The gate out of town! It was coming into sight! The three refugees never realized that they'd love the sight of an open gate so much. They began to sprint for their lives. Cruel enough, however, the metal bars of the drop gate began its descent to the ground.

"Hurry!" The redhead waved the two forward to pass him. Both the lady and Aisha ducked under the points of the gate, out to the other side. Once both were out, less than half the original space was left. Elsword planted his feet firmly then pushed off the ground. He rushed towards the dangerously low gate and slid down along the rough floor. To his luck he made it across, sliding under with the spikes at the bottom snipping the tip of a strand of hair.

"That was very close!" The lady exclaimed as Elsword stood to his feet and wiped his pants. "And very bold!"

"Thanks," Elsword replied simply. The plane still remained where it was when they had arrived. A lone bird, slender and delicate, sat and rustled its feathers with its beak. Within moments, Elsword hoisted the lady into the plane. "You two are going to have to squeeze in back here, 'Kay Aisha?"

Aisha was still angry at Elsword. She ignored him and climbed up the side of the flying contraption, squishing herself in between the lady and the plane. Her companion blew a bang from his forehead and brought himself into his own seat. With a crank of levers and buttons, the plane hummed and began its ascent to the skies.

And all of that would have been pretty calm had something huge not occurred promptly after they departed.

From the gates, flames bursted through the holes and scorched the lush grass outside. A rumble vibrated the earth and shook leaves off trees. From above, the city had clearly erupted into a mass of flames. Only one single, perfect circle had been untouched by the fire, and a tall ornate building stood in that area. But besides that, everything inside city limits was burnt to a crisp by the menacing fire.

The ear-splitting sound of the propellers continued to be the only noise during the ride. The duo's refugee quietly snoozed next to Aisha.

"Hey, this reminds me of when we helped save Chung from his country, doesn't it Aisha?" For sure, the question was out of nowhere, but that was the only thing Elsword could come up with to break the silence.

But no response. Instead, Aisha's tense quietness replied back. He knew she wouldn't answer, but it was at least worth a shot.

Indeed, though, they'd saved Chung from a frightening circumstance. It certainly was luck that got Chung to become a resident in their town, even for the little time he would stay and learn from them.

The plane continued to the next town, and the redhead thought back to that event where a new child had arrived in town...

A box.

A brown box.

A wooden brown box.

A wooden brown box, made from low quality wood and nailed together, with a child inside— a little boy. That box, like many others in the moving vehicle, contained a boy twelve years of age.

So what made this single box so important? Why was this very one being singled out instead of another one?

Well... it was, very simply with no explanation, an important box.

The vehicle abruptly stopped outside a town. A man walked out from the driver's seat, unpleasant scowl on his face, and pulled out that one box. He lugged it over his broad shoulders and brought it to the center of the town. The town itself was small, but it was lively and active with a handful of shops populated with people, and strange machinery lingered around the townsfolk. With almost no care, the man dropped the wooden box on the ground and yelled, "You're here kid. Better study hard."

And with that, the man returned to his truck and left the town.

A plank of the wooden box snapped, and out emerged a foot. With more planks broken came another foot and some legs, and eventually the whole side of the box was gone. A whole body left the inside of the box, and out came a blond boy with blue eyes. His clothes were dirty, raggedy, but he didn't care. He curiously looked around him. "This doesn't look like the town father described..."

"Hey kid!"

A redhead appeared in front of the blonde. This energetic boy wore goggles on his head and carried a knapsack with a hammer the size of his head sticking out. "I've never seen you before. Where're you from?" The energy and spirit exuding from the red haired boy overwhelmed the blond boy and made him even more intimidated.

"Uh..." For a moment, the blonde turned his head to look around him as if searching for another, less frightening individual. But when he couldn't find any other, he reluctantly turned back. "I-I'm from Hamel... I'm here to study under a lady named Hanna..."

