AN:

What's this? A chapter completed…. On time!? Oh my god, it's the end of the world!

Or not.

Welcome to the newest chapter of A Scion's Tale! Are you all ready for it?

Well, you don't get it yet; first we have reviews!

Doveflight: Glad you like the fic so much that you're addicted. I'm really going to try to get out chapters faster. Thank you for being so patient in the meantime. And as for your theories on romance… well you'll just have to keep reading to see! (Though I will confirm that it is not her brothers! Those are totally brother-sister relationships only!)

Riku Uzumaki: I will cycle in and out who travels with main group. I'll probably never have more than 5 characters added to the group for more than a long period. Though it's not so much because it's hard to keep track of them (I have sticky notes and a notebook that helps me keep track of everything going on) but because having too many people can slow down the plot if they talk too much.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of the Abyss in any way. If I did, Mieu's flying would have been real flying that would allow you to fly over monsters.

Forgotten Memory

Castelle held her breath as she awaited the signal. Her back was pressed against the rubble behind her and her eyes focused over her shoulder to the pathway below. Any second now the target should come rushing by. Her body remained completely still as she strained to hear signs of anyone coming. It had already been twenty minutes since her half of the team had gotten into their places, so it shouldn't be long until the specter felt comfortable enough to reappear.

Sure enough the sound of shoes slamming against the stone pavement below reached her ears, causing her to tense slightly. It was finally time to get started. She trained her eyes to the corner they were due to come around. Soon she saw just what she had been waiting for: Luke, sword in hand, chasing a large white creature with a glowing red orb where its eyes should be. As they turned the corner Amelia jumped from behind a fallen statue and took up the chase, allowing Luke to catch his breath. She pursued the creature strait towards the section directly below Castelle. Castelle smiled; everything was going just as she had planned. She quickly began to gather fourth fonons.

"Oh intense geysers appear and-" she began, only for the creature to suddenly speed up faster than she had anticipated and dart past the area she had aimed her attack. She stopped mid-incantation. "Darn it!" she cried as she quickly dispelled the fonons before throwing two knives at the back of the Poltergeist. The monster quickly moved out of the way of the weapons as it turned another corner and continued away from her. She hastily jumped down from her post and hit the ground running. "Guy! It's heading your way!"

The creature continued its running oblivious to the strong blast of energy heading straight across its path. "Tiger Blade!" the blonde swordsman cried out as the creature was hit by his attack and sent flying upwards. "Castelle, now!" Castelle nodded as she sent three of her knives up into the now defenseless creature.

"Tios Break!" she declared as the three fonon-charged weapons pieced their target. The creature silently faded away into nothing without so much as a sound; the only part left behind was the red orb that quickly fell towards the ground. Both Guy and Castelle dived forward to catch the presumably fragile item, Guy snatching it from the air right above where Castelle's hand had reached. Castelle let out a relieved sigh as she stopped herself next to the older blonde, the other two quickly catching up. "Splendid job Guy" the young noble complimented. Guy glanced down and flashed her a smile for a brief second before freezing up. With a startled yell he threw his hands up and rushed away from the small girl; accidentally throwing the orb into the air as he did.

The remaining three released a collective gasp before Castelle moved to catch it; she weaved back and forth a bit, unsure of her position, before safely catching the small treasure in her hand. Amelia and Luke sighed in relief while Guy continued to get a handle on his increased heart rate.

"Nice catch Stella!" Amelia congratulated as she slapped the younger girl's shoulder. The sudden force pushed the young mage forward a few steps, causing the red object to fly up and out of her hand a bit. Castelle quickly regained her balance and snatched up the item again before turning to glare at her friend. Amelia placed a hand behind her head and smiled nervously. "Sorry about that buddy." Castelle sighed and shook her head.

"It's fine; all that matters now is that we've retrieved our half of the puzzle piece. Shall we go and meet back up with the others?" Amelia and Luke both nodded while Guy managed a small 'uh-huh.' With that they each turned around and began to head back down the blue-grey tattered stone pavement, Guy staying a "healthy" distance ahead of them.

"Man that was a pain." Luke declared as he placed his hands behind his head. "I hope the others have found their piece so we can hurry and get this over with." Amelia looked over to Luke with a deadpanned expression.

"You know Luke, for the one that startled away the creatures in the first place you sure have been complaining a lot…" Luke's vain pulsated as he glared at the girl.

