Mirrors Ξ Chapter One
Mirrors
Rating: PG-13 (language, violence, implied character death)
Pairing: Canon pairings
Summary: The gang is intercepted by Regret the Quick and a contingent of Oracle Knights. Separated from the others, Luke fights bravely, but is no match for the more experienced God General. With Luke on the brink of death, who could possibly take his place in saving the world?
CHAPTER ONE
They should have known that rescuing Ion and Natalia from the bowels of the Oracle Knights’ headquarters and the escape thereafter had been far too easy. Luke fon Fabre and his companions had managed to make it as far as the Fourth Monument Hill before they were ambushed; a whole contingent of Oracle Knight soldiers had been waiting for them, led by none other than one of the God Generals. They fought bravely of course, but the Knights were many, and it was not long before they found themselves separated from one another.
Luke grunted, fighting down the urge to be sick as he stabbed another soldier, pushing his body out of the way in an effort to get to Tear, when a bullet whizzing by his ear stopped him short. He raised his sword just in time to prevent his face from being stabbed by the spikes on the butt of Regret the Quick’s guns, only to be sent stumbling backward, away from the fighting, as she shoved him hard.
"Get out of my way!" Luke yelled, rushing to attack. The God General held him off easily enough, almost embarrassingly so, and as he struck out at her again, she caught his blade in the spikes, sparing him a bit of a smirk.
"My, my, where is that reluctance to kill you showed before?" she asked, her cold voice mocking. "I suppose after killing so many innocent people, there would be no point to it."
Regret may as well have stabbed him in the chest. Luke let out a soft noise, his resolve faltering for a second, but it was one second too long. She shoved him off, sending him fumbling for his footing, and by the time he recovered, her guns were already trained on him.
"Die like you were meant to, trash."
Luke heard her guns ring out loudly over the sound of the fighting, but he did not hear much else. A second later, a loud ringing noise buzzed in his ears, a faint pain splintering out from his chest. He stumbled to his knees, and swore he could hear her guns firing again, but he could not be certain over the ringing. In the end, it did not matter, because everything turned black a moment later.
Dammit... Asch, I'm sorry...
~.oOOo.~
Asch the Bloody ran as fast as his legs could carry him, swearing under his breath. He had delayed far too long near Daath, making sure that idiot at least got into the city in one piece. At first he did not care, as his ride off the continent was not there yet, but now soldiers were gathering in large numbers, and if he did not get out of there soon, what little cover he had left would be blown to hell.
He had just stepped onto the outskirts of the harbor, when a sharp pain hit him hard in the chest. Asch gasped sharply, legs wobbling unsteadily, before he fell to the ground, fighting for breath.
Dammit... Asch, I'm sorry...
He let out a confused noise, not used to hearing voices in his head unless he allowed it. That sounded like the dreck… but that was impossible; Luke could not open the connection himself...
"Dreck, what the hell?!" he demanded, but no answer came back as the pain started to fade away.
Asch stood unsteadily, glancing at the harbor, before looking back toward Daath. Dammit, he did not have time for this crap... but if something had happened to the dreck...
"Tch... dammit," he swore, pounding back the way he came.
He did not even make it to the Fourth Monument Hill before he could see the signs of a very one sided battle. Whoever had been ambushed, the only way they would have lived is if they had run, but at least one of them had taken a tumble down the hill, if the broken branches and debris was any clue. Hesitantly, Asch followed the trail, hearing his heart pounding in his ears at the thought of what would be waiting for him in the clearing below...
"Oh, hell..."
When he finally broke through the already abused brush, the sight he had been expecting was the only one to greet him. His replica lay in a broken heap on the ground, the grass beneath him stained crimson with his blood, and the telling sign of exit wounds in his back. Asch swore violently, dashing over to his still form, tearing off a glove so he could properly feel for a pulse. It was so faint that he almost missed it, but it was still there; somehow the damn dreck was still alive.
"If you live, I'm going to kill you, you idiot!" Asch hissed, carefully gathering him in his arms.
