Hi! This is going to be a short series. Probably about 5 chapters at max.
I got inspiration reading a fic called Paper crane. The situation here is reversed, but there are going to be similarities. So I apologize if it offends anyone.
Classes...
Elsword: LK
Aisha: EM
Rena: GA
Raven: BM
Eve: CN
Ara: SD
Elesis: CRA
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine."
Everyone could easily see through the lie.
Elesis was far from fine. The woman looked down at the floor. She knew full well that she deserved all the hatred she was getting.
No one felt the slightest bit bad for her expect Ara. Whatever she was feeling now was completely justified.
If she had a choice, she would rather be thrown in prison awaiting execution than dealing with this. It sounded and felt a lot easier compared to what she was feeling now.
"Will he-"
A flash of purple slammed into her throat and pinned her to the wall.
"Don't...you...dare...ask…"
Aisha spoke each word, slowly but with great force. As if to emphasize her hatred of her.
"Aisha, please." A metallic claw touched her shoulder."We promised didn't we? He's not gone yet."
With great reluctance, the mage backed away.
She could see it in everyone's eyes. How they wanted nothing more than to get away from her. It was only because of the wishes of their leader that were putting up with her at present.
The memory of what happened to him was fresh in everyone's mind. Though they had only met her three times before this, what she did was enough to garner their hatred for all time.
When she was younger, she imagined her reuniting with her younger brother after her training would be a wondrous occasion. It didn't exactly go as plan.
Their first reunion would take place in Feita. Where they met at the top of the shrine. At that given moment, her brother had without hesitation ran up to embrace her, despite his friends warning that something wasn't right.
At that point in time, something snapped. She who was a crazed killer who wanted nothing more than to kill demons just stopped. Anyone else who had did such a thing would have been torn apart immediately.
Her mind which barely functioning at that time just stared at him for several moments even after he released her. She wasn't listening to anything he was saying. All she knew was that he was her brother.
As he tried to introduce her to his friends, something just snapped. Without warning, she straight out stabbed him from behind. She recalls the terrifying screams from everyone back then, but most of all the expression her brother gave her just before she threw him aside and left.
"Wake up."
She snaps out of it when she slapped. The voice belongs to Eve. The silver queen hands her a thick book.
"What is it?" She weakly asks.
"It is his dairy. He created one the day you left him. In the event that something happened to him, he requested me to pass it onto you if possible. Otherwise to do as I please with it if not possible."
"Excuse me." Aisha says loudly as she leaves the room. It was taking everything she had to not just kill Elesis at this moment. If she continued to stay, she might have ended up doing something she could never fix.
It was Raven who left next. He wasn't as angry at her as compared to himself. The man felt like he let his friend and student down. Even if what happened to him wasn't his fault.
Rena left next. For all her experiences she has accumulated, there was little she can do in this case but wait.
In the very end, there were only three people left in the room.
"Aren't you going to leave as well?" Elesis wonders.
"I don't see why I should."
"I don't blame you. Elsword knew the risk when it came to saving you. Leaving you in such a state would be disrespecting his memory."
If she could be honest, it would have been a lot easier for them to just hate her like everyone else.
"Besides, it is not like we are unaware of the contents inside." Eve casually said much to her surprise.
"When he was injured, he stubbornly would try to continue writing even if it hurts. So at times, we had to write it down for him. Aisha once took it from him and threatened to reveal it's entire contents if he didn't stop writing in such a state. She did agree to write for him though at times. Likewise with us. It also didn't help that he often was pretty careless with it. Leaving it around for people to see."
She couldn't help but laugh. It was the first time she did so in a long time. "Trust him to be so stubborn and forgetful. Rain or shine, nothing stops him once he sets his mind on something."
Yet as soon as she recalls such a trait, her mood instantly reverts back. For it is this very reason that he isn't around anymore.
In order to save her, he had taken the risk of challenging one on one despite knowing the difference in power. She had beaten him down time and again, but no matter how badly she had beaten him, he never stopped reaching out to her. It was ultimately by her own hand that her brother fell.
"Should we leave if it's bothering you?" Ara noticed the change and wondered if she needed some space.
