Hey again everyone. I didn't really think of making another one-shot too soon because of school but here it is!

I wanted to publish this yesterday but my net was freaking out. (Because the 26th is the monthsary of my first one-shot of AraEle)

Please enjoy! And still rated T for kind of suggestive material.

Just a note, I make BH's speech pattern a lot different from GM's in the first chapter.

Title: Rune Festivities

Summary: Elesis wants to learn how to be a Rune Slayer! However, things don't go quite as planned when Ara drops by during her training.

Character info: Everyone's in their second path. (RS, VP, YR, BH etc) I know I like keeping things simple like that (x w x)

The Grand Library is a hub of knowledge located in the heart of Hamel Capital. It is a very befitting structure for said elegant city. Scholars, alchemists and intellectuals would flock here from all over Elrios. This library had all the up-to-date information from basic cooking to apocalyptic magic spells.

"You're going to love it here, Raven!" Chung excitedly dragged Raven to Hamel's famous library. The two were at the entrance. One was busy praising the luxurious building ahead whilst the other was looking for a way to escape back to Ruben.

The entire El Search Party was invited personally by Penensio to come over to Hamel in order to watch the annual Rune Festival. This was a yearly celebration done to commemorate the day rune casting was discovered. The main attraction of the occasion was the Special Runeworks Display. This was similar to an ordinary fireworks attraction but instead of fire, runes would explode in the sky; etching patterns in the void. Every Rune Slayer trained and currently living was required to be a performer of the said event. Elsword was no exemption to this.

In the entryway of the library, Raven wrinkled his nose in disgust. "As much as I would want to pass my time productively," Raven interrupted Chung's speech of admiration for the structure, "I would not want to be caged in a bookstall for four hours." The two had been thinking of what to do before the festival began, which was still a good several hours from now. "Awh, don't be a spoiled sport," the Deadly Chaser chided while tugging onto the Reckless Fist's sleeve, signaling the taller man to enter the building with him. Temper rising, Raven growled, "Nothing interesting ever happens in a damned library, Chung!"

"I don't get it!" A voice cried out from the second floor of the library. Both men instantly darted their eyes to the source of the shout, only to behold a giant flame wave being shot out of the window.

"I take back my word," Raven said, amused.

"Seriously, noona. Stop that already. You're not going to be a Rune Slayer that way!" yelled Elsword as he watched in horror as a certain Red Knight started setting the room on fire, literally.

"Tch, yeah right! This is just 'Fireplay' for me!" Elesis howled and produced another bolt from her hand. The girl had removed her white trench coat for even she already felt the heat rising in the room. Her muscular arms glistened with sweat from her attempts to cast a single rune. All her tries ended in naught as she continued to conjure only inelegant, powerful and explosive shots of fire.

"No! You can't master the runes in a couple of hours!" Elsword tried to restrain his sister by grabbing her shoulders but his height was not helping his cause. "You're going to burn the building down if you keep this up!"

"Bro, lemme do this," Elesis pried Elsword's hands from her. "The books said that continued exposure to fire and castin' it will make me a Rune Slayer in three hours flat!" Elesis remarked. " 'Sides, you told me earlier that there was a mighty lack of Rune boys for the gig, so lemme perform with ya," Elesis grinned. She let a wild spark of flames exit through the door, only to be extinguished by a petit mage.

"Rune casting takes years to perfect, not a meager matter of hours, Elesis," Aisha walked into the room, putting out several tiny flickers of fire that were littered inside. "You've been reading one of Denka's alchemy books which are full of cheap lies." The Void Princess eyed the Blazing Heart menacingly when she saw several charred books on the carpeted floor. "And for the record, this isn't a training room, Siegfart siblings."

Elesis chuckled, wiping her forehead which was covered in sweat from her 'training'. "Well, the inn was too cramped and the magic books are here so I'd say this is the most convenient place to practice rune slayin'," Elesis simply replied, "Besides, these books are gonna turn into firewood once they outlive their purpose."

