Chapter 4 :

Maria walked on the halls of the castle. She wondered if Lieber came here to ask her out again…..even if he did ask before…

Flashback…..

Maria was sitting in her room reading her favourite book. Everything was back to normal since they defeated Luther.

There was a knock on the door.(A/N Can you actually knock on the door? I mean it just goes swoosh when you're near it, right? Oh yeah, It's locked….hehe..my bad)

"Come in," Said Maria. Lieber came in.

Oh no, Lieber's going to ask me if he could go to the ball with me! What do I do?

"Miss Maria, Captain, I was wondering if…." He blushed faintly, acting all shy, "if you would go to that ball with me in Aquaria," He finished, hoping for a yes with big eyes.

Maria was feeling uneasy. She really didn't want to go with him, in fact she didn't care if she didn't go at all. But she can't refuse to go because the queen of Aquaria herself asked them.

"Uh..ummm, hey look at the time, I have to go because Mirage said I have to do something for her." Said Maria with a nervous laugh.

She quickly left her room leaving Lieber with the dust. (If there were any in the ship..) Lieber slowly recovered in her room for a few minutes and never bothered her again on their flight to Aquaria.

End Flashback…..

Maria was wondering what he decided when he finally admitted that she doesn't like him anymore. Has he moved on? She hoped he has.

Albel was in his room, angry. Yesterday, after everyone has fallen asleep, except Lieber and Albel, they were talking…friendly…..or so it seemed to people who just passed by or something…..

"Well, fool, I'm not giving her away to a pest like you." Said Albel.

"You will soon….hahahaha!" Said Lieber laughing like a maniac.

Albel, of course laughs something like that, except more evil, so he didn't find anything freaky. But found it amusing. "Why have you stopped chasing that blue-haired maggot?" Asked Albel, amused of course.

"MISS MARIA ISN'T A BLUE-HAIRED MAGGOT, JACKASS!" Lieber shouted out almost waking up the whole place in the castle. But luckily no one did.

Albel was smirking. "So you still have feelings for that maggot, then."

Lieber felt like shouting at him again. But he didn't want to wake up everyone, so he dismissed it. He cooled down a bit, and talked. "I did. But I'm just defending her that's all." He said. "Besides, like you know, I have my eye on someone else, someone who has beautiful red hair, a sexy body, and the skills to KICK BUTT!"

Albel didn't like the way Lieber describe Nel. HIS Nel. Wait a minute, she's not mine. Another voice in his head said : She's going to be. He then slowly nodded his head. Yes, she's going to be his. Soon. "Don't be too confident fool. It could only lead to carelessness."

"Ah yes. That is what Nel always say." Said Lieber with sparkling eyes.

Albel has gotten irritated with this. How can he know so much about Nel as he does! But no matter, that fool is going to lose in the end, HAHAHAHAHAHA!

"Tell me, what are you going to do anyways? I already have her as my partner for the ball. What chance do you have?" Said a smirking Albel.

"Now, now Albel, don't you be confident now, and don't think that I don't know every single word you say to Nel." Said Lieber.

"Fool! Now you're eavesdropping us!" Said an angry Albel (you wont like him when he's angry..)

"Calm down Albel, I'm only teasing you, sheesh, can't you take a joke?" Said a grinning Lieber.

Albel got fed up of this talk. He stood up from his chair. "Let me warn you, fool. If you put on finger on Nel, I will slash you up into a million pieces."

Lieber didn't flinch or was scared. He just grinned. "Well, I expected this from you. I will take your warning, I suppose. This is ….war, after all.."

………………………………………

And so, now Albel is pissed. He will not ever let Lieber touch Nel. Or even be close to her.

There was a knock on the door. Well, whoever that person was, it still opened the door anyway when Albel didn't reply. It turns out its was Nel.

"Albel, do you want lunch or not? Everyone's going to eat lunch, so I suppose you would want too?" Said Nel, bored.

"Who cooked the food?" blurted out Albel, though he didn't seem to care.

"What? Why do you want to know?" Said Nel, confused. Well it's not everyday that you get to hear Albel asking a thing like 'Who cooked the food?'

"I wouldn't eat the food if it wasn't cooked by you," Said Albel, staring fixedly to the wall, obviously thinking about something so he wasn't paying attention to what he was saying.

"Well, it was cooked by me. But why would you ask such a thing? I mean you never bothered to ask about who cooked dinner last night," Said Nel. "And Sophia cooks better than me." Finished a confused Nel.

Albel stood up and walked towards Nel. He seems so distracted by something, that he doesn't know what he's actually doing. He took Nel's hand and started pulling her while they were walking, not to the dining room, but outside, to the gardens.

"Albel, what are you doing? Let me go! Everyone's waiting for us to come!" Said Nel, struggling to get free, but his grip was too strong.

They stopped when they reached the gardens. Albel let go of her hands. Nel was WAY confused. Why the heck is Albel acting like this?

"Nel, will you ever go out with someone? Will you go out if someone like Lieber asked you?" Asked a really freaky, different type of Albel except he had a scowl on his face.

"Ummm…..Albel, are you alright?" Asked a worried Nel. He seriously was acting different. Since his back was turned to her, she walked in front of him and saw his face was looking down. She acted on her own and pushed his chin up gently. "Albel, are you okay?" Said a worried Nel. And boy was she worried. Right now, he's being really unAlbelish. His eyes had the look of worry and sadness, which he would hardly show anyone even if he was.

Truth is, he's worried and scared. He has finally admitted to himself. He does love Nel. And he doesn't want her to be taken away from him. Especially if its Lieber. "Well, Nel? Tell me, would you ever go with Lieber?"

"Of course not. Why would I?" Said Nel. Even though she was worried, she couldn't do anything. She decided to just answer his questions.

What Nel expected was a question. Not something else. But it was something else. Right now, he's hugging her. The ALBEL NOX is hugging her! She felt warmth crawling up her cheeks. She started to blush heavily. When he finally let go of her, she didn't let him see her face.

Albel knew she was blushing. He was relieved now. He was calm now. He started walking towards the castle. Yes! Now that maggot Lieber will never get to her! HAHAHAHA!

Authors notes : OK…….i don't think I did really well in this chap. Oh well, pls review!