"How was I supposed to know they'd run away like that?" Luke growled in his defense. "I mean, who would have guessed that the stupid monsters could even run –er float that fast?"As Amelia responded to Luke, Castelle glanced down at the glowing red jewel now in her hand. It had been troublesome, but they had managed to find retrieve the gem fairly easily.

They never would have suspected that this was how they would be spending the rest of the day when they first entered the enflamed navel port only a few hours ago.

It hadn't taken any of them too long to figure out some type of emergency was going on; between the thick smell of burned metal, the sight of smoke rising by the sea, and the sound of soldiers screaming, it wasn't long before the entire group found themselves rushing towards the disaster. Soon the source of the problems was made clear; there were dozens of ferial monsters rampaging through the port.

After disposing of a few monsters and pushing past the corpses of other creatures and soldiers the group quickly approached the docks. They soon caught sight of Van whose blade was drawn and pointed to none other than Arietta the Wild, who was backed up at the edge of a dock.

"Arietta," Van began with a strong tone, "Who gave you permission to do this?" The pink-haired God-General hugged her doll closely as she gazed down.

"Commandant I'm sorry… Asch asked me to…" Van's eyes went wide.

"Asch did?" Van asked in shock. But before he could utter another word Arietta rose her hand up as a giant bird-like monster dove down, allowing the young girl to grab a hold of its large claw as it flew by. It quickly ascended high into the air, far from anyone's reach.

"I'm taking away the engineer- the only one who can repair the ship." Arietta declared to the group from high above, the hostage clearly visible in the monster's spare claw. "If you want him back, then Luke and Ion must come to Choral Castle! If they don't, they'll kill him!" With that the creature flew away towards the northwest, letting out a loud cry as it did. At the sound, the few remaining monsters in the city quickly followed in its direction, rushing out of the port town. The group stared after her for a moment before Guy quickly turned to Van.

"Van, how's the ship?" the young swordsman questioned. Van responded with a glance to a large ship a few yards away from them. The group followed his gaze; and though the ship they all looked at wasn't too badly damaged on the outside, smoke arose from both the back and front of the water vessel.

"It's definitely out of commission." Van responded somberly. "And with our engineer kidnapped, we'll have to wait for the training ship to return." Jade turned back to the Oracle Knight.

"What's this 'Choral Castle' that Arietta mentioned?" Guy took a step towards Jade and began to explain while Castelle glanced to Luke, who was now scowling at the sight of the boat with his arms crossed; clearly annoyed at the turn of events.

"Choral Castelle…" Castelle whispered underneath her breath as she continued to watch her brother. "And it's Asch the Bloody demanding that we go… What could he be think-?" Her thoughts were broken by an arm gently wrapping around her shoulders. She sighed and looked down, already knowing who it was.

"It'll be alright Stella," Amelia comforted as she watched the rest of the group discuss their options.

"You always say that with such a straight face," Castelle began as she brought her eyes back up to where her friend was looking, "it's truly annoying you know." Amelia giggled slightly.

"I could say the same about you Ms. Pessimistic; always fretting about things that can't be helped" the blonde replied with an amused tone. As Castelle opened her mouth to respond, Van calling out to her brother caught her attention.

"Luke, take Ion and return to the border." Van commanded his student. "I'll stay here and deal with Arietta." Castelle let out a small breath she hadn't realized was being held in.

"Y-Yes sir!" Luke responded as attentively as he knew how. For once, Castelle was actuctually glad that Luke as so eager to do as Van told. With that the group turned to leave, heading back out of town. They didn't get very far however, before two of surviving workers caught up to them and blocked their path out of town.

"Fon Master please wait!" one called as they tried to catch their breath. Anise immediately ran in front of Ion.

"What business do you two have with the Fon Master?" Anise demanded, her eyes narrowed and hands on her hips.

"That man that Arietta the wild kidnapped was our maintenance chief!" one of them explained to her before quickly turning to Ion. "Please, you must save the chief! He's a devout follower of the score!" The other worker nodded.

"He upholds the score faithfully! He was so relieved when his birthday score said that calamity would be avoided. Please Fon Master!" Ion thought for a few seconds before nodding.

"… I understand. I'll go." Ion informed them, causing them to smile while most of the group was surprised. Even Castelle let her shock show for a brief moment, before it was covered by narrowed eyes.

