Sadly, I do not own SAO or One Piece
Chapter 1- Keep your Enemies Close
Floor 35 «Forest of Wandering»
The young girl was pushed against a tree, there was nowhere to run now. Her health was into the yellow range, this wasn't looking good for the girl. She jumped around the gorilla-like creatures swinging their clubs at her, agilely flipping out of the way. The feathery dragon accompanying her, Pina, tried her healing breath, barely bringing Silica into the green. She reached for a healing item, only to remember she didn't have any, that scarlet-haired Rosalia had taken them. One of the gorillas hit her with it's club, sending her flying into a tree. Her health was in the red now, one more hit and it was over. Another gorilla came lumbering towards her, ready to finish her off. She looked frantically for her weapon, it was nowhere in sight. She had a frantic look in her eye as the bat-like club came down, only to be replaced by abject horror as her faithful companion Pina flew in front of the lethal force, taking the hit for her. She tumbled to the side, and Silica scrambled after her. "Pina! Pina, Pina!" The remnants of the dragon's health slipped away, and she glowed with an ethereal light, "Pina…" called the young girl, pulling the poor creature into her lap, shouting "Pina! Pina!" in a strangled voice. The dragon burst into countless blue polygons, leaving behind but a single feather.
Present time; Keiko Ayano's room
Keiko Ayano woke with a start. 'Why do I keep dreaming about that?' She thought, clutching her shoulders and shivering. 'That makes twice this week! SAO was years ago, and Pina's still alive, goddammit!' she shook her head and swung her legs over the side of her bed. She groggily pattered about bed and bathroom, getting dressed, brushing her teeth and hair, and other morning stuff. She looked at her clock and blanched. It read 10:13; she was going to be late! She rushed back to her room, and pulled on the amusphere that her dad had gotten for her seventeenth birthday about a month ago. She shook her head again, it wasn't time to mull over little things, she had made this appointment, and she intended to keep it.
"Link Start!" Her vision was overtaken by the loading screen, with brightly colored tubes rushing past on a white background. She spawned in the town she had promised to meet Liz, much to her relief. She rushed to the meeting place, and bounced on the balls of her feet. She waited, and waited, and waited, but nobody showed up. Silica, as she called herself in-game, grew worried, and then embarrassed. 'We… were supposed to meet here on November 20th at 10:15, right?' she questioned herself, and then shook her head once again, she had that information memorized beyond any shadow of a doubt.
"BEEEEEP" a loud noise rang out, alerting Silica, of a voice chat request. "Answer," she replied, seeing that it was Liz who was calling. "Uh, hey, Silica-chan, about the repairs to your daggers today, uh, something came up, so I won't be able to make it there, maybe tomorrow? Sorry, but this is really important!" Liz's voice came out immaculately, as though she was right there. "Liz, this is the third time I've tried to schedule this! You can't just back out!" she huffed indignantly, her daggers were about ready to break, what would happen then? "I'm sorry, Silica, but this is really, really important! Please! We can do this this tomorrow?"
"Oh, Liz… how on earth can I go on the next dungeon raid with these half-broken chunks of metal?!" Following that, there was a long silence, and a tentative 'umm' proffered by Liz, then the recording cut off. Silica sighed, that was really weird. Maybe she would go to Kirito and Asuna's house.
After teleporting to the twenty-first floor, she walked up to the log cabin. She was about to open the door, but then paused, she heard Kirito say her name.
"Guys, I know Silica is a valued part of the team, but… I just, she's really weak! I don't want her feelings to get hurt just because she can't keep up on the higher levels."
"Well, you do have a point, but- how will we convince her not to come?" That was Asuna's voice, she was backed by a sound of approval from Agil. 'Agil!? What's he doing here! What are they talking about?'
"Simple, we'll tell her that we called the raid off, that's the safest thing to do, especially after that awkward exchange from a bit ago." This time it was Liz's voice. 'This was the important thing Liz mentioned? Are they holding a meeting or something? These guys can't be my friends!' She thought as tears started welling in her eyes. "Well, if you thinks that would really help her…" Sinon's words trailed off. Thinking fast, she pulled out a sheet of paper and pen from her inventory and started to write a quick note.
Dear Kirito, Asuna, Agil, Liz, and Sinon,
I happened to have eavesdropped on your meeting, and it pains me to hear that you think that of me. If you happen to come up with a proper apology, I may come back online in a week.
She slinked away from the cabin, tears rolling down her cheeks. She sprouted her wings, and flew off into the air, circling a wide area over and over to try to blow off steam. She shouted into the wind, hoping to calm back down to try to talk to Kirito. It didn't work. She logged off, and, sniffling, tossed the amusphere gainst the wall and curled into a ball on her bed.
"I… I just want to disappear to somewhere far away. It's not like anyone wanted me around anyway..." She sniffled, and tightened her grip on herself. Maybe she could sleep off her misgivings.
Present time; Unknown location
"Disappear, huh?" a tinkly voice chimed from a blinding white room. "Heh, and just as I was getting bored, too! What sort of drama will unfold with girlie's little misunderstanding? And what of her friends? And the one not present? Oh, how exciting! Hahaha!" The tinkly laugh faded away as the room turned black.
A/N: Hey guys, it took far longer than expected, but this rewrite is finally, finally done! Well, this part anyway. Sorry that it took so long, but school is being a butt this year so I don't really have that much time for writing more than one thing at a time. The other chapters should take less time, so the next one should be up in a week or less. Oh, and any new readers out there, I hope you enjoyed this re-start to a story.
Thanks for reading,
-Alder
