Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL 1. Link Start!

_**Welcome to the story Database Horizon! This is my newest story, featuring elements from two (actually three) anime and a video game. ZEXAL is obvious; it's what this story is categorized in. But you guys gotta guess the references for the others, unless you voted on my poll. Which you'll probably guess easily.**_

_**Anyway! I'm planning on having at least two stories in this Database Horizon thing. It'll definitely have a sequel, which I'll reveal the title for later.**_

_**There are a few OCs in here that aren't mine; I don't own those characters, obviously. I'll let you all figure out who's who.**_

_**Possible couples to appear are (for sure, anyway):**_

_**Kaito/Droite  
Durbe/Rio  
Vector/Sylvia (Kat's OC)  
Pulsar (My OC)/Layla (My OC)  
Rio/Vector  
Yuma/Kotori  
Alit/Kotori  
**_  
_**Warnings**_

_**Gore/Violence (Nothing too extreme unless requested)  
Language (Again, nothing too bad unless requested)  
Some drug/alcohol usage  
Character Death  
Some sexual situations (Due to shippings; nothing higher than T unless requested)**_

_**Anything else I'll explain within the story! Enjoy and don't forget to review!**_

* * *

It was planned to be the biggest game release in the history of Japan. The game, called 115 Online (One-One-Five, as it was pronounced), was going on sale later in the year; potentially a million copies were going to be produced even during the beta testing. It was going to be the third VR-MMORPG to be distributed worldwide. The company developing it, called Horizon Industries (or HI for short), had posters everywhere for it, requesting testers in any possible way they could within the limits of the island country.

The gear required for the game was correctly called the Gazer. Fashioned to look like a pair of glasses that went all the way around the field of vision—even peripheral— it connected the brain and the nervous system directly to the circuitry through a very complicated process that most people chose to ignore. It looked cool enough—hence the ignorance that would soon choose the fate of a thousand beta testers.

Nobody knew it was going to be this bad, or that something like this could happen.

I flipped through the tabs on my browser, reading various articles on previous Virtual Reality games such as 115 Online. The two computer monitors were filled with different programs running, which I was going to use in order to set up the game's system so I could play it. Doing so was taking forever, because the technology had never been introduced to my computer before. I wasn't big for games, but when my father had told me about it, I couldn't help but get it. The concept art, along with the other miscellaneous items sent to me, displayed what the game was capable of; and God knows that I have an obsession with history.

The computer beeped, sending me a notice that installation of the hardware had been finished. Jeez, it sure took its own sweet time with the program. I clicked okay on the notice box and got out of my chair. The Gazer's box was sitting on my bed, the lid part of the way opened. I hadn't taken the device out yet because I needed to do a few other necessary things in order to get the visored thing to work. Getting out of my computer chair, I grabbed the box off of the bed and grabbed my Gazer from inside. It was blue with a crimson lens, a custom model since beta testers were apparently 'special'. The colors hadn't been entirely important to me; I just used a randomizer on Google in order to choose what to paint it.

Along with the Gazer was the cord to connect it up to the CPU. This would link me directly into the game. I plugged the cord into the side of the glasses, then shuffled my computer's CPU around in order to find the place to push the adapter in to. As soon as the two pieces of technology were hooked up, another installation program began to download. According to the notification on the second monitor, it would take a couple minutes to be finished.

The game sat on the desk. I took it from there, settling back into my chair. The cover had the game's name printed in sharp, block letters across the top, showing the Nazi Germany theme in the background. A player's avatar, based off of some guy probably involved in the development, was slicing into a Nazi Zombie's neck with a knife (yes, you read that right). The picture itself wasn't very gory, but there was still blood involved in the game; a heavy amount, according to the list on the back of the box. Along with that was the possible weaponry involved, the mentions of armor enhancement, the possible enemies to be faced inside (zombies, liches, undead demons... you name it, it's in this), with many more things that completely blew my mind. It was a jump from my simple pixelated games that I had come up with in my elementary school years.

The combined noise of the Gazer and computer finishing their introductions to each other made me jump slightly. Opening the case for the game, I took the small box from inside, as well as the cord, and hooked it up to the CPU. A menu appeared on the main monitor, and I clicked around until everything had been finished installing. Exiting out of the internet and everything else (excluding stuff for the game), I grabbed the Gazer from on top of the CPU and laid down on my bed.

My heart began to race as I placed the glasses over my eyes. The lens turned everything into a reddish color. For a few moments I sat there, wondering what the hell I was supposed to do, when a sentence reading in bold violet letters started flashing.

**Please feel around your body for calibration purposes**_,_ it stated. Awkwardly, I gazed at the words, blinking in confusion until it brought up a picture to demonstrate. With an extended, "Oh," I felt around with my hands, following the instructions the moving image showed. It was really weird, feeling places that I honestly didn't want to touch (especially the crotch area—which, by the way, is awkward considering that_ this is a game_), but I did it anyway just to get the process done and over with.

Fifteen minutes later I was feeling uncomfortable as I finished the calibration. The Gazer thanked me for helping it get acquainted to my body (which left me with an unending stream of hormones—caused by the damn touchy-feely thing), and then asked if I wanted to log in. Shaking slightly at the thought that this device was hooking my brain directly into a computer, I replied to it, a, "Yes," barely making its way out of my mouth.

A wormhole developed within the lens and I felt my whole body go completely numb. I swear I passed out,because the red lens disappeared and the colorful wormhole took over my vision. It was so weird, how this worked; I definitely had to get used to this before I got anywhere serious inside the game. After going through the wormhole for a few moments, it brought me to a large, white space, with the language setting floating in front of me. I chose Japanese, and it brought me to a text box displaying what my name would be. It instructed me to think of what I would name my avatar, so I chose my real first name, unable to come up with anything original. Confirming it, the game dumped me into a black space, with a clear solid floor.

"Come and choose your avatar's appearance," a female voice spoke from overhead, echoing throughout the darkness. A set of screens floated across the room, showing various options. I stepped up to the screens, choosing a male avatar. The basic outfit—a military uniform—covered the avatar. I chose a unkempt, blonde hairstyle for my character; a healthier, pale tone for the skin; and light blue eyes. As close as I could get to my actual appearance without making it too obvious. I confirmed that this was going to be my avatar during the beta test, and the game closed the avatar creation.

"Welcome to 115 Online," the female voice stated happily. "Here at Horizon Industries, we hope that you have a wonderful experience. Enjoy your stay!" With that, a light blinded me and I shut my eyes, waiting for the colors to stop dancing on the back of my eyelids.

I opened my eyes slowly, a new setting being revealed to me. In a sort of fish-eye effect, I found myself inside what looked like a colosseum of some sort. A glowing bar of green floated in the right side of my vision, displaying my name underneath of it. I assumed that this was the health bar, considering that there was a point indicator beside my name. Pulling my interest away from the statuses being displayed, I swept my eyes around, seeing some of the beta players talking to each other, getting acquainted with each other. The atmosphere was dank, dark, and despite this everyone seemed happy.

I walked forward, looking down at myself to see my military uniform. The camouflage, like everything else in this place, was black, green, and brown. Dark. Depressing.

"Well, this is supposed to be World War II," I murmured to myself, continuing forward. A few of the others waved to me, and I nodded my head in response; I wasn't very social at all. This game was just for me to assert myself with the mechanics of a virtual world of this type. I didn't care for social interactions. Just like how I was in the real world.

A loud boom resonated through the building, dark planes flying overhead. The players around me gazed up at the sky, some of the girls clutching to taller, handsome men that were talking to them. I frowned, inspecting each of the planes; American bomber planes. Odd...

Someone poked my shoulder. I turned around, seeing a girl close to my height standing behind me. Her hair was jet black and flowed down to her waist. She had equipped on a standard pistol, which each player had on apparently, along with her military outfit. She looked a bit nervous, her orange eyes slightly bigger than what was probably her avatar's natural shape.

"Hey," she said awkwardly when I didn't say anything. "Do you know how to open the menu? I forgot to read the manual before jumping into this game."

I nodded; luckily I took a day off from school in order to read the entire guide. "You swipe your hand," I started off, slashing my hand in a horizontal line at neck level, "to open the menu." After the movement, my menu appeared, the six white triangles displaying various places to go to with a tiny icon. The girl followed my actions, having to swipe a few times to get it right. Eventually she got hers open, flipping through the various panels that popped up with each button she pressed.

"The guide is in our items box, right?" she inquired. I nodded again. She searched through her items box, finding the small book and clicking on it. It appeared in midair beside the menu and she grabbed it, raising an eyebrow at the little amount of pages contained within it.

"It's really small," she murmured, flipping through the pages. "It only gives us control details. Nothing else. What'd they expect us to do? Die a hundred times before we get to another town? Geez. Damn developers." The girl then put the book back into her inventory, searching once more. "Another newb question: where's the log out button?"

"Should be in the home menu," I replied, reopening my menu and clicking on the home button. It brought up an image of my avatar, showing the various things equipped to me. But I didn't see a log out button anywhere. This was a beta, so it was common for bugs to happen, but this shouldn't have happened. At all. One thing's first when developing a virtual game like this; a log out button that works.

The players in the area were all doing the same thing. Checking their menus. Seeing no log out button. Various stages of freaking out. I bit my lip, looking around. This wasn't expected, nor was it on accident. I could feel it; someone had planned to do this. The girl beside me let her menu close on its own, shifting in her boots. Her hair tilted with how she moved her weight. Being a guy and all, my hormones responded in a way I didn't want them to; apparently my brain found her attractive even with her small chest and curves.

"Stand straight, you idiots," someone yelled from the seats of the colleseum, making me and the girl turn to look at a guy with a grim reaper outfit gazing down at us. More players appeared in glittering columns of blue light, looking confused as ever. A way to teleport people? Odd. This guy must be the GM, I concluded, stepping forward.

"Who are you?" a few of the others yelled. Chaos was on the edge of breaking out, and I could only hope that I managed to get out of here before that happened.

The man drew his hood down, and long blonde hair came flowing out. His eyes were black, or at least appeared that way from the dim light filtering down from the near-black clouds. "I am the Game Master," he addressed loudly. The players calmed slightly at that, becoming quieter to hear him. "As you have noticed, your Log Out function has been disabled. This is no bug, or accident. This is intentional." Before the crowd could throw a fit, he continued on. "You may wonder, 'Why would someone do this?' Well, it's simple; out of the thousand of you, only one hundred will survive."

I bit back a gasp. The girl who was with me couldn't stop hers and clung to my arm. I let her do so, feeling sympathy for her fear. "This game contains one hundred fifteen levels," the GM continued. "In order to get out, each of you will have to get through all the levels. There are no bosses in this game. The way that you can get through to the next level will be sent to you via message once this meeting is over." He paused, looking over us and descending a couple of rows, coming close enough that I could see through his cloak; his body below his head was all skeletal. "Your Gazers, if removed, will send a microwave pulse into your brain and kill you. This process will also happen if you die in-game. To add onto this, the pain absorption, along with other codes to block certain functions, will be completely shut off." He began to cackle. "I hope you morons can keep up! Ta ta." With a flap of his cape he vanished.

Chaos broke out. The girl beside me, still clinging to me, watched as others went rampant, sobbing, yelling, all kinds of insane states. I breathed out, pushing my panic down. A bubbly ring caught my attention and a message icon flashed in my vision. I swiped my hand through the air, the girl doing the same after letting go of my arm, and together we looked at our messages.

_Starting in ten seconds, your appearances will be Mirrored. Afterwards, this Colosseum will be flooded with enemies. Enjoy your stay._

I blinked, confused by what it meant by 'Mirrored'. But then I felt a tingle and suddenly the girl and I were surrounded by a transparent light. We stared at each other, and I watched as her avatar changed. Her black hair shortened to her shoulders, her bangs poured over her face in a flood of violet, and her eyes got slimmer. Her body shape changed dramatically, from that of an underdeveloped girl to a girl in her late teens. Her chest got larger, her hips wider, and she retained her eye color and height. The light dissipated, and I lifted my hands to my hair, feeling the way my hair now stuck up like (as my brother had told me) an ice cream cone.

So that's what Mirrored meant.

Betas who had chosen to be the opposite gender of what they were in real life glared at each other if they had already been in couples. I sighed, disappointed in the people who would do such a weird thing. The girl that I'd completely forgotten about for a few seconds began to laugh, gesturing to my hair.

"Shut up," I told her, frowning angrily. Yeah, yeah, I get it, my hair is so very weird. I turned from her and began to walk off, but she grabbed my arm.

"Let's for a party," she stated. "According to that message, something is going to attack us. Teaming up might be the only way we'll make it out alive."

She had a point, even if I really, really hated the idea of partnering up with somebody. I had an ego to protect after all (at least according to my cousin Mizael). I turned back to her and opened my menu, sending her an invitation to form a party. She accepted, and her health status appeared under mine. Her name read 'Droite'. That was going to take some time to pronounce.

"Kaito, eh?" she murmured to herself. "My name's pronounced Dolowa, by the way. Sorry if it's so hard to say."

"No, it's fine." I was going to say more when a few girlish screams sounded from within the arena. We looked around, people going silent for a few seconds before ominous moans filtered into the building. Shuffling, echoing through the stone walls, grew louder and louder with each moment that went by.

