I think I should do some more research on Laby's third path. I saw her third class the other day and I love it! Oh wait...you guys are here for Add and Ara, not Laby....my bad.
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         Such a terrible dream that it was. In that terrible nightmare, Ara had nearly been killed by Eve when they were sent to Altera. Then he started to see her die in so many ways but the nightmare was over and surely he and Ara would still be in the forest ready to head home. Add's senses kicked in as he woke up and he could feel someone stroking his head much like his mother did when he was a kid and she still cared. Add opened his eyes to find that it was Ara who's lap he lay in.

         "Finally awake I see. You took a bit longer than I expected for you to wake up. Are you feeling better? Your head doesn't hurt does it?" Ara said to him when she met his gaze as he looked up at her. That was when everything caught up to him and he realized that his nightmare was actually reality. He shot up out of Ara's lap as a sharp pain went through his head. "Where are we? Where's Seris and the others?" Add asked. "They're down there trying to make it up this waterfall to talk to us. So far, none of them have made it halfway up here. This waterfall is rather tall," Ara said looking at Add with worry, likely noticing the pain he had temporarily experienced a second ago.

        Add calmed down a bit and stared at Ara. He was feeling very heartbroken too. The flashes of memories that belonged to different possibilities for the future had all shown Ara dead in the end and it left Add in pain each time. "You saw glimpses of those other possibilities didn't you or else you wouldn't be looking at me like that," Ara said as she reached out to take Add's hand. He took hers instead and pressed the palm of her hand against his cheek, closing his eyes and leaning into her touch.

       "I wish I could say no but you're right. I did see them. Paradox wanted us to stop something from happening here in Altera and it must have been Altera's destruction or else he would have told me otherwise. Even if I succeeded to do this, I refused to move on to the next task without you so I kept making him send me back. I don't think he knows that I've made it possible for Seris' group to remember all of the different times I've tried to save you. He'd have come to destroy the machines that Seris spoke of if that were the case," Add said with his eyes still closed. "I don't want to save Altera," Ara suddenly said. Add's eyes snapped open and he looked at Ara in shock.

         "What do you mean you don't want to save Altera. There are innocent lives living underground here. We can't just let them die. That's not like you anyway. You of all people would want to save them," Add said. Ara shook her head at him and retracted her hand. "I'm tired of this stupid journey. It's bringing out the worst in us and has only been putting us through pain. I honestly just want to go home even if there's nothing left for me there. I'd at least be able to live without worry for a bit of time," Ara said. "You know that if we give up, the world will supposedly end," Add said.

        "Which is why we can't give up. We won't, even if that's what I want to do. Like you said, I'm not one to let innocent lives go to waste. The thing is though, my death keeps occurring for some reason. In order to stop it, we need to know why but I don't want those people to put all of that responsibility on you. They seem to know more about you than you know about yourself and that sort of scares me," Ara said as she looked out at the underground city. "That is actually a bit concerning. I find it hard to believe that I would entrust so much information to people who are practically strangers to me. They supposedly know about Paradox's goals according to what I remember from other possible timelines," Add agreed. Ara gave him a curious look.

        "What all do they know?" she asked. "Well for starters, they know that Paradox isn't from this dimension but they don't know how to reach him. In one timeline, I think they tried finding him. They know that he's looking after my mother to fill in his own loss which I doubt I told them. I can't remember all of the details so I can't be sure. I think they know about me having to change history as well. If I'm correct, they probably already know everything about us but no matter how desperate I might have been to save you, I still highly doubt I'd given such information away like that," Add explained. "What exactly did you build those machines to do?" Ara asked. Add shrugged, beginning to think of why he would want a certain group of people to know all of his personal information just so that he could save Ara in the end.

         "Those machines were built to help us succeed. Thanks to them, we know what to do and what not to do. We'll successfully save Altera but I can't guarantee Ara's life. Her actions never remain constant in any timeline at all," a new voice said. Soon after, someone climbed onto the rock ledge that they were on near the waterfall. Add had already activated his dynamos and positioned them around the newcomer out of pure instinct. After seeing Ara die so mamy different ways and times, his nerves would not calm down and he began to have the natural reflex to retaliate.

         "Stand down Add. It's only me. I'm sure you have my name committed to memory somewhere in that vast mind of yours," the person, which Add unconsciously recognized to be Raven, said as he used his nasod hand to push one of the dynamos away from his neck. He was completely unafraid of the highly dangerous weapons. Add could see Ara eying him suspiciously but said nothing of her behavior. "You're Raven. What are you doing up here?" Add said as he led his dynamos to his own side. Raven took a seat on the rock and nodded to confirm that Add had correctly guessed his identity.

