In the centre of town there was a fight between two groups, Gander and Jonny, versus two cloaked figures, with Black Death tattoos all over their arms. "Jesus Christ, we have to get in there." Phoenix yelled taking a running start and vaulting over the crowd. But he only smashed into an invisible dome and flew ten meters away. Normally this would have just made Phoenix angry. But at the development of the shield, the colour drained from his face very quickly. If there was an invisible barrier, it could only mean one thing, a duel to the death.

"Those fucking idiots." Phoenix muttered as Mono and Suki hauled him up. "What are you talking about Phoenix?" Suki said confused. Obviously she hadn't seen a serious duel before. "Those two are in a locked death battle, means no one exits that fight until the other team is dead. The colour drained from Sukis face as well. "But why? Are they normally so arrogant?" Mono said confused. "No, they probably just dived into that fight thinking it was no big deal." Suki said tears welling up in her eyes.

"I'll try to coach them through this." "Phoenix wait." Mono cried, but Phoenix had already used a swiftness spell and was gone. He pushed past the crowd until he hit the barrier. But as soon as he got there his heart sank. Ganders and Jonny's health were both red, and Phoenix remembered two important pieces of information. These shields were sound proof, which he remembered when Jonny screamed and disintegrated. Phoenix heard nothing, not even a muffled scream. Just death. And when Phoenix tried to break the shield with magic and his bare hands. His spells just rebounded and hit him and all the force from his punches went into his arms and wrists.

In the end Phoenix just ended up busting his ribs and breaking his right arm. Members of the crowd tried to restrain him from doing more damage to himself. But he just threw them off and kept hitting the shield. In the end he just rested against the barrier screaming his head off, tears streaking down his cheeks. Just before he died Gander looked up at Phoenix. He looked up at him, but he was calm and collected as always. He smiled and said three words. Phoenix knew what they were. "No, don't fucking say that you bastard, don't." Phoenix yelled as the other two players jabbed two giant serrated knives into Ganders chest and he exploded into a cloud of fractured pixels. Phoenix couldn't take it, the barrier fell and Phoenix was out before he hit the floor. But the only thing he was thinking of was Ganders last words. "I forgive you."

When Phoenix woke up in a dark room, for a second he thought he'd just had a bad dream. But his arms were still broken, his ribs were still busted, and he was still crying. Suki was kneeling next to him her arms rested over his lap. "Suki." He said weakly. She slowly go up but didn't heal him. "When I heal you, promise me, promise me, we can talk first." She said wiping away her tears. Phoenix wanted to argue, but nodded. He needed to get rid of this pain to think clearly. "Medi-blast." Suki whimpered. A green orb shooting out of her hand and burying itself into Phoenixes chest. Chest. Phoenixes ribs were mended instantly but his arm were much slower.

"You're lucky you know, if you'd been outside the safe zone you would have killed yourself." She said wiping her tears away. "Yeah, guess I went a little crazy." Phoenix sighed finally getting mobility in his arms. "How long was I out?" He yawned. "Seven days." Suki replied. But she frowned when he didn't seem to care. "I arranged Ganders and Jonny's funerals for tomorrow." She sighed looking out the window. "Phoenix, what are we going to do?" She asked wiping away more tears. "We find those bastards that killed our friends." Phoenix said standing up and instantly regrated it. The magic clearly didn't work on bruises.

"Phoenix, not that I'm all over that plan, but how? Were two level thirty players, I checked out those two, they were both level forty-nine and they were player killers." Suki said deadly serious. Phoenix shot up so he was eyelevel with Suki. "You can't be serious." Phoenix said shocked. "No I'm not, red crystals and everything. Phoenix couldn't believe it. Sure there were always people in MMRPG's who killed other players for the fun of it. But this was real, didn't anyone see that. "Then I say we track them down and, return a favour." Phoenix said darkly. Suki shook her head. "Level, forty-nine, how can we beat them?" Suki yelled, making Phoenix shuffle back slightly. "Well actually, there's something I've been meaning to tell you." Phoenix said uncomfortably. "Phoenix, what are you getting at?" "I'm not level thirty Suki, I'm level nearly level Sixty-five." He said slowly, making sure it sank in. The concerned look Suki had been giving Phoenix, turned into an ice cold stare.

