Their feet shuffled over the exposed data code on the dank dungeon floor. Long strings of winding white numbers snaked through the air, flowing like ribbons. The unsteady area shook so often it was like being underwater. The peeling walls exposed ugly patches of red. It felt as if the whole thing could collapse at any given moment, putting them all into a comatose state.
Kite took a sideways glance at his allies. BlackRose had her chest proudly puffed out, putting on a brave smirk. But he knew it was all a facade, and inside, she was as unstable as the area around them.
His other party member was a new girl he had just met. They had casually began talking in the root town and made a trade. She gave him her member address before she gated out. And today, he had contacted everyone, with only his partner to come over, ready for a fight. And he had remembered her and called her, so now she was here.
The girl's name was Hilasse. She had a swarm of angry markings on her face, neck, and arms, with as many stripes as a tiger. Her short hair was blue, and she wore extravagantly complex armor. She was a blademaster. The girl nonchalantly swung her blade, humming under her breath.
As they entered the next room, the golden portal buzzed and exploded into many rays of light shooting about. Several enemies materialized. They ran forward. BlackRose initiated a skill and flipped about wildly, swinging her blade in wide arcs. Kite took care of the smallest monster with several swift swipes of his blades. Hilasse's blade thrashed about madly, with no regard to the elegance of swordfighting. The enemies were quickly dispatched.
"Ola Repth!" Kite called, and the whole party sighed with relief as their hit points were restored. They lounged about for a moment as their skill points slowly regenerated.
"All righty!" Hilasse cheerfully called the SP reached maximum, "Let's go!"
Kite just shrugged, unaccustomed to such cheer.
They entered the next room. It was large and square, with nothing of interest but a chest and a gruntie egg. Kite strode for the egg and scooped it up, party loyally trailing behind.
"Hey," Hilasse said suddenly, "Why is it so weird here? I mean, I know it's the data bug, but…can just being here really put you into a coma?"
Kite nearly burst with guilt. Ever since they embarked for this area, he felt a nagging that it wasn't right. Hilasse was just innocent and ignorant of everything going on. Well, they say ignorance is bliss. This was his mission, and he had dragged her here to help without telling her the truth, without even telling her that she could well go into a coma from venturing with him. It was like surging torrents of a river finally weakened the dam, and it crumbled under the weight of the water. He found himself explaining everything, the virus, the encounter with Skeith, the bracelet, data drain, the white girl, everything he had been through. As a party member, she deserved to know.
He stopped as his tale ended, out of breath from talking so fast. BlackRose had wandered off to open the chest, obviously bored an impatient. Hilasse stared at him with wide eyes, managing to say, "Wow." That was it. Nothing more to say. She turned, unable to speak, and ran for the door leading to the next area. Kite bolted after her, grabbing her shirt before she could enter.
"Wait," he said softly, "Look." The doorway was guarded by violet flames, flickering and dancing as though they had a life of their own. He knew what they meant. Beyond the door lay a fight with a data bug, a part of the virus itself. "Hilasse," he said quietly, "Are you sure? You're risking yourself. Go back to the root town."
Hilasse's lilac eyes regarded him thoughtfully. "You've beaten a bunch o' data bugs, haven't you?" At a hesitant nod, she pulled her lips into a painful smile. "Then I'm fine." With that, she confidently stepped into the purple flames, Kite and BlackRose following closely behind.
It wasn't a data bug. It was much worse. It was a Phase. It was a deep, mottled brown, the color of a fen, but many times worse. It was shapeless, and looked at them, although it had no face. The speakers crackled, and Kite's headphones played screams into his ears while his heart pounded painfully in his dry throat. BlackRose hefted her blade and charged, screaming a battle cry. Hilasse's eyes had grown wide, her face abnormally pale. Her mouth hung agape as her transfixed gaze focused on the horrible monster. Kite sprang forward, nimble twin blade stature dodging any attack thrown at him. He sliced wildly, then backed up, using a healing item on both himself and his partner.
"Hilasse!" Kite called, but she was beyond hearing him, merely standing there to stare, horrified. Frustrated, Kite leapt forward again, unleashing a flurry of blows while BlackRose's oversized blade delivered judgement to the foe. Green polygons exploded around the Phase. Kite grimaced and grabbed his right wrist with his left hand. He initiated Data Drain.
He felt his pulse quicken and his heart beat louder, the skill putting great strain on his body. He moaned, engulfed by a massive white ocean, full of little gray data code that blurred with great regularity. Kite screamed, and the Data Drain finished.
The rest of the battle was fast, to fast to remember. He just knew that along with BlackRose, he attacked furiously, giving the enemy no chance to attack while worthless Hilasse hung behind. As his health diminished from a wicked spell, he pulled back, searching for a Healing Potion. He was so busy he didn't notice the Phase as it prepared its deadliest attack. Another green bracelet appeared, floating before the shapeless hunk. It glowed, charging up for a Data Drain…
With a cry, Hilasse ran forward, roughly grabbing Kite by the arm and swinging him around to fall to the ground several feet away. He was safe. She wasn't. With a crackle, the Data Drain commenced, and Hilasse was the target. She felt the power invade her very being, ripping it apart…
BlackRose grunted as her blade connected with the beast for the final blow. It vanished, never to be seen again.
"Ha, you see that, Kite?" she bragged. He didn't listen. He was kneeling by Hilasse. Many minute cracks ran through the character. She bulged out, struggling to hold herself together.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
"No," Hilasse said. "I'm confident in you. I know you can defeat the virus and save The World. You can do it." Her character groaned, the effort to stay in one piece too great for much longer. "And now…" she said as her character began to shed, "I'm not scared."
With that, Hilasse disintegrated into little fragments that flew up into the sky to vanish within The World. Kite trembled. It was his fault. He had put someone into a coma. BlackRose looked at his face, overwhelmed with guilt and sorrow, and threw her arms around him, embracing him. There they stood, alone on the empty battlefield yet not alone, wrapped in their sorrows.
-
She lay in the hospital bed, meticulously tucked under the clean white sheets. Blank, empty, glassy eyes stared into nothing. Her face was pasty, and her hair was twisted in tendrils like Medusa's serpents. A web of IV tubes stuck into her arms, constantly inserting a flow of liquid to keep her alive. Several times a day, visitors came, family and friends who always left crying. It was a sad place, the hospital. But her pallid lips were curved into a smile.
Author's Note: Okay, there's a couple of things I need to go over. Firstly, I know that when a Phase Data Drains you, you just get a bunch of status ailments. I changed this slightly, so what happened to Orca can happen to others. Secondly, Hilasse isn't my character. I made her up spur-of-the-moment. She has no significance. I could have done it with anyone, but I felt uncomfortable putting a Cyber Connect2 Corporation (CC Corp ) character into a coma. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!