Hello everyone! I do not own Elsword, or the characters of said game. I do, however, ship Elsword and Eve to no end.
Chung and Elesis are currently an experimental pair for me. This is my attempt at seeing how they roll for me. Hope you all enjoy.
!This is a sequel of my story, Relearning the Seraph. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ IT, PLEASE DO SO BEFORE READING THIS!
I'M NOT KIDDING READ THE FIRST ONE. IT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING ABOUT SERIS AND CEDRIC, NOT TO MENTION EVENTS CRITICAL TO UNDERSTANDING FINDING THE BLAZING HEART. IT WON'T TAKE LONG TO READ.
Also, I claim partial ownership to my format of Seris' story and partial ownership of Cedric, as shared with my boyfriend.
Huge thanks to my boyfriend, who has been supporting me all along the way. And also since I wouldn't have actually gotten into Elsword without him!
We roleplay the Elsword and Eve pairing together, so you might see more of them from me around here.
I have been noticing that for some reason, Fanfiction has been bunching up my paragraphs! If you notice this, understand I do not know how to fix it!
So let's get down to it! Read, Review, and Enjoy!
Eve: Code: Nemesis
Elsword: Rune Slayer
Rena: Wind Sneaker
Raven: Blade Master
Aisha: Dimensional Witch
Chung: Deadly Chaser
Ara: Sakra Devanam
Elesis: Blazing Heart
Finding the Blazing Heart concludes...at the end of this chapter. It's been fun!
Finding the Blazing Heart
~/~
Chapter 10: Smoky Vigilant Memorial
"In the end...I can't erase what I've done. But I can go on. One day...I'll face you one more time...!"
"Hey Eve...I have a question..."
"Elesis, I want to show you something."
"Where did Aisha go? Actually, better yet, where are Rena and Ara as well?"
"I think Aisha stuck them on blind dates and is going on a triple date with them."
"Huh? Well who are the lucky dates?"
"Obviously Allegro is one. But I think Lento and Glave are the other two."
"Glave! Who agreed to that?"
"I don't know. He and Rena are probably close in age group, so maybe that?"
"Oh boy...that sounds really..."
"Mommy! They're going to have fun, right?"
"Uh...yes. Yes. Yes, of course they are."
"Don't look at me like that. You're the one that taught him that."
"Taught me what?"
"E-Everything you know, of course."
"Yes! Because Mommy and Daddy are good teachers!"
"R-Right..."
In their room, Eve was sitting in a small throne she had constructed...and often constructed at the end of long dungeons. She looked up at Elsword, her hand on the necklace he gave her all those weeks back. It felt like yesterday she had lost herself to the seraph code for the sake of her race, after receiving this necklace. In a way...she believed that both this necklace and her bind to Elsword had bought her back to him. That thumping heartbeat in her ears when Elesis had slammed her head against Elsword's chest. The truth in what she had said that time back. How much she truly loved Elsword and what he symbolized for her...what he meant to her...what he would always mean to her. Yet, Eve could still remember a time, so long before the seraph code, where love wasn't something she understood or cared about. Where all that had mattered...was her foolish desires of raising a healthy race. Sure, she still wanted to revive her race, and every queen needed a king...but who was to say that she couldn't be in love with her king at the same time? Who was to say anymore...that her king couldn't be Elsword? Yeah...he was human...and that probably wouldn't truly revive the race she wanted. In fact, she wasn't so sure what it would induce...if anything. However...she questioned how much it mattered. She still remembered a time...when it had. She closed her eyes though, abandoning this train of thought as she looked at Elsword.
"Yes, Elsword?"
"I wanted to ask...what King Nasod meant to you..."
