Well, I'm shocked at how many minions I have, but as I said before, it was a just joke (cough) weattacknextweek… I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING! YOU'RE HEARING THINGS! Anyway, I'm sorry it took this long to update, new ideas kept popping up in my head and there was also the horrible fact that I had to study anatomy and do statistics homework in college.

And of course, I do not own SO3 or any of its characters… (sigh) Stupid disclaimers always love making me feel bad! Eh, I'll get over it…eventually. Enjoy the new chapter:

Chapter 12

The concert was beyond all words of praise for both Albel and Nel, so asking them 'how was your weekend' resulted in incoherent drabbles about Nuclear Crucifixion …from Nel. If you asked Albel, all you would get was a glare and no answer. But there was another event during the weekend that neither one would ever want to talk about again. It had resulted in making Nel moodier and more prone to heated arguments with the Wicked One during the week.

But before all that, it was the best concert in all of Elicoor. Nel would never want to admit it out loud, but those tickets were the best birthday presents she ever got in her life…not that she didn't appreciate the gifts given to her by friends and family. During the concert, Albel exhibited perfect behavior by staying silent. The only thing that ruined the experience was the fact that they had to have a chaperone and the chaperone was none other then Glou Nox.

Unlike most fathers, Glou did share the same love for heavy metal like Albel did, but he tended to loose sight of his objective. The minute they went back to the limo to go home, he broke out all kinds of alcoholic beverages known to Elicoor and slipped them into Albel and Nel's tea. Needless to say Glou got drunk before they got home while the teens got wasted.

The next morning, Nel found herself in an unfamiliar bed with black silk sheets and a blood red comforter. Without moving, her eyes traveled around the dark room. The black painted walls were lined with posters of various heavy metal bands. There were black drapes over the windows that effectively kept the sun out, but brought in enough light to see. She took note of the four poster bed and the chains and handcuffs that were draped all over the posts before it hit her like a slap in the face. She was in Albel's bedroom, sleeping in his bed!

Nel tried to get up and get out, but found that there was a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, keeping her close to a very warm body. Panic arose and she felt sick to her stomach as she turned to find that the body was none other than Albel himself. And, she noticed with a blush, he was shirtless and she felt his mouth latched onto her neck. Thankfully, she was still fully clothed so nothing too bad could have happened, though she failed to notice that his hands were under her shirt.

She flinched as she felt her hangover coming. She couldn't remember anything that happened on the way home, leaving her to wonder how they ended up like this. Considering that they were both drunk, she figured that he thought he was a vampire and she had made him mad. They must have passed out when he was trying to 'suck her blood'. Suddenly Albel began to stir, causing her eyes to widen. What would he do? What would he say about her being in his bed? She wanted to get out, run home, and never speak of this moment again, but he had a rather good grip on her. She did the only thing she could think of at the moment; play dead…or rather 'fake sleep'.

A sharp pain racked through his skull as his two crimson eyes slowly opened. There was a tuft of silky red hair before him, making him nearly jerk away in shock as memories of last night flooded his mind. …Well what little memories there were. All he remembered was his drunken father laughing uncontrollably as he told them that their tea contained well aged Glyphian wine, a rather potent alcoholic drink. After that were hazy visions of…him making out with Nel. He hoped that the girl in front of him had no memory of last night because he remembered saying things that he wasn't sure of.

As of late he has been feeling…happy? every time she was in his company. He also felt relaxed being with her in the precious few times they weren't arguing. He couldn't be falling for her, could he? It wasn't right! She was bossy and annoying, she was always there trying to make a fool of him in front of his family, she constantly questioned his authority, and she refused to back down when her mind was set. He almost hated the fact that she didn't cower in fear of him.

And yet…compared to all the girls he was forever cursed to know…and guys too, she was a rather good friend. She did nag a lot, but at least she cared about him. Also, never before was he ever so entertained by her when he pressed the right buttons to make her face turn red and angry. All of the people he knew either disgusted him, made him furious, or both. Albel also couldn't forget the results of infuriating her. She had always been a formidable opponent to him, but when she was angry…she was quite a thrilling challenge. But her furious image didn't come close in comparison to her smile. Even the Wicked One had to admit that he liked the sound of her laughter.

Albel took in a deep breath to clear his thoughts and help him focus on easing the pain in his skull. He managed to catch a whiff of Nel's hair in the process. It smelled like her shampoo, which was, ironically, cherry scented. It wasn't long before his body relaxed from its previously tense form and his eye lids began to droop. Nel was a rather comforting woman…when she kept her mouth shut. His attention soon focused on how soft her skin felt beneath his hands. Over the course of the night, his hands had traveled under her Nuclear Crucifixion t-shirt, one resting on her trim belly, the other nestled just beneath her breast. Not only was her skin soft, but it tasted nice too…

His eyes snapped open again. Taste? His mouth was still on her neck! He slowly released the flesh he had been sucking on absentmindedly and inspected the damage. He left a rather large mark on her. Somewhere, hidden deep in his mind, was some masculine pride over what he had done, but the main thought that ruled his mind was the somewhat excited, but displeased (due to the hangover) feeling over the fact that she was going to be pissed.

Unfortunately the male pride surfaced in another part of his body, reminding him of another problem he faced when Nel was this close to him. It wasn't the first time she aroused him, making him think that he was merely lusting after her instead of falling for her. He was, after all, a young male with raging hormones so this would be expected. But if he only needed to relieve his lust, then wouldn't any girl do as long as they were willing? Why was he going after Nel?

