Oh boy. Beware many conversations. Oh, and the flashback. Definitely beware the flashback.

"You're not going to start spouting Asch's proposal to you, are you?" –Kairi

Chapter 9.4 – Back on Track
Part 81

We made it back to Sheridan before Class M finished modifying the Tartarus. It seemed that, since they'd only had the space for two of them to work on part of the modifications, Aston had gone ahead and started building the third Albiore. He, Tamara, and Iemon were certain it would be done by the time we returned from the core.

I certainly hoped they'd get to work on it together.

Anyway, with the Tartarus not quite finished yet, the rest of us were once again left to wander around Sheridan, though I found myself grumbling about a lack of Dawn Age technology to fiddle around with.

Jade, Asch, Sync, and Dark were amused. Everyone else just gave me the same weird looks they usually reserved for Guy.

So I ended up standing on that platform again, looking out over the ocean and letting the sea breeze and the sounds of water calm me down. You know, the one where Asch and I had the talk? Yeah, that one.

I'd been there for a while when Natalia joined me.

"You're not going to start spouting Asch's proposal to you, are you?" I asked.

She made a choked noise, then giggled as she realized it was a joke. Laden with much less sarcasm than usual, but still a joke.

"No... Kairi, I... I apologize."

I blinked a few times and looked up at her. "Huh?"

Natalia looked away from me. "I was eavesdropping on the two of you that morning," she admitted. I'd already guessed as much, but didn't say anything. "When Asch started speaking... I almost ran out and grabbed him. And even after... Asch was wrong. I was jealous of you, but not because Asch loved you..." She paused. "No... That came out wrong..."

She paused again, looked at me, and then looked away again. "I wasn't jealous because Asch loved you. I was jealous... because he'd admitted it."

I gave her a curious look. "And you're coming to me now because...?"

"I didn't find out until a couple days ago, when Father, Dark and I had an argument after the peace conference, but..." Natalia closed her eyes, and looked at me. "Kairi... Could you... do what you did... before? When I showed you how Danté caught me?"

I nodded, opening up a telepathic channel and drawing in earth and moon Energies. Then we delved into the memory.

"You're getting too close to each other. Natalia is engaged to Asch—" Father was saying.

"Asch has already started the process to break off the engagement, Your Majesty," Dark cut in as politely as possible. "Given the recent relations between Malkuth and Kimlasca, Duke Fabre agreed that a marriage between his eldest son and the youngest sister of Colonel Jade Curtiss was just as logical a match as Asch and Natalia."

Father gave Dark a rather flabbergasted look. "He's willing to let Asch get drawn into your Clans mess?"

Dark shrugged. "Seth is still available to be the heir to the Balfours. Besides, we still don't know whether Danté will abdicate or not. I'm not sure I'm willing to let Natalia get caught up in this yet myself, but I'm not going to leave her side until I'm certain I'm putting her in danger," he replied. I took a deep breath.

"Father—"

"No, Natalia!" I felt like he'd slapped me. "I was willing to overlook this before the Clan Precepts came into it. Dark is an honest, hard-working young man, but I cannot condone this sort of relationship if there is a chance that I could lose my daughter to the Clans."

"But Father—"

Dark stepped between me and Father, and I cut off with a gasp. "I won't ask for her hand, and I won't ask her to get involved with the Clans if I'm drawn into it," he said. "But I love your daughter, and I refuse to leave her vulnerable while I'm still not a danger to her."

Silence reigned.

"Dark..." I whispered.

Dark growled something slowly, and I recognized it. How could I not, when I'd heard him growl it so many times before? But I couldn't translate it. I recognized the first few words, but not the last one or two.

Dark turned, mismatched eyes meeting mine past black bangs. "I hear your hearts' song," he said softly. I gasped, realizing just what that meant even as Dark turned back to Father. "It's the liger equivalent of 'I love you'."

Natalia's memory ended, and I cut the connection. "He's been growling those five words since he came to get me after Danté kidnapped me," she said. "I'd noticed it, but I never asked, and he never said until a couple days ago."

