Hello everyone! This is a sequel to my Elsword story series. The series is currently two full stories and a companion short story series.

The stories the series consists of are Relearning the Seraph, Finding the Blazing Heart, and Anecdotes of a Small Child.

Relearning the Seraph is story one of the series, mainly an ElsEve. It gives the main premise that the series is founded on, as well as why Seris is alive.

Yes, Seris is alive. Relearning the Seraph explains why, but this story gives an inklet of a hint too.

Finding the Blazing Heart is the second story in the series and is a relationship developments between Chung and Elesis. It also contains a Pichu.

I do not own Elsword or its characters. But I ship Elsword and Eve, Raven and Seris, and Chung with Elesis.

I own my conceptual format of Seris; including her class I made called Body of Light. My boyfriend and I share joint ownership of Cedric.

My boyfriend and I also own the "mystery child" that appeared last chapter, and is finally discussed in this chapter.

Speaking of my boyfriend, check out his stories! He is called The Lost Son of Gaia on here, and would definitely appreciate readers!

(His Elsword stories are a treat, please don't miss out.)

Please enjoy and review!

Classes:

Elsword: Rune Slayer

Eve: Code Nemesis

Rena: Wind Sneaker

Raven: Blade Master

Chung: Deadly Chaser

Aisha: Dimensional Witch

Ara: Sakra Devanam

Elesis: Blazing Heart

Embracing the Future

~/~

Chapter 2: Pacts and Promises

'Family eases away the suffering of the past...even if not by blood...'

By the next day, everything had come clear as to situations. Rena had been charged with the care of her newborn baby brother, Tyrell, for an undetermined amount of time by her busy parents. The boy was barely a week old already, with tiny little blond hairs in his head and light blue eyes. He was super small, with cute elf ears, and he was fully under Rena's capable care. However, she was having to devise a plan for doing her work across Elrios while taking care of him now. Aisha and Ara had already volunteered to help her though, so there wasn't likely to be many problems. At least...not yet. Eve had put together battle memories and systems for Mira, leaving the girl with an understanding of the sword like her father and of the use of machinery like her mother. This would allow her to travel with them and assist her parents in their battles to help the world in which they lived. Since Cedric was still young as well as unable to fight however, Elsword and Eve were still planning to rotate with his parents as they had already been doing. Seris and Raven were continuing their processes in raising their son, but they had a new responsibility in a very angry child newly named Alma now. The fierce and brooding child still refused to sleep with her 'new parents' seeing as she did not accept them, so despite many protests...the young one had the couch. She was still in rebellion on them, so she was still restricted, and therefore was currently sleeping in a locked living room every night; the ElGang didn't want to release her to a situation where she could be dangerous...or endangered herself. This was something that still worried Raven however...

Today was his day home with Seris, Cedric, and Alma while everyone was away...

"Are we eating with Alma again, love?" Seris inquired softly.

He nodded, "Yeah, we are. Hopefully we get somewhere today."

The woman frowned slightly, then looked at him, "Ah, Raven?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind...if I ate alone with her today?"

His eyes widened and he looked at her, "Wha-?"

"I want to see if I can get through to her. And I...want to do this alone..."

Raven was shocked, but he slowly nodded, "Okay Seris. I believe in you then. I'll watch Cedric when he wakes up, alright?"

"Thank you..." She carefully finished making breakfast, nodding to him.

Softly, she handed him a plate, made one for her sleeping son, put one together for Alma, and then kissed his cheek before heading down the hall to where the locked living room was. The man couldn't help but smile at how beautiful she was. Not just because she was tall and endowed, but because she was absolutely majestic. The brightness of her white skin, the kindness of her golden heart, the gentleness of her emerald eyes, and the light within the love she had for so many people around her. God, he really loved her, he really loved his Seris. As he watched her go, listening to her open the door with her key, he heard Cedric come walking in, and gently got the boy around to breakfast. Somewhere inside, he had a deep feeling that his wife would make some sort of progress with Alma.

"Hey, Chung?" Elesis inquired.

"Yeah...?" he slowly replied, still staring at the water.

The pair were resting for a moment at Chung's hometown of Hamel, while the other girls were still helping the Velder area, and Mira was being trained by her parents in the Feita area. The redhaired woman could tell the young man was perturbed as he sat with his girlfriend there by the fountain. She reached out softly, her hands warm as they settled on his face, gently holding his cheeks as she smiled comfortingly at him while making him look at her.

"Chung...don't be sad. I promise to help you find your father...I swear.."

He managed a small smile, softly resting his face onto her shoulder, "Thanks Elesis..."

She smiled softly, gently patting his head as he hid his face in her shoulder. She vowed to help him, somehow. It was the only way she could repay him for all he had already done for her in their short time of dating. He nodded thankfully, resting against her as she wrapped her arms around her, listening now as he calmly told old anecdotes of his father and him. It was important to him, and the Blazing Heart refused to miss out on it. This person was very special in many ways, and he had been the one to show her the blue sky in place of the crimson one she had once faced. Softly, she hummed a soothing tune to him, letting him release his concerns and sorrows of his father to her. Stay, the Pichu, remained close to her owners, letting out tiny sounds now and then.

