Sword Art Online/ソードアート・オンライン 1. Chapter 1

I lifted my hand up to the sky like a gun.

"Bang." I whispered to myself, imagining those blue bullet holes striking through the clouds, letting the sun pour in over Aincrad. I shut my eyes as the light washed over my closed eyelids like a tsunami, lowering my hand amidst the dull heat cascading over my face. It was hot, but not too hot. That perfect, serene environment of ideal weather, allowing our worries to slip away for just a brief moment. The grass tickled my ear, or maybe it was my hair? I didn't really know the difference, data feels like data. Sitting up, stretching, I let out a god almighty yawn.

"Day three." I whispered to myself, once more. It had been day three since this _death game_ began. Just saying that made it all feel so unrealistic, so impossible. I dare say I was practically quoting Kirito, something that had become irritatingly common in this replica of that floating castle in the sky. _An Incarnating Radius. What a name. _

I looked left and right across the vast, virtual field. Yawning once more, I sluggishly clambered to my feet, looking for the direction of the Town of Beginnings. This particular spot had become a personal favourite of mine - there were monsters not too far away to fight, in vast numbers yet spread apart enough for easy combat. In the top left corner of my vision, the HP bar that read **Terallian**, **Level 9** with a long green bar underneath had a flashing dot next to it. _Mail? No… Far too bland for that, and like I'd receive one. Perhaps it's… _I stopped thinking and started moving, reaching my hand up to tap the dot. Immediately, a pop-up appeared in the centre of my vision. It read: "Your wallet is full!"

"My wallet it…" My voice trailed off before I realized what it meant. "What!?" I yelled, catching the stares of a quest-giving NPC. "What the hell kind of an MMO has a _wallet_ limit? Am I supposed to blow all my cash on a new wallet now? Honestly…"

Without a many options, I started in the direction of town. It took a surprisingly short time to reach it; perhaps the game's distance perception was a shonky. _That_ might be a problem in a fight… I turned a corner after passing through the main gate, spotting a blacksmith's shop ahead, or was it a general store? I didn't have a clue, as I spent all my time out levelling, hoping to get ahead of as many PKers as possible, which has proved less productive than I'd hope. The store turned out to be a cross between the two. Weapons, food, armour, maps, you name it. Heaven on earth? No, more like a heaven on Aincrad.

I knocked and called out ,"Ahh… Excuse me?" stepping into the building. I was met by an obviously NPC store owner, an assistant, and a black-haired boy, around my age. He had straight, long hair, coming just past his waist. No armour was visible, just the usual tunic you see most people wearing, in combination with a...

"Flute?" I asked. The boy turned around, he was probably fifteen or sixteen years old. A combination of embarrassment and surprise was plastered on his face. Realising how rude I was, I stuttered to correct myself.

"O-oh, no I didn't mean, ah, what I mean is… Why do you have a flute?"

What a dumb question.

"It's… It's my instrument." He replied, a hint of embarrassment flowed with his voice. He was obviously shy, and every word he said made me feel even ruder. I struggled to get myself out of this mess.

"A flute, I see… A-anyway, what are you here for?" I asked, desperately trying to change the subject. I looked to the name above his head. It read **Ryan Griffiths**,** Level 1**. I could have almost sworn I'd heard the name befo-

"I… I was hoping to get a weap-"

"_Griffith!"_ I screamed, running straight towards him. The look on his face as I practically tackled him head on was priceless.

He let out a gasp, "What? Who are… Tera? Terallian!" He yelled back, grabbing onto me. For the first time in this dreadful week, I'd met a familiar face. He was one of many of the 'Age of Aincrad' users that had been trapped here, but he was the only I'd known from before it all started, and seen in game.

I grabbed his hand and pulled him out the store, feet moving faster than necessary. The door slammed shut behind us with a tell-tale ring of the NPC's 'goodbye' coming, muffled, from behind it. With the startled Griffith being forced into pursuit, I moved swift as the wind around the corner before making a streamline for the gate. My heart thudded in time as each footstep hit the ground with a _thud_. I almost hesitated for a moment, taking into account the fact he was only a **Level 1** player. Shaking off the thoughts, I continued up towards the hill where I spent most of my time. Surprisingly, not a single complaint from Griffith was heard.

In a matter of minutes, we were there. The two of us were panting.

"Even with… Physical fitness being… Incorporated into… The game… This is exhausting." I laughed, panting between phases. I wasn't the fittest person in the world, obviously, but most of the activities in the game didn't call for it. Unfortunately, grinding, the one skill that _did_ require it, was my _only_ activity.

"Are you out of your mind?" He finally coughed out, just as puffed as I was. "I was buying… Buying… I forgot what I was buying." He laughed as well.

"A weapon, wasn't it?" I smiled. "Hang on, a weapon? That's not like you, Griff…"

"Well, someone I met on the first day, Foyoki, she suggested It was about time I had _something_ to fight with." He replied, as I pondered as to who this Foyoki might be. I may have been the only person in the game to have stayed alone up until now, I refused to party up with anyone I hadn't met before, my own personal way of denying any of this was real.

From day one, I'd seen this as a fantastic opportunity, but within a day, maybe two, any dreams I had of a future here were crushed under the weight of reality.

"Foyoki?" I asked, hoping to bring some light to my curiosity.

"Yeah," Griffith began. "We were all shocked with what happened when the Rift, well, you know, and she…" His voice drifted off, fumbling for words. "She didn't handle it well."

It wasn't a huge surprise for it to happen, but dealing with those situations isn't easy. But, like I'd know…

"I see…" I muttered. He could pick my uncomfortableness and immediately said something about meeting her later. I simply nodded, but I still had a feeling I couldn't quite shake.

"Good afternoon." Came a voice from behind us. I began to turn around. "I hear your wallet is full. Allow me to _assist!"_

A _swoosh_ sound cut the air as a blade swung straight for my head.


	2. Chapter 2

Data feels like data, this much I know. The difference between grass and hair is non-existent in the virtual world, but let me tell you: the difference between cutting grass and cutting hair is incomprehensible – it's terrifying. I never was fond of the hairdresser, but this was something else.

As I bobbed down, the sword trimmed somewhat close to a centimetre of hair off the top of my head. I could see the stray, brown pieces drift off into the wind, wondering if I'd actually lost any HP from it. I didn't have enough time to draw my rapier, so I immediately kicked off the dirt, dodged to my right, and used the opening between the Sword Art activation and cooldown timer to deliver an **Embracer** unarmed Sword-Skill using my left hand. Pointing the fingertips forward and together, retracting the elbow to a slingshot position, and launching.

Too slow. The cooldown timer had ended, and the aggressor used the split second he had to jump back a step, forcing my blow off target. I hadn't completely missed, but the HP it would have chipped away at would be minimal - ineffective. My hand scraped across his stomach, glowing a fiery yellow as I emitted a sharp yell.

_One, two_ I counted in my head. The timer off the attack was done, he'd jumped back, and I did the same, putting the fight to a momentary standstill.

Griffith stood motionless next to me. The intense silence was growing rapidly; the few seconds we'd been fighting seemed like an eternity. This was _exactly_ what I was training for, but I had no idea how to react to it. In my mind, I'd subconsciously pictured PKers as actual NPCs, but to see this man standing before me with a killing intent… My thoughts began to drift, so I mustered together my courage to speak.

"Who are you and what do you want?" I asked. If my heart wasn't beating its way out of my chest, the cliché question might've made me laugh.

"You really are stupid, aren't you?" The man replied. He had a messy brown ponytail just dangling in the wind. _An ugly mug, that's for sure._

"I wasn't aware there was a 'random' option." I began to provoke. A questioned look appeared on that god awful face of his.

"The hell are you on about, kid?" The PKer aggressively questioned. He walked right into my trap.

"On facial character creation." I laughed. His reaction was exactly as I expected. I used the opportunity to draw my rapier, his face looking more disgusting as it contorted during his retaliation. He'd already begun moving towards me once more, activating a Sword-Skill I couldn't yet identify. Due to him having nothing but a one-handed blade, the most common weapon of choice due to Kirito's preference, there wasn't a large amount of attacks he could use.

A cyan glow shot across hit sword, feet pounding on the ground. **Rage Spike **was the attack. A basic one-hit strike designed to quickly cross large gaps of space and deal a weak but fast lunge. The moment he took his first step, I'd already activated my own **Linear** lunge attack, a rapier being much faster than his blade. The two of us sped towards each other at ridiculous rates of speed.

My rapier met his chest first as his sword went right off target, missing wildly past my right shoulder. His HP had dropped for sure, but from a basic attack, it wouldn't be much. Thanks to **Linear **being the very first Sword-Skill acquirable, its cooldown timer was less than a second.

I pushed off his gut with my boot, gaining a little under four metres distance. Instantaneously, without hesitation, I activated the ace up my sleeve, **Afterimage **, a Rapier Sword Skill designed around unmatchable speed and power. The cooldown was three seconds, longer than usual, but that wouldn't matter here. Leaping forward, it felt like I was being stretched apart. An afterimage was left behind as I crossed the gap between us in a half-second, blade outstretched. The yellow glow made its way along to the tip, erupting in a bright emission of light.

And then it missed.

It _missed_ within inches of my opponent's face. I skidded to a halt directly next to him, his head leaned to one side, a yellow stream flowing directly past and an afterimage was left of where I'd aimed for a headshot. A careless mistake that almost cost me, but one more **Linear **should be able to…

"Three seconds…" I whispered to myself, as my arm was caught by the PKer. I'd been caught like a fish in a barrel, a result of my own smug attitude. A body shot would have easily finished it, who was I trying to impress?

