A/N: Hey guys! Just a short chapter here, but one question I want to ask: why was there no instruments in SAO? Well, I've put them in this story. Everything from electric guitars down to bongos, everything's here. I know that this WOULD be out of setting for a medieval world, but it's a virtual world. Surely they'd have access to a bunch of songs cause the NerveGear was plugged into their PC's? Anyway, yeah, they're here, and as such, I can put in some of my favourite songs into this story! Also, I've given the players the ability to play music using an ability, and that this music only they can hear. Also, now NPC bands now are in the game, and now they can play whatever song you request. So, here we go.
The Bodyguard: Chapter 3
I groaned, and tried to sit upright.
Wait, WHAT!
It all came rushing back.
The edge.
The trip.
Telling Lisbeth.
The Memories.
Already Dead.
I looked around the unfamiliar room. Where…
I stood up, and saw that my face coverings hadn't been removed. Nothing had.
Everything was still there.
I walked around. Nothing was familiar. I tried the door. It opened easy enough.
I stepped out into a white room. Sitting in the centre, on a featureless white chair, was a man.
Even without a name tag, I still spotted the man who had created the game. You couldn't browse a gaming site without his face appearing.
"Hello Jake. Take a seat."
A chair appeared. I sat down, and faced Kayaba. I was shaking with fear.
"Jake, you are not dead. However, I wanted to talk to you. You, even this early in the game, have become a legend. All you have done, in the one month this game has be operational, has helped people. Lisbeth, especially. I have a feeling that she would have been the one to commit suicide if you hadn't helped her out of the Town Of Beginnings."
"Why?" Kayaba looked confused.
"Why what?"
"Why am I not dead?" Kayaba looked seriously at me.
"I cannot allow you to die. You remind me of my brother. He was treated the same way by our father. I… did nothing, thinking that it was for a good reason. Eventually, he had enough. But unlike you, he did not kill Father, he simply hung himself." Kayaba's face was blank, showing no emotion. "I should have done something. However, I CAN do something now. You, Jake. If you died, guess what would happen? Hundreds would follow. Maybe even a thousand people. You are their hope. I will not allow you to die, just so that this game may end prematurely. And, before you ask, I have sent out a server-wide announcement saying that you are not dead."
"I WANT to die! I can't move on! The deaths… their BURNED into my mind!"
Kayaba sighed. "You'll HAVE to deal with it. For now, I will teleport you to your house. The boss fight is in an hour. Take care. You'll meet me again."
"Wait-"
I appeared in the house. I was on the couch, and I could hear someone crying off in the distance, along with people talking. I activated my stealth skill, and crept out to look. To my horror, there was over three dozen people on a hill, with many more surrounding it. On top of the hill, kneeling next to a stone, was Lisbeth. The crying I could hear came from different parts of the crowd. I sighed in frustration.
They'd erected me a grave. Apparently, Kayaba's message hadn't convinced anyone. I snuck into the centre of the circle (How, I don't know. Apparently no-one's detection skills were high enough to sense me, or they were simply ignoring me.) I arrived at my grave, and tapped Lisbeth on the shoulder. She slowly turned around, and upon seeing me, pretty much screamed. The hill fell silent, and all of the gathered people looked at me.
"Listen up! I was dead, but Kayaba brought me back. I don't want anyone trying to follow me. Kayaba won't save you. How many people here are from the clearing group?" A few people put their hands up. "Right, and how many people are combat orientated, level 12 and above?" A few dozen put their hands up. "Right. Form into six man parties, and let's move out. We're already late. Let's show Kayaba that we don't need him to save us!" A roar of encouragement and defiance came from the crowd. The parties formed up, and I led them towards where the main force was meeting.
When we arrived in town, we got a lot of stares. I smiled. 40 organised people lead by The Shadow, who was proclaimed dead about 10 hours ago? What could be weirder? I felt like a complete badass when me and my little army arrived at the meeting place. Diabel approached me with a smile on his face, followed close behind by Agil. Diabel shook my hand vigorously, and Agil patted my back. "Good to see you alive, Shadow. And I see you've bought reinforcements. Even better." Agil smiled at me, and I nodded in return. Diabel had gathered about thirty people, most of which ran up and began to congratulate me on my survival.
