Luna put her phone into her pocket, cold sweat dripping from her forehead and her hands were shaking slightly. The doctors had called her to give her an update about her brother and how he had almost died. They still didn't know the cause of his sudden crash of his condition but were even more confused about his currently stable state. The doctor in charge had even told her that Leone's body was slowly but steadily improving and it was possible that he may make a full recovery.
Exiting from a nearby alleyway, she reached inside of her jacket pocket to pull out a cigarette from a carton, she inhaled deeply before letting out a puff of smoke in relief. She looked at the ceiling, relief washing over her as she stood there. Her brother was going to be okay. Her prayers had been answered.
"Ms. Luna, Smoking is bad for you! You know how I feel about it…it stinks and makes you smell like an old man. I don't want my best friend to smell like some old fart!"
A lively voice calling her out made Luna turn her head to see a blonde young lady in a light lilac one piece dress puffing her cheeks up in a pout. However, the pout quickly faded into surprise as she noticed the change in Lunas' expression.
"Luna? What happened? Was it something good?" she asked, tilting her head as she approached the girl with an age similar to her own
"Ahh. Young Lady. It is nothing you need to concern yourself with…" Luna began, bowing to the young lady in deference.
"Don't gimme none of that Young lady crap. It's just the two of us, you don't need to act like my bodyguard, before anything else, we're friends!" The girl interrupted, looking into Lunas eyes with the sternest look she could muster but all it did was make her look cute.
"Haha…Lily you really are stubborn" Luna sighed, her eyes beginning to water up, threatening to spill tears as her lips twitched slightly upwards in a small smile. She took the cigarette and flicked it to the ground, snuffing it out by grinding it into the ground with her shoe.
"That was the hospital calling me…" Luna began, turning her head, not looking Lily in the eyes as she spoke.
"Something happened to your brother?! Do you need to go see him?! We can go there right now if you want!" Lily said, starting to visibly panic.
Seeing her panic, Luna let out a soft chuckle before saying "No he's fine. I mean they said he was in a dangerous spot but he is okay now. In fact they said there is even a chance he could make a full recovery!". The thought of that alone made Luna break into a wide smile, tears streaming down her cheeks in relief which was a stark contrast to her usual stoic expression.
Lily covered her mouth at the shocking revelation before cheering "YAY~! That's so good to hear! Maybe we should drop by the hospital when he is better and I can introduce myself to him~!". Near the end of her statement she narrows her eyes, intent on teasing her best friend.
"Absolutely not." Luna replied almost instantly, her bright smile instantly disappearing, replaced by her usual cold expression as she wiped her eyes.
"Ehhh~?! Why?!" Lily replied, shocked at the immediate refusal from her best friend.
Luna looked over her friend, waist length blonde hair accented her baby blue eyes, a petite stature but with an hourglass figure alongside her beautiful white jade like skin. Luna looked down at herself with her more modest figure, disappointed in herself.
"I'm protecting him from indecency." she coldly said, turning and beginning to walk away.
"Eh?! Indecent? Me… Indecent? Is this how you're gonna treat me? W-wait for me!" Lily asked confused and somewhat offended but chased after her friend, afraid to be left alone.
Neither of them to bothering to check on the dozen men who lay wasted in crumpled heaps in the alley, having been viciously beaten for coveting a beauty and attempting to kidnap them, unaware that they were under the protection of the famous bodyguard who had recently risen to infamy in certain circles of the underworld as the [Rabbit of Carnage].
The two walked down the street illuminated by street lights, the two bantering back and forth, but Lily was all too quickly finding herself running out of breath, unable to maintain the same speed as Luna due to her own lack of exercise.
"Luna! Stop walking so faast" Lily complained in exasperation. "Why are you in such a hurry? Are you trying to get rid of me?" she whined, puffing her cheeks in indignation and trying to catch her breath. .
"Your stamina is still as trash as ever, perhaps you should exercise more often. If you want, I could train you…" Luna shot back almost immediately as she came to a stop to look at the girl, hoping this was the catalyst to get her charge to attain some level of fitness.
"You train me?! NEVER! I would rather die! I dont want no Spartan Training!!!" Lily shouted back, eyes widening in a bit of fear. She had seen the intense training Luna put herself through and wanted no part of it for herself. If she wanted to torture herself, she would swap out her pop for the diet version and have sugar free snacks.
