Virtual Role Play, Chapter 15

There is an outbreak of violence as soon as the old Revolution guild attacks Demona. I don’t waste anytime. In a matter of seconds I’m opening my inventory and my armor comes out. Next comes the Celestial bow.

It’s actually my brother Shaunie who goes after Demona swinging his heavy staff at her head and knocking her off balance. One of his warriors has this huge sword and is ready to swing it down on Demona’s head.

I shoot.

My arrow lands right in the guy’s side and he falls backward. He damn near dies as he hits the ground hard. That’s when I see Shaunie attempting to swing his staff AT ME! My own fucking brother!

He’s blocked though.

I turn to see that Hunter has his ninja sword out and is blocking this guy before he lays a finger on me. Hunter has come out of no where. He was across the fucking courtyard last time I checked with Joaquin and now he is with me.

“Everyone calm down,” Madden says out of no where.

I’m not sure what he’s doing here by saying something like that. We’re past being calm. Maybe the fact that Hunter takes out his gun and shoots a Revolution member that is charging at me makes it clear to Madden.

The social hour is over. Trina is dead and Demona killed her. They'd want revenge..

“Behind you,” Hunter warns me.

I look behind me and realize that three more warriors are coming at me. They are hissing with anger. They are damn near growling. They swing these huge weapons at me. I roll out of the way. They are high level. They are higher than I’m ready for and I know that one of those hits would probably knock me unconscious if not kill me if I’m not careful.

So I make damn sure I’m careful.

I’m on the floor. Literally I’m rolling around the floor and shooting my arrows in a wild panic. I don't know where i learned this technique. I'm pretty sure it's not a skill in the game. This is all coming from desperation to stay alive. There is a rogue that somehow is attempting to catch me with a net. I keep rolling and it barely misses me. There are two mages that attempt to burn me.

My armor catches on fire!

My heart is racing. I’m being attacked from all sides. I can see my health bar going down. I can see panic really taking over. I know I have to focus but I made myself too comfortable. I was FAR too comfortable with these people.

I feel someone lift me off the ground all of a sudden and I draw my weapon ready to shoot.

That’s when I realize who it is that picked me up.

Demona. Thank God.

“You really did it now,” I tell Demona.

“And I’d do it again,” she tells me helping me up.

We are standing back to back. I can’t help but to shake my head. I'm not sure if Trina deserved to die. All I know was that Demona warned her several times. I also knew Demona was no joke. Demona was my best friend and that's where my loyalty lied. Whether she snapped or not. She was a bitch, I'd admit it. The thing was that she was my bitch. I just hate that the truth came out this way. I wonder if Demona even believes it. If she believes it or not doesn’t matter right now though. We are surrounded. Demona and I are completely cornered.

There is a line of mages. 10 of them. It’s almost like a firing squad. They look high level. They do something weird. They turn to Shaunie as though he is their leader. They are awaiting his directions. Then Shaunie gives me a hard stare and he does something even more strange.

“Kill them,” he says.

Something stirs in me. My fucking brother is telling these people to kill me. My own flesh and blood is ordering me dead. I think a tear falls down my face at that moment. It’s not sadness though. I feel anger. There is this red heat. Is Shaunie really that angry with me? Does he really hate me that much?

Right now I feel completely helpless. I can shoot two or three of those mages. I can’t take them all out. I just…can’t. They get ready. They take aim.

“Fuck…” I whisper under my breath.

I guess this is the way I die.

I close my eyes as I see 10 fireballs aimed towards Demona and I!

I exhale...

What happened?

I feel them hit me, but they don’t have the effect that I assume. I’m glowing a bright yellow light. Demona is as well. It’s almost like we are being shielded by these attacks somehow. The mages look confused for a second wondering why Demona and I aren’t burnt in little crisps or something.

I’m so confused but then Demona gives me a shoulder and points over at the other side of the courtyard. She’s pointing at Sarafine who has cast a spell to protect Demona and I.

“Sarafine is growing on me,” Demona says with a sly smile.

