Hehe... This chapter was both amusing and irritating to write. Amusing because, well... You'll see. Anyway... There's a CR chapter that goes along with this, but I haven't written it yet. Also, if you want a picture of Asch's new outfit... It's drawn, but I haven't uploaded it to DeviantART yet. (Wanna shoot me yet? Hold your horses a moment.)

This is the first of at least five updates you're getting tonight. Yes, you read that right. FIVE. Why? Because I've missed two Wednesday updates and the update I was gonna do on Dad's birthday. The other two are for tomorrow (Valentine's present for everyone) and next Wednesday (just because everything's been so crazy and I don't see it calming down anytime soon). Some CR chapters may be put up as well, finally. (If you want to skip down to the chapter from here, feel free.)

And about things being crazy... Tea is re-writing BotM, helping me fill Tony in on everything he's missed in the year and a half he's been MIA, and she's also trying to help Daniel do the last edits on Other Side of the Mirror, which is a parallel universe to the Bloodline universe Tony's story is based in. (And that tells you what Daniel's up to.) Tony is planning to re-write Bloody Nightshade and Bloody Heirloom to line up a little neater with Daniel's OSotM. Also, he had no idea that Book 3 of the Bloodline Trilogy would be a Co-op with Daniel when he started writing Bloody Nightshade, so he set stuff up that is now useless.

Now that you know what my friends are up to, consider this: I beta-read for Kuro Tamashi's 'A Demon in the Shadows' (and I'm doing a chapter of' Awakening' this week since that beta is way behind). I'm beta-reading for Tea's re-write (this may or may not be dropped, as Daniel might take over for me). I'm currently reading through the original manuscript of Bloody Nightshade and making notes (over fifty already, and I'm not even five chapters in) for Tony. AND I'm a college student.

So, no. Don't expect regular updates. I will be sure to get you guys everything I owe you when I can, but weekly updates probably won't be coming back for about a month.

In the meantime, however... Enjoy!

(Also, anyone remember my 'Jade is a Jedi' comment from back in Part... um... 16. Wow. I've had this done for a long time. Anyway... Yeah. There's your mental image for the chapter.)

"Kairi and Sync's sleeping schedule must finally be wearing off on me." – Asch

"Is that one of my sweatshirts?" –Jade

Chapter 5.6 – Almost War
Part 53

Asch's POV

I was ready to curse at someone by the time I was able to drop Jade on his bed in the palace. Between carrying him and fighting a monster between where they'd dropped me and the checkpoint in Theor Forest, I was exhausted. My clothes were in horrible shape, no longer able to stand up to the strain I'd been putting them through. Hopefully Emperor Peony had the projects Kairi and I had given him done.

I'd been more than a little anxious about letting Emperor Peony make clothing for me, but Kairi had brushed it off with a devious grin that I'd decided long ago was best to ignore.

I wandered into the 'living room' of Jade's apartments, took one look at the couch, and decided I wasn't in the mood to go to my own rooms. I barely even managed to get my boots off before I was sprawled out right there, fast asleep within minutes.

I woke up the next morning wondering which cruel deity had decided I needed to channel Kairi for a day. Five a.m. I woke up at five a.m.! And rolling over didn't help, since I just rolled off the couch.

I ended up starting the day a lot earlier than normal. I had to filch a shirt from Jade's closet since I doubted Peony was awake yet. Breakfast in the kitchens, then out to a training field.

I must have spent two hours out there, just slipping through the sword stances Van had taught me over the years. It was... relaxing, really, and all of a sudden, I could see why Kairi enjoyed doing something like this with her eyes closed whenever she was sure she was on flat ground.

Step, step, swing, shift, step-thrust, back, step, swing, swing, step...

"Are you practicing the sword or dancing?"

I scowled, opening my eyes again and looking for the idiot who'd interrupted me. Never again will I snap at Kairi for grumbling at me after I've distracted her.

I cooled down a bit when I realized that my audience was none other than Emperor Peony, and I sheathed my sword with a sigh. "Good morning."

One blonde eyebrow arched over an obviously bemused blue eye, and I rolled my eyes. "I've been up for hours already. It's as good a morning as it's going to get at this point."

The emperor chuckled and crossed his arms, suddenly becoming serious again. "As great as it is to see you unharmed after that hyperresonance, I heard you brought my Jade back unconscious. I sent a medic to him first thing this morning, and he came back with some news that I'd like to have explained."

I sighed. "Here isn't the place to talk. We should head up to his rooms, or yours, if you'd rather."

He nodded, turning and heading back to the palace. I followed without a word.

"By the way, your clothes are done. And I've made some for Jade too, if you think you can talk him into wearing them."

I rolled my eyes. "I take it we're heading to your rooms, then?"

"No, I had them delivered when the medic went to see Jade. You must have gotten a very early start if he missed you."