"....Hopeless" Luna sighed, her head drooping down in defeat and dismay. Her lazy young miss was just like a fat cat, only wanting to eat, sleep and play to her hearts' content.
"Rude" Lily huffed, crossing her arms before saying "Is this how you talk to the person who got you a headset for you and your lil bro?" with a smug expression.
That statement made Luna shut her mouth. Based on her own experiences, it was more than likely that the headset that saved Leones life. Taking a deep breath, Luna bowed her head and said "I will never forget that and you will always have my thanks…"
"Hey Hey. None of that. You and me, we are friends. That won't change for anything!" Lily said softly, her hands placed on the shoulder of her friend.
Born Liliana Franscesa Gattioni, Lily was the sole daughter of the head of the Gattioni Family. Formerly known as a Crime syndicate, they had turned over a new leaf, sponsoring multiple nonprofit organizations and charities. They had since distanced themselves from committing crimes as her father Lucian followed the wishes of his late wife who had been a police officer. He had raised her with great care but due to his past reputation, parents had instructed their children not to play with her, leaving her isolated.
The children who did approach her though were off putting as even the young Lily could tell they had ulterior motives for being her friend. They wanted to be her friend because of her family, not because of who she was. She grew used to being alone and thought it would be okay but Luna was the one who changed her mindset.
Lily and Luna met in their first year of high school and by chance had ended up sitting beside each other. Lilys first impression of her classmate that her given name of Soluna was interesting. Also the way she didn't smile all that much and was so serious, her short chocolate brown hair and eyes gave her a cool impression like some sort of Prince. Instead of cracking a joke, she instead put on her smiling mask and said "What a pretty name~! My name is Liliana Gattioni. Nice to meet you~". Thinking her name would get some reaction out of the girl, making her show her true colours.
"Thanks….and uhh nice to meet you…?" Luna responded somewhat uninterestedly, tilting her head. Completely unaware of her name. Her classmates however reacted at the name, some clambering to make their acquaintance with her, talking about how they wanted to be her friend, asking about her family and any plans they had that Lily knew about.
Lily could only continue to fake her smile, afraid to reject their advances outright, instead rebuffing them in the vaguest ways she could. While she and her classmates laughed, she began to feel even more alone.
"So annoying. You girls are so fake…. You aren't trying to be her friend, you just want to take advantage of her because of her family. A true friend doesn't care about crap like that. Now buzz off!" Luna had growled, stunning both Lily and her classmates.
"H-how dare you!" one of her classmates shouted, cheeks flushed in embarrassment at being called out like that. "We aren't like that! You know that Ms. Gattioni?!"
"You don't even dare call her by her first name? Some friend you are" Luna scoffed before glaring "Class is about to start. Go away now or you can spend the first period in a hospital!" she threatened, narrowed eyes and cold gaze resembled the gaze of a fierce beast.
This scared the girl off which Lily couldn't help find refreshing. She didn't think she would ever be able to do something like that. She began to grow more curious about her seat neighbour but unable to bridge the gap herself.
"Let me know if they bother you again, I don't mind chasing them away" Luna suddenly whispered "...Also I think your name is cool." before turning her head away to look at the front. Lily looked surprised at the sudden compliment but she noticed that the tip of the girls ears had become a bit red. 'She's embarrassed? That's so cute!'
Eliciting a small giggle, Lily whispered back "Well in that case, please take care of me~! You can call me Lily, thats what my family calls me!" she whispered
"...Luna..and likewise" was the soft response.
That was how their beautiful friendship began. Lily eventually became more extroverted, willing to put herself out there and make friends, even if it was only at a superficial level while Lunas cool expressionless face had made her quite popular with the girls, some even going as far as calling her a 'Prince' while Lily was the 'Princess'. Of course, Luna was outraged by such a nickname but she didn't have the energy to constantly complain about it out loud, resorting to grumbling about it when the two of them ate lunch together. Deep down, Lily believed that her friend would never know how much their first encounter had meant to her. She had saved her from the darkness of isolation, bringing light and colour into her world that had been so dominated in shades of grey.
