Why Nel Hates Aireglyph

Why Nel Hates Aireglyph

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Ocean 3: Till the End of Time.. Star Ocean is owned by Square Enix and Tri-Ace.

Inknamida: So, this is my first Star Ocean fanfic. I haven't quite finished either the second or third games, but I've gotten far enough to know what happens. I wish I could play the second story all the way through, but the game is nearly impossible to find. I'm almost done with the third, and I've already had so many ideas running through my brain, usually involving Albel, occasionally involving children, and even more rarely involving those children being both his and Nel's. I seem to have a theme of being mean to him and causing problems in their relationship. You might just see that in this story depending on where I decide to go with this one. While this ISN'T the first story idea I've had for Star Ocean, or the first started, it will be the first posted. I'm hoping to get another one out soon that I started before this one, but it's going to be much much longer. I hope you like this one and look forward to the next.

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He said something bad again. Fayt knew it. Albel Nox had said something that sent their friend Nel into a rage. She left quickly to cover this up, but probably wouldn't come back for a few hours unless somebody went to help her cool off. Luckily (not) for Fayt, it was his turn. He had three options. One, take a beating from Nel until she cooled off, but he was still bruised from the last time. Two, item creation, but they didn't really have much money for that after the last upgrade to Maria's gun. And three, try to talk her out of her rage. Well, if Sophia could do it, HE could try, and probably fail, and get beaten for it. Well, at least he wasn't Cliff, who couldn't seem to stop himself from flirting with her and paid for it with bruises.

Fayt managed to catch up to the pissed off Aquarian before she left the Peterny gates and persuaded her to go to the east-side bar with a promise that she could beat up Cliff if he was there. As they sat down with two large mugs of cider, Fayt wondered what to say. Then he realized he was alone at a bar, with a girl, with a large amount of alcohol that he'd never be able to finish without making a complete fool of himself, and then getting his ass kicked for it.

Deciding that there was just no way to win when up against Nel, he decided to put it off and just ask his question straight out. "Nel, why do you hate Albel so much? I mean, I know you guys were at war and all, but you're allies now. Why does everything he say seem to piss you off?" Meanwhile, Fayt was thinking, 'Please don't hit me, please don't hit me, please don't hit me....'

She took a gulp of cider, and instead of hitting him, glared sullenly into her glass. After a few awkward moments of silence, she finally answered him. "I don't hate him, specifically. I hate Aireglyph. And don't give me that crap about how we're supposedly at peace now." Then she whispered something that the blue haired boy couldn't quite catch.

"Huh? Then why?" Fayt felt like he was getting somewhere, maybe he COULD help her.

That's what he thought until she finished off her cider in three huge gulps.

"If you're so interested in it Fayt, ask Sophia or Clair. Hell, ask Albel himself, if he even remembers." With that she stomped off towards the door. "I'm going to bed early tonight. Don't let anyone bug me."

Later that night, after he finally shook off Maria and got Sophia alone, Fayt did ask about Nel's reasons for hating Aireglyph.

Sophia looked at him cautiously, and then looked around the nearly empty inn room. "Did Nel tell you to ask me?" Cliff, Mirage and Adray were out drinking. Maria went to bed, and that just left the two children playing in the corner of the room and Albel who was almost asleep himself.

"Yes, she said to ask you or Clair. I don't think she wanted to talk about it... again I mean."

Sophia took another glance towards Albel before explaining in a hushed voice, "Of course she doesn't. She was... almost raped."

He bit back a gasp at her whispered words. "How? When? Who?" He struggled to keep his voice down. If it was Albel... but Albel wouldn't do something like that. Nel would have killed him, not left every time she got angry so she wouldn't.

"They were only 18. Her father had gone missing a couple years before, and she was sent on a mission to infiltrate Aireglyph castle to find information on him and the war plans. She was hired on as a maid, but that's where the trouble started."

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Vox had decided rather quickly that the new red-haired maid was attractive. It was her figure, so young and fresh, but sleek. It didn't hurt that she had a pretty face and a nice, taut ass that just begged to be spanked whenever she had to bend over to fix his bedsheets. It was precisely as the new maid was standing up after finishing her chore that he decided to make his move.

