I Can't Live Without You

With a sigh, Cora listened to the stupid slutty girl of her class flirt her way to the front of the room and began to read the class assignment. "I call it… 'Born Beautiful~'" she purred dramatically.

The tomboy whimpered as she placed her forehead on her open notebook covered in doodles, sketches, and notes of a certain video game character that pop culture is very quick to recognize.

However, he had a certain twist that made him…dark.

"Miss Elven? Miss Elven?" a voice hit Cora's deaf ears, her mind dark and fuzzy with a sweet silence that was her nap.

"Cora!"

There was a strong kick behind her seat, making her shoot up with a yelp, "DON'T ATTACK THE CHICKENS, BEN!" Looking around, the class burst into laughter. Looking down at her phone that was resting on top of her laptop bag, it buzzed continuously, as if it too was laughing. With a smirk, she shrugged as if this was a daily occurrence, "What? Ever been chased by a pissed off chicken? Scary as hell!"

"Miss Elven, your story?" the teacher finally asked, calming the class down from the sudden outburst.

She grabbed her notebook and phone, stuffing it in her pocket. "Behave," she whispered to it as if it were alive.

It buzzed a little in response.

With a smile, she walked to the front of the class and chuckled, "First off, I do apologize for my yell, but after the last story, this room was in dire need of some humor~"

The slutty girl looked offended and she let it show, making the others around her laugh.

"Oh, and thanks, Rio for the wake-up call," Cora clicked her tongue and gave the guy behind her the finger-gun gesture.

"Anytime, Cora!" Rio laughed.

"Alright! Without further ado~" She cleared her throat as she spoke the title, "Boredom At the Bottom of Great Bay."

I'm bored…

So, so bored.

I've been down here for literally 15 years! I would've expected the chains to rust by now!

Well, one can only have wishful thinking about rusting magic chains.

I wonder how fuckin' Jason Voorhees did it?

I sigh, only to exhale more water and blood from my ruptured lungs. I feel like a fish…a dead, bleeding, chained-up fish. I can inhale and exhale water and it won't change the fact that I'm already dead.

How am I still alive? Magic? Necromancy? Those flying worms that gave Freddy Krueger the ability to be alive after death!? Whatever, it doesn't matter anyway.

I looked up at the water's surface, a little sunlight shining, but not enough to erase the darkened depths around me. That's fine; I'm used to it by now.

DID I FORGET THE MENTION I'VE BEEN HERE FOR 15 YEARS?!

Oh? What's this? A swimmer? Ooh, finally! Some entertainment! I wonder how I'll dispose of him?~

Suddenly, the teacher uttered, "How much longer is this?"

Cora stated with a sharp tone, mostly masked by gritted teeth, "I just started…"

"It's too long."

Her cellphone buzzed madly in her pocket as if it was a vibrator, making her leg shake and suddenly buckle from the vibrations. Cora muttered when she finally stood back up straight, "I hate it when he has fits like that…"

"Take your seat, Miss Elven," the teacher drolled, shooing her away with her wrinkly hand.

She sighed, hitting her pocket with her fist, silencing the phone, "Fine…I was just getting to the good part too!"

"And what would've happened?" that girl sneered.

Cora turned to her and smirked evilly, "Oh, the swimmer would've been dragged down by the leg, meet eye-to-bloody eye with the killer and literally watch the blood being spilt over every orifice the victim owned as they drown~"

The girl shut up, but her eyes screamed 'freak' as Cora walked back to her desk. She didn't care; she knew she was a freak, but she was at least, an open-minded freak.

The last bell of the day rang, making everyone scramble to make it to the doors as quickly as possible. Cora was taking her time, chuckling over the little traffic jam in front of the little classroom door. "Jesus, calm down. The room's not on fire, ya know."

Since college was officially over for the day, she pulled out the misbehaving phone from her pocket and finally turned the ringer on.

Instantly, a sharp and unnatural tune played.

Rio, who also took his time, chuckled, "The Song of Unhealing. I can only wonder who's calling you?~"

"Shut up, bro," she muttered as she answered, "What?"

"WHY ARE MOST HUMANS SO STUPID!?" a very angry and slightly glitch voice barked into her ear. She had to pull the phone away to avoid going deaf.

"Hey, calm down."

"NO! I WON'T CALM DOWN! GET HOME NOW!"

"Promise you'll take a dip in the Great Bay until I get there, ok?"

"Fuck you…" the voice muttered bitterly, clearly not finding that statement funny.

