Author's Note: This chapter is a flashback. Flaaaashbaaaack. Your regularly-scheduled fanfic will be back next update.
Chapter Three: An Elicoorian Interlude
Albel was being followed. He knew he was being followed, because he could feel eyes on the back of his neck. But if he turned around, he would only have to endure Nel's lecture on why he had to stop being so 'disrespectful' to the authorities back on their home planet. After the last visit home (and after Albel's rather rude response to the Queen of Aquaria), Nel had been bristling with anger whenever he dared to even breathe within a mile of her. It was intensely annoying and under any other circumstances, he probably would've turned around by now and attempted gutting her on the Crimson Scourge. But this was Nel Zelpher, and due to his begrudging loyalty to her, the worst he could do was glower and throw insults her way.
She finally lost her patience with him and stormed forward, yanking one braid that hung down his back. Albel just barely bit back a yowl of pain and surprise and whirled around to glare at her, but she matched the intensity of the stare perfectly.
"Running won't get you anywhere, Nox," she growled. A nerve was touched.
"I don't run from Aquarian wenches," he replied, every ounce as nervy as she was. She squared her shoulders, pulling the braid harder (Albel hissed in agony), and had just opened her mouth to reply when Cliff's voice came from around the corner.
"Peppita, do me a favor."
"What kinda favor?" the circus performer's voiced asked cheerily.
"I want you to slip this--" A pause and slight tinkling noise. "--into Albel and Nel's drinks tonight at dinner. Make sure they're sitting next to each other, though, or it won't work."
"Wait.... Say that again?" Peppita's voice said slowly, her voice incredibly unsure. Cliff sighed and did so. Peppita didn't sound any less confused. "Poison?"
"No."
"That's not the poison Fayt was telling us just came out on the market?"
Nel let go of Albel's hair. He was too distracted by the conversation around the corner to be relieved. Both Elicoorians crept closer to the wall to listen in more closely, both curious and slightly worried that Cliff might be trying to poison them. Nel breathed a soft sigh of relief when Cliff responded with a "No!" She was, however, stunned silent by what came next.
"It's a love potion!" Cliff's voice proclaimed. Albel went rigid with rage. "'The Tears of Venus,' the latest and most potent potion Gossam's come out with."
Nel looked over at Albel curiously, but he was glaring at the opposite wall, apparently unaware of her prescence.
"Oh! I get it now! They have to be sitting next to each other for it to work!" Peppita giggled joyfully. "Great plan! So you noticed Albel's crush on Nel too, then?"
Whoa, wait. Stop. Back up. What was that? Nel wondered if she had imagined that. Albel? A crush on her? Impossible! He was Albel the Wicked, not some... some schoolboy or something! Or Roger, Apris forbid! (Or Cliff, for that matter....) She stared at Albel, mind numb, but he was still glaring at the opposite wall, the claw next to her clenched tightly.
"How could you miss it?" Cliff's voice asked, scoff evident in his tone. 'I missed it,' Nel thought blankly. 'I'm still missing it.' "Anyway, do you think you can do it?"
Peppita gleefully accepted the job and flounced off, Cliff not long after her, whistling something cheerily. Albel continued to look at the wall as if in a trance. Nel once again yanked a braid to get his attention back to the matter at hand. No wince, no swear, none of his usual responses. She was rather surprised to hear him growl.
"That idiot," he hissed.
"What was that all about?" she asked, putting just enough pressure on the braid so that he knew she could cause pain if she so chose but at that moment wasn't painful at all. He growled again.
"Leggo, Zelpher." Pull. "Aaaugh, fine! The oaf and the worm are right! But so what?! Not like it's anything other than temporary insanity, right?" Another pull. "OUCH, let GO! I can get over it easily! You're certainly making it look like a good idea, wench!"
Well, there it was. Nel honestly didn't know what to say to him. She didn't think she was necessarily in love with Albel, but she had taken more of a liking to him than originally intended. He was... well, a lot nicer than he'd started off as. He wasn't stabbing pillows to wake people up anymore. And he had finally stopped trying to make Roger trip and fall onto a conveniently-placed Crimson Scourge, too, though Cliff had taken up the Roger Bullying. And honestly, when you got right down to it, she and the Glyphian had a lot in common for being from warring countries. But... she'd never really taken anything like this into consideration.
Albel seemed to sense her thoughts and scoffed. "I don't need an answer, Zelpher, I think I know what you'd say."
"Maybe you don't," she said guardedly, giving the braid another small tug. He winced. "And I don't know what to tell you, either, so don't go putting words in my mouth or I might just use them myself. I think we need to deal with the situation at hand, though." She jerked her head in the direction that Cliff and Peppita had just been in.
"I think we need to shove them both out that airlock thing that Koas worm keeps talking about," Albel grumped, only using the name so that identification was clear. Nel was beginning to speak 'Albelish', as Fayt called it, but she still had some trouble discerning which tone inflictions exactly made a difference enough on 'worm' for it to mean either Mirage or Maria. Albel seemed to know this and tended to be a bit clearer about who he meant with her.
"Yes, but Mirage also says that throwing things out the airlock means that what got thrown will die very quickly," Nel said, exasperated. "We don't want to kill them."
"What's this 'we' business? I sure as hell do." Yank. Yowl. "STOP THAT, DAMMIT!"
