Disclaimer: I don't own Glee
A/N: Thanks so much to taking interest in this fic! :D
ayu yumemoto: wow! I'm really flattered, the link you wrote didn't come through in your review, but all the same I would be honored if you did an illustration for ERA. Thanks so much!
LadyPhoenix731: to be honest the only games I've played are Alice: Madness Returns, and Kingdom Hearts, but that doesn't mean I'll be lacking in knowledge on rpg, at least I'll try not to! lol I'll be researching my ass off for this fic so I hope you'll enjoy the direction I take this fic game wise :)
…
Chapter Two
The New Directions
…
Finn found his friends in the second stage while in the middle of scrapping up enough money to book a room at an inn. In between killing strange creatures that looked like cousins of dragons, he had looked and asked around for Kurt, but found nothing new. Enough time had passed for him to get over himself on his disgust of having an attraction to Kurt as a girl. Considering what was at stake in this game, Finn couldn't waste his time being immature anyway. Kurt was a beta tester with more knowledge than him of the game, and obviously a good fighter, Finn needed him if he wanted to go home.
He felt a little proud of himself to have figured this out on his own without throwing a fit. His mother would be proud of him, too.
Unfortunately, no one had news of the solo player, the most Finn was able to find were daily updates on players and their status through his menu. Kurt had blocked out most of his information from the public eye, but at least Finn knew he was still alive.
Finding his friends was an immense relief after wandering around the Viking era by himself. Unlike Harvest Land, everyone here looked intimidating and eager to chop someone's head off.
Even better, Puck was in company with Azimio and Karofsky. Finn may have not liked them very much back home, but their brute strength would be useful against bosses, and really, that was all he truly needed. According to them, no one they knew had died which was good news so far. Finn figured now was as good a time as any to follow Kurt's advice and form their own guild like everyone else already had.
So they called themselves The Pack. It was a name that hadn't been used yet, and they couldn't settle on anything else since they each wanted the guild named after themselves. Frankly, Finn couldn't see himself being a part of a guild called Azimio's Fist.
Happy as he was to be reunited with friends, Finn refrained from telling them about Kurt Hummel. How could he when the kid was their main target to push around at school? The subject of Kurt was never touched until one day when he went downstairs to the inn's pub for a bite to eat.
Everyone was huddled by a screen that hung by the wall across the bar. Even though the Vikings didn't have electricity, the creators had put in screens in facilities so people could watch battles while enjoying dinner or shopping. Sort of like watching the game at a bar. Due to the changed nature of the game, however, no one was willing to watch battles and seeing the loser die, so the screens were normally ignored or put behind a curtain.
This time, however, everyone had their eyes glued to the battle playing out before them. Finn spotted Puck, Mike, and Matt at a table nearby and sat down curiously. "What's up?" he asked, trying to figure out what kind of battle was showing. It was obviously a battle with the boss Jormungandr the Midgard Serpent, an enormous creature that lived in the sea. He couldn't make out any warriors.
"You're not gonna believe this," Mike said under his breath, not taking his eyes from the fight, Matt nodded beside him. Frowning, Finn watched curiously and then realized something. At the top corners of the screen there showed two life lines. In a boss battle there would usually be about twenty dots that would flash different colors of health, but this one only showed one.
Which meant one person was taking on the serpent on their own.
"Oh my god," Finn found himself murmur.
"Yeah," Puck agreed darkly, "and guess who it is."
The focus backed away and around as the battle continued, but for a brief second the challenger took up the screen. Sweaty and in all kinds of beaten up, a boy with chestnut hair gasped for air, face twisted in grim determination. Finn paled at the sight. The focus backed away to show both fighters and he watched with growing horror as the serpent swung its menacing head at the fragile teen. Seconds ticked by like hours as steadily, Kurt's health dropped closer to zero and Jormungandr's remained at seventy percent. Finn wanted to look away, but he couldn't out of shock.
"He's going to die," he found himself say. No one else replied, knowing it would happen, too. Yet they still looked on grimly, waiting for the inevitable. The inn grew quiet in anticipation for the end now that Kurt's health was at ten percent. If he didn't die from the boss, he would drown in the sea what with his boat falling apart. Finn was ready for the boy's death until suddenly something happened.
He was glowing red. A sign of Panic Mode. Finn had read about it on the handbook. Once a player got to a certain level, they acquired Panic Mode, tremendous strength and speed when health was critically low. You'd have to be at level twenty or something to get it. Finn was only at level fifteen, and he had worked tirelessly day and night to get stronger. Once the mode had been activated, some of the patrons started to murmur in surprise and hope.
The serpent burst out a breath of fire, but Kurt darted away and made quick work of slicing the creature up in the same pattern Finn recalled from when they fought Lug. The limit of his Panic was draining quickly, and Jormungandr was still at twenty percent. The murmur in the pub grew, fists clenching as everyone found themselves feeling like they were in the fight themselves. It didn't matter if they had no idea who this brave person was; they wanted him to win no matter what the odds.
Fortunately, Kurt had another trick up his sleeve. He ran up the back of the monster's mutilated back and jumped in the air, throwing his hands forward roughly. Little daggers glowed around him and shot forward like bullets piercing through the serpent mercilessly and draining his health to zero. Finn recognized the weapon as Hundred Daggers; he saw them at a blacksmith shop a while back but didn't have the money to buy it. The great creature toppled over into the angry sea and disintegrated in defeat.
Kurt landed gracelessly on his flimsy yet stable boat, stumbling to his knees. The word 'Victory!' flashing over him while he pulled out a crystal bottle of Elixir from his coat and downed it in one gulp.
Finn remained shaken in his seat as the bar became alive with cries and cheers of shock and relief. If someone were to walk in they'd assume a sports team just won the championships. Even Puck, the guy who took joy in throwing Kurt in dirty dumpsters back home, was screaming with everyone, more impressed than Finn had ever seen him. Too many swear words were tumbling from him for Finn to understand what he was saying.