'That's impossible. He wouldn't-'Castelle thought to herself as a flash of his words from their previous encounter flashed through her mind, 'He would never… for someone like that…' She gently shook her head. 'More importantly, if we go there-'

"Are you sure Ion?" Jade questioned, causing the young religious leader to turn to him and nod.

"Arietta said to come. Maybe I can talk her into releasing the hostage." Ion reasoned. Tear nodded in agreement, causing Luke to shoot her a questioning glance.

"I agree with Ion. To abandon one who was foretold to be saved by the Score would be the same as abandoning the Score itself." Tear explained. Castelle took a step closer to the melodist.

"But didn't the Commandant say that he would take care of Arietta?" the young mage offered with a small smile. "I'm sure that was the rescue that the score referred to. I mean, he isn't the leader of the Oracle Knights for nothing." Her overzealous praise for Van left a bad taste in her mouth; but if it kept them from going there then she felt it was well worth it. Luke scoffed.

"I agree with sis; Master Van can take care of it. I'm not going." Castele forced a sigh back down her throat as Ion looked back at them worriedly.

"Arietta said for you to come as well." Ion reminded him. "If you don't come I'm afraid… "

"Please don't abandon the chief!" the first engineer cried out as Ion's voice trailed off. "He's a good man who has a family in Batical!" Luke flinched a bit at the man's last point.

"All right, all right, I'll go." Luke conceded with a sigh. "Geeze you happy now? Honestly, why do I have to bother with this?" Castelle quickly moved to speak up, only to have Amelia step in front of her place her hand on Luke's shoulder.

"Because it's the right thing for us to do, and your sister raised you to know that-" she paused as she glanced back to look at Castelle, "-right Stella?" Castelle opened her mouth again to speak, only to be stopped by the scolding glance Amelia gave her; the older girl already knew what Castelle wanted to say. She knew that Castelle planned to do everything she could to keep Luke from going there, even if it meant the engineer's life was put in danger, and she greatly disapproved. But she didn't need to say it aloud for Castelle to know her feelings; a single glance was enough to make the young mage stop and reconsider her actions. She knew that she could convince Luke not to go, and most likely she could sway the others with her gifted silver tongue, but it wasn't right. Her friend's glare told her that as it silently asked the redhead, 'what would our Teacher think?'

Castelle painted on a pleasant smile, resigned to the group's decision, before she nodded to Amelia's question. "Of course." Amelia's scolding glare melted into a warm smile in reply.

"That's my Stella!" She cheered before turning to the rest of the group. "Well, shall we get going?" The group nodded in response; and, after an overzealous 'thank you' from the assistance and directions, they quickly set out towards Coral Castle.

*****Skit 1*****

*****Skit 2*****

The destination wasn't far, only about an hour trip Southeast from the port, and they very soon found themselves at the entrance of the decrypted mansion. The group paused and glanced up at the large building. The structure was at least four stories high, but everything about it seemed to be in complete disarray. The stone pathway leading into the structure was in shambles; the wild plants and weeds that surrounded it had grown between the steps and their roots had broken down the stones. The pathway wasn't the only victim of the wild plants however, as they had planted themselves along the stone walls of the mansion, growing outwards towards the sun as they eroded the building. Tenshi's fur immediately stood high on end and Mieu tensed.

"Monsters… I can feel them…" The small blue monster alerted. Tenshi let out a small growl as though to agree with the sentiment. Amelia looked down to them before noticing something else on the ground. The young swords fighter kneeled down to examine some tracks in the dirt.

"Those monsters aren't alone either…" Amelia warned as her fingers traced the edge of the tracks. "These are human footprints and they're still fresh; not older than a few hours…" With that warning in tow, the group carefully entered the decaying building.

The mansion's interior was no better than its outward appearance. The stone floor had been broken up, undoubtedly the result of lack of care mixed with the battles of the mansion's new monster inhabitants, and eroding away. A once brilliant red carpet still lay on the main path, now dull, tattered, and shredded while the strong musk of mildew emanated from it. The rest of the building was more of the same; collapsing balconies illuminated by the sunlight that leaked through the holes in the walls, while tapestries on the walls were shriveled and stained from exposure to the elements.