"Mira, be careful! Don't lose control of the sword!"

Struggling, the child was followed by her own small drones as she swung her sword at enemies. It was smaller, and more katana-like than anything, but she was still having difficulty with it for now. Backed up by Elsword and Eve however, as well as her own drones, the parents were ensuring that no harm came to their daughter. Since she had the ability to create like her mother did, the young child had made a pair of pink and black drones to help her named Liri and Kiri. Her blade, crafted by Hanna in Velder, was a sword that the girl had named Starshine Future for the gold and silver coloring. The two metals had been mixed with steel and mithril to craft such a sword, before Hanna had happily wrapped a pink ribbon around the handle for Alma. It wasn't too heavy a sword due to how it had been made, but it was strong, and it was something for Mira to learn.

"Liri! Kiri! Stay right there until I stop moving!"
Turning, Mira stabbed her sword into the ground, gripping it as she then swung her body around to kick an enemy nearby. This doubled to stop Mira in place, which her drones rejoined her afterward as her parents rushed after her. They were amazed at the tactic, but it was obvious she had lots to learn about her combat styles. Still, that motion could come in handy in battle, and her parents definitely had faith in her developing abilities.

"Nice job Mira!" Elsword called, "You definitely have a lot to learn though."

"You did good. Let's keep working on it," Eve nodded.

"Thanks Mother, thanks Father. Please continue to help me get stronger."

"We promise to," Elsword and Eve agreed softly.

Over in Velder, Aisha was cradling Rena's brother while waiting for Ara and said elf to get back from another run of Residential Area 3, which they hoped would possibly yield some hints of who or what Alma was. The pair was not having much luck though as they explored the alleyway where they had found her, and continued to fight off enemies while they did. The creatures here were unforgiving! Asiha, meanwhile, decided to talk to some of the other people in Velder about Alma, but none of them knew anything of her. Many families had been lost in different situations, so it was hard for anything to pinpoint her origins...or the origin of her severe hatred. So Aisha remained with the baby in Velder, waiting for her friends to return...

"You're weird," Alma grumbled pointedly.

"Me? Why am I weird?" Seris inquired.

"Why are you nice to everyone? You're even being nice to me, and you know I hate your," She did air quotes, "-husband. And your friends. And you!"

"I don't think you mean that," The woman responded calmly, "-I don't think you actually hate any of us. You probably don't even have a reason on your head."

"I-" The girl stopped, staring wide eyed.

"You don't hate any of us. You're just scared."

"You're wrong! I do hate all of you!" She cried, clenching her fists.

"Okay. Why?"

"Because you...you all are trying to save the world..." She looked away, "-but no one saved me or my family. Why should I be nice to any of you? I have nothing left anymore!"

"You have Raven and I. He's been worried about you, after all."

She laughed bitterly, "Yeah, and?"

"We do want to take care of you. Give you a family again."

Alma shook her head, the answer not good enough, "Why? I'm the child that hates you all."

"That doesn't mean you don't deserve a family!" protested Seris, before sighing softly, "You deserve a family as much as any of us, Alma. Not to mention, you seem to be more alike to my husband than you may understand. I believe that's why he's trying to help you too, because he sees a little of himself."

Alma frowned a little, starting to see how unfair she was being now, "I'm...like him?"

"Yeah. You know, Raven lost just about everything he cared about in an instant because a jealous friend of ours framed him. He lost his important status and...for three years, he even lost me. I risked my life to rescue him, and was nearly killed; while he was taken and placed under evil control. He was forced to murder and destroy the town he had loved, Alma," Seris closed her eyes, "-and I know that made him angrier than anything."

The small child bit her lip, trying to process, "I see...so he is...like me..."

Seris nodded, "I promise Alma...none of us here will hurt you. We promise to give you love and a family again."

Young Alma didn't seem to know what to do with this information, but she stood up quietly with slightly dull eyes. Seris watched her quietly, quite concerned for the small child that was now in motion. The small girl's dark hair flowed long, almost black if not for the lighting revealing the purple tinting. Quickly, in her concern, the woman called out to the young girl...

"Alma, are you okay?"

"Set a blaze tonight

To burn away the bleeding memory

Let's light a fire in this darkness

Build the torched ash to the sky

Ablaze the wrongs done in the pitch black..."

Seris blinked, surprised at the lyrics the girl had sung for sure. They were dark lyrics after all. However, something else was bothering her. First of all, the girl was ignoring her now, and her rust-colored eyes seemed entranced. However, it was worse when she sang, because Seris noticed that the toning sounded like there was two voices within it. Alma's was a dark, deep, and cold, nearly cruel voice when it sang...but it still sounded feminine to a point. The other was deeper...and one that sounded manly. That wasn't the only problem though, Seris realized. In fact, this wouldn't have frightened her so badly if that deeper, manly voice had not sounded so familiar. She began wondering if maybe she had heard it wrong, and maybe it didn't sound familiar at all. There was no way after all, right?

Because it sounded like Raven...

I own the lyric Alma sings. To my knowledge, no song goes like that...if one does, please tell me, and understand that I did not know.

So a voice sounded like Raven, hmm?

What do you guys think?

Review and enjoy!