"_Haaaaaaa_!" cried a voice from behind me. Griffith.

A moment later, a flute connected with the jaw of my captor. A _flute._ _Jesus, a flute?_ I thought to myself. _That's…_

A blue glow of pure power, a Sword-Skill, bursting its way out of the flute and into the enemy. He'd actually done it. He must have been the first man in the world to _attack_ with a _flute_. Since when did instruments even _have_ Sword-Skills? The man I'd now identified as _fogresh_ by his HP bar, was staggered. Even his name was ugly.

I looked down only to see at the same moment he was hit by a flute, the Sword-Skill he'd activated intended for me had…

No, no time to think, only time to move. I let loose not with a Sword-Skill, but with pure strikes from my rapier, getting faster and faster. He still had a hold of my wrist, but his grip was loosening and his HP was depleting with every strike.

"Die! _Die!_" I screamed as my speed intensified, stabs of rage hit him everywhere his armour had a gap. The face, legs, arms, chest, stomach. "_Die! Die! Die! Die! __**Die!**__"_ I cried, louder and louder.

Within seconds, he was down to the red, and a swift kick had him tumbling onto his back. I stepped on his chest, raising my blade to his throat, but before I could say a word, he burst into shards. My foot hit the grass that was under him.

Griffith fell down next to him.

"No… No… No, no, no, _no!" _I yelled, ditching my rapier and dashing to his side."Griff, speak to me!"

He rolled onto his back and looked up at me, a smile plastered on his face.

"Tera…" he begun. He reached into his shirt, taking out a red bottle. "I've always hated medicine, but… I won't leave you yet. Not today." He said, tipping open the small HP potion and taking a sip.

"I really hate you, Griff." I said, tears in my eyes. "You know that?"

He silently nodded, still smiling, as his red HP began to recover. I stood up, wiping away the pointless tears I'd shed. Griffith reached up as I clasped his hand, pulling him to his feet.

"I seriously thought for a moment there, Griffith."

"I promised I'd introduce you to Foyoki, didn't I? I can't go breaking promises already." He retaliated to my statement, a hint of laughter still in his voice. I crossed my arms and looked out towards the town. I wanted to stay angry at him, but I had a question that needed raising.

"You actually used a flute there, didn't you?" I asked, glancing back to the delicate blue shards fading off into the sky. I never knew the man, only that his name was Fogresh and I'd taken his life. _I'd taken his life_.

"I did, it's a Sword-Skill call-" Griffith started to speak before spotting the look on my face. "Tera, don't even think about it. Please, don't think about it."

But I couldn't not think about it. I'd taken his life out of rage and it'd only just dawned on me now. I'd _killed_ someone. I'd trained self-defensive techniques and _killed_ someone. Dead, gone, obliterated, game over. And I almost brushed it off like it was second nature. What was wrong with me? I didn't hesitate, I just began swinging and…

"Griffith."

"Yeah?" He replied.

"You don't think he's really…" My voice trailed off.

There was a lot of things I'd noticed about this game, but there was also twice as much I hadn't, or maybe it was that I didn't want to notice. If we'd put on an optical virtual reality headset, where were we right now? Why couldn't we still operate our own bodies? Why wasn't anyone removing it? it wasn't Nervegear. What happens when someone dies in the game?

There were too many questions to answer, and Griffith knew it too. Maybe that's what he didn't want me to think about, maybe that's why he never fights.

But he did fight. He risked himself just mere moments ago on account of my own clumsiness. It was my fault.

I couldn't sleep that night. I stayed awake, just staring idly at the ceiling, wondering, questioning all the things today. Finding Griffith, almost losing him within minutes… But the one thing floating around in my head was the PKer. Whether or not he stabbed Griffith, I shouldn't have just-

My thoughts slowly became a train wreck.

But I didn't react to it. The moment he died, I turned away to Griffith; I didn't even hesitate to take a life. Am I really the kind of person that can do that?

I stayed awake for hours after, just… Thinking. When morning finally came, I met Griffith in the lobby of the tavern we were staying at. Less of a lobby, more of a bar.

"Hey, Tera." He said, smiling at me. I couldn't bring myself to look him in the eyes, I just muttered a good morning and walked over to the counter to pay. I sent the NPC tavern owner 100 col for both Griff and I, a thank you being issued in return.

All morning, Griffith had the same look on his face. Concern. We walked silently through the streets, heading towards the market district to finally rid myself of this col I hated with a passion. I didn't ask any more about his Flute-Arts, I just sluggishly forced myself onwards. We'd decided to head over to a blacksmith instead of a general store, hoping for better equipment.

"Oh, Terallian, I almost forgot." Griffith started. "Do you mind if we meet up with Foyoki afterwards?"

I nodded with a grumble. I honestly didn't feel like meeting anyone today, I just wanted to get through it all as fast as possible and get back to grinding. Now that Griff was with me, it was my responsibility to protect him - I refused a repeat of the previous day. My heart skipped a beat just thinking about it. But maybe, just maybe, this was a good opportunity to forget all about it.

I kicked a rock on the side of the sidewalk, and it skidded right between another player's boots. I looked up to be met with the eyes of a female player. She had beautiful brown hair, swept up by the wind as she looked at me with discontent.

"Oh, Foyoki!" Griffith yelled out. _Foyoki?_ "Perfect timing, I was just going to get you to meet Tera. Meet… Tera!"

"Terallian?" She asked. A confused face crept over Griff.

I paused for a moment.

"Takita?"


	3. Chapter 3

My miracle tally had hit two.

_Two_. First, out of pure luck, I'd run into Griffith in the general store, linked up, and stayed with him. Now, yet another person I was close to before everything started was standing in front of me. Takita, one of the few people in this world I'd prayed daily to meet, was finally within my grasp.

And boy, did she look pissed.

It's not that I didn't know the reason, or that I didn't want to apologize, but the opportunity to do so was yet to arise. All I could do was stare at the ground, mentally kicking myself to say the words that would never come out.

"Thanks for looking after Griffith." She saidsarcastically. I knew exactly what she was talking about, but even so, I couldn't say a word, I just nodded my head feebly and hoped Griff would speak up. He did.

"That's fantastic! You two already know each other?" He asked, scratching the back of his head at the awkwardness of the situation. I still refused to lock eyes with her, and kicked the ground as I waited for her to say something.

"No." She said coldly. "I've never seen him before in my life, I just saw his HP bar. Should we get moving, Griff?"

My heart skipped a beat. What I did was unforgiveable, but to say something like that was too much for me to handle. I lifted my head, cleared my throat and tried my utmost best to laugh it off.

"Ah, yeah, she's right. I don't-

"I know! We should go get some coffee before we start." Griffith interrupted. Even though she'd tried to cover it up, I still said her name aloud when we first met. There wasn't much you could sneak past Griff, although he lacked in the combat department, his mental side was a fully-functioning corporation.

"Oh, Takita, you never did actually say what you wanted to meet up about. And sorry, Tera, I may have used introducing you to her as an excuse to talk about some things as a group." Griffith stated with a hint of an apology twisting through is quiet voice.

"I want to take on the world boss. The two of you obviously aren't fighters, so I need help with some recruitment." She lied.

"Actually, Tera's…" Griff's voice trailed off before he finished.

Takita adjusted the strap on her two-handed claymore. The two of us were both fidgeting uncomfortably while Griffith struggled to repair the situation. After a few moments of silence, I spoke up.

"There's a grand coffee shop towards the northern end of the town. It'd be nice to head over there and talk about it, huh, Griff?" I asked. It was true that there was a coffee shop up north, but it was far from grand. It was actually a player-owned house, with a large bottom floor setup to somewhat crudely resemble a modern coffee shop. On a scale of one to ten, however, I'd give it a six.

The walk there was short, but it lasted an eternity. If you could see tension, a thick mist would have already consumed us three, a silence encasing us without mercy. Each step felt like a ninety degree staircase – each step felt impossible.

I took a swift glance to my right, a glance at Takita. At the same moment, she did the same, and an uncomfortable locking of eyes ensued. We both immediately looked away, blushing. Me, out of regret. Her, out of anger. We trudged onwards in that same, pure silence, only the occasional cough or a comment from Griffith.

When we finally arrived, I let out a sigh of relief. _How long had it taken_? _Ten, twenty minutes_? I could have almost sworn my perception of time had dropped ten-fold the whole way.

For the record, Takita was far from being an undesirable girl. She was loyal and trustworthy, but maybe it was the misplaced trust that lead to our current predicament, a misplaced trust in me. I never intended for what happened to actually happen, it was chance and fate that betrayed me in my time of need. You see, on the first day-

"Oi! Foyoki, Griffith!" Yelled a voice from across the street "Oh? Who's this kid?" The loud man finished with a question. I turned to my right to see three players standing in a bunch. One of them had wavy hair just brushing his eyes and over his ears, with golden blonde tips. He had a spear slung over his back and a dagger at his waist.

Uh-oh.

The second had medium length hair with a swept fringe across his forhead. It was jet-black and had 'tough guy' written all over it. A one-handed- no, two-handed sword at his waist, not an uncommon place for it to be positioned just seemingly unusual for his character style.

Double uh-oh.

The third and final one was the biggest of them all, having a one-handed blade at each side of his waist. I think he'd have realised by now he could only wield one at a time, but he had them both equipped regardless. Short, spiky black hair signified his leadership over the others, and the easiest way to put the trio was 'rough'.

