Another day, another chapter…. yeah, I'm on a roll now! This week is pretty weird, but at least I got time to type.  So without further ado, onto chapter eight!

Chapter Eight: Unexpected Rivalry

            Cause when there's you, I feel whole…

            And there's no better feeling in the world…

            It was apparent the next day that Hiko had gotten himself into trouble. The usual crowd that gathered around in the morning to talk with Nenji and him had not shown up and most of the senior class was ignoring him. His coach practically chewed him out and on top of all the misery at school he still wasn't feeling any better than the night before. He just didn't seem to care anymore.

            "Hiko, you sure, you're okay?" Nenji asked him his cerulean gaze glancing worriedly at his friends face.

            "No, not really." He replied softly. His long black hair had been pulled back in a braid by his mom right before he left the house, only because he hadn't decided to do anything with it that morning and it had been a mess. His violet eyes looked dull behind his glasses and he looked as if he was still half asleep.

            "Well? What happened man?" he leaned in closer to lower his voice. "Is it about Tawna?"

            Raine put a hand to his forehead. "Are you feeling well?" she removed her small fingers after a minute. "You don't have a fever but you don't look good."

            "Tobuowanai-kun!"

            His friends looked over to see Tawna and Hirelena coming toward them.

            "Ah. Morning Saganachi-chan, Yui-chan." Raine smiled.

            "You too Kouhei-sempai." Hirelena grinned.

            "Hey I didn't know you wear glasses." Nenji blinked his large blue eyes at the redheaded junior.

            "Only when I read. Its from reading to much when I was little." She smiled. "I have literature class first period." Turning she looked at the tallest of the three. "Tobuowanai-kun, why'd you get offline so quickly last night?"

            "I didn't feel like playing last night." He told her, trying to bring enough emotion into his voice to make the statement sound true.

            "Well I was wondering if you would all would join me in a party tomorrow." She smiled. "There's an event going on and I've never been able to clear one by myself."

            "Wow, sure!" Nenji's eyes were shining in response.

            "Sounds like fun." Raine nodded, thick locks of blonde flapping against he shoulders.

            "I'll…think about it." Hiko replied, colder then he had meant to.

            "Okay…" Tawna swallowed. "Hiko, I really am sorry for yesterday."

            He sighed. "Don't worry about it, I'm not angry anymore." Before he had known it a slight smile had come to his lips.

            She smiled back and nodded. "Thanks for not being mad at me then."

            "Oh!" Hirelena spoke up after a moment. "I had a talk with Keita-kun last night and he told me that yesterday's soccer game is rescheduled for Saturday morning. I figured we'd go."

            "That's right, you told me that earlier." Tawna nodded. "Tobuowanai-kun, do you mind if I go and cheer you on?"

            He blinked. "Yeah…that's okay with me."

            "Great!" she grinned. "It's a date then. We'll make plans on Friday, okay? I don't know how to get to their school."

            The bell sounded, startled their small group still gathered in the locker room. "We have to go." Hirelena's emerald widened.

            "Yeah, later guys!" Tawna called as they dashed off.

            "Looks like there's still hope left for you." Raine said after a moment, flashing a look at Hiko.

            "What's that supposed to mean?" he replied.

            "You look better now then you did walking in here." She narrowed her chestnut eyes in him in case he dare oppose her. "I think you're lovesick and Tawna's the obvious cure."

            "And I think you're crazy." He shot back. Didn't she realize that today of all days was one not to mess with him?

            "Well whether you admit it or deny it isn't the point. You better decide what you're going to do and quickly." She said, running fingers through long strands of gold.

            "Raine, what are you hinting at?" Nenji looked over at her, evidently lost.

            "I'm saying he should take this opportunity to spend time with her, before she's so lost in Balmung that she can't see anyone else. And from what I've heard from Yui-chan that's getting close." She just shook her head. "Now how bout we head to class ourselves. We have to pass this year, remember?"

            Hiko thought over what Raine had said that day and decided to join the five of them in their event party on Thursday. During which she told everyone about her newest friend Raquel who had sent her a long reply of thanks and a meet up time of 4:30 on Friday. Both Nenji and Keita immediately warned her of the dangers of inviting in new people, but Savana just shrugged them off and told them she had met her before and that she was a very nice player. The event ran smoothly, and Kei and Ramia eventually did win the prize for their time. After which the group broke off, leaving Savana alone with the onyx-haired heavy blader.

            "Thanks for inviting me." He told her as they headed for the chaos gate in Carmina Gadelica. Hiko had since returned to himself in the last twenty-four hours and the group was happy and relieved to have him back.

