Title: Drag
Coupling: Vox x Albel, Cliff x Albel
Disclaimer: Star Ocean is the property of Squeenix.
Summary: Vox returns from the dead. Albel Nox is less than pleased with this development, to say the least.
Rating: M (or R) for violence, language, non-con, character death, and weird shit. Lots of the last one.
Notes: Woot, finished my outfit! In case you haven't heard it already, I am cosplaying as Kamatari from Rurouni Kenshin this year (last year was Jakotsu; trend, anyone?) for Anime Expo. My roomie is helping me out (aka doing all the work) with the scythe he carries, and it looks awesome even though it isn't even done yet. But still!
Anyway, many thanks to the reviewers and readers. I hope you are enjoying this ficcu as much as I enjoyed writing it!
And of course, much thanks to Sahara Storm, who very nicely beta-ed this for me.
ten
The news that has been coming in for the past few days has gone from bad to worse, and Nel is starting to suspect that she'll die from the stress before the fighting actually manages to reach Aquios. The worst thing about that sentiment is the fact that it really isn't going to be a very long time before the Airyglyph army reaches the capital, considering how far Vox's men have moved in the past few days.
She's going over the maps when the communicator starts beeping, causing her to jerk as if shot. She's almost completely forgotten about that other complication, although she sometimes wishes that she could have been a little more successful in really putting it all behind her. But it's always there in the back of her mind, causing her to jerk up in those precious hours when she has time to sleep, which is far and few in-between as it is.
She's up before she can completely register what is going on, grabbing the technological nightmare from the half-open drawer and immediately finding herself face-to-face not with Cliff, but with Mirage. She blinks, taken aback as the blonde waves, a reserved smile on her face, "Hello, Nel."
"Hello Mirage," she replies, trying not to look too surprised by the fact that it's her and not someone else. This is not to imply that she isn't pleased to see the other woman, but she had been expecting… well, to be honest she hadn't really been expecting anyone because she hadn't been sure exactly what Cliff's intentions were, but on the offhand chance that he really did tell someone else, she had assumed that Fayt or Maria would be the one to contact her. Maybe then she wouldn't be so flustered right now. It's not that she doesn't like Mirage because she does, really, but she isn't as close to her as she is with the others and as a result, she's just not as comfortable. She considers Mirage a comrade and friend, of course, but she didn't get to know the blonde until the end of their journey, and by that point they were too busy trying to save the universe that they never really had time to just sit down and talk.
Despite this, the impression that she managed to get is that Mirage is an intelligent, sensible woman, and may possibly be the missing sanity that Cliff has lost. This might really explain this current situation as they stare at each other, waiting patiently for the other person to speak. After all, Mirage seems to be Cliff's closest friend, and it would make sense that she would be the first person Cliff spoke to when discussing his plans to visit Elicoor II. Unfortunately, sense is rapidly starting to make a lot less sense with each day as the stress and lack of sleep are starting to take a toll on Nel's brain functions. It is apparently taken a toll on her appearance as well because Mirage decides to get straight to the point and asks, "Exactly how bad are things over there?"
She tries her best not to wince at the blunt question. She isn't sure why she's so flustered by it, considering how it really isn't too difficult to explain why this is simply not a good time for them to come down for a pleasure trip. She's been living this reality for enough time to make her want to cry and wish the world really had been erased because then she would not have to deal with this, no matter how cowardly that would seem. But that isn't an option, and so she simply tries to find the words to explain what is happening without sounding too much like a madwoman. Because once you got down to it and analyzed the situation rationally, it really does seem like their current nightmare is something out of a fantasy novel by an author with a sadistic streak.
A part of her almost wants to try lying, but what is the point of that? In fact, what is the point of even trying to explain? She knows, deep down, that telling them the full extent of current happenings will have them down here in a heartbeat, ready to save the world again. Why she's resisting this is a completely different story; who wouldn't appreciate some technologically advanced beings on their side? It might just be what they need to turn the tide, and it wasn't as if this would be the first time she asked for help. The entire basis for their meeting was because Aquaria needed their help to complete their runological weapons, and so what is the difference this time around if she should ask for their help again?
But perhaps Nox is right, and they cannot be dependent on outsiders to help solve their problems. What right do they have to ask anyway? They fought together, yes, but that had been for their mutual benefit. If Luther had not been stopped, they all would have been affected by it. Even if Elicoor was completely destroyed by this war, it wouldn't have a direct effect on them. Not really, anyway.
"It's not good," she finally says.
A gross understatement, of course, and a terribly inadequate answer. Both of them know it, but Mirage waits a few moments to give her time to elaborate. When she doesn't, Mirage prompts gently, "More specifically…?"
