Chapter Two: Things Look Up
Vayne: First off, yes the first chapter seemed rushed because, it was rushed. I had an idea for getting this started, but it kept running away from me as I was writing, so chapter one was kind of a "this just kind of happened" thing. I apologize for that, but hopefully the rest of the story will make up for it. Any who, let's continue.
The snow fell softly to the ground in Elder. The cold wind did not harm, but instead made residents feel more alive than ever. Spirits were high, as Christmas was but a week away. The streets were busy with people buying gifts, working stores, or just hanging about. Two particular people sat at a table on a cafe balcony, both nervous.
"So...did you enjoy the movie?" Rena decided to try an innocent conversation, anything to break the unnerving silence.
"Well, I like making fun of really bad movies. Sorry that you had to sit through it though." Elsword apologized.
"Oh it's alright. I liked listening to you make fun of it, it was more entertaining than the movie." Rena laughed. Her voice was music to Elsword's ears, and that smile made his heart beat faster. Come on, just say it already! Elsword wracked his mind and heart, searching for the courage to ask the most important question of his life. Rena was on a similar train of thought. Elsword looked over the cafe balcony, and saw Raven.
"Hey, what's Raven doing in town?" Elsword pointed at him, and as Rena turned to look, they saw him walk up to Alirah, the owner of one of the gem stores.
"Wow, Alirah must be happy right now." Rena smiled. Everyone knew about Alirah's affection for Raven, except for him. At least until today.
"He seems really nervous." Elsword and Rena looked back at each other, shocked.
"No way!" They both exclaimed, then looked back to see Raven and Alirah walking off down the street, back to the house.
"Holy...Do you think?" Rena was shocked, she never thought Raven would have parted with Seris's memories and move on. Elsword however, his eyes closed, was lost in thought. Calm down Elsword. I can do this. Breathe, breathe. Oh god...don't chicken out now!
"Come on just do it already." Elsword muttered under his breath, but Rena easily heard him.
"Sorry?" Elsword looked up at her, her soothing eyes making him more nervous. He took a deep breath, then sighed. All or never.
"Rena, I have something important I want to ask you." Elsword stared into her eyes, making her the nervous one now.
"O-Okay, Elsword."
"Rena, you're a good friend, and I know that lately I have been, distant. But, I can't keep this to myself anymore. I just...I..." Rena placed her hand on his, trying to calm him down, "Rena...I...I love you."
"Elsword...I never knew you felt like that." Rena feigned knowledge of his affection, trying to make this simple. She held his hands, gazing into his eyes, "I've liked you for awhile now as well. I think I was too scared to admit it." Elsword smiled.
"So was I. When I saw Raven go up to Alirah, something just clicked." Elsword focused deeply on Rena's olive eyes, "Rena?"
"Elsword, I think we should give this a try." She smiled, her face beginning to get red, "Maybe, it will be good, maybe, somehow, it will be bad. We won't know unless we try."
"Rena." Elsword held her hands tighter, "Thank you." They got up from their table, paid for the food, and hand in hand, walked back towards home.
"Elsword? What did you get for Eve for tomorrow?" Rena was curious.
"Oh, remember how Eve had been saying she needed those parts for her workshop?" Rena stared at him, eyes wide.
"The ones she said are almost impossible to find?" Elsword nodded, proud of himself, "How the hell did you find them?"
"Well, Vayne might have helped a little." Rena sighed, then smiled.
"Yeah, that hourglass is really something isn't it?" She the sighed again, "I feel bad for him though."
"Why?" Elsword walked slightly in front of Rena, clearing away the high snow.
"While we all can relax easy after all we have done, Vayne still is constantly at work. Having to use that hourglass to track and maintain the Wayward Sands, and having to be ready to do his duty if a corrupted demon arises." They stopped in silence.
"Man, I wish I could help him somehow, at least make things easier for him." Elsword sighed, and continued to shove the snow out of the way. Rena walked slowly now, thinking about what Elsword had said. Elsword, there is definitely something you can do to make things easier for him, and for me and Eve. I hope you will do it. Rena shook her head. No, Vayne said we'll ask them a while after Christmas. She chuckled softly. Well, Aisha already said yes.
Chung, Vayne, Aisha, Raven, and Alirah all sat in the living room. Eve had sent Oberon and Ophelia to town to collect Alirah's personal effects, and was inside her workshop working on something the others did not know about. Alirah sat nervously, the recent events having not even been fantasies to her, and Raven held her hand reassuringly. The door opened, and Rena and Elsword walked in, hand in hand.
"Hey guys!" Vayne greeted them merrily.
