Finding Redemption
Chapter One: After Akzeriuth…

“I don’t want to acknowledge it either! To think that dreck like you is my replica! To think that trash like you stole my family, my home…everything from me! I’m going to be sick!”

Asch’s words pierced his heart and sowed an already deep wound into the already fragmented heart of Luke fon Fabre. He hadn’t wanted to believe those words at first, that he was nothing more than this thing he called a replica. He had even fought against the God-General, if only to vent his anger at the recent truths that he learned in the face of such a devastating tragedy. Hell, he was nothing more than a replacement for the real Luke fon Fabre, or rather, the person called Asch. Still, even when presented with facts that seemed undeniable, he wanted to fight against it. He wanted to fight against this…this lie! It had to be a lie! It was just something to rile him up!

Just as Luke was getting ready to make a suicidal dive to retrieve the sword that was knocked violently from his hands, he found a sword pointing at his neck. He couldn’t help but feel compelled to look up, to verify what his defeat was inevitably. Angry emerald orbs glared back at him, the most intense of anger and hatred piercing through that same gaze, as though the God-General had found the person who had stolen everything away from him.

And that much would have been true, in the least.

Battered and bloodied, Luke could only sit there in defeat as he waited to Asch. Whether if the wait was to decide whether spare or to kill him, he didn’t know. He really couldn’t have cared either way. He had lost everything that he was aiming for…everything that he was supposed to protect. The people he traveled with abandoned him. Jade…Anise…Tear…Ion…Tear…even that damn…that damn thing, Mieu! Everybody treated him as though he was a mass murderer, as though it was solely his fault for everything single thing that happened!

What could they possibly understand!? What could they have known just because they traveled with him? He was the ambassador! He was the person that was supposed to be saving the mining town! He was the person that was supposed to become the savior of Kimlasca, the light that the Score spoke of, not them! They wouldn’t have known the responsibilities that he carried with him!

He could feel blood trickling off his forehead.

It was all a lie. Even Master Van abandoned him in the end.

‘You’ve finally proven yourself useful, replica.’

The words stung harshly.

That’s right. Master Van even betrayed him, and left him to die.

He had nothing left. No answers, no way for him to explain things. He returned Asch’s angry glare, regarding him with a look of defiance. It only came off as confusion. His thoughts had huddled in bunches. It was too difficult for him to maintain a single thought. Everything was coming at him at once. How could he get it to stop?

He didn’t need to.

The darkness had come at last, claiming him. After everything that’s happened, this was the one place he could find his solace. There was nobody to scream at him – no one to tell him what to do anymore. He had finally entered his own world of peace, oblivious to this forsaken Hell on Aldrant.

“Die!”

Asch had finally made his decision. But Luke had already passed onto another world – he was free of the stresses of reality.

---

It was uncomfortable to say the least, having a God-General roaming through her house as though nothing had occurred between the two of them. Tear had been tired, and so many things had happened all at once that she wondered if it would end up overwhelming her if she hadn’t kept her emotions in check. Aside from the frustration she felt when she learned that her brother was planning to do some evil, she had managed to keep her emotions fairly in check.

Then, Akzeriuth happened.

Some things were better left alone, such as why Asch had chosen not to kill Luke at that moment. Not that he’d been a stellar example of a person since she’d met him. When he woke, he would probably have nothing left to aim for. Asch had briefly informed her as well as the others of what had happened. While the details of why Luke used his hyperresonance on the passage ring never came to like, she knew that Van had something to do with it.

As she tried to refocus her thoughts on what she should do, Asch burst downstairs, startling just about everyone present in the living room. “Where the hell is he?!”

“Luke!” Natalia muttered hesitantly. The blonde princess’ words seemed to surprise her, as if she had forgotten which of the two she was talking to. “Uh, I mean, Asch…what’s wrong?”

Asch’s face had been contorted in rage. “Did any of you see where that damn replica went?”

Went? Did Luke get up and leave? Guy voice the very same question, only to receive an answer that nobody had expected. Luke was not upstairs. And given the expression on Asch, Tear was only inclined to believe his words. But, it was impossible. How could an unconscious person, with wounds on top of that, have suddenly disappeared? Her first thought was on the hyperresonance that had sent both her and Luke from the middle of Baticul Castle into the heart of Malkuth territory.

But there was something flawed with that logic. She turned to Jade for further answers. “Colonel,” she began, “would it have been possible for him to have transported himself with hyperresonance?”

“No,” Jade offered. “Hyperresonance is extremely unstable, even with two Seventh Fonists attempting to manipulate. It’s too unpredictable for it to be used in that manner.”

Naturally. But then, where did Luke go? She shot a look over to Guy, who seemed very unpleasant at the way things were going. The blonde looked as though he were ready to explode into a rage, much like how Asch was going about this.

