Disclaimer: Star Ocean belongs to SquareEnix/TriAce, if it had belonged to me...the game would've been full of alternate pairings...
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Chapter 3: Frisson?
I swear that I didn't want to shove a sword down her throat to make her shut up the first time I saw her, I actually planned on befriending her at first to bring myself closer to Fayt's childhood. I can't believe how miscalculated I've been on that matter, even more miscalculated then my not expecting the Vendeeni to use a transportation jammer. It was a good thing that Nel showed up when she did...or who knows what would happen. I can't say that I'm happy though that we lost Professor Leingod in the process...he was after all, one of our only clues to learning the potential of our power, but in some way, I felt...satisfied yet...sad that he was dead. I'm not really sure how to describe this feeling.
I knew that Fayt was taking the news pretty bad, I've been at that point before in my life and I understood how he must've felt. The Esteed girl however probably has no idea. When I arrived at Fayt's room, I noticed that she was making the fatal mistake of being sympathetic and told me to show a little more sympathy towards him.
"How could you say that!? His father just died!" was what she told me.
Honestly. Everyone knows that keeping a sad person locked in their own shell of mourning, only served to push them more towards their breaking point. That was a fact that I personally know. So I told her just that. That there was no use in mourning.
Thank the lords that Fayt had enough sense to understand my words and told us that he was ready to meet the captain of the Aquaelie. He said that it was the only way he could go Moonbase and prove what his father told him as he lay dying in his arms.
What surprised me was that he suddenly showed up later at the room that I was occupying in the Aquaelie while I was doing some last minute review on some old information that I found on the Moonbase research facility's database.
"Maria?" He asked, as he entered the room "Ergh...are you busy?"
"No, I'm not. Is there something you need?" I answered, turning my chair to face him.
"I...whoa...wait, is that my dad on the projector there?" He stated upon seeing the hologram of a younger version of Dr.Leingod.
"Erm...yes. I'm searching the research facility's database again to see if there are new things added from the last time I checked."
"So did you find anything?'
I shook my head "Everything is the same as the last time I'd checked; there isn't there anything new at all. I don't think that you father would lie to us...perhaps there is something that I missed..."
"Could it be that the data dad was talking about, could only be accessed at the lab directly?"
"It could be..." I looked over the information on the screen one more time, before I turned back to him "For the time being, would you like to see the file that I could access to from here?"
Once I received a nod from him, I immediately typed in the confirmation code to gain access to the data and replayed it again on hologram projector.
"Thank you..." Fayt suddenly said out of nowhere.
"For...showing you this file?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.
"For reminding me earlier that mourning wouldn't do me any good. This was what I wanted to tell you at first."
"Oh..." I stared down at my feet, letting this information sink it "I'm sorry...I really sounded harsh back then."
"It's okay, you weren't harsh...I know that you meant to cheer me up." He said, giving me a reassuring smile. "Really Maria...thanks."
"You're...welcome...I guess." I smiled back at him. I then took notice that he was staring at me, laughing about something to himself. "Is there something on my face?"
"Remember how you told me that you have this interpretation of me before we first met? Well, I have one for you too." He grinned, sitting down on the edge of the bed that was opposite of my seat.
"Interesting enough, let's hear it."
"I actually thought that you were going to be some, excuse me but, I seriously thought that you would be some vicious old hag or a dictating geezer judging from how Cliff talks about you."
"Oh really? How does he talk about me?" I asked
I could care less about what anyone thought about me, but I really wanted to know what kind of garbage Cliff had decided to feed to Fayt, while knowing full well how...drawn I was to the blue haired college student. Also for some reason, I felt as if I heard this interpretation of me from somewhere before...
"He really didn't say much about you...it's just the way he talks about you and your personality, when mentioning something about you, which gave me those ideas. Basically...he described you to be a very 'sca-ree' individual." He made a quotation mark in the air, and then used pulled his face into a 'scary' look to emphasize his point.
"So what do you think now?" I chuckled, amused by his actions. I also find it funny that his portrayal of me was somewhat similar to those of...oh, I get it now.
So that's where those new Quark recruits got that idea from.
I was a bit absorbed in planning to interrogate Cliff on that matter, that I didn't quite make out what Fayt had just murmured as a reply to my question.
"Pardon?" I lifted my gaze to his face, taking notice that he was looking another way with a hand covered over the lower half of his face. I then took noticed that he looked a bit flushed, his face showing a light tint of red. Was he...blushing? Why was he?
Apparently my question was answered when he repeated his previous statement, in a way that could almost be mistaken for a cough...but I understood it fully.
"You...think I'm...cute? Why?" I finally said, after replaying his words in the back of my mind several times.
"Well...ever since I started traveling with you, I noticed that you normally either have a serious look on your face or a completely stoic one and that you rarely laugh or smile. But you look very cute when you do...when you smile I mean." He muttered, still blushing as he absently scratched the back of his head. A habit that I noticed he liked to do when he was nervous.
For some reason, when he said all that, I felt that girly feeling that was commonly found in those sappy romance novels that Marietta liked to read (and liked to push me to read, might I add). What was it that they called it again? Butterflies in my stomach? A feeling that made my heart flutters?