After that day, stories of the solo player who defeated a boss on his own became legend.
…
Stage Ten
Salem
One Month into ERA
The past nine stages were little worlds of their own which contained towns, a capital, and government. It was also noted that while as a whole ERA's stages represented periods in history from all over the world, they were not completely historically accurate. Harvest Land was a good example of this – ogre's never existed. Whatever legends that period had be it dragons, elves, or sea serpents, they were very real within ERA.
But there were also stages that didn't happen in history. Fantastical lands that existed perhaps in genre or folklore, but were never truly real in all existence of humanity. Stage eight, Parchment Pain, had thrown Finn for the loop because of this since it was a nightmarish adaptation of classics like Frankenstein, Alice in Wonderland, A Christmas Carol, and several other stories. These stages, however, were smaller than others, and easy to get through, if a bit unpleasant. Finn never wanted to return to the horrors of Parchment Pain, secretly making that promise to himself once he and his guild beat the boss. Apparently stages like these were designed to keep the player invested in the game rather that get bored with the constant slow lag of the historical stages that were more integral to the theme of ERA. Finn didn't get it, and didn't really want to.
So when they got to the tenth stage, The Pack didn't know what to expect. The clothes they earned from defeating the ninth boss looked strangely familiar from history books. It wasn't simply a coat or protective cloak; it was an entire outfit that had no magical protection other than making them look kind of Amish.
Finn entered the new stage with his guild and was greeted by a worn down wooden sign that read, "Welcome to Salem Village" on the side of a dirt road they found themselves in.
Puck looked at his plain black and white clothes in displeasure, then at the sign and thought hard. Maybe a little too hard. "We're hunting witches now?" he asked finally. Finn shrugged and led the way down the path that would take them into the only town that could be seen.
"Do you think it'd be bad if we just change back to our armor?" Mike asked curiously, noting that their clothes really didn't have any form of protection for them. After nine stages of armor and uniforms, wearing regular clothes was a bit unsettling.
Finn eyed the few farmers they passed by, they were only simulations, but they were giving them strange and guarded looks. "That would probably be a bad idea," he said finally. They were holding their rakes like potential weapons.
After a few minutes of silence, Puck spoke up again, "so who else is here?" he made to check his menu, but Finn grabbed his arm, stopping him.
"You'll freak them out," he hissed under his breath, nodding towards the passerby that were throwing glances at them, "they'll probably think you're a witch if you pull up your menu."
"So what? They're just simulations," Puck yanked his hand away, but didn't open his menu. They trekked on and entered a quiet town where more simulations looked at them oddly. Finn didn't know what the fuss was about, they looked just like them, did they have snakes on their heads or something? Whatever it was, it was really bothering Azimio and Karofsky, and Finn feared a pointless fight would break out.
Luckily that didn't happen, the group lodged in the closest inn and tried to figure out how to deal with their new problem.
Closing the only window in the room, Matt turned to the others and nodded. With little relief they pulled up their menus and tried to get as much information as possible.
Apart from Salem Village, there was a forest nearby where supposedly witches in the guise of young women danced naked around fires. That caught Puck's interest immediately. It was also a place of mystery. People who went in never came out, at least people who weren't 'witches'. The farms near town were nothing significant, and it appeared that there were no enemies to slay or missions to level up which presented a problem if they wanted to defeat the boss whom right now was a mystery too.
There were a few other players in Salem, but not many, and certainly not enough to challenge a boss. They would have to wait until others arrived to team up. Kurt may have been able to defeat a sea serpent by himself, but no other player was that bold. Teams were safer.
"We'll head out to the forest, then," Finn sighed after mulling over their next move. "There's nothing here but a place to sleep."
"I don't feel comfortable sleeping here," Mike muttered, glancing at the door.
"They're simulations, idiot," Puck crossed his arms, "they can't do anything to us – can't even open doors to rooms players are in." Mike didn't seem convinced, and Finn wasn't patient enough to stay in Salem any longer. They left the inn and trekked to the forest, ignoring the piercing stares of the town folk.
…
The pair were breathless from all the running. They didn't know how far in the forest they were in, just that they needed to get as far away from town as possible. When they could no longer see the glow of angry fire and cries of murder, they finally stopped by a pond and slumped to the ground in exhaustion.
"That…sucked," gasped the girl of the pair, wiping cold sweat from her pale forehead. The bespectacled boy beside her nodded, panting and throwing himself on his back dramatically.
"They're a … lot more…angry than I last…remembered," he said, chest heaving.
They took the next few minutes to catch their breaths, the ache in their muscles still burning. By the time they settled down, the girl turned to her friend with a question on her tongue when something startled them into scrambling to their feet.
Someone was screaming from a long distance, and they at first thought that it was a bird. The scream quickly turned louder until it felt like whoever it was, was upon them. The boy and girl looked around, ready to run again until the person screaming literally fell from the sky and into into the pond with an explosive splash.
For a moment nothing happened. The boy and girl glanced at each other, clearly expecting the other to know what just happened. They screamed in fright when the person who fell burst out of the water gasping for air. Had it been any other person they would have run away without caring if it was a friendly player or murderous simulation.
This one stumbled out of the water, her simple dress soaked through and a crude broom clutched in her hand. They immediately recognized her and fell back in relief and secretly, disappointment.
"Rachel!" the girl said sharply, "where have you been! You left us for dead!"
Throwing her wet hair back and making general noises of displeasure over the state of her clothes, Rachel looked up at her little audience and cried out in relief, "Tina! Artie! I've been looking all over for you!"
"You left us!" Tina said with ill hidden rage.
"They were going to hang us," Artie pitched in, glaring over his glasses. Rachel recoiled sheepishly. "All because you wanted to go flying."
