Chapter Four
Fayt, Maria, and Woltar were walking down the hall, laughing about their brilliant idea, when they noticed Albel running towards them with a mad fury in his eyes Woltar quickly recognized. He dashed at Woltar and tried to punch him, but as always, Woltar grabbed his arm and stopped him midway.
"Where's Nel!" Albel demanded.
"What are you yelling about now, boy?" Fayt and Maria were surprised at how calm Woltar was.
"Where's Nel!" Albel repeated, louder now. "I know you took her!" Albel was still struggling against Woltar.
"We've done nothing with Ms. Zelpher," Woltar replied, Albel getting angrier each second.
"Lie!" Albel yelled, pushing forward.
"Control yourself, boy!" Woltar answered, his voice raised, and pushed Albel into the wall. Silence struck the hall-Fayt and Maria staring and watching in worry and concern, Woltar simply standing calmly opposite of Albel, who was shaking uncontrollably in anger. "Now what are you talking about?"
"How could Woltar have done something with Nel? He's been here with us, and Nel's been with you," Maria said as-matter-of-factly. Albel glared at her and Fayt.
"You two left us, you knew! You had this all planned out! Just tell me where Nel is now!" No one spoke.
"It's true we knew Woltar's plan, and we did leave because of it, but...," Fayt began.
"Nel was never intended to be taken. Who took her?" Maria finished. Albel began to shake a little less, trying to calm down.
"They had your technology," Albel told them. "And they wore strange black armor. They were so many of them...I...I couldn't save her!" Albel slammed his fist against the wall, his anger focused on himself now. It was because I was weak my father died and it's because I was weak Nel's been kidnapped! Why is it I'm never strong enough! I want to save them! I couldn't protect her...I...Albel caught himself. What am I thinking? Why should I care? She's the enemy! ...But she's strong...stronger than I could ever be..."I'm such a fool," Albel said to himself, bowing his head. Everyone stared at him, unsure of what to say. He was trembling again-but this time not from anger.
The silence seemed to go on for hours, like they had been frozen trying to figure out what to say. Albel took a deep breath and straightened himself. Without saying a word, he simply turned an began to slowly walk away, avoiding their eyes.
"Where are you going?" Maria called after him, sounding commanding as always.
"To find Nel. This was clearly a waste of my time."
"We're coming too!" Fayt said suddenly, pulling Maria with him as he went to catch up with Albel. Albel stopped and looked at them.
"I don't need your help, maggots." Fayt had that irritating determined look in his eyes, the one Albel found very annoying but still a little respectable.
"Need it or not, I feel somewhat responsible," Fayt replied. (If you feel responsible, why am I coming too? Maria sighed.) Albel smirked, getting his cool back.
"Alright, just prove yourself useful or I'll have to kill you." Fayt grinned.
"Oh, don't worry about me," he responded. The group left, completely forgetting about Woltar, who watched and wondered how they had so quickly gotten Albel's respect-something it had taken him years to do. He wished them luck though, hoping everything would turn out okay for everyone.
"So how do you propose we find her?" Albel asked Fayt once they got outside.
"I was thinking we should contact Blair for help," Fayt answered. The thought bothered Albel a bit. Blair would be helpful, but to contact her they'd need Sophia, would probably get a ride with Cliff, who would undoubtedly bring Mirage, who would have gotten Maria if she hadn't already been with them. In other words-this would turn into some wacky reunion.
"Good idea. I'll call Cliff to get Sophia," Maria nodded, walking off for a minute to use her communicator.
"I didn't realize allowing you to help allowed everyone to help, maggot," Albel sighed. Fayt shrugged.
"You also don't realize when to ask for help."
"I don't need help, you wanted to come fool."
"Right, right...," Fayt smiled, irritating Albel even more. Why was the idiot so happy all the time? Maria came back over to them.
"He's on his way to get her, Mirage too," Maria informed them. Fayt nodded.
"Of course, you can't get one person without bringing everyone back together," Albel sighed yet again.
"Hey, we all want to get Nel back-we were all her friend," Maria said coldly. Albel grinned.
"And this is coming from one of the two fools who left us before she was taken?"
"You're never going to let that go, are you?"
"No, should I?" Albel laughed.
"Chill-killing each other won't help us get Nel back," Fayt intervened before their argument turned into an inevitable fight.
"It's just some good clean fun," Albel replied, still smiling.
"Someone's in a good mood all of a sudden," Maria mumbled.
"What are you talking about?" Albel questioned coolly, no longer smiling. Fayt and Maria both sighed, which Albel couldn't help but smile at. He didn't know why, but being with them again seemed to make him feel better-though he wouldn't admit it.
Ahhh, the words! They burnnnnn! I made so many mistakes in this chapter it isn't even funny...Woltar became Waltor and Wolatr a number of times, Maria because Mirage somehow at one point, and Albel and one point repeated the same sentence at least three times. And let's not forget how I forgot to turn italics off and didn't realize it right away...maybe I should go to bed now...() Oh, yeah, chapter five is pretty darn long too...
(At this point, I was seriously considering just dropping the story as I tend to do, but my wonderful friend who I love very much implied some sort of threat that if I didn't finish this story I would face a painful death involving flaming forks, random holes, and a clown obsessed with spell check...)
next chapter: Everyone shows up and everyone forgets why the heck they're there...
