Laur: *throws confetti around* Welcome to my one shot about my favorite pairing who I think doesn't get enough attention. Do please enjoy. R&R also feel free to pm me as I love to chat with the peeps from this site.
Raven- Sword Taker- for the story's sake pretend his sword is actually the sword BladeMaster uses,and also that his arm is black.
Eve- Code Nemesis.
- Not like it'd matter too much, but here are the rest.
Elsword: Rune Slayer.
Aisha: Void Princess.
Rena: Wind Sneaker.
Chung's...absent...I kinda forgot him.
–-
The gang was returning to their house after completing a quest in Velder. Truth be told, the road there took more time than fighting the monsters Vanessa asked them to get rid of. Now, the boring part was returning home. The time it took for the gang to get to Velder was pretty short, but on the road back the gang had to take a longer route, thanks to the fact that some rubble fell from the Feita shrine thus blocking the road back. The group had to follow the path suggested by the construction worker who was assigned to giving directions to travelers that were inconvenienced by the debris. And so the gang was forced to cut through the forest using a path that was supposed to bypass the whole region of Feita. The construction worker also gave directions towards a "Battlements Inn" that was located at the exit from the forest. The inn, supposedly harbored a blacksmith's forge from where travelers could repair or buy equipment.
Elsword who had enthusiastically led the group towards Velder, had his shoulders slumped and his head hung low, he was itching to get home as soon as possible, and for whatever reason this situation inconvenienced him quite a lot plus the storm clouds that could be seen in the distance didn't make him feel at ease. The boy fell in line with Aisha and Rena who were chatting as if they didn't care about what road they took as long as they got home, and finally behind the group Raven and Eve were walking in complete silence.
During their travels together, Raven noticed something about the silver haired girl, who claimed numerous times that she was emotionless. Whenever his Nasod arm would act up, sending jolt's of pain through his body, a grimace would cross the girl's face, and sadness would fill her eyes. As far as Raven's reasoning went, these events could be caused by two things. Either she felt worried about him, due to the pain that was caused by his arm, either she was grimacing due to the fact that Nasod technology was used to such ends. Little did the black haired man know, it was both.
The Nasod queen constantly felt bad seeing as her people's technology caused pain to one of her, friends, she thought. In the past she often asked herself what was the point of friends, the time when she met the redheaded boy came to mind. But the one who intrigued her the most from this group, was Raven. At first she was interested only in his arm, but upon accessing his arm on his request, she had access to the arm's memory core, who was connected to Raven, and thus she found out about the tragedy that the man endured. It was back then she started having the black haired man on her thoughts. Even though he was a man of few words, his actions spoke for himself, she thought, the girl regarded him as remorseful at first, yet now she saw him as noble. His drive for redemption was, she thought, admirable, and in some ways, they were the same, both trying to restore something they lost. So of course when his arm caused pain she was the first one to rush to his help, those were the only moments she'd lose her poker face and worry would spread across her brow.
The group kept walking through the forest, as it only seemed to get deeper and deeper, Eve brought up her holographic screen as she checked their position based on the topology of the area.
"How longer until we get out of this place?" Raven asked the girl as he noticed her looking at her screen.
"E-eh. Not very long." She replied, not looking at the man. The queen mentally kicked herself for stuttering, and started running a diagnosis on her speech program, the result came up, as always, no problems detected. She hated this, or maybe she didn't, she didn't know, she didn't know if she disliked the effect the man had on her, when she was around him, she'd feel herself secure, but her motions became less fluid, she'd stutter while talking, her face temperature would rise, and upon diagnosis, no problems were found. It didn't make sense for the girl.
Next to her, Raven looked over her shoulder at her screen, needless to say, she felt her cheeks getting hotter and hotter, needless to say, seeing his orange eyes from such a distance made her feel like her knees were giving out.
The man opened his mouth to say something, yet no words came out, he suddenly stopped walking and clenched his fist, his right arm gripping his nasod arm as he knelt down, he let out a scream of pain as electricity started surging through his body. His breath was inconsistent, and sparks came out of his nasod arm.
Eve rushed to his side, the others following suit, the girl started connecting Moby to his arm, she then brought up her control screen as she tried calming the sentient arm down. Previously she had installed some fail-safes inside the arm, but it seems the member managed to work around them. With a small "tch" she delivered a small shock directly to the core, causing it to reboot, unfortunately Raven felt it too, yet he didn't say anything.
