Tales of the Abyss - Tiphereth 5
It's NaNo, blahblahblah.
The group lingered behind in the square to make sure that all of the ligers vacated the premises. It took a fair bit, the wildcats very obviously did not take well to snow, but eventually the last few stragglers disappeared from view. Jade gestured towards the hotel, the expression on his face perfectly blank as he suggested, "I believe it would be best if we all relocated to someplace a bit dryer. That should make Tear's task much easier, wouldn't you say?" No one brooked any arguments, for while Jade's tone was even, his words were clipped. He was visibly not happy about recent events and none of them wanted to risk his wrath.
Tear nodded her agreement, cutting her spell short before aiding Nephry in getting to her feet. She'd already cleansed and healed up the worst of the damage, though there were a few spots near the edges of the wound that were seeping slightly. The liger had only gotten one claw in, but that had been more than enough. It had almost ripped clear to the bone. And while she could have managed to heal it just fine where they were - she had gotten quite adept at healing on the battlefield, after all -, it would be much easier to do the rest of the work in a dryer, safer and much warmer environment.
Grateful for the help, Nephry teetered on her feet for a moment, grasping gingerly at her arm. It still hurt a great deal, but not as much as before and there was still one other concern left to take care of. She glanced around, easily finding the frightened children huddled next to the stairs. "It's all right," she said soothingly, "Everything's all right now." The kids stared at her for several seconds, then nodded shakily and cautiously edged their way out into the open. Nephry studied them closely, watching for any possible abnormality and not finding anything out of the ordinary. They were scared, but that seemed to be it. "I take it that none of you were harmed then?"
The children swiftly nodded their answer and then glanced guiltily at each other. They were in so much trouble and they knew it.
"Good," Nephry stated sternly. "I hope you've both learned a lesson from this. Now, I want you to go home; and rest assured that I will be speaking with your parents later on."
"Yes, Governor Osborne," they eeped in unison, gulping at the new fear she'd just inflicted upon them before skittering off.
Jade watched the children run off, his eyes narrowed in displeasure, then turned and arched an eyebrow at his sister. "And are we done now?"
Nephry blinked, taken aback somewhat by his underlying scorn, then nodded shortly. "Yes. I just wanted to make sure that they were all right and to send them on home before they got into anymore trouble."
"Good," Jade said silkily, raising the hair on the back of everybody's neck. Jade sounding nice when he wasn't happy was a bad, bad sign. "Since that's over with, let's go check in to the hotel and get everyone patched up before any of you attempt to kill yourselves again." Everyone nodded, almost mirroring the children in their rush to appease him.
/He's really pissed./ Luke thought apprehensively, forgetting about his own ire for the moment as they all trailed along behind the ticking time bomb that was Jade and his wounded sister.
/Yes. I'd suggest keeping your mouth shut for the duration./ Asch sent back as he cautiously eyed the Malkuth colonel. He knew the man hadn't been dubbed the Necromancer for nothing, and Largo near death spoke volumes of how dangerous he could be. Granted, he didn't think Jade would kill any of them, even if they did manage to cross the line, but better to be safe than sorry.
/That goes for you too, you know./ Luke grumbled irritably, a marginal amount of his earlier ire returning at the jab. /I wasn't the one stupid enough to go waltzing through a crapton of wild animals, after all. He might have something to say about that later./
Asch grimaced at the possibilities that thought brought up. Perhaps it would be best to just call it an early night once they got to the hotel. Even when he was in a good mood, Jade's disdain could draw blood if he had a mind for it. Asch would much rather not find out just how much worse the man could be when his disposition had taken a turn for the worst. Besides, he was tired anyway. Might as well take advantage of any respite they could manage.
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Upon getting their first glimpse of Nephry's bloodied state, the hotel staff had nearly fallen all over themselves in their haste to secure a room for the group's use. The manager had stood by the entire time, fretting about it and repeatedly asking whether they needed anything or not. Thankfully, Natalia had finally taken pity on the man and informed him that two highly skilled seventh fonists were present and thus, there was nothing to worry about. Really. Just because Jade was being testy didn't mean that they couldn't handle the fallout. Sure, he might end up killing somebody, but that was pretty much the norm for him. Nothing to worry about at all.
It had taken a little more prodding to get rid of the hotel manager, but thankfully, Natalia was good at that. The training she'd undergone for her station afforded her a considerable amount of expertise at diplomacy when she had a mind for it. Usually, she didn't have to. After all, most of the time she was dealing with Luke and Guy. Luke was thoroughly impossible to deal with, and probably always would be, but at least Guy fell into step eagerly enough when threatened with bodily contact.
