Here is Chapter V. Sorry it took so long to update. I've been distracted. I hope you have enjoyed my story so far for those who have read up to this point. I looked on my Hits thing and the number halves on each chapter. It was like this: Chapter I four hundred something; Chapter II two hundred something; Chapter III seventy something and blah, blah, blah.

Before going on, I would like to thank those who've read my story all the way. It seems like there are only die hard fans reading now. I am thankful for your continued support.

Well, I'll be moving on now. Enjoy Chapter V!

Chapter V: The Day Before Tomorrow

So they're back already? Albel thought as he walked down the halls heading for the stairs. Well, at least I was saved the hassle of doing the job myself. But how did she know? I want to know.

He reached the audience chamber. The queen was not sitting on the throne at the moment. The only other living soul in the room was Magistrate Lasselle. He was just standing in his usual post with his same serious face staring off into nowhere.

Albel opened the doors leading to the White Dew Garden. His first sight was what he had expected. Aquaria XXVII's back was turned to him as she gazed upon the entire group. Fayt and Sophia were happily chatting away with Nel. Peppita was prancing around enjoying what little the garden had to offer. Maria, Cliff, and Mirage stood around appearing to be waiting for something. Suprisingly, Adray wasn't there.

Nel slightly turned her head and saw Albel out of the corner of her eye. She quickly faced away resuming her conversation with Fayt and Sophia.

"What do you know?" said Cliff seeing him. "He's here. About time. I was wondering when you would show."

The rest of the group, including the queen, looked his way as well.

"Haven't seen you in a while," Fayt said. "Nel called us here. So Greeton really is attacking your country as well as hers?"

"I'm sorry to interupt this reunion," said the queen, "but I have arranged a feast for all of you. Once we have all eaten a bit, we can discuss the situation further."

Everyone seemed to agree and followed Aquaria XXVII inside. They were all wondering where they were going to eat and it seemed the feast was being held in the queen's audience chamber. A long table covered in a red table cloth sat in the middle of the marble floor. Several chairs had been placed along the edges.

As he sat in a chair, Albel realized how hungry he was all of a sudden. He hadn't eaten since he left Airyglyph yesterday after finally healing. Now he knew why he was going soft these last few days. It was because he didn't have enough energy to even mock other people let alone kill anything. And that's the reason he almost tried the Guild Master's 'plate of heaven.' It was out of hunger. But then how come he managed to pull off that episode with the runologists last night? He was too hungry to think about it nor did he really even care. The action was coming soon, everyone was here. He was going to be back to his old self soon and nothing was going to get in his way. Not death, not fear, and definently not the past.

As the many trays of food were being placed upon the table, a voice rang out suddenly.

"Hey, wait for me! I smell chicken wings!"

Nel shook her head as if she knew who it was. And it was someone quite familiar. Roger S. Huxley waltzed into the chamber and immediately plopped his little Menodix rump in a chair.

"How ya'll doing?" he asked with a big cheesy smile.

"Who is he? He looks strangely familiar. Roger?" questioned Aquaria XXVII.

"Yep, it's me! I see you didn't invite me. I saw your celestial ship and started running after it. And look where I have ended up! Just in time to eat, too!"

"Too bad, I thought we could get away with leaving him behind," said Albel in a mocking tone.

"Well, you were wrong!"

Roger stuck his tongue at Albel.

"Why stop there?" he asked himself jumping onto the table.

"Roger," the Queen of Aquaria said.

"You couldn't ditch me! Nyah, nyah! Loser!"

He shook his tail everywhere. Disturbingly, his butt went with it.

"Roger, please get off the table," Aquaria XXVII ordered politely.

"You can't ditch me! Ha, ha, ha! You can't stop me from doing my dance! Whoa, look at me and my bad self! How do you like my behind? Ho!"

"Everybody duck!" cried Nel. "Lightning Blast!"

The entire group ducked their heads just in time as bolts of lightning erupted from Nel's palm. Roger ran off the table yelping to avoid further shocking. He didn't look very happy at what his 'beautiful Nel the savior' had done to him.

"Okay, I'll be good," he said. "But you didn't have to give me static cling, woman."

"Well, now that that's settled, you shall all enjoy the feast," the Queen of Aquaria announced. "Before starting, though, I want to say that both the countries of Aquaria and Airyglyph are very grateful to have all of you defend us again. We are all in your debt."

She bowed before returning to her throne. Roger started eating first grabbing at whatever he could reach. The rest followed but more politely.

Albel only took a few things. Cliff had a food mountain piled on his plate. He seemed to add more to it just to see how tall he could get it. The sight of it made Albel hungrier. Mirage glanced at the plate and rolled her eyes.

"Don't play with your food, Cliff," she said smiling.

"Hey, I gotta get as much food as I can before everyone else takes it. Then I'll be set."

"This is gooood!" Roger complimented spraying those nearby with bits of food. "Too bad I can't tip the chef. I don't have any Fol."

"Honestly, Roger. Couldn't you finish what's in your mouth before talking?" Peppita asked annoyed.

"No."

