Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Play the games for yourself.
Authors Note: Huh, this stories been up for a while now, I wonder how high my view counter is.
… IT'S OVER NINE-THOUSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND!
To celebrate this event, I thought I'd give you all an early chapter. This one's more of a tie-in, but I personally think you'll like it. Here are the Review responses.
Sugouxxx: Yep, Elphelt's joined the Party.
Black Sun 123: Nope, Sol's still in his world. And with the whole Black Beast thing, Ragna will get around to it later… I guess?
Speedking535: Well I can't say that they'll win for sure, but I decided to give a special shout out to you this chapter.
Warrior of six blades: I haven't been reading a lot of fanfiction lately, plus I don't really know anything about Elsword. Nice try though.
Greyjedi449t: Glad you enjoyed it, here's the next one.
TheGrayKing27: I already talked with you over PM, but thanks for the review.
Guest (1): Again, I'm not sure how I'm going to do my pairings, but I will say I'll probably give Ragna his own kid to raise.
Guest (2): Sin was actually my other choice, but in the end I decided to stick with Elphelt because of some of the plans I have with her dialog. Glad to hear you enjoy my fanfiction.
Without any further ado, here's the story. Enjoy!
Chapter XI: The Runaway Bride and the Princess
The Heart of a Doll
"Damn, you pick this up pretty damn quickly," Ragna crassly complimented to Elphelt as she finished casting a fireball spell, hitting the simple target he'd set up for her to aim at. The Shepherds was still in SouthTown, but they'd be heading out soon in order to catch the ferry a few miles away that would take them to the Southeast islands. He decided to use the time he had in order to teach Elphelt some magic and make sure she had at least some way of defending herself. "Do you have something similar to magic in your world?"
"Yep! It's even called magic!" Elphelt explained cheerfully. "Of course the magic in my world doesn't come from magic books or a weird arm like you have. In my world we borrow magic off of something called the Backyard."
"Yeah, you mentioned the Backyard earlier, and if I remember right you told me it was how you got here in the first place," Ragna recalled. "So, what exactly is the Backyard? Some sort of alternate reality?"
"Uh, kind of. Inside that world is all of the data and information about the world I came from. It's really hard to explain, but think of it like the world I came from being a possibility and the Backyard is what generates that possibility."
"Huh," Ragna thought as he reflected on what Elphelt said.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I guess I'm not really the best at explaining it. It's not the easiest thing to describe." Elphelt gave a nervous but cute giggle as she scratched the back of her head.
"Actually I get what you're saying," Ragna admitted as he crossed his arms. "We actually had something similar to it in my world. There was even a system made inside that created and even altered the possibilities of my world through something called Phenomena Intervention."
"And that's the Boundary that you told me about?" Elphelt questioned. And Ragna nodded. "Wow, seems like our worlds are pretty similar then… I wonder how Ram would react if I was able to tell her about this."
"Who's Ram?"
"Oh, she's my sister, well one of them. I also had another sister, but mother didn't really say much about her."
"You had a mother in your world too?" Ragna asked, a little worried now that this chick had a family that was missing her.
"Well she's not really my mother, it's more like she gave commands to me and my sisters. We weren't really even born, the best way to put it is we somehow showed up out of nowhere in the Backyard."
'She was created in the Backyard, she has sisters like her, and someone else is pulling her strings… it sounds like I'm dealing with another Murakumo unit. And considering the fact that she was using guns…' "Hey, Valentine."
"Yes?" Elphelt responded, unsure of what Ragna was going to ask.
"How good are you at cooking?" Ragna asked seemingly out of nowhere.
"Oh, well I don't really have a lot of experience, but I do know a few good recipes. The main way I got my first fiancé to love me was for the way I managed to make him cake and cookies."
'Nope, not a complete replica at least,' Ragna thought to himself as closed his eyes with a sigh. "Just wondering." When he opened his eyes he noticed Elphelt right in his face. 'Creepy!' "W-What are you doing?"
"Just trying to gauge if you're marriage material," she told him like she was announcing the weather. "I mean, I'm certainly not seeing a no."
"Worry about your own damn prospects," the Reaper demanded. "Besides, shouldn't you be more worried about your husband-to-be?"
"He's… not really my fiancé anymore," Elphelt said, he mood obviously turning sadder. "I… got cold feet at the alter and left him there… not like it would've worked out between us in the first place."
"What the-? Then why did you try to marry him?" This might've been personal for her, but as things stood now Ragna had absolutely no idea what to think.
"Because my mother told me to," Elphelt said sadly. Ragna now felt terrible for bringing that last topic up. "In fact, thanks to her… I don't think I'm capable of loving anyone. She intentionally created me so that I'd never be able to love. It's impossible for me."
"Bullshit."
"Huh?"
