Summary: How many ways can Albel find to distract himself from thinking about or admitting that deep down, he is capable of having normal, human emotions? He also needs distracted from who they're for in the first place. Cliff/Albel. Albel/Fayt

Rated M for shounen-ai / yaoi sexings, mild language, and violence.

Word Count: 2,385

Disclaimer: Rights to the characters and worlds borrowed for this fic belong to Square-Enix and Tri-Ace and not to this lowly authoress borrowing them.

Distractions

Tactic One: Missions

Six months of agonizing boredom.

Peace had prospered between the nations of Airyglyph and Aquaria. There were no more outbursts of anger and war. Gone were the days of preparing for the next great battle. Incidents were at an all-time low. Trade relations were smooth, causing no shortage of resources. Duke Vox being long gone meant internal peace with the three militaries of Airyglyph. Any threats there had once been were no more.

Six months ago, Albel Nox's life and world had been completely changed. Whether it was for the better or not, he was readily willing to debate.

Six months ago was when the so-called "engineers of Greeton" appeared. Who revealed there were other worlds – other universes – beyond their measly planet. Who took him off this pathetic rock of Elicoor II to worlds beyond, and even fourth dimensional space. Who, once the galaxy was saved and at peace, sent Albel right back to his home planet. Who left him here, while they went on with their perfectly exciting lives in outer space and their many worlds and technologies…

Six months of the boredom driving Albel quite insane.

There was no excitement to be had in Airyglyph. Or even Aquaria. Taking his frustration out by poking and proding his hardest at Aquarian scum's tempers had lost its thrill months ago. The monsters and beasts roaming the planet held no challenge anymore. There was nowhere else to conquer, nothing to hold Albel's attention.

And so it came to be that Albel the Wicked was reduced to being King Airyglyph XIII's personal and favorite errand boy. Because he had nothing else better to do.

It began with overseeing the new recruits for the Black Brigade. The attacks from the Vendeeni and Executioners, with no time to recover in between, left the armies rather low on soldiers and morale. Massive recruiting ensued, and the alliance with Aquaria allowed a bigger pool of recruits to choose from. Albel was forced to fulfil the boring part of his job description as Captain, choosing new soldiers and helping the training effort.

It had been a slow process. These men had zero battle experience. Many had never even held a sword in their lives. These ignorant amateurs had to begin training with being shown how to hold a simple sword properly. But Albel needed the numbers, needed these men to hopefully be trained to be marginally competent.

He watched over their training carefully. He made their plans, made sure they would master simple skills before moving on. He would have them spar each other on the roof of the Training Facility – on those days, Albel would casually pace along the wall, watching closely. He had hoped for better progress, but these men were quite pathetic and awful to watch.

On one particularly boring day, Albel hadn't been able to keep his mind from wandering. His memories took him to a particular time he'd been on this very roof, stalking along the very same wall. Watching as below, the Vendeeni aliens attacked… He mindlessly reached up for his right shoulder, eyes glazed and far away, remembering the pain of the disrupter gun, the scar it had left.

The Glyphian then scowled. The last thing he needed was to remember. He didn't want to remember…

After several weeks of incompetence, the training wore Albel's patience thin. He went so far as to ask King Arzei permission to kill them all himself, or at the least rid them off his Brigade. The king would have none of that, much to Albel's disappointment. It did, however, alert the king that the Wicked One's skills and personality were not meant as a trainer, and could maybe be better used elsewhere.

Albel's next assignment was to oversee the effort of rebuilding the destroyed portion of the wall surrounding the city of Airyglyph. The best soldiers and architects had been put to work at the site of the sizable hole in their city's wall. It had been the Klausian ship the Eagle that caused this damage, months ago. The remnants of the ship had finally been cleared out, allowing repairs to begin.

The Glyphians were bundled in their finest wools and firs. The sounds of the bricks being pounded, the mortar mixing, the people talking and yelling over each other, made the area loud and filled with life. The Wicked One would stand atop the wall, the best view to oversee the work being completed. He barked orders at the workers, oversaw that the building schedule was kept and on time, ensured supplies were always there and ordered if required.

