Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword
I don't have a draft or outline of the story written out, so some things may be inconsistent with previous chapters. If you find something like that, please let me know!
RENA
A warm cup of something herbal sits snugly between Aisha's fingers. Elsword sniffs his drink cautiously.
"Drink your tea," Rena tells them. "Then I'll tell you why I brought you here."
"...Why should I care?" Elsword says.
"Just drink it!" She picks up the cup and forces the liquid down his throat.
Aisha, slightly panicked, brings the cup to her lips in a hurry as well. A slender hand on her wrist stops her. "You don't need to drink it. Watch." Rena points at Elsword, who sways drunkenly, slurred curse words slogging out of his throat, before toppling off of the wood stool.
Aisha grabs her staff, pointing it at the woman, slightly worried for Elsword, and just overall frustrated with the world. Mostly because it never gives her a break. She can deal with bees coming after her head and losing her family. She can fight, starve, run, but Aisha doesn't do well with betrayal.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing. He's just asleep." She taps the end of Aisha's weapon. "You should put this away. Didn't I tell you? The spirits don't like arguments."
"...You said they don't like loud arguments," she replies, lowering her hand anyways.
"But actions speak louder than words. You should know." Rena looks at her pointedly. "Now sit down. We need to talk. "
"You know this is all your fault, right?"
"...Yes." The setting makes Aisha think back to her school days, when she sat obediently through class and was the teacher's pet. Except here, she was far from being Rena's favorite.
"If I were human, I'd probably hate you to death." Rena laughs. "But don't worry. I'm an elf. I don't hate you, I just mildly dislike you."
"I'm sorry," Aisha blurts out, because she really is.
The elf raises an eyebrow. "Does it matter? Feelings and words by themselves are useless." Her gaze softens a bit. "At least you're trying to fix it."
Aisha struggles to put her thoughts into words, but fails. So she settle for a simple, "I have to. There's nothing else I could do."
"You could keep hiding. Forget about your grandfather and your parents and that poor girl they made into a queen. You could pretend you're the same as everyone else and don't hold any more responsibility than they do."
"...I could."
"You could. But I doubt that you're that kind of person." Rena stands up abruptly and begins to pace. "That's enough small talk for now."
If that was her idea of small talk, Aisha wasn't looking forward to the rest.
"There are many beings in this world that humans will never see. We're a diverse bunch, but you can generally separate us magicals into three groups by our attitude towards humans. Dislike, neutral, and like. Well, no matter how we feel, we usually try to not get involved in your affairs, but your grandfather was fooling around with dark energy, and he actually created something disgusting out of it. We didn't think he'd get that far," she admits. "In your entire human history, no one has. And this so-called "apocalypse" was the result of his efforts. You know this much at least, don't you?"
"I know it." Her brother's death and the lab experiments were all part of his efforts.
She continues. "Then let me tell you about spirits. Spirits aren't really alive. At a center with a lot of energy, lingering emotions, wishes, regrets, and others gather and condense to form them." A glowing green spirit floats to her outstretched palm. "This is a wind element spirit. A center of magic generally can only produce spirits of one element. This forest is wind, and your Lansing is a water element center."
"Ok?" Aisha says, not sure what relevance this has to anything.
"I didn't finish yet!" Rena clears her throat. "Spirits have never gotten involved with humans. Maybe because humans are inherently non magical, maybe because you've never needed them. But for some reason, when you called them ten years ago, they came to you."
"Called them? I never called for them." To be more precise, she hadn't even known that they'd existed.
"It doesn't matter. What matters is that you're here now and you can use the spirits' power. You're the first witch, too," Rena adds.
"Uh...That's. Cool? Why are you telling me all this?"
"Why are you so impatient? I'm getting there! Remember when I told you and that brat not to argue? It's because spirits can be influenced by the expressed emotions of the living, particularly anger, hatred, sadness. When that happens, they become corrupted. Your grandfather must be an unhappy person full of negative emotions. He probably influenced the spirits and started manipulating them. And that's bad; we've seen what that does firsthand."
Aisha's grandfather hadn't always been like that. Once upon a time, he was a typical grandfather. He walked Aisha to school everyday when she was in elementary school and sometimes picked her up. He read his books and newspapers, took naps in the afternoon, told her stories at night. But that was when her grandmother was still alive.
Her grandfather meets her grandmother when they are in middle school. They first come together as inseparable best friends, then later as lovers. Soulmates, her grandmother says. And Aisha believes her, even though she's already destroyed her faith in anything supernatural after reading science textbooks from the local library. It just wasn't hard to believe at all. Passing strangers on the street could see how utterly at peace and in love they were with each other. From the way they smiled at the other, to the way they spoke, there was so much affection that it gave love to those around them as well. Watching them, Aisha wants her future relationship to be like theirs, though she soon changes her mind one day after a car rams into her beloved grandmother, killing her instantly.
