This one took a very, very long time to finish it, especially to a story like this one and my recent activity on other stories. Hope you still enjoy it.
Battleship to Hamel - day 3
The days pass like the waves that rock the ship from one side to another. Today's weather wasn't that great, the ships crew have been at sea long enough to know that rain is coming, possibly a storm as well
The crew were preparing the ship as a precaution to possible rough waves, as they did so in a haste. They preferred to be cautious than sorry, many lives were saved this way and their instinct only got wrong once, the weather at that time was weird, from soft winds to a gust so strong that it seemed they were in a storm momentarily and the calm sea again.
The El search team were outside of their cabins, trying to relax themselves, though one person couldn't stomach the seasickness, that one was Ara as the waves were making her dizzy, having her grip the ships wooden stairs.
"Hey Ara, I think we should go back to our cabin, you don't look so good..." Chung said with worry towards her.
"N-no, no! I-I'm fine! I just need to get over it!" She nervously laughed, letting go of the stairs to show him that she was fine, though a strong wave made her unbalance herself as she fell on her behind.
Chung nervously chuckled at her actions as she puffed her cheeks in embarrassment.
"How can you guys deal with this? It's not fair!"
"Well, I've been on boats for a long time now, Elesis' a captain of the red knights so she must've traveled a few times and Eve is a Nasod." Chung said to her as he pointed to Eve, who sat down on a table provided by Ciel, drinking tea with him and Lu.
"T-then how about the rest?"
"I can answer that, Ara. We were in a ship, but on the air." Rena came around the corner before listening to their conversation.
"An airship!? How and why?" Ara asked surprised.
"Oh it was back when we met Raven in Altera! It was really an intense experience, since the ship sometimes rocked to the sides or stood still, but those times were rare. So compare to then, this is very calming." She said with a kind smile.
"I-I think I should really stay here then.. I can't let this stop me from taking in the view! Plus, it can act as good training!" She said in renowned spirits.
"Never a day goes by without your spirits being so high." Chung thought to himself as the older girl stood up again, despite her knees being shaky. "Oh yeah, Rena, where were you? Normally, you're with Raven and Elesis." He inquired with curiosity.
"Ah, well, I went to see how Aisha is doing. She hasn't sleep all that well, so I went to check on her." She responded while making a worried expression. "And to check up on our lonely companion, but still no dice."
"Ah, him." During this trip, Add had not come out of his room at all. Just opening his purple screen, adjusting calculations. "Did he said anything yet to you?"
"Still no response. It's funny, he always has his room closed during the day, but at night he has it open. Probably so that Aisha can get back into her bed, at least he's thoughtful in that regard." She answer sadly to him.
"Well, you don't need to worry with him, he'll come out when he's hungry or when he wants to have a midnight stroll. Trust me, okay?" Chung said with some hope on his statement. "How's big sis Aisha doing?"
"She's alright, a little tired, but overall fine! She said that she was going to visit Elesis, wanting to rest a bit before going back, and I quote her own words, that devils den that's just waiting for me to fall asleep'. Such a silly young girl." She smiled, but it was one without much feeling to it, though they didn't catch that.
"I'll check on Add in a bit, just in case. I'm worried about him." He said as he grabbed Ara's hand as she was unbalanced again.
"Ah, thank you again!" She appreciated the gesture, though she was a little confused of something. Why was Chung so worried about Add? For as much as she saw, if he wasn't in their party he would be seen as a bad guy anywhere. Sure he's helped here and there, but this level of attention was odd.
"I'll leave him to you then and remind him to eat again, if you don't mind. That boy doesn't eat nearly enough nowadays, sooner or later he'll become only bones!" She halfheartedly joked, though he could sense that she was serious on that assumption, he laughed it off nervously before she went away.
"Do you want to stay here a bit longer or do you want me to help you get anywhere?" He asked her in query as a small breeze of salty air passed through them.
"I'm g-good! Don't worry about me! Just go do your business, Chung!" She said as she laughed a bit with a cheery attitude.
"Are you sure? It wouldn't be that much of a bother to help you get anywhere." He wanted to be sure for her.
"I'm sure! Just go on, I'll be just peachy!" She sounded confident as her knees weren't shaking as much as before.
"Alright, if you say so. I'll be a shout away if you need me, or just ask anyone for help." He wasn't all that reassured, but he won't force her to move if she didn't want to. He looked at her one more time as he was on the corner and she gave him an awkward smile before leaving.