"Hey." Elsword and Rena replied, and walked to the couch. They sat down, and looked at Alirah, Eve came down the stairs then and sat down next to Chung. It was not intentional, but everyone greeted Alirah at the same time.
"Alirah, we're happy to have you with us." Alirah jumped slightly then, startled.
"T-Thank you!"
"Oh mellow out girl." Aisha smiled.
"Looks like your things are here." Vayne peered out the window to see Oberon and Ophelia coming to the house, "Glad you're going to be staying with us."
"Thank you." Alirah looked at Eve, "I'm sorry, but I don't have anything for you for your birthday."
"Oh it's alright. Let's take this new relationship between you and Raven as the present, and just so you know, I love it." Eve smiled, and Alirah blushed slightly.
"Is she going to be coming with us tomorrow?" Elsword looked at Raven, who nodded, "Awesome."
"So, where exactly are we going?" Alirah knew they were going on a trip, but the details weren't explained yet.
"It's a mountain resort north of Hamel called Blessed Heights. It's a really fancy place, lots of food and stuff to do. We'll be staying there for Christmas." Elsword explained.
"Wow, sounds nice." Alirah smiled as Raven wrapped his arm around her.
"We have reserved cabins, two per cabin." Raven kissed her cheek, and Alirah blushed, making everyone else laugh.
The sun was beginning to set, and most of the gang retired to their rooms. Elsword and Rena stayed up however, and turned on the TV, some romantic movie playing on low volume. Rena was in Elsword's arms, and they lay down on the couch, Rena on top of him. They gazed into each other's eyes, not wanting to look away. They could feel each other's warm breath over the cold, night air, warming their lips. They stared at each other, and Rena slowly, very slowly, lowered her head. Elsword moved his head up slightly, joining their lips. As the kiss began, Elsword wrapped his arms tightly around her waist as Rena held his shoulders.
"I love you." They both said wearily, drowsiness catching up to them. Their eyes slowly closed, and they drifted off to sleep on the couch.
"Aw, look at them." Rena heard Aisha as she was beginning to wake up.
"One day and they're already making out on the couch." Vayne teased.
"I think it's romantic." They both heard Alirah say. Rena and Elsword finally woke up, sitting up on the couch. They rubbed their eyes, "Oh, morning."
"Morning." They both groaned.
"You two better get your gifts, Eve will be up soon." Chung sat down, laying a blue box on the coffee table. Rena and Elsword quickly got their gifts, and just in time, as once they got back to the living room, they heard Eve coming down the stairs.
"Morning everyone." Eve smiled, and Chung instantly walked up and hugged her.
"Happy birthday Eve." He whispered, and kissed her cheek. He brought her over to the couch he was sitting on, and handed her his gift, but she held up her hand.
"I want yours last."
"Are you not interested?" Chung felt somewhat hurt.
"Oh no, I'm dying to find out what you have for me. I just want to build up the suspense." She smiled.
"Eve, you're so weird." Aisha sighed.
"Want mine first?" Elsword hoisted a large, black box over from behind the couch. Eve raised an eyebrow, curious.
"Okay." Elsword put in front of her, and she slowly opened the lid.
"You act like it's going to blow up." Vayne chuckled.
"Once she sees what's in there, some blowing up might occur, in a different sense." Elsword smirked, then laughed as Eve's eyes widened as she looked into the box. She pulled out a variety of incredibly complicated, black iron tools and parts.
"Oh my god! Elsword, thank you!" She got up and tightly embraced him, "You have no idea how long I've been looking for these!"
"Give Vayne some credit to, he helped me find it." Eve let Elsword go, allowing him to sit back down, and hugged Vayne.
"Well, since you're here." Vayne handed her a small black box, "Hand made it." Eve opened the box, and it was a fair sized, transparent, spherical crystal.
"What is it?"
"It's just a little trinket. Inside the sphere are some handcrafted Sands. Look at it more closely." Eve gazed at the crystal ball, and it suddenly fill with gold liquid, almost like solid wind as it drifted inside the ball, "Glad you like it."
"How'd-"
"The ball senses the feelings of the person looking into it. It can also be used as a tool to tell if someone it lying."
"What colors mean what?"
"Gold is happiness, blue is sadness, black is depression, red is anger, green is confusion, and orange is doubt. There are several other colors with a variety of meanings, and they sometimes blend, so if you get purple, you're angry and sad. If the colors don't mix, it just has both."
"That's really cool, thank you Vayne." Eve smiled, and hugged him again.
"Ah, it was nothing." Vayne looked at Aisha, "Well?" Aisha stuck her tongue out at him, and handed Eve something soft wrapped in paper. Eve tore the paper off, and unfolded a long, white, silk dress with gold trim and a faded orange El shard on the belt, which was sewn into the fabric on the back.