I smiled. "I think you two make a better pair than you and Asch, and I'm not saying that just because I want Asch to myself," I said. I looked out over the ocean and took a deep breath. "I was Dark's first real human friend. But you... He was stumbling around in the darkness with an equally blind liger and a girl who could see, but couldn't stay. You're the one who gave him the lantern. And you've done more than that since that first meeting, even."

Natalia gave me a shocked looked, and I nodded. "You've led him out of the darkness altogether. And when you fell in, didn't he come after and give back that lantern?"

Hazel eyes closed, and Natalia smiled. "Yes. He did."

I sighed, happy with my work, and turned back to the ocean, eyes watching the waves.

I'm not sure when Natalia left, or when Sync replaced her. All I know is that I caught myself singing along to what he'd been humming after the third or fourth time he'd hummed it.

"It's only a part of the song," he said when I cut off sharply, finally coming back around. "I never heard the rest."

"O fare thee well, my own true love, I'll think of you night and day~" I barely remembered the song myself, but after stumbling through it a couple times, I'd figured it out.

"Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore, the High Kings. It was a fairly recent addition to my repertoire when I got dumped in Keterburg," I said softly.

"Are you going to shoot me if I tell you that Celtic music isn't exactly my cup of tea?" Sync asked. I giggled.

"No. So, anything else new?"

Sync gave me a look, and half an hour later and a number of country songs later, we found one I didn't recognize. I memorized the tune, intending to look it up later. Ten songs later and only two more recognized, we decided that, once this mess was taken care of, I needed to go back and find the songs.

We'd returned to Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore—since it had gotten stuck in my head—and were singing that when Jade joined us.

"Given that I certainly don't recognize that, I'll assume it's something from your home world," he commented. Sync and I just nodded. After finishing the song, we looked up at Jade.

"Did you want to talk to Kairi?" Sync asked. Jade adjusted his glasses.

"Not really. I just thought the two of you would like to know that the operation starts tomorrow morning, eight o'clock."

Sync nodded, glanced between the two of us, then left. Effectively leaving us alone to talk, despite Jade's comment.

"I've been thinking about what you told me," Jade said after a few moments. "About Tales of the Abyss."

"Everything's wrong. I know that."

"Maybe for the better."

"Or for worse." I looked up at Jade, and curious crimson eyes met mine. "Zion's a wildcard. Seth, Flick, Star, Rhunön, Ryndor, Danté... I don't have a clue what they'll do. Aerith is the same. Reighn and Selenia aren't much better. The only person that never appeared in the game that I feel I might—might—be able to account for the addition of is Dark."

Jade shrugged. "Maybe that's for the best as well."

I blinked a few times, then sighed, a small smile replacing my worried expression. "You're right. Besides, I knew I was changing things the minute Asch and I ended up at Aramis Spring. I expected everything to get bent out of shape. But... Everyone that never showed up in the game... Every time they act, I feel like I'm being slung around in a lifeboat at sea."

Jade nodded. "Perhaps things will calm down a little. It sounds to me like you could use some time to just think."

I nodded. "I started thinking about it once, after Danté kidnapped me. I went back to Earth for a couple days. A friend of mine... we started talking about it, figuring out just what I'd changed, how it had happened... And then Flick came in, and I found out how little time I had before the game events started, and..." I stopped, let my head drop, and shifted my weight off of my right leg. "I could have healed my knee properly. I could have done it right the first time, and never had any problems with it ever again."

"You rushed it."

"Rushed it, then put too much stress on it trying to outrun Danté."

Jade sighed and shook his head. "You're hopeless, you know that?"

I giggled. "Yeah."

It was quiet for a while, and then I sighed and pushed away from the railing. "I need to get some sleep, I think."

"You've been put in a room with Natalia, I believe."

I nodded and walked away, heading for the inn to get some sleep.

I slept soundly that night, despite my uncertainty about what would happen the next day. Would the God-Generals attack? The Council? I didn't know.

And somehow, I didn't care.

I was the first one up the next morning, as usual, and I ended up out on the platform again, staring out over the dark ocean and humming again. It was calming, and in my mind, I could picture a flame. I let it dance freely. It had been a while since I'd been calm enough to meditate properly, and to be quite frank, given all that had been happening recently, I didn't blame myself.