"Thanks." He muttered between breaths. Still kneeling down he looked towards her, swear forming on his forehead. Her face was, again, covered in worry, as her lips were formed in a thin line. Her cheeks flushed as she merely nodded her head.
"Hey Raven, you okay?" Elsword asked as he offered the man his hand for support.
"Yeah, I'm fine now." Came Raven's answer. His eyes bearing the look of new-found strength.
"Hey,can you guys keep going? I want to take a small break." he asked.
"No need for us to go ahead, we'll all wait." Rena offered but Raven gently declined.
"No, you guys are tired." he argued.
"Go, I'll stay with him. I can stop his arm from acting up, if it does." Eve interrupted their conversation.
"Aww, Eve wants some time with Ra-" Elsword started teasing, but Eve's hand was quicker. Indignation was spread over her face. The force of her slap sent the boy backwards a few feet.
"On the other hand, I'll go ahead." Elsword awkwardly said. And soon his friends followed letting the two rest on a nearby tree trunk.
A couple of minutes passed in silence, it was silent enough as Eve tinkered with her computer screen. But Raven didn't really mind that. Still, he needed to ask the girl something.
"Hey, Eve?" he asked the girl.
"Yes?" Came her answer, curiosity rather evident in her voice, she tried to hide it, but when she was near the man she couldn't stop herself.
"C-Can you- Can you turn this thing off?" He turned his eyes her's. His look was determined.
"I want to be able to think my own thoughts. Without fearing they were fabricated by this thing. I want to be sure of my actions, I-I want to feel my own feelings, not some fabricated bull-shit that this thing might plant inside my head." He said with his normal fist clenched. "So, please, turn it off."
The queen let his little swear pass by her, though her curiosity got the better of her. So in order to satisfy a question that gently bugged her about humans, she asked the man.
"Why would you want, feelings?" her question was heard in a soft voice. She prompted Moby to connect to Raven as she brought her diagnosis screen up. She asked again. "What do they feel like? The feelings, I mean." she continued.
Her answer was a low chuckle coming from the man sitting next to her.
"I can't explain that to you. All I can say, I need to know my feelings. I definitely need to know them." He said while he looked upwards. A small jolt of electricity was felt from his arm but he ignored it. What he said next confused the girl.
"Without emotions, you'd just be empty." Hearing this made Eve's head perk up, her view snapped to the man.
Eve, having started the process of shutting the arm down wasn't focused on her screen anymore, all they had to do was wait for the progress bar to fill up. The girl was taken aback by raven's comment, yet uncharacteristically for her, she bit her lip and asked the man something she never thought she would.
"Do you think." She took a small breath. "I'm empty?" She asked in her usual tone. To some it might have seemed as if she was cold, or perhaps held resentment towards the man's remark. Yet, he seemed unfazed by her tone. As another jolt of electricity came from his arm, he turned his head towards the girl who was watching him intently.
"You're far from empty, you just don't realize it yet." The man moved his normal arm to her's and gave it a gentle squeeze. This caused the girl's eyes to widen and her cheeks to flush pink. She suddenly started typing furiously at her keyboard, ordering a full system check. Raven saw that and he started laughing, her blush only deepened. Negative, as always, was the result that came up. Upon seeing it, Raven's smile widened. He refrained himself from teasing the girl any more.
"78% Complete, I have to warn you, a jolt of electricity will surge through you as the arm turns itself off." Eve warned him.
"Small price to pay." He reassured.
"No, I meant to say a huge jolt of electricity." She added. The girl moved her eyes towards his, worry obvious in them. The black haired man briefly wondered if she even tried to hide her emotions in front of him. Yet he reassured her.
"Don't worry Eve, I'm sure I'll be fine."
The time passed in silence, from 78 % to 80%, and so on. When Raven noticed the progress bar was nearing completion, he said to the silver haired girl.
"Eve,do you-do you mind if I hold your hand?" The man asked while looking away.
"E-E-EH?" Eve's eyes were wide as saucers, and she felt her heart beating faster. Though the bar was almost full, without thinking she quickly grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly.. Her eyes darted from the bar to Raven, the bar showed 98% yet Raven wasn't worried one bit.
