Say My Name

Written by vox shade

v/s: Okay, I have a legitimate excuse this time. English and Biology homework plus a cold. And a million other things I had to do xD And yeah... this chapter is a bit more dramatic than the others. I'm not sure I like the ending much, but I'll leave that to you guys to decide. Remember to leave nice reviews Oh, and I might change my name to '+seraphym' okay? So look out for it!

Disclaimer: Star Ocean 3 belongs to Tri-Ace/Ubisoft/Square-Enix

Chapter Fourteen

His lips kissed her. Held her there in the moment, just one moment. And in that moment she could see the flare of anger, guilt, confusion, maybe even a hint of betrayal in his beautiful crimson eyes. Maybe even love. A moment of suspended crystallized pain as the arrow sliced through the air and hit home in Nel's back. The moment was broken. She felt broken.

Then she was falling. Onto the cold, hard floor, the movements jarring her bones and recurring the pain and agony, her jaw rattling so she bit her tongue. Copper on her tastebuds. Liquid ruby on the floor. Blankly, she wondered why she couldn't move her body – it didn't seem like she was hit in the heart. Or had it? Was she dying without knowing it?

Strong arms were now holding her, positioning her body so she was now looking up at Albel's face. It was only then that she felt the throbbing ache within herself, and she knew that she loved him. Perhaps, she was to leave him.

A sharp staccato of sound, slightly distorted to her ears pierced the air, and Albel leaned down to kiss her again. His hands were gripping her upper arms tightly, but she welcomed the pain because it seemed to dissipate the fog and darkness from her mind, allowing her to think a little clearly.

Albel withdrew, his lips dotted with her blood. His eyes were the same shade, as he murmured, "I hate you."

All Nel could manage to reply with her clumsy tongue was, "sounds like you really mean it, this time."

But Albel was already muttering, the familiar chant of the healing runology was halfway out from his lips before another arrow zinged over his head. Albel blocked another with his metal claws, the contact of metal on metal ringing through the air. Above, Lockroi sounded like he was screaming instructions to the archer. She couldn't see him from Albel's kneeling embrace…too many crates in the way.

"Nel," Albel said, his eyes still on the archer she couldn't see. "Wait for a minute. I'll take care of this."

Gently, he laid her on her side, careful not to disturb the arrow sticking out of her back like a porcupine quill. She was facing the crates now, listening to the sounds of fighting, and her own shallow breaths. It was getting harder to breathe. The cold from the floor was seeping into her bones again. She felt herself slipping, the darkness beckoning it's comforting finger. But wait, Albel said to wait. But she can't refuse the darkness…shouldn't even try, or so it seemed to whisper.

And so she slipped.

The doors to the warehouse burst open just as Albel managed to bash the archer's forehead into a nearby stack of crates, rendering him unconscious. Footsteps echoed, and Albel's fury, already boiling, peaked. There are more of these fuckers around! But that thought was immediately swept aside as the familiar voices of Fayt, Sophia, Peppitta, Cliff, Maria, Mirage, and Roger called his and Nel's voices.

Nel.

Grabbing the Crimson Scourge, he ran back and around the crates, back to the spot he had left Nel. He rounded the corner, and froze for a moment. Nel was laying on the floor, eyes closed, blood trickling from her lips, still. As still as death. Cold, black terror gripped his heart. Before he could reach her, a shout penetrated his trance.

He looked up to see the back of the filthy scum running above on a walkway suspended above him with wires. Lockroi seemed to have abandoned his dead hired help to save his own skin.

Filth never became clean on its own. It must be scoured by another.

He shouted a warning to the others, who had gathered nearby, especially to Maria who had her laser gun at the ready. He took aim and swung.

The Crimson Scourge seemed to keen with savage pleasure as it sliced through the air and through Lockroi's back. He keeled over in an instant, falling to the floor behind a tower of boxes. An abrupt ending to the long chase.

But it wasn't really over. Nel was down. Possibly not breathing. He wouldn't think about that possibility – it just wasn't possible. The vibrant, strong, proud Aquarian who had penetrated the walls around his heart couldn't be dead.

Albel whirled on his spot and darted for Nel, Sophia and Maria already tending her. Sophia looked up with a mixture of relief and strain as everybody drew up. "She's still breathing. A deep puncture to her back, I don't think it's hit her pleura membrane though. The wound looks worse than it is, probably because it's so close to the heart. At any rate, we need to get her to the emergency room on the Diplo, and fast."

