Have you ever heard the legend of the Heaven in the Pot? It is a story in which a traveler accidentally wanders into a pot and finds a paradise - a separate dimension - within. The traveler becomes so intoxicated with this paradise that when he leaves, he finds himself wishing he could return to the world within the pot and is no longer satisfied with the luxuries he has. Some have said that Hamel Academy is the equivalent of the Heaven in the Pot, that those who wander through its gilded gates return as completely different people, people who cannot ever be satisfied with the luxuries provided by the world outside of Hamel Academy.
"GET BACK HERE YOU SON OF A BITCH! I WILL GRIND YOUR BONES INTO POWER AND BAKE IT IN MY BREAD!"
...Because every paradise wasn't complete without your daily threat to end your life. Everyone knows that.
Currently, Infi was running away from Eve. Again. It seemed that every time Infi and Eve were in the same immediate area, Infi ended up insulting or offending Eve - both directly and indirectly - and was chased around by Eve who threw everything in her path at him, ranging from electron balls and her drones to chairs and people.
(Meanwhile a particular shy boy with raven hair and glasses shivered as he recalled flying through the sky towards a particular redhead with partially black hair)
What did he do this time? Well...
"Hey, it's not my fault that you walked into the men's bathroom!"
Yes, Eve, the Battle Queen of the Nasods, walked into the men's bathroom (In her defense some prankster had switched the signs that indicated which bathroom was for which gender earlier!) while Infi was... you know. She yelled at him, he defended himself by insulting her and/or teasing her in a less than appropriate way, yadda yadda yadda, and now she was chasing him around the courtyard while yelling death threats. Just another typical day at Hamel Academy.
The duo blasted past Rena, who was carrying a large bundle of papers. She shrieked in surprise, dropping the papers as she leapt back, resulting in a flurry of paper to swirl around in the wind. "Oh, dear me! EVE! INFI! STOP RUNNING AROUND LIKE IDIOTS AND HELP ME PICK THIS UP!" Both ignored her. As expected from the duo. Sighing, Rena bent down to collect her papers, pushing the majority of them into a pile. Another large gust of wind blew past, sending several papers flying. Letting out a huff, Rena quickly bundled her papers with an elastic band before dashing like a madman across the green lawns, chasing the papers that were blowing away in the wind.
Casually stretching a hand out into the air, another blonde snatched a paper out of the breeze, handing it to Rena as she dashed past. "Thanks Chung~!" Chung sent her a friendly wave paired with an equally friendly grin, turning back to continue tying his shoelace. Straightening up, Chung straightened his tie, shoving his hands in his pockets after completing the task. Glancing at the clock that adorned the main building, he checked the time. 1:35. He still had another twenty or so minutes until his lunch break over, so he could probably go and waste some time by walking around the courtyard. Or maybe he could help Rena catch the rest of her papers? His train of thought was interrupted as a loud voice called out to him.
"Chung! Oi, Chung!" Looking up, the blonde smiled at the redhead who was casually walking towards him.
"Rune. Good morning to you too. Can I help you?" Rune grinned, proudly brandishing a sheet of paper in front of him. Smirking, he glanced at the sheet again. "Okay, so I was walking around, right? And then one of Eva's crazy servants, the maid, crashes into me while carrying this sheet of paper. She left really shortly after, but accidentally left the paper behind. Anyway, I decided to look at the paper, and you'll never -"
"Rune! It's rude to look at other people's stuff without their permission!" Rune rolled his crimson orbs, sassily cantering a hip out.
"Please. Like you've never done it." He waved at a duo of girls who happened to be walking by, breaking eye contact with Chung only to send them a killer smile. The girls giggled quietly, one of them dramatically swooning while the other blew him a flirtatious kiss. Rune, who continued to speak, made a show of catching the kiss and putting it in his pocket, making them giggle some more. "So, like I was saying, you'll never guess what it says! Eva-"
Slap!
Eva: 19
Chung: 3
Rune: 1
"How dare you look through my things!" Snatching away the piece of paper, Eva huffed, leaving behind a chuckling Chung and a now red-faced Rune, a hand print imprinted on his face in reddened skin.
Curtly folding the paper up, Eva sighed, pulling out a hover-screen. On it was a blueprint of a humanoid robot, several complex parts of the circuitry already neatly drawn out in white. "Now we'd need to add in an optical-electric here and a STSP, and then I'd need to route in the dashboard and the memory chip over here..." Muttering to herself, she started to add in the features, frowning as part of the circuitry failed to line up properly. "Now what?" As she continued to slave over her newest servant's innards, Ophelia carefully steered her away from a particularly large puddle of muddy water and a purplenette whose head was buried in a thick tome, the pages yellowed and worn.
Aisha reverently turned the page, barely noticing the Regal Queen of the Nasods walk by, quietly muttering her greetings. Ducking to avoid a branch, Aisha stepped over a root neatly, totally absorbed in the weathered pages. "So if I were to focus my mana on a particular point while using some sort of channeling device... Perhaps some sort of gemstone? No, that wouldn't work. I need something that will reflect what I'm seeing. Maybe a pond?" She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice Raven until she crashed into him.
Grunting slightly, Raven looked back, spotting Aisha on the ground in a heap, book high above her head. Raven sighed. "You okay?" Aisha didn't seem to hear him.
