[Elsword] - Masked Renegade

23 - Practically Useless

...

After Lu, Ciel, and Rena had left to deal with Aisha, Add couldn't help but to push in a chair, right beside the bed to care of Ara. Eve merely sat near the bookshelf, scanning novels rather than actually helping.

It felt odd to the Esper. It was weird seeing her for the first time following the acquirement his memories. Her relation to Ava-- it was a tangled mess. A clutter of chaos that she had wound up in, because of her past life.

There was nothing that could be done about it. He stared at her immensely flushed face, noticing her eye-patch in particular. He pondered, thinking that it might have been adding on to the heat.

"Ara, can you tilt your head away from me for a moment? If it doesn't hurt too much, that is." he asked.

"S-Sure." she responded nervously, doing as he asked.

Slowly, he untied the string of cloth, placing the patch on the bedside table. "Just thought that it would've been a nuisance to keep on, that's all."

"O-Oh, alright. Thanks..!" she smiled optimistically, rotating her head back to its normal position.

"Is there anything you need?" he queried in a more concerned tone, though it did feel a bit awkward. The atmosphere was telling him that he was alone with her, because of how silent the Nasod Queen was, while she was doing whatever she was doing.

"Just some rest should suffice for now. I-I'm sorry for putting you through this, Add...!" she apologized. "My head really hurts, so maybe it'll go away if I shut my eyes for a bit."

He nodded, observing as she tried to sleep. Her cheeks were quite red from the fever, and she seemed to have been sweating a lot. The albino watched as her stomach rose and fell, it was good that she appeared to be breathing normally.

"Say, Ara. After you get better... do you want to go on... um, a date? T-Tch, it's not what it looks like, though! There's j-just something I wanted to display to you, is all..! Earth is different from Elrios. Sort-of." he proposed, slightly stammering from embarrassment.

There was no response. He blinked, a blank expression plastered over his face. Ara began to lightly snore, it looked like she was already asleep.

'Dammit. Does this count as cheating? It feels so freaking unnatural...' he thought, peering at the girl.

Add stared at her for a while, simply admiring her peaceful, sleeping physiognomy. Even if she was sick, she seemed quite cute to him.

The Nasod Queen turned around, deadpanning. "It seems that you are obsessively stalking her rather than taking care of her illness..." she spoke in a low tone.

He gyrated, glaring at Eve. "You're not doing anything useful, either! At least I'm actually looking after her..." he muttered.

"'Either'... Does that mean you admit your uselessness?" she countered, blinking and tilting her head innocently. "Eve is conducting medical research to add to her database to help Ara."

"You're... you're really pissing me off." he rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "I'll be right back, just to show you how functional and practical I am-- unlike you!"

"Practical, as in, practically useless?"

The Diabolic Esper stormed out of the bedroom, as the Battle Seraph swiftly went back to her analysis without a care.

~

Add ventured into the kitchen, immediately digging through the freezer for an ice pack. Thankfully, the Haan family kept one around, which was useful in this particular situation. Then, he headed towards the bathroom, shoveling out a small, unopened, and brand new towel from the storage area, wrapping it around the pack. He nodded to himself, approving of the product. All he had wanted was for her to feel better soon, and hopefully the freezing packet would alleviate her overwhelming warmth.

He gritted his teeth. "That damned Nasod! I'll show her!"

After returning to the bedroom, Eve had taken his seat beside Ara, and was about to place an ice pack on her forehead, seemingly stealing the albino's idea.

"What do you think you're doing..?!" he snarled, approaching her competitively.

"Eve is helping." she monotonously replied, giving him a casual thumbs up.

He fell silent, muttering angrily. "That's... my... job... you... damned... Nasod...!"

Add rushed over to where she was, vigilantly placing the cold packet on Ara's forehead before Eve could. He nodded to himself, proudly saying that he did something.

The Code: Battle Seraph insipidly laughed, in an extremely dull and robotic tone, to show sarcasm. "Ha. Ha. Ha. Humans are so odd..." she sighed.

Ara smiled as she rested, slightly giggling in a stifled manner. "Thank... you..."

...