Start at 53 if you haven't already.

Please make note of the beginning of this chapter. Yeah. It's rather important for the transition between Re:A Spatial Tear and its sequel, An Echo Through Time.

That said... Raspberry smoothies are tasty. –nods-

Oh, and my comments that Jade was a Jedi? Now Seth is a Jedi.

Sorry for the randomness... One last thing. Beware the Memory! (This one is actually important...)

I'm going to go attack Colored Ripples right after this. Might want to go over there once you're done here.

Enjoy!

"She's probably been conscious." –Zion

*It's... not terribly exciting down here.* -Natalia

'Damn you, Mohs.' –Kairi

Chapter 6.3 – Conflicts and Sidequests
Part 57

Energies swarmed around me. In, out, lashing out against the pain, against the machine that threatened to tear me apart.

Someone else screamed, another person yelled something, and then the pain faded. The Energies refused to settle, dancing around my body wildly.

"Don't touch her!" a male voice yelled. It sounded like Sync, but wasn't...

Zion. That was Zion.

"What the hell was that?!" another voice, an angry voice. Danté. Danté was there too. And... Rhunön and Meryl. Where were they?

"Meryl? Are you alright?" That was Rhunön.

"Y-yes... What... Why...? Did she... big sister..."

"We got her out, Meryl. We got her out," Rhunön said, comforting the panicking replica.

So. My replica data had been taken anyway. Somehow.

"Now what?" Another voice... Luke? "What about Kairi? Is she going to be okay?"

"Don't touch her," Zion warned again.

I forced my eyes open, and immediately shut them again as bright light assaulted me. Then I forced them open once more.

Energies danced around me, a wild, uncoordinated dance, and so many of them that they were visible to the naked eye. Luke stood over me, hand in front of his chest where he'd likely retracted it after Zion's order.

"She's conscious," Danté said. Zion huffed.

"She's probably been conscious."

I felt the urge to say something snarky, but couldn't. Why couldn't I speak? Why couldn't I move at all?

"Zion, her body!" Luke sounded, and looked, panicked. The green-haired teen cursed.

"Dammit! This wasn't supposed to happen. And now we can't even touch her to stop whatever's going on."

What was going on? My Energy Core was completely stable, that I was sure of. But why...?

Of course. My body. My Doppelganger body.

I closed my eyes again and, with a great deal of willpower, forced myself out of my body. Multiple gasps followed this, and I glanced around. My body was, as expected, blinking in and out of existence in some places. But everyone was staring... At me. I poked at Luke's mind gently, not wanting to alert Zion of my actions. Then I saw it.

The field of Energies! They were collecting around me, giving me form... albeit, a very fuzzy form, if what Luke saw was any indication. I turned to my body and started stabilizing it.

The Energies collapsed around me as I worked, and I realized suddenly why they were so wild. They were my body, what had separated from the rest in the violence of my replica data being taken. I pulled them into place, then slipped back into my body myself, dragging the last few hundred of them with me as I did so.

The human body contains thousands of Energies at any given time. Doppelgangers have more than twice that.

More than two-thirds of my Energies had been floating around me in the wake of replication.

I pulled myself together as forcefully as I could before the exhaustion of fixing myself finally sank in, and the world bled into blackness.

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

I woke again in the darkness, and groaned at the ache in my body.

"Kairi?"

The whispered name brought me back to full consciousness, even if my body refused to move more than necessary. I rolled out of my body and looked around. I was back in my cell... Or rather, a cell. Natalia had sounded far too close to be where she was last I'd checked.

I looked around, stepped out of my cell, and kept looking. Sure enough, Natalia was in the cell to my left, and I stepped in, pulling Energies together and poking her mind.

*Kairi?* she echoed. I started feeding Energies into her body and Energy Core.

*Yes?*

*They replicated you, too, didn't they?*

*Yes. I pray, if we must be on opposite sides, I can kill her before Jade finds her.*

*What are you doing?*

Ah, so she'd noticed. *Healing you.*

Natalia was quiet for a while. *Thank you.*

Neither of us spoke for a time, as I simply filtered Energies through her body. Then, with great reluctance, I allowed myself to snap back to my body, maintaining the connection with Natalia.

*How did they end up capturing you, anyway?* I wondered.

Natalia sighed. *I... Danté caught me off-guard.*

I frowned, noting how quiet her voice seemed. Then I sighed. *Will you show me?*

*Show you?*

*Just remember it. I can do the rest.*

Natalia was reluctant, but she agreed. She didn't seem to want to have to explain it in words, which made this easier. She started focusing on the memory, and I carefully wrapped my mind around hers, knowing full well I'd be seeing things from her point of view.

