• “There once was a story of a princess that was locked far away with a key that was said to never be found. One day, an unexpected prince took it upon himself to find that key. He knew from legends that it would be no easy feat. So, he gathered strong friends, and charged forth. Through the many battles, slowly the friends began to become weak and one by one were lost. The prince did not understand, and after a while, began to not care.
    Far along in, he gained the information he needed, the key. His heart was filled with a great light and he headed for where the princess was being held. He arrived, only to found a cell with a withered old woman. He asked what had happened to the woman he was in love with. She replied that that girl had died long ago, because the one that she loved did not care for anything but his own wants, and needs.
    The prince shrank away then, realizing what the old woman was— their love.” The calm voice finished its story just as the bell was ringing. A circle of girls wept with fake tears.
    “How sad!”
    “Did she ever love him again?”
    “Did the prince ever get his friends back?” the girl in the middle of them all ignored these questions.
    “Those are questions to be answered tomorrow, you all know that.” The group awed. “Come now, school is over. I’m guessing you all have things to—”
    “What’s going on here?” the group broke up as a tall man came to the middle of them.
    “Nothing, Chance.”
    “Nothing my a**, you have to be telling another one of your stupid stories again to cause a bunch of crock tears like that.”
    “They’re not stupid!” one of the girls shot out, scooping up her books and bag. “Talya is really good at telling such things!” she left in a huff though, not staying around to back up her words. It seemed she wasn’t the only one however, the room quickly clearing, leaving Talya and Chance.
    “Good, yeah right.” He looked back to the girl still sitting down. “The only good thing a mind like yours is worth is cheating off of.”
    “By the way, heard you got a shitty grade on your report.” Talya shot back, gathering her own books.
    “Yeah, no thanks to you.” He grabbed at her arm. The gathered items scattered, her notebooks unleashing papers all over the floor.
    “No, it was all thanks to your stupidity, not reading the book, and     then having someone else write it for you. Now let go.” He’d twisted her so her skin was becoming an odd red-purple color, trying to show his strength to her bitter words.
    “No.”
    “I said let go!” She dared to raise her voice to him; he tightened his grip, making her whimper and crumble.
    “And I said no.” he pulled her up so they were more eye level, supporting her as her feet lulled and dangled. “Do better next time, or I’ll make you scream so much you won’t be tell anymore of your shitty little fantasies to anyone but a notebook.” He let her go with a pushing force into the desk, strolling out of the room. She wanted until she couldn’t hear his footsteps anymore before she began to cry.
    The sound of the doorbell set purple hair flying, the towel falling off the small female body. Blushing, she picked it back up and hugged it close. “Y-yes!” Such a sad story to remember at a time as such, she thought, trying to pull herself together. It wasn’t nice to spy on such a thing, she thought even know, though she didn’t think it would have mattered either way. She couldn’t have stopped it, even with a stronger hand. Not to mention, it wasn’t good for her health to be in the middle of daydreams while blow-drying her hair in a wet bathroom.
    “I’m here with your groceries!” a sigh bubbled from the girl’s lips.
    “A-alright… I’ll be right there…!” She quickly knotted the towel back around her and then decided that it was best if she got dressed. It was bad enough she was pale and had dark linens, but she wasn’t one to flash anything, in front of anyone. Carefully she wrapped the long cord around the dryer and headed for the bedroom area. She slipped on a long skirt and a very baggy top that’s V-neck had been sown shut. Sighing again, she tried pushing her freshly dyed hair behind her eyes. However, it was just short enough to fall right back where it had been. If she would have had someone else beside herself to blame, she would have been pissed.
    The door was quick to swing open, the hinges weak with wear. The man waiting for her did not push his way in. He however, stood there, looking around the hall, rocking on his heels. The girl cleared her throat and the boy whipped his young face to attention, smiling bright enough to cause the sun to duck in shame. “Ah Miss Barah! Great to see you again!” She wanted to mention how he’d just been there last week; exactly one week, but her lips were sealed.
    “Y-yes… you as well.”