"Great," Droite whispered, drawing out her pistol from her hip holster. I did the same, not realizing the gun was there on my hip until after she grabbed her own. "I've played enough games to know what that sound is."

"Zombies," I affirmed, as we started to back up in a random direction. There was no doubting it now; based off of the screams and panicked noises the undead was starting to fill the building. With only a couple of pistols and finite ammo, Droite and I wouldn't be able to take on such a large horde of dead people. Moving, dead people. She looked back over her shoulder while I kept watch, seeing several players starting to engage the growing amount of undead gathering around them.

"Kaito, there's a door back there that looks like it's clear," she whispered, tugging my arm. I started backing away from the players starting to perish to the flesh-eating creatures. Together, we ran towards the exit, trying to get there with everything we had. The gated door, however, was locked. Now, if I knew anything from action movies, shooting the lock might do something, but I wasn't sure. I pushed Droite back, pointing my gun clumsily at the lock and pulling the trigger. The recoil I wasn't expecting and the echo made me wince, but the bullet impacted the lock and somehow broke it.

The noise caught the attention of nearby zombies, who began to move, rather quickly, towards us. I struggled getting the chain off, hearing my new partner firing her pistol at the creatures. Swinging the door open, I hurriedly gripped Droite's shoulder and pulled her out with me. The door swung shut just as the zombies got to it, and the AI's were stupid enough to not figure out how to open the door. Apparently that was one thing the developers had gotten right about those undead people; no brain activity equals no thought process. Droite yelled my name, getting my attention, and I realized I had slowed to a simple jog.

Outside the building was a place that was ravaged by war. Any other structures were completely ruined, bullet shells and corpses lying around. I winced at the realistic stench the dead people gave off, but they looked too decomposed to come back as zombies, although I didn't rule out the possibility. I pushed myself faster, holding my pistol to the side as I followed after Droite. The only thing that mattered was getting out of this city.

A message popped up again, and I swiped my menu open, panting as I tried to keep up with her (she was one agile girl). It told me about the map and the types of cities; something I had read over in the manual. "Oi, Droite," I called, as we skidded past a burning vehicle. She yelled back over the roar of a plane above us, and I continued on. "Let's find a Cheap Level city to rest in. It's better than finding a Free Level city and possibly getting eaten!"

"Yeah, let's do that," she agreed, blasting a hole into a half-there zombie trying to bite at our ankles as we rushed passed. "I have enough money to get us into a cheap hotel."

"Okay!" I trotted after her, breathing hard. My health bar began to have a flashing outline of yellow. Droite apparently noticed this too, since she paused in her running and gazed over her shoulder.

"Your hunger is already affecting you," she grumbled. "At least, that's what I remember from the other VRMMORPG that I played." She flipped through her inventory again, frowning hard. "Damn. We need to get out of the city before your hunger level starts affecting your health."

Now that I thought about it, my stomach was grinding itself into a fit. I winced, feeling the full effect of the emptiness inside of the organ. "Well, do we have any options?"

"There's a town nearby," she said, going over her map. "It's a Free Level city, though. Do you want to take the chance of us dying at Level 1?"

"We don't exactly have a choice, Droite," I replied, annoyed. She glared at me as she closed the menu. "Let's go."

"Fine." She took the lead, and together we fled into the country. I wondered dimly why I was with this girl now, of all people. I didn't want to be with her, especially with that attitude of hers. But she was the only shot we had at this game currently. I grumbled to myself, wincing as another wave of hunger passed through me.

Hopefully we got to that damn city in time.


	2. Brimline

I sat down on the concrete-hard mattress, running my hands through my hair. The game somehow got my hair to stay upwards without any hair gel involved—which I was glad for, since the gel was damn gross. Droite shut the door, locking it behind her. She gazed over at me, her orange eyes tired and filled with homesickness. I knew the feeling; my brother and father were probably wondering why I hadn't gone to lunch with them today. Shaking my head, I opened my menu and switched to the map, looking over the coordinates.

"Alright, looks like the next city over is a large one," I stated, flicking towards a flashing blue icon. "I don't know how expensive it will be to get into that one, though."

Droite came over and summoned a piece of bread from her inventory. "Here," she said, handing it to me. I gave her a questioning glance as I took it from her. A sigh parted her lips. "I pick-pocketed that off of our neighbor. It won't last long, but... it should be enough to reach another city."

I bit off a piece of the brown pastry. It tasted stale, but it satisfied my hunger enough that my health bar started to regenerate. Droite and I had managed to make it to the nearest city, of which the name was in German and I wasn't going to take a chance at strangling it trying to pronounce or even spell it. Now, here we were, in a cheap hotel in the middle of a Free Level town. No food, except for the small loaf of bread we were sharing between us, and no water. Barely any ammo left from shooting creatures that had come across our path on the way here. Our health meters slowly depleting due to hunger and thirst. It just plain sucked to be us right now.

"You know what this feels like?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood. My partner, who had taken a seat on the bed beside me, flicked her eyes over at me. "Survival mode in Minecraft."

She snorted, swallowing the chunk of doughy foodstuff she had chomped off. "Can't believe you still play that pixel game."

"It may be fifty years old, but it's still fun." I finished off my half of the loaf, feeling my stomach calm its shit for the moment. Swiping open my menu, I checked the time; almost midnight in-game. I wondered if time was moving like that outside 115 Online? Or was it faster? Slower? God, I wish I knew. "It's getting late. We should really rest."

"Alright, I'll take first watch." Standing, Droite dusted off her pants, going to the only chair in the room and plopping herself back into a sitting position.

"Wait, you didn't get a separate room?" I inquired, and she looked at me like that was the stupidest question she'd ever heard.

"Of course not, you moron." She sighed, pulling her pistol out and setting it on her lap. As she began to mess around with the settings of the gun—a feature we had discovered on the way here—she simply answered in a tone that grated my nerves. "For one, that would have blown all of my money. And two, considering the FL status of this place, we can't afford to both sleep. We have to do shifts throughout the night if you want to live more than a couple of hours."

I got her point, but for god's sakes she's a _woman_. I'd never slept in the same room as a person of the opposite gender before, and the mere thought of it bothered me. Staring at her, I didn't make any movement to actually sleep. She noticed, sighing and crossing her arms. Great, both of us were pissed off at each other; not a great start to this little party we had. This wasn't going to go anywhere, so begrudgingly I laid back on the bed, keeping my back turned to her so I could ignore her presence.

It was very difficult to sleep, with my thoughts forcing my mind to stay active and the clicks coming from where Droite was sitting inspecting her weapon. I wondered about my brother, how he was dealing with all of this. Haruto was only six; it must be hard seeing me in the state that my body was in outside in the real world. Worry gripped me; with my mind stuck in here, I wouldn't be able to protect him from anything. My body was catatonic while I was here inside my avatar. I knew I shouldn't have signed up for the beta; my friend Gauche had warned me about it.

I hadn't realized I'd fallen asleep until I awoke to Droite roughly prodding my side, her pistol pointed at the door. Groaning, I flipped over and opened my eyes, about to ask what the hell was going on when a rotten hand punched its way through the weak wood of the door. Instantly my body went into action; I swiped my pistol out, checking the ammo quickly before aiming at the hand waving through the panels.

"Kaito, we need to get out of this town before another one gets into this hotel," my partner said in a near whisper, her focus directed at the zombie trying to make its way in here. I agreed with her, standing up and approaching the door cautiously. The creature was beginning to tear the door open with its teeth, a few molars and an incisor falling out of its mouth in the process. I took aim and pulled the trigger; the bullet landed in between the creature's eyes, rendering the zombie dead. The body slumped to the floor, the arm popping out of socket and tearing away from the corpse in the process. Even though this world was simulated, the stench of the rotting flesh made me wince.

Droite helped me open the door (the zombie had been an obese person in its days as a human) and we hurriedly fled onto the street. NPCs were running around in panic as zombies chased them. It was horrible watching a baby get devoured by its own mother. Shutting my eyes, I forced myself to not care; these were only animated people, they were created for this purpose. The only people that mattered were myself and my partner. Running along the decimated street, we managed to escape the town and into the dark of the night.

…

"We should be to the city by noon," I said, looking over my map. Droite didn't react to that, looking over her stats. I knew she was more concerned about money than anything else at this point; if we didn't have enough, we would have to go to yet another FL. I didn't want to risk that again; neither of us wanted to.

Droite stiffened suddenly and stopped in her tracks. I jogged on forward a couple of paces before stopping as well. She dropped her hand to her holster, preparing to pull her gun out if she needed to. After a few seconds, I realized what she was so freaked out about; someone was following us. I could hear something stepping around in the bushes that cropped up in bunches around this particular area.

"Whoever is there," she began, eyes narrowed, "come out or I'll kill you."

The person following us made a squeak, and they came out of the bushes, holding their hands up. My jaw nearly dropped at who it was; Gauche.

"Eri, calm down!" the muscular guy said, waving his hands back and forth. Droite let out a sigh, relaxing slightly at the sight of him.

"Gauche, what the hell are you doing inside this game?" she grumbled, clearly irritated by his appearance. "I thought you said you were going to China to visit your grandmother."

"Yeah, well..." He rubbed the back of his neck, not looking at her. His eyes landed on me, and he got this weird expression on his face. "Why are you with this moron?"

"Because." I looked back and forth between the two, trying to put the pieces together. Then it all made sense; Gauche's expression was one of jealousy.

I crossed my arms. "We're just partners right now, Gauche. There's nothing between us." That answer didn't satisfy him enough, so I decided to bring up something that was now bothering me. "So if you two are dating, who the hell is that Sachi girl that's always around you?"

Gauche knew better than to answer that, his violet eyes taking on a glaze of shame. I smirked, entertained by the fact that Droite looked at him in shock; yeah, sorry about that, partner. Apparently this guy was cheating on you the entire time you two were together. She sighed, taking out her pistol and without a second thought pulled the trigger. The older guy jumped and cried out as the bullet shattered his shin, amputating that part of his leg off due to the damage taken. Without a pain absorber, I couldn't blame him for sobbing in pain. My partner holstered her gun, walking towards me without so much as an expression on her face to show how pissed she was.

"Should we loot him?" she asked, her voice strangely monotone.

"Kill him if you want to," I replied jokingly. "After all, men like that are just horrible." At least, that's how I thought of men who cheated on their significant others.

Droite turned towards the guy lying on the ground sobbing and clutching his crippled leg. She pointed her gun at his head; quite a feat considering the distance between the two. Pulling the trigger, she killed his avatar with a head-shot, spewing blue shards into the air as his inventory spilled out onto the ground. My eyes widened; did she realize that she just killed a man, in real life? I was only lifting the mood; I wasn't expecting her to just kill him outright.

I looked at her. She seemed indifferent to what just happened; I wouldn't have blamed her due to what she just found out, but that was just _cold_. Our bodies died in the real world if we died here. Droite sighed heavily to herself, holstering her weapon and approaching the loot dropped by her action.

I went after her, looking through the weaponry. Droite had claimed a sniper rifle, which was nearly as large as her, but it looked pretty banged up. I picked up a Desert Eagle and a Glock. Whatever Gauche had done, he'd gotten more weapons than I thought were available in the first few hours in the game.

"Kaito," Droite said, poking my arm. I looked over at her. "I just killed him, didn't I."

It was worded like a question, but she said it like a sentence. She knew what she had done, and now it was starting to affect her. "Droite..." I murmured, unable to answer as she looked away, regret filling her features. I only looked at her as she stood, collecting half of the money dumped along with a couple of pain medications (this game's equivalent to healing potions). I placed what was left of the loot into my inventory, carefully gazing at her. She had hidden her grief underneath a hard exterior, so I just left her alone for the moment; I understood her pain.

I looked through my inventory as she took over the job of guiding us to the next city. Due to this little... skirmish, I'd received: ten thousand credits, a Desert Eagle in pristine condition, a Glock in less than desirable condition, some ammo for both guns, a laser sword thing (similar to a Light Saber, but not quite so), a black cloak, and some food. I looked at my health gauge, seeing that it was blinking yellow again; I grabbed a loaf of bread from my inventory and ate the entire thing. Droite had done the same, but with a chicken leg. That's when I noticed the status of her cursor, which was hovering above her head; it was red.

I couldn't remember what the red cursor meant, but I knew it couldn't be good. Besides, the poor girl was in a bad state already; I didn't want to push her anymore than she was willing to reveal.

…

The next city we stopped in was, oddly, named after Berlin, according to the records that popped up as soon as we entered its range. This settlement was called Brimline, an ML (Middle Level) city. The walls surrounding it were high, covered in wire at the top, and had NPC soldiers walking around its borders. A couple of soldiers gazed at us as we approached the front gate, holding up their assault rifles as we came closer.

Droite and I agreed to pay for the full cost together. When the soldiers asked for us to pay the entrance fee, a five thousand credit cost, we gave them our money and went inside. There were other players inside, which made me feel relieved. Finally we could ask around and see how to work the system a little better considering that the manual hadn't been of much use lately. But a few of the others looked at my partner and shrunk away from her. Droite wasn't affected by it much, but I could tell that it was bothering her.

"Oi, Kaito!" someone called from one of the outside restaurants. I looked around for a few seconds before spotting my cousin with his... _Oh lord no._

"Mizael," I started, dragging along Droite as I approached the cafe. "What the hell are you doing here and why is your sister in this game with you."

