Star Ocean Till the end of time
Reunion
Proofread by Tristan Amaryllis
Chapter 5: A new Enemy
The atmosphere was tense. The scheduled meetings of Queen of Aquaria and the King of Airyglph was now delayed for its second hour. Nel sighed and rolled her eyes.
'The Airyglph monarchy were the ones who had wanted this meeting and now they make us wait.' She thought impatiently.
Looking to her left, she caught a glimpse of Clair, who was standing next to an empty space where her father Adray should have been. He hadn't shown up. She suspected that Magistrate Lasselle had a hand in that...though she couldn't prove it. Somewhere Tynave and Farleen were making sure there wouldn't be any nasty surprises.
"Hey Nel! Over here!" A voice from the crowd caught Nel's attention. After a quick scan, she saw a familiar face wearing a spiked helmet and sporting a raccoon-like tail. Oh great.
"Hello Roger." She said, putting on a pleasant front. "It's been awhile."
"Yeah, it sure has." He agreed cheerfully. "So whatcha been up to?"
"Oh, keeping busy." She replied. "How about you?"
"Business is the same as always. Going on dares, looking for treasures...you know, the usual."
"Yes." Nel said. "Yes, I certainly do."
It was coming up to the third hour, and Nel was convinced that Airyglph had screwed them over when five Air dragons flew over head, followed by the sound of bugles and drums as the Airyglph party arrived, escorted by all three of its brigades, most notably, the Dragon Brigade. The largest of the dragons swooped out of the sky and landed in front of them, and atop of it was the king of Airyglph, who swiftly dismounted his steed, took the queen's hand and kissed it.
"My dear Romeria, it has been too long." He said. "It is good to see that you are well."
"And you also." she replied. "I express my condolences on my passing of Lord Woltar"
"He was a good man and a loyal friend, but it was his time." One of his escorts handed him a small box, which when opened to reveal a small necklace shaped like a dragon. It was made of silver, with emeralds for eyes.
"Our finest jewel smiths spent three months crafting this as a gift." the king said as he presented it to her.
"It is beautiful. Thank you."
Suddenly two beams of light appeared a few meters behind the Queens party. Nel was immediately on the offensive until the light beams dissipated to reveal the familiar faces of Sophia Esteed and Maria Traydor.
Following a few idle seconds, Maria looked over at her companion. "Well we're here." She said.
"And it appears we got here at the right time." Sophia replied. Nel was not someone who was easily shocked, but in this case, she found herself speechless. Was this real, or was it some sort of illusion?
"Well, this is something you don't see every day." Maria said with a small smile spread across her face "Nel Zelpher with no sage-like words."
"Maybe there's a planetary alignment. Or maybe Hell froze over" Sophia replied, stifling a giggle.
"That's not very polite you know." Claire said as she made her way to Nel's side "Nice to see you again Ms. Traydor, Ms. Esteed."
"Yes, though it is certainly quite unexpected, it is an honor to have you here again." The Queen, who had been a little taken aback by Sophia and Maria's arrival, had regained her composure, and was now glad to be in the presence of two of the people who'd saved her world once again.
"And you Your Majesties, Ms. Lasbard." Sophia replied whilst Maria nodded.
"So why are you here?" Nel said, finally finding her voice
"Hello to you too." Maria said with a slight tinge of mock hurt in her voice.
"Would it kill you to say 'hey there you two, how's it going' once in awhile?" Sophia said
"Hey what about me? Can't a guy at least get noticed?" A voice came from below. Looking down, Maria and Sophia saw Roger still in the same spiked helmet, carrying an axe and wearing the same green sweater he'd been wearing last time they'd seen him in. Oh great.
"Hi Roger." Sophia said, trying to look pleased to see him. "Have you been keeping out of trouble?"
Maria shook her head before turning her attention back to Nel and Clair. "Well, as to why we're here, you can thank Sophia for that. This little get together was her idea."
"Get together? You mean, Master Fayt and the others are coming?" Clair asked.
"Yeah, the others should be here soon." Maria said but Nel couldn't help but notice the uncomfortable look on both Maria and Sophia's faces.
Several minutes later, a small beeping sounded on her communicator. "Alright. I guess that means they're here".