"Noona," Elsword interrupted before the two girls would start hurling firebolts at each other. "You weren't listening. Yes, I said there aren't many Rune Slayers who turned up for this year's fest but I didn't say that we needed more people for the performance," Elsword explained.

"Same banana. You were bound to ask me sooner or later, Els," Elesis countered. She smirked, thinking that she had hit the bull's-eye. Elsword merely deadpanned her. "If ever we needed more performers, I would've ask someone better in magic like Aisha over there or maybe Ara- ow!"

"You trying to say I'm no good? I'm sorry, that was a 'Stigma of Fire' to me," Elesis grinned, the side of her mouth twitched in annoyance as she buried her elbow deeper into Elsword's side. The brother backed away from his sister's reach.

"Come on, Elsword. Lemme perfoooorm," Elesis whined like a 7-year old. Elsword groaned, but not in defeat. "Noona, like I said, Penensio has it under control. We don't need any more magic knights for the fireworks."

"Are you scared that your noona has two left feet or something?" The older redhead's voice became softer but more dangerous. Besides the change in volume, her voice became raspier. She was obviously tired from trying to rune cast.

"I-It's not that noona," Elsword averted his gaze. He glanced at Aisha who was busy muttering to herself whilst dousing some stray fires from Elesis's practice session. The younger knight crossed his arms over his chest and asked, "Why do you seem so hell-bent on being in the performance line-up?" Elesis snickered lightly as she rubbed her cheek with her index finger.

"I wanna do something sisterly for once," Elesis laughed. "For you, Elsword." Her laugh was cut short by a few wheezes.

"W-what?" The Rune Slayer could not believe what his sister had just said. He had already thought of all the possible retorts his sister could give but this was not one of them.

"I mean, I was kind of a stupid-excuse-of-a-sister for leaving you behind in Ruben when you could barely change your diapers on your own," Elesis continued; a bashful smile was plastered on her sweat-filled face. Elsword facepalmed; not liking how Aisha was giggling behind him. "I thought that maybe I can be a true noona to you if I could help you in little stuff like this. Let me make it up to you for the times I wasn't there for you. I'm here for you right now, bro," Elesis huffed in triumph before she finally concluded with, "I want you to be proud to have an older sister to rely on."

With a quick movement, Elesis was grabbing her brother's shoulders, intense crimson orbs boring through slightly surprised ones. "Let's get your Rune performance a-going!"

"Noona… " Elsword was taken aback by what he had just heard.

"Something smells fishy," he thought.

"Hey noona, are you sure you're not trying to do this for someone… else?" Elesis froze on the spot.

"Wh-aaa? Of course, I'm doing this all for you!" She was obviously was caught off-guard by Elsword's retort.

"In all seriousness, noona, you never intensely train, nor prepare for anything, nor do you do things for free like this," Elsword frankly said. "Even if it were for me," he said a bit begrudgingly.

"What baloney are you spitting out, Els?" The Blazing Heart softened her voice, this time in a more sincere manner. Although she was sure that her voice was steady as ever, she felt cold sweat run down her face. "Oi Aisha, back me up here, you know I'd do anything for my lil' bro here," Elesis shot a glance at Aisha who just shook her head.

"You're trying to impress Ara, aren't you?" The purple-haired mage casually dropped the bomb at her.

"Leave her out of the topic!" Elesis countered, her cheeks starting to turn pink.

"Admit it, I overheard you talking to yourself in this room, about whether Ara would like to see you do this pose-" Aisha stopped to exaggeratedly flex her arm muscles, much to Elesis's embarrassment. "Or maybe this?" The purple haired mage laughed boisterously as she tried to imitate some of the Blazing Heart's stances when she was practicing earlier. Elsword started to chuckle as well but the air left his lungs as a swift chop found its way to his exposed midriff.

"O-ow. Noona, are you now trying to get me out of commission for the performance?" Elsword rubbed his stomach.

"It's bad to make up those kinds of rumors," Elesis eye-twitched at Aisha, who was unfazed.

"The whole Elrios team knows, Red Knight," the purple-haired mage remarked. "Maybe even she does."

