Disclaimer: To my displeasure, I do not own SO3 or its overly-lovable characters.

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Chapter 2

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Usually, I'm the one up first in the morning so I could go wake everyone up, but on this particular sunrise, I didn't even want to move from my comfortable bed. In fact, I felt like someone sent my mind through warp drive—my headache was enormous.

My head was so full of mucus and snot that I could even barely even breathe. I thought for a few seconds and tried to figure out how I got so sick, when the memory of last night came flying at me with vivid colors. Snow, fog, cold, Albel, red eyes, grumpy-grouch…

With a great sigh, I mentally beat myself up for being so stupid. I couldn't be sick! No, not at all, especially since we had to face up with Crosell soon, and from what I heard, he's not the little, pink dragon in the Barr Mountains that danced to my flute playing. I could have at least wrapped a blanket around me before going outside.

Through all of my musings, I failed to notice Albel standing right in front of my bed, watching me with one eyebrow raised higher than the other. It was an expression I didn't even know he could pull off. I nervously pulled the covers up and over my nose as I addressed him, "What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?" The blankets muffled my voice, but even more so by the stuffy nose.

He didn't speak at first, but continued to watch me. I got irritated, trying to figure out what was so interesting about me. Even though it was the first idea to occur to everyone else's mind, I thought, 'Is there something on my face?' But half of my face was covered up so I tried to figure out another reason.

Before I could think some more, Albel completely shrugged off my question and left the room. I yelled after him, sitting up quickly in bed, "Hey, wait! Answer me!" but this only made my head hurt worse and I fell back on the pillow with a loud thunk. Griping and complaining to myself, I laid for a few more minutes until I felt I could stand up. No matter how sick I was, I was the leader and had to… well, lead.

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"Fayt, are you okay?" Maria was the first to ask when I walked out to the lobby, finding everyone sitting by around the fireplace and ready to depart. "We were going to wake you up an hour ago but you looked sick, so we decided to let you rest some more. In the meantime, we bought some more supplies," she informed me.

"Y-yeah… I'm fine," I lied as I tried to ignore the throbbing sensation in the back of my head. I worried that I would slow down the party, but I had to put my illness aside and focus on our duty. The whole world of Elicoor II depended on us, and my weakness wasn't about to disappointment them.

I soon found my eyes examining the room for Albel, aware of his absence. I shouldn't have even cared as much as I did, but I asked anyway, "Where did Albel go?"

Cliff, in his usual reply, made a disgruntled cough in the mentioning of Albel. He had to stop doing that every time someone mentioned Albel, whether it was for his sake or Albel's.

"He's just outside the door waiting for us," Nel spoke up from her lonely spot on the couch. She hated Albel too, but at least she knew how to hide it. Continuing, she added, "Or… so we hope." She glanced over at the inn entrance.

"Don't say that! Albel wouldn't run off like that," I hurriedly said, my voice sounding angry. Why was I doing this? "He seems devoted to his country and his king. Don't treat him like a child." Even though I was the one who said it, my shocked, confused expression matched the faces of everyone else. Why did I so readily defend him like that? Nel (who's expression switched from shocked to disturbed) didn't actually offend him. Regardless, I couldn't fend off the miniscule feeling of anger that motivated my words.

Maria cleared her throat loudly to pull everybody out of his or her thoughts. "We should probably get going now," she suggested. Everyone's gaze left me and relief immediately overcame me. I wanted to run over to the other blue-haired person and hug and give her a kiss on the cheek, then yell something like, " Oh, Maria, my savior! What would I have done without you?!" Obviously, I didn't (but I did start to consider making her the leader of the group…)

Instead, I looked down at the stone floor, embarrassed, and apologized quietly, "I'm sorry… I… I think I'm just really tired…" I was indeed tired, but more so of a weirdo.

Cliff merely rubbed the back of his head, thought for a second, then shrugged and left the inn. Nel sent one last glance at me, also apologizing, then followed the blond with quick, small steps. I couldn't place why Nel left so quickly… I either angered her or scared her, or both.

