Punishment and Crime
Disclaimer: I would never own Elsword.
Piece IV – Haunting
"Hiyaah!" Aisha smacked her now big wand onto the ground which resulted to a big hole. She was getting used to her new powers. She even learned several new skills.
It was already sunset, and she was still on her personal training ground. It was just a big clearing beside her house. Well, it wasn't a clearing until she decided to cut the trees to have some space.
"Ah. It's the first time I skipped through reading at Add's." She wiped the sweat from her forehead as she looked at the setting sun. "I wanna go there! I even asked nicely if I could come back, yesterday!" Aisha blew her bangs childishly as she complained to herself.
Deciding to just go, she rode her wand and charged full speed ahead. Aisha made use of the new skill she learned by distorting the some space in front and as if cutting it short, she'd accelerate. She even teleported continuously even though it was exhausting her mana a lot.
The sunset turned to night when the mage arrived at her destination. She looked like a mess, which was very clear. Her hair was in disarray, her breaths came short and her skin was covered in cold sweat. She really was the only one to blame for her situation.
"I should've took Cobo…service rather than travelling…from Sander to Hamel…"Aisha said in between pants.
Not even bothering with her appearance, she opened the door lightly. She was so damn tired. She knew that teleporting continuously had a big problem with the mana consumption, but she still used it a lot. She even used a lot of skills to make her go faster like engulfing herself with blue flames and even wasted a Ventus' Potion. The new skills using time and space were used a lot just to be faster.
Why she was in such a rush, she never knew. She just felt like it, it seemed.
Gripping the railings of the stairs, she went upstairs slowly. Once the door was in sight, she mustered all the strength that was left in her to open it. It was definitely a good thing that it was slightly open already. Inside, all she could see was darkness with only an open window to provide so little lighting.
"Is he sleeping already?" Aisha asked herself tiredly.
She scanned the room while squinting her eyes as much as she could. She was having a bad case of mana depletion for a stupid reason. And the guy she was looking for was…sleeping? The white haired teen was seriously sleeping since she could make out the light outlines of his hair on a dark pillow.
"Ah…To have come here for nothing…" The mage finally collapsed onto the floor with a small thud.
Thursday came as fast as it could and brought the sun's rays to wake the white haired teen from his dreamless sleep. He rubbed his eyes ever so slowly and ran a hand through his long hair. He let out a big yawn and stretched his arms.
"Good morning, myself." Add said as he yawned.
Stepping out of his bed, his foot came in contact with something hard. A hard something that wasn't the floor at all. Curiously taking a look downwards, he saw that his foot was on Aisha's head.
"What the heck!?" He immediately retracted his foot.
He clamped his mouth with his hand, scared that he might wake up the mage. He was reminded by a nasty scene where Raven – yes, Raven – became a big icicle for a whole day because he woke the mage up. Rena was the only one who would wake the mage after that incident. She was the only one who'd get away with any sort of punishment that Aisha would do.
A bird, however, came from the open window and flew atop of her purple hair before scratching its claws on it.
"Shit. Shit." Add cursed. "Shoo! Go away!" He shooed the bird with all his might. He even used his Dynamos to get the bird outside hurriedly.
And still, Aisha had yet to wake up. He knew that the scratch definitely hurt and would wake anyone up. He used his Dynamos to poke the mage before using his hands.
Poke.
No response came.
Poke. Poke.
Nothing.
Something was wrong.
She wasn't a light sleeper, but she didn't sleep like a log, too. He felt her temperature, and realized that she was cold. He then saw that her breaths were shallow and came out as barely visible white puffs of cloud.
Panic started to rise from his system through his veins and to the blood filling him. He silently cursed and summoned Apocalypse, a trusty cube-shaped AI. He placed Aisha on top of it, and rode on his Dynamos to go to Sander where he knew a certain strict alchemist that secretly cared for the purple-haired mage.
He once saw the alchemist give the mage extra jerkies and potions when she completed a mission. Even after they defeated Karis, all of them were heavily injured but she immediately rushed first to the mage's aid. All of them wouldn't have minded if who was treated first and last in their battered state, but he forgot to stop his Dynamos from recording. When he reviewed it, he saw that strict and stiff façade of the alchemist fade to one with worry.
As Add flew along with Apocalypse who brought Aisha, they encountered an unfortunate desert storm. He increased their altitude as he swerved sharply to avoid the big gust of swirling sand. He made the decision a second too late which led to the limp body of Aisha getting blown away and into the middle of it all.
Add tried to think calmly and rationally as he looked at Aisha who was slowly becoming unnoticeable around the swirling storm of sands. If he went inside, he would surely be just another victim like Aisha. In such situation, he wouldn't be able to save himself, let alone another person. He could have some harmless homing devices to go after her, but the small particles of sand may go inside it and render it useless.
Was there any other option for him?
His mind clearly had something that would work. He, however, decided to just push it at the back of his mind since it was unreliable, but had almost a hundred percent of success on saving Aisha and himself. Using it was a different story, though. It had around almost a zero chance to succeed.
Traveling through time was definitely not his forte since he just learned it recently. The risk was not worth it at all if he'd rely on just luck. Add, after all, considered himself as an unlucky person. Thus, he only had logic and analysis to accompany him.
He was now wasting precious time.
