It was a damp, moist, foggy day, the kind of day that clung to your skin uncomfortably like a wet shawl. Such a day was unusual for Hamel Academy, which was infamous for being the school of 'rainbows and butterflies and eternal good weather, where angels sang from above and the Lady El blessed each and every student.' Of course, this was a slight exaggeration. After all, everyone knows that angels don't sing at Hamel Academy, they play lutes. And, of course, the Lady El only blessed every other student.
But back to the day.
It was a damp, moist, foggy day, the kind of day that clung to - Wait, I already said that. Basically, it was a dreary day and Rune hated it.
Where the El was the damn sun?!
Moping, Rune draped himself across his chair, totally ignoring the teacher, attempting to bore holes into the thick, gray fog with his passionate gaze. Stupid fog. It sucked all of the joy out of the sunny, cheery school, and was totally obscuring his vision of the fountain that so many girls flocked to during their lunch period!
"RUNE SIEGHART!"
Damn. He got caught.
Fifty math questions later, the fog had finally begun to lighten up a little. Upon stepping outside of the school, however, he was immediately attacked by a blonde elf. "RUNE~!" Stumbling back, Rune chuckled.
"Rena, you're back! How did your... um... elf-thinggie go?" Rena raised a blonde eyebrow, and Rune noted that she had already changed back into her school uniform.
"Elf-thinggie? Really Rune?" Rune laughed, swiping a hand lazily through his crimson hair, the sound floating gently over the schoolyard.
"What else am I supposed to call it? All you told me was that it was some, 'serious Elven business that required your immediate attention.' You expect me to say all that?! 'Oh yes, how did your serious Elven business that required your immediate attention go?'" Rena laughed brightly, curling a hand in front of her mouth politely.
You see, Rune and Rena had developed this odd friendship over the course of three meetings. Well, not exactly a friendship, more like a sister-brother relationship. Sort of. Rune saw Rena as an older sister, and Rena saw everyone as her immediate family, but they acted more like close friends. It was more of a... friendly sister-brother relationship.
With a glint in her emerald eyes, Rena wagged a finger teasingly. "Yes. I expect you to say that." Rune grinned, sweeping a mock bow.
"Yes, m'lady. I most sincerely apologize, m'lady." Giggling, Rena whacked Rune playfully on the arm.
"Oh! I know! Are you free later today?" Rune tilted his head questioningly.
"Yeah, I don't have any extra curriculars. Why...?"
Rena beamed, enthusiastically shaking his hand. "Great! Meet me down in front of the library at two, okay? You have to be there!" And then she was gone, already run off somewhere, bouncing along in a somewhat-hyper manner, like the child she was deep down. Rune sighed, checking his watch. It read 1:30.
"Well, it's not like I have something better to do..."
And that is how Rune found himself cramped in a small, sparsely decorated room alongside Raven, Chung, Aisha, Eva, Eve, Knight, Infi, Rena, and Ara.
Just what did Rena have in mind?
Said elf smiled brightly, holding out a slip of paper almost grimly. "Well, it seems that there is an annual exam in Hamel Academy that focuses in on your fighting skills. And we've all been assigned to the same group!"
Chung, who had been sipping water, promptly slammed it on the table and spewed water everywhere. Infi, surprisingly enough, was the first to react, diving under the table, screaming something about how he had enough water to the face.
"WHAT?!"
Anyone who walked in at that moment would have thought that they practiced that exact moment, but it was all spontaneous. Rena nodded sagely, somehow keeping a cheery expression on her delicate features. "Yep~ I know it's sudden, but c'est la vie." She was greeted with blank stares. "Oh come on you guys! No one knows that expression?"
More blank stares.
"That's life? You know, c'est la vie?"
More blank stares.
Rena sighed. "You know what? Never mind."
Infi scowled, his ruby eyes flickering with rather obvious distaste. "A fighting exam with these shitheads? Yeah, no thanks. I don't want to work with She-Man the Whale, the terror twins, the grapehead, or my crappy older brothers, thank you very much!" He glanced briefly at the group. "I wouldn't mind working with Ara and Raven, but everyone else? El no!"
Raven sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I'm not particularly happy with this arrangement either... I was hoping to not be grouped with these lumps of metal." Amber eyes flicked over to Eva and Eve, filled with thinly veiled disgust and anger. Eva returned the gaze, while Eve rose, bristling aggressively.
