Elsword: Yin Yang (Under Major Revision)

50

"Loud mouth here already spilled the beans to Ara." Chung interrupted. I wanted to kick him for saying that. 

"Oh really?" I could imagine Rave glaring daggers at Elsword. 

"C-chill, dude." Elsword stammered. "I thought Ara deserved the right to know."

"And I should have the right to tell my own story." He snapped. 

"Sorry, I thought I was doing you a favour." Elsword laughed uneasily. "Are we still cool?"

Rave sighed," whatever, I guess I can just jump to the point." 

There was a pause. For a couple of seconds no one said a single word, only the sound of birds chirping could fill in the silence.

"You guys already know I committed terrible crimes." He began in a low tone. "But that wasn't the worst of it. All the people and Ponggos I killed in the past were out of my own will."

 I wanted to block my ears and preserve the image I had of Raven, but I knew I had to listen through the entire story; we all had to.

"At first it was hard to kill the Ponggos, I felt guilty for killing them." He sniffed. "But the more I killed the easier it became. Soon I was able to slaughter a whole group of them without a care."

"Raven--" Aisha began.

"When the ship was finished I had wanted to go to Velder and destroy every last person in it." He went on. "But the Nasods suggested we go to Elder and test it out. The city is large but its defence isn't as heavy as Velder's"

A couple of birds fluttered over us. I watched as they hurried into the amber horizon.

"Along the way we spotted some..." Raven took a sharp breath in. "W-we saw some travellers. I-I didn't know them, but I wanted to hurt them so badly."

I felt my stomach twisting into knots. 

"So I captured them and kept them prisoners on the ship." He added hastily. 

A part of me wanted to know more about his story while another part wanted to hurt him for what he did to those innocent people. I bit my tongue, hoping it'll keep me from blurting out anything rude, and continued to listen. 

"W-what happened to those people?" Aisha's voice cracked. "What did you do to them?"

"This is where you'll start to hate me." Raven chuckled; I couldn't tell if he was laughing at himself or at our predictable reaction. "Don't feel bad if you do end up hatin' me. I feel the same way."

"Raven." Elsword sighed. "Stop beating yourself up. We'll understand, we're your friends--

"So you guys are cool with me killing the kids' parents?" He snapped.

 Even without looking back I knew Raven had his eyes locked on us, waiting for someone to speak up. 

"Look I really don't care if ya' hate me." He added. "People like me don't deserve your forgiveness to begin with."

"Stop saying things like that," Aisha said, wiping her sleeve across her eyes. "We know the person you've become. We know you--"

"Allow him to finish." Eve interrupted. "Please, Aisha, land judgement after his story."

Aisha opened her mouth to protest but quickly retreated into silence before she could voice her thought. Raven took this chance to continue talking. 

"The people I captured...became my defenceless prisoners." His breath began to quicken. "I-I tortured them. I made sure they suffered through their final hours."