"Oh yeah? Prove it," Elesis scoffed at Aisha, unbelieving.

"Prove what?"

All eyes turned towards the doorway of the room. The newcomer hung onto the door jamb while wearing a questioning expression. Ara raised an eyebrow bemusedly, awaiting an answer.

An awkward silence ensued.

"Am I not worthy of an answer or is everyone just tongue-tied from my presence?" The Yama Raja hinted a suggestive tone at them. She winked subtly, unaware of how much tremors it sent up Elesis's spine.

Wanting to break the ice, the Pyro Knight spoke up.

"K-Kinda in the middle of practice for tonight's Rune Festival, Ara."

The raven-haired girl did not react to the redhead's comment. Her eyes traced the Red Knight from head, down to her exposed limbs and torso until her slightly singed boots. Elesis didn't like the feeling of being watched by the Haan descendant. For someone who rarely got embarrassed because of appearance, the Blazing Heart wanted to cover up her bare arms and stomach. The mere fact that Ara was checking her out made her stomach twist and churn.

"Keep it together, Elsa. You got this," the claymore bearer reassured herself and coughed to ease the silence. She closed her eyes and tried to get her thoughts arranged. After a good few seconds, her eyes flung open at the scent of a certain ebonette's perfume. Said girl was standing directly in front of the knight. Their gazes met for a second but Elesis chose to quickly glance away as she felt her face get flushed with color. Covering her mouth, she coughed awkwardly again.

"Mmm? Did you catch a cold?" the spear-wielder bent down to eye-level of the redhead. Elesis disliked situations where her height was being contested. If someone else taller than her did this act of stooping down, she would have headbutted said person as a sign of irritance. But the Blazing Heart wasn't sure why her ears were colored to a shade darker than her scarlet hair.

"I'm just embarrassed, yeah, that's why my face feels like it's on freaking fire. Right?" Elesis wanted to divert her attention from Ara. Abruptly, she turned to her side.

"Really, I should go back to practicing, hey Els-"

Only two souls were currently present in the room; the amused and the flustered.

"Hm? Looks like they've left us to our own devices." The 20-year old girl chuckled silently.

"He ditched me! The nerve of that boy," Elesis double facepalmed momentarily then wiped her hands across her face to remove the dirt and sweat on it. "Tch, head feels… unusually hot," the pyro groggily commented as she felt her forehead again with her gloved hand.

"Want me to check?" Ara nonchalantly asked.

Elesis did a double-take on the girl before shrugging to show indifference, but a slow nod of approval was done afterwards. However, deep inside the redhead, she felt as if she'd set the building on fire if Ara were to touch her for even just a second. "What the El are you thinking, Elesis Sieghart?!" Her head felt light with these thoughts. The rising fatigue had started to cloud her judgment. Before the Red Knight could think of anything else, she felt a black-gloved hand on her right shoulder. Ara's free hand was busy brushing away the stray strands of crimson hair from the knight's forehead. Being the taller one, the ebonette had to crouch slightly to press her forehead against the redhead's. The Blazing Heart felt a rush of blood up her face from the skin contact with the Yama Raja. Sunset-yellow orbs met fiery-scarlet irises.

Elesis' heart was set ablaze. No pun intended.

The pyro wasn't sure why she felt torn between being blissful and distressed. Finding it awkward to stare directly at the girl's golden pupils, Elesis shut her own. In the darkness, a thought crossed her mind.

"My relation with Ara."

For Elesis, admiration was barely a word to express how she felt towards the raven-haired maiden. Being just friends didn't seem enough but being something more than that was too high a step for her. It was a position she knew that she couldn't take.

She believed that Ara deserved to be with someone who wasn't a hothead that sets things on fire at random.

"But let me be selfish… just this once."

The redhead wasn't content with the ebonette's soft skin lightly pressing against her forehead. Being unfamiliar with this kind of situation, the Red Knight wasn't sure of how to satiate her hunger for more. The touch of the Little Devil's hand was comforting to the Pyro Knight. The closing distance between them made the Red Knight's heart beat faster.

