97Disclaimer: I do not own Star Ocean.
"blah blah blah..." - Parts of a dream sequence
"blah blah blah..." - Thoughts
"blah blah blah..." - Conversing through a communicator
Crippled Clock Work
Prologue
.
His heart is tick-
tick-
ticking.
His hair hangs limp with sweat.
Drip-
drip-
dripping-
gripping clumps of dirt between his shaky fingers,
fear tightening its choke hold on his neck.
"Breathe." He thinks. Dull eyes concentrate on blades of grass ripped from the ground.
He is haggard, fresh with wounds beaten into him by "another nightmare."
.
Tick
Tick
Tick
.
He exhales loudly while bending his back.
A cooling breeze caresses his damp chest, tight with muscle and marked with scars.
.
Hissing, he sits on his knees. Behind closed eyes,
black angels dig their claws into limbless bodies, staring at him with crooked eyes.
They glide through darkness and rip his eyes from his face.
They punch his mouth, lips bruised like the skin of a rotting apple.
This dream will not leave him alone.
.
He turns his head to gaze at a bundle of blankets rise and fall near a dimming campfire.
Leather packs rest beside a pile of worn armor needing to be shined.
.
"Are Albel's nightmares this bad?" He wonders while walking towards his sleeping companion.
Albel's screams at night are hard to forget. He calls out for his father, his claw slicing the air to escape bullying nightmares.
All Fayt can do is hold his hand, hoping the warmth is calming enough to silence his cries.
Albel has been oblivious to his actions of comfort. He is determined to keep it that way.
The last thing he wants is to be pushed away and blamed for pity.
.
The fire flickers in the vast forest of Elicoor II.
Ever since the battle with Luther, Fayt secretly vowed to never tap into his destructive gene, the implications of its use heavy on his mind.
However, his suppressed powers have been projecting cravings for violence through his dreams these past few months.
.
SNAP
.
A body is thrown at him, toppling his balance.
It is Albel, short of a metal arm and liquid sizzling with-
He gasps from the shock of pain crawling up his back.
.
"I can't worry about this right now, especially with Albel here."
Fayt adjusts his position. "I'll deal with it when I can be alone."
.
Is this what his father envisioned for him? Did he ever look past what would happen after the universe was saved?
Does Maria or Sophia deal with the same struggle?
.
He wants to tell the stars, the underdeveloped planets, the limbless bodies,
and Albel he's sorry for having a power he doesn't know how to handle.
He begs the black angels to punish him alone, his empty sockets
drip,
drip,
dripping bloody tears.
.
One speaks:
"You will hear nothing but the deafening silence of your failures to the one god."
.
Tick
Tick
Tick
.
He does not notice Albel gazing at his struggle to silence his haggard breathing.
Those bloody raspberry eyes narrow with questions.
.
Tick
Tic-
His heart explodes but he is not dead.
He is sorry for being born.
.
