Guess who's back. Back again. Break is back. Woo~! Back at it again with the weird pairings. After taking a year-long hiatus, I have returned with another Els fanfic. This time, it's Add x Ophelia. Perhaps the first? This is just a test fanfic to get me back into the swing of writing again but if a lot of people enjoy this, I might continue writing for it. Also, I deleted "A Sweet Relationship" because I felt like rewriting it, so maybe expect me to rewrite it in the future. Oho~ On with the story. -Break
Characters:
Add: MM
Eve: C:Em
The morning sun shone generously upon the Elsword estate. Today was meant to be a quiet, relaxing day for the Elgang. After sealing the demon god away in Lanox, they had decided to take a break from their usual heroic deeds. Yes, it was meant to be a quiet, relaxing day.
"Hah?! Say that again?!" The long, white-haired genius, Add, spoke out loud, with a tint of anger mixed with frustration evident in his voice. He was sitting on one end of the living room sofa, staring at his holographic screen of code.
"I said it is surprising that you could build second-rate installations but have trouble with that section of code." Eve said without hesitation, pointing to his screen with the word 'error' evident across it. Eve sat on the other end of the sofa, working on the inner parts of Moby. Add took this as an attack on his pride, and was his pride ever so high. Without a moment's pause, he swiped his screen away and glared at the Nasod queen.
"I don't want to hear that from someone whose invention lost to my 'second-rate installations'." He said with a slight smirk, referencing his first confrontation with Eve in his Velder laboratory. Although they both share a mutual respect for each other as friends, there exists a form of friendly rivalry; Hostile? Perhaps, but their relationship stands. As far as Add knows, nothing irks Eve more than being reminded of that embarrassing memory, especially when she had to be saved by the Elgang afterward.
With a small exhale of annoyance, she returned the favor. "Still does not change the fact that you cannot fix such a simple line of code." She said, rather smugly. As much as Add hated to admit it, she was right. He had been trying ways to fix his code to improve his Shooting Chaser all night but to no avail. He stopped glaring at the Empress and swiped back his screen to do another investigation.
"I don't have time to waste bickering with you." Seeing that Add had given up, she went back to improving her drone's flight modulus.
"Crap, I'm running out of options. I've already tried every possible way I could think of to fix this code, and still no success. I guess my only option now is to upgrade the software to allow me to bypass the error. But to do that…" The Mastermind thought to himself. He planned on just staying home all day working on his code, but there seems to be a change of plans.
On the other end of the sofa, Eve also seemed to be having her share of trouble. "No good, Moby's processor needs to be upgraded. To perform this type of calculation fast enough for flight, I would need a qubit processor. No choice but to build one." Eve pulled out her own holographic screen, and with a few button presses, her loyal maid summoned out of thin air.
"Your orders, my queen?" Ophelia said with a slight bow. Eve responded with a nod. Ophelia was glad that her queen relied on her more than Oberon. It gave her some sense of superiority over Oberon as a servant, but she would never admit that.
In unison, Eve and Add both spoke.
"I order you to go the mechanical shop and buy me some parts."
"I'm heading out to the mechanical shop to gather materials." Add and Eve both looked at each other; Eve with a look of skepticism. She started pressing buttons on her screen again, much rapidly than before.
"On second thought, I am sending Oberon instead. He is more disposable anyways." Eve said, whispering the last part to herself. It's not that she didn't trust Add being alone with her servants, just the idea of it didn't sit well with her for some reason. Before she could complete the command to resummon, Ophelia quickly rejected whilst hiding her eagerness.
"No need, my Empress. I am fully capable of completing such a task, and if need be, defend myself from… attackers." Looking slightly at Add during the last part of her sentence. Eve held her finger over the last button needed to complete her command but eventually dropped it, closing the screen.
"Very well." She looks at Add, with a fiery gaze. "But hear me well Add, if anything happens to my servant, I will not hesitate to delete every single line of code you hold dear in your computer." On the outside, Add looked unfazed. But inside, he was somewhat taken aback by her claim. He knew Eve wouldn't hesitate to do such a thing, especially if it came to the safety of her favorite servant. Whether it was his responsibility or not, he knew he was stuck watching over Ophelia.
"Since when was I her babysitter?"
