Me: Oh lord Sire why XD

Sire's POV

While the Imps were a rather calm race, the shouts and hollers of approval from the bar behind me as I stomped outside proved otherwise. Calls of, "You get 'em!" and "Make them regret stepping foot in Imp territory," penetrated my ears. Good. It was nice to know I was backed by at least the patrons in the bar… even if they were most likely drunk off their asses.

That, and I didn't feel so stupid for getting worked up over a damn statue. It was only a statue… but it still irked me to think of someone defacing it. Or in this case absolutely smashing it to smithereens.

I kicked a chunk of stone as I made my way to the center of the rubble. A small figure slowly rose from the wreckage, the dust clearing slowly as the person coughed, dusting themselves off.

"Oy!" I yelled, my hand twitching in anticipation. This bastard wouldn't know what hit him when we got into a fight. I'd beat him half way to heaven for blasting our statue. It'd be a hero's sendoff. The Imps would congratulate me and I could leave this game in peace.

Another figure dropped from the sky, jogging to a halt beside the culprit. Great, there were two of them. Ohwell, I could still take them on. If not I could get some backup from any of the people in that bar. I could feel their eyes on my back; surely one of them would step in on the off chance I needed help.

As I got closer and the dust settled I got a clear look at them. The second figure was a man, hunched over and talking to the smaller figure. Wearing red. He must be a Salamander. Hoo boy, a fight with a Salamander. This day just kept getting better.

"Oy!" I yelled again when neither of the people turned to look at me. The Salamander boy irritatedly looked over his shoulder, glaring in my direction as if he were peeved he'd been interrupted.

I stopped a few feet away from them, finally getting a good look at the idiot that had been the one to completely destroy the statue, and also my opponent. And my eyes bugged. Instead of the guy picking a fight with our territory that I'd expected, a pair of bright eyes looked up at me.

It was a fucking girl.

A girl. A little girl that only came up to my shoulders had gone and dive-bombed our statue. Did she even weigh enough to crush it? How fast had she been going anyway? By the look on her face it seemed as if she hadn't been intending on crushing our statue. Even if it was an accident it couldn't go unpunished.

But I'd be damned if I'd fight with a freaking chick.

I'd met my fair share of women in Alfheim, even talked with a few, but it hadn't been my cup of tea. Girls in the game were just like girls in real life: not worth the time or energy. I didn't know why I'd originally thought otherwise. I'd expected girls who could behead a man with their swords in one blow, but I'd yet to meet one of those.

I was not talking with this girl.

She had furry ears. Great, a Cait Sith, even better. Those creepy half-animal people were definitely my least favorite race. They were sneaky, speedy, and conniving. Not to mention seriously weird. No person should have ears and a tail, even in a game.

So as the girl looked up at me, staring as if she wanted to say something but couldn't find the words, I decided to ignore her altogether. She was with the Salamander; I could fight him. He'd be a worthy adversary.

He beat me to the punch. He held up his hands and let out a laugh. "Woah, we aren't looking for a fight here," he said. Apparently my anger was evident on my face. "Listen I'll pay to have it rebuilt," he added, nudging the girl in the side, a wordless gesture for her to leave.

Honestly I didn't care if she left or not. She was just some prissy-ass female who would get in the way of our impending fight. But she seemed defiant, stepping away from his nudge and instead catching the boy's attention. My eyes flickered to his status bar for only a moment. 'Layra', it said. What a girly name.

"I don't want your money," I intoned.

The Salamander huffed at his companion before turning back to me. "She wants to help clean up," he said, looking a little exasperated. "I'll pay whatever fees needed to get it done," he finished.

I glared at the girl out of the corner of my eye. She smiled. While her actions were commendable it still didn't change anything. Watching her, looking so innocent just made me more furious. How could someone so small go and wreck our statue? What was her problem? She was probably faking it all. She'd probably been out to destroy it from the beginning. She still hadn't said a word; perhaps this Layra guy was just trying to cover it up. She herself hadn't said she wanted to stay, after all… and she was still smiling, although it looked like gears were turning behind those eyes. No person in their right mind could smile for that long. There was something wrong with her.

"She wants to stay? Why didn't she say so herself?" I asked dryly. There had to be a conspiracy. She'd definitely done it on purpose.

