On to Part 2 of 2! And, after that semi-cliffhanger...

Dun-duh-duh-da!

Sorry for the short battle, but, well... Dark brings up some very good points. Also... Yeah. Enjoy.

I had the feeling it would be disappearing to die a sad and lonely death somewhere once Natalia took it off again in the castle. –Dark

Part 10.3 – Divergent
Part 86

Dark's POV

We sat around in silence for another hour before I got sick of it, stood up, walked to the other side of the rather wide platform. It would have been nice if I had a monster or a practice dummy, but... oh well.

It didn't take the girls long to split up and start doing basically the same thing. Since Natalia and Flick were the only two that didn't have poisonous weapons, they ended up sparring, so to speak. I'm pretty sure they stopped at some point when Flick suddenly decided she wanted to poke around with a bow, now.

I knew from earlier conversations that she had yet to find a weapon she liked, so I really wasn't too surprised by the seemingly-random ending to their sparring.

I stopped for a moment at one point to watch Selenia, and smiled at how easily she seemed to have adapted to using the axe. I knew it was rather different from her staff.

I also noted that her clothes were getting rather worn. The pretty white, black, purple, and gold she'd been wearing since the fall of St. Binah was faded. The edges of the purple wrap-around part of her skirt were looking frayed, and so were the ends of her sleeves. There was a bit of a tear in the back of her black halter top that I knew hadn't been there before.

She was definitely going to need new clothes once we were out of here. And on that subject...

I glanced over at Natalia. I knew Flick's clothes were pretty new, but Natalia had been wearing Noir's gift since the Baticul incident.

It was still looking alright, so I didn't worry about it too much, yet. That, and... Well, King Ingobert didn't really care for it. I had the feeling it would be disappearing to die a sad and lonely death somewhere once Natalia took it off again in the castle.

It wasn't much older than Flick's clothes, really, but still...

"What, did you get so bored without us that you had to start fighting each other?"

All four of us turned toward the voice, and I grinned even as Sorylle knocked me down. "Hey, girl! You okay?"

"I was more worried about you! I knew you'd fallen farther than us, so did Natalia... But you're both here, and you're both okay, so I think I can stop driving Anise up a wall now." I threw my head back and laughed at that.

"Yeah, let's spare what's left of her sanity, shall we?" I agreed, standing up once Sorylle padded over to check on Natalia. I sighed. "Well, I guess this means we're just waiting on Asch and Jade now."

"I smelled them at one point when we crossed under a path, but the scent was going the opposite direction we were. They may be a while yet," Sorylle said. I sighed.

"Great... Alright, fine. Flick and I have been here for almost six hours now. Since we've been here longest and had the shortest walk, I'll take guard duty," I announced. I looked over at the girl I'd made it down here with. "Flick, you hit your head pretty bad when we fell, get some rest. Natalia, you're not fooling me, you're exhausted too," I added when it looked like Natalia was about to volunteer. "Selenia can stay up with me. Anise, Selenia has some sandwiches she packed back in Keterburg. Eat one and get some sleep. You look like you're about to fall over yourself."

"I'm hungry too..."

"I've got some extra meat in my wing pack," I told Sorylle. She growled happily and came over to start nosing my hip. Mieu, much to my amusement, was fast asleep on her head.

Once Sorylle and Anise had eaten, the two of them, Flick, and Natalia curled up and fell asleep. Since Sorylle was the least likely to roll over and off the platform, she'd taken the spot nearest the edge and then laid down on her side. Natalia curled up against her body, and Flick and Anise used her tail and front legs as pillows.

Selenia smiled from where the two of us sat on the other side of the platform. "They look cute." She then glanced up at me. "So... What's it like, being the only guy in a group of six?"

I shrugged. "One, despite his squeaky voice, Mieu is actually male, and two... Sorry. The only two I really give a damn about are Natalia and Sorylle. Though I've certainly developed a rather healthy respect for Flick, after three hours of fighting alone with just her beside me, and then another six hours stuck down here." I paused and chuckled. "She's got a pretty damn high tolerance for my idiocy, too, given how close I came to nicking her a few times when I was still trying to figure out how to throw my chakrams."

