Disclaimer: I do not own Star Ocean or its Characters.

Note: I would like to dedicate this chapter to keeki - unless it sucks, then you get the chapter of your choosing :) . Thanks for the review! Also, an added thanks to Cliff's Girl.

Dialog – "Blah"

Thoughts – 'Blah'

Bitter-Sweet Motivations

Chapter4: Curvilinear Nexus

It was dark. That was only one of the thoughts that found its way into Abel's head. 'What is going on here? Why can't I move? Where the hell am I?'

Our swordsman had no recollection of how he ended up in the predicament he had. All he knew was that he was lying on a floor and unable to move or open his eyes. Around him a series of rustles and other miscellaneous noises found their way to his ears. He fought the rage inside him, calming his hatred of not being in complete control. He listened intently and forced himself to focus on the noises around him as he tried to determine exactly what his current situation was.

Most of the noises consisted of the rushing of feet from here to there, and back again. Albel quickly determined that there were two others in the room.

"You should really stay off that leg."

'Humph, so the wench is here.' Albel thought. He tried to open his eyes, but was defeated. He held a little comfort hearing her voice. It meant that he was not in any immediate harm. But he wondered who she was talking to.

"Yeah, yeah…I can handle it no problem."

He didn't recognize the second voice, but it was clearly male.

"Handle it or not, it won't do you any good if you get injured further." Sophia sounded as if she were disciplining a child.

"Well, it's not my fault it's hurt."

"I know and how many times do you want me to apologize?"

'Apologize? Did she hurt someone? Damn eyes, why won't you open?'

"Anyway, what can I do now?"

"Check Fayt and tell me how he looks."

There were scurry noises directly beside Albel on his left side. "He looks pretty much the same, though not as pale."

"Good, maybe that means he'll wake soon. What about Albel? How does he look?"

Albel could feel the presence of someone, probably the male, near him. "About the same as Fayt. You really think they'll be alright?"

"Almost positive." Sophia's voice was closer. "I think from now on I'll keep some bazil on me no matter where I'm at. Either that or blackberries. If I had any energy left then I could have already cured them."

"And me, you could have fixed me up."

"Look, first off I've apologized for the tenth time, and second it's your own fault."

"My fault! But what about the chimera? Huh?"

"Yeah, well you didn't tell me that was you until after you attacked my friends."

'Friends?' Albel wondered if he had heard correctly. She had referred to both of them as friends.

Now, this whole conversation may confuse our swordsman, but allow me to fill you in on some detail. Another hero of sorts came to the rescue of our young lass. He helped her to escape from the chimera. Being unable to take the beast down, he injured the creature and then followed our lass to her hiding place.

What had happened next for our young lass is what led our swordsman into his current predicament. Allow me to go over these events with you briefly.

Sophia ran as fast as her legs would carrier her. She was surprised at the distance she could go when fear pushed her. Before she knew where she was, she found herself at the entrance of what appeared to be ruins of some kind.

She stopped to catch her breath as she scanned the desert behind her. There was no sign of the chimera, or anyone else. She leaned against the stone wall as she held her hand to her chest. Each breath brought a small amount of pain.

'Fayt was right. I really do need more exercise.'

She was slowly adding more and more items to her list of things she needed to improve on. Her fighting skills were weak and her endurance was small. All she really had going for her was her ability to master complex symbology.

She straightened her stance and wiped the sweat from her brow. Scanning the area, she noticed that the ruins behind her could offer some shelter. Right now, any shelter would be greatly welcomed over the harsh sun.

She had just made it inside the entrance when she heard her name called. She knew that voice. It was the same voice that had gotten her through a lot of hard times. Fayt was close and looking for her.

She turned to find him just in time to see a light flash at the end of the stone walkway. It seemed like everything moved in slow motion for her as she watched Fayt and Albel fall. Without a single thought, she ran to them.

She approached the two and bent down between them. Both were face down and unconscious. She prayed they were only unconscious; she wouldn't dare to think that they were seriously hurt.

Between the two, a short distance from her, something caught her attention. It appeared to be a bomb casing of some kind. She stood up, jerking her whole body to attention as she drew her staff.

"W-who's there," she asked in the harshest voice she could muster.

Before she knew what was going on, a figure jumped around the corner. He was shorter then her and held an axe over his head. Her heart pounded as she looked at the axe. All she could vision was the axe falling on one of her helpless friends.

A rush of fear and adrenaline flooded her. "Ice Needles!" She held her staff up and sent a cascade of frozen spears toward the intruder with the axe.

