A/N: Amazing, this is practically a double update. I had a writing buzz. And the plot finally begins to be revealed in this chapter. It isn't what you think…
Disclaimer: I (sadly) do not own Star Ocean or any of the characters, places, or anything else related to it! Neither do I own anything related to Limp Bizkit! However, I do own Meor, Alkyza, the plot of this story and… the Cat Doll! If you want to use any of it, please ask.
Chapter 6: Meor Confronts Albel
Albel wasn't having the best of mornings. The nightmares had returned last night. So after a very sleepless night, he found himself walking with most of the group towards Peterny for a morning of shopping, despite the inner voice of his mind screaming at him not to. But there was something he had to do. Albel Nox did not break promises, no matter how pointless or trivial. To be fair, he rarely made promises, let alone pointless or trivial ones.
"Why do you have to come shopping with us?" Sophia said quietly so only Albel would hear once the group of shoppers had reached the gates of Peterney. All of the group excluding Maria, Fayt and Roger were going shopping. Fayt was sulking, Maria was trying to talk to him and Roger was playing Virtual Reality games. No one noticed Sophia's quiet conversation with Albel because the bustle of Peterny drowned it out to most ears.
"I have to buy you a new Cat Doll, remember?" Answered Albel, before quickly turning and walking away. He didn't give Sophia a chance to say anything. Not that she would have been able to because she had been rendered speechless.
"C'mon Sophia! Lets go look at new clothes!" Yelled Peppita, suddenly bouncing up to the still stunned girl. Peppita promptly set about dragging Sophia away towards the clothing shops. Sophia noticed the happy looks on everyone's faces as they discussed what they were going looking for. She wished she could feel as happy but she felt that something sinister was afoot on this beautiful day.
0o0o0o0
"What? You don't sell them either?" Growled Albel in an exasperated tone to the merchant that had just nervously assured him they didn't sell Cat Dolls, "Any useless fool can make something that simple!" Albel slammed his fist down on the merchant's table. Several people began to look over at the stall as they walked past.
"Haha! Albel 'The Wicked' Nox wants a little kitty Cat Doll?" Came a taunting voice from behind him. "Guess you really are going soft…" Albel spun around and was brought face to face with a seemingly ordinary commoner, yet the smirk on his face severely irritated Albel. The man's jet-black hair and blue eyes didn't register with Albel. He had no idea who this guy even was.
"What did you say maggot?" Albel said slowly in a venom-laced voice. This guy really got on his nerves, nobody mocked him and got away with it.
"Don't even try it man. I know you're just a softie at heart." He replied confident in his knowledge, "You just aren't so wicked anymore…" This scene had drawn a small crowd of onlookers and not a few of them had looks of horror on their faces. They could sense big trouble.
"Maybe you're right… In fact, you just run along, like a good little worm, before I get really annoyed…" It seemed the entire assembled crowd could sense the false sweetness in Albel's voice, except for the commoner.
"Aw, I'm not going to run away from you. You're not as strong as you make yourself out to be. I mean seriously, run away from a man that's trying to buy a little kitty Cat Doll? Don't think…" The arrogant man's voice was replaced with a thud as several of his body parts hit the floor, one being his head. Albel wiped his katana clean and sheathed it slowly and calmly. The crowd simply stood there, unable to move or speak.
"I don't break promises. The cat's not for me." Albel spoke in a calm manner to the deceased person and he simply stepped over the body. The crowd didn't part to let him through; they bolted away in sheer terror. "Well, that certainly boosted my reputation…" Thought Albel smugly as he calmly walked towards the workshop, he'd have to make the stupid doll himself. If anyone had stayed around they would have heard him singing softly as he left the corpse for someone else to clean up.
"It's like this every day,
When I'm last to wake up.
Everybody's fucked,
Coz, everybody sucks.
I don't have to know why,
I don't have to justify,
Slicing someone's head off.
I don't want contact,
Don't you dare interact,
You'll forfeit your life's contract.
Your only chance is to run away, motherfucker,
It's like this every day…"
0o0o0o0
"Fayt, come on, let me in!" Begged Maria again. She felt like she had been standing outside Fayts door for hours, she probably had.
"No…" Fayt replied sulkily. He sounded almost sick to Maria. She was getting angry with him now. She glared at the little red light that indicated the door was locked.
"Click"
The light blinked to green and Maria wasn't wasting any chance she got. "He opened it!" She dived through the door and was surprised to see Fayt over on the bed. "How did he unlock it from over there?" She thought.
"What? How did you get in? I locked the door…" Fayt mumbled at her as he raised himself up on the bed. He looked genuinely puzzled.
"I thought you unlocked it!" Retorted Maria. "I don't know what game he's playing, but it's not funny." She stalked over towards him but he simply flopped back down on the bed.
"Whatever… Just go away… Fix the locking mechanism of the ship or something…" Replied Fayt, she was in now and there wasn't much he could do about it. He just hoped she would go away soon. He stared up at the ceiling, praying she would take the hint. Fayt was taken by surprise when he felt a warm hug around his waist. He looked down and was even more surprised to see Maria clinging to him with tears forming in her eyes.
