Disclaimers are the same for all chapters.
Vocab:
Bind Sight: A spell that allows a player to see through its target's eyes (first person perspective only). The screen changes to that of whatever the target is (NPC, player, or monster) for an indefinite amount of time, until the target is dispelled or the player chooses to end the spell. The player cannot see their own surroundings, but can still chat with other players that are around them. Useful for mapping out dungeons.
Buff: A spell that enhances a character for a temporary amount of time. This time increases with level, and goes up to thirty minutes at maximum. Buffs can do all sorts of things, like increase the maximum health of a player, give them a barrier, increase their running speed, etc. A player can only have a maximum of ten spell effects at one time, and the same spell cannot be cast twice to get twice the effect (this is stacking).
:::WARNING:::
It gets pretty angsty from here on in…I think.
--------------
"You're…a guy," Joukatsu repeated.
Seto felt as if he was about to be sick. Normally, he could withstand such stress. He's looked fear right in the eyes and told it to go to hell during any sort of dueling situation. It was because he had control. He knew what the other person was thinking, and what they were up to, even if he couldn't stop it. Knowledge made his mind at ease, and allowed him to control a small portion of the situation.
There was nothing like that here. He couldn't use his money to buy love. He couldn't use his power to force it. The one thing he had was hope, and that hope was placed in the one thing that he couldn't control.
No one was around. Mokuba was asleep, and the lights were off, even though it was bad for his eyes. He succumbed to his tears, and prepared to give in to defeat soon.
Jounouchi inhaled heavy breaths. He had pretty much just told a girl that he loved her, for the first time, and that girl ended up revealing her deepest secret; she was a he. Did that matter to him? Would it be a problem for him to start seeing an older guy? He'd have to keep it a secret from his father, but that wouldn't be too much a problem.
Nymphe was an angel, in game and out. It didn't matter.
"I'm still in love with you," Jou finally answered. Hopefully it had eased some tension on her…or rather, his part.
"I'm sorry," Nymphe apologized, "Please don't tell anyone."
"I won't," Jou promised, tears welling up in his eyes, "I just…I want to tell ya in person." He reached for a box of tissues on the far end of the computer desk to wipe his face with.
"I'm in love with you also, as hard as that is for someone like me to admit," she paused, "That is why you had to know. I'd like to meet you, in person. Where do you live? I can come to you."
Someone loved him? He had always thought that certain things were impossible. He was very lucky, to have had so many good things happen to him, despite everything that made him hurt. He had finally found someone to be intimate with, who would travel across Japan to see him.
The oxygen appeared to be leaving his body. Jounouchi felt as if he had just woken up from suffocation, because he was very light headed and dizzy. His limbs felt numb, like they had a million tourniquets tighten around them. Love was starting to feel like death.
"I..I live in Domino, but you don't have to come all the way here…we could meet in between, or I could come to you…or…" He was shaking, and weeping.
"Stop," Nymphe interrupted, "I live in Domino."
Jounouchi let out an accidental yelp. He glanced at Yugi, to make sure that he was still sleeping like a rock, and he was. If anyone believed in fate, it was Katsuya Jounouchi.
"It is ironic, that for so long I scorned the thought of fate, and detested the threads of destiny, but now it seems that these things truly do exist, as this seems to be more than just a coincidence." Jou wondered if the two of them were connected telepathically.
"Then…I want to see ya as soon as possible," the blonde told him, "You can choose when and where. I can wait, but it'll be hard to."
"There is a park that overlooks Domino Square. I have a lot of work to do over the next three days, but on the third night, if you are able to, we could meet then." Jounouchi knew the park; he had recently been there with Yugi.
"Sure, that third night is fine…what time?" Jou anxiously questioned. He would have to tell Yugi, so that he would be able to come back inside if it was past ten.
"Midnight," he answered.
"I promise that I'll be there, Impy. How will we know to find each other?" Jou wondered.
"I'll be waiting on the railing. Not many people go there late at night, which is good for many reasons. It will be okay," Nymphe assured the warrior.
"I trust ya. But if we don't know, then just look for the guy running around yelling "Impy!" really loud," he joked. He was incredibly nervous about what to say for the first time, but perhaps it wouldn't be that hard to break the ice.
"We should get some sleep," Nymphe suggested.
"Or try to," Jou remarked, "Get a good rest. I'll be there no matter what, even if I don't see you online between now and then."
"My stomach is a bit upset still, but I think I will be fine. Sweet dreams, Joukatsu."
"Sweet dreams, Impy."
"You're too late, the dragon's already dead," the dark elf Moltaenya stated, "Why don't you take your little guild to the newbie zones for a practice run, Duke."
"Yes, that would suit them quite well!" Heretyc agreed, narrowing her silver eyes at Otogi's bard, "You don't even have your cleric today, hmm. What a shame."
