Reaction - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Oh, for goodness sake!" Anise snapped, bringing the quiet thrum of conversation running through the Albiore's cabin to a halt. She glared over at a particular corner, where Luke and Tear were sitting. "Are you two seriously going to go straight back to acting like nothing's going on? You gotta stop dancing around the subject and just spit it out already! You already did it once – I heard you at Eldrant, Tear!"

Asch had remained mostly silent thus far, content to simply listen and observe the discussion going on around him, or at least, as content as one could expect. He'd spent so long avoiding being around most other people, this group in particular, contacting them only when absolutely necessary. The abruptness of the shift from that to… this… left him feeling distinctly unsettled, though Natalia's presence next to him helped a great deal. He wasn't the most social of creatures as it was, at least not since Van had kidnapped him.  Watching the different dynamics of the group was not only vaguely interesting, but it turned this unanticipated situation into one he could liken to a military exercise, an unorthodox but effective coping mechanism.

He had, of course, noticed the behavior that had just now drawn Anise's ire. In fact, he'd been keeping a rather close eye on his replica, this being the first time he actually was able to do so without his previous anger or malice to cloud his judgment. He'd accepted that Luke was a different person from himself – he might as well try to learn something about who that person was.

Luke was jumpy, nervous. He fidgeted constantly, his eyes darting around the cabin , occasionally coming to rest on the young woman beside him before he looked away, face flushed. Beside him, Tear was little better. She sat quietly, unlike her red-haired counterpart, but she too was shooting him nervous sidelong glances. Overall, Asch hadn't really paid much attention to Van's sister, but even so she seemed much more flustered than the impression of the calm, collected soldier that she'd given him.

At Anise's outburst, they both jumped, faces flushed, uncomfortably aware that every pair of eyes in the room were now fixed on them. Well, ever pair of eyes except one, the pair that were instead trained on the airship's controls, and it was the person that they belonged to who saved them from further embarrassment.

"You know if you want to talk without these guys around, you can always use one of the rooms in the back," the blonde pilot suggested.

Tear smiled faintly, shooting a grateful look towards the front of the cabin. "Thank you Noelle, that sounds like a wonderful idea," she murmured, getting to her feet, "Luke, do you want to-"

He looked up at her. "O-oh. Yeah, sure," he stammered awkwardly, quickly getting to his feet.

They'd just made it to the door when the colonel said, a truly devious smirk on his face, "Now I trust you two won't need a chaperone?"

"Colonel!" Lorelei, Tear was purple with embarrassment as she whipped around.

Luke wasn't far behind her, face nearly matching his hair, "Wh-what exactly are you trying to say?!"

"My, my, we are naïve, aren't we?"

Asch was having a hard time deciding whether he ought to be shamelessly amused or intensely sorry for the couple in front of him.

"Colonel," Tear hissed through gritted teeth, "L-"

"Yes, yes, I'm well aware that you and Luke 'don't have that sort of relationship' as you put it. Now run along before I have to have Guy explain to him exactly what I was implying with my previous statement."

"What?! No way, Jade. You're on your own for this one," Guy said incredulously.

Watching Tear was an interesting education in what colors people could turn with the right provocation. Finally she turned stiffly and stalked out wordlessly, leaving a very confused and torn Luke behind her. The red-haired man was clearly divided on whether to stay and demand to know what they were talking about, or to run after her.

"Stop leaving me out of the conversation, damn it!" he said at last before turning and storming out after Tear.

Guy finally broke the awkward silence that was left in his wake. "You really are horrible, you know."

After that, the conversation drifted in more normal directions, but the sudden departure of two of their number left surprisingly much less activity in their absence. This meant that there was much less for Asch to focus on, leaving his mind to instead meander towards much less comfortable topics.

What exactly was he supposed to do now? He'd never exactly thought about life past defeating Van. For the longest time, the replica had stolen the future he'd been raised to inherit. Then, just as Luke had started offering that future back, he'd learned from Spinoza that he was destined to die. Lorelei had said that if they were brought back, they wouldn't have to fear any immediate danger of dying, so Asch could only assume the "aggregate sentience of the Seventh Fonon" had somehow reversed or prevented the Big Bang Effect…. The bottom line was, all the obstacles he'd previously perceived were now gone, leaving him with none of the solid truths that he'd taken for granted for the past seven – no… nine now – years.

