[Chapter 2 - SCENE] Upsetting Meredy = Death from Shizel

[ashes-of-flame.livejournal.com]

Who: Asch and Balir
Where: At the Tartarus
When: Not long after the Tartarus Scene
Warnings: Asch in a bad mood. That can be a warning, right?



Balir’s men were very confused after all those above them had left and with their own commander still unconscious. One had the intelligence and foresight to consider at least tending to the obvious wounds their commander had, but truly, that wasn’t the reason for his condition.

Of course, he had none who were healers among him at this time, so all they could do was stop the bleeding and bandage him and hope he would wake up soon, if he would even. Help wasn’t likely to come and the other God-Generals had to leave the area in pursuit of their target.

Those poor soldiers, they were likely to receive quite a bit of punishment from their commander for letting the Fon Master get away. There was no excuse for that blunder on their part.

Asch had made it to Shurrey Hill, and saw that it had been opened, and backtracked the direction the soldiers had gone, trying to find the other God-Generals. If he could get word from them, maybe he could get this mission done with. Finally, he came to the field where the Tartarus was, and was shocked to see a large group of Oracle Knights milling around. He was even more shocked, though, to see that they were Balir's unit, and that their commander was unconscious in the center of them.

Asch made his way down to them with haste, shoving them out of the way as he saw fit to make it to Balir. He might not have any warm feelings for the man, but Meredy would be upset if she heard about this.

"What happened?" he demanded of the nearest Knight.

Though Asch couldn’t see it, that particular knight was very pale and shaking at Asch’s presence. They may not know much about the redhead, but he did have a rather fearful presence, and well answering that was pretty much admitting to how much they screwed up. “Um, sir, he got hit by some arrows when we were attacked and then he went down.”

"Arrows?" Whomever had attacked must've been pretty powerful, to do this to Balir. "What medical supplies do you have?"

“We were short as it was having to leave so suddenly.” The man admitted. Balir did have a tendency to forget certain details like that, especially in his excitement to leave for this mission. “That and we were also attacked at Shurrey Hill, so we’re out.” The man finished looking at the ground not wanting to admit that they pathetically went down to the Fon Master himself.

Asch growled, plenty loud enough for the Oracle Knights to know not to mess with him. He reached for his own bag of supplies, as small as it was, and pulled out his gels. Situating himself as best as he could next to Balir, he started giving them to the man, hoping he had enough.

Balir could feel a pleasant warmth within him and some of the pain receding He tried to open his eyes and though things were blurry at first, he eventually could see Asch next to him and his men around him.

Wait a second, what was Asch doing here? He hadn’t been part of the group on the Tartarus and he had been sent in a different direction? How much time had passed then? He couldn’t see the Fon Master around, so obviously they had failed at keeping him after he went down,

He tried to sit up and found that his right arm still hurt a bit and had to quickly move his weight to his left arm. It wasn’t a surprise though, he was lucky to even be alive considering what actually happened. It seemed at least he hadn’t been hit again after he had lost feeling in his body when his sword touched him, that at least was a small bit of luck.

Still, there were things that needed to be done, like figuring out what Asch was doing here and then he would have to report in that he was fine since Legretta and Arietta most likely reported what happened to him.

“Thank you for you help Asch, though I must ask, what brings you here?”

"Looking for you, actually, Sir," Asch responded, keeping his voice low. He glared at the surrounding Knights, trusting his presence to make them back off. Certain things were best left to be discussed privately among God-Generals.

"I've been ordered out of the Kaitzur area, and I was hoping you or one of the others might've had clues as to the Fon Master's location."

At Asch’s glare, the other Oracle Knights backed off as he wished and made preparations for a departure to Kaitzur in hopes to find either the Commandant, the Fon Master or the Tartarus.

As far as Asch’s questions, Balir really had no idea how to answer them. True, he could make some educated guesses, but nothing positive beyond the fact that they had had the Fon Master and now did not. “Well, unfortunately since the Fon Master isn’t here now, he escaped with the others who attacked. My men might have more of an idea of what direction they headed since I obviously didn’t quite catch that.”

Asch scowled. "I'll have to ask them later, then... Will you be alright?"

It was interesting to see Asch concerned, though he knew full well the redhead’s concern was only for Meredy who would be upset if something bad happened to her father. In fact, he didn’t even want Meredy to know about this since she might think it was her fault an accident happened, since this was something she had been assisting him with. It wasn’t her fault, she had no way of knowing such a thing could happen, it was his own fault for being overconfident of his own abilities to not get hit in the sword arm in battle.

“Considering that I’m here to speak with you, I should be fine, though I would appreciate it if you would keep this from Meredy.”

And to ensure no further accidents happened, Balir went ahead and pressed a small green button on his scabbard. That would turn off the sword’s fonon gathering ability and in about a minute it would be safe for him to pick it up again. He didn’t need to be touching it now when he probably already had too many third fonons in his body as it was.

Asch snorted. "I'm not suicidal, you know. There's no way I'd tell Meredy."

Balir was unsure why Asch would consider that suicidal. Meredy would only be worried and could possibly blame herself for it, unless Asch thought he’d harm the redhead for telling her. “I just don’t want her worrying about something that was my own error. Did my men say what happened exactly?”

"You think they'd talk to me? They might not know who I am, but they're still afraid of me."

“Probably the smartest thing they have done all day,” Balir grumbled. “Truthfully, other than Jade the Necromancer, those with the Fon Master aren’t really all that dangerous.”

Asch couldn't help but smirk when he heard that Jade the Necromancer was there. Perhaps he could learn a bit about Dist's ranting... Regardless. "Of these others... can you tell me anything about them? What should I expect?"

