Fall into the Star Ocean (World: SO3/4)

A hand twitched, metal fingers wrapping around a unknown object. The Aquaria Castle was suddenly bombarded with screams as a strip of light tore through the building and joined shattering windows. Those outside froze and stared widened up at the towering building, the sound of flesh being torn apart following the screams. A pair of amber-eyed snapped open and a figure hit the floor, only to crash straight through a wooden door as the body was tossed by a certain fake limb. A glare locked with another and a clash of steel followed, lightning tearing through the room as a bed exploded from the gathering force, two pants making themselves known.

Nel Zephyr and Takato Rutherford spoke no words.

It was very simple. Nel Zephyr had broke into the room some time ago at the request of Lady Clair, a room which left a defenseless Magi alone and simply unable to fight back. A body lay in a pool of blood behind the red-haired warrior, a body that "poofed" out of existence without even a sound. That body had looked exactly like the blonde Magi, down to each picky little detail. There was a stunned glare in the eyes of the twin-bladed attacker, her stance ready and crouched for what was to come. Safe to say, she would get an answer.

"Shiden..."

The metal pole in the hand of Takato gave a shudder, twitching violently as echoes of electricity ran up and down it. A single metal arm gave a spasm, showing the cracked nature of it as it lifted to point the pole directly at the woman. Then, they both moved. The seemingly broken form of the amber male crashed the pole into the cheek of the beauty, just as she slashed a new wound directly through his fleshed arm and let loose another river of fresh blood. Silence reigned and nothing but arched stares could be seen in the now messy chamber. A small chuckle suddenly echoed over blood-licked lips, amber eyes flashing up to those of her own,

"S-So, did I pass your little test?"

Nel Zephyr just smirked.

-

Clair never said a word as she tried to ignore the sounds coming from the castle, her own eyes meeting those of the child before she placed her hand on the tiny shoulder. She took the sphere and began to direct the girl towards the noisy building, a small understanding frown on her lips. She knew that many things were amiss, but she did not know how to approach them and even begin to understand them. She just hoped this seemingly innocent little girl was just that, innocent and a child. Unknown to her and Ima, many unexpected things would be ahead for all of Aquaria, most of them bad.

"Come, let us get you something to eat. We shall discuss more soon.."

-

Zora would meet tiny eyes of a small girl, one with a odd appearance indeed. Elf-like ears twitched and she dashed up towards the exhausted trio with waving arms and a concerned pout. She looked at the only female of the three with wide-eyes before turning to the two boys, poking them with a small stick and frowning at receiving no response. She did it again. After getting nothing from them she span back around to the older female and ran up to her, her voice one of concern and youth. "Are you okay..? Do you have a tummy ache..?" It would of been cute if not for the rather fearful way she eyed their clothing and ears. Sadly, she didn't give her time to respond, turning on her foot to the valley,

"Niklas! Niklas!"

Tiny footsteps approached..

The blue haired girl merely blinked a few times as she saw the strange girl walking up to her, asking questions (and poking the two unconscious boys) before running off. Zora let out a sigh before lying on her back, putting her hands behind her head and looking up at the sky.

"This. Sucks."

Ima's head snapped up towards the sounds of a fight and shattering glass. She recognized the place that the chaos was coming from to be around where Takato was. She bit her lip. What was going on?

The alien blinked as she realized that Clair was talking to her, and smiled apologetically. "I'm not hungry. Excuse me." With that, she jumped up and used gravity to bring her up to the window that she could see Takato. Finding it broken, she simply floated right in.

Ima quickly noticed Takato was awake and dashed over to her friend. "Takato! You're up!" She said as she hugged the mage. "I was worried."

Then she noticed that he was bleeding that there was another person in the room. The child let go of Takato and stood in front of him, putting a hand in her pocket so as to easily reach her gun if need be. "Who are you?" She asked the stranger.

The rustle of trees could be heard as a single voice could be heard in the distance. "Hey hey!" it called out as a head popped out of the top of a tree, seeing the small village of Whipple. He smiled lightly and his head disappeared. It didn't take long for him to reach the entrance, reveiling himself. He was a somewhat short boy, only about 5'2 in height. He had a five foot spear on his back and dark red hair. His clothing was old world cloth, slightly baggy and blue and red in coloring. He had a short sleeved shirt and pants what went down to her knees. He also had a visible red tail on his rear. He looked down and saw three figures in front of the entrance. "Hey, yo, guys over there!" He called out as he waled up to them. "Never seen your faces before. Then again, I don't really come here often. How are ya?"