I knew my friends would come through when I need them. A bunch of the Revolution guild realizes that it’s Sarafine too and I watch as they turn towards her. She sees it coming luckily and the girl books it, running away as fast as she can. I see a gang of people chase after her. I’m not too worried about her to tell the truth though. They need her after all. They won’t hurt her. I’m just glad Sarafine took my side.

Right now I’m realizing who my true friends are and I’m realizing that I’m going to stand by Demona no matter what she does. I’m going to be there for her no matter how wrong she is and so was Sarafine.

That’s the meaning of friendship.

“Are you guys going to just stand there or are you going to fight?” Hunter says.

I was so concerned with seeing Sarafine chased away that I don’t realize the mages laying unconscious on the ground. Out of no where Hunter appears in front of us. He gives me a smile.

The weird thing is Hunter didn’t take out all of those mages alone. He had help. Joaquin is standing there. The two of them took out all of them. Joaquin looks at me and gives me a nod. It’s almost as though he’s telling me that he’s on my side. Maybe he is on my side because of Hunter. It kind of makes me feel some type of way because he feels so strongly about Hunter. Right now it doesn’t matter. We were extremely outnumbered and any amount of support would help.

I can see a bunch of the Revolution guild opening up their inventories and equipping their weapons. We don’t have a lot of time.

“Back me up,” I tell my friends, “Demona go berserk on these fucking people. Joaquin and Hunter stay close to me. We need to take out the leader.”

By the leader I meant Shaunie.

Demona only needs to hear that in order to go berserk before she starts barreling through people. She is clearing a way for us with a huge axe. They aren’t ready for her. I stare over at her and she looks like a glorious mad woman. It kind of explains how she was so legendary in other games honestly. The girl is no joke. I watch her swing her axe upward sending Revolution members flying into the air and sailing back to the ground like kites in a storm. Her axe pummels through people with no sense of direction or no real plan.

She is causing the exact amount of chaos that we need.

That’s when I feel Hunter put his hand on my shoulder, “I’m with you. I’ll always be with you…”

It’s a weird thing to say now of all times. His hand is on my shoulder. Right behind him is Joaquin. Joaquin looks at Hunter’s hand on my shoulder. I can’t read his facial expression. I wonder if it hurts to see Hunter acting like that with me.

“Let’s go,” I tell Hunter and Joaquin, interrupting the awkwardness of it all.

We’re running forward as fast as we can right now. I’m dripping sweat. In the middle of the courtyard I see Shaunie. He’s with a bunch of higher levels. I think they retreated in front of the guild house to get out stronger weapons when they saw Hunter and Joaquin take out all of those mages. I can see that the Revolution guild is kind of protecting Shaunie. Some went to chase after Sarafine. The majority were completely distracted by Demona who was attacking anyone in hands reach but the rest of them surrounded Shaunie.

Hunter and Joaquin go first.

“Why don’t we do the attack we practiced?” Joaquin says.

“Let’s go," Hunter agrees.

They had an attack together? It seems really intimate in a way. My face flushes red when I see Joaquin grab Hunter’s legs. He thrusts Hunter high into the sky with this strength that can only be seen in some unrealistic video game. While he throws Hunter into the sky Joaquin takes out his bow and starts shooting at people. His arrows don’t do much damage to the members of the guild guarding Shaunie but they distract them.

As they are distracted Hunter comes flying down from the sky like some badass futuristic ninja. All I see are bullets and all I hear is the whizzing of his ninja sword.

They don’t stand a chance.

As soon as he lands however he’s caught with a fireball and he’s blasted back. Joaquin seems so bothered that Hunter’s been hit that he drops his bow like an idiot and runs over to help him. I watch him gather over Hunter as though Hunter is a child and not a bad ass assassin.

It’s clear Joaquin has feelings for Hunter that are blinding his judgement.

“Nice try,” Shaunie says to Hunter.

He is headed over to finish Hunter and Joaquin off now that Hunter is injured. What he doesn’t realize is that I’m still around. What Shaunie doesn’t realize is that I’m sneaking behind him.