But at the same time, he completely hated this assignment. The work was boring to have to sit there and watch, and the workers were utter garbage, anyway. Coming to the site caused Albel's memories to stir – it happened every single time he gazed down into the gaping hole still in the wall. He had better things to worry about than reminisce about who exactly crashed here, and the events that had followed…

All Albel lasted was a week. Once complaining to Arzei- his truthful thoughts on the workers, that his skills were completely wasted, and he was mind-numbingly bored- he was again given another task.

The King of Airyglyph came to the conclusion that maybe the Wicked One was better suited to be away from the city, and with something more laborious. And thus gave Albel the task of heading to the Kirlsa Caverns.

The region's beasts for reasons unknown were flocking to the Caverns and taking to residing there longer than usual. The increased activity was causing the already-unstable paths to cave and buckle, and in turn stressing out the hauler beasts. The Captain of the Black Brigade was to take a team of his soldiers and himself down to the Caverns to clear out the beasts and clean up the tracks for the hauler beasts to continue their work.

Albel minded this mission the least. It was busy work, for sure. But contact with people was minimal, and each day held different problems and triumphs than the last. It kept his mind and body focused on his tasks rather than the ability to wonder.

Most of all, there were no memories to plague him here.

He spent his days underground for little over a month. His best soldiers were brought with him, fully capable of fighting, and strong enough to handle clearing the debris of the cave-ins. The unwanted pests were slowly driven out or killed. The rock slides were packed and shipped out of the Cavern to be dumped down the Bequerel Mountain Path. Lumber and stone was brought inside, and the remaining unstable walls were carefully patched and reinforced.

When the work was satisfactorily completed, Albel was summoned for an audience with his King.

Seeing that Albel's attitude had improved from the manual labor outside the city, Arzei decided to send Albel to the Ruins of Barr, and including the Urssa Lava Caves. As of late, there had been several break-ins to the ruins, looting what could be taken or just taking curious strolls through the dragon-filled caverns. For the safety of the citizens, Albel was to aid in the cleanup from the looters, and to guard from any further damage.

The Glyphian detested this errand. His entire trek to the Ruins gave him feelings on deja-vu, of which he did not need. There was a mixture of soldiers from each Brigade already there when he arrived, ten people total. As there was really only one entrance into the Barr Ruins and Caves, the light protection made sense.

The off-shoot room at the beginning of the Ruins was the first room to have been repaired. The shelves containing dragon body parts and relics had been strewn everywhere, deemed unworthy of looting. Glass had been broken everywhere, unknown liquids oozing across the floor. Once cleaned up, it wasn't too bad. It became their headquarters and room to sleep in when they were not working. The rest of the ruins had been in similar condition, but not too difficult to rectify. It wasn't long before the ruins were in better condition, and all was left was the constant patrols to keep away pesky looters.

Once the cleanup was done, Albel was back to being remarkably bored. At least in this case, he wasn't the only one, as the other soldiers like to complain frequently about. All they had was to sit around and amuse themselves, which usually included outlandish stories and braggings about nothing. The Captain typically tuned out the obnoxious banter, cocooning himself into his own thoughts.

Like the bitterness and anger he'd felt, being brought back to Elicoor. The emptiness and boredom, because nothing could compare to his previous adventures. The resentment that it seemed like anywhere he went, there were memories begging to be surfaced that included the "engineers from Greeton".

And the aching… The aching he refused to acknowledge. The aching he completely abhorred. The aching he dared not explore the reasoning of.

The feelings swirled around his mind, making him angrier. These were feelings Albel the Wicked should not have. Fiery rage burned within the Elicoorian. He jumped down off the table he'd been lounging on, landing hard and storming towards the hallway. It brought attention to him, causing a soldier to inquire, "Where are you going?"

"To kill something."