I sighed, coming to a stop on the beach and folding my hands in front of me. I hoped Tear hadn't been woken up by my leaving...

"Seems some of us are having trouble sleeping."

I jumped a bit, glancing at the familiar black hair and green eye I could see before looking out over the water again. "I was just thinking..."

"About?"

"You... and Asch."

I was conflicted. Asch was the boy I'd grown up with, the boy who had proposed to me as a child, the one I'd loved for years... so why was I feeling that way toward the man next to me now?

"I see."

The cold, callous way he had said it made me turn to Dark with a frown, only to notice something I hadn't initially seen.

My heart rate picked up as I realized that the teen next to me wasn't Dark, but Danté.

I turned to run, only for Danté's arm to lash out and grab mine. I opened my mouth. It wasn't very dignifying, but screaming might get the attention of the ligers, at least.

Another hand covered my mouth before the first sounds could escape, and then the hand restraining my arm moved.

Something hit my neck before the world went black.

I frowned and pulled away from Natalia's memories. *I see...*

Discomfort seemed to creep across the connection. *I'm sorry... That part about Asch and Dark was awkward for you, wasn't it?*

I sighed. *Not really,* I replied. Well, it was the truth. *Do you know how long it's been since then?*

*It's been a few days since you got here. I think I got here a day or two before you.*

I nodded to myself. *And who all was in Chesedonia?*

*Everyone except you.*

*Asch, Sync, Dark, Reighn, Jade, Guy, you, Tear, Anise, Ion, the two ligers... Who am I missing?*

*Seth and Selenia.*

I thought that over in my head. Dark would be coming, and with Dark would come the ligers. Asch, probably, and Sync with him. And Reighn... Would Seth come?

*Dark, Sorylle, Twilight, Asch, Sync, Reighn, Seth... No, that's too many. They wouldn't leave the others without so many short-range fighters... Sync would probably be the one to stay behind,* I thought, letting Natalia hear it. She seemed confused, and I rolled my eyes. *Well they're obviously not going to let us sit here and rot.*

Natalia seemed to agree. *So, um... what should we do while we're waiting? It's... not terribly exciting down here.*

I laughed, pulling her mind a little closer and thinking back. She'd shared a memory with me, so it was only fair I did the same.

Three or four days later (I wasn't sure, as I didn't have anything to judge time with) found me sitting across from Natalia on the second plane, tossing a ball of fire Energies at her. She countered with water, then threw a second orb of water at me. I countered with earth.

Then, before I could summon up another ball of Energies, I heard it. Growling.

The two of us exchanged glances and stood, racing out into the hallway without a care for the bars in the way. Something large came tumbling down the stairs, and as it stood and shook out its fur coat, I realized with some surprise that it was Sorylle. Her fur had gone from pale gray-green to a deep sea green color, which is why I hadn't initially recognized her.

Kallig came down next, Twilight right on his heels, and a green-haired teen following them carefully.

A green-haired teen who certainly wasn't Sync, though he wore Sync's clothes. *Ion? What's he doing here?*

*Getting us out, apparently,* Natalia said, pointing to the keys in his hand. I snapped back to my body and stood up, just in time for Ion to stop outside. I crossed my arms.

"What happened to Sync?" I asked. Ion blinked up at me a moment before unlocking the cell.

"He didn't want to risk sending me back to Daath alone, and we couldn't break the groups up any more than we already had to in order to come get you two," he said, already moving down to the next cell, where Natalia was standing ready as well. I stepped out and looked over at the three ligers.

Then I heard the gunshots, and my mind shot out, catching Dark's quickly.

*Hurry! I can't hold him off long!* Dark said without so much as a greeting. I nodded to myself and started racing for the stairs, Ion and Natalia behind me. I waved them on ahead.

"Twilight, Sorylle!"

The two ligers growled an acknowledgement, Sorylle turning to follow me almost immediately, while Twilight got off one last lightning bolt before doing the same.

Dark and Danté were squared off in the four-way crossroads, Danté bleeding from two wounds, Dark bleeding from just one. I smirked, once again reminded that Dark's guns were quite useful indeed.

Dark glanced at me before firing another shot at Danté. *Seth and Reighn went to get your wing packs. I hope you two are ready to move, because we haven't got a lot of time to do so,* Dark said, sensing Natalia's mind connected to ours. I nodded, summoning Silver Clematis and striking out at Danté, who cried out in surprise as the blade narrowly missed him.

