Disclaimer: I do not own Star Ocean
Chapter 5: Copper and the Blame
Fayt, Shuyin, Cliff, and Nel left the trading town of Peterny and headed into the Irisa Fields, which would lead them to the Aquios. During their conversation, Shuyin learned that Nel wanted Fayt and Cliff, who she had been led to believe were engineers from Greeton (Shuyin regarded the name with disgust), to help Aquaria create a new weapon. It appeared that Fayt refused at first, but after seeing how the war had affected people such as Ameena, he decided that ending it quickly at all cost would be better. Shuyin kept silent the whole time as they continued to talk. Then Cliff detached himself from the discussion and drifted back to him.
"Still not much of a talker eh? You haven't changed a bit." Ciff remarked.
"I can say the same for you..."
"Oh, you betcha! No matter how much time passes, I'll be good ol' Cliff, you can count on that!"
"..." Cliff thought for a moment and spoke again.
"Maria took your leave pretty hard you know." Shuyin turned to look at him
"What do you mean?"
"Well... When she woke up the day after you left, and she didn't see you by her side like always, she went running around the entire ship, checking every room. Then she shut herself up in her room for three days." Shuyin's face became slightly uneasy.
"... I didn't mean to cause any problem."
"I know, its just, she had just lost her family you know? You were probably the only one she was close to at that time, and losing you as well must've been too much."
"What happened then?"
"Well, Mirage and I decided one day to try and cheer her up again. When we entered the room, she was looking at whatever you put in that thing. She also had a piece of paper in her hand, I think. Then she put away that paper in a drawer and put the locket around her neck. After that, she sorta went back to normal."
"...That's good."
"Yeah, whatever you gave her, it really did the trick. Oh, by the way, she's the current leader of Quark as well." Shuyin jerked his gae back at Cliff
"What about you?" Cliff gave a shrug.
"I resigned and handed her the position. I'm still working for the group though. I'll tell you about it later, it's kind of a long story." Shuyin nodded slightly.
At last, they had arrived at the magnificent city of Aquios, its castle standing proudly within it. As Nel led them towards the castle, Shuyin told them that he had some business to attend to, and would meet them later. Fayt and Cliff were puzzled by this. The rest of them continued towards the castle. Once in the grand castle, she took them to the audience chamber, where Queen Aquaria XXVII, Romeria Zin Emurillem was waiting. The Queen thanked the two "Greeton engineers" for offering their help. Magistrate Lasselle, the advisor, told a guard to take them to the guest's room. As the two left, Nel remained behind to tell her Queen another news.
"Is there something else Nel?" the Queen asked.
"Yes your majesty, you see, we have met someone on our way here and..."
"And?"
"Your majesty, I believe that he may be The Black Lance." Nel said quietly
"What? You mean Lord Magnus, the feared warrior of the Greeton Invasion?" Lasselle broke in.
"Peace Lasselle. Is this true Nel? You have indeed met master Magnus?"
"I believe so, your majesty, the engineers seemed to know him on friendly terms, even addressing him casually."
"So, after all these years, he's finally shown himself again..."
"But this is perfect, if we can get the engineers to enlist Lord Magnus's aid, then our morale would rise while the enemy will be devastated! I mean to say, he IS the one they called the God of De-." Queen Romeria cut him off.
"That's enough Lasselle. Nel, could you bring him here when you get the chance? I'd like to have a few words with him."
"Yes, your majesty." and with that, Nel left the chamber.
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The next day, Nel took Fayt and Cliff to the Runological Weapon Research Facility, where the new weapons of war were being studied and developed. She took them to meet Elena Frahm, the leader of the Weapon Development. When Dion Landers, the Chief Researcher arrived, she told him to let them have a look at the weapon. Once they were there, Fayt took a moment to study the weapon, a giant cannon by the looks of it. Later, he and Cliff discussed the whole thing together. They agreed that something wasn't right here. The technology for this weapon was rather advanced for the planet. After thinking it over, Fayt decided to help complete the weapon, which was having trouble attaining the necessary power and durability. Fayt found out that using copper for the wire would solve the problem, but discovered that the copper mine was in Airyglyph territory and also filled with dragons. Cliff suggested that they simply go in there, beat up any dragons and Airyglyph soldiers they meet, and nab the copper. It was a crazy idea, everyone but Cliff thought, but seeing that there was no alternative, Fayt decided to follow his plan. Nel said that she would be going as well. Having decided, the three left the city, meeting Shuyin by the entrance along the way.