He had questions he wanted to ask – what was going to happen now? What did he want to happen? What would his family and country accept?  But no matter how many questions he had or how important their answers, the fact remained that there was no one here he felt comfortable asking, not even Natalia.

Had Van really done such a good job in training him to isolate himself?

Some of his discomfort must have shown on his face, because he felt Natalia slip her hand into his, momentarily jolting him out of his thoughts. He shot her a grateful look, his mouth twitching with the ghost of a smile.

"Where are we headed?" he asked quietly. It was probably the safest question he felt like asking. The only instructions he'd heard them give Noelle earlier was "back," presumably to where she'd picked them up from.

"Back to Baticul, I expect," she replied, confirming his suspicions, "It's where the three of us – Jade, Anise and myself – left prior to arriving at Tataroo Valley. They…. They were holding yours and Luke's coming of age ceremony." Her voice was somber at the end.  

Asch's brow furrowed. Why would they hold a coming of age ceremony for people who were not present… unless… The world thought that they were dead. Asch sighed. This would not be fun.

Not to mention they were going back to Baticul. He couldn't help but scowl at the thought. Of all the places he'd rather not go to, not now, with his head full of confused thoughts about his future and purpose, the place he'd rather avoid at all costs would be the first they would visit. Wonderful. Regaining back the life he'd lost had seemed for so long like an impossible dream, to the point where he'd tried to obstruct it himself near the end rather than believe it could be possible. He'd outright foresworn his old life and family the last time he'd been there, when his idiot replica had forced him to meet his parents. Baticul itself seemed to be a symbol of all that he'd wanted and denied himself. And that was where they were now headed.

So what would happen when they got there? Luke would undoubtedly try to get him to take his old life back again. Damn replica didn't know when to quit. But for once, he himself felt like he was actually in a position where he could, if he thought about it logically.

But like the battle with Luke at Eldrant, this wasn't about logic. If it was, then it wouldn't make this little sense. He'd accepted it, after all. Accepted that he had not been replaced, that he was Luke fon Fabre. So why shouldn't he accept his old life back?

"What's wrong?" Natalia's worried voice broke through his thoughts once more.

Unsure how to answer her, he remained silent for a while, before finally settling on one of the most honest responses he could ever remember giving anyone.

"Hell if I know."

---

N.D. 2025

Time had changed a lot of things.

It saw, for instance, the cessation of all hostilities between the two major world powers of Auldrant. It saw the reformation of the Order of Lorelei, with Anise Tatlin at the head as the new Fon Master. It saw the establishment of Remir, a joint venture between Kimlasca and Malkuth built on the remains of the glorified military outpost of Kaitzur, in order to help aid the replica population Van had created seven years previous. It even saw changes on more personal levels, such as the fact that Asch no longer felt uncomfortable spending time with his family – all of it – and when he called his replica "dreck" the sentiment was practically brotherly.

It did not, however, see the end of Kimlasca's court of nobles being comprised mainly of stubborn, long-winded idiots who refused to see what they didn't want to see.

True, most of the court was really not that bad, but after two weeks of listening to pointless debates over the same or ridiculously similar sets of laws and doctrines – not to mention having to shoot down topics that were expressly not up for debate – Asch was not inclined to feel very hospitable towards his fellow nobility. Not in the comfort of his own mind, at least.

It had started when he and Natalia had finally announced an official date for their marriage. It had certainly been a long time coming. Both of them had been of age for nearly five years now, and there had been no real reason not to, not any reason they felt like sharing at least. He could tell it had been the source of considerable relief for many that a concrete date had finally been set. However, almost as soon as the proclamations had gone out, the rumors had started: rumors that his majesty, King Ingobert was planning to abdicate shortly afterward, with the two of them first in line for succession. Kimlasca-Lanvaldear had never had the most turbulent of courts, but at this news, several of the older and more "traditional" nobles – nobles who had, up until that point, been mostly content to hide in their manors, where they were welcome to stay so far as Asch was concerned - had crawled out of the woodwork, rushing to try and get laws that they favored passed and set in stone before the position changed hands.

It certainly didn't help that the populace was still reeling from the effects of seven years previous- the abolishment of the Score and resulting reformation of the Order of Lorelei, the lowering of the Outer Lands and the health effects brought on by the temporary prevalence of the miasma before it had been neutralized, the sudden replica population and fomicry-releated deaths… The ripples were still being felt, even today, and everyone, especially the traditionalists, had their own opinion about it.

It also didn't help that the rumors concerning his uncle were true.