He did a round around the boat, just taking his time walking around the deck as the marines gave a careful eye on things. It was another peaceful day with no sea monsters coming on their scope.
As he kept going, he reached Elesis and Elswords' cabin, there he heard Aisha's muffled groan into a pillow. From the sounds of it, she was very tired.
Elesis and Aisha
"Uggggh... I tell you, being with Add is the worst! Absolutely the worst!" Aisha said with tired eyes.
"What makes you say that?" Elesis asked curious as to why the magician was so hellbent in her belief.
"If you were on my shoes, you'd say the same Elesis!" She flared to emotion before returning to lay her head on the pillow, sitting on the bed. "Every night has been the same, no everyday! I lay down on my bed as I look at him with fear, his right ominous eye looks at me with a stare that makes my soul chill before he goes back to his purple screens. When I try to fall asleep, I can FEEL him staring at me for a second, making me wake up every so often just for me to keep my guard up! Who knows what he would do if I don't! When morning sun finally comes, I get my book and get out of that room, only for him to lock it up right after. I guess I'm glad, since he locks himself up which gives me some sort of relief." She says to her friend as a rant before falling down on her back, she thought that Elesis bed was awfully soft for some reason.
"Wait, you mean that after all this time he hasn't slept yet?" Elesis was surprised to hear that.
"Yeah, he just moves his hands on his screens, moving numbers, letters and symbols that I can't even understand. Normally I'd recognize any magic symbol, but those that he uses are so weird, that I can only catch 1 or 2 symbols that I actually understand at a time." She looked at the ceiling and her eyes were starting to betray her to stay awake for much longer.
"Aisha, I know this might sound odd, but have you notice if he's gotten out of your cabin?" Elesis threw in an odd question to which she mage thought to herself a bit.
"Not even one time did he left that cursed place, and why should he leave even? It's probably for the best if he doesn't leave there, he just makes people anxious all the time! Not leaving that place is already a good deed that he's doing." The magician said as her eye lids were becoming heavier.
"I see." She looked over at the window before being absorbed in her thoughts.
"He's probably avoiding anyone because of last time. He's still be recovering, why does he need to be absorb in his work again? To make it forget? That's not healthy at all and if he's been doing this for a long time, then he's just torturing himself..." She thinks to herself with a sad expression.
Just imagining him doing the same and becoming so... broken, made her feel like she had to do something, anything for him to not go through it again. But no matter how she would do it, he would keep going. That woman she saw on the mirror, she was so important to him, so important that he would risk even his own health to find her. It made her admire his persistence, but also fear for it, just because if she was that desperate she'd probably fall in the same line as him just to save her brother.
"Aisha-" As she was going to ask something to the girl beside her, she notices that the magician fell asleep and in comfort. "I'll ask later then."
Elesis stood up and left her room for the magician to rest, when she reached the door she saw Chung, just walking away after hearing the conversation for the two girls. She decided to follow him. Pass the corner and he was right in front of Add's room, he raised his hand and knocked at it.
"Add, it's me Chung, can you open up for me?" He called out, but no response. He knocked again. "I know you aren't sleeping, Add, open up. Please." Still no response.
He tried for another 5 minutes, but the answer was still the same. Ten minutes, then twenty. At that point, it was clear that the Esper wasn't going to open the door for him or anybody.
With a sad, but understanding expression he gives up about talking with him now. Before he decided to walk away, he said towards the door.
"I'm not too far, if you want to talk, okay?" He assured towards him, in hope that he heard his words.
"You're annoying." A response at last from the other side of the door. "More annoying that those two brats, which is hard to pull off."
"I'll take that as a compliment then!" He said in a cheerful mood as he sat down next to the door.
"It's an insult, you dimwit. Don't be like that muscle head." He replied back, his tone with annoyance.
Elesis was surprised that the boy stuck around for so long, finally got through to talking with Add, where others simply gave up the first five minutes. She looked around and found a chair not too far from her, probably from one of the workers, grabbing it, she sat down right at the corner to eavesdrop.
"You had any sleep yet? From what I heard, you haven't had any yet." He asked, just to be sure, he could hear the typing that the Esper was so known about just on the other side.
"Ho, and who was the bastard that started to give lip service? Was it a random worker, or was it that magician? Either way, I wouldn't care. They can flap their gums all that they want, just as long as they leave me alone." He responded with little emotion to the paladin.
