SPECTATOR
By MargaritaDaemonelix
Chapter 3
As your best friend paces the floor, the only idea you have left is to raid her kitchen for food.
Eve never really eats in the penthouse. Her every meal is in her brother's suites or in another part of Altera. As such, her kitchen is always loaded with food. While she frantically walks through her bedroom to the balcony and back out again, you help yourself to a pitcher of lemonade and pour out some frozen apple fries, which Eve usually loves.
"Hey Eve, mind if I steal some of your apple fries?" You ask, despite knowing roughly what the answer will be.
"Seventeen plus six, that's twenty… Twenty three…" She's still doing math. You don't know why you even bothered to ask.
You stick the apples fries in her toaster oven and set it for ten minutes before pouring yourself a glass of lemonade. Almost immediately, you spit it out into one of the sinks. Either it's been spiked, or Eve has just simply left it in her fridge for way too long. It almost tastes like a margarita at this point. Just needs a little salt rim and some mint.
You're old enough to drink, but at the same time, you're also still on duty, so you're not allowed to. Nevertheless, you pour the rest of your glass, as well as the entire pitcher, down the drain. Maybe sometime soon you'll be able to enjoy a good drink with your dad, you think as you wash out the glass and the pitcher.
You decide to make a new pitcher of lemonade. Both you and Eve have a hatred of ordering stuff from downstairs, since it means someone will have to make the trip up the fifty floors to get to her penthouse. As you juice a lemon, Eve comes into the kitchen, evidently following the scent of her apple fries.
"Did you solve the thing?" You ask, stirring the lemonade with a wooden spoon.
Eve sighs. "The result came to zero," she reports as she opens a jar of mayonnaise and scoops a dollop into a small bowl, sticking the spoon in her mouth afterwards. "I don't know why my brother sends me such trivial things," she says, biting on the spoon to keep it from falling. "There are many things I still have to learn, but simple math is not one of them."
Simple your ass. The problem he gave her had fifteen parts, and took two pages to be printed out, double sided. The two of you silently prepare the food as the timer on the toaster over ticks into oblivion.
Eve's brother had the toaster oven hauled up and installed so that it would be convenient for her to reheat food, should she be hungry. What he didn't realize was that the oven had two sound effects to show that the time was up. One was a loud "BEEP BEEP BEEP. BEEP BEEP BEEP". The other was an oddly off tune playing of Mary Had a Little Lamb. It got on her nerves, so Eve hooked it up to her computer and messed around with the settings. She even recorded a sound clip from you for it.
When the timer finally ends, instead of the creepy minor-key nursery rhyme, your own voice is the one yelling out.
"EVE, YOUR APPLE FRIES!"
Eve really does have an apple fry obsession.
You turn off the toaster oven and pull the freshly baked slices out of the oven. The entire baking plate is still too hot to handle, so you scoop the fries out of the plate with the same spoon you used to stir with lemonade with. You're too lazy to get a new one, anyhow.
Eve is already in her bedroom, sitting on her bed as her hunting birds, Moby and Remy, dance around her. They've been with her since the two of you were children, and they've been very close to you since you met them. The two of them have stark, different personalities, which is quite clear when you see them Eve playing with them. Moby is the shy one, Remy is the brash one. Moby is a wanderer. Remy is an adventurer.
The two birds fly to hover around you as you take the apple fries and lemonade to Eve's room. She's sitting crosslegged on her bed, setting up her laptop to watch something. "Your apple fries, milady," you joke, offering the platter to her.
She picks one up, does a little curtsey, and dips it in the bowl of mayonnaise. "Thank you, my knight in white armor," she replies.
Just like that, your heart wrenches into a million pieces. You'll never be her knight in shining armor. Your armor isn't shining as brightly as she'd like. You'll never be good enough for her.
There's a notification in her emails. "Ooh, Nova's new job path has been released!" You gasp. "Descended Angel and Regal Comet."
Eve opens the link. Neither of you really play the game anymore, but you do have friends who still play that constantly tell you about the new characters. Nova was released to your server just a month and a half ago, and her final job path has already been released, which is a small wonder. Usually it takes about half a year for the final job path to appear, even on your server, which is the fastest to update.
