Second chapter... Go back if you haven't read the other yet.

This chapter's rather boring, but it's needed to link last chapter to the next. Warning, it's been about a month, Earth-time. (Curse Auldrant's calendar.)

"Daath and I have a very bad track record." –Kairi

Chapter 4.2 – For Want of Separate Roads
Part 38

"Wow. She's actually here instead of mucking around in the underbelly of the city or messing around in Aramis Spring." Note the immense levels of dry sarcasm here, please.

I rolled my eyes, sitting down at the table. I'd been out most of the day already, but I was still back earlier than usual. "I'm bored. I've been bored for some time now, actually. Gods... I hate staying in one place for long amounts of time," I grumbled. Twilight growled, a sympathetic noise, and head butted me in the back. He was probably getting a bit stir-crazy himself.

Tear crossed her arms. "Kairi, your shirt..."

I sighed. "Yeah... It's civilian-quality, so that doesn't surprise me, really. I figured it'd be destroyed by the time I was done here."

Tear looked worried. "It may take some time to get good-quality material, though."

I shook my head. "The black pants and green top I wore that first day? Well, afternoon? Those are battle-quality. Not the best, but they'll last. Kinda sucks that my black coat can't handle the stress anymore, though."

Dark sighed. "I know that feeling," he said as Tear stepped over to check his arm. Everything else was healed, and even that was now well on its way.

Tear looked thoughtful as she carefully checked the wound, used a small healing arte that wouldn't cause too much stress on the bone, and then wrapped it back up. "You know, it's been almost four weeks. I suppose you could head up to Daath and wait for them there."

I shook my head. "No. Asch and Sync won't go near Daath unless they absolutely have to. I try not to, either, since Daath and I have a very bad track record."

Dark shrugged. "We should still head up and ask around. If nothing else, we might learn a bit about what's been going on in the world." I snorted. Probably not much, to be honest.

Regardless, the three of us decided we'd head up the next day, since Tear needed to report to Mohs... Which made me wonder.

In the game, Ion and Natalia get captured in Daath. What would happen this time? Would anything happen at all?

I was up early the next morning, fidgeting, wanting to get moving. Dark was the second one down, the two ligers following shortly after him. Then came Tear. I'd made breakfast for us, simply because I hadn't had anything else to do while waiting for them. Then we finally got on our way.

"Tear!" I resisted the urge to scowl as we were stopped by an elderly woman who was attempting to catch up to us. Tear blinked a few times.

"Yes?"

The woman took a moment to catch her breath before holding out a folder. "Here. It's from the books Van left behind. I thought it might be useful to you."

Oh, that's right. Tear gets Holy Song around this time.

Tear smiled. "Thank you."

The three of us then managed to make it to the Yulia Road without anymore distractions. I grinned and raced out into the middle. "Let's go!" I said cheerfully before being whisked away. Rather Anise-esque, if you ask me, but I didn't really care. Dark, Tear, Sorylle, and Twilight followed behind me.

Sorylle was definitely getting larger. Whereas Twilight's head came up to about the same height as mine, her ears were just reaching Dark's hips, a little higher than that on me... When did he outgrow me, anyway? Whatever.

I turned and headed up to the caverns, not even bothering to really wait for Tear, who had taken a moment to look around. I suppose she hadn't gotten the chance last time.

Twilight padded along next to me, while Dark hovered behind a bit, and I realized a bit belatedly that, of the three humans, I was the only short-range fighter. I frowned, thought for a moment, and then slipped my bow back around my torso. Since my arm was healed and I'd been fighting with Twilight, I'd finally gotten to use it again. However, with Dark and Tear providing support and Sorylle's admittedly still inadequate attacks, I'd be serving the group better as a swordsman.

I spotted the first three crabs and scowled. "Be careful, you three. These guys can petrify us," I warned before drawing out Silver Clematis.

Since I'd switched right to using my bow once my arm was fully healed, I hadn't had a chance to use the poison-inflicting sword yet. But I knew I'd need to practice with it, since it was lighter than I was used to while still being longer.

"Silver Shot!" Dark grumbled, letting off something similar to Piercing Line. Similar, but not the same, as it shot through one crab and then hit it again from behind. I raised an eyebrow. That was a strike arte... I didn't have any of those for my bow, yet. I'd have to ask Dark about it. Might be useful...

