Chapter 3

When Li Tian Lang opened the door to his infirmary, he was not expecting to see Feng Lan's tear-streaked face. Startled, he could only stare at her wordlessly.

"Wolf-dage..." she whispered breathlessly. "Can I...can I stay here? Just...just for a bit?"

His eyes softened. "Of course."

Tian Lang backed away from the entrance, allowing her to shuffle past him before he closed the infirmary door once again. Quiet hiccups came from the short girl standing in the center of the room, as she stared at the floor with trembling hands. Hands that were-

"You're bleeding!" he announced unnecessarily, immediately heading to the counter and grabbing a stool. "Come over here please."

She wordlessly obeyed, sitting on the stool without comment and cradling her left wrist in her shaking hand. He grabbed another stool and drew it closer to the girl, before meticulously removing each shard of glass remaining in her palm with his medical tweezers. As he worked, he continuously glanced up at her face – or rather, what he could see of her face, hidden behind her bangs.

"How did this happen?" he asked gently.

She sniffed delicately. "Camera."

He didn't quite know what to say to that, so he continued working in silence for a few moments more. After removing the last shard of glass, he grabbed her hand and moved it gently under the faucet so he could clean the wound.

"Does it hurt?" he continued, after shutting off the water and softly drying her palm. She mutely shook her head, and gave a hitching sob before burying her face in her right hand. The school doctor was rather confused by her answer, so he rubbed antibacterial cream into her palm as he thought.

It wasn't until he was wrapping the wound a few minutes later that he realized the true cause behind her tears.

"Hm. I guess you saw the news?"

An abrupt, hitching sob was his only answer, and he sighed deeply at her pain. "You can always just recreate him, you know."

She glanced up at him after a brief pause, the skin surrounding her eyes flushed a dark pink color. "Wh...what are you talking about, Wolf-dage?"

He smiled at her slightly. "You do realize that Prince is the only one who calls me that, right?"

Feng Lan opened her mouth to spout off another excuse, but her brain apparently was unable to supply anything suitable (or perhaps she didn't quite have the required energy), as she closed her mouth shortly thereafter. She let out a huffy, embarrassed sort of noise. "How long?"

"Have I known?" he questioned, then pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Mmm...well, I started suspecting the first time you called me dage, really. Especially when Gui told me that he hadn't said a word about me to any of his classes. Not to mention you look and act exactly like Prince."

She blushed and laughed nervously, raising a hand to scratch the back of her head in an endearingly familiar gesture. "I'm an idiot, huh?"

"Yeah," he agreed warmly, putting his hand gently on top of her head. "But we love you anyway."

Her face crumpled before his eyes. "Wolf-dage...what am I going to do? Prince is...Prince is gone."

"No, he's not," Tian Lang murmured gently. "Prince is right here, and always has been."

Fresh tears welled up and spilled silently down her cheeks. He hesitated for a brief moment, and then gently enveloped his friend in a bear hug (or wolf hug, he thought inwardly). For a long time after that, she simply clung to him and wept into his shirt. Eventually, her shuddering breaths quieted and smoothed, and she pulled away from him to wipe her face in embarrassment.

"Erm...sorry about that."

The older man smiled down at her encouragingly. "It's quite alright. But...why are you so upset? Can't you just make a new character?"

"But it won't be the same!" Lan protested immediately. Tian Lang's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, so she elaborated. "Being a male in the game allowed me to achieve things under my own strength! I didn't have to hide behind anyone and let them level me up, I didn't have people just giving me stuff to make things easier for me – I had to earn my levels and my gear. I had to create strong bonds between me and the people I ran across who might've been enemies but turned into friends instead. As a team, we worked together to build Infinite City from the ground up. If I have to start all over as a female, then...then I just..."

She trailed off, glaring at the bandages on her hand in frustration and swiping at the remaining wetness under her eyes. The doctor wisely let her collect her thoughts instead of interrupting, curious to see what else his friend would confide.

"Prince was my escape," Lan admitted quietly. "I could be whoever I wanted to be, no matter what that meant. I could be myself. And I didn't have to worry about people being horrified by such a violent and unladylike girl. I didn't have to worry about guys being repulsed or girls not wanting to be my friend, because it's okay for guys to be aggressive and crazy – no one cared that I was a violent warrior, because I was a man. Guys are supposed to like killing things."

