Rena and Shugo, R:2
By Kayinay
Note, this fic is set in the same r2verse as fornwalt's "Logging On". No spoilers, really. Written for fornwalt.
"Come on!" Rena shouted back to her brother, who was stopping at every weapon shop along the way in order to ogle the weapons that he couldn't use or afford. "We're going to be late to Δ Melting Zombie Drink if you keep dawdling."
"Ah, come on, sis! Look at this awesome rod. It says it does major damage, good combos, boosts—"
"Who cares, Shugo?!" Rena shouted back at him, still walking. "Neither of us are wavemasters."
"They're called Harvest Clerics, Rena," Shugo corrected, looking smug, "harvest clerics." They'd been playing the World R:2 for a little over a week together, and Shugo had quickly picked up on the new lingo and names, throwing them around (and correcting his big sister at any chance he could get) like an old player.
They were, Rena supposed, old players. Both of them had played together in the original version, using avatars she'd won in an online contest. It had taken a lot of convincing, but Shugo eventually began to love the World as much as she had, and they'd spent hours together as they couldn't have in the real world.
The World R:2, however, had very little in common with the version they'd played. All the characters had changed—a much wider variety was available—and this had made their old avatars, once highly famous and much sought after, all but obsolete. Thankfully, however, Helba had helped them out and uploaded their old character data by request of Balmung, who owed Shugo.
At the moment, the twins were running late to get to the field that Mireille was at—Rena and she were real life pen pals, but they hadn't seen each other online since the original World. They'd planned to meet and level up together but Shugo had first been late and was now lagging behind staring at the weapons available.
An eternity later, Rena finally managed to threaten her hero of a brother into hurrying up. Together they stepped through the three-story double-doors of the Chaos Gate. Heading straight for the rotating rings that would warp them to Δ Melting Zombie Drink, a level 42 dungeon, they were stopped by a shout.
"Omigosh!" came the cry, from some random female player loitering around in the area. "You two look just like each other! Except you're chibified!"
She squealed again and glomped Rena. "You're so cute!"
Rena was choking—or at least, her avatar was doing a very, very good impression of it—but she managed to see one of the other characters.
They did look just like each other. They both had the same neon pink-ish-purple hair in the same style. The same dark purple and gold-edged armor. The same tights with the weird vine and thorn silhouette pattern. They even had the same freaking eye color.
It had been years since she'd played seriously, she reassured herself later, and that's why she never made the connection until after her stupid older brother pointed it out.
"Are you Kite?" he asked of his own look-alike. "And Blackrose?"
"Right," Kite replied, smiling. "Who're you? And how'd you get those avatars? I didn't think that R:2 even had our character designs anymore."
"Um… they, uh," Shugo tried to hedge, dodging the question. They weren't, technically, supposed to have these avatars in R:2.
"The same way we have ours, I guess," Blackrose replied, laughing. She helped Rena pry the random stranger—steam gunner, purple hair, white-white skin, no relation whatsoever—off of her and send her off with a brisk (not quite polite) comment.
The four of them hung around the Chaos Gate for a few more minutes, exchanged quick stories and member addresses—it was amazing for Rena to meet the legendary .hacker Blackrose, whom she shared an avatar with. For Shugo—well, Rena got a good laugh at him trying to show off, and failing miserably.
Remembering that they had to be elsewhere, Rena and Shugo gated off with a wave.
Nine days and two questing adventures with the original .hackers later, Rena was contacted rather suddenly by Blackrose.
"Omigosh!" Blackrose suddenly burst out the instant she set eyes on the chibified version of herself. Which still made her laugh every night to Kenji—Kite in the real world. "Kite's been kidnapped," she said concisely.
Rena paused for a moment, stunned, but Shugo instantly went into Hero-Mode, beginning his long rant about how he'll protect any underdog and save any person who needs saving. He'll help—
"What happened?" Rena asked, interrupting.
"Well, Kenji—Kite—is fine, he's sitting right next to me, actually, laughing, but his character's been kidnapped in the World because of that stupid legend of the Key of the Twilight."
"That rumour's still going around?" Rena asked, sighing. "Geez."
"Yeah, so he's talking to the kidnappers—The Twilight Brigade—more specifically, a good friend of ours. We're still kind of confused about whether it's all some ridiculous joke or if it's totally serious.
"But I called you guys 'cause I figured I would need help—I'm going after them, give Haseo hell about taking my guy."
"Definitely," Rena agreed, smiling. She loved Blackrose—who was very much the big sister she'd never had, because of course Shugo had to be a boy when he was born.
So together, the three of them set off to Δ Soaring Mountain Thingies. They knew that this was the correct field because Kite kept up a running monologue (to Blackrose) about what Haseo was saying and where they were going.
It was a dungeon-type field, of course, with dark spooky passages and the random ghost monster floating across the room wailing. And Kite told Blackrose that he was in one of the rooms on the bottom level—"Because it just can't be easy," Blackrose muttered, grabbing her sword and killing two ghosts in one slice.
"Haseo…" she whispered in his ear, sending him jumping into the air. Her voice was dark, like she was about to PK someone. He laughed a little, backing away. "Give. Him. Back. Now."
"Give who back?" he asked, still laughing tightly. Still backing away. Kite wasn't anywhere in the room, Rena noted. Blackrose seemed less concerned with that fact and more interested in the idea of strangling the rogue.
"Continue to act stupid, stupid, and it won't even concern you anymore."
"Omigosh, look!" Haseo shouted suddenly, pointing behind Blackrose. She spun around and saw only Rena and Shugo (who was discreetly opening all the treasure chests in the room). Rena kicked Shugo to bring his attention back to the situation.
By the time she turned back, Haseo was disappearing into the next room and Blackrose gave chase, shouting obscenities.
There was a short pause, then Rena and Shugo burst into laughter at the comical scene. Randomly, Haseo would run into the room, the leave through a different pathway, Blackrose only steps behind him—sword up and ready to kill.
After a while, Kite walked into the room, apparently bored. He stood around with Shugo and Rena. Shugo was shocked by his sudden appearance, but Rena just took it calmly.
"So… where were you?" Rena asked. She'd suspected something was up when Haseo acted as he did and Kite was no where to be found.
"Oh, he kidnapped me. I told Akira—Blackrose—that much, and he took me here. But then I explained the whole 'The Key of the Twilight is just a legend and isn't real, let alone my bracelet, and blah blah blah' and he let me free… I haven't told 'Kira that yet. It's funny watching her."
"Will she actually kill him?" Shugo asked, as the two of them ran in and out of the chamber room again. Blackrose didn't even spare the three of them a second look.
"Um… she might," Kite admitted grinning, rubbing the back of his neck. "Probably should stop her before that happens, huh?"