*Ten years later*
Elgang: *shovels dirt out of a hole*
Elsword: *pants* What are we doing, exactly?
Aisha: We're trying to find her, you idiot!
Elsword: Huh? Who?
Aisha: -.- . . . SL! How could you forget?!
Elsword: Right...;;
Aisha: Keep digging, dummy!
Elsword: *continues shoveling* Wait.. I THINK I SEE SOMETHING.
Aisha: WHERE? O_O
Elsword: Over there.. I think it's... a finger? *tugs on object* OHMYGOD, IT'S A HAND.
Aisha: *rushes over* OKAY, ON THREE! One.. Two... Three!
Aisha and Elsword: *yanks SL out from the ground*
Aisha: SL, WHY WERE YOU IN THE GROUND? WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING ALL THIS TIME?!
Elsword: WHY DID YOU DITCH US?! D=
SL: x_x . . .
Rena: Guys, let's give her a moment; I think she needs to recover. For now, let's start the chapter ;)
Chapter 21: Pieces of the Past
"I was originally part of the Crow Mercenary Knights - protecting Velder was our duty," Raven began unexpectedly. "I was only a peasant, but I still managed to rise up in rank and eventually became the captain..." He paused, then looked at Rena in the eyes. "Because of my achievements, I lost everything." The elf tilted her head enquiringly.
"How do you mean?" she asked. He shook his head despondently and leaned back against the boulder behind him, closing his eyes.
"Jealousy," he muttered. "The nobles were outraged that I, a mere commoner, had such a high position. It wasn't long before I was framed and thrown into jail. And quite surprisingly," Raven opened an eye. "My friend at that time - the very person I looked up to - happened to be one of the people who plotted against me." He shut his eye, sighing, before continuing to reminisce about his past. "Of course," Raven's tone was lighter now, but still edgy, "I had allies; my fiancée, Seris, and the original members of the Crow Mercenary worked to free me from prison. The plan Seris devised to escape worked perfectly... until we were ambushed."
"By whom?" Rena asked. The captain of the Black Crow swallowed. His eyes, which were now staring at the sinking sun, contained fear, an element Rena had never seen portrayed in any way by this person.
"It turned out that Alex, the person I trusted with even my own life, had predicted I would flee from prison. It was a night with a full moon - I remember I could just barely see it over the treetops. We were racing through a forest that bordered the outskirts of Velder. Everything was silent. My comrades were all out of breath. We had to run for our lives. Seris had a hard, determined look on her face. She wasn't scared: she never was. Even if something terrified her out of her wits, she would never show it,
"We came upon a clearing in the forest and stopped to catch our breath. Unfortunately, an ambush had already been waiting for us. Alex and his troops took out six of my comrades before they tried to capture me. I fought back with the rest of my men, but we were outnumbered. We knocked out half of Alex's men, accidentally killing a few. Still, that was no good. Alex himself tied me to a tree and made me watch as he and his soldiers slaughtered all of my friends, one-by-one. Seris was last." Raven faltered, and his eyes misted.
Rena watched the man, still on her guard, but sympathetic toward him.
"I'll never forget the look on Seris's face," Raven murmured almost to himself. "There was fear in her eyes, just for a moment, when Alex and his goons weren't watching. She knew there was nothing she could do. I shut my eyes when they beheaded her, and waited for my turn, but it never came." Raven stared angrily at the horizon, his voice bitter and resentful.
"Instead, they left me there to die. So I waited. However, after they left, a strange band of robots found me tied to the tree. Those... things offered me a chance for revenge; to pay back Velder for killing everyone I cared about. At that time, their offer seemed too good to turn down. I don't remember what happened after I agreed to their deal. But when I woke up, I was on the Black Crow, heading toward Velder. That was when I first realized my arm was gone." Raven absentmindedly rubbed his left shoulder, imagining the human limb that used to exist there. "They must have chopped it off to replace it with this," he murmured, staring at his nasod arm. Rena hummed thoughtfully.
"What about the people you killed?" she questioned. Raven immediately scowled.
"What about them?" he retorted coldly. Rena scrutinized the captain's face. To an ordinary person, Raven's demeanor appeared to be a cold, shameless mask. But Rena saw more. She recognized hatred, sorrow, regret, and - deeply buried underneath everything else - fear.
"You said you agreed to the nasods' deal," the elf recalled. "Which means you agreed to kill citizens in Velder, correct?"
"...No," Raven uttered half-heartedly.
"No?" Rena gave him a perplexed stare. "Did you kill them though?" Raven nodded, then Rena continued, "Who were you really targeting?" she asked.
