Chapter 1 - Broken and Bruised
“Hmmm . . .”
The sound escaped my lips before I was even aware. I guess I
really did need this. There are few things in this life better than a hot
shower. I looked down at my body as the water flowed down.
Holy
hell, really?
I was purple and blue head to toe; it was
so bad that it looked like my tattoos had started to blend together. No wonder
this shower felt so good. As I lifted my arm up to grab the soap I felt a sharp
pain in my right shoulder.
“Gahh,” I tried to move my arm up
again, “Ahh, hell! Well, this is great. My fucking arm is broken again.” I
slammed the faucet handle down and stepped out of the shower.
“Vixen! Oh my, are you ok?”
I looked to my right and this tiny little thing was running
toward me. Her pink pig tales bounced as she slowed herself down.
“Yeah, hey
Lizzy. I am fine. My damned arm is broken, but I am fine.”
She looked up at me, and smiled her adorable little smile.
It made her eyes sparkle in a way that seemed really unnatural.
Seriously, what is up with Users and these
huge eyes?
“How many
times will this make it?” Lizzy started counting on her fingers before I could
answer.
“Seven.”
“Seven.”
She giggled as she stepped into the shower stall behind me.
I used my good arm to try and dry myself off as she turned the tap on.
“Oh my
Gods!” she shrieked, “How hot do you take these showers?”
“Ha!” I
chuckled as I pulled on my pants, “As hot as I want, thank you very much.
Anyway, yes. This marks the seventh time CommanderDongLord had me go fight that
stupid thing. He is such an ass.”
“Your User
needs a new name. But why can’t he beat it? Your magic level is totally high
enough to take out that giant. If we went there right now I am sure you could
take it no problem, even with a broken arm.”
I looked in the mirror and frowned. Not only was a bruised
all over my body a nice looking cut starting to scab over on my lip. I flicked
it with my tongue and winced. It was still nice and fresh.
That’s gonna leave a scar. This is just
wonderful.
I grabbed Lizzy’s brush and started combing through my hair.
As I pulled the brush down it slammed into my shoulder. I let out a little
squeak of pain, but Lizzy didn’t notice. She was humming some tune, who knows
where she heard it. I turned back around to look in the mirror once more. My
hair was parted right above my left eye making my bangs sweep low to the right
side of my face. There it joined with the other bits and went down past my
collar bone. On the left side the patch above my ear was kept shaved down, the rest
was swept behind my neck over my right shoulder. I felt extremely off balance.
The only thing I really liked about my hair was the color. From its roots it
was shockingly white and as it grew down it faded into purple. The fade was so
drastic that the very ends were almost black.
“I don’t
know how you stand it. With water that hot it makes the air outside freezing.”
Lizzy shivered as she swiped her hand in front of her. A big holographic
display popped up and she began poking away at this now responsive air.
“Also, I
don’t understand why you never use your control board,” she tapped a pixel and
her long dripping pink locks suddenly bounced back in her signature spiral pig
tales, perfectly dry and styled.
“It makes everything so much easier. You have
your entire closet right in front of you!” she touched a few more pixels and
items of clothing appeared in their respective places. She spun around and
giggled as her skirt twirled around her.
“Sometimes it amazes me that you
have been her as long as I have.” I shrugged my right shoulder trying to sense
where the break was.
Ow!
Yup, congratulations! You found the break! Right in your FREAKING SHOULDER! No
wonder it hurt when I reached for the shampoo . . .
“They only let people room together
if their Users are around the same level and they have a similar amount of time
in the game,” noticing my wince at the shrug she grabbed my left hand and
pulled me along, “Come on, let’s go see Damien. If he can’t fix it right away
he should be able to numb the pain.”
I shuffled along behind her as she pulled me out into the
hall. Our door slammed loudly as she rushed me towards her boyfriend. The air was
much cooler out in the hallway, which didn’t make much sense to me.
This is a communal living building, why is
it so cold?
The hall was lined with doors each one sporting name tags
for who it was exactly that lived behind the doors. I spun my head around as
laughter erupted behind me.
“Hey Vixen!
Whatcha doing tonight?” the boy slurred.
“Oi, shut
your mouth kid. I would rather be deleted.” I spit back putting as much venom
in the words as I could muster, which was not much considering my current
state. Nothing had been done about my bruises or broken arm yet and the
exhaustion of healing was starting to take over. My eyelids drooped as I bumped
into the back of Lizzy.
“Ow!
Whatwasthatfor?” my words all ran together as I could feel myself powering
down. Lizzy turned around and caught me before I hit the ground.
“Damien? It
is me Lizzy! Vixen’s user practically killed her. Can you fix her up please?
The auto-healing is starting so she won’t fight much this time.” Lizzy was
sagging under my weight as she waited for Damien to open the door.
“Oh my
Gods! Did Commander –what’s – his – face make her fight that giant again?”
Damien grabbed my right side as Lizzy readjusted her grip on my left shoulder.
The both dragged me in his living quarters/floor hospital/alchemy lab.
“Yeah, he
did. This is the seventh time and I think this is the most beat up she has ever
been. I don’t think anything has ever been broken before. She is a master at
Command-Dodging so usually she can save herself from the worst. I just wish the
Users could see what they do to us sometimes.” Lizzy’s eyebrows furrowed as she
sat down on a stool by the make-shift gurney.
“The
toughest of us all being handed that kind of a User kills me. She is so strong
and so powerful it scares me, but this guy just throws her around like she is
some toy.” Damien swung my legs up on the table and began mixing a bowl of
something that was supposed to be used to help me, but the smell told me I
wanted nothing to do with it.
“Icanhearyouyouknowandyouareneverthisnicetomeever.”
My eyelids fluttered shut as I lost the fight against the power reboot.
“You won’t
remember this when you wake up. I will be just as snarky as ever when you come
around.” He stuck a needle into my neck on the right side and I could feel
something warm creep under my skin sliding toward the break in my arm. In my
one last act of defiance I raised my left arm slightly and bent all my fingers
down except for the middle one. I doubt he even knew what the sign meant, but
it made me feel better as the reboot took over.
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