"In broad daylight," the Asian girl added, crossing her arms, "this isn't like the beta test, Rachel, we could get killed here!"
"B-but, they're just simulations," the brunette held her broom close to her. "And you guys could have flown away too! Where are your brooms?"
"Confiscated," Artie grumbled, "besides, even if they're just simulations, I don't want to go and find out that a hanging won't kill us either. Or a burning."
Rachel winced, pouting at being rightfully scolded. "Sorry," she mumbled. Her two friends still weren't satisfied so she added helpfully, "but I found the graveyard! All we need to do is say the spell and we can get this stage over with."
That did seem to please Tina and Artie somewhat, but they were still pissed at the girl for leaving them behind. They had only been with her for a few weeks and already their patience was drawing thin. This girl was bossy, sporadic, a chatterbox, and for some strange reason believed herself the leader of their little group even though she was the last to join them – and not even for very long. They only let her tag along because they knew her from before ERA and felt it best to have as many beta testers together as possible.
After being with this girl for two weeks, though, they could hardly believe anymore that she had reached stage ninety nine in the beta test. She may have been a nimble performer on stage back in McKinley, but she was truly an awful gamer.
Sharing a tired look, the pair followed the girl through the forest, hoping to get this stage done as soon as possible without the need to kill their 'leader'.
…
The forest was thick and provided protection for Finn and the others to open their menu's for the map. Past the forest was another place called Salem Town. No players were there yet, but there were a few clusters in the forest, probably with the same idea as them.
"The grave yard looks promising," Mike noted.
"What the hell would a graveyard be doin' in a forest?" Azimio piped up irritably. Finn almost forgot he and Karofsky were still with them.
"How should I know, it's still worth looking," Mike shrugged, putting away his menu.
They walked deeper into the forest in silence, occasionally spying a few players from afar. They noticed them too, but quickly went back to what they were doing, acting like they hadn't seen them at all. It was a behavior that Finn was reluctantly getting used to. Azimio and Karofsky may have been great assets to their team for combat, but the downside was that they hadn't given up their habits from school. It was getting harder and harder to find other guilds to team up against a boss. Nine floors into the game and already The Pack had made a terrible name for itself.
Puck wasn't a big help with getting them to tone down either, often times joining them in belittling other players that appeared weaker than them. They'd started to listen to Finn less, viewing Puck as a better leader. Mike and Matt were still on his side, but it was obvious the guild was becoming divided, and Finn didn't know what to do to fix it.
Normally to fight a boss, they would take a few weeks to level up, plan strategies, and acquire techniques, money, and protective garments and jewelry. Not to mention a hefty stock of healing potions and elixirs. Within that time they would argue amongst themselves, splitting up for a few days and then regroup to grudgingly prepare to fight the boss. They used to be friends – a team back in McKinley, and now it was getting harder to keep from tearing each other apart. This was not how a team worked, Finn was seriously thinking about leaving and joining another guild, but who would want someone from The Pack? People thought he was a bully too. Letting Azimio and Karofsky do what they wanted, maybe he was.
Finn walked grimly down the beaten path many other players walked through. He had to do something about Azimio and Karofsky if he wanted to survive. But what?
The answer came to him in the form of a girl crashing into him at full dash, knocking him to the ground.
Both groaning in pain, Finn looked around in disorientation until he found himself looking into the dark eyes of an Asian girl with streaked blue highlights and a look of pain twisting her face.
A few years from now he would fondly consider this girl his best friend, but now he recognized her as the creepy goth chick his friends liked to tease and slushie in the crowded halls of their high school. He hadn't seen her in ages, and even if she was just one of the many faces he passed by, her presence had given him a warm sense of nostalgia he'd been missing for a long time.
The girl felt the same, but in the polar opposite sense.
"You!" she yelled, scrambling to her feet, not missing to kick him a little bit on the way. Grunting in pain, Finn stood as well, clutching his side where she first hit him. Behind her was a boy and girl he also recognized from school.
"You're in this game too?" the girl of the two asked in surprise. She was dressed unlike Finn's group, her dress hugging her body in the right places and the dark color of burgundy. This was not how the women in Salem village were dressed, but the outfit didn't make her sleazy either. Finn remembered her as the one Quinn liked to tease most, especially with her old fashioned taste in clothes. "Are you a beta tester?"
"Negative," the boy beside her stated flatly, adjusting his glasses from the run he'd been in. He was in a black outfit and cape, and contrary to how Finn remembered, he was standing confidently on his own two feet. "If you observe their attire you can see that they aren't beta testers," he narrowed his eyes disapprovingly, "they're bullies."
He didn't have to state the obvious, he had suffered the same mirthful torture the football team threw at him just as his two companions, but saying it made their reunion all the more grimmer. Unlike McKinley, Finn had a feeling these three had a distinct advantage despite being drastically outnumbered.
The thought of Kurt buried in a dumpster with banana peels and discarded papers and boxes flashed through his head. He remembered holding his jacket so it wouldn't be dirtied in the garbage while Puck lifted the small boy effortlessly and threw him in the smelly dump. It was the last Finn really saw him in the real world before he met him again in the form of a girl. Ever since then he'd wanted to apologize for everything he'd done. Seeing these three other victims of his friends – and regrettably his own – abuse reminded him that he had a huge debt to pay.
"If you hadn't realized yet, you are at a significant disadvantage," the boy, Artie, answered Mike's curious frown at his clothes. "There isn't one beta tester in this game who hasn't been bullied – on the other end; there isn't a new player who wasn't a bully. Namely you."
"What?" Puck had that funny look on his face that was usually kept for classes he could never understand, "That's stupid."
"Whatever, let's just go," Tina shook her head, already marching past Finn and sheathing something slender by her hip he hadn't noticed her holding. Artie and the pretty girl followed her, clearly not wanting to, but doing so anyway.
