Add almost threw what looked to be a bouquet of plants at Ciel’s disposal.  The demon looked at him in alarm, catching them with no trouble.

“The cookies won’t be done for another few minutes,” Ciel said.  “But thank you for the herbs.  I don’t remember requesting them.”

“It’s not the cookies,” Add said with harshness in his voice, but mumbled a thanks for the cookies that weren’t finished.  Ciel hummed in understanding, but when he looked up to say something to the brawler, Add was over at the kitchen sink talking to Rena.

She let the brawler hand her over a bag of vegetables from the opposite side of the counter and handed him a bowl of chopped celery and bits of peanut butter.“Healthier option for snacks,” Rena beamed when Add looked at her in question.  Blinking at her, he huffed and pretended to be annoyed, but a rare smile found its way before he forced it back into a scowl.

“Where is he going?” Ciel asked when he disappeared.

Rena shrugged, “I saw him helping Raven with his Arm earlier today.  Maybe he’s doing the same with everyone?”

When did the brawler become this generous around them?  If this was any other person, he would have figured it was because he was influenced by everyone to be helpful, but this was Add they were talking about.  The same man who placed his machines over the rest of the group if it involved vital research on what he refused to reveal to anyone.  Not that they would understand.  When he went to knock on Add’s door later that day to deliver the cookies, the room’s occupant had gone missing.

Ciel wasn’t a full demon, but it wasn’t the cold that made him shiver when he saw the soulless eyes of fallen demons with unnatural looking cuts past midnight.  Following the trail of demons, he soon found himself at the edge of a ruined building.  Judging from the chipped porcelain and expensive silverware sticking out of the ground, it belonged to a wealthy person.  Standing in a pile of dead leaves was Add, moonlight washed over his pale figure with his back turned away.  The brawler leaning down with his hands almost touching the ground.

“Happy birthday, dear Mother…” Was he singing?  It took Ciel a moment to realize Add was tending to a flower.  Its petals were still new and barely opened, but it was recently watered with water droplets dripping down the stem.  He froze when Add stopped singing and straightened his back, turning around to look at him in the eye.

“Are you here to laugh at me?”

Ciel shook his head, “No.”

Add opened his mouth, but no words fell out.  Dozens of questions swirled in Ciel’s mind at everything he had witnessed.  A charred house with nothing left but dead leaves and broken pieces of china, melted plastic fused together, the flower being the only living thing – but all of that didn’t matter when Add sat down and began to cry silent tears.  He shook when Ciel placed a hand on him, but didn’t protest when the butler handed him a handkerchief to dab at the corners of his eyes.

“It’s your mother’s birthday, isn’t it?” Ciel asked, “Do you want me to make something for her?”

His eyes widened at the request, but Add breathed, “She likes strawberry cake.”

After the initial confusion over the timeline shenanigans that caused two timelines to merge, the El Search Party of both timelines did what any self-respecting adventurers would do: challenge their alternate selves to a sparring match.

Rune Slayer immediately charges towards Lord Knight, summoning a cluster of runes. Taken by surprise and pressured to keep his distance from the magic user, LK gets put on the defensive. However, as the calmer and more rational one of the two, LK waits for his chance to steel himself and counter his magical counterpart.

Void Princess also catches Elemental Master by surprise, but because she’s too in shock from VP’s demon contract to focus properly. The hundreds of mini-Angkors that chase after her leave her confused at first, but after EM regains her composure, she comes up with a brilliant but simple strategy: fry them all. Lightning shower!

Grand Archer keeps her distance from Wind Sneaker, frustrating the latter greatly. Her arrows fly further, and she keeps using the wind to either chase after or push away WS. After one very long goose chase, WS finally takes a gamble, and hollers, “Too old and cowardly to face me properly?” They have a good laugh over it together later, since it’s not every day you see a master archer throw her bow to the ground and charge into enemy range from blind anger.

Reckless Fist tries a taunt similar to what WS did, but it doesn’t work. Blade Master is both calm and especially slippery, and harasses his other self with quick slashes without giving RF time to react. But true to his name, RF pulls off an incredibly risky and reckless feint, which fell out of BM’s calculations, and lands one very, very painful blow.

Code: Empress surrounds herself with servants, ordering them to flank Code: Nemesis.  CN quickly dispatches them with her impressive arsenal of weaponry, but finds herself increasingly worn down by just the sheer resilience of the minions her alternate self can summon. Not that CEm’s summons are only useless shields; she’s an effective commander who knows how to pressure her opponent with her servants’ attacks.