She shook her head. "No it's fine. It's just that, I'm quite afraid to read this."
"You don't have to if you don't want too. I was only asked to give it to you, what you do with it is your choice."
"No, just give me a second."
Taking a deep breath the red head opened the dairy.
"Day one. My sister has left me. It's kind of lonely even knowing why she did. I continue to practice what she taught me. During the evenings, I visit the village in hopes of finding Lowe. Since sis isn't around anymore to guide me, he's the next best in line. He tells me that in order to be a knight, I have to first be stronger, and I need to have a proper character befitting one. How rude."
Both Elesis and Ara couldn't help but former was well aware though he had the makings of a knight since young, his cocky attitude needed to be changed first. Something she failed to knock out of his head.
The next few pages were mostly about him adjusting to life on his own. There were even some dates where he skipped out because nothing of interest happened. Even so, she continued to read.
"Day nine hundred and seventy. It's been nearly three years since my sister left. Today's the day I set out on my journey. Banthus stole the El shard, so I'm on my way to retrieve it. Just when I was setting out, I got stuck with a know it all magician name Aisha and and a cute but scary elf name Rena. Rena's fine, but Aisha is so annoying."
"Yeah, Rena told me that Aisha and Elsword took some time to get used to each other." Ara chuckled as she flipped the page.
The next few pages surprised her. It was a topic she had completely forgotten about, but one that played a huge role in her life.
"Day thousand and one. We figured out who was it that hired Banthus to steal the shard. It was Wally. Can't believe that a leader could be so selfish. Doesn't he know what the people are like now?"
Her grip tightened over the book as she continued to read. Wally was the reason why she started on this dark journey to begin with. Her methods back then just wasn't cutting it. The scum just hid behind the law and his citizens. It was then did she meet Luichel. A woman who started her down this path.
Inwardly she cursed that woman, but just as quickly as her anger came, it vanished even faster. She knew that while it was her who influenced her to take this dark path, the choice was ultimately hers.
"Are you alright?" Eve noticed her condition. "I noticed your tension level is rising."
Quickly she took a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm fine. It's just that I have nothing but bad memories regarding Wally."
"Then you should be happy to know that he is no more."
"What?" Elesis asked immediately. She knew that she let him get away when she was hunting him down.
Ara placed one finger over Eve's lips. "No spoilers. She hasn't gotten to that part yet." Turning back to Elesis, she told her to continue.
And so she did. The pages that followed explained how her brother had worked alongside the townsfolk to stop Wally.
"Day thousand and four. Can't believe it worked. Aisha and Rena actually pretended to let themselves be captured by those incompetent guards so as to get inside. Once inside, the two wrecked the whole place and opened the gates from within before I joined in alongside some of the townsfolk who agreed to join us. Wally never saw us coming. The three of us lead the attack and tore down everything in his path, even his big stupid robot stood no chance. Too bad he had a second one he kept in reserve and used it run away. Well can't be helped. At least the townsfolk no longer have to worry about him. Heard they wanted us to stay one more night so as to throw us a party for helping get rid of him. Hell yeah! Just wish sis was here to see me now."
"He-he did it." She muttered proudly. "He actually did it."
She was unable to stop herself from shedding a tear. She felt great pride in her little brother but also a great sense of shame.
It was here did she realized she had failed to live up to his beliefs. When he was put in the same position as her, he held fast to the beliefs that she had taught him. He chose a path that would yield the same results but one where he would remain honest to himself.
The girl sighed in resignation before she continued to read. The next pages brought a smile to her.
"Day thousand and five. What was I thinking asking Aisha for help? I know I need help in overcoming my weakness to magic, but she didn't have to brag about it which is why I should at least learn a little about it. It's hard enough admitting I need help, but now she expects me to be her servant? Forget it."
"Day thousand and six. Thank you Rena for smacking some sense into Aisha. When that girl's demanded me to call her mistress, she gave her a kick to the face and told her not to be so arrogant. If anything she should feel a sense of accomplishment that someone trusts her enough to teach. Her ego got a little better afterwards."
"He's got good friends." She thought out loud.
