"Crescent! You said there would be no slimes in this dungeon!" Weiss screamed in terror with her staff close to her chest as she ran down a stone corridor with her black haired warrior friend.
"why would I know that a dungeon filled with BEOWOLVES would have a giant, ten foot tall evil slime as a boss fight!" Crescent shouted back as she ran in front of Weiss, holding her giant sword over her shoulder. "Also, this is the only time I think your irrational fear of slime is justified!"
"S-Shut up!" was Weiss's only comeback.
The slime was a vile shade of green and was much faster than it looked. It had been chasing them for a good five minutes all over the dungeon, which apparently was an old alchemy lab used by a large group of alchemists and had many corridors and rooms. The reason Weiss and Crescent weren't fighting the Slime in the boss chamber? Well, a certain blue haired mage freaked out and ran away the moment the Slime ambushed them from the ceiling of its chamber, causing Crescent to chase after Weiss while the Slime Chased after both of them. Finally, Crescent found the room she was looking for too lead the Slime into, A large hall that they fought in earlier against a pack of beowolves. The room had many long tables with various alchemist tools and glass vials that came in various shapes and sizes. Crescent and Weiss stopped in the center of the large hall, the Slime not far behind. "Ok, we'll fight it here. Myrtenaster, you need to freeze it in place as much as possible with that new spell you got earlier today." Crescent commanded as she stood ready to lunge at the Slime the moment it came into the room.
Weiss summoned a huge icy blue magic circle that appeared on the ground right in front of the doorway they had just came from. "already ahead of you, Crescent. A-All I ask is for you to keep its slimy t-t-tentacles away from me." Weiss mumbled the second half, trying her best not to show fear." Crescent however, only giggled at her. "I'm serious!" Weiss snapped
Crescent gave her best impression of a typical Prince Charming character. "Don't worry Myrtenaster, I won't let a single tentacle touch even a single strand of your pretty hair."
Weiss rolled her icy blue eyes in mock annoyance and played along, putting on her best damsel in distress voice. "Oh my, my hero is such a dolt~." A few seconds pass until the two girls giggled at their own antics.
The girls didn't have much time to enjoy their antics however, as the slime busted through the doorway with two tentacles flailing about angrily. Weiss immediately actived her trap as the slime moved over it, causing large Ice to consume the large slime. Crescent wasted no time to jump at the frozen slime, slicing a large chunk of ice containing a portion of the slime, then another chunk, then a third. Each chunk eventually vanished. Suddenly, the allotted time for the slime to be frozen had ended and the ice disappeared like glass being turned to dust. Now free, the slime swung one of its tentacles at Crescent, throwing her across the room and crash into a table, snapping it in half in the process. "Crescent!" Weiss screamed, summoning two red magic circles, shooting fireballs at the Slime, drawing its attention away from Crescent. The slime moved through the tables, ignoring the obvious magic circle that laid just a foot in front of it. "Come on, just a few more inches…" Weiss whispered to herself.. The Slime lunged its tentacles toward Myrtenaster as it moved ever so closer to Weiss' trap. Crescent got up from her crashed landing and saw the slime begin it's attack on Weiss and immediately sprang into action, placing herself between the slime and Myrtenaster. However, the slime was frozen just before the strike could make contact with Crescent's body. Crescent charged forward with great speed, sending a flurry of strikes on the Slime, dropping one chunk of it after another. Yelling with each strike. "Don't. You. Dare. Touch. My. Princess!" The Slime was quickly whittled down to nothing. Crescent stood over her victims remains for a couple of seconds before she turned to face Weiss to give her an exhausted smile posed in a chivalric stance. "The Slime is Vanquished, M'lady." Weiss stood there for a few seconds, still shocked at the sudden outburst from the sword wielder.
"Umm...over kill much?" Weiss hesitantly asked.
Crescent returned her sword to its place under her red cloak and shrugged. "What do you mean? I said I wouldn't let it hurt you and I like to think I am a woman of my word" Crescent stood with her hands on her waist and her head tilted up in pride, the slime disappearing behind her in a burst of stardust, creating a grand picture for Weiss's eyes. 'She may be such a dolt, but she's a badass Dolt.' Weiss Admired, not realizing she had a blush creeping up on her face. Suddenly, she noticed a gold chest appeared behind Crescent. "Hey, I've never seen a gold chest before!" Weiss squealed as she ran over to the chest in excitement.
Crescent followed with a smile on big smile her face. "Go head and open it up! You need it more than I do"
"really? You defeated the slime though; shouldn't you take it?" Weiss asked.