The four of them arrived at Arias, where Tynave, Farleen, and Clair were waiting with supplies on a wagon. Clair bid them good luck as the four, accompanied by Tynave and Farleen, left for the Bequerel Mines. When they arrived, they saw three soldiers of the Dragon Brigade guarding the entrance. Seeing no other way in, they pounced on the soldiers. One of the riders went for Fayt, who dodged his lance and slashed at the dragon. Nel came to his aid and fired a lighting blast against it, causing it to stagger. As the rider struggled to regain control, Cliff jumped incredibly high, brought his hands together, and slammed the enemy hard. While the three were busy fighting with that rider, Shuyin faced the other two by himself. They flew in circles around him, striking here and there, but he dodged the blows easily with barely any movement. Frustrated, one of the riders urged his dragon mount to tear him to pieces with it's claws. Shuyin parried the sharp claws with his lance, then suddenly dropped low, causing the dragon to soar past him. He then sprang into the air, backflipped, and swung his lance in a wide arc, leaving a cut in the dragon's wing. Enraged by the pain, the dragon turned in an attempt to bite him, while the other rider came at him from the other side, lance at the ready. Shuyin raised a fist, then cried "Debris Shower!" as he smashed it into the ground. A deep crater formed as the ground shook from the impact. Huge chunks of rock flew towards the riders, slamming into them until one was buried under them. The other one pulled back, just as Fayt and the others finished dealing with their foe and joined Shuyin.
"So, who's next?" Cliff asked merrily
"Grrr... I'll get you for this!" snarled the last rider as he flew away.
"Leave him, we should hurry." Nel said.
The mine was indeed filled with various dragons. After much battling and solving confusing Dragon Riddles, they had finally arrived at the copper stash. In that chamber, they had to deal with a Cockatrice, a giant monster that looked like a rooster. Once the battle was over (Shuyin was burning the hideous corpse), they quickly mined enough copper and headed back to the entrance. Just as they were loading the last of the hard-earned copper, more Dragon Brigade soldiers arrived. Tynave and Farleen left for Arias with the copper while the rest of them turned to face Demetrio, Duke Vox's officer. Unlike his big talk, Demetrio lacked any impressive skill and was defeated soundly, falling below the chasm to his own doom. Fayt and the others hurried back to Arias, and ran into Tynave and Farleen, who had been attacked by the Black Brigade captain Albel Nox and his soldiers.
"Well, well, we meet again..." Albel sneered.
"You! I was looking forward to this," Cliff cracked his knuckles.
"Whatever maggot, do you honestly believe you are a match for me?"
"If you stand in our way, then we'll have to defeat you!" Fayt said, raising his sword.
"Humph, intriguing, I'm glad I came out to play. Now, show me what you got, worms!" Albel and his soldiers charged.
Shuyina and Fayt fought a soldier each, while Nel and Cliff met Albel head-on. Fayt and the soldier were trading blows, neither one backing down. The other soldier, on the other hand, was already knocked unconcious by Shuyin, who was now observing the rest of the fight. Fayt had finally subdued his foe, while Cliff was punching and kicking furiously at Albel. Albel was quite skilled as rumored. He dodged Cliff's flurry of attacks and swung his katana with precise aim. Cliff, being a Klausian, was more than up to the challenge however, and managed to dodge the blows quickly. Nel dashed in and out, slicing at Albel with her daggers, which Albel parried with the metal claw he had in place of an arm and a hand. "Shockwave Swirl!" Albel swung his katana in a wide arc in front of him, creating a shockwave that caused his foes to stumble. Pressing his advantage, he charged, attempting to impale Cliff. He was caught by surprise when Cliff yelled "Sphere of Might!" and a huge ball of energy appeared before him, forcing him to back off. He didn't see Cliff jump high into the air and bring his hand together, focus his energy, and hurl it towards him. "Hammer of Might!" Albel looked up and the next thing he knew, a small explosion sent him flying into the air. He landed hard on the ground, gasping in pain.