    “I have your usual…” she nodded, looking down at his dirty pink tennis shoes and the bags that were circling him. All paper, all filled and looking a little heavy. But it was just him there; no one else had come to help. That worried her a little. “And I threw in a couple ramune, on me.” His foot tapped one of the bags.
    “You… did not need to do such a thing.” She huffed, though her eyes stayed where they’d started. The man was quiet for a while.
    “No way, don’t worry about it, it’s what I do.” She knew otherwise because such a thing only came from a specialty store out of town. That was what she got for opening up to someone she reasoned.
    “…Do what…?” she dared to look up far enough as his pant legs.
    “Be random.” He shrugged his shoulders as if the question was nothing, a coy twitch in his lips. She herself dared to smile.
    “I see.” They stood there for a long while, realizing this was as much talking she’d done in a long while, with him or anyone else. Nothing like since she’d quit that RPG that was starting to rage again. Huh, that was an odd thing to suddenly come to mind, though, she wondered if she still had it packed away.
    “Would you like me to come in and set things up?” he had started to rock back and forth on his heels again. She watched him for a little while before she nodded slowly, letting the door fall open. Talya Barah stepped back, pulling the baggy clothing closer to her small body.
    She let the man do his job, as he had since he started such a few months before then. The previous man that had worked there was old enough where he’d finally got fed up with serving people he thought could fend for themselves, and retired. Of course not before cussing out one of his regulars and making her cry. That must have been a fun story for him to relay so many times on his first day of work. She’d liked this new one better however; he always seemed a little different every time he would come by, though the same at heart. She liked that in some people. However, no enough to step outside her apartment more then two feet.
    Talya was a self called extreme invert.
    “There we go! All finished!” He laughed at himself happily, going back for the door where Talya still waited. That was something else she liked about him; he didn’t linger when he knew not to. “See you next week Miss Barah, same time.”
    “Yes… Thank you Mr. Banks—Thank you, Mark.” He smiled brightly at the mention of his first name.
    “Bye!” he ran off, the sky already darkening. That always happened. He would come right before the sun would set and somehow manage to stay until it was almost gone over the other apartments in the area. She let the door fall past him, the slamming seeming to echo in the now once again quiet rooms. That was how it was, no one else was there and she made minimum to no noise.
    Her neighbors doubted she even existed at times. To them, a normal twenty-three-year-old made loud noises and partied; to them if she was really there she would show her face more then just once or twice a month. To them… they knew nothing about her and didn’t care to learn. Not that she was upset about it. She thought back again to those that did. Maybe a couple in the family that she bothered to talk to anymore, maybe a few that she’d remembered from high school before she became home schooled, maybe even a couple that had wondered if she’d fallen into a coma so many years ago.
    That game… The World. Talya looked in the direction of her closet where the boxes inside had been taped shut the same way and stacked into neat pillars. That game was a way into a world that she was free to be as she wished. To not have to worry if something did go wrong; there, she had a reset button. She set off for the closet.
    When things had first started to escalate to a closed environment, she was being teased as a young child. She didn’t like being a mix blood and being in an all white school wasn’t helping. Even the Orientals would look at her and grimiest. That hurt more then anything— to have a little of their blood and still being far from loved. She ripped open the box labeled ‘gaming’ with a little more force then needed at the thought. She hated having a dark father and a Chinese mother. Not to mention her father had given her an odd shade of blonde hair because he himself was mixed.
    The cables were tangled which caused Talya to visibly twitch. She would have said there was someone else that’d been in the boxes and jacked with the neatly wrapped cords, maybe Mark if she was evil enough in thought, but she knew otherwise. Though, there was a good chance that at the time of boxing, she was frightened enough where she’d just throw it all away, hoping the fate of comatose would never follow after her.
    After uncrossing the red and white lines, and turning her simple laptop into a disaster of cords and expensive equipment, she was quick to realize how everything else looked a little outdated compared to her new laptop. She may have to send Mark out on a special trip to an electronic store. Sighing with contentment and reasoning with herself that everything was in place, Talya sat in her large computer chair, and hit power.
    “Let’s see…” she clicked around until she was sure of where she was. “Because of the fire… all information was destroyed… oh, that’s great.” She sighed; what had been worked on for hours upon hours was now gone. But maybe it was best to start over from the beginning. “Alright fine, fine… hm.” She bit at her index finger, reading over the new and old classes. “Might as well stick with twin blade; at least I know how to use ‘em.”