His mind decided that it was finally time to panic.
Sharp stones grazed Aisha's skin as harsh as ever which made her unconsciously wince. The force of a strong wind led her down into the middle of the storm in which a dark figure was floating and unharmed. The figure was that of a girl's slender body covered in dark robes with some accents of purple here and there. Strands of teal hair came out of her dark hood that covered her eyes. A smile was plastered on her face as she willed the mage's body to stop in front of her. Her hand glowed in a deathly black as she touched Aisha's forehead with her glowing index finger.
The mage's eyes fluttered open immediately. A scream escaped her mouth afterwards as the hooded woman's smile grew bigger.
"Soon, my dear. Soon." she smiled one last time before disappearing along with the storm.
The familiar scream alerted Add in his panicked state. He then saw that the storm was finally gone and Aisha was down on the sands while clutching her head harshly as she screamed. It was grating to his ears as he heard such a pained scream from the mage. With Apocalypse by his side, they glided down as fast as they could.
"Aisha!" Add called out to the screaming mage.
Aisha looked at him and gripped his pants lightly in her weak state, "Stop it! Please!"
He was confused and panicked. What was it that she wants to stop? It was then that he noticed the small wounds that started to bleed.
"Let's get you treated immediately."
Add was about to carry her, but she shook her head as she pleaded, "Stop it! Add, please!"
"What is it Aisha?!" He hurriedly asked before the mage finally lost consciousness.
Lifting up Aisha's body he decided to just simply carry her in his arms as he glided through the winds above the sands towards sander. Through the silent journey, Add's thoughts were on how the mage was acting after the storm cleared all of a sudden. It was as if it made sure to just appear that right time and place to take her. It was as if it was all planned, but he thought about the incident about her collapsing in his house. Surely, it could all be a coincidence.
He just shook his head and glided further and faster.
"What happened to her?" Vapor, the old yet youthful looking alchemist, asked Add while trying her best to conceal her growing worry.
The white-haired boy simply shook his head, "I really don't know. When I woke up, she was on the floor, cold and barely breathing. When I decided to take her here, she was swallowed in a sand storm, however, after it suddenly disappeared she started screaming. She then collapsed, and now we're here for your help."
"Very well. Lay her down there." Vapor pointed out to a nearby bed with purple covers. Add did what he was told, and decided to dismiss himself. He jumped down a bridge and sat down on the edge of what looked like a clean spot. The water reflected his disheveled appearance, and even with this meticulous attitude, he simply sighed.
He really didn't know what to do with that certain purple haired magician. She made him annoyed with that know-it-all attitude of hers. She made him say so many strange things that he never thought he would. She made him angry for being the nosy and obnoxious mage she was. And yet, she made him worry like hell from how she was moments ago.
It brought up a lot of unwanted memories that he wanted to be kept locked in the depths of his mind. He never thought that he would get worried like that again, not after what happened to his parents.
He sat alone inside the darkness of the closet.
It was when his mother, oh his mother, smiled at him and said, "Go inside the closet and be quiet, okay?" He felt something gnawing at his heart. "We have to deal with some people, Add. Whatever may happen, stay quiet and don't go out, alright?"
He would've asked more, but his mother lightly pushed him into the closet. As she started to close its doors, she said with one last smile, "I love you, Add. We love you, don't forget."
And so, he never moved a muscle and stayed as quiet as he could. He was a smart lad. He knew that the people who were coming to meet his parents were dangerous. Why else would his parents hide him? The logic in his mind said to just stay safe inside and yet, his emotions left him feeling worried.
Soon, blasts of lasers being shot were heard. An unfamiliar scream echoed throughout the house. Fear suddenly crept up his spine as it left the hairs on the back of his neck stand up in alarm.
His parents were smart people, he knew. However, they weren't meant for fighting since they were more suited for researching. A lot of people wanted them dead because of their precious documents, so they travelled a lot to avoid such happenings. This was actually the first time they encountered such…
And it scared him.
Coward.
Not even a minute after the scream started, a voice so lovely, a voice that he kept close to his heart, screamed in agony. Inaudible murmurs came after it.
His world came to a slow as the scream echoed in his ears. He could hear his own heart pounding hard against his small chest. Magenta eyes started to produce moisture as his mouth started to quiver. Add was stubborn, he would never let such tears fall from his eyes.
There was still hope.
Maybe injuries were inflicted, nothing serious.
But everything was crushed when he heard words spoken only by the three of them. It was their own code.
"I love you. Today. Tonight. Tomorrow. Till the end of time. Please escape now, little Add."
The voice of his father was so clear that he could hear that he was in pain. Where was his mother? Add couldn't hear her. He couldn't hear both of them now.
His hands made its work, though. It opened the doors of the closet as fast and as silent as it could. His legs dragged his own body to run away from the house through a small window. However, his eyes also let rebellious clear drops of salty tears fall down his pale cheeks. His quivering mouth let out ever so small sobs.
His mind knew he had to live.
For them.
A/N: I have no excuses. The chapter was finished long ago, I simply forgot to post it up. Sorry for being a prick at updating. During summer time though, I'm quite a fast worker but...school days? Meh. Hopefully, you guys will understand where this story is going. It's kinda hard to do some time and space based fics since it's quite complex. Timelines and all. Read and Review.
-PauleenAnne