Iron Paladin is quite mobile, despite the weight of his heavy destroyer. Deadly Chaser is hard pressed to keep a safe distance away, but his superior speed and range still keep him at a slight advantage. IP can easily take more than a few hits though, and patiently waits for an opening. It’s quite an entertaining spar for the both of them. Their shouting can be heard for miles.

Sakra Devanam is quite unnerved that her counterpart has strayed so far from their original martial arts, and makes the resolution to prove that she is just as strong as Yama Raja. Although YR’s orbs give her a great deal of trouble at first, SD is persistent and learns how to effectively deflect them, slowly building up enough energy to use her signature Swallow Assault.

Grand Master and Blazing Heart do not see eye to eye on many things, but both of them would never turn down a good spar. BH is a bit of a tease, and singes GrM’s hair occasionally, taunting her. However, GrM’s superior strength and excellent swordplay offers her a sharp advantage in close quarter combat, and even manages to disarm BH at one point, forcing her to roll back and use her flames to erect a barrier to give her time to recover.

Mastermind doesn’t really want to spar at first, but after realising he could collect valuable battle data, he begrudgingly agrees to indulge Lunatic Psyker for a round. To LP’s chagrin, MM merely sits back and harasses him with an assortment of tracking drones. MM sits back analysing LP’s battle patterns, and is both appalled and impressed at LP’s use of brute force. After their battle starts to bore him, MM decides to have a little fun and summons Apocalypse, basically forcing LP to also go all out. The resulting aftermath almost costs MM all his data.

Dreadlord and Chiliarch are a terrifying duo, but Royal Guard’s gatling gun proves to be a formidable enemy, because while his opponents have more raw strength and demonic power, their range is rather lacking. The rain of spears that Noblesse unleashes upon them is no joke either. The gorgeous, almost choreographic combat style of the imperial duo clashes heavily with the messy and brutal attacks of the demons the rebellion duo summons. CH’s Oriax is a powerful trump card though, and every time she activates it, her opponents have no choice but to run. DL tries to put his throwing knives to use, but finds out that they are utterly useless and his aim is awful from disuse. Everyone agrees that he should stick to close combat instead.

Denif reeks of alcohol,you think as you do your best to support him and keep him upright. Dragons have really high tolerance too, so he must have had guzzled gallons to become as drunk as this. You sigh a little and do your best to usher him back to his room. It’s hard, though, when he’s practically voicing his complaints out loud to the whole temple.

“No one…. hic… no one here appreciates my hard work enoouuughh,” he wails, stumbling along in your grasp.

“We all appreciate you, you’re the reason anything gets done around here, you know?” you try to reassure him.

He doesn’t seem to hear you though, since he continues sniffling and mumbling something through his hiccups. “And then eeeeeeveryone makes fun of me for my height…. When I’m older than most of their grandfathers… Wait. That’s Rosso,” he grunts, pointing at something in the distance. You’re not sure what he sees since the courtyard is empty, but he pries himself out of your grasp and staggers over, yelling profanities at… a flagpole. “Stupid Rosso! This is the last time I’m eeeever going to do your extra paperwork for you!”

Embarrassed for him, you follow him and grab him from behind and try to calm him down before anyone else sees or hears. He flails around in your grasp, but eventually gives up and goes limp, letting you drag him off. He looks up at you, his expression looking as if this was the first time he’s seen you clearly that night. “Oh… you’re here,” he says, rather anticlimactically, but then a small smile spreads on his face. The sweet moment is broken though because a tree catches his eye, and then he furiously tries to wrench himself out of your grasp one more time.

Some more spacetime shenanigans occur and the transform classes are, very unceremoniously, dumped straight into the sparring matches of the other two El Search Parties. A quick introduction occurs after the spars are halted, and most of the transform classes are willing to spar as well. Though, to be fair, since the other two opponents have been quite worn out from battling each other, it’s somewhat of an unofficial 2v1 for most of the characters against the newcomers.

Infinity Sword is unfazed at having to fight two of his alternate selves. He might have two opponents, but he has hundreds of swords, so there’s more than enough to go around for the both of them. He does have to be be cautious at leaving his back open, but for the most part he directs streams of his swords for crowd control and forces the other two into where he wants them to be.

Dimension Witch throws the other two Aishas off guard at first. When she charges in for a melee attack, EM is frozen in place, forcing VP to intervene and block the hit. It’s a little shocking for the both of them to see DW fighting using Aisha’s rather sub-par strength, but her bursts of magic strengthen her attacks in ways that the other two never imagined. After EM and VP properly collect themselves, their spar becomes more like a light show, with all the various coloured magic balls fired everywhere.

