"Liz you've gotta get past this." Agil said calmly.
"I mean seriously what are the chances? I meet the perfect guy on an online game of death, takes me on a whirlwind adventure where he saves my life, and I fall hopelessly in love with him just to find out he's already the property of little miss perfect 2nd in command of the whole freaking universe who also happens to be my best friend. Of course it had to be her," Lisbeth let out and exasperated sigh and took another sip from the glass in front of her.
The chatter of the Hammer and Tongs pub swirled around them. It wasn't Algade's flashiest bar by any stretch of the imagination. Round wooden tables scattered throughout a crowded space with plenty of ale to go around the lips of every gruff looking bearded man all around town. No room to walk and a thousand different tales of incredulous escapes without teleportation crystals or fighting off a monster with only rocks and a broken dagger were shared all around, and yet the only thing Lisbeth could possibly think of was Kirito. And how many drinks it was going to take in order to max out her Player Chemical Influence Index.
"It's been two days. Give it some more time and a little less Algade Ale and you're going to be just fine. " Agil took a long swig of his own drink. His words were well aimed, but deflected right off of Liz's ears. She couldn't even argue. Agil was saying the right things, sure. But it didn't make the feeling go away.
"But… I mean why did it have to be him? Like of all the people, why did he have to come into my shop that day and sweep me away?" She stared at her hand. The same hand that had felt the warmth on a frozen mountain on floor 55 a few days prior. It felt cold now. It felt lonely.
"Why did we get stuck in this godforsaken game? It's just life. It happens like that." Agil responded abruptly. He sighed, which didn't go unnoticed by Liz. He had invited her out in hopes of getting her spirits up. It was becoming more and more evident that he was instead just depressing his own self.
She stared blankly in to the glass in her hands, stirring the ice cubes around. How sad, she thought to herself, I can't even make myself argue back. I've lost my spark. She took another sip.
"Maybe you're right Agil. I don't know… I think I'm just going to head to an inn for tonight. I need sleep," She started slowly, rising from her chair. Her eyes swung over to her HP bar. A little icon of a beer mug was sitting promptly next to her health, flashing yellow over the bar.
"You ok, Liz?" Agil looked over with an eyebrow raised and a slight smirk. She turned a little too quickly at him and took a few steps to prevent from falling over. Her bubblegum hair fell menacingly over her rosy face.
"I'm drunk and depressed and lonely. Never better!"
Liz stumbled around the 50th floor's city for a while. She never really left the quiet hamlet of Lindas where her blacksmith shop was located, much less to come to the city for anything other than business. There was a constant buzz of noise in the city that she wasn't used to. Perhaps it was the lights. Perhaps it was the people. Perhaps it was the alcohol.
Regardless, she carried on into the center of town. She found a large fountain and flung herself at it. Kneeling next to the base of the fountain, she looked up at the statue in the center of it. Three stone dolphins held up a column, on top of which a man and a woman held each other's hands. A stream of water shot up from between them.
"You've got to be joking" She grumbled to herself.
"No joke, just a statue of love," a voice answered from behind Liz. Her head swung around to see a boy sitting on the bench. He was dressed in a casual navy blue pullover and a pair of jeans. Coffee brown hair sat spiked on top of his head, and a little smirk poked out from his scruffy face. Liz looked him over once, then twice, then spoke.
"I'm not sure this was the best statue for me to land on. I think I'm going to throw up" Liz heaved.
"That's probably the ale. Come sit on the bench until the active effects of the drinks wear off." He stood up and helped Liz up to her feet. She collapsed on to the bench as soon as she was close enough.
"Right then," the boy said, still trying to help Lisbeth sit up, "What's your story?"
"I fell in love with a guy who's in love with my best friend"
"Ah. Well that's not so bad!"
Liz's head shot up and turned a vibrant shade of red. He was looking at her with a slight grin on his face. "Well that's easy for you to say!" She fired back, "You didn't share the most amazing night in the last two years with the best solo player in the game!"
He looked from her over to the fountain. "You're right," he began with a sigh, "I didn't. But I know a thing or two about heartbreak. That's why I know it's really not all that bad"
"Look if you're going to tell me I just need to get over it just save your breath," Liz said, a slight tack of irritation in her voice, "I've spent all night getting advice from everyone and their grandmother about how love always works out in the end and a bunch of other stuff." The boy looked over at her again, that same perpetual smirk shining on his face. He chuckled.