"MY BOOK! Oh my El, is it okay?!" Frantically examining the pages for dirt, Aisha sighed with relief, only to tense up again. "OH MY EL IS THAT A TEAR?!" Raven shook his head, before taking a seat on a nearby bench and pulling out his phone, idly flicking through his messages as Aisha continued to mourn over the small tear in one of the book's pages.
"You done yet? You're bothering me." Standing up with a huff, Aisha pointedly glared at Raven.
"You wrecked an antique book in mint condition! Of course I'm not okay!"
Raven shrugged. "I wasn't the one who fell over..." Ignoring her shrieks of fury, Raven continued to look through his phone. "Oh, that video Infi posted last week already has a million views..." Absorbed in his phone, Raven barely looked up as Infi ran past him with a screaming Eve on his tail as he was checking his text messages. Nor did he look up when Knight went flying over the bench, narrowly missing his head. Did he have any new emails?
He did notice, however, when Rena bustled by, chasing after a piece of paper, somehow having recruited all the local pigeons to help her. All of which were fat pigeons, due to Raven's daily routine of throwing as much bread at them as possible so they could fill their greedy little bellies. He chuckled. "I should sit outside more often..."
From behind him, Knight indignantly stood up. Brushing himself off, Knight glared off in the distance. "What the El was that for?!" The target of his glare happened to be Ara. The oriental girl stood next to a fountain, the stone Ruchis spraying a fine mist of water into the surrounding area, several rainbows forming behind her. Knight would loudly proclaim to anyone who asked him at that exact moment that Ara didn't deserve the rainbows. Ara giggled, blinking innocently, arms folded, cantering a hip with enough sass to run a country. "I just learned a judo throw this morning and I needed to test it out~" Rolling his eyes, Knight walked around the bench, flicking Ara on the forehead (Lightly, of course, he could never actually hurt a girl unless they were fighting for real).
"You're a real idiot, you know? And don't go throwing around random people! Plus the cutesy act doesn't work for you. It makes you look like a dying Phoru." Ara stuck her tongue out, confidently placing her hands on her hips before staring down her nose at Knight, using her height to her advantage. In Knight's defense, she was only a couple of inches taller than him! He would definitely grow!
"Oh really? Well you twerp, better run, 'cause I learned a couple of techniques that can skewer you like a shish kebab and I'm just dying to try them out." She smirked, leering at Knight as she casually pantomimed jabbing him in the gut with a spear. Knight scoffed tetchily, flipping his long bangs out of his face.
"Are you kidding me? I survived BLADE RAIN which can skewer me a thousand times over. And guess what? I'm in a bad mood today, I just got harassed by my accessory-obsessed roommate and had all my shirts dunked in oil by Infi. So you want to pick a fight? Fine by me."
At this point Ara had stopped listening. "Infi dunked all your shirts in oil? That's pure genius!" She swooned, her eyes getting misty with tears, a dreamy sigh escaping her. "Ah~ He's so dreamy! Why is your brother so... so perfect?!"
Upon seeing this entire exchange, from Eve to Ara, Add decided that he'd rather not attend Hamel Academy, the fabled Heaven in the Pot.
Oh. My. El.
Infi was less than pleased when he saw Add for the first time. The mauve-eyed, white-haired man kept his hair tied up in a slightly messy ponytail, his left eye glowing brightly, a matching mauve line tattooed down the side of his face. His uniform was immaculately kept, white gloves covering his hands. To the girls, he was a dream come true, a handsome prince who could sweep them off of their feet. That is, until he spoke. It was at this point that Infi found Add bearable.
"My name is Add Ition. Leave me alone and I won't fill your bed with Nasod Bees at night."
Yes, Add would be fun to be around.
Rune found Add to be insufferable. Knight thought Add was tolerable but needed an attitude improvement. Ara added him to her growing list of crushes. You see, the people surrounding Add fell into one of two categories; either you could tolerate him or you hated him. Simple as that.
To make matters worse, instead of sticking Add into one of the less full groups for the so-called 'fighting exam,' Principle Ariel decided that Group 42A wasn't crowded enough and shoved Add in there just for the heck of it.
"It'll help him make friends," were her exact words, to be precise. It was more likely that Ariel had found out about Add's obsession with Nasods.
"Thank El I came to this Academy!" Sweeping a bow, Add spoke reverently to Eve and Eva. "Such Goddesses from above come to speak to a lowly peasant such as myself! It is a blessing! A blessing!" At this point his was on his knees, his forehead touching the ground before the stunned Nasods. "I shall aid you whenever you need, O Goddesses! I am but your servant!"
He shot a glare at Infi who was busy cackling somewhere in the background. Eva deadpanned. "I already have a full arsenal of servants, you are not needed."
Eve was no less brutal with her words.
"Why should a human like you protect me?"
Add wasn't discouraged in the least. "O Goddesses, you may not need me now, but I shall be your eternal servant! Please call for me if you need my services!"
Rena cleared her throat awkwardly as Ara toed him, grumbling about how she so didn't like servile guys who worshipped Nasods. "We've got to get going to our first test of the exam. It starts in..." Glancing at her watch, Rena grinned brightly. "Oh, five or so minutes!"
Cue the frantic scrambling towards the sparring arena, which happened to be on the other side of the school.
