I was a horrible player, I admit. When I first started, my anxiety had gotten the best of me twice before I finally stuck with a character.

I often wondered what happened to my old characters. Where did they go when I deleted them? They had to go somewhere, right?

Maybe I was too young. People often say that girls between the ages of thirteen and seventeen are most likely to create strong bonds with people they meet over the Internet. I was the ripe age of fifteen when I began my journey in The World.

·°·°·

"No, no, no," I whisper to myself, running through a field. This is my very first time facing a monster. I only get attacked before I run.

The monster, which is some sort of giant skeleton, roars and continues after me. Its bone legs can carry it much faster than my digital legs can carry me.

My hands are sweaty and I have to grip the controller tighter than needed so it won't slip away. My real, fleshy legs are shaking underneath my computer desk.

My character is suddenly cornered between two bulky rocks. I thank the gods that nobody is home before letting out a bloodcurdling scream. The skeleton falls to the ground, creating a large dust cloud.

Everything is silent except for the monotonous beeping in the background. I look at my HP.

5.

I have no recovery items left; I used them all trying to stay alive while running.

To my surprise, a man is standing where the dust cloud once was. He is gorgeous.

"You're welcome," he simply says. His voice gives away the fact that he's probably older than me, but not too old. I guess his age is around the late teens or very early twenties.

I attempt to put on a tough-girl act. "I-I didn't n-need your help," I stutter. Tough-girl act: fail.

"Of course," he replies. His tone is lucidly sarcastic. He raises his sword above his head and says, "Repth." The beeping stops.

He begins to walk toward the dungeon entrance. I force my character out of the corner and watch him walk away until he stops.

Without turning to face me, he says, "Well, aren't you coming? This area is impossible for someone of your level to conquer by herself. I'll join you."

And so begins the story I like to call: "The Amazing Journey of Physical, Emotional, and Mental Pain of Lana and Balmung of the Azure Sky."

·°·°·

I chuckled at the memory. It didn't seem like seven years had passed.

Leaning back on my desk chair, I closed my eyes and placed my hands over my eyes. I wasn't sure why I was suddenly thinking about him, or the misadventures we had almost daily for a year and a half.

Thinking about the absence of contact brought back more, slightly painful, memories.

·°·°·

"Do you really have to go, Balmung?" I ask, trailing behind him through the beginner Root Town. Female players stare at us as we walk back, but the winged man pays no attention to them.

"For the last time, Lana, yes," he replies and stops walking. We are standing near a shop where hardly any players can hear. "This infection needs to be stopped." He waves his hand around in a circular movement.

I glance around the damaged town. Bright orange data patches are everywhere. Even though they appeared more than three months ago, players still complained about them.

"Yes, I see them, but I still don't understand why I can't come with you. I want to help you and everyone else. You're all fighting so hard, so why can't I fight just as hard to protect something I love?" I find myself begging. Tears are nearly filling my eyes behind the FMD.

Balmung is quiet. He sighs heavily before looking my character in the eyes. My heart pounds against my chest.

"Lana," he whispers. "This last fight…will stop everything. When everything is customary again, you will be able to play The World as you did the day I found you. Don't you want that?"

I find this situation to be an unfair fight. I know I won't win, yet I want to argue with him still.

"Of c-course I want that." My voice begins to crack. "Why do you have to go?" The tears spill over. "I know they need you, but can't you just…I don't know. Say you're too busy with school to do this! I'm scared, Balmung, for you! Just take me with you so I can help!"

"No, Lana. I refuse to put your safety at risk because of your feelings for me. You need to understand that I am not taking you with me."

I've lost.

"I'm going now. I expect you to log out and go to sleep for the night. You have school in the morning."

Without another word, he turns away from me and disappears through the Chaos Gate.

I obey him. I turn off my computer and cry myself to sleep.

·°·°·

I shook my head, laughing at myself. "What was I, a lapdog?" I asked myself. I had always obeyed him, but I could never regret it.

