Star Ocean (All Series) Fan Fiction ❯ Far From a Fairytale ❯ A Piece of Cherry Pie ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter Four: A Piece of Cherry Pie

 

A/N: Don't have much to say here except, thank you to all my reviewers, other than that, please enjoy this new installment. : )

 

(-)-(-)

 

You lie. Sophia's head shook out the thought of such old words. I see it in your eyes. Her eyes were now unable to be read as she swung her staff around her body. They are laced with fear of me. As she killed a creature, which had crept up behind her, terror did not lurk in her eyes. How could they not, I left a scar upon your body with my claw. A skin tight and peach colored T-shirt graced Sophia's figure and the deep claw marks were in plain sight. That friendship that you let your mind believe that we have is nothing more than a figment of your imagination! The year that had swept by her-it made her aware that the two did have a friendship-and it made her more determined to keep and build on the friendship that was never lost. Stop fooling yourself and face the truth, you hate me and I hate you. Another monster went down, and she knew, he didn't hate her-she didn't hate him. There was nothing there and there never will be. Sweat covered her body as she left the game simulator, she would make Albel see that they did have a friendship, and her heart longed for more. Goodbye and good riddance. Today, she would say hello to him and stay by his side the whole time.

 

She smiled.

 

The fabric of her blue jeans scrunched up as she headed for her home. She couldn't wait to get into her home and take a nice and hot shower. A bath, while pleasant, didn't seem like it would be sufficient for the kind of relaxation that her body felt it needed. Thus, with such a thought in mind, her legs moved faster toward her residence.

 

Once there, she rushed to the bathroom, and in the matter of minutes, her skin was drenched in the hot water, which poured down from overhead. She let her body become entrapped in the warm steam; her mind began to wander. Not before long her brain was consumed with such thoughts as: I hope Albel hasn't changed, not like I have, I hope he is the same. Will he push me away again? I won't let him. I'll show him…I don't need to be protected. I got stronger for the both of us…

 

Thoughts made her mind heavy and her skin felt wrinkled, thus, she realized that her shower was to come to an end. She pulled away the shower curtain and placed a warm and white towel around her full and naked frame. It was then that she got dressed and ready, for, the others would be at her house in the matter of a half hour. Once she had a new outfit on, which consisted of a light pink sundress that was adorned with light purple flowers, she began to comb her hair. Its length-much longer than what was remembered by many-and the brown pigments a lighter shade due to the summer weather.

 

Her hand was moved downward and her hair parted as each stroke was placed upon the hair strands. She had changed so much. The doorbell rang and she heard the sound as it traveled through the small house that she shared with her parents. And as the last bunch of hair was brushed through; Sophia got up to answer the front door, with the prior knowledge of the people whom stood behind the thin wood. Her bare feet made contact with the floor and stairs as she raced down to greet the ones who waited outside. Each contact made a dull `thud'. In seconds she stood in front of the said door and as her fingers curled around the fake gold of the door handle-her last thought was-what if Albel didn't want me to change… Her eyes widened at the contemplation. Yet, she still opened the door.

 

And there they all where; she knew how Fayt had changed he was more mature both in his looks and in his mental state of mind. Yet, this was the first time she had seen the others in a complete year. Cliff and Mirage both looked nearly the same as when they had all separated, they only looked somewhat older. Peppita's hair and eyes were the only changes physically, Nel's hair had grown, Adray had aged, Maria had cut her hair so that-now-it only came to the end of her neck, and then-Sophia came upon Albel. His hair was the same color, same length, his build was unchanged…But his eyes. His deep red eyes were slit shaped, that was not what changed about them; it was what they showed that was different. When she had run away from him, with a tear stained face, his eyes were emotionless with the exception of anger or confusion, yet now…

 

She gasped.

 

Multiple emotions filtered through blood rich eyes and they all seemed to shine within his orbs depths. Her body frozen and her mouth remained mute to those who waited just before the threshold. She could feel the touch of their eyes upon her, but made no movement, her mind found itself stalled. He wasn't suppose to have changed, not like me, he was suppose to have stayed the same. He was to be just as I remembered him to be-just as cold-just as empty with emotions. Albel, you were my constant, the one thing around me…that would remain the same. That wouldn't change and leave me…alone.