It ultimately ended up will Add trying to carry Eve to the arena - as Eva was being carried by Oberon - and failing epicly, Chung lugging Rune along after he decided that flirting with Aisha was more important than taking a test, Ara complaining to Raven about Add's obsession with Eve and Eva, and Rena bringing up the rear with Knight.
The first test was fairly simple, being a generic obstacle course with flying projections soaring past your head. That is, until the floor opened up from underneath them, threatening to swallow them whole and forcing them to clamber up onto platforms that hung from the ceiling. Thankfully, they all passed, albeit with help from Aisha's levitation abilities.
Rune so didn't scream shrilly when Aisha walked off the edge of a platform, dragging him with her, only to realize that they were floating in mid air. Not. At. All.
The second test was equal simple; spars with a partner. Needless to say, Infi bothered everyone in the competition.
Aisha had just cast an ice storm spell, freezing the ground beneath her opponent's feet just as he charged forwards. Slipping on the ice, the armor-clad boy fell heavily, cracking the ice beneath him. From the sidelines, Infi crowed. "Hah! You fat ass! You broke magical ice!" He was immediately herded away from the arena after that.
They also discovered that when Add fought, he had a tendency to make sound effects when he attacked, mainly consisting of 'boom,' 'whack,' 'thwack,' 'bam,' and 'pow.' Apparently he didn't realize he made them, either.
"I do what?" He said. "Make sound effects? Why would I do that?"
Unfortunately (or not, depending on how you look at it), the individual spars had to be cut short when Infi unleashed Blade Rain on his opponent, sending him to the hospital with severe injuries.
"What," he said, scowling evilly at the ground. "The asshole said that I was a weakling he could beat without having to lift a pinky!"
The third test wasn't so simple. Camilla paced in circles in front of the students, her arms folded behind her back. "The third test deals with the element of surprise! In the real world, there is no such thing as a fair fight. Heck, in sparring there's no such thing as a fair fight 'cause you guys are too much fun to mess around with!"
Rune rolled his eyes. "I knew that random patch of quicksand wasn't always there." Rena giggled.
Glaring at the students, Camilla continued. "This is your test! As you know, it's lunch time! You are tasked with making yourselves a lunch! However, you will be attacked randomly while making your food! The attackers will attempt to swipe your food. You have completed your test once you have brought your food to the picnic area. But! Should you not have enough food for everyone in your group, or should you fail to make yourselves a lunch by the end of the lunch period, you and everyone in your group will fail! The use of personal weapons and magic is strictly prohibited! Understood?" Without waiting for a response, Camilla blew a whistle. "START!"
Raven was the first to run, quickly claiming the nearest cooking area. As he held the door open for the other members of the group, Rena quickly jogged to the fridge, flinging it open to take a preliminary survey of their ingredients. "We've got a lot of stuff in here. What do you guys feel like eating?"
She was promptly ignored as the other members scrambled around the cooking area in search for makeshift weapons. Raven tossed Rena a container full of wooden skewers and an elastic band. "You can make a makeshift bow from that, right?" Rena nodded. "Right. Now, what do you want to eat?"
Ignoring Rena, Eve opened up a drawer, discovering that it was filled with knives. Rooting through it, she pulled out several large butcher knives, waving them around experimentally. "These will have to do."
Infi glared at her. "I wanted that one!" He pointed to a particularly large knife in Eve's right hand. Sighing, Eve opened up another drawer and pulled out a whisk, handing it to him. "Here."
Infi looked at the whisk, deadpanning. "A whisk." Eve nodded. Infi stared at the whisk incredulously before brandishing it like a madman. "A whisk. What am I supposed to do with a whisk?! Mix them to death?!"
Knight casually walked over to Rena, peering into the fridge. "Wow, there really is a lot of stuff." Somewhere in the background, Ara and Aisha were bickering over a potato peeler and a wooden pole Chung found in the back of the makeshift kitchen, muttering something about spears and magical girls. Raven was busy shooing Add away from him as he took an interest in Raven's Nasod arm while Chung and Rune familiarized themselves with the kitchen's layout.
As for Eva...
Eva turned to Ophelia. "I wish to eat grilled sirloin steak with roasted baby potatoes, sauteed onions, steamed green beans, and fresh bread. To drink I would like Earl Gray. Make enough portions for everyone with a single vegetarian meal for Rena." Bowing, Ophelia proceeded to get the ingredients out of the fridge, beginning to cook.
Behind Chung, a figure quietly lowered themselves from the ceiling. They were dressed entirely in black, a slight slit allowing them to peer out. Chung, totally oblivious to the person behind him, swung his left hand out as he stretched.
Thwack!
The man fell to the ground. Looking behind him, Chung poked the fallen man. "I think I found our so-called attacker! It looks like he fell asleep and fell out of his hiding spot..."
Rune, who had seen Chung hit the attacker accidentally, didn't bother to tell him that the 'attacker' didn't fall asleep and that, in fact, Chung knocked him out.
Lunch was a quiet affair. While the other groups were rowdy and loud, Group 42A was fairly subdued, only speaking when necessary. Which was usually to ask the person next to them to shove over, as they got stuck with a picnic table meant for eight people, not eleven. Eva ended up sitting at the end of the table, using Oberon as her seat, while Chung and Rune uncomfortably shared a seat.
Once lunch was over, Rune suspected that they were going to go do more tests. Boy, was he wrong.