Balmung has always had my best interests in mind. There was a certain time I had to be offline on weekdays.

"You have thirty minutes before you go to bed. You should go now," he would always say. I would complain for a good five minutes until he bribed me with promises of more dungeon crawling the next day.

I yawned and looked at my bed. My cat, Hana, was curled into a ball, purring loudly. Balmung had once agreed that cats and one bedroom apartments went nicely together, which is why Hana was bought.

I remembered the day I got Hana. It was the day everything become okay again. I often called her Balmung's cat because of this.

·°·°·

I wait nervously in Lia Fail for everyone. There are no unknown players running around. Even the Grunty Ranch NPC is missing. Everything is wrong.

Orbs of light fall from the sky and I gasp in happiness. I know one of them is him. I can feel it.

Slowly, the orbs float to the ground and players emerge from them. Kite smiles at a Blademaster who is nearly naked. They give each other the thumbs-up sign.

BlackRose comes with a male Wavemaster. They seem nervous around each other until she gently pushes her fist to his head. He only laughs. Fumikazu, no doubt.

All the other players form from the orbs. A Long Arm is under a Grunty while a Blademaster in yellow points and laughs at him.

A Twin Blade with green hair is under a large Heavy Axeman while a samurai Heavy Blade pulls on her hand, desperately trying to save her from the weight.

Though I am happy to see smiles and laughter, the one person I want to see the most is missing from the blissful picture.

"Lana," a female voice says from behind me. I turn to see the floating Wavemaster, Helba. She is smiling.

"Miss Helba." I bow out of habit, though she hates it, along with me called "Miss."

"Come." She turns and floats away from me. I obey.

We arrive in a secluded part of the Root Town and Helba leaves me. She tells me not to follow. I wait for half a minute.

"Lana," a deep voice addresses me. A winged man with silver and blue armor, bright green eyes, and white hair walks toward me. I begin to cry.

"Balmung," I murmur. His character embraces mine, but it feels as though the person behind the Azure Sky is hugging me.

"Lanani," he says, saying my full first name for the first time since I told him. "I think we should get a cat when we live together. They live well in apartments."

·°·°·

A "ping" noise brought me back to reality. I looked at my game inbox at the new message.

Sender: Haseo

Subject: Someone to Meet

Lana, I remember the stories you told me of the old game. Before R:2. I want you to meet someone.

Meet me in the alley in the Mercenary District in Mac Anu. Get your ass over here, okay?

·°·°·

I shook my head at the young boy as I dragged myself to meet him. After everything that had happened in the past year or so, meeting someone wasn't really something I wanted to do.

I think…interacting with people that save an Internet world is fate. It's happened twice in the past seven years. Why shouldn't it happen again?

Before turning the corner, I took a big breath to brace myself.

"Oh, God," I whispered. I allowed myself to cry for the first time in years.

"Lana, this is…"

"Balmung."

I pressed my character toward the two players. She didn't seem to run fast enough. Haseo smiled as I stopped in front of the character that did not look like Balmung, but at the same time, had the features.

The slim body, the white hair, the wings, though they were frayed.

This Balmung was not alive, I could tell.

"I'll go now," Haseo whispered and nearly sprinted around the corner. I stared at the strange version of the man I once would give my life to, if needed.

He said nothing. Just loud, disproportionate breathing.

"Balmung," I finally said. His soulless eyes bored into my character. I smiled behind the FMD, my hands sweating on the controller, my legs shaking under my desk.

His head slowly tilted to one side, something so familiar to me. He would often do that when something confused him.

I laughed a breathy laugh. "The cat's name is Hana. When are you going to come visit her?"

Without any warning, his arm lifted and he placed his virtual hand on my character's cheek.

·°·°·

My phone vibrated on my desk. A text from an unknown person.

Lanani, it's Balmung. We used to play The World together. I finally found your number. Why don't we meet up for old time's sake?

·°·°·

I looked back up at the strange version of Balmung.

"I'm not surprised. You were always pretty random."