: Fragment No. 2 :
Object of Obsession
Silabus sighed after reading the first paragraph of Haseo's e-mail, smiling in relief. So, he wasn't angry with him anymore. And he wanted to meet up at Mac Anu? Maybe… they could go on an adventure together. Not like they do all the time, mind you, but… An adventure where it was just the two of them. Although, he did understand why Haseo would bring Atoli along everywhere they went. She was a Harvest Cleric, and it was always best to have someone to heal them while they fought.
His eyes scanned the second paragraph, and he blushed at the question he'd been asked: what do you think I don't need to know? Biting his lip, he knew that Haseo probably wouldn't want to find out too soon, so he decided to keep it to himself… for the time being. He then went to log into The World, going to wait for his friend.
Δ Eternal City Mac Anu
He opened his honey brown eyes, only to see a sight that he should have known he'd see. Haseo was standing off to the side, looking annoyed, while Atoli went on and on about something.
Haseo saw him gate in out the corner of his eye, so he turned his head and grinned. It caused Silabus's cheeks to turn a subtle shade of pink, but he cleared his throat before approaching his two party members.
"Hey, Guys… What's going on?"
Before the Adept Rogue could speak, Atoli began explaining right away, "We're going to go train again! We were just lucky to win against Alkaid and her sisters, so we have to keeping going!"
The Blade Brandier looked over to Haseo, raising an eyebrow, "So, then? Let's get going, Mr. Leader!"
Haseo laughed; it was as if that little scene earlier hadn't happened. Shrugging, he led them over to the Chaos Gate and put in the area words: Δ Counting Red Plum's Blue Cloud. When he pressed Enter, they were all warped away to the area.
Δ Counting Red Plum's Blue Cloud
When they'd arrived at the area, they looked around. It was a level-43 Clear-Day Field, and the Mission was to defeat the Boss. Haseo made an annoyed look over to Atoli.
"What is it with you and Field Areas?"
"It's still a high level, so why do you care what kind of area it is?" she replied, wondering if he was starting to understand why the setting was important, rather than the monsters in it and the area level.
"Tch, I guess you're right, then."
She suddenly looked crestfallen; well, so much for that thought.
"H-hey, Haseo? I think we've got company…" Silabus said, pointing over to a monster that'd noticed them and was scurrying their way.
The Goblin Knight, an ugly little green imp covered in golden armor, cackled as it shot forth at Haseo, smashing at him with its tiny knife-like sword. The said-Adept Rogue had just unsheathed his dual swords at the right time, blocking the 4-hit combo.
He would begin to slash at the little monster, only to get his attacks blocked by a thick golden shield. Anger was rising up inside of him; why couldn't he do any damage!? He then saw Silabus come up from behind it, calling out for a Tag-Team Attack. Haseo nodded and waited for the right moment…
Silabus used one of his Sword Arts skills, pulling back his Blade Thorns sword and lunging forward fiercely, "Sword Flash!" His sword went clear past the armor and did damage to the monster, causing it to fall forth toward Haseo.
Haseo smirked as he got his twin blades ready, watching the purple rings envelop the Goblin Knight. His body began to glow a neon yellow as he called on his own Dual Swords skill, rushing toward the creature and literally dancing around it in his attack.
RENGEKI! "Gale Blade!" He was cutting his blades into the monster, slamming it into the ground twice before unleashing the 3rd and final blow, taking out the rest of its HP.
He put his weapons away, feeling them flash and disappear from his grip. He'd then fix his black gloves before folding his arms and looking over to his partner, a grin on his face.
"Good going, Silabus."
"Thanks." The Blade Brandier said quickly, that blush evident on his face, but he looked away from Haseo and Atoli in an attempt to hide it.
Haseo raised an eyebrow at how awkward his friend was acting, but shrugged and looked over to their left, seeing exactly where that Goblin Knight had come from. They weren't very far away from a treasure box guarded by two monsters. Usually there are three… so, that was where it'd seen them.