Cora and Rio chuckled, making Cora coo, "Love you too, BEN." She hung up the phone and turned to Rio, "The things I put up with him."

"Hey, that's what happens when you purchase a shady 3DS copy of Majora's Mask with the file 'BEN'. And how many times have you read that Creepypasta?~"

As they walked towards the door, she muttered, "Enough to cite it by memory."

"Exactly. And who has a bad habit of tempting fate?"

"Me…"

Rio nodded smugly, "That's right. And who had to break BEN's chains with the almighty powerful force of love?~"

"Ok, that's going too far!" she barked, although the blush in her cheeks was more than enough to convince Rio that he was right on the money.

Rio only smirked, "You got your 3DS with you?"

"Of course. It never leaves my person."

"Why not just summon him here?"

She muttered, "Because, if I do, I can't explain how a Link look-alike just magically clawed out of my 3DS like a Doberman trying to squeeze through a cat door."

"Oh, that's right, he can't morph his appearance by much."

"Yeah, and even if I don't have to explain how he got here, people would be asking 'Um, why is that guy cosplaying, dude?'"

Rio laughed, "That would be so great! That would make my day!"

"Well, he's in a very bad mood right now, so having him here in the 'flesh'," she had to put up some air quotes to add emphasis to the word, "Would most likely be bloody."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right."

"And, let's be honest here," Cora smirked, "Girls would be all over him~"

Rio grinned, "I can imagine that. After all, he is a good-looking guy in the body of a good-looking character~"

"You horny bastard," she smirked, "You'd jump him too if you had the chance~"

"The perks of being bi~" Rio laughed. "Yes, yes I would~"

Cora giggled, seeing her half-brother glomping the poster boy for gaming Creepypastas. "I think BEN would kill you first."

"But how, I wonder? By electrocuting me? Lighting me on fire? Or running his big hard sword into my body mercilessly~"

Cora yelped as the picture Rio painted for her was went to the gutter and returned with postage from at least three different planes of existence. "Oh dear GOD! BAD MENTAL IMAGE!"

Rio laughed even more, "You're too easy, sis!"

As the two of them walked home, Cora did open up her 3DS when the two got far away enough from campus. "Ok, BEN. It's safe now."

"I can care less about safety," he muttered, his clawed hands reaching out of the upper screen. Gripping the edges, he grunted as he poked his head out and strained to get his shoulders through.

Rio smirked, "Gaining a few pounds?"

"Oh, shut up," BEN barked as he thrashed and struggled, finally able to muscle his broad shoulders through the tiny window. Using his freed hands to pull himself out a little, he got stuck again, but this time, it was his hips. "Oh, give me a fucking break!"

This time, Cora chuckled, "Hold on, BEN." She placed the 3DS down on a rock and grabbed his braced forearms. "I gotcha."

BEN nodded as Cora used all of her strength to pull the e-spirt out of the tiny handheld. Wiggling enough to free his hips, the rest of his body slipped out like a wet Slim-Jim.

On his feet, he muttered to her with a very straight face, "Get a tablet. Or at the very least, open your laptop if I was going to go through it."

Cora chuckled, "I will make a mental note of that. And when you throw a massive fit like that, don't have it on as if you were trying to get me off."

"I'll make a mental note on that," he smirked cruelly as he let go of her forearms. Cracking his neck and back, he released a massive yawn as if he just woke up from a long nap. Despite BEN drowning in the game "Majora's Mask" on the Child timeline, he was a young man when he died, making him look like Twilight-esque instead. "Took you a lot of self-control though. I respect that."

"Oh shut up…"

BEN turned to Rio and nodded with recognition, "What's up, Rio?"

"Not a lot. Just keeping your girl out of trouble~"

BEN growled, but his cheeks could rival the dark blood that ran down from his eyes, "Don't even joke…"

"Sorry," Rio smirked, clearly not sorry for his words. He was daring, to say the least, talking that way to BEN Drowned.

The trio goes back several months ago, when Cora purchased Majora's Mask for the 3DS at a yard sale, the owner claiming it to be haunted. Despite the two knowing all about Creepypastas and the stories they tell (Cora is a HUGE BEN Drowned fangirl to begin with, but is deathly afraid of Slenderman), she took the game as her own and to her very shocked surprise, the first file name was "BEN."