"I'm just worried about you. Have you had someone visit you recently?" He inquired since he was curious.
Some silence was met, Add stopped typing on his screen which made Chung anxious, a thought came where he probably fell asleep or maybe...
"Is there anyone out there?" A question came which confused him a little. He looked around and saw that Ophelia, Eve's maid was standing a couple of ways away from him. To him, she seemed to just stare into space, but as he took a minute longer to look, her eyes were pointing towards Add's door.
"It's just Eve's maid, nothing too important." He replied back, yet his tone sounded as he was suspicious.
"..." A small pause again, but the typing continued before he stopped again. "How long until we reach Hamel?"
"Ah, right! We'll probably arrive in four days, depending on the weather!" He responded with high spirits. "It's going to be a blast, I can show you guys all around the place! The blacksmith, the apothecary, the palace-"
"I'm not interested." He cut in on the Paladins rambling. The boy took a step back and hanged his head in sadness.
"Yeah, I'd figure. You aren't much for those places right?" He lightly chuckled as he looked at the sky.
"Your father..." The guardian made his eyes look to the side, towards the door. "If what you said is true, you're going to have to face him."
"...Yeah." He responded back to him indifferently.
"He won't be the same as before."
"I know." His tone saddened.
"You might even need to kill him."
"..." Silence for once. It took a while for him to gather the courage to say the words and some tears started to form. "If there's no other way... Then..."
A slight pause, a hiccup here and sadness started to well over the top of the glass. It was to be expected, it was the Paladin's responsibility to put down his father for the good of everyone. A few tears escaped from the guardians iron resolved eyes, just the thought made him lose confidence.
"How much do you care for your father?" Add asked as he stopped typing down on his screen, a pause to listen to him.
"There's... no limit to it." He sniffled as he kept staring at the sky. "He's my hero, my guardian, my courage, my savior... my father is, the person that I care the most in my life, after my mother that died a few years ago."
No sound was emitted as Add looked at the floor, the light shone down to where his feet were, as it crept upwards towards the photo of his mother on the right screen.
"You better not be crying, you damn brat!" He suddenly said, surprising the boy. "Nothing is set in stone yet, there's still a chance that the door hasn't closed yet! You're the goddamn Iron Paladin, people noticed your will of iron so you should too. If you cry even once and I'm going to hit you!"
"Add..." Chung whispered at the threat, yet felt no hostility. This was... a first.
"You have the gang to help you fix your problem, so push those sappy thoughts somewhere else. It's making me make mistakes on my calculations." He spoke again, but calmer and continued typing down. Another pause, but this time it was different from the mood from before.
"You know, I think this is the first time you gave me a pep talk." Chung chuckled as he wiped his tears.
"What are you talking about, I just want to be alone here and do what I do for myself, nothing more." He replied back while noticing an alert on his screen, another body signature that has been there for a good amount of time.
"You really make a person worry, you know that? Maybe you should come out once in a while, it'll be refreshing for you!"
"Maybe you should worry more about yourself than me, you brat. I'm the last person you should flap your eyes on." He said with tiredness in his voice.
"You know I can't simply not care, that's not me!" He responded back while standing up, he felt somehow refreshed. "I think I'm gonna see how Ara is doing, she's bad with boats it seems!"
"Chung," This made the boy turn to the door. "Two things, one tell that demon brat to stop coming here every morning. It's infuriating enough that I have to stop working to god damn shoo her away, but as well that Rena and Elsword to warn me of unnecessary things." He complained to the Paladin.
"I'll make sure to tell them." He replied, though he smiled with a kind one. Looks like he wasn't going to tell her at all.
"And also, tell however is listening in to mind their own business. This isn't a party." He finished talking and stepped away from the door.
Chung surprised looked at where he came from and saw a shadow. As he made the turn, he noticed that Elesis was sitting there with a bewildered look.
"Elesis?" His voice sounded shocked to see her.
"H-hello there Chung! Nice day we're having right?" She awkwardly said to him as she giggled nervously.
Aisha
How long was she sleeping? An hour, two hours, four? How long it was, it made the day pass by in a flash. Evening was strolling in and dinner time was fast approaching. Soon she'd have to enter back the devil's den again, just thinking about those purple dark eyes staring at her in the dark lightly glowing made her spine shiver in response.
As she left Elesis cabin, she saw Rena passing by with a composed pace. Noticing her, she walked with grace towards her.
