-pokes head into an empty room- Aww... I feel so abandoned... Oh well. I'll keep posting anyways, just for the personal satisfaction.

Also, if anyone cares to go look at my new profile pic... have fun staring Flick in the eye. -nods smartly- I started that last night and picked up on it again this morning and it took a total of about six hours. Those kinds of pics don't usually take that long, but the mask was a bitch.

Hmm... Anyone want to see someone else? It has to be an OC, of course, but I'm happy to draw those kinds of pictures any time, so if you want me to replace Flick with someone in specific, say something.

That said... Enjoy!

I raised my arms and stuck them behind my head in a rather Sora-esque pose. "Well. It's nice and crowded," came my sarcastic comment.

Reighn rolled his eyes. "Yes, and we've now managed to lose Ion, Natalia, Luke, Dark, and Sorylle. This is why I asked if you wanted to come in today or tomorrow morning," he said. Seth stuck close to us, not daring to wander off and get lost like the other group probably was. Well, having Twilight close helped.

Crowded streets or not, it was easier to get some breathing room if we had a liger. Good thing Sorylle was with the others. They were probably appreciating it as much as I was.

I felt someone snag onto my field and wondered idly if Dark and the others had finally realized we'd been separated. To that end, I had a nice line of sarcastic comments all lined up and ready.

*Miss me?*

Instead, a huge grin managed to plaster itself across my face.

*Sync!*

The two of us laughed, and Reighn, Seth, and Twilight all gave me odd looks before joining in. *Hey, where's Ion?* Sync asked.

*He's with Luke, Dark, Natalia, and Sorylle.*

*Damn.*

*Sync?* Reighn asked. The teen on the other end sighed.

*Mohs is looking for an excuse to restart the war. If he finds out Natalia and Luke are here...* Sync trailed off. I frowned.

*Who all's in Daath?*

*Me, Mohs, Cantabile, Dist, and Aerith. Legretta's in Belkend, Van is headed that way, Arietta's headed for the Northern Forest, and Largo is in Baticul. Flick should be getting back here any day now,* Sync said. I crossed my arms.

*You and Cantabile aren't a problem... Aerith, Dist, and Mohs could cause a lot of trouble for us, though. And Asch's group is right behind us, Asch is just on the edge of my perception.*

It was quiet for a while as the four of us wandered through the streets, Reighn leading the way through back alleys so as to avoid the busy Remday crowds in the main streets.

*I hate Remdays in Daath,* Reighn muttered, glancing around a corner and turning the other direction. Sync groaned.

*Don't get me started. You have no idea how much I hate sermons right now. I mean, I never liked attending them to begin with. Having to lead them?* He growled in frustration, and Twilight's presence translated it into something along the lines of 'chirpee-fucking mandragora.' Which of course, got everyone's attention.

*Is that normal?* Seth asked. I chuckled.

*Yeah. That's actually pretty mild compared to some of what I've come up with before,* I admitted. *Still, it's amusing to listen to. Gives a good idea of what ligers think of other monsters.*

*The plant monsters are the worst, though,* Twilight added. *With the entire mandrake family taking first place.*

*What about filifolia?* Reighn asked. The liger shook his head.

*Those and their ilk barely bother us. They're weak, and not even worth our time. Mandrakes are simply irritating.*

*Well, that conversation went sideways fast,* Seth muttered.

The rest of us laughed.

"Oh, by all means, laugh while you can."

The four of us, as well as Sync on the other end of the connection, froze and fell silent. Reighn was the first one to move, turning to look down an alley that led to a small open square. Standing in the middle of that area was an all-too familiar face.

"Aerith."

"Reighn."

*The others are sticking to the main road. See if you can find them before Mohs does!* I ordered Sync before snapping the connection. Reighn and Seth glanced back at me, noting that I'd already drawn my katana, since I'd finally tied its sheath back on my belt. Enemy or not, snooty bitch or not, Aerith was still Reighn's sister.

"What do you want, Aerith?" Seth asked, just as prepared to call up his weapon. Reighn's hand was fiddling with his scythe's handle.

"I don't know why Zion wants you so badly, but I don't care right now," she said, looking straight at me. "I'm under orders to eliminate the traitors." Her gaze shifted to Seth, who suddenly seemed to age by at least five years. He sighed.

"So, he caught us."