Night Watcher has an air of arrogance about her that leaves the other two slightly irritated. However, WS finds out the hard way exactly why NW was so confident she could take on the two of them at once. There are traps everywhere. She makes it difficult for the two Renas to reunite and attack her together by setting her traps carefully. One false move and some vine has grabbed her in place, or something explodes under her, sending her to the ground. GA does her best to keep her distance and fire arrows, but NW excels at pouncing on her prey from afar.

Veteran Commander starts off rather passively, but as time goes on, the other two feel like his attacks are getting stronger and more violent. Though because his own system takes a toll on his health, VC sticks with his usual grenades and missiles for the most part, and only uses his more powerful skills when he’s either backed into a corner or confident he can do devastating damage.

Code: Battle Seraph hardly gives the other two a break with her constant barrage of lasers. Her Energy Needles chip away at the defenses of the other two. The fact that CBS seems to have an endless supply of energy and that they chase their targets almost indefinitely is difficult to deal with, and forces CEm to use her servants as a barricade while CN zips through the skies, trying her best to outrun the relentless lasers.

Tactical Trooper is a huge fan of his artillery, and this makes him quite slow and stationary compared to the other two. However, he’s also quite resilient, and as long as he has his various fields set up and is constantly firing away his infamous Siege Shelling, it’s quite difficult for the other two versions of himself to approach safely.

Asura goes into her incomplete Eun mode from the very start, giving her a sharp advantage in speed and energy. Her combat style is almost entirely feral, a sharp contrast from the elegant martial arts of the other two Aras. Eun’s claw swipes could knock down stone walls, so the other two have to navigate carefully to avoid being hit by those. Only with coordinated strikes are they able to stop Asura from one sidedly crushing them individually.

Crimson Avenger seems to hesitate about this sparring match at first, but soon a dark shadow falls over her eyes and she charges wildly into battle. CrA using her own health in battle shocks the other two, but they don’t have times to ask questions before another sawblade gets thrown at them. Because of this, she wears herself down thin quite quickly, since to heal she needs to do significant damage to her opponents, and her alternate selves are much more skilled than the average run of the mill demons she’s used to. Nevertheless, she still hits like a truck, even if there’s blood dripping from her mouth from internal bleeding, worrying the other two greatly.

Diabolic Esper would generally much rather just open a portal and go back to his own timeline than spar, but his other selves pique his interest enough for him to stay. He mostly just toys around with the other two, not really intending to do any real damage. Just enough dodging and harassment to incur their anger and to provoke them into using their skills. It’s pretty clear that all three of them are trying to analyse each other’s attacks, and it’s also pretty clear that whatever DE did to end up looking like a starved madman, his research is still probably the most advanced out of the three of them.

Diabla chooses to mess around in her normal form for a while, but then NB manages to land a hit on her, causing her to start cackling from pain. Just moments later, demonic energy starts to swirl around Demonio, and his transcendence form appears. Nothing they do to him makes him flinch, and he constantly chases after his enemies indiscriminately, forcing them to duck behind the poisonous garden he had created earlier. When he finally runs out of steam and gets subdued, the other four end up having a bigger problem on their hands, when a fully grown DB stands there, concentrating a massive amount of demonic energy, ready to fire a massive beam at any moment.

Ain has to blink twice when the unfamiliar man introduces himself as Ventus, the Master of Wind. He didn’t sense a particularly strong El radiating off of this man, but maybe that was his senses getting duller ever since he became more connected to the humans. Well, as unprofessional as this man might seem, if he really was lying, he would be caught as soon as Mr. Dragon saw him. So until then, Ain would give this strange man the benefit of the doubt.

The little sylph who hovers around Ventus intrigues Ain more, though. After acclimating the El energy into his own powers, his wings had morphed into glossy, film-like petals, much like the ones on this fairy. Perhaps it really was an indication this man could be trusted? While Ventus conversed with the rest of the El Search Party, Ain waved at Linsy. She seems to acknowledge him for a bit, and then turn her eyes back onto Ms. Elf. Well, that was a bust. Maybe he’ll have to talk directly to the man himself.

“Excuse me, Mr. Elf?” Ain speaks up, as soon as there was a lull in the banter. Ventus notices him, seemingly for the first time, and quirks an eyebrow, before giving him a wide smile.

“And how may I be of help to you today, sir~?”

