Author's Notes:

Do not own Tales of the Abyss. Suing is pointless.

This is the 3rd story in the "Bonded" series, taking place about a year after the first story ends. What appears to be a bizarre weather-related phenomenon has far-reaching affects on the citizens of Auldrant. Between trying to puzzle out what is happening, keeping his lover on the straight-and-narrow, and getting the shock of his life in the form of a boy named Vilo, Jade has his hands full. Some years it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.

Pairings: Jade/Dist. Some Anise/Florian. Please also note that this story takes place roughly 2 years after the end of the game. There is a LOT of debate on how long it took Luke (or Asch if you believe that, or a merger if you believe that) to return. Luke was 17 when the game began and in the final scene they mention his "coming of age" ceremony, which in Auldrant takes place at 20. So the final scene takes place about 2.5 years after the end of the game by my count, and that is what I'm going with for this story. The point of all that is, Luke isn't back yet. He doesn't appear in this story because he's still "dead".

Vilo's Hymn

The flat roof-top outside the attic window had been cleared of snow tonight, still showing streaks from small, impatient gloved fingers. By morning it would probably be buried again, but that was the price of living in Keterburg for those too young to have any say in the matter. No matter what else happened, there would always be more snow.

The attic room had been used for storage until the young Master of the house had insisted on occupying it, and no one had had the courage to tell Jade "no" about anything for a long while now. It afforded him a certain amount of privacy that the downstairs bedrooms did not, and he liked having that outer roof ledge to himself. The only people who ever came up here were Nephry, when he deemed to invite her, and Saphir, who needed no invitation.

The attic had at one time been servant quarters, so it already had a small bathroom and fireplace attached, and Jade had wasted no time in converting it into a sanctuary. Walls were lined with book-shelves, the multiple desks littered with more books and papers, and bits and pieces of equipment. That was really more Saphir's realm than his own. As much as it chafed at him, he was not and never would be mechanically inclined. He'd spent years stewing in impotent frustration, full of ideas and theories and having no way at all to test them in practice. Even the people he'd spoken to who could build the kind of things he envisioned didn't understand what Jade was talking about enough to even make the effort.

Saphir changed that. Although nearly two years younger, he could take Jade's ideas, examine them, correct any minor flaws, and bring them to life. While the other boy could be annoyingly clingy at times, his usefulness made Jade inclined to be indulgent. He could not admit that he loved his unusual young friend, any more than in those days he could have admitted that he loved Nephry or the professor. People were important to the boy in terms of how they could enhance his own life and it would take a long time for him to see them any other way.

"It's starting. Are you coming?" Jade asked now, climbing back through the open window and brushing powdery snow from his leather gloves.

Saphir, who had been busy reading over some of Jade's notes, jumped to his feet immediately and snatched his coat from beside the bed. The older boy waited impatiently for his friend to bundle himself up tightly against the cold night, and picked up a thick spare blanket. The cold really didn't bother him all that much, but even after a year here Saphir still wasn't used to it.

The children climbed out the window and sat down on the roof ledge. Jade tucked the blanket around both of them. Saphir tentatively leaned over and placed his head on Jade's shoulder, and then snuggled closer when his friend didn't object. It wasn't something the older boy would ever had allowed if he thought there was the slightest chance someone could see them; it wasn't always something he allowed even when they were alone. Jade, unlike the snow, was never predictable.

On the distant horizons, they watched the Northern Lights wave and dance. There was no rhyme or reason to it, and as usual Saphir was mesmerized. He and his mother had first arrived here at night, and he remembered standing on the dock holding her hand (the only warm spot on his body) and seeing the strange light show for the first time. It never got old for him, and if Jade was in a good mood he could usually coax his friend into watching with him. The older boy would often tease him about it, but Saphir couldn't ever shake the feeling that Jade enjoyed this just as much as he did.

"So pretty." Saphir muttered now to himself.

"You say that every time."

"That's because it's always pretty. Tell me again what causes it."

Jade sighed. "It's like a rainbow. Light from the sun gets caught up in the atmosphere and split out into different colors. No matter how much you want it to be magic, it's not. It's just a trick of light."

They sat together in silence for a few minutes, until a shooting star caught their attention.

"Did you make a wish, Jade?"

"Of course not. I'm too old to believe in that sort of thing." He sounded smug, lording his ten years over Saphir's less-impressive eight.

"Well, I made a wish." Saphir sounded sulky; he never liked being reminded of the difference in their ages. "But I can't tell you or it won't come true."

"Well, there's a way around that, you know."

"What?"

"Wish for the opposite of what you really want. Then tell someone. That way the opposite of what you wished for will happen. Problem solved."

"That's great! I never thought of that! But…I thought you didn't believe in wishes."