She bites back the desperate urge to ask if they've possibly invented a weapon that could kill the undead, instead trying to concentrate on what needs to be done. But how exactly does one explain any of this without sounding completely crazy? Granted, they know now that the reality they are in was artificially created by superior beings, and compared to that what could possibly be stranger? In the context of her personal reality though, Nel is finding Elicoor's current predicament pretty strange in its own right.
But she has to say something. Mirage knows already that there is something wrong, and she has no doubt that Cliff does as well. The man might act as if he's all brawn and no brains, but he's really quite sharp underneath that unassuming manner. There's no denying what they all know already, and so now it's just a matter of confirming their suspicions.
This is easier said than done though. Maybe she could have done it earlier, but right now she's in the middle of trying not to have a mental breakdown. The reports have gotten more bloody with each one, and there seems no end to the bad news that she has to compile in her reports to the queen and the magistrate. It's becoming too much and it should be easy to vent it all out, but Nel has never been the type of person to do such a thing. She prefers to solve the problems on her own so that she doesn't need that outlet, but it's no longer an option. She needs to let it out quickly, and what better opportunity than this will she ever have?
"Vox is back," she begins abruptly, and then there's nothing holding her back. She doesn't even bother to stop and ask if Mirage knows who Vox even is, but just keeps going forward, "He's taken over Airyglyph and redeclared war. They didn't even give us time to evacuate our citizens, instead just killing anyone they could get their hands on. Citizens of the Sanmite Republic have also been caught up in the bloodshed, and even the citizens of Airyglyph have died. But it doesn't matter to them. I don't even think anything does, considering how they're all dead. Vox, the majority of his men… they're not even alive, just corpses. Corpses that are somehow animate enough to cause so much destruction, and immune to most of our attempts to stop them. Our weapons do little against them unless the body is completely cut apart, and only the most powerful fire spells can truly take them down. But it's not enough, it's not nearly enough, and it's only a matter of time before they will reach Aquaria."
And what then? Nel doesn't like to think about the what then because the answer terrifies her. The previous war had started in part because Airyglyph was seeking to expand its lands to more agriculturally suitable lands, but what does an army of dead need with fertile land and crops? They don't have to eat, and from the reports she's gotten, the land they have taken has been completely destroyed so that agriculture is barely a viable option anymore. She doubts that Vox is attempting to conquer Aquaria for the resources her country has to offer, which then begs the question of what the intent is.
Deep down, she knows that bloodshed might be the only reason at this point. And when the enemy's goal is your death and destruction, there is no option of a peaceful surrender or anything of the sort. The only option left is to fight back, but against this enemy they're terribly outnumbered. The runologists capable of taking out these corpses are few, and those trained in traditional weapons are useless when the enemy just plucks the arrows out of their chest and continue on as if nothing has happened. How does one fight an enemy like that? How?
You can't, is the logical answer. You can't, is the answer Vox seems determined to engrain in their skulls. But if they reach that point then there really will be no hope, and then what are they to do?
"Nel, calm down," Mirage says, her voice a soothing force. The blonde is only four years older and yet there is something about her that exudes calmness, almost in the same way that Queen Aquaria is never prone to panic. The stress and hysteria is still there, but it's controllable now. Controllable enough that she can think instead of obsessing over the numbers that her reports contain of deaths and innocent people uprooted from their lives. How much more can any of them take? "Cliff was worried that something like this might be happening. He didn't want to call you on it but… well, I think you know by now that we're coming down."
Nel shakes her head even though every fiber of her being wants to scream for them to come immediately and do something, although what she has no idea. But it isn't fair to ask for so much, and the rational part of her says, "You can't. Or you shouldn't. This isn't your problem, and you should not have to get involved. We cannot ask you to do this for us."
"You helped us last time."
"That was different. I wasn't just helping you; I was helping my people too. We all were. We were all affected by what was happening with the 4-D beings, but this is different. You're not a part of it, and-"
"Do you really think we can stand aside and watch as you get slaughtered?" Mirage asks quietly. "If we get involved, it isn't because you made us. It's because we want to."
"But… but that treaty," Nel says, trying to remember the exact details of what Fayt had explained to her once after she had managed to pry the truth of their identities from them. "I thought you couldn't get involved, that you would have your own problems to deal with if-"
Mirage laughs, cutting her off, but it's not a cruel laugh. It's more self-depreciating than anything as Mirage gives her a wry smile, "Most of us haven't been on the right side of the law for a while now. This wouldn't really change anything. Besides, the Federation is wary of dealing with us when not only did we save the universe from destruction, but… well, even they haven't forgotten that Fayt is the embodiment of destruction and all that, and not to mention Maria and Sophia's respective powers as well."
