Elsword Fanfiction
Disclaimer : Nexon
I do not own the characters and anything related to.
Author's Note : Just a drabble fic-a rather serious one for some random Idea about Deadly Chaser's life. Thanks to RoboCandi at tumblr and Iris for giving me Ideas to make this fiction so real. Basically this is a fiction, so don't fret XD. I do not use the main plotline, and characters by name, but more by their class alternate personality. Since every of them has different nature and personality compared to each other (Void Princess, Dimension Witch and Elemental Master, hello). And because Epic Lord Knight is epic and Deadly Chaser is fun to troll, thanks. lol. anyway, I got my BETA reader now so hopefully I can present a decent story. Enjoy, your review will means a lot for me :)
-1-
Cinderella and the Family
If one were to be asked, and had answered honestly, to live in one big exquisite palace as if it was one's own home is certainly a choice with consideration needless. However, that is not quite true in my case. I live in such a place together with my two brothers, and you can say that my life has been far from being comfortable. You might think that I am being made into a slave who works harder than a dumpy donkey, treated with as much respect as a pair of dirty worn-out socks gets, while my brothers take command as the house's dictators, but that is not true either. Well, not completely true, anyway—only half-true at best.
My first brother has a long and smooth hair which length reached under his waist. It is shiny golden blonde in color, the same as mine and my other brother's. His tall and slender body often gets him mistaken as a woman. He is nice, gentle, and always presents good gesture in front of public. Despite his appearance, he is very strong, and his body is sturdy enough to resist much harm. My second brother has a spiky hair style, with a long pigtail that stretched from the back of his neck to his waist. He is very level-headed and notable for being a severe bookworm, but thanks to his knowledge and his skills in assembling his own weapon, he is very talented in combat.
My appearance is similar to the two of them, except my hair is short compared with theirs. I am also not as famous as them, or at least, not in written stature. Still, I haven't explained yet about how the two great people is connected to my sour life. Surely they are not greedy egoist step brothers like those depicted in fairy tales, but if that is not how things are, then what is the reason?
Simply put, both of them are strong, but they are also a kind of troublesome airhead duo, if not to be called happy huskies—idiot happy huskies. Just like one time at a morning, when this story began.
"Trooper, have you somehow seen where I had put my earmuffs? It is getting cold lately." The man with smooth long hair spoke as he was scanning the entire room, looking for the thing that he wanted to wear. We were in our family room. Aside from the notably useful fireplace, a lazy chair, a sofa, and a very nice blue carpet beneath it, there was also a small study area with bookshelves.
My second brother was there, sitting calmly, reading. Upon hearing my first brother's question, he blinked. His hands were still attached to the book he was reading, and he looked like he was struggling to make his eyes not glued to it and turn his attention to my first brother instead.
"...no? I was reading the tenth manual book of mortar utility if you can't see it and sorry, I wasn't paying attention to others."
"Not even noticed that I was sweeping the floor around you and rearranging your books, I guess," I said in my mind. I sighed when I saw his face turning bright as if he had found some inspirations. He threw his book away and quickly moved to the other section of the study area, which resembled a workshop a lot. An engine laboratory, perhaps. Sounds of cling-clangs could be heard afterwards, and a series of flying gears soon followed. I sighed again. Yes, that workshop, too, had just been finished rearranged and cleaned by me.
My first brother tilted his head with a disappointed look. His pointer finger was in his chin, indicating that he was trying to recall where he had put the earmuffs.
"Weird, I am pretty sure that I took them off around here." He started searching again while I buckled some books that my second brother had done reading, and put them back at the shelves. I was relaxed at the time, but suddenly a bad premonition struck me. My first brother is a very straightforward person, in a way similar to a charging horse. Patience and precision have never been in his speciality list. To him, goal is number one.
And my intuition was correct. Yeah, I mean, he started to lift and flip the family room table instead of bending down to look what was under it, while murmuring his innocent tone of "Huh? Not here too..." Then, kabam. He tossed the table back in its place, and moved to the next searching spot without checking first whether the table was standing back on its four legs or not—it was not.
