July 4
The Town of Grounder
Shade Tower, Med Bay
Taro sat in her bed in the medical bay, staring at the master console she had created for herself. The game information for the new update releasing the new contact access was displayed perfectly before her. She smiled.
"I never thought it would be this hard to be 'okay,' but here we are," she mumbled to herself. The ache in her chest was horrible and she vaguely considered contacting her doctor before the others returned. It wasn't a bad idea because, if she was correct, they wouldn't like what the doctor would say. "It's all coming to an end, but I'm glad I had a good run."
"You're not dead yet, Taro. I don't think we'd let you die either," Soren said, leaning against the door frame. Taro glanced away from the code to look at Soren before looking back down. "Masa is talking to Benji. Probably about not stressing you out."
"Yeah." Taro sighed. "Hey Soren, you aren't going to like it, but I want you to promise me something, no matter what."
"Sure. You put your faith in me this far, so why not lean on me a bit more. I'll promise you anything."
"If I die, and that is an if, I want you to go into my apartment and find a small gift boy. There's a button in it with a code. It has information on dark players and an imperfect immortality spell set for all players. I don't want to press it now because it is so imperfect, but it isn't deadly, but I figured it would be a good parting gift."
"An immortality spell," Soren said. "Why not release it now?"
"Because... it would hurt them to know what it cost. This world comes at a cost, and so does that spell."
"In other words, you placed the take on your heart... or rather, your life," Soren said, his voice quieter than before. "How the hell did you do that? Scratch that. Why?"
"Soren, one life is better than all, but there are flaws that I couldn't fix. How I did it isn't important, but at the very least it provides extra armor if I'm not around. It's already selfish that I'm not releasing it now, but I-"
"Idiot-"
"Taro," Masa said, coming up behind Soren with his hand firmly gripping Benji's shoulder. Taro replaced her serious look with a light smile. Benji nodded in greeting, concern obvious on his face as he observed how weak Taro looked. Masa smiled back, but it looked forced. "Are we ready now? I got Benji for you."
"Yeah. I wanted everyone I love to be here, minus the younger ones," Taro said, exiting out of the master console and pulling up a screen-like holographic, the name 'RLink' popping up. "Original name for it, right," Taro asked, trying to lighten the mood. The others chuckled quietly.
Taro scrolled through the main menu on the side, reaching 'favorites' and tapping on the name 'Coraline Cardiac Unit' as the others observed with interest, minus Soren who had already known about the video link long before as he had helped keep it out of the public eye in order to not get any player's hopes up. The link began, a charcoal gray screen popping up with 'loading.'
"Hello, Miss Kagemune," said a rough male voice seconds before a young man's face popped up on the screen. "I was expecting you to call, but maybe not with so many people. Did you clear this with Towa? Why am I asking that at a time like this?"
"Good afternoon, Porter. Or is it already evening over there," Taro said quietly.
"It's around 9 o'clock around here, but that's not what you called about is it?"
"No. I called about my health. I passed out after I announced the new RLink and I was told that my avatar faltered. I wanted to know what was happening over in Coraline," Taro said.
"Yeah, what's the deal," Masa asked. Soren and Benji remained silent.
"I'm sorry for my brother. Dr. Porter Maxim, meet my brother, Masa. The two over there are Benjamin and Soren," Taro said, sending a glare to her brother. "You have my permission to speak freely about my health in front of them. Don't sugar coat anything either, Porter."
"Whatever you say," Porter said, rolling his eyes before turning away from the camera and shuffling some things around. "I must say, Masa, you look much more handsome in game than out. You look a bit... dead right now," he said as he searched for whatever it was he was looking for. Masa made a sound just as Porter pulled up a paper and ran his finger along the edge, humming. "You had a heart attack two days ago, your brain technically died and you were legally dead for about ten seconds. You, or more your body, is currently being put through an EKG to check out any further damage."
"Forecasting?" Taro was sure to ignore her brother who had tensed up and opened his mouth to say something.
"Your life expectancy may have been cut in half. You're being moved up on the transplant list due to the severity and what is riding on your shoulders... or more, the lives that are riding on your shoulders," Porter said, looking down at what must have been Taro's chart.
"I don't want to be pushed up just because of who I am. I can almost guarantee that the others can finish what I've started."
"Makoto said you would say that. Poor kid hasn't left the hospital for months. We finally broke down and got you and Masa a private room with an extra bed so he wouldn't be so uncomfortable. The kid was happy about having his own bathroom and shower. Too bad he was in the room when you..."
"Is he okay," Masa asked quietly. The other two men still hadn't spoken.
"Towa is fully supporting all patients, so your medical bills are covered. Along with that, Taro made a deal that covered all living costs for Makoto and provides steady income for working to fix the game from the inside. She's doing great and is a great individual to be accepting all of this even with her health."
"They haven't been able to access the game from the outside yet, so I just decided to help out. It's really nothing special," Taro replied. Porter chuckled.
"It's more than others have done. But you really should be careful. Your brain waves indicate extreme stress and it's putting a strain on your heart."
"Should we pull her from the field," Benji asked stepping forward a bit. Soren didn't move, but Masa nodded, his gaze flickering briefly from the doctor to the other man. "You said it's straining her heart. Maybe it would be best to put her on bed rest or make her do office work."
"That wouldn't work," Porter said. "I wish it would, but you kind of need her out there, and it isn't good for her mentality if you were to stop her. From what Taro has told me, I think she's the only one of her kind, and from what she knows about that, she might as well be the only key in existence in that game."
"What the hell does that mean," the three men asked in sync. The doctor laughs half heartedly.