"Hanna..." The redhead pondered for a moment with a finger to his chin, drawing the name out. "Huh, I don't think there's a Hanna in this town... Sure you're in the right place?"

"I don't know... I was dropped off here... A-And I need to find Hanna..."

"Oh that's a problem..." The redhead kicked at the dirt ground with his foot. In a second, though, his face lit up brighter than a fire. "Oh, I know! My best friend Aisha will know what to do!"

And with that declared, the redhead decidedly tugged the blonde through the town. First, though, they had to make their way past the numerous townsfolk that greeted the redhead, asking friendly question about his condition, his family, and so on. But finally, they reached a little house painted in calm colors. Multiple flowers bursted their hues from the planters at the front of the house. On the white porch steps sat a girl with purple hair tied up in pigtails. The laces and frill of her dress tumbled to the ground as she quietly read a book. As the two approached her, she looked up from her page and smiled. "Elsword!"

The redhead named Elsword hugged the girl tightly. Too tightly actually, because she began to choke. "Let go...! Meanie...!"

As the purple-haired girl named Aisha gagged, Elsword placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Hey, so this kid here is supposed to see some lady named Hanna. Nobody in town is named Hanna, right Aish'?"

For a second, she stared at the foreign boy with blonde hair. "Who are you?"

"My name— I-I mean!" Flustered, the blond boy blushed a deep red. "M-My identification number is 3-8-21-14-7."

A quizzical look plastered itself onto the other two's faces. They'd never met someone with numbers for a name. Elsword and Aisha exchanged looks before returning their attentions to... 3-8-21-14-7.

"Your a robot?" Elsword couldn't help but ask a, surprisingly reasonable, question. "Can you shoot lasers?!" He followed up, but then received a slap from his friend.

The blonde shook his head no.

"That's..." Aisha started, but stopped herself quickly. It wasn't a very nice thing to make fun of other's names— identification numbers in this case. So then... "... I'll just call you Chung."

"Where'd you get Chung from?" Elsword was absolutely curious as to her reasoning for such a name. It was kinda, sorta, totally random.

Aisha flipped her hair and gave a smug look. "It's his identification number transferred into letters. C-H-U-N-G."

"Wow, try hard." Remarked Elsword, receiving a punch this time from Aisha.

"My dad called me by that name..." The blonde, Chung, held a downcast look as he suddenly said that aloud. The two stared at the pained boy.

Aisha jumped from where she was sitting and hugged Chung. "It's alright, it's alright! You'll be fine."

After a minute or so of embrace and some awkward shuffling from Elsword, Aisha released him from her grasps. "Anyways, there isn't a Hanna in our town, so you're probably in the wrong place. You're free to stay with Elsword for now though." She turned to the a mentioned boy. "He is free to stay with you, right?"

"Yeah yeah!" With a cheeky grin, Elsword gave her a big thumbs up. "That works!"

At the peak of night, the townspeople had retreated to their dwellings. Elsword's place was dark on the inside— it was silent too. Somehow, Elsword could navigate through the crevices of his place without stumbling. Meanwhile, Chung bumped into multiple obstacles. Constantly, with every bump, a cold and smooth feeling would rub against his skin. If only he could see what the objects were then, maybe, he'd be less scared.

"Over here Chung. Come carefully."

Once Chung had finally reached Elsword after possibly getting cut once or twice, the latter began to ascend a flight of dim stairs leading to the second floor. The clops of his shoes against the floorboards echoed against walls. The blonde followed after him, watching his step. At the top was a closed door. Elsword turned the handle, and yellow light bursted out of the room. "Welcome to my home, Chung."

Clearly the attic room, the place was small and cramped with simple furnishings. At opposing sides of the room were a desk with a warm lamp atop and a bed with two blankets and a pillow. The corners of the attic room were filled with cobwebs and dust bunnies roaming around.

"You can, um..." Elsword pulled one blanket and the pillow from the bed and threw them on the floor. "You can sleep on the bed! I'll sleep down here." With his hands, he gestured to the spot.

