AN: Hello guys, thanks for reading my first half prince story. I would be really happy if you took your time to review as constructive criticism will be a great help in getting better at writing. If you find mistakes, don't be too shy to point them out, as the story is without a beta and I have rather people tell me so that I can correct them instead of cringing at stupid mistakes.
Xiao Lan stared at the doctor with disbelief written over her face.
"Please tell me this is a joke"
"I'm sorry Ms Feng. There is nothing I'd like to do more, but sadly I can't. You have breast cancer and it is rapidly growing, breaking off and affecting your other organs. If nothing is done you will only have about a month left. Therapy will lengthen your time to at least 3, if you're lucky 5 months."
5 months wasn't all that much and three even less. There was so much she still wanted to do – create a legend, do another tour with the band, start a family. Heck, she hadn't even had the courage to confess her feelings to Gui or being Prince.
"Is there a chance that I will survive?"
"Very slim, only about 2%."
"How expensive is the therapy and how often will I have to come in for it?"
She had read somewhere that cancer treatment was very expensive and aside from the money that she had made from being Second Life's spokesperson she didn't have much saved up, as pretty much everything went into either daily expenses like food or into the insane costs for university.
"The cost is about 10000 Yuan per treatment. Because your cancer is growing rapidly, you will have to stay in the hospital for observation."
10000?! That was a lot of money. She only got 8000 Yuan a month as a salary and the treatments would be more often than that. And staying in the hospital? That was a definite problem. Not only did she not want to tell anyone about the cancer, which would be difficult if she couldn't leave, she also wouldn't be able to use the time left for anything enjoyable. And spending her last days in the hospital? That was a definite no go.
"10000 is a bit …. Is there a less expensive treatment or a way I could stay at home? The hospital doesn't allow the use of internet and I like to spend time playing second life…"
"I'm sorry Ms Lan. There is no other treatment. Though health care might take over part of the cost. As for playing second life, that will be impossible, even if you were able to stay at home as you are not allowed to play while you are on medicine as the workings of the game helmet interfere with the body."
'No Second Life? That's impossible. Second Life WAS her life. All her friends were there, she even saw her parents more often in Second Life than outside of it.'
"Then I'm not going to take the therapy. I don't want to spend the rest of my life in the hospital wasting away."
"Are you sure? Without treatment you will only have a month. Therapy will give you at least three times that amount."
"I'm sure. Time has no meaning if I can't spend it in the way I want it."
"If you change your mind please contact me. But any later than the end of this week and the treatment won't be able to do much anymore. Please take the prescription to the apothecary."
"Thank you very much Doctor, but I don't think that I will change my mind."
Xiao Lan took the prescription and left in a daze. Cancer. What did she do to deserve this? Normally things like this only happen to other people or in movies. Only one month left and so many things to do…
In the apothecary she tried to greet the sales women with a smile, but failed. It was impossible to do more than a crooked grimace that looked like she wanted to kill someone rather than a smile. When the salesclerk read the paper, she gave Xiao Lan a look of pity. She was way too young to die. Another child gone too early.
"There isn't much you can do against cancer, so the only thing we can give you is painkillers. The different numbers show the strength of the dose, the higher the number the stronger the dose. As you are taking them more often you will grow immune to the lower ones, forcing you to take the stronger pills. The stronger ones are not only more effective, but will also make you feel sleepy and stay longer in your system. So I don't recommend you to take them right before class if you have to pay attention. Also, as long as the medication is in your system, you mustn't use the VR head gear, as both interfere with the nervous system in your body, leading to great health risks. Do you have any questions?"
So even without the treatment she would be unable to play Second Life … wait, the pain felt in second life was only 30%, right? So she should be able to withstand the pain even without the medicine.
"How do I know how long the medicine stays in the system and can I play second life during the night if I don't take the painkillers?"
The clerk gave her a long look and sighed.
