Authoress Notes: Hm, it has been some time since I updated this fic. I had an idea of where this chapter was going, but I needed more imagery in it, and I didn't trust my writing inspiration then. In any case, I'm sorry for the late update, so here's the third installment to this story.

Disclaimer: SquareEnix is the rightful owner. Not I.

Plot/Summary: Weakened, fatigued, and brutally wounded by an assailant she fails to remember, Nel Zelpher wakes to find herself in a place not of her time. Not to mention she finds herself in the care of someone very unlikely…

You Found Me

By: xKuroSeraphimx

Chapter III

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In this skin...

The shadow in my mind…

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"… sure… doing… right….?"

"… only way… save… from…"

"How could you…?"

"How… How long…"

"Oh, don't be so upset. I had to do it."

"… won't be…"

"I… I died. Because I had that phase of insanity to trust you."

"Will-"

"… It was necessary."

Flash. A lag. The sound of a bad transmission line.

"… level at fifty-one percent…"

---

Narrowed, wine red-colored eyes peeked off the side of the wooden door as the boy gazed at the occupant in the bed. She looked to be asleep, her only visible eye closed lightly, and her body reclined rather comfortably into the pillow behind her. But he still couldn't pull off this weird vibe off his back…

It had been several hours since Woltar had left to answer a summoning from the King of Airyglyph. Although, with leaving the information to the boy that the said person in the bed ahead of him was to now become his baby sitter. Before he could protest to such an idea, the aging old man warned him not to argue, saying it was for his own good, and to now behave more properly since his new "babysitter" was still injured.

Albel Nox snorted haughtily at the memory. This woman? His babysitter? Of all things Woltar had to saddle him with, it just had to be her. Plus, what annoyed him most was the implication that he wasn't good enough of a warrior and man to take care of himself. Sure, he really wasn't of proper age to think himself as so, but the constant training he'd endure over the years under the tutelage of his father and other mentors…

She's also an Aquarian!

This thought alone seemed to be less of a damper than the previous one. While he had not met that many, the ones he did seemed just like everyone else around him. A stray question even came out as to why his country was having complications with these people. A little lacking in resources, but was it really their right to try and…

"If you want something, don't just hang around the door," a feminine voice said calmly, jarring his thinking.

His attention snapped to the red-haired woman in the bed, now sitting up straight, a placid, emerald eye watching him intently. Immediately, his annoyance flared at the disruption of his thoughts, his grip on the handle of the door tightening, and he spoke,

"Who said I wanted anything?" He spat with irritation, his eyes narrowing even more into a glare.

I suppose the safest thing to say is that he 'slightly' grew out of this temperament. Slightly. Nel mused, not fazed by his apparent rudeness in waking her from her temporary nap. Sparing a quick glance out of the window, yellow curtains lightly swaying in the wind, she deduced the day was fading into late afternoon.

When she looked back, Albel's expression had lightened to mild exasperation, a little twist in the brow and lift in his lip made her wonder if he was back to thinking again. Her senses had alerted to his presence the moment he swung the door open and began to stand there and stare at her for a few minutes straight. Forgetting his earlier outburst, Nel was reminded that she hadn't even thanked the boy for taking her in.

"Albel," Nel called, causing him to blink, then that annoyed look deepened once again, but kept silent as he waited for what she was going to say. "Thank you."

Obviously not expecting that, Albel took a step back, his red eyes wide, "… For what?"

"I was told you were the one who had found me wounded, and carried me back to Kirlsa." She promptly answered, "If not for your help, that would have been the end of me."

A small blush had stained his cheeks before he vehemently shook his head. "W-Well…! That was before I knew what you are! If I had checked-"

"Would you still have left me there to die?" Nel cut in, her voice laced with a genuinely curious, but somehow knowing, tone. She watched as the boy became confused with himself, and from her question, muttering little things under his breath for a while.

"I…" he started, but she beat him to it again.

"Let's just say that I owe you and Lord Woltar a great deal of thanks, and leave it at that." She said, shifting her legs so that they wouldn't fall asleep. Even now, her body was becoming restless from staying still.

"And you're planning on repaying that with babysitting me?" It sounded more like he was accusing her of a horrendous crime.