"Alright..."

With Elsword pulling the lights, the two both crawled into their respective spots and tucked themselves in tight. The conditions weren't the best of the best... But they were bearable. A long silence dragged through the hours of the night as the outside breeze gushed against the roof of Elsword's place. In the midst of it all, Chung couldn't drift to sleep. There was plenty on the blonde's mind that kept him stirring in the bed.

"Hey Chung?"

"... Yes?"

The other boy who wasn't asleep either rolled onto his side. "What's your hometown like?"

The blonde turned in the bed. "It's, um... dark."

"Are there no lampposts or something? Were lightbulbs outlawed?"

"Er, no." This wasn't exactly the most comforting thing to talk about for Chung. He shifted around in the bed uncomfortably again, pulling the blanket over his shoulder. "We entered into war with another city a couple months ago. There are frequent bomb attacks and explosions nowadays, so it's really noisy— most families live in underground shelters instead of actual houses. What's worst is that this war is expected to never end."

"Sounds like it stinks. No wonder you left."

"No... That's not why..." Chung looked at the ceiling. The planks of wood were bad and even beginning to mold. "My town requires boys at the age of thirteen to leave and study weapon-making under a professional. Then, they come back to create weaponry for the armies— there are some exceptions for returning, like if you get married in the time that you're studying or suffer severe injury." He took a deep breath, holding it inside. "The whole ruling was supposed to help with the war, but many families were torn apart," The terror of seeing his mom and father crying bore into his mind and struck his heart, "Including mine."

Two red eyes peeked over the edge of the bed and stared into the blue pools of Chung's eyes. Within seconds, Elsword brought his elbows up onto the bed and leaned against the side. "You've got us Chung, so there's no need to be sad. Aisha and I will be your new family."

Elsword warmly smiled and held his fist out to him. Maybe the two wouldn't be the same as his old family, but they would be his new one. A family in a safer place. Chung exhaled, responding by bumping his into Elsword's and nodding.

In one hand, a book. In the other, an ice cream cone. The three strolled down the street towards the town fountain, laughing gleefully. They rested and observed a show of colorful water jumping in sync, dancing through the air delightfully and gracefully.

"So you two have been friends since birth?" Chung happily licked his ice cream as he inquired their relationship.

Elsword slinked his arm around Aisha's neck, blood running to her face. "Yep! She's a whole year older than me, but she knew me from when I was born. Aisha is my girl, and only my girl."

"G-get your arm off me... Weirdo..."

Chuckling, he removed his arm as she remained slight angry and embarrassed. "Oh come on, I know you like me!" He sent her a cheeky grin.

Aisha crossed her arms and turned her back on him. "S-Shut up! I'd never want to be like that with you!"

It was so pleasant being with Aisha and Elsword— they had so many interesting conversations together— that he'd forgotten about the ultimate reason he was even here. For the first time in awhile, he was relaxed and joyful.

"There's the kid!"

Behind him, Chung could hear the crushing of dirt under one's shoes. Clinking of armor was also something detectable. But most of all, the gruff sound of men rumbled loudly. His face paled as he recognized the noise.

Aisha and Elsword snapped out of their laughter and watched as two white and blue armored men approached them. One of the men grabbed Chung's shoulder and pulled him closer. "C'mon, you're coming with us!"

As the blonde began struggling, Aisha reached out and grabbed Chung's hand, attempting to tug him away from the men. "Let...! Him...! Go!"

"Stupid little girl." The other man swatted her to the side. "We've got to take him to his real place. Not this useless town."

Aisha stomped her foot. "Why?! What's wrong with this place?!" Her voice was loud and angry, practically screaming at the man before her while the other continued to fight off Chung's struggling.

"Child number 3-8-21-14-7 is learning nothing about machinery and technology here. He'll be of no use to his hometown if he doesn't study under a legit professional."

"Profess— hey, Elsword is a pro! He's an amazing engineer!"