I snorted. "Kairi and Sync's sleeping schedule must finally be wearing off on me." He chuckled at that.

The two of us stepped into Jade's apartments fifteen minutes later, and I crossed my arms, striding over to Jade and literally pushing him into the nearest chair. "Sit, stay, you shouldn't be up as it is. Damn. I didn't expect you awake for another day or two," I ordered, mumbling the last part. Jade gave me a half-hearted glare.

"Why are we back in Grand Chokmah? Engeve—"

"Is being taken care of by people who don't have mass amounts of miasma in their bodies. Besides, you're dead weight with the state you're in."

Jade's attempt at a glare softened, and I turned back to the emperor. "I take it the miasma is what you were informed of?" I asked, since he didn't look surprised. He nodded.

"The miasma... and his sudden status as a seventh fonist."

"What?!"

I flinched, before looking back at Jade. "That... Alright. I guess I should start from the beginning." I glanced at Emperor Peony, who sat down on the couch, and sighed as I moved so I could see both of them. "We went to Shurrey Hill to see if we could stop St. Binah from sinking into the mantle. I let Jade fix the passage ring after we'd gotten it opened. But the passage ring is pulling up contaminated seventh fonons from the core, and it dumps those into the nearest human body twice. Once when we start the terminal up, and again when we shut it down."

"Asch took the first dose, then let me open the valve. I also disabled Van's lock. The only one protecting the passage ring now is the Yulian Seal. At any rate... Well, Asch did tell me not to take my hand off the terminal. I just figured that since I was done, it would be fine if it closed and locked back up. I didn't know about the miasma," Jade said. I sighed.

"Unfortunately... Once we got back to the Albiore, not only was your body taking the brunt of the miasma, but your fonslots were reacting negatively to the insane amounts of seventh fonons. I'm glad Kairi told me how to force the mutation present in the fonslots of seventh fonists, because you'd be long dead by now if she hadn't. Of course, if there's a way to undo it, I don't know it. Besides, if you're going to be stubborn and continue operating the sephiroth, you're going to need it to stay in place," I said, noting the expressions across Jade's face as I went. He obviously hadn't been happy about being a seventh fonist, which I could understand, since Kairi had told me what had happened with him and Professor Nebillim, but still.

"So Jade's stuck as a seventh fonist?" the emperor asked. I shrugged.

"I don't know. Kairi might be able to reverse the mutation, but I don't want to risk it. I'm not as good with Energies as she is."

"Which reminds me. You still need to teach me how to flush the miasma out of my system," Jade noted. I nodded.

"I know. I haven't had a chance to flush my body either."

"Is that one of my sweatshirts?"

"My shirt was in shreds."

The emperor laughed at the odd turn our conversation had taken and grabbed the two bundles next to him. I noted that both were dark brown in color, though one seemed to have a bit of dull red through it. I sighed, assuming that one was mine. Sure enough, it got tossed to me, the other practically smacking Jade in the face.

"Here. And before either of you grumble, remember that this is partially Kairi's fault."

Jade made a face. "Asch, I can understand, but why me?"

The blonde monarch grinned. "Oh, just a conversation we had a long time ago. I think you might actually like those."

"And anyway, it's not like you can be running around in your uniform when we join up with the others. People will wonder why there are suddenly two of Colonel Curtiss," I added. Jade looked up at me before his eyes narrowed.

"He didn't."

"Before you murder Seth, it was my idea," I said. "There's no way they're getting the citizens of Engeve out without a Malkuth officer present."

Jade was silent for a moment before he sighed, looked at the bundle, and reluctantly headed into his bedroom. I headed for the bathroom after nodding to the emperor.

Pulling the bundle apart was one thing, and I noted with some amusement that Kairi and Peony really did have some taste. Although the tough leather armor that was neatly stitched into the black pants in something of a scale design had probably been Kairi's idea.

I pulled those on first, then a gray turtleneck. Gray, fingerless gloves fell out from the folded top, and I ended up pulling those on next. Then a pair of bell-rimmed boots. These were dark brown, with red around the bottom edge of the fold.

That just left the red-lined brown coat and the belt. I examined the coat a moment before deciding to put the belt on first. The coat was then pulled on, tails nearly reaching my ankles in back. There was a very definite gap in the front, making it obvious that it wasn't supposed to close all the way. That was fine. Black laces kept it closed enough.

I stepped out and noted that Jade had somehow changed faster than I had. I couldn't help but smirk a bit.

"Not bad."

Jade had his hands shoved in the pockets of a dark brown cloak. "No, it isn't, really. I'm still planning on foisting them off on Seth the moment we find him, though."

The emperor chuckled. "Well, I'm heading back to my project room. Will you guys be seeing Kairi soon? Hers are done, too."

I frowned. "Honestly? It would probably be best if you held onto hers. She's... not with the rest of the group, so we might not see each other again for weeks."

