Someone cursed as Paul swung open the door, a loud thud echoing through the house. He sighed.

  “Hun? I’m home!” He turned the corner to enter the kitchen, and his stomach fell as he witnessed his wife sitting at the dining table, papers scattered about, her head in her hands.

  “What happened?” Stepping behind her, he rested his hands against her back, moving them in slow circles as he tried to help her relax. She leaned back into his touch with a groan.

  “It was rejected again,” Susie whispered, and Paul winced.

  “What is it now? Fifteen? Twenty?”

  “Almost thirty, actually.”

  “You’re kidding…” He was starting to understand why Heather and Jamie had given up trying to make people understand their situation. If what they dealt with was anything like this…

  “I just… like, come on! They didn’t even check! They just brushed me off and hung up on me!”

  “Yeah, I know. We’re doing what we can, but…”

  “…Yeah.” Her shoulders slumped. “Yeah, you’re right. Still gonna try, though.”

  “Yeah.” While he was helping keep Heather and Jamie alive, Susie was helping in her own way. Forum posts, discussions with authorities; anything she could do to make people aware of the situation.

  So far, it was having no effect—if anything, people were seeing it as a joke. Nothing they did helped, and even if someone believed them, what would they do? The development team of Leveled Plane kept themselves anonymous, and in-game messages about Heather and Jamie’s situation were being deleted, so it wouldn’t help.

  “Did you have a good day?” she asked after a while. Paul nodded, resting his head on top of hers. She was clearly trying to change the subject, but he didn’t mind.

  “Yeah, it was good. We’re almost done brainstorming for our next project, so I was in meetings most of the day helping with that. A bit draining, but nothing I can’t handle.”

  She hummed, sighing as the knots beneath her skin were loosened under Paul’s kneading touch.

  “Sounds nice… mine wasn’t the best. A new patient came in today. I can’t share too much about it… but helping them wasn’t an easy thing. They’re pretty messed-up, and I dunno what all I can do.”

  He lightly kissed the back of her neck. “I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it work. You always do.”

  “I hope so.” They both went quiet, Paul helping loosen Susie’s back while she continued going over the paperwork laying in front of her. It helped take his mind off things, if only for a moment.

  Then Susie sighed, turning around to face him.

  “How many days are left?” she quietly asked, and Paul grimaced.

  “Three.”

  “Ah. Well… you should probably join them, shouldn’t you?”

  His shoulders slumped. “Yeah, I probably should.”

  Susie’s eyes softened as she looked at him, giving him a small smile. “I know… you’re tired. Hun, you don’t gotta hide it from me. It’s exhausting, isn’t it?”

  “…Yeah.” She stood up from her chair, placing her hands against his chest.

  “You wanna take a break, don’tcha?” He nodded. “Yeah, I thought so. And I kinda want you ta take one too. You’re burning yourself out.”

  She kissed him lightly on the lips before pulling away slightly, her face open and vulnerable.

  “I don’t like seeing ya hurting like this. I really don’t. But hun… I know how you are with promises. You’re not gonna stop ‘till ya get ‘em out of there or they die trying. Just… take care of yourself, alright?”

  Paul frowned. “I’ll try.”

  Susie nodded, stepping back. “That’s all I can ask for, hun.” She smiled. “Now get going. Don’t keep them waiting too long.”

  “I won’t,” he replied, easing his frown into a grin as she shooed him from the room. He was lucky she was so understanding and that she was just as dedicated to keeping his friends alive as he was. Otherwise, this would be causing major problems in their marriage.

  It didn’t take long for Paul to connect to the headset and link into the game, feeling a nauseous sensation in the pit of his stomach as his avatar was spit out in one of the COLOSSEUM’s hallways. Taking a few minutes to adjust to the movements of his virtual body as he waited for the nausea to subside, Paul heard the crackle of electricity from around the corner and smiled.

  “Found ya,” he whispered, weaving his way through the maze of hallways layering the COLOSSEUM. He didn’t have to go far before one of the hallways opened into one of the COLOSSEUM’s many practice areas.

  Heather was standing in the center of the room, her eyes closed as lightning flickered beneath her skin. Her lips were pursed in concentration, her hands turning white as she clenched them at her sides.

  The scent of ozone filled the room, and Heather let out a scream as she wrenched her hands towards the sky. A crimson bolt of lightning fell from the heavens, charring the dirt a few feet in front of her.