"Look, I might not know every detail about how you made it to this world, or how you were created in the first place, but I know that you're the one that gets to decide that. Not some damned mother if that's even what she was. Back in my world I met someone who was more similar to you than you'd think and she had people she loved; she loved her friends so damned much and she fought hard for their sake…"
Ragna thought back to the first time he'd met Noel and he remembered how meek and timid she'd been. Then he remembered how she reacted when her friends were in danger. She might have been well out of her league, but she'd never stop fighting for the people she cared about. In the end, Ragna liked to think she might've been able to become his equal in combat, not because of her Murakumo powers, but because of the love she had for her friends and the power that gave her.
"In… a weird way, you what decides on what makes you human. Doesn't matter how you come about; you show that you've got that soul and the part of you that'll never stop fighting, that's all I'd need to see."
Elphelt was.. speechless. Something that was completely out there and yet… Ragna seemed to have a good idea what he talking about, like he'd had to struggle through this himself. But how could he have? He was already human… wasn't he?
"What's up, I got something on my face?" Ragna questioned, giving Elphelt a strange look. The Valentine blushed madly before turning away from the Reaper.
"It's nothing! I swear it's nothing!" she cried out, confusing the Reaper even further.
"Uh, if you say so," Ragna told her, putting a hand on her shoulder before walking away. What he didn't notice was even deeper blush that El got when he touched her. "Anyways, keep working on magic for now, I'll come back to grab you when we're about ready to head out."
"R-Right!" she shouted. Before immediately channeling the magic to her hand and creating flames in her hand and pointing the fire at the target.
'She's a strange kid…' Ragna thought to himself as he continued back into SouthTown. 'I don't really get her, but I guess she means well at least.'
After Ragna had left Elphelt let the fire die down, letting her thought getting the better of her. 'Ragna… he's got a lot of people counting on him here doesn't he? I can see why.'
Support Rank C Obtained with Elphelt Valentine
SouthTown
'Well now,' Ragna thought as he walked through SouthTown. 'I didn't really get a chance to look around this place the last time I was here… since it was on fire for most of that time Maybe this time I can at least find a place to get some decent grub. After all, Chrom gave me my first paycheck before we left.' As he counted his casual stroll and search for somewhere to buy lunch, he got the distinct felling that he was getting followed. He turned and saw a little girl with blonde hair and bright green eyes walking behind him. 'Why the hell is she stalking me? Wait… she seems familiar.'
"Rose! Rose!" a woman called out before she spotted the child. She had blonde hair and green eyes like the girl in front of him. "There you are!" she said with relief before she noticed Ragna. "Huh, wait you're…"
Ragna was confused for a moment before he remembered the two girls that he'd saved when he'd defeated the bandits here after just meeting Chrom and the others. It wasn't all that long ago, but… a LOT had already happened.
"Look, it's the guy who saved us last time!" Rose said, referring to Ragna, confirming the Reaper's theory. "But we never got your name."
"Just call me Ragna," the Reaper told them.
"Oh! Well thank you for our lives, if it weren't for you I shudder to think what those bandits would have done."
"Not a problem," Ragna told her. "I'm just glad you and your daughter are doing well."
"Err…" the woman said to him with a nervous smile, she seemed a little unsure.
"What's wrong?"
"Jane isn't my mother," Rose told him. "She's my big sister."
"M-My bad, sorry," he apologized with a nervous smile. 'Smooth Ragna, real smooth.'
"So you're travelling with Prince Chrom now?" Jane asked. Ragna gave a simple nod. "Wow, I guess you must've really impressed him when you saved SouthTown a week ago. And it looks like your eye and arm have healed since then too."
"Yeah, well a lot's happened since a week ago," Ragna told her.
"I'll say," Jane said with a small giggle. "I just heard this extravagant bard with some sort of bib trying to woo the crowd with tales of someone that managed to talk down a noble sword master with his bare hands. And in only a single punch!"
'Virion…' Ragna thought somewhat annoyed. "Yeah, well his story probably has a few gaps in it. You know how bards are."
"How would you know?" Rose questioned. "Were you there?"
"You… could say that I guess," Ragna said before let out a cough. "Anyways, I should probably get going, it was nice seeing you two again."
"Yep. See you later Mister Ragna!" Rose said before walking off with Jane. Once they were gone Ragna continued walking through the city by himself, but not for long.
Eating out
"Hey Ragna!" Lissa called out. Ragna turned his attention to the princess as she made his way towards him. "I thought you were helping that new girl with magic. Her name was Elphelt, right?"
"Yeah, she seemed to be doing well enough, so I let her practice on her own while I took a look around town before we headed out. Anyways, did you need something?"
"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to grab something for lunch with me," Lissa asked with a large smile on her face. "I-If you didn't have anything else you were doing," she added hastily.
"No, actually lunch sounds pretty good right now," Ragna assured her. "Didn't really have a chance to get breakfast this morning so I'm pretty hungry."
"I heard about this really good place in town that serves good portions, c'mon!"