Turning to his friends and pointing over his shoulder to the monsters, he grinning mischievously, "Let's go take them down next."
They nodded in response, following after him as he stalked behind one of the monsters before Surprise Attacking it. The battle had begun… and now, they were facing a Goblin Sage and another Goblin Knight.
Both of these creatures were going to be a huge pain… The Goblin Sage just stands back and uses spells, and then the Goblin Knight will be keeping their hands full so the Sage can just continue to use spells from afar! Haseo growled, but decided to ignore it and switch out his dual swords for his broad sword. Pulling out his Broad Tu Wan+5, he held it over to his side for a moment before swinging it at the oncoming Goblin Knight and then slamming it down into the ground.
"DIE!" he exclaimed as he did so, picking his sword back up and repeating the process a second time.
Silabus ran forward, slashing at the small monster in an attempt to get its attention. It fell for it, turning around to face him and block his sword. Haseo, smirking, called for another Tag-Team Attack, pulling his broad sword back and using one of his Broad Sword Arts.
"Twin Moons!" he called, striking the little monster upward on one side, and then the other.
It was the Blade Brandier's turn now, launching forward and stabbing at the little enemy with the same move he'd used before, "Sword Flash!"
Again, the Goblin Knight was sent in Haseo's direction, and he was ready to take it down with the Rengeki.
RENGEKI! "Tiger Blitz!" He cried, bringing his Broad Tu Wan+5 down on top of the creature, forcing its airborne self to crash down into the grassy ground, and then he brought it back upward, causing it to fly again.
As it disappeared, the two boys were caught by surprise when the remaining Goblin Sage had cast Gan Bolg on them. The boulders came up from the ground, causing them to be lifted into the air, and then the huge rocks came back down, smashing them into the ground.
"Repth!!" called Atoli, healing Haseo right away. The spell had taken a lot of damage out of him, so Atoli took it as her responsibility to keep him alive.
Apparently, she'd completely forgotten about Silabus, because once Haseo's health was fully restored, she went off and starting smacking the huge monster with her staff. Sighing, he turned to Silabus and healed him with a Healing Serum, earning a smile from the green-clad boy. A light blush touched his cheeks, but he shook it off before going on to battle again.
Haseo pulled up his broad sword swiftly, slashing the Goblin Sage and making it face him just as he slammed it into the ground, "Armor Pierce!"
Silabus seemingly 'sheathed' his sword, but he did a spin toward the enemy and, drawing his sword quickly, cut at it's back, sending it levitating backward toward Haseo, "Ogre Sword!"
Now, here was the big finish! The Adept Rogue felt his broad sword disappear, and his Spin Axe dual swords appeared in his grasp once again. Spinning them as he ran forward, he spun around in a full circle before the monster, slicing it with each blade several times, "Sword Dance!"
The Goblin Sage gave one last shriek before falling backward, losing its color. It vanished, and the battle was over.
He sighed, walking up to the treasure chest and, without thinking, kicking it. It spun around on him, three guns immediately aiming themselves at him. Cursing under his breath, he tried to punch in the code as fast as he could, but he didn't make it.
Boom!
He fell back, off of the tiny hill and rubbed at his head, coughing. Apparently, it'd cost him 100 HP to get the box code wrong, and then he didn't even get the goddamn item that was inside of it! He growled, but his ear was immediately ringing at the sound of Atoli's overreacting voice screaming in it, asking if he was all right several times. His eyebrow twitched; could she not see his HP gauge!?
His other ear picked up the sound of silent laughter. Haseo ignored the Harvest Cleric and turned to look over to Silabus, who was smiling gently at him and chuckling quietly. His cheeks reddened a bit, but he looked away with narrowed eyes, hoping that Silabus would think he was just annoyed and embarrassed.
The sniggering ceased momentarily after that, and then his soft voice spoke a simple spell word, "Repth…"
In an instant, the HP he'd lost was restored, and he blinked. Turning his crimson eyes to the Blade Brandier with a curious look in them, all he received was a smile. Looking the other way, Haseo nearly jumped when he realized how close Atoli was now.
