Facing the Devil
"This is Mimiru we're talking about here; she's stubborn when she gets something on her mind." Subaru
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Tsukasa sighed as the automatic doors of the hospital opened, allowing a breeze to rush in through the open door and ruffle through her hair. Clutching her duffle bag closer to her, as if it would vanish at any second, she made her way out of the confines of the hospital and back into the real world that she was trying to escape from. She wasn't surprised that her father hadn't come to visit her in the hospital – he was most likely out drinking again or trying to pick up more girls at the bar – what did surprise her though was that an older male and a teenage girl were looking for her. She figured that it was probably Bear and Mimiru as Bear seemed the type and Mimiru was always talking about going to Shimokita with her once she was able to log out. That must mean that they lived around this district somewhere…
Making her way down the once familiar street, she sighed wondering what she should do now. Bear had talked about taking her in once she managed to log out of the world, but how to contact him? She had no clue what he was like in the real world or even who he was… heck! she might have already past him. The only way to get in contact with those she had met through the World would be to log on again, and yet, she wasn't all that keen on doing that again. Narrowing down her options, she realized that the only place that she had to go was back to her father… which was the reason for her flight into the World in the first place.
What to do, what to do?
Looking up at the sky for some sort of sign or answer, she sighed. There was no way around it, her only option was going back to her father, and maybe someday if she had the guts, to head back into the World. That's when it caught her attention, coming up the street, a clack, clack. The sound of wheels on pavement. Looking down from the sky, she saw it. It was a girl in a wheelchair, pushing her hair out of her eyes, as someone pushed her wheelchair up the street. Stopping on the street pretending to look at something, she looked at the girl in the wheelchair out of the corner of her eye.
She looked familiar somehow. Loosing her grip on her duffle bag, she turned following the wheelchair with her eye. That girl… could it be…?
"Subaru?"
The girl sitting in the wheelchair turned the wheels around to see who had called out her alias. A small frown came to her features as she took in the light brown haired girl staring at her clutching a duffle bag. That face… if you added the Wavemaster garb, it could be.
"Tsukasa?"
The brown haired girl smiled, nodding. "I'm back," She said, dropping her duffle bag to the ground. "I didn't think I'd ever find any of you outside the game…"
The older woman that was holding onto the handles of the wheelchair, hesitantly let go as she saw her daughter reach for the wheels of her chair.
"I'm glad," Subaru said, wheeling herself closer to the feminine Tsukasa. "See, I told you. I'd be waiting for you here so that I could see you one more time."
Tsukasa smiled, rushing forward to the blue haired girl. "I didn't think it possible to meet you all hear in this world – it is quiet large." Tsukasa said, knelling down in front of the wheelchair.
"It's a small world too, and I keep my promises. I kept all my promises to you in 'The World' didn't I?" Subaru smiled, resting a hand on top of Tsukasa's.
"Promises are different there – it isn't the real world…"
Subaru sighed, smiling. "Isn't it reason enough? Not everything's as bad as you make it out to be? Is your life really that hard?" Tsukasa remained silent, suddenly becoming interested in the ground. Subaru smiled lightly, letting out another sigh. "I see, so it is?"
Before Tsukasa could reply, the woman who was wheeling Subaru spoke up. "Mariko, we have to go…"
Both girls looked up at the older woman. "I guess I better let you go then, see you around sometime then." Tsukasa said, pushing herself off of the ground.
Mariko watched as Tsukasa picked herself off the ground and made her way over to get duffle bag that lay forgotten on the ground. "Mom? Can I catch up with you later? This is my friend from 'The World'…"
Her mother nodded. "Make sure that you're home by six then. Nice meeting you." With a wave, Subaru's mother disappeared up the street.
"You didn't have to do that… Mariko." Tsukasa said, the name feeling foreign on her tongue.
Mariko grinned, shaking her head. "It's ok, no big deal. We were just on our way to the grocery store, but I was just going so that I could get out of the house, Tsukasa." Mariko replied, not knowing what her name really was.
Picking up her duffle bag, she grinned looking back at Mariko. "It's An. An Shouji."
"An… it suits you. So anyways, where were you off to?"
An emotion flickered over An's face but was soon replaced by a nonchalant emotion. "That what I was trying to figure out actually. Bear was talking about looking for me in the real world and was talking about taking me in when I was able to finally log out, but… I'm not ready to go back there yet…"
Mariko nodded. "It's understandable."
"The only place left is… my father – which is why I tried to escape to 'The World' in the first place." An added, in an undertone.
