Chapter 3

A/N: I'll try to be a little happier in this chapter! Thanks for reading, and review?

Under a heavy depression from his last encounter with players John decided to just hold the burden on his back and trudge through life. In John's eyes he had already failed his mission: Keeping players alive and healthy. All he could do was wander, looking for ingredients. He knew he had to get supplies to the raid parties getting ready to clear the first boss.

Several wolves lined the path that he was on; no way to avoid them, the only thing he could hope for was a sneak attack before they would agro on him. Not a chance this time, they were already facing him. Even if he no longer wanted to fight that didn't mean that the world would just stop for him.

John had to fight, despite everything that happened around him. There was one solution to this small pack of wolves: Kill them all. After all these weren't players, they were code; they were wild animals, no need for them to be here attacking other players. If only he had one other person to help him, five simple wolves would be a simple task.

As if on queue a cloaked person appeared and rushed the first wolf. The cloaked person fell back beside John ready to take on another wolf as the one who was just attacked shattered into shinny code.

"Not bad, but I can do better." The cloaked person said looking up at John, the person was a few inches shorter than John.

"I guess you won't tell me why you've been following me?" John asked with a smile as he prepared himself to launch at the next wolf. Even though John only had a dagger, it could still do major amounts of damage if used correctly.

"Nope, kind of hard to when I just randomly ran into you." John let out a small laugh before using his sword skill to take out an approaching wolf. "Mind telling me what a stranger is doing all the way out here? This place is supposed to be barren and filled with higher level monsters." John asked. "I could ask the same of you. But since you asked first, I need some of the rare ingredients that lie around here." "So that makes two of us then? I didn't think many players knew about potion making."

"Let's just say some beta testers have shadows." "You've… You've been following me?" "Yeah. Kind of." "So that's why we both have cloaks, am I correct?" "Yes." John flipped his hood down to reveal his face. John had an almost golden skin tone; his hair was long and dark black. His eyes yellow with content, although his eyes were a dirty yellow, not a pure sunlight yellow.

"You want to know who I am, don't you?" "Yes, I do." The cloaked person almost sounded excited. "I guess I should say who I really am. My avatar's name is HavenStriker, but my real name is John S." "You're American aren't you?" "Not fully, I'm actually mostly Irish. Its amazing how fast I learned this language though." "So, my turn?"

John only nodded for an answer. The cloaked person removed the hood to reveal long brunet bangs and a fair white skin tone. "I'm RebelHunter, my real name is Joan K." "I see you're doing the same as me. You're not fully Japanese are you?" "No, no I'm not. I'm Half Japanese hence my last name, and half English."

"So, we're somewhat the same." "Exactly. I saw you in the beta helping all of those new players. Giving them potions to help them along their travels. There was no potion you couldn't make. I wanted to be just like you." "So you already lied to me then. You were following me."

Joan looked down at the ground in guilt. "Yeah… Sorry." John put his hand on her shoulder. Her head shot up as she flinched and her blue eyes met his, which were caring and soft. "Don't worry about it. You probably didn't want me to be suspicious of you. I understand how it works."

"So! What are you looking for then?" John said quickly changing his tone of voice. "Well, there are a bunch of wild flowers near here, red in color with a spikey stem. "Ah yes, the poison rose is what I believe you to be looking for. That's quite a high level poison. Are you sure you can make it?" "I was your shadow after all." "Good point. Still you might want to wait and raise your level before you start, our stats got reset."

"Hey, where did that last wolf go?" "Uh. We missed one?" John asked with a quizzical face. The last remaining wolf was here somewhere. Wolves, coded ones for that matter wouldn't run away from a fight. "So where could he…" John was tackled by the wolf and landed with a thud.

The wolf… Was friendly? No the wolf was a cub that had decided not to fight and registered as a non-player character NPC for short and had the ability to be tamed. "Uhh… What?" John was very confused. "Awww! Its such a cute puppy!" Joan almost yelled.

John flipped over and held the pup in his arms. "Oi, you belong to her now. Not me." John motioned to Joan and reached the puppy out to her. "Since you think its so cute, you can take care of him." "I will!" There were stars in her eyes; it made John smile for the first time in a long time. "Who's a good dog? Hum? You are! Yes you are." Joan was speaking to the dog as if it was a house pet.

"Hey. Joan…" "Yes John?" John looked away and tried to find out exactly what he wanted to say. "Would you… Wo-…" John let out and prolonged sigh. "Party with me?" He finally said, some how losing his courage after he said it. "Yes! Of course I will!" "Now before you say no I- Yes?" "Yes. I would love to party with you! Hey, we could even make our own guild of potion makers!" "Maybe not just yet. We shall wait until we are done here, then we shall think on it a little more heavily." John quickly sent the party invite. Joan accepted the invite as quickly as John had sent it.

"Poison roses. Hum… Why would you need one of the deadliest poisons in the game?" "Well…" Joan kicked her boot in the dirt a few times. "I wanted to have it for an emergency. With all of the player kills… I'm scared. I'm scared to even walk the streets of any town. I don't feel so safe anymore."

"I'll tell you one of the promises I make to myself every time I woke up in the real world: I shall never let a party member actively with me fall below yellow health. They shall remain alive as long as I have control over my own system."

"See! That's why I want to be just like you! You're so kind, caring, and friendly… And I'm…" Joan's voice shrank. "I'm just a cold hearted introvert with no ambitions." "Joan. Let me tell you something. No, let me show you something." John again put his hand on Joan's shoulder. "Look around you. No one knows who you are. Here you are free you be you, despite what anyone says."

"I always thought the purpose behind making characters in a game was to express outright whom you actually are. You could be the person who you always wanted to. You have a chance to start new, now and when we return back to the real world. Just keep your head up, you can do great things."

"Do you always monologue like that?" Joan asked jokingly. "But, in all seriousness… Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I want to turn things around. I want to become the second you." "No, no you don't. You just want to become the you that you've always wanted to be. Now, lets go pick some flowers."