"I don't, but you do."

Saphir digested that for a few minutes, content to sit there snuggled up against his best friend, protected against the cold by the blanket and by Jade's body heat. It was late at night now and he was drowsy, but he didn't want to do anything to ruin the moment.

I wish that when Jade and I are all grown up that we still sit outside together like this and watch the sky, he thought to himself. Of course, we'll be busy scientists by then so we may not have a lot of time, but that's what I wish, anyway.

***********************

With a groan, Jade Curtiss rolled onto his back, gasping for breath. Every nerve ending was still alive; he could feel the prickle of the grass through the thin blanket they'd laid out, could feel the warm night arm drying the sweat on his skin to salt. If his heart hadn't been pounding so hard, he could have even heard the rush of the ocean in the distance.

There was a rustle next to him, and then a bony arm fell across his midsection, followed by the sensation of damp hair against his shoulder. Jade's own muscles were still jerking and twitching in the aftermath of the endorphin release, and being pressed so closely to Saphir he could feel the same little movements and trembles going through his lover as well. Chuckling, he lowered his left arm to embrace the other man.

"So…." Jade finally was able to speak. "Do you think they heard us this time?"

"Maybe you." Saphir retorted. "I kept our agreement. I was very quiet."

"Oh, I don't know about that. You didn't scream: I'd hardly say you were quiet."

"Well, if they did hear they should be thanking us for making their evening more…exciting."

Jade put his free hand up over his eyes and groaned again, this time for a different reason.

"Look, Jade, this normally…sorry… is for the city guards to handle, but the truth is none of them had the balls to come to you about it, and…just a moment…when I found out why…well, I thought maybe you'd appreciate it more if I spoke with you…gasp… directly. Your neighbors have filed a…snort…complaint."

"A complaint? About what? And what exactly are you finding so hysterical?"

"Damn it, Jade. This…I'm sorry…just when I heard…they can hear you, man."

"Hear me?"

"When you guys are outside. Well, it's mostly Saphir they can hear, I guess, unless you're yelling at yourself to pick up the pace."

"Your Majesty!"

"Now don't shoot the messenger here. I just said I'd said I'd talk to you about it. If you ask me they're just being a bunch of busybodies, but a complaint was filed so…maybe you could gag him next time. He might actually enjoy that."

"I'm no longer having this conversation with you."

If Saphir had any complaints about their life together, it would have probably been that Jade, as loving as he could be in private, didn't have a romantic bone in his entire body. He considered, for the most part, romance to be maudlin nonsense. He wasn't about to purchase flowers when the garden was full of them, and was more likely to surprise his lover with a book of quantum mechanics than love poetry. Of course fate had deemed to give him a companion who craved that sort of "maudlin nonsense".

Through some experimentation, Jade had discovered that with Saphir even a little bit of romance seemed to go a long way. It didn't take all that much to make him happy. While Jade would put "making love under the stars" at the top of his romantic cliché's list, he'd actually found to his own surprise he enjoyed it. The walls around the back garden were high, after all, and it wasn't like anyone could see them. He wasn't an exhibitionist any more than he was a romantic. After the neighbors had voiced their opinion, he'd discussed the situation with Saphir and agreed that their evenings outside could continue as long as they both made the effort to be a bit more…discreet.

Saphir, true to form, thought the neighbors were just jealous.

They lay together now on the blanket, and Saphir's index finger moved in what seemed to be random patterns over Jade's chest. After a minute, Jade had realized there was nothing random about it; Saphir was actually tracing out the letters of his own name on the damp skin. Well, he supposed there were worse ways for someone to mark their territory.

We should really get up and go back inside, Jade thought now with reluctance. Get a shower, go to sleep in our own bed instead of out here. Otherwise we'll regret it in the morning.

He was about to sit up when suddenly above him the sky seemed to…shimmer. There was no other word for it. It was like for the briefest second looking through a haze of heat, and then the stars vanished into field of bright yellow.

"What in hell?" Saphir bolted upright, proving to Jade that he hadn't imagined it.

The sky stayed yellow for about two heartbeats, then turned to blood red for about three, followed by a rapid-fire change to blue, orange, and back to black before reverting to yellow. The colors continued to change, no pattern to them.

Jade's first confused thought was that although they were fairly far north he'd never seen the Northern Lights from Grand Chokmah before, but he dismissed the thought instantly. This looked nothing like the colors he'd grown up taking for granted. It was so bright that as he stood up the colors reflected off of his bare skin.

"What's going on?" Saphir, his glasses still on the pile of clothing next to the blanket, peered up myopically.

"No idea. I've never seen anything like this. Come on, we need to find Peony."

They dressed rapidly, hearing in the distance people leaving their own homes and beginning to gather in the streets.