"Fayt… I'm worried about you… Just talk to me about it. Please?" She was begging him. It slowly began to dawn on him how his selfish reclusive behaviour was affecting others. So he hugged her back and began to open up to her. She might as well know what troubled him…
0o0o0o0
Sophia had given up on clothes. When Albel walked into the shop and gave her the Cat Doll it had put her off shopping. She had asked where he bought it from and he had replied that he had had to make it. She was stunned, the craftsmanship was excellent, and it was a dark grey colour, whatever it was made of was extremely silky. He had left immediately, so she set off towards the Craftsman's Guild quite quickly to see what the rating was.
"Wow! That's really good!" Exclaimed Welch, "Did you make it Sophia?" The energetic woman always seemed a bit too obsessed with her job to Sophia. But she was definitely surprised by that question.
"Huh? You mean this hasn't been patented? Albel made it…" Sophia trailed off. If Albel made only the single one for her, she didn't want to make it for sale… "Could I just get a rating? I don't really want it to be marketed."
"Uh, Okay… Hmm… Well… Uh… I'd give it… 95!" Welch replied confidently after some deliberation. She looked like she wanted to sell it even more now…
"What?" Replied the stunned Sophia, "Um, okay, thank you… Guess I'll be seeing you round then." Sophia started edging away towards the door. She could see Welch's greedy eyes following the doll the whole way.
"Alright then… Keep inventing Sophia! We need more of your work!" Welch yelled after her as she slipped out the door. Sophia felt like going for a wander, she needed a little bit of thinking time, once again. Although it was unlikely that she would figure things out. Yet she ducked into the nearest alleyway and decided to take the long route to the town square.
Before long, she came across a little clearing among the buildings. She paused before going in when she spotted Albel; he was staring down at a cat at his feet. In fact, it looked identical to the Cat Doll that Sophia had just been given. "What an odd coincidence…" She thought to herself.
"Bah, stupid feline. Get out of my way!" Thought Albel as he glared at the offending creature in front of him. "Hiss!" Said Albel. It simply looked up at him.
"Meow…" The cat replied. It blinked and twitched its tail, yet held its ground. Albel withdrew the Crimson Scourge from its scabbard and raised it above his head, blade pointed downward.
"Don't." Echoed a voice within Albel's mind. It was the sword itself, talking to him.
"You shut up!" Albel yelled back at the sword, "You said we would cleave enemies apart and I deem this to be my enemy!" Albel didn't appreciate the intervention right now.
"Really? You say this mere cat is your enemy? You would be sadly mistaken Albel…" The katana warned him.
"That's what you think!" Snarled Albel inwardly as he thrust the sword downward with all of his strength. He could see the gold eyes of the cat looking up at him. He knew his aim was perfect. The Crimson Scourge sliced cleanly through the air and buried itself into the cobblestones of the alley.
"Purr…" Purred the cat as it rubbed itself against and wound itself around Albel's blade. It looked up at him with a mischievous look on its face. Albel was shocked beyond belief. He hadn't even seen it dodge the blade, "Meow!" Exclaimed the cat loudly.
The Crimson Scourge chuckled to Albel, "I tried to tell you… This is no ordinary cat…"
"Yes, Albel is it? You should listen to your weapons more often… By the way, my name is Meor, a pleasure to meet you." Albel staggered backwards, the cat had just spoken inside his mind! Well, it was called Meor… Albel didn't know what to make of this.
"What? What's going on here? Cat's can't talk!" Albel mentally yelled back at the two. With the cat and his sword seemingly allied against him, Albel felt as if he was losing his grip on reality fast.
The sword sighed exasperatedly, "Look Albel, swords can't talk either, but I am. This will be a lot simpler if you just agree to take him along with you."
"Exactly! Alkyza is on the loose again, and you will need me if you want any chance of defeating him once and for all. Now, I'm going to sit on your right shoulder." Declared Meor. He had a rather refined voice, he sounded almost noble. But Albel was still reluctant to take him along; Meor's attitude didn't help.
"Before you refuse, I'm letting you know that I stay with Meor. So if you leave him, you leave me." The Crimson Scourge interjected before Albel could voice (Or was it think?) his disagreement. But Albel really didn't have a choice now. He couldn't abandon The Crimson Scourge in some back alley, and he couldn't take it by force.
"Good call Crimson…" Added Meor. The grin on his kitty face was unnerving to Albel.
"On the condition that both of you go along with the plans that I have already set in motion. Deal?" Albel offered, he had only just set his plan in motion against Fayt. He couldn't afford these two meddling with it. He also could see how difficult it would be for Meor to drag the katana away in his teeth too, therefore he had a bargaining chip as well.
"Deal."
"Deal."
Sophia was silent and still throughout the whole exchange between the Cat, the Sword and Albel. She didn't know what to make of it. Of course she hadn't heard a thing, their conversation had been held mentally, not vocally. Sophia was even more surprised when Albel put the cat on his shoulder after sheathing his sword. He then stoically walked away down another alley, although he did look a little uncomfortable. Sophia stepped out of hiding to watch them better as they disappeared further down their chosen path. Suddenly the cat on Albel's shoulder turned its head and winked at her. A voice floated through her mind, "I'm Meor, pleased to meet you. And I must say, that's a very impressive figure of me in your hand, Albel made it, right?" Sophia didn't want to hear anymore, before she knew it, she was bolting back towards the square to find the others.
A/N: Did you think the commoner was called Meor? No! That would have been too boring… And Keeki, your head-slicing guess at foreshadowing actually inspired me to write that scene. Hope you guys enjoyed the double update! Now, return the favour, review! And the plot pretty much starts here too… I think so anyway...