The next victim was a cabinet full of firewoods. Again, easily he tossed away those logs as he dug in to look for his earmuffs. I was pretty sure that the earmuffs most probably won't magically be there though. Then I saw this scene of heavy brownish black logs hitting the pastel wall of our house, each with a bumping sound that was reflected in my heart beat. And my second brother didn't even pay attention to it. He whistled as he experimented with his new toy. It was only me who was worried that soon medics might gather at our house because one of my brothers get the contents of his head spilled out from his ears... along with blood.
I jumped to hold my first brother, in order to stop his digging at the firewoods cabinet.
"Hey, just a moment, Pally," I said to him.
"Huh, what?" he stopped as I held his hand. It felt heavier than any of great quality logs may feel. As I would expect from an Iron Paladin.
I huffed and wiped my sweat off. I folded my palm, and slowly walked to the sofa. Then I rummaged its pit and managed to find the earmuffs my brother was looking for. My first brother gasped in amazement and pleasure. His eyes sparkled.
"Amazing! You have an eagle's eyes!" he praised me.
"I am glad that I do, otherwise the life of someone from our family would be in jeopardy," I replied sarcastically. The one I mentioned—my second brother Trooper—was still there, tinkering with his Destroyer Cannon. Pally went to him and shouted happily, "Lookie! Chaser found my earmuffs easily as if he's got a detector implanted in his head! Awesome, don't you think?"
Trooper wiped his forehead for a moment and then frowned. "Oh, really? That's... a brilliant idea! If we could implant the same detector to our Destroyer Cannon, we can increase our army's efficiency one step further..." he suddenly babbled. It is his habit to connect anything that smells like technology to a new invention probability.
"That sounds badass," Pally commented. "Really."
Trooper nodded in confirmation.
"I can make it, but first we must bring thes tools and go to Echo's place. Her place fits this kind of experiment and I don't want to create any more mess at our house."
"Oh, that's a relief. So he DID realize that there was a mess," I thought with my arms crossed.
"Well, if you insist," Pally agreed. I was going to ask him what he had planned to do after finding his earmuffs, but it seemed unnecessary since he had changed his plan—whatever it was—to another one: helping Trooper doing his experiment.
"Hmm..." Trooper rubbed his chin. "But before we go, I might need some books. Can you bring them for me?" he asked Pally. And with his kind nature, Pally agreed to help.
"Sure. Just tell me which ones, I'll take and bring them," he said. He stood in front of the bookshelves.
Trooper looked like he was thinking hard. With an opened mouth as if he was computing in his mind, he pointed to the upper right area of the bookshelves and mentioned the books' names. Pally and I had thought that he might need abour four of five books, but...
"Volume one of the books about nuclear physics, and that one with the green cover, then the next one to the upper right, also this, and that, and... oh! Don't forget that one too! Err... I guess that one we might need also. Hmm... on second thought, that purple one might be useful too. And I still have some doubts about implementing automatic mode so pick that lower one, don't forget the one next to it, hmm... and then..."
And it continued until he had mentioned almost three-quarters of of the entire shelf. I was already left behind like a noob in a dark age, and I was right in guessing that Pally wouldn't understand any better than I did.
Pally swished his beautiful hair. His fists clenched as if he was resisting the heat of confusion in his brain.
"You are too wishy-washy! Let's just bring them ALL!" he said.
And he did it, literally.
My eyes almost jumped out of their places as I saw my first brother lifted that enormous book shelf along with its contents and carried it upon his back like he was giving a piggyback ride to a little kid. I pointed at them with a trembling finger and a sweaty face.
"You... you're not really going to..." I muttered.
