Echo's eyes opened and she looked around. Daytime? Daytime? Since when was it daytime? Last time she checked it was nighttime, and the moon was just starting to set...she didn't fall asleep, did she? She would have known if she had passed out or something.

The Canadian sat up and looked noticed that the device she had received from her possibly late friend was on the ground. She frowned and lifted a hand up to adjust her glasses, which were lopsided on her face, and then grabbed the device.

"One hour left until you reach your destination," the words on the device read. She shook her head and and stood up, brushing any dirt her clothes may had caught. One hour left? Where on earth was this thing taking her?

Echo quickly decided there was only one way to go, which was where the device was directing her to, so she kept moving. She still couldn't see any cities around. This place was so isolated, that it wasn't a surprise that the people here had little thoughts for each other. What with being so far away, it must be difficult to care for anyone, especially if they didn't have internet, or a source of range communication.

Echo was actually rather lucky that she ever had internet on that island of hers. Without it, she'd only have contact with her sister, which wouldn't be preferred. Really, the internet was how she had gotten her friends. Without it, she would be alone.

The girl knocked herself out of her thoughts and looked down at the device, waiting minute by minute to see the number go down. With every step she took, her feet cried out in protest. She had been walking ever since she had found Hope, which was yesterday. She had to wonder how she managed to get this far.

Of course, she was also wondering where this device would take her. Would it be important? Somewhere she needed to go? Some way to fix her problems? Some town where the answers would lie? It had to be important for Hope to try and give it to her. Hope was an odd girl, but she wouldn't do something she didn't deem worth it.

Echo sighed as minute after minute passed. She kept wondering about everything. Her mind then went on the topic of her friends. What was happening to her friends? What was going on with Phil and this mysterious person named Gabe? It sounded familiar, certainly, but…she had no idea why, which frustrated her to no end.

Then there was the problem of if everyone had gotten into the game or not. She wasn't sure if one of her friends was incapable of their tasks. She hasn't really heard from Lala or Alma in...a long time. Maybe she should talk to them eventually.

Fifteen minutes left. Echo's mind moved onto Hope. Where had Hope gone? It didn't look like she died. There was no blood whatsoever, but...the monsters didn't bleed when they die either. Maybe the game did the same thing to humans? It'd be less of a mess to clean up at least, but the game probably didn't care about what the players do after someone dies.

...oh, what was she doing? She was talking about a video game as if it had a mind of it's own. That's ridiculous. This was a game that she downloaded online. That wasn't right. It couldn't have a mind of it's own. Computers and video games don't have minds of their own. Technology wasn't that advanced.

Another five minutes passed. Ten minutes left, and time seemed to be flying by quickly. Echo thought about where she was now and how impossible her quest seemed. Make these people care for each other. How could she be expected to do that? She barely had the ability to show her own emotions. How could she help people obtain emotion and sympathy. That's something that you're just born with...this is going to be impossible.

And what was this device in her hand, even? That was something she hadn't bothered to question, but since it seemed so important, she had to wonder what it was. Was it some kind of tracker? A GPS of some sort? Could she put coordinates into this thing? If so, she could use this to lead her to just about anywhere...well, assuming that this thing had satellite pictures of this planet, which was highly unlikely. Maybe it was just a tracker…

Why would Hope have one of these things, though? Where did this device lead? What was it tracking? She had already asked herself where this thing was leading her, and she was sure that she wasn't going to get an answer until she reached her destination.

Another five minutes and now Echo was staring at the ground. The device was guiding her in a straight line, so she assumed that she had to keep going straight and didn't bother with the device afterwards. She'd check every once and awhile, but more pressing things were getting her attention, and not this tracker.

Echo then noticed something staining the dark green grass. Along the green grass of the plains, she saw...red. A crimson red; blood red. It was blood. Echo took a step back and shook her head. Blood? Oh dear...right, now this grabbed her attention.

Echo broke out into a sprint, though her feet cried out in protest. The bottom of her feet ached and, from the constant walking, Echo's leg's were going stiff. She wouldn't be able to walk for long, but she wouldn't need to. She was close. She looked at the device. Two minutes left.

