Wow… it sure has been a while. Simon thought as he approached the hospital. Usually he would visit Helen once every other day, but as he was preoccupied playing TWO he didn’t get a chance to go. During one of the few times he was taking a break from playing TWO, he sent Helen an apology text, explaining that he couldn’t visit her for a while. What he found odd is that Helen didn’t seem to mind it at all, as she told him to take his time playing.
Usually she’d be coercing me to go to the hospital and tell her all about the game in person. I wonder what’s going on… Simon wondered as he went through the front doors of the hospital. The receptionist saw him and let out a wide smile before guessing why he was here. “Hello Simon, visiting your sister again?”
“Yup.” Simon nodded and waited for confirmation from the receptionist, but what he didn’t expect was the receptionist’s next words.
“Ah, Helen has changed her room so you’ll have to go to room 512.”
“Changed her room? Why? Is something wrong!?” Simon instantly panicked, thinking that something might have gone wrong with his sister.
“Hahaha, calm down Simon. Nothing bad happened to her. If you head up to the 5th floor you’ll naturally find out. Oh, and you’re clear to go as well. Have fun~.” The receptionist smiled and waved him away as she began dealing with another person who entered the hospital.
Simon wore a confused expression on his face as he walked away from the receptionist’s desk. Why has Helen changed rooms? And why hasn’t she told me anything about it? What in the world is going on…? Simon was anxious to find out what happened so he quickly began making his way to the fifth floor.
Once he reached the fifth floor, he found a familiar youth standing in the middle of the hallway, looking wistfully out the window. The youth was a handsome looking boy, with a face that would cause many girls to squeal in delight upon seeing it. He had a slim body, and blond hair which seemed to glow in the sunlight. The boy noticed Simon’s approach, as he turned his head and looked at Simon with his crystal clear blue eyes. He nodded towards Simon before continuing to look out the window. Simon nodded back and made a quick greeting.
“Hey Reid, what are you doing on this floor?”
“...” He took out a notepad and began writing on it, then handed Simon the note.
“Ahh… so they moved your room here huh? Which reminds me, they moved Helen here too. Do you know why?”
“...” He handed Simon another piece of paper.
“You’re playing TWO… Wait, what!?” Upon receiving this piece of information, Simon quickly began piecing things together in his head. “That cheeky girl… no wonder she didn’t call me back to talk about TWO… Thanks for the info Reid. Oh yeah, how are you enjoying the game? Can you speak in it?”
“...” Reid made a pained expression as he looked away from Simon.
“Oh… sorry. That was inconsiderate of me wasn’t it?”
“...” Reid shook his head and slightly bowed towards Simon before turning around to leave.
“Alright then.” Simon had interacted with Reid enough times to know that he didn’t feel particularly offended from Simon’s question, but was still slightly depressed. “Good luck on playing the game! Maybe we can meet up sometime and adventure together!” Simon called out to Reid.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but Simon swore he could see a faint smile on Reid’s face as he turned a corner and disappeared from sight. Simon watched Reid leave, before remembering his original purpose in coming here. “Hmm… how should I react when I see her though?” The siblings usually never hid anything from each other, but Helen hiding this from Simon meant that it was something she wanted to surprise him with.
“Oh well. Whatever happens, happens.” Simon eventually reached the door numbered 512, and could faintly hear a voice yelling out things.
“What!? No way she can do that… HOLY!!! What kind of spell was that!?”
For a moment Simon hesitated in opening the door as he knew that Helen was in her ‘excited’ state, where she would absolutely gush about all the things she finds cool. Eventually he took a deep breath and knocked on the door, calling out, “Helen, can I come in?”
“Eek! I… h- hold on a second!” Simon heard sounds of rustling around, and guessed that Helen was probably trying to prepare things for her ‘big reveal’. He heard another sound which sounded like Helen throwing something, followed by a barely audible swear word from Helen. He waited patiently at the door until he heard her say, “Come in!”
Simon stepped into the room, and the first thing he saw was Helen sitting on her bed. She had her laptop out and everything seemed to be business as usual until Simon spotted a sloppily thrown white blanket on top of some sort of machine. He instantly recognized it as a game pod, but decided not to comment on it. He then looked at Helen who was sweating bullets and wearing a stiff expression. Hahaha, she’s nervous. Let’s slowly break the ice then shall we?
“Hey Helen, sorry I couldn’t visit you earlier. Playing TWO got really intense.” Simon intently watched Helen’s face for any changes in her expression.
