Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of the Abyss.
Chapter 33
Loreleiday, Gnome-Decan 50, ND2019 – 4:45pm local time (Keterburg)
Jade carefully climbed the front steps of the Governor's Residence, watching out for the thick patches of ice left behind where the snow had been packed down by other people's footsteps. He glanced up at the red brick structure, with its large bay windows and green banners, before knocking on the polished dark wood of the double doors. At first, no one answered. He was about to knock again when a maid opened one of the doors partway.
"I'm sorry, sir," said the maid, "but the Governor has visitors this evening. You'll have to come back tomorrow."
"My apologies for the intrusion," Jade said formally. "I have an urgent message for Viscount Osborne, and unfortunately the matter cannot wait. Please tell her that Colonel Jade Curtiss is here to see her, on Imperial business."
"Jade...Curtiss?" the maid said uncertainly. "Aren't you...the Governor's brother?"
"Yes," Jade replied, suppressing a grimace.
"Oh!" the maid exclaimed. Hastily, she opened the door fully, and held it for him. "My apologies, sir! Please, come in! I'm sure they'll be glad to see you."
"Thank you," Jade acknowledged. They? he wondered, with a sinking feeling.
The maid led him upstairs to the parlor and knocked lightly on the closed door. "Milady," the maid called, "your brother is here."
"Let him in," Nephry's voice called faintly through the woodwork.
The maid held the parlor door for Jade, who nodded a brief thank-you to her as he stepped into the room. As the door closed behind him, Jade stopped short. Oh, he thought, as he took in the scene before him, damn.
His sister Nephry sat in one of the green velvet armchairs. Her golden-blond hair was released from its usual twist, falling straight past her shoulders to her waist. Across from her, on the matching green sofa, an older couple stared at Jade in astonishment. The man was tall and thin, with hazel eyes framed by rectangular glasses. His short hair, which had once been light brown, had gone salt-and-pepper gray with age. The woman, who was almost as tall as her husband, also had hazel eyes, and she wore a large pair of bifocals. Her hair, curled up and pinned exactly as it had been for as long as Jade could remember, was much grayer than when he had last seen her, its once-golden hue now sheened with silver.
"Jade?" the tall man asked uncertainly. "Is that you, son?"
"Jade?!" gasped the woman.
"Father... Mother..." Jade murmured. He swallowed hard, trying to maintain his composure. "I came to speak with Nephry, on a matter that concerns her as Governor of Keterburg. I apologize for the interruption."
"Interruption? Not in the least, Jade!" Mr. Balfour exclaimed. His voice was cheerful, but the uncertainty in his eyes and tension in his posture revealed his anxiety. "Good to see you again. This is the first time in, what, nine years? You must have been very busy with your military career, eh?"
"...I suppose you could say that," Jade replied, adjusting his glasses.
"Have you...been all right, Jade?" Mrs. Balfour asked hesitantly. "We haven't seen you since Nephry's wedding, and then we heard that you'd been killed at Akzeriuth. When Nephry said you'd turned up alive, with a damaged landship to repair in Keterburg Bay, we hardly dared to believe it."
Jade attempted a reassuring smile. "You needn't have worried, Mother. I'm alive and well, as you can see."
"Yes, but...!" Mrs. Balfour began to protest, then trailed off. "Never mind. I... I'm just glad you're safe."
"The part about a damaged landship in Keterburg's seaport was the wildest part of the tale," Mr. Balfour commented. "How in the world did that happen?"
"Perhaps I can explain some other time," Jade stalled. "I... wasn't expecting to encounter either of you here. I only came to see Nephry."
"Oh," Mr. and Mrs. Balfour said simultaneously, in identical tones of disappointment.
"What did you come to see me about?" Nephry asked. "Did His Majesty receive my letter? Will there be emergency aid?"
"I don't know," Jade replied. "I was in the field with Third Division until His Majesty sent me on this mission of investigation. You are aware that there have been other disasters affecting Malkuth this year, correct?"
"Yes..." Nephry answered in a voice of fading hope. "Are you...investigating the disasters, then? Is that why you came to Keterburg?"
"Indeed, yes," Jade confirmed. "The investigation has uncovered some very unexpected things, so far. Unfortunately, my news is for your ears alone. I think we should continue this conversation in your office, if you don't mind."
"Certainly," said Nephry. She rose from her chair and glanced toward Mr. and Mrs. Balfour. "We'll be back shortly," she told them.