Moments later, four beams of light appeared near them which after a few seconds revealed themselves to be Cliff Fitter, Mirage Koas, Peppita Rossetti and Albel Nox . Immediately Peppita launched herself at Sophia and held her in one of the tightest bear hugs she'd ever been in, before beginning to talk feverishly about several topics which seemed to be merged together almost deliriously. Nel herself was staring at Albel. She wasn't going to say it, but she had to agree he looked pretty good.
"You idiot." he was saying.
"What?" Cliff replied "Come on, you make it sound as if this is my fault."
"It is your fault." Mirage put in. "You were the one who gave her all that coffee. She's been hyper the whole trip."
Nel was suddenly quite glad she had not been on said trip.
"Albel." the king said wonderingly as he made his way towards him. "It's good to see you again, my boy."
"Your Majesty." The swordsman simply replied.
"Wow." A voice said from behind the king. Emerging from the crowd came a man with short blond hair, dressed in black amour and a sly grin. "The legendary Albel Nox. Albel the Wicked...or should I say perhaps...Albel the Deserter?"
Albel looked at him. "And who might you be, maggot?"
"My name is Alister. And I'm the new captain of the Black Brigade. And, with all due respect," He said in a voice that reflected none at all, "a much better soldier than you ever were."
"It that so?" Albel replied, holding his new gauntlet up to his face. "Why don't we put that to the test?"
"Maria," Sophia said quietly, "this might turn ugly. Shouldn't you do something?"
"I should do something, shouldn't I?" Maria replied as Alister pulled his helmet and drew a vicious looking broadsword from behind his back.
He charged at Albel, who simply stood there. Calmly, he flipped up a small section on his gauntlet to reveal a control panel, and then pressed a few buttons. Alister brought his sword down in an arc as Albel brought his left arm up.
'Idiot, does he truly think that piece of scrap metal can protect him from my blade?' He thought as the sword came down.
Suddenly, before his sword could connect, an almost transparent shape appeared over Albel's gauntlet, and his sword bounced off. Using his opponents moment of confusion, Albel quickly pressed another button on the control pad and the claws began to glow a soft blue. His senses regained, Alister swung his sword at Albel again, only to see it sliced to ribbons like tissue paper by Albel's claws. Then Albel went to work on his amour, slicing through it like a hot knife through butter. Albel ripped off Alister's helmet before putting his boot in his face and sending him sprawling. Then, to the groups' surprise, the audience surrounding them burst into applause. Even the king and queen seemed to have found it entertaining.
"Bravo." The queen said, not even trying to hide her amusement. "Very well done."
"Yes," the king agreed, "quiet the show."
The Queen then dismissed them. Nel had objected, but was assured by both the Queen and Clair that they could manage with out her for a while. Heading away from the festivities and into a nearby ally, "Okay," Nel said with a hint of mistrust in her voice. "What are you doing here? And where's Fayt?"
"Yeah, where is he?" Cliff asked. "I was thinking he'd be with you two."
Once again Sophia and Maria had uncomfortable looks on their faces.
"What is it?" Mirage inquired "Is there a reason why Fayt's not here?"
"Fayt's gone" Sophia said in a small voice. "He disappeared two years ago." Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out Fayt's letter. "This letter is all he left behind. There were messages for all of you." She paused for a moment before reading aloud.
"Dear Sophia
If you've not already sussed out from this seeing this letter attached to your door, I'm not going to be around anymore. I've been doing a lot of thinking and have come to this conclusion I can no longer stay, I apologize if this causes you any distress but the destruction gene still lies within me thanks to my father's experiment. Though he meant well, he probably didn't foresee what kind of life we would have after the war with the Creator was over. And because of his tampering, I can never live a normal life. You have been my friend since I can remember and I can never express how much it means to me. If you should ever see the others again please pass these messages on:
Tell that great knucklehead Cliff that he is arrogant and egocentric and I wouldn't have him any other way.
Tell iron willed Maria that she is a great leader and an incredible woman who no man could resist.
Tell ever-obedient Mirage that I admire her coolness and level headedness and her uncanny ability to kick serious ass when she needs to.
Tell energetic Peppita that without her humor and good nature we might never have got through some pretty dark times.
Tell Roger that I enjoyed his company and I'm sure one day he'll be a great leader.
Tell Adray that his experience and wisdom were a great help on our quest.
Tell kind hearted Nel that she has a special place in my heart and I'm sure she'll meet someone who can give her the love and affection she deserves.
And finally tell honorable Albel that he is one of the greatest friends I gained during our adventure and can think no I'd rather have to help me get out of trouble.