"Okay, we're all set! Let's go!" Trooper said with enthusiasm. He rushed out with his Destroyer and toolkits, and Pally followed after with the same amount of enthusiasm in his face. Again, the automatic range-computer in my instinct predicted another disaster. I mean, the height of the shelf, without Pally carrying it on his back, was only different by 3 centimeters from the family room's door frame. Now that Pally had lifted it, the difference increased to more than 50 centimeters and...
SKHHAAKKK!
As I had thought, because of Pally's horsepower and the sturdy metal material the shelf was made from, the door frame was certain to suffer the fate of getting a "great-good-smack-and-whack". I facepalmed.
This is why I have this sour life of a Cinderella. This is how Cinderella's tragic fate fell to me. My brothers are nice and competent, yes. But their minds focus only on what they specialize in. And I—the only coherent character and the one with a more present mind—must deal with the messes, because I am the only one in the family who manage to realize them. That matter is already a daily thing to me, and before I know it everyday's housekeeping job has already become my job.
The three of us acquired great weapons branded as "Destroyers". Their massive power is a really great help in our kingdom's army, although we use them with different styles. Pally the Iron Paladin is not fond of ranged combat. Bearing a sturdy body and brutal strength equaling a mad cow, he prefers close and defensive combat, using the Destroyer mainly as a melee bludgeoning weapon.
Trooper on the hand, is different. Like I said, though being the same dense airhead and having less sense in daily situations, he is more level-headed and book-smart than your average anyone. In contrast to Pally who always charges forward bravely and mindlessly sometimes, he prefers to plan his moves one step ahead of his enemies. He modified his Destroyer, making it capable of shooting in two directions, back and front. Not only that, he also invented some supportive additional weapons such as mortars and grenades. In battle, he puts to use the Destroyer bullets' potentials to maximum. The weapons utility is his special ability.
With those talents and skills, they became very famous and now stand in equal place with other epic combatants of the Kingdom. I have heard of the strongest, most respected honorable fighters of the Kingdom. The Lord Knight. The Veteran Commander. The Grand Archer. The Elemental Master. My brothers are among them.
What about me?
Sadly, I don't have as much dedication to improve my Destroyer as my brother Trooper, nor do I have the magnificent brute power and strong will to protect others like my brother Pally. Moreover, I am not really the kind of hero who stands in the spotlight. Of course I care to protect others, but I tend to be reluctant in offering help. And with my cool temperament, I secretly suppress my dark side, a side of me who won't forgive evil so easily and prefer to inquisite them instead.
Yeah, if I were to compare myself with the two of them, you could say that I have a more mysterious side. It is not something emotionally dark, actually. It is just how I do my job. I let my brothers fight carrying the honor of the Kingdom, while I watch from somewhere unseen, undetected. Then when the time comes for me to take action, my eagle eyes will lock on the targets, and they will die in an instant.
But that didn't really matter at the time. The only thing that I was thinking was about how long I might be able to endure the daily madness of living with those two lovely brothers. I sighed as I stared at the ill-fated door frame. My natural spionage talent wouldn't be useful to fix that thing.
I had not a long time to think, as the bell suddenly rang. I thought for a while that my brothers were coming back, but then I remembered that usually they would come with a "boom" or a "bang", not a "ding".
I opened the front door, and it was not them who was standing there. My eyes caught the figure of a graceful swordsman. The Blade Master. He wasn't the at the top rank of honorable combatants, but his skills were well-known enough. I lowered my left eyebrow, and the man coughed. It was an awkward moment.
"What is it? Is it a duel challenge? My brothers are out, and I am just..."
"...a maid?" he continued my words without me asking.
I coughed. No, what he said was not true, but it's true that I was the one who always do all the maid job like a slave.
Maybe.
Now that you mention it, my brothers had never actually asked me to do so.
"...at least 'servant' would be a better term, don't you think?" I pierced my gaze through him, and he just laughed.
"I was trying to joke," he said, "I see you are their brother alright, although honestly I've never heard much about you. And no, I am not here for a duel."
I nodded.