Layra's eye twitched. "Listen I said I'd pay for it-"

"And I said I didn't want your damn money."

The boy straightened to his full height. "Listen buddy, are you asking for a fight?"

I involuntarily grinned. Yes, a fight was exactly what I wanted. I reached to the sword on my back and lowered myself slowly. "Your littlecompanion there came out of nowhere and smashed our statue: the one thing that has any pride in this territory. She ruined something, just like bitches always do. Of course I want a fight."

There was a whistle and a whoop from the bar, and a "You tell 'em, boy!" from Eron. For some reason it was beginning to feel like a pay-per-view fight. Not that I cared. I wanted everyone present if I was going to kick this guy's ass.

"Woah!" the Salamander growled. "Did you just call my little sister a bitch?"

I shrugged. "Your words not mine," I smirked.

In real life I avoided women at all costs, mainly because I knew I'd end up insulting them and they'd get mad. I'd been slapped more times than I could count and I was pretty sure my jaw could only take a few more beatings before I had a permanent bruise. Online I still avoided them, although I usually didn't have annoyance to the normal extent. However it just figured that it had to be a girl who went and destroyed the only thing I had grown accustomed to in this game. It really figured. Because I would've been pissed if it were a guy, but I was pissed and annoyed because it was a girl. If there was anything I couldn't handle, it was annoyance.

I was insensitive most likely, but honestly I didn't care. It did feel a little weird insulting a girl so small and seemingly young as the one in front of me, but still… she'd asked for it when she'd placed a finger on that statue.

God, it sounded lame how attached I'd become to that thing. Was I really that desperate for a fight?... Unfortunately I was.

The Salamander's eyes widened in what appeared to be pure fury. "Don't talk to her like that!" he barked.

"Why? You better drop her. Girls like her aren't anything but dead weight in this game. Cut her loose."

His fists clenched and unclenched. I wasn't lying. He'd been smart enough to choose a race with some real power. Having a partner that was as small and probably weak as she was would just put a wet blanket on this entire game for him. He could probably go after some difficult quests and get some rare items on his own, however having to protect someone like her would cut his power in half most likely.

It wasn't worth having a partner in this game unless they were as skilled as you were. And a girl was definitely not going to fit the bill.

As the boy muttered with clenched teeth, "I said don't talk about her like that," I took a quick glimpse at her. The little bar above her said her name was 'Sirento'. She looked a little plagued, but by what I couldn't imagine. Maybe she didn't like me talking about her like that. If so she should speak the hell up. If there was anything worse than a woman who yelled, it was a woman who stayed quiet.

"Or what?" I asked. Part of me regretted talking so harshly about her. Layra and I would've probably already begun our fight had I not gone and distracted him with talk of the girl who was apparently his sister. Although, he'd seemed calm before she was insulted so perhaps we would've been chatting instead. Urgh. Even worse.

And another part of me questioned why on earth I was so hard on women, including this girl. And once again that question came unanswered. My best guess was still because I'd grown up around all boys. It sounded lame, but I guessed it was true. Plus, girls were annoying. Which sounded juvenile but felt right.

"Or I won't fight you!" he answered with a smirk.

I staggered. "W-what?" Of all the answers I'd expected… that hadn't been one. What the hell kind of threat was that? Although… I couldn't deny that it made me even angrier if he wasn't going to fight.

"You want a fight. I won't give you one," he answered curtly. My eye involuntarily twitched. Who did this guy think he was? I could fight him even if he didn't want it, I could… but something about that seemed wrong too. Apparently my lust for a battle over this stupid statue had been so apparent on my face he figured the way to get my goat would to be depriving me of that fight. What a sneaky bastard. I liked this guy… but hated him all at the same time.

He noticed my apparent annoyance as I took my hand off my sword and straightened. He sighed, swiping up his menu and pressing a few buttons. A window appeared in front of me. 'Layra requests a currency transaction'.

Hell no. I clicked the deny button and the boy huffed irritatedly. "Just take the money."

The girl at his side tugged on his sleeve, puffing out her cheeks in annoyance. She still hadn't said a word but he replied to her as if he'd read her mind. "I'm not letting you stay around here and clean up. Let's just get out of here, Doll." He appeared uncomfortable. Most likely because he could feel the ill will emanating off of me and towards his sister.

