Ice Flower

Chapter 16

The first two trials, as Snow had called them, had been easy. The first had been a duel, one had been finding the entrance to a secret passage, and the third had been reprograming a statue to come to life. Now they only had one left. And it would be the real challenge of their courage.

"Should be any minute now," Glacier said.

Playmaker nodded. "Remember our strategy. Stick together no matter what."  

"You got it."

They kept walking. There was no change in the scenery, but suddenly something just felt different. The air turned colder and tasted stale, if virtual air had a taste.

"I don't like this," Playmaker said. 

"Neither do I." 

Something caught her eye. She walked over to it.

"Glacier?" Playmaker asked. "Is something wrong?"

She didn't answer. The thing in front of her was a vase. It was painted a yellow so bright that it was blinding and had lush flowers in it. There was a slight chip in the back. 

She knew that vase.

It was her mom's.

"What are you doing here?" She muttered, not expecting an answer.

Then the scenery did change. The ivy-coated walls turned into white-painted walls just like in her old house and suddenly she was in her room sitting on her bed. 

She looked down at herself and saw that her appearance had changed back to what she looked like outside of Link VRAINS. This wasn't good.

"Playmaker," She began. "Look, I can explain." 

Her breath caught in her throat. The person standing next to her bed wan't Playmaker. It was her brother. But that couldn't be right. She was back in her old house, so what was he doing there?

"Link VRAINS is dangerous," Her brother said. "You know why. I can't let you go back there."

"I-"

"You brother is right." 

She turned to the voice's owner and saw her parents watching them from the doorway. They both looked...sad.

"You couldn't save Varis." Her dad sighed. "You said that you would save him, but you couldn't follow through. How can you protect yourself?"

"Dad-"

"Your father is right, sweetie." Her mom crossed the room to her. She took her hands in her own. "You know what virtual reality and dueling did to your brother. We told you two to stay away from Link VRAINS for a reason. You know what? I'm very disappointed in you."

The words felt worse than a blow to her stomach. She hadn't been able to save Varis. Her family had found out that she was a duelist in Link VRAINS. No, it was worse than that. They were disappointed in her.

"Come on Kayla," Her brother said. "Let's forget about Link VRAINS and dueling. Life can go back to normal."

She was about to agree when a thought came to her.

"This isn't real," She whispered.

"What was that?" Her dad asked. "Did you say something?"

"This isn't real," She repeated, louder this time.

"Of course it's real. What else would this be?"

She spun to her brother, pulling away from her mom. "Yusaku, you're Playmaker. One of the most famous and skilled hackers and duelists in Link VRAINS, if not the most. The real you would never tell me to quit."

Yusaku stared at her. The he glitched. It was brief, but still enough to confirm her suspicions.

"The final stage!" She realized. Her worst fear had been her family being dissapionted in her? And...being unable to save Varis?

No. Not only that, but the fear that Yusaku would never truly overcome his past and the fear of having to face her family when she told them that she had fallen in love with dueling. 

"This isn't real," She said for a third time. Then she spun to face her parents. She took a deep breath. "You all are dead. You can't be here right now."

They glitched too, but this time they didn't come back the entire way. They, along with everything else, continued to fade, and soon she was back in the maze.

She blinked, her eyes having to adjust to the sudden darkness. 

"Uh, Playmaker, what did you see?" She asked slowly, turning to face him.

He didn't answer. He just stared at the floor, his eyes wide with horror. He was trembling and pale. Deciding that she didn't want to ask what he saw later, she ran over to him.

"Hey, snap out of it!" Glacier grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Come on Yu- er, Playmaker. It's not real. Whatever is happening right now, it's. Not. Real."

Playmaker jerked, his head snapping up. He seemed surprised to see her watching him. 

"You're back," He said, his voice shaky.

"Yeah." She nodded. "After all this is over, let's try not to come back here again, okay?"

"Fine by me. I hope that the other's had it easier than we did."

"Yeah. Oh, no."

"What is it?" He turned to her, worry flashing across his features.

"Snow...she's been through a lot of stuff, and it's hard for her to move on. I think that I might know what she'll see."

"What's that?"

"She'll see me reject her."