Really rough.

"We thought you guys would be here. Can't go a day without a coffee, huh, Griff?" The double-bladed dimwit said as the three crossed the road to our side. The way he spoke was calm and coordinated, true leadership traits could be seen from miles away on this guy. Matching his personality to his academic capabilities would be a challenge.

A laugh came from Griffith as he replied. "You know me all too well, Fenyx." He smiled. Takita happily greeted the three of them.

"I mentioned I'd be bring a friend… Friends." She said with some hesitation. They all started to head inside.

I didn't move just yet, and simply waited until everyone was inside the coffee shop, despite Griffith calling my name.

I let out a long, deep sigh and held back my feelings. "I've never seen him before in my life." She'd said. Did she really say that, something so cruel? Deciding there was no point arguing with my own mind, I stepped through the door and into the bitter aroma of coffee beans. Beautiful.

Seconds clocked by like minutes, and minutes like hours as I sat in silence next to the close group of friends. Griffith still had a concerned feeling about him, and his swift looks in my direction only made it more obvious. He could tell I was out of place, uncomfortable, but as the others started asking me questions, I finally began to settle in. Things like "How'd you two meet?" and "How long have you know her" being tossed around stung me a bit, but eventually I adjusted to the barrage of questions. The group wasn't as bad as I'd first thought. I got to know them each better and we bonded reasonably well, not to mention I found out a lot more about Griff and his Flute-Arts.

"**Melody of Pain **is the title." He began. "You simple pull it to your shoulder and launch it like an ordinary punch, except, you know… With a flute." He laughed. The others joined in too, it was a comfortable group laughter, but even to a bystander, Takita and I were easy to single out.

"…Two, three…Five, six." Said Zephyr, the one with the now unequipped spear. "There's only six of us, and we'd need at _least_ eight for a boss like this."

"You say it like it's _not_ the very first boss in the game" I laughed. "Eight should do, it's likely to be Kobold, right? From Episode Two?"

"Right." The third, Curtis, added. "Big red guy, looks kinda like Fenyx?"

"That's the one." Fenyx unknowingly added. "HEY!" he screamed as we all burst into laughter again.

"Actually," Zephyr added. "Come to think of it, I do know two others who might be able to help. The name's Kuma and Regret. That is, assuming Terallian and Griffith mean to fight, too…"

The names caught me off guard. Kuma and Regret. Kuma… I'd met him on the first day of the game, a man I hoped I'd never walk into twice. I didn't even hear Griffith's answer.

"I guess it's all finally catching up, huh…" I muttered. The others turned to me with a questioning look but I shrugged it off and suggested we get moving and find them. We walked out the coffee shop after paying the 17 col for all our drinks and started on our walk to find the newest members of-

"The Brotherhood." Takita said as we walked. "We'll be known here on as the Brotherhood, alright?" It was less of a question and more of a statement, but we nodded in agreement regardless. Something in that very moment reminded me of a certain godly brigade leader. She sure had changed a lot since I met her before the game.

The newest members of _The Brotherhood_. A nice name, very catchy but very common. I was still a bit tense about meeting Kuma again, he was an unsteady individual. When everything began, it was true that everyone focused on survival, but he had a fire in his eyes that screamed he would live on. And from what I saw, what he did to people, he really _would_ do anything to survive.

Regardless, they saw the pair as able bodied fighters, and that was exactly what we needed for our upcoming challenge. I glanced back over to Fenyx and his double blades. Well, able bodied doesn't necessarily mean they have to be logical with their weapon choices… Does it? I didn't know the answer myself.

The sun had finally started to set, and a peaceful orange glow shrouded the buildings as they darkened slowly but steadily.

It was one of The Age of Aincrad's truly magnificent moments - dusk. I wasn't really a morning person most days, and this was my favourite time of day. We were still walking seemingly aimlessly through the streets, but Zephyr lead us around every corner necessary in a natural fashion. Everything was so smooth and routine to us, like I'd known everyone here for my whole life. Even so, the dream crushing Takita hit me with her reality power just by being present. Who am I kidding; she's not going to forgive me anytime soon…

I guess I never really did explain. On the first day of the death ga-

"Foyoki, this inn here is where they're both staying. Doubt they're asleep this early, so we should just head on in." Said Zephyr, shaking my thoughts once more. With the amount they get shaken, it's a miracle I'm not always dizzy.

I pulled Griffith aside as the others made their way through the door. "Griff, that Kuma… Watch him, don't get to close and don't rely on him. Also, do you intend to fight the boss as well?" I asked, feeling a bit interrogative.

Griffith nodded. "I understand. And, well, I don't know… I might be able to help with the mobs using my Flute-Arts, but I definitely won't be taking the big guy on."

A decent answer, I suppose. We quickly followed the others through as to not draw attention to our delay. The place seemed like any other inn, except it was lacking a tavern-style first floor and was really small. The stairs straight ahead of us lead up into two pathways, Zephyr headed left and so we followed him along. The second to last door in the corridor had a light coming from it, likely Kuma and Regret.

Curtis knocked on the door and waited for a reply. It came quickly, in the form of…

"Regret!" Yelled Zephyr from behind.

"Hey! Zephyr, who're all these people?" He asked, one hand on the door, the other gesturing to the cramped corridor consisting of a rapier speed demon, a Flute-Master, a pouting a girl, a somewhat ordinary spear-user, a man with an oversized blade and a dimwit.

"Friends." He shrugged, not really adding much more.

Takita spoke up, "We'll be staying here the night, but we'd like to request you and your friend Kuma, if he is present, to join us in the morning to fight the Floor Boss, Kobold." She finished. Regret just stood there silently, waited a moment, turned and called for Kuma. There wasn't so much as a response from the other room.

"Ah, sorry… He's an early sleeper, but I'm sure he'll be interested in joining you all, as would I." Regret apologised, hand still on the door.

"Not a problem. Thanks for helping us out." I added over the top of the others. We began shuffling our way back down stairs, paid the inn keeper for all the rooms for the night, then shuffled our way awkwardly back up before heading off to our own rooms. Takita stayed in her own, the three warriors had theirs and Griffith and I stayed in the end room. It was ten o'clock before we knew it, so we headed off to bed for the early wake up.

We each had a bed on opposite sides of the room, incredibly comfortable and worth the col. I laid awake for somewhere close to twenty minutes. Although he didn't make a sound, I sensed that Griffith was awake still too, so I poked a question at him.

"Griff, what do you think about the others?"

There wasn't a reply.

"Griff?"

Still nothing.

Then snoring.

I sighed, rolled over and pulled up the covers. My senses must be off.

Morning came with a bright blue light. _Blue?_

"Melody… Of Pain!" Griffith shouted, stabbing what would be head to toe of a person with his flute. Honestly, Flute-Arts…

"You're weird." I said, chuckling slightly.

"A-Ah, Tera, you're awake. There's nothing weird about my Flute-Arts!" He defended.

"No, I mean it's six-thirty in the morning and you're _awake_." I said, anti-morning-person mode activated.

"So are you."

"Not by choice." I sighed. There's a lot of ways to be woken up in a game, but this was by far the strangest. I pulled the covers off and struggled my way out of bed, stretching wildly with a yawn in addition.

After breakfast, we got dressed and met up with the others at the front gate to the town. Only Takita was there when we first arrived, and so we awkwardly drifted around the buildings until the others showed up. I assumed Griffith was being considerate between Takita and I's current relationship, but I couldn't be sure.

Soon, all of us had gathered. Zephyr the Spear-User, Fenyx the Dual-Blader, Griffith the Flute-Wielder, Takita the Claymore-Master, Kuma the Katana-User, Curtis the two-handed, Regret the Axe-Wielder and myself, the Rapier-Fighter.

One hell of an odd bunch.

We trekked across the floor as a group. Kuma wasn't nearly as bad as I'd thought; I can't blame him for his reaction. Everyone was getting along surprisingly well - we'd all adjusted to the group environment and not a single member was out of place.

The Floor Dungeon was intimidatingly large, looming over us with pure intensity. Everyone had the same feeling of anxiety; you could see it in their faces. But behind the wall of emotion, there was a fire burning within us all. Not one of us had fully considered it up until now, but we were truly taking the first step to freedom from this game…

And I didn't know how to feel about that.

We entered, and the mob fighting began. Skeletons were the first group we ran into. **Linear** took care of the majority, and a single Skeleton Master needed a **Bone Crusher** from Regret. Swinging the axe above his head, and a perfectly timed diagonal downward slash to the left with a complimentary stomp of the right foot burst the target into shards.

The second group, as we started to come up towards the boss room, was Lizardmen. These NPC's could be seen from floor 1-75, or at least that's where they should be, and they were capable of Sword-Skills. Curtis took an attack head on, but Takita intervened with an Avalanche two-handed Sword-Skill. It was a simple, downward slash, and put an end to the opponent.

"A lot of help _you_ were, Terallian." She teased. That last comment was enough to push me that last inch.

"TAKTIA!" I screamed at her. All the others stopped and turned, a wave of silence swept over everyone.

They were all staring.

They were all watching.

They were all listening.

But it didn't matter.

"Enough of this, Takita. Enough, please, it's enough." I began. "We're sorting this out right here and now."

"Tera…" Griffith pitched in. I shot him a look, _no_.

Takita was the first to shout.

"You promised!" Takita cried back at me. Her reaction was sudden, unexpected. She threw her blade to the side and walked right up to me, inches away.

