*》clad in steel;

His hand rose to massage some of the tension from his own neck, eyes glancing skyward to think on how to proceed. “Elle’s…she was born in a fractured dimension. Her case is a little special though…in my dimension, Elle wasn’t even born yet.”

“You can’t bring people from fractured dimensions into the prime one…its one of the things that makes mine the ‘true’ world I guess. If a fractured version of me came into the prime dimension, he’d just…vanish. Same goes for anyone or anything. Two of the same thing can’t exist in the prime dimension…Its why Elle survived…and why…we lost someone as well.” Sucking air through his teeth, his hand lowered and Ludger gazed at it, grief flashing across his face for a moment. though he shook it off, and smiled back at Erza. “The last thing I did in my world was save Elle, and give her a chance at life. She was only eight, but she got thrown into all this chaos. She went through more then I ever could, before she even hit ten. So, when the time came, and she was about to die. I traded places. It was the last thing I did before I woke up in this city.”

He wasn’t even sure if Erza wanted to hear it, or if she’d care. But Elle was the only thing he’d managed to save, in his twisted past. She wanted to see a little light in his shadowy life, so he’d give Erza that at least. Although, the smile on his face was small, tinted with annoyance. “…I really wanted to escape it all here. The scientists took away my chromatus, my weapons. It’s nice, living without my connection to the trial. The biggest thing I had to worry about before talking to you was finding a job.

[ ☩ ] - As he began to speak on behalf of this Elle girl and how she had managed survived given the rules of the land of both the prime world and Fractured Dimensions. It was easy to understand the implications of bringing one of the same person into the real world. And it was such a touchy thing to really understand. On one part.. one life was damned considering he brought someone else in.

[ ☩ ] - But it was confusing to think on the matter that could he have truly ended a life if it hadn’t come to been? That in itself would’ve been too confusing to think of. With her hand on her head just to clear her thoughts would she take a deep breath. There’d be little point in getting mad over what had happened, but.. in a way, he still did save someone. He didn’t necessarily.. lose anyone either. So perhaps it.. worked out in the end. At least, someone got to live like this. 

“ No, I understand all of it. I mean.. the idea of saving someone like that I suppose. Although I’m curious as to the whole trading places prospect of what you did. “ She let out a small laugh. Maybe she was thinking on the bitter sweet irony that it sounded like her life in a sense. She’d done something similar so long ago to ensure the safety of another. It was harder to get mad at him as she saw bits and pieces of his own actions that paralleled her own to which she couldn’t fully blame him anymore. Whoever this Elle girl was.. she was luckier than she realized she thought. 

“ But you know that.. fully escaping something like that might prove to be hard. Sometimes as much as we’d like to think we can run does our past come back to haunt us in ways we’d never expect. For now you can relax about things like that but.. remember what you’ve done and just.. never let it fully disappear from your mind. It’ll motivate you and help you press further in knowing what you need or can do. “ 

“ I truly don’t mean that insultingly but.. just know that if you ever find yourself in a predicament in this city. Know that you’ll have at least one Fairy at your back, helping you out. As for my guild.. 

... “

[ ☩ ] - She was silent for a moment. Between the trust for her guild and the comradery she had with them combined with what she learned, unless the two ever crossed paths intentionally, then the two could go on living their own individual lives. She didn’t want to jeopardize either. 

This was, of course, Shoutaro’s fault. That bastard had been so popular in middle school that all the girls hated her because she lived with him. If it weren’t for that bastard her life would have been filled with friends and parfaits and many other wonderful and magical experiences. Then that bastard has the nerve to betray her. She would have her revenge.

[ ☩ ] - She wouldn’t question it for now. It was probably best to just get what needed to be done, which was finally pay the girl back. She seemed rather excited to have one, which was a relief as she let out a sigh, followed after with a soft laugh as she nodded her head. “ Well, they’re not something you can necessarily eat every day. So it’s best to savor them when you have them. “ Her exception was that for her, it was really when taste buds demanded she’d give in. 

      “Actually… I came here alone.” The confession brings heat over his cheeks, though the blush is not visible. He didn’t have enough friends aside his fellow riders and occasional encounters, so he decided that Kivat would be enough company. But surely, he wouldn’t actually call the bat an actual date, and he’s sure Erza would have laughed at him.

[ ☩ ] - Before Erza even finished listening to Wataru’s question would she loop her arm with his in a rather bold means. Some how this felt more threatening then genuine but she wasn’t prepared to have Wataru look this down on himself for not having someone. 

      “I would still try my best to fight with what I have, though I would admittedly manage better if I had an ally I could trust by my side.” The raise of the Kamen Rider Club and the knowledge there are fellow riders out there looking out for innocents calms his worries significantly.

“ You make it sound so much different then what it really is. “ After composing herself, taking a bit of a breath would she be able to speak with a dignified smile. “ No, I shouldn’t have laughed. More so.. if you want to say you want to fight along my side then it’s not a matter of asking for permission or the like. “ 

Which should be a good thing…should be amazing thing….but good samaritans don’t exist.

Perhaps it would be better to humor her. She could just let her buy her an ice cream cone or something. It would certainly expedite solving this problem. However dishonesty ran apposed to her core character.

“I’m fairly well acquainted with the city. My roommate’s been here for far longer than I have and she’s been quite informative. Plus this is my second time here and just that alone answered so many of my questions,” she answered confidently. “I’m don’t feel like I’m new to the city any longer.”

[ ☩ ] - She couldn’t help a smile as she turned off the pitching machine, only to step forward to Kyoko and offer a hand for her to shake. It only felt right to do something like this to cement their friendship. Hey, make a mistake, gain a friend. Didn’t seem like a bad deal all in all, huh?