Selenia giggled. "Natalia, too. I wasn't really sure what I was doing with Gray Larkspur at first, but she was pretty patient."

I smiled. "I'm glad you two are getting along. I remember you didn't like each other when you showed up in Sheridan."

Selenia shrugged. "She was being a bit of a bitch about me tagging along. Once that got cleared up with Papa basically ordering you guys to let me come with you, she stopped... Of course, then she went and got kidnapped, so this is really the first time we've had a chance to talk."

I nodded. "Yeah. I don't think I've traveled with you much myself," I admitted. She looked up at me.

"You know, you're right. I went to help at Engeve, then didn't go with you when you went to get Natalia, then at Daath, I went with Kairi while you got arrested, Kairi didn't take me back to Daath when you got shot..." she trailed off and shrugged. "Guess fate's just conspiring against us, huh?"

I groaned. "Don't say things like that, or the next thing we know, we'll be dealing with Van before Asch and Jade catch up. Or worse, we kill Van and then find out they're dead."

Selenia giggled. "Now who needs to stop talking?"

I smirked and nodded.

We spent another few hours there in silence before I walked over and gently shook Natalia and Anise awake. I took Natalia's spot curled up against Sorylle and let myself fall into a blissful oblivion, trusting the girls to keep us protected.

Funny. A year ago, I never would have dared to do something like this.

When I woke up, it was to find red eyes looking at me.

"Glad to see you survived," I muttered, letting Jade haul me to my feet.

"Asch and I found a relatively safe ledge a few hundred yards up and decided to get some sleep ourselves. We'd have been down here hours ago, otherwise. Sorry to keep you all waiting," he said. I shook my head.

"Nah. Once Anise and Sorylle got down here, we started sleeping, too. That was... how long have you two been up, Natalia, Anise?" I asked.

"About four hours, I think," Natalia said. "Strange, I don't think there's been anymore shaking since—" She cut off mid-sentence as the platform shook again. "I appear to have spoken too soon..."

Once the shaking stopped, I looked over at Asch, who was standing next to the warp pad. "Were you two still up on the platform we fell from?" I asked. He nodded. "Huh... Anyway, Anise and Sorylle got down here about eight hours ago."

"Anyone know how long we've been in here? Because without the sun, I've completely lost track of the time," Anise said. I frowned.

"We slept about eight hours, fell about six hours before that, and were in here for about an hour before that. It was... what, mid-afternoon when we got here? Roughly three, I think..." I said, thinking out loud.

"So it's about six in the morning," Asch said. "Kairi and Luke should be reaching the Radiation Gate any time now, if they haven't gotten there already."

Jade adjusted his glasses. "We'll know once we reach the passage ring."

"We'll have to get through Van first," Selenia said.

"I don't think we'll have to worry about it much, between Gray Larkspur and White Lotus," I said. "After all, we came here with every intention of killing him. No reason to waste more time or effort than necessary. We do still have to get out, after all."

Jade sighed. "Spoken like a true assassin... and I can't help but agree. Dark, Selenia... If one of you gets a shot, take it. We're running out of time too quickly to be merciful at this point."

I snorted. "Depending on just how fast-acting that poison is, it'll be more merciful than a drawn-out battle." I paused and looked around. "Well... is everyone ready?"

Selenia rested Gray Larkspur on her shoulder and nodded. Flick grinned in anticipation. Asch and Jade looked solemn, but also nodded. Natalia held her bow, Anise had Tokunaga in one hand and the Genius Wand Kairi had given her in the other, and Sorylle growled low in her throat, a challenge growl.

"Let's go," Asch said.

We all stepped over to the warp, and it activated, momentarily blinding me and everyone else, I'm sure.

When the light faded enough to see again, sound reached my ears. There sat Van, playing a complex but familiar melody on an organ... though how that got down here, I didn't want to know. As the melody came to a close with a jump from a note in one octave to the same note in the next, I finally realized where I recognized it from.

The Grand Fonic Hymn... Sync had sung those last few notes at Shurrey Hill, because Tear didn't know that one.

Van stood and turned around. "Asch... Interesting. I was expecting Luke. Especially with Zion at the Radiation Gate. I'd have thought you would have gone with Kairi."

