Before we begin, I'd like to post a reminder that this is rated 'T' for a reason! I trust you all to be mature enough to handle the mentions of adult themes.

That said... Onward, my brave readers! We near the end... and there is some very obvious foreshadowing in this chapter. You won't find out what's being foreshadowed for sure until Part 36 of AEtT (though there will be another huge hint in the very first post of that story), but it's really rather obvious. If you fail to catch it, I may have to send Fleur after you. And I can assure you, she will bring Thys, and you will not enjoy it.

Oh, and while I don't really have any of the Colored Ripples chapters planned for these last couple of Chapters, if you guys want to see what the others did The Night Before, feel free to ask! (Though I do have one for Dark & Natalia half-written.)

Also, I'd have put one of Reighn's lines up here, but I think I'll leave it where it is for the sake of my sanity.

"Reighn? Do I even dare ask why you thought it was a brilliant idea to get drunk last night?" –Asch

"Asch? She's really starting to scare me." –Luke

Chapter 13.2 – End Game
Part 112

Asch and I stepped into Chesedonia just a few hours before the operation was due to start, two days after he gave me the promise ring.

It now rested on my right hand, small enough to be hidden easily by my glove.

We met up with the others in one of the gardens around Astor's mansion—we would have met at Din's shop, but that was just a bit small for all of us—and I looked around. Ion, whose leg had been mostly healed by Dark's Sacrifice and then had been completely healed by me, stood tall and proud in his earthbender costume. I admired the work Peony had done on it, since the clothes were just... Ion.

Natalia and Dark stood side-by-side, looking mostly like re-colors of Estelle and Yuri from Tales of Vesperia. Also side-by-side were Seth—who had fallen to the Dark Side, it seemed—and Flick. Jade wore a scowl with his Evil Fonist costume, and I smirked and gave Flick at thumbs-up, which both of us received glares for. Tear and Anise were over there...

I paused to look over Luke's clothes, since they matched Asch's, except in a color scheme that screamed 'light' instead of 'dark'.

Reighn the waterbender appeared to be nursing a hangover, and I noted Guy trying—and failing—not to laugh at him. Selenia seemed much more sympathetic, at least.

"You two took your time getting here," Sync noted.

I shrugged. "We saw the shield go down yesterday morning. Since I know the Order of Lorelei has a twenty-four hour leave before a large battle policy, and Asch said Malkuth is the same, I figured we'd have plenty of time. Also, my secondary Talent is a timekeeping thing. I knew I wasn't running late—it would have been screaming at me if I had been." I paused. "By the way, Cantabile's on her way. She'll be here in just a couple minutes."

Asch glanced at me, then at a certain, hung-over healer/fonist. "And... Reighn? Do I even dare ask why you thought it was a brilliant idea to get drunk last night?"

Reighn flipped him off, then proceeded to mutter curses in English, Ancient Ispanian, and Japanese. Guy chuckled at Asch's amused expression. "Yeah, that's about all we've been able to get out of him."

I sighed, walked over, and gathered up Energies, mostly water Energies. Reighn hummed contentedly as I let them ease the headache.

"Thanks... That actually helped a lot..."

I crossed my arms. "I only did it now because I don't need you still dealing with it when we begin the assault on Eldrant. Don't expect me to be so merciful next time. If you're going to be so irresponsible as to get a hangover in the first place, you deserve to ride it out on your own."

"This, from a woman who's never touched alcohol..."

I scowled. "I've had a drink now and then in the past. I've just never gone so far as to have enough for a headache come morning."

Reighn gave me a worried look, then shrugged it off. "Right... I'll keep it in mind..."

I nodded. Then... "Hey, Cantabile."

Everything went silent for a moment.

"How the hell did you—No, don't answer that. I can probably guess..."

I looked over my shoulder with a frown, then busted up laughing when I realized she'd been attempting to sneak up on us. Oh, well, I guess it works for that too.

She scowled. "Damn telepathy..."

I laughed even harder. "That's the worst part... wasn't even the telepathy that gave you away! Haha... I didn't realize it could do that... Hehehe..."

Luke groaned. "Asch? She's really starting to scare me."

Asch sighed. "Yeah. Well. Get over it."

I finally controlled myself and stood up straight again. "So, aside from displaying your rather impressive ninja skills—"

"Obviously not impressive enough..." Cantabile grumbled.

"—what'd you need us for?"

The woman sighed. "Brigadier Generals Frings and Cecille have already set out with the advance forces."

Jade frowned. "They're leaving an hour early."

"But the Albiores can fly faster than their battleships can move," Cantabile argued. "They didn't want to risk you arriving before the main bulk of the attacking forces and having to hold off the anti-air fire on your own. And on that note... Noelle and Ginji wanted to talk to you all about something, but I'm not sure where they've wandered off to."