However, that didn't seem to escape Mariko's hearing. "I take it that you don't like living with your father?"
An shook her head, as the two headed in the direction that Mariko and her mother had just come from.
"From what Mimiru said, your mother isn't here any more?"
An shook her head again. "She did when I was about four – car accident"
"I see, and your father?"
"He likes to drink, and well, you know. He gets drunk a lot. He usually has some girl come over for the night – and their always a different one, and he never remembers anything the next day and blames it on me."
"That's awful, and that's the only place that you have to return too?"
An nodded. "For the time being, yes," From the look on Mariko gave her, she continued. "Well you see, I think it was a few weeks ago, as I told you Bear said he's take me in, and all I have to do is find him, or him me. He seemed to know who I was outside of the game," An said, staring at something that no one could see. "If I could just get brave enough to log on again and talk to him… but she's waiting for me…"
"She?" Mariko looked at her strangely, wondering what she was talking about.
"Mother…" An half-whispered.
Mariko stopped in her tracks. Mother…? But didn't she say her mother died when she was four? "Mother? What are you talking about An? You told me she was… you mean that girls' voice in Aura's place?" An nodded, still staring ahead. "I see; she'd probably do you in again for double crossing her." Mariko said, staring into space as well. Just like she got Sora… she thought.
"So, you see my bind, don't you? I can only return to my father…" An said, shrugging slightly.
"Maybe I can help you with that. Does your father know that your not in a coma anymore?" Yet again; An shook her head; no. "Well then, why don't you come home with me? You can stay at my place, we have a spare room. I can probably get in contact with Bear, Mimiru and anyone else you can think of as well."
"That sounds good… but would your parents mind? I don't want to be a burden to you guys…"
Mariko shook her head, smiling. "They won't mind, they'd probably think that it was nice that I'd have someone over."
"OK, then, you got it Mariko!" An smiled, slinging her duffle bag higher on her shoulder.
The way to Mariko's house was silent as the two were wrapped up in their own thoughts about the game, real life, and in An's case; how the world wasn't as cold as her father and classmates had made it seem like.
After a few blocks of silence between the two, Mariko slowed down, coming to a stop in front of a five story apartment building. "We're here." She beamed.
"You live here?" An asked, looking up at the four storey apartment building.
Mariko nodded, looking up at An strangely. "It's not a castle or anything, but its home."
"That's not what I mean," An muttered, shaking her head. "You see that apartment building over there?" An said, pointing to a building a couple blocks away hidden behind some of the other large apartments in the area. "That's where I used to live; third floor."
"See I told you; it's a small world." Mariko laughed, casting her a glance as she wheeled her way up the path to the complex's doors.
"Maybe; maybe you're right."
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"Dad, you home?" Mariko called, as the front door to their apartment swung open.
"Mariko, that you? I thought you were going grocery shopping with your mother? There's no way you guys could be finished that fast." Her fathers' voice laughed, coming around the corner with a newspaper in hand. "Hello there. Who's this?"
"Oh this is my friend An Shoiji. I met her in "The World". Can she stay over for a while?"
Her father nodded. "Yeah sure, I don't see why not. What about your parents though?"
"Vacation." An shrugged.
Mariko looked back and forth in the silence between her father and An, before clapping her hands together to break the silence. "Alright then, we'll be in my room, dad, C'mon An, I got to show you something."
An nodded, waving at Mariko's father before she disappeared down the hallway after Mariko.
"So this is your bedroom," Mariko said, gesturing to a closed white door. "It's our spare room, but until we get in contact with Bear and the others it can be yours. Sorry for the plainness of it, we don't use it a lot. It's right beside my bedroom, so you can come and get me anytime." Mariko grinned, wheeling herself over to the next white door, a wooden nameplate hanging on it.
An nodded, following Mariko into her bedroom, which was painted a light blue, similar to her outfit within The World. "So what sort of things to we have to look at?" An asked, remembering what Mariko had told her father as she flopped down on Mariko's bed.
Mariko turned to look at An, stopping at her computer. "The World." She said, grabbing her headset from the desk.
An paled at the name of the game. "But… I'm not ready to go back there… she's still looking for me. She'll be so angry… so angry…" She trailed off; remembering the trap Morganna had locked her in six months earlier.
Mariko nodded, turning her computer on. "I understand. I'll go then, I was going to contact Bear and Mimiru for you, so we could set up a date to meet them here in this world. Anyone else you want me to contact?"
"What about Crim and the others? You know; BT, Silver Knight and Sora."
