Me: YES! FIRST ARA STORY IN THIS WEBSITE!
Ara: WOO! FINALLY RECOGNITION!
Me: Mhm. I'm so glad I'm gonna try to make this pretty close to canon as I can because of how interesting your backstory is!
Mario: Wow, you're definately gonna choose Ara when she comes to NA Elsword huh?
Me: YOU BET! NOW WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, CHAPTER 1 START!
Chapter 1: The Silver Fox
An orange flower-shaped necklace dangled from the young girl as she hurriedly ran home for the great news. As one expected from the great Haan family in the humble Isshin village, the girl's older brother achieved a great feat.
"Is it true!" The young girl clad in an orange dress exclaimed when she arrived home to her parents and brother, her long tied black hair whipping with the wind outdoors. "Aren you became the Defense-Captain of the Fahrmann country?" She excitedly asked her older sibling, who greeted her back with proud eyes.
"Yes Ara I did!" Aren Haan nodded. He twirled his sword, a black broadsword, and sheathed it. "All that training really paid off. I couldn't help but thank you for being my sparring partner with that spear of yours." He pointed to the royal-like orange spear in her hands. "You seem to be getting the hang of it Ara."
The young girl scratched the back of her head, trying her best to humbly accept her brother's words of praise. "Oh it's no big deal big brother. I only needed an excuse to better myself with my spear." Ara punted the ground twice with the bunt of her spear. Her mother, like her father with Aren, started training with her at a young age in order to pass on the warrior teachings throughout the generations.
*RING!* Out of the blue Aren's messenger rang. Pulling it out, the strong 20 year old answered the call. "Hello?"
"Aren!" A firm and urgent male greeted him from the other line. "There's an onslaught of demons approaching Capital! We need you here to fend them off!" *beep. The line signed off.
The boy sighed and stood up. "Well that's my cue to go to work."
"That's my boy!" Mr. Haan politely yet boldly shouted through the house. "You go and do a good job protecting our country!"
"Everyone's counting on you son, run along and bid Ara goodbye!" Mrs. Haan called from the porch, doing the laundry.
"Yeah good luck out there brother!" Ara wished him luck, watching his back from the distance as he proudly dashed towards Fahrmann central. She lingered there, looking out on the landscape, until not even a speck of Aren can be seen. Closing the door behind her, she went inside for some quick meditation in her room. After all in order to properly train the body, you must train the mind and spirit as well.
Before she knew it, the cricket's evening call broke her out of her mediation after several hours of pure silence. "Not a single thing is stirring on outside." Ara muttered. "I hope brother's alright back at the Capital."
Ara repositioned herself in her bed, getting all snug under the covers. Yawning she drifted off into sleep, not feeling hungry at the time.
The young Haan fidgeted in her sleep, reliving the dream yet again from 3 years ago. I wonder what Brother's doing right now in the Capital. I hope he's doing alright from the sudden demon invasions. Ara shifted position again in order to drift into a peaceful slumber.
Unfortunately that was not the case.
*BANG!* *CRASH!* *BOOM!* Tramples of footsteps and exploding cannonballs woke up our little heroine. Violently jumping from her bed to the floor, Ara grudgingly woke up. W-What is going on?! She thought to herself, still half-asleep. *sniff *sniff. Her nose wafted through the disturbing polluting scents choking the usually clean air in Isshin. Is this... Alarmed, Ara scrambled to her feet and swiftly opened the door.
FIRE!? *BARGE!* The front door got kicked down by three ominous creatures shrouded in darkness. Ara had a bad feeling about this and swiftly equipped her spear, which she kept in her room.
"I hear this is the place Ran told us about!" Ara stood there confused as the three of them conversed with each other. Who is this Ran person?
"You mean this is the great Haan family, protecting the famous sealed Nine-Tailed Fox?" Another one of them asked. How do they know of our family history?