Nephry had ended up seating herself on the foot of the first bed, her ruined coat folded up beside her as Tear went about healing the rest of the damage. Jade stood off to the side, a slight frown marring his face as he watched the proceedings. Everyone else had quietly settled themselves around the room, staying as far away from Jade as humanly possible without attracting his attention. They were all in varying degrees of dampness thanks to their earlier trek to Keterburg, but sometimes it was best to just suck it up and deal. Jade's pique was certainly something to be wary about. Several of their number might act stupid at times - certain individuals more so than others -, but that didn't mean they were fool enough to risk his wrath.
"It's nothing to worry about," Nephry said cautiously, her face unmistakably guarded as she looked up at her brother. "I've had worse, which you should be well aware of."
"Ah, of course, you must forgive me." Jade smiled tightly, raising his arms in a careless shrug as he continued, "Sometimes I forget myself. I am, after all, not supposed to care about the wellbeing of anyone or anything, much less my dearest sister. It must have slipped my mind somewhere in the commotion." His smile took on a sardonic light as her expression swiftly morphed into abject disbelief, but didn't wait for any further reply from her. Instead, he glanced around the room, his frown returning when his search failed to produce what he was looking for. "If you'll excuse me, I'm afraid there's something rather pressing I need to deal with."
Stunned silence reigned in the hotel room as Jade made his exit. It took several long seconds before half of them remembered to breathe and few more until Anise finally shook herself and pushed off from the wall. "Geez," she murmured thoughtfully as she waltzed over and plopped down beside the governor, "I think you actually hurt his feelings."
Nephry shook her head in outright denial. "Don't be ridiculous, nothing phases him." She didn't quite manage to shake off a pervading sense of vague uncertainty at the possibility though. It was just a flesh wound. He wouldn't bother himself over something that simple. Or at least, he never had in the past.
Anise smirked ruefully at Nephry's attempt to dismiss it as nothing more than her brother's usual behavior. It was always easier to not deal with something, especially when the problem could be such a pain. Still, she kinda liked the governor, even if Nephry didn't get along all that spectacularly well with Jade. Then again, it was Jade. All things considered, she probably would have ended up killing the bastard if she'd been forced to grow up with his sorry ass. "Well, I think you said it best," Anise piped up cheerfully as she leaned back and kicked her feet up into the air, "You can never tell with Jade."
/You can say that again./ Luke sighed wearily as he slowly slid down to the floor. He'd dragged Asch over to the wall opposite the door upon their arrival, positioning them in such a way that they'd have a clear line of escape if Jade decided to go nuclear. Thankfully, he hadn't. The stress had still worn Luke out though. He was starting to get a little tired of traveling around with such dangerously unstable people. Couldn't they just act normal every once and awhile? Surely that wouldn't be too difficult for them to pull off. They'd managed to do just about everything else in their own unique fashion.
Asch stared down at Luke in something that shifted between mild annoyance and a shred of curiosity. He was half tempted to slide down there with the idiot, but he had a sneaking suspicion that he wouldn't be able to get back up once he was down there. The lethargy was really starting to get to him; and sadly, his attempts at escape earlier had been thoroughly thwarted by Luke's single minded manhandling. They were going to have to have a long talk about that later. He didn't need another mother, so Luke could stop with the overbearing act anytime now. And damn, he was tired. /They're both complicated people who have a complicated relationship. These things just take time to sort themselves out./
/If you say so./ Luke mumbled as he drew his legs up, wrapped his arms around his soggy pants legs, and then plopped his chin down on top of his knees. It was kinda funny really, he'd suffered through all sorts of exhaustion before, mental, physical, what have you, but having to watch out for Jade's fury was something else altogether. It felt like he could sleep for a week and still need more. Ugh. Rolling his head down, he rubbed his nose across his knees. So tired. Maybe they should just head to bed. As far as he could tell, Asch felt about as worn out as he did, if not more so. They could probably just mosey on out now and none would be the wiser. Everybody else was busy with something or paying attention to something else. Though, he should probably see if Guy wanted to head out too. Otherwise, he'd be left all alone in a room full of girls. Even on the best of days, that was never a good idea.
/He's not here./
/What?!/ Luke's head whipped up, his eyes scouring the room for Guy and coming up empty. That was weird. /Where'd he go?/ Luke asked, thoroughly confused now as he leaned back and stared up at Asch.
