Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword or any of its characters
(last chapter)
Chapter 7
He's been burning through his energy reserve faster. He knew that, right before leaping from Raven's ship. But that doesn't matter to him. The only thing that does is getting back to her.
He's breathing heavily by the time he reached her place. It looks desolate. Not that he's ever seen it lively, but a few hours through the evening has given things a lifeless vibe. The large gate of her shop awaits him, and he takes the strong resolve he's been building up and gestures to knock with authority.
Before he could, the rusted edges of the gate thunders open and a young alchemist with silken sand hair stops in her tracks on seeing a boy with his knuckles just above her head. Both stare at the other, barely a breath from one another, before taking their steps back.
Yuno blushes and losses grip of whatever will power he had earlier. Tentatively his gaze goes to her, and he sees a fidgeting small girl, looking down and red-eyed. She had been crying. And by the looks of her outfit and the slightly bigger bulk of her satchel, she had been doing so while preparing for a few days trip.
"Hi," he says.
Echo doesn't respond. She stands there, feet pointed in an odd way and brushing slightly on the ground, her bangs covering most of the face Yuno has grown to love.
"Raven told me – you never took Elriorite." He tells her, "I want to know why."
She's got her walls up pretty good, despite refusing to look at him. Despite the flustered look she's hiding. Despite the vulnerable state she's in. Yuno finally sees her beyond who she showed herself to be. A lonely girl who has kept the loneliness to herself, watching the world with her friends pass her by, not being able to reach out and stop them from leaving.
It doesn't seem like she's about to do anything to get away from their current situation. But Yuno knows he won't let this opportunity go away. Then, between Echo's hands squeezed over her chest, Yuno notices a rectangular device. Something he remembers seeing in her lab.
Right then, he decides to muster the courage to pull her out of the darkness.
"Fine, it you don't want to talk to me, then I'll talk."
He stomps forward and snags the recorder from her hand.
"This is Yuno, son of Adrian." He says, keeping the device recording while looking bravely at the perplexed Echo, "I've now been fully restored, and will now return to Atlas. I make this entry to tell my savior…" he closes his eyes and goes through the many waves of emotion he wants to say, and then finally decides to start with the most powerful one.
"Thank you. Thank you for fixing me, and giving me another chance to life. I also want to tell her that she's the best thing that has ever happened to me, and… if I have to I… I'll happily jump down a thousand mile drop again if it means getting her friendship back."
Echo's eyes began watering at this point, but the stubborn alchemist still persists on staying behind her wall. While her lips quiver and her small frame compresses, she still looks away.
But Yuno hasn't finished his entry yet. He easily decides on his next words before opening his eyes and looking longingly at Echo.
"I want her to know I don't hate her. And that I don't believe she thinks I'm junk. But even if she does…" the concept of being seen as such is also painful for the boy, but he braves the idea and decides to send his message across.
His own eyes tearing up, he continues with shaking albeit stronger voice, "Even if she does think I'm junk, I don't care! Because this junk… this junk loves her, with everything it has."
Between the tears and snot forming down his contorted face Yuno sobs with clenched teeth. He feels embarrassment beneath all of it, yet still he tries to speak through the hic-ups, "I… love… her…."
A warm pair of hands grazes on his cheeks, encasing his face gently. He immediately stops crying. Echo takes out a small towel to wipe his face clean like she would a helpless child. She then pulls the recorder from Yuno to stop it from recording his supposed entry, and presses some buttons to play an entry of her own.
The small space between them gives way to her voice, small and raspy.
Yuno… it's me… I'm feeling all sorts of terrible right now, including the part where I'm not even telling you this in person. Okay, I guess, if you hate me by now you wouldn't want to listen to me for too long, so I'll try to be concise. First of, I'm sorry for saying those horrible things to you, heck for being horrible to you. I didn't want to part ways like that, and I wished I didn't. More than that, I didn't want to hurt you – well, I did, but that's just me being a jerk. Anyway… um… hold on… Ouch!
All sorts of stuff clangs in the background, and the image of her clumsily going through her stuff allows a soft chuckle from Yuno to which Echo quietly and playfully pouted at.
Alright, sorry about that. Second point – you're not junk. You're not, especially not to me, not in a million lifetimes! I'm a monster for telling you that you are. But I guess I told you that because I was the one feeling like a piece of junk. You know, people use me in a way, then leave me just like that. It doesn't make it okay to call you that, and I'll understand if you'll never forgive me for telling you that you are. But please try to understand this too – you're precious to me, Yuno. In many ways. I'm about to head over to Atlas Station to get that point across, though I guess it's going to take me forever to do that, but, well, I'm hoping this entry will reach you at least. Ah, hold on.
A pause follows, allowing Yuno to process what he just heard, and appreciate the emotions again growing inside of him.
Then her voice continues.
Um where did I put that… sorry, I wrote something up because I couldn't decide on the right thing to say – ah, here it is.
Echo clears her throat in the background like she was about to give a speech. Yuno waits patiently, and a bit amused.
I was in the dark till I saw you smile. And in silence till I heard you laugh. I felt nothing till we touched and you made me feel more alive than I was before you pulled me out of the darkness…Ugh, God that sounds so corny. But… it's the truth. I guess to summarize it all…
Without thinking, Yuno reaches out to the recorder, and puts a finger on top of her thumb to make her press the stop button, and leave her with her own words.
"I love you." She whispers, still unable to look at him.
He changes this be closing the gap between them even more until they share a single warmth amidst the cold night. He smiles at her, lovingly, playfully, waiting for her to look at him while she remains as stubborn as ever.
"I'm hungry." He says softly.
She finally decides to break her walls from that and rolls her eyes so they land their gazes on one another. A triumphant grin meets her. She puts the recorder in her satchel, and pulls out a hot loaf of Wheat bread. She lifts the steaming bun close to his lips, and makes him hold it in both hands.
Before she could let go, he keeper her hands in place as he lifts the bread to take a small bite, his lips purposely brushing on hers in the process.
When her face ends up with the same clustered blush that he has, he knows he's got her, and his cheeky smile widens.
The end…
I hope you enjoyed that.
Reviews/comments are very much welcome and appreciated.
