Whoo! NaNoWriMo time! Which, of course, means I've got to finish writing, editing, AND posting Re:AST by December 1st. Erk... On that note, Tea's characters have gone on vacation after all the prodding they've been doing for Boundaries of the Mind over the last six months, so she's basically told me to send everything to her as I finish it so she has something to do other than her very light senior year homework. (She did the same thing I did, hehe...) Yeek, hard to believe it's her senior year... Yikes.
Okay, on to Luke's POV! (And then a bunch more updates, now that Rialle and Bela are finally cooperating...)
Oh, HUGE thanks to Coren024 for beta'ing again! (Even though it took me forever to upload afterwards...)
*Sitting in the library just inside the cathedral and wondering when that coffee pot was put there.* -Kairi
"Relax. No one comes back here. Habit from avoiding me when I'm pissed off. Though I'm kinda glad Kairi never got that memo." -Asch
"I'd been trying to avoid that part of the memory." -Jade
Luke's POV
I don't know how long it took me to notice it, and that fact worried me almost as much as it did when I realized it, but...
"Uh... Where are the others?"
Dark, Natalia, Ion, and Sorylle paused, all of them turning to look at me like I was crazy before Dark and Ion frowned, realizing just what I was talking about. Natalia sighed, shaking her head at us and looked embarrassed.
"Seth pulled away from us almost an hour ago, and took Reighn and Twilight with him. Kairi just kind of followed along. I think he was trying to make our group a bit less... conspicuous," she said. Dark looked around, raised an eyebrow, and crossed his arms.
"They couldn't take us with them? It's fucking crowded out here," he grumbled. Ion sighed, running his hands forward through his hair yet again to make sure it was still in Sync's usual spiky style. He'd gotten rather lax about it over the past month, since everyone already knew it was him, but I'd pointed out that it would seem weird if he walked into Daath when there was already an Ion there.
"It's Remday. What the hell did you expect?"
The five of us turned, another group walking up to us, Asch right in front.
I felt like someone had just poured a dozen buckets' worth of ice water over me.
"Asch. Everyone's settled in the Qliphoth for now?" I asked, months of dealing with Van and Zion pounding discipline into me being my saving grace for once.
He looked at me, and for just a moment, I wondered if that really was pity buried deep in those emerald eyes.
"Yeah. We should head up to the cathedral. I'm not looking forward to Sync's bitching, but we'd better get it over with," he said. Ion looked baffled.
"Bitching?" he echoed softly. Asch snorted.
"You realize being stuck in Daath under the guise of Fon Master means he's had to lead the Remday sermons since arriving here, right? Sync never did like them before. I highly doubt his opinion of them has increased since being stuck on the other side of the podium." The dull, unamused look Asch gave him spoke volumes of how serious my original was being.
My original...
"Luke? Something wrong?"
I felt my heart jump up into my throat, and I turned to Guy forcing a smile for the man who, it seemed, cared little for the guy he was supposed to be serving. "It's nothing. I'm just wondering who's gonna give Asch a worse headache. Sync, for the reasons he's already stated, or Kairi, because he gave her one hell of a migraine when he cut me off the other week."
Okay, that was lame. Really, really lame. But judging from the expressions Asch, Dark, Natalia, and Guy wore, they'd bought it. Tear, Anise, and the other brunette with them were unreadable, while Jade and Ion gave me looks that said 'I'm not buying that and you will tell me the truth later.'
"We should get going. Kairi's got a telepathic field down, I'm tempted to contact her and figure out where she is," Dark said. Asch raised an eyebrow, and now that I'd been made aware of it, I could feel it too.
I mentally poked it, and sure enough, a moment later, I could hear Asch's voice in my mind, even though he wasn't speaking out loud. If the faint presences I could feel were any indication, I wasn't the only one who had decided to listen in.
*Where are you?*
*Sitting in the library just inside the cathedral and wondering when that coffee pot was put there,* Kairi replied.
*Don't you dare drink more than one cup,* Asch grumbled.
*Relax. Between me and Mom, I don't think we'll have too much to worry about... Oh damn.* Sync cut off here, apparently realizing what I'd already noticed.
*MOM?!* Anise and Guy cried. I sighed.
*Well, that escalated quickly,* Jade said. *Wait, where's Reighn? I can sense Seth with you three, but Reighn is...*
*We got jumped by Aerith. Reighn managed to subdue her, but he pulled the same kind of a stunt Dark did to do it and ended up staying behind to recuperate. Luke, Natalia, Ion, look out. If Mohs catches you three, you're screwed, and that's putting it nicely,* Kairi said.