"You always promised you'd protect me, Tera, and you didn't! The days I spent alone in the game, I had no one. Before it all… B-before it all started, you p-promised you'd protect me! Tears were welling up in her eyes, a hesitation at every word.

This was what she'd been holding back. I thought I was the only one bottling it up. We'd all suffered in our short time here, but I never truly considered who'd really suffered the most.

"You managed to find Griffith but not me!" The tears were rolling down her cheeks now, emotions flooding out uncontrollably.

I argued back what I believed. "I tried to find you, Takita, but this isn't what I expected. This isn't even our world anymore; we're stuck in a game, bending to the will of its creator! I tried, I tried… but I couldn't find you."

"Am I that insignificant to you that you'd give up within three days!? 'No matter the circumstance' you said! I thought you'd always be there!" She cried.

"I couldn't protect you if I was so weak. Day after day I trained, telling myself I could protect you if I was strong enough!" I yelled, tearing up myself.

"We wouldn't have to leave the first town, Tera! A level is just a number! I don't want you to be powerful, I wanted you to be _you_."

The others were staring uncomfortably, a couple had walked off the other way. Bystanders or no bystanders, I had to speak my mind.

Right here.

Right now.

"I love you, Takita."

One less bottled feeling.

"Is that what you wanted to hear? I love you and I'm sorry, I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I never wanted for any of this to happen."

One less regret.

"I love you, Takita. I love you."

But I never heard her response. Fenyx and Curtis were the first two to hit the ground.

They were everywhere.


	4. Chapter 4

"_Haaaaaaaaaa!" _I screamed, my throat itching in complaint as I roared towards the attacking mobs. We'd paused for a little D & M right on a mob spawn, and our time to chat was over. Fenyx and Curtis were struck from behind by the Lizardmen, using a long-distance Sword-Skill I wasn't sure of.

**Shooting Star** was my offence and my speed was my defence. The attack allowed for the user to charge across at least ten-metres into a light but fast attack. Little option but to streamline to the closest enemy from the attack's limiting movement, I sped across the gap between us in no time. The hit connected as the yellow emission crawled its way off my weapon and into the foe. Dead, without a doubt.

A moment later, he burst into those nostalgically terrifying shards. I shivered, and could only wait the two second cooldown before I could move again, instantly turning on my heels when I had the opportunity. As the target I hit was far from the others, when I turned around I had the whole battlefield laid out before me. Fenyx and Curtis were on their feet, hacking and slashing at the enemy. Regret and Kuma were running their way back to us after leaving from the _scene_. Takita held an offence against two Lizardmen while Griffith and Zephyr paced forward and backward defensively against the enemy's assaults. Everyone was paired up except-

"Takita, watch your left!" I yelled, activating my **Shooting Star **attack once more to close the distance. I didn't aim for any NPC in particular; I was just simply making an attempt to cross ground faster. The tactic worked, and with a stroke of luck, I parried one of the opponents during his swing. The blow intended for Takita had gone way off target and hit his friend next to him, a sure HP drainer, but far from a killshot.

While I was on cooldown from the hit, she'd pulled out a Sword-Skill of her own - **Cyclone**, an offensive single-strike two-handed attack in which the user makes a full 360 for added power. Slow, powerful, effective. The two stunned Lizardmen didn't stand a chance, being obliterated into shards barely an instant after the attack connected.

In front of us, Fenyx had opened up on the enemy, going all out to finish the two attacking them off. His health was pushing the yellow, but his fight was as good as over when I saw his blade glow a cyan blue. **Vertical Arc** - a guaranteed show stopped. Slashing down once diagonally, then pouring all your energy into a reverse slash of the previous, ripping the enemy from top to bottom. _Good job._ I thought to myself, as Curtis finished off the other one with relative ease.

The last group at the back was a hectic fight; Griffith and Zephyr were trying to avoid the enemy's blows while dealing their own, to no avail. The opponents they were facing were three levels higher than the rest – leaders of the pack. They were definitely persistent, those two.

As the fight was drawing ever closer to a stalemate, the unmistakable sound of a Sword-Skill came from Kuma and Regret, the Katana-Wielder and the Axe-Fighter. A blue glow could be seen coming from Kuma's blade as he prepared it at the left of his waist, before ripping through the ground and into the first of the NPC's, narrowly missing Griffith with his **Tsujikaze** in the process.

"Hey!" He yelled out, stumbling to his left to avoid the friendly fire. At the same moment, Regret had activated his own assault, engaging with a long overhead swing of the battle-axe while running forwards. He let out a battle cry as the pure strike crushed the enemy into a pulp before exploding them into shreds.

And with that, the battle was over. We all paused, crouching or breathing, taking a HP potion or just sitting down. It was an unexpected assault, and we came out miraculously unscathed. I started to walk over to check Griffith and Zephyr when Curtis called my name.

"Hey, Tera, hold up a minute." He yelled, getting up to jog over to me.

"What's up?" I asked, turning to face him.

"Why do you call Foyoki, 'Takita'?" He questioned, a legitimately curious look on his face. I glanced around to see all the others staring at me, probably wondering the exact same thing. _Answering this will be tricky_.

"Must be a nick name, how cute." Muttered Fenyx with a muttered with a smug look on his face.

"Don't be stupid." I told him, shifting my weight from foot to foot uneasily. "It's nothing important, we should go." I said, starting to walk past the others. Each gave me a concerning look as I passed by, except for Kuma.

"Funny, most guys don't nickname the girl who rejects them." He said with a laugh. Not a nice laugh, the kind of laugh that makes you want to punch someone in the face.

And that's exactly what I did.

He fellow over backwards with blood dripping from his nose. I didn't think myself to be so spontaneous as to do such a thing, but even I couldn't predict my own actions at this point. My mind was still racing from the _scene_ with Takita, and what Kuma had just said pushed me a bit further than I was willing to go.

"Tera!" A few voices screams from behind me. Feminine, Takita. Quiet, Griffith. Deep, Fenyx. I looked down at my fist, clenched, the epitome of intensity. And I'd used it to harm a friend. Not a foe, a friend.

Kuma spat blood out his mouth to the right. "What's gotten into you, man?" He asked, finding his footing. _I could ask myself the same question_. The others rushed to his side, Griffith to mine, taking me by the wrist and pulling me back a bit.

"Terallian." He said in a firm voice, using my full name as a rarity. "You need to keep it together, don't let something like this happen during the boss battle, got it?"

"Got it." I said, before walking back over to apologize to Kuma. He had a look on his face that screamed 'no mercy', 'no forgiveness' but his words were sugar coated like a wolf in sheep's clothing.

"It's alright, that was an unnecessary comment from me." He said, as I apologized for hitting him. He said it's alright but behind that façade I could tell he was well and truly angry. I'd have to watch my back for now.

The whole event felt like it flashed by, like I was watching a slideshow of my own surroundings. It was a weird feeling, one I'd love to shake off as soon as possible. We'd dusted ourselves off and started our way back towards the floor boss, but there was uncertainty within the ranks. Everyone had their eye on me, and it cut me deep, not being trusted by your own friends… _Friends_ I thought to myself, watching Kuma watch me. After a while, he smirked with a quick 'hmph' and walked a bit ahead of me. Once I'd repressed the temptation for a round two fist-fight, I carried on, keeping my distance from the others.

After a 5-10 minute walk that felt like an eternity, a curious occurrence that seems to repeat itself to me, we were at what _had_ to be the boss room. 16 foot door, towering above us? Flaming torches lining the eerie columns? I this wasn't the boss room, someone in the development team had some serious explaining to do.

Then again, the whole team did.

A nod from Takita, the self-proclaimed team-leader much to the disgust of Fenyx, signalled it was time to get the show on the road. I took one last glance at Kuma, before stepping past the others to stand next to her, a sign of my reassurance to fulfil duty before emotions. Kuma purposefully winced, clutching his nose the moment he saw me take the front, perhaps trying to gain the appreciation of the others.

"Everyone! " Takita began to speak. "We've come a long way to make it this far, there were a lot of hardships along the way, but for this to go smoothly, we need to set our emotions and problems aside. Today, we don't fight as individuals, we fight as a team! A Brotherhood!"

Her attitude, her personality feels like it's shifted a huge amount since I first met her, and even more so since earlier…

There were cheers from the others, a few 'woo's' here and there. And with that, we began the walk towards the towering hulk of a door, pushing it open all at once. It made an incredibly loud creaking sound as it started to swing itself open.

A feeling of déjà vu hit me as the familiar roar of 'Kobold the Fang Lord' echoed throughout the room. We marched our way in one after the other, forming a line in the centre of the room. A silhouette in the distance stood up from its seating position and leap straight towards us, crossing the gap in no time. The large figure landed with a thud, and the room slowly came to light itself up. The rainbow textured walls lit up bit by bit until the whole room could be seen, and one hulk of a red creature stood before us. By his side were three smaller creatures. 'Sentinels'. It was going to be just like the boss battle from the anime, I was certain.

That was, until it drew a large chain and sickle from its back.

"It's different!" Curtis yelled, tensing up and drawing his two-handed sword from its waist sheathe. "Watch yourselves, he'll attack unpredictably, but as long as we hold the line, we'll figure out its attack patterns soon enough.

"Don't go rushing in for a hit until we're certain of what he's planning!" Regret added, taking his Axe into his hands.

I gave a sharp look to Griffith, who nodded in return. However he planned to fight with _that_ I may never know.

"Attack… _Commence!_" Zephyr yelled over the top of the others discussing. We all dropped whatever our concerns were, and made our way towards the opponent, him doing the same.

