I've woken up, leaned against a large rock. All I can proceed in my mind is, "Where am I?" As I look all around. It seemed like I was in a small meadow in the middle of the forest. I closed my eyes again to see the thoughts of a certain woman of long, green hair disappearing. Who was she? I look at my right arm, covered in cuts and bruises, yet still able to move and grip a blade tightly. What happened? I turn to left arm.
"W-what is this?! M..my hand! W- it's mechanical!" I exclaimed in fear. I tried to move my fingers and it worked. I pulled up my torn, white sleeve to see that my entire arm was replaced with... this. I tried to get up using the mechanical arm since my other arm appears to be too weak right now. I stood still with my legs wobbling and fell backwards.
"Ughh... What do I do now... I can't even move!" I mumbled angrily as I lightly rub my backside in attempts to relieve the pain. I heard someone running towards me. The sound of their feet continuously stepping on leaves came closer and closer, almost as fast as the wind, until I was met with their silhouette. It appeared to be a female elf with long, green hair and an abnormally large chest. There, my thoughts returned. Trying to remember that certain green-haired woman. A few strands of her hair glowed in the light. She walked towards me. I just stared at her, observing. She had very long, green hair, which reached the lowest part of her back. Her appearance was like a bundle of elegance.
"Are you okay, Raven?" She asked, politely.
Raven? Who is Raven? Is it me? I don't remember anything, so I chose not to respond to her.
"Raven?" She repeated.
"Errmm...who is that..?" I responded.
"You, silly!" She said with a cheerful voice and a bright, round smile. "The entire gang was looking for you! Oh, that reminds me," she said and then stepped back and shot a large, icey arrow in the air which exploded into tiny shards high above us. It almost looked like a signal flare, or a firework. "Ahh.. I hope they'll notice this and come quickly," she whispered to herself.
"The what was looking for me? I'm sorry, I can't really... recall anything from before," I continued with a concerned look in my eyes. The woman looked back at me, into my eyes. Her face went from a bright cheerfulness to a dark, concerned look with sadness.
"You..." There was a long pause. "...don't remember me?" She continued.
"I'm afraid not." I felt bad for saying this. It seemed like she was very close to me and having me not remember her after her hard work of searching, must've.. broke her.
"What's your name?" I asked, hoping to light up the atmosphere. She turned away from me, keeping her head down, "R-rena..."
The way she said it felt so empty, like her emotions were sucked away by my honest words. However, I knew there was one emotion. Sadness. I heard it when she stuttered as she said her own name. We stayed in silence until we heard a bush rustle.
"Aahhh~ it's good to see the sun again," someone said with a soft, feminine voice.
I looked over and it was a red-headed boy wearing a midriff along with a slightly messy hair and two small ties of longer hair hanging by his neck. Behind him was a taller red-headed female. She had long, flowing hair similar to Rena's. Following them were more people. A slightly short girl with high, purple pigtails and a quite skimpy outfit. A young male who appeared to have abnormally pale skin, a brownish-blonde hair which mostly flared backwards as spikes, and had two pieces of hair, colored a darker brown, that oddly pointed upwards towards the sky behind. Then, there was another taller female with long flowing white hair, red eyes, and about 9 fox tails grasping a spear tightly. Another white haired girl with extremely long hair that curves a bit, it's hard to notice from a distance. And finally, a white haired male with a high ponytail and lab coat. Is this the gang Rena told me about?
"Nice job finding Raven, Rena!" The purple one said, "I'm even impressed you remembered to use your Freezing Arrow to notify us." Rena giggled in embarrassment.
I... I just sat here, observing their celebration to see me. Am I that important? How long was I'm 'missing'?
The group collectively looked at me. "Hey, Raven. How ya been? I've been looking for your sword all around the battlefield!" The red headed boy, winked jokingly. The other red head slapped him in the back of the head and smiled embarrassingly.
They all appear slightly injured, less injured than I am. What kind of battlefield did he mean? Was it some kind of war or something?
