Author Note: I'm sorry for this, I really am. Trigger warnings for character death and implied suicide.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Your name is Meenah Peixes. A little over one solar sweep ago you started playing a game that led to the destruction of your species. Your group consisted of the last twelve trolls in existence, and were the last hope for your race. But man were those suckerfish lame! They could barely fight and would have been forked without your help. They didn't have no fighting spirit. All you did was push a few buttons, stir up a bit of animosity. You knew Damz had snapped, especially after what she did to Rufioh, but you never expected her to set up an ambush. The trees on Aranea's planet gave her the perfect place to hide and maneuver in circles around you. You fought back, of course, but what could you possibly do against the crazed witch of time? You managed to get in a few good stabs before she cracked your skull against the rock-hard ground, along with many other parts of your body. You had trouble remembering what happened after that; you couldn't feel your fingers or any other part of your body for that matter. Fuchsia blood pooled around you as you stared blankly at the sky, feeling grateful that Aranea left earlier on a personal quest. By the time she returned, you would probably be dead.
What will you do?
Aranea pov
I was sliding the last piece of the puzzle into place when I felt it. The sudden and urgent feeling that something somewhere had gone terribly wrong. Last time I felt it, Rufioh had just been paralyzed from the neck down. I ignored it this time, I had been too late to help Rufioh anyway, carefully placing the last puzzle piece and making note of the image it formed. It told a story about the origin of my planet; one strand in the complicated weave of history.
Satisfied with the new information, I took my leave from the cave. Sunlight filtered through the trees outside, blinding my vision eightfold momentarily. I glanced around the forest as my vision cleared, the sense of dread returning tenfold. The forest seemed quieter than normal, as if all the local animals had fled. Even the spiders abandoned the area.
The only thing that could cause this much upheaval was one of my fellow players, and the only one on my planet right now was Meenah.
My pulse accelerated as I took off walking through the trees. Knowing Meenah, she started killing the local animals for food again and sent them all scrambling away in a panic. Despite reassuring myself with this thought, I picked up the pace a little bit.
Meenah and I had been camping about ten minutes away from the cave, and I reached the clearing in a little over five.
I skidded to a halt at the edge, staring in shock at the scene. A mixture of fuchsia and rust red blood was splattered on the surrounding trees; all centered around one purple blob. I inched toward the sprawled figure, unwilling to believe my own eyes. Meenah barely moved as I approached, only able to flick her eyes in my direction. I couldn't bring myself to look too closely, but her limbs were probably broken and her horns placed in a cross next to her head.
I heard someone screaming. It kind of sounded like my voice. But that wasn't possible; I would know if I was screaming. And crying, I would notice that too.
"Hey Serks." Meenah rasped, coughing up a few drops of blood. "'bout time you got here."
"M-Meenah." I collapsed on my knees next to her prone form, wiping one hand vigorously across my eyes. "What happened?"
"Damara happened." She chuckled once, but was cut off by a wretched cough. "I got her pretty good though." Her voice trailed off, and I grabbed one of her hands. It felt colder than usual, pulse weakening with every beat. I briefly wondered if I could use my newly acquired powers to heal her, but it wouldn't be possible. I had only managed to fix small scratches before, and that wouldn't be enough to save Meenah. "I think I should cod tier" she tightened her grip on my hands, unable to turn her head to meet my gaze. "You remember where my quest cocoon is?"
"I do." I nodded once; Meenah and I had spent many days exploring her planet, making note of where any important landmarks were. If I ran, I could get to the quest cocoon within fifteen minutes. My flame shoes would get me there in ten. Hopefully it would be fast enough to save her.
I carefully put my arms under Meenah's frame, scooping her up bridal style in an attempt not to jostle her injuries. Her blood seeped into my dress, dying it an awful shade of brown. I pretended that I couldn't hear her groan in pain as I equipped my shoes and kicked them into action.
Since Meenah functioned as my server player, I only had to fly through one gate to reach her planet. Her quest cocoon wasn't far from where it let out, and I landed inside it gingerly. Somewhere along the trail, she stopped breathing.
It was when we went through the gate, the exact moment when her body became ice cold against mine.
I forced my arms not to tremble as I set her down in the center, not sticking around long enough to watch her ascend. I flew out the top, flying back toward her hive before crash landing in a trembling heap.
My hands and clothes were still stained with her blood; I couldn't stand to look at them. I lost track of time as I wept, completely unaware of my surroundings. I just sat and stared and cried, blue tears mixing with tracks of purple blood.
"Damn girl! What happened to you?" I stared up at Latula in silence, eyes wide as I allowed her to pull me to my feet. I had no idea where she came from; she just kind of appeared. Or perhaps I just wasn't paying enough attention. "Is that… Meenah's blood?" She didn't seem too upset; the pair had never gotten along.
"I don't want to talk about it." I took a deep breath, then another, then another. "Do you have the captchalogue code for a knife?"
"Yeah." She pulled a card out of her sylladex, a knife appearing in her hands. "You can just have this one, if you want."
"Thanks." I took the object, captchalogueing it away for safe keeping. Latula didn't ask why I wanted it. She didn't ask where I was going when I turned and walked away. She didn't even ask if Meenah was still alive. She just watched me go with a pensive frown on her face.
I didn't look back.
After all, I had to work my way through ten other planets to get back to my quest cocoon.
End Note: Hopefully after this I'll be able to actually focus on doing things I'm supposed to be doing.