She stopped right then, her golden eyes dimming as her thought process struck straight into a wall. With a single sentence, Elsword had destroyed any semblance of a thought she had. She slowly reached into the winds of her mind, the spirals of bits, bites, and matrices. Swallowing carefully, regaining herself from the loss of mind as Elsword sat on their bed, his wedding ring that matched hers resting on his hand. She had known that day they tied the knot that he was her king, she had just coordinated it in a different manner and design that what was being run in her thoughts. For King Nasod had merely been a means to regain her race. She had not truly loved him...had she? She was not so sure. To be truthful, she couldn't see how she ever could have. He was so corrupted, so determined to finish that war that he had slapped her. Eve shivered in recollecting the day her body had hit the wall of the Altera Core. Cared about him? Maybe. Anything beyond that, probably not. She was, however, sure of the means to answering Elsword's question.
"King Nasod was the last chance I had to keep my race. I put the remainder of my energy into him...in the hopes that I could save the shambles of our race from the war we had made. But he was not the King that I knew...he was corrupt...he did not even know me by the end of his days. He hit me Elsword. Into the wall of the Altera Core, where you and your friends found him. I did not belong by his side...and raising him was my turn of failure. I should have known, but I was betrayed by my wishes to have my race back. Every single nasod you and your friends killed...they were not the nasods I knew. They were not the beings I lived so many of hundreds of years with. They were failed, they were faulty, they were corrupted. They were not my race any longer, Elsword; not the race I loved. After I was struck down by my own King...I no longer needed him. I needed a friend...and that...that was when you came. You told me you wouldn't hurt me, though you could have easily destroyed me...and then said you wanted to be my friend."
"It's okay...we won't harm you...I'll be your friend. So you won't be alone, okay?"
The sun is breaking in your eyes
To start a new day.
This broken heart can still survive
With a touch of your grace.
Shadows fade into the light.
I am by your side,
Where love will find you.
Elsword just looked at her, utterly shocked and speechless. It had...meant that much to her? He hadn't realized it those years back, especially since Eve had slapped him when he had first found her. He had never known that the King had ever hit her...but it made him wish he could kill the King Nasod once more just for doing that to her. That didn't matter though...what mattered now was that Eve was fine and safe now. He rose from his seat on the bed, kneeling like a knight to his queen, before tightly hugging Eve to him where she sat. Small tears soaked his cheeks slightly as Eve choked on air in slight surprise.
"I'll never let anyone hurt you again, my queen..."
Eve smiled softly, laying her hands on his back, pressing her face into his shoulder.
"Thank you..." She paused slowly, before exhaling softly, "-my king. I'll protect you too...always..."
Little did they know, they had been heard...
"Raven...sweetheart...there's something I want to do..."
Meanwhile, on a cliff in the Bethagara Falls, a Pichu squalled excitedly as it sat atop a certain Redhaired Knight's head. They felt as if they could touch the beautiful sky above, a young White Knight beside them named Chung. It was a beautiful sight to overlook, but even in her strangely decent understanding of her somewhat-boyfriend...Elesis could not understand a single possible reason they would be up here. It was so high up and that fall did not look healthy if something stupid happened. Pichu just kept being Pichu though while Elesis looked at the person she had come to...well, trust with her life...and like. Well...not like but the...oh bah, she didn't want to deal with the word phrasing. He did, finally, turn to her after a long minute.
"Okay Elesis. Burn me."
"What? Why would you tell me to do that? How dare you!" She yelled, looking appalled.
"Pichu pii!"
"I'm serious. Throw a fireball at me. The same thing you did to Elsword."
"Are you an idiot?"
"No. I'm proving a point."
She just stared, before shaking her head and backing away, "N-No...I...I can't do that..."
"Elesis."
"W-What..."
"Burn. Me."
"No! Please, no..."
He sighed and shook his head, "Elesis. Burn me."
"I said no!" she cried.
Chung looked on at her, his bluegreen eyes firm as he stared into her red eyes, clouded by fear.
"I said burn me; I don't tell you that for no reason. Burn me."
"Chung, I can't do that!"
"Elesis, please! Do it!"