 

“Phia….Sophia.” She heard the shouts of her name from the array of people in front of her, yet, she didn't allow herself to comprehend any of them. She had yet to hear the voice that she needed to hear.

 

“Move, girl, and stop standing there like worthless prey.” Her legs bounded forward at the sound of the voice her soul had desired to hear; with the similar harsh tone and sharp vocabulary. Tears sprung up into her green, and still emotion shielded, eyes-the water that sat upon her eyelashes was as hot as just burned ashes-her arms wrapped around the owner of the sentence previously spoken. A choked cry escaped her lips and her arms tightened around the figure.

 

“Albel.” Sophia was unaware of her actions, why she reacted in such a way, she could not grasp. Sobs now attacked her lungs and, at the moment, an answer she cared very little for, she just wanted to be near him. She wanted to feel him alive in her arms, wanted his warmth, wanted her nose to be overcome by his scent, and truly, she just wanted him-no one else. A year-was far too long.

 

An artic like touch came upon her chin, as her head, with a will beyond her control, was brought upward. Tears trailed helplessly down the flesh of her cheeks, and goose bumps littered her skin due to the frozen touch, of Albel's metal claw. Nevertheless, emerald eyes stayed downcast, that was, until, “Look at me.” The command was made and her submissive nature kicked in, her eyes snapped up, to look into his. She had expected eyes filled with anger, but not the shadowed depression and…disappointment, that swirled among the crimson orbs. “I hadn't thought-you were pathetic.” His tone was soft and the sound of a multitude of footsteps came to her ears, for, the others could easily identify the private nature of the scene that had befallen them.

 

His metallic hand dropped, her head drooped back downward, and he began to walk away from her. “I've changed! I…I don't know what came over me, but, I'm not pathetic…I'm not! I won't…won't be pushed away from you again!” Passionately each letter was formed and released from her mouth, despite her crumpled state of being. “Listen to me, Albel, don't walk away from me. Don't do what I did.” Pupils still dilated, she picked herself up from the floor, and she ran toward him.

 

She caught his claw arm and brought it close. Shock was written out in Albel's features, but he said not a word. Her voice was desperate when she spoke, “Tell me-” Here she paused, gulped down any self doubts, closed her eyes, and slowly reopened them, “how did this happen to you.” Her tone was soft when the question was asked and the claw was so close to her face, that her breath easily touched it. Her eyes were glazed over in an almost hypnotic like way.

 

“I failed.” His voice was despair ridden as he began his tale. His sharp and metal made fingers clenched together, to form a fist, not bothered by the restraint of Sophia's own hands upon the man made object. “I went to the mountains for the Accession of the Flames ritual done when one is to become the commander of the Dragon Brigade; my father had been with me.” Sophia looked intensely at him, her hands moved away from his right “arm”, and moved to his waist. Her arms twisted around the thin area, with ease, and her head lay over the flesh of his shoulder. Not a word of objection came from him.

 

“When one goes for the Accession of the Flames, they are to talk to a dragon…. If they answer the questions correctly; everything goes okay, but answer wrong, and you find death. I answered incorrectly, when asked what I hated. I named off so many things, so many things, but they were all wrong. I didn't say that I hated myself, at that time in my life; I hadn't even had the mind to draw a conclusion of self-hate. Nevertheless, I answered wrong, and I had awaited the fate of death. I would accept the flames as they captured my body and imprisoned me in their heated anger at my incompetence. I made myself not be disgusted at the mental image of my flesh as it melted under the ignited pressure and as my lungs would let forth screams of agony, as my body convulsed, with my grim fate. I found it to be my destiny.”

 

A horror filled gasp resounded in the semi-large living room. “What, too graphic for you?” Sophia just tightened her hold on him and nodded her head.

 

“You shouldn't say such things.” Her voice was quiet and saddened.