It was at this time that the sky decided to turn from a bright blue to an ominous gray, dark storm clouds swirling above them. Aisha frowned. "My magic should've warned me about the changes in the weather..." Blue lightening streaked from the sky, striking a nearby tree. Rena scowled up at the sky.
"Oi! Nature! Leave the trees out of your little hissy-fit!" This, of course, did absolutely nothing to calm down the raging storm. Knight stood up.
"Blue lightening? That's not natural. It's almost as if it were-" Aisha cut him off.
"Magic based? That's because it is. This is a man-made storm, and a powerful one at that. Powerful enough to break the storm wards set over this school."
As if to accentuate that point, the sky decided to SPLIT OPEN in a massive vortex of swirling... nothingness, accompanied by a horrid screeching like a thousand banshees, cerulean light seeping through the clouds as a massive blue lightening bolt sped towards the ground. Colliding with a loud bang, the earth exploded, mounds of dirt spraying up and slapping the onlookers in the face. Smoke rose from the ground, smelling of burnt wood and seared hair. Once the dust and smoke and ash and dirt cleared, the remains of a twisted, wrecked picnic table came into view, several crushed porcelain plate shards decorating the burning table. The students who sat at the table were nowhere to be found.
Elsa sighed, rubbing her temples as she filled out several sheets. Chewing on the end of her pen, she looked up at the top of the tent in thought. Did the camp need more barracks? A loud thump came from just outside her tent, knocking over a glass of water she had placed on her desk. "Shit!" Quickly picking it up, Elsa managed to salvage some of her papers, the rest absorbing the water greedily. Fuming, Elsa pulled aside the curtain the covered the entrance to her tent angrily, prepared to chew out whoever made that noise.
"Alright, what's - Knight? Rune? Infi?" The triplets looked up, untangling themselves from the pile of students. Rune grinned sheepishly.
"Hi."
He was promptly slapped by Eva, whom he had landed on. "How dare you sit on me, you bumbling imbecile!"
Eva: 20
Chung: 3
Rune: 1
Elsa's scream could be heard from the other side of the military camp.
After calming down, Elsa stared at the group of students who had landed in the middle of her military camp. "Let me get this straight - you were in the middle of taking an exam, and then the sky opened up and you landed here."
Rune nodded eagerly. Elsa sighed, running a hand through her crimson locks. "Okay, don't lie to me. Seriously, what happened?"
Aisha leaned forwards in her seat. "It's true, Miss Elsa. Some sort of magical storm broke through the school wards, and through the usage of what I believe is some advanced level of dimensional magic, sent us here. Why we were sent to Velder, I don't know." Elsa sighed again, reclining in her plush chair.
"I understand. For now, I'm going to be putting you under the care of the most useless person to this army at the moment. Aren! Get in here!" From outside of the tent, Arena stumbled in.
"Ah, Miss Elesis. I didn't think you would -" He froze. "Yeo-dong-saeng, what are you doing here?" Ara gaped, quickly regaining her composure.
"Aren. Figures you'd still be here." Frowning, Aren brushed a stray hair out of his face, his glittering orange eyes sombre. Several fine creases lined his eyes, showing just how tired he really was. Elsa frowned. Keeping Ran down really takes a lot out of him, doesn't it...
"Yeo-dong-saeng, wae dangsin-eun naleul deo isang oppa hochulhaji anhseubnida?" Ara scoffed, tossing her raven locks, glaring icily at Aren.
"Naega waehaeya? Dangsin-eun Ran-oppa leul jug-yeoss-eo! Dangsin-eun sal-inja!" Aren narrowed his eyes dangerously, the tension between the two building up until it was so thick you could cut it.
"Naneun geuleul jug-iji anh-assda. Naneun sal-injaga anieyo, geuneun-ibnida." Before Ara could retort, Raven coughed.
"Yes, well, it's fascinating to listen to your argument in foreign languages no one but you understands, but could you stop? It's getting annoying." Ara glared at him. "Stay out of this, Raven. It's family matters."
Infi scoffed. "You have absolutely no qualms about barging into my family matters, but as soon as it comes to you then no one is allowed to get close? Okay Miss Spoiled Princess. Have fun in your isolated little castle."
Aren bristled, narrowing orange eyes at the offending redhead. "How dare you-" He was abruptly cut off by Ara, who swoon, cheeks flushed as she draped herself over the nearest person, who happened to be Chung. "Oh my El! Isn't he simply gorgeous?" She fanned herself with one hand, pressing the other to a pink cheek. "I think I'm in love!"
Elsa raised an eyebrow skeptically at Infi, who grinned devilishly. "What can I say? I'm a charmer. Right, Ara?" Ara nodded enthusiastically, blushing a deeper red. Knight coughed awkwardly, drawing attention to him.
"Um, sorry to interrupt the... er... mood, but what are we going to do? We're kind of stranded here in Velder, and no one here can transport us back to Hamel Academy. Sis? You got any ideas?" Elsa sighed, tapping her fingers on her desk pensively. Instinctively chewing on a strand of hair, she glared at her freshly-varnished desk as she wracked her brains for an answer to Knight's question.
"For the time being, you can stay here," she started slowly, shooting them a proactive glare, settling any excitement they had instantly. "However, if you disrupt anyone here - and I mean anyone - I will feed you to the Glitters. Understood?"
Silence.
"...I said, Understood?"
