Ahhhh, finally an update ;u; Not much to say here, lol, but it's mainly Eve and Raven towards the end. Not much Chung though, so I'll make sure he comes back next chapter!

I'm planning for at least one more chapter in Elder, where William Phoru will make an appearance :D Yeahhhh~ And then soon after that Elsword will come back~ I'll try to update quickly, but I can't make any promises lol

Here you go, new chapter~ Enjoy~~~~

Rena was the first to wake up, as usual, but didn't rise right away. Her body was sore, she felt horrible, and her hair was a tangled rat's nest on the pillow next to her. Aisha didn't look much worse, but she wasn't much better either. And Eve... The Nasod was still working on that arm of Raven's, the jewel on her forehead only slightly bluer than the grey it had been when she had passed out.

Aren leaned up against the wall, her hood still over her face, cross-legged in a meditating position with her hands in her lap. Just under the hood Rena could see a lock of black hair and small, pink, plump lips relaxed in tranquil breathing, but everything else was covered by the dark red fabric of the cloak. Who was 'Aren?' Why did she go out of her way to help them? Was she a bad person?

Rena closed her eyes and briefly recalled the events of the evening before, after they had returned from the sewers. They had locked Banthus away in a holding cell, before returning to Hoffman's home. Aren was waiting there, Eve lying on the floor with her shirt open, to reveal the damage to her arm.

Raven had held his own shoulder, breath hitching. Where Eve's arm had gone missing was exactly where his had been hacked off. Rena knew he was debating giving up his arm.

After Eve had woken up, (with much help from Aisha and Chung- Jeez, Elsword would have probably been able to get her up in a heartbeat) they promptly retired to the lobby in the Inn. They all sat around a circular table, Eve laying on one of the benches with Aisha still helping her recharge, and they discussed what would happen next.

"I'll fix our arms."

"I'm gonna get some fuckin' sleep."

"Chung, watch your language..." (Gee, thanks, dad.)

"Give me your clothes, I'll get them washed and repaired for you."

And then Aren took their clothing to Luchiel and returned an hour and a half later, to Chung and Aisha passed out, Rena trying to sleep but failing terribly, and Raven without an arm. The reaction Aren had to Raven's arm missing was the funniest thing. She had dropped all the clothes she was carrying and almost screeched, pulling her hood back just slightly to see that he was indeed, missing his arm from the shoulder down. Eve had quickly reattached his to herself, wrapping it in gauze as the skin repaired itself, an then set to work on fixing his. "Since you have decided to use this one again, I'm going to make it lighter and much less painful and easier to deal with and it won't hurt, I promise..."

Something Rena found cute about Eve was that she rambled to herself while she worked. It was probably just a habit but it was a rather adorable one, and was actually quite soothing. The Elf had noticed Aren fell asleep to Eve's rambling, after leaving her dress on a chair by the desk because she was too busy working to reclothe herself in something other than undergarments.

Rena couldn't blame any of them though. After they had basically stripped, they all retired to their beds and passed out, though Rena said she'd wash her own clothing later. All of her clothes were slimy with the sewer sludge, and she decided that she would just take a bath with her clothes on.

She finally rose, stretching her arms over her head, and grabbed her short cloak from it's place by the door. She wrapped it around herself and tip-tied over to Eve, to check on her. "How's it coming?"

"It will maybe be another day or two, I am having difficulty rewiring this piece of scrap metal. Clearly, the person who designed it was only thinking of Raven as a guinea pig, with no concerns for his feeling or person. I mean, look at this!" She motioned to the dissected part of the elbow joint, where wires and gears had been yanked out of it. "This clearly puts too much strain on Raven's chest and shoulder, how could my people do something like this? I'll have to give them a proper scolding when I return."

Rena chuckled and ruffled her hair, saying, "Just remember to take a rest, alright?"

"Rest, what is rest, I'll be done with this by tomorrow morning at latest." Eve confirmed, a slight snap to her voice. Rena also checked on Aren and Aisha, before exiting the inn and heading to the river for a bath.

Aisha was next to awake. She yawned, turning on her side, away from the shadow looming over her and whispered, "Mm, Master, five more minutes..."

"Aisha, get up. I need to wash the sheets, and you need to bathe." Aren's voice mumbled, and Aisha merely waved her off. "I'll do it later, lemme sleep..."

Aren laughed and shook the Mage, saying, "You've been asleep for almost sixteen hours, silly, now get up!"

With some hard labor and lots of groans from the Mage, Aren pulled her out of her bed and helped her stand, retrieving the sheets. "Come on, let's get you washed up, you smell better than you look."

Eve was almost thankful when they left. She was tired, aggravated, and to be quite honest, she was prepared to "sleep." She stood from her chair and walked over to Rena's bed, flopping down on it face first. She buried her face in the pillow, and didn't even bother to take her work gloves off…

A knock sounded at her door. Her eyes snapped open and she gave an agitated groan, before going to open the door. She was prepared to snap at whoever was there, and open her mouth to say something, but instead all that came out was, "A-Eh-"

"Eve." Raven greeted. "May I come in?"