    She let the light reflect into her eyes as she relaxed. “Name, huh? Let’s try… Pluie… ha, knew it.” Finished with the task at hand, she clicked to her mail, quickly skimming the welcome letter. Such a stupid introduction did not interest her. She deleted it and headed for The World.
    The Chaos Gate took her to the main server, Mac Anu. That was the same name but when she was able to focus through the eyes of Pluie, things were far from what they once were. A large, sound reflecting dome met her, along with the echoing of giggling, chatting, and carrying on. No open air, no water ways. She glanced around, suddenly feeling Closter phobic yet extremely alone. “Did you hear? The Terror of Death and the previous Emperor of Darkness are getting married!”
    “Really? That’s so cute together! But is… that legal?”
    “…Beats me, it’s a game. Not like they’re hurting anyone; fan service for us though!” Pluie visible twitched on both sides of the screen at that. There was one thing she hated more then crowds, was the noise that they generated with gossip. She whipped around, quickly scrolling through words and warping out of Mac Anu.
    Taken to an open plan, she sighed in contentment at the silence that greeted her. In the distance, there was a tall structure, reminding Talya of the paintings she used to look at before she decided the inside of her apartment was better then anything outside with all the wind and pollution. The grass, though virtual, was pretty to her, blowing with a wind that moved her character gently.
    This is what she remembered from the game. She preferred the fields to the town turning the day; there was a less chance of meeting anyone. But things seemed crisper then what they were when she was younger. Maybe it was time, or the new server. Talya wondered if the dungeons were still the same; well, there was only one way to find out.
    Pluie however, wasn’t able to step more then two feet forward before setting off the bounds of a monster. Taken back, she tried running out of the detection of the cat looking thing that had set it’s sights on her character, but a barrier was up to stop her. “What the hell.” She pounded at it, only to be shocked. She felt her life go down a couple of points. “Damn…” she turned around to the monster, pulling up her weapon in defense. She was not ready to be thrown into battle, let alone as a single party and without any items.
    These pleas did not phase the monster however, so she tried slashing with her weapon. To no effect, even when hit the thing didn’t even flitch. Pluie, panicking, scrambled out of the way of its attacks, trying to find a way to read the areas status to see what she’d gotten herself into. But as Talya scrolled through the menus and the monster came closer, she realized that was something else they’d taken out when R:2 was created. “Aw man… Nice cat looking thing… put your shield over you and don’t attack me…” the monster did not listen to her, and whipped out with a kick. Pluie threw one of the twin blades in response.
    “Just leave me alone!” This was it; she was min to nothing with life and was going to be killed five minutes back into The World. She closed her eyes tight on the other side of the screen.
    “HEEEE---YA!” The hairless cat thing let out a cry of pain and shrived into nothing as a pterodactyl head slashed threw the defense shell and right down the middle of it. “Teach you to pick on other players…” the voice was a little smug but more of an ‘I’ll teach you’ tone then anything else. “Hey, you okay babe?” Sounded like a female voice—right, her character was male. Duh.
    “Y-yeah…” Pluie uncoiled, looking at the player that had suddenly run into her and saved him. The flick reaper was picking up the weapon that had been thrown across the field in Pluie’s defense, brushing off the dirt.
    “There ya go; good as new.” Pluie nodded, taking it back.
    “Thank you…”
    “Sure babe, monsters get more EX then PKers any day. But what’s a lv1 Twin Blade doing in a lv 13 field?” the flick reaper snickered.
    “It was a mistake.” Pluie shot back, standing up and brushing the dirt off of him. Eyes were running over the character, he could feel it. “What?”
    “Hn, you’re rather… lovely. Not seen that design for a Twin Blade before.” She came in close. “Very nice… where did you get the idea for your magic tattoos?” by now her face was inches from Pluie’s, looking at the tattoos on his cheeks. Pluie pulled back in response.
    “I—I had them when I first started the game…”
    “First started… Oh~ you must have been here on the R:1 server. Must suck that they didn’t decide and let the original R:1s keep their designs and status, huh?”