Asch stiffened, and it was no wonder. If Zion was at the Radiation Gate...

"So we may not be running late after all..." Jade murmured. "Unfortunately for Zion, one person isn't going to win against seven and a liger."

Van looked amused. "He doesn't need to win. He just needs to hold them off, just as I do. I'm sure you've noticed the earthquakes by now?" I shifted my stance slightly. "I've rigged a little something that not even Kairi caught. I only need a little more time."

Asch drew his sword. "You're not going to get it."

Van chuckled and did the same. "We'll see."

Selenia only just spared Asch a glance before she started running. I tossed one of the chakrams and then started running in myself. Van dodged it easily and parried Selenia's first strike, then had to jump to the side to avoid Jade's Energy Blast. It didn't hit me until he let off the third or fourth one why he was sticking to Energy Blast.

Van couldn't keep dodging Energy Blasts, arrows (courtesy of Natalia), Poison Bursts (Flick), Ice Streams (Sorylle), and Demon Fists (Asch) without getting hit by either a White Lotus chakram or Selenia's Gray Larkspur.

It seemed like Van realized this, and in an attempt to avoid a would-be-painful blow from Selenia, he let my most recent chakram throw nick him.

"Did it work?"

"No, damn it all..." Sorylle replied. I cursed in liger, caught the chakram, and tossed it again, this time with a bit more force behind it. It flew faster this time, and had a slight ring of light around it. It cut into Van's arm easily, and he glared at me.

"Now it worked. Nice arte, by the way."

This time, when I caught the chakram, I didn't throw it again. Instead, I started casting. He might already be dying, but I wanted to get one last shot in before he did. Sorylle recognized it and backed off, and so did Selenia, realizing the second hit must have poisoned Van.

" O vibrant comets... This one's for the shit you put Asch, Sync, and Kairi through at the end of the year!" I shouted. "Stardust Rain!"

The wide range of my sixth-fonon arte meant that Van just wasn't able to move outside of it before it struck.

Once it was over, he stumbled, forced to use his sword to stay upright. "What... Why..." His eyes widened and he looked up at me, a reluctant chuckle rising up from his throat. "Your chakrams are coated in poison... Heh... You might be the princess's bodyguard, but you're still... an assassin at heart..."

Natalia moved to argue, but I put up a hand, and she gave me a shocked look.

"Yeah. I am. I'm an assassin with a moral compass that only drives me to kill when I have to, whether it's getting the gald I need to buy food to survive, or if it's saving the world from someone whose moral compass is bent beyond repair."

Van chuckled again as his legs gave out. "Damn... And here I thought... I'd planned... for everything." He lost his grip on his sword and dropped to the ground. "Someone... Protect... Mystearica..."

His eyes slid shut, and I glanced over at Jade and Asch. "You go on ahead, see if you can figure out what he did." I looked back down at Van, and Asch nodded. He, Jade, Selenia, and Anise headed down a nearby pathway, while I walked over to Van and held two fingers to his neck.

I found a weak, unsteady pulse and started counting.

A little under two minutes later, the pulse stuttered to a stop. I waited another minute before I removed my fingers.

"It usually takes human bodies a few days for their fonons to disperse completely," I said monotonously. "We should at least take him back for a proper burial."

Natalia nodded her agreement, while Flick frowned. "How? I don't think it'll be a great idea to be carrying a dead body back up," she said. I shrugged, reached into my pocket, and drew out my wing pack. It didn't take me long to find an over-large blanket that had been stained with blood so many times that there were a few stains that had never come out. I laid it out, rolled Van's body onto it, wrapped the corpse up, and stored it—and Van's sword—away in my wing pack.

"Ta-da."

Flick raised an eyebrow. "You can do that?"

I shrugged. "With dead things, or plants that can survive through winter, yes."

Natalia looked a bit disturbed. "You carry that blanket around for just that reason, don't you?"

I nodded and started heading over to the walkway Jade and the others disappeared down earlier. "Yeah... Some of the weirdoes I took jobs from wanted me to bring the body back."

With that lovely thought in mind, we silently descended.

Fun Fact: That blanket will be making another appearance before this story's over.