“Oh, is that so?” Helen’s voice was the same as always, but Simon could tell that her eyes were constantly darting back and forth between him and the game pod. Simon decided to indulge in her little surprise, so playing along he said, “What’s that underneath those sheets over there?”
At his words, Helen slowly began laughing. It started off quiet, but eventually escalated into a full-on evil overlord laugh as Helen pointed at the not-very-hidden-game-pod. “Why don’t you take off the sheets and find out for yourself?” Simon rolled his eyes as he approached the game-pod. Still as dramatic as ever I see… He grabbed the edge of the sheet, and slowly pulled it off, taking an agonizingly long time to remove it.
“Uh… hey Simon, could you possibly pull it off any slower?” Helen was exasperated and tired of waiting for Simon’s reaction after she had waited for him to pull off the sheet for half a minute.
“Sorry, did you say slower?” Simon said with a grin, as he somehow managed to slow his pace even more.
“...Alright you win! You probably heard it from the nurses right? Even after I told them not to tell you...” Helen pouted once she realized that Simon was teasing her. He probably knew about the game-pod before hand. She became slightly depressed, seeing that her big reveal didn’t turn out the way she wanted it to.
“Actually, it was Reid who told me.”
“Reid? I didn’t think he knew about me playing TWO.”
“Well he didn’t tell me exactly. He just said that he was moved here because he’s playing TWO. Since you got moved here I assumed the same thing.”
“Oh… well… Surprise! Hehe.” Helen rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. Simon approached her side and began patting her head, eliciting a few cries of protest. Ignoring her cries, Simon’s gaze became incredibly soft as he began speaking in a gentle voice. “So Helen, how does it feel to walk again?”
Upon hearing these words, Helen’s body froze for a moment as she seemed to be fighting against a multitude of emotions. Eventually she looked up at Simon and tears began forming in her eyes. She had trouble forming words, but eventually managed to squeeze out, “It’s nice…” Simon nodded and quietly rubbed Helen’s head as she clung onto his shirt. The two of them stayed like this for a few minutes, until Helen finally calmed down.
“I- I’m sorry. I just remembered what it felt like and…”
“Hah, no problem sis.” Simon ruffled her hair. “I’m just sad that I wasn’t there to see you walking again.”
“Eh? Wait, no! It would’ve been fine if you didn’t see that!” Helen suddenly remembered how she fell over multiple times and how silly she must have looked while doing so.
“Hahaha!” Simon laughed watching her flustered expression. “Since you’re enjoying walking so much, I assume you’ve also started dancing again?”
“AHH!!!”
“... Did you actually forget about that?”
“It’s not my fault! I was having too much fun playing TWO!”
“Geez Helen…” Simon could only smile wryly at his sister’s restless personality. He noticed that she went completely silent as she was probably still shocked about forgetting to dance. “So… what were you doing earlier? I heard you gushing over something.” He said in an attempt to change the subject.
“Oh right! Check this out!” Helen’s shocked state disappeared completely as she pulled open her laptop. “One of the players in the starting town Foria recorded a video of an event battle that happened there. Actually, quite a few players also recorded the battle, but this one is the best.” Helen explained, “Most of them were from melee classes so all you could see was a clustered mess, but this player was an archer so she even got a bird’s eye view of the battle.”
Players in TWO had the option of recording videos in game. Many things could be changed, like the exposure to their skills (in case they wanted to keep their abilities hidden) to the people they played with. Every player had a privacy setting enabled by default, so most of the time the players faces or skills would be censored. The one thing that couldn’t be changed though is that everything was recorded in a first person view.
A battle in Foria… Simon remained silent as he waited for the video to load. Once the video did load, Simon was treated to a familiar sight of the battlefield he had been in not too long ago. The most noteworthy thing though, was the people who were currently on screen. For a moment Simon couldn’t recognize them, but then he realized who they were. It was the Crios Blades! Simon watched all of the members face off against Sir Albert’s team, except for one.
“So Melun recorded this huh?” He muttered under his breath.
“Yeah, the uploader’s name was Melun159. How did you know?”
Simon simply shook his head as he remained silent and continued to watch the video. Melun’s view of the battlefield was quite extensive, as she stayed in the back and was able to keep an eye on everything. Around her the players slowly formed up into their usual parties and made small groups which fought against one another. The exchange between the Crios Blades and Sir Albert’s team continued, until a notice appeared in front of her, signifying that The Prim Roses had joined the battle.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
At this point Simon began to smile widely as he waited for the appearance of the adorable fox-kin. At one point Melun’s bow broke, so she left the battlefield and searched for a safe place. On the way she was actually attacked by a few players, but players from her faction fought back against them and gave her a spare bow. Melun was about to join the battle again, but then a small fiery figure broke into the battle between the two parties and began wreaking havoc on both sides. At this point Helen began bouncing up and down on her bed as she pointed at the fox-kin on the screen. “It’s her! Look at her! She’s so cute, and so cool! Like, look at this!”