            "No problem." She smiled over at him, that same smile that had gotten to him at the start of the week. Had it only been that long ago? These days were lagging by.

            They made their stop in front of the portal. "Savana…" he started, and then shook his head. "No, Tawna."

            She blinked, looking up at his face in surprise at the use of her real name in this place. "Yeah?"

            He grinned, his hand resting on his shoulder. "I'm going to come pick you up Saturday morning. Let's go have breakfast together. I know a great place and its not far from Keita's school."

            Her eyes lit up. "That sounds great! Thanks Hiko!"

            He nodded. "Alright then, it's settled. Goodnight!"

            "Goodnight to you too!" she called as he gated out.

            Removing the visor, he looked at the computer screen for a long time, before picking up his glasses and sliding them on. Even if his feelings for her had changed, one thing that would never was how much fun they had playing 'The World.'

            Savana smiled. She was glad her friend was back to his self. For a while she had been really worried. The thing that still bothered her most was that he had been watching her the other day with Balmung…how much had he seen? Crimson touched her cheeks but she just shook her head. She could trust Hiko. It was one of the things she liked about him most.

            "Been having fun?"

            She turned, watching a familiar wavemaster appear through the gate with long navy hair.

            "Hikaru." She spoke sternly. "How much have you been telling Balmung about me?"

            She swallowed. "I…I only tell him what you tell me through your e-mails. He worries a lot about you, and he can't bring himself to say anything. So he asks me for him. I'm sorry, I didn't tell you before. You saw through me, didn't you?"

            "No, Balmung told me himself. Yesterday. We got into a fight." She explained in detail what had happened, only after they had retreated to the mountain palace in Dun Lorieag.

            "So he kissed you?!" the wavemaster grinned. "That's awesome. Aw! You to make such a cute couple."

            "Thanks…" the girl's face had gone completely red by this point. "I need to talk to him though. Is he online tonight?"

            "No, he already went to bed, from what I heard." She replied.

            "It's only seven!" Her eyes widened. "Oh… I have to get offline. Mom will be home any minute!"

            "Alright, see you later then!" the magician waved.

            Logging off, Tawna sighed. Today had gone better then most. She hadn't checked out a contaminated area in a while though and she hadn't heard anything from Kite. She was beginning to feel bad that she was getting nowhere with her search and that she was actually having fun on the game.

            "I'm having fun though…Tomonari would want it that way." She grinned, unhooking the laptop and hiding back in its spot under the bed. "Today was probably the best day I've had. I hope it continues to be like this."

            Maybe if she hadn't seen that, things wouldn't have taken as violent a turn for the worst as they did.

            "So, let's see if I get this straight…" Balmung said stopping to stare at her amidst his frantic pacing. "You're going out this weekend with some guy, so you won't be online to help me on tomorrow."

            "I'm going to a soccer game with my friends to cheer on my friends, and one of them happens to be Hiko, a heavy blade that you know." She rolled her eyes. "And I'm not going to be gone that long anyway. But I seriously have to do this. Hiko hasn't been in the best of moods recently and he needs some support. As for going out, yes, I'm leaving early tonight. I'm going to see a movie with Keita and Lena."

            "Fine." He huffed, turning away. "It's almost four thirty. We have to meet this friend of yours, don't we?"

            The female followed him to the gate in Carmina Gadelica, being careful not to stay in one place for to long. Savana already had the feeling that something was wrong. Balmung had been all over a few days ago, and now he wanted nothing to do with her. He had barely said hi since she had logged on today besides yelling at her and now he was suddenly jealous? Over who, Hiko?

            She giggled as they entered the sunny area, the place where they would meet Raquel.

            "What's so funny?" Balmung snapped, evidently annoyed.

            "Are you seriously jealous?" she asked him with a crooked grin on her face.

            "Of what?!" he shot back, suddenly enraged.

            This led into another fit of giggles from her. "It's just two funny. Big bad Balmung is all worried about a simple heavy blade stealing away his girl." At the death glare she received she kept laughing. "I'm sorry, it's just to hysterical."

            "I'm glad you find our relationship so funny." He muttered.

            "Oh come on Balmung, you know I'm only kidding." She said, calmly her fits of laughter.

            "Yeah, but you weren't when you said you were going off with some guy." He murmured, low enough that she couldn't hear. "Listen, Savana-"

            "Lord Balmung!"

            The couple turned to see a tall long arm woman running toward them. She had short, almost jaw-length golden blonde hair, pale skin and beautiful blue-green eyes. The small halter-top she wore showed off her rather busty chest and her toned stomach. Her bare shoulders were tattooed with cerulean markings the same color as her eyes. She wore a pair of long black pants, the same markings on her shoulders decorating the fabric from hip to ankle. Silver armor covered her from her feet to her knees and from her elbows to wrists. She looked all in all, as if she could be a model in this world, even when you could create your character to look totally different from you.

