YOU CAN SCOOT BACK FROM THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT NOW: The new chapter is here. I hope you enjoy it.

It was an experience similar to the struggle of trying to hear someone speaking in a normal voice at the far end of a long tunnel. Something familiar was tugging on the frayed edges of his consciousness. Kuon tried to focus on it despite his lack of energy. Through the distortion and drowsiness, he realized Kyoko was trying to reach out to him. He tried to reach back, as if his subconscious had hands and fingers that were scrambling wildly in darkness to find purchase. Straining against the restriction of his exhaustion, he tried in vain to get something, anything to her.

She must have perceived his response as he felt her again, just barely. It was a mixture of surprise and relief. Then, after a pause, she continued with reassurance. He noticed, even in his addled state, the undertone of determination beneath that feeling. This was no placating encouragement; she was telling him he was going to be alright, and that she would see to it that he was. He smiled.

"Having pleasant dreams?" Reino's voice cooed in his ear. It sickened him.

"Yes, I was repeatedly introducing your face to the floor," he smirked weakly. "Pleasant enough, but the fact that it was not real leaves me terribly unsatisfied."

Reino let out an irritated growl at this before reasserting his calm demeanor, "It is a shame your usefulness overrides your attitude. I will be glad to be rid of you once we make our demands and they are met."

"Because having a civil conversation would be too much effort?"

"Because we are a nation to be feared," he snapped back. "And, until we are recognized as such, there will be no conversation."

They sounded more like a nation of cowards than anything else but he refrained from saying so aloud. The less he talked with the man, the better off he was; not because he was afraid of admitting anything but mostly because it was not worth the energy. What little he could hold onto was better used to keep in contact with Kyoko. However, Reino infuriated him with his smugness and, since he could not lash out physically, verbal retaliation was all he had left. With a resigned sigh, he tried to find a more comfortable position in his chair.

"That's right, this will go a lot easier if you just go along with it," Reino soothed mockingly. "Besides, as far as your people are concerned, negotiations are still taking place. No one will be coming to rescue you anytime soon."

Kuon easily refrained from saying anything that time. He was certain they already knew but he would let his captor continue to think otherwise for as long as it benefitted him.

"We already have a covert extraction team on standby near the location that can retrieve him," Commander Shingai explained to Lory. "However, it would be easier to do so quietly if we knew where he was being kept. The Intelligence division has a fairly detailed layout of the facility but we can only speculate as to where exactly he is."

"We have a Spellweaver that can help you with that," Lory gave the slightest knowing glance to Kuu who barely nodded in response.

"Do you?" the Commander mused thoughtfully. "I wonder if that sort of skill would be useful in the future as well."

"I'm afraid this is something she can only do in this particular situation."

"I… see," the Defender said with a raised eyebrow. "Then we will need to include them for the next part of this discussion."

Lory left his office briefly to ask his assistant to collect Kyoko from the lab. When she arrived, he could see the torment in her eyes like she was waging a battle within herself. He wondered if something transpired between her and Kuu when he visited her in the laboratory and if he ignored his hasty warning to avoid discussing her relationship with his son. It was most likely a safe assumption that the answer to both questions was a resounding 'yes.'

Kyoko sat down with the others gathered and they briefed her on her expected role. Under ideal circumstances, she would only be within range of the Altrian facility and use her ability remotely. They hoped the layouts they had would be able to assist her in pinpointing the right location. Failing that, she would have to be prepared to go on site with the extraction team to help navigate the area and locate their objective. That would be the least desirable situation as she did not have the requisite training for such a mission and would be liability but she readily agreed to do whatever was necessary.

Time would be of the essence if they wanted to make the most of having the element of surprise since it was a reasonable anticipation that, once they made their intentions known, security around his location would be harder to penetrate. As such, it was imperative that Kyoko leave as soon as possible. Lory suggested she go see Kanae before she departed and she left immediately to do so. When Commander Shingai left to make preparations, Lory looked pointedly at Kuu and frowned.