My head hurts. I should stop thinking too much, but... I really want to know. I want to know who I was.
"Raven appears to be tired," the one of the two white haired girls said in a monotonous, somewhat robotic voice. I noticed her hair was split into what looked like two extremely long pigtails, but it wasn't held up by anything and had a slightly transparent, light blue crest. The entire party quickly examined me further, Rena appearing to show more care said, "I guess you're right." She sounded a little more cheerful, as well.
The pale kid walked up to me and picked me up... Princess style.
"I got chu, Raven!"
"Ummm..okay." It felt really awkward being carried like this. I felt like a female, since you know. 'Princess' carry.
The redheaded boy laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head as he asked, "Ermmm.. Where are we headed?" The purple haired girl stopped playing with a fat bat toy and looked up at the sky, then back at me.
"I believe the closest town to us is Ruben."
"RUBEN? ARE YOU SERIOUS? I THOUGHT WE WERE AT VELDER!" The redheaded boy exclaimed as he threw his sword at the ground and stomped his foot on the handle of the sword as he looked at the girl. His sword flew up and hit his knee, which lead him to jump up and down repeatedly in pain as he held his knee. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" He shouted in agony.
"Elsword... Velder doesn't have trees as bright green as these," She replied as she whacked him with what looked like an axe. Elsword looked all around and made the look of realization which ended up in an awkward silence.
"Ahh~ haha we should probably get going before it gets dark again!" Rena said, trying to keep the atmosphere bright.
We all headed out to the town called Ruben. It was fairly small and peaceful. There were only three houses, too. The fox-girl's hair turned from white to black with a pin in the middle of the braids across the back of her head and a large bead which was probably about 5 inches away from the end of her hair that acted as a hair tie. Also, her tails vanished, and her eyes became an amber color. She ran in front of the group, nearly tripped, and exclaimed with the brightest smile,
"This town brings back so many memories!"
Everyone else agreed. Everyone, but me. The redheaded girl walked to a villager grey hair and red clothing, and spoke with him. We were able to stay in one of the houses, thanks to him. The blonde pale kid laid me on the bed and everyone else sat on the floor next to me, talking about memories of their hometowns.
After a while of listening in, I finally learned their names. The redheaded boy was Elsword, the other one was Elesis, purple haired girl was Aisha, the fox was Ara Haan, Chung carried me, Eve was the white haired female, and finally Add, the other white hair guy. There, I practiced memorizing their names and eventually fell asleep.
I woke up and everyone was still deep asleep on the other beds. I sat up. My right arm is in a lot less pain. I try lifting up down to fully feel it once again.
"Tchh..." I accidentally groaned aloud in pain.
Someone moved. I kind of panicked. I don't know why. I sat up and pat the nearest person to wake up, which turned out to be Chung, aka the kid that carried me. He woke up and had the happiest face ever. He pulled my head down and rubbed my hair with his fist.
"HEY EVERYONE, RAVEN'S AWAKE!" He exclaimed. Everyone else, but Add, simultaneously got up as if they were zombies in a graveyard, and a few yawned.
"Unnnng... G..good moooorning~."
"Ahhh good morning everyone!" And a few other variations of their yawns along with the line 'good morning' from the rest of the gang. A quick glance at the clock showed it was 9:39.
I looked back at everyone and saw Eve right in front of me. She grabbed my... Mechanical arm.
"Errr.. What are you doing, Eve?"
"I'm checking on your Nasod Arm. It has been about 2 weeks that you've been missing, and we need to check on it's condition."
I looked at my arm as Eve slowly pulled off the metal to reveal countless circuits and a few metal rods that do resemble the bones and veins in a real arm. A few sparks popped every now and then, but nothing major. I looked back at the gang and they seemed to be talking, preparing food, or going outside.
I heard metal grind against each other and looked back at my arm and Eve.
"Nasod Arm status: Decent condition. Requires fixing," Eve spoke nonchalantly as she put the metal covering of my arm back on. "We shall proceed later when I prepare the equipment," she continued and walked off to join everyone, somewhat flipping her long hair, which oddly splits through the middle as it falls off her head.