    “Yeah real shame.”
    “Yeah, and you seem so~ torn about it.” The other snorted. Pluie twitched again.
    “Hey, listen kid—”
    “It’s Hanashiro.”
    “Alright, Hanashiro—” he stopped, suddenly pouting. Hanashiro blinked, ready to tune out every word that was going to be thrown at her but instead was peeked with interest when nothing came.
    “You gots something to say?”
    “You’re annoying.”
    “Why, thank you!” Hanashiro stuck out her tongue, flipping Pluie off. He twitched again.
    “Can you just warp us out of here before I freaking kill something.”
    “You’re not in my party stupid; I just saved you, that’s all.” Pluie on the other hand was about to kill that girl. “Huh, like you can kill anything anyways, a lv 1 and you can’t even warp out.” Oh right, that’s what got him into this mess in the first place.
    “I can too!” he shot back, straightening his back. He looked through his menus once more, trying to find the log out choice. He looked again… and again… “I CAN’T LOG OUT!” Hanashiro blinked at the sudden hysteria.
    “You just have to—”
    “I can’t log out! What am I going to do? If I can’t log out, then what if I fall asleep? What if it’s a glitch like that one six years ago, what if—”
    “YOU USE THE GATE!” Pluie blinked.
    “The gate…”
    “Yeah, the one you came in on?” she pointed to a floating blue orb. “God, did you not read your update email? You now use gates to log out, there are new classes of players, old ones have had their option taken away, and you can’t run from battle, as well as some new items, ect.” She sighed with a huff. Pluie nodded slightly, trying to calm himself. “God, if you would just not freak…” she started to mutter to herself and Pluie wasn’t sure if he wanted to leave or thank her again. “You were here since six years ago?” He blinked at the sudden question. He was starting to form the opinion that she, was crazy.
    “I… I started playing The World when it first came out… eight years ago, but when the comas were getting worse, and some in the United States started to show up, I freaked out and stopped.”
    “Oh, you live in the states?!” Pluie nodded slowly. “Oh, the server here isn’t that busy, it’s nice to meet someone else that uses it!” He wanted to twitch at the sudden good nature but was quick to decide that it was for the best to be on the good side of the girl with the scythe. Come to think of it, that weapon didn’t look normal. Maybe there were a lot of new upgrades. “Ug… it’s getting late, might as well head back to Mac Anu.” She started for the gate. “You coming?”
    “Ug—” Pluie blinked mindlessly; he thought she said it didn’t matter, that they weren’t in the same party? “Sure?” She warped them back before he could say anything else. He didn’t remember being added to her party. At Mac Anu materialized, Pluie was met with the loud noise of the gathering place, the Chaos Gate. He suddenly felt as though all his stats had hit zero. Hanashiro had wondered off, leaving Pluie to stay in the middle of the sea of conversations or wonder off with her. “Where ya going?” He felt like such a lost puppy asking such a stupid question, but in a since he was.
    “To save and sell some items.” She muttered, smiling brightly at the monster player who had taken a tablet out where Hanashiro was signing away.
    “Thank you!” she whipped around. “What about you?” she started to walk to the other side of the dome before Pluie could answer to her face.
    “I— have no idea.” She pulled out some items not for her character’s type, pawning them off at the shop in front of them.
    “You started this game again, but for what? Thank you.” She nodded to another beast monster, turning this time to face Pluie.
    “I…” he thought back to why she’d pulled that box out of the closet, spent hours untangling the cords, and bothered to start a new account. Hanashiro sighed heavily, fingers playing with her character’s hair.
    “Dude, you don’t have an answer, and I have to go to bed. Level up some and find me again, I’ve got work in the morning.” With that she sent Pluie her IP address and logged out. He blinked at the now empty space where his ‘savior’ and new pain in the a** had once stood.
    He looked over the information, realizing that the character known as Hanashiro was lv 16, herself. What was she doing in a lv 13 field then? “Oh gowd, he’s just so… cute!” there were those girls again. Pluie turned around, coming close enough for earshot of the girls and muttered, “It’s not nice to gossip.” before logging out himself.