He nodded and left then, and I sighed and looked at Jade, who was giving me a very pointed look. I groaned softly and sat down in a chair, closing my eyes. "Sit, get comfortable, and remember that I'm not as crazy as I sound."

Jade chuckled a bit, and I heard shifting fabric. I took a deep breath and thought back to Baticul, to Kairi explaining to Dark how to come onto the second plane. I'd figured it out on my own while stuck in her body, and she'd taught Sync when I wasn't there.

"Please tell me you've meditated before," I muttered.

"Yes. My adoptive parents forced me through it after..." he trailed off, and I sighed.

"Good. This is similar to that. You're looking inside yourself. Kairi always says to look for a light... I guess that's what hers is? Well, whatever you're looking for, it's going to be a little different than everything else. Calmer, steady... Don't tell me when you've found it. Just hold onto it."

I went ahead and reached inside myself. Digging through my spirit felt like trying to swim in a hurricane. Finding my center was the calm part, the eye of the storm.

I stepped out of my body and glanced at Jade. A moment later, something shifted, and I smiled.

*You can hear me, can't you? Don't reply out loud, you'll knock yourself back off of this plane.*

Jade's eyes seemed open and closed at the same time, and then he stood up, eyes dancing around in wonder.

*This is...?*

*Yeah. Kairi and I can use the poison-flushing trick without leaving our bodies, but you and Sync don't have enough spirit Energies for that,* I explained. Jade turned to look at me again, and I waved my hand around. Energies trailed after my hand, and once I'd collected up the water, moon, and sun Energies I needed, I paused. I pulled a few fire Energies over as well.

*I'm starting to understand now what Kairi meant about fonons being mutated Energies,* Jade commented, randomly drawing a few of the glowing orbs in. Mostly earth Energies, I noted. He looked over at what I was collecting, letting those he'd gathered float off again. *Water Energies for cleansing...*

I blinked. *You know, or you're just guessing?*

*Kairi mentioned it in Akzeriuth, when she was cleaning up the gash in my leg.*

I nodded. *I see. The fire Energies have a similar purpose here. They lend strength to the water, which is why this works on the miasma where regular antidotes wouldn't.*

*And the silver and gold?*

*Moon and sun Energies. Moon Energies give the lesser Energies shape, sun Energies give them solidity.*

The rest of the next two hours went something like this, with Jade either making observations or asking questions and me doing my best to keep up with him. Some of what he wanted to know was stuff that I'd never even thought about before, while other parts were things that I realized I did so instinctually that I didn't even know how I was doing.

It was a rather interesting experience, to say the least. And we did, at least, manage to get all of the miasma out of our systems.

The two of us were sitting in the emperor's quarters that evening eating with aforementioned monarch when Jade brought up the question I'd been waiting for since he had woken up.

"When are we going to go rejoin the others?"

I frowned and thought about it. It had been two days or so since we'd been dropped off. It would take us at least two days, possibly three to get to Chesedonia if we hurried and left the next morning. So...

"We're leaving tomorrow at ten. That'll give us enough time to recover from the miasma and restock our supplies," I said. "I'm down to twenty orange gels in my wing pack, I'm out of apple gels, and I've only got two or three each pineapple and lemon gels. I'm completely out of life bottles, too, and I've got maybe five panacea bottles."

Jade frowned and slipped a hand into his pocket, going through his own wing pack before making a face and nodding. "Right... Any clue how much the others have on them?"

I shook my head. "No, but it wouldn't have been much. Remember in the Zao Ruins, when we re-organized everyone's items?"

Emperor Peony raised an eyebrow. "I'm confused," he stated quite plainly. I sighed.

"Kairi, Sync and I set up a system while we were traveling, something that Reighn and more recently Jade and Dark have picked up as well. Based on whether someone's a melee fighter or a fonist, the order's different, but the numbers are the same. Five, ten, ten, fifteen, three, five. Assuming I'm rooting through Jade's bag, since he's a fonist, those numbers are for lemon gels, apple gels, pineapple gels, orange gels, panacea bottles, and life bottles," I explained. "But that's completely discounting what's in our wing packs."

"We pull gels and bottles out of wing packs when we have a chance to replenish the items in our bags. I think at one point, Asch, Reighn, Dark and I had something like a hundred apple gels between us in our wing packs," Jade added.

Emperor Peony nodded. "Right... That makes sense."

Jade sighed and looked over at me. "Well? Should we start making a list?"

I groaned. "You do that, I need to count gald." Between monsters and everything else... it really, really needed to be done.

Jade made a face. "I'll get to work then."

Fun Fact: I'm having fun differentiating between everyone's centers. Kairi's is a light (so is Sync's, interestingly enough), Asch's is the eye of hurricane, Dark's is warmth among ice... Wonder what Jade's is...?