His mind was already suffering and all the thinking wasn't helping. Perhaps he could figure this out some other time, but for now, he needed to detach himself from her before she awakened. Apris knows how he'd react if she made that sexy-er amusing, angry face. Albel managed to move his arms and sit up while silently thanking any existing god that she hadn't awakened. He was about to climb out of bed and hope to never mention this moment ever when his eyes trained on her peaceful features. But then they traveled down to her brea-chest to watch the steady rise and fall of her breathing…and…and…

Albel quickly and gracefully rolled out of bed before he ran out of his room. Nel let out a relived sigh as she sat up. She was amazed that he didn't shake her awake and demand an explanation. Maybe he was too sleepy to react …or maybe he was still a bit drunk. She soon became worried that his quick departure was because he was about to throw up. She remembered Mirage telling her that Cliff did the same thing when he first got drunk off of her father's secret stash of hard liquor.

The red haired teen let out a pained moan as her mind reminded her of the alcoholic abuse she put her body through last night. She soon decided that she might as well leave before Albel returned, lest a rather uncomfortable conversation arose. Once out of bed, she left his room and began roaming the halls before she realized that she had no idea where she was going. She had only been in Albel's house once before, but then he had been guiding her to his father's study to find out if Glou was hiding something.

Her worries ended when she heard a toilet flush and a door that was located just ahead of her swung open revealing a very relaxed and rather relieved looking Albel. His eyes widened, shocked to see her there as she returned an identical stare. For what seemed like eternity, they just stood there staring, neither one daring to say a word. This continued until Albel's gaze hardened and then he grabbed her wrist before storming off with her in tow.

"What are you doing? Where are you taking me?" Nel demanded as she tried to free herself from his grasp. She was having difficulty matching his quick strides and was nearly at the point of being dragged around.

"We are going to pay my father a visit." He offered no more details. Obviously he wasn't thinking anything through…though how could anyone think with such a monstrous hangover. Why bother Glou anyway? It's not like he was going to take responsibility for his actions.

Nel let out an amused snort before replying in a cynical tone, "Why? It's not like he's going to apologize."

"We're going to make him suffer by yelling at him."

"That's going to backfire," she warned, "You're only going to hurt yourself because you have a hangover too."

"I don't care as long as he regrets doing this… Besides your voice is enough of a headache, even for a sober mind," he grinned weakly.

"…You're lucky it's early morning right now, otherwise I'd have to hurt you," she sneered. Albel suddenly came to a halt, leaving Nel to crash into him.

"Watch where you're going, cerise," he growled before raising a fist to pound on the door to the master bedroom. Each knock made them flinch, but he refused to quit until a disheveled looking Glou answered the door.

"Keep it down, some normal people are trying to sleep!" Glou whined before Albel glared at his father.

"We need to discuss the events of last night," he said in a normal tone. Glou only smirked.

"What's the matter? Did you guys pass out before you got some?" Both teens paused, looked at each other, then blushed.

"…I can't believe you said that," Nel mumbled before adding in a raised voice, "What kind of father are you?"

The elder man cringed and then became offended by the remark, "What do you mean?"

"What do we mean?" Albel questioned incredulously, making sure that he was shouting, "You allowed under aged minors to consume alcohol, practically forced us to have…"

His tone kept getting louder and louder as Nel joined in the rant. Eventually they were just shouting anything that came to mind that had nothing to do with the argument when Glou started scolding them for yelling at him. Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, making all three grasp their heads in pain. They peered back into the bedroom to find Karen Nox with a small handgun pointing at the ceiling. She then lowered the gun to aim at one of Glou's prized swords that was mounted on the wall.

She had the look of pure evil on her face when she finally replied, "If you three don't shut up and let me sleep, so help me Apris I'll…"

"No, no honey! We'll be quiet…just put the gun down," Glou pleaded as she cautiously approached his wife. Nel had forgotten that while Glou was the bravest and most cunning knight Gait has ever seen, Karen was the scariest being in all of Elicoor when she became angry and that alone sent the knight running. So that was where Albel inherited his evil nature…

"Good," she growled as she lowered the gun and went back to bed. Both Albel and Nel (yes, even Albel was afraid) decided to retreat and attack later in the normal hours. Of course, later on Albel ended up telling his mother what his father did and she did all the work for him. Revenge was indeed sweet as the teens watched Karen use Glou as a moving target for her new rifle.

Around noon, Nevelle came by to pick up Nel and immediately knew something was amiss.

"Nel, open your mouth," he commanded in a stern voice. She slowly and hesitantly obeyed before he leaned down. His nose hovered over her mouth for a few seconds before he pulled away.

"…30 year old Glyphian wine…" his gaze turned to Glou, who was laying down on the couch with bruises all over his body from the rubber bullets, "Glou, have you been letting her drink wine?"

Albel's father, the mighty captain of the Dragon Brigade had the decency to look sheepish as he hugged a pillow closer to his chest, "Yeah, I might have let her have a …drop or two."

"How could you?" Nevelle's expression looked betrayed, almost like he was going to cry. Nel wondered if he was over reacting just a bit.

"Sorry?"

"That's not going to cut it! …You gave them well aged Glyphian wine and didn't save any for me?" Nel glared at her father, leave it to him to care more about liquor than the well being of his only child.

Glou suddenly smirked as he unzipped the pillow case and pulled out a wine bottle, "I thought you might say that. That's why I saved the 50 year old brew."

The red haired spy perked up, "Well that changes everything…but," he glanced down at his daughter, "It will have to wait till later because I'm sure Nel wants to go home and plan how to hide that large lovebite."

Albel had been quiet and stayed out of the conversation until he heard the last comment. He quickly glanced up before he slowly backed away and escaped to his room as Nel gave her father a confused stare.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know…" He pointed at the side of her neck, "That huge hickey you're sporting. Ah, reminds me of the times your mother and me…"

She tuned him out and headed for the nearest mirror. When she pulled down some of her shirt, she was met with a red mark on the base of her neck, near her shoulder. She was completely speechless, torn from either screaming or tracking down Albel. But above all, she was worried what the others were going to say when they saw it. She felt like she was going to faint. Sophia, Maria, and most definitely Mirage were never going to forget it when they find out.

"…I CAN'T GO TO SCHOOL WITH THIS!"