"Does anyone wanna talk about something else?" Fayt questioned raising his voice over all of them.

"So much for a pleasant feast," said Nel.

"It's too early in the day for a feast anyway. Everyone gets too restless unless it's at night when we've all had a long day," Sophia said.

"But I'm hungry now! Me want food!" yelled the Menodix boy.

"Hey, that's from my plate!" said Maria.

"I think the food mountain is collapsing," Cliff said getting quiet.

Albel couldn't eat through all of this commotion but the show was pretty interesting. He decided to let it go on a little while longer. Besides, it probably wouldn't go on for much longer if the queen really cared enough to stop this mini-feud. Actually, he wondered why Aquaria XXVII wasn't doing anything. But why did he care anyway?

"TIMBER!" yelled Roger as the mountain on Cliff's plate started swaying.

"Cliff, would you eat before it falls over?" Mirage asked.

"Okay, okay!"

"I swear...," mumbled Nel.

"Please, can't we have a nice breakfast?" inquired Sophia. "Fayt, this isn't going well."

"I know."

"I lost my appetite anyway," Maria said resting her chin on her hands.

"Something's missing," said Peppita.

"Yeah, a food fight!" said Roger.

"No!" Nel yelled sternly.

"Aw, man..."

"It's falling over! Someone help me eat it!" Cliff yelled stuffing his face.

"I told you not to play with your food," said Mirage.

Now it was getting out of hand. This feast was becoming annoying and the queen obviously wasn't going to do anything. Albel tried glancing over at the Queen of Aquaria only to find that she wasn't even sitting on her throne. Magistrate Lasselle wasn't anywhere to be seen either.

He couldn't take it anymore. He had to stop this himself. The next thing he knew, Albel was yelling as loud as he could.

"Would you all just shut up? You maggots are acting like a bunch of rabid animals here! Would it kill you to SHUT YOUR MOUTHS?"

Everyone immediately became silent and looked at him. They all stared ready to listen to whatever else he had to say. He didn't have anymore to say though. All he had was a glare but it did enough. Albel got up and left the room. The room was still silent even as he left. That's what he had been aiming for.

Albel wasn't heading anywhere in particular. Anywhere was better than in the audience chamber with the rest of them. They probably all thought he hadn't changed at all. The group saw a little bit of the old Albel just then. Albel was a little happy at that thought. He didn't want to go soft. The old him is what he wanted to be as the new one wouldn't get anything done.

No one bothered him for the rest of the day. He knew they were discussing the war but he didn't care. The plan was to kill Greeton and save themselves from destruction. It was quite simple. He didn't need to sit through hundreds of conferences to tell him that.

Soon, the sunny sky gave way to the darkness of the night. Along with the evening came rain. Albel sat in the guest room looking out through the window listening to the rain pour on the castle. He was bored of just sitting around doing nothing. By now, he guessed that everybody else was probably asleep. He wondered where they were; there weren't many open rooms in Castle Aquaria.

Albel turned away from the window and walked outside. The halls were completely empty. At least there would be no more distractions like last time. He sauntered up the stairs bound for the White Dew Garden. He really didn't care if it was pouring ice cold rain outside.

He walked out until he was at the edge looking over the shadowed streets below. It was impossible to see anything on the streets if there was anyone. Not even the lanterns were visible but then again, they were all burned out.

Despite the icy coldness of the rain, it was rejuvenating. Albel lifted his head toward the black sky and closed his eyes. He embraced the light storm even though it practically froze his skin and completely soaked through his clothes.

He heard footsteps behind him but didn't bother to see who it was.

"Aren't you freezing out here?"

Albel recognized the voice. It belonged to Nel. She walked up to the edge staring out over the ledge.

"What are you doing here?" Albel asked opening his eyes to her shadowed face.

"I just wanted to tell you that we're going to fight tomorrow with the Black Brigade."

"First battle already?"

"Well, this is really just a test to see how tough they are. You know, to see what we are up against exactly."

"So we're guinea pigs?"

"Afraid so. I'm not exactly excited about it either. The others didn't seem to like the idea."

They both stood in silence for a minute. Nel continued to talk.

"What I want to know is what happened at the feast today," she said. "I mean, sure, everyone was acting like children but what was up with you?"

"I was tired of all their mindless racket, to tell you the truth. Somebody had to shut them up."

"That's all I needed to know. You should go inside before you catch a cold. You won't be of any use if you're ill. You should rest too."

"I don't need you to tell me that, worm."

"Okay, well, I had better be going. And if you're wondering where Adray is, it's feared that he is a prisoner. He went on a mission about a month ago in Greeton and they may have found out he was an Aquarian and taken him prisoner."

Nel sighed as he watched her walk away. Albel couldn't help but notice how her clothing clung to her body showing off her figure in the dim light. He nearly slapped himself at that thought. After a little while more, he left the garden with the next day playing at the back of his mind.

Okay, I am done. Chapter VI will be coming sooner and not in two weeks. I don't want to keep you all waiting forever. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and log in for the next one. As always, please leave a review to tell me how it is so far. See ya!