Disclaimer: 1/2 Prince is not mine... but someday I swear I will write something so epic that people would have to write disclaimers over my story. But until then I will be sulking in a corner over why any of the things I write about are mine *Sulks*

Previously on LK ICE:

"Well, if I forgot something bad, I would rather let it at that." I replied in a carefree way as I yawned.

"I see..." trailed Mei, and then she opened a drawer, and threw a piece of paper -that looked a lot like a medical recipe- in it.

I looked at her with a bit of curiosity, her expression had been a tad too serious; but when I realized she went back to normal, I stopped thinking about our trip to the hospital. Mei had done so, merely as an excuse to peek on the doctor after all... Even I have to admit that he was kind of cute.

"See you in game then." She proclaimed as she tossed my helmet to me. "And don't you dare make me wait." She threatened as she walked into her room.

I nodded to myself (since she was not around here anymore), 'she is fine after all'.

And then I put my helmet on, and forced myself to sleep. However when I was about to do so, just for a brief moment before I could fall asleep I got a strong feeling that I was forgetting something important.

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CH 21: 3 strikes and you're out.

"Why did you take so long?" Starlight complained annoyingly.

"It's not my fault that I don't posses your talent to fall sleep in a blink of an eye." I spat slightly annoyed, as I breathed with some difficulty after running for straight 20 minutes to the faraway area Starlight was in this time.

"Well... if it were only because of your bad habit of making me wait." Starlight huffed.

"Hey -other than today- I always log-in earlier than you." I retorted. "Just because you are never around and you make me go find you, it doesn't mean I'm late. In fact you should be grateful that I'm such a good friend as to walk all the way to wherever you last logged-off, just because you are too lazy to move your ass my way."

"Oh! And who is the one who keeps disappearing with no trace for days? and who is the one who is freeloading in my couch?" She asked all high and mighty.

*Grrr* I had nothing to say back to that, I didn't log in for various days, and I am staying at her house... I should probably go back home - to Uncle's.

"Hi Windy!" Darkness approached me from behind. I hadn't notice him since I was really immersed on thinking on a retort to Mei's accusation. I was not willing to admit that she had won this argument even if it killed me.

"Hi Dark-" Starlight interrupted my greeting with a loud chirp. "I'm so glad you arrived! Take care of Windy today for me please, I have something important to do!"

"Then why were you so eager to log-in in the first place?" I asked slightly confused.

I watched with slight fear as her eyes started sparkling. "Do you want me to tell you?"

"No, I don't." I waved my hands tiredly with a pale face and she nodded.

"Good, see you later then!" And with that Starlight simply logged off, leaving me really confused.

"What was all that about?" Darkness voiced my thoughts as he looked at me like he was demanding an explanation.

"I have no idea." I replied plainly as I looked at the place Starlight had been before her sudden log-off. She had been acting weirdly –well more than usual- for the whole day already. Maybe she is going to… do something with that doctor from earlier, maybe she will go seduce him, or murder him… I shuddered and then decided not to think too deeply on it. She isn't going to murder the doctor –she has enough sense not to go that far- but whatever she is planning on doing I bet it's something weird.

"Well, that's not important." Darkness seemed to recall why he had looked for me. "Have you heard the news?"

"News, what news?" I asked puzzled.

"You seriously don't know?" He asked with disbelief. "Are you sure you are from his continent?"

"I haven't logged in for a while." I clarified.

"Oh, that explains it..." He trailed off absentmindedly, not saying a word of the news.

"And the news is?" I reminded him with impatience.

"Oh, right! The news, you know about the melee from the tournament right?"

"The one Odd Squad won?" I asked

"That one! You see, I've heard that they received a piece of land as a price, they are building a city and they are searching for players to become citizens."

"So you want to join?" I asked.

"Of course not!" Loverboy shouted from behind Darkness and only then I noticed that most of his team were also in the area.

Loverboy stepped my way and started making a fuss. "How dare that Prince monopolize all the girls, if not for him all of them would be chasing after me, ME!"

I blinked at that. What made him reach the conclusion that Prince was the responsible for his lack of popularity? I mean Prince is really good looking, but he is violent… but maybe he is only violent around professor Gui?

I halted at that. How do I know professor Ming again? I remember that I was sending a mail to Darkness when he took my phone away. It was rude after all for me to ignore him in class… But what does that mean? I remember being in a classroom, lots of people looking at me-ARGH!

"Windy are you ok?" Darkness asked me with concern but I was in a daze. I was starting to have a flashback of something that didn't make sense, a memory that wasn't mine. I have only ever had classes from uncle, and Fa-gege and Jiao-jie, and one or another home tutor, so why am I having memories of a university classroom?

"Windy!" I didn't hear Darkness voice far away, he was about two steps from me, but his voice was muffled by the loud sounds that were ringing in my ears.

"WINDY!" A loud roar shouted in my ear and it brought me back to the present.