"Alex... and all the other nobles who murdered my comrades."
"Did you ever find them?"
"Yes," the captain paused. "I got rid of all of them, and I saved Alex for last." Rena shuddered inwardly. So he exacted revenge on his enemies, using the same tactic that was used against him... But...
"But it didn't stop there," she accused. "You've destroyed many cities. and crushed many lives."
"I won't deny that," Raven stated.
"But you said you didn't agree to killing the citizens in Velder!" Rena protested.
"Indeed," he confirmed. "I didn't. I was forced to."
"Forced?" Rena was befuddled. Who would force Raven to terrorize innocent citizens? Who could hold a grudge against hundreds - no, thousands of-
"It was those nasods," Raven spat contemptuously. "If it weren't for them-" he suddenly twitched, jerking forward. Letting out a pained gasp, the man looked at the elf almost pleadingly. She understood. Whipping out her bow, she fired one of her tiny explosives at Raven's metallic arm, which caused it to go limp once again. He gave her a grateful look, before she guessed,
"That arm that they gave you..." she hesitated, "Is it the reason you-"
"Took the lives of all those people?" Raven finished for her. He sighed, shutting his eyes and contemplating how to explain what he knew about his dilemma. "I don't know how it's been able to do it..." he admitted, "For a while, I felt like... I felt as if I was being controlled by someone else, only able to watch helplessly." He realized how strange that sounded, and hurried to explain, "Whenever I stood in front of a person, weak and defenseless before me, and I had even the smallest thought of, 'What if I spare this person's life?' this thing..." Raven glared at his nasod limb. "... On the other hand, it made me do the exact opposite."
"How come? Couldn't you just fight against it?" Rena wondered.
"Tch, if only it was that easy." Raven gripped his artificial limb tightly, as if he was about to rip it off. "Whenever I consider saving someone, I always get this shock," Raven explained bitterly. "After that shock, I'm not myself anymore. I-" he faltered. "I watch myself destroy another life, but I know it isn't me who's doing it. I see my arms move as I behead someone, but I know I'm not the one who's swinging my blade. I witness a child crying and begging for her life when I have her cornered. Yet, even after I silence her, I know I'm not the one who made her scream." When Raven opened his eyes, Rena saw two pools of amber, swarming with self-hatred, shame, and resentment.
"I think," Raven stood up, "I know the best route to take now."
"Huh?" Rena stiffened, confused and alarmed. The captain of the Black Crow took several steps towards her and stopped.
"It would be better if I don't stay in this world any longer," he murmured quietly. "It would be better for everyone. So..." He met Rena's eyes and made a silent request. The elf's eyes widened when she realized what he was asking for.
"No," she decided abruptly. "I won't-"
"Then you leave me no choice but to take my own life," Raven said in an undertone. Slowly, he pulled his blade out of its sheath and stared thoughtfully at it. He closed his eyes. At that moment, Raven would have been no more, had Rena not been faster.
Clatter. Raven's blade skidded away, to the other side of the ledge. He stared at Rena, shocked.
"Why did you-"
"I can't believe you tried to do that," Rena hissed venomously. "How could you have the nerve to take your own life?!"
"It would be better for the general interest if I were gone," Raven said unflinchingly. "If I stay alive, I'll just end up taking more lives." Rena glowered at him, enraged.
"So you're running away from your problems?" she spat. "You won't even try to fix them?"
"As long as I exist, someone will get hurt," Raven murmured. "And I won't be able to do anything about-"
"Yes, you can!" Rena nearly yelled. "You can..." She turned away. "You just need to find a solution. Look at yourself right now," she pointed out. "You're not trying to cut me down or anything."
"Maybe for now, because my arm isn't overpowering me," Raven said, "but I can't control myself forever, and you can't keep shooting me every single time my arm reactivates."
"Maybe not," Rena admitted grudgingly, "but," she gave him a fierce look, "that doesn't mean you can end your life. You should be trying to recompensate for all the damage you've done, not escape from it."
"I-" Raven fell silent, having no argument against the elf. "Even if I wanted to fix my mistakes," he said carefully,
"how could I? With this," he pointed at his metallic arm. "No matter how much I want to, I'll never be able-"
"We'll find a way," Rena answered firmly. "There is always a solution to everything. We just need to look for it hard enough."
"'We'?" The man stared at her, perplexed.
"Did you really think I would forgo your problem?" Rena asked. "No wonder you never found a way; you've been trying to do things on your own."
"But what about-"
"Aisha and Elsword?" the elf interrupted. "Don't worry; I'll explain the situation to them. They'll understand."