Once taking his frustrations out on several dragonlings in the area, Albel's rage slightly sated, he began his trek back to Airyglyph Castle to appeal to King Airyglyph for something else better to do. Because he couldn't take wallowing in his mind much more.

Albel's next mission, however, he sincerely hoped was said in jest.

"Are you kidding me? No."

Arzei sat grandly upon his throne, his expression not giving any indication of joking. "No, Albel. I want you to team with Adray Lasbard of Aquaria for a joint reconnaissance deep into the Sanmite Republic. This is not a kidding matter."

The Wicked One wanted to scream. He almost wanted to go back to training his awful Black Brigade recruits. He almost wanted to go watch the city wall being built, or even go back to guarding the Ruins of Barr.

Almost.

So several weeks later, when Albel finally returned back home, he wasn't in the greatest of moods.

"How dare you force me to ally with that man! I will never do such a thing again!"

Arzei was somehow completely calm during the Wicked One's tirade. They were situated in the King's conference room, the King watching the lithe captain pace around. "My apologies, Albel."

"Do you know how many times I wanted to cleave that man's head off his body?! I lost count!"

"Albel, please. Calm yourself and sit," said the King, gesturing to a chair across from him.

The brunette huffed, quickly striding over to the chair. He threw himself into it and crossed his arms, much like raging teenager.

"I have a task for you, which only you are capable of carrying out."

Albel's attention was sparked, temper calming. He arched an eyebrow, goading his king to continue.

"Our friends from the great Star Ocean, I believe they called their organization Quark? I require their assistance."

Albel's entire expression dropped like a boulder hitting water.

The King ignored this and went on. "I ask of you to take the ship they left for us, the Calnus, to seek them out and bring them to me."

No…

The Wicked One pulled himself back together enough to ask, "Why do you need those maggots so badly?"

Do not ask this of me…

"Romeria and myself are interested in learning more about what is beyond our planet. I recall they have their hand in interplanetary politics? We would be fascinated to know more what is going on, and what advances we would need to make in possibly joining their ranks."

Ordinarily, Albel would wince and scoff – "Romeria and myself", referring to "We"… The alliance, and the subsequent closeness the king now had with Aquaria's queen, disgusted him. But it was currently lost on the Wicked One's ears.

Do not bring him here…

"And you can't have your queen send that Zelpher woman? She was more their friend than I."

Arzei shook his head. "Nel may be a capable fighter and spy, but she was not part of your quest outside Elicoor and with the Creator. She is not privy to the technology of the shuttle left here, like you are. You are the only one with the knowledge to fly it, the ability to bring them here."

Albel mulled this over- this fact was true. A moment of silence passed, this thoughts whirling, seeking a way out. Everything, anything, a reason for this to not happen… But none came. He had no choice.

"Hmph. So be it."

His king bought the nonchalance and agreement. Inside, however, the beginnings of ache and fear were stirring.

On the day he was to leave, he couldn't help but just stare at the shuttle he was about to leave the planet in. The Shuttle Calnus had been brought to Elicoor II and repaired entirely (as to who repaired it, Albel refused to recall). It had been calibrated for if it were ever needed, it would hone in on the Flagship Diplo's position and go straight there. The shuttle was to only be used if their "friends from the Star Ocean", as the King had put it, were needed, as leaving the shuttle on the planet was a violation of some law of theirs.

Albel stared at the metal casing, the large scale of the ship, hidden within the forest. The ship had been cleverly hidden, its technology able to make it completely disappear. He had been given a device that when he pressed the button on it, the cloaking would lift and reveal the ship.

He remembered everything – where the ship was, how to unhide it, how to turn it on and fly. He wasn't about to dwell on who taught him that vital information, though.

But as he stared, his insides felt heavy. He absolutely did not want to carry out this mission. He would rather go back to the Sanmite Republic with Adray and relive that nightmare.

Anything was better than this.

VIABLE DISTRACTION TACTIC? Not really.