Tell them that their friendship is always carried in my heart where ever I go and is treasured higher then any amount of money or precious gems.
There are questions that I need answers to and I won't find them by hanging around here and so I must go out into the universe and find them myself. Even though it pains me to do so, this journey is too dangerous to take you with me. I don't know if you'll ever see me again but please don't waste your tears worrying about me.
All my love
Fayt Leingod"
The group was silent as Sophia finished the letter she then passed it around for them to look at.
"This is why I got us all together, so I could pass these messages on to you guys."
Cliff folded his arms as he confronted Maria "Why didn't you tell us about this?" He said, not bothering to hide the hurt in his voice. "We could have looked for him."
Maria didn't answer. The look on her face told Cliff all he needed to know. Peppita walked over to Sophia who was wiping away a tear. Reading that letter seemed to have brought back a lot of painful memories
"Sophia, why didn't you tell us?"
"Because..." She began, and then faltered. 'Why? Why hadn't she told them before this?' "I...I thought maybe he'd come back." She answered at last.
There was another uneasy silence before someone spoke up. "Come on, lets get a drink."
Looking over their shoulders, the group saw Albel leaning against a wall with Sophia's letter in his hand. "There's no point dwelling on what's already happened, is there?" He said, then straightened up and walked past them in a way that seemed a little too deliberate.
"He's right, you know." Mirage said. "There's no point dwelling on things we can't do anything about. Anyway, Cliff still has to make good on our bet."
Nel, Mirage, Maria, Sophia, Peppita and Roger sat down at their table whilst Cliff and Albel were getting their drinks. Though she didn't let it show, Nel was in shock. The idea that Fayt would just up and leave was something she wasn't willing to except, but the message that Sophia passed on to her made her even more confused.
'Tell kind hearted Nel that she has a special place in my heart and I'm sure she'll meet someone who can give her the love and affection she deserves. Those had been his words to her. Does this mean he... no he can't be... he and I could never...' Nel was brought back to reality when Albel put her drink on the table before sitting down across from her. A moment later, Cliff was back as well.
"Well, I guess this occasion calls for a toast." Cliff said in a cheery voice to which everyone except Albel agreed.
"To a joyful reunion." Cliff said as the group raised their glasses.
"And to Fayt." Sophia spoke up. "Let him be safe and happy where ever he is."
"TO FAYT." Everyone said and drained their glasses.
Over the next two hours Nel listened to Cliff, Mirage and Maria's stories with Albel adding occasional comments.
"... so there I am sitting at the table with the ruler of Abdanna 4, tension running high, I ask the dealer to draw me another card I look at it and boom full house, I win, we walk out of there with our heads still attached to our bodies and these two are singing my praises all the way back to Eden." Cliff said in a smug tone.
"Funny. I don't remember it happening like that." Albel said as he swilled the amber liquid around in the glass before taking a swig.
"What's that supposed to mean" Cliff inquired. "I won didn't I?"
"No maggot, you didn't. You tried to cheat, just like always. And you got caught. Just like always. I would hardly call that 'winning'."
"'Like always'?" Sophia asked.
"Cliff can't cheat at cards to save his life. Or, ours, on that occasion." Mirage said.
"Hey," Cliff protested, "we're alive to tell the tale aren't we?"
"Only because we ran like hell all the way back to the Pegasus. And because Mirage is a good enough pilot to not get us shot down." Albel said before draining his drink.
"You ran from a fight?" Sophia said with a slight chuckle before taking a sip from her drink.
She had expected anger, but Albel's tone was merely mock-serious. He looked at her. "When you travel around with this idiot, discretion is the first thing you learn. If I didn't run from fights, I'd have killed half the people in this galaxy by now."
There were a few moments of silence before Cliff changed the subject. "You'll have to excuse Mr. Grumpy over there." Cliff said. "He recently got out of a relationship, and he's still all huffy about it." Nel nearly choked on her drink at this, having heard the two words she'd never thought to hear in the same sentence: 'Albel' and 'relationship'.
"He claims it was just easy sex," Cliff continued blithely as Albel fumed, "but he spent nearly a year with that woman."
Sophia, Nel, Roger and Peppita stared at the fuming swordsman, who seemed to notice them only after a long while. "What are you all looking at?" He snarled. "I'm a male. I have needs."
Then he turned his gaze at Cliff. "At least I can find someone. This weakling couldn't get women to save his pathetic existence."