She crossed her arms defiantly before swiveling and turning her back to him, assessing the damage she'd done and the chunks of rubble scattered all around the surrounding area.

And that was when I saw it: a small little creature clinging to her shoulder. What the hell? I squinted and the small black-ish creature flinched as if it felt my gaze. It peered over its shoulder, big clear blue eyes assessing me. It let out a noise that trailed up at the end like a question and I nearly choked.

I'd seen my fair share of monsters, creatures, and even the occasional pet that players kept, but none like… this. When focused on, a monster's health bars would appear, this thing's didn't. And if a player had a pet, when focused on, that pet's owner's name would show up above its head. This thing didn't do that either.

It tilted its head, its tongue lolling out as it again let out a scritch* that sounded like it was questioning me. Was it a … dragon? Perhaps?

The girl looked over her shoulder at the tiny creature, responding to its noise. It looked back up at its apparent master and let out a sound akin to a purr before looking back to me and giving me a goofy grin.

I'd never seen anything like it before. But it wasn't enough to cause anything to differ. It just figured a girl had to have some weird item the likes of which I hadn't heard of before. Ugh, I was over it. If this guy wasn't staying for a fight I would've rathered that they just leave.

I sighed, waving a hand in dismissal. "Whatever. Just get the hell out of here. This is our statue; we'll fix it. We wouldn't want outsiders getting their grubby hands on it anyway. Especially not you two, who destroyed it." It was a complete one-eighty from what I'd been preaching before, but suddenly I didn't want them around.

It irked me that the statue had been destroyed on the very last day I was in Alfheim, but it irked me even more that the fight I'd been so looking forward to had been snatched away from me. The girl whirled around, a look of protest on her face but I shrugged it off, turning on my heel and heading back towards the bar.

I heard the Salamander quietly talking with her as I made my way back, as well as disappointed sighs from the Imps inside of the bar. I swung open the door, letting it slam behind me. Everyone seemed bummed out as well that there wasn't going to be any fight.

"So we gonna clean up that mess together, eh?" Eron asked with a groan. "Sounds like a lot of work for us; you could've let them clean it up."

I smiled, smacking Eron on the back. "Who said anything about 'we'?" I asked. "I don't know about you but it's my last day." Eron's jaw dropped wide. "Thanks for the beer by the way." I gave him a wink and a satisfied smirk, quickly logging out and just barely able to hear his yell of 'you get yer ass back here boy!' as the world of Alfheim faded into the distance.

If I couldn't have a peaceful going away beer, I'd make sure the others had some unappealing work to do at least. Although the culprits of the statue-wrecking were getting off easy. Whatever, it didn't matter. I'd pick up my new game tomorrow and leave the fantasy world of Alfheim in the past.

I sighed as the screen went black, taking the visor off and staring at the ceiling. Something felt wrong leaving it that way… the statue crumbled completely and a spat with two strangers. I wasn't unaccustomed to yelling at random people but those two felt a little different. Maybe it was because of the "grand entry" the girl had made or maybe it was the boy refusing to fight… they were odd. I'd leave it at that.

As I swung my legs off the bed I was met with a not-so-courteous knock before the door to my bedroom flew open, setting in a round of surprise. Crap. Father was home and probably angry I'd not been there to greet him-

"Heya, what's up little gamer?"

Even worse. "Why the hell are you here?" I asked. There was a beautiful thing called college. That of which both of my older brothers were supposedly attending. However one of them, this one, the annoying one, somehow still found time to come home and annoy me. It was late, it was a Friday; shouldn't he be out doing something productive with his life?

"Well hello to you too," he piped, flopping down in the rolling chair next to my desk. Cairo had been a thorn in my side since I was little. Mainly because we were polar opposites, somehow coming from the same gene pool. I still wasn't positive he wasn't adopted. He was a blonde after all… no one else in our family was blonde. Father had specifically yelled at me that we were related by blood when I'd asked but still… I had dreams of the day I found out he wasn't.

"Why are you here?" I repeated, pinching the bridge of my nose.