"I came to deliver a letter from her majesty the Empress. An important matter, I guess, but for the details... you'll have to read it yourself," he continued. A white envelope was delivered to my hand. Weird, I thought the Empress would prefer an electronic mail instead of a traditional one, since she is one of the cyborg kin—the Nasod. Was there something wrong, or did she want to mock us?
"Oh, thanks. So you are a mailman now?" I replied.
"Haha. Nice try on the joke."
"I wasn't joking," I said with a straight face. But he ignored me.
"Anyway, I've done what I came here for. I still have another mission at the north forest near the stream, so I guess I'll be on my way now." He bowed down in respect, and I nodded in reply. It was only shortly after had he disappeared from my sight, so I closed the gate and came back inside. My mind was wondering what might be inside the envelope. A bill, perhaps? Maybe Pally had overused his power and crushed a nice newly-built Nasod facility out of intention. Or maybe Trooper had been doing some new grenades experiment at the Empress' factory's field.
I decided to wait for my brothers to come back before opening the envelope, despite being so curious. I kind of wished I had suggested Trooper to invent an x-ray scan-reading feature for my Destroyer—which might be a good idea, actually—so that I could see what's inside it. I was going to get a book from Trooper's bookshelf to read, but then I realized that Pally had carried away that one shelf and the rest of the books are just about history and politics, both of which I have no interest in particular. I shrugged, and then decided to find myself a lone spot. It was a perfect time to enjoy some loneliness which, strangely, a part of me likes.
The loft. It was my room. Not that my brothers treated me so unfairly that I didn't get any room on my own in this large house, mind you. I had my own room, once. It was located near Trooper's room, so perhaps you can already guess the rest of my room's story by now. Yes, sometimes, sometimes, Trooper would ran a 'little' test at his own room, promising that nothing will go out of control—a promise that he'd always break in the end. Of course, he took responsibility and fixed the chaos he created at my room every time, but such compensation would suffice only if it had happened once or twice. So after the twelveth or so experiment, I decided to move away. Pally helped me to move all the things I had in my room, and wondered if I was okay with staying at the loft while I could stay at the room near his instead. However, my experience told me that staying near one of my overpowered brothers with less coherent sense wouldn't have been be a revolutionary idea. Hence the loft, and I am loving it.
I sat at the edge of my bed and stared at nothing. Then I slightly moved my head to see my Destroyer, at the corner of the loft, near a mysterious silver box. There was something inside the box that I wouldn't ever reveal even to my brothers. Somehow, my Destroyer looked lonely, and it reminded me of an event in the past.
"You're not compatible with it... no, you're not."
"Leave it to us, dear... please don't hurt yourself ever again."
I was once a fighter along with my two brothers, with my Destroyer. However, it hadn't been quite the right weapon for me. Each heavy swing of the Destroyer would destroy not only my enemies, but my body as well. In a certain exhaustion, death nearly caught me, if not for everyone who were there covering me. After the battle had ended, I said to my brothers that I wouldn't participate in the kingdom's army battles anymore. I admitted that I didn't want to get caught in a near-death situation like that anymore, and that I'd prefer to be safe. They granted my wish. Thus, I became known in the neighborhood as the 'crippled' fighter. And Pally added some spices about me needing some mental rehabilitation.
That was what people have seen and acknowledged. But there was something that they didn't know. Something... that I had kept hidden from them. Well, I did say that I have a mysterious side, didn't I?
"Chaser!"
A voice from outside snapped me out of my wandering thought. I quickly opened the loft's big window and popped my head out so I could see the source of the voice. A smile formed at my lips. There my brothers were, back at home. Judging from the gloomy and confused expression at Trooper's face, I guessed that they were failing at the experiment. Pally on the other hand looked cheerful and happy-go-lucky, but he's always just as cheerful as that. Doesn't mean it's safe to insult or anger him though, because he can crack your bones and send you to the afterlife while still putting up the same face.