Yeah, whatever. Let's just say that he tells me one of the lamest pick up lines (or was he just saying that to compliment me in a friendly way?), and I feel head over heels happy that he complimented me. See how pathetic I am, when I'm affected by my obsession for him? That, and probably the fact that I've never been called a 'cute' person ever since I passed the age of 12.
Should I ask him that? Oh what the heck...I'll just ask. What do I have to lose anyhow?
"Is that meant to be a compliment or..." I titled my head to the side, smiling innocently at him "Is that your way of asking me to be your girlfriend?"
He choked on his own spit as soon as those words left my mouth and traveled to his hearing system. I don't know if that was a good sign or a bad sign, but just when he was about to make a reply, a hissing sound of the door slide opening drew both our attention to whoever the newcomer was.
It was the others, Cliff, Nel...and the Esteed girl.
"So Fayt, why do you look so flushed? Did we step in on a lover's conversation?" Cliff teased, tapping Fayt not-so-lightly on the back. Silence fell among us. I noticed that the Esteed girl visibly paled upon hearing Cliff's statement, Nel looked uninterested, while Fayt just alternated his gaze between me and Esteed.
Why was he doing that?
"For your information, we were just discussing the data I found whilst hacking into research facility's computer and I reckon that you all didn't come here just to tease us." I decided to break the silence, shutting down the computer before I got up from my seat. "So why are you here?"
A Cheshire cat grin appeared on Cliff's face, he was about to reply to my question but Esteed beat him to it...
"We came to find you and Fayt." She told us, I couldn't help but noticed that there was a glint of jealousy in her eyes. What did she have to be jealous about...Wasn't she the one who'd gotten to known him almost her whole life? Just a few moments of letting me share it with him possibly couldn't have hurt. "We're making a final approach towards Moonbase, the captain told us to get ready...The Enforcers seems to have started their attack there, so we should hurry." She walked over to Fayt and tugged at his arm. "Come on, let's go!"
Fayt took one last look at me, before he was pulled/dragged out of the room by the brunette girl, Nel followed suit. I sighed and shot Cliff a glare before I also followed them. As I was exiting the room, I could've sworn that I heard the blond haired Klausian whistled and mutter something about a new love triangle to play with.
I pray that it was merely my ears playing tricks on me.
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Author's note: And so ladies and gentlemen, the 3rd chapter of 'The other side of things'. I was going to do a full detailed scene on the 2nd Kirsla training facility even, but I've only gotten the Albel event before and I couldn't use Albel...due to obvious reasons (AKA My muse keep hitting me with ideas of putting him together with Maria, hence the birth of my other fic...). So I had to skip that part and used Nel instead, and to give this chapter some length, I edited yet another scene in the game that features Fayt and Maria alone, adding a bit of spice(or is it cheesiness?) to it. I hope I didn't ruin that scene completely...
Tala1: Heheheh...Maria's my second favorite character next to Albel, I like to alternate between them two depending on the situation. I agree with you that Fayt likes to just nods and go with everybody's plan. When I first bought the game I was hoping that we'd be able to choose between two main characters again, I was wishing that Maria'd be one of the two choices...shame that they canceled that option. I also thank you for your comment, might I also add that I'm really looking forward to the next installment of your fic? ;-)
T.M.M.S: Phew...I loaded one of my old saves to try and get that scene, but I still couldn't find it so I was worried that it'd turn off the topic. Thanks for confirming that for me. 3
Event: Sankyu for your comment :D I'm glad you liked that scene, I really enjoyed writing it, but I was a bit worried that it wasn't going to match that PA event as I intended it too. . , you're one of the FF authors who has a story that I'm eagerly waiting for an update.
Jonathan Priest: I believe that too...that Maria's a bit on the depression side, and that her affinity for Fayt, that he's one of her kind, was what motivated her to continue on to try and finally meet him. Anyhow, thank you for your review. D However it seems my e-mail is malfunctioning on me again, so I went ahead and posted it in your LJ, I hope that it worked this time...-prays-
Taekmkm: LOL I realized that too, that's why I decided to use the NA version of his name instead of the Japanese one like I'd prefer. and yeah...I couldn't stand to look at Sophia's face too long...the more I stare the more I realize that she doesn't have a nose. (Seriously, feel free to take a look at her when they zoom her face, her nose is almost non-visible) XP
Adam: the scene in this chapter be consider a semi-romance in your opinion?-smiles nervously-
A Lifeless Beauty: I'm glad you like. I find Maria to be a very fun character work with, the more I write and carefully study about her. She could be depressed from one minute, stoic at another, furious at one point and playful/teasing when she wants, last but not least, she has great leadership skills and fierce determination. I think I like her character almost as much as I like Albel...probably why my muse's constantly tempting me with ideas to write them as a pair.
And English is your second language too? O.O Meep! We definitely share the same opinion, because I thought that you were a native speaker of this language too when I first read your story. I'm quite surprised by this. Anyhow, I think you FF is tons better then mine, even if yours is Sophia centric and I'm not all that fond of Sophia as you can see . –sweatdrops anime-ishly-, I still think that you did a great job on Sophia's characterization and even made her less annoying to the point that I think I might be able to like her. –cheers for you to update soon-