I made my way towards his legs to get a few shots in, while Regret, Kuma, Griffith and Fenyx took to the sentinels. Four versus three would be an easy win for us, so all I had to do was concentrate on the boss. Takita came up next to me as Zephyr and Curtis tailed behind to flank his backside.

Dodging left and right to avoid the bosses swings, I activated my basic **Linear** attack I'd grown so accustomed to in order to get a good, fast hit in on his legs. While the other three went left, I swung around the right side, the Sword-Skill glowing as my boots hit the ground one after the other. When I was in position, I let the attack commence, and the auto-guidance system took over my body to allow for maximum speed.

Not a moment before I reached him, Kobold's eyes glowed a detective red - he'd obviously spotted me.

"I gotcha, Asuna." Zephyr said with a predictable wink, as he came in with a swift but effective **Horizontal Square** to counter the enemy.

If it wasn't for the fact I'd almost become mincemeat, I might've laughed. Déjà vu hit me once more as the enemy barely scraped over my head with his sickle, before toppling off to the side from my comrade's blow.

Before the red giant could even rise back to his feet, Takita and Curtis were already closing in with their own attack. Both having the same two-handed sword, they hit a synchronized **Cyclone** attack like I'd seen her Takita use earlier. The outcome appeared like it was going to do some stunning damage, but it quickly took a turn for the worse. The two, swinging for the same target, collided before collapsing in a heap on the ground as they yelled out in the confusion.

They were completely exposed to the enemy's next attack.

His sickle glowed a deathly red, the kind of Sword-Skill you didn't want to get hit by – a high-level one. He threw it into the air, caught it by the chain, and slammed down immediately. The speed of the attack itself was staggering, less than half a second for the whole occurrence.

Curtis took the blow full on, eradicating his HP, turning it red within a moment's notice. He was in serious danger of being killed.

"_Haaaaa!" _I cried at the top of my lungs, activating a long-distance Sword-Skill known as **Flashing Penetrator**. It felt like the world was dropping into slow motion despite the speed I was going at. I lost sight of my surroundings as I was enveloped in a green light. The full energy of the attack formed a comet-like structure of pure power around me as I sped along the ground towards the foe. I didn't know when, but my rapier made contact with him, the impact shot its way up my arm and into my shoulder. It hurt a lot, but the damage it did was incredible. As I regained sight of the battlefield, I saw Kobold lying a solid ten metres across from me; a huge crater dug itself along the ground from where he'd slid. I checked behind me to see Curtis, pulling a HP potion from my belt pouch as I wiped my eyes from the dust produced by the attack.

When I could finally see, there was only Takita crouched, alone, surrounded by light blue shards drifting through her fingers. She looked up at me with a face of dread mixed with fear. Curtis had been killed, with a single hit.

"Griffith, Kuma, Fenyx- _dammit_."I screamed, before quickly realising that Regret was missing. "Finish them off and get over here, this is serious!"

"Shut up!" Kuma yelled in place of the other two.

Griffith and Fenyx nodded in reaction, and started using as many Sword-Skills as they could to swiftly eliminate the sentinels. I ran full pelt over to Takita, grabbed her hand, and pulled her back out of the way from the boss, who was finally getting up. Zephyr was standing next to us, having recovered from his Sword-Skill's cooldown.

"Damn it. Damn it, damn it, _damn it_!" He shouted, stabbing the ground with his blade. "_It should have been me_._ It should have been me_!"

"Zephyr! Snap out of it, we don't have time. Here he comes again, stay frosty!" I yelled at him, hoping it'd get through.

The boss was coming for a second round, and the others had finally caught up. There were only six of us left in the room, and the boss had only lost one of his four health bars from the high-level Sword-Skill I'd used, and it took a lot out of me. I was panting heavily. Sweating.

I considered using another high-level rapier Sword-Skill, but it wasn't something I'd used in combat before, let alone a boss battle. It'd appeared under my skills list after defeating the PKer, Fogresh back outside the Town of Beginnings – it felt more like a curse than an ability, a constant reminder of my actions that day.

"DAMN IT!" Zephyr roared suddenly, voice cracking as he ripped his blade out of the ground and immediately activated **Sonic Leap**, truly leaping across like a madman towards the foe. The others were yelling at him to stop but it was far too late. He'd cut the distance between the boss and himself by two thirds and his glowing blue blade was about to connect. In the same interval, Kobold the Fang Lord swung the sickle, a perfect hit into Zephyr's blade. Mid-air, he was spun out of control, losing his weapon in the process and making him a sure target for a finishing blow. I cringed, before something impossible happened.

He drew his other blade, activated a **Slant** Sword-Skill, and slashed the boss from left to right – waist to shoulder, taking out an entire health bar in one fit of rage. The heroic moment was cut short by Kobold as he threw the chain part of the weapon and caught the sickle. The metal death tool caught Zephyr by the throat, and in one sharp snap, it was over.

His body fell slump to the ground before bursting into shards.

_That's enough, that's enough, that's enough!_ I screamed inside my head.

"No… More!" I roared, letting the emotions of pain, sadness, rage and fury surge through me like a tidal wave. I brought my rapier to my side, ran at the boss, and activated my last technique I was yet to use. **Star Splash**. Dashing left, right, left I made my way across to the boss in no time, who was still recovering from his assault-during-injury. I let loose with the three initial thrusts, as fragments of yellow burst their way out of the blade I wielded, each stab piercing the enemy with pure anger. They did minimal damage, but the cooldown for both the bosses attacks tallied up to three seconds, and my attack would take two. I dropped to the floor, skidding sideways as I slashed his legs right to left, then jumped backward and into the air. Activating the last attack with all the strength I could muster, I caught sight of the others launching their own attacks from the sides and behind. With all the assaults launching as one, I charged my final attack with all the power I had, and unleashed it straight into his snout with one last hit.

I dropped to the ground, and everyone jumped back. The boss roared, swinging his weapon around furiously before collapsing and exploding into blue shards. He'd never even had the opportunity to draw his secondary stage weapon, which would've made the fight near impossible.

It was over.

The word **Congratulations** spread itself across the roof, as the room's colour slowly faded into darkness once more.

We entered as eight and stood as five. Was it really worth the loss?

No one spoke, no one moved an inch. The final hit pop-up appeared before me, an Item I stored but never bothered to check. I simply turned and walked towards the exit.

"…Fault…" Kuma muttered, shivering with anger.

"THIS WAS YOUR FAULT!" He screamed, lashing out at me with his fists as he ran in my direction. I stepped to the side and socked him in the side of the head, forcing him to collapse onto the ground.

"Stop it! Just stop it, both of you!" Takita screamed, tears in her eyes. Griffith fell to his knees, sobbing. Fenyx was busy scratching away at the ground trying to find whatever shards of his friends he could. The group was a mess, the sight… Horrific.

And I just continued walking… And walking… And walking… 'Till none of it even mattered anymore.


	5. Chapter 5

I stared, watching the ceiling, silently clutching to the sheet covers. A shiver shot down my spine, a feeling of pure fear. Lying now would be pointless – I was scared - scared of what was to become of those who passed on in this dreadful world.

I was certain that to my left, in the room next door, Kuma would be in the exact situation – unable to sleep – lying awake endlessly pondering the truth. In the room to my right, Zephyr, emotionally shattered by the loss of his friends.

Takita never came back to the inn with us; I don't know where she went, to be truly honest. I started walking and the others followed nonchalantly, like they had nothing else to do. I spent the night alone, without a friend, without anyone but myself, this bed, and an eternity to do nothing but think.

And think I did.

I thought about what we were fighting for, whether it was truly worth it – the same thing I thought the moment the boss had fallen. I thought about my friends, my family, what was happening in reality. I thought about Takita, I thought about Griffith, Kuma, Zephyr. I thought about Regret, Fenyx and Curtis, and what their sacrifice meant for and to the rest of us, and slowly but steadily, answers began to form themselves in my brain.

We weren't fighting for survival; we were fighting for each other. When Fenyx's life was on the line, he didn't give it to survive, he gave it to protect. I still couldn't answer if it was worth it or not, that question would be left until the very end. What would I have done in his position?

My friends and family were likely waiting outside the game for us to return, I was certain. But more than that, they believed in us. They believed we would overcome this game, that we would _win_… Otherwise… We wouldn't, no; we couldn't be here right now.

Takita… I knew the answer to what I thought, but I didn't know the question. Why did I tell her I loved her? Is that how I really felt, even after all this? No, that wasn't the question. She just drifted idly through my mind, there, but not there. Maybe there wasn't a question to even ask; maybe my feelings were already resolved. Griffith… I promised I'd make it my responsibility to protect him, even if I never said it aloud. He was stronger than I, perhaps not in strength, physique or speed, but in heart and soul. He was there for her when I wasn't.

The others, Fenyx, Regret, Zephyr, Kuma, Curtis. Fenyx, the one who gave his life. Regret-

Regret? I'd never considered it until this very moment, but his cause of death was still a mystery to me. I sat up in my bed, shivering against the cold of Aincrad's quick-coming winter. In a few days, snow would hit the town, and levelling would become incredibly difficult. Shuffling out of my covers, I flung my legs out of the bed and onto the warm carpet. It was a nice feeling, but short lived as the cold crept up my ankles and up to my knees. Freezing, I walked over to the door, switched on the light, and stepped out into the corridor.