Radiant Eclipse was in a face off with Demise, in a zone known as the Scaletree Forest. Otogi had hoped to kill the legendary dragon that was said to spawn there only once a week real time, but they had arrived late. Jounouchi was secretly scolding himself for not waking up earlier to claim the spawn.
"So what? Xziss, Nevaeh, and myself would have been able to heal fine," the bard defended.
"Oh, please," Moltaenya mocked them, "An oracle's healing ability is sub-standard, not to mention that you would have died from the aggro of your healing song." She placed a hand on her nearly revealed hip; "Of course, had we known you were going to attempt something like that, we would have left the beast alive just to watch you be the first to die. Corpse retrieval isn't exactly easy if you can't kill the dragon."
"Your pathetic excuse for a dark knight wouldn't have been able to heal fast enough. You would have lost his damage output because you can't cast and attack at the same time. Plus, he doesn't even have the skill that dark elves are granted, which would have helped some. That's why half-breeds shouldn't bother dabbling in the dark arts," Heretyc taunted.
"You're just angry because we defeated Itor in the Magma Temple a few days ago, and beat the server record," Honda argued.
"You were only able to do something like that because you guys used an exploit," the dark elven warrior retorted, "We would have reported the abuse of the game, but we figured it would be more fun to torture you a bit longer."
"We didn't use any exploits," Jounouchi finally chimed in, "There aren't even any exploits that exist in that room!"
"Your cleric clearly was using magic energy beyond the limit of her level," Heretyc accused them, "Our wizard had cast bind sight on a ghoul, and witnessed the whole thing. He took screenshots as proof. There is no way that a cleric could have a limitless magic energy pool!"
"You're wrong, there is a way," Jou interjected.
"Well then, kindly inform us, or else you might see certain pictures posted on the server messageboard," Moltaenya threatened, her arms crossed in impatience.
"Enchanters get a spell known as Recharge at level forty," he began.
"Yes, but that only increases magic energy regeneration by two points. It isn't a percentage," Heretyc stated in defense.
"You should let a man finish what he is saying, or else you might look like a fool," Jou remarked. He was proud of himself; it seemed like Nymphe's articulate use of language rubbed off on him. He continued, "There is an item that increases the rate by a percentage."
"There is only one item in the game so far like that, and clerics can't even use it. Not only that, but the rate is only five percent!" the female warrior informed everyone.
"You're wrong. There is the Energy Ring."
Both guilds gasped at the mention of the item. Previously they had believed that no one had solved the quest before it was removed from the game. The thought of someone solving it and not saying a word was utterly ridiculous.
"You're lying," Heretyc said.
Duke tells you, 'So that's how you guys caught up to me.'
The blonde smirked to himself. What could they say to that? The item was soul-bound, which meant that when the owner died, it stayed on their body, so there was no risk of it decaying on a corpse. Nymphe really did have an advantage.
"I'm not lying," he responded, suddenly thinking rather evilly, "Why don't you take your guild to a newbie zone known as the Undead Caverns and ask Lady Jih yourself?"
"Tch…" Moltaenya grunted, "We're leaving." The two dark elves gave them scornful looks and walked through the nearby zone line.
Jou leaned back in his chair and muttered, "Impy's gonna kill me."
Yugi burst into the room, scaring him. His chair began to tip backward, but Yugi ran up to him quickly and caught it before it fell. He ruffled Jou's hair and asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, ya just scared me is all," Jou answered. He checked his monitor and noticed that Yugi had logged Zoerb off.
"Can you get off the game? We haven't talked in a while," Yugi pleaded with him. He said his good-byes and logged out. The shorter boy then draped his arms around Jounouchi's neck from his position behind him, and rested his head on the blonde's right shoulder. He asked, "We practically live together now, so how come you didn't tell me about that item?"
The taller boy became nervous. He wasn't sure what to say, or what was going through Yugi's head. Jou removed Yugi from neck so that he could stand up and sit down on the bed, where the other quickly joined him, sitting to his left. Yugi rested his spiky hair on Jou's shoulder, and took hold of Jou's left hand. The blonde was unsure of what to do; he didn't want to give Yugi the wrong idea, but he didn't want to upset him either. He just allowed it to happen.
"Nymphe didn't want to call attention to it, that's all," Jou finally answered.
"You really do like her, don't you. Enough to keep secrets from your best-friend."
"Yug, it's not even a secret. It's just an item in a stupid game, okay?" Jou assured him.
"If the game is so stupid, why do you play it? Why do you like a girl from the game?" Jou wasn't entirely sure of how to react. Yugi was not acting like himself; in fact, he was almost acting a bit selfish and jealous. He concluded that it must just be a part of teenager-hood.
"Fine, I'll tell you a real world secret then, okay buddy?" Jou sighed, "I'm going to meet…"
"Please don't tell anyone."
