In a bout of insanity I have brought you this: an Elsword x Ara romance comedy! There will be angst! There will be sorrow! There will be drama! There's will be mystery! But then again, I can't really fit all of those in...In short: THERE WILL BE LIFE!
Many thanks to LegenDarius116 and justforfum for beta reading!
Also I thank Yuuki Raiga and the rest of the Elsword Fanfiction Brigade for the inspiration of writing something as unholy as this ship!
Lastly, I thank all readers and reviewers from the bottom of my heart! Whether it is criticism or compliments, you guys keep me going!
Well, time to show the world that nothing is truly sacred! Let's get down to business~
Classes:
Elsword: Base Class - Magic Knight
Ara: Little Devil - Yama Raja
Elesis: Pyro Knight - Blazing Heart
Chung: Shooting Guardian
Eve: Code Electra
Aisha: Dark Magician
The first time Elsword saw her was when he was 14. She had been brought over by his sister, Elesis, to their house. His first impression? He hated her. Elesis started playing with him less and less, leaving him dejected and lonely. Immediately, he pinned the blame on the newcomer. Who was she to suddenly invade and take up all of his sister's time? She must pay.
He'd invent pranks left and right to spite her. The thing was, these tricks were all poorly put together, and he knew it. But she fell for it. Every single time. It was unbelievable! Be it putting a frog in her bag, changing her hair tie for a rubber band, giving her an electric shock or a piece of gum with a bug on it, she fell for it. He couldn't tell if she was extremely clumsy or extremely gullible. Probably both. His sister would always find out eventually that it was his handiwork, then proceed to reprimand him sternly. The thing was, he didn't get in trouble because of her friend. She never ratted him out. That perplexed him, and gnawed away at him. Was this done out of pity?
One day, after pulling off another successful prank, he decided to confront her. It was quite clear she wasn't the slightest phased, even though she was drenched in water, soaked due to the empty bucket in his hand. But she didn't seem to mind. That infuriated him to no end. Why did she keep coming back? Was he like a pest to her, something she could easily brush away?
"Why do you take it?"
She'd only look at him and give a sheepish scratch to the back of the head. He repeated the question.
"Why do you take it?"
"Well...Because you're the younger brother of a very good friend. This is your way of playing, right?"
"No! I've been trying to get rid of you ever since the first day I saw you!"
"Um...Is this what your sister meant by stubbornness?"
"No! I hate you!"
"...Really?"
He sighed in exasperation. He was finally getting somewhere with her.
"Yes really! You're always taking up my sister's time! Why can't you just leave forever? I wish you never come back!"
"I...I didn't mean to take your sister's precious time away from you…"
She seemed taken aback and her eyes became glossy. Looking down quickly, her long hair covered her eyes and gave her a downcast look. Elsword felt guilty almost immediately, turning away. He did not want to see her cry. He was bad at dealing with things like this. He kicked the ground, feeling awkward.
"Listen...I'm sorry-"
His gruff response was cut short, for she had walked up to him while he was unaware and squished his cheeks. Her wet hands feeling cool against his face, he looked up and saw she was giving an impish smile. Her white hair stuck together in clumps...Wait, white? He didn't remember them being white-
"Then I'll play as your older sister too, so you won't feel as lonely. Wouldn't you like to have two sisters? It'll take a lot more than that to get rid of me."
She squeezed his cheeks, not enough to cause him pain but enough to stretch his face. After a few seconds of silence, she let go, and seemed content. She walked past him, humming happily. Elsword was left in shock. He sputtered, cowed and at a loss for words.
"Wh...Wha…"
Furiously, he turned around. Elsword tried to come up with a witty comeback, but he failed to express any coherence. This humiliation...He will not forgive it! His face burned a deep red, and he shouted at her back.
"What's your name?"
"Ara Haan."
"I'm Elsword Sieghart!"
"I know."
"I'm going to make you want to leave!"
"I know."
"You better watch your back!"
"I know."
"You'll never replace my sister or be like her!"
"We will see~"
He kept to his word. Day after day he'd pull the wool over her one way or another. Her hair wasn't white like that day, though. Perhaps it was just his imagination. Perhaps she dyed it white one day. He didn't question her about it. She kept to her word. Day after day she'd come over to hang out with Elesis. She never brought up what happened the other day. Ara would still make conversation to him, regardless. When he entered the same school as his sister and Ara, his antics never ceased. His friends all thought he had a crush on her. Chung, Aisha, and Eve even asked him at lunch time.