At least nobody had brought up Remir yet, not today at least. The last thing Asch wanted to do was to waste any more time explaining that all decisions regarding both the organization and the city were made jointly with Malkuth at an annual summit in Daath, and if they wanted to give input, to come to the meetings specifically set aside for formulating Kimlasca's objectives at said summit. It seemed to be a particular sore point among many of the traditionalists – he swore they brought it up once a day. And the next idiot who suggested he try to use his connection with Luke to organize some sort of private deal for whatever inane reason would pay in blood, and damn the consequences. Remir had been a nightmare to set up politically, and that was with most of the preliminary work having already been done by the time he got involved. He would not be endangering it for some narrow-minded lord.

Not to mention he hated them trying to use him as a mouthpiece for his replica, as much as he knew Luke hated having to use him as a mouthpiece. Luke hated getting involved in court politics at all, really. And as much as he loved being able to make a difference in his country, at times like this Asch was inclined to agree with Luke regarding the matter.

But no, the topic was taxes, again. Annoying, this being the fifth day in a row, but safe.

He turned his head slightly and glanced at Natalia, who was sitting next to him, wearing an expression of polite interest. He knew, both from experience and from listening to her after these meeting adjourned for the day, that she had to be as bored and exasperated as he was. Natalia had spent most of the early years of her life doing things, setting up relief aids and creating projects that gave jobs to those that had lost them. It was something that had estranged her from most of the nobility and endeared her with almost everyone else.

But while all this talk had to be exasperating, here she was, still listening politely to whichever idiot thought he knew better than they how to run a country and properly care for its citizens. As if they truly knew what it meant to love one's country and everyone in it the way Natalia did.

Natalia turned, catching his eye and giving him a helpless sort of smile, which he returned before they both turned to listen once more to whichever lord was speaking at the moment.

It was at that moment that Asch experienced a burst of fear so severe he flinched, hands unconsciously grasping the arms of the chair he was sitting in as he fought to get the unexpected emotion under control. What in Auldrant- there was nothing to be afraid of here! So what-  

And then of course, he instantly realized what was going on, the source of the fear he was feeling – or rather, the person whose fear it really was.

The connection with Luke that he'd had Dist open in Choral Castle had changed and grown over the past five years as their relationship had. As he'd started to feel less and less antagonistic towards his replica, Asch had become more and more willing to use it as a regular method of communication, had even shown Luke how to speak through it when he realized Luke didn't know how. Nowadays, they both tended to leave the connection partially open during the day to inform the other of any emergency situations and just generally keep in contact. The former function had added an interesting twist to the already complex political tangle that was Remir. But thank Lorelei, Peony had been good-natured about the whole situation, and had agreed to remain so as long as Kimlasca did not abuse the fat that they tended to get information first, something that he and Natalia went to great pains to ensure.

Asch sat back in his chair, uncomfortably aware of Natalia's worried gaze, as well as the less concerned and more suspicious ones of several other members of the court. It would have been foolish to think his brief, if involuntary outburst had gone unnoticed. Nothing went unnoticed in court, especially if one was as close to the throne as he was.

Rather than dwell on that, Asch stood and politely excused himself, probably offending the lord who was currently speaking. But he could apologize later, right now he needed to focus on getting Luke to calm the hell down and figure out what was going on.

Once outside the audience chamber, Asch strode down a side hallway and ducked through a nearby set of doors into the room inside, a sitting room of some sort by the looks of it. Shutting the door behind him, Asch closed his eyes and focused, feeling the familiar headache that, unlike Luke's headaches, came solely from trying to separate his wayward replica's emotions from his own.

'Luke, whatever's going on, calm down. You're giving me a headache,' he sent the words flying in Luke's direction, only to get no response.

Then again, now that he was able to focus on it a bit more, the feelings coming from Luke were more complicated as well. There was fear, yes, that deep-seated panic that he'd reacted to in the audience chamber, but there were other emotions there too – worry, shock, and underneath it all, perhaps the tiniest bit of… excitement? What in Auldrant was going on over there?

There was a click behind him, and he stiffened, connection suddenly shoved to the back of his mind as all his senses went on high alert, until the familiar voice made him relax. "You really need to tell him to be more considerate while you're in court." Natalia had apparently excused herself as well. Trust her to figure out exactly what was going on. "Father's called a brief adjournment of the meeting, so it's no problem for the time being, but all the same…"

"Believe me, I would tell him, but I'm not getting through to him at all at the moment," he told her.