"What did you say to her?"

"Nothing," he defended. "Well…nothing that wasn't especially important for her to know."

"Kuu, we cannot go defining their relationship for them," Lory warned. "The last thing she needs is to be petrified by what her stone might mean as opposed to what it actually does."

"All I suggested was that she think about how she truly feels about him," Kuu said in a placating tone. "If she has to use the power of their bond, she needs to be confident. Otherwise—and you know this as well as I do—anything she tries will be ineffectual."

"Alright, I concede," the Grand Archweaver grumbled begrudgingly, pinching at the bridge of his nose. "You are right, as usual."

Kyoko found Kanae taking a break in one of the empty offices on the Provisionals floor. Her feet were propped up on the heavy wooden desk before her while she intently read a book. Raising her head when she heard the door, she saw her friend enter the room and her brow creased at the expression on her face. She had that blank mask she usually wears when she was not only trying to convince someone else that everything was alright, but herself as well.

"How are the Provisionals today?" she asked politely.

"Are we going to exchange pleasantries or are you going to tell me what's on your mind?" her friend folded her arms and glared.

"There's n-nothing going on," Kyoko fumbled nervously. "I just wanted to tell you I'll be leaving for a little bit."

"What happened?"

She closed her eyes and sighed, "We think he may have been captured and is being held against his will. I have been asked to help locate him but I have to be on-site."

Kyoko tried to explain, in as few details as possible, the status of the whole situation. Since he had taught her the method by which he was able to find her when she disappeared, she was recruited to now do the same for him. Kanae followed along with a nod, noticing what little the other woman felt she could say. It was clear there was a lot more to this than she was letting on.

"So what are you really worried about?" Kanae never was one for beating around the bush.

"That I'm not strong enough? That he's in worse shape than we think?" the young Spellweaver rambled. "That I'll jeopardize his life or his safety? Lots of things."

"You're quite concerned about him, aren't you?"

"Of course I am, Kanae," Kyoko almost yelled in frustration. "He's… very important to me."

"Important, huh?" Kanae's eyebrow formed a delicate arch. "So this is more than just friendly concern?"

"I don't know anymore," she slumped onto the desk. "This is exactly why I tried to avoid situations like this. I feel—"

"You feel what?" her friend urged her to continue.

"Like my heart wants to jump out through my throat when I'm around him. I want to hurt whoever is trying to harm him. I feel stupid and confused and out of control," she took a deep, shaky breath. "Why is this happening to me?"

"I think you know exactly why," her eyes narrowed. "But there's no reason to be afraid of it. All of those worries you named earlier will be that much easier to conquer."

"How?"

"Because you have a reason to overcome them," she said matter-of-factly, as if it were plainly obvious to everyone. "Let this be your strength, Kyoko, not your weakness."

Kyoko threw her arms around her friend in a tight hug. The other woman reluctantly returned the hug, patting her lightly on the back. They said their goodbyes and Kyoko thanked her profusely for the advice. Kanae shrugged it off as if she had told her nothing she did not already know. She figured the girl just need a little encouragement to help sort out her feelings.

On her way back to the Grand Archweaver's office, she stopped to pick up her things from the laboratory. Kyoko had only started reading the section in the book Kuu showed her before she was summoned. She was curious to learn more as it seemed to give a decent explanation of the concept behind energy transference and she was not about to leave it behind. A nagging feeling in the back of her mind told her she might need it.

The two men were surprised to see her with a look of such determined confidence when she returned to Lory's office. Kuu noticed she had the book from earlier clutched in her hand and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. She had taken his advice seriously. After the Grand Archweaver gave her instructions as to where to meat Commander Shingai along with a few words of encouragement, Kuu stepped forward and offered his hand, which she shook firmly after a moment's pause.

"I know you wish you had more time to prepare but you should already have everything you need," he inclined his head towards her and she nodded in response with a grim smile. "Go, find him and bring him back."