She nodded slowly, dubbing shorts and a tank top enough coverage to have someone inside. He shut the door silently behind him as she returned to her workbench, and plopped down to continue working. The arm was coming back together quite nicely, but it was mainly the wires and components that formed what looked like his muscles. Raven watched, pointing at something every so often and asking, "What does this do?"

"That is a rage limiter. I don't know if you need it, but it might be beneficial depending on what you decide to do with your arm." Eve replied, tweaking something in the upper part of the arm, where it connected to his joint. He held his shoulder, a sad look coming across his face. "… Why would I need that…"

"Like I said, it depends mainly on what you want to do. There are three options I've considered for you." Eve said, taking his Nasodic hand in both of hers. "Fist thing you could do might have more cons than pros, but I'd have to see another specimen to find out and I refuse to make one, so I'd just have to guess. You could become much more dependent on your arm, but it could have some major effects on your physical and mental physique."

"... What kind of effects?" Raven asked, watching her hands. They were so slender and long under her tight-fitting gloves, he wondered who had created her, because clearly they knew what a mechanic needed. "Terrible ones. You would become tired and hungry much more quickly, and the Rage Limiter would be installed so you don't go insane. On the other hand, you would become a much more powerful ally, and a threat to anyone in your way. It would be a tough challenge to overtake your Nasodic half, but I believe you would be up to the task."

"What's the second option?" Raven asked quickly. He didn't want to go insane, he had come to love the group he was traveling with, and he didn't want to risk hurting them or loosing their trust again. It was hard to build his first bond, and he was even starting to enjoy Eve and the others' company, even Aren. Overtaking the arm was out of the question. "Well, you could enhance your arm and use it as a weapon."

"How is that any different from overtaking it?" He asked, a tone of annoyance on his tongue. Eve gave him a half-hearted glare, but continued, "You wouldn't be so dependent on it, and it wouldn't drain you as quickly. You'd also gain more control and power, but it would cause you to go into a state known as 'Overheat.' It could burn you out before you even get a chance to age another year."

"Why on Earth would you suggest something like that?! I'm not going to use that option, no matter how helpful it might be!" He practically yelled. What kind of- Was she trying to kill him? There had to be another way to continue using his arm and not die or hurt anyone. He couldn't run the risk of burning himself out, and what would happen if his power got out of control? How could he stop it? Would he...

"Well, there is one more option, and it's the option I would have suggested most for you." Eve sighed. "You could restrict yourself from using your arm altogether and focus on your sword instead."

"I could do that?" He asked, dumbfounded. He never had thought of it like that before, but how? He had gotten so used to using his arm, starting to restrict the usage would be nearly impossible...

"It would be hard, but you could avoid using it and improve your swordplay. This has the least amount of drawbacks, in fact, I think it would be the most helpful choice you have." She replied. "You'd get faster, stronger, probably even more compassionate too. I believe this would be the most helpful option for you to take, for you would protect your sanity and humanity. In other words, you wouldn't become a monster."

His nose wrinkled at her insulting undertone, but he shrugged it off, pulling his hand away. She finally looked into his eyes, and he stared back for a brief second before turning away. "I'll think on it. Get some rest, I'll be needing your mechanical skills tomorrow."

He stood from his chair and went to the door, hovering by it for a brief second. In the evening sun, Raven could see just how tired she really was. Her eyes were a dull brown, not their normal bright orange. She had a slump to her shoulders, and she kept leaning her head on one hand, sighing every time she had to move. Raven marched back to the bench and commanded, "Rest. Now."

"What? Are you giving me orders?" She drawled, not turning to face him. The Queen gave a bark of laughter. "Ha! How rich! Thinking you can simply tell me what to do, even though you are- Oh- Why you-!"

"I'm tired of you being high-strung when you're tired, get some rest. Critical mistakes are made when you're tired." Raven deadpanned, using one arm to grab her waist and pull her away from the desk. She stumbled, almost knocking the chair over, and gave his chest a weak punch. "Let me go!"

"Only if you promise to take a nap." Raven bargained, dragging her over to one of the beds. Eve sighed, not in the mood to fight, and let him sit her down. "Fine. But only a short one, for I must continue on your arm…"

"Don't worry about it till tomorrow. Speaking of arms, how's yours?" Eve turned away from him, burying her face in the mattress. "'t's fine."

He hesitated for a second, then reached over to ruffle her hair. His finger lightly stroked one of the soft strands, and he pulled back, chuckling to himself. "Just like Seris, doesn't know when to quit." The man stood and left, just as quietly as he came, and Eve lay still, breath coming evenly and heavy as she entered a power-save mode.

Yeah~ So if anyone noticed, Order Made has a new cover image. It's also found on Zerochan, but if you want it, PM me and I can send you a link. I can also link you to the old one if you want me to lol