My meditation was interrupted when Dark joined me on the platform, and I sighed. Asch, Natalia, Sync, Jade, who else did I need to have a heart-to-heart with here?

I glanced over at him then and found myself raising an eyebrow. Dark chuckled. "Natalia asked York if he'd mind making them for me," he admitted.

The outfit he'd been wearing since before Akzeriuth was gone, probably stashed away in a wing pack where they could be pulled back out if necessary, since they were starting to get worn. And despite being sad to see the coat with the Kimlascan insignia on the back go, I had to admit that the new one was pretty nice as well.

Blue, white, black, and gold seemed to have become Dark's colors, and I had to admit, they suited him. He'd kept the light brown gun holsters and black combat boots, and his new shirt was a darker, duller shade of blue.

I had to admire York's work on his pants, though. Dark preferred tight pants due to the gun holsters, but York had somehow made them just loose enough to work with the blue camo pattern that adorned them. A light, almost white-gray trench coat covered it all.

"Nice."

Dark chuckled. "Thanks."

The two of us simply stood in silence for a while until Luke walked up to us. It was well after sunrise, so I guessed that it was time to get started.

"Aston said the Tartarus is waiting in the harbor," Luke said quietly. "Anise and Ion are staying here in Sheridan. Asch said he wanted you to send Ion a telepathic message as soon as he's at the edge of your range."

"To avoid running the clock down too quickly," I realized. Luke nodded.

"It was Jade's idea."

I nodded. "Alright. Everyone ready to go, then?"

"Do you have everything?" Dark asked, eyeing my admittedly weapon-less form.

I pulled out my wing pack so he could see, then stuck it back into my pocket. "I'd rather not have to worry about my weapons on top of everything else."

The three of us left the platform then and headed for the edge of town.

No attacks yet...

Jade watched me as we walked up, and I noted the irritated look on Asch's face. My brother sighed. "Since Asch isn't going to let us go anywhere until I ask... Would you rather come with us and have Ion give the signal once we're almost out of range, or would you rather stay here and give the signal yourself? We're a little concerned about the miasma in the core and—"

"I'm coming with you."

Jade sighed and adjusted his glasses before giving Asch a look that said 'I told you so.' The redhead groaned.

"Fine..." He turned and started walking, and I nodded to Ion and Anise before following.

I never really relaxed as we made our way to the port. I didn't relax until about two days into the operation, actually.

No attacks. No one slipping onboard. Nothing. It was almost too silent, really, but it made things simpler.

By the time we reached the open space in the world's crust where Akzeriuth had been, I was certain. We'd averted disaster, somehow, and all that was left was to leave the Tartarus in the core and then return to the surface.

I'd forgotten one very important thing, however.

"This is it. That's the fonic glyph?" Natalia asked. I nodded. It was there. Not erased, like it had been in the game. I glanced at Sync, who gave me an encouraging smile. He knew this was uncomfortable for me, being in a place where he'd 'died'.

"Yes. The Albiore should be above, on the maintenance deck. Let's hurry," Jade added, eyes locked on me. I shrugged.

"The barrier they put in place is doing its job," I said. Then I stopped and frowned. I felt it, the sudden onrush of miasma-tainted seventh fonons, but... What the—?

Tear suddenly started glowing, and my eyes widened. Lorelei! I'd forgotten about Lorelei using her to talk to the others during the mission to the core!

As Lorelei spoke, I mostly tuned him out. This was when they'd found out about the miasma in Tear's body in the game, but...

I barely registered that some of what Lorelei said was unfamiliar. I was more preoccupied with the barrier that was keeping the insane pressure and miasma away from us.

Lorelei released Tear, and Luke lifted the girl gently before all of us headed for the Albiore.

"What now?" Guy asked. I sighed, feeling fire racing through my veins again.

"Now, Belkend. I've no doubt I need to heal Tear."

Asch sighed.

Fun Fact: This was the last chapter I had finished before this year's NaNoWriMo. Well, actually, before I started working two months before NaNo. Still. It's been finished for a year and has been sitting ever since then.