"The duration time of the medication is indicated on the pill bottle, but if you really want to make sure I would recommend to wait another additional 10 to 30 minutes depending on the dose. While it will be possible in the beginning, I really wouldn't recommend you to skip the painkillers in the later stage as the pain might be unbearable and forcing yourself will be a strain on your body, shortening your life even further."
Shortening her lifespan? There wasn't much left of it anyway.
"Thank you, ma'am."
Leaving the apothecary with the bag of medicine Xiao Lan made her way to the bus stop. It was lucky that she didn't decide to take her hover bike as she wouldn't have been able to concentrate on the traffic. An accident was the last thing she needed right now.
During the bus ride she thought about what she was to do now with only a month left. Any fulfilment of big dreams was impossible. Marriage and graduating took too much time, she didn't even have a boyfriend and was just in her first year of university. Going travelling would catch the attention of her family and friends which she wanted to avoid. So what WAS possible? While she couldn't marry, she could at least confess to Gui. If he loved her as he always claimed to love Prince, then she could enjoy the rest of her time together with him. If he didn't agree to date Feng Lan, then she at least knew that their relationship wouldn't have worked out anyway, because he only loved Prince. She could also ask Yulian for permission to go on another tour with the Infinite Band. While the last tour had been stressful, it had also been great fun to sing in front of such a big audience. She might also use that occasion to select a substitute Lord for the castle, after all it would be bad if no one knew how to act as the city lord during her absence. It would be easier for them if someone was already used to the role when she couldn't be there anymore.
The bus ride had gone by without notice and she still wasn't prepared to interact with anyone. So she paused a moment in front of the door to mentally prepare herself. She couldn't act any different than normal or the ruse would be up without being started. After taking a deep breath Lan finally entered the house and was promptly greeted by her brother.
"Siiis, I'm hungry. I haven't eaten anything in ages. Make me some food."
Xiao Lan smiled. No matter what happened, trust Feng Wu Quin to be hungry.
"Idiot. You knew that I would be late today. You should have bought something on the way back home."
Despite scolding her brother she started to prepare some omelettes with chicken. After all she hadn't eaten anything either and cooking was a task she quite enjoyed.
That evening in Second Life
As soon as she had logged in, she was ambushed by Yu Lian.
"Good to see finally online, Prince. There are some inquiries from people about new living space in Inifinite City, the tavern has reported problems about food shortage, giant wolves have been trying to attack Sun City, Star City's crops have been hit by bad weather"
Prince sighed. The list of meaningless reports he had to deal with was seemingly endless. Before Yu Lian could continue any further he decided to interrupt.
"This is soooo boring", he whined. " I've been stuck inside of the castle for ages. Can't we do another concert tour? The first one was a great hit after all and I've found some new songs I wanted to sing."
Yu Lian gave him a pitying look.
"You are the city lord, Prince. You can't just run off as you wish."
"I know that Yu Lian dasao. But it's not like the concerts would take long. Together with preparation and travel time they shouldn't take more than two days each. As we are well known already we wouldn't have to wait for people as before. And it's not like I can always be in the castle anyway. It would be laughable if Infinite City stopped working one day because couldn't log in for two weeks because of a cold."
Yu Lian sighed.
"You're right Prince. That would be stupid. We should call a meeting to discuss choosing a vice lord. And when everyone is gathered anyway you can ask the others if they want to do another tour. The treasury could need another boost after all."
Prince grinned.
"Thanks Yu Lian, you're the best."
He immediately sent the members of Dark Phantom and Odd Squad as well as the representations of the other groups a PM for a team meeting.
When everyone had gathered, Yu Lian started the meeting
"Thank you everyone for coming. While Prince whining about paperwork is nothing new", she sent him a scathing look, which he quitted with a sheepish smile,"he brought up a valid point. At the moment he, as the city lord, is the only person who can sign the important documents for infinity city as well as the other cities on the continent. If he couldn't log in for any reason the city administration would sink into chaos. Therefore I propose electing a vice lord, who can govern in Prince's absence."
"Che, as if that would be necessary. After all idiots can't catch a cold" grumbled Ming Huan.