"More or less."

He bristled. "But you're wounded."

Nel merely shrugged it off. "I think I've had enough time to rest, don't you? I should at least be capable of keeping up with whatever you might plan to do."

"You make it sound like I'm an irritating brat."

Which you are, even when you're older, but Nel felt it was safer to just think that to herself. "I don't know. Lord Woltar didn't really give me that much information about you. Care to indulge me?" She asked, a hint of a challenge in her voice.

Albel was silent, taking in her words and analyzing them, it seemed. Then, a grin that she knew would eventually grow into that insufferable, arrogant and condescending smirk the older Albel threw at everyone, plastered itself on his youthful face.

It seemed things were smoothing out for the both of them.

"I don't even know your name, though," Albel pointed out, moving a couple brave steps toward her bed.

"It's Nel Zelpher."

"Nel Zelpher…" he tried, familiarizing himself with the flow of her name. "Nel? That's it? Seems pretty simple and boring. Zelpher sounds better, though. Hmph. Nel Zelpher. What a combination..."

Looks like some things don't change; he can still piss me off.

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"Oh? She has awakened…?"

Woltar nodded as he walked inside the fortress-like castle that was the Kingdom of Airyglyph. Walking beside him was none other than the Captain of the Dragon Brigade, Glou Nox, whom he had just met outside the castle walls. He looked much like an adult version of his son, Albel, but instead of a blonde color at the tips of his ebony hair, they were ends of silver. Clad in light armor that was covered mostly by the black, winter cloak he wore around his shoulders, four braids of his hair swathed in white cloth billowed behind him with the ends of his cloak.

Glou and Woltar stopped in their tracks as soon as they got far enough away from the entrance of the castle. Even inside the stone, ice littered walls, it did not lessen the need for more layers of clothing to be put upon one's body for heat. Climbing the stairs, Glou turned his head towards the older man.

"And what is her condition?" he asked, curious about the Aquarian his son had picked up half a month ago.

Despite the use of a cane and a bad leg aching slightly in protest, Woltar still walked just as normally as Glou did, easily keeping up with his strides. "She seems a bit disoriented and confused, but that was to be expected. She'll need a place to stay for now, and I have already taken matters as to offer my home up to that, as her injuries are still rather severe for me just to dump her out in the street; it would be unbecoming of me." He paused and glanced at Glou carefully. "I've also requested that she take care of young Albel during her stay, as payment for our care over her and to Albel recovering her from Aire Hills. I do hope you do not mind of this…"

An amused grunt escaped Glou's lips, a smile stretching across his lips. "I trust you, Woltar. I don't think you would put this upon my son without proper judgment of whom you were placing him with. Never mind her being an Aquarian," He added as they finally reached the top of the stairs.

"Still," he began, "I would like to speak with this woman after this meeting is done. What is her name, by the way?"

"As I have suspected, she is Nel Zelpher," Woltar replied promptly, "Daughter of Nevelle Zelpher."

"But that can't be right," Glou said, his voice laced with suspicion and surprise, "Last I heard of Nel Zelpher, she should be about the age of eight…"

"I will explain this more in detail, Glou," Woltar cut in, his grip on his cane tightening slightly. "For now, we must answer to His Majesty."

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A foggy morning.

It was her choice. Her choice alone where the ceremony would take place…

People. There were many people there. Black and veils. Sobs and murmurs.

Even when everyone was gone, she stood alone, even when her best friend tried to make her move, seeing that everyone was leaving…

She stood alone. No tears were marked on her cheeks.

Until the rain poured down.

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The door opened just as Nel placed a spoonful of food in her mouth.

Albel had returned, a brown paper bag in his arms. Nel set her spoon down on the compact table that contained plates of food a maid humbly offered on her bed minutes before.

"Oh, you're already eating," Albel stated, a small hint of disappointment in his voice before he walked towards her bed. "The food is…?"

Nel nodded, smiling slightly. "The food is good, of course. I'm almost done with it," She informed him, then tried to peer into the opening of the bag he brought in. "And that is…?"

He shook his head. "You're eating-"

"If it's something small, I'm sure I can fit whatever you brought into my meal."