The blonde girl, who had been quiet as she gazed at me, huffed. "Nice way to greet your cousins, Kaito."

Droite kept silent as I conversed with the other two. "Sylvia, you aren't one for games, especially a VR-MMORPG," I started, arms crossed. "And Mizael said he wouldn't be a beta tester for this."

"I lied so you wouldn't come looking for me," the guy muttered, flipping his long hair as he stretched out in his chair. "But looks like we're stuck together for the moment."

Sylvia kicked out a couple of chairs. "Sit down," she ordered. "I want to talk to your little girlfriend here."

"We aren't together," Droite snapped, sitting down before I could reply to Sylvia's comment. I plopped my ass into a chair next to my female cousin, who nudged my side knowingly, like she thought that I had a thing for Droite. I didn't, naturally, but dammit, this was making the whole situation worse.

"Seems like you have a red cursor," Mizael stated, drinking from his cup as he looked over my partner. "Red cursors mean that you've killed somebody already. Who pissed you off this time?"

"Mizael!" I growled. "Droite isn't exactly in the best shape right now, so can you shut your fucking mouth for five seconds?"

Sylvia nodded. "Bro, you need to shut up once in a while."

"I do," he complained.

"Your lips are still flapping. I suggest you check into that."

Seeing Sylvia order her twin around like that was quite hilarious, but the atmosphere was all wrong. I kept my laughter inside, glancing at my partner; she was as tense as a board, staring down at the wooden table and trying to hold tears in. I didn't know what I could do for her, so awkwardly I called a waiter over and bought a parfait from him. As the waiter disappeared, I decided to inspect my cousins, since I hadn't seen them face-to-face in over six months.

Sylvia was still as short as ever, but her hair was very short compared to what it looked like six months ago; it was cut all the way to her chin, and the weird feather type adornment in her hair wasn't straight up like her twin's. Mizael had tattooed red marks onto his face and arms, his hair much longer and falling around his waist. God, if I didn't know better I would think he was a girl.

The waiter came back, giving me the parfait and disappearing into the cafe. Gently, I pushed the cup to Droite, giving her a soft smile as she gazed at me in confusion. Sylvia had shut up, I noticed after Droite had cautiously started eating the treat, and nudged me in the side. I turned to her with a harsh glare, which she just shrugged off.

"Seriously," she whispered offhandedly, "you like her."

I pretended not to hear her, taking up a conversation with Mizael. "I was thinking," I began, catching his attention, "that we could all start a Legion together. That way we can reach the last floor quicker and all of us can get out at once."

"That sounds good," he said, dropping his empty cup on the table. "But I rather not co-found one. I'll join one if you and Droite create one together."

"Same," Sylvia stated. "Mizael and I are in a Legion but we hate it there. Maybe you two can make one."

I looked at Droite. I didn't mind the idea of creating one with her, but I didn't know if she felt the same. She was finishing up the parfait I had bought her. With a tiny smile, she gave me a small nod; she agreed with the idea.

"Alright, so does anyone actually know how to create one?" I asked. The table went silent. "...What?"

Sylvia sighed. "It's on your home menu, idiot."

I glared at her. "Excuse me for not having enough time to thoroughly inspect everything." Swiping open my menu, I sent an invitation to Droite through the Legion section, who accepted the request. She and I then sent invitations to my cousins, who accepted and dropped out of their Legion.

"We need a name," I said after the process was done. "Droite, do you have anything?"

"Something with Photon in it," she said quietly.

Mizael and Sylvia piped in too. "Photon Dragon?" they offered in unison.

I shrugged. "Sounds good," I said, typing the name into the text box. Once I hit the check-mark button, it brought me to an image creator screen. Swiping the menu, I passed it over to Droite, who looked at it curiously before realizing what I wanted her to do. She went to work and in a few minutes she had finished off the image. A dragon head with a read crest and skin in all kinds of blues. She confirmed the image and pins formed on our outfits.

Sylvia looked at the pin. "I figured that it would be something like this."

Mizael smirked. "Well, we have a PK on our side; makes this a whole lot easier."

At that, Droite frowned and looked down. I sent a glare towards the other male; he was crossing too many lines here, bringing up what my partner did. He shrugged.

"Droite, come on, let's go find a hotel," I said, standing. She followed me, her bangs shadowing her eyes as we left my cousins without a word.

Finding a hotel wasn't hard. There was one across the street, and it was a lot better than the one Droite and I had shacked up in before. I paid for a single room, nearly using up all my money to do so, and helped my partner there. Her resolve was starting to fracture; she probably wouldn't like to be in the open when her control finally broke.

Our room had two beds, which I was grateful for. Droite went to the one on the left side of the room, collapsing onto the mattress and hiding underneath the covers. I left her alone, sitting down on my bed and lying back. I swept open my inventory, looking over my stats; I had leveled up during the chaos of earlier today. Now I was a level eight, my HP a little over a thousand. I sighed heavily, shutting the menu and pulling the blankets over my body.

I heard Droite quietly sobbing to herself, her shoulders shaking as I gazed at her. She had her back turned to me but it was pretty damn obvious that she was upset. Biting my lip, I forced myself to ignore her; I didn't want to aggravate her any further than she was. Unfortunately that action didn't last long, and the urge to comfort her bothered me enough that I got up and went over to her. I tugged on her arm, turning her over so I could wrap my arms stiffly around her. She didn't know how to take this, but she simply pressed her face into my neck.

Even though I wasn't entirely comfortable with this, I held her. This was our reality now, and we had really no choice but to accept that our actions would choose our fate.


	3. Photon Dragon

One month. That's how long we had been in here, and still, nobody had found the first level's endpoint.

In the time that we had been in here, my partner and I had stayed within Brimline. We made it our home base while we went and fought various creatures outside the border. Droite was a level twenty, and I was behind at level seventeen. I didn't care all that much, since I was working on different skills. She was an ace sniper, having gotten two anti-material rifles since our arrival here. I was working more on using my laser sword (as people called it) in combat than the Uzi I had picked up; this meant that my agility and speed stats had to be really high, and as of now, they were the highest out of my skills. Of course, it was still a bit hard to control, but I would eventually get a hang of it once we got off the first floor.

Our guild, or Legion as it was called in 115 Online, had six members now, including my cousins, Droite, and I. The other two, new recruits who had joined just a week ago, were twins. One was named Durbe, a bookworm from how he carried around a book all the time and never put the damn thing down, and his brother Pulsar. Pulsar was rather... odd, in my opinion. Short-tempered, barely able to stand being around Sylvia, and being as arrogant as Mizael. Pulsar also had a thing for wolves, as he had tamed one and used it as his mount. That was an excellent feat within itself, since taming any of the wild animals (excluding horses, since they could be rented or bought), that weren't turned into freaks of nature by the Virus, was difficult.

Other than that, there wasn't a whole lot of news. New features were figured out every day, creatures were defeated, skills and levels being built up, the usual. Droite had somewhat gotten over Gauche's death, but every now and again she would break down. Those instances were decreasing in number, though, and she was becoming icy. I didn't mind; I was probably showing the same signs, with me panicking about my brother so often.

"Oi, Kaito!" Durbe's twin yelled out as he came into the hotel. I glared at him as that damn wolf of his strode in beside him. "I got news from the larger Legions."

I was busy talking to the NPC owner of the hotel, working out a price for another month here. Sighing, I told the owner I would talk to him later and turned my attention to Pulsar. "What is it?" I inquired.

"They've found the endpoint," Pulsar stated. I raised an eyebrow. "According to them its in Amsterdam."

"Why somewhere in the Netherlands part of this map?" I wondered briefly before pulling up my messages and sending one to my partner. "This is supposed to be Nazi Germany, not the entire freaking continent of Europe."

"The game has over a hundred floors," Pulsar said, rolling his eyes. "It's only natural that they put in different locations."

After that, he turned tail and left, climbing onto his wolf and leaving the hotel. I went back to my debate with the owner for a few more minutes until Droite came down, wearing the outfit she had pieced together from various drops. A short coat baring her midriff, shorts, and stockings that hooked up to the shorts, along with the army boots that had come with her default outfit. She was dressed completely in black, varying shades giving her a bit more of a unique style all to her own. Her current equipped gun was strapped to her back; the thing was nearly as tall as she was, the muzzle almost grazing the ground with every step she took.

I, meanwhile, decided to wear my default outfit so far, with the black cloak being the only difference that I had acquired. My laser sword's hilt was strapped to my hip, along with the Uzi and pistol. I had also gotten myself a knife in case of emergency, and that was in its leather sheath on my left leg. It wasn't the best outfit, but we were still on the first floor, so it didn't matter all that much.

I gave Droite a nod as she came over to me. She looked at me a little longer than she needed to before she turned and started going for the door. Pulling my hood over my head, I followed after her. The streets of Brimline were buzzing with life, or digital life, NPCs and players walking around in the sunshine. It was after a few days here that the weather had begun to lighten up, bringing up the moods of everyone around. The bombing of cities had stopped for now, and for a fleeting moment at least, peace could be felt everywhere. I smiled slightly, feeling the simulated heat on my avatar's skin, pulling open my menu to call a meeting with our Legion. As I did so, Droite kept silent, only glancing at me every once in a while.

Closing the menu, I met her eyes on one of these occurrences, and she hurriedly looked away as we continued to walk towards the field we used to have Legion meetings. I was beginning to wonder what she was doing, with her looking at me like that. I felt a little uncomfortable each time her eyes stayed on me longer than was normal for partners. Of course, I wasn't oblivious, but I couldn't jump to conclusions until I got enough evidence to prove it.

Mizael and Sylvia were the first ones to the meeting spot, sitting on a log. The blonde twins were conversing with each other about dating, for some odd reason. I had heard that you could marry within the game, but I didn't think much of it right now. After all, who the hell could fall in love in a game, where the person you've fallen in love with you've never met before? Seemed silly to me, honestly.

"And so the lovebirds come around," Sylvia commented, smirking as Droite and I took our spots on a local rock. "What took you so long?"

Her tone made Droite blush; I saw my partner blink and turn her head away. I rolled my eyes. "It takes a little longer to get here when you don't have a mount, you two."

I was referring to the black horse my cousins used as ride to get around. Tachyon, as the horse was called, snorted and kicked his hoofs. The horse was not happy with being tied to a tree. I just glared at the animal for a few moments before turning back to my cousins, who were laughing among themselves.

Durbe and Pulsar came along a little later, with Pulsar talking to a red-headed girl who held onto him as the two rode Pulsar's wolf. I stood from the rock as the three entered the little valley we had created, wondering why the younger twin of the two would bring a non-Legion member to a meeting meant only for us.

"Pulsar!" I started. The younger boy looked at me. "You do realize that you can't bring non-members to our meetings, right?"

"Layla wants to join, though!" he said, frowning. He dismounted his ride and helped the girl down; she was shaking as she looked at me, scared to hell. I didn't blame her, considering I was miffed about that damn idiot bringing her along. "I told her that we were having a meeting and that she could request to join here, so..."

I sighed, squeezing the bridge of my nose. Before I could pull up my menu for the Legion, Droite had already sent Layla, as I guessed the girl was called, a request. Layla gasped upon seeing the invitation, shakily accepting it. Her stats then popped up in mine and Droite's menus, showing us that she was relatively strong for her small stature. She was small, and that wasn't a joke. Short red hair with pink highlights, barely reaching Pulsar's shoulder in height, and having the frame of a thirteen-year-old, although that was probably her age to begin with.

"Welcome to the Legion, Layla," I said, trying to sound as polite as possible. Joining Droite on the rock once more, I waited until everyone had found a spot to sit down on, whether it be on a mount (like Durbe was, his white horse Mach being silent), on a log, or on the grass. I didn't exactly like the wait; we could be on our way to Amsterdam right now instead of bickering over who has what and love interests.

I pulled out my pistol and pointed it upwards, pulling the trigger. The loud bang made everyone shut up and turn their attention to me. "Listen up!" Holstering my gun, I continued on. "The higher ranked Legions have found the endpoint for this floor. It's in Amsterdam, which, if we all take mounts, should be a three day ride from here."

Droite took over for me. "We should head off as soon as we can," she said. "On the way there, make sure to defeat any enemies you can. Our levels and skills will need to be in the highest state we can get them to go on this floor before we get to the endpoint. I've read that for this first endpoint, we will need ten thousand points in the enemy loop to exit onto the second floor."

"Make sure that you're prepared for this," I stated, before Droite could go on. "Each of us have to gain that many points in order to advance. If even one of you fails to reach that within the time limit specified, we will not come back for you."

It was harsh, but we all understood the reasoning behind it. This world was dangerous enough; we didn't need the extra job of going back for someone who fails to reach expectations. That was the reality and nobody could avoid it. Layla frowned at my words; like she wanted to protest that we should go back for someone who couldn't move on. I gave her a look that stopped her short from opening her mouth and whining about that rule.

"We leave tonight," I stated.

"What?" Mizael piped up. "You know night is dangerous, especially with Brimline being the hub for player activity. Why send us out when it's very possible one of us might get killed?"

"Because we can raise our stats faster that way," I said, arms crossed as I stood up. "And if someone dies? Lighter load, less to worry about." The Legion's members all gave me a frustrated look, but I ignored it, waiting for my partner to get off of the rock. "Be ready by nine tonight."