Speaking of useful.

"Raging Blast!"

Crab two went flying, and Twilight batted at it angrily before launching off a lightning attack. Sorylle attempted to do the same, but all that came out was a loud growl. The crabs chittered, and I got the impression they were laughing at the poor little liger.

Sorylle reared back and roared at it again, except this time, where her paws had struck the ground, a line of ice reared up, ramming into the crab that had 'laughed' and killing it. Dark paused a few moments to stare at her before turning and going back to shooting. Twilight, likewise, seemed shocked.

I slashed at crab three, and it stumbled backwards, looking at me reproachfully. I smirked. "Consider it revenge for whoever petrified me one of the first times I was here," I mocked it, slashing at it until it finally died before looking around for crab one.

"Kairi!"

I jumped up, probably a good idea as a gray claw swiped through the area where I'd been standing. Unfortunately, this had me landing on the head of the crab I'd been looking for. I jumped away, not wanting to risk losing my balance riding on that thing, while Dark unloaded another round of fonic bullets into it.

Twilight was growling at Sorylle, and then the two of them reared back together, Sorylle hitting the ground first and unleashing another line of ice, while Twilight's thunder attack struck true.

The crab looked around at us for a moment before succumbing to its wounds and hitting the ground. A moment later, it was gone. I let Silver Clematis return to my arm before looking over at Dark, who was knelt next to Sorylle.

"I didn't know ligers could use ice attacks," Tear said, also stepping over to them. Dark shrugged.

"Eh... thunder attacks are most common, but if there was any doubt that Sorylle was an eastern liger, it's gone now. Southern ligers sometimes specialize in second fonon-based attacks or occasionally fifth, and westerners can often use the fifth fonon or rarely the second, but only the eastern clan uses fourth fonons," Dark said before standing. "Of course, the fact that she's summoning ice instead of water explains why she's been having so much trouble with the lightning attacks Twilight's been trying to teach her."

Tear looked utterly baffled, but, as Asch and I are both regular casters of the Icicle Rain arte, I had a feeling I'd figured it out.

"Ice in artes is usually formed by the presence of second fonons, and earth and wind don't tend to get along well," I said. Dark nodded, then frowned.

"Is that...?"

"Gyah!"

Tear, Twilight, Sorylle, and I turned to see who had yelled. Probably also the person Dark had seen. I frowned when I realized it was Guy. But, Luke isn't here. Why would Guy...?

I realized then just why Guy had yelled the way he had and ran over to the ledge where he was, predictably, hanging on for dear life. I reached down and grabbed his arm, not thinking for a moment of his gynophobia.

Thanks to the poor lighting, I don't think Guy realized who had pulled him back up until he was safe on the rock... At which point, he scrambled to get away from me, slipping again to be caught by Dark, this time. Guy sighed and finally managed to relax before looking to me.

"Sorry, I just..."

I smiled. "It's alright. I'd rather have you freaking out up here than falling down there."

Guy chuckled a bit and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah... Thanks, though."

"Guy, what are you doing here?" Tear asked, stepping as close as she dared. Guy's eyes went wide.

"Oh yeah!" I bit my lip when I registered the worried tone in his voice. "We've got to get to Daath, quick! Mohs has got Asch slotted for public execution tomorrow afternoon, and Sync, Ion, Natalia, and Jade are all locked up as well."

I cursed, not bothering to be even the slightest bit polite about it. Then I frowned. "Wait, why is Asch being executed?"

Guy sighed. "It sounds like Mohs and Van are accusing him of high treason. Sync would be in the same boat, but they can't risk executing him in public because he's identical to Ion," he said. I growled.

"Great... Let's get moving. We haven't got time to play around anymore."

The others nodded, and I ended up leading the way through the caverns. Unfortunately, the fastest route had a bit of a... distraction... along it.

"Are... are those...?" Guy started, staring in shock.

I looked at them and smirked, then started giggling, which turned into a full-out cackle. The other three humans, after a few minutes, also busted up laughing. Once they'd finally calmed down a bit, I sighed.