The next hour was a blur of relief, stress, a cacophony of emotions running through Albel's head like he'd never known. Nel was immediately carried out of the warehouse mindful of her injuries, and transported to the Diplo which had landed just outside. Albel didn't care why it was there, but was thankful that it was because it meant that they would be able to help Nel all the sooner. However, despite his protests he was kicked out of the sick bay, the others complaining of his angry stares.

So now he paced outside the door like a caged animal, trying to peer through the small circular windows for whatever glimpse he could catch of his only.

Time Only Ever Moves Forward

Nel was slowly drawn to consciousness. She didn't figure out what it was that did, until she felt hands on the top of her breastbone. But even though her mind was fuzzy, instincts were always acted on first. Automatically, her hand swung up and made contact with flesh – a sound of surprise more than pain and a thud. Nel sucked in a hissing breath as she realized her back was now throbbing dully with pain. She lowered herself back onto her bed as Albel stepped into her field of vision.

"Are you hurt?" Albel asked, worry flashing across his angled features, his eyes vulnerable. Nel frowned, slightly, her memory coming back to her slowly. "Yeah," she replied slowly, her voice feeling and sounding as though she hadn't used it in a while. "What happened to Lockroi?"

"Dead," Albel said unfeelingly. "I killed him."

Nel expelled a sigh. "Good. What happened afterwards?"

"You were taken to the Diplo, where they healed you. The arrow in your back didn't hit your lungs or heart, but it was very close to your spines and major nerves. That's why you were temporarily paralyzed. The operation took two days. For five days after, you slept."

"And the Queen and King?"

"Informed."

"Fayt and the others?"

"Outside your room. We're back in Peterney."

"Seraph, Sin and Soul?"

"Sticking around."

Good. So everything was in order. But even as she caught up with the sequence of events, she had the strange feeling that Albel was still holding anger in. the palpable intensity around him was unmistakable. She noticed his sword and gauntlet propped against her desk.

"Albel, is something wrong?" Nel asked, propping herself up higher on the pillow so she was supported.

He chose not to comment for so long that she thought that he wouldn't speak until he abruptly cut the silence. "You put yourself in the way of the arrow. To block it from hitting me."

It was a statement, not a question. "Yes. My body just sort of moved on its own."

Albel sat down at the end of her bed and treated her to a penetrating stare. "Do you know what it's like to watch someone sacrifice themselves for you?"

Nel remembered Tynave and Farleen volunteering to be decoys to draw off Albel's men that fateful day long ago. "Yes."

Albel's mouth formed a hard, grim line. "Don't you ever do that again, Nel."

Nel started to bristle at that. "Why? Why can't I try to protect those I care for? The ones I love?"

Her question floated baldly between them, and it seemed to surprise him. It surprised her too, her declaration of love. But he quickly recovered.

"And that's the reason why I don't want you to do it. I've already lost someone I loved once before. I can't go through it again." Albel perceived her unasked question. "It was my father."

Nel looked down. "I know. Woltar told me."

Albel got up and knelt beside her, drawing her gaze. "It's not like I don't appreciate it," Albel said gruffly, his gaze a little above her eyes. "But I'd rather it be me than you."

Nel smiled as Albel stumbled over expressing his feelings other than anger. It was kinda cute, and it alleviated the tension in the room. "You know I feel the same about you, don't you?"

This time, Albel did meet her eyes and smiled. A smile, not a smirk or empty stretch of the lips. A real one, one that was worth bearing his cold attitude for. His past attitude made this smile all the more pure. Nel couldn't help but land a light kiss on his lips.

Suddenly there was a gasp and a squealed "Sorry!" and the door shut. Nel had thought she had glimpsed a flash of brown hair. But she didn't need the visual aid to know that Sophia had accidentally intruded into her room at just the wrong moment.

Albel sighed and stood. "Are you hungry? You should be, from fasting for a week. Leingod and them stuck you with a needle into your wrist from a clear packet, and said it gave you all the nutrients you needed. But I don't think you can pass a real meal for some liquid."

Nel nodded, feeling the ache of her empty stomach. With the help of Albel, she climbed out of bed with wobbly limbs and too-long unused muscles. As soon as Albel opened the door, they were hit by sound waves – loud sound waves.

Looking at each other in puzzled silence, they bumped into Sophia. "Ah, sorry guys. There's lunch being served downstairs, and something's being shown in the living room. I haven't seen it yet, but I think you two are in it," Sophia said all in one breath before dashing past them down the hall.

They followed the noise to the living room, pausing briefly to grab two sandwiches from the table in the kitchen. They arrived to find the source of the noise being racous laughter from Fayt, Peppitta, Maria, Mirage, Cliff, Roger, Seraph, and Soul. Sin was standing by the huge plasma TV they had installed a few months ago, narrating something into a mike. Things were being passed around, hand to hand.