“Drop it,” I say.

Shaunie turns just in time to see an arrow aimed directly at his head.

“Don’t do anything crazy…” Shaunie says putting up his hands almost immediately, “I’m your brother…”

Now he is my brother. After he told those mages to kill me now he was my brother.

“Drop it.”

“That bitch attacked us first,” Shaunie states.

He points over at Demona. It takes literally 20 of his people to hold Demona down but they have managed to hold her. She is being restrained on the ground. Her eyes are raging and she is thrashing around like some kind of wild animal. Demona has completely lost control and honestly I’m loving every moment of it. She’s giving them hell. She’s biting, she’s kicking, she’s cursing and she’s spitting. They are struggling to control her.

“You provoked her,” I reply, threatening him with my bow.

“She’s out of control,” Shaunie responds, “Since you can’t control this guild then I needed to step up and do it for you.”

I roll my eyes, “Whatever Shaunie. You always wanted to be in control. You came in here trying to be in control. That ends today. Call your people off before you make me do something that I’ll regret. Call them off Shaunie.”

“How about no…” he says, "Trina is dead. So NO!"

“What?”

“No,” Shaunie responds.

“Shaunie don’t make me do this,” I tell him.

He’s so fucking smug. He has this smug ass grin on like he’s untouchable. He has all of these people backing him. He’s so popular. He’s the same smug asshole I knew growing up. Right now you would think that he’s on top of the fucking world.

“If you shoot that arrow you better not miss,” he explains to me.

He’s such a dickhead.

I pull back.

“I’m sorry,” I hear a voice say, “I can’t let you do that.”

I’m confused but I realize that someone is standing behind me. Someone who has been staying out of the fray this entire time. When I turn at that moment the person that I realize is standing behind me is none other than Madden.

Madden smashes me into the back of my head, knocking me out.

I lose consciousness.

================================================================================================

I wake up feeling pain. I don’t know what hurts more. Is it my head or is it the fact that my boyfriend back stabbed me? Hunter, Joaquin and Demona are all tied up in chairs next to me. I'm tied up tightly as well. The ropes are so tight that I can't move.

“Sleeping beauty is up,” Hunter says coyly.

I look over at him and he’s staring me right in my face. We are tied to chairs like idiots. I hope I don’t look anywhere near as bad as I feel because he’s giving me this long lingering stare.

“What happened?” I ask.

“Your boyfriend happened,” Demona replies.

Hunter is happy to go into deeper detail, “Madden turned on you. Yup. Like I figured he would. Fucking prude. Anyway. We got tied up. I think he’s still around here somewhere. But Shaunie and the rest of the Revolution guild went on the mission. They are going to take on Manolo. They are calling it their final battle.”

I shake my head.

“Idiots,” I say shaking my head, “Where is Sarafine?”

“She’s safe.”

It’s not Hunter, Demona or Joaquin that answer me. Someone walks into the room at that moment. It’s Madden. From the looks of it he’s alone in the guild house with us. He stayed behind.

“Where is Sarafine?” I ask Madden.

“Baby…” Madden says.

Baby? I almost laugh when he says it. I can’t believe him right now. Thankfully I’m not the only one that is outraged by him. Hunter is grimacing at him. Demona is giving him looks. Hell even Joaquin seems a little bit turned off by Madden right now. This guy straight up betrayed me.

“Are you serious?” I ask, “You know what? I’m not even going to have this conversation with you. I asked where Sarafine is.”

“They took her to help them with the fight against Manolo.”

No.

“You fucking idiots have no idea what my father is capable of,” Hunter tells Madden, “You think you are just going to storm in there with no plan and kill the smartest man of the last century? Manolo CREATED this situation.”

“We have no choice,” Madden replies.

“Get me out of these ropes Madden.”

“Will you be calm if I do?”

“GET ME OUT OF THESE FUCKING ROPES!” I scream at the top of my lungs.