"nope" Crescent said nonchalantly, popping the 'P'. "It's all yours." Weiss nodded and touched the lock on the chest, causing it to abruptly open. Revealing itself from the chest was a white staff that head a large snowflake at one end, an icy blue gem that floated in an empty space in the center of the snowflake. Weiss touched the staff and it disappeared into her inventory. She eagerly summoned the menu interface and opened the inventory tab, quickly selecting her new staff. Her old wooden staff was replaced by the new one. A large smile grew onto Weiss' face. "it's beautiful."
"Well, I mean it did come out of a gold chest" Crescent chirped.
Weiss and Crescent began their journey back to Vytal city where they planned to meet up with Jaune and Pyrrha to hang out for the remaining hour of the day before they all started a new school year. Pyrrha and Jaune are already at the Inn, waiting at a booth. "I'm just saying, Crescent might be either addicted to the game or has no life. I mean, she has been online almost everyday and all day for the whole summer." Jaune rebuked a little too loudly.
"Well, don't you think that's her choice?" Pyrrha asked. She had known Crescent far longer than Jaune had. She first met the young girl when Crescent first started nearly two years ago and taught her everything she needed to know. On the day they met, Pyrrha found Crescent at the spot where everyone first joins the game. Crescent was…odd on that first day, she was constantly looking at her own legs with a giant smile plastered onto her face. Pyrrha saw her and decided to help the girl learn how to play. They quickly became friends and Pyrrha Invited her into the Guild alongside Boop and Ren. However, Pyrrha was just as clueless as everyone else in their guild about the person that hid behind the name 'Crescent', all everyone knew was that she was a spazzy big ball of energy and loved cookies and strawberries and that she is 14 years old. Any questions that were even remotely personal was always either ignored or shrugged off.
"well, yeah. But don't you worry about her health? I mean we're her friends and yet we just let her spend 60% of her days online. It's like she doesn't spend any time with her family." Jaune has been concerned for the last month or two, he and Crescent were close friends and he couldn't help but have his older brother instincts kick in. "I guess I can't help but see my little sisters in her sometimes…"
"Well, it's the last day of summer. She should be in school tomorrow just like the you and me, as well as Myrtenaster." Pyrrha reassured Jaune. Not a second later did Weiss and Crescent finally make it to the Inn. Pyrrha noticed Weiss's knew staff. "Hey, that's a wonderful staff you got there."
Weiss sat next to Pyrrha while Crescent sat next to Jaune and across from Weiss. "Thank you, I got it after we killed a giant slime for a quest for a quest that took us into a dungeon." Weiss felt a lot of pride in slaying the giant slime. She then looked over towards Crescent "Crescent insisted that I get the loot despite her doing most of the work."
Crescent rubbed the back of her head as her cheeks began to turn a light shade of pink. "oh, it was nothing. I already have good enough gear at the moment and besides, you really needed a new staff anyways." Weiss saw Crescent's subtle blush and immediately felt a swell of pride fill her. 'yes! I finally made her blush! After constantly making me flustered with her antics, I finally returned the favor…though I would kill to see her with a full on blush. One step at a time, Weiss.'
Jaune jumped in. "Hey Crescent, I've been meaning to ask but what made you use the name Crescent?" Pyrrha gave him a subtle glare, knowing Crescent wouldn't be very comfortable with the question. Weiss noticed this but decided not to think into it and turned her attention back towards Crescent.
Crescent was visibly nervous, her scarlet red eyes darting from side to side before locking them onto her lap where she had her hands clasped together "Um…well, um, I just…really like the moon." Crescent stammered. Weiss couldn't bear to see Crescent look so vulnerable 'She's clearly uncomfortable, why doesn't Pyrrha stop Jaune, she clearly knew what was gonna happen? Well if she won't then I will, no one hurts my Dolt!' Weiss kicked John's leg under the table in a way that made it seem like Pyrrha did it and proceeded to act innocent. "Ow!" Jaune yelled. "Pyrrha, why did you kick me?" Pyrrha looked confused, shaking her head. "I didn't do any-…Myrtenaster!"
Weiss shot up and pointed at Jaune, giving him her patented Schnee death glare. "he was making Crescent uncomfortable with a his CLEARLY prying question, and you, Pyrrha, you knew what he was doing and did nothing." Crescent was startled by the sudden angry Myrtenaster, she never saw the girl angry until now, though she only knew her since yesterday. Despite that, she was still quite shocked. Pyrrha quickly tried to calm Weiss. "Myrtenaster, please…sit back down and lets just forget it happened." Weiss sighed in defeat. As she sat down, she noticed Crescent was staring at her with her scarlet red eyes and a smile that looked as if she was trying to say thank you through telepathy.
