Chapter 2 A time of change

"You're doing good son! Keep it up!" The young Albel continued to swing the handmade wooden sword about his small frame.

"Hey dad? When will I fight a real monster?" Glou smiled and began to walk towards his now panting son. "When you learn to fight with a real sword." Albel plopped down on the grass and pulled out a flask from his nearby bag.

"But when will I learn that?" He asked in between gulps of water.

"Hopefully very soon. You're doing very well Albel. I'm very proud of you." The smaller boy smiled brightly and stood, his fatigue now washed away at the thought of his father's pride for him. "I'm ready when you are, father!" He yelled. Back then with only his father's words as his driving force, he felt as though he could take on the world.

( "But too many things have darkened since then...and no matter how much you want to deny it, you've done nothing but become weaker, and weaker as time passed. You're a pathetic, and worthless being made of nothing more than cells, bones, and muscle. And that's not enough to proclaim yourself a warrior. Your inner fire has vanished along with your ability to live up to your father's expectations! All of it burned with him that day. Including you." )

...So this is how it feels...to live life as a living dead...

Albel stopped his slow paced walk down the hall of the palace's various corridors and leaned back on a wall and rubbed his temple. How he loathed days like this, when his thoughts simply refused to leave him at peace. Funny how these thoughts always came right after he's had a particularly good day the day before.

"Great, now I'm plagued with a headache. Where's that foolish boy when I need him?" Fayt always had the cure for just about any illness that could befall you. He doubted that he was still in bed, where the warrior saw him last before getting up to start his rounds.

"Guess I'll check his room anyway. It's not like I have any other leads." And so Albel stalked off towards Fayt's room once more.

Fayt was busying himself writing another poem as Shi ( the kitten's new nick name ) played with a balled up peace of paper on the floor. Both were startled by the sudden beeping of Fayt's communicator.

"Oh, it's Sophia." He answered it, and the small screen filled with Sophia's smiling features. "Hey Fayt! What's up?" The emerald eyed boy smiled back. "Nothing much. I haven't heard from you in a while. How is it on second Earth?" The female shrugged slightly. "It's fine. It's paretically the same just with a few added memories. How have you been fairing on Elicoor? Or should I say with Albel?" Fayt sat back in his chair and rested his head on his free hand.

"What can I say? Albel is Albel. I'm not sure if it's because I've grown used to his ways, or if he actually acts a tad bit nicer to me than others but he and I are actually getting along pretty well." Sophia nodded. "Hey, listen spring break is coming up in a few days, and I was wondering if you wanted to come visit for the week? It would be a good chance for us to catch up." "Yeah, sure! I'll call Cliff right away and see if he'll be able to set the teleportation connections up."

Cliff and Fayt had set up a secret rout to and from Elicoor and second Earth. He supposedly had quite a few connections on Earth that allowed Quark's technology to connect the two planets undetected by the federation, in case Fayt, Sophia or any of the other party members for that matter wished to travel between the two. There was a teleporter set up near Kirlsa that took you to a building owned by Quark, which disguised itself as a clothing outlet. So far no one has tested it yet. Fayt guessed he would be the first to do it after all.

"Great! I'll meet you at the building Friday at around four?" "Okay sounds good." At that moment Shi's curiosity got the best of him and he jumped on Fayt's lap to sniff the communicator. "Awwwww Fayt! Why didn't you tell me you had a kitten!" The blue haired youth stroked underneath the kitten's chin causing him to purr. "He's Al...luhhhh..I forgot?" Sophia squealed and clapped her hands lightly. "You have to bring him with you! I'll buy a litter box and his food and everything! Just please bring him!" "Uhh I don't know Sophia. That's a pretty big environmental change. It might scare him too much." Sophia pouted a little. "Can't you at least try? Just like walk around with him a lot on Elicoor and see how he reacts. If it all goes well then will you try?" Fayt pondered the idea. There really wasn't much he could say. The kitten was Albel's. But if Fayt told that to Sophia his life was no more. And quite possibly so was her's. "Umm..I'll see. I can't make any promises though." The statement seemed to lighten her mood.

"All I ask is that you try. If you can't then It's alright." Shi yawned and curled up in Fayt's lap. "But try very hard." The signal disconnected and Fayt sat back in his chair sighing to himself. Sometimes it was a real pain trying to get that girl to understand you. Shi lifted his head at the sound of footsteps approaching the door, and immediately ran and started scratching on it. "Must be Albel." He got up and opened the door and sure enough the ebony haired warrior stood on the other side.