Simon’s smile grew wider as Helen continued to talk about the fox-kin (a.k.a. Q). “Everyone on the forums are calling her Scarlet Spark because of the name above her head, but that’s probably not her real name. Anyway, look at how she takes apart these teams!” The video was currently showing Q taking out the healers before moving onto the others. At one point Melun tried to launch a sneak attack on her, but Q unbelievably able to catch the arrow! Melun decided to surrender and watch over the rest of the battle, and eventually only The Prim Roses and about 20 players were left.
At this point Q used her [Arcane Overload] spell and wiped out the remaining players, winning the event battle. “See? Wasn’t that awesome?” Helen was grinning like crazy as she returned the video to when Q used [Arcane Overload]. “I wish I could meet her in game…”
“Well… maybe you can meet her in game.”
“Obviously. If it’s someone that famous there’s no doubt that I’ll see her at some point while playing.”
“That’s not what I mean.” Simon shook his head.
“Hm? Then what do you mean?”
“Um… I’m not sure how to say this.”
“Spit it out Simon.” Helen frowned as she was getting annoyed by Simon’s ambiguous words.
“That player, Scarlet Spark… that’s me.”
“...”
“...”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“Pfft… ahah… AHAHAHAHA! You’re playing as a girl! AHAHAHAHAH!! That’s hilarious! Are you ‘enjoying’ your new body? HAHAHA~” Helen burst out into laughter upon hearing that Simon was actually the amazing player everyone was talking about.
“Yeah… I’m ‘enjoying’ my new body. Haha.” Simon laughed dryly. “Glad to see you don’t doubt me though.” He awkwardly scratched his cheek as he watched Helen roll around on her bed laughing like a maniac.
“Hahahaha~ My stomach hurts-. Oh my gosh.” Helen wiped away the tears that began forming at the corner of her eyes. “*Phew* Anyway, I don’t doubt you because you have no reason to lie to me. Besides, Scarlet Spark looks like a character you’d come up with.”
“Thanks…? Her name is Q by the way.”
“Just the letter?”
“Just the letter.”
“Haa~” Helen let out a soft sigh. “Honestly that’s just like you.”
“Huh? What do you mean just like me?”
“I mean, it’s a completely new world! You have the opportunity to play as anything you want, like an elf, or a construct. Yet you chose to change genders and play as a fox-loli with a cute name.”
“Gh-, can’t deny that. But how about you? What are you playing as?”
“...” Suddenly Helen’s face went expressionless as she turned away and stared out the window.
“Hey.”
“...”
“Look me in the eyes.” Simon reached out for Helen’s head and forced her to face him. Helen pursed her lips as sweat began forming on her head and her eyes began wandering all over the place. Simon ignored her antics as he continued in a calm voice, “What are you playing as Helen?”
“...onian.” Helen managed to squeeze out after a few seconds of silence.
“Onion?”
“Draconian! I’m playing as a draconian okay!”
“Ooh. Okay, I understand.”
For a moment Helen felt relieved as she thought that Simon wouldn’t pursue the matter further, but then his next words caused her to break out in a nervous sweat again. “So… what’s your name in game?”
“...”
“Helen~. You’ll tell me, won’t you?” Simon simply smiled, but it caused Helen to feel even more nervous as she felt that Simon absolutely wouldn’t let her go so easily. Helen gritted her teeth as she prepared herself for the teasing she knew would come after her next words.
“My name in game is Zeilan.”
“Zeilan huh? If I’m not mistaken, that’s what you name all your male characters isn’t it?”
“...Yes.”
“Mhm. So you think that it’s fine to make fun of me for changing genders, despite you doing the exact same thing?”
“Um, just because my name is Zeilan, doesn’t mean I changed genders.”
“Are you really trying to fool me right now Helen?”
“Uhh...” Helen knew that Simon loved to tease others, but strongly disliked being teased in turn. If someone did make fun of him, he would definitely pay them back for it at some point in the future. Trying to back out of such a situation would only make his revenge even worse, so Helen decided to accept her fate instead. “I… yes, I’m playing as a guy.” Helen closed her eyes, preparing for Simon’s inevitable revenge. What she didn’t expect though, was that Simon instead began ruffling her hair.
“Simon? What are yo- Aaaah!”