            "…. Impressive." Savana looked up, surprised at the reaction on Balmung's face.

            "Evening Lord Balmung." She smiled up at him adoringly. She changed her glances, her eyes growing colder for a moment. "Hello again, Savana."

            The female blademaster swallowed, rather intimidated by her glance. "Hi Raquel." Something wasn't right again…Raquel looked completely different from the last time she had seen her.

            "Who's your friend?" Balmung asked, looking past the blonde.

            It was then that Savana noticed another woman standing further off in the meadow a spear in hand. She was dressed plainly in a long scarlet tunic and pants, long red hair pulled back behind her long elven ears. Platinum highlights clashed with the crimson, giving off an intriguing effect. Her bright blue eyes stared at the groups before casually looking away.

            "She's pretty." Savana murmured.

            "She's an elf. A hacker to be precise. Her name's Alyanae." Raquel explained.

            "Alyanae." The female blademaster repeated. "I like her name too."

            "A hacker?" there was a cold tone in Balmung's voice as his emerald eyes narrowed.

            "Oh, Lord Balmung, please." Raquel pleaded. "Alyanae's not a bad character at all. She helped me re-design my character." She grinned devilishly. "It looks great, don't you think?"

            The winged descendant's cheeks went red in response, but he said nothing. Savana pretended to ignore that comment. Her instincts were still telling her something wasn't going right and that she should probably be leaving. Deciding it was probably better since it had been Balmung Raquel had wanted to see and not her, she took a step away from them. "You all will have to excuse me. I don't have a lot of time to spend online tonight. I'm going out later with a few friends and I need time to get ready."

            "That's understandable, since it is Friday and all." Raquel nodded. "Oh!" her eyes lit up. "Savana, before you go. I was leveling in an area the other day and I came across an area that was acting weird. I heard from Alyanae that you met up with that twin blade Kite, so you would probably know about it more than I would. Why don't you guys go check it out?"

            "A contaminated area?" she blinked. It had been a while since she had seen one.

            "I'll go with you." Balmung spoke up. "Despite how she looks, Savana isn't very strong. She'll need backup."

            "No need to worry. Alyanae will go with her. She's a powerful level eighty player." Raquel told him. At his wary glance, she smiled. "Please Lord Balmung. I've been waiting for so long to meet you. I figured we could have a talk or so. Savana can handle it. She's a big girl."

            He turned, making eye contact with the crimson-headed blademaster.  For a minute they just stared at one another before he solemnly nodded his head, messy white hair swaying in his eyes.

            She nodded back. "E-mail me later, alright?" She still didn't like the way things were turning out. He briefly nodded again in return.

            "Are you ready?" Alyanae surprised her by coming up behind her. "What's your member address?"

            Having been reassigned to Alyanae's party, Savana nodded. "Now I am."

            "Have fun you two!" Raquel waved as they gated out.

            "Huh?" Savana blinked as they entered a sun-filled meadow, scarcely shaded by shrubs and rock formations. "This place doesn't look contaminated."

            "You're right." Alyanae sounded rather surprised. "I've seen corrupted areas, and this isn't one."

            "Guess I'll go back and ask Raquel what the keywords were. Maybe we got them mixed up or something." The blademaster sighed. A golden circle surrounded her, but as the light flashed, she still remained in the exact same place. Her amber eyes widened. "Huh?" she tried again to no avail. "I can't gate out!"

            "Neither can I." The elf added after trying a few times herself.

            "Guess we have no choice but to reset." Savana gritted her teeth. "And I haven't saved all afternoon."

            "Calm down. If we can't leave then there is obviously something wrong here. Let's explore a little. Who knows once we reset if we can come back." The long-arm explained. "Just…stay on guard."

            "Okay…but lets clear all the outside monster portals." She grinned. "This place is level fifty and I need the experience."

            Monster battles seemed to resort to skill using and button bashing. Savana wasn't surprised to find that Alyanae could kill a high-powered monster like a Dalagion in a swipe or two of her spear. She truly was a powerful ally.

            "You know," the elf started as they finished an amazingly hard battle with four dark horses. She spun around and before Savana knew what was happening, she was staring at the other end of a sharp-pointed spear. "You seemed pretty nice. It's almost a shame your time's just about up."

            "Huh?" she swallowed, her golden eyes blinking wide. "What's going on? Alyanae?" Her hands began to tremble. "What'd I do?"

