Unnamed Chapter 20
Jade wandered down the stairs from the bridge to the sleeping quarters when he stopped several steps from the bottom. Raine was headed towards the deck.
"Well, well, just the person that I half-hoped to come across on my way to retire."
She startled and glanced around. As soon as she saw him, her face turned serious and she changed direction to walk up the stairs towards him instead. She obviously wanted to talk about fomicry. Just as well. He had a few questions for her, too.
Raine ignored his playful tone. "Actually, I was hoping to talk with you," she said before she looked around. "I'd prefer no one with us." He nodded, rather preferring a little privacy himself. This was one conversation he didn't want overheard either.
"Of course." He gestured for her to turn around and follow as he made his way towards the hallway to the sleeping quarters. They found an empty room where Raine locked the door, and they both took a seat at the table across from each other. Now that they were alone, she hesitated to speak, just like last time. She wouldn't look him in the eye with her trepidation.
Perhaps she would speak if he opened the floor for her. "I'll let you start this time." She looked him square in the eye and a look of fire steeled her for what she wanted to say.
"Why did you give up those documents to Dist?"
Oh? That was unexpected. She had caught on. How much was she aware of? "I should think the answer is obvious."
Raine's eyes narrowed, but briefly, before she nodded. "You didn't want us to know their contents." Those were the same kind of answers she'd been giving the rest of the party all along. It was true, though she didn't seem upset by it. He appreciated that about her. Instead, she asked, "What did you want to hide from us? Your role in what happened to Luke?"
Just to Luke? Did she not suspect his role with her creation? Hmm…. "I'm not lying about that," Jade said. "I had no knowledge of his kidnapping until he told me about it."
"Fine. You weren't involved with the kidnapping." Raine folded her arms. "But you definitely know more about that research than you want us to believe."
He shrugged. "Why bother giving more details? Raising questions on a banned subject is superfluous, especially in regards to civilians who know nothing of it." That didn't mean Raine wouldn't continue to ask about it. She was no ordinary civilian and she knew it.
"It's none of our business." She nodded. "Perhaps that's true." Puzzled, Jade merely watched her, sure that she had direct questions about fomicry, now that she suspected he was a part of it. Raine stood up and wandered the room. But something held her back from asking.
At the same time, he had his own questions. Who created her? And who raised her? Were they the same person? He thought maybe Dist was involved somehow, but he didn't seem to recognize her on the ferry's deck. Either that, or he didn't see her. Raine and Tear had both stayed closer to the cabin instead of joining the fray. Was there something in that? He had wondered at the time if Raine hung back because she couldn't use fonons, but then he thought maybe she didn't want to be recognized. Or maybe she hung back for both reasons.
Ruminating would get him nowhere. He wanted actual answers, and without a prod from him, she would probably let this conversation drop. "The documents are not really why you wanted to see me."
Startled, Raine stopped pacing to look at him. Something in her demeanor suddenly changed.
It was pointless to speculate about what, though.
She sighed. "You're right," she said. "I hope you can clarify a few things for me."
Here we go. "I won't guarantee answers," he said and continued with fake exasperation, "but I suppose I can't stop you from asking."
Raine paced across the room with an air of anxiety and didn't look at him, clearly needing to recollect her thoughts. He waited patiently for her. At one point, Raine stared at the ceiling, almost through it.
Finally, she said, "Everyone mentions fonons, but not mana…." That's what she had questions about? She didn't want to ask about fomicry? She still refused to look at him as she wandered, obviously more agitated now that she spoke up.
"I've wondered about that. Why are fonons such a foreign concept to you?" He tried to keep his voice polite and inquisitive, but she still seemed too stressed to answer. Clearly, she thought she was in trouble about something. She stopped, long enough to chew her lip and cross her arms, and returned to the table. She didn't sit down.
Then she stared at him. "Mana appears to be foreign. Why is that?"
"I suppose I shall answer first," he said with his own sigh, "on the hopes of getting answers next. Mana had long ago been converted into fonons as a more stable form of energy." Raine paled, uncrossed her arms, and gripped the table like it was the only thing holding her up. Apparently, her caretaker told her nothing of this. Just like with Luke…. Well, that explained a lot, actually. "It's more efficient than mana and therefore technology uses less of it." Jade remained still, for adding to her anxiety would be unwise if he wanted her to answer his questions, too. She looked away again. She wasn't about to say anything more, he could tell. He might as well continue. "Of course, mana still exists in its less stable form, but it's not something they teach in today's schools. We focus our energy on fonons. Since our scientists don't bother trying to detect it anymore, we don't bother trying to use it, and it ended up forgotten.
"Now if you don't mind, please answer my question for you."
She hesitated, collecting herself as the surprise about mana wore off. When she felt less inclined, she released her grip on the table. He knew from his experience as a soldier that stoic silence was the best way to get someone to answer a question and open up. But whether she would tell the truth or offer more lies, he wasn't sure. Still, he waited.
But she returned to wandering and her face hardened. "The answer is simple. I was taught about mana."
"Why?"
"Why not? You know about it."