"All right, all right," Ragna said with a chuckle as he followed (was dragged by) the princess through town. On the way to the restaurant he was able to observe that the town was in better shape than when they'd left it last week. Most of the damage was repaired and most of the stalls were filled with this year's harvest.
They came to the restaurant after a few minutes. It was a pretty basic one, several tables, couple of chairs at the bar, fairly busy, and cleaned. A couple of people gave them a few glances when they walked inside, Ragna did his best to ignore it and Lissa didn't really seem to notice. Ragna pulled Lissa's seat out to help seat her before sitting at the table himself and a waitress came out to take the orders for the two of them.
"What'll the two of you be having?" she asked.
"I think I'll have one of the meat pies," Lissa said happily.
"I'll have the same," Ragna agreed.
"And to drink?" the waitress asked. "We just managed to make some juice from this year's harvest of apples."
"Oh, I'll definitely have some of that," the princess decided.
"Same, thanks," Ragna said simply.
The waitress nodded to them with a small smile. "I hope you two enjoy yourselves," she said before she walked off.
"Been awhile since I've eaten out instead of dining in a mess hall or snacking on rations," Ragna said. "Nice for a change of pace."
"You didn't eat at restaurants much before you-?" It was then that Lissa realized the two were in public and Ragna didn't exactly want anyone to know about his otherworldly origins. "I mean, before all of this?"
"Yeah," Ragna said before the waitress came back with their drinks. Ragna gave a respectful nod to the waitress before taking a sip of his drink. He put his tankard on the table and wiped the froth on his mouth with his jacket sleeve. "Part of the reason was that I didn't exactly fit in with the crowd."
"And here I thought it was because you were always flirting with the waitresses and getting into trouble," Lissa said with a giggle.
"Come on, do you think I was Virion back home? I was already in enough trouble on a moment to moment basis, why do you think I'd try to put myself through more?"
"I was just teasing," she tried, wondering why he was taking this so seriously.
"The other reason was because when I DID go out, the people I went with often forced me to take them. There were two culprits in particular, the first one was more common, she was a complete scatterbrain and it seemed like clearing an entire restaurant was just a mild snack for her."
"You're serious?" Lissa asked befuddled as the waitress came back with the pies and set them on the table. "I have a hard time believing that anyone could be that hungry."
"Let's put his in a different perspective," Ragna said before digging his fork into his pie and taking a bite out of it. "That time it took me just now to have that one bite? She'd have completely finished her entire pie and then would have proceeded to steal half of mine."
"Oh wow," Lissa commented. The worst she'd ever seen hunger get was Stahl and this was a step beyond even that. "I can understand why that'd be a problem, you'd probably be bankrupt after a few rounds after that."
"Pretty much, but the depressing thing was that she was the better of the two…" Ragna said with an irked expression. "Okay, so when I first meet the other one I think that she's just some kid on the streets, but then she starts shouting out to everyone else after I ignore her, making me seem like the devil incarnate, and then FORCES me to buy her a meal! And while we're having said meal, which I should add I paid for, she INSULTS me! She calls me every put-down imaginable in society before leaving! And I'm left to pay for FIVE meals worth of food!" Ragna crossed his arms and sighed. "Worst. Day. Ever."
"That… does sound pretty bad," Lissa admitted as she continued eating her pie. "But, you don't think she might be doing that because… I don't know… underneath it all… she might… actually… like you…?"
Ragna just stared at Lissa. "…Sorry, what was that?"
"I was just thinking maybe she actually liked you?" Lissa said, a little unsure at the look Ragna was giving her. "D-Did I say something wrong?"
"Heh…heheheh… BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ragna's laugh was so loud that everyone outside the restaurant managed to hear it. "Oh Lissa, are you sure you aren't some comedian? That's the best joke I've ever heard! There's no way Luna can even tolerate me, much less like me! That little brat was sure that I knew that!"
Unbeknownst to Ragna a certain someone suddenly felt a burning urge to curse out someone they didn't even remember… with less than ideal language.
"Okay, so it was a dumb idea," Lissa said in a huff. "That doesn't mean you had to laugh at me!"
"Actually that was the best laugh I've had for a while. Put a smile on my face, that's for sure," Ragna assured her, still chuckling. "I should actually thank you, you definitely put me in a better mood, just like you do everyone else in the Shepherds."
"Y-you really think so?" Lissa asked the Reaper, blushing slightly.
"Yeah, I mean, remember that talk we had in the woods when we first met? Everyone has their role in the Shepherds, and yours is healing the Shepherds and putting a smile on our face when we need it. Surely you've noticed how much you put everyone in a better mood just by talking to them."
"I guess people tend to smile when they're around me…" Lissa admitted. "And you're always there too, to help us out with whatever we need."
"I mean try my best," Ragna assured her as he took another bite of his pie.
"Hey, Ragna?" Lissa asked. Ragna looked up from his pie. "Thank you… for everything."
Ragna gave a small smile. "My pleasure, princess."
Support Rank B Obtained with Lissa