"Are you even listening to me, Haseo?"
"Heh… Not really."
"Hmph!"
He shrugged, getting up to his feet and folding his arms, "We better stay here for a bit… Our SP's a bit low, so…"
"Anybody have Sprite Drops? Or Sprite Rain?" Atoli asked.
"If we did, do you think we'd be standing here right now?"
Wow, Haseo was really being snappy toward Atoli today. It sort of amused Silabus to a certain point, but his more sensible half knew that it was mean. Keeping to himself, he just put a hand on his hip and starting looking around at their surroundings.
Out the corner of his eye, however, he could see Haseo eyeing him in… a very un-Haseo-like way. His face… didn't hold a scowl or a frown, and he wasn't glaring… His eyes were soft and… if he was seeing correctly out the corner of his eye, Haseo had a smile. Not a smirk, not a grin, but a smile!
Silabus turned, standing at attention in front of Haseo. That had ruined it… Immediately, the Adept Rogue's irritated mask came back into place, and he was looking the other way. A small smile came to his own lips; he'd never forget that the first and only time he'd ever seen Haseo smile… it'd been at him.
"Hey… Don't you think our SP is alright now?"
Haseo looked at the SP Gauge and nodded solemnly, scanning the area for any monsters they could go fight. The Blade Brandier chuckled shortly; this was certainly a very eventful day…
Δ Eternal City Mac Anu
"Phew! That last Boss monster was pretty strong!" Atoli pointed out, stretching her arms over her head.
"Yeah, it was a good thing you were there to heal us, Atoli." Silabus complimented.
"Really? You think so?"
Haseo rolled his eyes; she just wanted to be praised, and Silabus was only egging her on. What was up with him, anyway? Did he like her or something? And what was with all those smiles he kept sending at him? Could he… Could he possibly like him? He felt the heat rise in his face at the thought, but he tried to shake it away, staring down at the floor.
"Hey, Haseo?"
He looked up to see the Harvest Cleric smiling widely at him; what did she want? Praise from him, too? Well, she just wasn't going to get it! That's right!
"I have to go now, but I'll see you later!" she got up on her tip-toes and… and…
Silabus's honey brown eyes went wide at the sight of which was taking place in front of him. Atoli had placed a shy kiss on Haseo's cheek before smiling with a giggle and gating out. He could feel his heart… pounding in such a way that it was like he was being torn apart from the inside. He bent over a bit, putting a hand to his heart and trying to calm it down… trying to make the hurt go away.
"Silabus? Are you okay?"
He forced himself back up straight, putting his hand behind his head and laughing embarrassedly; how could he have ever thought that Haseo, of all people, would return his feelings?
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," he answered uncertainly, but his smile weakened as he asked, "Are… you going out with Atoli now, Haseo?"
The said-Adept Rogue raised an eyebrow at his companion, "What? Why the Hell would I want to go out with someone as annoying as her?"
Silabus shrugged, "Well…"
"Don't answer that." He interrupted, rolling his eyes, "I'm not, and I doubt I ever will. She's just… AGH! She's just so irritating!" He recalled how she'd literally blown his ears and made him go deaf earlier when she kept asking him if he was all right from that Trap Treasure Chest.
The Blade Brandier's chest began to feel a little bit better, but it was still pounding… A bright pink blush painted his cheeks as he remembered that near-fond look Haseo had been making at him earlier in the field.
The two of them always had to work together… Be it in Tag-Team Attacks, Healing one-another, or even item-hunting! They both were thinking about these obvious points, and just when Silabus was about to open his mouth and spill his feelings out to his friend, Haseo seemed to straighten up and look as if he were reading something.
He suddenly fell depressed, knowing that he'd probably have to go… "Do… you have to go?"
Haseo grinned slightly, nodding. The look on his friend's face was tearing his heart to shreds, so he suddenly blurted, "But… we could chat while we're apart! Via short message… or something."
