Private Eastern Brisshal A reunion long overdue

[Aaron Marone]

The world shimmered into life. Aaron inhaled deeply, breathing in air that felt so much more real. He shifted; the weight of his armor comfortable rather than burdensome. His sword and shield each feeling all too much an extension of his arm than separate pieces. It was real. He was back in Terrasphere, after all this time. "Do I still remember..." he muttered to himself as he opened up his UI. "Yep. Still remember."

Without thought, he navigated his way to his friends list. His heart skipped a beat at the sight of the first name and the green indicator of "online". He hit the message button faster than he realized he could move.

Mail

Hey, ABC! It's Aaron. I'm back. I'm in Eastern Brisshal, the starter area. Probably a bit overleveled for it, but it's been so long... Wanna meet up, for old time's sake? We could go somewhere else if you want.

He hit send on the message and let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Now to wait until he heard back. That was fine. He could wait. It's been over four years. What's a few more minutes before meeting an old friend? "Gods, grant me courage," he prayed.

 

[Alphabet Chocolate]

Alpha's shoulders dropped, the wetness of her eyes shining bright. When she opened her mouth, Alpha was surprised that her mind, and tongue, had drawn a blank. Shaking her head, she brushed the wetness off her face and curled her lips up to toothy grin. For the first time in her life, Alpha felt speechless. It'd been years since she had last seen him, one of the very first friends she had ever made. It made her miss Terry a bit more. She knew he'd have loved to see Aaron again but...

Alpha pulled up her screen. It took her two minutes to login the game and two hours to figure out how to play. A refresher tutorial would've been appreciated.

Mail

Aaron

She crouched down the shrubbery, her breathing a staccato holding down the luster in her heart, a light she would bet was brighter than Aaron's flashy magic and outfit. Honestly, sometimes Alpha wondered if it was OSHA-approved to stare in Aaron's general direction with how the light would reflect his armor and personality. Too bright, they'd say. He's a blinding human health hazard, probably.

And, drawing a final step, launched herself into the air, arms open wide, eyes closed with a grin on her face as she calculated the trajectory between them. Velocity. Time. Weight and height distribution. Gravity.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARON!" she yelled.

Unfortunately, Terrasphere was not real life. And, also unfortunately, the stats that Alpha had grinded out a few years ago meant she leaped a little higher and crashed a little harder.

Time slowed, Alpha's arms wide open for a hug, her tears stinging her eyes shut, as she headed directly towards the tree.

 

[Aaron Marone]

Aaron stared at the message that arrived, saying simply his name and nothing else. Was that a good sign? A bad sign? There was no punctuation. Was it an "Aaron?"? An "Aaron."? An "Aaron!"?

His thoughts were interrupted by the yelling of his name in a familiar voice he hadn't heard in far too long. That answered the question of what type of "Aaron" the message was. He looked up to see Alphabet Chocolate soaring through the air toward the tree behind him, arms open and eyes shut.

Acting quickly, he activated his guard skill and leapt toward the tree, intercepting the blind flying hug, wrapping his arms around the girl. Unfortunately, he was unable to brace himself and their momentum continued, slamming Aaron into the tree with all the force of a flying four-foot-tall human enhanced by game-like stats. "I gotcha," he said, wincing with pain. His armor protected him from the bulk of the impact, but it still hurt. He laughed. "By the gods, it's been years. How have you been, ABC? You haven't grown an inch, have you?" He squeezed her in his arms, not too tightly but enough to be felt.

 

[Alphabet Chocolate]

It was a messy landing, to say the least, but it got the job done. Alpha couldn't help when the scratch in her chest wormed its way up into little giggles. "Aaron!" Alpha just knew that she had stars in her eyes. It had been a while since she'd met a friend she could trust, especially one that had been there since the beginning. "You're telling me that but it's a bit unfair when you haven't changed a bit!"

For a minute, Alpha wrapped her arms back around him, her joy making her feel a bit soft and airy. Then Alpha regained her senses. She pulled away from Aaron, blinking away the sting from her eyes. "It's been years, Aaron." Alpha got back up to her feet, shoulders drawn up high enough to reach the bottom of her ears. "I didn't get taller but I did grow up! Y'know I went around the world, right? I've seen a lot of things, things've been great! I have a pet capybara now! Several. It's just..." Alpha stared at the grass tickling at her feet. She didn't know what to say. That it's been years since they last saw each other? That she wondered where he and all her friends were every day? That Alpha wasn't weak like before? She was strong, but not just in this game anymore.