Aerith snorted. "Did you think he wouldn't?" She pulled her staff from her back, touching the crystal in the center of the 'water drop'. It glowed blue for a long moment before a blue-green fonic blade extended from it. Rather than the scythe that Reighn's was, however, Aerith's staff turned into a glaive. So, she had some close-combat training as well. Well, relatively close.

She moved to run at us, but I beat her to it, rushing between Reighn and Seth and stopping her from starting a battle in a very, very small space. While small spaces were nice for ambushes where the ambushing party was smaller than the ambushed party, it wasn't so great for the larger group.

Which was why I ducked under Aerith's glaive and sent her flying back into the square with a Raging Blast. Seth was right behind me, swallow-blade spinning like a pinwheel as he moved to block off one of the other two exits.

Twilight looked up at me and growled, a set of one short growl and a long growl, then two long growls followed by three short growls. They wouldn't have translated to anything in the liger language, but they meant something to the three of us on his side. They meant 'go cast, I'll keep her away from you.' After all, he didn't have the fingers and thumbs necessary for the hand signals the rest of us used.

I blocked the second alternate exit, while Reighn stayed near the alley we'd come in through.

Seth was already casting, sparrow-blade held aloft as he twirled it, gathering fonons. I stopped as well, pulling in Energies to start corralling the fonons I'd need for my arte. Reighn hesitated, but followed suit after the two of us.

Aerith muttered, slashed the blade of her glaive across Twilight's face and managed to slip past him, heading straight for her brother. Seth unleashed the Dragon's Flower he'd been readying, but she managed to dance around it, barely even being touched by it.

Reighn lifted his head, and just in time to swing his scythe up into position, the blade forming even as he did so.

"I'm sorry Aerith. I don't want to fight you, but you're leaving me with no choice," he said quietly, just loud enough for me to hear. Aerith scoffed.

"Sure. Because 'sorry' always fixes everything," she muttered, pushing back against him and then jumping to the side as Twilight tried to jump her. He and Reighn barely avoided falling over, while Aerith turned to run at Seth, her target.

"It's certainly a start," I said, ready to unleash my own arte now. "Stone Gate!"

Aerith didn't move fast enough to avoid this one completely, but it certainly didn't stop her from continuing to go after Seth. Reighn ran in after her, apparently deciding that since it was his sister we were fighting, he was the one who would have to be responsible for her. Twilight's growls of protest were completely ignored, and I sighed as he padded over to me. With the way Reighn and Aerith were fighting, there was no way Twilight would be able to get in and do any damage. He'd have more luck with throwing his Thunder Lances at her every few minutes.

"If he wants to do it, I'm not going to stop him. The least I can do at this point is be ready to support him," I said softly, putting a hand in his mane even as I was letting off an Infernal Prison. Reighn jumped back, letting Aerith disappear in a cage of blue fire. Hmm... Blue hair and black and gray clothes, and blue fire on gray stone? Maybe I should use the regular arte.

Aerith jumped back out of the fire, spinning around to give extra momentum to her strike. Reighn's blade intercepted hers, dark royal blue clashing with dark blue-green, before the two split apart again.

Aerith slipped around Reighn's next swing, her glaive held at such an angle that I was sure she wasn't planning to hit him with it. And I was right. Her left hand came out, bundle of fonons already gathered. "Shatter! Frigid Blast!"

Reighn grunted, being tossed away along with a number of sharp ice shards. I flinched, then attempted to drop Cluster Raid on Aerith. She dodged it, as usual, running to the empty part of the square and gathering up fonons at an almost alarming speed. I didn't bother casting again, running at her with every intention of interrupting her. Twilight was right behind me, while Seth was preparing a healing arte for Reighn.

"Slumber in merciful ice! Frigid Coffin!"

The arte hit Reighn just before Seth's Healing Circle lit up under him. And it was probably a good thing it did, because Reighn didn't sound too happy about it.

Twilight and I reached Aerith just before she could get her glaive between her and us, which meant we just needed to keep an eye out for her Frigid Blast and whatever else she's got.

"Demon Fist!"

Like that thing, that did a wonderful job of tripping me up.

Twilight grabbed me by the cape and drug me out of the way of her glaive, successfully making me gag in the process. An apologetic growl and an exasperated glance thrown toward Seth later, and I was back on my feet.

Aerith ran past us to strike at Reighn again. "You know, Matthias was onto something before he died."

Reighn missed a step, barely avoiding losing an arm by virtue of jumping back at the last moment. His scythe came around in a smooth arc. "What are you talking about?"