No one seemed to have noticed them yet, so both snuck around to the couch. Nel was trying to get a look at the things being passed when she felt Albel twitch. Nel looked up into the screen. At first she was confused, then it hit her like a wall. There was X-Candy, strutting down the floor with fat men in the Jacuzzi hooting. She bent over, casting them hot looks and a sexy smile before snapping back up, then strutting back to what Nel recognized as her own back (Smexy's back).

"Better than expected right?"

"It really was something on your part, Albel. Really something."

"Damn straight!" Cliff crowed, laughing and slapping his knees, tears streaming down his face. "I'd pay to see that in real life!"

"On to the next part," Sin said into the mike. The video flashed and showed a new image. "This is shot by Seraph."

The screen showed a slightly shaking image of Albel by a wall, shedding his corset. It seemed the camera had been pinned to Seraph's shirt somewhere. Cliff and Roger whistled jokingly as Albel slipped out of his top, leaving his torso bare.

"As you can see, he has chosen to tattoo the letters 'N' and 'Z' on his fake breasts," Sin said, snickering as everyone laughed. Peppitta was on the floor, pounding it with laugher.

Hands on the screen reached for the first, seemed to find a flap at the top of the breasts, and yanked hard with a sound of ripping Velcro.

"Scum! What do you think you're doing!" Albel yelped on the screen, his left chest red from it.

"Taking it off, what else?" Seraph's voice asked, as her hands reached for his other breast.

ChhhhhhAK!

"Argh! You could be more gentle about it, maggot!"

"Don't be such a crybaby. See, at least people can tell that you're more a man than a woman now."

"The hell are you insinuating, woman!"

"You work it out yourself."

By now, everyone was in tears. Sin chuckled and raised the mike to his lips again. "And check this out guys. Since the uniform he was wearing didn't have any pockets, he put the temporary solution into his bra. Oh, and careful with those breasts guys. They're the best we've made."

Nel zoned in on Mirage's hands, which held the fleshy fake breasts. The black 'N' and 'Z' were visible. She smiled as Sin continued.

"That's all we got to shoot of Albel and Nel. We have some shots of Cliff and Roger though. Let's check it out."

The screen flickered to Mirage forcefully pouring the acidy purple liquids into Roger's mouth via headlock. Cliff was sitting on a chair beside them, gagging. "Alright, let's test this out," Mirage said to the cameraman. Fayt's voice replied with a 'yes'. Mirage brought Roger close to Cliff and before either could do anything about it, she said Cliff's name.

Everyone but Cliff and Roger laughed as the Cliff and Roger on the screen kissed. "Betrayal!" Cliff moaned piteously. "It was for the solution," Mirage said with a shrug, lobbing a breast at his head.

"At least we know why you were trying to cook before," Maria laughed. "It's also sad you botched the recipe so many times. I mean, I knew how to make the Locking Lips liquid the first time I read it."

"Hey hey hey," Cliff said with raised hands. "I was being paid, so it doesn't matter how many times I fail right? As long as I get it in the end."

"You were what?" two cold voices interrupted.

It was comical how everybody froze and slowly turned to the corner of the room, where Albel and Nel stood. Both seemed really really angry. And murderous. Both held blades in their hands, and their eyes seemed to glow with incandescent rage.

Nothing moved. Then on an invisible signal, everyone scrambled for the doors, laughing and shrieking as they dodged the two warriors and fled the house. Nel was pursuing Soul when he turned a corner sharply.

"If you're ever in Greeton, drop us a line!" Soul called as he followed his siblings up the ramp of an unknown airship. The ramp closed behind him immediately, and it lifted into the air. With a 'phut!' it arced across the sky and vanished behind the line of roofs.

"They just left?" Sophia asked, catching up to Nel breathlessly. Nel nodded.

"That's too bad," Fayt said, walking up to stand beside Sophia, looking at the line of roofs the airship disappeared behind. "We wanted to learn more from them."

Peppitta and Roger bounced up out of nowhere and waved to the sky even though they were long gone, dancing around in the setting sun giggling.

"Hey, anyone see Albel?" Cliff asked as he drew up to the crowd with Maria and Mirage.

There was a shout and the crowd dispersed as Albel chased after them. Needless to say, no one could sleep that night. However, they did get a lot of complaints from the neighbours.

v/s: this is the gist of it, for those of you who may have not caught it - Sin, Seraph, and Soul paid Cliff and Roger to make the Locking Lips liquid and pour it on Albel. Why? I'll leave it to you to analyse my strange creations xD