---Aramitama soshite Kushimitama---
-Author Note- Wow. I seriously cannot believe this. o0 I'm actually continuing a fic beyond the first and second chapter. This is actually a first for me, but I seem to like doing this one, a lot. -laughs- Either that, or it's the positive feedback I've been receiving. And over 300 hits on the fic! And now at least 3 alert lists? Man, I'm seriously loving writing this fic. Not to mention I'm actually putting out at least 2000 words per chapter, which I think is a nice average. Anyway, thank you to the ones who reviewed, and you're right: I'm just getting warmed up with this fic! I guess reading 50+ romance novels has finally paid off. -sweatdrop-
Oh yeah, and if you were waiting for the whole second chapter, it's up. -sweatdrop- I hope ya'll won't kill me for that one.
-Disclaimer- In no way do I own the characters from Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. They are property of their respective creator, and I am only taking liberties with their characters. Besides, would you really sue a teenager for writing a fanfic? -sweatdrop-
-Journal Entry 003-
SD 772, June 18
When I awoke next, I discovered that it had only been five days since I was taken prisoner by Shelby, who turned out to be the assistant captain of the Black Brigade, the one in which Albel Nox was captain. I found all that out by the blabber-mouth Interrogator, who, by the way, didn't do a very good job of getting information out of me. I think he was just a sadist who didn't really care about really getting info from his victims. However, by the looks of things, my ribs had been wrapped after the Interrogator had finished with me, and my arm was now set properly and hung in a sling draped around my neck. Thankfully, they had left off the manacles, whoever they were.
I sat up gingerly after taking stock of my injuries, and was surprised to find that my back didn't hurt like it should. In fact, it felt as if Sophia had used one of her healing symbology spells to heal my back.
"Glad your awake, stranger."
Startled, I jerked up from the cold, hard floor and stared at the young, red-headed woman who sat across the cell from me. Her hair was in a bob, and she wore an outfit that reminded me of the miniskirt Sophia once wore when we had been in high school. The strange thing, though, were the tattoos covering a few strips of visible flesh. Who was she, I wondered to myself, blinking stupidly, just standing there like an idiot.
She smiled pleasantly, then held her hands in front of her, indicating the chains that bound them together tightly. "I couldn't do much for your arm, but I was at least able to heal your back," she said, answering my question of how my back didn't hurt.
Wait, if she had used symbology to treat me wounds, then this planet should be at least semi-monitored, if only for the fact they knew symbology. It had taken Earthlings quite a few centuries to learn it, and we didn't even grasp it to its fullest extent, which was why we had researchers who specialized in symbology.
Snapping back to reality, I nodded at her slowly, taking in a slow breath, wincing as the dull ache of pain sharpened. Well, my ribs were still broken, so she probably didn't know about that. Pausing, I looked down at myself and sighed. Where I once had worn my vacation shirt was now a few yards of beige and bloody cloth. Okay, so maybe she knew my ribs were broken, but I was still glad my back didn't hurt; that would've been enough to put me in a semi-coma until either or both were healed.
"Ah...thanks," I managed to say after a minute, bowing my head quickly, a polite gesture, before I sat down once more, with much effort on my part.
She smiled kindly, then turned her head to look out the bars of the cell, to the guards that were stationed at the end of the narrow hall that led to our cell. "The important prisoners are held here," she said, turning back to me. "I hear rumors that you were from Greeton."
Well, because of my stupid hair color, I guessed that's what most people on this planet would think (even though I didn't know what Greeton's looked like), so I just nodded and avoided her gaze. "Yeah, that's what others seem to think..." I managed to mutter.
Cocking her head to the side, her smile suddenly widened to a devilishly cold and sinister smirk. "That's great," she said, edging closer to me before whispering in my ear. "If you listen closely, I have plan of getting out of here, but only with your assistance."
Blinking rapidly at the thought of being able to escape, I nodded quickly, whispering back, "What do you need me to do?"
"First off, we'll need a distraction to bring the guards around here," she started, her eyes pointedly looking back at the guards down the hall. "Once they're taken care of, there's a vent just at the corner where we can escape into the aqueducts. After that, it should be a piece of cake."
"One problem, though," I pointed out to her.
Frowning, she backed away slightly, giving me a questioning look. "What do you mean, a problem? I've thought of nearly everything we might encounter," she said in a low voice so no one but me could hear.
"I can't use my left arm for any potential fighting," I told her, moving it slightly to catch her attention. "Besides that, what if that...Albel Nox fellow comes?"
"You met Albel the Wicked?" She asked, aghast, as if I had walked through a pit of venomous cobras with getting bitten once. "Nobody who meets Albel the Wicked survives for very long, stranger," she said with a visible shudder.
"He's really that dangerous?" Well, I'd guessed from the start he was a scary guy, and it looked as if I was correct. But why had he stopped the Interrogator? If he was so cruel, why had he looked like he was about to cry? Maybe I was just over-analyzing things again, but that look on his face...
