There was a long delay here due to work and new year but... well here you have it! Please enjoy ^-^
Eve rolled from one side to another, unable to sleep. Elesis was sleeping right next to her, still in her bedroll. She wanted to sleep on the floor, but Eve insisted that since she was the guest there she should be the one using the bed, so the final agreement ended in both of them on the bed, but with Elesis on top of the blankets using a bedroll. The little flame on the orb faded when Elesis fell asleep, however the insulation in the room was good enough to keep it warm with the heat source off. Neither hot or cold, the room was at the perfect temperature.
But the fluffy bed, the comfy room, the nice company and the boredom wasn't enough to make Eve fall asleep. She moved around in bed constantly, her head full of the events that happened earlier that day ranging from what Elesis just told her to the things she asked later.
"She acts like this because of her lover's death… I'm not good with traumatic experiences, maybe I should ask the school's counselor help…" She thought to herself.
She looked at the ceiling, resting her arm over her forehead, shielding her eyes from the little light that filtered into the room. She attempted to push her thoughts away, but every time she tried doing so, a new thought would take its place.
"Does it mean that his little brother, Elsword; hate her? She did some really terrible things before she left…"
More uncomfortable movements. She came to a stop when she looked at Elesis. The little light that illuminated her face was enough to reveal a softer side Eve had never seen before.
"She looks peaceful when she's asleep. She's always frowning at me as if I were a pressuring her to do something. Well I guess I'm always being a pain for her… But it's not like she's that easy to get along with in the first place…"
She looked away from her.
"Even so here I am. I would be in real trouble if it weren't for her. And now I'm sleeping under her roof…"
She looked into the ceiling again.
"I wonder if it's okay to tell the counselor about her, she asked me not to tell anyone. And of top of that, I don't know what kind of things she has done until now. Maybe I can try to manage this by myself. But now I want to get some sleep already."
She reviewed her thoughts in her mind. They danced from one side of her brain to another. Now that she finally had a resolution for them she's able to archive them and finally sleep. She could have done so from the start, but she knew her mind wouldn't let her rest easy if she did.
Once everything important had been organized in her head, however, she remembered a more… unlikely scenario that was mentioned earlier. The thought of herself in a room, being pinned down by her friend Aisha filled her mind. As soon as she realized what it was, she shook her head as if trying to cast it aside. But as soon as it was gone it came back, now slightly different.
Eve tried to remove that thought from her head and every time she tried it altered itself and came back. Elesis words resounded in her mind as if it where some kind of perverted echo "Just imagine it. Aisha pushing you down with such intentions…"
"What am I even thinking? Such thing from my friend…" She thought, desperately trying to get it away.
But she didn't take long to realize that it wasn't a thought. It was something different. Something that she didn't have a name for. Iit remained there, replaying itself after every attempt at deleting it.
Not being able to get rid of it, she tried to ignore it, but for some reason she couldn't stand it. The simple fact of that exact thought playing in her mind made her felt bad. She felt… guilty. Ashamed. Embarrassed. In a fit of frustration she let out a pained groan.
"What's wrong with you? You slept so easily earlier…" Elesis said as she angrily rolled over her bedroll.
Eve covered herself under the blankets in a hurry, as if she feared that Elesis could read her mind.
"I'm sorry, there's something on my mind I can't get rid of…" Eve complained turning her back as well.
"Is it because of what I told you? Pay it no mind, you don't need to worry about it."
"I wish, but it is not that…"
Elesis looked at her, sitting on the bed.
"Is it because of my questions later? Don't worry, I was just messing with you. Now sleep, for once." She said.
However she realized when she saw Eve's face. It was an unusual face. Not because it was weird but rather because it was a face Elesis thought Eve would never do. Her eyes looking away, with her lower lip between her teeth and a soft, pink blush around her blue face marks.
"Is it because of what I said about you and Aisha?" Elesis asked.
She didn't need anything more than the angry look Eve gave her. She laughed and shoved herself back into the bedroll.
"Did I hit the nail on the head with that question? Or is the thought of such adult matters too much for you to handle?"
"I preferred it when you were asleep." Eve yelled, turning away.