"AAAAARGH, MEI I…Darkness?" I had started yelling out of habit, but when I glanced at the very concerned face of my friend looking at me I felt slightly embarrassed.

"Sorry for that." Darkness apologized,"But you… I was worried since you have been still and unmoving for half an hour."

"Sorry." I said in a low voice and then asked him once again ."What was the news?"

Darkness looked even more worried. "Didn't you heard what I said?"

"I only spaced out a bit, it's ok." I dismissed it with a wave of my hand,.

He gave me a brief suspecting look, but he continued regardless. "There is going to be a war between Divine Coalition, and the Infinite City's inhabitants whose army are mostly from the human faction of the melee."

"Why are they going to war?" I asked with some curiosity as I kept myself from asking 'Can you really have a war in an online game?' which should be obvious since they are having he war.

Loverboy stepped in the conversation again. "That's because Prince is annoying!" He declared fired up.

"She asked why they are going to have a war, not why you are going to go to the war." Blueno finally spoke to keep his friend under control.

"Are you all going to war?" I asked Darkness with some curiosity.

"Not all of us, I prefer one on one matches, so I'm not going to fight in there." Darkness replied.

I thought about it briefly. Joining a war sounds like fun. I mean I would have a chance to spar with other people, and since Darkness and most of his team are not participating I could go around fighting in whatever way I felt like… "Going to war sounds like fun..." I trailed off absentmindedly thinking that with so many people going around I might actually hit one or two –even if by accident- with my arrows.

"You are coming with me then, it's official!" Loverboy declared as he pulled me by his side excitedly.

'Huh?' I could barely think when Darkness pulled me his way again.

"Hey!" Darkness protested. "You are not going just the two of you."

"It looks like they are." Blueno clarified. "All of us decided it was pointless, but Loverboy can do as he pleases, and so can Windy, she is in all her right to do as she pleases as well, it's not like you own her yet."

I looked at Blueno, 'Was he implying that Darkness thought he was my owner or something? And what's with that yet?'

"I know that!" Darkness roared red faced.

'Did I miss something? Why does it seem like there were some implications in their exchange?'

"Then I'm joining the war too!" Darkness declared pissed off.

"You are?" I felt slightly disappointed; does that mean that he is going to see my skills –well the lack of them- with the bow? I felt in a lower mood at that.

Darkness looked at me with a questioning look -over my sudden pouting expression- when Loverboy chirped. "Then we are going to war, the three of us!"

'Why does it have to be the three of us? I was planning for it to be a me-thing' I barely had some seconds to start sulking when I watched with some surprise as Blueno stepped out in Loverboy's direction "Loverboy, now that I think of it, It would be a bad idea if you went to the war" Blueno patted his friend on the shoulder.

"Why?" Loverboy asked to his friend, with a fake puzzled look. Yep a fake one, I might not know why he was acting, but up to this point I'm sure that all his gestures have been somewhat fake. I Just don't seem to understand why.

"Because of the thing?" Blueno replied.

"Ooooh! The thing!" Loverboy nodded in understanding.

"What thing?" Darkness asked somewhat confused.

"Ummm, ermmm… It's ok if you don't know." Loveboy added with a sly grin. "I guess it would be only the two of you then."

"What, wait, I…" Darkness looked at me with slight fright, then looked at his friend with anger but, before he could say anything else, Blueno covered his mouth with his hand and dragged him away away.

'What's wrong with them?' I wondered as Darkness angry face became one of puzzlement and then a red one as he looked on my way 'Could it be that they are talking about me? No, I must be overthinking it -it seems like I really do have a persecution complex, it's most likely a team issue'

Darkness came back to me with a flushed face after Blueno pushed him from behind with an encouraging expression that seemed to add more nonsense to their already incoherent behavior.

"Are you still going to the war with me?" I asked innocently. I believed he would say 'NO' since he only decided to do so since Loverboy was going, but much to my surprise he adverted his eyes away from my face with a small blush as he mechanically mumbled. "Yeah."

"Why did you decide to join the war?" I asked Darkness to break the long silence that had formed between us after his teammates –minus Zelda that was absent today- had waved us a really weird farewell, and I swear that I heard something like."Go for it tiger!" among other absurdities they were spouting.

"Well…" Darkness paused in his steps and breathed deeply before looking at me with a resolute yet terrified look. "Because of you."

"Because of me?" I asked puzzled.

"If you are going to war, I-I-I… wanted… I wanted to protect you." He finished and had a red face and was breathing heavily as he put an expression that he had done some hard manual job.

"Do you really think I need protection?" I asked incredulously. "Is it because I'm a girl and thereby weak?"

"It's not because you are a girl… well in part, I mean I know you are a girl but is not that... it's just…" Darkness kept on at that -not making any coherent statement- like he was having a hard time with giving me an answer, so I felt bad for asking him about it… Maybe he has a personal reason not to tell me? Or maybe he is protecting my pride? How cute of him.