In seconds she was back down on the bed, his weight on top of her, pressing her further into the mattress. Duke Vox's hand trailed up her skirt to grip her firm ass, exposing her white panties. It wouldn't do to mess up the bed she had so carefully made, so he decided he'd take her from behind this time.

"Get off of me!" She squirmed a little under him, but he had plenty of experience dealing with struggling maids. He paused when he felt something strange brush against his fingers as he reached to pull her underwear down, but Vox ignored it in favor of stroking her warm folds with a finger.

"What do you think you're doing, Vox?" It was the damn failure, Vox thought as he realized his mistake in failing to completely shut his door before making his move on the sexy new maid. Now that pathetic boy, Albel had found him in a very compromising position. So the boy's failure in the Accession of the Flame ceremony had inadvertently opened up the leadership of the Dragon Brigade to him, but the King looked after the boy, and he might just be the one to lead the newly formed Black Brigade. Which means Vox needed to explain things very quickly or face the wrath of his nephew, the King.

"Did your parents teach you no manners boy? Get out!" Vox turned to glare as he continued to finger the maid, an act that Albel couldn't see from the door.

"My father taught me not to rape the hired help, a lesson YOU don't seem to have learned." The boy glared.

He was about to argue that she was in fact quite consenting—otherwise she would have said something the other times when he had smacked her ass, and she was the only one to volunteer to clean his room—but then she had the audacity to speak up now and make Vox look the fool.

"Please... help...." Albel saw the frightened look in the maids eyes. It was a look he had seen before, the look of one condemned. The Aquarian soldiers he killed had that if they knew death was coming, and some of the other maids had it too after leaving Vox's room. This was the first time he had actually caught Vox in the act of molesting one of the girls, and he couldn't just ignore it. She was too weak to save herself after all.

It didn't take much more thought for Albel to grab the bastard by the cloak and pull him from the girl, or any effort for that matter, and within seconds he had her in his arms and out the door. With one last glare at Vox, he put the maid down and led her someplace relatively safe, a place where they wouldn't be bothered, the place he normally ended up comforting the young women Vox attacked.

Nel decided that this place was a great secret, but very cold. And puzzling. Why had Albel Nox, a man she had never even talked to before except to say "Yes, sir." to a command, led her to the aqueducts? The guy was a complete enigma, and even though all the other maids chatted about how handsome and strong and cool he was, she couldn't understand what they saw in him.

"Are you cold?" His voice was gruff, and while she didn't trust him, she accepted the black feathered cloak he offered. Her maid outfit was quite thin and didn't cover up as much as she liked even with her extra long stockings and long sleeved white blouse. She needed something to cover the runes on her skin after all.

Her hands itched for her daggers as she felt his right arm wrap around her in a hug. "Shh... it's alright. You just have to watch out for Vox, none of the other soldiers will dare hurt you like that." Was he trying to comfort her like she couldn't deal on her own?

Albel wondered why the maid hadn't broken down in tears yet. She also seemed more wary of him than the others had been. Oh well, it's not like ALL of the maids threw themselves at him, and he would have barely remembered seeing this one at all around the castle if she hadn't been the only redhead. It'd take too much effort to get laid tonight if she was this cold to him.

"I won't hurt you...." He tried again to comfort her in the only way he really knew and pulled her to his chest. This was the best position because even if they wouldn't let him go any further, he could still look down their low cut necklines.

"My friend warned me about Vox." She finally spoke and began relaxing a little in his arms. "I thought I was being cautious enough around him, but...." Her tears fell silently, and Albel thought she was stronger for it. He couldn't cry like that, so he just didn't. He liked the look on her face, a cute look that promised vengeance.

Nel was furious, at herself and at her Queen for ordering her on this mission without telling her of the other dangers. "My friend... Maeve," Damn, she had almost said Tynaeve instead of the codename she was given as the previous spy in Aireglyph Castle, "She said she had to quit because of him."

"Maeve." Albel's voice spoke of recognition, and he DID recognize the name. That particular maid had been blonde, spunky and almost boyish. She begged for him to show her what sex was supposed to be like, but she never cried. That had been the first time he'd woken up the next morning alone and he hadn't seen her again. He was almost glad that she had made it back to her family. Of course she'd be left with nothing when they found out she'd been raped and was therefore no longer a virgin.