…

Droite and I had retired to our shared room for the day, to get needed sleep and to fill our energy levels. We had eaten shortly before coming back to the hotel, along with buying a mount (a horse with a white coat dyed blue). She and I would share the horse for now, to conserve money. The weight penalty would be a bit of a bother, but it didn't matter right now. As long as we got off of this damn floor, I would be happy; the faster we got there, the closer my happiness, along with the others, would be.

Sighing, I buried my face into my pillow, exhaustion pulling at my avatar's bones. Droite was fast asleep in her bed, her tiny snores barely audible. Turning my head to look at her, I inspected her physical condition. She had switched into a nightgown type thing to sleep, not using the blankets to cover herself as she lay on her back. Her face was turned to me, and I couldn't help but find her... cute. I blushed at that realization, looking away from her and dragging the sheets over me. I couldn't start having these thoughts now, of all times. She and I could only remain as partners; I wasn't going to compromise our experience with confusing feelings. She probably knew that, too.

Five hours of sleep and nightmares later, Droite and I started prepping to leave. She handed me a chicken leg from her inventory, and I munched on it while checking my weapons' ammo and condition. The Uzi and sword were in alright condition, but the pistol was by far the best-kept weapon out of the bunch. The knife's stats weren't displayed, as I hadn't even used it yet. My partner frowned at me, securing her rifle and pistol.

"Should we hit a repair shop?" she inquired quietly.

"We probably should." Standing, I re-equipped my boots and cloak. "First we'll go there, and then we'll meet up with the others at the entrance."

"Alright." She didn't wait for me, popping the door open and walking out into the hallway. I sighed, dragging a hand through my hair. The stress of leading a Legion was starting to get to me; perhaps I should break the group up after this battle.

Shaking my head, I followed after her, hood drawn up. She was giving money to the NPC owner, thanking the man for letting us stay here even though she knew that he wasn't real and his emotions were created by a program run by the developers. I waited for her outside, making sure our horse was ready to go. After a few moments, she came out, looking at me with indifference.

Women are complicated, I thought, climbing onto the horse's bare back. I helped Droite on to the mount, which we had named Photon because that seemed fitting, and I pulled the reigns to direct the horse around. Evening was approaching, the sky darkening as we trotted down the street. I looked around, trying to ignore the fact that Droite had her arms around my waist tightly, and located the repair shop on the map I had pulled up. Placing a Waypoint on it, I tugged Photon to the left and follow the glowing blue icon floating in my view.

"Hey, Kaito?" Droite murmured into my shoulder as we went along.

Looking over my shoulder, I replied, "Yeah?"

"...It's nothing, never mind." Pushing her face into my back, she went quiet. I raised an eyebrow, turning my attention back to the road. The shop was close by, so I slowed Photon to a walk. He snorted, shaking his white mane, as we got closer.

A few minutes passed, with Droite still clinging to me like I was her last lifeline. As Photon brought us closer, I wanted to squirm out of Droite's grip. I didn't mind that she was hanging on to me for stability, but with her pressing almost every single part of the front of her body into my back, I was getting all flustered and bothered. Not good considering the situation we were going to get into pretty soon. Once we had gotten to the entrance of the shop, I prodded my partner's arms so she would let go of me.

I dropped to the ground, helping Droite get off of the horse afterwards. She was shaking slightly; why, I didn't have a flipping clue on that. But I lead her inside the shop, to be polite, and together we went to the NPC who was repairing various weapons. The nice, plump, old lady took our guns and my laser sword, inspecting them for a thousand credits each. It didn't hurt us too much in that department, since we paid separately, but still, that was a lot of money for just the first floor. I couldn't imagine the prices on lower floors.

It took well over an hour to complete the repairs, so Droite and I hung outside for a majority of the time, watching players go by on the street. I wondered how many of them actually cared about getting out of the game; over a month had passed, and I noticed some players setting up shop here on the first floor. So out of the thousand of us, how many were alive? How many were working on getting out? Those were the questions that plagued my mind more than anything else right now.

The GM had said only a hundred would make it out of the game; perhaps that was why some of these people were just accepting their fate now instead of actually trying. I sighed, dropping my head and rubbing my temples. I could feel Droite's gaze on me; I'd gotten better at knowing when her eyes were trained on me in the last couple of weeks. I simply waved one of my hands, letting her know that I was fine; irritation was just grating on my nerves.

The NPC lady came out, holding our weapons (amazingly, considering that, altogether, the weight was well over what a normal human should be able to carry without the settings Droite and I had). She smiled as Droite and I took our weapons and put them back on our person. The lady waved us away before entering her shop.

Droite and I once again mounted our horse. I located the entrance on my map, looking at the time. It was 8:30 in the evening; we would have to hurry in order to get there on time. Kicking Photon's sides with my heels, I pushed the horse to his limit. I heard Droite squeak and hold onto me tightly; a chuckle came from my lips before I could stop it. I think that made her even more embarrassed because she buried her face in my spine, her arms going lower until they were dangerously close to my hips. I pushed the teenage hormones away and focused on the road.

Ten minutes earlier than expected, we came to a skidding halt in front of the large wooden gates. The NPC soldiers made no move to notice us, simply waiting at their posts beside the gates. None of our Legion had come along yet, so Droite and I were left alone with ten or so minutes to spare.

"Droite," I murmured, getting her attention, "You can loosen your grip now. We aren't moving."

She exhaled in relief, her arms leaving my waist as she straightened. Gazing over my shoulder, I looked over her carefully; she had her eyes on the stars starting to emerge, the glow of the moon lighting her face. I blushed slightly, knowing that I was getting close to unknown territory, so I turned away and focused my attention on the sky above too. It was relaxing, the stars glittering. The constellations here weren't like the ones in the real world, although I could make out a serpent and a butterfly among all the glowing dots.

"Even though they aren't real," Droite spoke up, her voice soft, "The stars are so beautiful. I wish that the light from the cities back home weren't so bright; we'd have this view every night."

I couldn't help the softening of my expression at that. "I know," I said quietly. We sat there, on Photon's back, watching the stars twinkle. Droite's hand brushed mine, and awkwardly I held my arm in one position, trying my best not to pull away. Her fingers interlocked with mine, and for once in my life, I didn't reject the contact.

"See, I told you they liked each other," Sylvia's voice interrupted the tender moment, and without meaning to, I yanked my arm away, breaking the contact between Droite and I. She understood clearly, watching the rest of our Legion come towards us. Three horses and a wolf; quite the interesting selection of mounts, in my opinion. I smirked, pulling Photon's reigns.

"You guys ready?" I called out. The others gave an affirmative, and our little cavalry approached the gates. The soldiers gazed at us and came to stand towards the middle, pushing open the gates for us. As Droite's arms encircled my waist, I kicked Photon's sides, launching the horse forward.

Outside, it was dank, dark, and overwhelmingly creepy. I clutched the reigns tightly in my hands, keeping an eye open for anything that would jump out. The others followed behind me, with Pulsar and Layla coming up beside my horse in stride. I kept one hand on my laser sword, prepared for the attacks that would soon be coming our way.


	4. Don't Let the Dead Bite

It had been a little over three weeks since the incident had happened. The news had been shocking; a thousand people, all teenagers with the exception of a couple of young adults, were sent into comatose via a game known as 115 Online. Anyone who tried to remove the gear keeping the players' minds inside the game ended up killing the player in comatose. During the first few days, the law enforcement had been overloaded with calls, and Horizon Industries had no choice but to act; besides, that was the initial plan.

HI developed a center for the comatose people. It was called the HI Rehab-Repro Center, located in Kyoto. A large building in a nature setting, to allow the players peace once they awakened once more. Of course, the corporation's CEO, Dr. Faker as he was known, wasn't entirely honest in his description of the place. Sure, it was a place of refuge, but there was a major purpose of it, and not just to rehabilitate the players.

The aging scientist was currently in his eldest son's room, the young teen completely unresponsive to outside stimuli. His Gazer, as the glasses-type device over his closed eyes was called, was hooked up to the CPU lying underneath the bed. Faker sighed, crossing his arms; sure, Kaito knew of his father's research as a scientist, but the teen had no idea that the man was actually the head of HI. Faker never in a million years would have expected his own child to get involved in the experiment that was currently taking place. Haruto didn't even know about it; the youngest Tenjo was still recovering from discovering his elder brother in the unconscious state caused by 115 Online.

Kaito was currently hooked up to various machines, each one monitoring different pieces of his body. One showed how his heart was beating and how much oxygen his lungs were delivering into his bloodstream; another measured blood pressure and air pressure; yet another took note of his brain waves and nerve impulses. The technology was all a little dizzying, but Faker was used to seeing someone in such a condition. Timidly, he stepped forward to his son's bedside and pulled the blankets a little higher, up to the younger blonde's chest. Kaito didn't react; not even his brain, which was very active considering the spikes in activity on the sheet that was being printed from the machine, reacted to the shifting of the sheets. In a way, Faker thought, Kaito looked a lot more peaceful like this.

"I'm glad, but at the same time, I can't help but worry." Faker knew of the consequences of death in the game; Heartland had designed the Gazer to fry the player's brain upon losing all health in-game. Breathing out and bringing a hand up to squeeze the bridge of his nose, the man turned from his comatose son and left the room.

Haruto was currently in the care of his uncle; the incident had given Faker so much work to deal with that he couldn't deal with taking care of a child facing extensive trauma therapy and trying to get the specifics of the experiment together at the same time. The man didn't entirely care currently about his younger son; the boy wasn't even related to him by blood, so why did it matter? Nobody needed to know about what Seiren had done before she died from childbirth.

"Oi, Faker-chan~!" Someone called out from down the hall. The scientist rolled his eyes; typical of Heartland to come in sounding like a child.

"What is it, Heartland?" the elder man grumbled, glaring at the guy as he strolled up.

"I found a subject for your son, sir," the green-haired doctor said. He produced a holographic clipboard and passed the object over to his superior. "She's apparently with him in-game, too. Although from the looks of it, she caught one of the penalties on her avatar."

Faker looked over the girl's profile. Her name wasn't stated, only her number; Subject 0138. He frowned; this experiment was going to be a little awkward considering that Faker was practically arranging something that Kaito hadn't wanted at all in his life. He hadn't the choice though, and as Faker passed back the clipboard, he smiled as if this information would lead to one part of this experiment's success. "She has the capabilities, I'm sure."

"Alright." Putting away the clipboard, Heartland's face actually turned sincere for once. "Your son seems very strong."

"He is," the older man responded. "That's why I'm sure he'll make it out of that game of yours." Approaching the window at the end of the hallway, Faker looked down at the lake below. "Let's hope that he gets out before... before hell incarnate comes and bites us in the ass."

…

I focused on the bullets' trajectories, keeping close tabs on them and using my new energy rapier to deflect them all. My agility was at its max for the floor; my movements were absolutely crazy. I twisted around in weird directions, flipping over, doing a handstand (with one hand!) at one point and disintegrating each piece of ammunition shot in my direction. I yelled out, pushing myself faster, faster, faster, until my energy got too low for me to continue on. Panting, I crouched down to the ground and lowered my head; it was so weird not to feel sweat running down my skin from that little workout I just had.

Droite appeared to be equally exhausted as she practically collapsed on the ground, her pistol's ammo spent and her limbs shaking from the effort of keeping up with me. As we lay on the ground trying to regain some energy, I looked around the training arena. In Amsterdam, there were several places to raise your level and learn different techniques. We were in one of the cheapest training facilities, which looked about as good as it smelled; the design was nothing like you would find in real-life Amsterdam. It was mostly a steam-punk driven city, costing a ton to get into and more still to get anywhere in this damn place. At least all the zombies, liches, and vampires we had fought on the way here had given us plenty of loot to sell and trade; hence why I now had two energy weapons and a simple Desert Eagle as my main way of offense. Droite hadn't changed any of her guns, as far as I knew, but she had picked up a rather low level energy sword (as I found out they were called) that was now strapped to her waist.

My partner yawned and sat up. She looked over at me. "Let's get back to the hotel. I'm too tired to go on."

"Yeah, I agree." Standing, I shut my energy rapier's blade off and clipped it to my belt. I re-equipped my cloak, concealing what I possessed, and waited for Droite to get up off the floor. Both of our morale stats were low, but then again, we had arrived here just this morning and had decided to go right into training. Our entire Legion, three girls and four guys, was sharing a room in the local hotel due to the sheer cost of getting a room here. It was odd, for sure, but we dealt with it; the room was fancy and none of us were complaining. A place to stay is a place to stay.

Droite stretched as she stood, her spine popping; the sound made me wince slightly, but I ignored it and slipped my hood on over my hair. She smiled at me, the first time that day; her mental stability was less than okay, but being with me helped her out. I nodded in her direction, too tired to really give her an appropriate response. I walked out of the metal room, into the hallway and pushing aside NPCs that were in the way. I heard Droite behind me, falling silent as she fell into stride beside me. We headed out into the busy street, where horses crowded the stone path along with shops and the random vendor selling out items. The hotel was quite a ways away, but it could be seen over the aluminum buildings and high chain fences. Damn my cousin Sylvia for insisting on going to the most expensive place in this city.