"We?" Jade asked her quietly. "Nephry, I hadn't been planning on a family reunion. I need to go back to the hotel after this, so that I can finish some notes I'd been writing."
"You should at least stay for dinner," Nephry said firmly. "I insist on that much."
"...Very well. I'll stay for dinner," Jade acquiesced. "I won't be able to visit for long, however. I need to leave Keterburg first thing in the morning."
"Why? Where are you going?" Mrs. Balfour objected.
"I..." Jade hesitated. "I'll let Nephry decide how much to tell you. The results of the investigation may become classified information."
"Let's go down to my office, then," Nephry said with a sigh.
As Jade followed Nephry out of the parlor and down the stairs, he overheard their father grumbling, just before the parlor door swung shut, "He's still as cold as ever..."
"They've been very worried about you," Nephry informed Jade, opening the door to her office and ushering him inside.
"Yes, I can see that," Jade acknowledged.
"Can you?!" Nephry snapped, seating herself at the desk. "Jade, you've barely been in contact with them, or with me, since you were adopted!"
"I was busy," Jade replied evasively, as he pulled a chair away from the table and sat across from Nephry. "In any case, I didn't come here to discuss family matters. I came to warn you that even worse weather is likely to begin soon."
Nephry's jaw dropped. "Worse?! Jade, do you have the slightest idea how bad the situation already is?!"
"I've some notion, but you can doubtless fill me in on the details after I'm finished with my report. In brief, the Sephiroth on Mount Roneal is the cause of the harsh weather here." Jade drew a long, deep breath and began to summarize, "His Imperial Majesty ordered me to investigate all of the disasters that have befallen Auldrant this year..."
"I didn't think the sentiences were real," Nephry said quietly, after Jade had concluded his report. "I thought they were just a remnant of ancient mythology, from before the Dawn Age. And I can't believe you survived a tornado!" she added, her voice rising. "That's even more incredible than your survival last year, after the destruction of Akzeriuth!"
"Yes," Jade acknowledged, "I know it's difficult to believe. Unfortunately, everything I've told you is the exact truth. Keterburg needs to prepare immediately for Celsius's wrath. I'm so sorry we brought this danger down upon you."
Nephry tilted her head to one side. "That's the first time I've ever heard you say 'I'm sorry' like you actually mean it. You really have changed, Jade."
"Have I? I wonder," Jade mused. "But whether I've changed or not is irrelevant at the moment. Is there any chance that the residents here can evacuate within the next two days?"
"No," said Nephry, looking down at her folded hands on the desktop and swallowing hard. "None at all. The port has been closed for the last three weeks because of all the ice, with no ships arriving or departing. There's no transportation available, except for your Albiore, and I don't think the whole population of one hundred thousand people will fit."
"Not all in one trip, certainly," Jade agreed. "According to Tear, it took four days of back-and-forth flights to transport all of Daath's residents and pilgrims to Yulia City. That's only a fraction of the distance between here and Grand Chokmah, which is the nearest and safest refuge I can think of offhand."
Nephry nodded understanding, then took a deep breath. "I'll issue a shelter-in-place order right away, to go into effect the day after tomorrow," she said, raising her chin with determination. "But it will take time to get the word out to everyone in the city. What should I tell them about Celsius and the Sephiroth?"
"I was hoping to leave that to your discretion," Jade replied.
"That's no help," Nephry muttered in exasperation. "Can't you think of some simple, straightforward explanation?"
"One that 'normal' people can understand?" Jade retorted. "You know I've never been good at simplifying complicated matters. It's why I hate teaching, and why I don't take apprentices."
Nephry sighed. "I suppose you're right. I'll... I'll come up with something, then. But it won't be enough to quell the rumor that this weather is a punishment from Yulia for abandoning the Score."
"I've heard that rumor," Jade said, also sighing. "Field Marshal McGovern mentioned it when I conferred with him in Saint Binah, and Astor also spoke of it in Chesedonia. It must be everywhere by now."
"Yes, I'm sure it must be," Nephry concurred. "Somehow I'm reminded of the proverb, 'A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.'"
"Different hard-hit regions may have generated the same rumor independently of one another," Jade pointed out, "given that the Score was the world's ultimate authority for over two thousand years. For devout believers like the Curtiss family, such a conclusion would seem quite logical."
Nephry's eyes widened. "Do your adoptive parents believe the rumors, then?"
