(A/N: Sorry for this! A warning! There will be mild language in this chapter, just a bit. Even though you've probably heard more words than I have. Also, sorry for not updating the week I said I would! I got lazy af and didn't want to finish the chapter. But anyway, enjoy this... thing!)


By the time their meet-up was due, the separate groups discovered some interesting stories, as well as new information to use against the Event Boss. They met up at Central Plaza, and all four met up around the fountain in the center.

The first to speak up was Kirito. "Did you two get anything?"

"Yup! There's apparently a few stories going around about people who have already encountered the Boss!"

Jewel flinched. 'Why?' Asuna wondered, coincidentally looking over to her newest comrade. The brown-haired female had been detecting peculiar behavior from her fellow Party member. Even though they've only been together for not even a day, these behaviors were not normal for even the most normal human alive. 'Flinching, nervous to whenever something is mentioned about the Event Boss, a lack of stamina, not eating... What symptoms were these? Maybe she's just tired a lot...'

Jewel, on the hand, was sweating unnaturally. Of course, it was only internally, where she screamed to her heart's content.

But her thoughts were cut short by a male voice calling her name while she was in her mindful-yet-nervous daze.

"Uh... Jewel? You okay?"

Snapping back to the pseudo-reality, she found the Kirito family staring at her like she had three heads. 'Shit. Just play it cool, Jewel. Just play it cool...'

"What? Can't a girl think for once in her life? You know I have one, right?"

Silence. Of course, it's not the awkward kind, it's more like the kind you feel when you make a good comeback that no one can counter.

"Y...yeah, I know you have a life. But I was just wondering why you were so tense just now." The raven-haired boy rubbed the back of his head and smiled sheepishly.

"..."

NOW is the awkward kind of silence. Jewel contemplated up during this time and carefully chose her next words. "I'm fine. I just didn't get a good night's sleep yesterday and I just now remembered the nightmare I had then..."

Yui finally spoke up for the first time since Jewel appeared on the scene, still a little hesitant about talking around the suspicious girl in blood-red and black. "I-if it makes you feel better, would you like to talk about it Miss Jewel?"

"...I guess. Basically it's just me running from this band of monsters with knives and things. It really sucks me having these, and it's always the same: I wake up before my throat was slit."

If silences could get any less disturbing, this one currently did. Everyone in the Party looked at each other nervously, as if transmitting their thoughts were possible through their eyes. Wandering Players were curious as to why the four people were gathered in the middle of the Central Plaza and not making a sound. It unnerved strangers nearby so that most of them couldn't take the suspicion and walked away, not wanting to get involved. Others stuck around just to see who cracked first, then let out a chuckle as they left: they witnessed the AI break the tension.

"...I'm sorry... I do not have the words to reply..."

"I don't need sympathy. I've been trying to hide all the symptoms of my insomnia but apparently they couldn't go unnoticed by Asuna here," she gestures to said Player, who laughed nervously. Kirito could only shake his head; it was pretty normal to have his spouse poke her nose into other people's business.

Attempting to keep the conversation going, Kirito steered the small talk towards the stories they collected during their few hours of investigation regarding the Event Boss's appearances.

"So apparently, the Event Boss prefers to be most active near the evening-"

Asuna took the hint, and cut her online spouse off. "-Probably so that less Players are found and they are weary from travel. Is it to catch the Players off-guard?"

Jewel looked nervous, but she looked glad to be off the topic of "her personal life." She seemed alright, so she joined the conversation. "That might be the case. Because everyone is ready to leave the game during their evening, there is probably less people to look for it. Maybe it has a lair somewhere where it sleeps?"

This was common information for an RPG gamer of any kind. If there is a Boss or special appearance of an antagonistic character, there must be a place for the character to rest/reside. The protagonist character -the gamer's appearance in an RPG- often finds the Boss where its lair is, but the Boss is only triggered by the protagonist. This is what's known as a Static Antagonist.

But because this is an Event Boss, one would think it was different; however, the Guidebook never stated that the Boss was a Roaming Antagonist -one that doesn't have a specific location it's bound to-, so it's a possibility that there was a secret hideout where the Boss is during the day. So it could have been...