"The moment I threatened your codes, and your heartbeat spikes do not lie either." With that, Eve knew she had Add right where she wanted him. Add had an idea, however. He didn't need to watch over her. Like she said, she was fully capable of accomplishing her mission and defending herself. He didn't need to accompany her all the way, he could just ditch her the moment he closes the door. With a sense of victory, he headed to the door, and opened it with a hand leading out.
"Well, Ophelia, may we go?" He said with a smirk. Ophelia felt unsettled by Add's sudden compliance but nodded. Just as she began to walk, she tripped on the corner leg of the sofa, falling face down on the carpet. As she massaged her toe, surging with pain, she rolled over and hit her shin against the same corner. This time she stayed still waiting for the pain to subside. All the while this was happening, Add looked in shock.
"What is this, some comedy skit? She can't be this clumsy, can she? If she is, she isn't coming back without a dent or two, and I'm not going back inside my room with a single line of code." Add thought, head hung low in defeat. He felt a hand gently tap him on the shoulder. He looked up to see Ophelia, standing beside him.
"Ready for departure, Add?" He nodded, knowing full well that he really is stuck with her the full way. She smiled. "I'll be in your care." As she walked out the door, Add wondered if she meant that sarcastically or sincerely. He put those thoughts away as he followed behind her and closed the door.
As the two walked along, silence filled the air between them, but no one broke it in favor of personal ease. Add browsed through the internet on his holographic mini-screen, while Ophelia simply kept walking, determined to reach the destination set for her by her queen. Sometimes, Add would have to guide her through traffic safely, seeing that she was so focused on her travel, she dismissed her surroundings often. After walking a distance, from the corner of his eye, Add saw Ophelia take a sudden left.
"Oi, has your GPS gone haywire? The mechanic store is just a few blocks ahead."
"And I assume you do not possess a GPS, seeing as how my path is approximately 7 minutes faster than your expected route." She said while walking, not even bothering to look at Add's direction. After a slight pause, Add decided to go along with her and see where this shortcut of hers would lead. They walked through an alleyway, dimly lit, seemed very empty… and dirty, something Add despised most about this route.
"Tch, if I knew it would be this filthy, I wouldn't have minded the extra 7 minutes." Add thought to himself. But he really had no choice: if Ophelia was going this way, so was he. As they walked for a bit, Add went back to his holographic activities, while Ophelia walked ahead. Add had slowed down by a bit, enough that he did not notice the growing distance between them. After putting away his screen, he saw that Ophelia was being followed by two, suspicious looking men. He walked faster and got close enough to listen to their conversation.
"Well, ain'tcha a fine lookin' maid. Where ya rushin'? Ya wouldn't mind spendin' some time wit' us two blokes, eh?" One of the men spoke in broken English. Ophelia continued to ignore them and kept walking, albeit faster. The man got annoyed by her lack of response and quickly grabbed her arm, turning her around to face them. "Ya know it's rude to ignore people who're tryna' start a friendly convo." At this, Add decided to intervene.
"Oi, she's with me, so take your filthy hands off her. Consider this your first and only warning." This aggravated the man even more, so he pushed her arm away, which caused her to lose balance and fall to the ground. At that, Add snapped.
"Oh yea'? And watcha' gonn-!" Before he could even finish his somewhat incoherent sentence, Add had fired an explosive drone right into the man's face, effectively knocking him unconscious and a few teeth loose. The second man tried to take a swing at Add, but he dodged out of the way, got behind him, and aimed a holographic screen right at his target's back.
"Panzer Buster." He said calmly, and a concentrated beam of laser shot out, hitting the man and propelling him a few meters away, knocking him out as well. With the vermin dealt with, Add rushed to Ophelia's aid. "Ophelia, are you hurt anywhere?" He kneeled down to her and asked in a concerned tone; not for her sake, but for his… well, mostly his.
"Yes, I'm fine, Add. Thank you. Though, I could have handled them by myself." At this, Add mentally face palmed. She was a Nasod with combat capabilities. Of course she would be able to. Add sighed as he extended his arm out to help her up. She looked at it quizzically.
"Is there something you want in return for 'saving' me?"
"Yeah, it's called your hand, haven't you seen someone do this –" At that, he heard a light chuckle coming from the Nasod sitting on the ground. She was covering her mouth with a hand, trying to suppress her laughter.
