rise of the guardians

Help me! Please!"

He blinks in surprise before raising an eyebrow in confusion. "Uh, okay? Help you how though?"

She gulps nervously. "...Won't you help me defeat him then?" She points her hand toward the screen, indicating her character's death.

He hums softly before nodding. "Oh, right." He pauses and thinks for a moment before looking away with a small smirk. He raises an eyebrow at her questioningly. "Are you sure?"

She nods eagerly before tugging at his arm in encouragement. She pouts slightly before saying, "Please! Please?! Please, please, please, please?"

His smirk widens.

"Fine. Let me guess...you want me to kill him?"

"Y-Yes, please!"

"Alright."

Ria releases a relieved sigh as she closes her eyes. Then, a sudden realization hits her as she opens them again after a second. She looks down at Hiroto, who's staring at the screen with amusement. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

He grins widely. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I?"

She stares at him with disbelief. "Why would you do this for me?!"

"Well, because you deserve it after all. For all the shit that you put me through.The shit that you put me through."

"But...I mean-" she pauses, pausing briefly, before glancing away. "No one has ever done this for me before."

He glances back at her in surprise. "Really?" He pauses for a moment before laughing slightly. "Well, then, good thing I came here today." He pauses before shrugging. "I'm always happy to be of service."

She sighs lightly as she glances away. "Thank you, Hiroto."

He nods. "Of course."

Chapter 15

The sun shines brightly into the room, illuminating the entire room with light. It makes the whole room appear brighter than usual. However, that doesn't bother anyone. No, everyone in the room is sleeping peacefully, unaware of the light entering their room. Or rather, none of them are aware of the sunlight shining into their room as they sleep peacefully.

"Rise of the Guardians...." a soft voice murmurs quietly as a small, tired smile appears on her lips. She shifts slightly before burying her face deeper into the pillow.

She hears her name being called softly from someone. "Ria." She turns her head slightly to look over at the source of the sound. She squints slightly as the light causes her eyes to burn a little bit.She sees that there's another person in the room now. Someone who looks very familiar. She doesn't know whether to believe or disbelieve this. Is she dreaming, or is it reality? She can't tell.

"Ria?" the person murmurs again.

Ria furrows her eyebrows slightly before opening her mouth to answer. But no words come out. She feels a slight wave of panic come over her. She can't talk. How could she possibly respond to someone calling her name? What should she do? What's going on?

The person calls out to her once more. "Ria!" She jerks a little at the sound. Who is that? Is it one of her friends, perhaps? Does she have a friend named 'Ria'?

She opens her mouth to respond but no sound comes out. What do you do when you're unable to communicate?

"Ria!" A new voice calls out this time. A boy's voice. Wait a minute...that sounds like Kameko. That's impossible, though. It couldn't possibly be Kameko. They were both in America. She knows this well enough.

A girl's voice answers the first boy's call. It sounds familiar. Is that..Tadashi? Maybe, but...why would Tadashi be in Japan? Isn'she supposed to be somewhere else? She doesn't know where, but...she doesn't care. She doesn't care about it anyway.

Then, the other guy, who she still hasn't figured out who he is yet, speaks. "Ria..?"

Her heart sinks and she feels tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. She doesn't understand what's happening. What's happening to her? Why can't she move? She doesn't feel any pain. Not in her body nor anywhere else. Where is it coming from? Why does it hurt so much? Why does it feel like she can't breathe at all?

"Ria!!" She flinches slightly at the loud yell. Was that...Kameko?! She didn't recognize the voice...but she was sure she heard it. And it sounded so...painful. "Ria, wake up! Wake up!! Wake up!! Wake up!!!" She slowly cracks open her eyes to see three blurry figures in front of her. One figure, which was definitely Tadashi, was crouched down in front of her, a horrified expression on his face as he stares intensely at her.

She blinks rapidly before looking around herself, finding herself lying on the ground, surrounded by the darkness surrounding her. What? Where...where was she? Who...who was yelling at her?Who was screaming her name? Who...what was going on...?

She tries to sit up, only to fall back on her hands due to the intense pain in her chest. She groans softly, closing her eyes tightly as she attempts to ignore the sharp pain in her chest. But she fails miserably. Why is everything hurting? Why can't she breathe? She doesn't want this. This isn't right! She shouldn't feel this way. It's bad. So, so, bad. Why did it hurt so much?

"...Ria..."

She hears a whisper from behind her and she turns her head to see Tadashi leaning forward slightly towards her. His brows are furrowed together as he looks at her worriedly and he grips her arms gently. "Ria, wake up..!"

He's trying to help. He cares. He's trying to help her. She needs to stay awake. But she just can't seem to move anymore. Her vision keeps blurring from the brightness of the lights. Everything is spinning slightly. Why is everything spinning? What's happening? Is she dying??

Wait. She wasn't supposed to die. Right? She wasn't suppose to die. That was part of the deal. That was the deal with that stupid, shitty game. Wasn't it?