“ Then I happily accept. I wasn’t expecting this kind of outcome, but I hope that we do end up being good friends from here on out. “ After giving her a shake of the hand, an idea seemed to pop in her mind. As both a friendly gesture.. to get to know each other.. and scratch that itch of actually paying off her problem! 

“I said that I wasn’t going to hurt you. You apologized and I accepted,” she told the other woman, dropping the bat to the ground and stepping out of the batter’s box. She was starting to get annoyed that she wasn’t listening to her. How many times would she have to repeat herself. “Let me introduce myself and maybe we can move beyond this little mishap. My name is Kyoko Mogami and it’s nice to meet you.”

“ Erza Scarlet. It’s a pleasure to meet you Kyoko. And if you don’t plan on returning several baseballs to me then I suppose I can think of alternate means for me to repay you.. I don’t mean to leave this unpaid of course. After all, I still feel partially responsible. “ More like completely responsible. 

“It ain’t gonna happen again, and even if it did, it’s not your business, is it?”

There was no way that she was going to hit this woman with a baseball bat or ball (that was if she was able to aim where she hit a ball with a bat with her limited experience), or any other object. There was only one being in the whole multiverse whom she wanted to physically destroy. Just thinking about him set her blood on fire. Oh how she’d love to use his head as batting practice.

“ The baseballs will come at a reasonable pace but please feel free to hit them as hard as you can to get off any anger or frustrations out! “ She’d give a polite bow of the head before taking her stance and standing still, letting the machine fire the first baseball at her at a reasonable enough speed. And Erza, as promised, stood perfectly still for her. 

“Who are you, my mom? Don’t need it. I’m better off on my own.” 

“ Oh, so that’s how things works around here? I never really found a way to figure such things out. So in other words I just need to sit around and eventually I get warped back to D'natia? “

He crossed his arms. This info was something he would have to think over. 

“ Well, it won’t matter for now I guess. Since I’ll get back at one point or another. Maybe I’ll consider this as a sort of vacation? Haha.

Ah right, her name’s Meryl Sherbet. Like the dessert. “

“ I would have to question your vacation choices but at the very least, be assured this is not the end all to end all. Just keep on look out at the potential to be sent back home and take it as you see fit. But if it comes time I run into this.. Meryl? I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as I can. 

“ Based on the doctor’s reports I have a hard time believing that. “ She’s fairly close to decking him for speaking like that but she supposes it’s one of the benefits of being young like this. 

She gave a starts when she was brought up from her thoughts by the woman’s words. It took her a second to process the apology. There was no way that she was on the side of her most hated enemy. He would never admit to being at fault. He was arrogance incarnate.

[ ☩ ] - Hearing how she was OK, she let out a sigh of relief at hearing that, although still felt that twinge of guilt for nearly beheading a stranger with a baseball. In that regard, she flipped her baseball bat upside down before handing it over to the stranger, her arms crossed. 

Eyes burning with so much pain, despair, the woman was making him relive it all. Recall each failure, each attempt at looking for any other way. “Why do you want to think that I had an escape? Do you want to endure this? Live in my world, my reality?” She lowered him to the ground yet his grip upon her wrist only tightened, face demanding an answer of his own. What she could possibly want from him, what she needed to hear. That he died? He didn’t try, and the truth was he enjoyed it? “I didn’t do this on a whim Erza. I didn’t make this my first choice.  My own brother had to die for this, don’t you think I would have explored every possible path?

We don’t get to save anyone…we don’t get one perce-”

“….Elle.”

How could he have forgotten? So wrapped up in despair, caught up in the dream of not having a chromatus, he hadn’t given the child any thought. Erza wanted one percent of something, and sure, maybe what she wanted wasn’t just one girl to survive, but for him to find a tiny chance of saving his world without bloodshed. But all he could think of, was the little girl he’d given away everything to save. A daughter from another world, given the right to exist.

He released his own grip on the others wrist and softly smiled at the memory. “…It probably isn’t the ending you want…but we did save one child….I saved…one girl. Even though the consequence of saving her is that I had to die, one little girl was given a chance to live.

[ ☩ ] - As she was bombarded with questions in regards to how she thought he felt, she couldn’t respond in entirety because it was easy to say ‘well I don’t think you like it.’ And that was the case proven over and over. No way in hell could he enjoy this but he did so as his only escape and choice. 

[ ☩ ] - However, as his voice dropped a moment in speaking a name would she look up in curiosity at him. Apparently there.. was something that he had managed. His face began to contort in a smile and in return, Erza returned it with her own grip and shoulders relaxing as a result, finding the atmosphere turning tame as he spoke on.. the one percent he had managed even through all of this.

[ ☩ ] - A child he had saved from such a fate. It.. was something. It was something that gave him the slightest bit of hope that he had managed to at the very least, gain something from all this. That one percent he could hold onto and look towards.. something. Some how, Erza could feel a heavy breath leave her mouth as she looked down for a moment. 

“ ... Just like how I hated you only moments ago for finding out. “ It seemed to have just been enough for the two of them to find relief in knowing that there truly existed just the smallest margin for success in that regard. Feeling a twinge of guilt however, for how she had hammered at Ludger ruthlessly about something he didn’t want to speak of, she cleared her throat a bit. 

“ I’m.. sorry for the way I acted. That was.. not my intention to scream at you so. It was only.. it only came as a reaction out of hearing that. An unpleasant one but.. I truly don’t believe that you’re 100% hopeless. In your situation that you believe you’ve exhausted all possibilities.. I truly believe that if you want to be the margin of 1% to save as much as you can from this then.. it might be possible. “