"I was just making an attempt at comedy." She took his hand as he helped her up on her feet. Dusting herself off, she looked back at Add, a small, barely noticeable smile visible on it. "Perhaps you need to work on sensing a joke." Turning around, Ophelia continued her path to the store. Add stood there in awe, and after a while continued walking as well. He seemed to be walking closer to her this time, but still behind her.
"Or maybe you need to upgrade your AI to make better jokes. Heh." Add said with a small smirk, obviously attempting to joke back at her. The Nasod's only response was a light 'Hmph', and the rest of the trip was quiet. After a few more minutes of walking, and some more traffic guidance, they finally reached their destination. Both of their eyes glimmered in excitement as they rushed into the store. A few minutes was all it took for them to gather their needed parts. While Add simply needed only one bag, Ophelia somehow needed two. As they exited the store, she was clearly having trouble carrying both her bags.
"Did you really have to buy that much?" Add asked skeptically.
"Yes, these are all the parts listed in my command that I had to acquire." She kept trying to walk but kept stumbling left and right, attempting to balance herself with each step. Add just sighed and walked up beside her, lightly grabbing the bag from her trembling grip.
"Hey, give it –"
"Don't worry, it's fine, you'd just be slowing us down if I let you carry something close to your weight capacity. Besides, I was just following you through your shortcut. You know the path, so lead the way. It's getting dark soon." Add reasoned. The bag was definitely heavier than his own bag, but he could manage. He wasn't that much of a weakling, despite what his appearance said.
Ophelia stood still looking at Add for a bit, but finally decided that she should take this opportunity to lessen her baggage. "Thank you, Add. I didn't know you were such a gentleman." She said with a grateful and, yet again, barely noticeable smile. Perhaps she just isn't used to smiling.
"Shut it before I change my mind." She giggled at this reaction. Though she wouldn't admit it, she was having fun teasing Add. Even she didn't know she was capable of doing such a thing so casually. She kept walking ahead, while Add followed right behind her. The entire trip home was silent as always, not a single word was shared between the two. After half an hour of walking, they finally arrived home. As they walked up to the doorstep, Ophelia looked back to face Add.
"Thank you for accompanying me, Add, and for assisting me on my mission." As she turned back to open the door, she tripped on the small door step. Luckily, Add reacted fast enough to catch her waist with his arm while holding his own bag.
"Tch. As if I had a choice." Add had somehow caught her in a peculiar manner. She was facing Add, her waist leaning on the hand supporting her, while Add leaned in for balance, which brought their faces too close for comfort. Ophelia could feel her system heating up a bit; it was so slight, not even Add could feel it. She didn't know why. Embarrassment? Probably, but over what? He was just making sure she didn't hurt herself falling. More confusing to her, why did that somehow sit well with her?
Brushing her curiosity aside, she quickly stood up and regained her composure. For some reason, she didn't want to bring it up and instead opted to grab her bag from Add and head inside. Once inside, Ophelia quickly spotted her queen on the living room table, playing with Remy. When Eve saw Ophelia return with the needed parts she walked over and carried the other bag herself to the sofa, despite Ophelia's protests.
"It seems you attained all the parts I requested. As expected of you, Ophelia. Nicely done." Happy with her queen's praises, she bows to show her gratitude. "You deserve some rest. Those bags did seem heavy. I am not surprised that Add did not bother to even assist you." Eve shot a glare at Add. Just as Ophelia was about to defend Add, he spoke up.
"I had my own baggage to deal with, as you can clearly see." He held up his own bag. Eve just sighed at Add's tactlessness. "Whatever, I'm heading to my room, don't disturb me." He took off his shoes and continued to his room-turned-laboratory.
"Whatever will become of a man of his caliber, I wonder?" Eve said with a tinge of disappointment. As Eve prepared to unsummon Ophelia, the Nasod slightly tilted her head to look at Add walking away into his room. The memory of Add offering his hand to help her up came to mind. And unlike her other smiles from today, this one was just a tad bit wider.
"I wonder, as well." And with the final push of a button, she disappeared in a flash of light.
End
Well, that went well, IMO. Took me two days to write, so I'm kinda rusty. Also, exams are coming up, so don't expect very frequent updates. But once exam week is over, then yes, expect frequent updates. ovob. Yeah, I think that's all I'm gonna say for the AN. I hope you enjoyed this. Don't forget to leave a comment if there are any improvements I can make. Later~ -Break