The video, which the link brought you to, is short, but explains her playstyle effectively. Nova is a melee character, with incredible aerial mobility but low physical defense and health points. Out of her three job paths, you've only ever played the first, Kaleidoscope Queen. You heard that the second, Eternal Phantom, was incredibly powerful though. Your friend in Ruben plays Eternal Phantom.
And Eve… Eve hasn't played the game in nearly half a year. You wonder if she still even remembers it at all.
By the time the video ends, Eve has already eaten about half the apple fries, and is mopping up the bowl of mayonnaise with another. "Do you want some lemonade, Eve?" You ask, having retrieved both your mugs from the kitchen.
"Yes, please," she says, but grabs the pitcher from behind you and pours one herself. Lemonade sloshes over the side of the pitcher and hits her clean bedsheets, but she doesn't react at all. Superficial mistakes, as you have learned, don't bother her anymore.
As the two of you enjoy the remnants of the apple fries and lemonade, Eve slips on her beloved black hoodie. The two of you bought matching hoodies when you were younger, a black one for her and a white one for you. At the time, you didn't expect to shoot up so tall, so both of you bought the size small. It still fits Eve, which you think is a small wonder.
You struggle to wear it, though. Your dad always said he was a late bloomer, and so are you. At the age of fifteen, Eve was two centimetres taller than you. Less than a year later, you were tall enough to rest your chin on her head.
Sometimes, you wonder if growing up was for better or for worse.
As the two of you begin watching ASMR cooking videos, though, you can feel Eve slowly droop, laying her head on your shoulder gently. "You can go home now, Chung," she says, grasping for her laptop and missing. "I'll take a nap."
Gently, you let her down and close her laptop screen for her. "This is my home," you remind her, but her soft breathing tells you that she's already fast asleep.
Out of habit, you pull the covers over her shoulders and lightly kiss her forehead before putting her laptop on her desk and turning off the artificial lights. There's a single apple fry left in the bowl, which you pop into your mouth as you take the bowls and pitcher away.
Just a year ago, her maid would have done these things for her, but after her mysterious disappearance, you've fallen back into the cycle of caring for Eve's every need yourself. "Have a nice nap," you tell her before leaving.
You know she can't hear you, but you tell her anyways, because you need to let her know you care. As quietly as you can, you slip out of her room, closing the door behind you.
All your gear is still at the door, where you left it. You tug on the boots, then the shoulder pads, then the gauntlets, and finally you heave your launcher over your shoulder. When you leave, you close the door as softly as you can.
The first person you see in the hallway is, thankfully, your dad. "Morning, Chung," he says warmly, ruffling your hair like he always does. "Is Eve alright?"
"She's taking an early nap," you tell him, trying to rub your hair back into place. "She said I could go back to my quarters."
Your dad laughs. "Strong little missy," he chuckles. "Well, I'll be in the next office if you need me."
"Bye dad," you offer, but he's already turning the corner, disappearing from your sight.
The next person you meet is less friendly. Out of all the people you could have met in the elevator, Eve's fiance is not one you had expected, nor one you wanted to meet. "Morning, Kim," you manage as respectfully as you can.
It's like he doesn't care for his hair at all. You're tempted to snip off his unruly white locks yourself. "Good morning, Seiker," he greets, giving you a wry grin. "I assume you're leaving Evangeline's penthouse?"
"Yes." You give the shortest response possible. "By the way, have you taken a look at Nova's new job path?"
Add's purple eyes flicker with excitement. "A bodyguard shouldn't be playing such childish games anymore," he chides, voice covered in bitter sugar. "But yes, Regal Comet does look interesting so far."
He pushes past you. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm visiting my fiancee," he tells you, not bothering to even address you.
The fact that Eve's resting right now registers in your mind. You've never trusted Add with her, and you never will. "Miss Eve would prefer to not be bothered right now," you tell him, turning around in the hallway.
You're not quite as tall as Add, but you're tall enough to glare at him in the eye when he turns back. "Why?" He asks. "For what reason does she prefer to not be bothered? Perhaps you've forgotten, Seiker; I am her fiance."