Cairo shrugged, putting his hands behind his head. "Dad said he wouldn't be home till late, so I stopped by to pay my little bro a visit and let him know. Is it that wrong?" he asked, feigning hurt. I rolled my eyes. "Yeesh, what's got your panties in a bunch?" he asked.

"Noth-"

"Oh wait!" he interrupted. "I wanna guess." This was why he was so annoying. While I'd been told I had a perpetual frown, this kid had a perpetual smile. A smile that looked so punchable all the time. I usually tried to ignore his chipper taunts but right now, after having a not-so-favorable sendoff from the game, I wasn't in the mood.

"Cairo please," I grunted. "I don't have the energy to deal with you right now."

He completely ignored me. "Hmm," he hummed. "Grumpy even after just playing your game… I'm guessing something happened there. You said you were going to quit that Elf place so maybe it was your last visit and you're sad?"

I shrugged. He was close enough.

"No…," he continued. "I mean yes… but there's something else. You're annoyed and pinching your nose like you have a headache. Nothing gives you headaches more than women!" He waited for an answer to whether he was right or not. I grunted. Unfortunately, hedid know me well.

I stood up, trudging to my bedroom door and holding it open, motioning for him to leave. I just wanted to go to sleep now. Even if it was only about eight, I wanted this fine-turned-hellish day to be over.

Cairo completely ignored the gesture. "Now why would Sire be annoyed by a girl?" He laughed. "Long list but hmmm… I wonder does he have a crush?" I snorted. As if.

He burst out into laughter a little too violent for the circumstance. It wasn't that funny to think of me with a woman. It was just inaccurate.

"Who am I kidding?" Cairo snickered, wiping a nonexistent tear from his eye to irk me. He stood from the chair, apparently finally taking the hint and walking toward the door. "Let me guess, you said something insensitive to a girl and she slapped you?"

He was closer, but still miles away. "Not exactly."

His eyes widened. Apparently he hadn't expected me to respond. "Oh my good sweet lord in heaven are you actually bothered by something you said to a girl?" He braced himself on the door frame. "Wait, I hear the Guinness Book of World Records people now." He held his hand up like a microphone. "Breaking news, Sire Montgomery feels regret for the first time in his life. How does it feel, sir?" he asked, holding his hand toward me.

I stared unamusedly at him. His shenanigans were too exuberant for my already clouded brain. I wasn't going to take this. I stepped out of the way of the door, pushing it halfway closed and trying to shove him out into the hallway with it. "You're leaving now," I hissed, heaving hard on the door as he pushed back, trying to come back into my room.

"Wait, wait, does that mean I'm right? You actually are feeling bad for what you said to a girl? What's her name? I need to thank her properly! She's gonna be my new sister-in-law after all!" What the hell was this guy's problem?

"No, I'm not feeling bad," I snapped back, shoving on the door harder. "I don't know her name but she had it coming. And I'd move your hand if I were you or I see a few lost fingers in your future."

Cairo let go of the door and stepped into the hallway, my door slamming deafeningly loud in his wake. I heard a thump as he patted it. "Hey, if you really do feel bad about something you said to a girl just apologize. It's what regular people do. Maybe you'll find it's not that bad after all." His footsteps echoed on the hall floor as he walked away.

I rolled my eyes. Yeah, right. I didn't feel bad for anything I said to her. In fact, I hadn't said anything to her at all. I'd just talked to her brother. She had looked awfully full of remorse though… maybe it really had been an accident. Maybe she just wasn't accustomed to her wings yet.

That didn't matter. She'd still absolutely obliterated the symbol of the Imps, accident or not.

Whether it was on purpose or not, I didn't know, but it didn't help ease the absolutely uneasy feeling in my chest. It felt wrong to leave the game on that note… I was a jerk, and for some reason going out with that… just didn't feel right.

Not that it mattered. I wouldn't be going back anyway. It was what it was; so be it.

I cursed to myself, hurling the hammer back onto the burning hot sword. What was wrong with me?

The past night unfortunately, I hadn't been able to get my encounter with the two siblings out of my mind. Whether it was that it hadn't ended in a fight and a clear winner, or whether my idiot brother was right and I'd felt bad about what I'd said, I wasn't sure.