I frowned and thought about it. "They'll be here in... fifty seconds."

I got a lot of odd looks, and tilted my head to the side. "What? Secondary Talent."

Sync looked curious. "You can have more than one?"

I shrugged. "You can have up to three. The first one's always the strongest, easiest to control, etc. That's why I'm exercising the second one. Good morning, Noelle, Ginji!"

The pilot siblings both smiled and replied in kind, while Cantabile just kinda stared at me.

"You mean you caught me because you knew I'd be getting here right then?"

I nodded. "Yeah. If I'd caught you with the telepathy, I wouldn't have said anything, because I'd have been able to tell you weren't on the main path, and probably would have guessed you were trying to startle someone."

Her expression was carefully blank, while Flick snickered. "Wow, Kairi... Even when you're not trying to be cruel, you're cruel..."

I rolled my eyes. "So, you two had something to say?" I said, looking over at Noelle and Ginji again. Noelle nodded.

"Yes... Ginji and I have agreed that I'll be the one to take you all up to Eldrant," she said. She looked over at Ginji here, and I realized what he was going to say before he said it—no Talent needed, not when the determination was written so clearly across his face.

"Meanwhile, I'm going to fly as a decoy. I'll draw their fire from above while the Malkuth and Kimlascan militaries are attacking from below. Hopefully, we should open up a large enough hole for you to get through without any problems."

Ion looked... stricken, almost. "Ginji, are you sure?! If you get shot down—"

"It's alright. Remember, I crash-landed in the Meggiora Highlands before. Grandpa and the others installed a better safety system in the Albiore III. Even if I get shot down, I'll be able to get out, and from there, it's just a matter of being picked up by one of the ships."

Noelle looked embarrassed. "Which is a big part of the reason why I'm going to fly you all to Eldrant instead of being the decoy... I can't really swim all that well. Ginji can."

I nodded. "Alright. Just... Be careful, Ginji. Don't get reckless on us."

He nodded, and Jade sighed.

"Well, now that that's done... I'd actually intended for us to have a bit of a strategy talk yesterday, but the Albiore II didn't land until almost seven last night, and, well... By that point, most of you weren't even in the city proper," he said. I frowned and looked around.

"I know Asch and I were in Tataroo Valley, but where...?"

Seth and Flick looked sheepish. "We kinda went out into the desert on a cactus hunt," Flick said. "Din roped us into it."

Sync chuckled. "They got roped into chasing down cacti, and Selenia and I went the other direction to find seashells."

Selenia smiled. "Hmm... We actually ended up doing more splashing around than seashell-collecting."

I couldn't help it, I laughed and looked over at Asch. "We had that problem one time, didn't we?"

He snorted, but was smirking anyway.

Jade sighed. "You are all so focused..."

Cantabile smiled. "Ah, let 'em have their fun. You know as well as I do, they'll be dead serious by the time they're on the Albiore."

There was a definite gentleness to Cantabile's tone that wasn't usually there, and I noticed that for once, Jade wasn't trying to avoid her. I reached out and mentally prodded Sorylle, having spotted Dark's nigh-malicious smirk.

*Did those two...?* I started. Sorylle sent back a smug confirmation. I grinned. Then, just because I couldn't help it... "Jade and Cantabile, sittin' in a tree~ K-I-S-S—"

"Oh, shut up..." Cantabile grumbled... or, well, tried to. She was too busy smiling to actually grumble.

Jade, on the other hand, was now a bright red. "Alright, that's it. We'll talk on the Albiore. Don't be late."

He then turned and walked off at a fast enough pace that I'd have dared to call it running if I weren't already digging myself a hole.

Cantabile smirked and followed him, and everyone but Dark was staring at me with wide eyes. "How did you not get gutted just now?!" Sync asked. I grinned.

"Oh, that? ...That's for me, Sorylle, and Dark to know, and everybody else to find out at a much later date. Mostly because most of you are far too young for that sort of stuff."

Reighn chuckled. "Then why does Dark know?"

"'Cause he speaks liger."

There was a moment of silence. Then...

"Remind me never to get laid while Sorylle's around."

Reighn's comments were followed up by a chorus of 'eww's, a few 'TMI, Reighn!'s and of course a 'wait, Mom and Jade did what?!' from Sync.

Dark, who of course had already known, Reighn, who had been the one to make the comment, Asch, who could be rather insightful when it suited him, and I all busted up laughing, especially at Sync's comment. Once we were done laughing though, I checked the sun. Not quite noon yet.