“Who cares about that loser?” Anise chimed. “I thought we were going to try and lift the Tartarus to the surface?”

Guy let out a frustrating sigh.

“Yes, as much as this does seem to be mysterious, we do have more pressing matters to attend.” Jade stated. “If we make use of Akzeriuth’s Sephiroth as planned, we should be able to get back.”

As plans were being made amongst the group, Tear stepped off to the side, her interest in them quickly fading. Honestly, it had been an already exhausting day, and she had no business in the Outer Lands. But as much as she wanted to spend her time trying to recover what little strength she could recover before her next mission, the mystery of Luke’s sudden disappearance had piqued her interest.

Where could he have gone?

---

He was drifting through that dark place somewhere between consciousness and slumber. It was hard to tell whether he was alive or dead – somehow, he didn’t get the feeling that he was no longer amongst the living. He was spared by Asch, yet the memory of the sword in that black gauntlet remained. Maybe he was dead after all.

Luke started to open his eyes. The bright light had forced him to wince as he stirred from the remnants of his slumber. He stayed there for a while, letting his imagination occupy his thoughts as his eyes began to adjust to the brightness of the room. Last he remembered they were in someplace called the Qlipoth; in fact, Tear had revealed that she was from that dark place underneath the surface, from a city called Yulia City. It wasn’t long after her admittance that he was betrayed by everyone, when they simply stood back and watched as he fought for his life against Asch.

He figured that he lost consciousness shortly afterwards and somebody brought him back here. That was nice of whoever it was – he could easily picture Guy doing something like that.

Or, at least he could before the destruction of Akzeriuth.

Luke felt something terribly wrong, as though something was not clicking in place for him. Adjusted to the sunlight peering through a nearby window, he sat up, partially expecting to be in his room back in Baticul. But he wasn’t in his room. He wasn’t even in Baticul, he noted as he glanced to the window. In fact, he probably wasn’t even on the same continent.

Disturbed, he leapt from the bed. It was hardly by luck that he managed to keep from falling over, his legs nearly giving away to his weight. Apparently, his injuries hadn’t quite healed up. At least it was known that it hadn’t been any more than a few days. But he realized that he wasn’t wearing anything on his feet, not even socks. He turned, taking in the sight of this new room. It looked more like a hotel, with its lush carpentry lining its floors and the wallpaper lining its walls. In fact, everything including the overhead lights looked expensive. It was a room in an inn. Who was paying for all this? This surely didn’t look like something that was in Yulia City.

He turned back to the window.

Snow.

There was snow everywhere. And he was obviously standing in a room that could probably have been 50 feet from the ground. Below, he could make out bodies moving about, maybe playing in the snow or going about their little business.

He suddenly heard a click from the door. Instinctively, he turned, reaching behind to grab his sword. There was no hilt to grasp. In fact, other than the dark pants and tank top that he wore, he was completely unarmed and unable to defend himself against anything that could’ve come through that door. He looked around the room, desperately trying to find a spot to hide. Underneath the bed was too conspicuous – he doubted he could get under there in time. And the nearest closet was too far away.

Left with no other choice, Luke stared at the door, waiting for whoever was on the other side to come out. If anything, it was probably one of the others coming to check on him. That was what he told himself, at least.

The door creaked open.

The person that had come through was not a person he knew. The person that had walked in stared straight at him, her short, white hair settling at the sides of her face, some perching over one of her eyes – aside from the length of hair, it was practically the same style Tear had worn. Like the Oracle Knight, a single ginger eye regarding him. But unlike Tear’s cool expression, the woman’s face was laden with surprise.

“Oh.” She started. “I see my dear guest has decided to wake up.”

All at once, Luke felt just about every hair on him stand on edge. He didn’t know whether to trust her or not. She was obviously expecting him. And from what he could tell, she was the one who put him here. That would be the most logical explanation, right? He decided to try and find out from her. She hadn’t tried to kill him yet. Maybe she was just taking care of him. “Where am I?”

The shiny gloss of her red lipstick caught his eyes as a smile spread across her face. “We’re in a five-star resort in Keterburg.”

Keterburg? They were in Malkuth territory then. Now, nothing was making any sense. The Qlipoth was underneath the surface – Tear had called everything above the Outer Lands. How did he end up on the surface, and in the middle of another country, no less? With each passing second, Luke wrestled with the new knowledge. He worried about the others. Tear made it through to the Outer Lands. Maybe she could guide them through again. Or maybe they were already here. He focused his attention on this mysterious woman, ready to open his mouth and say something, but stopped after taking a glance at the outfit she was wearing.

While there was nothing appealing about her attire, a long-sleeved top with another tank over top of it, purple pants, black boots, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the white symbol stitched at the front of her tank. He was all too familiar with it, since he’d fought against those very people.