The windows of the school dorms creaked under the wind pressure. A thin layer of ice formed over them. Inside, Aisha stared into the snow blizzard. Her alarm clock still buzzing. She lazily moved to shut it off. She forgot to do it last night. Since the school was closed it wasn't necessary to wake up early. Right after turning it off and before stepping out of the bed, she checked her messages on the Elshard. A bored smile on her face when she saw no new messages from Eve.
"I guess she couldn't come back with all this snow. She may have went to her house instead." She thought, stepping out of the bed and getting dressed.
Even if the school was closed, she had work to do as a student council member. Checking if everyone's safe, making an inventory in a case of emergency… They were very boring things that couldn't keep her distracted from her worry.
As soon as she was able to take a rest, she went directly to her room and grabbed her contact notebook. She searched through it until finding Eve's home number. She dialed there and waited.
"Good morning, this is the Royal residence, who am I speaking to?" A male mechanical voice said on the other side.
"Good morning. Uh… I'm Aisha. I'm Eve's classmate and her vice-president on the student council. I just called to know if she's home right now." She asked.
There was some noise on the other side as if he were searching some papers.
"Aisha Landar, right? I'm afraid that Eve informed us that she would be spending the night at the campus grounds as usual."
Aisha hung up. If Eve wasn't at home and she hadn't returned to her room where was she? Her brow furrowed as she ran to her drawer and put on her best winter clothes. Once dressed she left the room, storming for the door.
"Miss Aisha! Where are you going in this snow?"
Aisha turned around to see Ara calling for her. She looked back at the dorm doors and at herself again before sighing.
"Nowhere."
She went back to her room and changed again. She had changed three times already and the day had just started. She would yell at her for that. She was feeling angry again. Not only did she broke her promise but also worried her.
Eve opened her eyes. Elesis was softly pushing her.
"You're finally awake, sleeping beauty."
Eve rubbed her eyes. In the end she was able to sleep for a bit, but she wondered why Elesis would wake up so early today.
"There are some friends of yours outside; they came to pick you up." She explained seeing Eve's confused eyes.
Eve quickly jumped off her bed and peeked from a window. A big snow plow had created a path followed by one of her official cars. A group of winged Nasods, dressed in black thick coats waited around it.
"You can put your clothes back on now," Elesis said, handling them to her "I dried it up with my fire."
Eve nodded as a thanks and went out after getting changed. One of them quickly approached her.
"Your majesty, we're terribly sorry for not coming before. We're glad you're safe now." He apologized.
"How did you find me?" She asked, ignoring the Nasod's words.
"The young master did it for us, he was the one who ordered us to pick you up too." He explained.
After hearing this, Eve stopped in her tracks, not getting into the car they had already prepared for her. She looked back and saw Elesis waiting on the door. When she saw Eve looking at her she made a gesture for her to go away at once. Eve however went to speak with her again.
"Will you be alright here?" She asked.
"Of course, you can go now, I don't like having those feathered guys over here…" Elesis answered.
"After all you did for me it wouldn't be right of me to leave like this… Would you like to come over my place, you can remain there until the blizzard goes away." Eve proposed.
"That sounds awfully nice from you, but I'll pass. I'm good here by myself." She said in a dismissive tone.
"Please. You'll probably end up trapped here again if you stay here, and this time you would be alone." Eve insisted.
"Alone would be better than with you." She said.
However Elesis regretted it after seeing Eve's eyes drop in sadness. She wasn't expecting this; it was the first time Eve would react to her insults.
"Hey… don't make that face now," Elesis started to say "Alriiiight… I'll go with you, but don't get used to it."
Eve's eyes returned to her normal neutral state as she nodded and gestured for Elesis to get in the car. She rolled her eyes when one of the escorts offered her a hand to get in the car. The first one who spoke with Eve approached her again to whisper.
"Why is this plebeian coming with us?" He said in a quiet voice.
"Be more respectful of my guests," Eve angrily reproached.
"Yes, your majesty. I'm sorry, your majesty," He said stepping away from her.
She got in the car and sat next to Elesis. In front of them two of the escorts occupied the driver and copilot seats. They started moving, heading for the big and tall tower in the center of the island.
