“Hey, Elesis.”

Elesis grumbles and rolls over, clutching at her warm girlfriend. Nope, nope, not girlfriend anymore.  Wife.  The thought brings a smile to her face.

“Whazzup?” she mumbles without opening her eyes.  Ara pokes her tenderly.

“Elesis, wake up.”

Grumpily, Elesis cracks open one eye.  Ara is holding up a silver tray.  Delicious smells are wafting from it.  Oooh, pancakes?

“I made you breakfast.”  Ara has a devilish smile on her face.  Elesis rolls onto her back and grins.

“What’s the catch?”

Giggling, Ara brings the tray down where Elesis can see it.  There’s nothing but syrup traces and crumbs on the plate.

“But you took too long to wake up, so I ate it~!”

“You little-!”  Elesis pounces on Ara, careful to avoid the tray.  Ara shrieks in laughter.  A brief tussle ensues, in which Elesis comes out on top, pinning Ara to the bed.

“Guess I just have to have you for breakfast,” she says, mimicking Ara’s devilish grin from earlier.  Ara giggles and halfheartedly tries to push her off.  Elesis leans down, her mouth right next to Ara’s ear.

“Wife~”

Ara shivers.  Elesis laughs.

“Will you marry me?” They kneel, extending a ring to Ain.

They were cursed words that Ain hoped they’d never say. Truly, it was a big mistake to become associated by them, even if it brought him so much fun. The worse decision the Erbluhen Emotion made was actually accepting them, unable to alert them of his eventual disappearance. He shyly slipped on the ring, covering his face in shock, embarrassment and shame.

So now he sat, waning on his impulsive and emotional choices he made. It was too late now to call it off, for everything was prepared. The wedding party, the invitations, food… human stuff.

Horrifically amazing. He wasn’t sure if he’d fucked up or if the wedding day would be the best day of his sentient life.

He was feeling guilty the most at the moment. Ishmael told him not to blend in with the humans, and he’d immediately broke it the minute his fiancee came into his light. What a great creation he was. Groaning, he clasped his hands together, sitting up worriedly as he prayed for Ishmael’s forgiveness.

What else could he do? Being as lost as a sheep without a shepherd, he prayed for help, searching for the stars that will guide him to the baby’s crib.

“Ainchase Ishmael…” the soft voice almost lulled him to a deep sleep, yet the familiarity stirred him awake.“My goddess…”

“You’ve disobeyed me too many times to count, Ain…” she scolded. “Even though you knew the consequences, you have broken the laws I have set for your mission. I am unsure of why you ask help now, when you’ve should’ve done so the last few times you’ve went against my orders you did not even ask forgiveness.”

He chuckled nervously, hiding his panic with a smile. Maybe it was a mistake to call her out. But she was here now, so Ain couldn’t do anything but listen to her lecture.

“I know how you’re feeling, Ain. Please don’t just nod at me and pretend you agree with what I’m saying.”

“Urgh…!” he shifted his head to the side, being caught red-handed.

“I understand your attachment, but acting on this… is illogical, isn’t it? You know what I’m talking about. You know you’re just going to selfishly take everything away from them after your mission is completed.”

“So… what do I do then?” he sighed, drooping his head down in shame.

“As punishment… rest up and prepare for the wedding, Ainchase.” she concluded, trailing a hand to caress his cheeks.

“What…?”

“It is much too late to try and change things, so I can only let you have what you really desire.” she reached out to hand him a tiny box. “A gift, for the wedding.”

He looked at the present with a shocked face. Ishmael was… supporting him?

“Just calm down,” she said quietly. “And enjoy your party. Then, continue on with your journey. I will be watching you closely.”

And then, the traces of her presence disappears, leaving Ain to his own devices to wonder. He clutched onto her present, feeling something beat in his heart.

She supported him. She still loved him. Even if he made mistakes.

“Thank you, Ishmael.” he mumbled as he closes his eyes.

“Elesis,” Ara says slowly, rifling through her paper package, “did you steal my cookie?”

Surprisingly, there are no telltale crumbs that adorn Elesis’ face as she turns around, a lollipop in hand. “Nope,” she says, sticking it in her mouth. The round part makes her cheek puff up, like a chipmunk. “Did it fall out of the package or something?”

Ara frowns. “I hope not… But then where’d my cookie go?”

Elesis laughs as she presses a kiss to Ara’s cheek. “Don’t worry, babe, I’ll buy you another one. White chocolate chip, right?”

“Without the macadamia nuts,” Ara says, smiling brightly as her cheeks go pink. “Thank you, Elesis, you’re the best.”

Somewhere else on the grounds, Add sits, watching from his drone footage, as Ara sits with a goofy grin on her face, touching her cheek where Elesis kissed her. “That could have been me,” he mutters, aggressively eating the cookie he (not so secretly) took from Ara. “I could have done that for her too.”