Puck and the others were about to go their own direction, but Finn remained. This may be the only chance he had, ERA had killed many players already, and he didn't want the guilt to weigh heavy in his heart if he didn't survive without having gotten this off his chest first. "Wait!"
The three paused briefly, but continued, the girl – Rachel, he remembered – glanced back uncertainly. She really was very pretty, and he wondered why he hadn't noticed her before.
"Wait, please, I just want to – whoa," he stopped short in chasing them and raised his hands in defense when Tina turned sharply and pointed a cruel looking stick at his face. It was so sudden he expected it to be a knife, but seeing as it was just a stick he felt sheepish for feeling frightened.
His mistake. A light burst from the stick and he flew back and hit his back against a tree.
Oh. Not stick. Magic wand. Right.
Groaning in pain, he leaned against the tree and tried to blink out the stars invading his eyes. He could hear some of his friends yelling and coming to his aid. Shaking his head, he looked blearily around and found Tina in front of him again. Wand aimed at him like a pistol threatening to fire.
"Here's the deal," she said coldly, throwing her other hand out to the direction of his approaching team. They crashed into an invisible wall and fell, faces locked in confusion. "You leave us be, and we don't hurt you like you've hurt us. Understood?"
Finn was still catching his breath, but he was a bit thrown off. The last he remembered, Tina was a quiet girl who took the bullying in resignation. She never spoke up much less stood up for herself. From what he could recall she even had a stutter which turned people away. She was the ultimate definition of shy and yet this person was prepared to break his bones if given the chance.
Was this the result of game play, or that they'd been in ERA for so long?
"I just wanted to apologize," he said slowly, raising his hands to show he meant no harm.
"So you can use us to beat the game?" Artie spoke up from behind Tina in disgust. "Sorry but we're a beta only guild. Go find yourself some other kids to bully."
"Wait, guys, if we leave them behind we'd be no better," Rachel said quickly, Tina rolled her eyes, apparently having experienced this talk before, "We're only three people, that's not enough to take on the Witch Hunter."
"Who said I wanted you to join us?" Azimio asked sharply. He and the others were standing at a safer distance from Tina, but they weren't leaving yet, "You wanna settle this, we settle this now," he pulled out the ax he gained in the second stage, a weapon he'd grown fond of for its monstrous power. He didn't earn it though, it belonged to a player that fell asleep at a pub and hadn't locked his weapons leaving them open to get stolen by anyone.
"This isn't McKinley anymore, Azimio," Rachel glared, "you beat us in a fight then that makes you a murderer. We have to work together if we want to survive."
"I'm surviving just fine," the angered teen growled, Karofsky nodded dumbly beside him, but he hadn't pulled out a weapon yet, the word 'murderer' didn't sit right with him.
"We're not fighting, Azimio put that away," Finn ordered, strength returning to his legs enough to not need the tree for support. He couldn't see his health, but knew it went down by at least ten percent, already it was restoring itself, but he did feel impressed that Tina had hit him hard enough to really hurt. "Look, I didn't ask if you wanted to join…but I wouldn't mind the extra help, we…" he kept his face away from his group in shame and looked only at Tina. "We don't know what we're doing – I don't even play these kind of games, we're lucky we've gotten this far at all." Tina scoffed in agreement, but her wand remained straight at his chest. "But I really did just want to apologize for everything I did to you guys back home. I can't speak for the others, I know I was a douche to stand there and not do anything when they pushed you around and stuff."
"Apology accepted," Rachel said primly, pleased.
"He's only saying this so he can use us," Tina frowned. "We're not letting them join," she added, sensing the brunette about to suggest so. "Especially with those idiots," she nodded past Finn to the indignant group.
"Tina, we can't just turn them away," Rachel argued, "we aren't even a real guild – we're sitting ducks!"
Tina backed away slowly. "If you hadn't been so busy singing and dancing you would have realized that there are guilds out there that take advantage of players. The Pack," she spat loathingly, making Finn wince, "are a group of immature thugs who steal and beat up people for no reason other than the pleasure of giving others pain."
That burned. Finn wanted to scream that it wasn't true, but he had seen Azimio, Karofsky, and Puck rejoin them with new items and attire that didn't quite match with the level's they gained. That coupled with the scathing looks of other players and accusations that they had stolen from them didn't leave much to the imagination but one simple answer. It was true.
Which made his apology fall on deaf ears.
He wanted to ask if they knew anything about Kurt's status other than being alive, but knew now they wouldn't give him an answer. They couldn't trust him with such information that could put the solo player in danger after all.
But he really wanted to know how the other boy had been doing.
If he could join his guild and they could finish the game once and for all.
That chance was lost the minute he let his friends ruin in his reputation. Even if Tina did give him information, Kurt would never join him.
"That…that can't be true," Rachel stammered.
"You don't believe me, ask anyone," Tina said darkly, lowering her wand, but not relaxing, "we're leaving, but if you follow us, I'll make sure you'll regret it."
Finn believed her and watched with a heavy heart as she and her two friends took off down the shadows of the forest.
…
What followed after the short reunion was an argument that lasted barely a few minutes and left Finn with his blood boiling.
They were settled in a spot some distance away from other players and had set up a fire and camp for the time being. There was a silent agreement that the inn back at Salem Village was not a good place to go back to. Instead they went their separate ways to hunt for food.
Finn returned to camp with rabbit, and two quail cards, and found Azimio fiddling over a hefty pile of duck and deer. Azimio had about as much hunting skill as a three year old; he was more concerned with leveling up his combat skills than any other skills ERA provided. As far as Finn could tell, the other boy's hunting skill was around a measly level seven. Not enough to capture something like a duck or deer.