It destroys her grandfather.
She never wants to become like that, Aisha thinks while watching her mother spoon feed her listless, soulless husk of a grandfather.
Aisha wants her grandfather to be normal and happy again. She wants her grandmother back, but she knows it isn't possible, so she gives up on it. Her grandfather doesn't. He never does.
A few months after Aisha's grandmother's death, her grandfather is suddenly overflowing with manic energy. He spends days on end at their family's laboratory, mumbling about a divine power and tries to resurrect her grandmother. It's scary, it's strange, and Aisha wants him to be normal again, but this seems better than before, when he couldn't even find the motivation to live, so she doesn't stop him. Neither do her parents, since, honestly, they're just as lost without her grandmother's love and joy, and they share the same wish as Aisha's grandfather. (Not to mention the fact that they're uncannily interested in the new energy her grandfather has and its potential.)
After four years of endless experimentation, they succeed in creating the first prototype of a bee.
"-llo? HELLO?" A finger flicks Aisha's forehead painfully. "IS AISHA IN RIGHT NOW?" Rena's irritated face refocuses in front of her. "Did you fall asleep?"
"No, sorry. I was just remembering something." Aisha rubs at the surely red spot on her forehead, absently noting the loose piece of white cloth tied around her hand. A part of it is stained brownish red with her blood from the cut yesterday. She didn't tie it, so it must've been Elsword.
The table shudders when Rena slams her hand onto it to get Aisha's attention. "Pay. Attention. I'm not finished yet. Just sit there and listen carefully, ok?" She scowls at Aisha, who nods her head frantically.
"Have you ever wondered why those things can't be hurt by normal human weapons? It's because as corrupted as they are, they're still magic, and only magic can hurt magic. Which means that they're also causing a lot of trouble for the magical community. Another thing. News in our community travels fast. Do you get it?"
"...No? Get what?"
Rena rolls her eyes. "I know that the apocalypse is because of you, so everyone else is bound to know as well."
Aisha winces out of sheer guilt.
"And since I know that you're here trying to get to Lansing, everyone knows that too. The general consensus of the community right now is to not help your journey, because we want to see you struggle as you try and repent." Rena tilts her head, regarding Aisha impassively."You're the spirits' chosen, for some reason. It confused me, and many others, because why they'd choose such a coward," she spits, "is beyond me."
Aisha says nothing, stunned by the pure hatred in her eyes. This was far from "mildly dislike".
"Ah. Sorry." Rena blinks, dispelling her previous intensity. "I got a little emotional. It's just that I had to bury my friend because of you."
A familiar pain grips Aisha's heart as she bows her head. She looks up again, hearing Rena walk over to Elsword's prone body.
"I brought you here today for two reasons. One is to tell you of the expectations everyone has for you, and to warn you to not fail again. The second reason is because-"
She's cut off as a beam of brilliant light falls on Elsword from the heavens, sending a warm tingling throughout the room.
"-of that," she finishes.
Aisha scrambles around the table to see.
Rena motions for her to stand back. "You're the spirits' chosen," she repeats. "And he's the chosen one of the goddess. She asked me to bring him here so she could deliver a…...gift, of sorts."
"But why did you knock him out?"
"She said she'd send it when he falls unconscious."
"And why did it take so long?"
"...I'll let you figure that out later." Rena smiles coldly.
Aisha is about to ask what kind of gift it is, when the light coalesces into a man. He lands on Elsword's back in a tangle of long limbs.
She nearly chokes on air.
While Aisha gets over her shock (Because how is that, in any shape or form, a gift?), Rena pulls up the both of them by the collar, one in each hand.
"What the fuck…?" Elsword groans, clawing at Rena's hand and gawking incredulously at the man with gray hair.
He returns Elsword's gaze expressionlessly.
"The goddess gave you this." Rena shakes the man in Elsword's face. "Be grateful and accept him and take good care of him."
"What….?"
The elf tosses them both out of her house, then kicks the door shut. "Wait for a bit. I need to talk to Aisha some more."
The two men have an indecipherable conversation outside, and Elsword shouts back. "Hey, brat! We're going back to the car. Hurry up!"
"Don't steal my car!" Aisha screams back, irritated.
"Who would steal that piece of junk?" His voice sounds fainter, coming from farther away.
Rena snaps her fingers in Aisha's face. "Over here. I have more to say."
"Yes?"
"How were you planning on stopping the bees?"
"...I was going to ask my grandfather." It's only a half truth, but Rena seems to get the other unsaid part too.
"That's not the only way. Magic is powerful, but complicated magic, like your grandfather's, has many limitations. If you kill the queen, then everything else should stop as well."
"The queen?"
"You know who it is, right?"
"...I know."
"Kill her, and it won't have to be someone else." Rena's eyes flash gold. She knows who it is too, and they both know who the 'someone else' refers to.