Aerith's laugh was nothing short of demented, even as she unleashed her over-limit to knock me and Twilight away. I scowled, barely pulling off a mid-air flip and landing in a crouch.

"You know what I'm talking about. That scroll that Mom wouldn't let even you, the prodigal son of the Aurelius line, look at. The one that I always made fun of for being covered in so much dust..."

Reighn's expression was caught somewhere between horror and wonder.

Aerith chose then to unleash her Mystic Arte, and as the background faded out to a nebula, I braced myself. If we were all still solid, that meant...

"Feel the first beats of time! Fall!" I flinched. Yup. It was a mass-target arte. Actually, wasn't it one of Arietta's? "Big Bang!"

Pressure collapsed in on me from every side, and I grunted, hitting the ground even as it returned. Reighn was the only one still standing, and even then, just barely. He started gathering fonons, while Twilight got up and moved to start harassing Aerith for a bit. Once I was sure nothing was broken and Seth was okay, I got up too.

I noted that Reighn looked conflicted, but brushed it off as him being forced to attack Aerith seriously. I slashed at her and then ducked under her glaive. Seth dropped another Dragon's Flower on her, but it didn't do much. I scowled, starting to wonder just how difficult one girl could be.

I ran in again, making use of the field of fonons to pull a Burning Havoc on her. Then I just started slashing at her. I was close enough that her long weapon couldn't hit me to do much damage. Three slashes, a Raging Blast, and a Guardian Field later, Aerith got up and decided to let me in on the fact that Draconic Soul wasn't a scythe-exclusive strike arte. I huffed at the gash across my stomach, even though the next Guardian Field healed it right up. I was starting to get very, very irritated with Reighn's little sister.

That was about when Reighn decided he was going to unleash something new. A larger-than-normal fonic glyph surrounded him, glowing in a soft, icy but brilliant blue as opposed to Reighn's usual dulled silver-blue. "Maiden of ice who sleeps in the silent forest..."

Aerith's jaw dropped, arms going slack. "Impossible!"

Reighn didn't pause once. "Grace my enemies with your pure smile and offer them thy bosom!" Silver eyes snapped open, seeming to glow with the same icy blue of the fonic glyph around his feet. "Final Embrace!"

Ice shot up around Aerith, locking her in something of a cage even as a frigid gale let loose. A large chunk of ice formed above the cage, and once the winds faltered, it fell, shattering over the girl within.

Aerith grunted, hitting the ground and not getting up as the arte faded.

A dull thump told me that Reighn wasn't in great shape either. I turned to see him on his knees, breathing hard, eyes still locked on Aerith.

"She'll live. I didn't let that hit her at full power. I'd have wiped myself out much like Dark did if I had... This is why forbidden artes are forbidden," he said. He took a deep breath and pushed himself to his feet, forcing his way over to his sister's side. Judging from the struggle that had been, he wouldn't be moving about freely for a while. "They're powerful, yes. But the magick costs are deadly if the caster isn't careful..."

I crossed my arms. "I'd like to learn one, one day. If for no other reason than to see if using Energies won't bypass that excessive magick drain," I said. Reighn looked up at me and shrugged.

"I don't know. I'm planning on teaching Jade three of them, because once that fon slot seal's gone, he's got the magick reserves for it. Mine are shot because of Aerith locking them down tight for so long. Even a fully-powered Final Embrace shouldn't have brought me to my knees like this," he admitted.

Reighn looked down at Aerith, blue hair falling in his face for a moment as he looked thoughtful. "I'm going to stay here to recover. If Aerith found us, chances are pretty high that Dist or Mohs will find the others. I'm in no shape to be moving right now, and it's not fair to make Twilight carry both of us. I'd rather not leave Aerith alone back here."

Seth frowned. "If we leave you here, the three of us will get lost."

I nodded. "I have no sense of direction in cities," I added. Reighn rolled his eyes and pointed.

"Just follow that alley. It'll run straight into the side of the cathedral. Head left from there and follow the wall around to the front. I'll catch up as soon as I can," he said. I nodded, sword sheathed once more and Twilight and Seth on my heels.

Little did I know it was the last time I would see Reighn myself for a long time.

Fun Fact: I had Flick in Baticul originally while Largo was due back, but then I realized that Flick is supposed to show up in the chapter after next. Whoops. Oh, we also get to meet another new character in that chapter! (Or maybe the chapter after that... Huh... Not totally sure... Oh well.) The new charrie is canon to Tales of the Abyss, by the way, so feel free to try to guess.