 

“But, that was what I had truly believed, at the time. You would be moronic if you expected me to lie to you.” Blood stained irises slide over to the side as they stared downward at the brown haired woman. His eyes squinted and each breath that entered his respiratory system was let out with a soft sigh. He held his gaze on her as he continued his tale, “That destiny I had already complied to, never came, my father took it instead of me. My punishment was not fulfilled, only part of it was; this right arm. It was burned into a state of unusable.”

 

Enraptured in the tale neither had realized just how close they were to the other. Yet, as Sophia asked another question, no positions were moved, “Can I see it?” One arm released from his waist and became set on his right arm. Her fingers traced the metal of his claw gently. Eyes no longer voided of emotion as her fingers inched ever closer to his deadly pointed fingers. And once her fingers crawled over the metal that made up the back of his hand, said hand twisted around, and their fingers-one of flesh and the other of metal-became intertwined. Then, he took off, his legs led to the stairs and Sophia was dragged behind; one arm pushed away from the warm waist due to the sudden movement and now loose in the air, and the other clamped in a hand embrace.

 

Amazement shone in each green pigment. He was about to show her such an intimate thing as his handicapped arm. She felt a blush upon her face and wondered if one was upon Albel's, but quickly shook the preposterous thought from her mind. But, the fact that he wanted privacy, made her believe that he was embarrassed, and she was unable to help the small giggle. A rough, “What” was the response, and she said not a word, just squeezed his “hand”. Content, for a spilt second, until her nerve cells reached her brain, and told her of the pain; of the small cuts in the skin of her hand due to the squeeze and the claw combined.

 

Her indignant intake of air alerted Albel to her unwanted wounds. Thus, he unconfined her injured hand and turned around to face her. “Show me where you hurt yourself, due to stupidity.” She brought forth her bloodied hand and his eyes took it all in, along with the scars on her arm, “You never learn, do you?”

 

Aggravation showed itself on her face and made itself known in her voice, “I forgot, alright. I'm sorry.”

 

“Bah.” He flung her hand out of his and turned around, yet again. “How could someone forget something like that?” As he spoke that, his head was turned so that he could see her, yet his face was hidden behind locks of blonde and black-so contradictive. Sophia's eyes swept over his frame and only then noticed just how much of a child he had sounded then-confused and spiteful and alone.

 

“It's not bleeding all that horribly, Albel, come on.” She headed up the last few steps of the stairs, with Albel right behind her. Then they came upon the upper floor and Sophia led the way to her room, both her parents had gone out for the week, to give the former comrades a bit of freedom for their reunion.

 

Once they were in her room, Sophia situated herself onto her bed, while Albel expertly took off his claw, and it was then, as he stood in the middle of the room, that she noticed the absence of his armor. Yet, that seemed of little importance at the time. In a matter of minutes the metal contraption fell heavily to the ground below. Sophia's eyes could not help but be drawn to his right arm. Now free of its metallic confinement and her eyes held surprise.

 

Gradually she walked over to Albel, his face was turned away from her-she could feel his shame. For, there his arm hung, limp and sloppily bandaged. As she touched the damaged arm, Sophia saw Albel's face cringe, out of the corner of her eye. The lightest of touches upon that arm caused a twinge through him, yet, he was incapable of movement; it was as if that arm was paralyzed, and the third degree burn, that ran its course over the arm, was proof enough for that theory.

 

“How are you able to move your claw in battle and outside of battle, if you can't move your arm without the claw on it?” Her voice was airy as she spoke the question, for; she was both fascinated and terrified by the sight.

 

“The burn doesn't start until my forearm. After I was brought back from the Urssa Lava Caves, some symbologists from that retched Kingdom of Aquaria came to the castle. Don't forget, we were at peace then. If you were able to move your eyes away from the burn, you would have taken note of the symbol imprinted in my skin; right where my claw begins, when I put it on. They had put that there so I could have movement in this arm; they put a corresponding symbol on the inside of my claw, when the two are combined, my arm can move. Of course, I don't quite know the whole thing; after all, I don't take interest in drawing pictures.” Albel let out a small huff after the explanation was finished.