Ain makes a short bow and smiles back. “As a fellow servant of the goddess, I just wanted to give you my thanks for today, and for all your work in general, Master of the Wind.”

Ventus stays silent for a moment, looking at him curiously. Then, he suddenly sweeps Ain into a one armed hug, laughing as he ruffles his hair. “There’s no need to be so formal around me~ Here, repeat after me. You’re so gentlemanly, my friend Ventus!”

Ain stares at him in disbelief, and then he looks towards the El Search Party in desperation. Elsword’s eyes seem to be saying, “Sorry, you’re on your own here!” He then turns his head back toward Ventus, who seems to be waiting expectantly.

“Ah…. You’re… quite the gentleman, Mr. Ventus!” Ain finally manages to say, giving him an awkward smile. The little fairy looks like she’s trying to hold back her laughter, and Ventus only smiles wider, completely misreading the air to his own convenience.

“Good job, good job! That was close enough. Good work for today, er…”

Since the three Lus were all huddled in another room and the Ciels were under strict orders “not to intrude on a queens’ night only,” the three of them sat in awkward silence at the kitchen table. Finally, Royal Guard cleared his throat and said, “Dreadlord, you’re quite lucky to have Chiliarch. To you at least, she seems quite kind and forgiving.”

Dreadlord raised an eyebrow in surprise at this. “You think so? She still acts like a spoiled child most of the time. I mean it’s cute but… sometimes she drops the act suddenly and it’s really strange when she really sounds hundreds of years older.”

Royal Guard nodded in response. “Noblesse is extremely picky with detail. While I’m happy to be attending to her for the majority of the time, I feel like she goes too far sometimes, but I have no room to object.”

Demonio finally spoke up in that tired, husky voice of his. “…I liked her. Noblesse, I mean. She seemed very calm and composed… very elegant.”

Shaking his head, Dreadlord countered, “I would be happy to be in your spot for a day at least, you know? Diabla seems… really honest at least. I don’t have to play mind games to figure out what she wants, and then I get yelled at because I couldn’t guess from just her pouting. That kind of thing.”

“Well, Chiliarch…”

Add sits in his dim laboratory, surveying his handiwork with a smirk on his face. Curled up in his lap is one very large and fluffy white cat, a particularly snobbish and elegant one. She is his favourite because she is just like him. He combs his fingers through her fur as she purrs in contentment. Scattered through his lab, though, are dozens of other cats. Three of them are patrolling the premises, searching for any stray rodents to eliminate. One is curled up against the lab door, and will meow loudly if he hears any footsteps approaching from the hallway. Some are on break, lounging around on various surfaces and nibbling at the fish he left in their bowls.

The rest of the cats however, are undergoing a strict training routine. There is target practice, where they are to pounce on a human dummy, and striking their vital points will net them an extra anchovy snack. Endurance training takes place on specialized cat treadmills that Add designed himself. At the corner of the room is a scratching post that keeps the cats’ claws trimmed and healthy.

After a while, the cats will switch shifts, and some will go on break, some take over rat patrol, and some will go training. Add has everything planned down to the whisker. Cats are glorious, intelligent, independent beings, just like him. What better comrades than the animal he could best identify with? He cackles to himself, hearing his voice resonate through his laboratory. His legion of cats meow in unison, their feline way of saluting their generous, fish-providing leader.

Solace is a little spacey at times, but he’s as loyal as they get. For him, it’s all or nothing, and since he doesn’t open his heart to many, you’re very important to him. He has a tendency to ramble about his troubles to you, and since he doesn’t like relying on others much, it’s pretty much a sign of affection coming from him. He’s also quite insistent on introducing you as someone “very important to him” to basically anyone he meets, so it’s a little embarrassing for you sometimes.

Ebalon appreciates you a lot, because he pretty unashamedly asks favours from you all the time. He gives back in his own way though, because he’s quite knowledgeable about gossip around the area, and in the off chance you do get into some mess, he can pull some strings for you and clear your name. Your relationship with him is characterised by exchanges of favours like this, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing to feel like you have someone you can mutually rely on. On a more casual note, you two do exchange gossip frequently, one of the highlights of your day.

Denif on the other hand is much more reserved about asking you to help him with things, but when he does get swamped with stress, he comes to you pleading for your help because you’re one of the few people he trusts to get things done. Normally though, he does his best to make it up to you and help you with whatever you want, and while he’s not as brazen as Solace is about announcing how close you two are, it’s quite obvious how much he values you when his first choice in consulting someone about something is always you.