You're about to chuck your launcher into his gut when the two of you are torn away from each other. As you rub your now sore shoulder, your dad comes into view. "Boys, what seems to be the matter?" Asks your dad, his arms crossed over his chest. He's a naturally tall man, and dwarfs Add by at least a foot.
(you'd probably be just as tall as he is, but your mom was a very petite woman.)
"Sir Seiker, your son was barring me from visiting my fiance," explains Add, "on the account that she doesn't want to be bothered right now."
"In all fairness, that's the truth, Mr. Kim," you say through gritted teeth.
Your dad stares the both of you down, which is a skill you think he must have learned from years of teaching at the academy in Hamel. "Add, I know you want to visit Lady Evangeline, but she is resting right now," he says. "And Chung, by all means you should not be barring Lady Evangeline's fiance from visiting her."
Add looks triumphant. "Thank you, sir," he says. "I guess I'll be visiting Evangeline now-"
Your dad clamps his hand on Add's shoulder. "She's taking a nap," he says. "You know how she is when you wake her up suddenly."
It's a small victory, but it's nonetheless a victory. As Add gives you the evil eye and heads back down the elevator, you can't help but feel a little proud.
As if your spat with Add in the hallway wasn't bad enough, your dad sent you back to your own quarters to "reflect on yourself", as he put it.
You lived with your dad up until you started being Eve's bodyguard, at which point you were given a room one floor below hers. Eve has petitioned multiple times to her brother for you to just move into her penthouse, but Adam Nasod seems to be quite against the idea of his sister living with someone of the opposite gender, even if said person is her childhood friend.
Maybe even one of her only friends.
So you make your room as similar to Eve's as possible. You put your sofa-bed and TV in t living room the same way they're arranged in Eve's living room. Your bedroom is just like hers, with the bed in the corner and all the pillows stacked together. Your desk is just like Eve's, opposite from your bed, and your bookshelf next to the desk has all of your favourite books, and all of hers.
The moment you enter your apartment, you toss your boots off to the side and loosen your tie. It's odd to you that your uniform is white and blue, but your tie is cherry red. You don't have the power or authority to question it, though. You shrug off the rest of your armor, first the shoulder pads, then the gauntlets. The Kevlar underneath your blue vest and black pants you leave on, if only because it's a hassle to get it back on.
Your armor goes into the closet, where microbots clean it with fine motors and tiny brushes. Each individual piece is hung up on its own hook, so when the need arises, you can simply press a button and immediately be fully outfitted.
Finally, you leave your rocket launcher in the closet as well. Your dad firmly believes that having a ranged weapon with the ability to act as a shield is crucial in being a bodyguard. Your rocket launcher is incredibly heavy, but you've gotten used of it. The full set of armor is just as heavy, especially when you've got ammo stored all over.
The rocket launcher is a model called the Destroyer, of a discontinued assembly line. The Destroyer series was designed to prevent gunpowder from into crevices and causing the launcher to explode during combat at close quarters. Instead of using gunpowder, it uses a source of energy known as the Disfrozen.
Disfrozen was designed by scientists in Altera, and Elder, where it was produced. Using thermal energy, it could fire rockets and bullets more efficiently than any other rocket launcher on the market at the time.
Then someone stole the complex formula for the Disfrozen catalyst, and suddenly all the production lines were halted in fear of the formula being altered and causing a thermal crisis. Your Destroyer, along with your dad's, are two of a few surviving Destroyers still being used.
You used to love telling that story to the other trainees in Hamel. That got you nowhere, only scars and a few burns from having your own thermal energy used to power your weapon.
You didn't have any real friends until you met Eve. Back in Hamel, you had only a few friends you were close to. There was a girl named Lucy, a shy girl who sewed clothing and baked cookies for the trainees in her free time. There was Camilla, a young woman about five years older than you, who worked in Altera and hardly ever came home, but brought back stories and delightful candies. And then there was Penensio, your instructor at the military academy, who had worked alongside your dad at some point.
You'd never really made any friends with the other boys your age in military training, though. There were some boys you spoke to and had lunch with, but at the end of the day, you didn't really want to deal with them. You can barely even remember most of their names.
