A/N: Sorry for the uber long wait, everyone! Things have been just a little hectic, but I'm pulling through!

--

Ion hadn't even glanced at the report Tear gave him as she explained virtually everything that piece of paper had written on it. There was only one explanation as to why the Planet Storm's activity was increasing rapidly: something was consuming vast amounts of Seventh Fonons, and to compensate, the Storm was churning out even more Seventh Fonons; it threatened to destroy the Tartarus and liquefy the land again.

"I believe this is happening because ..." Tear began, brow furrowed with worry, "Van's plan might still be alive, even if he's not." Van had been one of Daath's most charismatic people. That he had won an entire army over showed his skill as an orator.

"Besides, there's no war going on." Anise added. "Like the Colonel said, the only peacetime application for that is fomicry. Van was the only one to use such large-scale fomicry."

"This is all very troubling," Ion said, his delicate fingers gripping Tear's report more tightly. "But we don't know the truth. In any case, I have a meeting to go to, so I'll see you off."

Luke wavered mentally. There was something he had wanted to ask Ion--what he would do, if he were in Luke's shoes. He was a replica as well, after all. But Luke also didn't want to impose on him. Leading a theocratic nation was sure to be tough work. Perhaps there was another time they could talk, or Luke could just write. He was getting better at expressing his feelings in writing. At talking, he was still just a little awkward.

"All right. Let's go."

These days, the church wasn't especially crowded. Even though people kept coming to ask for Score readings, the number of those were significantly reduced because no one made multiple trips after being turned away numerous times. Most of the people here were those that worked in the cathedral.

Luke was busy thinking of where and who they would visit next, when they went through the cathedral doors, and his went wide with the sight of a very familiar face. Azure eyes locked with green, and they exclaimed in unison:

"Luke!"

"Guy!"

"What are you doing here?"

Indeed, Guy stood on the threshold of Daath's cathedral, quite literally looking the same as he always had: that same orange vest, the same gloves subtly stained with fontech oil, the same pants, and the very same katana belted to his waist. Even reinstated as a noble, he still looked like a servant.

"That was my line," Guy said, rubbing the back of his head with a small smile, "but I'm actually here on business from Malkuth's House of Lords."

"Right." Luke said, grinning. "In other words, Peony sent you here like the good little servant you are." He felt crude to make such a joke, but it was too funny to pass up.

Guy gave an irritated groan. "Actually, yes. Like I wrote, working for Peony isn't so different from being your servant. Not that's such a bad thing, mind." He looked past Luke, Tear, and Lloyd, to Ion standing beside Anise. "Oh, Ion's with you. That's convenient."

"Was there something I needed to know?" Ion asked, stepping to the front of the small crowd he was with.

"Should we follow formal procedure?"

"No, I'll hear it now."

"Dist broke out."

Eyes went wide in surprise, and Anise squeaked a dis(t)gusted, "What?!"

"But that's not all. He attacked the ship carrying Mohs to his hearing and freed him. The reason we got wind of the breakout so quickly was because Asch had told us before: watch the God-Generals."

"The God-Generals ... does he know where Cantabile and Kratos are?" Luke wondered, half-whispering to himself. His ears perked when Guy spoke again.

"He went to St. Binah, saying something about needing to free Lorelei."

"We already knew Lorelei was trapped." Tear murmured, thinking. "He knows how to free Lorelei?" Freeing Lorelei would help keep Planet Storm activity to a safe level, as it would not keep constantly having to compensate for the "missing" Seventh Fonons.

Guy shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"If he knows something," Luke said, "then I want to go after him." He didn't mention the words Lorelei imparted to him in the Absorption Gate. They were meaningless to him, but apparently Asch understood. He had to find Asch and find out what those words meant. His own lack of knowledge had contributed to Akzeriuth's fall.

Guy's response surprised Luke. "I'll go, too. Emperor Peony also told me to find him."

"Asch sure is a ... unique one." Luke said, smirking. "He can even skip out on an emperor."

"Like he'd get away with that if he were Malkuthian." Lloyd added.

"No, I think he'd get away with that if he were." Guy said sheepishly. "Emperor Peony just lacks that ... authoritative air of an emperor with the power to behead him on the spot."

"Quit joking around, people!" Anise piped up. "If Asch's really that important, we have to go now and catch him and make him tell us what he knows!"

Surprised, Tear asked, "You're coming with us, Anise?"

"If that's okay with the Fon Master?"

Ion quirked a brow. "By yourself? That's unusual."

Before now, Anise had always been at Ion's side, and when she wasn't, did everything in her power to rectify that. The two were practically joined at the hip. Now that Ion was back in Daath, there was an army of Fon Master Guardians to keep him safe, but it wasn't normal for Anise to neglect her duties like this. Anise noticed Luke's wary stare.

"I'm involved in this, too. Even if I didn't operate the passage rings, I still helped save Auldrant, and if something's going to endanger it again, I'm going to help."

"Hah ha!" Guy laughed. "Can't really argue with that."

"Yes, I don't have a problem with that." Ion said, though his face fell at having to do all the work at the Order without Anise by his side.

"So, St. Binah, was it?" Tear said. Met with collective nods from the rest of the group, she and Luke led the march from Daath. Guy was ecstatic at seeing the Albiore again (with apologies to Ginji, of course he was glad to see the Albiore's pilot, too).