Madden sighs a little bit. He walks over to me and unties me first. Then he unties the others. Then he stands there as though I owe him some sort of thanks. Instead of thanking him, I ball of my fist and sock him straight in the stomach. It probably hurts my fists as much as it hurts him because Madden’s stomach is like a fucking rock.

He coughs up for a minute, takes a step back and purses his lips.

“You’re acting really mature right now baby,” Madden laments.

He’s acting like he didn’t turn on me. He’s acting like this is some small fight we are going through. The fact that he is still CLAIMING me as his after he pulled this shit blew my mind.

“You turned on me,” I tell Madden, “You helped my brother OVERTHROW me and now he’s taking my entire guild on a suicide mission.”

Madden rolls his eyes.

“They were always going to follow him,” Madden states.

“He has a point,” Joaquin agrees with Madden.

Hunter doesn’t skip a beat. He’s at my side before the words even come out of Joaquin’s mouth.

“Stay out of this,” he warns Joaquin.

Like a leashed dog Joaquin shuts up as soon as Hunter interrupts him. Hunter may not be butting into my issues with Madden but I think he’s letting it be known where he stands. He’s standing where he’s always stood. He’s right by my side. His body language says it all. He has crossed arms and a pissed off stare. He’s watching Madden like Madden is something to eat. I think Madden can feel the daggers coming at him.

Maybe that’s why he attempts to move a little close and change the tone.

“They would have killed you, Killian,” he tells me, “I saved you…”

“You chose Shaunie. Like you always do. You TURNED on me Madden,” I tell him, “What the FUCK! I had him cornered…”

Madden is being resistant. He’ll never admit that maybe he still has this soft spot for Shaunie. It’s the soft spot that he’s always had for Shaunie. Shaunie would always occupy a place in Madden’s heart that I would never be able to get to no matter how hard I tried.

Because as much as I was falling for Madden he was already in love with Shaunie.

Instead of admitting to it Madden changes the subject.

“I turned on you? What about what you did?” Madden asks me, “When were you going to tell me the truth about this not really being a game Killian? How long were you going to hide this from me?”

I get quiet. I have to admit I kind of feel embarrassed by it. Demona clearly looks down. I can see this is hurting her as well. With master precision, Madden maneuvers the target back on me. The pressure is back on my stupid decision not to reveal the truth about the virtual reality.

“It’s not Killian’s fault,” Hunter defends me.

“Didn’t you tell Joaquin to stay out of this?” Madden asks Hunter with antagonism in his tone, “Maybe you should take your own advice. Dickhead.”

Madden could have said the same exact thing without calling Hunter a dickhead. After he calls him a dickhead a short exhale comes from Hunter and I know he’s going to go after Madden. He seems enraged but luckily Joaquin sees it coming from a mile away.

Joaquin has his hand on Hunter’s broad chest and in an attempt to calm him down Joaquin tells me, “I’ll go take Hunter for a walk. I’ll give you guys the chance to talk.”

I whisper a short thank you to Joaquin but I am a little suspicious that he just kind of wants Hunter away from me and not fighting to defend me any longer. I have the feeling that Joaquin is uncomfortable with the fact that the guy he is into likes me. The two leave the room. I expect Demona to give Madden some time to talk but she doesn’t.

Demona just stands there. She’s cold. She’s distant.

“Can I have some time?” I ask Demona.

“We need to go after them…” Demona states, “They have Sarafine.”

“You don’t even like Sarafine.”

“She’s one of US,” Demona replies shaking her head.

At that moment I know what Demona means. Sarafine is one of us. She was a friend. I could see it in her eyes that Demona had warmed up to Sarafine even if she didn’t want to admit it. I promised Celeste that I wouldn’t act until she came back.

I’m not sure if we still had that luxury. Shaunie had forced our hands before we were really ready.

“We’ll get her back,” I state, “Give me some time, Demona.”

Demona nods.

She doesn’t give Madden another stare but walks out of the room at that moment. As soon as she leaves I realize that it’s awkward with just Madden and I. He sits in the chair and puts his hands on his knees. I don’t know how to read him. I’m angry about what he did but I have all this regret about not telling him about the reality of this world.

