Tales of the Abyss - Nezach: Day 7
It was late afternoon, the sky clearly showing signs of darkening to dusk, by the time Anise had managed to ferret or flat out steal all of the required supplies Jade had requested of her. A few people in the Order had changed positions and she hadn't wanted to risk alerting a certain Grand Maestro by attempting to sweet talk her way around strangers who may or may not have been on his payroll. Such a nuisance. But thankfully, Mohs still appeared to be focusing his attention on the "attempted murder" and not the Fon Master's strange guests. That would change, of course it would, Mohs's influence was far too prevalent in the church for him to not eventually find out that something was up with Ion. But hopefully they'd be on their way out of Daath by then.
Then again, Anise sighed soundlessly as she plopped another box full of surgical grade cloth down on Ion's desk. Asch hadn't looked very good. She didn't want any of the others to know, but she had her doubts about whether all of the stuff she'd managed to gather would actually be put to use or not. There was beat up and then there was that. They might be doing the wrong thing. It might be better to just leave them like that, after all. At least that way they'd both still be alive. But no, neither of them would want to stay that way, regardless of whatever might happen afterwards. And yet, Asch had always been a prickly, snooty, stuck up bitch every time they had the displeasure of running into him, but she kinda liked him despite himself. She didn't want to see him die. And besides, he couldn't die! He could cook, he could clean, and he was great with a sword. He'd be the perfect wife for Natalia. All they had to do was fix him up and then everything would be fine. Anything short of that would be unacceptable.
Jade hummed appreciatively as he riffled through the box's contents. "Yes, quite satisfactory. These will do nicely." Nodding to himself, he turned and rewarded her with a gleeful little smirk, too gleeful. "Now there's just one last thing for you to collect."
"Wait a minute," Anise said defensively, one eyebrow twitching slightly in annoyance, "I got everything you put on the list. What else could we possibly need?"
"Fresh, sanitary water, of course, dear Anise," Jade answered smugly as he reached up and readjusted his glasses. "What else would you use to clean bloody wounds with?"
"Water?!" Anise stared at him aghast, then pointed imperiously at the door to Ion's bedroom. "Have you been in there? Have you seen that mess?"
"Indeed I have, Anise, as have we all." Jade looked down and tugged his gloves on tighter, completely unconcerned by the fuming Oracle Knight in front of him.
"Then you do realize just exactly how much water we'll need to clean it up, right?"
"Quite a bit I'd imagine," Jade said cheerfully as he patted Anise on the head, his condescension impossible to miss. "I guess you'd best get to it then if you want to get done anytime soon."
"Argh!" Anise snarled, her face twisting up in rage before she whirled around and stalked her way out of the study. "I hate you!" she yelled back before slamming the door shut behind her.
"Of course you do," he murmured fondly. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, he instantly pushed the previous confrontation out of his mind and instead focused his attention upon the door leading into Ion's bedroom. It had been awhile since he'd checked in on them last, but he was fairly certain that Tear's progress would reach a critical point in the very near future. Perhaps it was time for a bit of intervention on his part. It wouldn't do to rush things too much. Gracing the others with a benign smile, which earned him dubious and suspicious looks in return, Jade walked over to the bedroom door and quietly entered the room.
The tableau within was much the same as when they had first arrived. The golden glow of hyper resonance still infused the room with its brilliant light, but now there was soft, gentle singing to counteract the discordance of its source. It was an odd scene, but he was more or less used to the strange and downright bizarre this particular group seemed to attract in droves. And truth be known, he rather enjoyed it; but unfortunately, enjoyment wasn't exactly the proper response this sort of situation called for. Alas.
Shaking his head at his own whimsy, Jade silently made his way over to Tear and was pleased at what he saw. She sat in front of the pair, her legs curled up underneath her and her arms buried elbow deep in the light. Her discomfort was rather plain to see, no one was meant to sit in such a way for such an extended length of time, but she continued to sing nonetheless. Her voice wasn't as strong as it had been in the beginning, but she'd somehow managed to figure out a way to keep it soothing and calm for the duration. That was good. She'd reached Asch by now, her hands tentatively grasping at his shoulder. That was even better. It wouldn't be much longer until she could get a good, solid hold on him. And then time would begin again.
Frowning slightly, Jade kneeled down behind the young melodist and took hold of her upper arms. Not yet, they weren't quite ready just yet. "Tear, you need to stop," he whispered into her ear as he began to gently pull her away from the glowing pair, "Come now, rest for a bit."
"But Colonel," Tear rasped even as she allowed her body to collapse back against him. She was so tired and so very drained. "I'll just have to start all over again."