Looking at Karofsky and Puck, they had catches similar to Azimio, though in Puck's defense, Finn could believe his catches were legitimate. He had the highest hunting skill of the group.
Matt and Mike were huddled by the fire, pointedly ignoring them as they set up what was needed to cook their food.
"Where did you get those cards?" Finn broke the small din, marching over to Azimio and Karofsky.
Without looking up, Azimio picked out the deer and went to the contraption of branches pitted together to form a kind of crane over the fire with a pot tied to the end. It was elaborate and a waste of effort for someone who just wanted to eat quickly, but it gained Matt and Mike points for this more advanced technique in outdoors cooking, they had both earned enough to level up their cooking skills. With Azimio tossing them the card, they went to work again to get more points by cooking the deer. Flashing Finn guilty looks, they opened the mini menu of the card, murmuring to each other as they pressed random buttons on how the meat would be cut and cooked.
"Does it matter how I got it? We won't starve," Azimio drawled, crossing his arms defiantly.
Finn grit his teeth and tried not to scream. "Who was it this time?"
"Some wimpy kid," he didn't even deny it, "he had more than enough cards on him, won't notice I took a few."
"That doesn't make it right!" Finn spat.
"It's better than what you got," Azimio snarled, nodding to the card in Finn's hand, "what you get a mouse or somethin'? I can't survive on shit like that."
"Give those cards back," Finn said slowly, threateningly. "You're not stealing anymore."
"Dude, is this about the crazy chick?" Puck asked with an arched eyebrow, "just forget about her, we're winning this game, we'll be fine like this – "
"We're on level ten! How does that count for winning?" Finn yelled at his best friend. Puck merely sighed and shook his head, going back to his pile of cards. Finn turned back to Azimio and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him close, "you're going back and giving that kid his cards, I've had enough of you stealing – you too," he looked over at Karofsky who had been picking his ear and watching them listlessly.
"The hell I am," Azimio growled, pulling Finn off and swinging a punch. The taller boy stumbled back, cradling his cheek which pulsed hotly in pain. "I ain't takin' orders from you anymore. I'm done with – " He didn't have time to finish, Finn lunged at him and they fell to the ground in a heap, fists flying and legs kicking mindlessly in blind fury.
His blood was burning with anger and frustration. ERA had taken his life from him. His friends were no longer his friends, he wasn't the star quarterback with the head cheerleader girlfriend, he was stuck here. Here he was someone nobody liked; here he let his friends destroy themselves in greed and sadistic pleasures. He was going to die here and it was all welling up into a giant ball of hurt inside him that blew up when Azimio decided to take from others again. He was done, he couldn't take this anymore. He wanted to go home.
He wanted this to all be a really bad nightmare.
Finn cried out in surprise when he was blasted backwards by an invisible force. For a second he thought it was Tina, but when he looked up from where he lay he saw Matt looking down at him hard, and then at Azimio who was breathing heavily from the brawl. No one said anything, not even the onlookers who were starting to grow nervous.
As far as fights were concerned, Matt never put himself between them. He was a quiet person, but in all honesty he was also the strongest by far, and a smart player. Whenever Finn and Azimio argued, the quiet teen would ignore them and let them get their frustrations out. This time though, they let their fight go too far. Matt stepping in was something of an anomaly, and not a very pleasant one.
No one messed with Matt.
Standing up, Finn looked away from his friend, the fight in him dying away, but the defeat still clinging to him like a disease.
"I'm done with this," he muttered.
And he left, into the darkness of the woods, leaving his abandoned guild behind.
…
"'Seven stars of hearts as true as gold.'" Rachel read aloud from the massive tombstone in the middle of the rough looking cemetery. Underneath the engraved quotation were seven holes aligned to form a circle. The brunette turned to her two companions sheepishly. "I-I didn't think this part would change…"
Tina and Artie blinked at her, then called up their handbooks. They skimmed through information dealing with the tenth stage for confirmation then slammed their books shut in frustration.
"Great," Tina grumbled, "it's not three anymore, it's seven."
"That means the other side is much stronger than the beta test," Artie frowned. They looked at each other hoping someone had an idea, but silence remained. A coldness and mist had settled over the evening in the graveyard, and it sent a chill of goose bumps over them. It wasn't a nice looking place as far as graveyards went, the only way anyone could tell that bodies were buried six feet under were the random bits of rotting wooden boards sticking up from the ground, and even then there weren't any names or dates. It was a stowed away graveyard kept out of sight from both Salem Village and Salem Town. A place condemned to those accused of witchcraft. Even the beautiful glow of the moon couldn't make the place look any less lonely.
"I told you we should have let those guys join," Rachel pouted, earning glares from the boy and girl.
…
He didn't know how far he walked, but his anger was starting to wan, concern for finding a place to sleep coming to the forefront of his mind now that he was far away from his friends.
Finn sighed dejectedly. Friends? They weren't his friends, not anymore anyway. At least, Azimio and Karofsky weren't, but then they weren't really his friends back home either. Just a pair that had been in his life long before high school. He was more upset over leaving, Mike, Matt, and Puck. Those guys were his real friends. Or he thought they were until ERA ruined their lives.
He stopped by an oak tree to look up at the starry night sky. A simulation like everything else, but still a comfort. It made him feel like it was just another night, and the next day would promise a brighter day. In his case, he wasn't sure what to expect the next day. He left his guild, his friends…He was alone again. More lost than ever in every sense of the word.
Rustling nearby caught his attention. He tapped his right temple, his vision of the night forest changing to different shades of heat signatures. Amongst the small nocturnal animals that scuttled here and there in scant groups there was a large figure of a person struggling to get through a thick blueberry bush. Finn waited in confusion, wondering why this person wasn't taking an easier route. He removed the heat vision and approached the bush, pulling some of it aside.