"Interesting."

Nel eyed the child and male before flipping a single dagger outwards, catching it in a reverse position as she bent herself forward into a odd stance. Amber eyes flashed to a narrow and a hand struck out in front of Ima, just as a blade flashed to her innocent features. The female warrior had her arm in a grip, caught by the Magi and stopping the weapon from trying to harm her. Takato merely stared at the woman before he grunted, tossing her backwards with the shaky metal arm. Unknown to him, Nel was going to stop the blade from reaching the child anyway, she had merely done it to see if her suspicions were correct. He was not faking this or acting, he really did care for the small girl.

"Who are you?"

It was the same questioned Ima had asked her.

The Magi said nothing and let his cracked, fake limb clench a fist. His amber eyes gazed directly at the woman before he frowned, a glyph forming just above the steel. He stepped just a inch in front of the tiny girl and bent down to pick up the metal pole, pointing to at Nel once more. It would be a move not expected by the assassin or the kingdom, his hair parting to reveal narrowed eyes. He knew something that the others did not. Something that would cause havoc in this world,

"A...friend."

Then, he sighed.

Two blades were sheathed, a pole of shattering into dust.



&&&&&&&&&&

A unnamed man yawned and looked at the screen on the computer in front of him, his wide-eyes blinking as the information passed through his mind like a truck hitting a smurf. This man certainly didn't look to be very intelligent, but he was a beast of a man if you compared him to the average person. His muscle mass was much more defined than that of most humans, his hands looking like they could crush a throat with nary a twitch. He measured in with short blond hair casting over his sharp features, dark eyes burning with a cheeky flare,

"You sure about this, Maria?"

.....

"Yes."

Cliff suddenly looked grim.

"Fayt Leingod and Ima Terran, huh? Good names..."

&&&&&&&&&&

The little girl watching all this just blinked and waved her arms rapidly, another figure stepping up beside her with curious eyes. It was a boy that looked to be about as old as the girl, if a little older and seemingly more wiser. His elf-like ears twitched and he took a step towards Zora, only to look at the monkey-tailed boy with a small smile, "It's nice to see you again, could you help me bring these three to my home?" It was almost like this boy knew the wanderer, but in a way that spoke they had never met. In reality, Niklas had seen him passing by many a time and had been one of the few that was more curious than scared.

He paused and watched his sister give a giggle, who was now poking the knocked out Fayt with a stick.

"Meena...can you alert the elder?"

Zora sat up as she heard the two kids walking up to them then looked behind her to see some boy....with a tail. She blinks before shrugging it off with a sigh before turning to Nicklas. "Oi, oi...I'm not unconscious." She said with a wave of her right arm as she stood up and turns to the 'monkey boy'. "Just show me where this kid's house is...I'll help." She walks over to Fayt, shooing the girl name Meena away as she picks him up and throws him over her shoulder. "Oh, forgot to tell you....white haired troll over there is pretty heavy. You better be strong 'cause I don't wanna carry his lazy ass around."

Ima opened her mouth to ask what kind of friends threw sharp, pointy, painful things at each other before thinking better of it and closing her mouth. She had once heard a person say that Zora and Raven liked to throw barbs at each other. The girl had asked what that meant, she was told that it meant they liked to insult each other with pointed and hurtful words.

The alien didn't understand how words could be pointy, but Raven and Zora were friends and liked to do it, so she supposed it was normal.

Ima smiled at the friend. Takato didn't seem too worried, so it was probably fine. "Okay. Nice to meet you then. My name's Ima, what's yours?"

She shoved the confusion of the situation to the back of her mind. She could ask Takato when he was alone and feeling better.

