CHAPTER 11

“A woman's strength should not be in her role, whatever she chooses to be, but in the power to choose that role.”

- Brandon Sanderson -

Sarai had, finally, accepted her fate, knowing that there was no realistic other option. No matter what she told them, what she could say, she was six feet deep. Time to accept the consequences.

So far the only real way she'd been able to make any connection to TantaMount was unconsciously, so she looked around for anything that could do any kind of harm to her. Fun.

There was a piece of broken glass which in her opinion was the worst freaking thing could possibly be available, but it was there, and so was she. She steeled her mind for what was about to happen. She had to cause enough pain to herself to force her mind back to the unconscious. Here goes.

Jab it quick, try not to think about it. OH MY GOD-

Back into Tantamount. She didn't fully understand why it worked like this but she knew she didn't really have to to think about it. She immediately went to try to access the in-game chat but remembered she was technically an NPC, and not able to directly affect the world with actions of her own. “We'll see about that”, she thought to herself, and sprinted towards the closest town she vaguely remembered seeing Leo in.

On the way Sarai had nothing to do but think, and think she did. She knew at this point she was just escaping to prolong the inevitable, and being in the small percentage of people that knew they were going to die shortly, what would she spend her last moments thinking about?

Food, oh my god, food. Haters used to give me flak but pffft yeah I'm tiny but I like my fried chicken and my burgers, deal with it. I'll karate chop you if it comes down to it (there are no chops in karate, but MMA is my thing, so I can show you what's up if need be).

What else?

Family back in Japan. My mom, my dad (rest in peace), and my little brother Katsuya. They know that I love them so I don't have to say it here but I will anyway.

Wow I put food before my family, didn't I? Stomach has a mind of its own. Good thing I'm getting to where I need to be in one relative piece.

WELCOME TO LOVELOST

The sign said, like she didn't need a reminder of ever relationship she'd ever been in.

Leo had seemed alright. Right? He'd quoted a Disney movie and didn't seem too butthurt about me swiping him on my bike. And, I mean, he was kinda cute. Kinda. Right. The things I think about when I'm probably dying. Write it on my tombstone then HE WAS CU-

Am I dead now? How would I know? I'm not even really sure. I know that I can feel my heart beat in my chest and my breath ease out but I can't tell if that's me thinking that or actually knowing that. Am I even re-

No. Stop.

Game time.

- Interlude -

Dono had heard Leo's request for normalcy, and wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.

Having just landed a bitching 180 on the bike, he marched up to the approaching Leo and jabbed a finger gun straight up into his ribcage.

“You and me partner – we ain't normal, never have been and never will be. So let's rock”.

A small crowd had gathered in front of the school to try and determine what the hell was going on, and Dono loved him a crowd and always aimed to please.

He went full Cusack-Say Anything mode and threw the faux title belt over his head, screaming to the masses.

“STILL HERE NEVER LEFT”

And busted threw the front doors, leaving the Jigga quote with the masses and the masses unsure of what exactly had just happened.

But if there's one subject that one can learn from it in theory should be History, so he dragged Leo with him into the classroom before the bell and tossed him into the seat adjacent,

Professor Whatshisnugget stood up to address the class.

“I hope all of you read through the assigned material last night, as I've prepared a pop quiz to see just how much all of you know about the Battle of Marathon”.

“Knowing is half the battle”, Dono replied out of habit, but was fairly sure he'd be lucky to get half marks. Just a few things had happened that resulted in a lack of historical knowledge gained over the last few days.

He busted out the finely sharpened No. 2 in anticipation of imminent failure, when a wheezing, panting, breathless Sarai popped out of nowhere in front of him and Leo, almost like an R2 projection, blinking in and out.

“Finally”, she said, catching her breath.

“We need to talk”.