The Terror of Death mentally slapped himself for saying something so stupid, so childish! It was the worst idea ev—
"Really?"
--Best idea ever! His grin widened as he nodded again, "Sure."
The downcast expression on Silabus's face had dissolved away into a bright smile, "Alright, then. I guess… I'll talk to you later?"
"Yeah. Later."
Haseo turned around and walked out of the Dome. It was always quicker to get to where you were going by warping, so he didn't bother brandishing his Steam Bike. He walked up to the green-colored Chaos Gate and warped over to the Mercenary District.
To: Haseo
From: Pi
Subject: TroubleHaseo, we need you to come to Raven's HOME immediately. Something's happened, and we think that it would be best if you came and took a look at it.
The Adept Rogue had become suspicious of the short message, but went on to the HOME anyway. As soon as he opened the doors, he was pulled inside and the doors were slammed shut. He glared at the pink-haired Hag who'd yanked him in.
"What the hell was that for!?"
"Sorry, Haseo. We just didn't want to take any chances." Kuhn said, coming up beside him.
"Chances? On what?"
Pi lightly pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and decided to speak this time, "There's a new form of AIDA that's surfaced in The World. If we thought that ANNA was the only type of AIDA at first, we don't now."
Haseo folded his arms, smirking, "So, then… There's another type of AIDA? How weak is this one?"
"This is not an amusing matter! We've labeled this particular AIDA as SAGA."
"SAGA? That's pretty original…" he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"Haseo!!"
"Fine, fine…" he mumbled, obviously not paying much attention anymore. He looked more like he was reading something that could not be seen.
"Anyway… SAGA is a very dangerous form of AIDA because not only does it take control of whomever it possesses, but it slowly starts to become one with the person. Not the character, but the person playing it!" the Tribal Grappler explained, biting her lip in concern, "Did you get that?"
"Yeah… sure."
"Are you listening to me!?"
"Of course! What else would I be doing?"
"Text Messaging your boyfriend, that's what! If you're telling him about this stuff, then you can kiss our secret goodbye, and you'll nev---"
"—He's not my boyfriend! Geez! Why is everybody calling him that?" Haseo snapped, slapping his forehead at how many times he'd heard that. Well… he'd only heard it twice, but twice was too many!
"Ah-hah! So you are talking to him!"
"Shut up, you hag!"
"GUYS!" Kuhn shouted, automatically quieting the two other players in the room. He put a hand on Haseo's shoulder and spoke, "You and Silabus do sort of spend a lot of time together…"
"Same with Atoli, but I don't see anybody calling her my girlfriend!"
"Calm down… I'm just telling you what we see. Anyway, this isn't why we called you here. Can you tell him that you've got to go, or that you'll be right back?"
The Adept Rogue sighed in defeat, nodding as he mentally typed to Silabus:
Haseo: Sorry, Silabus. Kuhn and Pi figured out I was talking to you. I'll meet you over in Canard's HOME as soon as I'm done here, okay?
Silabus: Sure, okay. See you there, then! )
"Alright, I'm done… Can we get this over with? I've gotta go somewhere." He said impatiently.
"You're going to have to reschedule, then, because you can't leave this HOME." Pi declared, glaring at him.
"What did you say?" he asked, daring her to repeat what she'd just said.
"Now, now, Haseo… Don't get all worked up. I'll explain why you, and even we, can't leave." The Steam Gunner said before going on to the explanation, "The AIDA called SAGA is, quite stealthy, hiding outside. If we leave this HOME, it's got a full-blown chance to possess one of us."
"So, what? It's happened before with ANNA, so it should be the same, right? We just need to Data Drain the person it possessed, it'll disappear, and everything'll be fine."
Kuhn shook his head, "It's not that easy anymore… Even by Data Draining, this AIDA will not get out of the player's body. It's a little scary when you think about it…"
"Okay. Let me get this straight… SAGA can possess any PC that it sees, but it chooses to come after us, the Epitaph Users, so it can control our Avatar powers, yatta, yatta, yatta… and it becomes one with the PC is possesses?"