~.oOOo.~
It felt like an eternity before Noir and her goons finally showed up with his boat off the continent, even if it had only been two minutes after he had returned to the harbor. Luke's condition had not improved, though thankfully, it had not gotten any worse either - small blessings. Once on the boat, Asch had taken to pacing the length of the small vessel, his impatience flooding off of him in waves as Noir and the others stayed below, doing their best to save the dreck's life.
It was another eternity before Noir finally came back up, and Asch stopped and whirled so fast he very well could have left skid marks on the wooden deck.
"Well?"
Noir smiled at him flirtatiously. "Oh Asch, it's so wonderful to see that heart of gold buried under all that clothing."
Asch near turned purple in irritation. "S-shut up! If he died, his stupid friends would just annoy me instead, that's all!"
"Sure, sure," Noir replied, a smug expression on her face, though it soon dropped as she became serious. "It's bad, Asch; really bad. We pulled out ten of those fonic pelts, and we're not even sure if we got them all."
Asch forced out a breath, silently promising Regret a quick death if his replica kicked it. "But he'll live, right?"
"Maybe," she answered. "Depends on how much he wants to live."
The redhead hid a groan, pressing a hand over his eyes. So soon after Akzeriuth? This was probably going to end badly.
"Look, Asch," Noir continued, "it's probably best if we take him back to our place. We'll be able to get better help for him there, and we won't have to drag him around all over."
Asch...?
He paused, holding his head; was that Luke again? What, now the idiot would not get out of his head?
"Give me a moment alone to decide," Asch replied gruffly, pushing his way past Noir to the room Luke was in. He ordered York and Urushi out; slamming the door closed behind them and ensuring it was locked, before turning to get a good look at his replica.
It was not good, just as Noir said; Luke's breathing was shallow, most likely due to the ten little red spots staining the medical wrap around his chest. All the color had drained from Luke's face, making him look as fragile as porcelain, and his eyes seemed to be twitching slightly, as if he were caught in a nightmare he could not wake up from. Hesitantly, Asch approached his still form, sitting down on the bed beside him, before gently touching an arm, as if he were afraid any other contact would make him shatter into a thousand pieces.
"Can you hear me, replica?" he asked softly, so as not to draw the Dark Wings' attention.
Yeah... kinda. Everything's making a buzzing noise. There was a pause, and Asch could almost see Luke shifting uncomfortably. Damn... how many times did she shoot me?
"Ten, as far as we can tell," Asch replied. "Just how the hell did this happen?"
We got ambushed on the way out of Daath; guess it was easy to tell which way we would be going to get out, Luke answered, taking a deep breath. They forced us apart, and Regret came after me.
"Hmph... picked off the easiest target first."
Hey! ...okay, so maybe it's a little true. I'm getting better, dammit!
"Not better enough," Asch mused.
There was a pause, before Luke asked the expected question, Did the others make it out okay...?
"I don't know," he answered. "The battle was already done when I got there."
He could feel Luke look away, biting his lip, the unease practically rolling off of him. There were also ideas rolling out of that empty head of his, and one that Asch caught made him bristle with irritation.
"What are you doing even thinking something like that!?" he demanded.
H-hey! Let me think on my own!
"I would if I could, dreck!" Asch snapped. "The shock of being so close to death probably jerked you back into my head, but you have no control over yourself!"
Silence fell over them, before...
...well, it would work.
Asch let out a low growl, standing up and drawing his sword. That was it; to hell with waiting until he woke up, he was just going to kill him right here and now.
H-hey! Wait a second! It really could work! No one would know the difference!
"Of course anyone would know the difference!" Asch snapped back. "I couldn't make myself as stupid as you are!"
But we needed to regroup, and we needed to know where to go from here to stop this war... and we need to stop more of the land from falling like Akzeriuth!
Asch paused, taking a deep breath and striving for calm. "This is insane."
But it could work.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "...you owe me. You owe me big time."
~.oOOo.~
The door to Luke's room banged open, and the three Dark Wings lounged about against whatever they were nearest to, just to make it look like they had not been eavesdropping. Asch walked up the steps, hiding a bundle in his arms and giving them a suspicious look. He paused a moment, before letting out a breath, dumping the bundle of Luke's clothes on a table.
