Haseo turned to the Chaos Gate. He had gotten an e-mail from Silabus to meet him at Breg Epona. Silabus wanted to go level up with him again. It had been awhile since the Cubia incident, so Haseo hadn't been visiting "The World" much. "Oh, hey, Silabus." He spoke up as the red-haired young man approached him. "Good to see you."
Haseo hadn't visited the world for a few reasons. Possibly from the nervousness of coming back to the dangerous game that had been responsible for three incidents in the network. Possibly because he didn't have much of a reason to come back now that Shino was safe again. He had considered looking for Ovan, but he had thought it might be better to wait for Shino to start a search, since she knew Ovan better than he did. however, he knew neither of those were the reason for his absence.
The real reason-It took awhile for Haseo to admit it-was Silabus. The attractive young man. The kind-hearted gaming addict. Silabus played "The World" for the same reason as Gaspard, and for his friends. Haseo finally understood how Silabus felt about "The World". To Haseo, Silabus was someone he saw as more than a PC in "The World", and even more than a friend. It was something like...love. Haseo didn't know if it was exactly as Endrance seemed to feel toward him, but he knew he wanted to be more than friends with Silabus.
"So, Haseo, how have you been? It's been awhile since I saw you. Three weeks, I think."
"Oh, yeah...Sorry, Silabus, I've been busy and..."
Silabus looked at him with an understanding face. "Still upset what happened?"
Haseo nodded. He didn't tell Silabus the real reason he hadn't been in "The World". "Are you still helping newbies?"
"Yeah, haha. So, I haven't had much chance to level up. Can't take a level one to fight in a level one-fifty area, you know. I'm still just level one-thirty."
Haseo himself was at level one-fifty. "So, where did you want to go? Do you have a place picked out?"
Silabus nodded and smiled delightfully. "Yeah. Got this one from Gaspard. He said it was pretty good. It's 'Sigma Lost Beauty's Love'. Is that alright with you, Haseo?"
"Yeah, let's go." He stepped into the Chaos Gate, selected the words, and they left to the area.
When they arrived, Haseo saw they were in a beautiful field. The sky was blue and cloudy. The cannon that marked the fields. The sun seemed to reflect luminously off of Silabus' face. Seeing Silabus' in such a light, exemplifying his beauty, almost made Haseo blush.
Forget it, He thought to himself, Not as if he'd think the same of me, anyway. Why bother?
Silabus looked at Haseo, but didn't notice the now-white Adept Rogue's thrown off expression. "We have to get to the Beast Temple. Lead the way, haseo." He smiled and motioned toward the first altar.
"Y-yeah, let's go." Haseo felt the stutter come out, and prayed Silabus didn't notice. They moved to the first altar, and Haseo noticed the monsters. Crap, a Long-Lived King...I hate these things. They take too long to kill... He quickly switched to his Dual-Guns, and moved in. "Get ready, Silabus."
At least, he started to say that, but before he said "Get" Silabus had dashed into battle, thrusting his blade into the Long-Lived's body. Before Haseo regained himself from the young man's surprise attack, the first of the three beasts lay dead, and the second glowed blue.
"Come on, Haseo! Use the Rengeki Finish!"
"Y-yeah, alright." Haseo pressed the Skill Trigger and rushed in. "Rengeki Finish! Justice! Judgement!" With the double trigger, the second beast was dead. They moved into the third, but something unexpected happened. It glew red...
"Silabus...what the hell is that thing doing?"
Silabus' face turned an expression of panic. "Haseo! Get away from it! It'll self-destru--"
But before he could finish his warning, the lizard exploded, damaging Haseo enough to bring him down to one-twelve HP. "Gah!" Haseo let out a yell of pain. Silabus had been far away enough to avoid damage, and ran to Haseo.
"Hold on, i've got something." Silabus went into his item stock and pulled out a Noble Wine item. He healed Haseo to full.
"Thanks, Silabus." Haseo smiled thoughtfully, wondering why Silabus used such a high power item. He had given Silabus a very rare healing item with infinite uses, so he was confused as to why he'd waste a Noble Wine on him.
As if reading his thoughts, Silabus smiled. "It's okay. I'm not worried about these old things. They're not hard to find, really." Silabus helped Haseo up, making the white-haired boy blush a little bit, but Silabus, again, didn't notice. They collected the symbol, and moved on.
Two fights later, they had formed the Judge's symbol, and the Beast Temple opened. "Great, Haseo! Let's go on in!"
When they reached the bottom, someone was already there. It was a Steam Gunner in a black and white striped shirt with matching pants and a triangular symbol on his arms and face. His face was rough and he had large muscles. He looked like someone ready for Kestrel.