"Aisha, is this-?"
"Yep, that dress you wanted when we took that trip to Hamel. It was a pain in the ass to order it and get it here, but it arrived just in time."
"Thank you." Eve turned as Raven got up and handed her another small box.
"We teamed up for ours." Raven glanced at Rena. Eve opened the case, and took out a heart-shaped gem the size of her palm, with all the colors of the rainbow. Rena got up, and handed her an even smaller box. Eve set down the gem, and took out a small, white piece of machinery.
"You were always saying you didn't really like your eye color, so I thought of you when I saw this on our Hamel trip." Rena smiled as Chung looked at the chip, confused.
"What is this?" He asked.
"This is a little piece of coding that allows me to change my eye color when I want to." Eve looked as Vayne smacked his open palm with his fist.
"You could use it so we know your current feelings too, or deceive us." Eve blushed suddenly, and whispered something into Vayne's ear, "Oh, that's silver." Eve smiled.
"What she ask?" Aisha asked, knowing Vayne would tell her anyway.
"Eve?" Vayne looked at her, and she shook her head, "Sorry."
"Aww." Aisha then just kissed his cheek, "Tease." Eve sat back down next to Chung.
"Now, let's see what you got me." Chung smiled, and handed her the box.
"I made it myself too." Eve looked confused as she took out a black square, about the size of a large plate.
"What is it?"
"I know you told me that you're always capturing moments we all spend together in pictures through your drones, and you said you would have to get rid of some soon. See this?" Chung pointed out a hand-sized and shaped indent in the back, with a small hole in the center, "Now you can put those photos in this, and it will play through them."
"So that's why you asked me about how I get my pictures." Chung shrugged at her accusing stare, then made her blush with a kiss, "I love it, thank you dear."
"Happy birthday Eve." Alirah came up and gave her a hug, which Eve returned, "I'm sorry I don't have anything to give you."
"Just make Raven happy, and I'll forgive you." Eve smiled, and Alirah blushed slightly. Raven got up.
"Well, it's time we hit the road people." Raven stretched his legs, and Rena stood up.
"But we still need to eat the cake I made for today." Rena whined.
"Well, maybe if you had told us you made one, I would not have said that." Everyone got up, and sat down at the dining table while Rena got the cake. It was more fancy than anything they had at the local bakery, with elven words written in icing.
"Happy birthday Eve." Everyone said, and Eve blew out the candles.
"Might be a little late, but not too much." Raven grunted as he, Chung, Vayne, and Elsword loaded the two trucks with their clothes, armor and weapons for the trip. They were getting things loaded up as fast as they could, and the girls were getting ready upstairs. As Vayne closed the tailgate, he sighed.
"That's all of it. We got two trucks, eight of us, so four each." Vayne closed his eyes, thinking about who would be going with who.
"Why don't we just pair up? You and Raven are driving anyway, so Aisha and Alirah can sit with you." Chung proposed the idea.
"And you and Eve can ride in the back of one truck, and Elsword and Rena in the other. Sounds good." Vayne checked both trucks, "I'm amazed there's still plenty of room in the back of these, enough for maybe three people." Vayne rummaged through the back of the garage, and came back with two large, soft, furry black covers. He folded them up and placed them on the back of each truck, providing something comfy to sit on. Vayne hopped in to test them, and sighed, "Oh man, I could sleep on this!"
"Well, too bad." Elsword laughed, and the girls entered the garage.
"We're all ready." Rena said, and then kissed Elsword. The other girls did the same to their objects of affection.
"Well, Aisha and Alirah are obviously riding in front with Vayne and Raven." Elsword looked at Rena, "Which truck you want?"
"I don't really care." Rena wrapped her arms around Elsword's neck, "As long as I'm with you." Elsword responded with a deep kiss.
"Why not just make it easy and do a gem toss?" Vayne formed a small crystal ball in his hand. He stood between Elsword and Chung, and flicked it into the air. Elsword caught it.
"So who do I ride with?"
"You'll ride with me, Chung and Eve with Raven. When we get to our first stop, we'll just switch trucks." Everyone nodded, and got into the vehicles. Eve activated the garage doors, and once they were open, the gang began the long drive through the forest to Elder, through the streets, and onto the main road. The trip was going to take at least two days, so the lovers in the back of the trucks got comfortable, and drifted off to sleep.
Vayne: Hopefully this chapter was better than the first XD As you probably assumed, the next chapter is going to be the car ride. Once again, drop me a review telling me what you think!