"...I need a favor," he said. "Which of you is good with a pair of scissors?"
~.oOOo.~
Explosions were rocking the Tartarus so bad that even holding onto a railing could not prevent them from falling over. Anise fumbled back up to her feet, Ion clinging to her tightly in a feeble effort to get his fragile balance back. Jade gripped the console as he climbed back to his feet, grimacing as he held his hand over the controls, starting up the land dreadnaught.
"We can't wait anymore, everyone," he stated. "If Luke is still out there, he will just have to find a way to catch up to us."
"But-!" Tear began, before she caught sight of something on one of the view screens. "Wait... Luke?!"
Natalia came up behind her to look at the view screen, just in time to see Luke throwing a soldier into the ocean. The redhead broke though the line of Oracle soldiers, taking a daring flying leap toward the Tartarus, and they all could hear the clang of his impact. Guy had to hit the deck in order to avoid the stampede of women that went past him and Jade let out an amused noise as he started to get the ship moving.
The girls arrived on the deck as Luke climbed up over the side, letting out a relieved breath as he stumbled over the railing and landed in a heap. Tear got to him first, kneeling beside him and checking for injuries, eyeing the bullet holes in his shirt and jacket with trepidation.
"Luke, what happened?" she asked.
Luke looked up at her, and for a moment, he seemed to stumble for the right words, before he finally spit them out.
"I-I ran into a bit of trouble," he answered, the pitch of his voice fumbling as much as he was. Anise let out a laugh (that maybe sounded more relieved than she would have cared to admit), giving him a sly look.
"Why, Luke!" she exclaimed, her voice mocking sincerity. "For a moment there, it almost sounded like you reached puberty."
"Sh-shut up!"
Before anyone could say anything else, a loud explosion of Fifth Fonons went off over their heads, close enough that their ears rang from the sound. Luke glanced back and forth between the girls - currently clinging to him - before he cleared his throat.
"Um... getting back inside might be a good idea..."
As the Tartarus pulled away from Daath Harbor, under attack the whole time, no one noticed the small ship flying the colors of the Dark Wings pulling away as well, heading in the opposite direction...
Rating: PG-13 (language, violence, implied character death)
Pairing: Canon pairings
Summary: The gang is intercepted by Regret the Quick and a contingent of Oracle Knights. Separated from the others, Luke fights bravely, but is no match for the more experienced God General. With Luke on the brink of death, who could possibly take his place in saving the world?
CHAPTER ONE
They should have known that rescuing Ion and Natalia from the bowels of the Oracle Knights’ headquarters and the escape thereafter had been far too easy. Luke fon Fabre and his companions had managed to make it as far as the Fourth Monument Hill before they were ambushed; a whole contingent of Oracle Knight soldiers had been waiting for them, led by none other than one of the God Generals. They fought bravely of course, but the Knights were many, and it was not long before they found themselves separated from one another.
Luke grunted, fighting down the urge to be sick as he stabbed another soldier, pushing his body out of the way in an effort to get to Tear, when a bullet whizzing by his ear stopped him short. He raised his sword just in time to prevent his face from being stabbed by the spikes on the butt of Regret the Quick’s guns, only to be sent stumbling backward, away from the fighting, as she shoved him hard.
"Get out of my way!" Luke yelled, rushing to attack. The God General held him off easily enough, almost embarrassingly so, and as he struck out at her again, she caught his blade in the spikes, sparing him a bit of a smirk.
"My, my, where is that reluctance to kill you showed before?" she asked, her cold voice mocking. "I suppose after killing so many innocent people, there would be no point to it."
Regret may as well have stabbed him in the chest. Luke let out a soft noise, his resolve faltering for a second, but it was one second too long. She shoved him off, sending him fumbling for his footing, and by the time he recovered, her guns were already trained on him.
"Die like you were meant to, trash."
Luke heard her guns ring out loudly over the sound of the fighting, but he did not hear much else. A second later, a loud ringing noise buzzed in his ears, a faint pain splintering out from his chest. He stumbled to his knees, and swore he could hear her guns firing again, but he could not be certain over the ringing. In the end, it did not matter, because everything turned black a moment later.