He was quick, but not quite quick enough. He jumped just in time to avoid taking the spell head on, but the ice still struck one of his legs while he was in mid air.

"Whoa, whoa, hold it lady!"

Sophia brought her staff down slightly. He sounded like a kid. In fact, the closer she looked, the more he appeared to be a kid as well. She couldn't tell exactly what he was, but she was sure he was from the city she had just left. He had ears and a tail.

She took a step, placing herself between Fayt and Albel. "What are you doing?"

He stood up, favoring his uninjured leg. "Trying to save you, what else?"

"By bombing my friends!" She couldn't help but to talk with anger. It was one thing to be injured, but another all together to see her friends hurt.

"No, I thought they were after ya. Hey, is that…" His voice trailed off as he hopped over to Fayt. "It is Fayt! Oh man, is he goin' ta be mad at me."

"Wait, you know Fayt?"

He looked at her. His big brown eyes made him look so innocent. For a quick second, Sophia felt sorry for hurting him.

"Yeah, I helped him out a while back. Hey I know you too!"

"Me? You must be mistaken. I've never seen you before."

He looked at her and squinted. "You sure about that? She sure did look like you."

Sophia shook her head. "Pretty sure. Anyway, what did you do to them?"

He turned his attention back to the two fallen men. "Oh, I just used a stun bomb. They'll be alright in a couple of hours or so."

"A couple of hours?" Sophia shot a glance up. "Not if they spend a couple of hours in this sun they won't. We've got to do something." Sophia then held her staff back up. "Cure Condition!"

She waited for a response, but nothing happened. "Oh, I must be too low to cure them." She placed her staff back in the holster on her back and leaned over the two. "I guess there's only one thing to do now."

"What's that?" he inquired.

"We have to get them inside and out from this heat. I think there's an oasis just a little ways. We'll need to get some water too."

"You really know what you're doin' huh?"

She looked at him and smiled. "Some what. My mom's a surgeon and she's always made sure I knew first aid. Now, come on, we have to get them inside as soon as possible."

He shifted a bit uneasily. "I'll try, but my leg hurts. Why'd ya go and do a thing like that? And after I took care of the chimera and helped you get away too."

She grew pale as she looked at him. "That was you? Sorry, I didn't know."

The boy smiled as his face beamed with pride. "Yup, can't just leave a pretty lady when she's in danger. The only decent thing to do was to save you."

Sophia blushed lightly. Even if he was just a kid it made her feel good to be called pretty. "Yeah, well we better get these two inside."

It hadn't been an easy task for our young lass. Most of the work fell on her. Though she wasn't alone, she was the only one capable of dragging her friends out of the heat. The most her new friend could do was cheer her on in-between complaints about his frozen leg.

After she had managed to get Fayt inside, she rested him gently on his back. She stood and stretched her muscles. They ached in places she never knew could ach. 'I guess number one on the list is exercise.'

She took out one of the vials she had water in and sipped slowly. She allowed the warm water to do what little good it could for her dry mouth. As she swallowed, her throat screamed for more. She had one more small vial of water, but she needed to get Albel and she would need it more after that then she needed it now.

She turned to give Fayt one last look. The boy who had followed the two in was now sitting on the floor beside him. His face shone of guilt and he was clearly concerned.

Sophia shook her head and almost giggled. The scene was cute and touching. "If you want to help, take this vial and get a little more water. Even if he's asleep, he's got to be thirsty."

The boy's ears perked up. "No wait, I have this." He pulled a canteen from his belt.

"Good, but don't give him a lot. Hold his head up and just put a few drops on his tongue. We don't want to drown him." He smiled up at her. She had to admit that he was cute. She smiled back and nodded at him. "I'm going to go get Albel."

Wasting no time, Sophia sprinted out the door and to the fallen man. She gently rolled him over to his back. Once his face was in view, she froze. She hadn't noticed until that second exactly how handsome he was when he wasn't frowning or hiding his face in his hair. His expression was relaxed. She blushed slightly as she recalled her kiss.

'What was I thinking when I did that? I've never just kissed someone like that. Why is it he can make me so angry but at the same time it's like I want him to pick on me? Oh, this is confusing. I don't want him to be mean to me, but at the same time it's almost fun. Maybe I'm just going crazy. After running for my life, then being a Vendeeni prisoner, and then fighting for my life…it's a miracle I can still talk civilized.'

As if mesmerized, she reached down and lightly brushed his cheek with the back of her hand. His skin was smooth and soft. Very different from that cold hard persona he cloaked himself in. 'He hides himself in there somewhere. I wonder why he hides himself and what he's afraid of.'