Entering the small house and not bothering to turn on any lights (the light coming through the windows from the odd display was more than sufficient) they made their way to front exit. Jade stopped and entered the code that would allow Saphir to safely leave the property. Until he knew what was going on, he didn't feel comfortable leaving his lover here alone, and he highly doubted Saphir would approve of that either.

They joined the milling crowd in the street, side-stepping those who were looking upward and not bothering to watch where they were going. So far, no one was panicking, but Jade knew how rapidly that could change. Above them, the colors still pulsed.

"Colonel Curtiss, what's happening? Are we being attacked?"

"Is it Kimlasca?"

"Was there an explosion?"

"I know as much as you do." Jade kept to a stock answer. "I'm on my way to speak with the Emperor. Please remain calm. Go back inside your homes." He knew the last bit was useless, but felt the need to say it anyway.

"Jade!"

Peony met them before they were halfway to the palace. "Isn't it wild? What's causing it?"

"My best guess is something to do with the breakdown of fonic arts, although why it should chose to manifest itself like this I have no idea. Saphir?"

"I haven't a clue. I thought it was the Northern Lights at first, but…"

"But it's clearly not." Peony finished. "I watched them enough times with you guys; I remember what they look like."

"You invited yourself to watch, you mean."

"Jade invited me. And I know you pushed me off the roof that time."

"I told you, I slipped on the ice. If you weren't so clumsy…"

"Gentlemen, please. As fascinating as this trip down memory lane is, it's really not solving anything." Jade did not want to recall the image of the young prince hanging from the roof ledge by his fingertips; he had been convinced that night that Peony was going to plummet to his death and that he and Saphir would be summarily executed for royal assassination.

Sulking, Saphir moved to stand next to the water, leaving Peony and Jade alone to talk. The terms of his Bond were that in public he had to always remain within grabbing distance of his Bond Master, but if Jade wanted to enforce his rights then he could damn well come over here and enforce them.

"Whatever it is, I hope it stops. It's starting to give me a headache." Peony frowned up at the flashing sky again. "I'd love to know what Sheridan and Belkend are making of it, assuming they can see it down there, but I'm not about to send the Albiore up."

"I'm sure we have enough equipment in the lab at home that Saphir could cobble together some kind of barometric device. It might give us a general idea if it's weather-related or something else."

Peony nodded, then looked over Jade's shoulder and frowned again. "In that case." He pointed. "You might want to go rescue him before he ends up soaked."

A group of citizens had surrounded Saphir, edging him closer to the lip of the walkway just above the drop-off. As Jade quickly approached them, he could hear Saphir's angry voice above the general din.

"….far more spectacular than a display of pretty lights! And if I were responsible, I'd make damn sure you knew it was me! You'd be on your knees begging for salvation right now!"

Jade sighed. Dist always did pick the worst times to reemerge. "Dr. Neis hasn't been out of my sight the entire evening." He spoke loudly. "Whatever is going on, I can assure you that he has nothing to do with it. Let him be."

The small mob disbursed, but did not look convinced. Jade firmly took Saphir by the elbow and began herding him back to where Peony stood. "Ignorant cretins!" Saphir yelled back over his shoulder.

"Honestly, I can't take you anywhere."

"They started it!"

"Yes, love, I know. If we survive the night, I'll have them all beheaded. Will that make you happy?"

"I'd say yes, but then you'd just lecture me again." He grumbled as they rejoined the emperor.

"Yes." Saphir nodded after they explained what they wanted. "It should be easy enough: I've only been building those since I was nine. Give me a few hours, but I don't know what good you think it will do."

"Well, it can't cause any harm." Jade glanced up at the pulsating colors again. "It gives us something to do in the meanwhile."

"You mean it gives me something to do, while as usual you'll just stand there and take credit for it."

"Oh, absolutely."

"Well, you'll have to escort me home if you want your barometer. I won't control myself if those lunkheads accost me again."

Peony looked from one to the other, trying to decide if they were serious or simply teasing each other: at times it was hard to tell.

"Wow, you're in a snit tonight." He commented to Saphir.

"Don't mind him, Your Majesty. We were interrupted at a rather inconvenient time."

"Well, that explains why you smell like…"

Saphir opened his mouth, preparing for a tirade of epic proportions against the emperor. Jade slapped a hand over it.

"Well, with that I think we should be going. Everything appears stable for the moment. If the situation changes you know where to find me." He bowed deeply, jerking Saphir down with him.

With a last, lethal look at Peony, Saphir allowed himself to be pulled back down the street, still muttering against Jade's hand.

Peony looked up at the sky again, trying to see a pattern to the colors and finally giving up. Well, between the two of them Jade and Saphir would figure out what was going on.

Hopefully.