A/N: And today we welcome three more esteemed characters to the show: Cliff, Nel, and who else but Albel! Whooo! Give them a round of applause people! Yes, I am worried now. I'll try desperately to keep them in character, but I am such a terrible writer, so I'm not making any big boast about how my characters will definitely be in character. I haven't even finished the star ocean game yet.  But..happy moment for me, I typed Albel as saying scum and then he actually said it in the game! XD Don't mind the overexcited author..ahem. Anyway, please review and tell me what I have wrong and need to fix!

Albel: Finally I'm in the story! It took you long enough, maggot.

Me: uhh..don't worry Albel. I have up to chapter 7 written already, I just need to type it up. You see, I wrote chapter 4-7 before chapter 2 or 3.

Albel: Ah, that sounds like something you would do. Messing up as usual. By the way, about how you slammed me out the door last time and wouldn't let me back in til now…

Me: (cowering)Don't kill me, Albel! You get to argue with Nel in this chapter!

Albel: Well, I guess that's the best I could expect from you, filthy worm.

Disclaimer: The star ocean characters do not belong to me, or even to each other...yet. But we'll let you decide what Maria and Mirage are doing all by their lonesomes. XD

"Out of my way maggot!" Albel's voice roared from somewhere close by.

Fayt stood up hurriedly and guiltily tried to wipe away all traces of his tears. Albel had saved Fayt from further reminiscences on how he had wrecked everyone's vacation on Hyda III and had gotten his father, mother and Sophia captured, and most likely killed all because the Vendeen wanted to use him as a weapon.

"It's not my fault that you're not watching where you're going." Nel's voice betrayed slight irritation.

"Bah, Aquarian scum."

A moment later, Fayt distinctly heard a sharp yelp from Nel and then angry words. "Hey, watch out!"

"It was an accident, worm."

"you did that on purpose!" Nel accused.

"No, I was just standing here and you walked into me. Now who's not watching where they're going?" Albel sounded smug about the whole thing. Any chance to humiliate Nel made him happy.

"You can't just stop in the middle of the path like that!" Nel said angrily.

"Whoa, whoa. Calm down you two," Cliff said loudly, trying to keep the peace.

"Who asked you to butt in, maggot?"

"Take it easy. I was just trying to help."

Albel stalked into the clearing possessively, his red eyes flashing with anger. He stopped and glared at Fayt, his lips curving into a wicked grin. "Lazing about, have we?" he muttered. "Just what I would expect from a weak, spineless worm."

Nel followed close behind. She gave Fayt a curt nod and then brushed past Albel, giving him an irritated look.

Cliff clumsily brought up the rear, loudly crashing through the underbrush. He halted and gave Fayt a sheepish look. "Sorry, kid. Her ladyship and his irritableness were going at it again. Honestly, those two need to simmer down and learn to live with the situation."

"I wouldn't expect them to be good friends," Fayt said softly. "After all, they come from warring nations."

"No excuse," Cliff said gruffly, smacking his knuckles together. "We all have to work together whether we like it or not. I don't like that Albel guy either, but you don't see me complaining, do you?"

"Err…"

"Anyway, we've spent too much time taking it easy. Let's have some action!"

"Haven't you enough action tripping over your own feet and getting yourself lost?" Albel asked in a bored tone from his sear on a rotten log a few feet away.

"Why you-" Cliff began heatedly. He was a good mediator between Albel and Nel but he lost his temper with Albel almost as much as Nel did.

Fayt quickly tried to distract Cliff. "Where's Maria?"

Cliff calmed down instantly. "Oh, she went with Mirage to go look over something on the Eagle," he said offhandedly. "Between you and me I think it's just an excuse for them to talk about girl things."

"Why didn't Nel go with them then?"

Cliff shrugged. "I don't know, hi-tech girl stuff? Don't ask me Fayt, I don't get women."

Albel looked like he had something nasty to say about that, but Nel's return distracted him.

"Come on, let's get going," Nel said in her usual business-like tone. "We need to get to Peterny by nightfall."

Albel rolled his eyes. "Yes, let's have the Aquarian scum tell us what to do," he muttered sarcastically.

Nel rounded on him. "Do you have a better idea?" she hissed.

Fayt was annoyed by the constant bickering. "Come on, guys. Let's just head to Peterny and try not to kill each other on the way.

"Well, then," Albel said briskly. "If this fool also wants us to go to Peterny, then I will go, but not just because the Aquarian maggot says so."

Nel bristled and seemed ready to retort, but cliff put a hand on her shoulder. "Let it go. We're still heading to Peterny, aren't we?"

Nel sighed and sheathed her daggers. "I suppose you're right."