Star Ocean (All Series) Fan Fiction ❯ Far From a Fairytale ❯ When Silence is No Longer Golden ( Chapter 11 )

Chapter Ten: When Silence is No Longer Golden

 

A/N: Hey there everyone, I don't have that much to say today, though I have a lot to explain when it comes to the numbers. Thanks for the reviews, like usual, and I hope you enjoy. Other than that, I don't have all that much to say, except that the numbers were a form of fortune telling called Arithmancy.

 

Basically, you use a person's name to use this bit prediction making. Each letter is given a number value and there are three numbers: Character Number (the general personality type based on the number you get), Heart Number (a person's inner life-their desires and fears), and Social Number (their outer personality). It took a lot of time to do, but it was fun and extremely accurate, well, as far as I can tell anyway.

 

I could go into a deeper explanation, but I think you all might enjoy getting onto the actual chapter! So, enjoy. : )

 

(-)-(-)

 

After two weeks Albel was finally able to understand the language that surrounded him. Yet, he wanted his first true words in this world to be meaningful, not just some common statement, not even his aforementioned “shut up”. His first words in this era had to be of some kind of value. He had to make sure he gained his own worth here. At the moment, though, he was stuck outside-in the rain-as he waited for Peppita to get out of school.

 

He had known, for awhile now, that most people saw him as Peppita's “father”, he wasn't thrilled with the idea…but, he wasn't opposed it either, Albel knew that this was the most efficient and logical guise to go under. And, well, a family…eyelids lowered over blood soaked orbs, he hated to admit, even to himself, that he had longed for a family-ever since his father died.

 

With Sophia and Peppita he could find that family. Yet, he felt himself let out a growl; he wasn't supposed to muse over such things. He was Albel the Wicked! No matter how hard he tried though, such a thought was unable to leave his mind. He let out a sigh of frustration.

 

This flow of unspoken words was cut off by hands, which slipped over his eyelids, and an enthusiastic voice, “Guess who?” The said person let out a short and soft giggle, and Albel had to wonder if the young girl behind him even remembered that he “couldn't understand” a word she said.

 

Albel sighed again.

 

Yet, this sigh had no particular reason, unlike the one before, this one just came out. But, maybe, one could say that it was an annoyed sigh, either way Albel found that he shouldn't ponder over something so trivial. “Sophia.” That was all he had to say, he could have spoken more, yet he had already came to the conclusion of the importance of his first true words.

 

He turned around, once her pale hands lifted, and saw her before him. An umbrella was on the ground, he figured she must have let it drop in order to cover his eyes, and her light brown hair stuck to her face. The rain still poured down heavily, thus water droplets dripped from the ends of each darkened strand. There she stood in her maid uniform; a smile was on her face.

 

Green eyes snapped out of their trance-like state, which, in turn, made ruby red eyes do the same. Quickly Sophia snatched up the umbrella and stood beside Albel. Her arm was stretched upward and her feet were on their tippy-toes, he soon realized that this was her attempt to keep him covered from the rain. He almost saw no point in this, since he was already soaked to the bone…Almost…

 

He took the umbrella from her hand and held it, this way it covered them both, he let out a chuckle of amusement. She just looked at him with feigned anger, pouted, turned her head, and then giggled. Albel could feel the rotation of his eyes as they rolled in their sockets. She could be so childish at times.

 

Her hand covered his, which held onto the handle of the umbrella. Albel just looked down at their melded hands, fingers intertwined, and the words, “But then, she can be so caring and mature,” flittered through his head. At first the fact that she tried to look after him didn't bode well with him, then he learned to accept it, he was pretty much helpless in this world as it was-or he had been-and he found out that he wanted to be taken care of. Somehow, over the past couple of weeks Albel started to realize things he never knew about himself before. He also found that his mind tended to freeze on Sophia; like it was at the moment.

 

“Albel, Sophia, you're both here today! Yay!” Peppita ran up to them. Her dark red skirt fluttered and her beige short-sleeved blouse was splattered with wet spots due to the rain. Her hair was set in a style that she liked to call “pig buns”. Basically, her hair was set like pigtails, yet instead of her blonde strands of hair being let loose they were curled up into two buns, one on either side of her head. Peppita rushed through a rather deep puddle of water, but didn't seem bothered by it at all, in fact, she had a large grin on her face as she caught Albel's other hand, his slightly burned hand, in her own.