*Wait, stunt? What did Reighn do? What did Dark do for that matter?* Jade asked.
Dark flinched, and Natalia crossed her arms.
I've been told many times that Asch, Father, and I have really scary glares.
Natalia actually glaring at someone is pretty damn scary too, though.
*The idiot about killed himself using a modified version of a forbidden arte.*
Ah. Okay. That made sense.
*Reighn at least put a limit on the one he used, but he was exhausted, and refused to leave Aerith where she'd fallen, so we ended up going on ahead,* Kairi said. *Now get your butts up here! Sync's found some rather interesting information.*
*Coming.* Asch's blunt, one-word comment was the last thing I heard before the connection seemed to break. A moment later, the field was back in place. I didn't bother to 'latch on' again, though. Kairi would probably just get really irritated with me for it, anyway.
Asch started pushing his way through the crowds, a polite smile plastered on his face that got most of the irritated mutters to stop. I watched, silently fascinated. I guess he was used to this. It may have been almost a year since he left the God-Generals, but he was still making his way through the Remday crowd like he'd never left.
Anise and Ion seemed to be in a similar situation.
A shadow flashed through my peripheral vision, and I glanced up, just in time to catch a glimpse of something salmon-colored. A sinking feeling started in my chest, and I looked up toward the cathedral.
"Dist knows we're here," I said. Jade adjusted his glasses.
"I'm amazed you actually saw that," he said. I scowled, remembering again why he'd always rubbed the wrong way. Then again... I paused a moment to actually run that sentence over again in my mind. I settled for giving Jade a rather confused look.
"Saw what?" Dark asked, sounding concerned.
Jade sighed and stuck his hands back in his pockets. "Dist was flying over head, paused, and then flew off again. Actually, I only saw the shadow, but that chair of his is distinct enough to identify even if I can't actually see it."
"It's also a really ugly salmon color," I added, scratching the bridge of my nose. "That's what gave him away for me. None of the local monsters are that color, and I have yet to see any of Arietta's with that shade of fur or feathers."
I got the impression I was being stared at by everyone except Dark, Sorylle, Ion, and Natalia. Ion sighed.
"Get used to that. He does it a lot," he said.
I scowled and crossed my arms, a little bit of my old personality coming back through with my next comment. "Well excuse me if Zion got pissed 'cause I was pretty much useless when they first pulled me out of Akzeriuth." And then... "Urk!"
I clenched my jaw as a wave of fire started flying through my body again. Damn... And I had no clue how to get the miasma out of me, either. Zion wasn't an option anymore...
"Luke?! Are you alright?"
Natalia's worried voice brought me back to reality, and I went to say I was fine again... Only to catch Asch's eyes. I remembered Kairi. Her lips shakily turning up into a smile as she claimed to be alright.
"And how often does Asch believe that?" I'd asked.
I took a deep breath, eyes moving from Asch to Natalia. "No, but there's nothing we can do about it right now. We should get going before Dist comes back."
Asch nodded, and once again, we were moving through the crowds courtesy of him somehow managing to not piss people off.
I found myself at the back of the group once we made it past the insane crowds. Asch had led us through a side alley into a courtyard, one that wasn't exactly easily accessible. Actually...
"Hey, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this courtyard off-limits to people outside the Order of Lorelei?" Dark asked. Asch nodded from where he seemed to be frozen, staring at the tree in the center.
"Yeah..."
"Then we should probably leave before we're caught," Jade said.
"Relax. No one comes back here. Habit from avoiding me when I'm pissed off," Asch said. A wry smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "Though I'm kinda glad Kairi never got that memo."
Everything clicked into place in my head, and from the looks the others were giving Asch, they'd figured it out too.
"So this is where you met Kairi..." Natalia muttered. Asch took a deep breath.
"Yeah... Let's go. I don't dare take you through the hallways to the library from here, but the front door is pretty much just right around the corner," he said, finally moving again.
Jade's hand on my shoulder stopped me from following the other immediately, and I looked up at him. "Yeah?"
His expression was unreadable, but I'd have sworn I saw something in those crimson eyes of his. Once the others were far enough ahead to not overhear, we started walking.
"You've really changed. Five months ago you wouldn't have brushed the pain off like that. You wouldn't have seen Dist. And you certainly wouldn't have been able to fool anyone with your excuse about Sync and Kairi giving Asch a headache."
I sighed, fingers brushing against a still-pink scar that was quite visible on my abdomen, since my new coat barely covered more than the old coat had. "That's not necessarily a good thing," I said. Jade didn't reply for a bit.