"No you won't, Tear, look at them." And she did. At first glance there were no obvious changes, but a closer examination quickly brought the differences to light. A tension she hadn't realized had been there had bled out of Luke, leaving him much more relaxed. And almost cute, she thought with an exhausted mental giggle. His desperate hold on Asch had let up a bit, becoming less of a drastic grip and more of a tender support. It was such a strange way to see them, two people who seemed to dislike each other so vehemently. But then, she'd realized early on that Luke was genuinely kind, when he didn't let his stupidity get in the way; and she had a sneaking suspicion that Asch may, in fact, be similar, but hid it behind an aloof and surly disposition instead. It would fit.
But Asch... he may still die regardless of what any of them could do. The gray tinge to his complexion didn't give her much hope. He'd lost too much blood, most likely even before Luke had found him. And she wasn't quite sure, but from what little she could see it appeared as if there was something wrong with his neck. Would he even be able to breathe once they took him away from Luke? Was what they were attempting the right thing to do? If he died, Natalia would be crushed, utterly defeated. She didn't think the rest of the group would be much better off either. And well, she didn't even want to contemplate what her own reaction might be. As for Luke, what would that do to him? She honestly didn't know, but it was probably safe to assume that it would not be pretty. Far, far from it.
"Jade," Tear began, choosing to distract herself from her troubled thoughts with something else that had struck her as curious, "Why did you want me to do this? It would have been much easier and faster to have Ion pull him free."
"I didn't want to risk it." Jade said flatly, clarifying further when she gave him a perplexed look, "As it stands, Ion is considered safe. But do you think it would continue to consider him as such if he tried to separate them? That just isn't a gamble I am willing to take. If it decided that sanctuary could no longer be found here, with Ion, then it could simply transport them to another location, perhaps to even where it is. They would then be far beyond our ability to reach them."
"You think this is more than just seventh fonons and their hyper resonance, don't you?" Tear stated frankly, unsurprised when he nodded. She'd suspected as much. This... thing, whatever it was, was so much more than anything she'd ever had an opportunity to experience during her training. It wasn't just fonons. It couldn't be.
"I am not entirely certain, mind you, but I think it is Lorelei's direct will that we are witnessing here," he explained after a moment's hesitation.
"Lorelei?" Tear mouthed, her eyes widening in surprise as she looked up at the Colonel. She hadn't considered that possibility, though perhaps she should have. Explanations and reasoning were never easy when Luke was involved; and even after having personally experienced the bizarre that inevitably followed in his wake, it was still difficult to ascribe a non-human cause for this latest disaster. "But why?" What in the world would the aggregated sentience of the seventh fonon want with Luke?
"I think," Jade murmured thoughtfully, his eyes growing distant, "That it has been with them for a very long time now, perhaps even before their births. Not in the physical sense, mind you, but there has always been an extra, enigmatic sensation present where those two are concerned, something more that lingers just beyond our ability to perceive it."
"I don't understand," Tear muttered and shook her head at the multitude of half formed conjectures crowding out her thoughts. Of course, it wasn't just Luke now. It was Asch too, and her brother had obviously gone to a great deal of trouble to acquire him. There had to be something important that they were missing. "Why would Lorelei be interested in either of them?"
"I don't know," Jade said bluntly, a dark scowl forming on his face, "But I don't like it and I don't think I need to explain to you why it concerns me."
"No." Tear shook her head again, perfectly understanding what he was getting at. "No, you don't." Dealing with the seventh fonim was difficult at best, and that wasn't even taking the danger of hyper resonance into account. There was no telling what might happen if something that bordered on being a god decided to start interfering with these two. Still, was it something they should really worry about? This was Lorelei they were talking about, after all. If it truly existed, would it not be a benign force instead of yet another danger they would have to face? But Jade seemed to think that it could take Luke and Asch away from them if it decided they posed too much of a threat for whatever it was trying to accomplish, and that was not acceptable. No, Luke had to stay with her. And Asch... Asch couldn't leave either. She wouldn't allow it. Be it by Lorelei's will or not.
---
Ion grimaced as he hefted an oversized jug of water and teetered along behind Anise as she wended her way around the cathedral. The path she had chosen was grueling, but unobtrusive enough to escape notice. He hoped. They just had to get back to his room without running into anybody and everything would be fine. He'd been helping her ever since the second trip down. Anise rarely ever accepted a no from him, thus he'd gotten corralled into helping her regardless of his feelings on the subject. Not that he really minded anyway. At least, not much. He did like helping out, after all, and this was so much better than just sitting around and worrying, even if Anise had practically bullied him into it. When she got so utterly annoyed like this, which was a common occurrence when the Colonel was involved, she could be one of the pushiest people he'd ever met, and that included the God-Generals, Commandant Grants and Grand Maestro Mohs. Perhaps he should just arrange to inflict her upon them whenever she was in one of these moods. He doubted there would be much left of them once she was done.