 

Trust, that was another factor that Sophia gave him; she took care of him and trusted him. No one had ever trusted him-not his father, not Woltar, not even the king. The only one, in his past, who had ever given him the chance at trust, had been his mother. Yet, she died when he was still very young, but now he had two people who trusted him. Sophia and Peppita, both females trusted that he would protect them, not even the blue haired fool-Fayt-had given him that much. Fayt just respected him, and he respected him back. It was no more and no less than that.

 

By now Sophia had released her hold on Albel's hand and just stood next to him. He looked down at her and saw how she leaned her head up against his shoulder, though this was only slightly, it was as if she feared he would lash at her. Which, he admitted to himself, was the assumption most (he included) would come to, but he just let her stay that way. And, as he found this to be the answer to most of his questions lately, he didn't know why.

 

(-)-(-)

 

The water droplets pelted off of the umbrella that Albel now held securely over her head, which she had leaned up against him, and she felt her eyelids drupe shut. If this had been two weeks ago, she knew that Albel would have pushed her off by now, yet here she was, so close to him, yet not in harms way at all. She trusted him, just like Peppita did. They knew he would protect them, no matter if he liked them or not, if he found it his responsibility or duty to do so, then he would. That was just how he was.

 

At the moment though, the sound of the continuous rain started to grate on her nerves, thus she spoke up, “You know something. Our history books back home never mentioned just how abnormally obsessed Japanese people were with maids-and maid outfits-during this time era. It's rather creepy. Actually, this era's Japan seems a whole lot different compared to the one back home. In this time tradition is still kept up and Tokyo just seems to be much more Japanese-like. Compared to the Tokyo, Japan at home, which happens to be much more-oh, I don't know, Americanized-and extremely less traditional.” She knew that she had started to rant, and that Albel couldn't understand a word she had just spoken, but she would rather hear her own voice than the sound of fallen water and silence.

 

She desperately wished that Albel could speak. She wanted to truly hear his voice again, even if, whenever he opened his mouth the wrong words always seemed to spill out. She could only hope that he picked up the language soon, and well enough to hold and understand a conversation. She looked over at him and couldn't help but think that his arm must have been tired, after all, when one has to hold up an umbrella for any long length of time it tended to make their arm hurt a little.

 

“If you want, I can hold it for you, just for a little while anyway.” Her voice was soft and Albel glanced down at her, though, she noticed that his face seemed abnormally blank. She hated how he could be so hard to read at times, yet, she also found that fact intrigued her and that it made her think about him constantly. It made her want to take care of him and ring out some kind of reaction-some form of emotion other than anger and annoyance-and, for the most part, it worked. He was more open than he had ever been before. She wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't realized this yet-no-that would be just like him.

 

He slackened his hold on the object, at which point Sophia took it into her hands, and all was well for a few minutes. Her arms seriously hurt her, for she strained to keep the height in order to cover Albel's head and also walk at the same time, but the major problem came with a gust of wind. Such a breeze was rather uncommon, but not unheard of, in a city. What, with cities skyscrapers that usually blocked such violent tendencies of the air, thus Sophia let out a gasp of surprise. The umbrella was whipped viciously from her grasp and began to trail backward down the sidewalk. At which point, the bright eyed female made a dash for it.

 

She heard Albel let out a small `humph' and Peppita shout, “You get that umbrella, Sophia!” She could already picture the younger girl, excited and full of glee as the words passed her lips. By now Sophia had a hold on the object and Peppita and Albel had started to slowly walk again. She let a tiny `huff' and then began to catch up to them. That was, until she felt a hand on her wrist, and with a rugged tug she was flung around…Only to come face to face with a haggard man.

 

Sophia froze. She wanted to scream, to do something, but she could only stare in horror as the man grabbed her wrist; umbrella fallen and forgotten. Two other men came up behind her, only to shove her into an alleyway, out of the public's view. Nevertheless, she heard Albel's voice scream her name, and could hear as his feet splashed through the stagnant water on the ground below.