She was an Oracle Knight herself.

The woman caught sight of what it was he was looking at and shook her head. “Don’t confuse me with the ones you’ve been contending with. I’m neutral.”

“And how can I believe something like that?”

“You trusted Tear, did you not?” she countered.

If the comment was meant to silence him, it had done a commendable job. True, he trusted Tear, though he didn’t realize it.

“Yet, even she betrayed you,” she whispered into his ear.

The heat from her breath startled him more so than the fact that she had suddenly appeared next to him. Luke jumped; he turned, unable to defend him in case she fought back. She was no ordinary woman. “Who…who the hell are you?” he whined.

The woman turned to the window, placing her hands on the sill. That was when he noticed another strange thing about her. Two separate holes where her shoulder blades would be were torn into her shirt. His curiosity had gotten the better of him, but before he could act on this new knowledge, she went on to answer his question. “I’m a replica, just like you.”

“A…replica…?”

She nodded. “You see, we have more in common than you thought, Luke fon Fabre.”

“How...?”

“Dorian General Grants used you to destroy Akzeriuth – he’s put all those deaths on your head.”

Luke shook his head. It was coming back. Everything that went wrong that day was coming back to him. It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t something that he could control!

“And your dear, dear allies betrayed you.” She went on, turning to approach the distraught young man. “They even stood behind and watched as you were beaten to the ground by an enemy. To them, you were nothing more than a nuisance, and maybe your death would’ve served them much better.”

“Shut up.” He screamed. “What the hell would you know? You weren’t there! You weren’t there to deal with anything!” Luke was on the verge of tears. “It was all Master Van’s fault! He did it!”

She shook her head. “Sure…all he did was load the weapon.” Her eyes, now filled with the resentment and anger that the others held for him, were boring right into his scared eyes. “And you were the blind fool that thought he could be the one hero and pulled the trigger.”

The last straw had been crossed. He didn’t care if this was a woman. He didn’t care to know who she was, where she had come from, or anything relevant to her. He raised his fist as though to attack her, though by the time his fist had even crossed the distance, she had snatched his wrist, pulling him in, crashing her knee against his gut. The impact was so severe that he felt as though he was about to vomit. His vision went blank for a moment before he realized that her hand was on his face, caressing it.

He could hear a voice coming from outside the room. “Is everything alright in here? I heard a lot of yelling.”

The woman responded. “My dear friend just experienced some trauma recently. But he’s fine now.”

“You sure about that?”

“I am. Could you please close the door?”

“Very well.”

The door closed.

Luke was no match for her. She was in a completely different league of her own. He got the feeling that she wasn’t even trying.

She stood next to him, hand moving from his face to his shoulder. “Gelda Nebilim.”

“Huh?” He looked at her, confused.

“It’s my name. I need your help in something.”

“Why would you need my help?” he asked.

“Your dear Master is planning to destroy the world. And I just can’t have that.” She simply stated as though she were telling a large audience good news. “And I’m sure you want your revenge on those who wronged you…the friends that abandoned you.”

“No…I don’t to…”

Nebilim smiled. “Sure you do. You can’t even deny it.”

Luke was silent.

“Or perhaps you wish to gain their forgiveness? In that case, you may as well give it up. You destroyed thousands of lives. There’s nothing that can be done to save them. Nothing. For the rest of your life, you will have to live with that guilt of murder.”

Luke had to choke back a sob. It was his fault…everything that was destroyed…it was done at his hands.

“If you help me, I’ll help you become a better person…somebody that people will look up to you.”

Where did he hear that one before?

“Don’t believe me?” she asked after the long silence. She moved away from him, stopping at his coat. “I would help you. However, you need to change that attitude of yours. That’s how you ended up in this predicament in the first place.”

He grunted. Just how much did she know about him?

She looked over her shoulder. “I’ve only been watching you since you entered Akzeriuth, but it’s obvious that you’re the most obnoxious person in that castle of yours, even compared to Natalia.”

“Fine.” He stated, fed up with this …replica knowing just about everything. “What should I do first then? You obviously seem to have all the answers.”

“For starters, that attitude.” She told him. “And second, you need to cut your hair. But if you behave like a good boy, I’ll take care of it for you.”

She smiled, giddy with the fact that she could get the replica to join her side. How ironic would it have been for Van’s useless replica to turn around and foil the very plan he spent his life dedicated to accomplishing. And if she was lucky, perhaps a surprise meeting with that soulless man Jade would be in order. To see the shock mirrored on his face as the replica he thought was sealed appear before his very eyes…but not yet. She couldn’t afford to reveal herself to anyone just yet. Not to the Order, to the God-Generals…only this boy. He was the key to finding them…the other five…And he had no idea.