A few awkward nods and coughs later, the eleven students were kicked out of Elsa's tent alongside Aren, who was instructed to 'show the children their new prison - er, rooms,' if we were to quote Elsa exactly. Aren was less than pleased.
By some miracle, there were enough extra tents to hold all of them. Since Rune and Chung were roommates, they took one tent, while Raven and Infi, also roommates, took another. Add and Knight ended up being saddled together simply because Knight's roommate was back at Hamel Academy and Add had no roommate. Ara and Eve occupied the fourth tent, leaving Rena, Aisha, and Eva to share the fifth and final tent. Although the trio got the largest tent due to their extra person, it was still uncomfortably crowded with three cots.
"Aisha! You just elbowed me..."
"Oh my El! I'm so sorry! Are you oka- Ouch! Eva, what was that?!"
"I need to work on my next servant. These materials are necessary."
"Ow! Eva, Oberon just dropped that thing on my foot!"
Flop.
"...Rena, why did you just fall on the bed?"
"There's no room to move! Aisha, shove over, my stuff's on the other side of the tent."
"Eh? Wait a moment, I'm just going to move this..."
"Do not touch that! That is vital to maintain my systems!"
"Eva. It's in the middle of the tent."
"What is this cot doing here? Oberon, remove it immediately."
"Wait, what?!"
A cot was tossed outside of the tent, hitting an unlucky Aren in the head.
"WAIT WHY IS OBERON IN HERE?!"
"You just noticed?"
"HE'S A BOY! A BOY!"
"Technically he is a masculine-type."
"That doesn't matter! GET HIM OUT OF HERE!"
Oberon was tossed outside of the tent, hitting a very unlucky Aren who had just gotten out from under the cot in the back, sending them both tumbling to the ground.
Oh. My. El.
Meanwhile, in Eve and Ara's tent, both were sound asleep, blankets pulled to their chins, totally ignoring the commotion going on in the tent next door.
Oh. My. El.
Add and Knight sat in a rather uncomfortable silence.
"So what's with -"
"Are you going to -"
Both stopped. Knight ran a hand through his hair awkwardly. "Uh, you first."
Add coughed. "No, you first. I guess."
Impregnated silence filled the still air.
"Um... I was just ask if you were uh, going to take the right bed or the left bed..." Knight nodded, before patting the bed on the right slowly. "I'll take this one, I guess..."
Awkward silence.
"What... What were you going to say earlier?" Add asked, brushing a stray white strand of hair out of his face as he adjusted the cotton blankets on his bed almost nervously. Knight shrugged.
"It wasn't anything big, really..."
Add lifted a whitened eyebrow, blowing another strand out of his face. Huffing in irritation, he quickly untied his hair, letting it fall past his shoulders before scooping it up once more, neatening his pony tail. "I'm pretty sure it was important if you were asking me of all people about it." Seeing Knight's confused facial expression, Add chuckled. "I know I'm not the friendliest person in the world to talk to. Really, it's like everyone thinks I'm an idiot." A slow grin spread across his face, a feral, almost psychotic grin. "I'd say I'm more of a mastermind." Chuckling at some personal joke, Add threw him a calculating look through mismatched eyes. "So tell me, pretty boy. What's been eating at you?" He laughed again. "I know it's not my Nasod spiders, they've been fed already."
Knight shivered slightly, before clearing his throat. "This might be kind of weird to ask, but what's with your thing about Eva and Eve?"
Add rolled his eyes, flopping back on his bed, snarling up at the ceiling. "Oh. That." Rolling over to face Knight, he sighed. "The parents were Nasod researchers, people didn't really like that, they went on a witch hunt for them, we ran and all that lovely jazz, I ended up getting hit in the head with a weird laser beam - that's why one eye is a different color. And that tattoo thing? Yeah, it's a scar, but anyway, basically my parents died, I kinda went cuckoo because that laser beam was laced with permanent LSD or some shit like that - the so-called doctor who saw me said it was head trauma but he's a lying little shit - and apparently the 'trauma' triggered some sort of scientist instinct in me and I became obsessed with Nasods. And that's the gist of it."
Knight blinked, staring at Add. "I'm sorry for your loss...?" Add looked at him with the kind of stare that screamed 'you-are-such-an-idiot-but-you-don't-know-it-do-you' before scoffing. Knight frowned, folding his arms over his chest. "In my defense, you just spilled your life story out to me! What the hell am I supposed to say to that?!"
Add rolled his eyes, rolling onto his back to stare at the ceiling. "You asked."
Knight sat on his bed, picking at a loose string on the cotton comforter, tracing the loopy pattern mindlessly. "...Do you ever miss them?"
Add blinked, still staring at the ceiling. "Huh?"
Knight looked back at Add, red eyes slightly glazed over. "Do you ever miss them? Your parents, I mean."
Snorting, the white-haired boy folded his arms behind his back. "Nah. They were stuck-up pricks who were too obsessed with Nasods to pay attention to their own son. Heck, they wanted to turn me into a Nasod at one point."
Nodding absently, Knight stared intently at Add, his pupils dilating until his eyes were pure black ringed with bloody red. "Would you change the past if you could?" Still not looking at Knight, Add shook his head.
