Wherein Luke's quote proves he's learning not to question some of the things Kairi does...

"How...? No, never mind." -Luke

Chapter 8.2 - Syncopation
Part 75

"Dark!"

I ignored Natalia, putting pressure on the wound. Chest. Left side.

Dammit!

I didn't even bother to be my usual, careful self. I just started pumping earth Energies into the wound. If nothing else, it would stop the bleeding.

"Kairi, wait!"

Asch put his hands over mine and, once he was sure I'd stopped, he put two fingers to Dark's neck. The replica was unconscious. I refused to believe that Danté could have finally succeeded. Asch frowned, fingers pressed to where the vein should be. It wasn't a sad frown, either. It was one of confusion. He moved one of my hands, and started at the still-seeping bullet wound.

"This shouldn't be possible..." he murmured. I frowned, but Guy was the one to speak up.

"Asch?"

"That bullet went right through his heart... He shouldn't be alive, but he is..." Asch continued, still talking more to himself than the rest of us. I frowned, placing one hand back over the bullet wound, and the other next to it, over the other side of his chest.

A fast but steady thu-thump under my left hand told me all that I needed to know.

"Situs inversus..." I muttered. Of course, one of the few things that had caught my attention in biology.

"What?" Asch looked at me like I was crazy. I frowned.

"Run a Scan over him. If I'm right, all of his internal organs should be reversed," I said. Asch was still looking at me like I was crazy, but he muttered the fonic verse anyway and started looking Dark over.

The further he moved along, the wider his eyes got, until his concentration faltered and he looked at me. "How...?"

I shrugged. "It's a genetic defect that's pretty much impossible to detect because there aren't any ill effects. The chances of having it is one in ten thousand, if I remember correctly."

Asch took a few deep breaths before muttering something that certainly didn't sound like English. Oh, sorry. The Fonic Language. Bleh.

"Lucky, gods-damned bastard," he finished. I raised an eyebrow. When did he start in with the whole 'gods' thing? Last I checked, he was still cursing like every other native of Auldrant.

Must just be the stunt Dark pulled.

Asch and I got to work cleaning up the mess I'd made forcing a stop to the bleeding, and once we'd done all that we could there on the road, Asch picked him up and we headed for Daath Cathedral. We were, thankfully, mostly ignored as we made our way through the crowds. Lunaday crowds weren't nearly as bad as those on Remday, but they were still crowds, which was irritating.

Once inside the cathedral, Asch looked around. "Well? Do we dare take him up to my old room? Or does one of you know how to activate the fonic glyph up to Ion's rooms?" he asked. I frowned, wondering if I should risk blowing it to Natalia and Guy.

"I can get you guys up to Sync if you want."

I turned my head, blinked, and raised an eyebrow at Rialle. She was standing nearby, hands tucked behind her back, green eyes wide and innocent. I couldn't help but smile.

"Uh... and you are...?" Asch asked, definitely wary. Not surprising, since she's revealed she knows the 'Fon Master' is actually Sync right now.

"Rialle DeSeto," I answered for her. "She's one of Ion's Fon Master Guards... though she seems to have taken a liking to Sync."

Rialle giggled, tapping the side of her head as she grinned. "I'm good at keeping things up here," she said, glancing once at me before looking up at Asch. "Come on, we should get going before some sort of trouble finds us."

I had the distinct feeling that was being directed at me.

We followed Rialle into the next room, then up to the top level of the cathedral. She glanced around then headed for Ion's room. Once inside, I was practically tackled by Sync.

"You're all okay?! Wait, what happened to Dark?!"

I grabbed Sync and held onto him before he could start jumping around us. "Dark got shot outside Daath. Danté and Arietta decided to come after you, but when they realized it was you here, and not Ion, they turned around."

"Not before shooting Dark, obviously," Sync muttered. "What exactly happened before? Mohs wouldn't tell me exactly what was going on."

I glanced back at Asch. "Can we borrow the bed? I'll explain everything, once Asch has a chance to put Dark down."

Sync nodded, and I released him. We headed into Ion's bedroom, and while Dark was placed on the bed, I turned to Sync.

"So, you know how we split up on our way out of the library?" Sync nodded. "The first group, my group, got away. Jade, Luke, Natalia, Tear, Anise, Guy, and Dark got caught."