"No, I'm not troubled about that," Raven protested. "What I'm worried about is what I might do to you and your allies if-" he stopped when he noticed Rena's uninterested expression.
"Oh? Is that your only concern?" She sighed dismissively. "Don't you think," Rena began, "I would rather keep an eye on you instead of letting you wander around unchecked? That is, if you are as harmful as you believe yourself to be." Raven blinked.
"I... I suppose you're right about that," he surrendered. Straightening up, Rena smiled.
"Good!" She clapped her hands together. "I'm glad we've finally reached an understanding-" She was cut off by a sudden flash of light. The elf shut her eyes, retracting from the brightness. When it finally subsided, saw Aisha and Elsword, both panting and giving her frantic looks.
"Rena!" Aisha started hastily, "At the bottom of the mountain, there... There's-" She halted abruptly when she noticed Raven was conscious. "Rena, behind you!" she shrieked. "Raven's-"
"I know," Rena answered calmly. "Don't worry. Everything's fine." Aisha's jaw dropped.
"W-wha-"
"Long story," Rena said with brevity. "He'll be coming with us until further notice. Anyway, you were saying something about the bottom of the mountain?" Aisha, too shocked to speak, gave no reply. Instead, Elsword answered,
"We found something strange."
"Strange?" Rena lifted an eyebrow. "Strange as in...?" The boy shrugged.
"I don't know what it was, but I didn't like it." Rena turned to the mage.
"How about you?" she inquired. Recovered from her initial shock, Aisha bit her lip and said,
"I really don't know. I've never seen anything like it before. Th-there was a huge container - maybe a capsule - and inside it..." Her voice trailed off.
"... There was a body in there," Elsword finished for her.
"A body..." Rena closed her eyes to think. "Anything else?"
"No," Aisha said quietly. "Just trees and rocks."
"I see." Rena opened her eyes and said, "Well, what are we waiting for? I want to see this thing you guys found. Let's go." Her decision threw the girl off-guard.
"Now? Just like that?" she asked in disbelief.
"Yeah," Rena confirmed. "We needed to go down, anyway. Do you think you can bring all four of us down?"
"Four?" Aisha realized then that Raven was still there. The man's silence and the shock of her and Elsword's discovery made her forget his existence for a moment. She cast him a wary look.
"Raven is coming with us," Rena said firmly, noting Aisha's expression. The mage did not argue.
"Wait, wait... What?" Elsword blinked. "He's coming with us?" Rena sighed.
"I said that already, did I not?" she murmured, losing a bit of her patience.
"I didn't think we were actually going to!" he exclaimed. "Why should we bring him-"
"It appears that I'm not welcome," Raven voiced quietly, "So you don't need to go to the trouble of dragging me with you." Rena glared at both Elsword and Raven.
"I said-" she snapped harshly, "-that Raven is coming with us." She met all three of their gazes coldly. "Are we clear?" she asked with deliberate slowness. No reply. "Are we clear?"
"Y-yeah, we are," the now-frightened Elsword said with a small voice. Raven merely sighed and shrugged.
"Good!" Rena's mood immediately shifted, and she gave them a bright smile. "Now then, are we ready to leave?"
Raven: Oh hey, I'm finally part of the group now o-o
Rena: *throws confetti into the air* How nice! It would be even better if SL explained where she was all this time, though. =) . . . *totally not angry*
Aisha: Rena, it's no good. She looks pretty pale to me. Plus, she hasn't said a word so far... But I found this! *hands paper to Rena*
Rena: Huh? What is this?
Aisha: It was in SL's pocket.
Rena: Oh... "To everyone: I apologize for staying in the writer's grave for a long time. In case of an emergency, I have written this letter for all of my readers. During the school year, I came to the realization that I could not balance school work with my own writing and, thus, knew I needed to be inactive for some time. If you do not wish to listen to this letter, you may just stop reading this chapter right now. But to those who are wondering what happened this year, I have had some difficulty transitioning from jr. high to high school. I realized how much time I had in jr. high, compared to now, and that time seemed to be a blessing that has long since disappeared. I apologize again for not updating for months, however, that does not mean I will not continue this story. Though, I must regretfully admit that any skills I had in writing prior to freshman year have deteriorated quite a bit, and to be able to produce any decent work again, I must begin to read once more. Though I have tutoring every day for this whole summer, I will spend most of my non-tutor hours reading a lot of books and working on this fan fiction. I am determined to finish this story and to finish it well. Thank you to all of my awesome readers for the unforgetful support you have given me for this story."
Aisha: ...
Elsword: So, the thing that kept her from updating was... SCHOOL?! What kind of bs is that?!
