Title: Essence of Innocence

Full Summary:A spoiled boy and a tormented warrior; Two very different people, but something between them will not let one ignore the other. Within the truths and lies they share, a relationship exists that neither one of them can read. [Parallel story to Essence of Calamity. Albel PoV. AlbelFayt.]

Rating: To remain Teen.

Disclaimer: Star Ocean 3 and its characters belong to Tri-Ace.

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Prologue

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I was going to die, I thought. Die in a room full of miniscule mice that I wanted to squish between my claws and full of a stench that wreaked havoc in my nose, pulling on the hairs with its distasteful little fingers.

But not because I suffered extreme injuries or starvation… boredom would be my doom.

I found myself spending most of my time in the prison cell picturing scenes where I would pull Vox's damned guts from through his naval, or just pull him inside out (which seemed much more enjoyable). That fool was the one that put me in here. And for what?

Well… I suppose I lost the ore to those maggots, but that memory of my first battle lost in years did not please me. If anything, all of my aimed anger at Vox should have mostly been aimed at myself. When I thought about it, perhaps I deserved to be locked up in this hellhole for my follies.

Cursing loudly, I kicked at the stone floor, seeing how it was the only thing I could do with my limbs at the moment. I managed to turn up some loose rocks, scattering them across the rest of the moldy floor. My eyes followed as they continued to roll down the uneven ground, finally stopping near a mouse-hole. Contempt grew within me as the owner of the hole inched out, twitching its nose in an effort to figure out if the rock was food or not. How come this pathetic, little creature was allowed freedom and while I was only allowed to mingle in my unceasing thoughts all day and night? Damn worm.

A few more hours of swaying back and forth in my chains finally brought a promising moment when the sound of footsteps blessed my numbing ears. I stopped mid-sway and listened intently… and they went away. I abhorred people, but I could not bear the silence. It aggravated me, but then again, what did not? My aggravation grew more persistent everyday as I felt my strength slipping away with the days that slowly ticked by.

For how long have I been in here? One week, two? As I gazed upward at the small notches scraped into the wooden beams holding my chains up, the thought occurred to me that I probably should have kept track of my time in here, also. Bah, waste of time.

My eyes returned to the floor as I drifted off into more ideas until I was apparently exhausted of hearing my own thoughts and slowly fell into a light sleep.

"…bel…" The beginnings of a dream quickly left me as my eyes barely revealed themselves. I thought that maybe I was in some sort of daydream where the mice conversed with me again. After all, besides the probable amount of hundreds of lice and cockroaches, the mice were the only other living things in the musty, rotting cell.

"Albel Nox!" Woltar's voice jolted through one ear and out the other and woke me in an instance. I wished for company, but not when it would nag me. Shifting my head slightly as to see him more clearly, I froze with my face glued into an expression of shock. My eyes first met the ones of a blue-haired weakling.

My mind did not know how to respond at first. We watched each other, me staring intently in an effort to fully awake myself, for a little while before the realization hit me with the identities of my "guests". And I could only think: What the hell.

"I know you're dumbfounded, Albel," Woltar began. Dumbfounded? I demanded an explanation, "but the King has a proposition to make of you-,"

"What are they doing here?" Glaring across the familiar faces, I landed on one popping out as a new one I had not met before. Another one, the Aquarian's, evoked me to give her a threatening snarl, which she quickly returned with a glare almost as piercing as mine. Woltar sighed at my behavior as usual.

"Albel, the war is over, but we have a bigger threat now."

"The war… over?" Upon hearing this, my surprise grew even more. I was not sure how to reply, maybe angry because I missed participating, or shocked because it seemed that the war would have lasted at least a few more months, if not years. Did I miss more while in prison?

"Yes, we have no time for war now," Woltar answered.

Then my concern for Vox's whereabouts came across my mind, as much as I despised the fool. "What about Vox?" Woltar's hesitation to reply was evident.

"Well… these people here defeated him." And no wonder.

That scumbag deserved to die, but I preferred it to be by my claw. "What?! You mean to tell me these Aquarian scum defeated Vox?" I asked, angering at the thought that not only did I lose my chance to slaughter him, but my enemies received the lucky offering.

Woltar went on explaining the situation, such as the actual origin of these people, to which I quickly resounded, "A different world?! Do you take me for some sort of fool, old man? You must be going senile." With Woltar's age being too old for me to even remember anymore, I would not doubt the possibility of his lack of touch with reality.

"Fine, don't believe me, but that does not change the fact that you will be accommodating them to subdue the Marquis."

The mentioned monster brought me to behave obsequiously, holding down my tongue and any angry thoughts that ran through my head at the time. I doubted that we could really tame a giant beast, hundreds of years old, into helping worms like humans. We would have burned in its fiery furor, just like… just like…

"The Marquis…?" I repeated, more solemnly.

"Yes… you do not mind, do you? It is an order, after all."

I feverishly searched for a way out of my fear. The Marquis just happened to be another dragon, such as the ones I once rode in previous missions accommodating the dragon brigade. He also just happened to be about twenty times larger. Curses flew through my head as I realized my panic, and forbid I ever panic; Albel Nox did not fear anything.

Standing erect and with my gaze now pulled away from the floor and focused on my unfortunately-soon-to-be-comrades, I replied coldly, "Fine. If the King commands it."

"Well answered, Albel." Bah. I felt the need to reply with some smart remark but found that I lacked the energy or wit to do so. In my stead, I remained still and quiet as Woltar released me from my shackles, which created more discomfort in my shoulder blades and joints than in my wrists. As soon as I was granted some of my freedom again, I just wanted to lash out at the nearest living thing and feel the fresh droplets of blood shower my face in glee again. I had to save that violent urge until I could face a monster, but until then, my mind and body longed only to be free from the wretched prison cell.

After fantasizing about my own hobby, I recalled that I now had new comrades… Yes, I did not like any of them and more than likely never would, but I still had to keep my eye on them. The big blond already displeased me with his aggravating remarks and exaggerated muscles. The Aquarian wench continued glaring at me, but she interested me the least. The young woman with dim hair regarded me with large eyes, probably trying to figure out my behavior.

The last, a young man with blue hair, the one that originally rubbed my defeat cruelly into the dirt, had a quiet expression now. His thoughts evaded me and I could not pick up on his emotions. This ability to hide any and all emotions from me made me a bit uneasy, but my determination to make him squeal would come through in the end.

Or, so I used to think.

End Prologue

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