How could the queen have sent her on this mission? Surely Tynaeve had told her about that bastard. She had never told Nel though, so maybe she hadn't told anyone. Dammit.

"I'll have to kill him then."

The conviction in this announcement from the fragile looking maid surprised Albel. She really sounded like she meant it and was prepared to follow through. Then her hand reached up her skirt and she pulled out a short blade. Warning bells went off in Albel's mind. Acting on instinct, he tightened his grasp on the small woman and used his claws to pull down the edge of her long stocking. The redhead elbowed him in the stomach and squirmed out of his grasp. He let go, but he still managed to see the edge of a tattoo on her thigh.

"You're a spy!" Albel's accusation didn't miss the mark. The maid crouched before him holding the dagger with skill, prepared to fight. And he was now left freezing without another warm body or his cloak which she had wisely thrown to the ground out of the way.

Nel surveyed her options. She was closer to the entrance, but he knew the layout better than she did, and he had a sword. Luckily he had yet to draw it. She attacked first.

Albel snorted as he sidestepped the spy's attack, spinning slightly so he continued to face her. She was way too slow. He let her play around a little longer with her attacks before casually knocking her knife to the ground with a swipe from his metal claw and pinning her against an icy wall with his body.

"You're weak. Did you think you could kill Vox as you are now?" He taunted her casually, enjoying the feel of her breasts pressed against his chest. Too bad she's a spy. "And attacking the one who saved you. How ungrateful."

"You... you," His face was so close to hers she could feel his breath, and it scared her. "You probably only saved me just so you could rape me yourself."

"I admit I've comforted a lot of the maids he's raped, but they all enjoyed it as much as I did. Including your friend. Maeve practically tore my clothes off because she wanted a real man so badly." There was that look again, that cute angry little look. Albel wondered what else would make her give that look. A kiss perhaps? He leaned closer to press his lips against hers.

That was about the time Nel cast a firebolt spell.

The spell caught Albel off guard and allowed the Aquarian to free herself from the kiss and his hold so that she could run to her knife. Albel recovered quite quickly, and though he was badly injured from the proximity of the spell, he was able to tackle her to the frozen ground as she bent to retrieve her knife. Her knife was almost within her reach, but his weight prevented her from moving the arm anyways.

She was stronger than he thought, Albel decided. Maybe she could take out Vox someday, even if she was too weak now. A flare of desire burned in his gut, and he quelled it by taking her lips and kissing her roughly. Did she not realize how arousing her squirming was, pressing her body against his further? Albel had to force himself to break the kiss before it took him too far and he became too tempted.

"Look, spy. I'm going to let you go. I'm not going to mention this to anyone, but you had better never come back here, or I will kill you myself. Understand?" He removed his weight from the woman and she scrambled away with a blush on her face. She collected her dagger and ran off with a few scared glances back in his direction. Albel could almost kill himself for letting her go. She was too hot, and considering she had been in Vox's chambers, she probably knew too much, as did her friend. Fuck, no wonder Maeve left so quickly. Albel continued to wonder if he had done the right thing for the rest of the day, consoling himself with the fact that if he had to turn her in, she'd end up raped despite his efforts, and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to hold himself back.

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Albel woke from his light nap, realizing that the maggot and Fayt had gone to bed at some point. He had overheard them talking about his first encounter with Nel, or at least what Nel had mentioned to Sophia. The quiet discussion had made him remember saving her hide, something he really didn't care to remember. He should have killed her when he had the chance, but no.. he had to be chivalrous and let her go. He could have gotten that thorn out of his side, turned the battle in favor of Aireglyph. Instead he had let go TWO spies that knew about his little hideout, and the secret entrance to the dungeons.

That the weak little wench had grown up to defeat him was crazy. That she had continued on to defeat Vox and be somewhat responsible for the bastard's fate was even crazier. He had wanted to kill Vox, but instead he had been rotting in a prison cell for the entire last battle between their two nations. At least no one had learned about the first time he had let a spy go, no one that mattered, he thought as he glared at Fayt's sleeping form in the bed next to him.

The fool would most likely take it as evidence of Albel's humanity, of which he had none. So he had let her go. So fucking what. Albel had been very tempted to rape her right there since she wasn't a real maid, just a weak and stupid Aquarian wench that didn't deserve any mercy. If Fayt had wanted to know how Albel could upset her so easily, it was that. All he had to do to get that smoldering look of hate into her eyes was to mention saving her ass and then letting her go... or casually remind her of the kiss that he stole, and that he'd be willing to take more.

