[SP-F2] Bleak

[Corvo 0]

"Not a single message."

Corvo flicked through his old mail idly with a bland expression as he considered the endless possibilities. Thom was dead, and nothing could change that. Tobias, god only knows where that boy had gone. The Black Brotherhood had all but disbanded, and the Crow hated it. They had discussed nothing, and without a single word, the only people he knew disappeared without a trace.

"Not one single message, dammit!" The fiery redhead slammed his fist down on the table, so hard that it triggered the message "immortal object." His irate gaze burned into the character name Arc, followed by a string of gray and black. His name had otherwise disappeared from Corvo's friends list.

Had one of his best friends decided to end it all?

He retrieved the pipe and tobacco from his vest and lit the apparatus neatly, dark bags beneath his eyes yielding evidence of his lack of sleep. Even in the game, your consciousness required a break. Corvo found no comfort in sleep.

Especially not a false sleep.

"You dragged me into this world," he spat through gritted teeth. "And sweartogod, if I find you on the other side, you're gonna wish it'd been Aincrad that got you." He puffed a gray-black plume from his nostrils and stared hard out into the distance.

Passersby gave the player a wide berth. Corvo hailed them with the one-finger salute. "Excuse me, sir?" An NPC hovered close and smiled, and the badly mannered player glowered up at her. "You ordered a mug of mead?" she asked as she placed the drink in front of him.

He waited for a moment before he accepted it. "Aye," he muttered, "aye, I did."

How long will this be the only life I know? he asked himself. And how long before I accept that fact?

[Corvo 0]

False as it may have been, the flavor of virtual mead had drowned out his memory of the genuine article. The familiar buzz rushed across his Heads Up Display and blurred his in character vision, only faintly enough that it simulated the effects of actual drink. Warmth in his cheeks reminded the youth he was alive, and the anger the smoldered in his chest reaffirmed it as truth. Though his flesh in this world did not scar, his mind had many fresh, long lasting wounds that would not heal as easily.

"Would you like another?" the girl asked with a kind smile. Corvo watched her with skeptical eyes, even though her intention ran on codes and loops. Her fate was tied to a string of characters, one that broke down to no more than 0s and 1s. 

To him, she was just another part of the system trying to tear him apart. 

"Yeah," he smirked. "Give me another."

It's not a real buzz. He reminded himself off a hard fact, and one the game simply could not replicate. The inebriation in Aincrad was limited to debuffs, staggering, and drowsiness. The anger is real.

He slammed back another mug and stared into the abyss his drink left behind. Corvo let out a lengthy sigh, pushed the container away, and his face twisted in disgust. "This is getting me nowhere," he snorted.

"Sir?" the girl leaned closer. "Sir, your tab-"

He stood abruptly and tossed the col on the table. "There's your money," he spat sourly. "Thanks for the piss."

She bowed as he left.

[Corvo 0]

"Fine." His acceptance was flat, emphatic, and final. "I'm not the type to get hung up about this. I'll find out the truth when it's time for me to know it." The way he spoke, it was as though Corvo had come to grips in a one-sided conversation. The reality was something else entirely.

He would have no closure, not for a very long time. There would always be the lingering possibility that everyone he knew was dead, and he would learn that somber fact once he sought the others out on the other side. If Tobias was still alive, he had a profoundly good reason for disappearing the way he did. He knew Corvo would follow without question, and cutting him off ensured that he would never be able to follow.

Instead of dwelling on all of that, the man stretched out his back like a cat and spat ostentatiously in the dirt. His first step was wobbly, but he managed to walk a straight line. The system was dumbed down to the point where you could master it, given enough time.

They had all had all the time in the world.

Corvo hobbled forward to the square and leaned against a post for support. His next move would be to decide what course to take. There was no guild now, nor did he retain the delusion that there would ever be one. He had no intention of making friends, but he knew there would be no shortage of rivals.

People didn't like Corvo. Corvo didn't like people. It worked out.

"Only one way to go," he decided.

To the bloody top.

[Corvo 0]

"Y'said we'd make it there together, Cap," Corvo muttered bitterly to himself as he passed through the gates of Urbus and out into the wide, open world of floor two. There were dangers aplenty for a low level character, but he had his own reasons to brave the dangers. "Then you went and died. Serves me right for putting my damn faith in someone else."

He chewed on his bottom lip and spat out another plume of smoke, this one more gray than black. They had all been friends. It was a hard thing to accept, losing that bond. Even harder, perhaps, than accepting he was against this world on his own now.

"Used to tell me exactly where to put the blade," he snorted, and shook his head. "Even though I was better at it than you were. You liked giving us all a part on the team, even though some of us were notorious loners. It was Alky who brought the Brothers together. Should've seen this coming when I heard that damn floor boss took you out."

Corvo threw his hands out to the side and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!" he roared. "IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME!"

But it wasn't.

His shoulders sagged in defeat as he slumped forward and continued on his way. People who had barely known the man had moved past it long ago, and even Arc somehow managed to move forward after the loss of his real life best friend. For Corvo, it was a different kind of loss. It was an utter failure to be there for someone who he befriended, and who he said was like a brother to him. Corvo was a man of few friends, but the friends he had, he would happily bleed for.

Now, he had only himself to fight with.

[Corvo 0]

The High Fields of Crossing were still outside his field of vision, but the minimap function indicated he was headed in the right direction. While technically not a safe zone, mobs rarely spawned there, and they were renown for being a quiet place to reflect or enjoy the scenery when there was a lot on one's mind.

Sometimes he imagined that he would go there and find Arc, hidden someplace far away with all his friends. The pipe dream ended when he glanced back over his opened messages and saw the last message that Tobias had sent him.

I'm going, Ev. Don't bother following me. Don't even bother trying. Don't worry, I'm not planning on dying or doing anything crazy. This is just... something I have to do. You know how it is, right?

But he didn't. Corvo had no idea what he meant. This wasn't real life. This wasn't like their world, where there were just "things you had to do."

Was it?

Had the others learned something in their time here that he just couldn't? Somehow, the redhead doubted it. "You guys got lost," he murmured, "but that ain't me. I'm not going out like that."

His grumbles carried him along the path forward.

[Corvo 0]

He had almost forgotten that it was a prime dating spot.

Almost as far as he could see, couples compromised of low level players dotted the horizon, looking over the colorful, blooming flowers and surveying the seasons of Aincrad. "Piss off," the Crow cawed as he pushed shoulder to shoulder with another male player.

"Hey, watch it!" the brown haired youth scowled as he turned to face Corvo. The girl on his arm pulled at him, but he tugged his arm free. "You blind?"

The redhead turned his head slowly and glanced back over his shoulder. "You don't hear so good, do ya?" Corvo asked as he fixed the man with his single eyed stare. "I said piss off. I ain't tellin' you again, boyo."

The redhead tugged his dagger halfway free of its sheath.

"Woah man," the other threw up his hands disarmingly. "Look, I don't want any trouble."

"Trouble found you, kid." Corvo pointed at the path and spat. "Kick rocks, or I'll kick yer ass."

Corvo watched the two players flee in a hurry, no satisfaction evident on his features. "I feckin' hate people like that," he muttered to himself. 

The feeling's mutual, he recalled someone telling him, once. The thought made him laugh aloud. "The games don't change much," he muttered fondly, "neither do the people, and neither do I."

He tried to steer clear of any other couples, more interested in his entire reason for being there. His gaze centered on the gazebo that overlooked the central lake, and Corvo made his way toward it intently. "From there, I should be able to see..."