Gāme Ovēr: Azalea Isłand

Chapter 14: Broken Wings

I felt like Tori. Not the fearless Hawk, but the innocent little red robin I met. The one with the broken wing. Having something taken away from you. Something you can't work without. You want it back everyday, you can't function. It's depressing and unbearable without it. You'd grown so used to it, that you forgot how to go on without it. Without him. I was uploaded. I awoke in the real world. In a hospital, connected to cords. When I awoke, there was a row of bodies beside me. Some had sheets pulled over the faces. Dani, the boy I interrogated, Kiwi and Mya. I missed Mya already. I missed seeing the smile on Leah's face. And oh yeah, I guess you think I'm forgetting about the most important one. I'll mention him after. I stood from my hospital bed. I ripped off the wires. I approached one of the beds with the blanket pulled over, hoping each time it wasn't Brian. The first was Dani.

"I'm sorry." I whispered, pulling the blanket back over his head. Next was Mya. I kissed her forehead softly and pulled the blanket back up. Oliver, Leah and everyone alive weren't in their beds. I noticed one bed was missing. That last dead body I came to was Kiwi.

"I'm sorry.. That you were so ignorant. I hope you and your brother rot in hell, bitch."

I waited back on my bed until a nurse came, excited that I was awake. Apparently everything that had happened was on the worldwide news. We had the lawsuit to sue them for millions. They offered us less then a tenth of that. I couldn't care less about the money at this point. The nurse notified that she'd let my family know I was awake. She also took the liberty of showing me to the cafeteria with others, claiming that I must be starving. I was too nauseous to eat. Our team and Oliver sat at separate tables. There was too much mourning in order for us to even fight. I sat with Leah. I only had her left. It was mostly quiet. I forked at my salad like Misaki did. Stabbing.

Before my Mother came, Misaki and Cody were the first to show up. They bolted into the cafeteria. I felt Cody hold me tightly. And at that point, I just broke down. I cried. Hard. No one had ever, ever seen me cry. I just cried and cried. I never could let them see me cry. It was a sign of weakness to me, or so I thought. But when I did cry, jesus, did I ever let out a shit load of pent up.. Everything. Misaki clung to Leah.

"I.. I heard about Brian." Misaki bit her lower lip, her eyes relieving sorrow. When Leah replied, I was filled with such incredible hope. Apparently Brian wasn't dead, they'd saved him. But, he was in a coma. It was only because he'd started uploading before he was shot, so part of him lived. I didn't care if he lived with brain damage, I just wanted him to live in general I wanted him to be with me again.

Six months had passed. I visited him everyday. My mother told me to give up. We had heated arguments about the matter. I'd stay with him everyday until the die I died if I had to. I didn't care. I was too stubborn. Thankfully too stubborn. We sued the gaming industry for five million dollars. Four million went towards making Azalea Island more than a fantasy, but real. And more of them. A place filled with forests and beaches. Clear and sunny, free from fossil fuels. A genetic net to keep it out the shit around the place. It would be rented out to people who wanted to experience the beautiful properties of the earth. The gaming industry explained that Azalea Island wasn't part of the game, it was a prototype for education, where classes could enter the virtual realm and observe the past. Somehow the files got mixed up while it was made by the same Industry. Alice wasn't charged with murder, since there was no real knowing if the person would die or not. No one was. Oliver walked free. I'd kick his ass one day, and maybe I wouldn't. Howles wasn't my obsession anymore, nonetheless my priority. My priority was Brian. I was sure of my my feelings for him. I loved him. I fell in love with him. I knew that's what I'd tell him the second he woke up. And he did.