The school week went by at its usual pace, but everyone was acting unusual. Nel constantly wore turtleneck shirts or sweaters, instantly earning the attention of Cliff and Mirage. The red haired teen could almost swear that Cliff had 'someone has a hickey' senses while she was sure Mirage was seeking useful information to use as blackmail on her. They constantly followed her nearly everywhere as they tried to either get her to admit that she had a hickey or get pictures of it. Thankfully Albel was always nearby to chase them off. True they argued even more than ever since that morning in Albel's room, but she was grateful for him helping her stay away from the pranksters. He claimed that he was doing this because he was bored, but Nel figured that it was his way of apologizing for marking her…or a bribe to make sure she didn't reveal him as the culprit.

Fayt was hardly seen anymore unless Clair was nearby, making all except Sophia and Nel suspect that Albel could have been right. It wasn't long before the troublesome duo gave up on the hickey investigation to start plotting ways to get Fayt and Maria together …That is until Sophia caught wind of it, resulting in them resuming their constant watch on Nel in fear that Sophia would tell the teachers who was responsible for the chalk shortage. Nel wasn't sure if Sophia did that because she really did like Fayt or because Cliff was infringing on the written agreement that Sophia was in charge of all matchmaking plots.

Maria was practically becoming paranoid and refused to be alone or go to her locker. She was certain that unless the person leaving the gifts was Fayt, then she didn't want to know who it was. But still…what if it was Luther? He might not like rejection… And who knows what he would do about it? It was bad enough that Cliff was on his bad side. She still had the gift, which was sitting on top of her dresser. It was only missing the card, which she had given to Sophia.

Speaking of Sophia, she had been spending her time trying to find out who the secret admirer was. She didn't even notice that Nel was hiding something because of it. Eventually, she did come across a lead and decided to ask Nel for assistance. She called her out of class in 4th period and led her to Maria's locker.

"So what did you discover?" Nel wondered as Sophia pulled out the gift tags.

"I found that out of the three cards, one of them is written in different handwriting," she explained as she held out two of the cards. One of them had legible, but somewhat sloppy writing while the other was neat and elegant.

"So you're saying that there are two secret admirers?"

"Yeah. This one though…" the brunette held up the sloppy one, "I could have sworn that I've seen something similar to this before, but I just can't place who. But anyway, the reason I have called you here was to ask you if you could identify this other one."

Nel took the well-designed tag and nearly did a double take. It looked like Albel's writing! …Was Sophia trying to play a trick on her?

"Why do you think I would recognize it?" she inquired skeptically, watching her friend closely for deception.

Big green eyes glanced up at her innocently before she answered, "Because I suspect that one of the wealthy guys wrote it and you know them better than I do."

"Well …I doubt I would know them by their handwriting …but this looks like Albel's work."

"That's impossible!" Sophia cried before examining the other tag, "…Unless he is dumb enough to go to the wrong locker, but it can't be him because he's after you! …Plus, the chocolates weren't poisonous, I ate some myself."

Nel rolled her eyes at Sophia's comment and then examined the note further. After a more detailed look, she noticed that while it did look similar to Albel's writing, there was something a little off. For instance, Albel didn't cross his 't's' that way and he was also horrible at spelling. Last time she checked, Albel couldn't spell 'admirer' because he never had a use for the word.

"Now that I think about it, this style is somewhat different from Albel's," she started.

"Of course it is! Do you really think I'd ever hold any sort of feeling for that maggot?" Nel nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard his voice. She quickly turned to glare at him, "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in class!"

"So are you, cerise. I just asked the maggot for a restroom break," he smirked.

"Lady Elena isn't a maggot!" she yelled as she clenched her fists. It was getting harder and harder for her to not get angry with him, but either he was being relentless or last weekend really did make her irritable.

Albel then chuckled, "Oh I'm sorry, you're right. …She's a worm."

Nel felt herself getting red in the face. How dare he call her favorite teacher names? But she couldn't focus on that at the moment because she was more infuriated at the fact that he followed her here. He was following her everywhere!

"Do you have to follow me around everywhere? If you keep this up, people are going to think you're my boyfriend."

Suddenly she froze at the thought. …He couldn't could he? It would explain why none of the other girls in the school hadn't been swarming him and begging for him to go out with them. Albel gave her a look saying that he didn't care about what she had said in her outburst. Sophia had been taking notes on them again, but stopped completely during the tense silence and started chewing on her pencil nervously.

"…You're doing this so the girls would think you're taken and not bother you… Aren't you?" she nearly shouted.

"So? What if I am?" he replied in an awfully calm voice, "My father said that I had to get along with you and I didn't want female maggots trailing after me. It was like killing two birds with one stone."

"How could you?" Nel felt like she was on the verge of tears. She thought that he…that he was starting to like her. But she wasn't going to let him know that, "…What if I wanted a boyfriend? Your stupid plan works both ways you know. Because of you, boys will be too afraid to approach me!"

"Good, as if you need those maggots," he scoffed.

"How would you know? You don't own me!" she sneered.

"Um, Nel?" Sophia began, hoping to calm her down, but the red haired girl didn't hear her.

"Ever think that I might have my eye on somebody? Maybe I want to have a real boyfriend instead of a pretend one! I-"

Before she could say another word, Albel grabbed her shoulders and slammed her against the lockers. His eyes held a feral, almost possessive, gleam as he leaned over her body.

"I'm not going to let you. None of these filthy maggots should ever touch you, let alone look at you." He then backed away before he began walking back to class, "I'm going back, but if you're not back in five minutes, I'm going to look for you again."

She should have been furious at his words, but she was still in shock over what he had done. When she recovered though, all of the fury returned. Who was he to treat her like his property? He was so selfish that he'd go out of his way to make her miserable just as long as it went with his plans.

"Aww…that was so sweet…well it was kind of scary and demented, but sweet," Sophia finally said after putting her things away.

"What are you talking about? That egotistical, selfish asshole is trying to ruin my life! He's even trying to keep me away from guys."