The stars were out now; the hours in Amsterdam were reversed, unlike the other places we had come across. Noon was dark as my cloak and as cold as Antarctica; midnight was as bright as my little brother's eyes and was deadly to players that entered the city. It was an irritating schedule to get used to, but at least the darkness wasn't as fatal as the light. One step into the sunlight and a player vaporized; that's why cloaks with enchantments were so popular (and expensive) here.

Droite had equipped a flowing skirt over her shorts before exiting the training facility, I noted as we stopped at a crossing light. She still looked cold, but I couldn't spare any clothing on me or I would freeze. Sighing, I spread open one side of my cloak and brought her into my warmth; she took hold of a piece of the fabric and curled herself into my side as we began to cross.

"Thanks," she muttered, as if embarrassed.

"No problem." Ignoring my sudden urge to hug her closer, I kept myself in the straightest possible position and lead her onward, the hotel towering over us like a dragon attacking its prey. NPCs around us were laughing happily, sometimes whispering between each other and giggling like little girls. I sent glares at them, but they weren't programmed to react to that. I sighed, irritated beyond belief and pushing Droite a little harder so we could get to the hotel before light (nightlight, I guess) could catch us.

It was almost six in the evening; eight was when the sun would come into the sky and sear the living hell out of the city. It may have been the definition of Hell here, but it was a good city to be in for protecting from creatures outside. As an HL (High Level) city, the walls were much thicker, the soldiers stronger, and even mini-turrets were mounted in order to protect the city from attack. Also explained why the buildings looked like something the Mars Colonization Missions had come up with.

We were in front of the hotel before six-thirty, and I let Droite out from my cloak, allowing her to enter alongside me into the fancy building. The NPC at the desk smiled and welcomed us inside; I showed her the key I possessed and she allowed us into the elevator. Droite pushed the five button as the doors closed.

The atmosphere had gone from okay to awkward in a matter of seconds as the elevator took its own sweet time bringing us to the fifth floor. I leaned against a wall, feeling claustrophobic. I hated elevators, especially when someone as beautiful as the woman standing in front of me was practically a breath's length away. Shaking my head, I pushed the thoughts from my head and tried to calm my panicking heart.

The ding brought a sigh of relief from my lips. Droite gave me a glare as she exited the tiny room, and I followed her. She held her hand up, her palm towards the ceiling; I took that as a signal and threw the key towards her. She caught the metal card swiftly and kept going down the hall; our room was at the very end, the cheapest on this floor. It wasn't long before we had gotten to the door, with Droite swiping the key through the scanner and letting us inside. Yelling immediately filled our ears and I wished that I was back in the training center, even though I was dead tired.

"Dammit Mizael!" Pulsar cried out, tossing some weird cylinder across the room. My cousin dodged the attack, a smirk on his face. "That was my last cupcake, you bastard."

"Oh for hell's sakes," Sylvia, who was lounging on one of the couches, growled. She stuck out her foot and kicked her twin in the ass. "Stop agitating the boy, dumbass."

Mizael was busy rubbing where she had kicked him, glaring down at the girl. "I take no responsibility in this argument," he said, striding over to one of the beds in the corner. He plopped down, frowning and crossing his arms.

Sylvia clicked her tongue and finally noticed that Droite and I had come back. She smiled, her eyes having a teasing glint within them. I sighed, bringing a hand to my face; Droite closed the door behind us, completely ignoring me and handing the key to my female cousin. Both girls smirked at one another before Droite went into the bathroom (why, I didn't know; the need to get rid of waste in the body didn't exist in 115). Sylvia clutched the metal card in her hand, before placing it into her inventory.

"Where's Durbe?" I inquired.

"He's out with Layla right now, getting her some weapons to fight properly with," she answered, sitting normally on the cushions. Her short white skirt pooled onto the black leather as she crossed her legs at the knees. "Why? Need to add another girl to your harem?"

"I do _not_ have a harem." I leaned against the wall opposite of her. She smirked and I turned my attention to Pulsar. His gray hair was spiked a little more than usual today; he reminded me of a cat. Of course, Mizael had pointed this out earlier; Pulsar had been pissed beyond imagination and had almost skinned the guy alive. It was entertaining to watch my male cousin being thrown around like a rag-doll, but we needed Mizael because of his skills with his twin revolvers.

"Kaito," Mizael spoke up; I turned to look at him. "The endpoint is in a theater buried in the mountain on the outskirts of the city. Or at least, that's what I figured out while we were stuck in this place."

"I know." Sighing, I tilted my head back until my skull hit against the wall. "How high are you, in stats?"

"I'm at a twenty-five." He swiped open his menu to check for sure. "My strength is the highest, nearly mastered for the floor. What about you?"

"Thirty. Agility is fully mastered as of the training session this afternoon. Strength is close to being finished for the floor. My dual wielding ability needs some work though." I tapped my fingers on my arm, starting to grow impatient. Everyone had rested up fully; Droite and I just needed to replenish our morale with some steroid medication (I kid you not; that _is_ what they're called) and we would be fine. I stretched, popping the vertebrae in my avatar's spine back into place. "We have to get going soon; we've only got maybe a half hour to find the cave and get inside before the sun burns the city."

"I know; that's why we've been trying to tell those two to hurry up." Pulsar glared at his menu as he sent yet another message to the two; jeez, jealous much? "I hope there's nothing wrong—"

"For crying out loud, Pulsar! We're fine; calm your tailpipe!" Layla cried out as she pushed open the hotel room's door. She swiped away the message he had sent her while dragging in Durbe. "We're pretty much ready to go; I've got all my stuff equipped and ready."

Durbe nodded. His knight attire clanked slightly as he did so. "I too am ready."

I pushed off the wall, my cloak falling out around me. Droite came out at that moment, holding a large metal needle in one hand while going through her menu with the other. She came over to me, pushing my cloak away from my body in order to reach my arm. I winced as she pushed the needle into the skin she exposed; my moral instantly rose and was back to normal again.

"Let's head out now," I stated. The members of my Legion gave an affirmative, and the seven of us left the hotel.

…

The cave was in the northern part of Amsterdam. Gray, Pulsar's faithful mutt, sniffed the cave's location out for us. However, it was more of a crevice, a crack that made it impossible for any of our mounts to follow unless we put them in sleep mode and placed them inside our inventories. I patted Photon's muzzle before I did the process of moving him into my inventory; doing so pushed my inventory's weight limit, so I had to be careful.

The crevice wasn't very wide; we had to slip through with the bare minimum on our avatars. The climb downwards into the darkness of the cave made us very vulnerable to attack; the only one who was made uncomfortable by the claustrophobic feeling was Layla, considering how small she was. The rocks scraped against my shoulders, tearing open my army jacket. I growled, descending slower in an attempt not to ruin the clothing I had on. Droite was below me, and she hissed as I accidentally kicked a rock onto her head.

"Watch it!" she warned, lowering down deeper into the shadows. I pinned myself back against the wall behind my shoulders. Clinging to the rocks in front of me, I swallowed my fear of heights and struggled further down.

Droite and I would be the first to drop down, Droite first because she had better inspection skills than I did. The crevice was about thirty or forty meters deep, before it opened up into the cave that held the buried theater. My partner stopped before she reached the bottom of the crevice; she gripped my calf hard to get me to stop, and I barely managed to keep myself from skidding against the rock and falling on top of her.

"Stop!" I yelled upwards, to the rest of our Legion. Layla squeaked, pushing herself hard against the walls, wedging herself into the crack. The others did the same, with Durbe and Pulsar holding each other up. Turning my attention back to Droite, who was gazing into the darkness, I inquired, "What's wrong?"

"There's a ten meter drop to the cave floor," she responded. "That fall will most likely kill Layla, but it won't affect any of the others badly enough to inflict fatal damage."

"Damn." Biting my bottom lip, I flicked my gaze back up to the small girl, who was appearing exhausted by the exertion of keeping her tiny frame between the rocky walls. "What should we do?"

"One of three options." Droite used her legs to hold herself in position while she flicked open her menu. "We either shoot her and kill her right now, let her fall to her death, or risk killing one of the others to get her down."

I sighed, wishing that this decision wasn't such a lose-lose type of thing. Using my legs to keep myself wedged between the walls, I called Layla down. She carefully made her way to me, nearly slipping a few times on the trek. Once she was at least near me, she gave me a questioning gaze, too exhausted to respond with words. "We have a problem," I told her. Her blue eyes widened in worry. "Your level is too low for the drop that leads us to the theater. It will kill you if you try to attempt to follow us down there." She pouted, and I wanted to hug her right that second; even though she was probably my age, she reminded me of Haruto. "You have three options, according to Droite. We can kill you right now, let you fall to your death, or risk both you and another of our Legion dying trying to get you down. What do you choose?"

Layla bit her lower lip; I could see tears pricking on her lashes. "Kaito," she spoke quietly, "do you still have that cloak?"

"Yeah," I replied. "Why? Do you want to use it?"

"Yes," she answered. "Maybe if I can use it like a pair of wings I can reduce the damage."

I hadn't thought of that, and neither had Droite (who was busy preparing herself for the drop to the cave floor); I opened my menu and gave the cloak to the young girl. She equipped it on as soon as I had given it to her.

"Alright, you guys all ready?" Droite called out, getting confused answers from the others, who hadn't known why we had stopped. "Layla, you go last."

"Okay!" the pinkette responded.

Droite was the first to fall. She lowered herself further before taking a breath and pulling herself into a fetal position. My heart leaped into my throat as I watched her suddenly get swallowed by the shadows. I waited patiently for a sign that she was fine; a loud snap reverberated off the walls and I heard my partner curse loudly before she yelled up that she was fine. I breathed out, knowing that it was my turn to drop.

I maneuvered myself to where Droite had been. Layla looked down at me and gave me a thumbs up. I didn't respond to the kind gesture, my heart racing as panic whipped my mind. It took me several moments to calm down enough that I let one of my legs leave the wall. With only my right leg holding me up, I tried to push my fear of heights away enough to pull my boot from the wall.

"Oh, fuck this shit." Without waiting any longer I pulled my knees to my chest; for a moment, I was weightless, and then I was falling. My breath caught in my throat and I threw my legs downward, or forwards—direction was impossible to find—in response to the speedy descent. The air was cold, rushing by my ears loudly as I plummeted. I somehow managed to keep a yell inside my throat, my heart practically frozen in fear.

Pain then met my legs; I felt my tibia, fibula, and femurs shatter all at once. I cried out in agony, ignoring the fact that my health had just fallen by almost half, and fell forward. My torso grazed against something pointy before I came to rest on the stony ground. As I tried my hardest not to sob in pain, I felt a pair of hands on my hip, turning me onto my back. A large pill was shoved into my mouth and I nearly choked on it as I swallowed it mechanically. The pill took away the suffering I felt from breaking both of my legs; it was odd feeling my bones repair themselves.

"Good, you're okay," Droite's voice spoke. "You can open your eyes now, dummy."

I hadn't realized I had them shut until I lifted my lids and winced as a flashlight was shone into my eyes, searing my retinas. Blinking rapidly, I inquired, "What the hell did you give me?"

My partner smiled; the biggest grin I've seen from her since I've known her. "Full Pain Med, according to what the description said." She shifted back, allowing me to sit up. I rubbed the back of my head. "It heals all your injuries, and gives you some extra health." Now that she mentioned it, my HP was a little higher than it should have been.

"Thanks." At the sound of another snap and somebody sobbing in pain, I winced and shut my eyes. "Go help whoever just fell."

Droite moved away after agreeing, going to find whoever had just came crashing down onto the cave floor. I laid back on the stony ground, breathing slowly in order to calm my growing panic. Even though that part of the journey was over, my anxiety was up higher than was good for me; a panic attack was close to happening and I was desperate to stop it. I didn't need to be jittery during the fight.

I listened as the others fell. I didn't know if Layla had made it down safely or not; we wouldn't know of her fate until Droite managed to find her. Standing shakily, I gazed around, only seeing the beam from my partner's flashlight splitting the pitch black of the cave. My heart was still racing as if it wanted to tear itself from my chest, but it wasn't as bad as it had been earlier. Cautiously, I navigated myself along the cave floor, accidentally stepping on Mizael's hair as I passed by him. He almost knocked me over in anger; I could tell it was him by his reaction.

Cursing, I stumbled around, nearly impaling myself on the golden crystals that grew from the floor. Droite turned her flashlight in my direction, sighing in exasperation as she watched me struggle towards her. I winced as the light blinded me again, and I toppled over, face-planting the rocky floor. Luckily I didn't break anything; a blush covered my cheeks as embarrassment overtook me. I stood and made my way to Droite, finally.

"Smooth," she commented, smirking as I glared in her direction. She had turned the light to illuminate her face, which wasn't helping my flustered state. Then she turned the flashlight forward and made a horrified noise.

I was confused until I realized that there was a body impaled on one of the larger crystals. Blood was slipping down the golden crystal, staining its beauty. As Droite and I got closer, the body became more detailed. My partner covered her mouth with her hand; I didn't blame her, as the gruesome scene made even my stomach roll.

It was Pulsar, his body contorted into a horrifying position, spine fractured and his hips at a 180 degree angle to his torso, the crystal skewering him through the chest. He was barely hanging on, his health diminishing quickly. His dull gray eyes met ours and he simply shook his head. As Droite reached into her inventory for the medication to heal him, I gripped her arm and told her to stop what she was doing.