"Weeeell," The Steam Gunner called out at Haseo, "If it isn't the legendary PKK Haseo! Or is it, 'Terror of Death'? You don't look so scary to me." He walked in close to Haseo, examining his body. "You don't look so terrible either."
Haseo felt his patience snap already, "Get out of here. I don't feel like this today."
The Steam Gunner let out a burst of laughter. "Haha! Don't feel like it, huh? Ain't that too bad. Pooor little Terror of Death. Too scared to fight."
Silabus spoke up meekly. "H-Haseo, maybe we should just..leave"
"Ooooh, and who's this? Picked up a little friend, huh, Terror of Death? Wonder if he's as scary as you are? Looks like a shrimp!" He kicked Silabus to the ground, and planted his foot on the young man's chest. "Now, listen here, boy! You stay out of it, or i'll PK you like allllll the others. No one screws around with Gore!"
"Get off of him, you bastard!" Haseo screamed, and punched Gore in the stomach, throwing the large PK off and knocking him to the ground. Haseo quickly pulled Silabus up.
Gore chuckled, "Care about your little friend, don't ya, Terror of Death?"
"Shut up! I'm not the Terror of Death anymore!"
Gore stood on his feet, brandishing his weapon. "Ain't ya? That's too bad. Too bad." He pointed the gun toward Silabus. "Look here, boy. I'm lookin' to PK the Terror of Death. If you ain't gonna fight, then you can just wait while I PK you. Starting with your little friend."
As Gore pulled the trigger, Haseo jumped toward him, knocking the gun away, making the shot hit the cieling. "I said to leave him alone!" He screamed, attacking Gore with his Twin Blades.
Silabus stood for a minute, unable to move. He regained himself, and used a "Warrior's Tome" on Haseo and himself, boosting their Physical attack. He rushed in and stood beside Haseo, facing the PKing villain.
"Weeelll, finally gonna put 'em up, are ya, Terror of Death? Looks like your little buddy's gonna help out. Hahaha!"
Haseo looked at Silabus seriously. "Stand back, Silabus. I'll take care of him. Just defend yourself."
"But, Haseo, I can't just let you get hurt!"
"I'll be fine! Stay back, please!"
Silabus thought for a minute, but conceded hesitantly. He boosting his and Haseo's defense stats, and stood away.
"Come on." Haseo said in an arrogant tone. "I won't take long."
"Cocky, ain't ya, Terror of Death? Yea, you won't take long! You won't take long to die!" Gore aimed quickly at Haseo, and fired a shot. Haseo blocked it easily and rushed in.
"Lotus Flower!" He yelled, as his Twin Blades turned to his Lost Weapon, Tickling Death. He knocked Gore into the air, and spun his scythe around, cutting the villain. Reducing his HP by hundreds.
"Gah! Guess I shoulda thought this through. No biggie." jumped back and aimed again, but when he fired, Haseo swung his scythe, knocking Gore's shot back at him. "What the--! No!" He was hit, and fell to the ground. "Damn you, Terror of Death!"
"I told you, i'm no longer the Terror of Death! I'm Haseo!"
"I'll remember this!" The steam gunner shouted as he rushed out the door.
Haseo turned to Silabus. "Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah...that was amazing, Haseo! I've never seen anyone hit a shot back like that!" He looked at the beast statue. "Go on, take the treasure."
Haseo nodded, and opened the chest. He pulled out the weapon inside.
"Silabus...this is..."
"Yeah, it's a Lit. Honeysuckle. Haseo..do you know what a honeysuckle represents?"
Haseo looked at the blades thoughtfully. "Devoted affection..."
Silabus smiled and wrapped his arms around the shocked Adept Rogue. "That's right, Haseo. I want you to have those, and this too."
Haseo already caught off-guard by Silabus' hug, but when the young boy kissed him on the lips, he turned red. He was sure he felt it as if Silabus was in front of him. "S-Silabus...I...I--"
The blade brandier hugged Haseo tighter. "I..care about you, Haseo. Please...come back to The World more often."
"Y-Yeah." He kissed Silabus again, "I care about you too, Silabus...I love you."
"Oh, Haseo...I love you, too." Silabus kissed Haseo back and they were locked in a passionate embrace.
After what seemed like an eternity, Silabus suddenly leaped in surprise. "Ah!"
Haseo turned around quickly and pulled out his weapon. "What?! What?!"
"I got a text message, haha. Sorry"
Haseo sighed and replaced his blades. "Who is it?"
"It's Gaspard. He wants you to help him with the guild shop."
"hah, just like him. Yeah, let's go." He grabbed Silabus' hand, and they found a platform. When they arrived back at Breg Epona, Pi was standing in front of the Gate.
"Haseo!" She yelped in surprise. She looked down and saw that the two were holding hands. "Haseo..." she said,"I never would have guessed..."