"There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you." The Grand Archer said with a kind smile towards the Elemental Master. "Dinner will be served in around 20 minutes or so, you better head towards the table before Ara and Elsword start devouring the food." She informed as she passed Aisha.
"Where are you going, Rena?" She asked confused as she thought that she was only looking for her.
"I'm going to warn our reclusive friend, poor fella hasn't eaten anything in days, so maybe today he'll come and join us." She replied to her while continuing her track.
"Actually!" This made the elf stop on her tracks and looked over her right shoulder. "Let me do it! I'll warn him for you!"
"You'd do that?" She said surprised at the initiative from Aisha. "Oh it's just good to know that you wouldn't mind asking him! I told Raven and he was against me calling him, even Ciel and Eve disagreed! Good to know that you're not with them!" She happily said as she was return back where she came from. "I'll be waiting for you, today's dinner is carrot soup with desert! Unless you fancy the meat dish that Ciel made."
"I can't wait!" She giggled as the elf went away, her smile slowly faded away as she rolled her eyes and marched towards her cabin.
"What's the deal with her? Just trying to be buddy-buddy with that... demon. I don't like him one bit, he's the most egotistic, rudest, coldest person I've ever met! He just shows up when he pleases, thinks he's the strongest of us all when he can't take a hit from a demon! Just because he can use that fancy time-space magic, doesn't mean he's the strongest, it just means he's a fool!" She thought to herself as she turned the corner and was right in front of her door.
Her emotions were strong as she contemplated on knocking or not, she could see the purple light coming from his screens through the bottom of the door and lock. She heard strange noises from the other side and focused her hearing as she listened in.
"This one is wrong as well... The symbol is inverted there... Incorrect calculation again!?" A frustrating sigh erupted from me as something hit the wall with force. On the other side, it was two dynamo that was shoved to the side. On the wooden floor, fragments of a broken screen were scattered before dissipating into particles. "Why the hell does this keep happening... Fuck!" He banged on the bed, creating a small bent on the iron frame.
"Aggressive maniac, why even bother to warn him. I bet he'd just complain and berate at us if I tell him about dinner, if he even decides to go there even! I bet he'd just spoil my appetite." She thought as she took a step back. With a frown and a stern look, she walked away from the door, not warning him at all.
From the other side of the wall, the Esper put his hands over his face as sweat trickled down his brow. After a few blinks, he noticed a shadow on the window. As he rose his head he saw a crimson figure staring at him, making his mothers sweet voice towards him. He quickly put his hands on his ears, but that barely muffled its coice.
"Add... why would you do such a thing to your dear mother? Do you hate me so much?" The voice asked, with a hurtful tone, a dripping sound was heard from the other side.
"You're not real... You're not really here. You're just an illusion..." He mumbled to himself as he closed his eyes, thinking that he stood awake and the cabin for too long.
"Am I really an Illusion? Sweetie, I'm," the voice then started to distort in a echo as the dripping sound gradually increased. "on your hands right now."
Opening his eyes, he saw his hands covered with a red liquid substance, it was blood. Her blood, his mother's. Even though his hands were clean, in his conscious they were tainted beyond repair.
"Shut up already!" He yelled at the hallucination in anger. "I know already, damn it..." He replied with a depressive tone, acknowledging that what he did will always be there. Every failure and every life that he was robbed from those different timelines. As if satisfied with the answer, the figure fades back into nothingness with the weird rifts in time that appeared and disappeared quickly, but Add feels that his hands are still red. A reminder.
He exhaled sharply as he remembers his conversation with Chung, or as close as a conversation as it could be with him.
"For being the most rational person around, I say the most irrational things of all. Why the hell did I lead the kid to hope for a better outcome? Why even give him that talk? I... I don't even understand my actions anymore!" He was infuriated with how his mind takes two places at the same time. His constant failures and odd support from Lu, Elesis and Chung were starting to affect his judgement.
He brought a dynamo and made a screen to reflect upon his face. He saw the most tired expression on a person yet, and it was his no less.
"I've been up for too long... some rest, even for an hour should help for now. That brat is coming here in two or so hours, so more than enough time to wake up." He mumbled to himself as he made sure that his devices woke him up with an alarm. "I just need to rest my eyelids..."
Over at the dinner table, Rena was putting down the table as Ciel was putting down the food for the party to eat. Elsword and Ara were the first to grab the meat dish, taking large chunks of food onto their plate and savoring the food quickly.