Madden stares at the fireplace that is blazing in the main room. This place is the first guild building that we had. It’s a small little building. This was where we started before the guild expanded to include the Revolution guild.

“We’ve been in this game for so long,” Madden says staring into the fire, “It started to feel real. All of it. My emotions for you started feeling real. The fact that I was actually a warrior started to feel real. Still. In the back of my head I felt like this was a game. I felt like one day we’d wake up and everything would go back to normal. I’d go off to college and play ball for a good university. Maybe after a year I’d be drafted into the NBA…”

“…With Shaunie?” I ask.

“With Shaunie,” he answers.

I sit down on the chair next to him. I stare at the fire. It whips around and beats in the soft breeze in the room. It's almost as though we are coming to the realization that the fire is real. The warmth is real. There is no going back.

“There is no going home Madden,” I state, “I should have told you before. I was scared. I apologize. I just know that there is so much for you to go back home to. I had nothing. I was able to get over it fast. You on the other hand…”

Madden has tears in my eyes.

“My family? My friends?”

“Most likely all gone. There is a chance they are frozen at the Manolo Corporation,” I state, “But I don’t know when they are released. I don’t know what Manolo’s plan is. That’s why we were waiting on Celeste.”

He shakes his head, “I didn’t turn on you…”

“Madden.”

“I didn’t. I chose to help Shaunie because Shaunie is right. Manolo has to pay for taking away everything from us,” he explains, “He has to pay for what he did to Noah. He has to pay for lying to us and making us believe we are in a fucking video game.”

Madden has this deep anger in his voice. I can’t help but to put my hand on his back. Slowly I touch the back of his shoulders.

“You don’t think I want that?” I ask.

Madden takes a deep breath, “I know you do. It’s just…”

“You thought Shaunie could do a better job at leading the guild?” I ask.

Madden shrugs.

“I have deep feelings for you…”

“But you love Shaunie still.”

“Killian, c`mon how can you say that?” Madden asks.

“Admit it Madden!”

I’m frustrated. Maybe it’s true emotions. Maybe it’s because the person that I was always in love with is in love with someone else and won’t just come out and fucking say it. I want to just shake Madden and force him to just admit what his feelings are for Shaunie. He said he was over Shaunie. He promised me he was, but I didn’t believe him.

“Shaunie is straight,” Madden replies.

“And if he wasn’t?”

“He is. So what does it matter?” Madden asks.

Madden gets up off his chair. He has his hand on his head. This shit hurts. This shit really hurts because Madden is just avoiding everything I’m really referring to. Him pacing around the room doesn’t calm me down. It only makes me get up. I’m so full of emotion that I grab Madden.

I pin Madden up against the wall.

He stares in my eyes as though almost hopeless to even fight back. I don’t know what to do with him. He’s so handsome right now. I don’t know whether to punch him or kiss him. I’ve never been so confused by my feelings before.

“Let me go,” I state.

“What?” he asks, “What are you talking about? You're the one holding me Killian.”

“I mean break up with me Madden,” I tell him.

“I don’t want to break up with you,” he tells me, “Listen. Wait. I never said I wanted to break up with you. Killian. You need to stop tripping. Ok. We got into a disagreement. Ok I’m a little confused about my feelings with Shaunie.”

I can almost laugh to keep from crying.

“A little confused.”

“Baby. I’ve been trying to shake him,” Madden finally says, “I honestly have…”

“But you still love him?” I ask.

“Killian---“

He’s avoiding it. He’s dodging the question like we are in middle school playing dodge ball and he’s the last guy left. He’s ducking and weaving through this. I’m not sure what he wants. Maybe he wants to have his cake and eat it too. Maybe Madden honestly wants to be with me but he’s loved my brother for so long that he can’t devote everything to me.

“Admit it. You love him,” I pressure Madden.

“This is about Hunter isn’t it?” Madden asks, “If you want to be with Hunter then just go ahead and say it.”