          "I'm here because you've never come up here before out of the many timelines that have passed. Like I said, Ara's actions differ. I believe they have a certain degree of control over the future for some reason," Raven said. "You came up here to check on us. Don't worry though. Add is perfectly fine now. Your comrade just yelled at him and caused a bad headache so I took appropriate action," Ara said, being a little less warm amd welcome in demeanor than Add was used to. Apparently, Raven was not used to it either and had likely noticed Ara's unusual tone of voice.

        "Don't worry, miss Haan. It won't happen again," Raven assured with a bow towards Ara who narrowed her eyes at him while he was bowing but went back to normal when he looked back up. "Are you two ready to come down from here now? The villagers are eager to meet the two of you but more specifically you, Add. Your previous reputation that you left Altera with as a child has earned you quite a bit of fame through all of Altera," Raven said. "Wait, Add's famous?" Ara asked in confusion. Add faught the urge to cringe. He was not famous but he was surely a wanted person. The law would catch up to him if he stayed too long.

       "Oh he didn't tell you? I guess it's one of those timelines again. I thought since you two were together, you'd have told her by now," Raven said with a slight laugh. "Told me what?!" Ara said a bit impatiently to which Add sighed. "I hacked into the code of a majority of the lower ranked nasods and had them free the servant nasods because Dynamo had wondered why they were all so glumily serving their masters. I also stole quite a bit of nasod parts and hardware that no one was able to prove had been stolen by me because before even doing that, I invented a storage cube that compacted large amounts of items into a single space without damaging them. And I fixed a couple of nasods but at the time, I hadn't known that they were against the throne. I got into so much trouble that the previous ruler showed up all the way from Elysion just to tell me just how disgusted he was of my actions. My mother managed to get me out of a majority of trouble but we ended up having to escape on one of the shuttles that left Altera once every two months. We were lucky to make it out of that cursed nasod city," Add explained, scratching his head in annoyance afterwards.

        "Wow....I can see why you didn't want to tell me any of that," Ara muttered with a grimace. "Yeah...I try not to think about it too much," Add said. "Your mind and thought process is incredible though. No one in the history of Altera has been able to do something so complicated. And to think that your invention ability isn't limited to such simple contraptions. Those machines that you build to keep our memories of other timelines are protected by barriers unaffected by time alterations and it only took you a week and a half to build them! I'm only a swordsman. My ability can't even begin to compare with yours," Raven said.

        "Where are these machines anyway? I would like to see them," Ara practically demanded. Raven smiled a bit before answering. "I'm afraid we don't actually know. Their location is underground in this area somewhere but even Add kept their location hidden from is, only showing us the machines in holographic form," Raven answered. That sounded like something he would do so Add thought nothing of it but he could tell that Ara most certainly did. "Well that's okay. Why don't we go meet everyone else. I don't think I want to stay up here all day," Ara said a bit more normal than she had spoken earlier but Add knew for a fact that she was faking the attitude. Raven did not seem to catch on to this though.

         "That would be a good idea. Seris was hoping to catch up with you a bit. You and her got along quite well," Raven said to Ara before standing up and beginning his climb back down the rockface next to the waterfall. Ara's smile vanished as soon as Raven was unable to see them. She looked at Add, expressing her obvious disdain towards Raven and the others. Add gave her a pleading look, hoping she wouldn't try doing anything to give away her suspicions. She smiled again but Add could see the twinkle of mischief in her eyes.

        She erupted into Eun's power and leaped off of the side of the rock ledge where Raven had gone. Add was sure she'd be fine considering it wasn't the first time Ara had fearlessly jumped from something high off the ground before. He used his dynamos to carry him down, passing Raven and watching Ara slide down the rock, alternating from running down the rock and jumping from one spot to the next. They called him, his pseudonym was being chanted as he made his way toward the ground. A crowd was waiting for him, likely everyone in the underground village.

         Add had never seen or heard of the place before now and wondered how they had gone unnoticed by Eve and the royal family for so long. A nasod loyal to the Altera rules had to have stumbled across the establishment at some point right? Add pondered this as he saw all of the unfamiliar faces of humans, furry animals of some sort, and even a couple of nasods. He didn't have much time to react once he was touching the ground. Ara had gotten there before him amd was already being swarmed with questions. She managed to slip behind him as he landed and whisper something in his ear.

        "They think you're the smartest thing in the world. They call you the Tracer you know. Why is that?" Ara said. Add couldn't respond even if he wanted to. The crowds had already began to throw their questions and concerns at him. He saw Ara slipping away into the crowd and for a moment he caught her gaze, sending her a look that practically begged for her help. Ara returned the look with an eye closed as she stuck her tounge out at him after mouthing an apology. And just like that, she left him to the crowds knowing how much he hated receiving attention from stangers.
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It's been a bit since I last updated but I had to get a chapter of Rebellion done. I had gone too long without updating that. Now my readers for Elrios High Too are going to kill me for not updating it too but oh well...until next time you great readers!