When she left, Lory turned to him, surprised, "I thought for sure you would have bogarted your way into going with her to help."

"I'm letting the younger generation have a chance at heroics," he replied thoughtfully. "Besides, I may be powerful, but she's holding the trump card they'll never see coming."

It was fortunate for Kyoko that she would not have to set foot in the Altrian facility. Upon her arrival at the designated outpost, she was shown to a communications room and given a large map. It was impossible to not be nervous when everyone looked at her with such hopeful and expectant eyes. She asked for a pencil and paper on which to draw what she would see once she tried to pinpoint Kuon's location.

Everyone was respectful and gave her complete silence when she shut her eyes tightly to focus on the signature of her amulet's mate. She swallowed a gasp when she found him; the orb of light his amulet emitted was so dim she could just make it out. From there, she slowly tried to expand her view outward to look at the areas surrounding him. There was a hallway with a distinctive curve, several doors on either side and one door at its end. That was the furthest she was able to see so she did her best to commit what she could to memory.

"He's there," she said at last with a sigh. "Let me sketch out what I was able to see before I forget it and I'll answer what questions I can afterwards."

While her artistic ability was not remarkable, she was still able to create a decent rendering of what she saw. In the interest of providing as many details as possible, she drew both an overhead and point-of-view version. When they compared it against the layouts they had, it took some time to figure out precisely where her drawing matched up. However, one of the operatives who helped gather information for the layout said the hallway looked familiar and pointed to a southeast area of the diagram. Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief; it was a match.

"The door at the end of the hall should lead to the room where he is," Kyoko explained. "He was not moving when I located him so he may be unconscious or tied up."

Thus began the planning phase and everyone was assigned a responsibility. Kyoko was to remain in the communications room to help answer questions and use her ability to tell them if they were getting close. Two attendants would be manning the communication console—a large panel of dials, screens and buttons along the far wall of the otherwise sparsely equipped room—and relaying messages to her as needed. All other personnel in the room not actively participating in the mission would be on standby.

Everything would start in an hour's time so Kyoko sat in the corner of the room with the book she brought with her. She had read through most of it on the way to the outpost and found the information contained therein fairly helpful. One paragraph in particular caught her interest and she turned again to the page where it was to read it again:

Using the term 'energy transference' between bonded stones is, in all actuality, a misnomer as there is technically no transference between the stones. Instead, each piece is—for lack of a less obvious description—part of a whole. As such, they are technically used as one stone. It is only the apprehension and mutual respect on the part of the bonded users that lends itself to the belief that they are separate. Most users will assume that there is a definite boundary between their energy and that of their counterpart when, in fact, no such boundary exists. Once the user of a bonded stone accepts this premise, only the relationship between the two users will dictate the effectiveness with which each can use the bond.

For being written so plainly, she was surprised at how difficult the concept was for her to grasp. It just did not make sense to her since both she and Kuon used their amulets separate from each other for years before they reunited. However, the book implied that she had some sort of mental block preventing her from using the stone fully. She hoped to use what little time she had remaining to overcome this hurdle.

The extraction team was extremely successful in surreptitiously infiltrating the facility and things seemed to be going according to plan. Their position was being closely monitored by one of the communications attendants while the other spoke short commands into their headset. Kyoko saw the flicker of distress cross the face of the attendant who spoke before they turned around to beckon her to approach the console.

"One of our operatives has something to tell you," they said plainly as she walked towards them and stood where she could hear the intercom.

"I'm ready, tell them to go ahead," she watched the attendant push two buttons and a faint crackle filled the once quiet room.

"Weaver Mogami, we… seem to have encountered a bit of a problem," a voice came over the intercom.

"What is it?" she asked anxiously.

"We located the room but the door appears to be spell-locked from the inside," the voice spoke again. "There is no lock or handle for our equipment to disable nor can we force it open."