"He was jealous! He didn't want you to go find a boy because he wants you for himself," Sophia squealed in delight.

"Sophia, please. I'm not in the mood for your jokes," Nel muttered tiredly.

"What is with you?" she shouted, startling not only Nel, but a few students who were passing by, "You know what your problem is? You're in denial. You just don't want to accept the fact that the guy is practically screaming for you to notice him. …Look, out of all the girls he could have chosen to be his pretend girlfriend, he chose you. That means he chose you to follow around, to talk to, to do everything with you! Even if he made it sound like he was using you, he still must have some sort of feelings towards you." She stopped and allowed a small smile, "After all, we all know how he doesn't like being around other people."

For the second time that day, Nel was stunned. It was not often Sophia lashed out at people like that. She must have been pretty angry. Still…her words were true, but Nel still didn't want to accept them. She didn't want 'some feelings' she wanted more than that.

"You're right, Sophia," she eventually sighed, "But being a fake girlfriend isn't enough. He doesn't love me, I'm just a pawn."

"I dunno, this whole pretend thing could work to your advantage. You're guaranteed to have a date to every dance and you wouldn't have to worry about another girl trying to take your man away. Plus," Sophia flashed a mischievous smile, "you know that if you spend a lot of time with someone, you'll grow closer to them and I doubt Albel is an exception to that rule. With that said, give it a chance!"

Nel allowed a small grin as she slowly nodded, "Okay, I will. Thanks Sophia."

"Anytime."

"Now I suppose I should get back to class before he comes back again," she gave the gift tag back to her, "Sorry I couldn't be any help."

"It's okay, I'll just keep searching. See you in lunch!" Nel had started walking away but then stopped when she heard Sophia say, "By the way, nice hickey."

Her eyes widened as her hand flew up to see if the offending mark was exposed. The turtleneck was still covering it. How did she-? Nel glanced back and found that the sneaky brunette had disappeared.

The walk back to Lady Elena's room was uneventful, but the red head really didn't notice. She felt a lot better thanks to Sophia's scolding. Maybe there was a chance that Albel liked her. She was three feet away from the classroom when the relaxed feeling she was experiencing melted away into panic. There was someone else heading down the same hall from the opposite direction. …Cliff Fittir. She froze in place when he suddenly glanced up in surprise before he smirked at her.

"Oh Apris," she muttered under her breath.

"Well, well, if it isn't Nel Zelpher. It's so good to see you…alone."

Almost instantly, Nel put a hand over the area her where her hickey was and quickly ran to the door only to be easily blocked off by him. He stood right in front of the door, leaving her the option to run away or fight her way into the classroom. One thing was for certain: she was not going to run away.

"Don't be that way! Me an' Mirage are only concerned about your health. The side of your neck looks a little red. It could be a rash, an infection…or maybe it's a hick-"

Suddenly the door swung open, knocking the prankster to the ground.

"The worm said for you to get back in here," said the one voice she never expected to be relieved to hear.

"A-Albel!"

He rolled his crimson eyes, "Just get in here, cerise."

She quickly obeyed as Albel glanced down at the fallen troublemaker.

"Hey," he groaned as he painfully got up, "That actually hurt!"

"My condolences, maggot…wait, I don't even care about you." He went back inside and closed the door.

"Condol-eh…wha? Man! Can't this guy speak English?" Cliff grumbled as he headed back to his class.


"Fayt?" Clair sighed as she stirred her cup of tea. The blue haired boy was sitting across from her, writing programming codes down in a small notebook he used to save all of his new program ideas. They were both sitting out side at one of the outdoor benches, enjoying their lunch break in the cool, but not too cool temperatures.

Unbeknownst to the two, they had an audience. A certain boy with a recording device was hiding nearby.

"Fayt?"

"Yeah?"

"I can't keep this up…We should just stop before one of us gets in trouble."

"But Clair!" he sounded a little upset, "We can't stop now! It's gone too far…I need you."

"Fayt-" she tried to argue but he wouldn't let her finish.

"I haven't told anyone about this so it should be okay… It only needs to be between the two of us- no one else needs to know."

"…If you think we can pull it off, then I'll stay in this."

"Thank you Clair! You won't regret this, I promise!" he said excitedly, "…And when this is all over, I'll make it up to you by buying that dress for you."

Clair made a choking sound as she coughed up some of her tea, "That wedding dress in Peterny? Oh no, that's way too expensive! Don't waste your money on me."

"But it's for your special day and I know that you and Adray are having a bit of financial trouble…"

"…But we're not certain there is going to be a wedding," she said with uncertainty.

"Of course there's going to be a wedding!" Fayt replied confidently, "Who wouldn't want to marry someone as wonderful and as beautiful as you?"

"Fayt, you're making be blush! …But still…you do realize that the dress costs 500,000 Fol, right?"

"No problem! If it will make you feel better, I'll pay for half of it."

"Oh Fayt! You're so great! I love you!" she then let out a small chuckle, "…of course you realize that I-"

With a small click of the stop button, Clair's voice was cut off, leaving Luther to let out an evil smirk as he watched the stunned expressions on Berial and Belzeber.

"A-and you recorded this today?" Belzeber inquired as he was the first one to recover from speechlessness.

"Yeah, it was during the lunch hour," Luther responded.

"I-isn't student-teacher relationships illegal?" Berial wondered as he righted himself back onto his chair.

"Quite frankly, I don't care as long as Maria believes that the man she thinks she has a crush on has already given his heart away to another woman."

"Heh, heh. Sounds like a cheesy romance movie, boss," Berial chuckled as Belzeber gave him a disgusted look.

"Don't tell me you actually watch those chick flicks!"

"Enough!" Luther called out to silence his goons, "Now if you thought that recording was bad, then wait till you hear this…"

He pressed the button again and soon the voices of Tynave and Farleen were heard.

"Tynave, did you hear? Clair is going to get married!"

"Really? To who?"