Pulsar then shut his eyes, going limp as the rest of his HP fell. Once his HP was gone, his avatar exploded into various shards of red, like Gauche's body had done. His inventory spilled onto the ground, with his wolf falling out dead and following her master into death. I bit my lip and placed a hand over my heart, honoring our fallen comrade before approaching his now dispelled inventory and looking through it all.

Droite was shaking as she took what she needed; ammo, some more medications, and some of the guy's armor. I took the cross necklace Pulsar had worn; it was an energy dagger that could be transformed and hidden in the shape of a cross pendant. It was large, but I equipped it around my neck anyway. The weight rested on my chest, and I wanted to hide away, keep myself from facing the death that could have been prevented if I hadn't invited the brothers to the Legion.

I left Droite alone for a second so she could get over her shock. Pulsar had had a flashlight in his inventory, so I took it out and turned on the light. It lit up the area in front of me, and I swiped it around, frowning as I looked for Layla. A flash of pink caught my eye and I found the girl, curled into a ball and sobbing into her legs. Her lower limbs were a bloody pulp, and she was unable to move save the cries shaking her frame.

"Droite! Over here!" I yelled, kneeling down next to the young girl. "Hey, hey, it's okay. You're alive."

My partner rushed over, getting out her healing supplies and giving some to Layla as soon as she had come up to us. I looked at the two girls, frowning. Layla thanked Droite, gasping as her broken limbs repaired themselves quickly. Her blue eyes opened wide, excitement filling her.

"Where's Pulsar?" she asked innocently. Droite and I remained silent, looking at each other. "Oh no. Did he...?" At our silence, she dropped her head. "Alright. I see."

Droite helped the girl off the floor, and I went around to gather the remaining members of the Legion. Mizael had found his twin and Durbe, somehow. Sylvia was muttering angrily to herself as I told them to group together. Durbe was the first to notice that Pulsar was not in the area, and his gray eyes met mine. A message passed between us and he nodded, understanding and hiding his grief beneath the surface.

…

The theater was large. It was filled with Nazi banners, hanging over the chairs and framing the stage. The podium was covered in cobwebs, as was the rest of the place; as if nobody had touched it in a couple of centuries. The building was in a state of disrepair, and the air was musky, filled with the smell of rotting corpses.

I had my energy rapier and the energy sword equipped, both activated as I pushed aside a toppled chair. Droite was busy holding open the double doors with the butt of her gun, allowing the remaining members of our group to enter. Everyone had their weapons drawn, prepared for what would happen. The place was eerily quiet, only adding to the unease.

The doors Droite had been holding open shut hard, knocking her back. A loud boom was heard, and suddenly the stage was overrun with zombies of various stages of decay.

**Earn ten thousand points to exit the level. Good luck.**

I wanted to yell at the female voice that boomed through the area, but suddenly the undead creatures were upon us. I took action, using my agility to dodge the zombies and make my way to the podium. I saw Droite put her gun over her shoulder and climb up onto one of the overhang booths to get a good shot at the place below. The others scattered, mowing down the crazed flesh-eaters the best they could.

I sliced of a few of the creatures' heads, clambering up onto the podium. Various zombies pulled and clawed at my boots but I cut their hands off. My score meter rose to a thousand as I reached down and started splitting the creatures in half. I hurriedly looked around, getting an account of everyone's positions, before jumping down into the hoard.

The zombies had faces that looked familiar to me, but I couldn't place them. Their skin was too decomposed for me to tell, but there were children among the ranks. I struggled to kill those creatures; the fact that the game had _children_ that were turned into something from nightmares was crossing a few lines for me. But I knew I would die if I didn't strike back, so I hit them with all I got.

Eventually I stood back to back with Durbe, who had made his way to the stage. He pulled the trigger on his gun, blowing a hole straight through another undead's head. I saw his point count was over four thousand; he must have been taking out his grief on these ugly bastards. I didn't blame him.

"God, you things just don't know when to give up!" I pushed my rapier straight through the skull of a female zombie, tearing straight through her blue hair and tearing open the top of the head. I winced as the rotten blood sprayed on my face and hair, hot against my skin.

A loud blast took out a good percentage of the zombies around Durbe and I. Looking up, I saw Droite with her rifle, pointing the gun towards the horde. She pulled a lever and out came the casing for the bullet, larger than I thought it would be. The look on her face was that of complete concentration as she pulled the trigger again and took out another large collection of creatures.

Then something changed; the zombies began to decrease, and eventually they stopped. All of our point totals were too low to exit the floor, so we just stood there, looking around at each other. A scream then broke the air, and I turned back to see Droite being attacked by a rather large NPC. Oh hell, no, that thing was a vampire.

"Droite!" I cried out, but then Durbe let out a yell as the zombies were replaced by several vampires. These creatures were ten times faster and five times stronger; I was shoved hard by one as it bared its fangs and threw me into a wall. My HP dropped by a fourth and I moaned in pain, lowering down to the floor.

I watched as the vampire approached me. My heart was sluggish and my vision was blurred from the impact to my head and spine, but I saw the look in that thing's eyes. I tried grabbing my rapier, but the monster kicked it away and lowered down, gripping my neck and pulling me upwards. This is it, I thought. This was how I was going to die. The vampire bared its fangs, crushing my neck. My HP started lowering further until it was just barely over a fifth full.

There was a loud yell, a body falling down to the ground in the corner of my vision, and then I saw a flash of black and violet. It was Droite, and she screamed, pulling the trigger on her gun and blowing the vampire into several pieces. Her point count rose to eleven thousand; her body was covered in gashes and her jugular was nicked, pouring blood down her skin and clothing. The word POISON floated over her health bar, which was almost as low as mine due to blood damage, and she fell sideways to the ground, her eyes shutting close.

"Droite," I panicked, pushing myself even in my wobbly state. I crawled over to her and pulled her into my arms, yanking her backwards until we both leaned against the wall. Her gun added at least forty kilograms to her weight, which wasn't easy for me to move in me state. I grabbed my rapier and energy sword, disengaging the former to transfer all of my energy to defending myself as well as the unconscious woman in my grip.

Mizael came over to us. He handed me some pain medication to raise my health status, but I only took a little, giving the rest to my fallen partner. Her jugular healed up, but other than that, she was still bleeding and her health was hovering at halfway.

Suddenly the place grew quiet. I looked around, wondering what the hell was happening, and then a banner appeared above the podium, high enough that I could see it over the chairs.

**Congratulations, you have beaten Floor 1. Now teleporting to Floor 2...**

That's when we were all absorbed into a glowing blue light, and that's all I remember.


	5. Lesson of the Mortals

"Do you know how hard it is for a Legion that size to make it through the endpoint?" someone whispered among the crowd, a day after we had arrived in the underground version of WW2 London. "I bet they had help."

I looked around, frowning at the various higher-level players and their Legions. Most of the players here were actually _upset_ at the fact that my Legion, my group of friends, had made it through the endpoint. It wasn't my fault that they hadn't thought through an actual plan before going head-on into the damn theater. It wasn't like we hadn't suffered; we lost Pulsar, and it was a very high possibility we were going to lose our highest ranked officer. My cousin Mizael was beside me, glowering at the people around us as we headed down the street. Lamps hanging high above us were the only means of light within this city.

After the battle, we had been teleported to London; the city was anything but its real life counterpart. Built underground, the city was smaller, shorter, and made for handling the bombings that had ravaged the land outside the tunnels. Rumor had it that this entire floor, oddly, was underground. Tunnels, wide channels, caverns; I hadn't asked around enough in order to figure out just how this floor worked.

Everyone, save Pulsar, had been alive when we had been dumped into this smokey place. We had gotten drop items from the various monsters we had defeated, and 100000 credits each for beating the endpoint. Droite had been the only one who hadn't recovered from the teleport (as the process had healed our wounds and had given us a full HP meter); she was, according to Sylvia, still unconscious and hadn't made a single movement since we had placed her into my female cousin's care. I wasn't too worried, but Droite was my second-in-command; she would need to wake up soon or the Legions around here would begin picking apart the Photon Dragons one by one.

Mizael and I ignored the weird looks and hurried glances and whispers; we had to get back to the hotel suite that the six of us (or five, if we exclude Droite) had bought together in order to recuperate from the long battle. Hell, if this was going to be how the other floors were going to be, I couldn't imagine how hard it was going to be.

Turning onto a smaller street, I looked at the shops set up on the side of the stone pathway. One thing was for sure; London was known for its weaponry. The only Legion who had helped mine, the Dyson Colony, had told us about what was being sold here in the city. Guns, energy weapons, even energy guns, were all for sale. Their stats were much stronger than what we had previously encountered; I knew that, once everyone was back to sanity, there would be almost no money to pay for the hotel, and we would have to move on.

But for now, this was our daily life.

Mizael pushed open the door to the hotel as soon as we had gotten in front of the squat building. It wasn't anything too fancy, but it had two levels to each of its suites and a lot more rooms. I had thought it a better idea since the entire Legion had shared one single room before this. It took us a few moments, but after speaking to the owner about already having a suite, the two of us made our way to the rest of our Legion.

Layla was the first to greet us; due to her young age (she was only thirteen), she attached to Mizael and I rather quickly. I pat her head while my cousin gave her a bear hug. Striding further inside, I saw Durbe sitting on the couch, his face in a book. He hadn't spoken since the battle; the death of his brother had really taken a toll on the poor guy. Sylvia was coming down the stairs, holding a tray and looking more exhausted than ever. She came over to me immediately, her moonlight eyes weary.

"Still nothing?" I inquired. She shook her head. "Damn. Do you know what could have caused her to stay asleep like this?"

"I have an idea, but I'm not sure it's correct." Sylvia placed the tray on the table that we used to eat at. "I looked over her injuries; those gashes were made by teeth, not a weapon of any sort."

Teeth? "Did the vampire she was fighting possibly bite her?" This wasn't good. We had no inkling as to what a vampire bite could do to a person, but a zombie bite would eventually kill the player infected; just like in the movies. The players bitten, however... we didn't know if they revived or not, and we weren't about to try that idea out.

"That's probably the only way," she said, arms crossed as she leaned back against the table. "I hope there's no effects for being bitten by a vampire... we don't need someone else dying." Her tone suggested she was hiding something from me, but I didn't push it, not in front of the others, lest we start something that would break the trust between the six of us.

"I'm going to check up on her," I muttered quietly. Sylvia nodded, and I left behind the others as I climbed up the steel steps. Upstairs wasn't very flattering, to say the least, but I didn't care; as long as we had a place to stay, it was fine. Droite's room, like the others, had a heavy steel-filled wooden door guarding its entrance, and it took a lot of effort to open the door enough to get inside.

The bed, placed on a thick metal frame, was in the middle of the room. Droite lay on the mattress, not covered by the sheets and only wearing the standard bra and panties; Sylvia had figured out a way to remove another player's clothing, but if only they had placed each other on their Friends Lists. On another note, I noticed something weird as I came to stand beside my passed out comrade; around her wrists were heavy metal cuffs, chained to the floor beneath the bed. Concern filled me as I lifted her arm off the mattress to inspect the restraint; just what was Sylvia so worried about that she had to put Droite into these cuffs?

The black-haired girl moaned and shifted slightly. I dropped her arm to the bed, waiting for anymore response, but she only whispered something and stopped moving around. Her lips continued to move, murmuring over and over again. Leaning down, I tilted my head to see if I could catch what she was trying to say.

It was my name; she was whispering my name as if in pain.

I backed up slightly, raising an eyebrow. Well, at least she wasn't comatose in her avatar; but god only knew what she was dreaming about. Frowning at the many unsightly thoughts that came to mind at that, I sighed and left the room. I needed to get out of the hotel for a little bit to collect my already fractured being.

Sylvia met my eyes as I descended and she instantly knew where I was heading. Layla and Mizael tried asking me where I was going while Durbe didn't give a rat's ass where I was taking off to, but I left before an answer could be delivered. Captain duties were calling me; an excuse to get out of the hotel for a while and deal with my confusion.

* * *

One week later brought nothing but worry and more duties, or so Kaito had said. Sylvia was sitting on the only chair in Droite's room, playing around with her menu. The blonde girl had seen a single response from the fallen lieutenant in the last seven days, and that was crying out Kaito's name in complete and utter pleasure while arching off the mattress. Now, if the captain had been there at the moment he probably would have taken off like he had been doing so much lately, but Sylvia had been the only one in the suite at the time. Talk about awkward.

Other than that, Droite had shown no signs of ever waking up. But Sylvia knew it would happen eventually; her research, as well as having to do some dirty work for the other Legions' captains, had shown that Droite would wake up. The cuffs were there for a reason, and that reason was what Sylvia, the Photon Dragons' current medic, was so damn worried about. Kaito had brought up the issue of the cuffs a couple days ago, but Sylvia had brushed it off as a precaution since they didn't know much about the effects of a vampire bite.

Flipping around her menu, the blonde girl kept a careful watch on the older teen girl. Sylvia had gotten this much out of her research: after being bitten by an enemy vampire, the player affected will pass out for an predesignated amount of time (of which she hadn't figured out yet); then strange dreams will affect the player, usually centered around the one person that had found their way into the player's heart; and finally... well, Sylvia didn't know. She was still waiting for Droite to wake up to figure out just what the hell was going on.

