Amelia

The Pags were in full retreat. No, they were running scared, or terrified even. The ones that were still alive, at least. Not surprising, considering Rosa had gone full witch and raised her own army of weird spirits. Oh and then there was the part where Tami infected us with dumb bitch juice and we almost broke the game. So much so that the game sent out an area wide notification about a balance pass they did on Rosa’s character.

My girlfriend was extremely scary. Especially when she had people fighting alongside her.

Our allies seemed to agree with the scary part, too. Not that I blamed them. This was the first time the Witch of Chains had very clearly taken a side. Even more so, this was the first time the Witch had worked together with other players to fight. So, understandably, they were now steering clear of her, even as they hunted down Pags like it was a sport.

My guildmates didn't join in though. They approached me warily, all while keeping an eye on Rosa as she methodically carved up an entire regiment of Pagutum regulars.

"Your girlfriend is the Witch of Chains," Sang stated once he was within easy conversational range.

Scratching the back of my head, I nodded sheepishly. "Uh… yeah. Sorry about the deception."

"She's not going to like, kill us too, right?" Bia asked nervously.

"Nah." I shook my head. "She's still the same Rosa. She's just… very scary when someone threatens me, I guess."

Kimberly, who was still with us, laughed and looked out over the field of carnage. "It's kind of romantic. I'd love to date someone who'd be willing and able to destroy armies to protect me. Plus, if she’s working with Tami like she did, I doubt she’s someone we need to worry about."

"How is she even a player?" Amado asked. "I thought she was an NPC? She’s way too powerful to be a player."

"She felt sorry for me and fed me health potions," I grinned. "Honestly though, she was half feral when we started talking. I won't go into specifics, but she's been through hell during her time on Earth. Please be gentle with her. I really care about her and I'd like to keep being with her. Plus, I'm sorta going through some shit IRL and she's helping me. I guess what I'm asking is just be chill when she's finished winning us this battle. Please?"

“Will she kill us?” someone called from inside the cluster of guild members. I didn’t recognise the voice, but I wanted to kick whoever it was in the nuts.

“No?” I said, doing my best to stay outwardly calm. “She just needs friends. Be nice to her and she’ll literally kill anyone who fucks with you in the game. Please be chill. Please.” 

Hushed conversation rose up through the ranks of the guild, with everyone giving their opinion, until Sang let out a hissing growl.

Lifting his helmet off his head, he used one powerful claw to strike it once, silencing the murmuring. “She’s part of the guild. She couldn’t hurt you even if she wanted to. Plus, we’ve taken in members who at one time or another have fought us. Isn’t that right Amado?”

The rogue in question grinned broadly and nodded. “Yeah, I still have a gold piece I stole from you, actually.”

“Little prick,” Sang snorted. “Anyway, if anyone has any reservations, we’ll deal with it normally. That means you come to me privately without making a fuss and we’ll work from there, yeah? Amelia, I’d also like to talk to you and Rosa together about this at some point. Nothing bad, I just need a better grasp of the situation, okay?”

“Yeah, definitely,” I agreed. My shoulder sagged with relief and I turned to look back at where Rosa was now making her way over to us.

She was still in her witch form, but she had at least put on some less… revealing clothes than the normal dress. In fact, it was her usual outfit, except somehow shifted to fit her new human form.

“Hello everyone,” she said apprehensively. “I’m… I’m really sorry for lying about who I am. I just… It’s…”

She faltered, and I stepped over to hug her close against me. She might’ve been taller than me right then, but I could still protect her. “Hey, I already spoke to them. No need to worry. I love you, and Sang will sort it out.”

“You owe me like fifty fucking gold!” someone called, and I realised that not only was it the heckler from before, but the dude wasn’t even from our guild.

Rosa winced, and I was about to yell at him when someone else beat me to it. She didn’t just yell, either.

Out of nowhere, Kimberly, the chill, gentle healer, stepped forward and shoved him. “Fuck you, buddy. She’s obviously been through some shit. Plus, you’re not wearing the guild tag. Are you even with these folks?”

“Nah, but she killed me a month back and I lost my unique bow!” he scowled, getting ready to shove Kimberly right back.

Before either could get further into a fight, Rosa extricated herself from me and took a step towards them. “How much was the bow worth?”

“Like I said,” he scowled. “Fifty gold.”

“Here’s two hundred,” she called, and summoned a coin purse that bulged with the effort it was taking to hold all the money inside itself. “Fifty plus interest, I guess. I’m sorry about your bow.”

The purse sailed over the intervening space, and he caught it with a surprised look on his face. “Wait, for real?”

“Yes,” my girlfriend shrugged, and came back to the safety and warmth that was my embrace. “If anyone from the guild needs items replaced because they lost them on a death I caused, let me know. I’m happy to pay out. I uh… I have a lot of money. Outside of the guild, I’ll think about it. I don’t want to cause a stampede of people demanding gold.”

The guy who’d been heckling until recently scratched his head and poofed the gold into his inventory. “Well, shit. Thanks.”

“Who are you anyway?” someone called.

Victor, a guild member who I didn’t really interact with much, pushed his way through the group. “Hey, sorry. He’s my friend. Sorry, everyone. Jace, shut the fuck up please?”

****

Rosa ended up needing to pay back a ton of guildies for various items she’d looted off their corpses in the past. It was honestly pretty funny, once the tension of who she was had worn off. Everyone gave her a very gentle teasing over it, and in more than a few cases my adorable girlfriend didn’t even remember the incidents that everyone had burned into their memory. My girl was terrifying when she wanted to be.

Unfortunately, the NPCs were pretty pissed off with her still, so she had to return to her fox form so the authorities wouldn’t try to jail her or something. Not that she seemed to mind. She was more than happy to be small and fluffy. Such a cutie.

The player rumour mill went absolutely ballistic when they found out that the Witch of Chains had been a player the whole time. People crowded the front door of our guildhouse, all but demanding to speak with her. Some even threatened violence if we didn’t let them in. Unfortunately for them, the house was enchanted with some pretty crazy wards. All we had to do was hunker down and wait it out.

A day later, Rosa and I were cuddled in bed eating chocolate when she suddenly kissed me. Dropping the chocolate I was holding, I caught her face and caressed it with utmost care. I was gearing up for another long, lip bruising make out session, but she pulled back.

“Hey!” I pouted.

She giggled and kissed the tip of my nose, then gave me a serious stare. “Ame, my SAI friend got in contact again. We believe we know where to start searching for your physical body, but there’s still the digitisation plan. May wants you to be absolutely sure about the procedure because she’s only used it a couple dozen times now. That’s why she wants to have you speak to the first person she digitised, so you are absolutely sure of our course of action before you go through with it.”

“I mean, I’m pretty damn sure, but who is this person?” I asked, propping myself up on one arm.

Rosa’s eyes tracked down my waist as it flexed with my movement. Girl might seem all small and cute, but she had a lust to her, that was for sure. “Her name is Aisling. Apparently her pod caught fire while she was in it and May had to slow down her perception of time as far as it would go to develop the initial prototype process for digitization. Honestly, that SAI is something else. I’m glad I befriended her.”

“Sounds like it was a good move,” I agreed. “And yes, I’ll meet this Aisling girl. After all, we’re going to be part of the same very exclusive club soon.”

“That you are,” she murmured happily, kissing me again. This time she didn’t pull back.