"The past is the past. Besides, you can't rewind time." He chuckled, closing his eyes as he recalled the day the townspeople turned on them, screaming and shouting as they burned down his house, and then they were running, his mother's beautiful snow-white hair streaking out behind her as she dragged him into the woods, his father running the other way, his mauve eyes gleaming as he tried to distract their pursuers, and then he was falling, down, down, down, down, down, into a deep, bottomless abyss, his mother screaming his name as she tried to reach out for him but it was late, too late, no one could save him now, no one could save him from the burning pain as the laser flew past his face, scratching his cheek and burning off the skin in a single line, and it hurt and it was painful and burning and -
"I can."
Startled, Add sat up, staring open-mouthed at Knight. The boy was seated on his bed, legs crossed calmly, dark eyes almost serene. Knight smiled slightly, raising his right palm. A ball of white light gathered there, stretching a flattening itself until it was a thin circular shape, solidifying into a mirror.
"Wha-"
Knight raised a finger to his lips, instantaneously shutting Add up. "Hush, child. I hear the pain of your past calling; there is no need to speak." Knight nodded to the mirror, and as Add trained his eyes on it, images shifted across the reflective surface. He saw his mother and father calling his name, he saw the green meadows and beautifully high-tech town that he once called home, he saw the sun sparkling on water. And then he saw more. He saw himself screaming as he ran, he saw his father being shot down, he saw his mother, his beautiful, lovely mother, being dragged off to who-knows-where, he saw a crazy grin spread across his face. It terrified him.
Recoiling from the mirror, he gaped at Knight. "What are you?!"
Knight chuckled lightly, brushing a lock of red hair out of his face. "The better question is who am I. To answer your question, Add Ition, I am Elsword."
That was all it took for Add to grab the nearest object - which happened to be a bedside table - and chuck it at Knight.
"POW!"
'Tis the return of the sound effects!
The table hit Knight in the head, knocking him out almost instantaneously.
Ouch.
In the three minutes Infi and Raven had been together in the tent, Raven had almost killed him with his mecha-arm four times. Not that Infi wasn't used to it. It was just a bit more... difficult to dodge when there were canvas sheets blocking every possible exit on all sides about a foot away from you.
Raven groaned, yanking at his dyed bangs. "This isn't working."
Infi rolled his eyes, mocking Raven by yanking at his own dyed hair in a melodramatic way. "'This isn't working,' he says. Congratulations, Einstein! Would you like an award for that?"
You are now watching the very first episode of Infi-Running-Away-From-Raven-Or-He'll-Be-Chopped-to-Death!
Cue the awkward scrabbling around the tent.
Sighing, Raven gave up after tearing the third hole in their tent. "Look, I'm just going to go outside for now, okay? We'll figure something out with the sleeping later."
Infi laughed cheerily, waving to Raven in a teasing manner. "Bye-bye!" (Okay, Rune MAY have been rubbing off on Infi a little TOO much. But hey, he was young and impressionable!)
Yanking open the cloth-covered door, Raven cursed as his claws sunk into the soft fabric. "Dammit!" Infi simply laughed. Finally untangling his claws from the makeshift door, Raven stepped out. Stopping, he threw a glance over his shoulder, looking at Infi. "Oh, Infi? By the way, do you remember your little psychic-moment thing you were telling me about?"
Infi immediately sobered up, leaning forwards. "Of course I remember. What about it? Gonna call me a freak? Because I could care less right now."
Raven rolled his eyes. "It's not that, idiot. I'm just gonna tell you this now, I know exactly what's going on with you and your brothers. Honestly, it surprised me a bit, too. But hey, it is what it is."
Infi's eyes widened. "YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON?! TELL ME!"
...
And Raven was gone.
Oh. My. El.
On the other side of the camp, Elsa was busy banging her head into a table, not caring about how many brain cells she lost in the process. Why?
Because her idiot of a superior walked in drunk, AGAIN, when Aren was about to tell her everything about Ran. And boy was she pissed.
"General Vernon," she grit out. "What are you doing, interrupting important conversations again? And where did you find the alcohol?! I thought I burned it all!"
Vernon groaned, flopping on a nearby chair as he waved his bottle of wine around. "S'pose... there's the tree elfin... y'know?" Elsa blinked. "Hah?" Laughing hysterically, Vernon rolled off the chair, landing on the floor with a soft 'oof,' staring at Aren. "'S the Arena brat s'posed... ta... y'know... ceiling with feet 'nd all..."
Elsa stared at him, slack-jawed. Aren coughed politely, covering up a massive grin. "General Vernon, I do not understand a single thing you are trying to say. Care to rephrase that?" Groaning, Vernon coughed, the sour smell of alcohol rolling of off his breath, swamping the room almost instantly. Wrinkling her nose, Elsa carefully removed a scented handkerchief from her oaken desk, offering a second one to Aren. Smiling tiredly, Aren declined with a subtle tilt of his head. Bringing the handkerchief to her nose, Elsa let out an almost inaudible sigh of relief as the fragrant scent of posies filled her nostrils, blocking out the rancid alcoholic smell.
"Arena, s'on the ceiling. Hangin' from his damn feet like a... Like a Hamelian. Always on their damn feet 'nd never worth the time of day." He hiccuped. Elsa ground her teeth together, folding her arms as she glared down Vernon.
"General Vernon, pardon my rudeness, but I have a request. Get. The. Fuck. Out." Aren raised an eyebrow as he stifled a slight laugh, his lips twitching from the effort. Vernon slurred drunkenly, muttering some incomprehensible death threat, stumbling out of the tent before collapsing a few feet away. Scowling deeply, Elsa ran a hand through crimson locks. "I swear to Lady El, he's going to be fired any day now. The idiot." Clearing her throat, she glared at Aren. "What's so funny?"