Albel seemed to disbelieve her words for a moment, taking a quick glance at her nearly finished meal, before he dug a hand into the bag and wordlessly thrust a ruby red apple towards her. Nel blinked for a few seconds before she nodded her thanks and took the fruit gratefully. His perpetually annoyed look seemed to lighten at this.

Deciding that she should hurry up with her food before moving onto the apple, Nel began to finish up the rest on her plate. Beside her bed, Albel plunked down on the floor and started munching on an apple. The two ate in companionable silence, with Nel musing on the fact that he must be feeling really comfortable for the atmosphere to be this… calm. Not that the silence wasn't welcome, far from it, as it gave the Crimson Blade time to work around her current predicament, as in, arriving in a world not of her time.

Her mind worked on what the image of her assailant looked like, but the curtain of haziness surrounding it shrouded the picture in mystery once more. Then there was that flash of light. It was obvious something connected to that light was what transported her to the past. As she was thinking more about the light, the memory also brought a new sensation to her senses, as though she was being torn apart…

And so the Being said to them, "Come, come, listen to me!"

The Group looked on in wonder, asking, "What? What is there to hear from thee?"

With a wave and glance toward the crowd…

He thus spoke aloud,

"Beware of those angels who hide their tracks!"

Nel blinked. Where was this line of thought coming from? It sounded like an old children's rhymes…

"… Angels with their wings glued upon their backs…"

"What are you talking about?"

Emerald-colored eyes blinked rapidly in surprise as her reverie was broken by Albel's question. She looked towards him, finding that he now stood beside her bed, a half-finished apple lying on the brown paper bag on the floor. His expression had reverted to the usually irritated frown she was accustomed to, but there was a curious light dancing within his red eyes.

"What…?"

"You just said, 'angels with their wings glued upon their backs.' What is that? Some sort of quote from a book?" He asked with a slight tilt of his head.

"Uh…" Nel said lamely, trying to come up with as to how she knew of such verses. She could not recall a time she had heard those rhymes, yet she strangely felt that she knew them for so long… Maybe it was from her childhood? Maybe she had lost the lines until now amongst all the complicated knowledge of runology and standard duty and protocol that was required of a Crimson Blade? Still, she could not produce a suitable memory of learning the lines, just felt the feeling that she just did know them.

"I don't… really know," She finished, looking away from Albel to her still un-finished food. "It just came to me. I figure it's some obscure children's rhyme from my childhood…" Nel ended with this with a half-hearted shrug.

Albel gazed at her skeptically before he let out a frustrated sigh, as though he was the adult and he was getting tired of hearing her childish excuses.

"Bah. Maybe you're just being sleepy. One of the servants should come up and take your plate some time soon."

Nel nodded, still feeling uncertain about the odd rhyme lingering in her head. She noticed the apple still on her table, and decided she needed to get her mind off of her weird musings before she grasped the fruit.

"Thank you, Albel," She said, taking a bite out of it. "And you're probably right. I suppose I am a bit tired than I let on…"

Albel snorted condescendingly, then said, "I'm going to check to see if a servant's coming up to see you." And with that, he stooped to pick up the bag and his own apple before dashing out the room.

She watched after him until the door snapped closed. Her mouth formed into a thin line as she stared at her bitten apple. Nel didn't like this foreign… feeling within herself, the sense of not knowing what was truly wrong with her body. Her being bed-ridden for some time didn't add well with it either. Already, her legs were itching to move, but her body thought it would be wise and take some more time to recuperate and regain her bearings. After all, she learned that rushing into things didn't usually bring out the best results in certain situations.

However, one moment she was staring at the apple grasped in her hand, the next, her vision seemed to suddenly flash into lines of black and white, with the sound of… static buzzing in her ears. Like those… TV screens she saw on her venture with Fayt and the others when something went wrong with the screen's 'signal.' The apple dropped from her palm in surprise, allowing her to cover her eyes as though that action alone would prevent another thing like that.

W-What was…

"… fifty-two per… nt…"

Nel's vision was quickly fading, her consciousness slipping into a black void…

… Beware of those angels… who hide their tracks…

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Well, that's that. I hope you have enjoyed and please review if you did. I am sorry for the delay in updates. I will also post links to some drawings I did of Glou, if people don't mind to see them.