"…her. Tomorrow night. And I need you to let me back into the house, because it's really late at night." He looked to side and into Yugi's violet eyes; "Can ya do me that favor, bud?"
"Of course I will Jounouchi. I could never lock you out of my house, even if you didn't live here," Yugi actually smiled, which made Jou happy, "I'm always here for you."
"My other secret, which I want to tell you, is that…" Jounouchi exhaled, a bit shaky from the moment. If what he suspected was true, then this would break Yugi's heart. He confessed, "Nymphe and I have fallen in love with each other. We said so the other night." He hadn't heard a piercing shatter yet…
"Then I'm happy for you two!"
"You are?" the blonde blinked in relief.
"Yes, I want you to be happy," Yugi told him, "That's why I wanted you to stay here for the break, and play with all of us. So I'm glad." He paused a moment, and said, "Except I'm sort of mad that you and Otogi got into a really bad fight. You really didn't have to hit him that hard, you know that he's weaker than you."
"He got what he deserved. I did it for you, Yugi."
"I know," Yugi embraced him, then stood from the bed, "We should get ready to sleep. It's late."
"I'm with ya there," Jou yawned.
Seto read the screen and exhaled in disappointment. Joukatsu wasn't online, and it was midnight. His right hand reached for a blue and white coffee mug to his right and took the rim of it to his lips. He thought about taking another sip of the caffeinated beverage, but decided against it. He set the mug back down on his desk. Seto had started drinking coffee to keep him up late and not feel tired, but since Jou wasn't online, there was no point in having any more of it tonight. He figured that he could just play the game by himself and work on some tradeskills while the effect of the drink wore off.
Blog tells you, 'Can you rez mah?'
The rich boy blinked. He always hated the internet lingo. Would it really kill these people to type things out the right way? He quickly switched his status to Anonymous, so that no one could see his class or level.
Blog tells you, 'Ya there? Can you rez mah? I can pay.'
"No," Seto finally replied, "I can't resurrect. You must be mistaken." He took his character to the forge in their guildhall. It was nice that he didn't have to share tradeskill items with the rest of the server population; it allowed him to be able to smith things faster.
Blog tells you, 'M'kay. Sorries to bug ya.'
Seto brushed a bang out of his eye. Before he walked into the building, he sat back in his chair and pulled the bang straight out from his head, examining it. It was longer than normal and nearly reached his chin. He contemplated keeping it that way, although the look would make him appear unprofessional and more of a rock star than a high-class executive. He decided to have it trimmed before the big night tomorrow.
Nevaeh tells you, 'Hello Nymphe. I wasn't expecting to see anyone online this late at night.'
Who was sending him annoying tells now? He double checked the monitor and was relieved to see that it was Nev.
"Greetings," he keyed in, "I am normally online at this hour, however, what are you doing online?" He figured that some small chitchat with his guildmate could pass the time. It wouldn't kill him to learn a bit more about them either; he couldn't hide at Joukatsu's side forever.
Neveah tells you, 'I had a fight with someone and I can't fall asleep.'
The cleric ran into the building as he thought of a reply. He might as well work on things while he was conversing.
"Oh, you were right outside!" Nevaeh excitedly said, "I logged out from here earlier in the day."
"I am just working on raising my blacksmithing skills," Seto explained.
"You really have a good character," the dark knight remarked.
"What are you going to do this late?" Seto asked, not bothering to thank the half-elf for the compliment.
"I'm not sure…I just don't want to go back into the other room, so I came out here to use the computer." He figured that his guildmate was referring to wherever he lived.
He placed the final piece of ore into the forge and clicked the combine icon. He failed, and that was his last piece. No more forging for the night. If he couldn't succeed in making the magic metal, then he couldn't make the magical chain, and he was all out of the special ore to create the metal with. It was too difficult to hunt the monsters that dropped the item by himself, and he wasn't expecting a failure.
"You can tell me about it if you'd like to, Nev," Seto said, "Except that you have to come help me gather some dragon ore from Inferno Timbers." He created a group and invited the dark knight.
"That's an awfully long run," the silver-haired half-breed commented, accepting the invitation to join the group.
"No, it isn't." Seto smirked to himself and thought about all of the things that he would not have if he had made a male character.
"I should have known," Nevaeh laughed. Nymphe once again pulled out an imaginary satchel on the screen and pulled out a withered scroll; "You have that magic bag of yours. I suppose that one teleports us right to the Inferno Timbers?"
"What gave that away?" Seto joked. He rarely showed any sense of humor around anyone, except Joukatsu of course, which wasn't even often. He sat back and waited a few seconds as the two characters loaded into the zone, popping up right on the safe spot of the dragon ore camp.