"I don't know. I heard the groom is this man she's been seeing."

"Oh yeah," Tynave mumbled, "I remember her mentioning a boyfriend that she had a crush on since she was in high school… So when is the wedding?"

"She doesn't know. She still waiting for him to pop the question…or get the ring, I forgot which!" Farleen giggled, the sound nearly destroying the recording device.

"Well, I'm sure she wouldn't have to wait long. I mean, what man wouldn't want to marry Clair?"

"Um…her father?" Farleen replied in a sarcastic tone.

"No, when I said 'man' I meant a human," Tynave clarified.

"…But Adray is a human."

There was a slight pause.

"…Really?" Tynave sounded really surprised.

"Yeah, if he's Clair's father, then how is she a human?"

"…And all this time I thought he was just some smelly primate the school purchased from the zoo to be our mascot."

There was another pause before Farleen chimed, "Well, you learn something new everyday!"

"Wow," Berial breathed as the recorder cut off, "I thought Coach Adray was the school mascot too!"

Belzeber rolled his eyes before turning back to Luther, "So why are you trying to get Maria anyway? What use is she?"

"Maria," their leader began as he thought over his words, "…is a one of a kind woman. She is the only one who would understand me and she is very gifted in the art of moneymaking. She would be a very useful asset to my organization once I make her mine."

"But do you love her?" Berial inquired innocently before Luther sighed and snapped his fingers. Belzeber immediately reacted and whacked Berial upside the head.

"OW!"

"What does 'love' have to do with anything? I merely want her and nothing is going to get in my way. Now let's go. We need to prepare," Luther ordered as he headed out of the abandoned classroom he dubbed his 'private office'.


This was it. It was Saturday, Nel's 18th birthday. All of her friends and family got up early to prepare for this day. The servants decorated the dining room and the chefs worked diligently on the birthday cake. Soon all of the guests were seated at the table as the presents were piled on a small table off to the side. It was all ready, it was all done. Now they just needed the birthday girl herself.

Nevelle checked his watch. She should have been awake by now.

"Well…we can't have a birthday party without the birthday girl," he sighed.

"You're right," Glou agreed before turning to Albel, "Go wake her up."

Without saying a word, Albel got up and was about to reach the door when Cliff stopped him.

"What do you want?" he growled. He had to restrain himself from calling him a 'maggot' because he promised his father that he would not be mean to Nel's friends today.

"C'mere," the blonde teen ordered before he whispered into Albel's ear.

He showed no emotion when Cliff pulled away, but he did mutter, "For once you have a good idea, maggot."

Glou faked a cough as his son left. Apparently Albel had already forgotten his promise, but decided to let it slide since he was giving Cliff a backhanded compliment. It was better than nothing…

Upstairs, Nel was having a good dream. A very good dream. One that just happened to have a shirtless Albel in it. She was so engrossed in her dream that she didn't realize that it was getting late, nor did she hear the sound of her door being kicked open as Albel the Wicked entered. He crept closer to her, intent on fulfilling the dare to give her a rude awakening, but then stopped to look at her.

He was once again distracted, but this time he made sure to keep his eyes focused on her face. It was really getting annoying. He couldn't figure out why he felt strange around her, not even after a week of pondering. If anything, he should despise her. …Wait, why should he despise her? She had never done anything against him and she never had lied to him. If anything, she was a better person than all of the maggots at the school put together. But…he didn't want to have any feelings towards her. It would only play into his father's hands if he did.

He knew Glou had been trying to set them up ever since they moved to Aquios. It was probably because his mother was concerned about her only son being lonely later on in life, so Glou decided to help ease her fears. He should turn back now and tell the others that she wouldn't wake up…but he couldn't. Something in him wanted to see her fiery eyes burning with absolute fury and he didn't want to be denied the pleasure of being the one to piss her off.

Albel moved closer, this time reaching out to shake her awake, but then froze over her shoulder. Something was wrong…Nel was normally a light sleeper and the only people she didn't react to were her parents and that was because she trusted them. Like her father, she was able to sense other people's individual auras and was always able to catch people who were trying to sneak up on her. But if that's the case, how did he get away with sneaking into her room so many times? Did she actually trust him too? Then again, maybe he didn't have an aura. He recalled the times when even Nevelle couldn't detect him. Incidentally, because of the times he deceived the elder spy's senses, Nevelle called him a vampire (he was joking, of course) because they were the only creatures that didn't have auras to sense.

Though, who's to say that she wasn't pretending to sleep? Maybe he should test that theory… He moved his hand to touch her hair instead only to receive no response from her. Strange. After closer inspection, he found her to be dreaming about something. What could she be dreaming about? It must have been pretty good whatever it was. Soon he began to notice how soft her hair was. His fingers continued to run through the silky strands before the urge to smell her hair overcame him. He leaned over to bring his head closer and took in the scent of cherries.

In order to keep his balance, he moved his hand down to the edge of the bed to support himself, though he couldn't resist trailing it down her arm. But despite his efforts, he still nearly lost his balance and ended up brushing his lips across the smooth skin of her cheek by accident. Suddenly she made a small noise and rolled over to where she was closer to the edge of the bed, her back facing him. If he had bothered to listen closely, the noise she made would have sounded suspiciously like his name. He almost smiled at the act while at the same time was disappointed that he couldn't see her face anymore.

Wait a minute. What was he doing? Should someone barge in and see this, his image would be ruined! He had to wake her up before anyone noticed how long he had been gone. Albel leaned even more over her bed so he could give her a gentle push off of her bed. Her body fell with a thud, effectively bringing her out of dreamland.

Her head was a bit fuzzy as she sat up. What happened? Why was she on the floor? She didn't fall out of bed did she? Nel could have sworn she heard a dark chuckle, but that was impossible…right? She didn't sense anyone else in the room. She slowly peered over the edge of her bed to find…

"No one wants to hear your wet dreams, Zelpher!" Albel smirked. Her eyes widened. How did he know? Had she been talking in her sleep? She then noticed that he was joking and stood up angrily.