/How should I know?/ Asch shot back irritably. /He slipped away right after we arrived./
Luke blinked, his confusion only mounting further at Asch's reply. /Well, why didn't you say anything?/
Asch shrugged. /He was acting like he didn't want anyone to notice./
/You did!/
Rolling his eyes in rising annoyance, Asch stated what he figured should be obvious by now. /I've been trained to notice things like that, you idiot./
/Oh. Right./ Luke frowned as he dropped his gaze down to the floor. He should have noticed too, but whatever. But still, why would Guy leave like that? Wait. Now that he thought about it, Guy had been acting awfully strange earlier during the confrontation with Arietta. Had something upset him? Hmm, maybe he should go look for him.
/That might not be the best course of action./
Luke shot his head up back up and glared hotly at Asch. /Would you stop doing that?!/
/What? Reading your thoughts?/ Asch sent back blandly. /I'd love to. Why don't you do both of us a favor and learn how to not project them so damned much./
/Er?/ Luke blinked again in confusion, and then nearly eeped at the dark scowl Asch directed his way. /Uh.../ Apparently, Jade wasn't the only one skirting the edge of being pissed off about something.
/You are loud./ Asch snarled. /And I am tired. And you are giving me a headache./
Luke shrank back. Asch wasn't quite at the fury level, but he was starting to get awfully close. Oops. /I'm... sorry?/ He attempted lamely.
/Of course you are. You're always so damned apologetic, even when you don't need to be./ Asch hissed back. /But I don't want you to be sorry. I want you to stop it. And-/
"Asch?"
The aforementioned God-General stopped in mid-tirade at the unexpected interruption. He shared a disturbed look with Luke before turning his attention to the person who had successfully snuck up on them. It was Natalia again, of course. It appeared as if she was beginning to develop a knack for that and neither of them could really say whether that was a good thing or not. On one hand, she effectively diffused any initial squabble they invariably wound up in; on the other hand, being so involved in bitching at each other that they failed to notice when someone else drew near was a bad thing. /This is starting to get out of hand./ Asch thought as he cocked his head questioningly at the princess.
/Yeah.../ Luke sent back glumly as he laboriously climbed to his feet. Man, he was tired. /I guess so. Let's talk about it later, okay? I don't think you're going to have much of chance to "chat" about it with Natalia here, and I really need to go find out what's up with Guy./
/Fine./
Natalia glanced from one to the next and then back again, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "I don't know what it is that the two of you are talking about," she said vaguely, then shrugged finally and allowed her gaze to rest solely upon Asch, "And it doesn't really matter. You're tired."
Asch unconsciously straightened up, somewhat startled by her frank demeanor. His brows drew together in slight confusion as he nodded hesitantly in agreement.
Natalia gestured towards the bed as she went about explaining her sudden appearance. "It's going to be awhile yet before they're done. Knowing Tear, she'll want to make sure that there's no weakness left in the torn muscles, and then she'll want to clear up any possible scarring. So why don't I just put you to bed, myself?" The twin wide eyed stares her tragic choice in wording won her had Natalia coloring slightly in embarrassment. "Don't give me that look. You both know what I meant."
"Right," Luke chuckled, grinning broadly at the small smile of amusement gracing Asch's lips. /I guess you're well in hand here then./
/Shut up./
/You're starting to blush./
"Oh, and Luke?" Natalia said breezily, interrupting the pair before another argument could break out between them. "Why don't you make yourself useful and go find Guy?"
Luke blinked in surprise. /She noticed he was gone too?/
Asch smirked. /Some people actually pay attention to what all's happening around them./
/Screw you./
Natalia cleared her throat and frowned in irritation, instantly cutting another argument off at the pass. "Right then, I see how this is going to be. Luke," she stated icily, "You go find Guy before he runs into Jade and ends up being a stain on the ground. In the meantime, I will put Asch to bed and neither of you will argue with the other for the duration. Am I understood?"
"Yeah, right. That's fine. Everything's great. You two have fun and I'll be going now," Luke nodded hastily as he edged his way around the displeased princess and headed towards the door. /Good luck./
Natalia shook her head and suppressed a giggle at his antics. It was so strange. It hadn't been that long ago where his recent behavior would have had her fuming for days, but now, she just couldn't seem to stay mad at him. What had changed? Part of the blame, she knew, lay at Asch's feet, but not all of it. After all, he could be just as bad as Luke at times with the childish behavior. Honestly, sometimes it was like dealing with a pair of two year olds who constantly squabbled over their toys. They were both quite trying, but at least separating them gave the illusion of stability. It was just an illusion, but at least it was something. "Well then," Natalia said lightly as she returned her full attention to an apprehensive looking Asch, "Shall we be going?" It was something she could ponder over later, right now the issue of getting Asch to a bed before he fell over was a bit more pressing. He really needed to learn how to take better care of himself.
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