"How childish for the both of you!" Lu laughed as she ate in an elegant manner. "You should eat like us queens! Refined, graceful and-" Before she could finish Aisha entered the room and sat down, taking some meat with bread.
"Did he agree to come, Aisha?" Rena asked the magician to which she looked away while munching a piece of bread.
"No, he said to leave him alone again in a rude way." She replied with a lie, her appetite would not be spoiled by that insane person.
"Oh my... This'll be his third night without dinner! That's not healthy at all!" She said worried of the tracer.
"Just leave him alone for now, it's for the best. He'll come around sooner or later." Chung reassured the Grand Archer.
"I think it'd be for the best if he left. He just makes the group anxious." Aisha mumbled to herself as she was eating her bread. This was caught by Lu, but she decided to pretend she didn't. Eve didn't however.
"I agree with your thoughts, Aisha. That maniac only creates more problems to us, excluding him would be the best course of action." She coldly informed to the party.
"What!? We can't just push him off for a few blunders! Yeah he makes a few messes here and there, but that isn't enough to just let him go!" Lu was furious of the assumption from the queen.
"A few blunders?" Raven said angrily towards the demon before pointing his nasod finger towards her. "Time after time he's trying to get Eve's codes, creates conflict wherever he goes, scares the citizens by his insane tendencies, makes questionable experiments with Nasods in order to further improve that forbidden formula of time, ignores orders on every occasion, disrespects every member since he has come here and even is aggressive in his actions!" He pointed out the Espers worst spots as his metallic claw tapped on the wooden table. "These are not some mere blunders and no matter how much good he does, he'll never change his ways. In more ways than one, him leaving would be the best for the party."
The people that were against the Esper agreed with him, having a dangerous individual was only a setback to the tight group and also endangered the individuals around them. The trade for his assistance was just too high.
"Hypocrite." Everyone was surprised to hear that word, especially coming from Elsword.
"What did you say?" Raven was taken aback at the swordsmans word, he could see that he was not the best of moods.
"Instead of bad mouthing him, shouldn't you eat? Or rather shouldn't you look at yourself first? What were you before joining our party? Weren't you on the same case as before? Same thing with Eve, you didn't trust her and wanted to dispatch her! You gave her and yourself a chance after I gave both of you one!"
There was a long silence with Raven clicking his tongue, even if the boy was young his naive attitude slowly changed, giving people more chances for themselves. But the Reckless Fist was still against having him near them.
"It still doesn't mean that he's a saint. Sooner or later he'll slip up again and then he'll put harm into the party, Elsword. Why can't you understand that!" He banged his fist on the table, shaking the contents above and cracking it in multiple spots, bending some as well threatening to make the contents on the table to fall down.
"Hey," Rena called out softly beside him, making the Taker look at her. "Calm down, okay? We're not fighting, we're just talking. Everything is fine." She said as the mercenary calmed down slowly.
"I'm... I'm sorry. I really shouldn't say that with how I acted." He apologized as his head was not thinking right and looking at the past made him remember some things that he wished to forget.
"It's okay Raven. Look, how about we just eat and just have this talk later when we calmly thought it out, instead of making our temper heat up for no reason, alright?" She softly spoke to them to which most of them agreed and continued to eat, despite the mood being a bit awkward. They ate their meal silently, only with some idle chat with one another to make time pass a bit faster.
As Aisha rose up, she saw that Elesis was signaling her to come to her. Curious, she took a napkin, cleaned her lips and headed towards her.
"What is it, Elesis? Ah and also, thank you for letting me sleep on your bed! Best sleep I had for a couple of days!" She nervously chuckled at that, feeling embarrassed to even fall asleep.
"It's okay, I kinda understand the situation, being with Add can be a little unnerving." She replied with a little understanding on the magician's part.
"Thank god you understand me situation! It's nerve wrecking every time I enter that cabin and every time I can FEEL his eyes staring at me, it's terrifying." She said while shaking her figure to further emphasis her displeasure.
"Speaking of him, I have a favor I'm going to need to ask of you." She said with a bright smile, the magician wasn't feeling very happy though. "I want you to try and interact with him."
"What!? No! Never! You can't make me do that!" She defensively put her hands in front of her, denying any possibility to interact with the devil.
"Please! You're the only one that can actually talk with him face to face right now! I bet that once you actually get him to talk, you'll see something new on him!" She asked again with more force on her words.