As soon as the progress was complete, Raven's head shot backwards. His hair started rising as spasms took over his body. He got up to his feet only to collapse forwards on his face. The shock was over, yet his power was immense by Eve's measurements. Seeing him jolt up and collapse provoked panic in the silver haired girl, as she quickly rushed to turn him on his back. Panic took over her as she put her head to his chest listening for his pulse, however when she felt nothing her heart broke. She couldn't control herself and tears started streaming down her cheeks, the girl yelled his name between sobs. She then relentlessly started hitting his chest. His head fell towards her as her hands wailed against his chest. The shock from her hands actually produced enough of a blood pressure to kick-start his heart back up.
"R-RAVEN!" the girl cried as she stopped hitting the man's chest. She rested her head on his chest as she continued crying. She didn't care she was the queen of the nasods. As far as she knew, the only person that made her feel anything was lost to her. Other than her friends, he was the one that she actually felt, something for.
The man slowly opened his eyes, and upon seeing the girl hunched over his chest, crying her heart out and screaming his name, he got alarmed, he quickly mustered all his strength and put his normal arm on her back. The girl's head shot upwards and when her eyes laid on him, she couldn't stop herself from embracing the man who was laying on the ground.
"R-Raven! Raven! I... I felt something!" She muttered to him between sobs.
"I-I know you did, I did too. And I'm happy they were my own feelings." He stood there with the nasod queen in his arms. Just enjoying finally not worrying about getting shocked when his arm started acting up, or unconsciously blocking it from taking control over his mind. He was snapped out of his thoughts by rain drops falling from the sky. Raven then gently tapped the queen's shoulder.
"We should leave." His statement was responded with an affirmative nod coming from the girl.
"The 'Battlements Inn' is close. A thirty minute walk from here." She said to the man, As she composed herself, yet no matter how badly she wanted, she couldn't shake her blush from her face.
Rain started pouring down on the two, as Raven supported himself on girl's small frame. He used his free hand to tuck one wet silver lock from her face behind her ear, this simple gesture caused the girl to blush, he had that effect on her, they both knew it by now, Eve realized that with her outburst their relationship would never be the same. Yet she didn't care. For the first time since she joined the Elgang, she was happy. Soon they reached the inn, and the innkeeper greeted atmosphere inside the inn was calm, surprisingly no one was in the main tavern, Eve assumed the residents were in their respective rooms. The rain could be faintly from inside the inn, and most of the heat from the room came from the forge that the inn keeper himself used.
The innkeeper was a burly man, with a hardened face but gentle eyes, his nose was buried inside a stuffy mustache. He wore a cream shirt and some maroon pants, and on top of those was a leathery apron.
"I'm sorry folks,but with this weather we only have one room. Do you mind sharing it?".
The two exchanged glances. Eve nodding to him that she wouldn't mind.
"Yeah, it's okay with us." Raven told the man.
The man then approached the two and grabbed Raven's arm thus supporting him. By doing this he lifted his weight off Eve.
"You're in a pretty rough shape there, my boy." He said with a small chuckle in his voice, Raven replied with a thank you and allowed himself to be carried inside their room. Eve following suit.
The room itself was quite simple, the few things that stood out were the fireplace and the old painting that hanged on top of it. The furniture wasn't much, a two person bed and a night stand which had a weird looking lamp on it. Said room was of course linked with a bathroom. As the man allowed Raven to sit on the edge of the bed, Eve politely asked him about his forge an idea springing in her mind.
"Of course the forge is operational little lady, would you wish to look at my wares?" the man asked her holding his hands over his leather apron.
"Yes, I would." With that the two left the room, leaving Raven alone. The black haired man decided he will have a shower while Eve was looking at the inn's inventory.
Back inside the main tavern, Eve was unimpressed with the man's wares.
"You seem to know your stuff when it comes to armor and weapons." He commented.
"Yes,I suppose I do." Came her reply in her usual tone. However upon hearing it, the man laughed.
"Come with me, I'll show you the real wares." He brought behind his counter, and upon hitting a switch , a small trap-door opened. The man went first motioning the girl to follow. The corridor was rather small, but the big man managed to squeeze through effortlessly, they reached a big illuminated room filled with anvils, and a bigger forge. Eve could see various metals scattered about, and she made the assumption this was the real hit of this inn. The man walked towards a closet and opened it.