“Fine.”

Madden wasn’t expecting that. His eyes get wide. His breath almost stops. I'm sure he'd just been trying to take the heat off of himself like he did earlier. He seems really good at redirecting emotion. He doesn't expect me to say, "Fine." He just stares at me as though trying to figure out what the hell just came out of my mouth.

“Wait, baby what are you saying?”

“I’m saying that it’s over,” I reply.

Madden can’t believe it. His facial expression skews up like a lost puppy. He stares at me for a second and then starts to break out in laughter.

“You’re joking right?”

“I’m serious.”

“You’ve pursued me since we were kids and now you’re breaking up with me…over this stupid argument?” Madden asks me.

“It’s not about the argument,” I tell Madden, “It’s because you’re still in love with Shaunie.”

I turn.

I’m walking out. I’ve said my peace.

Madden looks at me desperately.

“Wait. Wait. Killian,” he pursues me walking out of the door, “Let’s talk about this. I want to be with you. I choose you over Shaunie. Killian wait…”

It’s too late. I’m as surprised as Madden that I’m breaking up with him. I had pictures of this guy on my wall for godsakes. I worshiped Madden Patel my entire life and now I was walking away from him. I was breaking up with him after a lifetime of wanting him.

And honestly…it felt good.

I head outside and for the first time I feel like I can breathe without obsessing over Madden.

“Are you OK?”

I’m surprised by a voice that is there as soon as I walk out of the door. I could have sworn that I was alone when Madden didn't follow me outside.

It’s Hunter.

“Can you stop doing that?” I ask.

“Doing what?”

“Sneaking up on me,” I tell Hunter.

Hunter laughs. It’s rare to hear him really laugh and not do one of those small little confident laughs.

“That’s kind of my thing,” he acknowledges.

He’s right. He is an assassin after all. He walks a little close to me. He stands next to me standing at my side.

“Where’s Joaquin?”

“I got away from him. I think he’s somewhere around looking for me.”

“And all the while you’re spying on me?” I ask.

He shrugs, "I'm never too far away. I keep trying to tell you that."

“How much did you hear?”

“Enough.”

I roll my eyes. I’m embarrassed. I’m so embarrassed that my face gets red as hell.

“Well now you know…”

“He’s an idiot,” Hunter explains.

“What?”

I turn around and Hunter is in my face. He’s so close that I could kiss him if I moved slightly. There is no distance between us at all. He exhales and I can smell his breath against my upper lip. I can feel the heat coming from his slightly parted lips. The hairs on my skin are standing on end. He’s staring at me so hard that I feel like I’m losing control in this moment completely.

“If I had you---“ Hunter says, “You’d never have to worry about me falling for anyone else.”

Fuck.

I am about to lean over and kiss him. Our lips are touching at that moment but just barely. We barely kiss when someone runs around the corner.

It’s Joaquin.

He seems shocked that I’m standing here with Hunter. What’s even more shocking is that Hunter doesn’t take a step back. Hunter doesn’t even look over at Joaquin or acknowledge him.

Hunter’s eyes are still set on me and only me…

It makes me want to kiss him even more.

Joaquin has a message though, “Someone’s coming.”

He turns quickly back towards the gate of the guild house limits. Past the courtyard I can see that Joaquin is right. Someone has walked into the courtyard past the gates, past Sarafine's flower bed and was making their way up to us.

I notice who it is very quickly.

“Celeste,” my mouth drops.

She’s standing there in our courtyard. Celeste looks in bad shape. She must have been in a fight. When she walks up to us she damn near faints in our arms from fatigue. God knows what she’s been through.

“Where is Shaunie?” are her first words.

“My brother…why?”

“WHERE IS HE?” she asks.

“He stole Sarafine. He is leading the others to fight Manolo.”

She shakes her head, “You have to go after them.”

“Why? Celeste. What’s wrong?”

“Shaunie is a traitor. He’s a plant. He works for the Manolo Corporation.”

To read the next chapter in advance go to www.crushedcrown.com