"Where the hell—?!"

"You missed something," I taunted. Indeed, they had completely forgotten to take Silver Clematis, and there had been no way I was going to hand it over to them. Which was why I hadn't summoned it until then.

"Dork," Dark muttered. I got the impression it was aimed at me. Well, not the first time I've been called that.

I frowned when I heard what sounded like three gunshots all at once. Dark and Danté both had a habit of not shooting both guns at once, so why...?

I spotted a flash of silver from where Ion was standing, and almost stumbled over in shock. Where the hell had he gotten guns from?

"Fight now, questions later," Dark called. I nodded and made another run at Danté, jumping out of the way of another bullet and slashing at him.

He jumped back, only to be knocked to the side by Reighn.

The blue-haired man slipped past him, Seth on his heels... Dressed like a Jedi.

I grinned like an idiot. So Emperor Peony had made those clothes after all.

Seth tossed me a wing pack, then threw one to Natalia. I glanced down at the one in my hand and frowned. Gold and sea-green?

Natalia held out one that was silver and violet, and I happily exchanged hers for mine. Then we took off running, following Seth back out of the hideout. Fitting, I suppose. He did used to be one of them, after all.

Or was he still one of them? Zion had commented multiple times on what the group had been up to, but he'd never left me and Van. So where had he gotten the information?

I hated to start pointing fingers, but Seth was the most likely leak.

Still, if Seth was supposed to be a mole for Zion... why was he here?

I forced it out of my mind for the time being. I didn't have a choice, given the circumstances. Seth would be trusted until he proved that he didn't deserve that trust. And he hadn't proved anything yet.

"It's up here, just past—gah!"

"Sis!"

My eyes widened, and I came to a halt, just barely avoiding being speared by my replica, though her hair was duller than mine and her eyes didn't carry the gold tints mine did. Natalia's replica stood behind her. "Mirage... Meryl..." I crossed my arms. "Let us past."

Meryl shook her head. "No! It's your fault my sister doesn't have most of her memories. Rhunön said there's still time to get the missing memories back!"

"What the hell is she talking about?" Dark asked. I rolled my eyes.

"We don't have time for this," I grumbled, jumping forward and throwing Mirage out of the way before she could react. False memories or not, I still had more experience than she did. Once she was out of the way, I grabbed Meryl, throwing her against the wall and holding Silver Clematis to her throat. My eyes were on Mirage, though. "This blade is poisoned. You won't find the antidote before she's dead."

Mirage's eyes widened, and she reacted much as I'd hoped she would.

That is, she started cursing at me, but didn't make any move to stop the others moving past. Once the others were clear, I withdrew Silver Clematis and started running. Mirage ran to Meryl first, and a few frantic hand gestures were all it took to get the others moving.

Once we were above ground again, I turned to Seth. "You're bleeding. Let me help."

He jumped in surprise, and sat down reluctantly as I held my hands over his wound, where Mirage had stabbed him with her sword. She had been right-handed, I'd noticed.

"What was that about? Memories? Replicas don't have memories of before they're created... So how old are those two? And the one you called Meryl... She looked like Natalia..." Dark said. I closed my eyes, working with the Energies reflexively.

"That's because she's a replica of Natalia. Rhunön has figured out how to program false memories into replicas... though it seems she can only do a few months' worth without problems cropping up. Mirage is a replica of me... she was created after Meryl, but Meryl believes she is her older sister. It seems Rhunön has convinced her that I was somehow holding Mirage captive within my body..." I said. I pulled away from Seth and helped him up before glancing around. "What happened to the others?"

Dark crossed his arms. "Sync went back to Daath, against most of our wishes. Asch is going back to Baticul, much as he doesn't want to, because there's no one else King Ingobert will listen to. And Natalia..." He trailed off here, and my eyes widened as I realized what bombshell Mohs must have dropped before they split up.

"What? Dark? What's wrong?" Natalia asked. Dark sighed.

"Mohs... Seems to have found evidence that you... aren't... actually the princess."

'Damn you, Mohs.'

Fun Fact: So... I'd had Mirage planned since about halfway through A Ripple in the Abyss. No, not Re:ARitA, the first one. (Well, technically the second, but that's beside the point.) Meryl... Was not planned until about four chapters before I stopped and went back to the beginning for the re-write. So yeah. I'm glad to finally get these two into the cast.