Dammit... Asch, I'm sorry...
~.oOOo.~
Asch the Bloody ran as fast as his legs could carry him, swearing under his breath. He had delayed far too long near Daath, making sure that idiot at least got into the city in one piece. At first he did not care, as his ride off the continent was not there yet, but now soldiers were gathering in large numbers, and if he did not get out of there soon, what little cover he had left would be blown to hell.
He had just stepped onto the outskirts of the harbor, when a sharp pain hit him hard in the chest. Asch gasped sharply, legs wobbling unsteadily, before he fell to the ground, fighting for breath.
Dammit... Asch, I'm sorry...
He let out a confused noise, not used to hearing voices in his head unless he allowed it. That sounded like the dreck… but that was impossible; Luke could not open the connection himself...
"Dreck, what the hell?!" he demanded, but no answer came back as the pain started to fade away.
Asch stood unsteadily, glancing at the harbor, before looking back toward Daath. Dammit, he did not have time for this crap... but if something had happened to the dreck...
"Tch... dammit," he swore, pounding back the way he came.
He did not even make it to the Fourth Monument Hill before he could see the signs of a very one sided battle. Whoever had been ambushed, the only way they would have lived is if they had run, but at least one of them had taken a tumble down the hill, if the broken branches and debris was any clue. Hesitantly, Asch followed the trail, hearing his heart pounding in his ears at the thought of what would be waiting for him in the clearing below...
"Oh, hell..."
When he finally broke through the already abused brush, the sight he had been expecting was the only one to greet him. His replica lay in a broken heap on the ground, the grass beneath him stained crimson with his blood, and the telling sign of exit wounds in his back. Asch swore violently, dashing over to his still form, tearing off a glove so he could properly feel for a pulse. It was so faint that he almost missed it, but it was still there; somehow the damn dreck was still alive.
"If you live, I'm going to kill you, you idiot!" Asch hissed, carefully gathering him in his arms.
~.oOOo.~
It felt like an eternity before Noir and her goons finally showed up with his boat off the continent, even if it had only been two minutes after he had returned to the harbor. Luke's condition had not improved, though thankfully, it had not gotten any worse either - small blessings. Once on the boat, Asch had taken to pacing the length of the small vessel, his impatience flooding off of him in waves as Noir and the others stayed below, doing their best to save the dreck's life.
It was another eternity before Noir finally came back up, and Asch stopped and whirled so fast he very well could have left skid marks on the wooden deck.
"Well?"
Noir smiled at him flirtatiously. "Oh Asch, it's so wonderful to see that heart of gold buried under all that clothing."
Asch near turned purple in irritation. "S-shut up! If he died, his stupid friends would just annoy me instead, that's all!"
"Sure, sure," Noir replied, a smug expression on her face, though it soon dropped as she became serious. "It's bad, Asch; really bad. We pulled out ten of those fonic pelts, and we're not even sure if we got them all."
Asch forced out a breath, silently promising Regret a quick death if his replica kicked it. "But he'll live, right?"
"Maybe," she answered. "Depends on how much he wants to live."
The redhead hid a groan, pressing a hand over his eyes. So soon after Akzeriuth? This was probably going to end badly.
"Look, Asch," Noir continued, "it's probably best if we take him back to our place. We'll be able to get better help for him there, and we won't have to drag him around all over."
Asch...?
He paused, holding his head; was that Luke again? What, now the idiot would not get out of his head?
"Give me a moment alone to decide," Asch replied gruffly, pushing his way past Noir to the room Luke was in. He ordered York and Urushi out; slamming the door closed behind them and ensuring it was locked, before turning to get a good look at his replica.
It was not good, just as Noir said; Luke's breathing was shallow, most likely due to the ten little red spots staining the medical wrap around his chest. All the color had drained from Luke's face, making him look as fragile as porcelain, and his eyes seemed to be twitching slightly, as if he were caught in a nightmare he could not wake up from. Hesitantly, Asch approached his still form, sitting down on the bed beside him, before gently touching an arm, as if he were afraid any other contact would make him shatter into a thousand pieces.
"Can you hear me, replica?" he asked softly, so as not to draw the Dark Wings' attention.