"How you like that? Want some more?" Cliff asked
"O-of course... I won't lose... to maggots like... you..." Albel struggled to get up, then dropped his sword and dropped on all four limbs.
"...Let's go Cliff, we need to deliver the copper." Fayt said
"Yeah, I dure don't feel like 'trouncing weaklings' ya know." Cliff smirked, quoting what the fallen swordsman before him had said before.
As his enemies got in the wagon and left, Albel slammed his fists on the ground, then threw his head back and howled in rage.
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They dropped Tynave and Farleen off at Arias and continued on to Aquios.
"Man, that was some battle wasn't it?" Cliff asked
"Sure was, I can't believe we actually beat Albel the Wicked..." Nel replied.
"Well, we got the copper, now we can finish up those Runological Weapons." Fayt said
As they entered the city, they noticed someone lying on the ground with another person beside her. Upon closer look, the one looking over the fallen girl turned out to be none other than Mirage. Fayt and Cliff greeted her, then looked at the girl on the ground. It was Ameena.
"What is she doing here?" Nel asked
"How should I know! We gotta get her help!" Fayt exclaimed.
They took her to the inn while Nel fetched a doctor. The doctor checked Ameena and said that she was stable at the moment and needed plenty of rest. As the others were discussing about her condition, Nel came in and announced that Airyglyph had begun its invasion, troops were heading to Arias as they spoke. All of them were required to appear before the Queen immediately.
"We have information that indicates this time all three of Airyglyph's brigades are taking part in the battle..." Nel told the others.
"Oh man." Cliff groaned
"I think they are going to try and wipe us out before we can complete our weapon, the Thunder Arrow. Duke Vox is commanding them."
"So they're trying to end it all in a single blow?" Fayt questioned.
"It looks like that. At any rate, Dion will head to Arias with every completed weapon at our disposal. I don't know how much he'll be able to accomplish." Upon hearing Dion's name, Ameena stirred.
"Dion...?" She said weakly.
"Ameena! You should stay in bed!" Fayt rushed to her side.
"I... Fayt?"
Fayt asked her why she had pushed herself into coming this far in her condition. Apparently, Ameena had heard her friend, whom she had been wanting to see in a long time, was at Aquios working at the Royal Research Facility. That friend turned out to be Dion, the young Chief Researcher Fayt had met earlier. Ameena was overjoyed when Fayt told her that he was indeed in Aquios, but was told to rest.
"Look at the state you're in, you need to rest! I'll bring him here for you? Alright?" Fayt said.
"Oh, okay, thanks Fayt..."
"No problem, you just make sure you relax." and he left with Cliff and Nel.
Ameena noticed that one of them stayed behind. She realized who it was after taking a closer look.
"Shu? Shu, is that you?" Shuyin raised his head and looked at her.
"It really is you! I haven't seen you for so long!" Ameena was about to get up, but then collapsed onto her bed. Shuyin quickly went by her bed.
"Ameena... Why are you here alone, where are your parents?" Shuyin asked as he tucked her in.
"Oh... They... died in this war..." Shuyin looked as if he was struck.
"They... I'm sorry."
"It's okay, I'm doing fine" Shuyin looked like he was thinking of something to say.
"...Wait, does this mean...?" He said hesitantly
"Yeah... I'm the last one of my family..." Ameena said in a sad voice, while Shuyin now looked petrified.
"This... This is... All my fault... Mine! I, I'm so sorry..." He mumbled, losing his cool completely for the first time.
"No, I told you before, that wasn't your fault! Even my parents agreed on that. We were grateful for what you did. Please don't blame yourself again..."
"But... I..." He couldn't find anything else to say. Silence hung in the room for a while.
"Um... Shu? Shouldn't you be following Fayt and the rest?" Ameena broke the silence.
"I... Yes, I suppose so..." He slowly stood up and walked away.
"I'm glad I saw you again... Shu..." Ameena said quietly. Shuyin didn't say anything for awhile, remaining still by the door.
"...Rest now." He said finally and left.
"Please Shu... stop blaming yourself..." Ameena slumped back onto her bed.