Hikaru: TOTAL CRACK. Blame my friend in Spanish class who lent me Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth!

Dislcaimer: Don't own.

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"My home, my family ... I lost it all to a damn replica!"

"You're lying ... I'm not ..."

"I have no intention of getting friendly with a replica!"

"Yeah, well, I'm sorry it still bothers me that I'm a replica."

"You have crossed a sea of corpses and even surpassed your original. You have become a human being."

Even as Eldrant crumbled around him, even as the shadows of his companions fluttered away in the harsh glare of the setting sun, Luke had only one thing in mind--after he released Lorelei, he would desintegrate, and die. After he stabbed the ground with the Key of Lorelei, he began to sink, riding a fonic glyph designed to call the Seventh Fonon. Using the Key to call Lorelei, he continued to go downward.

A number of corpses touched upon the force field Luke was inside of. With a start he recognized the red and black tabard. Asch's body fell limply into the barrier, and Luke caught him, staring into the deathly pale face that had so often contorted in rage during life.

Lorelei's radiant voice filled his ears as the sentience materialized around him.

To avoid the future I had forseen ... you have done admirably.

With that, Luke and Asch were engulfed in the sea of Seventh Fonons, and Luke felt himself slip away--

Blackness. All was pitch black; he couldn't see.

Luke blinked, and gasped with the realization that he could blink. Was he ... still alive? How? Since the body of Lorelei was infinitely larger than his and Asch's smaller ones composed of Seventh Fonons, Luke and Asch's bodies should have disintegrated and become a part of Lorelei as it ascended to the fon belt ...

Luke realized he wasn't holding Asch anymore. Frightened, he whirled around, trying to see in the sheer darkness pressing against his eyes but finding nothing.

A soft chime, like bells, rang in his ears. Before him a woman with ice blue hair clad in sky blue armor appeared, her helmet fletched with white feathers on either side. Her eyes were cold, and her voice powerful. With a jolt Luke was painfully reminded of Tear, whom he had left behind ...

"Hmm." The armor clad woman said, folding her arms. "This is quite a dilemma. Many of your deeds deem you worthy of service into Valhalla, but just as many of your deeds also deem you fit for eternal suffering under Hel in Nifleheim ..."

Luke blinked, confused. "I'm sorry?" he asked, his left hand rubbing the back of his head the way he did when he was confused.

The woman spoke again. "I am Valkyrie, the goddess who governs the destiny of human souls after they have been freed from their bodies. The All-Father Odin has petitioned for your soul as an Einherjar to fight come Ragnarok, but Hel of Nifleheim always wants for fresh human souls to torment for all eternity ..."

Luke's head began to hurt; he started to fear what this valkyrie had in store for him. Suppose she decided to send him to this Hel goddess for eternal suffering?

"So--so what are you going to do with me?" Luke blurted out in a rush, eyes wide.

Valkyrie considered him. "The murders of countless people at the destruction of Akzeriuth, and ten thousand more murders at the Tower of Rem, plus the people whom you hurt by killing all those others ... for that reason I should send you to the Goddess of the Underworld, but I am no Death Goddess. Speak, human. Is there not one thing that can redeem you?"

Luke was eager to speak indeed. He told the Valkyrie of all the happenings of his journey on Auldrant--lowering the Outer Lands, getting rid of the miasma, preventing war between two world powers, and stopping a madman who would have reformed the world to his own liking.

Valkyrie smiled, and Luke felt a surge of relief. "Very well. You would be a most welcome addition to the Einherjar that serve Lord Odin. Come with me. Your friend that died with you--he is destined for Valhalla as well."

As the blackness melted away around Luke, replaced with a splendid hall of amazing beauty, he could not help but smile.

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Hikaru: This would be my explanation for Luke coming back to Tear and them--HE WAS AN EINHERJAR AND CAME BACK TO THEM AFTER ODIN HONORABLY DISCHARGED HIM FROM ASGARD. Or something. Hahah.