"So, you haven't told anyone at all yet?"
"They don't even know my level."
"You sure do like secrets, but I don't think that this is the time to be keeping them, Taro," Porter said softly. "They may be adding to the stress and that can't be good. You're a valuable one, Taro. No one else like you."
"Whatever, Porter. I gotta go. I have a few messages from Towa asking about when I'm releasing the new update. When do you want to talk to me again?"
"I would like to talk to both you and your brothers within the next 48 hours to talk about a plan of action and about your wishes if the need arises," Porter said.
"Can't get anymore of a vegetable than I already am," Taro said with a light smile. "I'll contact you soon. Watch out for Makoto for me! Make sure he's attending school or at least getting his work."
"Always." The link went dead and the room was silent for a few moments. The quiet breathing of the inhabitants was the only thing audible other than the soft thrum of the soundtrack outside of Shade Tower.
"Taro," Benji started.
"I'm hungry. Let's order some food," Taro said. She glanced at Benji and Masa, Soren having moved to a chair in the shadows that skirted the room. She sighed, something she had been doing a lot of lately. "Listen. I'll tell you all what's going on, but I want a meal with just the four of us, like in the old days before anything else changes. I also want your word that none of what is said will get out."
"Whatever you want, Taro," Masa said.
"Okay, I want pizza."
"Coming right up."
-..-..-
"It's times like this that I love the system's recreation abilities," Taro mumbled around a slice of pizza made by the Shade Guild's culinary druids. She munched happily at her third slice as the men in the room finished their first slices. The room was uncomfortable, the eyes of Benji the most piercing of them all as they waited for the meal to be finished. "This would go faster if you weren't all so tense. And Benji, you need to stop staring at me like that. You need to let me enjoy this."
"If this were the real world, you wouldn't be allowed to eat pizza with that bum ticker of yours," Soren pointed out, reaching for seconds. Taro hummed happily, continuing to munch away happily. "So maybe it isn't such a bad thing that we're all stuck in this hell."
"Yeah, but if we weren't, you two wouldn't be stuck with me as a dead weight. Sorry brother, but you'd still be stuck with me."
"Pretty sure that you are less of a dead weight than any of the other players even with this situation. You're the one being weighed down by us Taro." Benji slowly reached for another slice as well. "I think Masa is perfectly fine with dealing with you, too. You're his sister after all. Right Masa," Benji said, voice edging on chipper although it was forced.
"Yeah," Masa said, placing his half-eaten slice back onto the tray it had come in on. He leaned back in his chair, but his gaze was anything but relaxed. Taro ignored him in favor of finishing her pizza before she leaned back onto the wall behind her bed. "Taro-"
"Level 483," Taro said abruptly. Masa cut off what he was saying and Benji choked on his slice of pizza. Soren sat forward on his chair, eyebrows raised, the only sign that he was surprised.
"What," Masa asked as Benji continued to cough.
"Player level 983. Ace on all servers." Benji continued to try to get the blockage out of his throat and Soren leaned over to pat on his back. "I reached level 300 about a year and a half into the game. That was when I started searching for the rest of my race. I figured it was some sort of superiority trait in the race's programming. I figured that my race could figure it out."
"What's your race then? What are you, Taro?"
"I figure that it could be something my race could figure out because the higher your level, the safer and more invincible you are. I figured-"
"Taro," Benji whispered, finally calming down, "What are you?"
"I'm the only one. I'm all alone here and I don't know why." Taro slumped against the wall, head falling and hair covering her face. "I- I'm the only one like this."
"Taro-"
"I wanted to be a sorceress, but when I clicked it and continued into Land of Shadows... I'm the only one on all of the servers like this. What kind of joke is that? I mean sure, I feel special and I'm supposedly powerful, but what is that good for?
"I'm a Shadow Keeper."
-..-..-
Joey sat on his bed in Shade Tower's fiftieth residential floor. His sister sat on a chair in the far corner of his room, hunched over with her head in her hands. If it weren't for the shaking of her shoulders, nobody would have guessed that she was anything but calm. Joey looked at her for a moment before looking away and flopping back on the bed, arms pillowing his head, and eyes closed. He just sat there for a few moments, taking a few deep breath.
"She's gonna die Joey. Taro-"
"She's Taro, Karla. Taro doesn't die. She'll be fine," Joey said, not opening his eyes. He wasn't quite sure if he could believe himself, but he did know Taro quite well, and she would kill him for making the situation any worse. "We'll get her into a safer situation and we'll make sure she works hard on getting us all out of here without stressing too much-"
"How can you worry about that at a time like this, you stupid idiot," Karla cried, looking up at her brother with bloodshot eyes and a tearstained face. "Taro is the one who's gotten us this far! She's saved countless lives and has made this game safer than anything! And now that she's dying, all you can think about is her getting us out of here? If you want to take that approach, then we should be focused on her health and getting her better! Stop being so self centered!"
"Taro wants to get us out! I'm not being self centered! She would be furious if we didn't stay focused on getting out of here," Joey shouted at his sister before going silent. "She wouldn't be happy if we pushed that goal aside just because of her. She wouldn't forgive us. I want to focus on her more than anything, Karla. She's the one who save me and, more importantly, you. She's done everything for all of the players on all of the servers. I love Taro like a sister and she's one of my best friends, but I need to not think about how bad this is right now. I need to pretend that everything isn't falling apart right now."
"Joey," Karla sniffed.
"Let's not talk about this right now, Karla," he said quietly. "Please, let's just leave it for now."
"Okay. Okay."
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