He never really liked the 'Old Hag'.
She was always bossing him around, pissing him off and treating him like he was a lucky animal or something. He hated that. He hated the way she talked to him; the way she just looked at him with that look on in her eyes could practically make his blood boil.
And all of her 'You're completely useless to us' shit really got on his nerves too. He found himself sitting at home in front of his terminal, often gritting his teeth or clenching his fists because of it. Sure, there were other people around that got on his nerves as well, like Atoli and her constant childish behavior, or Gaspard and his annoying crybaby nature. But this was different. This was Pi, a completely new level of annoying.
Over time, though seemingly impossible, he felt his small hatred to the bright-pink haired woman slowly die off. He's not sure why, but when he thinks about it, he stopped acting as heartless and cruel to her the day her avatar spun out of control.
He can recall everything pretty clearly. It had all started out pretty well that day. He remembers her warning him to be careful, and telling him that he has to listen to every word she says or something could go terribly wrong. Psh. She didn't have to remind him every few seconds though; he's not a child. He managed to activate his avatar pretty easily, collecting data like he had been asked to. He skimmed through the area with her, fighting the random enemy that dared attack them. They were so close to being done when what they found changed everything.
Almost within a flash, the corrupted data seemed to almost take hold of her character, causing her avatar to go out of control. He heard her say something about calling Kuhn. There was no time for that what the hell was she thinking.
Data drain.
He remembers her saying that this was the only way to make everything stop. Without a second thought, he was in his avatar form, fighting one on one against hers. Hard? Nah, it was a piece of cake for him.
When everything had ended, she was lying face down in the ground. He felt his heart freeze. Or was it beating out of control? He can't really remember that part. As he ran to her side, thoughts ran through his head.
Is she okay?
Is she hurt?
What's happening?
He picked her up. And even though it's all a game… even though all of this is just a bunch of shapes and textures all put together to create some scene or some character, he swears she feels cold. He stares at her, and repeats her name a few times before her eyes manage to open.
Thank God, she's all right.
She looked up at him. That's when she said something about that being the first time he'd ever called her by her name. He feels his cheeks heat up. This is embarrassing. And stupid.
It's been a day or two since the incident and he still wonders if she's doing okay. It's all over; she should be fine, right? No worries.
He checks his mail. Gaspard's telling him about being PK'd the other day and how he's being bullied and Piros (shudder) is telling him to come on some quest with him (yeah right). He skims through his mail. There's something from Pi. Why would she be emailing him?
Thanks for the other day… I probably could have handled the situation myself but I guess I should say I'm thankful for you helping me out back there. Remember, something like this could happen to you as well, be careful with using your avatar.
From, Pi.
He contemplates whether he should reply to her email or not. Maybe he should just send a quick email… nothing special.
Welcome. You'd be dead meat if it weren't for me helping you anyways.
From, Haseo.
Sigh. At least she's all right. Why does he even care? She's just some chick he met on some massive online game…
The next few days went by smoothly. Raising his level and training alone when no one else follows him is one of his favorite things to do. Come on this is Haseo. Raise your level, get better weapons, yup, that's Haseo.
So he's sick of training. Before he'd come in contact with Tri-Edge that's all he'd done, maybe that's why he finds it tiresome.
He finished off an enemy, stopping for a moment to use a few items on himself. He sighs and turns around when he sees the silhouette of a woman on the nearby wall.
He completely turns around to get a look at her.
She gives him a smile.
"Need some help?"