"Why's that so funny?" Liz could feel her face begin to heat up again, the color quickly matching her cherry blossom hair. She turned swiftly towards him to make a point, but stopped. She noticed for the first time his deep chocolate eyes which laid softly on his face, looking right back at her. He seemed so relaxed, and Liz felt the heat slowly drain from her face.
"Because I've said everything you said before," he said plainly. Liz stared. He didn't continue.
"Sooooo… are you going to tell me this story or what?" Liz said slowly.
"Now you're asking the right questions!" He looked back at the fountain. The smirk finally began to fade as he began
"Before this game started, I had a girlfriend back in the real world. She was tall, had long brown hair, she these adorable little freckles just like yours, and I was absolutely in love with everything about her. You actually kind of look like her, if you don't mind my saying."
Liz's face flushed red again, but with a gentler expression.
"Anyways, we preordered our SAO Nervegear together and stood in line all three days for the release. When we finally got it, we rushed home and plugged up everything as quick as we could. It was great. We were excited. We'd been planning this out for months and it was finally here. The first thing I did in town was buy her a golden ring from one of the merchants. We were having a blast and then…"
They both looked up at the sky. Liz could see it again: red skies of oozing blood that morphed into the harrowing sight of the Game Master. The Tutorial. The day they were told that Sword Art Online was a matter of life and death. She shivered as the memory came flooding back.
"We started running. We didn't know where or what was along the way. We just kept running 'till we hit the edge of the map" His eyes narrowed, his back straightened. Liz could no longer hear the buzz of the city. Almost as if the whole virtual world had stopped with her to hear his story. He took a deep, shaky breath.
"I asked her where we would head next, but she didn't answer me. I turned and saw her on the ledge, tears in her eye. She held her hand out to me. I begged her. Pleaded, 'Please, Em, please don't leave me here. We can survive this together. We're going to make it out, I swear. Just please don't leave me alone'…. And then she stepped down and hugged me."
Liz stared at him. He kept looking at the fountain, almost as if he wasn't talking to her at all. "Are you serious?"
"Yep. She came down and cried on my shoulder for a while, and we made a pact that we wouldn't ever give up. Not on each other and not on ourselves."
"Okay so… what does that have to do with me?"
The smirk returned, "Because you should never give up on someone you truly love. In that moment I could've given up and dove off the edge with her. But I don't want that for her. For us. I want to make it back to the real world and hold her hand again, you know? Feel the warmth of her actual fingers laced in between mine. That's what keeps me going. That's what gives me hope."
"I… Know what you mean. Exactly what you mean actually," Liz said. Looking at the hand that held Kirito's, it dawned on her finally. It's not over yet, she thought. She could feel the rumblings of hope begin to bubble up inside her once again.
"Well good! Because that means you have something to fight for. And if you've got something to fight for, you've got something to live for! You're a blacksmith, right?" The words had rolled so smoothly that she didn't even realize he asked a question before she was nodding along, captivated by his speech. He continued, "Then you're essential to all of us, including your boy and your best friend. So go out there with a heart of gold and a head of steel and just do what you do best! Everything else will just fall into place."
She felt that rush of confidence that comes with every epiphany; that rising tidal wave of complete confidence and irrational optimism that rises through you and washes out all doubt. A smile crept up on her face. Not her business smile, either. A real, genuine smile.
"Thank you so much for all your help... uh… I'm sorry, I don't think I got your name" She said rather awkwardly. He popped up from his seat like a wound coil.
"No, you didn't!" He said, the smirk expanding into a brilliant, shining grin, "I'm just a random passerby, trying to help us all get through this. After all, no one can go on solo forever."
Liz watched as he turned, and began to walk off. He turned his head back, and flashed her that same smirk one last time. They waved, and he was gone.
Liz stood looking at the fountain statue one more time. No longer did she feel lost (or inebriated). With a confident smile, she found her way to the local inn. As she collapsed in bed, she smiled with the thought of those dark brown eyes looking back at her.
Sweet, cute, caring… Ugh... not again…!