Author's Note: Oops, I forgot to submit this chapter. . . Sorries.

Divided Realms

Chapter 20: Elsword

"Thanks," I said as Elsword finished tying up the gauze onto my arm. "So you're really here. . ." I reached out to pinch his cheek.

"Y-Yeah, I can't believe you're here." Elsword swatted my hand away with a slight pout on his face and I let out a slight chuckle. He never did like it when I treated him like a little kid.

"You've certainly grown," I noted. When the two of us weren't attacking anymore and had approached each other, I realized that he was an inch or two taller than I was.

"You have too," Elsword said and smiled. "But not as much as I have!"

"It's about time, too," I teased. "I always wondered if you were ever gonna get bigger!"

"Of course I was! I was. . . just taking my time." Elsword's smile disappeared as he asked, "But. . . where's our father?"

"I don't know," I answered truthfully. Sieghart had left us almost immediately after we arrived back in Bermesiah; he had the right idea. Right now, I bet he was in hiding.

"Why'd you cut your hair short?" Elsword asked me, reaching a finger out to the short hair I now wore.

"It was necessary," I said. "This group I was in, every member of it will be executed if we're found, and I'm known for my long, red hair." I took a look at Elsword's own hair.

He'd let it grown out, but he tied some strands of his hair together, giving him two tied strands in front and a thin ponytail in back. As always, Elsword's hair looked as if he hadn't combed it for a few weeks.

"You let your own grow out," I noted. "Careful they don't mistake you for me."

"They'll realize I'm not you when they realize I'm not a girl. Plus, I could handle them on my own."

I said nothing at that. Elsword was still a bit like me; quick to anger, quick to rush in without thinking. He still had some growing up to do, as did I, really.

"Are you traveling alone still?" I asked, sort of doubting that. I mean, if Elsword was alive and well, it was possible he made a few friends along the way.

"No, I travel around with my friends now," Elsword said, smiling again. "They're good friends. Except Rena's kind of scary." Elsword began looking a little scared now, and I wondered just how scary this Rena person was.

"Who's your friends you travel with?" Elsword asked, looking eager, and it was hard not to feel his enthusiasm. It had been so long since we last seen each other. I mean, only a couple years or so, sure, but it felt so long.

"We technically don't travel much anymore due to the current happenings," I said, "but they're Lire, Arme, Lass, Ryan, Ronan, Jin and Amy. Two of them are dead though, and the other two, I have no clue. . ."

Elsword came over and sat down next to me, put an arm around my shoulders, and pulled me into a hug. I would've cried then but I had already cried after the funeral; I had cried all I could that day, and now I felt as if I couldn't cry again. At least not now, anyway.

"I haven't lost a friend yet," Elsword said after awhile. "And. . . I don't really want to. I mean, first we both lost our father, then he came back, then got lost again, then I lost you and. . ."

"Elsword, you won't ever lose father, as he'll never die," I said, "but you'll lose me one day, forever. Or I'll lose you forever first, but you know you can't be thinking about that forever."

"I-I know but. . . It'll be so sad!" Elsword cried and he hugged me tightly.

"Elsword. . ." I warned as I patted his arm.

He pulled away and put on a big smile. "I'll try, I'll try! 'kay, sis?"

I smiled back. "Promise you won't linger upon the losses, okay?"

"Promise!" Elsword said.

"Now then," I said, "tell me the friends you've made on your journey, and the places you've been."

"Wait, you didn't tell me 'bout the places you've been to!" Elsword frowned.

"I asked you first," I told him. "Which means you gotta tell me first!" Deep down, I just wished that Elsword would just keep this little kid part of him forever, but that'd just be selfish of me.

"Fine, fine, okay. Um, first, I met this girl named Aisha," Elsword said, holding up a finger. "We kind of argue a lot, but we get along well for the most part now!" Kind of reminded me of Arme and I; we argued quite a lot, but now we got along quite nicely. "Then there's Rena; she's kind and smiles like, a lot, and she's really friendly. But she's. . . scary when mad." Here, Elsword started shaking a bit. What had this Rena girl done?

"There, there, I'm sure she's not as bad now, right?" I said encouragingly while holding Elsword close to me.

"Y-Yeah, we all learned not to make her mad," Elsword said, his shaking stopping. "But sometimes we do. . . But it's not that bad.

"Then there's Raven. He's pretty strong and he's really knowledgeable about fighting and swords! In fact, he taught me a bit," Elsword continued. "Though, that was after he opened up to us after awhile. He used to be kind of silent and brooding. He's quite serious.

"Lastly, there's Eve. She's. . . hm. . ." Elsword paused for a second. "She's. . . Do you know what an android is?"

"A. . . what?" I looked at Elsword, confused.

"She's. . ." Elsword hesitated. "Would you be shocked or surprised if I said she's half human, half robot? 'Cause that's what she is."

It was shocking.

"How. . . does that work?" I asked.

"I'm not really sure," Elsword answered. "I guess it just does."

"Well, how is she. . . half robot?" I tried asking.

Elsword just shrugged. "I really don't know. She doesn't say anything about it. It seems to kind of pain her. Actually, she seems kinda emotionless sometimes, but she used to like slapping me a lot." He rubbed his cheek a bit. "But apparently it's because I broke the Elstone. Either way, she like, shows more human emotions now, and that's good!"

Odd girl, I wonder what happened to her though?

"Your friends sound interesting," I said. "So the five of you just travel wherever or something?"

"Pretty much. We traveled to Ruben and Elder and Besma and Altera and-" Elsword continued but I stopped him.

"Elsword, I, um, don't really know where or what those places are," I told him.

"O-Oh, sorry. Um, it's like a-" Before Elsword could continue, he was interrupted by the sound of breaking glass.

Alarmed, I quickly stood up while drawing my sword. "Who's there?"

I heard Elsword stand up beside me, drawing his rectangular sword. Does he give his enemies concussions or something?

"Run, upstairs," Elsword whispered, and he ran forward and took a left up the stairs. Not thinking, I followed him just as I heard the sound of wood splintering. The sound of footsteps following us made me run faster in an attempt to catch up with my brother.

He jumped up when he reached the second floor and yanked at a string that was attached to the ceiling. Were we going up to the roof?

"Hurry!" Elsword cried as he ran up the stairs to the attic that hadn't even reached the ground level yet.

I jumped onto the stairs and they landed with a thump, nearly throwing me off balance. Through the steps, I could see that our pursuers were some of the soldiers.

"Elesis!"

For a second, I wanted to chop the stairs off so as to keep the soldiers from following, but the wood seemed too thick to cut. Abandoning that, I ran up into the dusty attic, nearly sneezing, and then headed to the ladder in the middle of the room.

There was a square of light that engulfed the ladder and I figured Elsword had already climbed up so I made my way up quickly.

Elsword was at the lowest edge of the roof, and he was motioning for me to get over.

"Are we really jumping the roof?" I cried.

"You're not scared of heights, are you?" Elsword grabbed a hold of my hand, not letting me answer, and pulled both of us off the roof.

The two of us managed to land on the grass below safely, but I paused to glare at my little brother.

"That was stupid, you could've killed one of us!" I yelled, but Elsword just smiled. "What?"

"You and I both know that we were prepared for that jump." Then Elsword pulled me along as he ran into the bushes.