She looked away, wrapping her arms around herself as Pichu remained atop her head softly. Slowly, she lifted a trembling hand, finally throwing Chung what he wanted. It struck perfectly, right where it had struck Elsword so long ago. Chung, however, didn't make a sound; it was in fact with surprise that Elesis turned around to find him still standing. There wasn't even a mark on his armor...his armor! She stared now, wide eyed as he stood there before her while she collapsed to her knees in shock there on that cliff. Pichu came down from her head, nuzzling her head under the young woman's chin.
"But...you're hugely armored...not everyone is..."
"So? Elesis...the point more than anything is...you won't hurt anyone. Elsword, Eve, and myself...everyone in fact. We're all going to be there now to support you. You're not going to go die in battle and leave us all behind...we're going to be there by your side."
Chung chuckled for a moment, looking at the cliff, "You know, Eve saved your brother from this cliff a few times. He used to go chasing monsters, kill them off, and accidentally run right off the cliff. She'd always either catch him, or jump to get him in midair, which would soften his fall on landing. He'd thank her and run right back into battle."
She laughed softly, looking out there, "Sounds like my brother."
"It was always funny. But you know, Eve summed something up real well for me and the others once."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Elsword had come down with a cold during their first month dating anniversary. Eve took it on herself to nurse him to health and we'd usually only get to talk to her about anything once he was asleep for the night; she'd lend us no words if there was a task she had to do for him and barely left his side. So one night, we were all in the kitchen doing a truth or dare thing when she had come in for her break before heading to bed herself. Rena went and asked her to choose a truth or dare, which Eve took truth. Being the brilliant friend she is, Rena asked Eve if she would allow harm to come to Elsword if it meant her race would be revived."
Elesis frowned a bit, "What did she say?"
"Eve said this," Chung coughed a bit, "-'I would not. When you love someone, truly love them, you don't ever let anything happen to them for satisfying your own ambitions. If something about you can hurt them, you fight against it. I used to not know the truth of love...I didn't even know what it was. Now that I know...I also know that I would never let anything I wanted be harmful to Elsword. Nor anything within me.' She meant it too, and we knew it. I swear the table was silent for at least fifteen minutes, didn't even speak until she had long gotten water and left."
"I see..." Elesis murmured slowly, finally looking up at the sky a bit, "I think...I finally see that blue sky of yours...thank you, Chung."
He chuckled softly, "Does it look better, love?"
She blushed, "S-Shut up..."
Taking a deep breath though, as he grinned over at her, she finally nodded, "It does...and..."
She turned a darker red as he glanced at her, her eyes beginning to dart around a bit, before she finally heaved a deep and careful breath. These things were never so easy to say...but it was time. Her long hair flew in the wind, her claymore at her hip as the Pichu squealed in joy. She watched it for a while, Chung's very first gift to her. She had finally chose a name for it...other than Pichu. Stay. It's name was Stay...though she had dared not announce this yet; everyone would question it too much. Then again she had finally kissed Chung earlier in the week so whatever. Closing her red eyes, she reopened them to reveal an unshakable resolve as she finally looked up at Chung.
Burn, honey, burn
Let the fire eat away
I never liked the look of this town
Burn it down now
-/-
I will burn my dread
This time I'll grapple down that god of fear
And throw him into hell's fire
Burn my dread
I'll shrug the pain
And run till I see the sunlight again...
-/-
Hurry up and save me
Hurry up and save me
Hurry up and save me
Hurry up and save me
I just wanna feel alive
And I do when I'm with you
"Chung...I love you..."
He blinked for a bit, amazed to finally hear it, but smiled, "And I love you, Elesis."
Stay could only squeal in delight as she watched Elesis and Chung share a kiss there. It made the Pichu extremely happy inside, and the spiky eared darling no longer could restrain it's happy cheers. She had earned her name from her master's resolve to finally stay strong, stay happy, and most of all, let Chung stay beside her. In the end, her name meant a lot as the night went on with the triple date, the clifftop conversation, and the royal chat...as Seris and Raven arranged an event. They were found as Rena, Aisha, Ara, Chung, and Elesis returned from their various escapades.
"I can't believe you set me up with Glave!" screamed Rena.