Anise grumbled nastily the entire way up, stopping short at the door to Ion's quarters and banging it viciously with her foot. "Open up, damnit." Said door instantly swung open, an extremely wary looking Guy quickly fleeing in the face of Anise's rampage.
Natalia smiled apologetically at Ion as Anise stormed past. "Here, let me help you with that, Fon Master." She took the jug from his arms before he could even work up a protest, though Anise more than made up for his lack.
"Hey, what about me?" The Oracle Knight snarled as she carelessly thunked her own jug down on the desk. "You could help me, or Guy could at least. It's not like that damned Necromancer hasn't had me running all over the cathedral all day long."
"Now now, Anise," Natalia said placatingly as she plopped her burden down beside the former Guardian's. "You know that Guy can't help. Well, he can't help you, at least. You're a girl."
Ion froze as something occurred to him then. Something very odd had happened earlier, something that was very unexpected. "Guy! You touched the princess earlier! You even helped her to get up!"
Natalia gaped at the realization, then glanced over at Guy in pure shock. "That's right! You did!"
"Uh," the swordsman scratched at the back of his head nervously, "I guess so? I didn't really think about it at the time."
"Does that mean he's cured?" Anise asked curiously, her anger at Jade and anything having to do with him completely forgotten in light of this new and intriguing development. Humming thoughtfully, Anise sauntered around the desk and over towards her next hapless victim. Guy eyed her with the wary caution usually found in small woodland creatures when they were about to meet their maker. Unfortunately, he still hadn't developed enough sense to run when his doom so obviously approached. Thus, once she was close enough, Anise gave him a brief, appraising look, then reached out and poked him.
"Gah!" Guy instantly jerked away and zoomed across the room. cowering behind a flustered Ion.
Anise shrugged, "Guess not."
Natalia giggled daintily and peered around Ion at their shivering friend. "Well, regardless, thank you very much for your concern, Guy. I really appreciate it."
"No... problem... princess," Guy stuttered, shrinking further behind Ion to avoid any possible contact with the Kimlascan princess. The fact that he'd been touching a woman hadn't even crossed his mind at the time, he'd just acted on his impulse to provide whatever comfort he could manage. But now? Oh now, even just the thought of touching her was making his blood pressure sky rocket, and not in a good way. At this rate, he was going to have a heart attack before he ever even managed to have a date.
Then again, Anise sighed soundlessly as she plopped another box full of surgical grade cloth down on Ion's desk. Asch hadn't looked very good. She didn't want any of the others to know, but she had her doubts about whether all of the stuff she'd managed to gather would actually be put to use or not. There was beat up and then there was that. They might be doing the wrong thing. It might be better to just leave them like that, after all. At least that way they'd both still be alive. But no, neither of them would want to stay that way, regardless of whatever might happen afterwards. And yet, Asch had always been a prickly, snooty, stuck up bitch every time they had the displeasure of running into him, but she kinda liked him despite himself. She didn't want to see him die. And besides, he couldn't die! He could cook, he could clean, and he was great with a sword. He'd be the perfect wife for Natalia. All they had to do was fix him up and then everything would be fine. Anything short of that would be unacceptable.
Jade hummed appreciatively as he riffled through the box's contents. "Yes, quite satisfactory. These will do nicely." Nodding to himself, he turned and rewarded her with a gleeful little smirk, too gleeful. "Now there's just one last thing for you to collect."
"Wait a minute," Anise said defensively, one eyebrow twitching slightly in annoyance, "I got everything you put on the list. What else could we possibly need?"
"Fresh, sanitary water, of course, dear Anise," Jade answered smugly as he reached up and readjusted his glasses. "What else would you use to clean bloody wounds with?"
"Water?!" Anise stared at him aghast, then pointed imperiously at the door to Ion's bedroom. "Have you been in there? Have you seen that mess?"
"Indeed I have, Anise, as have we all." Jade looked down and tugged his gloves on tighter, completely unconcerned by the fuming Oracle Knight in front of him.
"Then you do realize just exactly how much water we'll need to clean it up, right?"
"Quite a bit I'd imagine," Jade said cheerfully as he patted Anise on the head, his condescension impossible to miss. "I guess you'd best get to it then if you want to get done anytime soon."