Moving to Altera to become Eve's bodyguard was a blessing. You and four other boys your age-Louis, Oscar, Jakob and William-had been chosen to protect the Commander's younger sister. Everyone at the time had shot you dirty looks, because your dad was-and still is-the man with the highest military rank possible in Hamel. Everyone figured there was something up. Even you knew that your dad had probably arranged for you to become Eve's bodyguard on special premises.
All five of you kept your distance from Eve for the first year or so. That was when you were about nine.
The year you turned ten, there was an assassination attempt. A group of armed individuals infiltrated the tall building called Altera Core, and instead of targeting Adam Nasod, they tried to take his nine-year old sister, Eve.
You'll never forget that day for as long as you live. You heard sirens, and by the time you rushed upstairs to Eve's penthouse, the intruders were already dragging her limp form out.
You remember screaming. So much screaming. It was probably you yourself screaming, now that you think back on it. You remember watching Eve wake up in a trance, staring at the blood staining her snow-white clothes. You remember bashing your Destroyer into someone's head, and being horrified at the sheer thought of having killed someone.
You remember seeing the other boys come upstairs after you'd secured the other would-be assassins. You remember carrying Eve downstairs to her brother's suites. You remember being interrogated by Adam, then Penensio, then your dad.
Both you and Eve still have scars from that attack.
After that, the other boys slowly disappeared from Altera. You heard from a maid that William got sent to Ruben at some point when you were thirteen, and that Louis ended up in Sander, but you haven't gotten word of them since.
You got to know Eve better slowly after the assassination attempt. Her first words to you after the incident were a quiet "thank you". Little by little, you got to learn more about her. How she loved apple fries and Earl Grey. How she'd never harm a soul, how she adored her brother.
You learned more about her after her brother decided to drop her in a politically-arranged marriage at the age of 15. Things like the way her hair always smells like lavender. The clothes she likes to wear to formal events. The way her beautiful orange eyes swim in honey when she wants to cry.
You were there when her parents left her, and in turn, she was there for her when your mom left you, offering you a rare shoulder to cry on when the rest of the world expected you to be stoic.
Eve was the one to introduce you to the MMORPG that you quite enjoy now. Even though it bothers you that she added her fiance to your guild(and the fact that her fiance even plays this game) you still love it.
You don't play as much these days, though, because there's so much salt in the arena, and there haven't been any new dungeons released in a while. Your main is at the level cap, but most of your characters are at varying levels that are much lower.
The one good thing you got out of this game was a friend. RuneSlayer12, or RS as people call him, was one of the highest ranking players on your server. You encountered him many times in the arena, until one day, he began chatting with you via the game's chatbx. Apparently he and this girl who went by ElementalMaster33 were in the same guild until both of them got kicked out, so you ran by Eve to make sure it was okay to add them to yours.
RS is a cool guy. Knowing him as who he really is-Elsword Sieghart from Ruben- is even cooler. Apparently EM got kicked out of her own house and she now lives with him. He's one of your few sources of information on the outside world. Maybe he doesn't know anything about your caste and your occupation, but maybe that's for the better.
He hasn't been online for a few days, but now he is, and by the looks of it, he has an urgent message for you. You open the chat client the both of you use and log in.
RS: CHUNG CHUNG CHUNG
RS. ANSWER ME CHUNG
TT: If this is about Nova's new job path, I'm not interested.
RS: WHAT NO
RS: ALTHOUGH TO BE FAIR REGAL COMET IS PRETTY CRAPPY IN COMPARISON TO ETERNAL PHANTOM
RS: I MEAN HAVE YOU EVEN SEEN HER HYPERACTIVE? SHE LOSES INVINCIBILITY IMMEDIATELY
TT: If you can throw in a mana potion or complete recovery potion you can start spamming her other skills.
RS: THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M HERE TO TALK ABOUT, EVEN THOUGH ETERNAL PHANTOM REALLY NEEDS TO BE NERFED.
TT: You play EP and you want her to be nerfed?
RS: DID YOU SEE THE THING ON TV THE OTHER DAY
You're confused. What happened on TV? Did someone fart during Adam Nasod's last speech? Did that one show with the robot lions that Eve really likes come back for a third season?
You can't let Elsword know that though.
TT: I heard about it! Didn't see it myself though
RS: OH EL BLESS.
RS: YOU'D HAVE LOST THE LAST SHREDS OF YOUR INNOCENCE IF YOU'D WATCHED IT.