Sylvia lifted her head when she heard the weird squeaking of the mattress springs. Droite was writhing slowly, fighting against the cuffs slightly, and groaning softly. The blonde made a weird face at watching the scene, and tried not to take it immaturely as she approached her patient. Droite rolled onto her side and coughed, spitting out two bloodied teeth. Sylvia narrowly dodged the projectiles and watched as they exploded into many shards of data. The older teen girl moved onto her back once again, moaning in pain.

Sylvia backed away from the bed, placing the pen into her inventory, and pulled up her message board, typing up a request for Kaito to come back to the hotel.

Something was going to happen, and soon.

…

V looked down at me, frowning heavily. The hair of his avatar was tied into a ponytail, making him look even more feminine than he already was, and I tried taking him seriously as he started to explain the plans he had; his Legion was the largest, the best, and he wanted to form alliances with the rest of the Legions in order to clear the floors faster. Only problem with that was, if a Legion had less than ten players, he would force them to join the Dyson Colony.

The captain was waiting for my reply; out of the fourteen Legions here, not a single one had rejected his request. I, however, was planning to turn that plan of his on its head; I wasn't going to let my Legion get absorbed into something that had a high risk of being corrupted.

"No," I stated. V looked at me through narrowed eyes as the crowd gasped and whispered among themselves. I gritted my teeth in irritation; my Legion seemed to be the only thing that was the topic of discussion, usually negative, these days. I kept my anger to myself, gazing up at the taller man. He wasn't going to sway me and he knew it.

"Are you sure?" IV, V's brother and first lieutenant, spoke up with a smirk. "You're so overly confident about this. You'll get yourself killed; nobody would want that."

V stuck out a hand, preventing anymore sarcastic comments from coming out of that damn kid's mouth. I simply glared at the two, waiting for a response from the captain. "Alright," V replied after a few tense moments. "If that is your decision, then you shall leave this town by tomorrow. Take your Legion with you, and be careful where you step foot. Our alliance will kill you if we see you again. Understood?"

"Understood." Turning heel, I descended the steps leading to the platform. Mizael followed behind me as we split the crowd. Glares and various threats came our way, but I ignored it to the best of my ability. These people were upset for ridiculous reasons and it wasn't getting us anywhere. At the best it would lead to all out war, and nobody wanted that with the small amount of players around.

As we got out onto the street, I pulled Photon out of sleep mode finally and placed him onto the bricks in front of us. Mizael grumbled to himself, pulling his horse out as well. My mount was happy to see me, pressing his muzzle into my new trench coat; I patted his head and climbed onto his back, waiting for my temporary lieutenant to get onto his horse.

"Kaito, you're a fucking moron," Mizael commented angrily as we started back for the hotel at a slow trot. "Do you know how risky it is for us to be here now? You just made this whole death game impossible for our Legion!"

"Shut the fuck up!" I yelled, pulling Photon to a stop and turning him sideways to glare at my cousin. "I know, and that's the whole goddamn point. Those Legions are only going to last for a few months at the best; look at how low their average level is! Their only pissed at us for being able to take on a few hordes with just six players."

"You don't get it, do you?" Venom dripped from his voice. "There are at least three hundred people back there! Three motherfucking hundred! Do you know how easy it would be to clear the rest of the levels with that many people?!"

"Only a hundred will make it out." My voice was eerily monotone, which caused Mizael to backtrack and look at me in shock. "There isn't a way to prevent damage within the cities, and PKers are already sprouting within the Legions. Murders will rise once more people figure out the true meaning of what the GM told us. If you think you're better off with the Dyson Colony then feel free to leave." A message bubble then popped up next to my health gauge and I swiped open my menu, pulling up the message. It was from Sylvia; she wanted me back ASAP. "I have to go; but if you still think you can be with the Photon Dragons... be sure that you mean it." Turning Photon around, I left Mizael and sped down the street.

The only problem with the city hall was that it was all the way on the other side of the city, far from the teleporter and the hotel where my Legion was shacked up at, which meant more time with my thoughts than I wanted. Anger pulsed through me and I so desperately wanted to go back there to shoot my damn cousin a few times. He was such a moron, for thinking that the alliance would help us any. Sure, we'd be guaranteed to get through the floors a lot faster, but I wasn't going to take the chance of losing anyone in my Legion. Sure, I had doubts before, but seeing Pulsar die the way he did, and the way the Droite was suffering right now, the urge to keep them safe was building. But that was a lot of stress for a fifteen-year-old boy who only wanted to have fun with a game.

"Ugh, dammit." Steering Photon around, I tried to push him harder, avoiding players who hadn't gone to the meeting and NPCs who were living out their pre-programmed lives. Growling to myself, I kept my eyes on the street. The cold air was cooling down my anger, but I was still pissed at the fact that Mizael would ever think of such a thing.

About ten minutes later, I found myself in front of the hotel. I strapped my mount to the fence post outside after climbing off of him, and went into the building. There was something going on upstairs in one of the suites as I approached the NPC owner. He greeted me, then made a snide comment about the squeaking of the bed springs going on and I groaned in exasperation; please, for the love of hell, let me have at least some innocence while here. Blushing, I made my way to the my Legion's suite, passing the one where the, ahem, _action_ was going on, and went inside before my brain got flustered and decided to throw hormones around again.

Sylvia rushed down the stairs; I noticed that she was the only one here, Layla and Durbe having taken off again. She had a worried expression on her face; I could only assume something had happened to Droite.

"She needs you. _Now_." Sylvia grabbed my arm and yanked me up the staircase. I heard the yanking of chains as my cousin pushed open Droite's door, pulling me inside.

My partner was struggling against her restraints, intense panic in those orange eyes of hers. She looked around for a second before meeting my gaze; she calmed, panting heavily as she tried to sit up. Sylvia pushed me forward, nearly knocking me to the floor. I went to Droite's side, wondering just what I was supposed to do.

"Are you okay?" I asked stupidly; I nearly brought a hand to my face in embarrassment.

Droite stared up at me, giving up her attempts at sitting up, tears on her lashes. "Kaito..." she whispered, her voice grating. She was too tired to say a whole lot, I figured, so I knelt down beside her. My new equipment clattered against the metal tiles. "Did we make it out okay?"

I chuckled slightly at that. "Yes, Droite, we did. Everyone survived." Well, except Pulsar, that is.

"That's good." She shut her eyes. Parting her lips to breathe, she remained quiet for a while. But I noticed something inside her mouth; without her consent, I pulled her head forward with one hand and used the other to part her lips further. Droite made a feeble attempt at asking what I was doing, but I stopped her when I pulled at the lengthened incisors that rested inside her mouth.

"Sylvia," I started, "Do you think that vampire did what I think it did."

"I think so." Sylvia came forward, pulling me away from Droite so that she wouldn't hear us. My cousin dropped her tone to a whisper. "I don't know what that thing did, but there's a new icon that is floating beside her health bar. Maybe its a penalty or something. But for right now, she is _not_ a vampire. She's not one of them, okay?_ She's not._"

I nodded, clutching my hands into fists. Looking at Droite, who was still in the same position I had left her in. A chest was moving slowly with each of her breaths; I could only hope that she would stay human.

"But if she does end up being one," Sylvia said, frowning, "I don't want her in the Legion. She may be my best friend, but... I don't want to see her rip us apart."

I looked down at the floor. My Legion was already falling into disrepair and it would only be a matter of time before we got pulled apart by something. In the end, that's how all of us were going to end up, and we couldn't escape our fate.

* * *

"Ta-da!" yelled Byron as he unceremoniously twirled into the lab holding a holographic clipboard. Faker was taken by surprise and he dropped the stylus he was using to write on the board behind a table full of various scientific equipment. Heartland chuckled and rolled his eyes, sipping his coffee and continuing to watch the happenings of 115 Online on the mini-screens projected on the wall.

"What now, Byron," Faker grumbled in irritation. Byron smirked, adjusting his monocle and pressing a few buttons to turn the projector on the clipboard on.

"It's the serum I've been developing ever since you told me about what you were planning." Byron showed the data on the board Faker had been writing on previously. "See, this is the farthest I can get it to go without seriously hampering the purpose of this game thing you two developed."

The oldest scientist crossed his arms, looking over the effects of the serum. "So, it will take at least a full year before the trials are complete?"

"Yes and no. That's the average that I've been able to calculate using my youngest son." Byron shifted to another page.

"Lifespan?" Faker inquired.

"Upwards of three hundred years. After all, the longer the lifespan, the longer that this plan of yours will work. Although the period to make it work is shortened."

"How long?"

"Every four months, for the woman, anyways. The man is unhindered, naturally." Byron smirked. "But for three hundred or so years, I think that's a nice price to pay."

Heartland snorted. "Naturally or unnaturally for these special hundred?"

"Natural unless stated otherwise." Faker glared at Heartland, knowing exactly what the youngest scientist was thinking. "Although I'm sure you'll enjoy the show."

"I already have, y'know." Sipping his coffee, Heartland was intent on watching a player couple getting it on in one of the hotels in the underground version of London. Byron rolled his eyes while Faker said nothing.

"Start the trials immediately, Byron," Faker stated. "If what Heartland told me is true, then it will take longer than the trial period to get out of the game, and I don't want the hundred survivors to figure out what's going on too early."

"Yes sir, I'll start getting more samples ready." Byron left, leaving the two scientists alone. Faker sighed, bringing a hand to his face and squeezing the bridge of his nose.

This was going to get rougher.


	6. Somebody Get Me Through This Nightmare

The outfit, as soon as it was equipped, warmed the parts that it covered. I shivered slightly as I stood next to the bed, flipping through my menu. I gazed at the picture of my avatar, frowning in thought; in my current state, my armor would not be sufficient. If we were to go further on this journey of ours, I would have to find some better armor—and the battle back on Floor 1 hadn't given me much, besides credits, a black scarf, and a pair of wrap-around sunglasses. Sighing to myself, I stretched, grimacing when my stomach clenched.

The last hour had been... quite peculiar, in terms of what my body was up to. My stomach would cramp and growl, my mouth would become parched... concern had come shortly after the first symptoms had popped up, leading to anxiety. I bit my lip and drew a had through my hair. I knew I shouldn't have taken on that goddamn vampire on my own. But it had been so _fast_... and... and...

Shaking my head, I turned to the mirror hanging on the wall opposite me and glared at my reflection, only to nearly scream. My eyes; they were crimson, the whites now black as pitch. Fangs poked out from underneath my lower lip; I covered my mouth, swallowing hard. The hunger twisted my gut again, dropping my health by a sliver and slowly eating away at the green bar. Breathing deeply, I opened my menu and equipped my scarf and sunglasses; I pulled the scarf over my nose and settled the sunglasses over my eyes. Despite the dark lenses, I could still faintly see the glowing of my irises.

A knocking on the door jolted me from my thoughts. "Can I come in?" the voice of our captain followed. I stared at the door for a few seconds before realizing what he had said and giving him the go-ahead to enter. He pushed aside the door, coming inside and over to me.

Kaito was taller than me, probably a good centimeter or so, not counting his hair. His avatar's outfit was different than what I remembered it to be; a black trench coat over a skin-tight white nylon shirt, white jeans, and black boots, along with a half-chestplate strapped to the right side of his torso. His energy rapiers were on each hip, along with his pistol behind the rapier on the left. Any other weapons he had were probably in his inventory. He was... handsome, but I didn't have a clue as to who he really was; we hadn't talked on a personal level before, so...

"What's with the shades and scarf?" he inquired, his tone a bit playful. "It's not cold out there, and there isn't any sun."

"New aesthetics, that's all." I tried to keep my voice as calm as possible, but I wavered slightly and Kaito caught onto it. He looked at me solemnly, dropping the joking act and actually looking concerned for me. My heart jumped at the realization, but I forced myself not to react other than that. I couldn't pursue him, not yet. Not ever, probably... "Why're you here?"

"I didn't tell you, since you were out of it at the time," the blonde began, plopping himself on the bed, "But the leader of the Dyson Colony is kicking us out of London, about five tonight."

I frowned. "Why? What'd you do this time?"

"I declined his invitation to join his Legion." He leaned his elbows onto his knees. Before I could question him again, he went on, "Look Droite, I'm not taking my chances when it comes to joining a large force like that. Corruption is bound to break out." His eyes met mine through the glasses. "Only a hundred of us will make it out; that pretty much means that we have to kill nine hundred others to ensure our way to victory. It doesn't matter how we get there, or even if we make it to the last level. Once there's one hundred players left, we'll be ejected to prevent further loss." He laughed sourly at that. "I'd rather kill people in order to get us out of here faster, but I don't want to become a murderer. Hell, considering what happened to Pulsar, that's probably already true."

"That wasn't your fault, Kaito." I stepped forward, but kept myself a considerable distance away. Hunger made me pause in my thoughts before I continued. "Pulsar simply fell wrong. Besides... Layla probably would have died too. It's simply the reality of this game, Kaito. We're stuck here until something happens or we make something happen." Sighing, I knelt down in front of him, placing my hands on his arms lightly after pulling down my scarf. "You're young, Kaito, so I know this is hard for you to take in, but-"

"Really?" he shot back, blue eyes burning holes into me. "Is that all you can say?"