I had always been harsh to women but I admitted I'd never called one a… bitch before. Even if I'd only implied it… Maybe I had crossed a line.

I had barely slept a wink, and while my mind was still on those two players, I had somehow instinctively logged back into Alfheim without thinking. I'd appeared in Eron's bar and he'd promptly set me to work repairing the statue.

It wasn't that hard. With a few button clicks and some lost resources the statue was as good as new. However I was out of quite a bit of gold because of it, although I wasn't too worried about that.

What I was worried about was that I had fucking logged back in. What was my deal? Had it truly been out of habit or had I done it on purpose subconsciously? As much as I wanted it to be the first option, I knew it was the second.

Although, I wasn't entirely sure what I hoped to achieve. The other thing I hadn't been able to get off my mind the past night was that little dragon creature the girl had had. After playing this game through and through I thought I'd officially seen all the categories of items and rewards, but that little thing had thrown that thought out the window. No doubt it was rare, so I was instantly intrigued, but it was also… interesting. Could it be used in battle? If so that'd take strategy to the next level. If it was anything powerful it would be like having an entire extra member to your team, without having a single extra player.

I slammed the hammer down again. I was passing time now, making swords. It'd been one of the features I'd enjoyed the most and I'd gotten pretty good at it.

I'd pulled up the action ticker to the game and was half-heartedly watching it as I worked. It let out information regarding other players. When they logged in, when they logged out, when people sent a chat message out to anyone who cared to read it. It was needless information to me and I'd never paid it an ounce of attention until now.

I was looking for two usernames now. Layra and Sirento if I remembered correctly. If I was fast enough and could catch them when they logged on, clicking on their names would give me their location and I could try to meet up with them. I sure has hell hadn't added them to my friends list and so this was the easiest and possibly only way to find them.

Why did I want to find them? ...I wasn't sure. I felt as if I had unfinished business with the two siblings.

I wasn't going to take Cairo's advice and apologize; I wasn't going to stoop that low. However maybe I could go and… say something, try to smooth out the wrinkles between us. I had fixed the statue and it'd seemed important to the girl that she clean up her mess. Maybe I could use that as an excuse. I'd let her know that it was taken care of… Maybe if I seemed personable enough then they'd let go of the undoubtedly ill feelings they had towards me.

The boy's feelings anyway… I had no idea what the girl thought of me. She hadn't seemed phased or bothered in the least by anything said aside from her own want to fix the statue.

The sword morphed then, into its final form. I held the blade up to my eye and sighed. It was nice, at least for the cheap metal I'd made it from. I sent it to my inventory, looking back at the activity ticker and chewing the inside of my cheek.

Was this what regret felt like? If so… it sucked. It sucked ass.

As if on cue I caught a glimpse of two usernames that looked familiar. I caught them, holding the ticker still with my finger. Yup, Sirento and Layra had just logged on. I clicked on Layra's name, figuring that that little girl would be following him wherever he went.

It tracked him on the map, pulling up a little red dot and zooming in. They were just on the outskirts of Undine territory. They'd probably taken off the past night and made it there a little while later. Although why anyone would want to go to Undine territory beat me. That race was full of dark depressed people whose hobbies consisted of sitting in dark places and ripping people off.

Although I wasn't going to judge. The Imps still were a rather lame race as well.

I put a tracker on Layra, setting my direction for the dot. I'd never actually gone to make amends with anyone before… not that I was making amends. I was just laying a situation to rest that had put a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

I'd just go and tell them the statue was fixed, maybe check out that little dragon the girl had and find out what the hell it was. When I was sure we weren't enemies I'd log off for the last time then. It sounded like a plan, although something told me that it wouldn't go exactly the way I wanted. Proven by the fact that I'd gone all the way to log back in just to ease some bad blood.

Something told me nothing was going to go the way I planned when it came to those two. Especially the girl, if she could get me to feel bad without even saying a word. Not that they'd ever know I felt that way. After all I was just going to bring news of the repaired statue and curiosity over the dragon. Really… that was all.

Scritch: n; a harsh or unpleasant, particularly startling, sound

Me: Well, that's all! I apologize for Sire's language ^^' But we hoped you liked it! Drop us a review! We authoresses do little happy dances when we see new faces and reviews :D