"Hey, welcome back. Is the bookshelf alright?" I said while opening the front door. I was more worried about the safety of the bookshelf than my brothers'—Pally could get surrounded by an entire army with guns and he'd still be able to get home safely and say, "Anyone wants dinner?" The bookshelf however, was not as skillful.
Pally glanced at his back, and nodded. "The baby's fine," he said. He was still carrying the bookshelf.
"Sigh... not enough information to apply the detector function..." Trooper huffed. It was already telling me enough about him being 'fine' or not. Maybe he just needed some time to vent out his disappointment though, no big deal.
I suddenly remembered the letter brought by the Blade Master. The two had returned, so we could peek what was written inside of it already. When we had finally gathered and sat together at the dining table, I told them about the letter I had received from the Blade Master and his words for us. I slid the letter to the front of them. Both of them blinked.
"Why did the Empress use a... paper mail?" Trooper asked. He looked puzzled, because usually he would receive news and commands from the Empress through a mail device he had invented.
"I was wondering about that, too. I thought she wanted to mock us. You know, she could a bit... undescribed sometimes," I confessed.
"Why the hesitation? Just open the letter and all will be clear," as usual, Pally was being so straight forward and quick to decide upon a choice without further unnecessary prejudice. However, I had always been hesitant to involve myself with unusual things, and Trooper was just the type who calculates a lot before doing something, so none of us did so. We stared at Pally together, signaling that we wanted him to take the risk for us—to be the tank.
"Oh come on guys, it's just a letter!" Pally swished his hair in a beautiful motion that I was very sure could attract even males. Besides, he looked like a female a LOT. Anyway, Pally took the letter, and, without hesitation, torn the envelope. Then he took out the envelope's content. It was seriously a real letter. Me and Trooper both moved behind Pally so we could read together what was inside.
First of all, don't laugh. Tch. I hate using human's old technology when I have control of the more advanced one, but unfortunately I have no choice this time. I've been detecting something fishy and not right lately. At first, I thought that it was probably a little error that even me and some of my natives have, but yesterday some Nasod programmed at the factory and some other installations suddenly went berserk. I thought of it as a small disturbance hardly worthy of my attention, so I sent Grand Archer and Elemental Master to handle the rampaging Nasods and bring them to me to be reprogrammed. But they were attacked mysteriously and injured severely.
Not only that, the rebel Nasods also influenced other worker Nasods and turn them into their allies. It was just like a virus infection, or a brainwashing skill. Fortunately, Veteran Commander and Lord Knight are both okay, and they are currently looking into this matter. I've sent Blade Master to give aid to other possibly damaged areas, and now I command the two of you, Iron Paladin and Tactical Trooper, to lend a hand here. Please come to my palace tomorrow afternoon.
P.S. : If you're wondering about why I used this old messaging, I was anticipating my system being hacked. Had I sent the news via email, the enemy could be one step ahead of us.
None of us gave a comment about the last few sentences. We only stare at each other silently.
"To conclude, the Kingdom is in danger. Holy... a preemptive attack and they already managed to seal both Grand Archer and Elemental Master?" Trooper was the first to give a comment.
"I guess the enemy is trying to move before we could. And we don't know their motivation yet," I rubbed my chin and tried to guess.
"Guessing what and who won't work. Right now, let's just do what we can do," Pally gave an advice.
"And that is?" Trooper asked.
"Refilling our energy," Pally said as he stood up. "So, what do you want for supper?"
Although the Empress seemed to be somewhat relaxed, and so did Pally, I got my mind occupied with it. Perhaps it was because of the way the enemy ambushed, which somehow I felt I could relate to. And those who got injured, I have some... special bonds with them. The fact that the Empress had excluded me from the command got me concerned, because it means I wouldn't be briefed any further about the matter, and I didn't think my brothers would reveal the informations to me as well. Nevertheless, I promised myself to search towards leaked informations.
End of Chapter.
More classes coming next. *awaits for Lord Knight myself*