"No. And it pains me to have to see what war has turned you into. Asch isn't happy about it either, but he has more pressing things to worry about at present." I looked up at him, and he sighed. "I'd grumble about Kairi managing to turn on all of my older brother habits again, but if Nephry ever heard about it I'd be regretting it dearly."
I smiled a bit. "Jade... Thanks."
He tilted his head to the side, looking at me curiously for a moment before smiling back. "Come on. I think we've dallied long enough."
We entered the cathedral, Jade leading the way to the library. I frowned, wondering when the others had vanished, before deciding I didn't want to bother.
Sure enough, everyone else was standing around a table in there.
"They were right behind us, I swear!" I heard Asch saying. Kairi laughed, pointing to us, and Sync poked his head around my original to give us a nasty look that... looked really disturbing, given that he was dressed up as Ion currently.
"Have a nice vacation?" he asked. Jade shrugged.
"I could ask the same of you."
Sync scowled. "This was not a vacation! Ion and I are switching back as soon as we're done here," he said.
Seth chuckled. "Whatever, princess."
Sync shot Kairi a look, and she smacked Seth upside the head for him.
"Could we please get back to business?" a woman asked dryly. I noted the way Jade was suddenly ramrod straight, and frowned. She looked pretty familiar, but...
"Ah... Hello, Cantabile."
Oh, that's who she was. I hadn't recognized her without the tabard.
"Hey, are the sephiroth supposed to be going out of control?" Anise asked. I blinked.
"Wait, if the sephiroth go out of control..." I started. Kairi sighed.
"It's Van's fault. Between the vibration in the core and him closing off valves, they're putting a lot of excess stress on some very old structures. I've sealed Mt. Roneal and Tataroo Valley, but Meggiora Highlands and the sephiroth here in Daath haven't been checked since Akzeriuth, not by me or Asch, at least. Speaking of which..." She trailed off and looked at Asch, who crossed his arms.
"Shurrey Hill's extra lock has been disabled, because Jade was stupid and didn't listen to me when I told him not to pull his hand off the terminal, but I put something in place at the Zao Ruins," he said. Jade shifted uncomfortably as Kairi's gaze landed on him.
"Asch already taught me how to flush it out," he said.
I blinked. Was he referring to...?
"You were able to? I'd have thought the seventh fonons... Oh." Asch chuckled nervously, while Kairi sighed. "You people. Nothing but reacting at Shurrey Hill, I'm sure."
"We wouldn't have needed to if you weren't so damn secretive," Jade said. Asch sighed.
"We wouldn't have needed to if you had done as I told you," he countered.
"Guys, regardless of what happened at Shurrey Hill, we've still got a small crisis on our hands right now," Guy said. "And Dist saw us on our way in. Who knows how long we have?"
Cantabile's gold eye locked on him. "You didn't mention that before."
Sync groaned. "It's Dist. Somehow, I'm not surprised."
Kairi and Asch smiled. "Yes, because Dist hates you in every form he takes."
This comment was followed up by the distinctive sound of someone's palm hitting their face. A quick glance around found the culprit... Who had just about everyone staring at him.
Jade was muttering something about rappigs, and while most of us were looking at him he'd lost it, Asch, Kairi, and Sync seemed amused.
"And to think, I got my first frying pan out of that pile..." Kairi said. Jade groaned.
"I'd been trying to avoid that part of the memory."
A few moments later, and Jade seemed to have recovered. "One other thing while we're here," he said. "Tear and Anise mentioned something about a Closed Score?"
Sync sighed. "Believe me, it's no help. There's no mention of replicas anywhere. Given how things have been, I'd think that Luke at least would be mentioned, but..." he trailed off. Ion glanced over at him.
"Full strength or not, I can't imagine that was good for you," he said. Sync shrugged and opened his mouth to speak, only for Kairi to shoot up out of the chair she'd been in.
"Move!" she ordered, grabbing Asch and Ion. "Two groups, Luke's in the other."
Then she was running off, Seth glancing just once at Jade before chasing after her. Selenia and Twilight ran out just after him, and I sighed.
"Great. Now we get to dodge Oracle Knights." I started running, not surprised when the rest of them followed me. We made it into the lobby just in time to see Twilight's tail disappear through the other door.
"They're headed for the sephiroth," Jade realized.
"And you're all headed for execution."
Fun Fact: Jade really did not want the Pile of Doom incident to come up again... He really didn't... It doesn't help that Sync's comment from that chapter has become a bit of a catch phrase, either...