Balir thought a moment on the best way to describe the odd group. He didn’t know the names of all of them, but there were definitely some unusual people there besides the Necromancer. In fact, the redheaded boy had looked quite a bit like Asch, even more striking than the similarity between him and his cousin.

“Well, it seems my cousin lives. He went down rather easily to me though. There was also a fon master Guardian obviously, Van’s sister was also there. Otherwise I didn’t know any of them, though there was a redheaded boy who looks a lot like you.”

Asch had been about to comment on Balir's relative, when he caught word of the redhead. "Like me, you said?"

Balir nodded. “His hair was different from yours though and obviously he wasn’t wearing the same sort of clothing. But the resemblance was striking, even more than how much my annoying cousin looks like me.”

Asch's sour mood went further south than it had been in a long time. The replica! It didn't matter where the Fon Master was going, if the replica was with him! Asch let out a string of curses under his breath that he was sure Shizel would murder him for letting her precious daughter hear any of.

Obviously this redhead wasn’t someone Asch liked very much if Asch’s sudden worse mood was any indicator. “I’ll assume that wasn’t good news then.”

"No, it was not..."

Balir didn’t know who this other redhead was, but if Asch’s mood was any indication, it was probably something like what he felt for his own cousin, and odd that they would share such a thing in common. “And I imagine who he is would be something I can’t know about. Of course, I could easily enough find out if he has any association with my cousin, as I’ll be seeking that idiot out again.”

Asch suddenly remembered a scene seven years past, when he first had met Balir. Of course! It made perfect sense now. He had told Van that Balir reminded him of Guy, and if there was someone with the replica that looked like Balir, it would have to be Asch's former servant. He'd have to look into this when he had a chance, although he wouldn't say anything to Balir. "If your cousin is who I think it may be, then I don't think you'll have to worry about them being separated."

And that answered Balir’s question quite nicely actually. He remembered hearing one of the civilians mention that Gailardia was a servant in a noble household, the redhead must be the noble, which meant Asch was also a noble, well a former one at least like himself, probably related somehow to the other redhead. He’d already suspected it anyhow, and it explained Gailardia’s fearful reaction to his cousin, it appeared he was keeping secrets from his noble masters who would probably not be happy to find out who he was. “I’m sure I don’t. A shame I can only torment him for now.”

Oh, this was getting quite interesting. He was going to enjoy playing with his cousin before killing the brat.

"If it's who I think it is, torment away, I certainly don't mind. But leave the redhead alone." Asch scowled. "Since the Fon Master is with the redhead, and the redhead is why I've been ordered out of the Kaitzur area, I'll likely head back to Daath, at least to assure Meredy that both of us are fine." After I make a few arrangements, of course... Arietta would work... and perhaps Dist? Asch would have to contact them quickly. Choral Castle would do well for a location, and fitting as well. The equipment was already there, after all.

“I’d appreciate Meredy knowing that we’re fine, she does tend to worry about us. Where I go next is dependent on my orders. Should I inform the Commandant of your plans to return to Daath then if I find him?”

Asch contemplated this. If he could get Arietta and Dist to go along with him... Well, Dist would definitely keep his mouth shut, but Arietta may not... But with Sync trailing him... "Yes, that would be appreciated. I will inform Grand Maestro Mohs of the current situation, and see if he has any further orders for me."

Balir cringed slightly at the mention of Mohs. He really didn’t like the Score-obsessed freak, as he was a prime example of how the Score hindered an intelligent person’s ability to do anything. “I’d personally rather hit myself with my sword again than spend time in his presence, so I’ll let you have that enjoyment.”

Asch rolled his eyes. "I agree with you, but he does outrank us, even the Commandant. So there's no choice."

Somehow, Balir didn’t think such things as that mattered as much as they seemed. They had to bring the Fon Master back by force if necessary, but he had left quite willingly it seemed. “Then maybe you should inform the Grand Maestro that the Fon Master didn’t want to return. I’m sure that would yield an interesting result.”

"And likely get myself assigned the most horrible of missions, as well. No thank you."

“Though I do wonder if the Grand Maestro is aware that we had the Fon Master open the passage ring at Shurrey Hill already. Quite an amazing place too.”

"I doubt it." One passage ring had been cleared, that was good. That meant only 8 more to go.

“I figured the same, and I didn’t like lying to the Fon Master about why the door needed to be opened. He cooperated at least.”

"That is good."

Asch knew that, while the gels had helped, Balir still needed help. He turned to the nearest Oracle Knight.

"You!" he barked. "Is this ship operational?"

"N-not yet, Sir," the nervous soldier replied.

"Then get it that way. All of you can't be completely inept at engineering, you wouldn't be in Balir's division if you were."

He turned to another soldier. "Send some men to St. Binah for supplies, it's closest. If there's a doctor there, request that they accompany you back, your commander's health should be a priority!"

He looked at the rest of the lot. "Meanwhile! After you get him inside and comfortable, scour the area for any traces of the direction the Fon Master went. If anything, the information can be passed to another God-General. Do I make myself clear?"

Asch was pleased to see heads nodding and hear a chorus of "Yes, Sir!" before the men scrambled to follow his orders.

"I apologize for ordering your men, Balir, but I must be going, and you are in little shape to order them to do anything right now."

Balir knew Asch was right, if it had just been a few wounds, he would already be on his way to Kaitzur, but he couldn’t forget that he had come very close to death there and it was probably only all of his previous work and a bit of luck that had him here now even able to speak. “You are right, and they do need direction to do anything. Be careful on your way back to Daath.”

"Of course. I will give Meredy your regards."