She nodded gravely. "Yes...if Albel the Wicked is interested in you, then we'll have no choice but to kill him if he comes."
"Kill him!" I gasped, shocked by the very idea of killing another humanoid. I'd always been taught not to kill another living being, but I would kill a monster if my life depended on it. But a human...it was too much! "No! No one should have to die!"
"They'll die anyway, once the King discovers our escape," she said, as if we had already gotten away. "The King is known for his ruthlessness; one of the only two from before the current King's coronation to survive the reformation is Count Woltar, but that's only because he is an old swordsman and very tricky."
I sighed, closing my eyes, and scooted backwards to lean against the cell wall, mulling over her plan in my brain. If the guards came in, we'd have to mainly rely on kicks and such to take them down, but not if they wore that armor. Maybe if this strange young woman had some attack symbology in her repertoire, then the take-down of the guards would be a cinch.
But if Albel came... Even if he was one of the causes of my being here, I still couldn't bring myself to kill him. It may be how I was raised, or it might be something else, I'm not sure. All I knew then was that I would not kill him, nor let this red-headed woman kill him.
"If you can take care of the guards, I might have solved our Albel problem," I said, opening my eyes to look at her. "In most situations like these, it is best to take a hostage, correct?"
She blinked at me, as if I had suggested something so impossibly crazy. "Hold hostage Albel the Wicked? Why, that's so ludicrous-"
"But it'll work," I told her, shifting slightly to a more comfortable position so that the rough stone wall wasn't digging into my back so painfully. "Once we're a safe distance away, then we can leave him with virtually no way to follow us."
"Hmm...you may have a point there, stranger," she said, looking thoughtful for a change.
"By the way, I'm Fayt Leingod," I told her, tired of being called 'stranger' or 'blue-haired boy.' If anything, I would much rather be called a derogatory term, like 'maggot,' much rather than 'stranger' or 'blue-haired boy.'
"Nel Zelpher," she said, nodding at me. "Nice to meet you, Fayt."
"Same here, Nel," I smirked, leaning my head back against the wall to stare at the ceiling, my mind drifting.
I wondered what Sophia was doing... Five long days had passed since Hyda IV was attacked, and we were together and happy. Still, it seemed as if an eternity had passed...oh, I missed my family and my best friend so much, I had to hold back a sob and my tears. I hadn't cried so far, even through all the physical, emotional, and mental pain I'd experienced down in these dungeons. I shouldn't cry now, considering it had only been five days...and hope was still fresh, so no reason to cry...
"Alright, I've got my manacles off," Nel's voice whispered in my ear, jerking me from my reverie.
Opening my eyes, I looked at her questioningly, then nearly burst out laughing when I noticed the steaming pile of melted metal near where she had once sat. "That's good...now, for the distraction?"
"Already got that taken care of, Mister Distraction," she winked, standing to move toward the barred door with her hands behind her back, attempting to pretend they had been bound that way instead of in front. "Hey!" She called to the guards, motioning for me to lie down. "Hey, guards! This guy's really hurt in here! I think he's dying!"
Dying? Me? From such simple wounds? Well, in this day and age I wouldn't put it past the immune system of these humanoids, but I was inoculated for nearly every disease known to the Federation. Laughing mentally, I laid down and half-closed my eyes, letting me body go limp as if I really were about to die.
"Oh, not the Greeton! The Captain would kill us if the Greeton prisoner was dying," one of the guards was saying, the clinking of metal against metal ringing in my ears as the door was opened.
"Hah, gotcha!"
Mere moments later, the two guards were on the ground, unconscious, and Nel and I were sneaking down the corridor to the vent that would lead to the aqueducts. So far, our escape plan had worked, and we were very lucky there had only been two guards in the dungeon to guard us, and that the other prisoners were seemingly uninterested in the shouts, or dead. No matter, the plan was working, at least until-
"Where do you think you are going, fool?"
-...transmission interrupted...-
-Author Note- Eh, I guess Nel made an earlier appearance than I'd planned. But, as I said, this fic is pretty much writing itself and I don't really have control over how the storyline goes until it's written down. -laugh- So, yeah, don't worry, though. This is mainly an Albel/Fayt fic, so there'll be fluff...eventually. -whimper-
And I just noticed something. -sad whimper- I've been calling Sophia "Sophie," so I went back into the last two chapters and corrected my mistakes. -sweatdrop- Why didn't anybody tell me I was typing her name wrong?
So, yeah, the fact of the matter is that this chapter was a bit too long, so I'm gonna split it into two sections. I hope you don't mind the cliffhanger (if it can even be considered one). And so, I shall end this author note now, since I'm hyped up on Sunkist and yaoi and need an outlet other than writing. -smiles and waves bye-