The heat that rose from his cheek alerted her to the fact that she had yet to move him from the hot sun. She moved quickly, placing her hands under his arms. Her muscles screamed at her to stop. She prayed that she would have the strength to move Albel into the ruins.

She readied her legs and took a deep breath. Using her own body weight, she lifted his arms up and pushed back with her legs. She managed to do this twice before her arms gave out. Her fingers slipped and she fell hard on her rump. His head landed in her lap.

She looked down at him as he slept. She couldn't help but to giggle lightly. After all the mean things he had done to her, here he was asleep in her lap. The irony was funny.

After a few breaths, she made another attempt to get him inside. She fell twice more before she was able to stop. Each time his head would end up in her lap. She would have continued to laugh at it but her rump was rather sore and she was hot and out of breath.

Once inside, she simply left his head where it was and retrieved the second vial of water. She drank it slowly, but the water was gone too quick for her liking.

"Here," the boy said as he stood over her. "Have some of mine. I'll go get more when we're out."

She gratefully took the canteen. After a few deep sips, she proceeded to wet Albel's tongue the way she had instructed the boy to do to Fayt.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The noise had died down for a while. Albel wondered if the two hadn't left.

"Hey, lady, you okay?"

"Yeah, just tired. You know how heavy those two are?"

'Heavy? What is she talking about?'

"Why don't you take a nap? I'll wake you up if anything happens."

"Yeah, that'll be great. By the way, I forgot to ask what your name is."

"Oh me? I'm Roger S. Huxley, at your service M'lady."

Sophia giggled. 'So that's what her real laugh sounds like. I haven't heard that before.'

"Please, just call me Sophia. Nice to meet you Roger." She yawned. "I think I will take that nap. Just wake me up if either one comes around."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It would still take Albel half an hour to gain control over his motor functions. And even then he moved sluggishly. He sat up the best he could and glanced around the room. They were inside the Mosel Ruins. The exact location was in the big room with the runic chest statues.

He almost immediately noticed the girl. She was curled up beside one of the statues. Her head leaned against the hard rock figure and the hair in front of her face moved to the rhythm of her breathing.

A moan took his attention away from her and to his left. Fayt sat up rubbing his head. "What is going on?" His voice was thick and slurred. His glance first found Albel. Turning, he finally noticed Sophia sleeping not far from them.

"Sophia? Hey wake up!"

She moaned lightly before letting out a big yawn. She rubbed both eyes and brushing her hair from her face. "Oh, hey guys. Good to see you two awake," she half spoke half yawned at them.

"Yeah, what's going on Sophia? How did we get here?"

"And where is that little worm? What did he do to us?" Albel asked, adding to Fayt's questions.

Fayt looked at Albel. "Huh? What are you talking about Albel?"

"Humph. Don't tell me you didn't hear them talking too."

Fayt shook his head. "Who talking?"

Albel looked from Fayt and back to Sophia. 'The maggot didn't hear anything. Why is it I was able to hear and he wasn't. Perhaps he is, after all, weaker.' "Where's that Roger worm?"

Sophia sat up almost immediately and scanned the room. "Roger? Where did he go? He was supposed to keep watch." She stood up and brushed her skirt off. She searched the room again, unable to see him. "Roger! Where are you?"

Fayt stood up. His legs were weak and he had to concentrate not to fall. "Roger? You don't mean that little Menodix is here?"

Sophia turned to him and smiled. "He said he knew you. He said he knew me too, but I've never seen him before. He's quite odd, but okay."

Albel tested his own legs and was pleased to find he wasn't having the difficulty Fayt seemed to be having. Though he was in no shape to run, his legs were ample support.

Sophia had just turned her attention back to the room behind her when Roger came running from one of the passage ways. He latched on to Sophia's hand and started to drag her toward the door. "Lady Phia! Come on, we gotta get out of here."

"Wait…" Sophia protested, snatching her hand back.

Before any of them could blink, a wind rushed by. It twisted around the room; interweaving itself around each member of the group. As a result, Fayt fell as his legs were still unstable. Albel instinctively stepped back and drew his sword. Roger clung once again to Sophia.

Sophia let out a small yelp as the wind stopped right in front of her. Hovering over the ground was a small boy which reminded Sophia of the fairy tail Peter Pan she had read as a child. He smiled at her.

"More playmates!"

Fayt stood up and drew his sword despite his dizziness. "What's he doing in the desert?"

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Kay said I needed more action. I told her it was a Romance/Drama story, but she insisted so I'm trying to build up to that action or suspense. Let me know if you still like it or not. Thanks :)