Knowing things would get scary, she chose not to delete the file, but played the game anyway, Link being under the guise "Fuck Me." Cora thought it was funny…until Rio pointed out that "BEN" was right above "Fuck Me." He laughed his ass off, while Cora had to watch every SAW film in a row to get rid of the urges…

On a stormy night, she decided to play as "BEN" with the 3D on this time, needing to see how a certain puzzle was solved, but tempting fate was what she was doing.

"You shouldn't have done that…"

Two clawed hands reached out and grabbed Cora by the throat and pulled her in. When she gasped for air, all she got was a mouthful of water. Staring her dead in the eye was the bloody black-eyed BEN, grinning sadistically. He was choking the very life out of her, until her eyes sharpened and fought back, grabbing the manacles on his wrists that kept him secure to the sea floor, her frantic struggling and determination to survive ultimately breaking the manacles off. He gasped in astonishment that his own prey would also free him. Thankfully, Cora was a strong swimmer, so without thinking, she grabbed BEN by the throat (although she was aiming for his collar) and dragged him back up to the surface of Great Bay.

Coughing and gasping for air, Cora looked at the boy-in-Link's-body and wheezed, "You're BEN…aren't you?"

"How did you…know that?" he replied with more coughing; his lungs were so used to water that air seemed to be tough on him to get used to again. He was like a dead fish.

She smiled; a beautiful gaming partnership formed on that day.

The two gamers were actually toxic together for the first time, BEN being more experienced in Legend of Zelda games, while Cora loved all kinds of games, but never grew up with a Nintendo in the house. However, when BEN got blindsided on a boss, Cora was very quick to defend him, making him gave a soft change of heart…even though he only had one life to his name. Taking the Fierce Deity Mask to finish off Majora, BEN sat up and watched as his female gaming partner attacked the demonic mask like a demon.

Even after the fight, Cora was "Oni Link", which BEN found slightly amusing, especially when she tried to get him to hand over the Ocarina so she could play the Song of Healing on herself, but he teasingly refused.

BEN was able to outrun Epona across Termina's Field, laughing his ass off along the way.

Cora, now have freed BEN's soul from the prison that was the game, BEN was able to have free rein of cyberspace. BEN was excited to have freedom, but realized that being with Cora was what he wanted to do. Most of the time, he would usually just harmlessly mess up her games or glitch movies she would be watching, followed by a cute, pouty BEN, "Wanna play with me?~"

Rio noticed this one day when he was over to watch the uber bad Legend of Zelda series and get drunk to make fun of it, when "Link" got demonic and his eyes began to weep blood, killing Zelda with a single swing of his sword, "Bitch had it coming…not appreciating the hero…" BEN turned to the screen, breaking the fourth wall, "Oh shit, I've been replaced!"

"No, no," Cora quickly stood up.

"That's BEN!" Rio yelped, "He is real!"

"Yes…yes, he is," Cora sighed, "I guess the cat's out of the bag now."

"So who is he?!" BEN grumbled, his fingers grasping the edges of the TV screen.

"This is my half-brother, Rio Setter."

"Oh…" BEN looked around, clearly sheepish about his quick assumption. "He a gamer too?"

"Hell yeah!"

"All we need is one more person and we could all be playing Four Swords Adventure!" Cora laughed.

"Dibs on the green Link!" both BEN and Rio shouted at the same time. Cora smirked, but suddenly got scared when BEN's body scrambled out of the TV, fully equipped in his appeal and arsenal, placing his sword right up against his throat, "You should've have said that…"

"BEN!" Cora barked, fearlessly grabbing BEN's left arm and yanking his sword away. BEN grunted, but he barely put up a fight anyway. "Rio is just pushing your buttons! You're always player 1…unless you're playing my games."

"That doesn't always reassure me."

"Just relax. Rio's favorite color was always red. He'd be Red Link."

"What about you?"

Rio smirked, "She's the purple one~"

"Why am I the purple one?!"

He giggled, "Because of he's the…"

"I will let BEN slit your throat if you finish that sentence," Cora growled, "I'm always Blue Link! That's my favorite color."

"Can you let go of my arm now?" BEN asked, oddly feeling his body warm up.

She hummed for a second and then let go of him, "Sorry, BEN."

"It's ok. Rio, will you rat me out?"

He chuckled as he shook his head, "Don't worry about me, BEN. Cora and I were aware of your existence before you knew us. We read and researched your story well. Actually, if you look into Cora's laptop and look for a certain pictures folder called…"

"RIO!" Cora barked, tackling him off the couch and accidently bringing BEN into it as well. The three horseplayed, nearly destroying the living room, but the three were actually having fun.

