Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of the Abyss.

Chapter 36

Undineday, Gnome-Decan 55, ND2019 – 7:20am local time (Zao Desert)

Natalia stood behind Florian's seat and stared out the canopy window of the Albiore, tapping one foot nervously and watching the sand dunes of the Zao Desert pass by, far below. It wouldn't be much longer before the group reached the Zao Ruins.

She wondered whether General Cecille and her half-division of Kimlascan troops were somewhere down in those ruins, and if so, what their investigation might have found there. Had they encountered Gnome? Had they been overwhelmed by monsters? Mount Zaleho and Mount Roneal had been swarming with more monsters than Natalia recalled from last year's journey, stronger and more aggressive. It was entirely possible that the Zao Ruins were also full of strong enemies, maybe too many for even a large group of ordinary soldiers to handle. And if the Kimlascan troops had encountered Gnome, heaven only knew what might have occurred.

While re-supplying in Chesedonia, Natalia had insisted on visiting Astor and inquiring whether General Cecille and her soldiers had returned to Chesedonia from the Zao Ruins, whether Astor had any news of them returning to Baticul by land, or indeed whether he had any news of them at all. It was worrisome that Astor had said, No, I haven't heard anything about them, Your Highness. They certainly haven't been back to Chesedonia.

Where are they? Natalia fretted. What are they doing right now? Are they still alive?

"Hey, Natalia, what's wrong?" Guy's voice, just behind her left shoulder, startled her out of her thoughts.

"I..." Natalia began, then hesitated. "Never mind. It's nothing."

"Are you worried about the Kimlascan soldiers?" Guy asked.

"Well... yes," Natalia admitted, turning to face him. "How did you know?"

Guy smiled. "You're always concerned about Kimlasca and its people, Natalia. You care about Jozette and her troops. The Zao Ruins are a dangerous place, so of course you'd be worried about your people going down there looking for trouble." He sighed. "I'm worried about them, too. But if they're somewhere in the ruins, we'll find them sooner or later."

Natalia felt a warm sensation in her chest. Of course Guy would try to cheer her up. He always seemed to notice when someone was in distress. She smiled back at him. "Thank you, Guy," she said softly. Really, he's a perfect gentleman, Natalia thought. Even when he was a servant, he always behaved like a gentleman. I just never paid enough attention to notice. Instead, I harassed him about his phobia, pushed him around, shouted at him... She felt ashamed of herself.

Guy was just beginning to open his mouth to say something when the Albiore jolted suddenly. Natalia and Guy were both thrown off balance.

Automatically, Natalia reached out to grab something in order to steady herself... but for some reason, instead of reaching for the back of Florian's seat, she reached for Guy. As Guy regained his footing, he threw one arm around Natalia and seized the edge of Florian's seat with his other arm. Natalia quickly found herself pressed to both the back of the seat and Guy's right side.

The Albiore began to shake as it rapidly lost altitude. It felt like being in an elevator that was going down too quickly for comfort, except that an elevator didn't normally shake like a carriage on a bumpy gravel road.

"W-W-W-What's ha-ha-ha-hap-pen-en-en-ing?!" Florian shouted.

"S-S-S-Some-th-th-th-thing is inter-er-er-fer-r-ing-g w-w-with th-th-the h-h-hov-v-er dri-i-i-ive!" Noelle cried.

"D-D-Don't t-t-try to f-f-fight i-it, N-No-o-o-elle!" Jade ordered. "St-t-ay i-i-i-in c-c-con-t-t-rol! L-L-L-Land th-th-th-this-s th-th-thing N-NOW!"

"Y-Y-Yes s-s-sir!" Noelle acknowledged, bracing herself in her seat as she wrestled with the controls. The Albiore's violent shaking diminished to a slight quivering, but the falling sensation grew stronger.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!" several people screamed.

Guy flinched, and Natalia realized she was screaming right next to his ear. She choked off her scream and clung harder to Guy. His arm around her tightened.

They were going down too fast. We're going to crash! Natalia thought in panic. We'll all die!

Everything they had done, all their efforts, would be for nothing. Without fixing the passage rings, the disasters afflicting Auldrant would just keep getting worse, and with Florian dead, there would be no one to form pacts with the sentiences. They were leaving so much work unfinished. She was leaving work unfinished, too. Who would rule Kimlasca after her father passed away? Who would take care of her people?

Supposedly, someone's life would flash before their eyes, in a situation like this. For Natalia, it wasn't her life so much as her regrets about her life. All the mistakes she had made, all the times she had acted like a spoiled brat, all the times she had been mean to Guy... she would never have a chance to atone for her treatment of him. All she could do was offer him one last apology...

"Guy," she whispered into his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"What?" Guy murmured.

The Albiore landed with a loud WHUMP! and bounced twice as it skidded along the ground, throwing sand in every direction. It spun sideways in a U-turn before plowing into a sand dune, coming to an abrupt halt that nearly tore Natalia from Guy's grip.

They had still been flying toward the ruins even as they fell, Natalia realized. Noelle had used the Albiore's forward momentum to land safely by using the empty desert as a makeshift runway. The group was still alive. They hadn't crashed, hadn't died...

Natalia was dizzy, partly from the rough landing but mainly from relief. She felt as though her head was swimming. Guy's words to Florian back in Tataroo Valley echoed in her mind: You should trust your friends more. Indeed. I should have trusted Noelle to land safely, Natalia thought. She's one of Kimlasca's best and brightest engineers, and the most experienced pilot on Auldrant.