"Day thousand and nine. I've been spending more time with Aisha lately. She's quite a good girl as long as you don't feed her ego. She told me about the basics of magic and some ways to get around it. I probably won't go down the path of magic, but it's nice to at least learn about it. I learnt that she's surprisingly not as girly as I first thought."
The next few pages were mostly talking about their journey to Bethma and how he spent his time with them, especially Aisha.
"He seems really happy."
Even though there were complaints left and right about the terrible travelling conditions, she could sense the joy he felt when doing so.
"You should enjoy moments like this." Eve suddenly spoke up, causing Elesis to look at her. "They won't last much longer."
"What do you mean?"
Ara placed one hand on her shoulder and answered. "What she means is the nature of his journey is going to take a turn for the worse. Just keep reading."
Steeling herself, she continued to read. The tone of the contents started to change when it reached Bethma.
"Day thousand and twenty. I got into a fight with a total stranger. While in an inn, we were trying to gather information about where Wally ran to, when I heard someone mention about a girl in red wielding a sword while using powerful flames. As I listened she told me that she had seen her, she asked me why I wanted to know. When I told her I might her brother, she scoffed saying she wanted nothing to do with me. I pursued the matter at hand and learnt that she was talking about leader of the red knights. Velder's most powerful faction of knights. Certainly I can easily see my sister being the leader of such a group, but I will never believe that she would use fear and brutality to complete her goals."
"So that's what you mean." The crimsonette smiled bitterly.
She noticed in the way he wrote, that he was growing more frustrated. As his journey continued, he continued to seek out information regarding her. Everything he learnt went against the image he had of her, and she noticed that he was getting rather...aggressive.
"It's getting harder to read isn't it?" Ara sat next to her. "Often I would catch glimpse of him crying when he thinks no one was looking."
"Why is that?"
She was afraid of the answer, but she wasn't going to run anymore.
"It's because of you." Sighing, she looked to the ceiling. "I have a brother I looked up too. Our relationship was similar to you and your brother."
"I take it something happened to him?"
It was Eve who answered. "Her brother was twisted by demons into becoming one of them. There was barely a hint of his former self. Much like you were before."
"I-I see…" Elesis stuttered. It was painful to be compared to the demons, but there was no helping it.
"Just wondering, why did you go down this route?"
Should she answer that question?
"You don't need to answer if you don't feel like it. I noticed you were becoming more tense when reading the recent pages. I believe you should stop first." Eve glanced to the side. The sun was setting.
"Ah…" Ara covered her mouth. "I completely forgot about that. We've been reading for hours!"
Closing the book, Elesis realized she needed to take a break. "I'll read the rest later. Besides, I think I need to go somewhere else first."
Both girls nodded. "You should avoid Aisha for now. She'll calm down eventually, so don't worry too much about her."
Elesis knew that it was the mage who was most angry with her. The others were willing to give her a chance despite their rightful anger, so they would accept her to some extend, but probably not her.
Putting away her brother's dairy. She left the room.
The cold freezing winds was a comfort to her. How long had it been since she felt so vulnerable? Always striving to improve herself so as to never experience something like this. She never stopped to rest unless it was necessary, never thinking about such things.
Looking back at it now, she realizes that she is not much different than her brother. Both of them had one tracked minds that didn't know when to quit. The only difference was that he knew how to accept help from others, whereas she didn't.
Even though she should changed into warmer, she couldn't bring herself to do so. Her entire journey to the hospital was a chilly one.
It was weird walking around when people looked on at her. She looked like a whore drawing looks of confusion and lust as opposed to the time when they looked on at her in fear. The girl was starting to realize just how much her actions had affected not just her life, or her brother's, but everyone else around her.
It was fortunate than, that she wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone at present.
Looking up at the hospital, she wondered if she really had the right to be here. Regardless she pressed on.
Her destination was on the top floor. There was only one thing she was worried about.
"What took you so long?"
She flinched at the voice who called out to her the moment she walked in. Standing in front of her destination was Aisha.
Though unlike earlier, she wasn't angry at her. Instead she looked as if she was awaiting some sort of punishment from her.
"Is he-"
The elemental mage shook her head. "They say the chances he'll live is very small, and even if he does live, there is going to be permanent damage to him physically, and perhaps mentally as well."