"This is where they found me?" Luke questioned with disbelief. "It's falling apart! It looks haunted!" Amelia nodded in agreement from her place beside Castelle. She leaned down slightly so her mouth was near the younger girl's ear.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Amelia began in a whisper, "but it's actually gotten a lot worse since then…" Castelle responded with a simple nod. She too was surprised at how much it had decayed in only four years.

"So Luke, do you remember anything?" Guy questioned as they began to progress down the main pathway. Luke shook his head.

"I was hoping that it'd at least be familiar if I came back but…" Luke began only for his voice to trail off as they reached a large doorway. It by itself wasn't very interesting, but the dim purple light that emitted from it near the top of its archway was definitely a sight to see. "What the hell is with this door?" Luke asked to no one in particular as he tried to push it open. "It won't budge." Castelle came up to her brother's side.

"It appears to be sealed with special fonons. It appears to need two specific keys." Castelle noted as she examined the door. 'It wasn't sealed the last time we were here… Meaning the enemy must be purposefully trying to make things harder on us.'

After further examining the door, it became clear that they'd need two keys to open the door. Luckily, Jade had seen these fontech puzzles before, and it was a simple matter of gaining two keys whose colors would mix to become purple. There were almost always multiples of the keys, so the hardest part would simply be finding them, or so they had thought at first.

"Hey sis, you mean something like that…?" Luke asked as the group talked about where to begin looking. Castelle glanced to where his finger was pointing and spotted a pair of strange floating creatures. After a moment they turned towards them, revealing one to have a blue orb in one eye, and the other had a red orb. The entire group deadpanned at their appearance.

"I-It would appear so brother…" Castelle confirmed, her tone showing her disbelief. Luke smirked.

"Alright then-" Luke drew his sword and rushed towards the two ghost-like enemies, "-all we need to do is get them! Back me up sis!" The group called out for him to stop as he leapt forward to close the gap, only for the enemies to look at him before quickly darting off in opposite directions at incredible speeds. The young swordsman skidded to a stop and glanced in both directions before scowling and cursing aloud to himself. After a scolding from nearly the entire party, they decided the best option would be to split in two groups so as to be able to successfully sneak up on the creatures. It was risky, since they didn't know where the enemy could be hiding, but they weren't left with much of a choice since their targets appeared to be so skittish.

*****Skit 3*****

*****Skit 4*****

*****Skit 5*****

Which all lead back to the group of Castelle, Amelia, Guy, and Luke, standing outside of the doorway with their key, waiting for the others to come. It wasn't long before the other group caught up with them however.

"Took them long enough" Luke whispered to her sister; though he sounded a bit annoyed she knew he was happy that they had gotten their first. They placed their keys into their slots, promptly opening the doorway. They soon found themselves in a long hallway that opened up, several yards away, into a large room with a staircase heading upwards at the other end. As the group began to head towards the staircase, they passed by a large hole in the stone floor. A few plants lined the outside of it, their roots sprawled out around the hole's perimeter. They carefully maneuvered around it, worried for how structurally sound the floor beneath them was.

Once they passed it, they headed for the staircase, though they weren't alone. Anise was the unfortunate soul to learn this, when a large one crawled onto her shoe. She glanced down to see the large black rat looking right back up at her. She froze for a fraction of a second before letting out a startled yelp and leaping away from the creature, and right onto Guy's back.

Everyone turned back at Anise's cry and saw her hanging off Guy's back; her hands clasped tightly onto his shoulders. Guy only seemed the slightest bit startled as he glanced back at the girl hanging off him. All at once his eyes went wide and he let out a loud scream as he began to flail his arms in an attempt to get her off. "Get away!" he cried as on arm successfully made contact with the girl, shoving her off of him and to the ground. The blonde swordsman pressed his hands to his head and crouched over. Everybody looked to Guy, shocked by his sudden outburst.

"Guy?" Luke questioned as he made his way over to his best friend. He placed his hand on Guy's shoulder. "What's the matter?" Guy took a deep breath before straightening himself up and looking at the group.

"My body just reacted…" Guy admitted as he rubbed the back of his head. He quickly turned around to face the young Fon Master Guardian on the ground. "I'm sorry Anise. Are you okay?" Anise quickly pushed herself off the floor and nodded.

"Y-Yeah. I'm sorry." The young puppeteer replied. Guy smiled and waved it off.

"That was more than just a startled reaction." Jade noted as he took a step closer the blonde fighter. "What's wrong?"

