The town was... much larger than expected. And busier. Finding an empty alley was a challenge they'd accepted, but after an hour the search was over. Raven set the lady down on the pavement of the alley, not quite carefully. They all surrounded her, watching her unconscious and serene state, so stilly that the only sign of life in her was her breathing.
"So, now what?" Elsword had calmed down after his talk with Aisha, and the guilt was building up in him like the construction of a grandfather clock that would. It certainly had taken him long enough to figure out he was, sadly, wrong. But still, what was wrong with wanting something over death? Didn't anybody understand how hard it was to throw yourself into such circumstances? It was easier said than done, Elsword knew. Yet, Elsword couldn't understand anything happening, nor could he understand why he had to be in the middle of it all... Gah! Why was he so crazy in the head?!
The lady's eyes fluttered open, the orange in her eyes illuminating and the specks of gold gleaming. Aisha pressed a caring finger against the lady's wrist, nodding in approval. "Her heartbeat is normal now."
"Where am I...?"
"Somewhere near the outskirts of town."
"Oh..." The lady mumbled. She laid still and drowsy, not quite able to comprehend her situation. This was very calm. Once the moment started to sink in, though, her eyes widened and she quickly stood to her feet. "I must get going."
"Eh? Where are you going?" Blocking the path out the alleyway, Rena tilted her head while crossing her arms in front of her. The lady looked over the light-green haired lady's shoulder with worry.
"Anywhere but in this town. I have to escape from here."
A gentle hand wrapped around the dark-haired lady's right wrist. Aisha smiled warmly beside her. "We'll help you."
"... Really?"
"Of course we'll help! Right Raven?" Rena gestured towards Raven.
"Sure." He responded.
For a moment, Aisha looked to Elsword, automatically thinking he would say yes. Within seconds, though, she gave him a glare to which he defensively raised his hands. "Yeah yeah, of course!"
The dark-haired lady smiled and bowed. "T-Thank you so much...!"
"Why were they chasing you anyways?" Elsword stuffed his hands into his pockets, feeling the lint piling up. With the rush of things, he hadn't quite grasped what the situation was here or what the deal was with this town.
"I... can't say right now."
Cant say? It must have been really bad.
Rena's ears pricked up, and her eyes widened. "Everyone, lean against that wall!"
With confused looks, everybody piled against the brick wall of the alleyway. A faint pitter-patter of feet came down the street, far off in the distance, and men with weapons jogged across the pavement and passed their hiding spot. One by one, they filed by in rows. The final man fell out of line and plastered a poster on the glass window of a store before heading off with his unit.
"How did you hear that Rena?" The soldiers were rather far at the time she heard their approach. Hearing such a thing was.. unbelievable.
"It may be hard for you to believe, but I listen to people." Rena squinted at the new poster, studying the words and pictures. Her partner joined, scanning it carefully. As Aisha began to read, Elsword also looked at the poster.
A square piece of parchment hung onto the bricks for dear life. Scribbled on the parchment in black ink were characters of a foreign language. Underneath, five faces had been drawn in a seemingly rapid fashion. In fact, those five faces were...
"Why are we on that poster?" Elsword stupidly asked. His partner smacked him upside the head.
"Idiot! Those are mugshots! We're wanted because we helped her back there!"
"That most certainly isn't good..." Scratching her ear, Rena sighed aloud. Then, she pulled out her bow, and Raven his sword. "We need to get back to the planes. We'll be caught if we stay together though. Mind splitting up?"
Aisha nodded without receiving Elsword's input. "Sure can do. We can take the lady."
"Great. Head back to your planes, and we'll meet you at the next town on the map." And with that said, our story's rivaling business headed down the street in the direction the soldiers had headed.
Minutes of silence passed amongst the leftover three. One could hear the clashing of swords from a mile away— hopefully, Rena and Raven would make it out okay.
Elsword scratched the back of his head before speaking up. "Let's go."
The trio traversed through the twist and turns of the town, being cautious of lurking soldiers. It was a surprise that they had so much energy in them; shouldn't they have been exhausted by now? Elsword wasn't quite sure how he remembered the way back, but he did.