The person on the other side stumbled through and crashed on the ground. He groaned in pain and gingerly got to his feet, wiping the dirt from his front sluggishly. Finn watched with growing concern as the stranger stumbled again as if in drunken stupor. The hood that covered his head when he fell slipped off as he struggled for stability. Finn had no idea what to do as the person got closer to him. He fell into his arms and lost his footing once more, Finn held a better grip on him before he could hurt himself and gently set him down.
The pale sweaty face glowed in the moonlight; eyes half closed and trapped in another world. What normally would have been blue eyes were now as white as snow, sharpening the small pupils within the irises. There was an angry red mark on his neck, little teeth marks a clue to the boy's present state.
"Kurt," the name slipped from Finn's mouth in shock. The solo player didn't react to him – didn't even acknowledge his presence, his body shuddering as the poison of whatever bit him seeped through him. Finn saw with alarm that his health was at a dangerously low twenty percent and was slowly lowering as the seconds ticked by. Panicking, he fumbled through his pockets for a strong potion.
He hadn't done any shopping in Salem, and there were no enemies to fight for prizes, all Finn had were what was left from the ninth stage which was six regular potions, a few ether's that restored magic, and an elixir. Knowing a simple potion wouldn't be good enough to help Kurt, Finn pulled out the elixir, knowing in the back of his mind that it was going to suck finding more. Elixir's were expensive and hard to come by. The higher the stage the more precious they were.
Biting off the stopper, Finn craned Kurt's head and eased the golden bottle to his dried and cracked lips.
He waited in anxious silence as the poisoned boy weakly drank the healing liquid, the shudders cutting through his body slowing to a stop. The bite mark on his neck faded away, and color returned to his complexion. Finn noted with relief that the countdown of Kurt's health stopped at eight percent and was slowly going back up. He wouldn't be completely healed, but he wasn't in danger of death either. The rest of the healing would have to be done by Kurt's regenerative abilities, which would take a while considering his condition.
Once Kurt had the last drop, the bottle disintegrated. He sighed tiredly, eyes fluttering shut as peaceful sleep took him. Finn let out a breath he'd been holding in anticipation. Weeks of wondering how Kurt had been doing and he stumbles into his arms seconds from death. He was really lucky Finn had been around to help him. From the looks of his clothes, he hadn't been fairing well as a solo player. He was in something similar to what Artie was dressed in, but it was all torn up, as if he'd been through a fight against a mob of people. Whatever he went through was not very pleasant.
Looking around for the first time Finn saw that they were in a small cluster of trees that surrounded them like a natural room. Carefully, settling Kurt comfortably on the ground, he took off the coat that came with his Salem outfit and draped it over the sleeping boy. Kurt stirred with a happy hum, but otherwise didn't wake up.
Sighing over their strange situation, Finn flipped through his menu for anything that would be useful for camping.
…
A month had passed since his son had been trapped in the virtual reality game. Finding him on the floor in his bedroom was something that would forever be engrained in Burt's head. The only reason he didn't pull off the helmet was because Kurt always assured him he would sign out by dinner time. At least that was when he was doing the beta test. He also read over the warnings with him before trying out the game so that he'd be at ease when his son would put the headgear on.
So Burt knew what would happen if he took it off.
The beta test had gone swiftly, and frankly it was what Kurt needed. Lately he wasn't very happy. He hated high school, and he hated the phone calls they'd get from ignorant people. He needed an escape, and ERA helped give him that. Burt may have not liked it, Kurt could have done better by going out and making friends with real people, but he seemed happier, more relaxed and comfortable in his own skin. Whatever ERA did, it improved Kurt's confidence. It transferred on to his time in school, and the bullying was starting to have less effect on him.
But it wasn't the way Burt wanted Kurt to go. He didn't want him holed up in his room playing video games. That wasn't the Kurt he knew, Kurt loved to sing, he loved to dance and quote random Broadway plays that he knew by heart. Whatever friends he made in ERA could never be like the friendships he could have made in reality where people loved him for him and enjoyed his company simply because he was Kurt and not someone who would kill monster simulations for them.
And when Kurt had come close to the end of the game he suddenly stopped and things went downhill again. He didn't tell his father what was wrong, barely hiding the hurt in his eyes. The only good thing was that he was back in the real world and Burt felt like he hadn't seen his son in years. He tried to be a better listener; he tried to be there whenever Kurt would come back from a bad day at school. ERA had helped Kurt's confidence, but it also stole him from Burt, and he didn't want that to happen again.
Sitting by his son in the hospital bed, Burt's heart was broken.
Why did Kurt go back in the game? Why couldn't he take on the real world?
He knew Kurt was strong enough so why? Why did he leave him again?
What Ryan was able to do with the video recordings was a great relief to most parents, including Burt, but it was a double edged sword. Not only did they watch their loved ones process in the game, they also bared witness to their deaths from both players and enemies. Fights had broken out several times, forcing the hospital to get more security guards and regulations to restore peace. Every day Burt came to see Kurt was one filled with anxiety and the constant dread that today his son might die.
He was sitting stonily by his boy, watching with tears in his eyes as Kurt lay dying in another player's arms. He kept praying for a miracle, clasping his son's hand while Finn frantically gave Kurt a weird bottle. He buried his face in trembling hands when he saw that Kurt would not die, his health having been restored and the beating on the heart monitor remaining steady.
Burt remained by his side the rest of the day, shaken over what could have happened. He was later greeted by a woman named Carole, the mother of the boy who saved his son's life.
…
The sun warming his face and burning through his eyelids woke him up the next day. Despite the cold of fall chilling the tip of his nose, Kurt felt warm. He was lying on something furry, and now that he was really waking up, there was someone else beside him, a heavy arm draped over his waist. He turned over slowly.
And came face to face with Finn Hudson, still happily asleep and unaware of the other boy.