(I was summoned into the chat at zero-dark-thirty by a bunch of panicking mods “ASH YOU PLAY SKYRIM RIGHT WHAT IS THIS ASK”.  I told them, “Cheese”.  They were confused, which, I admit, was kind of the point.)

Elsword:  “You’re nuttier than Add.  I didn’t know that was possible.”

Aisha:  “You’re a Daedric Prince!  Can you teach me cool magic stuff?  Wait- what, no, what’s a wabbajack?  No, I don’t want a wabbajack!”

Rena: “You’ve been changed from your original form… No, I know you don’t want sympathy.  I’m still being sympathetic.  Don’t turn me into a rabbit.”

Raven: “Nope.  Nope, nope, nope, nope, fuck this shit I’m out, you reek of crazy and cheese.”

Eve: “How interesting.  How many more of these princes are there?”

Chung: “Uh… G-guys, he’s staring at me… Guys?  Where are you going?  Don’t leave me alone!”

Ara cannot really react properly, because Sheogarath tried to turn Chung into a bunny, but he dodged and it hit Ara.  Sheogarath finds this hilarious.  Eun does not.  There is a nine-tailed bunny trying to kill him.  Sheogarath finds this even more hilarious.

Elesis: “I’m with Raven.  No way in hell am I dealing with this.”

Add: “Your laugh…. Kuhuhuhu!  I like you!”

Lu: “Uuuuu…. You’re like a demon king, but more powerful and less sane.  Ciel, shoot him.”

Ciel is also now a bunny.  A bunny made out of pastry.  Sheogarath does not want to be shot, thank you very much.

Rose is, you guessed it, a bunny.  Sheogarath is having great fun tossing her into rose bushes and watching her squeak in indignation.

The El Search Party, having been backed into a corner by a surprise attack and some particularly relentless mobs, was wearing down. Elsword braced himself as an attack sent him flying back. If this continued, his friends might get more than a few scratches from this battle. In a last-ditch gamble of desperation, he rolled away from the main skirmish and began channeling all his energy into his blade, begging Conwell to do something about this situation. With one frenzied slash, a large rift opened before him, and with all of his concentration, he closed his eyes. The rift had a massive black hole effect. So massive, that all the enemies on the field seemed to be helplessly dragged into the portal, leaving the tired explorers panting in relief on the floor.

But it didn’t stop.

Soon, there were monsters hurtling through the air at absurd speeds from all directions, all being drawn to the portal. Some of them were enemies that had encountered several cities away. Everyone was confounded at this sight.

Ever since the battle with the Dark Nephilim, Elsword had noticed a subtle shift in the way people treated him.

It wasn’t really with the Elgang - they’d all been in that battle and come out stronger for it, if scratched and bruised within an inch of their lives.  Even his sister seemed exhausted as they prepared for their journey to Hamel.

No, it wasn’t that.  It was the way, when Elsword went out to get supplies, people stopped talking to stare at him in awe.  It was the way a little girl ran up to him just to show him her much-loved doll, and then ran away, embarrassed.  It was the way two boys not much younger than Elsword himself stopped play-fighting in the streets of Velder to watch him pass in awe.

The hero.  The youngest Lord Knight in Velder history.

Elsword felt their stares and expectations like a weight on his shoulders, quite different from the worries about the demon war but heavy in their own right.  What if he couldn’t live up to what the people expected of him?  What if he accidentally became someone they didn’t want him to be?  What if-

No.  They wouldn’t lose.  People were counting on him not to lose.

“Lord Knight,” he was greeted whenever he walked anywhere, and he perfected an awkward smile and a quick, uncomfortable rub of the back of his neck before requesting, “please, just call me Elsword.”  And most people complied.

Some, of course, weren’t happy with that.  They’d press for details - how did he become the youngest Lord Knight?  What was he planning to do about the demons?  Did he think they’d win the war?

He smiled and gave answers of optimism, always.  Of course they’d win the war.  He’d grow stronger, along with the entire Elgang, and they would drive the demons out of Elrios.

They had to.

Chung does his best not to break down, and gives Raven all the information about the Hamel army and Hamel’s defenses that he needs.  Armed with that, Raven and Elesis draw up plans to get the civilians out and combine the forces of the Red Knights with Hamel’s famed artillery units to attempt to drive back the demons.

Elsword leads the evacuation effort, but not without much arguing - he wants to be fighting, not running away!  He’s only persuaded by the promise that he’ll be saving more people than if he stayed.  Rena, Aisha, and Ara all help with guarding the civilians as they move to safety.

Add does weapons checks on the cannons of Hamel’s artillery.  He may have stolen and dismantled Chung’s cannon once before to see how it worked, and that comes in handy now, as he makes upgrades to weapons en masse.  Eve helps him there, though she has to slap him a few times to get him on task.

Ain ends up as a messenger, running messages from Elsword’s group to Elesis’.  He doesn’t pass up the chance to kill hordes of demons along his way.  Thanks to him, everyone ends up communicating effectively, which would be otherwise hard.