"Your servants are a bit of a nuisance," Elesis complained.
"They're not my servants," Eve answered.
Elesis raised an eyebrow but Eve didn't elaborate. The way from the trailer park to the tower was a lot faster than expected thanks to the snow plow cutting through the thick layer of snow and the absence of any other car on the road.
"Do you really live in that tower?" Elesis asked, pressing her face against the car window to try and see the top of the tower.
"That is correct."
Once they arrived the car drove through a big gate. They entered a long tunnel placed on the first floor of the tall tower. After driving for a while they came to a stop in a place full of corridors and big metallic gates. The driver lined the car with one of the gates and it opened, revealing a big lift truck. They boarded it and it began ascending.
The ascension was a lot longer than the way here due to the slower speed of the lift and the silence. Elesis would nervously watch over the floor count on one of the lift's displays. It was already on floor 1559 and it keep going up.
"Where are we going?" She asked, patience running out.
"Home," Eve stated.
The lift finally stopped with a resounding "ding" and the metal doors slid open. Elesis couldn't believe what was on the other side: a Nasod-made grassy hill with a two-story building crowning the very top. The house itself was symmetrical with segments that could easily be cut into cubes. The first floor had its foundation built in the shape of a letter H, while the upper floor segments were shaped less uniformly reaching as far as the outer walls of the tower. The external walls where made of white wood and adorned with various kinds of climbing plants, with flowered flowers whose petals ranged from intense reds to deep blues. A concrete path was paved that lead from the lift a small garage. Lawn lights dotted the path. On one end of the hill was a glass building where a pool could be seen through the windows while a tennis court could be seen on the opposite end of the hill. Even inside the tower the sky was visible, and a landscape filled with forest and distant mountains. Elesis realized,however, that the sky wasn't natural and that they were under a huge dome of holographic displays that mimicked the a natural landscape.
They parked and finally step of the car. Elesis stretched, tired of the long journey, earning a disapproving look from one of the Nasods accompanying her. They walked to the front gates and they were open from the inside. A maid-dressed Nasod girl welcomed them. She was shorter than Eve and wore a black and white classic maid dress, with a white hairband on her head. She had black long hair that fell over her face hiding her eyes. They walked in leaded by her.
Unlike the exterior, the inside of the building was mostly composed of beautiful white marble. Red carpet extended from the gate to the stairs, welcoming guests that entered the room. White classical columns extended from both sides hiding the corridors and other adjoining rooms. The floor was adorned with grey and black tiles, arranged in diamonds and squares. Statues were positioned along the hall immortalizing the figures of important people that Elesis remember seeing in history books. The ceiling had a big holographic panel that showed a beautiful blue sky that poured realistic beams of lights below. Most of the escorts leaved through one of the side doors, leaving the two girls with the maid and one of the winged Nasods.
"He's in your office waiting to see you, my Lady," One of the remaining escorts informed, gesturing for Eve to follow him up.
"If the young lady would follow, I'd be happy to show her the accomodations," The maid said, looking at Elesis.
Eve looked at Elesis and she returned the gaze.
"I'll show Elesis her room myself," She said.
"Forgive me, my lady, but he has been waiting for quite some time already. It would be better if you leave the banal tasks to your excellent servants," The Nasod standing, or rather floating; over the stairs said.
Eve sighed, looked at Elesis and nodded. She left upstairs. The leading maid leaned a bit to face her, causing her hair to fell to one side and reveal two crystal blue eyes and a soft smile.
"May I call you Elesis too? Please, follow me and I'll show you your room."
As if the left of those two cheered her up, she walked happily until they were in front of a light brown door on the first floor. She opened it and held the door for Elesis. She stepped inside to see a big spacious room. There was a big canopy bed placed opposite to the door. On one side a window displayed a holographic image of an arctic landscape while on the other side a welcoming fireplace waited to be lit. She quickly walk next to it and placed her hand over it. Flames emerged from the firewood stacked there. The maid came in, staring amazed at the fire.
"You can use the El like that? It's incredible, Lady Elesis." She said.