"Precisely. And now this young girl will help us find it." The last one pointed Ara out and all three stared at her, their glowing purple eyes and obscure structures glaring at her like one giant blob of darkness.
Ara gripped her spear and asserted dominance. "Leave this village now or I, Ara Hann, will resort in using brute force to flush you demons out!"
"You? One of the great Haan? Related to these two?" One of them flung over two bloodied corpses, Ara's parents.
She froze in place horrified. M-Mother?! Father?! Then she took in a good view of the outside world. Hundreds upon hundreds of other demons ransacking and setting fire to all of the other houses, killing the occupants inside. All her friends, her mentors, and even strangers screamed in agony one by one or in a collective as they become skewered and joined the spiritual "Gumiho-God" of the afterlife. W-What's happening? A-All of a s-sudden... The worse part in this realization is that Ara's house is the only one not turning into a burning hut and she's the only one alive at this point.
"Now we will find the great Fox altar and the Moon El within it!" All three demons charged at Ara.
Instinctively, she assumed a fighting stance. Thanks to her family's natural lithe gifts, Ara quickly stabbed all three demons, skillfully aiming at their heads. Once the three fell down in a pool of their purplish blood, more started to take their place.
"There she is! The last member of this stupid town!"
"The Moon El will be ours!"
"Not to mention the immeasureable power of the Nine-Tailed Fox!"
All of their collective murmurs built up to a greedy speed race to the top of the heap of riches as the hordes of demons filtered into the house. Ara, freshly warmed up, put her training to the ultimate test as she defended her home.
Thinking quickly, Ara spun her way through the crowd with a few rotating slashes of her spear, spinning with the weapon for further effectiveness. While she accomplished her mission to get to the center and killing all the ones in her way during the process, the vast amount of demons ganging up on her was far more than she measured.
Calming her mind from all the gruesome images she witnessed just moments ago, Ara tapped into her inner En, or Spiritual Energy, and began moping off the demon horde little by little.
"Gain Force!" As one demon charged right as her, Ara took out an orange spirit orb and absorb the creature's mana, stabbing it like a kabob and flinging it to the sidelines. As more and more demons charged at her inner circle, Ara rotated her spear and spun in a slightly outlined orange aura. Spin! Spin! Spin! She thought to herself, successfully fending off all the creatures who attacked her thus far.
However she couldn't spin forever and stopped, briefly pausing in order to stop her dizziness. Unfortunately, the demons took this opportunity to attack. Ara braced herself for the worst.
*CLANG!* *SLASH!* The demonic attacks connected but...didn't flinch her. This must be the effects of the orange aura from the Great Spin. Ara thought, thanking the Gumiho-God for this rare opportunity. I think it's about time I finish this!
Ara twirled her spear into the air and caught it mid-flight. Seeing all the demons below her sweatdrop in an "Oh Crap" moment, she unleashed a devastating earthquake. "FALLING DRAGON!" The rumbling effect of the attack instantly killed all those that surrounded her and knocked back the rest, near fatally injured in the process. Ara panted after performing her most powerful attack, but felt proud to keep her home safe...
...Until a crack appeared on the floor below her. To Ara's dismay, the crack grew bigger and bigger and bigger...
*CRASH!* ...Until it finally collapsed. The screaming young girl found her way tumbling into the family's forbidden basement. How did Ara know it was forbidden? Amongst all the dirt and rubble the basement suffered due to the wreckage above, only one place remained relatively sacred out of sheer luck.
A mysterious gray altar, with an even more unusual white fox-shaped hairpin on the floor next to it. Ara walked up to the fallen hairpin and the altar. "Is this..." Ara's mind clicked, flashbacks of her childhood training with her mother coming back to her.
"Ara!" Her mother's voice called out to her during one of their training sessions. "Have you ever noticed the basement in our house?"
The little 12 year old shook her head. "No Mama, I never knew we had a basement."