The boy blinked lightly as he looked at the girl and her two friends. He turned and said, "Hey! Shizuka! These guys need some help. Can we lend em a hand?" From the trees, a young girl with pink hair in two pigtails came out with a small smile. She wore a sight fitting top that didn't cover her arms at all and a pair of leather pants. Her side had a handle on it, like the hilt of a sword but no blade. She looked at the boy and lightly said, "Hey, Zanza... you left me behind again! And who are these guys that you found going off on your own?"

Zora flinched at the sight of the girl. "You gotta be shitting me...." she accidentally said out loud. There were a few things in this world she absolutely despises.....and the color 'Pink' was one of those many things. Shaking her head, she turns to the girl. "Can we just go...? He may look scrawny, but Fay'ts a bit heavy on my sore shoulder right now...."

"Fate?" Shizuka said, looking at the boy in her arms. "Ohmygosh! That guys really banged up. You better get him somewhere safe or he could be all dead and stuff. Come on, I'll take you to where we're shaking up!"

"That's really not the right way to say it," Zanza said to her as he jumped up to the tree. "Saying that doesn't sound right, but we can get you to a resting place." He jumped out into the trees, all but disappearing which left Shizuka to follow with the others behind her.

"Oi!!!" She shouted at Zanza as he was jumping away. "Do you really expect me to carry this white haired troll?!" She sighed and started to walk. "Shizuka...that's yoru name, right? You don't mind bring him along?" Zora points behind her to the unconscious Raven on the ground. "He's a bit heavy."

Shizuka placed a hand on the hilt she was holding onto. The other went to the boy Raven and was actually able to lift him with the one hand. "Easy Peezy!" she said as she turned and skipped off to follow Zanza. "Sorry about Zanza though..." she said lightly. "He gets so excited sometimes that he doesn't know what to do. Hope its not a problem."

".......Don't question it, Zora.......It's not fucking worth it......." she muttered to herself as she followed the two.

It didn't take long for them to reach a small hut within the forest. Zanza was already there, waiting on the others. When Shizuka arrived, she set the boy she was holding down and let go of the hilt she was holding. They both turned to Zora from there and said, "So, what're you doing out here?" (Yes, they said it at the same time)

Zora ignored the two as she grabs the back of Raven's clothes with her other hand and starts to drag him along the ground of the floor. She found a room containing two beds and tosses Raven in one while placing Fayt on another. She herself sat down on a chair and puts her head on the table, waving her right arm covered in a red cloth up.

"Sorry...mind leaving us to rest?" She said in a tired voice.

Shizuka blinked lightly, then closed her eyes tightly with an anime expression of excitement and said, "Aw, come on! We were just getting to know each other. Hey, we can totally have a sleepover with secret sharing and pillow talk and cake and..."

Her moment was cut by Zanza who was now dragging her out of the room. He waved to the girl and said, "Get your rest, but we still don't know much about you, so I'll be checking in every now and then." With that, he walked out of the room and closed the door.

Takato looked up.

His amber eyes flickered with curious hints of fear for a moment before he clenched his fists and watched the shadows slowly overtake the strands of light being cast upon the stony city earth. It had been one day since he and Ima had arrived on this planet, one day since they had taken station up within the palace and had been given rooms. They had not been allowed to leave, both of them still waiting on a chance to meet the Queen and tell the woman who exactly they were. Because of such they were pretty much bound to the castle.

Until now.

"What is this thing..."?

Flapping giant, unending wings roared a fearsome beast indeed. The entire city hadn't even had time for their morning cup of tea when silence had been broken by screams. He couldn't believe his eyes when he set foot outside the palace and graced his vision up above, still very much healing from yesterday. Men and women ran around him, his form standing in the center of this city all while many an able body outfitted themselves with weapons and more. He could hear faint calls of "Albel" and other such scattered names, but he honestly couldn't grasp how shitty his luck had become recently.

The gargantuan armor-covered dragon glared down at them all, a single figure standing upon the massive back and wielding a single curved katana with a maddening grin. To measure the size of this beast would be difficult indeed on this odd little planet, but the Magi didn't have to think much on it with a brief estimate of the creature being about fifty feet, with the eyes alone being as big as a human skull. He parted his gloved hands and took a glance behind him at the words that came next from Nel, the girl who stood staring in shock,

"Crosell. They managed to tame hjm...?"

Well, that didn't sound good.

-

(SECOND PART - WRITING)