Two years flew by when tragedy struck Lunas life. One day without notice, her parents vanished. There was no note, no reported accident, they were just gone as if they had disappeared into thin air as if they never existed. She had been left to raise her little brother alone. She could no longer hang out after school, needing to find a job to provide food for her family. Lily had tried to help but Luna's pride had pushed her away, threatening her with never talking to her again if she tried to bring mone into their friendship as she didn't need any handouts.
Left with no choice, Lily could only back away at the time, not daring to step on her friends' toes even though it hurt her to see Luna like this. To make matters worse, less than a month later, Lily found Luna bawling her eyes out in the stairwell. It turned out that her little brother had contracted a mysterious illness with no cure and needed to be hospitalized.
Never before had she seen her friend, someone who seemed so calm and collected all the time crumbling. Unable to hold herself back, Lily hugged her friend and whispered in her ear
"I'm here for you. Let me help…. Please!".
Her heart ached for her friend as their tears soaked her shoulder. It took about 20 minutes of consoling for Lunas tears to stop. Once she had composed herself, Luna had flushed in embarrassment and tried to assure Lily that she was fine and didn't need help.
"Lily..I'm fine. Really. Things will work themselves ouagh..?!" she had said but a strong flick between the eyes caught her off guard.
"DON'T GIMME THAT! I'M HELPING AND THATS FINAL!" Lily shouted back, holding her hand, her finger stinging in pain.
"If your pride wont let me help you for free. Fine. Then I will just hire you! Whether it's as a bodyguard, secretary or companion, it doesn't matter! You and me, we are friends. That won't change for anything!" Lily had said with a charming smile.
"Lily…."
"Also why the hell is your head so hard?! I feel like my finger might be broken!" She added, holding up her finger which had started to swell.
"....." Lunas touched expression faded, a sigh escaping her lips before she let out a soft laugh "Hahaha ... .You really know how to kill the mood huh!"
"Eh? How did I do that?" Lily said, oblivious to why her friend was laughing at her.
"So should I be calling you Young Miss going forward?" Luna teased while patting Lilys head.
"Bish, you dare!" Lily growled, glaring at her like she was a mortal enemy but the head pats quickly melted her expression into a somewhat sloppy smile.
"Girl you are really hopeless…" Luna sighed. She swore to herself that she would never say it aloud but she hoped that Lily would never change. In a world where it felt like the world around her could slip away without a moments notice, she was grateful that she had such a soft and loving best friend.
From that moment onwards, the two best friends were practically conjoined at the hip, always hanging out together whenever possible. Lily did not encroach on Lunas' personal time with her brother, even going as far as never having met him in person.
Lily would have been content with that but Luna was not. She had taken Lilys statement all too seriously and had decided to act like a true bodyguard in public settings, even going as far as signing up at a famous gym to train her body. She had apprenticed under a retired pro boxer and researched other martial arts in her spare time which resulted in teasing from Lily calling her things like 'Macho Lady' and 'Tiny Terminator'. However, each stupid nickname earned Lily a flick to her forehead and always ended with Lily tearing up as she held her head in pain, promising never to do that again only to repeat her behaviour a few days later.
It was Lily who had first heard about Soul Ascension and had pestered Luna to play it with her, trying to come up with various schemes to get her to play. Luna had felt like it was a waste of money for a sketchy game but relented when Lily showed up with 2 consoles.
"What should I set my username as?" Luna had asked while fidgeting with her helmet while sitting on her friends couch, across from the bed where Lily sat examining her own helmet with barely concealed excitement. She was unsure about playing a game but still somewhat eager for a welcome distraction from her situation.
"Muu…. What about Lady Killer? You were popular with the girls no? and you can kick most boys asses too yeah~?" Lily had suggested with her usual teasing expression. She kept her distance, thinking she was safe from her friends lethal finger flick.
What she forgot though was that Luna had a good arm as well, a pillow hitting her squarely in the face, eliciting a small squeak from Lily as Luna shot back. "In that case, your name should be 'Piggy' or Chonk!", a small vein throbbing on Lunas forehead showed her agitation and annoyance at being called a Lady Killer.