Albel sighed and rolled over to face the wall. She'd probably have tried to kill him if it wasn't for Fayt accepting him onto their misfit team. Instead she'd run off to hide her embarrassment and to keep some measure of control. Why did she hate him so much anyways? He'd rescued her after all. Bitch. He'd barely remembered how attracted he'd been to her 6 years ago, until he had faced her in battle again. The worst part since then was sharing a room with her on that stupid ship. Albel could still remember the sound of her breathing, her light moans as she dreamed of who knew what, her light clean scent. She just remembered him as part of some bad memory, a memory of her own weakness being used against her. He sighed again and tried to drive out the thoughts of the red haired devil that plagued him so that he could finally sleep. Sleep seemed hours away.

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Fayt decided to have a little chat with Albel the next morning while they battled their way across the Irisa fields to Aquios. They were assisting Mirage who was worried she'd grown soft after Cliff bested her in a practice match, though the truth was that Cliff had faced a lot more challenges on Elicoor and the 4-D world than she had on the Diplo. The rest of the group followed behind trying to stay out of the battles in case something happened and one of the forward team needed replaced.

"So, why do you hate Nel so much?" Fayt asked as Mirage lagged behind while she ate some chopped steak to recover her health.

"I don't hate her. I despise her. Subtle difference there, fool." Albel hoped that said fool would discontinue the conversation.

"Then why do you enjoy making her upset?"

The fool was about to die. Of course then everyone else would try to kill him, and he wasn't as certain as he'd like to be that he could defeat them all. Albel realized that he really wasn't strong enough to take more than possibly 2 of them on at a time, and he'd definitely not do so well against a pissed off Nel. With a sigh, Albel gave in, "I like the look she gives me before she runs off."

"Wait... what?" Fayt stared at him like he had blood all over his face or something. "You think she's CUTE?"

"N-no...."

"Mirage! Mirage! Albel likes Nel!" Fayt screamed at their companion who was beginning to catch up. Luckily for Albel, a proclaimer decided to attack them, and during the battle he was able to 'accidentally' backhand the boy with his claw. Unfortunately, Mirage had a decent memory and had heard Fayt's remark, so after the battle she decided to pester him too.

"I thought he might. He tends to get this goofy little grin on his face when he thinks no one is looking at him, and only after Nel gets angry at him." That's it. They would both be dying tonight, Albel decided.

"Why don't you tell her? She might forgive you or something." Fayt added. Albel wondered where he could trick them into going so he could kill them slowly.

"Fool. The world doesn't work the way it does in your daydreams."

They ignored Albel's comments, like always. "You know Fayt, I've always wondered what he says to her? Did you hear what he said last night?"

"Nope."

"I heard. He whispered... oh, what was it. Oh, 'What's wrong Zelpher, kiss a frog again?'" Mirage and Fayt's gazed turned to the now blushing swordsman.

"YOU'VE KISSED?" Fayt accused. Apparently Nel hadn't told Sophia everything about that night after all. Judging by Nel's reaction to the comment, she hadn't forgotten.

Might as well play their little game and let the beauty, err, bitch punish them for it, Albel thought with a wicked thought in his mind. "Twice."

Mirage's eyes widened, "When?"

"Oh, I'm sure Fayt heard all about it last night. Didn't Sophia mention to you that Nel and I had a little tryst in the aqueducts a few years back?"

"Noooo." Fayt thought for a moment. "She said you attacked Nel after rescuing her from Vox and seeing her runology tattoos.

"Nel's such a liar. She attacked me first, because I saw her tattoos while we were making out." Albel wasn't exactly lying, but it was definitely stretching the truth. "I let her go because she was weak and worthless. She probably hates me just because I was so much stronger that I could steal kisses from her even in battle."

None of the three had realized that they had both made it to the city gates AND that the rear group had caught up with them until they heard a loud scream of rage.

"WHO'S A LIAR, YOU SLEAZY BASTARD!" Nel's vision turned red, and for a moment she could decide who to attack, Albel, or the two who had probably pushed the conversation on him. She settled for aiming a kick to Albel's fluffy haired head. The infuriating man smirked as he easily dodged it, grabbed her leg as it passed him, and flung her into the open-mouthed Fayt and Mirage.