My detection skill went wild, as it detected a disturbance. I turned just in time to stop a fist being swung at me. I grabbed said fist, as the seventy or so gathered players all drew their weapons. I motioned them to stand down. The person kept swinging, but their attacks were ineffectual. Instead of attacking back, I pulled the person into a hug.
"Lisbeth, calm down."
"You left me! You… You didn't even say goodbye! Then you jumped of the edge of the Town of Beginnings! AND I WATCHED! And when you got back, you just gathered up some players, and left again! You-"
A gasp went up from the gathered players, as Lisbeth stopped talking.
She had stopped talking because I had interrupted her.
Well, to be more accurate, my chest interrupted her, as I pulled her into a hug.
"I'm sorry… I… just didn't want to lose you too…" She sobbed softly, and I stroked the back of her head softly. "I've only known you for a short time, but you and me… I feel a bond I can't explain. I need you. You keep me anchored. I realised this, after Kayaba talked to me." She was still sobbing.
"Don't go," she croaked, "I need you." I smiled, and whispered softly into her ear.
"I wouldn't leave you unless I had to. I need to do this. This boss needs to be beat. Then… no more leaving." She nodded, and I pulled her into one last hug. I stood.
"Let's move out!" The cheer from the surrounding players was deafening. I was proud to see the majority of the players were celebrating, with the ones that weren't smiling ridiculously. Diabel raised his sword, and all of the players travelled out of town. I said encouragement to every player that past me, until I was at the back of the column. I spotted the two lone players that had been at the back of the meeting. I walked next to them, and introduced myself.
"Your party seems under-strength. I can assist if you want." The kid looked up at me in awe, and the girl just seemed surprised. I sent them both a party invitation. "Here. Join up, and we can take down this boss together." The kid smiled, and the girl seemed to relax. I introduced myself, using my gamer name, and they did the same. They both seemed in awe of me.
We discussed topics like levelling, and how unfair the game really could be, along with the alarming amount of players turning to banditry to stay alive, to music they enjoyed. Kirito and Asuna began to open up to me, and eventually they began to talk amongst themselves. I smiled, knowing that these two probably would become good friends.
They talked non-stop for the hour it took to travel to the lair of the boss. Most of the monsters that stood in our way had been cut to pieces by the advance scouts, and the few that ambushed us were cut to pieces by the main party. When we finally arrived at the door to the boss room, Diabel stopped at the door, and turned to face us. He addressed us in much the same way he did in the first meeting.
When the doors opened, we were greeted by a horrific sight: a large, fat creature was sitting on a large throne. As the entire force stepped into the room, a name tag appeared above the head of the gigantic enemy:
Illfang the Kobold Lord.
As he stepped off his throne, three Ruin Kobold Sentinels appeared at his side.
I grinned under my mask. I felt good. We could clear this floor, get to the next one, and start to clear the game. I raised my sword in defiance.
"Let's exorcize these motherfuckers!"
The players roared, and Diabel directed squads to target certain enemies. Asuna, Kirito and myself targeted a Ruin Kobold Sentinel. The plan was for three squads to target the mobs protecting to boss, while the rest swapped in and out in attacking the boss.
The battle was going well for the first half hour. The boss' health had dropped to its last health bar, and the Ruin sentinels had mostly been wiped out, with one that I was still dealing with while Asuna and Kirito were healing up. The Sentinels were tough, but if you dodged their attacks, you would be able to get in a few good hits.
A roar from behind me signalled that Illfang had gotten down to his last vestiges of health. As he threw away has buckler and axe, Diabel yelled for everyone to get clear, and he began to run at the monster. My eyes windened.
The fool… he wants the last attack bonus!