I peered left and right, before heading down to the left and over to Kuma's room. A shrouded chill passed through my body like wind. Shaking it off, knowing well and true there was no wind indoors; I clasped the door knob and twisted it, stepping into the dark room that belonged to Kuma and…

"Regret?" A voice whispered from the bed across the room. "Regret is that you? You came back!" It muttered, giddy yet sleepy. I felt a pang in my heart. It must have been dreadful for him - although I didn't know the two well, they were close enough friends to be living together. Regret would have been the only one who helped Kuma on that first day.

I bit my lip, choosing my next words carefully as I closed the door with as much effort to stay silent as possible.

"Kuma." I began. There was a rustling sound coming from the bed, and two eyes appeared in the moonlight, accompanied by a disappointed face. He was speechless at first, but quickly stammered a response.

"Oh, it's _you_." Kuma replied, now awake and aware of the situation. "What do you want, Terallian?"

"I want to talk."

"I don't." He replied, rolling back over.

"It's about regret." I pushed. He paused for a moment, the sheets stopped rustling. After a few moments, he sat up in his bed, his pillow against the backboard.

"…What is it?" He questioned, looking uncomfortable as well as… _Guilty?_

"Back then when he…" I averted my eyes. "Was killed… What exactly happened?"

Kuma continued to sit, motionless, looking more and more uncomfortable as the seconds ticked by. He was staring at the floor, but nothing in particular; perspiration could be seen around his forehead despite the chilling temperatures, making it clear he was distressed.

He finally lifted his head, making direct eye contact with me.

"_It was my fault_." He whispered. I moved a bit further into the room, having already grabbed a spare chair and a blanket, before sitting down and snuggling in for what was likely to be a long explanation.

"It was _my_ fault he was killed. No… No, you could say that _I_ killed him." He spoke, pausing and stuttering at every word, trying to get a foothold on what he wanted to say. I was surprised by how quickly he opened up, as I had been expecting a battle with the gates of his emotions to get through to how he truly felt about it. I didn't know why, exactly, he was the first person I'd asked, whether or not I was curious about Regret's untimely fate. He carried on.

"Back there, you saw how powerful yet weak the boss and his minions were… It was almost like a real fight. Sure, they didn't take much damage before dying, but they dealt ridiculous amounts in return." He said, staring back to the ground once more. "They were going to kill me, Terallian." He said, eyes darting across the carpet.

"If I hadn't done what I did, it would have been me. _Me_." He continued, becoming more and more frantic.

I stood up, removing the blanket I had on my lap for a short time, and sat on the edge of his bed. After he noticed I'd moved, I put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"I'm here to listen." I said. I gave no advice as to what he'd said so far, needing to know a bit more in detail.

"I used him like a shield. _A shield._ What kind of a person does that? What the hell am I?" He cried. Despite my attempts to reassure him, he was still losing control, fast.

"Now he's gone, because of me. Fenyx died protecting us… Terallian… What happened to Curtis?" He asked, once again making direct, uncomfortable eye contact. There was something in his eyes, no longer a burning fire for survival, but a dying flame for hope. For reassurance. For forgiveness.

I uneasily broke the eye contact, not sure whether or not what I was about to say was a wise decision, but I said it anyway.

"He died protecting Takita." I said in a low voice. The bed shook for a moment as Kuma gasped.

"Then only Regret…" He stuttered, eyes darting once more. I simply nodded, before he finally hit his limit.

"Regret… Regret… Come back to me, Regret. _Regret. REGRET!" _

He was screaming at this point. I didn't even think about my next move, I just did what I believed was best, and I hugged him. I hugged him, mentally telling him it was okay, that it wasn't his fault. What I failed to portray in words, I'd made up for in actions. What I did was the only thing I could. He was breathing heavily, and I was freezing, but I pushed aside all else for just that brief moment.

"It's not your fault." Spoke a voice.

It wasn't mine, it wasn't Kuma's.

"It's not your fault." It said once more. It was Regret's.

That was the voice he had heard. Whether it was his delusion of my speech, or a ghost was in the room, that was what he had heard.

I didn't hear a single sound, but to this day, he still swore the essence of his friend was with us in that room, on that night – the night we made amends. A lot has happened these past few days, and a lot more was ahead of us. Many a question was answered, but many more still remained.

I'd decided afterwards that going back to sleep was pointless. I'd never be able to achieve even a moment of shut eye with so many questions floating around my brain. After heading down the hall and talking to both Griffith and Zephyr, I took a hold of my coat from my room, equipped my usual gear, and headed outside. I trudged along the wet pathway and slowly but steadily it began to snow. I'd expected it was a still a little while before snow was due, but I was apparently wrong. What surprised me even more, however, was who I met along the way.

Takita.

I jogged up a bit further down the path, covering my head from the harsh climate that was assaulting me. My fingers felt brittle, about to snap off at any moment. It took me a short few seconds to realise, but this was the first time in my life I'd seen snow. Where I lived before, in Australia, snow was an occurrence that we never experienced. It was fascinating to finally see it.

"Takita!" I yelled, coming up behind the unmistakable girl. She turned on the spot, almost slipping on the wet ground before regaining her balance.

"Careful." I warned, stepping forward to make sure she didn't fall over. "Aren't you used to the snow by now?" I asked.

"Yes, but…" She began, before pausing and almost laughing. "Whoever designed the snow in this game was an idiot." She said, referring to the AoA Developers – something very taboo in the game.

I smiled to show I didn't mind.

We walked down the street, at first in pure, bliss silence, before we started talking. We didn't speak about anything in particular; neither of us mentioned the others or the boss fight. We just walked and talked, enjoying the change of atmosphere for the first time since we began playing, which was surprisingly a little over a week.

"Hey, Tera…" She started off sounding a bit shaky, biting her lip in the process, slowing down just enough for it to be noticeable. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you." She finished, coming to a complete stop as I walked a few steps ahead. She paused behind me as I turned around, clutching her hands together in front of her.

"Back in the dungeon, when you said that you-" 

"I meant it." I said firmly, knowing all too well what she was going to ask. Despite her change In personality since we first met, she still had a few habits that she'd use that made it noticeable – primarily the way she spoke.

She glanced up at me, and then smiled. She smiled the warmest smile I thought I'd ever see in such a cold place. Maybe not just the temperature, but the world we now lived in. She smiled a smile that told me "It'll be okay." – a smile that made me feel like anything was possible.

But it wasn't the smile that changed everything, it was the words. The three, perfect words I feared I might never hear.

And as she spoke them, those three words, time stopped.

The whole world felt like we weren't in a game anymore, that we weren't trapped, fighting for our life. It felt like for the first time, we were together. It felt like I had something to protect, truly protect, something to grab a hold of and clutch onto for dear life. A life I would spend together with the girl I loved, no matter how brief that life may be.

At least now, in a cruel world, we had each other.

ACT I END


	6. Chapter 5P5

I awoke one morning like any other, completely unaware of what the day had in store for me, something I'd grown surprisingly accustomed to.

The sun in the sky shone down of me, bringing back painful yet bliss memories of day some time ago. Two years, to be exact.

"Bang." I whispered to myself with a laugh, rolling over to shield my eyes with the covers. I rolled a bit too far and quickly found myself on the floor with a throbbing forehead. Freeing myself from the entanglement of sheet covers, I stuck my head out the warm blanket and peered around my room. Oddly enough for a Sunday morning, Takita was nowhere to be seen.

Clambering awkwardly to my feet, head still spinning, I began making my way towards the door, leaving the sheet covers and blanket in the middle of the floor. Stepping out of the room, I paused for a moment considering what to do first. _Look for Takita, or go to the bathroom?_

Obvious answer.

I headed left down the hallway of our house and into the bathroom, pausing just before I made it to the toilet, having suddenly spotted the mirror to my right. I stood for moment, thinking back to the last time I'd actually seen my own face. In game characters differ from reality, and some find it odd to visualize, but a quick peek might not be _too_ weird. Turning my head slowly, then my body, I came face to face with a familiar yet unfamiliar young lady.

_Young lady!?_

I took a step back. _How long have I looked like this? When did I make this avatar?_ Thought after thought rushed through my head, as I locked eyes with this marvellously attractive gir-

"No!" I yelled, shaking my head and covering my eyes with both hands. "How did this even happen? Have I looked like this the whole time?" I mumbled, but no obvious answer came from anywhere in the house.

Uncovering my eyes, I got a closer look at the boy in the mirror. He- I, had blue shimmering eyes, feminine eyelashes and long, blondey-brown hair, wrapped up in a ponytail at the back as I was aware of, but still looking much more girlier than I originally thought.

I shook the thoughts out of my head, and ran into the hallway towards the front door without thinking. Tackling through the door, I immediately spun on my heels, went to the bathroom, and ran back out onto the porch. I was hit by that same shining sun as this morning, beautiful and stunning in all its glowing glory. I squinted against the bright rays, ripping open my menu right my left hand. Sliding through the options, I quickly found my armour and boots, equipping them in the blink of an eye. Moving into the weapons catalogue of the menu, I spotted a weapon I hadn't seen for quite some time after scrolling a bit too far.

FuwaFuwa was its name and I knew that somewhere, somehow, the Age of Aincrad Developers were laughing their asses off due to their foreshadowing of this event. Somehow I knew that _they_ knew I was going to be the one to get this weapon.

The lightweight blade materialized and I slung it through the sheath on my belt. It was a powerful blade despite the _fluffy_ name, and it was well and truly capable of allowing me to dispatch foes quicker than any other.