"I really don't know. I wasn't like this as a kid." Guy admitted as he looked at the military officer. "But, there is a moment in my memory that's missing; the cause may lie there..." Luke looked to his friend worriedly; if anyone could sympathize, it was him.

Luke opened his mouth to respond when suddenly Tenshi let out a loud growl as she glanced upwards, prompting Castelle and Amelia to instinctively reach for their weapons.

"Monsters!" Mieu cried, alerting the others to the threat lurking above. The hardly got the chance to look up however, before dozens of small monsters began to rain down on them from above, surrounding them. They all drew their weapons as a few larger enemies fell to the ground as well, hitting the floor ready to fight.

It was impossible to know who exactly acted first, but regardless, both sides were soon launching ferocious attacks on one another. Unfortunately for the party though, their formation had been completely broken when they had passed by the gaping hole in the center of the room, and they hadn't gotten the chance to get themselves back together. Instead they had broken off into three smaller groups as they tried to fend off the wave of enemies; Castelle's knives with Luke's sword, Tear's defensive spells and knives protecting Jade and Anise as they casted, and Amelia, Guy, and Tenshi mowing through opponents with their quick slashes. Though as the fighters continued to take down the enemy's numbers, the weakest member ended up pushed away from his only support and was soon trapped between the creatures in front of him and the chasm behind.

Amelia caught sight of trapped boy out of the corner of her eye as she slashed through two small plant-like monsters. "Tenshi, defend!" the girl commanded to the monster by her side. Tenshi released a brilliant flash of light as she released a wave of sixth fonons, killing a small gray wolf before turning back to head the swordfighter's command. The cat-like creature quickly maneuvered through the enemies on the battleground and came to Ion's side, killing any enemies close to the boy. Once she saw he was safe for the time being, Amelia quickly turned her attention back to finishing the fight at hand. "Tiger Blade!"

It couldn't be helped in the end, that none of them saw the greater threat coming until it was too late to properly defend; they were all so focused on the monsters in front of them after all, that none had the time to look up for the large blue bird descend from the staircase until it let out a loud screeching noise.

Luke hardly got the chance to hear his name be called before he felt himself being shoved to the side. It was all a blur to the boy; the only thing that could focus on as he fell to the ground was the red splatter that erupted in front of his sister's arm as the bird's claw slashed against it.

"Castelle!" He cried as the impact from the monster sent the girl flying backwards and away from him. Her small frame flew back several yards across the battlefield and straight into her most defenseless team member. The young boy was knocked off his feet and several feet backwards with the girl. They both landed with a hard thud, merely a few feet from the large break in the floor of the room. Castelle was the first of the two to stir; she quickly tried to push herself up with her uninjured arm, seventh fonons already quickly gathering around her wounds. She paused though as she heard a loud shout echo over the chaos of the fight. She looked up in time to see her brother in the grasp of the giant blue winged creature; the very thing she had done her best to prevent. Seeing the young boy carried up towards the opening at the top of the stairs, Amelia quickly created an opening for her fellow blonde sword wielder.

"Guy, go!" She cried as she kicked away another small monster. Guy turned on his heal and hastily headed towards the stairs, only to be blocked by a familiar male liger, ridden by none other than Arietta the Wild.

"I won't let you pass!" the girl cried angrily as the liger let loose a powerful stream of lightning at Guy. The swordsman was forced to jump back to the bottom of the stairs, narrowly missing the powerful attack as he did. Castelle unsteadily regained her footing and began to heal her arm as Tenshi kept the monster away from both her and Ion. Unfortunately it wasn't long before an attack was sent her way, forcing her to abandon her spell half way through.

"Gloomietta!" Anise cried as Tokunaga grew in size until it was larger than her, surprising some of her teammates. "Out of the way!" She quickly moved onto the puppet's back and leapt towards Arietta to attack, only for a monster to hit her from the side and down onto the ground. "Ow that hurt! You're terrible Arietta!" Arietta's glare intensified.

"Anise is the horrible one!" the pink-haired God-General replied angrily. "You took Ion from me!" She turned to where the young religious leader was trying to stand after his earlier collision. "But I'm going to take him back!" As though to echo Arietta's sentiment, the bird holding Luke (who was now shouting at the top of his lungs) let out a fearsome cry before diving again, this time straight for the Fon Master. Castelle quickly ran and shoved the boy to the ground with herself. The creature barely missed the two and quickly rose up high into the air and out of range.