Nel could admit to getting a sick pleasure out of pulling his hair. "Then stop being an idiot, Albel! Help me come up with a way to make them not give us that potion."
"Or regret giving us the potion."
"...I hate to say it, but I like that idea."
"Heh."
She found herself toying with the blonde tuft of unbound hair at the end of his braid absentmindedly. She only noticed when Albel finally snatched his hair free of her grasp, cheeks tinged with red. She felt a slight blush rise at the realization and looked at the floor, but spoke as if nothing happened.
"I think the best way to get around it at all is to just not drink anything," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "I mean, if we do, we'd have to make sure not to look at anyone all night. Or until whenever it wore off."
"Hmph. The effects are only temporary. If we know about it going into the situation, maybe they're not as strong, either. May as well drink it and lure them into a false sense of security, then attack them for it."
Nel sighed and considered jabbing him in the shoulder, but Albel seemed to know damn well that he was being rude. Also, the arm nearest her was his claw, and that would hurt quite badly if she punched it.
"Albel. No. We'd need something sneakier than that, at least."
"Drink it and then spit it at them?"
She actually considered this for a moment. "Maybe. Or we could act like it didn't work."
"What, just act normal? That's stupid."
Twitch. "Stupid, huh? Then why don't we make it look like it backfired and I beat you senseless?"
He got the message and muttered an apology so quiet that she wondered if she'd imagined it. He sounded begrudging when he spoke. "...Backfired might work, though."
Nel thought for a moment, folding her arms, then slapped one hand into her palm in victory after some time. Albel blinked at her.
"We could make it look like we fell in love with the wrong person!" she said excitedly, grinning up at him. He reacted just as expected.
"No."
"You will or I'll cut off your hair, Nox."
He stared increduously. "You wouldn't dare, Zelpher."
"I would dare. And I'd let Peppita play with it."
He paled, but that was the only sign of fright. Otherwise, his perpetually-annoyed look stayed fixed stubbornly to his face.
"Fine. I'll... follow the worm around for a while." Nel was surprised to realize that she recognized the 'worm' to mean 'Mirage.'
"That'll have to do. I'll make it up as I go along, so no... getting jealous or anything."
"I don't get jealous, wench!"
She thought he would, but didn't see the sense in arguing. "I'm just warning you. If we make it look like we're in love with the wrong person, then they'll eventually do something about it."
"...And then can I at least try to strangle the oaf?"
She sighed and slapped a hand to her forehead.
"...I'll take that as a no."
"Good to see you understand. Do we have a deal? Act like we're after the wrong person?"
"Wait, wait. Do we drink the thing or not?"
"Well...." she thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Drink it, I guess. But we have to look at each other, because maybe you were right, guessing that the effects are dulled by knowledge."
He grinned and held out his human hand for an agreeing handshake. She accepted it, smiling at him, and shook his hand with her usual unintentional strength. Unlike most people, he didn't wince and comment on it, but just grinned wider.
"Deal."
Author's Note: Haha, and now it's all explained. You all see a bit of the light now, ne? XD Sorry for the half-assed chapter here, but I promised an update and that of course was when I came down with writer's block. But here's the update, and a bit of something to chew on until the next. :D Dunno when the next update'll be up, since I've got a lot of history work to do this weekend, but we'll see. Sometime next week, most likely.
Shout-out time!
Liebchen: Haha, yes, writing in math class earns me odd looks. But the teacher is cool, so it's fine. As for the potion, well... it kinda works. Not that you can really tell with Albel. ;) Hope you feel better after that test! No need to apologize for your Germanness; it's all good! :D I like other countries better'n the USA, anyway.
BiBi Tenshi: Haha, yes, but the summary also had all the other random pairings that popped in along the way in it. Never trust the summary. XD More random pairings shall come, but in the end, my faith always remains in Albel/Nel.
CodenniumRed: That's right! Complications are too fun not to occur! :D
Ice Neko: Thank you again for the luck! I actually had time to write this before Lost came on, which is very good and unexpected. The randomness will continue in the next chapter, but I felt a little explanation was needed here. Albel/Nel forever!
PrismaticMage: Haha, yes for messed-up plot appreciaters! No need to cling, I updated when I said I would. :) I agree on the Cliff/Mirage stuff. Nobody seems to realize that Mirage is so terribly nice to him and that Cliff goes out of his way to be nice to her too. And this'll end on Albel/Nel. Sorry, but I really, really dislike Albel/Fayt. The only reason it's here is for spoofing purposes. ;
AngeryRiceBall: Awesome sn. XD I'll try not to end it too soon, but I think the next chapter will be the last. Unless I can think of something to go after it all, but I doubt I can. ;
SapphireDemon: Hee, thanks. I'm glad to know this's plausible. Cliff does seem like the type to stick his nose where it doesn't belong. Originally, it was going to be Peppita, but I really thought Cliff would be the type to think it up and then have somebody else do it for him. XD I'm sure all the guys ph33r Nel's wrath.
Shiroko: And you're back! :D 'Oro' sums up the Duck Bomb perfectly, haha. I love them to death. They saved me from Luther, plus they're so darn cute! -loves duckies- And perhaps you shouldn't glomp the Scourge. It's, uh, not the best idea.
Albel: Serves you right for touching my sword, maggot! -snatches it back-
Yeah, I heard it's got a defense mechanism of its own. ;