Typical Raine response. He grew increasingly frustrated with her evasiveness. She was definitely skilled at it. Still, as much of a bookworm as Raine appeared to be, why did she have such minimal knowledge of fonons? Plenty of books discussed fonic theory and practical uses. "I studied mana on my own as a way to understand fonons further," he said. "But the literature discussing it is quite anemic. As someone who self-studies only 'the books one has access to,' I find it interesting that's all you know."
"It's as you say," she shook as she replied. "My caretaker taught me about mana." She paused, as if scared she said too much. "But saying too much about that would be dangerous for me."
"Yes, I suppose it would be." It was likely unwise to upset the person who created her and sic an entire military on them. They'd know exactly who told on them.
Obviously someone involved in fomicry had done their research. There really weren't that many people who cared much about mana nowadays. He still couldn't figure out who or why. Why did they lie to her about her world like this? Were they the ones who convinced her she's an elf? The cruelty of it mirrored his own cruelty in creating people like her to begin with. Suddenly, he couldn't look at her and had to turn away.
But where was she created? If it were true that she had traveled Radessia and nowhere else, she traveled those highlands for a very long time, twelve years she admitted to. Could she actually have been created at Choral Castle? Or was she really created on Radessia like she had alluded to? Or was all of it a big lie? She did seem to employ lying as a default defense, making it difficult to determine the truth.
He rejoined from his reverie and studied her. She took to leaning against the wall, almost making herself as small as she could be. Then he caught her eye and took a chance. "Did you really come from Radessia?"
Raine frowned, severely unsettled. The tension in her face was enough of an answer, but then she said, "Where I really came from is elusive, even to me." Perhaps it was so. Luke didn't remember where he was born; he had said that he didn't remember Choral Castle at all. Since that was where he'd been found, it was obvious to Jade that's where Luke was born, even before he saw confirmation in the documents from the fon disc.
Still, how much truth was she really telling them? She knew about summon spirits, and they could exist without humans interfering with them, especially if the Score said no one ever summoned them. She had claimed that Sheena could summon them, which meant the practice wasn't completely lost. But was that really true? She did seem to know a lot about them and her arguments about their existence was sound.
How could he find out more information about this? The stress clearly got to her so asking directly might not yield a favorable answer.
"Perhaps you'll at least do me the favor of telling me the name of your caretaker," he asked. Raine didn't want to say and her anxiety about it was visible. When she still didn't speak, he pressed her. "Is there anything you're willing to tell me about them?"
"He was a soldier," Raine said. He supposed that could be true. There were a few soldiers involved before they shut down the experiments and Hod fell. "We were outcasts. Not exactly people a Malkuth colonel would want to associate with. Still want to pursue their names?" Jade nodded, but she shook her head and looked away. "I'm sorry. I can't do that. I can't put myself in danger that way."
"Outcasts suggests relations with the Dark Wings."
"No." But she didn't elaborate. She didn't have to, though. The Dark Wings couldn't possibly be the only outcasts in Auldrant. A few Malkuth soldiers had disappeared after Hod. It would make sense to think of them as outcasts simply because they continued the illegal fomicry work, if that is indeed what happened. If anyone caught wind of what they were doing, they be rounded up and prosecuted, which could be why they disappeared. But she didn't want him to know that much about her. She still didn't seem to realize he knew she was a replica. Was that why she felt so stressed? Was she afraid he would figure it out?
"Hmm… You are quite the riddle." Then he stood up, holding his chin as he wandered, mirroring her. "I can't help but feel that someone is playing a nasty prank on you."
She shook her head. "No, Sheena isn't like that."
That name kept coming up. She was the only woman more mysterious than Raine, yet now he knew she wasn't Raine's caretaker. So who was she? "How long have you known her?"
"She's too honest, to a fault. She—she had a hard time hiding things from us." Raine raked her fingers through her hair. So not very long then. "She helped us. She cared about the people of—"
Jade waited for her to finish, but Raine clamped her mouth shut. Was she about to say Hod? Or somewhere else? If Sheena isn't a caretaker or one of the researchers who raised her, then perhaps…. When she refused to continue, he asked, "Did Sheena save you, then?"
Raine looked away. "She has, yes. Her summoning artes saved us."
"Of course, for who could withstand the artes of a summon spirit?" Raine frowned as if she couldn't decide if he was joking or not. "Who told you about the Rheairds? How did you know to steal them?"
"Sheena." Was all she would say.
"Hmm. So she has connections with Class M." It was more of a statement and one Raine didn't confirm or deny. She looked just as confused as he felt. Perhaps Raine knew even less about Sheena than she professed. There wasn't much point in pressing this further. After all, he figured he had a better picture of what happened. Sheena had something to do with Raine and Genis's escape from their creator and perhaps caretaker. "But I think I finally understand," he said. As soon as he had spoken, though, Raine looked even more disturbed, even downright sick.
"Don't tell anyone, please." Ah. She just realized it: he knew she's a replica.
Jade's mood lightened and he shrugged. "It's not my habit to reveal others' secrets."
"Do you…." Raine paused. "Are you familiar with the Renegades?"