"What are you doing in here?" she snapped, earning a mischievous, but very evil look from him.


Everyone was still sitting quietly as they waited for Albel and Nel to come down. He had been gone for a long time…

"Cliff? What did you say to Albel?" Fayt wondered as the muscled teen grinned.

"You'll find out. Just sit back and enjoy the show."

Before anyone could say another word, a loud cry followed by 'I'm going to kill you!' was heard. Curious, Fayt got up and went to the door to see what was going on. He ignored Cliff, Mirage, Nevelle, and Glou's warnings and peered out into the hallway. Albel quickly rounded a corner, narrowly dodging a well aimed pillow and was heading towards Fayt as Nel appeared. With fast reflexes, she slid down to the ground long enough to retrieve her pillow and resumed the chase. Before he knew it, Fayt was knocked to the ground by Albel as he shut the double doors on Nel. Just as he plastered himself against the wood, there was a loud bang that made him bounce against the doors.

"Open this door right now!" Nel screeched as she continued pounding on the door. Albel seemed to be having difficulty keeping her out, so he waited for Fayt to crawl back into his seat to make a grand announcement.

"Maggot, worms, Zelpher, and…what ever the hell my father is. I present the birthday fool!" He quickly opened both doors and moved out of the way as she fell through. Nel was able to grab onto a chair at the end of the table to prevent herself from crashing to the floor.

"Happy Birthday Nel!" Everyone shouted, making the poor girl glance up in shock.

"I give that wake up call…a nine at best," Nevelle commented as he guided his daughter to her seat.

"I don't know. It reminds me of how I wake up Karen, in fact it was an exact performance. I give it a ten!"

Nevelle glanced down at Glou, "Considering the temper on your wife, I'm quite surprised that you're still alive."

"Considering how you wake up your wife I'm surprised how she-"

"Not in front of the kids, you'll scar them for life." Nel's father now had a light blush as he sat across from his friend.

"You're lucky mom isn't here to hear this," Albel smirked as he took his seat next to his father.

Nel looked around and found that her mother wasn't here either. She put her anger at Albel on hold for now and asked her father, "Where is mother?"

"Both she and Karen went out to get some ice cream for us. …She also said something about not being able to tolerate large doses of male ignorance in one sitting."

It wasn't long before she remembered that her friends were here. Most of them still had a stunned expression while the others were amused by her entrance.

"Um, hi. Thanks for coming everyone." She waved nervously.

Mirage decided to ease her worries for her, "Don't worry Nel, since it's your birthday, everything that goes on in this room stays."

"Really?" Cliff queried as he stood up, "That's good to hear because I have this wedgie and it's really getting to me."

Mirage covered her face with one hand and shook her head as Cliff proceeded to pick at his wedgie. There was a moment of stunned (or disgusted in Albel's case) silence before Glou decided to get everyone's attention by clapping his hands together.

"Well, since we are all too old to play party games and since Karen is most likely on a diet, why don't we go ahead and eat some cake."

Nevelle nodded in agreement, "Good idea, plus we can get Sonya back for the 'male ignorance' crack…even though she was talking about you."

"I'm sorry dear friend, but she was talking about you."

Albel quickly lost patience, knowing that the fathers were starting another playful argument, "Cake. Now. Please!"

Some eyes widened at the fact that he actually said 'please' as Glou chuckled, "Alright! Don't get your boxers in a twist!"

"He wears boxers?" Cliff snickered as Mirage raised an eyebrow.

"It's better than wearing nothing, Cliff."

Maria looked up, "How would you know what he doesn't wear?"

Her answer was a smirk.

"I DID NOT WANT TO KNOW THAT!" the blue haired girl cried.

"Then why did you ask?" her brother inquired with a similar smirk.

The chef came out before anymore could be said. Nel had been embarrassed enough and decided not to talk, but when she saw what kind of cake it was, she couldn't help but shout, "Strawberry shortcake? My favorite!"

"Now if only we could get her to sing that jingle off of those strawberry snack cake commercials," Sophia giggled as the slices were passed out.

Albel didn't have much of an appetite, but he did take one bite so he wouldn't 'offend the cook' as his father would say. He then glanced up to watch the others reactions, perhaps to see if the cake was poisoned, or rather, had mass quantities of alcohol put in it. He wouldn't put it past Nevelle to pull the same stunt Glou did on him last year…

Suddenly his gaze fell on Nel as she took a bite of her cake and slowly chewed it so she could savor it. She had her eyes closed as the look of pleasure swept over her features. What was going on? He couldn't take his eyes off her! He tried to, but couldn't tear his vision away. What if someone- worse, what if Glou caught him staring at her? It wasn't long before she plucked the previously discarded strawberry from her plate and swirled it in the remnants of whipped cream. She was saving the best part for last. Her full, cherry red lips surrounded the fruit before she bit down and consumed it. When the strawberry was pulled away, a bit of the white cream managed to linger on her lips. Albel unconsciously licked his lips as her tongue darted out to capture the sugary treat. He was relieved and somewhat disappointed when she finally finished her dessert and quickly checked to see if the others had noticed him.

Everyone else was finishing up their second or third helpings and didn't seem to have seen it. Though Cliff did have a very happy look on his face as he watched Mirage construct a food catapult that should hit Fayt in the face if aimed properly.

Nevelle eventually realized his daughter was finished and cut another slice, "Do you want some more?"

"Yes please!"

Albel almost growled in frustration. He'd have to endure more torture? He forced himself to face another direction and was met with his own reflection. One of the presents was a large box wrapped in a silver reflective paper. It was like looking into a mirror. He shifted to the side slightly and suddenly had a good view of Nel digging into her second piece of cake. At least none of the maggots should catch on to what he was doing…

After finishing her second slice of cake, Sophia began to notice Albel's close attention to the presents. She elbowed Maria in the side to get her attention, but the blue haired girl was too busy staring at Fayt.