            The elf gritted her teeth in frustration. "Don't play dumb! You know damn well what I'm talking about! Why did you have to threaten people like that?"

            "I…what?" she found it hard to not shake, though she wanted to show that she wasn't afraid. "What'd I do?!"

            "That letter! On the board from the anonymous player a couple weeks ago? Threatening anyone who got near Lord Balmung! You can't keep him all to yourself! He's one of the most well respected characters on this game!" she barked, her spear tip inching closer to the girl's face. "It's alright. When Raquel told me it was you, we devised a plan to get rid of you."

            "Alyanae, listen to me." She said, as easily as she could without letting her voice tremble. "I would never do anything like that. Please you have to listen to me. I really am a friend of Balmung's. I wouldn't threaten him or anyone. Please."

            "And I should believe someone as dishonorable as you?" she shot back.

            Not really having any other choice, Savana opened an IM channel and sent it to probably the one other person beside Balmung who this woman would believe. She hoped and prayed she was on, seeing as her member list didn't work any other place but a root town.

            "You want me to tell you what's going to happen?" the elf replied coldly. "I should, else you're not going to know. I planted a virus on your character when we entered this area. It will shut down your character sooner or later, but the thing you should be worried about most is the virus scan software that automatically runs over the game's system every fifteen seconds. As soon as the virus starts working, it will mask the rest of your data and when the scan comes through, lets just say you'll be wiped clean from the game's server."

            "Alyanae…" she tried to step forward and found her legs paralyzed.

            "See, it looks like its already taking effect." She smirked.

            There was suddenly a golden circle of light appearing before them and a blue-haired wavemaster stepped through it. Her violet eyes widened. "Savana!"

            "Hikaru!" she called, reaching out an arm, to finding it now an impossible situation.

            "You sent for help?!" Alyanae frowned. "And I didn't see it coming?"

            "That's because it's a little bit harder to track me." The magician responded immediately. "Now what is all this?!"

            "Hikaru…" her words were getting dragged out as the virus took over her entirely. "Tell…her…out…Balmu…nd…I…call….Kite…" there was a blur, a bright flash of light and then everything went black. Taking off the visor the computer read the words SYSTEM ERROR in bright red flashing letters. Breathing in a deep sigh, she hit the reset button. "Damn it."

            As the computer started up again, she thought over what was going on. She couldn't believe what had happened. Raquel had accused her of being an online terrorist…Savana was now gone…She just should have left when she realized something was wrong.

            As Altimit started, her eyes caught sight of the flashing mail icon. Opening the inbox she realized she was now swamped with messages.

            -Savana, I told that elf woman everything but she would not say anything back in return, only that she had been misled. I'm going to file a report to the admin when this is all over. What did she do to you?! Savana's not even in the game anymore!

                                                                                                                        Hikaru-

            -Savana, this is Kite. I was reached by a mysterious woman in white (I have no idea who she is, but she seems to be an ally) and said that she would take care of the situation; about the same time I received Hikaru's e-mail. I hope things go well and that I hear from you soon.

                                                                                                                        Kite-

            The last letter was left unsigned, but the icon that appeared was of the same blonde-haired wavemaster that Tawna had met down in the dungeon a while ago.

            -You have really gotten yourself into it this time. I could of told you not to get so involved with Balumng, but I thought that would have been obvious by now. Luckily the data from the last time you logged can still be retrieved. You'll have missed about three days of work but if I work through tonight I should have Savana back online by tomorrow morning. -

            Tawna sat back in relief. "Thank God." She murmured with a smile flashing onto her face. It immediately left as an IM began flashing at the bottom of her screen. Her teeth gritted as she read the sender. She closed the IM, but moments later it reappeared on the screen. This time she decided to open it.

                        What? Don't want to talk?

                        -What do you want Raquel?!-

                        Did you enjoy this afternoon? I know I did.

            Tawna waited for a moment, but as soon as she went to type, another response flashed up.

                        Balmung and I had a long discussion, about you.

            She swallowed. If she was willing to spread such lies about her to her friends, she didn't even want to know what she had told Balmung. Another reply came up.

                        I would consider it over between you two. What ever little relationship you had is gone.

            The girl's amber eyes widened. That was the one thing…she had been fearing.

                                    -What did I do to you? If I wronged you in anyway, I'm sorry-

                                    LOL. Jealous, aren't we? Now maybe you know what I've been going through, hearing all this talk about Balmung dating a redheaded newbie blademaster. As soon as I heard the news I knew it was you. I just had to wait till you fulfilled your promise. You were so naïve that it caused your downfall. I've been trying to find Balmung for two years. Its sad that I had to find him through a small brat like you.