"I haven't asked," Jade admitted. "But if they do, it wouldn't surprise me in the least. They were reluctant to trust my account of last year's events, when I visited them after the victory at Eldrant. It was all a terrible shock to them."
"I'm sorry to hear that," said Nephry. "Was there anything else you needed to tell me, about the situation with Celsius?"
"No. I think I've covered all the essentials," Jade replied, adjusting his glasses.
Nephry smiled. "Then it's time for dinner. Come along, brother. We have a lot of catching up to do."
After dinner, Jade left the Governor's Residence, but instead of returning to the hotel, he took a walk around the city.
Keterburg had grown during the quarter-century since his adoption. His childhood home, where his parents were presumably still residing, had once been near the edge of town; now, the city had been built out well beyond his old neighborhood. Most of the houses looked the same as he remembered, though some of them had been repainted or remodeled. The fences around them seemed shorter, and it startled him to realize that it was his own height, not the height of the fences, that had changed. At least, he hoped that the impression was because of his height, not an effect of the unusual depth of the snow that blanketed everything. The snow was deeper now, as he walked these familiar streets, than it had ever been during his childhood. He remembered the snow being up to at least his ankles, occasionally up to his knees after a particularly strong storm. It was just a little more than knee-deep on him now.
Without quite knowing why, he followed the route that he had walked every weekday on his way to school. Professor Nebilim's small academy had been on the ground floor of her own house. The house was gone, burnt to the ground the night the Professor had been fatally injured by Jade's stupid, stupid, stupid attempt to control the Seventh Fonon; now there was only a small memorial garden, with a gravestone, marking the site of the tragedy.
The wrought-iron gate to the memorial was shut but not locked. Carefully, Jade eased the gate open, stepped through, and closed it again. All of the plants, hardy local winter flora, were buried by the deep snow, with only the tops of the tallest bushes showing. The gravestone, somewhere near the center of the garden, was absurdly small for someone who had – however unwillingly – set in motion a chain of events that had freed Auldrant from the shackles of the Score. Jade scanned the area, but he couldn't see the stone anywhere. The snow was too deep for even the pointed tip to show above the uneven drifts.
Briefly, he debated whether to attempt to uncover the gravestone or whether to let it remain undisturbed. Somehow, the idea of meddling with the Professor's resting place didn't sit well with him. Then again, neither did the notion of allowing the snow to erase even the memory of her.
The faint creak of the gate behind him startled him. Turning around hastily, Jade's caught his breath as he saw his parents standing there, side by side, holding hands and watching him. For a moment, no one spoke.
Mr. Balfour broke the tense silence. "We thought you might be here. Still haven't forgiven yourself, eh?"
"How did you...?" Jade began to ask, but a lump in his throat choked off the words know that?
"If you had, you would have gone back to the hotel instead of coming to Professor Nebilim's grave. Am I wrong?"
"...No," Jade admitted, averting his gaze.
"Jade, everyone makes mistakes. It's part of being human," said Mr. Balfour.
"My mistakes destroyed countless lives, not just the Professor's. If I hadn't invented fomicry—"
"Rubbish," Mr. Balfour stated flatly. "If you hadn't invented fomicry, someone else would have invented it. Maybe not for another century, or two, or five, or ten, but it had to happen eventually."
"If someone else had invented it, perhaps they would have found better uses for it than vain attempts to revive the dead," Jade replied just as flatly.
"Oh? You don't believe that you could still find ethical ways to use it?" Mr. Balfour retorted.
"...What?" Jade was so startled that he unintentionally looked back at his parents.
"You heard me. Are you going to give up now, when the world could still benefit from your research?" Anger flashed in Mr. Balfour's hazel eyes. "Don't tell me that your mother and I handed you over to a pair of strangers for nothing, boy!"
"Father...!" Jade protested.
"It almost broke her heart, you know," Mr. Balfour went on, glancing aside at his wife, who nodded at him in response. "The only reason she agreed to let them adopt you was that she wanted to give you a better future, with more opportunities to develop your talents than you would have had here in Keterburg."
"Is that so?" Jade murmured, feeling ashamed. "I thought you were both relieved to be rid of me. I'm sure you remember what an unholy terror I was."
"We remember," Mrs. Balfour said quietly. "But Jade, a mother's love for her children is stronger than you realize. It can overcome almost anything, even her fears. I was never afraid of you, but I was very afraid for you. I was afraid that you would grow up to be... well..." she trailed off.