"Argh!" Anise snarled, her face twisting up in rage before she whirled around and stalked her way out of the study. "I hate you!" she yelled back before slamming the door shut behind her.
"Of course you do," he murmured fondly. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, he instantly pushed the previous confrontation out of his mind and instead focused his attention upon the door leading into Ion's bedroom. It had been awhile since he'd checked in on them last, but he was fairly certain that Tear's progress would reach a critical point in the very near future. Perhaps it was time for a bit of intervention on his part. It wouldn't do to rush things too much. Gracing the others with a benign smile, which earned him dubious and suspicious looks in return, Jade walked over to the bedroom door and quietly entered the room.
The tableau within was much the same as when they had first arrived. The golden glow of hyper resonance still infused the room with its brilliant light, but now there was soft, gentle singing to counteract the discordance of its source. It was an odd scene, but he was more or less used to the strange and downright bizarre this particular group seemed to attract in droves. And truth be known, he rather enjoyed it; but unfortunately, enjoyment wasn't exactly the proper response this sort of situation called for. Alas.
Shaking his head at his own whimsy, Jade silently made his way over to Tear and was pleased at what he saw. She sat in front of the pair, her legs curled up underneath her and her arms buried elbow deep in the light. Her discomfort was rather plain to see, no one was meant to sit in such a way for such an extended length of time, but she continued to sing nonetheless. Her voice wasn't as strong as it had been in the beginning, but she'd somehow managed to figure out a way to keep it soothing and calm for the duration. That was good. She'd reached Asch by now, her hands tentatively grasping at his shoulder. That was even better. It wouldn't be much longer until she could get a good, solid hold on him. And then time would begin again.
Frowning slightly, Jade kneeled down behind the young melodist and took hold of her upper arms. Not yet, they weren't quite ready just yet. "Tear, you need to stop," he whispered into her ear as he began to gently pull her away from the glowing pair, "Come now, rest for a bit."
"But Colonel," Tear rasped even as she allowed her body to collapse back against him. She was so tired and so very drained. "I'll just have to start all over again."
"No you won't, Tear, look at them." And she did. At first glance there were no obvious changes, but a closer examination quickly brought the differences to light. A tension she hadn't realized had been there had bled out of Luke, leaving him much more relaxed. And almost cute, she thought with an exhausted mental giggle. His desperate hold on Asch had let up a bit, becoming less of a drastic grip and more of a tender support. It was such a strange way to see them, two people who seemed to dislike each other so vehemently. But then, she'd realized early on that Luke was genuinely kind, when he didn't let his stupidity get in the way; and she had a sneaking suspicion that Asch may, in fact, be similar, but hid it behind an aloof and surly disposition instead. It would fit.
But Asch... he may still die regardless of what any of them could do. The gray tinge to his complexion didn't give her much hope. He'd lost too much blood, most likely even before Luke had found him. And she wasn't quite sure, but from what little she could see it appeared as if there was something wrong with his neck. Would he even be able to breathe once they took him away from Luke? Was what they were attempting the right thing to do? If he died, Natalia would be crushed, utterly defeated. She didn't think the rest of the group would be much better off either. And well, she didn't even want to contemplate what her own reaction might be. As for Luke, what would that do to him? She honestly didn't know, but it was probably safe to assume that it would not be pretty. Far, far from it.
"Jade," Tear began, choosing to distract herself from her troubled thoughts with something else that had struck her as curious, "Why did you want me to do this? It would have been much easier and faster to have Ion pull him free."
"I didn't want to risk it." Jade said flatly, clarifying further when she gave him a perplexed look, "As it stands, Ion is considered safe. But do you think it would continue to consider him as such if he tried to separate them? That just isn't a gamble I am willing to take. If it decided that sanctuary could no longer be found here, with Ion, then it could simply transport them to another location, perhaps to even where it is. They would then be far beyond our ability to reach them."
"You think this is more than just seventh fonons and their hyper resonance, don't you?" Tear stated frankly, unsurprised when he nodded. She'd suspected as much. This... thing, whatever it was, was so much more than anything she'd ever had an opportunity to experience during her training. It wasn't just fonons. It couldn't be.
"I am not entirely certain, mind you, but I think it is Lorelei's direct will that we are witnessing here," he explained after a moment's hesitation.
"Lorelei?" Tear mouthed, her eyes widening in surprise as she looked up at the Colonel. She hadn't considered that possibility, though perhaps she should have. Explanations and reasoning were never easy when Luke was involved; and even after having personally experienced the bizarre that inevitably followed in his wake, it was still difficult to ascribe a non-human cause for this latest disaster. "But why?" What in the world would the aggregated sentience of the seventh fonon want with Luke?