BEN, despite his bitter heart, smiled; this was what it was like to have friends.

BEN asked the two as the three of them walked down the path to Cora's place, "How bad where the humans being today?" BEN, no longer being alive, always referred to the term 'humans' as a title for everyone, with very few exceptions, Cora and Rio included.

Cora sighed, "Well, on a scale from one to ten…they were a solid 7 this time. I worked really hard on that story!"

BEN, without hesitation, reached into her backpack and pulled out the notebook, making her yelp, "Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

"What?"

"There are classified things in that notebook!" she barked, reaching to grab it out of the dead boy's hand.

He smirked cruelly again as he took it beyond her reach, "Jump for it~"

She growled as she pressed up against BEN's hard frame, her left hand on his shoulder as she reached with her right, "Damn you for being so tall!"

He snickered as he watched the display of determination and intimacy, "Hey, sorry you're so short~"

Rio took a quick picture of them, smirking as he slipped his phone away. BEN's ears twitched, "I heard that…"

"Let me guess," he flushed, "I shouldn't have done that?"

"Gotcha!" Cora finally took the distraction as she made BEN lose his balance enough for him to stumble and grab her notebook. "VICTORY!"

BEN smirked again as he tackled her onto the ground, the two ending in a heap of fabric and curses. Cora sighed as she crawled out from under his ass, muttering, "It's amazing that we've survived this long together."

"What? Two gamers having fun," BEN stated, "Sounds like an easy sell to me."

"I swear you wanted me to press my body against you, fairy boy~"

His eyebrow twitched, "I hate it when you call me that…"

"Immature."

"Cocky."

"Perverted."

"Dirty-minded."

"Handsome."

"Beautiful."

"Warrior."

"Princess."

The two stopped their word game, noticing that Rio was still there, taking it all in…on his phone again. "Aww, young love~"

"BEN?"

"Yeah?"

"Destroy the footage when you get the chance."

He nodded, "Will do."

"I see I'm becoming a third wheel here, so I'll leave you two alone now~" Rio began to walk back up the path, but then turned around again, "Oh, Cora?"

"What?" she asked, standing up and then pulling BEN onto his feet.

"Watch out for Slenderman~" he grinned as he took off running.

She whimpered and stiffened. BEN clicked his tongue at her fear and scooped her up into his strong arms. "I hate it when he mentions that monster…"

She clings to him, making him blush and look away uncomfortably. With a sigh, BEN stated obviously, "You know he mentioned it on purpose, right?"

"Just to get my goat…" Cora muttered.

"Well, it worked."

"You can't kill him!"

He rolled his black and red eyes, "He's not real, Cora."

"Look who's talking, BEN Drowned?!"

BEN sighed, "Touché…" Then he looked down at her with a strong look and a gentle, reassuring voice, "That creature won't attack you as long as you have me. Ok?"

Her original grip on his tunic relaxed, but then he felt her arms wrap around his neck, bringing him in for a side hug, "Thanks, BEN."

The e-spirit smiled softly as his arms tightened, trying to return the embrace, "No problem, Cora. You're the one who saved me from my terrible fate. Now that I'm free, it's the least I can do. Besides, you're my best friend and partner."

"Especially when being chased by chickens."

He laughed, "Oh yeah!" The dead 19 year-old placed her back on her feet, seeing she got over her fear for the moment. "Oh, by the way, the game you ordered came in today."

She beamed, "FUCK YES!" as she took off down the path at supersonic speeds towards her place. BEN laughed as he ran to catch up with her.

Opening the door to her studio, she ran in and grabbed the Amazon box that was placed on the counter, "Oh BEN, I love you!"

"I know," he smirked as he walked in and closed the door. Walking over to the fridge for a cold Monster, he turned around to watch Cora tear open the package as if she was Wolverine. Opening the energy drink and took a hearty chug out of it, he chuckled, "You know I get first dibs, right?"

"Fuck you," she called back to him, "My game, my studio, my rules."

BEN walked over to the couch and crashed down on it, holding his Monster up right to prevent it from spilling. Taking the only Xbox 360 controller in his hand, he smirked, "Oh yeah? How will you play without this?~"

She turned and growled, "You evil elf!"

BEN honestly preferred that insult to 'fairy boy.' He snickered, "I love it when you get mad at me~"

"Sadist."