"This, I think is what you want." He motioned the girl to look.
"Yes. This is exactly what I want." Eve answered as she reached her purse but the man stopped her.
"Don't think I don't know who you lot are." He said giving a hearty laugh. "It's free." he said with a smile.
"You humans are weird beings." Was the girl's answer which provoked the man more laughter. Still she accepted his offer, she took the items and walked back her assigned room.
Reaching the room she found Raven's clothes stacked neatly on the side of the bed, two spare shirts and two pair of pants were there also. Upon thinking about why there were two spare sets of clothing her mind reached the most logical answer, the innkeeper provided those for the residents. Most of the people who frecvented this inn were clad in armor, and possibly they wouldn't have spare clothes.
She took Raven's clothes and put them to the side, she replaced them with what she got from the owner. As soon as she was done, the bathroom door swung open, revealing Raven in nothing but a towel, apart from causing the girl to blush fiercely, and making her run several diagnosis programs, he seemed calmer, his hair wasn't as spiky and his eyes looked warmer.
"Sorry, I didn't think you'd be back already. The bath's free if you want to use it." he offered while blushing a bit himself.
Eve took the spare clothes and rushed inside the bathroom, as she passed the man she couldn't help but sneak a glance at his upper body, she regretted it immediately as her blush became even redder, as if that was possible.
Raven walked towards where he thought his clothes were, but upon closer inspection he realized otherwise. He muttered a small "huh.." and started getting dressed with a smile on his face.
A minute after Raven got dressed the bathroom door opened, revealing Eve, who was wearing the black pants, thankfully the pants fit her, but the t-shirt was a little big. Her eyes grew and a smile made his way on her face, Raven was wearing what she bought him. His new outfit was composed of a white coat with a fur decorated hoodie, it had strands of black metal circling around his waist and on the lower part a metallic emblem. He also had a black vest and pants and his shoes were armored with fur at his heels. She snapped out of her staring as he approached her, a blush visible on his face
As Raven laid eyes upon Eve, her hair still damp, and practically swimming in that t-shirt, a blush crept on her face upon acknowledging him coming closer. He grabbed her wrist and brought her close as he embraced her.
"Thank you for this." He could feel her breath against his neck, that alone sent shivers down his spine. The dark haired man broke the hug so he could bring her to his face, he slowly touched her face with his right hand tracing her jawline and stopping at her chin. He then lifted her upwards as he laid his lips upon hers.
Eve's eyes were wide open in shock, she didn't realize what was happening, except that her body, was uncontrollably acting on it's own, she found herself putting one arm behind him, with the other ravishing his hair. She could feel him deepening the kiss, as she started getting more caught up in his pace. He lifted her up and brought her to the bed, gently laying her down.
"That shirt looks cute on you." He complimented.
"S-Shut up!" The queen responded blushing madly.
"I'll change now." Raven told the girl as he grabbed his spare change of clothes and entered the bathroom. While he changed he briefly wondered where the rest of the gang could be, since the rain might've caught them before they reached the house. It was, after all pretty dark outside by now. He then remembered Rena was with them, so they probably found shelter long before the rain started.
–-
Somewhere in between the inn and the Elhouse.
"GOD DAMN IT ELSWORD I TOLD YOU WE SHOULD'VE STAYED AT THAT INN AND WAITED FOR RAVEN AND EVE!" Yelled a feisty mage after a certain redhead. Both of them were soaked wet by the rain.
"Stop yelling at me damn it!" He went close ot her and took her in his arms causing her to blush.
"W-What are-" She stammered. His reply was simple. "It's cold, we'll keep ourselves warm like this." he replied non-chalantly.
–-
Raven left the bathroom, finding Eve turned around on the bed. He thought she went to sleep, he wouldn't put it past her, she must've been under a lot of pressure with him almost dieing from the jolt on electricity. That's what he thought at least. He went and rested himself on the bed, pulling the covers over him. Surprisingly Eve started turning near him, as she was now facing him, she came closer and put her head on his shoulder staring directly at his face. She was blushing madly at this, but determination was visible in her eyes.
"I-I Lo-" Was all she could say, Raven silenced her with a kiss, causing the queen to pout.
"Sorry, I do too." The two then spent the night like that. The queen resting her head on the spadassin's shoulder. She never felt more happy.