From there, I continued to detail what had happened since our meeting over a week previous. Sync listened, only cutting in when I told him about Florian.

I sighed as I glanced over at Dark, wondering if he was going to speak up or not as I came to a close. "Danté and Arietta were here for you, but when they found out you weren't Ion, Danté aimed for Natalia and fired. Dark jumped into the line of fire," I said. Natalia put her hands over her heart.

"Why...? Why is everyone so insistent on helping me? I'm not even the real princess..." she mumbled.

"Princess or not..." Everyone's eyes turned to Dark as he spoke. "If I was able to protect one of my friends, I have no regrets."

Guy gasped, eyes glazed over, and my eyes widened slightly as well.

Even though it was all so different... Dark had still triggered Guy's memory.

"Dark! No, you shouldn't be moving!" Natalia cried, running over and placing her hands against his shoulders, keeping him pinned to the bed. I smiled at the sight, then glanced at Asch. He looked thoughtful, the expression on his face struggling between a smile and a frown. I poked him, physically rather than mentally for once.

He jumped a bit at the contact and looked at me, noted the smile I wore, and forced a small smirk in return.

"I remember..." Guy muttered. I glanced over my shoulder, looked at Asch, and then shoved my thumb back toward Guy. Asch nodded, walking over to Guy and lifting him back to his feet, guiding him down to the cathedral. I looked over at Sync, and raised an eyebrow as he wandered over to the closet. He glanced back, noticed me watching, and turned a bright red. I grinned, turning away from him and stepping over to Dark and Natalia.

I leaned over, placing a hand over the wound and feeling around with Energies. I smiled slightly as I probed it. "Good news is, you'll be back on your feet before Jade," I said.

"Wait, what happened to Jade?" Sync asked. I resisted the urge to turn and look at him, and stopped Natalia from looking as well.

"It seems that Zion supplied Mohs with a rather ingenious toxin," I said. "It had to have been designed by Rhunön. She's the only one that could have even possibly made a poison capable of dissolving the Energy barriers around a person's fonslots. Without those Energy barriers, Jade's fonslots are now utterly inexistent... and between that, and the contaminated seventh fonons still lingering in his body after altering the Zao Ruins passage ring, he was in a lot of physical pain when we found him."

"Clear," Sync commented. "But how is that even possible?"

I turned and raised an eyebrow, wondering where the new clothes had come from for a moment before brushing it aside. "Energies are tied to blood flow, they're more physical than fonons. Honestly, the poison had already done its damage by the time I got to him, but... it could take weeks for me to rebuild his fonslots from scratch."

"I see..."

I turned and headed for the door. "I'm going to go check on Guy. Dark, you should be okay enough for Sorylle or Twilight to carry you."

I didn't bother to see if he and Natalia were following. I know Sorylle wasn't. I could hear her and Dark growling to each other. Twilight padded along behind me, and we headed back down.

As I'd predicted, Guy and Asch were in the cathedral, Asch seemingly standing watch over Guy much as Jade had during this part of the game. I walked up to them quietly and stood nearby, putting my weight on my left leg.

Sync was the next one to join us, and Asch crossed his arms, then made a signal to me.

*Where did those come from?* Asch asked as soon as I'd built a connection between the three of us. Sync shrugged.

*Rialle made them... More for Ion than for me. I kinda want my clothes back, anyway,* he said. I nodded. That made sense. Especially given that it wasn't really Sync's style.

I mean, Sync prefers loose pants, not skin-tight. And that coat was pretty much a rip-off of Luke's old coat. I hadn't looked at the back yet, but I wouldn't have been too surprised if there was the same black monster face there.

I made a twirling motion, and Sync rolled his eyes before obliging.

Sync was wearing a dull green turtleneck, and dark green boots. The pants were a light gray, while the coat was white with gold lining. Where Luke's coat had been red on the underside, this one was green.

Aside from that, and the golden tuning fork in place of the black monster face, the coat was identical to the one Luke used to wear.

Guy stood up then and turned around, looking past me. I glanced over my shoulder. Sure enough, Dark, Natalia, and Sorylle were joining us.

"Guy, are you alright? You said you... remembered?" Natalia asked. Guy took a deep breath.