"Whew!" Noelle sighed, letting go of the controls and slumping back in her seat. "Made it! Worst landing ever!"

"Better than it might have been, under the circumstances," Jade said, as he rose from his seat across from Noelle, steadying himself with one hand on the back of the seat. The floor was noticeably tilted, with aircraft's the left side much lower than the right.

Guy carefully unwrapped his arm from around Natalia and gave her a puzzled look before addressing the others. "Is everyone okay?" he asked, glancing around the flight deck.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Florian, straightening up in his seat.

"I'm all right," said Tear, releasing her grip on the back of Anise's seat and breathing a sigh of relief.

"Me too... but jeez, that was scary! What the hell happened?" Anise demanded. "I thought we were goners for sure!"

Noelle turned in her seat to face the group. "I'm sorry, everyone," she apologized. "I don't know how that happened. There must be something wrong with the hover drive. Ever since we left Chesedonia, it kept needing more and more power to stay running. Eventually it overloaded and I lost control. I'm so sorry. I don't understand." The pilot looked like she was about to burst into tears.

"So," Jade said grimly, "this is what Undine meant when she told Florian that Gnome's power was becoming unstable. It would appear that the instability is causing abnormalities in the region's gravity. Not only is the gravitational force stronger here, it's also variable... or so I would assume, from the way it feels."

"What does 'variable' mean?" Florian asked.

"It's not constant," Jade replied. At Florian's baffled expression, he simplified, "It keeps changing. Tell me, Florian, do you feel like you're in a boat on the ocean waves right now?"

"I don't know," Florian replied. "I've never been in a boat before."

Jade sighed in resignation, then glanced at Guy.

"No way, Jade," Guy answered Jade's unspoken command. "I'm not explaining anything this time. I don't know what the hell you're talking about!"

Natalia bit her lip to keep from laughing. She understood what Jade was attempting to explain – she could feel the unsteady gravitational force throughout her whole body – but his example, which was usually common knowledge, was outside of the young replica's experience. Feeling sorry for Guy, and even a tiny bit sorry for Jade, she decided to help.

"Do you feel like you're going up and down just a little?" she asked Florian, holding her hand out flat, palm down, and making a few up and down motions with it to illustrate.

"Yeah," said Florian, nodding in agreement.

"Oh, I get it!" Anise exclaimed. She turned to Florian. "You know that gravity is the force that pulls everything down to the ground, right? Was that in your lessons in Daath?"

"Yes," said Florian. "So... the force pulling everything to the ground is changing right now? And it does that in boats?"

"No, gravity doesn't change when you're in a boat," Anise said impatiently. "But boats go up and down on the water, because of the waves. We feel like we're going up and down like that right now because the gravity here is changing."

"But we aren't actually going up and down," Florian protested.

"Well, the gravity isn't changing that much," Anise replied, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I don't think it feels like being in a boat. It feels more like an earthquake in slow motion."

"Oh," said Florian. "Yeah, it does. It feels like the earthquake we had in Daath when the volcano erupted, only a lot slower. I think I understand now."

"So, Gnome's unstable power is what's causing the earthquakes here," Guy concluded. "Like Undine and Sylph said, whenever too many fonons build up, they go out of control – and Gnome's power is so far out of control that it's even messing with gravity."

"Yes," Jade confirmed. "Once we stabilize this Sephiroth, the gravity here will return to normal, and the earthquakes will cease. We should hurry. Noelle, what is our current location?"

Noelle examined the navigation screen. "We're about five kilometers northwest of the Zao Ruins. If I can get the Albiore unstuck from this big dune, I can drive it over land the rest of the way."

"Hmmm," said Jade. "We could simply walk to the Zao Ruins from here. Five kilometers isn't very far."

"Yeah, but we can't just leave Noelle here to get the Albiore unstuck by herself," Guy objected.

"We don't have time—" Jade started to argue.

"If you leave now, you'll be leaving without me," Guy snapped at Jade. "I'm going to help Noelle. The rest of you can do whatever you want."

Natalia tensed briefly. She knew Guy wasn't bluffing. He would never abandon a woman in trouble, and he had a passion for fontech. He wasn't going anywhere until the Albiore was free of the sand dune. Something about the idea of leaving Guy alone with Noelle didn't sit well with Natalia...

"If Guy is staying, I'm staying," Natalia said firmly.

"So am I," said Tear. "We'll need the Albiore again later."

"I'll help, too," said Florian. "Guy is right, we can't just abandon Noelle."

Anise shrugged. "If Florian isn't going, there's no point in anyone else going. And I agree with Florian anyway."

Jade sighed. "Oh, very well. I suppose I'll stay and assist, then."

"Everyone..." Noelle said breathlessly. "You're all staying with me? You'll all help?"

Guy smiled at the pilot. "It's only fair, Noelle. You've done so much for us. Now it's our turn to do something for you."

"Exactly," said Natalia, wondering what the odd feeling in her chest was. Surely it wasn't jealousy, because there was no reason to be jealous. Guy was simply being his usual gentlemanly self, and assisting Noelle was the proper thing to do. As the Princess of Kimlasca, Natalia was honor-bound to assist, too. It was simply a matter of logic and morals. There was absolutely nothing to be jealous of, here...

Natalia squared her shoulders and said determinedly, "Let's get started."