After a long and thoughtful silence, Yui chirps up. "Um, I think that might be possible. I checked the Aerial map of SwordArtOnlineRPG in my database and I found a new location that I haven't seen before." She pulled up said map onto a holographic viewing for the Party to see while she spoke.

"It's way off into the corner of the map, but it's still visible. I think we should check it out, even if it isn't part of the Event."

"That's a good idea. You never know what that could hold in store!" Asuna nodded in agreement, who looked to her left where Jewel stood.

Suddenly, the new Party member stiffened. "U-uh, I forgot something I needed to do IRL. I'll see you guys tomorrow?" She looked at Kirito -who was now sitting at the base of the stone fountain- then Asuna, as if asking for permission to leave.

"..."

"..."

The raven-haired boy sighed and rubbed at his hair, obviously a bit peeved with her unannounced reschedule. "Yeah, I guess. But meet us up back right here, okay?"

Jewel nodded furiously, then ran off like her life depended on it; only after she turned a dark corner did Asuna take her eyes off her. She turned her head to Kirito, who also was looking at the red-streaked brunette hair of Jewel.

«~»

"That leave was pretty sudden, wasn't it?" He spoke slowly.

"...Yes. I don't think it's because of us, though. She's probably just getting over the shock of her nightmares... I don't think she should be playing an RPG is she isn't feeling well," Asuna replied with a somewhat concerned tone.

"Since when did you become a psychologist?"

That remark earned Kirito a light punch to his left forearm, along with a forceful push to his torso which inevitably had him soaking in the fountain nearby. The girls of the "family" giggled at their success of "Operation: Throw off Kirito." The only interruption of this family moment was an announcement of one of the Admins for SAO:

/ATTENTION ALL PLAYERS... ATTENTION ALL PLAYERS... INFORMATION REGARDING THE EVENT BOSS HAVE BEEN UPDATED. PLEASE REMAIN IN THE GAME.\\

/THE EVENT BOSS IS MOST ACTIVE DURING THE EVENING, IT HAS BEEN SIGHTED IN THE TOWN OF BEGINNINGS ON FLOOR 1. IT IS NOW DAY 2 OF THE EVENT. THIS CONCLUDES THE ANNOUNCEMENT.\\

«~»

Jewel managed to book a room in a hotel for the night. But she didn't plan on logging out. After thanking the manager, she took her Hotel Card and went upstairs where her room was. The brunette placed the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door handle before clicked the lock shut; she didn't want people to think that someone booked a room and left. She didn't plan on leaving the room yet, but her duty needs her now.

It was always that time that was the most tiring, but adding the fact that she had to travel by day wasn't very helpful to her health. 'I'm lucky they managed to buy that whole "nightmare" thing, but it isn't a dream as much as it is a reality... But I DID warp it a bit. ...Whatever, it doesn't matter now.'

The red-streaked brunette walked a short ways from the door -past the blue-colored, Queen-sized bed, past the wooden desk against the cream-colored wall to her right- right to the glass window, and opened it up.

Stepping over the windowsill, she dangled her feet while she sat in the window, feeling the digital wind against her face and used her pointed ears to listen to the still lively chatter of the Players around the town. 'It's pretty cool that it feels like real wind, but it isn't as much fun scaring people here. They all expect a wild thing to jump out at them in the tall grass or the woods,' Jewel mused.

The female Player turned her gaze downward, and she looked to be about twenty feet up. There was a patch of grass directly below her. It could catch her fall if she stepped down, but she didn't expect to be on the ground in the first place.

Standing up and carefully readjusting her position using the window's wooden frame, she opened her wings. These weren't ordinary Spriggan wings; no, hers are that of a dragon. Black and solid as the night sky and unable to be seen through, it was obvious the only factors that made her an Alfheim Player were her ear shape and faint hints at her clothing style.

The female Player flapped her wings a few times, then dropped from the window.


(A/N: ...No, it's not suicide. She can fly. It may have been written like that, but she is not. Anyway, overdue chapter is overdue, please read and review -hey, that rhymed! I'm so cool-, blah blah blah. Just be happy I give you long chapters, okay? Good.)