Rena: Wait, there's more on the back: "P.S. Due to all of the changes Kill3rCombo has made in Elsword (STR, Field, Power Balance, Sander, Add, Ara, Elesis, etc.), I have also lost a lot of my motivation to write this year. I suppose I have been having writer's block because of all these disappointing updates in the game. I have not been playing recently, but hope to start again, in order to collect more information for this story's plot.
P.P.S. Rena, since you're the only reliable one in the group, can you take care of the reviews?"
Aisha: WHAT? SHE DOESN'T TRUST ME?! ALL THIS TIME, I THOUGHT I WAS HER FAVORITE!
Elsword: I don't think "favorites" have anything to do with reliability.
Aisha: =D Really? So I'm still her favorite?
Elsword: I didn't say that. For all I know, she could hate you the most out of all of us.
Aisha: *sulks in the emo corner*
Rena: Anyway, it seems I have to cover the reviews, so... *ahem* Now let's see... I have to impersonate SeouLee, right?
to DerpyKanshii: Well, now it's been even longer, hasn't it? qq.. I'm sorry you had to wait so long. Hopefully, the next chapter won't take as long.;;
to Mezame Kora: Well, here's another update? Phew. Huh, do you still favor NW? And do you still main CBS? It's been so long, so... (I heard Add was recently released, too.)
to Rosamanelle: You, miss, are such wonderful support. Seeing your reviews always gives me the motivation to not give up on this story, so for all of those reviews you have given this story in the past, I thank you ;w; Now, to business. The Ponggos are probably one of my favorite races(?) in Elsword overall, because.. They're so squishy! (And fluffeh!) I wouldn't be surprised, actually, if someone did make a Ponggo stuffed toy... And yes, exploring is quite different from getting lost. Never get those two mixed up. NEVER. And yeah, Rena remembers how she got in. The entrance she used, however, was somewhere along the base of the mountain;; Hmm... Shooting arms. Yes. The best way to keep Raven silent! *shot* And thanks! I hope you enjoyed this chapter too... But it was a lot of talking, so there was no action and it was kind of boring, but... Yeah, I'll shut up now.
to Arrow-chan3: Yo... lo. Raven is cold? Let's make him warm up, shall we? That's why Rena's here ;D As for the reason... Isn't that because he was framed for being a good person and had all of the people he loved stripped away from his life?
Raven: No, I don't think that's it. It must have been something else.
Me: Oh, ok.. Hmm, I wonder...
to MiyuMelody: I'm really glad you love this story! I'm sorry for the lack of updates, though... D= Also, more chapters about Aisha? Hmm.. I'll work on that. Perhaps some fillers? (But people hate fillers) Maybe I need to include more chapters with Aisha and Elsword moments... I'll take that into consideration, thanks! And as for Aisha's family, hmm... Wow, that's a plothole. I'd say that the headmaster killed her family, like he did in GBOAF, or something along those lines. And yes, I'll work on GBOAF along with this story! I pwomise! (I need to read some more books though, to improve my writing ^.^;) Thank you for your support!
to Kurai Kirito: *faints from awesome review* Kurai Kirito? Is that a character from an anime?
FluffyPandaholic: O-one entire night? Are you.. okay? Goodness, I'm honored! And now I feel really bad for not updating.. *sadface* I must try harder! =O Oh, cookie? *zoink* SO SWEET!
Aisha: Inb4 it's poisoned.
Me: 2late X3 *drops to floor*
to Flaahgra: Thank you! Ugh, but for this chapter, my writing was so horrendous, it took 5x more time than usual for my friend to edit this... And I'm glad you're willing to wait, but at the same time, I should really try to get regular updates out again.;; And yes, Elesis has come out, along with Add (time flies). So what do you think? How do you like Elesis? (Is she better than "Elsa"?) And what about Add?
to SapphireMaiden1532: O_O Scary~ But that made me laugh XD Thank you for reading this story and also for the review! Such support really helps me out a lot =)
Rena: Phew, I think that's it. So, how'd I do as SL?
Aisha: I'd give you a 2/10.. I still think I could've done better *still sulking*
Elsword: What? That was more like a 324242/10. She nailed it!
Aisha: Shaddup -.- *very pissed now* ANYWAY, ISN'T THIS A/N GETTING A LITTLE TOO LONG?
Rena: Yeaaahhh... Since we're practically done here, I supposed we can ditch this place. Back to our base!
Elsword: So who's carrying SL?
Everyone but Elsword: Not it.
Elsword: ... I feel loved. *drags SL along the ground*
Thank you to all of my beloved readers! See you at the next update! ;D