Walking down the steps of the front porch, I started to slowly make my way towards the dirt footpath outside of our house. Taking a glance back towards the fine estate reminded me of how lucky the two of us were in our situation, considering a lot has happened these past two years.

I started to jog as I turned back towards my objective, hoping to find one of our friends along the way to see if they knew where Takita was. The house Takita and I lived in wasn't far from the main town on floor forty-two and was a very common path. The chances were high I would run into at least one or two familiar faces on the path.

I enjoyed the morning run as the cold, fresh air was outweighed by the warm, soothing sunlight from above. It was a perfect day to spend with her, most probably why I was in such a hurry to go looking. I ran for a short while before my speculation was proved correct.

"Oi, Goku!" I yelled out to the gray haired claw-wielder. He spotted me coming and turned to wave.

"Terallian! Long-time no see…" He began. "…Where's Foyoki at? Not like you two to be separated very often."

"Funny you should say that." I laughed, panting a bit as I came to a halt beside him. "Have you seen her around?" I asked, hands on my knees. I stretched, and let out a sigh.

"I can't say I have buddy." He sighed in return. "I can help you look, though."

I nodded in reply, still panting. In the short few days we'd all decided to stop with the frontlines I'd become quite lazy, must to my own dismay. I looked around the area to see if anyone else was nearby, but my search collected no results. I wondered if Takita had headed down the path the opposite direction, or if she'd headed into town. I chose the latter over the former and decided the best course of action was the way we were already headed.

The walk, instead of a run, was rather peaceful considering how chilly it was when you slowed down.

"Hey, Goku, do you know anyone that might want to help out?" I asked, shooting the question across to the laid-back player beside me.

"Depends. Are you sure she's _missing_?" He asked, a tone in his voice made me realize I hadn't even tried messaging her yet.

"O-oh, well, I'm not really sure." I started while swiping my menu back open. I flicked open the Friends tab and quickly found her name, but there wasn't a Follow or Track option next to it. I tried to press the Send Message but even that produced no results.

"Uh, everything alright there?" Goku asked, noticing how frantically I was hitting my menu. I was about to reply but an arm suddenly gripped my neck from behind, the same happened to Gokudera I assumed as the two of us were pulled in towards one another and knocked heads.

"Morning boys." Said a familiar rough tone. It was a tone of voice that belonged to none other than Zephyr, a man I'd known from early on in the game. Unlike Zephyr, Goku and I had met on somewhere around the twenty-third floor, along with two others he was with at the time. The trio were attempting a quest that required four or more players, and I was concerned about the outcome, and decided to pitch in. It was a simple retrieval quest, but the number of NPC's we had to fight was staggering, at _least_ eighteen times our own number by the end. After it was all over, we added each other like I do with most parties I'm with for a tough quest, a habit I picked up on after finally getting over my choice to deny this game's reality.

"Ease up, will 'ya?" Gokudera laughed, as the spear-user loosened his grip before dropping his arms to his sides.

"Sorry about that you two, I thought you'd have seen me coming by now." He said, a grin still spread across his face.

"Just a bit distracted is all." I replied, quickly closing my menu now I'd confirmed the inability to message Takita. Zephyr, now alongside us as we began to walk, began to poke a question out of concern.

"What's the problem?"

"Takita's missing." I said straightforwardly before adding to it. "Messages, Following, Tracking, all a no-go."

"Then allow me to be of service!" He yelled, causing me to flinch for a moment, a sharp flashback of Fogresh the PKer hit me hard.

"Thanks, put please don't say that ever again." I coldly responded. Realizing how rude I was, I quickly suggested we head into the two she's most likely headed to, and so we did.

The town wasn't particularly far from the house in terms of walking, and since there were no mounts in our possession, we had little choice but to trudge our boots along in the brisk morning air. _Brisk_ was putting it lightly. I pondered as to whether or not it would start snowing someday this week, even more memories flashing back one after the other as a result.

Before long we were at the town entrance. Although we used the word town, it was actually the grand city of Asel which was opened up for public access a couple months ago after we cleared the boss below. That was a fight I'd never forget.

Forgetting about the fight, we headed into the city, its overwhelming atmosphere hitting us head on. If we wanted to find anyone here, our best bet was the tavern to the eastern side. Gesturing for the others to follow, after shaking them out of their stunned gaze at the townsfolk doing their daily routine, we proceeded to cross what appeared to be vast marketplace. The tavern was close, and so we cut through a few back alleys to get there. Just as we were about to exit into the main path once again, two shadows were cast down over us from both sides, accompanied by eerie footsteps.

"Where do you think you're going?" One of them, the left one, asked. As the footsteps grew louder and louder, a pair of silhouettes came in to view.

One belonged to Vengeance, the other to Shiru.

"To predictable, didn't work." I cut the pair's attempt at a skit short. "Goku, you're still with these two knuckleheads?" I teased, as the two stalkers came out of 'hiding'.

"Goku, you promised you'd help Shiru level today, I've been dragging him around the whole time. He's finally gotten over his 'settling in' stage as he calls it, and you've been off in your own world all week." Vengeance whined. The pair were none other than the other two members of floor-twenty-three's trio.

"Sorry to be a bother, but he has a point." Said Shiru from the opposite side. "Where've you guys been all day, anyway?" He asked, the two now standing in front of us.

"Takita's gone missing." Zephyr said, with a short nod as Goku and I did the same.

"As for the rest of the week, you know it's our relaxation week. We only get one of these, you two. You should learn to spend your time better." Goku said, lecturing the two as they stood there sulking.

"But… But…" Vengeance began.

"Give it up." Shiru, the white-haired mature one said, putting an end to Vengeance's complaints. "I can level on my own, you know. Now on a more important note, what's happened to Takita?"

"Tracking, Messaging, none of it's working. We thought we'd check out the tavern to see if anyone else might know, but then you two showed up. How long have you been following us, anyway?" I asked, glaring at the mischievous pair ahead. The two started whistling and I decided there was nothing to gain pushing the matter any further.

"Can't be helped. Are you two coming or not?" Goku asked.

"Sure, whatever." Vengeance muttered, clearly in a bad mood to Goku's lack of attention.

Turning around, we finally got back on track towards the tavern, having made it onto the main road and in the direction of our destination. I wasn't sure exactly who I was hoping to find there, but it was common hang-out for our Guild, the Brotherhood. Since the day it was formed, the Brotherhood has gained and lost members, but as day after day flew by, some were beginning to call as the most powerful Guild in the world. And what attentions has that brought to us, you might ask?

"**TERA!"** Screamed the rowdy group of tavern patrons as they swung their drinks into the air, beer and spirits alike flying all over the place.

"Honestly…" I muttered, having achieved such a high status brought along way too many prying eyes with it, our opportunities to have some along time, Takita and the other Guild members, was slipping away. It was worse on her than the rest of us, however, being the Guild leader. I was simply the second in command, and that alone brought along a ridiculous amount of bystanders to every quest, spectators to every duel and challengers to ever y fight.

I stepped over to the bar, avoiding the alcohol flying overheard, trying to keep it out of my hair and clothes as well. I sat down at the bar on a stool, and almost immediately a man slid his way across to me.

"I'm a boy." I said.

He then immediately slid his way back to the pile of drunkards he came from.

"Still getting that?" Vengeance asked.

"Getting _what_?" I shot him a look. Initially I thought that people were just interested in my status in the guild, but my facially orientated realization that morning shun a whole new light on the subject for me.

"N-Nothing." He said, taking a seat beside me. The others did the same, filling up five bar stools in total. We each ordered drinks, everyone a beer to themselves and a cocktail to myself.

"That won't help your situation." Zephyr laughed, patting me on the back as he'd taken his seat beside me.

"And _that_ won't help _yours_." I said, hand on my rapier. He eased up and leaned back on the bar top. Vengeance tapped me on the shoulder.

"Easy there, Mr. Tera." He began, shooting me a wink. "How did you deal with that for the past two years?" He asked, taking a glance at my drink and then back to me. To the drink, then to me. The drink, me. Drink, me.

"Stop that." I said, his visual gestures at what seemed like a feminine side of me becoming irritating. "I didn't notice until this morning, okay?"

"I find that hard to believe." A voice said from behind me. I heard the door swing to a close, indicating someone had entered. The bar slowly went quiet, and a shadow loomed over me, shrouding myself and the bar table in darkness. There was more than one, maybe three shadows covering us all.

I span around on my chair to face the group as the silence became too much for me. As I came face to face with the three, their faces were revealed.

"Drop it." I said. "Shiru and 'Vengy here already tried the whole intimidation thing earlier."

The large group burst out laughing in front of me. Each was a member of the Brotherhood, the group we'd slowly formed over the years.

The tall and mature black-haired Hthiy. He held no weapons visible and was completely chilled in regards to combat. Out of the whole group in front of me, he may very well be the only 'normal' one amongst them.

Beside him stood the airhead Foxhound. He wielded a one-handed blade like most and his black hair with an odd tint of brown matched the majority of the group. Unlike Hthiy, he was anything but normal.

The last one on the end was Lashette, better known to myself as Asuka, but for the sake of keeping as many real-world identities a secret as possible, I never called her that around others. Her greyish-white hair was incredibly long and swayed when she walked like some kind of photoshop model, accompanied by a one-handed sword much alike Foxhound.

The trio stood there silently. Watching. Waiting.

"H-hi" I stammered out at the three.

"You've could've at least acted a little bit scared." Said Asuka.

"Well, that might ruin his character in front of the others, ya' know?" Added Foxhound.

