Disclaimer: I don't own anything. If I did, there would be no need for AlbelxNel fan fiction, because that is what Star Ocean would have been about.

Albel realised he was screwed. He had two choices- marry a toaster, or find a woman to marry instead. Frankly, he didn't want to do either, but at the moment, the toaster was looking like the better choice. Every woman he had passed on the way back to his room had run away as soon as they saw him coming, so he doubted whether they would be able to make eye contact with him, let alone play with Peppita's game and pretend to marry him.

That left Albel with very few choices as to who was to take the place of the toaster. The only women who didn't try to commit suicide to escape his presence were those who were travelling with Fayt. Albel guessed there were males as well he could ask, but that idea made him very queasy. And Albel the Wicked hated feeling queasy. Albel decided that left him with four options of people to ask to help (he really didn't want to use that word if he could avoid it) him escape his impending doom brought on by Peppita's madness.

The first was that blue haired worm who had arrived on Elicoor in the big shiny ship that he now knew was called the Diplo. He dismissed this idea as soon as it popped up in head. The blue- haired worm had too much fondness for that weapon she had that shot bright beams out of it. Albel really didn't want to have her shooting at him, which was what he thought was most likely to happen if he were to ask her. The next person that came to mind was the tall blonde worm. Albel dwelled upon this for a moment, but then realised that her partner, the big knuckle- headed maggot might object to her pretending to marry him. He really didn't want to be forced to cause more damage to a creature with the same intelligence level as the statue he had destroyed. The third person he came to mind, he decided was a mush better choice. The fool with the big eyes- he thought her name might have start with a C- or possibly an S, he really didn't pay too much attention to minor details like that.

Albel walked the short distance from his room to hers then, if she was going to do him a favour, decided to knock on the door. When there was no answer, he decided to poke around and see if there was anything he could use to blackmail her into pretending to be his wife in this deranged game of Peppita's.

He opened the door and walked into the room to see Sophia standing there with her back to him. Huh… he thought, she didn't answer the door. Oh well, better get this over with.

"Hey, worm," Albel called to Sophia in the least threatening voice he could manage. (Which would have made small animals die on the spot)

Sophia didn't even move, much to Albel's surprise. He walked around to face her, and found her staring straight ahead, with a smile on her face. Albel raised one hand and waved it in front of her face. She didn't even blink. Confused, Albel used one hand to push her in between the eyes. Sophia fell over backwards and lay prone on the ground, with the same dopey smile on her face.

"Ooookay," Albel said, slightly freaked out by this. He backed slowly out of the room, stepping on Sophia's face in the process, which didn't even cause her to blink an eyelid.

Albel was definitely thinking that the toaster was a very good option, but he thought it might ruin his image if anyone saw the (fake) wedding pictures. Back in his room, Albel realised that left him with only one option. He would have to ask Nel Zelpher to marry him.

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In the meantime….

The priest was still lying in the back storage room in the temple, with Peppita standing guard over him.

"I thought you were going to let me go," the poor man said to Peppita.

Peppita thought about it for a moment before answering, "Oh, alright. But only if you promise to try my new invention. I made it all by myself."

Peppita went to a dark corner and pulled out a misshaped object.

"Duh da da da DA!" she said revealing the object she was holding for the priest to examine. "I call it a… repulsive brown lump. I cooked it all by myself."

The priest looked at it in horror and decided he would rather stay tied up and painted with bright pink spots.

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In the meantime, Albel was trying to come up with reasons of why it was not a good idea to ask Nel to pretend to marry him. Of which he could find none. He decided he would just have to go and ask her. And it was probably better that he do this sooner than later, because she may take lots of convincing, he thought. But she did owe him a favour for letting them escape from the Kirlsa training facility. But if worst came to worst, he would just knock her out, tie her up, and drag her to the temple. Peppita had never said the person had to be willing, he thought to himself. (Insert Albel's evil laughter here)

AN: Thanks to all the people who reviewed the other chapter, I was surprised at how fast I got this one done. Hopefully the third chapter will be up soon, in which Albel will ask Nel to pretend to marry him. In the meantime don't forget to review my fic. All flames will be used to cook my dinner on.