Simon began completely messing up Helen’s hair, turning it into a tangled mess that looked much like his own hair. Helen opened her eyes and looked at Simon with confusion, while Simon responded with a smile. “What? Were you thinking I’d get ‘revenge’ on you or something?” He flicked her forehead which caused Helen to let out a surprised “Eep!”
“Y-you mean you’re not going to tease me or anything?” Helen said while rubbing her forehead.
“No. I’m just happy that you’re happy. I mean, you’re finally able to play TWO, and you can walk again! Which reminds me, how did you get the game pod in the first place? Did you tell mom and dad?”
“Yeah, mom and dad already know. I was just keeping it a secret from you so I could surprise you… Ah wait, that’s not important! Try guessing who got me recommended for the NG+ program!”
Simon went silent for a moment, but after a few seconds of contemplation he came up with the same conclusion that Helen had made a while back. “...Sophie?”
“Yup! She recommended me for the program, and even paid for all of it! Can you believe it?”
“Oh, I can believe it all right. The nerve of that girl…” Simon frowned as he went through his memories of the eccentric genius he had come to know in his childhood.
“Huh? Why are you mad?” Helen didn’t understand Simon’s anger towards Sophie. Shouldn’t we be thankful to her for doing this? She wondered.
“I’m mad because she does something like this, knowing full well that I would have paid for it! You know how she stopped talking to us a few years after the ‘accident’?” Helen nodded at Simon’s question. “Well, I’d always send her an email every so often, just asking how she feels or talk about how we’re doing, but not once did she respond! And I know that she’s receiving those emails. I even hacked into her email provider’s database once to make sure.”
Are you sure it’s okay to casually commit a crime like that Simon!? Helen questioned in her head, but she stayed silent as she listened to him rant.
“I just…” Simon let out a large sigh as he stared up at the ceiling. “I just want to meet her again. If nothing more than to tell her that it wasn’t her fault… Not that she’d let me.”
“I want to meet her too…” Helen looked down sadly as she thought about the girl she considered her big sister.
“Ah well. She’ll come meet us when she’s ready I guess.”
“Simon, it’s been more than three years. You still believe that she’ll approach us on her own accord?”
“Sure I do. You believe the same, don’t you?”
“...” Helen didn’t say anything, but nodded in affirmation. The two of them sat there in silence, both immersed in their memories of the fun times they had with Sophie. They were broken out of their reminiscence when they heard knocking on the door.
“Helen, mind if I come in?” A bright female voice was heard.
“Yeah, come in Marissa.”
The door opened to reveal the blonde nurse who took care of Helen. “Oh, hello Simon. How are you doing today?”
“I’m doing well. Actually, I’m a bit more worried about Reid. He seemed pretty depressed earlier for not being able to speak in TWO.”
“Ah, you talked to him huh? I’m also concerned, but all I can do is hope that he gets better. Thanks for looking out for him by the way.”
“Hey, what are friends for?” Simon shrugged, while Marissa smiled in response.
“Marissa, why did you come here?” Helen interjected into their conversation.
“Oh, just here to remind you that you can start playing again.”
Hearing these words, Helen expression instantly brightened as she looked over at Simon. Simon saw her face, laughed, and gave her a thumbs up. “Don’t worry about me. Just go ahead and enjoy the game. I can’t keep my friends waiting for too long either.”
“Thanks Simon! Wait, where are we going to meet up in game?”
“Hmm… how about the Capital City Hales? I have a quest I need to do there eventually.”
“Sure. I’ll see you there! Don’t forget to add me by the way.”
“Hah, that’s my line. See you later Helen, Marissa.” Simon left the hospital, heading back home to play TWO.
----------------------------------------
A/N: It's not a crime if you don't get caught.
I'm baaaack~!!! Actually no I'm joking. I'm going to be busy until the end of the month because finals are coming up, but I didn't want to leave you guys hanging for so long. So, in this chapter we get a new character, some backstory revealed, and plans for the future for shenanigans in the capital. Exciting.
But seriously, sorry for being out of comission for such a long time. Real life is a doozy.
Oh yeah, I'm still in the middle of updating previous chapters (I think I finished up to chapter...12 at this time?) so that's a thing. If a big change ever happens I'll just redirect you guys to the update page to take a look at what changed and whatnot. So, love you guys, and I'll be back again soon (hopefully) with more chapters. 'Till next time, my dear readers.
Fun-fact: The first microwave built was 6-feet tall and cost $5000.
P.S: Anyone else playing Fire Emblem Fates? If so, state your waifu/husbando.
Waifu: Peri
Husbando: Keaton