"Masochist~"

"Goddamnit, you have an answer for everything I throw at you!"

BEN smirked as he laid down on the couch, placing the can on the coffee table and closing his eyes in a relaxed manner, "Years of thinking and a lot of charm~"

Cora stood up with the game in hand and sat next to BEN's chest, looking down at him, taking off the green cap he wore. He opened one eye and smiled. "Despite the shit we've both been through, especially your death," she began to lightly ruffle his dirty blonde hair, making him close his eye again and his smile got wider, "I can't live without you, BEN."

Without looking, his hand reached up and gently stroked her own brown locks, "And I can't live without you, either."

His large hand was soft, yet strong, most likely from handling the Master Sword for so long and for trying to claw or yank the chains that once kept him imprisoned at the bottom of the bay. Her other hand placed the game down and then gently took ahold of his bracer and unbuckled it.

BEN's eye opened again, but this time, it had a very lustful spark to them, "Why are you trying to undress me?"

"Oh shut up, you're ruining the mood." Removing her hand from his hair, he opened both eyes and rolled onto his back, softly watching her. Taking his bracer and glove off completely, she saw the abrasions of those rusty cuffs on his wrist. Gently touching them with her fingertips, BEN could not stop the blood from rushing to his pale cheeks.

She frowned, "You have been faced with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

"I have," he whispered, "But, you saved me from it." His left hand wiggled out of her grasp as it gently cupped her cheek.

"I'm glad I did," she gently leaned her cheek into his cool palm, "After all, who else could've found you at the bottom of the bay and destroy the chains?"

"Another fan girl?" he chuckled sweetly.

She giggled as she playfully hit him in the stomach, making him laugh and sit up. Taking his hand back, BEN smiled as he twirled a lock of her brown hair between his fingers. "But, seriously, I can't live without you, Cora."

She blushed brightly, looking at the man before her. This strong, sweet, competitive, handsome, young man clad in green. Once a gaming boy that was drowned by his older brother and his best friend. His soul stuck at the bottom of Great Bay inside his favorite video game. His body…most likely a pile of bones in a coffin buried somewhere.

His soft, bouncy dirty blonde hair.

His deep, haunting black eyes with his blood red irises.

His devilish smile that made her heart skip.

"BEN…" she whispered his name.

"Hmmm~" he hummed softly, just lost in the moment.

She purred, leaning closer to him, making him blush more, but also welcomed it. Her lips were brushing his ear when she whispered, "I want this moment to last…"

BEN closed his eyes with a whimper, feeling her hand touching his stomach and then snaking around to his waist side.

"…but…"

"But what?" he whispered back, clearly turned on.

Suddenly, she smirked as her fingers grabbed the controller he left unattended. "I have a new game to play~"

Leaning back, she winked at the stunned BEN. Grabbing the game and slid to the floor in front of the TV cabinet, she smirked at herself, feeling very sneaky for tricking BEN like that. With the 360 booting up, she stood up.

"You shouldn't have done that~"

"Oh sh—"

Suddenly, she felt her whole body force back hard, right into BEN's chest…he was far stronger than he looked. "You have some serious balls to get me riled up and then leave me hanging. I may be a diehard gamer, but I'm also a man. And every man has needs~"

She blushed madly, feeling his hard body flushed up against her back, suddenly feeling shy and anxious around him.

"As punishment," he scooped her up and walked to the couch, sitting down and wrapping his arms around her waist, keeping her firmly on his lap. She gasped, feeling his hard thighs right up against her lower back, "Sure, you can play your new game~ But you must remain here, on my lap, while I do whatever I want~"

Cora's hazel eyes widened, "Oh, I'm fucked…"

"Ooh, yes you are!" BEN laughed, his lips caressing the skin of her neck.

Her sexual urges crawled across her skin, making BEN feel every tremor he caused. He smirked evilly, his hands firm against her hips, hard into his groin.

She whimpered, struggling to keep focus on the game that was now scrolling through the logos of the dev teams involved in the making. "Fuckin' hell, BEN…"

"This is what happens when you fuck with my urges~" he purred into her ear, kissing it softly, his body turning hot and it was making it very, VERY hard for Cora to not turn around and pin him against the couch to have her way with him. She is one of his fan girls after all~

"I swear to God, BEN, one more move and then it's on like Donkey Kong!"

He laughed, his lips curled into a very sharp and seductive smirk, "Challenge accepted."

Rule of Love:

Playing with Hair= I can't live without you

April 2015