"Correct." Pi answered.
"Alright. One more question…" Haseo began, smirking, "How exactly do you guys know this?"
Kuhn looked away, blushing lightly, "Err… Uhm… Pi? Why don't you take this one?"
The pink-haired Tribal Grappler also seemed at a loss for words, but she cleared her throat and replied, "Master Yata told me."
"Hmm… Well, I really wonder just how much I can trust 'Master Yata.'"
"Why, you—"
The blue-haired man held Pi back this time, laughing embarrassedly, "Take it easy, Guys! We'll be staying here for a while, so try not to get into too many arguments…"
Haseo glared, leaning back against the railing of the stairs with his arms folded. Things could not get any worse… And this thought gave him an idea! If that thing was hiding, then if he just went as quickly as he could, he could just get out for about 2 seconds and then get into Canard's HOME right away!
He grinned widely as he watched Pi head off for the Serpent of Knowledge. His crimson hues went to Kuhn, who was sitting in a corner, leaning back against the wall. That guy was really something… He fell asleep before he even knew it!
Taking out his Canard Key, he quickly exited the Raven HQ and closed the doors, swiping the Canard Key through the slot and heading right on in. What he didn't notice was that a small trail of black spots had followed him inside…
"Silabus? Are you in here?" he called, looking around.
It was pretty empty… Not even Death Grunty was around. He raised an eyebrow curiously, taking a few steps from the half-open door. He looked over to the staircase, expecting to see someone exit from the Alchemy Shop, but then he felt a sudden weight throw itself behind him along with silent laughter.
"Whoa!" he cried, taking a few steps forward to keep his balance. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw Silabus clinging behind him with his arms wrapped around his neck from behind. His cheeks turned a bright shade of pink as he thought about what any normal player would think if they saw the Blade Brandier on his back. It only caused him to blush even harder.
"G-Get off of me!" he barked, lightly pushing his friend down, "How'd you wind up behind me?"
"I got here a few seconds later than you did." Silabus replied, smiling brightly as he looked behind the Terror of Death, "Hmm… I guess Death Grunty's still in the Alchemy Shop."
"Still? What's going on?"
He blushed vibrantly, looking away as he shrugged, "Err… Nothing?"
Haseo folded his arms, smirking, "C'mon, Silabus… You're the worst liar I've ever met."
"Umm…" he began, walking off to where Death Grunty usually stood, "I kinda gave him something to work on…"
"O… kay… And what does that have to do with me?"
"Well, y'see… I know how much you've been wanting a stronger broad sword, so…" now his blush was like pink on black: way too visible.
The Adept Rogue blinked, watching his friends movements; if he didn't know any better, he might've actually thought that Silabus… No, it couldn't be…
Suddenly, huge black spots began to grow out from where the door was, trying to rush toward him. Silabus's eyes went wide as he ran forward.
"Get out of the way!" he called, shoving Haseo to the side. His honey brown eyes looked toward the dark orbs, going as wide as possible as they all shot through him… inside of him. He let out a yell of pain, and it was almost strange that he could still stand. A few of the black spots came out of his mouth, as if he'd sighed a black puff of air.
"Silabus!!" Haseo shouted, watching the scene before him. It looked familiar… just like when ANNA possessed Pi! But… this time, the AIDA didn't possess an Epitaph User. What was going to happen now…?
And what was going to happen to Silabus?
Author's Note:
Could this be counted as a cliffhanger? I really don't know... Anyway! I was really surprised when I got 10 Reviews for just the first chapter! O.O! I was expected to get around 5 or less, but look at what happened! I guess I really am good! LoL! Naa, I'm just trying to do my best, ya... And, to any Black Velvet fans reading this, don't worry about it. I'm still writing it. I'll try to write this fic and that one at once, okay?
I THANK YOU ALL WHO REVIEW ME! You guys keep me going!