The very news almost broke her even after she prepared herself mentally.
"So...are you going to kill me?"
Elesis wouldn't mind it. Being killed one of his friends didn't sound so bad at this point in time.
"No…if anything, I should be apologizing."
Her apology was like a punch to the gut. She didn't deserve to be treated this way. And most especially by the one who should be hating her the most.
"Aren't you angry? Don't you want to kill me?"
"It would be a lie to say that I don't want to just drop a meteor on you, or perhaps freeze you or just shock you to death." Aisha let out a sigh as she took a seat. "But let's face it. While we all hate you, it's nothing compared to how much we all hate ourselves."
"Why?"
She gestured towards the bed where her brother was.
Strapped to the bed on life support, was her brother. His body entire had been broken. All sorts of injuries were inflicted onto him. From slash, to blunt force to severe burns. It was a miracle there was enough left of him to recognize him.
Her heart almost stopped as she observed the right portion of his body.
"Terrible isn't it?" Aisha wiped the tears that were coming out from her eyes. "Both his right eye and arm are both gone for good. Even if he recovers, his life as a knight is over. In fact, he'll probably have to leave us because he would no longer be able to keep up with the dangers involved, and that's not even considering the possibility of mental damage which according to the doctors is quite high. Eve might have be able to do something about his arm, but his eye is another story. And...even the rehabilitation period of such methods would take a long time. He'll have to learn an entirely new style of fighting, and so by the time he can fight again, everyone would be too far ahead of him to matter."
"Doesn't this give you more reason to hate me?" She took a seat next to her brother but her gaze was on his friend.
"It does, but it also makes us hate ourselves more as well."
Elesis can easily see how difficult it is for her. She wants to say something, but everything she's been saying so far just makes it worse. So she remains quiet.
"You know the day before your duel with him, he told of us that this might happen. Everyone believed that you were beyond saving. Even Raven did." She laughed bitterly. "But not him. He wanted one more chance to try and save you, so he asked for the most ridiculous thing ever. For us to not interfere with him as he fought you one on one. Needless to say, everyone was horrified at his suggestion. They became even more so when admitted that he might die."
The red haired woman looked at her brother with a sad smile. "He was right."
"I know." Aisha sniffed. It was taking all her willpower not to break down at this point. "We all tried to convince him otherwise, but he wouldn't listen. It was the first time Raven lost his temper. It was the first time even Rena's anger couldn't convince him to back down. Ara broke down when she wasn't able to convince him to stop."
"What about you and Eve?"
"We took it the hardest." Aisha sighed. "Eve really lost it. Even though she was supposed to have lost all emotions, she still couldn't help but explode in anger when he suggested such a thing. I remember it clearly. Though her voice sounded emotionless, her actions said otherwise. She practically pinned him to the ground slapped him over and over again all the while calling him an idiot, moron, foolish, and so many more names. All the while trying to convince him to at least look for another solution. In the end though, he chose to go along with his plan regardless. She warned him however that if he were to fall, she would kill you without hesitation before she left."
The elemental master gently stroke the boy's face. "As for me, when I couldn't convince him through reason, I decided to use the one language we were both strongest at. Fighting. I told him if he wanted to go through with that stupid plan, he would have to go through me. It was a hard thing to do. I couldn't bring myself to fight him seriously and he knew it. So in the end I lost and had to let him pass. And the rest is as you know it."
Elesis didn't know what to say to her. She just sat next to her in silent watching over her little brother. Wondering what could she do to make this right again. So much had been ruined because of her, and she had no idea where to begin fixing it.
Now I mentioned before I dislike the Elsword x Aisha pairing, but that's not entirely true.
I actually like LK x EM, but that's the only pairing of the duo I enjoy.
It's because the two of them out grow the childish fighting phase by a lot. Which no longer annoys and instead I consider quite sweet, since despite Aisha still housing some tsundere tendency, it's no longer annoying or violent.
As for Eve? I enjoy her interactions even more after reading the novels.
(Damn Volume 4. Cock blocking a Rena x Eve and an Elsword x Eve moment)