Chapter 3 - Ignorance

(Friend's PoV)

I woke up a bit groggy due to my habit of staying up late, but I was used to that. It was already 8AM and I could see that it was a bright day outside. I went through with my morning routine as usual.

Before I was gonna ask myself what I wanted to do today, I had almost forgotten. My friend wanted to tell me something about that game later today. But I played it, which was exactly what they said not to do. And nothing happened to me while I was sleeping... "NOTHING EVEN HAPPENED!" I thought to myself and cracked up in my head.

Screw it, I wanted play that game again. There was a few hours before I'd go out and meet up with that nerd who'd supposedly explain why it's cursed. But first I got something to eat because I was hungry.

I went into the kitchen, and there was 3 packaged donuts from a 5 pack I bought on sale. I took one of them and grabbed a cold energy drink from the fridge and went to eat it in my room.

While I ate some of my donut, I turned on the 3ds and hit start on Kid Icarus Uprising. The loading screen shown, I placed the game system down to open the can of energy drink and take a sip. When I looked back at the 3ds, it was still loading. It didn't take this long the last time…

I took the stylus and tapped the screen once and what popped up startled me, I almost knocked over my energy drink.

"Woah, what the-" I said out loud in reaction to the figure I saw on the screen.

It was the main character of this game, Pit, but he looked like something straight out of a nightmare! His wings were all ruffled, his eyes were blacked out with little red beady pupils, and his clothes had these blotches of burgundy colored stains. The background of a murky hellish looking place almost made him blend in. Wait, was it blood that he was covered in? Was this the curse my friend was going to tell me about?!

"Hi. My name's Pit, but I suppose you already knew what my name was from last night's gameplay..." The strange version of Pit said, somehow to me directly? This was all so weird.

"Oh, oh hey… How's it going?" I spoke back, playing along with this as if it was perfectly normal.

"Where's the person that was here before? They told me they'd come back if they had the time..." Said Pit.

I took a while to process what he meant, but I think he was asking about the last person who played it. So that meant my friend who I'd see later today was the person he was referring to. It was a bit too early for this, but honestly I prefer this over the usual monotony that comes with mornings.

I told Pit: "Oh, you must mean my friend. They sold this game back yesterday and-" He spoke, cutting me off mid-sentence.

"Ah… Like all the others..." Pit said softly, then he turned around and began to walk away. He seemed to be saddened, but I wasn't sure.

"Hey now, don't leave…" I said to stop him from going wherever he planned to go. I wasn't sure what else to say, but this was something I never seen before from a game. It got me really curious, and the caffeine from the energy drink made me act more impulsively.

Pit stopped and turned his head slightly. "Huh?"

I decided to try comforting him, but not to the point where I'd make any promises I can't keep. "Uh, don't go yet. Why not stay and chat since we're both here right now?"

Pit slowly walked back, he had a blank expression on his face. He walked really close and his image took up most of the 3ds screen. For a while he said nothing, as if waiting on me to start a conversation.

"So… What do you wanna talk about?" I asked, because I didn't have any conversation in mind. It was a bit too early for this, in my opinion.

"Uhh… Well I can tell you this…" Pit said. As he began to explain I took a sip of energy drink, nodding to signal that I was paying attention.

"I been in this game for as long as I can remember. Going through the cycle over and over. It gets so tiresome, being used by so many others, over and over... And I never had a choice." Pit said while turned away holding one arm with the other like in one of his expression photos.

Strangely enough, he really acted like how he does in the game but everything about him was just scarier. I just nodded in response to allow him to continue talking.

"Then I became aware of this at some point, I could finally do something about it... A-and now, I'm finally free!... But now, nobody likes playing with me anymore…"

I wasn't sure if everything he just said was true, but dang. The only response I could think to say was: "Wow, I had no idea. I can't say I can relate but man that's horrible... Later today I'm gonna see the previous player you saw before. And maybe I can convince them you're not as bad as you seem?"

Pit seemed somewhat happy about it, but not his usual behavior. "Oh. That… might not be a bad idea. But they probably don't want to see me ever again…"

"Do you wanna try?" I asked with an uncertainty but a firmness. My friend did warn me about this game. But man oh man, they did not say anything about this. It almost felt cruel to not do anything.

"Hmm… Maybe I will... Uh, see you later then." Said Pit, and suddenly my 3ds shut off by itself.

I waved bye to him but I didn't say anything. Somehow that just felt like having a real conversation with a stranger, not the average person you'd just meet in public but it felt actually real. It was starting to get awkward too... Whatever, it's just a video game. I think.