I stared with disbelief at Alissa. She was.. Panicking. An NPC, a.. A character in this hellscape.. was showing emotion. Not a little, not just a glitch here or there. Real, full emotion. I wasn’t sure how to handle that. I had been through this iteration hundreds, if not thousands of times. Not once in all my resets and years in this place. Had an NPC shown anything other than preprogramed actions and feelings.

  Which is exactly why I knew she wasn’t faking. She wasn’t acting or completing an action. She was being genuine and real. I hadn’t seen what I considered a real person in… I.. I couldn’t even remember.

  I looked up at Drill Bunny and shook my head. I would deal with Alissa in a moment. She clearly went too close to the forest and aggroed a hostile mob. Luckily, there was a cheap way to take these things out.

  I gently kicked, but she wouldn’t let go. I sighed and leaned over. “Look, I can take care of the bunny, but I need you to let me go so I can do it..” She didn’t budge an inch and I rolled my eyes. “Alissa?” I asked after a moment as the bunny continued to get closer.

  “Alia” She said after a moment. Clenching my leg even tighter.

  “What?” Was all I could think to say.

  She looked up at me and with glistening eyes she said. “My name is Alia. Not Alissa, Not Dragon Tamer, Not Exotic. Alia.” The look in her glistening as made it clear she was serious.

  I looked up to see the bunny had gotten close. “Fine, Alia, please let go so I can handle the bunny.” She still didn’t let go and I tried to kick her harder. She literally took my kicks and held even tighter. Right up until the bunny launched itself. I watched as it went through her skull and out the other side.

  Her arms finally loosened and she fell to the side, her eyes glazing over. After a moment, she reappeared alive next to me. The bunny had simply turned, ignoring me entirely and kept going onwards towards her. I sighed. This was the case with a few toybox NPC’s. They would hunt you across zones, kingdoms, planets, the ocean. It really was impressive.

  I took advantage of the moment to kick the rabbit hard enough to send it flying. The bunny had a hellish attack, but weak sides. If you could trick it into launching itself and timed it right, you would be able to get it stuck in a tree or launch it into a wall. Neither was necessary here. It wasn’t after me, so it just ignored me. Making it easy to aim for the weak belly and instantly kill it with a kick.

  I barely turned when Alissa.. Er… Alia tackled me and wrapped her arms around me. I sighed as I looked down at her and gently patted her head. “Come on. We have a castle to reach.”

  I felt her nod and she seemed to take a deep breath before taking a step back and looking away. Her cheeks were red and for the first time in a long time. I felt lust for a girl. Not love, not desire. Lust.

  I coughed into my hand awkwardly and looked away. “So.. umm.. Krabs!” I said and walked over to stab a Krab.

  There was silence, then she asked. “Can.. Can we work together to kill the bunnies like that?” Her voice was soft, sweet, and shy. Nothing like the Alissa I knew… I knew. Wow, that was gonna take some getting used to.

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  “What do you mean?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. She looked over at the de-spawned bunny.

  “Like.. you know.. One of us distracts them, the other one kills them? These seem easier to fight than the Krabs.” She rubbed her legs together and didn’t make eye contact. It was really creeping me the fuck out.

  Still, her idea wasn’t terrible. Honestly, the reason I farmed Krabs until level five before was because it was easier. Now that I had someone with me.. “You know what? That is actually a great idea! You get to be bait!”

  She frowned at that and asked “Why am I bait?”

  “Because it was your idea!” I said chipperly. Her glare caused me to reconsider my words. Twenty minutes later, I threw a rock at a bunny and waited for it to start moving towards me. Alia came in from the side and fired her bubble gun at it. It was blown to pieces.

  She then turned and fired at another bunny before running past me. The bunny made its way towards her, when it reached me, I stabbed it in the side with my spear.

  This was going great! We had already reached level four! I turned to tell her, then saw as she was eaten by a young giant spider. She screamed and beat at it as she was eaten alive. I snorted. “Hit it harder, I am sure it will let go like a dog!” I called out in amusement.

  She actually paused, and looked at me and I saw.. Betrayal in her eyes. Moments before they glazed over and she appeared next to me. I turned, but she just looked at me hurt and walked over by a tree. The spider rushed her, but I threw my spear pulling its aggro. It turned to rush me and I stabbed directly in the mouth, forcing it to stay in place.

  Its sharp appendage came up and stabbed me repeatedly. I died with it at 75%. But not before I jabbed its eyes out.

  I reappeared next to her and could see her shaking. The spider was coming towards me again. “Look, I.. I have died a lot. Like, an unbelievable amount. I wasn’t trying to..”

  She cut me off. “Why?” It was all she said. Yet I understood instantly.

  “I.. I don’t know Alia.. I don’t know.” I swallowed heavily and looked back at the spider. I saw bubble bullets hit it and she grabbed my wrist.

  She smiled up at me and said. “What? You gonna..hit it like a dog?” She said, clearly trying to be funny. The hurt was still there in her eyes. Her very real eyes. But she smiled and hid it. I felt my heart sink and I froze.

  She looked at me worriedly then pulled at me. I stared blankly at her. My world shattering inside. I had spent so long in this hell-scape. I never.. I just.. It was finally hitting me. She was.. She was.. I felt a sharp pain and was eaten alive by the Giant Spider.

  I appeared next to Alia who screamed and.. Tackled the spider. She lost, of course. But she was clearly pissed. As she respawned, and did it again. For a moment, I thought maybe the old Alissa was back. Then, after her third death, she collapsed on the ground and started sobbing again.

  I felt a very old feeling. Not irritation, not sadness or happiness, and definitely not apathy. I felt rage. Real rage. The kind of rage that caused my vision to swim red. I stabbed the spider as hard as I could and just kept stabbing. It died but I kept stabbing and stabbing and stabbing.

  I jumped on it and began punching the spider after my spear broke. All I could see was it and I wanted it gone more than anything.

  I kept punching it until I heard a voice cut through the haze. “Hero.. Hero… HERO!” I stopped at shout reached me and I looked up to see Alia. She had grabbed my arm. “It’s dead…” She said weakly

  After a moment she gave me a forced smile. “Let’s.. Go find another one?” I sat there for a moment before silently nodding.

  “I.. um.. I think we should probably hit level five soon. Then we can make it to the Emerald Kingdom.” I explained as I tried not to think about what I had just done.

  She kept glancing over at me and I felt my cheeks redden. What was wrong with me? She was an anomaly. I had to remember that. A glitch.

  Despite my words, when she took my hand, I held it back and we made our way deeper into the forest. She was definitely an anomaly. But.. She was a very attractive anomaly. Not because of her body. Not because of her words, Not because of her title. But because she was Alia. I.. love.. Alia.