(Pre-Chapter Notes: The kiss that Chibi/Lack give to allow Chibi's power to flow into Lack, is an idea I nicked from an anime called Rental Magica where Adilisia gives Itsuki a kiss after biting her lip. She called it Infection Magic. Because of the Brother/Sister relationship between Lack and Chibi I decided either the kiss to a item like clothing or on the cheek is best.)
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"Ready?" Phenomenon asked Furama. "Just a small section."
"I know," Furama cast Fireball and slowly moved it towards the ice melting away a perfectly round circle and exposing Lack's forearm. "I hope I didn't harm him from that." Buzzing started in their ears.
Alastor cast Spirit of Monk. He mentally fell downwards through Lack's Spiritual Power and landed on a large white circle. "Lack?" Lack turned to face him his movements slow.
A shadow at the edge of the circle disappeared after whispering 'Good. They heard you.'
"Will you be alright by yourself?" Lack asked the shadow while Alastor touched Lack's arm.
'I will be. Set Flyte free for me.' Lack gave a nod and turned to look at Alastor. 'And be careful. Who will set me free if you don't return?' A giggle faded away leaving Lack and Alastor alone.
Alastor feeling uneasy about the shadow, felt spell tags throughout his Spiritual Power during his assessment. "We'll get you out of here." Alastor withdrew out and opened his eyes. "Lack's alive. He's been frozen within as well. This is definitely Hel's work."
Tadakono and Furama slowly melted the ice around Lack. Haru focused his power into Lack, breaking the numerous spell tags that kept his insides frozen. The three eased him to the ground. "How many days has it been since I fell through the doorway?" Lack asked slowly, his teeth chattering from the cold.
"It's been over five months," Tadakono replied casting Fireball again to try and warm Lack up. "What happened?" He had a feeling that the copies had been around much longer than they first anticipated.
"When we arrived in Rachel," Lack said holding his hands close to Tadakono's fireball. "Within Freya's Temple. Someone challenged me. This person was strong. I don't mean Kashy strong. I mean God-like strong. Even with Chibi supporting me, we were both knocked down. Mike got angry and tried on his own but was struck down as well. Kchan and Izual faired no better. That's really all I remember." He looked around the cavern and noticed the others who were frozen. "Think it'll be safe to set them free?"
"We're thinking it was Hel who froze all of you," Kakaxi explained watching Lack get up and press a hand on the remaining ice that held Chibi, Kchan, Izual and MikeRex. "We risked defrosting you. I don't know if we should risk defrosting the others until we're certain."
"Chibi could be alive," Lack said softly trying to ease the pain in his head. Silence greeted his words. "Want to know how I can tell?" He turned to look at them then waved them over and pointed behind Chibi to her Lif. He looked at Chibi's closed eyes and felt a small tug at a memory he didn't recognize. "Homunculi die when their owners Spiritual Power is completely gone. In other words, when they are dead. If you defrost Flyte and she's still alive, you can bet that Chibi is as well." They gave him a curious stare. "Chibi told me that a long time ago. She said that it might be useful for me one day. Didn't really wanted to know what she meant by that."
Tadakono and Furama slowly defrosted Flyte. Haru broke the spell tags and they waited. Flyte laid motionless on the ground. Lack touched her hand, his eyes willing her to wake up. "Master Lack?" She whispered quietly not moving. "Mistress says to leave her in the ice for now." She moved her hand to touch his cheek. "She says for defrosting me that you have to look after me." She came close to his ear and whispered. "She says you need to remember how badly injured she was. Leaving her in the ice is safest for now. Because I'm with you, you'll know if anything happens to her." Lack nodded and patted it's head.
"I don't want to try defrosting the other three," he said, his voice getting stronger the more he moved around. "I don't know if they're alive or anything. I'll wait until I hear from John or Foxi about them." He placed a hand on the section of ice that contained Chibi and whispered "I'll be back to get you whether you want me to or not."