'As long as Ion's with us, that bird won't take brother far.' Castelle reasoned as she looked back up the flying monster.

"Don't interfere!" Arietta screamed at the redheaded girl as more monsters moved in to attack the pair. Castelle quickly pulled herself up and in front of Ion before beginning to drive the monsters back with knives and fonic artes. As Ion started to stir, the young mage ordered him to stay low. And it was thanks to Ion's low position that he heard the strange noise, like two rocks colliding, while Castelle didn't. He glanced behind them and saw the source of the noise. The rocks on the floor weren't being hit together, but falling apart and down into the depths of the darkness of the hole behind them. As a large liger stomped closer, a visible crack appeared from the hole, to where they were standing.

"Castelle the floor-!" Ion called to the girl as she tried to keep the small monsters from getting any closer. Unfortunately his call came too late, as the ground quickly began to crumble beneath the pair. He felt the floor get knocked out from under him as his eyes instinctively closed. He only re-opened them when he realized his fall had been cut short; he looked up to see Castelle, dangling in the air with him, one had holding onto him by his wrist while the other held on tightly to a root from one of the bushes still on the ledge.

"Fon.. Master…" Castelle muttered as she winced, the wound on her arm searing in pain from the strain of holding onto the young boy. A small pool of red began to gather on her tattered sleave; her wound from the bird had reopened. He looked up at her concerned, noticing Tenshi pop up her head from above them where the ledge had stopped caving in.

"Fon Master!" he suddenly heard Arietta call. Tenshi snapped her head back to where the voice had come from as cries of protest from the party echoed above the sounds of battle. There was a strong vibration from above them, followed by the ground the roots clung to collapsing completely sending them tumbling downward. The last thing the fon master registered was Castelle pulling herself close to him, –or possibly the other way around- her arms wrapping around his neck as her cheek brushed past his, and the feelings of fonons gathering around them both.

Then, everything went black.

AN:

And then they died. The end.

Lol, no not really, but that is the end of the chapter. I hope you enjoyed it!

The next chapter maaaaay be a lost chapter. I haven't decided yet. Are you all ready for another one? I hope so because there will be a lot of them in this fic lol.

Now for an extra bonus for all of you fabulous readers; Skits! (because I love you guys so much~)

Skit 1: On Second Thought

Luke(annoyed): I still can't believe we have to do this.

Amelia (smiling widely): Cheer up Luke. You never know, this could turn out to be fun!

Luke: How could it possibly be fun?

Amelia: Well maybe you'll see a brand new monster, or maybe find something really amazing that was forgotten at the castle?

Luke: But I don't want to do any of that sort of stuff! I just want to go home!

Amelia: Now now Luke. Maybe you'll remember-

Luke(yelling): No, this is a waste of time and it's dangerous. Even Master Van said so! We shouldn't have come.

Tear: Would you quit your complaining? No one forced you to come; though now I'm wondering why we decided you could come along.

Luke(angry): Why you-!

Amelia (surprised): C-Calm down you two! Arguing here won't help!

Castelle(looking away): Maybe we should head back after all…

Amelia (leaning towards Castelle with a suspicious look): What was that…?

Castelle (scoots away): N-Nothing at all…

Skit 2: Friends… Sort of

Luke: Hey sis, those people that you talk to right after we crossed the border were your friends right?

Castelle: You mean Valerie, Nadia, and Aidan? Yes. Why?

Luke: Well that one girl was really rude to you.

Castelle: Oh Valerie? Ignore her, she's an idiot.

Luke(surprised): But you just said you're friends right?

Castelle: Well she's more of an acquaintance. A less than thoughtful one at that.

Amelia: Now Castelle, she's still our friend. You should be nicer.

Castelle: Why? I don't like her and she doesn't like me.

Amelia: Don't let her fool you Luke. They're actually really close despite what it looks like.

Castelle(angry): Amelia….

Amelia:*giggle*

Luke: …?

Skit 3: In the Field

Amelia: Hey Guy, do you mind if I ask you something?

Guy: Hmm? Oh, sure. What's up?

Amelia(worried): Are you really up to a fight with Arietta if things come to that?

Guy(surprised): Whoa, where'd that come from all of a sudden?

