HAPPY NEW YEAR! Okay, so we're not quite there yet. Oh well. Have fun! (If you're going to drink, drink RESPONSIBLY.)

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Now, on to the next chapter... This is the Lowering the Land Arc, by the way. (Yeah, 'Chapter' tends to coincide with 'Arc'.) So you know what that means: Absorption Gate time! Well, no, not quite yet. First we have to set up the real Absorption Gate/Radiation Gate teams. (This is why Tea made that comment back in Part 79.)

Also, I'd have included Kairi's comment that precludes Dark's quote, but... Well, I though Dark's was more amusing, personally.

"I love how you insisted that it be an intelligent argument." –Flick

"I did that once and it blew up in my face. How did yours turn out all nice and pretty?" –Dark

Chapter 10.1 – Divergent
Part 84

Once we were all settled into the Albiore again, Asch turned around and leveled a terrifying glare at me. Jade didn't look too pleased either. Twilight whined, then growled. Dark sighed.

"I don't think that's gonna help her case much, Twi."

I frowned. "I missed it. What'd he say?"

"If it helps at all, the second time did actually heal me."

I nodded. "I figured that much..." I paused and closed my eyes, slipping out of my body momentarily to check the miasma levels in my body. Which were right where I'd left them.

Currently non-existent.

I snapped back. "Well I can at least say there's no new miasma in my body this time..."

"Wait, what does the miasma have to do with this?" Natalia asked. Asch huffed.

"Her body holds imprints of more miasma influxes than there should have been for the number of times she's operated passage rings. So I asked her if there was any other time she could think of that she could have been exposed to large amounts of miasma, not including Yulia City or the Core. She told me about using Guardian's Pain in Tataroo Valley," he explained. Natalia's eyes widened.

"Oh! Oh, that's right, you used that against the Sword Dancer after Dark..." she trailed off here and glanced at the boy who had nearly killed himself. I nodded.

"Yeah... Except that time, I was pulling up contaminated fonons from the nearby sephiroth and going straight into it," I said. I then looked up at Asch. "This was different. We knew when I started using Guardian Field that Guardian Frost would never come easily. So long as I stick to only using it as the FoF arte it is, I should be fine."

"And the flinch the second time?"

"It siphoned my strength into Twilight to heal him."

"Then you should be careful using it for too many people," Jade said. "Like with Dark's Sacrifice, it probably can and will drain you dry if you overdo it." He paused and looked at Natalia and Dark. "And on that subject... If and when we ever get a chance to talk to Reighn again, I think it may be best to discuss how to put a limit on a Forbidden Arte. If Dark can figure out how to limit the damage done to himself..."

"No!" Natalia insisted. Dark scowled.

"It could give us the edge we need, Natalia. But I'm not exactly in a hurry to die, and Jade brings up a good point. Reighn knows how to set a limit on a Forbidden Arte, Twilight saw him do it in Daath against Aerith."

Seth nodded. "I was there, too."

Natalia looked upset, and Dark wrapped an arm around her and led her off a ways. Guy then started looking around. "So... Who's going in which Albiore to what gate?"

I sighed and glanced at Asch, who gave me a very pointed look.

"Luke and Asch have to go separate ways. Tear, you and Natalia are our primary healers, I'm going to want you separated as well, just in case. Dark and Ion would be redundant in the same group, so they'll have to go separate ways too."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, why are we taking Ion?" Anise asked. I looked over at the boy in question.

"Do you want to come?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yes. And... if you don't mind, I'd like to be in Luke's group."

I nodded. "Okay. That'll put Dark with Asch. Tear, any preferences?"

She shook her head. "Not really, but... If Dark is going with Asch, you should probably send Natalia with them. I'll go with Luke."

I nod gratefully, then look around at the others. Noelle, sitting up front in the pilot's seat, catches my eye. "Noelle, you're flying to the Absorption Gate. You've been flying us all over and you'll need your rest sooner or later. It's a shorter flight from Keterburg to there, so you'll be able to rest while that group deals with Van, since we know he's supposed to be there."

"I really don't mind flying, but you're right. I could use the rest. Thanks, Kairi," Noelle said.

"Scoot us a little to the left." She did. "And you're welcome."

Asch chuckled and headed up to sit by Noelle. "Let me keep her away from the rough wind while you finish figuring that out," he said. I smiled and then went back to glancing around.

"I want to send a liger with each group, so if Dark and Natalia are going with Asch, Sorylle can go with them. Twilight, I want you to go with Luke, Ion, and Tear," I decided, already having a telepathic connection opened now.