Aren shook his head bemusedly, folding his arms as he sat back in his own chair. "Nothing really, just the fact that you cursed at your superior while he was in an intoxicated state."
Elsa snorted, tossing her long locks over her shoulder, carelessly tossing the perfumed handkerchief somewhere on her desk. "Your point? He's going to have too much of a hangover tomorrow to remember I said anything to him anyways. If he stops being passed out." A worried look passed over Aren's face as he glanced out at Vernon. "Should we check on him? There's a high possibility that he has alcohol poisoning..."
Glancing at Vernon, Elsa shrugged, seating herself at her desk. "He's fine. The bastard has the highest alcohol tolerance out there, he probably just fell asleep." Folding her arms, Elsa stared intently at Aren. "Now, you've got a lot of shit to explain."
Well, technically he didn't have to. The gorgeous dream Aren (Elsa would never admit he was good-looking) had already explained most of the problem to her, but she wanted to hear Aren himself tell her.
Sighing, Aren's orange eyes flicked over to the tent's entrance. "As soon as someone interrupts, I'm going to stop talking. Understood?" Nodding, Elsa placed her chin on her palm. "Speak away."
Clearing his throat, Aren spoke hesitantly. "You know that the ultimate enemy of Velder, Ran the Demon King, was sealed away quite some time ago..." Elsa nodded, silently telling him to continue. "In actuality, Ran wasn't a demon. He... He was my elder brother, the former heir of the Haan family." Pausing, Aren waited for Elsa to show some surprise or at least acknowledgement, slightly unnerved when she simply nodded.
"Go on."
Sighing, Aren brushed a hair out of his face. "Ran... He was always looking for power. He wanted to protect the Haan family, more specifically our younger sister, Ara. He hated it whenever he wasn't able to help her with her studies, or when someone bullied her at school. Ran was a really overprotective brother, you see. If someone threatened his family, he wouldn't hesitate to tear them to pieces. One day... He decided that he needed more power. He... swallowed a Dark El crystal."
This part always left Elsa's mouth with a foul taste; there were massive repercussions for anyone who consumed large amounts of El at a time. El poisoning, slow decomposition of the body, various cancers, blood clotting, and death were all common. For someone to swallow a shard of Dark El was like signing their own death wish.
"The El crystal... He was compatible with it, but only to a certain degree. It changed his mind and body, completely rearranging his entire being. It drove him mad and gave him powers no man should be able to access. Ran became a demon with the rationality of a man, a dangerous combination. Somehow his ideals to protect his family became twisted into ruling the world so no one would dare harm his family... He acted on those ideals, as you know. As the next heir of the Haan family, it was my job to seal Ran away."
Elsa nodded slightly, leaning forwards as she recalled the rest of the story. "And how did you do that?"
Aren's eyes flicked to the left. "I... I tricked him. I said that in order to rule this world, he would need to control all the El, which is true, but I told him that to control the El he needed to control the Lady El. As he was trying to force more information out of me, I managed to forcibly remove him from his mortal body and seal his soul within my own. But he's beginning to awaken from his slumber."
This was all the dream Aren had told Elsa. Curious, she drummed her fingers on her desk. "What does this have to do with my brothers and I?"
Aren raised an eyebrow, staring at Elsa. "You said you only have one brother."
Elsa returned his stare, raising an eyebrow of her own. "And you said you only have one sibling."
Aren snorted. "Ran is no longer a Haan, and you know that." Taking a deep breath, a bitter smile slowly spread across his face. "This has everything to do with you, Elesis." Stiffening, Elsa looked at Aren, wide-eyed. She was suddenly aware of the seriousness of the situation, as if by simply dropping the 'Miss' in front of her name, Aren was dropping all facades and defenses. "You know what your... brothers can do. And I know that you've seen Ran's mortal body at least once, whether in reality or in the dream world."
Elsa swallowed. "And...?"
Aren bit his lower lip, continuing reluctantly, speaking slowly, as if he were trying to drag the conversation on longer than necessary. "Ran... Still wishes to destroy Elrios and build it anew. He knows that I fed him lies to seal him away, but he realized that my lies held a shred of truth. Now that he is beginning to awaken, there is little I can do to hold him down. He begins to scheme and I cannot help but connect all these dots. Your brothers and their latent abilities, their companions and their latent abilities, your transfer to the Velderian Guard, my delivering of medicine and being stranded here, the sudden increase of Glitter attacks, heck, your brothers and their companions gathering at Hamel Academy! It's all linked up, with one ultimate goal in mind. And your brothers - no, your brother is the key to unleashing it."
Processing what Aren had just said, Elsa's eyes widened in a way that would be considered comical if it weren't for the graveness of the situation. "You don't mean..." She breathed,heart pumping in her chest. Aren nodded.
A new voice rang out from the doorway.
"I knew I couldn't have been the only one who was suspicious about all of this."
Startled, Elsa looked up, eyes locking with the amber orbs that belonged to Raven. Raven sighed, quickly flashing a Velderian army badge. "Relax, I'm authorized."
Aren sighed. "Have you come to join the discussion, Raven Somerfield, Leader of the Crow Mercenaries?" Raven's eyes flashed darkly, disliking the way Aren said his title.