TT: Explain.
RS: OKAY SO THEY WERE LIVE BROADCASTING COMMANDER NASOD'S SPEECH RIGHT
(well that explains why you didn't watch it; you were on the set of the speech)
RS: AND THEN IT JUST GOES DARK
RS: AND THIS GUYS STARTS TALKING
RS: AND THEN THEY PUT ON THE PICTURE OF THE HEAD LIBRARIAN AT THE SANDER ARCHIVES
RS: AND THEN
RS: OH. MY. EL.
RS: THEY KILLED HER, CHUNG
RS: LIKE, THEY RIPPED OUT ALL HER HAIR AND EVERYTHING
RS: I'M GETTING SICK JUST THINKING ABOUT IT
RS: just... ugh
RS: but yeah thank el you didn't see it
Your eyes widen with each coming message. The Head Librarian at the Imperial Sander Archives? Dead? Murdered in cold blood? How could someone with such an important position have lacked the protection in an attack?
Then it hits you. There was no one there to protect her.
Whoever ordered her assassination was a higher rank than she was. Even Sander isn't safe anymore.
You attempt to type a response to Elsword's words, but you delete each comment as it comes along. He must have seen the little bubbles that pop up each time you type, because after a few minutes, he responds first.
RS: I know. Really fucked up, isn't it.
TT: Why... Just why? Does no one in the higher castes have any form of morality anymore?
RS: I hope they do.
RS: EM's theory is that the head librarian knew things that she wasn't supposed to know.
RS: So they took her out.
RS: Don't think about it. for now, we're still safe
RS: unless the government is monitoring us right now
RS: in which case Hey folks up there in Altera, we're just having a civil conversation we don't intend to end up like the Head Librarian, plz don't murder us, thank you
You can't help but snort. The stories about Altera monitoring all digital conversations are simply myths. No one in Altera has the time or energy to be doing such things, and even the most advanced AI can fail in the face of understanding slang.
Your friend doesn't know that, of course.
For his own sake, though, you need to let him know eventually. In the event that something does happen, the both of you will need backup. Eve is mere putty in her brother's hand, as much as she hates to admit it.
Speaking of Eve, she's online again. Her monicker, BattleSeraph01, has given her nickname "Princess Bullshit", which she usually responds to with a swift smack to the face, an insult, or, when her brother brought it up, a glare. She's got an urgent message for you, blinking in the soft pink she sets her theme colour as.
You turn back to your conversation with Elsword.
TT: I g2g, stay safe.
RS: you too, my dude.
Immediately, you turn to your conversation with Eve. Since you spend most of your time with her anyways, the two of you hardly ever use the chat. It's mostly filled with her asking you to pick up more apple fries, or you asking her what her brother changed the wifi password to.
The message today is oddly serious, though.
BS: Chung, you must come upstairs at once.
BS: I have received word that my brother has found our blueprints for our biggest plan.
BS: He is not aware that we concocted such a plan, however.
BS: Further action must take place immediately.
It takes you a while to decypher. You and Eve never made any blueprints together, but you have had little projects. Project Mintbox, for example, was a plan the two of you made to smuggle a pair of laser pistols up from Adam Nasod's arsenal, for protection in the event of another attack. It went fairly successfully-the two of you were caught in the act, but Adam Nasod approved of the plan nonetheless, and Eve received formal training to work the weaponry.
Your biggest plan ever was codenamed Project Crescent. A project to rescue a person-Eve's former maid. You and Eve risked so much to get her maid out of Altera… To think that Adam had found her, to think that all of Eve's careful planning and hard work had gone to waste...
TT: Copy that, milady. I will be there shortly.
A/N: I needed something to take my mind off the elections, and I don't even live in the states...
This was by far the easiest chapter for me to write, possibly because I'm familiar with writing Eve and Chung already.
Also shameless self plug for my OC Nova find her on my dA I haven't actually drawn much Nova in a while welp
A special thank you to users Ducky and Izzy, Amy Valikie and guest user EternaPhoenix for reviewing! Your support keeps me going! Please review and tell me where I can improve as a writer!
Stay safe, my friends!
~MargaritaDaemonelix
