[fic] Distracted, He Fought the Demon Prince [Star Ocean III][for niennasilimaure]
written for a request made by: niennasilimaure
Fandom: Star Ocean III: Til the End of Time
Pairing/characters: Albel Nox/Sophia Esteed (Alphia)
Warnings/notes: The request said 'not fluffy!' so this isn't fluffy. It's also not much of anything else, really - you can't seriously Angst over meeting your parents-in-law.
*
Warnings/notes: Albel Nox/Sophia Esteed, ooc, post-game, shortie.
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Ocean III: Till the End of Time.
**********
Albel Nox might not be an expert on social niceties, but he was enough of a tactician to realize that thinking about how to go about obtaining permission from two people he'd never met before to marry their daughter was not an activity his mind ought to occupy itself with while in the company of a demon prince who wished to kill him. It was, not to put too fine a word on it, stupid.
In a way, of course, that merely confirmed what Albel had suspected and believed all along, which was that it was no good to get attached, and that it didn't notably improve your skills when you had someone to worry about getting back to. On the contrary: forming attachments of such an emotional, illogical nature only weighed a man down, kept him from focusing completely on the here and now.
A here and now which, Albel decided grimly, required his full attention. True, he wasn't actually worried that he would lose this fight, only there were victories and victories, and some were more costly than others. He'd already traded one arm for what admittedly had turned out to be quite an efficient secondary weapon, yet he knew that, had he been given the choice in the matter, he would not have made the trade. He'd simply made the best of it - and if Albel Nox's best was a whole lot better than that of most other people, then that didn't change the fact that he'd lost his own arm and had been forced to replace it with something artificial, something made for him by people inferior to him. He'd made sure nobody had dared to question his efficiency, and he'd enjoyed crushing the few who'd voiced their doubts too loudly, but the loss still rattled.
He didn't want to consider what would happen if he failed once more - not in the here and now, obviously, because the demon prince able to pose a threat to Albel Nox had yet to come into existence. This affair with needing to convince two strangers to entrust him with their daughter's happiness though ... it was outside his experience. It made no sense. Had it been a matter of guarding Sophia's safety, then he could have both understood and felt sure that he would be able to prove himself in whatever test that would be devised for him.
Parents did, after all, have a certain responsibility for their children.
Still, he couldn't help but feel that Sophia was taking all of this a little too far. For some reason, he couldn't push himself to resent her, but he did resent her strange notion about how she could not possibly consent to marry him unless her parents approved of him. He didn't mind her cooking - he'd never bothered to learn much of that skill himself, acquainting himself only with it because food was, after all, necessary to survive, and he didn't wish to be dependent on someone else for it. Besides, Sophia was good at cooking, and Albel firmly believed this kingdom would run a lot more smoothly if people simply stuck to doing what they were good at, instead of mucking about doing what they thought they were good at, or what they wanted to be good at.
He himself was quite undoubtedly good at killing demon princes. That he'd been trying and failing to do so for well over half an hour now merely illustrated how ridiculous this situation was. Albel the Wicked, reduced to act as if he were some ... some performer, wearing bangles and bright colors with no higher purpose in life than to provide entertainment, and without any real use. He'd rather let himself be gutted by this joke of an opponent than to pretend to be something he wasn't, even if in doing so, he might lose any chance of gaining Sophia.
Gritting his teeth, Albel furiously lashed out with his katana, part of his mind commenting that he was leaving himself wide open for a cut to his left shoulder, and that he possibly ought to have settled the question of his upcoming wedding before coming here, because the thought of it was clearly interfering with his efficiency.
~OWARI~
Fandom: Star Ocean III: Til the End of Time
Pairing/characters: Albel Nox/Sophia Esteed (Alphia)
Warnings/notes: The request said 'not fluffy!' so this isn't fluffy. It's also not much of anything else, really - you can't seriously Angst over meeting your parents-in-law.
*
Warnings/notes: Albel Nox/Sophia Esteed, ooc, post-game, shortie.
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Ocean III: Till the End of Time.
**********
Albel Nox might not be an expert on social niceties, but he was enough of a tactician to realize that thinking about how to go about obtaining permission from two people he'd never met before to marry their daughter was not an activity his mind ought to occupy itself with while in the company of a demon prince who wished to kill him. It was, not to put too fine a word on it, stupid.
In a way, of course, that merely confirmed what Albel had suspected and believed all along, which was that it was no good to get attached, and that it didn't notably improve your skills when you had someone to worry about getting back to. On the contrary: forming attachments of such an emotional, illogical nature only weighed a man down, kept him from focusing completely on the here and now.
A here and now which, Albel decided grimly, required his full attention. True, he wasn't actually worried that he would lose this fight, only there were victories and victories, and some were more costly than others. He'd already traded one arm for what admittedly had turned out to be quite an efficient secondary weapon, yet he knew that, had he been given the choice in the matter, he would not have made the trade. He'd simply made the best of it - and if Albel Nox's best was a whole lot better than that of most other people, then that didn't change the fact that he'd lost his own arm and had been forced to replace it with something artificial, something made for him by people inferior to him. He'd made sure nobody had dared to question his efficiency, and he'd enjoyed crushing the few who'd voiced their doubts too loudly, but the loss still rattled.
He didn't want to consider what would happen if he failed once more - not in the here and now, obviously, because the demon prince able to pose a threat to Albel Nox had yet to come into existence. This affair with needing to convince two strangers to entrust him with their daughter's happiness though ... it was outside his experience. It made no sense. Had it been a matter of guarding Sophia's safety, then he could have both understood and felt sure that he would be able to prove himself in whatever test that would be devised for him.
Parents did, after all, have a certain responsibility for their children.
Still, he couldn't help but feel that Sophia was taking all of this a little too far. For some reason, he couldn't push himself to resent her, but he did resent her strange notion about how she could not possibly consent to marry him unless her parents approved of him. He didn't mind her cooking - he'd never bothered to learn much of that skill himself, acquainting himself only with it because food was, after all, necessary to survive, and he didn't wish to be dependent on someone else for it. Besides, Sophia was good at cooking, and Albel firmly believed this kingdom would run a lot more smoothly if people simply stuck to doing what they were good at, instead of mucking about doing what they thought they were good at, or what they wanted to be good at.
He himself was quite undoubtedly good at killing demon princes. That he'd been trying and failing to do so for well over half an hour now merely illustrated how ridiculous this situation was. Albel the Wicked, reduced to act as if he were some ... some performer, wearing bangles and bright colors with no higher purpose in life than to provide entertainment, and without any real use. He'd rather let himself be gutted by this joke of an opponent than to pretend to be something he wasn't, even if in doing so, he might lose any chance of gaining Sophia.
Gritting his teeth, Albel furiously lashed out with his katana, part of his mind commenting that he was leaving himself wide open for a cut to his left shoulder, and that he possibly ought to have settled the question of his upcoming wedding before coming here, because the thought of it was clearly interfering with his efficiency.
~OWARI~