 

The men, she couldn't even bear to look at their retched faces, as their hands began to roam her body. She felt pathetic as one of them trailed their fingers up her legs and to her thighs and the others made vulgar comments. She wanted to fight them off, she couldfight them off, after all, she had defeated god. But, this moment…it brought back those memories…it brought back what happened….what they did to her….

 

“Albel,” the name slipped from her lips without any thought process behind it at all, “help me Albel, please, help me!” The words were spoken softly, yet evenly. She knew he would protect her. She trusted that he would-trusted him.

 

The man's hand drew closer to an area she absolutely did not want him to touch! Thus, he mind started to work again, “Let me go!” Her voice was the coldest she had ever heard it, and for a second couldn't even believe that she had spoken in such a way. And, though her hands were held behind her back, her legs were free. With a swift kick the man's hand stopped its exploration.

 

“You feisty little bitch!” She stepped back farther at the male's growled words, her arms worked vividly to be set free. “Where are you going? We haven't gotten our perks with you, yet.”

 

Her eyes continued to stare the man down she wasn't afraid…she was terrified, but she would never show that, never!

 

“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!”

 

That's right, she wasn't pathetic anymore!

 

With this mind set she whipped her arms out of the arm-lock they were in. Her body was prepared to take them on; to tear them apart. Yet, the flash of red stopped any movement she once had.

 

…Such a deep, dark red; crimson; blood…

 

(-)-(-)

 

Amusement highlighted his eyes, made them seem less like cold rubies. The shout of Peppita only added to this happy-like state he was in. It was still rather odd for him to feel such a way, after all, in the past he only felt happy when he killed something. When the thick liquid that made others hearts beat gushed onto his hands; such a thing enticed him. That was what used to give him strength; worth. He found that…

 

He didn't need that anymore…

 

 

 

He listened to the two females behind him, only to come to the realization that it was much too quiet. A quick turn around showed him Peppita, but no sign of Sophia, until, “Albel help me Albel, please, help me!” The desperate plea in her voice told him that whatever predicament she found herself in, it was more serious than a runaway umbrella or something of the sort.

 

Her words came from the alleyway not far behind him and Peppita. With her location known Albel began to run towards the said spot, only to be stopped by the blonde's hand. Her dark skinned hands grasped the back of his shirt, “Don't leave me alone, Albel. Please!”

 

Another sigh filtered through his tightly pulled lips, a tired one at that. He felt his eyes soften, such an act didn't make him flinch inside like it used to, and he realized that these two females had started to heal the emotional scars he carried around for so long. He changed and continued to do so, yet, he was still Albel and it was that reason alone that made it so he kept thoughts such as these to himself.

 

He turned back around to look at her, and with the thought that he didn't have that much time, bent down and gave Peppita a look that he wanted her to follow and to stay behind him. If he wanted to, he could have told her such through words, but he found himself with the hope that his first words would be directed toward Sophia. He grasped her hand in his usually clawed one and rushed over to where he could hear Sophia and whispers of his name.

 

She called out for him and not Fayt. It surprised him for a moment when this truth came to light in his mind, but he pushed it aside to deal with the problem at hand. He felt his blood boil and his red orbs burned with a fire of hatred. No one could touch her like that-in such a filthy way. No one…

 

His eyes held a dangerous tint to them and the enjoyment of death started to enter him again. He wouldn't mind if those “men”, if they could even be called such, with their excited eyes were soon turned into lifeless corpses. The mental image made him get that blood-thirsty grin that he had always gotten in battle. He wouldn't pass up such entertainment.

 

At that second he wasn't on Earth. He wasn't in the busy city of Tokyo, Japan, no, he was on Elicoor II in the destruction of war. Yet, that hallucination quickly faded as he went to reach for his sword and found air, when he went to lift up his infamous claw only to find the small fingers Peppita wrapped tightly around his own. At which point he let go of. His senses were harshly slapped back into him-he couldn't mercilessly kill these pieces of filth, he remembered that was one of the reasons why Sophia had taken away his katana and claw. Death on this…planet…and in this time didn't equal survival like it did on Elicoor II. It meant a crime, punishment, and…a sin.