I rushed to Diabel to try and protect him from the sweeping attack the no dachi-
That's not a no dachi!
"Diabel! GET CLEAR!"
I leaped in front of Diabel as the blade swung on its murderous arc. Diabel looked on in surprise as I jumped in front of him.
The blade fell.
I screamed as my left leg was severed. I smashed into the ground, and rolled for a few metres. Diabel was also hit after the blade passed clean through my leg. He flew back into a pillar, and groaned as he hit the ground.
Asuna ran up to mem in fright. "God, Crassus, what were you thinking?" I smiled weakly as she handed me a healing potion. I drank it greedily, but my health still kept failing. I saw that I had gained a bleeding effect on my status bar. I looked over to where Kirito and Diabel were. Kirito was trying to give Diabel a potion, but… I couldn't make it out clearly, but it looked like Kirito was being forced back by Diabel.
Then Diabel disappeared.
I roared in rage. Many of the other players joined me. As one ran past, he threw me a healing crystal, and I used it eagerly, and my leg was regenerated. I leapt up, and charged at the monster, Kirito and Asuna close behind me, with the main body of the group behind them. I yelled a war cry, and jumped straight at the boss, activating my most potent sword skill, ripping a deep cut across the boss' lower torso. Asuna used her rapier to bust through the boss's tough helmet and deliver a critical blow.
As Illfang stumbled around, Kirito delivered the final blow: a massive cut that ran from the boss' left leg to his right shoulder. The boss lost the last of its health, then it burst into a starburst of shards. The clearing party was silent for a moment, then everyone started to cheer.
I smiled, and Kirito fell to his knees.
Kibaou then shouted at everyone to shut up. I turned to see him near the spot where Diabel fell. He started to accuse Kirito of being a beta tester, and that he caused Diabel's death. I moved forward to defend Kirito, and I was joined by Agil and Asuna. We tried to explain that Kirito was innocent, before we heard maniacal laughter from behind us.
Kirito rose, and began a rant about how the beta testers were all weak, and how he was 'better than those noobs'. He said that he was dangerous, and that all of us should bow down to him. The players behind us began insult him, with the words 'cheater' and 'beta' mixing together to form 'beater'. I sighed in frustration at the scene, and left out of the main boss room doors.
If I thought the day was over, I was very, very wrong.
When I walked back through town, the boss fight results had apparently spread. I was bombarded with people thanking me, and a bunch of people showed me a tattoo they had given themselves: my face on their chests. It was kind of uncomfortable when the girls in the group took off their clothes to show me, but I thanked them anyway and told them that I didn't deserve any reward.
I walked through the fields, and saw hundreds of players training and trying to level up so that they could survive the next few floors. A few of them raised a hand in greeting when they saw me, and I returned the gesture.
When I finally reached Lisbeth's blacksmith shop, I steeled myself. I was hoping that she would agree to my plan.
"Hey! Lisbeth!" I called out into the shop.
And waited.
A few minutes later, she emerged.
She stopped at the porch, and I walked up towards the house.
"Stop."
I stopped, and tilted my head in confusion. I could see that it looked like she was crying. I almost took another step, then she started to talk again.
"You don't care, do you?"
I recoiled in surprise as Lisbeth stepped towards me, her brown hair swaying in the wind.
"You don't care that every time you leave, I worry, do you? I found out about the 'trips' you've been doing for Helva. She came round and told me. I also know that you jumped off that cliff. With no thoughts for me. You know what, you probably don't care. Leave. NOW!"
I tried to take a few steps forward. She chucked her mace at me, which I dodged, and she ran back inside. I ran to the door, tears running down my face. The door wouldn't open. I tried again.
Locked.
Scrambling to check my friends list, I discovered that she had unfriended me. Then, she probably restricted my access to the shop. I looked to my right, and spotted a sack, labelled Crassus' Stuff. I opened it. Everything of mine was in there, along with a note, with more or less the same words on it.
I grabbed the sack, and tried one last time to get into the house. Locked.
I cried softly as I walked away.
