Chapter 3

Rena

Elsword had burst into the room. "Lowe! We found something interesting!"

Aisha had an annoyed look on her face. "Excuse me? I'm the one who found it, not you!"

"Why you little-"

"L-little?!" Aisha became very aware of her chest size. "You're the one who's short!

Rena thought it would be appropriate for her to step in. "Now, now, let's all get along here..." She was being completely ignored.

"Maybe if you ate better, you wouldn't be so short!"

"Excuse me? Maybe you should take your own advice! You're noticeably lacking in the-"

Rena would not put up with this any longer. "Shut it, both of you! One more word, and I throw the both of you out, you hear me?"

They both nodded and gulped in unison. An angry Rena was something nobody wanted to see.

"Now then, the note. It mentioned that Banthus had this planned for quite some time. I couldn't prove it, but it seems like he had every one of our moves planned."

"This note... it wasn't written by Banthus. This isn't his handwriting. These seem to be more of instructions for him."

"Instructions...? But who could plan things this carefully?"

"It doesn't say, but it does make reference to a Phoru by the name of William. Chances are, Banthus plans to control him using the El."

"Then that settles it. We need to reach William before Banthus does."

Elsword

The group may have already headed out to the White Mist Swamp, where William was known to be, but that didn't mean Elsword had to skip a meal. As they walked, he pulled several kinds of meat out of his bag and ate them. Aisha spoke abruptly.

"You know, Elsword, if you only eat the things you like, you'll never really grow."

"This again? Look. Talk to me about a proper diet when you can prove that it works. I mean, you eat a balanced diet, and you're still small yourself!" Somethimes she just made it too easy to pick on her based on her size. It's not that he didn't consider her to be pretty, or that he genuinely thought she was abnormally small, it was just fun to tease her because she got so easily worked up over it.

"S-small?! I-" He rests his case.

"I mean, really. Are you sure you're even a girl? You're flat as a board!" Aisha's anger was not well hidden. It was so obvious, in fact, that she was literally on fire.

"Maybe you should try eating meat. After all, you need it to grow big and strong!" That was apparently the last straw. As he finished the sentence, she lit the meat he was holding on fire, and kept walking like nothing had happened. The meat was promptly dropped and stepped on.

To make matters worse, Rena, who had been walking behind them, smacked the back side of his head as she walked by, also pretending that nothing had happened. That is, until she stopped, turned her head, and told him softly so as to not let Aisha hear: "Apologize. Now."

He let out a sigh, and ran back up to Aisha.

"Look, um... about what I said..."

"What? Not get enough fire?" She had lit herself on fire to seem more intimidating, which, though he'd never say it to her face, worked pretty well. It was also clear that she had a bit of sarcasm in her voice.

"Um! N-no, I... I wanted to apologize. I shouldn't have said that."

"Eh?" The fire immediately turned to ice, and she looked hopelessly confused. "Elsword... apologized... to me... this... this is a dream... yeah, that's it! It's just a dream! He would never do that... so I just need to pinch myself and..."

"Um, Aisha?"

"...it's not a dream."

Aisha

She couldn't help but blush a little when she realized she wasn't in a dream. Why, though, she couldn't figure out. Maybe she just felt special because she was the only person in all of Elrios that Elsword had apologized to. Yeah, that must be it.

That feeling didn't last long, as shortly thereafter, Rena burst out laughing behind them. It was bad, too. As in, she literally fell onto the grass she was laughing so hard. She suddenly realized what had happened. Based on the expression on Elsword's face, he had, too. Rena had set up the whole thing.

"Rena, you jerk!" She stomped over to her in an attempt to be intimidating, but, this being Aisha, wasn't very successful. Rena did her best to stop laughing as she stormed up to her, only to start back up again when she grabbed her collar and pulled her up.

"Y-you should have seen you face! Hahahaha! Priceless!" The rest was an incoherent mess of laughing and attempted speech.

This was a strange occurrence. Never had anyone ever known Rena to pull a joke before, let along something like this. Rena was Ms. Serious. Always business, and while she laughed at other people's jokes, she never made any of her own. Aisha suspected she would never see Rena pull something like this again.

Raven

"So then, 'Raven,' What's your name?"

"...Raven..."

"Yes, I realize that's what you prefer to be called, but what's your real name? Who's the person behind all of this?"

"I... I don't understand. I've never been anyone other than Raven."

"Hmpf. Suit yourself, then. Do you know where you are, and why you're here?"

"No idea."

"You're on a battleship destined for Hamel."

"Hamel...?" The name sounded familiar to him, but he couldn't figure out why.

"You're going to help us finish taking the city and claiming Senace for our own."

"Senace...?" Another familiar name.

"That's right. You are our secret weapon. With you, we will claim this place and no-one will be able to stop us. Not even that Red-Haired Brat!"

"Hold up. Who is 'we?' Who exactly am I helping?"

"Oh dear, and we were told that you don't ask questions. You don't need to know that yet, and for second, you're not helping us, we're making you work for us. Not that you'll remember this. Begin the process."

Elesis

Elesis had arrived in Hamel. On the way, she had picked up two others who happened to be headed in the same general direction as her. However, when they approached the city gates, there were guards who began running to surround them, lead by Helputt, the captain of the guard under whom Elesis had once trained.

"Helputt, it's me, Elesis! Remember me? You trained me when I first passed through!"

"Silence, fool! You dare show up here again after the crimes you've committed? I'll personally see to it that you rot in the Hamel dungeons for the rest of your miserable life!"

"What? What crimes? What are you talking about? I've never commit a crime in my life!" She genuinely had no idea what he was talking about.

"Playing ignorant won't save you this time, Red-Haired Assassin! Seize them!"

"Assassin?! I'm one of the Red Knights sworn to protect Elrios! I'm not your enemy!"

"As if you could be called a knight! You'll find that even your silver tongue can't convince us anymore. Silence her."

One of the guards tied a rope around her mouth, making her unable to speak. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that they had done the same to the others, even though they've never been to Hamel as far as she knew. She couldn't help but think "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I have no idea why they're acting this way. I'm so sorry..."

Lu

There had been unrest in the Demon Kingdom for some time, but things were starting to grow beyond control since the Demon General Scar had gone missing. With this, the people began to suspect the royal court, and attempted to revolt and kill the queen.

Ciel

Most days were the same for Ciel. Lu, brush your teeth. Lu, be careful, they're not as strong as you. Lu, eat less sweets. But today, things were different. Sure, revolutions happened before, but none of them ever got very far, and certainly were never successful. However, the people of the kingdom were on the palace doorsteps of the palace, and would come for Lu.

"Lu, it's time to go."

"Aw, come on! It's only a couple hundred demons! We can totally take 'em!"

"Normally I'd agree with you, but something's off this time. I can't explain it, but it seems like they're not fighting to overthrow the kingdom."

"And what? They're fighting for Scar? He disappeared all on his own!"

"You know that, and I know that, but those demons out there? They don't. They think you're responsible. Either that, or they're under his control."

"But I don't want to leave! I like this palace!"

"Lu, we'll be back later. After the dust settles, we can come back and explain what happened."

"But where will we go? Everyone in the demon world will recognize us!"

"Lu, I've lived in your world for many years, now. I think it's time for you to visit mine."

Author's comments_

Rena: So you wanted to advance the plot, right?

Me: Well, yeah. That is kind of the point of a story.

Rena: Well, too bad lol

Me: Wait, what?

Me: Rena

Me: Rena no

Me: RENA NO

Me: STAHP

Me: NO RENA NO PLZ STAHP PLOT NEEDS TO HAPPEN NO STAHP

Me: Never mind

Rena: lol