I continue gazing at my arm until Aisha skipped towards me. She stopped a few feet in front of me.
"Hey Raven, Elsword asked if you wanted to train with him," she said. I gave a blank stare. "O-oh yah! I'll beat him for you, sorry for asking!" She continued with embarrassment and skipped back outside. She must've realized that I'm still injured.
I attempted to stand up, keeping my mechanical arm on the bed to keep balance. My legs appear to be a bit less weak, but still wobbled around abit as I stood straight. I took a few steps along the bed, keeping my mechanical arm on the bed. It felt as if I was a baby taking it's first steps in life after crawling for one and a half years, or so. I looked to the side and noticed Rena looked at me and smiling. As soon as she noticed my eyes meeting her eyes from a distance, she instantly looked like she was attempted to act natural.
"O-oh! There are the vegetables for the soup!" She said as she quickly fumbled around the kitchen counter to get a single vegetable. "Ahaahhaa," she giggled nervously.
It was quite obvious that was a quick act. Eh, I guess she's happy that I'm getting used to things. However.. Does she have any relations to that particular female who seemed to be haunting my memories? She does look similar to her, after all.
I continued I stood still, hoping for my legs to adjust to keeping still instead of wobbling like uncooked spaghetti.
It took very little time for it to get used to standing and I began walking towards the kitchen, where Rena was working.
"How close are you to finishing the food, Rena?" I asked, firmly. She twirled similarly to a ballerina, but not quite. Her apron flew in the air along with her long, majestic hair and landed softly on her sides, which then retreated to it's original spot.
"Oh, hi!" She spoke, somewhat surprised to see me next to her. "Errr... the food should be finished in a few minutes. Are you already with calling the others inside?" She continued with a slightly shy tone. Which is weird, she sounded really confident when she first found me.
"Oh well," I thought to myself as I nodded to Rena and turned around. I took my first step outside the house, and the surroundings looked beautiful. Bright green grass, tall trees, a small flowing river crossing by with a little bridge on top of it, and some flowers around. The skies were quite a nice shade of light blue as well. A light breeze pushed against my face, which made me felt a bit nostalgic, somehow.
A flash of memory appeared. A rather quick one, as well. All I saw was that green-haired woman sitting beside me in the grass, which look similar too the ones here. The lake, the houses, the trees. They were all the same, except her face, which looked as if it was censored, or painted in black as if my memory refusing to remember her. I shook my head out of this. "Call everyone inside to eat," I told myself as my own stomach grumbled, loudly. I walked up the Elsword and Aisha, who appeared to be battling each other, although Elsword seemed like he had given up due to his heavy breathing.
"AISHA! THAT'S CHEATING!" The young boy exclaimed as continued attempting to catch his breath.
"It's not cheating if it's one of the few things I can do. Unlike you reflecting my fireballs, you litt-," the skimpy magician stopped as soon as she saw me. "Oh, hey, Raven. I guess this seems like a good time to stop." She grabbed her axe-like staff and walked towards me. "It's time for breakfast, right?"
Once again, I nodded due to the lack of words I have to say. It felt like my options were limited, since I don't really know anyone that well.
Both Elsword and Aisha walked inside. Chung and Ara were both relaxing on a fallen log, almost as if they were asleep, so I walked towards them to tell them it's time to eat. Eve was already heading inside with Add behind her as I walked towards the two relaxers, so less work for my slightly-pained legs.
Chung, who was laying upside down, nearly fell on his head out of surprise when I tapped his shoulder and he instantly jumped up, looking like he was going to fight me with his bare hands.
"Hey! What do you think you're doi-," Chung said and stopped in realization. He stood normally and rubbed the back of his head with an awkward laugh. I chuckled a bit and tapped Ara, who appeared to have dozed off while sitting against the log. She woke up a bit drowsy and yawned softly. Her stomach growled as well.