--

"Asch might know where Cantabile and Kratos are?" Lloyd asked, brow quirked as he looked to Luke, who sat next to him on the Albiore. Luke shrugged, brow furrowed, confused.

"He did say 'watch the God-Generals' ... maybe he just assumed that they would turn up again and cause trouble once they recovered from the last fight. Man, what a pain. I really don't like having to deal with the God-Generals all the time."

"Me neither, and I only fought them so many times."

"I'm sorry I couldn't get your dad's sword back."

"You couldn't help it! Like you expected him to fly off suddenly!"

"Heh, okay, okay, you win. But I'll get it next time for sure."

-

"Okay, so you've had that capacity core--have you ever thought of using fon slot chambers?" Luke felt slightly silly as he asked this, if only to pass time on the long flight from Daath to St. Binah. With the fonic wings the odd capacity core granted to Lloyd, odds were the dual swordsman didn't need to use fon slot chambers, but one could never be too careful. Lloyd quirked a brow.

"Fon slot what?"

Luke wanted to hit his forehead with a palm, but he did not. He himself had been just as, if not more, ignorant about these things. He understood now why mostly everyone had lost patience with him rather quickly.

"Fon slot chambers. They're little beads you put in your capacity core. They're like extra supplies of fonons you can get at quickly, so they'll strengthen your artes faster than gathering them with your fon slots alone."

"Really? I didn't know that."

"So I take it you don't use any."

"How would I use them if I didn't know what they were?"

"Haha, good point. Okay, I'll give you some of mine. What fonon do you use the most?"

Lloyd had to think about that one for a moment. He shrugged, uncertain.

"I don't really have a favorite fonon type."

"That's fine. You're quick, like Guy, so I'll give you ..." Luke rummaged in his bag, in the zipped pocket with his extra fon slot chambers. "These." He deposited in Lloyd's hands a few glowing green grass chambers.

"Third Fonons." Luke said. "Also, if something happens, like an emergency and you wanna add some punch to your wings, these'll help you get into the air faster."

"Wow, really? Thanks! So how do I put them on?"

"There should be little recesses where you can put them."

"Okay, I got it."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I got it."

"All right, all right."

-

Night had fallen long ago, and everyone had since fallen asleep in their chairs, no matter how uncomfortable sleeping upright in chairs might be. But Luke would get no more rest, as someone shook him awake by the shoulder. He turned to see Lloyd, wide awake, with faint circles under his eyes. He had not been sleeping these last few hours.

"What's up?"

"It's been bugging me--how do fonons gather?"

"Huh? You've been thinking about something like that this whole time?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, aren't you curious? Like elements getting together is all fine and dandy, but my Professor taught me that the little pieces of matter only get together when they're opposites."

Memory jolted in Luke, of Tear teaching him about fonons, which included the specifics of how they could attract and repel. He wondered if he could reiterate the information half as well as Tear had explained it before.

"I think I get you: if two fonons are the same, they should repel." When Lloyd nodded, he continued, "Tear taught me that on a basic level, say atomic, though two fonons are the same element, they have the arrangement of electrons needed for them to bond together."

"Like a magnet?"

"Positive and negative? I guess that's close enough."

"You 'guess'?"

"Hahah. Anyway, you got your answer, right? Go back to sleep, if you were asleep at all."

"Man, you're no fun."

"Whatever. G'night."

"Night. I guess."

Luke chose not to reply as he settled back in his seat, falling asleep again almost immediately.

--

Asch was not in St. Binah. The city's restoration was coming along swimmingly, despite the ugly gashes in the earth running through half the citadel, a living monument to its near destruction by falling into the Qliphoth. But the citizens were not delicate despite having lived a mostly secure life within stone walls. If anything, they sprang right back up, as tenacious as cockroaches.

They sure scurried around like cockroaches, though Luke was not careful to say so as they made their way toward the McGovern building. If anybody would know where Asch went, whether he was still in the city or in its vicinity, it would be the old man and his son. How the elder McGovern's beard could have grown so ridiculously long and thick was a puzzle to Luke. He was sure he wasn't the only one thinking this, sneaking a grin at Lloyd, whose only sign of flabbergasted-ness was in his wide eyes.

"Luke!" McGovern hailed Luke as the party drew near, to their bemusement. "Did you cut your hair again? Oh, wait, were you wearing a wig earlier? What was that nonsense about 'my hair grows fast'? Jade's sarcastic disposition must be rubbing off on you."

There was a fairly long silence. On the one hand, they wanted to double over laughing, but one did not laugh outright before the former Field Marshal of the Imperial Malkuth Forces. In the end, Luke suppressed his laughter and managed to say with a straight face:

"Uh, that man who looks like me--his name is Asch? Do you know where he went?"

"Huh? Are you his twin or something?"

"In a manner of speaking," Tear murmured, arms folded over her chest.

Guy cracked a grin. "Asch would pitch a fit if he heard that."

McGovern, oblivious to the allusions to fomicry (perhaps the old man was hard of hearing), went on:

"He went to Shurrey Hill. Something about freeing Lorelei."

"Lorelei, huh?" Luke repeated, frowning. This sounded heavy and serious. "I think we should follow him. What do you guys think?"

"Of course!" Guy said. "His Majesty wants to see Asch, too. As far as Lorelei is concerned this is important stuff. Doing nothing would be a crime."

"All right. We'll follow Asch to Shurrey Hill."