In a dark house on a quiet night, a lonely boy sat at his desk. With a blank stare on his tear-stained face, he wondered, "is there even a point to my existence anymore?" He laid his head on his desk and closed his eyes. "Everything's a failure at this point." He sighed. "I might as well just sleep," he murmured, and drifted off.
In the morning, the other residents of the house sat at the table in the dining room. Rena, a pretty elf lady and the mother figure of the group, had set out breakfast for everyone. They all sat quietly as they ate, since there was a single empty seat. It belonged to the lonely boy, Add.
"Is he still…" Red haired boy, Elsword, began, his sentence trailing off since he figured the others understood anyways.
Chung nodded. "I think so. He's been locked up in his room a while now…"
"That means he hasn't eaten for a couple days, right..?" Ara asked, concerned. She sadly directed her gaze away from the others after a confirming nod from Rena.
"I've tried setting food by his door in hopes he'll eat when I'm away, but…" The elf sighed.
"And he still refuses to come out, huh?" Elsword asked. "I'm worried. What could have happened? He comes to us all saying something about achieving time travel, then suddenly just… hides without explaining."
Chung shrugged. "I'm not sure… maybe we should ask..?"
Lu scoffed. "There's no point. You know Add, he'll just push you away." She made a grumpy face while lightly tapping her empty plate with her fork.
"I guess you're right," Chung said, and Elsword nodded in agreement. They went quiet again.
After a moment, a fork was slammed onto the table. Everyone looked at Eve, who had an unusually angry face. "Aren't you all supposed to care more than this?" Elsword and Chung looked at her, confused. She stood up. "Our friend is suffering alone, and you all… You aren't even going to try. Something seems wrong about that." She said.
"Ah, Eve is right! Um, I'll go…" Rena began to stand up from the table, but was interrupted by Eve.
"No. I have decided I will go check on him. You all could have done that earlier." With that, she turned and headed towards the stairs. The others were left in surprise.
"I've never seen her care that much about someone since Elsword…" Aisha said thoughtfully.
Elsword shrugged. "Clearly, he's special." Aisha nodded.
Upstairs, Eve stood in front of Add's door. "As I thought, he has locked it," she said to herself. Sighing, she knocked on the door, and got no response. She tried again, with the same result. "Add?" she said. After a moment of still nothing, she knocked and called to him again. "Add?" she repeated, louder this time, in case he didn't hear.
"Leave," was the only response she got. The queen did not settle for this.
"Add, open this door. I want to speak to you," She said firmly.
"No," she heard from inside. Shaking her head, she motioned for Oberon to prepare for an attack.
"Add, I will break this door down." Eve narrowed her eyes slightly. She heard a frustrated sigh from inside the room, and then the click of the door unlocking. "Good." Eve dismissed Oberon then opened Add's door and looked inside.
The boy was still at his desk, angrily looking over the many papers scattered about. Eve stepped inside, closing the door softly behind her. She carefully walked towards him, sitting next to him on Moby when she reached him.
"So. What is it you want?" Add asked her, not looking at her.
"Like I said. I wish to speak to you."
"You are."
"I had a specific topic in mind."
Add glanced at her for a second before turning back to his papers. "So what is it? If you aren't going to hurry up and talk, you should leave."
Eve sighed. "Add. What is wrong with you?" He looked at her with a confused and upset expression, then opened his mouth to speak. "No, what I mean is, did something happen? What's been bothering you?"
Add stared with a hurt look in his eyes for a moment before smiling, then laughing. "Bothering? Hah. As if anything is bothering me. What gave you that idea," he asked, though it was more of a rhetorical question.
"Well to start, you've locked yourself in your room and refused to come out at all for the last two or three days." Eve stated. Add's smile faded.
"Maybe I just like to be alone-"
"No, Add. I can tell this is different than just wanting to be alone. You don't eat, you don't talk to anyone, and I have not heard the sounds of any of your experiments, either." Eve interrupted him sternly. "So, Add, I know something is wrong. Please talk to me."
Add frowned and turned his gaze back towards the many papers on his desk. "I…" He struggled to find the words to speak. Eve stayed quiet as he thought. After a minute, he spoke again, though too quietly for Eve to understand.
"Add..? What did you say? I could not hear." She spoke carefully with a calm tone.
"I failed!" He slammed his fist onto his desk, surprising the Empress. She reached a hand out to try and comfort him, which he swatted away. "I failed. I thought I had finally figured it out. Time travel, that is. I thought I was finally able to achieve what I wanted. But no, my calculations were wrong. I managed, but I ended up in the wrong timeline somehow…"
"How could you tell?" Eve asked quietly. Add looked at her with an angry expression.
"I found my mother. I was excited; I thought I had managed to make it back to my time so I could save her and be happy with her. But…" His face showed a hint of sadness. "I… found a different timeline. It was years after my family was killed, but… but they were fine. And so was I. There was an Add, already there, already happy with his family, and it looked like he'd been there for his whole life." Add paused and sniffled. "I had entered an alternate timeline where my family never died, I was safe, and I lived a happy life. Though it wasn't really me."
"...I see. So instead of your own time, you ended up in an alternate timeline where everything was okay?" Eve asked to make sure she understood.
Add nodded. "Yes. That's correct. After that, I tried again… and again and again and again and again and-"
"Add…" Eve interrupted the boy's frustrated repeating.
"...Right. I kept trying and looking over my calculations but… I couldn't make it. Every time, I ended up in that alternate timeline… I couldn't handle it." Add sighed. "I got mad and I… destroyed it. Everything in sight in that timeline, I destroyed. And then I came back here and destroyed some more. But now I…" He rested his head in his hands. "I've realized that… if I can't even go back there… There's nothing for me in this world, is there? I'm just… Alone. I have no purpose anymore, I…"
Eve stared at him before standing up slowly. Add glanced at her.
"...Are you going to leave? It's fine. I understand. I-" he was cut off by Eve suddenly wrapping her arms around him.
"I'm not leaving," she said quietly. "Add. Do not say you don't have a purpose. You belong to this group. You are our friend, and so you are important to us. You have helped us all countless times. And even if you can be troublesome at times-" Add scoffed quietly as she said this. "-we all appreciate you and value your presence. And if that doesn't seem like enough to live for..." She hesitated for a moment before continuing. "You mean a lot to me. And not just because you're our comrade."
Those words made Add's heart flutter, though he did not say anything yet. The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sound being his occasional sniffles. Finally, he hugged Eve and let out a little sigh.
"Thanks, Eve…" He whispered. "It will take me a while to feel better, I'm sure. But…" He paused. "I suppose I can come out of my room again. Sometimes."
Eve nodded. "That is good. It is unhealthy to keep yourself locked in here. Make sure you eat too, okay?" She said in a calm voice. "You haven't been eating properly for a while, Add. Even before this. That is not good for humans." She pulled slightly away from him to look at his face with a concerned expression. He smiled a little.
"Alright, I guess since you're telling me to," He said. Eve gave him a calm smile.
"Good," she said, pulling him close again. "Also, Add…"
"Yes?"
"...You don't need to be lonely anymore. I will stay by your side." Eve said these words carefully and quietly, a little embarrassed. Add couldn't help but smile even though she couldn't see. He responded to her just as quietly.
"Thank you, Eve."