Chapter 4
By: Yeu
Comment: I finally finished the game and showed my sister the ending between Fayt & Albel, she agrees that it's VERY much like lover's quarrel. Then that scene in Urssa Lava Temple, seriously, those two need to get a room, with soundproof walls to work out their differences…
Although I've said it hundreds of times, I still have to get this out of the way. Me no own Star Ocean. Got it? Good.
When we left off last time, Fayt has just gotten a rather rude, not to mention wet, awakening. Before he can plant his feet securely in reality, he is thrown another curve ball in the form of Albel Nox, without his usual color palette.
"Albel… is that you?" The young Earthling murmurs hesitantly.
"Who the hell do you think I'm then? Fool! Can't any of you maggots READ?" The string of cursing emerges from the man's mouth like a waterfall and even Cliff has to flinch at some of the more colorful descriptions.
"That's Albel Nox alright." Nel concludes, wincing at a particular vile insult, which probably needs a fine understanding of the anatomy to be able to think up. The woman does not wish to speculate how Albel the Wicked could have gained that knowledge. She also has to be truthful though, that despite the handicap and unfamiliar coloring, Albel looks quite… delectable in his current state. The man is many things, but no one has ever called him ugly because that's about as far away from the truth as sanity is form Albel's twisted mind.
"I ought to put some holes in each of you worm's head so maybe your brains would get more air and become more efficient!"
Thankfully the threat is empty at this point, the swordsman's katana lays on the table near the door and his claws are no where to be seen. With only one good hand, how much damage can the lithe man do?
Apparently one should never underestimate the abilities of an insane man. Weaponless (and half-naked), the Airglyph captain picks up the nearest item, which happens to be Cliff still on the floor, and throws him at the group gathered at his doorway. If anyone had time to speculate, they might be amazed at just how much strength the thin (and probably underweight) man posses, which is most likely amplified by his insanity for Cliff is not among the lightweights. It should be noted, however, that no one has that leisure at that point since no one feels that getting a full-grown, muscular, bulky Klausian thrown at him or her is fun or pleasant.
As the party ducks for cover, Cliff crashes though the doorframe and lands on an unfortunate individual who didn't have the reflexes to duck in time with a loud 'Oof.'
"Sophia!" Fayt gasps when he sees who the one that hit the jackpot is and rushes over to help his childhood friend. "Are you okay? Is anything broken? Cliff, get the hell off of her!"
"Fayt" Is all Sophia can manage with a hairless gorilla on top of her. Tears twinkles at the edge of her eyes from the pain.
Cliff, however, is still blissfully aware of what, or who the cushion is that softened his fall. The Kalusian's head is still somewhat spinning from getting punched and thrown, both in under three minutes. He reaches out to find support to hold himself up, and is answer with a shriek when his hand touched something… soft.
"PREVERT!" Before the blond Klausian can even comprehend what's going on, a sudden tiny fist connects with his jaw, although it did not send him flying again, it still stings somewhat.
"What the hell was that for?" Cliff complains, trying to shake his head clear.
"Cliff! Get off of Sophia already!" Fayt tries again, truly worried for the safety of his friend. The girl is starting to look rather oxygen-deprived. "And GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!"
"Get out of the way." Nel said to the panicking boy, who does so. The woman proceeds to send the big oaf flying (again) with a square kick in the back.
"Are you okay, Sophia?" The blue-haired young man quickly returns to his friend's side to help her up.
The daughter of the Esteeds burst into tears in the arms of Fayt, rather she is in a lot of pain and feeling taken advantage of or is just taking advantage of the situation is known only to her.
"What the hell was that for?" Finally gotten tired of being the punching bag for just about everyone, the Quark agent complains loudly.
"For being a sicko, Cliff, I'm really disappointed in you." Mirage shakes her head as she answers for Nel.
"What the hell are you talking about?" The man complains.
"First you try to get Fayt sick by drenching him in ice water, than you do that to Sophia?" the Klausian woman sighs. "I think I should re-evaluate what I think of you."
Due to the confusion of everything that's going on, everyone has forgotten about a certain psychopath who had his color pigments rearranged recently and was just threatening the group with gorey death earlier. His face suddenly darkens at the sight of Sophia clinging to Fayt, but no one noticed that. Then he notices the state of the young man, still looking like a dog that's been thrown into water (never mind that's quite close to what really happened) and his expression only darkens some more. Everything is made even worse when the culprit to (in Albel's mind) the whole mess is made clear. Despite being still weaponless, half-naked, and one armed, those kinds of minor detail never stop a maniac from trying to kill someone.
"Wah! Albel? What do you think…! Gah! Someone! Get this psychopath off of me!" Cliff yells for dear life.
Despite how amusing the scene looks: big, muscular Cliff under the slim, coughfemininecough Albel. Trying to avoid any serious and lasting injuries despite the fact that all the latter had to hurt the former is his nails on his one good arm. They are doing enough damage to the inn as it is.
"Knock it off, you two!" Mirage said as she and Nel tries to break the two men apart. Sophia is still refusing to release her grip on Fayt, who is thinking about the almost hilarity behind Albel's use of his disable arm like a very inefficient club, and Maria stands by with an unreadable expression on her face, most likely speculating the immaturity of her teammates.
Finally able to separate the two combatants with Albel still swearing like an open faucet, Mirage turns to her partner.
"Now, Cliff, that's enough mischief for today." She said like a mother scolding a child. "And go apologize to Sophia, what you did was very inappropriate."
"So everything's MY fault?" The man exclaims. "Why don't you go yell at Mr. Albino over there for using me as a dodge ball?"
"Who you calling a albino worm?" The rest of the sentence is too vile for a PG-13 audience.