  He watched her shoulders rise and fall as she took a few deep breaths, the lightning beneath her skin fading to a duller red as her magic settled. She opened her eyes.

  “Oh! Hey Paul!” She grinned, jogging towards him. Her body was soaked in sweat, and she carefully avoided the other charred craters in the dirt as she traversed the room.

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  She’d been practicing.

  “Hey. How’re things going?”

  “Ah, you know,” she said, brushing her bangs to the side. “Working on getting a handle on it. It’s actually easier than what I was doing before.”

  He chuckled. “Well, normally muscle augmentation techniques are only available once your LIGHTNING gains enough LEVELS. Most people start out with long-range blasts like what you’re doing now.”

  Her eyes widened. “Wait, are you serious?”

  He nodded, and she groaned, palming her face. “That… explains everything. No wonder I was having such a hard time! If Jay had…”

  Her eyes went dark, and a chill crept up Paul’s back. “Oh… OH… I’M GONNA–”

  Paul clamped one of his hands on Heather’s shoulder. Her eyes immediately snapped towards him, visions of blood and death filling his head, but he brushed those to the side.

  “None of that, kid,” he ordered. “LIGHTNING’s not the most common affinity, so Jamie not knowing about it makes sense. Don’t get mad at her for that. I only know about it because a friend of mine used it.”

  The cold feeling dissipated, and Heather’s black eyes shifted back to crimson. Her shoulders fell, and she sighed.

  “You’re right,” she whispered, a hint of bitterness in her voice, “but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

  Paul frowned. “Uh… what do you…”

  “I blew my body to pieces a couple thousand times to get any control over LIGHTNING. You think I’m happy to hear that I didn’t need to go through that? That I was just a forking idiot?”

  “Ah…” He hadn't known that. Just imagining it made him shudder. It must've been agony.

  Even after traveling with Heather and Jamie for a little over a month, it was disturbing to realize just how little he truly knew about them. He planned to fix that.

  “Hm… what gave you the idea that LIGHTNING only works internally?”

  Heather scoffed. “Some cryptic text said some stuff about my magic and gave me the idea. I should’ve known better.”

  “Is that a Realistic Mode thing? I hadn’t heard about anything like that.”

  “Yeah… ah! I’ll just pull it up for ya.” She messed around with her menu for a moment, scrolling through a few different tabs before turning the screen towards him. A section of the text on screen was highlighted, drawing his attention.

  LIGHTNING: Circulate the energy running through your veins. Draw upon the shifting poles of the world. Release the trigger, pump the round. Shatter the barriers of time and space.

  “Oh… yeah, that’s kinda misleading. Makes sense.”

  “Yeah. But… it kinda isn’t. Any time I call lightning from the sky, I still need to circulate the… energy, I guess, stored in my core. It’s almost like a tuning fork. Once I lock in on the signal, I can manipulate it a bit, but it’s hard to describe.”

  Paul hummed, processing. He hadn’t ever tried Realistic Mode (and didn’t plan to), so he wasn’t sure how the magic system for it worked. From what Heather was describing, though, it sounded much more complicated than what he dealt with in Hardcore Mode.

  Something felt missing, though, and it took him a moment to realize what it was.

  “Hey, where’s Jamie?”

  Heather grinned, her eyes flicking upwards. Paul tilted his head back, gasping when he caught sight of his friend.

  Jamie floated high above the floor on her stomach, her eyes closed as large blocks of dirt swirled around her. Her hair was flapping wildly in the wind, only held together by her signature ponytail. She looked like she was sleeping, but the sweat beading on her forehead told a different story.

  “What… how?” As far as he knew, Jamie was nowhere close to using WIND to properly fly. She still practiced flight, but running on air seemed to be easier for her right now.

  “She had a breakthrough the other day. Remember when we played GRADIO and Jamie unleashed DARK DRUID?” He nodded. How could he forget? It was only a few days ago.

  “Well… they came to an agreement of sorts. If DARK DRUID behaves, she’ll let her out more often.”

  Paul coughed. “Is that a good idea?”

  Heather chuckled. “It’s no better than me. I merged with mine, she split herself in two. It’s just two different ways to get to the same destination. I think she’ll be fine.”