"Yeah... Do you mind if I wait to explain until the others are here, though? I... I'd really rather only go into this once," he said. I nodded.

"That's fine. We've got Sync. Now we have to go get the device from Henken and Cathy and head for a sephiroth," I said. Asch frowned.

"It has to be one we haven't already lowered, so Shurrey Hill and the Zao Ruins are out of the question. The two Gates aren't a great idea either," he said. I smirked.

"Meggiora Highlands, then. Mt. Roneal, Mt. Zaleho, and Tataroo Valley have been safely removed from Van's grip. Meggiora Highlands is the only one we haven't done that for now."

We all started walking, none of us in any kind of a hurry. Not really, at least. Especially not with Dark wounded.

We were in the lobby when Asch stopped, making a pained face and raising his hand to massage his forehead. I connected everyone so Asch wouldn't have to repeat Luke's words.

*Spinoza made it to Van. I'd have contacted you sooner, but we were busy getting Henken and Cathy out. Van managed to get past Father before he was finished setting everything up,* Luke said.

Asch huffed. *Great... Where are you guys taking them?*

*Sheridan. It's closest, and the device wasn't done yet, so we figured they'd be able to find the tools they need there,* Luke said. *Also, Jade and the others want to be picked up as soon as possible. They've almost got everything set.*

I nodded. *Alright. We'll send Noelle to get them while we're in the Meggiora Highlands.* I was silent a moment. *Do you mind coming with us when we do that, Luke? We'll have to leave Dark in town, and I'm getting the feeling Sorylle's going to want to stay with him.*

*Yes,* came Sorylle's blunt response.

*Alright. I'll see you guys in Sheridan.* It was a not-so-subtle hint for me to pull away from him before Luke cut the connection. I dropped the others as well, and we started walking again without a word.

Aside from Natalia and Asch telling Sync exactly what our two groups had been doing since the split-up in Chesedonia—and Sync bothering me about what being stuck with Luke, Zion, and Van was like—the trip to Sheridan was... Boring, to say the least.

Luke and the Dark Wings met us just inside town, and Luke made a face as we approached. I raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I like the Dark Wings. But do we really have to go deal with the old men?" he asked. "We literally just got rid of them..."

I blinked a few times before giggling. Guy looked just about as amused as I did.

"You can stay here if you want. Or better yet, go with Dark and Sorylle to the inn," I said, still smiling. "We'll go get the frequency counter."

Luke nodded, gratefully, then gave Sync a curious look. "Uh..."

Sync looked down at his clothes, looked back up at Luke, and crossed his arms. "Don't ask me. Rialle made them for Ion."

Luke decided to shrug it off. He left with Sorylle and the currently asleep Dark, while Noir, York, and Urushi stayed behind for a moment. York looked at me expectantly, and after a moment of shuffling through my bag, I handed over a few pieces of paper, kept purposefully upside-down so the others wouldn't see the drawings on them. York took it, looked through them, and grinned before looking up at me.

"You are really good at this," he said simply before walking away. Urushi chuckled.

"Maybe we should do this more often. It certainly makes York happy," he said. Noir seemed just as amused.

"I'll consider it. In the meantime..." She turned back to us. "You should probably be going."

I nodded and led the rest of our group to the meeting hall. Sure enough, Tamara and Kathy were standing around outside. Tamara glanced over and blinked.

"Wasn't my granddaughter with you last time?"

I stopped, tilted my head to the side, and looked at the others in confusion. Sync chuckled. "Selenia," he said simply. He looked back at the elderly lady. "She's in Belkend. Noelle's gone to get the people we left there."

Tamara nodded. "I see. The frequency counter's ready, but... well..."

"You'll have to get the men to stop arguing to get it," Cathy admitted. "Which is why we're out here."

I nodded, made a motion for the others to stay put, and walked in. Sure enough, Henken, Aston, and Iemon were well into it.

Me, I just grabbed the frequency counter and slipped out the back.

"How...? No, never mind."

I just laughed at Luke.

Fun Fact: ...You know, I'm honestly not sure why Jade's fonslots just had to get screwed up again. I'm really not. But that's apparently what they decided happened, and, well... It gives Jade an excuse to slack off a bit for a couple more chapters before the peace conference.