"For hell's sakes Kaito I'm trying to help you here-!"

"I just want to get out of this game!" he yelled, shoving me back and standing to pace around the room. "Do you understand what it's like, to not know what your brother is going through, watching your body the way it is right now?"

I blinked; what the hell? Where did this attitude come from? "Kaito," I tried, but he was pacing around quicker, scowling angrily at the floor. "Kaito! I may be an only child, but I know what... I know what you're going through."

"Sure," he said, not believing my words.

I growled, the sound much more feral than I'd meant it to be. De-equipping my glasses, I went over to him and shoved him hard into the wall. "Do you see what I'm turning into? Look at my goddamn eyes, Kaito, and tell me! Do you see?!"

His own eyes were wide, and he reached out with one hand, running his fingers over the engorged blood vessels surrounding my eyes. I gripped his shoulders harder, my vision filling with glowing lines that caught my attention. His cheeks were filled with those lines... so full of life... Unconsciously I drew my tongue across my lower lip, opening my mouth wider to bare the fangs that were preventing my jaw from fully closing.

"I want to get out too, Kaito," I slurred, finding it very difficult not to follow through with the hunger that had whittled my health down a fourth of its full status. "Right now I'm barely hanging on and I've got absolutely no idea what I'm doing." I tried swallowing but it didn't work, saliva beginning to trickle from my lips. "So trust me when I say that I'm in your position and know what it's like." I let him go and shoved myself away from him, which was like pulling a heat-sensing missile off of its target. As I stumbled over to the bed, Kaito pushed himself off the wall and started coming forward, but I bared my fangs at him again, moaning as I gripped my stomach. "Get the hell... out of here... before I tear you apart..." Coughing, I yanked myself to the window, throwing it open. "Just... don't tell anyone."

I heard him yell my name as I threw myself over the pane and fell into the thick air of the tunnels.

* * *

"Droite!" I yelled out, watching her as she fell sideways out the window. The loud thump of a body hitting the ground reached my ears just as I got to the window. Below, I saw my partner slump against the wall, and then take off down the alley and into the street. Without thinking I jumped out after her, completely misjudging the drop and landing on the concrete with a loud cry. With a shattered ankle I struggled to my feet, limping and dragging my dead foot as best as I could behind me. I swiped my menu open, locating some of the pain medication and taking it; the bones healed instantly and I ran onto the crowded street, looking around in every direction to see if I could find Droite. But she had disappeared into the collection of people, and that was bad considering her condition.

Droite was turning into a vampire; that damn monster was turning her into the one thing that would probably get us all killed if we weren't careful. She could control it though, from how she had pulled herself off of me when I saw her going for my neck. But her eyes... the way she had looked... it was frightening to think that I cared for someone whose instincts could force her to be such a monster.

"No, no!" I yelled, scaring a few of the players and NPCs around me. She wasn't a monster, and she never would be. Droite was partner, my vice-captain and the only person I fully trusted, even beside my own cousins. I didn't know why I trusted her so much, but dammit if I lost her I don't think I'll be able to keep going in this stupid death game we're in.

Someone placed their hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see V standing behind me, his eyes stony as always. He was frowning as he looked down at me, like I was some scum on the floor beneath his foot. "What are you doing out here, Kaito?" he asked harshly. I shrugged his hand off and spun away from him, trying to locate my partner, before I was grabbed again and this time, V shot me an angry glare. "I asked you a question."

"It's none of your goddamn business," I answered, pulling out of his grip.

"From the look on your face, I think it is my business." His eyes pierced mine and held me in his gaze. Geez, this man was powerful and he definitely was showing it. "I saw your real vice-captain running in the direction of the Western district. I ordered my youngest brother to pick her up."

"V, you don't understand," I stated, starting to head in the direction that he had told me of. He caught up to my side, though, but didn't stop me; he just ran side-by-side with me. "I need to find her."

"And why is that?" V's attention was fully on me as we pushed our way through the crowd. I didn't know how he was doing it; I was having trouble plotting a course, the people making it difficult for me to comprehend my location.

"Look, there's something that happened to her, and I'm just worried that she'll hurt herself-" Or someone else, I added mentally. "- in her current state."

V nodded, although I swear I saw him smirk a little at what I said. I glared at him for a second, before having to divert my attention to the crowd. Pushing more people out of the way, I kept my eyes peeled, looking, searching. It was all just normal, people walking around and running to places, having fun with each other, until a single gunshot rang out.

* * *

After I had left the hotel, I had dived into an alley, struggling to keep myself from running back to Kaito and tearing him limb from limb. My thoughts revolved around him; images of him, questions floating around my mind asking me things that pierced me. I groaned, shoving my hands into my hair and falling sideways to the ground. My chin was covered in drool; disgusted I once again tried to swallow, but to no avail. Wiping my mouth as much as I could, I wobbled back onto my feet, knowing what I had to do. My hunger was beginning to severely injure both my body and my mental state; even though this was merely virtual reality, the effects were very, very real. I didn't have a choice but to try and find a way to stop the damage and growing insanity. Even if it meant I had to kill another player.

I equipped my glasses again, pulling the scarf over my nose and trying to keep my mind off the fact that I was drooling so bad that a pool of saliva would probably start to build underneath the black cloth. Wincing, I struggled onto the street, pushing my legs faster. People glanced at me curiously, wondering why I was running at top speed through them. Hunger pains lit up in my stomach and I nearly toppled over, my eyes searching for another player to sink my teeth into.

Oh god. Had I really just thought that?

I ran. I didn't know where I was going, or who I was shoving out of my way, or which tunnel I had gone down. I just _ran_. And kept going, and going, and going, until my health was down to a third and my hunger was making it nearly impossible to move. My mind filled with Kaito, more and more of him showing up in my thoughts until I collapsed in an alley and had to take off my scarf and glasses. Panting, I clutched the tarmac below me, nails scraping the ground. My stomach cried out for something, for anything, for _him_.

"Miss Droite," a male voice, too soft and quiet to be Kaito's, called to me. I shifted my head up immediately, my reason gone, hunger the only thing occupying my mind. "Are you alright?"

The boy had pink hair and large green eyes. I growled, not giving him a chance to stop me; I rushed forward, snatching him right out of the light and dragging him backwards into the alley. His body wasn't like Kaito's, but I was hallucinating, hearing Kaito's voice, feeling Kaito against me. I heard coughing from my victim, his struggles nothing against my strength-fueled hunger.

I threw my prey to the ground, straddling the male hips and only feeling my partner, not this boy that had come to see if I was okay. His panicked eyes were no longer green nor scared; I knew I was too far gone to stop and the last part of my sane mind cried out before it, too, disappeared. My mind took a backseat as I reared my head back, fangs bared, and slammed my teeth into his shoulder. The boy's screams didn't register as I tore a chunk out of his shoulder. The flesh tasted amazing on my tongue, a euphoric high taking over me, and I tore into him.

I was absorbed in what I was doing; tearing open the ribs and taking out bits of the lungs and heart, ripping apart the abdominal cavity and taking the intestines out, gnawing on the guts I yanked out... I didn't feel the boy underneath me take out his pistol. With what little strength he had left he shot me, and I screeched at him, falling off of him and taking some of the flesh with me. The bullet wound, going straight through my stomach, healed within a few seconds. His eyes were on me as I took his head in my hands and popped it off of his neck, his body then exploding into shards as his health finally hit zero. My hunger satiated, I looked down at myself and to the clump of bloodied flesh in my hands.

"Droite!" It was Kaito, and soon he appeared at the entrance of the alley. The moment I saw him I realized what I had done and I just... broke down into tears.

* * *

Seeing my partner there, leaning against the wall, intestines wrapped around her hands and blood covering her clothing, I was instantly disgusted, but I couldn't help the feeling of sadness that I had wash over me seeing her guilty face and tears falling down her face. Her health bar was full again, her hunger no longer flashing. She must have fed on whoever pulled the trigger of that gun. Slowly I approached her, and the moment she gazed at me, her eyes normal, she started sobbing and she discarded the flesh that she'd been holding on to.

"Droite, are you okay?" I asked, coming up to her and kneeling down beside her. I brought her into my arms, not caring if she dirtied my clothing. She was shaking, her sobs making her frame jerk. My heart ached and I just held her, pressing my face to the top of her head and rubbing circles into her back. She continued to cry, her nose pressed to my sternum, her hands clutching at my jacket.

I heard V come to the alley's entrance. He was about to ask me a question before I told him to go away; seeing that I was holding Droite in my arms and the fact that she was covered in blood, he let the issue go and ran off to keep the players calm. I hid Droite as much as I could so that nobody would tell that she had murdered somebody; I hoped they assumed that somebody had actually attacked her and that she was the one to shoot them.

"K-Kaito..." she moaned quietly, her voice strained. "I killed somebody... I'm... sorry."

I kissed her temple, making her gasp, but I didn't answer. Together, we sat there, leaning against the wall of a building. Sylvia was messaging me like crazy, but I ignored her. Droite needed me right now and I wasn't going to leave her in such a broken state.

"Droite," I started softly, "It's not your fault."

"It... is." Breathing shakily, she snuggled further into my lap, her face resting in the crook of my neck. The blood was beginning to disintegrate now, off of both of us. Soon both of us looked good as new, but she still had a crimson red cursor floating above her head. "I killed that boy... I killed him. Oh god, I killed him."

She was panicking now, her breathing increasing, limbs trembling. "Droite, calm down," I tried to urge her, but she shook her head, sitting up straighter and gripping my jacket as she looked at me.

"Kaito, I killed him!" she yelled, her eyes filling with even more tears. I stared at her for a moment as words started tumbling out of her mouth in a jumbled mess, thinking of a way to calm her down. My mind locked down on a particular scene from one of my favorite anime, and I internally laughed at the idea. But she was frantic and we were both vulnerable and it wasn't completely right but it would certainly help her if my guesses were right, so... I grabbed her by the shoulders and pressed my lips to hers.

She let out this really hilarious high-pitched squeak and I almost broke our connection to laugh. But I held her there, her lips soft even though the sensation felt... dulled. Her hands soon found my hair and pulled my head forward, pressing our mouths harder together. I nearly choked, awkwardly placing my hands on her lower back and pulling her against me. Her knees squeezed my waist and she held me tighter. Feeling my lungs beginning to call out for oxygen, I gently pushed her collarbone and pulled my lips from hers.

"You okay now?" I asked stupidly, breathing heavily. My face was very warm; I was glad it was dark in the alley or we'd be seeing each other's embarrassment.

She cleared her throat, still straddling my waist. "Um, yeah, I'm fine."

Then V's voice broke the silence. "You two," he started, in monotone, "are picking a bad time to get in a relationship."

I glared at him. "Thank you for pointing that out, asshole." Gently, I helped Droite out of my lap, and stood. She got up as well, her head down as she stayed behind me. "Anyway, why're you back here? I told you to piss off, didn't I?"

"Yes, well, there's been a few murders within my Legion, and I want you and your Legion to stay here in London for precautionary reasons." He started to walk away, and I took that as a sign to follow. I reached back and grabbed Droite's arm, pulling her along as we follow after him.

"Murders?" I inquired; so Droite's attacking someone wasn't the only thing that had happened tonight?

"Yes," V replied. The streets were now empty, with only the occasional NPC walking around. Droite's hand was warm in mine, and she eventually interlocked our fingers; something I was slightly uncomfortable with but let her do out of sympathy. "My brother, IV, informed me of ten deaths within the last few hours. My youngest brother has yet to return—it's safe to assume that he, too, got caught up with this string of killings as well."

How he said that with so little emotion I would never know. I squeezed Droite's hand, trying to keep her calm. "I'll keep my Legion here as long as you need us to be."

"Alright, I thank you for your cooperation." He gazed at me for a moment. "Please be off, then. I wouldn't want to interrupt the moment between you two." He left after that, with a bow and a nod of his head. I raised my eyebrow at that.

"Kaito?" Droite feebly said, getting my attention.

"Yes?"

"What does this make us now?" she asked. Her cheeks were pink as she met my eyes.

I looked at her, scowling slightly as I thought. What did this make us, exactly? We were closer than friends, than partners. And that kiss, despite its intentions... it felt right. But I didn't know, and I was only a teenager; I hadn't a clue what I was going to do or think if this went any farther.

"I don't know, Droite." Her expression faltered slightly, but I continued. "But... give it some time. We'll see where it goes." I smiled gently, taking her other hand in my free one and caressing her knuckles. "I've got a question, though, if we're going to push this anywhere. And I'm sorry if it's rude."

"Go ahead and ask."

"How old are you?" I inquired, gently, looking away as I spoke. She broke into a giggle, forgetting temporarily what just happened and everything around us; just for a little while. The noise was adorable as hell and I blushed in response.

"I'm twenty-one, why?"She replied after laughing. My jaw fell to the ground. Oh god, why?!

"Because!" I started, letting go of her hands to throw my arms in the air. "I'm fifteen!"

Droite looked at me, smirking to keep her laughter on hold. "Ah, well, we'll deal with it."

"I don't know, aren't there laws against that?"

"Who cares? C'mon Kaito, let's go to the others." Linking arms with me, she dragged me forward, seemingly happy, but on the inside, I knew she was having the fight of her life.

_Dammit woman, why are you making me feel like this?_


End file.

Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, Adventure, Sci-Fi