"Hey," she whispered, finally getting her attention, "Albel seems awfully interested in Nel's gifts."

"He's probably angry that she's older than him and can tease him about it," Maria replied before her attention was lost again.

"I suppose…" Sophia agreed as she studied his features. He did seem a bit angry, but there was something else there… If only she had more than just a side view of him. The Wicked One soon felt her gaze on him and turned to give her the most frightening death glare that would have even Adray bawling.

"Yup…definitely angry," she whispered to herself as she looked away. He quickly turned back to the show.


By the time Nel and Albel's mothers returned, it was time to open the gifts. They all moved to the parlor and crowded around Nel on the couch. The first present was from Fayt. Nel picked up the green box and gently shook it.

"A CD huh?" she said as she began opening it, "What kind of music did you put on it?"

The blue haired boy wasn't one bit fazed at the fact that she figured out the gift. After all, he gave everyone burned CDs of music that was usually hard to obtain, "A mix of heavy metal and pop."

"Nice! Thank you Fayt." She then grabbed a medium sized box that was wrapped in red paper. Normally she'd inspect the gift, a clear sign that she knew what was in there, but this was from Glou and everyone knew she wouldn't dare spy on Glou anymore than she'd spy on her father. It was just too impossible.

"Should I be worried?" she immediately inquired to the relaxed swordsman reclining in her father's easy chair.

"Nah, not this year. And Albel, don't expect me to go this easy on you when your birthday comes around," he responded, earning a scowl from his son.

Much like Albel, he was not known to lie, but this didn't stop her from being cautious as she opened the gift. She let out a silent sigh of relief when she found a fancy cleaning and care kit for daggers inside, "Thank you, Glou, I will use this well."

"How many times do I have to tell you? Call me 'daddy'!"

Nevelle snickered overhead, but tried to cover it up. It didn't go unnoticed by the warrior, "What?"

"N-nothing!"

"No, what's so funny?" Even Karen was biting her lip in an attempt not to laugh. Sonya had already run out of the room to let out her laughter.

"You can't even get your son to call you that and you expect Nel to?" the spy queried through a smile.

"True, but that's not funny."

"I'm pretty sure we all had the same fantasy…imagining Albel calling you daddy!" Nevelle let out before Karen clamped her hand over her mouth and Nel buried her head into the box while shaking with mirth. The others soon joined in, but stopped upon Albel's glare. He had the look that assured them that someone was going to pay dearly for this mockery of him. …Poor Nel.

"Hmm," Glou stroked his chin, actually thinking over Nevelle's words, "…Albel call me 'daddy'."

"No."

"Aww come on-!"

"Maybe we should let Nel open the rest of her presents now," Sonya interjected as she returned to the room. Maria decided to come to the rescue and picked up a small box with shiny purple wrapping paper.

"Here, this is from me." The birthday girl inspected the package, like she did with Fayt's. She stared at the little box long and hard, as if she was using x-ray vision to see into it. But considering that she could have followed Sophia and Maria to the mall made the x-ray theory seem too silly. Of course there were other ways of finding out what the gift was, like the personality of the gift giver or the weight of the materials. Suddenly Nel's eyes lit up.

"Amethyst earrings? Thank you Maria, they're beautiful!" she said as she opened the box and put on the earrings. Maria blinked several times.

"How did you know what kind of stone?"

"I have my ways." Everyone could only shrug it off.

Almost everyone in the group had an unexplained supernatural power. Sophia had her ungodly powers of discovering secrets, Mirage could find anyone's weakness, and Fayt could hack into any computer in the world. Albel was the evil incarnate of Romero and Maria was the queen of 'get rich quick' schemes. Nel had her ultimate spy powers and Cliff…you don't even want to know what he was capable of!

Next was a bright blue box that seemed innocent enough, but the tag clearly said 'From Sophia'. Who knows what she could have put in that box? But as she picked up the gift and shook it a little, her expression soon changed into excitement as she tore off the paper, "You're the best Sophia!"

"I am!" Sophia chirped in a voice that was mix of cute and mock arrogance. Nel refused to reveal the gift, especially to Albel as she poked and prodded inside the box. Fayt, knowing that Sophia and Maria shopped for presents together, became curious and leaned over to Maria.

"What did she get her?"

"A book of insults to use against Albel," she whispered back. Nel soon obtained a confused look as she pulled out a slip of paper.

"Hn? What's this?" The paper had a hand drawn picture of Roger with hearts in his eyes, staring at Peppita, "Is this the reason why after school has been so quiet?"

"Uh huh!" Sophia chimed, "I put that in there to remind me to tell you that Roger likes Peppita now. I set them up two weeks ago."

"…You mean Peppita actually likes him back?" Nel wondered in disgust.

"Well…no, I'm still working on that. But the important thing is that he is off your back now."

"Good point." She scanned for the next present to open as everyone began talking amongst themselves. Her eyes fell on the brightly colored box with ribbons. It was the same box that she and Albel found in her father's study with that mysterious bag. Could it have something to do with the mystery? Her sight sifted to Albel, who was also looking at the box with suspicion. He was thinking the same thing.

"That one is from your father and I," her mother said when she saw her reaching for the gift. If her mother knew what it was, then maybe it had nothing to do with that strange bag. Then again, both Sonya and Karen could be deceptive when they wanted to be. Naturally, Nevelle was always one step ahead of Nel, so she couldn't even begin to guess what was inside. She tore off the ribbons and removed the paper only to hide her disappointed look when she found a beautiful pair of dagger sheathes inside. They were made from the finest leather and were in the darkest shade of black. They even had little red rubies lined up in a special symbolic rune. For some reason they just reminded her of Albel, they even felt like they had the same dark presence as him and his mother.

"Happy birthday, dear," Nevelle replied with a smirk. He seen their stares and knew exactly what the two were thinking earlier.

"Thank you daddy, thank you mom, I will use them for the upcoming competition."