"What'd you say?" Came the indignant reply.
"You heard me maggot."
"You wanna come over here and say that to my face!"
"Gladly!" Albel returned.
"Are those two always like this?" Sophia asked.
"Every hour of every day." Mirage replied, in a tone that suggested a resigned sort of acceptance. "Though honestly, it's not like Albel hasn't had any offers to help him get over her. Women on every planet we go to seem to throw themselves at him."
"Hmm." Nel said, trying to sound thoughtful and detached, but if any of the group had looked at her, they would have noticed a vein pounding on her head.
The group left the inn an hour later, and made their way back to the square where the festivities where taking place. They went to find a spot to watch the show, Albel still catching dirty looks from the Airyglyph camp. The performers were very good, but nonetheless, Nel's attention kept wandering to the crimson eyed man standing next to her.
'Damn it Zelpher get a grip. Why do you even care about what Albel does.' She mentally cried at herself. 'He's not a friend just a one time comrade. Soon as this is over he'll be gone and you never have to see him again.' That thought should have been appealing, but somehow it wasn't.
"Those guys are pretty good, huh?" Nel had been so absorbed in her thoughts that she hadn't realized that someone was behind her and speaking to her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Cliff with Peppita sitting on his shoulders.
"You think they're good." Peppita said airily. "Anything these amateurs can do the Rossetti's could do way better."
"I suppose. I don't get a lot of time to observe this kind of thing." Nel replied "And these people are hardly amateurs, Peppita"
"Shows what you know." The small girl said.
Nel was about to reply when something came over her. She didn't know why but a sudden sense of foreboding washed over her senses. 'Be prepared, they're coming!' A strange voice screamed at her. Nel could not place the feeling, but she had never resisted instinct. Looking around, she drew her daggers.
"Get everyone out of here." She told her companions almost casually as she made her way through the crowd before they had a chance to protest. The performers were just finishing their act when something that wasn't planned happened (although a few of the onlooker apparently took it for part of the show at first): it was as if the space around them shattered like glass and creatures dressed in amour carrying large scythes appeared. Nel rushed towards the creatures.
"Get out of here!" She yelled as the performers and crowds dispersed in a panic. During her adventures with Fayt and the others, Nel had fought many creature but these were like nothing she'd ever seen before. It wasn't that they were particularly strong; she could defeat them relatively easily, to be honest. It was the sheer number of them, so many that she was soon overwhelmed.
After a particularly fierce exchange, she found herself knocked to the ground, her weapons knocked out of her hands, and one of the creatures standing over her with its scythe raised. She closed her eyes, awaiting the finishing blow. When nothing happened, she opened her eyes she saw the creature bleeding on the ground. Albel was standing over her his sword covered in a black liquid, carrying the creatures scythe "You alright?" he asked.
"Yeah, I think so." She replied, slightly taken aback by his apparent actions.
"Good." He said as he began hacking away at another of the creatures. "Then get up, worm, and prove that you deserve to live."
As Nel got up, she saw the others had joined the fray as well, and a number of Aquarian and Airyglyph soldiers were herding a panicking crowd away from the battle while others joined the battle with them.
Eventually, the armored creatures began to overwhelm them. No matter how many Nel, Albel, Mirage and the others cut down more seemed to take their place, and soon they were backed into a corner.
"Damm it." Cliff said in frustration.
"What do we do now?" Sophia exclaimed.
"We fight to the last and die with honor." Albel said raising his blood drenched blade. The attempt to rally people around him was unconscious, but it was still proof that he had not grown out of his leadership role in the Black Brigade, even after years away from the planet.
"You're not serious?" Roger said.
"No, he's right." Nel said defiantly. "If I'm gonna die, I'm doing it fighting, not backed into a corner like a rat."
Suddenly a strange shape appeared in the sky and a figure dressed in a hooded robe dropped out of it, all members of the group watched as he hit the ground, the robe flew off revealing his face
"Oh my god, It's him." Sophia whispered. "It's Fayt"
Her tone was a sort of disbelieving joy, but it was short-lived as one of the armored creatures launched a very powerful fire based spell, engulfing Cerulean haired boy with large stream of fire.
Well that was chapter 5 and things are begining to happen so send me your comments and tellme it rocked or it crashed & burned. I'm just a poor boy from a poor familiy and nobody loves me, I'm currently in the process of rounding off chapter 6& I hope to have it posted ASAP. till then Keep on truckin.