'I know I overacted, but god damn it she just looked too fragile like that…Crescent clearly is uncomfortable talking about herself. Let's see how Jaune likes being asked personal questions, shall we?' Weiss looked over to Jaune. "I'm sorry Jaune, I overacted. However, I'm kind of curious as to why YOU named yourself 'Jaune'." Weiss stared at Jaune, hoping to see him get uncomfortable like Ruby.
As expected, Jaune looked like he was just asked to tell an innocent child the secret to life. "well, um, I…" Jaune stammered like the bumbling blonde he is. Pyrrha chimed in, knowing what Weiss was trying to do. "Oh, I am curious as well, how did you come up with that name?" Jaune sheepishly rubbed the back of his head "I…I kinda used my real name because I was told that it was proper internet etiquette…" all three girls looked at him in shock for a couple of seconds before giggling, then giggling turned into full on laughter. "you what!?" Crescent squealed, holding her hands against her stomach as she laughed uncontrollably.
"Who the hell told you that!?" asked Weiss between laughing fits.
Jaune grumbled to himself, crossing his arms in defeat. "my older sister, Saphron…."
"Wow, that is so evil." Pyrrha finally chimed in as her laughter died down.
"I thought 'Jaune' was just you're fake ingame name, I didn't even think it was your real name!" Crescent cried out, still laughing her butt off. Weiss realized that yesterday she thought everyone was using their real names knowingly. But in a twist of events, she realized that Pyrrha and Ren were the only two people yesterday that intentionally used their real names.
"And here I thought Crescent and I were the only people keeping our real names hidden." Weiss leaned back into the booth with her arms crossed until she realized that she might be late for dinner. "also, I think I should log off. I need to eat dinner before going to bed. I'll see you guys later." Weiss got up from the booth and turned to her friends before logging off. "good night, Myrtenaster!" Crescent chirped as she glowed with a huge smile. "you too, Crescent" Weiss spoke softly, trying to save a mental image of Crescent looking so happy. Weiss logged off and disappeared from existence. Pyrrha and Jaune shifted their combined attention to Crescent. Pyrrha was the first to speak "So, Crescent. I hope you don't mind me asking…but did Myrtenaster know that the quest she got that staff in was an old valentine's day quest that requires two players to slay the monster?" Pyrrha gave her a knowing look. Crescent wasn't expecting her friends to figure her out so quickly, she simply nodded as the redness in her cheeks increased. 'curse the developers for using the temperature monitor on the helmet to create artificial blushing!…it offers nothing to the gameplay! Nothing I say!' Crescent screamed internally. Jaune joined in on the tesing. "And that the player who does the most damage to the slime is forced to let their partner have the loot as a sign of affection?" by this point, Crescent's face was as red as her cape. She buried her face into her hands. "mhmm!" she whined as she quickly nodded. Pyrrha only furthered the teasing. "well, I didn't think the Great and powerful Crescent, master swordswoman, was so bashful when it came to her feelings for a certain mage." Pyrrha teased her with her signature smug smile.
"S-S-Shut up! S-She's just really c-cute and a-adorable when I embarrass her and s-stuff. She's really nice and I d-don't know if I even l-l-l-like her that way anyways! I just wanted to do something nice and so I saw that the quest loot included a staff I thought she'd like. And since the loot was dependent on the player's role, it would be guaranteed to be a staff if I made it to where I did most of the damn to get her to take the loot" Crescent huffed as she finished her rambling confession, trying catch her breath. However, her blush has only become more intense with the confession.
Pyrrha giggled at the younger girl and got up. "well, I'm gonna log off now. I wish you luck in your pining for Myrtenaster, Crescent. Good night you two."
"Good night, Pyrrha." Jaune said with a wave. Crescent only nodded, deciding to shut herself up before she embarrasses herself even further. Pyrrha logged off and like Weiss, she disappeared.
Jaune spoke up, slightly startling Crescent. "Crescent…I'm sorry about asking you a personal question earlier…I just wish you'd open up a little with your friends, they…we care about you. Being online for practically 3 months straight, leaving only to sleep and eat or go to the bathroom isn't right…" Crescent's blush disappeared the moment Jaune started his friendship speech.