"Oh, please, just call me Elesis."
The maid giggled as if she had been suggested a taboo.
"As you wish, Elesis. I'll bring you something more fitting for the climate. The weather outside the tower is dreadful right now, so you may want to stay here in the meantime. If you need something just call for me," She said as she started to leave.
"Wait, you hadn't told me your name yet." Elesis yelled before the maid exited the room.
"Oh, I'm sorry, pardon my lack of manners. I'm Artemisa, head of the household maids."
She bowed, lifting the sides of her maid skirt and then left. Elesis walked around her temporary room. Nevermind it being bigger than her room at home, the room could easily fit her whole trailer. Not being able to just wait, she started checking every corner of the room. She finally discovered the TV. It was built into the wall on top of the fireplace. She searched through the channels; there were some channels she never saw before; until finally finding the weather report.
"Experts had confirmed that this blizzard will last for the rest of the week. Please take the appropriate measures."
"A week living in here? I think I can pull it off." Elesis thought to herself.
She wandered the room finding some buttons under the holo-window and started to randomly press them, switching the display to other different landscapes. She finally stopped when it changed to a street in a big city. Tall buildings on each side and a road below all covered in snow.
"That is the main street, it's been streamed live for more realism," The maid explained "Due to the current altitude we are in, the use of real windows is impossible, so in order to keep in contact with the rest of the city, we use holograms to display live streams from the outside."
"That sounds neat… I guess."
Eve stood before two big stone doors, her escort opened and held them for her. She entered to a big office, most of it was empty. The only furniture was a long black wood table and a wall filled with files. A fireplace with a sofa at its side and a large holo-window behind the desk. In front of the desk, sitting on a chair there was a young and short boy. Long, golden hair cascaded down his back. Dressed in white and yellow robes, the man turned around and as soon as he saw her, he jumped out the chair and hurried to her side. His pretty yellow eyes stared in happiness as he smiled at Eve. The golden gem-core on his forehead shining along the way.
"Sister! Where were you? You really worried me when they told me you were absent! How could they not leave to search for you?" The boy asked.
"Herbaon, calm down. I haven't told them to do so," Eve explained.
Herbaon held Eve's hand between his and smiled at her.
"I've arrived just now, I'm glad to see you again, dear sis."
And as he let her hands go he cleared his throat and started speaking in a completely different accent, totally opposite to the childish and enthusiastic one that he used to greet her.
"I'm sure you already know what I came for."
Eve walked around her desk and sat on the tall couched chair placed there. She spun on it to face the Holo-window and with a gesture from her hands the current display of a sea landscape changed to show the streets of Altera. It switched from one to another as if it were a surveillance camera rather than a window. It finally stopped when the school's dorms appeared, with the academy tower in the background.
"You came to seal our bow," Eve said, standing and placing a hand on the holo-display.
Herbaon nodded and walked around the table to stay next to her.
"I'm glad that you proposed this… ah… what was this called again?" He asked.
"Royal intermarriage."
"Right. Our tie would be a great move in strengthening the links between the Altera Nasod Empire and the Eysion Heavens Kingdom. Soon the two Nasod would be as close as one."
"And it'll easy the worry of the human races that fear the possibility of a dominant alliance between us. They think that this way there won't be discrepancies on the diplomatic relationships. They basically want me to keep the status quo," Eve added.
"Humans are strange creatures indeed. I wonder why they find significance on the promise of eternal love. They have demonstrated over years that such promise is incredibly fragile," Herbaon commented, sitting on the table.
Eve ran her finger over the holo-window and turned around to face her brother. Her eyes looked at the floor between them for a while and then she sighed and faced him again. He made a gesture to the Nasod on the door and he brought him a small red box. Herbaon took it and placed it on one hand, slowly opening it with the other, showing Eve a diamond ring.
A small ring of white gold set with diamonds. Eve took it carefully and placed it on her finger.
"I made my servants handle all the paperwork; they scheduled our wedding to the first day of spring," Herbaon said, returning the empty box to his chaperone.
Eve simply nodded, placing her hands together hiding the ring under her fingers. Herbaon stood there for a bit before nervously scratching the back of his head.