"You totally like her, bro."
Elsword groaned and served Chung a noogie. A particularly hard one at that. Chung was a very handsome boy. Pretty might have been a better adjective to describe him. Elsword was very jealous with how many confessions Chung had been given by girls. He was also very pissed off with how many confessions Chung rejected. Sometimes he wondered about that kid.
"I don't need to hear this from you out of all people. I really don't!"
"Not my hair, Elsword! But still! It's clear you're into her!"
Eve shrugged nonchalantly at the two's banter. Elsword was always put off by her cold attitude. It was always rationality and cold hard facts with her. She was almost like a robot, in fact, should someone tell him she was a robot he would believe them.
"Chung expresses a valid point. Your actions lends even the most dumb to believe otherwise. The most logical choice of action is to confess. Frankly, beating around the bush leads to more complications. I can recite to you the entire manual of 'How to Confess for Dummies'-"
"Eve, I'm telling you, I don't have the hots for her. And why do you have that memorized?"
"...I plead the fifth."
"That makes no sense! I'm not into her, that's final!"
"Ha! Why wouldn't you? All the boys love her! You pull pranks on her everyday! Though, that is a pretty childish and immature way to get a girl's attention."
The last one was Aisha. Elsword didn't know why she was always so scathing towards him. She acted so differently to everyone else. She was his grade's idol, so that didn't really help much either with her superiority complex. It was a wonder she hung out with weirdos like himself and Eve.
But no, this simply had just become a tradition. Honestly, he didn't remember why he even did this to begin with. It was only sheer determination and a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. He didn't want to lose, but he couldn't remember what he would lose should he stop. He was only going through the motions.
Ara still came over everyday. Elsword slowly began to prank her less and less. It just felt not right. Not to mention, it was clear that his pranks were being misunderstood by everyone. He'd be really infuriated should Ara ever think for a moment he liked her even an inkling. Even if Elesis didn't come home sometimes, Ara would be there to keep him company, just like today.
"Hello, Elsword! I'm crashing here today."
"Again?"
"Who will make you dinner otherwise? Your sister is working, and she asked me to cook."
"...Ugh, it can't be helped. Make yourself comfortable."
Ara went into his room and sat on the rug, sighing and unwinding herself. He rolled his eyes, and went back to his homework. Wait...Something wasn't right. It slowly dawned on him that he was actually used to her company. Rather...He enjoyed her company. What was happening to him? She looked over to his console and crawled over there, thumbing through games on the shelf. Elsword got a good eyeful of her backside, and boy was it a sight to behold. The way she raised her butt ever so slightly, almost like a cat. And underneath the skirt...
"White lace…"
He murmured to himself.
"Hey Elsword, want to play..."
Ara's sentence trailed off as she turned to face him, game disc in hand.
"Are you okay? You're red!"
She went over to him and placed her palm on his forehead. Elsword noted she smelled nice...Like lilac petals. How did he know what those smelled like?
"Oh jeez, you're burning up!"
Elsword averted his gaze.
"I'm fine-"
As he turned down, he caught yet another eyeful of her womanly proportions. Elsword mentally punched himself.
"I-I've gotta go!"
He shoved her off of him and ran past her, clipping her and making her spin around. In a daze, Ara collapsed in the chair he was sitting in. She watched him, bewildered at his actions as he sprinted out the door and slammed it shut. Elsword found it unbearable to be confined in the same room as Ara. He didn't come home until midnight, where his sister had been worried sick.
"I hate her, I hate her, I hate her!"
He was starting to sound like Aisha, honestly. But it was true! He definitely didn't like her pushover attitude, her sudden shifts in personality, her clumsiness, and more! All these aspects he knew about her, he hated! Right?
Elsword began avoiding her, day in and day out. His pranks became less intense, and when his friends tried to question him, he'd retreat into the recesses of his imagination. The moment he was in the same room as Ara, he would be gone before she could do so much as wave at him. But even if he went through a whole day without seeing her, he couldn't escape her. She appeared, in his dream...And the contents of his dreams…He was clearly going off the deep end.
Walking down a corridor of the school hallway, he kept pinching his side over and over. Of course, it was to no avail. It sure didn't stop him, though. Why was his heart pounding? Why did his face flush? He wasn't a coward, and he was pretty sure he wasn't having a stroke. She was three years older, for crying out loud! There's no way...There's no way…
"There's no way I'm into my sister's best friend!"