Sighing in defeat, Crescent decided to confide to Jaune…but only a little. "I know…I just don't want to be in the real world at this moment in my life….all, I'll say for now…is that the real world only brings me sadness." Crescent was toneless, but there was an obvious sadness in her voice. Jaune stayed quiet for a long while, processing what his friend had said. He wanted to be careful with how he responds, he didn't want to make her regret telling him this sad personal information, regardless of how vague it was. Finally, he found the right words. "I…I understand. I'm just letting my big brother side get the best of me. I have 7 sisters by the way, 5 of them younger than me." Crescent glanced over at him, she was reminded of another blonde she knew outside the game. She sighed, feeling a bit guilty of making her friends worry all this time. "Thanks, Jaune, I won't be on very often starting tomorrow…but I promise you I'm not in any bad home or something like that back in the real world. Quite the opposite actually, I have an awesome home and family…my issues are just that, MY issues….anyways, I'm gonna log off. I think my brain needs a good night sleep before its tortured by boring lectures tomorrow." Crescent forced a smiled at her own joke towards the education system. Jaune chuckled "alright, goodnight Crescent." Crescent logged off without saying anything.
Her consciousness slowly returned to her body. She accidently let out a whimper as her emotions finally had a physical outlet to be released from. She removed her helmet as quickly as she could, her tears had nowhere to go in the virtual world since pixels can't cry and now they flooded her cheeks. Her body was still in the process of gaining feeling again, all except for her legs. The feeling of her legs would never return. She silently cried as she stared at the inky blackness that made up her ceiling. "d-damn it J-Jaune…w-why d-did you have t-to make m-me feel g-guilty…." The girl cried in isolation for a good twenty minutes before turning on the lamp that sits at her nightstand. She dragged herself off the bed and into her wheelchair that was parked on the right side of her bed. Wiping her face of tears before propelling herself into the bathroom.
Turning the light on, the girl parked herself in front of a large mirror that started on the floor and reached just halfway up the ceiling. Across from the mirror was a bench that she used to change in and out of clothes and inspect herself in front of the mirror. It's impossible to change clothes in the wheelchair since it would roll around while she shifted her body to remove the clothes. She pushed herself out of the wheelchair and onto the bench, groaning in pain as her body had been still for little over 24 hours. She never logged off last night after meeting Myrtenaster for the first time. Once she was seated onto the bench, she unzipped the skintight suit all the way down to her waistline and began removing the only thing covering her body, she struggled to remove her soft, plump legs from the suit just like always. 'stupid fat, maybe I should eat a little less…just a little. I don't want my legs to get too skinny.'
Once removed, she through the suit onto her wheelchair. And there she was in the mirror, a vulnerable looking girl with long scraggly black hair that fell over her back and shoulders and went down over her chest. The bags under her eyes begged her to sleep and the remains of tears on her cheeks signified her sorrow like a neon sign. She trailed her eyes across her own body. The girl wasn't big nor skinny, but rather a good balance inbetween. She was somewhat muscular but still slim, but her legs were a different story. She can't exercise her legs if she can't move them after all, so she ate a lot to make sure her legs didn't waste away, causing them to be soft and, as some people would say, thicc around her thighs. A stark contrast from the rest of her athletic body. Finally, there were the scars that dotted her abdomen and upper legs around her thighs. Three scars that many would mistake as knife woulds were around her abdomen, centered around her belly. Her thighs had the most scars and they were small but still quite noticeable against her pale skin. they were the reminder of a very dark day for her, especially the one that dashed dangerously close to her spine just above her waistline. Suddenly the girl shook her head and then smacked her cheeks to snap herself to attention. "that's enough feeling sorry for yourself, Ruby Rose…you have a bed waiting for you…" she commanded herself with a toneless voice. Ruby went through the aggravating process of getting into the bathtub that set right next to the bench. 'Everything is so much more difficult without the use of legs' she knew this was an understatement, but she didn't care, she just wanted to complain one more time before going to bed. Ruby sat onto another bench that was built into the bathtub so she could shower. She just wanted to rinse off the sweat from her body and then quickly head to bed. Turning on the showerhead, her body was greeted by icy cold water. Her body shivered violently by the sudden change in temperature but her body slowly adjusted to it. 'I wonder what tomorrow will have in store for me…maybe I'll make a new friend?' Ruby sat there in silence, only the sound of her own thoughts and water gushing out of the showerhead and hitting the ceramic tub filled her ears.
After ten minutes passed, Ruby turned the water off and dried herself for another solid three minutes. Feeling she is dry enough; she wrapped the towel around herself. Dragging herself away from the bench, she expertly pulled herself into her wheelchair and made her way back to bed. Ruby was too exhausted to bother the never-ending annoyance of shoving her legs into pajama bottoms, so she decided to just throw on a black tank top and a pair of her red panties and proceeded to get into bed. After pulling the covers over herself, Ruby turns the lamp off and not a second sooner did her exhaustion finally consume her into a warm slumber.