"Well, it's usual for this situation for the engaged pair to share a kiss, right sister?" He said.
"It is also usual not to call your fiancée 'sister'." Eve replied.
Herbaon giggled nervously and stopped when Eve suddenly placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned against him, connecting their lips in a short sparkling kiss. He stood there, eyes wide open; for a while before finally processing what had happened. He laughed nervously again earning a roll from Eve's eyes.
"Oh, before I forget to mention it, I already ordered my servants to bring here my gift for you. I hope you like it; it's a huge crate of the world's finest Elum wine. They will be bringing it this month," Herbaon said.
He straightened his robes and walked to the door.
"I'll be going back now, I'm sorry I can't stay longer here but there are some urgent matters waiting for me in Elision."
Eve didn't say anything; she just looked at him as she walked outside the room and sat on her chair, spinning it around to face the window again. Not a single student outside the dorms as the street was full of snow. She ran a finger for her lips.
"That was a bit disappointing," She thought to herself.
It wasn't like her first kiss. She did kiss someone else before, but now she didn't remembered who. It was a faint memory, from the time were Eve would pay no attention to it. Maybe it was disappointing because he was her little brother, and they barely see each other outside of official meetings. She doesn't know much about him either, only what she needs to know to keep their relationship as brothers of different nations. While she was lost in thoughts, the Nasod that accompanied Herbaon came in.
"Excuse me, your majesty, but we retrieved your car from the place it got trapped. We parked it on the base of the tower, but we thought you may need this," He said, placing her Elshard on her desk and leaving with a bow.
She almost forgot about it. She quickly checked it to see a row of lost calls from Aisha and some others. She was a bit hesitant about it but decided to call Aisha, just to inform her, she didn't want to tell her about what happened last night however.
"What the hell did you do last night?! Do you have an idea how worry I was about you?! It's a hellish blizzard out there and the last thing you told me is that you were going to see a delinquent and that you would come back before night!"
Eve separated from the Elshard earphone as a stream of screams came from the other side. Aisha looked more angry than worried. Eve though about a excuse to cover what happened last night and not calling her at the same time.
"I am sorry Aisha, but I couldn't find the time to call you. After I've finished my visit to Elesis I was called home… hum… Herbaon was here, so I had a lot of things to do."
After hearing this, the yelling stopped.
"He was there?" Aisha asked "And what did he told you?"
"Well, we basically sealed the bow and now we're waiting for the ceremony to happen," Eve explained.
For a brief moment Aisha didn't say anything. Eve started to feel anxious.
"And you're ok with it? I mean, I know you proposed it but…" Aisha said.
"Yeah, I proposed it, it wouldn't be logical if I proposed something that I didn't approve of, don't you think?" Eve replied.
"Yeah, of course. I was just asking because you proposed it long ago and… well I thought maybe some things changed on that time. But it's ok. If you like it, I'll like it."
There was another pause.
"I'll let you resume your work. I'm glad you're fine Eve." Aisha said and quickly hung up.
Eve stared into the holo-window; she reclined on her chair and let out a sigh, closing her eyes. A cloud of thoughts started forming on her mind. She also started feeling a headache from them. She leaned forward, pressing her fingers on her forehead.
"Do I like it?"
Aisha brutally punched her pillow while containing her pent up frustration, ending with said pillow flying across the room, hitting the window and pressing the lock, allowing the strong wind to push it open. It blew its gelid air into the room. She quickly rushed to shut it closed and once she did, she stayed there, staring into the distance at the tall tower where Eve was.
She bit her lip, angry for how she was unable to speak her mind just a moment ago. At that moment she heard someone knocking on the door. Seeing her room so disordered she decided to go and see them instead of letting them in. It turned out to be just Ara, who was still in her pajamas and carrying a big pillow with her.
"Aisha, good morning. I came to invite you to spend the day with us since we will be having a little party in our room. Rena, Rose and me," Ara said with a wide smile on her face.
The sight of such an innocent smile did help in cheer her up, so Aisha gave it a try and followed her.
"You look a bit down however. Are you feeling depressed because we can't go anywhere else?" Ara asked.
