Disclaimer: SAO and is subsequent characters are owned to their respected parties. PlainStoryTeller's fanfiction "A Second Chance" and its subsequent characters belong to him.

(Opening Theme is Endless Tears by Ayane)

2015 Hours – April 5, 2024 - Aincrad 50th Floor – Vega's Weapon Laundering

"Have a good day!" Vega smiled as she waved a player leave her store. Grabbing a towel rag from underneath, she gently wiped off the dust off the counter humming to herself. "Yet another satisfied customer…"

Twilight had already fallen on the city of Algade. NPCs and players alike started to head back to their homes to sleep. Lanterns and light-posts all around the city lit up the city as the noise from the outside emptied. The background music of the fifty floor slowed down to a cool jazz theme, a slow tango dance for adventurers to rest their heads on a soft pillow.

Vega continued to smile when she tossed the rag behind her back as she walked over to the door and locked it. Sighing lightly, the redhead slowly stretched her arms out, rotating them in circles as she made her way into the house, turning off the lights in the store.

"Another good day… Hmmm, dinner…" She mumbled to herself, walking over to the kitchen. A semi-loud snore came from the couch. It was obvious that Bellona had fallen asleep. Shaking her head, Vega walked over to the kitchen as she withdrew several pots and pans. "Hmmm… What to make…"

Vega looked back over at Bellona, seeing what position she had fallen asleep in. The raven-haired woman had her mouth open, still snoring. While the mercenary looked like twenty one years old, Vega herself was nineteen. When Sword Art Online trapped the people in the game, the NerveGear saved the appearance of the person at that moment of time and has kept it for the past two years.

Getting her mind back on track, the redhead cupped her chin. "Ah, I know. How about some Trembling Ox steak? With some… hmmm…" The young woman giggled to herself as she withdrew her ingredients and a kitchen knife. With a flick of her wrist above the ingredients, they were chopped and diced into their proper proportions.

-.-.-

Something traced along Bellona's nose as she twitched in her sleep. It reminded her of home, coming home from far away games to a nice steak dinners made by mom. As she opened her eyes, she felt that she was home; the emptiness was gone. A light gasp escaped her lips when she rubbed her eyes, relaxing her body on the couch.

"Oh? You awake again?" Said an unfamiliar voice as Bellona stand right up, her arms ready to fight. She looked around.

"Uuuhhh, you ok?" said the voice again. Bellona looked over and saw Vega. Her mood instantly soured as she slumped her body. "Yeah, just dandy." She said dryly.

"I made some dinner. Want some?" The young mercenary grunted as she stood back up and walked over to the table, placing her hands underneath.

"It smells like steak…" Bellona said impassively. Vega smiled back as she continued to cook. "Yeah, it's like steak."

"But it's not." She stated in the same tone, but with a tint of anger in it. The redhead didn't seem to notice any change.

"It works right?"

"Hn." The shop-owner shrugged as she quickly set the table. With increasing grace, she placed the food on the table. A fresh salad based on the fruits and vegetables of Aincrad and the steak.

Reluctantly, Bellona picked up her fork and started to eat, her mind elsewhere. Vega stand on the opposite end, happily eating her food. Bellona's anger simmered as she glanced over at the younger woman, ignorant as can be. It's like she's fully adapted into this realm. Again, Vega continued to not notice her anger or she was just ignorant.

Getting irritated with her counterpart, Bellona focused on the food before her. It tasted just like the steak back home, rich in favor as the juices filled her mouth with every bite. She moved on to the salad for a second. The first bite was similar to mandarin orange and almonds. If she was back home, it would probably be mandarin orange and almond salad.

And she hated every bit of it.

Technically, Bellona didn't need to eat as her real life body was probably carted off to some hospital in Japan, being injected with nutrients daily. But with nothing else to do, she was going to eat anyways. Midway through eating, she noticed something out of place. There was something else in the food that she couldn't place. A taste from the past before her name. It was certain spice. She couldn't remember the name. The emptiness in her chest grew and expanded as she tried wrapping her head. Eventually the raven-haired woman gave up, finishing her dish.

Vega had yet to even half way finish her food when she saw Bellona get up. "Do you mind doing the dishes?" the redhead asked.

Bellona gave an unconscious nod as she took her plate over to the sink and allowed the water to run over them. Despite the Medieval/Fantasy setting for Sword Art Online, there were a few carry overs from early twentieth century technology, many for just convenience's sake. Vega sighed as she picked up her own plate. She just came a bit short of finishing it. Instead of throwing away the food, she strolled over to the ice box and stored away the food.

"That'll be a good leftover breakfast, huh?" she said to Bellona as the latter simply grunted.

"Soo… Now that dinner is done, what do you want to do?"

"Well, how about..?"

"No fighting. It's too late for that."

Damn… Bellona grumpily sighed. Putting her hands in her pockets she asked in her usual neutral tone. "You have any playing cards?"

"UUuhhh… no?"

The twenty one year old looking mercenary dropped her menu screen with a sigh of venom. She withdrew a small handheld box with another smaller box. Popping the larger box, it contained several brown sticks. The mercenary nonchalantly dragged out of the sticks to her mouth. She then opened the smaller box revealing a set of 'matches'.