Flyte smiled and said "Mistress says that if you are holding her best interests then it'll be best to leave her there until the moon is in the sky during the day." Lack looked at Flyte with a weird expression. "Don't ask me why she said that, she just did."
~~~
"Good that they were able to get you out," Rena said giving Lack a hug. "Looks like they could of gotten Chibi out as well but didn't."
"Chibi said that she needed to stay there," Flyte flew and perched itself onto Lack's shoulder to listen to the conversation. "She said that it was…" He looked at Flyte. "What was it again?"
"It would be best to leave her there until the moon is in the sky during the day," Flyte said looking at Rena. "Mistress says that you know how she knows that. She says you can tell Lack if you feel it necessary to."
Rena raised an eyebrow. "Is she sure? And it feels weird that I'm relaying her secrets to Lack with permission from her homunculus." Flyte nodded and Rena sighed. "You know about how Chibi warped her Azoth right? I was in Chibi's lab one day… I snuck in to Fight Club once because I wanted to know how your guild was so powerful… It was the day she warped it. Eir granted her an ability to see into the future. It has a very short span on it so she can probably only see like half a year in advance and it drains her both mentally and physically when she uses it. She knew I was there and made me swear secrecy from you and Eir bound that promise to me. I guess telling you now because Chibi said I could breaks that binding."
"So she has Trelawney's power only no headaches but instead she becomes weakened and she can control it," Lack said in confirmation. "So that's how she knew you were coming to see Phen that day we stormed Loki's castle." Lowering his voice, he added "Then you know… The deal Eir and I made."
"You've remembered… But your memory doesn't seem to be complete yet," Rena said surprised. "Eir thought it best to seal that information within you and Chibi because she felt bad for forcing you to make that decision. When did you remember?"
"While I was trapped in the ice," Lack replied closing his eyes. "Chibi was able to float into my Spiritual Power but I couldn't go to hers. After they melted the ice, my memories of how she could do that came to me." He sighed and opened his eyes again. "I would make that decision again… Chibi's power?"
"She doesn't just get weakened," Rena replied sensing Lack's wish to drop the current subject. "She can really only use it three times in one day. Any more and she risks tapping into her Spiritual Power to see what is ahead. As far as I know, she rarely ever uses it." Rena held up a hand to let him know she knew no more about Chibi's ability. "The day the moon is in the sky with the sun is a week from now. The Lunar Priests in Prontera would know exactly when… Better yet! Go visit Chibi's sister... Violy." Both Lack and Flyte rolled their eyes.
~~~
"Lack! Long time no see!" Violy and Kagura held hands with him. Violy gave him a little pinch on the cheek. "How's my older sister? She hasn't come by to see me since I married Kagura." Tadakono, Syaoran and Phenomenon had decided to accompany Lack on his visit to Church in Prontera. Kakaxi, FerrariSin and Furama headed back to Fight Club to monitor the copy of Lack.
"Same as always Violy," Lack said uncertainly. Flyte held her hands in front of her face. "I wanted to ask… When is the next time that the moon is visible in the sky during the day?"
"This for one of my sister's workings?" Violy asked shaking hands with Tadakono, Syaoran and Phenomenon as a greeting. "Or something else all together?"
"Would it matter?" Lack asked trying to avoid telling her Chibi was a block of ice. "If it's for one of Chibi's workings, then you'd be helping your sister. If it's for something else then you don't need to worry about it either."
"If it's for Chibi's working," Violy said softly. Tears formed in her eyes. "It means she's either too embarrassed or too stubborn to come see me." Violy looked at Flyte and added "I know that she's alive at least."
Flyte perched herself onto Violy's shoulder and whispered to her. Lack sighed and asked Kagura the same question. "I'm a Solar Priestess… Hence the red clothing. Only Violy can answer your question. But I understand how she feels. Kchan and Jemini haven't come to see me since our wedding." She gave Lack a cheeky smile. "Speaking of weddings, why don't you marry Chibi? You're both obviously close."