"Pardon me?! Just exactly who do you think you are, peasant?! How dare you talk to us in such a manner! I am just as displeased as you are with this particular group, but you could at least attempt to make this more pleasurable for both of us!"
Knight quickly stood, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Eve, please calm down. There is no need to lose your temper over something like this."
From the corner, Ara snickered. "Fag." Knight sent her a semi-concerned glance, before returning to calm down Eve. Aisha glared at Ara.
"Ara! At least try to be nice! How does calming someone down make them a fag?" Ara shrugged haughtily, her mesmerizing orange-gold orbs narrowing, matching Aisha's frosty glare.
"Does someone need a reason to be a fag?"
Somewhere along the way, Raven and Eva had gotten into an argument, throwing Eve into the turmoil while Chung and Knight tried to calm the situation. Infi had started poking fun at Rune, who retaliated viciously with his own verbal attack. Throw a quarreling Aisha and Eve into the mix, and what do you get? Total chaos.
Rena's eye twitched.
"WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT THE EL UP?!"
That did the trick.
The room became deathly silent, all nine pairs of eyes trained on the elf. Letting out a deep breath, Rena beamed.
"How about we play some icebreakers?" Raven shrugged nonchalantly.
"Is it really necessary? There's a slim chance that ice breakers will break all this tension," He opined, using his human hand to fiddle with the small chain around his neck. Rena simply giggled.
"How about we play 'of course?' Rune, you and Aisha can go first!"
Of course was a very simple game. Basically, the players took turns to ask each other odd, funny, and awkward questions, and all the other was allowed to respond with was 'of course.' The first person to hesitate or answer with something else lost.
Rune sighed. "I guess I'll go first. Aisha, do you really have a crush on Mr. Adams?"
Aisha blinked. Who the El was Adams?
(Somewhere in Hamel Academy a brunette with curly hair and glasses is sobbing in a corner because no one can remember his name)
"Of course. Rune, do you really put on makeup every morning?"
Ara snickered. This was going to be more amusing than she originally thought.
"Of course. Have you really stalked Rena's brother before?"
Aisha flushed. "Of course." Infi cackled, finding Aisha's discomfort amusing. "Um... Do you really have a girlfriend?" The room became silent as they stared at Rune, who had already established a playboy reputation, going through a different girl each week.
"Of course. That would be you." The room erupted in screams as Rena flopped around excitedly, knowing what Aisha thought of Rune, while Infi was busy screaming with rage. Naturally, Chung was totally clueless and was utterly shocked, alongside Raven, while Ara, Eva, and Eve had no idea what to think. Knight had shrieked simply because Chung had suddenly jumped out of his seat and startled him.
Aisha flushed a bright red. "Y-YOU IDIOT! WE'RE NOT DATING!" Rune raised an eyebrow.
"Really? We're still playing of course, right?" Rena nodded. Rune smirked devilishly, leaning forwards. "Let's change that then. Aisha, will you go out with me?"
More screams, namely from Rena and Infi, while the rest just looked shell-shocked. Aisha blushed, but her competitiveness and pride didn't let her back down. "Of course." She cringed at the excited shrieks, scooting away from Rena, who was bouncing around like a mad-woman. "Are you being serious right now?"
Rune nodded. "Of course. And that wasn't me just playing the game." Ara laughed cheerily, drawing an incredulous look from Knight.
"What? I can be happy when I want to, too."
A slight knock at the door resounded through the room, before the wooden door swung open. Dirty blonde hair swished briefly, as hazel eyes glittered softly. An almost identical image of Rena shyly peeked in, glancing around the room, before locking eyes with Raven, who looked like he had just spotted a ghost, sporting an unhealthy pallor. "Raven...? Can I speak to you?
Raven let out a breathy gasp, still thunderstruck. "Se...ris...?"
Elsa leaned on her massive claymore, studying a certain raven-haired man intently. He didn't seem particularly threatening, but she found herself believing her dream more and more.
A gust of wind blew past, ruffling her garnet hair, swishing in the playful hands of Ventus. The sky darkened, rumbling ominously, foreshadowing the coming onslaught of rain.
She lowered her voice to a whisper, allowing the wind to steal away her words. "Maybe it has to do with him..."
The sky rumbled, almost as if forbidding her from uttering the next few words.
"Elsword..."