"Stop it with your sissy fits already!" Unable to vent his frustration somewhere else, Cliff picks up the challenge. "Oh I'm sorry, you already dress like one so why don't you become one?"
"Cliff!" Mirage scolds, but it falls on deaf ears.
Red eyes burns with intense anger, its glaze can probably burn through solid metal. Nel makes a mental note to thank Apris if the party should live through this day as she continues to try to hold the Glyphian back.
"Be careful what you call me maggot, or you might find your own intestines hanging you from the ceiling." The Glyphian hisses.
"Ha! Why don't you… "
"Cliff, that is enough!" The Kluasian woman said sharply, and to reinforce her words, she again punches her partner into silence.
Cliff fell backwards from the sudden attack, invisible bunnies dancing around his head.
"There, now maybe you can be quiet." Mirage said, her voice annoyed as she cracks her fists.
The next series of sound the party hear is frankly quite strange and disturbing, it takes them a moment to realize that Albel has broke out laughing and is still laughing as the others stares at him, wondering if he had lost his last marble.
"So, what are we doing now?" Albel the Wicked said as he recovered after a full minute of hysterical laughter as if nothing happened and Fayt makes a mental note that he should never try to figure out how Albel's mind works, it's better for his sanity that way.
"Let's get to that later." Nel sighs. One headache, coming right up. "Fayt, go get changed. Albel, you too, put something on. Everyone else should go get their breakfast. We can talk after we ate."
Everyone nods at the suggestion and turns to go on their way. No one notices that as Mirage helps Cliff get up, she whispers something in his ear.
"Go take a shower," She suggest. "A VERY cold one."
"Why?" The Klausian man, feeling quite abused, answers. "Look, I'm sorry I did that to Fayt, but that doesn't mean…"
"No, Cliff, really. Take a icy shower." Mirage pats his shoulder as she also goes on her way. "Your pants won't feel as tight if you do."
"Albel, can you explain what happened to you?" Nel asks later, when the party has been reassembled downstairs. The innkeeper wasn't very happy to know that he'd have to build a new door AND a new wall that the door can hang onto, but a few thousand Fol later, he was happy as a pig in the mud.
"How should I know, worm? I woke up this morning and I'm already like this." The swordsman shrugs. He'd taken the time to dry himself and put on something. To the amazement of the other party members, who aren't aware that Albel's wardrobe consist of anything that doesn't reveal what they are suppose to cover up. The swordsman has added a black bodysuit to his other set of pieces that looks like his usual getup but different in color. Most likely trying to hide the bluish patterns that have also appeared on the rest of his body in addition to the ones on his face. Still, it might be better if he hasn't; the black material hugs the man's body so tight it might as well be a second skin. Making the delicate lines even more visible and hard to ignore. The Glyphian had also reattached his mechanical arm and is flexing it presently to see if he'd gotten all the connections tuned right.
Fayt sits next to him, happily dry and sipping on some hot soup while under the warmth of a heavy blanket. But the youth can't help but to sneak a peek every now and then at his roommate, Nel can't blame him, she found the sight quite pleasant herself. Cliff, however, can. Since he is refusing to look anywhere near the Black Brigade captain.
"When would that be?" Maria asks.
"Crack of dawn."
"You wake up that early?" Cliff exclaims, icing a black eye from the last punch Mirage gave him. But he still won't look at the swordsman.
"Everyday." The tall Elicoorian sneers.
"That's because you always wake up from those night…" Fayt stops when Albel gives him a particular nasty glare that promises an iron maiden-y death shall he reveal any more information.
"What?" Cliff asks.
"None of your business worm." Albel growls. "Anyway, when I woke up and saw myself in the reflection on the window, I was already like this. I thought maybe some fool was playing a jest on me so I went to see if this stuff washes off…" And he leaves the sentence hanging.
"Did you eat anything strange? Or come in contact with anything weird?" Nel presses on.
"I'm with you lot of fools, I think you know the answer."
"We are getting nowhere, we should just backtrack." Maria suddenly suggests. "If we can't find anything there we should retrace our steps until we find out what caused the shifting of color pigments."
"Why do we even have to bother?" Cliff frowns. "Sure he looks a bit weird, but Albel's a freak to begin with."
It should be noted that it takes the combine efforts of all the other party members to stop the captain of the Black Brigade from wasting the Klausian right there and then, with his usual coloring or no.
"We don't know what caused this problem, or if it's causing any lasting damage internally." Maria explains as everyone settles down again. "We also need to find out if it is contagious."
Before Cliff has a chance to say his suggestion, Fayt and Mirage quickly slap their hands over the man's mouth. They've already reached the quota for maniacal killing urges for one day.
The workshop is as messy as it was when the trio left the previous night. Hammers aren't put into their correct spot and bottles of unknown liquid with unappetizing colors take up a corner of the table. Maria puts out where they were and what items they used last night before everyone scatters to look for clues.
Suddenly Sophia stops what she's doing and takes a closer look at Albel, her brows concentrates in deep thinking.
"What is it?" Fayt asks her when he notices that she has stop searching.
"Albel." She replies. "Doesn't he remind you of someone like this?"
"Someone?" Fayt murmurs as he again studies the tall swordsman. "… he does… doesn't he?"
"What are you guys talking about?" The Klausian man overhears part of conversation and asks curiously.
Sophia repeats her question with him and again gets an affirmative answer, Mirage also agrees, and Nel, then Maria relenctly, it wasn't long until the rest of the party stares at the highly irate man in curiosity.
"What the hell are you maggots looking at?" Albel finally spits at them.
"Err… Albel?" Fayt, the unanimous chosen speaker aka the sucker said tentatively. "Are you… in anyway, related to Mackwell?"