Lack stared at her unsurprised. "No matter how many times I hear that it doesn't change the fact that Chibi and I aren't like that." He watched Violy wipe away tears. "Besides, would feel weird to marry family."
"Seriously?" Kagura said watching him carefully. "You two aren't real family so why not?"
"We are family," Lack replied walking away. "We became family the day the Gods favoured us." Kagura followed him to Violy. Lack gave her a pat on the back and asked "There isn't much I can do without the answer."
"Its twelve days from now," Violy sniffled. Flyte gave her a little hug. "Can you tell me if she's alright? I'll come by Fight Club Headquarters in a fortnight's time. Even if she truly doesn't want to see me, can you tell me if she's alright?"
Lack nodded. Kagura looked sideways at him. What does he mean by 'became family the day the Gods favoured us'? Lack gave Violy a quick hug before leaving with Tadakono, Syaoran and Phenomenon. They aren't favoured by the same God… He's hiding something.
~~~
"He really doesn't seem any different from the real Lack," Kakaxi whispered at the Guild meeting. "How will we tell the differences when the real one gets here?" A gasp spread throughout the room. "What happened?"
"The fake is breaking the guild," FerrariSin said with shock. The door banged open to reveal Tadakono, Syaoran, Phenomenon and the real Lack. "This is going to confuse everyone."
"Why would I break Fight Club?" Lack asked his copy on the platform. "Fight Club is strong. We built ourselves to strength from nothing. Time and time again, we are broken down but we continue to fight on." He took off one of his gloves and wrapped one of Chibi's blue ribbons around his wrist. Chibs… Let me borrow your power. "You're my dark side… A copy of myself. I won't let you break what we have worked hard to preserve."
"Why not break it?" The copy replied coming close to him. "Better to go now than fade into the background and not be remembered." It pulled its gloves tight and settled into a fighting position. "Let's settle this then. Which side is stronger."
Tadakono, Syaoran and Phenomenon moved and stood near Kakaxi, FerrariSin and Furama. "This isn't going to be good is it?" Furama whispered in Tadakono's ear. Tadakono shook his head and watched Flyte hover between the two of them. "The blue ribbon was so we can tell he's the real one?"
"The blue ribbon is something else," Tadakono replied confused. "Lack said something about linking to Chibi. I don't know what he means by that but I guess we'll find out."
Lack pressed his lips gently to the ribbon causing it to glow. He changed to Stalker and paused. "I see now…" Flyte cast Emergency Avoid increasing his speed. Lack darted and furiously sliced at his copy with twin daggers forcing it back. "You have no idea what I just did and you can't change to a Stalker."
"Mistress says be careful," Flyte whispered in his ear. "She says don't turn back to a Champion under any circumstances." She stayed behind Lack and cast Heal.
"Did she see that or does she know that?" he asked disappearing into Chasewalk. His voice echoed around the room. "Because it's something I need to know."
"She says both," Flyte stayed in one spot not give away his position. The copy darted at her. Lack smiled and brought his daggers around it's neck, slicing it's throat. "It's not dead yet."
"I hope I'm not that predictable," he murmured jumping back and throwing a dagger into it's chest. Flyte giggled and cast Emergency Avoid again. "What? Chibi said I was didn't she." Flyte nodded floating down to the ground to sit and burst into laughter. "Is it dead yet?"
Flyte cocked her head to one side. "She's not answering." Lack looked back to his copy and noticed it was melting. Flyte flew over to him and whispered quietly in his ear. "Mistress says the one who attacked you is in the cavern right now. She can see his face clearly."
Lack pretended she didn't say anything and went up onto the stage to explain what just happened to the guild. "Keep me informed on what she sees." he murmured quietly to Flyte. "I can't get to her at the moment." Lack began to address the congregation before him.
Flyte stayed near his ear whispering. "She says you need to get there as soon as possible with as many guild members that you can trust. She says that you're going to have a hard time defeating him." Lack made a little movement with his hand, Flyte continued. "She says it's Contra."
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