"I think," Jade murmured thoughtfully, his eyes growing distant, "That it has been with them for a very long time now, perhaps even before their births. Not in the physical sense, mind you, but there has always been an extra, enigmatic sensation present where those two are concerned, something more that lingers just beyond our ability to perceive it."
"I don't understand," Tear muttered and shook her head at the multitude of half formed conjectures crowding out her thoughts. Of course, it wasn't just Luke now. It was Asch too, and her brother had obviously gone to a great deal of trouble to acquire him. There had to be something important that they were missing. "Why would Lorelei be interested in either of them?"
"I don't know," Jade said bluntly, a dark scowl forming on his face, "But I don't like it and I don't think I need to explain to you why it concerns me."
"No." Tear shook her head again, perfectly understanding what he was getting at. "No, you don't." Dealing with the seventh fonim was difficult at best, and that wasn't even taking the danger of hyper resonance into account. There was no telling what might happen if something that bordered on being a god decided to start interfering with these two. Still, was it something they should really worry about? This was Lorelei they were talking about, after all. If it truly existed, would it not be a benign force instead of yet another danger they would have to face? But Jade seemed to think that it could take Luke and Asch away from them if it decided they posed too much of a threat for whatever it was trying to accomplish, and that was not acceptable. No, Luke had to stay with her. And Asch... Asch couldn't leave either. She wouldn't allow it. Be it by Lorelei's will or not.
---
Ion grimaced as he hefted an oversized jug of water and teetered along behind Anise as she wended her way around the cathedral. The path she had chosen was grueling, but unobtrusive enough to escape notice. He hoped. They just had to get back to his room without running into anybody and everything would be fine. He'd been helping her ever since the second trip down. Anise rarely ever accepted a no from him, thus he'd gotten corralled into helping her regardless of his feelings on the subject. Not that he really minded anyway. At least, not much. He did like helping out, after all, and this was so much better than just sitting around and worrying, even if Anise had practically bullied him into it. When she got so utterly annoyed like this, which was a common occurrence when the Colonel was involved, she could be one of the pushiest people he'd ever met, and that included the God-Generals, Commandant Grants and Grand Maestro Mohs. Perhaps he should just arrange to inflict her upon them whenever she was in one of these moods. He doubted there would be much left of them once she was done.
Anise grumbled nastily the entire way up, stopping short at the door to Ion's quarters and banging it viciously with her foot. "Open up, damnit." Said door instantly swung open, an extremely wary looking Guy quickly fleeing in the face of Anise's rampage.
Natalia smiled apologetically at Ion as Anise stormed past. "Here, let me help you with that, Fon Master." She took the jug from his arms before he could even work up a protest, though Anise more than made up for his lack.
"Hey, what about me?" The Oracle Knight snarled as she carelessly thunked her own jug down on the desk. "You could help me, or Guy could at least. It's not like that damned Necromancer hasn't had me running all over the cathedral all day long."
"Now now, Anise," Natalia said placatingly as she plopped her burden down beside the former Guardian's. "You know that Guy can't help. Well, he can't help you, at least. You're a girl."
Ion froze as something occurred to him then. Something very odd had happened earlier, something that was very unexpected. "Guy! You touched the princess earlier! You even helped her to get up!"
Natalia gaped at the realization, then glanced over at Guy in pure shock. "That's right! You did!"
"Uh," the swordsman scratched at the back of his head nervously, "I guess so? I didn't really think about it at the time."
"Does that mean he's cured?" Anise asked curiously, her anger at Jade and anything having to do with him completely forgotten in light of this new and intriguing development. Humming thoughtfully, Anise sauntered around the desk and over towards her next hapless victim. Guy eyed her with the wary caution usually found in small woodland creatures when they were about to meet their maker. Unfortunately, he still hadn't developed enough sense to run when his doom so obviously approached. Thus, once she was close enough, Anise gave him a brief, appraising look, then reached out and poked him.
"Gah!" Guy instantly jerked away and zoomed across the room. cowering behind a flustered Ion.
Anise shrugged, "Guess not."
Natalia giggled daintily and peered around Ion at their shivering friend. "Well, regardless, thank you very much for your concern, Guy. I really appreciate it."
"No... problem... princess," Guy stuttered, shrinking further behind Ion to avoid any possible contact with the Kimlascan princess. The fact that he'd been touching a woman hadn't even crossed his mind at the time, he'd just acted on his impulse to provide whatever comfort he could manage. But now? Oh now, even just the thought of touching her was making his blood pressure sky rocket, and not in a good way. At this rate, he was going to have a heart attack before he ever even managed to have a date.