  “If you say so.” Paul still had his worries, but he wouldn’t voice them. His team had enough things to focus on right now. They could figure everything out later.

  They both stayed quiet for a while, watching Jamie as her eyes flickered between neon green and blazing purple beneath her eyelids. When they were green her body tended to wobble and her control of WIND loosened, but the blocks of dirt grew more condensed and solid. It seemed that she and DARK DRUID could learn from each other.

  “We got the lineup for the next three days today,” Heather eventually whispered, and Paul hummed in response. “Tomorrow’s Rifle Lady and Fist Guy, then Shield Guy, and then Holden’s group. I… I’m really scared, Paul.”

  He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her to his side as her red eyes turned wet. She burrowed her face in his shirt, and he could feel the cloth grow damp.

  “We’ve done all we can, kid. Let’s just focus on the next three days and try and keep you two alive, alright? It’s tough… but ya gotta keep your head level, ya hear? Don’t think too much about it or you’ll make mistakes.”

  She sniffled against his shirt, and he felt her head move in a jerky nod. He smiled, something forlorn and pained.

  “I hate this so much, kid. I hate that you’re going through this. I wish things were different. But they aren’t, and we gotta make do with what we have, right?”

  A light breeze filtered through the room as Jamie opened her eyes, floating back towards the ground. “I took the next few days off work to help you guys. Did some overtime these past couple of weekends to get my bosses to agree. So… anything you need from me, just lemme know. I’ll see this through with ya ‘till the end.”

  Heather let out a wet chuckle, and Paul felt his smile shift into something more genuine.

  “Hah… I needed that. Thanks Paul.” She pulled her face away from his side, grinning up at him. He grinned back, ignoring the tear tracks staining her cheeks.

  “Anytime, kid.”

  A loud clap sounded directly next to his ear, and he shrieked, suddenly two feet away from Heather. His heart was pounding madly in his chest, and he groaned.

  “Really, Jay? We were having a moment!” Jamie grinned, full of teeth as her eyes blazed violet, then green.

  “Sorry! I couldn’t help myself! It was the perfect opportunity!” Heather grumbled something under her breath as Jamie wrapped an arm around her shoulders, her green eyes twinkling.

  “Anyways, I wanted to talk to ya for a sec. Need ta strategize,” she said, snaking her other arm around Paul’s middle as she squished them all together. “How’re we doing this?”

  Heather’s body blinked in place, looking like her connection to the game was lagging. Red lightning glowed in her irises, sparking and crackling.

  “Well, tomorrow we’re against… I think they call themselves QWEN. They’re from FOUNDATION, and, if I’m remembering correctly, Rifle Lady can fire both laser blasts and regular ammunition depending on what she needs. Fist Guy just punches stuff; it's pretty straightforward for him. Anything else?”

  Jamie put her finger under her chin, humming. “I had a bad feeling about both Rifle Lady and Fist Guy when we fought the griffon, so there’s something more to both of their builds. Any guesses for their CLASSES?”

  Heather nodded quickly, her posture straightening. “I think Rifle Lady’s a SCOUT and Fist Guy’s a BRAWLER. I saw Rifle Lady use a SKILL that looked like what I expect SHROUD looks like. Never seen it before, so I could be wrong, but that’s what I’m thinking.”

  “It makes sense,” Paul added. “They both have a… oh wait… ah sticks.”

  “What?”

  “If she can use SHROUD, he can probably use RAMPAGE. Combining those together…” He shuddered. He hoped he was wrong, but he had a feeling that he was right about this.

  Jamie spat out some choice language (wonderfully filtered, as per usual). “Alright, that fight’s gonna be bad. Really bad. I think we can pull through though, with enough luck and skill.”

  “Well, at least that’s…. semi-good news? Anything else you two wanna add before I move on?” Heather asked.

  “I think both SHROUD and RAMPAGE have blind spots in the back,” Paul said. “If you can get behind them while the SKILL’s activated, you should be able to take them out.”

  Heather’s eyes lit up, her lips twisting into a shallow smirk. “Finally, some actual good news! We can use this!”

  “Yeah, but what’s the plan for Shield Guy and Holden’s Team?” Jamie asked, leaning forward slightly. Heather’s teeth flashed in the light as she smiled far wider than should be humanly possible.

  “Ah, I got an idea earlier. So, listen, there’s this thing…”