Renegades? Is that what the researchers, her caretakers, called themselves? "I suspect you know a lot more about them than I do. Are they the ones you ran away from?"
She nodded, but slightly.
"I'm sorry. I'm afraid I don't know much about people who call themselves the Renegades, least of all anything specific. Anything else you want to know?" Raine shook her head. Really? he wondered. She didn't want to ask more about fomicry? Perhaps there was too much to ponder right now. Oh well. Less for him to worry about. He'd let it go for now. "Then I take my leave."
And with that, he unlocked the door and stepped back into the hallway.
Jade couldn't decide how closely Dist was involved with Raine's creation. The documents they confiscated from Sync and Dist didn't mention Raine at all, but they were all about Luke and fomicry experiments. Where Raine was raised by a soldier who became an outcast, it was likely someone connected to the Hod experiments. It wouldn't surprise him at all if Dist found them and hid them away somewhere to continue working in secret, even from Sync and whoever else. Were they hiding on Radessia? If they were responsible for Raine's creation, they had some time to work through some of the problems they were having before with creating successful replicas.
But how in the hell did they do it? What secret had they found to help a replica survive beyond approximately eight years? That was the only true puzzle Jade couldn't resolve. Whoever created Raine had a major breakthrough and it brought back a part of his curiosity that he fought to suppress. The documents didn't say anything about that breakthrough like he thought they would, which led him to wonder. Was Luke going to disappear with the Big Bang? Or would he live longer than Dist expected? How much longer would Raine live?
No, He thought firmly to himself.
Replicas were living things and this research was unethical. He banned it for a reason.
However, that must be why Raine kept on the run and kept her past quiet. She didn't want to return to that life, an experiment that went through who knows what since he shut down the operations.
Plus, it sounded like the stolen flying machine was the reason she got away. Perhaps, they were hidden on the Radessia continent, which meant that another fomicry machine had been built there. That would make sense with what she would admit to. Not to mention that she refused to say anything about where she came from and she hesitated even saying much about anything but her brother. He was supposed to meet her in Belkend, but that's about all he really knew about that.
Sheena was definitely a well-intentioned ally to point Raine and Genis towards the Rheairds. She might have even been the one to teach Raine all about mana, but he wasn't sure about that. If that were true, why did Sheena herself seem to have so many wrong ideas about their world?
Of course, he could ask, but the answers would come from Raine and likely would be nothing useful. Or true.
Raine sat, staring at the door after Jade left. She felt every muscle, every cell, vibrate with anxiety. Tethe'alla had prospered for so long that mana had been converted into fonons, feeding into their technology, and they forgot all about Mana, the Journey of Regeneration, and possibly even the Church of Martel. How was all of this possible?! There did seem to be one organization that remembered, though they weren't commonly known. The only surefire person who would know them was the king.
Good thing they were heading to Baticul to see him, right?
She sat down and slumped forward onto the table. How could she possibly ask him about it, though? Without knowing which faction Ion supported or how many people knew about the Church of Martel, or even how many could be allowed to know, what the consequences would be…. Oh, what should she do?
On the ship, we started going through the fon disc analysis results, with Jade doing most of the explaining. The data on the fon disc was about isofons.
It seems people (and in fact everything else in the world) each have a different fonon frequency. When two things share the same fonon frequency, they're called "isofons"-but they can't exist naturally. The only way to find them is to create them.
There's this technology called "fomicry" which allows replicas of things to be made, but even if the replica looks the same as the original it was made from, the replica's fonon frequency ends up being different. It looks like the data on the fon disc was about research into technology for creating isofons. But it looks like we lost some of the results when Sync stole the disc back, so we couldn't learn all the details. Raine also mentioned the possibility that summon spirits were involved, but everyone thought those were a myth. I don't really understand what they mean, but apparently summon spirits are part of the world and how it functions.
Just as we were talking about that, the ship was suddenly attacked. The Oracle Knights, again?! They just won't quit, will they... At this rate they'll take over the ship, just like with the Tartarus. If that were to happen here at sea, we'd be in real trouble, so we headed for the bridge to put a stop to them.
It turns out the attack was led by this weirdo from the Six God-Generals named Dist. Apparently he and Jade know each other... He even wears glasses, too. He really got on my nerves, but we defeated him and made it safely into the Baticul harbor.
The Capital of Light, Baticul
General Goldberg and General Cecille were waiting for us at the port. They said they'd take me back to the manor and Ion and the others to the castle, but then what about my chance to become a hero and get myself free? I told them I'd take everybody to the castle myself.
It's not like there's anyone here in Baticul who can overrule me, so they agreed to that, and now we're heading for the castle.
A/N: Hi, again! :D One promise fulfilled: Jade's perspective!
Not much in the way of scenery, but... honestly? They used the same skin as they did for the Tartarus. Ya'll know what the place looks like. :) The next few chapters are just about finished, so the wait shouldn't be long. No guarantees or promises, but I'm hoping for the next week or so. See you soon! And Thanks again for reading. I really appreciate your taking the time on this massive beast of a story.
~~Kat =^-^=