The reason that he couldn't kill the monsters by himself was due to their incredible magic resistance. Although they were weak, he couldn't melee them because his weapon was only equipped for the statistics, not the damage power. He figured that he would have to find another dragon cleric weapon that he could use just for hunting alone. Another problem with the monsters was that they hit very hard for their level, and with their bash ability, they could momentarily stun a player. That spelled disaster.
"We can just sit and forage while my pet kills these," his guildmate stated, "I recently found a rare spell that gives my skeletons a very high defense, and they can't be stunned."
"Interesting."
"Are you certain that I can tell you what happened?"
"Yes." Seto relaxed in his chair again, clicking the forage icon every few seconds.
"Well, someone that I care about said something very nasty to me earlier tonight," the morbid avatar stated, "I am actually at his place right now, using his computer…" Seto read correctly; it did say 'his place' on the screen.
After a few awkward moments, probably brought on by the accidental confession, Seto finally typed, "Continue."
"Sorry…I wasn't thinking…I suppose that it doesn't bother you?"
"No. I'm assuming that it isn't a brother or a relative, or else you may have decided to leave."
"It's my…boyfriend. I am not so certain that he will continue seeing me after this," Nevaeh said.
Finally he had managed to forage a piece of the ore that he needed. He emoted a signal for the dark knight to continue. There was still a bit of silence, so Seto told him, "Don't be timid around me. I know that you are normally a shy person, but you won't be able to sleep until you tell someone about it."
"Well, perhaps I should give you some background. It is the first time that he and I ever had a boyfriend. Normally he is surrounded by girls, but I don't actually believe that he has ever dated any of them."
"And you haven't dated before either?" Seto became very interested in the situation. It was similar to his own.
"No," the feather-cloaked character replied. He handed Seto's avatar some ore that he foraged and continued.
"A few days ago we…went a bit further. Not that far, but…the next day he did something very horrible. We made up and tonight I stayed over, but I am thinking about leaving." Nevaeh stood and cast a healing spell that only worked on his skeletal minions; "I asked him what we would do once school started again, about the ridicule." So Nev was still in school as well. The brunette was intrigued.
"He said not to worry because our relationship was just an experiment anyway…"
"So he is using you just to figure out some things about himself?" Seto cringed. It was definitely a dirty thing to do. He could never imagine doing something so terrible to Joukatsu.
"It seems so. I believed that he actually liked me, but his attitude has been different in the recent week. I really started to like him." It was depressing, but Seto had to come up with something to say the dark knight. Not just because it could help him out in his own selfish ways, but he suspected that Nev's boyfriend was someone who also played the game, possibly even someone in the guild. It was obvious, since the game must have been installed on their computer.
"I can only tell you what I go through, Nev," he began, "I sometimes create false reasons for my actions so that I do not have to face reality. You said that only in the recent week has he acted like this. Maybe that is why he originally started seeing you, but now maybe he is unsure of what to do, because he does like you. He may be afraid of losing whatever status he had that allowed him to have so many girls around him."
"You may be right, Nymphe."
"However, I would have put him in his place and broken ties with him. Perhaps you should do the opposite. You may regret it if both of you like each other and end things with a bitter taste in your mouths."
"You type fast," Nev remarked. Seto smiled, taking that as a sign that he had actually helped the guy. It actually relieved him a bit.
"I think that I may log off and go see if he is awake. Is that all right with you?"
"Yes. We've actually collected more ore than I expected, and if I find any more my character will be encumbered and I won't be able to move." He checked his inventory; twenty-five pieces of ore. He'd be able to make some of the magical chain soon…just not tonight. The effects of the legal drug started to wear off.
"Thanks Nymphe," Nevaeh said, camping his character.
Stay tuned (even though this isn't a TV) for Chapter 8, where Jou goes shopping for new clothes (Thanks to my sister for the idea of a shopping trip). There was a bit of foreshadowing in the chapter as well…it just turned out that way, and I noticed it during my first reread.
Yami Bakura will not make an appearance, unfortunately. Yami Yugi does appear; it was always intended for him to do so. I find his entrance to be quite hilarious.
Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far! A big thanks to my new fans as well. I am really happy to see such great feedback! I wasn't expecting this fic to be such a hit; my writing style is very blunt and lacks eloquent descriptions when I write in third person, so needless to say I am very pleased.
If anyone is a fan of Ryuuji Otogi/Hiroto Honda, I've been sitting on a half finished first chapter of a little fic about them (for weeks actually) that I hope to post up soon. Fanfiction is really pulling my time away from my project at fictionpress…sigh.
A special little message to Amarin Rose - I've read a bunch of your one-shot YGO romances and unfortunately, was being a pain and giving me errors when I went to review them, or even email you a personal review! I just wanted to say that I really loved them, despite the fact that I am not a big fan of yamis and hikaris having separate bodies. You made it work!
Feel free to contact me via email! It's somewhere in my profile.
-Zelia Theb