Her hands slammed into the console in front of her in frustration. Hanging her head, she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to try clearing her mind. They had made it so far only to be shut out by a damned door. She growled and snapped her eyes open; there had to be something she could do. Her pendant swayed gently in front of her bowed head causing her eyes to have difficulty focusing on it as it was so close. As it swung towards her nose, she saw two amulets, and then only one when it swung away. Suddenly, the scattered puzzle pieces of thought in her mind coalesced and she knew what had to be done.

"Tell them to stand by but be ready to move fast as this will probably trigger an alarm; I have an idea," she told the person sitting to her left at the console and then looked behind her. "Can someone here see if they can pull away one of the Healers we have on hold to receive the hostage? I don't know how badly this is going to affect me and I'd rather not have you distracted with helping me while trying to give your people orders."

A younger Defender sprinted out the door with a nod and returned mere moments later with a Healer who doubled over trying to catch his breath before going to her side with his bag of supplies.

"Sorry in advance for the bluntness," she told the Healer. "But, I'm probably going to pass out and you're helping me when that happens."

He nodded at her and began to rifle through his bag in preparation. Kyoko had no idea if closing her eyes was necessary, but she did it anyway to help her focus. She also did not know if what she was about to do would be successful as she only had a general idea of how she would accomplish it. Nevertheless, she was determined to try anything that could potentially work. Otherwise, she would be returning to the Main Edifice without him and she was not going to allow that to happen.

'It's an extension of myself, just like he told me before,' she thought, trying to get herself into the right mindset. 'I just need to think of it as if I'm using my own amulet. There is no barrier. Our stones are one and the same. He needs my help. I can do this. I'm getting him back.'

An almost eerie calm washed over her and her turbulent mind settled down. Picturing the stone as it once was when they were younger—before Kuon severed it into two pieces— she smiled at the memory and it helped her focus. With that image in her head, she took a deep breath and pushed outwards with everything she had. She knew there would be no second attempt so she was going to make this one count.

Kuon was actively ignoring his captor's idle pacing in the room when a sharp tingling sensation started in his chest. It had radiated out to the tips of his fingers and toes by the time he registered what was happening. He felt a burst of energy surge outward from himself and was oddly thankful that he was still restrained against the chair. A shockwave pulsed through the room with him at the epicenter. Seeing Reino's body as it was flung forcefully into a wall was more satisfying to him than the sight of four figures stealthily entering the room once the door had been blown open.

Two of them went to work freeing him from his bindings. He made sure to caution against touching the chair itself as he figured out that it had to be the only thing responsible for keeping his energy drained when no one else in the room ever seemed to be affected. The other two apprehended Reino while he was still disoriented from the blast. Held up between the shoulders of his two rescuers, he stumbled out of the room and gave one last look to the man on the ground who was currently receiving restraints of his own. The look of bewildered anger on his face made Kuon smirk.

He he threw a small nod at Reino as he trudged past, "Kyoko sends her regards."

Kyoko staggered backwards from where she stood at the console and the Healer immediately grabbed her arm and helped her into a nearby chair. He checked her pulse and pupils as she sat in a daze, breathing heavily. She heard rapid instructions being called out by the attendants in headsets and hoped she managed to get the door open. It certainly felt like she had.

"We have him in custody and he is being transported back here," one attendant looked back and told her quickly.

"Oh, thank goodness," she gasped between breaths. "Thank goodness."

With that, she let her eyes close and her body sag limply in the chair.

THANKS WAITING SO PATIENTLY, EVERYONE: Seriously, I probably should have expected so many of you to comment after the way I left things. Shout outs to pancakesareabsoluetlydelicious (I wholeheartedly agree), DreamIdol, Shizuhoe, zealith, SilverInu93, cleocat333, J Luc Pitard (your username is awesome, btw), michiyo, Guest (so mysterious and anonymous) and Blushweaver for your overwhelming response after the last chapter. I'm about a third of the way into the next chapter so I will see you all the same time next week!

AUTHOR OUT!