*I'll only go with them if you do,* he said. I sighed.

"With my katana destroyed, I'll probably have to resort to my bow for the most part, anyway. Alright." I looked around again. "If that's the case... Flick, I want you with Asch."

"Wait, you're going with Luke?"

I groaned. Should have known Asch would argue. "Twilight insisted."

Asch scowled. "Then I hope Sync doesn't mind being in the same group as Ion."

Sync shook his head. "No. That's probably a good thing, anyway. Flick and I have pretty similar fighting styles—we shouldn't be in the same group."

I nodded. "Seth, you're with us. Jade, Selenia, go with Asch. And Mieu?"

Mieu bounced over with a happy 'yes?'

"I know you prefer to travel with Luke when they're not traveling together, but this time I'm going to have to ask you to go with Sorylle. Okay?"

"Mieuuuu... Alright..."

I gave the little cheagle a sympathetic look. "You can ride with Luke to Keterburg, though."

"Mieu! Okay!" A now much-happier cheagle bounced back over to the redhead in question, and Luke chuckled.

"What about me and Anise? She's probably going to want to go with Ion, and I want to go with Luke, but..." Guy trailed off. I glanced between the two and took a moment to think. The groups were pretty evenly arranged as things were, but...

"Anise comes with us. Guy goes with Asch," I decided. If all else failed, Havoc Strike and Raging Blast didn't require my sword, and I could apparently use Guardian's Pain without a sword—I wasn't sure I wanted to try to use Guardian Field like that, though—and also... "Natalia?"

The blonde looked up as she and Dark rejoined us. "Yes?"

"I've been meaning to ask and just never got around to it... Would you mind helping me out with a few strike artes?"

"Not at all," she said. "But... wouldn't it be easier to just buy a new sword?"

"We're going to have to buy supplies, medicine, and probably some armor while we're in Keterburg. As much as I'm sure she'd love to visit Barst, we don't exactly have the gald available to add a weapon onto our expenses," Asch said.

"And it's not like I can't shoot a bow," I added, a bit irritated. Natalia looked a bit bashful.

"Oh... Sorry."

Now it was Jade's turn to frown. "I take the lineup to mean that you and I will be the ones operating the passage rings?" he asked.

"No!"

I sighed. "What Asch said. You'll be operating the passage ring, yes... but it'll be either Tear or Sync on our end. I'm under strict orders not to expose myself to any more miasma than absolutely necessary," I admitted.

"So, who's going where, exactly?" Dark asked.

I glanced at Luke, then Tear, then Asch. Then I prodded Ion, Guy, Flick, Seth, and Jade mentally. *Do we send Asch's group or Luke's group to face Van?*

Jade adjusted his glasses. *I'd rather we went, honestly. I feel like we're a little better set up for dealing with him. Ion isn't used to large battles like that, and you're not going to be using a weapon you're quite as familiar with.*

Ion fidgeted a bit. *Jade's right. And I'm not really comfortable with the thought of killing him...*

*Why did you drag me into this, exactly?* Flick asked. I rolled my eyes.

*'Cause me and Twilight were already here and I needed an odd number.*

*Riiight...*

*Cut it out, you two,* Seth grumbled. *As it is, it's already three for Asch's group going to Van. And I'll throw something extra onto Jade's reasons. Tokunaga isn't exactly agile, and Van can cast artes pretty damn quick. Anise would make for a pretty good target.*

*That having been said, I'm almost tempted to argue with Kairi's decision of putting me with Asch's group. I know it'll put Anise in the line of fire... but she really doesn't like Ion's decision to fight, either, and if something happens at the Radiation Gate...* Guy trailed off.

A few minutes of discussion and a lot of irritated looks from the people not hearing this conversation later, we came to an agreement, and I cut out everyone except Twilight.

"Okay..."

"Oh, you're done jabbering away where the rest of us can't hear, huh?" Anise grumbled. I sighed.

"Yeah. And you're really gonna love the decision we came to," I replied, voice laced heavily with sarcasm. Anise looked a bit worried now. "You are going with Asch to the Absorption Gate. Guy is coming with us to the Radiation Gate."

"But, Ion!"

"I'll take care of him, Anise," Sync said before she could keep going. She shot him a nasty look.

"I think between Sync, Luke, Tear, Guy, and Kairi, I'll be just fine. I'm more worried about you now," Ion intervened. "Van's at the Absorption Gate, not the Radiation Gate."

Anise seemed to realize the wisdom in Ion's words, and I looked around.