I chuckled.

"Why are you laughing?" He asked me slightly pissed.

"Nothing, I thought that it was cute of you to try to protect my pride by not telling me that you feel the need to protect me for being a girl... Why did you stop walking?" I asked my friend that was now 3 meters behind me.

"It's not that!" He roared and caught up to me standing up in front of me. He grabbed my arms and then looked into my eyes with burning passion as he declared –with the kind of determination a warrior has before a death match. "It's just that I love youuuu-r hood!"

I saw as his face went red as a tomato as he said those words and retreated, so as with some puzzlement I tugged my hood slightly. "Do you really like it?" I asked shocked. I never knew that Darkness had a hood fetish.

He let go of my arms and then looked away still flushed "I-it… looks good on you."

He started walking once again neither turning back and nor uttering a word. His face was the prime example of someone beating oneself up.

'Is he embarrassed by what he said? I understand that a hood fetish is not a common thing, but… One can't control one's heart.'

In order to cheer up my –embarrassed- friend I reassured him. "It's ok to like hoods. I also do so; you see I'm even wearing one. Well… not that I like them to the point of going to a war to protect a hood.. but I think that it's great that you can be so open about your desires and fetishes."

I saw how the red in his face disappeared at that, and sure that my comment had been of help I turned around and kept walking ahead, completely missing how his face had drained of all color.

I gave a few more steps spacing out… Is it ok for me to be the one in front? I don't know where 'Infinite Coalition' is supposed to be gathering at. I turned around and saw how Darkness approached me suddenly, with a sudden move, arms opened; this, got me so startled that I dodged him and then as I jumped out of the way I pulled his left hand with my right hand, as my feet drew a circle and with an elbow I hit the back of his neck making him fall down -with his face to the ground- unconscious.

I know that the explanation was rather lengthy but it actually only took like two seconds for it to be completed. If not for my reflexes and my being half distracted half on ward I wouldn't have made this kind of stupid mistake.

"Darkness.." I muttered as I shook him softly. No response.

"What do I do?" I wondered as I cursed myself for not putting more points on strength. I mean I was able to turn him over so his face wasn't burried on the ground, but didn't have enough strength to carry hum; If I had I might have been able to take him somewhere outside of the forest -that was rpobably full of mobs. Then the image of me carrying Darkness around bridal style hit my mind and I blushed, feeling a bit silly for the fact that I found that -for me- trying it was actually tempting.

I squatted down once more and looked at his unconscious face once again. I didn't even bother to think of how stupid is that you can be unconscious in a game that you are supposed to be sleeping to play, as I brushed away the dust on his face... but then again Starlight had proved to me that you can sleep in game… Ok I did think about it, but all that meaningless train of thought disappeared as I looked at his -now clean- face that looked as though he was sleeping.

"Pretty..." I murmured as I ran my finger across his messy curly hair and wondered if he would have curly hair in real life too. Then I looked at his soft lips that were unmoving and made into a smile. I touched them once by accident while I cleaned his face, they were so soft...

I almost leaned down to kiss Darkness' lips when I heard some footsteps in the vicinity and turned around.

"Loverboy, so you are joining the war too after all!" I perked up with a little cheerful smile, perfectly concealing the fact that was just considering doing something so daring as kissing my unconscious friend -who was on the floor.

Loverboy looked at me, and then down at Darkness by my side. "What happened?" He asked with some perplexity.

"Well…"I looked at him before looking back at Darkness. "He startled me and I… kind of knocked him down."

Loverboy widened his eyes at my words and looked at me with disbelief, before directing a couple of sympathetic looks at Darkness, his eyes full of pity.

"Can you help me carry him?" I asked him timidly, and so he squatted by Darkness side. Before lifting him up the ground and carrying him like a princess –which made me feel slightly jealous of Loverboy, for doing so before me- to the gathering place of Divine Coalition... Hopefully Darkness will wake up soon. We had 3 days worth of walking until we reach Divine coalition.

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AN: I only have two words to say about this chapter: Hood. fetish. XD

Now, as there will be lots of important stuff happening from this point on. Like all of you know there is a week -more or less- between 'Alice's death' and Zhuo Xia's apparition in the graveyard. I don't know how many chapters that would take, so things will develop rather slowly... which doesn't mean that there will be nothing happening. Is just that there are too many things to explain, and those need time.

This is day one in the count-back so there will be around 6 days that could be told by someone other than Alice/Windy/Zhuo-Xia. And half of whatever I write will be most likely online... . So, I will be switching POVs at random (under some logic, known only by me), mixing RL with SL chapters and well... For the sake of giving you surprises, over what will happen next, I decided to take away the previews again. And this time I plan to do so permanently... I'm keeping the "Previously in LK ICE" part in order to let you know where you left off with a specific character, in order to spare you a search on the topic.

Please give me a review... I wan't them (;_;)