"Hey, are you okay? You seem a little out of it." Albel said nothing as he entered and took Fayt's seat at the desk. "I have a bad headache. Cure it." Fayt shook his head lightly and walked over to his item bag. Shi rubbed his head on Albel's shoe almost as if he was trying to comfort the captain. Fayt turned around and could have sworn that he caught a glimpse of his companion actually smiling and not wearing his infamous crazed smirk. The crimson eyed male must have gotten the feeling Fayt saw him and quickly shot him a deadly look.

Brushing Albel's intense glare off, the blue haired male walked over to him and handed him a white pill. "Take this with a full glass of water and lie down. You should feel better in about fifteen to twenty minutes." Albel grunted and snatched the medication from Fayt's hand. "And...when you begin to feel better, can you come by again? I need to ask you something." Albel stood and headed for the door. "Whatever." Was all he said before walking out into the hall.

Around a half hour later the dark haired male returned to Fayt's room as he said he would and gazed out of his window as the boy spoke. "Umm, well I was going to go visit Sophia for a week and she wanted me to bring Shiyuchi..." Albel turned his head and fixed his gaze on the young warrior.

"You expect me to let you take him to some other planet, stay there for a week leaving me with no way to contact you, and with that brown haired wench of all people?" Fayt couldn't help but smile at Albel's parental like concern for the kitten. "Would you like to accompany us on Earth then? That way you could watch over him all you like." The emerald eyed youth knew that he was making a huge mistake, but judging by the thoughtful look the ebony haired male made..there was no turning back.

"...Fine then. But the instant I feel he's endangered there we are leaving, understood?" Fayt nodded and vaguely wondered how he had persuaded the warrior so easily. ( "Maybe he just wants to explore a new world..or make Sophia wish she were dead...or make both of us wish we were dead together..or.." ) The possibilities were endless, and not too many of them were all that positive.

"Okay then uh, I'll call up Cliff and make sure that he can set us up. If so then we'll leave in three days." The crimson warrior said nothing as he picked up the kitten and left the room.

The tree days before the trip went by in a flash, already Fayt found himself dressed in his Earthen clothes, bags packed, and standing in front of the air dragon which was to fly them to the teleporter at the entrance to Airyglyph.

"What is keeping him? He's already five minutes late..." Just then he spotted Albel taking his sweet time walking towards the dragon, while Shi had his tiny head poking out of the carry bag he resided in which was tied firmly around Albel's shoulder. The tiny feline almost looked excited to travel with them. "You ready? We're running late." Fayt asked. Albel snickered and tied his bags to the dragon's saddle.

"Do I look as though I care about your little schedule? I'm here now so lets go." He said climbing atop the dark dragon. The blue haired boy said nothing as he straddled himself on behind the crimson eyed warrior. "We ready for take off?" Asked the soldier who would be flying the dragon.

"Yeah I think we're all set." Fayt replied. He noticed Albel glancing at him from over his shoulder. "You'd better hold on tight fool. We're in for a harsh ride." Fayt had no clue what he meant by that but asked no questions as he wrapped his arms around Albel's thin hips. They were surprisingly warm and gave the youth a very safe and secure feeling. Fayt admired the man so much, but could never tell him to his face. So for now he just enjoyed the pleasure of holding on to him during their ride through the snow capped mountains.

After a few minutes, the blue haired male understood what Albel had meant by the "harsh ride" comment. They were caught in a small snow storm, and the strong winds blew the group about the grey sky quite easily. The dragon managed to lower it's altitude and cut the wind's edge on them in half. The down side to this was that now they had to doge all of the mountain peaks which presented themselves in their path.

The roller coaster ride lasted throughout the entire ride but then Kirlsa wasn't that far so no one was affected by it. When they finally reached the land it felt a little sickening to stand but that passed away in a few seconds. "Thank you for flying us sir." Fayt said bowing slightly. "No problem. Now you said you want me to pick you up here in a week at this same time?

"Yes that's right." The soldier nodded as he and his dragon took to the sky once more. Fayt turned to look at Albel who was standing with is arms crossed near the teleporter. "Okay, lets go." The two walked into the light blue program algorithm and were on their way.

AN: Okay chap.2 done! Hope you guys liked it pretty okay. Thanks a lot to those of you who reviewed and I hope to see you again next chapter! R&R please!