"Yeah, wouldn't want them to think he's a gir-" Began Hthiy before I rested my hand firmly on my Rapier FuwaFuwa once more.

"N-nevermind." He stuttered somewhat similar to Vengeance.

I stood up and let out a deep sigh, wondering whether it was coincidence or luck that had lead us to find almost every Guild member along the way. I considered telling them about Takita's disappearance, but I figured it wouldn't take them very long to-

"Where's Takita?" Foxhound asked.

"Bingo." I muttered, knowing my prediction was right on target.

"Bingo?" Foxhound replied with a hint of confusion in his voice. "They have bingo in this game?"

I shook my head at his idiocy before turning around and tapping Zephyr and Vengeance on the their shoulders, a simple gesture for them to get up.

"She's missing." Shiru said, standing up of his stall as well. Gokudera did the same while the bar quickly quietened down as what appeared to be a standoff to the drunken crowds had formed. Chants of 'fight' and 'get him!' echoed throughout the acoustically small room.

"We best head outside and see if we can locate the others." Zephyr suggested to the others. "After you." He said, as we all began making our way towards the door. We kicked it open and stepped out into the fresh air, finally free of the drunken, smelly craze of a tavern. It took me a moment to realize we'd been there less than five minutes and were already out.

"I didn't even get to finish my drink." Vengeance whined.

"I didn't even start it." I said, shooting him a quick stare. I took in my surroundings to see if anyone else was coming along in our direction, but my search, once more, granted no success. We'd searched the only location we'd considered so far, and so our next target was a mystery. We started walking back in the direction of the marketplace, hoping to find some salvation over there.

"…Assuming you intend to help?" I just barely heard Goku say to one of the others behind me. What sounded like an 'mmhmm' could be heard from behind and was accompanied by what I'd have guessed would be a nod. We'd slowly recruited quite the party to find her. _I wonder if she'll appreciate the attention… _

After the short walk back, we'd arrived at the marketplace, with not much else happening. The others split up to do their own shopping and business, Zephyr and Goku heading one way, Vengeance and Shiru the other. Fox, Hthiy and Asuka had wondered off on their own path and as a result I was stuck alone once more, probably for the better.

As much as I like crowds of friends, I also love the rare chance to walk around in peace and quiet. Wanting not to waste the opportunity, I made my way over to the weapons and armour stalls not far from where I was. When I arrived, a distinct voice could be heard yelling with a meek one occasionally squeaking in reply.

"That's a stupid idea! Don't buy that." Said the loud, distinctly accented voice, with a sharp squeak of a girl in reply.

A few seconds later there was another one.

"No, no, no! You'll never level up with _that_, you idiot." Lectured the unmistakable voice of Kuma. I spotted him harassing a short, meek girl with long black hair. She was very pretty from what I could see, and was equipped quite charmingly. Her gear seemed fine to me and so did her weapon, so I considered my next move to be the best course of action.

I walked right up to the teasing masochist and activated Flash Hit without thinking twice. My right hand glowed yellow, and with one, swift punch to the back of his head, the boy was rolling onto the ground a couple metres away.

"Hey-hey-hey-hey!" He cried as he tumbled. "I yield!"

"Are you alright?" I asked the girl, ignoring the injured Kuma. She turned to me immediately and a sudden moment of shock hit me head on.

"Sen!" I yelled, rushing over to the girl, almost knocking her over with a hug.

The female who was caught in my arms was none other than Sen, one of many Age of Aincrad users I'd met during the game but saw very rarely. Releasing her, I turned to the idiot lying on his back. Shaking my head, I walked over and offered my hand to him, pulling him to his feet once he'd clasped onto my wrist.

"I'm looking for Takita, you wouldn't happen to have…" My voice trailed off.

Sen still stood speechless next to the two of us, as I began to question the likelihood of them two being together, shopping.

"This… Is unusual." I said, looking at the two now standing side-by-side. I'd never seen them meet before in my life, so to be out shopping for equipment, or put into better words, to be out getting-yelled-at-by-Kuma.

"Don't tell me…" I said, glancing back and forth between the two, a potential realization suddenly being brought to light.

"You're…"

"Don't even think about that." Sen said, finally speaking. I shook my hands in defence, worried I'd receive a Sword-Skill to the face for my incorrectly assuming response.

"T-Tera!" Came a quiet male voice from behind, as the distinct sound of a Sword-Skill being activated echoed across the courtyard. I began to turn, only to be met face-to-face with Griffith, the very first boy I'd met in Age of Aincrad.

"Griffith?" I said as he started face-planting the ground having dramatically missed the hostile Sen with what looked like a distractive Flute-Art. The flute he wielded had glowed an incredibly bright blue, capable of blinding a foe, obviously in an attempt to stop Sen from attacking me, which she wasn't likely to actually do.

There was a thud followed by a wave of dust as the blonde boy hit the ground.

"Where the hell did you even come from?" I said to him as he scrambled around on the ground in an attempt to regain his stance. Person after person had being showing up today and it was starting to get out of hand. First the two on the way to the town, then the two idiots in the alleyway, followed by the tavern havockers and now these two behind me and even…

I let out a sigh, heavier and longer than all the rest.

"I was playing in the tavern when," Griffith started as he stood up on two feet and dusted off his knees. "When you all barged in, disrupted the place and barged out, so I followed you and…"

With a sorry look on his face, he stuttered. "Y-you're not mad… A-are you?"

Just before I made my response, yet another voice, female this time, cut in from my left side.

"What're you all up to?" A girl with pink hair asked, accompanied by four men. I looked across to them, seeing their individual name bars.

Caesar

ZeXo

Tamo

Each looked ridiculously out of place standing next to this tiny girl, Serah, with pink eyes and hair like I'd mentioned, she had a black and pink long dress that perfectly matched her appearance, accompanied with a pink fan for the cherry on top.

"Oh, hey Serah." Kuma answered, immediately being recognised as a friend of hers since the three men took a step back. "Terallian here's looking for his girlfr-"

Another Embracer silenced the blathering fool.

"I'm looking for Takita." I said in his place, as he fell to the ground in a heap once more, letting out a groan.

"Takita?" The one named ZeXo answered. "We were just talking to her a few minutes ago."

"Yeah, over by the haunted house on the other side of town." Added Tamo.

I froze in place for what felt like a solid minute. _They found her. _They actually found her… This whole day's mess of player after player stumbling into us was a total waste, not one of them would have known but it was her, this pink-fluffy girl, that had seen her.

"What's up?" Said Zephyr, coming from behind with the others, clearly having finished their shopping. The thirteen others stood silently, staring in towards me in the centre, minus Kuma of course who was still frolicking around on the path having not taken into account the lack of pain in a safe area.

I slowly moved around in a full circle, taking into account the numerous people simply standing, watching.

Zephyr. Goku. Hthiy. Foxhound. Asuka. Griffith. Sen. Floor Kuma. Serah. ZeXo. Caesar. Vengeance. Shiru.

All watching.

All waiting.

"_THE HAUNTED HOUSE!_" I screamed, kicking off my back foot and pelting straight past the girl in the pink. The others jumped back with a dumbfounded look on their faces as I dashed past them all and straight through the closest alleyway, right in the direction of the haunted house. I could hear the sound of footsteps on the concrete as we all continued running, taking a right around a building and a left around what looked like a café.

I was puffing, panting, but the end was in sight. We were swiftly making our way every closer to the house as pedestrian NPC's and other players stared with confused and even terrified faces. Shaking off the burning eyes, I continued on left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, an echo of leather boots against solid ground sounding through all the streets. As I rounded the final corner to the haunted house, a rarely used building that was player owned but no man had ever been seen entering.

As I closed in on the target, a lone silhouette stood in front of the building, staring up at it, tapping away at something in their menu. A moment later, I was sure of their identity.

"Takita!" I yelled out, her hair drifting in the wind as she turned to see a blur of fourteen crazed players dashing like a circus of madman towards her. She let out a sharp scream as I came skidding to a halt…

…Only to be knocked over, on top of her, with a pile of other players along with us, creating a huge mountain of people.

"Flashing Penetrator!" I cried out, activating one of my most explosive Sword-Skills. A huge ray of light burst out from the bottom of the pile, its source being the rapier, FuwaFuwa. The knockback from the attack sent everyone but the girl we'd been searching for and myself, flying.

There was a mess of bodies everywhere, and they were all mostly upside down or in physically impossible positions having been thrown halfway down the street. I sat up, pulling Takita up with me, and just stayed there, silent.

Until, "Uh… Tera. I appreciate the friendly gesture, but… What the _hell_ are you all doing?" She said, looking furious and fierce as the sun begun to finally set.

"Looking for you!" I yelled, hugging her. "Where have you been? Why couldn't I message you or find you or track you or anything?" I said, blasting her with question after question as the others began to regain their composure. A few were on their feet, but the majority were still stunned by the knockback.

"Looking for me? I had my messages and alerts on silent after I headed to bed last night… I guess I forgot to turn them back on." She said with a giggle.

Everyone that wasn't already sitting up… Was sitting up. And staring. Staring _hard_.

"T-that's it?" I whispered to her.

She nodded. "Yeah. What's wrong?" As the onlookers became more and more intimidating.

"N-nothing." I replied, gazing back at the dozens of furious eyes. "I'll explain it when we get home."

All the people I'd dragged around the whole day looking for the allegedly missing Takita began to draw their weapons one by one.

"Takita, I think now would be a fantastic time to start running."

She nodded.


End file.

Sword Art Online/ソードアート・オンライン, Adventure, Fantasy