 

Then “she's seen enough death,” entered into his mind. His breaths came in deep gulps; his blood-lust was gone. Driven out by other factors; nevertheless, he wanted to give them some form of pain for what they had down to his Sophia. And, had the situation not been so dire, he probably would have been slightly worried at that thought of Sophia being his.

 

A cold but efficient look at the three men in front of him told him that the one that had his hands all over her had a knife in his back pocket. Why it was there, Albel didn't care, but he made to grab it, only to watch as Sophia kicked the man off of her.

 

“I hadn't thought-you were pathetic.”

 

His own words came back to him, almost haunted him, she had gotten stronger that was right. He wanted to protect her; after all, she cared for him and trusted him. But, did she want, or even need, his protection in the first place? He glanced back at the scene and after that kick her eyes seemed to have become lost. He found his answer: she did need and want the protection he provided. Thus, he would give it to her.

 

As he snuck up behind the man, he didn't want to be seen by any of them, which had been only a slight problem. He had always been able to slip into the shadows even when there were none. With his full concentration on the knife he hadn't even noticed as Sophia freed herself, but he did notice his chance and acted upon it. He snatched up the object and lashed it outward. A twisted and sick form of satisfaction was met when the man, whom seemed to be the leader of this little group, arm was cut clean off. The scream of pain echoed through the narrow and darkly light passage.

 

By now they were all aware of his presence, Sophia included. “W-who is th-this lunatic?” One of the other men questioned, plain colored eyes wide in fear, which was the mirrored image on the other man's face, while their “leader” crouched closely to the cemented ground and held what was left of his arm, in utmost pain, as the blood gushed out.

 

Albel gave no spoken answer to the quarry, he just kept his eyes trained on them; orbs that matched the blood now in a puddle on the water heavy ground, and let his tongue slide out of his mouth and onto the cold metal blade. With a flick, his once pink tongue was now painted crimson. Screams were emitted from the three men once again and they took off, detached arm and all.

 

No matter of the event that just took place under the sky, it continued to cry, and Albel and Sophia continued to stare at one another. Not fazed by the large water droplets that started to wash away the blood that splattered them both. Neither noticed how each pair of eyes, one pure green and the other tainted an eerie red, had tears crawl down from them.

 

(-)-(-)

 

Two weeks; that was how long the three had been gone for so far. Fayt couldn't stand the thought of what may or may not have happened to them. He wondered how they adjusted and longed to help bring them home. The only thing that they were able to do for their friends was wait patiently (or in some cases not so patiently) for their return. It killed him inside.

 

Blair tried to help, but she couldn't do anything of true importance. Though, they were all thankful for the bit of information she had provided them with on Elicoor II, at which point they all headed back to Earth. Over the past two weeks Blair had been able to give them updates on the well being of the three individuals, but it did little to calm his fears of what did or still could happen to them. Two weeks was a long time after all-

 

Two weeks!

 

Dark green eyes that were once shut lightly snapped wide open. How could he have forgotten! Sophia's parents and his mother were to come back from their vacation either today or tomorrow, by now the reunion was supposed to be over and everything was meant to go back to normal. He'd have to tell the others about this, after all, he didn't think he could tell Sophia's parents the truth, not alone anyway.

 

Good luck seemed to have avoided them over these two weeks and Fayt began to wonder if it would ever come back around.

 

(-)-(-)

 

Night settled over the world as two individuals sat in what many would call a master bedroom. Both dressed in night ware and ready for sleep or, at least, that was the obvious thought. In actuality, neither felt the lull of sleep upon their eyelids yet. In fact, both were wide awake, both minds mulled over the same event. The tension hung around them, though; it was only as thick as easily broken glass. And Sophia was the first to make a crack form on it.

 

“I'm sorry. Sorry that I wasn't braver, stronger, that you had to protect me. I-” Her head was bent downward, as if she were unable to look at Albel, as if she were ashamed. Yet, Albel didn't know why that would be so, she had not a thing to be sorry about and she didn't have to get stronger. And, then he knew, this was his moment. This was the time when the silence finally needed to be broken.

