Oh my gosh, i'm soooo sorry guys! I just recently recieved a review form a fan of the story and suddenly remembered I haven't been posting the new chapters!! Well, I am now, so if you'll ever forgive me, I'll continue with the story, again I'm sooo sorry. Here's chapter 5

Disclaimer - I own nothing except the characters I created myself

Chapter 5 Cursed

I had my first good nights sleep in that castle that night. I woke up early, so I decided to go out around the town for a while. I got some supplies while I was out, and I passed by the inn. I looked down the steps to the caverns, no one was down there. Our footsteps were still in the sand, along with our blood. I shivered remembering that night. I walked down the steps, constantly looking behind me, I was watching for Albel but there was ever anyone there. Though, as soon as my foot hit that sand it was like watching my entire experience happen over again. I remembered how scared I was when he gripped my throat, and the pain from him cutting my stomach and my wrist. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder I gripped it out of fear and flipped it over me. Then I realized what I had done, I flipped Albel over my shoulder onto the ground in front of me.

"What the hell was that for?!" Albel gasped. I ran over to him.

"I'm so sorry! You startled me that's all. You came down so quietly." I said as I offered my hand to help him up. He shoved it out of the way.

"I was talking to you as I was coming down, fool!"

"You were?"

"Yes. I asked you what you were doing down here."

"I'm really sorry! I didn't do it on purpose, I swear!"

"Hmph...just don't let it happen again, worm." He said as he walked back up the steps. " What are you waiting for, an invitation? C'mon we have to get to Aqios." He said looking back at me.

"Oh, right."

"Fool."

"Are you ever going to stop calling me a fool and a worm?" I asked following him out of Kirlsa.

"Only when you prove to me that your not. Which I don't see happening soon…or ever." Albel said with a smirk.

"You really are a brute, you know that? And by the way, you still haven't said thank you to me for coming with you." I said. He looked over at me. He had a very serious look on his face.

"And don't expect to get one from me either."

"Come on, it's the least you can do after-"

"After you flipped me over your shoulder onto the ground." Albel interrupted. Looking at me still with that same serious look.

"I apologized for that already...twice!"He was starting to irritate me. I could tell that this was going to be a long trip. We reached Arias without any enemy encounters, but as we started walking through Arias, everyone was staring at us. I was really uncomfortable.

"Albel, why are they staring at us?" I asked. He didn't answer just kept walking forward. I noticed that his hand was really close to his katana. I didn't come to this town often but I never got the impression that they would act like this just because one person working with Airyglyph happened to walk by. It was a relief when we left and got onto the Palamira Plains.

"Wow, were they nervous or what?" I asked. Albel sighed and shook his head.

"Fool, they weren't nervous... they were angry. I knew it would be like that but that was really bad." Albel shook his head and we walked into Peterney. We were silent the rest of the way to Aqios.

"So where is that sword anyway?" Albel asked.

"Ummm"

"Don't tell me you don't know."

"I'm sorry...lets start looking here." Albel rolled his eyes and followed me inside. We weren't looking for too long until Albel found it on a shelf.

"Is this what your looking for?" Albel walked over to me with a shining double-edged sword that had a red gem embedded in the sheath. I took it out and made a few practice moves with it. It handled well.

"Yep, this is the one."

"You might want to take a look at the price of it first." Albel said. I looked at it. My eyes widened.

"You can't afford it, can you?" Albel asked. I shook my head. I went over to put it back on the shelf but Albel stopped me.

"I'll get it for you." He said. I couldn't believe my ears.

"What?" he took the sword from me and handed it to the clerk. Paid for it and gave it back to me.

"Here. Take it."

"Thanks, but I don't understand. Why are you doing this for me?" I asked, taking the sword from him.

"I expect something in return."

"What's that?"

"I need you to promise me something." Albel looked very serious, he was looking right into my eyes. "Promise me you won't run...won't run away from this. It's not going to be easy. But just promise me that you will not run away."

"...I promise...I swear I won't run away. No matter what happens. But can you answer one question?"

"What is it?"

"Why does this Romero need to be killed so badly? What has he done?" I asked. Then Albel started to walk out of Aqios, I followed him, then he stopped in the middle of the bridge.

"He...has set a curse on me. I need to kill him within the next eight days or...My soul will belong to him...and I will be dead"

"W-What?" I didn't believe what I was hearing. I felt myself starting to get choked up, I knew I was going to start crying. I didn't really like Albel, but I didn't hate him enough to not cry. He turned around to face me. His eyes weren't tearing, but I knew he was sad. But being who he is, he never would show it in a place like this.

"Stop crying, you fool. I thought that you hated me." I looked up at him, straight into his eyes.

"Why...why do you want everyone to hate you?!"

"It's easier that way. You're not committed to anyone but yourself."

"You're the fool. Not me or anyone else...just you. What a sad life you live. You're trying to make it so no one will miss you when you're gone...just in case we fail, aren't you?!"

"I guess I am aren't I? But why do you care so much about it?" He said as he turned to head into the inn, it was dark by now. We weren't going anywhere else tonight.

"Because...no one should live their life that way!" I followed him into the inn. We had to share the same room because of the price of the sword. But there were two beds, Thank god. We were both silent the rest of the night.

There you go, again, I'll ask you all to please review! I promise to continue a a decent pace now, because I've had a lot of free time on my hands anyway. so now i'll have something to do with my extra time!