"I can contact them all except Sora. I guess it happened soon after you logged out… but you know how Sora stayed behind when we found Aura? She got him, like she got you, except she trapped him in the red staff of her new monster; Skeith. It's causing havoc within the world… its worse then before."
"That's horrible! That's even worse then what happened to me."
"I know. Lord Orca of the Azure Sky is also gone, unconscious, just as you were. But we can't locate him on any of the servers, he just vanished. Helba's still trying to help us out, a new group has appeared though; some Twin Blade named Kite and a whole bunch of his friends. Mimiru wasn't too happy though," Mariko grinned, thinking of the outspoken Heavy Blade. "One of the new players is called BlackRose; looks exactly like Mimiru. She thinks that someone is trying to take the fame from us."
An smiled, she could see Mimiru doing that; she was always like that: loud and outspoken. "That sounds like something she'd do. Can you see if they can meet us tonight or tomorrow?" She asked, seeing that the computer had fully loaded up.
Mariko nodded, turning around and slipping the headset on. "Will do, I'll be back in a few."
Gold rings surrounded Subaru as she appeared in front of the Mac Anu's chaos gates. Moving away from the gates, she wondered what server Bear and Mimiru would be on today, if they were even signed on at the moment. They were always on before… but that was when Tsukasa was still trapped within the game. Not knowing what server the gang would be on, if at all, she figured that the quickest way to get in contact with them was to e-mail them and wait for an answer to come back. And knowing them – especially Mimiru – it wouldn't take to long.
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"I can't believe that she took my character design! I had it first, augh! And then Sora! He's gone as well and there off trying to find him, that Orca guy and stop… her. Well, we've been doing this longer and they come in and take it all away from us! Bear, how can you just sit there!" Mimiru fumed, seeing her companion just sitting on the rocks of Dun Loireag.
"Their just concerned for their friend that's all, just like we were concerned for Tsukasa."
Mimiru sighed, flopping down onto the ground as well. "Why do you have to be right all the time? Geez."
"Come with growing up, I suppose." Bear shrugged.
"It's just not fair!" Mimiru whined, folding her arms over her chest.
"You just like being known, off on some big adventure."
"I guess you're right…" A ding went off on Mimiru's terminal, making her avatar freeze momentarily.
"What'd you get?" Bear asked; when her avatar started to move again.
"It was a message from Subaru.
"Subaru? What did she say?"
"The message said that she found the real Tsukasa on the outside, and that Tsukasa was a girl – geez, you're always right! – she, er, they want to meet with us tonight or some day soon."
"Hm, so that was Tsukasa. I wonder how the two of them ran into each other…? Subaru must look a lot like her avatar as well. Tonight, huh? Well, as far as I know, I'm open. I have a press conference tomorrow, I won't be around."
Mimiru nodded. "Heh, I don't have any homework this weekend. My curfew's at nine… so, before that."
Bear nodded, a ding going off on his terminal as well, as his avatar momentarily freezing. A few minutes passed before his avatar returned to The World. "I got the same message from Subaru. She wants me to contact BT as well."
"BT as well? How come?" Mimiru whined, looking up at him. "What does she have to do with him anyways? She was the one who wanted to turn him over to the Crimson Knights – and she almost did too!"
Bear sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "That was in the beginning of this whole mess in the first place, besides, she helped us out in the end of things."
Mimiru shrugged, jumping off the ground where she had sat down moments ago. "I sent them back my reply. Did your message say where the meeting was taking place? Mine didn't."
Bear shook his head; no. "It just said the same thing as yours; that they wanted to meet up with us on the outside and to contact BT as well."
"What is we all don't live in the same district or area? This could get really challenging…"
"You said a while back that Tsukasa knew about Shimokita, that means that she, Subaru too most likely, live in that district. I'm guessing you do as well since you used to do a lot of talking about it. I know where BT lives, and both her and Subaru know where Crim is located. So, I think that we all live remotely in the same location.
"Hey!" A voice broke out, as a Heavy Axeman made their way towards the two.
"Hey there!" Mimiru yelled, waving at the newcomer as they made their way up the stairs of Dun Loireag.
"We got your message." Bear said, once Subaru had sat down on the rocks of Dun Loireag.
"That's good. I've contacted Crim and Silver Knight as well and told them that I was over here in the Dun Loireag server. Can you guys get a hold of BT for me?
"Yeah, I'll contact her once I log off here, unless she logs in any time soon." Bear said, nodding.
"That's good. I can't stay long as A – er- Tsukasa's probably is getting bored. Would you be able to come out tonight?"
"I can… but my curfew's at nine."