"I figured I should tell you this now." Ara's mother explained. "In the basement is a mysterious altar we Haan are destined to guard, a mission passed down from generation to generation. Only the eldest male can ever set foot in the altar itself and witness the strange object in it, so only your father has seen it. He called it..."
"The Great Fox Shrine?!" She looked down at the hairpin. It was embedded with jewels of indescribable colors and is fox-shaped white. Without thinking Ara picked up the hairpin. This is the same symbol as the Nine-Tailed Fox from the legend. She thought to herself. Could this be the same Fo-
"Well, what do we have here?" One demon dropped from above and stood above Ara, scaring her. Despite his chilling demonic voice, Ara mustered enough courage to quickly whip around and face her attacker. Once doing so her eyes shot wide in shock and horror.
"B...Brother?! Aren!" She screamed.
"Aren?" The demon tilted his head in amusement. "That's a name I haven't heard in a while. My name is Ran, the Demon General."
No... Ara tried to deny it, but the proof is standing right in front of her. The white haired, fiery eyed, and horned demon in front of her used to be her brother, and now he's a demon like the rest of them wanting to steel the El.
"Now move out of the way and give the Moon El peacefully and maybe I'll spare your pathetic life!" Ran demanded and insulted.
But Ara stayed where she sat, holding that strange hairpin. "B...Brother!"
"Tch." Ran didn't flinch at Ara's newfound tears. "You're annoying. I changed my mind, I'll kill you and reduce the population of this worthless village to zero."
What's with this girl? Ran thought to himself as she foolishly stood her ground despite being very visibly scared. She must be related to this Aren character whose body I possess. It was an easy task taking over his mind thanks to our strong connection to the power of the moon. No matter. What happened before doesn't concern me, what does is gaining more power and restoring the Great Demon race to its former glory! He pointed his sword skyhigh, the black object absorbing and overflowing with dark energy.
Absentmindedly Ara shifted away from Ran still sitting and, after remembering the hairpin in her hand, instinctively held it over her head to protect herself.
"Oh?" Ran stared amused, still charging up dark energy. "What could a mere girl like you...possibly do with a stupid hairpin?" He slashed through the air towards Ara.
As if on cue, the white hairpin glowed (who, according to Ran, sounded very pissed on being called stupid) and an enormous aura broke out, pushing Ran back and surrounded Ara.
"Please rest for a bit...miss." An unknown yet friendly female voice resonated in Ara's mind, as her mind began to become hazy. As if being controlled like a puppet, she can vaguely make out her body moving on her own from the brief flashes she made in order to keep herself awake from the sudden heavy drowsiness.
"Its...warm and...cozy." Giving in to the warmth of the light aura, Ara fell asleep.
Ow... She rubbed her head and stood up from her slumber. What a horrible nightmare! I can't believe I actually drea- Ara opened her eyes, shocked at the sight around her.
She awoke in the middle of the village, everything from her dream last night hauntingly coming true. All the blood, human and demon, stained all across the clearing and even in the demolished homes as she sat there petrified. Suddenly her eyes darted to her two hands. On her left is the mysterious hairpin that glowed the other night. And on her right is her spear, tainted purple and black from the blood of demons. "Ran..." Ara couldn't help but wistfully mutter the demon who took over her brother's body.
"Ran? You mean that demon general? He managed to escape but I defeated every other demon I came across. Not a bad warm-up exercise in 700 years!" Ara froze and stared at her left hand, bringing it up to eye level. The white hairpin is radiating with every word!
"!" Ara nearly stumbled over. The same female voice from the other night is talking to her right now!
"Still shocked huh? I would be too if I was talking to an inanimate object, people would call you crazy if they saw you now, heh heh. Anyway, what I'm speaking is the undeniable truth. You survived the attack on the village because of me and I was able to awaken from my long slumber because of you, although this stupid seal on the damn hairpin you're holding is pretty irritating! A lady needs more room to breathe than this tiny little box!"