"I don't," Tian Lang replied promptly.

She frowned up at him, making an irritated noise low in her throat. "You know what I mean."

"No, I really don't," he laughed. Her expression quickly morphed into a scowl, and he hastened to elaborate. "Really! What makes you think that any of the people who care about you so much are suddenly going to hate you if they find out you're female? Did it ever matter to your family or your friends? You're still the same person, and that's okay. The people that matter most to you, the ones that love you for who you are – they're not going to care. I certainly don't, and Lolidragon never seemed to mind. Gui, Doll, Yu Lian – none of them would care."

He waited a moment to see if he'd gotten through to her, but quickly discerned from her childish pout that he wasn't getting far.

"Gui would care," she muttered darkly.

"You're right, he would," Tian Lang amended. "He'd probably be ecstatic."

Her petite head jerked up so she could stare at him, wide-eyed. "What are you talking about? He'd be horrified! I've been lying to him this whole time!"

Tian Lang chuckled. "He'd be ecstatic because he'd finally get to find out who you are. Do you really think it would matter to him that you aren't male?"

"YES!"

The doctor couldn't stop himself from laughing outright at her vehement words. Lan flushed with embarrassment, and struggled to find a non-violent way to express her growing fury.

"Feng Lan," Tian Lang said warmly, still chortling in amusement. "When did Gui ever say that he loved you because you were a guy?"

Her cheeks flushed even more vividly at his easy pronouncement of the bard-teacher's love for her. "When I first met him! He said that guys were better, and that he was only kissing my hand because I was a guy."

"Then he lied."

"And how the hell would you know?" she growled irritably, forgetting that she could easily get into trouble for talking so brashly to one of her school's staff members.

He smiled at her kindly, the corners of his eyes crinkling in the same manner of his online counterpart. "Because he isn't gay."

"How can you possibly say that when-"

With a loud bang, the door to the infirmary crashed open and caused both of its inhabitants to jump in startled alarm as Gui rushed breathlessly into the room. "Wolf-ge, have you seen the news? The Second Life CEO said-"

He paused in mid-rant, catching sight of his student and his friend both sitting close together. "Er..."

"He deserves to know," Tian Lang murmured seriously in an undertone so only she could hear, before standing and turning towards the frantic teacher. "Yes Gui, I did indeed hear the news. Makes you wonder exactly what rule they broke, now doesn't it?"

With a mischievous wink aimed at Lan, the doctor swiftly bypassed the rather confused professor and exited the infirmary. The door closed snugly behind him.

Gui blinked, and then looked back at his student. "Um. Are you alright, Feng Lan?"

She swallowed nervously, and stood from her seat to face him fully. "Y-yes, I'm fine now."

"I'm glad," Gui answered warmly, smiling at her in that dazzling way that had first caught her attention in the middle of Star City's town square. She stared at him for a moment, her heart beating rapidly in her ears.

You promised him, she reminded herself. With a shaky breath, she opened her mouth.

"Are you ready to go to your next class?"

She paused. "N...no, not yet. There's something I want to...talk to you about."

Gui frowned at her. "What is it?"

"I...I..." she stuttered, and then swiftly blurted it out before she lost her nerve. "I know who Prince is!"

His eyes widened in surprise at her words, and he stared at her with his mouth partly open. "Wh-"

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before," she continued nervously. "But I-"

"Feng-xuesheng," he interrupted with a strained smile. "As much as I would love to know, I would really rather hear it from him."

"No, that's not what I was trying to-"

"I appreciate what you did this morning, but-"

"Wait, I need to-"

"-since you're alright, you should probably-"

"Professor!"

"-head back to class as soon as-"

"Gui, shut up for a moment and listen to me!" she snarled angrily. The professor froze at her outburst for a few moments, and then his eyes hardened.

"Feng Lan, I am your teacher and I don't appreciate you speaking to-"

"I AM PRINCE!" she bellowed. Gui's eyes widened impossibly as she stood there, breathing hard from the adrenaline and her own pounding heart.

"Y-you...wh-"

She exhaled slowly. "I am Prince. It's me, Gui. It's always been me."