Amelia: Well it's just that she's a girl, so with your gynophobia... Well I just don't want you to push yourself is all.

Guy(smiling): Thanks Amelia; but you don't have to worry. I can handle myself just fine in a fight against women if I have to.

Amelia(curious): Really?

Guy: Yeah. I was trained with the idea that everyone is the same when on the battlefield. I don't really see them as girls as much as trained fighters. With that in mind, I'm fine.

Amelia(smiling): All the same on the battlefield… That's a good mantra.

Guy: And you? Will you be alright if we end up fighting her? I mean, you dislike fighting people like her, right?

Amelia(worried): Ah, did someone tell you? Nathan or Castelle maybe?

Guy: It doesn't matter. The point is that you, too, shouldn't push yourself.

Amelia(smiling): So I'll take it Nathan told you… (worried) But you're right, I'll be careful not to force myself.

Guy: Good. Now, let's go catch up with the others.

*Guy leaves*

Amelia: "On the battlefield, we are all the same" huh? I want to feel that way too but… *sigh* I guess I'll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it.

Skit 3: Please be more careful

Luke(smiling): Are those guys still running around after their key, while we've already got ours? How lame.

Castelle: Brother, it's not very appropriate to celebrate when it was you're actions that led to this whole ordeal. You have to start being more careful.

Luke(Frowning): Not that again. I get it, I get it; I can't go rushing in…

Castelle: Don't treat it so lightly brother. What if those monsters hadn't run? What if they had both attacked at once?

Luke: Then I would have killed them both, no problem!

Castelle: What if they had been more powerful? A monster's appearance isn't always a sign of their strength. Just look at Tenshi's size vs her strength.

Luke(shouting): But they were weak sis! They were weak and I'm fine!

Castelle(Angry): But there's guarantee that they were weak. You could have been hurt, don't you understand that?

Luke: But I wasn't! Geeze, why are you making such a big deal about it?

Castelle: Because-! (frowning) Because… If anything ever happened to you… I'd never be able to live with myself…

Luke(Surprised:) Sis…

Castelle (smiling): You're very precious to me brother and I don't want see you get hurt. (frowning)That's why I'm scolding you now, before you get yourself injured… or worse...

Luke: Sis… *sigh* Alright, I promise I'll be more careful…

Castelle(smiling): Thank you Luke… Oh, and brother…?

Luke: Yeah sis…?

Castelle: Please remember that I'll always love you dearly, no matter what happens.

Luke(blushing): Wh-what's with you all of a sudden? Don't go saying weird things like that out of nowhere! C-Come on; let's hurry and catch up with the others!

Castelle: *giggle* Yes, let's.

Skit 5: Obedience

Anise(Pouting): Man, it's taking forever to appear! I bet my dear Luke is already waiting for us.

Tear: Don't forget it was Luke that got us into this position in the first place.

Anise(Confused): Well… (Smiling)Anyways, I can forgive him! He's such a good (and rich) guy after all~

Tear: Well either way they're probably done because they have four fighters while we're down one.

Ion(sadly): Sorry I can't be of more assistance…

Tear(worried): Ah, Fon Master, that isn't what I meant. I-I'm sorry.

Ion: It's okay Tear. Besides, we also have Tenshi with us. Doesn't that make it four?

Tear: Well we do but… I'm not sure how to get her to do anything…

Tehshi(curious): Mew…?

Jade: Didn't Castelle treat you how to command her before we split up?

Tear: Well yes but I'm not sure exactly what she should do or if she'll actually listen to me…

Anise(grinning): (This is my chance! If I can get close to the cat that Castelle is always coddling, then I'll get closer to her and by extension, closer to Luke!) Say Tear, then why don't you let me try to handle her?

Tear(curious): Um, alright Anise?

Anise: Alright Tenshi, scout and attack!

Tenshi(curious): ….

Anise: Uh… Sit? Heel? Come?

Tenshi: *slowly begins to wander away from the group*

Anise: Ah, no, no! She's not listening at all!

Tear: Ah, Tenshi, don't wander so far. Come back!

Tenshi(curious): ….? *goes to Tear*

Tear: That's a good girl.

Anise(sad): What, wait, why only Tear?

That's all for now. Idk when the next chapter will be up. Hopefully only two weeks again but things are getting more hectic here so we'll have to see.

Until then, please review. It really helps motivate me to keep up this pace. -^^-