Disclaimer: Star Ocean: Till the End of Time belongs to the wonderful people at Tri-Ace. I am making no money off of this story.
Warning: This fic is Rated R for a reason. There really isn't anything violent in this part, but there will be adult subject matter later in the story.
Another Warning: This fic will eventually be Fayt/Albel. If that kind of thing offends you, then please don't read this story.
AN: w00t! Chapter 1 is done! (does little happy dance) Sorry about the delay on this one, I've been uber-busy these past few weeks. This chapter will deal with Fayt and Sophia on their vacation. Both part 1 and 2 of Chapter 1 had loads of foreshadowing (bet ya didn't notice, heh? Probably scurrying to re-read them now, heh?).
I hope this part isn't too boring. I wasn't really sure where to take it at first. I'm pleased with how the dream in the middle turned out, though.
CHAPTER 1 IS RE-UPLOADED AND EDITED! PLEASE RE-READ IT!
Onward!
Catch Me When I Fall From Grace Ch. 2 - Collapse of Frailty
"Fayt! Fayt! There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!" Fayt looked up as the young girl stalked into the room. 'Oh no, I forgot about that,' he mentally cringed. The young brunette placed her hands on her hips. "You promised you'd come and have lunch with me!" she whined.
"Sorry, I lost track of the time." Fayt stood up to greet her. "We can go out to lunch tomorrow. I promise. I'll even have the computer remind me." Sophia continued to glare. Fayt ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. I was playing in the battle simulator and lost track of time. It won't happen again."
"Fayt, we've been her for two weeks, and we only have two more 'til we leave. You haven't spent any time with me at all!" She stamped her foot in mock impatience. "I'm beginning to think you like your videogames more than you like me!" She teased. Fayt didn't dare break her quickly improving mood by telling her that she was right. He did like the battle sim more than her.
Fayt would never know why she had chosen him. The only time she ever said much of anything to him was when their parents got together.
She was a preppy. All of the teachers loved her, she had millions of friends, and half of the boys would sell their souls for a chance with her. Fayt was the punching bag for all of those boys. When she walked through the hall, girls waved hello and guys stopped to stare. When he walked through the hall, the girls laughed and all of the boys shoved him into the walls.
There was one big problem with their 'relationship.' He didn't like girls like her. She was a… kind of a twit. And she liked him. While Fayt didn't dislike her, he would certainly never consider having a relationship with her.
"Look, Sophia. I'm under a lot of pressure. College is a lot harder than what you're used to. I just need a little time to myself to wind down. I know it seems like I'm ignoring you, but I'm not trying to. I'll spend more time with you form now on, promise." Gag. Fayt flashed his puppy-dog smile, and Sophia melted.
"Oh, Fayt, I understand. You have a lot of stress, especially going into Symbology." She patted his arm reassuringly. "So it's a date?"
"Yeah, tomorrow at 11:00. I'm sorry to run off like this, but I've gotta go. I was just heading off to work on my final report when you arrived." Fayt quickly bowed and headed toward the door. "See ya!" He called before he walked out.
"Bye!" She waved at him. When he was gone she muttered softly under her breath. "I'm not an idiot, Fayt. You weren't going anywhere, you were sitting down." Then she sighed and left to look for Aunt Ryoko.
"Agh!"
CRACK
Fayt stumbled backwards at the force of the blow. "Oh yeah? We'll just see about that!" He landed a powerful kick to the back of the Dire Wolf's head. A giant bat swooped down and clipped his leg, knocking him off balance.
He toppled to the ground. The Dire Wolf spun around and lunged at him. The system lights went on and he stood up.
"Fayt Leingod. 38 wins, 1 lose. Your Win/Lose ratio is now 38:1. Congratulations, Mr. Leingod, you've set a new record for the Hyda IV battle simulator system." The computer menu appeared in front of him, prompting him to either give up or continue.
"Computer, shut off the battle simulation system. I'm done for today." Fayt ran a hand through his head. 'I just can't concentrate. Not with Sophia breathing down my neck.' He walked out into the lobby and picked up his school books. He had brought them with him on the off chance Sophia had come looking for him and asked him where he was going. His excuse was going to be that he had wanted some fresh air, but as it had turned out, he wouldn't have needed the cover story anyway.
Fayt left the lounge area and headed for his room.
"Fayt!"
"Mom! Sophia!" The green flames licked at his face. They were so cold. Fayt squinted through them. "Dad! Where are you guys?" He called out. They were out there, he had heard his mother.
As Fayt stood looking through the darkness and emerald flames, he felt very lonely. What is this place? He began walking forward. As he walked the flames crystallized around him forming a green shimmering tunnel. Like the fire is freezing…He paused and looked into the glowing depths of one of the walls. Reflected within there were a million Fayts, all doing something different. There was a Fayt that was crying, and a tiny little Fayt that was eating a hamburger, and, he noticed with amusement, a tiny little Fayt watching an erotic movie on the computer terminal.