That made Wolf dage who's ears had caught the quiet statement smile.
"That may be true, but while idiots are spared from colds, they are not spared from accidents and Prince can be quite the klutz. It is forbidden to use the VR gear while being under the influence of medicine, as the VR wouldn't be able to work properly."
"Last time Prince's disappearance caused quite the panic, as only Wicked was able to contact him" Nan Gong Zui added, remembering the incident when Prince got lost on another continent by accident, "It would be good to away to avoid that next time."
"Everybody in favour for choosing a vice lord, please raise their hand", Yu Lian prompted.
All hands were raised.
"Any suggestions for the position?", she continued.
"I think that you would make an efficient Vice-Lord", Lolidragon answersd.
"Thank you. But I have already enough work with the treasury.", declined Yu Lian.
"I would love to assist his royal highness" Gui chimed in.
"That wouldn't work as both of you would be absent during concert tours.", his eager proposition was shot down.
"How about Wu Quing?", Prince suggested. "He's in the castle most of the time anyway and doesn't have much work to do. And since Dark Emperor came in close second in the tournament, it would only be fair for one of them to take the position of Vice Lord." What he didn't say was, that he also liked the thought of the position staying in the family. He was the one who started everything, so it would be only fair to pass his dream on her brother.
"Hmm, that could work.", pondered Yu Lian.
"Oi, I don't want the position of Vice Lord. Way too much work to do". Wu Quing spoke up.
Though Yu Lian decided to ignore him.
"Everyone in favour for Wu Qing taking the position of Vice Lord raise their hand"
All hands except Wu Quing's were raised.
"That's not fair. I don't want the position. You can't force me" Wu Quing whined.
"I didn't want it either, deal with it" Prince commented with an evil grin and added in a PM 'Take the position or I won't cook for you anymore, dear brother mine'.
That ended the discussion. While he hated paperwork, starvation wasn't an option and trying to cook by himself was just an invitation for dying of food poisoning.
"With that settled, if no one has anything else that needs to be discussed…." No one spoke up." Then everyone besides Wicked, Gui and Rose is free to go.
When everyone else had left the room, Prince told the others about his plan.
"Staying in the castle all the time is boring, I want to do another concert tour. What do you think?"
"Whatever his highness wants to do, I'm fine with it", Gui agreed.
"I don't mind either" Wicked gave her a kind smile. He loved hearing Xiao Lan sing, and seeing her have so much fun at the concerts was worth all the trouble they have had with the fans.
"I would Love to get out of the castle again and performing is fun. I'm in", Rose agreed.
"Great. I planned on doing one concert in every city again, with Infinite City being the great final. If you're okay with it, I would like to hold the first concert Thursday in two weeks in Sun city, followed by a Star city on Sunday and Moon city the following Thursday. The grand final would be on Monday in Infinite City. That would give us enough time to practice a few new songs and give us some time to travel and recover between locations." What Prince left out was, that holding the concert at the beginning of the fourth week should probably gurantee that he was still alive for it, even if using the VR shortened his lifespan.
"The space between concerts sounds good. But I don't think that I'll be able to come up with new songs and give us enough time to practice with just one and a half week." Gui admitted.
"We don't have to write new songs ourselves, after all we did cover Bon Jovi, too. I've found a few songs that I would like to sing, that would fit well with the other songs we have performed so far. After all we have a theme of love, enjoying life to its fullest and creating a legend."
"Okay, practicing three songs, one for each theme is doable." The other members agreed.
"Want to go to the practice room, so I can show you which songs I was thinking about?"
They made their way to the practice room. On the way Prince's mind was on his mental to do list.
Electing a stand in for City Lord X
Proposing another concert tour X
Concert in sun city
Concert in star city
Concert in moon city
Grand Final in Infinite City
Confessing to Gui
AN: Which songs do you think would be great? While I have already picked out three songs, I might change my decisions if you show me a better alternative.
Anything you liked about the story? Anything you disliked? Please tell me in a review!