Kurt's heart thudded against his chest. He just spent the night with Finn Hudson. Fighting alongside him on Harvest Land had been more than a pleasure even if he had to hide it, but he never dreamed that waking up next to him would come true. Well, technically it really wasn't true, he was sure he was in a hospital somewhere back home, probably not in the same room as the other boy. All the same, Finn was here with him, his warmth coupled with the fur skins covering them keeping Kurt in a comfortable cocoon he never wanted to leave.
What the hell happened last night?
Finn stirred, his eyes fluttering open, and blinking blearily in the sun. He was considering going back to sleep, tugging Kurt closer for more warmth and comfort when it dawned on him that it was Kurt. Not his girlfriend or random hot chick, Kurt.
That was enough to scare the sleep away. He shot up in fright, remembering the events of last night that led to him cuddling with Kurt for warmth and sleep. He fought from freaking out and frightening the pale boy.
"O-oh, you're awake," he said lamely. Kurt looked up at him with wide eyes, clearly more lost than him, "we didn't do anything," he said immediately, secretly needing to hear it himself, "um…a lot of shit went down last night and...yeah…"
The solo player sat up carefully. "Okay…" he said quietly, "I don't remember anything so…how did I end up here?"
"You were poisoned," Finn was quick to answer, pointedly ignoring the strange look on the other boy's face; he'd forgotten how uncomfortable he'd feel around him when he had that look. Weeks of being away from him and gaining respect for his skills as a player from afar would do that. "You couldn't help yourself so I gave you an elixir and you fell asleep."
"Oh," Kurt frowned at his lap, tracing over the soft brown fur of the skins. He recognized them from the animals on the fifth stage, a particularly humiliating world of cavemen where players walked around with clubs and only animal skins to keep them clothed. As someone who cared for how he looked, even Kurt couldn't escape the caveman look. "I was poisoned?"
Finn nodded, "by a bug I think, you had a nasty bite mark on your neck – it's gone now," he added when Kurt's hand flew up to his neck. "I couldn't figure out what it was from I was more focused on giving you the elixir."
Kurt didn't say anything, a thoughtful look in his eyes, blue again, Finn noted absently. "I…oh…" he rubbed his eyes, "I see."
"What happened?" Finn asked.
Kurt shook his head, "something stupid, don't worry, I just need to get my stuff back." He peeled off the animal skins, the cold of fall bristling through his skin.
"Wait," Finn grabbed his arm, keeping him in place, "you're stuff? Were you mugged or something?"
"No…" Kurt mumbled, obviously lying.
"Who was it?" Finn frowned, the only people he could think would do this were The Pack, but even then Kurt was a strong player, he could probably take on ten people let alone three or two. "It wasn't Azimio was it?"
"No," Kurt ran a hand through his hair, disheveled from his sleep, and sticking up at odd angles. He looked younger like this, almost childlike. "It doesn't matter; I've still got some weapons I'll just get the rest of my stuff back."
"Then let me help you." Kurt turned to him with a frown, a light blush on his cheeks. Self consciously, Finn realized he was still holding his hand and let go. "Whoever they are almost killed you, and you're a strong player – you took on a boss by yourself – "
"How'd you know that?"
"Everyone knows, dude - If I come with you maybe they won't try poisoning you again – I can help you."
The small boy looked from Finn to his lap where his fingers were twisting nervously, "why do you want to help me?"
"Because…" Finn gestured with his hands obscurely, the shame from yesterday returning, "I want to make up for…everything…"
"Everything?" Kurt mumbled.
"You know, with the slushies and the dumpsters, and the pushing around, and…me just standing there doing nothing…" he dropped his hand like a dead weight, it felt like no matter how many times he said it, the guilt was still eating up inside him. He didn't just want to apologize, he wanted to be forgiven. But at the same time he knew he didn't deserve it.
Kurt bit the corner of his lip, nervously neatening his hair, "you know I…I never thought of you as the actual – "
He didn't finish that sentence. Right at that moment they could hear people approaching. Before the pair could scramble away from each other the small group was upon them, arguing amongst themselves, but stopping short when they spotted Finn and Kurt on the ground and sharing a makeshift bed out of fur.
The sight didn't leave much to the imagination to an outsider. Both turned red in mortification. Tina, Artie, and Rachel looked down at them with unreadable expressions.
"Uh…hello…" Finn blurted out weakly. The trio looked from him to Kurt, not quite able to compute what this sight was. The quarterback and flaming gay kid together…in a 'bed'…really close…looking suspiciously guilty…
Artie removed his glasses and wiped them hard before replacing them. Nope, this was real.
"This isn't what it looks like," Kurt sighed, getting out of the warmth of the fur. The confused faces turned to concern once they saw that his clothes were in poor state. Grimacing at having slept in rags, Kurt opened his menu and quickly selected a casual t-shirt and jeans. Finn frowned. In all the stages, he'd never come across such modern clothes. It was a far cry from the kind of attire he'd seen the other boy in at school, but it was still a great deal more comfortable than the itchy stuff he was forced to wear.
Tina and the others weren't distracted by this change of clothes, instead shaking themselves out of their shock. The Asian girl was the first to hug him, a look of kindness sweeping over her face. Rachel and Artie hung behind awkwardly, clearly not as close to Kurt as Tina.
"I'm so glad you're okay," she said warmly, pulling out from the hug to look at him, "we heard what happened in Salem Town – here," she dug through the bag slung over her shoulder and pulled out a deck of cards, "it wasn't hard finding those assholes, everything's there."
Startled, Kurt sifted through the cards. "Thank you," he murmured, "you shouldn't have…"
"We're just looking out for you," Tina said kindly, "it's not easy being a solo player – "
"They just caught me off guard," Kurt mumbled sheepishly, he opened his menu and selected a database that originally held his personal items before they'd been stolen, hovering the cards over the open window they vanished and organized themselves in the database. It was the safest place to store items, but not the best for fast access which was why most people liked to just carry around the cards in a locked compartment like a bag or the common card holder that fit well in belts. Now with his cards returned to him, Kurt placed a new lock on the database and closed his menu.