"Nuh uh! No way! Plus if I were to talk with him, what the heck would I just say!? Oh yeah, that's some nice machinery you have there, how did you make it? I'm a magician, not a Nasod engineer!" She almost yelled at her for even thinking that she could do it. "What's with you guys trying to be buddy-buddy with him even? I'll never understand it."
"And have you ever tried to understand him?" She asked out of the blue to the magician which made her take a double take due to the sudden question.
"Why would I? We have nothing in common, so I think it's best for me to just stay away from him. Anyone would." She replied with the standard answer anyone would and she'd be right to do so, it was the norm to just stay clear of anything that might harm them.
"I see... Sorry to bother you then." She responded with a sad smile, before heading to talk with her brother.
"What's with her? Thinking that anyone could just approach that disaster. That's just walking to a failed road." She bitterly thought as she turned the corner and saw Lu knocking on her door.
"Add! It's me Lu! Let my magnificent self in!" She proclaimed while waiting for the door to open.
"Yeah right as if he would open the door to anyone." She thought as she waited for the small demon to just give up.
"I brought Rena's chocolate pudin~!" She said with a bowl on her hand with an alluring tone.
"Are you serious? No one would open their door to-" Just before Aisha could think that, her door clicked and blinked twice to see that he was at the door, standing before Lu. "W-what?"
"I knew that you'd open up for me!" She giggled happily.
"If I didn't, you'd probably be here all night just to give me something sweet." He responded annoyingly to her.
"Probably, but I knew you still had that sweet tooth of yours! And I know that you wouldn't let little ol' me outside, right?" She replied while rocking her hips to the side before producing the dessert.
"Just don't stay too long, Aisha is probably coming soon and-" He looked to his right to see the magician surprised. "Never mind, just enter already, I'm busy adjusting the symbols." He says before letting her enter the room, he looks over his shoulder, staring at Aisha that was petrified at those eyes staring at her. "What are you waiting for? A parade?" He rudely asked before entering himself.
"Is... Is this really happening?" She questioned herself in her head as she entered to see Lu sitting on Add's bed taking a scoop of the dessert for herself and casually talking with him, though he talked little, he listened pretty well.
"...And then Ciel baked cookies for me in the shape of a Phoru! Though he cried every time I ate one of them, because they were too cute to be eaten. Nonsense I said, because cookies are meant to be eaten!" She retold about yesterday's events for him as he finished the dessert by the time she finished.
"Hmm... Should've had one or two then. Shame." He replied as he put the container on the nightstand. He saw that time had passed quite a bit, he also noticed that Aisha was giving side glances every now and then. "I think it's time for you to go back to your butler, Lu. If you're not by his side, he'd probably do something stupid to try and find you."
"Oh please he... would do that, wouldn't he? As his master, of course the servant would feel all the more worried about me. Such a silly man, ohohoho!" She giggled as she hopped off and grabbed the container. "I'll take this to the kitchen first, Rena would be annoyed if this was dirty first thing in the morning."
"Just get out of here already, you're making me lose focus." He returned his focus back to his screen.
"How rude!" She said with pout before reaching the door. "You should come out some time, it'd be great if you could have tea with me tomorrow."
"Yeah, yeah. Just get back to your room already." He replied indifferent to her as he laid down on his bed.
"Okay... Goodnight!" She waved at the both of them before closing the door. Afterwards there was a long awkward silence in the room, except from the usual typing from Add's keyboard. Aisha was just in a state of surprise on what happened in such a short time. Especially on how the Esper was able to have a conversation with Luciela and not be aggressive, just a few rude remarks here and there.
She saw him switching the symbols from one place to another, symbols that she sometimes could recognize before being overwrote with a mathematical equation and then added into the new formula. Everything seemed different in that encounter, she still felt uneasy but at the same time she felt weird, often giving a few glances from her book that she was reading to take her mind out of things.
"What do you want, brat." He didn't ask and it sounded more like an order, because he noticed that she was stealing glances.
"Who are you calling a brat!" She said undignified that he made that rude remark on her.
"I really don't care, but if you're going to start acting weird after all this time, then I better snuffle out those pesky distractions before you compromise my work." He stated as he kept working without taking his dark eyes off. She grit her teeth and took a deep breath.
"It's just those symbols, most of them I've never seen them and they look like a magic sigil." She calmed down enough to say it in a cool way.
