight's back and beat you guys to the port in Chesedonia. Probably snuck onto the ferry you took across, am I right?"

I smiled as innocently as I could. "Actually, we snuck onto yours."

Jade adjusted his glasses. "If that's the case, how did you end up behind us?"

"We made a pit stop."

"Where?!" This was Asch, who gave me a look like I was crazy. "Kaitzur? Or better yet, why?"

I giggled. "Not Kaitzur, Choral Castle. As for why..." I trailed off a bit and held my left arm out, Silver Clematis reforming in my hand for a moment before it disappeared again. "I'll explain that one in full at a later date," I added. Then I yawned. "I'm going to bed."

"It's, like, eight!" Anise said. I shrugged and wandered over to one of the beds. Asch chuckled a bit as I dropped my bag next to it, pulled my boots off, slipped under the blanket, and let my head hit the pillow.

I barely heard Asch saying something about it being completely normal before I was out like a light.

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

I woke up the next morning and frowned, glancing at the clock on the wall.

Nine twenty-six.

I fought back the anxiety that threatened to make me sick as I sat up and found my boots, pulling them on one at a time, before realizing that my coat wasn't on my body. I hadn't gotten around to taking it off before falling asleep, had I?

I glanced over at the floor on the far side of the bed and spotted black half-hidden under the other bed on that side. I rolled my eyes, picked it up, and pulled my coat on before grabbing my bag and strapping it on as well. A note fell out, and I picked it up to read it.

We took Jade to tunnel sixteen to help instead. Contact us when you wake up. We'll be in tunnel fourteen again as soon as we're done with sixteen.

I ordered Luke's group to help the civilians start evacuating, but Luke himself is missing. I don't want to have to contact him because of the headache, but I will if you don't wake up within the next three hours.

P.S.- It's ten 'til seven.

My eyes widened, and a telepathic field covered Akzeriuth in an instant as I ran out of the inn.

Asch snagged the field immediately. *I was starting to get worried.*

*Sorry. Found Luke yet?*

*No. Is he outside your range?*

*There are a lot of people in Akzeriuth, Asch.*

*Right. Get back to me on that.*

I frowned and continued searching, even as I was running for tunnel fourteen like my life depended on it.

My mind finally found Luke's, and I sighed in relief. He was in tunnel fourteen, yes, but he'd gone down one of the first few branches, which meant I had plenty of time to catch up to Asch before his replica found Van.

Speaking of which.

*Did Sync tell you where Van is?* I asked after prodding the green-haired boy in question so he'd join the conversation.

*No. Where is he? I haven't seen him since... Actually, I haven't seen him at all this entire operation.*

Sync groaned. *He's down in the Sephiroth. Zion managed to get here just before us. The two of them are probably waiting for Luke.*

*Oh, they are. Luke doesn't know tunnel fourteen like we do, he's gotten himself lost,* I told them, fidgeting as I rode the lift down to the right level.

*What are we going to do?* Asch asked. *The three of us together might be able to take one of them on, but both of them?*

*Actually, I don't think we'd be able to handle just one of them, even with all three of us to fight them. You're out of practice from spending two and half months as a prisoner, I'm out of shape from dying and then being stuck in bed for two months, and Kairi's sword arm is broken,* Sync said.

*Not to mention the fact that I'm fighting off dizzy spells every ten minutes because of the miasma,* I muttered, heading for the tunnel I needed.

*Kairi...*

*I know, Asch. But it's kind of pointless at this point.*

*...*

*Don't make fun of my oxymorons.*

*Oh, you're a moron alright.*

Sync laughed at the two of us, and I heard Jade asking him what was so funny through the connection. Sync just shook his head and brushed it off.

*I am very tempted to just tell Luke he's taken a wrong turn again,* I said, noting that the redhead in question had wandered down the next branch. Which, of course, was the wrong one. There's something like eight or nine branch tunnels before the one that leads to the sephiroth, and another five or so afterwards.

*That would be counterproductive,* Sync pointed out.

*Can I tell him he went the wrong way when he finds the dead end?*

*Sure, why not?*

Asch sighed. *Yes, let's all irritate my replica.*

*And you're saying you're not enjoying the mental image of Luke's face when Kairi says that?* Sync said.

Judging from the exasperated mutter that came through, the green-haired boy had successfully called Asch out on that one.

I frowned as I thought about what to do with Van, and sighed.

*Ditch Jade and the others. Even Twilight and Valkyria.*

*Then we're going after Van?*

I sighed again. *Yeah.*

Fun Fact: To give you an idea of how far ahead I am when this was posted. I just wrote Kairi spilling the beans to Jade about a week and a half ago. So Kairi's comment about them not needing to know about Tales of the Abyss yet takes a long time to come to a head.