"Evil?" Jade suggested, trying for humor.
"I suppose so," his mother replied reluctantly. "I was afraid that my efforts wouldn't be enough to save you from yourself. That was the other reason I agreed to let Admiral and Lady Curtiss adopt you. I thought I was a failure as a mother, and that you needed someone better."
"I never knew that," Mr. Balfour murmured to her.
"I never told you," she murmured back.
"I..." Jade began to apologize, but he stopped short, unable to say I'm sorry out loud. Two words seemed entirely inadequate to ease thirty-plus years of pain and self-doubt.
"As for me," Mr. Balfour said to Jade, "I was concerned that the Curtiss family wouldn't know what to do with you, when they found out what kind of child you really were."
"A valid concern, sir," Jade acknowledged. He almost added, That's precisely what happened, but he couldn't quite bring himself to say that, either.
"You never wrote to us," Mrs. Balfour said sorrowfully. Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. "We sent you a letter every month, for the first three years after you left. We sent letters to Admiral and Lady Curtiss, too. At first, they kept in touch with us and told us about how you were doing. But as time passed, they wrote to us less and less often."
"I'm not surprised to hear that," Jade replied with a sigh. "I was a disappointment to them. They wanted a lovable, loving child, who would share their deep faith in the Score and their passion for the military. I was indifferent to the Score, and to their affection. The military wasn't my focus, either; I only cared about fomicry research and Professor Nebilim. In the end... all I ever did was use them as a means to pursue my own interests."
"Hmph," Mr. Balfour snorted. "I figured as much. Still, at least you seem to have some remorse for it. But what do you plan to do now?"
"At the moment, I'm assisting with the investigation His Imperial Majesty assigned me. As I mentioned earlier, I expect that most of the results will end up as classified information."
"And after that?" Mr. Balfour pressed.
"I... haven't decided. I did ask His Majesty to allow me to resume my fomicry research, for the benefit of the many replicas created by Van and Mohs, but..." Jade trailed off, not wanting to reveal the results of that conversation.
"But... what?" Mrs. Balfour asked. "You're hiding something, aren't you, Jade?"
"There was a problem with funding," Jade answered. It was a factual answer, though not a fully honest one.
"Hmmm. And you haven't found a solution yet?" Mr. Balfour prodded.
"Unfortunately, no." Or at least, Jade corrected mentally, not a solution I'm satisfied with.
"Well, money is always a challenge," Mr. Balfour relented. "But I'm sure you'll find a way. If you intend to help the people who were born because of your technology, you won't be able to accomplish that all by yourself. You do realize that, I hope?"
Jade nodded briefly. "Yes, I'm well aware." He hesitated, then added, "His Imperial Majesty told me the same thing. He said that it would take an army's worth of trained medical personnel, all over the world, to care for the replicas."
"Most likely. Hmmm." Mr. Balfour rubbed his narrow chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps you could become a professor at a medical school, then. The University of Grand Chokmah has one, yes? Surely they could provide research funding, in exchange for teaching med students. Now there's a win-win scenario, since it would accomplish both objectives."
"I... No, I... I—!" Jade cut himself off, before he could say I can't. Theoretically, he could apply for a job at the university anytime, and they would probably be eager to hire him. The medical school had research laboratories where he could obtain all the materials and equipment he would need. For all he knew, the Imperial Research Institute might still have some of the contents of his old lab locked away in storage. The only piece missing from the puzzle was himself, because he hated teaching. One student at a time would be difficult enough; an entire class every semester seemed impossible.
"It's not like you to say, 'I can't,' Jade," Mrs. Balfour remarked, as though Jade had actually said it. "You always believed that you could do anything. Surely you haven't lost all your confidence, have you?"
Jade shook his head. "No, but... I hate teaching."
"Let me guess: you hate the idea of being called 'Professor,' because of what happened here," Mr. Balfour said, gesturing around at the snow-covered memorial garden.
"That's...!" ...not true, Jade wanted to say, but he knew his parents would see right through his denial. His shoulders slumped. "That's the heart of the matter, yes," he confessed.
"Oh, Jade," his mother sighed. "Don't you know how proud of you she would be, if she could see you now?"
"Certainly not!" Jade snapped, feeling deeply offended. "How could she ever be proud of someone who killed her?!"