"It's not that. I've just received some really bad news." She replied.
Ara stopped with her smiled quickly changing to a worried face.
"What happened?"
"Oh, nothing. I'm just exaggerating," Aisha said, nervously laughing.
She was not, but she was told not to tell anyone else about it. Eve made her promise that the first time she told her about the engagement. It was during last summer, before the school year started. Eve had been planning it for a long time. Aisha remembered when she told her about it, it felt a bit unrealistic for her, and since Eve didn't talk about it again, she imagined that she had dropped that idea. But hearing now that they were about to celebrate the wedding was disheartening. Aisha never opposed it, however she always felt that Eve was being a little naïve about it. She was putting her objectives first, instead of thinking how she felt. As Aisha thought of this, a memory played on her mind.
"You think I shouldn't?"
"I think you should consider it a bit more. It's a marriage after all."
The memory featured both of them on her room.
"You are thinking about marriage as if I were a human. For us Nasods marriage is a mere formality that we adopted from the human culture. There's no need to fit it to my feelings."
"So you're basically saying you don't mind marrying someone just because it would be beneficial for your people?"
"That is correct."
"You're going to regret it, really."
The memory banished as Ara pushed open her room's door letting a song played on their music player to come out. The two of them were lying on the beds, one was chatting on her Elshard while the other one was playing video games. She joined Rose, the one playing video games on her console. She was playing a first person shooter that was really popular among the students recently. She was being crushed by her since Aisha wasn't that much into games when someone else joined the party.
"Hey, we've arrived, and we brought something nice." A male voice said from the other side.
Rena jumped out of her bed and opened the door to be greeted by a snowball to her face. Raven, Chung, Ciel and Lu came in, carrying paper bags with them. They were covered in snow from the feet to the shoulders. Rena was yelling angrily at Raven when Raven saw Aisha in the room.
"What's the president's hound doing here?" He asked, causing her to stand and angrily look at him.
"Hey! Treat her well, she's our friend." Rena said, slapping Raven on his head.
He let out a grunt and placed the paper bag he was carrying on the desk. There were a lot of things inside ranging from snacks to drinks. Alcoholic drinks. Aisha felt a bit uncomfortable with Raven there, but still decided to stay. She didn't have any better plan after all. The good thing would be that she could keep an eye on him.
"Hey, Chung!" Ara waved seeing him trying to make his way to her.
The small room was already full enough when someone else knocked on the door.
"I hope I didn't get the wrong door again, I've already been slapped twice." The newcomer said.
"Hey, Elsword! Over here!" Chung yelled, seeing him on the door.
In a matter of minutes the room was full of laughter. As the day proceeded on, Raven proposed to uncork the drinks and get the real party started.
"You sure have some nerve bringing that here," Aisha said looking at him with frowned eyes.
"Oh please miss vice-president, cut us some slack, we're going to war this weekend!" Raven said.
"What!" Ara shouted.
"Oh, yeah… we're going to depart in an expedition with the army. It's not like we're going to fight but we'll be seeing the battlefield up close," Chung explained to her.
"But that's bad! People gets hurt when they go to wars!" Ara exclaimed, grabbing Chung by his cheeks and shaking him, forcing him to make a funny looking fish face.
"I know, I know! Don't worry Ara, we'll be fine. We can't avoid going after what we did after all, they're forcing us to go as a punishment. But I wanted to go anyway so…" Chung said, trying to free his face from her grip.
Ara pouted. Raven laughed as he scratched his head and looked back at Aisha.
"Look, I don't want to have a fight nor I want to cause any trouble, so unless you want to put up a fight, why don't we share a drink and enjoy? We're all adults here, aren't we?"
Aisha just let out a tired sigh as she unfolded her arms. She snatched the bottle from his hands and stared at it for a second.
"You're right, I don't want to have a fight over such a cheap looking drink," She said returning it to him.
"Hey! This drink is really good!" He defended, opening the bottle and retrieving some glasses to serve it.
So yeah, the plot is more centered now on those characters. I didn't want to make a whole AU centered on the academy so I hope you're still enjoying it! Let me know what you think!