Lilys cheeks puffed up as she cried "Thats so Rude! I am NOT FAT!" in outrage. However her complaint fell on deaf ears as Luna had already put on the helmet. Grumbling in annoyance, Lily put her helmet on as well and entered the game.
The two girls had found themselves in two very different areas for their Character Creation Areas. Lily was in the middle of a tropical rainforest, the muggy heat teemed with life and put her mind at ease plus her guide had been a cute lil animal eared boy who guided her through the process. He had been so cute that Lily had wanted to hug and squeeze him as if he was a teddy bear. In the end, her Affinity ended up being 98% for the [Wood Tiger] race which had modified her figure and hair, going from Blonde to a vibrant green alongside cat ears and a tail of the same colour. She thought it was so cute that she was tempted to act like a cat and talk with a Nya every now and then!.
Lunas space was an open grassland. However, various weapons were scattered across the field, The scent of blood hanging in the air which somehow made her heart beat quicker as if she was some sort of hunter seeking prey. However she felt her heart drop when her guide appeared. He had looked eerily familiar to her brother but the mannerisms were all off, he was too calm and unfeeling as if he was some sort of robot. Ignoring the nausea that came from looking at him, she quickly selected her race as a [War Bunny] with a compatibility of 100%. Her already cute appearance became even more accentuated when her hair became snow white and her eyes became a dark red, reminiscent of blood. With a certain outfit, she would look like the perfect bunny girl but she mentally scoffed at the idea of wearing one, it was far too embarrassing to even think about.
The two of them had both started in a Beastkin village but had taken different approaches to exploring, agreeing to meet up when they were done. Lily had chosen to seek out the alchemist in the city, hoping to learn how to make potions to earn money to learn a taming skill while Luna found the Lumberjack, hoping to use the experience as his apprentice as a way to train.
The two of them had spent about a day training in their respective fields when they decided to log out to have food. Feeling somewhat hot after taking off her helmet, she asked.
"Lily what do you want to eat? I will have the chef make it for you…what is it? Whats wrong" her eyes furrowed when she saw Lily looking at her with a horrified expression, looking around to see what sort of danger had her so shocked.
"Y-y-your Eyes! H-hair too!" she stammered, unable to find the words to explain.
"What?" Luna replied confused before walking over to her friends bathroom to look in the mirror. "WHAT?!" Luna screamed when she saw her reflection. Her short brown hair had become a flawless snowy white while her eyes had gone from chocolate brown to blood red, reminiscent of rubies. It was almost identical to her in-game appearance!
KRRRRSH
The sound of the granite sink countertop cracking followed her scream. Looking down, Luna saw two massive spiderweb cracks on the counter spreading from the centre of her hands, even her strength had increased massively compared to before!
Shock overcame the young womans mind as she struggled to comprehend why her appearance and strength had changed so drastically. It took her a few minutes to compose herself, needing deep breaths to prevent herself from having a panic attack.
It was then that she noticed a change that sparked something she hadn't felt in a long time: Hope. Part of the reason why she had agreed to play the game at the time was that she had injured her knee and had been ordered by a doctor to rest it for about 2 weeks or it could become much worse. With every step she took, she could feel her knee twinge in pain but refused to show it, pretending everything was okay. Now though, her knee felt better, in fact it felt even better than ever. If this game could fix her knee, could it also fix her brother?!
Without thinking too much beyond that, Luna turned to her friend and shouted "Lily! Could you get me another headset please? I- I think this could help my brother!" while shaking. She didn't want to get her hopes up too much as she feared that if this hope was dashed, she would be left even more devastated.
Lily had of course granted her friends wish without even a moment's hesitation and had waited outside of the hospital while Luna delivered the birthday present to her brothers room.
Lily even drove the car when she saw her friend was on the verge of tears after leaving the hospital.
The phone ringing again brought Lily and Luna out of their thoughts about the past that led to this moment.
"Hello? Speaking…" Luna began, her eyes furrowing as she mouthed the word 'Hospital to her friend'.
Lily brought her hands to her mouth, nerves getting to the both of them as the thought of it being bad news inevitably crossed their minds.
Luna was silent as she listened to the doctor on the other end while Lily waited on pins and needles. All of a sudden Lily jumped in surprise as Luna shouted.
"My little brother is growing a WHAT?!"