"What? Phoenix you lied to us." Her fingers turning into fists. "I was afraid you guys wouldn't want me around." "Oh, and we'd like a liar on our side more." "That's not fair Suki, I'm a demo player and a damn good one, I saw you guys, you were good people, but you were all diving in too deep, I first joined you so I could help protect you guys." "And what makes you think we needed your protection." Suki thundered. "The amount of time I saved your lives, and why wouldn't I have, you were all my friends." Phoenix shouted desperately. "You don't lie to your friends." "Would you have still stayed with me had you know, or even accepted me, be honest." Phoenix growled.

"Yes, we would have, Phoenix." Suki said quietly this time. "Then why are you so angry?" Phoenix said this time curious. "Phoenix, I'm not mad because you lied about your level, or that you lied to the others, you lied to me, you know how I feel about you, and you lied to me." Suki cried, beginning to weep again. "What would you have done, in my position?" Phoenix challenged. Suki was caught off-guard by the statement and thought for a minute. For the first time in the entire conversation Suki had smiled. "I guess I would have done the same thing." She said. Heading for the door.

"Suki wait." Phoenix cried before she left. Shoe looked like she was going to keep walking, but she stopped. "If we're going to track down these killers, you're going to need this." He said grabbing an orb from his inventory and threw it at Suki. She inspected it closely. "What is it?" She asked all traces of anger gone. "It's a rare drop I got from defeating the first boss, it'll boost you twenty one levels." He explained. "Why are you giving this to me?" She asked raising an eyebrow. "Because you need the exp, and I'm not letting anyone else I care about die." Phoenix said slowly getting out of the bed ignoring the pain. "Even after everything I said?" Suki said tears welling up in her eyes. "Suki, I care too much about you to be mad." Phoenix said pulling her into a hug.

Suki then did something completely unexpected by Phoenix. She pushed herself up on the tip of her toes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Phoenix stood there stunned. Had that really just happened? Suki couldn't help but laugh at his reaction. "Come on, are you going to teach me how to use this thing or not?" She asked. Phoenix did, and after that he helped her select the appropriate perks for fighting and magic. And after that they trained, and trained, and trained. But there was something wrong with Suki, he could tell. But she insisted that she was fine.

A week later: It was stormy that night. Phoenix watched as lightning bolts streaked across the sky, striking the ground and lighting up the sky. He loved watching lightning. It made him calm. It panicked others, which in a way is understandable. But it was unnaturally calming. He was listening to some of his music. He was listening to a nightcore version to 'Sad song'. It was a perfect song for a display of this calibre and reflect how he felt about Suki. (Seriously listen to the song in nightcore and you can get a good idea)

But it wasn't loud enough to mask the door opening. Whirling around him saw Suki standing in the doorway. He paused the music and stood up to meet her at the doorway. "Suki, is something wrong?" He asked reaching into the back of his jacket and put his hand on a titanium throwing knife. "I'm having trouble sleeping, could I stay with you for a while?" She asked looking right into his eyes. How will anyone disagree with this girl? "Sure come on in." Phoenix replied letting her in.

Phoenix noticed what she was wearing. She simply wore a thin pink singlet and a pair of Pyjama pants. So that confirmed her story. All he was wearing was a white t-shirt, and a pair of thin black cotton pants. Suddenly another thunder clap shook the building and Suki jumped back. "Not a fan of thunder." Phoenix noticed. "It's scary, it's why I can't sleep, you're not scared?" She asked. Phoenix smiled and led her over to window. "Try looking up at the sky." Phoenix said. Suki turned pale. "But, its, scary and loud." She whimpered closing her eyes.

Phoenix opened his settings and made it so Suki could listen to his music. "Listen to this, and you can open your eyes, only if you want to." Phoenix said restarting the song. As the song started of Suki was still shaking. But as it progressed, she stopped and opened her eyes. She actually seemed to enjoy watching the lightning dance across the sky and the building shuddering didn't bother her. But what Phoenix didn't notice, was how close Suki had gotten during the song. Their foreheads were practically touching.

Phoenix was about to mention it, but before he could Suki gently put her fingers to his lips, wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him close, and kissed him on the lips. Phoenix was once again struck dumb, all his muscles turned to jelly, and for a moment he felt a sense of clarity. This moment was magical to him, and nothing could take that from him.