IZZZ BEEEN SOOO LONG SINCEEEEE I LAST HAVE UPDATEDDDD LOST TOOOOO THIS MONSTERRRR THE WRITERSS BLOCCKKKKKK! Okay I'll stop with the parodies... A girl has to stay positive in a hostage situation, right? Anyways, let's continue the story... ((Also I'm going to be writing this chapter in two parts, and you'll see why at the end of this part, I might update again today, but probably not, I'll try, but I'm hanging out with family, yknow))

Chapter Six

Another Old Friend

P.O.V Scarlett

Players who hack...

Player like me...

Players who are desperate...

Players who need to see...

Something clicked in my brain as we continued our conversation on how to defeat Dark Meta once and for all.

If we send the NPCS back into the game, I'll be taken with them.

Technically I didn't actually hack anything, except the little fact that I put my friends into the game AND pulled them back out.

Kitty still had her sword from in the game, and I didn't feel like questioning that.

Meta told me that she had called it "Scarlett" with no reason for the name.

I assume it was her subconscious human memories.

Something told me that we should get a move on, we needed to escape Dark Meta's prison.

"All right everyone, pack up and move out," I said suddenly.

"But we were studying the advanced history of virtual reality!" Kitty complained.

"Bring it with you, I think Dark Kitty is on our tail," I nodded at Dim, who was brushing her catlike tail.

She looked over at me and shrugged.

It took forever to pack up the fort, but we managed to drag all my science equipment through the maze into a new area.

"Are we there yet?" Music complained as we trudged on through the darkness.

"We'll be at the cavern in a few hours, just keep walking," I replied.

"But my feet hurt so bad!" She cried.

"Deal with it," I walked faster, the reality of my fate hardening my heart by the second.

I heard the rest of my friend slow and stop behind me, but I kept walking.

"S-Scarlett," Kitty whispered.

"What?" I replied without slowing my pace or turning around.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, strong and confident.

I whipped around to find myself face-to-face with an old friend...

P.O.V Kitty

A strange man had appeared from the shadows as we walked, Scarlett was completely oblivious to him until he went up to her and grabbed her shoulder.

He was tall and skinny, clearly he'd been in the maze a while, but his clothes were really what showed it.

His shirt was originally grey, but parts of it were charred black.

He wore dark jeans that were tattered from what seemed like sword thrusts, judging from the scars on his legs.

I didn't get a good look at his face, but he was obviously tired, and his dark hair was plastered to his head.

I couldn't see Scarlett that well, but I could see a sparkle in the younger teen's eyes that reminded me of something I experienced when I saw Meta again after not seeing him for so long, back when I still had a curse placed upon me.

"M-Morgan?!" She exclaimed, still looking shocked.

"Yep, as far as I know," he had his back to me, so I couldn't see his face, but I assumed he was smiling, since Scarlett was smiling too.

There was a long silence, Scarlett leaned in toward the boy's face, he leaned towards her...

Smack!

Scarlett slapped him right across the face.

"Where the hell have you been for the past seven years?!" Scarlett screamed, fiery red hair seeming to light itself in her blaze of anger.

"At school, where the hell have YOU been?!" He rubbed his face, where Scarlett had smacked him.

"Working on our project, you said you'd help me get them out!" She ranted.

"You told me you wanted to do it yourself!" The black haired boy flinched as Scarlett brought her hand up, as if to smack him again, but then dropped her arm to her side.

P.O.V Morgan

I could see tears welling up in Scarlett's beautiful ice-colored eyes.

She bowed her head and put her arms around me, resting her forehead on my chest.

"I missed you, egghead," I felt her tears fall onto my shirt.

"Missed you too," I whispered.

"OTP!" A girl's voice screamed behind me.

"Shut up Dim, you dumbbell," Scarlett peeked over my shoulder and looked at the girl behind me.

"Hey! Only I call people dumbbell!" The same voice protested.

Scarlett laughed a somewhat tearful laugh, smiling a happy/sad smile.

"So you actually missed me?" I toyed with a small strand of Scarlett's fire red hair.

She nodded, a rosy tint appearing on her soft cheeks.

"Well, this is really cute and sentimental, but remember that we're being stalked by a psychopathic teenager with poison fire powers," Meta pointed out.

"Technically her fire isn't poisonous, it's corrosive," Scarlett countered.

"Technically it's still lethal," he frowned.

Scarlett shrugged and walked back to the group, dragging me along with her.

"Could you please introduce us? I'm not sure we've ever met this cute friend of yours," Music asked Scarlett.

I felt my face burn hot, and I covered my face with my hands.

I'm not really used to people calling me "cute" unless we're playing online RPGs.

Scarlett smiled and pulled my hands away from my face, lacing her fingers with mine as she did.

"Guys, this is Morgan, he's my bestest friend in the whole world!" Scarlett grinned broadly, and I waved awkwardly at her friends.

"Well we've got some catching up to do, maybe you guys could go on ahead," she suggested.

The others nodded in unison and began to walk slowly away, obviously trying to catch snippets of our conversation.

"So, you're alive," I smiled vaguely, still shocked to have found her.

"What? Who told you I was dead?" She laughed.

"Well, you disappeared and didn't tell anyone where you went, we had to come up with a theory!" I returned the laugh, and I felt our friendship falling back into place, like we'd never been apart.

Something about Scarlett entranced me, the way she smiled, perhaps?

Or maybe it was how smart she was?

Whatever the reason, she gave me a serious case of "I-can't-talk-idus."

"Look, I know I was a jerk, and I know I left our project, but we are still friends, right?" I hoped I sounded more confident then I felt.

"Of course we're friends, dummy," she punched me in the shoulder lightly.

"Please forgive me," I took a deep breath.

"Forgive you for wh-!"