Before anymore could have been said or done, a very large box wrapped in reflective paper was placed in front of her. It was the same present that Albel was staring at in the dining room.

"Open this one next!" Cliff demanded happily. Nel gaped. It was the size of and average T.V. set! When she tested the weight, she found that it was no more than a pound.

"Again?" she sighed, earning a shrug from the male prankster.

"Yeah, well you know me."

She tore off the paper and borrowed her father's knife to cut off the tape. It wasn't much of a shocker that there was another box inside. She started working on getting the purple paper off the second one when Maria sighed angrily.

"So you're the reason why I couldn't find any boxes in the house. Why are you doing this again anyway? I thought it was bad practice to repeat pranks?"

"It is," Cliff admitted, "But this is different! …I used four boxes instead of six this year."

Nel froze, she hadn't reached the third box and he just told her how many there were? Something wasn't right… Still she proceeded to open the second and then the third package. The fourth one was greatly smaller than the first and seemed to be wrapped in newspaper. When she removed the final barrier and cut off the tape, she took a deep breath and placed her fingers under the first fold of the box…

As quick as lightning, she picked up the gift, aimed it at Cliff, and opened it. Before anyone knew it, a pie flew out and hit him square in the face.

"…That boy is a genius! Too bad it backfired," Glou commented wide eyed as everyone burst out laughing.

"Aw man! I thought I almost got you this time!" Cliff pouted as he dug in his pocket for a packet of gum (the good kind, not the prank gum) and then gave it to her, "Sorry, I'm a bit short on Fol right now, so here."

Everyone, including Albel, was still laughing as she took the small gift, "That's okay, i-it's the thought that counts!"

"Hey Mirage, what flavor is he?" Fayt asked as Cliff's female counterpart ran a finger across his cheek. Her lips puckered slightly at the flavor.

"Lemon meringue…without sugar."

"I had to get Marietta to make it like that so I wouldn't eat it," he replied as he wiped most of the mess off his face. When everyone calmed down, Nel realized that there was one gift left. Mirage's gift. The box in question had little pictures of Prissy printed on it.

"Sorry, I had to wrap it in my mom's wrapping paper. It was the only thing available at the time," she explained as she handed the gift over to the red haired girl.

"It's cute though," Nel said as she reached for the box.

"If you mean 'cute' as in 'butt ugly as sin' then I agree with you," Cliff muttered sourly as Nel examined the present. After a few gentle shakes she was uncertain of what was inside.

"Clothes?" she wondered before it clicked. She glanced over to Mirage fearfully, "…You didn't."

Her answer was a selectively evil grin that promised much turmoil if she opened the box, "Thank you Mirage, it's lovely!"

Nel quickly tried to put the gift away, but Nevelle stopped her, "Now, Nel, you know it's rude not to at least open the gift."

"I know what it is, really! I don't need to open it!"

"Nel…" She nearly shrunk over the tone of his voice and slowly tore open the package. She peered under the lid with a blush and was about to slam it shut when an arm shot out and reached into the box. She looked on in absolute horror as Albel began pulling the item out.

"What are you hiding that has you this worked up?" he muttered before he was met with a red, see-through teddy and a matching thong.

"You're welcome Nel," Mirage smiled sweetly.

Fayt felt a nosebleed coming as Sophia and Maria giggled uncontrollably. Nevelle, Sonya, and Karen stared wide eyed at the garment still in Albel's hand while Glou had a wide grin on his face. Both Albel and Nel's faces were was red as the lingerie.

"…I was hoping you'd wear that Mirage," Cliff whined in a disappointed tone.

Albel put the garment back into the box and refused to look Nel in the eye. The box was still in her hands, but it easily fell due to shock. Apris, this had to be the most embarrassing birthday gift ever!

"This would be something I'd expect Glou to pull off," a dark feminine voice mumbled from above before the woman's hands landed on Nel's shoulders.

Glou glanced up at his wife with a grin, "Believe me, it was something I wanted to do."

Karen rolled her eyes and motioned for Nel to get up, "Come on, dear, I have a gift for you too, but I want to give it to you…," she paused to glare at Glou and Albel, "…alone."

Nel silently gulped as she nodded and followed the Wicked Mother.


Around the end of the day, all the guests went home and the adults went out to the patio for some iced tea. It was all quiet in the house when Nel cornered Albel.

"What?" he snapped when he realized that she was following him.

"You're not going to get away with it, you know." She smirked evilly as she kept an object concealed behind her back. She must've been talking about earlier in the dining room. Did she catch him in the act? He made no reaction nor did he say anything, he only stared at her.

"…But I never seem to be able to get back at you for every mean trick or rude comment you give me…" she continued, making him confused. What was she talking about? All he did was watch her eat…and get turned on by it.

The smirk got wider, "Thankfully your mother gave me something to help me out…so now I can get my revenge for what you said this morning."

Suddenly it all clicked in his mind. She was talking about what happened in her room this morning. He said only one thing that made her chase him throughout the house with a pillow.

"How much do you weigh, cerise? I could have sworn the whole city of Aquios shook when you landed."

He wasn't quite sure how she was going to exact her revenge, but he knew it couldn't be anything too bad, "…You know, you never did answer my question."

Her eye twitched before she pulled out a small handgun and aimed it at his head. …Yup. That was definitely something Karen would give her…His eyes widened in shock as her eyes flared in fury.

"THIS IS FOR CALLING ME FAT!" she screamed as she pulled the trigger and blasted him with a steady stream of freezing cold water. She chuckled as he sputtered and bushed back his drenched bangs, but when she saw his glare, she ran for dear life and locked herself in her room.


Special thanks to Lor for poisoning my mind with the love of Fluffy and extra ideas for this fic. The strawberry shortcake scene was originally her idea and it was too good not to use. THANKS LOR! Also be sure to check out my forum The Swordsman and the Spy for teasers to any of my or other author's upcoming Alnel fics. Till next chapter, C ya!