Unbeknownst to the knight, the hand that the spearmaiden used to sweep the knight's messy bangs away was left unchecked.

Elesis had forgotten that Ara wasn't dubbed as the "Little Devil" for nothing.

The redhead stifled a gasp when she felt that same hand on her exposed back. She felt her spine being traced upward until that treacherous hand stopped just below her vest's hem. About ten seconds passed and both girls dared not to make a move. Thinking that Ara's hand would just behave, Elesis sighed in relief.

Only for her sigh to be interrupted by an abrupt groan from herself.

Ara had slowly inserted her hand underneath Elesis's sleeveless vest. The Blazing Heart couldn't hold back another moan when she felt the Yama Raja slither her hand between the younger girl's upper garment and back. Elesis's mind was in disarray. The Red Knight felt her body shaking from the storm surge of emotions in her head. Exhaustion was catching up to her but she held on to her consciousness.

Trembling, Elesis wrapped her arms around Ara's waist, earning a light giggle from the latter. The warm breath that escaped the spearmaiden's lips grazed on the claymore wielder's own pair, causing the latter to shiver in ecstasy. Ara caught this and stopped her advances. The older girl backed away, her face twisted into a smirk when she saw the redhead and the giant streak of crimson across the girl's cheeks. Elesis stopped shaking when the contact was lost.

The younger one felt teased.

The older one seemed pleased.

"... Is somethin' wrong?" The Blazing Heart ventured, not daring to look at the Yama Raja in the eye. The knight's lip quivered.

"Ho ho~" Ara Haan simply hummed.

"Hey I'm bein' s-serious here!" Elesis felt her head get heavier by the second. She stared out the window to avoid the raven-haired girl's gaze. "Dusk already?!" Her energy was already sapped from training and from her 'check-up' with Ara. Her weariness was clearly written all over her face. Ara could see that, but showing her weak and sincerely concerned side would shatter her relatively aloof persona. The once Little Xia's caring side was buried under a harsher exterior.

She had concealed her former anxieties and clumsiness, in the hopes of becoming a person taken seriously.

Though masked, her true self can still resurface.

Ara placed a hand on Elesis's cheek, gently tilting the girl's head to face her. She smirked when she saw the redhead's pursed lips and maddeningly scarlet face. To top it off, the knight's eyes had an indescribably adorable look on them. In totality, Elesis looked like a child who was expecting something but was promptly fooled.

An obvious pout.

"Awh, little child wants something from noona Ara?" She giggled at her own joke.

However, Elesis had no time to think of a retort. Her mind was spinning and her body was aching all-over. Her vision was darkening by the second and her limbs felt like QPL Jelly. As her legs gave way, the knight instinctively grasped for anything to break her fall. Due to her high stamina in battles, fainting was a new experience for the Blazing Heart. A light crash could be heard if one were listening from the outside of the room. Ara didn't mind at all as she gazed silently at Elesis who had fallen onto her. "So this is your answer," hummed the raven-haired girl as she tangled her fingers in crimson locks.

"Ah, you've worked too hard," The ebonette whispered into the redhead's ear. She didn't mind being under the fallen girl for almost half an hour.

"Rune Slayer or just a brutal flamethrower, I care not. You're still…"

"Shaddap," Elesis groaned in her stupor. "I did that rune trainin' for ya and this is my thanks?" she slurred as pieces of her consciousness were slowly coming back. "'Guess anyone would do stupid things… for the girl they like."

The room fell silent. Ara was on her back, staring at the girl collapsed on top of her. She quietly stroked again the flaming red mane of Elesis.

"Ironic, you're the one fallen on me… But maybe I'm the one who has fallen for you."

((A/N: Yeah hi again! Hope you guys liked this. I had an easier time writing SD x GM tbh. I wasn't sure if I could finish this because it sat at 2000 words before and was no where near the ending. I decided to just end it with something cheesy (again)

Please rate and review!

~BreadCrumble out!))