"Ah... It's a shame Koran couldn't be here to see what's... not really become of these two..." Dark gave me an odd look, and I started laughing again. "They charged him from opposite directions and he just jumped out of the way. They ran into each other, and... Walla! Iron Crab statues."

This, of course, ended with everyone laughing again, and we finally managed to get past the damn crabs.

We stepped out into the midday sunlight, and I frowned. "We'll be lucky to make it to Daath before dark if we run. Even so... If Mohs is going to kill Sync on his own time, I don't want to waste any more time than strictly necessary."

Guy crossed his arms. "Assuming he's still alive, when exactly are we going to break everyone out?"

Tear fiddled with one of her gloves. "Well... They'll probably move Asch about an hour before the execution. Um... Wait. Do we even know where they're all being kept?"

Guy shook his head. "Anise should be waiting for us at the inn in Daath. She was going to stay behind and see what information she could gather while I came to get you guys."

I nodded once, decisively. "Alright. Then we get to Daath first and get what we can from Anise. After that... I've got a couple ideas, but I'll need Anise to confirm my suspicions first. Let's go!"

The others nodded, and we were off, running for Daath as quickly as our bodies would take us. Of course, that left all three of us exhausted by the time we reached Fourth Monument Hill, but the sun was just going down. By that point, my knee was starting to hurt again, so I reluctantly asked Twilight for a ride.

We slipped into Daath without attracting too much attention, though Twilight and Sorylle drew a few eyes (we counted ourselves lucky that everyone was just used to Arietta's ligers roaming around). Anise was, as predicted, sitting on the steps to the inn, and she jumped up when she saw us, leading us inside to one of the two rooms she'd booked. Once I was settled on a bed and absent-mindedly stitching my knee back together, she started her little freak out.

"Sync's due to be executed first thing tomorrow morning, and they've moved Asch's up from three to one!" she started. "Jade's locked way, way down in the dungeons where people usually don't bother looking, Ion's trapped in his room, and I can't figure out where Mohs put Natalia! She's in headquarters somewhere, I just can't figure out where!"

If it hadn't been for the dire situation, I'd have grumbled about how Anise's whiny voice was hurting my ears. But, the situation was very dire, and Anise did have a reason to be freaking out.

"Do you know where they're keeping Asch and Sync until the executions?" I asked. Anise sighed.

"Asch is locked up under headquarters on the first level of the prisons. Sync... I don't know. But while Asch is gonna be hanged in the courtyard, it sounds like they're planning on poisoning Sync. For all we know, they could have already poisoned him!"

I crossed my arms. "I hope it is poison. I taught Sync and Asch a long time ago how to remove poison from their bodies using Energies. Poison is something Sync can survive. But I can think of a dozen other ways they could kill him that he wouldn't be able to live through."

Dark cringed. "Okay, enough talk of death, please."

I flinched. "You know what I just realized...?" The morbid fascination in my tone was probably what made Tear blanche. "Death is just one letter off from being Daath... No wonder I don't get along with this place..."

"Morbid thought... What are we going to do?" Guy asked. I frowned and looked up at Tear.

"You've been in the cathedral for at least part of your training, yes?" I asked. She nodded. "Drills, patrols, breakfast, I need to know timing, as much as you can remember."

She nodded, then took a deep breath and started listing off the basic schedule, as best as she could given that she hadn't been down there in over a year. Once I had a basic idea, I pulled out a piece of paper and started scribbling things down. Then I crossed my arms and looked up at our little group.

"Alright... Twilight, you're going to have to act independently. If the reactions, or lack thereof, from the citizens is any indication, ligers walking around are rather common. You'll be our lookout. Dark, you're taking Sorylle with you. She's quiet on her feet, and you're a former assassin. Get Ion out. Tear, you're going to be operating by yourself as well. You've got an Oracle Knights uniform, make use of it to get into headquarters and find Natalia. Anise, similar thing as Tear, except you're going to stop in Ion's room first. Sync may not like it, but his replica status may work to our advantage."

"What about us?" Guy asked. I frowned.

"You're coming with me below headquarters. Your target is Asch. Mine is Jade. Any questions?"

Fun Fact: Kairi's comment about just realizing the thing with Death and Daath? Yeah. That was completely spur-of-the moment because I'd just realized it.