"How strange…" he reflected aloud. Then he continued through the green ice tunnel. He walked for what seemed like years, But there is no 'time' here, is there? until he heard a noise. It sounded like a small child crying. He hurried toward the sound.
"Hey! Is anyone there?" He called out to the child. At last, in the darkness, he came upon the boy. It's me! It was him, but much younger. I must have fallen out of the wall… He walked toward himself. He walked toward the blue-haired boy kneeling on the ground and crying into his hands.
"Are you alright?" The boy looked up at him. Fayt stepped back. It wasn't him. "Who are you?" he asked himself. It's me, but it's not me… The child sniffed and wiped it's face on it's sleeve. Then he stood up.
But he didn't just stand up, he changed. That's me… The man that the child (Fayt…) changed into was not someone Fayt had ever seen before. He looked into the man's eyes and saw Red. The man reached out to him. Fayt grabbed the man's hand, but as he did he saw that his skin was being sliced. The man was cutting him somehow. But he's not touching me there. Indeed, the thin lines of blood that were appearing weren't being caused by anything Fayt could feel.
"You…" the man said. "…Don't" He shook his head at Fayt. Don't what? "Don't leave. I hate you, but don't leave."
"I won't," Fayt assured the man. The scratches on his hand were gone now. "I won't leave, but I don't hate you. I promise." He gripped the strange man's hand tighter.
"Don't fall," the man warned.
"I won't."
"Don't fall…" the man repeated, but the rest of the warning was lost on Fayt. He couldn't see. All he could see was…
Red. And he fell.
Fayt woke up the next day with his hands bleeding where he had dug his fingernails into his palms during the night. After rinsing off most of the blood he went to meet Sophia. He had slept in until 10:00.
He walked into the lounge area at the center of Hyda IV. Sophia was already sitting on a bench waiting for him. She waved and stood up to greet him.
"Hey Fayt," she called as he got closer. He stopped when he got in front of her. "I was thinking that maybe we could go to the café by the beach. It looks really cute, I bet they have good food!" she bubbled.
"Sounds great," he said, reluctantly.
"Oh, come on! You could try and sound a bit more enthusiastic than that!" Sophia scolded. Fayt just rolled his eyes. "Don't roll your eyes at me. If you tried to be a bit more friendly, you might have a few more friends." It was an unspoken rule that they never spoke about each other's social status while away from school. Sophia had crossed a line when she had talked about Fayt's friends.
"Don't talk about my social life as if it's something a can just change by smiling and talking to people." Fayt snapped. "It's not as if you've ever had to worry about your class not liking you. Some of us don't have the entire school drooling over us wherever we go!"
"I'm sorry," Sophia mumbled, and Fayt noticed she was crying. Unfortunately he was too mad at her to care about whether or not she was sorry she was a spoiled brat.
"Yeah, well, leave me the hell alone!" he hissed, and stormed out of the room.
Sophia sat back down in her chair, and with tears still running down her face, took a sip of her strawberry milkshake.
Later he would look back on their argument and realize shouting at her wasn't the most mature thing to do, particularly since he rarely swore around anyone save his few close friends. Still, it had served the purpose of keeping her away from him for awhile.
Fayt spent the next few days researching the famous Battle-Sim fighter Alsair Souffre. He really was a fascinating person. He was only eighteen, but he already had a win lose ratio of 323:1. He was also very attractive, of course Fayt would eat his own intestines before letting anyone else know that, even his best friend Sophia. Especially Sophia.
With only a week and a half left of his vacation, Fayt turned off the computer terminal and fell asleep.
I apologize for the extreme shortness of this chapter. The author's notes are probably longer than the actual chapter. I tried to make it longer, but drama on Hyda is kinda boring to write about, and even more boring to read about. When I get the next Albel Chapter up (and maybe an Arzei one, too) I'll post the conclusion to the events on Hyda.
Reviewers: Thank you to the people that took the time to read my story. I have the worst luck with these things. I'll post a story, and even though every other new story in the category gets about 3 reviews for the first chapter, I generally only get…one…if I'm lucky.
Questions….
Maya: No, they won't be a couple. The King does sort of flirt with him here and there, but it's nothing I'm going to develop…much. (oops, gave away a tiny plot point)
And to everyone else who reviewed, thank you so much for your support.
Kaorustalker30: It was so nice to hear from you! It's nice to know what I'm doing right in a fic. I hope you review again!
Terra, KinOfDragons, Minako, Rainbow, Opressed Tree, Pyroclastic Flow, and Silver Raven 014, thank you!