"One last thing. When you see Raven, you know, that tallish guy with the metal arm, send him here, won't you?"
The way she says it makes Aisha feel it's not a request, so she agrees quietly.
As Rena shoos her out, she says, "Aisha. The spirits aren't alive or conscious, but they have an affinity for certain people. I trust their judgement. I'm sure you're stronger, better, than what you and others think."
With a slight upturn of her lips, she shuts the door in Aisha's face.
Aisha only ends up more confused than before.
In front of the car, Elsword and the other man are having a silent standoff.
Elsword breaks it off when she approaches. "Did she tell you what to do about him?" He jerks a thumb in the other's direction.
"No?" Aisha frowns. "But she said he was a 'gift', so he's probably useful. Who and what are you?"
"I am Ainchase Ishmael. Ain, if you'd like." Ain says, bowing his head slightly. "I am a holy being created from the Goddess' power."
"...So what can you do?" Elsword asks.
"The Goddess' power is like poison to corrupted spirits. I can purify the bees."
"Are you supposed to be like a bodyguard then?"
"No. I can only purify one."
Elsword throws his hands up in disbelief. "So you're like one of those single-use disposable wet wipes!"
Aisha punches him, smiling at Ain. "What do you mean by purify?'
"It means that I can revert them back to human."
About to throw a punch right back, Elsword freezes. "...That's bullshit."
"Believe what you will, but it is the Goddess' gift to you. One life." With that said, Ain walks to the back of the car and climbs into the trunk, closing it shut behind him.
There's an awkward pause where neither of them know what to do.
"...Let's go. I'll drive." Elsword wears an unreadable expression on his face.
She finds it strange that Elsword volunteers to drive when he'd been complaining in the morning about how tired he was because she'd fainted, but Aisha isn't one to say no to more rest, so she takes shotgun.
About thirty minutes after they exit the forest, purple mountains sprout over the horizon and it starts to rain.
She's about to doze off when Elsword speaks up.
"She said it was your fault."
Aisha can't breathe.
"...How much did you hear?" So this was what Rena meant. The gift from the Goddess should've been sent the instant he fell asleep. He heard it all.
"She said that her friend was dead because of you," Elsword says. "My sister is dead because of you."
Aisha opens her mouth to apologize, but Elsword cuts her off.
"Shut it. I don't want to hear it."
"I-"
"I'm going to Lansing to kill my sister, for good, because I can't stand that she's being used to do things that she hated. She would've rather died than hurt others."
"...You don't have to kill her. What about Ain?" Aisha says softly.
Elsword laughs caustically. "Don't tell me you actually believe that? Oh wait. You do. You have strong magic because you believe in it, right? Too bad you're too much of a fucking coward to do anything with it."
"Do you hate me?"
"Of course," he snarls. "My sister was the only one I had."
From the way his hands clench around the steering wheel, Aisha can tell that it's true.
A feeling similar to relief wells up within her, because hatred is what she needs.
When they get to Lansing, the queen will be there, and so will Aisha's grandfather. Ain will save Elsword's sister, since even if Elsword doesn't say it out loud, they all know that's what he wishes for.
Aisha will be there, and Elsword will be there too, full of hate. Hatred will make his swords faster, more vicious, so that after the apocalypse ends, he'll be the one to kill her when she's gone.
Hatred is a promise of her end, and that's exactly what she needs.
[EXTRAS]
Why didn't Rena, who cares so much about the forest, follow them back to the car?
- she was cooking soup, and it was about to boil over
How does Rena know so much?
- she can kind of communicate with the spirits, and they're everywhere
A/N:
That took a really long time. I wasn't planning on updating this week bc I was busy with tests (I had three this week sadly) and bc I was working on a different fic. But oh well. This chapter was really hard to write, since I kept changing the plot and I had to come up with a bunch of cover stories to cover up future plot holes. And I had a lot of trouble with the ending.
Hopefully this chapter made some things more clear, like why Aisha and Elsword are traveling. Ain is here! Some things might not match up and maybe weren't explained clearly enough (even I'm confused), so if you have questions, just ask.
Reply to reviews:
Yes, Rena is supposed to be anemos here. Originally supposed to be daybreaker, but then she turned out a bit mean, so, not anymore!
I forgot to say this in the last chapter, but Rena was able to sneak up on them and blend in using magic. So that's why Aisha thought she knew her from somewhere and why Elsword didn't notice.
And yeah, during an apocalypse, finding someone with similar goals would really increase your bond, I think, but it's not happening with them sadly...
I'm glad my style doesn't bother you, I'll practice hard!
Thank you Guest, SenzaUchiha, RyutheNeko, and flonnechan love freak for reviewing!
Next chapter, some people (won't spoil) and maybe Raven will show up.
Thanks to everyone who read!