Setting her hand on my shoulder, my hero of the day assured me, "Don't worry. You're not weird or anything." First she could alter any item to her will, and then she could read minds? Amazing. "And if you need any breaks while traveling, just let us know. We wouldn't want you slowing us down," she added her last sentence with a smile, persuading me to smile with her. "Now, let's be on our way."

We left the inn, welcomed by a gentle snowfall, very contrary to the snowstorm last night (and I saw Albel standing nearby, proving Nel wrong.) The chilly air still stung my bare arms, but I managed to keep myself from shivering. I anticipated the arrival in Kirlsa. First of all, it was warm, and second of all, it meant that I could get more sleep. Until then, I had to focus on ignoring my unceasing headache, my cold arms, my stuffy nose, my blurry eyes, and my sore throat. I hated being sick.

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The sun finally peaked through the moody clouds once we were a few miles down the road from Airyglyph and a few hundred more feet closer to sea level. Our travels through the different terrains and roads were usually quiet in the past, but lately, we had been trying to chat a bit more to pass the time. Unfortunately, with Albel's presence, we all felt a bit too intimidated to even open our mouths.

He emitted a very dour aura, which even the most gregarious of people would fear approaching. I tried a couple of times to start a conversation, but it died too quickly to even remember. Hours passed on, though, and the silence felt heavier than ever. I had to do something to break it. I opened my mouth to speak, but mucus had gathered itself in a large lump and I ended up gurgling, before coughing, rather choking, very loudly. This made nearly everyone jump; I say nearly because I couldn't see Albel, but I felt positive that he didn't.

My coughs became worse, and I thought I heard Cliff ask if I was okay, but with all of the tremors being sent throughout my lungs, up my esophagus, and into my head, I couldn't even hear any other noise. The coughs gradually drained the small amount of energy that I had and I finally fell to my knees, gasping for breath. Nel rushed over and knelt in front of me. Finally, I could hear someone speak.

"Fayt, are you going to be okay? Maybe we should rest a bit, you guys," she suggested, sounding more like she was giving an order. I tried to tell her that I felt better and we could go on, but my voice seemed to have run away with one of my coughs and I failed to say anything. Nel unraveled her scarf from her own neck and wrapped it around my own. "Try to keep warm for now or else you'll get more sick." I nodded in thanks before sitting all the way down on the floor. The offer came along, so I took the chance to rest.

Albel, after witnessing the whole scene, walked up to me, for whatever reason unknown to me. He stood silently above me, glancing past his cheeks to get a good look at my face. The second time today he stood over, examining me.

I looked up at him, up through the disheveled bangs that framed his face, and saw another expression that I didn't think he could make—he looked worried. Once again, I told myself that I could have easily misread his expression, but I had seen that one everywhere, and it looked like worry. That left me with more than a few confused thoughts. Wouldn't he have enjoyed seeing me suffer? He was a sadistic, malicious warrior, after all, correct?

As though he could sense my probing thoughts, Albel quickly looked away and walked a few steps to the side of me before taking a seat on the barely-grassy ground. The rest of the group soon joined us, though Cliff and Nel made sure to keep their distance from the quietest member of the group. Maria sat closest to me, her eyebrows still stuck together in concern.

I found it impossible to stop myself from glancing over at Albel. I studied his movements as he watched a small trail of ants travel to and from an ant hole in close distance him. Every now and then his eyes would switch to and follow a trail on the opposite side of the hole. I knew that he must have been thinking about more than just ants, but I couldn't figure out what. I wanted to know, and I wasn't going to hold back questioning him like I had been doing with all of my other questions.

My curiosity finally caught up with me, and I stood up, lead myself over to the spot that he occupied, and nervously sat down. Smiling weakly (and pathetically) I cleared my throat before asking, "What are you thinking about?" The question was blunt, and I hoped the answer, if any, would be just as blunt.

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A/N: I would like to take a minute and thank everyone and anyone who has read this far! I wasn't sure if this story would be too popular, but it's been getting some +Story Alerts, which inspired me to write up this chapter in one day. I apologize for my slow updates, but I sometimes take a while with them. I would really appreciate any reviews, especially since they motivate me to write the next chapter soon. Thank you again!

P.S.: Feel free to point out any typos/grammatical errors. They always get past me, and even some of my beta-readers.