Both men exchanged glances, then burst into laughter. "Ha! Like you actually expect us to believe that a little brat like him is a master of engineering."

"N-No really! He's practically a prodigy!" Aisha whined loudly, panicking as the man she spoke to patted her head and slowly began leaving with his companion and Chung dangling. "Elsword's the best person to teach him!" Neither man halted though, treating her words like a toddler's imagination.

"All he needs is to study under somebody with knowledge of machinery and technology?"

Both men stopped and stared at Elsword who had been sitting quietly at the edge of the town fountain... Oddly enough. "That's all? He can stay as long as he gets that?" One man nodded with an irritated look on his face.

Elsword stretched and got up from where he sat— this was going to be fun. "Well, follow me then!"

He led them to his place, where a gear-shaped sign was now visible. Engraved in it were fancy words— something along the lines of "Gearworks". Before he opened the door, Elsword turned around to the two foreign men, who still held Chung, with an emotionless expression. "Please prepare yourselves to realize how wrong you two are."

Again, Chung was entering into the same dark place where those strange things were. This time, though, the shape of some things were visible. It wasn't quite as scary. With the closed curtains, though, it was impossible to make-out what they were.

Which is precisely why Elsword and Aisha simultaneously opened the windows with an amount of confidence. And drama.

Immediately, Chung and the two men were blinded by shining sunlight. The men released Chung from their hold and he stumbled forward. The light that shone into his eyes disappeared and was replaced by metallic, complicated inventions that seemed to cover every floorboard and wall. With disbelief and wide eyes, Chung laid a hand against the pipes and gears of one machine. This was what Elsword wanted to show them!

"What the...?! How...?!" One man sputtered.

"In this town, people are considered adults when they turn twelve. By that age, we've been trained in a certain field as professionals." In Elsword's hand was a silver revolver aimed at the floor, probably made by him.

The other man folded his arms and smirked. "Well, in our town, you're a kid, so if you really believe that—"

When Elsword pulled the trigger, a bullet flew out and wood chips scattered around, leaving a tiny hole in place. The two foreign men jumped backwards, startled by the shot. "I'm twelve and trained in the art of engineering. I'd happily take this boy as an intern, if you'd accept that is."

The two men exchanged looks, silently communicating to the other. With a grunt, a man nudged Chung forward. "Fine... We'll have him listed for this town. A new kid will be sent to the original town."

Aisha wholeheartedly hugged Chung, practically pouncing on the blonde. Elsword held a hand out to the man, the latter firmly shaking it and leaving with his companion.

A deafening silence lingered within the walls of the business before Elsword spoke up. "Pfft, they're so stupid."

"I know, right!" Chiming in, Aisha high-fived Elsword. "They had no idea who they were dealing with!"

Chung couldn't quite believe what just happened. Actually, he could, but it was so hard. Was he really... Staying? He'd get to be with Elsword and Aisha! Looking at the hole in the floor, though, Chung felt kinda bad— Elsword ruined the floor for him. Perhaps he could fix it for him. And maybe, the whole house because it was so rundown. "I'm sorry about the floor Elsword. I'll fix it for you."

"Oh that? Happens all the time. It's fine, I'll take care of it." Elsword didn't really care that it was broken, but just that Chung was with them now. He slung an arm over Chung's shoulders, tugging him slightly. "Anyways, welcome to Gearworks, Chung!"

"Huh?" What was Gearworks?

"Gearworks," the purple-haired girl rested her hand on the newcomer's shoulder, "That's the name of the business. Welcome to our family."

Elsword released a long, and loud, sigh. Those were the good days. To think that they'd gone from being what they were then to the adults they were now.

Over his shoulder, Aisha had fallen asleep on their refugee's shoulder. She always looked innocent when sleeping, like an adorable little lamb or something along those lines. But lately... She'd been as stubborn as a donkey and irritating as a fly. It was so strange. She wasn't always like this, right?

Unsettled, he stopped looking at his friend and continued to fly the plane.