Echo had no idea why she felt nervous. She was assuming the worst, most likely, whether she realized it or not. Her brain had always assumed the worst outcome, even if she wanted to be optimistic. There were only so many routes this situation could take.

The canadian suddenly stopped. She adjusted her glasses and stared at what she came across. It was a woman. A very familiar young woman, crumpled on the ground. She was laying on her side, in a pool of blood, and she was staring straight at Echo. Her purple eyes were void of anything. No emotions. No fear, no anger, no sadness, no confusion. No...life.

Echo's heart sank, a foreign feeling of dread rushing over her as her mind went numb trying to find a way to respond. Her brain had practically shut down. She was running on instinct when she preferred to run on constant study and knowledge. Her gut reaction was to run towards the body, and she acted upon it.

"No...no no no," she muttered as she kneeled down next to the body, the blood staining her jeans a dark red. She didn't care right now, though. She lifted the body up into a sitting position and shook the body gently. "Come on. Wake up, please? Wake up!"

Echo had never talked to her sister very much. Heck, they rarely ever got along. They haven't seen face to face on something for years. Never had a friendly conversation without the other walking out of the room in silence, being either annoyed or uncomfortable from the conversation. She shouldn't feel so emotional. It was illogical to feel like this for someone who you barely talked to, but even then, the tears began to fill up in Echo's eyes, and she could do nothing to stop it.

Echo put her head down and let go of the body. It fell down and splashed into the pool of blood. She put her hands to her chest. Her heartbeat was abnormal. It was anything but a constant rate. Echo closed her eyes and listened to the heartbeat as she felt the warm tears trail down her face. She tried to take a deep breath, but it came out shaky, uneven and shallow.

No matter how hard she tried to stay calm, it failed. Tears streamed down her cheeks, her heartbeat continued to be uneven, her mind felt numb and her breathing had gone to a series of shallow inhalations. Echo moved away and sat down. Calm down...calm down…

She tried to focus on something else, but all she could think about was the time she had spent with her sister. She was crazy, yes. She always had that insane nature, but her antics were sometimes amusing. Now...it was gone. She was gone. Her sister was dead.

Echo suddenly let out a sob, and that was when it all went to a downward spiral. She couldn't think, she could barely breath. She couldn't steady herself. She couldn't stand up. She couldn't do anything! She was too overtaken by grief and feelings she had not had much experience with.

Sadness...it was awful! Why couldn't she control this? The brain was a powerful part of the body, and you'd think it could control its emotions, but any attempts she made were for naught. Instead, she opened her eyes and tried to operate her computer glasses, the tears in her eyes making her vision blurry. Alma. talk to Alma. You need Alma.

troubleTimes (TT) has begun pestering almandCream (AC)

TT: Alma

TT: Alma

TT: please answer Alma

TT: you're not dead right?

TT: please pick up

AC: woah hey

AC: calm down

AC: whats wrong

TT: I am excperencing emorions that I a not used to.

AC: ...what?

TT: Sorry, it's hard to type on this while crying.

TT: I need help

TT: I'm crying

TT: I feel sad

TT: I don't know what to do

TT: Help me

AC: okay okay calm down

AC: look i see some imps off in the distance

AC: give me a second to kill them and then ill talk some more

AC: okay?

TT: Okay

TT: Please hurry

TT: And be safe

TT: I don't want to lose you.

AC: um...right

AC: bye

almandCream (AC) has ceased pestering troubleTimes (TT)

Echo sighed and sniffled, still sobbing at an uncontrollable rate. She couldn't handle this. Losing her sister...never getting her back again...she couldn't take it. She just wanted her friends...she wanted her friends now, but...all she could do now was sob, kneeling down next to the dead body of her sister.

Echo: === Be Alma

I got some explaining here. So, I know I promised a chapter where the story centered around Gabe. I had the chapter and everything, but...I didn't like it? It felt poorly written and it just didn't flow very well, nor did it have much relevance. This...has more relevance than what it was before. So I replaced it with an Echo chapter. Sorry about that, but I just could not fix the chapter without having an incredibly late update, and even then it still wouldn't be that relevant. So...I hope you can forgive me for this. I'll try to make sure this doesn't happen again.