"There's no such thing as magic, just energy before converting it into raw power." He stated coldly to her, to which her eyes slightly closed.
"Magic IS real. I mean, how am I suppose to generate wind, Ice, electricity or Fire? How am I suppose to teleport around?" She asked to see if he could explain it.
"Again, it's just energy being converted into power. Wind is generated from a nuclear source that makes a motion to spin around. Ice is from the cold air above, amplifying the airs coldness and then dropping it. Fire is the collision of two forces in constantly and the air as an ignition source and electricity comes from two opposite forces by using the raw energy of el to make that happen, same thing as my dynamos, except it's from generated artificial electricity. There you have it, there's no such thing as magic." He explained as he kept configuring with the formula.
"Then what about my teleport? Is that not magic as well since I can move my body in a flash in large distances?" She asked in an irritated tone.
"I can also do that, by compressing time and space brat. Yours is a crude version that let's you just jump form one place, mine is much more refined with careful calculations, something that you wouldn't no doubt understand. Magic isn't real, it's just a convenient excuse to explain something unknown." He coldly stated while looking at her, her chest welded up with anger as she put her book in front of him.
"See this symbol!? This is the exact same one as this one that you're about to use! This is a magic sigil! Meaning that you're using something as a catalyst for the magic to pass through!" She pointed out to which he got up as he grabbed the book from her hands. Both of them were surprised.
"How... Odd. Normally it shouldn't appear in these kind of books, but it's here?" He mumbled to himself as he took the first pages contents to himself, before she took it away from him. "Oi!"
"What? Are you interested in this magic book of mine?" She asked with a false bravado. Her eyes betraying her confidence, on how he might attack her.
"Tch." He clicked his tongue before grabbing her collar close to his face, making her be on the tip of her toes to stay grounded. "Girls like you just make my life the most difficult." He coldly stated towards her as she fidgeted in the same place.
"Well, I don't like you either with your ways! You're a scary guy that always threatens people the first chance that he gets! Always going violent when things aren't going your way! I won't give you my book even if you break my arms and legs!" She yelled as small tears formed on her eyes, staring at the abyss of his. As if an entity was slowly making her fade away into nothing.
Then he simply released her, falling down on her knees, clutching her beating chest. She then looked up at him as he frowned. He then sat down on his bed and lightly tapped his leg.
"Whatever, that book might've just had a similar symbol. After all, magic can't be real, it can all be explained if a reason is found.
"Magic... Does... Exist!" She proclaimed with long breathes, to which made him squint his eyes.
"Let's say this magic DOES exist. Prove it to me then." He challenged her knowledge to see if it could stand on it's feet.
"Gladly!" She took that challenge after regaining her strength on her legs and they stood up until 3 AM, trading theories and other knowledge to try and debunk the other one. The conversations were long, the sending insults and the such to each other and hardly did they compromise to say that one was true or not. Until a stalemate was put between the two.
They were tired of having this knowledge battle, expending more energy mentally than physically, with yelling, shouting and banging on the wooden floor.
"For a girl your age, you can really make an argument last longer than those meatheads." He said with unblinking eyes.
"Yeah, well, for a maniac like yourself, you make over complicated statements!" She replied with her eyes becoming dark around.
"This won't go anywhere, damn it... I just lost precious time on this pointless argument." He let go a frustrating sigh before summoning his screen again and started moving the symbols and equations again. Except his movements were beginning to be sloppy.
Aisha looked at the male ahead just moving those strange symbols over and over. Her curiosity peaked as some of those sigils she didn't understand or even recognized. As a high caliber magician, she wasn't going to let mere fear block her of such knowledge.
"Hey, what does this symbol mean?" She asked as she got up and pointed towards it.
"What do you care? And don't touch my work, damn it! A small mistake and everything has to be done all over again!" He complained as she put her hands to her side and sat next to him.
"I care because as any magician , I need to learn more to become stronger. Even if I don't like you, I'll bear with it to learn." She explained with a fire in her trembling eyes. He just coldly looked at her before calmly looking at the screen.
"That just makes two of us then." He replied before pointing to the symbol. "This is the symbol of Flow. Time always flows forward, never stopping and always finds a way to pass through the most difficult objects..."
The night passed slowly and as soon as the first ray of sun passed through the clouds, it was engulfed again by grey ones. Aisha fell asleep soon after, with the Esper doing the annoying task to putting her back in her bed.
Still, it was progress, even if it was stale.