"Rena finished making breakfast, if you're wondering," I said in response to her stomach. Ara's eyes instantly went from drowsy and tired to wide awake and nearly ready to kill someone, which seemed terrifying. Chung also seemed a bit afraid, but Ara already hopped back to the house, and I believe I heard her trip on what must've been a chair. Chung and I shared short laugh and walked quietly to the house. Though, the silence was interrupted when Chung decided to pet my hair, awkwardly.
Everyone sat down and ate their food, some appeared to be devouring more than actually eating. I stared at my untouched plate for 6 minutes, while trying to process my thoughts of the female of long, green hair. It was some kind of soup that was filled with vegetable, but has a really strong scent, which made it tempting enough that my stomach practically was asking for a taste. And I gave in to my stomach's curiosity, and it was surprisingly better than expected. It had a mixed flavor of mints and a hint of chili, which was quite interesting. The soup tasted like a chicken broth bathed with all the nice flavors of basil and other herbs I can't name off the top of my tongue.
When everyone finished their bowl of heaven, they immediately went outside to continue what they were doing. I went to follow them, but was interrupted by Eve who grabbed my normal arm from behind.
"It's time to fix your arm," she said, sounding somewhat commanding inside her robotic tone. I turned around and she let go of my arm as she walked to her bed. "Sit here." She pointed at a spot on her bed. As usual, I followed her commands and she proceeded to grab a box of tools and worked on my arm. Fewer electric sparks flew around, so it seemed to be fixed.
"Your arm is deactivated now."
"Wait, what?"
"It is still in critical condition and requires time to let it cool down. If it was used anymore, it would've either burned you or took control of itself. Both being considerably risky," Eve said as she look at my arm, then back at me and walked off. I stared at her and then at my arm with a concerned look.
What exactly is this thing if it could possibly take control of me? I clenched the fist of my normal arm and sighed as I laid back down.
"Two weeks.. huh," I thought. It doesn't seem too long, however.. why was I fighting? There were no bodies on the field I woke up at, unless.." I yawned and closed my eyes. "Never mind," I mumbled as I silently fell into a deep sleep.
I had another dream of… her. Green haired female, who looked too similar to Rena, but clearly wasn't her. She was laying in the soft, green grass of what looked like a forest. The trees made way for the sun to shine a warm ray of light of where we laid down. She suddenly grabbed my right arm, which wasn't what it was now. She mumbled in audible words, the birds sang louder than she could. It felt too real to be a dream, all the warmth. The soft feeling of her skin. The cool wind which caused the tree branches to cover the sunlight every now and then. The grass brushing against my hand. All of it. Then, I felt something trying to repeatedly knock me over.
"Hey! Hey Raven, wake up!" Someone yelled into my ear and continuously nudged me. I let out a small groan. "Raven, come on. We have to get going," a another familiar voice said. I opened my eyes to see Chung and Aisha. Chung being the one nudging me and Aisha leaning against a wall with her arms crossed. She notice me wake up and stood up with her hands against her hips, giving off a vibe of command and anger.
"COME ON, RAVEN. We don't have all day."
I quietly sat up and fixed my hair, along with my clothes. I looked to the side to see Chung sitting next to me and Elsword laughing from across the room. Confused, I decided to ignore it and stood up.
"Where are we going?"
Aisha couldn't help, but laugh as well.
"Guys, what are you laughing at?"
Eve entered through the door and put a hand held mirror in front of me. There was a drawn mustache above my lip. I quickly wiped it off and stood in embarrassment, and couldn't help but laugh with them. She put her fingers on her cheeks, close to her lips, and attempted to move her muscles upward to resemble a smile, which seemed kind of adorable.
We all got up and headed out.
"Where are we going?" I asked, completely clueless due to my lack of memories.
Chung responded, "Home."
I seemed even more clueless. I thought where we were was already home?
I do own the game 'Elsword'. This fanfiction was made out of pure entertainment.
Do note that I am a lazy writer and will probably not update fast. This chapter took a year to write, due to procrastination.