"Wait! Are those what I think they are-!" Vega yelled as she pointed at the brown sticks.

While they looked like cigettes, they weren't really cigettes at all. A certain item drop known as 'Shades of Night' on the thirty fifth floor of Aincrad can be gathered from plants or monster drops. Simple craftsmen created this item on complete accident. Dubbed as 'cigs' by the shadier players, they were resembled their real life counterparts, but what they actually were smoke generators. Really good for players that want to conceal their faces in room. While SAO was designed for ages fourteen plus, the cigs seemed a bit more mature. But considering with surge of younger players playing M rated games as well as the "Ethic's Code", this was an unsurprising outcome.

Bellona stroked her match as she brought up the stick closer to her cig stick as Vega walked over and slapped it out of her hand. The match itself burned up and disappeared. "The hell you do that for?" Bellona said, a tint of irritation in her voice. She knew exactly why she would be upset but in order to relieve herself of boredom, this would have to do.

"How in the world did this mechanic appear in SAO?"

Bellona gave a halfhearted shrug. "Kayaba Akihiko thinks of everything I suppose. A god wants to replicate things that people are familiar with right?"

Vega continued to glare as she turned her body with a sigh. "Fiiine. Whatever. If you really need to smoke, then do it outside." The mercenary continued to fiddle with the stick in her mouth, not even going for a match.

Seeing that the conversation was going nowhere fast Vega decided to sprawl out on the couch, leaning her head against the arm rests. "Ahh, another day another few things to get back. I really need to restock on inventory…" she lamented.

"Am I to accompany you then?" Bellona asked, still sucking on the unlit 'cig'.

"No. Not yet at least. Plus, the inventory shall keep up for several weeks so I'll be fine for now." As much as Bellona wanted to attack and leave this woman, she wouldn't just leave her equipment upstairs by itself as she thought about what next to do. Secondly, having a shop suddenly shut down because the owner is dead would easily allow The Army and some other interested parties to find her.

But perhaps the most importantly (in her mind anyways) Bellona wanted to find something out. This woman had a familiar aura about her. Like a long forgotten idea, mysteriously coming back up again. The emptiness was starved off, like after completing a quest or off doing mercenary business for guilds. The thrill of fighting.

"Hee-y, Miss Bellona? You there?" Vega looked over, concerned. The woman grunted as she decided to drag a chair from the kitchen to sit right across from her captor.

"Still not talking huh?"

"What's there to talk about? You have effectively cut off my way of living. I am beyond bored in the place. What is a soldier to do if she is cut off from the only thing she knows?"

Vega tilted her head as she said. "Uuhh, relax?"

The raven-haired girl sunk back into her chair as she glared hotly at the younger woman. "What's there to relax about?"

"Well, considering that you are always on the run and-."

"So? Anything exactly wrong with that?"

"Don't you ever feel… lonely?" The mercenary shifted in her chair, taking a more comfortable position. "No. I don't have time for such things."

Vega sat back up as she leaned in, frowning with curiosity. "You don't have time to..?"

"Let me explain it to you then if you are so interested." Bellona sighed as she rubbed her temples. "I simply don't have time to deal with these types of things because I don't allow myself to do that. The free time that I spend not sleeping or eating, I am fighting. Constantly. Whether it be against other players or monsters."

"Training?"

The black-haired woman slanted her eyes as she continued to chew on her cig. "No. I fight because… That's the only thing I found that I am good at in this world."

"Isn't that kinda a major point though? We are fighting to break out of this prison."

The woman grunted angrily as she sank deeper into her chair. "No, we are not…"

"No? But why?"

"Do you even check the Argo Newspaper?"

"Oh right. Orange players and red players." She looked down as she sighed sadly. "It's amazing why these people want to do so."

"Because they believe it's fun… Just like any other killer out there." The redhead's usual happy face frowned and stared at Bellona. "Are you the same?"

"Huh. You can say that." She admitted, "I fight… because there is nothing else. I will keep fighting because it is the only thing that makes me feel. Feel… something. That is my reality."

"You must have felt something in the past."

Bellona looked the other way, her face livid with anger for the split second. "No. We are not talking about pasts."

That flash seemed to go undetected by Vega as she continued push the question. "Something happened… It's either you do remember or you don't want to talk about it."

The redhead threw up her arms in defeat, sighing. "Alright. I can see that you are still upset. It's getting late and I want to head out to gather some things earlier morning. And you, my friend are joining me."

"Whatever. I wake up early anyways." The two woman stood back up as Bellona left the chair where it was, ignoring Vega's complaints about putting the chair back. With Vega leading, the two women entered upstairs again.

A thought traced the mercenaries mind as she huffed grumpily and started heading back down. "There is only one bed. I'm calling dibs on the couch."

Vega gave a shrug as she entered the room and promptly locked it. The mercenary looked over at the couch as she promptly crashed on it. Sighing heavily, she stared at the ceiling for minutes on end, thinking about her situation again.

Can't leave. Need stuff. Could pick lock, but might alarm. Sleeping PK? No, I am not a dirty assassin like such. What does this woman want with me? And why is she so calm around me..? The questions floated around in Bellona's head until she fell asleep, still thinking on what to do.