 

“You're not pathetic and you have nothing to apologize for. Such dishonorable men sicken me, I promise, I'll protect you from dirt like them.” There, his first true words, words that held value and meant something. His tone was soft when he spoke, those who didn't know him would say that he didn't care, but those that did know him could effortlessly feel the bit of warmth amongst all the iciness.

 

Her head snapped upward like a swish of a sword and her childish eyes were wider than he had ever seen them. “You-how-spoke-but…for how long?”

 

Albel let himself laugh slightly at her nearly incoherent sentence; a ghost of a smile on his features, “For quite a while now.”

 

Whatever had made her scared and nervous disappeared as she let out an angered, “Oh!” And then continued, in the same angry tone, “Albel, how could you? You've been fooling around with me for a while now, you big jerk! I bet you've had a few silent laughs at all the stupid things I've done over the past two weeks to make sure I got my words across to you, how cruel!” A pout was on her face once again, and Albel couldn't stop the muse of how cute she looked just then.

 

Amusement was lit in his eyes again, “While that's all good and true; what was it that you were going to tell me?”

 

The half true-half fake irritation left her face within the instant. A deep melancholy look in its place, “The event from earlier today, it made me think back to something that happened before, when I was prisoner to the Vendeeni. I was-well-they…they…” She trailed off an Albel knew exactly what it was that those white alien creatures had done to her. Now he wished that he had never gotten hit by that stupid beam of light, if he hadn't he would have been able to get a few slices onto that creep-he might have even killed it.

 

“It was awful,” she made her way over to the bed and slumped down onto it, “I didn't want to be touched like that. Not in that way, and not by them, I didn't. It made me feel so dirty and contaminated. I was tainted now, no longer pure, I was sure that my blood would look darker if it touched the air. I hated myself.” Painful tears slid down her pale cheeks and Albel sat beside her now on the bed.

 

“How could you hate yourself? What happened was against you're will, you should have hated those Vendeeni-or whatever the hell they were called-you tried to protect yourself and that's all that matters.” Albel tried to calm her down, for once he tried to take care of the one who had taken care of him, he trusted her and he wanted a way to show her this.

 

She turned away from him and whispered, “You tried too Albel, what happened to your father was against your will too, but you still hate yourself-just like I do.” It was his turn to be shocked. For so long he had worked so hard to justify his hate for himself, but with just one sentence that whole sense of logic just fell apart right around him. The unasked question of just how much happier he could be if he didn't hate himself and just how much happier she could be if she didn't hate herself longed for an answer.

 

An Albel wanted to find it.

 

So, for that one precious moment, Albel locked away that self hatred and brought his arms out. Those lanky, but strong arms turned Sophia around so that they faced one another. He heard her let out a small gasp and wondered briefly if his eyes held emotions in them. It didn't matter though, and he spoke gently, or as gently as he could, “Didn't I just promise that I wouldn't let something like that happen again? You don't have to be strong because I'll protect you.” This was the first time he ever made a promise and he had almost forgotten what it felt like to let emotions control you.

 

For, without his self hate, he had nothing to completely and utterly hate. He didn't have the need to hide behind a sheet of dry ice. Emotions now had total control over his actions right then and so, he hadn't planned it, but he brought his lips closer. His arms wrapped around her, he noted the deep blush on her features, could feel a slight one on his own. The sheets of the bed bunched up only so as he drew himself closer to her, watched her eyes flutter shut, only to see the darkness of his eyelids as they closed over his own seconds later.

 

Their lips met…

 

Tender and sweet…

 

Tears continued to flow…

 

Melded together…

 

As Albel began to explore every crevice of Sophia's mouth and lips he let his mind flashback to the first kiss they had shared; to the time when his only reason to kiss her was to get her mouth to close shut, but this time…

 

The kiss did not scream with the words, “Shut up,” instead it quietly murmured, “You're mine,” which in the words of Albel the Wicked meant, “I love you.”

 

(-)-(-)

 

A/N: Well, this chapter took forever to write, and I'm not all too sure why. Quite odd, anyway, it also turned out longer than I had first planned but oh well. I really like how it came out, so, I'm not too bothered by how long it took to write. Please tell me what you thought of it in a review and take care. : D

 

-LilyGinnyBlack-