"The Absorption Gate team will consist of Asch, Jade, Natalia, Dark, Sorylle, Flick, Selenia, Anise, and Mieu," I said. "Luke, Sync, Tear, Ion, Seth, Guy, Twilight, and I will go to the Radiation Gate. Anyone want to present an intelligent argument now before we get to Sheridan and split up on the Albiores? Because it would be best to get some strategy planning done on the flight to Keterburg."

Flick snorted. "I love how you insisted that it be an intelligent argument."

I rolled my eyes at her. "Ignore the purple and red sarcasm factory over there."

"Hey!"

Seth chuckled. "Well, it's accurate."

Aside from a few stupid comments, nothing much else was said. Once we landed and checked in with Aston, Tamara, Iemon, Henken, and Cathy—why those two hadn't yet gone back to Belkend was beyond me—we split up. Noelle flew with the group that would be going to the Absorption Gate with her, while Ginji and I...

"So you can see wind patterns using the Energies on the second plane?" he asked as we took off in the Albiore III. I nodded.

"Yeah. It's a neat trick, and it's come in handy a lot over the past few weeks."

Ginji thought it was absolutely amazing, and kept asking me how it worked. I basically told him at one point that he'd have to wait until we landed to try it.

Aside from that little blab at the beginning and a short strategy meeting right after, it was a rather quiet flight to Keterburg.

Once there, Natalia and I immediately sought each other out to start practicing.

I'd tried Storm Edge before, but had no luck with it, despite it almost feeling right. Once I explained that to Natalia, she suggested casting Infernal Prison and then using the field of fonons for Blast Edge, to see if that worked out. That worked perfectly, and I had a suspicion, so I tried using Blast Edge without the field of fonons. It worked again, so Natalia and I moved on to something else—the Silver Shot Dark had taught her.

I was a bit wary going into this one, because I knew it was similar to Piercing Line, which didn't like me at all.

But apparently, like most of Dark's artes, Silver Shot did like me.

So did its field of fonons counterpart, apparently.

"Whoa! What was that?!"

Natalia and I looked over our shoulders to see Luke standing there, looking startled. I chuckled. "I just accidentally set Silver Shot on fire."

Dark groaned as he walked around Luke. "I did that once and it blew up in my face. How did yours turn out all nice and pretty?"

Which led to a long conversation about what quickly became named Phoenix Shot. Once Dark figured out what I'd done differently, he and Natalia were able to practice it as well... with the help of a few Infernal Prisons, courtesy of yours truly.

It was getting pretty dark by then, and I knew Nephry wouldn't be happy if I didn't at least say hello before we left again in the morning. It wasn't quite as cold yet as I think it was in the game, so we weren't as worried about the Albiores' engines freezing over, but I'd told Jade to have Nephry send a couple people out to keep an eye on them overnight anyway.

"Kairi, wait. There's one more arte I'd like to see if you can learn real quick," Dark said after I mentioned returning to town. I gave him a curious look, while Natalia and Luke went on ahead.

"Fonic, or strike?"

He smiled, though it was tinged with sadness. "Fonic. You've seen me cast it before, once... about a year ago now, actually."

I frowned and tried to think back that far. That would have been when I first met Dark. "Hmm... All I can really remember you using those first few days was Halo..." I paused as I remembered him casting an arte and then falling over the day I went to pick his brain about Negative Gate. "And Archangel's Wing."

"You've got a propensity for fire, and water, and light. And... Well, I'm mostly just curious to see if you can do it or not."

I smiled. "Alright. Just so long as it doesn't involve you falling on your ass again."

Dark chuckled. "Of course not."

We didn't get a lot of time to practice. In fact, Jade walked up basically as soon as Dark finished explaining it.

"Nephry has dinner waiting for us at her mansion. She's offered the open rooms to anyone who wants them, and has arranged for rooms at the hotel for any who can't fit," he said. I smiled.

"Thanks." I looked over at Dark. "Guess that's just gonna have to wait."

He shrugged. "You know the theory now, at least, so it shouldn't be too hard for you to figure out. Come on. Food's calling."

"Humph. I'd make my mom's complaint about men and food... but I'm pretty damn hungry too."

Jade smiled, then frowned. "Speaking of your mother..."

I gave him a curious look.

"Well, Asch's parents know about your relationship, and Nephry, Seth, and I know, but..."

I shrugged. "It's Mom. She'll understand. If my doppelganger hasn't already told her..."

"Um..."

"Pardon?"

Fun Fact: I feel kinda sorry for Jade and Dark right there at the end. They have no clue that this is all being documented...