Now Nel is having problems thinking of other excuses—no, reasons for them not to have to come down. It probably does not help that she simply does not want to come up with any more, which might explain why she is failing to come up with anything. She wonders fleetingly what Nox would have to say, but the only thing she can come up with is some tiresome monologue about how worms and maggots should mind their own business and that he can take care of everything on his own even though he obviously cannot, and he'd be a fool himself to try although she would probably be missing some vital organs before she could finish that sentence.
Speaking of Nox….
"Albel will be upset," she says, although she doesn't really know why that matters so much. Nox is always upset, but suddenly she realizes that if they are really coming down here, if they are really going to be able to help them… not just Aquaria but Airyglyph as well because the slaughter isn't exactly limited in its scope, she needs to let them know about what has happened to Albel Nox.
But exactly how to explain that the entire reason for Cliff bringing this topic up in the first place is currently married? And not to mention, female. Why, it sounds even crazier than the army of dead, and that is already pushing the limits of believability.
"Cliff can deal with it," Mirage replies simply, the look in her eye saying that Cliff deserves anything Nox can throw at him, but Nel doesn't think he is quite prepared for reality.
"No… Mirage, Albel is… he's not…" she struggles to find a way to adequately explain the gravity of Nox's situation, a task that she is finding more difficult than even admitting that they were on their way to being destroyed by the army from hell, "… he's not… he's different. Vox did something to him. He's not even a him anymore. I know this sounds crazy but Vox… I don't really know what Vox did and Albel wasn't being very forthcoming but he's a woman now. And married to Vox, if the reports are true."
She remembers how she had stared at the footnote on one of her reports, the note simply stated that Vox had been wed to one Albel Nox, the ceremony having been performed by Airyglyph XIII himself. Her first reaction had been not to believe it because the Nox she knows would never allow such a thing to happen, but stranger things have happened in the past few days. Like the fact that he's stayed behind to try and figure out the truth behind Vox's reappearance, although what good that will do she really has no idea. It's not that she thinks Nox is being foolish, but she's worried that he doesn't know what he's gotten himself into. Being the wife to a madman cannot be good, especially considering what else has happened to him.
Mirage has yet to reply to this revelation, although Nel isn't really sure how she can. This news is more than a little startling and disturbing at that, and the normal reaction would be to ask if she has been drinking or, if it is Claire, asking if she has taken to hitting herself in the head with her dagger hilts. But Mirage is not that type of person, and she doesn't really know what kind of reaction people like Mirage could have to something like this.
"I'll tell Cliff," Mirage finally says. It's an inadequate response, to say the least, but under the circumstances it's more than Nel could have expected. Reasonably, anyway, and at the moment Nel is not sure she falls into the category of reasonable, but then Mirage adds, "He might be pleased. He likes breasts."
Nel laughs. She can't help it, and it's really not the time for it, but something about the matter-of-fact way Mirage put it and the fact that they might be getting help and the fact that they might not really be facing their destruction after all, and Nel finally just laughs for the first time since any of this has started. It doesn't last long, but the very fact that it happened is enough for her right now, and Mirage looks pleased that she has managed to help out in this way, at least.
"I know you don't like the idea that we're coming," she says simply when the laughter finally dies down enough that Nel can pay proper attention, "but none of us like the idea that you might all be destroyed either. It may be selfish, but we can't just sit back and let you all get wiped out by something that shouldn't exist. Besides, Vox is indirectly our fault too, since he might never have died if it wasn't for Cliff and Fayt being there. And then what might have happened?"
Well, things might have ended up this way anyway, but Nel bites back that point. After all, things could have been better too. But it does not matter how things could have been as long as you needed to worry about how things currently were because what was the point of that? They have more than enough troubles in their present to worry about a vague alternate reality.
"Thank you, Mirage," she says finally. And it really is such an inadequate response, but what else is she supposed to say right now?
"No problem. We've already contacted the others. Maria's here already and we're on our way to pick up Fayt and Sophia. We were planning on making a direct course for Elicoor after that, but with your new information I think we might need to make some plans first."
She almost stammers another thanks, but training takes over and instead she starts to stand, "I will need to inform the queen of this development."
"Sure. We'll try to be there as soon as possible, and we'll let you know when we're in the vicinity. You can hang on until then, right?"
Nel gives her a sardonic smile, but even then it's still the first honest smile she's managed to get out in days, "It is not like we have a choice. If worse comes to worst, we can always send Adray. He's gotten restless since Clair has sworn off marriage, and I think he'll be happy to have something to do now that his plans have gone astray."
Somehow Mirage manages to keep a straight face as she remarks dryly, "Well, if there is one thing that can terrify an army of dead, I think Adray might just be it."
Either that or Albel Nox PMSing, but Nel wisely decides to keep that last thought to herself.
End Notes:
Albel PMSing is a terrifying prospect indeed. Yet I have a feeling I would laugh if it happened, as long as I was a safe distance away. With protective shields, preferably….
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