"What if you're 'caught off guard' again?" Tina asked with a hardness to her voice, "Kurt – "
"No," he frowned at his friend, "I'm never doing this again, I'm not joining anymore guilds." He softened at the hurt look on her face, "I'm sorry, Tina, I just can't."
"We need more people," Rachel piped up, "We're all beta players here, we can help each other," Kurt threw her an annoyed look and she pursed her lips in indignantly, "look, I've been to ninety nine, I can be of great help to you."
"You've what?" Kurt's face scrunched in confusion, "I don't remember you there," he turned to Tina for an answer, but she shrugged, having gone through this before.
"1800's London?" she said with a hand to her hip while Rachel nodded eagerly behind her. At this Kurt relented that she was telling the truth. "That doesn't matter, what matters is that you almost died, we thought your status would be 'dead' by this morning."
"He saved me," Kurt turned to Finn who jumped in surprise, still on the floor and wondering when he would be introduced into the conversation. The little group had been so into their discussion they'd forgotten all about him.
Tina and Artie shared bewildered looks. Rachel smiled happily at Finn, probably glad that she hadn't been wrong about him yesterday. Feeling uncomfortable from all the stares, Finn stood up and waited for them to say something. But they didn't, they turned back to Kurt expecting him to say it was some kind of joke.
"It's true," he said simply, a blush creeping into his cheeks. "I kind of owe him now actually…" his face brightened up, "he could join you guys!?"
"You're joking right?" Artie said flatly.
"He's got his own gang," Tina shook her head.
"I left them."
"Well join them back – you what?" Tina did a double take, brows raised. Finn supposed it was better than her looking at him like he was something smelly on her feet.
"I left them," Finn repeated, digging his hands in the pockets of his scratchy and stiff pants.
Artie, Tina, and Rachel looked at each other, not quite sure what to say while Kurt smiled brilliantly, knowing there was no way they weren't going to deny Finn now.
…
The other side of Salem was a mirror world that could only be accessed through the great tombstone in the secluded graveyard. While the first Salem carried no missions, or enemies, the other side held an abundance of it. Three people coming through the portal wouldn't be enough to fight off the 'Fear Ghosts' that claimed home to the residents of Salem, that's why it had been bumped up to seven.
Finn looked at the group he'd come into the mirror world with. Apparently after he'd left, Azimio had enough of dallying about and took off with Karofsky, Puck in toe to follow the action. Matt and Mike considered their options and decided they really weren't comfortable going with Azimio and deal with his madness, so they set off too to look for Finn and apologize.
With that the set was complete. They weren't exactly a real guild per se, having just met each other and really only needing to complete the seven people rule, but it finally put Finn at ease. At least with these guys he knew no one was going to pick fights for the hell of it or steal because they were too lazy to earn their items. They fought pretty well together too, something that had been missing from The Pack.
He hoped that from now on this was going to be it. That they wouldn't be splitting up after they were done with Salem.
"We should pick a name for our guild," Rachel said thoughtfully once the crowd of possessed people were defeated.
"Hey, I'm not a part of this," Kurt smiled, earning a pout from Tina, and disappointment from Finn, "I'm still sticking to soloing it out."
"We haven't even agreed this would be permanent," Tina crossed her arms uncertainly, grudgingly admitting to herself that Finn, Matt, and Mike weren't bad fighters, and they'd proven to work well as a team.
"I wouldn't mind, you?" Mike turned to Matt who shook his head in agreement.
"It has to be a name that represents rebirth," Rachel said enthusiastically, happy that she was getting the guild she wanted, "something that defies the whole bully versus bullied nonsense."
"What, you mean like Up Yours Paradise?" Mike asked playfully.
"Actually I was thinking more like – "
"Or ERA Can Suck It," Tina pitched in with a snicker.
"No, meant something like Defying - "
"How about New Directions?" Kurt suggested, "it's simple, sends the message, and looking at you guys," he grinned and arched an eyebrow, "I'd say you're that definition exactly."
"Kurt you're not even a part of this group," Rachel sniffed.
"It sounds kind of cheesy and obvious," Artie commented skeptically, tapping his chin thoughtfully.
"Yes, exactly!" Rachel agreed.
"Unoriginal, kind of sloppy, not really flashy," Tina added, "we'll take it."
"What?" the brunette blanched, "no! I have so many ideas for a good name!"
"Yeah, I like New Directions," Mike nodded to himself. Rachel looked around desperately, hoping to find someone to take her side, but they were already leaving the graveyard. Finn threw her an apologetic look and followed Mike and Matt with the others.
Kurt trailed behind trying not to laugh, Rachel accompanying him in defeat.
"I don't like you," she stated simply, though no vice lay in her voice.
"Oh, Barbara," he sighed dramatically, "the feeling's mutual."
Finn couldn't fight the smile that pulled at his lips. He didn't really know these people, but things were starting to look up. He finally had a real team to finish the game. The loss of his best friend, Puck still ached, but with time he was sure the tanned boy would come around and find him. He may not have been able to convince Kurt to join either, but that didn't stop the hope that one day he would. It wasn't lost on him that it was strange that he wanted him a part of the guild so badly, but he stubbornly ignored it. Kurt was the best player in ERA, and yet there was just something about him that made Finn feel like he needed to watch out for him. There was a glimmer of loneliness and pain in Kurt's eyes that he wanted to take away. He wasn't gay or anything, it was his shame that was driving him to make amends to the solo player.
All that happiness and determination would be wiped out a few weeks later.
In that time he would find Quinn Fabray and learn that in nine months he was going to be a father.
…