Subaru nodded. "I understand. How about seven o'clock tonight? We could meet at…"
"How about Shimokita!" Mimiru beamed. "Tsukasa talked about it to me once, well, she said she knew where it was…"
"Sounds fine to me, it's only about ten or so blocks from where I live," Subaru shrugged. "How about you Bear?"
"I know where it is, so I'll be there. I'll inform BT of the plan as well.
"And, I'll tell Silver Knight and Crim, how about the food court as a meeting place?"
"Sounds good, see you there Subaru!"
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"Well, what'd they say?" An asked as Mariko took the headset off of her head.
"They agreed to meet at the food court of Shimokita," Mariko said, placing the headset on its hook next to the wall. "Mimiru said that you and her talking about it one time in Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground."
An nodded. "We did, once. I'm surprised that she remembers."
Mariko laughed at this. "This is Mimiru we're talking about here; she's stubborn when she gets something on her mind."
"Good point, so when are we meeting them in Shimokita?"
"Seven o'clock. Bear and Mimiru'll be there, they're going to try and get in touch in BT as well. I've contacted Silver Knight and Crim, Crim's actually here this weekend, so he'll probably be there. Silver Knight, I haven't heard back from him – I left a message on his answering machine – but he's always around. He works in Shimokita at the video rental store. If we don't hear back from him, we can leave earlier and catch him before his shift ends, I guess."
"I see," An said, thinking it over. "What does Crim do then, if he's only here every once and a while?"
"Crim, well, he works for a large company and spends a lot of time traveling on business trips here and there."
"Oh, that reminds me! I should probably phone him and tell him where we're all meeting up. After that, we can do whatever you want to do, just give me one second."
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"So, we finally get to meet the real Tsukasa. Wonder what she'll be like? Hey, you want to meet up before we head off to Shimokita for the big unveiling? We could take the Subway there; I don't have a car of my own." Mimiru laughed, elbowing her companion.
Bear nodded. "If she looks anything like the girl from the hospital; she has to be about High School age. The Subway would be fine with me, but we should probably meet up around six o'clock."
"Six! A whole hour earlier?"
"It'll be the supper hour rush. I'm guessing you've never been on the subway at the end of the day rush, have you? What with all the extra stops that'll be made on the way to Shimokita, it would probably take an hour to get there."
"Yeah I guess. But if it's going to be that busy then… why don't we just drive there?"
"The highway will be extremely busy, more then usual as everywhere lets out pretty much in the same time frame, so it'll be backed up as far as you can see."
Mimiru nodded. "What about BT though? Will she come with us on the Subway?"
Bear shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe, maybe not; it depends if you can go or not."
"Has she got a busy job then?"
"Not anymore."
"She got fired?"
"Quit was more like it… but you should ask her about it."
"OK then," Mimiru sighed, staring off in the distance. "So what Subway; how about the one at Shinici and Hokiotada? It goes straight to Shimokita."
"That sounds fine to me, now all we have to do is meet up somewhere. You know that café above the Subway station?" We can met there around six, how about that?"
"Sounds good, old man," Mimiru laughed. "I got to go, mom's calling me."
"See you." Bear said, as the gold rings surrounded Mimiru as she disappeared from the server.
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"Never knew that time could pass by so slow." A brown haired girl moaned, leaning back in the café's wicker chair, sipping on her cappuccino. Her eyes kept scanning the crowd passing by as she looked for the man from the picture Bear had sent her earlier that day. Looking through the crowd once more, she saw it, well, she thought she did anyways.
"Hey! Over here!" She called, shooting out of her chair, cappuccino in one hand, while she waved her other hand wildly.
The man in question turned and looked around for whoever it was that was calling out at him and upon seeing a brown haired girl waving energetically at someone in the crowd, he made his way over to the hyperactive female. "Mimiru?" He asked, once he got close enough.
"You got it. So, where's BT?" Mimiru asked, looking around the older man for a woman as well.
"Hm? Oh, she said she'd meet us there. She was on that side of town anyways."
Mimiru nodded, pushing the chair back into the table, still clutching her cappuccino. "So, I guess we should get going then, eh?" Bear nodded. "So what am I supposed to call you then? Calling you 'Bear' is going to be too weird."
"Ryo Sakuma."
"You mean that writer guy? My mom loves all your books! Anyways, I'm Emi."
"Alright then Emi, lets get going."
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A/N: Part 1 of 3
Man this story turned out longer then I thought that it would! Originally it was supposed to be a one-shot story, but the ideas kept coming, so I decided to split it up into a few parts. Look for the next chapter coming soon!