"Oh come on! I didn't know he was going to be creepy all evening!"
"He's Glave, he's always creepy," Elesis pointed out.
"What she said," Chung replied.
"See! Even they know it! You had Ara spend the day with Lento and you left me with Glave! Glave! What was your bright idea there?"
"Ladies, ladies, shut up," Raven sighed, "-Seris and I have something for everyone."
"Where's Elsword and Eve?" asked Ara.
Elsword and Eve emerged not long after, Eve's head on his shoulder as she hovered by him.
"Here," Elsword grinned in reply as Eve smiled.
"Okay. Seris, would you like to start?" Raven smiled, holding his son in his arms.
"Absolutely. Okay, so I sent Raven to pick up a few things in town today. Incense, lighters, and medium prayer cards with plastic sleeves."
"And so I pray
Here alone in my mind
Under a soothed mind
That you will hear my cry.
So I pray to God...for you..."
"Seris came up with the idea...she wants us to lift some of our mental burdens. Some of the things we think too hard on. Like me, thinking on how I lost her and Cedric for three years. Elesis, on how she accidentally burned Elsword. But also on the difficulties we are having finding who we are after, and our hopes those people are safe; such as Chung's father, or Ara's brother. Not to mention things we are trying to save by regaining the El, such as Rena's world. To remember those we may have lost, such as Eve's King Nasod and most of her race...or my friends that died while fighting by me and Seris. Anything we dwell on, worry for, remember, pray for...anything. We are remembering those things tonight."
Seris came around, handing everyone two incense sticks, one lighter, one incense holder, one card, and one small marker. Slowly, everyone looked at the picture of an angel on the card, before uncapping their markers to write down their releases; their lifting burdens. Raven sat down beside Seris to do his own, as she even did one herself.
'My race is in my heart...one day, I will find them again. But I will do it on my terms...with Elsword by my side.'
'I know I will find the El...and save my world. I must...I promised the elder.'
'I will stay by my queen and my friends...I will protect them all...and restore this world.'
'I won't let my past haunt me anymore...she has come back...it's time to go on.'
'I will find my brother...I will save him from the demon he has become.'
'I will retrieve my father, I won't let him destroy the world alongside something he hates.'
'What I did was long ago. It may be permanent on him...but I shall not let it withhold me!'
'I will stay strong by my husband and child. Nothing will hold me back from them ever again.'
'I will regain my powers and become the mage I am meant to be!'
As Seris helped them sleeve the cards in the plastic, she then had them arrange the holders on top of the cards, lying them flat on the ground, before having them light their two incense sticks. Held by the holders, the group watched the smoke slowly rise into the evening air, slowly relieved as they understood these burdens were to drive them, not hold them back. As they requested safety for those they loved, and the worlds they came from. As they begged for the rest of any they may have lost. Whilst they cried for everything to turn, and understood the things they could not dare to change. It solidified within them...that everything would eventually turn out. And under the moon they sat, with a Pichu squalling in joy as the home-based couples held one another to the joy of a child.
"I love you Eve."
"I love you Elsword."
"I love you Seris."
"I love you Raven."
"Love you Daddy! Love you Mommy!"
"I love you Elesis."
"I love you Chung."
"Pichu piiii!" cheered Stay
"I love my Allegro."
"It looks like I'm with Lento now..."
"Ugh! I'm still single!" screamed Rena.
On the smoke danced, in the winds of an endless evening sky...
Fin.
The songs, in order of appearance are...
What About Now, by Daughtry
(I consider it a sort of theme for Eve, as well as the ElsEve pairing. I actually have a story about that, called What About Now Eve? on my profile.)
Wildfire, by Sonata Arctica
Burn My Dread, from Persona 3
Hurry Up and Save Me, by Tiffany Giardina
The final poem like item, And So I Pray, is an except from me written by me.
This concludes Finding the Blazing Heart's finale.
I hope everyone enjoyed. Reviews are love. And I love you all, my fellow readers.