"What...a talking hairpin!?" Ara still couldn't comprehend it. "What are you-"
"Oh you may not have fully heard of me because of your young age."
Before Ara could tell the hairpin that she's 17, it continued talking.
"Anyway your family, the Haans, are the ones who protects the sealed me. They sealed me away into this hairpin...just because I have the ability to foresee the future of this world. Thanks to their ancient mumbo jumbo, I can't look into the future anymore! Those imbeciles! Oh sorry not your family, I mean the ones long ago who imprisoned me here and took my powers away haha!"
Ignoring the dumbfounded Ara, the hairpin delved deeper into it's tale.
"Hmm...I still don't have enough energy to undo this spell. After 700 years you'd think I'd save up enough power to break free from here..."
"..." Being the polite girl she is, Ara said nothing until the hairpin finally remembered her.
"That's right! You over there holding me! I'm bound by this object thanks to a magic seal. I'm gonna need a large amount of El to break free of this accursed spell, let's go look for that first!"
"What?" Normally Ara would gladly accept, but there's no way she's taking orders from a hairpin. "Why do I need to help you?"
"I saved your life didn't I? That alone should be enough! Also what about those demons that did this to everyone you loved in this village? Don't you want to take revenge on that demon leader who I regrettably let escape?"
Ara's eyes darkened. "He's...not their leader. Are- I mean Ran is...my brother." She started to tear up from the horrible memory.
"Really, he's your brother? I'm sorry to say this but your so-called brother sounded pretty insane from his actions last night. I don't need to see into the future to know he can never go back to normal."
"But we...we can still try!" Ara pleaded with the hairpin. "We need to...get him back! I just...can't stand him living...like that. He might be...conscious knowing of that...thing taking over him!"
"I see. I like your determination young girl. I want to lend you my strength for a bit."
"Huh?" She sat there confused.
"Let's make a deal. If I help you find your brother, you help me find the power of the El. I'll be there with you as your accomplice until both of our tasks are done. After being tied in that altar for 700 years, spending a little more time helping you should only take a short nap in comparison!"
"R-Really?!" Ara brightened up. "With your power...could I wash away this shameful defeat upon my family?" After the two thought for a bit in deep silence, the girl spoke up once again agreeing to the hairpin. "I accept! I must find my brother and bring him back to normal! If you can help me do that, I'll help you find the El."
"That's a good deal then! You may have heard of me or not, but I'm introducing myself anyway. I'm a frost fox that once saw the future back in the past, ironic isn't it? My name is Silver, a fox able to survive this long thanks to her nine tails. What about you miss?"
Ara stared at the hairpin shocked. This is the Great Nine-Tailed Fox her parents told her about?! What an honor! "My name...is Ara. So you are a holy being? I wish for your protection on this journey."
"Same here." The two nodded on their promise, with the hairpin jumping slightly. "Oh yeah! Can you use me as a hairpin for your ponytail?" Ara remembered about her long jet black hair still tied into a tail then looked back at the hairpin. "This way we can keep in touch without others looking at us like we're freaks. Just whisper to talk to me whenever you're with others."
Ara nodded and replaced the old hairpin on her hair with the Silver Hairpin, which she nicknamed after the fox that resided in it.
"I saw your brother retreat south into the city of Hamel, why don't we check there first?"
"Agreed!" With one last nod, the duo start their long trek to the grand city of Hamel.
Mario: Wow...the detail man.
Me: I know I think I really got better at telling stories like this. The research is so worth it by the way!
Ara: Research?
Me: Yeah I actually looked up stuff and this is a pretty sweet backstory Ara!
Ara: :D :D
Mario: *puts up posters of Fire/Ara*
Me/Ara: *death glares* *chases Mario*
Crystal: ...You idiots *reads manga*.
Cheers to the first Ara story in Fanfiction (I think, if not then one of the few)! Read and Review what you guys think!