 

“I see…” The rest of the sentence was not of much importance, for, it fell forgotten on her tongue.

 

Albel made his way over to her bed and his body crashed against the overly pink coverings. Then he elevated himself, steadied by his arms, which where on either side of him. With his head titled and faced toward her, he asked, “Why did you have to go and change like that?”

 

“Oh, well, you see…I wanted to get stronger. I guess…I wanted to prove to you my worth…” Her voice was shaky and uncertain; after all, the inquiry had caught her off guard.

 

Albel just let out a short and hushed laugh, “You just wanted to impress me.”

 

“No-…yes.” The oxymoron was whispered from her pink lips; her head was bowed.

 

“I thought as much. Why?”

 

“You value strength, so, I thought, if I was strong enough, you wouldn't push me away again.” Uncalled for tears appeared in her eyes.

 

He got up from the bed and harshly wiped the few stray water droplets that crept down her skin. “You were strong enough. You didn't have to push your body like that, you didn't have to…change, Sophia.” He passed by her and went right out of her bedroom door. An object had fallen.

 

Sophia bent down and saw the object up close-it was her small stuffed cat.

 

(-)-(-)

 

The night protected him. It comforted him. Put his worries away, as the stars shined from above. He hadn't even bothered with his claw; he had just left it and then headed into one of the empty rooms. Closed the door and had stayed in there, he didn't attend to dinner, yet, the loss of food didn't go unnoticed.

 

His mind was a puddle from the moment he had seen her that day. A jumbled mess of emotions and thoughts; ones that he had no control over, and it just irritated him to no end. He wished to scream, but, every time he tried, his voice seemed to die on him. All of this was because of the simple-one word question-why.

 

So many why questions flooded his mind that he didn't even want to be aware of them. Thus, he was about to let sleep claim him, but a knock on the door made him coherent once again. He didn't say a single thing, yet, the door opened and he was right to guess who was behind it. The girl was there, along with the brat. They were both dressed in bed attire and both smiled at him as they came into the room.

 

He was shrouded in the dark as the moon's light was cast upon the two, which made them seem like saints. The girl's longer hair was put up in a low ponytail and her eyes seemed to be filled with weariness. Yet, she smiled, and it was a true one; not just some simple mask. The brat, on the other hand, was hyper as usual and showed this energy as she crash landed on the bed, right beside Albel, her fingers wrapped around his claw, which he then took from her and quickly set into place.

 

She made no further actions, so, he did not a single thing about it, and his attention was not the brat, but the girl. She held items in her hands. As she neared he recognized one to be a piece of pie. She placed the plate with the food in his lap, and tucked the other item where he kept his sword. Then she made her way back to the door, each step echoed in the silent night.

 

Her back was to him, “I wasn't the only one who changed-your eyes aren't as cold as they use to be. Pleasant dreams, Albel, come on Peppita, time for bed.”

 

“Alright, Sophia.” And with that, the younger female hopped off of the bed, and skipped over to the older female. The two exited the blue tinted room; the door shut behind them.

 

Albel just reached for the object that was placed, in with his swords, and pulled out the stuffed animal [cat]. She had given back one of her own belongings to someone else and, without words, said, “I'm sorry.”

 

(-)-(-)

 

Sunlight poured into Sophia's room as she woke up to the next day. The events of the previous day still freshly imprinted on her mind. Thus, she walked over to the room that Albel had unintentionally claimed as his, she opened the door as silently as she could, and felt a smile play its way onto her features. For, there on the floor, was the plate that held the piece of pie she had brought up to Albel last night.

 

Only crumbs were left.

 

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A/N: Well, that's the end of the chapter. Please, tell me what you think in a review, oh, and the next chapter will be a filler chapter. It will give some insight to the other characters on what they thought of the whole scene between Albel and Sophia and just the two characters in general. It will also tell of the events that took place when Albel was in “his” room brooding. The next chapter is going to be short, I know it will, and I wish it could be longer, but I know for a fact, that with all my upcoming tests…my brain will be like scrambled eggs, thus, chapter five is gonna be short. :P See ya. :D

 

-LilyGinnyBlack-