            Tawna leaned back against the wall. She didn't know what it was like to have a crush on someone so bad that you'd do anything to get to that person, but she was feeling bad that she had fallen for the winged swordsman when there had to be tons of others girls who at least partially felt the same way. There was yet another reply.

                        Well, no matter. He's mine now, and from what I know, you probably won't ever see him again. I've ruined your life enough for one day. Sleep on it.

            After that the connection fell silent. Tawna moved the laptop off her bed and shut it down before climbing back under the covers. She had absolutely no idea what to think, much less what to tell herself.

            Silence echoed throughout the house along with the lingering emotion of loneliness. The sunset and darkness fell upon the empty house. Tawna didn't move to turn on a light. She was tired and she didn't have the motivation to move. Seconds seemed to move like hours and eternity was currently being spent in that dark room alone.

            The phone rang sometime later on, startling the young girl out of her half-sleep daze. She leaned over, went through her purse and grabbed the small cell. "Hello?" she asked, barely above a whisper.

            "Where were you tonight?" her friend's chipper voice demanded.

            'Hirelena…' She vaguely remembered that Keita was going to be taking them to the movies and she was supposed have met them there at eight. Glancing over at her clock she stared at the red digits that flashed 10:35. Her mother hadn't even come home yet.

            "Lena," she swallowed, feeling more miserable then before, adding 'blowing her friends off' to the top of her mental guilt list. Her voice cracked as she tried to keep from crying. "I'm sorry."

            "Tawny, are you okay?" she asked, her tone changing at the sound of her friend's voice.

            "Can…can you come over here, now?" she sniffed.

            "Yeah, sure. I'll be there in a few." The connection was lost and time picked up again, this time faster then ever before. The lights of the three motorcycles could be seen pulling into the parking lot. Tawna realized they would have had to break the speed limit and take the alleys to get here that fast.

            There was the sound of the front door being thrown open.

            "Tawna where are you?!" the small yelled.

            "In my room!" she replied hoarsely.

            Footsteps came stamping up the steps. The door to her room flew open, light blinding her from the hallway. The light switch got thrown on and she saw that everyone was now gathering in her small room.

            "Oh man." Hirelena muttered at the sight of her friend's red puffy eyes and bed head. She approached the bed slowly as if the girl on it would suddenly recoil in fear. "Girl, what's going on?"

            Tawna clutched a pillow to her, trying to hide her face. She knew that it wasn't just Lena and Raine, but Keita, Nenji and at the back of the group, Hiko too. She was sure he, of all people, did not want to see her like this, especially with the week he was having.

            "I…I screwed everything up." She mumbled softly. "I…I d-don't know how but I lost everything." It was becoming hard to talk between sobs.

            "How so?" her small friend asked, sitting down gently on the bed. As if it was a cue, Rain started to walk over as well.

            "How?" she glanced up, her golden eyes suddenly violent. Raine froze in place. "I don't know! Balmung's mad at me; he doesn't want to see me anymore. He's apparently Raquel's now. Savana's been deleted. A couple hacker friends are trying to put her back together, but I don't know how that's going to work. Tomonari's still in the hospital, Hiko's been frustrated with me. What hasn't gone wrong in the last week?!" she buried her head in the pillow as she broke down.

            "Aw girl." Hirelena wrapped her arms around her. Raine smiled, putting an arm on her shaking back.

            Keita sat down next to Lena. "Things will get better, just give them time. If Lord Balmung is mad at you now, give him a few days. He'll get over it."

            "He cares about you a lot." Raine added soothingly.

            "I know Hiko's not upset with you either." Nenji chimed in.

            "Tawna…" the purple-eyed senior said, kneeling down on the floor in front of her. "I'm sorry you've been dealing with all this this week. I know I was acting like an ass. But it's okay. I'm here now to help you. We all are."

            She looked up at him slightly through watery amber eyes.

            "That's right! We all are here to help you out!" Lena smiled.

            "We're a group. A party. We've always stuck together right?" Hiko grinned at her. "Don't worry. Everything will work out with you and Balmung. We're all standing behind you. If he won't listen to you then he's going to have to listen to one of us in the end. He's one person and we're six. We'll set things right, promise."

            She nodded her head slightly before leaning forward, letting her forehead bang softly up against his. "Thank you." She whispered to him as her eyes closed tightly.

            He took off his glasses, putting them on the ground beside him and letting one hand run through the crimson mess of hair falling over her shoulders. "No problem." He said, soft enough that no one else could hear but her. "It's what I'm here for."

-END CHAPTER EIGHT-