Yeah... kinda. Everything's making a buzzing noise. There was a pause, and Asch could almost see Luke shifting uncomfortably. Damn... how many times did she shoot me?
"Ten, as far as we can tell," Asch replied. "Just how the hell did this happen?"
We got ambushed on the way out of Daath; guess it was easy to tell which way we would be going to get out, Luke answered, taking a deep breath. They forced us apart, and Regret came after me.
"Hmph... picked off the easiest target first."
Hey! ...okay, so maybe it's a little true. I'm getting better, dammit!
"Not better enough," Asch mused.
There was a pause, before Luke asked the expected question, Did the others make it out okay...?
"I don't know," he answered. "The battle was already done when I got there."
He could feel Luke look away, biting his lip, the unease practically rolling off of him. There were also ideas rolling out of that empty head of his, and one that Asch caught made him bristle with irritation.
"What are you doing even thinking something like that!?" he demanded.
H-hey! Let me think on my own!
"I would if I could, dreck!" Asch snapped. "The shock of being so close to death probably jerked you back into my head, but you have no control over yourself!"
Silence fell over them, before...
...well, it would work.
Asch let out a low growl, standing up and drawing his sword. That was it; to hell with waiting until he woke up, he was just going to kill him right here and now.
H-hey! Wait a second! It really could work! No one would know the difference!
"Of course anyone would know the difference!" Asch snapped back. "I couldn't make myself as stupid as you are!"
But we needed to regroup, and we needed to know where to go from here to stop this war... and we need to stop more of the land from falling like Akzeriuth!
Asch paused, taking a deep breath and striving for calm. "This is insane."
But it could work.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "...you owe me. You owe me big time."
~.oOOo.~
The door to Luke's room banged open, and the three Dark Wings lounged about against whatever they were nearest to, just to make it look like they had not been eavesdropping. Asch walked up the steps, hiding a bundle in his arms and giving them a suspicious look. He paused a moment, before letting out a breath, dumping the bundle of Luke's clothes on a table.
"...I need a favor," he said. "Which of you is good with a pair of scissors?"
~.oOOo.~
Explosions were rocking the Tartarus so bad that even holding onto a railing could not prevent them from falling over. Anise fumbled back up to her feet, Ion clinging to her tightly in a feeble effort to get his fragile balance back. Jade gripped the console as he climbed back to his feet, grimacing as he held his hand over the controls, starting up the land dreadnaught.
"We can't wait anymore, everyone," he stated. "If Luke is still out there, he will just have to find a way to catch up to us."
"But-!" Tear began, before she caught sight of something on one of the view screens. "Wait... Luke?!"
Natalia came up behind her to look at the view screen, just in time to see Luke throwing a soldier into the ocean. The redhead broke though the line of Oracle soldiers, taking a daring flying leap toward the Tartarus, and they all could hear the clang of his impact. Guy had to hit the deck in order to avoid the stampede of women that went past him and Jade let out an amused noise as he started to get the ship moving.
The girls arrived on the deck as Luke climbed up over the side, letting out a relieved breath as he stumbled over the railing and landed in a heap. Tear got to him first, kneeling beside him and checking for injuries, eyeing the bullet holes in his shirt and jacket with trepidation.
"Luke, what happened?" she asked.
Luke looked up at her, and for a moment, he seemed to stumble for the right words, before he finally spit them out.
"I-I ran into a bit of trouble," he answered, the pitch of his voice fumbling as much as he was. Anise let out a laugh (that maybe sounded more relieved than she would have cared to admit), giving him a sly look.
"Why, Luke!" she exclaimed, her voice mocking sincerity. "For a moment there, it almost sounded like you reached puberty."
"Sh-shut up!"
Before anyone could say anything else, a loud explosion of Fifth Fonons went off over their heads, close enough that their ears rang from the sound. Luke glanced back and forth between the girls - currently clinging to him - before he cleared his throat.
"Um... getting back inside might be a good idea..."
As the Tartarus pulled away from Daath Harbor, under attack the whole time, no one noticed the small ship flying the colors of the Dark Wings pulling away as well, heading in the opposite direction...