She frowned. "I wonder what could be wrong? It's not like him to get this upset without reason." Upset enough to let the emotion leak across their connection, then ignore Asch when he tried to contact him, true.

"You're telling me," Asch sighed, "Hang on for a moment. I'm going to try again."

'Luke?' he reached across their connection once more, this time putting a little more force behind his words, 'Luke?!'

Then, dazed and surprised, came the reply. 'Asch? What…? Why are you-?' Luke's thoughts seemed to sharpen as he realized what was going on, 'D-damn it! I didn't mean to let it- Ugh, sorry…'

'Never mind that, what the hell's going on over there?' Asch retorted. If there was a problem over in Remir, he needed to know the details, not listen to Luke's apologies. 'And calm down. I can hardly think with all the racket you're making!'

'Look, it's not like I'm trying to- augh, damn it, I don't have time for this!' Luke paused for a moment before stammering, the words falling over themselves in their rush, 'A message came h- came from home just now he… hesaidTear'shavingthebabynow.'

Well that explained more than it didn't.

'I can't do this I'm not ready for this," Luke rambled anxiously, his panic rising to fevered pitch once more, making Asch unconsciously rub his temples in an attempt to alleviate the pounding in his skull, 'It's too soon It can't be-'

'For Yulia's sake, Luke, calm down!' he snapped.

'I'm trying, damn it! I'd like to see you-' Luke's thoughts suddenly screeched to a halt.

'Luke!' When he didn't receive a response, Asch pushed the door to their connection open a little wider – wincing – and reached down it, briefly using it to see where Luke was and what was going on there. To his surprise, and distinct relief, he found himself – or Luke rather – looking into the bewildered but familiar face of the person Luke had just accidentally crashed into.

Content that Guy would likely be able to do a much better job at calming Luke down than he ever could, Asch opened his eyes and closed the connection until only the tiniest thread of emotion was able to worm its way down it, not completely cut but certainly very close. He felt his headache lift with a considerable sense of relief.

Natalia knew them both well enough to be able to tell when he and Luke were done communicating. "What did he have to say?"

"Nothing very productive," Asch scowled, sitting down in one of the comfortable couches all around the sitting room. "It's nothing… serious, at least not in the way that the court will need to worry about it. But he's in too much of a state of panic to be making much sense. Guy's there though, he should be able to help Luke calm down."

"Oh my," Natalia said, startled, "Well, I suppose that is some relief. But were you able to figure out what is wrong?"

Asch rubbed his forehead, feeling the beginnings of an entirely different kind of headache. "Dammit… all these meetings are so disorienting…" He paused, trying to think. Something about the timing of all this seemed off, and not just because of Luke's panic, "Our next planned diplomatic visit to Remir is still a little ways off, right?"

The princess nodded, "It's supposed to be beginning of next month."

"We planned it so that we could be there when Tear was due," he stated, still thinking aloud.

Natalia took a step forward until she stood next to him, slightly puzzled. "Yes, that's…" Then she stopped. "Oh dear… you don't mean to say-"

"That Tear's having the baby a month early?" he interrupted her impatiently, "It looks like it. A month early isn't too out of the ordinary, is it?" It wasn't exactly an area he'd ever really been expected to know about, both as a young noble and as a God-General of the Order of Lorelei (though that likely would have to change soon anyway, what with he and Natalia being expected to produce an heir once they got married). Then again, it wasn't for her either, but she at least was a healer, and might know something more than he did, even if it wasn't her specialty.

"I don't believe so," she sat down next to him, shaking her head worriedly, "Still, poor Luke must be out of his mind with worry…"

"Out of his and into mine, I had to cut him off completely," Asch scowled, glaring at a patch of wall. He heard Natalia quickly muffle a giggle.

"I'm sorry," she said, catching his eye, "It just sounds very much like Luke."

"Yeah," he agreed wryly, "So what are we going to do about our visit to Remir, though? I know Mother wants to be there, and with all the trouble she went to to get the doctor to agree, she's not going to be happy if she can't be there."

"Yes, and we can't move the diplomatic visit on such short notice…" She sighed, "Oh well… I suppose we shall figure something out. We may need to take a personal visit. I'll speak with Father about it."

"And me with my parents." Mother would definitely want to know, at least.

He had to admit, once he got past his irritation at it all, it would be a nice break from court proceedings. Luke, aggravating as he could be and had been in the past, was nowhere near as annoying as some of the people he'd been having to deal with for the past few days.