Meanwhile, Anne was trying to cheer up a rather depressed Adams. "No worries, they just don't recognize you because you're a rather boring teacher who teaches the most useless subject in all of Hamel Academy."
Adams sniffled. "YOU'RE NOT HELPING!"
It just so happened that shy Allegro had been walking by and saw Adams break down. He adjusted his glasses. "Are you alright, Mr. Adams?" Instantly Adams shot upright, embracing the smaller boy in a bone crushing hug.
"A PLUS FOR YOU! NEVER WORRY ABOUT DOING YOUR HOMEWORK AGAIN! PERFECT ON EVERY TEST!" Letting go of the poor boy, he laughed to the heavens. "SOMEONE KNOWS MY NAME!" Anne smiled brightly to Allegro.
"Please excuse me while I go call the mental asylum."
Oh. My. El.
Me: It's been too long. HAPPY DESU-CHAN?! YOU BETTER! Ahem.
Raven: You're way too slow with this stuff.
Me: I know that! Also, I demand a chapter of IHY/ILY in return. Mwa ha ha ha ha :D
Elsword: ...You wouldn't make a very good super villian, y'know...
Me: :O I'll have you know I am a VERY good actor that specializes in psychotic characters and lovesick ones!
Aisha: *snickers*
Me: DON'T LAUGH AT ME!
Rena: It's just... That combo... XD
Me: Humph! Anyway, onto reviewer replies~!
Tsu-chan - Sarcastic to the point where they can't tell if you're serious or not XD /slapped Absolutely not. And I think more breaking the fourth wall moments will be coming! BODY PILLOWS FTW! That actually makes sense, when you think about it... AND NOT IN A MONTH! ONLY IN... *counts* 26 DAYS! *hides in emo corner* Dat super long break... I'll join you XD *sips tea with you*
Yami - Yes. You. Are. NOT BLAND AT ALL! PERFECT I TELL YOU! PERFECT! I'd say your vocab is more extensive than mine, I have to Google up a lot of synonyms XD AND YESH. ETIQUETTE AND ALLIANCE ARE BOTH IN THE TOP 10. GO ELSAXAREN. More moments to come~!
Asian - Your ego'll be fine, just give it... *checks watch* ...A year or so? Punch him all you want, but I'm going to be pulling some heartstrings later on, so... yeah... MUST. NOT. SPOIL. STORY.
DevilWolf641 - I had misread what you typed XD Sorry for the misunderstanding~! All characters are good when you know how to use them, unlike me who can't play PVP for my life XD I think Rune's good for now, but keep that stretcher on standby! Thank you~ ^^
Yumi Hades - Sort of. (MUST. NOT. SPOIL. STORY.)
AkitaEls - 1. Infinity. (See what I did there? Infinity and Infinity Sword? XD /slapped) 2. Absolutely not. 3. Yep. He's practically invincible now, but he'll be going through a lot more crap before this story is over :D Thank you very much~ ^^
Ephema - You've got the Haans down more or less, but if you thought that was one hell of a plot already, wait until you get into all the crap with the Siegharts and the whole Altera-Hamel-Velder issue XD There's going to be a lot of OH MY EL moments and a lot of mind-blowingness, so hold on, it's going to be a bumpy ride!
Kiyo - O_O DETACHABLE HEAD. WUT. Thank you very much~ ^^
Arrow-chan3 - No worries, review whenever you feel like it! Thank you very much~ ^^
Lyte - Shut up. *pouts* Don't watch me while I sleep! And was in necessary to send me that massive teddy bear holiday gram? I couldn't fit it in my locker!
Luigi - Oh god, not while I'm there. Pwease? He'll catch up depending on how merciful I feel XD YES. JOIN THE 2D REVOLUTION! Lol, scaring Elsa now? Don't blame me if there's a sword through your skull tomorrow XD
Me: YAY WE'RE GOOD.
Elsa: SOMETHING'S BEEN FOLLOWING ME AROUND AND I THINK IT'S A GHOST AND IT'S GOING TO EAT ME IN MY SLEEP.
Me: No, I think that's just Luigi XD
Chung: So, how many OH MY EL moments are planned for this story?
Me: One hundred million bajillion.
Aisha: Seems legit.
Me: I'm sleepy, so we're wrapping this up!
Ara: Don't forget to R&R!
Rena: Follow and favorite if you haven't already~!
Eve: See you next chapter.
Me: Love y'all! Chu~