"Is it too late to join the party?"
By the time Rune had gotten into his tent, he had practically fallen asleep on his feet. Chung looked at him, eyebrows furrowing in concern. "Rune, are you alright? You look tired."
Sighing, Rune rubbed his eyes, blinking as he sat down on his cot. The lumpy bed was beginning to feel awfully comfy right now... "I am pretty tired. Heh, I guess I can't just sleep through math class right now."
(Meanwhile a blue-haired, bespectacled teacher sneezes, dropping her chalk before glaring at the seat of a particular redheaded triplet who constantly flirted with women for no good reason)
Chung laughed quietly, tossing a blanket at him. "Sleep now then, idiot."
Rune shook his head, puffing out his cheeks childishly. "Nope. I'm not sleeping now, I haven't even eaten dinner yet!" Turning to look at Chung, Rune pulled out his best puppy-dog eyes, pouting at Chung. "Chunggie-poo, help me stay awake?"
Thwack!
Rune yelped, holding his head. Chung chuckled. "Did that wake you up?"
Glaring at Chung in a semi-playful manner, Rune clutched his head, ears ringing from the force of the blow. "You bastard."
Eva: 20
Chung: 4
Rune: 1
Oh. My. El.
Me: 8000 WORD CHAPTER GOAL COMPLETE! YAY!
Aisha: *throws confetti everywhere* THIS IS THE FIRST NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION SHE'S EVER COMPLETED!
Me: HEY! I've completed a couple before!
Elsword: The one about exercising more often?
Add: Or the one about eating healthier?
Elesis: Or the one about cleaning your room?
Ara: Or the one about not procrastinating?
Chung: Or the one -
Me: OKAY OKAY I GET IT! Moving on. REVIEWER REPLIES!
HikariArisa - Fangirls are terrifying. ...Don't let me meet your friends, ever :P
siragnarok - Aw, thanks for your concern! I'm feeling a lot better now ^^ Waaah, that would be cool, but I've got a liiiittle bit of a different super-cool awesome fight in mind, so stay tuned for that!
Asian - *shifty eyes* I know nothing about this... CHARACTER HAREM! (I dun think they like the term harem... owo) If you say so... *stares suspiciously* Rune is a mystery. For now. cough cough UntilIcanthinkofsomething cough cough XD Fist-fighting with Chung will end in a concussion. Soooo... Does that mean I'm replying to Eve? *is confused*
Yami - NO MORE FLUFFY ROM-COM. (For now XD) AND NO. NO ONE IS CALMING DOWN BECAUSE WE NEED TO BE HYPED UP TO BURN THE WITCH. Side note: Knight will have several encounters with our favorite crazy fangirls, so just you wait! XD
Aya-pon - Absolutely nothing. I just feel like calling you names like that~! Only a semi-conspiracy between those two, the conspiracy's more in between Elsie, Aren, and Raven right now XD Thank you very much! (Also, I'm feeling a lot better! Thank you for your concern!)
Alice-Neko321 - I would tell you but that would spoil something very important for later on, soooo... yeah.
Luigi - Has already covered the forgotten reply issue... Moving on. I think everyone will be very happy for getting a coin, but Raven's too busy conspiring with Aren and Elsa to care about loosing coins, and Ara... She just doesn't care in general XD
AkitaEls - Answering time! 1: Definitely not the final number. I intend to keep this gag up and running for as long as I possibly can XD But no worries, I'm planning Rune's next attack, so the scores aren't going to be too imbalanced. Yet. 2: Hmm, there's very little I can confirm or deny due to my rule of NO SPOILERS because it's more fun watching people squirm, but you're pretty bang-on. For the most part. 3: A natural self-preservation move, really. Otherwise he'd be swamped 24/7. 4: Absolutely! Because misunderstandings always lead to the most hilarious of incidents XD 5: Everything that's been revealed has pretty much already been hinted at or flat-out said, just reiteration with more details. Still being secretive! Now that Raven's joined in the party, I'll begin to reveal itty-bitty little details, but not much :P
Ephema-chan - Because I couldn't just reveal everything that quickly! XD Knight's powers will be elaborated on later, but not now because I need to develop EVERYTHING ELSE IN THIS STORY and I'm beginning to loose track of characters XD Hey, it was getting boring with just Eva killing Rune, so Chung joined! No one's sending Ara to therapy just yet 'cause we need her insanity. Oh El, I can't get the image of Rune flopping around on the floor out of my head now XD Seris is a plot thickener who has no real purpose except for drawing the anger of angry Reven fans :P Infi... As a dad... Congratulations, Ephema! You have just made me die of laughter in my English class and now people think I'm even more insane! XD
Lyte - :P
Guest - Very.
Astaria Mel Kanariane - Please tell me I haven't horribly butchered your name. I considered throwing in a couple more interruptions, but SOMETHING needed to get out eventually! XD *slowly takes pie away* We're good... Oh, that? That was me being joking through a comptuter but it came out as psychopathic :P Ara can say that because I forgot she was rambling earlier...?
canerapanera - Thank you very much! I'm glad you like it~ I hope this chapter lives up to its predecessors!
Me: Okay I don't feel like saying much more so ROLL THE END CREDITS!
Rena: Don't forget to R&R~!
Raven: Follow and favorite if you want.
Eve: See you all next chapter.
Me: Love y'all! Chu~