"It was really lonely, y'know?" Alpha looked up, her throat tight. "And I have no idea where you or anyone went or if you guys were all okay!"

A moment passed. Then, the words she wanted to say bubbled out from her heart and into her lips. "How have you been?"

 

[Aaron Marone]

It felt good to embrace an old friend, good enough that the pain of being slammed into a tree meant nothing anymore. He laughed again at her complaint of unfairness. "That's true, that's true. Granted, twenty-one to twenty-five is usually a smaller change than thirteen to seventeen."

"It's been too long, yeah. How was the world? Where all did you stop?" he asked. He noticed the tears. He noticed her dejected posture. He frowned. He didn't know how old she was in the other world, but he knew she was still younger than him. The pain of losing people wasn't one even someone his age should know, let alone younger.

"I know. I was lonely too. I should have - I should have tried to reach out, or something. I left before the shutdown. I had to. It all was just getting so.... so real. I couldn't tell the difference between this world and the other world. I was having nightmares of spiders, and I was losing my grip on the other world. Then I heard about the shutdown. I only meant to be gone for a little while, clear my head and come back. But I lost that opportunity. And that fucked with me, for a while. I'm more stable, now, though. So when I heard Terrasphere was back, I had to come back. Try to find my friends again."

"I'm doing better now. I... I gave up some dreams I had in the other world, but I've gotten new ones. I don't try writing anymore, but now I work with writers to make their creations better, and that's been really fulfilling. Doesn't pay too great, but it keeps food on the table."

He shook his head, then put on a big smile, far more fitting for him. "Whoo, alright, that's enough serious down talk. Let's do something fun. Any ideas?"

 

[Alphabet Chocolate]

"Turn that frown upside, silly!" Alpha pouted, a tinge bit upset at her friend's upsetness which was upsetting her further in the cycle of upset. She didn't have the time to answer his question before Aaron went into monologue mode and, for once, Alpha was engrossed. Something in his words spoke to her---the loneliness, that struggle between reality and nightmares, and that strong, driving desire to find their friends. It almost brought tears to Alpha's eyes, if only she hadn't drained her tear reserves five seconds ago. Instead, she showed solidarity by giving Aaron's kneecap a pat.

"I'm glad." That was the most honest sentence that had passed from her lips in four years. Then, she grinned. "So, mister big shield man's some sorta fancy editor now, huh?" she gave him a playful jab with her elbow, wincing a bit as she struck hard armor. Seriously, how did he walk with all of that on?

Some deep, dark part of her stirred. An editor. Seriously? Alpha felt a tinge of jealousy. Imagine making, Alpha didn't know, thousands of royalties off of werewolf romance novellas! Alpha wasn't sure if editors made royalties or not, but she did know that werewolf romance novellas sold like hotcakes, and that they definitely needed a lot of editing if the final result was... Alpha stopped herself. She needn't think back on traumatizing memories.

Instead, Alpha shook her head and tossed Aaron the dopiest smile she could, jumping to her feet and tugging him by his sleeve. "Ooh! There's lotsa fun things around here. We could, uh, hunt down bears and wolves! That's what everyone else has been doing, ever since the sudden population boom. It was like every man and woman in Terrasphere spontaneously gave birth at once, and it was a Benjamin Button situation where everyone came out fully grown and surprisingly bloodthirsty for bear fights!"

She suddenly shook her head so viciously it looked as though it might just pop off. "Nevermind!" she crossed her arms together in an X. "They're probably extinct by now. Uh," Alpha pointed in the distance. "You wanna go hunt bandits? Like old times?"

 

[Aaron Marone]

Aaron shifted with Alphabet's jab so she wouldn't hurt herself on his armor, laughing as he did. "Yep, an editor. It's a lot of people turning their blogs into a book, but there's some good stories here and there. Pay's not too great either, but it keeps food on the table."

As she went on about hunting wolves and bears, and the fact everyone seemed to be doing so lately, he couldn't help but chuckle. Then she hit on nostalgia. "Bandit hunting like old times, huh? I could go for some bandit hunting. Do you know of any bandits specifically, or should we just wander around until we find some?" he asked, grinning. He'd missed her energy. She did point, so there was a chance she knew of specific bandits, but he still felt like teasing her a little. The girl was like a little sister to him, and what older brother didn't enjoy teasing his little sister?