"You're the one who failed to mention our passionate embraces to your little maggot friends." Albel taunted, and was rewarded with Nel's most deadly glare, the reflection of the sun off of her knives. The glare from her eyes was a close second.

"You are a total creep Nox. I didn't want to touch you with a ten foot pole."

"Funny, you didn't complain until after I blew your cover." He blocked the first knife with his claw arm.

"You're as bad as Vox was, taking advantage of hurt, vulnerable young women like that." Albel didn't feel the second knife slice across his chest leaving a shallow bleeding wound as he turned but failed to dodge the strike in time. His hand was gripped tightly on his katana, ready to attack, and it took all his control to not strike down the heartless creature before him.

"Woman...." His bangs covered his eyes as he focused.

Nel interrupted him, "Did you honestly think they felt they had a choice after what happened to them? Did you think you were HELPING them? Did you think that Tynaeve...."

"STOP!" The roar silenced her tirade and made the onlookers jump. The fields were silent except for the echo, "Don't compare me to that man. Don't ever talk to me again. Worms." With that he muscled his way past Fayt and Mirage, knocking the smaller boy down and entering the city. Albel's hands were clenched; the one around his katana shook with fury. It took three days to find him.

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Surprisingly, it was Nel that convinced him to rejoin the others in the castle. She had grown tired of working on her weapons and armor, and had decided to take a walk in the castle gardens while the others prepared for the confrontation with their creator. She found him staring into a fountain at the far end, hidden from the castle's view by a tall hedgerow. Nel sensed his body tighten at her presence, but neither said a word for several minutes.

The Aquarian decided to break the silence. "Cliff said the innkeeper said you had a room."

He snorted.

"I'm sorry, Nox, I...."

"No, you aren't."

'I might as well not bother if he's going to be this way,' Nel thought before trying to continue. "I didn't...."

"Yes, you did." He said in the same dull voice.

"...mean it." She was starting to get pissed off again, but his tone had sounded, so pitiful. He barely sounded like the Albel everyone thought they knew. "I was wrong." There, that aught to cheer him up. 'He was right, I was wrong. Yay, one more point for him.'

"No, you weren't."

It was like today was "Opposite Day", and Albel Nox was determined to "not" win. Nel felt like running for her life before the planet collapsed, but the universe was already in danger of that.

"Albel...." He ignored her. She didn't know what to say anyways. What do you say to somebody who just practically admitted to being no better than a rapist anyways? Then she spotted something worth commenting on. "Albel, your claw's going to rust if you let it stay in there." The idiot was amusing himself by watching the water flow around his claws. Nel quickly realized that the only thing scarier than a bloodthirsty Albel was a depressed one.

Her comment did make him stop, and he allowed her to dry his claws with the end of her scarf.

"Why are you bothering with me?" He asked with his eyes hidden in that annoying way that Nel couldn't help but think was cool.

"Because you promised to help us defeat the Creator, remember?"Albel's eyes caught hers, and she gulped. "I used to be so scared of you. I didn't know you except by reputation and gossip. You saw me when I was at my weakest. I couldn't do anything to defend myself without blowing my cover, and yet you just walked right in and rescued me. I was scared. And then you found out I was a spy, and I just reacted. I fought like you WERE him because it's so much easier to kill somebody when they're evil in your mind. I knew you wouldn't give me any mercy for being a spy, and then you did. There was no way I could trust it. I assumed you'd called the Dragon Brigade or the Black Brigade after me, and I ended up running all the way to Aquios non stop." Nel breathed deeply after rushing her words trying to get out her thoughts. She realized that she was now sitting next to Albel, and he wasn't ignoring her words. "I was so ashamed of myself for letting all of that happen. It's funny. I trust you now Albel. I know you now, and you don't scare me anymore. It just really... hurts when you remind me about what happened, how useless I felt, how I wasn't the only one."

Albel was just as surprised as her to find that his right hand was now grasping hers. He let go, but Nel still caught the embarrassed look on his face.

"Let's go find the others and kill this self-proclaimed god." Albel suggested and the two walked back towards the castle in silence.