"Hey, guys? I think we should go get something to eat while we're still in Chesedonia. From this point out, we'll be eating from the campfire... Well, and probably going through the sandwiches Selenia and I have packed," I said. The others nodded, and we split up again for lunch.

Then we were all aboard the Albiore, Jade settled in and looking like he'd totally forgotten my teasing from earlier. No one mentioned that Sorylle had sniffed him out... To be honest, with as grim as everyone had turned suddenly, I doubted anyone remembered.

I knew I certainly didn't care at that point. There was a very real chance that one of us could die; me, Asch, Sync, Jade...

I was happy, knowing he'd gotten to at least enjoy what could possibly become his last night. Even happier, that he'd spent it with her. They'd been trying to hide it, but I'd seen the letters on Cantabile's desk. I'd spotted Jade tucking pieces of paper away when he realized he wasn't alone.

Jade was strong, and prepared for a lot of things. But love? Love wasn't something he was accustomed to. It wasn't something he'd planned on, or anything he really had control over.

So I knew it terrified him.

That he had at least been able to admit that he felt something for Cantabile, in one way or another, made me happy.

I glanced back at Natalia and Dark.

Those two seemed to have decided they'd share those last few moments before we needed to be a small army as well. I smiled and glanced around at the others. Guy was up front with Noelle, and I knew from the way he was watching her, he wasn't just up there to be her co-pilot.

Asch slipped an arm around me, and I smiled and leaned into him.

"Brace yourselves; Ginji's already under fire!" Noelle called back. I pressed up against the back of a seat, Asch's arms helping to keep both of us rooted to it. I noted that most of the others were either holding tight to a seat, or were actually in the seat.

When the Albiore first rocked, Tear lost her grip, and I saw Reighn move almost before she could cry out. Reighn pulled her into his lap and held on, and I noted the blush faintly covering both their cheeks, and the awkward way Tear would not look at him even as Noelle continued to dart around the anti-air fire.

It didn't take me long to figure out what had happened between those two.

Reighn had fallen in love with Tear. Except, she had either refused him, or they'd decided their positions as Clan Heads meant the headache of cleaning up that mess wasn't one they wanted to deal with.

Which was why Reighn had gotten drunk last night.

He hadn't wanted to remember this come morning.

*Sorry... If I'd realized...* I started, my tone telling Reighn everything I'd just figured out.

*No... You were right. I need to be at the top of my game for this. So... thanks. We... we can figure it out later. It did come rather out of nowhere for her...*

I sent along gentle encouragement, and a bit of my guilt, because I was still sorry.

The channel closed, and then the Albiore twisted again, and I heard Sorylle growl what could only be a curse. Dark chuckled, and then basically shoved Natalia toward me and Asch. "Hold onto her," he yelled before jumping back and wrapping an arm around his poor liger, who was the only one with no means of tying herself down. The two took a tumble before Dark wrapped his legs around a handrail, arms around Sorylle. It was a bit of an awkward position, but it kept the two from rolling around as Noelle avoided enemy fire.

"There, on the eastern side!" Jade called. Noelle nodded.

"I see it! ...Wait, where's Ginji?! Ugh, someone else look, I have to fly!"

I reached out. Where...

"Well, he's alive..." I announced. *Ginji?*

*Eastern side... Took a hit to an engine and decided to ram into it... took out the anti-air fire, at least... ow...*

I huffed. "I thought I told you not to do something reckless?" I asked, out loud and telepathically. Then, just out loud... "That hole in anti-air fire on the east side is Ginji's handiwork. He rammed the Albiore III into Eldrant instead of going down when one of the engines got hit."

Noelle flipped us around as she made a beeline for the hole. "Is he okay?!"

*Injuries, now.*

*Um... Well, I'm pretty bruised up... Couple of cuts, though most of it's from getting out of the Albiore after I crashed... Ow... Urg, I'm not gonna make it far.*

*Good, the Albiore's pretty visible. We're heading in, stay there and try to stop the bleeding,* I ordered. "Bruises and a few cuts, according to him. I prodded a little deeper than usual, and I think he might have a concussion too. Or at least a nasty bump on his head."

"Alright... Hold on, we're going in!" Noelle warned.

And in we went. I was only mildly surprised that the flying behemoth didn't try to ram into us like it did in the game. Then again, that was a rather reckless, last-ditch move... and while Zion was getting desperate...

He wasn't that stupid.

Fun Fact: Remember back when St. Binah fell and I said there were only two times were Dark or Sync wouldn't be the ones initiating that rhyme? Jade did it back then, though it wasn't explicitly stated, and Kairi did it here.

Trivia- What meaning do these two instances have? The first one (Jade's on the Albiore after the fall of St. Binah) should be rather obvious by now. The second you should be able to guess.