[Elsword] - Masked Renegade

12 - Recollect

...

As soon as the two girls returned to the Haan residence, Aisha stormed up the stairs in bitter rage, punching the nearest wall with her bare fists. She shouted and cried in agony, an unpleasant noise for both poor Aren and Add's ears, who were oblivious to the entire situation. Aisha delivered jabs by jabs, until her knuckles were red.

"Dammit...! Damn everything!" she cursed, the tears swelling up in her eyes before pitifully dropping on the ground like rain.

"A-Aisha...! Please don't do that! (The poor wall!) I know she was your best friend and everything, but..! We shouldn't do this out of rage for what happened..." Ara softly scolded, though she started to cry herself.

Aren soon stepped into the living room, a perplexed expression swept his face. Add followed, with an equally puzzled spirit. They glanced back and forth, from Aisha, to Ara, and back to Aisha again.

"Hmm? Where's Elesis..?" Aren asked.

The query only made the purple-haired midget burst even more. She ran off into Ara's bedroom, slamming the door shut despairingly. Several seconds later, she opened the gate to poke her head out into the open.

"She... died, that's what, you idiot!" she shouted, forcefully banging the doorway closed once more.

Ara wiped her tears, and began to explain the situation.

"Oh, I see. Very unfortunate... but the fire, seems a bit suspicious to me." Aren speculated, transforming into a heavy thinker.

"How so, Brother?" the Sakra Devanam responded with an inquiry.

"I can't tell you just yet, Sister. I will when I've gathered all of my hypotheses and investigations." he responded.

Add broke the chain of sibling-to-sibling conversation. "'Death'...? So, does that mean... we'll never see the redhead again?"

Aren nodded seriously, while Ara wept a bit more.

"Then, does that mean... it may happen to any one of us in this room?" he followed up.

Another nod, and more tears.

"Ah, okay. Well, I'm not feeling very hungry, so I'll be sleeping in Aren's room." Add calmly stated before venturing off.

~

Sooner or later, the doorbell rang. Aren ran down the stairs to answer, thankfully not tripping over the welcome mat again, and opened the doorway. Two odd faces popped up; the duo of demons in disguise, Lu and Ciel, at that.

Luciela playfully grinned at the sight of him, her pigtails waving around. "We meet again, Ran!"

A wave of irritation struck the older Haan sibling. "Oh? Sorry, who's that?" he answered sarcastically. "I told you not to call me that name here, Lu." he added, in a lower, whisper-like voice.

"My sincere apologies, Aren. You should be thankful. Our initial plan was to infiltrate this place, but we've kindly decided to come here in peace, instead. Right, Ciel?" she simpered.

The butler deadpanned. "Right." he responded in a rather dull tone.

"So, why are you here, exactly?" Aren asked.

"Hmm, no reason! Just visiting a good old pal such as yourself, huhuhu...~"

"I'm sure. Fine, have it your way, I won't pester you until later."

"How has that sister of yours been doing?" she switched topics, smiling ever so innocently.

Perfectly on cue, the Chinese female made her way down the staircase. "Aren? Who is it? Do we have guests, Brother?"

"Oh, Ara!" Lu piped cheerfully. "I've heard so much about you, and I've been waiting to meet the lowly peasant you are!"

Ara stood there in slight shock, unsure of whether to take it as an insult or not. "E-Eh...?!"

"You see, your adorable brother has told me all about how you're literal trash-- just kidding~ Huhuhu! Nice to meet you, I'm Luciela R. Sourcream." the Noblesse stuck her hand out for a shake.

Ciel pitched in afterwards. "My name is Ciel; Lu here is my mistress, unfortunately. I apologize for her unprofessional behavior, Miss Ara."

"'Unfortunately'?! Hmph, Ciel..!" she stomped her feet, purposely stepping on his toe, causing him to flinch in pain.

"Yes, and because I've seen this coming already, please accept this box of freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies as an apology on our behalf, Miss Ara." the butler said, whipping out a cleanly-wrapped container of treats. The wrapping paper was adorned with odd, beige creatures, otherwise known as Phorus; Ciel's favorite!

"Oh, um, thank you very much. Mr. Ciel!" Ara awkwardly bowed, gratefully accepting the gift. "Maybe I'll share these with Aisha and Add..." she smiled to herself.

"Speaking of Aisha..." Lu started, taking a step closer to Ara. She gently whispered into her ear, stepping back to her original position afterwards.

"I wouldn't trust that girl, if I were you."

Ara furrowed her eyebrows. Did Aisha know her?

"Well, enough with that! Ciel and I will be taking our leave, goodbye! Did you know? The local school shut down temporarily due to the fire. But, when it's up and running again, I shall be joining you, Ara! So, until then, farewell, Haans~ Huhuhu!" she spun around, only to be carried out by her Royal Guard.

~

Add was laying down on Aren's bed, staring up at the ceiling, as if he were contemplating what he knew about 'life' so far, and what the meaning and purpose of it really was. It was hard being an amnesiac. There were many fragments of memories waiting to be recollected, yet, couldn't. Anything could have sparked a memory, and yet, the thought of death oddly had.

A vision flung into his mind. It was fuzzy and blurry, but it was clear all the same. He could make out a girl. Long, black hair, with a single streak of white. She had Heterochromia; one of her eyes was red, and the other was orange. In that image, nine fox tails sprouted. But that wasn't all. There were stains of blood all over her clothes, her claws, and the ground.

He opened his mouth. He wanted to say something, but what?

'   A   v   a   '

The albino clutched the blanket beside him tightly. He gripped onto the soft fabric, not knowing what to do, and what exactly the visions meant.

~

Aisha rolled around on Ara's bed, feeling much more comfortable than when she was resting on the couch the previous night. She flopped to her side, glancing at the back wall/window. Instead of being upset, her lips were slowly curving into a smirk.

...