"We're almost there, Miss." Aisha said as she tugged the lady along.
The dark-haired girl had cold and determined eyes about her. She would escape this town—
"Halt!"
An ambush. From surrounding alleys appeared soldiers with weapons at the ready. The colors of their clothes were faded and dark. It was almost like they represented the gloom of the city rushing around to catch people when they least expected it. The trio huddled together as each man closed in on them. "Hands up!" Trouble— that's what this was. One wrong move and they'd be gone.
"I said hands up you little punks!"
Tiny fingers intertwined with Elsword's hand as Aisha clutched to him in fear. She leaned against him like a petrified child. Never had they been in such a purely dangerous situation— life was always safe back home. Step by step, the soldiers approached with spears and swords in hand. Thoughts raced through the redhead's mind. This was certainly bad. Wait, bad? No no, more like horrific! All his choices were limited. It was liking tossing a coin and hoping you'd get heads up; one had better hope they were lucky. And so much was on the line now too!
Finally, Elsword reached a solution to his problem.
"Raise them I said!"
With perfect compliance, Elsword released Aisha's grasp and his hands flew up in the air in one swift motion.
Aisha couldn't ignore him anymore, even if she was scared. "E-Elsword?! What are you doing?!" Could he be any more of a moron?!
Droplets of sweat formed at the side of his neck as soldiers began to grab both his arms and hold them steady. His adrenaline was hyping him up. A rattling of metal links on cuffs formed behind him. While a soldier grasped Elsword's two wrists together, he knew it was time to execute.
With one push of a button on Elsword's wrist, an angular short sword unsheathed itself from a metal bracelet concealed by the sleeve of his clothes. Elsword jabbed his elbow into the stomach of the man holding his wrists carelessly, and in seconds he was free.
"He has a sword!"
Elsword danced between the openings made by bombarding soldiers, blocking attacks with his blade. One men fell to the ground with a blow from Elsword's free fist. What amazed him most was how terrible these soldiers must have been; Elsword had only ever fought once or twice in his life. These soldiers were a bunch of prideful fakes.
The lady with dark hair slammed her heel into the side of a man, following up with a punch and pressure pointing the man in the neck. Her movements were swift, to Aisha's surprise, evading attacks with ease. Then, the dark-haired lady took the fallen soldier's spear and began close combat with five soldiers, all at once.
Out of the corner of the purple-haired girl's eye, a soldier sprinted up behind her friend she'd been so angry at. The guy wielded his sword and pounced for Elsword, ready to slash him from his blind spot. "Elsword, behind you!"
Knocking his current victim unconscious, Elsword spun around in time to see the leaping man and rolled out-of-the-way. Without thinking, he trust his blade forward into the clothes and stomach of the soldier. The man emitted a grunt as his eyes widened. In seconds, he plummeted to the concrete. The last soldier had been eliminated.
While her companion heaved heavily, Aisha ran up. "Are you alright?!"
"Yeah... Peachy." Pressing his button again, the metal sword retracted back into the bracelet in layers, collapsing perfectly over another with the body fluid gushing out from the thin gaps. Elsword swiped his bangs from his head and smiled at his friend. "How you feelin'?"
His smile faded as quickly as it had come when he laid eyes on the dark girl with no eye contact. "Elsword, that was reckless. You could have gotten yourself killed..."
"But I didn't. And you should be happy."
Without responding, Aisha turned in her heels and began pacing away from him and heading to the plane. Aisha was definitely angry now. The lady followed suit, rubbing her knuckles and tossing the unconscious soldier's spear back to him with stains on it.
"Your highness, you had predicted correctly. The group had split up, and they've killed and wounded several of our units."
The king cackled. He cackled loudly— very loudly. "Splendid! Now let's initiate the final step, shall we?"
"Yes, your highness. What time shall we set it to go off?"
He twirled his curly mustache in his fingers. "Oh no, no, no! Don't set it! Manual by all means! That way, we can truly account their deaths as caused by us! Bring me a button so I can detonate it."
"Yes your highness. We shall have it set manually for you, and a button will be prepared."
A smirk rested on the king's face. "Wonderful. They may not come back in a whole piece, but I'll have my revenge at the very least."