Mr. Balfour actually chuckled at Jade's reaction. "Heh heh. I knew you'd say that. Jade, take my advice: never argue with a woman about whether someone would be proud of her child, especially if that someone is another woman. You won't win." He smirked unrepentantly at his wife, who smiled back at him in amusement. "It may not be our place to speak for Professor Nebilim. But for what it's worth, Jade, you've grown into a very different person from the 'unholy terror' you were as a child. Your mother and I can both see that."
"Have I? How can you tell?" Jade asked. "Nephry also said I've changed, but... I don't see it."
"That's because one thing is still the same, son," Mr. Balfour replied, chuckling again. "You're unnecessarily harsh with yourself. You still need to outgrow that. Work on it, eh?"
"Yes, sir," Jade acknowledged.
"Good," Mr. Balfour said with a satisfied nod. "Now, go back to the hotel and get some sleep. You're up past your bedtime."
"Sleep well, Jade. Tomorrow is another day," said Mrs. Balfour.
Jade smiled. "Thank you... Mother."
"We'll walk with you as far as the house," said Mr. Balfour, opening the memorial garden gate. "And Jade, if you ever want to come home, we'd be glad to see you again."
Jade chuckled ruefully as he followed his parents out of the garden and into the streets. "They say, 'Home is where the heart is,' but I've been a cold, heartless person all my life. The Curtiss manor never felt like home, and neither does my apartment at Malkuth Military Headquarters... but Keterburg doesn't feel like home anymore, either. For one thing, it's too far away from my work, which was mainly in Grand Chokmah until last year."
"And now your work is all over the world, and you feel homeless as a result?" Mr. Balfour quipped.
"Something like that," Jade admitted. "Although Field Marshal McGovern once told me, 'Home is where the paycheck is, boy!' I'm still on the Malkuth Imperial Forces payroll, so by that definition, my office at Headquarters is home."
Mr. Balfour smirked. "Your office, not your apartment? How interesting. Well, whatever the case, your mother and I will always be here for you if you need us – or even if you don't."
Jade smirked back at him. "I shall keep that in mind, Father."
The rest of the walk to his parents' house was spent in silence. On his way to the hotel, afterward, Jade contemplated all the things his family had told him during the last several hours. It was surprising and a bit disconcerting to hear that his parents had been worried about him, and that they still wanted him as a part of their lives.
Tomorrow is another day, his mother had said. She had always said that when she tucked Jade and Nephry into their beds for the night, so many years ago. Jade sighed. Tomorrow, he and his companions would continue their journey, first by flying to Yulia City, then to Chesedonia and the Zao Ruins. The problem with the passage rings was too urgent to justify detouring to Grand Chokmah with a load of evacuees, if Undine's warning about Gnome's power becoming unstable was to be believed.
Tomorrow, we leave at dawn, Jade resolved. The sooner we find a way to fix the problem with the passage rings, the sooner we can return to deal with Celsius.
A/N: This chapter was incredibly difficult to write. I had to cut a hell of a lot of material, both to get the length under control and to keep the story mostly (I hope?) in line with canonical sources. Since one reviewer (Silver) thanked me, many chapters ago, for keeping the world canonical, I've been trying to stay on that path (other than the whole sentiences-and-passage-rings mechanic I came up with). It's getting harder to stick to canon as the plot thickens, though. X_x
There is very little information about Jade's biological parents in any canonical source I know of, other than that they were commoners and were still alive when Jade was adopted. There's also scarcely any info about his adoptive parents, other than that they're a famous military family and are devout believers in the Score. It's unclear whether the Curtiss family is a noble family, but since they have a manor (referenced in the Fonic Sight sidequest in-game) I would guess that they are nobility of some sort (hence Lady Curtiss rather than Mrs. Curtiss). There's no mention of what military rank Jade's adoptive father has, either, so I made him an Admiral. Honestly, the Balfours and the Curtisses might as well be OCs, the way I've written them, which annoys me since I hate OCs. From a storyline perspective, though, character growth is essential. Anise has already been through the emotional wringer with Florian, several chapters ago, and the rest of the group will be going through various personal trials as well. Jade's regrets about the past give a LOT of scope for trial and growth.
As for length, I'm still not sure whether I should have included the grave scene at all, but the chapter seemed incomplete without it. Reviewers, what do you think?
Credit for the line "Home is where the paycheck is, boy!" goes to my smart-aleck Dad (although he said "girl," not "boy," since I'm female). We were discussing whether my parents' house or my apartment off-campus at graduate school (about 1,100 miles away from their location) was "home" for me.